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Total wine has thousands of wines to savor and pairings for every flavor. Spirits lined the shelves.

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Gifts are easy with helpful elves. A wonderland to explore total wine and more could responsibly be 21.

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Hello and welcome to my special Luckie Episode 49 of Listener Stories Forty is literally for some reason on the MIKIS.

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Every time your voice gets to a certain decibel, it just cuts the audio. So I just hear songs like that. I hear silence, couldn't you? Yeah, it's very sad because every time you laugh at something I say I just hear silence.

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So I have to check to see if it's like, really heartbreaking anyway.

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Like biggest fear for when we were on tour. It's like literally we say something and it's just fuckin cricket crickets. I wish they would put crickets down instead of silence. But, you know, that's a story for another day. Welcome. We're on Episode forty nine of our listener stories. I remember when we did 22 and it was Ms. Lucky Listener episode. So I know. What's the next big number?

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Six six six. Oh, it's a long time from now.

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I thought you were going to say sixty nine and I was like whoa oh definitely sixty nine for twenty and then six six. That is going to have a weird theme. I'll be really honest.

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I will say real quick before we read this awesome stories that you all submitted, our next listener episode is number one. Fifth is number fifty.

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And that is very special because it comes out right after our two hundred episodes. So we're going to do a special theme. And are we announcing the theme here? Sure. OK, the theme is Curse Bye. And that's why we drink. So if you have a tale of being coerced by us, which I think an alarming number of you do, you can submit that for our fiftieth listener episode. We gave that prompt to patrons, I think, like a week or two ago just to kind of get them in the know.

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But so now you all know as well. So if you have a story, send that in. I know a lot of you specifically with the dolls have you've already sent us emails before saying, but they messed you up. So we know that you're out there. We know someone out there has a story. I feel like we should have like a WebMD profile where it's like most common side effects include, like bloody nose crashing your car, fender bender.

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You click the body and be like part of you hurts. And if it's anywhere I call my that we again, we need to find a waiver to send out to all of you.

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But yeah. So that's our fiftieth listener plan theme.

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So send it in. Yeah. All right.

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Well that means we've read like three hundred people's stories or something. And in the first one I remember we were just like reading our friend's stories because we had no spoiler alert.

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Yeah. The first episode we checked, we asked our friends to text us last minute because literally we're sitting there with microphones.

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We were like, oh, we don't have any. So we didn't have a following yet. So we didn't have anyone send in stories. So or we didn't have enough people to email us.

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So but the notion that we sat down to record the episode and then went, oh, wait, we don't have any stories like the most embarrassing bullshit of, oh, OK, you're going first this time.

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And this is our this is December. Yes.

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Oh, Christmastime is here. I'm sorry. That was late. Sorry. Here I am. Oh. Do you have plans for Christmas. Are you or are you just saying I'm home.

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Stand here please.

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Has a holiday off. So I'm very happy about that. But I think we're just going to zoom it with, with his fam. I don't know. I think we have to stay home. You're staying home, right?

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I'm staying home. Although Eva and I have both stayed pretty safe. And so we have said we might have Christmas breakfast together, which is sweet.

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That's so cute. I'm going to face time. You, um, forced my way in. That's fine. I will. RJ and Alison are both really braving it and going home, but they're going home and quarantining for two weeks. First, they're going to be gone for like the whole month of December. So by myself and I'm not going home and quarantining and being with my family because I have seen too many of my fredricksburg friends not isolating shout out not to call you all out, but it is it me, please.

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I really I really am. I know a lot of people are going to say that planes are like surprisingly safe, but like it's safer to just not be on a plane.

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So I just don't want to go, oh, well, I'm not going to be doing anything for all of December. So we will probably FaceTime a lot because I'm fine. So I'll go I'll wait here for me enough. But anyway, so that's what we're doing for Christmas. Hopefully everyone's staying safe. I know a lot of people for Thanksgiving were really nervous about going home and having to deal with covid members or people who were covid deniers. So hopefully that's not what you have to deal with a second time again.

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But if that is the case, I'm thinking about you.

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Mm hmm.

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So here's the first story not to be such a bummer, but talk about covid deniers and now your stories.

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Let's talk about something equally scary. So this is this one is called a full moon story. Oh, wasn't that did we have a theme this time?

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Eva said it was mostly full moon. And then. There's a surprise guest at the end that I don't want to spoil as it half moon is a toenail moon. Which one is this? A different moon. OK, so this is full moon story. And this is by Abbey, who goes by she her pronouns. Thank you for analyzing pronouns. Abbey says, Hi, Eva, I'm Christine and Pets'. I like that. Just Lump-sum Pets'. My name is Abbey and I love your show.

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I've been listening for a while now, but it is especially it has especially been keeping me company since quarantine. I have a slightly low key full moon story, but thought I'd send it Yarl's Way. When I was in college, I used to work at a home for people with traumatic brain injuries. A lot of the patients had other psychiatric diagnosis as diagnoses as well as their their brain injuries. That being said, we often had days where patients would have behavior issues or even violence, but it always was a shit show during a full moon.

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Oh, wait, I forgot. I requested this seem like I literally demanded it. And now I already thought this was just right.

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I wonder why we brought it up at all. Because I know I brought up because it was Halloween and it was a blue moon full moon on Halloween and I made a big scene about it. And then I demanded everyone send in stories and then I promptly forgot and sent that said, that's weird. Why do we have so many full moon stories?

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I was thinking because I just covered werewolves twice. So you're talking about there's also that. Yeah, I don't even think about that. And in that we talked about how there's like studies where hospitals have said on full moons, people act a little more wild. So it was always a shit show during a full moon, nothing paranormal. But I always thought it was wild, how we could predict when it would be crazy. Even the staff who maybe didn't believe in astrology or anything other worldly would prepare for the full moon.

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That's wild. Wow. In the year that I worked there, there was there were three full moons. The first one only two months after I started that night, we had a patient called the ambulance for himself three times and one night for no reason. The second time a different patient escaped from the facility and was wandering in a nearby apartment complex. And the police and staff were out half the night tracking him down. And the third full moon, which was also a Friday the 13th.

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I had the foresight to request the night off because I'd learned my lesson and two patients gone to a literal fistfight that ended up in injuring multiple staff.

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Oh, no. Wow. You really saved yourself there. Well, bad behaviors were not extremely uncommon in this job. Overall, it was pretty chill. But those three events were the biggest instances of behaviors in the entire year. I worked. Wow. And I always thought it was so interesting that it correlated with the full moon each time. Side note, even when I worked as a waitress and high school customers were always acting up during full moons anyway, I know the story isn't super exciting, but I thought it was interesting when you guys were talking about full moon stories, especially in relation to health care.

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And it is definitely a thing from Abby. Oh, also, I did submit my my more paranormal story of my sorority house at Virginia Tech. So if you're interested in that, let me know and I can set it again. Yes, Abby, please. Please do.

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I'm sure it's somewhere in the inbox. Wow. Thank you, Abby. That's creepy. I remember I went on this whole rant about how if the moon controls the tides and where 70 percent water, then. Yeah. And set the moon controls us, which is not my theory. I read it on the Internet, but I thought it made sense.

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It's maybe not your theory that you created, but it's definitely a theory that I think we both own, like I think a theory and also makes sense.

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If I believe in WebMD, I can believe in pretty much anything on the Internet.

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So there we just say it, say it loud, say it with your. OK, so that's my that's my story.

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Thank you, Abby. Am I here your date nights have gotten a lot more fun and I've kind of copied you and also made the killer part of my date.

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Wow, you life actually copied my entire day like I do. I say, well, that's fine, because Hunter Killer is so, so, so much fun. And they have their new Blair Witch game, which is so cool. It's like they combined an awesome game with my favorite horror movie. Yeah. And just made an even better version of a game.

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Our poor partners have to play along with us, but I think actually Bleys had a lot of fun with it, so.

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Oh, Alison took the reins. I all of a sudden was not the leader of the pack. She was like, I'm on it. Don't worry, I'm I'm a detective now.

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So each season is made up of six boxes or episodes and each box is full of realistic evidence, maps, police reports and more to provide a horrifying and immersive experience. It's sort of like a horror movie in a box. And you're the main character, unless it's Alice and the Nelsons, the main character, and maybe also the villain by the end of it, I'm not sure.

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So the synopsis for the Blair Witch game is that Rosemary Kent, a woman who lives on the edge of the infamous Black Hills forest, needs you to help find her missing son and to reunite the family. You must investigate the mysterious force yourself. And will you face down the horror of the Blair Witch and those who serve her, or will you maybe not make it? Dun dun dun Moossa to say the world will find out with each delivery.

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You'll piece together the history of the Blair Witch by sifting through cryptic documents, discovering audio recordings and solving disturbing puzzles. I mean, it's like my true crime dream also mixed in. I forgot to add it feels like a combination of all our favorite things at once. It's like a turf.

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I was going to say it's like it's like an inn at home and at home escape room of sorts, because you get to it's not just all of the stuff that comes in the box, but you also have to email, have to text certain email addresses and get information and you get audio messages from the characters themselves that lead to more. Oh my. It's really cool. You guys so fun. I don't like games and this is great.

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I know that's a good point. That's a good testament. And if you think you can handle it, this Blackridge game is designed so you can play by yourself too, especially.

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It's also social distancing, appropriate making the creepiest thing you can do when you're home alone.

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Besides, listen to our podcast right now, just for our listeners, you can go to Hunter Killer dot com slash drink and use promo code, drink at checkout for twenty percent off your first box.

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Head to Hunter Killer dotcom slash drink for twenty percent off and to show support for our podcast Hunter Killer Dotcom Slash Drink.

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If there's something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals, trust me, we know the feeling better. Help will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist like it has done for us in the past.

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It has. You can start communicating in under 48 hours. It is not a crisis line. It's not self-help. It is professional counseling done securely online. I can tell you it's still twenty twenty. So every single person needs help right now. Every person needs to talk to somebody and it, thank God better help has been around, especially it is socially distant. You know, I don't feel bad about going into an office to talk to somebody. I can do it literally from my bed in my pajamas and cry if I want it.

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It's like the ideal version of of counseling or therapy that you just didn't even realize was possible. Now, thanks to better help. So basically what you can do is you can log in to your better help account any time you could send a message to your counselor and you'll get timely and thoughtful responses. Plus you can schedule weekly video or phone sessions again. You got to sit in any uncomfortable waiting rooms you can be in your PJs like it is the ideal scenario.

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Better help once you to start living a happier life. Today, you can visit their website and read their testimonials that are posted daily and you can visit better health outcomes, less drink. That's better h e l p and join the over one million people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. In fact, so many people have been using better help that they are recruiting additional counselors in all 50 states.

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So special offer for. And that's why we drink listeners. You get ten percent off your first month at better help dotcom slash drink.

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I have a story here from let's see Dugit do ba ba ba ba ba ba preferred name and PR.. Says she slash they slash grandpa. Wait a minute. That's fun. OK, that's.

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I don't know how to use grandpa's pronoun but I appreciate. Oh we'll figure it out but don't you worry.

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OK, so the subject is chatting with my dead grandma on Salwan. Now I need to be clear here that I said it wrong last time and I said it wrong because I asked somebody specifically how to say it and they said, oh, it's pronounced Samhain. And I went, OK. And I just believed them without looking it up.

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Normally I would have looked it up.

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It sound. Yeah. You didn't correct me when when I said it last time we got a million emails being like Kirstine pronounced it wrong.

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Huh.

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I don't feel I feel like maybe I just missed you saying it all.

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And in any case, did you not. You're just even. Oh, my gosh, I swear to God, we were sitting there trying to find a pronunciation guide online and you were sitting there with the knowledge this whole time I was eating pretzels.

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I have no idea what you're talking about. My God, you're not listening. Well.

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English is not my first language, and I don't think this is even necessarily English, so whatever. So Sarwan OK. Hello, Eva and Lemon.

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Well, all right, y'all ask for full moon stories, but this is more of a Salwan Salvinia Sarwan slash grandma story.

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The full moon blue moon was on SNL such Halloween.

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That's what I'm saying. I'm so mad because I specifically asked somebody and they were like so confident that I was like, oh, OK. It definitely looks like Samhain. Like that's why I said it like that. I was like, that's so weird.

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It was pronounced that way, but oh God, I'm so mad at myself for not everybody makes mistakes.

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Everybody has those days.

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OK, says I'm eating pretzels and not listening. OK, so don't you dare eat a pretzel right now. We're going to get even more emails, OK? Ba ba ba ba ba ba, as you may know, Sarwan is big on communicating with your ancestors, so I had an altar set up for my grandma all October. My grandma, Annie, was the light in my family and when we lost her, it was a very devastating time for all of us.

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My Aunt Nancy, the only other person in the family that shares the same beliefs as me, has been doing a lot to communicate with my grandma and has gotten so much out of it. My grandma visited my aunt in a dream and was so excited to tell her that she finally understands her and gets it. I love that I didn't know if I should do anything to try and communicate with her. But long story short, I kept getting intuitive hints that I should.

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So I did. I've been practicing for a few years, but haven't ever tried a science of any sort. I figured my intuition was telling me she was trying to talk to me.

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So I got my circle set up my. Now here we go, Selenia wand in hand and protection jar's around me. I had four questions written out, but there was only one I was the most concerned with. Are you pain free and are you happy?

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Oh, I know the three other questions. I got some confusing and unclear messages, but hey, it's my first time, so I expect as much. When I asked if she was pain free, my Pendle pendulum shot to yes. When I asked if she was happy, the pendulum kept going in circles and didn't stop. I remember my grandma always said, when I die, I'll be dancing in heaven. So I asked, Are you dancing, grandma?

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And the circling stopped, then shot to yes.

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Oh my God, that's precious.

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I immediately started crying uncontrollably. I know wherever she is, she's dancing and I couldn't have asked for a better answer. I thanked her for talking to me, close my circle and reflected for the rest of the night on everything. My heart was so full. I'm sorry this is long, but having my first chance at getting something like that was such a changing moment for me. I can't wait to be dancing with her someday.

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Oh, I love this. Love you both. Regardless if y'all read this or not. Christine, I swear we shared the same childhood. Well, I'm sorry about that.

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For you and me, you would have totally been on my top eight.

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Oh, nobody's top eight. So that's a compliment. Thank you. Am I love when you talk about your Turits. It's something I have and have always tried to hide from my friends and everyone because I was so embarrassed just a few times you've opened up about it has made me more confident to talk about it myself. Keep up the good work. Y'all are the best.

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Oh yeah. Yeah. Wow. Thank you. Let's take a attention disorders onto that long list of my maladies.

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Just malady left and right. So anyway, I'm glad someone gets a kick out of I trust someone. I do. So I first of all, I liked how wholesome that story was.

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I love I love that when it was spinning they realized like, oh, it's her dancing. It's something that's beautiful. Yeah.

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We usually do a lot of fucked up stories. It's something that's very nice when we get wholesome ones. It is. I love it.

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This one is called Full Moon Light Mistress, which is what I also called Christine. So this is.

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I am, yes. Are you calling me? OK, I'm here. This is from Shana who goes by she her thank you for normalizing pronouns. So Shana says, Hey, Eva and Christine go. Jouni Mooney. Yes. Shout out first movie Shout during the Moon episode.

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Oh, wow. I even think of that. Yeah. Where's your where's your moon cat four. That's weird.

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OK, I don't even think of it. Array of petrified fruits and creepy dolls.

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The list keeps growing. It sure does at first. A thank you, my son. I came across your podcast during a road trip a couple of years ago. You've since become a part. You have since become a part of our weekly routine. Thank you for the laughs, the stories and the thoughtfulness used to address sensitive topics. You are welcome. So back to the subject at hand. Let's get crackin. I think maybe let's crack into it.

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That's OK. Friend of mine lived next to Clear Creek in Golden, Colorado.

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Oh, that's where my step dad used to live. Oh, really sounds lovely.

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He worked at a ski shop. I feel like everyone in Colorado works at a ski.

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Yes, I believe that's true. It's like a rite of passage. Yeah. We spent many of our summer days floating down the creek and nights enjoying bonfires. One night in twenty twelve, we were enjoying a fire by the creek and around 1:00 a.m. we decided to take the four man raft for a full moon float. That is so fun sounding. That sounds amazing. That sounds a reckless and I'm into it.

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But it also sounds really fun, like spontaneity wise and also Superfly and creepy a little bit with the full moon here. Love it.

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Oh, I like him a lot. It was late in the summer and the water was running low. We kept getting stuck on rocks in shallow areas. We, meaning my friend, would jump out of the raft and push us into the current about a mile down stream. From our starting point, we started drifting toward another shallow, rocky area. It was almost 2:00 a.m. by this point and no one else was around. All of a sudden, a luminous woman is where you and Christine, a luminous woman wearing a flowing white dress, was standing in the middle of the creek and she asked for a white cloth and it was me.

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But not grapefruit, please.

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Bobrick sorry, she stood on the water in the middle of the creek. She had blonde hair and red lips and as our raft drifted toward her, she smiled, said hello, ask for a white claw and pushed us down the creek. Now, my friends and I said thank you and continue to watch. As we floated away, the woman turned toward the creek bank, moved toward it and vanished. What?

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That's pretty terrifying. The bank to exit the creek is a hill. A person would have to climb up the hill, but she just disappeared. There were four people in the raft and we all saw the same thing. OK, so she really did not climb that hill well.

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And I love that. Like, she she was physical, like she helped move the raft.

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So it's not even just like she was like, helpful. Helpful. Wow. That's pretty nice. That's the kind of like guardian angel I want where I'm like I'm inconvenienced. Help me.

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Can you push my frappuccino a little closer? You tell me where the nearest Bikel is. The next day we were relaying this encounter to a mutual friend and she said, I wonder if that was Amy. I did not know who she was talking about and thought it was some sort of old Golden Ghost story passed on through the years. So I gave it a Google and found a picture of Amy a Hoan Alwin. I don't know how Alwin and holy fuck Batman, the picture of the luminous woman on the creek popped right up on my screen.

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Oh, goose cam. Turns out Amy had gone missing in 2011. Her jeep was found on the side of the road and it's believed that she went for a hike, had an accident or was murdered by Travis Forbes'. Dateline just did a story about him. Funny God. And there is still no answer to my knowledge. Maybe this is a future Christian story. Yeah, seriously. In 2014, some bones were found in the creek a few miles from where we were when we saw the luminous moonlight mistress' and DNA results matched.

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Amy? Oh, no.

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There was a Facebook page set up during the search for Amy, and I wish I could have reached out to her family and told them the story. They may have thought I was crazy, but they may have found some answers sooner. And that's why I drink. Stay safe and well. Cheers. Clink clink Wolf.

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Wow, that is goose cam or the.

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Also, if I were to die and someone had like a paranormal experience with me, I would want everybody to know.

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I mean, maybe that's just the Gemini on me, but you and I would appear to like like a symphony orchestra.

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We just stand on top of the trumpet or something, like we wouldn't be here with, like, all of the stage lights on me only and the rest of the place is blacked out.

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But that's so scary that so she saw the apparition on the river before they even knew the body had been in the river. I mean, that's freaky stuff.

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That's super bananas. I don't know. I well, the name was Amy, a Hoenn or something, so you can probably look her up later. I know if Dateline just did a story, too. That's that's interesting. Wow.

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H o n n o n h o and e and Hohnen.

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I don't know.

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OK, so this is a story from Shelby. He is. She is pronouns. Thank you. This is called Full Moon. Adjacent Story, a ghost named Rose, which is not my favorite names, by the way.

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Fun fact. That's just Christine facts.

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OK, flower names. I do like flower names. Yeah. Season's greetings, friends.

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I have a story that loosely involves a full moon that I hope you enjoy. I was born and raised in Iowa and most of my family lives in Iowa to around 2002 when I was ten years old.

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Shout out to my fellow 1992 babies.

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That's that's fantasy Amethi. Right? There must be my family and I were visiting my great grandpa's in a really small town in Iowa where much of my family lives. And I mean, small population is around seven hundred people. My great grandpa lived right next to a park where my sister, cousins and I would frequent when we visited him.

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Our favorite game to play was hide and seek, although no one ever really enjoyed being the seeker lol.

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Well, ain't that the truth? Who does? One night all the kids headed to the park while our parents stayed back at Great Grandpa's house. It says, I'm just going to say that it's a lot just syllables at this house.

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OK, I feel like now I have like sympathy dry mouth. I'm sorry.

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We are all about the same age and ten years old and there are five of us at the park. We decide to play hide and seek. And after a few rounds, it was my turn to be the seeker. I remember this night being quite bright out because of the full full moon sea full moon adjacent.

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It says, I say. But the park was down in the bottom of a hill, so it was still fairly dark.

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I shouted, Ready or not, here I come and headed out to find my peeps. You remember those structures at parks that were a connecting tube with the small holes all around them?

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Oh my God. I got my finger stuck in those many times.

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Like small enough where you could look through but not really see much else.

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Yes, I totally remember. They usually were up off the ground and kids could run or crawl through them and look out through the holes.

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I hope you know what I'm talking about. Yes, for sure.

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There was one of those tubes at this park. I noticed a couple small hands gripping the tube through. And I'm here again. I'm stuck in the thing again. It's Christine stuck in the playground for a while. I should have been on your tiny little hands or your tiny little hands are there going, Hello, where's my white claw?

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I lost it on this program. I could totally imagine five year old you being like, I'm looking for a white cloth. Where can I, you know, a guy. What's going on in this playground? Oh, my God.

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My fingers are stuck in this fucking tube. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry.

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OK, but OK. I see. This is very creepy. I notice a couple of small hands gripping the tube through one of the holes.

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So I knew I had found someone. I headed that way and saw what appeared to be white clothing through the holes but couldn't see it anyone's face. I ran up the stairs on the play gym and headed toward the tube. And no one was there? No.

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All I could see were some rose petals laying in the tube. Goodbye. Oh, my God. Now, I would have probably said what the actual fuck.

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But I was ten, so I shrugged and just ran off to find the hiders.

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The night came to a close and we headed back to. The next morning, we headed down to the park again for a last bit of fun. I was walking around when I saw a small dedication plaque to the side of the park. I walked up to check it out when I saw that the plaque read. This park is dedicated in loving memory to Rose.

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And it clicked. I am sure I saw Rose that night before in the playground. I also realized none of my cousins or sister was wearing white the night before, so it couldn't have been them. There were no roses around this park or flowers, really, just a bunch of grass and asphalt. So it didn't make sense that the rose petals were there until I saw the plaque. I think Rose was just trying to play hide and seek with us that night, which had a full moon.

[00:27:10]

Oh, it was so surreal because I could vividly see the ghost, little hands gripping the tube through the holes as well as the white clothing through the tube. Hopefully the story still counts. And even if it doesn't, I hope you enjoyed my early run in with a ghost yours and quarantine Shelby.

[00:27:25]

That stuff like a ghost story.

[00:27:27]

That is just the fact that you saw two little hands peeking out fingers. Yeah, yeah. I don't know why fingers makes it so much more uncomfortable for me.

[00:27:37]

It's just creepy. But the rose petals to like leave a calling card is really sweet. It's also really sweet. I like this spirit. Felt safe to like. Yes. Hang out with you. And it's nice that if you are going to be a kid ghost, you, like have a playground to hang out on.

[00:27:54]

I think that's really cool that like somebody dedicated the park playground to her and then it really worked, like in the afterlife. She was still enjoying the park that was named after her. I just think that's really cool.

[00:28:06]

And we had we had a park or no, it wasn't a park. We had a library named after one of the kids at my school. That's worse.

[00:28:12]

I was going to say if it were a park, at least you'd have, like, find a slide as the nonreaders like if the library after me, I'd be like, oh, my God, no, thank you. I was like a really haunted library.

[00:28:26]

That's one way to send em to the afterlife very quickly. That's the way to keep me in purgatory for sure.

[00:28:31]

Yeah, I'm not leaving, but yeah.

[00:28:34]

No that was great. Yeah that was. Thank you, Shelby. So you know how I told you that and Barak helped me figure out, like Gio's makeup as far as like how much people he was, how much dock's and I've actually thought about this away from you and my own karma.

[00:28:49]

I can't believe that there's a service out there that actually, like, basically found Gio's entire family tree. It's local.

[00:28:55]

And you can see, like, he has like a like a second cousin or something. And so I'm going to find his whole family tree.

[00:29:01]

I'm very excited about it and very gung ho about it. And Barch is super fun. I highly recommend it. If you know someone who has a dog who loves their dog, which hopefully everybody does, this is a great dog lover gift, honestly.

[00:29:15]

So basically from breed traits to genetic risk factors for health conditions and bark provides the resources to help you and your that best tailor care to your dog specific needs.

[00:29:23]

So even if it's not just finding out like how much you know of each breed as in your dog, it also helps you find out if there are any health concerns to keep an eye out, even if your dog is youthful. That's wonderful. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, over 50 percent of dogs are either at risk or a carrier of a genetic disease, whether they are a purebred or mixed. And embark can give you a leg up when it comes to knowing their health history.

[00:29:46]

It's really a cool a cool service. I highly recommend it. You can even trace your dog's ancestry back to their great grandparents, which like I did, I have a family tree. It's I'm going to send it to you later. It's amazing.

[00:29:57]

Plus, every dog that gets tested helps contribute to their research into discovering and treating new genetic diseases in dogs to extend their lives.

[00:30:04]

So it's just all just so heartwarming right now. Embark has an exclusive offer on their breed and health care for our listeners this holiday season. Go to embark vet dotcom now to get the best deal of the year and free shipping use promo code drink to save sixty four dollars on your embark, breed and health kit.

[00:30:20]

Visit, embark vet dotcom and use promo code drink to save sixty four dollars today.

[00:30:26]

And gave me a beautiful gift, and it was a gift of Zen on the beautiful, most beautiful lady alien of all time on a mug from Vistaprint.

[00:30:35]

And then I kept a mug, frankly, just like took it and kept it. Which to be fair, I don't blame you because it's like the perfect specimen. It's it's it's I cannot believe this. Just let you do this. Make this because I can't eat.

[00:30:49]

It should have not been as easy as it was. They they really underestimated what I was going to be doing with this print. But yeah. So I made this really wonderful mug. It was super easy. It was like I tried to drag the picture in. I got to size it however I wanted got to pick what color went inside the mug or on the handle. It looks like you made it in your prop house. But like actually it was Vistaprint like it looks like top notch.

[00:31:11]

It should be in movies in on herself. Six movies actually. But I beg to differ.

[00:31:15]

Vistaprint specializes in unresectable gifts, gifts so unique and personal you wouldn't dream of passing them on one off gifts like cousine mugs, canvas prints, photo books, wall calendars. They're the kind of thoughtful gifts you really can't wait to give because they sparked so much surprise, surprise indeed and joy at Vistaprint.

[00:31:30]

You can also create your own personalized holiday cards, adding your photos and messages and adding special finishing touches like embossed foil and scalloped edges. All those fancy phrases they didn't know was a thing until it ended up on Vistaprint page.

[00:31:42]

And I was like, wow, these are options embossed edges. So rather than giving an unoriginal gift this holiday, make it unpredictable, unless you're giving it back to yourself because you love it so much.

[00:31:52]

With a custom gift from Vistaprint, go to Vistaprint Dotcom's slash drink to get started on your unpredictable gift. The holidays are coming up, so don't miss your chance to get an unrepeatable gift. Get started today at Vistaprint dot com slash drink.

[00:32:07]

This is my last one. This one literally is titled Eva. This one is awesome.

[00:32:14]

Oh well it worked. Oh, OK. Well, congratulations. You you made it. So this is Abby who goes by. She her thank you for normalizing pronouns and Abby says so I live in East Tennessee. I was born and raised here and so were my parents. Both of my parents have a lot of crazy stories about growing up in this region. And this one was my favorite. But my dad was in his twenties before meeting my mom.

[00:32:38]

He lived in a tiny town on the Cumberland Plateau, which leads to the Appalachian Mountains. He made his rounds and what little of a bar scene existed there during the late 80s and met some interesting people during this time. One of these people was a man who fancied himself some sort of mountain wizard. Wait a minute. I just showed up in the story. Sorry, a mountain wizard. Is that what you said? That is me. Yes.

[00:32:59]

Oh, goodness me.

[00:33:01]

You're going over the stories. Yes. Oh, I'm the main character.

[00:33:05]

It's me again. Hello, it's me again. The rain has healing energy. OK, I'm a mountain wizard. You have a mountain wizard. My OK, so I met a man who fancy himself some sort of mountain wizard. My dad was talking to him one night and mentioned that he had a wart on his arm that he couldn't get rid of. He was saying that no matter how many times he'd got it frozen off, he used cream, medication, etc.

[00:33:30]

, it kept coming back in the same place. This mountain wizard man told him to come to his house the next full moon and he would take care of it. OK, what a vague invitation of like, yes, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week. But, you know, when the moon's looking right, you can stop over. I also was like, come to my house. I'm not going to give you the address. You'll find me.

[00:33:51]

I'm stuck on the mountain. I'm not going to give you any information on how you could just solve this on your own, right? Sure. Sure, sure. The mountain wizard told me to come to his house. So my dad thought this was bullshit, yet intriguing and considered that there was nothing else to do around this area. He went to this guy's house the night of the next full moon. Apparently when he got there, the guy took him up to a clearing on a peak in the woods under the full moon, held the point of a special knife on my dad's wort for a few seconds and then told him it would be gone in a couple of weeks.

[00:34:24]

Brave of you to have stuck your arm out while someone's holding a knife fight in the woods. He's a wizard and in the dark under a full moon. OK, it's all about your dad. Must have been real fucking bored.

[00:34:36]

Let's just say that, yes. The driven to this point, much to my dad's surprise, it was gone a couple of weeks and has never come back since. He said he asked the guy what he did and what was special about the knife multiple times afterward, but he would never give up his secrets.

[00:34:52]

Oh, it was love. I love the whole time. It was love the whole time. What if it was just like work freeze on the edge of the knife? And he was like, I'm just taking his chance.

[00:35:01]

Just like like some illegal like it's just like like a walk off and like some other country. And he's like had like a little stash of it.

[00:35:09]

I prefer that it was just from Walgreens. It's just like actually you're right.

[00:35:14]

I'm just pretending like it's something really wild and mystical, but it's just like a burrito or whatever.

[00:35:20]

How do you know so many work medication?

[00:35:22]

Because I have I have a lot of cold sore issues, not where do you see me struggle to come up with wore off as if like it was a real fight.

[00:35:31]

If you imagine if I was like, I can't get rid of my cold sores and someone, we're like, here, let me hold this knife up for you.

[00:35:39]

I have pinkeye. I know just the thing. Oh my God, I oh no. My dad doesn't believe in the occult or the paranormal, but to this day isn't necessarily convinced that this was all a coincidence. I love the I love the idea that this guy had some sort of powers that got rid of my dad's stubborn wart and stubborn attitude.

[00:35:57]

Might I say if he's a true almost all things for all.

[00:36:01]

You do love ya'll, Abby. Wow. I love that story. That's great. That was fun. That's so wild.

[00:36:09]

A lot of that was a lot of sentences that could have ended very differently. And when a true crime story.

[00:36:15]

Yeah, it was only like a couple of words off of a true crime. Usually we know pretty early which direction the story is headed.

[00:36:21]

This one I think we were I was on the phone with Tania. OK, so this is the last story. And this we've had to Abbi's this is from Megan.

[00:36:32]

Oh, OK. Well, of course she'd want to include herself on the last of the finale. Yeah. So this is a subject it says Ghost of Christmas past, but really so now we have a holiday story to send you on your way.

[00:36:45]

Also, this is the last listener episode in twenty twenty. So thank the Lord.

[00:36:49]

And of course, we're sending it off well with Megan's words.

[00:36:52]

Great. Maybe that's the secret.

[00:36:54]

Maybe it's just like maybe we just needed to give Megan five fucking minutes and twenty twenty wouldn't have happened. All right. This is your fucking moment. Here you go. Redemption time. Megan. Also, Megan doesn't even like mention that their name is Megan.

[00:37:06]

So maybe you're a new person and you don't know if they do at the end.

[00:37:09]

She does at the end. All right. Thank you, Megan.

[00:37:12]

You did specify pronouns. She her. I appreciate that. Says, Hey, I'm Christine, Eva, Geode, Juniper and Moonshine. Oh, I figured with Christmas right around the corner, I'd give you a creepy kind of Christmas story which contains Santa's Jingle Bells and cats.

[00:37:26]

Wow.

[00:37:27]

How are you going to string those things together into one story? So let's find out this. So let's crack into it. I grew up in a small town on Long Island, New York, where many of my cousins lived as well.

[00:37:37]

Growing up, my grandma lived with us and she was super close with her sister, who also lived in town, leading some of the children to stay in town and even raise their children. Well, this story in particular is about my mom's first cousin, my great aunt's son, who had resided in the town as well.

[00:37:53]

He lived a full life and was very jolly and loved to make people laugh. So it made sense that in his fifties, he pursued a new career as a mall Santa.

[00:38:01]

I love that for him. I do love that for him. Kind of cool, right?

[00:38:06]

Yes, indeedy. Needless to say, he looked and acted the part a few years into his new career path. He was traveling home for Thanksgiving from Texas, which was only supposed to be for a twenty four hour visit before heading back out. He came in late Wednesday evening, greeted his family and drifted off to sleep. My cousins and his wife woke up to him unresponsive the following morning. Apparently, he had passed away in his sleep from a heart attack, sadly, on Thanksgiving Day.

[00:38:30]

Oh, no. Oh, my goodness, that's horrible.

[00:38:34]

Fast forward a few years later, and I'm a senior in high school. My cousins had gone away for a trip and had to leave their cat Tess home alone, being only a mile away. They asked if I could come take care of the cat, to which I obliged right away.

[00:38:46]

Well, I usually went to check on the cat a few times a day because being in that house at night gave me the chills. So I tried to avoid it as much as possible until one day.

[00:38:55]

The main reason why it gave me the chills was because I felt like when I leave the room, items were misplaced in a sort of funny way, like the cat, the cat was just carrying shit around.

[00:39:07]

Boy, usually it was their entryway closet door which had opened, which was weird because my cousins always left Jingle Bells on that door for some reason.

[00:39:15]

Hmm. Oh, my mom always left Jingle Bells on a door though, but it was just like she wanted like a bell. So like you would always hear the door open and jingle bells. So they just. Happened to be Christmas decorations that she found another purpose. I was like, is this another Sarwan like tradition? No, no, my mom was just lazy and was like, well, now it serves another purpose. So, yeah, no, I did that on purpose.

[00:39:37]

I forgot to put it away because one day I had to work during the day.

[00:39:41]

So after my ship shift picking up my best friend along the way, I went to check on the cat to make sure she was all set. Their house was a ranch style home, which was very small, but open had a huge window in the front of the house where the blinds were left open for the cat. I love that if you looked into the window, you'd be able to see the living room and hallway which led to the bathroom and some of the bedrooms.

[00:40:00]

So I left my friend in the car and made my way into the house to take care of the cat.

[00:40:04]

I use the spare from their garage to make I use a spare from their garage to make my way to the side door. Spare key, maybe to next to the kitchen. All the lights were off, so I began turning some on so I could clean the litter box, fill Tessa's food bowl and water. I remember leaving the keys in the door and shutting it behind me since my friend was right outside.

[00:40:25]

Well, I started doing everything I had to do. When I heard a faint bang in the kitchen, I figured it was a cat, so I didn't make anything of it. After I finished up, I went to go leave and noticed. Oh my God. Sorry, Jouni Juniper, like, literally just appeared in front of me scared.

[00:40:38]

So, hey, guess what, my heart stopped because I watched you flinch and I was like, what can I not see in your room?

[00:40:45]

I got a new office chair that like he just put his head up on the other side of it and looked like a little puppet. Just came on to stage. Yes. Just like Netflix blackout. It's nighttime here now. Oh, my God. That scared me. I'm so sorry. OK, who?

[00:40:59]

OK, I figured it was a cat. I would have figured the same after I finished.

[00:41:04]

I went to go leave and I noticed the keys weren't in the door. So I started frantically looking for the keys so I could leave again. I didn't want to be in the house longer than I needed to be.

[00:41:13]

Right after searching, I went back to the kitchen and there were the keys on the counter.

[00:41:17]

Well, that is weird. Now I know what you may be thinking. This may be a burglar.

[00:41:21]

That is what I was thinking. I would think that to be someone's messing with you. Someone's in the house.

[00:41:25]

Yeah, but if anyone were to enter the house, you'd be able to see it from the street. And my friend was sitting outside in my car. That's true. I have wizardly looked around after that to make sure no one had come in and no one had.

[00:41:37]

So I turned all the lights off and left the night lights on. I quickly locked the door after saying bye to the cat piece. So, yeah, good luck with that, by the way, and made my way to the car.

[00:41:49]

As I was walking to my car, my friend looked up and noticed that a light had gone on without with what would have been the bathroom.

[00:41:55]

I would have called the police immediately. Goodbye. Yeah, something's happening in this house.

[00:42:01]

Once I got to my car, my friend said, hey, a light just went on in the house while you were coming out. Is there a timer? My face turned white. There hadn't been a timer. I looked back up at the window and as I looked, the light went back off.

[00:42:12]

Oh, my God. Oh, it's like he was playing with you like it wanted you both time to see. Yeah.

[00:42:18]

I began telling my friend what happened in the house and that I felt as if the cousin who played Santa was playing a trick on me.

[00:42:24]

How are we? Nice and not terrifying. I like to think of it. A Jolly Ghost.

[00:42:30]

I like that.

[00:42:30]

Right before we drove off, the light turned on in the bathroom again and we heard a distant jingle.

[00:42:37]

Oh, my goodness. Oh my God. I got so freaked out that I sped away.

[00:42:41]

I knew it was my mom's cousin trying to mess with me as I didn't feel any bad energy. I just felt like I wasn't alone in the house.

[00:42:46]

Still freaky. I went to check on the cat the next day and she was happy as could be. I have a funny feeling it was because of the spirit from the night before. The days after that incident, whenever I entered the house, I felt a calm president, president, calm presence and could almost feel like my mom's cousin was there with me. But there were never any more pranks. It's been about seven years since that night and I still get freaked out at the fact that it was inevitably a ghost.

[00:43:11]

But find comfort in the fact that Santa, my mom's cousin, is always watching over.

[00:43:15]

It makes a song about Santa a tad less creepy if he sees you when you're sleeping and when you're away when it's just a family member. Parentheses, maybe.

[00:43:24]

Right. Fingers crossed. Anyway, thank you so much for reading this.

[00:43:28]

I know it is a long one and may not have made much sense. Well, I mean, not through your fault, but just because Santa is a ghost now, it made sense, except now there's a ghost.

[00:43:38]

Santa also died on Turkey Day, though, so that's interesting to who had what. He died on Thanksgiving too.

[00:43:44]

So it's like, oh, that's true. He didn't even make it to Christmas. A little holiday crossover there. Yeah, I hope you all have.

[00:43:50]

Happy holidays, much love and good vibes during these hard times. Megan parentheses. I spell it without the H, if that's any consolation.

[00:43:56]

It is. That's better. Yeah. Yeah that's fine. I yes.

[00:44:01]

OK, thank you for the Santa send off. I love it's a Santa sendoff. That's fun. I like that. You know that. I think and also having like a fever dream and this isn't real. I'm pretty sure like if you're a like a mall Santa you have to go through like Santa Academy, like real hardcore training because you're working with, like, little kids and all that.

[00:44:20]

And, oh, I didn't I know there's a Santa con, but I don't know about. Wait a minute, we're teaching each other things. What the fuck? Santa Claus. Oh, it's like we're all of the Santas gather whole convention.

[00:44:32]

It's like a real thing. Unless I'm also having a fever dream, which is entirely possible.

[00:44:36]

Let's be both of those things possible if they don't exist. Wait a minute. Hang on. I'm going to go see God.

[00:44:40]

Listen, if Santa can be a ghost slash poltergeist, then Santa can do whatever he wants a convention because it's spooky.

[00:44:46]

It's also a little Halloween. This is kind of like all three year holidays combined. This is true.

[00:44:52]

I like it. The thing about the kids moving themselves are freaky to me, just saying.

[00:44:57]

Well, because it's it's just it felt so intentional. Yes. And and she heard the the the bang in the kitchen.

[00:45:04]

Yeah. She's freaky. Oh well there's one good Megan out there at least thank God. Yes. We'll take it. Say goodbye to twenty twenty on Megan's so weird heels.

[00:45:17]

I don't know the phrase. I don't know English very well. It's fine.

[00:45:21]

Let's just close the book. Closed the calendar. No way.

[00:45:25]

I just realized there is another one for twenty twenty because God there's a lot this year and this event was probably having a heart attack like Christina.

[00:45:37]

You are going to get so many tweets about this. I'm sorry. We actually I'm surprised. I think we're we might do one more. I'll do it again.

[00:45:44]

Everybody makes mistakes. I guarantee it's just me over and over again. Hey, I thought about you, actually. Did you know that? That's so sad.

[00:45:53]

Well, Meghan, you tried and we're apparently not leaving on your story.

[00:45:56]

So sorry, but close. It's fine. It's fine. That's what you say anyway. Happy loser story. Happy December. I hope whatever is going on when this comes out, I hope there's like I'm sure it's interesting as well. Anyway, hopefully everyone's doing all right and hopefully everyone feels safe and is safe and is healthy.

[00:46:17]

So, yes, if you want to submit a story to us, he can go to and that's why I drink dotcom. You can also message or email at Gmail dot com to submit a story for six bonus patron listener stories.

[00:46:29]

And that's about all. But we'll sort through them and find us some good ones for next time.

[00:46:35]

Yes. And that's why we drink.

[00:46:40]

I don't know why we do that.