Halloween Special 5 (2025)

It’s Halloween again, and things are not quite as planned. Carrie’s ready to call time on the Ghostbook, but Sylvester has other ideas — and apparently, news.
From strange happenings across the pond to suspicious goings-on closer to home, this year’s episode veers between ghost stories, gossip, and the kind of revelations that make you wonder whether “the other side” has better organisation than they do.

Expect spirited debate (literally), questionable qualifications, and one haunting that’s oddly… polite.

Content note

Mild spooky themes, playful scares, and one or two mentions about a man called Turnip, and the boys.

Contact Jacquie at Deliciously Bright & Co.

Transcript

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Halloween 2025 

Carrie: [00:00:00] Have you heard anything? Is he, no, he's not coming. He's not coming. He's really not coming. Well, he didn't tell me last time, so he is not gonna be here this time, is he? This is it. This is, um, can we just do a five minute thing saying, right. That's it. No more Ghost Book podcast. I am going to finish it.

Sylvester: Carrie. Hello? Sorry. Sorry. Late, late, late, late again. Late again. Terribly sorry. Bear with me. Let me get set up. 

Carrie: Oh, save me 

Sylvester: me. Uh, I can't promise that the room is, uh, sound, I dunno. The podcast in. Technicality thing. You know, soundproof, soundproof, not soundproof, but you know what I mean. Like, let's say acoustics.

Acoustics can, but, can you hear me? That's the, that's the important thing. 

Carrie: Welcome to Ghost Book podcast

. Hello and welcome [00:01:00] to Ghost Book Podcast Halloween 2025 and the final episode of Ghost Book Podcast. Hi Sylvester. 

Sylvester: Hello, Carrie. How are you? 

Carrie: Oh, I'm thrilled. Where have you been? 

Sylvester: Well, where haven't I been? It's been, uh, it's been quite the year and I know exactly what you're gonna say. You're gonna say, oh, you didn't turn up to the last recording, which was supposed to be last year.

I've just been busy. That's all I could say. Um, and then, you know, apologies. You know, you, 

Carrie: you . Left me a voicemail. Oh, let's do Christmas. And where were you at Christmas, E 

Sylvester: exactly. Christmas, then Easter, Whitsun, um, Midsummer. Um, you know, but hey, it's, it's just, I, I, I'll explain. You know, it's, yeah, do, it's exciting stuff.

It's exciting stuff. Um, but in terms of last year, you know, I was, yeah, I was in America at the time and, uh. Kind of got wrapped up in, you know, [00:02:00] the, the excitement of the election and stuff. Um, might have been helping people here and there with some spiritual advice. And then, I mean, I kind of regret that now, but, uh, but anyway, I'm not welcome back there anymore.

Um, apparently ICE have got, uh, wanted pictures of me. I think it's more to do with my name than anything else. Um, so we're not going back to America anytime soon. 

Carrie: Well, lucky Americans, eh, 

Sylvester: it, well, hey, that's what some of them said. 

Carrie: So I've just heard we are going ahead with this recording, so is gonna be the final one.

Are you okay with that? Ster? 

Sylvester: Well, we'll see. We'll soon see about that. I've got some news. I've got something that might, uh, yeah, that might, um, 

Carrie: oh, let's do it. Let's do a new series in November. Oh, we, we are, am I where I'm gonna be in the world? It's not gonna be America is it? Okay then, so last year. , Rich didn't turn up either, which was really odd to me.

Rich, as you know, does our [00:03:00] editing and , checks the recording. 

Sylvester: Sorry. We have an editor, 

Carrie: rich, you know, rich did our editing. I mean, he does it for free. , So do you know why Rich didn't turn up? 'cause you two were buddies, weren't you? 

Sylvester: Uh, who, who is, who is this guy? 

Carrie: Oh, okay. Then. Well, anyway, this 

Sylvester: if, if I know, if I know who he is, we, we are not on first name terms.

Carrie: Oh, okay. Okay. Whatever. So last year , Jacquie helped me with the recording when you do that, I, it, it was Jacquie. Now she runs Deliciously Bright. 

Sylvester: What, what's deliciously Bright? Bright like 

Carrie: this? This podcast is a Deliciously Bright podcast. It's been the podcast company we've been working on for the past five years.

What 

Sylvester: are they? Do they, I just wanted to clarify something. It's something I've raised before. We, they, we are not paid, are we? 

Carrie: We are not paid, no. 

Sylvester: Where did 

Carrie: they get the money 

Sylvester: from then? 

Carrie: Well, apparently they should have gotten money from [00:04:00] advertising. But how many adverts have you heard on the podcast? 

Sylvester: Well, apart from my own, do you remember the, the water?

Carrie: Oh, killer. Yeah, the bottled 

Sylvester: water. That, that was a failed venture. You know, I, I am not ashamed to admit that that was, that was doomed. That was doomed to fail from the very beginning. I know who told I should. You could say I should have sensed it, but I didn't. 

Carrie: Who would've thought a, um, so yeah, so Va Plato, she did an amazing job of putting the podcast together and doing, who is that the best of Jacquie?

Right? Deliciously bright. 

Sylvester: Deliciously Bright. Deliciously bright, 

Carrie: yeah. What else 

Sylvester: do they do then? 

Carrie: Well, I think it's the podcast and then she's got her own company doing other stuff, you know. Oh. But anyway, so, um, I was just wondered if you told Rich you weren't gonna be around as well, but apparently you don't even know who Rich is.

Do you know who I'm? 

Sylvester: Yeah. Well, of course, of course. I know who you are. Um, Carrie, 

Carrie: you just read that, didn't you? 

Sylvester: Yeah. Uh, [00:05:00] Carrie Saxon, that was a, that was, I can I know your surname obviously. 

Carrie: I literally can see you reading off a piece of paper. 

, So Sylvester, what's the latest? Ghost News? 

Sylvester: Yes. Ghost News. This is a bit of a. A thing for us, isn't it? So ghost news, Carrie? Mm-hmm. Um, interestingly, the Conjuring house, the actual house which inspired the Conjuring, which, uh, is located in

burville, Rhode Island, okay. Is where it is. So. Get this right. It was going to be up for auction on Friday. Okay. 31st October. Yeah. Can I 

Carrie: just say we are recording this on the 29th of October? Yes. Not that, not that we wanna cut things fine, but we had no clue if Vester would turn up. So, 

Sylvester: I mean, even though you pencil this in Yeah. It was still a case of, oh. Wait a minute. It's Halloween in two days time. Yeah. Best try and get something together anyway, so it was gonna be up for, the coning house was gonna be up for auction on the [00:06:00] 31st. 

Carrie: Right.

Okay. 

Sylvester: The auction has been canceled in the last two days. Um. I really don't get like American, like real estate. It's big business. But anyway, so for what, what I have here, so foreclosure was underway, but the underlying mortgage, uh, was sold. So somebody bought the debt off the house so the bank don't have control of it anymore, which means auction canceled and the bank are refusing to say who bought it and for how much.

Wow. What do you make of that? 

Carrie: Did you buy it Sylvester? 

Sylvester: No, I was, oh, I was, I was interested despite, you know, despite saying I wasn't gonna go back to America, I was very interested in taking part in the auction. , I probably turned it into an Airbnb

um, but anyway, let's see that, that's, uh, that ambition has now been dashed, but yeah, so. Odd. What a strange, I mean, we've talked about conspiracy theories before. 

Carrie: And have you got any clues bought it? 

Sylvester: [00:07:00] No idea. I've been, I've got my feelers out trying to, , see if there's any gossip going around. Um, I did think maybe one of my, you know, my arch nemesis, Katrina Woods, maybe she had put Oh, come on. An interest in, but there's no way she'd have been able to afford that.

No. Um, Xander Devereux. Uh, who's Xander Devereux remind me. So he's another psychic medium. Um, it's a sort of shenanigans that I would've expected him to have to have played, but, um, I haven't heard much from him for, for a while. But, uh, yeah, it's interesting isn't it? 

Carrie: Yeah, if you say so. Okay. 

Sylvester: I mean, I suspect what's probably happened is .

Some, it'll probably be revealed that some YouTuber has, uh, has bought it and is gonna just, I dunno, make an endless stream of YouTube videos, getting other YouTubers in, spend the night, oh, oh, scary, oh, et cetera, and so on and so forth. 

Carrie: You are not a big fan of YouTube Ghost Hunters? 

Sylvester: Well. My, [00:08:00] my issue see is, is that because we live in an age of, uh, everyone doubts experts.

Do you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. As in, um, if somebody who's in a medical field, they'll say, don't do that, um, or do this, and then people. Then have the opinion, oh, well I'm not gonna listen to an expert. I've got Google, I've got chat, GBT, I'll just ask that. I'll do my, I'll do my own research. Do you know what I mean?

Right. So, you know, I, I consider myself to be an expert in my field, but now you've got people popping up on TikTok, on YouTube, et cetera, who now. Who think that they are, you know, they can commune with the dead, that they can do medium ship. It's, it's, uh, eh, it's not good. It's not good. But hey, there we are.

That's the world we live in. 

Carrie: It's a great world, though, isn't it? 

Sylvester: No comment to that. 

Carrie: Okay, [00:09:00] next one. I found a , ghost story. I can't even remember why I got it, because. Truth be told. I've not actually written any notes for this because I didn't think you turn up, so I got last notes. Notes. But I think this, this is from a news article in the Abergavenny Chronicle from the 6th of January, 2025.

So it might have been not for the Christmas special I wrote notes for, or maybe it was Pancake Day or Easter or some of the, yeah, the summer special we were gonna do, or you know. Yeah. You ghosted me for pretty much a year. A, a Well, there we go. Well done. This is from the Abergavenny Chronicle, and it's , a semi-professional paranormal investigator.

Johnny Turnip told the Chronicle. It may sound weird, but after me and the boys spent the end of the year having visitations from the other side, I can tell you Ghost will [00:10:00] have something as a resurrection in 2025. That was fun on there. So we may not, yeah. 

Sylvester: Is there an update on that story? 

Carrie: No update, but he, he's, let me tell you what he said, 'cause I'm sure you'll be really interested in this.

We may not reach the dizzy peaks of Victorian times, but nearly every house was haunted and there was a pale face apparitions in shrouds behind every corner. Still, from what I can gather from the, my wanderings in the afterlife ghost are getting a bit bored of being stuck in limbo and ready to do some serious haunting again.

So what do you think about that? Well, 

Sylvester: that's absolutely right. I mean. A lot of the spirits that I communicate with, I mean, they are getting, you know, I mean, when you talk about restless spirits, um, there is an an element to that. Those that are, I've gone into great detail about this before, but the ones that are grounded who are, um, kind of destined to haunt a [00:11:00] particular location.

Anyone's gonna get restless. Right? 

Carrie: Right. 

Sylvester: Get getting stuck in a particular, I mean, some of them, of course, it's a particular, um, area of that property, for example. Mm-hmm. Not, not the whole property. I mean, you know, if you can imagine being kept in a room all day long, you are gonna start to feel quite bored, aren't you?

A bit destructive as well, potentially like, like a cat. Do you know what I mean? But 

Carrie: c can I ask then, so why didn't they just go somewhere else? I mean, they really don't have to haunt one area. Surely. Well, surely they're free to go where they please now. 

Sylvester: Well, some do. I think some feel obliged to, I think there's, there's like the, the attachment somewhere as in like, you know, you talk about the unfinished business.

I mean, that's applicable in some cases. Others, not others. Um, well I think, I think some spirits just quite enjoy it. Okay. I mean, some that I've, that I've communed with, like, they, they just like the. They've just fallen into a bit of a rut, but hey, sometimes it's, it's the, it's the comfort of that. Do you know what I [00:12:00] mean?

Carrie: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Really. Okay. I've went on to ask about, about turnip added, so this is still going back to, uh, Johnny Turnip. 

Sylvester: Johnny Turn. I don't know Johnny Turnip. I know a, I know a Johnny Carrot, but, um, not a Johnny Turnip. 

Carrie: Yeah. He added, , and thanks to the portal between this world and the next that me and my boys opened on New Year's Eve, him and his, 

Sylvester: it was, does he elaborate?

Who his boys are, just says his, him and his boys. Him, him, him and him 

Carrie: And the lads. Him and the lads. It'll make it a lot easier for any have a go. Headless horsemen and ladies in black , to pay a visit to this realm and scare the living Jesus outta anyone whose minds. Tend to turn them like an attack dog in the early hours.

Like I, that is quite, I I find that quite aggressive. 

Sylvester: Uh, you, I know that you're gonna say that this is pretty rich coming from me, but I, yeah, probably. I, I can't [00:13:00] keep up with what Old Turnip is saying. 

Carrie: What, what, what's he on 

Sylvester: about? 

Carrie: Well, that is pretty rich coming from you. What does he. Can you say, 

Sylvester: what was that last bit again?

Carrie: What's he saying? 

Sylvester: Something about a headless horseman. 

Carrie: It was a bit of a mouthful, and whoever wrote this probably needs a lesson in English, probably Chat GPT, if I'm honest. , So let me read what he added. And thanks to the portal between this world and the next that me and the boys opened on New Year's Eve.

Yeah, it'll make it a lot easier for any, have a go headless horseman and Ladies in black to pay a visit to this realm and scare the living Jesus outta anyone whose minds tend to , turn on them like an attack dog in the early hours. Right. I don't know what that means. 

Sylvester: Um, right. So I, I. Interpret that to mean that him and the lads, him and the lads, 

Carrie: I reckon pick up a 

Sylvester: portal.

Carrie: Yeah, . It's New Year's Eve, why wouldn't you? 

Sylvester: Right. Okay. In hindsight, yeah. Probably would've [00:14:00] been best if we had done the podcast last year. Yeah. And if that news had come out, I probably could have gone and done something about it.

'cause if this portal is still open, then all sprts could be coming through it. 

Carrie: Turnip explained that he and the boys were forced by the warlock Earl Elderflower to spend the night in Cherry tree cottage as bait for an ancient nature spirit.

And things got a little messy. Did does On New Year's Eve things do get messy. Yeah. So, you know. I dunno if I wanna carry on with this story because It's utter bs Sylvester, what, what are your thoughts? 

Sylvester: Um, I, I mean, I, I'm somewhat concerned it is a concern if they have genuinely opened up a portal.

Yeah. And, um, you know, between this world and, and the next, um, you know, I would assume any, I mean, any. Medium, any paranormal investigator, anybody with any kind of, um, link to the, the psychic realm, you would never have left that [00:15:00] portal open. If you have, then I think you might have 

Carrie: left it open. 

Sylvester: Well, and is this in Abergavenny?

Carrie: He went on to say, although most of Powys can be described as a backend of beyond, which is harsh, I feel this cottage that the Warlock condemned us to spend the end of the year and was proper out in the sticks. The cottage was at the end of those dark country miles that seemingly stretched on for an eternity, and the house was one of those places that looked like it was riddled with a.

brooding and malignant and eternally evil presence that wanted to swallow our souls , while singing Ed Sheeren songs. , I'm baffled. Yeah. 

Sylvester: , This has got AI written all over it. This, uh, the way that this is written, but uh, yeah, 

Carrie: I'm thinking I. 

Sylvester: I mean, yeah, I am, I am somewhat as an expert.

Um, are you an expert, uh, in the paranormal? Yes. Um, I'm an expert in the paranormal. Um, I am concerned about this portal, but the only thing that's kind of give me some like, kind of peace of [00:16:00] mind is the fact that it's in Powys. Yeah. And, you know, I'll put it on the to-do list, uh, maybe have a look at, but there's no need for panic.. Don't worry. Essentially don't, don't worry about it. Yeah, fair enough. If you live in, if you live in Powis, then just, keep some sage , around the house. And, . If you see any headless horsemen, then, don't call me

Any more Ghost 

Carrie: news. 

Sylvester: There's always something, always something going on. National Trust? 

Carrie: Oh, yeah. What's National Trust been up to now? 

Sylvester: There's been a lot of ghostly activity, which, I mean, there always has been in National Trust locations, but they've, uh, they've noted that there's been an increase.

Maybe linking the dots here, this portal in Abergavenny Mm-hmm. And the spirits are seeping through and clearly all flocking to National Trust locations. I mean, and why not? Do you know what I mean? Because there are some fabulous places and, 

Carrie: and I wouldn't have thought that it's not a cynical attempt [00:17:00] to rent out these big stately homes and gardens.

Oh, Carrie To ghost Awful suggestion

Sylvester: I do have another thing, Carrie.

Carrie: Oh, go, go, please. 

Sylvester: I'm a bit cautious now because I don't know where this might what, where the convers what, where the conversation will lead. So there was a new story recently? Yeah. Are you aware of, um, is it 2 22? There's a, uh, the ghost 

Carrie: story. The, yes. Danny Robins Yes. Play. Yeah. 

Sylvester: Well, it's not so much, it's about a play about ghosts, but Yes. But there was a new story, um, in The Sun. Oh, it must be true if it's in Sun.

Shall I continue?, They were talking about wokeness, which I know is a subject close to your heart. 'cause you're forever telling me, go woke, go broke. Exactly. Um, so there was, they, there was a story about this play 2 22. Yeah. And how they had trigger warnings.

What, uh, advising people that this play contained [00:18:00] themes of the paranormal and might be scary. What, 

Carrie: what, 2 22, A ghost story has got supernatural themes. Yeah. So, okay. And No, I understand the warnings. Yeah, do, do, 

Sylvester: do. But then do you see where this, where the conversation is now headed? It's about they're saying, oh, the wokey brokey society that we live in, that a play about ghost has to have trigger warnings on it.

But then I'm thinking, but. For as long as I can remember, everything has had like some sort of a warning placed before. Do you know what I mean? It's like when, if you see a film and they've got age ratings, do you know what mean That's true. There's a degree of age. There's always been a degree of that.

But I do understand, yeah, if you're going to see something that's called a ghost story, I think that's a bit of a hint. But 

Carrie: But is this actually true or has The Sun made it up? Um, 

Sylvester: well, I. Well, I mean for surely they would never make something up and put it on a put it in a newspaper, right? 

Carrie: Yeah. That would never happen, would it?

Sylvester: It made me then think perhaps, should we have trigger [00:19:00] warnings on our podcast 

and, and if, if we did, what do you think they would be? 

Carrie: The first one was may bore people senseless 

Sylvester: trigger warnings, may bore may entertain, may frighten, may scare.

May cause offense. May cause arousal. Uh, all of it.

Carrie: , So what's this in the chat? You've got some big news. 

Sylvester: Big news. Well, this has been like a, it just made me think we've.

Gone down this line before. Do you remember on the podcast? Was it the first, the first series we did? The whole thing was about my news. You mean the only 

Carrie: series we did? 

Sylvester: Yeah. And the whole thing was about my news. Yeah. And it turned out that there was no news, which, you know, sometimes no news is good news.

Right? 

Carrie: There was news now come on. 

Sylvester: I, I mean, to be honest, I can't even remember. It was so long ago. I can't even remember what the news was. But anyway, the news now, which is exciting, which is good.

So I have a qualification now. Carrie, another qualification, another Oh, what, 

Carrie: what is [00:20:00] it like engineering. Have you got, uh, English degree? No, 

Sylvester: not quite. Uh, no. 

Carrie: Go on. 

Sylvester: It's another. What's the phrase? A feather on my cap. Is that, is that okay? Yeah. Yeah. Is that the phrase? Yeah, go. I thought it was a feather on my boat, but 

Carrie: I thought we got rid of all the hat references.

But you wanna go back to the hat references That's fine by me. 

Sylvester: That was accidental, but yeah. Yeah. That, that, that is old hat. So, yeah. So my qualification, which I've been, again, which explains my absence last year. Um, so I have a qualification now, which is a fellowship of recognized apparitional and unnatural detectives.

Carrie: Okay. 

Sylvester: Congrats. I'll let that sink in now. Yeah. The fellowship of recognized apparitional and unnatural detectives. 

F-R-A-U-D. 

Carrie: Yeah, 

Sylvester: I'm acutely aware of what that spells out. Well, I'm glad you did. 

Carrie: I was leaving it for the audience.

Sylvester: Well there is also, you know, this such a thing as [00:21:00] dumbing it down for the audience, isn't it?

I mean, I mean this isn't, I know, this isn't the bbc, I mean 

Carrie: far from me to call you a fraud 'cause I wouldn't do that to you. 

Sylvester: And, and, you know, but you are classed as a fraud detective, even though it's a bit like, well, we're not talking about financial fraud. It's just No. Hey, that's just, that's just what it spells out.

But 

Carrie: go on. 

Sylvester: Uh, so I mean, I was always, you know, a paranormal detective and investigator anyway. Yes. But this is now, this is now internationally recognized. 

Carrie: , Where did you get, this is very exciting. Where is what Dodgy University's given out this, it's not 

Sylvester: do, it's not dodgy at all. Uh, there was a university.

It was based in Cardiff, uh, in South Wales. Oh, no. Uh, not, not, not Cardiff University. There's another one. No, it was the other one, but I think you'll find there's believe it there. 

Carrie: No, no, we can't because you know, there's at least three, but I think you might have got it from Cardiff Institute of [00:22:00] Nonsense Degrees.

Uh, 

Sylvester: almost, yeah, almost that. But anyway, it, it, it obviously, it opens up, uh, my, um, my horizons quite significantly now. Okay. Right. And there's some more news around that, but, uh, 

Carrie: yeah. So we've, 

Sylvester: what do you make of all that then? Um, 

Carrie: congrats. 

Sylvester: Thank you. Yeah. 

Carrie: Did you have a ceremony? You know, did you have to doth your cap, I was hoping. I just don't know. No, no. 

Sylvester: None of that. I mean, it was quite a rigorous process. I see all the, the study and the practical elements of it. There was the final exam, 150 questions in three hours asking about this, that and the other.

Trying to identify certain spirits. You know, you go into a house, there's, uh, oh, there's a drop in temperature. There's, uh, there's some ghost writing going on. Your EVP is going off, what kind of spirit is it? So you have to identify, oh, is it a Poltergeist? Was it a djinn, was it a demon, et cetera. It's quite in depth, really difficult, but you know, passed with flying colours, 

Carrie: The world's come mad.

, It could have been [00:23:00] worse. I mean, it, it could have been a, 

Sylvester: it could have been a qualification in, how to be a TikToker, 

Carrie: Sylvester, I promised, , this guy met last year, would've been 20, 24 now. I was working for this prod company and they put me up in this. Hotel, let's call it a seaview guest house, right? Which they called a hotel. Um, apparently he had a seaview, but, they built a retail park in front of it.

Sylvester: Well, what came first, the hotel or the retail park? 

Carrie: The hotel came first. It was probably a lovely little hotel overlooking the sea and then they built a Retail Park in front of it. Anyway, the owner, Martin knew who I was.

Well, he knew who you were. He knew who? He knew who you were. 

Sylvester: He knew who I was. Yeah. Did he know who you were? 

Carrie: Yeah, I think he did. But only because of you, which was lovely for me, you know? Wow. Put my confidence up. Straight up. You are welcome. Yeah. [00:24:00] So he says he got a funny one? I mean, I said I doubt it,

I don't think he picked up the sarcasm, but anyway, so he received a terrible review. You know, on one of those old fashioned cards that used to be in hotel rooms, I dunno if you remember that far back, Sylvester, that, so, you know, before TripAdvisor and all that nonsense, they used to have little, little cards in the hotel rooms and used to put it, write it down, and you put a little box in Reception

, They were still in the room, but they were dusty. So I wouldn't have, you know, picked one up. Never known, . Written on it. Now, he's not really a hands-on owner. He's got this poor girl running around trying to do everything and not getting a thing right. According to him, , you know, it's like I'm talking about, so one of these review cards landed on his desk and it just said one star, room three was freezing, and I could hear the maid crying all night.

You should warn [00:25:00] guests about the history of the place, and the name was Margaret John.

So Martin comes across as a practical sort. He thinks haunting is what happens to your energy bill not your guest house. So he checks a booking system. But here's the thing, room three was empty that week. Nobody booked. Nobody stays. So we figures this is a glitch. Maybe some scammer fishing for a refund, or maybe it was that bloody stupid girl running the hotel.

Still, he's old school, so he keeps the card there just in case he sees some dodgy review on TripAdvisor. Next night he's on duty for him. That means downstairs watching telly and he hears someone walking around up there. Measured footsteps slow as anything. He tells himself it's the pipes. No, he had no intention of actually doing anything about it.

Then a few days [00:26:00] later, another review card pops up. Same wording m Johns, so he logs into the cameras, expecting to catch some smart ass teen, breaking in for a laugh, corridor's empty reception, quiet, just him sitting there watching himself not see anything. , How are you going so far? Any, psychic emanations coming from this one?

Sylvester: Well, yeah, plenty. 

Carrie: Okay, then. 

Sylvester: Well, he didn't like abound with psychic emanations on this one. 

Carrie: He didn't. He shrugs it off. A week later he gets a new booking. Margaret J one night only, rooms three. He laughs and says, well, we'll see if she complains again. But he decides to oversee it this time. He puts out the posh biscuits. You know, probably Borders this time instead of some cheap rubbish, , gives the mirror a wipe and locks up. Next morning, the key's gone from the hook. [00:27:00] He knocks the door, no answer. He uses the spare bed's being made kettle's warm, bit of steam on the mirror and written through it with a fingertip.

Better this time.

He told me he just stood there staring at it and then he cleaned it off like a good hotelier and went downstairs for tea. He checked the cameras again, nothing. The room door never opened. The booking disappeared too, but that afternoon, another review card landed on his desk. Much improved. Stay lovely service the maid

Seemed happier. Four stars.

So, what's your feeling about that?

Sylvester: First thing that comes to mind, only four stars. 

Carrie: Only four stars. Only four. It wa it was a bit tired. It, I thought you should have had three stars. Even if it was much improved. 

Sylvester: Oh, four stars. It is [00:28:00] good. But what, what, what do you reckon?

What, what, what withheld the, uh, the final star? I guess the view probably, 

Carrie: yeah, probably. I guess looking at a retail park. Yeah. No, 

Sylvester: no. It's, it's quite interesting that, very interesting. So, 

Carrie: so what do you think is more likely, a ghost repeat in her last stay or a book is 

Sylvester: you, do you do not need to continue?

Carrie: No, I 

Sylvester: do, but, but go but go on. Yeah, go on. Multiple choice. So we have a booking system, having 

Carrie: booking system, having a nervous breakdown. 

Sylvester: Well, it's clearly the first one. 

Carrie: Why was a ghost repeating her last stay What, what, what, why, what point would be a ghost turning up? I mean, was she alive when she stayed the first time and she was like, no, I'm not happy about that.

And then died in between and then went back. It's, 

Sylvester: you kind of alluded to this, um, earlier on, Carrie, about, uh, how ghosts repeatedly haunting places. Like why are they confined to a place, I [00:29:00] mean. The first thing that comes to mind here is if, say for example, uh, you were a spirit and you were confined to a, a hotel for whatever reason.

See, I don't know the exact history of this, whether she died there. Obviously it assumes that she was a guest, but imagine in the afterlife being on holiday all the time. 

Carrie: Yeah, 

Sylvester: that'd be amazing. 

Carrie: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I wouldn't stay in a dusty old Guest house, sans Sea View, I mean, would be bothered to change their name.

Well, 

Sylvester: I think perhaps maybe back then. I mean, you assume, however, all the hotel is. It did have the sea view probably back in 

Carrie: the day. Oh, it probably did have the sea view. 

Sylvester: Yes. So you need to consider that however many years ago, decades even, that this spirit in life visited the hotel. It would've been, well, it'd been fantastic, not in the state that it is now.

You know, it would've had the sea view, it would've been see relatively newer. Um, so, and it's just reliving, reliving the stay. And, uh, I think it's probably, [00:30:00] you know, for the stay. She did in the end, right? 

Carrie: Well, yeah. In the end she like, well she only had four stars, but she was happy in the, the end. I think a 

Sylvester: fantastic, this is a fantastic story in terms of the owner, a fantastic tale of self-improvement and good customer service because you know, you've gotta get it right.

Um, if a customer's not happy, you need to do something about it. Even, even the dead ones, especially the dead ones.

Carrie: Right. It's time for my favorite part of the show because it means we're coming to the end. It's the questions. So. Usually I ask people to give you three questions that I can pass on to you for you to answer. But I didn't bother this year because I did it last year. You weren't here so we'll, we'll just use last year's question, shall we?

Sylvester: Well, I That's fair enough. 

Carrie: Yeah. 

Sylvester: So where, where have these questions come from? 

Carrie: . Put it out on threads any questions? I could pass on those to Sylvester DeSilva and he will answer them. So question one. [00:31:00] Buck Carson from Little Rock will Trump win the election and make America great again.

All I got to say to that is, yeah, he will. And it's great. It's rainbows, sunshine, and lollipops. Congrats, Sylvester. Um, 

Sylvester: it's a bit hard to answer that question now, isn't it? Um, because, well, we know the results. 

Carrie: All right, question two. Lucien Graves from Bournemouth. Will 2025 be the year that we'll confirm without a doubt that ghosts actually exist? 

Sylvester: Um, well, I, I mean, I mean to that I would say. We did need another year to prove something, which we already know.

Um, but 

Carrie: I think he's talking at a wider to scale 

Sylvester: as that's a, as that's like a, a question from last year. Mm-hmm. We only have a couple of months left this year. Yeah. What was her, what was the name again? 

Carrie: Lucian, I, sorry. Lucian [00:32:00] Graves. 

Sylvester: Luc Lucian. 

Carrie: Lucian Lucian. Oh, is that Lucian? 

Sylvester: Lucian? Um, I dunno. Uh uh Dunno.

Lucian, I say tweet different name. They, 

Carrie: they're probably called Tom Jones or something stupid like that. But they go give them themselves mysterious names, you know, social media. Uh, yes. 

Sylvester: Yes, it will. 

Carrie: Oh, happy days. Okay. And we got another lovely name , RAF Specter from Hampstead. Will you ever be on telly again in 2025?

Yeah, I don't think he, well, we got two months.

Sylvester: But, uh, I mean, I kind of think that, I dunno, sometimes I feel that television, I, I've kind of done that. Do you know what I mean? Um, 

Carrie: so what do you want to do now then? 

Sylvester: Podcasting is, has been all right. I suppose, even though it's been somewhat sporadic.

Are you podcasting with someone else? Well, no, it's only this one. Do they show up for this 

Carrie: one? 

Sylvester: It takes, it takes so much outta me, Carrie, honestly, you know, I'm very much to kind of, you know, [00:33:00] my, my outlook on, on work is very much like one month on 11 months off. Do you know what I mean? 

Carrie: Well, what about one month on 23 months off?

How are you feeling about that one? Oh, 

Sylvester: that would be nice, wouldn't it? 

Carrie: We've come to the end of the final episode of the Da Silva Linings Ghost Book podcast. Thank you Sylvester, for joining me for the final time. Um, and we can on, on that note. No. No. 

Sylvester: On that note, this 

Carrie: is just say goodbye, Sylvester.

Say Goodbye. Listen, listen. Now, this, 

Sylvester: this might be of interest to you before you start getting ahead of yourself saying, oh, it's the last one. Oh. 'cause I know, I know. Like, I know you are sort Carrie. You'll say that because, because you, you know, the media, you're quite savvy in that sense. You, you drum up all this, all this false excitement to try and get.

People to, to tune in. But how about this, to get people to tune in. So you know this, you know the fellowship I was on about earlier? Yeah. Right. Yeah. So [00:34:00] I've been selected as part of that, uh, I've been given a grant, you see, to conduct some paranormal investigations to go out bully for you to go out on the road.

Um, and bear that in mind, I have been given a grant of a substantial sum. To conduct these investigations to go around the country, uh, exploring locations of paranormal significance, and I need. I need an assistant. Oh, good luck with that. Come along with me. And I think you, you've fully demonstrated your capacity for, to have a, an open mind and, um mm-hmm.

You know, and you're also really good at the technical stuff and, um, the logistics, et cetera. So I would like to invite you to come along on this road trip, and it's gonna be fantastic, and I cannot stress enough. I have been given a grant of quite a lot of money which you would be entitled to as well. 

Carrie: Okay, Sylvester

Let's do it 

Sylvester: Sylvester Da [00:35:00] Silva and Carrie Saxon will return join us in 2026 for a brand new series where we tour the country in search of paranormal goings on, and anything weird enough to fill an episode.

Narrator: Ghostbook Podcast was written and devised by John Parry and Jacquie J Sarah. It is a Deliciously Bright Podcast.

Happy Halloween.