They're Here!!!

Two millennials discuss their love for the creepy and spooky, as well as true crime. They talk about poltergeists and share a recipe for a pomegranate martini called the poltergeistini. They discuss the characteristics of poltergeist hauntings, which involve violence and aggression. They mention that these hauntings usually occur around individuals in puberty. They share a story about the Indianapolis Poltergeist, which involved a family experiencing strange occurrences in their home, such as objects moving on their own and physical injuries. Private investigations were conducted, documenting various phenomena associated with poltergeists. Hello, I'm Amy. And I'm Rachel. And we're just two millenials who share a passion for the creepy and the spooky, harbor a true love for true crime, and share our favorite spirits. So sit back and have a cocktail with two creepy ghouls. So, what is our topic today, Rachel? Everyone's favorite topic. Poltergeist. I feel like every episode you're always like, poltergeist, poltergeist, and we're not there yet, but okay. Love the energy. No nightmares or anything from poltergeist. But what drink goes with poltergism? Poltergeist? Oh, poltergism. Sounds a little dirty, but it's not a dirty martini. It's a pomegranate martini or a poltergeistini. I like the poltergeistini. The poltergeistini. And the ingredients for this cocktail of the week will require one and a half ounces of vodka, one ounce pomegranate juice, three to four ounces of lime juice, and I always go with the roses lime juice just because it's extra sweet, and a half ounce of orange liqueur, which I'm going to spell it and then I'm going to try to say it because I'm going to butcher how to say this. It's C-O-I-N-T-R-E-A-U. So, Cointreau. I think it's a orange liqueur, basically. And so that mixture will be like nice fruity, nice vodka, a little strong with the orange liqueur and the vodka. So, yeah, a poltergeistini, a.k.a. pomegranate-tini. That sounds lovely. It's delicious and it goes down oh so smooth and will not cause you any heartache or havoc, unlike a poltergeist. So, there we go. And, let's see, do you want to define what a poltergeist is? Yeah, it was kind of hard because most people talked about like, there's kind of a difference, I can't even remember what I go with, between like being possessed by someone or like objects being a poltergeist. So, this is what I got. This is the best like umbrella for everything. Okay, lay it on me. Typically, activity around poltergeist centers around individuals that are most around the age of puberty, which seems a little specific. They're usually focused on one individual rather than a family, although the events do, of course, affect the entire household. To begin with, poltergeist hauntings may seem similar to regular hauntings. And that's what I was trying to do, I was trying to do like poltergeist and it did a lot of hauntings more than like poltergeist, if that makes sense. So, poltergeist hauntings may seem similar to regular hauntings, but what sets them apart is the violent and aggressive nature of the haunt, which is terrifying. Real poltergeist activity tends to include violence against individuals in the house and poltergeists have been known to inflict scratches, bites, and even strangulation injuries on their victims. Levitation, electrical problems, and strange smells have also occurred. Yeah, I think this is just more of a physical haunting because, and I think it centers around teenagers or those in puberty, is because of so much angst. Ah, or they're susceptible to, like, influence or something like that. I think it could be a little mix of that, but just think of when you were a teenager, all the emotions you had, how out of control, one moment you're happy, one moment you're sad, like, I just feel like there's a lot of angst and a lot of trauma, if you will. And it makes you almost vulnerable to the attacks and it latches onto that and creates a lot of, like, it gives it a lot of energy and a lot of oomph. So, yeah, a little oomph. So, yeah, but these are more physical, so I think, and yeah, the smells, the electrical problems, levitation, and of course, you know, all the injuries, which, yikes. Like, no thank you. Why so angry? I know, why you angry? But, um, maybe I just need a hug. Or a ghost buster. Or a ghost buster. Or a nice exorcism, too. Yeah. Which, I did Google, like, some kind of ways that you can help, I think after we talk about our stories, then we can go on, you know, possible remedies to help with your poltergeist situation. Gotcha. Um, well, would you like me to do my story first, or do you want to do your story? Sure, you can do your story first. Alright. So, I never heard this before, so I thought it would be a fun one to do. So, it's called the Indianapolis Poltergeist, which, if you've ever been to Indianapolis, it's quite boring. Okay, that's harsh. Hey, I have friends from college who live there and still live there, and I've been there many a times. And my cousin lives there. Yeah, my cousin and my aunt live there. The only thing I have that's amazing is the Indianapolis 500, which I've been to many times. I don't know, like, certain areas are really fun to visit. Like, there's a little town my aunt lives in that's nice. Mm-hmm. But, yeah, I used to think it was, like, such a cool big city when I was a kid. It is big. Um, but anyways, I know, like, hate, but it's not my jam. So, um, an old north side stretch of Delaware Street in Indianapolis is an avenue of stately homes that retain their own history. Once a venue of single family residence separated from downtown Indianapolis, yet still a part of, they've compiled their own personal histories of families coming and going and lives lived. I love that opening. This was, I think, written from a newspaper for the Indianapolis Times. Okay. Um, over the years, though, these homes were converted into apartments. It would seem to be a sign of the times and not a pretty one. I know, we've all been there. Mm-hmm. Yet, currently, these very houses are in a reversal stage of conversion back to their original intent, single family residences. So, this is 1962. Let's go back a while. Mm-hmm. At 2910 North Delaware Street, however, it was one such family residence and one that surfaced quickly into the public's eye. On a Sunday, always a Sunday, I feel like. Mm-hmm. In March of 1962, a few minutes after 10 p.m., it started. A heavy German steer, sorry, a heavy German beer sign lifted from the kitchen sink, sailed through the air, and exploded upon the floor. Shortly after, the family heard a loud crash from upstairs. Upon investigation, they found that some of the family that was living there was a lady named Renata and her family. Found that some of Renata's mother's crystal glass, moving on its own accord, had met its destruction upon the floor. So, lots of shattering, breaking, all that good stuff. Mm-hmm. The family, rightfully so, fled to a nearby hotel, not returning until the next day. Renata, Renata, that's hard to pronounce. I hope it's right. It's R-E-N-A-T-E. I think it's Renata. Renata, I'll do that. Renata Vett, 32, a local restaurant operator, who was born in Vienna, moved into the then four-bedroom, two-bathroom home built in 1900 in the Mapleton Fall Creek area. The house is less than two blocks from the current Indianapolis Children's Museum, which is absolutely amazing. I have friends who got married there. That was kind of fun. That is a funny museum. Yeah. I do remember that as a kid. She was not alone, though. Her elderly, German, diabetic mother, Lina Gemicki, 61, and her daughter, Linda, 13, joined her. Renata was recently divorced, and this was a new beginning. It was a stable place to raise her daughter, care for her mother, and get on with her life. That was the plan anyway, but sometimes life is what happens while you're making other plans. One way to put it. Yeah. And they put it in italics, which I love. So Renata, Renata, Renata Vett moved her mother and daughter into the house on North Dolar Street in 1962. I'm sure she anticipated a few glitches along the way. There was always painting, plumbing or electrical issues to deal with. What she didn't anticipate was a poltergeist. How does one deal with that? How? You'll see what they did. Kind of. When the family returned from an overnight hotel stay around 1.30 p.m. the next day, they hoped the previous night's events were behind them. What's done is done, you know? I like the behind gesture. Yeah, I let throw it behind your back. They weren't. Shocking. Or else this would be a quite boring story. Again, crystal glass objects started exploding, and a cup of hot coffee shot through the air towards Renata's mother, narrowly missing her. Oh my gosh. On that second night, they notified the Indianapolis Police Department, their second call. Their first call was to a family friend, Emil Nacito, a respected Indianapolis businessman who operated the city's Sheffield Inn, so I guess that's hotel. He would be over the next day. Excuse me. Sergeant John Mullen arrived at the house. He surmised it was a result of pranks. His theory, a pellet gun or a hi-fi stereo, either in the home or area, emitting sound waves, shattered the glass. The Becks scratched their heads over that summation, and relatively soon, the newspaper's cut window of the house quickly became a sightseeing tour. Nightly events began to add up, often experienced by the police department, who now scratched their heads. So here's some things that happened. Wrapping from upstairs when the family was downstairs. One officer hearing a crash from upstairs and when investigated found a crystal swan lying shattered below a shelf in the daughter's window's bedroom. Phantom bites, punctures, and bruising appeared on all three of the women, but especially the youngest daughter. Renata's mother, Lena, claimed that she had been choked. And then Renata's purse, with $125 inside, which was a lot in 1962, disappeared. It's a lot today, too. It eventually reappeared, yeah, on March 25th at the feet of her elderly mother and with $80 missing. So, that's a weird one. Mm-hmm. Poor grandma. So, private investigations from Emil Macedo and his wife catalogued a variety of poltergeist phenomena, including feathers being ripped from pillows and heavy furniture moving of its own accord. They also reported sitting in the dark of the kitchen, sounds like a seance to me, when noises from the dining room brought them to discover silverware, knives arranged on the floor in the shape of a cross. At least that's the story. Sixteen days passed with continual activity. Then, somewhat of a breakthrough, so we'll see. Officers claimed, quote-unquote, to witness Renata's mother throwing objects. She was arrested and charged with making a false report. Maybe she had thrown some things, yet her daughter defends her actions, claiming she had been having a nervous attack due to her diabetes and all the strange things happening. On a footnote, there were a lot of occurrences, it would seem, for which the grandmother could not have been responsible. Mm-hmm. I just noted, but I think the officers were trying to come up with, like, a logical explanation. Yeah, yeah. Theories. Let's forget the theories. Okay. It could have been a result of human agents, grandmother Lena, our daughter Linda. Renata had recently divorced with stressful implications focused not only upon her daughter Linda, but also her mother. Culture guides, according to lore, tend to envelop emotionally disturbed individuals. Maybe there's our puberty thing going, too. Mm-hmm. Especially adolescent girls. Yep. The Delaware street house was not an example of a typical haunting in the traditional sense, but rather a repressed manifestation of psychokinetic energy exploding from someone unconsciously manipulating physical objects. And the Beck family is certainly not Ozzie and Harry, even before the strange stuff started. Friends and neighbors told investigators the family didn't get along well and that noisy, unpleasant fights could often be heard coming from the house. Grandmother Lena was offered a deal to drop all charges on the condition she returned to her homeland of Germany, and she accepted. Why? It's kind of bizarre. Like, just get out of here. Really, really gladly. Yeah. The activity in the house incited March 22nd, 1962, ending as suddenly as it started, so it didn't even last for a month. Mm-hmm. And that is, like, basically how the newspaper ends. It doesn't go on any more. Like, what happened to the mom or the daughter, or if they stayed there, or if they moved. What about the property? Nothing? Nothing. I got no update. But it's really hard. I don't know how hard. How hard was it for you to find, like, culture guide stories? Like, legit, like, ones that seemed at least to go into some kind of detail. It was really hard for me. Yeah, it was a little hard to find. So, yeah, I get that, but... But do you believe them? Yeah, I think so, too. I mean, I believe them. To a certain degree. I mean, I think there are definitely evil forces in this world, and you can't... Just saying, I mean, yeah, I do. I mean, there are restless spirits, and there are, you know, violence and things that feed off of negative energy. Oh, I absolutely believe in that. Oh, me, too. I'm so excited to hear yours, though. Okay. So, the one I did is, let's go across the lands to our beautiful Edinburgh, Scotland. I would love to visit there one day. It's beautiful. It's been many years since I've been, but very, very beautiful. So, mine is the Mackenzie Poltergeist of Greyfriars Kirkyard, and let's set the stage. It's a cold night in 1998 in Edinburgh, Scotland. A homeless man seeks shelter for the night and finds himself in Greyfriars Kirkyard, a graveyard. That's just a little FYI. He tries to... He's in all places, which I get he probably has limited access. He chooses a graveyard? Well, think about it. Nobody's going to bother you. I mean, it kind of makes sense in a way. Like, nobody's living there, or everybody's dead, but... Or so we think. Yeah, or so we think. So, he tries a mausoleum, but the doors lock. Oh, okay. So, it's like he can go inside somewhere. Yeah, like just for the night. He's not outside. Yeah. So, he has some type of shelter. So, he does the next best thing and finds a hole near the back of the mausoleum, and it's big enough for him to get inside and have some shelter for the night. It seems like a big hole. Yeah, I mean, it's big enough for a person to get through. So, he finds a staircase that takes him down to the crypt of the Mackenzie family. He's not wanting to walk away from potential valuables. He decides to look through the caskets, but before he can look, a hole opens in the floor, dropping him into a chamber filled with centuries-old bones. Ew! So, it just keeps going, like, going bad to worse. I was about to say, how's he going to get out? Because no one probably knows he's there. Well, terrified, he escapes the dark pit within the crypt and escapes into the night. Legend tells that he flees the mausoleum in the night, encountering a man walking his dog in his escape. But just imagine walking your dog, and you see this older gentleman running from a graveyard, screaming, yelling, and your dog is just trying to take a whiz. He would be barking at that person. Yeah, it would just be very alarming and weird. But it wasn't just the homeless man that left the mausoleum that night. According to stories, one of the most notorious poltergeists was woken that night, the Mackenzie poltergeist. George Mackenzie, also known as Bloody Mackenzie, was a judge and Lord Advocate in the 17th century. A judge. So, here's a little backstory. As we've known from whenever we go back in time and talk about history, we're going to talk about religious reforms. Am I right? That's right we are. So, King James VI had argued that the king was head of the church, almost like our Henry VIII. Yeah, very similar. The Church of Scotland argued that only God could be head of the church. This caused issues because James wanted a united church now that he ruled over England and Scotland. Fun fact, it still wasn't resolved by the time King Charles I came to the throne in 1624. So, religious reforms. They're a blast. We can blame the belief in the divine right of the kings for this. Since he ignored the wishes of the Scottish church, he introduced the common book of prayer in 1637 and outlawed other forms of worship. This led to riots and protests in Scotland. Anyone opposing the prayer book was seen as a traitor. His opponents decided to create a national covenant so that it was Scotland opposing Charles and not individuals. It was signed on February 28, 1638, and those who signed became known as the Covenanters. This all basically declared their pledge that Scotland was loyal to the king, but it would remain a Presbyterian country. The covenant was even sanctioned by the Scottish Parliament in 1640. Two years later, the First English Civil War began and the Covenanters supported the parliamentarians to dispose of Charles. Now that we did our backstory, let's talk Bloody Mackenzie. Mackenzie began his career defending Covenanters and even got the Marquis of Argyll acquitted from a charge of treason. But he only took on the defense cases to make his name. Once established, he switched sides where he defended the king and the Scottish church. This paid off for him since he became king's advocate of King Charles II in 1677 in Scotland. So basically, we're getting Mackenzie's a bit two-faced here. The Covenanters were now outlaws, which he persecuted. After the Battle of Bafflewell Bridge in 1679, Mackenzie imprisoned 1,200 in Greyfriars Kirkyard in an area known as Covenanters Prison. So at this time, this was an open area at the southern end of the Kirkyard. Enclosed by the town wall, they were left outdoors without food, water, or shelter and hundreds died. Guards mistreated them and their heads ended up on spikes along the gate. By the end of 1679, only 48 Covenanters remained. So you go from 1,200 to 48. When William of Orange came to the throne, he gave religious control to the Presbyterians, the very group Mackenzie persecuted. Mackenzie fled Scotland for England where he died in 1691. Call it irony, he was buried in Greyfriars, a stone's throw from the Covenanters Prison. Yeah, that's weird. Yeah. Why put him there? Maybe because he is Scottish, technically. Oh, I guess, yeah. But that is a good question. Mackenzie's Mausoleum now. A couple of centuries ago, John Hayes, a failed criminal, hid from the law in the Black Mausoleum. Spending six months there, he would sneak out to scavenge when possible. Eventually, the police caught him. He had gone mad, though. He insisted that the coffins in the mausoleum moved every night. He claimed he could hear Mackenzie scraping around inside his coffin. That's just terrifying. Buried alive, shivers. The homeless man from the start of our tale wasn't the only one. More recently, on June 30, 2003, two teens forced open the doors and desecrated an unidentified male corpse. I don't know what that means. I'm not sure how they desecrated him, but... Oh, I think it goes in specifics here. One of the teens cut off its head and used it like a puppet. Some reports say the teens drank wine from the skull. Ew. That's gross. That's just not right, children. Just not right. The teens were boys, aged 15 and 17, caused 10,000 pounds worth of damage. I believe a ghost tour guide caught them, but authorities tried the boys under the violation of Sepulcher law. That law that was put in place for grave robbing. Oh, Sepulcher. It was a law that was put in regarding grave robbing. That's all you need to know. And these two events put the mausoleum on the map. The doors are locked, but that doesn't mean McKenzie is locked up. Now here's about the poltergeist activity. Since 1999, at least 140 people have collapsed. 350 documented attacks. Within a week of the homeless man's encounter with the tomb, a woman felt herself blown back from the mausoleum by an icy blast of air. Visitors record both hot and cold spots and unexplained bruises, scratches, or pushed by an unseen presence. There's reports of hair being pulled or grabbed. One woman was even found unconscious nearby with bruises around her neck, as if she was strangled. Some people claim that an evil presence has followed them home. Spiritualist medium Colin Grant attempted to lay ghosts to rest in the Kirkyard in 2000. A few weeks later, he died of a heart attack. Many believe this to be due to the McKenzie poltergeist. Dead animals turn up near the mausoleum, with no clear cause of death, while figures can be seen and some claim to hear knocking noises from beneath the ground. Strange fires break out in the homes surrounding the Kirkyard. Strange sightings, figures flip between headstones, spectral white birds make an appearance. Now here are some theories. One theory is that McKenzie lay dormant until disturbed. Now awoken and done to please, he haunts the mausoleum and the surrounding area. In the 19th century, local children believed McKenzie was restless in his tomb. They would run up to the mausoleum at night and yell, Bloody McKenzie! Come out! If ye devour, lift this neck and draw the bar! So that was haunting children. A tour guide in the area thinks that McKenzie hangs around in the area due to his conscience. He may feel remorse for his actions toward the Covenanters. Another theory involves hysterical energy on the night in 1998, which is fled by visitors on the site. The continued hysteria feeds and keeps the manifestation going. Then there is the theory that pheromones released by those imprisoned in the Covenanters' prison have imprinted on the area. When visitors come, they reactivate and poltergeist activity is experienced. With the amount of reports, it's clear McKenzie is still lingering, but we may never know why. Yeah, even the hole, I'm sure they put like a cage over it to where you can't get in. But yeah, that is our tale of the McKenzie poltergeist. That's crazy. Isn't it? So I was just looking around like, I assumed that to get rid of a poltergeist, you would have to have like an exorcism. So, but um, they obviously advised don't use a Ouija board. Don't? Don't. Okay. Do not use a Ouija board. You can dodge attracting poltergeists in the first place by avoiding certain objects. Most spiritual experts don't recommend messing with Ouija boards, even just for fun. They're thought to invite spirits and once they're there, they might not want to leave. So don't use that. Consult the Bible. In the right hands, the power of the Bible can supposedly drive out bad spirits or demons, including poltergeists. There are two ways to try this method. First, you call a religious official, so priest, minister, you know, whoever your religious person may be. You must walk through the afflicted portions of the home, reading passages from the Bible meant to drive out evil. If you are very pious, this might have an immediate, a lasting effect. Okay. Oh, cleanse your home using sage. Sage? Yep. When in doubt, sage it out. Alrighty, you got it. So certain rituals may help drive out a poltergeist. On such ritual, cleansing, because smudging, it's used for cleansing the space with sage. Yeah. So that could help you with just lighting some sage, you know, doing your smudging ritual. It's seen as a purification practice, if you will, just cleansing the area of any bad juju, any negativity, any evil. Oh, this is something too. Have a local pastor bless or anoint your home. Okay. Which I think a lot of people who buy their first home, some of them like of the Catholic faith, you may have a priest come and bless your home. Okay. So, and that can help to kind of ward off any evil by sprinkling some holy water, anointing the windows, doors, rooms, using the sign of the cross. And this said to ward off devil, demons, and other evil spirits that may wish to enter and may drive out ones already there. Okay. Hang crosses in the house. So sometimes just the presence of holy items in your house may be enough to ward off a poltergeist or an evil entity. Alright. Don't speak about the spirit. Ignore it. Because if you think about it, if you're giving something the attention and you're giving them energy, you're giving them the things. Because that's what they're thriving off of. Energy. Yeah. You're giving them those emotions, the energy. So that's kind of what they're thriving off of. So you kind of just ignore it. And they said poltergeist infestations are usually very short-lived. Some manifestations last a few days or weeks but rarely go on for longer than a few months. So that's what they say here. That's been short-lived. Yeah. So it is short-lived is what they say. Yeah. That's what they say. But I mean, I think there could be different scenarios. Yeah. Exactly. I think depending on the haunting spirit, what we're looking at here, especially if in my case with Mackenzie, you're dealing with 1,200 people dying in an area. Religious unrest. Having a judge who is pretty two-faced who defended you and then kind of sold you out. I think there's probably a lot of anger, a lot of animosity, just a lot of bad negativity, energy in that space. So I think it's just kind of like settled there in a way. So then we have sprinkle salt around the room. This makes me think of Hocus Pocus. What a clever white witch. Various religions regard salt as a spiritually strong substance. And this can offer protection from evil. Like some people will do a line of salt around the windows. Salt is a thing, yeah. So salt is a thing. Or they'll do a circle of salt of protection. Again, I'm thinking Hocus Pocus here. I was thinking Hocus Pocus. And then we get the study of geomancy. So let's look into this. Geomancy is the paranormal study of Earth's energies. Some geomancers believe that poltergeist activity can actually be attributed to disruptions of the Earth's energies. Harmony in your home might be restored by rearranging your furniture or by attuning yourself to the natural world. So this makes me think feng shui. Because I know somebody at my work, and she's been reading up on feng shui and some ways to set the plants up in your home, furniture. And she goes, I feel like there's more of a positive energy flow. And she goes, it sounds silly, but I believe in it. There's probably truth in that. Getting rid of any cursed objects. How do we know they're cursed? Spirits don't always haunt houses. Sometimes a poltergeist is linked to a specific person or even a specific object, like a piece of jewelry or furniture. In this case, completely getting rid of the particular object is generally the best option. It may be difficult to tell what the item is being haunted. But if a specific room is always the source of noises and movement, that might be pointing you in the right direction. So in this, I think it's just kind of like being mindful of your surroundings. If you notice it's only in one room, then there's probably something in that room that's attracting it or that's causing all of that that maybe wasn't there before. Hold a seance. I don't know why they would say hold a seance, but not to use a Ouija board. Because to me, they're almost very similar. So a seance entails sitting down with someone who can contact the other side. So I guess this one, you're working with a medium. Talking to the spirit dwelling in your home, you may be able to speak directly to the poltergeist and tell it to leave. In some cases, the spirit may have demands or requests to fulfill before leaving. So maybe unfinished business. Decorate your home with evergreens. Many ancient religions uphold evergreen trees as symbols of rebirth and protection. The presence of greenery might help drive evil and bad spirits away. You can hang holly or pine branches in your doorway or plant a small tree in your yard. Seek counseling for your family. Poltergeists can target specific people. And like we said, usually younger people, like in puberty, children, teens, those who have special relationships with death. No one is quite sure why. Maybe the spirits get the biggest reactions from these individuals. Or perhaps it's easier to communicate with them. Some experts believe that these people are actually manifesting the spirits themselves through extreme psychic energy or emotional distress. So again, we're going back to emotional distress here. And you must have faith in what you're doing. So believe, I guess no matter what, to get rid of a poltergeist, one thing is supremely important. You have to believe in what you're doing. You can't just fake it until you make it. Right, so if you're not a church-going person and you say you're an atheist and you're trying to go by a priest and stuff, if you don't believe in that, it ain't gonna work. Oh, interesting. That makes sense though. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. It's all about energy and believing. Right, exactly. Any other ways to get rid of a poltergeist or are those kind of them? I think those are them. I would go with getting a priest and blessing your home, personally. That would be my suggestion. Go ahead. I dig it. Do you see a critter go by? Yeah, we have squirrels that are like the size of cats. That's huge! They were fattening up for winter. I guess so, but sometimes they'll walk by, they'll scamper by, and I'm like, what the hell? All right, so rodents of unusual size. For real, though. I have background on that movie, on the curse of it. I think at some point we're gonna do cursed films, but sure, go ahead. Are you sure? Yeah, go ahead. You seem very excited about it. I am very excited about it. We can go more into depth. Obviously one of the movies from American Nations is The Poltergeist. Have you seen them? Yes. All of them? Not all of them, because, well, I've seen the first two. Okay, sorry to interrupt, I think I've seen parts of it. Okay, so obviously The Poltergeist is the number one movie we have. Do you recommend it? Is it a good one? That is a good one. That is one of the recommendations I have on my list. Yeah. So, there's a curse behind it, which I'm pretty sure a lot of people know about. The reason they say there's a curse is that four cast members die soon after the filming ended, which is very creepy. That's pretty spot on. So, the majority of the fuel for the alleged curse stems from the deaths of multiple cast members. In total, four cast members died during and soon after the filming of the series. Most of these tragic deaths were highly unexpected and puzzling, leading many fans to speculate on the trilogy's eerie implications. So, Heather O'Rourke, the young girl who played the main protagonist in The Poltergeist film, with her long blonde hair and all that stuff, she was misdiagnosed with Crohn's disease in 1987. The following year, she fell ill again and her symptoms were casually attributed to the flu. A day later, though, she collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest. After being airlifted to a children's hospital in San Diego, she died during an operation to correct a bowel obstruction. It was later believed that she had been suffering from a congenital intestinal abnormality. Isn't that bizarre? She's such a young person. And then, Dominique Dune. She played the older sister, Dana Freeling, and she met an equally tragic and unforeseen fate. In 1982, Dominique separated from her partner, John Sweeney. In November of that year, he showed up at her house pleading for her to take him back. When she refused, he grabbed her neck, choked her until she was unconscious, and left her to die in her Hollywood Homes driveway. So, you know, domestic violence. Yeah. Here's the worst part. Here's the worst part? Well, I mean, murder's the worst part, but John was sentenced to just six and a half years in prison, but was released after three years and seven months. Ugh. That's annoying. So, Julian Beck and William Sampson. The other two cast members, while unfortunate, were not as unpredictable or mysterious. The evil preacher Kane from Poltergeist II was played by Julian, and in 1983, he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, which took his life soon after he finished work on the second installment of the series. The same film was met with further tragedy after Will Sampson, who played Taylor, the Native American shaman, died after undergoing a heart-lung transplant, which had a very slim survival rate, which I bet it did. I mean, a heart-lung transplant, even now, in 2023, is kind of 50-50, but even then, it has an even smaller chance of survival rate, so those two weren't as, you know, unforeseen, unfortunately, but it's not one of those screwy things that happen on set, but I just was going to go into the... The deaths that happened. The deaths, yeah. It's kind of like, well, no, I won't go into it. So, anyways, what other film recreations do you have? Okay. So, let's talk about what Poltergeist is about first. So, let's say it's basically... It's from 1982, and it's one of Steven Spielberg, and I think they have Daniel Hooper, who did the... Toby Hooper, who did the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was actually one that's been directed, I believe. Uh-huh. And it tells the story of a family's home that is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts, a.k.a. Poltergeist. Yeah, no, this is a great film. It's still chilling today with all... And that's where we go, the famous line, They're here! It kind of just sends chills down your spine. Some other recommendations I have would be The Conjuring. That's one of my faves. And that is the whole... That's the first one in the whole Ed and Lorraine series. Ed and Lorraine Warren series. Uh-huh. And they're about paranormal investigators. Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse. So you're looking at a haunted house, but it's just that some of the things that happen to them are very physical, like a Poltergeist. Uh-huh. So with, like, the scratches, the bruising, grabbing of the hair, moving of objects. So that's why I mentioned that one. I also put... Actually, I'm going to take that one off. Sorry. Save that one for later. But I'm also going to say Paranormal Activity. I have seen that. Are you surprised? A little bit, but I can see you watching it because I remember that movie had so much hype when it came out. I think they showed it at, like, the theater at school, in college. So I went with friends to go see it for free. Oh, yeah. It's a free movie, and you're in college. You have no money. Go for it. Go for it. But that movie was big in 2007 when it was released, and it's about this couple. After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. And this, again, you see the injuries. You see the angst. You see, like, the tensions that rise between them. Yeah, that was creepy. It's just for the jump scares, and they get me because I'm such a baby when it comes to that stuff. And also, they did some things that you shouldn't do, a.k.a. use a Ouija board. But not using a Ouija board correctly, that's what bothers me. If you're not using it correctly, then, yeah, you're not going to get the desired thing you want. I also threw in Casper. What a great movie. Yeah, and it's a very family-friendly movie, but, I mean, if you think about it, Casper was... No, I guess. Because they can do, like... But he's not evil. He's not evil, but, you know, Casper was, like, a young fellow's angst. And we're also dealing with his uncles that, like, do some stuff to them when they first move in. And that was from the early 90s with Christina Ricci. Recommend that. It's a great one. And, of course, my all-time favorite movie is Beetlejuice, that I will be recommending. Oh, I guess, technically, that does count. Because the spirit... And the story is, the spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that have moved into their home and hire a malicious spirit to drive them out. That's right. So, you basically... And this is from 1988. It has Michael Keaton, Geena Davis. It has Alec Baldwin. Some... Oh, and, of course, it has the lovely Catherine O'Hara in it, directed by Tim Burton. And great, great film. One of my favorites. But, yeah, it's essentially a lot of physical things happen with the ghosts. And you have a young teen daughter, Lydia Dietz, also known as the lovely Winona Ryder. Yeah. So, you have that whole element to play into it. And that's just a great film. And if you haven't seen it at this point, then... Shame on you. Shame. Are you ready for the sequel? I am very ready for the sequel. I am very, very ready. I am very, very excited. And I'm excited that there is... I think they're going to do it right. And they're going to do it justice. Because you have many of the originals coming back. Okay. So, that's... I'm excited about it. I'm not worried about the originals coming back. Yeah. He said that that was the one sequel that he would absolutely do. Awesome. So, yeah. No. And I... Is Tim Burton doing it? Yeah. Is Gina Davis back? I don't know about Gina. Okay. I think if anything, they would make a surprise appearance. But... Yeah. I know Winona Ryder. Yeah. So, I think Winona Ryder is a sure thing. Right. And then... And I think Johnny Depp might have a part in it, maybe. Well, it's a Tim Burton film. He'll put Johnny Depp in anything. Maybe. Yeah. So, we'll see. I would be happy to see Johnny make his appearance, especially after his whole drama with his divorce. And his crazy ex-wife. You know who I'm talking about. I think so. I'm not really familiar, but... Well, you can Google it. I'll Google it later. Just Google it. So, yeah. Absolutely. And so, I would also like to take some time to let you know, we're going to be having a new dropout for our episodes. So, instead of doing every Sunday, like we've been known to do, we're actually, because the holidays are fast approaching, we're going to be having a new dropout for our episodes. So, instead of doing every Sunday, like we've been known to do, we're actually, because the holidays are fast approaching, we're going to be having a new dropout for our episodes. So, instead of doing every Sunday, like we've been known to do, we're actually, because the holidays are fast approaching, like fast, and with work schedules, family events, parties, all that mumbo-jumbo, we are actually going to be releasing an episode every other week. And so, every Sunday, it just makes the most sense for us, and who knows, maybe we'll do like a random cocktail drop, a recommendation throughout the week, but maybe something to lower, especially at this time, because I know this is the time of year where people can get stressed, they're busy, you're dealing with family that you may or may not be getting along with, and tensions may rise, especially when you're wondering what do I get that certain someone in my life, the weather's changing, it's colder, and it's just, you're all the elements that can cause stress. So, I think maybe if we drop a cocktail, maybe it's not an episode, a cocktail recommendation, or even if it's something simple like a wine recommendation. Or a good wine recommendation. Yeah, so that's what I was thinking, because I know with the holidays, there are some things that I've seen on various social medias regarding cocktails coming out that look so, so good. Yeah, holiday-themed cocktails. Yeah, and they're going to be holiday-themed. So, I think that would really, that would be nice for us to do, especially, give us a follow on our Instagram page for our handle, Two Creepy Ghouls, so to keep posted on information of when we drop episodes, when, on all that jazz. So, I wanted to, because it's, and if we had kept doing every single Sunday an episode, I feel like we would just get burnt out by other things going on in our lives, and that's not fair to you guys to have not the greatest content, because we are on the struggle bus. Half-assing, yeah. Yeah, we don't want to half-ass anything, we want to whole-ass it. So, that's why I wanted to go ahead and give my PSA on that, or our PSA on that, to let you know. So, and also, please, please, please, I am begging you, for my holiday wish list, our holiday wish list, trying to not use my so much as our, because this is our to our, yeah. Please give us a review, give us some feedback, follow us on our Instagram handle at Two Creepy Ghouls, wherever you receive your podcasts, that just helps us gauge where we need to work on, and how we're doing, are there any topics that maybe you guys want us to specialize in? Any kind of true crime? Any kind of creepiness? Any special stories? So, we have stuff, but we also would love to have input from our listeners as well, so, yeah. It is the time of the season, so. But, yeah, so do you have any closing comments for today's episode? No, I'm done talking about poltergeist. I'm ready to put it behind me. I'll save you and give you a little ceremony before you leave. Please do. Please do. Well, thank you so much. We greatly appreciate you and your time, and please keep following us on our journey. With that said, ghouls out! Bye!