1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 2: Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind listener mail. 3 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 2: My name is Robert Lamb. 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 3: And I am Joe McCormick, and hey, welcome back, Rob 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 3: and I. We were out for a week, but now 6 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,800 Speaker 3: we've returned to resume the Halloween season on the show. 7 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 3: If you're new to Stuff to Blow your Mind, you're 8 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 3: not familiar with what we do. Every year, we spend 9 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 3: all of October covering spooky topics on Stuff to Blow 10 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,200 Speaker 3: Your Mind, And accordingly, most of our listener mail today 11 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 3: maybe all of it will be in response to Halloween 12 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 3: topics we've already done on the show. And man, our 13 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 3: loyal mail bot Carney, really seems to be in the 14 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,480 Speaker 3: Halloween spirit. I received word from our it tech here 15 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 3: that Carney was recently upgraded with a new chip from 16 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 3: the Stone Hinge Magic Stone, and now he is aggressively 17 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 3: asking us to try on these masks. He's got a 18 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 3: pumpkin mask for me, Rob. Is this a witch masket? 19 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 2: I think it is. 20 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 3: I'm not sure what this is about, but he wants 21 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 3: us to put them on on Halloween Night. 22 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,639 Speaker 2: All right, I can't do I can't imagine any issue 23 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 2: with that. Let's do it probably around midnight, I'm thinking, Oh, and. 24 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 3: There's supposed to be a special commercial on TV, so 25 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 3: we'll see what happens. But we got nine more days 26 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 3: before then, so there's plenty more Halloween stuff to do 27 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 3: before the big day. Rob By the way, so you 28 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,680 Speaker 3: were out of town while you were out, anything you 29 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 3: want to share about your trip? Where'd you go? 30 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, I mean that's the thing about October. It's 31 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 2: also always a there's always a fall break week in there. 32 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 2: So the fam and I we went out to California, 33 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 2: visited Somemoi's California family out there, and while we were there, 34 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 2: we went to let's see, Kings Canyon National Park, Assemity 35 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 2: National Park, the Lake Tahoe regions. So yeah, California listeners, 36 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 2: you have some excellent natural environments out there, though, though 37 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 2: I do have to mention the Kings Canyon due to 38 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 2: some forest fire in the region, the Happy Fire, I 39 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 2: believe is what it's dubbed. We had a very mordoor 40 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,679 Speaker 2: ask environment there. It was still still beautiful country, but 41 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 2: there was definitely a smoky, ashy haze that did make 42 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 2: for some excellent photographs. We had a photo of like 43 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 2: me and my son and it looks like a band photo. 44 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 2: It looked pretty cool. 45 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 3: The fires of industry burning around door thonk make the urchai. 46 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, not so good for the lungs, but good 47 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 2: for the optics. 48 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 3: All right, Well, rob if you don't mind, I'm going 49 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 3: to kick things off with this first message in response 50 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 3: to our series of episodes on Trains of Terror. 51 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 2: Yes, let's jump into it. 52 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,919 Speaker 3: So during the episodes, we asked listeners to send in 53 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 3: their local ghost train lore if you had any, and 54 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,679 Speaker 3: this first message really sent me down some interesting trails. 55 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 3: So this is from and here's a good reminder, folks, 56 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 3: if you write into the show, we will usually just 57 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 3: identify you by your first name, but you can use 58 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 3: a pseudonym too if you want. This message is from 59 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 3: really cool wizard. All right, really cool wizard, says Robert 60 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 3: and Joe. All familiar cordialities in regards to the frequency 61 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,399 Speaker 3: I listened to your broadcast and the rarity in which 62 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 3: I write in. But this week this was a temptation 63 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 3: because one of my local haunts has a ghost train 64 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 3: story of sorts. Down in San Antonio, Texas. There is 65 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 3: an urban legend that there was a car filled with 66 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 3: orphans that became trapped on a train track at midnight 67 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 3: and was decimated by a passing train sometime during the 68 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 3: Great Depression. This all happened allegedly in a location which 69 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 3: is now an abandoned industrial district. This is ideal, as 70 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 3: in the dead of night, the darkness is ever present 71 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 3: and the wilderness has crept into the desolate reminiscence of 72 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 3: a bygone era. The practice is to cover the back 73 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 3: of your car in baby powder and park on the tracks. 74 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 3: Parentheses not a good idea. The ghost children will push 75 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 3: your vehicle off of the tracks, and when you check 76 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 3: the back of your vehicle, you will witness their fingerprints 77 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 3: pressed into the powder. This is a brilliant haunt. It 78 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 3: has this A plus B equal C characteristic to it. 79 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 3: This isn't a bloody marry or a beetlejuice scenario where 80 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 3: you can conduct the action and prove it to be 81 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 3: a falsity meant to scare you. With this urban legend, 82 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 3: if you follow the steps, everything will actually happen. Now, 83 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 3: I suspect as many do that your car rolls because 84 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,719 Speaker 3: tracks are beveled to deter rain and other weather as 85 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 3: mentioned in your show, guys, and the fingerprints you are 86 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,480 Speaker 3: witnessing are likely your own. Still, I appreciate that someone 87 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 3: thought up the scare. It's worth mentioning that the census 88 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,480 Speaker 3: has the population of San Antonio well over two million, 89 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 3: and I've never met anyone who hasn't at a minimum, 90 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 3: visited the ghost tracks. Love the show. Really cool, Wizard, 91 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,359 Speaker 3: Well Wizard, thank you for your email. I thought this 92 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,280 Speaker 3: story was really interesting, so I decided to dig a 93 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 3: little bit deeper. And yes, not only did I find 94 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 3: plenty of versions of the story bouncing around all over 95 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 3: the web, I also found extensive evidence of Texas locals 96 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:19,039 Speaker 3: who seemed not only aware of, but rather attached to 97 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 3: the story and the phenomenon you described with like the 98 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 3: rolling car and the fingerprints. So one of the sources 99 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:29,280 Speaker 3: I came across was a local news article from ksat 100 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 3: San Antonio from October nineteenth, twenty eighteen, reporting on work 101 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 3: that Union Pacific had slated for the intersection that month. 102 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 3: This is the intersection where the haunting is said to occur, 103 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 3: and the work scheduled would allegedly put an end to 104 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 3: the ghost track phenomenon. So how exactly would that work? 105 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 3: How would upgrading the rail line banish the ghosts? Well, 106 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 3: the plan for the project included laying two miles of 107 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 3: new siding track to accommodate increased rail traffic passing through 108 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 3: San Antonio, and this would be a new line running 109 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 3: parallel to the existing one, and adding the second set 110 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 3: of tracks changes the slope of the intersection. And this 111 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,359 Speaker 3: is what will, according to this article, put a stop 112 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,360 Speaker 3: to cars seeming to be pushed by invisible hands. Now, 113 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 3: in the email, a really cool wizard suspects that the 114 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 3: cars roll because the tracks are beveled or raised for 115 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 3: drainage purposes, and this does appear to be the likely explanation, 116 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 3: or at least close to the likely explanation. In this 117 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,600 Speaker 3: news article, it's explained that for some reason, the segment 118 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 3: of road intersecting the tracks appears to be, or did 119 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 3: appear to be before the upgrade slightly uphill in one direction, 120 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 3: but it's actually in reality slightly downhill in that direction. 121 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 3: And I'm going to come back to this issue in 122 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:56,720 Speaker 3: just a minute. But anyway, because of that, adding the 123 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:01,039 Speaker 3: second set of tracks would eliminate the illusory slow As 124 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:03,359 Speaker 3: for the fingerprints. I thought this was kind of interesting. 125 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,679 Speaker 3: Our correspondent here seems to be on the right track. Again. 126 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 3: If you sprinkle baby powder on your car in any circumstance, 127 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 3: there's a good chance that if you look closely, you 128 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 3: will see fingerprints. Even if you were very careful not 129 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 3: to touch your car after you did it, the fingerprints 130 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 3: that you see were already there, left by you or 131 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 3: whoever else has been touching your car lately. By adding 132 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 3: the baby powder, you are essentially dusting for prints. Now 133 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 3: in this article, A spokesman for Union Pacific told the 134 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 3: news station that the project was not designed to get 135 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 3: rid of the ghost track phenomenon, but this was kind 136 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 3: of an added benefit because, from his perspective, the urban 137 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 3: legend encouraged people to engage in unsafe behaviors at a 138 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 3: railroad crossing. Hard to argue with that. 139 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, you don't want to go messing around some 140 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 2: train tracks. Some trains don't like it, and they don't 141 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 2: mind showing you. 142 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 3: But so there was a TV segment covering this story 143 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 3: as well, and their location reporter was asking people about it. 144 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 3: You know, do you know about the ghost tracks? Oh? Yeah, 145 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 3: have you tried it? And so forth. But when people 146 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 3: they talked to found out about the changes coming, they 147 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 3: seem to be quite upset about the idea that this 148 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 3: tradition would be made obsolete. One person, talking about the 149 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 3: idea that, like the car wouldn't roll off the tracks anymore, said, 150 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 3: isn't that illegal to make the changes? I mean, I 151 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,320 Speaker 3: guess it's kind of perceived as like a crime against 152 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:38,080 Speaker 3: culture to make an urban legend no longer work. But 153 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 3: I did want to come back to the idea of 154 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 3: illusory slopes because I was looking into this, and I 155 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 3: think this is actually a fairly interesting phenomenon. It's the 156 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 3: principle behind probably dozens of minor tourist tractions in the 157 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,640 Speaker 3: United States alone, and there are ones in other continents 158 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 3: and countries as well, But in the US they're very 159 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:03,240 Speaker 3: often called mystery hill or gravity hills, or just mystery spots. 160 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:06,680 Speaker 3: There's one that I've been to before that was near Boone, 161 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 3: North Carolina. I think it was actually in Blowing Rock 162 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 3: that is called mystery hill. And there are places with 163 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 3: what appears to be anomalous gravitational phenomena, so you know, 164 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:21,559 Speaker 3: you put a ball on the ground and it looks 165 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 3: like it is rolling uphill, or you have people stand 166 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 3: at what feels like straight up, but it looks like 167 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 3: a forty five degree angle. Why aren't they falling over? Right? 168 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 3: Have you ever been one of these tourist attractions. 169 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 2: Rob, I mean I might have, but I never really 170 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 2: checked gravity while I'm on vacation. Is there are these 171 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:42,000 Speaker 2: the places where they brew the high gravity IPAs. I 172 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 2: also don't know much about beer. 173 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 3: Ah, well, you know that would be a if somebody 174 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:49,199 Speaker 3: hasn't done that tie in, that's a crime. Right, You've 175 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 3: got to have a high gravity brewery at the gravity 176 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 3: hill because Yeah, these attractions often propose some weird, fake 177 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 3: scientific explanation why it happens. They say, there's there's an 178 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:04,960 Speaker 3: electromagnetic disturbance, you know, a gravitational anomaly in the Earth's crust, 179 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 3: or like a great mass of magnetic material in the hill, 180 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:11,199 Speaker 3: something like that. I think I came across one. I 181 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 3: think that said there's like a buried black hole or something. 182 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 3: These explanations tend to be for fun. Sometimes they straight 183 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 3: up blame it on ghosts or another supernatural cause. The 184 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 3: real reason in every case that I could find sources 185 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 3: on is at the same time, fairly mundane and kind 186 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 3: of interesting in analyzing how our perception of up and 187 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:36,440 Speaker 3: down works. So the mundane explanation is that these mystery 188 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 3: spots are visual illusions. There's nothing unusual at all happening 189 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 3: with respect to gravity. There are little anomalous differences in 190 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 3: gravity at different spots on the surface of the Earth, 191 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:51,439 Speaker 3: but the differences are so small they would not cause 192 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 3: a ball to roll uphill that that's not that's not 193 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:56,960 Speaker 3: going to be the case with any of these places. Instead, 194 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 3: there is something about the location which causes an uphill 195 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 3: slope to look like a downhill slope, or causes an 196 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 3: inclined slope to look flat. So, for example, you can 197 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 3: have a place where the slope of a hill is 198 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 3: surrounded by maybe trees and buildings, and you expect trees 199 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 3: and buildings to always be sticking straight up, perfectly perpendicular 200 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 3: from the ground. But if you're in a place where 201 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 3: the trees are leaning slightly, maybe the trees are leaning 202 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:32,840 Speaker 3: slightly downhill, and the buildings are leaning slightly downhill, and 203 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 3: your view of the horizon is obstructed by all of 204 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,800 Speaker 3: this stuff around you, the slope of the hill could 205 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 3: actually look like it is descending to the south. But 206 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 3: then you place a ball on the ground and it 207 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 3: will roll apparently uphill to the north. The ball isn't 208 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 3: actually rolling up hill. It's just that the visual cues 209 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:51,959 Speaker 3: in your environment are tricking your brain about which way 210 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,960 Speaker 3: is downhill. And there was actually a study about this 211 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:58,160 Speaker 3: I came across that was published in the journal Psychological 212 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,439 Speaker 3: Science in the year two thousand and three by Paula Bresson, 213 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 3: Luigi Garla Shelly, and Monica Bericano called anti gravity hills 214 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:11,520 Speaker 3: are visual illusions? Always love a research paper title that 215 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 3: is like a full sentence and states the core finding. Yeah. 216 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,720 Speaker 3: The researchers who looked into this were affiliated with the 217 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 3: University of Padua and the University of Pavia, both in Italy, 218 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:26,559 Speaker 3: and in this study, the authors recreated the conditions of 219 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 3: various anti gravity attractions using laboratory settings with like planks 220 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 3: of wood and stuff to create slopes and then the 221 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:37,960 Speaker 3: appearance of different kinds of surroundings, and they write, quote, 222 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:41,200 Speaker 3: we conclude that anti gravity hill effects follow from a 223 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 3: misperception of the eye level relative to gravity, caused by 224 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 3: the presence of either contextual inclines or a false horizon line. 225 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 3: So if subjects. If people could see a true horizon, 226 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 3: they were much less likely to fall for the illusion. 227 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 3: If the true horizon were obscured, though, then it was 228 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 3: more likely. They also say quote when proceeded, followed or 229 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 3: flanked by a steep downhill slope, a slight downhill stretch 230 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:14,920 Speaker 3: is perceived as uphill. So you can have a slight 231 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 3: downhill incline that looks like it's going uphill if it's 232 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 3: surrounded by steeper downhill grades. And another interesting psychological quirk 233 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 3: is that they apparently discovered that our with our perception, 234 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 3: it's easier to create the illusion in one direction than 235 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,439 Speaker 3: it is in the other. Specifically, it's easier to trick 236 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 3: the brain into falsely seeing a surface as tilted uphill 237 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 3: than it is to trick the brain into falsely seeing 238 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 3: a surface as downhill. Maybe we're just primed to notice 239 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 3: uphill because I don't know looking at an uphill slope 240 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 3: ahead of you. You're trying to do the calculations to 241 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 3: be like, Okay, this is going to be more work 242 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 3: to walk up or something. But also there was a 243 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 3: quote from the researchers that made me laugh. This was 244 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 3: quoted in a science reporting piece on it where they 245 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 3: say quote. After each observer's task was concluded, we placed 246 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,520 Speaker 3: a small roll of tape on the misperceived slope, and 247 00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 3: the tape appeared to move against the law of gravity, 248 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 3: producing surprise and on occasion, reverential fear. So I was 249 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 3: looking at some images of this San Antonio rail crossing 250 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 3: where the ghosts allegedly pushed the car off, and I 251 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 3: couldn't tell exactly what it is about this location that 252 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 3: would cause people to misperceive the downhill slope, or to 253 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 3: think that it was flat, or to think it was 254 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,040 Speaker 3: uphill when it was actually downhill. There are trees and 255 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 3: telephone poles around that may have something to do with it. 256 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 3: It might also just have something to do with the 257 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:47,640 Speaker 3: crossing's relationship to the surrounding roads. It could be masking 258 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 3: a kind of raised or beveled area like a really 259 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 3: cool wizard was talking about. But I also am still 260 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 3: thinking about how I don't know. It's just interesting that 261 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 3: in that reporting people were feeling up set that a 262 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 3: physical alteration of transportation infrastructure would destroy a visual illusion 263 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:09,400 Speaker 3: that causes people to believe in ghosts touching their car. 264 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's like you have some sort of 265 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:17,480 Speaker 2: little curio like this. There's a lot of you know, 266 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 2: there's a lot of culture built up around it. So 267 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 2: I guess it's understandable if you feel like it is 268 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 2: threatened in the same way you feel threatened when aling 269 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 2: like local businesses that are institutions might go away, you know, 270 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 2: or just curious landmarks will go away. I mean, it's 271 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 2: just part of it's part of the landscape, and you 272 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 2: want it to remain a part of your life. 273 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, they can't close the old ghost pushing store. 274 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, but if they turn it into a microbrewery for 275 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 2: high gravity ipa, I guess it's all right. 276 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:51,280 Speaker 3: Brewers out there, take this idea and run with it. 277 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, and roll right in and tell me. Why is 278 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,000 Speaker 2: it called a high gravity beer? I have no idea. 279 00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 3: I think that just means higher alcohol, doesn't it. 280 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:03,880 Speaker 2: That it's that's kind of an elaborate way of stating it. 281 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 2: Just say it's like boozier, right, higher alcohol level. 282 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 3: Stronger beer. I don't know. Maybe gravity has something to 283 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 3: do with I wonder if there's some kind of something 284 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 3: about the brewing process that involves gravity that results in 285 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 3: a stronger, more alcoholic brewer. I don't know. 286 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 2: I'm just not I'm just not hip to the terminology. 287 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 2: All right, this next one, I see you have this 288 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:39,240 Speaker 2: one labeled as another great horror story, so I'm gonna 289 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 2: i'm sight unseen. I haven't read this one yet. I'm 290 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 2: gonna try and give it a nice creepy read. Here 291 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 2: we go. Good morning, Robert and Joe. I just started 292 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 2: listening to your second episode on ghost Trains and it 293 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 2: reminded me of a spooky experience my wife and I 294 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 2: had a couple of years ago. One night, at around 295 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 2: two am, my wife and I woke up to a thundering, 296 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:05,479 Speaker 2: monotone sound that felt like it was coming from all 297 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:09,159 Speaker 2: around our apartment. The sound was relentless and jarring. My 298 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 2: brains still hazy, immediately thought aliens are officially real and 299 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,639 Speaker 2: we are about to be abducted. My wife did not 300 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:19,720 Speaker 2: want me to peek through our curtains to see what 301 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,959 Speaker 2: it was, and our dog was shook. The sound kept going, 302 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:27,160 Speaker 2: and as time passed it started to distort and warble, 303 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 2: which did not ease my mind. Like any human being 304 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 2: questioning their sanity, we went to social media, hoping that 305 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:38,440 Speaker 2: other people in the area might be experiencing this sound. 306 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,719 Speaker 2: Multiple people seemed to have the same question about this sound, 307 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:46,880 Speaker 2: but did not have answers. This roaring sound went on 308 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:49,840 Speaker 2: for what felt like hours until our brains finally were 309 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,160 Speaker 2: able to drown it out and sleep. The next day, 310 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 2: we learned it was not aliens, but instead a conductor 311 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,960 Speaker 2: operating a train. Apparently he decided to end his ship 312 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 2: when his replacement was late and left with the train 313 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,200 Speaker 2: horn on full blast. No one turned off the horn 314 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,440 Speaker 2: until later that morning. I hope you enjoyed this anecdotal 315 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:14,720 Speaker 2: account that ended up related to trains. It was one 316 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 2: of the eeriest experiences of my life, and I could 317 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 2: really see a good scary story involving trains leaning into that. 318 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 2: Thanks for reading. I love the podcast and I hope 319 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 2: you guys keep it up for years to come. Best Jake, Well. 320 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 3: Thank you Jake that that email for me. It started 321 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:34,239 Speaker 3: very spooky and it ended very funny. So that if 322 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:37,160 Speaker 3: I understand right, you're saying that the conductor just literally 323 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 3: left the horn on full blast and it did. 324 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,199 Speaker 2: Not stop all night. Yeah. I mean, I'm used to 325 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 2: a lot of racket from the trains, because again I 326 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:50,919 Speaker 2: live right next to them, but this would definitely disturb 327 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 2: my sleep if it was something, you know, out of 328 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 2: the ordinary and consistent like this. True ghost trains, I 329 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:00,640 Speaker 2: guess are usually they're more fleeting, like they're they're through. 330 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,760 Speaker 2: It's not what is that sound that won't stop? It 331 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 2: is what was that sound that I heard briefly in 332 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 2: the night. 333 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, And it's also funny how something like of that sort, 334 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,639 Speaker 3: like a like a loud scary sound, can only be 335 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 3: scary for a certain limited amount of time before it's 336 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:19,680 Speaker 3: not scary anymore and just becomes annoying. 337 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, especially if it becomes obvious that it has no 338 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,119 Speaker 2: real meaning or import you know, it is not a 339 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 2: warning siren. It is not trying to tell you something 340 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,880 Speaker 2: about what the train is doing. It is just malfunctioning. Yeah, 341 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 2: that's a good point. It can't be a warning if 342 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 2: it's just like, you know, like somebody leaning. 343 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:42,800 Speaker 3: On the horn all night. All right, I'm gonna do this. 344 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 3: Next message from Dennis, Dennis says it's still on the 345 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 3: subject of horror trains. Hello, Rob, Joe and JJ. Your 346 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:58,399 Speaker 3: recent pair of episodes on ghost trains reminded me of 347 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:04,120 Speaker 3: a local celebrity of sorts. It's Lower Bay Station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 348 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,919 Speaker 3: Lower Bay was part of an experiment in subway routing 349 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:11,639 Speaker 3: that the TTC, the Toronto Transit Commission, the agency that 350 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 3: administers public transit in the city, ran and subsequently abandoned. 351 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:21,720 Speaker 3: It's an almost complete subway station underneath the existing Bay 352 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:25,719 Speaker 3: Street station, right in the middle of downtown Toronto. It 353 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 3: was used for a few months in nineteen sixty six, 354 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:33,160 Speaker 3: but proved confusing and was abandoned in short order. It's 355 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:36,239 Speaker 3: not accessible by the public, and trains bypass it as 356 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,680 Speaker 3: part of their normal route, so most people aren't even 357 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,960 Speaker 3: aware it's there. It's basically a duplicate of the existing 358 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:49,600 Speaker 3: Bay Street station, just unused by commuters. Oh wow, Oh, 359 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,640 Speaker 3: this is a great tie into our variation we talked 360 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 3: about in these episodes, where it's not the train that's 361 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 3: spectral but the station. There's like a sort of otherworldly 362 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:01,880 Speaker 3: stop that maybe exist or doesn't exist in physical space. 363 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 3: Let's see. And then Dennis links to a blog that 364 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:09,679 Speaker 3: has photos of the station. Robi also included in our 365 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 3: outline a photo I found of the station platform that 366 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 3: is gorgeous. Oh my, like the it's got these blue 367 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 3: and yellow colored tile patterns. On the floor. That looks 368 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 3: so cool. It looks you know, I just want all 369 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:30,120 Speaker 3: the John Carpenter movies shot in this station, and let's see. 370 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 3: Dennis goes on to say, what's interesting is that, unlike 371 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:36,760 Speaker 3: a traditional abandoned station, Lower Bay is still maintained. It's 372 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,240 Speaker 3: designed in the same style and has been regularly updated 373 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,919 Speaker 3: to test everything from floor cleaning and repair techniques to 374 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 3: safety technologies to train car driver training. And as such, 375 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 3: it's lit, kept up and maintained, but otherwise completely empty 376 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,440 Speaker 3: most of the time. This just gets better and better, 377 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,960 Speaker 3: Dennis says. What's even more interesting is that it's probably famous, 378 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 3: albeit unknowingly two stuff to blow your mind listeners as 379 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 3: the go to location for many, many, many weird house 380 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:12,520 Speaker 3: grade films and TV series. Toronto stands in for New 381 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:16,120 Speaker 3: York with some regularity, but Lower Bay punches above its 382 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:20,400 Speaker 3: weight even by that standard. Here's a list of films 383 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,600 Speaker 3: that Lower Bay features in, in no particular order. Feel 384 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,399 Speaker 3: free to chop this list for brevity. Okay, it's in 385 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,200 Speaker 3: Johnny naemonic from nineteen ninety five, it's in Mimic from 386 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:35,120 Speaker 3: nineteen ninety seven. That one, yeah, yeah, does that take 387 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 3: place in a museum or my thinking of Relic. 388 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,760 Speaker 2: You're thinking of Relic. Mimic is the Del Toro picture 389 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:45,479 Speaker 2: that is based on an excellent short story about giant 390 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:50,600 Speaker 2: insects that have begun mimicking human beings. And there were 391 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,920 Speaker 2: some real problems with production to who the producers were 392 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 2: on that picture, if I remember correctly, but he came 393 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 2: out did a director's cut. I believe it's one of 394 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:03,760 Speaker 2: the few cases where the director's cut is shorter than 395 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 2: the original theatrical release. But great cast, cool monsters. I mean, 396 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:10,880 Speaker 2: you expect as much from theon mental tour. 397 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 3: Oh okay, maybe we'll have to come check that out 398 00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:16,000 Speaker 3: for weird house. Yeah, I was confusing it with Relic, 399 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:18,479 Speaker 3: the one that takes place in like the Field Museum, 400 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 3: maybe in some museum anyway. But also Dennis says that, yes, 401 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:28,480 Speaker 3: Mimick is, according to him, about human sized, genetically engineered, 402 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 3: hyper intelligent cockroaches. 403 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:30,679 Speaker 2: There you go. 404 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:33,879 Speaker 3: Also, oh, how could we not lead with this? It 405 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 3: is an overdrawn at the Memory Bank starring Raul Julia 406 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 3: featured in a famous Mystery Science Theater three thousand episode. 407 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 3: Oh boy, do you remember what part of the movie 408 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 3: this would be? 409 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 2: Rob ooh there are a few different locations. There's some 410 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:52,920 Speaker 2: great Toronto locations. I think in that picture it was 411 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,359 Speaker 2: a Canadian production of Memory Serves, and I think it 412 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,200 Speaker 2: would this one would probably be more of a shoe 413 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,639 Speaker 2: in for us if there was a great to watch it. 414 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 2: If Memory Serves, this one has not been really released 415 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 2: in any acceptable format. I think you have to buy 416 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 2: a Last time I checked, you had to buy a 417 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:12,880 Speaker 2: VHS tape to get it. Maybe maybe there's been some 418 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,200 Speaker 2: sort of release since then. But there's some great mall 419 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 2: shots in that picture for sure. 420 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:21,879 Speaker 3: Yeah, distributors, if you're listening, get overdrawn at the Memory 421 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 3: Bank on disc. Get it for us. I want a 422 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 3: pristine Blu Ray. I want to see Fingle in all 423 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:28,640 Speaker 3: his glory. 424 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 2: I mean, it has a lot of great ideas in it. 425 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 2: It's it's it's it's wonderful to riff on, but it 426 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 2: has a great cast and it has has some interesting 427 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:40,359 Speaker 2: concepts based on what a John Varley novel of Memory Serves. 428 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,199 Speaker 3: Okay, the list does not stop there. Dennis goes on 429 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,080 Speaker 3: to say that it's in dark Man from nineteen ninety. 430 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:48,200 Speaker 2: The great one. 431 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:52,919 Speaker 3: Oh who is that? Who directed that? Sam Raimi? Right? 432 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,240 Speaker 3: M Yep, apparently it's in time Shifters. I think I've 433 00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 3: seen this one, but I don't recall it. This is 434 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 3: from nineteen ninety nine. Dennis calls this a Casper Van 435 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,639 Speaker 3: Deen classic, except the original email speed spelled his name 436 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,720 Speaker 3: Casper van Diem. I guess brother of Karpe. It's in 437 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 3: The Recruit from two thousand and three. I don't know 438 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:18,199 Speaker 3: that movie, the Sound from twenty seventeen, Extreme Measures from 439 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:22,719 Speaker 3: ninety six, Bait from two thousand, Bless the Child from 440 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,000 Speaker 3: two thousand, Bulletproof, Monk from two thousand and three. I 441 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 3: know less of these later movies. 442 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know these either, but yeah, certainly there's 443 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 2: plenty of other cases too, where it's Toronto standing in 444 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:35,680 Speaker 2: for New York. 445 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:40,040 Speaker 3: Anyway, Dennis's message continues, I've never actually seen the inside 446 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 3: of the station, except briefly through an open door to 447 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 3: the lower level, which piqued my interest at the time 448 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 3: because I didn't understand what I was looking at. I 449 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 3: have friends in the local film industry who've been in it, 450 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 3: and it is quite interesting to see, especially when it's 451 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,720 Speaker 3: cosplaying New York or Chicago. Thought you might find this 452 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 3: one interesting and thank you doubly for the years of 453 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 3: great content you've seen my way. Dennis. Well, thank you, Dennis. 454 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,199 Speaker 3: Great message. I knew nothing about this. I'm gonna have 455 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,160 Speaker 3: to check out that blog post and see what I've seen. 456 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:13,479 Speaker 2: Yeah, you pulled up some of these images from this 457 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,480 Speaker 2: phantom train station and they're they're very, very evocative. I 458 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:21,120 Speaker 2: love these. I've never been to Toronto. I need to 459 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:22,359 Speaker 2: rectify that at some point. 460 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, I've only ever had a layover at the airport there. 461 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 3: I've never visited the city, and I know it's supposed 462 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 3: to be a great city in a lot of ways. 463 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,040 Speaker 3: So I would love to see this station if I could. 464 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 3: An abandoned subway station that is still kept up is 465 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,560 Speaker 3: like that. That is such a delicious idea to me. 466 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:41,640 Speaker 2: All right. This next one comes to us from Jim 467 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:49,439 Speaker 2: in New Jersey. Jim Riot's Robert, Joe and JJ. You 468 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:53,120 Speaker 2: only briefly mentioned the linear nature of trains. There's only 469 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,360 Speaker 2: one major path through them. This aspect has been used 470 00:26:56,359 --> 00:27:00,480 Speaker 2: effectively in many train plots in movies and television. As 471 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,400 Speaker 2: for horror movies with trains, I'll submit train to Poissan 472 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 2: In this South Korean movie from twenty sixteen, a divorced 473 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,960 Speaker 2: father is taking his daughter from Soul to Bassan so 474 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,719 Speaker 2: she can spend her birthday with her mother. The zombie 475 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:15,440 Speaker 2: apocalypse occurs at the start of their journey, and an 476 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 2: infected person boards the train and quickly infects others. Most 477 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,840 Speaker 2: of the movie involves the uninfected passengers avoiding being bitten 478 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 2: by the infected passengers, and due to the linear nature 479 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 2: of the train, there's at least one scene where the 480 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:31,080 Speaker 2: uninfected have to battle through a car of the infected. 481 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 2: Jim in New Jersey, Oh, thanks, Jim. 482 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,160 Speaker 3: This movie has been on my list for years. It's 483 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 3: one of those I've got a bunch of movies like 484 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 3: this that I've been meaning to watch for a long time. 485 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,640 Speaker 3: I've always heard it's great, and I've never seen it yet. 486 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,320 Speaker 3: Maybe this October is the time I'll finally watch it. 487 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,639 Speaker 3: But yes, Jim, I think you're right about like the 488 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 3: linear nature of trains having some kind of thematic resonance 489 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,680 Speaker 3: in these stories. It's definitely there in Snow Piercer the way, 490 00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 3: like you know, the making your way through through the 491 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 3: train one car at a time, and each train is 492 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:06,880 Speaker 3: kind of each car is its own miniature world. And 493 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,159 Speaker 3: having to fight through them one at a time to 494 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:09,879 Speaker 3: get to the front. 495 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,000 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, this is definitely a post snow Piercer film. 496 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 2: I can't help but notice. But you know, it's again, 497 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 2: it's a great concept, like the train creates a linear 498 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:24,320 Speaker 2: world for us, and in more than one way. You know, 499 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,919 Speaker 2: linear space is one car after after another, and then 500 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:30,919 Speaker 2: you're headed from point A to point B. It just 501 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:34,919 Speaker 2: I don't know, it just works so well with linear storytelling, right. 502 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, totally. And when the story involves a kind of 503 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 3: adventure or journey or track of moving through the cars 504 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 3: gives you a very natural kind of structure. There's only 505 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 3: one way to go, and that can sometimes be fun 506 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,320 Speaker 3: for stories, you know, having having the physical environment in 507 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:54,120 Speaker 3: which the story takes place shape the direction of the 508 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,560 Speaker 3: narrative can be It can be a fun riding exercise. 509 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 2: M all right, speaking of linear progress, what is the 510 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 2: next listener mail in our chain of listener mails? 511 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,040 Speaker 3: All right? This next message comes from Anna, And at 512 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 3: the beginning of this message, Anna brings up something we 513 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 3: were talking about in the Trains episode where where a 514 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 3: ghost train is a kind of interesting thing because it 515 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,960 Speaker 3: can be like a ghost in that it can be 516 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 3: a spectral entity itself that you know, kind of appears 517 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:34,479 Speaker 3: and then vanishes, just like an individual embodied human ghost. 518 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 3: But then it can also be like a haunted location, 519 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:40,920 Speaker 3: like a haunted house, because a train is something you 520 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,440 Speaker 3: can go inside. There's an interior environment, so technically a 521 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 3: train could be haunted. And we talked about the sort 522 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 3: of the differences there. It seems to be more often 523 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 3: that ghost train stories are more like the train is 524 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:56,760 Speaker 3: the ghost, rather than it's like a haunted house. But 525 00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:00,440 Speaker 3: it could in principle be the latter. Let's see. Anna 526 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:03,360 Speaker 3: goes on to say, hello, Robert and Joe, I really 527 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,920 Speaker 3: enjoyed your episodes on Trains of Terror. You were talking 528 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:09,959 Speaker 3: about haunted trains versus haunted ships. I think ships are 529 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:14,480 Speaker 3: different because people actually lived on ships, so that would 530 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 3: make them more like a haunted house. And I think 531 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 3: that's a good point. Yeah, that you can have the 532 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:24,720 Speaker 3: idea of a haunted ship makes more sense because more 533 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:29,080 Speaker 3: of life was taking place there, whereas treating a train 534 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 3: like a haunted house feels a little bit less intuitive 535 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 3: because people don't spend as much of their life on 536 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:36,200 Speaker 3: the train, you know, they just kind of get on 537 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 3: and get off. But somebody might live on a ship 538 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 3: for months or something, or. 539 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know. There's nothing that happens on a 540 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 2: ship that doesn't happen on a train. Name one thing, 541 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 2: it's happened on a train, gotten a fish. Yes, it's 542 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 2: happened on a train. I guarantee you. 543 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 3: Okay, well, fair enough, let's see. And his message goes 544 00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,080 Speaker 3: on to say, also, I think one thing you did 545 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:01,560 Speaker 3: not cover is that when you're on a train, you 546 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,440 Speaker 3: can get a glimpse into the lives of other people. 547 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,560 Speaker 3: Maybe you witness something terrible, like a murder, but there 548 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,360 Speaker 3: is nothing you can really do about it. This would 549 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:14,160 Speaker 3: partly fit into the unchangeable fate aspect of trains, But 550 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 3: I do think there's something slightly spooky about just getting 551 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 3: a glimpse into other people's lives. Well respectfully, and I 552 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 3: think we did get into this a little bit. This 553 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:25,160 Speaker 3: is sort of what we were talking about with the 554 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 3: idea of the train stories having these themes of alienation, 555 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 3: like with the Sherlock Holmes monologue where he's looking out 556 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,360 Speaker 3: the train the train window and imagining all of the 557 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,400 Speaker 3: horrors and the sordid details and the miseries in the 558 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:45,320 Speaker 3: places he sees as he goes by. I think this 559 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,560 Speaker 3: is actually a common thing in a lot of train stories. Yeah, 560 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 3: this feeling of like that you can see other people, 561 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:53,800 Speaker 3: but you're only passing by, and there's no way to 562 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:58,160 Speaker 3: get out and interact. So there's this built in disconnect 563 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:04,240 Speaker 3: from the rest of humanity which you witness out the windows. Yeah. Yeah, 564 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:06,840 Speaker 3: bridging this email a little bit, and I also includes 565 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,240 Speaker 3: a very nice poem on the theme of getting a 566 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:12,800 Speaker 3: glimpse into other people's lives through the windows of a train, 567 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:16,880 Speaker 3: which is very nice indeed. But then she goes on 568 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 3: to say the next thing I wanted to mention is 569 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 3: the musical Starlight Express. It's a musical about a train 570 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:26,000 Speaker 3: that only exists in the imagination. It's very cheesy and 571 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 3: a lot of fun. When I was growing up, the 572 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:32,480 Speaker 3: Starlight Express soundtrack was in high rotation in our house. Lastly, 573 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,560 Speaker 3: I don't have an example of a ghost train, but 574 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,200 Speaker 3: there it was an incident in our family that we 575 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 3: call the phantom ute. For context, a ute is similar 576 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:44,719 Speaker 3: to a pickup truck. It is short for utility vehicle. 577 00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:48,880 Speaker 3: I think this is Australian slaying. I'm pretty sure about that. Okay, 578 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,200 Speaker 3: and it says we were traveling down an unpaved country 579 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 3: road at night, so it was really dark. We were 580 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:58,000 Speaker 3: the only ones on the road. We approached a crossroad 581 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:02,280 Speaker 3: and a white ute just try through the crossroad. Because 582 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:04,360 Speaker 3: of the dark. It seemed to come from nowhere and 583 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,840 Speaker 3: then disappear, so it was kind of haunting. Anyway, I 584 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:10,040 Speaker 3: hope you've enjoyed my stories. Keep up the good work. 585 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 3: In a Yeah, if you've ever had the experience of 586 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 3: coming across a moving car in the night, well you've 587 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,680 Speaker 3: got your headlights headlights on, but the other car does 588 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 3: not have its headlights on. I find that. Ah, that 589 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,719 Speaker 3: is a very surprising and memorable experience. 590 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,520 Speaker 2: You know, this mention of Starlight Express. This is a 591 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 2: musical that I've only ever been familiar with the name of, 592 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 2: and it's kind of surprising because it's Andrew Lloyd Webber, 593 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 2: of course, a huge name in musicals, and growing up 594 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:42,320 Speaker 2: I was a big fan like The Phantom of the 595 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:46,480 Speaker 2: Opera and all, you know, horror musical with some really 596 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:50,440 Speaker 2: catchy numbers. But I know virtually nothing about Starlight Express. 597 00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 2: So I pulled it up your Palmer chatting, and I 598 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:58,400 Speaker 2: was instantly instantly recognized one of the names and interet Yes, 599 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:02,440 Speaker 2: sure enough. The original West End cast from nineteen eighty 600 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 2: four featured in the lead as Rusty ray Shell. Ray 601 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,880 Speaker 2: Shell played the character Shake in the Apple that we 602 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,400 Speaker 2: talked about in Weird House Cinema. So this was the 603 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,399 Speaker 2: character that it's kind of like the Devil's Number two. 604 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:21,319 Speaker 2: He's I think he's supposed to be very serpentine and 605 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,560 Speaker 2: at one point is in a speedo. But his very 606 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 2: flamboyant performance. Great, great performance in the Apple. 607 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 3: Oh yes, yeah, okay, So I didn't remember who you 608 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 3: were talking about at first, but now I've got him 609 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:36,839 Speaker 3: pulled up. He was great in the Apple. I loved him. 610 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:38,680 Speaker 3: I want to see all the movies he's in now. 611 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,640 Speaker 3: And so he's in the he's in the movie version 612 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:42,840 Speaker 3: of Starlight Express. 613 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,040 Speaker 2: Well, right, there's a movie version, I think. 614 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 3: So unless I'm wrong, Oh maybe I'm wrong, Maybe I 615 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:52,319 Speaker 3: am wrong. Sorry for smashing your dreams. No, you're right, 616 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 3: it's just a musical. It's not a movie as far 617 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:55,120 Speaker 3: as I can tell. 618 00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,400 Speaker 2: I was like, whey, is it not a movie? It 619 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,200 Speaker 2: seems like Andrew Lai Webber, you'd make a movie yet. 620 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:02,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Well, I would love to see this. I 621 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:04,480 Speaker 3: wish there were a movie. I'm sure I could go 622 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:06,640 Speaker 3: listen to the soundtrack, but yeah, but i'll do. 623 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:08,640 Speaker 2: I was glancing at the soundtrack and I'm like, I 624 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:11,200 Speaker 2: don't recognize any of these songs either. So this one 625 00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:15,600 Speaker 2: was just completely off my radar. But again, I certainly 626 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,160 Speaker 2: loved some of vanrew lke Webber's work in the past. 627 00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:23,319 Speaker 3: There are, wait, there are characters that I'm not understanding this. 628 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:26,680 Speaker 3: It seems like characters are trains. They're not people on 629 00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 3: a train. But there's like a character who is who 630 00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:34,160 Speaker 3: is the Trans Siberian Express engine and a character who 631 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:36,160 Speaker 3: is I don't know, some other engine. 632 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:39,040 Speaker 2: Maybe this is too high concept. That's why they never 633 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:40,320 Speaker 2: made end into a movie. 634 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:42,320 Speaker 3: All right, Well, after this, I'm gonna go listen to 635 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:43,200 Speaker 3: some of the soundtrack. 636 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,000 Speaker 2: All right. This next one comes to us from Ian 637 00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:49,000 Speaker 2: Ian says, gentlemen, great podcasts, you guys are the best, 638 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:51,840 Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera. A short time after listening to 639 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 2: Trains of Teror episode one, I was working at my 640 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:57,000 Speaker 2: desk while listening to ambient music, and I realized that 641 00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 2: the dark ambient album I was listening to on Spotify 642 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:03,279 Speaker 2: featured some top notch train of terror art. Look up 643 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 2: the album Echoes by artist Eternal Dystopia to see a 644 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:11,280 Speaker 2: grim photorealistic depiction of a blackened locomotive of the damned 645 00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:15,919 Speaker 2: with a single glowing red light cutting through the foggy hellscape. 646 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:18,560 Speaker 2: To me, this seemed a perfect example of the first 647 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:22,279 Speaker 2: type of train, one that isn't inherently malevolent itself, but 648 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 2: that is certainly staffed by a crew of the dead 649 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 2: looking for victims to ferry through the seven layers of hell. 650 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:32,640 Speaker 3: This is a very threatening looking train. It also looks 651 00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:35,680 Speaker 3: like I don't see any differentiation in this artwork from 652 00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:38,160 Speaker 3: the engine part of the train and the cars that follow. 653 00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:40,440 Speaker 3: It just looks like infinite engine going back. 654 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,120 Speaker 2: You know, I should mention here that there is in 655 00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:50,160 Speaker 2: the Dungeons and Dragons world of raven Loft full of 656 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:53,040 Speaker 2: domains of dread. One of the domains of dread is 657 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:58,759 Speaker 2: the Morning Rail Sirie thirteen thirteen, where the domain itself 658 00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:01,759 Speaker 2: is a train. I don't know that there's been a 659 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:05,600 Speaker 2: lot created officially around it. I mean, certainly fans and 660 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:09,960 Speaker 2: creators in the Dungeons and Dragons world have worked on it, 661 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,640 Speaker 2: but that one was one that caught my attention a 662 00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:16,680 Speaker 2: while back, and actually Dungeon mastered some at least a 663 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,480 Speaker 2: few encounters on this train. As I sort of envisioned 664 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:20,320 Speaker 2: it coming together. 665 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:24,239 Speaker 3: I don't know anything about raven Loft is, so that's 666 00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 3: like a different time or space setting where you'd have 667 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:28,520 Speaker 3: some technology. 668 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:31,719 Speaker 2: Well. No, the way it's come together, and these things 669 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:34,360 Speaker 2: evolve over time, is that you have these dark domains 670 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:40,560 Speaker 2: where these dark powers, unknowable entities, maybe gods, maybe something 671 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:46,759 Speaker 2: beyond God's who knows, pluck particularly evil beings out of 672 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:49,840 Speaker 2: other realms and kind of trap them in a pocket universe. 673 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:54,800 Speaker 2: And in that pocket universe they have absolute power usually 674 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,360 Speaker 2: but are also absolute prisoners of that realm. And so 675 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:01,080 Speaker 2: you know, inevitably you have players like popping in and 676 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:05,600 Speaker 2: out of these realms and encountering characters like Strad the 677 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:08,839 Speaker 2: Great Vampire of Dungeons and Dragons, and you know there'll 678 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:10,839 Speaker 2: be one they've gotten to the point where they have them, 679 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,480 Speaker 2: like one that is based on say Chinese mythology. There's 680 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:17,120 Speaker 2: another of course that has mummies in it and so forth. 681 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:20,360 Speaker 2: It's a really rich realm of dungeons and dragons in 682 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,480 Speaker 2: my opinion, but it too does have a cursed ghost train. Okay, 683 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,239 Speaker 2: anyway back to the email here. This caused me to 684 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:30,440 Speaker 2: look through my library and I quickly found a brilliant 685 00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:33,359 Speaker 2: example of the second type of terror train, one that 686 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,800 Speaker 2: most certainly is alive and malevolent. Check out the album 687 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:42,839 Speaker 2: cover of Orgasmatron by motor Ahead. The cover features a locomotive, 688 00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:47,080 Speaker 2: the front of which has transmorgrified into the band's iconic 689 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:52,800 Speaker 2: war pig mascot snaggletooth, belching smoke and fire while galloping 690 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:57,000 Speaker 2: across the darkened countryside like one of Lemmy's Juggernaut baselines. 691 00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:00,560 Speaker 2: This train definitely means you harm and will a fifth 692 00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:02,399 Speaker 2: of Jack Daniels while doing it. 693 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's the mascot has got the toothy mouth open, 694 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:08,880 Speaker 3: and I'm just thinking you're gonna get a lot of 695 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:10,280 Speaker 3: bugs in there, dude. 696 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:16,160 Speaker 2: I mean, maybe it has to consume bugs, you know, cows. 697 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:20,040 Speaker 3: The cowcatcher just sort of feeds everything up into the mouth. 698 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:22,960 Speaker 2: This one is new to me. I don't know this 699 00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:24,360 Speaker 2: particular Motorhead album. 700 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:25,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know it either. 701 00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:30,240 Speaker 2: Looks like the main track off of this is Death Forever, 702 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:33,920 Speaker 2: which is again not one I know. Anyway, the email continues. 703 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:36,000 Speaker 2: It didn't take long on Google to realize that there 704 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:38,680 Speaker 2: is quite the rabbit hole of album cover train art 705 00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:42,320 Speaker 2: to fall down, including other solid examples of the darker 706 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:45,320 Speaker 2: subject matter such as hell Bound Train by Savoy Brown, 707 00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,880 Speaker 2: The Coffin Train by Diamond Head, One Way Ticket to 708 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:53,520 Speaker 2: Hell and Back by the Darkness, and Swerve Driver's Last 709 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:58,319 Speaker 2: Train to Satansville. There are also many examples of the 710 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:01,160 Speaker 2: train image being used as a critique of modernity or 711 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:04,560 Speaker 2: as a shining example of the promise of that same modernity. 712 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:07,960 Speaker 2: Fair warning, there is also a stunning amount of cheesy 713 00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:11,399 Speaker 2: track featuring trains. No offense Rod Stewart, but please knock 714 00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:13,800 Speaker 2: it off. Take care, gents, and keep up the good work. 715 00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:16,920 Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't get the Rod Stewart reference. What's the 716 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:17,680 Speaker 3: Rod Stuart train? 717 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:19,200 Speaker 2: You have to look of Rod Stewart train? 718 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:24,160 Speaker 3: Now, apparently Rod Stewart is a model train enthusiast, like 719 00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:26,160 Speaker 3: he builds model trains. What's wrong with that? 720 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:31,800 Speaker 2: That's great, that's great love model trains. Yeah, I guess 721 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,720 Speaker 2: he had the track Downtown Train, So maybe it's that album. 722 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:38,840 Speaker 3: Oh okay, I don't know anything about that, but I 723 00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:42,360 Speaker 3: can't vouch for the song, but I support anyone's model 724 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:45,600 Speaker 3: train hobby. Go for it. Make those little cities, build 725 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:46,240 Speaker 3: those tracks. 726 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,600 Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh, I bet there's some spooky ones out there too. 727 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:52,279 Speaker 2: You generally see Christmas e ones, but there's gotta be 728 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:55,239 Speaker 2: some spooky model trains as well. 729 00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:59,239 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's a nice idea. You know what, I'd 730 00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:02,440 Speaker 3: even venture that. I'm certain we have at least one listener. 731 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,200 Speaker 3: You know who you are listening. You have a model 732 00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:07,800 Speaker 3: train set that is spooky in nature. Send us a picture, 733 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:10,200 Speaker 3: Send us your little spooky vista. 734 00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:21,200 Speaker 2: All right, what's next? Have we gotten to the caboose yet? 735 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:24,400 Speaker 2: Or do we saw have a few train cars to 736 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:24,719 Speaker 2: go here? 737 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:26,960 Speaker 3: Joe, Oh, we got a few more. You know what, 738 00:41:27,040 --> 00:41:28,680 Speaker 3: I think today is going to turn out to be 739 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:32,080 Speaker 3: all horror trains, because we're still not at the end 740 00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:36,239 Speaker 3: of even these. This one is from Ryan. Ryan says Hello, 741 00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:39,359 Speaker 3: Robin Joe. After the Train of Terror episodes, I had 742 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:43,160 Speaker 3: to contribute my favorite fictional example the nineteen ninety four 743 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:48,760 Speaker 3: Super Nintendo RPG Final Fantasy VIX, released as Final Fantasy 744 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:52,920 Speaker 3: three outside of Japan. It features a sequence where some 745 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:57,319 Speaker 3: of the characters unknowingly bored a ghost Train also translated 746 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:01,600 Speaker 3: phantom train that ferries departed souls to their eternal rest. 747 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:05,040 Speaker 3: The characters make their way from the caboose to the engine, 748 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:08,920 Speaker 3: fighting ghosts and other undead enemies. You can also recruit 749 00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:12,440 Speaker 3: some ghosts to temporarily join your party. They are not 750 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:16,120 Speaker 3: very strong, but they can possess enemies, which kills both 751 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:19,920 Speaker 3: the enemy and the ghost. Midway through, you can eat 752 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:23,200 Speaker 3: in the dining car. One character has misgivings about the 753 00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:25,840 Speaker 3: safety of the food, but it does heal the whole party. 754 00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:29,520 Speaker 3: Once you reach the engine, you fight a battle against 755 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:33,240 Speaker 3: the train itself, all while your characters are shown running 756 00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:37,360 Speaker 3: away in front of it. Somehow, keeping pays WHOA that's intense. 757 00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:41,520 Speaker 3: Even more absurdly, one of your characters can use a 758 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:45,480 Speaker 3: move called suplex, and if you use this on the train, 759 00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:48,600 Speaker 3: he will in fact grab it, leap up off of 760 00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:51,960 Speaker 3: the screen, and slam it down on its quote back. 761 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:56,359 Speaker 3: The train can also be defeated by giving it an 762 00:42:56,400 --> 00:43:01,360 Speaker 3: item called a phoenix down. This item revived fallen characters, 763 00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:05,640 Speaker 3: which defeats the train since the train is undead. After 764 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,440 Speaker 3: defeating the train, it allows the characters to disembark safely 765 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:13,239 Speaker 3: at the same time, other souls board the train, including 766 00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:16,400 Speaker 3: the recently departed wife and son of one of your characters, 767 00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:19,880 Speaker 3: allowing them a brief final farewell as the train pulls away. 768 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:22,520 Speaker 3: It's a touching ending to what is, in many ways 769 00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:25,000 Speaker 3: a rather silly segment of the game, and all the 770 00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:28,400 Speaker 3: more memorable for it. Thank you for the continued entertainment, 771 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:33,400 Speaker 3: especially during October every year. Ryan, Well, thank you. Ryan. 772 00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:37,080 Speaker 3: You know, somehow I'm a big fan of some of 773 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:40,879 Speaker 3: the Super Nintendo era RPGs. Some of them really were great. 774 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:44,200 Speaker 3: I've gushed on the show before about how lovely I 775 00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:48,400 Speaker 3: think Crono Trigger is. But somehow I've never played the 776 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:51,799 Speaker 3: I've never in full played the Super Nintendo Final Fantasy games. 777 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:53,240 Speaker 3: I know they're supposed to be wonderful. 778 00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:56,399 Speaker 2: Yeah, I've never played any of the Final Fantasies. I mean, 779 00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:58,800 Speaker 2: over the years, I have friends and I've had friends 780 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:00,360 Speaker 2: in the past who are super endto the them, and 781 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:02,759 Speaker 2: at times I'll think maybe I should pick one up, 782 00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:04,839 Speaker 2: but then I don't know which one. They keep remastering 783 00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:07,200 Speaker 2: them and re releasing them, but I don't even know 784 00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:09,880 Speaker 2: which which one would be ideal for me, So I'm 785 00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:14,920 Speaker 2: open to suggestions. A short one, which my preference at 786 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:16,840 Speaker 2: this point in my life. Yeah. 787 00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:20,120 Speaker 3: Oh man, Rob, have we talked about how we both 788 00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:22,759 Speaker 3: like enjoy video games when we have time for them, 789 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:26,520 Speaker 3: but like increasingly just don't have space for open world games. 790 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:29,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, I just I need. I need something that's really 791 00:44:29,560 --> 00:44:33,239 Speaker 2: on the tracks, you know, I won't like it. 792 00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:36,440 Speaker 3: Like a tight, good narrative with fun gameplay. That's what 793 00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:36,960 Speaker 3: I get to. 794 00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:42,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, short, short game, decent amount of exploration, but a 795 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:43,680 Speaker 2: definite end of beginning and an end. 796 00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:44,960 Speaker 3: All right. 797 00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:52,920 Speaker 2: This next one comes to us from SHANEA. Shana writes 798 00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:55,319 Speaker 2: it and says, hello, y'all ask for haunted trains in 799 00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:57,680 Speaker 2: horror media, how do you feel about a train possessed 800 00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:02,400 Speaker 2: by a demon? I think we feel pretty good about yeah, 801 00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:07,320 Speaker 2: she continues. In the anime Demon Slayer Kemetsu no Yaiba, 802 00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:11,600 Speaker 2: the movie Mug and Train twenty twenty are demons slaying 803 00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:15,200 Speaker 2: heroes are dispatched to investigate people disappearing on a certain 804 00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:18,200 Speaker 2: train in the countryside. They discover a demon has been 805 00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:21,200 Speaker 2: using the train as it's hunting ground. During the battle, 806 00:45:21,239 --> 00:45:23,479 Speaker 2: the demon is able to possess the train itself, turning 807 00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:28,000 Speaker 2: it into a fleshy Eldrick abomination with tentacles. I have 808 00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:32,160 Speaker 2: attached a few screenshots of the flesh train. I'm looking 809 00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:35,759 Speaker 2: at one right now. Yes, fleshy and terrifying. It's like 810 00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:38,120 Speaker 2: the train as intestinal track. 811 00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:41,279 Speaker 3: Yes. And there's one shot here where the train so 812 00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:43,880 Speaker 3: you've got all this like membrane or epithelium on the 813 00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:47,239 Speaker 3: outside of the train and then running over top. It 814 00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:52,600 Speaker 3: is like a buff guy with a pig's head. Yes, okay, 815 00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:55,360 Speaker 3: I would want him slaying demons for me. 816 00:45:56,640 --> 00:46:01,640 Speaker 2: And then there's more as You're rights Demons or Kamitsu 817 00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:05,520 Speaker 2: Nouyaiba is a very popular anime manga that takes place 818 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:09,000 Speaker 2: during the Taisho Era between nineteen fifteen and nineteen twenty six. 819 00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:11,880 Speaker 2: The Taisho era was a time of rapid change in 820 00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:15,160 Speaker 2: Japan as Western culture and technology continue to spread into 821 00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:19,400 Speaker 2: the country. The anime sometimes deals directly with this cultural change, 822 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:21,879 Speaker 2: and the point of a demon feeding on humans by 823 00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:25,319 Speaker 2: taking possession of a train seems quite on point. As 824 00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:27,200 Speaker 2: always loved the show Shame. 825 00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:31,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, I wonder how this interacts with the Japanese ghost 826 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:33,160 Speaker 3: train examples we talked about in the episode with the 827 00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:36,719 Speaker 3: It was the Tanuki trains, right Yeah, the Tanuki, the 828 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:39,200 Speaker 3: wild Tanuki would morph into the shape of a train, 829 00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:42,440 Speaker 3: but then if you stopped believing in it, then it 830 00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:44,040 Speaker 3: would the train would stop appearing. 831 00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:48,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of like natural, this conflict occurring between 832 00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:51,000 Speaker 2: the natural world of the tanukis and the modern world 833 00:46:51,040 --> 00:46:51,520 Speaker 2: of the train. 834 00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:54,920 Speaker 3: All right, well, I think we're out of time for today. 835 00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:57,240 Speaker 3: It's a shame. We've got a lot more great messages 836 00:46:57,280 --> 00:46:59,359 Speaker 3: to get to. We'll have to save them for next time. 837 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:02,960 Speaker 3: But Carney the mailbot is really trying to move us along. 838 00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:05,680 Speaker 3: He is insisting that we practice putting on our masks 839 00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:08,520 Speaker 3: right now and we won't mess it up on the 840 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:11,680 Speaker 3: big night. So we're gonna have a little practice session 841 00:47:11,719 --> 00:47:15,399 Speaker 3: with Carney here, and we will see you again soon. 842 00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,920 Speaker 3: We will have more seasonal stuff for you on Thursday 843 00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:20,960 Speaker 3: of this week, and then also on Friday with our 844 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:22,360 Speaker 3: Weird House Cinema episode. 845 00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:25,799 Speaker 2: That's right, Yeah, we have more Halloween episodes to come 846 00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:30,279 Speaker 2: here before October thirty first. And oh and I'm also 847 00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:32,880 Speaker 2: supposed to pass along that we have a new Halloween 848 00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:35,680 Speaker 2: themed T shirt and our t shirt shop over at 849 00:47:35,719 --> 00:47:38,520 Speaker 2: Tea Public. You can find a link to the store 850 00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:41,279 Speaker 2: on the Good to Stuff to Blowrmind dot com and 851 00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:44,160 Speaker 2: you can find over. You have to search for it. 852 00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:46,640 Speaker 2: It's not very apparent, but there is somewhere in all 853 00:47:46,680 --> 00:47:50,000 Speaker 2: of that link to our shop. I think our instagram 854 00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:53,160 Speaker 2: STBUI and podcast, which you should follow if you're on Instagram. 855 00:47:53,239 --> 00:47:55,840 Speaker 2: I believe our link tree also goes to this shop, 856 00:47:56,440 --> 00:47:57,920 Speaker 2: so it's a little hidden, but we do have some 857 00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:00,480 Speaker 2: merch there, various designs that have accumulated over the years, 858 00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:01,960 Speaker 2: and they just added a new one that has like 859 00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:05,759 Speaker 2: an orange and black version of the logo and you 860 00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:08,319 Speaker 2: can try it on different short colors. You know, it's 861 00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:10,719 Speaker 2: gonna work better with some than others, but we have 862 00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:13,400 Speaker 2: some Halloween options in there if you were so inclined. 863 00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:14,400 Speaker 3: Nice. 864 00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:16,560 Speaker 2: Just a reminder that Stuff to Blow Your Mind is 865 00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:19,080 Speaker 2: primarily a science and culture podcast with core episodes on 866 00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:22,160 Speaker 2: Tuesdays and Thursdays and on Fridays. We set aside most 867 00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:24,480 Speaker 2: serious concerns and just talk about a weird film on 868 00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:27,200 Speaker 2: Weird House Cinema, and yes, we did talk about a 869 00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:31,160 Speaker 2: train movie. Earlier this month we talked about Horror Express, 870 00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:32,120 Speaker 2: which was a lot of fun. 871 00:48:32,320 --> 00:48:35,800 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, huge. Thanks as always to our excellent 872 00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:38,680 Speaker 3: audio producer JJ Posway. If you would like to get 873 00:48:38,719 --> 00:48:40,800 Speaker 3: in touch with us with feedback on this episode or 874 00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:43,040 Speaker 3: any other, to suggest a topic for the future, or 875 00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:45,759 Speaker 3: just to say hello, you can email us at contact 876 00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:53,680 Speaker 3: stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 877 00:48:53,800 --> 00:48:56,759 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 878 00:48:56,840 --> 00:49:00,680 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Podcasts, 879 00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:02,520 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.