1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,200 From the unexplained to the mundane, come join us on a journey to the fringe. 2 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:18,000 Hello and welcome to Journey to the Fringe, where we keep the paranormal alive during 3 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,240 this festive and merry time of year. 4 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:24,600 We are your festively spooky podcast hosts, Taylor and Chelsea, here today reigniting 5 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:27,160 an age-old Christmas tradition. 6 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:32,320 Now, Chelsea, I don't know about you, but as an edgy teenager, or a little older, I guess 7 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,600 too, I've never thought of a Christmas Carol as truly a Christmas story. 8 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:42,040 It comes up a lot during Christmas, but that story could technically take place at any time. 9 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,840 It just happens to kind of take place at Christmas. 10 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:45,840 Little did I know. 11 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:46,840 Go ahead. 12 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,840 But it's the ghost of Christmas present and past. 13 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:55,320 Well, yeah, but it's not like the merry-mint of the season actually did anything. 14 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,560 It's all about him realizing that workers kind of need a day off. 15 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,920 At the end of the day, it's ghost telling a business owner to give people a day off. 16 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:10,280 Okay, I mean, if you're taking it strictly for, I mean, yes, yes, that's what it's about. 17 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,440 It's teaching us the valuable lesson of a Christmas day off. 18 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:20,200 But I didn't actually realize that it actually is incredibly Christmassy because it adheres 19 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:24,280 to an age-old tradition of the Christmas ghost story. 20 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,720 This episode's going to be about the history of the Christmas ghost story. 21 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,720 I'm going to cover the actual history itself, and then Chelsea's going to do a bit of the 22 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:33,280 actual ghosting in the story. 23 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,720 Yeah, I'm coming to haunt you guys. 24 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:40,040 Yeah, but yeah, but this is a super old tradition. 25 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,920 The precise origin of telling ghost stories at the end of the year is act. 26 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,000 It's not known because it's an oral tradition. 27 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,480 So you know, like no written records that say, aha, it dates back here because they dated 28 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:52,480 it. 29 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:53,480 It's too old to know. 30 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:55,600 It may be the beginning of time. 31 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:59,640 Probably the beginning of time when those cells, like you said that one time, like three 32 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:04,840 billion years ago, they were telling those ghost stories. 33 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:09,160 Sarah Cleido, a folklore specializing in British literature, says the season around 34 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:14,600 Windsor Solstice has been one of transition and change for a very, very long time. 35 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,520 The season has provoked oral stories about spooky things in many different countries 36 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:20,720 and cultures all over the world. 37 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:25,080 Scary storytelling gave people something to do during the long, dark evenings before 38 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:26,080 electricity. 39 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:30,640 Tara Moore, an assistant professor of English at Elizabeth Town College, also adds that, 40 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:35,360 quote, the long midwinter nights means folks had to stop working early and they spent their 41 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:37,520 leisure hours huddled close to fire. 42 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:41,800 Plus, you didn't need to be literate to retell the local ghost stories. 43 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:47,600 And it was in Victoria, England that telling supernatural tales at the end of the year, 44 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:52,120 specifically during the Christmas season, went from an oral tradition to a timely trend. 45 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,680 This was due to the development of the printing press, which gave Victorians the opportunity 46 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:59,280 to commercialize and commodify existing oral ghost stories. 47 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,560 Turning them into a version they could sell, quote, higher literacy rates, cheaper printing 48 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:08,960 costs, and more periodicals meant that editors needed to fill pages, Moore says. 49 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,280 Around Christmas time, they figured they could convert the old storytelling tradition to 50 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:13,720 a printed version. 51 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:17,520 People who moved out of their towns and villages and into larger cities still wanted access 52 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:21,400 to the supernatural sagas they heard around the fireplace growing up, quote. 53 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:26,440 Fortunately, Victorian authors like Elizabeth Gaskell, Margaret Olyphant, and Arthur Conan 54 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:31,400 Doyle worked through the fall to cook up these stories and have them ready to print in time 55 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:32,720 for Christmas. 56 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:37,760 The interest was driven, she says, by, quote, the rise of industrialization, the rise of 57 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,280 science, and the looming fall of Victorian Britain as a superpower. 58 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:45,200 All of these things were in people's minds and made the world seem a little bit darker 59 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,080 and a little bit scarier, end quote. 60 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:49,320 Oh, spooky. 61 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:50,320 Yeah. 62 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:54,600 The popularity of Victorian Christmas ghost stories also transcended the socioeconomic 63 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:56,360 status, according to Moore. 64 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:00,560 They were available to read everywhere from cheap publications to expensive Christmas 65 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:04,340 annuals that middle-class ladies would show off on their coffee tables. 66 00:04:04,340 --> 00:04:08,280 Their broad audiences were reflected in the stories themselves, which sometimes centered 67 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:13,480 around the working-class characters and other times took place in haunted manor houses. 68 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:18,160 The upper-class settings were intended to invite readers from all classes into an idealized 69 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:19,680 upper-crust Christmas. 70 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:24,840 The type today's fans of Downton Abbey still enjoy as entertainment, Moore added. 71 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:29,400 And then Charles Dickens comes along, and in 1843 he writes a novella called Christmas 72 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:30,400 Carol. 73 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,720 This has forever linked the British author with the holiday season, but his contribution 74 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:37,160 to Christmas in Victoria, England, included the tradition of telling and reading ghost 75 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,720 stories, extend far beyond Jacob Marley's visit to Scrooge. 76 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,680 In fact, Dickens played a huge part in popularizing the genre in England. 77 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:49,720 Quote, he wrote a bunch of different Christmas novellas, several of which involved ghosts 78 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:54,720 specifically, Clito says, and then he started editing more and more Christmas ghost stories 79 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:59,360 from other people and working those into the magazines he was already editing, and that 80 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:01,920 just caught like wildfire, end quote. 81 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:07,680 Dickens also helped shape Christmas literature in general, Moore says, by formalizing expectations 82 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:12,000 about themes like forgiveness and reunion during the holiday season. 83 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,360 As this phenomenon was based in folklore and the supernatural, it was a tradition, the 84 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:21,600 Puritans that moved from Britain to the New World and the US frowned upon so it didn't 85 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,600 really gain traction in America prior to this all taking place. 86 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,440 Washington Irving helped resurrect a number of forgotten Christmas traditions in the early 87 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:34,680 19th century, but it really was Dickens who popularized a notion of telling ghost stories 88 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,000 on Christmas, even in the US. 89 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,760 A Christmas Carol was an immediate bestseller in the United States, but at the time of its 90 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:45,680 publication, Dickens was arguably the most famous writer in the world and already wildly 91 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:46,680 popular. 92 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,920 The novella's success in the US likely had more to do with Dickens' existing fan base 93 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,480 than it did Americans' interest in incorporating the supernatural into Christmas. 94 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,840 Quote, American Christmas scenes and stories tended to be syrupy sweet, end quote Moore 95 00:05:58,840 --> 00:05:59,840 explains. 96 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:04,040 There were few American writers of the period trying to put Victorian-style Christmas ghost 97 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:08,120 stories into American culture, including Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry James. 98 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,280 Washington Irving made a similar and earlier attempt, slipping the supernatural into Christmas 99 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:15,040 scenes short stories published in 1819-1820. 100 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:20,720 However, in 1868, Dickens discontinued his Christmas publications, complaining to his 101 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:25,280 friend Charles Fector that he felt, quote, as if I had murdered Christmas a number of 102 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:29,360 years ago and its ghosts perpetually haunted me, end quote. 103 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,360 By then the ghosts of Christmas stories had taken on an afterlife of its own and other 104 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:36,200 writers rushed to feel the void that Dickens had left. 105 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:41,840 By the time Jerome's 1891 told after Supper book was written, he could casually joke about 106 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:45,000 traditions long and sconce in Victorian culture. 107 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,440 If some of these later ghost stories hadn't entered the Christmas canon as Dickens' 108 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:52,560 work did, there's perhaps a reason, as William Dean Howell would lament in Harper's 109 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:57,160 editorial in 1886, the Christmas ghost tradition suffered from the gradual loss of Dickens' 110 00:06:57,160 --> 00:06:58,660 sentimental morality. 111 00:06:58,660 --> 00:07:01,160 And this is a quote from the 1886 Harper's edition. 112 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:06,520 The ethical intention which gave Dickens' Christmas stories of still earlier date has 113 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:08,880 almost wholly disappeared, end quote. 114 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:13,640 So that happens, Dickens kind of stops writing Christmas stories and, you know, after a great 115 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:17,840 one leaves, there's just people stop watching him, like a lot of sports. 116 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:18,840 Makes sense. 117 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:23,000 And then another reason telling spooky stories never really took off after this time in the 118 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:28,440 United States was because it became more firmly established as a Halloween tradition, thanks 119 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,560 to the immigration of Irish and Scottish immigrants. 120 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:36,920 The holiday as we know it is an odd hybrid of Celtic and Catholic traditions. 121 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:41,400 We will probably do an episode on this next year around Halloween, as Halloween as we 122 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:46,120 know it borrows a lot of tradition from a holiday known as Samhain, which is celebrated 123 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:50,960 at the end of the harvest season and the onset of winter by the Irish and the Scottish. 124 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:55,940 As well with numerous other pagan holidays, Samhain was in time merged with Catholic festivals 125 00:07:55,940 --> 00:08:00,560 such as All Souls Day, which is on November 1st, which could also have kinged towards 126 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,520 obsession with the dead into Halloween, a time when the dead were revered. 127 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:08,320 The barangays between this life and the afterlife were thinnest, and when ghosts and goblins 128 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:09,320 were of the night. 129 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:13,080 Americans seized on Halloween supernatural side, rather than the cultural aspects, we 130 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,040 all know how this turned out in the long run. 131 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:19,920 So the transition from Christmas to Halloween as the preeminent holiday for ghosts was an 132 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:21,000 uneven one. 133 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:26,080 Even as late as 1915, Christmas annuals of magazines were still dominated by ghost stories, 134 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:30,840 and Florence Kingsland's 1904 book, of indoor and outdoor games, still lists ghost stories 135 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:33,640 as fine fair for a Christmas celebration. 136 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,760 And in this book it quotes, the realm of spirits was always thought to be nearer to that of 137 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:41,240 mortals on Christmas than any other time. 138 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:45,440 Other than the Christmas Carol, which is still very popular, I assume that everybody 139 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:47,200 still watches them up at Christmas Carol. 140 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:49,880 The obviously correct one to watch. 141 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:55,200 It's the only reference I have for a Christmas Carol, and I don't want to change it. 142 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:57,160 That's exactly what I'm picturing. 143 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,280 It's what Dickens intended to amaze. 144 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:06,920 I assume he wrote it with the Muppets in mind, and he also wrote all those catchy songs. 145 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:12,080 But it's not the only one ghost related reference that you would see around Christmas time. 146 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:18,800 The 1963 song by Andy Williams, it's the most wonderful time of year, lists scary ghost 147 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,000 stories as one of the highlights of the holiday season. 148 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,720 Which I didn't actually realize until I was doing research for this episode, but it's totally 149 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:26,720 in that song. 150 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,720 Although it's unclear why the writers of the song included the tradition, Clito says that 151 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:34,200 it's possible that the lyrics is a reference to Dickens at Christmas Carol. 152 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:38,280 It's only the one text she notes, but it's such a big deal here in the US and the UK 153 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:43,320 that it's pretty much all that Americans know about Christmas ghost stories in isolation. 154 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,520 So yeah, that's the background behind it, and I think, personally, this means that you 155 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:52,280 can still wear your Halloween costume around Christmas if you want to. 156 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:54,280 That's definitely what that means. 157 00:09:54,280 --> 00:10:00,560 So I say we show up to Christmas in our Halloween costumes, of course. 158 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:05,160 But yeah, that's the history of the tradition behind it and kind of why it fell out of fashion. 159 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:06,800 I think it needs to make a comeback. 160 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,520 I think that that's a pretty cool tradition if I do say myself. 161 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:15,400 I should also add at this point that one of my main articles that I used for my research 162 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:17,120 was the Smithsonian Magazine. 163 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:21,600 So I should point out that they're likely trying to cover some sort of giant related 164 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:26,400 tradition that is relating to Christmas to instead bring back ghost stories. 165 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:31,160 So again, probably hiding something giant related, but we'll continue on from here. 166 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,160 We can just assume that from here on out. 167 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:37,080 Anything Smithsonian is covering up giants. 168 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,200 It's covering up giants. 169 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,960 What Christmas giants do we not know about? 170 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:45,840 But I think it's a good time to continue on to the actual stories themselves. 171 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:47,960 It's your turn now. 172 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:48,960 Okay. 173 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:49,960 Yes. 174 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:55,200 So basically there wasn't just like the Muppet Christmas Carol like we were just talking 175 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:56,200 about. 176 00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:00,840 I have to bring it up again because that's a five star Christmas movie in my opinion. 177 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,400 I believe we watched it last year. 178 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:04,400 Was it or the year before? 179 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:05,760 I watch it every year. 180 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:06,760 It's so catchy. 181 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:09,640 And I personally believe it is Michael Cain's best acting role. 182 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:10,640 For sure. 183 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:11,640 For sure. 184 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:13,000 And I'm going to be singing some of those. 185 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,000 They're going to be stuck in my head until after Christmas at least. 186 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:21,200 And then I personally just add how much more difficult it must be to take a serious acting 187 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:23,640 role entirely around Muppets. 188 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:25,640 That's true. 189 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:28,400 Because he does a deadpan mean Scrooge. 190 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:29,400 Yes. 191 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:30,720 And that just has to be so hard. 192 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:35,480 It's five star movie, five star acting to Michael Cain. 193 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,000 I don't know how he didn't end up with the Oscar that year. 194 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:39,480 It is an Oscar worthy movie. 195 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:41,360 I am telling you that right now. 196 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:43,560 That is one of my favorite movies. 197 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:46,800 And I could probably sing you some songs off by her right now. 198 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:49,680 But now I'm going to talk about Christmas ghost stories. 199 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:54,800 The stories, which is usually the best part of any episode is the sightings. 200 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,880 So first I just wanted to touch on some, if you're looking to tell a Christmas ghost story 201 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:04,080 this year and bring it back, I just wanted to go over a little of that first. 202 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:05,080 And then I'll come on. 203 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:06,080 Sorry. 204 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:07,440 I just I looked this up. 205 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,640 Anthony Hopkins won it in 1992 for Silence of the Lambs. 206 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:12,640 I know. 207 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:14,640 Literally they screwed up. 208 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:16,720 What's up with Christmas Carol? 209 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:17,880 Leaving on the docket. 210 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:19,320 I didn't look it up. 211 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,840 I just looked up who won that. 212 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:23,600 I don't know what to comment on that. 213 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:26,360 I mean, I'll do respect Anthony Hopkins. 214 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:29,160 Disappointing to see the least. 215 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:30,160 Okay. 216 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:34,400 So what Taylor talked about, I mean some of these are epics like the Christmas Carol. 217 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:37,160 That's a Christmas ghost story epic. 218 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,440 And a lot of them were periodicals in magazines like Taylor said. 219 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:46,040 And there are anthologies of books that you can get out there on Amazon, Indigo, whoever 220 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:47,160 you want to support. 221 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:50,400 We might put one out if you want to support local. 222 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:55,000 There's quite a few of those put together of periodicals in one convenient place. 223 00:12:55,000 --> 00:13:01,320 So for example, I found a Valicort book of Victorian Christmas ghost stories, the Wimborn 224 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:06,000 book of Victorian ghost stories, lots of options out there as far as specific ghost 225 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,640 stories that will spook the holiday spirit right into you. 226 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:15,280 Special mentions go to the old nurses story by Elizabeth Gaskell who Taylor mentioned. 227 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,520 Horror, a true tale by John Berwick Hartwood. 228 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:20,840 Bring me a light by Jane Margaret Hooper. 229 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:23,080 Charles Dickens, the signal man. 230 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:24,080 There we go. 231 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:25,080 Another one. 232 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:26,920 MR James, a warning to the curious. 233 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:29,720 Wolverton Tower by George Allen. 234 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:31,040 Smee by A.M. 235 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:32,040 Brat. 236 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:33,040 Bridge. 237 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,240 How he left the hotel, Louisa Baldwin. 238 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:38,080 Needless to say, there's a ton. 239 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:42,400 So if you're looking to add to your holiday book collection, I would highly recommend 240 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,160 probably an anthology of short stories. 241 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:46,240 Most bang for your buck. 242 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:50,520 So let's get into some highly sought after Christmasy paranormal encounters. 243 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:56,520 I don't believe that these are going to be as Christmas story as we just went over because 244 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:58,640 these ones are just spooky stories. 245 00:13:58,640 --> 00:13:59,640 Am I right in saying that? 246 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:02,520 Yeah, they're not necessarily Christmasy. 247 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:07,480 No, it's just more so that whole tradition of reading a ghost story around Christmas. 248 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:09,880 It doesn't necessarily need to be Christmas related. 249 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,920 Yeah, but for me it needed to be Christmas related. 250 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:17,680 So these are in no relation to the Christmas ghost stories that we just talked about. 251 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:21,520 This is our own journey to the fringe spin on it because you need some Christmas in a 252 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,280 ghost story for a Christmas ghost story episode, I think. 253 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:29,600 For restarting the tradition, we need to have a segue or a bridge to be able to get to the 254 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:33,800 true ghost stories, which is incorporating it to Christmas to make sure that we understand 255 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:34,800 why it's happening. 256 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:35,800 Exactly. 257 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:41,840 So you can take these into the segue of finishing it off with some real ghost stories. 258 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:46,680 Even go back and listen to a scary spooky episode of ours is my recommendation as well. 259 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:49,200 Okay, so first up is the mistletoe bride. 260 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:54,200 In the early 17th century, a young woman named Anne was to be married on Christmas day in 261 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:56,800 Bramshill House in Hampshire, England. 262 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:01,360 After the ceremony and feast, as was tradition at the time, the guests were all set to carry 263 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:03,320 the bride to the bed chamber. 264 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:07,400 Anne suggested a game be played and asked for a five minute head start before the guests 265 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:08,760 came to find her. 266 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,320 Everyone searched long and hard for Anne, but no sign of her could be found. 267 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:16,920 At first they thought she had played a merry trick, but soon a sense of unease fell over 268 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:17,920 the guests. 269 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:23,920 The bridegroom, Lord Lovell, not sure what that meat bridegroom, I don't know, was distraught, 270 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:27,080 but the guests began to whisper that she must have fled. 271 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:31,720 Days, weeks, months, and years passed, and Lord Lovell never stopped looking for his 272 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:32,720 bride. 273 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:35,720 One day, can you imagine just like, is she in this closet? 274 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:39,840 Like, maybe I never checked this closet. 275 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:42,720 I don't think it's a continuous investigation. 276 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:47,880 It's kind of just like, oh right, right, she's missing. 277 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:51,880 And then you just like open the closet and then be like, I'm not enough for now. 278 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,280 Yeah, I can't remember if I looked in this closet, but she's not there. 279 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,200 It's just important that I take that step. 280 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:03,480 One day, some 50 years after her disappearance, Lord Lovell was up in the huge attic of the 281 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:09,280 sprawling mansion, where he began tapping on the oak paneling, looking for her obviously. 282 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:15,200 As he knocked, a long hidden secret door sprung open, and inside he found an ornate wooden 283 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:16,200 chest. 284 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:20,280 He pried open the heavy wooden lid, and there, still in her wedding dress and clutching her 285 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:23,920 mistletoe bouquet, for the skeletal remains of his beloved. 286 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:28,640 The scratch marks on the inside of the lid of the chest attest to her desperate but futile 287 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,320 effort to free herself from her hiding space. 288 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:32,880 That's the end of that story. 289 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:36,720 That is like a huge legend around England. 290 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,480 So you will hear this in many a manners on this one. 291 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:44,160 And manors, not manners, is in like being polite. 292 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:45,160 Manors like a house. 293 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:49,760 A lot of them circulate around with many different kind of. 294 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,980 The end result is always the same, but the story changes it up. 295 00:16:52,980 --> 00:16:58,800 But I like on this one in particular where her hiding spot is behind a secret trapdoor 296 00:16:58,800 --> 00:16:59,800 in a chest. 297 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:02,800 The trapdoor wasn't enough. 298 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:04,920 No, we needed extra staff. 299 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:09,000 That was the jam haul right there. 300 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:13,360 The next one is the Christmas apparition of Elcatraz. 301 00:17:13,360 --> 00:17:18,080 The island of Elcatraz, if you're not familiar, is off the coast of San Francisco, and it 302 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:20,760 has a very long and spooky history. 303 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:28,400 In its earlier days, Native Americans allegedly used to banish miscreants to the island as 304 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,920 punishment, or they were reportedly plagued by the local spirit. 305 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:37,360 Elcatraz, of course, became a notorious federal prison in 1934, housing criminals such as 306 00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:40,160 Al Capone before it was shut down in 1963. 307 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:45,480 Today, visitors to the island report hearing screams, the clanging of metal doors, and the 308 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:47,680 sound of voices within the walls. 309 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:53,160 One of the most famous tales associated with the island supposedly occurred in the 1940s, 310 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:58,480 when Warden James Johnston held a Christmas Day party at his residence for the staff at 311 00:17:58,480 --> 00:17:59,480 the prison. 312 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,720 The good cheer is said to have been brought to a swift halt when an apparition sporting 313 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:06,680 mutton chop whiskers and a gray suit appeared. 314 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:10,720 The temperature in the room plummeted and the fire blew out before returning to normal 315 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:13,280 when the spirit disappeared about a minute later. 316 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:17,760 The rattle guards were too scared to stay in the residence and the rest of the Christmas 317 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:23,560 celebration ended abruptly and Christmas was cancelled that year in Elcatraz. 318 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:24,560 Next one. 319 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:28,360 Headless Anne Boie-Lyn at Heaver Castle in Kent, England. 320 00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:31,960 Anne Boie-Lyn is notorious as the second of King Henry the... 321 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:32,960 Eek? 322 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:33,960 King Henry the Eighth. 323 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:34,960 Nice, they read that right. 324 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:36,280 His ill-fated wives. 325 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:41,840 To Mary Anne, Henry spent years seeking a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon and 326 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:46,480 went on to sever England's relationship with the Catholic Church in Rome for ever changing 327 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:48,440 the course of British history. 328 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:52,720 Despite the lengths he went to ensnare her, Henry soon grew tired of Anne and chose him 329 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:57,080 to believe the idle gossip surrounding her had her beheaded in 1536. 330 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:01,400 I gotta say I'm not entirely familiar with this story so I'm not sure what the gossip 331 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:02,400 was. 332 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:03,400 Really? 333 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:04,400 Like I've heard of it. 334 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:05,400 Yeah. 335 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:06,400 I don't know the story. 336 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:09,400 Okay, just to give you a little bit of Cole's notes on Henry the Eighth. 337 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:10,800 Are you gonna give me the gossip? 338 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,040 I'm just gonna give you the Cole's notes of the story. 339 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,040 So he wanted a son, he couldn't get a son. 340 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:18,040 Oh, I do know it. 341 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:19,040 Yeah. 342 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:20,040 Yeah. 343 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:25,080 So he divorced his first wife because Anne Boie-Lyn's like, no, I can make sons like nobody's 344 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:26,080 business. 345 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:27,080 Yeah. 346 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,720 So he goes to the Catholic Church and he says he wants a divorce and they say, no, you 347 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:30,720 can't have a divorce. 348 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,640 So he says, well, then I'm gonna start my own church. 349 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:38,960 Starts the church, England gets the divorce and his first wife gets a bunch of his territory. 350 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:43,400 And doesn't have a son beheads her, marries some more people, more beheading takes place. 351 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:44,400 Okay, okay. 352 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:45,400 I did know that. 353 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:47,480 So for all the listeners who asked, they thank you. 354 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:50,720 Okay, so I'm not sure what the gossip is still. 355 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:52,920 Apparently Taylor did not have the gossip. 356 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:53,920 That was the part of it. 357 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,360 I think it was that he couldn't have a son. 358 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:59,520 So there was something wrong with, you know, the gossip around children. 359 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:00,520 Yes, okay. 360 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:01,520 And having children. 361 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:03,960 Yeah, I am familiar with that. 362 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,920 Especially when they don't understand how reproduction actually works at that point. 363 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:11,280 And they think that the woman can control it. 364 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:13,520 Whether it's a son or a daughter. 365 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:19,080 It's not like I would be, okay, I'm not just about to give away all woman's secrets right 366 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,080 now, but we can. 367 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:22,080 Okay. 368 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:25,600 Is that all of the women's secrets? 369 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:28,960 Yes, that's our secrets. 370 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:30,200 To finish the story. 371 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:35,400 A number of reports exist of the ghost of Anne Boilin, but perhaps the most affecting is the 372 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:37,800 version said to haunt her childhood home. 373 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:39,280 The fever castle in Kent. 374 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:44,360 Some say that every Christmas Eve, the spectral figure of Anne Boilin can be seen slowly gliding 375 00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:50,640 across the bridge over the river Eden toward her family home where she was at her happiest. 376 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:51,640 Next one. 377 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:52,880 Oh, this is a good one. 378 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,120 Headless horseman at Ruse Hall in Suffolk, England. 379 00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:57,120 There's another one. 380 00:20:57,120 --> 00:20:59,480 This is the Christmas headless horseman. 381 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:01,720 Ruse Hall in Suffolk, Suffolk, maybe? 382 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:02,720 Yeah, Suffolk. 383 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:03,720 Okay. 384 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:08,040 This is a good time to being one of the most haunted houses in England. 385 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:13,840 The 16th century hall has a number of sinister connections, including a gruesome hanging tree, 386 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:18,440 an oak tree planted at the site of the old gibbet where numerous criminals were hung. 387 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:22,920 To make things even spookier, inside one of the building's cupboards, the mark of the 388 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:25,680 devil's cloven hoof is said to be imprinted. 389 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:26,680 He was there too. 390 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:30,720 He probably helped build the manor, I would assume, because he was such a good guy. 391 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:33,640 He did not, and he just wanted to have a merry Christmas. 392 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:38,000 Didn't want to be alone, geez. 393 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,080 Perhaps the most dramatic haunting is supposed to happen every Christmas Eve. 394 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:47,640 Legend has it that the headless horseman clatters down the driveway with his four black, sometimes 395 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:52,840 headless horses as well pulling a phantom coach, driven noiselessly down the driveway 396 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:54,360 towards the house. 397 00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:59,000 As the spectral coach reaches the door, it stops and a beautiful woman steps out of the 398 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:04,000 coach, but for those who are drawn to her beauty would do well to look away, as it is 399 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:09,800 said that if you look her in the eye, you will be driven to madness or instant death. 400 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:11,200 She's not headless then, correct? 401 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:12,680 Doesn't seem to be, no. 402 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,600 I guess nobody would really be drawn to an attractive head... 403 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:22,280 I shouldn't say nobody, but less people would be drawn to an attractive headless woman. 404 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:28,120 The ghost of Sir Jeffrey de Mandeville and his headless dog roam the streets on Christmas 405 00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:29,120 Eve. 406 00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:34,240 Sir Jeffrey de Mandeville held the title of Earl of Essex and was the prestigious European 407 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:36,760 landowner during the 1100s. 408 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:40,680 Because of his title, he had great influence over royal politics at the time. 409 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:44,640 However, when a debate emerged regarding the rightful heir to the throne, he chose the 410 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:49,000 losing side and was promptly stripped of many of his assets and excommunicated from the 411 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:50,000 church. 412 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,680 During his excommunication, Sir Jeffrey was slain on the battlefield, but because of his 413 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:58,440 exile, he was not allowed a proper Christian internment. 414 00:22:58,440 --> 00:22:59,440 Intern? 415 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:00,440 Internment. 416 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:04,240 No, there's no N. I thought it was internment as well. 417 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:09,000 Proper Christian internment, which many believe left his spirit trapped within the earthly 418 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:10,000 realm. 419 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,040 Maybe it was spelled wrong, I'm not sure. 420 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:18,880 It says internment, but we may think it means internment, but take with whatever one might 421 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,760 know is correct. 422 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,240 Because I know nothing about whatever that means. 423 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:28,520 Emperor claims that Sir Jeffrey also left a curse on the properties he owned, stating 424 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:32,960 that should they ever be taken away from him, ruin would befall his betrayer, and every 425 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:38,920 six years on Christmas Eve, he and a headless dog would haunt the land draped in a red cloak. 426 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:40,360 That's an interesting curse. 427 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:44,800 Ever since his demise, people who have visited the properties he once owned, particularly 428 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:49,920 the Pimsbrook Bridge in East Barnett, have reported hearing strange noises and witnessing 429 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:54,320 the hazy image of a headless dog breaking through the fog accompanied by a knight in 430 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:56,800 full armor and a red cloak. 431 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:02,120 I mean, does that not make the dog way less dangerous if it doesn't have a head? 432 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:05,840 Yeah, like almost 100% less dangerous. 433 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,200 Most of the dangerous part is the teeth. 434 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:09,400 Yeah, it's the head part. 435 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:14,960 So I know we've also done some stories like this before as well, but what is a Christmas 436 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:20,920 story without some spooky Santa's eating to really scare the children? 437 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:21,920 Yes. 438 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:28,200 So I couldn't choose what way to go with spooky Christmas, so I went all directions. 439 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:33,080 User AnotherPint on Reddit says, I saw Santa Claus when I was seven or eight years old. 440 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:37,440 In the early hours of Christmas morning in our big rambling Victorian house on Staten 441 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:42,240 Island, I had gotten up to go to the bathroom which was on the top of a long ornate staircase 442 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,840 leading to the main living and dining floor. 443 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:47,640 The house was dark and my parents and siblings were asleep. 444 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:51,600 As I emerged from the bathroom, I looked down the stairs anticipating stuffed stockings 445 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:53,880 on Christmas morning a few hours off. 446 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,240 At the bottom of the stairs was Santa Claus. 447 00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:01,040 He looked back up at me and sorta half waved then gave me two quick successive come on 448 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,200 down here gestures as if he wanted me to join him. 449 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:05,200 Oh, that's great. 450 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,040 User I know, I heard nothing but saw him quite clearly. 451 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:11,520 I was wide awake, not on any meds, and lucid. 452 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:16,120 I was shocked and excited by what I saw and after a long few seconds retreated to my room 453 00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:18,560 rather than accept his invitation. 454 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:22,960 It's nearly 50 years later and I think about my Santa sighting every Christmas. 455 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:27,840 I know what I saw, it's one of the three or four genuinely inexplainable experiences 456 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:28,840 of my life. 457 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:33,440 In later years, I read up on Jung's theory about UFOs, projection, and the collective 458 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:38,400 unconscious and wondered if a mass longing by a whole planet's worth of wishful children 459 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:42,080 could literally conjure Santa Claus into manifesting. 460 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:46,000 Stranger things have happened and judging from this thread, Santa has happened to more 461 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:47,120 people than me. 462 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:51,520 I put that one in just for his last blurb, I thought that was really an interesting 463 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:52,520 take on it. 464 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:58,360 Yeah, I really wish he replaced the word manifest with Santa Fest, but other than that it's 465 00:25:58,360 --> 00:25:59,360 proper. 466 00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:02,480 Santa Fested into his life. 467 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:04,520 Next sighting is baby bird lover. 468 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:09,080 My 30 year old daughter is convinced that she saw Santa Claus in her house Christmas 469 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:10,920 Eve when she was 7 years old. 470 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:14,440 She said she woke up in the middle of the night and was too excited to sleep. 471 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,280 She told me she got up and was walking down the hallway to the living room when she saw 472 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:19,280 him. 473 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:23,480 He put a finger up over his mouth in a quiet gesture then she went back to her room. 474 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:27,880 She told me she was surprised to see him and that she had the feeling the entire time she 475 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,760 was looking at him that she was seeing something she shouldn't be seeing. 476 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:36,320 Maybe we ought to wonder exactly what we are inadvertently inviting into our homes with 477 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:37,960 this Santa Claus tale. 478 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:43,840 The BEK show up at your door and ask for permission to enter, black eye kids, that just dawn on 479 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:44,840 me. 480 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:49,000 For permission to enter, with Santa Claus we have already given him permission to enter. 481 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,400 I like that thought as well. 482 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,480 Well yeah if you're putting out cookies and milk. 483 00:26:54,480 --> 00:27:01,200 It doesn't work, but I think they need like not implicit consent. 484 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:04,000 They need to ask and you need to say yes. 485 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,880 Yeah like with most entities it can't be implicit consent. 486 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:10,040 Like with vampires it can't be implicit. 487 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:11,520 Like it needs to be expressed. 488 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:16,520 But if you had like set out like... 489 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:18,080 Maybe those rules don't apply to chimneys. 490 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:22,760 You washed your neck and you were like sitting on the couch and you were like the vampire 491 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:24,200 comes tonight. 492 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:29,840 You leave the door open and like put all your stakes away with like the intention that they're 493 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:30,840 coming into your house. 494 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:32,560 You don't think a vampire could come in? 495 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:34,120 I don't think so, no. 496 00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:36,840 I think they need the express consent of the person. 497 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:38,360 It can't just be implied. 498 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:40,000 But I guess it's open to interpretation. 499 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:41,000 It is, it is. 500 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,400 I was just gonna say it's open for debate. 501 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,560 I feel like this is now an episode that we'll have to do in the future. 502 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:48,800 I'm not consent to enter. 503 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:53,440 Rest consent from paranormal entities. 504 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:54,920 Let's get to another sighting then. 505 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,760 With that we'll get no answers today. 506 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:02,720 Woke as 1000, my little brother saw Santa Claus a couple years ago at my grandparents' 507 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:03,720 house at midnight. 508 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:04,720 Oh this one's creepy. 509 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:08,920 I always try to dispute because we sleep downstairs and the tree is upstairs. 510 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,640 So even if Santa was real there'd be no reason for him to go downstairs. 511 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:17,560 But my brother swears he woke up late at night and saw Santa Claus standing at the foot of 512 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:19,120 his bed in the dark. 513 00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:20,120 Oh creepy. 514 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:24,120 Hey, this one is posted by user MaxwellHill. 515 00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:25,120 Just kidding. 516 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:28,120 What the heck? 517 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:42,080 I'm just gonna be surprised because Jelaine is Jewish so that would disprove her. 518 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:44,320 It being her. 519 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:46,400 But what was I gonna ask? 520 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:47,400 Sorry. 521 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:51,560 If something like that happened to you in childhood, do you think you would talk to your parents 522 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,880 about like, hey let's give up this whole Santa thing? 523 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:58,320 I don't want Santa to come this year. 524 00:28:58,320 --> 00:28:59,560 Santa terrifies me. 525 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:02,800 And would you want to go for pictures with Santa? 526 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:04,520 And you just see him everywhere. 527 00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:10,360 And especially if you're in the age of Santa being big in your life, seeing the small Santa 528 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,840 as I'm sure it's the same guy, so that would be terrifying. 529 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:14,840 So yeah. 530 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,200 And when you're in a conversation when parents are saying Santa comes this year and you're 531 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:21,760 like, can we take any measures to not have him come? 532 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,000 But you're not thinking of this as a little kid. 533 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:28,800 You're thinking of it as you and being like, holy shit that's creepy Santa Claus standing 534 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:29,800 it. 535 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:33,840 Maybe he woke up and was just like, better go back to sleep because Santa is gonna bring 536 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:35,000 me presents. 537 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,000 And he's sure to see if I'm asleep. 538 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:38,000 Yeah. 539 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,720 And I guess he's creepy but he also brings gifts. 540 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:42,720 Exactly. 541 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:49,240 So more important is the gifts for kids that are creepy. 542 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,000 Oh, little kid's minds. 543 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,000 Next one is actually posted by a user to lead it. 544 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:56,000 Oh no. 545 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:57,520 It could be Maxwell. 546 00:29:57,520 --> 00:29:58,840 Oh god. 547 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:03,680 This was many, many years ago but I still remember it like it was yesterday. 548 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:08,240 I still believed in Santa Claus then as a good amount of children do and I had the usual 549 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,880 anxiety and excitement for Santa to leave Christmas presents by the tree. 550 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:13,880 Anxiety. 551 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:15,920 After, maybe he wasn't good that year. 552 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:19,720 After I went to bed I had some trouble going to sleep with holiday nerves and such. 553 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:22,240 This guy had a lot of anxiety as a kid. 554 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:23,240 He's his. 555 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:24,240 Yeah, I had finally drifted off. 556 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,400 See, he's a little prussian as a lot of kids apparently. 557 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,640 I had finally drifted off when I woke up to the sound of soft footsteps somewhere in 558 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:31,640 my room. 559 00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:35,400 I automatically assumed it was Santa Claus and I was scared to see him for fear he might 560 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,040 leave or his magic will fail. 561 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:43,440 I opened one eye just barely and saw this black figure standing over my bed staring at me. 562 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:44,440 I know. 563 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:45,440 Interesting wording here. 564 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,440 What's going on in life? 565 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:55,440 Yeah, it was tall, probably around six feet tall and it was completely dark. 566 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:57,720 It looked almost blacker than black in any way. 567 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:02,120 I couldn't see any eyes, a mouth or nose on it, but I could clearly see the outline 568 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:03,880 of a head, arms, body and legs. 569 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:08,240 It looked like a bigger person so thinking it was Santa just made sense. 570 00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:13,000 It stayed in one spot for 10 maybe 15 seconds until it took a step closer. 571 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:17,880 It leaned in a little more, still a few feet away from me and then stayed there for 10-15 572 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:19,080 seconds more. 573 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,160 Even though I couldn't see a face, I knew it was looking at me. 574 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,840 It's just that weird feeling you get when you know you're being watched or looked 575 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:26,840 at. 576 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:30,320 I closed my eyes again and waited for a few minutes when I looked back it was gone. 577 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:34,360 I lived in a pretty old house at the time so the doors and floor beds were squeaky and 578 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:35,360 loud. 579 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,240 I heard the footsteps but I never heard the door open. 580 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:41,920 I never saw this figure again though I've had some other spooky experiences in the house. 581 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,560 I asked my mum if she heard Santa when he came into my room last night and she looked 582 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:49,480 confused for a second then she played along and just assumed I was lying. 583 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,200 I know this wasn't a person and I know this wasn't a dream. 584 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:57,280 I also know that spirits entities are often attracted to lots of excitement energy so 585 00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:00,520 Christmas would be a perfect time for ghosts to pass through. 586 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:05,520 Yeah, so that kid probably was not living the best life. 587 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:08,960 And then this is my last one by Yeezer Deleted. 588 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,760 So here's the last story for your merry Christmas. 589 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:17,160 I remember that I used to have a recurring dream growing up about a huge tall thing in 590 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:21,960 the snow outside my bedroom window with like really really bright green eyes. 591 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:27,360 It would only happen on Christmas Eve and my head cannon and my head cannon was that 592 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:30,400 it was some Christmas being like Santa Claus. 593 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,080 I don't know what head cannon means. 594 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,640 Oh that was what they decided in their mind. 595 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,480 Like oh that entity out there is Santa related. 596 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:39,480 Okay. 597 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:40,480 To explain it to themselves. 598 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:44,880 It would only happen on Christmas Eve and my head cannon was that it was some Christmas 599 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:46,920 being like Santa Claus. 600 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:47,920 The end. 601 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:48,920 Huh. 602 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:49,920 Yeah. 603 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:50,920 Okay. 604 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:51,920 I know. 605 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:57,960 Well, I hope that we have given you sufficient first off tradition as well as stories and 606 00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:02,280 then time to get back into your Halloween costume to make this festive time of year just a 607 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:04,480 little more festive. 608 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:08,760 But in the meantime, I hope everybody enjoys their holidays, whether it be Christmas or 609 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:11,520 otherwise that have taken place over this last month. 610 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:13,400 I have been Taylor, here with Chelsea. 611 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:14,760 We are Journey to the Fringe. 612 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:16,640 Thank you all for listening and we'll see you next week. 613 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:17,640 Bye. 614 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,200 Thank you for listening to Journey to the Fringe. 615 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:27,480 If you have liked what you have listened to, please like, share, subscribe or follow depending 616 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,520 on what venue you are listening to us through. 617 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:36,680 Also please, if possible, leave a five star review as that really helps us in the algorithms. 618 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:41,520 Should you wish to interact with us, please check us out on your social media of choice. 619 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:43,240 I bet you we are there. 620 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:47,720 And if you really want to communicate with us and give us ideas for new episodes or tell 621 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:54,620 us that we're wrong and terrible either way, please send us an email at journeytothefringe.com. 622 00:33:54,620 --> 00:34:01,000 For now, I'll see you in the next episode.