Lunatics Radio Hour
Episode 62 - Oddities & Curiosities with Dark Interiors
Alan and Abby are joined by Adam Bashian of Dark Interiors to discuss oddities, curiosities and haunted objects.
Follow Dark Interiors on instagram @dark.interiors and head to darkinteriors.com to subscribe to their newsletter (for subscriber only offers) and of course, check out their wonderfully spooky merch.
Head to https://taaugust.com to get your copy of The Mercer Island Murderer. Available on February 1st 2020.
And check out Bowery Boys! A fun podcast covering the history of New York City.
Lunatics merch, available here!
---
Consider helping Black Trans folks by donating to the Marsha P Johnson Institute.
Subscribe to Anti-Racism Daily - a daily email newsletter from Nicole Cardoza.
Also, consider donating to The Loveland Foundation, a fund that provides therapy for Black women.
---
Check out Abby's book Horror Stories. Available in eBook and paperback.
Music by Michaela Papa & Jordan Moser. Poster Art by @pilar.kep
Lunatics Magazine is available here. Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Instagram @thelunaticsproject and on YouTube - Films About Lunatics.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Alan and Abby are joined by Adam Bashian of Dark Interiors to discuss oddities, curiosities and haunted objects.
Follow Dark Interiors on instagram @dark.interiors and head to darkinteriors.com to subscribe to their newsletter (for subscriber only offers) and of course, check out their wonderfully spooky merch.
Head to https://taaugust.com to get your copy of The Mercer Island Murderer. Available on February 1st 2020.
And check out Bowery Boys! A fun podcast covering the history of New York City.
Lunatics merch, available here!
---
Consider helping Black Trans folks by donating to the Marsha P Johnson Institute.
Subscribe to Anti-Racism Daily - a daily email newsletter from Nicole Cardoza.
Also, consider donating to The Loveland Foundation, a fund that provides therapy for Black women.
---
Check out Abby's book Horror Stories. Available in eBook and paperback.
Music by Michaela Papa & Jordan Moser. Poster Art by @pilar.kep
Lunatics Magazine is available here. Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Instagram @thelunaticsproject and on YouTube - Films About Lunatics.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
[inaudible]
Speaker 2:Everyone. And welcome back to another episode of the lunatics radio hour podcast. I'm Abby Brinker. I'm here with Alan COO Dan. Hello. And today we have something super exciting for you. We interviewed Adam Bashin of dark interiors. Adam is an antique stealer, but of the coolest and rarest, most fun things of all time. So it was a blast to interview him. And we can't wait to share it with you.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I'd say classify him as an antiques dealer is really underselling.
Speaker 2:Oh, I mean, I just don't know the right words. Yeah. He's an oddities and curiosities dealer. He's a historian in his own. Right. He's an actor. He's got a ton to say.
Speaker 3:It seems like if he was born in a different century, he'd be that guy that rolls the wagon into town and check out my wagon of mysteries.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. So before we get into the interview, I wanted to recommend a few things as we do at the beginning of these episodes, the first thing is actually a podcast that Adam recommended to us by, I believe off air called the Bowery boys. And since he said it I've been nonstop at bingeing it, and it's so cool. So it's these two guys who talk a lot about the history of New York and they deep dive into, you know, the history of the Queensboro bridge or like a really weird cult or whatever, but it's really fascinating. So the Bowery boys, that's a recommendation for you all.
Speaker 3:I just liked that they have some episodes that are so in tuned with certain places you're actually supposed to put them on as like almost a walking tour. So for instance, you have Washington square park, uh, and you can go there and you'll put on their episode, which is basically a walking tour and you get this really awesome deep dive into the history of the space. And you're actually moving through the space as it's being explained to you. Right. It's just a really cool way of interactive story.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And if, even if you're not in New York, like there's a lot of other episodes that aren't walking tour centric that are really fun. So anyway, that's just a little a lighthearted recommendation. I also want to talk about the Mercer Island murderer by TA August. So it's a book that's actually out February 1st. One of the benefits of this podcast is we actually got an early copy of the book to read and I just started, but so far, it's really interesting and it's kind of a combination of, um, you know, murder, mystery, serial killer type vibe, but there's also a ton about the main characters and their family connections and how, you know, this kind of murder brings up other things for them. So it's been really intriguing so far, you know, it's like, it's like, we all love true crime, right? If you're listening to this, we all love crime and horror and the dark side of things. And it has like, it's like that, but it has a human element to it, which I love would you say that this is an interpersonal familial labyrinth that is interspersed with the mystique and charm of a murder mystery? Wow. That's, that's a very poetic summary. Yeah. I mean, sure. I think that, I think that sums it up and there's actually a second book that's going to be coming out later in the year. So if you're into series, it's a great way to get into that. TA August is an independent author. I think it's great to support independent authors. You're an independent author. I am an independent author. So you can head over to TA aug.com. If you'd like to get a copy of your own. Again, it's out February 1st, which is probably when most of you are listening to this episode and they also have these really cute little pins. This isn't like related to the book at all, but I am a sucker for a little enamel pins and stickers and stuff, and they have some listed on their Etsy shop. So I found them to be charming anyway, TA august.com February 1st, look for the Mercer Island murderer. Also, since we're talking about it so much, I'll leave a link in the description of this. So you guys can just go right there. Well, we'll also leave a link for the Berry boys. So, you know, all of our recommendations will be easy to find and of course, dark interior. So before we get into the episode, before we roll the tape, so to speak, the only one, because we already did it, we already did it a little peek behind the curtains, just a quick content warning. We actually talked very briefly with Adam about the representation of sexual assault in horror film. So this is a topic we've absolutely discussed in the past on this podcast, but hearing Adam's fresh perspective on it was really enlightening. Yeah. And Adam also shares his favorite horror films and somewhat true paranormal experiences. So it was everything I wanted in an interview. We got to just stop teasing them. Here we go. Here we go. Enjoy. So hello everyone. We are sitting here with Adam bashing, which I feel like is the interview of the year, like a big gap for this podcast. We are such big fans of dark interiors, dark dot interiors on Instagram, Adam, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having me very excited. Yeah. We're so excited. So, okay. Before we get into all of the wonderful things we're going to talk about at the start of the episode, are there any, like how would you define dark interiors in one sentence? What's your log line?
Speaker 4:Um, I usually like to say that dark interiors, um, is kind of a harken back to the old classic wound, the calmer or cabinet of curiosity. And I'm trying to encourage people to refined what that is, which was essentially people bringing back relics and, and, uh, oddities and curiosities from all over the world. And you'd create a little museum in your home and it was a cool intellectual practice to do. It was great for company and it just shows a worldliness. Um, and I'm trying to history sexy again in that way. I'm trying to get people interested in these really cool obscure aspects of nature and history, because I love them so much and I've been passionate about it all my life. So, you know, it's something I'm really into and I want to get other people into it as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally. I have to say your Instagram page is very exciting and I just, like, I think I liked a similar account and it suggested it. Um, and it was like such a random happenstance to be like, Oh, cool. Um,
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was actually always curious because, you know, I didn't know the inception just one day. You're like, Oh my God, we have to watch this bone auction every Sunday
Speaker 2:With the bone auctions. He's like watching the bone auctions again. Yeah. Um, but every Sunday you have Instagram live auctions and obviously you sell, um, what do you call them? Antiquities oddities, uh, you know, in other, in other ways as well. Um, but I really have to say the Sunday live Instagram auctions are such like a community event now. And we look forward to it and plan around attending it, which is really lovely.
Speaker 4:I agree. I agree. It's really, it's grown as it's something so beautiful. And I, you know, we started doing it because a friend of mine, Josh who runs a similar account, he, he, he deals in taxidermy and he was doing a similar live auction every, every Sunday as well. And he's an old friend and once COVID hit, you know, I'm, I'm an actor by trade. So theater shut down completely. I was mid rehearsals in a show and I'd always been a dealer on the side of antiques, but once my show got canceled, I was like, Oh God, like I really got to double down on, on antique selling now. So, um, the Sunday auctions were a great, you know, uh, outlet for that essentially. Um, and they, yeah, but, but the community that's formed out of it. I never would have expected. It's really amazing. Just we have like, you know, regulars and personalities and, and in such a great little way. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I love, um, like all the people that pop up in the chat every week, it's like, you know, them, even though you don't know them and even Alan like knows their Instagram handles just from you saying them out loud, like in the background when we're listening to it. And it's like, yeah, it feels like it really does feel like a community event where you're like, you know, these people are going to be there and that's part of the fun of it all. Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh for fun. You know, I, Abby got me hooked on it as well. Um, and so, you know, we, we, we came for the oddities, but we, we stayed for the showmanship.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Oh, I should say we haven't talked about this. I don't think on the podcast, but the holiday gifts that the big holiday gift they got for Alan was from dark interiors. It was a 1980 ish or sorry, 1880 ish. Um, paradise lost printing. Oh,
Speaker 4:You got one. Oh, great. Oh, I'm so happy.
Speaker 3:Um, I'm a huge Gustave Dore fan. So to have a printed work of, one of my favorite novels was just so awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I have to say, I know this, Adam, this is you, but w one quick relationship story for you. Uh, I think it was our first date. I was like talking about Dorin Allen, like just lifted up his phone and it was his phone background.
Speaker 4:And then you knew it was meant to be, yeah, those illustrations are always, I get them whenever I can. They're just incredible. Some of the stuff from paradise lost too is just so, so cool. I did an old drawing of, I think it was like Lucifer falling from heaven that was based off of the door version of it, but awesome. I love that stuff. Yeah. That's great.
Speaker 2:Oh, cool. We'd love to see that. Yeah. Um, okay. So for anyone who doesn't know, Adam, and isn't familiar with dark interiors, we're going to do a little icebreaker round so that everyone can get to know who you are. Um, so questions we ask guests and we feel like we haven't had guests on, in so long, but questions that we usually ask guests top few favorite horror movies.
Speaker 4:Okay. Um, number one is always pet cemetery, the original for me. And, you know, it's really, yeah. It's, it's my number one. And it's one of those movies that I watch it every season, every Halloween season and it never, the, I get the same feeling from it that I got when I was a little kid watching it for the first time at like 11 or 12. It's, it's a, it's a huge unease and it's such a slow burn movie. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, no,
Speaker 4:I haven't unfortunately, but, um, but you know, the, the way that, that it's all timed out in the movie and it's quite long too, but it doesn't feel that long because you're just, you're truly on the edge of your seat the whole time. So that's always my number one. And I also think the performances in it are quite good. Um, I love insidious. I remember when that came out and I saw that with some friends and, and I just thought that was a really edgy new, you know, it kind of broke that other than paranormal activity, it broke into that new genre of these really psychological, you know, not as much Gore and slasher, it was really based on, on emotions and, and playing with fear. And I love that. I want to, if I'm seeing a horror movie, I legitimately wanna like leave feeling uncomfortable. I don't want to be shocked. I don't want to be just grossed out, you know? Cause I think that's kind of cheap. Like anybody can grow somebody out if you can really make somebody feel uneasy. That's a good horror movie to me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah. And I also, which maybe you don't expect because we have a horror podcast, but I really hate super violent gratuitous, uh, graphic films. Like to me, like I know we talk about this all the time, but the saw movies besides the first one are like not necessary to exist. Like it's just people getting hurt. And I understand that there's a cleverness to the first one, but agree to disagree. But yeah, I agree. I think horror is much more interesting when you're looking at it through the lens of like fear and how humans fear things and what they fear and how they respond to fear, you know, and that like adrenaline rush, you get in those situations, I
Speaker 4:Say in saws defense. Uh, and I said, and I've seen every, every song movie that did come out, I saw in theaters. Um, and I think that, I agree with you to an extent, but the creativity behind those deaths that you just have to applaud. I mean, I'm not sure
Speaker 2:I do. I do. Yeah. I think what I saw, I never saw the first song movie until this year or 2020, but in whatever it came out, I went to see saw five and like randomly cause my friends are going, went to the theater and this was like in Connecticut where I'm from not
Speaker 3:In the city, poor place to start in the franchise. And I
Speaker 2:Like had to drive home and you know, and like where I'm from, it's very, very rural, like, you know, back roads, no streetlights kind of a thing. And I was driving home from the theater. And to your point about leaving affected, like I was, I did not think I was gonna make it home. I was just so terrified that like, this was it. And after that, maybe that's why I'm so biased against often I was like, this movie sucks. Like this really, it was way too much for me
Speaker 4:Would argue. That's a very, uh, effective, successful horror movie too. She did the feeling uncomfortable.
Speaker 2:That's a franchise for a reason.
Speaker 4:Right? Yeah. That's right. Yeah. They've made plenty of money. I'm sure.
Speaker 3:I, I just also want to say that I'm really glad you, we, we usually ask people, you know, a few of your top favorite horror movies because it's like, Oh geez, where do I start? But your immediate like, no.
Speaker 4:So I, yeah, I knew that that one, uh, ironically enough, the, the other podcast I did about a year ago, it was called my spooky gay family. And it's hosted by pissy miles. Who's a, my best friend since we were kids, but also a very famous drag queen now. And I think she asked me the same question, so
Speaker 2:Yeah. Perfect. Any other horror movies?
Speaker 4:Um, I mean, you know, again, to go against you, I'm so sorry, but I do love the classic slashes just cause I grew up with them, you know, like I can already nine, 10 years old, like, like dressing up like Freddy Kruger and drawing him a million times and Jason and you know, it's just, it's, it's just part of my fabric of, of my childhood. So I do love them as up as that is.
Speaker 2:No, it's not hooked up. It's not up at all. We, we actually, our last episode is about a nightmare on Elm street and it's do you know it's based on a true story, first of all, second of all. Yeah. My favorite horror film of all time is Halloween. So I'm not above the slasher movies. I just torture porn to me is as a different category.
Speaker 4:And then, you know, what, what actually does disturb me is, uh, I cannot take watching ironically like modern TV. It really makes me uncomfortable because it's so gratuitous sometimes and weird like, like rape and sexuality and stuff like that. It just, that's more what I can't handle. Like I can watch a guy get his balls chopped off for, by, you know, Jason, 30 times that doesn't bother me. But, but if it's like, sort of like if the, if the intent is just to make somebody feel like really kind of gross and sad, then it's, it doesn't do it for me. You know, you got to earn that. So
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to go off the rails for a second because this ties really well into. So that episode that came out right before the week before this episode is a, this whole deep dive into a nightmare on Elm street. And Alan and I ended up having this pretty long philosophical side conversation about, um, the representation of sexual assault in films specifically in like the last house on the left. And I don't know if you have you seen that movie, what are your thoughts on that movie?
Speaker 4:It's really brutal. And, and that was it's movies like that. And I know I'm going to get people to be, you know, clutch their pearls when I say this, but like clockwork, orange and, and movies that, uh, and I'm going to sound like a conservative, which I'm not, but, but glorify rape in a sense or glorify gratuitous sex. Um, and not that I think people are going to necessarily see those movies and commit atrocities, but it, it just, I don't know necessarily what the artistic intent behind that is other than to just disturb somebody in a bad way. Uh, and I use, I use this example sometimes other people too, like I could right now sitting here write a scene that will make you feel that uncomfortable, but that's not art to me. That's, that's just, we know what's going to do that. You know, you take a movie like, like paranormal activity in cities that can do really great storytelling and visual aid and truly mentally put you in a different place. Not just make you feel kind of nauseous, you know? So I guess that's, that's kind of what, how I'd feel, you know about that, but last house on the left. Yeah. I mean, you got to respect West crave and you gotta respect that. That's that again was a very cutting edge horror movie for its time and broken new mold. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's, it's a tough one to get through for me. I mean, I'd much prefer I liked where he went after that. I liked the, the nightmare on Elm street franchises. I love scream, you know, it's, that's more to me. Good horror. Cause you got to have some fun, you know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. No, I think we are totally on the same page. Yeah. Cool.
Speaker 3:Something that you just said reminded me. Um, just, this is honestly following up on our conversation before, um, how it seems that almost portraying, you know, any kind of sexual violence in making you uncomfortable, that's almost the default and it takes like a higher level of storytelling to tell it in a way that it doesn't make you uncomfortable. Doesn't
Speaker 2:Trigger somebody. Exactly. Like
Speaker 3:For instance, we watched, um, the movie porno, have you seen this one
Speaker 2:2018? No, it's it was like a Fangoria slash shutter, uh, production. Um, so it's, it's very like good and modern and you know, fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But yeah. So this movie, the, the main antagonist is a succubus and going after like these teenagers that work in a movie in a movie theater. Yeah. Um, and it's such a fun film. I was really hesitant about it because, you know, similar to most people that are saying, um, I don't respond well to sexual violence. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but this movie was so fun. Super great. And everyone should check it out. Right.
Speaker 2:All of that is to say there's a way to do it where it's tasteful and has a point and isn't, you know, exploitative of, of everybody. Right.
Speaker 4:I think that's the right word exploitative. Yeah. Um, that I just said, like I was chewing on marbles, but yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay. So we have again, gotten off track in some philosophical conversation, but next question for you and this one, I'm very excited to learn the answer to. Okay. Have you ever had a paranormal experience?
Speaker 4:Um, I think so. I think so. I think I've had two. Um, so the first one I'm going to bring back up pissy miles, the drag queen, we were college roommates and we both shared this love of horror and spooky things. And so there were a lot of the, if you've ever heard of weird NJ, it was a magazine that came out in the nineties and early tooth. I think they still do it too, but that was really the heyday of it. Um, and essentially it was this, these two guys who would go and find all these urban legend spots in New Jersey and allegedly haunted areas and abandoned this and that. And, and there was a very famous, insane asylum that was in New Jersey that was listed in the, in the magazine. So of course we went to check it out and we went inside briefly. Um, nothing really happened inside. We didn't get too far. It was very dark. And frankly, we were more scared of encountering squatters. So we left. But when we got back outside, we heard clear as day a woman's screaming. Huh. And it was just, and there was nobody around, you know, it was completely vacant. Um, but that was a very, very real, you know, thing that happened. And so whether that was paranormal or somebody trying to scare us away, uh, we don't know. So, but that was quite, quite chilling. Yeah.
Speaker 2:What did you do? Did you run away or did you just calmly, like
Speaker 4:I, I think, I think honestly what happened is we just started leaving and then when we got in the car, that's when we acknowledged it. Uh, it was like sort of after the fact, um, I'm getting goosebumps, even remembering the story, but yeah, that was
Speaker 3:A good, good that you all heard it. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Right. Yeah. That's, that's very true.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's always that one thing when, you know, you're all separate at the time and then even if you all hear it individually, I'll think that the other person's just with them. Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah. There's a podcast called let's not me. I don't know if you've heard of it, but they, this guy reads stories like real horror stories. And one of like people experiences people have had that have been upsetting. Right. And it reminds me so vividly of one, because these, these friends like broke into an abandoned hospital or a Saint and sound, something like that. And they ran into squatter and it was kind of like the story of what happened and it's, it's real, like, that's a real fear when you're kind of urban exploring or abandoned places of, you know? Yeah. There's a lot of elements to it. Okay. And then what was your other,
Speaker 4:Uh, I, well, there's kind of two of them. I'll tell you this one. This was when I was a kid. Um, my mother and I were, were driving home from, I think having dinner and it was a very foggy night and we were going down a road that, you know, we'd been driving down all my life, most of her life. And, um, it was so foggy and the fog was kind of playing weird shapes across the road that she was driving very slow, uh, much slower than she normally would because it was such a familiar road for us. So we got, uh, about two miles down and she slammed on the brakes because there was a kid walking his bicycle across the street. Okay. And luckily, because she had been going a bit slower due to the fog, she was able to stop, you know, but otherwise she would have probably been going too fast. So she waves the kid across and he, he walks and there was another kid behind him without a bicycle. And she's waving that kid across to try to get him to go and he won't go. So finally she just drives along and we are, I look back behind me and the kid with the bike is, is still there. But the other kid is no longer there.
Speaker 2:I have so many chills chills. I got you.
Speaker 4:And yeah. And I mean, the fact that the other kid didn't even have a bicycle and you know, all that, we, we looking back thought maybe this was a guardian spirit, you know, playing with the fog to get my mother to slow down and then making sure this kid didn't get to him later on down chills again. Yeah. That was a good one. That was a really good, cool experience, you know, and then sort of a positive ghost experience.
Speaker 2:Our friend Dan actually has a similar, it's like a pet cemetery story where he was when he was a really little kid. He like a baby, he ran in front of like an 18 Wheeler and there was this huge, like bright light sort of energy. And he just survived. Like he just missed the wheel or whatever. And it's, it's that kind of thing where it's like, what happened in this moment? Yeah. Yeah. So I take it from all of all of this, that you are a believer in the parents,
Speaker 4:You know, that that's something that it's, it's an opinion. I kind of have it in the same way. If my opinion of like a higher power is I think there's things out there that are just simply beyond comprehension of our human minds and capabilities. I don't, you know, I don't, I don't necessarily believe in ghosts in the sense that people write about ghosts, but I think maybe that's one thread to a bigger ball of yarn perhaps. Um, I certainly respect whatever it is. And I know there are people who are a lot more sensitive to it and in tune with it. And I don't think they're necessarily wrong. I just, I guess I'm kind of agnostic about it. I really cannot say either way. I'm just open to the fact that I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally. I love that. Yeah. Alan is a major skeptic and I'm a major.
Speaker 4:Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm right in the middle of that. Great.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much for sharing those stories with us. Those were, those were great. Let talk a little bit more about dark interior. So I know we talked about it at the beginning a little bit. There's so much to say. So how did you originally get into empty antiquity dealing? Yeah,
Speaker 4:I've always been into it. I might is particularly natural history. Um, when I was young, uh, my uncle lived on, on, uh, quite a bit of property and he would bring me back, you know, like stupid skulls you find in your backyard and like little chewed up raccoon skulls and things like that. And I thought they were just the greatest treasure you could have. So I, yeah, so I collected things like that. All my life. I, I was, there was a nature center down my house, down the street from my house growing up that I was at just about every day, just admiring the birds that they had, I even volunteered there. Um, so I've always just had such an affinity of nature. And luckily I lived in North New Jersey, my whole life. Um, so I was very fortunate to go to the natural history museum in New York all just about every month. My mother would take me. Um, it was great. It was such a wonderful, uh, I mean it's made a huge impact on my adult life. And I remember particularly the African diorama's, the Akeley gallery and the Asian diorama's Asian animal diorama's um, really had an impact just the, the taxidermy, not just because you were seeing the animals, but it was this wonderful little artistic slice of a place that most likely 90% of the world will never see, you know, or a moment in time that nobody will ever see, you know, and that always, really turned me on and I love, you know, the art from all these ancient cultures and, and so all of that really fed into it. And I I've always been a collector by heart. I've, I've collected everything from Pokemon cards to magnets, to star Wars figures. Like you name it. If it was something to collect, I would hoard it in mass. So, you know, a few years down the line, I I've always had that, but with theater theater is a very tricky business because you essentially have to be ready to drop everything and leave for years, you know, and that happened to me. I did a tour for on and off for about six years. I was on the road with Phantom of the opera and the, there was really no way to collect on the road, you know, because you're, you're moving so much. Um, so kinda what I started doing was I'd find a thing here and there and I would sell it, you know, just so I could kind of have the high of collecting, but then pass it along. Um, and I I'd keep a few things here and there and I'd like ship them back to my parents' house or something, but it kind of grew out of that. It kind of grew out of seeing that I had too much. So I would sell things to supplement kind of my, you know, like, like collecting more, you know, you get a whole bunch of stuff and you, maybe you want to keep one piece, so you sell everything else and it pays for that piece. And then you realize, Oh yeah, yeah. More or less. But you know, you start to realize that, Oh, I can keep one piece and then still make a little bit of money. And then you're like, well, that's the best of both worlds? You know, you have your cake and eat it too. So it kind of grew from there. Then I started dark interiors in 2018 and I started it more as like a Pinterest page on Instagram. I found inspirational, uh, collections that I thought looked really beautiful and they were curated very well. And so I started sharing those pictures kind of just to remember them for myself. And the page just exploded. I mean, I got thousands of followers in like a month and I had been selling stuff on another Instagram account and that one was sort of slowly growing. So I was like, well, that account. I'm just going to sell everything here. Um, and that's kind of what happened. Um, but yeah, I've always as I've matured in my hobby and in my collecting, I, I find now I'm more interested in the overall picture of a collection. I I'm less concerned with individual pieces and more, what is the overall look of this collection? Like, do you have an item from yeah. And that's one style of collecting, you know, other people will argue, well, you know, if you're a collector, you need every individual piece from a very certain line or something like that, but I'm more of like a broad strokes guy. Like I need it to look good in mass for me to really be satisfied with it. So in my own collection, I mean, we have everything from deformed human skulls to, you know, historic taxidermy to tribal art to, you know, you name it. So, right. And because I'm kind of, I think hearkening back to that natural history museum vibe that I was so inspired by, I want a complete museum in my, in my possession, I guess, as, as you know, super villain is that sounds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I love that. So you said, you know, when you were kind of starting out, you had this realization that you could keep one piece right. And sell the rest. And so when you, especially at this point in dark interiors, like what does the piece have to have at this point to make you keep it?
Speaker 4:That's a great question. And I think about it a lot. Um, and the, the answer changes all the time. It, it, it really has to be unique, but even more than being unique, it has to have like a certain character that I like. Um, you know, a good example is I I've come across particular artifacts that are rare than maybe anything I even have in that category, but it's just not the look I want, you know? So I'm like, well then I'll, I'll pass it on to somebody who I know will appreciate it, you know? Um, it's, it's a very, very good question. Um, and I, I, I can't really answer it in it's just so to do with aesthetic and, and, and the, the vibe that I get from it and all that kind of stuff, but yeah, that's a answer, but
Speaker 2:No, no, no, it's honest. And I think, I feel if you knew the answer to the question that would kind of pull away some of the mystique about the whole process,
Speaker 4:It absolutely would. And then there's also things like I'll get them. And this is honestly the toughest thing, because I'll see something maybe in a listing online somewhere and, or I'll see it in a friend's collection, I'll be like, well, I need that. Like, I gotta get this thing somehow. And I'll, and I'll figure out a way to get it, and then I'll get it home and be like, Oh, nah, it doesn't look the same way. It doesn't, it doesn't spark that same thing that it did when I saw it in this other place, you know, and then I'll sell it. Like I have a piece I'm looking at right now, but I got it. And then I even got it refurbish and I was really excited about, and now I sort of see it in my house and I'm like, eh, it's, it's not, it's just not doing it for me. You know? So I'll probably down the line, pass it on, but that's kind of the fun of it in a way too, is you're always seeing, what's gonna fill that void essentially, you know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. Do you have, so you got that piece refurbished. Do you have like go-to people who help you spruce things up? Oh yeah.
Speaker 4:You got a whole list of different people with different specialties, um, who I've given so much of my money to over the years, but yeah, I've got people who designed beautiful mounts for things. I have people who are really, you know, expert taxidermy, restores. I even know a guy who, if, if God forbid my shrunken head ever got damaged, they can restore that. Um, and it's, it's a weird little network of people because these are, as you can understand, very, very specialized things like with historic tax, if they're amazed, but you know, with, with something like historic tax taxidermy, Durham, you can't just go to, you know, Joe, Joe taxidermists down in Philadelphia. And, you know, it has to be somebody who understands how they were doing taxidermy in the late 18 hundreds, you know, because it would just ruin it. Yeah. And so I have, uh, George Dante is my go-to for that. And he's a very, very world famous taxidermist who is one of the few experts left in the world who understands what these classic naturalists were doing, like a thinning in and roll in ward and correlate glee and them it's, you know, it's very, very different than modern taxidermy. So yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I have, I've actually got to sit in on a couple of taxidermy sessions. Um, and it, it, what blew my mind was like, you know, cause usually these are for hunters or that sort of thing. And you know, they have the not styrofoam or whatever the, uh,
Speaker 4:What has like a poly foam mold or something like that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Usually the same for most and for all animals. And you're basically just stretching skin over the same form.
Speaker 2:No, I never realized, I guess I never thought about what was inside.
Speaker 3:There's like deer mold and they just stretch different skins over it. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Right. The, the only the difference with that is they do make different sizes of those poses and molds. Correct. And if you take, if you get a really good taxidermist, usually those molds are kind of just a starting point and they'll cut them up and modify them and they'll sculpt over them. So that your piece truly looks like what you hunted, you know? Um, Oh,
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, these guys were out in Montana, so they were just having a crank them out just as quick. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Interesting. Interesting. So after all of this time, like what is the spark of it that keeps you interested in it? Do you think that's another, I know another lofty question.
Speaker 4:I have a slightly better answer for we. So we live in a two bedroom apartment that I purchased about a year ago. Um, and I, I bought it with, with the idea that I'm an actor and I need to be close to New York city, which, which is true. And this is right in Jersey city. We're very close to New York, but you know, then Laura moved in and, and as time has progressed, dark interiors has really become a bigger enterprise than I thought it ever would. So that means that not only am I amassing my own collection to a new level, but we have to have this entire second collection. That's all things to be sold. Right. And with antiques, it's not, you know, you're not going on the Walmart wholesale site and, and, you know, buying X amount of this it's it's, if it's there and if it's available for the right price, you've just got to get it. So there'll be days when, you know, maybe it's a handful of like small things, but then there are some days where I've got, you know, two giraffe skulls on their way, and we just have to figure out a way to fit them in our house. Um, so that being said, we are hoping to move to a, an actual home, uh, in the near future. And so kind of what's, what's keeping my collecting bug, uh, alive and well is picturing how I design my, my collection rooms there and how I would curate it and what I could possibly see living in that home with us. And, you know, funny enough, God bless my parents. 90% of their basement now is actually filled with a, another collection that I'm starting of things for that house.
Speaker 5:So, so
Speaker 4:We have some cool pieces down there, some beautiful antique display cases. We have a gorgeous big tribal piece down there and, um, yeah. And things are always shown up. So that's kind of, what's keeping me going, is like my, my curator mind is like, Ooh, the next place that I can design and create this museum. And so
Speaker 2:Yeah, in a bigger place, I imagine it kind of lends itself to bigger pieces too.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And that's certain there's I've we actually have a piece coming in. That is one of the largest it's without question, the largest skull I've ever had. Um, and quite, quite, uh, possibly the largest piece I've ever had as well. And that's on its way.
Speaker 5:Um, I don't want to give too much away, larger than a giraffe score. Oh, there's there's several, several other large. Yes.
Speaker 4:It will give you a small hint. I will say it's a, it's an extinct animal. It's a prehistoric. Yeah.
Speaker 5:Oh, cool. Wow. Very, very, very
Speaker 4:Big, uh, incredible beast. Um, and I will give you one more hint is it's it's coming to me by way of Siberia. So it's not coming to me directly from there. It has one stop to get some refurbish work done and then it's going to hit, uh, so that's the only, the only little hint I will give you. That's very cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And,
Speaker 2:Uh, there was one auction you had, I don't know, months ago now at this point, probably, but I don't remember the exact name of the thing, but it was, I think a prehistoric like fossil of like, or, or, um, big bare hand. Yes. You know what I'm talking about? And I remember I actually texted out because I looked up, I was like, what the hell is a cave there? And I was like, do you know, Alan, do you know about cave bears? Like some of the stuff that comes through, Hey, is prehistoric, which blows my mind that you can just own that. And also like how old and huge these animals were. It's really fascinating. I learned a lot watching them.
Speaker 4:Oh good. And that's something I'm trying to tie into it more too, is, is the educational aspect of it. I mean, you can only get so much, you know, stuck into these auctions before people kind of tune out. But, but yeah, it is. I I've noticed that. And somebody actually commented that, uh, yesterday too, in the auction, they said, Oh, I feel like it's like a little history lesson. Every time I joined. And I'm like, great. I hope that, uh, I hope that we can educate a bit too.
Speaker 2:And here I was sitting here being like, how can you not know about cave bear? Come on. He was like, yeah, what's your question. I was like, Oh, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, no, we love that. Yeah. Like our, the whole lens of this podcast is the history of horror. And you know, to me, the history of, of everything is just so rich and interesting and how we got like we take, I think, especially with probably both of our fields, like you take so much for granted, you know, you're just like, yeah, I know, you know, it's an antique bottle, but like, what's the history of that bottle? What did that bottle do? You know, all of that is so meaningful to revisit. Okay.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. And that's what people are really interested in is, is, you know, it's not necessarily the object all the time. It's more the story that it tells. Um, especially with things like ephemera and, and books and paper and things like that, it's really who owned this? Why did they own it? Why was this thing special? You know, you know, you see that with the, with the beautiful Victorian hair art, especially, um, why did somebody take so much time to make this? And that, to me is a huge selling aspect as a dealer, but also, you know, obviously something to, to appreciate as somebody who loves the history.
Speaker 2:So without giving away any spoilers about this big skull, that big item that's on your way on its way. But besides that, are there any like unicorn items as a collector that it's like you would drool over, but it's so hard to get your hands,
Speaker 4:You know, I, this is going to be very cocky, but I've, I've kind of found all my Holy grails at this point in my collecting adventure. I, I I've at least owned them. Uh, at some point there are now, now I'm at the stage where I'm kind of collecting things to accent other pieces, if that makes sense. But, um, but yeah, I've had kind of everything I've ever dreamed of owning. I have owned now, which is a very cool place to be. Um, but you know, there's always things like, I'm definitely in the market for quote unquote, but I wouldn't say that they are, you know, like the end all be all of, of my collection. I would love to at some point own an Egyptian mummy head, I think that'd be great. Um, uh, or, you know, maybe more tribal related skulls or things like that. But again, I have those things. I don't have a mummy head right now, but I've ha I have a mummy hand and I've had similar things that, that I, I, I understand that now. I, I know the feeling I get from that and, you know, I, I would most likely sell them if I got them anyway, it would be more just to see if does this really speak to me the way I was hoping it would. And like, like I sort of mentioned before, but yeah, that's the nature of collecting. It's a very strange world. And, and like, there are some pieces that are very run of the mill that I would never get rid of, like that are just so profoundly special to me. And then there are others that I sold a piece last month that I think it's probably the only one literally in the world and I had it and I was like, ah, you know, like, it's cool, but it's just not, it's just not for me, you know, it's not, it doesn't belong in my collection. So I sold it and it's just a strange, very individual journey as a collector and a dealer, but yeah, but super fun. Yeah.
Speaker 2:What are some of your Holy Holy grail items that you've acquired
Speaker 4:A shrunken head is definitely a big one. I have a beautiful shrunken head that we is, has become sort of a celebrity in her own right. In the, in the dark interiors community. And she's named Mimi. Um, you're very
Speaker 2:Familiar with maybe, Oh, are you
Speaker 4:Good? Yeah, we have t-shirts with her on them now and, and stickers. Yeah. So if you go to dark and tears.com, you can get a Mimi stud sweatshirt or t-shirt, but yes, she's a beautiful head. 1930s, she was collected in Ecuador then, uh, lived in somebody's safe box for a bajillion years. And then when that person passed away, the family kind of found it and wanted nothing to do with it. So, so a dealer friend of mine found it and, uh, and offered it to me. He said, you're right. What are you thinking? So that's, that's one item. I have, um, some very special historic taxidermy in my collection. I have a, an Egyptian mummy hand, which I briefly mentioned. That's definitely up there. Um, I have a Peruvian elongated skull, which is actually, you can sort of see it right over my shoulder there. Um, that's a huge grail item for a lot of collectors. Um, and for those of you listening, who are unfamiliar, the ancient Peruvians would bind the heads of their young people, um, to essentially elongate the skull. And it's still a mystery to this day as to why they did that. There are theories that they were trying to mimic gods or be closer to gods. And kind of the, one of the more fantastical theories is they were trying to mimic, uh, ancient alien visitors. Uh, yeah. So that's, that's what makes that, it tells a great story. And it's a very cool looking piece. Um, yeah, I have a really special, very important shield, uh, an antique or late 18 hundreds shield from a Borneo from the Dayak tribe. Uh, it's actually right here, you can see it, uh, and it's, it's adorned with a human hair from headhunted. Well, so on the front of the shield, there's, there's all these locks of hair as well as a painted demon face. And that's meant to be shown to the enemy tribe, but then behind the shield where the warrior would be holding, it is a picture of a God who inspires courage and bravery. So the warrior is looking at the courage God, while the enemy is looking at the hair of the slain victims, you know, that they're about to join. So that's, that's definitely a huge cornerstone piece for us. Um, yeah, I'm trying to think offhand. I have a beautiful Naga Naga land skull, uh, from Naga land India, uh, tribal skull adorned with Buffalo horns. That's a big favorite that everybody loves. Um, I've got some really wonderful Victorian hair art. I mean, I could, you just got to stop me cause I could just go on and on and on. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I love the different takes on hair. You have one, that's a shield to scare people. And I was like, here, look at our family.
Speaker 4:That's right. That's right. Yeah. Human remains in general. Um, it's particularly in tribes and tribal cultures. You see a lot of heads were either taken as, as an enemy and you're trying to capture the enemy soul or they're, uh, an ancestor and you're trying to honor them and gain their wisdom and have them in the, in the family home, you know, so remains throughout history have always been, you know, it's just such a fascinating culture of superstition. And I mean, even in modern Western culture, I mean the, the process of a funeral and burial is, is really absurd if you, if you look at it, you know? Right. But again, it's the treatment of human remains is a fascinating thing, I think. Yeah. Yeah, totally, totally.
Speaker 3:I, I, I remember on one of, uh, a shoot years ago, um, when we were filming with, uh, one of these oddities collectors, uh, I was looking which, which turned into be, you know, uh, Victorian hair art, but it was just a whole bunch of these different P uh, old timey, uh, portraits of people. And the, the border of the whole piece was just so intricate with this. I had no idea what it was, it was just this very fine something. And then, you know, that the curator comes over because I was asking about the piece and like, Oh yeah, that's the hair of every single person in the photo. And I was like, that's a really cool tradition. They, they, they really should bring that back.
Speaker 4:Some artists who still do it, but obviously it's not, not as popular as it once was. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I thought it was so neat. And every time I tell the story, people like that's fun.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why the stigma of, of that kinda grosses people out. I don't, we take a lot of care of our hair, you know, in the, in the States, but yeah. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. I think it's amazing. I think it's
Speaker 2:Beautiful. Yeah. It's interesting. My mom is actually really into ancestry. And so she's done a lot of like within the family collecting old photos and, you know, I actually, through that discovered a bunch of like Victorian era tarot cards that my great-great-grandmother had, which is amazing. Cause I'm super into terrible, you know? And so there's been like a lot of cool moments, but if you ever want
Speaker 4:To sell them, please do.
Speaker 2:Um, but, um, one thing she finds all the time or just like locks of hair tucked into things. And it was a thing people did was just like, you know, in the Bible, in, in this photo albums, like just locks of hair tucked in, you know,
Speaker 4:Keepsakes and, uh, and you know, and, and essentially they were forget me nots. And, uh, it was a way of giving the days where we're photography was not as easy as taking out your phone. You know, this was, this was one of the few ways they had a little, little remembrance of the person in life or death. And that's sort of a misconception with the hair art too, is people think it immediately means it's a memento Mori to, to honor a dead person. And 90% of the, Oh, I shouldn't say 90, but I'd say maybe 60% of the time, it was just a loved one who they don't get to see that much. And so it's like, Oh yeah, you know, Sally, from, uh, from Westchester or whatever, you know, she's in my little Bible here and I get to think about her.
Speaker 2:Yeah. We've talked a lot about dark items, you know, ritual items, things like this. Is there anything that's too dark for dark interiors where you would say, Oh, that that's evil or like, I'm just not interested. That's too negative for me.
Speaker 4:I wouldn't say that they're necessarily too, too evil or negative for me, but I don't, I don't get into the serial killer stuff, the murder Delia. Um, I know there's a huge, huge market for it and no hate or shames of the people who are into it. It's just not my thing. I don't personally see how that's, uh, like aesthetically pleasing, you know, like the Gacy paintings and stuff. Like he was a artist. Like those paintings look like. Even if you're a toddler like that is artwork, you know? And there's like, no way to really validate that for me. Like, okay, so he killed kids and he made this painting like, right. That's just not for me. And I mean, I know I'm sounding like I'm all over these collectors and I, I just don't care for it. You know? Like you have every right to collect it. It's completely legal to do so. And that's fine. It's just, I don't, I don't really see the, the thing about getting serial killer stuff. Um, the other thing we, we typically don't do would be a lot of wet specimens, uh, human or animal, not because I think they're wrong or, or horrible or anything like that. It's just not, not what we're really known for. Um, and they're tricky to ship and they're kind of a whole process to, to keep them preserved and all that stuff. So,
Speaker 2:And that's like for people who don't know, like, like skulls in jars of water, that kind of a thing, or it be water,
Speaker 4:Well, it would be more like, like Oregon's in, in violence of, of, of alcohol, uh, formaldehyde or what have you. Um, yeah, so that's kind of what we stay away from. And I I've broker deals with serial killer artwork before I've found buyers for certain people, but, um, but I've not ever actually had any pass through my hands. Um,
Speaker 2:Yeah. Have you, okay. So I know you're not necessarily a bot totally bought into to the paranormal, but have you ever had a piece in your collection that you felt had some kind of energy to it? Yes. We've had a few
Speaker 4:Actually. Um, and at that, that is definitely the number one question we get asked is, is anything haunted? Um, even funny enough, some, some buyers will be like, Oh, I'm interested in any haunted items you have. And I'm like, okay, here you want this pencil.
Speaker 6:Okay. Um, we had, we've had three,
Speaker 4:The main items that were, you know, quote unquote haunted. The first of which was a doll that I found somewhere in the U S I can't remember where it was now, but it was an old, uh, Chinese would install like a puppet kind of looking thing. And it always had a weird sort of presence to it, but almost any weird old doll has a presence to it. So I didn't think much of it, but I had it in a stand on a cabinet. And I remember I was cleaning something on that cabinet and the doll that was literally clamped into a stand, jumped out and hit me in the chest and then fell to the floor. So that was pretty wild. And we ended up selling that and the buyer who got it, and I sold it as a haunted item. I said, you know, and the buyer who got it wasn't murdered. Well, I mean, he, he had a very strange turn of events, uh, where he almost did die. And so they buried the doll in their backyard. And then, then all that kind of stuff went away. But essentially what happened was he had had a BB gun and he accidentally shot himself in the head with the, like one of these intense BB guns, you know, and the bullet got, or the little thing got lodged in his skull. Um, and he sort of blames it on this doll. So that was one item we had. Uh, we also had a, this was crazy. We got a box of ephemera relating to a string of accidents that killed a whole bunch of people that were all, um, a part of this cult called the Mary's house of David. If you remember that one. Um, I think in the early 19 hundreds, it was this sort of fanatical religious group. And for whatever reason during this time, like several of their members got in car crashes and died in these really horrible ways. And so we managed to get a box of mementos from that. So there were like newspaper clippings, there were funeral registrars, there were photos of the dead. Um, and the box itself was owned by one of the mothers of these children. So she had collected all this stuff, um, that had a crazy presence to it. And we ended up auctioning that. And I remember during the auction for it, I was sweating like a in church, like I was soaked in sweat. Um, and I just wanted this thing to go, you know, so, so that's, I don't know how that's doing now. I haven't heard from the, uh, from the buyer, so hopefully they're okay.
Speaker 6:You don't want to say no news is good news, but maybe yeah.
Speaker 4:But, and then we had one other that, um, was a puppet that was allegedly, um, uh, haunted by a child's spirit. That was part of a collection of, I think, 11 different dolls and puppets and of all the 11, this one was the only one deemed paranormal. Um, and we also, you know, just so just so everybody knows, I would never sell an item and just claim it's haunted if I didn't have, you know, essentially validation for it. And what we do is we will only, uh, sell an item as being haunted if a registered paranormal group researches it and deems it. So, so we've had, yeah. And, and I have a friend of mine who runs the creeper gallery in new hope, Pennsylvania, and she's very close with New Jersey paranormal. And so they have personally investigated any piece that she gets or that we get that is deemed haunted. It, it will get a short through them before we, you know, claim it such. I never realized that there's paranormal authenticity agents. Yeah. I mean, you can, you can find anything on the internet.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Have you ever been to an Asbury park? There's a paranormal museum. Have you done it?
Speaker 4:Yes, I have. And going back to pissy miles, uh, my drag queen friend, she's, she got her start in Asbury park and was very close with the owner of that museum. So they've actually done fundraisers together. Um, I unfortunately was not able to do the museum itself, but I went in and spoke to the folks who run it. Um, I think I was trying to sell them something, but, but, uh, yeah, I, I gotta, I gotta give it a proper, uh, okay.
Speaker 2:It's very impressive. As someone who's been to a lot of paranormal type of museums, it's first of all, it has like hundreds of Weegee boards and people just drop them off and they're like, we can't deal with this. Like, do you know? But the one item that really stood out again, there's many, there's, there's a couch that is like a singing couch that they, they play you, these videos of like the audio, you know, there's, there's a lot of like proof incorporated into this museum, but one of the crazy things is this, um, kind of like cauldron item and it was used in like Santeria rituals. Um, and they got it, I think through like a police, a police officer who confiscated it in some kind of situation, but there's like a heaviness to that space. And I don't know, I've not had like a ton of, of, uh, paranormal things happen to me, but that place has a vibe to it. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4:Yeah. That's always the funny thing with, you know, I, I haven't been to that one, but when I was in new Orleans, I went to one of the, the voodoo museums down there. That's one of the more legitimate ones that has working alters and everybody who works there as a practitioner, et cetera. And, you know, there's certainly a heaviness to it. There, there, like you said, there's a presence to it. And I always wonder, is there a presence to it because I'm going in there with that expectation, you know? And so I would love sort of like a blind test of that, or like a placebo or something, you know, or somebody tells you like, this is a haunted whatever, and then you handle it and, you know, it's, it's just something, uh, I mean, I wouldn't say I'm a hardcore skeptic. I just, you know, I want it so badly to be real and true that yeah.
Speaker 2:But isn't it more fun that way, like, isn't it more fun to live in a world where you think these things exist?
Speaker 4:Oh, absolutely. I mean, I, that's one thing I'm always going to harp on about is, is I, I really want to live in a world where not knowing is perfectly acceptable and okay. You know, and, and with everything, with religion, with everything. So I would love to embrace this culture of can't. We just be open to things and can't, we just not be sure for once in our stupid lives, you know, we don't have to have answers for every thing that happens. Like, look at nature, look at the cycles of nature, look at evolution. Like that's enough proof of God for me that, that, you know, or of whatever, of, of a higher existence, does it look like us in the clouds? I hope not, but, you know, but like it's something incredible is at work. And, and why can't we just accept that? We're we're we don't have all the answers and we probably never will. So yeah,
Speaker 7:off.
Speaker 2:I love that. I like that a lot. Yeah. So you mentioned a few times about, you know, which I guess before, maybe before COVID was your main, your main hustle and is now maybe flipped a little, but you are an actor. Yes. Yeah. Um, and you mostly stage. Yeah,
Speaker 4:Pretty much exclusively stage. Uh, I I've been acting professionally now for 10 years. Um, I went to school for it, musical theater, and I I'm a classically trained bass singer. Um, yeah, that that's always been my main gig, um, as far as income, which is sad because you don't, you don't make much as a stage actor, but yeah, that was, uh, that's always been my, my main thing I've done. I guess what you might know me for is I did Phantom of the opera for a long time on the tour, on and off. Um, I did a big show in New York called octet quite recently, that was a big smash hit, um, that we will hopefully be doing again once COVID chills out yeah. In California and then beyond. Um, and I did, I did a show on Broadway called in transit for a little while, but that didn't last too long. Um, wasn't very good.
Speaker 7:Uh, it usually helps. So yeah,
Speaker 4:I did a lot of voiceover. I did a little bit of TV, but TV was never something I was overwhelmingly passionate about. Um, but
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's it about theater that you're passionate
Speaker 7:About? Um, I, frankly, I think it's
Speaker 4:Kind of the relationships. I, I loved theater growing up because it was this one place where kind of anybody could be cool as long as you were
Speaker 7:Fun, you know, you
Speaker 4:Didn't have to be a jock or anything. And, you know, which is why a lot of people I think get into theater is this sort of where the misfits come and reign Supreme. And that was certainly my experience with it. You know, I was sort of like King of the, and, uh, it just was so fun for me to, to be in this kind of community and I had a knack for it, you know, so I developed that and I honed my skills with that. And, and, um, yeah, through college really helped and theater once, once you become a professional actor, theater becomes kind of like just a game of like, who can outlast the other person. It's just, it's really that simple. Like if you, if you're okay putting up with that much rejection for that many years until finally like enough people kind of know you that it's not quite as much of that hustle, you know, that's kind of it. Um, but there are Tony award winning actors who I know who have had to take jobs at Macy's after they win their Tony award. You know, it's just that kind of gig it's, it's much different than TV and film. Yeah. Because you're always climbing that ladder. It's, it's never, you never kind of get there in a sense, but yeah. But I kind of liked that about it. It's it's again, it's kind of like that collector mentality, like yeah. That's fun pushing yourself. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, uh, it was one of the times, uh, before I was terribly familiar with dark interiors that Abby was just watching your auction and I just heard your voice and like, Oh, we gotta, we gotta get this guy. He's so good.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You do have a good voice. I'll say for both the auctions and I'm sure for theater.
Speaker 4:Thank you. Yeah, I did. I, I did a lot of voiceover back in the day, too. Not as much anymore, but you probably heard me at some point on your, on your radio or TV or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. One thing I do like to always mention is collecting and this kind of world is I don't like it to be this sort of exclusive thing for people who have a ton of disposable income. Like I think anybody can appreciate this and be a collector and there's always entry-level with anything. But again, it's sort of the same thing that I did is like, you kind of trade your way up, you know, I'm not, I'm not like some secret millionaire or anything. It's just, I've been doing this for so many years that you, you know, you, you learn who is going to buy what, and you learn how to get something to upgrade to something else. And, um, cause I, I know a lot of people always say like, I don't understand like what you guys do to make this kind of money. Like I don't either, you know, it's not about that. It's, it's, it's more, that's the fun of the, of the hobby. Um, yeah, so that's just something I like to mention is, you know, it's not an elitist thing and it shouldn't and if anybody makes you feel that way, like then they're not not doing it. Right. Cause that's, it should never make anybody feel, not welcomed. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. And one thing, actually, I would like to mention, we did, you may have remembered, but we did a mystery on boxing, um, a few episodes ago, which was a mystery box from dark interiors. And I think this ties in well with what you're just saying, because for me, like mystery boxes are my thing in general. And so to find one that's full of like oddities and bones is like, wow, this was made for me. So that's like my favorite part of the auctions is just seeing the boxes are so beautiful that you find, um, and how it works is, you know, the bidding gets how to however much amount and then you fill them right. To match that. Um, but one thing too, as like, you know, that's, again, not a barrier for entry is you also offer these mystery boxes kind of like outside of the auctions and you can just, someone can DM you with their budget. So again, it doesn't need to be like a bidding war all the time. You know, if you have like 50 bucks or whatever, you could still get yourself a piece of this.
Speaker 4:I mean, yeah. And that's absolutely what I would tell anybody is I'd recommend, you may be throwing 50 bucks into it and I will, you know, usually I'll give you more than that's worth anyway, but yeah. And that's a great way to start a collection or to at least see if you're even interested in starting a collection. But yeah. Um, I, and that was actually something Laura and I, you know, we love doing these auctions and trust me, I love when doing the bidding goes high, but I do still want them to be accessible. So I think the mystery boxes are a good way for anybody to have a shot. And I think, you know, maybe in the future, what I would like to do is even start some of them really, really low like dollars, you know? Um, and, and see, but, uh, but I think that's something that is important in, in the dealer community that I think sometimes folks forget is, is we got to bring new blood into the hobby. You know, that's what keeps everybody going. And that's the fun of it is you do get a good deal now. And then that's, I mean, that's how I started. So yeah, it's important to,
Speaker 2:For nothing else, no matter what it ends up going for, no matter what you get, you're guaranteed to walk away with a great conversation piece. Yeah,
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Cause I mean the box themselves, like you said, I try to choose that was, you know, something, I think that sets our mystery boxes apart from other people's is we, we choose these beautiful antique and vintage boxes. So no matter what, you know, you at least get a gorgeous box.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I have. I've had so many people reach out after and they're like, where do you keep that box? Is that in your bedroom? Like that shouldn't be in your bedroom. I'm like, no, it's fine. Don't worry about it. It's good. It's good. Awesome. Well, Adam, we can't thank you enough for, for everything for opening our eyes to oddities and curiosities, but also to being a guest on our podcast. It's been so fun to talk to
Speaker 4:Pleasure. Thanks for, thanks for thinking of me. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2:So follow dark interiors, dark dot interiors on Instagram and check out their website, dark interiors.com. Make sure you join the newsletter because there's going to be some exciting, exciting, new things coming for those of you who subscribe and tune in every Sunday at 8:00 PM for the live auctions, but also honestly, check out the feed. That's how I found the book for Allen, Adam, you post stuff obviously outside of the auctions for sale as well. Um, and one exciting thing. I don't know, I'm a sticker nerd, so I love all, all stickers that creators make, but Adam has some pretty cool stickers and Merck based off of some of the really awesome and unique pieces in his collection. So your sticker game is very strong. Sticker gave is strong. Yes. Yes. So good dark interiors.com to check out all of that. Um, and Adam, thank you again so much. It's been a pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 3:It's been my pleasure. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Welcome back. The tape has rolled so to speak.
Speaker 3:We've finished. Rolling the tape.
Speaker 2:So we just wanted to come back to let you guys know that Adam and his girlfriend, Laura, who are both actors, theatrical actors, Adam also is a incredibly talented voice actor. And so they were very generous and recorded some short stories for us. Act, voice acted, some short stories for us for some upcoming episodes. So keep your eyes out for that in February. Keep your ears out. Yes, because it was awesome. I think both of the, both of their readings gave out and I chill. So we're really excited to share that with you too.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And these stories come from two very different writers, you and me. Yup. Uh, with very different writing styles and still having to go through these two incredibly talented voice actors made the stories diverge into something completely different that we loved so wholeheartedly. Yeah, absolutely. But we can't talk about it because it's not released yet.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So anyway, you'll, you'll get to experience those later this month, but we just wanted to make sure that you knew they were coming, but yeah,
Speaker 3:Yeah. Not a big deal. It might just be the greatest thing we've ever put out there.
Speaker 2:No pressure, no pressure. All right. Well thank you guys so much for listening. We really appreciate it. We had so much fun talking to Adam. You can follow us on Instagram at the lunatics project. If you are interested in writing our voice acting for us, you can reach out to films about lunatics@gmail.com. And of course you can visit the lunatics project.com for all of our latest episodes and news.
Speaker 3:Oh, and I just want to reemphasize that all of these things are still doing, being done completely remotely. You know, uh, we are, you know, shipping out podcast, mobile kits, uh, we're doing, we're still conducting these things over zoom. Uh, a lot of technical prowess has had to go into making these things possible. Um, but it's actually helped us expand our creativity in like what's possible. Totally. And it's in all, all this is to say that there's a lot of new and really fun things just on the horizon for everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's great. And just actually, I just remembered this March 1st is the deadline for submissions for the spring issue of lunatics magazine. The theme is duality and opposites. Lunatics magazine is like a indie horror are in storytelling magazine that we put out with our friend, Emily of personal space press. We just love to feature cool artists doing cool things. And it's one of the perks. If you're a Patrion that you automatically get the magazine, but if you are an artist, a visual artist, a fine artist, a photographer and illustrator, anything that can be printed, anything that can be photographed or print it. And you would like to submit something under the theme of duality, you can email me@filmsaboutlunaticsatgmail.com or DME on Instagram at the lunatics project. And we would love to feature your work. Well, thank you guys so much again, we really appreciate you being here. We had a blast for this episode and we will see you all next time.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And if you guys know of other people that have really spooky, cool lives and they're willing to talk to us, we want to talk to them
Speaker 2:And stay safe. We are in New York city. New are hunkering down for a big snow storm right now. So if you are in the area as well, please stay safe and stay warm. I'll talk to you next time.