Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret.
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I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.
And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk and I am absolutely loving it.
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I am absolutely obsessed with a sweet treat after dinner.
And my favorite sweet treat right now is my mochi.
It's Mine, not yours. Just kidding. You can have some too.
This is a cool, creamy scoop of ice cream. wrapped in a soft, chewy dough.
It's like a sweet little ice cream dumpling or ravioli.
I'm obsessed. It's pillowy. It's satisfying.
I feel indulged. I just love it so much.
I really am obsessed with the strawberry flavor right now.
My mochi is only around 70 calories per piece, which like, hello, that's amazing.
My mochi is gluten free and each box has six perfectly portioned mochi snacks.
Do I eat two a night? Yeah. Yeah, I do because they're that good.
And guess what? My mochi is the number one mochi ice cream in the US of A.
The strawberry flavor is bursting with fresh picked fruit flavor that tastes incredibly refreshing.
I love, love, love them after dinner this August.
Look for the purple box of My Mochi ice cream at your local grocery store. and feel joyfully chill with the coolest treat around, my mochi.
Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Alayna. And this is Mobbed.
It's Morbid. And it's Listener Team. Which means it's brought to you by you, for you, from you, and all about you.
That's right. And this one, we got some good ones.
You guys are always providing. Always and forever providing.
Always and forebski. as we were reading them we were like why are these all so good yeah we were Like, why is it always great?
I wish we could do listener tales like once a week.
I wish we could too. That would be amazing.
Just like an addition. Yeah. To our two episodes.
Just do an extra. we should shelf that we're gonna shelf that idea all right we'll just put it you know we'll keep the two episodes maybe who knows who knows i don't know you do you know i don't know evolution evolution Darwinism.
I don't know. The Galapagos. uh so the galapagos weird birds weird birds could go on forever it could Was it Dodo Birds?
Sorry. Dodo Birds, yeah. Sure, why not? They're not around anymore, but we are.
And you know what? I just had to say something because our first listener tale connects to this.
Today is a very special day and I will get to it in one second.
My garage door is opening. If you hear that, I'm sorry.
But so today I woke up And weirdly, my youngest is not a great sleeper, so we were up all night with her.
And I got to sleep, like, very briefly early in the morning.
So in my early morning sleep... That's heinous.
My little, like... little nest of sleep for like a minute and a half I had a dream and I had a dream that I was in my living room with John and and I went to walk and I like tripped over something and I automatically because in life this is very typical, I tripped over something and I was like, oh, Bubba.
You just got my way. Like, I thought she was right in front.
Like, it's just a natural reaction. Yeah.
And in the dream, I looked at John and was like, aww.
Like I acknowledged that she wasn't around anymore and that was just my like, you know, mind saying that.
Yeah. Which was weird in the dream that I acknowledged that she wasn't there.
Right. Because usually dreams are like not like that.
Mm-hmm. And but in the dream, we looked at each other.
Then I looked down and Bailey was there.
And she was doing this crazy, she used to do this crazy butt wiggle when she got really excited. that her entire lower half would almost come disconnected from her body.
She would wag it so hard. So she was doing that and she had both her eyes.
So she had those big round Bailey eyes. She was so happy and I like tackled her and we were just like snug at each other.
It was so brief and I woke up immediately after it.
Yeah. And I was like crying in the dream, literally being like, it's Bailey.
She's here, like freaking out. I woke up and I was like, oh man i was like but that was like weirdly comforting like i felt like she was saying hi because she was they like People and animals do that.
Well, and then to make it even weirder, I went downstairs.
I'm telling John about it. And he was like, well, today's our birthday.
Yeah. And I was like, it's my birthday. Wait a second.
And I was like, I had no, cause I just haven't been keeping track of days.
I'm like all off of my, I had no idea it was January 4th. fourth today so she on the morning of her birthday which I totally didn't know it was the fourth today I had a dream about her where she had her eyes, she was happy as a clam, because she has her eyes and i was like as a clam now she was totally being like it's my birthday bitch eat some steak for me it's bubba like she was because we were talking about how we always like cooked her steak on her birthday i know And we would get her a little cake and everything.
But it was so comforting. I was like, she totally came to visit.
I love it. And she was just letting me know.
Just let me know I got there. She's like, I'm having a good birthday.
We just want to do this cha-pa. Just with John's grandma.
She loves John's grandma. So I feel like she was just being like, we're hanging out, me and Nana.
Yeah. Like, what's up? I love it. It was so comforting.
And then, you know, so we're looking into the listener tales.
And what pops up? I was like, wow. Wow. Yeah.
I haven't read this yet, and I think it's going to fucking ruin.
So this listener tale is called A Tribute to Bailey.
Oh, God. And I was like, are you kidding me?
I just saw the preview of it and I haven't read it and I'm genuinely nervous that I might start crying.
Let me tell you, there's a beautiful furry boy attached to this too. there is so this says hey girls my name is d and i am from the great land that produced ivan malat catherine knight and Far too many creepy crawlies to count.
You guessed it. Stralia. Stralia. Australia for anyone not familiar with our incessant love for shortening any word we possibly can.
I love Australia. And you do that too. I do.
We do that in this house. So I feel like we vibe.
You do. I was sitting here sweating into my keyboard.
Gotta love the southern hemisphere at Christmas.
That must be so weird. Listening to Elena recount the loss of your beautiful Bailey, and it suddenly occurred to me that sharing my batshit crazy story of losing my fur baby...
And the completely amazing thing that happened shortly after may give you both some comfort.
Which, first of all, I appreciate that so hard that you did this.
I know, that's so nice. And you did. You gave me comfort.
So I love you. I'm ready for the comfort.
So here it is. So apologies for the atrocious grammar, and if it is too long, never.
I do tend to suffer from verbal diarrhea time to time me too so i had always wanted a golden labrador and finally managed to convince my mom to get one in 2009 once our other rescue dog had sadly passed.
I vividly remember going to a breeder to choose a puppy, And of course, the old cliche of the first puppy that came up to me, I was hooked.
I found my girl. We named her Sam and despite the crazy few puppy years of chewing everything in sight she fit in and stole our hearts and my bed.
This is exactly what happened with Bailey, by the way.
Remember when Bubba would eat all of your shoes?
Literally all of them. Every single pair of beautiful shoes. heels that you had any new shoe I had she ate she was like I want it and I'm now I'm like I hope you have that whole pile of shoes to chew on she definitely She had a great life and was spoiled, rotten, same.
I have plenty of amazing pictures of her dressed up in Halloween costumes. sitting next to the Christmas tree.
And of course, being an Irish family, she had to also dress up for St.
Patrick's Day. You sound exactly like us.
Yes, you do. Fast forward to November 2018, and I woke up one morning to Sam vomiting. eye twitching and not able to walk straight.
In an absolute panic, I took her to the vet and was somewhat relieved when they informed me She just had vestibular disease, which is essentially an inner ear infection quite common in geriatric dogs of any breed.
They gave me some medicine for her and said if she's too dizzy to drink or keep down water, then I would need to take her to the veterinary hospital so they could get some fluids into her.
She improved slightly later that day, so I had high hopes.
That is until the next morning when she wasn't in her bed.
My heart stopped when I found her at the back of the garden, unable to lift her head.
Shivers ran through my body as I know when some animals know they are dying, they go as far away as possible to do so.
So with my dad's help, we carried her into the car and it was then I noticed how yellow her gums and eyes were.
My fears were confirmed when the vet told me that's not normal and she needed to take bloods.
The crazy thing is I remember being so calm discussing with my dad that if she is in pain, we have to do the right thing by her as we waited.
This is exactly what happened with us too.
I was very calm and I was trying to be like strong.
Because I know like obviously we all had a bond with Bailey, but John and Bailey had a soulmate level bond.
Like words cannot. even they were meant to be in each other's lives bailey and john truly i truly believe that and so I knew I was like, I gotta stay strong because I need to, he needs to be allowed to like just lose it.
And I need to like keep it together. And so I kept telling him like, we are doing the right thing.
Like she is sick. We don't want her around just for us.
And he was like, I know. And you try to keep, you're so calm, but then when it happens, it's like, no.
And one, I don't think anything ever prepares you for that moment.
Yeah, you can never prepare for it. So back to the story.
Only to surprise myself by breaking down and sobbing uncontrollably when the vet came back in and confirmed she only had hours left to live.
Bloods were really bad and she was thinking it was cancer.
There was no hope. I always thought that when the day came I would be there to hold her paw as she was put to sleep, But suddenly the uncontrollable grief was so overwhelming and I could see in Sam's beautiful brown eyes she was concerned about me.
Thank God my dad was there who bravely offered to stay with her.
So I lent down, gave her a hug, told her I'm sorry and I loved her. and sobbed the entire way out to my car.
I'm sure scaring the other people in the waiting room.
To make matters worse that night, my then boyfriend broke up with me.
Fuck that guy. Are you shitting me? What?
Yes, ladies, I was one car crash away from a Grammy award-winning country and western song.
For real? Damn, what an asshole. What a dickwad.
The next few days were a bit of a blur, understandably.
I remember- crying every night and asking Sam to forgive me.
Oh my God, this is exactly what we have done.
This is like wild. uh we can't we literally said that to her as it was happening we were like please forgive us like it was that well it's not even like a forgive thing like oh yeah you did exactly but you immediately have horrible guilt you have horrible second thoughts but I'm gonna tell you forever that like you did exactly what you needed to do I'm starting to feel I feel that way now.
It's starting to feel a little better. But man, it's tough.
You did right by that puggle her whole damn life.
Oh, so I spent I cried every night and asking Sam to forgive me until one morning when I heard my parents leave for their usual coffee.
Oh, my God. Thinking my mom had just left the TV on, I begrudgingly got out of the bed to turn it off, but the TV wasn't on.
I followed the sound into my office and stood there completely gobsmacked at realizing the music was coming from my computer. my locked computer in sleep mode that nobody knows the password to.
In a matter of mere seconds, my brain went from trying to make sense of how to actually hearing what was playing somewhere over the rainbow. like, okay it's a beautiful version of that song and then it hit me when pets pass over they are meant to cross the rainbow bridge When I say I fell to the floor in a puddle of tears, that's an understatement.
My logical mind was still not making sense of how on earth this song was playing with my computer still in sleep mode. that I don't have any music on it as it's my work computer.
Wow. The craziest thing is this actually happened.
I'd like to think it was my girl's way of letting me know she's okay and that she forgives me for not not being there as she passed.
Either that or my computer is haunted, but I'm pretty sure it's Sam.
It's definitely Sam. Oh, you got me tearing up out here.
Right? As a tragic spinster dog mom myself, my sincere condolences on the loss of Bailey.
I'd like to think after the amazing event that I experienced, she's in a wonderful place now waiting for you.
Okay, thank you for all the amazing research and shows that keep me entertained as I spend countless hours editing photos of babies.
She's a newborn photographer. I do get a giggle that while I'm editing these gorgeous cherubs, I'm listening about BTK and Dahmer, keeping it that weird.
Hopefully one day when the plague disappears, you can both make it down under to say good day.
I promise, despite our reputation, I have never seen a snake in the wild or been bitten by a shark or spider.
That's good to know. Until then, ladies, take care of yourselves.
And I hope my experience may have brought you some comfort in this hard time.
Rest in peace, Bailey. Love, Dee. Sam is the most beautiful dog sam is a beautiful baby her eyes like i can't and i it looks like you took this photograph um Okay, fucking talent.
You're phenomenal. Okay, go off. That. made my heart feel so good and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it because it immediately made me just be like ugh They are around.
They are. And it's weird that I saw that today when all that was happening.
So I feel like you were meant to send me that.
We're best friends now. We're soulmates, Dee.
So as soon as I saw your picture of Sam, I was like, I'm ruined.
That was just so great. I love it. I love that story.
I love that. I still have a book I bought the girls from. um I don't know if I talked about the other book that I bought them but it's really good in case anybody I think you Yeah, the invisible leash.
If you have, I'm sure I talked about it, but my brain is scrambled from the end of the year.
Again, if you have kids and like pets or like little ones or nieces or nephews or anybody in your life that's little and needs help understanding the loss of a pet, it's a really great book and it helped.
I love that. But I just bought another book called The Rainbow Bridge and it's...
I've been waiting to read it. It's been sitting there.
I've been waiting to read it to the girls. and they wanted to read it the other night and i was like can you give mama just a couple more nights like because i'm just like i need to i need to be a little more prepared for that one because i think it's gonna bring me to tears i know the baby on christmas was like what's that i won't read that i was like i cannot i was like we cannot read that on christmas man i cannot do that leave it alone no but d that was amazing and what a way to kick off the listener tales I know and I have one that will really take us to a different place.
It's gonna take us to a different place.
This one is called Listener tale, sexy Danish men near you.
Single, desperate, and dead. In case you didn't know, it was the subject that immediately got me.
I love it. Yeah. And you were like, you need to read that one immediately right now.
I shall. You know what's even more stressful than a packed calendar?
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All right, so I'll be experiencing this along with you guys.
Hi, Ash and Elena. I hope you both are doing well.
I love your podcast and I'm happy I've finally taken the time to write out this story for you two after years of being a listener.
I hope y'all will read my story for the podcast.
Spoiler alert, we did. We did. And or excuse me, or even just for your own pleasure.
How about both? You can call me B and my pronouns are they, them.
No need to blur out any names because I've already done that for y'all.
Thank you. You're the best. I'm a military brat from the USA, so I've lived worldwide, but I'm currently completing my final year of university in Toronto.
I often listen to your podcast when I'm on the subway or working from home.
I really appreciate that you all often talk about the inequities folks face because of poverty abuse, mental illness, substance abuse.
And other barriers that work, again, wow, did you just hear my Boston accent?
I don't even have a Boston accent. Wow. that work against certain communities.
Anyways, I don't have a crime related story. but I have had some obscure experiences while moving from place to place. and I thought that you might enjoy this spooky story about my time in Denmark.
Please feel free to shorten this if you need to.
No. I just thought providing some context and history about Denmark might help.
I bet it will. If you believe you have issues with a clingy partner, just think about how much more complicated it would be.
If you were dealing with an overly attached spirit from another country, well, let's get into it.
Please. Please. Let's do it. So when I was 18 years old, like every other teenager, I wanted to get as far away from my parents as possible.
During my final year of high school, I hadn't really found any universities that interested me. and I was lucky to have parents who worked internationally.
So I essentially decided to fuck off to Denmark for a year and do volunteer work.
I went on a program and spent half of my year helping at a private school, but they offered to let me try out a new experience and go to a boarding school because of my age.
So in Denmark, they have these things called... You kind of say it like high school.
I think it's like... It says you kind of say it like high school, but to be honest, my Danish sucks, so I can't help much.
I'll try to attach a recording of how to say it.
Did that happen? No. No. But you know what you thought about it.
I forgive you. I appreciate that. I had fun trying to figure that out.
Hustle. Hall School. Hall School. Don't be fooled by the way it's written.
Hall School actually has nothing to do with high school.
They call that gymnasium. And they are actually usually an adult alternative education. where folks go to relax and take classes and kind of just get away.
They don't offer degrees or anything, but sometimes they have international students like myself And depending on the school, there's a wide variety of classes provided like art, music, sports, yoga and meditation. film critique, and other cool things.
That sounds really cool. I know it does.
It's like fun college if you feel like it. fun college if you feel like it yeah that'd be that's how you guys should mark ash is gonna open that up in the usa she's gonna be like Welcome to Ash's Fun College, if you feel like it.
Where we do things when we feel like it.
True Gemini vibes. They don't offer academic courses, but sometimes you have the option for that.
For example, my favorite class I took was a war history class that I took before we went to Berlin called Blood, Death, and Destruction.
Jokes aside. They aren't academic spaces, but many adults in Denmark attend all school to relax.
But the school I went to was only for ages 16 to 19.
This school is located 15 kilometers from the town of Rib, or Rib, I'm not sure. which is Southern, which is in Southern Jutland, relatively close to the German border.
It's known as Denmark's oldest city. And it's rich in history, with the first official document of the town appearing in 854.
Oh, just then. Just 8.54. A couple weeks ago.
That's when John was born. Wow. Just kidding.
I know that was brutal. I had to. That was usually like my moment to say that that was when you were born. because i was going to say it's when i was born but then you know john's not here to defend himself so i decided i decided to unleash that on him Sorry, John.
He's only three years older than me. Two right now.
Whoa. Crazy. I know. Math. Well, it's made up of old tiny brick buildings, churches, and a towering cathedral that overlooks the town.
It's a lovely little town, so if you ever have the opportunity to visit Denmark, please consider stopping by. and visiting their uh viking museum i would love to that sounds like a lot i am partly german I am not.
During WW... Wow, I'm leaving. During World War II, the southern border of Jutland was invaded by Germany and despite some resistance, Denmark ultimately gave into the occupation. deciding to retreat and prevent more Danish casualties.
As it so happens, my school resides in the area of invasion. with several bunkers scattered in the area, and the tiny village it sits within comprises historic homes.
During the war, the school building operated as a hospital for Danish soldiers and refugees from Germany.
Through time, the building was a hospital, orphanage, and school before being followed by some oof and... oof and on some oof and on oof and on closures nonetheless According to the staff, the main building has history and accounted deaths to it.
Damn. Also, I just realized that I said I'm German, like...
Yeah, I should go to Denmark because I'm German.
Wow. I mean, I didn't realize it. Germany was mentioned.
I think my brain just went there. Yeah, somebody said Germany.
I just wanted to mention that I know where things are.
Me too. i don't so like you should come to denmark i'm like i'm german why not yeah let's go you're like i'll invade again sure On the second story of the main building sits 20 or so dorm rooms for students to live in.
And while they eventually built more modern expansions, these were still in use.
And naturally, I happened to score one. wasn't glamorous but i was happy to have a room to myself so i quickly settled in and situated myself comfortably into my new home.
The room never had a dark feeling, but it gave off strange energy.
It often felt like I was being watched or something was there, though I never saw anything.
At first, things started like your typical ghost story with unnoticeable things vanishing until the most inconvenient moments like a hair tie or a pen.
I didn't pay much mind to it because I've had experiences with spirits in the past.
So I figured that if something was in my room, it'd be best to leave it be.
I did the usual, letting it be. knowing I was moving into the room and trying to cleanse the energy a bit with a candle.
Things went on like this for a week or so.
And then the knocking began. Oh, okay. The knocking.
Out of the blue, I began to hear a rapid knocking coming from the walls, five to seven knocks or so. all quick and then a brief pause.
However, it wouldn't take long to follow.
Sure, a couple of knocks might not have been something.
But I shit you not, it would not stop. The knocking became so persistent that I became unable to sleep as the noise would wake me.
Over the first couple of weeks, it was apparent that I was losing sleep, and I openly talked with the staff about it, so they decided to investigate.
We checked the walls, the pipes, the outside trees to see if they were hitting the window, all rational explanations for this annoying sound that would come and go.
However, the staff found nothing. I considered moving rooms, but it was too much of a hassle, so I decided to live with the noises with the hopes that it would get better.
Knocking is never something like innocuous.
It's always somebody knocking. And I'm not into it.
Somebody or something. Somebody or something knocking. either way hate it stop knocking just leave get out of here yeah there's doorbells don't ring them After eventually becoming the norm, I asked some of the other students that lived in my room before if they ever noticed weird things happening or felt strange sensations. and several accounted that they believed the room was haunted.
Whoops. Well, great. Oh, we've got a whole ghost on our hands, it seems.
But come on, it wasn't actually that bad due to my past experiences.
I knew better than to try interacting with it.
But my friends and I made jokes here and there.
And I eventually named the spirit Matthias, a common name for Danish boys.
I love that. I love that name. I teased the spirit in my room.
I teased that the spirit. You were like.
It was called a reset, thank you. I teased the spirit of my room enjoyed bothering me.
Because I'd play music like earth, wind, and fire and the police out loud.
And dance around and that he may have grown some sort of affection for me.
I love that. Something about the idea of vibing with a ghost seemed a bit charming at the time, but Mateus could easily be less than angry.
Oh no. I'm scared. As time went on, the knocking subsided and I spent most of my weekends traveling out of town to meet up with fellow volunteers and friends in the cities.
Okay, so Matthias... Is getting physical?
I'm not impressed with Matias anymore. Violence is not the answer, sir.
No. They started at my shin and would move up high and higher over the next few nights.
It didn't make any sense where they were coming from because my bed wasn't close to a wall or anything. so I didn't know how I would have been getting them.
Curiously, it was only on my right leg as well.
I wish I took photos, but alas, it seems I never did.
It would get a bit better through the week, but as soon as I began packing for a trip or returned, I would wake up with new painful bruises out of the blue. oh that's really creepy unsettled i avoided making any note or mention of matthias hoping that it would stop eventually it got better until the end of my term.
Because you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.
You cannot. They do say. You already acknowledged them.
That if you think that you have a spirit in your house, you're not supposed to acknowledge it.
Really? And you're not supposed to say the D word in your house.
I feel like that is all very much a big trickity trick trick trick because it's like...
How the fuck are you not going to acknowledge a spirit alien?
Like, come on. Like, you're supposed to just in your head be like, yep.
It's definitely a spirit. But then never say it.
Like, come on. That's what I tried. Well, you can talk about it outside of your house.
So like, just go outside and talk about it.
See, I'm just like... Go take a ride and tell your mans that you think you've got a ghost.
If I see one, I'm like, hey, you were here before me.
What's going on? But it's mine now. yeah we can hang yeah but like this is mine i just don't say anything yeah and then if it if it's in the kids rooms forget about it no I will throw hands I don't have that option yet I will throw hands no you'll just like make friends with them I will that's true these are mom's friends these are mom's spooky friends preceding my departure all hell broke loose and the bruises begin to appear on other spots now The knocking, which had stopped for the most part, became persistent and aggressive.
It seemed like every time I needed something, it would go missing only to appear in a different place from where it had been.
Finally, it was time for me to return to the USA.
Yeah, it was. I moved in with my best friend's family for reference.
Her mom is indigenous and very spiritually connected.
She's part of the reason why I got thrust into the world of the paranormal shit, and her two kids are very receptive as well.
They sound awesome. They really do. I want to be friends with them.
So picture this. You have seven people in a house, two cats and a dog.
Four of us were spiritually attuned. But her mom was the only one that had a real understanding of herself.
The rest of us were kind of a chaotic mess of not knowing how to manage our emotions. and the strange things that we experienced.
But to top it all off, the house we were living in had a spirit in it.
Oh, this is so much. I love the chaos here.
From one spirit to the other. I'm also like, is Mateus going to like link up with this new spirit?
I don't know. does he travel i don't know for a long time i've struggled with the sensations i feel and odd things i experience as they often evoke a lot of fear yes and I haven't known how to manage the intensity this was a particularly stressful period of my life thanks to trying to prepare for moving to another country for university, the reverse culture shock of returning home, and the strain of being in my hometown.
Needless to say, I was feeling rather sensitive and on edge most of the time.
You don't say. I would, too. The anxiety of having a spirit in the house put me even more on edge because the idea of seeing a spirit in the laundry room terrified me at the time. according to her mom the spirit wasn't violent but very confused about why she was dead and what happened that's so sad that is very sad That hurts my heart.
Our dog Max was sensitive to the oppressive feeling in the laundry room. and would often whine, bark, or dig at the ground.
Sometimes you'd be in the laundry room and then you'd come back only to see that things on the shelf had been tossed onto the ground.
While the spirit scared me, I did my best to settle, avoiding looking down the dark hallway connecting the laundry room and my bedroom.
I'm stressed out for you. I would be like, who's switching rooms with me?
On a sweltering summer afternoon, the power went out in our neighborhood thanks to a squirrel interfering with a power line.
So my best friend. Her mom and her mom's boyfriend and I were hanging out in the living room, chatting about school or whatever.
I began walking up the staircase to the balcony overhead the living room when I heard a click.
No, no, no. As it leaned in, I heard it say, huh, this isn't my house.
Oh, fuck. I don't even know what I'd be like, no, it's not.
I would just be like, turn around. Go home.
Ah. I just love that that's so casual and so very, like, this isn't my house.
This isn't my house. I'd be like, well, get the fuck out then.
I'd be like, what? the fuck did you come from then?
See yourself out. Yeah. Then, all within the same instance, my best friend's mom shot up and yelled out, what the Bye.
As she bolted towards the figure, by the time she reached the door, the operation had vanished, leaving the door swinging open and the lot of us in utter shock.
I have chills. Picturing this, I'm like, whoa.
No. At first I thought I was hallucinating until I asked if anyone heard what I did and her mom said the exact same thing.
This isn't my house. I still don't really know how to describe the voice.
It was masculine and lower, but at the same time It didn't feel like it came from a person at all.
I hate that. What does that even mean? How does that even...
How do you know that? Like, didn't you feel like a person?
Oh, oh, no, no. The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
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Either way, chills and discomfort lingered in my body same as we frantically tried to make sense of what we had witnessed.
Her boyfriend ran outside of the house checking if anyone was around, but no one was there.
However, upon discussing with my friend and her mom, We had all seen the same thing, a featureless shadow figure entering the house.
It was baffling and my friend and I immediately wanted to leave the house.
So we decided to fuck off until the power was back.
That's what I would do. Fuck right off. I'd fuck right off.
Into oblivion. Yeah, I would fuck off into the sun.
Bye. Bye. The rest of my evening was uneventful.
You deserved that. You deserved an uneventful evening after that.
You earned boredom. Until we returned home to chat with her mom.
Apparently, things in the laundry room went a little haywire.
She's like, that laundry room. I'd be like, you need to tear it down.
Shit went down in there. Shit got gray. The dog had been going off for hours and was running back and forth down the hall, violently digging and tearing up the carpet.
I'd be pissed. Wow. Additionally, the dry gods... The dry gods.
The dry gods have arrived. the dry goods stored on the walls, pasta, cereal, et cetera, were torn open and scattered all over the ground.
Rude. These things were out of reach of the dog.
It was fucking wild. Okay. Like, I understand that, like, you're stressed out because you're a...
You're dead. Yeah. Like super stressful experience.
I imagine. Yeah. You don't need to make a mess of my house.
Yeah. You don't need. I mean, you. I would be like, did you like cereal when you were alive?
Would you like a bowl? Would you like to see it on the floor?
Write me a note. I'll leave out a whiteboard.
Hell yeah, I'll get you a bowl of cereal.
You want some magic spoon? Yeah, it's delicious.
You don't have to ruin it for everybody.
Just take some. The milk's in the fridge.
It's cool. We have oat as well. We have oat if you're dairy-free.
Needless to say, my friend's mom gave all of us, including the house, a full blown cleanse with sage.
The house calmed down after that. but because of the strange thing that the shadow figure said her mom believes that it was matthias and that it somehow latched itself to me i thought that too i had of feeling when he said that like he was like oh shit what the fuck even though I tried to avoid connecting with it.
She told me that sometimes it happens unintentionally, so if it was Mateus, It would make sense why the figure was lost upon entering the front door, as it was on a whole different continent.
Because of the tension with the laundry room spirit, she believes the sudden invasion of another spirit caused an uproar and displeased the laundry room woman, hence the disaster.
My God, you had a battle royale of spirits in your laundry room.
That's wild. That's like an overreaction.
Like there's another guy here, so you have to throw my fucking cereal all over the place.
Yeah, I mean. Honestly, if I was haunting a house, though, and some Matthias just comes in and is like, huh.
This is my place, but I'm going to hang anyways.
I'd be like, fuck you. I'd probably throw some cereal at him.
You think so? To be honest. But would you clean it up?
I'm thinking ghost Elena. I'm not thinking me right now.
But ghost Elena, I think I'd throw some cereal at someone if they tried to.
I think Haunt the same place I did. I think Ghost Ash would just be like, you want to collab?
Well, it depends. Matthias didn't seem awesome.
He was bruising them up and shit. That is true.
So I think this laundry room woman was like, okay, abuser, get the fuck out of here.
Fair. And threw the magic spoon at them.
Fair. If it had been another spirit, I'd be like, yo, let's get into it.
Yeah, they could have had... a total collab situation let's vibe not with matthias no good good call No, thanks.
And her mom explained that the spirit might always be.
No. Figure out a way to get rid of that.
Yeah. But it doesn't scare me as much now, especially now that I've gotten a better connection to my intuition.
Good for you. Anyways, that's my story about the time a spirit followed me all across the world only to try barging into the house and nearly scaring the shit out of everyone while also pissing off another spirit down the hall wow what a sentence i hope y'all had a fun time reading this roller coaster of a story i did to this day i will never be really able to explain what that shadow figure was but considering all the weird shit with the bruises and knocking that happened The idea of Mateus getting a little clingy isn't that surprising.
For sure. Thank you so much for the fantastic podcast y'all put together.
It always brightens my day to see new episodes and to see y'all cover important cases.
I hope you stay safe and take care, and of course, make sure to keep it weird but not so weird that the spirit in your boarding school room in Denmark wants your attention and gets jealous whenever you leave and then becomes emotionally attached to you and decides to show up uninvited. to your home back in the USA and scared the shit out of everybody.
Thank you for everything and take care. B.
B. Thank you, B, because I didn't even know that I needed that story, but I did.
B. I never heard of a clingy ghost before.
That's a truly wild story. Mateus needs, like, some better help.
Matias needs something that's all I can say about that he needs something And I don't blame the laundry room ghost for throwing some Wheaties at him.
I still think that that was like a bit of an overreaction. a little rude but sometimes when you gotta you gotta do what you gotta do well it's not you know sometimes like you just can't control how you feel Maybe she threw the shitty cereal.
We don't know. We didn't have the details.
True. Maybe she threw like the Raisin Bran Crunch.
Yeah. I think I like Raisin Bran, though.
Is that the one with the raisins in it? Yes.
I like that. Raisins remind me of old people who've gone over this.
I know. I actually like raisins. Ew. So, you know, here I am.
Well, that's good. Well, that's good. I'm like, I want the magic spoon, bitch.
Oh, Magic Spoon is the shit. It's primo.
No other cereal will ever suffice. This is not even an ad.
I just really like Magic Spoon. No, I really love it.
All right, so the next one we are going to read. is Kentucky Fried Fright Kentucky Fried Fright because I want to read that one and it is A tale of how my fat ass was almost murdered on a camping trip.
I feel like I can see myself in this story, so thank you.
Because I love Kentucky Fried Chicken. I love it so much.
I bet it's about that. Better be. All right, here we go.
Some Kentucky fried fright. I almost said fight.
I thought you were going to say fart. Yeah.
A Kentucky Fried Fart. That sounds thoughtful.
All right. Hello, ladies. I've sent in a previous email about Bobby Mackey's that I hope you enjoyed.
I haven't seen that, but now I'm going to look for it.
So thank you for pointing it out. But while I'm sitting here listening to some spoopy tales, envious that I don't have any tales of my own... when it struck me when the time I was almost murdered on a camping trip in rural Kentucky.
How does one forget that? You know, sometimes.
Repressed memories. This is long. but I'm not going to apologize for it because I can hear you guys saying never be sorry for a long story.
Yes. You get it. Here it goes. About four hours south of where I live is a little slice of heaven called Laurel Lake.
That sounds heavenly. It does. Laurel Lake.
It's got a nice mouth feel to it. We love an alliteration.
I love a nice mouth feel. With words. This week.
That could go weird. This lake is in the Daniel Boone National Forest, which is an expansive and beautiful part of Kentucky.
Red River Gorge, mentioned in a previous episode, is also in this massive 700,000 acre forest.
Damn. It's a lot of forest. The biggest attractions include a giant clear lake that was built as most massive lakes in Kentucky are made. by floating old-ass towns because a baller-ass pristine lake is much more fun than having a bullshit hauler to live I think you said floating instead of flooding.
Oh, did I say floating? I think so. By floating in old town.
Floating old ass towns. We talked about that with Lake Lanier.
Yep. freaks me out man i'll read that one more time for you just because i fucked that up by flooding old-ass towns because a baller-ass pristine lake is much more fun than having a bullshit hauler to live in.
I digress. Okay, so circa 2000 and something.
I don't remember exactly other than it was over 10 years ago.
I partied far too hardy to supply dates.
My boyfriend Kevin and I had been camping with some friends for a week at Lake Cumberland, also in Daniel Boone and also a flooded town.
Save to say we were filthy as fuck and looked virtually homeless.
As we packed up our camp, I called my best friend Bethany.
Hey, old bitch, what are y'all doing? Bethany says something along the lines of, oh, nothing, just going camping down at Laurel Lake.
I say, oh, fuck yeah. Say we will meet you guys down there because why not?
We don't have jobs or common sense at this point, so what's another week of bathing in a lake and shitting in the woods?
That's what I always say. I could never shit in the woods.
No, bears do. Kevin has a little piece of shit bass boat.
And by the grace of God, we find this tiny ass boat. in camps a boat in campsite which i didn't even know was a thing like bring your boat Yeah, we find this tiny ass Bowdoin campsite that is essentially miles away from anyone that can hear us scream, which is ominous as fuck.
Foreshadow much? We find Bethany and her boyfriend Josh at the campsite. which again is no small feat.
This is pre-smartphone era where you had one bar of service at best and you were praying to the Verizon gods that the person you were calling happened to be standing on even the tiniest of hills in a clearing,
So whatever cellular witchcraft could work its magic.
Amazing. We are talking about the time of, quote, I printed out these map quest directions, but took the wrong fucking turn.
So now I'm lost. Let's just go home. I think you get the point. so glad that i grew up in a time where there was gps and not map quest oh i fucked really hard with MapQuest.
I know because I remember you sitting in the fucking computer room printing out MapQuest directions.
It's true. You took a wrong turn. You were like, well, guess we're not going.
It was literally that way. like i i have no sense of direction with a fucking gps i can't imagine with map quest it was tough And also, like, having to look... Like, it just seems dangerous.
Well, you have to have someone with you.
You can't do it by yourself. Yeah. Otherwise, you're really... we really uh playing with fate yeah taking you're being very bold bold move so this campsite is heaven No one is around and we feel like we are the last people on earth.
That sounds like hell to me. have my eight pound dachshund with me, Abby.
She's bonded so strongly to me that she will vanquish any rodent that threatens my person.
I love it. My friends have their two dogs, Smokey Bones and Boogie Woogie.
I'm dead. This is amazing. I also need to know if Boogie Woogie is named after the ICP song.
Boogie, woogie, woogie. That's a real story.
Uh, but, but, or boogie woogie might be, or no, that's oogie boogie.
Nevermind. I was thinking of a nightmare on Christmas.
I, Hey, maybe. So Smokey is a majestic hundred pounds of beagle. who is afraid of his own shadow.
And Boogie is about 40 pounds of lean mutt with a fierce killer instinct.
Yes. Boogie has been known to kill just about anything in her path, including turtles, and she climbs trees.
Wow. I feel safe with Boogie. Me too. The other two, not so much.
I'm also more comfortable with dogs around out in the great unknown.
They keep it real. I agree. Anyway, tragically, Kevin lost a great uncle who lived down by the lake, so we thought we would kill two birds with one stone.
Funeral and adventure. Have your cake and eat it too.
Why wouldn't you go see distant relatives after camping for over a week?
I chose not to go because I'd rather not show up at a funeral than to show up to a stranger's funeral smelling of the woods slash lake I've been kicking it in.
Kevin gives zero fucks about personal experiences.
He didn't pack a suit for his funeral. Instead, he put on his best pair of muddy work boots, his finest of faded t-shirt, and his shortest of cut-off shorts because he's trash.
Amazing. Josh mentions he will take him to the funeral because he needs to pick up some herbal supplements in town.
Apparently our connection is a friend of the guy who brings firewood via golf cart a mile down the dirt trail to the Bowdoin campers.
These guys are cool, albeit kind of weird.
I love it. These backwoods weirdos offer Kevin and Josh a ride to Josh's car on the cart. so they can go to town for both the hookup and the funeral.
Again, two birds. We might all be trash at this point.
It's uncertain. I love it. I feel as though you guys are my people.
I love that you're like it's uncertain. I don't know.
Josh waves Bethany on to join him on the back of the moving cart speeding away.
Then fucking Boogie jumps on the cart. I take a look at Bethany, who shrugs and mouths the word, Sorry, as she rides off into the fucking sunset and leaves me alone at the campsite because there is no room for me on this trip into civilization.
Okay, don't panic. You're alone with two pussy ass dogs in the middle of the woods in the middle of a lake, but that's okay.
You're going to be fine. I'm so God. dimmed mad at Bethany.
Like so much for that ride or die bitch.
I settle down at camp and know that Josh is a quick all about business type of guy.
They won't be gone long. I sit and I wait.
I think of taking a nap, but the tent is too hot And I'm a ball of nervous energy.
The sun begins to set and it's been hours.
Oh that's not normal. Does your brain ever do that thing where it sabotages you into being a neurotic mess?
Yes. Mine sure as fuck does. At this point, I'm thinking some weird shit went down and everyone is dead.
The car rolled into oncoming traffic and everyone is crushed by a semi. or murdered by the local population, shot, robbed, and killed by the ever prevalent mountain people.
My friends and boyfriend are dead and this is my life now.
Oh no. I've consigned my fate to being the woman of the woods that the locals tell stories about, I'm fucking sick.
I paced the woods looking for a cell signal.
Remember, I'm stranded at a Bowdoin campsite with no goddamn cell reception for like eight hours.
My flip phone is a useless piece of shit as I work myself into a nervous frenzy.
Again, talk myself down. This is a goddamn roller coaster.
Night falls. It's going on 10pm. My friends are 100% dead.
I am 100% dead. So long, cruel world. Here lies Sarah, a weak ass bitch that can't handle being alone in the woods for a few hours.
Oh my god. It starts to fucking thunderstorm.
No it doesn't. In case you didn't hear me from the back.
The end is near. I am fucked. I'm also dramatic, if you didn't gather that from my immediate sense of impending doom.
I get the courage to walk the mile or so in the dark ass woods to the parking lot. not knowing what I'll do when I get there, just hoping I get enough cell reception to make a call.
Oh my God, I'm scared for you. You're doing more than I would because I couldn't walk. walk through those woods.
I would just stay put. I got my little dog and we are piecing the fuck out of these spooky ass woods in the rain.
Sorry, Smokey. You're going to have to hold down the fort since you don't like the dark or the rain, motherfucker.
Y'all, I start walking and I see an eerie light.
It's the color of those obnoxious headlights that douchebags have.
I know exactly. I know exactly. I'm so cool with these fluorescent looking bulbs.
Hope you don't like being able to see while you drive at night.
This light is getting closer. Abby sees it and she charges off barking.
Through the rain, I see a man. He is shirtless, but has on a yellow rain slicker with matching hat and pants.
Why would he ever do that? No. This guy looks like a mix between a firefighter and the dude from I Know What You Did Last Summer.
You know, that's the first thing that came to my mind.
I know what you did last summer, and I also thought of the man that was on the fish sticks box when I was growing up.
Oh, my God. He has a name. The Gorton's Fisherman.
Thank you. There you go. That's who I thought of.
Good call. I like that about you. I used to fuck so hard with fish sticks.
I feel like everyone did. I loved fish sticks.
Fish sticks were it. Why does nobody talk about fish sticks anymore?
Where's the conversation around fish sticks?
Why does nobody eat fish sticks anymore?
Probably for good reason. Do people do? Do people do?
Do people do? Do people do? I feel like people do.
I don't know. I don't know. My kids don't, but I feel like they should.
I would not feed my own personal kids fish sticks. i don't know they were great anyways so he's carrying that spooky ass lantern and all i see is this guy coming towards me in the rain The light is shining so the yellow is so bright that it leaves a shadow over the face and body.
I yell for Abby to run as I see him looming closer.
Abby is my BFF and I know she will have my back.
Unlike that bitch, Bethany, who sold me up the river.
Fuck Bethany. I feel sorry that she ditched my ass in the wilderness only to be murdered by a goddamn movie villain.
I am freaked the fuck out, so I run. I'm a big girl.
And bitch, let me tell you that I've never been a track star.
But when I saw this tall ass motherfucker in a rain slicker walking up on me in a thunderstorm, I straight up Forrest Gumped my ass back to camp.
There were literally sparks flying from my screen. i start thinking oh my fucking fuck what do i do he's getting closer then i see him Kevin?
What? Where in the fuck did he get this rain slicker outfit?
Blue light special from Murderers R Us? Never have I seen this outfit before.
And I melted into that big fucking idiot so hard because I'm one anxious bitch.
It was on the brink of disaster all day and thought I was about to become a damned urban legend.
Bethany and Josh come out of the rain like nothing happened.
Pretty chill and uneventful night if you ask me.
Know what made it the best trip ever? that I wasn't murdered by a psycho with a backstory and a rain slicker during a thunderstorm.
So keep it weird, but not so weird that you take a trip to nowhere. with your best friends only for them to go on a sketchy drug deal and a funeral with the only dog who would protect your ass during an attack only to have a deranged lunatic walk up on your campsite out of the darkness wearing a rain slicker, only for it to end up being your trash idiot boyfriend.
P.S. He's still my boyfriend and he's still trash.
P.S.S. Should you decide to share this story over the thousands of others that you read, I give zero shits if you keep everyone's name the same.
We're trash, remember? Oh, yeah, you are.
I love you. We're all trash here. Bit of my soul.
But I need to know, why did Bethany and the other guy leave for so long?
Why were they there for so long? I thought they were just doing a droop deal.
I gotta know. I gotta know why that took so long.
Yeah, why'd they leave you for so long? I'm upset for you.
Where did your boyfriend get the fucking rain slicker?
I have so many questions. Why was he not wearing clothes and was only wearing a rain slicker and pants and a hat?
Yeah, like he went to the funeral clothed and then he came back naked.
Yeah, we need to know more. You need to give us an update, man.
Update, please. Please, Sarah. Please. Because that was hilarious as well.
That's amazing. That was like the most amazing thing ever.
Sarah, I love you. All right, my next one is called Listener Tale.
My dead mom finally sent me a sign after five years because of y'all and y'all's podcast.
Whoa! I didn't tell her to do that, but I'm glad she did.
I'll take the credit. Elena's like, I told you to do so.
I did it. hey ash and elena my name is kylie yes you're more than welcome to use my name and any names used you may butcher it just as everybody else does don't feel bad it always happens It sounds like Kylie, but spelled like above.
I really wish that I had read that because I spent about three minutes trying to figure out if her name was Kylie Or Keeley, I think I thought it was.
Yeah. Yeah. I suck. But yeah, Kylie. Kylie.
That's a cool way to spell it. I like it.
Anyways, sorry about the little mini TED talk about my name.
Don't even, I needed it. So I'll start. Don't even, don't even.
So I'll start this like everybody else does.
I love you guys so much. I really feel like I'm laughing with a friend and I even sometimes talk to y'all even though y'all don't respond. honestly I do that to a podcast that I listen to I do that all the time and sometimes I'm like oh I have to tell so and so this and I'm like they don't know who I am they don't know who that person is no I do like last podcast on the left but I used to do it all the time yep I'd be like, oh, like my friend Marcus.
And I was like, he's not my friend. That happens to me all the time.
I'm like, oh, I have to tell Lara. And then I'm like, oh.
Oh, she doesn't know who the fuck I am. Literally.
Anyways. So as you read above, yes, after five years, y'all got my mom to get up the courage to say hey to her daughter after five freaking years.
This is amazing. I'm going to cry. So a little backstory.
My mom, mother to four of us kids, my older sister, me, and my two younger brothers.
About six years back, my little brother Blake had passed away to his due to his lungs collapsing i'm so sorry he was only four years old but our little angel This was very hard on my mom and us kids.
My mom went through about a year of not getting out of bed and struggling to function honestly.
Me being 11 years old at the time, I was taking care of her since we had a lot going on and a little bit of alcohol and drug abuse.
But my aunt, who I'm very close to, came over one day and talked to her.
Actually kind of slapped her around a bit.
Not literally, of course. And the next thing I knew, the next three days right after school, we would go to the beach and spend hours upon hours until dark.
I remember those were some of the best days that I had with her. lying on the sheet laid out on top of the beautiful white Florida beach sand, looking at the water and wishing it would stop being so loud,
So I could go to sleep and looking at my brother thinking of how the hell are you asleep right now?
But overall, it was an amazing experience and if I knew then what I knew now, I would have cherished that time so much more than I did.
While December rolls around and something to know about my mom, she absolutely sucks at time management.
Sorry not sorry mom. We both know you relate to everything, even your wedding.
Amazing. Me and your mom have that in common.
So Christmas Eve comes around and she left that night to do last minute Christmas shop.
Well, stubborn little Kylie wanted to go with her mom to the store, but she told me to stay.
Begging and begging, finally mom got agitated and told me to go to bed.
Not sure if I told her I loved her before she left.
She spent all night with my aunt and absolutely had to pick up my little brother's new bike around three or four in the morning. even though my aunt offered to get it.
She's also very stubborn and had to get it done.
So needless to say, I didn't get to spend that Christmas with her.
She tragically got in an accident on the way home on December 25, 2015.
That's the most horrific thing. I'm so sorry that you went through that. seriously I won't go into great detail about that I'm sure you after all this you're thinking damn this chick has gone through some shit and now we have to come to this wow i know we are so bad well fast forward five years it's november 2021
And I was on the way to Georgia to visit some family friends.
Now I remind you, this was my first long road trip.
I was with my younger brother and it was about eight hours.
Y'all got me through nearly the entire trip.
I'm glad. I love that. My brother threw in his headphones and I thought, yes, this is my chance to catch up on some morbid.
While some time goes on and out of nowhere, I see my brother pop up and he goes, he did what to his wife?
Oh my God, that's amazing. I looked at him and realized he had been listening along with me the whole time and I busted out laughing.
So about three hours I was driving through Alabama. and I was about to pass Auburn University.
This is where my older sister had graduated.
And even though my mom was an Alabama fan, she was Very proud of my... Wait, is she not an Alabama fan?
No, she's an Alabama fan, not an Auburn fan.
Oh, okay. I saw A's and I was like, goodbye.
So even though my mom was an Alabama fan, she was very proud of my sister for going she sadly passed away before she could see my sister graduate Well, I had been wanting to stop by Auburn the whole drive since my sister would always take us there every time we went to Georgia.
Well, since it was the first trip I took as the driver, I didn't want to fuck up the GPS, so I just left it be and kept driving.
Around the same time, I was listening to one of y'all's listener tales.
I believe I can't remember exactly in which one. but the girl in your story was talking about how she asked her deceased father for a sign and he was apparently very sarcastic.
Well, the next day she... I remember this one.
I do too. Well, the next day she had a literal sign in her front yard with a heart on it.
Yep. I love that one. I love that. The whole time I was just wishing my mom would give me a sign since I haven't heard from her since the day she passed.
At that exact time, my GPS said it was rerouting and I thought, well, fuck, I missed a turn.
So I'm so into this podcast. Well, I get over to take the exit and it takes me straight through to Auburn in a circle.
No, no. Takes me straight through Auburn. in a circle, puts me back on the interstate and I look to my right and I'm passing the exit I just took.
So that's my story. Sorry it was super sad at the start, but just know y'all are the reason I finally got my closure that my mom is watching over me. that that's so beautiful she was like go through auburn she was like do it you've always wanted to go P.S.
I'm listening to y'all right now and Ash would really appreciate the word yeet in my story.
So here you go, Ash. Yeet. And it has the little sparkles next to it.
Which I fucking love the sparkle emoji, so thank you very much.
Well, with all that, stay weird but not so weird that you randomly come across a podcast that you low-key fall in love with. accidentally make your brother listen to it and then make him question why men cut up their wives with a chainsaw. and ask for a sign from your dead mom.
Then go through the university your older sister graduated from and realize that the speakers of your favorite podcast literally became your guardian angels and made your mom go, The balls to give her a sign that literally was there after nearly six years.
That's amazing. I love that. that is amazing ruin me what a story and what a strong human being you must be kylie you're the best Better than all the rest.
So the next one that I have is a starch departure. oh uh it's called my dad worked with john wayne gacy Yep.
Which, wow, okay. Not burying the lead there.
Nope, just here it is. That's bananas. Thank you for doing that.
I know, that got my attention. So this is from listener Katie.
And it says, let me make it bigger because my glasses are in the mail.
Yeah. uh warby parker not an ad just excited to get new glasses My friend Lauren and I are big on true crime, and she introduced me to your podcast and the John Wayne Gacy docuseries on Peacock.
We both feel a sense of connection to the John Wayne Gacy case because we both grew up in the Chicago suburbs.
I grew up in Des Plaines, Illinois, and graduated from Maine West High School.
My dad also grew up in the Plains and graduated from Maine West High School in 1975.
That's where this story begins. My dad walked across the stage of high school graduation in spring of 1975.
In the crowd of around a thousand, damn boomers, damn.
Other students were... Carrie Peast and John Sick.
All three would enter Goodyear. encounter Gacy in some way but only two would walk away to try to live their lives John VI's Main West in a 1975 class ring would be among the evidence found in Gacy's house to identify John as among those buried in the crawlspace.
After graduation, my dad became a bricklayer and worked for a local contractor.
He worked hard, made good money and was happy with his employment situation.
This is what my dad credits to being his saving grace during the summer of 1978.
You see, there was another contractor in the area who would hire young men between 15 and 25 and pay them good money as a lure.
His name was, you guessed it, John Wayne Gacy.
Thankfully, my dad was not one of them, but that summer, Gacy needed some extra hands, and my dad was one of those set of hands.
At 21 years old, my dad got to work. He minded his own business.
And thank the sweet heavens was loyal as fuck to his boss.
When asked if he wanted a job, he politely declined, saying he was happy where he was.
I don't know if my dad caught a vibe or is just a Hufflepuff like myself.
Hufflepuffs for trans rights, F-U-J-K-R.
Hell yeah. I'm a Hufflepuff. You are a Hufflepuff.
I'm a Slytherin. That literally goes without saying.
For trans rights. Fuck you, JKR. I'm also attaching two pictures.
One is a picture of Robert Piest from the docuseries, and one is of my dad around the same time.
Shit is wild. When you look at these pictures they are almost identical. wow.
Yeah, identical. They literally are. When Robert Peast went missing in December of 1978, leading to the investigation and discovery of 29 out of the 33 victims being found on the Gacy property, it's safe to say the news was everywhere when the news reached my dad he was about to shit his pants according to my mom I joke with my friend Lauren about how casual my dad is about having worked with John Wayne Gacy while fitting his perfect victimology.
And while he was mid-murder spree. Now, Ash, I can't speak for your dad.
I think they thought your dad was the one who had the connection, but it was actually oh drew's dad but yeah um future you know dad-in-law Yeah, exactly, partially my dad.
No, Ash, I can't speak for your dad-in-law, but I think I understand why my dad is so casual about it.
You see, when I ask him questions about that summer, the first thing he mentions are the people he knew.
He didn't know Robert Piest, but he was friendly with his sister, and while I obsess about how close my family came to this, my dad keeps the focus on those who were lost."
This case hit the town of Des Plaines and Main West High School very hard.
When we read about cases and watch shows about them, sometimes we forget that these were real people. all young and had goals and dreams and families.
They all had a moment to realize what their fate would be, and they probably thought of their family.
I have a great deal of respect for how my dad chooses not to make this tragedy about himself.
I've learned from his handling of my constant questions.
What Gacy did to those boys and those families is atrocious. justice justice has technically been served but after watching his manipulations of his story after the trial in the docu-series go watch it if you'll Go watch it.
You'll be fucking livid. It still feels so yucky and unfinished.
I agree. Whenever you hear that fucker talk, I know he's gone, but it's like.
He's such a dick. He's such a shitbag. I guess that's just what happens when monsters are discovered.
Gacy was put to death in May of 1994, at which point my dad had the opportunity to get married and start a family. i was born one month before gacy was executed bringing some joy to a dark memory in my dad's mind wow Anyway, I hope you keep it weird, but not so weird that you accidentally volunteer to help a serial killer.
But do be so weird that you catch vibes and save your own life because you're loyal as fuck.
Katie, that is bananas. Like, comparison of these two photos, it is... wild they could be brothers there's no they could be twin brothers i mean it is like the same boy that's nuts unreal oh that's so sad I know whenever you see Robert Piest or any of these victims oh you're just like These adorable boys just their whole lives in front of them.
The John Wayne Gacy case is a true nightmare of epic proportions.
It very much is. He was just so disgusting.
Thank goodness. Yeah. Thank goodness they're still identifying victims because that's necessary.
Absolutely. Thank goodness for DNA and genealogy right now.
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But wow, that was pretty wild. We had a lot of crazy tales, y'all.
We did, you guys. keep on keeping it weird.
You guys just genuinely kill it all the time.
And please continue to do so because we want to keep doing this forever and ever.
Full Forever, I'll be so happy loving you. if you don't get that it's a deep cut oh thanks guys for writing in And we hope you continue to write in and we hope you continue to keep listening.
And we hope you keep it woo. weird keep it so weird that you write his tributes about bailey because that was the most beautiful thing that i ever had in my life and definitely keep it so weird that your dead mom sends you a sign because that made me so happy.
It made my heart sing. Don't keep it so weird that your ghost gets attached to you because that seems like it could become a problem later definitely don't keep it so weird that you're camping in the middle of the woods because i love that story so much but like just don't camp in the woods because it's so scary And do not keep it so weird that John Wayne Gacy is your boss at any point in life.
Yeah. Boom. Don't do it. Peace, Chris. Thank you.
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