Speaker 1: Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener, discretion is advised. What
Speaker 1: is it about a theater? It seems just about every
Speaker 1: one of them is haunted. Every fall I embark on
Speaker 1: a speaking tour of twenty to thirty cities, and nine
Speaker 1: times out of ten the staff is eager to share
Speaker 1: their ghost stories with me. In one theater, and sadly
Speaker 1: I can't remember which one, I'll never forget being on
Speaker 1: stage delivering my lecture to the audience when suddenly I
Speaker 1: heard whispering to my left, as though someone was trying
Speaker 1: to get my attention backstage in front of this audience
Speaker 1: of hundreds, I stopped talking and looked into the darkness
Speaker 1: at the side of the stage, trying to see if
Speaker 1: one of the texts was attempting to get my attention.
Speaker 1: I didn't see anyone. I figured if it was important,
Speaker 1: they would try again. Less than a minute later, I
Speaker 1: heard the whisper again, except this time it was almost
Speaker 1: directly in my ear. Imagine having such a thing happen
Speaker 1: while you're trying to keep your cool in front of
Speaker 1: a large audience. I did tell the story to them
Speaker 1: during the Q and A. After I'd gotten through the
Speaker 1: main lecture itself. Afterward, one of the staff members came
Speaker 1: up to me and told me I was not the
Speaker 1: first who had experienced the whispering ghost on stage. That
Speaker 1: being said, to this day, one of the most unexplainable
Speaker 1: experiences I have ever had took place in a theater,
Speaker 1: an experience that defies all logic. Would you like to
Speaker 1: know more? Of course you do. Join me, Haunted roadies
Speaker 1: as we venture to the Cincinnati Music Hall. I'm Amy Brunei,
Speaker 1: and this is Haunted Road in Cincinnati's Over the Rhine neighborhood.
Speaker 1: A nearly one hundred fifty year old music hall sprawls
Speaker 1: above a grassy, sunlit park. It's called, appropriately enough, the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Music Hall. The building is in the high Victorian
Speaker 1: Gothic Revival style. Its three foot thick red brick walls
Speaker 1: and peaked roofs tower over cobblestone streets, and a streetcar
Speaker 1: stop that sits just outside its front doors, making it
Speaker 1: look like it belongs in another time. Inside the foyer
Speaker 1: is white, bright and airy. Huge windows let sunlight shine
Speaker 1: on both the ground floor and the balcony. White columns
Speaker 1: and chandeliers draw the eye upward, but visitors who do
Speaker 1: glance down will see the original checkered flooring. According to
Speaker 1: the Friends of the Music Hall, it's made of three
Speaker 1: types of stone, all imported from Vermont, unfading red slate,
Speaker 1: Danby white marble, and Champlain black marble. Further into the hall,
Speaker 1: visitors can drop by a number of event spaces, Corbett Tower,
Speaker 1: which can hold three hundred people and is a popular
Speaker 1: choice for weddings, the Ballroom, which features a stage and
Speaker 1: an ARC's ceiling, and of course Springer Auditorium, which can
Speaker 1: seat just over thirty five hundred people. Its chairs and
Speaker 1: curtain are read while a fifteen hundred pound crystal chandelier
Speaker 1: dangles from a mural on the ceiling. According to the
Speaker 1: Friends of the Music Hall, the piece depicts the spirits
Speaker 1: of music, literature, science and history. The title of the
Speaker 1: mural is allegory of the arts. If a visitor were
Speaker 1: to come to the theater when there was no performance
Speaker 1: going on and look at the stage, they'd see a
Speaker 1: lit ghost light. It's standard to have one in any theater.
Speaker 1: On whisk News, Ben Bromley wrote that historically theater performers
Speaker 1: have considered it good practice to have a light on
Speaker 1: to keep the ghosts away, because traditionally all theaters are
Speaker 1: considered to be haunted by default. But let's talk about
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Music Hall specifically. It was built over the
Speaker 1: course of two years, beginning in eighteen seventy six. At
Speaker 1: that time, the city didn't have a proper music hall,
Speaker 1: but they did have a number of exposition buildings where
Speaker 1: performances could be held. However, they had not been designed
Speaker 1: with acoustics in mind. As rumor goes, one night, a
Speaker 1: concert had to be delayed because the sound of rain
Speaker 1: drumming against the tin roof was drowning out the performers.
Speaker 1: So afterward, the people of Cincinnati were determined to build
Speaker 1: a proper hall, and they chose to build it on
Speaker 1: the site of those exposition halls, land that had previously
Speaker 1: been used as a potter's field before their construction. This
Speaker 1: meant that in the early eighteen hundreds, anyone who died
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati and was too poor to afford a traditional
Speaker 1: burial would end up there or in another field like it. Likewise,
Speaker 1: anyone who passed away and couldn't be identified afterward would
Speaker 1: be laid to rest in a potter's field. Additionally, the
Speaker 1: field may have held those who died in a tragic
Speaker 1: steamboat explosion on April twenty fifth, nineteen thirty eight, when
Speaker 1: the boilers on the Moselle blew up. Roughly one hundred
Speaker 1: fifty passengers were ripped apart in the blast, their dismembered
Speaker 1: bodies rained down all across Cincinnati. According to Lufcadio Hearne,
Speaker 1: writing for an American Miscellany, Eventually officials gathered all the
Speaker 1: remains that they could find and buried them in a
Speaker 1: potter's field, although it's unclear if it was the same
Speaker 1: potter's field that eventually came to house the music hall.
Speaker 1: The grounds may have also been used as a so
Speaker 1: called pest house, a building where sick people could be
Speaker 1: quarantined until they either recovered or died. I haven't been
Speaker 1: able to verify that, but I do know that an
Speaker 1: orphanage stood on the land from roughly eighteen thirty sive
Speaker 1: seven to eighteen sixty one. In his book Cincinnati Murder
Speaker 1: and Mayhem, Roy Heiser wrote that the orphanage got its
Speaker 1: water from a badly polluted canal. Many children grew sick
Speaker 1: and died from the toxins in the water, and even
Speaker 1: more drowned while playing in the waterway. It said that
Speaker 1: the deceased were subsequently buried on the Orphanage grounds, and
Speaker 1: from eighteen thirty two to eighteen forty nine, a cholera
Speaker 1: outbreak swept through Cincinnati. It's been speculated that some people
Speaker 1: who died of the disease were also laid to rest
Speaker 1: in the same field. Altogether, it's said that thousands of
Speaker 1: people have been buried on this stretch of land. Unsurprisingly,
Speaker 1: many of those human remains were unearthed when construction began
Speaker 1: for the new music Hall. In a newspaper article from
Speaker 1: the time, reporter left Kadi O'Hearn wrote that the crews
Speaker 1: frequently broke ground just to uncover pits of skulls, vertebrae,
Speaker 1: and arm and leg bones. The friends of the music
Speaker 1: Hall report that the teams worked with a local graveyard
Speaker 1: to ensure that the deceased could be reburied with dignity.
Speaker 1: This took a lot of time. Even though the new
Speaker 1: building re used the foundations from the old Orphanage, the
Speaker 1: construction process still took years, but finally the Cincinnati Music
Speaker 1: Hall had its grand opening on May fourteenth, eighteen seventy eight.
Speaker 1: The whole city celebrated. The Friends of the Music Hall
Speaker 1: report that flags and bunting were hung all through town
Speaker 1: and thousands poured into its walls to watch the opening
Speaker 1: performance or to gag at other people as they pulled
Speaker 1: up before the show. And in spite of its name,
Speaker 1: the space hosted plenty of events that had nothing to
Speaker 1: do with music, including expositions, boxing, and tennis matches, and
Speaker 1: the South wing even served as a greenhouse for some time.
Speaker 1: It was dubbed the Horticultural Wing, and it was filled
Speaker 1: with growing plants and an air indoor waterfall. The eighteen
Speaker 1: eighty Democratic National Convention was also held there. During the event,
Speaker 1: Susan B. Anthony spoke on the importance of women's rights.
Speaker 1: According to the Friends of the Music Hall, in the
Speaker 1: midst of the festivities, the organizers borrowed a live two
Speaker 1: foot long alligator from the Cincinnati Zoo. Apparently they thought
Speaker 1: it would look striking sitting near the Horticultural Wings waterfall. Alarmingly,
Speaker 1: the alligator disappeared during the event. Nobody knew if it
Speaker 1: had wandered off on its own, or if someone had
Speaker 1: stolen it to keep it as an exotic pet. The
Speaker 1: mystery was solved a year and a half later when
Speaker 1: a gas fitter was working in the hall only to
Speaker 1: find himself face to face with the aggressive, very hungry alligator.
Speaker 1: It was still alive and had grown another foot during
Speaker 1: the time that it was loose. Luckily, the animal was
Speaker 1: recaptured without incident. It lived out the rest of its
Speaker 1: days back in the zoo. Just four years after the convention,
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Music Hall hosted a different kind of political event,
Speaker 1: an informal town forum. After an infamous murder case led
Speaker 1: to an unpopular court ruling, a group of Cincinnati citizens
Speaker 1: gathered in the auditorium to express their frustrations. On March
Speaker 1: twenty eighth, eighteen eighty four, as tempers burned hotter, a
Speaker 1: riot broke out. A group of angry citizens stormed the courthouse,
Speaker 1: and by the next day it had burned to the ground.
Speaker 1: Before the violence had run its course, fifty six people
Speaker 1: had died and another three hundred were injured. In nineteen eighteen,
Speaker 1: another tragedy struck and the Cincinnati Music Hall had to
Speaker 1: serve as a makeshift hospital during a flu pandemic. But
Speaker 1: for most of its years of operation, the facility was
Speaker 1: a hub for artistic performances, conferences, and exhibitions. Pavati, Ella, Fitzgerald,
Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra, and Bruce Springsteen all had shows there, and
Speaker 1: numerous presidents, including US Lissi's s Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, and
Speaker 1: Barack Obama attended as guests. Still, the music Hall's dark
Speaker 1: history had a way of rearing its ugly head repeatedly.
Speaker 1: During a renovation in February of nineteen twenty seven, construction
Speaker 1: workers uncovered three graves and headstones on the grounds. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: a snowstorm struck before the bodies could be disinterred and relocated,
Speaker 1: and when officials returned to the site later, some bones
Speaker 1: had gone missing. When the Friends of the music Hall
Speaker 1: reported on the incident, they claimed that souvenir hunters had
Speaker 1: taken a skull and two pelvic bones. They also said
Speaker 1: the remains that hadn't been stolen were reburied not in
Speaker 1: a graveyard, but in the music Hall's new elevator shaft.
Speaker 1: That same year, another construction team uncovered sixty five graves
Speaker 1: while excavating under the south wing. There were so many
Speaker 1: remains the workers called the site the Valley of Death.
Speaker 1: Even more of these bones were stolen before the deceased
Speaker 1: could be reburied, and once more, instead of moving them
Speaker 1: to a traditional graveyard, the bones were put back into
Speaker 1: the ground beneath the Music Hall, not too far from
Speaker 1: where they'd first been found. More bones were uncovered during
Speaker 1: another renovation in May of nineteen eighty eight. According to
Speaker 1: Greg Hand of Cincinnati Magazine, there were so many altogether
Speaker 1: they weighed two hundred and seven pounds, not counting the
Speaker 1: block of concrete they were found inside of. And in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, even more remains were unearthed. Some were under
Speaker 1: the orchestra pit and others were in the North carriageway.
Speaker 1: This time around, they were reburied in a graveyard, according
Speaker 1: to the Friends of the Cincinnati Musical But even after
Speaker 1: these remains were laid back to rest, from the sound
Speaker 1: of it, their spirits were unwilling or unable to move on.
Speaker 1: The Cincinnati Music Hall has a reputation for being incredibly haunted,
Speaker 1: and some reports go back to before it was even built.
Speaker 1: In Lafcadio Hearn's article The Restless Dead concerning haunted houses,
Speaker 1: he reported on one night watchman he worked in the
Speaker 1: old exhibition halls that had once stood on the same
Speaker 1: plot of land. When he was alone there after dark,
Speaker 1: he heard disembodied footsteps, fists tapping on the ceilings, and
Speaker 1: the unmistakable sound of bodies being dragged across the floor.
Speaker 1: The watchman always investigated the noises, but he could never
Speaker 1: find their source. Even after he heard objects tumble to
Speaker 1: the ground or glass shatter, he'd search every inch of
Speaker 1: the building to find nothing was broken or out of place.
Speaker 1: He brought his dogs with him to his shifts, but
Speaker 1: they were no help. Sometimes they'd refuse to even come inside.
Speaker 1: On the occasions when he could get them through the doors,
Speaker 1: they'd whimper in terror and stay close to him, too
Speaker 1: frightened to sniff out the strange disturbances. Interestingly enough, the
Speaker 1: night watchman didn't quit his job. As the years went on,
Speaker 1: he became used to the spectral activity. He got to
Speaker 1: a point where it didn't scare him anymore. With one exception,
Speaker 1: he still felt a chill each time he went out
Speaker 1: on patrols, only to hear a second set of footsteps
Speaker 1: following him in the dark. Occasionally, the invisible figure tailing
Speaker 1: him would sigh or groan, and the watchman could feel
Speaker 1: its icy breath on his neck. These days, music hall
Speaker 1: staff frequently reports similar phenomena. A former Cincinnati Pop's music
Speaker 1: director and the CEO slash general director have both heard
Speaker 1: strange noises late at night when the hall should be empty. Once,
Speaker 1: an employee brought his son to the auditorium with him
Speaker 1: while he was working. The Friends of the music hall
Speaker 1: reports that while his son stood on stage, he pointed
Speaker 1: at box nine and asked, Daddy, who's the man in
Speaker 1: the box? But when the father looked to the seats,
Speaker 1: they were all empty. Still, the son insisted that there
Speaker 1: was someone there waving at him. The claim was unsettling
Speaker 1: enough that the employee decided not to stick around. Instead,
Speaker 1: he grabbed his child and rushed out of the building.
Speaker 1: Other visitors have seen specters in clothing that appears to
Speaker 1: be from the eighteen hundreds. This includes a woman in
Speaker 1: white who paces around in the hall and on the
Speaker 1: grounds outside. Occasionally, guests can spot her dancing in the
Speaker 1: ballroom too. Speaking of the ballroom, Julie Carr wrote on
Speaker 1: Haunted Houses dot Com of one occasion when some workers
Speaker 1: were in another part of the building late at night,
Speaker 1: they heard music coming from the ballroom, which was supposed
Speaker 1: to be empty, but when they opened the door, they
Speaker 1: found countless spirits in nineteenth century outfits in the midst
Speaker 1: of a spectral dance party. A box office employee once
Speaker 1: spotted a boy in knickers and a cap. Visitors to
Speaker 1: the basement have seen a poorly dressed young girl. She's dirty,
Speaker 1: with matted hair and bad teeth, so some believe she
Speaker 1: could be an orphan girl's spirit. During performances, sometimes audience
Speaker 1: members wearing nineteenth century clothing are spotted in unsold seats,
Speaker 1: as though the ghosts of the dead are still catching
Speaker 1: the latest show. Likewise, performers have appeared on stage who
Speaker 1: can't be identified and aren't formally part of the cast.
Speaker 1: That's according to John B. Kachuba's book Ghost Hunting Ohio.
Speaker 1: Given all of this activity, it's no surprise that the
Speaker 1: music hall offers ghost tours. The people who book them
Speaker 1: report hearing disembodied footsteps, music and singing from the auditorium
Speaker 1: even when it's supposed to be empty, and shadows that
Speaker 1: can't be explained. The seats sometimes move on their own,
Speaker 1: as do the doors that slam without warning. The elevator
Speaker 1: was removed in twenty sixteen, but before then it's sometimes
Speaker 1: activated by itself, something I experienced. Visitors also report the
Speaker 1: sensation that they're being watched, a feeling they can't shake off,
Speaker 1: and at times guests even feel that something unseen has
Speaker 1: pushed or shoved them. I want to dive deeper into
Speaker 1: the Music Hall's history. So I was thinking today, maybe
Speaker 1: we need to talk to someone who investigated it with me,
Speaker 1: someone who was there when I had one of the
Speaker 1: most profound paranormal experiences of my life at the Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Music Hall. So yes, up next we will be speaking
Speaker 1: with friend of the show and friend of mine, mister
Speaker 1: Adam Berry. That's coming up after the break. All right,
Speaker 1: I am now joined by Haunted Road regular BFF, wonderful
Speaker 1: human being, mister Adam Berry. Welcome back to the program,
Speaker 1: mister Barry.
Speaker 2: You know, great to be here to walk down the
Speaker 2: road again with you.
Speaker 1: It's funny like this one. So we investigated Cincinnati Music
Speaker 1: halltogether on Ghost Hunters. We were there for a few nights,
Speaker 1: I think two, and I probably could have found someone
Speaker 1: who'd investigated it a bunch, but I felt like we
Speaker 1: had so many great experiences there. I wanted to kind
Speaker 1: of reminisce especially I think this was one of the
Speaker 1: cases we did on our last season of ghost Hunters.
Speaker 2: Believe it or not, Yeah, for sure, I remember.
Speaker 3: The one thing I do remember is the three am
Speaker 3: activity that they said. It was like Jay or Grant
Speaker 3: was one of them, was like, you know, Amy and
Speaker 3: animals stay up till three am, and so it wasn't
Speaker 3: like we were afraid to stay at three am to
Speaker 3: see if activity would happen. But we have been working
Speaker 3: since like one pm or noon, and we were both
Speaker 3: like three what we have to be up that long?
Speaker 1: Three thirty? Actually? What the idea of that? Now makes
Speaker 1: me nauseous? Like that's the part.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't stay up.
Speaker 1: No, I tell people all the time, well you can
Speaker 1: stay upwayer them me. But but like I've noticed, you know,
Speaker 1: as years have gone by, that you do stay up,
Speaker 1: not as late as you used to. Well you're in
Speaker 1: bed by like one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, three am is.
Speaker 3: I have discovered in my age that three am is is.
Speaker 2: Like the past of like past, the point at no return.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, like when three am hits, if I'm not in bed,
Speaker 2: it's no matter what happens the next day.
Speaker 3: It is the day is not going to be good.
Speaker 3: It's I'm tired, like it's it's it's crazy. But I
Speaker 3: am glad that we put our big boy and girl
Speaker 3: pants on and did the three thirty am because what
Speaker 3: happened to us was insane.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I tell that story a lot, so for those Okay,
Speaker 1: so for those who did not watch this episode of
Speaker 1: Ghost Hunters and honestly, like, there's a whole backstory anyway,
Speaker 1: So we'll do this. We'll talk about this first because
Speaker 1: it was such an insane moment. I'll do this setup
Speaker 1: and then you can say what we saw. Okay, So okay,
Speaker 1: we were so basically, like Adam was saying, we were approached,
Speaker 1: and actually I think it was Jay and Steve because
Speaker 1: Grant wasn't there anymore at this point, and so we
Speaker 1: were approached, not even by Jay. I think he sent
Speaker 1: the producers at us. He was like, and it was like,
Speaker 1: so listen, there's this thing that happens in the theater
Speaker 1: every night, they claim at three point thirty am. And
Speaker 1: we were both like, not one of these things again,
Speaker 1: because how many times does someone say to us, like
Speaker 1: every day or every night? Just stay up till three
Speaker 1: at night. It goes crazy. Just wait and see and
Speaker 1: then we do it and we're like, nothing's happening. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so they were like, but we you know, they
Speaker 1: said we should do our due diligence, and you know,
Speaker 1: Jay really wants, you know, the team really wants someone
Speaker 1: to stay up and wait for this thing to happen.
Speaker 1: And the reality was like we were the you know,
Speaker 1: actually no, we weren't the low men on the totem
Speaker 1: pole per se, because I think that Britt and Sam
Speaker 1: were there.
Speaker 2: But for some.
Speaker 1: I think I think we pulled the short store or something.
Speaker 1: But yeah, somehow we were nominated to stay until three thirty.
Speaker 1: So it was us and a camera operator Kenny actually
Speaker 1: Kenny Kane, and a producer and an audio person and
Speaker 1: so you know, obviously people like to invest infested eight
Speaker 1: late at night. But like when you're doing a show
Speaker 1: like Ghost Hunters, like Adam was saying earlier, we start
Speaker 1: so early, so by that time, like the crew and stuff,
Speaker 1: they're going into overtime, like you know, we have to
Speaker 1: kind of budget our nighttime hours. So everyone left. It
Speaker 1: was so I remember it was just being like sitting
Speaker 1: there and everyone's like bye, We'll see you guys tomorrow,
Speaker 1: and we're.
Speaker 2: Like yeah, and it was it was like ours. It
Speaker 2: was like probably they.
Speaker 1: Left at like two, like one thirty or two, and
Speaker 1: so yeah, it was. And then the producer who was
Speaker 1: with us was kind of a hard ass, and he
Speaker 1: was like, well, we better do something, so we had
Speaker 1: to like just keep investigating the whole time when we
Speaker 1: were just so exhausted. Anyways, so we make it. We
Speaker 1: go stand on the stage and the story is that
Speaker 1: every night at three thirty, if you look up into
Speaker 1: the stands or whatever you want to call them, you
Speaker 1: will see someone up there waving at you. So what happened,
Speaker 1: Adam Barry?
Speaker 3: I will never forget it as long as I live,
Speaker 3: because the two of us, by the three thirty point,
Speaker 3: it was almost that that like okay, show me, okay,
Speaker 3: let's go, Like it was this moment where we were like,
Speaker 3: if this is going to happen, it better here we go.
Speaker 3: And you and I are looking up in the balcony area,
Speaker 3: which to the right side, like the upper right side
Speaker 3: of the Cincinnati Music Hall falcony, and we see what
Speaker 3: can only be described as this very tall, dark figure
Speaker 3: waving like in slow motion with their right arm a
Speaker 3: little like next to their head waving. They were very skinny,
Speaker 3: and it had a grin on its face that reminded
Speaker 3: me of like the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.
Speaker 3: And I remember seeing it and I was like, Oh
Speaker 3: my god, is that somebody wave? And you were like,
Speaker 3: oh my god. And then I think Kenny couldn't see
Speaker 3: or did see it in his camera.
Speaker 2: I have no idea. I don't remember that, but I
Speaker 2: remember we were just dumbfounded because A it was happening.
Speaker 2: B We were like, holy crap, it's three point thirty.
Speaker 2: It's occurring. And it was the most unsettling.
Speaker 3: Weird visual experience I think we have ever had in
Speaker 3: terms of like showing up at the right place at
Speaker 3: the right time.
Speaker 2: It's almost it reminds me of Baba Duke before Baba Duke, right,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. Yeah, And I just remember
Speaker 2: like being like, Okay, we saw and it disappeared. It
Speaker 2: slowly kind of vanished on its own dissipated time.
Speaker 1: It was there for long enough. It was there for minutes,
Speaker 1: I feel like, but we literally ran up there and looked.
Speaker 1: I remember like going like we're like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we tried to recreate it. We tried to be like, okay, well,
Speaker 2: what what was it? Was it a curtain? Was it
Speaker 2: a was it our eyes playing track? And no, it
Speaker 2: was not.
Speaker 3: And we both saw we both saw it, and I
Speaker 3: don't I don't understand it. I don't get it.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know if like we manifested.
Speaker 3: That because we, you know, had been put in this
Speaker 3: position for it to happen and we sort of did that,
Speaker 3: or if it actually showed up.
Speaker 2: But beyond trying to figure out what it was, it
Speaker 2: was very very very very creepy.
Speaker 1: It was well it was so funny too, because obviously
Speaker 1: we were very tired and we were probably like, you know,
Speaker 1: whining a little bit about having to stay so late.
Speaker 1: But I just remember, like we settle and then we
Speaker 1: look up and like the lights are out and we're
Speaker 1: both like is that? What is that? What I think
Speaker 1: it is? Like do you see that?
Speaker 2: Do?
Speaker 1: And I remember Kenny saw it, and I feel like
Speaker 1: you can see it because on the show, I feel
Speaker 1: like you can see it in like they act like
Speaker 1: you can't, but I'm like I see it, Like I
Speaker 1: feel like you can see it on the show. But
Speaker 1: maybe I'm just hallucining. I don't know, but we stared
Speaker 1: at it.
Speaker 3: Or maybe it's just burned. Maybe it's burned into your
Speaker 3: memory so that when you watch. I'll have to watch
Speaker 3: the episode later and see if I can see it.
Speaker 3: What if it just all automatically comes back every time
Speaker 3: we watch the episode.
Speaker 2: It's like an.
Speaker 1: Ever we're gonna dream of it. But I just remember.
Speaker 1: I remember being awake very quickly. All of a sudden.
Speaker 1: We were like, oh my gosh, new renewed vigor, Like
Speaker 1: we are, adrenaline is pumping, and they you know, and
Speaker 1: and and the producer can hear it, they can't see it,
Speaker 1: and they're kind of like, all right, we got that.
Speaker 1: And we're like, no, we're not done. We're gonna go
Speaker 1: up there now. It's like five am, because we're like
Speaker 1: we had to run up there and figure and it
Speaker 1: was like you can't just run up to the balcony.
Speaker 1: You have to like go through all these like you know, corridors,
Speaker 1: and like we had to get doors open and try
Speaker 1: to recreate this. And we figured out I remember because
Speaker 1: it was standing like next to a doorway and we
Speaker 1: figured out it was like six and a half feet
Speaker 1: tall by the height for sure, like of you or
Speaker 1: whoever we had stand up there for reference. It was
Speaker 1: this very tall and I feel like I remember hat
Speaker 1: being present as well, like the whole thing. Yes, and
Speaker 1: the whole thing was just Baba Duke.
Speaker 2: It was literally Babba Duke before Baba Duke. I've never
Speaker 2: seen it was crazy.
Speaker 1: So oh, I know what it looks like. Though you
Speaker 1: have to see it. It scary.
Speaker 2: I have to see it.
Speaker 3: Well you know why it reminds you, So I'll okay,
Speaker 3: So the whole if I get if you're listening and
Speaker 3: you know, Boba do the movie by like the back
Speaker 3: of your hand, don't don't at me in the DMS
Speaker 3: because I kind of remember, but I kind of don't.
Speaker 3: I believe it's sort of like a imaginary friend or
Speaker 3: it was. That's how they're playing it off in this
Speaker 3: movie spoiler aly, and then it shows up and it's
Speaker 3: like walking around and being crazy and it like follows them.
Speaker 3: So this is the weirdest thing. So remember, Okay. So
Speaker 3: I sometimes do these zoomed things with fans and followers
Speaker 3: where we just chat. And there was this woman that
Speaker 3: I was talking to recently. This happened maybe a couple
Speaker 3: months ago, December actually, for Christmas, and she's talking about
Speaker 3: Cincinnati Music Hall because she lives in Cincinnati. And I'm
Speaker 3: talking about this story. And as I'm talking about this story,
Speaker 3: I'm doodling. I'm really into pencils these.
Speaker 2: Days, so I have like a blank piece of paper.
Speaker 3: And I'm sort of doodling what I remember seeing. And
Speaker 3: as I'm drawing the circle of the head and putting
Speaker 3: in this like weird mouth and the arms and the
Speaker 3: lanky I realize this is gonna sound strange, but I
Speaker 3: realize that I am drawing something that I used to
Speaker 3: draw as a kid all the time. Like all of
Speaker 3: a sudden, I'm looking at this drawing and I'm going,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I've drawn this before.
Speaker 2: And it literally is something.
Speaker 3: That I used to draw as a kid because I
Speaker 3: was into like comic strips and I wanted to make
Speaker 3: this character like into a comic strip or something.
Speaker 2: And it has long arms and weird crazy fingers.
Speaker 3: It didn't have a mouth, right, so like if it
Speaker 3: had a mouth, it looked similar, and I was like,
Speaker 3: I don't know what about it sat with me for
Speaker 3: a moment, but I got really nervous about it, like
Speaker 3: it's something clicked between my childhood and seeing this thing again.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if it's like following us.
Speaker 3: I don't know, because remember that time we did the
Speaker 3: basement episode of Gindrid Spirits and we thought that something
Speaker 3: was following us around.
Speaker 1: Yes, well we had like we had in season one
Speaker 1: of Kindred. We had the same EVP and multiple locations,
Speaker 1: and it would say, Amy Adam as.
Speaker 2: So what if what if this thing and the thing
Speaker 2: that happened to you when you were a kid and
Speaker 2: you saw in the woods. What if these things are
Speaker 2: the same and it's just following us around it.
Speaker 1: I don't want to think about that.
Speaker 2: Since the beginning of being kids and for some reason
Speaker 2: our trajectory like we got together, we started working together,
Speaker 2: and it just but the universe knew from the beginning,
Speaker 2: you know how the universe throws you weird stuff. What if?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I did not expect to say this podcast. I was like, well,
Speaker 1: I talk about that cool thing is insane music Hall.
Speaker 1: But now there's a you know, six and a half
Speaker 1: foot tall, scary, smiling man with a top hat with
Speaker 1: long arms and fingers that follows us around and waves
Speaker 1: very slowly so.
Speaker 3: And I wrote down as soon as I got off
Speaker 3: the zoom with her, I stared at that picture and
Speaker 3: I'll have to show it to you.
Speaker 2: But I because I.
Speaker 3: Stared at that photo, and I just wrote the phrase
Speaker 3: who are you? Question mark right, And I left it
Speaker 3: alone because I'm like, who are you? And I gave
Speaker 3: it out to the universe to be like, Okay, if
Speaker 3: you're if you're coming and going and you're being around
Speaker 3: us for whatever reason, who are you?
Speaker 2: My dude?
Speaker 1: Well, when this airs, you'll have to post a photo
Speaker 1: of your drawing so you can describe to everybody what
Speaker 1: we saw.
Speaker 2: Oh god, it's so weird because it's just I don't know.
Speaker 2: And you know what's crazy is I had not thought
Speaker 2: about that character. I should draw it all the time.
Speaker 3: Like on my notebooks as a kid, like in middle
Speaker 3: school and like whatever, but then I didn't think about it,
Speaker 3: Like I have not thought about that drawing or that
Speaker 3: little character that I drew since the last day that
Speaker 3: I did it, way back, you.
Speaker 2: Know whatever, how many years thirty five years ago.
Speaker 1: So now I'm like, let's talk about the Cincinnati Music
Speaker 1: Hall moment, and it brings it all back to you.
Speaker 2: So it's so bizarre.
Speaker 1: It's one of those weird synchronicity moments coming around that's crazy.
Speaker 1: It's weird because I went back to Cincinnati Music Hall
Speaker 1: because I did a show there a year before last,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't in the main I did it in
Speaker 1: the ballroom, which is a really cool space, and it
Speaker 1: sold out, which was amazing. But my dressing room was
Speaker 1: kind of in this like back corner area and it
Speaker 1: was very spooky. It wasn't like a traditional dressing room.
Speaker 1: And I remember, like I was sitting in there by myself,
Speaker 1: and I was already kind of nervous because like the
Speaker 1: show would sell out, and then they would because it
Speaker 1: was the ballroom, then they would just rearrange the tables
Speaker 1: and add more seats and so it kept getting bigger
Speaker 1: and bigger and bigger, and it was one of the
Speaker 1: biggest crowds I'd done. Like, so I was already nervous,
Speaker 1: but then I was in this weird dressing room and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I remembered what we saw there,
Speaker 1: and I was like transported back and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, that thing is like walking around in
Speaker 1: this place somewhere. And then I started like I started
Speaker 1: thinking like, what if I'm doing my talk and he's
Speaker 1: standing in the back. I started thinking about this right
Speaker 1: before I'm about to go on stage in front of
Speaker 1: nine hundred people, like and I was like what if
Speaker 1: I was just like, it's the dark and I'm doing
Speaker 1: my talk and all of a sudden, I see that
Speaker 1: man back there just waving at me, like what would
Speaker 1: I do? You know that crept in to my Like
Speaker 1: that did not happen, thank goodness, but I did think
Speaker 1: about it. It sounds like a scene from a horror movie,
Speaker 1: to be honest.
Speaker 2: No, it is. And then what's weird? Is it came?
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously you're in the space, but this experience
Speaker 3: is one of those that we had that sort of
Speaker 3: sneaks up on you when you least expect it, like
Speaker 3: all of a sudden you think about it, or it
Speaker 3: comes out of nowhere, and every.
Speaker 2: Time it happens, it's almost like we're reliving it.
Speaker 3: Yeah again, all the feelings come back, all the things
Speaker 3: come back, and like, you know, I know, we just
Speaker 3: talked about a lot that we would hate staying up
Speaker 3: till three point thirty.
Speaker 2: But I would probably I would probably tempt that again.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'll take an afternoon nap just.
Speaker 3: So that we could see if we could have the
Speaker 3: experience again, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You know, Also, why are we so against just like
Speaker 1: waking up early and starting to investigate? You know, I
Speaker 1: was thinking about that. I'm like, yeah, what if you
Speaker 1: just had like a you know, three am start time,
Speaker 1: and you just woke up at two and you went
Speaker 1: to Betterly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you went at five o'clock.
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of other things that have happened
Speaker 1: there though, too, Like even when we were there, I
Speaker 1: remember distinctly there was a footsteps situation. There's so many
Speaker 1: sounds in that place. People were hearing voices, they were
Speaker 1: loud bangs, there were doors slamming, Like I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know how much you remember about the history, but
Speaker 1: it was literally built, like they found so many bones,
Speaker 1: even just as recently as like twenty sixteen. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you remember, but when they took us on
Speaker 1: the tour, they showed us the elevator that I was
Speaker 1: so terrified of because they used a big elevator. Oh
Speaker 1: and so when they were constructing that elevator, they found
Speaker 1: a ton of bones at the bottom of it. Like
Speaker 1: when they were digging up for so yeah.
Speaker 2: Like human bones, human human bones.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they had they reburied a lot of them.
Speaker 3: But I remember the music hall like I can see
Speaker 3: it in my head. So I remember how grand it is,
Speaker 3: and I remember how like just so cool it was
Speaker 3: to be there on the space like to be I
Speaker 3: don't know in that in that environment, but I don't
Speaker 3: I guess I don't recall the.
Speaker 2: Human How do you forget human bones?
Speaker 1: Well, it's because there's like a six and a half
Speaker 1: foot tall ghost man waving at you, and you just
Speaker 1: everything else disappears in that moment.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 3: He's the one that's hiding the boat. He's going to
Speaker 3: take our bones at some point.
Speaker 1: Would the bone collector?
Speaker 2: Oh god, see now I'm terrified.
Speaker 1: The bone collector. And people are gonna be.
Speaker 3: Like, listen, if you are watching, if you're listening to
Speaker 3: this episode of Hanted Road, we need fan art.
Speaker 2: We need fan art of this creepy.
Speaker 3: Y Yes we do, creepy dude, Yes, we did send
Speaker 3: it our way and I'll post mine.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I can't believe you're encouraging this.
Speaker 2: Come on, listen.
Speaker 3: I want people's worst nightmares to be fulfilled at this
Speaker 3: point because if we had to see it, they're going
Speaker 3: to see it.
Speaker 1: Well, they should also do the fan art of us
Speaker 1: seeing it, so it should be like a oh my.
Speaker 2: God, oh a comic strip. I've talked about comic ship.
Speaker 2: What if we did?
Speaker 3: We need a comic strip of us being kind of grumpy, sleepy.
Speaker 2: And then wide awake and weird. Baba duke man, there
Speaker 2: we is. That's it.
Speaker 1: I see, I can see it now. Okay, So, but
Speaker 1: I do want to talk about my brain is a
Speaker 1: broken note. I do want to talk about now while
Speaker 1: I have you, because it's really exciting. I saw that
Speaker 1: the paperback of your book came out recently. What's going
Speaker 1: on with that?
Speaker 3: Yes, so paperback for Goodbye Hello, Processing Grief and Understanding
Speaker 3: Death through the Paranormal just released on March eleventh. There,
Speaker 3: even if you have the book, there is a brand
Speaker 3: new chapter in chapter thirteen my favorite number.
Speaker 2: And there's also a workbook.
Speaker 3: Journal that I created for or the topics that go
Speaker 3: along with each chapter, so you can write in the
Speaker 3: book as your own little journal, put your own thoughts down,
Speaker 3: and you know, help process what you're reading and what
Speaker 3: you're feeling and thinking. And the new chapter is actually
Speaker 3: a story something that happened to me when I was
Speaker 3: recording the audiobook. So the book was already in print.
Speaker 3: There was no going back. But the publisher said, you know,
Speaker 3: if this makes it to paperback, will you write will
Speaker 3: you write another chapter for it? And I was like absolutely,
Speaker 3: so spoiler alert, you can't. You don't know the story,
Speaker 3: so you get the book, so.
Speaker 2: Even if you've read it. But yeah, it's just dropped.
Speaker 3: And I'm on the cover and I might regret that
Speaker 3: when I'm ninety eight, still selling the book.
Speaker 1: But the last the new chapter is called The Bone Collector.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's called get Ready. Get Ready?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, available wherever books are sold, Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
Speaker 3: all the fun places.
Speaker 1: I ordered a copy yesterday. It's not here yet, but
Speaker 1: I ordered a copy yesterday.
Speaker 2: Yes, thank you. Now.
Speaker 1: I love to support my friends, even when they give
Speaker 1: me free books, I still order it.
Speaker 2: Always make sure listen.
Speaker 3: I love to see our books trending side by side, you.
Speaker 1: Know, are they oh, food to.
Speaker 3: Die For and Food to die For? And the paperback
Speaker 3: and then Steve Gonzolvez is there.
Speaker 2: His book is there.
Speaker 3: So it's fun to see it's fun to see all
Speaker 3: of us on the chats as they say.
Speaker 1: I love that. I love that so much. What else
Speaker 1: do you have going on? Anything you want to tell
Speaker 1: the world about.
Speaker 3: Oh well, I mean not really.
Speaker 2: I mean maybe we'll do this again and then I'll
Speaker 2: have more time. Now.
Speaker 1: I know you have things you can't talk about yet.
Speaker 1: But it was also just your birthday, and I did
Speaker 1: wish you happy for it was, but happy birthday again.
Speaker 3: Eventually I will Eventually I will pick up the Christmas present,
Speaker 3: which is the birthday present, which also is the birthday present.
Speaker 1: I'm going to send you a picture of it because
Speaker 1: I got you the perfect gift and I have been
Speaker 1: sitting on it for six So I got him as
Speaker 1: present for Christmas and it was perfect. And I've seen
Speaker 1: Adam probably six times since christs thank you forgetting to
Speaker 1: give it to you. And so now I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: now it's your birthday present. But it is literally the
Speaker 1: perfect gift. My friend had it in his house and
Speaker 1: I was like, I have to get that for Ben
Speaker 1: and Adam, well for Adam and Ben Rose for both
Speaker 1: of you. Really, so thank you you.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, well it's lovely chatting with you. I'm
Speaker 1: glad we could take this little walk down memory lane,
Speaker 1: even though slightly terrifying, and I'm going to have nightmares,
Speaker 1: but I appreciate you, and I love you, and hopefully
Speaker 1: I will talk to you again very soon.
Speaker 2: Yes, let's get together soon.
Speaker 1: By the time the Cincinnati Music Hall was built, the
Speaker 1: grounds were already choked with the bones of long dead people.
Speaker 1: But hope for the future rose up from tragedy, and
Speaker 1: a hall was built to celebrate community, art and culture.
Speaker 1: Perhaps today the spirits there can take solace in life
Speaker 1: halls that ring with music, laughter, and optimism. I'm Amy Brunei,
Speaker 1: and this was Haunted Road. Haunted Road is a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky. Haunted
Speaker 1: Road is hosted and written by me Amy Brunne, with
Speaker 1: additional research by Cassandra de Alba. This show is edited
Speaker 1: and produced by supervising producer Rima el Kali, with executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Menke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. Learn more
Speaker 1: about this show over at Grimandmild dot com, and for
Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.