Haunted Objects, Cemetery Symbols, and Real Paranormal Investigation w/ Gina Black | Ghost City Podcast

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The Ghost City Podcast is BACK with Season 2!

This episode of the Ghost City Podcast kicks off the debut of our new opening segment, This Week in Creep, where Tim Nealon and the GCT production team break down recent paranormal headlines—from the Conjuring House lawsuit to UFO orbs near U.S. military bases and a viral “phantom hand” video. We dig past hype, hoaxes, and AI fakery to talk about what actually matters in the world of hauntings: evidence, credibility, and why some ghost stories endure while others fall apart in the dark.

Then Tim sits down with paranormal investigator and author Gina Black to explore haunted locations across South Florida, Savannah, and beyond. Gina shares firsthand experiences from places like History Fort Lauderdale, the Gold Coast Railroad Museum, and the Sorrel Weed House, along with a thoughtful discussion on haunted objects—including a revealing perspective on Robert the Doll in Key West. From cemetery symbolism and Victorian funerary art to practical ghost-hunting advice for beginners, this conversation blends haunted history, folklore, and real-world investigation into a grounded look at how the dead continue to speak—if you know how to listen.

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To purchase Gina's book mentioned on the podcast, Etched in Stone: Decoding Hidden Meanings in Cemeteries, click THIS LINK!

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Watch this episode and more paranormal content by subscribing to our YouTube page!

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Visit our website to schedule a Ghost Tour today! Stay Spooky...

Transcript

Cold Open: The Thrill Of Ghost Hunting

SPEAKER_05 0:00

When it comes to certain interests, you know, if you if you like skydiving and you like that rush of jumping out of the plane and feeling adrenaline, I feel adrenaline when I go ghost hunting. I get so excited, you know, for that one or two moment encounter or, you know, hearing a voice on a recorder or, you know, seeing a shadow figure. It's just very interesting for me.

Introducing This Week In Creep

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Welcome back to the Ghost City Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Nealand, founder of Ghost City Tours, the number one rated Ghost Tour company in the entire world. Uh, go to GhostCityTours.com to book one of our world famous tours today. On today's episode, we're talking with Paranormal Investigator and author, Gina Black. So today we're going to be talking with Gina about all things paranormal. Now, she's based out of southern Florida, so she has a lot of spooky locations that she's often visiting with her team there. Now, during the course of her paranormal investigation career, she also developed a love for cemeteries and she wrote a book about it. So we're going to talk about ghost cemeteries. And I think there's even something in there about Bob's burgers. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode with Gina Black. All right, guys, I totally lied to you. I said we're going to be getting right into interviewing Gina Black, but we're going to do something different this week. It's going to be it's called This Week in Creep. And essentially, I'm here with Aiden, Carter, and Paul. And we're going to be talking about spooky topics this week, right? Or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Basically, yeah. We'll have a few headlines in the paranormal world and and we're just going to shoot the BS about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

All right. I have no idea what's going on here, so I'm going to let the guys run the show.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Uh so how's this going to work going forward? So we're just going to show a couple topics on the screen, the audience will be able to see, and we'll introduce you to you. Paul's going to kind of break down exactly what the headline is, and then you can kind of give your take on it. Well, I know Aiden's going to have a lot to say about it, too. Exactly.

Conjuring House Lawsuit Debate

SPEAKER_03 1:54

Um, all right. First one's up. All right. First up on this week in Creep, we have the Conjuring House lawsuit. A lawsuit was filed to block the alleged sale of the Conjuring House in Rhode Island, the homemade famous by the film franchise. That's a weird way to put it, but all right, AI. The claim current the claim argues the current owner lacked the mental capacity to enter into the sale agreement.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Thoughts, Tim. Okay, so first of all, this is all uh my opinion. I am not stating any facts because I know that uh there's a lot of lawsuit talk around this whole subject. But from what I understand, the woman in question who owned the house is now trying to say that she was not in the right mind, or maybe it's her sister or something, and that therefore that that essentially she should be given back the house. Um something like that. That's what I've heard. What have you guys heard?

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Anything I have heard that the opinions and statements of Timothy Nealan do not necessarily reflect the opinions and statements of Ghost City Tourists.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

That's true. That is very true. But but but no, I I I'm actually being serious. Like it sounds like I'm trying to be funny. God damn it, Aiden, you ruined it already.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Shut up, Aiden.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

No, but like uh no, but I what I was saying is truthful. Like it sounds like I'm trying to be funny, but no, I I really think it was like the the the previous owner's sister filed something in court to try to block all this because she's saying that her sister was not of sound mind when these decisions were made. And I I really think that's what that's the last I heard. But I know that there is there's other stuff going on as well, like you know, Jason Haas, for example, from Ghost Hunters. Uh, he's been making a a really good effort using I think GoFundMe or something like that to try to help raise the funds to buy the house. Uh I I don't know the current state of that or anything, but I I wish Jason luck. I think he's a great guy, and I think that they're really onto something good there, and I hope that they succeed. But um I mean it will whatever lawsuit you guys are talking about, it won't be the last one. Like it, I I this I think this is gonna be a very contentious uh situation no matter what.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

What are your thoughts on the conjuring house in general, Tim? You are you a believer or do we not want to talk about that on the podcast?

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Uh so so I mean, the I've never been there. I want to make that clear, you know, first of all. Um but it's probably haunted. You know, I mean that there's been so many people that have been there over the years that um and and they've reported things, it's probably haunted. Now, is it probably as haunted as the the movies make it out to be? No. Um are there demons there? I don't know. Um, but but I do think this is one of those places that um maybe people put a little bit more weight into the hauntings there simply because it's is so famous. Now I I will say that the the conjuring house itself, uh like not talking about the hauntings and the ghosts, it's actually a uh kind of like a paranormal you know, uh not not not museum, but like it there's actually been a lot of paranormal history there. Like, you know, people have gone there and and kind of like used new techniques to to to make contact with the ghosts. So I think it's worthy, worthy of protection, you know, almost from like a uh historical site perspective for the ghosts, though. I I don't know. I don't know. I'm sure there's some ghosts there though.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

All righty. Let's go to our second topic in this week in creep.

Is The Conjuring House Really Haunted

SPEAKER_03 5:14

Paul, what we got? All right, so this one's a little bit dated now, but so it's not really this week, but on a week in creep, we'll call it. All right. The Enigma report, hundreds of metallic orbs and UFO sightings near U.S. military sites. Remember there were all those drones over New Jersey and all that other nonsense? Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, yeah. Now the government says that there are aliens, but nobody really gave a shit.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Right.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Thoughts, Tim?

UFO Orbs And Government Trust

SPEAKER_01 5:36

I think if you believe anything, the government says you're an idiot. Um, first of all. I you know, so so I mean, you guys all remember this, right? Like, once again, I know Aiden has a lot to say about this. He was talking about this forever the other day, about how because it was on the news for weeks, like those mysterious drones, and people are like, are they like Chinese drones coming in from offshore and stuff, right? And then all of a sudden it was just you didn't hear anything about it. There was no resolution, there was no like, oh, we figured out what it was. And one, that just shows you that that shows you a couple things. First of all, there's a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world right now, and Americans have the shortest attention span uh of any type of people in human history. Because if if we really thought it was aliens or China or anything, why is it the second the news stopped talking about it, we just forgot it happened? Like I even forgot it happened. I'm not blaming everybody, like I'm not saying I'm exempt and it's like, oh, what happened to it? I was like, you know, the next time I heard about it two months later, I was like, oh shit, like that was a thing. But now they're saying it was like some hobbyists, though, right? Like some, like some guy was like, oh no, just kidding, that was me. Like, like with a drone in his backyard. I'm serious.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

Yeah, like I I've heard that that that's the you know, I mean, our our fearless leader Donald Trump says, Oh, I I know about it, you don't know, it's all fine. So I'm sure we have nothing to worry about.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

That's well, it was part of the make make drones great again um movement.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

Uh if I don't know, like what do you guys think it was? I don't probably secret military technology that right, you know, they're they're spraying chemicals on us to turn us into gay frogs or something.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

I mean, Alex Jones wasn't totally wrong in that part. I mean, uh we were we were we were actually breaking this down to eight the other day.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

He was like, Who's Alex Jones? We're like, oh buddy, we got some stories for you. Well, technically the frogs did not turn gay, they just they they changed they changed sex and started yeah, went from male to female or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

Yeah, but no, I mean he was kind of onto something there. If if you had to bring a food uh to an alien life form who just landed here, Tim, what would you bring him as a peace offering? As a peace offering? Like, hey, this is this is our cuisine. Well, that eliminates Taco Bell, right? Like No, I don't think it does.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Like send them back home with diarrhea. If they turn violent, that's how we get them. Well, I don't know. I mean, so in my mind, any food that we take in alien being, one, they probably would not recognize it because we're assuming that uh they're carbon-based life forms that ingest food the same way do we do. What if they photosynthesize?

SPEAKER_03 8:05

Fair point.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Yeah, and that's what all the lights on the ships are for. Everybody thinks it's like pay attention to me. They're like, no, we need these to eat. Um I don't know. But if but if I had to take them a food, um oh my god, you know, I okay, I got it. A steak sub from Jersey Mike's. Nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Yeah, I mean, if they don't like that, then they can go get on out and go back to Mars nurse.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Yeah, get what get out of here with your non-chees steak fluff. I've been uh so I've been craving uh I've been I I made the comment last podcast like uh I'm trying to not be fat anymore. But man, it is so hard. Every time I come to the office, I'm like, if I door dash at about the same time I leave my house, I could be enjoying that great Jersey Mike goodness by the time I get to the office.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

Well, we're gonna make sure we sneak in an alien question every single this week in Creep going forward. But we got uh we got one more headline for you, Tim. The third one is kind of a weird one, um, but it's from a television show, I believe. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:05

Yes, this is the strange phantom hand encounter in Brazil. What Carter Simino once had a strange phantom hand encounter, but that was at a different never mind. Yeah, that was a that was at a strip club in Key West. We won't talk about that. I was gonna say we're not getting into Jeffrey Epps scene here, are we? What are we what are we uh a family in Brazil reported a mysterious hand appearing moving objects in their home and sparking intense discussion online, seen on paranormal caught on camera for the Travel Channel.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

Have you heard of that show?

SPEAKER_01 9:34

I I think I have.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

So, first of all, when was this recorded? Is it like a new thing or is it like an old video? No, I think it's from an episode that's coming that just came out this year, like in December.

Alien Food, Drones, And Platforms

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Okay, well, going forward, I'm calling all ghost evidence AI, just to be safe, because I think that's gonna be the majority of ghost videos coming from the general public going forward. Because you can make uh AI videos that do anything anymore. So, and unfortunately, I think the same thing's gonna have to be said for Bigfoot videos going forward too, and that breaks my heart.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Well, do you trust like like on X, for example, whenever you'll see there's a lot of AI disclaimers that uh do you do you trust those, or do you think that AI is gonna get so good that we're not gonna be able to even tell?

SPEAKER_01 10:14

I I'm willing to bet they they catch most AI. You know, but but then again, I think that a lot of people when you upload that content, like it's kind of like I am admitting this is AI. Like I know even on YouTube, if we use AI at all, we're supposed to like check a box that says like part of this is AI generated. Um, and I think there's consequences if you get caught doing that and not admitting that it's AI.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

Do you think like social media companies are gonna enforce, like whether it's from your iPhone or from a nice camera, like we have in the studio, have some sort of metadata that you're able to put on the social media that says, hey, this this came from a canon or this came from an iPhone?

SPEAKER_01 10:48

I think you're giving social media companies way too much credit. I think they're all evil. And anything that's gonna get keep people on the platform and more engaged, they're gonna let happen. Like I'm surprised they don't, you know, Facebook doesn't have a section where you can buy drugs. Like, you know, anything to keep them on the platform. Not yet. Not yet.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

Um two out of four, Tim. What's the likelihood that Mark Zuckerberg is a lizard person?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Uh I would say, are you are you asking me like on a scale one to ten or two out of four? Two out of four. Two out of four. Wait, what I'm confused. The scale is two out of four. Four being a definite lizard person. Oh, two being half. Uh I don't know. Um I don't think he's a lizard person. I just think he and by the way, like I would uh I would cut off my arm to trade places of Marcus Zuckerberg, so don't get me wrong. But I he's just a very awkward human being. Like, do you ever see that video of him in Congress where he doesn't blink for like 38 minutes and like plus he he had that weird skin. Like he went to Brazil and got one of those those fancy treatments. Lizard skin. Yeah. He had just shed. I don't know. I mean, I I I think Mark Zuckerberg's probably a pretty cool dude. I would think the chances of him being a lizard are probably pretty slim. But I guess but it's not impossible.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

But I guess so point being that don't trust Phano Hands that you see on the internet. Oh, is that what we're talking about?

SPEAKER_03 12:19

Uh bringing it all back together. Good job, Garner.

Phantom Hand In Brazil And AI Fakery

Gina Black Joins The Show

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Thank you. So so as somebody who has been in a lot of lot a lot of haunted places and stuff like that, I'm not saying that that stuff never happens. I've never seen anything like that. I've literally probably spent tens and tens of thousands of hours of my life in haunted locations. I have never seen phantom hands. I mean, okay, don't get me wrong. Maybe like move something. Like, you know, something moves a little bit on table. Like I've seen little stuff like that. But if you're if if it's like moving all kind of stuff, then no, I I don't think that's real. I don't but then again, anything's possible. Um I mean, I I have a podcast. Damn right. All right. Well, to end this week in Creep, we have one question for you. If you guys know Gary the Ghost, um, he's been on a lot of episodes lately, being interviewed, interviewing people, and I think we're gonna start sending Gary out in the world. So we want to ask you, where do you want to see Gary? We've had all kinds of ideas from Taco Bell to strip clubs to McDonald's, actually Walmart too. Um, where do you want to see Gary go next? Let us know in the comments below. And uh with that, we're gonna get on with our interview with Gina Black. All right. So, Gina, it's nice to have you on the show today. Um, and I'm excited to have you because Chrissa has been trying to get you on the show for a little while. I I know that. She's like, I'm gonna try to get Gina. And at first I was like, uh, who's Gina? And uh because she just kept saying Gina, like I'm supposed to know you by name. Uh, but then once I realized who you were, I was like, oh yeah, that I I think she'd be an excellent guest uh here on the Ghost City Podcast. So welcome to the show, Gina.

SPEAKER_05 13:57

Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Yeah, so where where are you joining us from today?

SPEAKER_05 14:01

I'm actually in South Florida, close to Miami area.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

And South Florida. That's not exactly known for a lot of ghostly activity, or is it?

South Florida’s Haunted Hotspots

SPEAKER_05 14:11

Well, I would have to say that there's a lot of hidden gems in South Florida. We had a lot of you know development with the Florida Keys, rum running, you know, activity during speakeasy era. So there is actually a lot of interesting haunted locations in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area. And of course, I travel all over the state, so I'm very familiar with some of the more, I would say, well-known haunts in St. Augustine and beyond.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

So I imagine Florida has a lot more ghosts than normal because you guys have Florida man. And uh from what I understand, Florida man is really good at killing himself in like a lot of different bizarre ways, alligators, uh, stop signs, all the other kind of stuff. Um, maybe. But to bring it back to the serious side of things, what are some of your favorite places to investigate down there in Florida?

Robert The Doll: Policy And Evidence

SPEAKER_05 15:03

So there is a museum that my paranormal team and I host some charity events at, and we we host a uh regular ghost investigation for people to come join us, and that's called the History Fort Lauderdale Museum. It's in downtown Fort Lauderdale, and it is a collective of properties. It includes the first hotel and a pioneer home, as well as an old schoolhouse. And I've been investigating there for a few years now, and it is by far one of the most active locations that I've had the pleasure of investigating. And so we do that pretty regularly. There's also a really cool train museum in Miami called Gold Coast Train Museum, and it's a collective of all sorts of really cool old trains, some of which were involved in World War II and some that kind of went back and forth across the United States. And there's even an old presidential car. So that's pretty neat. And we have, you know, some interesting haunted hotels as well. And, you know, there's a lot of interesting beaches, haunted cemeteries, and we have a lot of really cool locations in the Florida Keys as well. I know a lot of people are familiar with Robert the Doll. He's located in Key West.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Do you believe in Robert the Doll? I always ask people this when they bring him up. Do you really think that that doll's haunted?

Where Should Gary The Ghost Go

SPEAKER_05 16:24

I have a really interesting experience with Robert the Doll. So I'd love to share. And so I investigated in November of 2024. And I went down, I did the investigation on Sunday night. There was only a few attendees. And the person who was running the investigation basically said, to my surprise, hey, when you're investigating with Robert, just be cool, be calm, collected, but you know, respectful. Do not ask for permission when it comes to taking pictures or videos. And I said, but that's really strange because I was always under the impression that you guys were always advertising to ask permission. And he explained that recently they had changed their policy as a museum and they were asking that people not ask permission. Because I he said that the act of asking permission was in fact inviting negative energy to occur. So they officially changed their policy. I did not ask permission. I was respectful. And I got some interesting paranormal activity. So it wasn't a ton, but I investigated around the doll for quite a bit of time while I was there. I would say maybe, you know, about two hours. And I, you know, towards the end of this time, I was getting a little, you know, kind of frustrated because I wasn't getting any responses. So I sort of said, you know, hey, the person I'm with doesn't believe in you, Robert. He doesn't believe you're haunted. But I think you are, buddy. I think you are pretty cool. And I got a little giggle on my portal box. So it was like a childlike giggle that came through the portal. And then um, as I was getting ready to leave, we were kind of walking around a little bit around the area. And I got on my ovulus device, it said Robert. And I thought that was pretty cool. So I went back and I said bye to him. And, you know, I as far as is the is the doll haunted? Maybe. I think it's one of those situations very much like Annabelle, who's another haunted doll, where it's so overhyped at this point that it becomes so ingrained in everyone's mind as being such an intense situation that no matter what happens, you're going to think that something negative is going to happen. And you're going to take, you know, I was going to say anything.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

I was going to say, we know, and me personally know all about that. So when we had Annabelle come to New Orleans, um, I ended up getting like 60, 70 death threats, um, like legit death threats, because that's when the plantation burned down and all that other stuff. And you might have heard that, you know, oh, Annabelle did it, Annabelle did it, which is just absurd. Um, but yeah, people love to attribute essentially anything spooky, I guess, within 100 miles of the doll to the doll. Um, I'm one of those people, I'm not, I'm not sure that any of these dolls are haunted. And I could be wrong because I I'm a believer in ghosts, like no doubt. But there's there's parts of me, it's like really like the robber the doll thing. You know, if you didn't ask permission, something bad would happen to you. To me, that just doesn't like really like you think that ghost has nothing better to do.

SPEAKER_05 19:22

Yeah, and I also think, you know, it becomes part of the local folklore. But now with podcasting and you know, the internet, we have so much more access to these stories and people they become infamous. And I think the idea is more scary than the actual situation. And if you go in and you it's the power of, you know, your mind thinking that something bad's gonna happen. So then if you leave there and you something does happen to you, you're gonna attribute that to the doll. And I I just kind of feel like that's a little bit on the crazy side. And I also don't think that dolls have the capability of getting up and running around and doing anything nefarious, but

Belief, Hype, And Haunted Dolls

SPEAKER_01 20:00

I mean they will hear in the future once Elon Musk got this way with them. Yeah, that's for sure. They'll be doing all kinds of things, a lot of it not appropriate, I'm sure. Um Well, you know, you mentioned this idea of, you know, people kind of coming in with these preconceived notions or having these preconceived notions of this doll being a certain way, and therefore any experience they have reinforces that, you know, whether or not it's actually because of the doll or not. Do you think the same thing's happening in haunted locations themselves?

SPEAKER_05 20:28

I do. I do think that that is absolutely a possibility. And there was an interesting experiment called the Philip Experiment. Have you heard of it?

SPEAKER_01 20:35

I have not.

The Philip Experiment And Confirmation

SPEAKER_05 20:36

The Phillip experiment happened, uh, it was done at a conference in Canada. I don't know the exact year off the top of my head, but the idea of the experiment was that a group of investigators was given the background on a spirit, and the spirit's name was Philip. This was all fabricated, it was made up for the experiment, but all these investigators were given background information, what Philip was like, what year they were they lived, and you know, things along that line. And they started investigating and they started gathering evidence from this ghost that was named Philip. And it was an interesting phenomenon because the idea was that these investigators believed so much so that they were interacting with the spirit that they sort of created a spirit. Now, I think that that's absolutely a possibility when it comes to certain locations. I think that that's why investigating with a variety of equipment is important. So that way, if you hear a sound and you get a spike in EMF and you get a reading on on one of your motion centered devices, if you have three or four points of evidence, it's harder to debunk. And, you know, I would say that's a little bit more credible. But I absolutely think that some people sort of create the idea of spirits because they're so overhyped when they visit locations.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Yeah, I I I'm willing to bet that that happens as well. And that also gives me a really good idea. I think that we should do the Philip experiment here at Go City Tours, except for Philip is the new CEO. And Philip is a really nice guy and everybody loves him. Um but nobody's really seen him in person. And he's on Slack all the time, though. I think that yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

Yeah, you can add a little mailbox to the the office room and you know give him an extension.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

I think we're gonna have a I think I think we're gonna the next one episode will be announcing the new CEO of Ghost City Tours, Philip.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

So we actually did our version of the Philip experiment a couple weeks ago. We call it we called it the Baylor experiment. Is that right? Isn't that right, Paul?

SPEAKER_03 22:39

Yeah, it's uh you can see it on our YouTube channel, ghost city tours at youtube.com.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Yay. Well, how did that go?

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Uh it went about as well as you thought it might. Oh, okay. But we do have a no a new ghost at the ghost city headquarters called Baylor, so there's that.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Oh, cool. So I just like totally dismissed everything you said. Oh, cool. And like we're moving on. That's great, guys. So awesome. Uh back to you, Gina. Um totally messing with you guys. So, you know, how long how long have you been doing the paranormal investigation uh thing, Gina?

SPEAKER_05 23:12

So I've always been interested in haunted locations. I've been taking ghost tours since my teens. And I want to say around 2016, 2017, for one one year my my husband bought me some paranormal equipment for a Christmas gift, and I sort of dabbled in it. And then I would say around 2020 is when I started doing it a little bit more. And then I got onto a paranormal team around 2021. And now I'm on my own paranormal team that I co-founded and I do it all the time. I'm, I would say I investigate, you know, three or four times a month. I'm out on the road. I do it when I'm out of town. If I'm on vacation, I kind of do a multifaceted vacation of here, let's let's have a good time exploring the city and had going out to eat, but let's also take the ghost tour and check out the cemeteries. So I I do, I'm always doing this, and it's truly a passion of mine.

Singing For Spirits At Sorrel Weed House

SPEAKER_01 24:13

So what keeps you going? Like, so you know, you for a lot of people, especially if they've been doing it for a number of years, is you know, you tend to get bored of something, you know, whether it's a hobby or an interest, and you move on. So why, why are you so engaged? What is it that keeps you wanting to find that next haunted location or that next piece of evidence? What is what is that for you?

SPEAKER_05 24:33

Well, I think, you know, when it comes to certain interests, you know, if you if you like skydiving and you like that rush of jumping out of the plane and feeling adrenaline, I feel adrenaline when I go ghost hunting. I get so excited, you know, for that one or two moment encounter or, you know, hearing a voice on a recorder or, you know, seeing a shadow figure. It's just very interesting for me. And I would love to document and research and meet people that have had experiences. It's just something that I just really do enjoy doing. And it's really nice when you get to meet other like-minded people because growing up, I didn't have too many friends that were interested in this. And thankfully, my husband is very patient because he he puts, you know, he puts up with it. He doesn't love it, but he supports me. And I found a group of like-minded folks that I'm able to investigate with now, and they make it a lot of fun. So it's it's something that I truly look forward to. And I don't see myself getting tired of it anytime soon.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

So no, I I imagine that must be nice having friends and stuff. Sad face. Um but so at what point did you was it after you began doing the paranormal investigations or before where where something happened and you just knew that this was real? Because, you know, of course, we have skeptics and believers, all that kind of stuff. Were you always a believer, or was there a part of you that uh was that skeptic, like, oh, ghosts aren't real? And then something happened to you and and that triggered all of this. Like, how did that happen for you?

SPEAKER_05 26:05

I I think just the more I started investigating, the more I was experiencing things that I couldn't explain. And, you know, when it when it came to, you know, having a really profound experience on a location in Savannah, I I got to investigate the Sorel Weed House, which is a very famous haunted location. And I had a really, really profound experience in the carriage house that really kind of changed the way I looked at investigating and made me want to investigate more. It made me want to duplicate what I experienced there other places. And it just sort of, you know, it for me, I I really wanted to just learn more about what was happening. I I wanted to learn more about equipment. I wanted to learn more about how things worked, how, you know, how to debunk, how to do things more in a professional way. So that really kind of became more of the driving factor for me. And what really kind of got me interested was that that location.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Well, what was that profound experience?

Savannah Vs New Orleans Vibes

SPEAKER_05 27:09

So the Sorrell Weed House has been on a bunch of ghost hunting shows. It was on, I think the first time I saw it was on Ghost Adventures, and you know, I knew the a little bit about the story, but the background was the house was originally used as a war barracks during the Revolutionary War, and then it became a mansion. They built it up into made it into a mansion. And the the husband was a doctor, he was doing kind of some shady experiments, maybe in the in the basement, maybe people who couldn't afford to see a doctor. You know, they were going to him for some work, but a lot of things kind of occurred in the basement that maybe weren't so kosher. And he was having an affair with one of the enslaved people on the property. This was definitely not something that was mutual because she was an enslaved person. And his wife found out, and his wife jumped off the roof. And then shortly thereafter, the enslaved woman was also found unalived. And, you know, it was one of those things that, you know, it marked the property, it made it, you know, infamous. And, you know, for years afterwards, many wit rumors would would go about that around Savannah that the place was haunted. And the owners of the property now, it's a museum, they do tours, and they also host paranormal investigations. So that's just a little bit on the background. So on this investigation, I got to explore the whole house. And then we were able to get into the carriage house, which is where the enslaved people lived. And I was just with three other people. And the docent, when she opened the building up and she let us in, she just said on our way out, she said, Hey guys, you know, when you're here, just keep it light. This was a very happy place. This was a refuge for these people. This was where they would have dinner after a hard day. This is where they would relax, they would sing, they would have their, you know, cooking. And she said, please just keep it light because we like the energy here to be light. So that was great advice. And, you know, we were investigating and I was with my husband, who's a singer, and I said, Hey, why don't we see if you sing a song, if we get any reaction? Because the the woman mentioned singing, they like to sing up here. So he's he's like looking at me, he's going, What do I sing? And I thought, okay, um, I don't know, maybe something bluesies, maybe, you know, he knows some Elvis songs. I said, Why don't you sing blue suede shoes? And so he started singing blue suede shoes, and almost immediately we started getting some voices on the spirit box. There was um a it sounded like an older man that said, I don't trust him. And then there was a little kid, it sounded like a younger person said, He's okay. And then what sounded like a female humming the tune. It was like back to back to back. And it was just so chilling. And, you know, he stopped singing and he's looking at me, and I'm looking at him and the other people in the room. And we just kind of felt this very interesting shift in the energy, is all the only way I could describe it. It felt like we weren't alone. And there wasn't anything afterwards, there really wasn't much before that, but it was this as soon as he started singing, all of a sudden the activity happened and then it stopped. And it was just we kind of felt like we made a connection. And we felt like, hey, you know, maybe they appreciated the music, maybe they appreciated us. And yeah, it's okay for them to not be sure about us too. You know, we're people in their space. So it was a cool, it was a cool experience for all of us. And it made me want to kind of duplicate that and experiment with, you know, that kind of thing in other places, you know, maybe singing, maybe dancing, maybe playing music. You know, it doesn't have to just be, is there anyone here with us? Are you a man or a woman?

SPEAKER_01 30:53

You know, it it do you know that you're dead?

SPEAKER_05 30:56

It's more than that. You know, these they were people. So it was it was a really, really profound experience for me.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Yeah, I I I I used to live in Savannah, Georgia. But no, the Sorrell Weed House is is an awesome place. You know, the have you spent a lot of time in Savannah, or was that kind of like your your one trip there?

Chewbacchus, Bacchus, And Local Lore

SPEAKER_05 31:13

Or I've been a couple of times and I also investigated before it was closed down the Moon River Brewing Company. Yep. I got to investigate that. And I also I that's really the only the two investigations I've done there, but I've also, you know, I tried to make my way around. I've done, I've ex, you know, went through Bonaventure. Um I'm I'm into photography, so that was uh a dream come true to see all the beautiful sculpture in there. And I just love the downtown area and the old homes and getting to see, you know, the the old architecture. It's such a beautiful city. It really is absolutely gorgeous.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Yeah, I always tell people I have no plans of, I mean, I so I live right outside of New Orleans. We get that really hot, oppressive summer, probably how you guys get where it's like 95 degrees every day, 100% humidity. And I'm from the north, so anything above 70 degrees, and I have to like, I'm like, oh my god, it's so hot. Um, but my my whole point was I always said that if I did leave here and move anywhere in the south again, I would move back to Savannah in a heartbeat. Um, but I I can't move anywhere in the south. It's too damn hot down here. I don't like this.

SPEAKER_05 32:19

Like Savannah gets pretty hot too in the summertime.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Oh, I know. That's why I would never move there. But if I had to move somebody move back to somewhere in the south, it'd absolutely be Savannah. I think what I always like best about Savannah, not only and by the way, I actually moved to Savannah because it was haunted.

SPEAKER_04 32:34

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

I I didn't even plan on stopping in Savannah. I was just you know, kind of doing a road trip, and I I there there's just something about that downtown area, and when you walk around, it just feels different than anywhere I've ever been in my life. And you know, like you said, the beautiful architecture, the old mansions, you know, the squares, you know. I I don't know if it's that or if it's some other type of energy, but there's definitely something very unique and special about the historic district of Savannah. And I do miss it every now and then. And here in New Orleans, everybody thinks the French Quarter is better. It's not. They're like, oh, the French quarter is.

SPEAKER_05 33:05

It's similar, though. It has a similar kind of vibe. I noticed that. You know, I feel like they're sister cities.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

Yeah, except for one's drunk and dirty. Um and the other one's like refined and you know, mostly pretty. Um, but I I get where you're coming from. Um so have you well, you mentioned New Orleans and you said they're similar. So have you been here?

SPEAKER_05 33:27

Yes, I've been twice now, and I absolutely love it. I actually was there last four uh February for my 40th birthday, and I got to do the um the weekend. It was right before the Super Bowl, and we there were so many parades there. We got to see the Chewbacca parade.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Chewbaccas.

SPEAKER_05 33:48

Is that Chewbacca? Chewbaccas Chewbacchus?

True Crime At Bloody Mary’s Apartment

SPEAKER_01 33:50

I think what you're referring to is Chewbacca or something. No, Bacchanal. Wait, now you're Bac and Chewbacca. Oh my god, now you're fucking me up. Uh it's Chewbacchus, right, guys? Chewbacchus, yes. And then okay. Then but the but you blended another one, Bacchanal. Is that another one, or is it kind of Bacchus? Bacchus is another one.

SPEAKER_05 34:10

I think that's a Roman term for a really crazy party, right?

SPEAKER_03 34:14

No, I think he's the grape guy.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Bacchus was the god of wine and debauchery, I believe, and there is a parade named after him. Wine and debauchery. That sounds like my early 20s or new at New Orleans now. Um, so when you were here, like like one, did you come here because it's haunted, or were you just trying to check out the city?

SPEAKER_05 34:32

Well, I I've been, it was my second time there. And the first time I was there, I was, you know, I I went to a couple of the, you know, the cemeteries that are right downtown. I did the St. Louis number two, I believe. I didn't do number one. And I did the, you know, kind of the the downtown, the garden districts, and you know, uh all downtown. And then this time around, I, you know, I was I was there for the parade and also, you know, took because it was my 40th. I wanted a big party.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

And every time you say 40, we're gonna edit it. So it says 22.

SPEAKER_05 35:10

Um, and I I got to do a little bit of investigating and I got to visit uh the that where where Ann Rice is buried. And I she's a huge, I'm a huge fan of her. She's one of my absolute favorite authors ever. And I got to visit the Bloody Mary Museum, which has the apartment where that famous true kind case, the Zach and Addy case, where that happened. And I kind of did a little investigating, you know. I I asked if it was okay, and they said sure. There was nobody there. So I did a little investigating, and it was a very eerie experience.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Because you know what happened up there, right?

SPEAKER_05 35:54

Oh, yeah, I do know what happened up there. It was a a really uh infamous true crime case after Hurricane Katrina, where a boyfriend butchered and uh unalived a girlfriend that he was living with, and she was found on the stove and in in a bathroom, you know, kind of in in separate containers. And the the uh the apartment was I I believe they there was a lot of controversy because some people blamed the shop below because it was a metaphysical shop below, and people were blaming that. And it was really just, you know, the guy was off his meds, it was during the hurricane and you know, the aftermath, and you know, he was drinking, he was doing drugs, and he was off his medication, and you know, it was a volatile situation. And but the building was purchased by the Bloody Mary Museum, and now that space upstairs that was their former apartment is kind of like it's kind of like a shrine in a way. They made altars out of all of the spaces where they found her body.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Yeah, it's kind of weird. They, you know, the the the the woman who bought that took a lot of flack here um in New Orleans for kind of turning it into like a tourist attraction.

SPEAKER_05 37:10

Um I can see both sides of it.

SPEAKER_01 37:13

I can too. I'm not I'm not taking her side or nor am I against her. It's just I I remember that was a big hoofla hoopla, hooflaw. It was a big uh brigamor roll. Wait, no, that's probably even the wrong word. And for a while. Hoopla works. Hoopla. There we go. Um well, you know, talking about New Orleans and something that you brought up earlier, you wrote a book on cemeteries, and New Orleans just happens to be known as the City of the Dead. I mean, I guess everybody calls their city city of the dead. Uh, but New Orleans in particular, and you might be able to tell me if I'm right or not.

SPEAKER_05 37:45

Does New Orleans have more cemeteries than any other city in the country, or is it I am not sure of that that statistic off the top of my head, but it is one of the cities that has the the most mausoleums and above-ground crypts than any other city, but I'm not sure about the number of cemeteries. You might be correct with that.

Why Cemeteries: Art, Photography, Symbols

SPEAKER_01 38:05

I mean, we we have a it seems like every three blocks there's a new cemetery, especially if you go out towards like where you said where Ann Rice is buried out there in Metary Cemetery. Yes. Yeah, Mettery and Woodlawn and St. Louis III and St. Louis II, and I mean uh that part of town they actually call it the cemeteries. Um I would assume, if I didn't know you at all, that the reason that you're interested in cemeteries is because you're interested in ghosts. But did one come before the other?

SPEAKER_05 38:31

So I've always been interested in ghosts. I've always been fascinated by just gothic culture and spooky stories. And, you know, I I'm also an artist, I'm a photographer, and what got me into the cemetery thing was actually kind of an interesting thing. I during the pandemic when everybody was kind of, you know, shut off from the world, I was getting a little cooped up in my house, and I took my camera to a cemetery because I knew it was gonna be quiet and I wanted to just be creative for a little bit. And I started taking pictures and I started editing those pictures, and I just started noticing a lot of my photos had similar symbolisms in them. You know, if you take a picture, if you go to a cemetery, you're gonna see a lot of similar symbolism, you know, maybe ivy or roses or open books or wreaths. And I just started looking into what those things meant. And it it sort of brought me down a rabbit hole that got me into studying symbolism, mostly of you know, Victorian era cemetery symbolism. And of course, as a spooky person, I I would bring my spirit box with me and I'll just turn it on just to give myself, you know, a little white noise. And sometimes I would hear voices and and things come through. Uh, but in South Florida, in particular, we have a lot of cemeteries that are said to be haunted because during the 1940s there was a really, really bad hurricane that no one really was able to predict was coming, and there was Massive casualties, and a lot of cemeteries actually have mass graves. And that is one of the reasons why some people suspect that there's hauntings in cemeteries out here. And through some of my research, and also places like St. Augustine that had mass graves for people, you know, during pandemic times of yellow fever, Spanish flu, things like that. That's a point of, you know, some people argue why some of the cemeteries in St. Augustine are haunted, is these ideas of mass graves, because these spirits are not marked, you know, they weren't given a proper burial, things like that. And so, you know, sometimes I'll bring my equipment with me when I'm out walking around. And it just sort of became like an a fun activity for me to do on my own during that time. And then when the world started opening back up, I thought, you know, hey, maybe I'll share some of these pictures online. And that's kind of where I got into, you know, think even thinking about the idea of writing a book was because there was interest in it.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

Like what are some things that you discovered about cemeteries that might actually surprise people? Like especially the symbology. Because I think that most people they'll walk through a cemetery and they'll like, you know, you've been to Bonaventure, right? Beautiful cemetery. And I think that's what people do. They just walk through and they're like, oh, this is beautiful. But if they really looked at the mausoleums or the family tombs or the headstones, they'd be amazed at the amount of uh symbols that that have real meaning that they're just they don't even they're not even aware of.

Mass Graves And Haunted Grounds

SPEAKER_05 41:34

I wasn't aware of it either. And, you know, I have an art degree. I I just I love sculpture. And that was sort of what drew me to it. But then when I started noticing these things and I started researching, I said, wow, it's a whole hidden world. And long story really short, where you could read it the whole thing in my book, but during the Victorian era, the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, it was basically a love language for the Victorians to commemorate a loved one with their cemetery plot. And, you know, there were so many reasons why people would pass away early in life, you know, whether, you know, you're lucky if you made it to adulthood, you know, because children were taken out by all kinds of diseases and, you know, hardly any medical, you know, access, things like that. You didn't have the same kind of hospitals and doctors access that we have today. And, you know, there were this, you know, the Civil War, you have all kinds of, you know, situations going on where people, it became a part of their life to have to deal with death. And it became a status symbol in a way, if you had a loved one that passed away, you would have this beautiful, magnificent stone or a mausoleum, or some sort of, you know, commemorative situation. And you wanted yours to really mean something. So, you know, then comes in the idea of cemetery symbolism. And there was a whole love language when it came to flowers, when it came to, you know, different, you know, scriptures and you know, religious aspects of it. And it became a way for people to express themselves and leave their mark because so many people were passing away so young. You wanted to leave your mark on the world. You wanted people to remember you. So that cemeteries became so important for that. And for me, when when I was researching and I was getting, you know, out there and taking photos, I would talk to people that I met at the cemetery. I I know that sounds kind of strange, but I would, you know, hey, volunteers, you know, people that are doing tours. They love to share this information with people. A lot of old timers that have been there for so long, there, they want to share this information and pass it along. And I just met some great people. And I would take tours, you know, if I met out of town, I would, you know, talk to these folks that work there. And I just found out so much interesting, you know, hidden meaning. And I would say one of them, one that really struck me that was interesting was when I was in Highgate Cemetery in London, I befriended my tour guide. I just, you know, was chatting her up the whole time. And she said, I have something to show you. I bet you've never seen. And I said, Oh, you're gonna try me here because I've been around the world. I've seen a lot of cemeteries. She goes, You've never seen this one. And I hadn't. It was a pelican. So on the headstone, there was a large pelican, and there was some smaller pelicans at the front of this larger pelican.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

Those are called baby pelicans.

The Victorians’ Secret Cemetery Language

SPEAKER_05 44:23

Yeah. So, well, you know, babies, little babies. Right. So the mother pelican is actually ripping out her flesh and feeding it to her young. And she said, so this is rep, this represents the idea of, you know, Jesus, you know, when you go to mass and you, you know, take the body of Christ. This was somebody who was religious, but it was also somebody who was a mother who would sacrifice herself for her children. And I just thought, you know, my mind was blown. I'm like, wow, this is really metal. You know, I'm looking at this sculpture of, you know, a bird ripping itself apart and feeding its babies. But then, you know, the idea of like, wow, that's so incredibly beautiful at the same time was was very mind blowing. So that was cool.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

Do you know where else you can see that? Or something very, very similar on the Louisiana state flag.

SPEAKER_05 45:09

Really?

SPEAKER_04 45:09

I didn't know that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

Google, uh, wait, am I I'm right, guys. Am I right? Yeah. It it's it's it's the same thing. It's the the mom pelican feeding the babies from her chest. Yeah, we'll throw we'll throw it up in post for the audience. Yeah, it's the state flag, Louisiana. But I've never seen that in a cemetery, though. Like to see that in a cemetery would be very unique and very cool.

SPEAKER_05 45:30

Uh I did a little bit of looking online and I was only able to find one other one in the United States, but it's more popular in the UK.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Right. Because they have so many pelicans.

SPEAKER_05 45:41

Yeah, I don't know, but it's some a symbol that they use. But another one that was really cool for me as somebody who has, you know, I have some English-Scottish roots. I I was noticing the thistle flower. And thistle is something that's very popular in Scottish, you know, you know, people that have Scottish blood. And, you know, I started looking into what that meant. And there was this famous story of the Scots fighting the Norse. And, you know, there was this battle going on, and the soldiers were really tired, but they didn't have anywhere to really hide. So they thought, well, why don't we sleep in this in this field that's surrounded by thistle? Because thistle has these little tiny thorns that, you know, surround the flower. So they said, this is the the best, you know, kind of, you know, protection for us. So we'll we'll hear if anybody's coming. And sure enough, the Norse didn't know about the spikes and they took off their boots because they wanted to come at, you know, rush through and get this sleeping, you know, battalion. And they step on the thistle and they cry out because they didn't know about the spikes, and they they give their position away. And because of this battle, the Scots won and they overtook the Norse and they were able to, you know, hold down their land. It became part of this, you know, the Scottish coat of arms. And it's a very popular symbolism for people with Scottish heritage. So I thought that was so cool because I had never heard of that before. And once I knew, I started seeing it more and more, and then it made sense with the last names I would see on the graves. And it's just like once you know the language, you can start picking out these little hidden secrets. And it just became kind of like a treasure hunt, you know. I always grew up reading things like Nancy Drew and you know, all these like fun mystery books, and it became almost like solving mysteries, solving, you know, these little hidden things that you had to find on your own.

Pelican And Thistle: Symbols Decoded

SPEAKER_01 47:29

Well, once you know those, it actually helps you out in the cities as well. So you mentioned Savannah, for example. There's a lot of old homes, especially some of those old mansions where they have a lot of that same symbolism on them, like the Mercer Williams house. Like there's a lot of rumors that the the symbols carved into the stones on the house are actually uh Dionysus related. Uh as in like, oh, there was like, you know, the sex parties here and all this other kind of stuff. I don't know that there were anything. Um, but one of my favorites, and I can't remember the the name of the building, but it's about two blocks off Bay Street. But uh right above the entrance to the building, there's a whole beehive. Like if you type in beehive building savannah, it might come up. I forget what the name of the building is. But uh and honestly, I'm I'm I'm blanking here because I don't remember what the meaning of it was. But all I remember is like, oh my god, that's so cool that that's what it meant. It meant I think it meant like a secret gathering place or something, you know, like a beehive, right? Like, like it was like a symbol that the people in the know would know, like, hey, this is where our people gather, or it was something like that.

SPEAKER_05 48:30

Well, there were some secret societies that use symbols like that, but also it was the idea, you know, another popular one is the idea of Christianity, you know, being kind of like a hive, being a collective that is, you know, working for a greater good. And, you know, the bees, they're all workers, but they're working for God. And so that was another one too. So it it depends on the context, but yeah, it could have been, it could have been like a little secret flag for anybody that was looking for, you know, a secret society.

SPEAKER_01 49:02

You could like start a company and do like a treasure, not not treasure hunt, what are they called? Like a scavenger hunt, yeah. Where like you have to find all the symbols in the city, and then that's fun. I like that. I actually might do that, but only if it wasn't part of a group. I hate being around people. Um, like I can't even stand being around these guys. Um totally kidding, guys. They they know I'm kidding. Um so so what's next for you? So you you are going down this paranormal investigation road. You said that this is something that you you can't imagine yourself getting tired of. You've wrote a book on cemeteries, you're a photographer. Um, like what's next for Gina Black? Are you are you planning on uh expanding the paranormal empire? Are you uh gonna write another book? Like, what do you what is the next five years of? Yeah, don't tell me like top secret ones, you know.

City Symbols, Beehives, And Societies

SPEAKER_05 49:50

No, I'm not gonna tell you the top secret, but I I do want to write another book. And I was torn when I was approached for this book. I was approached by a publisher uh for the book that I wrote and you know about the cemetery symbolism. And at, you know, I was speaking with that publisher about possibly doing something ghost hunted related, but we thought, you know, we both after, you know, talking about it, we we felt that you know that was the right direction at the time. But I do want to write a book about my experiences because I've been, you know, all over the United States, I've been all over, you know, in other countries. And I I think it's, you know, as far as a perspective of a paranormal investigator, you know, what happened on the investigation? Real talk. You know, was it super haunted? Was it all just folklore? Was it just a great story? Because I've been to some locations that were not as haunted as they were hyped up to be, you know. So I want to just put up something out there about locations that people would know and what happened to me when I was there, maybe a little bit about the backstory of the location, even possibly interview some people. But I want to go, you know, explore that a little bit. And also I've been, I just got a new camera and I'm kind of dipping my toe into some longer form content because I'm mostly the Instagram girly. I, you know, I'm always making reels and videos on there for myself and my team, but I want to do some long form content. So I'm looking at, you know, maybe possibly, you know, testing out the waters of YouTube. And I've I've also really wanted to do a podcast. I I I love telling stories, focusing on folklore, the importance of folklore and what that does for, you know, museums and haunted locations, it really does kind of help these places survive, you know, and gets people, younger people interested, you know, in in in checking these places out and getting some, you know, some people in the door. And I I I see the value in that. And I know that as somebody who likes spooky things, if I'm in a city, I'm gonna look up what are the spooky places in that city and I'm gonna hit all those places. And I think other people might be interested in that too. So I'm you know, these are some of my ideas, but you know, I always have a million things cooking and I'm always you know working on something. So hopefully maybe in 2026 you'll you'll see some developments.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

I know that feeling having something always cooking. I mean, the podcast thing, I mean that that's kind of like a low barrier, you know, entry. Like low, what is it, low barrier to entry kind of thing. And they're kind of fun. Like, you know, we we started doing this podcast. We started recording it, you know, I don't know, five, six months ago, but we really only started promoting it and talking about it like the last three months. And I was kind of shocked at how well it did. Like we had like 1.1 million views on YouTube alone just in the past on this podcast. I mean, plus we're really fucking good at what we do. Um so that helped too. Uh plus it, you know, the podcast format, it always tries it always presents opportunities to try something new. So, like for example, before you know I got on with you, Gina, we were you know, Carter Paul and and I were kind of talking about like, okay, how can we like spice up the the podcast for for 2026, do something different? Um so I'm actually gonna try one of these on you right now if it's okay. They give me an idea. I'm like, I'm like, let's just do this. Um so I'm gonna ask you a couple rapid fire questions. And you're gonna and I know after they said this, I was like, guys, this has been done before, but not by me, so it might be better. And I just want you to answer as quickly and uh honestly as you possibly can, just so we can maybe get to know you a little bit better.

unknown 53:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:22

All right, you ready? The ghost city gauntlet. The ghost city gauntlet. Here we go. Uh okay. Uh Favorite haunted location.

SPEAKER_05 53:30

Penhurst State Hospital.

SPEAKER_01 53:32

Favorite ocean.

SPEAKER_05 53:34

The Atlantic.

SPEAKER_01 53:35

Uh a book you would recommend to your child.

SPEAKER_05 53:41

Interview with a vampire.

SPEAKER_01 53:42

Really? How about your kids? Do you have kids? I don't even know.

SPEAKER_04 53:47

I was thinking like, you know, please read it. It's good.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

I'm like a like little three-year-old Brenda, and you're like, here, read Interview with an vampire. This is totally and when we're done, we're gonna watch the movie. See, I'm already fucking up the rapid fire question, thank God. I'm totally sorry.

SPEAKER_05 54:01

It was one of my favorite books, and I got in trouble for bringing it to school, and my mom had to defend me to my teacher in fifth grade, but it was a great book.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

Um I recommend it. Favorite teenage mutant ninja turtle?

SPEAKER_05 54:14

Raphael.

SPEAKER_01 54:15

Really? Yeah, he's a good one because he's a smart ass.

SPEAKER_05 54:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:20

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_05 54:20

I think I grew up with the ninja turtles.

SPEAKER_01 54:22

Really?

SPEAKER_05 54:23

Yes, I was born in '85.

SPEAKER_01 54:26

Well, I think Raphael was my favorite too. Uh, the okay, least favorite teenage mutant ninja turtle.

SPEAKER_05 54:32

Leonardo.

SPEAKER_01 54:33

Really? I was gonna say Donatello.

SPEAKER_05 54:36

I like Donatello. He's kind of funny, he's oopy.

SPEAKER_01 54:40

Like, and his weapon was the stupidest. It's a stick.

SPEAKER_05 54:43

It was, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:44

I mean, it's a stick.

SPEAKER_05 54:44

But Leonardo was kind of bossy and it was kind of dry, and he was always bringing everybody down. He was always trying to be so responsible.

SPEAKER_01 54:50

That's what leaders do. Ask anybody who works for me.

SPEAKER_04 54:53

They were teenage teen ninja turtles. It wasn't like, you know, they were sitting at a board meeting.

What’s Next For Gina: Books And Media

SPEAKER_01 54:57

Right. Well, that's true. I know. Can you consider Splinter? I mean, he wasn't a teenage media turtle, but like Splinter was kind of like maybe I'm like Splinter for you guys, not Leonardo. I'm not the dry leader, I'm like the sage, the word.

SPEAKER_04 55:09

Why are you Shredder?

SPEAKER_01 55:10

Ooh. I would like to be Shredder.

SPEAKER_05 55:14

And they could be Bebop and Rossetti.

SPEAKER_01 55:17

I am very impressed. You know all these things about Teenage Municipal Turtles.

SPEAKER_05 55:21

I love that show. I'm telling you, I was a tomboy growing up and I wanted to have a ninja turtle party, and my mom made me have like a princess party, and I was pissed because all of my little boyfriends that I was not boyfriends, but boy friends, when I was, you know, in preschool, they were all having Ninja Turtle themed parties, and I thought that was so cool. And I couldn't have one.

SPEAKER_01 55:40

So a couple months ago, I went out and I bought all the original, I think it's the 88s, the figures, mint condition in the box. I'm not going to tell you what I paid for these, but now I have all four of the Ninja Turtles. Was it 86 or 88? I should know this, but I don't remember. But they're in mint condition, still in the box, and now they're like in the closet uh next to my Bob's Burgers stuff.

SPEAKER_05 56:05

Bob's Burgers, stop it. That is my favorite show in the world. Okay. Hands down.

SPEAKER_01 56:11

So now I have a place to go. Yeah, now I have a place to go with Rabbit Fire.

SPEAKER_04 56:17

I was just on a Bob's Burgers podcast the other day. Really? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

I I I had no idea. I really don't. You think I planned for this podcast? I didn't know your name until you popped up on the screen. Um, I'm totally kidding. But no, Bob's Burger. Okay, uh, favorite Bob's Burgers character.

SPEAKER_05 56:32

Luis.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

Really?

SPEAKER_05 56:33

Yes. I love Bob.

SPEAKER_01 56:36

See, and the whole idea is all rapid fire. I'm not supposed to have commentary on every answer. But um I no, I I get it because a lot of people love Luis. And I think Luis is a great character, but I think I just relate the Bob too much.

SPEAKER_05 56:49

I'm like well, you telling me you want people to get off your lawn is very Bob's of you. That's a very Bob delcher attitude.

SPEAKER_01 56:57

Yeah, and I want to like have a little garden and like you know, all the little things.

SPEAKER_04 57:02

Um this late English hat in his garden.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

Yeah. Sing into his peace. You know who I hate on Bob's burgers? Gene. Really? If Gene was my kid, I would leave him like in an alley somewhere. Um, I mean, not really. I'm not, you know, uh a psychopath parent, but I would I would at least have that kid in some heavy counseling.

SPEAKER_05 57:26

Yeah, he's a little nuts. And also he's kind of like he just goes along with everybody. He doesn't really ever think for himself or ever really do anything for himself. So I think that's fair.

SPEAKER_01 57:37

All right, guys. So that was my first attempt with the rapid fire questions. Uh I don't know how well that went. I think it was about as well as what you could hope for. Yeah, I'm really bad at everything I do. Um anyway, so so uh, you know, we talked about your book. Yeah, I want I want to like let's bring it back to you. Like, so what what what is the name of your book and where can people find it?

SPEAKER_05 57:58

It's called Etchon Stone Decoding Hidden Meanings in Cemeteries, and it is available on Amazon, and you can get it in a paperback or Kindle.

SPEAKER_01 58:07

Uh where else can you mention that you're on Instagram?

SPEAKER_05 58:11

Yes, um, I'm on Instagram mainly under Shehaunts. I also have a TikTok, but I will be honest, it's hard to keep up with the the young folks on there. So I'm I'm mostly an Instagram girly. And so I I run my page, SheHants, and I do, you know, paranormal content. I do cemetery photography, cemetery content, and I also run the page for my paranormal team, which is Afterlife All-Stars. And we're a team in South Florida that not only do we do investigations, but we also teach people how to investigate. So we do like a little paranormal boot camp and we show folks how to use equipment and then we investigate haunted locations. So, and all of the the money collected for the ticket sales goes to the museums that we help. So it's it's a great fundraiser for them. Yes.

Rapid Fire: Ghosts, Turtles, And Bob’s Burgers

SPEAKER_01 59:03

Well, last not last but not least, you know, kind of in line with what you just talked about, you know, there's a lot of people out there who there's a lot more people that become interested in paranormal investigation all the time. You know, even though like the shows may not be on TV as much as they used to be and stuff. The the the the idea of wanting to figure this out or at least going out and having a journey, it's never going to stop appealing to people. So if you could give one or two pieces of advice to somebody who's thinking about going on their first paranormal investigation, what would it be?

SPEAKER_05 59:34

I would say bring a friend. It's not really a good idea to go investigating by yourself because, you know, if you're in certain low lighting or old locations, you know, you have to think about safety. But also if you have an experience, you want to be able to bounce that back to another person. So that's a good reason to bring a friend. I would say, you know, equipment is so much fun. I love my equipment, don't get me wrong, but you don't need to have a ton of equipment. You don't need to break the bank to get started. I would say your best thing that you can do is just bring, turn your phone on airplane mode and have the recorder running or have video going because you would not believe the amount of times that I've caught in hidden EVPs in my videos. And, you know, doing using just the voice record app, you know, using your phone as a recorder in a dark room on like an iPhone, for example, you can see a little white line and it will blip if there's any talking. So even if you might not hear it with your own ears, you can play it back. You can see it happen in real time. So it's a great tool to use. And, you know, I would just say have fun with it because, you know, investigating is so much fun. It's it's a rush when you get something, but it's also if you're, you know, with your friends and you're having a good time, it's it's just a fun activity to do with friends, I would say, you know, and if if you do get evidence, share it. You know, that's the whole point of doing what we do, you know, investigating is to share our evidence and you know, put it out there. See if anybody else thinks it's you know a haunted situation too. You know, I love getting feedback from people, and I'm I'm happy when people debunk something. If I see something in a video and I point it out, hey, what do you guys see this too? Uh oh, I think it's this. I think it could be the air conditioning, or I, you know, it's good to have that healthy discourse online because that's the point of being an investigator, is we're trying to push the field forward. So I would just say don't be afraid to share, put yourself out there. There's a great community online that I've connected with, you know, just finding on Instagram, just finding people that are interested in the paranormal. And I've met some amazing people doing that. So definitely don't be shy and post.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:39

And last but not least, what is the one mistake that you see people new to this hobby making all the time when they go on investigations?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:47

So I would say, you know, when when you're in a location, you have to be aware of that location. Whenever we do, you know, an official investigation, we do kind of like a sweep beforehand. And we will, with EMF readers, we'll find out where all of the electronics, you know, where the outlets are, if there's, you know, heavy activity in certain rooms versus others. You know, we try to get to know the space. Is it have an old creek, creaky floor? Is there are there old pipes? You know, those things might come up on an investigation and you could debunk them if you know about them. So, you know, if you hear, if you're sitting in a room and nobody's moving and you hear a tap, a popping sound, it could just be the house settling. It might not be, you know, ghost footsteps. So it's important, I think, to really, you know, visit a location during the day, you know, get a lay of the land. And then if you're gonna do an investigation at night or you're gonna do an investigation, at least be aware of those things so that if it happens that you can, you know, debunk if if it's debunkable.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:49

So don't assume everything's a ghost.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:51

Yeah, don't assume everything is paranormal.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:54

Yeah, because it's usually not.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:56

A lot of times it's not. Right. And that's a bummer, but you know, we have to accept it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:00

Well, it's part of the game, and it makes it even more um exciting. Special, you know, when you finally do get that piece of, you know, that that voice that it came from nowhere, but is answering a question you just asked. Makes it even the more better, you know.

How To Start Investigating Safely

SPEAKER_05 1:03:14

It is. It's like gold, you know, or even like I've talked to some people, they're like, oh, it's like fishing, you know, you're on the boat for hours and then you get one fish and it's so exciting. It's kind of like that. You know, it's very calm, very chill. There's not a whole lot going on the whole night. And you might get 30 seconds of action, you know, something lights up or somebody sees a shadow, you know, but it's it is a very small amount. And just know that if you're watching these content creators online and they're showing you these videos, they've probably been on that location for hours and they're just showing you a very small window of what happened. So don't ex don't go into an investigation. I know I did that when I first got started, and I'm going, what am I doing wrong? I'm not getting any evidence, but it takes time. It just takes time.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:54

Yeah, it you do it long enough, you are gonna get something that makes you go, holy shit.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:00

Yes, you will have those moments for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:03

All right, Gina. Well, I don't want to take too much of your time. You're like an hour ahead of me, and like like what is it, like seven o'clock there. Um, so you know, maybe you need to go like watch the Waltons or something. I don't know what you do when you're in Bobsburg or something like that. Um, but I really do appreciate you uh jumping on to talk about ghosts and and your book and cemeteries and and and your journey in this space. So thank you very much. All right, anything else you want to let people know about?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:29

Well, if anybody would like to connect, you can find me online at shehaunts.com or if you're on Instagram or TikTok, I'm at Shehaunts.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:38

She haunts, that sounds like something. I mean, I know that's that's like your thing, but she haunts. It sounds like it could be like um she haunts. It's almost like a play on word in like seance. A little bit. Sounds like that, a little bit, yeah. So maybe it's like uh I don't know, like a barbecue restaurant where you do seance.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:57

Oh I like that. I like barbecue.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:00

I'm just I'm just I'm a mind reader. You're hungry? Like, yeah, I'm very I'm very hungry. I've been uh I've been like trying to lose weight because I've been like a little fat. Um and I'm trying not to be a little fat anymore. Um like so I had a turkey sandwich today. That was it. That's like the worst way to end this podcast, by the way. Well, like I've literally like, hey, I had a turkey sandwich today. All right, Gina, nice to meet you. Uh we'll talk to you next time. Um, I feel like I need to ask a whole other question, but I don't have one. But um, all right. Well, on that note, um, Gina, it's been a lot of fun talking to you. Uh, and I'm gonna take a note, uh, not to end a podcast that way again.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:39

And uh well, Tim, I really appreciate coming on, and I loved all the the you know, the questions and the rapid fire and keeping me on my toes.

Sponsor And Subscribe Reminder

SPEAKER_01 1:05:48

Well, I can promise you one thing. If you ever come back, you know, write another book, you come back, we'll talk about it, whatever. I promise you my rapid fire questions will actually be questions. Stop with me criticizing all your answers. How dare you pick Leonardo? What are you talking about? Um, anyways. All right, Gina. Well, it was really good talking to you. And uh maybe we'll see you soon.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:09

Hope so. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:11

This episode was brought to you by Ghost City Tours, your guide to the haunted side of history in over 25 cities nationwide. From restless spirits to unsolved mysteries, our tours bring the dead back to life. Book now for a haunted city near you at ghostcitytours.com. Be sure to subscribe to the Ghost City Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay spooky.