WEBVTT - Ghosts of the Wind and Rain 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:05.240 My welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:14.400 of My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:17.919 your Mind. My name is Robert lamp and I'm Joe McCormick. 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.160 And Rob correct me if I'm wrong, But I think 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.960 this is finally the year that you've gotten full blown 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:28.320 into Rocky Ericson. Is that right? Uh? Yeah, yeah, I 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:30.360 guess so, yeah, I got. I listened to him a 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.760 little in the past, and in this year I got 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.800 even more into him. Yeah. Okay, So Rocky has long 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.920 been one of my favorite rock and roll vampires, and 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.120 one of the things I love about Rocky Ericson Monster 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:48.120 songs is how much they're about the weather. Um. So 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.200 you may remember the line from his great, his great 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:54.520 anthem The Night of the Vampire, if it's raining and 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.320 you're running, don't slip in mud, because if you do, 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:01.080 you'll slip in blood. I mean, that's is logic, and 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.600 there's a really infectious glee to that kind of logic. 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.800 But also I enjoyed the weather, weather represented in songs 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.320 like the Wind and More, which I know compares sort 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:12.399 of the the voice of Lucifer to to the storm 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:16.080 winds that are battering through the house. Yeah. Absolutely, And 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:17.720 and if anyone out there is not sure who we're 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.959 talking about, um, you should look up Rocky Ericson, uh, 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:27.759 who also was the other group garage Psychan from the 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.679 late sixties early seventies based in I think Austin, definitely 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:35.559 out of Texas. Uh, fantastic psychedelic rock. But then Rocky 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.600 Ericson had had a long solo career after that of 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.280 all different kinds of music, you know. He he um 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.360 so some of the stuff he released, uh he he 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:48.880 had a lot of troubles with mental health and at 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.600 some points he was in psychiatric institutions. But even in 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:54.600 those periods would sort of make these little demos of 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:57.800 UH songs recorded it sounds like just on a tape 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:02.000 recorder that are very simi bowl but but strangely beautiful. 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.200 And then at other times you would make full blown 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:08.040 UH monster rock and roll albums. There's one called Evil 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.000 One that's just fantastic, that's got a kind of credence 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:15.200 clearwater revival style rock production, but all the songs are 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:20.080 about demons and ghosts and and fifties atomic age monster movies. Yeah, 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:22.560 and it's pretty hard stuff too, Like it's like it's 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:24.800 it's it's got a hard rock vibe that I think 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:28.000 might surprise some people. So it's I think it was 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.280 produced by somebody from Credence of Memories, So I think 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.960 so yeah, but but but but harder than Credence, uh 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:37.920 in my opinion. Well, all that is preamble to the 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:40.760 fact that today we wanted to talk about the intersection 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:44.000 of ghosts and weather. Yeah, and I have to stress 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.160 that we absolutely won't be able to cover everything here 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.160 because there are just too many storm monsters and storm 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:55.280 deities out there, storm related ghosts and other creatures. But 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.960 we're gonna be covering various examples that seem related to 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:01.640 some of the core ideas that we were kicking around 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.160 for this episode. And uh and and really the the 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.880 central idea has to do with a recent trip you 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:10.720 went on. Oh yeah, so I was recently in coastal 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.119 South Carolina. Rob, Have you been to coastal South Carolina? 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:17.360 I assume probably, oh yeah, yeah. And and of course 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.280 South Carolina placed with a lot of ghosts, tons of 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.680 ghosts everywhere you go there, Like you can find a 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:27.120 little local visitor center that's got a local uh self 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.880 published ghost author who's collected all the lore and they've 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.320 got it in a in a book that the font 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.960 of the book is usually Times New Roman. Uh, but 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:39.240 it's but it will have lots of great, you know, 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:42.200 local ghost stories in it. And so there's one that 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:46.720 I was reading about from a particular place on the 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:51.080 South Carolina coast, a little island called Paul's Island. And 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:53.720 so to explain this, on refer to an article that 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.720 was published by Myrtle Beach Online. So it's a local 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.440 news article from the Myrtle Beach area that's also coastal 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.880 South Carolina by a writer named Tyler Fleming. The article 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.960 says it was last updated in September nineteen. I'm not 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.200 sure if that's when it was originally published, but it's 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:12.080 this local news article trying to track down the origins 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.680 of a bit of ghost lore from this area of 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.120 the South Carolina coastline. And specifically, this is the story 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.760 of a being called the Gray Man. You know, I'd 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:25.880 say it's used a lot, but I'm still a sucker 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:30.080 for for that formulation of a creature name just the 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.320 blank man, especially if whatever the word in the middle 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.400 is is a single syllable. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like the 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:41.479 Green Man. The tall Man. Yeah. So, according to the legend, 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:45.360 this is a spirit that wanders around on the shore 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:50.279 on and around this small island called Paul's Island, South Carolina. Uh, 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:55.920 usually appearing just before the landfall of terrible storms as 0:04:55.960 --> 0:05:00.960 a translucent gray figure stalking the beaches and boardwalks in 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.520 a long cloak. Sometimes he's literally described as dressed like 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:09.120 a pirate. Uh. And one one funny I think, a 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:14.040 little little justified accusation of his identity is that he 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.600 is black Beard. He is Uh. I don't know how 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.120 you're supposed to say his last name Edward Teach or 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.120 Teach or Thatch, however it is yeah, yeah, with the 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.120 with the burning brands and his beard. This gets into 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.680 an interesting area that I like about about ghosts of 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:32.600 this nature because uh, and this is all thoroughly non scientific, 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.640 of course, but we have this idea that you know, 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.240 that something bad happens, and the ghost is like a 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:41.400 lingering after effect of that thing. Um. And then certainly 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.000 there's also this idea that a ghost, say black Beard's 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:49.360 ghost or just this mysterious gray man, would have potentially 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:53.240 insider information about what's going to happen. Maybe you know, 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.120 they died at sea, and therefore they know the sea 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:58.279 a little better and they can they can warn us 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.160 about things. But then there's also an idea of the 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.720 of of hauntings as being uh, you know, things that 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.760 work in both directions and time, that they can be 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:12.000 harbingers of of the terrible events. Um, you know, perhaps 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.599 they're even attached to events that have yet to come. Well, yeah, 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.520 and that is exactly the case with the Gray Man. 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.720 So contrary to what you might assume about this spectral figure, 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.760 you know, crunching along through the sand, in the in 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:28.119 the in the storms and the wind, local legend usually 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.880 describes the Gray Man as a benign or even a 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:34.960 helpful spirit, and the purpose of his hauntings is to 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.080 serve as a warning to people who live nearby that 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:42.280 the coming storm is going to be especially destructive. So 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.800 as a few examples of this, uh, this belief among locals, 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.679 I was looking at article in Southern Living by Megan 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.800 over Deep about this ghost legend, and it describes how 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:57.440 there were locals in in South Carolina who claimed sightings 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:00.440 of the Gray Man just before Hurricane Hazel and nineteen 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:05.279 fifty four and Hurricane Hugo in nineteen eighty nine. But 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.560 as a more recent example, also this This article embedded 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:13.960 tweets like people tweeting grainy photos of alleged gray Man 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:19.040 sightings ahead of Hurricane Florence in eighteen. So Rob, I've 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:21.480 embedded one for you to look at here. Listeners, you 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:23.600 can go look up this article in Southern Living if 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.920 you want to find these tweets. But this one embeds 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:31.720 a photo that is allegedly taken at a boardwalk that 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:35.760 goes over the beach on Pouli's Island, and there is 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.600 I don't know, so it's it's a very grainy photograph. 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:40.800 It's got a lot of what looks like digital artifacts 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.120 and pixelation in it, and then there's this big sort 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.239 of pale gray smudge in the middle of it that looks, 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.280 oh yeah, maybe like it could be some kind of 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:53.440 vertical object on the boardwalk. But some people apparently looked 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:55.600 at that and said, hey, it's the gray Man. Well, 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:57.720 I have to point out that the tweet that is 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:01.280 shared in this article, uh the twee eater does have 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:03.880 a blue check mark, So this is verified. This is 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:08.040 this is verified. It proof of the afterlife confirmed as usual? 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.840 Why does sidings of the paranormal so strongly favor low 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:17.000 fidelity documentation. I think, I'm not positive, but this looks 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.680 like it's from some kind of like uh uh, stationary 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.640 live camera that sort of documents, you know, foot traffic 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:25.600 on the beach. I think that you can tune into 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:27.520 and see what's going on there. I'm not positive that's 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:29.760 what it is, but I know there is stuff like 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.040 that around there, and so that that's what it looks 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.480 like to me, But it could be something else anyway. Yeah, 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.640 it's very grainy, it's got all you know, it's got 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.840 the pixelated artifacts in it, and I just want some 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:44.400 high definition gray Man, but I can't get it. Yeah, 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.600 I mean, obviously, I think that gets down to just 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:51.080 the fact that sightings occur when things are obscured and 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:55.600 uncertain They emerge out of uncertainty and uh and and 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:59.719 and and depleted visual efficiency. I think that'll come back, 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:01.600 say or with something I want to get into in 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:05.280 a minute. So to quote from this article by Tyler 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:08.240 Fleming here quote. Not only does he warn people, but 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.479 he's also known to protect their property from a storm. 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.840 A woman in nineteen fifty four claimed to see the 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:17.400 gray Man ahead of the infamous Hurricane Hazel hitting the area. 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.640 She said, not only was her house spared from the devastation, 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.080 the beach towels she left on her balcony were still 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.400 hanging up. So the ghost is like, oh, Madam, I 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:31.600 I I those those beach towels are just too beautiful. 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.199 I can't stand to see them swept into the store. 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:36.760 I'll protect your house, But what about all the people 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.319 who died? I mean, shouldn't the ghost and prioritize the 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:43.679 people instead of the beach towels. I've seen people to 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:47.880 these beach towels. My god, they're beautiful. So this article 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.400 in Myrtle Beach Online goes on to list some of 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:54.480 the local speculation about the alleged origin of this ghost. 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:56.640 It does not mention black Beard that one might be 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.880 a kind of spurious allegation. Uh well, I mean, I 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.120 think all of these are probably just made up later legends. 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.200 But but trying to track down at least what are 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.480 the earliest of the legends. Um. So, the source that 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.840 the article sites on these is the Georgetown Museum. Georgetown 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.440 is a city near Apoli's Island. Um, and so they've 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.880 got I guess a museum that has some stuff about 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:24.160 this local legend, and one story, this this appears to 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.720 be the dominant one, is about a man who perished 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:31.480 in the South Carolina low country in eighteen twenty two. 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.840 And the tale goes that this young man had been 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.720 traveling abroad for two years, and in September of eighteen 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:42.040 twenty two, he decided he wanted to come home so 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:45.840 he could see his fiancee uh back in South Carolina 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.920 and they could set a date for their wedding. And 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:51.680 he was apparently in such a hurry to get back 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.480 and see her face again that he took a short 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.120 cut through the marsh and he ended up stuck in quicksand, 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:02.280 which spelled his doom and then his fiance she's grieving 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:04.720 over the fact that, I guess, I don't know if 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:06.520 she found out that he died or if he just 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.560 never showed up, but she's grieving for some reason. And 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.920 she goes out walking along the shore and she's treading 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.680 through the sand, and while strolling alone on the beach, 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:20.080 she sees a dark silhouette. It's a it's the figure 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.120 of a man, and she realizes that it's the soul 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.760 of her would be husband, who died in in the marsh, 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.720 and she's so troubled by this vision and others like it, 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:33.000 that she has later that that her family decides to 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.160 relocate inland. They move away from that house, and the 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.680 very next day after they leave, a hurricane sweeps through, 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.480 leaving a path of destruction that would have killed them 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:45.960 had they not left. And it's apparently this legend that 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:48.480 that could give rise to this this common belief that 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.800 the ghost appears to people to warn them of storms. 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:54.400 And as a quick side note, I wanted to mention 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.240 I love that the story involves quicksand, which of course 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:00.640 is one of my favorite plot devices, but that does 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.400 have an environmental reality to it. You might not want 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:07.559 to call it quicksand, but the South Carolina low country, 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.040 especially the marshes, it's sort of like the mouth of 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.360 the what they could usually call the creeks, you know, 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.440 the little uh the tributary of water that eventually drained 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:21.240 out into the ocean. Um. These areas will form this 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:25.160 build up of fine sediment that is known as pluff 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:29.160 mud and uh So I was reading at least one 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:32.400 article from the I think it was the Hilton Head 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:35.000 area that was all about the story of a lady 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.440 who goes out walking in the marsh for some reason 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.040 and she ends up stuck in the pluff mud and 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:42.280 she's there until like into the evening and they have 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.960 to send rescuers and to dig her out. Because you 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:48.560 can very easily get stuck in this stuff. You can 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.760 sink into it. It's a there are a lot of 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.280 myths about quicksand and uh and and things like it 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.200 that you would like sink down under your head and drown. 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.160 That's usually not a very common thing to happen, if 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.840 it happens at all. Really, I think the risk of 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.839 of quicksand and even pluff mud is just that you 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:09.400 would get stuck in it and have trouble getting yourself out. Yeah, 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.120 I've certainly been in. I don't know if it constitutes 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.280 plus mud or or if it's just you know, very 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.520 wet sand, but I've been in. I've noticed some coastal 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:21.120 situations where you have a real, real bootsucker or sandal 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.319 sucker of of a situation, you know, where the sand 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:26.760 is just the right consistency that if you you step 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.080 into it you might be pulling a bare foot back out. Yes, 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.040 And it's it's almost it's wonderful that it creates this um, 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.360 this almost untouchable terrain, because there are a lot of 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:39.840 areas around in the low country where you can, like 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:42.079 if there there will be a nature preserve and you 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.160 can take a board walk out over the marsh, and 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:46.680 if you look down on it, you see all kinds 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:48.840 of life. You know, things are happening down in the 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.520 pluff mud. There may be these big colonies of oysters, 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.800 and you can see fiddler crabs popping up out of 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:56.440 holes and running around, and all the birds hunting them. 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.560 But yeah, it's the kind of place where you wouldn't 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.800 really want to go down and venture yourself, at least 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:06.000 not without some special equipment maybe like weight displacement boots 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.760 or something. Now, apparently there's some alternatives for the origin 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.320 of the gray man legend um uh. To quote again 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.800 from that the Myrtle Beach Online article quote uh. Other 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:20.320 theories tell a different story. One still has a man 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.920 returning from c but this time his fiance decided to 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:27.760 marry his best friend instead, he throws himself into the 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:30.200 wacam All. This is the Wakemall River, which is a 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:33.480 nearby river, and then later his fiance and friend do 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.880 the same. Other stories say he was an unknown sailor 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.080 who washed up on shore and died shortly after. Some 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:43.720 believe he is the original owner of Paully's Island, George Pauley, 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:53.800 who lived there in the early seventeen hundreds than now. 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.880 Of course, this would be far from the only legendary 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:02.200 supernatural being associate aided with weather phenomena. You know, they're 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.400 there are tons of ghosts and monsters and creatures and 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:09.600 gods that may not serve exactly this purpose, saying like, hey, 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.320 a storm's coming, but they're in one way or another 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:18.440 associated specifically with storms or other transient weather phenomena. And so, 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.840 while poking around on the subject, I came across what 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:23.600 I thought was an interesting and kind of funny article. 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.400 So this was on. This was a weather news article 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:30.880 by Michael Cune on accu weather dot com with the 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:35.800 headline quote ghost hunter colon thunderstorms cause an increase in 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.840 paranormal activity. Well, I mean, certainly, if you've watched enough 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.280 horror films and ghost movies, you know that this is 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:43.880 the case. You've gotta have a thunderstorm going in the background, right, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.120 I mean, it's it's a classic of horror fiction. Right, 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.560 so you could argue about the the order of causality there, 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:52.280 but uh, yeah, you know, you got the classic what's 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.120 the bulward Lytton line? It was a dark and stormy 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:59.400 night and then the idea that it seems that stormy 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:04.400 conditions have long inspired Gothic modes of thought. I mean, 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.800 you know, there's the classic story of Uh, how did 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:11.720 Mary Wilston craft Shelley come up with the idea for Frankenstein. 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:15.040 It was during that summer when when she and Byron 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.560 and the whole crew were sort of like stuck inside 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.000 due to this this dark and stormy summer sort of 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.120 it was the year without a summer, which uh, in 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.960 a weird twist of fate, I think was likely due 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:28.720 to volcanic activity on the other side of the world. Um, 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:30.760 that that was the summer where she worked out the 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:33.240 ideas for the story that would become Frankenstein, sort of 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:37.200 a foundational text of modern horror. And so it's kind 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:38.640 of hard for me to believe that the dark and 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.360 stormy summer didn't in a way play a role in 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:43.920 the formation of that story in her mind. But um, 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.240 but anyway, so so this article about the paranormal activity 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.360 in the thunderstorm. So the article consults a paranormal enthusiast 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.280 named Mark Keys, who at the time of this article 0:16:56.320 --> 0:17:00.240 at least was director of the Pennsylvania Paranormal Associated san. 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:02.840 I looked him up and it seems like he's featured 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.679 on somein some ghost hunter type TV shows. The one 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.720 that was I forget the name is called like Paranormal 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.200 nine one one or something, And based on his quotes, 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:15.400 I think I think this guy seems to uh take 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:19.560 a sort of ghost realist position, at least like he 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.480 he uh he cites, for example, the advice of a 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:25.600 of a spirit medium as if he believes this is 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:30.320 likely to contain information. And so do you think there 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:32.960 are skeptical ghost hunters who you call them they show 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:34.840 up at their door and you're like, hey, I think 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:36.560 I've got a hunting and their first thing as well, 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.800 look first of all, ghost well there and there could 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.480 be there could be open minded but skeptical ghost hunters. 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:44.960 I mean, I don't know, Like I I feel like 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.000 that's the attitude I would try to take. I would say, 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.880 you know, I I probably I think most ghost sightings 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.920 are probably all of them are not really a spectral 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.040 beings from another play, and they're probably something about the 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:59.359 perception of the person experiencing, but you don't know for sure. 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:01.359 I mean, at least look and see you try to 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:03.480 find something out. I mean, it would be beneficial to 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.800 have more people in that in that mode where like 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.360 they're an expert you consult and they're like, Okay, there 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:11.960 are no said there's there're no ghosts, but here a 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.439 list of things that that could contribute to this this 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.920 very real and potentially frightening experience that you have. I'm 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:20.640 sure there are some people like that, but I guess 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.040 I would assume this may not be fair. I don't know, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.280 but I would assume if you've got like TV shows, 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:29.600 you're you're probably at least at least for the cameras, 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:35.080 leaning into embracing the sort of ghost realist position. Yeah, 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.360 nobody's watching. I guess you could watch it. I could. 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.520 I guess I could imagine a ghost Hunter show with 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:42.159 this kind of a thing like we're here to bust 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:44.560 the ghosts, but not only the ghosts themselves, with the 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:46.679 idea of ghosts that that could be fine. Kind of 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:50.360 a pen and teller um, you know, kind of approach 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:52.119 to it. Yeah, yeah, sure, right, I don't know, it 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.600 could be done well, Like I feel like like most things, 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:56.879 you know, it could be done well if it was 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:59.920 done well. But coming back to this article, the thing 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:01.959 it really got a hook in my brain about it, 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:04.720 and that I thought was really interesting was that the 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:09.760 article made an attempt to posit a physical mechanism by 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:14.119 which thunderstorms allow ghosts to appear. And I think basically 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:19.280 the implication is that ghosts need to get charged up 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:23.200 by lightning. It's not said explicitly, but this does appear 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:26.320 to be the implication given by the guy sided in 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:29.879 this article. So to quote from the article, some believe 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:33.439 that apparitions or spirits need some source of energy to 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:36.919 manifest their presence into the physical plane in order to 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.480 communicate with the living. This could include drawing energy from 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:45.199 electrical circuits and even batteries. And then this is quoting 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:48.440 from keys. If a spirit is trying to manifest, that is, 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:52.119 become physically visible, it will pull energy out of the 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:55.720 environment to do that. This could include heat, as cold 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.000 spots are commonly reported, as well as in areas where 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:01.920 haunting has been report worded. It seems to be shortly 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:05.400 after a lightning storm that they do notice an increase, 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.320 he said. And then then this is the part where 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.080 Keys claims that his psychic medium will back up the 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.680 fact that after a thunderstorm there is quote a lot 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:18.000 more activity. Um. Now, you know, as as I think, uh, 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:19.840 we'll be clear if you've listened to us for a 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.240 while or even from our earlier discussion, I would say 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.879 we generally take a you know, broadly open minded, but 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:31.720 specifically skeptical position on the physical reality of paranormal reports 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.840 like this. So so while we're not going to embrace 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:38.159 the ghost realist position, I would be potentially open to 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.880 the claim from the the experience of a paranormal investigator 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:47.399 who says that thunderstorms are correlated with increased reports of 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:51.280 ghost sightings, poulter geist hauntings, and so forth. So I 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:53.080 think that could well be true, and that could well 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:56.160 be informed by experience, because there would be nothing supernatural 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:58.439 in that. You just have to say, well, yeah, people 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.280 do say they get haunted more often after there's been 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:04.840 a storm or around the time of a storm. Um, 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:06.960 But I would tend to think that if this is true, 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:10.960 the mechanism would more likely be the thunderstorm somehow causes 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:14.920 the perception of ghosts and wandering spirits rather than literally 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:17.280 conjuring them. Yeah, I mean we have to remember that 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:21.000 what is what does lightning do? But but very briefly 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:25.520 illuminates the darkened world, um and just a flash and 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:27.760 gives us a chance to sort of fill in in 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:31.360 the gaps there with whatever you might you know, expect 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:33.960 to be there in the storm. That's a really good point, 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:37.240 and it's further informed by some of the stuff that's 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:39.480 quoted in this article is like, what are the most 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:43.520 common things people report as evidence of hauntings in their homes? 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:47.440 According to this paranormal investigator. He says that, Okay, so 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:50.240 first of all, you've got I think, you know, visual 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:54.439 evidence such as people witnessing shadows and spectral human forms, 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.000 which I mean seems like the darkened sky, and then 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:02.200 like briefly illuminated flash is of lightning. That seems like, okay, 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:05.760