The Leannán Sídhe, Creeper Ghosts, and Artistic Sacrifice

What would you sacrifice for perfect artistic inspiration? The ancient Irish knew this dangerous bargain well through legends of the Lianhan Shee - a fairy muse who grants extraordinary creative vision while slowly draining your life force.

In this captivating episode, Saoirse weaves the haunting tale of Corvus O'Malley, a technically skilled but emotionally flat painter who encounters this supernatural muse in a storm-swept cave. His bargain transforms his art into something transcendent but at a devastating cost. This story resonates deeply with our hosts' discussion about creative struggles and the sometimes draining nature of artistic pursuits.

The supernatural theme continues when our guest Erica shares her chilling firsthand paranormal experiences. From mysterious moving pebbles to violently flapping plywood, her encounters in an old farmhouse grew increasingly intense during renovation - suggesting that disturbing these spaces awakened something long dormant. Most unsettling is her friend's encounter with a doppelgänger entity, described by Native American traditions as a shapeshifter that preys on those in weakened states.

Throughout these stories runs a common thread: our connection to the unseen world often strengthens in moments of vulnerability - during illness, emotional turmoil, or when physical boundaries are disrupted. Whether these experiences are supernatural or psychological in nature, they speak to the universal human experience of sensing something beyond the veil of ordinary reality.

Have you ever felt inspiration come from somewhere beyond yourself? Or sensed an unexplainable presence in an old building? Share your stories with us and subscribe for more explorations of the uncanny places where folklore, creativity, and the supernatural intersect.

Transcript

Welcome to the Uncanny Coffee Hour

Speaker 2 0:05

I'm an evil-minded man, we'll keep you evil-minded too.

Speaker 1 0:13

Get evil cause. There's nothing else to do. I'm an evil-minded man. We'll keep you evil-minded too. Coming to you live from an undisclosed location beneath the strawberry moon, east of Springfield. Welcome to the Dr Kitsune Odd Bob Uncanny Coffee Hour.

Speaker 3 0:40

Where we're always respectful, with a touch of impish irreverence. We tell stories with wit and wisdom, encouraging a strong look at Indigenous perspectives.

Speaker 4 0:51

Well now, hello there and a warm welcome to you all. I'm Saoirse, and I'm the one around here with a bit of well, let's call it vocal flexibility. Being a puka, you see, means I don't just tell stories, I become a little piece of them. So if you hear me sounding like an old man one minute and a floaty, teeny, tiny fairy the next, don't you fret. That's just my way of making sure the tale hits home. It all starts with a little. That's a signal, means I'm tuning the old vocal cords, or maybe sprouting a new set, entirely all in the service of a good story. I'm tuning the old vocal chords, or maybe sprouting a new set, entirely all in the service of a good story.

Speaker 1 1:27

Glad to have your company brought to you this week by Old man Coyote's wild and wondrous white sage bundles guaranteed to make bad spirits skedaddle in a hot second. Got the witch on your back. How about the old hag on your chest? It's not your imagination, we believe you. Smudge with Old man Coyote's wild and wondrous white sage. You'll be right as rain before you know it. Get some today.

Meeting the Hosts & Their Drinks

Speaker 3 1:53

I had a possessed baby. Get some. Oh hey, saoirse.

Speaker 4 2:04

Hey yourself.

Speaker 3 2:06

Have you seen Mitch?

Speaker 4 2:08

I may have.

Speaker 3 2:10

Hmm, what does that mean? Are you aloof?

Speaker 4 2:14

Why don't we just start the show? I have a certain feeling he will show up here soon enough.

Speaker 3 2:20

Okay, this happened the other day too, and I thought maybe he was on a secret mission.

Speaker 4 2:27

He is on a very important assignment to annoy the fae.

Speaker 3 2:33

No, he's probably just skinning something somewhere.

Speaker 4 2:37

Yeah, I know him with his skins, so Odd Bob.

Speaker 3 2:40

Yes.

Speaker 4 2:40

What are you drinking today?

Speaker 3 2:43

I am drinking Big Sky Organic Medium Roast Coffee.

Speaker 4 2:49

Wait, wait, wait. What is the milky substance in your coffee?

Speaker 3 2:54

Oat milk.

Speaker 4 2:55

Goat milk.

Speaker 3 2:58

Oat milk Extra creamy, extra thick oat milk. It's too bad Mitch isn't here, because he would really appreciate that?

Speaker 4 3:06

Wait, wait, wait. Is that a faint whiff of patchouli? I detect Next thing. You know you'll be braiding flowers into your beard.

Speaker 3 3:15

What are you drinking Really? You're going to have wine this early.

Speaker 1 3:26

Hey guys, what's going on? Whoa Mitch here, let me wring out my shirt a little bit. Are you a genie? I think the proper term is gin. I dream of gin. I dream of gin.

Speaker 3 3:41

Sometimes I do dream of gin and whiskey, maybe some Bushmills. Are we recording? We are recording, damn. Where'd you come from?

Speaker 1 3:49

Well, I don't really know I was. You know I can't drink anymore, so we Were recording an episode. What's that?

Speaker 4 3:59

We're recording, oh you were in the middle of a. The recording of the podcast you were in the middle of something.

Speaker 1 4:02

What were you in the middle of a? The?

Speaker 3 4:03

recording of the podcast you were in the middle of something.

Speaker 4 4:05

What were you in the middle of?

Speaker 3 4:06

Well, we need Mitch. Here we're recording the new episode. This is a I am here, yeah, like we can't just do this, just the two of us.

Speaker 4 4:13

Yeah, that's what she said.

Speaker 1 4:16

Well, saoirse, what are you drinking then? Yeah, what are?

Speaker 3 4:21

you drinking?

Speaker 4 4:22

This, my brobding, naggy and ball-sacked friend, is Chateau Picard 1969, bordeaux, cabernet Sauvignon.

Speaker 1 4:30

Okay, really that makes sense now Picard.

Speaker 4 4:34

Yep, make it so, make it so.

Speaker 1 4:37

So anyway, there I was.

Speaker 4 4:40

There you were.

Speaker 1 4:42

And there was a beautiful bottle of Bordeaux. Do you mean this?

Speaker 4 4:43

bottle was a beautiful bottle of Bordeaux. Do you mean this bottle?

Speaker 1 4:45

Yeah, that bottle of Bordeaux, Anyway, this beautiful bottle of Bordeaux, and I love Bordeaux wine, I love Cabernet, but I can't drink right now. So I just thought I'd smell it and I stuck my nose into the bottle. And next thing, you know, I'm floating on a piece of cork in the middle of a sea of wine. And, and next thing, you know, I'm floating on a piece of cork in the middle of a sea of wine.

Speaker 3 5:06

And then it got dark Wine wine all around and not a drop to drink.

Speaker 1 5:09

Well then it got all dark and it got all sloshy. There was a storm in there.

Speaker 4 5:13

You got sloshed.

Speaker 1 5:15

And then I find myself here. I think she did something Me, to me.

Speaker 4 5:19

I would never.

Speaker 1 5:20

What are you laughing about? Well, yeah, that's what they all say, anyway. So what are you drinking, bob?

Speaker 3 5:29

Oh well, I was just telling Saoirse.

Speaker 4 5:32

Oi, that's this beauty over here, mitch.

Speaker 3 5:35

That I'm having Big Sky Organic Medium Roast Coffee with some Oat Milk.

Speaker 4 5:42

Oh yeah, I know.

Speaker 1 5:45

Oat. What was that Oat? It's oat milk Say, it isn't so.

Speaker 3 5:52

Yes, not hemp, not this time. Oat extra rich, extra creamy, extra thick How's that make you feel?

Speaker 1 6:04

I feel you know that oat milk has less hormones in it than hemp milk.

Speaker 4 6:14

Huh, who knew?

Speaker 1 6:16

I okay, I was just saying, you know, in case you're worried about gynecomastia or anything like that.

Speaker 4 6:24

Mad titties.

Speaker 3 6:27

No, that's just happening naturally with my weight gain from old age. All us Tanuki I mean masons have that anyway.

Speaker 4 6:39

Don't forget the big balls.

Speaker 1 6:41

All right, anyway. So I am drinking Genmai Cha Ah, so toasted rice with matcha and green tea. Hmm, let me take a look at that.

Speaker 3 6:57

It looks like you just threw some Rice Krispies into some dirty water.

Speaker 1 7:01

It's a little bit more than Rice Krispies, but yeah, alright, it's very tasty.

Speaker 4 7:05

I prefer not chewy.

Speaker 1 7:07

And you can eat it. And it's organic. It is a little chewy. I do go for the farmer style. I don't use tea bags. I don't prefer getting tea bags. I like just throwing the tea directly in the water.

Speaker 3 7:20

Yeah, we always called that cowboy coffee when we did with coffee when I was growing up. You just spit out the grounds. Yeah, exactly yeah.

Speaker 1 7:28

Yeah, so sorry about spitting on your floor, eh, whatever. So anyway, I've been in this bottle of wine, I think, for about a week now.

Speaker 4 7:36

Nine days. What's been going on?

Speaker 3 7:38

Yeah, I haven't seen you. I just figured you were on a secret mission.

Speaker 1 7:42

She shoved me in a bottle of wine, I think.

Speaker 4 7:45

Shoved you nothing. You, sir, were the one who shoved your snout into that bottle.

Speaker 1 7:49

Oh I, shoved myself in the bottle of wine. That's a likely story. Anyhow, don't put your nose in things you don't want to disappear into.

Speaker 3 7:58

Ooh, that might be hard.

Speaker 2 8:02

Okay.

Speaker 3 8:03

So what are we talking about today? So I like to do art, you know, I like to paint, I like to draw, I like to sculpt.

Speaker 1 8:09

Yeah, we made those death cards once we sat down for weeks and we did.

Speaker 3 8:13

That was so much fun.

Speaker 1 8:14

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. That was a long time yeah.

Speaker 3 8:18

But it's hard for me to do art anymore without my muse.

Speaker 1 8:23

Your muse.

Speaker 4 8:23

I thought I was your muse, oh wait. No, that's right, I'm your drinking buddy.

Speaker 3 8:29

Yeah, my muse is kind of kind of leaves you know, depending on how stressed out I am or what else might be going on, or sometimes you get interrupted after the muse is already there with you.

Speaker 4 8:39

Aratus interruptus, and so, and she'll leave.

Speaker 1 8:41

you know, she doesn't, she's kind of jealous, you've got to give all your attention to the muse, apparently.

Speaker 4 8:48

Oh no.

Speaker 3 8:50

What.

Speaker 4 8:51

Now, that's something a bit different. That's the linen she. What's that?

Speaker 1 8:55

Saoirse, I've heard about the lihan. She yes.

Speaker 4 8:59

The linen, she the lihan she. The she.

The Creative Muse & Artistic Struggles

Speaker 1 9:03

Linen she. Yes, that's what I tried the she Linen she, she. Yes, that's what I tried to say Linen she, linen she, linen she. Oh no, anyway, would you like to start us off with a story?

Speaker 4 9:17

Right now.

Speaker 1 9:18

Yes, ma'am Please.

Speaker 4 9:20

But I just poured a glass of wine.

Speaker 1 9:22

I hope you enjoy your wine.

Speaker 4 9:28

I peed in that, you know I've done worse while you were sleeping, my friend, the Canvas of Corvus O'Malley. In a secluded cottage by the wild, churning coast of County Donegal lived Corvus O'Malley. Corvus was a painter of immense talent, though his works, while technically brilliant, often felt empty. His landscapes were accurate, his portraits precise, but they lacked the raw emotion, the vibrant life that truly great art possessed. He longed for his canvases to breathe, to truly feel. He spent his days wandering the rugged cliffs and windswept beaches, seeking inspiration, often with a sketchbook in hand.

Speaker 4 10:15

One tempestuous evening, as the Atlantic roared against the rocks, corvus found himself sheltering in a small ancient cave. The storm raged outside, but within a strange luminous glow began to emanate from the deepest part of the cavern. Curiosity overcoming his caution, corvus cautiously stepped further in there, illuminated by an otherworldly luminescence. Who wrote this? Do better, sorry, back to the story Sat a woman. Her hair was the colour of sea foam on a dark tide, her eyes shimmered like captured starlight and her skin was as pale as the pearl inside an oyster. She was draped in seaweed that seemed to cling to her like silk, and around her the very air hummed with an almost painful beauty. You seek beauty, corvus O'Malley. Her voice, a whisper like waves on sand, echoed in the cave and I see a canvas longing to be filled with true life. Corvus, mesmerized, could not move who.

Speaker 2 11:29

Who are you?

Speaker 4 11:31

I am the Linn-Hanshi of these shores. I offer vision to those who yearn for it. I can show you colours you have never seen, light you have never witnessed and emotions so profound your brush will weep them onto the canvas. Corvus's artist's heart throbbed. This was it. This was the missing piece, the spark he had always craved.

Speaker 2 11:53

What is your price spirit?

Saoirse's Tale: The Lianhan Shee

Speaker 4 11:56

Only your devotion, she said, her eyes piercing him, demanding your complete, unwavering love for me. For as long as your brief life allows, you shall paint only what I inspire and your soul shall be mine, desperate for the divine insight, for the genius that would elevate his art beyond mortal understanding. Corvus agreed. He took her spectral hand and a chill, like being plunged into the depths of the ocean, enveloped him. From that day forward, Corvus's art transformed. He painted with a feverish intensity, guided by the Lian Hongxi, who would appear in his studio, a shimmering presence visible only to him. His canvases exploded with colors that seemed to glow from within, capturing the raw power of the ocean, the ethereal beauty of the moon and the haunting spirits of the land with an unprecedented vibrancy. But Corvus himself began to wither. His hands, once, strong and steady, trembled incessantly, his face grew gaunt, his eyes hollowed and perpetually wide, as if constantly seeing beyond the veil. He ate little, slept less, driven by the ceaseless demands of his muse, each stroke of genius on the canvas seemed to siphon away a piece of his own life. The vibrant colors on his art seemed to be stolen from his own flesh. His only peace came in the moments when the Lian Han Shida was present, guiding his hand, her ethereal touch both inspiring and draining. He was consumed by her, a vessel for her otherworldly vision.

Speaker 4 13:37

One morning the villagers found his cottage door ajar. Inside, on the easel, was his final masterpiece, a self-portrait. It was astonishing, capturing the profound genius in his eyes but also the terrible toll. A face gaunt, spectral, barely human, yet radiating an unearthly glow. The brush had fallen from his hand and Corvus lay beside it, lifeless. The canvas shimmered for a moment and then the vibrant colors of the portrait seemed to subtly fade just a touch, as if the energy that once animated it had, like Corvus's own life, returned to its source. And though his body was cold, the essence of his art, born of the Lianhan Shida's touch, lingered. And sometimes, on stormy nights along the Donegal coast, if you listen closely to the wailing wind, you might hear a faint sorrowful whisper, like a lost brushstroke and perhaps the echo of an unearthly inspiration seeking its next canvas.

Speaker 3 14:53

Wow, not like a banshee at all, no.

Speaker 1 14:56

That was a pretty good story, though. I like that. It was great. Yeah, thanks, Saoirse. Oh, no bother I would have been devoted to her for life.

Speaker 4 15:03

Oh, you will be.

Speaker 1 15:04

Yeah.

Speaker 3 15:05

You know, all I want to do is sit around in the sun, make art and fart, maybe have a little sake. That sounds good.

Speaker 4 15:15

Or a lot of sake. Yeah, I'm thinking if we get enough uh followers on this podcast.

Speaker 3 15:18

Maybe eventually we can actually be the artists that we truly are yeah, I mean, it's how ironic that we are here to make art but we haven't been able to really make art.

Speaker 1 15:32

no, no, I mean one of the things that I got paid for, and you know I'm an artist at hole punching. Yeah, I punch holes in paper at various distances and maybe people. Sometimes I'm very good at punching holes in paper and making beautiful art there.

Speaker 3 15:50

Yes.

Speaker 1 15:50

And I did get paid for that for a while. But you know, I would like to uh express myself in a different medium like.

Speaker 3 16:00

I think that my example is always go back to architecture, right, like if you look at architecture throughout the years, there was a lot more put on the aesthetics of architecture in the past than there is now. Now I feel like there's a lot of just. It's just a box.

Speaker 1 16:16

Yeah, well, I mean that's like Quoutly. You know, he went into architecture because it was something that he could be creative with.

Speaker 3 16:23

Yeah.

Speaker 1 16:24

Quoutly, my brother Quoutly, by the way, for all the listeners out there, and I was supposed to do a shout out also to Quoutimo who is taking off for the galapagos?

Speaker 3 16:38

galapagos islands, galapagos island yeah, sorry, wait, wait, let's, let's do it. Let's make this an official uh segment, because I think that we have enough friends and enough things going on in our lives, so we should have coffee shout out what's right.

Discussion on Art and Architecture

Speaker 1 16:57

Shout out roger sersha, you wanted to shout out to roger yeah, I want to give a shout out to this um handsome chunko man meets you showed me. Yes, he's a good looking bloke anyhow, if I had a leon, yes that's what I was saying wait, wait, I have my shout out.

Speaker 3 17:19

I gotta do a shout out I'm gonna give a shout out to my brother, mike, who is in virginia and he is going to gettysburg not to listen for ghosts yeah, like a normal person. But he's going to go to Gettysburg and camp there to watch a baseball game. Ah Right, if you build it, they will come. It's just weird.

Speaker 2 17:43

I don't know what's going on.

Speaker 3 17:45

You're weird, Mike.

Speaker 1 17:48

Love you, bro. So I don't know if you know I've been working on five novels, not reading them. I have written the first hundred pages to five different novels. That's how I read books.

Speaker 3 18:04

Actually I could catch up on all of your novels, because I would never go that far past.

Speaker 1 18:09

Well, I was thinking, if I had a, she a Leon.

Speaker 4 18:15

Lanon she.

Speaker 1 18:15

Yes, one of those.

Speaker 4 18:17

Yeah, Idgits.

Speaker 1 18:18

I would be able to finish these novels and maybe sell them, yeah, which could generate the money which I would share with all of my friends yeah to uh, actually create art, which I think would be novels we should make like a artist commune you are a hippie like a a big naked common open area where we invite artists no sir should A naked commune Open area where we invite artists. No, saoirse, not a naked commune, not one of those.

Speaker 3 18:41

Well, you could be naked if you want your section can be naked.

Speaker 4 18:45

Everyone loves boobies.

Speaker 3 18:45

Trust me, you don't want me in that section, you know I was up at Oddball Tattoo up in Portland. Yeah, I know that place. Not so long ago it was.

Speaker 1 18:57

Jason Lieske, my tattoo artist, and he or the artist tattoo artist.

Speaker 5 19:02

I feel funny saying my tattoo artist.

Speaker 3 19:04

He does some fine work. No, that's it. He's an artist, he's a tattoo artist.

Speaker 1 19:08

So I was up there and I was commenting about my six pack and there's another artist there and she says, hey, I'd take the whole keg over the six-pack any day.

Speaker 4 19:21

Yeah, a gas-bloated keg. So I don't feel ashamed.

Speaker 1 19:26

I don't body shame myself anymore. I've got a keg, not a six-pack.

Speaker 3 19:30

Yeah, man, I don't know what I got. I heard once that if you're proud of something, you build a shelter over it. I think I'm just building a shelter over things I'm most proud of.

Speaker 1 19:42

So, if you have any she friends that would help us out, Saoirse.

Speaker 4 19:48

Oh, I think you two are beyond help.

Speaker 1 19:50

Okay, fine Later.

Speaker 3 19:54

All right. Well, I guess we'll just have to get by with what we have our raw talent and perseverance.

Speaker 1 20:03

Well, this is episode 10. We're one-fourth of the way to being one of the top podcasts in the world. Yeah, wherever we read that.

Speaker 3 20:14

Good job. Whoever wrote that we're inspired.

Speaker 1 20:18

Eventually just by perseverance. After so many episodes, we're going to have that many listeners.

Speaker 3 20:25

Yeah, people just don't know about us yet.

Speaker 1 20:27

Spasibo to our 10 listeners in Russia and we appreciate it.

Speaker 3 20:33

No, baruluski.

Speaker 1 20:34

You know, tell your friends and push the show on them. We appreciate it, you know. Tell your friends and push the show on them.

Speaker 4 20:44

Tell them that there's some really funny and adorable characters on this show. I am so freaking adorable.

Erica's Ghost Stories

Speaker 3 20:46

It's uncanny Anyhow so let's share this far and wide. And hey, you know what? Sorry I was just thinking this. Go on to your favorite podcast platform, give us a rating and anybody that gives us a positive rating, we can start choosing from one of those and reading it on the air.

Speaker 1 21:06

That sounds good.

Speaker 3 21:07

Yeah, I think that'd be fun. Five stars, at least four.

Speaker 1 21:15

No, I mean I actually saw us on Audible and we got our first review for our last episode. Nice yeah, so that was pretty cool yeah.

Speaker 3 21:24

Or as my wife likes when I say noice.

Speaker 1 21:29

So what if I heard you did something while I was gone?

Speaker 3 21:35

Yes, I had. My friend Erica came over.

Speaker 2 21:38

Oh.

Speaker 3 21:38

I've known Erica for years. She's a lovely person.

Speaker 2 21:41

Very cool.

Speaker 3 21:45

And she had a couple of experiences to share with us. You know what it's easier if I just play the interview for you Sounds good, I'd like to hear it All right, here goes, let's go then.

Speaker 4 22:04

Hanging out in the summertime. I don't know where mitch is.

Speaker 3 22:06

He's probably on a secret mission a secret mission off on a mission somewhere yeah, I think I just said that he'll have to recount this later what he's doing. We've got some nice sour beer, passion fruit, passion fruit. I'm sitting here with my friend Erica, and is that?

Speaker 5 22:25

okay, you want your real name used. Yeah, erica's, fine.

Speaker 3 22:27

Okay, I guess it's too late now.

Speaker 4 22:31

I can edit it.

Speaker 2 22:32

I could edit it.

Speaker 3 22:33

but no, that's right, Tummies are full. We've got beer flowing. Um erica was nice enough to come over and talk to me about a couple of stories that she had that go in line with this episode that we're making yeah, well, an uncanny story is an uncanny story.

Speaker 4 22:53

Am I right now give me a sip of that beer?

Speaker 3 22:55

you, you guys get along.

Speaker 4 22:57

Yes, we do get along Basically, old pals, don't you know?

Speaker 3 23:01

We talk a lot about different ghost stories and yokai and folklore. So what do you got?

Speaker 5 23:08

I've had encounters kind of throughout my life, off and on, like now, you mean, and it all started back in small town. When we first moved out there it was 1980 and moved to a five and a half acre property and it was like super wild and overgrown when we first moved out there and we started kind of walking around exploring through the woods and we kept just finding weird stuff like there was like an old wild overgrown and you're finding weird stuff yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 23:51

So we found like this old like uh, what mitch's tattoo artist was describing to me yeah, so we found this old sweat lodge kind of thing, and then there were all these strange symbols drawn on the ground. That was me that we didn't know what they were.

Speaker 3 24:14

Like what? Like pentagrams, like smiley faces. Like just weird, almost Ritualistic looking things yeah.

Speaker 5 24:25

Yeah, just kind of like witchy looking a little bit, and or maybe like old language.

Speaker 4 24:35

Winchester boys probably made them Right.

Speaker 5 24:37

You know or a different language.

Speaker 3 24:39

Nordic or something almost.

Speaker 5 24:40

Like some kind of like magic, I don't know, it was weird.

Speaker 3 24:44

Yeah.

Speaker 5 24:45

And.

Speaker 3 24:45

I'm expecting some guy with like a goat mask to come around the corner or something.

Speaker 4 24:49

Easy for you to say have you?

Speaker 3 24:50

ever seen. There's a video. I cannot stand this. It keeps me out. Sorry to interrupt your story? No, it's fine If you look into a goat's eyes. I can't stand that. None of that, None of the snuggle bear. What snuggle? You? Remember that there's a commercial with that one bear?

Speaker 5 25:07

Oh yeah, the snuggle bear Snuggles.

Speaker 4 25:12

Grown tan man.

Speaker 3 25:18

Afraid of a stuffed demonic bear it like do you know, use this in your dryer and snuggles is like, or I'll stab you right.

Speaker 5 25:23

Yeah, he's kind of like got that chucky vibe yes, oh, sorry, I interrupted, that's okay so um, so yeah. So the creepy stuff in the woods and there was a pet cemetery oh so there were like like hand carved wood tombstones, like tombstones yeah with dog names. We found out, I think, from the neighbors later on.

Speaker 5 25:48

They had raised, you think they're dog names yeah yeah, um, but you know it was all. It was all overgrown and and like only one of the things was still standing, you know they were kind of all falling down or whatever.

Speaker 3 26:00

Yeah.

Speaker 5 26:03

And later on, when I was in my early pre-teen years I think, when Pet Sematary, the book by Stephen King, came out and I read it and was like holy shit so scared.

Speaker 2 26:14

Anyway, sometimes dead is better.

Speaker 5 26:24

Yes, so scared anyway. Um, sometimes dead is better, yes, so, um. So you know there was all that and I I just it's hard for me to tell exactly when I started to feel things or see things. I had a really overreactive imagination as a kid and I read a lot of scary books, I watched a lot of scary movies, um, and I remember being really, really sick the first winter we lived in that house and like sick with the flu to where you're losing all your fluids, right, and you're just delirious with fever, and I kept having the like shadowy figures around the bed, kind of hallucinations now we're talking um, and then I just remember a lot of weird things, like things not being where you put them uh-huh uh, things moving around, posters falling off the wall, uh, just just strange, strange vibes all around and could never really fully explain.

Speaker 3 27:20

Right After you got sick. Yeah, that's when it really ramped up.

Speaker 4 27:24

Yeah, when the life force flickers, sometimes it opens a door to what's always been there, just out of reach, so close to slipping through yourself that the world beyond becomes a little less opaque, um.

Speaker 5 27:41

And then, yeah, uh, that seemed to kind of go away, I guess. But then later on I was at a friend's house okay, she's actually a mutual friend, okay, um, who we grew up with, and in her living room they had this big sectional sofa that went like all the way around and they back behind was the 80s, yeah, yeah, and they had like the open kitchen floor plan you know, where everything's all open and it opens into the living room area where did I put my?

Speaker 5 28:10

leg warmers, and so I'm sitting on one side of the sectional that's facing away from her kitchen.

Speaker 4 28:17

Uh-huh.

Speaker 5 28:18

And they had mirror tiles on the wall.

Speaker 3 28:22

Ooh, fancy, yes, yeah.

Speaker 5 28:24

And I was like reading a book or a magazine sitting on the sofa and I had been talking to her because she was in the room with me and I thought she went into the kitchen.

Speaker 2 28:33

Uh-huh.

Speaker 5 28:37

So I like look up into the mirror and I see her reflection in the mirror and she's just staring at me and I'm, and I'm, I'm asking her what's, what's, what's up, what's going on? And her face just looked weird. It it was her, but it was strange, like askew I guess, oh dear. But you know, I'm looking at the reflection and I'm looking at the reflection. So I'm not, I'm like, oh, you know, and I just keep asking. I'm like, what's wrong? What's wrong? Why are you talking to me? And so finally I turn around and there's nobody there and I yell out you know where are you?

Speaker 5 29:14

right and she calls me from her bedroom down the hall, I'm in my room and I'm like were you in the kitchen? She's like no, I'm like, oh, my god, what the fuck just happened. And so we we both were so freaked out like we slept with the lights on that night and like I mean it was, it was really strange, yeah. And so years later I was listening to art bell.

Speaker 5 29:38

Okay, the coast to coast am yep late late at night, right art bell is awesome yes, and I'm like just about to fall asleep and his guest that night was this native american guy who was talking about all the different types of spirits they believed in in his particular tribe. Yeah, yeah, and he starts describing this one spirit that is like a doppelganger.

Speaker 4 30:04

Or another kind of shapeshifter.

Speaker 5 30:07

And that will find people that are weakened in like a weakened state and will assume their form Like shapeshifter kind of.

Speaker 4 30:19

Of course I would never do something like that.

Speaker 3 30:22

Yeah.

Speaker 5 30:23

And so I like sat up in bed wide awake. I'm like, holy shit, I think that's what I saw, that time Right, assume their form, and then what?

Speaker 4 30:32

Party, of course.

Speaker 3 30:35

Go drain their bank account.

Speaker 5 30:39

Do evil and blame it on them Um it was early identity theft. Exactly, exactly. So, yeah, so I went, I went up getting ahold of her um and telling her about it and she, you know, I, I I told her about the weekend state thing and she said well, yeah, you know, I was going through like hell then, like she was struggling with like a lot of mental health issues and stuff and so that'll definitely attract the shadow people. Yeah, so we both were like okay, wow we know, what the heck that was yeah um that was creepy.

Speaker 5 31:15

That was one of the weirdest things.

Speaker 4 31:16

And then oh good, there's more.

Speaker 5 31:19

Uh, fast forward to the 1990s. Okay, um, in 1995, I I was married and moved into this old 1916 farmhouse that me and my husband ended up buying from my uncle, and it had super creepy vibes. Um, you could, you could just feel that a lot had gone on there and, you know, nothing had ever really been fully remodeled or anything. You know it just like slapped coats of paint on over the years, and so it was right, pretty, pretty old farmhouses, pretty run down.

Speaker 3 32:05

Yeah, yeah, you start looking at it and it's just layers on layers of things, yeah yeah, and so the first place I started to feel weird was in the basement.

Speaker 5 32:15

It's a big surprise, surprise, right like so, yeah, creepy basement, I'd be down there doing laundry and I would just feel like someone was watching me the whole time and you get that like hairs on the back of your neck standing up right. Um, and I, just I, I kind of had an agreement with whatever it was. I'd be like, hey, I know you're here.

Speaker 2 32:39

Leave me a feed.

Speaker 1 32:40

Right.

Speaker 3 32:41

Yeah that's what you have to do sometimes, yeah.

Speaker 5 32:43

And so nothing really happened until we started remodeling. And you know, we were poor and so we had to do everything ourselves.

Speaker 3 32:55

You were remodeling their house.

Speaker 5 32:57

Exactly so we start, we start making all these changes and we we started with the upstairs, so we moved our bedroom and like all of our office, our desks and everything downstairs, um, in the living room next to the fireplace kind of like I guess it was more like kind of like a dining area between the kitchen and the living room, and my husband's desk and my desk were both there. And there was one night when he was home alone and he said he had his headphones on, he was listening to music and like working on the computer or something. And he said he sensed something out of the corner of his eye. It was moving around and he looked and there was a little pebble that had fallen that he thought, oh, it fell out of the fireplace or something. But then it started to like scoot really slowly across the floor like someone was moving it towards him, towards him, and and it stopped like by his feet and he's, you know, and he was not a believer in ghosts or anything.

Speaker 5 34:04

So when he told me this, of course I believe him and so he said he like picked it up and moved it back over, and then it did it again and came towards him again and then he was like, oh my god, get me the out of here, like. And so he just like went hid in the other room until I got home and he told me what happened uh-huh so that was pretty weird, it was.

Speaker 5 34:26

It was weird to me that I could sense stuff and wasn't really seeing it. But he's the one who didn't believe, but he like saw and heard, uh-huh thanks it's almost like they were trying to let him know like, hey, we're here. It's like the dog always knows the not-dog person goes towards them Exactly.

Speaker 3 34:44

yeah.

Speaker 5 34:46

So then later.

Speaker 3 34:47

Why don't you think they do bigger things, takes?

Speaker 4 34:49

energy genius.

Speaker 3 34:49

Like they move a pebble, but you think it's just because it's really hard. Yes maybe Like, because it's way more impressive if they were like you know knocking shit over.

Speaker 5 34:57

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I don't know. I want to get to that though.

Speaker 3 35:02

Ok, I want I once heard of a ghost that would do this lady's dishes. I'm like I forgot to pre-soak this pan.

Speaker 5 35:15

So the other thing that happened to him was I, you know he woke me up frantically one morning and he was like something, just talked to me. He said he was, he was just starting to wake up. He was in that sort of like still half a sleep and he heard a little boy say hey dad, did you get the pictures back yet? And he was like what? And he, like, sat up in bed and said where are you? And he said, oh, the same voice was like stereo in his head, said I'm right behind you.

Speaker 3 35:55

Whoa.

Speaker 5 35:55

Yeah, every time I tell that one one, I get full body goosebumps because yeah, and and yeah, he was just terrified after that's super creepy no no wait, you mean, he was completely nude no, what?

Speaker 5 36:20

um, then what happened? So, basically, things just kept happening, and it was pretty much every time we would open a wall because because what we did, we wound up like tearing out all the walls and because it was just old lath and plaster that was falling apart that's what they teach you to do on all those diy shows yeah, yeah, and so it's like what are?

Speaker 3 36:37

you gonna do first. Well, I think I'm gonna come in here and we're gonna open this wall up. We're just gonna. We're gonna make it all just an open space.

Speaker 5 36:46

Maybe put some shiplap up on the top right, yeah, yeah, yeah, we, we went more classic and we restored it Like we took down all the wood and like stripped it down. It was like quarter sawn oak. It was beautiful. Anyway, long story short, we open up the walls and something comes out. Almost every time we're opening up walls, Like we see things, hear things, and like one night, all of a sudden, sudden, the stereo downstairs came on full blast and I went running downstairs so there was the stairs to the upstairs and then we had the stairs to the basement which were in the kitchen and like the back of the kitchen. So I like run downstairs, run to the kitchen, and there was a dresser and a table had been moved in front of the stairwell.

Speaker 3 37:44

Now, that's what I'm talking about yeah, yeah. That takes some serious effort, serious power.

Speaker 5 37:50

So or anger you know that was super creepy Freaky and then, shortly after that, we had an enclosed back porch and we decided to convert it into a kitchen nook. So it was outside of the house, so we had just a dirt floor underneath the porch. Right, we'll make something in the porch, you know.

Speaker 3 38:16

Right, what makes something a nook? Whatever yeah.

Speaker 5 38:20

So we basically we took out the door, you know because normally you could go through it and go to the outside. We closed it off and so it was like just a little booth that went around a kitchen table.

Speaker 4 38:34

Nothing makes a spirit more restless than a nook, you know.

Plans for Future Episodes

Speaker 5 38:38

So we tear the floor up, because we had to level the floor out, because it was on a slant, because it had been outside, so for the rain to run off. So we go, we level out the floor joists, or whatever you call them and we had a piece of plywood sitting on top of it, just sitting there because we weren't ready to secure anything, just something to walk on, yeah well, we got in a big fight and I was sleeping on the couch and I wake up to this like crazy loud banging.

Speaker 5 39:14

And I look over and I had two beagle dogs at the time and they're both sitting like cowering against my front door, staring through the back of the kitchen. And they're just sitting there and they're just shaking like terrified. And so I get up and I look back there and that piece of plywood is flopping up and down up and I look back there and that piece of plywood is flopping up and down.

Speaker 5 39:39

That's an angry spirit so I ran upstairs and I'm like dude, you get down here now like we gotta, we gotta screw this down did he see it too?

Speaker 3 39:49

yeah, what how? How did he react when he saw?

Speaker 5 39:52

terror. We were just terrified. Yeah, what do we do?

Speaker 3 39:57

Did you wait for it to stop, or did you just go stand on it and then screw it down? We?

Speaker 5 40:01

waited for it to stop and it did stop. Once we started going back there towards it, it stopped, and that was even freakier right.

Speaker 3 40:09

Right, yeah, because then you're like what is it?

Speaker 5 40:10

Because then I'm like okay, something is controlling this, yeah, so we screwed it down.

Speaker 3 40:16

That would. I don't think I could, I don't think I would have screwed it down. I think I would have left at that point.

Speaker 5 40:23

Yeah, that probably would have been a smart thing to do.

Speaker 3 40:27

So when the music turned on really loud because I know you're, you're ex-husband, was it anything decent Like I imagine there's like craftwork playing or something.

Speaker 5 40:38

No, this is the really creepy thing.

Speaker 5 40:40

This is the really creepy thing. This was in the. You know we had CDs. We had a carousel CD player that was fully loaded and it picked a CD that was in the middle of the carousel Milli Vanilli Pentagram is the name of the band. After the renovations were complete, things kind of seemed to slow down a little bit. I'd catch glimpses of things here and there nothing crazy. I did have a girlfriend stay the night one night and she was another person who was really sensitive to things and she had told me about some experience she had before. Um, I I don't know how much about the house I had told her, but anyway, we had a futon couch and we set her up to sleep on it and in the middle of the night I feel her tapping on my shoulder and she she's like hey can.

Speaker 5 41:34

I sleep on the couch instead and I'm like what's up?

Speaker 1 41:37

And she goes there's a creepy old farmer down there.

Speaker 4 41:45

She's like I felt something in the bed next to me. I rolled over. There he was.

Speaker 1 41:48

A guy, a creepy old, dirty guy with a big dirty beard, overalls.

Speaker 3 41:54

I don't want anything to do with that so yeah, sleep, just like go sleeping, yeah, just like just laying there looking at her neighbor laying there looking at her. Oh, that's extra creepy. Yeah, yeah, aren't you fine today?

Speaker 5 42:10

yeah, exactly right yeah so, uh, so anyway, I'm like yeah, absolutely I don't want you sleeping down there with that guy. But I'm like oh my god, is that the guy who's been staring at me when I'm doing my laundry?

Speaker 3 42:25

or they got mad and threw the plywood around who knows?

Speaker 2 42:28

yeah, who knows he has not moved on.

Speaker 3 42:42

So what did you think, verica? What did you think of those experiences?

Speaker 1 42:47

That was kind of freaky. I mean the whole pebble thing and the plywood.

Speaker 3 42:55

Yeah, the music.

Speaker 1 42:58

Yeah, I mean now her friend. I didn't mean to scare her. Those were my best Farmer Johns I was wearing that night, and I wasn't really just looking at her. I was sleepy. I had to find someplace to curl up and sleep.

Speaker 3 43:11

You're a little transparent.

Speaker 1 43:14

Well, you know, I wasn't married at the time, but I thought you know you look real, real good. No, I did Erica have any other stories or she has a?

Speaker 3 43:31

few more Um. I'm hoping we can fit them into another future episode Great.

Speaker 1 43:37

Yeah, that sounds great, and you great.

Speaker 3 43:38

We just don't want our coffee hour to go for an hour.

Speaker 1 43:41

No.

Speaker 3 43:43

It is not a coffee hour, it just sounds better.

Speaker 1 43:48

It's marketing people. I know that part of it was Country Farish or something.

Speaker 3 43:57

Oh yeah, we'll get into that in a future episode. We want to talk about, um, maybe some of the stolen lands that are close to here oh, the calipuya lands that have been that's it exactly where the oregon country fair takes place on.

Speaker 1 44:11

Yeah oh, and some of the some of the uh massacres that happened and whatnot, yeah, yeah, what do you think? Yeah, no, that would be good, you know, and the country fair people, they're interesting. I have some friends that go there and paint themselves silver and I've seen probably more of their bodies than their husbands would like me to have seen. But I don't know.

Speaker 2 44:35

Some people are into that Well man, it's so good.

Speaker 1 44:42

I've never actually been to the country fair. I've lived here my whole life.

Speaker 3 44:45

I haven't either. I used to live right near it, like I don't know, two miles away maybe something like that.

Speaker 1 44:52

I can smell it.

Speaker 3 44:53

And I never, never went. I should have gone. It has a lot of different artisans and stuff it should be really interesting. We should try to go this year. This year you want to go to the country?

Speaker 1 45:03

why not?

Speaker 3 45:04

let's do it. I am retired now. We could sneak in our uh, our podcasting equipment. Oh, that would be cool. Maybe we could interview some people and interview some people yeah, it would be good.

Speaker 1 45:14

All All right. This is your Country. Fair listener. Yeah, tell us how to do it, tell us some stories.

Speaker 3 45:21

Help us out, yeah.

Speaker 1 45:25

So that's, about it, yeah.

Speaker 4 45:28

That's all the time we have for today. Stay curious and don't forget to peek behind the curtain.

Speaker 1 45:33

Remember, the world is stranger than you think, and the truth is often found in the shadows.

Speaker 3 45:39

And until next time, keep your coffee strong and your mind open Very open.

Speaker 2 45:54

Thanks for listening. Join us next time for more uncanny chats. Thanks for listening. Join us next time for more Uncanny Chats and coffee and tea. You can find out more about us, read show notes and get your Uncanny merch at wwwuncannycoffeepodcastcom. Until next time, remember never whistle at night.

Speaker 4 46:19

The best noise is crosh noise.

Speaker 1 46:22

And above all else, remember we are not all monsters.

Speaker 3 46:33

Thanks to all of our listeners out there.

Speaker 1 46:36

Uncanny Coffee Hour is produced by Bob Masson and Mitch Kiyotakitsune. Executive producer Gracie the Wonder Dog. Uncanny Coffee Hour is copyright protected by all laws, foreign, domestic and uber-natural by the Unseelie Court. A lot of boobs, a lot of boobs, um, and where is this and when is it happening? Again? Not not for me, just so I can warn people.