The Queercrypt Interview with Jessistories Paranormal, Sleep Paralysis & Cults!

Jessi sits down with Megan (The Queer Crypt) — paranormal investigator and folklore researcher — to talk sleep paralysis, UFO sightings, queer representation, and the cult-like nature of modern politics.

Lyrics By: Jessi Hersey

Music By: AJ Music Group

Art BY: Zummi

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Listening to voices, stories can be strange. It's good to open up to new stories and finding backstories of how people came to be. Only to free the mind of what blinds us with only a glance gives us a chance to see people be who they truly are. From silent voices to shining light. Stories that inspire awareness and change. I welcome you to Jesse's Stories, unheard voices. Yeah. If you're here for the first time, I hope you enjoy my interview with the queer crits. Yeah, have trouble saying names. Okay, Megan. Subscribe, and I'm gonna let Megan introduce herself and what she does.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Yeah, so I am Megan, also known as the Queer Crypton TikTok typically. I am a paranormal investigator, paranormal researcher, folklore researcher, and I also co-host a podcast with my sister called Just a Little Stitchious.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

I was wondering what made you want to start the Queer Creeped, and I guess also your podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

So have you ever heard of sleep paralysis? Okay. It's actually yes, but I don't know what it is fully. Okay. So number quick little explanation is my favorite topic. So I've been experiencing it for years. There was a point where I was experiencing it every night. But essentially, what it is, the medical term is that it's a glitch in your brain during your sleep cycle. So when you're dreaming, you have a chemical released into your brain that stops you from acting out your dreams. So if you're dreaming that you're going for a bike ride, you're not gonna be like having your hands up like this in bed. You're laying flat down, your body is paralyzed while your mind thinks you're doing this thing. For people with sleep process, they'll wake up, but the chemical will still be released. So they'll be paralyzed and then they'll see things. A lot of people will, some don't, but a lot of people see things in the room with them when it happens. So that happens to me. Some people also have creature type things sitting on their chest, and it's this weird phenomenon. When I first started experiencing it, I thought I was just going crazy. And then I realized that it's a thing that people experience. So yeah, I see shadow people in the room with me or just creepy things. It's terrifying. And about two and a half years ago, I decided to make a TikTok about sleep paralysis and just being interested in looking into the cultural and spiritual beliefs surrounding sleep paralysis. And then it's just a rabbit hole from there. Basically, spiritual and history. Yeah. There's a lot of different, there's a lot of different beliefs surrounding sleep paralysis. Some believe that it's astral projection, so your soul or your consciousness goes somewhere else while you're asleep. That's a lot of people's theory. There's it's almost across every culture. Italy, I think they call it the Pisa D. No, in Brazil, they call it the Pisa Dina on the East Coast. In Newfoundland, they call it the old hag. There's yeah, it's just it's there's a lot of different people, a lot of different ones. Well, that's really cool. I like the actual projection one. Yeah, have you ever seen Insidious?

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Do you ever watch horror movies? I get scared really easily. So it's interesting that I came across you on TikTok, but it's funny. I have gotten into certain horror genres recently, but not actually watching it, only seeing the spoilers, because that's the only way I can watch it. It's funny.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

So if spoilers count, yes. A really interesting movie that is about astral projection. And when I saw that movie, I was like, wow, that really reminds me of my sleep paralysis. So when I heard that that's a really big leap, I was like, maybe there's something to that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah, especially if seeing creepy things and yeah, and your mind can do a lot of things. Even I know if you're sleep deprived, that you can see things too and start to hallucinate. And absolutely, besides being actophrenic. At least there's a lot of disorders that do fall into that, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yeah, no, absolutely. I it's terrifying to experience. Waking up paralyzed is already terrifying. So you're like, you can't move a muscle, you can't make any noise come out of your mouth. But then when you add in some weird hallucinations, it's not fun.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

No, there's actually I just thought of I just can't think of the name, but there is a movie near the end. Michelle Pfeiffer is drugged and completely paralyzed, and her husband tries drowning her at the end, that doesn't work, and he drowned his husband before that, or his wife. I don't know why wife before that. And there was like, I guess that's one horror film I was or suspense. I don't know. I get those two genres confused with each other.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Yeah, I think suspense and thriller are more real life scenarios, and horror is more for me, like ghosts and stuff like that. I get more scared, but the real life stuff.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

I guess I'm just scared of horror lately, only because of spoilers. Like smile, I actually want to see that just due to the spoilers, but I know I will get through it. But I like the storyline of smile, the second one, the first one, even though I've seen bits and pieces of the first one actually seeing it. Gotcha. I haven't seen that one yet, actually. It's kind of weird. Oh, I really like the actress, Naomi. I can't think of her last name, but I really like her and watched her on Disney Channel when she was in a mouth. And I watched her in that role, which she sings amazing. That's awesome. But smile too. That's one I may or may not possibly actually watch. So we'll see. Let me know. I will. Because it's actually because of you, I started getting more into investigating more into horror just so it could last. Because I really liked your stories and the fact that you do hit on actual facts, that you're not just horror buff that because there are some horror buffs on TikTok that just focus on horror without any substance to it. Yours has substance to it.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Yeah, I definitely try to. It's interesting because I definitely enjoy looking at both sides of it. I'm a healthy skeptic, I don't believe everything I hear. Sometimes some of my videos are definitely for this for the story, but yeah, definitely I like to really dig into whenever I'm researching.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Yes, which is good. At least, like I said, you have the substance, you have facts, you're not just spitting out stuff. Yeah, which also makes the story more enriched, at least for me personally, and made someone who gets scared easily if we're actually interested in it. Name the queer creed.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Actually, Jenis looked up. I use Chat GPT, actually. I was just like, I was kind of like brainstorming names and asking Chat GPT what's a word that has to do with the paranormal that starts with C because I knew I wanted to have queer in my name, and then I just wanted something that was like a little catchy. So that's pretty much it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

I use Chat GPT to do my spelling and grammar, and I like to just ask it random questions or for my books. I sometimes take a sentence and then ask it possible areas that I could go from there if I'm struggling to write.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Yeah, that's so smart. Yeah. ChatGPT can be like so useful if it's used in the right way.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

And it's fun to test out to see how smart it actually is. Because I am actually writing SAFIC. I guess it falls under. I learned that recently without even meaning to. I'm writing uh SAFIC for slash, it is rom-com still a little bit, but there's a little horror sense in it because we do have a leading character that's already dead. That sounds like my kind of book. That's good to know because I just wrote it because it came to my head because of the opening scene is literally with death. That is the opening scene of the prologue of my story is with death.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Yeah, oh, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

I love that. It's an idea, and it also, I guess this is a good time to talk about that with you. It takes the history of queer, so of the past and the future. And who is dead is going to the future, but I can't really say why, because it's a key factor to the story. But that's cool, though. I love that. But it's our history, LGBTQIA plus history.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Sweetie, that's amazing. I love that because we definitely need more of that in more books and media in general too.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Yeah, and a better education in media in general, too, instead of false information and using nearbong groups, yeah, from white straight people listening to instead of the people that actually live it every day. Yeah, absolutely. That's something that has always pissed me off.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

But anyway, you too, trust me. It's a hot topic in our host.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Yeah, it's interesting enough. With every interview I've had so far, we somehow bring up the administration, which that I purposely wrote it in here too. But every one of us somehow we just go there and talk about it. Yeah. If you watch, yeah, if you want, I can give you the little playlist of queer section. I don't know, of the queer series that I will probably change the title of eventually, but yeah, that'll be awesome. You want to watch that? Yeah, of course. Yeah. Cool, because you're part of it officially. Okay. And then do you have a current story to tell? Scary story, horror story?

SPEAKER_00 9:50

I just read a really interesting one that happened to this lady in Wisconsin. Her name's Foley. She it actually happened in 1972, but she just it's about aliens. So I don't know if that's if that if you're interested in that, but okay, yeah. So she it happened in 1972, but she just talked about it recently. She kept it in for a long time because people didn't believe her or would make fun of her or whatever. But she was at her parents, her parents lived on a farm in Wisconsin, and all around them was farmers fields. There was no street lights, there was no cars going by all the time. It was very rural. And one night her and her husband were there. It was 11:45. They were watching TV. Her parents were asleep. And all of a sudden, she notices that it looks bright, like it's noon outside, super bright white light. And that night had been cloudy. It had been really dark, pitch black. You couldn't see anything. Like I said, no streetlights or anything. So all of a sudden, it looks like it's noon outside. And she even checked the clock to make sure that she didn't fall asleep on the couch or something and wake up at daybreak. But so she notices that and she goes to open the door to look outside and asks her husband to come help her because a foot of snow has fallen. So she can't get the door open. And her husband has no interest in the fact that it looks like it's noon outside. He just is sitting there almost in a trance and doesn't come to help her with the door, which so she found that weird that he didn't do that. So then she goes upstairs to wake up her parents and she can't wake them up. She's shaking them and saying their names in their ear. They won't wake up. So she goes back downstairs and her husband's, Where have you been for so long? And she's, I was only upstairs for a few minutes. And then he just goes back into this kind of trance-like state. And the next day she said he wouldn't talk about it with her. He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to talk about it with her or her parents. And he actually was going to Vietnam for war. And he went the next day and then he passed away a few months later. So they never did talk about it. But it's just something she always remembers. I she also called the air traffic tower. She called the weather channel. She was looking for any information of what this could have been. And I'm sorry, I forgot one part too. When at one point the light outside it turns to red, which is really creepy. And then green, blue, back to white, and then goes over to another farmer's field. And there's this light now on this other farmer's field. So I just thought that was an interesting story.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Did you when we did have the spaceship theory going around? Which they are still in the UK, other places that you look on TikTok, they said when the light shines brighter, that there's I forgot what the alien name is that they came up with, but street lamps, instead of being, I guess they're semi-dim, really bright, like taking out really bright, taking like multiple areas on the street. It's some type of alien or east alien. I forgot the name of it though. I wish I remembered. But that was one of the things that I haven't heard about that.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

It's it sounds super interesting though.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

It interests me just due to the name. So I started watching more TikToks on it, and it was all during the time when a certain orange someone was getting inaugurated, and multiple spaceships were around. But even Australia had some come. I saw a video from the UK of someone just filming this weird orb thing came, and made a light kind of and then it just went back to normal.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

It's really interesting. Yeah, I do you believe in aliens?

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Like me. I don't know if I I have always believed in aliens because it would only make sense considering we're here, there should be other life. I just yeah, I have always believed in it. It's just I don't know if certain ones seem fake to me. They had the little alien interview, supposedly from the FI that felt really fake. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

A lot of it I feel is fake too. That's why. Healthy skepticism, but I definitely do believe in aliens because I just think there's gotta be more life out there than us, probably, and hopefully smarter. I hope so too.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Way smarter, hopefully. I'd say China beats everyone in smart. I was just saying that I feel like China is the smartest so far, at least when it comes to technology and oh yeah, humanity as a whole.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Yeah, yeah. Right now, the states obviously is a complete shit show, but I I feel like counter as not far behind sometimes. Getting scary.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

A little bit, but thankfully we do have pushback. If we didn't have pushback, it would be happening at a much faster rate right now. That's one thing. I want you to think of the orange, and I guess the orange juice feel or see the pushback, so they try to cover that up because that does destroy the plans that are being put in place, the sidetrackism and everything else, since they are in fact coal leaders and proven that two out of three experts say so, therefore, people can legally say they are leaders. Wow, that's crazy. I completely agree. The way they operate, and the fact that they want to instill fear and make sure that fear stays, that fear is so handy, just like sleep trial, so success in real life, just that is real life, except being paralyzed in everyday like night or day, and not being able to move. That's their goal ultimately. That's why they're going through everything illegally and so quickly. That yeah, but there'll be something. And plus, I'm really hoping that our governments and judges that are pushing back actually think and go, hmm, is there a way or a loophole on their end to arrest and imprison these individuals? That would be great. That's what I'm hoping for. Yeah. Gonna start calling our representatives on that and pushing for manifest it. We have to do our part too, because we have no control of how fast or what they're doing besides pissing off the Ukraine today. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Yeah, no, absolutely. It's there was a point in my life where I was living in a small town and it was very conservative. And a lot of people I wound up explaining a lot of things about the queer community to people. And there was a point where I was like, this isn't my job. Google it. But now I like actually it's all of our jobs because it's to help the community as a whole.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah, because of how uneducated my time working in the school system, got to see how children were taught and what the curriculum was. I don't feel the funding is a good answer to helping in any way. I think funding it more would help. But on top of that, actually hiring more diverse people because most of the time you have a white straight woman teaching about LGBTQIA plus, or a white straight woman teaching about black lives instead of a black woman teaching about that. You have a white straight woman teaching about disabilities who probably never experienced it in their lives instead of some disabilities teaching. That's one thing that only bugged me in the system is let's have someone who has no idea what they're teaching about teach on a topic that they've never experienced in their life.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Yeah, and potentially haven't tried to even understand themselves.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Besides what they were taught in a book written by probably a white straight man who has nothing to do with any of that. Yeah. Yeah. So that's held shape where we are today. And that inclusion, yes, there was a certain extent, at least where I live, there was a certain extent of inclusion, but not enough in the threshold to actually teach and reach a point of understanding and empathy that is an issue, but also coercive control is also an issue, but not in a school setting. Coercive control in our current administration is definitely an issue.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Yeah, I can talk about that forever. No, we just went to one of the questions, anyways. Have you researched high control groups? Aka Colt.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

So it's really interesting because I really haven't. The reason being is because if it was like a group of ghosts, I was patient, but I do like I don't research it for what I do, but I watch documentaries like everybody else, and I it's really strange because I don't know if you know this, but I've never made a single video on quotes except for Escaping Twin Flames. It's the only video ever made. Yeah. I actually haven't seen that video of yours. I need to see that. It was a while ago because I originally saw it, I think two years ago, maybe. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

I have something. I think it was two years. Or a year ago, actually, because we did our celebration too long ago.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

So maybe Yeah, right when it came out is when I watched it. And I know you probably hear this all the time. Like, there's so many people who say, How could anybody be tricked into that? Or I would never, and so I wanted to go on to TikTok and tell people that I would have been the perfect target for a cult for most of my life because I was so insecure and like looking for my place and couldn't find it. And I just think people need to think about those times in their life, or you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Yeah, and the fact that most people join cults, okay, high control, since everyone prefers hearing high control over cult. High control groups do grab individuals that are at their lowest low, but on top of that, whatever they are feeding, so whatever propaganda they are feeding you or selling you, such as importing immigrants or getting rid of diversity, equity, inclusion, DEI, these are actual examples too, how people get rung in. Right now we have billions of people that are well, millions, not billions, but millions of people that are rung into this when it's come to Putin is also in there and some other ones are being this nature. Hiller was one too, for many yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Yeah, it smart people who know how to manipulate and know how to cause fear and make people feel like that the only option is the option that they're presenting to them.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

So I think computers are not smart, they're just smart in manipulation, and yeah, because Jeff and Shlia, in my personal opinion, aren't that smart.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Yeah, they don't seem smart people, but Hitler probably was really smart in a terrible way. He might have been, but the orange man definitely is not either, nor isn't he just smart in manipulation and like how to just make people afraid because the amount of people who believe the shit that he spouts is mind-blowing. And they're probably the same people who are like, I would never join a cult to like it's funny.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

During the time of the film coming out, a lot of people kept saying that, and then some of the others that were speaking up in the docu series said, You probably would be one that would join right away.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah, absolutely, exactly. Now they're in the Cheeto cult.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

I like all the different names, like Orange Man. Yeah, I don't really want to get back and see to the orange man, but and someone actually did a cool little AI of if he wasn't orange, what a skin look like, and it looked like death literal death, but there are lots of stories you could go off of too, just because you do go into horror, like Jamestown would be one of them. Since if you want to talk about a ghost town, that's where the term Kool-Aid came from.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Drinking Yeah, the thing for me with cults and talking about it is when there are people who specifically are alive that it's affected, or family that's still alive that it's affected. I just feel weird about talking about it without reaching out to those people first because I would never want to spread any misinformation about people's lives, and then they see that and that would just be so upsetting. So that's why I stay away from it because it's really hard to don't want to be reached out to, too. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

I know there are some that do, but anonymously a lot of people that even are in current church cults like Scientology, since I want to open cults that everyone knows about.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Yeah, there are some people, but yeah. Oh, and where can we find you with links down below?

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Make sure to follow me in so the queer crypt on TikTok, the queer crypt on YouTube, and then just a little stitches is the podcast name on Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

And the links will be down below. And thank you so much for this interview. And for everyone that watched our interview, please subscribe and please follow so much for being here. It's down below. Please check out Megan and go listen to her podcast and follow on TikTok and everywhere else. Links will be down below. Thanks so much for being here. Embrace your truth, tell your story. You have a story to tell, I have a story to tell. Thanks again. And subscribe until next time. Thanks so much, weekies but being here, everyone. Uh, I hope you enjoyed this episode with many more to come. If you'd like to help support and grow the podcast and even the YouTube channel, please not only follow, like, subscribe, but please leave a review on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you listen to this podcast. Thanks so much for being here. Until next week, on Wednesday at 7 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. Peace. Catch you later.