WEBVTT - From the Vault: Anthology of Horror, Volume 9 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:08.760 Hey, Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:09.920 is Robert Lamb. 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:12.920 And I am Joe McCormick, and it's Saturday. We're heading 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:15.200 into the vault for an older episode of the show. 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:19.120 This was a Halloween episode we did called Anthology of Horror, 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.759 Volume nine, one of our long running series of Halloween 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.840 season episodes where we look at anthology TV series and 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:29.520 various things like that. I think in this one I 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.560 ended up talking about an episode of cole Check The Nightstalker. 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.159 Yes, yeah, it's a pretty fun one. I believe this 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.520 is going to be This will have been our last 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.640 Anthology of Horror episode, but there's going to be a 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.880 spiritual successor to this series starting in just the next 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:48.600 couple of weeks, or next week or this week. We're 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:52.360 recording these intros ahead of time so we can get 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:53.800 a little lost in the time flow. 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.520 Oh by the way, this episode originally published October thirty first, 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:05.480 twenty twenty three. Hope you enjoy. 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:07.200 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of iHeartRadio. 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:18.000 Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. This is 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:19.600 Ruthless Rob Lamb. 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:23.440 And this is Corrosive Joseph McCormick and Happy Halloween. 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:28.360 That's right, we're continuing our Halloween tradition this year, or 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:31.720 it's been our Halloween tradition for several years now. Anthology 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.560 of Horror this is where we take We each take 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:39.400 an episode of a TV anthology series or something related 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:41.920 to this tradition, such as in the case of Joe's 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:43.680 selection this year, kind of like a Monster of the 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:47.520 Week episode, which which still close enough for our work, 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.280 and then we spend some science or contemplation out of it. 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.120 Before we switched over and started doing horror and sci 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.640 fi anthologies, we did the same treatment with creepy pastas 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:02.720 in the past. So that's what we do in this series, 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.520 take a little horror, a little sci fi, and spin 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:07.400 it out, squeeze it out, and see what kind of 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.560 science we can get out of it. However, I think 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:14.680 this is likely the final installment of Anthology of Horror. 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:17.880 Here on stuff to blow your mind, and mainly because 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.680 ever since we started doing Weird House Cinema, the premise 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.480 has felt like a little bit redundant, like we get 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:27.000 to talk about a weird movie every week, so maybe, 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:29.320 at least in my case, it feels a little less 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:33.240 special to have this Horror Anthology episode we do every year, 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.119 and we've also covered a lot of great selections already, 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:39.079 So I don't know if listeners out there have strong 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.120 feelings about this right end, and we will consider now. 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.239 I know you suggested that this would be Anthology of 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.960 Horror the Final Chapter, but if we're going by Friday 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:52.200 the thirteenth sequel naming conventions, that would have actually been 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.080 the fourth Anthology of Horror episode we did, which was 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.920 many years ago. Now this is the ninth, is that correct? 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.840 Which would that would put us in Jason Goes to 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.280 Hell territory? So this really should be Anthology of Horror 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:07.239 Part nine Robin, Joe go to Hell. 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:12.040 Okay, well, hopefully we can deliver Jason Goes to Hell 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:17.640 quality level or above in this episode. All right, Joe, 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.200 what do you have for us? I teased it a 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:23.480 little bit, but what is your selection for this year? 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.079 Okay? So, not too long ago, on some episode or other, 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:31.240 it came up that I had never seen any of 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:36.040 the classic American TV series Colchak The Night Stalker, which 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.920 was originally broadcast on ABC in nineteen seventy four. I 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.560 think it ran seventy four to seventy five only for 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.240 one season, though I think there are around twenty episodes 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:49.960 or so. And my ignorance of this show was so 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:54.160 deep that I didn't even realize it had a supernatural element. 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.520 I thought, I guess this was just based on the name. 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.280 I thought it was some kind of gritty crime show. 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:02.560 I think because I night Stalker. I thought about that 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.240 serial killer and I was like, okay, it's like a 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:07.600 serial killer show. But no, no, no, it's so much 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:12.080 more delightful than that. This show is essentially a precursor 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:16.159 to The X Files, where instead of FBI agents Malter 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:21.800 and Scully, we have a fast talking, rascally Chicago newspaper 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:26.120 reporter named Carl Kolchak played by Darren McGavin, whom I 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.120 knew primarily as the dad, the guy who gets his 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.560 son a BB gun in a Christmas story. 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.200 Well, and of course that's a tremendous role by Darren 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.360 McGavin there as well, So if you only know him 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:39.719 for one role, like that's a good one to know 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.840 him from. You know, it was in tons of stuff. 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.200 But yeah, he's great in this, as I'll mention in 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.360 a bit, I think he's he's he's really holding the 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:49.520 show up on his shoulders. 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:52.719 Now, I think any episode of Kolchak the night Stalker 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.600 would count as an anthology entry because it had a 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:59.919 monster of the Week format. In each new kaper Cha 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.160 would begin by reporting on some weird crime, usually a 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:07.240 murder that baffles the narrow minded police detectives. Ah, you know, 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.680 the victim's teeth were all painted blue. What could this mean? 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:15.120 And eventually we discover it means that the deaths were 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.080 caused by a shape shifting wear tiger or something. 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.880 Yeah, the plot that you encounter in these episodes, it's 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:25.760 gonna be very formulaic. I think I watched a bunch 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:28.279 of these back in the nineties on either Sci Fi 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:32.720 or any probably sci Fi, and I remember liking it. 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.320 And one thing I also strongly remember about it is 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.800 it being kind of a cross generational hit. I have 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.640 vague memories that like, both my dad and my granddad 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.080 would be like cool with this show being on, because 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.200 you know, kids in the nineties we wanted to watch monsters, 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:49.560 or I wanted to watch monsters anyway. But the rest 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.800 of the show has a very traditional episodic gum shoe 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.400 feel to it. You know, it feels very classic television 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:58.920 in that regard. It's very much a product of its age, 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:03.200 but with this strange supernatural twist to it. And then 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.479 at the center of this you have just an incredibly fun, 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:10.560 fast talking and charismatic performance by Darren McGavin, and you 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:12.320 just can't help but love him. You can't help but 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.599 follow him, and you want to see what he does next. 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.600 And it doesn't matter if you're here for the monsters 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:21.240 or you didn't know monsters were going to occur, You're 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:22.880 gonna stick around and see where this goes. 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:26.480 Yes, the force of the main character's personality is really 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.000 the anchor of the show. And now I haven't seen 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.720 the whole series. I've only seen this one episode now 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:33.479 and then read about some others, but I'm going to 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.919 be watching more. I think it is interesting to compare 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:40.600 the dynamics of Kolchak to the show that it is 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.000 explicitly acknowledged to have inspired The X Files. I know, 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.560 I think Chris Carter has said Kulchak was an inspiration 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:52.279 on The X Files. So the X Files, the investigations 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:56.760 there are that the tone of them is largely based 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:01.400 on the tension between Molder the believer and Scully the skeptic, 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:05.560 whereas in Colchak there's just one investigator, so there are 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.840 not two characters to bounce ideas off each other and 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.080 act as foils for one another. It all has to 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:16.760 be there inside Darren McGavin, and there is a similar 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.360 tension within him, but it's different. It's not like part 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:23.200 of him is an idealistic true believer who just wants 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:27.240 aliens to be real, and another part is ruthlessly seeking 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.720 out hard evidence instead. I think the tension is between 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:38.440 Coolchak's personality versus his observations. So it seems to me 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:43.560 that the tension is that Kolchak is naturally a wily, sardonic, 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:48.200 no nonsense personality. He talks like a just the facts 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.800 kind of newsman, and he makes wry jokes about anything 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:57.240 that sounds unusual, not just monsters, but unfamiliar science concepts, 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.880 Like he makes jokes about the idea of rim sleep. 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:02.800 You know, there's like a guy in this episode who's 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.520 undergoing rim sleep, a scientist says, and he's like, oh, 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.200 is he remming right now? And there's like an inflection 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:11.200 on that that makes it sound funny, And then he 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.760 has the same kind of jokes about anything that's outside 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:17.720 of a very grounded, working class kind of scope of life. 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.720 So he makes jokes about the impossibility of pronouncing the 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:25.240 scientific names of plants, or about French food items, you know, 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.280 stuff like that. And yet at the same time he 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.120 puts the clues together and he does end up believing 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.080 that the murders are supernatural in nature, and then has 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:36.320 to convince other people. He has to convince his boss 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:39.480 at the newspaper, the police whatever, that it really was 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.440 a monster again this time, and not this other poor 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:44.600 guy who's being falsely accused of the crime. 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:47.679 Yeah. I think that's a good summary of the energy here. 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:49.920 It's kind of like Molder and Scully kind of have 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.080 like an forgive me if I if I'm not doing 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.600 justice to musical genres. They have kind of a shoegaze vibe, 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.880 and I feel like, I feel like Coulhak is jazz, 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.959 you know. Anyway, A couple of quick notes just about 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.240 people involved in this series. The main character was created 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:09.600 by Jeff Rice in his novel The Cool Track Papers, 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:12.760 and this was adapted before it was published into the 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.680 original nineteen seventy three TV movie That Kicked It All. Off. 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:18.720 It concerned vampire murders, and I think that's where we 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:23.480 get the night stalker thing. Also of note is that 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.520 this episode is directed by Gordon Hessler, who lived nineteen 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:29.840 twenty five through twenty fourteen. He directed nineteen seventy Scream 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.480 and Scream Again, which we talked about in Weird House Cinema. 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.320 M okay, And as far as the cast goes, you know, 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:38.040 if this were a weird House would go deeper. But 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.400 I will point out that we have the prolific Keenan Wynn, 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.640 who lived nineteen sixteen through nineteen eighty six, playing Captain 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.600 what mad Dog Joe in this and it's a pretty 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:48.080 fun role. 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.320 Yes, what do I know him from? I mean he 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:52.000 was in a lot of things. You probably know him 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:53.160 from Doctor Strangelove. 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:55.760 I think he was in Tarantula. I don't know, have 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:58.040 my notes in front of me, but he was very prolific. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:09:59.319 He was in a lot of stuff. 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.040 But another big guest star in this movie, though you 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:05.480 don't see his face, it's covered by some fibrous material, 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.040 is Richard Keel, the guy who played Jaws in the 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:09.160 James Bond series. 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.120 Ah, he's just doing a basic big man monster role 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:13.439 in this. 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:18.360 Right, Yeah, he's ega. He's a soggy ega in So, 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:22.080 to summarize the episode, it's called the Spanish Moss Murders, 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.680 and it starts with Kolchak intercepting a call in his 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.520 police radio to the scene of a murder in a 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:31.760 fancy French restaurant. He makes some joke about the wine 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.800 cellar of this restaurant having more than being worth more 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:40.280 than the entire gross domestic product of Paraguay, which I 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:42.240 looked that up and that would make it worth like 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.600 billions of dollars at the time, So I think that's 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.920 a little bit of an exaggeration. But anyway, the head 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.880 chef of this restaurant has been slain right in the 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:53.520 middle of the restaurant kitchen. His body's lying there on 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:56.000 the floor between the prep tables and all that. And 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:58.319 not only has he been killed, but his body was 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:02.840 found in a particularly gruesome state, with its chest cavity 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.319 crushed like a beer can. On top of that, there 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:10.360 is some kind of weird, wet vegetable matter scattered around 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:14.559 the crime scene, described by one character as quote green glop, 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.600 and the police sagely conclude that the plant matter must 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.440 be salad. They were in a restaurant after all. 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:23.440 All right, solid police work, right. 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:27.080 Yeah, I think Rob you've seen more Culchak than me. 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.560 Is this a theme that like the police don't know 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:31.959 what they're doing and Colchak has to be the one 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:32.920 to figure everything out. 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:36.120 Yeah, I vaguely remember this being the case. You know, 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.680 it's like you need an outside thinker because you know 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.199 the police they're doing they're doing a good job. They're 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.520 you know, they're not incompetent in this show, but they're 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:48.839 used to dealing with normal crimes. Yeah, cold Shack's expertise 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.680 comes into play when we're dealing with supernatural crimes. 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.719 So Colchak is on the case. Through some crafty investigation 0:11:55.920 --> 0:12:00.800 involving trickery and trespassing, Colchack starts to piece together a 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:04.319 perplexing set of facts connecting a number of different crimes. 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:09.040 Together people all crushed or killed by severe blunt force 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:13.040 trauma to the thorax, all with the same green glop 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.240 found around their bodies, and after a visit to a 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:20.520 local botanical garden, Kolchak is able to ascertain the origin 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:25.040 of the green glop. It is Spanish moss, which only grows. 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.360 He is told in hot and humid conditions nowhere around 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.840 Chicago outside of a greenhouse. And I have to make 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:35.920 a little observation. Spanish moss is not like usually wet 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.840 and soggy. So I think I don't know how much 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:42.120 experience the writers here had with actual Spanish moss, which 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:47.520 is consistently described in this more like they're talking about algae. 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:50.600 Yeah. Yeah, that is weird, isn't it. Yeah maybe they 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:52.680 just hadn't been really exposed to it. But yeah, I 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.640 don't think of Spanish moss as being humid and wet 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:57.760 and drippy and gloppy and so forth. 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:02.160 It's actually rather dry and crispy. In fact, famously, I 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.679 know I was reading about there was one huge historical 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:09.400 fire that was started when some Spanish moss caught fire. 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:13.240 It was the Great Fire of nineteen oh one in Jacksonville, Florida, 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:18.720 which a huge fire that was started outside a factory 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.480 that was putting stuffing inside of upholstery for furniture, I think, 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.760 and the stuffing they were using was Spanish moss. There 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.160 were piles of it that I guess were sitting there 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:31.640 to dry or sitting out ready to be stuffed into things, 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:36.760 some of it caught fire and it caused this giant conflagration. Anyway, 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:40.960 back to Colchak, investigation of one victim leads him to 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:46.440 the victim's workplace, a university sleep laboratory, where the professor 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.320 and his assistants are running an experimental treatment on a 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:55.240 man with severe narcolepsy by keeping him in an induced coma. 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:59.520 Colchak learns that the murder victim was an assistant in 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.200 the last who was known for her clumsiness, one time, 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:05.360 nearly waking up their test subject when she knocked over 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:10.520 some apparatus in the room. Beyond that, other murder victims 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:14.040 seem to have some connection to a social group of 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:18.520 Cajun street musicians who are all originally from Louisiana Bayou 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.000 Country and have moved up to the Chicago area. Kolchak 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.120 learns from one of their associates the story of a 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:30.160 bogeyman figure from Bayou folklore known as Paramoulfay, or the 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.640 evil Father. All the Kajuns would joke to each other, 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.400 you better watch out or Paramoufay is going to get you, 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:39.720 and the stories go that Para Malfay has lived in 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:43.280 the swamp since long before the Cajuns arrived. He's wet, 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:47.040 he's covered in rot and festooned with Spanish moss from 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.040 head to toe. Mothers warn their children that if they 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.480 get out of line, paramoul Fay will squeeze the life 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:55.880 right out of them, and the only way to beat 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:58.600 him is to stab him with a steak from a 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:03.400 bayou gum tree. Kolchak gets another piece of the puzzle. 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:07.640 A prime suspect emerges in several of the murders, a 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.560 man named Languis who is known to have a grudge 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.960 against several of the victims, but he has a rock 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.240 solid alibi. He is the man who has been in 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.360 an induced coma in the sleep laboratory, so he's being 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:24.120 monitored twenty four to seven. There's no way he could 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.640 have done the murders because he never left the lab 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.960 he's been asleep. Finally, Coolchak pieces it all together. He 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:33.280 discovers the truth. The murders are being carried out by 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:38.280 the sleeping man, but not physically. He is dreaming people 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:43.880 to death. His experimental coma is preventing him from dreaming normally. 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.120 I guess the drug regimen that the scientists are giving 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:49.720 him is doing something to his ability to dream, and 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:53.680 so his dreams are escaping his mind and becoming a 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:58.359 physical entity in the form of the swamp monster paramou. 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:03.720 Fay sleep dream manifestation kind of a toolpa. 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.680 Exactly, and in the form of the bay U boogeyman 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:11.160 covered in Spanish moss that this sleep subject grew up 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:14.280 hearing about. So I guess presumably the monster in this 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.320 story could have been anything. It could have been whatever 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.880 it was that this man had in his mind. But 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:23.840 because this is the folklore he knows, it assumes this form. 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.640 It's kind of like Wes Craven's New Nightmare. You know, 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:30.440 there's an entity that could take any form. The form 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:33.000 it takes is the form you imagine, So it becomes 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:33.800 Freddy Krueger. 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:37.520 Yeah, or of course reminds one of Gozer as well, 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:39.880 choose the form of the destructor. Yes. 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:44.880 So Kolchak explains his theory to the police commander in 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:49.800 the sleep lab, to Mad Dog Captain mad Dog Keenan 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.640 Winn here, and the professor is ordered to wake up 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.120 the test subject in order to stop the mayhem. But 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.760 it doesn't work. Langua will not wake up, and instead 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:02.720 he dies Coolchak thinks that, well, that's tragic, but now 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:05.720 at least the trouble is over, until he discovers water 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.280 and Spanish moss in his desk drawers. He thinks that 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.159 there's like that the ceiling. The plumbing in the ceiling 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:14.840 is leaking, and that's why there's water everywhere. But nope, 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:20.360 Paramoufay has been stalking around his desk in the newspaper office, 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.040 and this seems to mean that Paramoufay has escaped his host. 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:28.399 Even though the dreamer is dead, the dream lives on independently, 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.720 and now the dream knows the reporter is on to him. 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:34.880 In the end, Coolchak has to confront the monster by 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.760 tracking it to the sewers and staking it with a 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:41.199 Bayou gum tree branch that he stole from the botanical garden. 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.800 The sewer confrontation, I feel like, is a little anti 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.120 climactic for me because you never get a great, great 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.760 look at the monster. He's kind of a big, shaggy 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:53.399 vegetable sasquatch played by Richard Keel. 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:58.360 Yeah, I mean the lighting's pretty good, so it's not unforgiving, 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:02.120 but yeah, it's a bit dark, and I mean it's 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:06.400 obviously not the most robust monster costume ever committed to film. 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:08.959 But I love the concept of the monster, even if 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.640 it's not the most impressive looking thing I've ever seen. 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:16.520 The idea of this shaggy creature dreamed into existence and 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:20.800 covered head to toe in Spanish moss, just a shambling 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:22.679 mess of plant matter. 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.920 Yeah, I think it's a It's an admirable plot. It 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.399 all fit, all the pieces fit together, and then at 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.720 the same time it feels wild and weird enough that 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:36.120 it could have been a symbol via like an improv 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:40.680 theater audience shout out plot elements, like all right, what 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.520 do we have? Okay here, I hear rim sleep, I 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:48.080 hear Cajun boogeyman, I hear French cuisine. Okay, let's put 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.120 all this together now. 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:55.399 I was really hoping to discover that Paramolfa would be 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:58.320 a real piece of Bayou lore that I could dig into, 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.639 but alas I came up shore on this, all the 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.480 sources I could find that looked solid at all seem 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:07.960 to trace back to the Culchak episode. There are some 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:12.120 websites that claim paramol Fay is an independent folk tale, 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:14.960 but they don't cite any sources and they're just kind 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.080 of websites, so I don't know. I couldn't find anything 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.320 that looks solid that says this is an actual story 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.520 that goes anywhere back further than the TV show. So 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:27.679 I can't say for certain, but I will say my 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.679 best judgment is it looks to me like this creature 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.200 was invented for the show, though I think it may 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:37.000 be based on existing folk beliefs. There are many monsters 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:40.160 of the swamp. One example that it could be based 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:43.199 on would be like the rugaroo, sort of a Francophone 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:44.680 American werewolf legend. 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:50.440 Yeah, I think the rugaru connection is pretty solid here. Which, 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:52.440 by the way, if you ever go to the zoo, 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:54.840 the Audubon Zoo down in New Orleans, they have one 0:19:55.600 --> 0:20:00.080 on display. That's a lot of fun. But yeah, I 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:02.840 feel like vay connection to that creature, like maybe that 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:06.359 was even the original concept, and they're like, we have 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:08.639 another episode that has a werewolf in it. Let's go 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:12.200 a different direction here. I didn't do an exhaustive search. 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:14.359 It seems like you went a lot deeper, but I 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:17.720 did crack open Carol Rose's books and see if she 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:20.720 had any mention. The only the closest thing she mentions 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:25.920 is a different supernatural father, and that's Pierre Futard or 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:29.560 Father Spanker, which is a French kind of uger character 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:33.720 that's also a monstrous Christmas kind of crampiest creature that's 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:38.640 a counterpart to Father Christmas. So she doesn't listen any 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:43.159 kind of you know, swamp Spanish moss creature. So I 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:45.440 think you're right. I think it's an invention for the show, 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.639 but a fun invention and one that feels like it 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:50.560 could be real enough. So there you go. 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:57.000 Yes, Now, what about the monstrous qualities of Spanish moss itself? 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:00.359 I wanted to get a bit into this. Here. A 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:04.120 funny thing about Spanish moss. Most scientific sources will acknowledge 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:06.120 this right at the top, is that it is neither 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:10.320 Spanish nor is it moss, which is pretty funny, but 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.320 I'll deal with those one at a time. So regarding moss, 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:18.600 the species name of Spanish moss is Telanzia eucinioides, and 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:24.240 it's taxonomized within the flowering plant family Bromeliacee, also known 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:28.080 as the bromeliads, along with the pineapple plants. So Spanish 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.920 moss is a cousin to the pineapple, and I feel 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:33.440 like you can almost see it, Like if you get 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:35.840 up real close to Spanish moss and you look at 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:39.600 the weird curling stalks and leaves that kind of remind 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:42.639 me of pineapple leaves in a strange way. They're obviously 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:45.879 much smaller, but you can almost see the family resemblance. 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:48.359 Yeah, I'm looking at some close up pictures right now, 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:50.520 and yeah, I can lean into that. 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:54.879 True mosses, of course, are more distantly related. They belong 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:59.520 to a division of non vascular, non flowering plants called bryophytes. 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:02.680 Spanish moss is not a moss at all. It's also 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:06.639 not Spanish. It is native to north, South, and Central America. 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:10.760 So in the United States it's only found in the South, 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:14.119 along the Gulf Coast and up the East coast to 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:17.720 around Virginia. Chicago is no place for a Spanish moss 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:18.359 man to thrive. 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:22.280 Yeah, when I think Spanish moss, I always instantly think Savannah, Georgia, 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:25.160 because we have some some beautiful examples of it there, 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:29.640 especially in the out there in amid the tombstones. 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:32.919 Yeah, in North America, it's going to be especially in 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:37.800 like coastal areas around the American South. But if it's 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:41.480 not Spanish in origin, why is it called Spanish moss. 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:43.560