WEBVTT - From the Vault: Ghosts of the Wind and Rain 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:08.400 Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.200 is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And it's Saturday. 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:13.280 Time to go into the vault for an older episode 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:16.400 of the show. This one was called Ghosts of Wind 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:20.200 and Rain. I believe it was about weather oriented ghost 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:24.320 lore and and other creatures. This was originally published on October. 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:32.080 Let's let us Unleash the Storm. There's a storm coming. 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.560 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind production of My 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:45.080 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.159 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:50.680 Rob correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.360 is finally the year that you've gotten full blown into 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:59.279 Rocky Ericson. Is that right? Uh? Yeah, yeah, I would guess. So, yeah, 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:01.240 I got. I listened to him a little in the past, 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:05.520 and in this year I got even more into it. Yeah, okay, 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:09.399 So Rocky has long been one of my favorite rock 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.479 and roll vampires, and one of the things I love 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.400 about Rocky Ericson Monster songs is how much they're about 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.960 the weather. Um. So you may remember the line from 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.360 his great, his great anthem, The Night of the Vampire 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.520 if it's raining and you're running, don't slip in mud, 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.360 because if you do, you'll slip in blood. I mean, 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.959 that's just logic, and there's a really infectious glee to 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.240 that kind of logic. But also I enjoyed the weather 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.200 weather represented in songs like the Wind and More, which 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:41.040 I know compares sort of the voice of Lucifer to 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:46.040 to the storm winds that are battering through the house. Yeah. Absolutely. 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:47.680 And And if anyone out there is not sure who 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.320 we're talking about, um, you should look up Rocky erricks 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:57.480 and who also was the other group like Man from 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.480 the late sixties early seventies based in I think Austin, 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:05.160 definitely out of Texas. Uh, fantastic psychedelic rock. But then 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.040 Rocky Ericson had had a long solo career after that 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.680 of all different kinds of music, you know, he he 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.440 um so some of the stuff he released, uh he 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:18.880 he had a lot of troubles with mental health and 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.679 at some points he was in psychiatric institutions. But even 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.519 in those periods would sort of make these little demos 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:27.640 of UH songs recorded it sounds like just on a 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:32.160 tape recorder that are very simple. But but strangely beautiful, 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.360 and then at other times he would make full blown, 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.240 uh monster rock and roll albums. There's one called Evil 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.200 One that's just fantastic, that's got a kind of Credence 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:45.400 Clearwater Revival style rock production. But all the songs are 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:50.239 about demons and ghosts and and fifties atomic age monster movies. Yeah, 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.720 and it's pretty hard stuff too, Like it's like it's 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:54.959 it's it's got a hard rock vibe that I think 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.560 might surprise some people. So it's I think was produced 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:02.240 by somebody from Credence. If never so, I think so. Yeah. 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:06.320 But but but but harder than Credence, Uh, in my opinion. Well, 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.000 all that is preamble to the fact that today we 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.960 wanted to talk about the intersection of ghosts and weather. Yeah, 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.840 and I have to stress that we absolutely won't be 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.320 able to cover everything here because there are just too 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:23.359 many storm monsters and storm deities out there storm related 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:27.080 ghosts and other creatures. But we're gonna be covering various 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:30.760 examples that seem related to some of the core ideas 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.480 that we were kicking around for this episode. And uh 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.120 and and really, the the central idea has to do 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.960 with a recent trip you went on. Oh yeah, so 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.920 I was recently in coastal South Carolina. Rob, have you 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:46.680 been to coastal South Carolina? I assume probably, oh yeah, yeah. 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.560 And and of course South Carolina placed with a lot 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:52.280 of ghosts, tons of ghosts everywhere you go there, Like 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:55.360 you can find a little local visitor center that's got 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:59.920 a local uh self published ghost author who's collected all 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.280 the lore and they've got it in a in a 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:04.800 book that the font of the book is usually times 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.840 New Roman, uh, but it's but it will have lots 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.520 of great, you know, local ghost stories in it. And 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.640 so there's one that I was reading about from a 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:18.760 particular place on the South Carolina coast, a little island 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.200 called Paul's Island. And so to explain this, so on 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:26.200 refer to an article that was published by Myrtle Beach Online. 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:28.400 So it's a local news article from the Myrtle Beach 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:32.080 area that's also coastal South Carolina by a writer named 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:35.440 Tyler Fleming. The article says it was last updated in 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.000 September nineteen. I'm not sure if that's when it was 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.000 originally published, but it's this local news article trying to 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.320 track down the origins of a bit of ghost lore 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:48.440 from this area of the South Carolina coastline, and specifically 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.880 this is the story of a being called the gray Man. 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:55.320 You know, I'd say it's used a lot, but I'm 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:59.320 still a sucker for for that formulation of a creature 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:02.919 name just the blank man, especially if whatever the word 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.320 in the middle is is a single syllable. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:10.919 like the Green Man, the tall Man. Yeah. So, according 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.279 to the legend, this is a spirit that wanders around 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.920 on the shore on and around this small island called 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:22.800 Poly's Island, South Carolina. Uh, usually appearing just before the 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:29.520 landfall of terrible storms as a translucent gray figure stalking 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.920 the beaches and boardwalks in a long cloak. Sometimes he's 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:36.760 literally described as dressed like a pirate. Uh. And one 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:42.840 one funny I think a little little justified accusation of 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:46.280 his identity is that he is black Beard. He is, Uh. 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:47.880 I don't know how you're supposed to say his last 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.120 name ed Edward Teach or Teach or Thatch, however it 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.479 is yeah yeah, with the with the burning brands in 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.200 his beard. Yeah. This this gets into an interesting area 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.560 that I would like about about ghosts of this nature 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:03.160 because uh, and this is all thoroughly non scientific, of course, 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.599 but we have this idea that you know, that something 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.279 bad happens and the ghost is like a lingering after 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:12.000 effect of that thing. Um. And then certainly there's also 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.520 this idea that a ghost, it's a Blackbeard's ghost or 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:20.760 just this mysterious gray man, would have potentially insider information 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.559 about what's going to happen. Maybe you know, they died 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:26.679 at sea and therefore they know the sea a little 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.040 better and they can they can warn us about things. 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.159 But then there's also an idea of the of of 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.320 hauntings as being uh, you know, things that work in 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:39.120 both directions and time, that they can be harbingers of 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.600 of the terrible events. Um. You know, perhaps they're even 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.800 attached to events that have yet to come. Well, yeah, 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.680 and that is exactly the case with the Gray Man. 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:51.919 So contrary to what you might assume about this spectral figure, 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.919 you know, crunching along through the sand, in the in 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.360 the in the storms and the wind, local legend usually 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.039 describes the gray Man as a nine or even a 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:05.159 helpful spirit, and the purpose of his hauntings is to 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.240 serve as a warning to people who live nearby that 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:12.440 the coming storm is going to be especially destructive. So 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:16.000 as a few examples of this, uh this belief among locals, 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:19.520 I was looking at a article in Southern Living by 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:23.800 Megan over Deep about this ghost legend, and it describes 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.120 how there were locals in in South Carolina who claimed 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.080 sightings of the gray Man just before Hurricane Hazel in 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:34.679 nineteen fifty four and Hurricane Hugo in nineteen eighty nine. 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.120 But as a more recent example, also this this article 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:43.920 embedded tweets like people tweeting grainy photos of alleged gray 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:49.040 Man sightings ahead of Hurricane Florence in ten. So Rob, 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:51.640 I've embedded one for you to look at here. Listeners, 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:53.640 you can go look up this article in Southern Living 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.080 if you want to find these tweets. But m this 0:07:56.120 --> 0:08:00.760 one embeds a photo that is allegedly taken at boardwalk 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:05.680 that goes over the beach on Pouli's Island, and there 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:07.960 is I don't know, so it's a it's a very 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:09.920 grainy photograph. It's got a lot of what looks like 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.320 digital artifacts and pixelation in it, and then there's this 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.800 big sort of pale gray smudge in the middle. Of 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:18.880 it that looks, oh yeah, maybe like it could be 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:22.560 some kind of vertical object on the boardwalk. But some 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:24.880 people apparently looked at that and said, hey, it's the 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:26.800 gray Man. Well I have to point out that the 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.400 tweet that is shared in this article, uh, the tweeter 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.480 does have a blue check mark. So this is verified. 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.880 This is this is verified. It proof of the afterlife 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:41.199 confirmed as usual. Why decidings of the paranormal so strongly 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:46.440 favor low fidelity documentation. I think I'm not positive, but 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:50.000 this looks like it's from some kind of like uh uh, 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:53.439 stationary live camera that sort of documents, you know, foot 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.440 traffic on the beach. I think that you can tune 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.480 into and see what's going on there. I'm not positive 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.800 that's what it is, but I know there is stuff 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:02.000 like that around there, and so that that's what it 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.640 looks like to me, But it could be something else anyway. Yeah, 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:06.800 it's very grainy, it's got all you know, it's got 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:10.000 the pixelated artifacts in it, and I just want some 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:14.560 high definition gray Man, but I can't get it. Yeah, 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:17.760 I mean, obviously, I think that gets down to just 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:21.240 the fact that sightings occur when things are obscured and 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:25.760 uncertain They emerge out of uncertainty and uh and and 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:30.280 and and depleted the visual efficiency. That'll come back later 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.240 with something I want to get into in a minute. 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:36.480 So to quote from this article by Tyler Fleming here quote, 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.120 not only does he warn people, but he's also known 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.200 to protect their property from a storm. A woman in 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.839 nineteen fifty four claimed to see the Gray Man ahead 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.480 of the infamous Hurricane Hazel hitting the area. She said 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.280 not only was her house spared from the devastation, the 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.880 beach towels she left on her balcony were still hanging up. 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.760 So the ghost is like, oh, Madam, I I I 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:02.240 those those beach towels are just too beautiful. I can't 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:05.240 stand to see them swept into the store. I'll protect 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:07.440 your house, but what about all the people who died? 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.120 I mean, you shouldn't the ghost of priorities the people 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:14.160 instead of the beach towels. I've seen people, but these 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:18.200 beach towels, my god, they're beautiful. So this article in 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:20.680 Myrtle Beach Online goes on to list some of the 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:24.760 local speculation about the alleged origin of this ghost. It 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.920 does not mention black Beard that one might be a 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.320 kind of spurious allegation. Uh well, I mean, I think 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:33.320 all of these are probably just made up later legends. 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.400 But but trying to track down at least what are 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.680 the earliest of the legends. Um. So, the source that 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:44.000 the article sites on these is the Georgetown Museum. Georgetown 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.400 is a city near A. Pauli's Island. Um, And so 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.480 they've got to, I guess a museum that has some 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.800 stuff about this local legend. And one story, this, this 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.600 appears to be the dominant one, is about a man 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:00.760 who perished in the South Carolina low country in eighteen 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:04.400 twenty two. And the tale goes that this young man 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:08.360 had been traveling abroad for two years, and in September 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.760 of eighteen twenty two, he decided he wanted to come 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:15.160 home so he could see his fiancee uh back in 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.360 South Carolina and they could set a date for their wedding. 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.600 And he was apparently in such a hurry to get 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.320 back and see her face again that he took a 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.280 shortcut through the marsh and he ended up stuck in quicksand, 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.480 which spelled his doom and then his fiance she's grieving 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:34.920 over the fact that I guess. I don't know if 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:36.720 she found out that he died or if he just 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.760 never showed up, but she's grieving for some reason. And 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:43.120 she goes out walking along the shore and she's treading 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.880 through the sand, and while strolling alone on the beach, 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.240 she sees a dark silhouette. It's a it's the figure 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.280 of a man, and she realizes that it's the soul 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.920 of her would be husband who died in in the marsh. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.840 And she's so troubled by this vision and others like it. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:04.280 She has later that that her family decides to relocate inland. 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:06.839 They move away from that house, and the very next 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.520 day after they leave, a hurricane sweeps through, leaving a 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.080 path of destruction that would have killed them had they 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.559 not left. And it's apparently this legend that that could 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.040 give rise to this this common belief that the ghost 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:22.959 appears to people to warn them of storms. And as 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:25.040 a quick side note, I wanted to mention I love 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:27.679 that the story involves quicksand, which of course is one 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:31.160 of my favorite plot devices, but that does have an 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.800 environmental reality to it. You might not want to call 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:39.160 it quicksand, but the South Carolina low country, especially the marshes. 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:41.960 It's sort of like the mouth of the what they 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.400 could usually call the creeks, you know, the little uh 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:48.319 the tributaries of water that eventually drained out into the ocean. Um. 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:53.760 These areas will form this build up of fine sediment 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:58.320 that is known as pluff mud and uh So I 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.520 was reading at least one article from the I think 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:03.720 it was the Hilton Head area that was all about 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:06.280 the story of a lady who goes out walking in 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.680 the marsh for some reason and she ends up stuck 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:11.640 in the pluff mud. And she's there until like into 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.400 the evening, and they have to send rescuers and to 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.800 dig her out. Because you can very easily get stuck 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:19.880 in this stuff. You can sink into it. It's a 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.960 there are a lot of myths about quicksand and uh 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:25.640 and and things like it that you would like sink 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.760 down under your head and drown. That's usually not a 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.800 very common thing to happen, if it happens at all. Really, 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:34.559 I think the risk of of quicksand and even pluff 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.120 mud is just that you would get stuck in it 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:40.280 and have trouble getting yourself out. Yeah. I've certainly been 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:44.080 in I don't know if it constitutes pluf mud or 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:46.160 or if it's just you know, very wet sand. But 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.400 I've been in I've noticed some coastal situations where you 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:52.320 have a real, real bootsucker or sandal sucker of of 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:54.920 a situation, you know, where the sand is just the 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.720 right consistency that if you you step into it, you 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.400 might be pulling a bare foot back out. Yes, And 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:04.160 it's it's almost it's wonderful that it creates this um, 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:07.560 this almost untouchable terrain, because there are a lot of 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.040 areas around in the low country where you can, like 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.240 if there there will be a nature preserve and you 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:14.319 can take a board walk out over the marsh and 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.840 if you look down on it, I see all kinds 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:19.040 of life. You know, things are happening down in the 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.680 pluff mud. There may be these big colonies of oysters, 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:23.960 and you can see fiddler crabs popping up out of 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.640 holes and running around and all the birds hunting them. 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.760 But yeah, it's the kind of place where you wouldn't 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:32.920 really want to go down and venture yourself, at least 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.160 not without some special equipment, maybe like weight displacement boots 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.920 or something. Now apparently there's some alternatives for the origin 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.520 of the gray Man legend um uh. To quote again 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:48.400 from the Myrtle Beach Online article quote uh. Other theories 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.040 tell a different story. One still has a man returning 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:54.520 from c but this time his fiance decided to marry 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:58.560 his best friend instead. He throws himself into the wacam All. 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:00.400 This is the Wake Them All River, which is a 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:03.760 nearby river, and then later his fiance and friend do 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:07.080 the same. Other stories say he was an unknown sailor 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:10.240 who washed up on shore and died shortly after. Some 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.920 believe he is the original owner of Polly's Island, George Polly, 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:21.920 who lived there in the early seventeen hundreds. Thank you, 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:26.400 thank you. Now. Of course, this would be far from 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:32.040 the only legendary supernatural being associated with weather phenomena. You 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.880 know they're there are tons of ghosts and monsters and 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:39.200 creatures and gods that may not serve exactly this purpose, 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.760 saying like, hey, a storm's coming, but there in one 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:46.640 way or another associated specifically with storms or other transient 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:50.160 weather phenomena. And so while poking around on the subject, 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:52.680 I came across what I thought was an interesting and 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.320 kind of funny article. So this was on. This was 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.680 a weather news article by Michael Cune on ACU weather 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:04.960 Dot Calm with the headline quote ghost hunter colon thunderstorms 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:08.080 cause an increase in paranormal activity. Well, I mean, certainly, 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.920 if you've watched enough horror films and ghost movies, you 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:12.320 know that this is the case. You've got to have 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.560 a thunderstorm going in the background, right, I mean, it's 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.360 it's a classic of horror fiction. Right. So you could 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.840 argue about the the order of causality there, but uh, yeah, 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:24.080 you know you got the classic what's the bulward Lytton line? 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.600 It was a dark and stormy night, and then the 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:31.800 idea that it seems that stormy conditions have long inspired 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:35.240 Gothic modes of thought. I mean, you know, there's the 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:39.560 classic story of, Uh, how did Mary Wilston craft Shelley 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:42.480 come up with the idea for Frankenstein. It was during 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.640 that summer when when she and Byron and the whole 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.400 crew were sort of like stuck inside due to this 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:50.480 this dark and stormy summer sort of it was the 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.360 year without a summer, which, uh, in a weird twist 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:56.600 of fate, I think was likely due to volcanic activity 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.400 on the other side of the world. Um, that that 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:01.440 was the summer where she worked out the ideas for 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.760 the story that would become Frankenstein, sort of a foundational 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.640 text of modern horror. And so it's kind of hard 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:09.639 for me to believe that the dark and stormy summer 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.280 didn't in a way play a role in the formation 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.679 of that story in her mind. But um, but anyway, 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:19.280 so so this article about the paranormal activity in the thunderstorm. 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:24.960 So the article consults a paranormal enthusiast named Mark Keys, 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.240 who at the time of this article at least was 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:31.720 director of the Pennsylvania Paranormal Association. I looked him up 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:33.600 and it seems like he's featured on some kind of 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:36.159 some ghost hunter type TV shows. The one that was 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:39.360 I forget the name, is called like Paranormal nine one 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.720 one or something, And based on his quotes, I think, 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.080 I think this guy seems to uh take a sort 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:50.640 of ghost realist position, at least like he he uh 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:53.000 he cites, for example, the advice of a of a 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.359 spirit medium as if he believes this is likely to 0:17:56.400 --> 0:18:01.120 contain information. And so do you think there are skeptical 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.320 ghost hunters who you call them they show up at 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:05.320 their door and you're like, hey, I think I've got 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.359 a hunting and their first thing as well. Look, first 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.080 of all, ghost aren't real well there and there could be. 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.920 There could be open minded but skeptical ghost hunters. I mean, 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.399 I don't know, Like I I feel like that's the 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:17.359 attitude I would try to take. I would say, you know, 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.800 I probably I think most ghost sightings are probably all 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:24.280 of them are not really a spectral beings from another play, 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:28.120 and they're probably something about the perception of the person experiencing. 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:30.320 But you don't know for sure. I mean you at 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.160 least look and see, you try to find some out. 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:34.520 I mean, it would be beneficial to have more people 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.800 in that in that mode where like they're an expert 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.040 you consult and they're like, okay, there are no said 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:42.720 there's there no ghosts, but here a list of things 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.640 that that could contribute to this this very real and 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.760 potentially frightening experience that you have. I'm sure there are 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:51.560 some people like that, but I guess I would assume 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:53.399 this may not be fair. I don't know, but I 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:57.040 would assume if you've got like TV shows, you're you're 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.760 probably at least at least for the cameras, meaning into 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:06.000 embracing the sort of ghost realist position. Yeah, nobody's watching. 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:07.960 I guess you could watch it. I could. I guess 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.080 I could imagine a ghost Hunter show with this kind 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:12.840 of a theme, like we're here to bust the ghosts, 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:15.320 but not only the ghost themselves, with the idea of 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:17.439 ghosts that that could be fine kind of a pin 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.440 and teller um, you know, kind of approach to it. Yeah, yeah, 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:23.040 sure right. I don't know, it could be done well, 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:25.280 Like I feel like like most things, you know, it 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.240 could be done well if it was done well. But 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:30.880 coming back to this article, the thing that really got 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:32.760 a hook in my brain about it and that I 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.920 thought was really interesting was that the article made an 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:41.560 attempt to posit a physical mechanism by which thunderstorms allow 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:46.199 ghosts to appear. And I think basically the implication is 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:51.560 that ghosts need to get charged up by lightning. It's 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:53.719 not said explicitly, but this does appear to be the 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:57.239 implication given by the guy sided in this article. So 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:01.159 to quote from the article, Some bel that apparitions or 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.920 spirits needs some source of energy to manifest their presence 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.399 into the physical plane. In order to communicate with the living. 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:13.400 This could include drawing energy from electrical circuits and even batteries. 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:17.119 And then this is quoting from Keys, if a spirit 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.520 is trying to manifest, that is, become physically visible, it 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:23.720 will pull energy out of the environment to do that. 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.560 This could include heat, as cold spots are commonly reported, 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:30.560 as well as in areas where haunting has been reported. 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.679 It seems to be shortly after a lightning storm that 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:37.760 they do notice an increase, he said. And then then 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:39.959 this is the part where Keys claims that his psychic 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:42.840 medium will back up the fact that after a thunderstorm 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:47.000 there is quote a lot more activity. Um. Now, you know, 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.360 as as I think, uh, we'll be clear if you've 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:50.960 listened to us for a while or even from our 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:54.000 earlier discussion, I would say we generally take a you know, 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:59.720 broadly open minded, but specifically skeptical position on the physical 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:04.159 reality of paranormal reports like this. So so while we're 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:07.040 not going to embrace the ghost realist position, I would 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:11.440 be potentially open to the claim from the the experience 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:16.040 of a paranormal investigator who says that thunderstorms are correlated 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:20.199 with increased reports of ghost sightings, poulter geist hauntings and 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:22.640 so forth. So I think that could well be true, 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.080 and that could well be informed by experience, because there 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:27.960 would be nothing supernatural in that. You just have to say, well, yeah, 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.320 people do say they get haunted more often after there's 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:35.000 been a storm or around the time of a storm. Um, 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:37.119 But I would tend to think that if this is true, 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:41.120 the mechanism would more likely be the thunderstorm somehow causes 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:45.120 the perception of ghosts and wandering spirits rather than literally 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:47.439 conjuring them. Yeah, I mean we have to remember that 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:51.159 what is what does lightning do? But but very briefly 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:55.719 illuminates the darkened world, um, and just a flash and 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:57.919 gives us a chance to sort of fill in in 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:01.520 the gaps there with whatever you might you know, expect 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:04.160 to be there in the storm. That's a really good point, 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:07.400 and it's further informed by some of the stuff that's 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:09.640 quoted in this article. Is like, what are the most 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:13.680