Episode 585: Listener Tales 88

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It's morbid listener tales.

Brought to you by you, for you, from you, and all about you, baby.

Yeah.

What's up?

Uh, nothing, I mean so much. I was like, cool, but nothing of note right now, no?

What do you mean?

Like, everything's just on hold. You know, when you get in those little lull periods where like, you're waiting on certain things to happen and you're just like, come on.

Yeah.

That's where I go.

We live in different places, though you live on Earth, and I live in the clouds. So sometimes I don't even know when I'm in that period. I'm just like, Look, a bird.

It is honestly, you're better off up there. Yeah, down here, it's rough.

Earth is not cute.

It's bleak down here.

You know what I heard? Actually, this isn't something I should tell you, but here we are. Oh no, I was listening to, I was just coming off of.

Yeah.

And they had Ariana on and she was talking.

It needs to stop.

The sound of a fly just buzzity, buzz, buzzing makes me angry.

It literally ignites every single one of my nerve endings. Yeah, I feel exposed.

We literally opened the window for him to go outside, too, and I'm like, just get the fuck out.

So not only is he loud and gross, but he's fucking stupid, too. He is all right.

Maybe if we ignore him, he'll leave because he won't feel included. So they put something in the basement every week, which means it's their thing that they hate or like, fuck, that we're getting rid of it.

We're just not going to deal with that anymore. I love that.

I guess Ariana has been flying a lot because, you know, like, fucking bi-coastal queen, yeah. And she said that she's putting turbulence in the basement because, like, it sucks so much. And then she said that turbulence is just going to get worse, she heard, because of global warming.

I mean, that makes sense because all turbulence is just like air.

And air is getting worse because of global warming.

Like hot air, cold air, like all the shit that, you know what I mean? Yeah, turbulence is really just like air pushing on them, yeah, or like bumps in the air kind of thing.

Yeah.

But sorry, but turbulence is okay, yeah.

Because you're just in Jello.

Because it can't knock you out of the sky.

I think when I heard that, I said, don't tell Alayna, don't tell Alayna, don't tell Alayna, and then you just told me that. But do you does that ever happen to you? Where you're like, don't tell that person that, don't tell that, and then you're like, Hey, I really have to tell you something.

Does that ever happen to you? Not on that level. Hmm, well.

But but here we are. I see one thing that doesn't happen to me and one thing that doesn't happen to you.

There you go.

What did you say? Suspended animation?

Yeah.

And turbulence and telling people about it.

Telling people with fears of flying about it, Sorry, you're like, Hey, get on a plane, come on, get on a plane. And you're like, Did you know that turbulence is only going to get fucking worse?

And there's nothing you can do about it. Listen, I didn't tell you to get on a plane. I'm not going anywhere with you. I don't have any trips planned with you as of late.

Get on a goddamn plane.

You should get on a plane, go on vacation.

Yeah, just know that turbulence will be worse after that, after that, I can't wait.

All right, well, I picked the Listener Tales this week, and I didn't even read them, you didn't read them. I was in a place, I guess, because there's a lot of like grandparents and a lot of messages and signs. It's very ash.

You were in a place called space.

So aren't we all? Yeah, it's true, you want to start, I do.

Should I just start with the first one? Yep.

Because I want to read the second one.

Oh, look at that.

It's perfect. Oh my god, oh my God. This is why we work so freaking well.

Let's see. So this one is cold. The time my dead grandpa played cupid for me and my boyfriend is not. I'm kind of obsessed with that, it says. Please keep this unknown.

Ramblances or blamblances?

Ramblings I go on. The neuro spiciness is so fucking strong, I feel that on such a deep level. Feel free to cut out any parts of this story that seem redundant, and I'll do my best to stay on track. We will not do that.

I realized the other day that I don't even know how to make a fucking puttapha.

But you, like, demanded it.

I can't, yes, I can't even argue that fact.

That's hilarious.

I really would prefer if you put your stories in puttaphas because it's just like easier for me, and then I'm like, how do you make a puttapha?

That's who we are. We're just trying our best over here. We don't know how to do anything. Nah, let's start with a little backstory, shall we?

Oh, do I have a story for you, baby?

Oh my god.

I won't tell it.

It is a story, though, it's something, Oh, I love that now. However, this man caught my attention enough that I started making it a point to talk to him every day, flirt with him when possible and eventually give him my number. Good for you, t.

That's fucking amazing.

It's boss bitch behavior.

And I just love the fact that, like, they normally would never do something like this, but they did.

But you're like, I chose now, yeah, I like that. Turns out that he had moved here from a different state, about 1500 miles away, only a month before we started working at the company, and we were hired a measly three weeks apart. Even though I do wholeheartedly believe that the events of my life leading up to my employment at the same company as him were divine workings. On the universe's part, I have no clue what the following events were caused by.

I know I'm sorry about your grandpa.

The room has not changed at all, except for the bed. All of his decorations are still hung on the walls and placed on the top of his dresser. Are watches, TV and other seemingly random knickknacks? Now, everything else to add in here, because I feel it is extremely important to the story is that my grandpa worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, specifically with the Navajo tribe in the Arizona-New Mexico areas back in the 70s. During that time, he was gifted many things, including quite a few Kachina dolls. I have attached photos of what these dolls look like.

Live your life also. I've never seen a Kachina doll in a store.

Regardless, unless you have seen them, you would not be able to conjure up an image in your mind because they have a very unique look to them. You are 100 correct. On our second night visiting, while my boyfriend and I were in the bedroom, getting ready for bed. He turned to me and said, Can I tell you something? Kind of weird? I told him, of course, and he went on to say. This has only happened to me a couple times, and it has only been with a few random moments in my life.

Whoa, right, I got chills when I read that.

His face fell flat, as if he was trying to hide any sort of signal that this had him freaked out. We were visiting my grandma about two weeks after the five-year anniversary of his passing. I have had two other dreams about this kind of stuff in my life, he said. He told me about the other times and I listened intently. I'm still trying to figure out how he could have had multiple experiences like this. And still not believe that there is something guiding us along our way, or that there is a power greater than us.

I totally think so.

I fully believe that that's what that is. Because he knew that his approval mattered to you, and he knew that you needed that. He was like, I'm going to give it to her.

Because why else would your boyfriend have had that dream? Even just going back to the way that you asked him out? And you never would have really done that before, you felt confident enough to do that?

That's a huge part of it.

I feel like that's such an intervention there of something that we just can't see.

Because I didn't even think about that part that you never would have shot your shot like you did with this guy.

And you went full force, you were like, Here's my fucking number, baby.

Something just told me and the way that you guys started the job at the same time, basically three weeks apart. I don't know. I always say, I don't know what I believe in, I sit somewhere out there.

I don't know if you guys know this about me, but I hella believe in this shit.

I don't know if you knew this.

It was your grandpa.

Or is my boyfriend simply blessed with a gift from the universe, allowing him to see a glimpse of the future? Maybe, I suppose we will never know, but I like to think it's a little bit of everything. The universe. Giving my grandpa the opportunity to push him both in the right direction, and my boyfriend's gift, opening him up to a message from grandpa and the universe.

Not so weird that your grandpa doesn't divine intervention a boyfriend into your life.

Yes, I love that.

With all the love, t right, isn't that amazing? I love this, I love that one.

And also your pictures?

They're so adorable together.

I'm telling you.

And your dogs?

It was meant to be. Also, you're wearing a dress that is made for you and you look adorable.

I really love that dress a lot.

I love this. Oh, and your grandpa looks like such a grandpa.

I know.

Like, there's, you know how, some people you're like, that's a grandpa.

That guy's a grandpa.

That grandpa gives good hugs.

Yes.

That grandpa's going to sneak you cookies.

Yeah, and he's handsome, he's a handsome grandpa.

He is a handsome guy.

And grandma's a stunner.

Oh my god.

Oh, did you see their wedding day picture?

I literally just opened your grandpa and grandma's wedding day picture.

Oh my god, this looks like something out of old Hollywood.

They are gorgeous.

Wow.

Oh, I love seeing old, timey like photos like that.

People were just so much better looking back in the day, it's true.

I mean, they just were. It's like everyone took care of business back then, like when it came to appearance.

Yeah, they like, they just did more. Yeah. As I sit here in leggings and a messy bun, I'm like, people just really cared. Back then, I'm sitting here in like a crusty t-shirt, we're all just sitting here.

I'm wearing like a giant sweatshirt and like crusty, dusty leather leggings.

I literally have a foundation stain on my shirt.

And we're like people, just like, Did you know, like, get it together?

People should care more about their appearance.

Care about what you look like? Wow, like, I'm sitting here talking from a position of never giving a shit about what I look like.

No, we give a shit sometimes.

I properly, yes sometimes, but oftentimes I'm like, Sorry world.

Yeah, more often than not, I'm like, it is what it is, baby, it is what it is.

I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like, stuttering, super bad. I'm like, stop around. She's like, I can't.

A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms and spreading fast, like doubling and tripling. And it's all these girls with a diagnosis. The state tried to keep on the down low.

Everybody thought I was holding something back.

Well, you were holding something back intentionally. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah, no, it's hysteria, it's all in your head, it's not physical.

I could definitely see that.

Yeah, this next one.

I love that.

All right, listener tale, The crime next door that shaped my childhood and saved me all at once. Howdy ladies, I started listening to your podcast a couple months ago and have made it all the way to episode 173. Your stories and comedy make my very stressful job in law so much easier.

Just kidding.

I've kind of been chewing on, sharing my story as it happened in what used to be a very small, close-knit town. And I didn't want any family members hearing and reliving the pain of what happened. So I will use fictional names, but feel free to share my name, which is....

Christy, I love you, Christy.

Christy, you rock, never change.

Never.

Trigger warning in advance. This is going to be a hard one.

Oh boy.

So here it is. Picture It 1996 in Weatherford, Texas. It's the middle of the summer and we are on the fifth day of a hundred plus degree streak. Back then, it was still a small town, and my street faced the woods.

Oh, I love that.

Right, also, the nostalgia within this story is like, you can feel it. My same house is still there today and all. It's Fox and Jacob Hunter Green, with deep red trim glory. And my handprints in the concrete that hold the fence posts are still there, and so are my long gone puppers.

21 years, that's a long life.

But the woods are long gone and have been replaced with hoity-toity cookie cutter houses. It was the day of my birthday in early October of 1996. And I made a discovery that forever changed me and somewhat skewed my view of the world. And those closest to you. Your own family.

Oh man.

When we first moved to Weatherford in 1993, I was about five, and my elderly neighbor, we'll call her Miss Ivy and I became close friends fast.

I love that, right?

When I wasn't out, riding my bike around town, rollerblading at the local skating rink, checking out a million books from the library, or scaring myself trying to catch lightning bugs in the woods. Across from her house, I was next door at Miss Ivy's house. She introduced me to tea cake, Salisbury steak and tried her hardest to get me to enjoy tea, iced or hot. Yes, I know, born, raised and lived my entire life in Texas, and I hate tea of any kind, including sweet tea, which down here, means you are a heathen.

My husband hates tea of any kind, too. Oh, does he really? Yeah, he does not like tea.

That's funny, and Miss Ivy fostered my love for all things horror and fantasy.

Oh, Miss Ivy sounds like.

She sounds awesome.

Iconique, yes.

She, too, was a huge Star Trek fan and loved Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Yeah, you got it, look at you.

I'm doing the hand thing for you.

Look at that.

She loved him as much as I do. We spent many rainy days on her couch reading Mary Higgins, Clark, Dean Kuntz, Clive Kessler and any series we could get our hands on. Miss Ivy was like the grandmother I had lost just a year earlier that I so desperately missed and needed in my life. As my mother worked for GM and was in Detroit most of the year, and my dad. Well, let's just say I'm putting it nicely, but he was not a fun person to be around.

Oh, that makes me sad. I know we're only five here.

It makes me really sad and I'm just so happy that you had Miss Ivy.

Yeah.

As the years went by, Miss Ivy, of course, aged and it got harder and harder for her to take care of herself. I would insist on going over there three to four times a day to check on her, make her tea and meals, and make sure she was tucked in bed at night.

Oh, she was lucky to have you, I know.

Swan's was still a big thing then, so all of her food was delivered and I could just heat it up for her and put it on one of the awesome metal meal trays. Oh my god. On the rare occasion my mother was home, she would cook enough for every meal each day. And I would take it over. To miss Ivy and sit with her for a while, so she wouldn't be so alone. I was about to turn eight when it all happened, like I said, it was the day before my birthday.

Yeah, nah.

And I wanted to see if Miss Ivy could talk her out of it. I wasn't close with my mother since she was gone so often. And maybe she'd actually listen to another adult who wasn't on day 12 of a manic episode.

Oh man.

I was an extra large pizza on stilts at seven, so it took me a little bit to get up and get dressed. And go over to make Miss Ivy her breakfast and tea. It was Friday and I was out of school for fall break. And I just knew we'd spend the day watching Star Trek together. Since she knew it was my favorite of all our shows, I was humming the opening theme to Star Trek when I got to her door and knocked our secret knock, per usual.

Isn't this just so sweet? It's so wholesome.

Sounds like a movie, yeah, but there was no response. I tried again, just in case she was in the back of the house or in the bathroom. Nothing.

Oh, and poor you are just like panicking.

And you're just like, Can you just help me find Miss Ivy, please?

Yeah, like, don't tell me I'm being dramatic, like, this is a big deal, you're seven.

So 90s, though, so 90s parents do like, you're being dramatic.

You're being dramatic and you're like, No, this is everything to me, so I'm not being dramatic. I'm just reacting to something that is very meaningful to me at seven.

And don't tell your kids they're being dramatic because they will spend years talking about it in therapy. It's true. It's what I spent talking therapy about this morning. Yeah, when I insisted and refused to let my mother go back to sleep, my mother said she'd go over and try to knock as well.

That was really good.

Oh, hell yeah.

Well, pizza, hut pizza.

We have an inside joke where we just go, you want a pizza, hut pizza, and really, it just means, Do you want a pizza, hut, pizza?

There's really no subtext to that.

And now it's all your joke, too.

There you go.

Well, lunch came and went, then dinner and then bedtime. Each time I tried to get her to answer the door, hope the back door was open, but no, nothing. I cried myself to sleep that night, thinking maybe it was me and my mom was right. Miss Ivy was fed up with me and she just wanted to be left alone.

Oh my God, my whole heart is breaking, I know.

I was so upset I only ate one small stuffed crust slice, and anyone knows that's a seven-year-old chunky monkey, knows that isn't normal. I know the next morning was my birthday and I bounced out of bed, thinking, surely, even if Miss Ivy just needed a day to herself, she would answer the door today?

Death.

And a metallic, sickening undertone to boot. He didn't hesitate another second and ran to my house with me to call 911. We waited him holding me because I was sobbing while my mother was off finishing up things for the party. And who the hell knows where my dad was?

Oh my God, you poor thing.

I know. Shout out to Scott, the Swan delivery driver. It took the police about three minutes to get there, and after the backstory of the smell, the officers kicked in the front door. Both the officer and Scott tried to shield my eyes, but it was too late. I saw it all.

Oh, no, and this is your birthday, your eighth birthday.

It's literally her eighth birthday. This is where the trigger warning comes in. Miss Ivy was in the middle of the kitchen and all I could see was what appeared to be her eye. And something that looked like a big white rock. It was her exposed skull.

Oh my god.

The officer questioned all the neighbors, including us and a neighbor two houses down. Remembered seeing a Red Grand Prix sitting in front of her house in the wee hours of the fourth that Friday? The neighbor was a psych triage nurse at the hospital in town. So like, that's why they were up that early. She saw it when she was leaving for her shift. I told the officer I went over about 7 15 a..m and there wasn't a car there.

Oh, you were only seven.

And I'm happy that you didn't see that. He also turned her AC down to 50. But it was an already old unit, it was hotter than Satan's nutsack, and the unit froze over and stopped working. It took about a month, but they found out who did it her youngest son.

What the fuck?

I never even knew she had children, they never checked on her and she never talked about them. And that's when I found out about the real Miss Ivy. Miss Ivy was a retired E.R. pediatric nurse of 45 years and had three children, two boys and a girl in the middle.

Oh, okay, it was her fault that he abused the children. Yeah, totally.

That makes sense, makes sense. So Teddy's rage and hatred deepened, then Daddy of the Year suggested Hey, why don't we track her down and kill her?

What the fuck?

I'm assuming she didn't take you or her sibling or your siblings off her life insurance policies. And you know, those are really hefty since she was an E.R. nurse for 45 years.

Oh my god.

Again, he refused to disclose how he found her, but that night, he confronted her and she told him the exact opposite of everything. His father had been feeding to him over the past two years and that set him off, he said. He just felt like he stepped outside of his body and watched as he bashed her head. First on the kitchen counter, and then, when she was on the floor, he continued to beat her with a cast iron skillet that I forgot to put away the night before. The worst part of it all was he would have only stood to inherit about $175,000, split three ways between the siblings. As Miss Ivy the Angel, she had always been donated over half her policy to the E.R. Pediatric ward at the local hospital, so all over about $58,450..

Christy.

I just thought, Miss Ivy's story, like, was so beautiful. I know it was so sad.

That was like.

But they're bombed.

So heavy, No? I'm obsessed with their bond, like, and I'm so glad that she got to have that kind of relationship with a child without someone interfering.

Exactly.

And turning it into something ugly.

And it's like, that fucking man to abuse her forever and abuse their kids.

And their kids and blame it on her.

And blame it on her and convince one of the kids to kill her. It's like, I so wonder how they found her. Yeah, because she had put every precaution.

Yeah, you wonder.

It makes me so mad, but that bond that they had was just like, so sweet.

That, oh, that just wrecked me, I know.

Scammers are best known for living the high life until they're forced to trade it all in for handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit once they're finally caught. I'm Saachi Cole and I'm Sarah Hagee. And we're the host of Scamfluencers, a weekly podcast from Wondery that takes you along the twists and turns of some of the most infamous scams of all time. The impact on victims and what's left once the facade falls away? We've covered stories like a Shark tank certified entrepreneur who left the show with an investment but soon faced mounting bills. An active lawsuit filed by Larry King. And no real product to push.

Oh so, my tale is entitled Listener Tales, Guardian Angels and the universe's repeated attempts to crush me. I almost couldn't say crush. Yeah, sometimes my mouth doesn't want to do things, it's hard.

Yeah.

But here we are.

Don't say the word crush.

It's hard.

All of it, it's hard, it's all hard, every part of it.

Yeah, it's true. Now it says, Hey weirdos. I've been binging your podcast for a few months and I'm almost caught up, so I clearly love it. Thank you. You may be the best true crime podcast I've found.

Oh my goodness.

Every time a Listener Tales episode comes up, I remember that I have a few stories that you might be interested in. Finally, I've managed to get some typed up. I think I've narrowed it all down to three categories Lightly supernatural, Supernaturally Spooky and Bad Mom Dumb Criminals. This PDF contains the lightly supernatural flavor of story.

All of those things.

For now, I have three stories of Guardian Angels and the universe's repeated attempts to crush me to death.

Literally.

My first story takes place in the early nineties. I was seven or eight and was spending the evening at my grandmother's house. She had settled me in her office in front of the small TV, while she was in the den, just a few steps away. My memory of this incident is minimal. I was on the floor with the TV above me, on a small cabinet.

That's so cute.

The rest comes from my grandmother, who added that evening to her catalog of stories of the Miraculous and told it many times over the next decade. She heard some sort of noise and came to check on me. When she reached the door to the office, she saw me with my hands on the TV screen, holding it up and keeping it from crushing me. It had somehow tipped over, and despite the Cathode Ray weight of it, I think that's a brand.

I think it's like a brand of TV, yeah, it's like an old tube TV.

Oh man, I was keeping it balanced at a precarious angle, with a single lower edge still on the stand. And this is at like, seven years old.

Yeah.

According to my grandmother, the only way I could have caught and supported the TV was with the help of my guardian Angel. Given some of the things that happened in the future, I can't entirely argue with her. The second story was several years later. I don't remember precisely how old I was, but it was somewhere around 12 or 13. I've always had trouble falling asleep, even when I was young.

This is scary.

He was a complete stranger to me, but I wasn't afraid I only had a few seconds to take him in. Our eyes met, and then he was simply gone, the doorway empty, as if it always had been. I would be like, That's an intruder in my house.

I'd be freaking out, I'd be fucking terrified, but just the fact that they weren't terrified.

Yeah, like, I would, Yeah, that's terrifying that you weren't terrified.

But I feel like in the old house, like the house we grew up in. Did you ever have experiences that you were like, I should be fucking terrified right now? But I'm not.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, it's like, it's a weird, inexplainable feeling.

Yeah, no, that's scary. Just the fact that he was like, it makes me think of an. It follows, yeah, the one scene that gets me the most. I think that movie is very scary.

That movie's fucking terrifying.

It's very scary and the ghosts are very scary, but the one scene in it follows that, like, really, like, makes my stomach churn. For some weird reason is when she's walking in the bedroom and that absurdly tall man, yeah, just ducks under the doorway and, just like, follows right behind her.

I have chills. Yeah, same. There's so many scenes in that movie, oh my god, the two biggest, scariest ones for me. Like that one scares me, but not as much as the lady that pisses on the floor.

Oh my God, yeah.

Cause that's just horrific. And then the man, I think he's like, naked and he's standing on the roof.

Yes, that was scary. He's just watching. That premise is terrifying, it is.

And it's such a good fucking movie.

Yeah, it's well done.

The whole entire way they do it is like, incredible.

Very unsettling. Go watch it, go watch it.

I could see why that would remind you.

Yeah, it's just thinking about this. Really tall, like, skinny, in a suit, in a brown tweed suit. yeah, in the hallway, just with curly hair looking at you.

I wonder if it was like a thing of, like, hindsight. Now you look back, because in that moment, I'm trying to like, distinguish, if, like, in that moment, you felt like that was your guardian angel.

Because I'm like, Wow, that's impressive.

It sounds more to me like it's hindsight chalking all the events up to each other.

That makes sense. Finally, my long story. I tried to find one of the articles written about this to confirm the date, but because of how long ago it was, I wasn't able to track down a digital version of the information. My cousin S is only a couple of years older than I am. She was the youngest of her siblings.

R. C. s.

I was feeling sick again by the end of church. Oh, I'm sorry that you're feeling sick. I hate feeling nauseated, so I know you're not feeling sick in this moment. Hopefully it makes me think of feeling nauseated and I'm like, Oh.

And like not being at home, too, like having a car ride in between you and your bed.

Yeah, and you just want to go home, so S took me home first. I remembered spending most of the long ride home with my face against the cold glass of the window, trying to keep from throwing up. Oh, once home, I went inside into my room to decompress and stay near the bathroom. Normally, S would have dropped me off last because we still tried to spend as much time as we could together.

Isn't that crazy?

As for me, obviously I wasn't in the car and that's what saved my life. When the car came down, it landed directly on the part of the roof behind the driver. Had I been in the car, it would have been at my chest level. I've actually visited the wreckage at the body shop before they took it off to be junked.

If they had been in that car, they would be dead.

I have something watching out for me, something that lends me strength, that watches out for me. When the monsters are coming from inside the house. And something that triggers my instinct to stay home when I need to stay safe. Guardian Angel, Guardian spirit, whatever you want to call it, I've seen the effects, and maybe even seen the being itself. So keep it weird, but don't keep it so weird that you ignore a little gut feeling sent to keep you safe.

I love a literal gut feeling.

A literal gut feeling of making you sick.

That last paragraph, though, of like, whenever you believe Guardian angel, Guardian spirit.

I've seen the effects now. I can see why you were so easily thinking that that skinny man was a guardian angel. Because before I was like, that's a ghost, but now I'm like, maybe that's what a cool guardian angel sometimes, I wonder.

Sometimes I wonder if the kid that I saw at Mom and Papa's is mine. I've always wondered that.

That little doobie.

Because I feel like people like. I don't know if I would call it like a guardian angel or like a spirit guide. I think I would more call it a spirit guide. Like, I feel like people get a set of spirit guides. Yeah, that's just like my personal belief.

I like that, yeah, I like that idea. yeah, I'm down to think that.

Have you ever seen a full fledged ghost?

Seen one? I can't, I don't know because I-.

Do you doubt yourself?

With sleep paralysis.

Oh.

I don't know if I've seen something or if it's been sleep paralysis, and that's the only time I definitely seen things out of the corner of my eye.

Yeah.

And I've felt things, and I feel like I've maybe seen something, not fully though, like, not like looking directly at it.

At the thing, yeah.

And if I have, then I assume it's sleep paralysis.

The only time I ever saw, like full fledged beings was one the fucking Viking people messing with your computer, a Viking. And I stand by that story. Today. I can still see them.

I mean, I'm pretty sure there's Viking blood in our ancestry somewhere. So, and your computer was broken, maybe?

And then that fucking kid in the room, yeah, like that old timey newspaper boy looking kid.

Little peaky blinders, little dude.

And I can still see him.

Like, how old?

I was four or five, maybe.

Yeah, you were young.

I could draw him, I mean, not well, but yeah, I could.

I could, I could, maybe, I fucking will, maybe I might.

But yeah, I don't know I want to. And I feel like the reason I was able to see those like beings or whatever they are full bodied was because I was so young. And you don't have the like.

You're much more open to everything.

Yeah, you're not closed off, but I feel open still and I want to see something good.

I mean, maybe that's when my youngest saw Skelton.

Probably.

I love Skelton.

And the girls, the older girls that saw them, they saw terrifying people, a very terrifying one.

But I think maybe it's a kid thing.

But I'm so not ready to, like, have kids someday and have them see some shit and have to be the one responsible. It's an experience.

Yeah, that's scary. You really learn about yourself in that moment, right? and learn about you and your partner in that moment. Yeah, exactly.

Drew will be across the continent. Just nope, he'll be like, Bye.

When the scissors thing, John literally looked at me and he was like, Tag, you're it like? He was just like, I don't know what to do with it.

Honestly, I'll take the supernatural shit and I'll take Throw up those two things I can handle.

Hey, good, I will take one out of the two of those. I mean, I'll take two out of the two of those because you got them. Yeah, it's just that's the way it be.

Yeah, I don't. I'm not like hoping to, but you just end up having to do it. Yeah, it's just the way it is.

Talking about kids.

Kids man, kids man, mom, kids have moms sometimes.

That was a really good one, though.

It was so good.

That was very interesting.

Yeah, I totally think you saw your Guardian angel, Nick.

Sorry, I didn't want to call you the wrong name. What'd you say? I was like, Nick, Sorry, I didn't want to call you the wrong name. I was like, T-s.

I was going to transition by saying, kids have moms sometimes, and this next one is called My mom used your podcast to haunt me.

I'm intrigued.

And I said, What, what? And then this one had such a beautiful surprise at the end of it that I quite literally almost cried. I love that, okay?

Bunny, I love that name.

I love that name, too. And just a side note, I have been listening to Bunny's podcast, Dumb Blonde. If you're not listening to Dumb Blonde, you're dumb.

She has some fascinating people on.

Fascinating guests I have been flying through episodes. She had all the mob wives on, she had Alana Pumpkin and Honey Boo Boo on. She gets guests that are right up my alley.

She had Bam Margera on recently and I was like, Whoa?

Jwoww, she gets like, really good guests.

And it's just like it's an interesting conversation when she has, like, she really knows how to have a conversation with anyone.

It doesn't feel like a, because it's not like a formal interview, but it's very much an interview, but it doesn't feel interviewee.

No, it feels like she's just having a conversation.

Yeah, she seems very down to earth and I really like her. Yeah, so go listen to Dumb Blonde.

Massa-chay-chay.

I like that, I love that. Of course, I need to start this off with the obligatory fangirl gushing. I found your podcast when you were 12 leagues under, 12 leagues under the sea. An Og baby.

Thank you.

I'm so excited for Book two, thanks. Plug where you can deal it, deal it, plug where you can buy it.

Oh, you can buy it, go to thebutchergame..com and you can get all the links to get it anywhere. It's like everywhere Target, Walmart, Amazon, pre-order it.

We're getting so much closer to September, and you don't want to be caught in September without the butcher game.

Because maybe you'll get it like a day early. Sometimes that happens when you pre-order, I can't guarantee it, but I'm just saying, like, sometimes that happens.

That's fun.

Which is always a fun surprise, and either way, you'll get it on the day.

Exactly.

So do it.

She's, Yeah, do it, she said. You've also dealt with great loss, but you are prospering and absolutely fucking killing it.

AW, thank you very much.

Ash, you beautiful, spooky gal, you found your forever person, and you by the time you read this got married. You're a whole damn wifey for lifey, now, wifey for lifey.

Thank you.

You both are so incredibly inspiring and talented. I will always tell people to go and listen to Morbin.

AW, thank you so much.

Now this might be a long tale, but I hope you find it to be a fun ride. I attached a double space 14 point, Putafo for your viewing pleasure. I do apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes. My brain works faster than my fingers.

No need to apologize.

Not at all. My mother Denise, you can absolutely absolutely hello. you can also use her name. She absolutely would have loved it. Unexpectedly died at the end of January in 2023..

I'm sorry, Bunny.

It truly destroyed my entire world. I was a new mom at the time, having had my daughter six months before in August, and my dog, Gaia passed away three months before. If a dog was a soulmate, she was mine.

And I feel like dogs can be soulmates. Oh, 100%.

My mom and I were like oil and water when I was a teenager, but as adults, we grew so close together. She was my best friend, She was so incredibly motivated to better herself and her life, She was so excited for life again.

Oh, that's awful.

Let's go back a couple years ago. I showed my mom your podcast and she was enthralled. My mom loved all things true crime, spooky shit, and loved a cult story. We were listening to your Bridgewater Triangle episode.

Oh, that was so fun, right?

Seeing I live in. Is it the Copacut?

I think, so, yeah.

Seeing, I live in the Copacut Woods, which is part of it. And that's how she ended up listening to every episode. She had untreated ADHD and you were her hyper fixation. She even wrote in once, Oh my God.

Oh yay.

I thought, Well, I didn't even find it, you included it.

So thank you, Bunny.

But on this particular summer day, we were painting her apartment and we were listening to the Richard Ramirez episode, she physically gagged. Every time his stench, or how gross of a human being he had been, was mentioned, I didn't know my mom had the weak constitution of a Victorian dandy.

Of a Victorian dandy that is an amazing way. Wow, I love it. I know so many people that have the constitution of a Victorian dandy.

Me too.

So many people.

Uh-huh, lots and lots of people.

That we interact with.

On a daily basis.

That have the constitution of a Victorian dandy.

Yeah, fucking Victorian dandies, all right. But anyway, I couldn't stop laughing at her. I love that. It was honestly the weirdest, happiest memory I shared with her.

I am chilling all over my entire body right now.

I got that wumps.

It's like, right?

I was absolutely stunned, but my mom had definitely had a flair for the dramatic, so why wouldn't she choose that one?

That's amazing.

A few nights later, my husband was at work and I was sitting on the couch with my daughter. In the living room, and across the room is my daughter's nursery. Side note about my house is my husband is a bougie bitch and needs to have the fancy Alexa-controlled light bulbs in every room.

Oh, John wants to do that so bad.

You should.

Those are cool, they're fun.

My daughter and I were watching some movie, really at six months old, she wasn't watching, just me. The lights in her room start flashing on and off for about 10 times. In that moment, found out my fight or flight response is to freeze Oh, you, too.

Ash, too, me too.

We'll die together, girl, but I nervously ask out loud, Mom, if that's you, please stop, you're scaring me, and it stops immediately.

Because that's your mama, and she's like, I'm not trying to scare you.

I was just saying, Hey, I'm sorry. Occasionally, my daughter's motion-activated toys would go off, but that did come to an end. One night, when I was in bed before, my husband and I got the biggest wave of warmth. And her signature perfume filled my nose, I remember muttering, I love you, mama.

Okay, that just made me choke down a sob.

Yeah, there's tears in Alayna's eyes right now. Damn, and I drifted off into dreams of Starlight. It's been quiet for a few months now, but here and there I'll get little hints of her saying hi. And they are always welcome. A side note The night my mom passed, I went to bed.

I'm obsessed with this.

Her mom's listener tale, which is Denise's listener tale, Denise, So Denise says, Let me start out by saying, You ladies are wicked, awesome.

You're wicked, awesome, Denise.

I know the stories you tell, the cases you cover are dark and fascinating. I was binge listening to listener tales while cleaning my apartment and reorganizing when one of the stories hit me hard. And I realized I'm not alone in my situation. Let me explain I was adopted when I was four.

Oh, that's awful.

The apartment we lived in at the time of the adoption was on the third floor of a three-family home with a huge backyard and a massive tree in the back. I had recurring nightmares of being kidnapped by a massive vulture and not having a voice to scream for help. Fast forward to 1989, I was 17, working as a cashier and enjoying life, hanging out with my friends, being single, basically carefree. This is around the time I met my first serious boyfriend.

Whoa?