WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.339 You are now listening to Cryptid Cocktail Party 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:42.600 Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:44.039 Cryptic Cocktail Party, a show where we have 00:00:44.039 --> 00:00:45.880 a few drinks, share a few laughs, take a dive 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:47.780 into the unknown. I'm your host, Dave, joined 00:00:47.780 --> 00:00:50.320 as always by my wonderful co -host, Sarge. How's 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.579 it going, Sarge? I'm fucking amazing. Yeah, amazing. 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:58.740 Yeah. That's a bold statement. It is bold, but 00:00:58.740 --> 00:01:00.100 I'm going to stick with it. All right, you better 00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:03.380 have some fucking reasons to back that up. Well, 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:08.209 I mean, in light of recent events. I think we 00:01:08.209 --> 00:01:10.090 can all be very excited about the fact that they 00:01:10.090 --> 00:01:12.409 may have found some really definitive proof that 00:01:12.409 --> 00:01:16.629 there's life on Mars. Oh. Oh, yeah. You sent 00:01:16.629 --> 00:01:18.750 me that. I didn't watch it. I'm not going to 00:01:18.750 --> 00:01:21.989 lie. That's okay. It's a long video. But the 00:01:21.989 --> 00:01:27.129 guy breaks it down really succinctly and kind 00:01:27.129 --> 00:01:29.629 of explains why this is different from all those 00:01:29.629 --> 00:01:31.469 other times they thought maybe they found life 00:01:31.469 --> 00:01:35.230 somewhere. Basically, the crux of it is like... 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:40.400 The evidence would be very easy to explain if 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:42.840 it was caused by living organisms. It would be 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:45.980 very difficult to explain if it wasn't caused 00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:48.579 by living organisms. Okay. But I mean, they said 00:01:48.579 --> 00:01:51.040 the same thing about the moon. It's easier to 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:54.519 disprove the existence of the moon than it is 00:01:54.519 --> 00:01:57.359 to prove its existence. So you can't trust mainstream 00:01:57.359 --> 00:01:59.379 science is all I'm saying, Sarge, all right? 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:05.299 Yikes. Have you ever gone outside at night? Yeah. 00:02:07.009 --> 00:02:10.050 in in in the big the big white orb in the sky 00:02:10.050 --> 00:02:13.969 what do you think that is hologram i need a new 00:02:13.969 --> 00:02:18.969 podcast sorry dude my fucking ever since the 00:02:18.969 --> 00:02:21.969 incident my fucking tiktok for you page has been 00:02:21.969 --> 00:02:25.310 so out of whack that all i'm seeing is all these 00:02:25.310 --> 00:02:27.990 crazy right -wing people and it's i mean it's 00:02:27.990 --> 00:02:31.009 melting my brain a little bit but some of us 00:02:31.009 --> 00:02:33.449 oh uh incident what uh what what uh incident 00:02:33.449 --> 00:02:37.520 you're talking about I'm just kidding. I'm just 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:41.960 getting a pain in the neck. Let's move on. All 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:45.120 right, Sarge. I got an episode for us today. 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:47.879 I think it's pretty good. We're going to be in 00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:51.500 some familiar territory today. You might remember 00:02:51.500 --> 00:02:55.099 this topic from a while back. We touched on it 00:02:55.099 --> 00:02:57.219 briefly, but I figured it kind of needed its 00:02:57.219 --> 00:03:02.060 own full episode, if that makes sense. Sure. 00:03:02.340 --> 00:03:05.430 Okay. Are you ready to dive in? Also, I'm doing 00:03:05.430 --> 00:03:10.189 great, by the way. Thanks for asking. You know 00:03:10.189 --> 00:03:14.150 what, Dave? You know what? That's on me. I'm 00:03:14.150 --> 00:03:18.590 a bad friend and I'm sorry. Let's pause here. 00:03:18.830 --> 00:03:21.310 How are you doing? You already told me how you 00:03:21.310 --> 00:03:23.129 were doing. Your dog threw up. Yeah, that was 00:03:23.129 --> 00:03:27.430 before we started recording. I'm just fucking 00:03:27.430 --> 00:03:32.289 with you. All right. I am a bad friend. I'm a 00:03:32.289 --> 00:03:34.629 bad friend. I get it. All right, let's move on. 00:03:35.849 --> 00:03:39.110 Cape Cod in the summertime. Oh, what a place 00:03:39.110 --> 00:03:42.789 to be. Beaches, boat shoes, lobster rolls, and 00:03:42.789 --> 00:03:45.810 more sunburnt douchebags at a Trump rally. But 00:03:45.810 --> 00:03:47.810 once the season starts to change and the tourists 00:03:47.810 --> 00:03:51.270 go home, everything kind of shuts down. The air 00:03:51.270 --> 00:03:53.530 gets cold and the wind coming off the ocean turns 00:03:53.530 --> 00:03:55.810 a bit sharp. And everyone starts doing meth. 00:03:57.560 --> 00:03:59.580 The streets go quiet, and towns that were once 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:01.919 bright and alive just a few months earlier are 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:03.860 now desolate and take on kind of like a whole 00:04:03.860 --> 00:04:06.379 different type of vibe. Yes. And in October of 00:04:06.379 --> 00:04:09.099 1939, Provincetown, Massachusetts felt the vibe 00:04:09.099 --> 00:04:11.120 shift in a very real way. And it wasn't just 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:13.319 the usual eerie off -season vibe that normally 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:16.500 comes with the territory. People were whispering 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:18.420 about something lurking in the dunes and creeping 00:04:18.420 --> 00:04:20.730 around the streets at night. Something that could 00:04:20.730 --> 00:04:23.370 move faster than any human, leap over 10 -foot 00:04:23.370 --> 00:04:25.189 fences, and disappear into the night without 00:04:25.189 --> 00:04:27.949 a trace. Some say it had glowing eyes. Others 00:04:27.949 --> 00:04:30.670 say it could spit blue fire. And by Halloween, 00:04:30.870 --> 00:04:33.129 Provincetown wasn't just uneasy. It was in a 00:04:33.129 --> 00:04:35.310 full -blown state of panic. So today, Sarge, 00:04:35.310 --> 00:04:37.170 we are going to be revisiting one of the very 00:04:37.170 --> 00:04:40.029 first topics I ever talked to you about, the 00:04:40.029 --> 00:04:43.029 Devil of the Dunes, a .k .a. the Black Flash 00:04:43.029 --> 00:04:45.750 of Provincetown. Do you remember this one? Wow. 00:04:45.930 --> 00:04:49.370 Yes. You know, from your description, I thought 00:04:49.370 --> 00:04:52.389 you were just describing like a very committed 00:04:52.389 --> 00:04:58.769 drag queen. Well, she was just giving like really 00:04:58.769 --> 00:05:03.990 good face. All right. So what do you what do 00:05:03.990 --> 00:05:09.810 you remember about the story? I famously don't 00:05:09.810 --> 00:05:13.290 remember much. This is over like a year and a 00:05:13.290 --> 00:05:16.629 half ago. You weren't even the host yet. You 00:05:16.629 --> 00:05:18.430 were just a guest when we talked about this one. 00:05:18.490 --> 00:05:21.829 Yeah. Because it was just a short episode, right? 00:05:21.889 --> 00:05:23.089 Because we were just covering a bunch of different 00:05:23.089 --> 00:05:24.769 things. I think we covered like two or three 00:05:24.769 --> 00:05:29.389 in that one. Shit. All I really remember were 00:05:29.389 --> 00:05:31.649 the angry villagers, but that's like a normal 00:05:31.649 --> 00:05:36.410 cryptid scenario. Yeah. And I think there were 00:05:36.410 --> 00:05:39.230 just a lot of sightings. I don't recall it doing 00:05:39.230 --> 00:05:42.399 anything violent. Kind of. Well, you know what? 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:44.839 Why don't we get into it? Let's do it. Let's 00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:46.839 get into it. All right. So Whispers of the Flash 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:49.480 actually started the year before the real panic 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:52.959 set in. Sometime in late 1938, a group of school 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:55.100 kids claimed that they saw a strange man out 00:05:55.100 --> 00:05:58.079 near the dunes. They described this figure as 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.319 being dressed head to toe in black with a long 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:02.980 cape and hood. Some of them swore that his eyes 00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:04.839 glowed in the dark, and a few even said that 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.779 they noticed he had long, shiny silver ears sticking 00:06:07.779 --> 00:06:10.389 out from his head. Now, because children are 00:06:10.389 --> 00:06:12.350 stupid and nothing they say should ever be taken 00:06:12.350 --> 00:06:14.790 seriously, most of the adults brush this story 00:06:14.790 --> 00:06:17.670 off as nothing more than overactive imaginations. 00:06:17.709 --> 00:06:20.310 I mean, I get it. It was the off season. It's 00:06:20.310 --> 00:06:22.470 quieter. It's colder. Getting dark out earlier. 00:06:23.029 --> 00:06:25.290 They thought the kids were bound to end up spooking 00:06:25.290 --> 00:06:27.149 themselves walking home from school anyways, 00:06:27.290 --> 00:06:29.290 because that shit probably happens every year 00:06:29.290 --> 00:06:31.170 around this time. The Cape is a spooky fucking 00:06:31.170 --> 00:06:33.449 place in the wintertime. I believe it. I don't 00:06:33.449 --> 00:06:36.970 think I've ever been. i've been and it's it's 00:06:36.970 --> 00:06:39.550 just very haunting it's like a dystopian movie 00:06:39.550 --> 00:06:43.050 yeah the only thing i mean did you watch american 00:06:43.050 --> 00:06:46.529 horror story at all yeah i've watched some there 00:06:46.529 --> 00:06:48.290 was a season where it's like a season that was 00:06:48.290 --> 00:06:51.490 like split in two one like took place like on 00:06:51.490 --> 00:06:53.850 the cape during the off season and like a bunch 00:06:53.850 --> 00:06:58.420 of vampires it is kind of an eerie It's an eerie 00:06:58.420 --> 00:07:00.980 place in the winter, so that would be actually 00:07:00.980 --> 00:07:03.180 a great setting for a horror movie. Yeah, and 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:04.579 then the other half of the season, I think, was 00:07:04.579 --> 00:07:08.160 like Valiant Thor or something similar to it. 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:13.399 It was weird. But in October of 1939, the stories 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:15.579 got a little harder to ignore because one night, 00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:17.939 a young woman by the name of Maria Costa was 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:20.040 walking past Town Hall when she noticed a figure 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:22.750 standing in the shadows. She described it as 00:07:22.750 --> 00:07:25.649 inhumanly tall, cloaked all in black with glowing 00:07:25.649 --> 00:07:28.410 eyes and the same silver ears that the kid had 00:07:28.410 --> 00:07:31.310 mentioned. And before she even had a chance to 00:07:31.310 --> 00:07:33.730 react or even really acknowledge what she was 00:07:33.730 --> 00:07:36.350 seeing, it leapt out at her while emitting a 00:07:36.350 --> 00:07:39.829 strange buzzing -like growl. I don't know what 00:07:39.829 --> 00:07:41.350 that would have sounded like. To me, it's probably 00:07:41.350 --> 00:07:44.290 like a cicada sound. Right. Maybe. I don't know. 00:07:44.350 --> 00:07:47.490 Either way, it sounds not great. So, rightfully 00:07:47.490 --> 00:07:51.050 terrified. maria booked it into a nearby cafe 00:07:51.050 --> 00:07:54.149 screaming for help now lucky for her the cafe 00:07:54.149 --> 00:07:56.310 just happened to be filled with whatever the 00:07:56.310 --> 00:07:59.389 1930s version of quote -unquote good guys with 00:07:59.389 --> 00:08:02.410 guns are and they rushed outside to search the 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:04.870 street but whatever whatever had jumped out at 00:08:04.870 --> 00:08:08.569 her was already gone by then so now this wasn't 00:08:08.569 --> 00:08:11.889 just like kids with overactive imaginations whatever 00:08:11.889 --> 00:08:14.209 maria encountered was real enough to shake her 00:08:14.209 --> 00:08:16.490 to record and everyone who witnessed her come 00:08:16.490 --> 00:08:19.449 into that cafe that night They noticed it. So 00:08:19.449 --> 00:08:21.750 now for the first time, the adults of P -Town 00:08:21.750 --> 00:08:25.569 had to seriously consider that maybe there's 00:08:25.569 --> 00:08:28.529 a giant glowing -eyed demon elf prowling the 00:08:28.529 --> 00:08:33.710 streets at night. So this woman was walking down 00:08:33.710 --> 00:08:37.289 the street and saw this horrifying creature. 00:08:38.210 --> 00:08:41.809 I don't think she saw it. It was in the shadows. 00:08:42.070 --> 00:08:45.090 I don't think she really got until it really 00:08:45.090 --> 00:08:46.950 jumped out at her that she got the good look 00:08:46.950 --> 00:08:51.500 at it. written that weird okay so but like first 00:08:51.500 --> 00:08:59.179 she was afraid she was petrified yeah you say 00:08:59.179 --> 00:09:02.120 that it was the first drag show ever that's what 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:03.600 it was and she just didn't know what to expect 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:10.399 real quick i keep saying providence when i mean 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:12.700 provincetown so if you hear me say the black 00:09:12.700 --> 00:09:15.220 flash of providence i really mean the black flash 00:09:15.220 --> 00:09:19.700 of provincetown i It's easy to mix up, guys. 00:09:19.779 --> 00:09:22.960 Leave me alone. Yes, the origins of drag don't 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:27.039 come from anything else but the Black Flash of 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:29.320 Providence. Not going to lie, Black Flash of 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:32.799 Providence, not a bad drag name. That's a great 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:35.000 drag name. It's not bad. Also, the Devil of the 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.539 Dunes, also not terrible. That's like a burlesque 00:09:39.539 --> 00:09:41.620 show. I feel like there should be a drag show 00:09:41.620 --> 00:09:45.100 in P -Town called Devils of the Dunes, and it's 00:09:45.100 --> 00:09:49.019 all like a dark drag show. I like it a lot. No 00:09:49.019 --> 00:09:51.879 one steal this idea. If you're hearing this, 00:09:51.899 --> 00:09:55.039 forget you heard it. If you need directors, Dave 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:59.340 and I will help. Two straight men directing a 00:09:59.340 --> 00:10:03.740 drag show. Nothing could go wrong. It'd be fun, 00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:07.460 I feel like. It would be hilarious. Yeah. So, 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:11.100 yeah. So, there's... The people are taking it 00:10:11.100 --> 00:10:13.620 seriously now. Yeah. And it only got worse from 00:10:13.620 --> 00:10:15.679 here. Like, in the days that followed Maria Costa's 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:18.139 encounter, Promised Town went from, quote, these 00:10:18.139 --> 00:10:20.059 kids and their stories, they should be in the 00:10:20.059 --> 00:10:22.799 textile factories where they belong, to... Their 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:25.759 tiny hands fixing big machines. To, oh, fuck, 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:29.580 shit is getting real, real quick. What had started 00:10:29.580 --> 00:10:31.580 out as, like, just, like, scattered rumors and... 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.740 one actual encounter that all snowballed into 00:10:34.740 --> 00:10:37.659 like an avalanche of shit. People were spotting 00:10:37.659 --> 00:10:40.080 the flash all over town and the details just 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:42.700 kept getting weirder. Some claimed like they 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:44.460 saw the flash sprinting through the yards in 00:10:44.460 --> 00:10:46.340 the West end while minutes later, other calls 00:10:46.340 --> 00:10:48.100 came in from the East end saying it was over 00:10:48.100 --> 00:10:50.639 there now, which I feel goes without saying, 00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:53.519 uh, is physically impossible for the average 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:56.799 person to do. Um, yeah. Yeah, this thing was 00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:58.860 everywhere all the time, all at once, which made 00:10:58.860 --> 00:11:02.000 everyone a little on edge. It could be anywhere 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:03.980 at any time. That make me uncomfortable? Yeah. 00:11:05.299 --> 00:11:07.480 Parents kept their kids home from school. Everyone 00:11:07.480 --> 00:11:10.279 was locking their windows and doors. And almost 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:12.419 no one was out and about after dark. It was pretty 00:11:12.419 --> 00:11:14.860 much like after sunset, like the already quiet 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:19.299 town just got like a whole lot quieter. But that 00:11:19.299 --> 00:11:21.139 doesn't mean the encounter stopped because, like 00:11:21.139 --> 00:11:26.549 I said, almost no one went out after dark. For 00:11:26.549 --> 00:11:28.850 example, one night, a teenage boy ran to the 00:11:28.850 --> 00:11:32.830 police station, tears in his eyes, swearing up 00:11:32.830 --> 00:11:35.169 and down. That's my Trump impression. It's really 00:11:35.169 --> 00:11:38.830 bad. Thank you, sir. You're doing a great job 00:11:38.830 --> 00:11:43.250 as president, but there's a demon. Tears in his 00:11:43.250 --> 00:11:45.610 eyes, swearing up and down that the flash jumped 00:11:45.610 --> 00:11:49.149 out at him and spit blue flames in his face while 00:11:49.149 --> 00:11:52.690 he was walking home from the library. It's not 00:11:52.690 --> 00:11:55.700 funny, but it is. It's a little funny. Others 00:11:55.700 --> 00:12:01.659 said they saw it grab out a woman from an alley 00:12:01.659 --> 00:12:03.940 before disappearing into the night. Not like 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:05.960 with the woman. That would be an even crazier 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:11.440 story. Just carrying her off. And in at least 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:14.330 two separate instances. Men who confronted the 00:12:14.330 --> 00:12:16.370 Flash were knocked right on their ass with a 00:12:16.370 --> 00:12:18.450 single blow, with one of the men waking up the 00:12:18.450 --> 00:12:20.590 next morning to find a red, hand -shaped welt 00:12:20.590 --> 00:12:23.769 on his face, kind of like Chris Rock the morning 00:12:23.769 --> 00:12:28.730 after the Oscars. Very similar scenario. He got 00:12:28.730 --> 00:12:32.450 bitch -slapped. Hard, too. He fucking knocked 00:12:32.450 --> 00:12:35.090 him out until the next morning. The other man 00:12:35.090 --> 00:12:41.590 got a lap dance to a Cher song. So, so far... 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:44.320 We got spitting blue flames into the faces of 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:46.840 children, grabbing at women, and open palms slapping 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:49.440 dudes on the street. Now, for some of the things 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:52.360 we cover, that's pretty tame behavior. It's also 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:56.159 very much like a drag show. You really aren't 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:58.559 getting very far away from a drag show at all. 00:12:59.139 --> 00:13:03.639 Well, drag shows may come up later. Okay. All 00:13:03.639 --> 00:13:07.080 right. But soon, the encounters became a little 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:09.539 more violent. And it's here that we get into 00:13:09.539 --> 00:13:12.259 Sarge's favorite part of any story, Americans 00:13:12.259 --> 00:13:14.600 exercising their Second Amendment right to blindly 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:21.559 fire at things they don't understand. Am I wrong? 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:24.720 It's my favorite part. Every time we do one of 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:27.080 these shows, my favorite part is always when 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:32.299 the villagers get armed. Nothing like irresponsible 00:13:32.299 --> 00:13:36.919 Americans with a firearm. So a local farmer. 00:13:37.709 --> 00:13:40.350 Charles Farley claimed that he spotted the flash 00:13:40.350 --> 00:13:43.429 skulking around his fenced in backyard. So Charlie, 00:13:43.529 --> 00:13:45.889 not one to hesitate when it comes to trespassers, 00:13:45.889 --> 00:13:48.570 grabbed his shotgun, flung open his door and 00:13:48.570 --> 00:13:51.610 fired point blank into this motherfucker. There 00:13:51.610 --> 00:13:54.830 you go. But to Chuck's surprise, instead of like 00:13:54.830 --> 00:13:58.220 just crumpling into an absolute pile. Uh, the 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:00.299 creature just laughed this horrible, like distorted 00:14:00.299 --> 00:14:02.820 laugh that he said, quote, cut straight through 00:14:02.820 --> 00:14:05.600 his skull. Then in a single bound, the flash 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:08.019 hopped over the eight foot fence and then just 00:14:08.019 --> 00:14:11.379 disappeared into the night. Now Farley swore 00:14:11.379 --> 00:14:13.519 he couldn't have missed from the distance he 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:16.120 fired at. And I assume he's speaking from experience. 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:18.019 I'm sure this dude has probably murked a few 00:14:18.019 --> 00:14:20.740 vagrants in his time. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:23.279 There's a lot of symbols on his fence out front 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:25.379 warning the other hobos that there's a man with 00:14:25.379 --> 00:14:28.519 a gun. Yeah. He claimed it was like the thing 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:31.419 was bulletproof or somehow not entirely human. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:33.399 But this is nothing compared to what went down 00:14:33.399 --> 00:14:36.179 not long after or before. I'm not entirely sure 00:14:36.179 --> 00:14:37.759 of the timeline. Some of them get a little bit 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:41.440 murky. It doesn't matter because one night. the 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:44.000 police got multiple calls from some concerned 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:46.259 citizens that the flash was lurking down near 00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:49.360 the local school playground. Well, that you can't 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:52.000 have. You can't have that. Yeah, so four officers 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.360 responded, all armed with pistols and flashlights 00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:56.620 at the ready. Now, the playground, it's important 00:14:56.620 --> 00:14:59.980 to note, is surrounded by a 10 -foot high fence. 00:15:00.139 --> 00:15:02.360 So there's really no way in or out unless you 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:06.539 come in through, like, the main gate. So they 00:15:06.539 --> 00:15:08.460 thought that if they could just get in there 00:15:08.460 --> 00:15:13.559 and corner it, finally be over so the four officers 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:16.019 went to the playground spread out and began sweeping 00:15:16.019 --> 00:15:18.139 the playground with their flashlights now for 00:15:18.139 --> 00:15:21.080 a moment everything was silent then they heard 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:24.059 that same inhuman laugh echoing across the playground 00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:26.279 they all shown their flashlights in the direction 00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:28.580 of the laugh and there in the corner was the 00:15:28.580 --> 00:15:33.080 flash just like just watching them uh yeah they 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:37.120 shouted out so creepy it's not good no i don't 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:41.500 like it They shouted at it to freeze, like, there's 00:15:41.500 --> 00:15:43.720 a whole, like, hey, hands where I can see them, 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:45.559 I assume. I don't know what cops were like back 00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:48.379 then. Like, nah, get over here, see? That's what 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:51.779 a 23 -piece could do. But instead of complying 00:15:51.779 --> 00:15:55.279 with the lawful order, it tilted its head back 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:58.039 and let out another mocking guttural laugh before 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:01.279 making its move at them. The officers responded 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:05.179 by opening fire, emptying their pistols into 00:16:05.179 --> 00:16:07.600 this thing, but... It didn't go down. I mean, 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:09.340 some shots may have missed in its chaos, but 00:16:09.340 --> 00:16:11.399 at least some of them had to have hit, I assume. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:14.620 But still, it just kept moving. Then in a single 00:16:14.620 --> 00:16:17.139 impossible leap, the flash cleared the 10 -foot 00:16:17.139 --> 00:16:19.299 tall fence, landed on the other side, and just 00:16:19.299 --> 00:16:21.500 like the other encounters, vanished into the 00:16:21.500 --> 00:16:24.639 night. Jesus. Afterwards, one of the officers, 00:16:24.840 --> 00:16:26.759 Francis Marshall, gave a statement about what 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:29.279 he saw. He admitted the creature wasn't quite 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:32.080 as impossibly tall as some people have claimed, 00:16:32.100 --> 00:16:33.899 though it was definitely above average height. 00:16:34.669 --> 00:16:36.330 But more important. Drag queens usually are. 00:16:36.690 --> 00:16:40.570 But more important. It's the heels. Are we going 00:16:40.570 --> 00:16:42.049 to get canceled for you bringing up drag queens 00:16:42.049 --> 00:16:44.889 this much? I'm celebrating them. I think this 00:16:44.889 --> 00:16:47.049 is fucking great. Okay. Literally nothing that 00:16:47.049 --> 00:16:49.929 you've described so far has disproven the drag 00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:55.490 queen. Jumping over high fences, impossibly tall, 00:16:55.649 --> 00:16:59.470 extremely fast and nimble. Are they known for 00:16:59.470 --> 00:17:04.349 their vertical leap? I mean, I assume. I don't 00:17:04.349 --> 00:17:08.289 know. There's a lot of things that they need 00:17:08.289 --> 00:17:12.190 to be able to do, like splits. Yeah. And so I 00:17:12.190 --> 00:17:14.210 feel like they should have pretty good leg strength, 00:17:14.309 --> 00:17:18.670 right? I guess. I don't know. We'll go with it. 00:17:18.690 --> 00:17:21.569 We'll find out. But more importantly, he swore 00:17:21.569 --> 00:17:24.930 that close up, he saw that its face, quote unquote, 00:17:25.069 --> 00:17:28.940 wasn't a face at all. not like in like a demon 00:17:28.940 --> 00:17:31.180 way it looked more like a metal mask possibly 00:17:31.180 --> 00:17:34.059 even like an old flower sifter being used as 00:17:34.059 --> 00:17:37.000 a mask with like the mesh over the face and then 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:39.140 two long handles sticking up like pointed ears 00:17:39.140 --> 00:17:41.319 which okay okay yeah which might yeah i know 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:43.039 i know what you mean now when you said flower 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:47.400 sifter at first i was like what the fuck is this 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:49.599 like like thought it was like a gardening tool 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:53.759 no like a flower like yeah yeah no now i know 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:56.359 oh like a so like a fencing mask Kinda, yeah, 00:17:56.480 --> 00:17:59.799 pretty much. Okay. And so this might explain 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:02.200 the reports of the long silver ears and earlier 00:18:02.200 --> 00:18:04.319 sightings, but this is just one guy's opinion. 00:18:04.460 --> 00:18:08.019 And even if it was just a shorter, tall man wearing 00:18:08.019 --> 00:18:12.160 a mask, it didn't really explain how anyone could 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:14.220 move like the Flash did or how he was able to 00:18:14.220 --> 00:18:16.660 shrug off a shotgun blast to the chest like it 00:18:16.660 --> 00:18:20.259 was a fucking mosquito bite. Yeah. Yeah. So now 00:18:20.259 --> 00:18:22.539 at this point, the town is in chaos. Some people 00:18:22.539 --> 00:18:24.539 are now armed and patrolling their streets. The 00:18:24.539 --> 00:18:26.460 police are... chasing reports left and right 00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:29.819 and the flash seemed to always kind of be just 00:18:29.819 --> 00:18:33.380 like one step ahead of everyone and then so what 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:35.859 went from like a kid's story has now turned into 00:18:35.859 --> 00:18:39.740 pretty much a full -on public safety crisis yeah 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:42.359 well that's because everyone keeps opening their 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:44.599 door and just firing into the night yeah you 00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:46.460 got people fucking just shooting willy -nilly 00:18:46.460 --> 00:18:49.400 people roaming their blocks to make sure it's 00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:51.400 safe but and then now the police are fucking 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:53.339 stretched thin because they're running all over 00:18:53.339 --> 00:18:55.900 town trying to find this fucking phantom. While 00:18:55.900 --> 00:19:01.440 dodging gunfire. So the police are completely 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:04.259 overwhelmed, and the Provincetown Police Chief, 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:06.839 Anthony P. Tarvers, was starting to feel the 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:09.000 pressure. People wanted answers, they wanted 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:11.500 a rest, but most importantly, people just wanted 00:19:11.500 --> 00:19:13.279 to feel safe again. They wanted to be able to 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:16.700 go outside at night. So he just started grasping 00:19:16.700 --> 00:19:18.420 at straws to try and figure this whole thing 00:19:18.420 --> 00:19:21.150 out. Like, for instance, on October 26th, he 00:19:21.150 --> 00:19:23.329 brought three local youth into the station for 00:19:23.329 --> 00:19:25.150 questioning. Now, these weren't just, like, three 00:19:25.150 --> 00:19:27.009 random kids. Like, he didn't, like, open the 00:19:27.009 --> 00:19:28.589 door of the station and go, you, you, and you, 00:19:28.710 --> 00:19:31.430 come here. No, he found them walking down the 00:19:31.430 --> 00:19:33.869 street, one on top of the other, wearing a giant 00:19:33.869 --> 00:19:40.920 trench coat. Yeah, no, these kids were like, 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:42.700 they're like known troublemakers in the area. 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:45.779 Like one was a tall high school track star and 00:19:45.779 --> 00:19:50.640 hurdler nicknamed Stretch, which is... That's 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:52.819 the greatest nickname. But it's so obvious for 00:19:52.819 --> 00:19:55.539 a tall person. Right, but he might have been 00:19:55.539 --> 00:19:57.960 the first one considering this was the 1930s. 00:20:01.380 --> 00:20:04.579 The other was just another tall kid named Ford 00:20:04.579 --> 00:20:06.890 and the third was a kid named... I don't know 00:20:06.890 --> 00:20:10.549 if it's Rego or Rego. It's R -E -G -O. I'm going 00:20:10.549 --> 00:20:13.430 to go Rego. Rego sounds fun. I would say, yeah, 00:20:13.490 --> 00:20:16.849 Rego sounds good. Yeah. Now, the chief's theory 00:20:16.849 --> 00:20:19.089 was that if anyone in town could pull off a stunt 00:20:19.089 --> 00:20:21.089 like scaring people half to death and then leaping 00:20:21.089 --> 00:20:23.369 tall -ass fences, it would be these boys. Again, 00:20:23.410 --> 00:20:25.670 one of them was a high school track star and 00:20:25.670 --> 00:20:27.970 hurdler, so he might have a pretty decent jump 00:20:27.970 --> 00:20:32.369 to him. I have no idea. So Travers began grilling 00:20:32.369 --> 00:20:35.380 them about the sightings, the attacks. Anything 00:20:35.380 --> 00:20:37.019 related to the flash. He also questioned them 00:20:37.019 --> 00:20:39.880 about a string of mysterious arsons that I guess 00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:42.420 were also happening at the time. Because, of 00:20:42.420 --> 00:20:47.420 course, there was something else going on. Of 00:20:47.420 --> 00:20:52.740 course. But after hours of questioning, the boys 00:20:52.740 --> 00:20:55.720 denied everything. And with nothing really solid 00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:59.440 to hold them on, he had to let them go. So that 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:03.509 went nowhere. But he didn't stop. So now Halloween 00:21:03.509 --> 00:21:05.950 is just a few days away, and the last thing the 00:21:05.950 --> 00:21:08.289 town needed was more chaos. So Tavers came up 00:21:08.289 --> 00:21:10.809 with an idea. If you can't catch the pranksters, 00:21:11.049 --> 00:21:15.009 give them nowhere and no one to play with. Does 00:21:15.009 --> 00:21:17.529 that make sense? A little bit. So what are you, 00:21:17.589 --> 00:21:21.589 like, kick everybody out of town? Everybody leave. 00:21:21.950 --> 00:21:25.309 You're close. He gathered them all into one location. 00:21:27.160 --> 00:21:30.559 Okay. So he organized a townwide Halloween party. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:32.220 It's kind of like a pressure valve, but also 00:21:32.220 --> 00:21:35.779 to kind of like... Very smart. Yeah. And on October 00:21:35.779 --> 00:21:39.599 31st, that party was bumping. Practically the 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:42.200 entire town showed up. Hundreds of kids and adults 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:45.259 packed in for nights of games, costume contests, 00:21:45.259 --> 00:21:47.119 and even an obstacle course for some reason. 00:21:47.140 --> 00:21:49.839 I didn't get the details on what it would be. 00:21:49.900 --> 00:21:51.720 I assume it had to be Halloween themed somehow. 00:21:52.259 --> 00:21:55.339 Right. You know? Unless this is like a weird 00:21:55.339 --> 00:21:58.200 way of one of the... things that maybe they meant 00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:00.019 like a corn maze but i feel like you can't do 00:22:00.019 --> 00:22:01.779 that inside that'd be hard it'd be difficult 00:22:01.779 --> 00:22:03.980 so they probably just did like bobbing for apples 00:22:03.980 --> 00:22:07.220 or well this was like the 1930s so it's probably 00:22:07.220 --> 00:22:11.000 like bobbing bobbing for cocaine because it was 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:13.619 still legal medicinal cocaine all right so yeah 00:22:13.619 --> 00:22:15.609 so the party's bumping Everyone's having a good 00:22:15.609 --> 00:22:17.930 time. And as a little lighthearted fact in the 00:22:17.930 --> 00:22:20.650 story, a three -year -old boy named Manuel Jason 00:22:20.650 --> 00:22:23.710 Jr. won the costume contest dressed as none other 00:22:23.710 --> 00:22:25.990 than the Black Flash. He had like a little tiny 00:22:25.990 --> 00:22:28.430 cape and glowing eyes. People loved it. It was 00:22:28.430 --> 00:22:30.210 like a little dark humor, I guess, kind of. Maybe 00:22:30.210 --> 00:22:32.170 not dark humor, but... I mean, nothing says New 00:22:32.170 --> 00:22:34.029 England like dressing up the thing that terrifies 00:22:34.029 --> 00:22:35.650 you the most. Yeah, and I feel like it probably 00:22:35.650 --> 00:22:40.049 helped ease the tension a bit. Yeah. So with 00:22:40.049 --> 00:22:42.569 the event wrapping up... tarvers addressed the 00:22:42.569 --> 00:22:44.869 crowd and the press in attendance directly and 00:22:44.869 --> 00:22:47.170 in front of everyone declared quote as far as 00:22:47.170 --> 00:22:49.609 i'm concerned the black flash is dead and gone 00:22:49.609 --> 00:22:52.470 end quote he then went on to tell the reporters 00:22:52.470 --> 00:22:54.529 that the whole thing was more than likely a prank 00:22:54.529 --> 00:22:57.069 gone too far by local teens and that it was officially 00:22:57.069 --> 00:23:01.109 over now he had absolutely no fucking reason 00:23:01.109 --> 00:23:03.769 to think this or say this and had nothing to 00:23:03.769 --> 00:23:05.890 back it up he was just talking out of his ass 00:23:05.890 --> 00:23:12.200 but it worked Just like that, the attack stopped. 00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:14.579 There was no more sightings, no more shootouts, 00:23:14.579 --> 00:23:18.380 no chaos. It's kind of like he read The Secret 00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:20.720 or something and just manifested it into being 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:26.140 true. Nothing stops a bullet like saying, it's 00:23:26.140 --> 00:23:30.099 just a prank. I just don't understand how. He's 00:23:30.099 --> 00:23:34.019 just like, yeah, it's over. And then it was over. 00:23:34.420 --> 00:23:42.509 Amazing. Incredible police work. But yeah, behind 00:23:42.509 --> 00:23:44.170 the scenes, nothing was ever officially solved. 00:23:44.329 --> 00:23:46.450 No one was arrested. There was no names giving, 00:23:46.630 --> 00:23:49.990 nothing. And by early November, P -Town began 00:23:49.990 --> 00:23:52.150 to finally breathe again. Families let their 00:23:52.150 --> 00:23:54.910 kids back outside. Businesses reopened at night. 00:23:55.230 --> 00:24:01.109 It was all normal until the fall of 1945 when 00:24:01.109 --> 00:24:03.250 The Flash decided he wanted to just check in, 00:24:03.369 --> 00:24:08.150 see how everyone's holding up, you know? He heard 00:24:08.150 --> 00:24:11.269 the war was over. He wanted to swing back. Yeah. 00:24:11.430 --> 00:24:13.970 At first, it started out the same as before, 00:24:14.089 --> 00:24:16.349 just whispers. People swearing they'd seen something 00:24:16.349 --> 00:24:18.490 tall and cloaked moving through the dunes or 00:24:18.490 --> 00:24:20.690 a dark figure lurking near backyards after sunset. 00:24:21.009 --> 00:24:24.130 And the sightings were pretty few and far between, 00:24:24.210 --> 00:24:26.450 but enough to make people feel a bit uneasy, 00:24:26.750 --> 00:24:32.210 maybe trigger some PTSD. Certainly. Yeah. And 00:24:32.210 --> 00:24:35.369 then things escalated. In early November, police 00:24:35.369 --> 00:24:37.710 received a report of a prowler at the old Bradford 00:24:37.710 --> 00:24:39.829 Street School, which by then had been abandoned. 00:24:40.710 --> 00:24:42.990 Officers responded and briefly cited the figure. 00:24:43.190 --> 00:24:45.349 It matched the description from six years earlier. 00:24:45.589 --> 00:24:48.029 Long black cape, metallic, quote unquote, silver 00:24:48.029 --> 00:24:50.049 ears. But like always, before they could close 00:24:50.049 --> 00:24:52.509 in, it left over the tall fence and vanished 00:24:52.509 --> 00:24:55.349 into the night. Now, the department went on full 00:24:55.349 --> 00:24:57.750 on high alert, fearing the return of the panic 00:24:57.750 --> 00:25:00.650 they'd worked so hard to bury. They didn't want 00:25:00.650 --> 00:25:02.450 to have to deal with this shit again. Right. 00:25:03.150 --> 00:25:06.049 The Flash did not care what they wanted. Of course 00:25:06.049 --> 00:25:07.490 not. And for a few weeks, there were scattered 00:25:07.490 --> 00:25:09.470 reports of the Black Flash being spotted near 00:25:09.470 --> 00:25:11.670 the edge of town, but nothing really concrete 00:25:11.670 --> 00:25:16.630 until one night in late December. That night, 00:25:16.750 --> 00:25:19.269 four children from the Jannard family, I think, 00:25:19.390 --> 00:25:22.390 I'm not sure, the Jannard family, were playing 00:25:22.390 --> 00:25:24.769 outside their home when they saw a massive dark 00:25:24.769 --> 00:25:27.150 figure creeping towards them through the mist. 00:25:27.710 --> 00:25:30.730 The kids bolted inside, slammed the door and 00:25:30.730 --> 00:25:33.279 locked it. Now, their parents weren't home, so 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:36.160 they're just kind of inside being terrified by 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:39.559 themselves. And the creature began pounding on 00:25:39.559 --> 00:25:42.279 the doors, rattling the doorknobs. It was circling 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:45.579 the house and the children. That's so scary. 00:25:45.779 --> 00:25:48.180 Huddled together, terrified. And they were certain 00:25:48.180 --> 00:25:50.559 that this thing was going to get in. Yeah. Like 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:52.819 as a little kid, that's fucking terrifying. Yeah. 00:25:53.099 --> 00:25:56.240 But finally, 13 year old Alan Jannard decided 00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:58.440 they couldn't just sit there and he was about 00:25:58.440 --> 00:26:00.339 to take some action. So he grabbed a bucket. 00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:03.519 filled it with boiling hot water from the stove, 00:26:03.799 --> 00:26:06.559 snuck upstairs, and then peering out a second 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:09.140 -story window, he caught the flash standing near 00:26:09.140 --> 00:26:13.539 the back door and just dumped the scalding hot 00:26:13.539 --> 00:26:17.160 water right on top of its head. Oh, shit. It 00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:19.960 was a home -alone situation. Yeah. The figure 00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:22.779 let out this fucking guttural scream. It staggered 00:26:22.779 --> 00:26:24.599 backwards, and then it just fucked right off 00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:28.160 back into the mist. As folklorist Robert Cahill 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:30.579 later wrote, they saw him retreat through the 00:26:30.579 --> 00:26:33.220 backyard, a dripping black phantom, not looking 00:26:33.220 --> 00:26:41.019 half as fearsome as when he arrived. Robert Ellis 00:26:41.019 --> 00:26:44.700 Cahill is a legend. That guy has written so many 00:26:44.700 --> 00:26:46.839 stories about folklore in New England. I've read 00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:50.799 a ton of his books. It's such a great description. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:53.640 But that seemed to do the trick. Apparently, 00:26:53.660 --> 00:26:56.259 if you just... pour boiling hot water on someone 00:26:56.259 --> 00:26:58.400 they just don't ever want to come back and that 00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:00.900 was the last time yeah the flash was ever seen 00:27:00.900 --> 00:27:04.440 again um yeah how you how you feeling so far 00:27:04.440 --> 00:27:05.960 do you does any of this ring a bell from the 00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:08.140 first time we talked about it yeah yeah yeah 00:27:08.140 --> 00:27:11.819 i fucking love this story i i don't even care 00:27:11.819 --> 00:27:14.140 if it's true because i think it's just such a 00:27:14.140 --> 00:27:17.660 such like a a great setting because it closed 00:27:17.660 --> 00:27:20.240 down new england town in the summer to you know 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:24.669 in the fall when everybody's gone back home just 00:27:24.669 --> 00:27:28.009 it's so perfect it's such a great setting oh 00:27:28.009 --> 00:27:32.049 yeah for sure um i love this story so much it's 00:27:32.049 --> 00:27:36.109 so funny to me and oh yeah uh it's very new somebody 00:27:36.109 --> 00:27:38.670 in provincetown needs to get on this and do like 00:27:38.670 --> 00:27:40.589 a tour you you live in massachusetts why don't 00:27:40.589 --> 00:27:44.009 you reach out i gotta yeah i'm sure you got you 00:27:44.009 --> 00:27:46.049 know someone in p -town who might have some sort 00:27:46.049 --> 00:27:48.809 of connection to something uh i don't but i could 00:27:48.809 --> 00:27:53.720 i could try okay All right, Sarge, are you ready 00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:55.599 to dive into some theories as to what the fuck 00:27:55.599 --> 00:27:59.319 the Flash could be? Yes, let's do it. All right, 00:27:59.339 --> 00:28:03.640 so first off is the prankster theory. It's the 00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:06.200 most straightforward explanation, and it was 00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:08.420 the one that Chief Tarvers himself was trying 00:28:08.420 --> 00:28:12.539 to push back in 1939. And this is that the Black 00:28:12.539 --> 00:28:15.059 Flash was just a handful of local pranksters. 00:28:15.859 --> 00:28:18.079 Travers claimed it was four young men working 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:22.099 together with... One riding on another's shoulders 00:28:22.099 --> 00:28:25.099 under a long cape to create the illusion of towering 00:28:25.099 --> 00:28:29.960 height. Did I call it or did I call it? And the 00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:31.700 silver ears, again, those were just the handles 00:28:31.700 --> 00:28:34.460 of a flower sifter mask. So there was four kids. 00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:38.019 Two were on each other's shoulders, but they 00:28:38.019 --> 00:28:41.720 were across town. Okay. So that's how they were 00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:44.240 able to be spotted in so many different locations. 00:28:45.549 --> 00:28:48.329 you know does that make sense yeah yeah i just 00:28:48.329 --> 00:28:51.170 i i'm still confused as to how that made them 00:28:51.170 --> 00:28:54.109 bulletproof oh yeah it only explained the appearance 00:28:54.109 --> 00:28:55.950 it doesn't really cover how it was bulletproof 00:28:55.950 --> 00:28:58.109 able to spit fire or have a 10 foot vertical 00:28:58.109 --> 00:29:01.829 leap but yeah that's also a problem uh because 00:29:01.829 --> 00:29:04.410 i don't even think i don't even think like the 00:29:04.410 --> 00:29:06.769 greatest basketball players in history can jump 00:29:06.769 --> 00:29:09.210 that high so i'd love to know that explanation 00:29:09.210 --> 00:29:13.809 you you don't you you don't know that You don't 00:29:13.809 --> 00:29:15.849 know that anyone... I'm pretty confident that's 00:29:15.849 --> 00:29:18.269 a tough vertical leap. No, it's not. I mean, 00:29:18.269 --> 00:29:20.609 Stretch was a legend. Is this what I'm saying? 00:29:21.089 --> 00:29:23.009 If anyone could do it is Stretch, and he could 00:29:23.009 --> 00:29:25.950 do it with a kid on his back. Exactly, exactly. 00:29:26.130 --> 00:29:29.910 Stretch was supernaturally amazing. He was the 00:29:29.910 --> 00:29:33.289 Aaron Hernandez of his day. Later went on to 00:29:33.289 --> 00:29:36.450 become Larry Bird. Oh. Little known fact. So 00:29:36.450 --> 00:29:38.309 did I take back my Aaron Hernandez joke then? 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:42.400 Yeah, I should take that back. Maybe edit that 00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:47.920 out entirely. The next theory is the outsider 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:51.319 theory. Some locals thought that the Flash wasn't 00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:53.240 from town at all, maybe like a leftover tourist 00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:55.640 or drifter who stayed behind after summer end. 00:29:56.839 --> 00:29:58.640 Provincetown, it's always kind of been like a 00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:01.220 haven for artists, outsiders, and eccentrics. 00:30:01.220 --> 00:30:03.460 It wasn't like a stretch to think that someone 00:30:03.460 --> 00:30:06.420 strange could be camping out in the dunes and 00:30:06.420 --> 00:30:10.160 scaring the townsfolk just for fun. Yeah. Now, 00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:12.619 back then, this theory even got mixed with prejudice, 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:16.140 unfortunately. Of course. A few whispered it 00:30:16.140 --> 00:30:19.000 might have been a man in drag or someone from 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:21.980 Provincetown, small but at this time growing 00:30:21.980 --> 00:30:26.039 gay community. One of them Italians. Yeah, they 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:29.880 were kind of unfairly scapegoating drag queens 00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:32.279 in the gay community. They believed it was like 00:30:32.279 --> 00:30:35.720 the weirdos haunting their streets. P -Town wasn't 00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:39.539 always as open as it was. It's today. That's 00:30:39.539 --> 00:30:43.420 correct. And then you got the devil of the dunes. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:48.039 Not everyone bought into the prankster idea. 00:30:48.099 --> 00:30:50.420 Some believed or wanted to believe that the black 00:30:50.420 --> 00:30:53.380 flash was something supernatural. Glowing eyes, 00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:56.339 guttural laugh, the way it shrugged off shotgun 00:30:56.339 --> 00:31:03.079 blasts. It's hard to explain with just kids in 00:31:03.079 --> 00:31:06.660 costumes. The name Devil in the Dunes stuck around 00:31:06.660 --> 00:31:09.220 for a reason. And for a while, there was like 00:31:09.220 --> 00:31:11.559 real fears that something otherworldly had come 00:31:11.559 --> 00:31:13.420 to Provincetown, especially when reports mentioned 00:31:13.420 --> 00:31:16.519 blue flames spitting from its mouth. And then 00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:18.640 the last theory, and finally probably the most 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:21.819 realistic theory, is one that it always comes 00:31:21.819 --> 00:31:25.519 back down to, is mass hysteria. Provincetown 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:30.069 in the offseason... is isolated it's eerie there's 00:31:30.069 --> 00:31:33.049 long nights empty streets the wind is constantly 00:31:33.049 --> 00:31:35.609 howling through the dunes yeah you add in real 00:31:35.609 --> 00:31:38.369 world stress like the looming war in europe because 00:31:38.369 --> 00:31:42.269 this is right before yeah 1939 right yeah and 00:31:42.269 --> 00:31:44.410 you got like the perfect recipe for fear like 00:31:44.410 --> 00:31:46.970 one weird encounter can spiral quickly like a 00:31:46.970 --> 00:31:49.650 shadow becomes a monster a prank becomes a town 00:31:49.650 --> 00:31:52.670 like panic and by the time the janner kids boiled 00:31:52.670 --> 00:31:57.650 one off their back porch the story you know It 00:31:57.650 --> 00:32:01.289 was kind of growling. But yeah, so those are 00:32:01.289 --> 00:32:04.490 just some of the theories. What are you thinking? 00:32:05.369 --> 00:32:08.369 I want this to be real so bad. You want it to 00:32:08.369 --> 00:32:10.430 be a full -on Devil in the Dunes type thing? 00:32:10.769 --> 00:32:14.069 Yes. Okay. However, I also love the drag queen 00:32:14.069 --> 00:32:16.390 angle, but not for the reason that they loved 00:32:16.390 --> 00:32:18.670 the drag queen angle. To me, it's like this is 00:32:18.670 --> 00:32:22.250 a powerful athlete that is putting on one hell 00:32:22.250 --> 00:32:25.410 of a performance. Yeah, I could fuck with that 00:32:25.410 --> 00:32:30.480 idea. That'd be so funny. Just living their best 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:34.319 life. Like fucking with the straights, you know? 00:32:35.460 --> 00:32:37.680 Sometimes you just got to do that to us. Yeah, 00:32:37.700 --> 00:32:42.380 you got to spook the normies. Oh, shit. All right, 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:45.180 well, that's all I got for you, man. I love this 00:32:45.180 --> 00:32:46.980 story. I love it even more because we went in 00:32:46.980 --> 00:32:52.339 depth. I want the devil to be real, but I also 00:32:52.339 --> 00:32:54.960 kind of love the idea of it being like... Just 00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:57.019 some dumbass kid who thought he was going to 00:32:57.019 --> 00:32:59.299 terrorize the whole neighborhood and douse with 00:32:59.299 --> 00:33:02.420 boiling water. I feel like the second sighting 00:33:02.420 --> 00:33:04.859 had to have been... The first ones are harder 00:33:04.859 --> 00:33:06.359 to explain, but the second ones, since there 00:33:06.359 --> 00:33:11.900 wasn't really any real physical attacks at that 00:33:11.900 --> 00:33:14.160 time, it had to have been just someone fucking 00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:16.380 with the town. You know what I mean? It could 00:33:16.380 --> 00:33:19.420 have been a mix of things, too. There might have 00:33:19.420 --> 00:33:23.259 been some one very real scary occurrence. yeah 00:33:23.259 --> 00:33:26.460 and then everybody just jumped onto it it could 00:33:26.460 --> 00:33:29.900 be bad yeah the the last the the 1945 sightings 00:33:29.900 --> 00:33:32.359 i feel like were more of a prankster yeah that 00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:34.119 was probably a prankster i think and somebody 00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:35.799 who heard the story and was like i'm gonna do 00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:39.319 that yeah and some this fucking 13 year old kid 00:33:39.319 --> 00:33:42.380 just fucked that dude up like yeah ruined his 00:33:42.380 --> 00:33:45.640 fucking day like i what i feel like back then 00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:47.539 no one probably would have thought to do it but 00:33:47.539 --> 00:33:50.130 i wonder if like if you would contacted like 00:33:50.130 --> 00:33:52.609 hospitals or a doctor's office of like any burn 00:33:52.609 --> 00:33:55.609 victims yeah any any scolding victims come through 00:33:55.609 --> 00:34:00.910 here or like a missed opportunity really hey 00:34:00.910 --> 00:34:04.069 because he was in the mist uh i didn't think 00:34:04.069 --> 00:34:06.410 about that but that's good it's not bad i'm good 00:34:06.410 --> 00:34:12.570 for doing it all right man well that's that's 00:34:12.570 --> 00:34:15.730 all i got that was uh yeah we brought this up 00:34:15.730 --> 00:34:18.880 yesterday when we were talking to the um I believe 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:21.320 in the bizarre people. This story, it dawned 00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:22.739 on me that we didn't really cover it in detail, 00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:24.679 and I wanted to go into it more because it's 00:34:24.679 --> 00:34:27.000 such a fun story. It's goofy. It is very Spring 00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:30.239 -Heeled Jack kind of coded. I mean, there were 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:32.539 theories that... No, I'm glad you went into it 00:34:32.539 --> 00:34:36.280 because now that I remember the story, I want 00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:38.420 to go to Provincetown and see if any of those 00:34:38.420 --> 00:34:43.420 places have anything about it. See if there's 00:34:43.420 --> 00:34:46.300 a plaque somewhere. Maybe there's a historical 00:34:46.300 --> 00:34:49.000 society. There might be something. yeah you know 00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:50.980 i don't know i feel like a plaque is a little 00:34:50.980 --> 00:34:54.559 much i mean come on they should put one in front 00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:56.340 of that kid's house was like this is the site 00:34:56.340 --> 00:35:00.119 where the fucking the flash got scolded to death 00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:03.800 where a child poured boiling water on gay icon 00:35:03.800 --> 00:35:12.239 the black flash oh shit all right well oh no 00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:13.780 i was gonna say real quick it's uh there was 00:35:13.780 --> 00:35:16.260 another theory that like uh spring hill jack 00:35:16.260 --> 00:35:19.079 and the flash were the same thing i didn't put 00:35:19.079 --> 00:35:20.760 it in here because it's kind of stupid it doesn't 00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:24.280 make any sense but the two are very similar they 00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:27.019 did that with um the servant girl annihilator 00:35:27.019 --> 00:35:29.760 and jack the ripper was that they were one in 00:35:29.760 --> 00:35:33.659 the same yeah yeah it didn't make sense at all 00:35:33.659 --> 00:35:39.179 yeah they never do they just say it yeah they're 00:35:39.179 --> 00:35:43.099 like aha problem solved yeah All right. So, yeah. 00:35:43.159 --> 00:35:44.619 So thanks for listening, everyone. Thank you 00:35:44.619 --> 00:35:50.360 to Sarge for being here as always. Never miss 00:35:50.360 --> 00:35:52.099 it. Yeah. If you like what you heard, please 00:35:52.099 --> 00:35:54.139 leave us a five -star rating and review anywhere 00:35:54.139 --> 00:35:56.920 you can. It definitely helps. Follow us on Instagram 00:35:56.920 --> 00:35:59.000 at Cryptic Cocktail. Follow us on TikTok, Cryptic 00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:01.699 Cocktail Party. Join our Patreon. It's going 00:36:01.699 --> 00:36:03.159 to get retooled soon. I know I said that last 00:36:03.159 --> 00:36:06.179 week. I'm just lazy and also busy at the same 00:36:06.179 --> 00:36:08.139 time somehow. I'm also busy and lazy, so I get 00:36:08.139 --> 00:36:11.920 it. Yeah. Yeah, that's all I got. Sarge, you 00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:13.559 got anything you want to plug before we sign 00:36:13.559 --> 00:36:16.980 off? You can find me on the social medias. Periodically, 00:36:16.980 --> 00:36:19.219 I do a TikTok video making fun of Tom McDonald, 00:36:19.539 --> 00:36:23.300 who is the Monster Energy version of Macklemore. 00:36:23.480 --> 00:36:27.360 Dude, my Tom McDonald video, it got flagged for 00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:29.820 bullying and I got an account strike. All because 00:36:29.820 --> 00:36:32.960 I said, all I said was, shut up, you're from 00:36:32.960 --> 00:36:36.170 Canada. Apparently I'm bullying Tom McDonald. 00:36:36.710 --> 00:36:40.030 Unbelievable. All right. Well, that's insane. 00:36:40.289 --> 00:36:43.090 It's pretty funny. But yeah, you can find me 00:36:43.090 --> 00:36:45.530 on social media at Sarge the Destroyer. I'm on 00:36:45.530 --> 00:36:47.730 all the socials except for Facebook because that 00:36:47.730 --> 00:36:49.730 place is a dumpster fire. That's a nightmare. 00:36:50.309 --> 00:36:53.369 Yeah. All right. Well, I guess with that out 00:36:53.369 --> 00:36:54.829 of the way, Sarge, would you like to say goodbye 00:36:54.829 --> 00:36:59.070 and I love you to the audience? Hey, I fucking 00:36:59.070 --> 00:37:00.789 love you guys. Goodbye.