August 3, 2025 • 69 mins
In this gripping episode, I sit down with Victor Sylvester Johnson, a bold voice in the world of the paranormal who isn’t afraid to say what others won’t. Known for his sharp insights and firsthand experiences, Victor opens up about his take on some of the most chilling phenomena in the field. We dive deep into his controversial views on the infamous Annabelle doll, the realities of paranormal investigation, and the haunted places he’s explored across the country. From eerie encounters to hard truths, Victor brings both experience and attitude to the mic. Whether you're a seasoned investigator or just dipping your toes into the supernatural, this conversation is full of honest revelations, haunted tales, and no-nonsense perspective from someone who’s lived it.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:20):
B B.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, and hello everybody, and welcome to another night of
(01:20):
Magical Journey Podcast. I'm your host, Daniel Ian Kuhn, and
tonight I want to start out the show as always
by pointing you guys to my favorite company, Mystical Magical
and Mystical Magical. Y'all help me tonight. Y'all know I'm
(01:47):
talking about Mystical Mountain Creations. Why am I so hard
to remember names lately? I know I have all timers.
I'm sure of it now, Jenny, you and I had
a conversation today, so you already know where my head's at.
(02:07):
I'm still trying to wrap my head around your situation
is somebody else's before we get started tonight, and please
help me remember my own podcast, guys, because I'll forget
it too before it's over with. We struggle to pam
(02:29):
we do. Before I get too deep into it tonight,
I do want to tell you guys to go over
and check out my dot com Magical Journey Podcast dot com,
and you will find it getting updated with all the
latest information. There is a blog post on there that
(02:52):
will directly link you to the episodes that we have
been doing lately. You can find links to the audio
podcast Magical Merge, which I just updated some new looks
on there and they're very exciting, so go check those out.
There's a little retro fill to them. And I also
(03:18):
want to let you guys know that in the process
of doing all this, I also have started a coy
five which is the link for that is over there.
It is a great way to be able to support
the effort of the show. Upcoming stuff investigations that are
(03:45):
coming on that you guys will be benefiting from the
results of. I will be taking you on a video
of virtual investigation with me at one point. They're coming up,
so do check that out. Anyway, that's enough about me tonight,
(04:05):
I want to give you guys an opportunity to meet
a guy who has been one of my favorites online
for a bit and I find his show his podcast
to be not only informative but incredibly entertaining. Ladies and gentlemen,
(04:27):
welcome the Reverend Victor S. Johnson.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Greetings, travelers, Greetings.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You know you're probably the first name I haven't messed
up tonight.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
People knock me for that pseudonym, and yet it works
out well when it just rolls off the tongue like that,
so I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It literally does. So Victor tells us a little bit
about yourself. You've got some stuff coming up that you
going to be doing. Let's hear about those things.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Oh absolutely, I'm gonna be in your area, Daniel, as
we kind of went over, I'll be at the Deep
South Para Con in Ozark, Alabama. That's August ninth, the
weekend of August ninth and tenth. I have a panel
at two o'clock. I'll also be vending there, and I've
got some great original stuff. By the way, I'm not
(05:25):
going to spoil what it is, but the promoters Stan
and Teresa Hey Pam, Stan and Teresa Fights have been
very sweet to me. They did a check to make
sure I wasn't selling stuff that there it is selling
stuff that other vendors are going to sell. Also, I
(05:45):
want to shout out doctor Lee Brown, who will be
there in attendance. She's been very sweet to me, Gwen
John's and I want to shout out real quick Angie
and Shane McLain, who kind of spiritually connected all of
us together. So thanks everyone, and I look forward to
seeing you there if you can make.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
It, definitely, definitely. There's are so many different events going
on this year. Wow, So Victory, you have a channel
on YouTube, correct, last I checked, and it is quite
(06:24):
a channel. Tell us a little bit about Destination Spooky
and give us some idea of what we're going to
find when we go over there.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Absolutely so. I've been into the strange and curious since
i was a small child. I was always a weird
kid still am, and I would kind of spend my nights.
I like to tell this story, even though it makes
it points me as a loser in high school, but
I would spend my Friday nights reading a particular book,
(06:59):
The Haunted Places National Directory by Denis William Hawk, a
book I still have, one way or the other, and
it has a detailed, categorized list of everything that this author,
Denis William Hawk, has collected over the years and aggregated.
So by the way, Pam, don't forget Destination Spooky on YouTube.
(07:23):
That was the one link I didn't send you on.
I'm so bad at that. You can actually just yeah,
there it is. Thank you so much. I guess I
can see the comments. But when everybody was out, you know,
living and enjoying life in high school. I was at
home on a Friday night reading that book and kind
(07:43):
of corroborating it as well as pointing to stuff on
the Internet when it was still in its infancy of popularity.
This would have been the late nineties, and that passion
and interest has never waned. So with this book, with
this book of itemized locations across the country, I decided
(08:06):
after a big life change in twenty twenty one, we
all had one at that point, but I decided why
don't I, and I started traveling. I have done a
lot of traveling, both locally and across the country, and
I got to get my passport updated soon. But I'm
hoping to go international very soon, and I get to
(08:28):
verify these legends. I think part of the beauty of
the channel is that I don't sensationalize. That's the humor
and where that comes in that you love so much. Daniel,
like I have to make it entertaining somehow, and I
was a tour guide. I had some years as a
stand up comic prior to that. There's a surprising amount
(08:49):
of overlap in that in those two industries, by the way,
but I learned how to, you know, talk to people
and get them hooked and entertained without saying, hey, hey,
there's a ghost behind you. That'll be ten dollars. So,
you know, I think that's what makes it. It's interesting
because it's real in that way. I don't always get something.
(09:13):
Sometimes it's a bust, and I still have to make
the video worthwhile to watch, so that in itself is
a challenge, but a rewarding one.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, I gotta tell you. One of my favorite episodes,
oddly enough, is a lot of people are going to
be shocking going to find this shocking in a way
probably was the episode where you went to Zach Began's museum.
(09:43):
I was very impressed with your response to that, and
it was very much different than what I was expecting
because my first thoughts was that this has got to
be probably one of the hookeyest places on earth, but
you kind of change my opinion of that.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I know people will hate me for doing that thing,
but yeah, I do feel it's worth going to once.
One of my rules, one of my core tenants, is
go there once. It's worth experiencing one time. And I've
gone to some real clunkers, but I can say I
went if anyone ever brings it up. I've got that
story so and they don't always make air. I've got
(10:25):
a lot of b roll that I can do nothing with.
But that's okay, right right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
One of the I noticed I have not watched it
yet because I'm kind of holding off. You did an
episode on the Devil's Chair, which is one of those
places that I kind of I don't know, I'm kind
of still on the fence about myself. I think it's personally.
(10:53):
I feel like it's a lot of local lore and
Grannis tells kind of mixed together. So I'm kind of
waiting to see what you have to say about it
un till after this interview. But that's one of the
ones that I kind of put off to the side
(11:15):
for right now. About but tell us about some of
the place that you've been to that you were pleasantly
surprised about.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
The wayside in in Virginia that I want to say Sutton,
but again, the towns start to merge. It's sort of
close to Harper's Ferry, kind of a big Civil War town.
There's actually a plaque right outside where it talks about
(11:45):
Stonewall Jackson kind of leading a raid on the town,
and the town just kind of going with it. But
I got a lot of stuff there that I kind
of went in blind on and they had very good
chicken wings. I'll get to the whole mix of everything there.
I will also say the Queen Mary out in Long Beach.
(12:09):
We all hear about how haunted it is, and it
still manages to surprise me. That's actually the video where
there's disembodied footsteps, and I caught it by pure accident
on camera because I'm filming b roll down in the
lower decks and someone runs behind me and I turn
and look, there's no one. It doesn't register in my
(12:30):
brain and you can see that I'm still doing the
b role. I'm like, wait a minute, and I run
upstairs to try and see if anyone could have thrown
their footsteps or whatever. There's no one around, and I
just I've done I get so in a zone and
I've done this. Thank you, Pam. I've done this so
much that like I just wasn't ready to go. I
(12:50):
wasn't firing and I'm like, oh, wait a minute, and
just I love that one. That was a pleasant surprise.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Wow. Yeah, those those moments when you get things on
video that just kind of come out left field. That's
to me what makes all of this worth it.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I just got a message from somebody a little bit
ago that's sent me something that it was like, what
is this And I'm like, I have no idea what'll
work on it? So, you know, it's exciting to see.
I get more joy out of seeing other people's materials
sometimes than seeing my own, because having confirmation from other
(13:38):
people that you that they're having these experiences is it
just come out left field to me, is like, oh good,
I'm not the crazy one to hear other people are
having this too, because when these things happen, the footsteps
running that has happened spontaneously to a few people and
(14:05):
they've ki it on tape that I thought was very interesting.
What's your take on that?
Speaker 1 (14:13):
To me? I think it's kind of we had a
theory a few tour guys and I about how it
pertains to sort of Einstein's theory of relativity. And by
the way, thank you for the disclaimer at the beginning.
I am not a scientist, folks, I know nothing, none
of us do. It's just me talking off the cuff.
(14:36):
But the idea that we're in the third dimension now,
and that the fourth dimension is space and time itself.
And I think that sometimes we get some crossover depending
on how much energy is sort of concentrated in an area.
And I think, believe it or not, I think skepticism
(14:58):
can help in that general skep theism. One knock on
the Queen Mary, for example, a ship that claims to
have and I saw this on an advertisement, so it
could have been trumping it up, but fifty seven ghosts
aboard it. Skeptics will point to there's no record of
any deaths on board that they could find. That's what
(15:20):
I believe I saw, and I think that's in my
video or in my article about it. Another one I
didn't give you was my Medium page and sorry, Pam,
you don't have to promote that. But while I was
on the road during my travels, I kind of discovered something,
at least to me. I can't confirm or deny this.
(15:41):
I can't confirm or deny anything. But while I was
in the Queen Mary and this stuff is happening, I
thought back to a hotel I went to in Birmingham, Alabama,
the Five Points, Well five Points is the town it's
the Birmingham something five points. It's not on my I
(16:06):
don't often cite that video because it's bad technically. I
edited it poorly and I need to fix it. But
it's a beautiful hotel. I love the Birmingham five Points area.
But if dowsing rods are to be believed, and again
I can't confirm or deny any of this non falsifiable principle,
(16:27):
but dowsing rods is my thing. I had a conversation
with someone in my room, and the person did not
die in the hotel. But in the nineteen twenties or thirties,
the hotel had been like kind of a jup joint,
you know, it was a really happen in place. So
(16:48):
when this person died in according to them, they died
young of a disease. They decided to put their energy
back where they had the most fun, even though the
place has changed. If this is to be believed, maybe
that's a thing. Maybe because the Queen Mary didn't exactly
sink almost in twenty twenty two, but that was when
it was part of the dock, but a lot of
(17:11):
people had a lot of fun on that ship. Maybe
that's where they chose to go back.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
To right and just to give you guys a little
bit of a background on Birmingham, Alabama. Now during that
time period, like twenties, thirties, forties in that area maybe
a little a little later on, even that was actually
(17:40):
a town where people from like to Lula Bankhead and
some of the greats of that time period in the
film Mimist Industry would all go to Birmingham. That was
the party spot for a lot of those guys back then.
(18:02):
So you had a lot of places there that were
very active, like this was this was where the glitz
and glamour crew hung out at was in Birmingham. And
I know now people look at and they're like, what's
in Birmingham, But at one time it was definitely the
(18:25):
party capital for a lot of people. So yeah, that
kind of that lines up a lot with the history
of that area. When you I want to back up
for a second because I want to talk, I got
to know where did you come up with your sidekick
(18:48):
for the show?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
You mean, Dudley Dudley. Yes, Dudley's right here. A fun story.
I used to work for a tour company. I won't
mention them, but they gave out a ghost plushy. They
didn't give them out. They charge a lot of money
(19:12):
for ghost plushies. Now, the ghost plushies they sell as
an add on with the tour have their branding on them.
But the first batch actually came from a company out
in Nebraska, and I simply asked, can I have you
know one of these? Because I thought it'd be fun.
And I remember reading a review about these when I
(19:33):
was still with them, and someone gave a negative review
and they were like, sure, it's cute, but what does
it do now? Price point aside, because I'm not a
fan of gouging. What doesn't this do? You know? Like
it's what you want it to be. And the thing
about Dudley is I like to do everything myself. I
(19:54):
like to write, I like to edit, I like to
I do the recordings. I record my own video. I
take my own photos, which can get boring. Wow you
found it, Pam, Thank you. You really are an ace.
Everybody go to that that's actually kind of taken off.
But with Dudley, like I kind of felt I needed
(20:18):
a foil from time to time other than otherwise, it's
just me talking all the time, and I don't like
hearing my own voice that much, so it's kind of
fun to play off of Dudley. I have a friend
who sort of animated the little ghost, and now there's
a couple of reactions I can put on screen. But
it makes it more interesting, It makes it a lot
(20:39):
more fun, and it's worth way more to me than
like seven the seven dollars we used to charge. The
reason for Dudley's name is it's an homage to Dudley
Town in Dudley Town, Connecticut, which is not only a
place I wanted to go since I was a kid
from that same book, but I actually got there or
(21:02):
almost got there, depending on who you ask, and recorded
a video about it. It's dark entry woods, very very
spiritual to me. As a matter of fact, Ed Warren
claimed there was a demon in the woods. Take that
for what you will, folks, But Dan Ackroyd, the actor
(21:22):
and the spiritual enthusiast, said it was the scariest place
on earth. Now you cannot go into Dudley Town. It's
a long standing, centuries old, abandoned sort of farm complex.
There was a lot of misfortune, a bit of death
and weird death, like people losing their mind going off
into the woods, people getting struck by lightning. A lot
(21:46):
of stuff happened there. That being said, it was closed
off since the early twentieth century, early to mid and
it's kind of had a big resurgence, like all these
channels are doing content on it, and I thought, I've
actually been there, and blissfully I got my video out
(22:07):
as a love letter to the town before all the
content came out. Mister balland did it. I think Tape
Library did it. But Mystery Archives shout out to you, Cody.
He did a video on it. But again my video,
I'm there, or at least I'm very close to there,
whereas the main entry point is severely no trespassing. You're
(22:28):
arrested on site if they find you. I tried to
climb Dudleytown Hill from the back. I made it about
halfway up and it felt like my brain was shutting down,
so I turned around. Now some people have said that's
not Dudleytown very fair. Maybe I didn't make it. Maybe
I go back to the Wolf Trail someday. Maybe I
(22:50):
stepped foot.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Anyway, that's what I named the ghost Plushy after.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
That is really cool that that that's how he got
his name. I'm my I'm still trying to wrap my
head around that town because there's several places like that,
and it's just really kind of overwhelming in a way
when when you decided to pick a destination to go
(23:21):
to where I mean, obviously parts of it is still
you know, stems from from your child your childhood with
that with the book, but where do some of some
of the inspirations come from for you and modern time
in your adult world.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Well, uh, first things first, it depends on whatever deal
email that Spirit Airlines sends to me, and how long
how much money I have on the credit card, and
how long I have the book and all kind of
piece everything together. I haven't been here yet. This is
cheapest to fly to. I do have a mount rushmore
(24:04):
of punted places I want to get to, and I've
gotten to most of them, not all of them. The
Belwich Cave was one, and I got really lucky. As
you know, if it rains too hard, and as you
also know, Tennessee's been experiencing some wacky weather the past
two years, if it rains too hard, you can't go
into the cave. And when I got to the Belwich
(24:27):
Cave like it was raining really hard in sporadic verse,
Hey kristin sporadic verse every ten to fifteen minutes. But
luckily the cave didn't flood, so I got to see it.
And I had driven three hours from Birmingham, Alabama, as
(24:47):
a matter of fact, the same trip, and the tour
was like they all leave at the top of the hour.
I got there at like twelve fifty nine and I
ran across the field to John Bell's farmouse. I'm like,
don't start, please, I'm so sorry, you know, like I'm
trying to be humble, but at the same time, I
had to do this and I had to do it.
Then I try to leave myself enough time, but I
(25:09):
have to work, you know. I have a job. Many
of us do, and that's how I fund the vacations
so as I like to call them. But really it's
a perfect combination of how much money have I spent?
What am I passionate about this month? I have the
ADHD as many of us do, and sometimes I'll think
(25:32):
about this. I'll think about that I was working, For example,
I was working on an Edgar Allan Poe book, which
I really want to start, but I'm kind of following
in the footsteps of places Edgar Allan Poe lived across
the US due to a curse placed on my old hometown.
(25:54):
All of that is like the lore that is true
as low can be true. I guess I can't verify
there is really occurs, but he did say he cursed
the town. So I got to thinking about how Edgar
Allan Poe, even though he died in the mid nineteenth century,
affects us to this day.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Wow. Yeah, because the area that you live in is
a very it's very interesting that the area that whole
like what am I talking about, like all of that
cheer cheer a lot. Yeah, Yeah, geography through there is
(26:40):
is very interesting you. And it's very beautiful too. That's
one of the things I've definitely, uh, without doubt, I
believe most of us can agree on, is that all
of the area through from from Virginia on North, it's
(27:01):
just absolutely I mean, South is beautiful too, but I'm
partial to that, so I'm not going to talk about
it because I can talk about how beautiful the South
is all day, but those areas through there are some
of the most beautiful in the world. I think you've
got things there that you just would not see any
place else. When you when you first started the channel out,
(27:29):
did you have any real like had you built up
a collection of stuff? Was this stuff that happened over time?
Did you have material planned? What was did it just
kind of like did you just say one day, screw it,
I think I'm going to do a channel? How did
you go about doing this?
Speaker 1 (27:50):
All of those things? Funny enough, I recorded a lot.
I would record my ghost huns while I was traveling.
I had built up a cache and I had I
was thinking about how I was gonna make a YouTube channel.
And by the way, thank you Pam. That's my buddy
Sean's shop, Fantasmagoria Antiques. This is a little sticker from
(28:14):
it and oddities, great place, great place to get like
incredible photos as ay Sean. That's him photos as well
as antiques of the weird. And Sean does a lot
of great actual history and not like I'm more a
(28:36):
lore guy. He is more gets to the CD bottom
of history, like the Crescent Hotel down in Arkansas, if
you know anything about that. He loves that place, got
a lot of stuff from there. Check his website out.
So with that out of the way. By the way,
I'm not being paid for any of this. If that
(28:56):
out of the way, let me go back to the
Oh yeah, I had all this material and I was
trying to figure out a format on how to do it.
I didn't exactly want to put my face in there
on account of the fact that people don't always get
to go here. You know, wherever I go, people sometimes
(29:17):
can't get there. And I figured doing it in first
person and kind of talking in their ears, like giving
them a tour for free that they can't physically be
there for. This is part of what started me In
twenty twenty one. I was living in New Jersey at
the time, and there's a town in New Jersey that's
(29:39):
not really a town. It's called Ong's Hat Ong apostrophe
s hat like hat, unincorporated town. It may or may
not even exist anymore. There is a town of Olng
and the hat is kind of sort of on top
of it. But it was this site of a big hoax.
(30:02):
In the nineties and early two thousands, a guy made
what's known as an alternate reality game where he would
print out flyers and he would pin them around universities
sort of in his area. It wasn't even in New Jersey,
but the idea was a group of rogue scientists had
perfected interdimensional travel in a shed in Ong's Hat. So
(30:26):
I go out to OG's Hat, knowing it's it's funk,
it's fake. But I'm like, I get to see Ong's Hat.
You know, it's twenty minutes away. Let's do it. I
drive out to OG's Hat. I walked through the woods
for a while. It's just woods, it's just the pine barrens.
But I'm driving back. I'm getting pictures of the street
signs to say I was there. You know, who pulls up?
(30:49):
There's one business there. It's a bar in restaurant, and
I think it's mostly a bar. We call them package
stores out here.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Ah, it's like a group, group of twenty or thirty
something's in a car. They're asking this woman with a
waitress apron, Hey, where's that creepy abandoned shack in the
middle of the woods where they do the time travel.
They're literally like asking this, like matter of factly. So
(31:19):
I turned to them and in my fresh, my best
uh Fred Gwynn voice, I say, you won't find it there.
I'll take you to it, but you won't find it there.
And I hop in my car. They follow me. I
take them to Ang's Hat, which is a walking tram.
(31:41):
I'm like, well, here you go. There's no shack. It's
a fake story. But that was fun to do, and
I'm like, I kind of want to do that. I
kind of want to move that to YouTube. I didn't
know how to do it. I had been sending some
stuff up and playing with some things without going live,
and I decided to commit when I was on Facebook
one day and a friend of mine posted an old
(32:04):
legend from my area that's currently on my channel. This
would be Colt House Road. And I looked at it
and it was twenty twenty three, and I said, people
still think cult. House Road has a cult And like
that was when I just I laid out an actual
(32:25):
haunted place. I was like, if you want to see
a real haunted place, and I went through footage I
had just captured in Seaford, Delaware at Maggie's Bridge, and
I kind of figured out the format and tweaked it
from there.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Wow wow, Yeah, because there's when I look at your
some of the episodes and I look at the way
that you've got to set up it. It has that
kind of as I was saying backstage, has that kind
(33:00):
of feel of the Travel Channel meets the Paranormal meets
Victor S. Johnson all in one. It's a very it's
a very unique feel, and it's one that, like I said,
it's informative as well as entertaining. And that's one of
(33:22):
the things that I really appreciate about what you do,
because I mean, like you say, very often, actually that's
kind of one of your taglines now, right that you
go places that others only you read about. Yeah, And
I find that very interesting and very exciting actually, because
(33:45):
here I'm kind of like you. I just kind of
like I have to work to afford to go to
do the things that I do, and I'm just getting
back into the to the realm of of going places
to do physical investigation again. So I'm kind of very
(34:05):
localized right now. But there's so many places out there
in this country to go to and to experience. We've
talked about like places that were impressive to you. What
was And you don't have to really talk about this
(34:25):
if you don't want to, but I'm kind of curious.
Did you have a place that you were really excited
about and then you got there and you were like, oh.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Hmmm, well not really like when I get there, Like
I've learned to temper my expectations. That's also another beauty
of my channel, which I'll get to in a second.
But the only one I've ever really been negatively effected
by was Glastonbury, Vermont. And that's just because I can't
(35:01):
get to it. Kristin, who's in here now, will tell you,
Like the first time I tried, it's a twelve mile
hike through the Appalachian Trail over a mountain in wilderness,
just to see this town. That was That's maybe a
couple of foundations in a fire tower. And I keep
(35:22):
trying to do it every year. I keep not making it.
The first year I nearly died. That's not hyperbole. Like
I fell. I messed up my shin and my knee
really badly, and I ran out of water and I
was stranded up there and I basically pulled my leg
back down and was able to get down the mountain
before dark. That was nuts. Last year I tried again,
(35:45):
and by last year, I mean June, and I just
I didn't feel it. Something was wrong in my hip.
Thank you, Famla. Something was wrong in my hip, so
I turned around early. I'm glad I did. It's like
a three hike and I just have to prepare for it.
That's the only one, and I still want to do it.
I'm just like that. It's never disappointing to me. There
(36:09):
are places I know that are going to be bad
that I go to anyway, like Helltown, Ohio, which is
just the park it always was. They didn't develop it.
I go there anyway. It made me miserable, but I
could say, hey, I went to Helltown. There's a Del
Taco nearby. Great. I love Del Taco. I spent some
(36:30):
time on the West Coast. But actually the other point
of my channel, Daniel, and I'm glad you bring it
up because you were talking about the Devil's Chair earlier.
Do you know what town the Devil's Chair is in?
Speaker 2 (36:46):
I did know. It's been a while since I've even
like read anything about it.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Okay, here's the point of my channel right now. Because
the Devil's Chair, well, I do think there's a haunting there.
It's mostly just like ghosts trying to rest that get
upset that we keep leaving beer on the thing and whatnot,
trying to see Satan. But it's in the town of Cassadega, Florida,
(37:15):
which is a spiritualist community and has been for some time.
It takes inspiration from Lilydale, New York, which is where
the Fox Sisters were from and all that. I believe
they were from Lilydale. But lily Dale was founded as
a spiritualist town. And it's a beautiful, gorgeous town. There's
(37:36):
a lot of spirituality in it. There's places you can
get your aura photograph. The Visitors Center is a big bookstore,
and there's a horror well not a horror museum, a
paranormal museum right in the middle of town. Sea Green's
Paranormal Museum, which I've written about, and it actually takes
you all the way through kind of different sections of
(37:59):
para normal study. You find a lot of surprising stuff there,
like they've got stuff from like taps there. They've got
a number of like rock formations weighing on the whole
energy thing. My buddy, my personal friend, Matt Lake, one
of his books was in there. It was actually HH
Holmes's book. They just he wrote the forward for it.
(38:23):
He gives an hh Holmes tour up here by Philadelphia
because Holmes died in Philadelphia. He was hanged. Sean actually
knows that this is where he was caught. But one
of his books, like one of Holmes's books with Matt
Lake's for Matt Lake's Forward, you know that's right, is
in the museum, and I sent it to Mada. I'm like, hey,
you know, you made it to Cassadiga, Florida, you know,
(38:45):
and it's beautiful. There's an area fifty one section, there's
a cryptid section. You have all this so if you're
ten minutes at the Devil's Chair is uneventful. There's so
much to do just half a mile down the street.
That's the point of destination. Spooky. There's always something to do.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Right right, and you really like, you know, yeah, because
we get some places, and there's a lot of places
that people don't understand, Like, okay, here. People go to
Gatlinburg all the time because it's part of the Great
Smoking Mountain National Park, blah blah blah. Everybody's all about
(39:28):
nature and the bears and the bunnies and all that
kind of stuff. What they don't know is that Gatlinburg
has after things quiet down around eight o'clock at night.
They offer ghost tours throughout the city. They have there's
very that area is very rich in lore, and they
(39:55):
have people that will go in the places like Cato's
Cove at night, after the after sundown and we'll do
paranormal investigation. Because you can still go to those places
not advisable, do not go alone, because there is a
(40:15):
lot of wildlife out there. You can go to those
places at night, and there have been people to let
go there to do paranormal investigation and so forth at
some of those locations at the Cove. So there's a
lot of places throughout everywhere, everywhere in this country that
(40:36):
people don't understand. Beyond what most people go to see,
there's that undercurrent of paranormal enthusiasm. There's sites to see
and investigations to be had, sometimes in the middle of
(40:59):
somebody's corn. I mean, it's like you just have to explore.
And I think that's one of the things that you
and your show, your podcast really does is kind of
open people's minds to the possibility that there's more than
just going to the top five big investigation places exactly.
(41:28):
So let me ask you this, and by the way
before we get too much further, I want you, guys,
if you are if you've made it this far and
you have a favorite podcast of the paranormal, that you
may not it may not be a really big one.
(41:48):
It may not be one that fits the cookie cutter
of all the other paranormal shows. Comment below and tell
us what it is and why you like it. When
you actually forgot what I was going to ask you now,
(42:08):
that happens occasionally. I swear, I'm like I have retail
brain these days. Retail brain really bad because that's what
I do.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Yeah, while we're thinking about it. By the way, the
heat isn't good for our arment uh intelligence either. Right
now you can see me having a brain part. It's
been a nightmare of humidity, but so much just a
shout out to the Eye of Jupiter. Yes, starring Tom
Franklin and Codex of Codega's Codex of Curiosities.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Rybos just wanted to get those in there. Actually, I
was just on Tom's show for the Forum of the
Forbidden a little bit ago. When you when when you
(43:00):
first started out in working with the paranormal and doing
an investigation, I'm sure you started out with like a
lot of us with questions, with ideas of what you
wanted to do and what you wanted to discover along
(43:21):
the way. First of all, let's talk about the the
your early understanding of the paranormal. What what was that
like for you? What was what? What was Victor in
his younger days? What was your view of the paranormal?
Speaker 1 (43:43):
I always took a loure at phase value. Like my
interest in the paranormal, uh starts before it was sort
of mainstream television, as many of us do. We just
may or may not talk about it. But all Lawrence
and the Dead Chronicles, Yes, please do watch the Dead Chronicles.
(44:04):
If there's a guy who focuses on the history, it's
Austin Lawrence, rising quickly and deserves it and should go
up even further. That being said, hold on, there's that.
There's that humidity brain again. There it goes that being said,
(44:27):
I kind of go with the old stories, you know, not, hey,
here's what the Old War wasn't Oh Tom's here? Tom,
I shouted you out, you missed it. But with the
Old War, it was more like you were being told
the story, you know, like for number for fifty Berkeley Square,
(44:50):
this person might have been chained there and this person
slept in the room with a pistol and shot at
the wall and all that. That's that amazes me versus
you know, someone going there and like nothing's happening, but
they're trying to tell me something's happening. So I am
more of a lore guy and always will be. That
(45:13):
lare often does not come true, not when I go there.
It's not a science, you know, like if we could
repeat the conditions and get the same results every time,
it would be a science. But most of the time
nothing happens. But I've learned to value the lare regardless
without sensationalizing it. And it's enough for me, and the
(45:37):
few experience, the few experiences I'm grateful to have, are
enough for me. They're enough for my beliefs, So they're
enough for me to keep going and keep trying, because
one out of every fifty times, I'm going to get
the footsteps behind me, or I'm going to get that
amazing EVP and it'll be worth it even if no
(45:57):
one watches. So it kind of it's about being grateful
to me. To sum that up.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Better, it really is, It really can be. It's a
lot of people. They'll go, Wow, what's it like being
a paranormal investigator? What's it like doing this? What's it
like doing that? And when you tell them about ninety
percent of the time, it's a lot of hurry up
(46:27):
and weigh. They really don't know what you're talking about.
They really don't get it because they what they see
on television makes it all look very different.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
And i'd prefer, oh, thank you, Pam, I prefer novices. Again,
that's the tour guideline to me. These are people who
are curious, have the money for it, and they want
to know what to look for. But it is kind
of our duty, I feel like, to tell them what
they should be looking for. I've shown people full ghost
(47:00):
photos on tours and they'll squint and they'll go, what
am I looking at here? And in the meantime, I thought, hey,
look at this, look at this. I just proved the afterlife,
and they're like, what is this? What am I looking at?
I'm like, And but moments like that make me realize, Hey,
if I have that picture, if I have something I
can cite, like a blurb from a book, and that
(47:26):
explains what's going on, we can get people's interest in
passion back up without sensationalizing it, cheapening it, and where'st
the ball trying to empty their pockets. I really do feel.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
That way, right exactly. I agree with you on that.
I think there's a lot of people out there that
shy away from doing some things because they're like, oh,
my goodness, this is so expensive. It doesn't have to be.
I mean, yeah, you go to some places, you're going
(48:04):
to be spending a few bucks to be there. Yeah,
there's some of the bigger names and they're worth it.
Some of them can be worth it, but sometimes it's
the smaller areas. One of the things that you've talked about,
and I really want to I want to kind of
(48:25):
bring this to people's attention. The the area of the Bill,
which a site locally, we know that it's it's that
it's kind of up for debate whether the location of
the Bell House it was on the exact location they
(48:48):
say it is. The cave is definitely the cave, but
the house itself for those that are interested in the
lore and so for worth versus the actual story itself.
You want to do your research on some of these,
(49:09):
especially here in the in the South, because you'll find
that the locals have a totally different stories sometimes and
what you're hearing like the location of things, and there
are still people around they can tell you like, well
my granddad said that this happened right over here, you know,
(49:31):
and so forth, and I tend to want to believe
the locals sometimes more than a material on some things.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
That town is Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, gettings. There's there's a term
in the town of Gettysburg for a tour guide. It's
Gettysburg Original. That's someone who was literally born in the
town and they are always thank you family. They are
always hired preferentially over like anyone from outside of Gettysburg,
(50:02):
which is a fine way to do it. And I
know quite a few tour guides in Gettysburg. But yeah,
Gettysburg Original is a term there for a reason.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
I mean, let's face it, that is one of the places.
Have you spent very much time there in Gangsburg?
Speaker 1 (50:24):
Yeah, I did a few tours in Gettysburg during the days.
Speaker 2 (50:29):
I thought we I had heard you talk about Gangsburg
quite a bit at one. One of the things that
that you know, when you're talking about a town like that,
I mean that literally is the backbone of the economy
(50:50):
of that area revolves around Gettingsburg itself, the the battleground.
I mean, that's what draws people there so much of
the time. So when it comes to those kinds of
places like that, integrity is a big deal, very big deal.
(51:14):
So early on, you know, you kind of kept actually
the idea of lore being your interest throughout the years.
What are some things that evolved in your you're thinking
(51:34):
of the paranormal from early on to now.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
Well, once the rituals would like fail, the old rituals
I'd read about do this and this will happen, and
it never came true, I would keep I would get
just enough to keep wanting to do it. And I
taught myself that's actually why destination spooky exists because remember
those kids from Ong's Hat. They go there, they don't
(52:02):
see a time traveling shed. They leave disappointed. Well, what
else is there to do? In OG's Hat. I had
been a tour guide. I didn't just give spooky tours.
I used to give like segue tours, which gave me PTSD.
That's riding around a city on a segue with a
bunch of people who don't know how to ride one,
and what a nightmare. But I got a lot out
of that job too. I learned to appreciate things through
(52:25):
that job, like street art, like murals, locations for other things,
such as places where movies and television shows were shot,
places where famous historical events happened. I taught myself to
get myself tours through historical markers and things like that,
and you can immerse yourself in a place with more
(52:47):
than just spook wore. And as I would kind of
shift into that, I always maintain doing a ghost hunt
here and there, and then I would start to connect
other dots. That's where I came up with that whole
thing area of if your energy is in a good
place when you go, you can go wherever you want
and you think about it. So that's sort of opening
(53:09):
myself up to what we can prove or what does
exist right in front of us. Allowed me to have
a new pre appreciation for the stuff I have faith in.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
Right right now. You've referenced Troy Taylor a few times too, correct.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
Troy Taylor. Yeah, I don't recall.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
Actually I know there was I know there was one
recently that I was I was watching of yours that
I'm pretty sure it was yours. Maybe it was another one.
Are you familiar with Troy Taylor at all?
Speaker 3 (53:49):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (53:50):
No, actually no, maybe it wasn't your. Yeah, I do
a lot. I watch a lot of videos throughout the week.
Tory Taylor, You would probably appreciate him. Uh. He is.
He's stationed in De Caater, Illinois, and one of his
(54:14):
one of his things is he's He's always written several
books and he focuses on like places like Alfon, Illinois
to Cater, Illinois. Chicago of course, and so he has
(54:37):
this whost series of haunted and city name books. He's
very much about talking about the history of these places
because as he says and has he as he has
his people say on the tours, is today's headlines is
tomorrow's ghost stories. And that's That's one of the things
(55:03):
about that really got me interested in learning about the
history of places was was really studying some of Tory's work,
because honestly, when I first started out, I was all
just about the paranormal part of it. Really didn't think
a lot about the historical value things. And oddly enough,
(55:29):
the place that I was I was born and raised
at was in Illinois, and I was born on the
south side of town actually Chicago. So yeah, so there
you had was the Valentine's Day massacre. A lot of
places there that had that are paranormal hotspots, you would think.
(55:55):
And let's bring it even closer. Anton Levy was actually
born and on Lake Shore Drive area there in Chicago,
so there's a lot of history there in the Chicago
area paranormal wise. So I find it very interesting that
you you lean heavy on the lower side of things
(56:21):
because one of the things, and when you live in
the south, you know there's a lot. You learn this
very quickly. Did anyone else here? Your cat? Yeah? You
hear one of my roommates needy cats. I'll give her
some attention here in a little bit one way through.
Speaker 1 (56:42):
That was me, Pam. Sorry. By the way, Tom, were
you thinking of Connecticut not Massachusetts? I saw his blurb
on screen because he might have been talking about Dudley
Town ironically. Yeah, that one. It's it would be Connecticut,
not Massachusetts. I've been to Massachusetts a lot, and I
(57:05):
can't think of a town I can't go to in Massachusetts.
Fall River is kind of the cursed town. Towards Nantucket.
That's where the Lizzie Bordon houses, That's where they had
those satanic murders, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, there's
never been anywhere. I haven't been able to go in Massachusetts.
(57:27):
But he might be talking about Wtown.
Speaker 2 (57:30):
Now have you have you explored any of the places
in New York and those areas where the the events
that took place at started the Prince Philip wore some
of the massacres there? Have you explored any of those areas?
Speaker 1 (57:54):
I haven't explored. I've probably driven through like I've been to.
New York State is very big, and I've been to
a lot of it. There's a lot of sacred ground
and whatnot, and just places where weird things happen. But
I haven't gone looking for that in particular yet.
Speaker 2 (58:12):
It would be very interesting because I know the the
site and meticular of the massacre that really sparked the
war itself, the Princevilleip War, which took place back in
(58:33):
the sixteen hundreds. This was before the country was even
a country, right. It was a very violent attack that
sparked this war, And I'm very curious to see if
anybody has ever gone through and investigated that area to
(58:55):
see if indeed there's any activity there. I would love
to go there. Yeah, Tom, remember.
Speaker 1 (59:10):
My favorite thing to do, mhay.
Speaker 2 (59:18):
So let's talk for a minute about what your future
goals are for that you that you care to share
with us for the show and for places that you're
going to be talking about coming out.
Speaker 1 (59:37):
Well, I've got a backlog of stuff I have to do.
I stayed at the Penny Farthing Bed and Breakfast in
Saint Augustine months ago. I have yet to put that out.
I like to do these little blurb but is it
haunted ones where it's just like eight minutes and I
can just throw it up there to kind of keep Yeah,
(59:58):
I'm inside now, Tom, I'm sorry. I did all those
ones outside. I owe you one where I'm in my house,
so I'll get on you with that. But I like
to do the blurred ones just to keep myself going.
(01:00:18):
But I'm also venturing out into other things. Like I
did a video I'm really proud of called road Trips
to Elsewhere, and I want to keep working on those
where I went to Crown City, Ohio, which is just
like an open air sort of neighborhood. There's no fences.
It's not like a trailer court. There's just like small
(01:00:40):
little ranch houses that just sort of exist. And there's
this big, long story about a house that reappeared, or
that appeared out of nowhere, I should say it just
sort of blipped into existence, stayed there, and blipped out.
Now I drive the Crown City. I had other stuff
to do. I was in West Virginia. It's part of
(01:01:01):
a West Virginia tour I did. And I go to
Crown City. I do the little ghost hunt. A house
does not appear. Spoilers, But I'm wondering, like, well, is
this going to be a three minute but is it haunted? No,
it isn't. Or And this is what I got into earlier.
Should I be teaching people about this war? And I
(01:01:27):
took a little blurb in Dennis william Hawk's book about
how a house appeared once and some details of that
were matched together and just wrong, which is something I
never expected when I was sixteen, not now in my forties.
But I researched it. I found an article, I found
articles about the people involved. It's a compelling story that
(01:01:48):
I'm actually really proud of. It's on my channel. It's
called there was a House here. It's gone now and
if you're looking for it. That's an ode to Silent
Hill too, by the way, the video game. But there's
so many connecting features in that story, so much synchronicity,
that I fell in love with it. And it took
(01:02:10):
days to put together this thirty minute episode on a
town where mind you, I went there and nothing happened,
and there's nothing there. There's a single dollar general, a
place to get gas, and this little open air town
and nothing. And I had the most fun I'd had
in a while at that point.
Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
So if you're into this stuff, it's always there for you.
You just need to know where to look. And I
want to do more. Hey, according to these people, this
stuff happened. Isn't that cool kind of stuff?
Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
Yeah? Yeah, I like that content on your site. Like
I said, the thing I can say about your YouTube
channel is that it is very unique, it's very entertaining,
and it's very informative all at once. When I go
on there, I go on there when I get tired
(01:03:05):
of being bogged down with a lot of the day
to day paranormal stuff. And you gotta know what I'm
talking about. I mean, every after a while, a lot
of our were channels will start selling alike mine included
some days. So sometimes it's good to break away from
(01:03:26):
that and when I want a vaka from that sort
of thing. You're one of the destinations destination spooky that
I go to toe just chill and relax and learn
something new, because you do point out things and places
(01:03:50):
that not just everybody is doing and saying about. So
it's if you're looking for a bucket list of things
that are just kind of unexpected, and especially if you're
looking for a bucket let us of things you may
not even know about. This is right around you, within
(01:04:13):
driving the distance. This is one of the places to
go to. Definitely, we're getting ready to close out the night.
One of the things I always ask people is what
is something that you would like to leave us with tonight?
What you got for closing words?
Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
Closing words? I think these are going to be good.
It's a personal mantra of mind traveler. Whatever you decide
to do, whatever you like, I hope you enjoy it,
and I hope you get the most out of it.
Just don't hurt anyone else's I think that's a good
(01:04:59):
way to be.
Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
It is very good. It's very good. I love the
way that you kind of approach everybody as traveler. I
love that. I am going to close us out. I
will be back with you in just a moment.
Speaker 1 (01:05:18):
Okay. By the way, I gave Tom this amazing quote
once when I did an interview with him. I completely
forgot what it was, but he has sort of the
same thing. I gave something incredible. I have no idea
what I told him. I was talking off the top
of my head. So Tom, wherever that was, I hope
it was good enough. Thank you again, family, and again
(01:05:42):
August ninth, I'll be at the Deep South Para Comic
Con down in Ozark, Alabama. Come check me out.
Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
Definitely, so definitely all right, guys, thank you, Thank you
you guys, and thank you Victor for showing tonight and
to hanging out with us here at Magical Journy Podcast.
I also want to kind of give an extra shout
(01:06:13):
out to Song's dot com there. I had to look
there for a second and getting tired and old these days,
my classes need to be changed to do not forget.
First of all, next week, I've got Katie Page coming
(01:06:36):
and she is going to be talking to us about
her experiences on the ranch she grew up on, and
maybe we can get her to talk a little bit
about Skinwalker Ranch. If you did not see the episode
of Trey Hudson a couple of weeks back talking about
(01:06:57):
the Meadow Project that is very similar in a lot
of ways to skin Walker, so go back and check
that out. I'll also have links coming up soon to
books and so forth that I will be recommending and
pointing out dealing with podcast episodes that we have recently had.
(01:07:26):
I don't know what I just heard outside, but that
was weird. Anyway, do not forget also to check out
before my show next week, the I of Jupiter Podcast. Tom,
you always have amazing guests on and I appreciate you.
I appreciate your show incredibly. We all love Victor. Let
(01:07:49):
me tell you, this has been a show that I've
been waiting to do for a while to have him on,
so we appreciate definitely tonight And as always, guys, your
journey always be magical, waiting for.
Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
So long to see when you come back to me
through the walls and battles that were lost, We're born again.
It's you and me. The rest is history. To dance
(01:08:56):
together different The fifteenth hundred has hand, and we must
stable row. We mustable suffered upas life
B B.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, and hello everybody, and welcome to another night of
(01:20):
Magical Journey Podcast. I'm your host, Daniel Ian Kuhn, and
tonight I want to start out the show as always
by pointing you guys to my favorite company, Mystical Magical
and Mystical Magical. Y'all help me tonight. Y'all know I'm
(01:47):
talking about Mystical Mountain Creations. Why am I so hard
to remember names lately? I know I have all timers.
I'm sure of it now, Jenny, you and I had
a conversation today, so you already know where my head's at.
(02:07):
I'm still trying to wrap my head around your situation
is somebody else's before we get started tonight, and please
help me remember my own podcast, guys, because I'll forget
it too before it's over with. We struggle to pam
(02:29):
we do. Before I get too deep into it tonight,
I do want to tell you guys to go over
and check out my dot com Magical Journey Podcast dot com,
and you will find it getting updated with all the
latest information. There is a blog post on there that
(02:52):
will directly link you to the episodes that we have
been doing lately. You can find links to the audio
podcast Magical Merge, which I just updated some new looks
on there and they're very exciting, so go check those out.
There's a little retro fill to them. And I also
(03:18):
want to let you guys know that in the process
of doing all this, I also have started a coy
five which is the link for that is over there.
It is a great way to be able to support
the effort of the show. Upcoming stuff investigations that are
(03:45):
coming on that you guys will be benefiting from the
results of. I will be taking you on a video
of virtual investigation with me at one point. They're coming up,
so do check that out. Anyway, that's enough about me tonight,
(04:05):
I want to give you guys an opportunity to meet
a guy who has been one of my favorites online
for a bit and I find his show his podcast
to be not only informative but incredibly entertaining. Ladies and gentlemen,
(04:27):
welcome the Reverend Victor S. Johnson.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Greetings, travelers, Greetings.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You know you're probably the first name I haven't messed
up tonight.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
People knock me for that pseudonym, and yet it works
out well when it just rolls off the tongue like that,
so I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It literally does. So Victor tells us a little bit
about yourself. You've got some stuff coming up that you
going to be doing. Let's hear about those things.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Oh absolutely, I'm gonna be in your area, Daniel, as
we kind of went over, I'll be at the Deep
South Para Con in Ozark, Alabama. That's August ninth, the
weekend of August ninth and tenth. I have a panel
at two o'clock. I'll also be vending there, and I've
got some great original stuff. By the way, I'm not
(05:25):
going to spoil what it is, but the promoters Stan
and Teresa Hey Pam, Stan and Teresa Fights have been
very sweet to me. They did a check to make
sure I wasn't selling stuff that there it is selling
stuff that other vendors are going to sell. Also, I
(05:45):
want to shout out doctor Lee Brown, who will be
there in attendance. She's been very sweet to me, Gwen
John's and I want to shout out real quick Angie
and Shane McLain, who kind of spiritually connected all of
us together. So thanks everyone, and I look forward to
seeing you there if you can make.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
It, definitely, definitely. There's are so many different events going
on this year. Wow, So Victory, you have a channel
on YouTube, correct, last I checked, and it is quite
(06:24):
a channel. Tell us a little bit about Destination Spooky
and give us some idea of what we're going to
find when we go over there.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Absolutely so. I've been into the strange and curious since
i was a small child. I was always a weird
kid still am, and I would kind of spend my nights.
I like to tell this story, even though it makes
it points me as a loser in high school, but
I would spend my Friday nights reading a particular book,
(06:59):
The Haunted Places National Directory by Denis William Hawk, a
book I still have, one way or the other, and
it has a detailed, categorized list of everything that this author,
Denis William Hawk, has collected over the years and aggregated.
So by the way, Pam, don't forget Destination Spooky on YouTube.
(07:23):
That was the one link I didn't send you on.
I'm so bad at that. You can actually just yeah,
there it is. Thank you so much. I guess I
can see the comments. But when everybody was out, you know,
living and enjoying life in high school. I was at
home on a Friday night reading that book and kind
(07:43):
of corroborating it as well as pointing to stuff on
the Internet when it was still in its infancy of popularity.
This would have been the late nineties, and that passion
and interest has never waned. So with this book, with
this book of itemized locations across the country, I decided
(08:06):
after a big life change in twenty twenty one, we
all had one at that point, but I decided why
don't I, and I started traveling. I have done a
lot of traveling, both locally and across the country, and
I got to get my passport updated soon. But I'm
hoping to go international very soon, and I get to
(08:28):
verify these legends. I think part of the beauty of
the channel is that I don't sensationalize. That's the humor
and where that comes in that you love so much. Daniel,
like I have to make it entertaining somehow, and I
was a tour guide. I had some years as a
stand up comic prior to that. There's a surprising amount
(08:49):
of overlap in that in those two industries, by the way,
but I learned how to, you know, talk to people
and get them hooked and entertained without saying, hey, hey,
there's a ghost behind you. That'll be ten dollars. So,
you know, I think that's what makes it. It's interesting
because it's real in that way. I don't always get something.
(09:13):
Sometimes it's a bust, and I still have to make
the video worthwhile to watch, so that in itself is
a challenge, but a rewarding one.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, I gotta tell you. One of my favorite episodes,
oddly enough, is a lot of people are going to
be shocking going to find this shocking in a way
probably was the episode where you went to Zach Began's museum.
(09:43):
I was very impressed with your response to that, and
it was very much different than what I was expecting
because my first thoughts was that this has got to
be probably one of the hookeyest places on earth, but
you kind of change my opinion of that.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I know people will hate me for doing that thing,
but yeah, I do feel it's worth going to once.
One of my rules, one of my core tenants, is
go there once. It's worth experiencing one time. And I've
gone to some real clunkers, but I can say I
went if anyone ever brings it up. I've got that
story so and they don't always make air. I've got
(10:25):
a lot of b roll that I can do nothing with.
But that's okay, right right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
One of the I noticed I have not watched it
yet because I'm kind of holding off. You did an
episode on the Devil's Chair, which is one of those
places that I kind of I don't know, I'm kind
of still on the fence about myself. I think it's personally.
(10:53):
I feel like it's a lot of local lore and
Grannis tells kind of mixed together. So I'm kind of
waiting to see what you have to say about it
un till after this interview. But that's one of the
ones that I kind of put off to the side
(11:15):
for right now. About but tell us about some of
the place that you've been to that you were pleasantly
surprised about.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
The wayside in in Virginia that I want to say Sutton,
but again, the towns start to merge. It's sort of
close to Harper's Ferry, kind of a big Civil War town.
There's actually a plaque right outside where it talks about
(11:45):
Stonewall Jackson kind of leading a raid on the town,
and the town just kind of going with it. But
I got a lot of stuff there that I kind
of went in blind on and they had very good
chicken wings. I'll get to the whole mix of everything there.
I will also say the Queen Mary out in Long Beach.
(12:09):
We all hear about how haunted it is, and it
still manages to surprise me. That's actually the video where
there's disembodied footsteps, and I caught it by pure accident
on camera because I'm filming b roll down in the
lower decks and someone runs behind me and I turn
and look, there's no one. It doesn't register in my
(12:30):
brain and you can see that I'm still doing the
b role. I'm like, wait a minute, and I run
upstairs to try and see if anyone could have thrown
their footsteps or whatever. There's no one around, and I
just I've done I get so in a zone and
I've done this. Thank you, Pam. I've done this so
much that like I just wasn't ready to go. I
(12:50):
wasn't firing and I'm like, oh, wait a minute, and
just I love that one. That was a pleasant surprise.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Wow. Yeah, those those moments when you get things on
video that just kind of come out left field. That's
to me what makes all of this worth it.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I just got a message from somebody a little bit
ago that's sent me something that it was like, what
is this And I'm like, I have no idea what'll
work on it? So, you know, it's exciting to see.
I get more joy out of seeing other people's materials
sometimes than seeing my own, because having confirmation from other
(13:38):
people that you that they're having these experiences is it
just come out left field to me, is like, oh good,
I'm not the crazy one to hear other people are
having this too, because when these things happen, the footsteps
running that has happened spontaneously to a few people and
(14:05):
they've ki it on tape that I thought was very interesting.
What's your take on that?
Speaker 1 (14:13):
To me? I think it's kind of we had a
theory a few tour guys and I about how it
pertains to sort of Einstein's theory of relativity. And by
the way, thank you for the disclaimer at the beginning.
I am not a scientist, folks, I know nothing, none
of us do. It's just me talking off the cuff.
(14:36):
But the idea that we're in the third dimension now,
and that the fourth dimension is space and time itself.
And I think that sometimes we get some crossover depending
on how much energy is sort of concentrated in an area.
And I think, believe it or not, I think skepticism
(14:58):
can help in that general skep theism. One knock on
the Queen Mary, for example, a ship that claims to
have and I saw this on an advertisement, so it
could have been trumping it up, but fifty seven ghosts
aboard it. Skeptics will point to there's no record of
any deaths on board that they could find. That's what
(15:20):
I believe I saw, and I think that's in my
video or in my article about it. Another one I
didn't give you was my Medium page and sorry, Pam,
you don't have to promote that. But while I was
on the road during my travels, I kind of discovered something,
at least to me. I can't confirm or deny this.
(15:41):
I can't confirm or deny anything. But while I was
in the Queen Mary and this stuff is happening, I
thought back to a hotel I went to in Birmingham, Alabama,
the Five Points, Well five Points is the town it's
the Birmingham something five points. It's not on my I
(16:06):
don't often cite that video because it's bad technically. I
edited it poorly and I need to fix it. But
it's a beautiful hotel. I love the Birmingham five Points area.
But if dowsing rods are to be believed, and again
I can't confirm or deny any of this non falsifiable principle,
(16:27):
but dowsing rods is my thing. I had a conversation
with someone in my room, and the person did not
die in the hotel. But in the nineteen twenties or thirties,
the hotel had been like kind of a jup joint,
you know, it was a really happen in place. So
(16:48):
when this person died in according to them, they died
young of a disease. They decided to put their energy
back where they had the most fun, even though the
place has changed. If this is to be believed, maybe
that's a thing. Maybe because the Queen Mary didn't exactly
sink almost in twenty twenty two, but that was when
it was part of the dock, but a lot of
(17:11):
people had a lot of fun on that ship. Maybe
that's where they chose to go back.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
To right and just to give you guys a little
bit of a background on Birmingham, Alabama. Now during that
time period, like twenties, thirties, forties in that area maybe
a little a little later on, even that was actually
(17:40):
a town where people from like to Lula Bankhead and
some of the greats of that time period in the
film Mimist Industry would all go to Birmingham. That was
the party spot for a lot of those guys back then.
(18:02):
So you had a lot of places there that were
very active, like this was this was where the glitz
and glamour crew hung out at was in Birmingham. And
I know now people look at and they're like, what's
in Birmingham, But at one time it was definitely the
(18:25):
party capital for a lot of people. So yeah, that
kind of that lines up a lot with the history
of that area. When you I want to back up
for a second because I want to talk, I got
to know where did you come up with your sidekick
(18:48):
for the show?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
You mean, Dudley Dudley. Yes, Dudley's right here. A fun story.
I used to work for a tour company. I won't
mention them, but they gave out a ghost plushy. They
didn't give them out. They charge a lot of money
(19:12):
for ghost plushies. Now, the ghost plushies they sell as
an add on with the tour have their branding on them.
But the first batch actually came from a company out
in Nebraska, and I simply asked, can I have you
know one of these? Because I thought it'd be fun.
And I remember reading a review about these when I
(19:33):
was still with them, and someone gave a negative review
and they were like, sure, it's cute, but what does
it do now? Price point aside, because I'm not a
fan of gouging. What doesn't this do? You know? Like
it's what you want it to be. And the thing
about Dudley is I like to do everything myself. I
(19:54):
like to write, I like to edit, I like to
I do the recordings. I record my own video. I
take my own photos, which can get boring. Wow you
found it, Pam, Thank you. You really are an ace.
Everybody go to that that's actually kind of taken off.
But with Dudley, like I kind of felt I needed
(20:18):
a foil from time to time other than otherwise, it's
just me talking all the time, and I don't like
hearing my own voice that much, so it's kind of
fun to play off of Dudley. I have a friend
who sort of animated the little ghost, and now there's
a couple of reactions I can put on screen. But
it makes it more interesting, It makes it a lot
(20:39):
more fun, and it's worth way more to me than
like seven the seven dollars we used to charge. The
reason for Dudley's name is it's an homage to Dudley
Town in Dudley Town, Connecticut, which is not only a
place I wanted to go since I was a kid
from that same book, but I actually got there or
(21:02):
almost got there, depending on who you ask, and recorded
a video about it. It's dark entry woods, very very
spiritual to me. As a matter of fact, Ed Warren
claimed there was a demon in the woods. Take that
for what you will, folks, But Dan Ackroyd, the actor
(21:22):
and the spiritual enthusiast, said it was the scariest place
on earth. Now you cannot go into Dudley Town. It's
a long standing, centuries old, abandoned sort of farm complex.
There was a lot of misfortune, a bit of death
and weird death, like people losing their mind going off
into the woods, people getting struck by lightning. A lot
(21:46):
of stuff happened there. That being said, it was closed
off since the early twentieth century, early to mid and
it's kind of had a big resurgence, like all these
channels are doing content on it, and I thought, I've
actually been there, and blissfully I got my video out
(22:07):
as a love letter to the town before all the
content came out. Mister balland did it. I think Tape
Library did it. But Mystery Archives shout out to you, Cody.
He did a video on it. But again my video,
I'm there, or at least I'm very close to there,
whereas the main entry point is severely no trespassing. You're
(22:28):
arrested on site if they find you. I tried to
climb Dudleytown Hill from the back. I made it about
halfway up and it felt like my brain was shutting down,
so I turned around. Now some people have said that's
not Dudleytown very fair. Maybe I didn't make it. Maybe
I go back to the Wolf Trail someday. Maybe I
(22:50):
stepped foot.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Anyway, that's what I named the ghost Plushy after.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
That is really cool that that that's how he got
his name. I'm my I'm still trying to wrap my
head around that town because there's several places like that,
and it's just really kind of overwhelming in a way
when when you decided to pick a destination to go
(23:21):
to where I mean, obviously parts of it is still
you know, stems from from your child your childhood with
that with the book, but where do some of some
of the inspirations come from for you and modern time
in your adult world.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Well, uh, first things first, it depends on whatever deal
email that Spirit Airlines sends to me, and how long
how much money I have on the credit card, and
how long I have the book and all kind of
piece everything together. I haven't been here yet. This is
cheapest to fly to. I do have a mount rushmore
(24:04):
of punted places I want to get to, and I've
gotten to most of them, not all of them. The
Belwich Cave was one, and I got really lucky. As
you know, if it rains too hard, and as you
also know, Tennessee's been experiencing some wacky weather the past
two years, if it rains too hard, you can't go
into the cave. And when I got to the Belwich
(24:27):
Cave like it was raining really hard in sporadic verse,
Hey kristin sporadic verse every ten to fifteen minutes. But
luckily the cave didn't flood, so I got to see it.
And I had driven three hours from Birmingham, Alabama, as
(24:47):
a matter of fact, the same trip, and the tour
was like they all leave at the top of the hour.
I got there at like twelve fifty nine and I
ran across the field to John Bell's farmouse. I'm like,
don't start, please, I'm so sorry, you know, like I'm
trying to be humble, but at the same time, I
had to do this and I had to do it.
Then I try to leave myself enough time, but I
(25:09):
have to work, you know. I have a job. Many
of us do, and that's how I fund the vacations
so as I like to call them. But really it's
a perfect combination of how much money have I spent?
What am I passionate about this month? I have the
ADHD as many of us do, and sometimes I'll think
(25:32):
about this. I'll think about that I was working, For example,
I was working on an Edgar Allan Poe book, which
I really want to start, but I'm kind of following
in the footsteps of places Edgar Allan Poe lived across
the US due to a curse placed on my old hometown.
(25:54):
All of that is like the lore that is true
as low can be true. I guess I can't verify
there is really occurs, but he did say he cursed
the town. So I got to thinking about how Edgar
Allan Poe, even though he died in the mid nineteenth century,
affects us to this day.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Wow. Yeah, because the area that you live in is
a very it's very interesting that the area that whole
like what am I talking about, like all of that
cheer cheer a lot. Yeah, Yeah, geography through there is
(26:40):
is very interesting you. And it's very beautiful too. That's
one of the things I've definitely, uh, without doubt, I
believe most of us can agree on, is that all
of the area through from from Virginia on North, it's
(27:01):
just absolutely I mean, South is beautiful too, but I'm
partial to that, so I'm not going to talk about
it because I can talk about how beautiful the South
is all day, but those areas through there are some
of the most beautiful in the world. I think you've
got things there that you just would not see any
place else. When you when you first started the channel out,
(27:29):
did you have any real like had you built up
a collection of stuff? Was this stuff that happened over time?
Did you have material planned? What was did it just
kind of like did you just say one day, screw it,
I think I'm going to do a channel? How did
you go about doing this?
Speaker 1 (27:50):
All of those things? Funny enough, I recorded a lot.
I would record my ghost huns while I was traveling.
I had built up a cache and I had I
was thinking about how I was gonna make a YouTube channel.
And by the way, thank you Pam. That's my buddy
Sean's shop, Fantasmagoria Antiques. This is a little sticker from
(28:14):
it and oddities, great place, great place to get like
incredible photos as ay Sean. That's him photos as well
as antiques of the weird. And Sean does a lot
of great actual history and not like I'm more a
(28:36):
lore guy. He is more gets to the CD bottom
of history, like the Crescent Hotel down in Arkansas, if
you know anything about that. He loves that place, got
a lot of stuff from there. Check his website out.
So with that out of the way. By the way,
I'm not being paid for any of this. If that
(28:56):
out of the way, let me go back to the
Oh yeah, I had all this material and I was
trying to figure out a format on how to do it.
I didn't exactly want to put my face in there
on account of the fact that people don't always get
to go here. You know, wherever I go, people sometimes
(29:17):
can't get there. And I figured doing it in first
person and kind of talking in their ears, like giving
them a tour for free that they can't physically be
there for. This is part of what started me In
twenty twenty one. I was living in New Jersey at
the time, and there's a town in New Jersey that's
(29:39):
not really a town. It's called Ong's Hat Ong apostrophe
s hat like hat, unincorporated town. It may or may
not even exist anymore. There is a town of Olng
and the hat is kind of sort of on top
of it. But it was this site of a big hoax.
(30:02):
In the nineties and early two thousands, a guy made
what's known as an alternate reality game where he would
print out flyers and he would pin them around universities
sort of in his area. It wasn't even in New Jersey,
but the idea was a group of rogue scientists had
perfected interdimensional travel in a shed in Ong's Hat. So
(30:26):
I go out to OG's Hat, knowing it's it's funk,
it's fake. But I'm like, I get to see Ong's Hat.
You know, it's twenty minutes away. Let's do it. I
drive out to OG's Hat. I walked through the woods
for a while. It's just woods, it's just the pine barrens.
But I'm driving back. I'm getting pictures of the street
signs to say I was there. You know, who pulls up?
(30:49):
There's one business there. It's a bar in restaurant, and
I think it's mostly a bar. We call them package
stores out here.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Ah, it's like a group, group of twenty or thirty
something's in a car. They're asking this woman with a
waitress apron, Hey, where's that creepy abandoned shack in the
middle of the woods where they do the time travel.
They're literally like asking this, like matter of factly. So
(31:19):
I turned to them and in my fresh, my best
uh Fred Gwynn voice, I say, you won't find it there.
I'll take you to it, but you won't find it there.
And I hop in my car. They follow me. I
take them to Ang's Hat, which is a walking tram.
(31:41):
I'm like, well, here you go. There's no shack. It's
a fake story. But that was fun to do, and
I'm like, I kind of want to do that. I
kind of want to move that to YouTube. I didn't
know how to do it. I had been sending some
stuff up and playing with some things without going live,
and I decided to commit when I was on Facebook
one day and a friend of mine posted an old
(32:04):
legend from my area that's currently on my channel. This
would be Colt House Road. And I looked at it
and it was twenty twenty three, and I said, people
still think cult. House Road has a cult And like
that was when I just I laid out an actual
(32:25):
haunted place. I was like, if you want to see
a real haunted place, and I went through footage I
had just captured in Seaford, Delaware at Maggie's Bridge, and
I kind of figured out the format and tweaked it
from there.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Wow wow, Yeah, because there's when I look at your
some of the episodes and I look at the way
that you've got to set up it. It has that
kind of as I was saying backstage, has that kind
(33:00):
of feel of the Travel Channel meets the Paranormal meets
Victor S. Johnson all in one. It's a very it's
a very unique feel, and it's one that, like I said,
it's informative as well as entertaining. And that's one of
(33:22):
the things that I really appreciate about what you do,
because I mean, like you say, very often, actually that's
kind of one of your taglines now, right that you
go places that others only you read about. Yeah, And
I find that very interesting and very exciting actually, because
(33:45):
here I'm kind of like you. I just kind of
like I have to work to afford to go to
do the things that I do, and I'm just getting
back into the to the realm of of going places
to do physical investigation again. So I'm kind of very
(34:05):
localized right now. But there's so many places out there
in this country to go to and to experience. We've
talked about like places that were impressive to you. What
was And you don't have to really talk about this
(34:25):
if you don't want to, but I'm kind of curious.
Did you have a place that you were really excited
about and then you got there and you were like, oh.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Hmmm, well not really like when I get there, Like
I've learned to temper my expectations. That's also another beauty
of my channel, which I'll get to in a second.
But the only one I've ever really been negatively effected
by was Glastonbury, Vermont. And that's just because I can't
(35:01):
get to it. Kristin, who's in here now, will tell you,
Like the first time I tried, it's a twelve mile
hike through the Appalachian Trail over a mountain in wilderness,
just to see this town. That was That's maybe a
couple of foundations in a fire tower. And I keep
(35:22):
trying to do it every year. I keep not making it.
The first year I nearly died. That's not hyperbole. Like
I fell. I messed up my shin and my knee
really badly, and I ran out of water and I
was stranded up there and I basically pulled my leg
back down and was able to get down the mountain
before dark. That was nuts. Last year I tried again,
(35:45):
and by last year, I mean June, and I just
I didn't feel it. Something was wrong in my hip.
Thank you, Famla. Something was wrong in my hip, so
I turned around early. I'm glad I did. It's like
a three hike and I just have to prepare for it.
That's the only one, and I still want to do it.
I'm just like that. It's never disappointing to me. There
(36:09):
are places I know that are going to be bad
that I go to anyway, like Helltown, Ohio, which is
just the park it always was. They didn't develop it.
I go there anyway. It made me miserable, but I
could say, hey, I went to Helltown. There's a Del
Taco nearby. Great. I love Del Taco. I spent some
(36:30):
time on the West Coast. But actually the other point
of my channel, Daniel, and I'm glad you bring it
up because you were talking about the Devil's Chair earlier.
Do you know what town the Devil's Chair is in?
Speaker 2 (36:46):
I did know. It's been a while since I've even
like read anything about it.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Okay, here's the point of my channel right now. Because
the Devil's Chair, well, I do think there's a haunting there.
It's mostly just like ghosts trying to rest that get
upset that we keep leaving beer on the thing and whatnot,
trying to see Satan. But it's in the town of Cassadega, Florida,
(37:15):
which is a spiritualist community and has been for some time.
It takes inspiration from Lilydale, New York, which is where
the Fox Sisters were from and all that. I believe
they were from Lilydale. But lily Dale was founded as
a spiritualist town. And it's a beautiful, gorgeous town. There's
(37:36):
a lot of spirituality in it. There's places you can
get your aura photograph. The Visitors Center is a big bookstore,
and there's a horror well not a horror museum, a
paranormal museum right in the middle of town. Sea Green's
Paranormal Museum, which I've written about, and it actually takes
you all the way through kind of different sections of
(37:59):
para normal study. You find a lot of surprising stuff there,
like they've got stuff from like taps there. They've got
a number of like rock formations weighing on the whole
energy thing. My buddy, my personal friend, Matt Lake, one
of his books was in there. It was actually HH
Holmes's book. They just he wrote the forward for it.
(38:23):
He gives an hh Holmes tour up here by Philadelphia
because Holmes died in Philadelphia. He was hanged. Sean actually
knows that this is where he was caught. But one
of his books, like one of Holmes's books with Matt
Lake's for Matt Lake's Forward, you know that's right, is
in the museum, and I sent it to Mada. I'm like, hey,
you know, you made it to Cassadiga, Florida, you know,
(38:45):
and it's beautiful. There's an area fifty one section, there's
a cryptid section. You have all this so if you're
ten minutes at the Devil's Chair is uneventful. There's so
much to do just half a mile down the street.
That's the point of destination. Spooky. There's always something to do.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Right right, and you really like, you know, yeah, because
we get some places, and there's a lot of places
that people don't understand, Like, okay, here. People go to
Gatlinburg all the time because it's part of the Great
Smoking Mountain National Park, blah blah blah. Everybody's all about
(39:28):
nature and the bears and the bunnies and all that
kind of stuff. What they don't know is that Gatlinburg
has after things quiet down around eight o'clock at night.
They offer ghost tours throughout the city. They have there's
very that area is very rich in lore, and they
(39:55):
have people that will go in the places like Cato's
Cove at night, after the after sundown and we'll do
paranormal investigation. Because you can still go to those places
not advisable, do not go alone, because there is a
(40:15):
lot of wildlife out there. You can go to those
places at night, and there have been people to let
go there to do paranormal investigation and so forth at
some of those locations at the Cove. So there's a
lot of places throughout everywhere, everywhere in this country that
(40:36):
people don't understand. Beyond what most people go to see,
there's that undercurrent of paranormal enthusiasm. There's sites to see
and investigations to be had, sometimes in the middle of
(40:59):
somebody's corn. I mean, it's like you just have to explore.
And I think that's one of the things that you
and your show, your podcast really does is kind of
open people's minds to the possibility that there's more than
just going to the top five big investigation places exactly.
(41:28):
So let me ask you this, and by the way
before we get too much further, I want you, guys,
if you are if you've made it this far and
you have a favorite podcast of the paranormal, that you
may not it may not be a really big one.
(41:48):
It may not be one that fits the cookie cutter
of all the other paranormal shows. Comment below and tell
us what it is and why you like it. When
you actually forgot what I was going to ask you now,
(42:08):
that happens occasionally. I swear, I'm like I have retail
brain these days. Retail brain really bad because that's what
I do.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Yeah, while we're thinking about it. By the way, the
heat isn't good for our arment uh intelligence either. Right
now you can see me having a brain part. It's
been a nightmare of humidity, but so much just a
shout out to the Eye of Jupiter. Yes, starring Tom
Franklin and Codex of Codega's Codex of Curiosities.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Rybos just wanted to get those in there. Actually, I
was just on Tom's show for the Forum of the
Forbidden a little bit ago. When you when when you
(43:00):
first started out in working with the paranormal and doing
an investigation, I'm sure you started out with like a
lot of us with questions, with ideas of what you
wanted to do and what you wanted to discover along
(43:21):
the way. First of all, let's talk about the the
your early understanding of the paranormal. What what was that
like for you? What was what? What was Victor in
his younger days? What was your view of the paranormal?
Speaker 1 (43:43):
I always took a loure at phase value. Like my
interest in the paranormal, uh starts before it was sort
of mainstream television, as many of us do. We just
may or may not talk about it. But all Lawrence
and the Dead Chronicles, Yes, please do watch the Dead Chronicles.
(44:04):
If there's a guy who focuses on the history, it's
Austin Lawrence, rising quickly and deserves it and should go
up even further. That being said, hold on, there's that.
There's that humidity brain again. There it goes that being said,
(44:27):
I kind of go with the old stories, you know, not, hey,
here's what the Old War wasn't Oh Tom's here? Tom,
I shouted you out, you missed it. But with the
Old War, it was more like you were being told
the story, you know, like for number for fifty Berkeley Square,
(44:50):
this person might have been chained there and this person
slept in the room with a pistol and shot at
the wall and all that. That's that amazes me versus
you know, someone going there and like nothing's happening, but
they're trying to tell me something's happening. So I am
more of a lore guy and always will be. That
(45:13):
lare often does not come true, not when I go there.
It's not a science, you know, like if we could
repeat the conditions and get the same results every time,
it would be a science. But most of the time
nothing happens. But I've learned to value the lare regardless
without sensationalizing it. And it's enough for me, and the
(45:37):
few experience, the few experiences I'm grateful to have, are
enough for me. They're enough for my beliefs, So they're
enough for me to keep going and keep trying, because
one out of every fifty times, I'm going to get
the footsteps behind me, or I'm going to get that
amazing EVP and it'll be worth it even if no
(45:57):
one watches. So it kind of it's about being grateful
to me. To sum that up.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Better, it really is, It really can be. It's a
lot of people. They'll go, Wow, what's it like being
a paranormal investigator? What's it like doing this? What's it
like doing that? And when you tell them about ninety
percent of the time, it's a lot of hurry up
(46:27):
and weigh. They really don't know what you're talking about.
They really don't get it because they what they see
on television makes it all look very different.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
And i'd prefer, oh, thank you, Pam, I prefer novices. Again,
that's the tour guideline to me. These are people who
are curious, have the money for it, and they want
to know what to look for. But it is kind
of our duty, I feel like, to tell them what
they should be looking for. I've shown people full ghost
(47:00):
photos on tours and they'll squint and they'll go, what
am I looking at here? And in the meantime, I thought, hey,
look at this, look at this. I just proved the afterlife,
and they're like, what is this? What am I looking at?
I'm like, And but moments like that make me realize, Hey,
if I have that picture, if I have something I
can cite, like a blurb from a book, and that
(47:26):
explains what's going on, we can get people's interest in
passion back up without sensationalizing it, cheapening it, and where'st
the ball trying to empty their pockets. I really do feel.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
That way, right exactly. I agree with you on that.
I think there's a lot of people out there that
shy away from doing some things because they're like, oh,
my goodness, this is so expensive. It doesn't have to be.
I mean, yeah, you go to some places, you're going
(48:04):
to be spending a few bucks to be there. Yeah,
there's some of the bigger names and they're worth it.
Some of them can be worth it, but sometimes it's
the smaller areas. One of the things that you've talked about,
and I really want to I want to kind of
(48:25):
bring this to people's attention. The the area of the Bill,
which a site locally, we know that it's it's that
it's kind of up for debate whether the location of
the Bell House it was on the exact location they
(48:48):
say it is. The cave is definitely the cave, but
the house itself for those that are interested in the
lore and so for worth versus the actual story itself.
You want to do your research on some of these,
(49:09):
especially here in the in the South, because you'll find
that the locals have a totally different stories sometimes and
what you're hearing like the location of things, and there
are still people around they can tell you like, well
my granddad said that this happened right over here, you know,
(49:31):
and so forth, and I tend to want to believe
the locals sometimes more than a material on some things.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
That town is Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, gettings. There's there's a term
in the town of Gettysburg for a tour guide. It's
Gettysburg Original. That's someone who was literally born in the
town and they are always thank you family. They are
always hired preferentially over like anyone from outside of Gettysburg,
(50:02):
which is a fine way to do it. And I
know quite a few tour guides in Gettysburg. But yeah,
Gettysburg Original is a term there for a reason.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
I mean, let's face it, that is one of the places.
Have you spent very much time there in Gangsburg?
Speaker 1 (50:24):
Yeah, I did a few tours in Gettysburg during the days.
Speaker 2 (50:29):
I thought we I had heard you talk about Gangsburg
quite a bit at one. One of the things that
that you know, when you're talking about a town like that,
I mean that literally is the backbone of the economy
(50:50):
of that area revolves around Gettingsburg itself, the the battleground.
I mean, that's what draws people there so much of
the time. So when it comes to those kinds of
places like that, integrity is a big deal, very big deal.
(51:14):
So early on, you know, you kind of kept actually
the idea of lore being your interest throughout the years.
What are some things that evolved in your you're thinking
(51:34):
of the paranormal from early on to now.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
Well, once the rituals would like fail, the old rituals
I'd read about do this and this will happen, and
it never came true, I would keep I would get
just enough to keep wanting to do it. And I
taught myself that's actually why destination spooky exists because remember
those kids from Ong's Hat. They go there, they don't
(52:02):
see a time traveling shed. They leave disappointed. Well, what
else is there to do? In OG's Hat. I had
been a tour guide. I didn't just give spooky tours.
I used to give like segue tours, which gave me PTSD.
That's riding around a city on a segue with a
bunch of people who don't know how to ride one,
and what a nightmare. But I got a lot out
of that job too. I learned to appreciate things through
(52:25):
that job, like street art, like murals, locations for other things,
such as places where movies and television shows were shot,
places where famous historical events happened. I taught myself to
get myself tours through historical markers and things like that,
and you can immerse yourself in a place with more
(52:47):
than just spook wore. And as I would kind of
shift into that, I always maintain doing a ghost hunt
here and there, and then I would start to connect
other dots. That's where I came up with that whole
thing area of if your energy is in a good
place when you go, you can go wherever you want
and you think about it. So that's sort of opening
(53:09):
myself up to what we can prove or what does
exist right in front of us. Allowed me to have
a new pre appreciation for the stuff I have faith in.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
Right right now. You've referenced Troy Taylor a few times too, correct.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
Troy Taylor. Yeah, I don't recall.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
Actually I know there was I know there was one
recently that I was I was watching of yours that
I'm pretty sure it was yours. Maybe it was another one.
Are you familiar with Troy Taylor at all?
Speaker 3 (53:49):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (53:50):
No, actually no, maybe it wasn't your. Yeah, I do
a lot. I watch a lot of videos throughout the week.
Tory Taylor, You would probably appreciate him. Uh. He is.
He's stationed in De Caater, Illinois, and one of his
(54:14):
one of his things is he's He's always written several
books and he focuses on like places like Alfon, Illinois
to Cater, Illinois. Chicago of course, and so he has
(54:37):
this whost series of haunted and city name books. He's
very much about talking about the history of these places
because as he says and has he as he has
his people say on the tours, is today's headlines is
tomorrow's ghost stories. And that's That's one of the things
(55:03):
about that really got me interested in learning about the
history of places was was really studying some of Tory's work,
because honestly, when I first started out, I was all
just about the paranormal part of it. Really didn't think
a lot about the historical value things. And oddly enough,
(55:29):
the place that I was I was born and raised
at was in Illinois, and I was born on the
south side of town actually Chicago. So yeah, so there
you had was the Valentine's Day massacre. A lot of
places there that had that are paranormal hotspots, you would think.
(55:55):
And let's bring it even closer. Anton Levy was actually
born and on Lake Shore Drive area there in Chicago,
so there's a lot of history there in the Chicago
area paranormal wise. So I find it very interesting that
you you lean heavy on the lower side of things
(56:21):
because one of the things, and when you live in
the south, you know there's a lot. You learn this
very quickly. Did anyone else here? Your cat? Yeah? You
hear one of my roommates needy cats. I'll give her
some attention here in a little bit one way through.
Speaker 1 (56:42):
That was me, Pam. Sorry. By the way, Tom, were
you thinking of Connecticut not Massachusetts? I saw his blurb
on screen because he might have been talking about Dudley
Town ironically. Yeah, that one. It's it would be Connecticut,
not Massachusetts. I've been to Massachusetts a lot, and I
(57:05):
can't think of a town I can't go to in Massachusetts.
Fall River is kind of the cursed town. Towards Nantucket.
That's where the Lizzie Bordon houses, That's where they had
those satanic murders, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, there's
never been anywhere. I haven't been able to go in Massachusetts.
(57:27):
But he might be talking about Wtown.
Speaker 2 (57:30):
Now have you have you explored any of the places
in New York and those areas where the the events
that took place at started the Prince Philip wore some
of the massacres there? Have you explored any of those areas?
Speaker 1 (57:54):
I haven't explored. I've probably driven through like I've been to.
New York State is very big, and I've been to
a lot of it. There's a lot of sacred ground
and whatnot, and just places where weird things happen. But
I haven't gone looking for that in particular yet.
Speaker 2 (58:12):
It would be very interesting because I know the the
site and meticular of the massacre that really sparked the
war itself, the Princevilleip War, which took place back in
(58:33):
the sixteen hundreds. This was before the country was even
a country, right. It was a very violent attack that
sparked this war, And I'm very curious to see if
anybody has ever gone through and investigated that area to
(58:55):
see if indeed there's any activity there. I would love
to go there. Yeah, Tom, remember.
Speaker 1 (59:10):
My favorite thing to do, mhay.
Speaker 2 (59:18):
So let's talk for a minute about what your future
goals are for that you that you care to share
with us for the show and for places that you're
going to be talking about coming out.
Speaker 1 (59:37):
Well, I've got a backlog of stuff I have to do.
I stayed at the Penny Farthing Bed and Breakfast in
Saint Augustine months ago. I have yet to put that out.
I like to do these little blurb but is it
haunted ones where it's just like eight minutes and I
can just throw it up there to kind of keep Yeah,
(59:58):
I'm inside now, Tom, I'm sorry. I did all those
ones outside. I owe you one where I'm in my house,
so I'll get on you with that. But I like
to do the blurred ones just to keep myself going.
(01:00:18):
But I'm also venturing out into other things. Like I
did a video I'm really proud of called road Trips
to Elsewhere, and I want to keep working on those
where I went to Crown City, Ohio, which is just
like an open air sort of neighborhood. There's no fences.
It's not like a trailer court. There's just like small
(01:00:40):
little ranch houses that just sort of exist. And there's
this big, long story about a house that reappeared, or
that appeared out of nowhere, I should say it just
sort of blipped into existence, stayed there, and blipped out.
Now I drive the Crown City. I had other stuff
to do. I was in West Virginia. It's part of
(01:01:01):
a West Virginia tour I did. And I go to
Crown City. I do the little ghost hunt. A house
does not appear. Spoilers, But I'm wondering, like, well, is
this going to be a three minute but is it haunted? No,
it isn't. Or And this is what I got into earlier.
Should I be teaching people about this war? And I
(01:01:27):
took a little blurb in Dennis william Hawk's book about
how a house appeared once and some details of that
were matched together and just wrong, which is something I
never expected when I was sixteen, not now in my forties.
But I researched it. I found an article, I found
articles about the people involved. It's a compelling story that
(01:01:48):
I'm actually really proud of. It's on my channel. It's
called there was a House here. It's gone now and
if you're looking for it. That's an ode to Silent
Hill too, by the way, the video game. But there's
so many connecting features in that story, so much synchronicity,
that I fell in love with it. And it took
(01:02:10):
days to put together this thirty minute episode on a
town where mind you, I went there and nothing happened,
and there's nothing there. There's a single dollar general, a
place to get gas, and this little open air town
and nothing. And I had the most fun I'd had
in a while at that point.
Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
So if you're into this stuff, it's always there for you.
You just need to know where to look. And I
want to do more. Hey, according to these people, this
stuff happened. Isn't that cool kind of stuff?
Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
Yeah? Yeah, I like that content on your site. Like
I said, the thing I can say about your YouTube
channel is that it is very unique, it's very entertaining,
and it's very informative all at once. When I go
on there, I go on there when I get tired
(01:03:05):
of being bogged down with a lot of the day
to day paranormal stuff. And you gotta know what I'm
talking about. I mean, every after a while, a lot
of our were channels will start selling alike mine included
some days. So sometimes it's good to break away from
(01:03:26):
that and when I want a vaka from that sort
of thing. You're one of the destinations destination spooky that
I go to toe just chill and relax and learn
something new, because you do point out things and places
(01:03:50):
that not just everybody is doing and saying about. So
it's if you're looking for a bucket list of things
that are just kind of unexpected, and especially if you're
looking for a bucket let us of things you may
not even know about. This is right around you, within
(01:04:13):
driving the distance. This is one of the places to
go to. Definitely, we're getting ready to close out the night.
One of the things I always ask people is what
is something that you would like to leave us with tonight?
What you got for closing words?
Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
Closing words? I think these are going to be good.
It's a personal mantra of mind traveler. Whatever you decide
to do, whatever you like, I hope you enjoy it,
and I hope you get the most out of it.
Just don't hurt anyone else's I think that's a good
(01:04:59):
way to be.
Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
It is very good. It's very good. I love the
way that you kind of approach everybody as traveler. I
love that. I am going to close us out. I
will be back with you in just a moment.
Speaker 1 (01:05:18):
Okay. By the way, I gave Tom this amazing quote
once when I did an interview with him. I completely
forgot what it was, but he has sort of the
same thing. I gave something incredible. I have no idea
what I told him. I was talking off the top
of my head. So Tom, wherever that was, I hope
it was good enough. Thank you again, family, and again
(01:05:42):
August ninth, I'll be at the Deep South Para Comic
Con down in Ozark, Alabama. Come check me out.
Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
Definitely, so definitely all right, guys, thank you, Thank you
you guys, and thank you Victor for showing tonight and
to hanging out with us here at Magical Journy Podcast.
I also want to kind of give an extra shout
(01:06:13):
out to Song's dot com there. I had to look
there for a second and getting tired and old these days,
my classes need to be changed to do not forget.
First of all, next week, I've got Katie Page coming
(01:06:36):
and she is going to be talking to us about
her experiences on the ranch she grew up on, and
maybe we can get her to talk a little bit
about Skinwalker Ranch. If you did not see the episode
of Trey Hudson a couple of weeks back talking about
(01:06:57):
the Meadow Project that is very similar in a lot
of ways to skin Walker, so go back and check
that out. I'll also have links coming up soon to
books and so forth that I will be recommending and
pointing out dealing with podcast episodes that we have recently had.
(01:07:26):
I don't know what I just heard outside, but that
was weird. Anyway, do not forget also to check out
before my show next week, the I of Jupiter Podcast. Tom,
you always have amazing guests on and I appreciate you.
I appreciate your show incredibly. We all love Victor. Let
(01:07:49):
me tell you, this has been a show that I've
been waiting to do for a while to have him on,
so we appreciate definitely tonight And as always, guys, your
journey always be magical, waiting for.
Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
So long to see when you come back to me
through the walls and battles that were lost, We're born again.
It's you and me. The rest is history. To dance
(01:08:56):
together different The fifteenth hundred has hand, and we must
stable row. We mustable suffered upas life
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