And That's Why We Drink - Listener Stories: Vol. 118 featuring. Amy Bruni
Episode Date: August 1, 2026August is here and we’ve manifested an amazing guest to join us for a batch of Estes Method stories. Host of one of our favorite shows, Kindred Spirits, and Haunted Road Podcast - Amy Bruni! In betw...een tales of flirty ghosts in Gettysburg and homophobic spirits in Waverly Hills, we hear some wild stories from Amy’s investigations and share a few of our own. And will someone tell the raccoons to stop crashing paranormal investigations?! …and that’s why we drink!Check out more from Amy on her website https://amybruni.com/ or on socials @AmyBruni.Want to make some Shrimp Wiggle for your friends? Grab Amy’s newest book Cuisine to Kill For out now! Check your favorite indie bookstore or any of the major book sellers!___________________Explore coverage at https://www.aspcapetinsurance.com/DRINK . The ASPCA® is not an insurer and is not engaged in the business of insuranceDon't Get Angry, Get Orchard near you—visit https://angryorchard.com/ and use the cider locator to find Angry Orchard near you. #adJoin Wayfair Rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase—shop now at https://wayfair.com .Go to https://helixsleep.com/drink for the latest offer: 27% off sitewide Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hello, it's Emma and Christine.
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Welcome everyone to a very exciting listeners episode.
We have a very special guest and we have talked about her a lot on the show.
Yeah, I feel like we sort of manifest it, you know, like summoned.
It's kind of like probably a startling thing to say to your guests.
Our hopes have come true.
But we have Amy Bruney on.
She is the co-star and executive producer on Travel Channel's Kindred Spirits, which if you've
been listening to the show at all, we've talked a lot about Kindred Spirits.
Anytime I've covered a paranormal case and that show has come up at all.
We've discussed in depth what you're capable of.
It blows my mind every time.
She's also the owner of Strange Encounters, which is a paranormal excursion company, which is very cool.
She's also the host of IHeart's Haunted Road.
She's written a few books, Life with the Afterlife, which is 13 lessons I learned about ghosts.
And then I don't know how you could get any cooler after talking about the paranormal.
but you also decided to throw food in there with another book called Food to Die for,
which came out a couple years ago.
And now as of when this episode comes out, your book, your most recent book,
cuisine to kill for, which is the true crime version of that cookbook, just came out.
So I hope you're, when this comes out, I hope you're celebrating appropriately.
But thank you so much for being here.
Oh, my gosh.
Thank you for having me.
I can't believe it's taken this long, but I'm so thrilled to meet you both.
This is so exciting.
So, yeah.
Also, I follow you on threads too.
That's so random.
But I follow you on threads.
You're like,
I love your content there too.
You're just,
um,
all around a cool guest to have on.
And we've,
I do feel like,
yeah,
we've brought,
I mean,
we also bring up Zach Baines a lot.
So we bring up a lot of people.
But I feel like you,
we always bring up in a very,
um,
a much more generous light,
let's say,
uh,
and leave it at that.
Um, anyway,
our producer Eva,
who is,
um,
glaringly absent,
uh,
today,
um,
feel better.
Eva has handpicked some special stories for us today that that have to do specifically with the Estes method because the Estes method holds a very special place in M's in my heart. But that all began because I learned about it through watching Amy and then, you know, went through the history and all that.
Sorry, I'm not to talk about you while you're right here, but Amy's the reason that you know what the Sest method is.
Literally, yes. Get out, Christine. I know. Isn't that weird? It's so full circle.
Amy's like, help. I don't know. I didn't agree to any of it.
whatever's happening here. I'm glad that that worked. I mean, we were actually like, it's weird because
we weren't the first ones to do it by any stretch. We were the first ones to do it on TV before it even
had a name. So we just called it the spirit box experiment because it was. And then the guys were like,
we're going to name it. And I'm like, well, we've been doing this now for like three years on the show.
And I can't just suddenly be like, we're calling this the Estes method. You can just like overlay like
Estes method robotic voice into. Yeah.
Well, I had no idea. So we've, I've, I've been an investigator for now like over 10 years. And Christine and I have gone on an investigation since 2018 or 2019 together. And I think I would argue that the Estes method, when Christine suggested we do that was, I mean, easily some of the best material we've ever, ever gotten was through the estes method.
Like the best clarity, the best like understanding of what was happening in a place, the most like connect the dots experience.
Yeah, it was, it really changed the game for us. Yeah. So we yeah, so as a Christy, I just, I interrupted you. So I'll finish for you. But, um, so we decided to pick some Sys method stories for you that people sent in. But before we get into it, I would like to ask is, is that your favorite way to, to, to ghost hunt or to investigate? Or do you have like a favorite tactic? I mean, I adore it just because it is such a controlled method. Like, I know there's a lot of naysay.
out there. And the reality is that if you're watching people do it, you just have to take them for
their word, right? That they're hearing the answers to these questions and they're not hearing
the questions themselves. And so whenever there's people who kind of are skeptical of it,
I just say, try it. Just try it yourself, you know? But I love it because it just seems to give
the most kind of thorough answers, the most information that I can actually research.
If I dig into research of a location, you know, the Estes method has certainly led me down
paths that I would not have gone down otherwise without clues given that way.
So between that and just like good old fashioned EVP sessions, those are my two favorite things.
They are my go-toes for sure.
Yeah.
No, we've, Christine is shockingly good.
You know, it's so weird.
I'm sure you've had this experience too.
But anytime that I have been the one with the blindfold,
listening to the Spirit Box.
I can't, I feel like I can't do it at all.
Like, I just, I, I feel like I get nothing.
You did, you did it great.
I mean, at the Waley House, you were like, I'm on the stairs and we all almost
pete our pants.
Well, I mean, I feel like I got, like, I get every now and then I'll get like a, a real
winner like that.
But Christine is incredible.
Like, we've done it like far away from each other.
I mean, it, but it's, it blows my mind.
Are you usually someone who does the listening or do you ask the questions more?
I'm usually the listener, but I would say I do this more often with Adam than anyone else.
And it's very strange.
Sometimes we just know who's going to be better at it for that particular.
You know what I mean?
We'll just kind of be like the other night, we filmed a show last week and we were at a Mason's Lodge.
And, you know, obviously women aren't really supposed to be there.
So it was just instantly we're like, Adam, you do the.
Yeah, yeah, sure.
Sure. And so, and it worked really well. But so just kind of we take into account who it might work better for, but I feel like I'm, I feel like I hear it a little bit better than him. But I don't know your strikes. Yeah, maybe, maybe we're just, you know, gifted in the art of hearing and listening. I think that's what it is. I think it's really, you know, I, well, I'm like, severely ADHD. And so I hear everything that's going on around me all the time. Like I can't not.
And so I think that might be part of it, too.
Like, it's almost like eavesdropping on three different conversations.
Yeah.
Well, Em, I feel like that's why you should really be gifted at this, right?
Because M and I are both geminized and were very, extremely aged as well, you know,
and coming to grips with that as adults.
And so, yeah, I think, I think, M, you're, I think you're doubting your own abilities
because you did a great job when we did that.
I think the creepiest one, though, I think the reason you might be saying that is
because the creepiest time we ever did the S method,
as far as I'm concerned, was at Bobby Mackie's in the basement.
And somehow, Em got me, I was already like, I'm out of here, but M got me to be, you know, sensory deprived in the basement.
And that was one of the creepier because we also had, like, the paranormal music box, like, a far across the room, like, going off.
And, I mean, the whole aesthetic alone was terrible.
I mean, it certainly looked creepy on camera, but, and I don't know if you've had this experience.
Now this has just become like a swapping stories situation.
Sorry.
But at the Bobby Mackeys, I've actually never felt more peaceful, which everyone says
it's such a scary place.
But we were in the basement and room right next to the well.
And I felt like I was like really having like a friendly connection with them.
Like they were very wonderful and kind.
And like when I was like, okay, well, it's time to go.
They were all like, we'll miss you.
Like it was like very like sweet.
So I don't know.
I thought it was lovely.
but have you had any cases like that where when you're investigating at all whether or not it's
the estous method that you were like, this place isn't as bad as everyone's like.
It's just like so like sweet and homie haunting.
Well, Bobby Mackey's was one of them for sure.
Actually, that you mentioned that.
Like that's one I cite on the regular where I just heard so many terrible things about it.
Yes.
How crazy it was going to be.
And we got in there and I was like, kind of just want to hang out here.
Kind of want to ride the bowl.
You know, with their head the mechanical bowl.
I was like, this seems like a phone
place. Yeah, we loved it.
And then they bulldozed it like a week later after we went.
Oh, you're lucky you got in there.
We made it in.
I know.
We did see raccoons in the basement.
So we had our clear camera.
And there were a number of raccoons down there.
And I was like, are these the demons?
Like these might actually be the demons.
Oh my God.
They're setting off the fucking music box.
M.
Oh my God.
Imagine.
You have, that's so funny because within the same month of being at Bobby
Mackey's we were at the Sally House.
and the only thing we got there was raccoons.
And it ate my milkshake.
The raccoon literally, we literally caught it on camera.
We thought, oh my gosh, finally some activity.
And this raccoon like turns to the window and it's eaten all my sonic.
They're the ghosts we make along the way, the friends we make along the way.
And then what happens when they're ghosts?
Then you're like being haunted by ghost raccoons.
And then it's just a whole thing.
Oh, my God.
The cycle continues.
You're the one that's definitely more tuned in with that.
So let me know if you ever sense a raccoon near me.
Yeah, ghostruck.
I don't even know about a demon, but let me know if you, any wildlife.
Okay, the last thing I'm going to ask you before we get into telling you some of the listener's stories,
only because I don't think I've met anybody who has such a relatable experience to Christine and I,
because we also wrote books that were true crime and paranormal, but instead of cookbooks,
they were like a road atlas.
It was a travel guide.
And since you have now done a
Correct me from wrong,
but a paranormal cookbook and a true crime cookbook,
how did you pick your stories or was there a limit that you were told?
Because originally I was fighting for Christine and I
to do like an encyclopedia of every haunted location ever and they were like,
you can't do that.
We were told.
So how did you pick the cases that got into your books?
So, well, with cuisine to,
kill for. So that it's true crime hauntings, right? So there are still hauntings, but like they
have a true crime origin. There were some limits put on it in the sense that they didn't want me
to do like any freshies, as I call them. Like it didn't want anything to be super recent and
like controversial or anything. So most of them are very historic hauntings. And so that was kind of it.
And then I also, on that one, wanted to go international.
Because food to die for was all domestic.
And so for cuisine to kill for, I wanted to do, you know, places all over the globe.
Some of them I've not even been to.
And so it was just kind of like what interested me, what was like a really compelling story,
you know, what had like the most, you know, paranormal reports that were recent and constant.
I loved the ones that were really old.
And so it was, there were too many.
I had to even like leave out one of them that, you know, at the end we had way too many words.
And so it kind of pare down the list. Yeah. And so like Bobby Mackey's is one of them too,
not to go back to that. But like, you know, there's just there's a, it's a healthy mix of
domestic international and international locations, but all of them have some sort of true crime
story behind them. It just kept me interested. You know what I mean? Like I've been doing this
now for so long. I'm always trying to find something to keep me.
I want spooky to be my career forever. And so I'm always just trying to find something,
some spin that I can do that will keep me interested in it, but also keep people interested in
me, if that makes sense. Yeah, totally. Unfortunately, it makes complete sense. Very much so.
Fortunately and unfortunately, yes, it makes complete sense. Very relatable. Do you have any,
any favorite recipes that you discovered along the way that are in this cookbook coming up?
So many. So my, my, my,
My favorite recipe in the book is it's the baked scrod from the Omni Parker House in Boston, Massachusetts.
That's my favorite one.
It's like for cod.
Yeah.
I mean, cod is big here in New England.
Like people, it's on every menu.
And so that's what scrod is basically.
But with that recipe is just, I made it for the family a number of times.
But then the other one that was surprisingly really good.
And my daughter keeps asking me to make it again is called shrimp wiggle from.
What?
It's from Pennhurst Asylum.
So I was the way I found a recipe.
Oh, my God.
Imagine going to school and being like, oh, what did you guys have for dinner?
I had a shrimp wiggle.
No, it was from prison.
No, my mom made a prison food from Missile.
It was from Pennhurst Asylum.
Yeah.
So I found this recipe book.
So I found a historic account of the cafeteria at Pennhurst.
So Pennhurst was a dreadful place to be, right?
the history there is horrifying. And it was the first place in the United States where caregivers were
actually held criminally liable for their mistreatment and abuse of patients, which was, it changed
everything in the medical system here. So, but I found the cookbook that their cafeteria used to,
to pull recipes from. And I was just trying to find something that would be palatable, but also
kind of demonstrate what they ate every day.
And so I found this recipe for something called shrimp wiggle.
And it was for 50 people, because it's for institution, right?
50 people.
And there were 50 shrimp, which meant each person gets one shrimp.
That feels, I mean, no pun intended, that feels criminal.
If it's going to be a shrimp meal and you get one, what's the wiggle part that's feeding
the rest of them?
It's literally like, it's like almost a cream sauce with the shrimp.
cooked in it and then like frozen peas.
Okay.
And then you serve it over crackers.
Like I use this, you can do so.
They use probably saltines, but I use those like, uh, those snack stacks or whatever.
Those really buttery, really bad, very ones.
I use those.
Yeah.
And, um, and I eat more than one shrimp per person.
So, um, but I brought the recipe down to make it more, you know, family friendly.
But, uh, it's surprisingly good.
and yeah, but then there's, yeah, I always tell people those recipes.
Some of them are, most of them are delicious.
Some of them are very historic.
I see.
Wow.
You know, that really, M behind them right now has like several menus from the Warner Brothers lot from back in the day.
So we love like a vintage menu.
We are always discussing vintage menus.
It really is a good.
Probably know shrimp wiggle is on one of these old things.
It could be.
Honestly, we've seen weird.
There's probably a lot of gelatin up there.
Yep.
There's a lot of gelatin.
Yeah.
Well, I didn't mean to bombard you with too many questions.
But as if my two favorite things are already true crime, paranormal,
but you found a way to sneak my third favorite food in there.
So I had to ask.
Like vintage food and stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
Really good.
Same.
Well, the rumors are true, everybody.
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Well, okay, so should we get into the stories, Christine?
Let's do it before we just trap you here forever.
Okay.
M, would you like to go first because I'm still trying to find the stories?
Sure.
I absolutely can.
Thank you.
And so we'll tell the stories and then we can chat afterwards on, you know, your take on it.
All right.
Expert wisdom.
Yes.
So this first one is from Share.
and the title is,
they said,
what?
Estes Method story.
So, thank you,
Cher says,
I've been an avid listener
to your podcast for many years.
I actually was able to meet you
at your show in Denver.
Anyway, my pronouns are she hurt.
Thank you for normalizing pronouns.
And Cher says,
my friend and I started a podcast
called Spooky Dooky
where we visit haunted locations
in Wyoming,
because we're from Wyoming
and no one never talks about Wyoming
and it's super haunted.
We did the Estis Method
at a location called the Virginia Hotel in Medicine Bo, Wyoming, and we were the only ones there,
and we were locked in. Awesome start. The manager even told us to not let the ghosts bite.
Oh, gosh. I am a scaredy cat when it comes to ghosts, and my co-host does not believe in them.
So when we went upstairs on the third floor, which is said to be haunted by an old cowboy,
I was extremely afraid up there, and I have no idea why. I was almost to tease.
years. We went back down to the second floor where a child ghost and an employee are said to
haunt the place. And my co-host was under, was under the Estes method and said the word scared.
I asked, are you scared? And he said, no, you. I said,
I said, hell yeah, I'm scared. And he replied, I'm sorry.
Aw. After that, I felt a child size hand hold mine. It was a touching moment. It was a touching moment.
moment and I think the ghosts were saying they were sorry for scaring me, but I about pissed myself.
When I went under the Estes method, I heard a child laughing and a man telling the child to
speak. My co-hosts and I have other stories, but I think this is the most wholesome. Other stories I
have, we were cursed at and I was called a bitch. Old cowboy ghosts are rude and I think sexist.
I think. I'm not really sure, but I mean, I would hope so because that's, well, not hope so, but, you know,
Historically, it tracks.
It tracks.
It tracks.
Yeah.
Anyway, thank you, Cher.
I, yeah, that is very wholesome for a little kids to go, I'm sorry, I'm scaring you,
but have you had any sweet tender moments that either haven't been aired or you haven't
gotten to discuss before that meant something to you?
So many.
I think that's just the way I look at ghosts.
Like, that doesn't, that story doesn't surprise me at all because, you know, if you're in
the moment and you're investigating and you're having like an actual kind of back and fore,
as opposed to trying to get evidence than reacting when something happens.
Sometimes we forget when something happens, and I'm guilty of this,
you forget when something happens rather than engaging and furthering whatever that is.
You're like, oh my God, there's.
Really run away.
Yeah.
That was so crazy.
And like, you can't help it sometimes.
But I think when you really sit back and you do something like they did,
you kind of start having this meaningful interaction and taking stock of it,
I think greater things come from it.
And so I definitely had those moments.
I weirdly, when I was, so I have a 13-year-old daughter.
And we, when I was pregnant with her, I was investigating in an old jail, the old city jail, I think, or old jail in Charleston, South Carolina.
And I'm like, I pregnant.
I'm pregnant.
I investigated until I was like a thousand months pregnant.
And so I'm hobbling around this.
And I felt.
though like a child like hugged my legs at one point. There was this area of the jail where there
had been children who had passed away. Oh my gosh. And I think they knew that like I was a mom
or about to be a mom and I felt these like little arms like reach around my legs, you know.
So I definitely I definitely think that's a possibility. And I have to say one more thing.
There is this kind of like weird thing in the paranormal where there was this movement. I don't know
how often it happens now, but there was this movement where people were like, children, ghosts
are demons trying to, you know, or demons. And I'm like, but what if you're wrong?
Yeah, that would be horrible. You're treating. So I choose to believe they are not demons. And if I'm wrong,
then I guess I'll find out one day. But up to this point, it's been fine. Well, you know,
we're guilty of a little bit of that sometimes. I, you know, the only, the only, I think,
experience that Christine and I have had that I will counter you on was they say at the Queen Mary
there's a little girl who is actually a demon in disguise so you feel vulnerable around her and oh
yeah I'll tell you Jackie I think Jackie did a number honest I got to say Jackie really effed us up
for a while there yeah something dark happened we end up getting EVP audio of um from the beginning of the
night all the way through the through the rest of the night and you can hear her voice slowly warp into
something. It was like, hi, dad. It said, Daddy, hi. And we were like, oh, who is it? And then over time,
it started going, oh, it starts speaking this like creepy warbled voice. And it was like,
I'm here. I mean, it was just very unsettling. Whatever that was, if it was just like mimicking
something or whatever, I don't know. But yeah, that was our only, but I will say in stories,
we're always very wary of child ghosts in stories. But I don't think we've ever gone to a
place and treated a child ghost like a demonic entity.
never been that disrespectful.
So yeah, I think in person I would do it differently.
It'd be very weird too.
Anyway, I've investigated there so many times.
And I don't think Jackie ever really existed.
I think Jackie is something else that we've created, which would make sense.
I agree.
We agree.
We fully agree on that.
Yeah.
We're on board perfectly.
We were not feeling Jackie's whole vibe.
She was not it for us now.
Something was going on.
No.
Okay.
So I have a story here.
This is called Estes Method and Gettysburg Ghosts hitting on my friend.
friends. Okay. Here we go. Hey there. My name is Haley. I use she her pronouns, long time listener
since the beginning, and love y'all dearly. I heard a calling for Estes Method stories,
and as an amateur paranormal investigator, this topic was calling my name. So let's crack into it.
I've been an amateur paranormal investigator and enthusiast since I could turn on the TV by myself
to the sci-fi channel and watch Ghost Hunters, L.O.L. So many years. In my, in my mid-20s,
I met some of the coolest people with similar interest, and we quickly began doing investigations
together. We're about two hours away from Gettysburg, truly a paranormal Mecca. If you're looking
to find something unexplainable, go to Gettysburg and you will not be disappointed.
I've never been, so you two know. I was the best. Is it really? I always wanted to, but it feels
overwhelming almost. I did. I was too young. I was, I did a field trip there. So I was too young to
appreciate it, but I remember even then going something trippy is happening here. So.
My, I go there, my company Strange Escapes.
We always do like a yearly retreat there.
And so we're going back in September.
But I weirdly find Gettysburg to be so, like, comforting.
It's a very magical little town.
It's very cozy.
I don't understand it because you're like, wow, you know, thousands of people died here.
And this is this huge traumatic event.
But I think there's just such an appreciation of history there.
Yeah.
That there's something kind of, I don't know,
what word I'm looking for but there's just something about it that brings people together all there
to learn history and yeah when you go you'll see it's not what you would think like there are parts
that are heavy but it's also just very kind of mystical and it's kind of like Salem like they
made something very positive whatever something very negative kind of leaned into the understanding of it
rather than just like pushing it into yeah yeah that's that's cool that's a good good take yeah I've
never been. I've always wanted to, but maybe someday. Maybe in September. I don't know. Yes,
you should come. Oh, my gosh. I would love to. Don't tempt me. I might. Oh, boy. September is my
yearly retreat month. And I, anyway, just weird synchronicity. And to be. I'm a message you after
this. We'll see. Yes, send me. Send me the link. There's a bunch of us going. All the cool kids.
We'll do the Estes method. Oh, my God. I should tell my neighbor. My neighbor Troy, I said this before we
recorded, but he is like just your biggest fan. And he's just very like studious about everything you
write. And he goes and sees you do at every talk you do in the Cincinnati area. And he's just,
he's just love. So I told him I was going to meet you today. And he's very, he's very excited.
So that's awesome. Choice is like that. Um, anyway, maybe he'll come with me to Gettysburg.
Okay. Here we go. Yes. So in March of being blinded. Sorry. Here we go.
Oh, no. We wouldn't want that. We wouldn't want that. We'd have to make you sign it.
waiver or something first before that happens. Okay, in March of 2026, a group of about eight of us
booked an Airbnb for a weekend and off we went. We booked an overnight investigation with a
tour company and started our night at the Sacks covered bridge. I hope I'm saying that right.
My best friend Derek, a fabulous gay, former drag queen named Zinobia darling, who you all would
adore, already do. Thank you, went under first for an SDA. Look how I've been saying they're going
under for an S to smell. I'm like, whoa, it's so clinical.
Go and under, bye.
I always am like, see you later.
Christy does the same thing here.
She goes, here I go.
Let me know how this turns out.
I'm like goodbye to the cruel world, I guess.
Yeah.
See you on the other side.
I feel like I always say, yeah.
Okay, Zenobea darling,
one under first for Anestis.
Every single time we would ask a question,
the response would be about the women in our group.
Most of my friends have fun colored hair
and a lot of tattoos for context.
The ghost kept talking about which one of us they fancied.
Oh boy.
we kept getting something saying girl with the orange hair my friend heather had bright orange hair at the time it was like it was unbelievable to them but they liked it shortly after one of my other friends got groped on the butt uh oh although derrick didn't know it at the time my friend and i had to sneak off to go pee in the woods when we got back the phrase peep show kept coming through the spirit box
jeez at least they're honest at least they're like yeah up front about it uh peep show is wild okay as if the ghost had
watched us, L.O.L. To us, we weren't really upset by it because we really shouldn't have
been doing it anyway, probably. But emergencies happen. That's what it says in the email.
And kind of pitied the fact that they were stuck because their bodies were most likely buried
close by in unmarked graves. After Sacks Bridge, we headed over to the Eisenhower Bridge,
which had a much darker energy, but gave me the best paranormal evidence I've ever captured,
which I will attach. I was doing an estes by myself down a dark path into the woods.
Christine L-O-L. I don't know why it says Christine L-O-L-O.
I guess you strike her as somebody would do that. I don't know.
Maybe.
I mean, it is something I would do get lost of the woods, but like, I don't know.
What a nice personal attack in front of everybody.
He's like, well, first of all.
She's like, dark path in the woods, get it?
Get it, Christine.
You've been there?
Christine knows, we'll know what it means, I guess.
Okay.
Down time.
I was doing an S just by myself.
down a dark path in the woods, just like Christine always does, yeah.
L.
O'L. Clear as day, something came through the static into my headphones and said, pray to your mother
in the scariest voice I've ever heard.
Oh, my Lord.
Okay.
The tour guide had previously warned us that the ghosts at Eisenhower do like to mess with people
and frequently try to scare them.
That is what that feels like.
So I had to sit there and act like that didn't just happen by myself in the dark.
I stuck it out for a few more minutes, then ended the session and rejoined my
friends when I told the guide he said something told him once to come back at 2 a.m.
and to bring his Jesus. Fun stuff. I would have done that. I would have done that. I would have
back at 2 a.m. with the Jesus. Okay, timer set with the Jesus. Oh my gosh. Have there been any times?
I mean, I assume there has. I know you've had a lot of experiences. But are there any times that like we
don't get to see or hear about where like you've actually been too freaked out we were like I'm out
like I'm just going to step away from this location yeah I mean I don't I think sometimes with the
if I get freaked out from a location it's usually because of environmental factors or like animals
but like you know I always tell people living people are way scarier than yeah I can deal with
the living or the dead ones way more but um but there has
Seven times, like there was one time when we were at the conjuring house. And for some reason, I was, I was under, I was doing this. And I don't know if it was just that moment of sensory deprivation or what, but I got really sick, like just during it. And that was the only time that happened. And I literally ended the investigation for that. I was just very nauseous. And like, nothing else really crazy happened there. I've investigated there many times. And it was just this kind of weird.
I just have this very sick feeling.
And but I also have found kind of to what their point was, there have been times that I've
been doing the estes and because you are sort of vulnerable, they will, you know, because like we
touch each other, like get us out of it.
Like I'll tap Adam or not tap me.
Sure.
Sometimes they'll touch you.
They're like, you know, she, you know, there was one time we were at the, a place in Florida with
it's, it'll come to me, but in Brooksville, Florida, May stringer house.
And the whole time I was doing it, something was pinching me.
And the whole, and Adam just finally, he had this like, come at me ghostbone.
He's like, stop pinching my friend.
Pinch someone your own size.
Yeah.
But yeah.
And we've also had some dirty birdie ghosts come through on the estes as well because they were saying.
So you just never know what you're going to get.
That's so true.
Well, I remember that time, we were at the Whaley House.
And for some reason, I guess they.
This is why they said Christine.
Actually, I'm starting to understand.
They said Christine L.O.L.
And I'm starting to get it because our guide there ended up being an interesting story.
But he basically said, oh, I know what you should do.
You should sit on the stage at the way of the house on the second floor and ask the ghost to come touch you and tell them that like you have no boundary or whatever.
And I was like, okay.
And I of course, just like, I'm not going to do that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I was like, volunteer.
I mean, this I've, let's just say, since, you know, changed quite a bit.
But so at the time, I was like, sure, why not?
And it wasn't quite so drastic.
I just said like, you know, in this moment, if you want.
And I did.
I felt something kind of touching my shoulders.
And that's when across the room, this like giant poster kind of flew off the wall.
And we were wearing cameras, thank God.
So we, but it was very weird how it was almost like the moment it, I felt the, it physically touched me.
Something across the room happened.
So I don't know what that's about.
But that was, that was also very creepy.
And then I said, okay, the boundaries back up.
No more of that.
Bye.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No more touching me.
I love that when more than one thing happens at once.
It gets exciting and there's like all sorts of things happening.
It got exciting.
And like the confirmation bias of it all of like, okay, so I was feeling something.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The timing is too uncanny.
Yeah.
Okay, so this is almost a real.
Let's see.
A few days later, we were reviewing evidence and caught a picture on the bridge that we cannot explain.
It is a shadow of a man that looks like he's wearing a Civil War trench coat.
This was not one of us and we tried many explanations to debunk it.
You can see through some parts of him, but not others.
Please feel free to post it for others to see because for me, this was the best piece of evidence I've ever gotten.
It will absolutely give goose cam.
Sorry, this is so long.
Gettysburg will always have a place in my heart as an investigator.
Yeah, wow, this place is sounding cool.
I'm going to download this picture and send it in the chat here so we can all look at it.
How do I do this?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I feel like it's a, I feel like maybe you should look and just let us know, just be our eyes.
Yeah.
Trust your judgment.
What am I seeing here?
Okay.
Oh, okay. Well, I hate when you make me do this because then I get scared because then I get scared and then no one else can help me.
It does look like a dark figure where you can see a full body. But yeah, you can see the rungs of the bridge behind the person. It's almost like. And they're in the foreground. Yeah. It's very, it's very creepy because you can definitely see the shape of a person, but you can absolutely see behind them.
too like through them yeah it's bizarre i'd be part of that picture too yeah i'd say most of like
the photos the most compelling photos i've seen a lot of them have come out of gettysburg it's hard
when you're not there taking the photo to really comment on it but a lot of them have come out of
gettysburg interesting i guess that would make sense yeah i haven't gotten any pictures i don't
think that i personally i haven't gotten any pictures that i don't know i'm always impressed when
people are able to do that because it hasn't happened to me i usually
I just get vibes.
Who knows how true that is.
But I usually kind of just navigate based on that.
But some people are really, I don't know how they're able to get stuff on the equipment.
I know.
I'm not,
I don't ever use photography as evidence.
I feel like there's just so many variables that it could be so many other things.
And, you know, we have such selective memory.
We don't always, you know, someone could be like, there was not a man standing, you know,
300 feet away in that field.
But if you weren't looking at.
for the man at the moment. So I love photos for capturing the environment. So when I'm reviewing
other evidence, I can go back and be like, what was that? Oh, I see it. Let's see.
I think it went through. Thank you. If not, it's fine. But no, I'm glad that we can,
we can see it now. Oh, yeah, I see that. Right. See, that would be one of those moments or I'd be
questioning, I mean, I hate, I don't want to completely debunk this. I don't know. Like,
was it a shadow or something? Yeah, or was someone actually there and they don't remember the placement
of everybody in that moment and the way they, you know, so who knows.
But regardless, they clearly had amazing experiences there.
So either way.
That's like, that's like with, with orbs in videos, I'm like, well, was it a bug?
Was it dust?
How do we know?
Yeah.
I'm always skeptical about that because I just, I don't know enough about clear circles, you know?
Like, I'm like, I don't know what is.
I'm no expert in those clear circles.
They're very easily replicated.
I'm very much like, if someone comes to me and they're like, I think,
think this is my, you know, Aunt Josephine and she was my favorite person in the world. I'm not going
to be like, that's dust. I'm going to be like, well, that's cool. That's a cockroach, actually.
It's a flying cockroach, not your aunt. It's like, no, exactly. Yeah. But yes, I agree. I agree.
And like, for all we know it is, but, um, anyway. Christine, it's almost the end of the week.
Has anything really grinded your gears this week? Everything, everything grinds my gears.
Yeah. I wish they were smooth sailing lubricated. But instead, it's like, it's like,
The delivery driver came but forgot a straw.
And so now I have to drink my coffee like from the side, like an animal, you know, things like that.
I've been, you know, I just got back from my long trip and I'm readjusting to the time difference, which I usually wouldn't bother me too much.
But it's been really getting on my nerves.
Like I just can't keep up.
I feel like I'm exhausted all the time.
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so the next one um i feel personally attacked because the subject line is homophobic ghost during our
estes um and i think eva picked this on purpose i think eva picked this on purpose because when we
We were at the Whaley House.
Was that the one where we, the transphobic ghost?
Yeah, Mr.
Whaley didn't really, he wasn't.
Mr.
really was confused by me.
And he had a lot of questions.
Yeah.
And he was like,
what is that?
It was really rough times.
He's a girl.
Like,
it was a lot of like.
And I was the one doing the estes method.
So I was like, do I say this?
I was like, sorry, M.
It's not me.
We had one.
I'll tell you after this story.
But we had one that was a doozy like that.
Oh, really?
Really.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, it was, Christine was saying it, which I think maybe the machine was turned off and Christine was finally just saying her truth.
No, I'm just kidding.
No, I would never.
But it felt weird to be like, sorry it's not me, I swear, but it was, it made for great content.
I'll put it that way.
Mr. Whaley is a stand-up comic all of a sudden when it comes to trans people.
What, what, tell us your story.
What happened?
So, kind of getting back to, so we were doing an estes at this little inn in Vermont.
And this dude came through who was so, well, he started out being very like frisky.
And he was like, so are you guys, you know, interested in a threesome?
Like all this weird, like, let's get naked.
And I was like, what is this ghost?
And I remember just saying like, can you please not talking to me like that?
And then he's like, why is it?
Because your friend is, you know, he called Adam like a.
slur for a game in.
But it was so awkward because
Adam was the one doing it.
So he was saying all the
things.
So Adam's
like my brother and I was like
oh please.
Like you're just like
Oh my God.
There are
I swear. Yeah there are times
where like with our producer Eva were like
I feel like she could call.
If we had an HR, she could call and be like, this is like not because she goes with us on the ghost investigation, the parental investigations.
It's like, okay, you know, at a certain point, we can't make Eva do the Estes method.
Like we got to let her know her OSHA certified breaks or whatever.
But yeah, man, it can get awkward real fast.
Yeah, it was awkward.
It was a very awkward ghost.
And I think I can't remember if I figured out who it was because I think I did figure out it was some man there who was staying there.
when it was like a rehabilitation facility of some sort or something.
And I don't know.
Sure.
Yeah.
It was very.
Wow.
Wow.
That's awkward.
At the very least, are you laughing through it?
Because it's so awkward or are you like really trying to lock in and later you'll go,
that was funny.
Like how do we usually operate?
It was very much like I was just looking at the crew.
Like what do I do?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I never.
At one point being like, can we even show this?
Like I don't know.
Like, can we?
Is this?
to be on television it was on television i'm sure it was a slam dunk of an episode though because that sounds
really funny yes there was a lot of leaping but i think people figured it out so yeah it was me when i get
scared or just horrified in general i just start laughing inappropriately and i think i think i
my way through that yeah i don't know if you have any takes on this but we've also been told
by other people in this world that um in this world in this in the paranormal world sorry not like
on earth um that's a strange way to say it sorry i did hear it and i went i'm just going to keep rolling
but thank you for for stopping me from my delusional takes um but i that like laughter actually
helps in those situations where like keeps keeps the spirits away in some way i don't know how true
that is but i would when i heard it i went thank god i'm going to run with that because it's what
i do naturally anyway it's just better than a few.
fear response of, you know, better, I don't know, but like at least less like activating.
Yeah. Who would you rather talk to? Some people that are giggling and being silly or people that are
like, do you know you're dead. You know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I, I prefer the laughter. I think
that's actually what helps us when I come to getting our content. Yeah, we always say that. Yeah, we always say
that we're just kind of hanging out and it feels more, I don't know, interactive. Like they would be part of
the sleepover, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Definitely.
So this is a homophobic ghost during our essence.
Oh, right.
Don't wait.
That's not over.
This is from Shep, who uses they, she pronouns, love with double pronoun.
And Shep Shep says, Shep Shep Shes, my very nice things about us, and then on to the story.
My partners, friends, and I are ghost investigators.
And while we have many stories we could share, I saw.
your request for Estes Method stories and decided to send in my particular favorite.
Every year from my birthday, we take a trip to Louisville to investigate Waverly Hill Sanatorium.
It's an incredibly active place, and we have gotten many pieces of evidence over the past six years.
But no matter what evidence we get, nothing will ever top the cranky old man who loves insulting us through the spirit box.
A couple years ago, we finally got a spirit box and decided to use the Estes method.
We went to the old main entrance of the hospital and got everything set up.
I sat in a chair facing the original front doors, headphones on, and my friends walked around and asked questions.
Pretty quickly, I began hearing a male voice.
At first it was hard to hear through the static, but eventually I realized the voice was cussing, like a lot.
Some of the words are things I definitely won't say here and didn't say aloud to the group,
but some of his favorites included boobs, whiskey, and flusies, to name a few.
Oh my gosh, so he's just excited to have an outlet to like just scream all the words.
finally he's like I've been holding this in it feels like a toddler who just got like one of those
echoy classic microphones thank every bad word lord help me by the way my dot my four-year-olds
has auto-tune and it's incredibly your time but yeah she just go flusies she recently said
she started saying my pete my jesus and we're like what it's because in cincinnati there's a
there's like a local idiom jesel pete and like i've been saying it since i was a kid so she
And she watches a lot of Pete the cat, so she's my Pete, my Jesus.
And we're like, you can't say that at preschool.
But that's auto-tuned.
It's a whole thing.
Just what's things.
Yeah.
Flusis might be next.
I don't know what she's learning at school.
I love the word flusies.
It's a great word.
I think we should take that back.
Yeah.
If we're reclaiming a lot of words these days,
Flusie should certainly be on the short list.
I'm saying it right now.
Good.
Yes.
Own it.
Yes.
Love of flusie.
They say, oh, this string of various swear words and deafening static goes on for a bit,
until the box goes completely silent for like three seconds.
I thought it had died, and I looked down and it was still sweeping.
Suddenly, I distinctly and uncharacteristically hear him say,
You're beautiful.
I don't like that.
I don't know why, because it's like just a compliment, but I don't like it.
There's a pause, and then I only get one more response.
Not you.
You're beautiful, not you?
Stop.
Like was clearly talking through Shep to somebody else to let them know that they're beautiful.
Just something you know.
Not you.
It's like like shoving someone to say like, not you, the other one.
Yeah.
I'm just using you as a channel right now.
First you were offended and then you were like offended offended.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Seriously.
It got worse somehow.
It's like, yeah.
First I heard if I heard flusies and then someone said I was beautiful, I'd go,
oh, okay, well, maybe we're on
better terms. And not you. And I go, oh,
we're back to hatred. Okay.
Okay. It's really rough. You know what?
I should have stuck with my first gut.
Okay. After that, as a group of all visibly
queer people, I decide it's probably best to call it a rap.
Being the vessel through which the voices spoke,
I had no idea what my fellow investigators were saying
or asking, but I pulled the headset off.
They're all losing it laughing.
Mind you, this is around 3.45 in the morning,
and we were all a little nutty.
I asked why they're laughing so hard,
and they happily tell me what transpired.
Apparently the responses I got weren't just random.
They were a genuine back-and-forth dialogue,
especially at the end.
The dialogue apparently went like this.
One of the investigators said,
so do you have anything you want to say to any of us
other than swearing?
And then the box went silent and said,
you're beautiful.
The investigator, one of the most flamboyantly gay men I've ever known,
said,
thank you so much diva and then the ghost said not you this is why this is this is why laughter
gets good good you know um evidence it's way more fun this way the context makes it so much better
yeah i love when it's the back and forth is just right on with those and then you have a sassy ghost
on top of it and you're like oh my gosh wow this is about to get wild yeah yeah no a big fan of when
their matching energy.
Yeah.
And then like escalating and you're like, okay, I get it.
Yeah.
No, I love that.
I cannot believe that a ghost absolutely clocked my friend and called us homophobic names.
I'm not usually one to provoke ghosts, but every year we go back.
We always make sure to visit the grumpy old homophobic man and be as loudly gay as possible
in his space.
I hope this story brought a little bit of levity along with all the terrifying and spooky stuff.
We have plenty of other experiences from being touched by children.
suddenly feeling incredibly sick, getting a photo of an actual ghost, getting scratched and more,
but those are stories for another time. So thank you, Shep.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
I love Waverly. But you have to realize those people, they were like, you know,
you think they just were in the hospital suffering or whatever, but a lot of them felt just
fine, but they were still testing positive and they were there for years and years and years.
And so that's why they try to break out sometimes and go find booze or like.
I've also thought about how many facilities, you know, in today's world, you know,
you wouldn't be put in a mental hospital, you know, because you're a woman in, like,
stand up to your husband or something.
But there's so many people who were there and just stuck there and just, you know,
they are just finally happy to have a conversation with anybody.
Or even I think about, you know, our moment with Mr. Waley, who, like, we joke around
say he's transphilo.
He was probably just a man in the 1800s and was like, what the hell is going on here?
Like, this is not the gender norms I'm used to.
This is my house.
I'm confused.
It's like in the 1800s, you're in a dress.
This is crazy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So.
It's a lot of context there.
Yeah.
A lot of questions.
They're curious, you know.
And that's why when I, when people go to Waverly, I'm like, don't talk about tuberculosis.
Don't talk about, you know, just talk about the time period.
Talk about music.
There's probably like so many games and things they did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
One of, this didn't end up in, uh, we usually we would get content, then we would go on tour with our content.
But one of the clips that didn't make it on stage when we did the Whaley House, I remember Christine, you and Eva were on a break and I was sitting in the courthouse and I was just telling them like what's going on in the times.
Oh, yeah. You were like, this is what I would want to know if I died and like several like a hundred, like a hundred years of fast?
What type of food did you like to eat? I was like, oh, you know, now we wear sweatpants a lot. You didn't have those back then. Let me tell you about sweatpants. And that was some of the best like, uh, a.
intelligent responses we got from machines just, I don't know.
And describing pizza and burritos.
Oh, we described burritos to them.
Like, I mean, I was just like, these are things I would want to know.
Like, if I died before, like, some sort of food that might have ended up in this location.
Let me tell you about that food.
Well, we were in San Diego.
So we were like, oh, margaritos.
We were like, you probably know about tortillas already.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I, uh, dare I suggest next time you, you know, end up not knowing what to say to some ghosts if you're investigating a location, you just,
bring up your own cookbook and go, this is what's going on over in this area and this
what's going over here.
People have investigated with it.
They've, like, made the recipes in the locations before.
Oh, see, that's cool.
Yeah.
So, like, not to bring back to the Conjuring House, but, like, for example, my friend Amanda
in food to die for, the parents gave me their mother's, like, Yankee pot roast recipe.
Wow.
And so she made it in the house and told them what they, like, told the ghost what she was
making.
They made it every Sunday night.
and like that is so cool of course because you're making the smell and the I mean wow
that's amazing oh my god that's so smart it's a whole new way to investigate you're like I get to
eat and investigate I mean you're speaking our language here now oh my god and that's so that's so
touching too is like they they get to if they can smell I'm not sure but like they could
smell like what their home did smell like a while ago and that brings the house that's so smart
yeah that's and you're it's the only time really you could
you can experience exactly what they experience.
You know, like, we can look at pictures and we can have artifacts or whatnot.
But, like, you have a recipe and you're cooking it and you're smelling it and you're
tasting it historically, like you're experiencing it just as they did, which is, I think,
the only time you could really do that.
And it's in the house.
Yeah.
Really cool.
It blew my mind.
What a concept.
I never even considered that.
Oh, my gosh.
You can try it next time.
Gives through cuisine to Gilford.
I was going to say, we need to.
From Bligle at Pennhurst and see.
Yeah.
The most run away in horror.
They're like, no, not true.
I mean, I think M's going to run away in horror and I'm going to be sitting there snack
in.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Em's not going to be into that part, but I'll leave it.
Okay, I didn't like ever know where to find stuff for my house and then Wayfair showed up
and I went, oh, right, duh.
Like now I have this beautiful, I just got this like cedar.
I mean, literally pulled it out and my mom goes, what does that smell?
And I was like, it's my new wooden seed.
sideboard. It's no big deal. And she's like, where did you have? And it was like one piece. Oh,
it's so beautiful. Um, anyway, it's from Wayfair. We bought a, uh, an electric fireplace from them.
Oh yeah. Smart. And it looks so cottagey and witchy. And it's in our little speakeasy behind the
secret passageway book door. And, uh, I got to say my only problem with Wayfair is that it is
dangerous over there. It's like, I know that the aesthetics. You find your aesthetic and you're like
off to the races. If you need a rabbit hole and you have, you have, you have, you have, you.
You better have that wallet ready because you're going to see so many things on that website that you love.
I couldn't stop adding things to my cart.
And then I looked at my car and I went, okay, we have to eliminate some stuff.
The aesthetic is getting out of control.
Yeah, it's very good stuff.
Read more than 20 million verified five-star reviews as well from real shoppers, which helps so much, especially.
I was picking a chair out.
I was like, I need to know what's the comfiest.
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That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R-D-com.
Wayfair, every style, every home.
I feel like we've got time for one more story, Christine.
Okay, great.
So this is from, let me see.
So this one is from Courtney, the Gould Guide.
It says, hello friends.
I know her.
You do?
I do know her for real.
I have feeling with the title.
I was like, there's a reason the title's in there.
Okay, so you're...
Yeah, she's amazing.
I investigated with her a few weeks ago, actually.
Shut up.
Okay, great.
Well, this is so exciting.
Okay, well, Courtney says,
Hello, my friends.
Here is my submission for your Estes episode.
Oh my God, this is a fun little crossover.
She doesn't know that we're doing this with you, I don't think, so she's about to be surprised.
She's going to freak out.
Yeah, that's too funny.
Courtney?
Oh, my God.
Listen, we love it.
We love it.
Gemini season bringing everybody together.
Okay, here we go.
In the spring of 2020,
I had an experience with the Estes method.
What if it was with you, Amy?
Can you imagine?
I didn't know again.
Okay, okay.
That would be wild.
That would be hysterical if we're about to hear a story about you while you're here.
I know that would be very smart.
Eva produces behind the scenes.
Okay.
In the spring of 2022, I had an experience with the Estes method that I'll truly never forget.
It's been nearly four years since that night.
And alas, I have yet to have another experience like this.
And those who were there that night still find ourselves talking about the events that took place
inside Cottage B-1 at the Mid-Orange Correctional Facility.
Hidden within the Rampo Mountains of New York's Catskills region is a former prison campus
that is trying to find a second life.
While some of the buildings have turned into a brewery and event space,
the main campus belongs to the Hudson Sports Complex,
whose end goal is to turn the buildings and dorms into a soccer camp.
However, I'm not sure they knew what they were in for when purchasing the place
and just how many spirits still linger throughout the layered history that these grounds hold.
The mid-orange correctional facility started as an inebriate farm helping those battling addictions, but in 1932, the grounds had transformed into the New York State Training School for Boys.
For nearly 45 years, this facility had cared for delinquent children ranging from 13 to 16 years old, sometimes becoming the last chance these troubled teens would have before jail time if they couldn't be reformed.
Many would argue that these were some of the harshest of the property's history, I can imagine that, as many lied about their age to stay,
at the Reform School rather than being shipped off to jail.
Some tried escaping into the mountains, and for a few unlucky souls, death found them.
The treatment at the reform school was so bad, it gained the attention of Eleanor Roosevelt,
who helped close the facility after highlighting the horrors inside with her column, My Day.
She's like, I have a fun little social column called My Day, and here I'm going to end, like, make reform to juvenile, whatever.
We can't end to that another day.
Okay. In May 2022, I helped my friends run a public event weekend at Mid Orange. It was a free roam type of event where we bring the equipment, show you how to use it, and send you out for the night to investigate either on your own or with us, whatever you're feeling. Throughout the night, we were getting some great activity within the complex, including the back dorm buildings we didn't have access to the last time we'd been there. Given the fact that the dorms were unexplored and we had heard rumblings about how eerie they were, we decided to take a group back into B1 and see what we could stir up. At first, we lingered in the space, looking at the
down at the long hallways illuminated by the moonlight, peeking through the broken windows
and branches of the trees, and started feeling the unease settling throughout, almost as if we
were in a place we shouldn't have been. A few of us scrolled on our phones researching what we could do,
nope, researching what we could do. We're bored. No. Sorry. I can read. A few of us scrolled
on our phones researching what we could about the cottage. And if anything had been associated with
this one and had found an article about a death that occurred inside the dorm building we were standing in.
While we discussed what we found about the space and openly trying to theorize the passing of Charlie McBride,
a 15-year-old boy who was, oh boy, found hanging after being beaten by a staff member,
the vibes within the dorm began shifting.
We heard a few voices coming from the top floor calling out to us, even as we stepped outside,
to the point we believed our friends had been upstairs grabbing content.
But when we said something along the lines of, oh, wait, so-and-so is still upstairs,
we were met with the same person stepping back on the sidewalk saying,
no, I'm right here.
Ooh.
Around 3 a.m.
we decided to close out by visiting B1 Cottage again.
This time we decided to sit and linger more than we did before to see what could
possibly show itself to us.
The idea of a double estes came up as we sat and we couldn't say no to the idea.
Do you want to describe that real quick, Amy, because you probably can do a good job of that?
Yeah, it's just basically it's two people.
going under at the same time. And sometimes spirits will talk through each other. So like other people
can be asking questions too, but a lot of times they'll be asking each other things. And like one time
Adam and I did at this place called the Fee House in Arkansas, which is since burned down,
unfortunately. But this mother and daughter started talking to each other through us. And they had no idea
each other was haunting the house until that moment. So they weren't aware of each other.
Yeah, they weren't aware of each other in the space until.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
So that was probably the, what a wildest estous sessions I've ever done.
And they were finishing each other's sentences.
I'm so excited.
They was finishing each other's sentences.
Like one time, there was one part where she was like, you know, mom, do you remember?
And then one of us, the other one was like, the purple flowers.
And she's like, what?
Like, what?
It was so crazy.
Dude.
And like that opens up so many questions because I would imagine if a mother and daughter are both haunting a building, obviously their, my only thought would be, oh, well, they're still here because they want to be together.
Right, right.
But the fact that neither of them even knew now it's like, well, how did, how are they missing each other in this? Oh, my gosh.
They had the craziest end too, not to like hijack this, but like they.
So they died.
They were Christian scientists, I believe, is what it is.
I didn't really believe in medical intervention.
And so the mother had died.
She basically was getting ready for her daughter's wedding and a fire started in the dressing room.
And she caught fire.
And she put it out and got dressed and went to the wedding.
But these burns were so bad underneath her clothes.
She never went to the doctor.
They got infected and she died, right?
And so then the daughter is so heartbroken in front of the whole family.
You know, it's like a few nights later.
she is like
she's questioning their religion
and she said well if God
you know is going to save me
save me from this and she drinks this bottle
of poison in front of everybody
and dies like to prove
that their religion was
they weren't believing she was doubting their religion
because her mother had died without
so it was his whole thing
on top of that they had no idea
the others was it was crazy
and then the house burn has since burned down
yeah so what was
It was weird was they rescued it from a bit of a fire, this couple that was there.
And then they were remodeling it and making it beautiful.
And a fire started in one of the rooms during construction.
So it's standing, but it's completely burnt out.
So, yeah.
Do you have any personal beliefs on what happened to them then from there?
Like, are they now released from the house and maybe together?
Are they still haunting the lands, do you think?
or you don't have to know.
I'm just curious what you think.
I feel like they're probably still there because the house had already fallen into such a state of disrepair before this.
Like they might that house had already been in a really bad place.
And so I'm guessing they're still there.
I always wonder though if the structure isn't there.
Where do they go?
What happens?
Yeah.
Because obviously like, you know, I don't know.
And so they were there then and I imagine they're still there.
It just seemed weird that they weren't cognizant of each other.
Yeah.
It's very apparent.
You've blown my mind twice because, again, another concept I hadn't really considered.
I just thought either you're here or you're in the afterlife in the two-pills of two worlds.
Same.
I had not considered either.
And I still, that's why I always tell people, I'm like, this is, I'm never going to, I'll never speak in absolutes.
I can barely even prove ghosts exist.
I believe in them, obviously.
That I was like, it makes no sense.
And that just makes me have more questions.
and that's why I keep doing this.
There are always more questions.
I know, I was going to say that earlier, too.
Like, the more you do it, the more rabbit holes there are to go down.
Yeah.
Sorry, Christina.
I know you're in the middle of your story.
No, no.
It's almost, we're getting, we're more than halfway through it.
But, well, listen, it's Amy's friend, Courtney.
So.
Right.
You text her and tell her that she's actually in the middle of you telling her story.
You are.
You better.
Okay.
At 3M, we decided to close out of the investigation by visiting B1 Cottage once again.
the idea of a double S just came up as we sat and we couldn't say no to the idea.
While a friend had gone under in the large open room at the end of the hall where the inmates
would have their bunks, I sat down in the hallway from her.
The rest of the group had been spread out.
Some were gathered down the hallway from me sitting with their backs against the wall
where the guard would have sat.
And another friend stood in the threshold where Charlie McBride had been found hanging.
And a few more sat with the other girl in the large room.
After placing the noise canceling headphones on, I listened to the noise trying to make out anything
in the static, but there was nothing.
With us being so secluded in the mountains, I couldn't even pick up the faint signal of a radio station coming through the sweeps.
And unbeknownst to me, the other person who had also gone under for the Estes method was getting all the voices coming through hers.
I didn't think much of it.
Sometimes nothing comes through with this method, just like an average night of ghost hunting as we're all waiting around for that one big thing to happen.
But I was determined to last a little bit longer.
Unaware of what was happening around me, I tried my best to push through the long night and not fall asleep to the white noise.
I don't remember dozing off, but as I sat there quietly, I remember an image vividly appearing as the white noise dissipated.
For a moment, it was like I was standing in the hallway, completely alone, staring at the doorway we had all walked through to get inside.
The area was not abandoned, as it looked in this day and age, but it was still in a dim light.
Over to the left of the door was a staircase that led upstairs where the dorm parents would have had a residence back in the reform school days.
On the staircase, I could see the figure of a woman slowly moving down the stairs as if she was joining me.
Between the slats of the railing, I could see she was wearing a long black skirt with a long white-sleeved blouse tucked into the waistband.
From what I can remember, I could only see from her bust down, and as she took a step, I saw her white skinny hand slowly gripped the wooden railing, and instantly I sensed a pit in my stomach.
Taken completely off guard by the vision of this woman, the image disappeared quickly as it appeared to me, and suddenly the white noise static was heard once again, this time louder.
I sat in the hallway completely stunned, trying to make sense of what I had just seen, and without pulling myself out of it.
out of the method, I spoke out to the group explaining what happened.
I don't want to say I had a vision.
I don't know what that was, but something tells me we need to pay attention to the staircase,
I said aloud to the group.
It sounded silly to say, even to those who I knew would understand,
but after I spoke up, I could hear the faint commotion of everyone freaking out.
Shortly after that moment, I still hadn't gotten a single word to come through
and pulled myself out of the S method.
Taking off the headphones and blindfold, I placed them on the floor before turning to
everyone to explain what I'd seen, if it had any weight to it, or if it was just some weird
coincidence. To the shock of everyone, things lined up a little too well for our liking. While I'd
been under the Estes method, things in the cottage began showing themselves. For the few who had
their backs against the guards wall, they started hearing a slow drag of fingernails scratching
the iron window frame above them that sent shivers down their spines, while others heard
disembodied footsteps coming from the floor above them and the hallway past the staircase.
For a good friend who walked into the investigation being more skeptic, left as a believer after getting his pant leg tugged in the same doorway where they found Charlie McBride after inquiring about his story and what was left unsaid about it.
Though perhaps the most unnerving part of that whole hour had been the comment I made about the staircase.
When I had finally spoken up about what I had seen, the group had already been looking towards a door and the staircase as they witnessed a tall black shadow moved to block out the small window and the crack at the bottom of the door for a moment before it slowly sunk down into the floor, never to be seen.
seen again that night. Since that night, we've investigated this facility a few times and nothing
like that has happened again. We've tried recreating the moment. We tried reaching out to the dorm mother
and digging up more information on Charlie, but nothing. It's been nearly four years. I've done
countless investigations that involve the Estes Method and have not had another vision come through.
Could it have been a coincidence? Could it have been a dream or a warning from the dorm mother herself
not wanting us to get too close to the truth behind Charlie McBride and his death? I'm not exactly sure,
but I do know I'll never forget that image
and maybe one day she'll appear again.
Thank you, Gould Guide.
Wow.
Yes, well written too.
Jeez.
What a privilege to read that.
Yes.
I've never been to the mid-orange correctional facility.
Have you, Amy?
I have not.
No.
She actually, as an aside,
she sent me a brick from Bobby Mackey's
after it got torn down, by the way.
So I have a brick from there.
Yeah, everybody thinks that brick is, you know,
a haunted demonic brick.
But yeah.
So thanks for that.
It has some like dancing spirits, the ones we talk to in the basement.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But yeah.
No, I've not been there, but it sounds super interesting.
And I always love when people try to make very normal businesses and stuff thrive in places
that were absolutely terrifying in operation.
You know, I mean, it works out a lot of the time.
But it's interesting.
I'm like, really, you must really not have any.
You're just like, that's fine.
No, no energy, no, no, no concern.
Even places that like, like, um, some place I just feel like you should honor the landmark.
Like some, the places are like, oh, this was a, a jail or like a mental health facility.
And now we're just going to turn it into like condos.
And I'm like, I don't know.
I feel like maybe we should just like respect the land.
But, um, I don't know.
Yeah.
Is there, is there anywhere that at this point in your career, you have not been that you have not been that
would like to investigate.
There's quite a few.
I mean, there's random places that I really just am dying to investigate that I know
I probably won't ever be able to.
Like, I really want to investigate Graceland so badly.
Like, I've just heard so many stories.
And then weirdly, like, you know, ever since I started doing this, like, I've heard so
many ghost stories come out of the White House.
Like, I want to investigate there so bad.
I mean, Mary Todd Lincoln literally had seances.
there and things like and employees for years and I'm like I want to investigate there and then
Disney world I just want to investigate Disney so oh man so like really actually places you probably
can't or that would be such like such logistical nightmares on how would you even navigate the
entire building yeah I got very close at Disney I got very very close because they approached
me years ago about doing some like after hours thing with some employees
That's so cool.
But I just think they didn't want it on record that there had been actual ghost hunts there.
Totally not.
And so, but it was like, even having conversation with you is, is all the evidence we need.
Yeah.
I'm shocked about that, but, but I'm shocked they even went that far.
But that means, yeah, for sure, there's a lot there.
Oh my God.
I wish.
That would be cool.
Wow.
Oh, my gosh.
Well, thank you so much for, for joining us for our listeners episode.
I, we have, you have been in our zeitgeist for so long.
Oh my gosh.
Just thank you so much for coming on.
I'll come back anytime.
Listen, we'll all meet at Grace Land and just like pretend to not be ghost hunting.
We'll be like, we're just hanging out.
Elvis, have you.
We made you, we made you a peanut butter.
What did he like peanut butter and bacon or something?
Yeah.
Yeah.
A peanut and banana sandwiches.
Those were his jam.
You know, you should reach out to them and you say, you know, for my next cookbook.
Like, it's just part of the bit.
have to make it there overnight.
I do right seriously.
It's for the content.
You got to let me in?
For the gram.
Got to do it for the gram.
Got to do it for the content.
Okay.
Well, thank you so much.
We really appreciate you being here.
Thanks for having me.
