Listener Tales 110: Playdates with the Paranormal

(laughing)

They're like a lunatic, but it's not so good.

- You gotta be weird and gross. - Yeah, this is morbid, it can't be said now. (upbeat music) - And it's a spare tail. - Brought to you by you for me when all about,

you look, so we have some bids to start you guys off with. - Just a little bit. - But it's fun, it's like for us. - So we are launching today, today. - Today, a candle, a morbid candle,

which has been filling my home with the yummiest smell. I have an underdress, a candle warmer right now. - Wow, that's the best. - It's in the kitchen, and when I walk down the stairs,

“I go, oh, it's well so good. - Oh, what is this scent?”

- Here it is. - Oh my God, we have to even van a white. - So this is it, she become it's so lame. You can buy a vowel, or she become it's so lame, and it smells like, it's a piece of beef, you're a smell that smells like amber and sand tall.

- It's so clean. - Yeah, it's that clean smell, like, I don't know how to pronounce it. - And it's warm. - Yeah, yeah, we're gonna put, right here.

- Yeah, see, she's a stereotype, you can have one. And you can also have a horned hoodie, which is really, really cute. - It's got horns. - And literally you put the hood on, and it's horned.

- And we love it. - We were so excited about it. - Yeah. - We've been wanting a candle forever. - Yeah, and everybody told us that we couldn't have.

- Yeah, no one would give it to us, or like, some people wouldn't give it to us. - Yeah. - Some people did. - So, thank you.

- Seriously. - Seriously. - Seriously. - Seriously. - At Syria. - Yeah, she gets us. - She kicks us.

- So you guys should get that candle,

“and one last thing that, I think she should do,”

for sure, for sure, for sure, for sure, for sure, for sure. - It should be true. - It should be true, sure, sure. - It should be true. - It should be true, sure, sure.

- But I think it's a live show. - You should go to radio city music hall on June 27th. See me, see you later. I don't know why I did it the wrong way. - See me, see you later.

- See our special guest who we can't announce yet. - And we're gonna have pretty dresses. - We are so excited for Broadway. - Yeah, it's gonna be really fun. And we have a fun theme, and it's gonna be a blast.

It's one night only. - Take it, sir, go in, so get your tickets while they last 'cause we wanna see all of you, bring your friends, have a blasty blast. - And Alina says you can just wander the streets,

you don't even have to get a candle. - Yeah, don't even get a hotel, just wander the streets until more. - Yeah, in New York. - Somebody will get it right.

- So the morning it's New York. - Somebody will. - Yeah, I don't know if they're reputable. - Yeah, but somebody will give them to you.

“- But anyway, that's why you should come,”

'cause you can get a story out of it. - It's true, but we're the eggs. - You want more, don't you? - Who doesn't want more? - We all want more.

- Speaking of lore, you guys send in your lore. - You did, you sent in much of your lore. - You see that. - A great many lore. - So much lore.

- Yes. - Would you like to start with the lore? - Let's start with the lore, I think we, I think there's like kids seeing ghosts in this one? - Yeah, 'cause like you're a ghost.

- Yeah, I see ghosts.

- All right, so I'll go first.

This one's called "Kids Say The Creepyest Things." - They really do. - And they do, can confirm. - Hi, hi, how are you? - I just started listening to more of it

on a month and a half ago, welcome. - Hello, I'm on episode 161, where you guys discussed the screen murder while you're early, early enough. - And I beg you to stay with us.

- We took with us, start sounding a lot better, and we got to go to more professional, as time goes on. - In the early, early, early. - So be it clearly in the earlier episodes,

you guys announced that you're doing live shows. And how excited you were about them. You kept saying, live shows 2020, we're coming for you. - And in my head, I was screaming, "I'm from the future in 2020, ain't it?"

- Yeah, we wish we heard you back there. It was very sad. And every time I listen to an episode, you girls have to talk about ticket refunds and rescheduling in my heart breaks for you all over again.

- It was a rough time, it was. Anyways, onto my tail, my name is Danny. - Hi, Danny. - I have three year old new miles, not his real name.

And since birth, he has always been sensitive.

When he was two and a half, we were laying down to take a nap, what he said, chilled me to the bone. Now he was two and a half here. He said, "I miss my other mama." Ew, if I was his current mama, I would be so pissed.

- I'm like, what mama, I'm your mama, I'm your mama. - One and only mama, I sat up confused. What other mama, honey, I'm your only mama. My mama from when I wasn't miles. - What?

- This is like my favorite thing ever. - 'Cause this is my favorite thing ever, but if I have that head, I'm gonna be so scared. - Yeah, and I can't confirm I don't think I have one of those kids, so--

- No, I don't think so. - You're all pretty fucking weird, though. - They are weird, yeah. - But like the coolest way, but they don't do the shit, they don't. - It was raised very spiritually.

My dad always said reincarnation was real. He thought I was gifted and explained that our family

I thought he was full of shit.

“Sure, I get certain vibes around people or places.”

And sure, I've had dreams where someone else and I felt like I'm reliving a memory. And yes, I've absolutely seen things that I can't explain. Hat man, I'm talking to you.

- Ugh, the creepiest. - But the rational scientific part of me believed and still thinks, maybe I'm crazy, or schizophrenic, or delusional. Do you never know?

- Yet, here was my baby saying something so innocent. I decided to play it cool. Honey, no matter who your mama used to be, I'm your mama now, okay? - Period.

- That's right, you put a period on that's a lie down. He was silent for what seemed like an eternity. I was half hoping he'd fallen asleep. Then he spoke again. I was driving my car, I was at a gate.

And I was miles and you were my mama. He said excitedly, I was shook. Fast forward a few months. I just buckled him in his car seat after a trip to the gas station.

As I was tightening the straps on his seat,

he looks up at the passenger seat. He draws his eyebrows together, clearly confused. Mama, who's that girl in the front seat? Oh, you got a six-sense kid? - Yeah, that's scariest, hell.

My heart dropped out of my butt. My mind immediately went into production mode. Was there a stranger who just casually got in my vehicle without me knowing what the hell? I glanced up to the passenger seat

and there was no one there. Miles continued to stare at the empty seat. I grieved to sigh of relief. Go so much easier to handle than living,

“breathing from fleshies and honestly, I agree with you.”

Can you tell me more about her? Is she holds like grandma or like little like you? I asked, as I finished tightening the straps. Old's like a Nana, and she's got orange hair, just like me. - Oh, Miles replied.

He kept staring past me. Some ghostly ginger granny was in my car. It was fine. - I'm fine. - Everything's fine. It was gonna be a ghostly ginger granny.

- Oh yeah, that's right. I nodded and said, okay, I believe you. That was a great way to handle that. That was like really a few more weeks went by. We went to our local dollar store

for some last-minute dinner supplies. My husband went inside while Miles and I waited in the car. The parking lot was absolutely deserted. Suddenly, out of the blue, Miles says, "The little girl behind me says she wants to go home."

Now, I'd be checking out of that one. I'd be like, no, I don't believe you on this one. There's something I want that person. I would have abandoned my husband at that time. I'm sorry. - I'm sorry.

- Right out of there. It was a hot summer day and still my whole body broke out and goose bumps and a chill swept through me. The back of my skull tingled. I wanted to know right out of there,

but my husband was still inside the store. - They were in the matter. - They were in the understand. My eyes darted around the desolate parking lots, searching for someone. Some girl getting into a vehicle or driving

or anything that Miles might have seen to make them say that. There was nothing. A few more weeks went by without incident. No talk of not being Miles, no talk of anyone who isn't there. Then we took a road trip to see family.

As we were driving along the inner state, Miles looks out the window. I was driving my car and it went off the road and through the trees and into the water. - Awesome, great, Miles. - I have become convinced this is not my child's first time

on the surf. He sees things and people who are not there. I try not to talk about it with him but if he brings it up, I just tell him that I believe it. - That's really nice.

- That's really nice. - That's a good way to handle it. I don't know how else to handle it. It's like this fear that the closer he is to the other side, the less of him I get to have here.

I know that might sound crazy, it's not. But in this life, he is mine. I don't want to share. I don't want to. - I don't want to share. - Thank you for reading this.

Sorry if it was a lot, this was amazing. Hopefully you can use it in the future episode. - My dad's, even though that's not his role name, I love that name. - I know that was really good.

- My he's creepiest fuck girl. - He is. - What are you gonna do with that kid?

I always wonder if these kids,

like I think when they get older, they forget this stuff.

“- Yeah, they do, that's what I call mostly her.”

- But you want them to hold it so that later, you can be like, tell me everything. - It's like tell me what I'm going for. - Yeah, I know. - But I think they forget it.

So maybe you continuously being like, I believe you and just letting them say it. - It's probably, yeah. - Well, like, jog is memory enough that maybe he'll remember it a little more, maybe,

'cause I want to know. - I definitely think most people aren't as validating. Like, I think more often you hear stories where people are like, don't say that. - Oh, is a dream where you saw something, yeah.

- Yeah. - All right, well that would be Danny. - Danny, that was good. - And shout out to Miles. Our next tale is Galveston Ghosties,

but not a totally sad tale. - Okay. - And this listener would like to remain anonymous. - You got to go, Nikolais? Nikolais, we just started.

- We've worked our way. - We're at the pod lab. - You're in the pod lab. - You're at Selena. - You're at work.

You like Elena, but I'm not sure if you're your fan of me. Nikolais called me an angel. He told me to be quiet. (laughs) - That was, what did you say?

- I won't push it. - I won't push it. I won't push it. - You said you pushed it. - I'm not.

- Yes, it does. - But this does. - It does. - You pushed it. - When I lived at home, I got that girl.

- Oh, yeah.

(laughs) - Oh, yeah.

“- If I wanted a clown, I would have hired one.”

(laughs) - That was fun.

- Or I would have gone to the circus.

- Yep. (laughs) - That was fun. - Anyway, hello, weirdos. I was aiming up my classroom for the end of school year.

I've been listening to your back catalog. You have that in common with the last listener. - Thank you. - Thank you for keeping the entertained through the hours of checklists and boxing up books.

I just heard your haunted lighthouses up some of the-- - We need another one of that. - I know we haven't done that in the wild. - Spooky season has come. - No.

- This one is about the Galveston hurricane at 1900. I have a super spooky story for you to relate it to the hurricane, and it will give you both the heavies and the jeepies. - Whoo!

- This started in 2013. I had recently discovered I was pregnant. So I was still able to walk around without feeling completely exhausted. Wanting to go out before we had a little one to take care of.

My husband and I traveled from our home just outside of Houston for a date night in Galveston. We went on a haunted history tour because, of course, we did. - Yeah.

- I wouldn't you. - Yeah, exactly.

“- You get the opportunity to go on that haunted tour.”

You got it. You can't really bring babies on that, so I got it. Not really. Maybe like a little bit older kids. - Yeah.

- But you're doing your damn thing. So the island is one of the oldest cities in the country. So we wanted to learn more about the spooky history. Boy, did we?

One of the first stops we made on the tour

was to a spot that's now a parking lot. And put up the park. - Yeah. - Before the hurricane had been St. Mary's orphanage, the story is truly heartbreaking.

The nuns who ran the orphanage were trying to save the children. So they tied them together in lines like little ducklings. Each line was held by one of the sisters who tied themselves to the children.

That way, if one child was being swept away, the other child and the sister could hold onto them. The lines of children walked through the flood and the storm to some trees in the area where they climbed up to try to stay away

from the Russian waters. Unfortunately, the lines of the rope that were meant to save them did just the opposite. As the waters rose, the children on the lower branches would be swept away by the Russian waters

and they would pull the whole line of children and the sister tied to them away as well. Out of the more than 90 children who lived in the orphanage only three boys survived. The rest were drowned in the goal.

We listened to the story and my husband took out his phone. He saw three orbs of light in the camera.

He lowered his camera and there was nothing in front of him.

And when he brought up the camera again, they were there. They were. He showed me and we thought maybe it was just a trick of the streetlights until the orp started moving. He greeted them with a, well, hello there.

Oh, that's really sweet. That's really cute. And they moved even more. Not only did the orbs move as we stood there listening to the story from the tour guide,

they started following us on the tour. We told the tour guide later on the tour and they said, are you expecting? Apparently this is a fairly common occurrence. - What? - That's nuts.

I love that. This would have been a bit spooky, but that wasn't the last we met with one of those children. My son was about two or three years old playing in his room. And we heard him talk totally normal.

He was playing with his toys. Then we started hearing him talking to someone. He was having a conversation. That's my worst fear. - Yeah.

- Thinking very little of what he was doing because what two or three year old boy doesn't have imaginary friends. We asked my son who we was talking to. He said he was talking to his friend, Haber.

He comes by sometimes to play. We asked him more about his friend. He was an older boy. Well, that's interesting, sweetie. What was he telling you?

Oh Haber said he has to stay in the tree. He has to what? Haber said that he stays in the tree. The tree outside your window. No another tree.

He can't come down. He has to stay up there to be safe. - Warm, warm, warm. - I don't like it. - I'd be like, why did you come to my house?

- I'd be like, why are you here? - It was cool when we were on the tour, but why did you come to my house? - It was cool. When you were, or just what's going on?

- That's why when you leave,

“a haunted place, you have to shake every,”

like if you don't want this happen, you have to shake everything off and you have to explicitly tell the entity to turn off all of me. Welcome to come home.

They can't follow you in your car. - Anywhere. - We had to do that at the US a Salem. - And they actually instructed us to do it. - We had to do it.

- It was serious. - We did it at the SK Pierce Mansion at Luzy Borden. We've done it every single time. - We do it everywhere now. - Yeah.

- Honestly, I'm going to start doing it, mom, pop this out. - Truly, she's fucking a lot of those that were there. So my goal is friends. I couldn't find the names of any of the children who were there, but I think my son's friend

was telling him about one of the sisters who was in charge of the children. Sister Mary Catherine Herbert. Want to know the other super creepy thing? Not long after we were talking to our friend

who was half a Romani. He told us he really doesn't care to go to a lot of older places because of the fun gift he inherited from his family. He could see ghosts.

He confirmed that our house had several. Thankfully, very friendly folks. I'd like to hang around. One of whom was a young boy who was chilling near our son's room. - That's so wonderful.

- Imagine getting confirmation of that, like there's a bunch of ghosts in your house. They're friendly though. I'd be like, that's it. - Yeah.

- I would love it personally. - But it would make me, that would be spooky.

- And hearing that there's like a young kid

“that hangs out by your son's room, I'd be like,”

"I don't think I'd love that." I don't know about that. - I don't really want kid ghosts. - Yeah, kid ghosts freak me out. - But also old people kind of talk, so.

- I know. - That's the thing, where's the... - There's fun old people. You know, I would love like a nice, you know, mid 30s. - Looking at it's Brittany, butch ghosts, you know,

to like mid 40s. - Yeah. - You know, like we can chill, watch Gilmour Girl. - All right. - You know, like I feel like they're like,

I don't really have the energy to do a lot. - Our son is much older now and hasn't spoken about hayburn years. So I suspect he just wanted to friendly kid to play for a while, play with for a while.

The moral of this story is that if you want your kid to have a super friendly ghost friend who chills in his room and plays with the stuffed animals, give off friendly parent vibes when you go on coaststores, if you don't want something following you home though,

maybe don't say hi, or go while you're pregnant. - That's good advice, I would say. - All right. - And shake it up. - Yeah.

“- You got to shake it off and you got to clean the boundaries.”

- You say no thank you. - No, no thank you, babe. - Stay here. You love it here, stay here. - I like that anonymous, thank you for that.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - The next one is Mimi the Shadow. - What? - I've already loved this.

- Ashina Lena, I came across your podcast during COVID as it was for most people. My COVID experience wasn't just your typical COVID adventure. I had a newborn, another child that was potty training and a child in school.

- That's horrific. - I'm so sorry. - Yeah. - My middle child had a pre-existing condition and experienced seizures.

The few times we were exposed to the virus. - Holy shit. - Holy shit. - You did not have the normal experience. My youngest barely slept.

My oldest also decided this was the time to hold on to the spiteful feelings for her siblings that tag team ousted her from being an only child. - Yeah.

- On top of that, I've never, ever been a home body.

I wasn't just crawling the mother fucking walls during COVID. I would do anything to hear the voice of another adult. Whether it was talk about a new grout cleaning technique or 12th century cooking impact on southern European politics.

Or rather prepare for next year's taxes with fun, new complicated forms. Anything. I like to consider myself as a high-functioning Pisces. So when I found myself trapped with more than my usual downtime,

even after I mary condoed every space in my house, I found myself asking casual everyday questions like,

“how fast did DNA evidence help locate the Golden State Killer?”

Or did they really use handwriting analysis to figure out who Jack the Ripper was? - No. - You know, normal questions enter morbid in all its glory. I have several weird stories, visits,

and impossible coincidences. This is my favorite weird hotel that ended in some self-healing. - Oh, I love that. Despite the hell that was COVID, 2015 was easily the worst year of my life.

- Oh no. - My father died unexpectedly. The week my husband was supposed to deploy overseas. - Oh my God. - Which was delayed only a week to attend the funeral.

- Within the month my husband's grandfather in stand-in father figure also passed away. Worst, my husband deployed after my father's funeral, but before his granddad passed my father's funeral, the late his deployment,

and therefore did not allow enough time leave to actually attend his own granddad's funeral. Oh, that's so sad, that's awful. - Adding my husband's deployment location, he was unofficially denied attending.

It was awful. Furthermore, during the husband's deployment, I faced a series of adulting situations solo. We just moved three months prior so that I could start a new job

and heavily would ignore Virginia. I didn't have nearby or a very reliable family. My mom walked out when I was young and Disney hadn't picked up the rights to my stepmother's villain origin story.

- Yes. (laughing) - Absolutely. - So we've no annoyed on even months after the funeral, I felt completely flattened, I'm so sorry.

Our my young daughter had a lonely birthday and a few months after that, she started pre-K. It was a struggle to get through the work day and that is when I began to notice just how much my already chatty child had begun to talk to herself.

A lot. It was exhausting enough to get up and go to work while taking care of a strong world for your old Gemini during this time. - Been there.

- So I don't really know what finally made me realize that my daughter was now talking and singing in what seemed like one side of conversations. Sometimes for hours in her room or outside. - Listen, she might not have even been talking

to go to a Gemini and talk to a father-in-law. (laughing) - But I think she must be out of it. - Yeah. - All energy was spent minimally functioning

and as my daughter is and always has been talking

of an imaginative, it wasn't until she started to sing songs I had never heard before and repeat Mimi says, Mimi did, that I even asked her who this person Mimi was. - Remember when you're a middle

you used to talk about her other grandmother? - Yeah. - She wanted to go visit her. - One time she got legitimately angry at us because we were like, you can't go back there.

- I actually forgot about that. So I was just saying, no, no, that wasn't a thing.

- She was weird in that way.

“- She was like upset and she would describe”

her grandmother's house, her elder grandmother. - Yeah. - It was pink. - Yeah, weird. - Yeah, and I was like, you don't have another one.

- And she would get so genuinely upset. - Yeah, she would. - So I feel like it was a place for her. - I don't know what's going on. - Kids are weird men there.

- But actually I asked about her friend who I assumed was a friend from daycare only to get a really judgmental look of disgust on a random trip to the store

my daughter then told me that Mimi never leaves the house.

Who's house? I asked confused. Our house, she answered, oh, I said, feeling like an idiot and finally connecting the dogs. - Oh, oh.

- Oh, okay. - I realized my child had to invent a friend just to cope with our super depressing home situation. I took it as a sign to start connecting with any potential new friends.

I was already a black belt and mom guilt. So I feel that.

“So while I contemplated if imaginary friends”

are signs of irreversible damage, knowing that my kid created an imaginary friend also somehow suit me as a military brat, she was already pretty resilient and the things they came up with were pretty cute.

This was the little push I needed to rejoin the world. I also realized Mimi was a good friend. She never got into mischief.

It was never really blamed for anything broken or missing

and always came up with fun things to create or do. I wouldn't enjoy songs or games that I overheard while I cleaned her cup to dinner. Mimi was everywhere involved in everything. Sometimes I even stoop to using Mimi's approval

or suggestions to get things mini struggles like tying shoes or brushing teeth over with. Again, this is a gem and I were talking about. She could talk her way out of anything and I needed all the help I could get some days

and I'd really do be like that. That's true. When my husband returned from a deployment, having another adult in the house helped orient my grief back to normal, or as close as you can get after loss

in a series of life-changing events, one ritual I managed to keep was that every night we read three books and sang three songs. One evening, my husband volunteered to start reading but our daughter said she was too busy for a book,

telling him she wanted to play and needed to eat it to leave. She said, "Get out of the way!" He tried to read a few times only to be repeatedly dismissed as he was interrupting her playing. My husband talked to our kid over a few more minutes,

tucked her in and then returned to our living room, seemingly amused, but off. I was surprised he was back so soon, so I asked why. Because I met Mimi, he joked, huh? I was surprised, I realized I hadn't told him

about this imaginary friend. He then described walking into her bedroom after hearing her talking in a one-sided conversation, "Who are you talking to?" he asked. Our daughter said, "Mimi, who's Mimi?"

He asked, probably smiling ear to ear and his persistently optimistic lab-radutal escalated. I love him. Her response was so random that my husband decided to literally act out her response for me.

I have to explain that my husband is very easygoing, not a man of many words and even less likely to mentally unpack anything that he's experienced. He is adorably oblivious. I wouldn't say that he'd ignore things,

but if you ever point something out, saying that it caught his attention really means something. He's the most live and let live person I know. - I love that. - To clarify, there are kitchen appliances that are higher maintenance

than my husband. Supply acting his response was not only hilariously random of him, it is still a creepy joke we have. Well, I was lying down on our bed. My husband sat down on the floor next to me

to act out our four-year-olds response to his question, who's Mimi? She is singing and freezes annoyed mid-song. While she seated on the ground looking down, she then very slowly deliberately

and intermittently lifted her eyes. Like they're slowly moving, then pausing and moving up again, up like going up a five-run ladder. She then locked eyes with her father

and said in a nerve-ingly horse voice, I mean, he's a shadow, what the fuck? What the actual fuck? Bitch, I don't know if I'm equipped for this. I'm nervous, I would literally be like,

“love you so much, and that's why he's actually dead.”

And he was like, okay. My husband said it was so creepy, but we were already laughing enough when asked him to say, it didn't, it the weird way she said it at least three more times. We laughed about how odd it was.

But I definitely got goosebumps, but we found the whole thing mildly entertaining. I shared with my husband that Mimi was a better friend than I ever had been. The year of loss and grief put a lot of perspective.

I was motivated to make some changes and enjoy life more. Within a few years, we were more settled. Still struggling with the family loss, but Mimi visited less and less. We then moved further north to a city

and stopped, thank you, girl. We've moved further north to a city and stopped hearing about Mimi all together. Ironically, my now teenager has no memory of Mimi despite their numerous songs that I recorded.

They're, he always says that.

He always says that shit. And that's where I sit normally. So please don't be there. Maybe he's a Beyonce fan.

They're backyard walks to make fairy houses or multi-course tea parties.

“Several months passed until I had an unexpected call”

with my grandmother, Gigi. Gigi's the unofficial mayor of her town. He's the one for Gigi. She isn't a nursing home a few states away. Firmly within her community.

By community, I mean, she's literally one phone call away from bootlegned beauties in her room or ride to anywhere in town. I have called dozens of times for her to answer and tell me she has to go because so-and-so is visiting her

that she has to go because she has plans. So on a call catching up with Gigi, I'm telling her about our move from the woods to the city and how different it was. I was going on and on about taking a hike

and all the great pictures we took. That's when she said, "Yes, Mimi, always love that the best." And I felt like the blood drained from my body. Despite being a bit of a woo-woo Pisces, I'm a professional skeptic.

I've had plenty of supernatural experiences,

but I never first assume other worldly explanations,

I feel like, I don't know. I literally work in facts. So hearing Mimi's name surprised me. Hearing my very religious Gigi say the name that I had only heard in the context

as an imaginary friend was bewildering.

“I got chills, my stomach did summer salts.”

That's when I realized I hadn't sent anything. And Gigi just continued to talk about the weather and cute old lady things. I waited for a break in the conversation, and finally, as normal sauces,

you can several minutes after moving on from a topic. I said, "Who did you say with like the fall? "Who is that? "I try not to study." My mother, Mimi, well she went by Mimi.

That's what we call her, she explained. She had never talked about her mother, and in her very Tennessee way, she then went on to inform me all about Mimi's people. Family background and their successful careers,

football related achievements, love of animals, and the water and the water. I love when something people call like family, they're people. They're people.

Where are you people? Yeah, you're my people. You're my people. I love it. I went on to learn that Mimi was a very musical person.

The song she's singing. She was a pianist, a violin player, and a singer. This all made sense.

“My grandmother was in every singing group that would allow her.”

Gigi also had a song for the most random shit, drinking songs, songs about people that don't mind their own business. That's exactly right. I don't know that totally.

The more Gigi shared, the more I mentally came undone. But I couldn't say anything other than, "Wow!" Mimi was the oldest of three children and had a tough childhood. Apparently Mimi's mother divorced her debag cheating husband

when she was about 10 to raise Mimi and her brothers on her own. Mimi was kept to a high-standard in school and she not only played the violin in piano and orchestra, she was in debate, Glee Club, Latin Club, Kurt Corr, with his Corral.

Like the girl in Corral. Corral? What's Corral? Corral. Oh, that's what that is?

Corral. Corral! Not just Corral. Not just Corral. Salmon.

You're Corrace. And I love Mikey when it's Corrace. That's why it's the Corral. Flourish. I liked that.

What, why it's Corrace? Please in Corrace. Another club's in names I do not understand. I'm glad you don't understand either. She went on to meet her husband and have four children.

Gigi said she didn't know we see I'd eye with her mother, but Mimi didn't put up with anyone's nonsense. She encouraged Gigi not to marry young, but rather go to school and make her own money. This led my grandmother into a lifelong career in teaching.

A gift she uses whenever she gets the chance to hold. I had such an out-of-body experience hearing about Mimi.

It never felt like a mere coincidence

that my child's imaginary friend also had the nickname of my late-great grandmother, who happened to only be around during one of the darkest periods of my life. I didn't even think about that part.

That's really beautiful. I still have never met anyone or heard of my child knowing anyone with that name. This conversation was so upsetting that it took me years to even tell anyone, and I still can't share

this story without getting very emotional. On top of that, this experience never qualified as a tell me about yourself without sending that shit crazy kind of thing. So thank you for having a weird old platform to share this.

Of course. The most unnerving part of all of this is that Gigi is my mother's mother. So having any discussion about mothers, let alone my mother, was taboo or upsetting.

Conversations about my mother involved shame, guilt, or the insistence that I forgave her for her many transgressions. I've heard about. So hearing that my own Gigi had issues with her mom

was illuminating. I finally decided I needed to tell Gigi with the complexity of our relationship and my own mother lingering in the background of every conversation like an uninvited specter.

It took me nine full years to tell my grandma about this bizarre coincidence.

It also took a while because it never felt right

telling Gigi randomly through a phone call that maybe her late mother might have been visiting her great, great granddaughter to take care of us, while I was a mentally aghost myself. I couldn't have said the words out loud if I tried.

And I did. So nine years later, I finally mustered the courage to share this experience with Gigi. At this point, she was in a nursing home after a bad fall and was having several complications.

some shenanigans with her back account. Why do people do that, Chet? That we know them, we know them.

“I didn't know any of this was going on when I called”

and she was so glad just to talk to someone. When I asked if I could share a weird story and then told her about Mimi the shadow guest, she took a long pause before speaking. The kind, any sane person would need to take her

if they're loved or told them that they were communicating with their dead mother. When she started to talk, I realized she had paused because she was crying. This was out of character

and I started to feel like an idiot. When she finally said, thank you. That brings me a lot of comfort. Mm.

She always has this power, positive veneer.

So when she went on to open up about the shift and shitty things going on, she admitted her frustration of feeling like a burden and her disappointment with my mother. All the things we had never discussed before.

So then I cried, even though it was due to me saying this possibly batshit crazy thing, we were definitely being real. Discussing her mother seemed to open the door to discuss her daughter with me

for the first time in an honest way. It also confirmed that there was still an unbreakable motherly threat of love and human dignity and the nonstop soap opera that is my family. We heard that.

We heard. We were finally able to discuss a painful and unwelcome elephant in the room that seemed to tame every conversation I had with GGS and adult. It felt like we could finally move past

what had been left on said.

“Since then, we've been able to talk more honestly”

about anything. I can call her for wisdom anytime. That is, when she's in too busy entertaining her neighbors or enjoying a bootlegged margarita. - Absolutely, I don't know.

- Mimi's visits seem to have healed us both. I've attached some photos of Mimi and her epic Bob below. I love a good Bob. - I love a good Bob. - You need it, I know.

I kinda want like a fuck ass Bob. - You need a fuck ass Bob. - Even looking at this length on you, it's not quite fuck ass Bob. - No, it's like the shorter length.

The long length looks incredible.

But the short length, you have that job that just like eats something. - Oh, thank you. - Yeah, I want a fuck ass. - And that's from a bad dress.

I'd take it seriously. - Yeah, they're wrong. - Mimi, I love that. Maybe it was that planet. So we're getting some photos of Mimi.

- It's okay. - An epic Bob. Thank you for reading this. Thank you for having the weirdo platform to read these stories.

And in true Pisces fashion, keep it weird. But not so weird that you don't receive a possible message of loving comfort from a Pisces relative that just wants to let you know that you aren't alone when you need the most.

Take it away, Ash. - I think you did. - It's so weird. - It's so weird. - Oh, Mimi is so silly.

- I said, "Fuck ass." - Also the over the shoulder, just like bitch, you can't touch me. - She said, "I'm in the glee club. I'm in Coral."

- She's like, "That picture is given to me." - I'm in Coral. (laughs) She's a queen with her little choker. - Oh, that.

- That's me. - She's that. - Mimi. - Oh, that's for the glee club. - She's that bit.

- She is. - Oh, there's more. - Oh, she party with Mimi. - Oh. - So let the creep fell.

- Oh my god. - I love this. - Mimi's having, oh, I want to have tea parties with my great-ring kids, one of them dead. - You're gonna.

- I'm gonna. - That's, you know that. - You can do whatever you want, one of them. - You're gonna. - Okay, the next one is, all the go-sees love me.

The listener tale of a creepy ass kid. Oh my god, the go-sees love me too. I know they do love you. Apparently they hate me. - Hey guys, I'm Jacquie, or Jackie, or Jackie?

I don't know. But you can just call me a girl who talks to ghosts

“because that's what my first grade teacher used”

to call me behind my back. - What a bitch. - What a bitch, I know. - Talk about your shame. She couldn't even say your name is Jacquie.

- Yeah, it's Jacquie. - Jacquie. - My ADHD is kicking in real hard. - So there might be some selling mistakes. - And I definitely rambled a bit,

but I'm gonna just leave this here. I have to say I love you guys. - Okay, I just need you. - That my boyfriend finds murder creepy and gets super uneasy when I have my headphones in

and I'm laughing out loud because he knows I'm listening to you. Thank you for keeping it so weird that I have tear streaming down my face from laughing so hard at the two of you bullying a murder.

- Yeah. - Bullying is only okay when the person is literal human trap. - Yeah, peer-to-create. - Anyways, let me tell you just one of the reasons,

I don't fuck with any superstitions. Let's go.

Okay, look, I was always a kind of weird, kind of creepy kid.

Me too. According to my mom, I chased away most of my babysitters. But first thing I thought it was because our house backed into an old water town, yes, Massachusetts. Tell you, yeah, cemetery, but they later found out

that at least a couple of them were really just over me telling them about my friends. You know, the man in the wheelchair, the old lady with a red cane, or whoever else decided to hang outside my bedroom window.

We went on the second floor. That's weird, but don't leave. What can I say? - I'm sorry. - I'm sorry.

I'm friendly and a good goddamn time. - Yeah, I'm pretty sure. - You are. - I didn't think so, though. So none of them ever talked to me.

- Oh, I hate that. - That's not cool. - You're the baby. - You're the baby. - They're adults now.

- She's just a baby. - I'm sorry. - A little boy fight them, trust me.

- I guess they were a little older than me,

but they always pretended that I didn't exist,

at least for what I could remember.

“I remember being in this class and being ignored”

by the other kids who were older than me. Anyways, strap in. You're on the site, yeah, we'll fight them for you. - Here's the story of my first ever full memory. My school was basically in our backyard,

and my mom brought me there all the time. So you better believe my ass was confused where my teacher was in my room one morning, waking me up because I was late for the class Easter egg hunt. What?

I'm sorry, the best. - Did I meet that girl? - Okay, okay. - My mom grew up in Zimmerville, during the sugar held gang slash white and old gyro.

- Oh no. - And her neighbor went missing when she was a kid. - Oh plus, my friend group wasn't exactly kosher for four year old. So you better believe that my house was

nearly impossible to get into from the outside. Time to go, my teacher said, "Get dressed, we're late." I hate this in every way that you could hate someone. - Hey, so are you being kidnapped? - Yeah, what's going on?

Where the fuck is your teacher? Well, I was four, so I took them up in the news. - Probably. She waited for me to put on my white snow boots and my purple snow suit all by myself.

We were quiet because my parents were still sleeping. - I'm being kidnapped. - You're being kidnapped right now. - We're being kidnapped.

“Somebody call someone, I don't like, I'm upset.”

- Retreat. - Retreat. - Rective 911, I'd like to report to you. - I wanna stop this, says it's happening. - My teacher took me, I took my hand,

walked me outside to join me, I could. I was frustrated because the big kids were all finding the eggs and I hadn't gone any. My not so tiny legs, your girl was lanky. I kept getting stuck in the mountains of snow.

She was leading me through. I could retrace every step I took. - I could tell you what the big kids said to tease me. I could reenact the entire day.

It was my first real memory.

What kid is teasing a four-year-old also? Give me the names of every one of these kids 'cause there are adults now and they deserve to get walloped. - Walloped, she's into that word lately.

- Walloped. (laughing) - I like pummeled. So let's fast forward a couple of years when you weren't kidnapped.

- What happened? - I didn't want to fast forward a couple of years. - I'm not funny. - Well, we have to fast forward a couple of years. I'm looking through old photo albums with my mom

or the teacher that stole you. You know, 80s baby style. Become across this picture of me. Needy but a pile of snow, hair a mess, and my kid knows you, it's no suit.

Was that my egg hunt I asked my mom? She gave me a confused look. No, this is my first ever memory. The egg hunt with my class. The look she gave me made me feel self-conscious.

Is that how you remember it she asked? Yeah, with the Winnie the Pooh school. I'm so nervous. Now she looked annoyed. I told her it was my first memory

and on my teacher had to wake me up so that I didn't miss it. You still believe that she asked me? Obviously. Well, of course, I have very vivid memories of that day.

I remember the picture being taken when I found my first egg. I looked at the photo again and I was holding a snowball. No, Mom, I remember the egg hunt.

Oh, no, Jack, she sat in the sweetest voice. That was the day you got up, got yourself dressed and went outside to play by yourself. Your dad and I almost lost it when you weren't in your bed.

I didn't remember that, but I started flipping through the album to find the picture of me and my egg. I know you took the picture. Where is it?

I asked my mom. She was shocked. There was no picture. There was no egg hunt. There was no teacher.

There was no school. What the fuck?

“But I remember, the big kids were always mean.”

They ignored me. I begged her to remember. You used to say that. She told me when you were younger. The big kids don't like me.

You said it all the time. I remember some of their names, though. I remember who picked on me and who just ignored me. The Winnie the Pooh school mom.

I begged her to remember the classroom she took me to. The room with Winnie the Pooh painted on the wall. She used my full name when she told me to cut the shit. And that's when I realized something was weird. Apparently, when I was a kid,

I didn't just have imaginary friends. I had an imaginary classroom. What the fuck? Apparently, my mom and I would sit and play question mark in the cemetery for hours in the mornings.

I have real memories of this school, vivid memories. I could draw a picture of the teacher that woke me up that morning if you asked me to. I used to tell my mom what I learned in school. Colors, numbers, the alphabet.

She always just went with it.

30 years later, I found out I actually didn't go to school. Years later, when we were living in a different house. Don't worry, by that point, I had younger sisters. So I guess I finally had some real friends. I've never had the guts to look into the cemetery

or a reason that I thought I was in school all of that time. This is wild. But you can say for sure that someone helped me get dressed that morning. Someone held my hand while I climbed to this now.

And I actually heard the big kids laughing at me when I only found one egg. Which, also, I will still fucking wall up them. Yeah, even if they're not real in the afterlife. I fool of them.

This is me all. This was probably why I couldn't keep a babysitter for more than one night. Maybe. Maybe.

Spirits were my friends and my teachers.

They just pretended I didn't exist. Maybe because they didn't see you

“because they were just like ghosts and you weren't.”

The story doesn't really have a climactic ending or you're having a point. It was pretty climactic out. But to this day, I'm very respectful of Spirit folklore

because Spirits were always friends to me.

Yeah, Ash, I'm going to take this one and say, keep it's a weird, but Spirits just want to be around you. When you want to be in one of your friends, definitely keep it that weird. I had no idea at any point during that story

where it was going to go next. I thought that you would fully lock it now. I thought you were going to discover that you had been kidnapped and you were traumatized, so they didn't tell you and they just told you it was an egg hunt.

Yes. The egg hunt was so cute. I thought your mom was going to be like, fuck, Jack. I thought that you didn't know that you got kidnapped. So we got past that.

What? You just had a whole go school. That's crazy, babe. I was proud of you. That was wild.

Good for you, girl. Damn. I'll still hit those kids for you. Hit them. They're adults now.

I'll hit them as adults. Oh, you should. Yeah. You guys are creepy so far. Yeah.

You are. That's crazy. This one's creepy too. Next one's called Spoopies Kids and Haunted Daycare. All right.

That's a good another school. Is this one real? I hope so. Hello, ladies. My name is Hannah.

Feel free to use my name because I will lose it if this is ever read on the listener. It tells episode, loser. No. Do you know what I just remembered recently?

One time we took it. This was real. One time we took a field trip to this school and we had to pick old time names and I picked Hannah. Because it was of the choice of the choices.

It was of the choices.

“Why do you have to pick an old time mean name?”

Because we were pretending to be old time mean. It was when I had that crazy sunburn member with the bubble. Oh my god. Yeah, with the bliss. It popped at that.

It was like a one room school that we all went to for like a field trip. But why was Hannah an old time mean name? I don't know anything about any of them. I picked it because when I think it's pretty and two, it's a palindrome. Oh, there you go.

Hannah. Hannah. Hannah. I feel like I'm right. Oh, that's a nice car.

[LAUGHTER] Do you see what I mean? Yeah. That's weird. I just randomly remember about the other day.

That's one of your first memories that you go.

But not one of my first memories. What's it real? Who knows? It was real. Because of the sunburn.

Who can you show me? Trust me, I'm sure. Sunburn, rock my life. Sunburn. Wow.

I think it was their degree burn. I, yes. Doctor, Dr. H was pissed. I believe it. Yeah.

Anyway. There's that, you know, Dr. H.

“So I changed the names of everyone involved for you.”

So no need to worry about them. Thank you. All right. You too are absolutely hilarious. Thank God.

Thank you. I've been listening to you since late 2020. You've been really, really, as COVID. And you both brought so much joy to the insanity. The insanity.

The insanity. Uh, whenever I need a mood booster, I know I can look forward to a new episode

or find an old one to listen to because you get it and always provide a laugh when it's

needed. How a new Englander. Hey. The neighboring state of Connecticut. Uh, my youngest one would say, "Canak.com."

I'm not. I'm not. So all your new England cases really hit different. I wanted to share this listener to tell because it was one of my best friends' favorite stories to be kept up to date on.

She was going through cancer treatment. Well, this was happening. So something I could tell her to make her laugh. She passed away in 2019. I'm sorry.

And I miss her every day. Your banter and love for each other reminds me of her. And I can't thank you and I don't you dare turn him off. I saw that. My ease.

I love that. Like you just tried to silence Nicholas. And it's me. He doesn't like. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

So you're the liar. You're the liar. See? Wow. Not like being silent.

I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not like being silenced.

You're cheating. You're cheating. Well, I got that mom peripheral vision. That's like, don't do that. Like you can see that.

I know you're scratching your leg to be honest. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.

You're going to kill me. What are they saying? Two must go. Well, girl. Don't silence a ghost.

He's so bad. Somebody already tried to silence him because he's dead. Please, dad. All right. This is a tale from my days of working at a daycare.

Oh, God. When I started at the school, I was given a brief history of the building. It was originally built as a wealthy family's house, then turned into a restaurant/bar, and finally became a school. Seems like a logical progression, right? Sure.

It's an artsy nature based bougie school for kids birth to kindergarten birth in my classroom. To school you go. There you go. Learn. The two-year-old room where there was a large fireplace that went floor to ceiling in the middle of the room.

It was raised. So we put pillows in it to make a space. We called the cozy nuck for kids to relax in. We let them relax in the fire.

My favorite part of the job was basically telling the kids to sit in the fireplace when they needed to come down.

Can't say that every day. The teacher said the year before.

“One kid always used to ask, "What's in the nuck?"”

What was that? Who's in the nuck? Or who's in the nuck? I thought they were just trying to fuck with me as the new teacher, but old ladies was I dead wrong. I'm trying to like use it.

Old ladies was I wrong. I was like excuse me. He said old bitches. Let me tell you. He said you elderly folks.

Sometimes I'm in November. One of the boys pointed to the top of the fireplace. Looked at being said, "It's a ghost." I'll like it. I think there was nothing there.

So I ignored that. She's here early in November. Yeah. They'll listen. There you go.

He was too.

And still learning English.

So I just hoped a ghost was another word for something much less ominous than his language. He ended up moving to the at the end of the month. So I figured it was over. Little did I know it was just beginning. Oh good.

In January, I was sitting behind the fireplace at the snack table with another girl Julie. Julie looked at me and said, "There's a ghost." And when I asked, "Where?" She just casually said, "It's here." Now you may think, "All right.

This little ragamuffin heard from this from someone else."

“So it was just repeating it since she was two and what else do you do it to?”

No freaking way. This girl was beyond her years when it came to her language. You could have a full conversation with her and convince yourself she was a kindergarten. Even though she could fit in your pocket. She was the only kid who I would hands down belief.

I mean, the kid built a panera out of blocks one morning. How can you not trust her judgment? I respect that whole day. The next day during lunch, four kids started laughing, getting really silly. And pointing to the spot my old student pointed at in November.

The spot about the fireplace. I should also mention this is like eight feet off the ground. That he just couldn't even reach the top. One of the girls at the table turns and looks me dead in the eye before saying, "That's not safe.

That baby shouldn't be up there." What the fuck? Again, nothing was there. My heart dropped into my butt. And I was like, "Yup.

It's time to leave this place." The crescendo of the haunting was two days later. I was having a snack with Julie again. When she finally, when she calmly stated, "I can't understand." I asked about what she was listening to.

The school was on a busy road.

And there was always something fun happening outside.

She looks up from her homemade granola cereal again.

“Boogie at Boogie asked school with personal chefs to say, "What's he saying?”

I can't understand what he's saying to me." Now sitting there, probably hung over for wine Wednesday. I've protected the night before. I'm like, "I don't have the energy for this bullshit today." When I asked who was talking for your and she met one of her three classmates,

also sitting with us, she said, "Him, that red guy." Well, point to the empty chair next to me. Ladies, my Uber was there. I looked at her, my heart now in my toes, and asked her to tell me, "Yes, success."

And asked her to tell me again who it was. And she said, "That guy, that's stripy guy over there." And point to next to the table. My mind went to a million places at that point. I think, all right, you motherfucker.

They're one small child and red stripes walking around. Or we have accumulated three ghosties. A baby, someone covered in blood and an old-time escape prisoner. Personally, I wasn't about any of these options. Best part of all of this.

I was the last one to take my break. So for an hour every day, I'd sit in the class alone. I'm not going to get up again because I didn't go last time, but... That other fucker just said his day. He just said that.

He's a student. That's a big list you are. A student. Okay. So she had to sit in there alone.

We had hours. I don't know what else to do. So she had to sit in there an hour every day during lunch. During nap time. In a pitch black room with 16 sleeping children,

and a loud-ass noise machine going, although it would stimulate me in a way. Can't describe. Can't even count how many times everything would be dead silent. And one kid would wake up crying.

Or I'd look up from my paperwork to see one of the grandma's awake and just silently staring at me from their cot. Nightmare fuel, anyone? You just kind of look at them and say, "Don't do that.

Go back to sleep." None of the children were ever frightened or upset by the ghost. If anything, it would make them laugh at that. No one was watching. For the rest of the time I worked there,

I walked in and greeted the ghost. And I said, "Let's go to sleep." And then I said, "Let's go to sleep." And then I said, "Let's go to sleep." And then I said, "Let's go to sleep."

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