Death Coven

Episode 34: Scary Backwoods Stories, Davy Jones, and the Ouija (A Halloween Special)

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Boo!

Welcome to Death Coven and happy Halloween! This week we're keeping it creepy. Poppy's reading us some scary stories about the backwoods found in the trenches of Reddit, Skye drags us down to the murky depths of the sea for an exploration of Davy Jones' Locker, and River talks about the divination tool with the worst reputation: the Ouija. 


If you want to skip this week's hypothetical, zip over to 12:17


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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peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

so now that we've rambled for however long, who knows how much We'll keep in. welcome. This is going to be a scary little episode. We have all picked creepy topics. I think. I'm pretty sure. I don't know what the other two are presenting today, but I'm hoping that I get some chills. this is the Death Coven podcast. My name is Poppy

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I'm Sky

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

And I'm River.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

and we are three witches in a death coven that do a podcast. Comes out every other Thursday. You are listening to it right now. Thank you very much.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Appreciate you.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I was thinking about lighting a candle actually, because I feel like this is gonna be a spooky one. I don't know.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I, yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Ooh,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I turn my lamp off?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

do that. Let's, let's light

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

ooh. Lemme

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

that. Let everybody grab a

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

refresh

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

good idea, pop.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

here. I'm gonna, I'm gonna light a, um, chime candle and I'm gonna light my bourbon pumpkin candle.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I am just lighting a jack. Be nimble. Jack. Be quick. Jack, jump over the candlestick. Um, sort of just,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I looked at the screen and you look like fucking ebenezers

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I just need the hat.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

in your fucking bathrobe. In your can broke.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

when the Victorians get up in the middle of the night to like,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. And we will be talking about the Victorians at some point in this episode.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

So that's thematically appropriate.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Oh, good.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Okay.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah. I, I feel like we're in a good,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

We're in a good zone today.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

yeah. And I'm already feeling, I've turned all the lights out. I've got my candle lit. I've got my little, my little whiskey and I'm, wrapped up in my little robe.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh yeah,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

You have your

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

the vibes. Here we are.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

There we are.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

it's a little dim, it's a little dark. We've got the candles going.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's a

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Ooh.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

day for two out of the three of us.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I will be having soup for dinner, so that's what type of day it is.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

that sounds so fucking good.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Also, I, I feel like today we are just on Well, like, we're just in a mood. I think

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I just missed my friends. I just like talking to my friends.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

So we're bringing the creepy, bringing the scary to you today. And at the beginning of every episode, we do a fun little hypothetical game. Sometimes it's a situation, sometimes uh, it's a challenge, sometimes. Just a question. So how creative are you guys feeling today?'cause I have two options.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Um, I'm feeling a little bit silly with it this morning.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

So one of them is definitely creative, but could work for a non Halloween episode. The other one is slightly less creative, but is definitely like Halloween

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Spookier.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Okay. Well we should probably go with that one then.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. Keep it as scary as possible

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

save it for next time. okay. So death Coven is having a slumber party.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

as we often do.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

and we get to invite four guests. Our parents said you can have four other people come over for the night to have your slumber party with, but the catch is they have to be villainous characters or creatures from some kind of horror media.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I know who I'm picking.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

who should we invite? and why did I write this? Who should we invite and who's gonna cry and call their mom to come pick them up?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Oh, I know who I want.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Go for it. Go

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I want Maleficent.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Maleficent. Okay. What's she gonna bring to the table?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

A dragon

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. That's pretty cute. That's our fourth guest.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I could show her my horns and I can

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh, you could have a horn off.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I can be like, you're a big inspiration to me. I love how country you are.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

She'd be great at truth or dare.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Oh dude, dare all the

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh, Yeah. yeah. Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I just love her. She's an icon and an inspiration to me personally, and I would love to just talk to her.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Classic.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

River. You said you had an idea right off the bat too.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

am picking list at Deion

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I was gonna say, is it a vampire?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's, of course, it's my baby girl, Lestat. and I do hope he bites me and maybe kills me Who

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Am gonna make, I'm gonna push you guys in the closet and make you play seven minutes in

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

And he would, he'd be a real bitch about it though.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

and you'd come out holding your neck being like, nothing Nothing

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Ooh. Nothing happened. I was wearing this Ascot the whole time

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Ascot.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I just, I've always been this pale. Leave me alone. I'm just, my blood sugar's low. I need a juice box.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I think that I want to go Jason, Jason Voorhees, because I just feel like he'd be cool to hang out with.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I think he would, and I think he would appreciate, and maybe it would fix him to just like hang out with people.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

positive attention. Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

it gives, you know, I don't smoke anymore, but like, you know, when you go outside away from the crowd and you go smoke a cigarette and have like a really deep conversation, like a little private one-on-one

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. For like 45 minutes straight.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

He's smoking through his hockey mask.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

it's blowing out through the holes. Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Uh, okay, so we, we've got Maleficent. We've got Lestat Lestat,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

we've got Jason Lestat, Lestat,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

we've got Jason Voorhees, who is our fourth.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

yeah, the three of us have to like collectively

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Who's gonna, who's gonna mesh well with the group,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Who rounds out this

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

you know, we've got Bad Bitch. We've

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Lestat and Maleficent, I feel like would get along very well. They're both huge bitches.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

We need someone to kind of compliment Jason. I think Another kind of quietish

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Not Freddy.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Not Freddy. I initially, I was like Leatherface because they're both mama's boys and they don't really talk. But I don't know if I can vibe with Leatherface.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

No.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Can we just do, oh my God, what is his name? The saw guy.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I was about to say John Kramer, but he would be so obnoxious. He'd be so pretentious. Yeah. And they'd all suck and be really complicated.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Exactly. My style, you know,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. You do love those games.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

me out, Edward Scissor hands.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh, you're so right. You're so

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh my God. And he, we can all cut our bangs together.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yes. He can cut our bangs.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

and he's so just demure.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah. He's not really a villain, but he's, you know.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I, horror adjacent.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I feel like Maleficent would love him,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh, she would adopt

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And Lestat too. Lestat would just be like, you know what,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

He'd be like, I can't not

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I kind of like your vibe.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

You're kind of pathetic. And that's exactly the kind of man I go

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

this lineup.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Plus us. Plus we're there.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

we're there. Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

night of my life.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

we're not sleeping. That's an all-nighter right there.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Absolutely

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I'm getting drunk at this party.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Drunk

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah, yeah. yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

in my mind. We were like 12 or 13 years old though. all of those characters, but their preteen versions.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

see. I like that. And we're all just like making friendship bracelets and like gossiping.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Who's doing a pillow fight? Who's initiating a pillow fight?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Not Edward.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Edward. Jason wouldn't initiate it, but he would absolutely love

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I feel like if anything, it would be one of us initiating it.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

me.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. I feel like Lestat and Maleficent would like sit it out.'cause they'd be

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah. They're too good for it.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

We'd be playing

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

they're playing. I was just about to say

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

dance. Dance revolution.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh my God. That'd be so fucking fun.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

So fun. Take me there.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Somebody write a fan fake about this. Please. God, I'm

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I was about to say that. Put it on a

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Please remember we're all minors in this scenario

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

is very important. Keep a

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

you can do an, you can do an alt where we're all 30.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

We're

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

It's like sex and the city vibes

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm. A maleficence got some sort of smoking, what's that shit called? Dry ice.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh my God.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

It's a green apple, you know, like

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's never empty. It's somehow completely full all

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

can we say what the alcoholic beverages for each of our guests would be? So Maleficent has the, the dry ice smoking.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

It's like a poisoned apple martini

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Ooh.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

wafting over it. Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I feel like Les DOT's wine, right?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's a red, it's an old vintage red, like a merlott.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

It's actually just blood, but

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. But he says it's wine.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I feel like Jason's just gotta be, because he's always at summer camp, you

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. I feel like he's straight edge

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

really? He does like to punish those who sin.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Drinking drugs, sex. He don't like that.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

root beer in the corner.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. He's got his diet coke.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And then Edward Scissor hands, like unexpectedly is just taking shots with his long ass fingers.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I could see him being a gin drinker.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

But I can also see him like using his scissor hands to like really dramatically karate Chop a beer bottle, like, like the cap off of a beer bottle. So he's like opening it for somebody. Yeah. that

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

love that one. I

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

that a lot.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

you'd like that one. I think you'll like the other one too. Next week.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I might actually tell you guys, I might tell you ahead of time so you can like plan.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

We can think

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Oh, okay.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I mean, I mean, we can, we can, say it now. you guys can just think about it for the next week before we record.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Stew on it.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

yeah. What was it

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

since I put you guys in peril all the time, I want you to create your own saw trap. And I want

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

for you to put you in?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

no,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I was gonna say, is this revenge?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I wanna know your victim name. no real people. You have to either come up with someone or like, it's gotta be a fictional character. the reason why they've been kidnapped and they're being tested in this trap, the name of the trap, and then obviously the, the trap design and the function. Like what's the outcome? Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I'm gonna need some time to, much like civil engineer John Kramer. I'm gonna need to cook on this.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Well, thank you for indulging me. tune in, two Thursdays from now to hear what river and sky come up with. And I'll, I'll put together my own as well.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I help you will.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I will,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I wanna see what you fucking cook up. Sick, twisted brain.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

uh, before I get into my topic, I wanna say I almost did polar bear attacks as mine.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. You would.'cause you are terrified of

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

afraid of polar bears listeners. They're, they're like up there for my, top

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

That's the bear You are most, maybe the animal

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yes. Well, I'm also afraid of anything that lives in the deep sea, I think.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

But polar bears horrifying.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

They're big as

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I think I've gone down multiple tangents like late at night and I'm just texting the group chat like, did you know this about polar bears?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

about polar bears?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

You just like to make yourself scared late at night.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah, but I did not do polar bears So I did not have time to put together like a full, full-fledged topic, with research and all that I, instead of crafting my own topic, I went to Reddit and I pulled three stories from Reddit. all of them are at least 10 years old, and I'm just gonna read them for you today.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Poppy Reeds, Reddit stories.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Poppy reeds, no sleeps.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

are deep cuts and none of these are from no sleep. So these were all presented as 100% real online,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

that

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

three different ones. So ask Reddit from 11 years ago.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Okay.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

the second one is from r slash Nature Photography

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh, that sounds scary

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

10 years ago. And then the last one is from backwards. Creepy also 10 years ago.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Classic. Now, this isn't a Chef boy or D where you're saying these are real ass stories and you actually just made'em up. Okay.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

She ain't got time for that this week.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

she ain't got, but she's crazy. But

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

is crazy. That's true.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

insane.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah. Yeah. No, I am not Chef Boyard. You guys, you do not have to guess whether these are real or not. These were from Reddit presented as real in either their own posts or they were comments like responding to another post. This first one was a response to an Ask Reddit thread titled, tell Me about a time when you experienced something you couldn't explain while camping parenthetical serious.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

camping is already so frightening.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

and did I, did I say already if I didn't say already? These all take place in the woods, because you all know I love hiking stories, camping stories,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

anything that happens out in nature where people are trekking through the woods. I love it. and I found these just by doing a little bit of deep digging, deep diving on Reddit.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

And you go to page like 12.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I'm like scrolling through old archive stuff. And one of these, the last one that I'm gonna read, you guys, all of the comments responding to it were deleted. this one was just a, like a comment responding to that post called Tell Me about a time when you experienced something you couldn't explain while camping. Parenthetical serious. And this is by user Z-Y-Z-Z-I. Hiker. When I was 22 years old, I'd just gone through a really shitty breakup and decided I needed to get out of Portland and spend some time in nature to clear my head For a while, my ex-girlfriend had basically been my entire world, and I didn't know my life without her, which looking back is probably why she broke up with me. Anyway, I decided to take a solo weekend camping trip in the Three Sisters Wilderness My only hobbies while we had been together were hiking and camping, so I figured doing that was probably better than drowning myself in whiskey or maybe trying heroin or something, I just needed silence and space to think, so I hiked out near Green Lakes and set myself up prepared to be totally disconnected. This was 1979, so I didn't have to worry about cell service or anything like that. I just went three sisters was mostly backwoods then, so it was easy to be all alone. I wasn't worried about running into anyone. It was just the trees, the stars, and my depression. Homeboys going through it.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I'm always going through it. Hey, as somebody that's also been through a bad breakup where my partner was my entire life for like four years. Been there buddy.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I set up my tent and my little camping stove and lit my fire. It was quiet. Nothing much happened. I think I slept in the tent that night climbing in and almost immediately falling asleep. as soon as the sun went down. It was summertime in the Pacific Northwest and the nights were short, cool and comfortable. The first night was pretty uneventful. I don't think I even dreamed the next day. I spent my time exploring. I threw my backpack on and hiked a couple miles, saw the water and considered swimming, but decided against it. I had my ass planted under a nice shady tree while I took a break and realized I hadn't thought at all about Shannon since I set up camp the day before. Shannon was my ex-girlfriend. Then I felt really angry for the first time since she had dumped me. I wanted her to hurt, like she'd hurt me. Honestly. If she'd been right there in front of me, I may have killed her. I think it was one of the only times I felt true rage in my life. I don't know if that's what attracted it or maybe it put the anger there inside of me, but I figured I'd mention it anyway.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

A foreshadowing of it all.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

then cold. It was like a thunder clap. Instantaneous and brutal from nowhere. I was so cold, but not physically cold. I didn't have goose flesh or anything. It was like I just swallowed a fistful of ice cubes, and they were melting, sick and bright in the pit of my stomach. I knew without a doubt there was something watching me. I looked around. Not scared yet, but definitely on edge. My eyes slid to a hole in a tree about 30 feet away. there was a darkness there that I haven't seen since. It was weird because it was just a dumb hole in a dumb tree out in the middle of nowhere, Oregon woods, but there was something there that wasn't on the same plane as us. It sat below that threshold, a deep hum, vibrating just beyond the space my nerves could reach. It sounds so stupid, but that's how it was. I nope, that other real quick and made my way back to my campsite. I actually forgot about the hole in the tree almost immediately. I don't know why it sticks out in my mind so much now. It's possible that it had nothing to do with anything. But anyway, I settled in and read some Jack Kerouac by the fire. A cliche I know,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

dude sounds so annoying.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I mean, this is just a, A bro.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

22, He's from Portland It's the

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

in the 1970s.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

They were all just kind of like that.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah, I settled in and read some Jack Kerouac by the fire. A cliche I know, but I felt pretty cerebral at the moment. Eventually, the sun went down and I went to bed. I woke up after what felt like mere seconds of being asleep. It was black and silent, but I was freezing. I felt that same ice cubes down the gullet feeling, but this time I was also physically cold. My muscles were tense. As I shivered hard, I thought I should roll over and turn on the brand new mag light I had bought specifically for this trip, parenthetical. It was pricey too. I spent about$25 on it, which at the time was no small sum. He wants to let us know.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

1970s was crazy.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Anyway, I tried to roll over but couldn't. My muscles were locked. I was shivering. My body shook uncontrollably, but I couldn't move of my own accord. My heart sped up and my mouth went dry. My eyes darted around in the darkness and eventually began to adjust, which I thought was a blessing at the time. I looked around frantically and I vaguely remember thinking that I was looking for someone who could help me, but of course, I was all alone by my own design. As I was looking toward the flashlight again, I saw something move outside the tent. From my peripheral, my eyes slid to the entrance of the tent just beyond the mesh. At the edge of the fires dying glow, I saw a tall, spindly figure. Its limbs were impossibly long joints, bent the wrong way. Its face was pale isli with a mouth that stretched too wide. Grinning at me. I narrowed my eyes and watched the thing from slitted lids. I closed them just enough to make it look like I might be sleeping from a distance, but kept them open enough to see. I remember my eyelids feeling like sandpaper. They burned badly, but I didn't wanna close them completely for fear of losing sight of that thing. It didn't move for a long time, long enough for me to convince myself that I must be dreaming, or maybe it was a tree or some easily explainable thing. I didn't try to move. Then slowly it crouched down, face still directed toward me until it was on all fours. It crawled toward the tent scattering pebbles as it scraped what looked like backwards, human hands across the ground, and as it did, it seemed like it's too wide mouth cracked, open, even wider. I couldn't move, and at this point, believe me, I was trying. my brain was telling my body to get up and go, to prepare to fight, but I couldn't even make my hand close into a fist. It crawled closer until it was right at the entrance of my tent. Then it pressed its face to the mesh. Its mouth was open, and the mesh sucked in and out as it panted heavily. Almost like a dog.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I am going to throw up.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

long un unnaturally long limbs at weird a I hate anything. That crouch is down to start moving

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

backwards human hands

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

the backwards. Human hands scrambling the wet mesh in and out of the mouth.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Wet.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

yuck.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

go on.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

It panted heavily, almost like a dog. Its breath smelled like death, like old pork forgotten in the fridge, I kept my eyes slitted, praying to God that it looked like I was sleeping, what looked like a tongue snaked out of the crack of its mouth and thrived on top of the mesh. Then I blacked out.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. Yeah. I'd die of right at that point.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

when I jolted awake, I was soaked in sweat. My heart was racing. It was hot inside the tent. I could move now. So I rolled over to check the time. According to my watch, it was four in the afternoon. I'd somehow slept almost 20 hours. I bolted up and immediately started clearing my campsite, packing everything up because I was getting the fuck out of there. As I was packing, I noticed that my tent had been encircled with rocks. Smooth gray stones replaced right around the perimeter of the tent. I certainly had not put them there, but I shoved that thought deep down to deal with. Later. My firewood pile had also been kicked over. Even if it was just a dream, which it probably was, there was no way. I was staying Another night. I managed to hike up over the sun, went down and headed straight home. By the time I got home, I had rationalized the whole experience as a bad dream and decided to just forget the whole thing. Somehow, despite sleeping for 20 hours, I was exhausted. So when I got home, I took my boots off and left them outside the front door of the house. I was renting and immediately went to bed. The next day when I got up to make myself some eggs, I noticed clumps of dirt and small pebbles scattered around the entryway of the house. I checked outside and yep. I had left my boots tent and other camping gear out there. Weird, but whatever. A week later though, when I finally unpacked the tent and went to store it, I noticed a gash in the mesh of the front flap of the tent, easily explainable, right? it got snagged in my haste to get out of there, but it just didn't feel right. I know in my gut that it wasn't just a dream, and I've camped plenty since then. You can't live out here and not be out in the nature. But I haven't been solo camping since so that's my scariest experience camping in the Pacific Northwest. Hope this helps.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Do you think that things stuck its tongue down his throat while he was sleeping?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Horrible.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Did it hit

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

ride?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I mean, it seems like he didn't have anything else happen after that,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

but the, the pebbles in

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

yeah, something came home with them, but I, it seems like it didn't continue to fuck with him, so maybe it just

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. There was just so many other, yeah. Other people in Portland that are pissed off, it can be like, Hey, let me get down on all fours and get at you real quick.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Sleep paralysis is no joke,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

No, it's horrifying.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

like, I feel like it is explainable, like everything that happened, like, oh, maybe he, uh, he had a nightmare, like he was pissed off at his, at his girlfriend shore. He like saw a weird tree,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

The rocks aren't explainable. The, the firewood getting kicked over isn't explain unless like

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

The firewood getting kicked over. I'd be like, maybe I slept, walked or something. Like I tripped, uh, maybe I got up in the middle of the night to go pee And I forgot.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

In a circle.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

No,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

rocks in a circle.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

no. I would be so ready to wake up that next morning being like, wow, what a crazy dream I had. And then if I saw the rocks, I would be like, well,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

And we're going home. It was a

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

right.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

evening.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I am picturing the thing with like, its backwards. Human hands, just putting the rocks like going and like picking the rocks off the ground and putting them around the tent.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

not smooth enough.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

No, it's

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

rock.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

the smoothness.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

gross. I also hate creatures that have like fixed big smiles. It makes my lizard brain freak out.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

There's something wrong about it. Uh, maybe it's because like primates smile, like as an aggressive thing, so maybe that's

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah. If something's smiling at me and coming at me on all fours, I'm in danger.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Ooh, I just had an idea. What if this thing actually used to be a camper, like a solo hiker, camper person and they're like actually trying to protect this guy. Maybe that's what the, the stones were

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

a weird freak ass and licking on your mesh tent.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

it got like turned into something like not quite human anymore. Like it doesn't really know how to behave anymore. And yeah, and all it remembers is I was alone one time

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

and I turned into this, and I don't want that to happen to you. Maybe it's just misunderstood and it doesn't

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

maybe.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

freak ass.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

What do you guys think

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Hey,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

that he saw that was like, weird? Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I'm like, was it like,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

was posted up in the little

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

was it like, oh, I, I sense that anger. I'm gonna come and see what that's all about.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It was taking a nap, like curled up and then it said, hold on. What's going on over there?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I don't like it. That's my hot take. I don't like it.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Okay. I got two more stories for you.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

we gotta do Fuck Mary kill with all three

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

gosh.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

we'll see how it goes. The tongue, that's

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

guys are gonna wanna fuck this next one, or, well, you might

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Well

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

it. I don't know. We'll see.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I don't even know if there's a creature in every single one. You know? It

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

be, yeah, yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Okay, so this next one was a comment, response to a r slash nature photography post from 10 years ago. It was, or sorry, 11 years ago it was, have you ever experienced something you couldn't explain while shooting in the field?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

my candle's going crazy. I just had, not anymore, but it was going like, whoa.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

mine is just a long, tall flame right now.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mine is very long and tall, but it's like writhing,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Just like a tongue.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

just like a tongue. Sorry. Please continue.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I was on a solo hiking trip in the Carson National Forest in New Mexico.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

People gotta stop doing shit alone. I'm sorry. It's so dangerous.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

It was early fall and I was chasing the golden hour. I was hoping to photograph the bats that would begin swarming in the low light against the backdrop of Red Cliffs in Pine Dotted Mesa. I want to include here at the beginning that I'm experienced and a very cautious person, both on the job and in my personal life. I know how to take precautions to stay safe when out in nature. Never underestimate the land, the weather, the wildlife, or the people you meet on the trails.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

All right. I'll allow it.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

All that being said, on this day, something felt off. Not at first, though. It was a normal day. Really, the only thing out of the ordinary was that I didn't see any people while I hiked, which is uncommon for the area. I was a few miles into my hike out toward a well-known cave system. When I started to feel eyes on me. People always talk about the feeling of being watched as if it's some kind of universal sensation that everyone understands, but I never really got it until that day. It felt almost like a light pressure where the base of my skull meets my neck. It was very unpleasant. I was stopping every now and then to take photos of anything I felt worth was worth capturing. I think I caught some eagles and a family of mule deer that day. I was crouched down on the trail with my camera. I began to stand the knees of my pants damp and sticking to my skin when I noticed the pile of scat twisted and waxy right in the center of the trail.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Twisted. Is it supposed to

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm. I,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Okay.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

yeah. Ew.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Okay. Like the poop emoji.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

the poop emoji.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I immediately became intensely aware of my surroundings, and as I looked around, I started kicking myself for not noticing the gouge marks on the Ponderosa almost directly in front of me. Parenthetical. I posted the pictures last year, so they're on my profile if you're interested. There was a puma nearby At this point, I stood and began to gauge how much sunlight I had left. Not much. I had planned to get to the cave half an hour or so before the bats became most active, so I was miles from my car. I had a headlamp bear spray and a multi-tool on me, but as a five foot four woman, I was not confident that I could single-handedly fight off a hunger motivated puma. I turned on my heel and quickly began making my way back. The sun began to dip behind the ridge line, casting long cold shadows. I started feeling a little better. I was making good time and would probably make it back not too long after sundown, I slowed my pace a little. I actually felt a little embarrassed even though there was no one around. I had overreacted and ran like a little girl over some poop and a bad feeling. We've all been there.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

a puma in the area. I don't think that's overreacting.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I mean, Michael and I have seen plenty of bear poop while hiking, and we've been like a little scared. I don't, you know, whatever.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah, but like power in numbers. If it was just you alone and you saw

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I would be booking it. But you

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

because then,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

You wanna be confident and slow. I

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

was rounding a bend, lost in thought when I saw him. He was beautiful, but painfully thin, Sandy hair, nearly blending into the rock by behind him all sharp angles and hunger. From this distance, I could see that his black tip tail was twitching and thrashing. He was agitated, but he was so beautiful. He had himself positioned in profile to me, showing me the long, lean side of his bony body. But his head faced me ears, flat back, eyes

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Please tell me, this bitch does not take the opportunity to take a photo of this thing when she needs to be escaping.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

The photographer in me wanted so badly to put down my pack and start snapping photos,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I knew

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

like, God,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

what a shot. But I knew on a primal level that this cat had been actively hunting me and was beginning to close in. My heart was racing, and I felt like I was panicking. But looking back, I think I remained as calm and rational as I could have in the moment. I unzipped my jacket and pulled it open, trying to make myself look bigger as I slowly backed up. I yelled at him trying to be as big and bad and scary as I could, but he kept advancing. As I backed around the bend, I took the opportunity to quickly bend down and pick up several large rocks just in case I needed to throw them as a deterrent. Suddenly I heard a soft voice calling my name from Beyond the Trail. It sounded just like my grandmother who had all but raised me and my brother. She passed away back in 2005. She was the most important person in my life, and still I could hardly remember the sound of her voice, so it was jarring to hear her while all alone heart pounding on this dusty trail. then again, her soft voice floated toward me from the forest. This time more urgent, but just as warm and full of love. This time I could tell that it was coming from down a hill, beckoning me to come closer, torn between fear and instinct. I left the trail and followed the voice down the hill until I came to, to an arroyo. I didn't realize was there. I was still walking backwards, keeping my eye out for the puma. My grandmother kept calling my name at regular intervals and I continued to follow her voice. Then from the direction I came from, I heard a violent scuffle and a shriek. It sounded like something had either scared or attacked the puma that had been stalking me. I even still, my grandmother's voice continued to call me farther and farther away from that segment of trail, and I followed. She led me down the wash until I met the trail again. This time at a lower altitude, much closer to where I had left my car. There was no sign of the puma. All was quiet. When I got back to my car and unpacked, I felt the caress of the wind for just a moment, and I knew it was my grandmother saying goodbye. I was alone again and safe. That was probably the scariest moment of my life. And while I haven't heard her since, I do make sure to celebrate her often. Somehow she managed to continue taking care of me, even in death.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

The only time it is acceptable to follow a voice in the woods.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I'm walking backwards towards it. To keep your eye on the PU and just being like, well, I hope this isn't a

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

If you're gonna die either way, you know, it's kind of

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I'd rather it not be by Puma,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

yeah,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

hungry. Puma too. They will

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Starved Puma. Yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

violent, violent death.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Hey, hey. What attacked the puma? Was it the grandma? I

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Was it the grandma? don't know

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

was it a bigger beast?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Who's to say something?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I'd like to think that grandma, because grandma's beyond in the spirit realm, can see and knows about other things in the spirit realm and there's some sort of forest entity and perhaps she was able to bargain with whatever spirit was in the

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

a solid real

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

of this puma.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

badder. Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah.'cause I don't think some little grandma, even though grandmas are super powerful, um,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

with their grandkids in

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

don't think that she can both beckon and attack a puma at the same time. All due respect,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

are mysterious. She's throwing her voice and she's like, punching the puma.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

B, B, B take that. He's just like rare

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

away from my granddaughter. Big stupid cat.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

the scruff. She's like, get the fuck outta here.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

tosses him.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

So the first time that I went hiking in Colorado, I. I went with my friend and I think I, I told Sky, I had horrible altitude sickness. I was like throwing up on the trail. This like, old woman was power walking up past me. but so we, we spent like a day in the forest and it was gorgeous. It was beautiful. But then when we got back, my friend's partner said, that there had recently been a cougar attack, like a mountain lion had attacked someone, like a skinny adolescent male that had been starving. Um, and they had to like, fight them off to the death, literally the weekend before we went.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Awesome.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And I was like, why didn't you tell me that before we went out? You waited until,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

would've been scared the whole

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

then you

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

up. Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I, was so sick. I had altitude sick because I had landed at like two in the morning and then we got up at like six to go hike.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

That's crazy.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

my friend, Sky's already met her, at like crazy house parties in college. But she was just like giving me Twizzlerss to eat. She's like, here, you need to settle your stomach. Here are some twizzlerss. And I'm just like throwing up twizzlerss on this trail.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh, chunky.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

waxy red. gross.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

have been able to fight off a cougar In that

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

No, neither of us would've, she weighs like fucking 95 pounds

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I started laughing at the bit where she opens up her jacket to make herself bigger. cause it I know. And it reminded me of a story that Sky said about one of Michael's last, like solo camping trips where there like was a black bear in the area and he's shirtless and yelling. I still see you bitch at it to like scare it away. And it just reminded me of that. And I was like, oh, he's so silly.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

take down a full grown bear.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

And I, you know what? He's convinced me. I think he could.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

He

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

really think he could.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

it's like, all right.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

He doesn't have the fear.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah. I almost did a fucking topic on bears attacking and I was like, I don't, I mean,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

could take a black bear, I think unless it was hunting.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

bear and that's it. Yeah. black bear. and smaller. I can take it.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh, did I say the username of that one? I didn't. I didn't. Okay. Uh, so that was by user Gabby, do 1, 2 3.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Gabby Doo.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

1, 2, 3.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

All right.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Gabby do Scooby dooby doo. okay. So this one was posted by user Dr. SC 19 87, on backwards. Creepy r slash

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Creepy.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

the scariest subreddit of them all.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

That's not true. The scariest one is male living spaces.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh, retaining. Uh,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Anyway,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

okay. So this was like not a response to another post. This was the actual, yeah. Original post.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Okay.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I wasn't going to post this. I've had weird things happen while hiking. Animal encounters, sudden weather shifts. The occasional, did I just hear something kind of moment, but this was different. I can't explain it away. And the worst part is it happened in broad daylight, which sucks shit because daytime is supposed to be safe, right? This was about three weeks ago. I was solo hiking, a section of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina, just south of the Smokies, near standing Indian remote area, mid-September. Cool weather, clear skies, a little early color in the leaves. Basically ideal hiking conditions. I was two days into a three day loop. I'd seen maybe three other hikers total. I started early that second morning and had knocked out a good chunk of miles by 11:00 AM when I hit a ridge. That offered a pretty incredible view. I stopped to eat a snack and rest my legs. That's when I noticed something weird. The forest had gone completely silent at first. I chalked it up to elevation or wind direction, but then I realized I hadn't heard a single bird in over 10 minutes. No bugs, no squirrels, nothing. Just the occasional creek of trees swaying slightly. It wasn't peaceful. It felt held back like the forest was waiting for something. Still. I kept going. I've experienced pockets of silence before it happens. But then about a mile later, I noticed a side path. It wasn't on my map. No trail markers, no signs, just a narrow track leading downhill into thicker woods with a piece of red ribbon tied to a low branch. It looked old, faded and fray, but the trail itself was clearly used, worn dirt, broken branches, but it had a kind of unnerving symmetry to it. I stood there longer than I should have. Something about it felt wrong. I had no intention of following it, but I leaned in closer to take a look at the ribbon just because it struck me as odd. That's when I heard it. Then my name clear as day, a man's voice, maybe 30 to 40 feet off the trail beyond the ribbon. I froze. No one should know my name out here. I hadn't passed anyone. I hadn't talked to another person since yesterday afternoon. I called out. Who's there? No answer, just silence. I waited thinking maybe someone had gotten lost. I was about to ask again when I heard the voice again, only this time it was closer and different. Ben, Hey, over here. It was my friend, Tyler's voice. Same pitch, same rhythm, same way. He talks when he is found a good campsite or cool overlook. But Tyler wasn't on this trip. He was recovering from ACL surgery back home in Florida. He sure as hell wasn't in the woods of North Carolina. I backed away from the trail junction stomach in knots. Then I heard footsteps not running, not hurried, just steady movement through the brush coming toward the trail. Ben, the voice said again, come check this out. Still Tyler's voice, still friendly, still fake. Something about it was just off like it was trying to imitate the casual way a friend talks, but there was no real person behind it. It was hollow practiced, and then the voice changed. I swear to God, it became my mom's voice. Sweetheart. She said, are you out here? It wasn't panicked. It wasn't even loud. It was soft. Like she was in the kitchen calling me for dinner when I was a kid. That's when the hair on the back of my neck went up because it didn't just sound like her. It sounded like a memory of her the way she sounded. When I was 10, I started moving fast. I didn't run, but I picked up my pace and didn't look back. Every so often, I'd hear movement in the brush beside the trail, just off to the left, then off to the right, never visible, just out of sight, and the voices kept going. Tyler again. Then my dad, then my own voice. Then it said, wait up flat off key. Too slow between the words. I nearly lost it when I heard it say in my voice, you're going the wrong way. because that line, it sounded excited, not helpful, not concerned, eager, like whatever it was, thought it was finally wearing me down. I didn't respond, just kept walking every step. My legs felt heavier, like the trail was dragging on longer than it should. The woods didn't even look the same. The trees seemed taller, closer together, like they were leaning in. After maybe another two miles, I started hearing birds again. Just a single chirp at first, then more a squirrel ran across the trail and I nearly cried. I don't know what it was. I wanna say that I don't want to know, but I'd be lying. I almost feel like I need to know, and I wanna go back and find out, but I know that would be idiotic.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. Hey, Don't do that.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

do that. Has this ever happened to anyone before? And did you have weird dreams after? If anyone has information, I'd really appreciate it because my resolve is wearing thin and I think I may need to go back if I don't get some clarity,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

No, Ben.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

and This is the one

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

comments were disabled.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

all the comments were deleted. Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Because they were all like, Hey idiot,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Hey don't.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

your fucking blessings that you

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah, it's from like 10 years ago and people replied, there were 14 comments, but all of them were deleted.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Not

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

He said, I don't like that

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I mean, it's usually, I think that happens on Reddit when like users are no longer, like their

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

or something. I don't know,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Oh. Either way, Ben's dead. I don't care.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I don't know

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

uh,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

what happened.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

my deepest, most primal fear is that I will be in the woods someday and it will just go quiet. That is my greatest fear.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

uncommon like with

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

No. Yeah. like understandable phenomenon like that where I know something is coming, but if I just hear out of nowhere, nothing for a prolonged period, like the whole woods is whole. Its breath and like bracing.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

that he entered like a pocket dimension though?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I don't, it seems like something Faye

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

the map. That weird trail that was old as fuck

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

How did It have all those voices?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

It got into his head

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

know, my dad, my mom, My friend Tyler,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

ACL torn.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

bro Tyler's in Florida.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

He's recovering. Leave him out of this.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

keep Tyler's name outta your goddamn mouth. Keep his voice outta your mouth.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

how scary must it be? If you're on a trail and someone is genuinely calling you, like there's really a real person who sees you and you're like, oh fuck, you're like booking it away. But then there's genuinely someone who's like, poppy, hey, I wasn't expecting to see you. And you're like, oh God. And you're like, Hey, sorry

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

you, but I was really fucking

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I mean, they should know better than to call out somebody's name on the trail at a large distance. You wait till you're closer and I can see you in my line of sight.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Fair enough.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

it though?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Absolutely not. What's the, what's that one? Appalachian hiking hack? Hiking rule where it's like, if you hear your name, no,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I absolutely not. The second I hear my name called out in the woods, I'm going home.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

This dude was on a three day fucking trip. He was on a loop. It doesn't say because it, it was gonna take him three full days. I'm like, did you camp that night? What happened after that?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

of course. You had weird dreams, dude.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah. And he didn't even talk about the dreams. I'm like, what were your dreams about?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah. Ben, come back, make a follow up post. Make an update.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

No update because he went back out.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

He went back'cause he was

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

He didn't get any satisfying answers, I guess. And the last time he heard the voice, it was like feeling like it

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

you're going the wrong way.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

the

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

he was like, someone talk me off the ledge.'cause I feel like I need to go back, basically, is what he's

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

could,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

No,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

guess

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

crazy.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

speculation.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

RIP Ben,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Rest in peace. RIP, Ben

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

like joining the other fucking like 8,000 people that disappear from national parks.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Ooh, wow.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Nope.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

posts from Ben after that. That was the last post.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Wow. I'm feeling thoroughly spooked

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I'm feeling pretty creeped out dude. I'm feeling pretty upset actually.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

it's Sky's turn. We'll see what she has in

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

for us now.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I have no intention of going into the woods, let alone, alone.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I, like to go into the woods. I'll go alone during the daytime, but they're woods I'm very familiar with and they're very

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

trail

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

No,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

the next time you do, you're gonna be like looking over your shoulder. It's gonna go river.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

And I'm gonna go and that was a beautiful walk. We just had. Let's go on home.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Pick up the pace. Your cute little

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Also, the woods. I go to the trails, like there are generally, I see at least like a few people

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah, but what if you didn't?'cause some of the stories were like, usually there's a lot of people on this

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Sometimes I'll be, when I go early enough on certain days, sometimes, especially now that school's back in, sometimes I don't see people the whole time and I don't realize it until after I get in my car to go home and I go, Hmm, that's kind of spooky.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Right. I'm so ready to pass this, Big old walk-in, stick

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Let's go walk and stick.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

All right. As promised, I'm gonna put you in peril.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Woo.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I forgot. Fuck, I forgot.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

so if you could me the honor of closing your eyes, pressure crushes your chest. You're floating, but it feels like you're drowning. A suffocating cold, a thick, heavy blackness. What happened? You don't remember anything. Not even your name. A flash of red, a warning, an omen. The sky, blood crimson. A mirror of the gore that would later stain the churning. Sea blood. The taste of salt and iron on your tongue screams, choked, gurgling, cries ripped from a dozen throats. Captain, a voice, a final, desperate echo. Then it all comes rushing back your life, your command, your ship, a ship you seized five years ago. Now a phantom in your mind, your crew gone. Another stain of red, a sickening memory of writhing tentacles, A flash of a massive unblinking eye. That creature, your memories crash over you in a tidal wave, and you claw at the darkness desperately trying to find a handhold, a surface, anything to tell you where you are. But there's nothing. Just the silence of the black, the dense, heavy silence that presses down on you from all sides, a paralyzing dread seizes you colder than the abyss. You realize the truth. You're dead not in the peaceful, silent way. You're trapped aware and alone in the crushing darkness of the deep, you've reached every sailor's final, damning nightmare, Davy Jones's locker. So you may open your eyes. I have talked to the two of you before about pirates and potentially talking about pirates. I am not necessarily talking about pirates today because there is too much to cover. There are many famous pirates and their history and legends, and there's the golden age of pirates, et cetera, et cetera. However, what I am interested in is Maritime myths and legends So, I will be talking to you today about two myths and legends. the first of which is who is Davey Jones? And what is the fucking deal with his locker? What is that?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

He's the hot squid man from the Pirates of the Caribbean.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah, who is he? No, I'm not talking about him. I'm talking about the quote unquote real Davey Jones. thoughts on that? Or is this what you were expecting from me?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I was not expecting this. No.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I was just gonna say,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I wasn't expecting pirates, but I'm delighted.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Good.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

know, the deep sea scares

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh, if the Deep Sea doesn't scare you, there's something deeply wrong with you.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I mean, pirates are,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

That's why I, that's why I picked it for our Halloween episode. I was like, you know, it's not necessarily, I guess it is a little bit paranormal, but it's not paranormal in the same way that we normally think about it. It's just sort of the mystery, the way that the ocean has a mind of its own,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Uncontrollable

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

the symbolism of it being like the subconscious and also of death. So I feel like it's often forgotten and not really talked about

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

because we're not on ships like we

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

no, we're not on ships like we used to be.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

With no communication with the outside world. Like if you went down, you're down, and that's it.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And you become a

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

And if you don't reach port at a certain time, they're like, well, I guess they died.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

bears, the terror. Have you guys read The Terror by Dan Simmons?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

No. Is it about polar

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

No. It's about the terror and the, the and like it, it was like a real polar expedition that they went on and it's like they got stuck in this ice for multiple winters and the people back in Europe didn't even go out to look for them until they hadn't heard from them for like two years. cause that's just like how it goes. They're like, oh, if I don't hear from you in two years, I'll come looking for you. You know?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So scary. So there's a few different theories on who Davey Jones was or where the name Davey Jones comes from. one of which was like a guy who owned a bar and would put sailors in a locker or something.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

If they didn't pay their tab.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

like a drunk tank or,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I think so.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

okay.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

something like that.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

He said you're cut off. Get in the locker.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I guess if they got rowdy or something. Maybe he hated

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I didn't go down that rabbit hole.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

hole.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

but it appears that the whitest agreed upon theory as that originally Jones, the last name Jones, was originally Jonah from the Bible.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Jonah in the whale?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Correct. Well, it's a fish, but yes.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Whale fish. They both live in the ocean.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So quick recap about Jonah Disobeys. God, he gets on a ship. There's a big storm. The sailors blame Jonah for causing the storm. They throw him overboard'cause they're like, what the fuck, dude? You caused this big ass storm because you disobeyed God. Get the fuck outta here. And then God tells a fish to swallow Jonah and put him on in underwater timeout. And then Jonah feels foolish and praised to be let out of fish tummy jail. So he's like, I'm so sorry. I did not mean it. God, I will do anything.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

ways now.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah, yeah.'cause God was like, you need to go to this city. And Jonah was like, I'm not going to that fucking city. I'm gonna get on this ship and go away from my divine

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

there was a big storm and then the sailors got

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

not my dad. You can't tell me what to do. And

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

actually, Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah. So that's just a very, very generalized recap of Jonah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I did wanna quote part of Jonah's prayer because I thought it was interesting, from the book of Jonah chapter two verses five and six, and I quoted the New American standard version water encompassed me to the point of death. The deep float around me, seaweed was wrapped around my head. I descended to the base of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever. And I wanted to quote that part because the bars may be indicative of the locker sort of thing. Like that might be where it's sort of like the vessel, the jail, the sort of underwater.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

The container.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yes, exactly.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah. Not like a high school. Like put your books in at

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

No,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

no,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

room. Locker.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

no. So sailors likely took this section and related it to drowning and sinking ships naturally. a locker is a place where you keep something personal, the sea is keeping your soul when you drown, you know, it's easy to relate and see why Jonah, it seems to be the, uh, the source for who would later become Davey Jones. any questions on that? That is my first myth.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

it's really cool.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Thank

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's neat, spooky.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Really scary. It's like. I would hate it so much, and I would never, ever, ever want to be on one of those

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

wanna drown. I don't ever

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

want to be on a ship in the 18th, 19th century ever, Or before. Absolutely. Especially before. Yeah. But at the same time, it is such a romantic notion, like it's such a romantic image of freedom. You and the, and it was not like that at all. Like you're suffering, you are on the

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

You have scurvy, your teeth are falling out. You have

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

rats.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

ship because there's nothing else available to you.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. you're running away from something

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

yeah, I originally started with the intention to maybe do pirates

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I might do it later because it is really, really interesting. apparently it started, oh, I can't even remember because I didn't write it in my notes. Obviously I didn't do it, but it started a lot of pirate, like the golden age of pirates started. Forgive me if this is incorrect.'cause this is just off the top of my dome. I forget what the term is. I wanna say it's privateers and there's also buccaneers. So basically these people were hired through the military. And the military or the crown or the government or whoever would say, I need you to go ransack this enemy ship. And your payment is whatever spoils you can find on board. So like, we're not gonna pay you, but there's this merchant ship. Correct? Yes. But we need them, we just hate whatever, whoever these people were. And so pirates came about when their contract would end and they would just continue ransacking ships

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

is a sweet gig. Let's just do it.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

yeah, and sometimes they would turn on their own nationality, like their own country and they would just continue doing it because they were like, yeah.'cause they were like, this pays better than being in the Navy

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

doesn't pay shit.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And it's a career too. Like you

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

that just becomes your life. And it's like

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

a captain.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

you turn like from a nautical, mercenary to a viking. There's like the brotherhood aspect.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh, I would hate to get ransacked by

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So that was just, I'm really fascinated by all of that kind of stuff, but it's just too much history, too many individual black beard and, and others of the like, and there were a couple of really interesting, female pirates as

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

to pretend to

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

that would whip her Tia out to be like, you're

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Anyway, um, so both of the myths that I'm talking about today, I only really know, or first found out about, uh, through SpongeBob.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Okay.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So David Jones locker, obviously, like as a child before the

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

That was early SpongeBob?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

They're still making SpongeBob, by the way.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I know,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

SpongeBob spinoff now,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I know.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

spinoff?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

they're like at camp, their children or some shit. Yeah. It's like Looney

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Oh,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

babies, but SpongeBob,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh, don't know. I don't like that.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So can anyone guess what my other nautical myth that I'll be covering is through the SpongeBob Hint?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Through the SpongeBob verse. Gimme a moment. It's

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Alaskan bull worm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

wasn't in SpongeBob. Oh,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

No, No, the Kraken. The

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

SpongeBob.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Uhuh. You give up

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

River's cooking?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

is it? The nuclear testing that they did in Bikini at all. Okay. Nevermind.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I'll be talking to you all about the Flying Dutchman.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh, yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

the Flying Dutchman?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

The

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

at tying knots.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Jones's ship, right?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

probably.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

it was. I don't know why I remember that.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So what's the deal with the Flying Dutchman?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Tell me,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

a ghost ship.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I love the concept of ghost ships.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I love a ghost ship. Is it a mirage? Who knows. So it is a ghost ship condemned to roam the seas forever, to never take pork.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

any sightings of it are reported to be a bad omen. So if you are sailing in a long. The horizon. You see a ship, especially nowadays, like people don't, it's got like the sails and everything.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It if you see an

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

ships

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

ass

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Do they fly colors? Like, because the whole thing when you're sailing, the other ship in site will fly its colors, like put down its flag so you

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

the identity of the

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Like does it have colors?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I don't think so. It like, from my research, it seems that it's just sort of this almost black and white mirage of a ship, just like non-descript But for some reason everyone, even back in the day, who saw it, like they just knew that it was the flying Dutchman. but the ship was actually likely not called the Flying Dutchman. but it was likely named that because the ship itself may have been from the Netherlands.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

They made the

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So a Dutch ship. Yeah. So traveling down past the tip of South Africa there towards Asia. So that is how people from the Netherlands and to Europe would go towards Asia would be down past Africa.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

is that

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Cape of Good Hope.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Okay.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

The Cape of Good Hope is sort of the southern most tip in South Africa. Yeah. But that area at the southern, like South Africa, it is famous for having violent storms. And I looked into it and it's because there are two air currents east and west of Africa. So coming down south on the east side of Africa and on the west side of Africa there, one is hot and one is cold. And they sort of meet up together at the southern tip of Africa to cause swirling. Yeah, like almost like a hurricane type situation, but like pretty regularly. and I have a quote from NPR about the flying Dutchman and there's sort of a, um, a tail or a legend attached to it. So from NPR it says, the Flying Dutchman was a sea captain who once found himself struggling to round the Cape of Good hope during a ferocious storm. He swore that he would succeed even if he had to sail until judgment day. The devil heard his oath and took him up on it. The Dutchman was condemned to stay at sea forever. His only hope for salvation was to find a woman who loved him enough to declare herself faithful to the Dutchman for life no matter what to top it off. He could only stop sailing once every seven years to go ashore and search for that one. True love.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

There is a opera written by Richard Wagner titled The Flying Dutchman. Are you

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

yeah. All, I mean, olive Wagner, like, it's very, all of his music is very intense

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Oh, true. He is German. I guess it is probably pronounced Wagner.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah. Wagner. Yeah. Also like to love a sailor, to commit yourself to someone that you will not see for most of your life.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah. Mm-hmm. yeah. When you're a sailor, you're married to the

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah. Your whatever woman, you, woman you have waiting for you back on land, she will always be second to the lifestyle to that rock star.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's like marrying a truck

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

And you get one day every seven years, they don't have Tinder, they don't have hinge.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

crazy.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

saying to get a woman to commit to you in one day.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

full disclosure, I did not read the entire opera, or I did not

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

or anything. It's

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

German. but I did just kind of like briefly skim over the English translation of the Flying Dutchman, and I kind of skipped to the end'cause I was like, what? And I kind of like wanted a synopsis of like, I'm like, what, what happens in this? So it's basically like about this woman who basically ends up falling in love the, the Dutchman, like this spooky ship comes to Port and her dad convinces her to marry the Dutchman. But then like, there's this other guy and who she originally was in love with or something. And then there's a conversation where I guess it seems like she is genuinely in love with the Dutchman, but the Dutchman overhears a conversation with this other man that makes him think that she's lying or she's faking it. So he's about to leave and he's like, well, I guess I'll just be, I'll be on my merry way. cause obviously this is not the woman. And as he's leaving, people are trying to hold her. She's running after him, his ship is leaving port she jumps off of a cliff into the ocean.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

to say, does she fling herself into the sea?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

She flinks herself into the sea. She breaks the curse, but they don't get to like live happily ever after. Breaking the curse for them just means that the Dutchman gets to die at peace.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So they, so they both just die at the end. Spoilers for the Flying Dutchman Opera. That's the, i I, again, it was a quick skim that I did, so I may have gotten some of that wrong. But more or less, it's just a really dramatic, like, back and

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

end they die. Any questions about the flying Dutchman? I

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

it's so aggressively sad, but also so romantic.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Unfortunately. Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Anytime the fucking ocean's involved, it's like, oh, oh

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's just something deep in our DNA in our bones is like objectively, that sucks. Realistically, that would suck,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And it's one of those things where it's like. If you can't have something, if something is out of reach, it becomes

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

it makes you want it more. Yeah. The longing, the yearning, the torture.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Gorgeous.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

All right, well, I'll close up my little section. So what do these tales of Davey Jones locker and the Flying Dutchman have to do with Halloween? Well, beyond the obvious connection to the supernatural, these legends embody the fear of the unknown, the consequences of curses. And the eternal struggle between life and death. There are stories of souls lost to the sea, specters haunting the waves. And a reminder that the line between worlds can be very thin, especially on a night when the veil between them is said to be at its thinnest. Just as we dawn costumes and embrace the spooky side of life on Halloween, these maritime myths offer a glimpse into the darkness that lies beneath the surface, reminding us that some spirits are never truly at rest.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Woo.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So I have taken my sticky sap covered baton that poppy

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Dipped it in the sea.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Dipped it in the sea.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Now it's driftwood.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

It's drifted wood now.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's covered in seaweed. There's a couple of barnacles maybe. So watch out. Don't cut your hands on the barnacles.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

oh. oh.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So, and I will be handing that off to river.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I don't mind if I do, because I'm gonna take that piece of driftwood and I'm gonna, I'm gonna chop off a little piece of it and I'm gonna carve a little planchet out

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Oh my God.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

about Ouija

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Hell yeah. I was so close to doing a topic on Ouija boards.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Don't. Because I'm doing it I'm doing it right now. It has to be it. It literally has to be. All right. So today I was thinking about some other little half-baked ideas I had for spooky scary fright. Tober Halloween, capital H Halloween episode that comes out the day before Halloween. I am a weenie and I was like, these ideas are good. And then I had a brain blast. I was lying on the ground. My legs are up the wall. I'm doing little stretches and I'm just thinking as I do, it's going right to my brain. I'm thinking better than ever before. And I was like, oh my God, I should do one about weedy boards'cause fun. Uh, river fact, I am terrified of Ouija boards and I don't fuck with them.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

boards are rivers, polar bears.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah, you If, if there is a Ouija board in a room, I'm not going in that room. I'm sorry. That's just how it goes,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

There is one in my house, just by the way,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

we were saying What What

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

that.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

where you were like, we should just get a Ouija board. And it was like, have you gone

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

must have been acting crazy that day. I must have been insane that day. I don't know.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I think that was what we were talking about last year's Soen gathering.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh yeah. It's a different, because like spoiler alert for like Ouija board etiquette, you're not supposed to use it alone. I would feel probably safest using it with the two of you because we are so spiritually protected and divinely blessed and powerful. I would not fuck with it with anybody else. I think that's why I was like, feeling silly enough. Why not

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I'm down whenever

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Well, we'll see. I'm back on my no Ouija board. Bullshit.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

It's a

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I'm anti Ouija board once again.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Jackson once said.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. And yet you own one and you have one in your house.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

We will, I'll talk about it later.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

anything can

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

We'll get into it. We'll get into it literally, really, truly, and we'll see that. But Ouija boards, witch boards, talking boards, they've been called many things. They've been through various iterations. You can make a Ouija board essentially out of anything. You can make it out of paper and like a little plastic cup. You can have one of the fancy wooden ones that have like wood carved letters and numbers into it. You can get the plastic ones, it can be anything, the earliest written account we have of this type of divination through medium writing. Channeling. Automatic writing goes back to the Song Dynasty in China, uh, between, yeah, 960 to 1,279 ad long ass time ago. And it was called Fuji Writing. And it would be either one medium or a group of participants would try to channel either a god, an ancestor or just a spirit they wanted to contact. And they would write messages either with like a pencil or a stylus in a suspended sea that was fold with incense, ash, or sand or rice or something like that. Kinda like an ET sketch. You like shake it to clear it, and then you can write in it and shake it again. So that's the oldest account we have of this type of medium ship. And like I said, it's gone through many variations. Garnet is going crazy, looking her chops right next to me. She is a right next to my mic, right next to my webcam, and she's my emotional support animal right now, and I need her. So thank you. But like I said, many different iterations and variations of the Ouija board how has it gone from, you know, Fuji writing to witch boards, to a tool for spiritualists in the Victorian era to an ooky spooky sleepover game that you're playing with your little friends on a dark and stormy night with candles to this portal for demonic possession that is known as today? Naturally, we have to start at the Victorian era because the Victorians were nuts about spiritualism, as we have heard already from the two Victorian episodes that pop's already done. I don't remember what numbers they were. 10 and 11. Go listen to'em. They're very good. You can hear all about their obsession with death and the afterlife and what happens when you die and wanting to contact deceased loved ones, the

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Calm,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

the drama, the spectacle of it, all

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Nine and 10, not 10 and

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

nine and 10. Go listen to, I'm sure episode 11 is also pretty good. Go listen to that one too.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

so.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

That's a really good one. Go listen to that one. So the Victorians are obsessed with the concept and the idea and the act of death, especially with the rise of traveling seances and mediums that were going on in that era.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

bring that back. Where

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Some of them, they, I mean they got'em like Long Island Medium, that dude Tyler who's like celebrity psychics and I'm sure much like these mediums back in those day, I'm sure some of them were legit and actually properly channeling and I'm so sure that some of them were just a cash grab. Taking advantage of vulnerable and grieving people vis-a-vis the Long Island medium. I literally have that in my note cause I was like, Theresa Caputo, who is like been debunked as a hack fraud multiple times. Can't stand that bitch.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Hair's so big.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I'm not gonna, I was gonna say like after my dad died, my mom in like a state of grief was like, I considered reaching out to her just to like contact him. And I was like, don't do that. Do not anybody that has made a career, quote unquote outta being a medium, do not trust'em.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

well. You can have a career, but just not like a TV show, you know

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

You're, yeah. If you're a glorified TV personality, doing hot and cold readings with a team of people that can look up a client,'cause you have to give them all of your information to like make an appointment or book with them. I don't trust you inherently. I'm sorry. Yeah. If you have my information, you can look up my Facebook page, my family members, my life updates. I'm not gonna believe anything you tell me.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

A they wanna

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I'm seeing a, a man has a man in your life ever died and it's like, yeah, that's, it's people die

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Or like, who's that guy who, that he had like a TV show and there was like a studio audience and he would just say shit like. I'm getting the letter. H was someone in a car crash? Who, whose name starts with the letter H. Like it would just be so

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

with like

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

that's literally hot and cold readings. Yeah. You just throw out vague information and you also have plants in the audience that are like, yeah, for sure There was an H car crash in my life. So I just, I don't trust mediums that have production teams. That's my little rant.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

though, in real

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Absolutely. And they, in my experience personally, legitimate sensitive mediums of people that have like psychic abilities are not like boasting about it. it's just a thing. No, it just comes to you sometimes. Yeah. back to the Victorian era. spiritualism back then wasn't really tightly associated with the occult that it is today. There were like overlapping circles Later in time you had Alistair Crowley, who was also very into Ouija boards and spiritualism. I'm not gonna be touching on him'cause that's an episode in itself and I simply did not have the time or desire to fall down that particular rabbit hole. Hey, nose goes, not me, it's one of you two.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

But, um, seances were super popular way back in the day and. It wasn't seen as Satanic. It was like a fairly common way to deal with grief when lifespans were significantly shorter to both medicine being in the state that it was, and people constantly contracting diseases and not having medicine to actually help them. And also wars, civil War, world War I, you're sending off your loved ones and you might not ever see or hear from them again, not knowing what happened to them

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And there are plenty of ghosts in the Bible too.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. especially in the Victorian era, people were like, this is fine with my Christianity. I'll hold the seance on Saturday. I'll go to church on Sunday. I'm not doing anything bad. This is like a form of entertainment and socialization and like closure. So that's really, that's what it was used for a lot of the time, was dealing with grief and getting any sort of closure, even if it wasn't always legitimate or true. People don't always care that it's true. They just want something to believe and hold onto. So now this takes us to Ohio. Stay with me now. I know nobody likes going to Ohio. I'm sorry if you're listening and you're in Ohio, I'm sorry, but we have to go to Ohio because in the 1880s, late 18 hundreds, a lot of spiritualist camps started popping up in Ohio. I'm not sure why specifically Ohio, but there was a large configuration of the spiritual movement in Ohio, and one of the most famous spiritual rooms in Ohio belonged to one. Jonathan Koons, a former Pennsylvania farmer, turned medium, I guess.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Good for him.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah, he had heard, an article or a story about two sisters, the Fox sisters who lived in New York and they started hearing rapping, iconic, classic medium story, Fox, the two of'em. But

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

hoaxing people.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

mean, one of the many, yeah, one of the many hoaxes. But they heard they heard wrappings on the walls and they were like spirits communicating with us, obviously. And he was intrigued. And he started going to seances around Ohio. And apparently through many of those seances, he was told by spirits that he was a gifted medium. And having that big compliment given to him, he decided to build a cabin on his property that could accommodate about 20 people at a time. And he, yeah. And you know, he was charging and, you know, he was charging money for this shit. Um, but he outfitted it with all kinds of musical instruments that the dead could communicate through. We got banjos, we got drums, we got tambourines, we got cymbals, we got harps. We got little trumpets that apparently the spirits could blow through, but also give lectures through. They were using it as like a telephone. Yeah, it was, it was a little bit silly.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

musical instrument are you guys communicating through

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Harmonica.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh, what's that one? It's like an Amato phone. It's like a little music note and you like, you like squeeze the face at the bottom. Yeah. Like, it

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

note, but a face. Yeah. wanna be one of those

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Cute.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

No, harmonica

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

classic.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

instruments, the cello. I feel like that would be very difficult though.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

so

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

so big.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.'cause

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

need a lot of spiritual power to

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. You need two other ghosts helping you hold it up. But they were also like, they were propped up in the cabin for you, so it wasn't like they had to pick it up and like play the guitar. They weren't playing Wonder Wall real quick.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

like pluck a string like

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. It was like very limited, which is why people wanted a different way to communicate because this way it's slow. It takes a long time to get an answer. It's a, you know, knock once for, yes. Twice for no, you're shouting out the alphabet waiting to hear a knock on the right letter and then you're starting it over again to get a word that takes a long ass time. People don't wanna wait for that. Absolutely not. They wanted faster, more elaborate answers. They wanted to have a conversation with a ghost. So when a newspaper, well when newspapers generally,'cause it was a big deal'cause there was no patent on it yet. They started reporting on a new phenomenon, taking over these spiritualist camps. essentially it was a Ouija board for all intents and purposes. It was a tool. They had the alphabet written down on it, they had letters written out on it. They had something that could be moved to 0.2 to get a message out of, and it was a lot faster. and one of the people who saw this new development, this new technology was Charles Kenard, businessman, entrepreneur, and Freemason. It turns out, I'm not sure why he was a Freemason and he doesn't strike me as the type, but, uh, I feel like at that time all entrepreneurs and businessmen just kind of were. You know, but Charles, the little capitalist that he is, he saw business opportunity in this. He saw big dollar signs in his eyes for this. And uh, he gathered a few of his little capitalist friends to invest in this new venture to start the Kenard novelty company. And they were going to exclusively patent and distribute these new talking boards. But first, this talking board needs a name, it needs marketing, it needs a brand. utilizing the help of one of the investors', sister-in-laws whose name was Helen Peters, who was said to be a strong medium. The board apparently named itself because Helen was using it. And she asked the board, what should we call you? And it spelled out Ouija. And they asked, what does Ouija mean? And the board spelled out, good luck. And that was that. I don't know if it was saying good luck to them.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

It, an actual word? Like from any

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It, it's a little bit of a misconception'cause people think it comes from the French Yes. We and the German. Yes. Ya just like pushed together. we ya. Yes, Yes, yes, yes, But no, apparently this is where the name really comes from. And also Helen at the time was wearing a necklace that had a woman's name on it. And so the name was, I don't know how to pronounce it, but it's spelled almost identical to Ouija, but with a D instead of a J. So. I don't know if the board misread it or misinterpreted it or if it was just like, yeah, I like that name, but I'll change it a little bit. I have no idea.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I don't know where it comes from. Couldn't tell you how to pronounce it. So they're going to Patton, this new Ouija board, this ooky, spooky new tool. And obviously if you're trying to patent a board that lets you talk to ghosts, you have to prove that it works to get it patented.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Clinical trials.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Clinical trial. Well they just went to the patent office and the patent officer was like, Hey, prove it. Prove that it works right now.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So they did just a quick seance in the

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

they did a quick set. Helen Peters again, she was there to prove it'cause she's such a powerful medium and allegedly, supposedly in Minecraft. She did not know this patent officer's name. But who's to say'cause much like hot and cold readings, you can just get information about people such as their names when they are like

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

the local patent office. No less what? I'm sure there's like three of them tops. Yeah. But she allegedly didn't know and she using the board or the board using her, who's to say, spelled out the patent officer's name and he said, holy fuck patent approved for the price of$1 and 50 cents. I don't know how much money that is in today's money.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

You mean what? Like 1890?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. Thereabouts. I. Oh, that's not, oh, they made a fucking fortune off that$70. So it's awarded the patents, awarded their mass producing Ouija boards. The wheels of capitalism keeps spinning. Eventually the patent is acquired by the Parker Brothers, which is then acquired by Hasbro, which is why Hasbro owns the rights to Ouija boards, et cetera, et cetera. We live in a society,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

So it's Wei

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

and

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Wei G.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I, I even myself, go back and forth, I'll say Ouija board, but if I am like saying Ouija itself, I'll say Ouija.'cause

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

like, oh, I know how it's spelled, but people say Ouija,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah. I

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

thing that

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

again, I feel like it's a tomato, tomato thing. Yeah. So we've got this funny new little board game. We've got this funny new little toy that people are playing'cause it's marketed and patented as a novelty item and a toy. It's just a game for fun. So how the fuck has it become the portal to hell that it is today? This object of fear that makes so many people uncomfortable.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

when you're selling a haunted doll and you have to market

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. You gotta hype it up.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

only.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

You're like, it's definitely possessed by the devil,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

For entertainment

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

but only for fun.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

It is just like how this podcast is for infotainment purposes

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Sometimes you learn something. Mostly I'm talking about men being gay.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

making little funny, he

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

You never know what you're gonna get. So now we get to The Exorcist, of course. The book in the

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah, the Exorcist,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

by William Peter Blady.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

about to look it up. I'm like,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yep. William Peter Blandy. I literally, it's 20 feet away. It's one of my very favorite books. It's an incredible book. I like the movie. I love the book. It's not long. It doesn't take you a long time to get through it. Devastating. So good. So The Exorcist was really the first mainstream depiction of someone becoming possessed horrifically by a demon, by using a Ouija board. It doesn't help that the person getting possessed and the terrorists thrown upon them is a 12-year-old girl. Every, that's America's worst nightmare. Is a little white girl in trouble.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

of it all. Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

So The Exorcist really catapulted the Ouija board to the trajectory that it was put on being used by horror writers as a tool of the devil, a portal for demons to get you, et cetera, et cetera.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

So that's like a hundred years later though, right? Like it's

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

years after

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah. People really weren't concerned that much about demonic possession. There were a couple religious organizations, even back in like the Victorian era that were like, Hey, I don't use that. Hey, I'm pretty sure that's against God. And like, you shouldn't be using that'cause like divination is a sin or whatever. And like only God should have that information. And you're like, you're going to other sources than God heresy, et cetera, et cetera.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

to say I am not speaking to God through the board.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I am saying who's to say I'm not speaking to? We literally are all God. We are all divine. And we are all human. Yeah. So I think I'm good. So the church isn't loving the Ouija board right now. Especially like post Satanic

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Well, even when the, when when the Exorcist came out, it was like Mid Satanic panic.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

came out in 1970.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

The book came out. Yeah. 71 or two maybe.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

for accuracy.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Real life fact checking.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Exorcist was published May 5th, 1971,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Wow. One week before my birthday. 20 years before. Check that out.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

a Taurus.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's a to and you know what it is the drama. It is, So naturally the church isn't loving the Ouija board, especially since in the Exorcist, two Jesuit priests are killed while performing the exorcism. They're not

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

So the Satanic panic is happening. The Exorcist is popping off. People are now associating the Ouija board with demonic activity and spiritual upset and unrest and dangerous, et cetera. But even before Satanic Panic and The Exorcist was published, there were accounts and stories of Ouija induced psychosis and like even murders being influenced and encouraged via Ouija board. And these were in like the early 19

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I can definitely see like a Ouija board exacerbating, preexisting psychosis.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Unfortunately, spirituality can negatively affect your mental health if you are not taking care of yourself.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

bias.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yes.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

amplifier.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Especially if you think you are directly speaking to God and this is God's will to like murder your coworker or whatever.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

house, whatever.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. So it's not the Ouija board itself doing this. It's people have underlying mental health conditions that are not being treated and that's still happening to this very day. Nothing has changed. Time is a flat circle, but the spotlight that the Exorcist publications and movie did put on the Ouija board made the church take an official stance. And most, if not all churches, especially Christian churches, believe that all form of divination should be avoided It's very dangerous. It's not just a game, it's not a toy. Again, you're trying to gain unknown information from a separate source and that goes against God's will. Don't do it. In the early two thousands religious groups were hosting large bonfires to burn Ouija boards'cause they were like, we gotta get rid of it. It's evil. Even the plastic ones, literally all of'em. And you know, that shit smelled.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Related, but like, kind of a when I was a kid in the early two thousands, we went to those Halloween events where there's like a haunted hay ride and like mazes and stuff like that.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I went to one as a kid and there were literally protestors saying that we were like

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Because it's Satanic. Because Halloween is Satanic.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

chainsaw

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

on it,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

fun is of the devil.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Especially if you're a Jehovah's Witness.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

But it's like what I, you're literally worshiping something supernatural by design,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

anything else that's not this one particular

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Because my thing is

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

my thing is, right,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

right thing to

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

but it's like, what is then? Like the Holy Spirit, like you're reaching

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

And you literally, like with the rosary, one of like the blessings of the rosary is like divination. you are given information.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

a whole different strain because

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's a real pick and choose. It's a real, like what is magic and what is mystical?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

speaking in tongues. Yeah. You got like the Baptist,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Catholic. Yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

that's spookier than a fucking haunted

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

is but, but that is holy. That's the divinity coming into you.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Hm, hmm,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

But in a good way, but by something good, not evil. And that's the most important thing. So now at this point, when they are doing Ouija, board burnings. The general consensus. Everyday folks are going, oh, maybe there's something kind of yucky about a Ouija board. So the tide is turning. They're having more of a cautious attitude, especially when you now have the rise of, at this point, I'm sure over two dozen movies where Ouija boards are the entire plot device for evil to corrupt and possess and kill you movies including, but not limited to paranormal activity. One of seven paranormal activity movies. But a Ouija board is only in the first one. literal Ouija. We've got Ouija two Origin of Evil, the Ouija possession, Ouija Blood Ritual, the Ouija Experiment. The Ouija Experiment. Two Theater of Death, the Ouija exorcism, the list goes on. These things practically right themselves, and they almost always include Ouija in the title.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

And there's usually a little white girl who gets possessed or dies

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

almost always, she's the catalyst. This little white girl in trouble.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I just looked it up because I was curious. I was like, did the Warrens, like Ed and Lorraine Warren, did they use Ouija boards because they were, they were super Catholic? No, they actually didn't, they warned against the use of Ouija boards because they were like, they are Satanic. Yeah. So I could definitely see, because they were such big pop culture figures, I could see

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

to the,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Oh, for sure.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

toward them.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. You wanna talk about some other hack frauds? Bring up the Warrens. Sorry, to the Warren Estate, but they're all dead now.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I Have you seen the whole Annabelle thing? Like she's burning

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I have, yeah. Yeah. He died mysteriously, apparently it was like a heart

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

sure. Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. I have pulled four Reddit stories. They're all very short. tasty, stinky little Reddit sandwich for us today. Sky, if you'd like to retell your Ouija stories before I get into the Reddit of it all.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Do you want me to tell them now?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

So I guess I technically have three Ouija stories and we were discussing earlier that I have mentioned briefly some re um, some Reddit stories, some Ouija stories of mine.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

life Reddit stories.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

life read story and we said episode five, I think it was. So number one, I'll, I guess I'll go chronologically. Number one would be the one with my friend where she was pushing the planchet and made me think that my mother was having an affair with this other, our, our other friend's dad.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Real fucked up of her.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Real fucked up So that was not, like, I feel like if you push the planche and you like, make someone think something is being said, but it's

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

at the end of the night you reveal it.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

If you're intentionally playing a prank. Yes.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

You don't make me live my life for like a week or two or however long it was. Where, or,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

hands, not sleeping.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

and I have to go back to her and be like, I'm really worried about my mom and this other man. And then, and all of a sudden, like, she acts like I'm a fucking idiot. And she's like, well, I made that up, duh. And I'm like, girl, I was concerned. I thought the spirits, I thought the spirits were warning me anyway. Number two is the story with my aunt, where she had a, she got drunk and she wanted to, like, she knew a bunch of people who had died and she wanted to keep talking to her friends who had passed. And so, like, the plan check kept going to goodbye, goodbye. And obviously I don't know these people and the, it's working. This is like a real session. And she's like, oh, I know someone else who I wanna talk to, yada, yada yada. She's pushing it, she keeps pushing the board and saying, I wanna talk to somebody, asking questions, even though the plan check keeps going to goodbye. And then all of a sudden the ette starts spinning in a circle very, very quickly, very violently in the center of the board. and my aunt is so like, drunken out of it that she's just kind of like, not really registering, like she thinks it's like, I don't know, like a loading screen or something. Like, I think she just thinks it's like she's just waiting for words

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

downloading a big file.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

and, and I am, and I'm like, oh no,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

this is not good. This is not good. So I do take my hands off and I leave that session because I was like, well, I'm not gonna wait for like the devil to literally jump out of this board right now. I remember walking out of that room and turning around to see my aunt still drunk with the plan check going in a circle. I do recall like watching her, like it wasn't her pushing the board like the planchette around, like that was,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

were off.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

hands were still like, she had two

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I see. I thought it was rotating. I see it's, it's, moving

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

like finger blasting.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I see.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

correct. It's finger blasting. yeah, I think I mentioned the last time I told that story that we moved fairly shortly after that back out of state. and when we returned to visit family, probably a year or two later, we had discovered that that house had burned down.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

there was a house fire and the guy went in to save his wife and his child and they lived, but he died in the fire. I don't know how the fire started, but it was, it was. About a year after we left, that that had happened. Um, and I'm not saying that they're connected, but I'm just saying that that's

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah, but it

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

that both of those things happened at that house.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

the whole thing with needing to say goodbye at the end? Because that's like a big

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It closes, allegedly the door,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

don't say goodbye and end it, you're leaving it open for anything to come through.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah. So the board was trying to close itself when I was playing with my aunt. Like the, the board was like, so I think that she genuinely was contacting these friends that she knew. Like, I think that her

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

saying like, I don't have much more time. Like, that's all I can do. And they were saying goodbye. And my aunt was

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

up.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

the door open,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

And like having the door forced open.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

by can

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah. And it's, I, I don't, I, I assume in hindsight that there was no longer a person to connect to and that the door was just open.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's an open door. Anybody could walk through.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

she certainly did not close it properly.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

As drunk as she was. Ain't no

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

no absolutely not.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

No disrespect. I.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Uh, in story three, I made my own Ouija board, which I still own. I was living on my own. I had my, my old roommate was living with me. and I did play alone. I turned a shot glass upside down and used that as my planchette, and I successfully contacted my grandfather. So I talked to him. Uh, we had a nice conversation. I closed it out. I said goodbye. I've never used it again since, but I still own that. It's just I have a giant, um, mixed media, like extra large mixed media book that I have other paintings and such in, and it's just sort of within that big book. So it's not like its own separate thing.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It's tucked away.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

It's tucked away, but it's in my house still. Technically, technically there's a Ouija also. I technically have a, um, an altar cloth that has like the print of a Ouija board on it, which I guess in theory you could use. of the three of us, I am well versed in Oui.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

have the most

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

used it. I do have the most experience. that's why I say no, we shouldn't. and I'm not saying that every time is going to be a negative experience. And I think that we, I think that if we used a Ouija board, certain it would work and I'm certain that we would get a response

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I just don't know what it

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah. I, I know that we would be responsible enough to open and Close it properly. Um,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

measures in place.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

and I would be willing, if we were to do it, I would almost prefer if we did it at my house,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I would kind of like a little bit more control over the situation, if that makes sense.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Hey, I'm down. Next time I'm in town,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

that's sort of my, my take may perhaps, we'll, we will do an episode on, if we do a, a Ouija reading, we'll we will let you guys know. anyway,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

perhaps.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

let you get to your Reddit stories and I'll stop yapping.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yes. Some Continuing the theme of more Ouija stories. Most of them pretty short. One of them is like a few paragraphs. It's the longest one. This story comes from Reddit user. I'm a stay at home dad

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Okay.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

and. Stay at home. Dad says, not me, but my mom and dad. My brother is seven years older than me and the story goes like this. My parents rented a house that my mom's aunt and uncle owned in the late seventies. The aunt committed suicide in the early sixties in the back room of the top floor. Shortly after my brother was born, they decided to use a Ouija board to try and contact her aunt. After a few questions and inquiries, they asked a question that prompted the board to respond with Move Jay. My brother's name is Jason, goes by Jay. They moved his crib to their room. A short few days later, a massive storm caused a tree branch to crash through my brother's bedroom window. It landed where his crib would've been.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

That's awesome.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Not bad, not a bad experience. Yeah. Saved my baby pretty sick. Thank you for that. This next story comes from user Yeezy in the Pussycat pussy with two Z's instead of two S's

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Cats,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

pussycat, but cats with an S. Anyway, Yeezy says, my mom and her three friends were playing one and it spelled out for till no more. They didn't think anything of it. And then over the course of the next few months, one friend's brother overdosed. The second friend's dad passed away suddenly, and my mom and the fourth friend were in a deadly car accident where the driver who was their close friend did not survive. Afterwards. She had severe night terrors, mostly of a dark, evil figure, and my great grandmama had to do a cleansing on her to get them to subside. My mom still has scars on her hands from the accident and night terrors every once in a while to this day. It took literal years to get her to finally tell my sister and I, the story we were told, never to play with them, nor have we ever wanted to. Spooky stuff. One of the less ideal Ouija encounters

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Having bad luck befall you because you've used it. Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

'cause some dark evil entity has gone. Yeah. All right, door's open. Why not? I'll see. This is the longest story. It comes from user Katie Kat. 0 2 1 4. This happened in college, mid eighties. Best friend who is not yet. Then my roommate and I got to playing around with a homemade Ouija Dee and I made it out of basic notebook paper with a straw as a Planchet broke college days. Such fun. We got in touch with two spirits who claimed to be from World War ii, Jonathan and Wade being the dumb college kids, we were, we begged them to send us a sign they didn't want to. Said it would cost a lot of energy and might open a door to other less good spirits. No, no, we said, send us a sign. We log off. Go to sleep. Wake up, log off the board. Go to sleep. Wake up, go out, run errands. Return to the dorm room. Message light is blinking on now. Antique answering machine. Okay, scroll through. One message in the middle is Wade Ellipses loves ellipses. Katie, we know no Wades, no one in Dee's family in my family is named Wade. We had no friends, professors, fellow students named Wade, and so we proceeded to freak right out, replayed it, kept freaking out. OMG. This must be their sign. Then had the bright idea to bring over our best male buddy and let him hear it. He lived across the way in the boys' dorm. Dee and I run downstairs. She runs and gets Jay. We run back upstairs, message light's still blinking. We go to play the messages and that particular message in the middle is gone. Never came back. Q. More freaking out. QA stern warning from Jay about messing with Ouija boards. Dee and I keep doing it, but I noticed my hands going cold all the way up to my elbows. I felt drained, no energy. Then one weekend my roommate went home. I went out, returned home around dusk, walked in and the dorm was freezing cold in May in the deep south. I walked in and saw at the window a giant hand that knocked three times through the glass. We lived on the third floor. I took one giant step back, said nothing, thought nothing turned off the light, locked the door. Ran down to Dee's dorm room Q more freaking out. I told Dee, I'm spending the night here even if I have to go to sleep on the floor. We relaxed. Then I suddenly realized, crap, I need my contact solution in clothes. We have to go back. Dee said give it an hour or two more. So we did. We went back in. Room was completely normal. No heaviness, no freezing temps. Dee and I ripped up the homemade Ouija board, clipped the straw planche into pieces. Never did it again. I know what I saw. I saw a giant hand knocking on my window through the glass. It moved the window blinds on the inside, and we lived on the third floor. Something wanted in, never again. Horrifying.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

That's weird that it was coming from outside of the dorm. If they were doing all of

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. Maybe you had to be invited in if you're, if you're knocking on my door with a big ass hand, I'm not inviting you in

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

At least it was

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

fair. It was, it had the courtesy. Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

ass hand.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Ain't no way. This last story comes from user punk, pilly Wiggin. One time a ghost called me and my friend sluts, he was from the 1920s and didn't like the way we dressed, and that's probably my favorite story.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

it?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

awesome.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

That's it. One sentence. Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Who would you all wanna contact?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I don't know if I even have

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

nobody that I can't already,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

so bad? Who are you even trying to talk to?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I'm gonna get into why Ouija boards scare the fuck out of me in my closing section.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Okay,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I mostly just like feel the urge

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

out into the, into

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

have ways beyond Ouija boards to connect with

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

and deceased people. I don't need a Ouija board. I'm good.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

that, who that shadow creature was that ran across my living room.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

you could you could pull it out right now and do that why do Ouija boards scare me and why do I not fuck with them? I have fucked with the Ouija board exactly one time in my entire life, I was 13 or 14. Truly nothing happened. It was a real nothing burger of an experience. I was with two of my friends in middle school, nothing came through. Even though later one of the friends I was with tried to convince me and my other friend that she was possessed by a ghost girl around our same age for like a week. I don't think Ouija boards themselves as tools are inherently evil to me. All divination tools have personalities where an Oracle decks personality is distinct from a tarot deck personality, which is distinct from pendulum and dowsing rods, et cetera, et cetera. And to me, Ouija boards feel so incredibly neutral as a tool that I get the impression that they truly don't care if I live or die. So just anything can come through.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

intelligent. You know what I mean?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I just get neutrality, like intelligent, but like, I don't care. Yeah, that's what I'm saying, like.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

It's like a cell phone. It's not like a friend that's communi, like going in between

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

capabilities, but it does not care about me,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

deck. I feel like for the most part, if you have a

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

with your tarot deck, it's like

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

with my decks. I feel I know what's coming through my decks. I know what I'm talking to. Yeah. My deck cares about me.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

things in a way that's like, Hey

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Sometimes it hurts my

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

you, but Oh yeah, for sure.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah. It's filtered in a way that, never used one. But as far as you're saying, it seems like it just comes through like straight unfiltered, like

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

It's

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yes. Just as is. There's no filter.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm very specific about what I invite into my home. I am not, I'm not leaving my doors open for nothing. If I don't want you in my home, you're not coming into my home.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

It'd be more interesting to do it in my home because I don't close all my doors.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

have those barriers that I do.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

about pendulums? Do you feel like they're

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

filtered? Like

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I have a pendulum. I, it's the same where like I feel like you have to bond with it.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I feel like it would be similar to a Ouija board.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It very much is with limited answering capabilities,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

of pendulums as well.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

to me, at least with my pendulum, I feel like it is the equivalent of like tapping into source or like divine information. I don't feel like anything's coming through it. It's not an open door. It's like specifically a straight line to what I need to get

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Okay.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

but maybe that's my hubris. I don't know. Nothing's come through my pendulum ever.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

yeah. I'd rather use the Magic eight ball for some reason if I'm doing Yes. No

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

the Magic

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Because, uh, again, it's just a silly little game. It's just a toy. There's nothing scary about a

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

board.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

ball. There's no scary movies about magic

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

yet we can make one. Let's do it. Death Coven and the Magic eight Ball.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

and I would self-produce it, but, uh, also I'm Catholic and Catholics inherently don't trust weedy boards. I feel like that's just sort of ingrained into our DNA and our upbringing at this point. Even though I didn't know what a Ouie board was for most of my life, I feel like it's just in my blood. And I even for when I became a witch, even tarot cards and pendulums, I was like, the devil's gonna come through.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

thought I was gonna be fucking possessed. I like cast a big, the first time I used my tarot deck, like not this tarot deck, but my first tarot deck. I cast a huge circle and I did like a cleansing, and I did this whole

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

calling the corners.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And I was like, am I going to be talking to some kind of demon? And my partner at the time was like, don't bring that shit in my house.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

My first tarot deck. I don't know if you remember Poppy. It was the deck that I used in that

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

that we famously talked about New Year's Eve reading. It was actually an angel tarot deck.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I remember that. Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

it changed my life.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I didn't feel so worried about it because there was

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

motifs in my very first, um, tarot deck.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

But, uh, that's the history of Ouija boards and some fun little stories. I'm not, I don't know we do it at Sky's house, fine. I'm not doing it in my house. Ain't nothing coming in my

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I know that neither of y'all would want to do it at your own

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

nothing getting invited into my

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I've had some pretty intense conversations in this, this, apartment

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm-hmm.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

now, like Halloween last year. I had like a really intense one-on-one conversation with something. And to this day I am like.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

In what

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Was that a mistake? I'll, I'll look at my tarot. It was a tarot thing, and I was like,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Oh.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

head meditative state and I was like, trying to see what was up. I need to find, I'll find it again and I'll send it to you guys after this. But, so I, I'm not like super squeamish about it. I feel like I can handle whatever comes through as long as it's not like

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Mm. I.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

himself, you know?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I just get so like physically affected by it sometimes that sometimes I genuinely start feeling sick when it's like too much going on, which is why I'm also very hesitant to do shit like that.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

mediumship of it all. Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

so. But I don't like feeling nauseous. I don't

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

if we had, if we, oh my gosh, I just remembered, sorry. Live, live memory. I had a dream last night that I was talking to Hades. Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

what,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

it was like, he, I don't remember the context, but it was like, I remember in the dream being like,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Did you see him?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

no. but I was worried'cause I was like, am I working with Hades now? Like I was, I just remember in the dream,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

they just have some shit to say to you,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

so maybe he's like, Skye will do a better

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Hey, get your girl. Hey, pass

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

I don't remember what was happening, but like I was talking to him live this is weird. I felt weird. Like I was in trouble with both you and with like the Morgan.'cause I was like, no one, I was like, am I supposed to be talking to you? But also like, I'm not gonna disrespect you because you're like literally Hades. I don't know. I was just talking to him and I was like, oh no. Like, am I, are we working

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Mm-hmm.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Like, But I'm just like, is this like rude to Poppy? Is this rude to the Morgan? I don't know.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

am I cheating?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Right. It it definitely,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

affair?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

it definitely, it definitely felt like that, but the substance of what we were speaking about, I don't know.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I definitely, now that it's, it's, getting like, yes. He's definitely about, like, it's the, the nights are getting longer. I can definitely feel it, I feel so disconnected from Persephone, and I have like, all year, and I feel really guilty about it. But now that Hades is coming back, I'm like, oh, my spirituality's like waking back up right now.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

It ebbs and flows. It's

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I still like, oh

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

kinda sultry.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Is that just me?

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

no. Yeah, he's, it's very like,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Okay.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I don't even know how to, it's like, like a cello on, like if I had to describe his essence, it would be like a cello, which is my

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

The word I would use is sua, you know, he's like velvet,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

just, he's like ua, he's like jazz. He's like, I,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And it's not even like, he doesn't even want to try to seduce you. Like that's not even his thing. That just is his essence. Yeah,

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

absolutely. You're just kind of like, oh, oh,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And I'm sitting here like, it's cra cause when I'm like met, I'll light a candle and I'll call upon. I usually call him and Persephone at the same time. and I literally just like, feel like the enveloping of me immediately. Every single time. I'm just like, whoa. And it feels like hand, like there's hands in my hands, you know?'cause I, I call them like this and it's like, ba ba

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Anytime the three of us are together and you say, Hades is hero, I get like a lightning bolt

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Yeah. I get a

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

He's so, he's so present.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

feel like it's like, oh, your dad came home and we have to like shape up.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

yeah.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

a strong presence, but she's more loof than Hades is. Which is like kind of surprising, but

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Mm-hmm.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

It is what it is.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

She made me cry that one time, though, so

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

When we were in the graveyard.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Yeah. Affectionately she made me cry affectionately for the

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

But the self-love

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

a, good cry. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, This is a long fucking episode. This

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

wrap it up. I'm hungry as fuck.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Let's, do it. What, do you have any final thoughts, river?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Um, a Ouija board is a tool that can utilized much like many other tools. The importance and the significant that it has is what you place on it. Be mindful, be careful. Don't be disrespectful. Say goodbye. Don't play it alone, yada, yada, yada.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Loaded gun. Treat it like it's loaded, you know?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Exactly.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Well that was great. This was a great episode. I

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

This is a good one. Yeah,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Yeah, we, I'm I'm satisfied. Uh, any final thoughts? From the crew? From the gang?

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

I don't wanna go in the woods ever again with all those fucked

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Let's not, let's

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

poppy.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

let's not go on the ocean. Let's not

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Nope.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

boards. Irresponsibly,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Except, yeah, except maybe

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

except maybe next time we're all

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

respectfully. Yeah. Maybe I'll think about it.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Sky, anything to add?

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

No, I don't know if, I mean, full disclosure, I've had a little bevy, so I don't know if that's why I'm like, yeah, come over and do a oui. Um, and if

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

We've got time.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

We literally, We literally have like six months until it could even be a possibility for me to be there. So Thank you guys for joining us. This was so much fun. Uh, happy fright. Tober.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Happy Freight Tober,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Tober.

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

have chills. I hope you can't sleep tonight.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

I hope you can sleep. But you dream about dark figures coming upon

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Ooh, that's even better. Smiling crouching figures. I,

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

with that by the power of three.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

and

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

so it is, oh, jinx.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

And so it is

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

Red skies at night.

peepo-host438_2_09-07-2025_102314:

Sailors to light red skies in the mourn.

s-guest550_2_09-07-2025_102307:

morning sailors. Warning,

riverrrrrrrrrrr_2_09-07-2025_102336:

Warning,