Death Coven

Episode 22: Randomsode #1

• Death Coven

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Welcome back dear listeners! We have an eclectic range of tales to share with you this week. Gather round the metaphorical campfire/taco bell parking lot at 11pm as the witches take you through our first ever "randomsode", where we just talk about whatever we want with no cohesive theme. Superstitions? Neanderthals? Divine madness and vengeance? We got it all baby! So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

(EDITORS NOTE: Poppy is aware she pronounced "neanderthal" wrong in her section, she is sorry please be nice to her) 

Sources:

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes


Kopanias, K., & MacGinnis, J. (2016). The Archaeology of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Adjacent Regions. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvxrq0m8 


Glatz, C. (2024a). Archaeology as Cultural Heritage in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Current Anthropology, 65(S26). 


Reynolds, T., Boismier, W., Farr, L., Hunt, C., Abdulmutalb, D., & Barker, G. (2016). 


New investigations at Shanidar Cave, Iraqi kurdistan. The Archaeology of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Adjacent Regions, 369–372. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvxrq0m8.38 


The Shanidar cave sounding, 1953 season, with notes concerning the discovery of the first Paleolithic skeleton in Iraq.", R. Solecki, Sumer, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 229-232. 1953


Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review! Join our community of listeners as we explore the mysteries of the afterlife through the lens of witchcraft.

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peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

You know what it feels like, feels like it's about that time. It's about that time.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

that time, to fuck you. Get this show on the road.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

start this episode.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

the people why we're here.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Welcome listeners to Death Coven, a podcast by and about a death coven. My name is Poppy

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Beautiful, gorgeous. I'm river and I'm happy to be here.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

And I'm Sky.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Who is also happy to be here. I'm not just kidding.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

air out your grievances. Let's have it live on air. Let's air this out.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I kind of have a tickle in my throat and it's just ruining everything. but anyway. What are we talking about today? Well, hold on. We are actually doing a new thing that we haven't done before where we all bring a random topic and we're each just gonna tell each other about it. Um, do you guys wanna say up top what your topic is or do you wanna keep it, uh, and like reveal it as you

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Sky wants the mystery. Sky wants to keep it close to her pocket. I'm fine with that.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I at least I'm just

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I love a surprise.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Me too.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

One thing about me, I love a surprise.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

cause mine starts with asking you guys a question.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I love a question. Mine starts with a visualization, so I, I like a good reveal at the end of that, I think.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I'm just yapping for mine. I, yeah.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Okay, well, before we get into it, do you guys wanna play a hypothetical game?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yes.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

You, you? Okay. So this one

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Stupid. My glasses started fogging up.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

River's too excited.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

excited to be here.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

God they're wearing a nice, like, flowy shirt today what was I saying? Oh, yes, before I was interrupted by flowy shirt river fogging up their glasses and the entire

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

God forbid they them have a little fun.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Um, I was saying we're gonna get back to basics with this hypothetical. I feel like we've had some funky ones recently, so this is just gonna be a classic. You wake up tied to a chair,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Okay.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

canvas sack over your head. You can't move, it's eerily quiet. Then you hear a door open and into the room, walks, something. I don't know, some someone mean. Someone mean walks into the room and they say. This is a life or death situation. If you can answer all 10 questions correctly, you live, if you get one wrong, you're gonna die. But you get to choose the trivia category. Uh, you're gonna choose like the category for what? 10 questions you're gonna answer, life or death.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Okay.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I have no idea what my answer's gonna

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I'm in Trivial Pursuit saw trap right now.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yes, it's like that jackbox game, trivia murder party.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Okay. I think that I'm gonna, I'm gonna softball myself because I'm not like a trivia person. I. I do know lots of different things about different things, but I'm not like a trivia person. My topic will be cat facts. I know a lot about cats just generally having them for a long time and I feel like they don't really get too tricky or too crazy like that, you know what I mean?

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

How many teeth does a cat have?

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Oh, we're playing for real right now.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

No, just kidding.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

up.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Uh, cat teeth. How many teeth? Now I wanna know.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

If I had to guess, I would say like 15 to 20.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

baby teeth. You would be wrong. You would be dead. Right now. You're dead in that

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

And what are you gonna do? Wasn't my topic anyway.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

kittens have, 26 baby teeth, which are replaced by adult teeth. So they have 26 teeth and they can't get cavities.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

They can rot though.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

From plaque buildup. Yeah. Well, I already knew I was gonna die because I would, I would fold under pressure anyway, even if I knew a fact, I wouldn't be able to extrapolate it.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

You can, in a pressure scenario, you can tell me the answer and then ask me to repeat it and I will not retain it and I will not be able to tell you what you just told

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Mm-hmm.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

What if it was like Skye? What if it was like 10 questions about Michael? Do you think you

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

He's an

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

He's an enigma.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. That's

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Not even

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

own wife. barely knows him.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

You just, you find out during, like right before you die, that he's a black belt in some obscure martial art.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Yeah. He's

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

a key to a city.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

And he's like, I don't know. I just didn't, it just never came up. That's why I never

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

It never came up. Yeah. You didn't ask.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

My low ball was like, oh, in the fucking interview with the Vampire first book, like I asked me 10 questions about that. I got it,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

mm-hmm.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

when was it published?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Couldn't tell you I'd be dead immediately. Couldn't tell you before I was born. This is a toughie.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I feel like I might be able to do infectious diseases

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

That's a good one. And I have no prep time. This is just

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

No. It's like you, you are tied to this chair in a dark room.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I am just accepting my fate that I'm gonna die. I think

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I am thinking my, my indomitable human spirit is working.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

what if it's five questions? Does that improve your chances, do you think? Could you survive five questions?

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

perhaps 10 is a lot, three even. I would still be not confident.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I'd get through one question and go, fuck, there's another one.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

One question, even like potentially just like one pretty difficult question on any topic that I got to choose, like might be really, really difficult.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I feel like I could do like seventh grade algebra.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Okay.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

It sounds horrible. You're doing math blindfolded and tied to a chair. That's crazy. You can't even write

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I mean, I feel like I could, it's pretty simple, like seventh

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

like just like solve for X or whatever.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. Like if there's no time limit Maybe periodic table questions, I could probably do that. Unless they're asking like really, really specific

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Mm.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

is

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Potassium.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I'd have to go into, no, it's not potassium. I, I'd have to go like deep into my mind palace, and even then, that's only like a one in 10 chance. I'm gonna get that. Right.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I feel like I could maybe do like a, like a celebrity scandal trivia category. I,

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

just in general, because there's lots.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I Would probably wanna narrow it down.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Or do just like American, like from nineties to present.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I would wanna narrow, I would wanna do like mid 2010s as a window, as like a smaller window.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Um, okay. So saying somehow you survived, as unlikely as that is, the bag is pulled from your head and it's your bitch wife holding you

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Not my bitch wife again.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

sick. She's

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

always doing some shit like This

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

This is

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Now, unfortunately, this means we have to leave. In all the instances of me mentioning my bitch wife, we can't just cut that.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Uh, orchestrated.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Damnit Poppy's, my real bitch wife putting me through this.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Well, I'm somebody's bitch wife. All right. Well, I believe it's Sky's turn.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Yes. So like I said earlier, I have a question for the two of you. Are you superstitious?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

a little bit. It's not like to the extent where it rules my life, but I still, like, subconsciously I don't step on cracks in the sidewalks and I don't open umbrellas and doors and things like that.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Mm-hmm.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. I wouldn't really say I am superstitious, but I do sometimes have intrusive thoughts that I have to carry out or else.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I think that's obsessive compulsive disorder. I,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Oh, well maybe it's that,

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I'm not, I, I could be wrong about that. Cut that. But

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I wouldn't say superstitious like I, the umbrella thing. No cracks. Unless I, unless the voice is in my head, tell me not to. Um, you know,

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

was your family superstitious growing up? Did they have little

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. Yeah. My, my mother especially, you know, the, um, like when you're about to, oh, well, yeah. I, I mean this isn't even really a superstitious thing, but just a habit, like when you're about to go through a red light and you reach up and touch the, the um, visor,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I did that yesterday.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

like the roof of your car. Yeah. Also, when you drive over railroad tracks, you lift

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah. Did you guys have the, the habit in your family where you hold your breath when you pass by a, a cemetery when you're driving or like over a bridge?

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I used to do that every morning on the way to school.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

that's one I still do sometimes.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Well, thank you for answering that. Uh, superstitions is my topic today, which can be an ongoing, it could be a series if you wanted.'cause I'm just gonna briefly touch on superstitions, just kind of vaguely. And then I'll, uh, deep dive into the history of one of them. And then I'll tell you guys some of my superstitions.'cause I would say that I lean in the superstitious direction. I like fun little things. I am vulnerable if I. Yeah, it's it. And if I hear a new one, I go, oh, I didn't know about that one. And then it just sticks with me for some reason. If someone else has a superstition and then I'm like, oh. And then I, every time I'm in that scenario, I just remember someone else's superstition and then I eventually end up adopting it. And so over the years, I've just adopted several. But what is a superstition? I have defined it as a ritual or belief that a certain action or inaction will bring about good or bad luck, just vaguely. Vaguely. So it's like you either have to do a thing or you can't do a thing. And then the result will either be good or bad luck, depending on what the superstition is. Um, the history of being superstitious or having superstitions generally likely started as stigma against any religion that was not the official religion of that region. Um, for example, the most common example, probably the Christian stigma against paganism.'cause Christians came in, took over, and then people who were worshiping multiple gods, it was thought that, you know, everything that they were doing was negative and arcane and evil and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then, so then two, the Christians, the pagans were viewed as superstitious. I. Um, but before then, it was actually the opposite. Like when in Greece and Rome, when they were worshiping their multiple gods, they viewed Christianity as superstitious. So it's kind of like this back and forth just depending on who, who was the, uh, official religion in that area. Um, and Protestants thought the Catholics were very superstitious due to their extreme piety. Utilizing things like holy water, the Eucharist, insisting on using, uh, Latin things like that seemed very outlandish and superstitious to the Protestant eye. in general, it's just a lot of pointing fingers back and forth depending on the culture that you're from, where superstitions, yeah, you're doing things differently and that's bad and I hate that. So that's kind of generally, yeah, like you're being really weird. today a lot of superstition isn't necessarily religious in nature, but it's rather anything that is deemed irrational to proof or of scientific evidence, so what we might call anecdotal truths. So it can't be proved by science, but people nonetheless believe it anyway. Um, and they're usually kind of supernatural in nature, having to do with luck or. Sometimes Gods, you know, if you believe in a God. but yeah, that's sort of my intro to superstitions.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I am excited to hear the one you're gonna deep dive into.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

It's just I'm doing like a, a normal, not a normal one. Scratch that. I'm doing a common one, which is walking under ladders.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Ooh,

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

'cause I didn't really know It's good to not walk under ladders just in general because it's not safe. That is not OSHA

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

As someone who's OSHA certified at multiple levels and forklift certified. Ladies,

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Ladies, if you're interested, she's forklift certified.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

32nd pause for emphasis on my, on my forklift. joke.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Insert forklift noise here. Yeah. So the history of where the superstition of you shouldn't walk under a ladder comes from. It is possibly from ancient Egypt because leaning a ladder against a wall forms a triangle, which as we know is a sacred shape to the Egyptians via the pyramids and such. Um, and so to pass through may have been seen as desecrating the gods. It's basically like an insult. And similarly in Christianity, this three-sided notion of a ladder against a wall took root in representing the Holy Trinity as the father of the Son and the Holy Ghost. And so walking under a ladder could be seen as quote unquote breaking the Holy Trinity, which is a blasphemous act that might attempt, the devil to appear, Ooh, you are inviting in the devil in demons and spirits because you're breaking that bond of the Holy Trinity. It also has associations with the gallows in England because most gallows being on raised platforms, there's those little staircases that go up. So the last thing that you see on the way to your death is like steps. um, or you know, sometimes you see depictions of a ladder leaning up against a tree to hang someone. Uh, some say that they made people walk under ladders on their way to the gallows to further worsen their luck, um, and to send them to hell by inviting the devil, yada, yada yada. Or just that the act of walking under a ladder in general meant inviting your own death. So those are sort of, its associations with the gallows, but in general, it's like a triangle, sacred number, maybe going to your death. but don't worry because if you find yourself accidentally walking under a ladder, or if you have no other choice but to walk under a ladder for some reason, there are some tricks to keep the bad luck away. There are some things that you could do to resist the evil spirits

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Push the ladder over with the person standing at the top. Still up there.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

that's also not compliant. And number one, you can walk backwards through the ladder,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Undo it. Yeah.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

undo it. Uh, you can make a wish while you walk under the ladder to sort of add a more positive spin to sort of try to neutralize or counteract the bad juju going on. You can cross your fingers until you see a dog. Don't know what the dog is about, but I saw it multiple times. You can cross your fingers until you see a dog.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I feel like that could be a long time, depending on where you are. Especially if you're walking up to the gallows.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Yeah.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Keep'em crossed till you see Cerberus at the gates of the underworld.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Oh, you can say bread and butter as you pass.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Any explanation for that or, all right.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

nope. Didn't, didn't look that hard. But again, multiple times it came up. Say bread and butter.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

So, you know it's true.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Yeah. you can spit specifically three times. Um, and lastly, you can put your thumb between your index and middle fingers. Uh, and this is called the fig sign. And it can be seen as a rude or obscene gesture in general, depending on the culture or context that it's being used.'cause it kind of looks like a pussy.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Okay.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Hmm.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

It's like a

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

And is that to like scare the devil off

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Yeah. It's supposed to be like too, too rude that they're like, ugh. Yeah, it's too vulgar.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

this guy's fucked. Let's get outta here.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

exactly. Um, except for its common use in the states as the got your nose gesture commonly used with children.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

pussy.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

yeah, it is not inappropriate in that, in that use, um, in the United States, but commonly in Europe, the Middle East. places in that area, it's uh, the fig sign is a little bit like, ooh.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Good to know.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

people can also have group and personal superstitions. It's not always just this large cultural superstition, uh, like football fans not washing their jerseys, if that's common in their team. Some family traditions not being upheld can be seen as bad luck. Maybe grandma's got a particular casserole dish that she uses every single Thanksgiving, and if she can't find it, if you borrowed it and didn't return it all hell will break loose. You don't know. Um, and we can have our own personal rituals in our own lives that may create our own superstitions for ourselves. So I was trying to think of one that I have in my own personal life, and it's actually with River was the one that I thought of. And it's the fact that every time we part ways, we say one for the road and clink our vapes together,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah, we do.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

and it all like, if we ever don't do that, it feels wrong.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

It feels weird. It feels like we didn't do something we were supposed to.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

yeah, it's sort of a superstition now to where we have to do that before we part ways. So I would consider that a superstition. And I will end on some of the superstitions that I participate in or believe in, in my daily life. So knock on wood, I do knock on wood. I throw salt over my left shoulder. If I've spilled salt, I pick up a penny. If it is heads up, uh, I do cross my fingers to hope for good luck or to repel bad luck, whatever. Uh, seeing angel numbers, I think is a superstition. Uh, I believe in beginner's luck. I believe that if you have an itchy palm, that means that money will be coming your way. I've been told the left palm, just in my experience, uh, I do believe in not opening umbrellas inside. I just think that that's weird. In general, why would you open an umbrella

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

unless you're standing in a social situation when you are toasting, I always clink the glass, touch the drink to the table, and then take a sip. Uh, like I said, like if you're at a cocktail party or something and there's not a table around, obviously you can just clink and then sip. But if you're sitting at a table, you should touch the table first,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Shots too. You

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

specifically. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You gotta hit the table and then take the shot.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Uhhuh,

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Uh, finding a four-leaf clover being good luck.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

you found multiple at Anaida,

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Mm-hmm.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Like a bunch.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Uh, when you're walking with someone, especially down a sidewalk or something, uh, don't let a pole or a tree split you up. You both pick the same side of the pole or tree. Um, I always stir my drinks clockwise, whether I'm adding intention or not. I just, I feel like, like doing it backwards would feel weird and I feel like that's kind of like a superstition. And lastly, I did put the, I do kiss my hand and touch the roof of my car when I'm running a yellow light. So that's, that's some of mine, that's some superstitions. I just thought it would be fun to talk about, just'cause they're, they're just little quirks that just are fleeting. They just come and go in a moment. Um, but I'd be happy to dive into the history of another superstition later on

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm. What about your black cat?

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

My black cat, I just know vaguely black cats are like, just associated with witchcraft and witches could turn into cats and that's why they were bad luck. Why They're good luck probably originates from Egypt and how they just like worship cats. That one's not really super in depth questions from either of you.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I got a little distracted'cause I had to put Hermes in jail towards the end of that. So part in my absence, I just, I always find it so darling and charming to just hear about other people's, like little quirks and their, just like their little ways of navigating the world of like, I don't have to do this logically, but I like to do this

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Yeah.'cause like what if it just gives me an extra little boost of luck? Like what if it like,'cause I don't believe that if I don't do a superstition that it will befall bad luck per se. But if I follow the ritual the way it's quote unquote supposed to be, maybe it can help a little

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm. I reset my tarot deck sometimes when I like, really wanna have a clear reading, especially if it's gonna be a big one, so I'll put it mm-hmm. I'll put'em back in order before I shuffle. Yeah. Not really, I mean, it doesn't take too, too long.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Mm. I feel like for me, I'd be like, oh fuck, what comes next? Oh, where

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I love doing it.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I feel like shuffling a tarot deck is like seasoning a cast iron skillet though. Like I feel like I couldn't scrub a away. Like it's got all the flavor from me shuffling over and over and over again. Yeah.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

How delightful. And hopefully nobody uses these against you in the future.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Uses what? My

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

do that?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah. I don't know. You just put a bunch of ladders around you.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

people have, um, I didn't mention the, the latter one was one that I believed in under my, um, I don't find that I'm around ladders often enough. I wouldn't walk under

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Well,

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

for safety purposes.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

now you own one.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I do own one now.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Oh wow. You own a ladder?

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

lot of them. Yeah. We bought one yesterday. A lot of them have to do with them leaning against a wall specifically. And I feel like a lot of modern ladders just open up

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

mm.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

and you're not really able to walk under them unless they're super, super tall. But historically, people have utilized superstitions for personal gain, often with profit because they'll take advantage of the culture, what they know that the culture believes in. And they'll fear monger and sell trinkets to,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah. A lucky rabbit's foot. A lucky horseshoe.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

yeah, exactly. So people can exploit and take advantage of people's superstitions. It's happened for millennia, I'm sure, but now

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

No

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

going to puppy.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Poppy. That's me. Oh, that was lovely. Thank you, sky. Um, okay. Well, my topic starts with a little visualization again. I love this topic, and while I was researching it a little bit more, the image just came really strongly into my mind. So I felt like I needed to get it down on paper and I'll just share it with you. It was a hot day. You and your brothers had run up and down Rocky crags Baking under the unforgiving sun. Your strong broad feet navigated the rough terrain with an easy grace, while your short legs strapped with muscle carried you across the cliffs and through the sparse forest that made up your landscape. Despite the aches and pains that had leached their way into your bones a little more painful each year, your body felt powerful, unstoppable, and alive. Like every part of you was made to do this. Even your broad nose and wide nostrils efficiently pulled oxygen rich air into your lungs, fueling the muscles that drove your hunt sweat dripped from your low brow as your eyes scanned the cliffs for iex. The wild goats with large twisted horns. You were sometimes lucky enough to bring back to your group. When you spotted one. You glanced to your brothers, communicating silently through your body language, strategizing how best a spirit. Later on after dragging it back to the cave, you shared a temporary home. During this hunting season, you would cook and eat and laugh with the others. Someone would take the hide of the iex and scrape and scrape and scrape until it was rendered, supple and usable for clothing or bedding. You turn in for the night with a full belly and a smile. It's warm on this night, so instead of sleeping piled upon each other as you do during the cool months, you stretch away from the group, settling yourself down near the back of the cave, or it's just a little cooler. You drift off to sleep and dream of the mountains and the sky and the faces of the people you love most in this world. A while later, you awake to the sound and feeling of rumbling before you can move or even sit up. Rocks tumble from the ceiling as the cave collapses around you. The falling rocks crush your body and your skull killing you almost instantly. Your last thought, fleeting but potent is desperate. Hope that your family managed to escape. You might be happy and sad to know that most of them did tens of thousands of years later. Tensions are running high on earth. Humans have spread across the globe and have made a real mess of things. It's the 1950s, and while Russians are launching men into space, Ralph Solecki and his team of archeologists from Columbia University explore the Shaar Rock Shelter in the mountainous Kurdistan region of Iraq. Fuck, there, they would find the fossilized remains of nine, eventually 12 Homo Neanderthalensis, who died somewhere between 65 and 35,000 years ago. So today I'm gonna be talking about Sctm Shaar, um, also known as the Shaar Rock shelter in Kurdistan. so this archeological site is an incredible glimpse into the life, and death of Neanderthals. This one is especially important to the field, um, because it offers potential medical, cultural, and social insights, um, especially the way that Neanderthals cared for the living and how they treated their dead. yeah, so, so this specific archeological site, um, gives us a lot of information about the life and the death of Neanderthals. So that's kind of the tie in to, uh, death that I was going for. So the discovery of this site, um, between 1957 and 1961, Ralph Solecki and his team uncovered the remains of 10 different men, women, and children. they were directed to this site by locals in the region. and there's a really long history here between the Kurds and, Iraq. Like there's a, there's like rebellions and ongoing war. And the long, and the short of it is that people in Kurdistan have very, very strong feelings of nationalism and like national pride. And part of that is that they're super proud of their archeological sites and the artifacts and their really proud, that quote, the oldest man in the world is from their region. Uh, whether that's true or not, you know, who knows? But that, that's what they claim.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Question. Do you think that that's where they came up with the name for the movie, the Crudes? Do you think that's a riff off of

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I don't know. I have not seen the crudes.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

good.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Are they Neanderthals?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I think so. I've never seen it, but they've got that prominent neanderthal brow

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. Did I see? Isn't there a dinosaur or something in that that's not like accurate?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

probably.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Probably

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

take liberties,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Um, but yeah, so they're, so they're really proud of their archeological artifacts and whatnot. So much so that, that has been a target, by the, uh, like totalitarian, I don't know if that's the right word there, but like the government that's trying to keep'em down, they'll go and destroy archeological sites and artifacts and like raid museums and stuff just to, to kind of like ruin that part of their culture. So anyway, these local people, um, directed them toward this cave that was kind of known to have a lot of, history and artifacts there. So this site is about half a mile from a river. It's 2100 feet above sea level. Rock falls are super common here. Um, so it's dangerous to excavate. Uh, and like I'm, oh no, I guess I didn't mention this yet, but the cave was also a burial site for humans. there's still neolithic, I think. So there, it's still from like a long, long, long time ago, um, about 10,000 years ago. but there are 35 human bodies found there as well, on top of a deeper layer that holds the, um, Neanderthal fossils. so those are from potentially what's called natufian culture, which is, um, an interesting phenomenon because, you know, like back then before the agricultural revolution, people were mostly nomadic, like moving around, following prey and whatnot. Um, but these groups were sedentary before the agricultural revolution, so it's pretty cool. Uh, so Ralph and the gang, they're coming back and forth to Kurdistan and in 1957 they come back, they find three un fossilized, partial Neanderthal skeletons. They call these shaar one, two, and three. That's how Fossil remains of hominids are named, the site name and then the order in which they're found, hence 1, 2, 3. shaar two and three were fragmentary. three was only a skull. Shannon R one was nearly complete, which was a crazy good find. Uh, so I'm gonna get a little bit more into him and what he's all about later on. But he's an incredible, incredible specimen that tells us so much about, their culture, their, their social practices and whatnot. Three years later, they come back again and they find Shannon R four, which was later known as the flower burial. We'll get into that too. And then within that same chunk of earth below, they found fragments of three more, two adults, and then the vertebrae of one baby. So those would come to be known as Shannon Art, six, eight, and nine. Nearby they found, uh, number five who was damaged and scattered. Uh, they found number seven, also scattered skull teeth, some parts of the skeleton. And a quick note I wanted to touch on, which I thought was pretty interesting, is that infants, when they were found, for the most part, like across the board, throughout Europe, and Western Asia. Infants are usually found buried with adults. So they're not usually found buried separately. which is interesting'cause it's like, okay, were they killed at the same time? Was, you know, one dug up and then the other put in there. Is it like a children buried with their parents kind of situation?

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I imagine a lot of it is probably like death and childbirth sort of situation.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Well, you would think that, but most of these infants are two years old or so, so, they're, they're not newborns. They're like, they were, um, alive for a year or two. There have been newborn Neanderthals found though. Um, the one that I almost did was I think Laier, who's like the famous Parisian baby that went missing during World War II and like showed up again and blah, blah, blah, whatever. So that's babies, that's infants. Later on, uh, Shauna, our 10, another infant was found, in the year 2000 and then in 2018 they found remains of two more, 11 and 12. Um, so that's pretty recent. see. I was gonna read a passage from my main source, but I think I'm gonna skip that'cause I don't want this to be like too long, but. My main source for this is, I think I recommended this last year, kindred, Neanderthal Life, love, death, and Art by Rebecca Rag Sykes. it's fantastic. It's comprehensive. Uh, you can read the physical book. I also bought the audio book to listen to while I drive. Um, it's narrated by the author. She has a very pleasing British accent, so it's a, I recommend it. You should read it. Okay, so I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about five of these specimens. Uh, so starting with Shaar two and five, they originate from about 46,000 years ago. Um, number two, he was a male, about 30 years old. He had arthritis. He was found laying on his right side with his skull crushed, and he likely died in a rock fall. He was five foot two, which is a little bit shorter than average. His bones were scattered and he had teeth marks on his tibia, which suggested that scavengers did get to his remains. But there was an indication that he was buried ritualistically. There was a little pile of stones that they think was kind of like a grave marker. Uh, he was buried with lithics, which are. Intentionally carved stone pieces, whether it was like a tool or a weapon or whatever, and there was a fire nearby. So all of that suggests that he was buried intentionally and then probably dug up later

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

that imply that? Neanderthals had maybe not written language, but they had marks like they had markers that they were somehow able to read.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

um, I mean, so like symbols? Yes. Like I assume that, so kind of like I hinted at, in my narrative at the beginning, this place in particular, most places were seasonal domiciles. So they would come and go year after year. This particular one was used like over the span of 30,000 years by groups of different people. And so I'm assuming, you know, they, someone died, they buried them there, they left, and when they came back, you know, they wanted to be able to revisit the site. So there's that symbolism. They also created art, like there are carvings in stone. They have, um, ochre paintings, kind of like human paintings. so they, while they didn't have written language, they were capable of. Physically representing things through, you know, physical mediums, which is pretty interesting. We don't know if they have spoken language either. I'm gonna get to that in a little bit too. yeah. Does that answer your question?

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

It does, yes. Thank you.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Okay. Nearby number two was number five. Also probably male, but we're not sure. Between 40 and 50 years old. he died likely in the same rockfall, so they were buried near each other.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

That's probably pretty old.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

yeah. Yeah, that is pretty old. That's about the upper range for them. Although I think they did find at least one that was like 60 not on this site, but in a different site. yeah, so this guy between 40 and 50 probably died in the same rockfall. He was also scattered probably by scavengers, the same ones that dug up number two. Okay. Now we'll talk about, Shaar four, the flower burial. So, they did some environmental sampling and they found whole grains of pollen in the soil, like super, super old, suggesting that whole flowers, or at least like the heads of flowers, had been placed in the grave. The flowers they found were thought to be from plants with medicinal qualities. Um, they had guro corn flour, ragwort, holly Hawk and some other stuff. Um, so the theory was maybe this person was a medicine man or a shaman or something like that. so if, if that's actually true and that's these flowers were intentionally placed, it could mean that they had fairly complex ritualistic burials, like much more complex than we initially thought. However recent evidence says they probably weren't placed into the grave. so they found really old burrows of mariani's ssus, AKA Persian jud, and he's so cute. Google him if you can. Um, but they found burrows nearby for this little mammal. He kind of looks like a bunny and a rat together. So they like to dig burrows and then drag flowers and seeds and plants and whatnot into their burrows. So it's thought that that's probably what happened there. Yeah, he's so tiny. He's so cute.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I just, I pulled up another tab and I saw a picture and I went, yeah, that's nice.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

yeah. That's a Jud. Mm-hmm. It's got a little lion tail and it's black.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

So you're saying that this little rodent dragged these flowers down there. You think,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

that's the theory. So while it, I, it was probably those little Persian jerks, but there's still a chance that it was intentional. We can, we can't say 100% for sure. You know,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

long ago.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

it happened a really long time ago.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

why can't it be both? Why can't it be intentional by the jurors?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Why can't life be magical and beautiful?

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

is

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

it was a shaman and the jurors recognized the shaman and,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

him. yeah, maybe, maybe this is like a, a Disney movie. so like I said, in this same area, they found three other specimens, three other people, um, two adults and one infant. Unfortunately, they were super fragile and they were found in like 1960. So. They weren't super gentle with them and during transport, everything got kind of mixed up. So it's difficult to say how they were positioned. Um, like who was with who, who was in what strata. Uh, so they can't really tell like relationally which came first, which came second, et cetera. onto, or like looking more at burial practices. There have been no intact skeletons of Neanderthal's ever found from open air sites. So this indicates burial of some sort body posture. when they're found Humans and Neanderthals are very different. at this time. Humans mostly laid out their dead on their backs, sometimes with their hands kind of on their chests like you see still today. Um, sometimes they were on their sides, but, uh, with their arms and legs bent. But that was not, that was more rare. Neanderthals, on the other hand, were mostly found on their sides curled up in the fetal position, or they were mostly on their side, but then kind of laying a little bit on their back, kind of like a, like a supine twist. The yoga pose, if you can imagine that. so that's interesting, the fact that they had very specific body positions, and again, we can't say whether this is necessarily ritualistic or if there's any kind of, like religious intent, you know? I mean, my human brain automatically goes to returning to the, like before birth position, right? Like you're returning into the earth in the fetal position, but we can't say whether that is their intention or not, you know? so yeah, so Shauna DAR four probably not buried with flowers, but tightly curled into the fetal position. And one below four, one, uh, I don't know if it was six, seven or eight, was on its side, like kind of in that supine twist, position. And it had possibly a, uh, a lithic, like a carved stone object enclosed in its hand and one placed over its heart when it died. that seems intentional to me, but who's to say maybe a juror carried them in and placed them in their hand? I've got two more, Sean, at R three. He was stabbed in the chest, either deliberately or maybe accidentally. It could have been a hunting accident, but it could have been, it Could have been a fight, could have been murder. he was stabbed so deeply that the point slashed across two of his ribs. and a little bit of the stone got, uh, like embedded in his ribs. And when they healed, because they did heal, they enclosed it around the bone. So he lived for at least two weeks afterwards, possibly longer. And that's just based on, um, what we can see of like the, the ribs healing before he died. It's crazy how much you can tell from a skeleton. what does this mean? If he stabbed in the chest so deeply that it is scraping two of his ribs, that's a fatal wound. Like, you know you're gonna die. That's a possible punctured lung. You're not up and walking around. Um, you probably can't even really breathe that well. So what does that mean? That means someone has to bring you food and water. Someone has to be taking care of you, So this concept, the concept of compassionate care, uh, is really interesting. Because we think of like altruistic helping for the sake of helping rather than to get something back as like a human concept. But it's possible that this was, a neanderthal practice as well. So on. In other sites you see older children with, signs of being significantly disabled, but they live until they're, you know, five or six years old, which again means that someone is caring for them. And if you think about it, a disabled child, a dying person, they can't really contribute to the group in a way that would indicate, uh, the transactional nature of care.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

can't give anything back for what they receive.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

mm-hmm. So they're receiving care. They're unable to, to give back. So that means whoever is caring for them is doing it out of compassion or, love, whatever it may be. yeah. So obviously they were social creatures. Um, just like us. That's the reason that we are here today is because we were social creatures, And another note about him, his teeth show some of the most diverse food samples that we have. so they found date, palms, legumes, multiple different types of legumes, unidentified roots and tubers, no meat. They did not find any traces of meat in his teeth. and it's thought, I think they found some grasses too. And generally they thought that Neanderthal's practiced, eating chi. Do you guys know what chi is? It's basically like within, um, undulates like cows and, uh, goats and whatnot. Mm-hmm. It's like partially digested grasses and stuff.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Yeah, time

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

yeah,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

What

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

How'd they get that? How do you eat that?

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

you, you kill an animal and you cut open. Its its stomach and yeah. I mean, bro, you're gonna starve if you don't eat ev every part of that animal. Right. Um, okay, so onto our last one. Most interesting one in my opinion is Shaar. One, he had a hard fucking life. This dude went through it. He had a series of serious injuries and disease and it really took it, its toll on his body. It's very evident from his skeleton. So he was 30 to 45 years old. Uh, he was the first one they found, and researchers nicknamed him Nandy, I guess for Neanderthal e

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Dy.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Nady. So he had a really bad head injury when he was younger, um, to the side of his head, like a crushing smashing blow to the side of his head. and this fractured his orbital bone, which left him either with partial or total blindness. In that one eye, he had hearing loss, so he had bone spurs in his ear. his left one was only partially blocked by the bone spurs, but the right one was completely blocked. So he was, almost completely deaf. There is also evidence that he had a degenerative disease just based on the, the way his teeth were worn down. I don't know about the details of that then I'm not done. He had a spinal injury, which fucked up the function in one of his arms, so he couldn't use his right arm and it became like withered because he wasn't using it. Uh, it was also fractured in multiple places, meaning it was broken at one point, and then it looks like based on. How sharp the bone fragments are. It looks like the lower half of his arm was amputated. So if it was amputated, this is one of the earliest known evidences of surgery, if that's true. which is crazy. Like not only are they caring for this person, but they're going through, the trouble of performing surgery on him.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Give my guy a break, dude.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I'm not done, bro. This dude, this man, Mandy,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

half.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

yeah. So the same spinal injury that messed up his arm. Also led to partial paralysis on his right side. Um, so he lost function, not all of the function, but he lost a good amount of function in his right leg, and his foot, which created a limp. So he walked with a limp, and you can see that in the way his bones are formed, at some point in his life, he had also broken both of his legs. But they healed.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Come on dude.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

But they healed

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Who is beating him? Who? Who's beating the shit outta this guy?

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Life was hard back then, man, if you could fall, he, so in this area it's very mountainous, it's very rocky. There are cliffs. If he's already walking with a limp, you could potentially see how accidents could happen. Hunting accidents, um, based on the way that he was cared for and how much he was able to heal and the amputation and, and, and surviving mostly deaf and partially blind in this world. I don't think that he would've been beaten to the point of breaking bones, you know, I mean, who knows what happened. truly. But based on the degree that they were caring for him, I can't see them beating the shit out of him. yeah, so he was living with a ton of pain daily, daily pain. but he still showed signs that he had well developed leg muscles, so he was still mobile and walking around. Um, and he maintained use of his left arm probably making stone tools or scraping hides or something like that. And then later in his life, he developed, um, a disease called dish that is diffuse, idiopathic skeletal, hyperos, ptosis, um, also known as forest steers disease. Uh, no, it's worse than that. That's osteoporosis.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I thought it was like an extreme osteoporosis.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

no, it's worse. I don't know. I mean, osteoporosis is bad. Uh, this sounds like hell to me. so if, if that is. Truly what he had, then it's the earliest sign of this disease that we have on record. So not only was he the first, like one of the first surgery cases, he also had this rare ish, skeletal disease. So dish is a type of arthritis that makes your tissues calcify and stiffen and basically like, yeah, like harden into rocky minerally material. Um, that's muscle tendon, ligaments, et cetera, which sounds painful as fuck. It also causes bone spurs all over your body, and he had some in his head. and it causes a lot of pain. So today, modern treatments for it, uh, you're supposed to exercise, like there's physical therapy you can do for it, and then you take pain meds. Andy didn't have pain meds, he didn't have extra strength Tylenol. He didn't have a physical therapist, so he was living with chronic pain daily every single day. But despite all of this, he healed, he survived after sustaining all of these injuries. so someone was taking care of him. They brought him food because he definitely couldn't hunt for himself, being mostly deaf and blind. so what does this mean? Again, we see that compassionate care, that we saw with the stab victim. We think of Neanderthals as these big, like stupid knuckle, dragging, violent brutes. but we see evidence of extensive long-term care and compassion for an individual that probably could not physically contribute much to the group. So it's possible that he was of high social status, like he was an important person. It's possible he had a lot of knowledge that he could share, um, like a knowledgeable wise elder. I also wanna say neanderthal brains were larger than in modern humans. Um, they were more elongated, but they had very large sections dedicated specifically to vision and movement, which left less space for, like cognition and language and quote, higher thinking.'cause humans, we have a much larger cerebellum, which is like, where a lot of that happens. A lot of that magic happens. So we don't know whether they have spoken language or not. Um, if he only had use of one arm and his voice, he could communicate fairly well. If he did not, who knows? Maybe, maybe he was not an elder imparting his wisdom on the group. So. Leads to a lot of questions about, um, how he and and other Neanderthals communicated. So how did he die? There's evidence he probably also died in a rockfall

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

That's the

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

area.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

took him out after all that.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I mean, three of the five that we've talked about have died in Rockfalls. So, yeah, so we probably got smashed in a rockfall after surviving all of that. And then he just like has a boulder fall on him. In 1980, Jean Oel, wrote a novel called The Clan of the Cave Bear, and she based one of her characters off of him, off of Nady. So he's immortalized in pop culture because of that. And I just wanna end my topic, talking a little bit about memory and remembrance and immortal through memory, because some people are, a lot of people are really obsessed with leaving their mark on the world one way or another. they just wanna be remembered by anyone. It's why we carve our initials into trees and rocks. It's why we name places after ourselves. It's why some people have children because they want, uh, that legacy they want to live on through something else. But if you think about it, go back just a handful of generations, like what can you tell me about your great-great grandfather?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

If I'm being real, not even the name.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

yeah. Just a handful of generations back and we don't really know much. Uh, and we are gonna be forgotten too, probably, you know, less than a hundred years from now who's gonna know our names. But these people, these 10 people that were found here, they lived thousands and thousands of years ago. They never could have imagined the mark that they've left on the world, both physically and culturally, academically, medically. so we'll never know their true names or their favorite colors or the intimate details of their life. We know if they walked with a limp, how often they ran in their day-to-day life. We know which sides of their mouth they preferred to chew on. We know how they clamped hides between their teeth as they scraped, um, if they were right or left-handed. We know how they held themselves and their bodies, like what their posture was, whether they lived every day with chronic pain, how other people cared for them and their bodies in life and in death. And in some cases we can even reconstruct their faces. So. I just wanna take a minute and think about and honor all of those ancestors that came before us. Um, the long line of mothers, you know, that stretches all the way back. All the way back. the reason that we're here today, thousands of generations over. in some cases we even bred with them. So we're not, we're not that different after all. Some of us still carry that actual genetic material within our bodies today. So many faces that we'll never know, we'll never get to hear their funny stories or about their grief, their love, their pleasures, their sorrows. But we can still honor them on the whole. So, thanks guys.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Amen to that.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Thanks

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

And that's it. And I guess I'll leave on a question too. How much do you guys care about being remembered after you die?

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Not much.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Not much.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I mean, I feel like I have that natural human impulse'cause I'm childless and I plan on being childless for my entire life. So some days I'll be laying in bed almost 30 years old and I'm like, oh God, my God, I have no lineage or whatever. But

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

passes fairly quickly.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. I feel like for me, impulsively, like biologically almost. I also wanna leave that. Mark on the world, and I feel a little bit more anxious about dying, I think, because without that, legacy or whatever, it's like, was I even here to begin with? But I was, and I am, and is all I

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

mm-hmm.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

who cares what comes

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

It's also this. People have been feeling these exact feelings and fears and these human drives and impulses long before we were born and long after we'll die. It's like the human universal experience of being like, I'm only here for a short time and then

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Fuck

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I also think that it's sort of a mental balm, um, for that fear of death to sort of say, well, when I'm gone.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

through

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

when I'm gone, at least there's this thing that I either did or created or what have you. I feel like when I think about being dead, if someone thinks of me and is, and misses me, even if it's for a short period, I'm like, well, that's nice, but I don't feel a particular, I don't need people hundreds of years from now to remember my name and when the people who know me die out

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

or anything that people

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

know. And God forbid this podcast may outlive me. So,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

This might be our legacy.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Oh no.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

that's

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

might be the way we're remembered.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

The 10 minute compilation of River's Bitch

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

From me complaining about my

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

disparaging her.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

what? That's how I wanna be remembered.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

You die and leave a real wife behind

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

somehow get married to a woman and she's like, I, you never said that. I never heard that.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

mm-hmm. To your face. But yeah, if you have one nearby, maybe go visit your local cemetery. You know, walk around, look at some gravestone, look at some headstones. they probably won't tell you much, but they'll give you a name that's something.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Sometimes what I think is the sweetest is much like the, the care that the Neanderthals have is you'll see gravestones that have like happy birthday balloons tied to them

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

like little trinkets and remembrances.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. Shot glass.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

That was beautiful. That was beautiful.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. So that's, that's Sean at our Rock Shelter in uh, Kurdistan.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

are they still having like rock slides to this day

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I see.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. Also, I don't know, like when I was reading about this at first I was picturing a cave, you know, like not a super big cave, maybe the size of a house or something. No, this thing is fucking huge. Like if you go look at pictures of it originally, I mean, if you look at pictures, there's really no scale until you look a little bit closer and you see the fence around the actual excavation and the scale is insane.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

see,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

so so deep into the earth, into the ground. huge. It's so big. So you can see how like groups of people would live there for, or not even live there, but like come and go from there. And it was a big central place for these people to return to every year, which is crazy to think about for thousands and thou, tens of thousands of years. Let's see what's on the menu next.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

what's on the menu next. I feel unfortunately, I feel so scattered and like not locked in because of the cats have been just absolutely spatting and spitting at each other this entire recording. So I was not able to give my full brain space and attention to y'all while you were doing your thing, which is disappointing and frustrating just for me personally. But the show goes on, and you know what? I respect that. And you don't have to and no. And you know what? If you want to click off this episode right here, be my guest. Oh, bye.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I hang up.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

And so it is. But I, after these wonderful random segments we've had already, I'm coming at you with a different wonderful random segment. And this is not scientific whatsoever. This is literally just me. Yapping to y'all about the play the Bke by Let's Fucking Go. I just get to tell y'all a story.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Debauchery. I'm ready.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

vengeance consequence.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

The Secret History by Donna Tart.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Babe, bring that copy so I can read it

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

it to you

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I don't have it.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Did I not. I

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

did not.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

time I visited.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

ma'am.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Huh? Are you sure?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

it in my walls. I know. It's on like Spotify as an audio book,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

so there's that option.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

gave

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

look for it then.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

and that's all I got.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. I gave someone, the wintering book too.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

That was me, and then I passed it along to Sky. so it's a complicated web of

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

have going about. Yeah.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Did I return that to you? The wintering book?

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I don't know. I don't know if I've been there since I gave it to you in January maybe,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Mm.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Rachel still has one of mine that I wanna read again, so I'm gonna have to hold a gun to her

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Mm-hmm. You hold her baby hostage. Any who? Nobody's holding any baby's hostage. We like to have fun here, so I'm gonna be telling you about, uh, URI Bka or Bke. There are many ways to pronounce it. It's a very short, it's not a terribly long play. You can knock it out in probably like an hour, or take.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

was that man on the cover?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

That's Elvis Presley. I am. That's Elvis, that's a young Elvis Presley. I'm not entirely sure why he's on this cover. I don't know.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

of him? Like, what is going

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Uh, I don't know if it's, oh, I think it's his army picture.'cause it, it

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Oh,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

set has army written here off to the side.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

I can see why, uh, he was such a heartthrob.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

he did create a lot of frenzy, especially in young women, and there was like that fear of like women's liberation and like their sexuality. So I can see that aspect to it. But the rest of it, I'm not entirely sure how it

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

ties into Dionysus as a whole. But I'm also, I feel like I'm not gonna be doing it justice because it's such a good play and I think everybody should read it on their own. I am essentially just doing like, uh, gossip yapping, telling family drama to people. So this is, we are like in our car, parked in the Taco Bell parking lot at 11:00 PM at night, and I'm going, oh my God, I have to tell you this fucking thing. You're never gonna believe what happened. The,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

wolfing down a crunch wrap

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

yeah. Yes. So all that being said, it's a great play. You should read it. It's old as fuck, so I'm sure you can find a PDF of it online somewhere. It was one of Yuri's final plays that he wrote in exile. Uh, it was around like early four hundreds, b, CE. It was submitted to festivals, posthumously either by his son or his nephew. There have been countless adaptations and reproductions to this day. You can find some of them online. There's one I really wanna watch you can find on YouTube faux free from 1969. It's in black and white. It looks crazy as fuck. I wanna watch it so bad when I have the time, but we're gonna set this stage, no pun intended. And first I have to give y'all. A little bit of a family tree and the main players that are gonna be, um, we'll get to it. We'll get to it and we'll give it away. But these are the main people. We've got Cadmus. He is the founder and former King of Thieves. He is, was past tense. The father of Simile, who is Dion ISIS's mother. So he's the grandfather of Dion, ISIS and also Pentheus, who we'll talk about in a second. We've got Agave, who is one of the daughters of Cadmus. Cadmus had four daughters and I believe one son. Uh, agave is the mother of Pentheus. Then we got Pentheus, who is the son of Agave. He's the current king of thieves. He's pretty young for a king. It's, it's noted, he's like a college age and he's the cousin of Dion, isis. And then we got Dion, isis.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

How familiar are y'all with this story, if at all?

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

at all. Not at all.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Alright. You kept raising your little fgi, so I was like, you got something you wanna say?

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I do know that agave is also the goddess of tequila,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah, I think that's a different agave.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

making

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

This agave does not have a happy ending. But we'll get to it. We'll get there when we get there. So now that we know the, then there are like other people in the play that play a part, but these are the main characters that we're gonna follow, who have the biggest consequences. And then you got Dion isis. So the story goes, what happened in this crazy fucking family drama? After traveling around the Middle East in Asia, spreading his cult, Dion, ISIS comes to thieves, his mother's homeland where she died, where he was forcibly struck out of his mother's womb by lightning. Uh, and he's here for vengeance and he's here for retribution because after his mother's death to protect her honor and the family's reputation, or what the fuck ever Cadmus Cunningly advises his family to say that simile was struck down by Zeus because she was lying about being his lover. And he didn't like that because a woman shacking up with a God was scandalous.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

She's tainting the family name.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

It's bad for the family, it's a bad look and therefore disrespecting simile in her memory and the truth, and also denying Dion ISIS's divinity as a God. So it's like two different bad things. Uh, so Dionysus doesn't like that naturally. He has struck all the women of thieves with madness and they've left their homes and they've taken off to the nearby mountains as pecans, singing and dancing his praises. This is phase one. This is, we're setting the foundation of what's gonna

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

So he's Elvis right now.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

yes.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Okay.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Hermes is going crazy over there.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I thought you were locking him up.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

No, I decided not to. He's just so stinking cute. like looking at him.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Has little Hippo face.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah. So phase one of the plan commence. The women are mad, he's causing trouble in the city, and, um, he is, he's come to thieves disguised as a human. He's disguising himself as a beautiful foreign human celebrant of Dion, ISIS, in order to quote, put the place in order. And show the city, and particularly Pentheus, who is a terminal hater and incredibly vocal about disrespecting Dion, ISIS and the gods generally. Uh, just how powerful he is. It's not gonna end well for him.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

So question, does Pentheus not like them because he believed that Dionysus mom was actually a liar, or did he just not like them?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

no. He represents sort of the new learning where it's very rational and logical and structured and they don't believe in like fairy tales and traditions and superstitions and all that kind of shit. He was like a redditer, you know, he argues with facts and logic. So a little, a little ways later, after the stage has been set, we come across SIUs who's a recurring character in a lot of plays, and he has his own mythologies. He's a very well developed character all on his own, but he is essentially a blind prophet and sort of an advisor to the royal family. And he and Cadmus are outside the royal home and they're dressed as celebrants. They're going off to dance and have a gay old time in honor of Dion Isis now because they've heard tell of the cults over in the foreign lands of how powerful he is. And so now CAD mis respects Dion ISIS as a God. But it's not, it's not really genuine.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

He wants to stake a claim And be like, yeah, we're part of the Dian family,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

No, literally. Because right after these two old men are like, oh, I'm feeling young. My old bones aren't inking. We're gonna go dance. Pentheus comes in onto the scene and he comes across his gpi and there and they're garb and he's, he's pissed and he's a flutter because he's hearing of all this trouble in the city. All this women trouble

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

He rolls up, they're just in their rave

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

literal, they have ivy crowns on, they're wearing these beautiful flowing togas. And he Yes. Got that pacifier on the necklace.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Yeah, there's black lights in the

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah. Yes. And Pentheus hates that. And he is convinced that these women are leaving their homes and their families to run off into the woods and get drunk and have sex and dance because you can't trust women on their own because

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Square.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

for them. Well, Pentheus hates women. So there's that

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

this? Footloose?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

kind of, if Footloose ended in a very different way. So Pentheus comes across these, these old men, and he's pissed. He's on a moral mission essentially, to capture the buck hands and like end this Tom foolery in this dirty business. And here he sees his GPI in the court advisor engaging in this dirty business, and he's going off on his moral tirade talking about his plans, to which there is essentially replies, um, little boy, you better watch what you say because you are acting brainless and you are acting swag less and you don't want this smoke and you don't wanna wage war on the gods. And then CAD mis chimes in with his little 2 cents after that. And this is the part where you can tell it's not genuine adoration and worship for Dion Isis because he tells Pentheus, man, so what if he's not a God? So what if you don't believe he's a God? Give him the title anyway. It's gonna be so good for our family. You're gonna, you're gonna make semi famous. It's gonna be great PR for the family.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Chris Kardashian.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I am saying, dude, and I think that plays a part in Cadmus's downfall towards the end.'cause he's still not respecting Dy ISIS's divinity, pentheus terminal hater that he is, does not like being told off by these old foolish men. And he demands the guards to go to, there's seat of divination and destroy it. Real tantrum behavior. Hate this guy. Enter into the scene, a guard comes running in and he's like, oh my God, Penas, we got that beautiful foreign male stranger. We captured him. But the weirdest thing is he didn't even put up a fight. He held out his hands and he laughed and he just let us take him as a prisoner. That's so weird. That's so strange. Oh, and also the main ads that have been captured. I'm gonna use Bachas and main ads interchangeably'cause it's the same thing. But the main ads that have been captured, they've escaped, the chains fell off their feet, the doors unlocked by themselves.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Hmm.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

thing happening over here in Thieves

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Pussy power.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

pussy power. And so Pentheus sees this beautiful foreign stranger. He's eyeing him up and down and he even comments about how beautiful he is, but totally not in a gay way. You know, he can see why he's beautiful to women, you know?'cause they don't have no sense. And he questions this beautiful foreign stranger about his origins and his intentions and what he's brought to his rational, logical city. And they have a fun little back and forth. And the fun little back and forth they have throughout the play are just enough to make it worth reading on its own. Because Pentheus is so pissed off and he's only concerned with facts and logic. And Diane, ISIS is not as, not really speaking in riddles, but too pentheus. He's speaking in riddles and he's giving him everything and he's giving him nothing.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

What is that? What is it called when you're in like a courtroom and you're like, continuing to speak, but like you're, you're you're extending time. Yes.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah,

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

is filibustering.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

it's not, he's just like so secure in his divinity and he's like, this guy has no fucking idea. So he's giving him the answers. But Parentthe is like, why are you confusing me? You beautiful stranger. And again, Pentheus is feeling disrespected and he's pissed'cause he hates women. So Pentheus hater that he is, uh, orders this beautiful foreign stranger to be locked up and taken to like a horse stall.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm. Good luck.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Good fucking luck dude. After this exchange and what Pentheus perceives as the imprisonment of this beautiful foreign stranger, uh, Dionysus uses his godly powers to rally his now freed main ads and uses his thundering voice to partially destroy the royal house. So it's not completely in ruin, but part of it's crumbling. Now

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

I am just imagining him in the horse stall fingers to his temples going, bitches come to me.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Come to me, My beautiful women come to me and they do.'cause that's his thro, that's his power baby. So now the royal home is partially destroyed. Uhoh stinky. You shouldn't have done that. So Dionysus, again in his beautiful human disguise, and the main adss are reunited. The main ads are rejoiced because to them he is, um, he's like a priest. They don't know he is Dionysus. They just see him as a leader and a celebrant. So their hype as fuck, they're like, oh my God, how did you escape? How'd you get out? And Ionis says, oh, that was easy. This fucking idiot tied up a bowl. And I just sat by watching quietly. What a fucking idiot. Uh, obviously Pentheus is starting to lose his grip on reality, and he's getting even more pissed about that. Pentheus, the hater that he is now finds the main ads in this beautiful foreign stranger in the courtyard. And he's like, man, what the hell? How did you get out here? How are you doing this? You are pissing me off so bad. I can't stand you. You're making me look like a fool. And after they have another fun little back and forth. But this gets interrupted by a messenger coming down from the mountain where the main ads, the rest of the main ads are, and where Pentheus is mother and his aunts are, because they were also struck by madness. So now they're running around and dancing. And so the messenger who's a shepherd in like a nearby little farm, he is like, Pentheus. That shit's crazy as hell up there, dude.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

You gotta see this

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

You gotta see this shit. It was all inspiring. And he tells Pentheus what he and some other men saw up on the mountain and he says, quote, they had let themselves go in a sensible way, not as you said, sir, intoxicated by wine and flute not running off by themselves in the woods for sex. They're not doing anything you said they were doing up there. they first came across'em, they were literally just snoozing. They were taking a nap. Uh, so they saw some of the women breastfeeding young animals. They were tearing at the ground and pounding on rocks with a SSIS for milk and wine to sprout forth like a fountain. Crazy stuff, but not violent, not sexy, nothing. Pentheus had said. Oh, one of the men that witnessed all this got the bright idea to try to capture agave pen's, mother to try to win favor with the king. Naturally. Bad idea. Naturally that was a mistake. So the women upon being ambushed, went absolutely sicko mode, feral, and the men escaped, but the main ads did rip their cattle apart with their bare hands. And then they ran off to a neighboring city and they started running ammuck over there because the men have ruined everything as they do.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Hey, what's new?

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

It's new, the tale as old as time. Um, so the messenger after saying all this tells Penia, Hey man, you need to take a step back. I don't think you want this smoke. I think you need to start acting right. Pentheus hater that he is, it can't stand all this women trouble. These women are causing so much trouble. And he's so mad about it. And now he's worried about being the laughing stock of Greece and now he's trying to wage war on the main ads. He just can't, ugh, grow up, dude, honestly, let women have some fun. But after hearing all this Dion, ISIS in his beautiful human disguise tells Pentheus that is an incredibly unwise and bozo move to try to wage war on the main ads. And pentheus again, his grip on sanity looser than it's ever been. He's fucking losing it at this point. And so through just the absurdity, and he's out of his wits, he's out of his depth, this beautiful foreign stranger convinces him, it's actually a way better and smarter idea for pentheus to dress up as a woman and spy on the main ads instead so that he can see the spectacle that disgusts him so much. But he's so intrigued by, he's just gonna have to see it for himself.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Pentheus drag drag reveal.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

and this beautiful foreign stranger is gonna be his guide up to them. He's gonna lead him right to him. And this is phase two.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Enter phase two.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Enter phase two because Dion ISIS knows full well what's going on and what's going to happen because this is his design.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Dion, ISIS is playing five D chess with Pentheus right now.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah. It's great to watch it all unfold though. So now that Pentheus is fully out of his wits, he's fully out of his mind. He's starting to see things clearly. Now he comes out of his royal home and he's dressed in drag and he notes that he's, he's feeling fuzzy and he's seeing double. He's looking at this beautiful foreign stranger and he's seeing them standing there, but he's also seeing a bull standing in his place. So now he's starting to see, with the clarity that comes with initiation into the cult, they spend some time making sure Pentheus disguises all as it should be. They're fixing little curls that have gone astray. They're fixing his dress to make sure it hangs right.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

He's got rouge

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

He's, he's dolled up dude. He is beat setting, spray and everything. he has a little headband onto Secur, his wig. It's very darling. So Pentheus believes he's doing such a noble and brave thing to catch all these evil women up on their sex mountain, and he's the only man in the city brave enough to do this. To which Dion, ISIS, in his beautiful foreign disguise responds, quote. Only you, you bear the city's pain alone and the contest you will face is meant for you. Ominous chilling stuff. And off they go up to the mountain girls trip, yay. We're going to the mountain. And this is where shit pops off in a big way. because obviously all this anger and disrespect is going to be pentheus downfall. And this is phase three. is where it gets good. So

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

The foot's coming up on the chair.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I'm getting, I'm getting comfortable because I'm just like, wow, what a guy. So Pentheus, this beautiful foreign stranger and a small band of men, they're making their way up to the mountain to spy and spy. They do, but Pentheus is like, I need a better vantage point. I can't see shit. I can't see these sinful women in their full debauchery. So this beautiful foreign stranger grabs the top most point of a fur tree and bends it down like a bow. So Pentheus can take a little seat on it so he can have a better vantage point. And he gently and slowly raises it back up for pentheus to see. But before the tree is at its full height, once again, the beautiful foreign stranger vanishes. He disappears. And a booming voice from the sky calls out to the main ads and says, I brought the one who ridiculed me and my worship, and now you must pay him back. And the women go into a frenzy with agave leading the charge,

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Get'em girls.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

get him girls. Girls kill him. And they're throwing spears, they're throwing rocks, trying to knock him down. They're throwing their ssis up there and he's, he's scared, but he's not, they're not hitting him. And so when that doesn't work, they gather around the base of the tree start shaking it so violently that they rip it out of the ground. Never underestimate women. They're maximizing their joint. Slay. So. Pentheus plummets to the ground. He's finally realized how bad he beefed it and how much he fucked up. Through all this, he's begging his mother to recognize him as her son, her darling baby boy. It's too late. It's just too late because his mother is fully enveloped in her frenzy. And with the assistance of the other main ads, they tear him limb from limb with their bare hands, flinging bits of his body all around the mountain. And after all this agave triumphant in her frenzied kill, uh, she's proudly carrying what she sees as a lion's head down the mountain to thieves because she's still lost in the sauce. She's still in the madness of initiation. So when she reaches the city, she's proclaiming her victorious hunt and her father Cadmus is horrified at the site that he sees before him. And it takes a good bit of time and coaxing for agave to come back to her senses and to see things as they actually are, because. Not so subtle foreshadowing, she has carried pentheus disembodied head down the mountain to thieves obviously. And once she sees that she is struck and with grief, she goes, oh my God, what happened? Who did this? How did this get here? But Cadmus is like, Hey, we fucked it hard. Dion, ISIS did this. He the misfortunes that be fell upon our family through no fault except our own. We brought this on ourselves, we've ruined our house. There are some missing lines here in the play. So unfortunately Dion, ISIS does reveal himself in his divinity at this point. But there are lines missing. So a big chunk of the prophecy he's foretelling is, is cut out. And there are reconstructions of these lines of works that have been inspired by this play, but uh, I'm gonna leave them out'cause I'm just gonna take the source material as is. I think there should be a little mystery. So now that Dionysus has fully revealed himself in his divinity, he's gonna tell them their fates because this isn't over. There's still more so the daughters of Cadmus are to be forced into exile, to forever live as foreigners in strange lands. Cadmus and his wife are to also be exiled, but they have a fun little twist of getting turned into serpents. And they will lead a band of Plunderers and they'll, they're gonna be off on travels for a while. But there is a turning point where eventually something will happen. I think at some point the Plunderers will have like a terrible bounty or misfortune will fall upon them. And at that point, Cadmus and his wife will be rescued by Aries and they will get to retire to the land of the Blessed, which is actually sweet ending to get to go to the land of the blessed after all that. But, uh, pretty sucks. pretty bad situation. Pretty bad sucks. And so they're lamenting. Cadmus is like, man, this is way too severe. What the hell? We learned our lesson. What the hell is all this? Man, you shouldn't be angry. It's not becoming of a God, you should be better than humans. And Dion, ISIS tells them that they did a great injustice against him. And Zeus agreed to all of this long ago. So this isn't a spur of the moment. I'm mad about something. This was premeditated. This was all part of the plan. And so Cadmus and agave, tearfully say their farewells, they head off into their exiles. And now after all this thieves fully understands the power of Dion Isis, the end pretty

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Oh, fuck around. Find out.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Fuck around. Find out in a pretty gruesome way. Don't disrespect Dion. Isis. Don't disrespect his mommy. Those are really like the two key

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

He is giving big mob boss energy. He's like, you don't fuck with my family.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah. You don't fuck with my family, keep my mother's name out of your fucking mouth.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

period.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

If they hadn't been talking that shit, they probably would've been fine. But also maybe not.'cause Cadmus has his own mythology where he like killed one of Aries serpents. And I think that also like that was the first domino. That caused the fall of the house of Cadmus. Yeah. Like there, there are many things that are contributing to the fall of the House of Cadmus, but this was a, this was the culmination of everything together.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

So is this cannon.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I mean it's, it's definitely a mythos and it's definitely a story, but it as a play, I don't really think you can consider it canon.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Like, is the, um, the family lineage at least true and

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Yeah. That is, yeah. That is all true. But again, it was early four hundreds, b, CE there were mythologies that they turned into more elaborate stories to, you know, society at the time. Yeah. Be entertaining. Talk about like the societal issues, the new learning versus the old tradition, city versus mountain, you know, nature versus science and all that shit. But I just think this is such a fun story that really encapsulates, why Dion ISIS is called the gentle and the terrible, I think.'cause you see both sides of that in this story where he is so incredibly gentle. With his devotees and those who worship in and he gives them great joys and blessings and he's so terrible to those that disrespect him. And I just think that's neat and I like to see it.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Hell yeah.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Hell yeah.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

a party rocker.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

And he's a party rocker and he loves women and he loves women's liberation. And Pentheus hates women and is stinky and thinks they're slaves and beneath him.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Mm-hmm.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

we

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

And he's stupid.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

than ever.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I'm saying dude. And it's been a while since I've talked about Diane Isis on the pod, and I just missed that guy and I wanted to give him his flowers. And we're literally going to the theater today and I was like, what? Better day than today?

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Beautiful.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Great play. Way more graphic than this tiny little retelling.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Check it out yourself.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Check it out yourself.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

No, I think we did it. I think we got her done. Okay. Well if, uh, if you wanna, if you wanna reach out, you wanna talk, you wanna send us your plays, you wanna send us your thoughts about plays,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

screenplay, please. I promise

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

send us your screenplay, we'll read it. live on the air.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

I'll give you my notes.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

Let us know your superstitions.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

Yeah. Let us know your superstitions. Um, let us know if you like anthropology, all of the above. Uh, if you wanna let us know anything, you can email us at death coven pod@gmail.com or you can message us on Instagram, follow us like us at Death Coven Pod. And I think that's all she wrote. So. By the power of three.

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

And so it is

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

And so it is.

peepoo-host298_1_03-09-2025_110452:

And so it is,

uh-oh-stinky_1_03-09-2025_110612:

Girls Get him Sick.

skye_1_03-09-2025_110442:

'em girls.