Bonus Dad Bonus Daughter

Smiling Man Needs A Hobby And It’s Not Following You - Happy Halloween

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Doors creak, lights dim, and our curiosity spikes—why do we love being scared when we’re perfectly safe? We jump back into spooky season with a warm welcome and a cold shiver, tracing the psychology of fear, how safe scares flood the brain with dopamine, and why every culture keeps telling ghost stories. From Victorian-tinged British hauntings to modern urban legends, we unpack how the supernatural helps us approach grief, death, and the unknown without breaking.

We compare horror tastes across the spectrum—jump scares that jolt, slow-burn dread that lingers, and thrillers that swap monsters for human motives. Then it’s a tour of global lore: the vanishing hitchhiker at White Rock Lake and her Chicago cousin Resurrection Mary, the heavy silence of Japan’s Aokigahara, Cannock Chase’s black-eyed children, the whistle that flips your instincts in Venezuela and Colombia, and Italy’s Poveglia Island, where plague history and asylum myths make for ready-made terror. Not every story is malevolent: Mexico’s La Planchada, the ironed nurse, treats patients after lights-out, while West Virginia’s Greenbrier Ghost pushes a murder case into the courtroom. Even the famed “haunted” railroad tracks run into a physics lesson, proving that debunking can make a legend more interesting, not less.

We also get candid about the ghost-hunting boom and the problem of proof in the age of AI. When deepfakes blur the line between evidence and theatre, what should we trust? Context, pattern, and the truths inside the tales. Horror is a mirror—of our need for closure, our superstitions, and the way we personify a creak in the night or an unkind twist of fate. Join us for a thoughtful, funny, and suitably eerie ride through fear, folklore, and the meaning we make when the lights go low. If you enjoy the show, follow, share with a friend who loves a good chill, and leave a quick review to help others find us.

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SPEAKER_01:

Hello and welcome to Bonus Dad.

SPEAKER_02:

Bonus Daughter, a special father-daughter podcast with me, Hannah.

SPEAKER_01:

And me, Davy, where we discuss our differences, similarities, share a few laughs and stories. Within our ever-changing and complex world.

SPEAKER_02:

Each week we will discuss a topic from our own point of view. And influences throughout the decades.

SPEAKER_01:

Or you could choose one by contacting us.

SPEAKER_02:

Via email, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. Links in bio.

unknown:

Hello!

SPEAKER_02:

We are back, baby, for another episode of Bonus Dad, Bonus Daughter, because we have been on a hiatus and and we're sorry.

SPEAKER_01:

But we are sorry, yes. We are sorry.

SPEAKER_02:

We we'll explain in our next episode um Which we've just recorded. Which we've we've we've actually pre-recorded it, so we know we're definitely in our next episode we'll explain why we've been on a hiatus. But today is a very special day because this is our very special favourite time of year. It is Halloween. It's spooky season. It's spooky season. Halloween. Do we have a um I don't have a Halloween on here?

SPEAKER_01:

That's regretful. I know. I I just you know, as soon as you started saying that, I was like.

SPEAKER_02:

I thought we had like a creaky door one.

SPEAKER_01:

Have we got a creaky door?

SPEAKER_02:

Was that on the old one?

SPEAKER_01:

We've got crickets.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah, that is crickets.

SPEAKER_01:

We've got crickets. But no, we we haven't got that's a lot of crickets. That's a lot of crickets. We've got chimes. We've got chimes. We've got a rim shot. Yeah, baby. And we have this.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, they're already Halloween y though.

SPEAKER_01:

None of them are Halloweeny.

SPEAKER_02:

Sorry for the YouTube listeners, you won't get any of this. That is um. That was a good one.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's that's called Monster. Monster Effects.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, that was you saying it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, in the moment.

SPEAKER_00:

That was me saying it.

SPEAKER_02:

Why doesn't mine do it?

unknown:

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02:

It only works for Mike One.

SPEAKER_00:

Let's have a little try. Let's have a little look. This should work for both mics. Why doesn't it work for yours?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. That's very strange. Oh well, never mind. Um, moving on.

SPEAKER_02:

Poor YouTubers just had no idea what was going on there.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no what's up. There's gotta be a way that I can assign it to Mike One. I don't know how how to do that. But yes, happy Halloween. Or Hall Halloween Eve.

SPEAKER_02:

Halloween Eve, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Halloween Eve, because when this comes out, this will come out the day before. Yeah, it will come out the day before. Have you noticed on um like Netflix and Prime they've got loads and loads of uh like horror films at the moment?

SPEAKER_02:

Dude, I watched Hocus Pocus the other day.

SPEAKER_01:

That's not a horror film.

SPEAKER_02:

It's not a horror film. I know it's not a horror film, it's a Halloween film.

SPEAKER_01:

It's not a horror film, is it?

SPEAKER_02:

But it's the first time I'd ever watched it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, oh talking about horror. Well, it's not not strictly horror film as such, but we went to see the long walk. Oh Stephen King I heard amazing, so good, so good. How you can make a two-hour film about people walking is I was like, mmm, but it was brilliant. It was probably one of the best films I've seen this year. Yes, it was amazing, yes, but anyway, hocus pocus.

SPEAKER_02:

Hocus pocus, saw it for the first time ever in my life, and considering it was filmed the set in 1993, released, I can't believe I hadn't seen it before.

SPEAKER_01:

Really?

SPEAKER_02:

How has that not been on my radar? I don't know. Bad parenting is what I all I can say about it. I can't believe I'd never seen it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But I watched it the last uh last weekend when I was really, really poorly with a head cold. I watched Hocus Pocus. Um, which leads me on to say that I'd like to actually dedicate this episode, if I may, to someone. Of course. It's our first one back um since um my honorary niece was born. So I'd like to dedicate this uh particular episode to Fred. But anyway, moving. Oh no, I can't really say last names, can we?

SPEAKER_01:

No.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh shite.

SPEAKER_01:

I'll cut that out.

SPEAKER_02:

I'll cut I'll cut that bit out.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

I'll cut that bit out. Um but yeah, this is uh this episode's four. That is so mean. This episode, I feel like I want to start again.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's fine.

SPEAKER_02:

This episode is uh yeah, it's it's for Freya.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but we uh this is our third Halloween episode.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Our third one, so we've done three Halloween episodes. Well, I can't remember what we did the first one. What did we do for the first Halloween? Did we do the history of Halloween? Yeah, that sounds like something you'd do. Yeah, exactly. And then the last year we did the what is the one did we do? Because it was when we talked about Black Shook. Was that a year ago? I've Which we still haven't been to Bungie.

unknown:

No, we haven't. No.

SPEAKER_01:

I think that was that one. Maybe I think it was.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know. Yeah. We we have done a Norfolk ghost story one as well.

SPEAKER_01:

We have, but this this is primarily what this episode is. This is ghost stories.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh is this the second time we're doing ghost stories?

SPEAKER_01:

Not really, because I've done a slight change of ghost stories. And I've I've added so the first section.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, we did Urban Legends.

SPEAKER_01:

We did do Urban Legends.

SPEAKER_02:

We did Urban Legends.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we did do Urban Legends.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So what I've done with this episode, because I know you haven't read the script. I know you haven't read it.

SPEAKER_02:

Um rude. Yeah. Um but you correct.

SPEAKER_01:

Is I've looked at and I think you'd you'd be interested in this because I've done a little bit of the psychology of ghost stories about why we're so obsessed with the macabre.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I have some things that I could add here. Yes, had I read the script, I could have prepared.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly, but now that's doing it off the fly as always. Yeah. So I've done a little bit about why we're obsessed with ghost stories. What you know, what is it that makes it the obsession? And it is, you know, a bit about the psychology of fear.

SPEAKER_02:

Dun dun dun. Dun dun. So if you'd like to hear an episode on fears and phobias, by the way, we have that in our uh old bank repertoire. But we do not have it on YouTube. I think we need to put them on YouTube. I was gonna talk to you about this. How are we gonna do that? I think we could do a watch party.

SPEAKER_01:

We could do a watch party.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, a listen party.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Record us, watch it no, record us listening to our podcast and reacting to it. And reacting to it.

SPEAKER_01:

Ooh.

SPEAKER_02:

How do you feel about that, guys? Just put it out there. That takes a good day to do that.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, Joel does his um React videos, Joly Jams for drumming. You know that on he's got thousands of followers now on TikTok.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Amazing.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice.

SPEAKER_01:

Um yeah, so a little bit about the psychology of fear. Let's go. Yeah, so the thing is what like why do we tell ghost stories? Why do we do it? And you know, it's it's we we enjoy being scared, but in a safe environment, yes. So it kind of it's it's called a safe scare, and it reduces and it um releases adrenaline, dopamine, and endorphins. Yes. Which our brains register as pleasure. Oh we so in fact some people say that we're actually we can be uh addicted to that type of pleasure that ghost stories provide. What do you think of that?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, just like any uh drug that simulates dopamine, endorphins, yeah, and the act of pleasure, yes, of course, makes sense that we would uh find an addiction in that as humans are flawed in that sense. Yeah, I um I don't disagree.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so that that kind of campfire talk.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, you know, you imagine it can't you're sort of everyone sitting outside, they're they're at a campfire, the embers are flicking across their faces, the crackling of the wood, the crackling of the birds, and and a s and an owl, disant owl like painting the picture for you.

SPEAKER_01:

You are painting, definitely painting the picture there.

SPEAKER_02:

The guitar goes down, yeah, and then down on the bass notes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and then someone says, Did you hear the story of the old headless horseman? Well, I went to that one, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02:

The old headless horseman.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, the old headless horseman. And then the stories start, and then you know that you've got that kind of everyone all together listening to the There could be marshmallows involved as well. Yeah, or they might be. And even like watching a horror film. I mean, I love watching horror films. You know I love watching horror films. You love we had this discussion with Mitchell not that long ago, didn't we? What's that? About different types of horror films because you don't like you like a jump scare.

SPEAKER_02:

I do like a jump scare, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Mitchell doesn't like a jump scare. No, he's much more so psychologically hard.

SPEAKER_02:

He find he finds hack and slash funny.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, but it is funny.

SPEAKER_02:

It is funny. Like, for example, when we watched Final Destination all the way through, and then we watched the new one in the cinema, he just found the death funny and he did laugh out loud at one of the things in the cinema as well.

SPEAKER_01:

But to be fair, Final Destination is like this this tries to top itself each time, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, with the it's most ridiculous, but um, but yeah, um it's it's funny watching horror with Mitchell because yeah, he's not a fan of the jump scares at all. Um not because it makes him jump, just because he's just yeah, just it's just not his thing.

SPEAKER_01:

The loot and bass.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. Not his thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But he quite likes psychological horrors, like I don't know if you'd class Gone Girl as a horror. It's a horrific thing that happened in the movie, but it's a thriller, more of a horror. Yeah, it's a thriller. So he's more like more the psychological thrillers, I would say.

SPEAKER_01:

See, that's well that's the thing, because you've got you've got the thriller the horror thriller, which is generally kind of like where the human is being the horrible person. But then you've got the supernatural side of the horror.

SPEAKER_02:

Which is what I prefer. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Which is the like the nun or the babaduk or things like that.

SPEAKER_02:

We did watch the conjuring, so we've watched a couple of uh Christmas Halloween movies recently. I'm on the wrong wrong season. Yeah, we watched a couple of Halloween movies recently. Um Hocus Pocus, which you're not counting as a horror, but Halloween movie. Watched The Conjuring recently.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. There's loads.

SPEAKER_02:

There's like there's so much lore to that thing. And what else did we watch recently as well? Uh Parasite.

SPEAKER_01:

Parasite's amazing.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I don't know if I agree that it's amazing. I feel like it might have been a little bit overhyped in my life. I thought it was it's a cool concept and the way it was filmed and kind of the the the the twisty bit, I guess, if you if you will, at the end. Um but yeah, I don't I I just kind of yeah I love a twist. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01:

A lot of a lot of my my stories that are coming out, the from the tales stories that they're a lot they're they're very twisty. Very twisty. Very twisty.

SPEAKER_02:

You'll hear more about that in our next episode.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, because it isn't also just it's not just about the thrill ghost stories as well. It says here that they allow us to confront death, grief, and the unknown in a way that is symbolic rather than direct.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think I think it would be safe to say that horror may even prepare people for death and potentially paint things about the afterlife as well that are I don't know, somewhat problematic. Um, but yeah, I I think there's I don't know where I was going with this.

SPEAKER_01:

No, but what is interesting I think it's good for psychological. Yeah, but what is interesting is that every single culture around the world has ghost stories. Yeah. Every single one. You know, because in in Latin America they've got uh La La Liona uh warns children not to stray too far.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you do you think it's because we as humans want to want to believe in a life after death to create meaning in our own lives?

SPEAKER_01:

I think so. Yeah, it's it's it's to do with the afterlife, isn't it? What comes next? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And that whole idea of you know ghosts as well being stuck in some kind of purgatory because of unfinished business and religion might be partly to not blame may not be the right word, but partly influence this kind of phenomenon as well with with several different afterlifes. Because atheists have obviously been around since well, you'd also think from the dawn of time, also there's there's always gonna be people that don't believe in in things as well, um, but may even still believe in an afterlife potentially, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

What I do find about our culture, especially English culture, when you think of ghost stories, immediately you go Victorian age. Do you think?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh yeah, I agree with that. You when I think of a ghost, I think, oh gosh, they're gonna be old and and and and yeah, look antiquated and look look of yeah, that steampunk kind of eager.

SPEAKER_01:

Why do we because it's because well personally, because I grew up with stories from Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft, which was set, they were all set during that time, so that's where the ghost stories come from. And it just kind of stuck like that. I mean, even like when you go to haunted houses and theme parks, it's the same type of the Victorian type of, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, Curse of Watermanna, Emily, yeah, they're all dressed in yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, all Victorian.

SPEAKER_02:

Keeper of the houses and things.

SPEAKER_01:

You never see any like hippies, hippie ghosts.

unknown:

No, no.

SPEAKER_01:

Or you know, I suppose you're doing supernatural because it that's not when you think of ghost stories, it's it's Edgar Allan Poe, it's HP Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, very true, very true. Um children that have can't pass on.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It's one or the other, isn't it? It's gonna be old, old or old children, I guess, like Victorian children too. Yeah. Yeah, it's always that, or some demonic demon.

SPEAKER_01:

And again, thinking about how ghosts, you know, why why there are ghosts, you know, in in those stories, and a lot of it is around you know, it's like unfinished business or some kind of thing. That's what I mean with the children, isn't it? Yeah, some kind of trauma.

SPEAKER_02:

I I there's a supernatural episode that comes to my brain when I think of that. Is do you remember the one I think it's quite early on, where there's a pool inside a house, and it and the little girl that's going around was the grandma's sister, and the grandma was still alive and she was in the attic, and she she was like non-verbal by the end of her life. And then she had um a granddaughter who was playing with an imaginary friend that turned out to be the the child who died in the pool. Yeah. And she gets tries to get her to come in the pool with her.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So that they could play together for the rest of eternity.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I remember that one.

SPEAKER_02:

Anyway, sorry.

SPEAKER_01:

But they do it's it's it is that go, you know, the unfinished business. Unfinished business of what they do. I mean, there's there's stories of you know, people that they've got to do one last thing and then they can cross over to the other side.

SPEAKER_02:

It's like that that one what yeah. They're they're they're almost like their soul is bound to the earth until that one thing is complete.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But again, doesn't that speak truth to how we as humans want to find meaning in our lives?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, closure.

SPEAKER_02:

Because they're coming back to do that one thing that they couldn't do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so they could get closure so they can move on. But they never a lot of the time they don't actually they just think you they move on to heaven.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, but they never know where they move on to. It's quite weird. Yeah, we it's almost like because we we tie the ghosts to this plane of existence, yeah, we can we can brains can compute that they're here.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. But after that, it's almost a mystery of where they're going or gone to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. But then of course, we've got um We keep really going off tangents. I I know, I know, I know. Get back. But then we've got the um the the ghost media boom. And what I mean by that is like the ghost hunting shows. Yes. The paranormal investigators.

SPEAKER_02:

I love those.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02:

I think the reason I love them so much is because there's a lot of things that can be explained away, and you kind of know the things that they've put in to make you believe that something happened. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like there's some things that you're like, oh, because that they always approach it with, oh, we've got a skeptic on our hands, you know, you know, this, we'll try and, you know, our best to this is this is definitely just the pipes making noises. So they they put a few evidential truths in, and then they back that with, oh, because we gave you these things that we've we've discounted, you're gonna make it make us think that we're more credible saying this thing that we've actually staged.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. But I mean, even you know it makes me when I when I think of ghost ghost hunting shows, I'm you know, I just go to people like Derek Accorer, you remember him? I mean, he was I mean he was just a joke. I'm sorry, I'm gonna say it. It was just what are you doing, mate? But there was one, there was one ghost, and I can't remember what it was, it was a news show, and they did a live ghost thing, and it was a joke.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

And people actually thought it was real, uh and it was back in the 80s. Sarah Green was on it, and she was a presenter back then, right? And they did it, and they did like the lights flickering in the studio and all, and it was it was brilliant, a brilliant piece of theatre. It was really good, but but yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It was all a joke, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But I mean there are there are podcasts about ghosts, there are TikToks now, you know, YouTube videos.

SPEAKER_02:

But yeah, as I guess as technology has progressed, the more the more evidence we have for this supernatural but this is where I'm now gonna come in and say AI.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And uh I don't I don't believe anything I see on videos anymore.

SPEAKER_02:

I really so difficult, isn't it, to actually determine what is AI and what's not anymore.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean because there's you even see footage where saying, oh, this was filmed on a ring door camera. Yeah. And it's like little girl coming like that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, because and it's so almost poor quality.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So it's almost like it's gone back to potato filming, you know, like on your old motorola buddy bullet or something, or Razor or whatever. Like, yeah, you uh it's just I think it I think it's I think it annoys me sometimes because I see a cool video of like I saw this video of this cat basically eating a meal, and then the hedgehog pops into the cat flap and starts eating and nibbling, and then I I look I happen to see the top comment was oh how cute is this, and the second comment was oh this is AI, and I'm like, Oh, that's really annoying because that's that's just like a cute video, like that would be cute if that happened.

SPEAKER_01:

But I mean I sent you a video the other day of of uh of a Dungeons and Dragons song. Yeah, a song about Fireball, which is amazing, it's such a great song, but it's AI.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's all AI.

SPEAKER_01:

Someone just put it into an AI program and it's churned that out. Yeah, it's just sad. It is really, really sad. It really is sad.

SPEAKER_02:

But also if you'd like to hear an episode on AI, um we've talked about it in our previous previous episodes. Um, although we painted it in a better light than we are today. We've been negative about it today. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh but also back on track. Uh yeah, back on track, but also ultimately um ghost stories reflect us as well. They reveal our fears, our secrets, our sorry, our regrets, desires, and beliefs. And it does ask those, we do up with the ghost stories, we ask those questions, what does happen after death? You know, and also like when if something traumatic happens, could that traumatic energy be so bad that it causes that rip in the plane of existence that keeps a ghost here? You know, does it could that happen? So we're kind of and also I suppose our minds are kind of we're geared towards trying to find sense in things, aren't we?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. So that's why we I think there's that there's that like the personification that we even give to our animals that that we know that they don't comprehend. Like, I'll I don't know, I'll say to my cat, Oh, why are you moody today? She doesn't know the concept of being moody.

SPEAKER_01:

I talk to Archie all the time.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's it it's it's the same thing, like we I think we as humans to understand and and communicate with even inanimate objects, yeah. We can create kind of that how many times have you bumped into a door and apologised to it? Like, you know, it's it's silly little things like that, you know. I do that all the time.

SPEAKER_01:

I thought Do you know what do you know what really gets me?

SPEAKER_02:

Go on.

SPEAKER_01:

What really, really does drive me insane when I I shout at inanimate objects because you mentioned doors. Yeah, you know belt hoops, yeah. That gets caught in a door handle, yeah, and you yang back. I I swear at the door.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Like, why did you do that to me? Why are you ruining my day? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I was happy go lucky before then, and you just crunched all over my soul.

SPEAKER_02:

I think for me it's you know, when you're opening a pack of rice and it splits all the way down, it falls on the floor, and you're like, why are you doing this to me? Like, what have I ever done to you? I just yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, don't get when you open a cupboard door and everything just falls out.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, well, that's you. That's a you problem. That that's all you. The rice is not me. The rice just does that. Oh, brilliant. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, but yeah, so so in to just kind of close that little segment up, what what do you think? You know, what do you think that's true about why we tell each other ghost stories? It is because of all of those reasons.

SPEAKER_02:

I do, I do. There's not there's not a single one of those that I disagree with, to be honest. It it's just I think I think we are just so sometimes motivated by that supernaturalness, you know. It's it's it's a massive market in in media, film, everything like that. I think there's there's always going to be an interest for it. And I do think that really does probably stem from religion and and finding answers and to life and the universe. I think we're all very curious creatures as humans and cats alike. Yeah, I I really I I there's not a single one of those I disagree with.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean I mean I grew up in on horror since I was a kid, you know. I watched I watched Dawn of the Dead when I was four years old. It came out in 1979, well, it would have been five because it came out in 1979, and my cousin John had it on. I watch I must have been five, and I sat with my cousin, he would have been what 17 at the time, and I sat there on the sofa watching Dawn of the Dead at five, and since then I was obsessed with zombies. My Aunt Kathy kicked his ass.

SPEAKER_02:

I was gonna say, was there uh repercussions?

SPEAKER_01:

There was for John, yeah. There was for John. But I mean, ever since then I was obsessed with zombies, and you know, I've been I've watched like vampire all yeah, I remember watching the Hammer House of Horrors at like two o'clock in the morning, and I think I've said this before, it still amazes me how like you'd have two in the morning, you'd have like the legend of the seven golden vampires on, the final scene would be like Dracula being staked through the heart by Peter Cushing, and then five minutes later you've got um Barney the Dinosaur coming on. Oh, yeah. You know, so if the kid had woken up, fat fire would put press um turn the telly on, and there's you know, stake being driven through the heart of of um Christopher Lee. Yeah, it just yeah, and there used to be this series as well called Friday the 13th, the series. Dom, my mate Dom will know because he used to sit up with me.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So me and Dom used to watch, we used to watch like the used to have a creature feature film, which was um like Godzilla versus Mothra.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Then Friday the 13th would come on, which was a series. They only made a few episodes, but it was brilliant, and then after that we would then watch a hammer film, and we used to stay awake all Friday night and then just do stuff on Saturday. Couldn't do that now. No, no, I couldn't do that now, right? 17, 18, 16, 17, 18 at the time.

SPEAKER_02:

It's funny to me that you had to actually physically sit up and stay up late to watch that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was on normal telly, it's on channel four.

SPEAKER_02:

Because now you could just stream it whenever you wanted it in your own own leisure and then go to bed early.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, perfect night.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'll tell you how poor we were poor poor we was poor we were. We didn't even have a VHS recorder to record it. We had to sit it live.

SPEAKER_02:

Stay up and watch it live.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Damn.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Was that every night or just every Friday night?

SPEAKER_01:

Just every Friday night. You have the creature feature film, then there would be uh Friday the 13th, the series, and then it would be uh like a hammer film.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice.

SPEAKER_01:

And what I used to love the hammer films, I used to love them as well because they some of them they like the four stories in one film, but they were all connected somehow. Like The House that dripped blood, asylum was brilliant. Whereas guy guy had to go into an asylum and he had to listen to four stories and work out which one I can't remember. He had to work out which particular person I think was the old governor. I can't remember what it was, but he listened to these oh they were brilliant, they were they were so good, so good. And of course, um Hammer House of Horror, which I've got you on to. Yeah, yeah, because you saw Doppelganger.

SPEAKER_02:

Doppelganger still haunts me to this day.

SPEAKER_01:

I think that was done in the 70s. Yeah, that's scary. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

That was scary.

SPEAKER_01:

And did you know Tales of the Unexpected?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, I know of it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Did you know they're all filmed around Norwich?

SPEAKER_02:

Really?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, if if you watch, if you watch Tales of the Unexpected, you will recognise parts of Norwich. In fact, there's one scene, and uh and I went, I was where they were it's by a set of garages in one particular episode, and I was like, that's where I used to live. That's that's Heathgate.

SPEAKER_02:

That's Heathgate.

SPEAKER_01:

And I can remember them filming. There was one particular one where they found a they found a woman murdered, right? And and I remember them actually filming that in the 70s.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Just watching them filming it as like a four-year-old, thinking, what's going on over there? And like seeing all these television cameras, and then it was on Tells the Unexpected. Damn. Yeah, they're all filmed in and around Norwich. That's fun. So what I thought we would do now is I've got some ghost stories or some there's there's some ghost stories, and I thought I would just read through them just to see if you've heard of them.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, let's go.

SPEAKER_01:

Because I've gone around around the world, around the world.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. I have a feeling I'm not gonna know many of these, but carry on.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so the first one, you'll know the first one. They'll know the first one. This is uh the Lady of White Rock Lake.

SPEAKER_02:

Tell me about the Lady of White Rock Lake. Because I don't know it from the title.

SPEAKER_01:

A woman in a 1930s style dress.

SPEAKER_02:

Victorian.

SPEAKER_01:

Drenched and desperate. Okay. She flags down drivers along White Rock Lake.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

There she is with her hitchhiker's thumb.

SPEAKER_02:

Bendy.

SPEAKER_01:

Begging for a ride home.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Only to vanish before the car stops. All that's left is a soaked seat and a terrified driver. So she disappears. The tale dates back to at least the 1940s and is steeped in local folklore. While no confirmed identity of the woman exists, all history and police reports note dozens of similar encounters. Some say she's the spirit of a young bride who drowned before her wedding day. Have you heard of that story?

SPEAKER_02:

It rings a bell. Um interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

So that story I actually wrote as a short story when I did my creative writing degree.

SPEAKER_02:

Wait, this is yours. No.

SPEAKER_01:

I I took a lot of urban legends and recreated them as a set of short stories. Can I um they were called a feast of misdeeds?

SPEAKER_02:

Can I suggest something?

SPEAKER_01:

Of course.

SPEAKER_02:

White rock lake. Suggest that they have white rocks. Yes. What does a bride wear? White. What is a ghost commonly known as being white? Can I suggest that on this particular bit of road at a particular uh time of night when the when your lights hit a certain part of the rock, is it potentially looks like a human?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And the terrified driver in soaked seat is kind of just uh embellishments.

SPEAKER_01:

You know this was a supernatural episode as well. Was it?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, okay. I'm just wondering if there was embellishments.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So when I wrote this story, I had the hitchhiker, I had the driver pick the girl up.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. She then takes her home, but then she leaves her coat in the car.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh.

SPEAKER_01:

And the next day the driver goes up to the house to knock on the door to give the girl the coat back.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

At which point the dad answers and says, That's my daughter's coat. She's been dead for ten years. That was the ending of my story.

SPEAKER_02:

Damn. Oh. Agatheals.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So the next one.

SPEAKER_02:

Try pronouncing that one.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm not even gonna bother. But I have heard of this forest. This isn't such this isn't such a ghost story as such. Uh, this is a lot of ghosts in one area. This is the suicide forest in Japan.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh yes. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh shall we go for a pronunciation? Uhara.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. That sounded perfect.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah?

SPEAKER_02:

I hope that's correct.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Sorry if you are Japanese. Please correct us.

SPEAKER_01:

Um so this particular forest sits at the foot of Mount Fuji. It uh locals say that it's filled with spirits who died in anguish and then remain in limbo. Hikers claim to hear whispers, feel touches, and spot shadowy figures darting behind trees. Some YouTubers have gone there filming as well, and there was one particular YouTuber who got into trouble for it as well. Right. I think that was Jake Paul. He actually got into trouble for filming in the Suicide Forest. Can you remember that?

SPEAKER_02:

I do actually, because he did show someone had ended their life. Um, and I think, yeah, I think he decided to put that on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01:

He did. He got into a lot of trouble for it. Idiot, honestly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So um, but there have been reported some psychological effects with people, other people being in there, such things as devices failing, compass needles spinning. Some people also claim to have heard laughter or screams that mimic their own.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my goodness, that's creepy. Would you go there? So why why do people pick this particular forest to end their life in?

SPEAKER_01:

I th I don't know. I think it's just one of those eerie places. Uh yeah, I've seen I've seen the forest.

SPEAKER_02:

I've not been there, obviously, because I've never been to Japan, but I've seen But real people, human real people ending their life in there seems like a strange like because I isn't suicide like I don't know much about Japanese culture, but there is I think suicide is kind of very much frowned upon. I mean it's frowned upon in a lot of places.

SPEAKER_01:

No, because in in Japan it can it it can be seen Harry Carrie. People come at Harry Carrie, don't they?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, but I think there's yeah, there's like certain as an honour thing. Yeah. Maybe it's that then, I don't know. Yeah, I'm just wondering why why they choose that particular place. Maybe it's well, to be honest, if I if I was gonna if I wanted to die, I guess I would pick a nice scenic scenic place, I guess. I don't know. Forest sounds quite nice. But I'm just, yeah, forest generally, I'm not saying this particular forest, but like forest generally. I don't know what that's all about. But I have heard of this forest, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

You've had you've heard of the forest. Okay. So have you heard of the black-eyed children of Cannock Chase in England.

SPEAKER_02:

England. This is one of ours. Oh Crikey. Where's Cannock Chase?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh it's in England.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02:

Whilst you tell the story, I'll look it up.

SPEAKER_01:

The story is that small figures with pale skin and solid black eyes began appearing in Channock Chase in the 1980s. So relatively early, relatively modern. Witnesses describe them approaching with eerie politeness, asking for help. But when you look closer, the eyes change. In 2014, reports surged again. Local paranormal investigators captured blurred photos and unexplained EMF spikes.

SPEAKER_02:

How are these photos still blurred and potato like? By the way, it's just north of Birmingham.

SPEAKER_01:

Is it?

SPEAKER_02:

Um so we're safe from the black-eyed children. Yeah, I just I do I reckon they're aliens. I am cr I am critical of this because I just how have we not got better at filming things like this?

SPEAKER_01:

Because they're not real? Because you have to get your phone out quickly and you're terrified and you're shekin'.

SPEAKER_02:

You're shekin'. 2014. We had good iPhones then.

SPEAKER_01:

So you have you heard that story of the black-eyed children? I haven't actually any relation to the black-eyed peas?

SPEAKER_02:

Presumably no.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I don't think so. Should we go to Venezuela and Colombia?

SPEAKER_02:

Um no, I think we should go to Illinois if we're going another.

SPEAKER_01:

I've skipped that one because it's the same story as number one. It's Resurrection Mary.

SPEAKER_02:

Ah, it's the same story.

SPEAKER_01:

It's the same, it's the same story. Apologies. It's just it's just the same take. As you know, drivers speak of a bleeding teenage girl sobbing near the road. She vanishes when they turn up. So it's the same story. It's the hitchhiker story. Um, so I thought we'd skip that one. So we'll go to Venezuela and Colombia. And this is the story of the whistler.

SPEAKER_02:

Ooh, I can't whistle. That wasn't on my ancestry thing. I can do one pitch.

SPEAKER_01:

Your mum can do the fingers in the mouth thing. I know.

SPEAKER_02:

She's got a she's got a good whistle.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, Jesus scares the shite out of me.

SPEAKER_02:

I did not get that in the genetic drink.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, she's bloody good at that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um so this is a this is a whiz this is called the whistler from Venezuela. And this is a ghostly figure who carries a bag of bones and lets out a slow haunting whistle.

SPEAKER_02:

What's a slow haunting whistle? Like wind is blowing through him.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. If the sound is I'm more interested now.

SPEAKER_01:

If the sound is far, he's near to you. If it's close, you're safe. How messed up is that? So if you can hear it like like there.

SPEAKER_02:

Like I'm like, oh okay, cool. I'm safe.

SPEAKER_01:

He's far away, but if it's like he's near. It's the other way around than what it should be.

SPEAKER_02:

Spooky.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't like this one.

SPEAKER_01:

The legend stems from a 19th century tale of a man who killed his father. In modern times, reports of his whistle echo through the plains. Locals refuse to go out at night alone.

SPEAKER_02:

The plains of Venezuela and Colombia.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

That's probably just some old boy just now walking his dog.

SPEAKER_02:

It's like Foto. Frodo! I imagine a lot of people in Venezuela call their dogs Frodo.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I meant to say Frida Fido, but it came out wrong. Frodo. Frodo. Um, so yeah. What do you think of that one?

SPEAKER_02:

Just sounds windy to me.

SPEAKER_01:

It just sounds windy.

SPEAKER_02:

Just windy.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it could be, you know, the whistle could trees whistle, the wind whistles through the trees and through the yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So if I ever hear a distant whistle now, I will never think of everything. Do you know what?

SPEAKER_01:

That's that is an amazing story.

SPEAKER_02:

That's freaked me.

SPEAKER_01:

Because that could, yeah, you'd like just hear a whistle.

SPEAKER_02:

One for the M and F frequency.

SPEAKER_01:

There you go. Yes. Tales from the mammal frequency.

SPEAKER_02:

Dun dun dun. Let's go to the next one.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh the next one is Smiling Man.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know these by name, but when you describe them, I'm like, oh yeah, this makes sense.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god. Yeah. Okay, so originating online but based on real encounters, this eerie man appears late at night, dancing erratically with a disturbing grin. He doesn't speak, just follows.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

This is a bit like smile.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Film smile.

SPEAKER_02:

But um can I ask what dancing erratically means?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that's me. With a smile. Oh my god, that's actually more terrifying. That is actually you doing that as freaking me out. Can you please stop? Like so, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that is actually because you're you're combining something that you'd expect people to be like happy that it's like but nothing behind the eyes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, very clarifying, nothing behind the eyes. So have you seen Yeah. So have you seen the film American? You've not seen American Psycho, have you?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I have. You have seen it recently.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you know um, you know Christian Bell? You know that that when he smiles in that thing, but his eyes are dead.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. He uh that it's that almost that kind of thing, but yeah, yeah. But Jack Nicholson's son in Smile 2 does it just an image of Jesus. Yeah, just that image of him doing that with that smile, it's like whoa.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It's freaky, it's it's not good. Proper freaky. Do you know where Christian Bell got the inspiration for that from?

SPEAKER_02:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

For that face?

SPEAKER_02:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

Tom Cruise.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh.

SPEAKER_01:

Apparently he said in an interview, he said he he modelled it on Tom Cruise because Tom Cruise can smile but still be dead behind the eyes.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, what a compliment.

SPEAKER_01:

I know, I know. So yeah. That's Tommy. Yeah. That's yeah, I don't Can you remember the film It Follows?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Wasn't that the sexually transmitted disease one?

SPEAKER_01:

No, that's just where the thing's just constantly walking.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But it was passed on by having sex.

SPEAKER_01:

It was passed on by having sex, yes. That's it, yeah. Sexually transmitted ghost. Yeah, I remember. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

STG baby.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. S T G. Um next one. We're gonna go to Italy.

SPEAKER_02:

Italy Italy.

SPEAKER_01:

Italy. The Goz do Povigla Island. I didn't pronounce that right.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

You've heard of this.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh there is a chap on YouTube who has gone and filmed there that he got permission to.

SPEAKER_03:

Really?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, yeah, supposed to be the most quarantine-zoned place in the world. Like he he went to the most least visited places in the world for various reasons. Okay. Um, I can't remember what it's called now. I want to say that travel worldwide, something like that. I can't remember, but yeah, he went to like loads of different places and yeah, it was all about kind of the history of the war that happened there.

SPEAKER_01:

He's he's not the guy who went who did the um went to Tibet, is he? What an absolute legend that guy is.

SPEAKER_02:

Um is it him? He went to Syria.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh no, this is where he went the the guy went to Tibet and he landed there. No, went to in and it was there the day of the um when they had the uprising.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah, no, not like a guy.

SPEAKER_01:

It's the funniest video I've ever seen. He's become a local hero. Ended up in the middle of a revolution.

SPEAKER_03:

What am I doing here?

SPEAKER_01:

Funny. But yeah, it's um the island's once a quarantine zone and later a psychiatric hospital. It's considered one of the most haunted islands in the world, and locals won't go near it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Paranormal investigators report screams, shadows, and even possession experiences. Some urban explorers uploaded footages of footages, footages, of doors slamming and voices whispering their names.

SPEAKER_02:

I think it would be a weird situation if someone did whisper your name. Like if you're going through a house and you just heard Hannah or like Davy. Like that would that would be so spooky. Yeah, see? Yeah, I think we're freaking people out. If if you're listening to this episode at night, um sorry. Um I didn't ask to be freaked out today. Um let's go to La Pacenta. Watch you. Oh no. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, no. Um It's not La Placenta, right? Let's go to I mispronounced it. Let's go at all. La placenta. Did you just say I did? Yeah. This is uh La Planchada.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Mexico.

SPEAKER_02:

That sounds better.

SPEAKER_01:

Um a nurse in a perfectly pressed uniform. Why perfectly pressed uniform? Um appears in hospitals late at night. Patients report being treated by her only to find out no such nurse exists.

SPEAKER_02:

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that's why. La Planchada means the ironed one. So that's why her uniform is nice. She's used an iron. Um she's said to have died from guilt after a medical error. Now she seeks redemption.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, so she's like writing all of the wrongs. She's writing all the wrongs. Why if she's responsible for like, you know saving so many people? Yeah, like yeah, can you imagine? Like that hospital's just like really bad at training people and it's not actually her fault, so she's making sure that that like never happens again. What a cool, what a cool redemption story. I like her.

SPEAKER_01:

I I like her. She can she can stay.

SPEAKER_02:

See, that's got a ghost story potential as well. That's that's got some novel potential because you think she's helping everyone all the way through.

SPEAKER_01:

Even go one step further and say because she's helping people, she's messing with the um the thingy of death, and then we're going to final destination territory.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you could do it that way, or you could or you the plot twist at the end could be the neg negligence of the hospital itself, and that's why she's writing all the wrongs.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I like that. There's a political one. Political one, I like that. I like that one.

SPEAKER_02:

Anyway.

SPEAKER_01:

Um and the next one is the green briar ghost. There's only two more, by the way. The next one is the green buyer ghost, and this is a West Virginia Merka uh Merka. Merka Yeah. Um the montage. You need a montage.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh the only ghost in US history to help solve her own murder.

SPEAKER_02:

Ah see? I'm onto something.

SPEAKER_01:

In 1897, Zona Histos Shu was found dead. Her ghost appeared to her mother, revealing she'd been strangled by her husband. This led to a new autopsy and a conviction. The original court records still exist, and the story is taught in law schools as a unique precedent.

SPEAKER_02:

I have a theory.

SPEAKER_01:

I have a theory. Could be Bernie's.

SPEAKER_02:

I have a theory.

SPEAKER_01:

Go on.

SPEAKER_02:

You say the mother had the dream.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Dreams often unlock what we're unconsciously thinking about.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Could she have actually witnessed her daughter's own murder? Forgotten it because of the trauma so bad. Could have been. Dreamt it, and then got the case.

SPEAKER_01:

Could have been.

SPEAKER_02:

Just putting it out there.

SPEAKER_01:

You have a theory.

SPEAKER_02:

Have a theory.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh and last but not least, the ghost children of Silver.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, it's the children ones that get me. I'm not a fan of the children ones.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, on a set of railroad tracks, legend says a bus full of children was struck by a train. Now, if you park on the tracks, unseen forces push your car to safety.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh. Oh, okay. Then a creepy children.

SPEAKER_01:

I thought it was going to be a creepy. I was reading that really creepily.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, they're actually helpful children.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Thanks, kids. Oh my god, this is hilarious. This is actually, I just carried on reading. Sorry. So it says unseen forces push your car to safety. Powdered bumpers often show tiny handprints afterwards. Oh, Christ. But they read the last line. Geological tests have debunked this story. The road is a downward slope that appears uphill. Still, people report strange occurrences, especially on quiet nights.

unknown:

Oh.

SPEAKER_02:

I like that how this one has a um yeah, a debunked.

SPEAKER_01:

So it actually, so the the road is a downward slope that appears uphill.

SPEAKER_02:

That's spooky in its own sense. It is, isn't it? Is that why the bus ended up on the tracks?

SPEAKER_01:

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_02:

Because if if if he didn't put the handbrake on at the at the crossing and then it f went onto the tracks because of the downward uphill thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Could be.

SPEAKER_02:

Perhaps that's why it struck by the train.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_02:

Ooh. As for the tiny handprints, mmm. Could have been any child's. I feel like children touch dirty things. Like, like, as in just generally in life, not not ghost children. But they would just like, oh, let's play on the cars. Maybe that's why. I'm debunking them.

SPEAKER_01:

Debunking them. Yeah. So there you go.

SPEAKER_02:

Lovely. That's the last of the stories. What a Happy Halloween. What a jumbled up.

unknown:

Happy Halloween.

SPEAKER_02:

What a random jumped up, jumbled up episode. We're still getting our feet, I think. We are. We've been we've it's been a long time since we recorded. So if you enjoy this episode, we have other Halloween episodes in the bank as well. If you didn't like this episode because it's too spooky, don't worry. Not all of our episodes are spooky. We do things on AI, which we've mentioned.

SPEAKER_01:

Which is quite spooky.

SPEAKER_02:

Which is actually quite spooky. That's a different kind of spooky, though. We do lots of other episodes and lots of other things, so check them out. And uh we love you and we miss you and and and Q the outro. Thanks for joining us on Bonus Dad, Bonus Daughter. Don't forget to follow us on all our socials and share the podcast with someone who'd love it. We are available on all streaming platforms. See you next time. Bye-bye.