Episode 42 - Cursed Numbers and Clay Soldiers

What do a haunted phone number and an ancient army buried beneath the earth have in common? Probably nothing… and yet, somehow, they both make for a seriously unsettling episode.

This week, we’re dialing into the strange story behind a phone number with a disturbing reputation, then traveling thousands of years back in time to uncover the mystery of China’s legendary Terracotta Army. One involves calls from somewhere they shouldn’t be coming from. The other involves thousands of silent soldiers standing guard underground.

Two bizarre mysteries. Two very different kinds of ghosts. One extremely weird episode.

Hit play… if you’re brave enough to answer.

Send in your own creepy stories to twofilthyhorrorspodcast@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

New episodes every Monday! 

If you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify! 

If you got it, haunt it. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

I'm Alex. And I'm Megan. And we are two filthy whores. You're all beyond the veil now.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Welcome to Happy Hour Guys. The only thing for me is um I mean, I feel like life is a little crazy right now, but you know, we're just fixing the bathroom. The uh the mudding is on and um the mudding is on. I I sound like such a girl. Dad did the mudding on it and um then it's nursery time. So but I do think I'm gonna have like people come over this weekend maybe and help me go through it and like carry stuff downstairs because there's just useless things in there that don't need to be in there, and then we can really kind of like get the room together. So I'm excited for that. But honestly, that's really the only thing with me. I don't I don't have too much today. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

I got like a chunk of just random updates, but I will say that we are trying our hardest to like sound okay on here, but our connection again is being shitty, so we're obviously gonna try to edit it. I don't know if you have to keep this in or not, or take it out, it's up to you, but I'm just saying in case it sounds weird, that we're we're trying our best. Uh so anyway, it has been birthday party galore for the past couple weeks for us. Ben has had nonstop birthdays um to go to, it seems. And then we have like all the like you know, people on our family's birthdays also, so it's just been a lot, but it's fun. You know what I mean? Like exciting.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Yeah, it does look like uh like we got some rain and it cooled down a little bit. It's gonna be back in the 80s now. Uh like high mid-high 80s for me. So I don't know. Uh I'm like kind of ready for fall, but I'm also trying to get my garden to like I have like fucking tomatoes that are like not like my cherry and grape tomatoes are going crazy. Like they're so happy they're thriving. But my big tomatoes, I don't remember what kind they are, but the bigger ones, they're just like still freaking green, they're taking forever, and I'm mad. And last year, last year I didn't get to have any of them, like the big ones, because the deer ate them all. So this year I've had the fence up around my garden. Mm-hmm. So the goddamn give birth in my yard too. I send you pictures of like the the baby deer all the time.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, you've painted stones too, like uh you painted your stones like uh strawberry and like stuff like that to kind of determine.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Yeah, birds and which is such a cute idea. My strawberries and my tomatoes got destroyed last year, so this year I didn't even do it. I just put a fence up and was like bitches. Yeah. So but besides that, like there was like a sim racing event that Dylan and Ben were going to, and Ben was like beating all the adults, and the worker asked if he like sim races a lot. Like, I'm assuming you know what sim racing is. Like it's like it's I'm not being mean, I'm just genuinely asking, like you like it's just like a video game like racing simulator.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

So yes, Tyler built one, you ding bad.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot, I forgot all about that. Um, but yeah, the worker was like, Does he sim a lot? And Dylan was like, No, he goes carting. And I'm just gonna say, like, this, like, go karting, and this kid is crazy behind the wheel. And I know I've said it before, but like, it is so impressive how natural he is with just bracing. So it's exciting.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

It is exciting, and he's he loves it too, so that's great that he loves it and he's good at it.

SPEAKER_03 3:49

Yeah, he uh he like has moments where like he'll be like, Oh no, I don't want to be a race car driver, like I want to be a pilot. And I'm like, buddy, you can do both. Like you daddy like has a job and is also a race car driver, you can do both. Pat Pap does, Uncle Dalton does. Like, we all have like our hobby things on the side. If you get paid to do it, that's awesome. If you don't, you're enjoying it, have fun. Yeah, uh, but yeah, we recently went to a grid life event, like for a race weekend, and uh Ben got really excited there and said that he really wants to get into race car driving. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Good luck to you, your aliens, your bowels, your anxiety.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Good luck.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

That's gonna be so stressful.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Megan's mother-in-law, like literally always has to go to the bathroom anytime one of her kids or her husband's on.

SPEAKER_03 4:40

Like, she's like, I gotta go. Yeah, so I don't know. I don't know how it's gonna work out for me, but I am happy that he's you know excited and doing what he likes to do. He likes he's outside right now trying to figure out how to ride a bike because as much as we have been trying for years to teach his kid to ride a bike, he always falls to the scooter, not the bike. Like he just he's a scooter boy. Yes, he wants nothing to do with the bicycle. And I'm like, Ben, you have to like because when we're going through like the paddocks and stuff, the races and stuff, like we need we can't just walk everywhere all the time, like it's exhausting to do that, and sometimes we have to get somewhere fast. And he's like scooting around around us, and I'm like, buddy, we need you to ride a bike too. Like, you need to know how to ride your bike, like it's just something you have to know how to do. So, like, if they're out there doing that, and then they're gonna go to the airport and watch planes. Oh cute, watch the planes or while we're recording. I love that. Mm-hmm. So, and Dylan was smart about it. He was like, Well, let's go ride your bike first, and then we'll go to the airport. So, so yeah, that's that's really all I have. Uh, my topic is a little on the short side, but it is fun, and it's something I didn't know about. So, I think it's exciting to research and talk about, and I hope that you guys all enjoy it as well. Do you have anything before I jump into my topic?

SPEAKER_01 6:00

No, let's go. I'm ready to hear it.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

Okay, tonight, because we're pretending like it's nighttime right now. It's definitely the end of the day, but but we're pretending like it's night. So tonight. No, in my defense, I wrote this at nighttime, so like it was night when I wrote it. You guys can just use your imagination. Yeah. Yeah, like, well, I don't know. Maybe I'll listen to this tonight. Either way, even if it's like, you know, super bright owl you're gonna pretend like it's nighttime because it's nighttime right now. We're looking at something you carry in your pocket every single day. A string of digits. Most of us don't think twice about our phone numbers. They're just random numbers assigned by a machine. But what if a number wasn't random? What if it was a status symbol? Jesus. Just kidding, I'm kidding. A gold standard of vanity digits so perfectly symmetric that everyone wanted it. And what if every single person who ever claimed it died a sudden violent death? What the fuck? Our story takes us to Bulgaria in the dawn of the 21st century. Mobile phones are becoming the ultimate sign of wealth and power in one company, Mobile releases the ultimate phone number. 888 888-888. Wow, I don't know if I'm gonna remember that. 98. In numerology, eight is the number of infinity, of cosmic balance, and in many cultures, extreme good fortune. But for anyone who held a specific SIM card, it meant to count down. But yeah, no, did you know about this number?

SPEAKER_01 7:36

No, I had no idea. I'd I've never heard of it. I didn't even think that this was a possibility, but now I'm fucking freaked out. Dude, I didn't know anything about this.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

That's why I was like, I have to do it. Like, I have to do this. Like, I want to know about a haunted phone number. Like, want to know about it.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

So I'm again scared to know about it.

SPEAKER_03 7:54

Yeah, and it's not again, I don't have like tons and tons of stories, but I do have a couple, and it's interesting to me, like that this is even a thing. So I was like, I have to bring it to other people. Like, I want you guys to know about it because it was something I was excited to know. Yeah. So going forward, let's look at the timeline of how a vanity number became a death warrant. The first owner is Vladimir Groshnov. He owned it in 2001. The second owner is Konstantin Dimitrov. I hope I'm pronouncing these correctly. Uh again, I'm sorry if I'm not. Uh 2003. I looked him up, but sometimes my tongue does its own thing, so fairly. And then the third owner is Konstantin Deshleev in 2005. Uh, so it all started with Vladimir Goshnov. Groshnov, if you were the head of the largest telecom giant in Bulgaria, you wouldn't let a customer have the most memorable number in the country. You keep it. Groshnov is robust, charismatic, and powerful. But shortly after activating the 9-8, his health took an unprecedented dive. I don't know why I put that word in there, but like I'm glad I said it. Like I looked at it, and then he heard the pause, and I was like, God damn it.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

That's okay. You did it though. You delivered.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

I did it, I did it. Okay. Officially, the cause of death was cancer. But Sophia is a city of whispers. Rumors immediately flooded the underground that his illness wasn't natural. They claimed a business rival, desperate to take over the telecom market, used a lethal dose of radioactive material, slowly exposing him to ionizing radation over months. Yeah, I didn't like fact-check this stuff. Like, I mean, I did, I looked into it, like this is stuff people were saying, but I don't know like if they like had concrete proof that he had cancer or if he was dying from radiation. You know what I mean? That situation, I couldn't find anything explaining that. So but imagine sitting at your desk checking your perfectly symmetrical phone number, entirely unaware that invisible, silent isotopes are tearing through your DNA. Groshnov passed away in 2001. The number went back into the system, it was clean, reset, and waiting for its next victim. And here enters Konstantin Dimitrov. He wasn't a corporate suit, he was a kingpin. He ran a drug smuggling empire estimated to be worth over 500 million pounds. When you operate in those circles, you love luxury and you love flaunting it. He acquired the infamous number because he wanted it. Mm-mm. Greedy. In 2003, Dimitrov traveled to I think it's Dimitrov. Honestly, it's whatever you want it to be. Okay. He traveled to the Netherlands to inspect his operations. He was sitting at an outdoor cafe in Amsterdam eating with a famous fashion model. The sky was grey, his phone sat on the table. 888-888-888.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

You know what's fucking weird though? Is I swear to you, I've gotten weird fucking phone calls from like weird numbers like that. Like where it's all the same number. Like, am I am I crazy? Okay, so you also feel the same way. Like you've gotten phone calls from weird numbers like that.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

And I've also gotten numbers from like, or calls from like a lot of eight numbers too. So now for the rest of my life, I'm gonna be terrified every time I see like Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Maybe not all eights, but like some eight eight area code eights in it.

SPEAKER_03 11:46

Suddenly, a lone assassin stepped out from the shadows. Two gunshots cracked through the air. Dmitrov, oh, it's Dmitrov. It definitely is. Dmitrov. Oh oh well. Okay, either way, this guy, he slumped forward across the table. The hit was rumored to be ordered. I should not be laughing, I'm sorry. The hit was rumored to be ordered by Russian rivals, jealous of his massive network. When the police collected his personal items from the pool of blood on the pavement, his mobile phone was still there. The screen was likely still lit up, displaying the network bars, completely indifferent to the assassination of its master. You would think by 2004, the tech guys at Mobile would look at the sim card and put it in a safe or throw it into the Black Sea. But superstition wasn't holding up against corporate administration. The number was reissued one last time. And this goes to Constantine De Schleeve. He was a high-flying real estate guy. Okay. And continue. On paper, he was building modern Sophia. In reality, he was laundering cash for a massive South American cocaine. Like, oh I'm sorry, hold on. In reality, he was laundering cash for massive South American cocaine shipments. In 2005, DeSleeve was leaving an Indian restaurant in Sofia's city center. He was literally standing on the sidewalk, mid-sentence, talking on his phone. A motorcycle pulled up, multiple shots were fired. He died on the spot. His phone clattering onto the asphalt, the call instantly disconnecting. Three owners, three completely different hits, yet all linked by a single thread of digital identity. After Tishleev's assassination, Mogadol did something unprecedented. I don't know why I put that word in there twice, but oh well.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

We're doing it.

SPEAKER_03 13:51

They didn't clear the data, they didn't sell it to another underworld figure looking for a vanity tag. They locked it down. They suspended the number permanently. If you call and Google said, like, because this is like an international, we had to put like 359 and then 888-888-888. Oh. Today you won't hear a ring. You won't hear a voicemail box. You're met with a chillingly sterile recording saying that the number you have dialed is outside network coverage. And I will say, I did not call. Sorry, I wasn't doing it. I didn't like if something happened to me, you guys never know. Yeah, I wanted to, I debated it. I was like, should I do it? And then I was like, no, Megan, because if something freaking happens, you didn't tell anybody the story, and then they're gonna recover everything on your computer. Right! So I was a victim to the phone number. But if any of you guys do, please send us an email, let us know. At two filthyhorse podcasts at gmail.com. Is it a curse or is it just terrifying math of the life expectancy when you mix a vanity, a highly visible phone number, in the Eastern European drug trade? Maybe the real curse wasn't the number itself. Maybe the number was just a lighthouse drawing a deadliest ship in the ocean right to its shore. Ooh, I got. Yeah, see, I told you it's a little bit short, but it was interesting, right? Like I didn't know it is haunted number.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

No, that's insane. And that's like a haunted object that I would have never thought about because it's not tangible. Like it's not like an object you can go see in a museum.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. And I didn't even like purposely look for that. I just was like researching, like looking through different haunted objects, and I was like, what the fuck? There's a haunted phone number. Yeah. I jumped into it. Like, I'm doing it. I'm like, I'm characters in the situation, I'm doing it.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

So oh my god. No, I love that. That was awesome. Thank you. I thought you didn't call the number.

SPEAKER_03 15:46

Yeah, I know. I was like, I I really wanted to just to like, you know, lay it down on you guys, but I was like, I really didn't want to.

unknown 15:53

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 15:54

Yeah, you were like, my life is kind of worth it. Yeah, I was like, never mind. I have my phone in my hand. I was like, nope, bye. But anyway, please tell me what you have. I'm so excited. I love haunted objects. This is one of my favorite topics.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah, this one is really fun. So I am talking about the terracotta army. This one is wild, and I have um maybe too much. I I ran with it, but this one was so fucking fun. So buckle in. If I told you there was a place where nearly 8,000 life-sized soldiers had been standing in complete silence for over 2,000 years, you'd probably think I was talking about the world's creepiest museum. But what if I also told you that those soldiers were never actually meant for the living? They were built to guard one man after he died. And that man was so obsessed with cheating death that he spent decades creating an underground empire complete with soldiers, horses, weapons, government officials, entertainers, even ri Nope. Even rivers of Mercury.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

We're gonna go right past that. I'm I would not almost just say rivers. No, no, that's crazy. I would never say that.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

It's because I said most of my words correctly. It's now it's like it's gotta go somewhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

I think you're right. But his actual tomb is still sealed. No one has ever gone inside. Archaeologists know where it is, and they have for decades, but they will not open it. Some say it's because the technology isn't advanced enough to preserve what's inside, and others think disturbing the Empire's resting place could destroy one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in history. And then there are the people who think it was never meant to be opened. Because over the years, stories of strange accidents, bad luck, mysterious illnesses, and eerie encounters have followed the terracotta army. Coincidence? No, fucking obviously not. Ancient Kurds are very possible, yes. We'll we'll see. Or are there nearly 8,000 silent guardians still doing exactly what they were created to do? Tonight we're heading to China to talk about one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made and one of the creepiest, if I do say so, myself. Because beneath ordinary farmland lies an army that waited over two millennia for someone to find it. Some people kind of wish they hadn't. Before we get into the creepy stuff, we need to meet the man responsible for all of this because this entire story starts with someone who essentially looked at death and was like, mm-hmm. His name, and please, uh please forgive me if I mispronounced this, was um Chen Ji Huang. If that name sounds familiar, which it probably doesn't because I butchered it, it's because he wasn't just another emperor. He was the first emperor of China. Before him, China wasn't one country. It was a collection of rival kingdoms constantly at war during what's known as the Warring States period. Imagine if several neighboring countries fought each other for centuries and then one ruler finally conquered them all. That was this man. He was born Brace yourself. He was born in 259 BCE. That is a long time ago.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

That's too much for my brain to actually comprehend.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

I actually Googled this and I think it was like 2000. Yeah, okay, so to be exact, it was 2284 years ago. BCE is like what before Common Era or something? What what is BCE? Or not before Common Era. It's um Oh no, before the Common Era. I'm I'm right, okay. He was born in 259 BCE and became king of the state of Qin or well, Qin, I guess it is. Um it's just the Chinese pronunciation of it. It's spelled Q I N when he was only around 13 years old. And at first, powerful advisors ruled on his behalf because understandably 13-year-olds aren't typically equipped to run a kingdom of. So after years of military campaigns, he defeated the remaining rival states and unified China for the first time. And that's when Ying Zheng adopted the title of uh, meaning first emperor of I'm trying very hard, guys. However, he didn't think small. He standardized weights and measures so trade worked across the empire. He introduced a common writing system, he standardized currency, he built massive road networks to connect distant regions, he expanded canals to move troops and supplies more efficiently. Sections of defensive walls were built by earlier states. Um those were linked together into what would eventually become part of the Great Wall of China. So he really did breathate the country from the ground up. But and there's always a but, he was incredibly ruthless. Historical accounts describe forced labor on an enormous scale. People who opposed him faced harsh punishment. Thousands of workers were conscripted into massive construction projects that often came with brutal conditions. Ancient historians even accused him of ordering the burning of certain books and the execution of scholars to challenge his rule. Although modern historians continue to debate the exact scale of those events. Despite conquering an entire civilization, he was absolutely terrified of dying. Which, to be fair, is kind of ironic because he was conquering kingdoms left and right only to be f defeated by aging. And he became, I'm not even kidding when I say he became obsessed with immortality. Like that's me putting it lightly. He literally sent expeditions across the seas searching for magical islands that supposedly held the secret to eternal life. He also found alchemists that claimed that they could create immortality. And some of those so-called elixirs that they had created actually contained mercury. Which, if you know anything about chemistry, that's not exactly a wellness supplement. Ironically, many historians believe those mercury based medicines may have contributed to the Emperor's death around 210 BCE. So the thing he thought would help him live forever may have helped kill him. But here's the thing long before he died, he had already started preparing for the afterlife. Say preparing, I don't mean writing a will like most of us would do. I mean creating an underground empire on a scale that's almost impossible to imagine. Construction on his mausoleum is believed to have begun around 246 BCE after he became the king. Decades before he unified China. According to the ancient historian Sima Kyon, the project eventually involved as many as 700,000 workers. Modern scholars debate whether that number is exact or symbolic, but everyone agrees it was one of the largest construction projects of the ancient world. And if you think about that, that's hundreds of thousands of people working for decades all for one person's funeral. The mausoleum complex itself covers roughly 56 square kilometers, or about 200, or sorry, not 200, um 22 square miles. And that's not just one tomb, it's an entire underground landscape. Archaeologists have discovered stables, bronze chariots, pits containing musicians and entertainers, armor officials, exotic birds, acrobats, and countless other figures meant to recreate the empire's court beneath the earth. The idea was simple. If he ruled an empire in life, he intended to rule one after death too. So now comes the famous terracotta army. And it's um like the first thing that surprises most people about this is the size of it. There aren't just a few hundred statues, and I don't think you're ready for the scale of this. There are an estimated 8,000 soldiers, around 130 chariots, more than 500 horses, roughly 150 um cavalry horses, sorry, I almost said cavalry, and numerous officers and generals spread across several excavation pits. Not every figure has been excavated, so those estimates continue to be refined as research progresses. But dude, the second, the second surprise in all this? They're life-sized. Most stand somewhere between five feet, eight inches and over six feet tall, with generals often sculpted taller than the ordinary infantry. The third surprise, no two faces appear to be exactly alike. For years people claimed every warrior is completely unique. Craftsmen created the army using standardized parts, heads, torsos, arms, hands, ears, but combined and finished them in different ways. Hairstyles, facial hair, armor, expressions, and fine details were individually sculpted, creating the impression of thousands of distinct individuals. The craftsmanship is honestly ridiculous. You can tell an officer from a general by the armor. Archers are posed differently depending on whether they're kneeling or standing. Their hairstyles indicate rank. Their shoes differ depending on the military role. Some have mustaches, some have beards, some have calm expressions, and others look ready to throw hands with literally anyone. They weren't just making statues, they were recreating an entire military. Today the warriors are gray, but that's not how they always looked. Originally, every single warrior was painted in vibrant colors. And I mean like bright reds, deep blues, greens, purples, black hair, more detailed facial features. And which is crazy to think about because like imagine seeing thousands of vividly painted soldiers lied up by the ground, lined up underground. I don't know why I can't talk, but unfortunately, there is a reason we don't see them that way today. The paint was applied over layers of lacquer. After more than 2,000 years underground, it remained stable because of the burial environment. But once a figure was excavated and exposed to air, the lacquer rapidly dried, shrank, and flaked away. In many early excavations, brilliant colors disappeared within hours. And that's one of the main reasons archaeologists are now much more cautious about excavating new areas. Sometimes the best way to preserve history is to leave it exactly where it is until conservation techniques improve. And that's the decision that becomes even more important when you remember the emperor's actual burial chamber has never been opened.

SPEAKER_03 25:56

Well, if they open it, it's not in there.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Oh my fucking god, all that for what? According to the ancient Chinese historian Um Sima Kion, who wrote about a century after this, the first emperor's death, uh his burial chamber was unlike anything the world had ever seen. He described an underground palace with a ceiling decorated to resemble the night sky, complete with constellations. Beneath it, he claimed were miniature rivers and seas made from liquid mercury that were designed to flow through the tomb using mechanical systems. At first, historians weren't sure whether it was just ancient storytelling. After all, saying someone has rivers of mercury in their tomb sounds a little dramatic. Then scientists started studying the soil around the unopened mound, and things got weird. Modern surveys have detected unusually high concentrations of mercury around the burial site, far higher than you'd normally expect in the surrounding area, I suppose. Researchers can't say for certain that it's flowing rivers exactly as he described, but the findings have made archaeologists take his account a whole lot more seriously. So the guy writing this over 2,000 years ago may have actually been telling the truth. Sima Kion also wrote that crossbows were rigged inside the tomb to automatically fire at anyone who tried to enter. So, I mean, we're talking basically ancient booby traps here. And before you picture an Indiana Jones movie, there's no proof of those traps. Like we have no idea if they still exist or if they would even function after more than two millennia. But no one knows because no one has gone inside. People sometimes assume archaeologists are trying to are dying to crack it open. I feel like I the word archaeologist is becoming like not a word anymore because of how much I'm saying it. You're fine.

SPEAKER_03 27:51

That's how I was with uh that word recently. I don't remember what it was.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Oh, was it today, the proceeds or something, or the what the fuck was it? Precedented. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

No, there's another word. Was it our last episode that we recorded? Oh, I do think I know what you're talking about now. You're like, damn.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Yeah. In reality, though, most of them don't want to open it. At least not yet, because every time you excavate something, you're destroying its original context. Once it's exposed to oxygen, humidity, bacteria, and light, the clock starts ticking. The terracotta warriors taught researchers that lesson the hard way with all of the paint. Modern conservation has improved dramatically since the first excavations, but researchers still aren't confident that they could preserve everything inside the Emperor's burial chamber if they opened it today. Imagine opening the great the gradiest. Imagine opening the greatest archaeological, of course, site in human history and accidentally destroying half of it. So instead they wait. Some archaeologists, my god, have even suggested that future generations with technology we can't even imagine yet might be better equipped to explore it safely. Meaning the greatest discovery beneath the terracotta army might still be sitting there waiting. Now let's talk about how anyone even found this place. Because unlike the pyramids, people didn't always know where the terracotta army was. For over 2,000 years, it stayed completely hidden.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

I was like wondering. I was like, is this something that they like tracked for like they just like told down the fucking family line? Like, how do we know what's there?

SPEAKER_01 29:31

So there was actually a group of local farmers just outside of the area. It's called. Um, well I'll spell it for you guys. It's XI apostrophe A-N. I've heard of it. I just cannot say it without Googling it. So that's where we're at. Um, they were digging up a well during a drought, and this was on March 29th, 1974. 1974. That's crazy. So, you know, to them, it was a pretty normal day. They were trying to find water, and instead their shovel hit something hard. And at first they thought they'd found old pottery. They were like, okay, this is no big deal. China has thousands of years of history. Broken pottery isn't very shocking. But as they kept digging, more pieces appeared, and then a life-size clay head, then arms, then torsos. The farmers reported the discovery to local authorities who contacted you won't believe who they contacted, archaeologists. Crazy. Oh, I was gonna say Donald Trump. Tonald Drump. Within weeks, excavation teams arrived, and what they uncovered completely changed archaeology forever. They had stumbled onto one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century. The first excavation pit alone was absolutely enormous. Known today as Pit 1, it's roughly 230 meters long and 62 meters wide. That's about 755 feet by just over 200 feet. And to put that into perspective, that's roughly the distance your dad says he walked a skull uphill both ways. Just kidding. It's about 1,500 hamsters laid nose to tail. I don't know why you'd do that, please don't. But that is the equivalent that I can describe it as. Inside were long corridors separated by packed earth walls. The soldiers weren't just scattered around randomly, they stood in military formation, exactly where they had been placed over 2,000 years earlier. At the front were three rows of infantry acting as the vanguard. Behind them came the main body of the army arranged in neat columns. Along the sides stood troops guarding the flanks. At the rear were soldiers protecting against attacks from behind, and even in death, the emperor wanted perfect military discipline. Then, pit tube was found, and this is where things became more impressive. This pit contains a mix of military units that essentially function like an ancient combined arms force. There are kneeling archers, standing archers, cavalry, chariots, infantry. It's basically a complete tactical formation designed to fight in multiple ways. One of the most famous figures in the entire collection comes from this pit, and that would be the kneeling archer. And if you guys know anything about the Terracotta army, you've probably seen pictures of the Kneeling Archer specifically. Unlike many other statues, this warrior survived in remarkably good condition because his pose made him more stable when the wooden roof above eventually collapsed. His shoelaces, armor plates, the folds in his clothing, they're extremely detailed even still. Imagine spending weeks sculpting something so precise, knowing no one was ever supposed to see it. Because again, these are not public monuments. No one expected tourists. These soldiers were made for one audience, and that is a dead emperor. And then came Pit Three. And compared to the others, this one is much smaller. But archaeologists think it may have been the most important. Because many researchers believe Pit Three served as the army's command headquarters. Instead of hundreds of soldiers, there are far fewer figures, including high-ranking officers and a ceremonial chariot. It's essentially the military brain of the underground force. Everything here had a purpose. Then came one of the biggest surprises of all, which were the weapons. This is crazy. When they first uncovered bronze swords, spearheads, crossbow triggers, lances, arrowheads, many expected them to be decorative, but they weren't. They were genuine functional weapons. Some swords were astonishingly sharp after more than 2,000 years underground. Researchers even noticed that several bronze weapons appeared unusually resistant to corrosion. For years, people claimed the Qin dynasty had invented some kind of miraculous anti-rust coating that modern science couldn't explain. I mean it's a cold story, but it's probably not true. More recent research suggests that remarkable preservation was mainly due to the chemistry of the bronze itself, combined with the soil conditions inside the burial pits, but still, um, it's pretty incredible. It was battle ready after so many years. Fun fucking fact the army we see today isn't even the complete army. Many warriors remained blueberried.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

I am loving this.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

It's so fun. It was so fucking cool. Others were shattered when the wooden ceilings collapsed centuries after construction. Thousands of fragments have had to be painstakingly reconstructed, sometimes like giant jigsaw puzzles. You know, one misplaced arm or a wrong torso or an incorrect head, it was back to square one. Some restorations take years or even decades. Even today, archaeologists are still discovering new details about figures that were excavated years ago, which means the terracotta army isn't a finished discovery, it is an ongoing one. So what happens when you disturb an emperor who spent his entire life preparing for eternity? Because almost immediately after the discovery, whispers started spreading. Local villagers had stories, workers and even visitors did too. And before long, people began wondering whether the silent army beneath the fields had been guarding something far more dangerous than history, something that didn't appreciate being disturbed. If you ask archaeologists, they'll probably tell you it's one of the greatest historical discoveries ever made. If you ask local villagers, you might get a very different answer. Because long before the Terracot army was uncovered in 1974, the enormous burial mound of the first emperor had a reputation. People knew something important was buried there. The first emperor's mausoleum had been recorded in historical texts for centuries, and local folklore treated the area with a lot of respect. Imperial tombs weren't just graves, they were believed to remain the homes of powerful spirits, and disturbing them was thought to bring misfortune. That's not unique to him, by the way. Throughout Chinese history, ancestor veneration has been deeply important. Tombs weren't places you casually wandered through. The dead were believed to deserve respect, offerings, and peace. And again, he wasn't exactly remembered as a gentle ruler. Historical accounts describe him as brilliant, ambitious, paranoid, and obsessed with control. And here's the thing about control. He didn't seem interested in giving it up. Not even after death. Everything about his mausoleum screams one message. I'm still in charge. But this wasn't built as a memorial. It was built as a functioning empire for the afterlife, almost like he fully expected to wake up and carry on ruling. According to Simachion, after the burial was completed, many of the craftsmen who knew the layout of the tomb were sealed inside so the secrets of the mausoleum would never be revealed. Now historians debate exactly how literally we should take that into account. Ancient historians sometimes exaggerated for dramatic effect, but forced labor was unquestionably used on a massive scale during his reign, and countless workers died constructing his enormous projects. And that is a fact. Whether people were intentionally sealed inside or simply perished from the brutal working conditions, the human cost was staggering, and for many people that's where the haunting really begins. Not with ghosts, but with the idea that the underground city was built on unimaginable suffering. Thousands of lives all sacrificed so one man could prepare for eternity. That's enough to make any place feel heavy. And then came 1974. The farmers unknowingly broke through the 2,000 years of nothing, and almost immediately rumors started. Some locals believed the emperor had finally been disturbed. Others warned that nothing good comes from opening an imperial tomb. To be clear, there is no verified historical evidence that the discovery unleashed a supernatural curse. But that didn't stop people from wondering. I mean, I wonder that too. Like, don't touch shit that is so old. Like, stop doing that. One of the biggest stories you'll hear online is that the farmers who discovered the terracott army were cursed. You'll see articles claiming they all died of mysterious deaths, or suffered bizarre accidents, or were haunted for the rest of their lives. The discovery changed their lives forever, but not necessarily for the better. One of the discoverers, Yang Zifa, that's how I think it's pronounced, became internationally known and spent years meeting visitors and signing books. But many of the original farmers saw their farmland absorbed into the expanding archaeological park. Some struggled financially, others felt like they never received the recognition or compensation they deserved. And those hardships are real. Visitors sometimes describe an overwhelming feeling of being watched while standing in pit one. They say the rows of silent faces create an almost impossible sense of unease. Some museum staff have spoken in interviews about how eerie the site feels after closing time. It's late, the tourists are gone, the lights are low, you're walking through one of the largest underground excavation halls on earth. Below you, thousands of human faces. Completely silent, completely still, every single one staring in roughly the same direction. You know their statues. Your brain knows their statues, but another part of your brain keeps whispering, what if one moves? It's a phenomenon psychologists sometimes call paradoia and hyperactive agency detection. I think I said paradoia right. Humans evolved to notice faces, and we're exceptionally good at convincing ourselves that something with a face is alive. That's why dolls creep us out and why mannequins are unsettling. Also, wax museums. I don't I don't like wax museums either. Um, but like, you know, imagine that like you would have like just multiplying that feeling by thousands because there's thousands of these statues. There are also occasional stories from tourists who claim that they heard footsteps echoing through empty corridors, or caught movement from the corner of their eye, or felt an unexplained chill. And then there's the tomb, the unopened tomb, the biggest mystery of them all. Because despite decades of arch arch archaeological work, because despite decades of archaeological work, nobody knows exactly what's waiting inside. Maybe SEMA exaggerated, maybe there aren't rivers of Mercury, maybe the crossbows are long gone, maybe the burial chamber has collapsed, or maybe. History underestimated what the first emperor left behind. And I think that that's why this place has a haunted reputation. Not necessarily because there are ghosts, which there totally are, but because we haven't seen what's in the center. The unknown is almost always scarier than the known. For more than twenty-two centuries, the burial chamber has kept its secrets. Empires have risen, risen, empires have risen, empires have fallen, entire civilizations have changed, and still no one has walked through that door. So is the Terracotta army haunted? Well, one of the most powerful rulers in history built an underground kingdom for himself, possibly filled it with mercury, may have hidden deadly traps inside, surrounded himself with thousands of silent soldiers, and then remained completely undisturbed for more than two thousand years, you tell me. And that is the story of the Terracotta army. Every single warrior in that army has stood in silence for over 2,200 years. They've survived dynasties rising and falling, wars, natural disasters, looters, time itself, and every day thousands of people walk past them, take a photo, and leave. But the one person those soldiers were made to protect, no one has seen, not since 210 BCE. Maybe one day technology will finally allow archaeologists to open the tomb safely. Maybe they'll confirm everything Sima wrote. Maybe they'll discover something even stranger. Or maybe the Emperor's greatest secret will stay exactly where he intended it to, hidden beneath the earth, guarded by an army that has never taken a single step. If those soldiers have waited over 2,000 years, I think they can wait a little longer. And if you ever find yourself standing face to face with thousands of silent soldiers, just remember, they're probably only watching the person behind you.

SPEAKER_03 41:55

That was creepy at the end.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

Like I mean, it's like you're like last year.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

No, but the end is the the watching behind you. I know I had to because his tomb's like right in the center. Like it's so spooky. I can't.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

It's my turn to spin the wheel. I feel like it's been a long time since I've done this.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

Pin in the wheel while we were recording, I'm gonna check that voice mail. Yeah, please do. It's probably just like an appointment reminder or some shit.

SPEAKER_04 42:23

Okay. Spin in. We pin pin. Pin in death wheel. Oh no, shut the fuck up. Wait, you're not even sharing your screen. I can't see it, huh? Yeah. Wait, hold on, let me see. No, I'm only seeing you. What? Let me redo it. If not, then you can just tell me.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

If I can't see the wheel.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

No, I can't see it. What the hell? What the fuck? Is there something I can do? Did you click in my stream? Oh, hold on. There we go.

SPEAKER_03 43:00

I found it.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

Okay, there we go. Haunted objects. Okay. Yeah, we can't we can't do that, so I'm gonna spit again.

SPEAKER_03 43:12

Making me dizzy.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

I know, right? Ooh, this is a fun one. Okay. Ghost ships. Nika actually did that. She she sent that in. There we go. Make sure to tune in next week if you're enjoying the podcast. Make sure to give us a five-star rating on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

SPEAKER_03 43:32

And you go follow us on Facebook at TwoFilthy Horrors Podcast and Instagram at TwoFilthy Horrors.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

If you have called the haunted phone number or know any info of the Terracotta Army, send your experiences and thoughts to us at two filthy horrors podcasts at gmail.com. If you got it, haunt it.