And That's Why We Drink - E458 Rat Slaps and Sklorching Demons

Episode Date: November 16, 2025

It’s Episode 458 and are we actually talking to you from the future?! This week Em takes us to London for The Nameless Thing of Berkeley Square, a “vile and phantasmagorical killer from beyond the grave”. Then Christine covers the disappearance of Robert “Bobby” Dunbar, an unfortunate and mysterious case of two missing boys. And if you’re ever sad just remember, maybe you are someone’s neighborhood lore… and that’s why we drink! Photo Links:The Nameless Thing of Berkeley Square Cryptid CardRobert Bobby Dunbar before and after Catch our bonus Yappy Hour intermissions on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3L28lDw or subscribe on Patreon:  http://patreon.com/ATWWDPodcast!___________________Go to http://HelloFresh.com/DRINK10FM now to Get 10 Free Meals + a Free Breakfast for Life! Give your loved ones a unique keepsake you’ll all cherish for years—Storyworth Memoirs! Right now, save $15 or more during their Holiday sale when you go to https://STORYWORTH.com/drink Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to http://Zocdoc.com/DRINK to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Ready to say yes to saying no? Make the switch at http://mintmobile.com/ATWWD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Like since we, before we launched it, which is, yeah, yeah. So we've been using it longer than the podcast has been around because we have been,

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It shut me up. Sure. Yeah. The podcast has begun. Finally. I've been wondering for years how it would finally begin. We didn't know. And finally, it's time. The dress rehearsal is over. We're here for our first ever. Opening night. And that's why we drink. Welcome to the show. We're serious. We're your hosts. I'm Christine. I'm M. And so far that's all we got. It's pretty good so far, I think. I think we should keep that in. Nailed it. oh my gosh well uh to us it is a monday i know everyone else is listening on sunday but technically we're in the past although if it's a monday and this comes out on a sunday it sounds like we're in

the future wow that's blow everyone's mind here but christine how are you doing on this monday it's snowing no what's talking about snowing snowing so much and i'm like what's happening i woke are you telling the truth i'm telling the truth it's snowing all day i've been waiting to tell you about it i'm the only one who cares a picture immediately. I don't believe I have a ticket. Leona woke up and said, it's going to snow today. And Blaze said, oh, we don't know.

And then literally they left that we opened the door for her to go to school, like out the door. And she goes, I see a snowflake. And literally within minutes, like, snow. She is the prophecy. I don't believe it. I don't believe it. Oh my God.

Fucking snow wind, man. There's no fucking way. I'm glad you agree because I feel like I'm the only one who's shocked. And everyone else is like, sure, it's snowing. It's November. And I'm like, it's something's wrong. First of all, back the fuck up, haters. Relax.

Also, no, I think, I think because to us, like, a week ago was Halloween. So I'm like, why the hell is it snowing now? Literally, yes. Like, it's supposed to just be cool and crisp. And also, um, over here. And on Halloween year, it was like 70 degrees, you know? It's not like it's been cold. That's so weird.

Also, this sounds, some therapist needs to analyze this. But honestly, snow. feels too happy and pure for like how I just feel at a constant basis. It's doom and gloom. I know. Yeah. I'm just like, why? What's been pep in my step? Because it's just been kind of gloomy. And I'm like, that's fine. But when the snow comes, I'm like, ooh, it's a little exciting. It's almost like, oh, we're locked inside. But also, yeah, yeah, yeah. As a parent, is that as fun. Well, it is when you're me and you say, I don't go outdoor. Mommy doesn't go outside. I can't wait for Leona to say that a little too loud one day.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he comes back from dropping off and goes, she said, like, it started snowing literally as they left for school. And she apparently the whole way there talked about how they're going to build a snowman. And he was like, I don't know if there's going to be enough snow, like da-da-da-da, but she's like, we're building a snowman. So I'm like, good luck with that. You are. The snowman's going to be this big. Just so. Yeah. You know what? And that's fine. You know, size isn't everything. So you've got three ice cubes in that freezer, I bet. You can make it work. You just stick on top of each other. Yeah. Um, well, I'm jealous. I immediately have just filled with rage. Oh, good. Oh, good. That's what I was trying to do with my quaint storytelling. I was filled you with unending rage. So you're welcome. Um, but other than that, I'm flying to Hawaii tomorrow. So, you know, it's like no big deal. Fucking, okay, weather whiplash. It's like, oh, it's snowing. Let's go to the beach. I keep rereading. So my friend Alyssa is getting married to a woman whose family is from Hawaii. And so the wedding is in Hawaii. and we grew up in Cincinnati.

So this is like when we were planning our, talking about our future weddings when we were kids. Hawaii was usually not in the picture. But, you know, I'm not a city hall. Right, right, right. It was like, I mean, we live in Cincinnati. Nothing. We can't think past city limits.

Like a lot of just maybe like a big potter's field or something. Yeah. Oh, you know what? There is a certain romance to that. But yeah, so I'm going to Hawaii tomorrow. But am I because of all these fucking flight cancellations? I'm just sitting in my life right now going, let go, let go, surrender. I don't know.

I can't control it. Just let it be. So I'm going to wake up. My flight's at 6 in the morning and wake up at 3 or not sleep and be at 3 looking at my phone and seeing where I'm headed. Okay, lots of questions. So you're, how long of a flight is it from Cincinnati? It's like 17 hours.

I'm so glad you asked. It's like an international flight. It's really, I mean, I fly to L. LAX. I have a fucking five-hour layover speaking of. I can, like, maybe go, like, see Hank real quick and come back. And then- You're welcome to if you want. You can imagine. I just show up. And then I have, like, another six-hour flight from L.A. to Hawaii. I mean, it's crazy. That shit is far away. I mean, there's a reason a lot of people on the East Coast don't go to Hawaii. I mean, our big thing is, is, like, the Bahamas, like, or Florida, you know?

but um no i you know like you know like lo mexico i don't know why um in it never occurred to me but hawai is a is a much more popular tourist destination for people on the west coast which like makes sense yeah but i've told i've told a few people like oh my 50 states and i have to get to Hawaii eventually and every person I've talked to that's a that was like a local and grew up in LA they're all like oh yeah I've been a bunch of times and I'm like was that just the place was that your like outer banks or something I feel like in my school in Ohio everyone went to Hawaii I think it was just trendy for a while like really maybe flights were cheap or something I don't know because my mom took us there and we definitely never did I mean I've never been to Mexico as I say oh we love

kanku I'm never even been there so I'm like I don't that was just like our one like kind of luxury beach vacation was Hawaii but that I remember taking like a full fucking day to get there I mean that's like and then the time difference is like nine hours okay it's not nine hours it's it's gonna feel like it's a lot of hours okay and are you going it's leona coming no leona was kindly not invited which i was like good choice yeah um for this like a little small it's a really small wedding um and uh there's a rum safari oh well there you go i see why you're going I know. Listen, it's worth it. It's worth it. So it'll be fun. It'll be wonderful to see one of my oldest friends, Mary, the love of her life. A gay wedding. I've been to, this is my second gay

wedding of the month or of the, yeah, of the month. And, um, you know, I'm loving this lifestyle for myself as being at gay weddings. It's just so much fun. Perfect. Well, uh, I, and I am worried what's going to happen with all, what's going on with the flights these days. Um, but also the weather, now that it's fucking snowing. I know. And then Chicago apparently is like everything's grinding to a halt because of the snow. So, you know, maybe it'll be me and my cat and my heating pad. Maybe it'll be me on a big old jet to the beach. We'll see. Okay. Well, are you in the wedding? So it's not really, it's such a small wedding. They only invited like a couple people. So it's sort of like a very intimate family thing. So I feel like I'm not in the wedding, but she did ask me to help get her ready. and like for the first looks. And I was like, that feels important. So I'm going to just roll with it.

Yeah. Yeah, totally. Well, that sounds fun. Yeah, it'll be good. It'll be good, but it feels like so surreal. Yeah. And I don't envy you. Right now.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That sounds terrible. It's going to be a long day. But that's okay. You know, living where I live to get home, it's usually door to door, like an eight or nine our excursion. And for some reason, I have gotten so used.

to an eight hour travel, but make it fucking 10, I'll lose my mind. Oh, even add an hour or two. Yeah. Just all of a sudden, I'm like, now that's undoable. Like, I don't know what's wrong with it. Especially when you're like in the context of travel, right? I mean, you know, all these flights getting, I mean, this is probably old news now, but currently the government is semi still shut down, very much still shut down, I guess.

And the flights are getting canceled and delayed and people are losing it. And I don't blame them. Like, talk about high. stress situations expensive they're just like strangers everywhere you're in like the most like time crunch you i mean it's just miserable miserable oh well again don't envy you but i do envy whatever leona's going to get out to because i know that shit's going to be fun she's going to have a really good time i don't know what's up with uh but you know there's so many potters fields out here she could really get up to anything give her a shovel in a couple days and she'll give her your

podcast episode about graveyard games and she'll be said for like the whole week oh well i'm very excited about that well yeah yeah um is there a reason why you drink outside of that or is that the reason why i think that's all of it it's it's just a big fell swoop of like are you drinking anything fun today you know i'm really not i only brought my stanley i was going to get a deep pep and then i forgot and i think it's too late for caffeine anyway um so because i've terrible insomnia so i got my scrappy water what about you wait show me that Okay. So, that's so funny. I, that's so funny. Um, I mean, the sticker is also funny. You're so funny, Christine. Um, but hang on. Just let me, hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Let me finish the sentence. Let me figure out how to do it. Um, okay. Ready for the whole thought? I've built it in my head now. Go. I recently, finally, bought a sticker book. And from all of our travels, I had, when I tell you, whatever amount of stickers you think of,

I had quadruple it. I don't care if you think the number was a thousand stickers. Okay, okay. I spent the day yesterday, I had a lot of things I needed to do. And instead, I sat with my sticker book and I finally organized all of the stickers that I have ever collected ever, ever, ever, all of them. And one of them was that exact fucking sticker book of a raccoon instead of a squirrel. I don't even remember where I got this, but I remember I got two, one to give you,

because we had always talked about how we're scrappy. I got one to give you and one to give me. And then I just for the other day looked at my water bottles and went, wait, I have one on each water bottle. So I clearly never gave them to you. I was just saying maybe the raccoon one was from you. I think I used both of them instead of giving one to you. But initially it was supposed to go to you. Well, anyway, one of the reasons I drink is because I finally, I don't think unless you are a mental tumbleweed of chaos like the two of us are.

some people might not understand I know you do how overwhelming isn't the word maybe you know the word but like every time we've gone on a trip which add up every time we've been on tour every time I've done my own trips I'm trying to do my 50 states

every time I go see my grandma every time I go home I'm always buying Joshkes and that includes stickers and pins and every single one of them from different trips have been sitting in different zip blocks or different paper bags are at the bottom of a backpack. Additional note, we often also give one another stickers. So that also adds to it.

We're like, oh, Emma would like this. Evo would like this. And then we attained more stickers that way. Yes. And there, but there's like the way that they're scattered through the house. Well, it's like in, it's like, um, intolerable really. It's intolerable. I mean, I've been waiting.

I've been collecting stickers since we, for, very first time we went on tour was 2018. And I just fucking started looking at all of them. Like I had to dig through every little nook and crue. of my house. We have a storage unit. We have, I mean, every, I mean, the number of stickers and pins was like, first of all, breathtaking in a different way where I need to like, I'd readjust my right. Like mentally, you need to do some thinking. Yeah. But to have them all consolidated in one clean, organized box, like, there's no words. There's no words for like that clarity. That actually feels so uplifting to me that I'm going to hold on to this feeling for the

rest of the day i think i'm going to try to um if you need something to do on your plane i'm telling you buy a sticker book today and spend your it there was nothing more fucking serene yeah okay it was incredible eva got me a sticker book um but it wasn't enough room like i put a bunch of stickers in it but it's still not enough room so i'm going to have to get another i have a second one coming today oh see okay so here's my question for your 4,000 stickers that i have um that you have um when you were going through them were there any that you were like, I'm not feeling these, or did you, like, keep every single one? No, I, I, I decluttered my stickers as well.

Okay, because I've been doing that, too, because some of them, I'm like, this does not spark joy. I don't even know where this is from. Okay, okay. Because that makes sense. And then also, when you were organizing them, did you, like, organize them in a particular way? Or was it, like, by just how they look, the shape? Was it like the city? Was it, like, the year that you attained it?

Like, what's the method to your math? Well, it was too overwhelming. So I made it much more general than I originally. 2018 I mean how do you even remember what was first and last so that was my problem with my pin collection because I wouldn't just get pins from like I wouldn't just say like St. Louis Missouri on it you know it would say it would be like a like a rat that says scrappy on it and I'm like where the fuck did I get this so I anything that's and I did this for pins and stickers so I have a pin collection now how do you organize okay we'll get to that but how do you organize pins also I need to know that later okay I I follow I'm not a Disney adult, but they got a few things right out there, and they love their pin trading. And so they literally make pin binders. Oh, it's in binders. Okay, so they're not on display.

It's like in binders. Yeah. And they're all, and also I bought, Matt, I bought, like, 200 pinbacks. So that way they would all, they all have different types of pinbacks. And some of them, I can't fucking stand. So I just put them all, I gave them all brand new pin backs. Wow. I know.

I feel so like no one else in the world would care except you. So I'm glad I'm saying this. But no, so I divided the stickers into, and the main five were, if I got it on tour, like obviously got it on tour, so there were some that said like the gateway arch. I'm just saying St. Louis, or Kansas City or whatever. Where's the arch of St. Louis? St. Louis. So if it was like obviously a location, I put that as like the tour section. And then I had a nostalgia section because I get a bunch of like 90s retro kind of stickers.

So I got nostalgia. I got, I put together a spooky section because, like, a lot of my pen and stickers were like a Ouija board or a ghost. Right, sure. So it's spooky, nostalgia, tour. I did one that was just my fandom. So there's like a whole section that's just like back to the future and Marvel and Pokemon. Oh, that's good. And then I have another section that was just kind of like miscellaneous, just like a catch-all, which ended up being just about the same size as the other sections.

I really wanted it to be more like oh I got all of these in Portland I got all of these in Boston that's part of buying the stickers is like you just are like this is an easy thing to put in my backpack forget about for a while for years yeah for years yeah that's part of the joy of the sticker is like oh there's really not much to it not much context my and you think like oh it's so little it's like doesn't even take up space but when you have as many as I do it certainly takes up space oh it takes up a lot of psychologically space i'll tell you that much certainly um the only thing i can't figure out which if you have an idea please leave it in the comments or something but i along the way have collected quite quite a number of bumper stickers oh yes me too and so they're too big to fit in sticker books right so i don't know where to put them but i'm not going to put them on my car either yeah right what if you got the sticker or sorry the binders that have like the sleeves like plastic sleeves like a tall binder or something that's like I could yeah that's not bad I don't know I don't know that that's the only thing that doesn't fit in the binders it's very frustrating but other than that I guess bumper stickers are

different sizes which is annoying too yeah there's one there's two in particular that are like well speaking of I know I've already shown you this but it was a few weeks ago I think on the floor right now because that's what my life is like um here's a bummer sticker got you recently shut I've shown you this already but it's been a while here I go in my big gay car my wait I want that. I love it. I know. I got it for you. And I said, I'll mail it to you. And that was like two months ago. So, um, I will mail to you eventually. And you can put it in your binder. That's so fun. Well, thank you. I love that. And that one was, you know, the only bumper sticker. And then that sounds well, the only other bumper sticker that I've ever actually put on my car is the one you got me,

but that's because it was a magnet is the Waffle House one. Oh, it's a magnet. That's right. I feel like that's, um, that's sometimes a way to go. Yeah. Um, anyway. So perfect segue segue, Segu, with your little squirrel scrappy sicker because that was going to be the reason I drank where I was like damn like I feel probably how you felt when you were cleaning out your upstairs how is the update on that by the way are you all cleaned up here or I mean it's really less cluttered so I'm like it's still a mess but like pretty much everything here is stuff I'm like keeping and want to organize so it's at least like not all the junk that I've been trying to get rid of for years um I just had like attachment problem I like kept too much stuff and it was like stuff that

That just was not necessary. So I feel a lot better. I've, like, cleansed it out of stuff I don't need anymore. I always, I hate that middle ground where, like, it's cleaner than it was. And now I can't get over that hill to finish it. And it, yeah, it feels like, oh, few, I got a lot done. And then you sit on this for eternity. And then it's slowly gross again.

It's so annoying. Yeah, I can't sound like it grows. I know. So I feel like I'm making progress and then, like, one step back, two step four. You know, the usual. But I think that's life. I'm proud of you. Thank you.

And I'm proud of you in your stickers because that is a feat, I tell you. Next time I, we record, and I'm not in this stupid hotel room, I, we can do that for intermission. I'll show you my sticker book. Oh, that would be fun. I would love, that feels like the, I mean, it is like show and tell. It is. It is. Well, no, so I'm very excited.

And to answer your question quickly, I got a pin binder, which holds like 400 pins, which luckily I don't have 400. Oh, my God. It at least gives room to build if I, you know, I still have, as, like, bad about, like, buying a pin or, like, if you're gifted a pin, I'm always like, shit, I don't want to break this or lose it, you know, if I put it on my backpack, it will fall off. So, yeah, I feel like that's a nice, like, in between. Yeah, I'm very, the goal is to never have to need another pin binder ever again. Right. And so, yeah, but I'm very excited about that. And that's probably what I'm going to do later tonight when I should also be productive and I won't be. So, hey, that sounds productive to me. Okay. I don't know. I mean, it was not lovely a little cup of tea, a little law and order. I mean, Leon and I were probably going to be building snowmen out of ice cubes. So I guess if you're being productive, so am I. No, you are being much more productive by entertaining a child.

It is difficult. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, fair enough. Oh, yeah, well, Christine, I have a story for you. And I, not to, like, promote more Chotchkes, but on my recent trip to Delaware where I went with my mom. I told you about that, yeah? Yeah, wait. Remind.

Yes, yes, yes. The Delaware trip, yes. Sorry, my brain is like, you know, like an engine sputters. That's sort of how it feels like internally. Yeah. I absolutely understand. If you said, you know what it's like to like have a clear brain? No.

No, you and your sticker book for a brief window of time probably have that. When I look, truly, I get talking to a world. I look at my stickers. I'm like, I feel so seen. But then all of a sudden I realize that. anyone else in the world would be like, okay, you're, you need to get a new hobby. Yeah, your grandkids someday are going to be, like, put it in the garage sale, and you're going to be like, oh, my God.

Truly. It's so stupid because I've officially hit that age where I'm like, let me hang out on a Sunday with my sticker book. I know. And I'm like, what the hell? Like, what happened all the house parties and laws I used to break? Anyway. Oh, yeah.

You know, Evan, their wild child. Today, if a cop came up to me, uh, they'd be like, well, we know what you were up to. in 2008 and I'm like well that ain't me anymore here's my sticker book you want to take a lot I've changed I've left that life behind I've left that life I've reformed um I've never left it or changed it but I'm glad you're here it with me now I still want it just nobody else wants to do it with me and it's sad or alone that's really where we are so the sticker book is uh is my my new my new partner in crime I suppose. Okay, here we go.

Yeah. So instead of, you know, big wild house parties and hanging out to the wee hours because everyone got married and up kids and I'm just trying to find hobbies now, I decided that my hobby is going to go see all 50 states. I went to Delaware with my mom. And I, we went to a bookshop and I found this little deck of cards, which I know you and I are also like active, not card collectors, but we pick up quite a lot of deck. a good deck of playing cards.

For people who never play cards, by the way. Not a one time. And if someone asked me to play fucking cards, I'd go, get out of my house. I know, I literally ask people, including M, all the time. I'm like, does someone want to play war? And my brother's like, I don't want to play war. Like, get away from me. Actually, I fucking love war.

Finally, I found the right person. I keep asking my brother, he's like, why don't we play like this, like bridge? And I'm like, get the fuck away from me. I want to play war with them. Did you ever, I remember there being a game. It's, there has to be a different name now. Nope. Egyptian rats crew.

Oh, yeah. That's a classic. or asshole, I think it was also called. I don't remember what I have older stepsisters. You know, speaking of Alyssa who's getting married, she taught it to me and she called it Peaches, I think. Oh, that's... Like, everyone came up with a fake name

to like teach it to their younger cousins or whatever because it was called Egyptian ratscrew. Yeah. I don't know if this is how it's actually played, but there was a lot of hitting each other in the face in that game. Oh, I don't recall that being hard. Okay, my stepsisters were just really mean. You are being bullied, my friend. I was the little step-siblings.

and my stepsisters were like, oh, yeah, there's this really fun game. And every time you lose around, we get to hit you in the face. Oh, my God. No wonder you don't like playing games. It's all finally making sense, dude. Anyway, I would love to play that game. Oh, wait, you're supposed to slap the pile, not slap each other. I'm like, why does, there's definitely slapping.

No, I would get five star in the face. That's not cool, dude. Oh, my God, can I please tell you the other names of this thing? Yeah. I mean, of course, Egyptian Ratscrew is certainly not PC by any. stretch of the imagination, sometimes abbreviated, as according to Wikipedia, as ERS. Oh, that's my initials. Holy shit, you're right.

So for now it's just called the M. Schultz game. I love that. Also known as Egyptian War, Bloody Stump, rat slap. I mean, Jesus, this is like, yeah, you were. You were getting beat up. What was your favorite card game, War? That one. No, I loved Egyptian.

Or do you remember it had a weird name, and again, I don't know. if this was even the name or if this was just something people called it, but I think they call it Kemp's or something like that. Never heard of that. Kemp's? Kempers? Kemp's? It's like where you have a secret code with another person. Like you get a partner and you don't know who the partner is or whatever and you have like a secret tell. Got it. Maybe that's not what it's called. But it was fun and it was kind of, we played it

sometimes at school and it would be like a good group game where you have, you have to like make a secret like a raise your eyebrows. And then if you caught the other person, and doing their tell, you know. Oh, yeah, Kemp's, it was called. Teams are two try to secretly get four cards of the same rank to score a point. And they agree on a secret nonverbal sign and then swap cards. It's fun. Anyway, that was one of my favorites too.

I always wanted to learn how to play spoons, but I was always too scared to ask. I love Spoon. It's so easy. Is it? I have the version with dolphins. Instead of spoons, we would put a bunch of dolphins in the middle and you'd grab the dolphin but they squeak so you'd have to be like really like you'd have to either be really strategic like quiet about it and slide it back so that like oh people aren't supposed to know that you get

them yeah well you can't so it's like as soon as one person grabs one everyone goes for it and the last one who doesn't it's sort of like musical chairs where like one person there's one fewer spoon than the group so basically as soon as somebody has four of the same cards they take one from the middle and then as soon as everyone notices that so you can either grab it and then everyone kind goes free for all. Or you can be really sneaky and just kind of pull it aside and then keep playing and wait for people to notice, you know? Gotcha. And it felt like to ask other 12 year olds how to play spoons felt like asking a grown man during a game how football goes. Yeah. Yeah. I was just like, I don't, I'm not going to ask. No, I would love to do because it really is so easy. It's just like

you pass cards around and try to make four of a kind. Oh, okay. Cool. And then like once you do, you grab the spoon. And then I, I did love playing with like the grownups. because I would always, like, be really sneaky about grabbing the spoon, but look like I was really focused. It's just really fun. I don't know. Clearly, I like the games where we're doing, like, secret surveillance. I don't know. Well, for two people who really hate card games or... Anyway, yeah, let's get back to your story. Anyway, I got new... I got cards while I was in Delaware. It's all fucked up because I couldn't... I got excited about unwrapping it that I ripped like half the paper off. but this is a cryptids deck.

Have you seen this before? Oh, no. Okay, so I'm going to show you the inside of them. I promise there's a reason for this. Oh, I believe you. And they all, not only are they all cryptids, but each of the cards looks like an already real-life existing magazine cover, but edited to have the cryptid as, like, the cover model.

Oh, that's clever. this is um like crypted health and it's like the lizard man instead of men's health oh that's fun they had like this one like I mean it's a magazine oh my god this is so cool uh so I thought it was super cool and that was like a comic book and then they actually have a Nickelodeon magazine one which I thought was cool now that's fun is that like a slime monster or something you know it should have been I don't know I was just kind of scrolling through real quick um because I I bought it truly not because I thought I'd play cards, but for inspiration for stories. So, um, so this was the Nickelodeon one.

This is the dinghbat. The dingbat. Okay, that's good though. That feels very Nickelodeon. Um, anyway, so I, I got these truly thinking, oh, in case I'm ever stumped and need some, like, inspiration, I will, I'll do that. So that is what ended up happening. I was looking through the cards and I came across, do you want to guess which number

and suit this, this card is that I, yes, think about it. Okay. Five of diamonds. Dude, so close, six of hearts. Damn. It's not close, but sort of close. Right color. Right color.

So anyway, this is, I went with the six of hearts, and this is the, I'm going to show you the cover halfway through the story because I don't want to give away how it looks yet. I love this, okay. But, you know, use your- Please cover the dingbat someday, because I'm really all about that, too. I would love to. That would be great. And while I do it, by the way, I will eat the secret recipe to slime or something. Don't eat it.

It's edible. Have you been eating it? I mean, no, I haven't. I've never made it before. So maybe that'll be our intermission that time. It's like, we'll just make slime. We can do like, yeah, like a little demonstration. Well, without telling anyone what the secret is because I'm sort of a secrecy, but I will make it and show everyone what it looks like and we can all judge it.

Yeah. Okay. Anyway, sorry everybody who. hates this um i'm not sorry hello fresh fresh i've missed it folks i know you have too fellow fresh is the number one meal kit in america whof making home cooking easier with chef crafted recipes and fresh ingredients delivered straight to your door but this fall guess what they're serving up even more to love it's not the hello fresh you remember not the same HelloFresh has doubled their menu.

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One per box with active subscription. Free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only varies by plan. That's hellofresh.com slash drink 10 FM to get 10 free meals and free breakfast for life. One time I got Storyworth for my mom and she told me, she wrote a story in there about how when she was a kid, they had a pet crow named Simon. They say that Storyworth is meant to be a gift to them, but really it's a gift to us because now all of a sudden this knowledge is imparted on us that for some reason our parents did not pass along. So this is for Simon.

We are now working with Storyworth, which is such a great company. I have always loved the idea of demanding information from my family. All your loved one needs to do is respond to an email that StoryWorse sends every week. Now you can record it over the phone so you don't have to type it out. So it's so easy. It's not even like you don't need to be tech savvy. So it's really great for sending two people in your family who might not be into the whole tech world. And then after a year, Story Worth compiles all these stories and photos into a beautiful keepsake hardcover book.

Photos are printed in vibrant color. It's a treasure for us and our loved ones. And it's just really cool. You can like pass it down for generations. And they've printed over a million books and preserve 35 million family stories since they're founding 13 years ago. and they have over 48,000 five-star reviews on Trust Pilot. And I love that they're still innovating. This year, they added a bunch of new features to make storytelling even easier with personalized questions, magic editor.

Meanwhile, their magic layout and new book designs make finished books look even more beautiful. Give your loved ones a unique keepsake. You'll all cherish for your storyworth memoirs. And right now, save $10 or more during their holiday sale when you go to storyworth.com. That's storyword.com slash drink to save $10 or more on your order. So here is my story for today. This is the nameless thing of Berkeley Square. What?

And it's in London. And the address of this place was 50 Berkeley Square, which I think it does still exist. It does still exist. It was built in 1740. And it was a four-story townhouse in London in a fancy area called Mayfair. Ooh, yes. Which I guess is like their Upper West Side. fun fact Winston Churchill also lived in this neighborhood he lived two doors down so I like to

imagine that he was just like sitting next to a haunted house the nameless thing yeah he was next to the nameless thing maybe he was the nameless thing I mean reporters were like Winston Churchill is in this fucking house what's going on no comment so okay it was a house built in 1740 in fancy pants London and we're unsure of the first few residents that lived there but we do know in the 1820s, one of the first people to live there was the prime minister at the time Prime Minister Canning. He worked under King George the 4th, fun fact. And when he lived there,

he was reporting odd sounds throughout the house, both above him and in the basement. He also had like constant nightmares that were out of character for him. So that was back in the 1820s. Oh. I can't account for like the first few decades before that, but at least since the 1800s, we've been having some things reported by people. Many other people after him have moved in. Like, I could not keep up with the amount of people who've lived in this place.

But I'm, I didn't really hear anything outside of Prime Minister Canning's reports, I guess because he was the prime minister, so his story was more interesting than others. I don't know if anyone else had experiences or to what degree, but something must have been going on because over time, both the newspapers and the town in general were all aware. that this house had ghosts. Okay. Oh, wow. So this is like since day one or since the early days.

Yeah, since the early days, people knew that this was haunted. And I don't know where those stories come from, just that enough people lived there and had experiences that this was known as a haunted house. Okay. And one of the people who is said to have died here, again, this is all conjecture, but we don't care about that for me to sound spooky. Please, conjecture. Conjecture.

say yes 100% um okay so one of the main one of the first ghosts here at least was this girl named adeline she apparently died falling from a window on the top floor um extra sad her uncle was abusing her oh no and so i guess she tried to escape through the attic window lost her footing fell Jesus. Oh, my God. Okay. Now, allegedly people see a girl hanging from the window screaming for help, and sometimes they even see her losing her grip and vanishing before she hits the ground. Well, that's a traumatic thing to witness.

I know. I know. Oof, yikes. They don't tell you about that on Zillow. Nothing. No. No. One newspaper actually was quoted saying, since then, so I guess since she died, more than 50 respectable people have reported seeing Adeline clinging to the window sill. More than 50.

That's like a pretty, that would, I'm surprised Zach Began doesn't go on there. That's a lot. 50 people seeing someone, like, 50 different accounts of people seeing a little girl hanging and then disappearing as she fault. Yeah, that's a lot to me. That's a lot of people. And I wonder, and that was an old-timey newspaper. That wasn't recently.

So that, that would, you would think, mean that a lot more since than have seen her. Fair enough. Yeah. Yeah. Another ghost there is a boy who, in another, I don't know, bad situation, he ends up getting locked in the attic by his parents. And he was fed food through a hole in the door. And the isolation over time made him go insane, is the story. Oh, my God.

We don't know how... This is a child? That's, that's... These are all stories that... that people talk about, but I don't know how true any of them are, so I'm just going to go. But it was a child, though, in the story. But, yeah, in the story, it was a little boy. Okay.

Another girl, or another ghost here that they say happened to live there at some point was a girl who was killed by one of the servants in the house when she lived there. And now people say that they see her skipping down the halls and actually even on the streets nearby, which it always blows my mind when the ghosts don't stay in the house. Yeah, and they can kind of just explore. Yeah. Um, the only other time I've really heard about that is, uh, there was somewhere in Dallas, Fort Worth where there's the cowboy used to be like a, like a brothel. And there's a cowboy named like Cowboy Jake or something. And he's known to like go window shopping in town. Yeah. I feel that I remember Cowboy Jake because it definitely struck something a chord in my heart just now. Yeah. I, I thought all of a sudden you'd hear like romantic music as a trolley. I did. That's what came into mine. Came straight to mine. So Cowboy Jake and Judy Garland are the same person.

Yeah. But no, I think that's the only other one that comes right to mind of like, oh, a ghost that haunts the house and leaves the house and haunts other places too. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty cool, honestly. Imagine if you're like just put out a really nice window display and all of a sudden you see Cowboy Jake and Meyer and get, I'd be so honored. I would, or what if he was like, ugh? Yeah.

That would make me sad. If he just kept moving, I'd be like, are you fucking kidding me, Jake? How dare you? Someone should make a window display of Cowboy Jake and see if it brings him over two. I'm sure he would, like a Western display. Yeah. Anyway, so those are three of the, like, random ghosts we have no real explanation for, but those stories have kind of locked themselves into place.

Okay. So someone fell from the window, someone was locked in the attic, another girl was killed by a servant. And there were also times when neighbors throughout the years, especially in the 1800s. I think, well, one article I was thinking of was in the 1840s, but there were so many weird noises

coming out of this house that the neighbors all rallied together to go investigate it when it was abandoned because they were like, what the fuck is going on in here? Apparently they did not find anything, but other people think that these are more of the skeptics.

They're like, oh, it was never haunted. This was like maybe some sort of criminal front and maybe they used the ghost story as like a cover, so that way they, could make a bunch of sounds at night and nobody would be brave enough to go check, you know. Okay, okay. Yeah, I guess it's a okay cover. I don't know.

I don't know. But either way, even the skeptics are admitting that this place makes some weird fucking sounds at night. So... See? Speaking of the 1840s, this is 20 years after Prime Minister Canning lived there and was making reports. 20 years later, in 1840, the first real paranormal account happens in this house.

and it's a 20-year-old. His name is Robert War Boys, which feels like the most 40s name I could think of. War Boys. Yeah. Feels like a weird video game. Really? I think of it as like one of those old-timey last names that no one has anymore. How do you spell that?

Like war and boys. It sounds to me like a weird, like. I can see it I know what you're saying but in my I think in my head I think like Daddy Warbox from Annie

Oh okay War Boys Yeah okay I can see that Yeah yeah And I just think it's like Oh it sounds like such a Yeah

Yeah Like a rough and tumble kind of guy I got you I'll allow it It'd be real silly if he was The daintiest little feminine man And the world's in his last one

I kind of love I would love that Because like war boys You know It feels It's not like war men And it's like, war boys, let's go, girls. I like to think there's like a, like a queer comic book called War Boys.

I love that. Seriously, I think that's actually a perfect, perfect match. Perfect. Well, Robert War Boys, he is 1840. Again, he is 20 years old. He goes to the bar and he hears about this haunted house in town. I don't know if he's from the area. It sounds like he's not and he's just passing through.

Right. And they're like, oh, did you see that haunted house, blah, blah, I hear this happens there and this happens there and this happens there. he calls bullshit to all the people in the bar talking about it. He actually calls it unadulterated poppycock, which is, can you imagine? That is really bold, my friend. And actually also very justifying of our rumor, of our theory that maybe he's like an effeminate little boy because I feel like he could say bullshit or he could call it unadulterated poppycock. Poppycock is a crazy way to say that.

And I love it. You sound so silly. I love that. You are being extremely silly. I know that was just like the warning of the time, but in today's world, if like my father had the nerve to call something unadulterated poppycock, I would go, what's happening? Please question yourself, sir.

Let's ask why you're doing this. The other people in the bar that he called bullshit on were like, if you're that fucking brave or you don't believe us, then you go spend a night in there. Yes. And Robert Warboys, who's this 20-year-old bro dude, dude, or that's what he's trying to proclaim he is, he did not back down from a challenge. And so that night, he leaves the bar and goes straight to the house and calls the landlord and is like, give me your most haunted room for one night, please.

Okay. So now, is this an apartment, like a hotel? How is he just, like, going in there? Excellent question. It is a random townhouse. And for anyone wondering, the second floor is said to be where the most haunted room is. but it was also 1840 and it sounds like this place kind of on and off was abandoned and someone just kind of owned it so I don't know if he was really putting anyone out by asking to like stay in the vacant room maybe from the landlord yeah to stay there okay it sounds like the landlord was like if he give me 50 bucks you can stay there tonight no one's on there anyway gotcha okay although the landlord was very hesitant about this he and not be not for the reasons you and I would be hesitant that a strange man wants to be in my house I think because he thought it was truly so haunted,

he was like, you don't want to do that. I don't know who put you up to this, but you don't want to do that. Oh, wow, okay. I was not expecting that take. All right. And Robert Warboys is like, no, I try again. Actually, this is all poppycock.

Unadulterated poppycock, if you will. And I'm going to be here, and I'm going to stay, and nothing's going to happen. Correct. The landlord was like, okay, but if you stay, you have to, there's two requests that's it first one here's my gun please take it here's my first request take my weapon what first of all strange man in my house now also you're armed please arm yourself yeah yeah and rule two if anything happens you have to call me if anything happens and i guess anything happens um i guess at the time there was like a rope in the room that the guy was going to be staying in

that had a bell on the other end of it and that rope led all the way to the landlord's room. Oh, so he could ring the bell from, okay, okay? So that way the landlord would hear the bell in his room, but the guy could, it was almost like pulling it like a pulley or something. Yeah, like a little like, but they used to have servant spells. Yes, yes. Yeah.

So the landlord was like, please ring that if anything happens. Also, here's a gun. Also, if you need an extra cup of tea, just do a little bing-a-ling-a-ling, and I'll be right up. And also, um, again, I feel like I've had to say this weirdly too many times on the show, but shooting a ghost has never solved anything. I don't think so. I think it's only caused more problems in my recollection. So anyway, he goes, fine, give me your gun. I'll sit up there. Maybe I'll shoot something. We'll see. We'll see. Not even an hour into Robert War Boys being in this room. The landlord hears his bell ringing and then a gunshot.

Oh, no. The landlord runs upstairs, and this is what he sees. This is a quote from one of the newspapers back then. Sir Robert was wedged in the corner of the room, the still smoking pistol caught in the white-knuckled grip of his fear-contorted corpse. Corps! His lips were peeled back from his clenched teeth in a grimace of horror.

What? And his eyes seemed to be literally bulging from his skull. so he truly the like died of fright what the fucking hell okay this poor little guy I don't think he was gonna die from the ghost imagine all the people who dared him at the bar I know you must feel real shitty now but you're also like told you I know it's like which

two things could be true at once yeah but like when is it too is it too soon to say told you so probably you know the first time everyone got together at the bar like a week later and they're like can we say it yet? Because that was crazy. Are we? Okay. Yeah.

The landlord ended up looking around to be like, what the fuck this guy shoot at? And he found the bullet mark. But there was nothing. There was nobody there. There was nothing there. The room was left completely untouched. What the fuck, dude? And that began, at least, the lore that this house kills people to, like scares them to death.

I don't like that. Like, I'm always down to go to a haunted house. and get scared and all that. I love it. But I don't necessarily want my life to be at risk. I don't feel the need to be armed, hopefully, you know? And also, like, it didn't even seem to help that he was armed. Right.

It's like, well, I guess I'm just walking in to not make it out, I guess. Yeah, yeah, I don't feel good about any of this. Well, it was after this story. One, that the house became known as the house that scares you to death. But two, this is when the town got the name for the city. a creature that must be killing people in this house. And it became known as the Nameless Thing. Like, that's actually, I thought it was super cute when you first said it.

And now I feel really threatened about it. It was because of the cutie, rich neighborhood. The Nameless Thing of Berkeley Square. It sounds like something. It sounds like the sisterhood of the traveling pants books. Yes. It sounds like a Paddington, like a chapter in Padding. I've never read Paddington.

But it sounds like something from Paddington Bear. I don't know. Well, so in 1843, this is only three years later. the house is still abandoned, dilapidated. I guess a landlord or maybe like a property owner still exists, but it seems like people are not living here. Sheesh. There are two sailors in town.

Their ship came into port that day, I think. Their names were Edward and Robert. And they went out drinking. They went out of drinking so much that they accidentally spent all their money that they were supposed to use on a hotel drinking. So they ended up not having a place to stay. They couldn't afford it. If you keep drinking, you don't need a hotel.

Yeah, it keeps you warm. but it ended up keeping them out a little too late and they needed a place to crash but had no money so they ended up I see where we're going either hearing about this house

or walking past it and seeing that it was abandoned they snuck in to sleep and of course of all the rooms they decided to sleep in it was the haunted room so it said that Edward as soon as he went in there

he told Robert hey this room makes me feel like really freaking weird like there's something here something it feels like something's looking at us I feel really anxious but what are you going to do

also they were both drunk so i think they just went to bed yeah soon which you and i have had that experience where you're like oh uh there's definitely something in this hotel room anyway anyway good night anyway love you bye so soon after falling asleep edward the one who was feeling anxious yep wakes up to a really bad smell in the house that's bad already it's bad then he hears heavy but slow loud footsteps coming up the stairs hey that's so frightening especially like you're in an abandoned place you're already feeling on edge you're like could this be someone who like owns the like you don't even know it sounds like it could be someone threatening you don't even have the landlord's gun with you probably finally maybe i need the gun yeah i get it now

i would be like where's my gun that i don't own well i will actually say they did have a gun with them oh they did okay okay okay that must have been comforting for a minute for five seconds before they realized it was the nameless thing well the window uh the window didn't open by itself and so they were using the gun to wedge the window open and so very christine move okay go on so their gun was actually on the other side of the room so it's like a horror movie when you're lying in bed and you know your weapons all the way over there you like reach over under the nightstand and you're like oh shit yeah oh god i needed a goddamn breeze tonight didn't i mm-hmm so anyway they hear this heavy loud footsteps. He's coming up the stairs. Nightmare. He wakes up Robert, and both of them

not only hear the footsteps, but then once the steps get to the top of the stairs, they hear something heavy and wet dragging itself towards them. And they hear a footstep and then a sloshy dragging. A lurch. A lurch. Yuck. And then all of a sudden they see the shadow on the floor getting closer to them and the sound of their own door creaking open. And then they see the monster jump towards them. It jumps.

Uh-oh. Edward reaches for the gun, but this thing was faster than them, landed on top of him and wrapped itself around Edward's neck. Oh, okay. Well, like, see, this is also unfair, because it's like, if you're going to be moving really fast, then don't slowly stomp

down the hallway and make me think, like, like, oh, at least I have the advantage of speed on my side, you know? That's, but that's the, that's the last, that's so scary. An extra aha moment of like, oh, it's like, it's lurching. And then all of a sudden it's like, lurch. I mean, oh, God, help me. I'm, no, I don't like this one bit. Well, so Robert was able to escape.

He actually found a cop in town and the cop followed him back. But when they got back, they could not find Edward in the room anymore, but the house was silent. They ended up searching the house. And when they got down to the basement, they found Edward on the, the stairs, his neck broken, his head, his head contorted in a weird way, his mouth wide open as if it were screaming, and his eyes wide with horror. Shut up. Ew, that's so grotesque.

Another version is that Edward was not found on the basement stairs, but that Robert actually watched the monster wrap around Edward and then throw Edward out the open window onto a fence post which impaled him. Oh, God. Okay. Either way, I'm pretty sure Robert went to fucking jail for murder. Like, no one's going to believe. Really, that's a really rough sell. Like, you got to believe me.

It was lurchin. Yeah, yeah. From here, depending on the story you hear, the monster takes many shapes because all we ever heard was the monster, but people kind of used context clues to put together what they thought the monster looked like. And it's making me uncomfortable that I don't know more detail mentally. Like, I just picture like a blob. Right.

And so a lot of people say that it's just like this literal amorphous, like, slimy blob. Right. Because they were hearing something wet and like suctiony kind of walking towards them. It sounds like a blob. Yeah, like a swamp monster or something. They also say that maybe it was a gray mist. Some people say brown mist. Other people say it's a shadow person.

Other people say it was one collection of multiple shadows. Like Legion. Oh. But a lot of people say that through all of this, because it was heavy and wet and dragging itself and felt like it had some suction, it was able to wrap itself around his neck and everything, people have decided that the nameless thing

on Berkeley Square is a giant octopus. Shut the fuck up. Okay, I'm holding up the card now. The cryptid, it looks like the cryptid times. Is this like the Saturday evening post? or something. The nameless thing of Berkeley Square. It's like an old-timey sketch from a newspaper. It's like a Victorian girl sitting in a chair and these giant tentacles coming through like a frame. It looks like a mirror or a frame like coming toward her. Yeah. So anyway, that is what we know.

We assume it's an octopus. Oh my God. And then people are like, well, how would an octopus survive in London? That's a great question. How would a legion of demons splurched along the floor? You know, I have questions too, so shut the fuck up. Also, I was thinking giant squid, but I think like same vibes, right? Same vibes. Tentacles. Tentacles. Well, a lot of people defend this argument by saying, well, he must live under the streets

in the sewer. And at the time, London had a... Just to be clear, I'm not signing off on that when I said... It doesn't mean I'm signing off immediately on the explanation of the octopus. I just think, like, have an open mind, everyone. Yeah, yeah, understood. I hear you. I guess at the time London had a rat problem and so I don't know if they still do I'm sorry London

I don't know enough about your rats it feels like you would no offense it does feel like I would not you London it feels like M you would have a rat problem no it feels like London would have a rat problem like I don't see I mean New York still has a rat problem DC still has a rat problem I don't see why D.C is a horrible rat problem is crazy uh no I I I took it as a compliment that like with my ADHD oh that you would know that I would just have random knowledge about that I thought okay I thought you were insinuating that I

claimed that you had a rat problem yourself and I was like that's really a rude thing to say I promise that's not what I meant I thought you were saying it feels like something you would know about and I was like that you know what that I will sign off and it does feel like something you would know so I'm disappointed in myself but something to spiral through tonight um yeah

anyway people say well obviously it lives in the sewers under London and lives off of all the rats that's how it exists here um and when it can't get an extra helping instead of eating rats it eats the people that live in some okay but like did it eat anybody that's a great question it just scared them to death yeah i don't know that it ate anyone did it no that's a good point so what the fuck are all these blogs talking about them yeah really come on guys well okay so now we're in the 1870s uh and the house is bought by a guy named Mr. Myers for him and his bride to be. But guess what?

Before the wedding, his wife dumped him. His fiancé dumped him. Ooh. So he's heartbroken. He locks himself away in this house as if it's his personal tower and he wanders the halls a night with a candle, apparently just crying and crying and crying and so sad. This actually added to the reports from neighbors saying that this place was haunted because they would see a random light in the middle of the night wandering the halls and they'd hear wailing at odd hours. Oh. It was like, no, girl, he was just depressed. He's just really sad.

He's not a giant squid. Leave him alone. So if you're having a... He's just like squelching through his tears. If you're having a depressive era, just know that maybe you're someone's neighborhood lore. And like, isn't that fun. Let that brighten your day for just a glimpse, you know?

It would help me. I'd be like, at least I, like, am someone's like... At least I'm good for something. Yeah. There are more extreme rumors that he was so devastated by. this heartbreak that he got into like devil worship to try and get her back which added fuel to the rumors that the house is haunted um they also used it as like a justification as to why it was haunted to begin with them maybe he brought them all in um okay like his like negative energy i guess

maybe you're like that's a lot to put on this guy he's just depressed he's going through a lot and fun fact by the way he actually failed to pay his taxes probably because he was so fucking depressed yeah he because when he got to the part that said spouse dependent oh anyway well he couldn't pay his taxes but the magistrate excused it quote because he lived in the haunted house oh they were like actually if anyone gets a pass you're like you're going through it you're like we don't need to know about that they probably didn't even want to touch the haunted papers um okay a few years after that a guy named lord littleton who i feel like i've said his name before and past stories, but he was interested in paranormal stuff.

He sounds like Lord Farquod. He is a little evil. But anyway, he heard that this place was haunted. He was in town. He wanted to stay the night, try his hand at this haunted room. He was a skeptic, but he also wasn't an idiot. And he was like, based on everything else, I've heard, I'm bringing my own fucking gun. Okay.

And I'm not using it to prop the window open, I guess. I'm snuggling it. So in bed that night, he hears shuffling and apparently sees a shuffling. shadowy ball of tentacles. First of all, that feels a little bit suspicious. Like a little suss that you'd see a shadowy ball of, like, it feels like somebody in the corner has a flashlight and it's going like, ooh-hoo-hoo with their fingers. It does just feel like a, like, if you're looking at it, if you're thinking of just a shadow

of a ball of tentacles, that's just like a wig or something. That's what I, yeah, it's like your fingers are like you can make it up, like somebody's doing a shadow puppet. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. But it feels like you'd see a blob, and then you'd be like, oh, my God, it's tentacles. And it's like, hmm.

You're right. No. You know, that's just like the fireplace logs. I don't know. I just feel like, yeah, I agree with you. I mean, not that I should be just like shitting on this guy's observations. But it just feels like a stretch. Every time I'm sleeping in a new place, the shadows freak me out at night.

And like, especially if you're on edge. And going there, knowing that it's haunted. I mean, it could have been an octopus. It could have been like a plant, like a fern or something. know exactly either way for the story it could have been the stuffed octopus they keep in the corner that would be hysterical if the they'll be crazy we're just going to put that here next to this flashlight and see what happened well he ends up shooting at this thing cool um should have hit it if it's like just in his bedroom and he has a whole ass shotgun with him now was he shooting at the

shadow because it's like well if you're shooting at the shadow now that's like a question you should be shooting at what's casting the shadow but again now I'm getting a little um Uh, in the weeds, sorry. I, you're not asking questions. I've got a lot of questions. I haven't asked you to stop. You know what I'm saying? I know, but I think, I think maybe you're too nice to do that.

So, well, he shot it, he shot at something. He at least shot at the shadow, which is a great point that, like, that's not what you shoot at. That's not really how that works. Yeah. Unless it's like a shadow, like a shadow figure, you know. Another thing that's interesting to me is that he then just like went to sleep and then decided he would investigate in the morning. And I'm like, you weren't. scared to see if it was still alive.

Although I feel like you do hear that, right, of like the paranormal apathy or whatever. I forget who called it. I think Astonishing Legends talks about that a lot where people will write in and be like, I saw this like ridiculous thing and shadow person and then I just rolled over and went to sleep. Like it seems like a thing that happens at night.

Like people will. I mean, I've had that when I saw my grandpa. Yeah. But I don't know. If I had enough adrenaline to want to slay something. Fair enough. If you're shooting a gun, it feels a little bit like maybe that would kind of shake you out of your stupor.

I would really love to talk to a, like a psychologist if I had enough brain power and feeling to want to shoot something, but then to go to bed. That would be crazy. Yes, yes, I would agree with that. Yeah. So he shoots at this thing. He wakes up the next morning to go look for it and it's not there, which, duh, he had all night to get away. But also, maybe there was just nothing there to begin with.

Is there a bullet hole? Did they ever discuss that? or was it just like we don't even know? There was like bullet marks, but then you could say he was just shooting the wall. And also like other people were shooting in there before, so I don't know. Yeah, this is the third person with a gun. Jesus.

I mean, okay. And when asked about it later, I don't know what he went through. I don't know if he was like maybe totally freaked out. Maybe he was just doing it for the newspapers. But when asked about the house, he did say that it was, quote, supernaturally fatal to body and mind. Oh, supernaturally.

natural fatal, which if I, remember, remember when we wrote a book, remember in the back of one of them when we had to write like quotes or we were supposed to get quotes from other people and I was like, no, no, no, we'll just do it ourselves. Yeah, no, we were both supposed to get quotes and then you were like, I'll handle it. And I was like, thank God, because I don't feel like it. Well, I did something on the back of one of them where like it was a quote from Zach Begans, but it was like something he said like on his show and not directly about us or our book. Extremely good. I feel like I would do that again here with. Lord Littleton where like if we had to do another book and like the quote was supernaturally fatal to body and mind like that feels like the biggest compliment yeah I'd like thanks so much that's so kind so okay a few years after he's there a man and his daughters move in immediately day of the daughter's like what's that really bad smell oh no she actually said it was similar to like a zoo and like the animals hadn't been cleaned up lately oh okay so like like bad poop yeah um well a day later oh christian christine well the day the next day that same daughter's fiance was going to come to town as well and stay with them so the maid went upstairs to

fix up his room the haunted room of course of course and very soon after the family hears the maid screaming and horror from that room and they run up to find her on the floor repeating nonstop don't let it touch me oh ew i'm glad she's not dead i thought we were going to find another one and that was sad but wow that's dark she was in total shock she couldn't say what she saw she just kept saying don't let it touch me so they brought her to like a mental hospital and with an hour she was dead. No. Why did I say it? Why did I even go there? Well, the next day, the fiancé, like, was already probably on his, like, three-day organ trail trek to get here. Yeah, exactly. Oh, no. So he finally shows up and he's like, oh, my God, that's crazy. I can't be like, what did she find?

Let me go investigate and see what she saw. What an idiot? Go run a far away. Everybody run away. Well, so he goes up there by himself. Sure enough, the family hears him screaming. The story on some sources also said there were gunshots um but that could be getting mixed up with the other stories they find him upstairs dead and his face was quote depending on the source twisted in horror or contorted in fear hmm i think i would say those are probably similar yeah similar enough if not same so that's not like the fourth or fifth person in that room to die from freight yeah that's really not good news nowadays um it is an antique bookshop called mags brothers it is still said to be haunted to this day um employees have said

that um you know they've experienced some spooky stuff although the owner i don't know if he's just trying to like get away from the original lore of this but he's like oh there were ghosts but there of the authors connected to the books it's like yeah right okay well i'm sure he's just sick of filling in bullet holes in the walls. I mean, that's got to be really annoying. Imagine how much toothpaste that would take. Thank you for admitting what you used, because I knew it was not going to be the right material. Certainly not like the calk or whatever they call it that I refuse to say. They call it poppy cock, actually. Fill the walls with puppy culk. Unadulterated poppy cock. Oh, actually, that's pretty fun. I like

that. So anyway, he says the ghosts are connected to the books, which I guess if you're there, by yourself at night that you got to tell yourself something exactly and i like honestly i'm sure it's not not that either like i'm sure they're there too probably well the employees this is how haunted the place still is the second floor where all this or all the activity is employees are not allowed to go up to that entire floor even to use it as storage even the manager himself is not allowed to go up there it is prohibited by the police there is whoa Apparently I noticed either still on the wall or in the office or something, but there's a police report from the 1950s that bans anyone from going up there.

What the fuck? From the 1950s still. 1950s. So I don't know how tightly or loosely that rule is followed, but the employees do say like we are not allowed up there. Yeah, that's pretty nutty. Investigators, I guess, have been up there or have gone up to the floor at least and maybe not the room, I'm not sure.

But investigators have gone up there. They said that they haven't found much activity. However, 50 Berkeley Square is still called by many the most haunted house in London. And even my favorite, Harry Price, who was the Zach Bagan's before Zach Bagans, he back in the 1920s said that he looked into the place and he believed that it was a, quote, particularly nasty poltergeist that looked there. Oh, okay. I mean, I would believe that.

That sounds like what is happening. Yeah. And one article, I mean, it's literally just scaring people. Maybe he's just really good at it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. One article said that the walls of the house are found saturated with electric horror. Oh, that's beautiful. Okay, poetry.

Okay. And to this day, people, I'm assuming mainly employees, have reported that there are sounds of moving, dragging, and items throwing themselves upstairs. apparently on the main floor too you can hear dragging and things moving themselves around you hear knocking upstairs you smell strange smells there's moving mists the doors and windows will slam themselves open and shut oof people hear old bells ringing even though the bell is no longer there oh the like little servant bell oh and that landlord probably can still hear it in his dreams well he's definitely dead by now but like his great grandson can oh god yes for sure people hear screaming

upstairs, crying upstairs, footsteps banging around upstairs. They've apparently seen items throw themselves out of the window. Oh my God, like the girl. Oh, no. And the guy. Oh, wait. Hold on. The guy also, they said, was thrown out the window, Edward. Yeah. Or potentially. One of the stories, right?

Also, that confirms that there are items upstairs still, and they're just like chucking up. It's like, if you're not going to come up here and clean this place up, I'll do it. Good point. Like, get this shit out of my house. Yeah. People in older period clothing. have been seen standing in the windows. I hope they're not trapped there. That sounds dark.

Yeah, I mean, that's a good point. But I guess if the windows opened and closing, at least they're getting some fresh air. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, I use their gun to prop it open for a bit. Yeah. Thank God one of the haunts here, nobody hears a fucking gun just going off.

That would be extremely upsetting if that were like a constant, yeah. Do you imagine if that was the way your house haunts you is that you just hear random gun violence? I wonder if that's a thing. Because I feel like you hear other, like, people hear car crash repeating or, like, people falling. I wonder if that's ever anywhere. Like, is that a thing in, like, Gettysburg or something?

Do you people hear gunshots? Oh, yeah. Well, I've also, I've heard. And cannonballs I've heard. Yeah. It's funny you mention that. Because I was going to say, I think I only ever hear about that on, like, battlefields. Like battlefields, right.

I grew up on. Maybe it's because there's so much of it. I grew up on an old battlefield. And everyone was always saying, oh, I heard a gunshot. I heard a gunshot. But also, we live in Virginia. Bragg. Yeah, quick flexing.

I lived in downtown Cincinnati. I heard many gunshots. Yeah, so it's like, I can't tell if that's real or someone was just like shooting in their backyard. It's another day. Anyway, the main thing people know this house for is that people go temporarily insane and then die from fear.

That's like extremely upsetting to me. And the most scary part, of course, is the thing, the nameless thing. Of course. Again, is maybe a shadow person, maybe an octopus we don't know maybe a mist nobody knows uh this thing this nameless thing i'll end on this but one paper actually described the thing as a vile phantasmagorical killer from beyond the grave oh my god who's writing this shit this is amazing we need to bring back critical reading

skills and writing skills no for real phantasmagoric are you kidding me SAT much like the fact that someone just threw that out of their brain but like people these days can't tell the difference between there they're there i know it's like i'm really impressed i'm inspired really oh well uh anyway that's the nameless thing of berkeley square that's honestly one of my favorites you've ever done i think really yeah i don't know why i didn't even know what was coming but something about a nameless thing i actually got quite frightened about it and people i mean that's that's that's scary. Wow. And I can't believe I've never heard of it. I feel like this deserves more attention, you know? I, you know, you got to thank the cryptos cards. I'm really thanking

them. Yeah. And when you said you went to Delaware, I was assuming this, I was assuming this was coming from Delaware, but no, just the cards were. That, you know, I should have done something from fucking Delaware, but no, I like, I like this. I like this one. This one's one of my new favorites, I think. Yeah, I love it. Yay. Well, I'm really excited because, I want to show you my ghost hunting apps that I used in Egypt and I was just going through them yesterday and I found like some fun stuff that I had captured at the like different spots. Yeah. So I thought during the intermission, I could play those.

Yeah. So if you want to hop on Patreon or I guess you can access it through podcasts, whatever podcast app you're on, we're going to do a little intermission yappy hour. But do you want to have a quick P break before that? Yes. Yay. Christine, it is almost January, which for me is doctor season. No. Say it ain't so.

It ain't so. So I guess it is so. And unfortunately, I've got a lot of things I got to do. I got to check my hearing. I've got to check my eyeballs. Got to check my what else. I have a lot of doctors coming up. And I don't know where to look.

Oh, wait. Yes, I do. I have to go to Zock. No, it's really amazing. Zock is a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in network doctors and click to. instantly book an appointment. They have, we've been using this for, I think, like 10 years or something, like 9, like a really long time. And nowadays, it's so much more robust even than it was then.

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all right everyone we just had the spookiest conversation with a ghost in my house and he said come over here and we said where and he said the window but if you want to see the rest you can go to our patreon and you can only imagine how the rest went yeah yeah and i cannot because i already forget otherwise i probably would tell you so anyway that was really creepy and fun and i love me some ghost tube. Okay. Now I'm going to tell you a story. This one is wild. This is the story of the disappearance of Robert Bobby Dunbar. Bobby Dunbar. Sounds like a little like a little kid from the 50s. Well, it's a kid born in 1908. Oh, but you're close. Okay. Um, so he's born May 23rd, 1908 to Lessee and Percy Dunbar of Opelousas, Louisiana. The Dunbar's were a respected

middle-class family. Percy, the dad, worked in real estate and insurance, and they were active in the Methodist Church. They had, like, quite a big community. And within the family, they had two sons. There was Bobby, who's the eldest. He was four years old and his younger brother, Alonzo. Okay. The boys were very close. They played a lot outdoors together. And this is where I tell you that the context of the family is important because one of the themes of the story is kind of how the media portrayed these people during a time of like great trauma in their lives and the other people affected. And the way that like the media framed missing children's stories back then is really alarming and probably showcases some of the similar issues we have today with like

who gets media attention when they go missing and right, you know, that kind of thing. And so we're going to get forward here to 1912. It's August 23rd, 1912. The Dunbar's are taking a summer trip to Swayze Lake, which is a swampy alligator-filled area in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. Why are we vacationing there? Because we live in Louisiana. I have no idea. You know, I would love, you really did just spark something in me, speaking of my ADHD rabbit holes. I can't wait later to go waste time looking up where people used to vacation in 1912. Isn't that interesting? Because if you didn't have an amusement park, where would you vacation just to like...

Well, I'm reading the book The God of the Woods, or I think it's called God of the Woods, and it talks about people, like, well-to-do people vacationing in the Adirondacks back in the day. So apparently that was a thing. About that, I understand. Yeah. So I'm sure there are those, like, pockets. But yeah, I guess they were out. And they were just camping, so it wasn't like they were, like, on some destination, you know, vacation. But I feel like I did, I just told a lot about, about myself when I was like,

what would you possibly have to do out there without an amusement part? Without like constant stimulation and gift shops everywhere? 100%. Where would I get all my pins and stickers? That would be so tragic. Like in 1912, I would have so much more money. Oh, we'd be rich, I know, because we wouldn't spend all our money on fucking chotchkes. Okay, so they're in this rustic area, very thickly wooded, swamp land, marshland alligators.

On August 23rd, the adults are preparing lunch and four-year-old Bobby wanders off from camp. Different accounts differ. Can you believe it? Accounts differ slightly, but most say he was playing near the water's edge with other children when he vanished. When his family realized they were missing,

they, of course, panicked. They start searching immediately. They find muddy footprints leading away from the lake, reportedly toward a nearby railroad trestle, suggesting he may have walked off rather than drowned. So despite days of searching, they find no sign of poor Bobby. They find not a single piece of clothing, no footprints beyond just the railroad trestle, no remains, nothing. Most people at this point were speculating that, of course, alligators are quicksand, which unfortunately are big problems there, had claimed this little boy if he wandered off. But because of the foot

prints that they found leading to the railroad some people speculated that you know a somebody passing through may have abducted him okay so over the following week searchers dragged the lake they actually used dynamite in the lake to like displace the water and look for remains feels like 1912 yeah i understand but it also feels a little wily coyote of like big time they dropped a huge anvil in the middle of the pond like like and and a big piano too a big piano fell out of the sky well no because i you would think like what if he's still alive and now you've just dynamited him you know exactly and my thought was like well i guess if you're trying to displace the water sure he's probably you know it's probably too late anyhow um they did find remains but only of a deer

so not of any human um and so i don't know if the water like splashed up and then splash down i don't know if you had to like wait for it to fill back up it does feel like it should all go and then just like splash right exactly like not a drop missing and almost every fish goes with it and then like lands exactly where it was you know like it feels like a cartoon to dynamite the fucking swamp land but they did that they did they did they did a lot looking for this little kid they looked in local cabins outbuildings anywhere where he may have like wandered to but they found not a single trace of him um they even actually took his so he was wearing this straw hat and they took like the exact same type of straw hat and put it on the water to see if

it would sink because they were thinking like oh well if he had drowned you know would this hat have floated and the hat floated for hours and hours and they thought like that's kind of when they determined like oh there's a chance he wandered away because we probably would have found the hat um you know I don't know what the case is with an alligator I mean honestly I don't know much about how they attack. That's a great point. I probably forgot about the alligators for a second. But that, you know, it makes you really appreciate the science we have today because they

literally had to go on a guess based on whether or not a hat could float. Yes, I know. I know. Maybe he's walking somewhere now. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of crazy. Like they were doing all sorts of like, it feels very rudimentary like tests, you know?

Like it does give me a little less respect for detectives back in the day because I'm like everyone was just guessing shit you just yeah and also it's sort of like well you're floating a hat around but like that doesn't prove anything like but you're the inspector in town like yeah it's like if if it sinks okay but you just you're going to also dynamite the water and not find it like i just don't really understand but i guess it's a cheap test if you're going to do a test to put a straw hat in the water i guess but it just seems a little bit strange to me as well um The Dunbar's offered a $6,000 reward, which today, just to give you an idea, is, drum roll, please, $200,000, $397. So up front offered for their child's safe return.

And this is when newspapers really caught on and started spreading the story. Sure. The case quickly became very public, very dramatic. it was about you know they focused on the parents and their devotion and their their loss and all the steps they were taking to get their boy back reports centered heavily on lessee's grief and you know they were like writing everything in this fanciful language like oh she faints over herself you know like i'm sure they were making it sound extra dramatic sure but they were really like milking this story as far as not the not the family but the newspapers um about lessee's grief the mother's grief um also I imagine as a business they were probably thinking like if they've got this kind of money we want to do everything we can to look like we were certainly you know helping or trying to get the story out there but they're not even that rich it's sort of like they had like they were like middle class folks I mean they weren't like they were clearly well off enough to be offering a shit ton of money to the public but I think like it was more like the all American angle like these all American people they're just like you and they're going through this horror can you imagine what this is like which you know people of course like ate it up right like I mean any sort of like if you think like um I mean any of the cases nowadays where people get fixated and follow and a lot of them

are huge because it's like people that look like you or you know somebody where you think I can't believe this happened to that person and that's kind of the angle they run with so the newspapers start sharing all the information about the family and the boy being missing and people all over the nation started to get invested. This went on for eight months and the family lived in this like grief-stricken limbo. Lesi reportedly suffered severe depression. Percy threw himself 100% to his work and searching for his son. And we fast forward those eight months and we're in April of 1913.

Okay. Authorities in Columbia, Mississippi, arrest a man named William Cantwell Walters. He's a 35-year-old traveling piano tuner. Yep. Other sources listed his occupation as tinkerer. It sound about the same to me as well. Correct.

I would give anything to be a tinkerer, professional tinkerers. I literally was like trying to figure out your exact quote in response to that. And it was, I wish I were a tinkerer. fucking job okay yeah and so that was his uh his whole deal but the reason he was arrested is that he had been moving between towns with a small boy that wasn't his oh okay got it and uh this small boy people around town generally like gave it a pass because i guess that's just what you did back then but when he was caught publicly whipping the boy oh several towns folks several towns folks several towns folk got together and said, we got to get this guy looked at. And they also noticed the similarity

because this was such a sensational story between the little boy and Bobby Dunbar, who was missing. So for decades, men have just had this blind confidence then, huh? They're like, oh, I can steal a kid and whip him publicly and no one will notice. Are you kidding me? Well, just wait. So locals, of course, looked at this and said, we got to get him turned in. They notified authorities. But Walters maintained that the boy was not Bobby Dunbar, but actually Bruce Anderson. They said, who's Bruce Anderson? He said, oh, he's the illegitimate, quote unquote, son of Julia Anderson, a field hand and former caretaker from North Carolina. He said, no, no, no, Julia Anderson told me I could take Bruce while she looked for work and that he was actually returning to her with

her son when he was detained. Okay. Now, this is like, wild because all of a sudden you have this discovery of this little boy with this dude, this tinkerer slash traveling piano tuner and this woman who's supposedly the mother of this child, Bruce Anderson, who works as a field hand. And so like you immediately see the class disparity of the working class family that was arrested and accused of like taking this boy and then, you know, the Dunbar's who are at home in their Methodist community, like grieving publicly, and people started to immediately kind of, how should I say it? People started to classify them as sort of villain and good guy,

you know, just based on kind of their morality of their existence and how much money they had and what they did for a living. So Walters, of course, was a working class man. living on the road and they immediately made him sound suspicious as hell, although he was traveling with a small boy and whipping him, so I don't think it took much for them to convince anybody as far as I'm concerned. And then, you know, the more affluent Dunbar's were treated as like these trustworthy heroic people. The child was placed in custody while the Dunbar's were contacted

that they may have found Bobby, their son. Percy and Lessie, of course, immediately traveled to Mississippi to view the boy. Now, this is where early newspaper reports conflicted. because some said the boy ran into his mother's arms, crying mother, while others noted he seemed frightened and confused and even pulled away from her. Oh shit. Okay. Two very different stories. We don't even know. Like, I mean, I hate that about the old reporting. It's like, okay, I get that you want to sell papers, but like fucking tell me what happened. Not like what you made up in your head. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's crazy making. The next day, Lesse spent more time with the boy and she gave him a bath and he had been like completely filthy. And she gave him a bath and she said immediately she recognized his moles, his, the scar on his foot. And she apparently shouted, this is my son and fainted, at least according to the sources. But you know, differing accounts are different.

Differing accounts are different as a wise person once said. So, of course, everybody celebrated. They're saying, oh, my God, the Dunbar's finally found their home. we like a miracle upon miracles um the boy came home to opalusus where at parade banners and church bells welcomed his return they had a big parade in the street and he had to sit on the top of like a car and right around town um there was also of course this like uh social narrative going on right that like this is justice and um these dirty poor people took this little boy from his special family but now let's throw him a parade

Right. So they bring him home. And upon returning home, they tried to help the boy adjust. In doing so, they bought him a pony and a bicycle. That's how my mom also handles things. I know. I love that. That's why I love all my chachis now because they feel like, love. It fills your heart. Truly, it's like, oh, let's like really like, let's give him some calm peace after a really rough time. Here's a horse. Here's a pony. Ride it around. You're four. it's like back up like I need a nap and maybe like an apple you know I need a psychiatrist to please talk to me about what I've been going through because I almost got eaten by an alligator you blew up a whole swamp to look for me I mean it's like the drama here my mom is passing out when I'm in the bath I'm sitting on cars and a big float and I have a pony I mean it feels like a movie and so they bought him this pony and bicycle and I love some of the sources said this was viewed as an extravagant extravagant gift for now and I mean it feels like a movie and 1913. I go, it's probably less extravagant to give someone a horse back of them than it is now, like a four-year-old. Part of me literally was like, oh, is that just like his like a normal thing? He's a man now. Here's a horse. You know? Yeah, but no, apparently like, even back then, it was quite an extravagant purchase. So family members later said these gestures helped him settle and, you know, kind of warm him back up to calling Lessee and Percy Mama and Papa.

These rewards and the affection and stability they represented may have strengthened his identity as Bobby Dunbar. And later historians have pointed to this as an example of how, like, social reinforcement and comfort can shape a child's sense of self. So after the Dunbar's brought the boy home, newspapers nationwide celebrated the return. They praised the perseverance of his parents. And the tone toward Julie Anderson, unfortunately, was scathing and dismissive from the start. And this was the woman who claimed that this was a woman that this traveling tinkerer claimed was the actual mother of the boy he was with. I see. Okay.

So Julia Anderson, the farm hand or the field hand, she learned about the Bobby Dunbar discovery through press reports in Mississippi and Louisiana. She immediately recognized details matching her missing son, Bruce. Fuck. This was a boy she had entrusted to one William Cantwell Walters. a piano tuner slash tinkerer she knew through her employer's family. Okay, so she is, like, confirming his alibi, this guy where he's like... Correct. Okay.

Julia told reporters she had allowed Walters to take Bruce with him for a short trip so the child could see parts of the region, and that Walters had written her once or twice afterward. When months passed without further contact, she assumed he had returned to Mississippi with the boy and was waiting to see him again, not realizing the pair were being soft. for kidnapping. When she saw the news of Walter's arrest, she stated plainly, that boy is mine.

I let Mr. Walters take him because he was fond of him, and I knew he would treat him kindly. Clearly that didn't happen. Just whipping him publicly. Yeah. With little money, Julia accepted financial help from a newspaper who paid for her to travel to Opelousas, Louisiana, to see the child.

Upon arrival, she faced an immediate disadvantage. Here's why. Reporters described her as a, quote, plain woman, ignorant, and unrefined. Someone actually called her, like, a big, burly woman, just, like, really, like, unnecessary commentary. Oh, my God. It's just, like, she's not much to write home about it. Yeah, like, she's a rough one, you know? I mean, it's like, okay, she works in a fucking field.

I'd like you to see you do that. Right, right, right. The local authorities to kind of test her brought her. brought her five small boys and she was meant to pick which one was her son this is already like so traumatic what a weird little guessing game it's like she's gonna know which one's our fucking kid

so here's the thing though she hadn't seen him in a long time right because he's been traveling around with this other man and she'd not seen him in nearly a year and this was a her son was four so this was like a three year old to a four year old and the boys were all roughly the same age and roughly looked alike

so everyone's watching her putting this pressure on her she's completely over overwhelmed, and she reportedly said, I can't be sure right now. It's been so long. Now, this hesitation, of course, people immediately jumped on. It was portrayed as proof that she was lying or was delusional. And the next day, after she was able to spend time with the boy privately, she felt this flood of relief and said, okay, it is my son, Bruce. I've found him. She insisted to the court and to reporters that the child recognized her and that he had a small birthmark on his neck that she could identify. But despite her insistence, the public had already turned on her and the press instead framed her as morally suspect emphasizing that she was unmarried had multiple

Oh yeah, multiple children and they basically contrasted her with the respectable church going Lessie Dunbar and said, well who do you think should be the mother of this boy? I thought you were going to say that they had already turned on her because of the fair argument

to me that like you haven't seen your kid in a year and that's all it takes for you to not know what your fucking kid looks like. But remember, Lessie said she didn't know until she gave him a bath. That's true. Both of them needed a second. So, yeah. You know, because she also said, like, she wasn't sure and then gave him a bath and said, like,

oh, wow, it is him, you know. So I still, I expected that to be a reason before. Well, she's unmarried and has other kids. It's like, what? Oh, yeah. It has nothing to do with that. Not nothing, but it definitely wasn't part of that. I also, I'm so mad at myself.

I meant to mention this earlier and it's not going to come up again and I can't find a place to put it. So I'm going to say it now. But remember when I said they were like doing all this crazy shit to search for the boy? I completely forgot to mention that they started killing alligators and cutting them open to check. Oh, my God. I meant to mention that with the whole hat thing. They were literally cutting open alligators to see if an alligator had eaten this little boy.

Just side note. again insanity today but in 1912 like some fucking swamp uh what do you call it like vigilante shit it's some weird duck dynasty yes yes yes also like there are more than there's more than like 10 alligators like now you're just killing for no like i mean good luck you're gonna find the exact alligator that may be killed it's for sure an excuse to hunt for alligators right yeah i don't know i don't know it's just wild it's just wild let's just say Robert Irwin is pissed. Yeah, that's not nice.

Okay. Yeah. Robert Irwin would not be pleased. So let me go back down because I just remember that that I never mentioned it. And I had a devastating moment of realization. Okay. So they say, you know, she's unmarried and has multiple children with multiple people. Therefore, she cannot be trusted and should not be acknowledged or listen to.

So. And just as an example, because, you know, she was so morally suspect, I watched a BuzzFeed Unsolved. If this sounds familiar to anyone, it was a BuzzFeed Unsolved video seven years ago. And they put the, like a, like a quote from an article in newspaper article back then in New Orleans. Here it is. About Julia Anderson. Okay. She had not seen her son since February of 1912. she had forgotten him animals don't forget but this big coarse country woman several times a mother she forgot shut the fuck up that's insane are you kidding me saying that she's that a random animal is

better than her yeah a coarse country what did you call it was it this big coarse country woman several times a mother like fuck you sometimes i'm sometimes i forget how fucking cruel and evil people are. People are nasty, dude. It's moments, you know, I, you know, again, another thing to have gratitude for is like, very fucking slowly, but surely pretty privilege is becoming recognized. Right. But wow, like the, to just know back then, like, well, if you weren't married, you're fucking

quasi-modo over here. Like, you're just disgust-to, yuck. oh my god you're you're a giant piece of trash and you don't deserve your own child back yeah just because i don't like how plain you look um i'm pretty sure can't you smile and be hot like that other lady i mean jesus i like looking at cows more than you like yeah and they're better mothers than you anyway what it's so fucking it's just absolutely that's so fucking evil it's evil like have some fucking humanity have like a shred of respect you piece of shit like what is wrong with you i can't and you know some plain ass man was writing it too like would you literally feel good about i mean i guess because

you're just fucking blatantly saying it and putting your name on it i think they were just used to it like i don't even know if people like this kind of conversation they're like oh yep i think i mean i know like it was certainly like an insult at the time like it was still like it's still hurt her feelings but like i think because we are so far removed for from that being okay at this point. I feel like it's more jarring to us and it probably even was to her, you know? Like she's probably like, of course that's how it's going to go.

You know, like that's how people treat me. I'm a country animal or some shit like that. Yeah, I'm sure that's how you're all going to talk about me. I, did you, did you ever, um, did you ever get the, the quote said to you from your mother? Probably. Boys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, she didn't say that because she didn't say that because she,

didn't know idioms but she basically said some other things that were along those lines it was said and i remember thinking like i knew i knew yeah first of all thank god i'll keep wearing them um get me two pairs second of all i i should have known there was a feminist bone in my body from day one because as soon as she said that i went that feels fucked up and you're not even noticing is weird to me yeah so i say all that to think like i wonder if they even noticed that saying things like that was so out of control, stupid. Or if it was just like, oh, but she is, so why not report the news? And it's like, well, no, yeah, that's not, that's, yeah, okay.

Crazy. Crazy, really. So this clash now between these two women, which has become almost like a culture, culture clash, one was wealthy, married, socially accepted, or wealthy, you know, adjacent, like, well-to-do, married and socially accepted. The other was poor, unmarried, working class. This became a reflection of, like, gender. hierarchy class hierarchy, um, rather than like, whose child is this actually? So Julia returned to

Mississippi devastated after the court ruled that the boy would stay in Opelousis, uh, as Bobby Dunbar. She later said, quote, I knew in my heart that boy was mine, but I was just a poor working woman. I had no lawyer, no money and nobody would listen. I mean, it's like a nightmare, like a real life nightmare. So she just had to like go home in her, and uh, I'm assuming this, is this actually her kid do we know that for sure or we just still will never know i know but you well i don't know actually but we get some more clarity later well i mean i just i can't the fact that currently the story is ending with like if she's believing this is her child and she has to go home she just give her kid and give it just to a different family yeah and just be like i hope that they treat him

better than i could because i'm big that fucking cow yeah i guess so right like they all told I probably wear glasses. I don't know. Yeah. She ended up essentially passing this story along. She later had more children. I'll tell you in a moment, but she basically maintained her entire life that that was her son. Okay.

So Walter's trial, the guy who, the tinkerer, his trial the following year, offered her a brief chance to testify again. And when she did, she testified that this was her child. she gave his child to this guy to take on a trip or whatever so he could like see a little of the world she'd never given him up permanently walters had taken him with her permission and was bringing him back several witnesses corroborated seeing walters and the boy together long before bobby dunbar even disappeared but the court said we actually like the other narrative better and it sounds better so we're going to go with that after walter's conviction which was later overturned julia settled in poplarville Mississippi. She married. She raised additional children, but she continued for the rest of her life to

tell family members that her son Bruce had been taken, kidnapped, and renamed. And her descendants would pass that belief down for generations. So for generations, she said, if someone kidnapped my son and took him. And you must have already said this and I'm just blanking or I didn't hear it or something. But has no one just asked this kid, which one's your mom? So he was just in shock, I think and being four, I think he was so overwhelmed when these, you know, he'd been away from if it was, if he was Bobby Dunbar, he'd been abducted and taken on this like crazy, you know, and this person is physically abusing him. And like, you know, four sounds like a kid, but like Leona's four. And I'm like, I don't think she would, I mean, she would recognize me, I assume, but like,

there's just an element of like, I think they bombarded this kid with this like, and some people argue well this one family is giving him a pony and a bicycle and saying like i'm your mom call me mom and like i'm not saying oh this kid said i want another bike i'm going to stay here but like think about if you had been traveling for a year with a man who whipped you and did god knows what else and now you feel safe and now you're at least with someone who loves you and calls you her son you know like and then probably the confusion of like seeing if that was his real mom you know i mean so that's kind of where was kind of just in shocked silence as far as the newspapers said like and we're also forgetting that somebody's missing their fucking kid correct there's still a missing kid out there but now that

they've decided it's not the dunbar's nobody really cares you know oh my god yeah so the boy raised his bobby dunbar grew up believing he was a dunbar son he married had children lived out his life in louisiana and died in 1966 family members described him as gentle but reserved and And some recalled a lingering sense that something wasn't right about the story of his big return home to opuluses. Julia Anderson, meanwhile, living in Mississippi, often spoke of her lost child Bruce and maintained her belief that he had been wrongly taken from her. It became part of her family's history to this day. And this case has lingered in local memories, both a miracle and a tragedy. Like you said, either way, it's devastating.

somebody lost their child one way or another. And now we fast forward to the year 2004. So in 2004, Bobby Dunbar's granddaughter, Margaret Dunbar Cutright decided she wanted to dig into her family's history. And although some people in the family were a little opposed to it saying things like, well, what good would it do? Let's leave it in the past. I'm like, fuck no. Find out the truth and like deal with it, you know? Either way, if it's trying to.

magic is trout you know just come on let's let's find out the truth and i i have zero chill for that kind of thing so that i would have give that caveat but so she decided to she found a scrapbook and it had all these like crazy uh pictures and cutouts and things and she started piecing everything together i mean you and i know like the the sick like hold this could take over you yeah oh yeah and so she starts digging and of course is immediately drawn to finding out this story and when it's presented to her, hey, how about you do a DNA test? She says, let's do it. So she agreed or so she gets Bobby's younger brother, Alonzo, to agree to a DNA test to see if it matches. And they got Bobby Dunbar's son to give the other sample to see if they were brothers, if they had been

related. The results proved definitively that the boy raised as Bobby Dunbar was not an Iyota biologically related to the Dunbar family. Not a one. Meanwhile, Julia's over there going, could have told you that. Yep. Could have told you been over here telling you that this whole time. The discovery validated Julia Anderson's claim nearly a century later and forced both families to reexamine their histories. For the Dunbar's, of course, it meant acknowledging that their grief may have led them to kind of accept this alternate identity, this mistaken identity and just cling to it.

And for the Andersons, it was some vindication. and closure, but also confirmation that, like, yes, we were right to have believed that our son was taken or our ancestor was taken. Yeah, I was going to say, in the grand scheme of like a butterfly effect, like your whole family line is where it is today because someone got taken. Yeah, you even heard the granddaughter, her middle name still Dunbar, right? Like, it's clearly part of the family. But also, I want to say, too, like, they've never, I want to be clear that they've never

tested the Anderson's DNA with his. So, you know, I can't definitively say, oh, this is Bruce Anderson. He was Bruce Anderson this whole time, although that's kind of what people have gleaned from this story. Sure. But at the very least, it was certainly not actually Bobby Dunbar. And when Bobby Dunbar's son talked about, like, oh, I would ask my dad, like, about his disappearance and stuff and what it was like.

And apparently once he seemed to recall another little boy being with him. oh shit and dying like that he was with this other little boy and that tinkerer guy and he said the other kid died and some people think like maybe this is how he fell into this role to begin with that he was like i guess i'm bobby dunbar now like this traumatic event and you know leads up to this new family and when bobby dunbar's son asked him once they were out fishing or something uh like hey are you really bobby dunbar do you know do you have any questions questions about it he said i know who i am and i know who you are and nothing else makes a difference and his son was like okay hey hey the whole world wants to know like what's going on yeah okay okay

sure sure i hear you which like if he knew or like i don't think he must necessarily knew i feel like maybe it was something deep down where he just felt like something was off yeah maybe because i mean four is so little i barely remember that age you know and like if you had been convinced into something and then just told your whole life that it was true i feel like you would have a hard time like differentiating truth and fiction a little bit i can totally understand that as like a human to human but at the same time it's the most fucking dad answer when there's a massive mystery that you may or may not have the information on and you just give us a vague little token and i'm like but i love that that was the dad so that was a grandpa and his son and then the daughter was born and was

like fuck that I'm finding out give me your DNA and I was like that that makes me so happy women in stem in their living rooms on the computer oh my gosh uh yeah so it's really really wild um not a genetic match at all not biologically related at all um so today historians and journalists interpret this case as a study in collective belief collective denial like wanting to believe a narrative of wanting to believe a story because it just feels better. It sounds better to your own mind. And they didn't want to admit to themselves that like maybe they were taking a child from an actual mother, you know, so they dehumanized her, made her less than an animal.

It's just like all very obvious with hindsight, but still, it's kind of, you know, shocking still. Yeah. So the community, they wanted this parade, this happy ending. They wanted the grieving family to have closure. The family, of course, wanted that their son back. and the society was then media was predisposed to trust privilege you know over poverty and so yeah you see that and like even how we talked a lot about this but like how affection environment can shape your identity the fact that bobby was basically like cornered into being bobby whether he liked it or

not um yeah and obviously he had a happy i mean not obviously but according to sources he had a very happy and chill fulfilling life um but at the same time it's just like amazing how he just stepped into a new life, a new family. And, you know, didn't even know, uh, really wild, really wild. So, and we still don't know what happened to actual Bobby Dunbar, which is also so crazy. I mean, like, we don't know. It's two missing cases in one, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Wow. And very rarely do you tell a mystery where even the main character doesn't know what's going on. Hey, that's a really good point. And I don't know if I've ever told one like that where it's like, No. Like, it seems like I would argue, I think every person in this, it doesn't have an answer. Like, usually, at least somebody's hiding something.

And maybe in this story, maybe someone's hiding something. But it sounds like everyone was equally confused and just wanted to figure it out. Yeah, it sounds like everyone was desperate for their own truth to be true, right? Like, oh, it's terrible. But yeah, so that's my story for the day. Wow. It's a great story. I mean, it's a bad story.

Well, thanks. But, you know, you've told it well. I appreciate it. All right. Well, is it still snowing outside? It's not snowing, but there's a nice little layer of snow on the ground and on the trees. And I have to pack for Hawaii. So I have to dig out some...

Dresses? Yeah, I don't know. Like, I don't even know what to wear. Are you going to go, like, swimming and stuff? Like, is this the whole week where you're doing all wedding stuff? Or are you getting, like, days to have a vacay? So I get to see my friend Gina on Wednesday. I met her in Hawaii.

I'm really excited and she lives there. And then I get to the wedding is on Thursday and there's a rum safari. And then on Friday there's a luau. And then on Saturday there's like a tubing, like a lazy river style tubing. Cool. It'll be really fun. I'm excited. Well, good luck.

Good luck with your wallet, by the way, because the Chachis would be insane. Oh, yeah. Well, don't worry. My sticker book will be. I'm telling you. Now that you know, I'm telling you, nothing has given me more peace than a fucking sticker book recently, it will change you. And now that you know that, you have justification to go buy more stickers. Yeah. And honestly, that is all I needed. I needed one little justification. And thank you for giving it to me. You are welcome. All right. Well, see everybody next week when you're back from Hawaii and can give us an update on that rum safari.

And that's why we... Drink.