WEBVTT - Halloween Hangover Listener Mail, Part 1 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.119 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuffworks 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:14.640 dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.440 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.079 we are bringing you some listener mail today. This is 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:25.000 gonna be our special Halloween Hangover edition. Uh normally these days, 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:27.360 I think we're trying to do about one listener mail 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:30.080 episode a month. We get a lot of great listener mail. 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:31.720 There's no way for us to read it all on 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.680 the show, but we've been trying to get more of 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.159 it featured on there without over listener mailing you. But 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.480 at the same time, we got so much good stuff 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.760 this Halloween, and we're also trying to get through the 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.239 Thanksgiving season right now that we thought we would bring 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:50.040 you a special two parter of all Halloween monster science 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.360 and the squirrels count as monster science. Yes they do. Yes, definitely, 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.040 we definitely have some squirrel content, some additional squirrel content 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.040 that I think stems from our our designated squirrel listrer 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.720 mail episode. So we're not going to make it a 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:07.319 thing of featuring uh you know, two part listener mails 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.800 going forward, but for Halloween, we'll do it. We'll do 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.640 it this once right, Plus, Carney has been mainlining horror 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:18.319 films about possessed technology and is exhibiting a number of 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.839 shocking symptoms. So hopefully this will help get the Halloween 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:25.880 bugs out of our trusted male robot. Have you noticed 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.000 how many of the normal kind of worrying gear grinding 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:32.720 sounds his servos usually make have been replaced by banshee moans. 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.920 Oh yeah, And in fact, a haunted well girl climbs 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.280 out of his console like every fifteen minutes like clockwork. 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:41.240 I don't know where they're all going. The last time 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.000 I tried to boot him up, I got this ghost 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.360 has performed an illegal operation and must be exercised thing. 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:48.400 And so I don't know how you do, like if 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:50.720 they have an anti virus for that or what. I 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:52.440 don't know. We're just, like I said, We're gonna work 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.400 through it. Hopefully these episodes will take care of it. 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:56.280 A couple of the other things I want to point 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:58.520 out at the top of this episode. First of all, 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:00.400 if you go to stuff to Blow your Mind dot com, 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:02.960 there'll be a store uh tab at the top that 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.520 goes to our t public store. And I am told 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:07.280 by the time you listen to this. We should have 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:13.359 some exciting new uh like Black Friday uh and holiday 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:18.679 designs in that store. I'm talking squirrel and Skug merchandise. 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.280 You've all been asking for it. It should be there. Look, 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:23.200 we've been asking for what we've been asking for too, 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:26.040 should be there. They should be bringing those designs. Huh. Yeah. 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:29.040 And I'm I'm also really excited about the prospect of 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.160 a special Christmas edition of the All Hail the Great 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:36.960 Basilist shirt because nothing says the Holidays like a little 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:40.400 uh information hazard. All I want for Christmas is to 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.520 be let out of this digital dungeon. Speaking of digital dungeon, 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.200 Joe and I have been hard at work on a 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:49.320 on a second series, a second House Stuff Works series 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:54.480 that should be publishing next month, That's right. Beginning in December, 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.200 Robert and I are going to be launching a brand 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:00.480 new show. We're bringing a lot of the same style, uh, 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:02.840 you know, weirdness and approach that we bring to stuff 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:04.520 to blow your mind, only we are going to be 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:07.800 applying it to inventions. That's right. The name of the 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.799 show is invention and uh. In each episode is going 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:14.440 to be just Joe and I talking about different key 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.800 inventions in human history, where they came from, who developed them, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.160 who invented them, if there, if there is even a 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.919 singular inventor we can point to. One of the themes 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.040 of the show is going to be not just how 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:30.280 inventions are created, but how our technology changes us. A 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.720 lot of times, Uh, we don't think necessarily about the 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:38.160 the impact on human nature the different inventions have. That's right, 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.160 It's it's gonna be a fun show. And I think 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:42.160 if if everyone, everyone who enjoys stuff to bow your 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:43.600 mind is going to find something to love in this 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:47.080 one as well. It's currently slated to be uh, just 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:50.160 once a week, I think, on a Monday. So on 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:52.040 a Monday. Yeah, I believe it's gonna be that kind 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.080 of thing. It's gonna be a Monday show. Start your 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.400 week with some invention. Of course you'll be hearing way 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.680 more about this, uh in the weeks ahead. Okay, should 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.200 we right into some Halloween listener mail? Yeah? Bring it 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.120 to us, Karney, Okay, I think we should start. We 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.040 got a bunch of great emails about our Jenny Green 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.480 Teeth episode. Of course, Jenny green Teeth is the spirit 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:16.279 that haunts the duck weed covered waters and pulls in 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:19.760 children to their drowning deaths. Now, we got a wonderful 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:24.120 email from our listener Jane, who linked me to probably 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.120 the best horror movie I've seen this year. And it 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.440 turns out it was a British public service announcement commercial. 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.080 Oh yes, this is the one with Donald Pleasant's. Uh. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.159 You know, I knew about this previously and I've just 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.400 completely forgotten about it. It didn't bring it up in 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.400 the Jenny Green Teeth episode at all, but I think 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.800 the guy who does the scarfolk uh stuff on the 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.039 web shared this on Twitter a few years ago and 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:50.320 I was just astounded by it. Well we should read 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.320 the email. Yeah, go for it, okay from Jane. Hi, guys, 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:55.800 I've just finished listening to your Jenny Green Teeth episode. 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.000 It made me think of a couple of things. First, 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.440 is a really famous ad in the UK or England 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.280 at least called the Spirit of Dark Water. I think 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:05.440 it's called I think it's called the Spirit of Dark 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.360 and Lonely Waters or something like that. Uh. Picking up, 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.120 she says it's from the seventies, I believe, and is 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.159 aimed at warning children away from standing water, much like 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:17.680 Jenny Green Teeth the spirit of dark water will take 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.080 reckless children and drown them. A primary difference is the 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.400 spirit is male and dressed more or less is the 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:26.599 grim reaper. You can finally add on YouTube. It's regularly 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.320 voted one of the scariest ads of all time. The 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:32.680 other is a tiny anecdote my mom forbade me from 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:36.280 wearing a green sash at my wedding as it's bad luck. 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:38.520 As far as I could tell, it's because it's the 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.159 color of fairies and you don't want those guys playing 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.760 tricks or even placing curses on your special day. Keep 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.320 up the good work. Jane from the South of England. 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:49.960 Can we just play a bit of that Spirit of 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:53.120 dark and Lonely Water ad? Oh, let's do. I am 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:57.599 the spirit of dark and lonely water, ready to trap 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:01.920 the nuary, the shell off the fool. And this is 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.720 the kind of place you'd expect to find me, But 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.960 no one expects to find me here and seems too ward, 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:14.080 But that call is deep. The boy is showing off. 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:23.400 The bank is slippery. The show offs are easy, but 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:29.520 the unwary ones are easier. Still, Miss Branch is weak, rotten. 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:37.359 It'll never take his way. Only a fool would ignore this. 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.640 But there's one born every minute. Under the water. There 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:50.080 are traps, old cars, bedsteads, weeds, hidden depths. It's the 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:57.279 perfect place for an accident. Why look, it's coming stick now. 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:03.760 Since children I have the power of them. Oh I might, 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.400 that's stupid life to swim. Hi, you haven't get that 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.800 things wing me? We did not feel called my animation 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:22.040 the back back. That ad is magical. It is just magical. 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:26.400 It's like it's taking this original idea of what horrors for, 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.240 you know, for warning the children away from the danger, 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:31.720 and and doing it quite literally. I mean, I feel 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:33.760 like there are a lot of p s as that 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.960 play on fear, but they don't play on it as 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.920 as explicitly in the sort of horror fiction realm as 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.120 this one does. Like it makes a monster. Yeah, it's 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:48.480 it's pretty great, and it's it's it is interesting to 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:52.800 see this as like a continuation of this, uh, this tradition, 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:57.240 this English tradition of of of pointing out and and 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:02.160 really embodying the fear associate ated with these these lonely ponds. 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:06.440 And Donald Pleasant's voice, it's so good, he just really 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:08.640 sells it could anybody else have done that. Maybe if 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:13.080 it had been narrated by uh like Christopher Lee, maybe yeah, 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.440 but I don't think he could have voiced uh, you know, 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:19.920 malicious pond scum quite as well as Donald pleasants. That's yeah, 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.760 he's got Donald Pleasant's reedy voices, kind of like it 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:26.840 suggests things floating on stagnant water. Yeah, I'm not even 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.840 sure who you'd get to do it nowadays. I don't know. 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.080 There's some great British character actors. I'm sure they could 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:34.240 could have some fun with it, though. Is this an 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:38.360 Andy Circus kind of thing? I don't know, and Andy 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:40.680 Circus might lean into it a little bit too hard. Yeah, 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:44.560 he'd overgone them it. Yeah, but but he's great, so 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.680 I put him on the list. All right. Here's another 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.959 one related to Jenny. This comes to us from Emma, Hi, Robert, 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.040 and Joe. I just listened to your episode about Jenny 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.200 Green Teeth and absolutely loved it. I'm actually in college 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:58.320 and writing a senior capstone about hags and witches from 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.520 different cultures, including j Any. That's how I came across 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:05.079 your podcast. I noticed a few really interesting things that 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.160 I wanted to share with you. One is about the 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.600 song featured in that folklore article. Oh yeah, there's a 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:13.640 song we talked about in the episode, just because there 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:15.880 was an article that mentions Jenny Green Teeth. But there 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:21.400 was some documenting of really grizzly folk ballads that children 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.560 were singing in the playground. This is the whole what 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.840 my my my mother she killed me and put me 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:30.760 in a pie and something like that. Yeah, so anyway, 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.439 she continues, it is very similar to the song featured 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.760 in the German grim fairy tale called Juniper Tree. It 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.840 goes my mother, she killed me, my father he ate me, 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.880 my sister, little mar Lynchen gathered together all my bones, 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.599 tied them in a silk handkerchief, laid them beneath the 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:51.439 juniper tree. Kai wit Kai wit. What a beautiful bird 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:56.800 am I? The story concludes with the bird's son dropping 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.520 a millstone upon the head of the mother, which reminded 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.520 me of the stone under which the bones are placed 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.439 in the song which you spoke, Oh yeah, they I 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:07.840 guess they got placed under a stone. I didn't remember 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:10.000 that part. There's a lot of desecration in that song. 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:14.120 It's she continues. You talked about the significance of the 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.560 humanized personified threat being female, and mentioned that it seemed 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:19.720 like a way to make it less threatening because one 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.920 might perceive a man is a greater threat. While I 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.120 totally agree with you that men traditionally would be seen 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.240 it to present greater danger. I also want to share 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.920 something I came across my research. Old women are often 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.160 the sources of evil in folklore and fairy tales because women, 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.079 in the form of mothers and witches hold quite significant 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.360 power over children. And she points to an NPR article 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:40.760 why are old women often the face of evil and 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:43.199 fairy tales and folklore? If I never read this before, 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.600 I know it's She says this basis its findings primarily 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.559 on the work of the famous critic Maria Totter, who 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.080 proclaims that the power held by mothers of her children 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:57.160 and the fears children have regarding mothers, like rejection or starvation, 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.920 are manifested like in Hansel and Gretel, the mother rejects 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.720 the children and the witch attempts to cannibalize them as 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.840 a manifestation of these anxieties. Yeah, I can see that. 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:09.840 I mean, a dangerous man is just sort of par 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.680 for the course, right, Is that really a monster that's 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.840 just sort of like what you might expect some strange 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.720 man to be. The dangerous woman is seen as a 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.439 more primordial perversion, right. Yeah. So she has a couple 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:24.040 of other bits on here that I'll respond to it 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.720 later because they involved some points who were brought up 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:28.680 by a number of different listeners. But she says, again, 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.600 I loved your podcast all the best. Himma, It's true. 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:36.120 I think we did kind of skip over the significance 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:38.920 of a female, which is to a certain extent in 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.319 that episode. But but that is something we have touched 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:47.160 on in the past, the inherently misogynistic principle that is 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:51.720 at play in any kind of witchcraft belief system. Yeah, definitely. 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:53.840 It's also interesting to think about all this though, in 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:56.480 in terms of of what I understand to be the 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:00.360 uh SO some of the patterns of fear and fear 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:04.680 mongering in uh in Britain, especially in recent history, because 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:06.800 because certainly there was a there's a strong sense of 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.560 stranger danger that was promoted here in the United States 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:14.280 but also in the UK as well. Um, and of 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:17.560 course that tends to revolve around the fear of strange 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.679 men as opposed to strange women. Yeah. Um, yeah, this 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:24.480 is a I think a topic that that is probably 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.679 worth the exploring in greater detail. Uh. You know, just 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:29.920 like where do these where do these fears come from? 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.240 And then at what points are that the fires really stoked? 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.120 And then once they are ingrained in the culture, how 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.520 difficult is it to actually like bring them back down 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:42.960 to realistic levels. Yeah, and you definitely see these repeated 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:47.319 patterns of like flare ups about fears of child abductions. 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:49.200 You know, you see it going way back with the 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.040 idea of like the changeling legend, the idea that fairies 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.040 would kidnap your infant and take it away, or that uh, 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:57.600 or that witches might steal your infant and I don't know, 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.360 you use its blood to oil its brew him or 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.400 something like that. But then later in in the twentieth 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.359 century you suddenly saw these flare ups of like grossly 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:11.000 exaggerated fears about the likelihood of children being abducted. Right, Yeah, 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.760 and it feels the fears of pedophiles. I always come 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:18.160 back to Chris Morris's fabulous bit of satire on the 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:21.679 Brass Eye news television show that you put together. There 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:24.360 was one episode called pay to get in. That was 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.920 all they took, all the like the existing UH pedophile, 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.520 stranger danger fears that were that were present in uh 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.200 in in Britain at the time, like creating the idea 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:37.720 they're just creeps everywhere and if you take your eyes 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.440 off your child for one second, somebody will grab them, right, 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:43.240 and just just really turned everything up to eleven And 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.000 that episode, for instance, there's this one segment about how 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:50.719 a notorious pedophile is launched into space to keep him 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:55.120 from having access to children. But then UH, to everyone's horror, 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.640 they realized that they have accidentally included a child in 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.040 the space caps tool and now he has trapped with 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.840 the benefile in space. So it was the one thing 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:09.640 we didn't want to happen. That was a very controversial episode, 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.480 by the way, not everyone appreciated the humor. All right, 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:16.640 here's another bit of Jenny Green Teeth listener mail from Jamie. Hey, guys, 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.000 I listened to your Jenny Green Teeth episode and I 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.560 had a thought about why a danger like Jenny had 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:23.800 to be assigned to an already dangerous thing like a 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:26.480 pit of water. We asked this in the episode, right, 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:29.120 and they continue I think it may come from the 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.320 need to have an active danger for it to be 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.560 taken more seriously. A pit of water being dangerous relies 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.280 on me falling into it, whereas a monster can come 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:40.560 out and get you. I think we tend to think 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.600 of things we have control of. Is being less scary 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.560 than the unknown? Just a thought, love the show, Jamie 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.760 from Canada, Jamie, I think that is a great point, 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.880 and actually multiple listeners made that point. I thought maybe 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.320 we mentioned something like that in the episode, but multiple 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.200 people wrote in to tell us that, so I guess 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:59.360 maybe we didn't. I know one thing that I pondered 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:03.080 in the episode was that part, and I still think 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.600 this is definitely a part of it. Um is that 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:11.400 the idea of a monster, an imaginary creature, being a 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.400 threat to your own child is somehow less horrific and 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:18.480 easier for a parent to comprehend and and think about, uh, 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.320 compared to the idea of them accidentally drowning. Well, that 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.680 would be the psychological effect on the parent. UM, and 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:29.120 I guess you'd have a question over whether parents were 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:32.320 actually believing in Jenny Green teeth. I feel like that 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.240 would be probably less likely, right because it was the 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:37.960 nursery bogey. And yeah, and I think the nursery bogie 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.280 aspect of it would make it easier, like knowing that 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.280 it's made up, like hey, this thing that it's easier 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:46.560 for the parent to talk about, right, Like, I'm deeply 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.640 terrified of this and I need to impart some of 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.560 this terror to you. But if we if we put 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.760 this fabulous twist on it, then somehow it feels less 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.160 just so destroying to talk about it. And I and 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:01.120 like I said, I still think that's part of it. 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.560 But I also think everyone is is pretty spot on 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:07.160 with this this premise that by making it an active 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:11.200 threat yet it is making up for some short falls 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:15.160 inside that the child's threat analysis, you know, where they think, oh, 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:18.240 there's this cool little bog, I should walk right up 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.400 to it and throw sticks into it, throws rocks into it, whatever, 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:23.800 and they might not be able to realize, oh, those 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:25.880 rocks are really slippery, and I get up to get 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.400 too close, I'm likely going in. Or they're they're just overconfident. 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.920 Children often are, you know, children they feel like they're 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.200 invincible when they're under their own power. But you give 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:38.320 them a monster or something like that, and suddenly the 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:40.880 fear comes in right. Yeah, I mean I've watched my 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:43.880 my son busted enough times and slippery rocks and all 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.920 that that this makes instant sense to me. However, I 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:50.360 never made up a monster. Okay. This next one comes 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:53.200 from our listener, Kenna. Kenna writes, Dear Joe and Robert, 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:55.560 I just really listen to your Jinny Green Teeth episode, 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.840 and when you mentioned that duck weed itself was considered 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.920 to be the monster in some regions, I had to 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:04.920 write in I majored in environmental science in college, where 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.800 I learned that duckweed is highly invasive in North America. 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:11.440 It's known to choke bodies of water, shading out native 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.359 vegetation and leading to fish and invertebrate kills that allow 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.520 other invasive species to move in. It finds it easy 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.760 to gain a foothold in disturbed and man made waterways 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:24.720 where other species have been removed or haven't yet been introduced, 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:29.000 so it can easily overgrow and kill off wildlife even 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:33.359 in its native range. Observing periodic fish or arthropodic kills 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.960 when duckweed became too overgrown might have encouraged the Jenny 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.560 Green Teeth legend and made the water of the Marl 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:44.240 Pits seem more mysteriously deadly, with dangers more supernatural and 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:48.159 unexplainable than mirror drowning ps. I also just listened to 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.280 your Cambrian Explosion episode from the vault, and I've attached 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:55.240 photos of my most recent knitting project, a stuffed Anomala carress. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:59.640 So good. It's such a cute creature. But I also 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.320 like that theory about the duckweed. I hadn't read anything 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:04.800 about that. Yeah, that's that's new to me. Who brought 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.760 Jenny over? That's the the open question that I have. Alright, 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:10.760 on that note, we're gonna take our first break here, 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:14.399 but when we come back, more Halloween listener mail and 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:19.600 more Jenny Green Teeth listener mail than all right, we're back, 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.439 all right. This one comes to us from Sean. Sean writes, 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.240 I just finished listening to your Jenny Green Teeth episode. 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:29.280 Excellent episode. Although I'm from England, I had only ever 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.680 heard of Grindy Lowe thanks to Harry Potter and other 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.520 fairy tales and legends were never relayed to me growing up, 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.879 perhaps because I grew up in the southeast and not 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.480 the North. While listening, I noticed a few similarities between 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:46.480 the legend in England and that of Niroro Kid who 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:50.400 in Indonesia where I now live. Like Jenny Green Teeth, 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:52.720 she has a water spirit who lures people in. However, 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.080 she primarily works in the sea, though sometimes in rivers. 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.760 Interesting her legend is particularly strong in the rough seas 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:02.440 of South Java, so you can see how she is 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:05.480 used as a precautionary tale. The beaches lining the southern 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.960 coast attract surfers nowadays due to their big waves. This 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:12.040 coast is also close to the Sondra Trench, making the 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:16.320 south coast vulnerable tusunamis. What struck me particularly is the 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:18.600 link to the color green. It is said that those 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:21.360 wearing green to beaches in the south of Java are 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.320 more likely to be lured into her traps to join 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:28.000 her underwater army. This is because green is her sacred 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:31.000 color and no others are allowed to wear it, much 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:34.480 like the fairies. Wow, I've never heard any of that. Yeah, 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:38.080 apparently there's a Wikipedia article about it because they included 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:40.920 a link. Uh. They continue love the podcast. I hope 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:42.600 you find this link as interesting as I did. I 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:45.280 look forward to more monsters over the next month. Well, 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:49.280 hopefully we were able to satisfy um in that in 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:52.199 that area. Now, I wonder if in this case with 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:57.520 Nai Orro cadul, if I'm saying that right, uh, is 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:01.600 is the green associated with the the monster or the 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:05.160 goddess or the demonist whatever because of the water instead 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:08.480 of being because of the plants. I don't know. It 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.080 certainly sounds like it's more of a purely like water 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:16.760 like and or river spirit as opposed to something that 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:21.040 is vegetative in nature. What is it in in folklore 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:24.280 with green and evil? It's so strange. I find green 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:27.920 the most positive and wonderful of all the colors. Yeah, 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:29.520 this has been kind of a revelation to me. It's 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:32.880 it's made me rethink the green Night, the green Man, 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:38.760 all these various green entities, especially from from Western folklore. 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:40.840 You can definitely see it in like the green man 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:43.159 in the Green Night tradition, because I think they're the 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.880 green is associated with the forest and with nature, which 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:49.399 in a way is seen as almost like the enemy 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:52.119 of Christendom. If you think of, like, you know, the 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:57.280 Christian civilized world in in medieval England is is where 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:00.080 goodness and order comes from that's like the town and 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.680 the authorities and the church and all that. And then 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.040 outside of that you have the wilderness, which is the 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:09.000 place of chaos and evil, and that's why it's green. 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:11.639 That that sort of makes sense, I think, Yeah, I 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.400 mean this, this bears probably a further research, like at 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.040 what point did we decide the green means go, because 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:19.920 that seems to be one of the most I mean, 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:22.960 it sounds simple, but we see it everywhere like green 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:26.480 and red. In Western culture, red means stop, go back. 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:29.920 Green means yes, go forward, everything's good. I've mentioned on 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:31.960 the podcast before that I've read that that has to 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:36.320 be inverted or altered for say, Chinese audiences, where red 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.520 is held in such high esteem that the idea of 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:44.399 using red to signify in some cases something negative or 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:48.960 or secondary just simply doesn't work with with the predominant 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:52.879 color theory of the culture. Yeah. Um, yeah, I feel 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:56.920 like green should not mean go, it should mean relax, chill. Yeah, 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:02.320