Tell Me Something You Don't Know
A podcast where we explore curiosities without credentials. Presented to you by your factually adjacent hosts: Maddie & Sarah
Tell Me Something You Don't Know
The Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania
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Welcome to Tell Me Something You Don't Know, where we explore curiosities without credentials. We're your factually adjacent hosts, Maddie and Sarah. Every week we exchange random topics with just enough research to keep things interesting and slightly accurate. So lower your bars and let's learn something you never knew you wanted to know.
I need to be reading more because I actually find when I ha when I'm committed to reading a book or like for a few months, like and I'm consistently like every day chipping away at a book, I feel like I am articulating things better just simply because I'm reading every day. I really don't. Although maybe it's because I've never consistently read a day in my you know what I mean? Like I've I've I will go on little like reading spurts, but a lot I don't feel like I feel smada. Welcome to Tell Me Something You Don't Know, where we explore curiosities without credentials. We're your factually adjacent hosts, Maddie and Sarah. Every week we exchange random topics with just enough research to keep things interesting and slightly accurate. So lower your bars and let's learn something you never knew you wanted to know. I feel like I always go into it with good intentions. I'm like, oh, if I see a word that I don't know, I'm gonna highlight it or I'm gonna like add it to a list of words that I'm gonna add to my vocabulary. But that no, no, that's the intention. And then I'm reading and I see a word that I don't know, and then I go off on a complete other tangent about like what could that word mean as I'm continuing to read. And then before I know it, I'm in a different paragraph and I'm like, wait, what is going on? So it's just that's a lot. It's a lot in my brain. You ever enjoyed reading? No, I really like audio. Like I like an audiobook, that's how I like to consume. Also, because it's nice to hear a like an adult voice in my ear while I'm cleaning or while I'm doing another task. It's like a multi multi-functional thing. You know, it's weird that you and I are polar opposites when it comes to this kind of thing. I can't even really listen to podcasts. Like, I can't get into them, I can't get down with them, which is good thing. We have one. And then also, like, I can't stand audiobooks. Like, my friends encourage me to do them. I'm like, no, I don't. Their voice irritates me. Plus, I think for me, reading a book. There's a romanticism about it. Like, there is a self-care aspect. I think it's like, what is the self-care aspect you want to get out of it? I think for like reading a book, it's like slowing down, it's touching pages, it's like being in a moment with your book. For me, I'm like, I don't have time for myself. So, like, if I want to read a book, I have to fit it in with other tasks. So, like, I don't have time to sit down and like in my brain, I'm envisioning having a cup of tea sitting in my sunroom. Maybe I've lit a candle. But I don't, there's no, I can't be. That's not my reality. That's very fair. I will say, like, if I gave up some of like watching a movie or TV or even just like scrolling on my phone, I could probably make even more time. But definitely when I am reading it, I it slows it's just I feel like the world gets quieter and it slows things down, and it's so nice. Whereas podcasts and audiobooks and stuff like that, I automatically am like, well, this is a multitasking situation, and I just don't for sure. And I feel like it is. That's like why I like it, is I can do multiple things at once. I love nothing more than having an audiobook and going for a nice long walk. And then sometimes I listen to a scary book and then I am convinced I'm gonna be murdered at every turn. Oh, yeah, that's fair enough. Oh, I love reading a horror book because or I am, yeah, I think it would be the same if you were listening or reading it. I just love horror books so much. There's so much fun. Okay, what's what's your okay, well wait, what's your definition of horror? Because I I guess I more like psych psychological thrillers. Those are my fave. I love those as well, but I'm but I'm also talking like horror horror. So like I am a big Stephen King fan. I think that I really enjoy reading. Quick pause. Are you wearing earbud with a cord? Yeah, why? Yeah, it's just rubbing up against you. Oh no. Okay, good noted. Excellent, very good to know. Get your life together over there. Okay, so if I were to what's a good Stephen King entry level book? Does it exist? I I it depends also. Have you seen a lot of Stephen King movies? Because I wouldn't recommend it. Yeah, like I've seen it. Oh, okay. And I've seen The Shining. Okay. Pet Cemetery would be a good one. And I've seen Pet Cemetery. But I saw it a really long time ago, and I feel like because it's an old one.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay. I feel like I could do. I feel like I could do that because I don't really remember how it goes. I know there's a pet cemetery involved and like a haunted cat. Yes, yes. But like I really like it too because it has to do with like um sort of well, I won't say. It's just it's good. But then also um another good one is I don't know that I would say this is entry, but it's kind of a bigger book. But I it it's called Bag of Bones, and I did like that one quite a bit as well. I mean, there's so there's there's a lot. Another one that is popular, I have not read it, but it's on my list is Cujo.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yep, yep, yep. Crazy dog, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yep.
SPEAKER_01I think he's like pretend in what sense.
SPEAKER_02Like, how can somebody pump out this many books? Like, let's be for real. Like, how is he doing that? Well, I mean, I think it's all he's done because he's so good at it. I think it might be like what he's done with his life. So just feels like he's too good. Like, something's gotta be up there, you know. Yeah, I mean, that is like he's just everywhere. How are you doing it? How how are you how are you everywhere doing it all of the time at a high caliber? Like those people need to be studied. He is it is interesting to me that he has come up with so many like horrifying stories. It is like, are you okay? Like, study him. Somebody like like do a wellness check. Also, just someone needs to we need a documentary on him. I will just say, since we're here, like praising him, one flaw that I find incredibly irritating about his writing, and I'll point it out because it won't be like it won't be obnoxiously in your face all the time, but you'll notice it if you read more than like one. He he's not very good at writing in the tone of younger generations. So for books that he's released in the last 20 years and he's trying to sound young. Yeah, I'm like, oh, he'll be like rad.
SPEAKER_01He said rad. And you're like, no one said ra has said rad for a very, very long time.
SPEAKER_02There are moments like that, and I'm like, oh no. But anyways, it's one small, small thing that you can pretty much get past because then you're in a chilling situation where you're like completely enveloped. Oh, I was thinking I wasn't gonna say that right. Um enveloped. You find yourself real tight in an envelope. Okay, really fast too, though, before I forget, we're pivoting all over the place. Speaking of documentaries on people, you should watch if you haven't read it. Yes, okay. Marty Life is short. Oh, cute. Yeah, no, I did uh see it and it out like fresh off the John Candy one. I never I feel like I don't know what is wrong with me, but I feel like when something like that comes out, I don't want to watch it because I don't want to be disappointed, and I don't even trust when people say it's good. I'm just sort of like, I don't, I'm scared. I don't know why. Like I get anxiety about it for some reason.
SPEAKER_00That's all right. You don't gotta work. You're okay. You're okay, you don't gotta get worked up.
SPEAKER_02It's all right. It's yeah, I mean, what what I'll say too is these kinds of movies generally fall to the bottom of my list. However, the reason John Candy, because I just love him and to me, he's nostalgia. And then same with I mean, for me also, the improv uh element is very significant. So, like any of that crew, and then also them. Totally, and like uh I really loved it because there's tons of footage. I think one of the cool things about this one, like even in comparison to John the John Candy one, is um he's still alive. Well, yeah, there's that so big bonus, but also uh he just happened to videotape a lot of stuff all the time, like through the years, like from the 80s and the 90s. I wish I did more of that. I know me too. And a lot of that footage is in there, and like he had he threw him and his wife threw massive Christmas parties where like all of the celebrities were coming. And I don't just mean like the second city Canadian people, like like Tom Hanks and Rita, like they were always at their place at their Canadian cottage. There's like fun footage of Tom Hanks being like, I just love the Canadian woods, and then there's also like Goldie Hahn is coming to he just like has these fun, and all these people have kids around the same age as him and his wife at the time, so they're all just getting together, and all of that footage is in the is in the documentary, and also none of it is like because often with these with these biopic films, it's like some sad tale, like rags to riches, or some sort of like sad thing happened in their childhood, and they turned over a new leaf. But this is genuinely from the start, he's like my entire family was extremely loving and we were all really funny. Yeah, that's pretty much the beginning. She had a blessed life, yeah, and it carried through, it really did. Yeah, it's uh I mean, what is really sad though, at the end, the dedication is to John Candy? Oh no, to Catherine O'Hara. Catherine O'Hara and his daughter, because she died in February of this year, she committed suicide. Didn't she commit suicide, right? Oh no. Oh, that is sad. So sad. Yeah, so there's obviously a ton of sadness in his life, but like I think the underlying thing is just that he's always used humor and healthy way to like, yeah, like find fun in everyday life. And anyway, it's really good. Wow, we really unpacked that. Welcome to your new podcast. I'm pretty sure that we don't have time for how are you's hello and highs. No, I think that that was it. Well, who goes first? It's you, it's you this time. Oh, me first. Okay. I'm also excited. I kind of lent into your last episode because I liked the mishmash.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02So I have a question. Have you ever, because I have not, have you ever been like put under or been unconscious? One time for getting my gallbladder removed. Okay, okay. No, twice because also for my wisdom teeth. Oh, you were put under. I was not put under for my wisdom teeth, and I now have PTSD around dentists. Oh, no doubt. I think everybody should be. It's it was traumatic. But I also am kind of afraid of being put under because I just don't like the thought of being disconnected from my body on purpose. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No advantage. Of course. Intrusive.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like it's not like I fell asleep and my body is like, I'm ready for rest now. It's like, okay, we're gonna add a chemical. You are going to have no choice but to be put out, and away we go. Yeah. Did you feel like different when you came out of them? Okay, well, for so my getting my wisdom teeth out, no. For my gallbladder, I remember going into it. Oh, you remember the nerd, the so they put you in the room and they like they ask you what's your name and what are you getting done today? And you you say it out loud and everything's in there. So they're like, Okay, good, we're doing the right thing. Right thing on the right person. Yeah, and then I remember being like, Before you put me under, which this is like the worst timing to do this, but I was like, before you put me under, um, have you guys This is hilarious now that I think about it. Have you guys seen the movie Awake? And I remember the nurse just being like, so And these are strangers to you, right? Yeah. Good. But it was in my it was in my panic. I was like, oh my god, oh my god. And then I remember our Uncle Earl talking about his experience as well.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And so I was just like, I'm like, I'm I'm a I'm a little afraid about that. And I remember the nurse was so nice, and she's like, You're so weird. I can't tell you that there is 100 a 100% chance of that not happening, but it is absolutely unlikely that it will. She's like, But I will be personally keeping an eye on you and your body, and if anything feels wrong, then we will stop immediately and just her God, God bless nurses. I know. I was like, thank you. Okay, I can go to sleep now. And then coming, coming out of it, um, yes, I started hysterically crying.
unknownReally? Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02Were you sad? I couldn't explain it. And I remember I remember crying hysterically and being like, I don't know why. And the nurse was just like, it's normal. I was like, okay. Like, oh my god. I don't so yes, to answer your question, I felt weird. Okay. Okay, so that just makes me more nervous about and the uh that potentially happening to me. And so, okay, I mean, the reason I'm asking, and it is a little different, is I'm going to tell you about a few different stories about people who have been in comas and have come out of their comas like different people.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02Wow. I don't think it's gonna be too wild, but now you got me nervous. So basically, similarly, but also totally different. Obviously, if you're going into a coma, there's been like a significant injury or like an accident or something has happened that has put you into this state of being comatose. Right. So I'm gonna tell you first about the story of Helen Rudd. So she's a woman in England and she's hit by a van while walking. Whoa, did I just say van in a strange way? Am I changing? Uh-oh. Cool. By a van. I'm Canadian while walking. So she gets a severe brain injury and she falls into a coma for about three weeks. So her family is waiting bedside, you know, nervous about what the outcome is. Because the other thing too is you just don't know what the outcome is gonna look like until that person wakes up. So it truly is just this waiting game to find out what happens. And I think when people are going through that process, while I've never been in it myself, they're mostly just like, is there going to be damage? Like, is there going to be cognitive changes? Like, will they be able to speak properly? Will they be able to move their body? Like, are they gonna have to relearn basic level things that we already know how to do? So she opens her eyes after three weeks, and then she just all of a sudden starts speaking fluent French. Yes. So she's like no English, she just starts speaking fluent French. Before the accident, she was an English woman. She lived in England, she had taken some French classes, like absolutely not to the level of being fluent, like she was not fluent, but did take some French classes. The French reportedly flowed naturally out of her mouth for nearly two weeks. Oh my god. Yes, crazy. Isn't that nuts? So doctors actually had to put up a sign near her bed asking visitors not to speak French to her because they needed her, they needed to help her brain reconnect with English. Like they need they were like, Hey, you are English. I have so many. I'm this is a conundrum. Yes. Yes. Because it is one thing to like lose your motor functions for like a few weeks. Like a exactly. Like you're like, okay, you're you have to relearn, you've you've had a setback. But you've but you've developed, in fact, you've added to your skill set in some ways. Yes. That's so then is it like your brain rewiring information that is already in there and just like mm bumping it to a different area of the brain where it's more readily available? Like is it is it sort of like uh people who are photo photographic memory? Yes, photographic memory. Does it just maybe tap into that and be like, well, I did your brain and your eyes read the words, so you didn't retain it at the time, but now all of a sudden we are like also the fact that it's two weeks, just two weeks fluent French, and then all of a sudden, no. That is insane. And then we have my second story is about uh Ben McCone. Ben McCone. So he forgot English, but he remembered a different language. So he's an Australian teenager and he was in a horrific car crash. He suffers severe head trauma and he spends over a week in a comma, in a coma. He's in that comma, not a period. And when he wakes up, he's struggling to speak English, like he can't find English words. And the doctors are like, okay, like same thing. Cognitive function, like obviously, when this happened, he knew how to speak. He's just struggling coming out of this coma. But all of a sudden, he starts speaking Mandarin.
SPEAKER_00What?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so he had studied Mandarin in school, but casually and again, not fluent, like not fluent at all. Okay. So after the comma, oh my gosh, Madison. Madison, you're getting stuck in a punctuation. What is your brain doing right now?
SPEAKER_01What what language am I? I'm only speaking the language of punctuation.
SPEAKER_02I really hope to God I don't do that again. After the coma. Oh my god, that actually took effort. I'm gonna do it again for sure. I can tell. Yeah, but you know what? It's okay. It's all right. Thank you for your emotional support. Mandarin suddenly became effortless, and English became difficult. So, like, he had a hard time with English, and Mandarin became effortless. So he like came to and he reportedly asked a nurse where he was, but in Mandarin. And so this completely changed his life. Later, he studied in Shanghai, hosted TV, Chinese TV programs, and built a career connected to Mandarin. So, like, not only did this happen, but he totally shifted his trajectory. Okay. And then we have Jason Paget. So Jason was a furniture salesman and he partied often. And then one night he was violently attacked outside a karaoke bar. So like, oh he was beaten severely and he had a concussion and PTSD plus brain trauma. So, like, not not the trifecta you want. No, he didn't spend weeks in a coma like the others. I did it properly. Yay! Good job. Uh, but he did lose consciousness after the attack. So, like, slight, right? Like, not you're not like in it's not the same. Right. But when he did recover, his reality totally changed. After the injury, he became obsessed with mathematics, like, saw geometric patterns everywhere, visualized equations and physical space, filled notebooks with insanely complex drawings. And scientists later identified him as one of the rare documented cases of acquired savant syndrome. Oh my goodness. But you know what this is really just telling me is that basically we don't know nothing. Well, that and also if you feel lost in your life and like a passion isn't opening itself up to you, go on and get yourself a severe head injury because I do not think that that is the correct takeaway. Just kidding, audiences. Um it really did work out for a couple of these folks, but wouldn't suggest as a life plan corrector. Probably not. You're right. Yeah, probably not. So, story number four. Tommy McHugh. So Tommy McHugh lived a pretty rough life before he had a criminal history, violence, construction work seems like an irrelevant detail that is not relevant to the story, but blue collar worker, and he suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and nearly died. So he underwent emergency brain surgery. And spent time unconscious recovering. And then when he came back, he came back obsessed with art. So he was nonstop painting, compulsive poetry writing, incredibly emotionally sensitive, and overwhelming creativity. So he reportedly said that he felt like a completely different person had emerged within him, like someone else had taken over the controls. Oh my goodness. That's crazy. Yeah. That's so cool. That's a good one. I mean, math would also be really cool. Um, but but either way. But it's like also maybe, you know, after having a really tough life and then going through something like that, and like maybe just having some like, I don't know, some like filters maybe removed in going through like brain trauma.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And being a little bit more like emotionally raw, like art is a good way to process those emotions, you know. But I mean, the fact that he said that he felt like a totally different person. I mean, yeah. And so I also like what prompted me to look into this, but I couldn't actually find the case was a woman, and of course, I l found it on Instagram and then just scrolled too far and then was like, oh, that'd be a good topic for tell me something you don't know. And then I tried to find it somewhere and I couldn't find it. So this could very well be completely fake, but it was essentially about a woman who had been in a coma, and then when she woke up, she had felt that she had gone to a different dimension. Like she had a full family, like raised children, had lived this whole life of having kids. And then when she woke up, she just didn't have them. Like that wasn't the reality of her situation. So she had to then go to therapy to like deal with the grief of this very real feeling that she had children and when she was in the coma. And then when she woke up, was like, Well, I don't have them anymore. So, like in her brain and in her mind and what she experienced, she's like, Oh, that's extra sad. Lost these kids, isn't that so sad? And that's the story that I was like, Oh my gosh, I there's for sure other people out there with wild stories, and boy, are there that's so sad. So uh some people gain skills, and some people that's sad for her. It's like lose whole families, like that. You because and you know what? Like when I think about dreams that I have, like if you think of very vivid dreams that you've had before, like I remember when I was little, I always used to dream that dad would run away, and when I would wake up, I would feel like that was the reality, or like have you ever had a dream where like your partner did something that you didn't like and you wake up and you're like, I'm actually pissed at you that you and it's not rational at all. But like in the moments after you wake up, you're just like you still have that feeling inside of you, which is very real because you were experiencing it in a dream. Yes, yes, yep, definitely. So imagine having like one long dream over being in a coma for like three weeks. Oh, I bet you if who whoever is her therapist, that was like a really interesting story. Would you not just be like, thank goodness, I was getting bored of all the like you know, all the other boring stuff. We have the first world problem people. Uh yeah, seriously. So, yeah, they here's some just facts about comas and oh no, did I say it right? Yeah, comas. Yeah, calm down, Sarah. Jesus. So some coma patients later report hearing conversations while unconscious, which is why families are encouraged to keep talking to loved ones and like play music and stuff like that while they're in a coma. About 25% of patients diagnosed as unresponsive may still show signs of hidden consciousness. So researchers are still discovering ways to detect awareness in patients previously thought completely unconscious. That's a that's a that's a that's a deep one. I feel like it's weird. It is weird. It's a constant storyline in like like medical TV shows or movies where it's like the the dilemma of taking somebody off life support because you just yeah, like you just don't know anything, but yeah, and like how much of you is in there, like what is conscious, what is not? So scientists still cannot fully explain how consciousness emerges from the brain, and it's often called the hard problem of consciousness. Like how not it's not how the brain processes information. What? Sorry. It's often called it's often no, you said it right. I just think it's hilarious that this is being coined quote the hard problem. Someone said it, Madison. Probably a scientist. I believe you, but what a hilarious thing to coin it. The very hard problem. What should we call this? I don't know, it's hard. It's very hard, even. I'm so sorry. Continue. Oh my god. And despite modern neuroscience, there is still no complete theory explaining consciousness. Like scientists just they understand neurons, they understand brain regions and electrical signaling, like they can see that there's tests for those things, but the actual experience of being conscious still is largely a mystery. That's spooky. Yeah. So, you know, if you find yourself in a comma, you might emerge a completely different person. I think I knew that that was a thing, but not to that extent. Yeah, like rem okay. Remember, I sent you on Instagram there was a woman who like was a white woman, went went into a coma as a white woman, and then all of a sudden emerged with a thick, like Asian accent. Yes, yes, but like but not speaking the language, just the accent, which is like incredibly problematic for a lot of different reasons. However, if she genuinely was like, that I don't know what to tell you. Like this is I can't do anything different. Like this is how I'm this is how I'm speaking. Like I don't know. Yeah. I mean, if you're if you're if there's a chance you're creating in your brain while in a coma that you had an entire previous life with children, then yeah, like I can there's so many different realities that could be possible. You could have watched a movie that you jet then just like acquire specific things from it right before you go in. Yes, that is crazy. Give me two seconds. I just need to, I just need to plug my laptop in. Who's having the battery problems now? Don't know why I'm fighting you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sorry.
SPEAKER_02Now I feel weird because I'm the only one here, but it's still recording. Beep beep. Okay, we're back. Oh hi, oh hi. Okay, so that's my topic. Wow. Yes. That is very fascinating. And also the amount of unknown. I mean, it makes sense that there is still a lot to learn about the about consciousness and the subconscious and all that stuff, but like Yeah, I think it's just always it's like a good reminder that I think in any era, like if you were to plunk yourself into any era and you just feel like we're so arrogant in thinking that we know so much. And it like plays into so many different aspects of life of being like, oh, like we are the most advanced of anyone that's ever been, which I don't think is always necessarily true, first of all. Yeah. And and then also that's what people thought a hundred years ago, and like that's what people thought, you know, 20 years ago when it comes to science. And then also like time goes by and people who were onto something that passes and then that lays dormant and is something that we lose as a society moving forward, like, you know, our connection to plants, our connection to like, you know, the earth, like all sorts of different things that might seem silly or ridiculous. Now science is starting to look into it and be like, oh, there is actually like we shouldn't have made fun of you about this.
SPEAKER_03There's actually some like data around it.
SPEAKER_02I think we could all do with being a little less opinionated about everything and then also not having like such hard, quick buy-in on everything. It's like you hear one fad in the health industry, and you're like, Well, that's me. And it's like, I mean, is it yeah? Do try some stuff out and see if it works for you. Just because it works for one person, doesn't like we're just so we're self-important, yeah. We are we're very self-important, and it's also like, yeah, you just know one person, even like the absolute smartest person in a certain area should never feel like they know everything. Well, yeah, I mean that's because you just don't, and I feel like some of the most intelligent people actually that's not true. There's so many intelligent people who would be the subject matter expert in something and are complete dicks. So I take that back. I was gonna be like, I feel like the but I guess the holistically most intelligent people, meaning like you just don't know the most in a specific area, are the people who also marry that with like I don't know absolutely everything. So like I'm open to be wrong, receive new information. Like that is the whole point. Yes, yes. My favorite human characteristic ever is humility. Oh, me too. Don't let pride get in the way and just yes, like be your authentic self. And you cannot be your authentic self if you don't show up with some vulnerability and be like, I don't, I'm not the best in this, or like I'm having a tough day, or like, oh, I didn't show up in that conversation the way that I wanted to, and I feel weird about it. So, like, let's have a conversation. Like, I just really appreciate that quality in all human beings, especially leaders. Yep, I absolutely agree. Okay, well, this is gonna be a hard left turn, but uh I would expect nothing less from you. Oh my. I was kind of like weirdly hoping that we were gonna match up because um Oh my god, are you gonna do something about a cabinet of curiosities? No, I'm not. Oh, okay. That would make the most sense. There would be no reason for us to sink on this. Maybe there's a slight potential reason as to why we might have, but remember we said the first or the in the episode. We're booking a trip. We book a trip. Yeah. Well, like I think the trip would have been obvious from this topic as well. But oh my gosh, I'm so excited. With that in mind, very excited. Um, I'm going to talk to you today about Hoya Bashu Forest. Okay, well, I don't even know what that is. I don't know why you would have thought we would have synced on this. The reason is because it is a native woodland in Romania. Madison, I'm not kidding you. When I was driving today, I'm like, I really should do something on Romania because we've been so embedded in our like ancestral, you know, tracking and like documenting and seeing where our family is from that I had that exact thought today. So you must have popped into my head to be like, I'm doing it. And I was like, maybe I should do it too. But then I was like, nope, I'm going with commas. Okay, tell me, oh my gosh. And in my brain, I was like, I wonder if there's anything like witchy or like, you know, like what are some what what could a topic even be? So I'm so excited. Okay, okay. So the first let me say I didn't even find this topic by being like, let me do something Romanian. A little tiny context that nobody should really care about. Sarah and I are part Romanian and we're on a hunt to like get our ancestors. Well, his ancestor makes it feel like they're so old, but we're trying to find our family passports so that we can like claim that part of our identity so that we can live in Italy.
SPEAKER_00Basically, we want to live somewhere else. I mean, why not?
SPEAKER_02No, honestly, that is part of the truth. But I was telling this to Matt as well. I'm just like, I also would love to have a passport. I don't even anywhere that is something that is not Canadian.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because it's like something, I don't know. There's just something like historical and personal, and like, oh, this is something that's like individual to me and I guess the rest of my family. But it just, I don't know. Speaking about being self-important, important. I just want to feel special. No, no, I agree. Well, both reasons are bad. Good. Proceed. Also, if any Romanian, if any Romanian delegates are listening to this, we really would like to get our uh Yeah, we mean it. I swear we mean it. We would be the best Romanian representatives. It is when you have a lot of different things going on in terms of your ancestry from both sides of your family, it is always nice to like find some information about something specific. So I did, so we have been talking a lot about Romania recently, but my initial look for this I knew I wanted to do it on originally I thought I was gonna do it on the um have you heard of I'm not gonna be able to pronounce it, but it's the Akigahara forest. No, no. Okay, I was gonna do this one, but then I was like, she probably knows about it. So No, I'm a dum dumb. No, no, no, no. It's it's just it's been like movies have been built around it. It's basically a haunted forest in Japan. Oh my god. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It's it's like also been nicknamed, which is incredibly sad, Suicide Forest. Yes, yes, yes. Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01I do know about that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. The name wouldn't be a dead giveaway for me either. I would just need to like understand the context. So that's what I was originally going to do it on, but then I was like, I feel like she might know about it. And I know some people know about it. So, like, let me see if there's any others that might be a little less known. And it turns out that this forest in Romania is considered the most haunted forest in the world. I'm obsessed. Oh my goodness. This is the this is the hard left turn we all needed, and I'm so excited. We're on this trip together to the most haunted forest in the world, which is our motherland. This could not be more perfect. Yes, right. Uh okay, let me say though, that where the the forest in Japan does actually have like a lot of recorded like deaths because it's just I think in 2003 alone there was like 104 recorded suicides. Um, yeah, lots of lots of death of that year. And then like also it's just been an ongoing thing. This forest does like it's not a lot of this is based on legend, so love a legend. Yes, yes. Okay, so that's kind of that's how we're going. Love folklore. Yes, yes, me too. So Hoya Bashu Forest is just outside I Kluge Napoka, Romania's second city in the depths of Transylvania. Oh, yes, we also Transylvania, Dracula, man. We we've got some good okay, yeah. We belong. I feel connected. Yeah, you know what? I am Romanian. Yeah, I've decided. Um, yes, so it's 729 acres, approximately.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, and it's also been uh coined the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania. The meaning being that it legend says up to a thousand people have gone missing through the centuries without like a trace, like just disappeared. Wait, how uh I can't, I feel like I'm not great. How big is it again? 729 acres approximately. So if you think of like I feel like you and Matt probably when you were looking at like pieces of land to buy, and you're like, oh, six acres would be like such a nice piece of land. Like six acres. Right, okay, okay. Nice for like a farm, even. Um 729 is like pr pretty large. So reports of strange happenings um date back centuries, and the name is actually uh the forest is named after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past along with 200 of his sheep. Oh, that's too many sheep to just disappear. Yep. But Hoya Bashu came to international attention in 1968 when a military technician named Emil Barnia photographed what he described as a UFO hovering above, a circular clearing in the center of the forest. Yes, okay. But since then, this forest has drawn in shamans, ufologists, which I didn't know was a term, um, and paranormal investigators.
SPEAKER_01What is a ufologist? Do you know?
SPEAKER_02It's literally spelt UFO lodgists. Oh, so they were just like, okay. So people gotta study UFOs, I guess. Gotcha. Um so some of the like eerie things about the forest, the trees grow in zigzag patterns or in spirals, um, which is a phenomenon because that's the okay, keep going. You're gonna answer my question. Uh I don't know that I will. A phenomenon which has not been plausibly explained by any of the scientists. Yeah, 100%. That was gonna be my question. I was gonna be like, is it because of the varietal? Like, what is is it just because they have twisty trees? Well, so like it's just weird. They do have twisty trees, and like if you look at photos, it does look eerie. But I am like, well, I've seen I've seen bent trees before, but it does seem like most, if not all. Like there's not a lot of street trees. And it did say an article, I couldn't find this in any I read four different things. One did say every single tree that spirals does so in a clockwise direction. Okay, because like if they've said that it's unexplained, there has to be something that is especially odd about it, as opposed to like, yeah, they're just like twisty trees.
SPEAKER_01What do you want? That's those are the ones we planted.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, yes, yes. So then another story that this is just legend, it hasn't been like verified, but it's very famous, is about a five-year-old girl who disappeared during a family picnic only to rematerialize five years later with no memory of what had happened to her. She didn't age a day, her clothes and her clothes like were the same and they didn't seem dirty. This is a confirmed thing. No, no, no, no, no. Okay, okay, okay, okay. This one is not verified. Okay, well, but it is a famous story that a lot of people a lot of people know. Yes.
SPEAKER_01I yeah, verified my brain, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02Consider it verified. More common reports describe so like there are tour, there are tours that you can do. There are even tours you can do at night and even stay overnight. Um, would you ever do that? Would you ever stay overnight in a haunted forest? Absolutely not. My goodness. Like, I would love to think that I'm the type that could, but I physically I think I would die. Like, I think I and not because not because it's haunted, because my body would just stop. Like my body would be like, no, we're not, no, we're not doing this. So we're shutting down for forever. Like, damn you for putting us in this position. That's how I feel. I know, I know. I think I don't think I would enjoy it, but I if I could do it with like a group of people, I'd be I'd be nope, couldn't even do it. You I we I could we could go with the whole town and I'd be like, absolutely not. We could flatten it, we could turn it into a completely different city, and I still would not feel well about it. No, it did. Got it. So the answer, the answer is no. No, thank you. Okay, so because there's like lots of tours that like have gone through there over the years, a lot of the uh common reports describe mobile phones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down upon like entering the woods or getting like halfway through or even closer to this clearing that I'll talk a little bit more about. Also, some people have experienced emotional responses that range from full-blown dread to nausea, anxiety, states of uh, and even states of ecstasy.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02Some people report seeing strange rashes on their skin, hearing disembodied whispers through the trees, um, and or feeling hands grabbing or pushing them. There are people who live in local towns who are less Drawn to it by like from like a tourist perspective, obviously. And they do like jaw local joggers will run through, and there has been um reports also of strange ectoplasms.
SPEAKER_01What does that mean? Ghosts?
SPEAKER_02Uh ectoplasm? Well, yeah, it's like a it's like a it's basically um ghost goo? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, pretty I know that from uh Ghostbusters.
SPEAKER_02Yes, in rural Romanian communities, belief persists in strigoi, which is means screamers. Oh my god, okay which are undead, shapeshifting bloodsuckers who rise from their graves to terrorize local communities.
SPEAKER_01Do not chill at all. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So there is a guide named Alex, he didn't share his last name, but he has taken different guides, like he's done overnight ones. Anyways, so the first time he camped overnight, him and his friends kept being woken by a very loud hoof noise, like a horse or a large deer. And every time they would stick their head out from the tent to investigate it, the noise would stop. Uh the next time he camped out, he deliberately slept in a hammock to get closer to whatever was causing the sound. Um, but his visit was cut short when a bat smashed into his face. And then the last part of the creepiness of the story to explain is a clearing. I'm not even gonna try to pronounce it. It's something like in a completely different language, but there's a name for it. So there's a circular clearing in like the middle of the forest, and people say that nothing like it's just weird. It's like a circular shape, nothing grows on it. There's like no real like life in and around it. And and also a couple of the articles were saying that like scientists have even like investigated the soil. Um, but what I find confusing is like uh one of the reports was this stupid. There's a podcast about a guy that basically just goes around busting ghosts.
SPEAKER_00Get out of here, get out of here, let us live.
SPEAKER_02Let us live. However, he did do the he's done this, like he's what he's been in this forest. Um, and he did say he's like, I mean, it's just more of like a meadow. There's definitely stuff growing, it's just kind of a random meadow in the middle of the forest that is like somewhat circular. And I kind of thought that as well when I was looking at photos. I was like, well, isn't this just like essentially like a field? Like, yeah, we're not really looking at like fields or meadows and being like, but why? Um however, the it is paired to the UFO sighting in the 60s. So also the person who reported that, I guess he they weren't like a reporter, they weren't anybody, they had like everything to lose to share that story. So, and he did, he ended up like losing his job. It it has been, I think, proven that he had seen something. And where he saw it was just above this circular meadow, but he didn't mention them. I don't believe he mentioned the meadow like in his findings. So it's like, oh, that's the the UFO setting that guy was talking about is literally above this in the same spot circular. Yeah. And a lot of people who have visited the forest say that the clearing is just the creepiest part of the forest, despite all the trees being like really hooked and bent and weird, and that like really being in there in general feels eerie. Like, I guess uh like heightened emotions or like those feelings of dread and anxiety are like oh my god, okay. Well, I do. I wish I wanna I wanna go. I would like to experience it just from like a skeptical standpoint of being like, is it, or is it just everybody really feeling like building it up, you know? Yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. And it does feel based on the articles I've read, different ones, different takes. Some people are like, no, no, it's for real, it's it's horrifying.
SPEAKER_00And then some people are like, I mean, it was kind of scary, I suppose.
SPEAKER_02But yes, the I did want to point out that one of the articles said the clearing has it defies the investigations of soil scientists and attracts Romanian witches.
SPEAKER_00Oh love it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it has like cool.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well, I love I love anything that defies like a scientific situation because I'm immediately like, well, there you go.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02What else might it be? And then the final thing to say, which is annoying, this is an annoying thing to end on, but like I gotta share it, is it may be one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, but the forest is currently under threat. The western suburbs of Klujnapoka, a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, described as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe, are encroaching and developers are pushing for permission to clear the trees to build apartment blocks. Oh my no. Yeah. See, if you give us our citizenship, we will help. That I hate that. I know. Very upsetting to hear that. I think some of the controversy over it, too, is like some touring companies are given a hard time, but it's like, well, we have to make money. We have to do something about this land that brings in some level of money because this is how we keep it. Like these private tours are better than having it ripped down. Right. Whereas some people are like, just leave it alone all together. But it's like, well, they're like, well, that's not a good business case. So come back with some revenue. That's not the world we live in, unfortunately. So make it make money. So that is the haunted Romanian forest.
SPEAKER_01I love that. That is so fun. And I'm gonna go like Google it and see if I can find some podcasts on it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, definitely. There is, there is at least a few. And then there's like it also has been featured on like some of those like ghost hunter shows as well. Apparently. Yeah, I want to watch a show on it. I don't want to podcast on it because I already listened to a podcast on it, which was best, the best. It was ours. But I just want to like I want to see it. I want to like visualize it and see the trees and stuff like that. So I'm absolutely going to be googling it. Well, there it is. There it is. Comas and crooked trees. Yep. So that's it for this week. Bye. Bye.