House of Leaves: Playing in the Halls of Hells: 99

In which Carla reenters the…why is it a house of leaves?

Preorder Tom’s Crossing by Mark Z. Danielewski: https://bookshop.org/a/6560/9781524747718

Sources and references:

The House of Leaves universe:
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Whalestoe Letters: From House of Leaves
Poe’s album “Haunted”: Apple, Spotify

The Little Blue Kite by Mark Z. Danielewski https://bookshop.org/a/6560/9781524747695
The Collected Poetry of W. B. Yeats https://bookshop.org/a/6560/9780684807317

Atlanta Blood House:
https://www.ranker.com/list/bleeding-house-georgia/jodi-smith
https://www.trulyadventure.us/blood-house https://talkmurder.com/atlanta-blood-house/

Theme song and stinger: “Comadreamers I” by Haunted Me, off their Pleasure album, used with permission.

How to Support Cupcakes:
Subscribe to ad-free episodes and the newsletter at theremightbecupcakes.com (hosted by ghost.io),
Shop at Bookshop for physical books and ebooks, also supporting Judy Blume’s Books & Books, https://bookshop.org/shop/theremightbecupcakes
Shop at libro.fm for audiobooks, also supporting Judy Blume’s Books & Books, 
and please visit my lovely sponsors that share their ads on my episodes.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/there-might-be-cupcakes-podcast--4761852/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Episode play in the halls of Hills. Where there is mystery,
it is generally suspected there must also be evil. Lord Byron.
Everything you can see or touch, or hear or smell
has a story attached to it. A story I can
tell you. If you say bacon, I can tell you

(00:43):
a story. If you say snow, I can tell you
a dozen different stories. This is what we are, a
collection of stories that we share in common. This is
what we are to each other. Gram Joyce the Silent
Land inappropriate. I lost my way in the house after

(01:04):
taking this boss. I knew without a doubt that I
was in two different spots in the novel document Labyrinths
whatever this is. I even had them both bookmarked. Why
I was deep in a paranoid reverie with Johnny Truant,
and I had also moved past Tom's video journal jokes

(01:24):
will hold back the dark sections ahead of the other.
I don't know. This is Carla, welcome back to their
A B. Cupcakes. I wasn't sure even when I double
checked my story graph and it agreed with the latter.
But that didn't feel quite right. So I just figured
the house had changed shape and size on me. In
this interim between explorations, and I relaxed into the hallways

(01:48):
always equals hallways, right, And I backed up to get
going again, like someone rearing up to jump over a chasm.
Let's do this. And so now, in the shadow of
unspoken events, I watched Upano's courtyard darken. Everything whimsical has left,
something else has taken their place, something I am unable

(02:11):
to see waiting. I'm afraid it is hungry, it is immortal. Worse,
it knows nothing of whim Johnny in the section six.
So here we are the whims of the found footage
and is it real? And Johnny's sexcapades are not so

(02:31):
whimsical anymore, as we see when Tom whistles past the
graveyard by telling Dad jokes in the dark to fight
off the agoraphobia, all alone in his tent, even his
cheerful facade falls flat. A storm approaches, something creeps. Remember
the fun part of Poltergeist. Your dad comes home from

(02:53):
work and Mom and Caroline have the kitchen all measured
and taped up, and they show him how the paranorl
activity gives free but slide rides on anoleum. They're so
excited to put their fingers in the socket. It's like
a tickling, and the tickling pulls you, and then the
kid shoots the length of the house and Mom cheers. Yeah,
that part is long over. For the crew at ash

(03:14):
Tree Lane, for Johnny, for Zupano, who had started to
cross things out and try to destroy parts of the
manuscript at this point, and for the reader. Welcome, Welcome,
That is a heads up. I'm being serious here. I
like to look out for you, guys. I trust your
judgment and your emotional intelligence, but some triggers just need

(03:36):
to be mentioned. When Johnny starts telling you this story
is really bad in a footnote and it's about a dog,
take a pause and do the math. You y' all
know about the dog trope in horror. When there's a dog,
it is really bad, even when they don't tell you
it's really bad. When they tell you it's really bad,

(03:58):
it's horrific. It's it is really bad, and it may
not be an image some of you want to carry around.
It's a footnote per usual, so it should be relatively
easy to decide about skipping, or about just taking a
break first, having smoke, having some coffee, having to think,
take care of yourself. This is supposed to be fun,

(04:19):
not grueling or traumatizing or curnel or get through it
like knuckling. So I'm not going to recount the story here.
I'm just telling you it's there, and even Johnny's like, dude,
it's bad. And if Johnny says it's bad, So as
we continue our quick trip through hallways, already, tread always

(04:40):
equals always. Section seven begins with a quote from Jack
london short story To Build a Fire, a story about
an exercise in futility and a man without imagination quote unquote,
and ends with a kiss that shouldn't have happened. You know,
when I was buying geeky presents for my mechanical enge

(05:00):
your father for Christmas and placing the black wing pencils
he loves in my jetpens cart I love jetpens so
much it dawned on me that it should have dawned
on me. The blue of the word house throughout this
book is the blue of blueprints and blue design pencils,
the blue of construction and creation, of flux, and a

(05:23):
state of waiting, of setting down roots, roots of human trees.
Why is it a house of leaves? Section eight begins
with an sos and is marked by a firm black
check mark. If you want to discover a wife for
yourself and you missed it before, now hit the skip

(05:44):
ahead key on your podcatcher one or two times or so.
Here we go, still with me. It refers back to
Pellaphena's letter to Johnny dated September nineteenth, nineteen eighty five,
on page six oh nine of the main book, where
she asked Johnny to do so on his return mail.
Yet here it is on Sopano's manuscript instead. Also what

(06:07):
do you think? And then here comes Thumper, which should
be no surprise, and she's Johnny's words of wisdom. If
you want my opinion, you need to get out of
the house quote unquote another warning sign post along with
the whim quote Johnny's root is a fluttering with red flags.

(06:28):
I'm section nine moving swiftly because the house is changing
and moving swiftly, and I'm avoiding spoilers to a great
extent while exploring with you. This section begins with Latin
quotes from Virgil, from the need Acentius and Nicholas Truant,
and I quote them here altogether. Here's the toil of
that house and the inextricable wandering the house difficult to enter,

(06:52):
I'm difficult to exit and difficult to enter back to
lack of women getting out. Johnny admits he is truly
developed in agoraphobia, and he's laughing at his own fear,
but he's also scaring himself with its depths. This and
Pellaphenia's Letters take us to track eleven on Poe's Haunted album,

(07:13):
of Course, titled Dear Johnny, one of the shortest songs
on the album, quote Johnny, Dear, don't be afraid. I
will keep your secret safe. Bring me to the blind
man who lost you in his house of blue. Johnny
here makes a special mention of saying hello, the actual word,

(07:36):
to someone in the tattoo parlor, something he doesn't normally
do in his writing at all. Remember there are no
mistakes here. So Hello is the first song on Poe's
first album. This song has musical callbacks in Wild on
the Hunted album, So doubly important, I think. So here's

(07:56):
Hello's lyrics. Notice the reference to parents. I can't see
your face, but you left a trace on a data
back road that I almost erased. Not even God takes
this long to get back. So get back, cause I
hit a fork in the road. I lost my way home,
cut off from the main line, like a disconnected modem. Hello,

(08:18):
tap in the code, I'll reach you below. No one
should brave the underworld alone. Word has it on the
wire that you don't know who you are. Well, if
you could jack into my brain, you'd know exactly what
you mean here. Mothers are trails on stars in the night.
Fathers of black holes suck up the night. That's the
memory I fe filed on the fringe, along with the

(08:39):
memory of the pain you lived in. Hello. I don't
have the password, but the path is chain linked. So
if you've got the time, set up the tone to sink,
tap in the code. I'll reach you below. Speaking of
familial relationships, this leads us into brothers and the biblical
story of Jacob and Esau. Are they figuratively Tom and

(09:02):
Navy or Novi or they explorer Holloway and Noavi. Basically,
the story of Jacob and Esau, for those who are
unfamiliar with the Book of Genesis in the Bible, is
the story of competition within families, of a father and
mother letting down their sons through manipulation and lies, and
I don't know what you want me to do about

(09:24):
it attitudes. Jacob spends so much time trying to insert
himself into Esau's life that the ensuing chaos repeats itself
in the lives of his polygamous wives Leah and Rachel
generational trauma, and he finds them having the same fight
over him that he and his brother had over his
father's love and blessing, so much contempt for people that

(09:44):
they want to overtake Alexa play the cures. Why can't
I be you? Back to the Jack reference to the
song Hello on page twenty eight, flipping back and forth
as only the most devoted and obsessed reader can. Jack
and Coke seems to refer to as a joke, and
so it seems to me, And it sounds sly enough
to be a referenced again to Poe's first album and

(10:07):
the song Tripper trigger Happy Jack with its refrain you
can't talk to Asycho like a normal human being. Please
excuse me for that, take heed Johnny Jack is a
nickname for John the Seco, of course, may be Pellafina,
It may be Zimpano. It maybe even be your wayward

(10:28):
friend lude who started this whole miss Or it may
be the man in the mirror, if you can still
see him. Johnny is ceasing to serve as the center
of his own universe. The tinfoil on the windows helps
to waylay those feelings and thoughts. Do labyrinths always have
to have centers? Even today, the notion of a structure

(10:48):
lacking any center represents the unthinkable itself. Jacques Derrida, quoted
by Zippano, which led me to think of Yates's poem
The Second Coming. After World War One and the beginning
of the Irish War of Independence in nineteen nineteen, as
well as the flu pandemic, so much chaos in pain,

(11:08):
and a feeling of still impending doom, which of course
there was turning and turning in the widening gyre. The
falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart, the center
cannot hold mere. Anarchy is loosed upon the world, The
blood dim tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of

(11:29):
innocence is drowned. The best lacked all conviction, while the
worst are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is
at hand. Surely the Second coming is at hand, the
second coming. Hardly are those words out? When a vast image,
out of spirituous Monday troubles my sight somewhere in sands

(11:50):
of the desert, a shape with lion body in the
head of a man, a gaze blank and pitiless, as
the sun is moving its slow thighs, while all it
real shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again.
But now I know that twenty centuries of stony sleep
were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle. And what

(12:11):
rough beast, It's hour come round at last, slauches towards
Bethlehem to be born. Back to our musical accompaniment. On
page one eighty, there's a reference back to Poe's song Haunted,
as Johnny insists he won't go mad as opposed to
his mother perhaps or Zapano. It echoes the end of

(12:33):
the song, which is spoken in both a man's voice
and the little girl's What isn't Annie you think I'll cry?
I won't cry. My heart will break before I cry.
I will go mad, as I've said, I hear I
won't go mad, But Apple lyrics reads will. This is
followed by with lack of insight, Johnny's recalling of so

(12:56):
many stories preceding Thanksgiving quote unquote usage of different types
of ecstasy, and then he names them stickman, snowballs, hallways,
which speaks to me of the Blair Witch Project, his
isolated sojourn working in Alaska, and the house itself always

(13:17):
equals hallways. Others are butterflies, Tasmanian devils, and hurricanes. The
Blair Witch Project was released July thirtieth, nineteen ninety nine,
so its stickman totems could definitely have been an influence
upon our Johnny's trips, which still begs the questions of
the butterflies, the Tasmanian devils, and the hurricanes, two storms
of sorts and one powerful purveyor of a change from

(13:40):
halfway across the world just by being if you haven't
heard the butterfly effect, that's the theory based upon my
beloved idea that everything's connected, and a butterfly flapping its
wings on the opposite side of the world today can
affect the course of my life to a significant amount
by changing this event, which changes this one, and so on,
and mercurial moods and paranoia could be Johnny's butterfly effect.

(14:03):
She couldn't get near him, but she drove his actions
like a wailing captain steering his ship. I checked the index.
Is this perhaps the only horror novel with an index?
Let me know at carlat there might be cupcakes dot com.
Butterfly does not appear at all, even in this instance.
Neither does Tasmanian Devil nor hurricane, though hogwash does. So

(14:27):
I should probably let this rabbit hole go. I at
least made myself laugh. Section eleven The Jacob and Esau
story in Proper, which I'll return to in a moment
as the best quote too bad, so much of his
life had to slip between the lines of his own words.
Johnny about Sopano an exercise in reading between the lines,

(14:50):
which is reading this book. Another favorite is quote heavy
with poisonous bloom love that there's also a marvelous typo
and there are no mistakes notoriously in this book. Within
the Jacob and Esau story, changing I am in the
reply meaning I am your son to Annie, which is

(15:13):
Poe's real name. There's more biblical notation with the Jacob
and Esau story. Zupano pointedly added this verse from Deuteronomy.
Curse would be he who maketh the blind to wander
out of the way Deuteronomy twenty seven eighteen. Then there
is this curious set of footnotes where Johnny corrected Zipano's Genesis,

(15:35):
chapter and verse citation, then the editor corrected Johnny's. The
reference is supposed to be to quote plain men living
in tents, hunters like Esau Zupano's citation is Genesis twenty
seven to twenty four, which is the verse which written
out later has the Anni error. He says, are you

(15:55):
really my son, Esau? He answered, I am. Johnny's correction
is Genesis twenty seven twenty nine, which is the blessing
mistakenly given to Jacob as Esau. Let people serve you,
and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your
brother's and may your mother's sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who cursed you, and blessed be everyone

(16:17):
who blesses you. The editor's correction of Johnny is Genesis
twenty five twenty seven, which is most likely correct and
reads when the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter,
a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet
man living in tents. The errors are interesting given the makers.
Zupana's error is related to Jacob and Esau's father identifying

(16:40):
the wrong son by touch and being deceived because he
could not see Jacob Johnny's was the actual paternal blessing
and his father was not around only as manipulative mother
like Jacob and Esau's having Jacob lie and steal for
her and himself. For scholarship's sake, I always use the
new Revised Standard Edition translation of the Bible through episcopanion

(17:01):
that I am. I can link to the Bible Gateway
website differing translations in the website entry for this episode.
For language geeks like myself and complete us uh select
myself when more mention of this biblical story, This section
talks about passing through quote, destruction, and negation in order
to heal. A citation states that the Messiah will not

(17:24):
come until Esau's tears are finished, until this wrong has
been completely righted and everyone has taken their proper place.
The source for this citation is noted as lost by
the editor. Quote why do you think he described the
other world? The one he said he went to most
often as a labyrinth tedderly shrugged a vision of cosmic grandeur.

(17:47):
I suppose a symbol of the mingled glory and horror
of existence. No one gets out alive Parenteesy by Susanna Clark,
Section thirteen. The Minotaur is notable for a couple of things.
We see that Zippano has tried to erase any mention
of Minotaur or the labyrinth from his manuscript, and that

(18:08):
Johnny and or the editor resurrected them as best they could. Also,
two songs from Hanud referenced earlier come up again, Spanish
Doll and Lemon Meringue. Finally, a most intriguing in eerie typo,
and we know it's not because there are no mistakes.
It's at the top of page three twenty. I'll leave

(18:29):
it for you to find. Suffice it is to say
that point of view changes in a startling fashion. I
won't spoil the spook further because it's a great moment.
Music is liquid, architecture, architecture is frozen music. Johann Wolfgang
von Girte from Pies and Dolls to poetry for the

(18:52):
second time, we're referred to Appendix B and the Pelican Poems.
This time I inserted them each into my growing timeline
for the the novel. So here's my compiled timeline up
to your point in the novel, our point in the novel,
excuse me, including the extra information in the Wales Tow letters.
I've also sent this out. It is sending about five

(19:17):
minutes when I'm recording and being posted to the website
and sending it to the newsletter so that you can
see it while you're listening, because it's a lot of data,
but I think it's worth reading. Seventeen twenty Ashtree Lane
is quote unquote supposedly built in this year, according to

(19:38):
the realtor, and yes that's the word she uses. Nineteen
eighty one. Again, according to the realtor, a family wanted
to build an L extension and make the house larger.
Then they moved out because they wanted something much smaller.
June twenty first is Johnny's birthday, and I note that
every year so you can see what does or doesn't happen.

(20:00):
Teen eighty one Johnny's father dies in truck accident. July
twenty eighth, nineteen eighty two, Johnny's mother, Pellafina, since her
first letter from the three Attic Willstowe Institute to Johnny
August thirtieth, nineteen eighty two. Letter from Pellafina to Johnny.
November seventh, nineteen eighty two. Letter from Pellafina to Johnny.

(20:21):
January twentieth, nineteen eighty three. Letter from Pellafina to Johnny.
February fourteenth, nineteen eighty three. Letter from Pellafina to Johnny.
March ninth, nineteen eighty three. Letter from Pellafena to Johnny.
April seventeenth, nineteen eighty three. Letter from Pellafina to Johnny.
May ninth, nineteen eighty three. Letter from Pellafina to Johnny.

(20:43):
June twenty one, nineteen eighty three. Letter from Pellafina to
Johnny on Johnny's birthday. August nineteenth, nineteen eighty three. Letter
from Pellafina to Johnny. September twenty ninth, nineteen eighty three.
Letter from Pellafina to john October fifteenth, nineteen eighty three.
Letter from Pellapena to Johnny. December twenty fourth, nineteen eighty three.

(21:08):
Letter from Pellafina to Johnny. March fifteenth, nineteen eighty four.
Letter from Pellafena to Johnny. April twenty second, nineteen eighty four.
Letter from Pellaphena to Johnny June twenty one, Johnny's birthday,
June third, nineteen eighty four. Letter from Pellapina to Johnny.
June twenty sixth, nineteen eighty four. Letter from Pelopina to Johnny.

(21:30):
September seventh, nineteen eighty four. Letter from Pellaphena to Johnny.
October fourteenth, nineteen eighty four. Letter from Pillapena to Johnny.
November sixth, nineteen eighty four. Letter from Pellapina to Johnny.
March seventh, nineteen eighty five. Letter from Pellapena to Johnny.
April thirteenth, nineteen eighty five. Letter from Pelapena to Johnny.

(21:53):
May eleventh, nineteen eighty five. Letter from Pellaphena to Johnny.
June twenty one, Johnny birthday July twenty fourth, nineteen eighty five.
Letter from Pellapina to Johnny. August twenty third, nineteen eighty five.
Letter from Pelipino to Johnny. September fifth, nineteen eighty five.
Letter from Pelopena to Johnny September fourteenth, nineteen eighty five.

(22:16):
Letter from Pellapena to Johnny. September nineteenth, nineteen eighty five.
Letter from Pelipina to Johnny the check mark request. She
asks him to put a check mark on his next
letter to let her know that he's receiving her letters.
September thirtieth, nineteen eighty five. Letter from Pellaphena to Johnny.

(22:38):
October fourth, nineteen eighty five. Letter from Pellapina to Johnny.
October tenth, nineteen eighty five. Letter from Pelopina to Johnny.
October twelfth, nineteen eighty five. Letter from Pelipina to Johnny.
November one, nineteen eighty five. Letter from Pelipino to Johnny.
November ninth, nineteen eighty five. Letter from Pellapina to Johnny.

(22:59):
March seventheteenth, nineteen eighty six. Letter from Pelipina to Johnny.
April fifth, nineteen eighty six. Letter from Pelipina to Johnny.
May thirty first, nineteen eighty six. Letter from Pelipina to
Johnny June twenty one, Johnny's birthday. July sixth, nineteen eighty six.
Letter from Jelipina Pellaffina to Johnny. Jellipina apologize of September eighteenth,

(23:29):
nineteen eighty six. Letter from Pellapina to Johnny. December sixth,
nineteen eighty six. Letter from Pelipina to Johnny January sixth,
nineteen eighty seven. Letter from Pellafina to Johnny. April twenty fifth,
nineteen eighty seven. Letter from Pellapena to Johnny April twenty seventh,
nineteen eighty seven. Two days later, letter from Pelipina to Johnny,

(23:52):
heralding the upcoming letter that will be in code. May eighth,
nineteen eighty seven. Letter in code from Pelifina to Jay
Johnny June twenty first, Johnny's birthday. June twenty third, nineteen
eighty seven. Letter from Jelly, I did it again. Pellafino
di Johnny. July thirty first, nineteen eighty seven. Letter from

(24:15):
Pellaffino to Johnny. Then the rest of the letters go
August thirteenth, September twenty fourth, and December twenty sixth, nineteen
eighty seven, January third, nineteen eighty eight, January eleventh, February fourteenth,
February twenty third, March eighteenth, March nineteenth, April twelfth. Then

(24:36):
we get to May twenty sixth, nineteen eighty eight. The
first Pelican poem it mentions time blue and Prospero. June
twenty first is Johnny's birthday. July sixth, nineteen eighty eight.
Pelican poem that mentions father and brother. July seventh, nineteen

(24:58):
eighty eight. Pelican poem that mentions You're a DS, Madness
and Time July seventh, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem Pelican's
pen and it sounds like a word gamer a spell
July eighth, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem This blind Man

(25:19):
quote July eighth, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem high Sea
Wall Quote July ninth, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem quote
one is one July tenth, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem
pattern and notes and I think this refers to music
and architecture. It also refirst to see because it says

(25:41):
something about a promontory. July tenth, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican
poem refers to a storm. July eleventh, nineteen eighty eight.
Pelican poem this is the Way the World Ends July twentieth,
nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem disabled cardboard box and a heart.
July twenty second, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem music associated

(26:04):
with colors. Notice that the letters have stopped. July twenty fifth,
nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem Waterloo Lion Blindness July twenty sixth,
nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem Written on a Melon July
twenty sixth, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem quote he needs
to eat July twenty sixth, nineteen eighty eight. Tapestry getting lost.

(26:30):
This one's out of order. It's after August eleventh's fragmentation
poem August first, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem but a
tree out of order after August eleventh's fragmentation poem August second,
nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem Elegant Ambivalence August seventh, nineteen

(26:50):
eighty eight. Pelican poem grammatical metem Psychosis August eleventh, nineteen
eighty eight. Pelican poem Waterloo Again August eleventh, nineteen eighty eight.
Pelican poem It's Fragmentation August twelfth, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican
poem quote, I'd like to return one day, if only

(27:13):
for a little while, to drink something warm. This is
there's a reference back to the plot for this hot chocolate.
After the return. You'll see what I mean when you read.
And it is also out of order it's after the
September second boundaries. Poem notice there's still no letters August fourteenth,

(27:36):
nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem quote the irregularity of wine
and doors in constructed mythologies, which I considered for the
title of this episode August fifteenth, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican
poem Fashion and Colors August twentieth, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican
poem music and Wine August twenty third, nineteen eighty eight.

(27:58):
Pelican poem Father and Brother August twenty third, nineteen eighty eight.
Pelican poem brother and It specifically mentions Jacob August twenty third,
nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem Being Lost August twenty fifth,
nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem quote can't see, can't hear,
Can't find August twenty eighth, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican poem

(28:20):
Wandering and Color Again August twenty eighth, nineteen eighty eight.
Pelican poem Deciphering August thirty first, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican
poem quote the ruminations are mine, Let the world be
yours for No. One September second, nineteen eighty eight. Pelican
poem about boundaries. The last one September nineteenth, nineteen eighty eight,

(28:48):
letter from Pellaphenia to Johnny, the repetition of his names
and the list of words letter. Now, what this is is,
it's one page Johnny over and over and over in
different ways, in different directions. The second page is a
list of words, and if you read it very carefully,

(29:12):
a lot of those words show up in the Pelican poems.
I'm not drawing any conclusion. I'm saying she didn't write
any letters during the time of the Pelican poems, and
a lot of those very weird words are in the
Pelican poems. Make of that what you will. I'm not
sure what to make a video. I'm not sure the

(29:33):
simplest conclusion is the best. I'm not sure this house
o comes if you know what I mean. November one,
nineteen eighty eight, letter from Pelipina to Johnny. Then November third,
nineteen eighty eight, November twenty seventh, nineteen eighty eight, December

(29:54):
twenty third, nineteen eighty eight, December twenty fourth, nineteen eighty eight.
Then on January twelfth, nineteen eighty nine, the doctor wrote
a letter to Johnny warning that his mother was most
likely in her final decline. February twenty eighth, nineteen eighty nine.
Letter from Pellapina to Johnny. March thirty first, nineteen eighty nine.

(30:17):
Letter from Pellapina to Johnny May thirty, May third, nineteen
eighty nine. Pillaffhena's last letter to Johnny May fourth, nineteen
eighty nine. Pellaffini's death. May fifth, nineteen eighty nine. Letter
from Wales Tow to Director notifying Johnny of Pellaffina's death.

(30:38):
June twenty one, Johnny's birthday. September nineteen eighty nine. Johnny
retrieved one piece of jewelry of Pilaffhinas from Wales Tow Institute.
October thirty one, nineteen ninety eight. Johnny's introduction to the
Navidson Record. He found it is upon his apartment thanks
to Leude. There's red of order. June twenty first, Johnny's birthday.

(31:05):
October thirty first, nineteen eight ninety eight. Johnny's introduction to
the Navidsen Record. He found it in upon his apartment
thanks to Leude. September nineteen eighty nine, Johnny retrieved one
piece of jewelry of Pellapinas from Wales Tow Institute. April
nineteen ninety, will begins recording documentary videotapes of his family
and his house. The beginning of his documentary project June

(31:28):
nineteen ninety The date of the two Exploration BHS tapes
June twenty second, I mean twenty first. June twenty first,
Johnny's birthday. Nineteen ninety three. Merrimax purchased the two exploration
videotapes and all of Navidsen's documentary tapes, compiled them and
put them out as the found footage movie The Navidsen Record.

(31:51):
Same year, the three Attic Wales Tow Institute closed June
twenty second, Johnny's birthday. August six, two thousand, the date
of Walden d. Worthta's compilation of an introduction to Pellafina's
letters with eleven extra letters included. I noticed a couple
of things. Pellafina disappeared every winter except the last one.

(32:14):
She only acknowledged Johnny's birthday once, which feels deliberate for
someone so seemingly obsessed with her son. And she wrote
no letters, or at least there are no surviving archived
compiled letters for the entire time period of the Pelican poems.
The Woman with hypergraphia is silent. On that note, like

(32:35):
I said, the first letter after the poems ended is
on the subject of boundaries, which is a subject in
the poetry. And the next is this seemingly incoherent letter
where she wrote a page of nothing but Johnny's name,
and then a page of words that might be unrelated except,
like I said, for the fact that many of them
unusual words and words turned into names appear in the poems. She,

(33:02):
like I said, might not be the author, but she
somehow has knowledge of them. On that note, let's examine
what we know about them and how we know about them.
On that note, let's examine how we know about them.
This is the second time they've been referenced. The first
reference was in that long section of exploration and building materials,
footnoted with an explanation about how young men's folly should

(33:25):
be erased by older men's wisdom. Then that footnote was
crossed out then resuscitated by the editor mentioned directly before
the Pelican Poems Appendix two B. In the same context
is Appendix B titled bits as in the saying bits
and pieces. The building material linking that first footnote is

(33:46):
redwood capitalized like a name. Myth is the minotaur, myth
is redwood. The first and only other time it's been mentioned,
it was lowercase as a choice of wood for building.
And Pellaphena's letters in the Floridly Psychotic Letter September nineteenth,
nineteen eighty eight, in which Pellapina first repeated Johnny's name
for an entire page, and that is page six thirty

(34:08):
three in the book and page sixty two in the
whales Tow letters. She then wrote a list of unusual words,
like I said, many of which are using the Pelican poems.
Notice this is a couple of weeks after the last
poem was written and its subject was boundaries. Duly noted. Again,
I have excised and left some items for next time

(34:30):
out of these sections, including my personal visit to the
Winchester House, the real house that never stopped growing even
though it and they were directly relevant. Because this script
was getting away from me, much like reading this book,
I'll leave you here for now with the true House
of Horror, as well as a reminder that I've told

(34:51):
my own ghost stories. I've lived in several haunted houses
right here on the podcast look for Ghouls and ghosties
and long legged Beasts and It's sequel and things that
go Bump in the night. They were my third and
fourth episodes, so you can listen to them as is raw,
or you can search for the remastered versions on my feet.

(35:11):
After I learned some podcasting stuff about sound leveling and
the like, I clean them up. There's also updated versions
where I talked about recent paranormal moments as well. Because
this House is Haunted and those are episodes sixty two
and sixty three, I've linked to these in the show
notes and will link them on the website. The thing

(35:32):
that's been happening this week is my smart lamp keeps
coming on and very startling. Also, now the lamp shade
of my smart lamp is pointed so far down that
it's useless. When I turn it on, it doesn't show
any light. So somebody either really likes or really doesn't

(35:57):
like my new lamp. There's that I keep looking at it,
expecting it to come on while I'm talking about it
won't be finishing in this episode that happens, So let's
see the story I'm going to leave you with. It
was so big in its time that it made the
new York Times, which I haven't linked because hey, well,

(36:22):
I do have other links for you to read it
in the show notes and on the website. Shout out
to the Urban Myths subreddit and user huh happy Pants
sixty nine. Sorry mom Peace for the heads up for
this story of the Atlanta bloodhouse. Ponder how frightening and

(36:44):
off center it would make you feel. If, like the
homeowner in this case, you entered your bathroom and your
house were normal, all walls set true, and you left
your bathroom all was chaos. That's what happened to seventy
seven year old Minnie Winston. Her seventy nine year old husband,
William was resting in their home at one one one

(37:07):
four Fountain Drive, southwest Atlanta, Georgia, while she took a nice,
relaxing bath. All was fine until she stepped out of
the bath to find puddles and splashes and drips of
blood everywhere everywhere, including this part really intrigues me, under

(37:32):
appliances and other items, as well as all over the
floors and walls. And she wasn't in that bath for
three hours with a book. She didn't go to sleep.
She took a bath. Let my grandma took a bath,
get in, wash, get out. The police, of course, were called. William,

(37:55):
of course, was verified to be fine and not the
source of the blood since he was on dialysis and
since he was seventy nine, but the treatment didn't take
place in the house, so there was no dialysis accident
to be had. All avenues were checked. They were well
liked in their neighborhoods, so they were unlikely the target

(38:17):
of a prank. They got along well with their children,
so it's unlikely their kids were trying to scaund a death.
This had not happened again in the area, so it
was unlikely a fetish burglar or some such. The police
tested the substance, which did come back as human blood,
but not matching either Williams or Minnie's. They were both

(38:40):
type A. It was TYPEO. Many lived in the house
long after William died, and told an interviewer years later
that she had decided to believe that the mysterious substance
was not blood, to firmly believe that, for if she
allowed her mind to believe the police and the scientists,
she could not live in her home, so she chose denial. Y'all,

(39:05):
I have lived in four haunted houses, including this one,
and I know at about defense mechanisms. I've seen shadow
figures and the hat man as well as a full
body apparition. I've heard voices and sounds too often to count,
but I draw the line at bodily fluids. I probably
shouldn't be saying that out loud. Knock on computer. Human

(39:26):
blood is found in my house. The source can't be good,
paranormal or human reason for it being there. I'm out.
I will see you wherever I'm able to line my head,
even if that's the forest, and I have to take
my chances with those paranormal forces in there. I'd rather
appease the faith than face man or spirit that bleeds
in my home. The message being delivered has always got

(39:49):
to be negative in that case, right, blood negative? Right?
This is not why I chose this story, but se
Grenicity is the buzzword for House of Leaves. The date
this occurs. This occurred falls right in the middle of
our timeline, y'all, September eighth, nineteen eighty seven. Everything's connected,

(40:13):
I keep saying this speaking of time. House the Leaves
turned twenty five years old on March twenty fifth of
this year for information about its release and how it
was received, which was wild. You can listen to the
first episode in the series, which was Bone Chimes and
Primitive Spiders number sixty eight. Oh, you can just scroll

(40:34):
back to its revamping and anticipation of discontinuation. I feel
very rocky hor or saying that phrase. Ah, and listen
to number ninety five. So many splintered trees and splendid news.
Daniel Awski has a new book. It's listed as releasing
October twenty eighth by bookshop dot Org also from Pantheon Press,

(40:57):
called Tom's Crossing. The linked pre order from bookshop and
by doing so to support the podcast and Judy Bliam's
independent bookstore Books and Books is in the show notes
and we'll be on the website. Thank you for all
your clicks and purchases. They're small, but they mean the world.
I won't read the currently one synopsis for this book

(41:19):
here because some might consider it a spoiler and want
to go in blind. I had to say it. My
apologistics is Apono and to my listeners, I will list
to link his other books on the website entry for
this episode, including his Arrogotic book for children. Yes, there's
a house Elise for kids. It's called the Little Blue Kite.

(41:41):
It's right, there's a cyber text for the younger sex
set without all of Johnny's sex and whatever it is
that his mother's doing, and the body horror and that
scene with the dog that I warned you about back there. Yeah,
it operates via color. It has paths for reading its
story via color, at at least three. According to cover quote,

(42:03):
there are at least three ways to read it. The
first way takes only a few minutes. Just follow the
rainbow colored words. The second takes only a little longer.
Just follow the words haload with blue and red, and
the rainbow words too. For the third way, just start
at the beginning, and who knows from there. I can't
wait to see. I want my old copy. I'll report

(42:23):
back once I've read it, if I remember to leave breadcrumbs.