Tales from the Big Bad Woods

Something evil is lurking in the woods on this edition of Octoberpod AM classic horror podcast. Your horror host Edward October is your guide on a dark pilgrimage through forests haunted with weird beasts and eldritch horrors.    
        
First up:  ghosts and ancient rituals in the wild, untamed wilderness of West Virginia.    Then, Edward October chats with Social Séance Society about The Blair Witch Project, 90s horror films, his horror secret origins & the whole shebang. Plus: a weird werewolf story from the pen of Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian & Red Sonja). Featuring special guests     Nicola Bardon (Tis Yourself podcast), and Tara & Jessica (co-hosts, 3 Spooked Girls & Social Séance Society).    
        
The forest is dark and full of terrors    because we're serving up werewolves, witchcraft, found footage paranoia, Halloween franchise continuity confusion, and midnight pancakes with a swig of West Virginia moonshine on this edition of Octoberpod AM: the retro horror podcast for bold individualists.    

// PROMOS        
Cabin 187 by Dan B. Fierce        
Canary PI        
Serial Napper        
        
// FOLLOW        
Find more true, true-ish & classic horror / paranormal content by following us on social media!        
Bluesky:  @octoberpod.bsky.social // Twitter: @OctoberpodVHS // YouTube: Octoberpod Home Video // Instagram: @OctoberpodVHS // TikTok:  @octoberpod // Or follow us on the worldwide web at OctoberpodVHS.com        
        

// LINKS & REFERENCES        
Follow Social Seance Society on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialseancepod/  |  Listen to the full Social Seance Society episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KjiYFYwLSQ        

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
I'm Edward October. The sound you hear is a four
wheel drive pulling up to an address at the end
of a winding mountain road in West Virginia. Somewhere nearby,
there are robins at play and a cops of ash trees.
This is the start of October.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Pod.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
My name is Elana Dale Hearn h e A or N.
My husband mister William Sharn or Bill. We reside in Pittsburgh,
or rather we did live there. I never expected West
Virginia to be so damn humid, but I welcome it.
Everything back home still seems so cold. Bill stumbled around

(01:03):
the place as if he's in a trance, his gaze
darting from a circle of ash trees to a ticket
of rowing, then to holly bushes, and then to wild honeysuckle.
He tells me about his cousins, cousins I've never heard
much about, and how they used to play in the
underbush when he was five. That would have been over
four decades ago. Now Bill's several years older than me,

(01:26):
so I would have been just to a wee baby
christ We're getting old, but I'm still too young to
be a grandmother, though I don't suppose that's a possibility anymore.
He doesn't tell me, or doesn't have to tell me,
because I can see the pain look in his eyes.
But Bill's memories quickly turned to thoughts of Morgan, so
I rush in to reroot his train of thought, as

(01:48):
I've often had to do with my own thoughts and
memories over the last eighteen months. Hey, tell me about
those cousins of yours. You said you used to run
around your cousins and some kids from the neighborhood. What
neighborhood would that be? Then I'm looking around and I
don't see any sign of neighbors, let alone a neighborhood
for miles.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Oh, you'd be surprised you never met my daddy O
my uncle Rob that he is.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Daddy Oh was an affectionate term for an elder father
in Gaelic. Very antiquated, of course, the way Bill says it,
it's very americanized.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
I guess it was another one of the old ways
my ancestors brought with them when they came over from Ireland.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
I lived my whole childhood in Dublin, and that stuff
sends alien even to me. I can't imagine this very
Irish family living out here in the woods, but American Hillbillies.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
It was weird, for sure, but I wouldn't have it
any other way.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
I can see how Bill has drawn to family since
the pandemic. He's lost everyone, his mother, his brother, his sister.
It's just been me and Bill in our empty nest.
Our son Morgan and his girlfriend Carrie used to visit
until the accident, and now there's no one out here.

(03:01):
Bill had his cousins and aunts and uncles. They're all
long gone too now. I suppose when his uncle Robin
went missing, and I mean literally disappeared, he was eventually
declared that strange Bill was Demand's only living relative, and
so he inherited the farm, the house, and all of
this land here in the wilderness.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Anyway, we'd all be running around, probably playing tag or something,
running just as fast as our little legs could carry us,
like we were running for our lives. I was just
picturing all those little legs pumping suffast and carrying our
little bodies around. It's kind of funny. Yeah, this was
all we had back there. No parks, no malls, no

(03:43):
movie theaters.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
Not a single luxury like Robinson Crusoe. Just as primitive
as can be.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, something like that.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Bill tells me of his magical time growing up here. Well,
for the short time he was here, he says, the
air and the tree in the flowers were like his
friends who spoke to them, along with the birds and
the bugs. I can understand how a child wouldn't miss
TV or something walls if we never had them, especially
if he had this place and a rich inner life.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
I feel sorry for kids these days. They have no
wilderness to get lost in, no cousins to carry on with,
just the mundane life that suburbia has to offer. No
tales from the country told them by Daddy Oh, no
stories about the bird headed Man.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Hold wait, hold up, what in hell is the bird
headed Man?

Speaker 1 (04:32):
That was just Daddyo's version of robin Hood. Very different
from the movies, but very cool. I'll have to try
and remember some of them, then maybe write them down sometime.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
I always found it a little on the nose, bordering
on narcissistic, that Bill's uncle named Robin will tell robin
Hood stories. A strange mind, for sure. Bill walks over
to a specific tree and stands before it for a moment,
like a sleepwalker. I hear him say something wonder his bir.
I asked him what he said, and he just shrugs
it off, as if I'd misheard. The farm is like

(05:05):
its own family compound, with a big farmhouse, various sheds
and other structures scattered among the brush like satellites orbiting
a planet. As we walked towards the main house, Bill
keeps pointing out all the best hide and seek spots
he used to use as a kid. I can see
in his eyes he's five years old again, totally enthralled
to this place and whatever magic had held for him.

Speaker 4 (05:25):
He gives me a grand toward the house.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Telling me how he'd tuck himself into a ball under
the bunk beds, or how he'd glue himself into the
space behind the boy's wardrobe. Strange that Bill has so
many stories of hiding. I think I can count on
one hand all the times I played hide and seek
during my whole life.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
You can't see me. I'm Invista.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
A robin ash and Hood written especially for October pot
by Amber Jordan, from an original idea by We're October,
starring Nicola Barden, creator host of tis Yourself podcast with

(06:07):
Edward October and Arthur Williams, co host of Family Plot podcast.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
At some point, I noticed how low the sun is
in the sky, and Bill becomes uneasy. Bill, what's the matter?
You seem soone settled.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
I know, I know, I'm all sixes and sevens. I'm
just worried about whether Morgan I'll be able to find
us all the way out here. He should have been
here an hour ago. I guess he knows he's way home.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
Bill Darling, Morgan, his dad.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Remember he and Carrie they died in a car accident
that was over a year ago.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Remember, Oh, yes, Yes, that was silly of me. It's
just it's just just us. I know, it's just us
out here.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Just.

Speaker 4 (07:00):
Me and you, now, yeah, just me and you.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
It's so damn hard. I sometimes forget that he's not
with us anymore.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
You know, Bill's memories are getting worse. I wonder is
a part of the grieving process. He's too young to
get to mention, isn't he? I should put a reminder
on my phone to make an appointment with doctor Wesley.
When we get home, I go into the kitchen and
start unpacking the armloads of groceries we brought in, and
I noticed the cabinet with a dozen more glass jars
filled a clear liquid. Hey, what's in these jars?

Speaker 4 (07:36):
Charrison? For the lantern?

Speaker 1 (07:41):
You probably could light a lantern or maybe decrease an
engine with it. That, my dear, is good old fashioned
West Virginia corn liquor.

Speaker 4 (07:55):
You mean putching something like that?

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Isn't daddy O's moonshine seven? He called it his gnog trassam.
And you'll like it.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
You mean you've had it before? So you haven't been
here since you were a small child.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
No, no, let's not be naive here.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
I take a sip. It's bitter, with a sweet undertaste,
like lingenberry jam, and it burns my throat. But it's
a kind of pleasant, sort of warmth. Foul stuff, to
be sure, but not so foul that I can't drink it.
As I take another swig, I imagine hearing a car door slam.
I imagine that Morgan and carrier here and carry so

(08:34):
massively pregnant that Auch can do his waddle, and Morgan
is capering at her side, fussing whether or not to
carry too much baggage. I breathe a sigh of relief,
just the thought of their presence. Even if it is
a lie, both cams me and underscores how dark and
oppressive it feels here. Bill doesn't notice it, of course,
He's already lost in his nostalgic reveries. Again, the more

(08:57):
he SIPs that moonshine, the more he starts prattling on
about his uncle Robin I refused to call him daddy,
and living with the cousins, on exploring the woods and
playing hide and seek.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
My heart is so full of love. I haven't allowed
myself to feel anything approaching this kind of joy for so.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
Long, eighteen months and twenty three days. I've got to
call It was five fifty five pm. Morgan and Carrie,
we're driving to pick out items for the baby registry
when they got caught in a sudden rainstorm.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
His ability was.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Low, the road was slick, The car skidded applowed into
oncoming traffic.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Now all the bedrooms are upstairs, which, honestly, the word
bedroom isn't generous enough of a term. These jokers are
huge and furnished with handmade wooden furniture. Each room has
a wardrobe and two dressers. I used to hide behind
that one. I got two bunk beds and two single beds,

(10:05):
a large wooden toy chest now they're good hide and
seek spot, and two linen closets. But you and I
don't have to share a room with anybody. We get
to pick whichever room we like best in the whole compound.
Let's unpack and tidy up a bit, dust off some
of this furniture. Maybe after dinner we can pour some

(10:26):
drinks and I'll tell you some stories by the fire.
He's seen there this one time.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
Until this weekend, Bill has never spoken much about this
place or his life here. But I remember one night,
about a month ago, he had a nightmare that startled
him awake. He sat there in the dark mornroom, where's
your favorite place? And I can't tell you that I can't.
I remember the next morning I asked him about it,
and he said he drimed about his uncle Robin.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
About his Daddio. He was five years.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
Old, and his uncle was kneeling to the entrance at
the room that he shared with male cousins. In the dream,
his uncle was swaying like a bird, balancing on an
unsteady perch, and asked him, where's your favorite place to hide?
And Bill's five year old dream self said, oh, Daddy,
you know I can't tell you that you might find me.
And then Daddio's grin turned into a grimace and his

(11:15):
mouth filled with jagged, big bad wolf teeth. And that's
when Bill woke up from his dream.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
What's your favorite hiding place?

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Place?

Speaker 4 (11:23):
Place?

Speaker 1 (11:24):
Place?

Speaker 3 (11:32):
After dinner, I stock up a fire, using a pile
of old newspapers for kindling. Some of the headlines catch
my eye, like new hope given to hospital after tragedy.
Bridge collapse prompts infrastructure concerns. Newly appointed city planner announced
his bridge project. Rampid COVID nineteen outbreak kills entire household

(11:53):
once the starter once the fire starts to roar. Bill
sits in the big chair, Daddio's throne, as he calls it.
His had is high like a king in the castle.
He waited me to settle in the rock and chair
before he starts telling me the old stories his uncle
used to tell.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Long ago, before we were here, before we crossed the
sea to be mountain people, back when our folk lived
in peace with the land and our creatures, when we
worshiped the stars and the sun and lived with the
seasons this time ago, we followed the ways of the Druid.
Many rituals were held, marking the passing of seasons and

(12:40):
honoring the working of the animals of the field. One
of these was the crowning of the Robin king. Every spring,
as the sun returned and the world was reborn, the
robin would fly down from the world tree and mark
one of our own for each ceremony. The Druid would
prepare the ash folly for the ceremony, and we did too.

(13:02):
My family when I was a boy living here, add
an ash folly every year in that circle of ash
trees that you can see through the window there. The
Chosen would be prepared before the ceremony, eat a ceremonial diet,
drink teas brewed from medicinal herbs, and eat gems from
December's blackthorn and hawthorn berry harvests. I even heard tell

(13:25):
that some of these foods that they ritually consumed had
hallucinogenic properties. Then they would toll to ensure that they
would sleep easily that night. On the day of the ceremony,
the Chosen is awakened by the attendants of the Druid
and final preparations are made for what's to take place.
The Chosen is dressed in a reddish orange tunic with

(13:48):
a brown long coat over cinched at the waist with
a rope the Chosen made during their toll the day prior.
There are no breaks allowed in their work, and you
can see the blood in the rope from the fingertips
as they cracked and bled. The Chosen is brought out
for the ceremony, which is filled with music and dancing.

(14:11):
On this day. The chosen one is ready to give
everything as long as he is given something in return.
He told the Druid he wanted to be rewarded appropriately
for his offering, and the Druid told him he would
give the boy power beyond his knowing. So together they
walk into the folly of ash and in the center,
the Chosen Boy stops and stands still. The Druid walks

(14:35):
to the east and grabs a parcel, coming to the
center and to the boy with both hands full. The
boy looks in horror as the Druid raises above his
head a giant hood covering the Chosen's head with a
robin's mask, tiny black beak and beady black eyes, and
the druid takes thread and begins to sow the hood

(14:56):
onto the boy's body, while chanting, all is news. I
am reborn, imbued with life, not yet fully worn. I
am invisible. The hand of the gods do not see me.
And the drums continue, and the instruments play their tune
while everyone dances and sings in time with the little

(15:18):
boy's screams.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
This is your uncle's idea of a children's bedtime story.
I think I'm going to have nightmares.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Oh no, no, no, just wait. Once I finish, you'll
understand how wonderful it is. The hooded one, chosen by
the robin, begins dancing with everyone else. No chosen one
has ever survived their sacrifice. The robin hooded one walks
through the throng of people until they are face to face.

(15:45):
The druid shudders. The blood running down from the hood's
stitches give the tunic and long coat markings that resemble
the shape of feathers.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
You thought you could escape your promise.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
And as he says this, he pulls the druid into himself,
disappearing into the folds of the hood. He reaches up
removes the hood of the Robin and looks upon his village,
and the people see only their druid. All is as
it should be, and they continue through the night with

(16:21):
their revelry, celebrating the sacrifice of the chosen One and
the prosperity it would bring them. For the new year.
He would redistribute the blessings of those with abundance and
bring fortune to the unfortunate. The hooded Robin oversaw the
well being of his village, and rarely did anyone have

(16:43):
to die anymore as sacrifice rarely.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
On day two at the Old Homestead, Bill finds himself
suffering from an upset stomach. I try my best to
nurse him back to health with gallons of herbal tea.
I suspect all the nog he drunk yesterday is to blame.
I tell him to rest, and he naps all day.
A few times I look in on him. I see
him tossing in the bed as if he's having a nightmare.
His legs are pumping, as if in the dream he's

(17:20):
running as fast as he can. Day three at the
Old Homestead, and Bill seems to be feeling better, feeling
more like himself.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
The herbal tea and the toast and jam you fed
me yesterday. No remedy like a down home remedy, I
always say.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Bill's wrestless. He goes out to clear out some weeds
and some overgrowth. After spending all day yesterday in bed.
He feels like a break is the last thing he needs.
Until the work is done, Bill could stand a little exercise.
He clears bush unto Lee, just the east side of
the property, over by the ashes and the oaks and rowans,
almost like it was when he used to live here.
Day fourth, the old homestead, and Bill says.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of
life again. My sickness was just a momentary setback, but
I think I made up for it yesterday trying to
give this property new life again.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
Well, you smell quite revolting. I think you've been working
too much. I'm not eating enough.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
No time. Where's that final shirt I packed, you know,
the one with the orange and red checks.

Speaker 4 (18:31):
Are you a lumber check mate?

Speaker 1 (18:33):
That's just who I am out here. No time for
business attire out there in the brush.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
I'll get it for you. But I've taken the time
to cook breakfast, so I expect you to eat. I
found a bunch of recipes in your uncles Dan when
we were cleaning out. There lay amongst some other things.
So why don't we dig in and then we'll head
back out.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Well, I'm well worked, well fed, well rested, and play
if I can get.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
Used to this day five. Bill wasn't in bed when
I got up this morning. He woke with the dawn
and went out to the woods, clearing the brush. He's
dug a fire pit and he's using to burn all
the wood and the brush he's cleared out. And I'm
alone in this house, alone with all of its ghosts.
I pretend that Morgan and carry are just in the
next room, just out of sight. I don't feel so alone.

(19:23):
Iive drop on their conversations waiting for the kettle to boil,
and it sounds like they're talking about what to name
the baby. Carrie is suggesting names like John and Lewis
and Dana, but Morgan the names and Morgan suggests are
odd agent like Ballore and Angus, Eppie, Yoaster and Bridget,

(19:43):
and those the names of Bill's weird cousins. Sometimes I
see Morgan at the end of the hallway. He's speaking
to someone in the children's bedrooms. It's not Carry he's
speaking to, though. When he sees me, he turns away
and walks into the bedroom and close the door. I
know not to follow him. He wouldn't like that. He
never liked me to pry, but sometimes a mother has
to pry. If your son doesn't tell you what's going

(20:05):
on in his life, you have to pry. I never
would have heard about Carry being pregnant if I hadn't
insisted that Morgan tell me. What a blessing that would
have been welcoming a little Bobby into our lives. Bill
is outside. I can see him through the grimy upstairs windows.
He's only pretending to do yard work. I don't know
what he's doing, communing with nature. Keeps flitting between a

(20:27):
thicket of young rowans and a circle of ash trees.
He won't come in until I cook dinner, and only
if I call him to the table. He'd stay out
all night long if left to his own devices. It's
now midnight and Bill hasn't come to bed yet. He
got up for a glass of water around ten, and
I haven't seen him since. I hear floorboards creaking upstairs.

(20:48):
I recognize the sound of Bill shifting his weight from
foot to foot. But I can tell someone else is
with him, someone would a lighter step.

Speaker 4 (20:56):
Outside.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
The fire pit in the woods is still smoldering, and
the colds are painting the of the ash trees with
their faint orange light. I don't think I like it here.
It was much more bearable when the kids were here.
I haven't heard from Carry since this morning. Maybe she's
gone to have her baby. Surely, Morgan's with her. Surely,
But if Morgan is to Carry, then who's downstairs with Bill?

(21:19):
I know I'm dreaming because I'm not in West Virginia now.
I'm in our old house in Pittsburgh, in the bedroom
that Morgan grew up in. I'm a little girl again,
no more than eleven or twelve. But Bill is standing
over me, and he's old and plump like he is now.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
This is a good hiding place.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Bill says, and he points to the corner near my
son's dresser. A crouch into the corner, make myself as
small as I can. I can see a peeling, big
bird sticker on the side of the dresser. I run
my fingers over it, taking in the knowledge that Morgan's
little fingers must have stuck it there, and that comforts me.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Don't make any noise, and don't tell anyone this is
your best hiding place.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
I won't daddyo, I promise. I wait for ages, tucked
into the corner behind the dresser. After a long time,
I being silent and I'm afraid to breathe, I put
my head out to see him, the bird headed man.
He stands in the doorway, wearing a hooded cloak that
looks like it was fashioned out of tattered olive green rags.

(22:23):
The hood appears to be crudely sewn to his skin.
A bloody red handprint stains his bare chest. His face
is a beak. At first, I think it's like a mask,
or like a plague doctor. But no, the face is
some grotesque birdlight thing. When my gaze locks onto him,
his eyes start to glow an eerie green light. I'll
jump from my hide and class and run. I run

(22:44):
for my life. And then I wake up, and my
legs are still pumping, still running beneath sweat drunch sheets.
It stays six at the old homestead, and I find
myself in an empty nest. Bill is nowhere to be found.
And even the ghosts are quiet. Yesterday morning, that Morgan

(23:06):
and Carrie we're here talking about baby names, or was
it the day before. It's so damn hard to keep
up with the days and the memories. At leastwise, I
hope they're not going to call their child Bridget or Yoaster.
Even the floorboards are silent this morning.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Grandma, come outside. We found a bunch of cool stuff
down in the cellar, and we found more of the
special wine Granddad was drinking. We're throwing a special party.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
Come quick, Grandma. That child Carrie must have had the
baby after all. No wonder she and Morgan have been away.
Oh my grandbaby is here, and he sent them big
and grown up. I burst out the front door, and
I see the ash folly if it looks like Bill
described it in his childhood memories. Colorful streamers run from
tree to tree, adding orange and red and green and

(23:54):
yellow waves to the breeze lanterns and other admittedly strange
ornaments hanging from the lower branches. Music floats in from
the air up to us on the porch, and it
reminds me of my dreams and have the awful dreams
Bill that told me of dreams have been terrified, running
from the trees, running from the person who was it
in some childhood game.

Speaker 4 (24:13):
I see we're going to carry and they're laughing.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
They're laughing. I see my grandson. He must be eleven
or twelve years old already. Oh my god, how time flies.
It seems like only last year.

Speaker 4 (24:24):
Who was just a baby? Funny, I can't remember his name.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Balor Grandma, my name is Ballor don't you remember you
weren't there at my naming ritual?

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Yes, darling, I'm sorry. Grandma's memories are getting worse day
by day. I see my children and a dozen others.
These must be Bill's weird cousins who I thought were
long dead. But there they are down below, dancing, singing, drinking, feasting.
And I see Bill. He's facing away from me, with
his face nearly pressed against one of the ash trees.

(24:58):
The kids squeal in delight and take off, running to
different sides of the circle of trees. My grandson takes
my hand and leads me down to his mother and father.
Morgan and carry still bear the scars and there accident,
but they're smiling and they're laughing again. The three of
them pull me deeper into the folly. But now I
see the Bill is not alone. The bird headed Man,

(25:18):
Daddy o' robin.

Speaker 4 (25:20):
Is with him.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
His tattered, hooded cloak flutters in the breeze, blending into
the colorful streamers and billowing to obscure Bill's form. He
grabs Bill's elbows so hard I can almost feel it.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
No, you're dead. I thought I didn't have to hide
no more.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
Daddy o' robin's eyes flashed emerald green, and he places
a large medieval helm of black iron on Bill's head,
a face plate clank shut, hiding Bill's face behind it.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Around Dad is the chosen one.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
Now, Daddy o' robin walks among the children and who
now appear as they truly are, undead creatures, soaked in
the blood of their mortal wounds. Robin runs his hands
over them and Morgan and carry they're bleeding to the
ghastly red liquid seeping from wounds like pot had healed.
With his hands now dripping with the score and scarlet horror,

(26:12):
the bird headed Man walks back to Bill. Bill's face
is hidden by this weird helm, but he nods to
Daddy o' robin and rips open his stained flannel shirt
to bare his chest. Daddio's plays his fingers like the
wings of a bird and stamps Bill's chest with the blood.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
Now Granddad has the red breast of the robin.

Speaker 4 (26:33):
I'm too terrified to run, too frightened to hide. What
did you into, poor Bill?

Speaker 3 (26:39):
Daddy O Robin wraps his arms around Bill and pulls
him into an embrace. He holds him close, tighter, tighter.
The embrace keeps going and going up, till Robin disappears
into Bill. The tattered, empty, hooded cloak flutters to the ground,
as weightless as a feather. Bill looks down at him,

(26:59):
but it's not really, but not my Bill anyway. He
picks up the cloak, drapes it over his shoulders, and
pulls on the hood of the Robin. His hands reach
out and waves for our children, our grandson and his
young cousins, all of them unliving, all of them undying.
They laugh and dance their strange music, and drink the

(27:19):
strange wines and spirits and the cellar. The robin speaks
to him with Bill's voice, All.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
Is as it should be.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
All is as it should be, and we all dance
into the throne of our reveling family.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
Monsters do have their place in the zoo, in your nightmares,
in the deep, in your favorite horror movies, but not
on your phone during an ad break. Politically motivated interests
are seeking to influence you through the ads placed on
this podcast. Hi, I'm your host, Edward October, reminding you

(28:22):
that we have very limited control over the ads you
hear on October Pod. Please remember that only the ads
and promos I read with my own voice carry the
endorsement of Edward October and October Pod. Furthermore, I and
the makers of October Pod repudiate any entity advertised which

(28:43):
seeks to promote hatred, anti American or anti democratic sentiments,
or the spread of misinformation. Now, with that in mind,
October Pod will return after this brief ad break.

Speaker 4 (28:59):
Hey, good time.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
It's intermission time, folks. I'm your host, mister Edward October.
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to sit down
with friend of the show and frequent guest Tara and
her Three Spooked Girls co host Jessica for an episode
of their new spinoff podcast, The Social Seance Society. It

(29:26):
was a fun, free wheeling discussion that touched on all
things horror, especially the horror films of the nineteen nineties.

Speaker 5 (29:34):
Have a listener, well Ed, Thank you so much for
joining us today here on Social Sauance Society.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
Thank you for having me. I was saying before we
started recording that I feel like I know you guys,
even though this is really the first time I'm actually
speaking to you real time. But yes, I am Edward October.
I'm the creator host of octoberob Pod, which if you
listen to it as a podcast, it's October Pod am
if you watch it on YouTube, it's October Pod home

(30:07):
Video or just October Pod.

Speaker 5 (30:09):
Oh and if you guys listen to Three Spook Girls,
he is who you hear before at the beginning of
every single episode. Oh yeah, he has our he does
our amazing content. Warning, so you guys might think he
sounds familiar.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
That is why I do a couple of those. And
I like to say, if you ever need anybody to
tell you not to listen to your podcast, I'm your guy.
I love saying switch it off, now, turn to a
different show and just get the biggest kick out of there.
Go over here instead.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
Not just kidding.

Speaker 5 (30:42):
So to back it up, even further, do you remember
what was like your first taste into horror that like
sucked you in, whether that was like as a kid
or later in life.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
So it seems like as long as I can remember,
I always loved Halloween. So because of that, that sort
of made me sort of like kind of interested in
spooky stuff. But you know, I was growing up in
the eighties. You would see Nightmare on Elm Street, commercials
on Primetime TV, and scary shit like that was kind
of like ubiquitous, and so my parents kind of tried

(31:15):
to shield me from that stuff for a long time.
And I was very like kind of like a scaredy
kid about scary stuff. Yet I loved Halloween, and then
I sort of discovered Godzilla and King Kong and Creature
from the Black Lagoon and stuff like that, and so
I kind of became a monster kid. Between that and
loving Halloween. I was the kid that liked the dinosaurs
and the monsters and stuff like that. And then when

(31:36):
I got a little bit older, I was in fourth grade,
my dad started telling me about Christopher Lee, how he
thought that the Christopher Lee Dracula was better than the
bel Lago si AND's telling me how awesome Christopher Lee
was as Dracula, and I'm like, oh, So then I
started going through the TV guide and looking for how
can I find the Christopher Lee movies because they and

(31:57):
Hammer Hammer horror movies because I was Christopher really Peter Cushing,
and those when I was growing up were hard to
find in your local video store. So I'd have to
hunt through the TV guide and usually I would find
them playing on TVs late at night, and so I
had to figure out how to program the VCR to
turn on at like one thirty eight AM or something

(32:19):
like that and then record the thing. And always the
clock on the VCR would be wrong, and so I
would start like fifteen minutes.

Speaker 6 (32:27):
In, oh, that's terrifying.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
The Evil of Frankenstein. It wasn't until I swear to God,
I love the Evil of Frankenstein. It's my favorite Hammer
Frankenstein movie. And it wasn't until I got the Shout
Factory Blu ray a few years ago that I actually
got to see the whole first fifteen minutes of it,
after having the movie memorized from watching it on TVs.

(32:50):
On the other thing about that TVs, they showed an
americanized version of it. So it's a British film for
American TV, they cut out like all of the like
mild Gore that was in it, and they replaced it
with scenes with American actors doing sort of a fairly
unrelated subplot. I just thought that was how the movie
would go, was supposed to go, and I'm like, oh yeah,

(33:13):
I'm like, oh that's interesting.

Speaker 7 (33:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
I didn't know until much later in life, like no,
this isn't the thing, and now that the American footage
is hard to come across, and I'm like, oh my god,
I'd give my eye teeth to have the VHS that
I recorded off of TBS with the first fifteen minutes missing.
And you know that fifteen minutes would have been filled
with something like, you know, wrestling or you know whatever

(33:36):
was on TBS.

Speaker 4 (33:37):
Before, right, or some infomercial.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So that's how I got into it.
So after that, like I was hooked with Jackuiela Frankenstein
wolf Man. I was always more of a hammer guy
than a universal guy than when I was eleven, my
mom suggested that I watched the Omen And what's funny

(34:01):
about that is is I'm an adoptee and like, my
parents are great. I was very fortunate to be adopted
into a loving family. But you know, my mom was like, oh, yeah,
you should watch the OMEN. That's really scary. I think
you dig it. We were ailm adopted and the OMEN
is all about closed adoption, like doesn't work without they're

(34:22):
being closed adoption and the adopted kid being stigmatized for
being different. So like, okay, interesting choice, mom. And the
other thing is that I had a very religious upbringing.
My mom is super religious to this day. Yep, twinsies.
I'm not so much religious now, but my mom still is.
But back in the day, like I was a very
much like choir boy type kid. And the OMEN movies,

(34:45):
in the Exorcist, you have to be like extra religious
to be really freaked out by those. And so I
watched the Omen and it scared the shit out of me.
You know, the soundtrack to that movie is like all
of this like satanic chanting, And I would go to
bed at night and try to go to sleep, and
I would just hear that oh saw in my head

(35:08):
canking sleep. But what I did is what I do
with all other horror movies that scare me. I watched
it until I became desensitized to it, and now you
know the Blair Witch Project. I was in college when
the Blair Witch Project came out and we went to
see it at like a midnight showing. Me and my
buddy Sam. Shout out to Sam. We went out to
the Blair Witch Project, and the midnight showing scared the

(35:30):
shit out of me. I was like, you know, like
nineteen twenty. I forget how old I would have been
at the time.

Speaker 5 (35:36):
Like their age right, old.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Enough to not be scared of rocks and sticks in
the woods. We left the theater and we were about
to go home, and we lived like way out in
the country, both of us dark, and I said, hey man,
you hunger, Let's let's go to Perkins or something grab
some pancakes. So here it is twelve o'clock. We're going
out to Perkins to get you know, midnight pancakes. And

(35:58):
we say it and we eat pan cakes. We drive
home and I'm like, hey man, you just want to
drive around for a little while because I'm scared to
go back home and go back through the go back
through the house by myself. And finally he dropped me off.
Was like two or three o'clock in the morning, and
like I said, we're out in the country, pitch black,
not a light on in the house. I have to
go in through the basement garage door, up the stairs

(36:24):
into this dark house. I was like so scared of
the Blair Witch. And I swear to god, it's like
three o'clock in the morning. My dad is like working
swing shift. My mom is home asleep. I wake my
mom up and I'm like, hey, Mom, I rented Us
Marshals with Tommy Lee Jones in it the other day,
and you want to watch Us Marshalls with me? Mom?

(36:45):
And she's like what, But anyway, Yeah, I was so
scared that, like I woke I woke my mother up
to sit up with me and watch a Tommy Lee
Jones movie.

Speaker 5 (36:55):
When you guys went and saw it, was it still
not known? It wasn't like, was it still being presented
as like a real movie or did they I don't
know how that worked out. I just know for a
while with the marketing, Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
So when we went to see it, I think we knew.
I think we knew that it was fake, But it
was really kind of the first found footage movie that
we had ever seen. There had been found footage movies
that came out before that, but this one is the
first one that really came out, and it was like,
we are hardcore trying to sell the fact that this
is literal footage that we literally found. So the thing

(37:29):
that really sold it was that ahead of the release
of the movie, Sci Fi Channel did this thing called
Curse of the Blair Witch. Oh I remember that. So
it was supposed to be the true crime, true paranormal
documentary like Unsolved Mysteries presents the Blair Witch Project, and
so it would intersperse footage from the movie with interviews

(37:53):
with people who were pretending to be Josh and Heather
and Michael's parents brothers, and it's like, oh, yeah, he
was really quiet. He was a quiet kid, but he
could raise hell. I'm like, oh, she could light up
a room. You know, all of these true true horror,
true crime and you know cliches, but you know all

(38:13):
of the lore, like the tapes being found in the
foundation of a house where the sediment meant that it
had to have been buried hundreds of years ago. Some
you know, like that was all in people's heads from
watching that, And so I think we knew that it
was was fake, but it still worked its some magic, honest.
But I know that there were people at the time
who went to see it. I remember hearing overhearing a

(38:35):
conversation with some girl saying, you know, I saw the
previews of it, and I don't want to see it
because all those screams those are real, They're really screaming.
So yeah, So anyway, the blair Witch is another one
that I had to watch over and over and over
to get desensitized too. Yeah, that was my blair Witch experience.

Speaker 5 (38:56):
I love that because I don't know, we haven't talked
to anyone in off the top of my head. You're
the only person I know that like actually was able
to like go see it in theaters and like experience
it and everything. So I just I love that horror
is so mainstream, but it's also like not at the
same time. Especially I feel like even when I was
going through like my teen years and stuff and like

(39:17):
the two thousands and whatnot, it was still weird to
like horror for the most part, Like it wasn't everybody
loved it. Like, I'm so glad so many people love
it now and are more open to it. Now or
we're just all admitting it now. I don't know which,
but I love that.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
I'm definitely of a generation where people were still like
why do you like that stuff? Like what is it
about that that you that you like because people just
wouldn't wouldn't get it. But to me, it's just like
comfort food to me, Like I will. I have sat
down many a time with you know, a plate of

(39:52):
you know, microwave ravioli and watched Dawn of the Dead,
you know, and it not fazed me. Because of the
blair Witch Project coming out in a region locked Blu
Ray and I just had to have it. I got
a region free player just for this Blair Witch Project
that came out.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
Oh okay.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Because of that, It's opened up a whole new world
of stuff that I can check out. So I've been
checking out like all of these British discs. I've been
getting into like British TV horror and discovering making lots
of new discoveries, stuff that's never been released in the US,
So stuff like the Equator Mass BBC shows and the
ghost Stories for Christmas and all that stuff which you

(40:36):
can't really get legally in the US. I've been getting
into it and eating all of that stuff up. Recently
discovered the Bloodthirsty Trilogy, which is three vampire movies made
by Toho, who are the people that do the Godzilla movies.
So imagine like the creative teams behind a Godzilla movie
making a Christopher Lee Hammer Films stuff vampire movie.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
Love it.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
The vampires do like a strange Eastern vampire type thing,
like they'll kill someone and peel their face off and
use it as a mask. But anyway, those are really
I'd never really heard of those. The movies are a
Lake of Dracula, Evil of Dracula, and I want to
say Legacy of Dracula. They're really cool, worthwhile. But for
new movies. They are making a sequel to It Follows

(41:24):
called Day follow which, right off the bat, I love
it when the sequel is just you pluralize the first
the first one, so like Alien, Aliens, Predator, Predators. I
was just listening to your last Social Sounce Society episode
and you guys were talking about It Follows, and I'm like, ah,
but I love that movie.

Speaker 4 (41:42):
Oh good.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
What I loved about it is sort of the dream
like quality of it, because it does a really great
job of doing dream logic that you don't really think
about until after it. You know, Like the movie starts
off swimming in a pool, but all the leaves are brown,
and then when they get up and go out, they're
wearing these heavy, heavy winter coats and the awesome clamshell

(42:03):
reader and it's just like all these like weird dreamy
you never see the faces of any adults who aren't it,
And it's just like one of those like easter eggy
dream logic y movies that I really like. So I
have high hopes for they follow. Did you guys see
No Sparatu.

Speaker 5 (42:22):
I don't think it's a Jess movie. I will say
I am wanting to watch it, and I look at
it every damn time I'm on Peacock. I'm gonna watch it.
I just haven't long answer short. I haven't watched yet,
but I plan to. But I want to be able to,
like not be interrupted, give it my full attention, you know.
So I'm like, I have to find the right day.

(42:42):
But yes, I really want to watch it. I've heard
good things. We had Shelby from Scare You to Sleep,
and she hyped it up and said it was, you know,
great especially if you do like those movies with like
kind of like the creature feature type of characters and
things like that. So I'm looking forward to seeing.

Speaker 4 (42:58):
It for sure.

Speaker 1 (42:59):
Yeah, I think you.

Speaker 5 (43:00):
I think so. Yeah, it seems my vibe for sure.
My problem is I've learned my spouse likes very specific
type of horror movies, and I feel like when it's
kind of like slower a little. I don't know if
this one is, but like when movies are kind of slower,
she'll like be like, oh my gosh, it's so boring,
and then I have to like hear her yeup, and
I'm like, no, I need to be left alone with
this movie because I just want.

Speaker 7 (43:21):
To watch it.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
I thought it was way too long. I've heard that
it's over two hours long, and I think you could
have cut a good twenty or thirty minutes out of it.
I really do. And I think a tighter cut of
it would have made a bigger impact with it. And
it's basically the same story as the Silent Film. The
Silent Film is like, what ninety minutes long?

Speaker 8 (43:41):
Right?

Speaker 1 (43:42):
They don't even have dialogue to work with. I think
that that horror movies really benefit from a tight run time.
Dawn of the Dead, I think, is the exception that
proves the rule because it's kind of like an epic adventure. Really,
it's a comic book movie with zombies in it, so
I think it can get away with being But like
the movies that have scared me the most, usually you know,

(44:04):
like Blair Witch Project, Texas, Chainsaw Henry, Portrait of a
Serial Killer, all of those are under two hours, and
some of them are like, you know, eighty minutes, like
Blair Witch Projects barely ninety minutes long. And I think
that with a horror movie, you want to get in
and out really quick mm hmm, so that you have
like a real gut punch for sure.

Speaker 6 (44:25):
I think the lack of explanation in horror movies like
intensifies scare. Like if you spend too much time setting
up the horror in a horror movie, it takes you
out of the scare. I mean, I'm the resident like
scaredy cat on our show. But like for the ones
that I do, like, I don't want to sit with

(44:47):
it for like fourteen hours and like learn everyone's backstory
and things like that. I just want to be like one.
I want it over. That's the first and foremost. I
just want, like.

Speaker 9 (44:57):
I can be like that.

Speaker 6 (44:59):
This movie is an hour and a half long, I'm
like forty five minutes into it, i have, you know,
forty five minutes left to go.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
I could do it.

Speaker 6 (45:06):
Like in my brain, I'm like I could do this,
Like I'm good, you know. And it's scary, like silent
movies were really scary because like, oh yeah, what was
happening is inferred, like yes, there's some words on screens
to like explain, but like most of it is like
an inference of fear. Like I haven't seen it, it
is on my to watch list, but like I was

(45:27):
kind of hoping that was what was going to be
in it because when I was young, I saw the
silent movie.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
The Werner Herzog version with Klaus Kinski is scary too.
All three of them are scary, and they're all they're
all very faithful to the same plot, and they're all
very different movies. It's really it's really strange, but yeah,
you're right, like a silent film can be scary in
ways that Just clips from the Dutch silent film Hexan

(45:52):
if you've ever seen those, it's just like anytime you
ever see silent footage of like the Devil or like
a Black Master or something, it's probably from the movie
Hexen and it's like really creepy and unsettling. I think
my favorite David Lynch movie is a silent short film,
and I think it's the scariest thing he's ever done.
It's called I think it's like Premonitions following an evil

(46:15):
deed or something like that, and it's a minute long.
It's a short film. It was made with a Lumier
silent film camera, so like the first model of motion
picture camera ever made. He used an antique camera with
antique film stock to make it just a minute of
footage and it's creepy as hell. It's on YouTube. Just

(46:37):
type up like David Lynch Lumier and you'll you'll find it,
like you can do things with silent film like that
are just really unsettling that you can't do. Roger Ebert
said that of any film genre, horror films lost the
most when they transition to sound, and I think that's
probably true. You know, you can just get way more dreamlike,
you know, in a silent film, for sure.

Speaker 6 (46:59):
I like slash movies and I like that kind of
like horror like jump scare. I'm not really like into
anything kind of demonichy. I kind of like freak out
because I also was raised extremely religious, like to the
point where like I went and saw paranormal activity. Had
a very similar experience to your Blairwood where I dropped
my friend off at home and I called another friend

(47:21):
and was like, can I come to your house because
my parents home in the middle of nowhere, And I
was like, I don't want to be in my house
by myself right now. And I slept with a Bible
for like a month because I was like fuck this shit.
Because I was living like I had moved back home,
so it wasn't in my bedroom. I was in my
brother's bedroom because of like people living in my parents' house,

(47:43):
and there was it was like an attic space, but
it was like an a frame like it was the
top of the house.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Oh my god. Yeah, so you can only stand up in.

Speaker 6 (47:52):
The middle terrify terrible. So it's the link of the house,
but like you couldn't see the other end except that
there was like a window, and of course it's pitch
black outside, so everything was just like more intense up
there because if you got too close to the wall,
you felt like you were being like encased in something.
So like I very much slept on like the edge

(48:12):
of my bed and it was just not great. And
then I finally told my parents, like I can't live
up there, like you have to make other people move.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
Well, that was you go into bed with the Bible.
It reminds me of the scene from the Omen where
they go into the priest's shack and he's got like
the room wallpapered with pages from the Bible because he
was too scared of like the Omen evil getting into him.

Speaker 6 (48:35):
That that was step two. I think if it's that,
I remember like telling my dad. My parents were very religious,
and my parents prayed over it, and they were like,
you shouldn't see these type of movies. And that's kind
of what I realized, like because of my religious trauma,
these movies fuck with my head. And I'm like anything
that's kind of like Demonichy, like I just am like

(48:57):
I don't want to do It's just not a good
I mean tar because I'll watch it and I'll be fine,
and then suddenly like I'm a terrible sleeper as it is,
But then like I'm not sleeping at all, and I'm
a little bit like more anxiou. Tara's like seen me
through the years, like being like, oh shit, she shouldn't
have watched that movie.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
I bet you you haven't seen Long Legs yet.

Speaker 6 (49:18):
I'm not that would be accurate, No, I am. I like,
I do like creature features. I think they're great. I
love a good slasher. Like sometimes when I just want
to like zone out, I'll just put Scream on and
people are like, how could you watch that? I'm like,
it's not as scary as you think. And Tara and
I talk about like true crime, things that are real
that are much more terrified.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
It's way I get a much more true crime vibe
from the from the screen movies then a general slasher vibe.
When I watch slasher movies, I always root for the killer.
I mean, especially if it's like Friday the Thirteenth. I
hate everybody in the Friday the Thirteenth movies except for Jason,
so like he's the hero of the movies.

Speaker 6 (49:57):
For me, Jason was just a misunderstood and an abuse
child who grew up to like, yeah, man, you know,
be brainwashed to murder people. I mean, my favorite franchise
is Halloween, and so I never really root for Michael Myers,
but I don't necessarily root against him.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
I think that's the best for my money. I think
that's the best slasher franchise. I think, like I love
my Jason movies, but I think there are more interesting
Halloween movies than not. Friday the thirteenth, for example, has
quite a few stinkers in it, but I think pound
for pound, you get better quality with Halloween.

Speaker 5 (50:34):
And I like how many different timelines there are with Halloween,
so you literally can find whatever one for whatever mood
you're into, because some of them are just so insane
and just way off. I think that graphic that's like here,
let's put all these together, and which one's actually right?

Speaker 6 (50:51):
Whoever made that graphic just chef's kiss, because it literally
because everyone, I would just say about everyone, but like
people who aren't really a true fan of like the
Halloween franchise just kind of assumes that it like starts
at one and then it's the same timeline all the
way through, and it's like no, and then like you
factor in like the rob Zombie ones. I mean, my

(51:12):
literally favorite horror movie is Halloween. H two oh, because one,
I just the premise of this show is so funny
to me because it's like you have this like overly
paranoid mom who's obviously told her son like my brother
tried to murder me and he's locked in an institution
and it's this whole thing so funny to me, and just.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
And she lets him go out of the house with
that hair.

Speaker 7 (51:39):
And ell cool.

Speaker 6 (51:40):
Jay's like so good. His character in this is like
my one of my favorites. He's like literally just the
worst security guard ever. He's just ignoring everything and reading
his girlfriend his romance novel. I'm just like, you would
be so fired, just so fired. You just let the
d's go off. And she's like why did you let

(52:02):
him go into town? And he's like I'm sorry, and
she's like fine whatever, and I'm like fine with that ass,
Like he I'm sorry. I'm getting heated about this name and.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
No, I love it.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
Michael Myers mask in that one looks so dirty too.
Oh my god, it's I've got a funny Halloween h
two story tell us. I'm also old enough to have
seen Halloween h two O in theaters. I was really
excited for it because it's Kevin Williamson who did the
screen movies. I was into the first three Scream movies
in a big, bad way, and then after Scream three

(52:34):
I lost interest. But so me and my same buddy
who was gonna who went to see Blair Witch Project
with me, We're like, all right, we're gonna go see
some Halloween h two. Oh, let's let's do it. Let's
this is our jam. So we go and we made
plans to go see it. And he, at the time
was in a toxic relationship with his girlfriend and he

(52:58):
was on the phone fighting with his girlfriend the whole time.
I was waiting on him to go to the movies
for like an hour or so, and it was just
me and his sister sitting alone in the house waiting
on him, Like all right, come on, come on, dude,
wrap it up. You know you don't need to be
fighting with her anymore. Like it was bad. So he's like, no, man,

(53:20):
I love her. I'll go to you know, all this stuff.
She's horrible. He's like, oh, no, love, I'm gonna marry
I gonna I gotta make this right. I'm like, no,
you don't, dude, Come come watch Halloween. It'll be It'll
be great. And finally I was like, you know what,
fuck it. If you don't get off that phone, I'm
just gonna take your sister. Me and your sister are
gonna go watch Halloween and we're gonna have a fun

(53:41):
time and you can sit here and be a miserable
SACas ship talking to your miserable saga shit girlfriend. And
that's what we did. I went, I took, I took
his little sister to go see Halloween with me, and
we sat like we were you know, Tom Servo and
crow t Robot from Mystery Science Theater watching why in
this silly old Halloween movie and had had a lovely

(54:03):
time while my buddy stayed home being miserable. So anyway,
that's my Halloween.

Speaker 6 (54:07):
I do love that that there is a parallel in
the movie that it's like, hell cool, Jay's like character
like his girlfriend is like that relationship is so toxic
that she's like, you can't get off the phone with me.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
That was literally that. It was literally that, and it
was she was one of these people that was like
she wanted a ring. They had just gotten out of
college and she was just like any ring, kne ring
knit ring. She was like giving him the hard cell
for a ring and that that parallel never even like
I never noticed that before.

Speaker 6 (54:34):
But you're right, the new ones they completely erase everything else.
Like it's like, oh, we started over, and you're like,
but you didn't start over, but you started I'm like, okay.

Speaker 5 (54:48):
But you died in one of them.

Speaker 6 (54:50):
Laurie also facts like, I mean, here's the thing. If
Michael Myers can come back from the dead every single time,
so can Laurie. Hell yeah, it's apparently their family legacy
is to die.

Speaker 5 (55:02):
Plow holes and common sense. If they were there and
slashers and stuff, the movies would be two minutes long.
So I love it and I don't question it ever.
I just accept it.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
Continuity is born as long as, like the movie you're
watching is true to itself. With continuity, who cares?

Speaker 7 (55:19):
Right?

Speaker 5 (55:20):
For real, we're in that, like we're getting the reboots
and continuations of a lot of those movies from decades ago,
and I am here for it and.

Speaker 6 (55:28):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
Listen to the full episode to find out what makes
me the gossip girl of horror podcasting. Here the secret
origins of October Pod and a lot of other groovy stuff.
I'll provide links to the full episode and to the
show's social media accounts in the show notes Social Seance Society,

(55:54):
as well as Tara and Jessica's true crime and paranormal show.
Three Girls can be found wherever you get podcasts. And
now that intermission time is over, Friends, sit tight, because
Act two of October Pod starts. Now. If a weir

(56:31):
wolf is slain as a man, will his half soul
haunt his slayer forever? Find out in our next thrilling
tale In the Big Bad Woods, adapted especially for October
Pod by John Iger from In the Forest of ville
Fair by Robert E. Howard, originally published in the August

(56:55):
nineteen twenty five issue of Weird Tales. The sun had set,
and the great shadows came striding over the forest in

(57:18):
the weird twilight of a late summer day. I saw
the path ahead glide on among the mighty trees and disappear.
I shuddered and glanced fearfully over my shoulder. Miles behind
lay the nearest village, miles ahead. The next I strode
on and stopped short, grasping my rapier at the sound

(57:41):
of some small beast breaking twigs. Beneath its footfalls. No matter.
I reassured myself that there was nothing in the forest
to be frightened of, only deer and the like. The
twilight faded into dusk, stars began to and the leaves

(58:01):
of the trees murmured in the faint breeze. I stopped
short again, my sword leaping to my hand, for just ahead,
around a curve of the path, some one was singing
in a language that was unknown to me. I stepped
behind a great tree, and the cold sweat beaded my forehead.

(58:22):
Then the singer came in sight, a tall, thin man,
vague in the twilight. I shrugged, for I fear no man.
I greeted him, sword drawn, until I was convinced he
meant no harm. I explained that my caution was born

(58:42):
out of fear of bandits. I'm a stranger in this forest,
after all. I asked the tall thin man about the
road to Villefere, and he told me I'd missed the
fork that would take me there, but offered to guide
me to it if only I could abide his company.
You will find me an impeccable guide, said he, For

(59:05):
I come from a family of great hunters, he did
not offer his hand. During all this time, I could
not make out his face in the waning light of dusk.
He must have sensed me staring, for he laughed and said,
my face, sir, is little to look upon. He stepped

(59:26):
into a shaft of orange light, and I could see
he was wearing a mask. I wear this mask to
fulfill a vow, he explained, in fleeing a pack of hounds.
I vowed that if I escaped, I would wear this
mask for a certain time.

Speaker 7 (59:48):
Hounds.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
I inquired, wolves, He quickly answered, I said wolves. I
told him that wolves were the subject of much discussion
in the village. The villagers had tried to dissuade me
from taking this path on account of a marauding wolf.

(01:00:10):
But my business was of great importance, and I needed
to make haste to the border. Here the path branches
to Hillefere, said my companion, and I saw a narrow,
crooked path that I had not seen when I passed
it before. It led in amid the darkness of the trees.

(01:00:30):
I shuddered, but told the tall masked man to lead on.
So narrow was the path that we walked single file.
Key leading I looked well at him. He was taller,
much taller than I, and thin, wiry. He was dressed

(01:00:51):
in a costume that smacked of Spain. A long rapier
swung at his hip. He walked noiselessly, with long, easy strides.
Then he began to talk of travel and adventure. He
spoke of the many lands he'd seen, and oceans he'd traversed,
and many strange things he'd witnessed in his travels. So

(01:01:16):
we talked and went farther and farther into the forest.
I presumed that he was French, and yet he had
a very strange accent that was neither French, nor Spanish,
nor English, nor like any language I had ever heard.

(01:01:36):
Some words he slurred strangely, and some he could not
pronounce at all. This path is not often used, is it,
I asked, Not by many? He answered, and laughed silently.
I shuddered. It was very dark in the leaves whispered

(01:01:59):
together among the branches. A fiend haunts this forest, I said,
so the peasants say, he answered, But I have roamed
it oft and have never seen his face. Then he
began to speak of strange creatures in the darkness, and

(01:02:21):
the moon rose and shadows glided among the trees. He
looked up at the moon and said, we needed to
reach our destination before the moon is at its zenith.
We hurried along the trail. I told him the villagers
are convinced a werewolf stalked these woods. And we debated
the subject for some time. The old vimand say said

(01:02:45):
he that if a faerwolf is slain while a wolf,
then he is slain. But if he is slain is
a man, then his half soul will haunt his slayer
for however, and then he hastened his already quick pace.
We came into a small moonlit glade, and the stranger stopped, saying,

(01:03:09):
we should pause for a while. This is a fair glade,
said he, as good as a banquet hall, and many
times I have feasted here. Look, I feel shure you

(01:03:30):
a dance. And he began bounding here and there, anon
flinging his head and laughing silently as a madman laughs.
While he danced his weird dance. I looked about me.
The trail went not on, but stopped in the glade.
I encouraged the man to cease his dancing and lead on.

(01:03:54):
Do you not smell the rank hairy scent that hovers
about the glade. Wolves must surely din here, perhaps there
about us, and are gliding upon us even now. My
companion dropped on all fours, bounded higher than my head,
and came toward me with a strange slinking motion. That

(01:04:19):
DANSI is cold. The dansoved a whoof said he, and
my hair bristled. Keep off. I stepped back and let
out a screech that set echoes shuddering through the forest.
He leaped for me, and though a sword hung at
his belt, he did not draw it. My rapier was

(01:04:42):
half out when he grasped my arm and flung me headlong.
I dragged him with me, and we struck the ground together.
Wrenching a hand free, I jerked off the mask. A
shriek of horror broke from my lips. Beast eyes glittered
beneath that mask. White fangs flashed in the moonlight. The

(01:05:06):
face was that of a wolf. In an instant, those
fangs were at my throat. Taloned hands tore the sword
from my grasp. I beat at the horrible face with
my clinched fist, but his jaws were fastened on my shoulder.
His talons tore at my throat. Then I was on

(01:05:28):
my back. The world was fading blindly. I struck out
my hand, dropped, then closed automatically about the hilt of
my dagger, which I had been unable to get at.
I drew and stabbed a terrible half bestial, bellowing screech.
Then I reeled to my feet free. There at my

(01:05:50):
feet lay the wearabole. I stooped, raised the dagger, then paused.
Looked up. The moon hovered close to her zenith. If
I slew the thing as a man, its frightful spirit
would haunt me forever. I sat down, waiting. The thing
watched me with flaming wolf eyes. The long, wiry limbs

(01:06:16):
seemed to shrink to crook, hair seemed to grow upon them.
Fearing madness, I snatched up the thing's own sword and
hacked it to pieces. Then I flung the sword away
and fled, never once stopping until the first light of dawn.

(01:07:20):
Stick around after the credits for a brief word from
some of our fellow indie podcasters, creators, and friends. There
may even be some bloopers, outtakes, and bonus content as well.
You have been listening to October Pod. Octoberpod is produced,
edited and directed by Edward October. The series co producers
are m J McAdams and Amber Jordan. Logo and banner

(01:07:44):
graphics by Jessica Good Edward October. Character design by Nick Calavera.
Select still photography courtesy of unsplashed dot com. Select music
cues by Doctor dream Chip, and various other stock music
and sound effects courtesy of free sound dot Org. Music
from Bigfoot Apocalypse and Thorax theme from Octoberpod composed by

(01:08:07):
Nico Vittasi. All other images, music, and fxques, except where noted,
are sourced from within the public domain. Follow us on
YouTube at Octoberpod, home video, on Instagram and the app
I Still Call, Twitter at OCTOBERPODVHS, and on TikTok and
blue Sky at Octoberpod. Or find us and all of

(01:08:29):
our links on the world wide Web at octoberpodvhs dot com.
For business inquiries or story submissions, email octoberpodat gmail dot com.
If you enjoyed this program, we'd be very pleased if
you told your friends about us, and while you're at it,
write us a five star or equivalent review wherever you

(01:08:50):
were listening. The man who spoke to you, was mister
Edward October. Why not get away from it All? Book?
An Idyllic cabin Vacation. A stay at this cabin could
be your last relax with the whole family in this
cozy and rustic home away from home. This cabin is

(01:09:15):
on the hunt for souls, and it's the setting for
thirteen spine chilling tales of an evil that expands sancturies.
Discover the freedom and adventure that a cabin vacation can offer.
A scientist discovers a horrific new species of insect. Child's
keepsake becomes a deadly obsession. A ruthless businesswoman meets her match,

(01:09:40):
and honeys uncover the dark secret of a rose tinted mirror.
Call now to choose from a variety of plants and
amenities to suit your holiday needs. So check in, chill
Out and draw Dear a Cabin one eight seven Eat
Kevin one seven by Dan be Fierce, Available on Amazon

(01:10:05):
or at danbfiercebooks dot com.

Speaker 9 (01:10:12):
Do you have to throw on your favorite true crime
podcast before bed in order to fall asleep? Same? And
it's the very reason that I created Serial Napper. My
name is Nikki Young. And I'm here to lull you
to sleep, or perhaps to give you nightmares with some
of the craziest true crime stories that you've never heard of.

(01:10:33):
Each episode of Serial Napper features a different true crime
story told succinctly the way that it happened, Just the facts, ma'am.
My focus is on unsolved crimes that need more attention,
cold cases, and wrongful convictions. While true crime shows can
sometimes be graphic in nature, I ensure that the story
is told in a way that is respectful to the

(01:10:54):
victims and their families. Now, when it's time for bed,
you can look forward to thirty minutes of well researched
and detailed case files while you get your beauty sleep.
Find Serial Napper on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you
like to listen to podcasts. Sweet dreams.

Speaker 8 (01:11:13):
I gotta do one of these things again. This is
Canary of the Canary pa audio drama. I'm just a
run of the mill PI trying to make a buck
for his next corn beef sandwich. A magnet for the strange,
a lord for the macabre. Sometimes the worst kind of
monsters are very human. Other times it's unexplainable. Peculiar short
stories with revolving cast of colorful characters. Say that ten

(01:11:35):
times fast mix, ignore horror, mystery and drama. Reach us
at RPCNARYPI dot c A r r D dot co
or look up CANARYPI and your favorite search engine. Gotta
go lunches here, Hey, where's the pickle?

Speaker 1 (01:11:49):
You see there? This one time? And then me and
Daddy we went down there.

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
And so the way we pronounce in Ireland is daddy O.
So I think you're trying to say that. Billy would
say daddy. Oh, so dad joe is okay, so 't
just do that again. Four dad Joe, daddy O.

Speaker 4 (01:12:18):
Sorry?

Speaker 3 (01:12:18):
Four dad Joe is an affectionate term for an elder
father in Gaelic. Very antiquate, oh my god, very antiquated.
Of course, the bills, of course, the way Bills says it.
It's very americanized. He always says it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:30):
Like that that, My dear is good old fashioned West
Virginia corn liquor. Let me see if I get some
asm R on this one.

Speaker 3 (01:12:50):
Very antiquate, very antiquated. I can't say the word antiquated
and antiquated.

Speaker 4 (01:12:56):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
Oops forty.

Speaker 4 (01:13:01):
I've never heard of these names. If these are meant
to be older names.

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
How about some go words.

Speaker 3 (01:13:08):
So we wouldn't say moonshine, we would say puccine. So
I'll say moon shine in case that's what you'd like
to say, and then I'll do puccine as well.

Speaker 4 (01:13:15):
Twenty eight Do you mean moonshine? You mean moonshine?

Speaker 6 (01:13:25):
Like I get asked all the time, like how do
I start a podcast? And I was like, Perry used
to do consulting, and so I'd be like, well, you
could pay my friend you have to do a podcast
that's one or Google is free. That's how we did it.
And Google is better now than it was when we started.
It has more information on how to do it. But
then it's like I recently had this experience where my

(01:13:48):
nail tech, who I've been going to for a while
when I first started seeing her, was like, you sound
really familiar.

Speaker 7 (01:13:54):
Do we know each other?

Speaker 6 (01:13:55):
And I was like, no, I don't think so, Like
I have no clue who you are. My coworker came
with me to not didn't kept she like showed up.
She'd google the place and showed up and was like,
oh my god, this weird coincidence. So we're sitting there
and she was like, what are you doing this weekend?
And I was like, I'm recording for the podcast. My
nel texts like, oh, you're on a podcast, and I
said the name of it, and she just like, you
know how like you hear something but you don't like

(01:14:17):
absorb it. So the next time I go in, she's
giving me a pedicure, and I already have issues with feet,
like I don't want people touching my feet. I don't
want touch your feet like solid. I don't like it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:26):
I'm too ticklish to get to ever get a pedicure,
like it just would never. I can't imagine.

Speaker 6 (01:14:31):
I have to like look at a point on the
wall and like focus all of my on it to
not like one kick or two giggle too hard. But
she's literally holding my foot. And she always has a
show on, like she has a TV going. And so
we were watching Queer Eye and Jonathan van Asked was on it,
and I was like, oh my god, here's like this
really weird thing is that like a few times Morbid

(01:14:53):
has like quoted Tara and I on the show, and
I'm like, Jonathan is a huge fan of Morbid. So
Jonathan Vaness knows like my name and words I have said,
and I'm like, this is amazing, and she goes, what's
your podcast? She's literally holding my foot. She's like, what
is your podcast name? And I was like, it's Three
Spook Girls. She goes, Oh my god, my best friend

(01:15:14):
and my cousin and I all listen to your show.
That's why you sound familiar. And I was like, Gaddy,
you need to pay, Like you can't have this conversation
with you holding my foot because it's weird. And it's like,
I know that I podcast, but then like there's this
whole other side of me that like forgets that I'm
a podcaster because this is what I do in my house.

Speaker 3 (01:15:35):
Run my fingers over. It look so luxurious.

Speaker 4 (01:15:38):
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (01:15:39):
The differ for wolf is slain like a wolf that
if a wolf.

Speaker 3 (01:15:46):
On day two at the Old Homestead, Bill finds himself
suffering from sorry. At day two at the Old Homestead,
Bill finds himself suffering from an upset, so, oh my god,
what's wrong me?

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
Let's try that again.

Speaker 8 (01:15:59):
Eighty.

Speaker 3 (01:16:00):
It was much more bearable when the kids sorry, we
would say, kids, I'm going to do both. It was
much more bearable when the kids were here. It was
much more bearable when the children were here, doing.

Speaker 1 (01:16:14):
Pretty good, doing pretty all right, pretty pretty pretty pretty
pretty good robin ash and hood.

Speaker 4 (01:16:27):
Oy, what's in those jars?

Speaker 3 (01:16:29):
Kerosene for lanterns? As you say here, Yeah, it's very English.
We go, hey, hey, yo, don't know where YO come
out of there?

Speaker 7 (01:16:40):
Why mptweening don't s