Shouting Down the Monsters: The Ancestral Magic of Ring Shout

⚠️ CONTENT & SPOILER WARNING: This episode contains full plot spoilers for P. Djèlí Clark’s Ring Shout. Our discussion includes themes of systemic racism, hate groups, historical violence, and body horror. Please listen with care.

"There are things born of hatred that hunger for the world."

Welcome back to the Cozy Midnight Collective. Tonight, we open a heavy, high-action historical dark fantasy file: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark.

Set against the backdrop of 1915 Georgia, we dive deep into a world where a cinematic premiere unleashes a cosmic, reality-warping evil. We break down the beautiful, rhythmic ancestral magic of the Ring Shout, the visceral body horror of the multi-eyed "Ku Kluxes," and the unforgettable bond between Maryse, Sadie, and Chef.

Timestamps:

• 00:00:29 – Welcome Back & Spoilers Ahead 
• 00:01:47 – The Midnight Draw (Tarot Ritual)
• 00:02:00 – Lauryn’s Cards
• 00:04:25 – Morgan’s Cards 
• 00:06:05 – Novella Discussion: Ring Shout Deep Dive
• 01:12:21 – Final Ratings and Thoughts 
• 01:18:42 – Outro & Big July Announcement

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome back to Cozy Midnight Collective. I'm Lauren.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

And I'm Morgan. Pull up a chair, dim the lights, and step into the archive with us.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Before we open tonight's file, we want to issue a full content warning. Tonight we are covering Pete Dejelli Clark's dark fantasy novella Ring Shout. Because this story confronts historical atrocities, this episode will contain explicit plot spoilers, discussions of systemic racism, hate groups, historical violence, and body horror. Please listen with care.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

If you are ready to venture into the dark with us, tonight we are traveling back to 1915, Georgia. The cinematic classic The Birth of a Nation has just premiered and it has unleashed something far worse than hatred. It has fed a cosmic, reality-warping evil that trans transforms men into literal, multi-eyed monsters known as the Klu Kluxes.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

We are following a trio of badass monster hunters. Mary's, Sadie, and Chef, as they fight a secret war to stop literal hell on Earth. So grab your coffee, make sure the doors are locked, and let's start the clock.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Yay! It was such a good book.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Now though, we're gonna do the line draw.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yep. We're doing the Crow Tarot. I already shuffled, so I picked mine first. So we've got the right side up levers, right side up seven of swords, and the ten of cups upright as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Okay, the levers, and it was upright. Okay, so element is air. On the surface, this card represents love and unity. However, it goes deeper as it also describes karmic passion and soul relationships that span lifetimes. The crows have traveled together through space and time. Drinking from the same heart binds them as their veins fill with the same life force, joining their spirit for eternity. Together, each decision is made as the outcome will forever affect them both. From the person you love to the place you settle down, this card asks that you examine your belief system and use your inner compass when deciding to join forces. The lovers brings the message that some benefits and consequences will eventually reveal themselves for better or for worse. So key words were love, business, partnership, choices, and relationships. The cunning trickster crow is trying to fly away with a stash of shiny swords before the other crows can get them, but there are too many for him to carry. Nonetheless, he is pleased with what he can take. The seven of swords denotes a person who's attempting to deceive you or is trying to get away with something unethical. If you are hoping to be able to trick or take advantage of a person, the seven of swords serves as a warning that your plans will fall through or you risk getting caught. So someone is not getting your shit. Good. Fuck them. The happy couple sits on a budding branch of a cherry blossom tree watching their fledglings resting comfortably in their nest. The setting is one of peace and contentment. The couple achieve their dreams as each new day brings with it a feeling of love and fulfillment. The Ten of Cups denotes a time of utmost joy. Another message of this card may also be the romantic relationship is forming, one that could result in a lifelong love affair. No, we already know that's been budding for like ever. Take a moment to bask in the positive energy the Ten of Cups offers. Good luck will soon enter your home. Cool. Yeah. And you're getting it. Just give me probably. So for me, we have the reverse two of wands. Also a queen of wands, but upright. An upright magician.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

The two of wands reversed is a message to look for areas in your life where you are reluctant to make a decision or cannot prioritize your goals. Okay, the Queen of Wands. So the Queen of Wands is a dominant creature sitting on her throne of lions. No one would accuse this bird of being demure. With a plan ready for success, the Queen of Wands often appears as bold, fearless, and determined. The Queen appreciates the potential each journey offers and takes the opportunity to learn something new about herself with every challenge. The energy of the Queen of Wands is healthy and agile as she moves through the world with vibrant flair. With a taste for the best, this is one crow you won't find near the garbage cans as she uses her creative, quick-witted mind to discern the finer things in life.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

There's a queen. Or like a crown. A queen crown.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Okay, so the magician element is air, and the keywords are alchemy, resourcefulness, creativeness, and manifesting. So connecting the physical world with the spiritual realm, the magician crow pulls the energy of the four suits representing earth, water, and air and fire to create a spark that has the power to manifest into a transformative idea. Rising above the craggy, desolate mountains lined by red and white roses at the base, the magician symbolizes the first steps of generating success. He has the ability to carve out the desired path through difficulty using life experiences and a pure heart.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Yay! That is me. That was good. I liked that.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah. First things first, I want to, I guess, explain because I didn't know what a ring shout was. Yeah. And I looked it up, and basically a ring shout, it's something that people I mean, I'm sure people still do it today, but I know that back in like Africa, it was kind of their way of speaking to like ancestors or ghosts, demons. It's like emotionally flooded kind of event that they put on. Yeah. So it's basically like a group of shouters will get together and they they dance around in like a ring and they sing songs. Tongue sometimes probably. Yeah, different languages sometimes. And they do use this in this book as like a way to call upon. Call upon, you know, their ancestors and like just help from kind of like the other side. It is not haint magic, which is something that is pretty important to note because you'll we're gonna be dealing with haints and monsters from other dimensions and that type of thing. And so it's just I think it's kind of important that we like say that the ring shout is like just like their purest almost form of like worship, and it's symbolic, yeah, very symbolic. So yeah, so that's kind of like what a ring shout is.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

There's no like black magic or anything going on.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

With that, with that being said, this book is very short. It's a very short book, and I was very surprised at how much was able to get across in that amount. Yeah, but uh well, like what like the amount of stuff that happened and was being able to be said, and like there wasn't really anything left like that wasn't taken care of. Yeah, like it was very tight, very tight, but it was very good. Like I said before, the way I describe it is kind of like a mix between like sinners, because you know, this was kind of like the thing that kind of sold it for me was if you like sinners, you'll like this. So there was sinners, it kind of reminded me of like K-pop demon hunters with like the three badass like women who like aren't deep.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Yeah, with one of the aunties, and so I I kind of pictured Huntress, not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Yeah, and then Black Panther, because of like you know the multi-dimensional type thing, a world within a world that you don't know about, yeah. Like in my mind, when she goes to visit the aunties, I literally saw it as like the purple, like when Black Panther takes the flower thing and you know, he has like the spiritual discussion with like his father and you know, his ancestors and stuff, and I just thought it was really cool because that's kind of like what how I picture it in my mind, but like a plantation house, you know, the tree like she was talking about, and so I just thought it was really amazing how much was able to be put in such a small novella, and I didn't feel like anything was left out. Yeah, I just thought it I thought it was really good. But I guess to kind of start some of the discussion is that they're so this is 1915, Makon, Georgia, yeah, deep in the Jim Crow era, very like their hate-filled time.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

It's yeah, the country's definitely divided. And they say that all murdering blacks, yeah. Okay, they're like hanging them up and doing all sorts of awful fucking shit to them because the Ku Klux Klan is still a very active thing that's like not so underground. Like people are just like adamant neo-Nazis, basically. Yeah, just fucking terrible.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Yeah, and so the way they say it started was with The Birth of a Nation. It's this movie, yeah, and very racist film, but it inspired a lot of misplaced fear in white people basically saying that the Negroes are bad, they're evil, they're gonna murder your family.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

They're gonna ruin everything, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah, so it it inspired a lot of hate, and so with that, like a dimension kind of opened up and these monsters came out that feed feed off of hate. They they love hate.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

They they what they literally consume, it's what they consume.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

So to stay alive, of course, the best place for them to feed off of that hate was within the Ku Klux Klan. And so these monsters are outright and overwhelming, like that's and so there are very few people who are born with the sight to be able to perceive these monsters, right? And so that kind of brings in we've got Maurice, Sadie, and Chef, and they're like this trio of three badass women that yeah, and they're like around age 25, young younger, so yeah, they're they're adults, they're still young, but like they've seen some shit.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

They've seen some shit, they have this gift, they've got a lot of stuff that kind of goes on.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Like we are introduced to Maurice, who's kind of like our main narrator, it's written in third person, but you're it's from her perspective, and she's kind of the leader of this little group, so she's got a sword that she can call forward when she needs to fight the Ku Kluxes, and then it also will sometimes call to her.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Yes. Um, so the relationship is like it goes both ways, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Yeah. And then you've got Sadie who's like your expert marksman, she's good with a rifle, and then Chef is like the explosives master type person. She loves to blow shit up. And so Maurice has got a good head on her shoulder. She thinks things through. She, you know, she kind of is the one that keeps them grounded. Sadie is if she had her way, she would blow up a whole movie. Like she says this multiple times. Yeah. She would blow up a whole movie theater that's showing the birth of a nation and kill all the Ku Kluxes that are in there. Chef is kind of like, she's a little more grounded too, but she has a hot head. Yeah, Sadie's a hot head. And part of like her backstory too is that like she the way I I kind of took it was that her father was a white man who raped her mother. She was then born out of that, and then her mother ended up dying, and her grandfather, who was a pastor, raised her. And he to this day refuses to tell her who her actual father is because Sadie's too good of a shot.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Oh, yeah, she'll kill him. She'll kill him.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Good.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

But he's he's a pastor, so he's like, he's not gonna condone that.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

But exactly. I mean, you can't condone murder, even though like there such a line I'm not gonna cross right now. But like, yeah, we can't just kill people for being shitty people.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Well, and that's like a something that comes up like towards the end of this book, too. But so yeah, they are right where we meet them. They're oh, and then the other thing too with Maurice is that we know that she went through something as a child, and she has this book that she loves to read, it's like a collection of fairy tales, and she kind of has like an inner monologue that is the voice of her brother, and he refers to her as bro rabbit, and so there's so there's that aspect, and then we know that Chef fought in World War One, I believe. Yeah, and I wasn't quite sure how that worked, but because she was like in the trenches, like she wasn't just like a nurse, because back then, like you know, the women usually were like nurses or uh secretaries or whatever, so she was in the shit.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

She talks about how she was in the she was in the trenches and when did World War One end? 1918. Okay, okay, so hmm. So maybe the war was still going on because if it's 1915, maybe it was in the beginning and she like got out to do this with them, or we're just gonna have to be because I don't remember yet.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yeah, it's not really stated specifically like what war. I just assumed it was World War I because that was it's before World War II, it's like the 15 like 20s-ish. So, but anyway, so these women badass.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

This book is also, you guys, like it is history as well, yeah. Like, so I mean, obviously it's a fictional book, but the history that they're basing it off of is still true, yeah, right, yeah. So that was cool also because you know, yeah, we need to know our black history.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

So yeah, so so yeah, so we basically fig find them, they're on a rooftop, they're watching this like clan parade as it's going by, and they're I feel like can I button?

SPEAKER_02 14:53

I feel like I I want to share with you guys still so these demons that come out, right? That came through the portal when they feed on the hate from specifically the Klu Klux Klan people, right? So they take over their body, but they're not necessarily like present at all times. So the human is still a human, still themselves, like unaware that they've been essentially possessed, and then when the timing is right, like that demon will like bust out of that body and like just be full of free to do whatever, yeah. Doing whatever, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:37

And so not every Klu Klux Klan human being is I mean, they're all fucking horrible, but they're not all the monsters, but they're not all the monsters, so we're clarifying that um before we got going because it's pretty important.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

So I mean there's other little things we're gonna have to like explain too, but that's what we're here for.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Well, the other thing too is like they say that like the shape of their heads fits perfectly under the hood.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Yeah, but it that's not like how it would be if they're not dressed in that attire. So I feel like once they bust out of the person, maybe that's like the natural shape then. But they still like they're still married, they talk about them. Like, do they still like do their husbandly duties and stuff? So it's like, yeah, how do they act around their family? Is their family like concern? There could be another book about that other side, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Well, they do they do talk about so basically they're on the rooftop, they're watching this clamprey go by. They have a dog using it, it's being used as bait because apparently they really like not only do they go after like they terrorize like the black community, but they're also like they just really like the taste of dog, and they don't understand why. Like it's something that they're literally debating as they're waiting to lure. They're trying to get one to like bust out because they know that they're nearby, they want to kill it, and they're just trying to you know whittle them down a space.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

They go around spot to spot like hunting as well. So wherever Nana Jean like has these, which we'll talk about her, but she has these visions and stuff, and she essentially sends them where they need to go, but they try to stick to that area because there's other hunters like them with the gift in other parts of like the country, yeah, and and like that area. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

So she uh so the girls are posted up, they're literally debating like why do they why are they so in like why do they taste a dog? Like, do we taste like that? Is that what that is? Like Sadie has very colorful vocabulary, which I'm not gonna say what she says, but she basically is like just spouting off like the hard R N-word, and they're kind of like you can't say that. And she's like, Well, I'm black, I can say what I want, but she's like, it depends on how you use the vowel, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Is it capitalized? Is it not?

SPEAKER_00 18:08

And so she's like, she's like, it's bad if it's like a capital N, but it's okay if it's like a lowercase N, you know, and they're like, whatever. So Satan is like talking like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

It's always the cap the capital, the big N. Which I like learning that like as a white person, I was like, oh well, I mean it makes sense, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Her thing, her whole thing is just funny, but Maurice is just trying to read her book, and she's like, Can you all just like let's just be quiet and just wait, you know? Because we're about to very much so like just keeping the head of this, and so then here comes two Ku Kluxes, and they do like kind of shut out of their skin, and they start to dig into this dead dog. And so the girls are trying to be undercover with it to not because like not only like a scene because there's an actual parade. There's a parade literally down the block, and it turns it like if it you don't want any outside attention, especially especially from people who don't have the site. Yeah, because it just looks like they're murdering people. Yeah, so they kind of start like this battle, right? You've got Sadie up top, and Chef has like her explosives as like a last resort because it's loud, it makes a scene, and so she's kind of as a last resort. Maurice goes down, calls up forward her sword. She's able to take care of one, but then she gets like there's like a really big one. They end up going into like this like abandoned factory, which is where they were posted on top. Fight ensues, she almost gets got for a second. Like it was looking kind of bad for her. When she was in like the warehouse, yeah, by herself. Yeah, but then she was able to.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

They're also not supposed, like, they have to be able to do that. They're not supposed to be there, yes. And like people die if you don't follow those. So yeah, so like the other got.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Yeah, the other two are trying to come down like as quick as they can, but they're also like dealing with their own their own mess upstairs, and so we kind of see her in action, badass bitch, like great with a sword. She does end up like de t decapitating the Ku Klux, and when that happens, they kind of turn into like ash and like they kind of like display away. Yeah, they are able to like harvest like some parts because they have like a a lab, like a lab back home. And so, you know, trying to figure out yeah, you know, yeah, what they are, how to kill them.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Yeah, they want them gone for good, so they're putting like time and research and money into the city.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Well, that's the other thing, too, is they do know that like they are gonna be doing like this like special showing of the birth of a nation, and they're kind of like trying to gear up for that because they know it's just gonna make this like situation a lot worse.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

The first one happened, and this one's supposed to be on like a bigger scale. At the end of the book, we learn about that how essentially the first one happened, and like this one, there's more power focusing to eat at the raw hate that's gonna be like boiling over in that one area because they're trying to get as many of these Ku Klux clans, and probably just anybody who's white that hates blacks. And like if they could fill up a whole fucking stadium, they would. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

They just want so many people because it's going to allow the possession of well, and like that's the thing with this showing too, is it's kind of unheard of because normally they do them in like small theaters, but this one's supposed to be up like on a mountain, like in this gorge area, and like they're gonna be able to produce a movie onto the mountain. So they're kind of like oh like they're kind of like gearing up for that and so they get back to their like headquarters and like while they're there they you know they kind of walk into like a ring shout as it's taking place. You've got Nana Jean who's leading the ring shout and she's what they call a gulla woman. And so she kind of speaks Gullah. Gullah. And and it's and I will say it's it's it's kind of difficult to read, and like you kind of have to like clear your mind to like get past like how how difficult it can be to understand, but yeah, it's its own language. Yeah, but this woman, you know, from what you understand, she she cares for these girls deeply. She, you know, she's very she you know, she gets after them when they like decide to take chances that they should be.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Yeah, uh um so like roomies, yeah, roomies roomies. I I know I'm making another reference, but yeah, she's just kind of like something that has like kids that age knows, but it's like yeah, the aunt that keeps it together that knows all the ins and outs, keeps them as a group, and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

No, you're right, and it's she's she's just very like she's also kind of like an auntie, so she like you know gets after them when they take chances they're not supposed to be taking. Yeah, she she's very adamant about their safety, she does not like hate magic, and she and you know, she's kind of getting after Maurice for like get like going off on her own, and she's kind of like, you know better, you should stick together. Yeah, so well, I had the sword, I'm good. And she said, you know, I don't like that hate magic, you know, I don't like you messing around with that stuff. And she's just kind of like, I know, like, but she, you know, she she doesn't like that Maurice, because Maurice, we you know, they kind of allude to the fact that she did make a deal with these haints, but she calls them the aunties. Yeah, and they're the ones who bestowed the power of the sword onto her.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

She did she find them first though, Nana Jean. We found out at the end of the book, like she knew well before.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Yeah, Nana Jean knew her, but she was going off on like before she was off doing her own thing and she's kind of doing it recklessly and like with like hatred in her heart. Yeah, yeah. And then Nana Jean did find her. Yeah, she was already given the power of the sword by that point, and so she was just going her.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Because the sword came that night seven years ago, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Okay, yeah. So so yeah, so back to this part. So she, you know, they say the ring shout, you know, they are talking about like them, like those last mission they did, and then the other thing they do too is they make like this for like a lack of better terms, like it's just kind of like a holy water type thing. And so they kind of run it.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Basically, yeah, they run it like moonshine, yeah, because it's very potent, like you know, it's supposed to help protect you when you drink it, and so they kind of bring it around to like the black communities in the area, and sometimes they drive like really far and they deliver like a you know, a load of water, and so yeah, so that's kind of like their did they I don't remember, is it explained like when they drink it, it protects from getting not possessed, but just like murdered by one?

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Yeah, yeah, it's just it kind of like it like casts like a protection over their like their spirit, so it's like less likely for them to be or if something happens to them. By these hands. Yeah, I mean it's it's kind of like a little bit of bold where it's like it just it's just a protection thing.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

It just kind of masks them from because they never really went the outside influence too deep. Yeah, like what happens when they drink it, how to drink it, when yeah, it's just yeah, it's just kind of like a side gig that they have, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

So yeah, so then they get called out to the lab and they find like one of their friends who's like she's you know, she's like this cute little nerdy woman. She doesn't have the site, so she like made this like mask that helps her see the Ku Kluxes, and she's explaining that the Ku Kluxes are their body, like their body composition down to their cells is changing to adapt so that it's harder for them to be seen, even with the sight. Like it's like it's like they're becoming the humans that they inhabit. So there's like there's that aspect that they're kind of worried about, and so they kind of have that in the back of their mind, and they're like, Okay, we we get this. They brought some of like the one that they had killed, yeah. So that's what she was looking at. And she put it in jars and stuff like that, and so she's just kind of explaining, like, this is gonna be this is gonna start getting tougher. So we have that other pot stirring back there. So they're kind of like, you know what? We earned a night out, let's go to the juke joint. And the juke joint is owned by Maurice's like situationship, kind of. Yeah, he is supposed to be this like really handsome, like everybody thinks he's hot. He's only got eyes for Maurice. Chef is into the ladies, and so she kind of likes to flirt with like one of the lab assistants, and then Sadie's got like this really sweet guy that she kind of like keeps stringing along, but she's like seems like just like this cute, lovable nerd and stuff, and so they all go to the juke joint, they're having some drinks, they're dancing, everybody's dancing, having a good time. Maurice ends up hooking up with her little it's is it George Michael or yeah, George Michael or Michael George, it's one of the two. But yeah, he and her end up having a pretty good night, right? And she likes it because he's I think he's like Jamaican or something like that. And so she asks him to be like, or did he speak gola too? He doesn't speak gola, it's I wanna say it's like it's okay, voodoo type. I don't know, she just thinks he's hot, and so she asks him to like speak like his like native tongue to her as he's given tongue to her. And so like it's just like this cute little thing, and she goes to sleep, and when she goes to sleep, she is taken back to she has a nightmare, the in-between, yeah. She has well, she has like a nightmare, and in the nightmare, she's looking at her younger self.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Yeah, it's like there's like so many different visions that keep popping up in my head for me to make this work, but like the nightmare, yeah, like shifts her into this space where it's she is, but more of like apparition, not apparition, but kind of how I picture like if you're doing like remote viewing, yeah, and then if you were to like be somewhere, yeah, like it's kind of like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Cause she's talking to her like younger self, yeah, right. And like she knows that her younger self is scared and she's holding the sword. Yeah. And she's kind of like, she's she's she's pretty mean to her younger self.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Yeah, she's angry with her, she's like, get up. She doesn't want she continues to like haunt her, and she's just like essentially it's her not wanting to confront her past and like figure figure that out, and so it keeps like haunting her. Um, and it wasn't even this the right age. Um, she kept making her smaller.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

She looked at her as like an 11-year-old girl, but then we find out like she was actually like 16, 17 years old when this horrible tragedy happened. Yeah. In this dream, she's like the little the younger version of her is saying, like, well, he's here, like he like he's out there. And so she goes out to the barn and she can hear like a thump, thump, thump sound, and it's like meaty and like and she she opens up the door and she finds this big like dude dude, but not a dude, but he's not a dude, but he like turns around and looks at her and he's like and then she sees him and he's he's this huge just jacked dude because she doesn't fully understand like who and what he is.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

So it's like picture the body shape of that, but then like only He only had the mouths everywhere, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Not yet, because she doesn't see the mouths until she goes to the butcher shop. Oh yeah, yeah, okay, yeah. So she just sees this big beefy dude, she knows something's not right about him, and he looks right at her and she's like, You're not normally here. And he kind of is saying, like, prepare yourself, you and I are gonna be talking soon. Like, and she's kind of like, I want nothing to do with you, and he's like, You have no choice, you're gonna be you and I are gonna be talking, and so he kind of like leaves her with that, and so she wakes up and then she sees her sword. Mind you, she's with George Michael, Michael George, whatever. Yeah, he's asleep, she's asleep, and so he does not know what she does for a living, right? Everybody kind of knows that she's kind of like witchy, like they kind of refer to her as like a witch. Yeah, he does not know what she's doing in her free time, yeah. And so she sees the sword is sitting there, and she's like, Okay, the aunties are calling me. Yeah, yeah. She goes and grabs a sword and then she's then transported to like in between the world. Yeah, yeah. And this is where I was like the Black Panther thing, right? But it's like this beautiful plantation type house, right? There's like a table out on like this like beautiful garden. Under a big oak tree. There's two aunties sitting here. One is like up in the tree. I just want to have this up so I can remember their names. So we've got, so we've got the aunties. They there's auntie Jadine. She only talks in songs. You've got Auntie, let's see, Auntie Margaret, and then Auntie Odine. And so Odine is super nice. Margaret's super like she's kind of she's a little she's a little snippy. She's irritated all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Like, okay, to like again to like bring another reference in, it reminds me of Jet and the other aunts in Practical Magic, how one of them's like a little bit grumpier and sassier, and then the other one's like really sweet and kind. That's those two. And then you've got Auntie J Dean who's just a little crazy, like she just she literally just talks in song. So they called her forward and they're like, Hey, what's going on? And she's like, Well, I had a dream, right? And it was this guy, he had to meet Cleaver, and they're kind of like looking at each other, and they're like, Butcher Clyde. Yeah, and they're like, That was not a dream. Yeah. And they're kind of asking her, like, okay, what did he say to you? Did he give you anything to eat? Did he give you anything to drink? Like, did you take anything from him? Maurice is like, Of course I didn't, but she's like, something's not right about him. And they're saying, like, well, and and she does that.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

He had basically in the dream told her he wanted her on like her his team.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

Yeah, and she's like, What does this mean? And they're kind of like, Okay, honestly, we don't really know what this means. Things are a little hazy. We can feel it, but we don't, we can't see anything, and they're like, That's rare for us. They can see everything. Like, they literally make comments about how she was like, they were like, We heard you grunting and carrying on with you know your man, but they were saying, and it's cute because they're like, they're like, Well, honey, if my man looked like that, I'd be grunting and carrying it on as much like you know, as long as the day is whatever.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

So they basically tell her and there they control their environment, so they would just like make it before.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

So we have to remember these are haints, right? They are like aunt Nana Nana sorry, Nana Jean does not like them very much, approve of them, but she doesn't approve of like any hate magic. But these women so far seem to have her best interests at heart, and they are really trying to guide her, and like they basically tolerates it, yeah. They they they named her their champion who fights kind of like in their name. That's why they gave her access to the sword and all that stuff, and um with that they they they kind of come with like their wisdom and stuff like that, and but Maurice has to remind herself that they are not human, they're not normal, and there's like a moment where she says that back a couple visits ago, like she did like she kind of tried to look at them out of the corner of her eye, and they weren't like the cute aunties and like the pretty dresses that they present themselves to be to her. They have fox tea, yeah, and they're like huge, and like she's just kind of like she never did that again because she's like, I don't want to break this illusion that I have in front of me. But and you know, in this they give her sweet tea, and like you know, they just they just sit and they're having a good time, and like it just seems like they're having like a little afternoon chat. But at the end of this chat, they basically tell her stay away from Butcher Clyde. Yeah, do not go near him, yeah. And she doesn't listen. No, she doesn't she won't. She comes back and you know, she goes back to Nana Jean's. Nana Jean also tells her stay away from Butcher Clyde. That's one thing that these women and I will agree on. Stay away from him. Yes, Marie Stone listen. So she goes to she knows that in town there's like a new butcher shop that opened up, and the butcher is there, right? So she literally walks into this white-owned, white-only butcher shop. And she can see that it's middle of the day. Yeah, her sword is out for everybody to see, and she walks in and she's like, You and I need to talk. Yeah, right. And everybody's like, What are you doing here? Like, get out. And then he's like holding it. He's like, It's okay, it's okay, everybody, it's okay. He's like, Oh, I'll handle this, you know. And he's like, This butcher shop is popping. Yeah. Okay. There's people everywhere, there's people in line, there's a line all around the corner. Yeah, people are eating, like it's just like this crazy, like it's crazy, busy and packed. And they go to a table, sit down, they've got people watching them, but he's like, Okay, cool, you found me, right? And she says, What the fuck do you want? Like her words, she is not, she does not sit around and make idle chat. She's literally like, get to the point, what do you want? Yes. And he basically says, Well, before those aunties of yours got a hold of you, I wanted you as my champion.

SPEAKER_03 36:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

And Maurice is like, Why would I ever fight for you? Why would I ever do anything in your name? You are part of the clan. You are you literally vomiting. Terrorizing black people. You are so full of hate, I want nothing to do with you. And he says, Well, you're also full of hate. He said, Your hate is a special kind. And he's like, I want it. I want you. I want you to come to my side. And she's like, No, you're high. I'm not coming to help you. And he's like reveals himself to her, and he's got mouths all over his body.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

And they like-oh my god, it's disgusting.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

And then there's a really chump, chump, chump. Yeah, there's a big mouth like on Ellie. Yeah. And so he's just made up of mouths. Like his eyes disappear, and he's got eyes, or mouths for eyes, like literally, literally the cover. Look at the cover. The cover makes all the all like now it makes sense, right? And so he's just like this really icky gross guy. And she's kind of like, What are you planning? What is gonna happen at the birth of a nation? And he's kind of like, I mean, you'll have to wait for the case. Because he's the one like promoting it. Yeah, he's being very vague about what's the what his plans are. All he the only thing he really tells her is like, you come over to my side, and he's like, I'll leave your people alone, right? And she's like, Why would I believe that you guys have been literally terrorizing us for so long? And he's he basically tells her, like, it's not it's not that we like eating black people, right? He's like, we don't really care. Yeah, we'll we'll get whatever we can get. But they said the hatred is so strong. And they said, your people have so much hate. Yeah, you know, look at what they've been doing to you for ages, right? He's kind of like, why not? He's like, We'll we'll do this for you, you know, we'll we'll start taking out white people for you, pretty much. And she's kind of like, You can go fuck yourself. Yeah, and he's like, Okay, he's like, Well, you'll see it my way eventually, right? And so she's kind of left with this like ominous message. She goes back to headquarters, right? Sadie, chef, everybody's there. And Nana Jean was like, What did we tell you? Told you not to go, yeah, don't go messing with the butcher. And even Maurice is like, Maurice is like, Yeah, I shouldn't have gone with mouths, but she's like, he's disgusting.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

And she's like he makes me want to vomit.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

She's like, something is happening, something bad is about to happen.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

He's planning something, he's up to no fucking good.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

So we need to prepare, right? And so they're kind of talking about like bringing like their people in onto like the headquarters land, they're kind of talking about how to do that. Yeah, they're just trying to get as many people as safe as possible, and then there's a knock on the door, and it's one of uh like you know, the little boys that kind of runs around delivers messages, and he says, Little pigeon, Frenchie's on fire, Frenchie's is on fire, which is the name of the juke joint, the juke joint, where they all have a real good time the night before.

SPEAKER_03 39:25

Yeah, so they get there and it's they rush there in disaster, it's on fire, right?

SPEAKER_00 39:30

There's people, some people trapped inside running out, running everywhere. Ku Klux is everywhere, the KKK is everywhere, literally burning, yeah. So Sadie and Maurice immediately take off inside, right? They start escorting people out, they hear people upstairs, and her like Maurice is only she just wants Michael George. Yeah, where is he? She's like the owner, yeah. And she's like thinking about the fact how like he had offered, like, let's be together. She had always she just kind of kept like pushing him away, like, no, no, but now she's like, Oh my god, like we never got to have that talk. She's like, I need him, like, I need him now. Yeah, so she's looking for him. They go upstairs, everything's on fire. There's smoke everywhere, fire on both sides. They find a couple who were upstairs using one of the rooms, and they're about to get attacked by a klu klux. By a ku klux. Yeah. And so there are some people who like if they get scared enough or like something will happen where they like the sight is just kind of like thrust on them. Yeah, right. So these people have just like unintentionally gained the sight. There was also a woman in the butcher shop. Yeah, a white woman in the butcher shop also got the sight that like that day, and she's kind of like, now you know, right? This is what's going on. But so her and Sadie start, they kill this this, you know, Ku Klux, but then the hallway comes like just starts getting filled with more of them. Like, there's so many that they're like tumbling over each other.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

Yeah, I picture, you know, like hun tricks. Do Hunt tricks on the train when they're like flooding out, like that's literally what I think.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

That's exactly what I pictured too. And so, yeah, they're literally like toppling over each other. Like Sadie's like, I you know, I can hold them off, get the couple downstairs, just get them down there. And so Maurice is like, I'll be right back. Yeah, so she hears just gunshots boom, boom, boom, boom. Gets the couple out. There's goes to run back upstairs, and she's kind of like, Okay, where's did Sadie come out behind me? She's like, Okay, she didn't. So she goes running back upstairs, sees a giant pile of dead Ku Kluxes, and then she sees Sadie at the end of the hall, and she's laying there, she's thinking, like, okay, maybe she passed out from the smoke. She goes to move her. Sadie's like her holding her stomach together, and basically she moves her arm and like she's just cut open. Like she, and so Maurice's like, okay, let's go. Like, I can I can get it. Daddy's like, no, I cannot. Sadie's like, I don't even know if my legs work right now. Like, it's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 41:57

No, you're gonna have to leave me to die.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

It's so devastating because she has this like moment with Sadie, and Sadie is pretty much tells her, she's like, Y'all better have a really good funeral for me. Make sure that you know, my boo thing, make sure he he cries hard. He can't make sure he can't like the next two can't last. Yeah, he's like he's like, make sure I ruin the next two women for him. Just throw me a good funeral.

SPEAKER_03 42:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

And then Sadie dies. And oh, and then another thing she just says too is like she said this in the beginning of the book, and then she said this right before she died was her grandpa used to tell her that when the white people brought black people over from Africa on the boat, they cut off the wings of black people. And they said that they like to believe that when they die, they get their wings back. And so she said that maybe when I die, I'll get my wings back and I'll fly to go see my mom.

SPEAKER_03 42:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

She dies, and Maurice is like, fuck this, fuck everybody. Yeah, she jumps like out the window, lands and on her feet because she's a cat. Comes face to face with Butcher Clyde. Yeah, Butcher Clyde, she can't find Michael George anywhere, he's gone. Yeah, and so are a few other people. She has no idea where they're at. So she goes up to him and she's like, Where the fuck is Michael George? I told you to leave my people alone. And he says, If you join me, I'll I'll give him back to you. Yeah. And she's like, I'm not gonna fucking join you, bro. Like, what are you not understanding? And so she goes to fight him.

SPEAKER_02 43:33

He keeps talking about an offer.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

Yeah, an offer. He goes, she goes to fight him, and her sword breaks like into thousands of tiny pieces. Like there's no using this thing. And as he's like fighting her and as her sword breaks, like he starts singing, I think. It's like either singing or speaking in like his weird It like sh it hurts her dialect. It hurts her ears, and then she can't kind of a shriek. Yeah. She can't move. Yeah. Yeah, and like all the mouths are moving, and so they're they've got a hold of her, and she's thinking, like, oh fuck, this is the end of me. Yeah. And then there's an explosive, and then here comes Chef. Yeah. So Chef interrupts, comes in for the rescue, and then he's like, Okay, he's like, it's okay. I'll see you. Don't worry. I got we still have time, you know. And so Chef's gonna be able to do that. Then we move on to the big big one. So then some more fucked up shit happens. So the aunties are able to call her. She goes and speaks to the aunties. Nana Jean, by the way, is a mess back home at the headquarters. She's sobbing. Everybody's devastated. Yeah. They're having kind of like a funeral type ring shout situation. Trying to put it together already for Sadie. Yeah. And so she goes to see the aunties and she's like, bro, what the hell was that? Yeah, like why can't we have warned me? They're all and they're all wearing like black. They're no longer in like the pretty, you know, they it's like just black. They're all sad, they're all in mourning. They change for like however Maurice is feeling. They kind of back up the butcher story saying, like, yes, we chose you as our champion. You know, we knew that you had what it takes to, you know, fix this type of stuff and be a baker. Yeah. And they said that, like, yes, you could, if you had gone over to his side, then you would have been kind of like their harbinger of hate and that type of thing. And so Maurice is like, what can we do? Right. Because like he's been talking about like this grand cyclops situation, and that doesn't sound too good. And they're kind of like, Okay, well, maybe the doctors, but they're like, Oh no, no, no, that's worse. And she's like, Well, what are the doctors? And they're kind of like, girl, I don't think you want anything to do with them. They said they are another type of creature that also feed off of hate, but they are bad, they are very bad news. And if you are on the wrong end of them, that's it. Like it's a wrap. Like if you're fucked, right? And so they sound so horrifying. Yeah. And so Maurice is kind of like, I gotta go. I don't see any other choice, right? So we need something that's to get rid of the the terrible, yeah. So they go back, she goes back to headquarters, tells Nana Jean what they said, and Nana Jean pretty much gives her consent. So, you know, we know that she talked to, because we did talk about that. We know she talked to the aunties, they told her, like, you really don't want to open up this can of worms because in some ways they are worse than the butcher and whatever he's got coming.

SPEAKER_02 46:49

They also feed off of fear, like that's also their like their the hatred, yeah. Or hatred that is delectful, like delightful to them.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

Yeah. And she kind of discovers that she has to go on this journey on her own. She took she did talk to the Golo woman, and she told her, like, you know, Chef wanted to go with her. You know, they're they're really trying anything they can. They want to get revenge for Sadie, and they really just want to do whatever they can't. Like, they really figured out that the butcher is not he's more than just like the normal Ku Kluxes that they've been dealing with.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

So they're putting like all of the pieces together from when the Klu Kluxes appeared originally and like what took place, and then that's how they figured out like the movie and like how that's all spawning. Yeah, she wants like a quick remedy, she needs help because she doesn't have enough help, especially since her sword's gone, yeah, her sword's gone, and so she doesn't want to resort to using some other type of witchcraft essentially to like summon these night doctors, yeah. Like, but if they're the only thing that's gonna work, she's like, Well, this is literally a last option, but we are here, and this is also this option, or we're just fucked, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:11

And then there's also this like she's playing into the hatred too, like she's very angry. They got her man, they took one of her best friends, you know. She she's very angry and she's very hateful right now, and they're loving it, and they're loving it, and that's part of like why he wants her so bad, right? Yeah, so she has to start she starts walking to go find these night doctors.

SPEAKER_02 48:35

It's so interesting though that her hate is so different than because there's other people that are probably feeling the same type of hate for the same shit that she does, but something about hers is just so perfect, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:48

Exquisite. And that's also why like the aunties were so drawn to her was like her story in addition to Butcher Clyde, and like he's wanting her too. So it's like they see qualities in her in two different ways, like they see her hatred as like a tool not to spread more hatred. They like the aunties are using it as kind of like a you're our champion to help turn things around and make this different, like in a couple of versus versus with Butcher Clyde, like he's wanting to usher in a bigger thing than just the Ku Kluxes, because the Ku Kluxes are like the foot soldiers, they're very low on the totem pole.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

The totem pole, they're well, they're just like dog, the dogs, right? And so they're what gets alright, go demolish everything, and then when we walk through, we can pick off on what's remaining.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

Yeah, you know. She's told that she has to go on this journey by herself, so she she starts the journey and she's kind of like unsure of what to expect. Like she doesn't know, she doesn't understand like what she's supposed to be dealing, like you know, yeah, she it's just very unsure, but she knows that she has to look for like this like tree, it's like a sacred tree, and that is kind of like her gateway into this other dimension where the night doctors live.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

Yeah, so like it's a veil she has to walk through, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:18

So she she goes through this veil, she's walking, and then she ends up coming up to wasn't it like like a house or something like that? Or wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 50:28

Oh yeah, wasn't there like a red door or yeah, something like that, but like she wasn't sure.

SPEAKER_00 50:33

Like, do I knock? Like, do I just walk in? Like, how do I do this?

SPEAKER_02 50:36

And then she's kind of like brought through almost, like against somehow whoever realized she was there and was like, Oh yes, we want we were expecting you, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:50

You she gets sucked into like this house, she's like kind of walking through, trying to figure out like where like where she's at, like where are these night doctors at? Yeah, and then she gets introduced to this really interesting character who I think it was the aunties that brought him up to her. While she finds the name, it's interesting about this character because he is somebody who exists. But was it Bennett or Dr.

SPEAKER_02 51:12

Bennett Bissett Bissett, B-I-S-B-S-E-T. Yes, Dr.

SPEAKER_00 51:15

Bissett, yes. So Dr. Bissett is a character who actually exists in the future. So, like 20, 30 years after this current date, he exists in the future. He's like somebody who likes to study things and he kind of does it through any means necessary. Like, he has this theory about how different fluids in the body can pretty much hold different forms of like energy, energy, and also emotion. So, like it's kind of interesting, it's also kind of because he brings up like semen, and then he talks about like the blood, and then he talks about like saliva. Yeah, and so he's just somebody that kind of experiments, and he also is kind of like a spokesperson for the night doctors, and so she's talking to him about the night doctors, and she's like, I have a problem. The butcher Clyde has got my people, the Ku Kluxes are like kind of taking over everything, and she's kind of like, I hear that your night doctors like the taste of hate, like they like to feed off of hate. He's like, Well, yeah, they do. And she says, Okay, so how about you guys come help us? And he says, Well, I mean, as enticing of an offer as that is, you this doesn't just come like for free, you know, you have to go meet the night doctors, they need to kind of take a look at you and they need to determine whether or not you're worth helping, right? And he does kind of warn her, he says, like, I don't, like, you know, it is a power that is intense, right? You know, and so he says, like, it has to be like the right kind of hate. So she's kind of like, Okay, like, let's just go talk to your night doctors. And so, as they're going through, you know, she's she's very angry, and he brings her into like this room, and she finds herself being like thrown onto like an like a table almost. And she says that she can feel them like, and they're like these poking and prodding. Yeah, they're poking and prodding at her, and she can feel them like opening her up and pulling out her.

SPEAKER_02 53:17

So I actually have it right here. So in my head, memories flash, watching a mob hunt down colored folk in Elaine, Arkansas. Well, okay, so she like gets thrust into like when they my misery, my pain served up to these monsters on a plate. They read it all like some witch sorting through a gutted possum. They cut and take, pulling out my bladder and ropes of glistening intestines until I'm screaming, even with my mouth closed, singing to them in a misery I seen. Somehow I can hear it echoing through their white calls until blackness takes me. It's fucked.

SPEAKER_00 53:51

Yeah. And so, like with that, they are going inside of her mind and her memories. And we already talked before about how she has dreams of her past, and she sees herself as like this young little girl on the night that her and we get, you know, she kind of talks about like like we said, her inner monologue is kind of like in the voice of her brother, and we kind of figure out that he's died, he's died, but we don't know how, we don't know why. We don't know any of the story, and so she is now being forced to confront that night, which is obviously a very terrible night for her. And we figure out that she wasn't actually like a little girl when this night happened, it was like a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_02 54:33

Like she was right, it was seven years ago, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:35

She was like 17 years old or something like that. So she's old enough to where she probably she feels like if she was old enough, she should have been able to do more, but she was so terrified that she didn't do anything, right? So Dr. Bissette is with her as she's walking through this memory, and she's like telling the little girl version of herself, who is now the 17-year-old version of herself, to shut up, keep your mouth shut, don't talk about it. We don't, we don't deal with it, shove it down. We're not doing this. And Dr. Bissette says, if you want our help, you're going to let them take a look. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02 55:10

And so she's kind of having no other choice.

SPEAKER_00 55:13

You have no choice. I mean, and what are you gonna do? Like, how are you gonna get out of this, right? Right. So they're walking through, and we know that the clan had come to her house, they busted down the door, her brother had hidden her, like under the floorboards, and so her brother like immediately was like shot, like yeah, like just killed right off the bat. Or no, his her dad. Her dad's the one who opened the door, they shot and killed him. Then her they took her father, took her brother, and I believe her mother. Yes, all three, and they took him out to the barn and they hung them, strung them up in the barn and hung them. Yeah, and they just left them there to rot pretty much. And so she had come in.

SPEAKER_02 55:57

And that wasn't like demonic klu kluxes, it was it was just the regular KKK shitty ass clamps just came and obliterated and her whole family bloodline, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

Yeah, so she again her whole the whole shame of it is that she and she had the sword at the time. She didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 56:17

Oh, but it was brand new to her. She didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 56:19

Brand new to her, yeah, didn't know what was happening, the significance of it, didn't understand what it was.

SPEAKER_02 56:24

She didn't have bravery, nothing.

SPEAKER_00 56:26

Has had no idea. So she does end up going out to the barn and she has to look and see her family that are gone, dead, hung in front of her. And she her her thing is she had now has to live with the fact that she could have done something she didn't but she really couldn't have. She couldn't have, like she was frozen, they took out three family members.

SPEAKER_02 56:50

Like she would have died.

SPEAKER_00 56:51

She would have died, yeah. And but for her, but to her, that's not good enough. She said, I should have at least died with them that night.

SPEAKER_02 56:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:58

And so as she's facing this, she's like very angry, she's distraught, she's hurt, she hates, she's again, she's having to relive this. And Dr. Bassette is kind of like, Yeah, this is kind of what we needed, you know. And she's like getting more and more angry that they keep poking and they're like almost making this memory and this horrible intensifying thing, like their thing, and like they're just like they just keep digging and poking, and like they're experimenting with it, they're toying with it, and she's like, That's enough. That's enough. This is my pain, my history.

SPEAKER_02 57:31

Didn't she stab yeah?

SPEAKER_00 57:33

So she ended up like getting the sword.

SPEAKER_02 57:36

She was able to break out of whatever like trance that they induce for them to like go memory picking and pain picking, which has like never been done before. No one's been able to survive it.

SPEAKER_00 57:50

Yeah, like the doctors also said, like, if you survive this, then maybe we'll decide to help you. But it's still very much so if maybe it's up in the air.

SPEAKER_03 57:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:58

But she comes out of this trance, yeah, with her sword, the one that broke when Butcher Clyde was messing with her. Yeah. So she comes out with a sword and she does stab one of the night doctors. And the sword is like bright, like daylight bright. It's brighter than it's ever shown before. And Dr. Bassette like snatches her up, throws her out of the house, and she's like, Okay, are you gonna help me or not? He was like, You're lucky we're letting you leave.

SPEAKER_03 58:25

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_00 58:26

He's like, This has never been done before. We don't know what to do with you. You need to fucking go. Yeah. And so she's kind of like, but we had like a deal. And he was like, I mean, yeah, but no, but no, yeah, get out of here. And so she goes home, yeah, and they're kind of like, Well, I guess we're just gonna have to do this without the help of the night doctors. So she's got her sword now, she hasn't talked to the aunties yet, but they're kind of like, we need to go because the showing of this movie is happening tomorrow night, and it's about like a six-hour drive away. So every able-bodied person they have that has like the sight um needs to come. Everybody's going, the Gola woman is going, and Nana Jean, right? Nana Jean's going, the ring shouters are going, all the elders are going, everybody's going. Yeah, right. Chef has got a shit ton of bombs, like we're ready to go, they're ready for war, right? It starts pouring down rain as soon as they get there. The more able-bodied people start making the hike up the mountain, they drop off Nana Jean and the ring shouters, like in a safe area. Yeah, they're gonna do what they can over here. So they get to this gorge, pretty much, and there is like a show, like a projector that's like projecting the movie on like this like cliff side.

SPEAKER_02 59:42

Yeah, like a mountain and the rock.

SPEAKER_00 59:46

Yeah, and there's like thousands of clan members, and a lot of them are wearing hoods, there some of them are just there, there's just thousands and thousands, like just too many of them, and they're kind of like this is gonna suck. And then seeing up in the front of all of these weird gathered racists, yeah, is Butcher Clyde, and he's like pretty much preaching to the crowd as the movie's going on, getting them hyped up, getting them hyped up. But the thing is is that these people aren't like cheering and shouting like you would think they would be. No, they're all just like blankly staring, and it's eerie. And they're like, and the ones with the sight, they can look out across the crowd and they can see like the shifting faces between the bodies that are inhabited and like Ku Klux's, yeah. Them all. So he knows that she's there, and he and oh, and then also behind him, there's five people on the stage. There's five people with hoods. They took. Yeah. And she's kind of trying to see like which one is George Michael, but she can't, or Michael George can't quite tell. She's like, I have to get closer, and Chef's like, Well, I'm coming with you. And she tries to fight it, and Chef, and she's it's funny because she says, like, Chef's like, if you wouldn't, I'll beat the piss out of you for one, if you leave me here. And she's kind of like, Yeah, I could tussle with her, but she's like, then I'll be too tired. She'll be my ass, and I'll be too tired. So Chef's coming along, I guess. And so they go up to the stage, and again, nobody is moving. Like, she she thought that she would get like somebody trying to stop her. Yeah, nothing. She gets up to the stage. Butcher Clyde is like, Oh, thank God you're here. You know, we've been waiting for you. Yeah, have you given me your have you given me your choice yet? And she's still like, fuck you. I'm not joining you. I'm not going to help you with any of this. Still. And he says, Okay. He says, Well, what we're doing here is we're trying to bring in the grand cyclops or whatever. And it's like this beast that again feeds on the hate. And he's and he says, like, here, here's what we'll do. He's like, We've got all of these people here. Okay. He says, Here's what we can do for you. We'll switch over to your side, right? He's like, Imagine how great it would feel to finally get revenge on the people that have been hurting your people for years, right? He's like, Let's use your hate. He's like, You guys have plenty of hate. Yeah, there's no way you don't. We'll flip-flop it. Flip-flop it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:14

He's like, he's like, if you just give us your hate and your anger, we'd prefer to eat you, but because like black folks' hate and pain is something far greater, far yeah, far greater than they can get from like the white man, but they will gladly like flip sides and go after and kill all the whites instead.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:37

Yeah. And again, she's like, no, yeah, like our hate, yes, we have hatred, but we also have like kind of like a greater purpose in life, other than just hating everybody, you know? And so he's like, Well, could have done this easy way, but I guess we're gonna have to do it the hard way.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:54

And he's throwing a temper tantrum.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:56

He basically calls forward the grand cyclops. And the grand cyclops, oh my god, it's so trippy. Disgusting creature that he calls it.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:08

He was feeding the grands. Okay, so he was feeding behind when he was in his butcher shop and he was chopping up all the meat that had eyes in it, right? That was or it was squealing.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:19

Yeah, it was like weird meat. And the people that were eating tell what it was, what it was.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:25

They couldn't see it. That makes me think like, what the f fuck about us or what are we eating? Don't I know if there's some shit we can't see? That's wild. Yeah. But, anyways, he was feeding it to the people that like obviously ate there, and then like the amass of people I think that was at the mountain, wasn't he like feeding them on the mountain or something too? Yeah, so they had all pretty much ingested a piece of the Grand Cyclops, and so that's how she become starts to like mold together and then she's like in each of them, and they've digested her, she's now like taking over their nervous system and like telling them to all walk into each other into like a big blob.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:03

Yeah, they turn yeah, pretty much into a giant blob.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:05

Yeah, and like of arms and legs and heads and mouths and everything. Could you imagine?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:13

And so something happens where like the stage ends up like either blowing up or like the grand slide clops had been thrown into the stage or something like that, but like the stage gets crumpled, all the people that were on it are like buried under all this rubble. Chef is like in the rubble, and so Maurice is like having to face this thing on her own for a minute, and she's putting in the work, right? She's she's cutting bits off, and like it's kind of like getting a little bit subdued, but it's still really big, and so as she's fighting, she gets this moment where she can hear Nana Jean. Yeah, and she's like calling, yeah, right, and as she's calling, she's like noticing that there's like these glowing spirits kind of coming up, and we realize that one of them is Sadie. So Sadie is there and she's kind of like, Oh, you want to see something great? Yeah, and Maurice is like, What is going on? Yeah, and basically Nana Jean has started this ring shout where she called forward to all of like their fallen brothers and sisters, ancestors, everybody, and they come up and they start helping, and they're pretty much taking out all of like the the members that haven't been formed into the Grand Cyclops. They're tip picking them off, they're picking them off, kind of like pretty much like destroying the Grand Cyclops piece that's inside of them, and then they're also kind of working on bits and pieces. And mind you, this Grand Cyclops is huge at this point. Well, it's thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of bodies, and so Maurice is like, okay, we have like kind of a better, a better chance, and so she knows we need to get rid of Butcher Clyde if that's how it's good, that's what's gonna stop all of this. So she's kind of focusing our attention on Butcher Clyde. While also trying to deal with like the grand slide clops at the same time. And there's a point where she can feel like the presence of her brothers there helping. And then there's like and then it's it's kind of looking kind of dire for them because like they're starting to go down, like their people are starting to go down. Chefs run out of bombs at this point, like it's not looking too good. And then in come the night doctors. And the night doctors come in, and then they start feeding on like the hatred and like all that stuff, and they're doing pretty much what they agreed to do. Yeah. And they're like fucking up the place, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:39

They're not touching any of her people.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:42

He's tripping. He's going crazy. Yeah. And he's kind of like last, he's like, You're coming with me, like, we're gonna fucking do this. And she's like, No, we're not. And so Dr. Bissette is there, and then she starts just like hacking Butcher Clyde to pieces with her sword. Like she's cutting off, like she's like, This is for Sadie, yeah, this is for this, this is for who you know, and so she's just like like cutting him up to pieces, and as he's getting cut up, like they're kind of starting to drift away in the ashes, like um, with a normal, like you know, they'll kind of drift away.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:14

Yeah, yeah, like fall apart and like how a vampire would in the sun.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:18

Yeah, yeah. And she's like hacking them away, hacking them to pieces, and then she like there's like one last little piece, and I think Dr. Pissett had taken that piece because he wanted to experiment on it. And he's kind of like, I wish I had more material, and she's like, sorry, I got a little carried away, but like fuck this guy. Yeah, and he's kind of like, Yeah, no, you're right. And so he's kind of like, Well, congratulations, you won. And he's like, Me and my people are gonna go back to our spot. You do what you need to do over here, and he's like, you know, maybe we'll be in touch, maybe we won't. You know, he's like, just keep keep in mind we're we're around, right? So they disappear, go into their own spot. We're always with you, yeah. And like the KKK members are starting to kind of wake up and they're kind of like, What the fuck just happened?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:03

And some of these people end up getting the sight, so like they kind of saw what all took place, and they're kind of like, Oh fuck. And Maurice is kind of like, hopefully, this is your guys' like come to God moment, and you guys figure your shit out, right? But she's looking for Michael George, and like she does find him, he's okay, chef's okay, the people that they came for are all okay. But then she's looking over her shoulder, and Sadie is like, Hey, I'm happy, everything's fine. I got my wings, yeah, you know, and she said, I'm I'm happy. She said, There's literally no.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:42

Don't forget about my funeral.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:44

Yeah, there's nothing you could have done. I chose it, I knew the risk. I went in happy. Yeah, she's very happy, she's at peace. And then she said, There's somebody who would also like to talk to you. And then coming forward is the spirit of Maurice's brother. And she's like, she's so happy. She's she apologizes again. She's like, I'm so sorry, I should have done more. And he says, No. Like he calls her bro rabbit, no, bro rabbit, you're good. He said, There's nothing you could have done. You would have died along with us, and we're much happier to see you here doing what you're doing. You obviously had a greater purpose in life. We're okay. And she's kind of like our mom and dad here. And he said, Well, not all of us are able to come forward when we're called, but he said, I'll make sure to tell them. Yeah. And he said, They tell me to tell you that they love you, they are not mad at you, they don't blame you, they're very proud of you. And so she gets closure on that end as far as that whole dark part of her goes. And um, yeah, so like the battle ends, everybody goes home, and then we kind of get like an epilogue where they she talks about like the aftermath of everything. And Sadie was very big on like the government, right? She thought that maybe the Ku Kluxes were a government experiment gone wrong. And she was kind of right because like the government came to the air to the gorge where the movie showing was, and they like cleared everything out. They went to Butcher Clyde's butcher shop, cleared everything out, took samples out, like they took everything and they erased it as like a fire or something like that that had happened. So, like lots of lives lost, super shady, super shady, super weird, and they're kind of like, okay, we have an eye on that, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:24

And then like obviously somebody within the government was the one that like summoned Butcher Clyde or shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:32

Yeah, so either they did that or they definitely knew about it and they decided not to help.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:38

Um, or they're working on it, but they're not sharing any of that knowledge with anybody, and so they're kind of like, okay, we gotta keep an eye on that. And then we find out that Maurice and Michael George kind of had like a conversation. Yeah. They decided that they're gonna work on being together, you know. Romantic. But she still very much so has work to do. Like the just because this battle ended, like there's still Ku Klux is around, they're still having to deal with that type of stuff. Um, she does have like one last conversation with the aunties, and they're kind of telling her, like, hey, we still want you to kind of be our champion. We have something kind of going up, like up in the north, if you could go check that out. And she's kind of like, well, yeah, I can do that, but I first I have a funeral to plan.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:22

And Chef and I are gonna go see a movie. Yeah. And they're kind of like, Why would you like because they're talking about seeing that movie, and they're like, Why would you want to go watch that movie?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:30

She's like, Well, we're actually gonna blow the theater up. That's what Sadie would have wanted.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:35

So they're planning on going to do that, and so she's kind of is like, I'll take care of your issue at another time. But like right now, like I need to be with my people, I need to help train my people and just be happy with my people, and like we're just gonna kind of go on in that way. And yeah, so the book ends there. I kind of like I know that this is a novella, but it's like they set up for maybe not like a sequel, but like I'm just saying, like we could have like more adventures, I guess. Like maybe like multiple novellas where it's like maybe they go take care of the government situation or they go up the up north and deal with that. I mean, I would even take a book of them planning the funeral and blowing up the movie, right? Like, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:18

There's it was so good, it was really good.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:21

Like, and I felt like they packed, like they packed so much into a little book without it being overwhelming or feeling like there was anything that was like because like obviously it left on like I wouldn't say cliffhanger, but like open-ended. But I still felt satisfied with it. Right. And I didn't expect that because it's such a small book. Yeah, I thought that it was gonna leave something out.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:43

No, I thought it, I thought it was brilliantly done. It's real it was really sad. Just like history in general. Like, I know it's not like non-fiction completely, but like just knowing that it can get worse. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:01

Well, I mean, like, for my thing, is like to kind of talk about because Sinners is everybody always said, like, you know, if you like Sinners, you'll like this book, right? And obviously the vampire stuff was terrifying. Yeah. But like the scariest part to me was the fact that this guy from the clan sold them to juke joint.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:19

And his whole plan the whole time was to ambush them coming out, like they were gonna go kill everybody in that juke joint.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:28

And that to me is like the scariest part. That people can just be so disgusting, like yeah, and and cruel. And and I always say, like, racism doesn't make sense to me because it's like you're mad at me because I was born with brown skin. Like you're mad at me because did you get to choose? You didn't get to choose. Like it, and it's like I don't under it, just it will never make sense to me, and it'll never make sense to me to justify the hatred and it doesn't, the cruelty because of skin color. Like it just it doesn't make sense, and it'll never make sense to me. But I'm also not a racist asshole, so you're not.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:08

I yeah, and it it's like I don't know. I it probably started because somebody obviously thought that they were better, and they ran across somebody else that like spoke different than them and did things different than them, and then they decided to judge that their way was the better way, and so they must be the better species. And it's fucking stupid.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:35

I just because like you cut us all open, we all look exactly the same on the inside. We have like we all shit from the blood, and yeah, we all got the organs, like it's just it doesn't like it, yeah. It just doesn't make sense to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:47

Literally the same.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:49

And yeah, sorry, you guys don't have to deal with it.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:51

It's fucking bullshit.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:52

I mean, looking in like you know, looking on it too, like some of it is really horrific. Like it's worse than a grand cyclops, you know, like at least with this, they had I mean, not even with that, because like a lot of these people, they were taking over bad people, you know, but they've done it in so many other ways, like the Tuskegee experiment.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:11

Like there, there's so many things where it's like even when slavery was like long gone and abolished that other things remain that were just as fucked up that ethnically and culturally are not okay. You know, and so anywho.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:30

No, I know. It's just it's hard, and it it is like, you know, just thinking back on like that history, which really didn't happen too long ago, you know. Like, yes, we can say that it's at least we don't have Jim Crow anymore, at least we don't have like the sundown towns anymore. But you cannot deny that it it did happen. Yes, it's a long time ago for some of us, but for others, like there's still people that were alive during some of that, you know. That I mean they're older now.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:59

Yeah, they're almost gone, almost gone.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:01

But it's like it really wasn't that long ago, and I do think it's important to still talk about it, you know, and I do think it's important to just teach every teach our kids just you don't have to like everybody, right? Yeah, but everybody is no matter what they look like, what their ethnicity is, their background, like whatever, everybody's entitled to a basic form of decency until they prove to you that they are not, you know. I'm not gonna say to be friends with everybody, yeah, but everybody gets like basic respect until they earn your disrespect. Right. That's what I teach my kids. Yeah, but it's a good lesson. Yeah. But I mean, as far as rating goes, how would you rate it? Gibbs. Yeah, I'd say two, yeah. Gibbs. Really good. I really well done. I wish it was longer. I think that's like my only complaint. Is like I kind of want to get more.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:50

I think I was okay with the length because going into it, we knew it was a novella. And so I was excited to see how they outlined it in the amount of pages that they had. So I thought it was really executed, well done.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:05

Yeah, I agree. Bravo, really like it, like it a lot. Yeah, so good. I recommend it. Especially because it is a little bit shorter. Yeah, like maybe some people.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:17

If you're a really fast reader and you have like a flight to go on, it would be a perfect book.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:22

You learn a little bit of the history, but then you also have all the ghoulish monsters. And there was some like it was a different form of horror because like body horror type. Yeah, it was wild because I was like, I couldn't imagine that. And I love it when people like bring me something I couldn't possibly imagine.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:42

Yeah, I didn't expect it to be that, I guess. Like, especially with like how Butcher Clyde is supposed to look. Like, I wasn't expecting all the mouths, and then no, how like the grand side pops, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:52

Oh my that one, ew, and like you're by the belly button. There is there a belly button, like sweat. How does that work? Gross, yeah. Are you constantly like swallowing all those mouths? Or yeah, do they have spit?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:08

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, no, I agree. So many questions. And that is a wrap on our deep dive into Ring Shout, a short book that packs an absolute heavyweight punch of history and cosmic horror.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:24

As you probably already seen on our socials, our next archive file is officially open. Next week, we are launching into The Butcher and the Wren by Elena Urkhart. This kicks off a massive new series for us, and we are going to be covering her work across the entire months of July, August, and September.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:44

Grab your copies and get ready to step into the New Orleans Bayou with us next week. If you want to dive deeper into our community reading schedules or check out our exclusive visual companion guides, join the inner circle over on Patreon.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:57

And as always, if you have your own real life unexplainable encounter, drop them in our anonymous Midnight Confessions link down below. Hit that like and subscribe. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:09

So thank you for spending your midnight hour with us.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:13

And remember that stories are meant to hunt you.