And That's Why We Drink - Listener Stories: Vol. 82

Episode Date: August 1, 2023

Does anyone else think August is just the Twilight Zone of months, marking imminent doom? We're riding out our month-long scaries by reading your very creepy stories... of haunted dolls! It's hot haunted doll summer, if you will, and we're creating a Tinder to connect haunted doll aficionados with the perfect spooky vessels. Be forewarned we mention all the scary staples so if you skipped those original episodes you may want to listen with caution. We may be idiots but we're no idiots... and that's why we drink!

all right we're rolling em it's august august um how do you feel about august do you have a a good feeling a bad feeling i have a bad bad feeling about August because it always made me think I was going back to school. Thank you. That's what I think. Seriously? Like, I don't understand this month. I feel like people act like, oh, it's summertime. And in my head, it's like, no, it's depressing because school's starting again.

It's the twilight zone of like, oh, I'm supposed to be happy, but all I can feel is eminent doom. It's like the Sunday scaries, but for August. Yeah. For a month. And I feel bad because I have a lot of friends and family whose birthdays are in August. So I'm not trying to discount your excitement and happiness.

It's just like, it's rough times because it's still so hot and it feels like summer and then you have to go to school. Yeah. I feel like in August, if you're doing anything for fun, it's because you have to cram

it in now because you only have a few weeks left right and like i shouldn't even be saying this because i'm i'm spending like two and a half weeks in europe in august i'm like having the best time but in my head i just revert to that like i do too when you spend up until 18 years old that's true hating august every year yeah it's and i i also have friends whose birthdays are in august but ever but it was like even in my mind secretly i was like oh when it's your because they were also late august they were like the 20s and so i was like oh the second it's your birthday like what are we even celebrating like we're probably studying for a test screw you because my our birthdays you know that was the beginning of summer like summer is starting and we can have a pool party to kick off

the year everyone's excited they're celebrating their birthday but they're also celebrating their unadulterated joy for the next three months that's exactly right we're free there's freedom and then at like my friend brandy's birthday we'd be like congratulations okay like do normal people feel this way i think only the mentally unwell but oh so most of us okay got it well um i will say um i am not in great spirits today so that might be a part of it because i am um not able to eat food for oh here we go 36 hours something like that if anyone uh just listened to our episode 338 we were discussing this but poor christine's tummy and tushy have a doctor's appointment and she can't eat because of that and i i can't even eat the good flavors of like popsicles and like, you know, I can't drink anything that's not like clear.

So I got myself a Sprite. The way that you scoffed at Sprite is the way I scoffed at my friend Brandy's birthday in August. You just did this. Like, I've never seen like one body make an entire eye roll, but you just did it. You're like, I got a Sprite. It's supposed to be fun, I guess. Yeah, what a treat. God, I'm a demon.

Well, what about, I think San Pellegrinos are all clear, even the flavored ones. Yeah, that's true. Well, the ones I have are like the blood orange and they're like kind of reddish and I'm not supposed to have anything red. I was literally gonna suggest the blood orange ones. Those are my favorite. And I literally have one in the fridge. I'm not supposed to have anything red. I was literally going to suggest the blood orange ones. Because those are my favorite.

And I literally have one in the fridge. I'm like so annoyed. Anyway, it's fine. It's first world problems. You know, I'm fine. Well, no one wants anything up their butt, you know? Well, some people do. Some people do.

I would argue a lot of people do. I would argue medically, no one does. Medically, maybe not. Medically, probably not. So I think even though it's a first world problem, argue a lot of people do i would argue medically no one does medically maybe not medically probably not so i think even though it's a first world problem it is a universal fear yeah yeah and i i i feel i hope i'm hopeful they will sedate me some places like don't really i don't know i mean oh christine i would have i I would call every place. Oh, yeah.

After my story. Look, after my story, I can't even get into my fucking vein situation currently because it's ongoing. God, God, God. Do you know what I found out, which like, wow, just pisses me off? And like, maybe it was based on location, but I'm reading it as the patriarchy is my friend Tiana was in town and we were talking about, I have really bad heartburn as pretty much everyone on earth knows. And I have to get one of those like things where they like put it through your nose and down your throat, the camera and endoscopy. Yeah. And so I don't have to anytime soon. I look after the veins in my heart, I'm like taking a goddamn break. Yeah, forget it.

But eventually I have to do that. And I will actively avoid getting that done because it sounds miserable. And Tiana said, oh, my husband had to get that and he got sedated for it. But anyone else I know who have all been women never once even had sedation as an option. And so it just feels. They definitely sedate sedated me for mine in cincinnati really okay alison's gotten one my mom's gotten one my neighbor got one one of my childhood friends got one i was like none of them were even sedated it wasn't even an option it was like okay we'll sit here and we're just gonna shove it down your throat and tolerate it and

then no no i definitely was sedated for that so if that's any consolation i mean good because for a second i was like are they only giving poor weak little men like i was like i just like really got so feminist all of a sudden i was like wow so that's what it took huh i was just like i was just like why on earth is he getting sedation and nobody else is um a lot of times like you can just like i've done this because i was so scared why on earth is he getting sedation and nobody else is um a lot of times like you can just like i've done this because i was so scared for my colonoscopy in los angeles that i said like i'd really like to be put under and they were like okay we can add that to your chart like that you'd like extra sedative oh anytime i can be sedated i i am like you should definitely say

it before the appointment because they my doctor put it in the chart and then they were like, don't worry. Trust me. The second I walked into maybe getting my veins ripped out of my leg, the first thing I said was I would like to be put under. But they didn't, did they? No, they don't. They don't do that for the procedure.

Not just at that location, apparently. Well, I think they should. Me too. No. Well, obviously that too. But I think they should for an endoscopy if you ask for it. Now that I know, well, that was what I was going to say next is now that I know that someone has been put under for that, there's no way I'm not being put under for that. Absolutely. I would not do it again. I would never have done it if I hadn't thought it was not Unconscious experience. Well, then let me re-advise you on what you've already said about yourself anyway.

But please definitely make sure you're getting sedated if you can. Absolutely. Always. Yes. Please put me... Always put me underneath. Oh, UT. Yeah.

Out cold. So anyway, this is the August listeners episode. Clearly, we're bringing some really special energy to this one. We have a lot of personal fiery grievances. First of all, it's August. episode. Clearly we're bringing some really special energy to this one. We have a lot of personal fiery grievances. First of all, it's August. Indeed. And isn't it almost Leo season? Oh, it is Leo season, right?

Early August is Leo season. Speaking of fiery is what I was trying to go for. And your baby is a Leo? No. Abra yeah dude okay well first i know but you hear leona and i'm like well that would have been well i remember being pregnant and being like oh it's leo season okay i guess it's acceptable if she's born now and then blades was like no because she'd be two months early and i was like oh right that part's not good i don't want that part so never mind oh well let me grab my sprite i'm so sorry i left it in my little mini fridge is that okay yeah sorry sorry by the way anybody who is listening uh we did trash august

but leo season is my favorite goddamn season i've never met a leo i didn't like and leos are the people who like when i sorry i didn't have headphones on what oh i wasn't talking to you so that's interesting sorry i'll take them back off uh so i was saying that my favorite sign i love a libra i but my my go-to favorite is always a leo anytime i meet somebody i never know their sign like there's some people who just look at someone be like you're a taurus aren't you i can only do that for leos and i but i'll never guess you're a leo did just called call my baby a leo so like maybe you're not as good as you think well i'm saying i've never actually like how people can say you're a taurus aren't you i've never been able to do that you've've only nailed it with the Leo.

Well, I only have ever met people that ended up being Leos. Like, I can't just, like, guess something about a person. But anytime I've met somebody and I fucking loved them on sight, they always end up being a Leo. So I guess I should be able to ask if they're a Leo. But I also don't want to look like an idiot if I'm wrong. That's true. And a Leo might tell you. I love a Leo. I know. I love a Leo but I also don't want to look like an idiot if I'm wrong that's true and a Leo might tell you I love a Leo I know I love a Leo I like a little too but they're a little I don't know I'm a little afraid of them I feel like with an Aries I'm more like in tune with with an Aries and with a Leo I feel a little more like intimidated I guess is the right word um

they've got a very a bold a bold personality bold energy and I it's a it's a good thing don't get me wrong it's always it's a bold creative energy though and I'm intimidated and like uh do I want to be you kind of thing that's exactly it's like a good intimidation yeah um anyway we're 10 minutes in Eva's not here can you tell because we're so off fucking track but uh eva sent us some stories and she did say i should go first so oh my lord i just thought to first subject a cowboy ghost for christine ah thank you uh this is from lauren she her hers and it says hey all i hope it's not too late but when you mentioned spooky experiences related to our childhoods cool that we did that don't remember i immediately thought of hell's house growing up summers were spent visiting my great aunt joni who lived in a

small colorado town being kids she let us do basically whatever we wanted but the one rule was to never go to hell's house which was directly behind hers i mean you and i like we hear that and we're like okay let's go to hell's house i feel like if a second you fall asleep joni i'm believing joni we would never do that as we're like packing our bindle to move into hell's house pinky swear as i'm charging up the emf detectors pinky swear aunt joni we would never everything about that house seemed straight out of a horror movie the doors leading inside had been removed so it was easy to look into the house and see that the floor was covered in clothes trash old toys and there were even pictures of a

family strewn about oh god oh god oh god gross despite no one living there and the house no longer having electricity my my Aunt Joni described seeing the house light up at night, hearing voices and scratches covering the walls and doors. When we were really young and dumb, my cousin's siblings and I would go to the house. Okay, you get it. She gets it. And even though I was always scared to go in, my cousin Brandon wasn't.

He and my sister would go in to see what they could find. And one day Brandon brought home what was dubbed the demon doll. Forget it. Brandon, come on, man. That's me. And then Em's like, Christine, you broke the one rule, which is like, don't bring home any haunted dolls. Well, I did that one year in high school.

Oh, that's right. There was a go-to haunted place, the Slaughterpen. Yeah. And I stole a few things from there. But the one year, I stole a bike that truly just came out of thin air. We'd never seen it before. And it was from the 30s. And it looked like it was brand new or something. So it made me think a little ghost boy just appeared out of nowhere.

So you were like, oh, this little ghost boy's bike. I'll take it. Yeah, I took it. I actually took it to college, and what's wrong with you uh and then and it was to be fair i didn't steal it from any living person i know that it was in the middle of a fucking cornfield and we were by ourselves or so i thought and um and then we i ended up having to bring it back because it was so damaging spiritually so the ghost was like, that was my one and only Christmas gift ever. And you took it.

I remember just standing in a field when I brought it back, just screaming, I'm sorry. Backing away. Did you ride it into the field? Like, I'm sorry, I'm coming. I walked it out of shame. As you should.

I think you did the right thing. All right, well, hopefully Brandon, maybe does the right thing all right well hopefully brandon uh you know the baby does the same thing at the end of the story yeah let's hope it was a baby doll that was burnt to shit and it looked like where it wasn't burnt someone had written on it the plastic on its head was warped to the point that joni always described it as his horns oh dear so wait joni is in on this now joni's like i mean i told you not to but now that you did like i guess we got something to talk about yeah brandon brought this doll home and joan wasn't having any of it okay she told brandon time and time again to get

that thing out of her house but brandon always refused he kept it with him 24 7 and even slept with it at night oh i'm starting to wonder if brandon has the doll or if the doll has brandon wow um that's a good one-liner that being said one morning brandon woke up to find the doll wasn't in his bed anymore joni was less than pleased when Brandon insisted on checking to see if the doll went home to Hell's house. Sure enough, when we went back to the house, we found the doll placed neatly

on the kitchen counter, staring at the back door as if it was expecting us. Even Brandon didn't want to go inside to get the doll. I don't know what scares me more, the idea of the doll getting up and walking back to the Hell house on its own or something entering Joni's inside to get the doll. I don't know what scares me more, the idea of the doll getting up and walking back to the Hell House on its own or something entering Joni's house to retrieve the doll.

When Brandon finally grew the courage the following day to actually get the doll, it was gone and we haven't seen it since. Dun dun dun. Oh my god. Over the years there have been several paranormal investigators come to visit the house, catching EVPs of screaming and things being thrown around. Honestly it's a visit the house catching evps of screaming

and things being thrown around honestly it's a wonder the house hasn't been condemned growing up in an incredibly superstitious family i grew up with all kinds of ghost stories but to experience that doll was a whole other thing anyways i can't say enough how much i love the show and the fact that this podcast has given me life over the last couple years and i hope this story brings at least a fraction of the joy the podcast gives me i'm probably worse at ending stories that i then i am at starting them which says something so that's it oh and there's not even a punctuation which i love okay just kind of leave it irish goodbye in her own just yeah drop it um i wow i i don't i don't like what if joni took it back but joni probably would

have thrown it away i feel like if i if i were if i were joni in the scenario you're coming up with where she brought the doll back i would have grabbed it and just like thrown it into an open window placed it like gently on the counter i would have gone in that house alone at night by myself especially if you're so superstitious yeah and i guess you wouldn't have thrown it away either maybe maybe just like tossed it back in and been like okay bye yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah at the very least i would have like left her on the porch of my own house or something so she wasn't inside just like take it away from the house yeah oh it's creepy i don't like that it also then disappeared afterward

i also have so many questions for joni i'm like when you moved in did was that house like that for real we need more info from joan for someone who's so superstitious did you see that house and think i'm gonna move here anyway and just have that creep show next to me or did you do you know the origins and you watched a great point you know and i love you watched it? That's a great point. And I love that. It's so interesting that paranormal investigators have been, which means it's known enough. Yeah. It's well known enough. And nobody clearly lives there.

I was going to say, do people live there? That's why there's clothes strewn about. Maybe there was someone who's unhoused. Well, no, it said the doors are missing. Wow. I just don't like it. But I also, you know, the slaughter pen also had things like strewn about that were personal objects. And it was just, it was so weird because it felt like you were...

It gives that creepy vibe of like they just up and left. And you're like, why? Oh, it felt apocalyptic. If you looked for the longest time, you couldn't get into the house. Now you really can't. They've officially boarded the house up. But when you look through the windows, the cabinets still had cat food from the 50s in there. It was so creepy.

And a microwave was still on the counter. And cabinets were open as if someone had just wiped all the food out into a bag or something. It's so eerie. They just had to bolt. It is is apocalyptic it feels like zombie apocalypse like yeah make a run for it all right our next one is called a haunted doll outed my boyfriend okay so the theme this month folks happens to be dolls and which is like one of our least favorite topics and in that we're scared of it yes ma'am that's the truth okay so let's just all buckle in as i'm coming down from an anxiety attack that i have to now read about balls okay that was a quick one a haunted doll outed my

boyfriend oh god okay this is from alex g who uses he, him, his pronouns. And the story goes, hello, and that's why I drink crew. And most importantly, lemon. Well, okay. Correct. My name is Alex and my pronouns are he, him, his. I love that we reiterated that. I started listening to the podcast in January of last year and I was instantly hooked. After trying to catch up on the podcast for a little over a year. I'm finally in the home stretch. I wanted to start off by saying thank you

for all your hard work that goes into making the show. The show has brought me many distractions and many laughs throughout the course of the last year and a half. And I'm very thankful. That's so nice. I wanted to write in for the upcoming June. OK, listeners episode. LOL. Because I have a story that is both paranormal and something related to pride my i.e my boyfriend's coming out story every month is pride month so here we go even august even the shitty month of august i'm sorry august birthdays poor august everyone's just crying right now uh it's someone's August 1st birthday right now. Oh my god they were so excited for a birthday wish. Happy birthday to you. I'm so sorry. I wish for you an extra month of summer vacation. I do too.

So my boyfriend helps me write this so I made sure to get his permission before sharing and here we go. In January of 2019 i had been dating my current boyfriend of almost four years for a few months at the time we were hanging out late one sunday night because it was the night before martin luther king jr day and neither of us had to work the next day little did we both know that our night was going to end with a bathroom full of blood and emergency surgery what alex fuck excellent writing alex i am on the edge of my seat my boyfriend and i just had a tonsillectomy my boyfriend and i no my boyfriend my boyfriend i thought it was like i thought it was like a partner activity and should i be getting my veins removed like a two-for-one deal or something at the hospital come over monday or tomorrow we know my little butt butt camera action i my butt is like

the only thing that doesn't have an issue going on so i'm gonna keep it that way for now for now my boyfriend had just had a tonsillectomy and had a pretty rough go of it in terms of his recovery but he was a really hard thing for grown-ups for adults yeah it's i had mine at 20 at like 21 or something and it rocked me it sounds fucking terrible my boyfriend had just had a tonsillectomy but he was 12 days in and most people are back to normal after 14 days because of that we decided to kick back and watch bagel bites of course we decided to watch him run around and yell at ghosts the episode that we picked was the island of dolls episode which happened to be the episode that featured our haunted doll friend named harold oh my gosh harold the doll is still one of my favorite episodes we ever did i like i'm sure it was mine too i don't remember but maybe it was the time in your old house and the emf detector started freaking out when it got super spooky oh that was creepy that was a creepy one for sure as we're

sitting and watching the show and completely out of nowhere my boyfriend's incisions start to bleed profusely we which led to him spitting up and vomiting copious amounts of blood oh god the panic started to set in when the bleeding wouldn't stop and we decided that we had to call a surgeon and perform call the surgeon that performed the tonsillectomy to figure out what to do due to a gruesome photo of the amount of blood that had been collecting on my bathroom counter and floor, the surgeon suggested that we get to the ER immediately to prep him for emergency surgery. Oh, my God. On the way to the hospital, my boyfriend was in such discomfort that he had continued vomiting blood out the window of my car on the highway.

Imagine being behind like, A nice dinner at the Applebee's, spl god like imagine the horror oh no yeah that's like truly out of final destination oh i just got chills just thinking about how like traumatizing i just like i'm just imagining that it's obviously like a minivan full of like at least four children holding ice cream cones of course like having back from the fair their birthday is august 1st and they're like this is the best day ever and then all of a sudden blood you just hear like a sea of children screaming in the van and his final destination you're right like so horrifying well fortunately we made it to the

hospital no problem this is where the pride element of the story comes into play. Great. I'm glad we're proud in this moment. I needed to stay with my boyfriend until his parents arrived at the hospital. The only problem was that his parents had been pretty vocally homophobic up to this point in regards to his older brother also being a member of the queer community. And that meant that my boyfriend wasn't out to his parents and i had yet to meet them oh no i had a pretty awkward run-in with his dad before leaving the hospital anxiously awaiting the results of the surgery after my boyfriend came out of surgery which this time he'd fully recovered from thank god the doctor had to have surgery.

Like, that's really scary. Especially like surgery on an open wound. I just imagine it's double pain. Yeah, it's like I already went through that. The doctor told him that he had never seen anyone bleed so heavily after being so far along into their recovery. Everyone was convinced he did something against his against guidance to cause such a failure. But he repeated over and over that he was just drinking water when the

bleeding started. More importantly, he was soon in a pinch where he had to come out to his parents to explain the nature of our relationship. Oh, my Lord. This ultimately led to a very awkward conversation with his mother where he felt the need to explain his bleeding tonsils was not related to some other sexual act i mean i was thinking it i wasn't gonna say it but when i mean i wasn't thinking it until he said oh i like they thought he did something against medical guidance and i was like what could he have done oh but apparently i believe that he was just drinking the water i believe watching zb but wow i didn't even think about that until i read it where i was like oh my god i can't imagine like the horror of having to say and one i'm gay and two don't envision me doing this thing that i'm now putting

in your mind by saying it at all and sorry i vomited blood all over your minivan i didn't realize that was right behind me oh gosh fast forward to last year when i was listening to the episode where m covers harold the doll and in that episode they mentioned uh that multiple people had experienced vomiting blood after looking at the doll or seeing photos of it wait whoa i don't remember that me either i am so sorry um i should have listened to that episode before sorry i know i know i instantly made the connection between that information and our indulgence into my bagel bite guilty pleasure back in 2019 that's when i realized that harold the doll essentially outed my boyfriend to his parents

and i knew that i needed to send this story in for the following june listeners episode is that not the most modern day like haunting activity like the ghost is like it's not enough to make people vomit blood i want to get like i want to do more psychological damage like it's not camp enough i need to know yeah i need to fucking ruin your relationship with or at least strain your relationship with your parents now that is some deep psychological stuff vomiting blood is a crazy way for harold the doll to be like that'll do you know yeah everyone thinks you did something dirty i hope you enjoyed my story even if it doesn't make it on the episode surprise my boyfriend's relationship with his parents is much better now and he loves lemon even though he should even though the show

scares him too much to be a regular listener and thank you to eva for reading my email if you like this story and we were able to make sense of my writing i have more stories to share one of them includes uh stories from my old job that was haunted by something that definitely didn't seem to be human and was described as a darkness that was darker than dark by multiple coworkers. OMG. But that's for another day, I guess. Cheers, Alex. It doesn't seem very, very queer friendly to out somebody at the emergency room.

So I guess Harold's maybe not. Not an ally. Not an ally not an ally precisely okay so oh no what i just scrolled and i was like i literally almost with my mouth said at least we're not talking about no ptd christy ptd if you don't know it stands for p-e-g-g-y a doll the doll and uh it's the doll that causes all sorts of problems has caused us many techno technological electrical issues and also uh caused our listeners many issues so this is your warning um eva isn't even here to fix our tech issues i love that eva's like oh how convenient i actually have an appointment today right yeah bye an appointment to sit on the couch and watch tv and not help with this one um and just a warning if you are driving

i'm only i'm only saying it because a shocking amount of people who listen to our ptd episode or who have been around this doll in person have said that they ended up in car accidents so like like nothing major i mean i will say like we didn't cause like as far as i know it was only a couple little fender benders but just be careful okay just be careful i love this first line okay by the way this is is from Lee. She hurt. And it says, hey, guys, not sure if you read your emails. No, we don't. I should be offended, but you're correct. You're correct to worry and to assume.

It hurts that you were right. It hurts, but it's true. Hey, guys, not sure if you read your emails, but I just started listening to your podcast last week. Two weeks ago, question mark mark idk time is fake and i just listened to your episode about peggy the doll and i wanted to share wow you said the whole name i know wow i know i was just feeling a little chaotic okay as soon as i started talking about the doll's story i got a splitting headache and the vision in my right eye went all wonky and

wrong i also have a cold and i started having a coughing fit while listening which was normal but then i tasted freaking blood oh my god are you alex's boyfriend this is this is upsetting it all immediately went away as soon as i paused the podcast to text my girlfriend about it it came back when i turned the episode back on okay so when you say girlfriend lee is this like a romantic partner and are you queer because maybe these dolls are just homophobic as shit maybe they're all just homophobic i don't know i'm just saying i'm just saying two for two they were all they were all like our whole podcast is fucking screwed. It came back when I turned the episode back on and to make it all worse, the flashlight on my phone started flashing on and off.

I'm working on a painting and the lighting in my room is too dark. So I was using my phone flashlight. I fucking swear my heart stopped out of pure fear and I had to skip through to the end of M story. Three crying emojis. As soon as I got to the end, my headache went away again. So I'm officially freaked out. Anyway, just thought I'd share. Love you guys. And I can't wait to be all caught up on the podcast. Lee.

Ooh, that got my geese all bumpy. That's that's not not not great oh i hate that i also also my ego's a little shattered that people have to stop listening to me talk okay but don't be because there are multiple like crying sad emojis so okay clearly devastated i'm glad the guilt is there um the guilt is there but wow okay so just like i don't know hey when we gave that psa and be careful as we discuss her proof in the pudding someone started tasting blood immediately so and then paused it so apparently you can pause it or skip forward yeah apparently don't like i'm not that's not a guarantee but that's what i've gathered yeah i don't know if

you can pause the fender bender you might get into. But, you know. Oh, right. Good point. Maybe that'll go away once you pause. I don't know. Well, I will say thank you, Eva, for not making me read PTD's name. I love that she knew I will read it.

You wouldn't. And also, like, who the fuck do we think we are, Christine? Because we talk about- Who do we think we are for real? What gives us the right? Because we talk about how goddamn dangerous she is. We're afraid to say her name. We have literally looked her in the eyes and talked to her at the Zach Bagans Museum.

I have zero. That was the most chaotic evil I've ever done in my life. Every time you say we don't say the name i like i i say the name i can't help myself it's like it's like the hell's house like i i'm like i know i'm not supposed to do it oh i just want to see what happens i just can't believe it just i for us to go don't even think about it and we've looked her in the eyes yeah we're like you guys you be really careful sign this waiver don't say her name anyway yeah let me just drive my car and shout about it using her full christian name

well i'm happy to say this name this one we we've actually already mentioned this episode but this story is about harold the doll um oh and then the rest of the subject line is I almost died okay oh sorry whoopsies we're always looking at ptd now it looks like Harold is causing coming in hot more problems than we thought he wants the title so this is from Madison he uses she her pronouns thank you for normalizing pronouns and madison says in all caps okay listen i'm listening fine i had an experience listening to an episode and i am only on episode 87 r.i.p me i have so much to catch up on 86 is harry the doll i just wanted to share my experience because i thought i was literally about to die i had had a McDonald's Coke. I'm at work.

I work for a music academy and we keep tea for our singers. So I was stocking the tea while listening to the episode. I had this really weird chest pain. So I went back to my desk to drink some Coke thinking maybe it would help somehow. And it did not. The Coke literally sat in my throat and refused to go down. Ew.

Ew. I was literally choking and gasping for air. Sorry. Ew. I was literally choking and gasping for air and trying to make it come back up. Ooh. I ran to the sink by the tea and tried so hard to spit it out, but it wouldn't come up.

Oh, so it's like fully just- Oh my God, you were like choking on it? I was working alone and was terrified. I was about to pass out. I have never felt such immense pain in my throat and chest and have never experienced a drink getting stuck in my throat and just sitting there. But it was so fucking scary. I currently have a side pain now.

And that's the end of it. That's the end of the email. Are you currently still with us? I feel like, I feel like, That's the end of it. That's the end of the email. Are you currently still with us, Fred? I feel like she was writing this as it was still stuck in her throat and we've never gotten clarity on whether or not she actually swallowed the soda. Good point. I feel like the singer came by for tea and she's like, can't you see I'm literally drowning?

Like maybe it is like drowning. Like, you know, when you like swallow water and you can't i mean maybe i don't know it sounds like it like solidified in your throat or something that's so creepy yeah i never heard of liquid getting like stuck in your throat that's that's very alarming i mean i wonder if harold was like trying to get her to throw up blood and just like couldn't pull it off right you know also like that that really elusive last sentence of i now have a side pain yeah and then not even goodbye nothing just that's all yeah the end like no i have a side pain talk about a cliffhanger oh okay wow what a doozy. So good luck to you. I hope you're okay. Yeah. Let us know how you're doing.

This is from Olivia and it's called Laurel Canyon Haunting. It says, hey guys, my name is Olivia and I come from a stereotypical Los Angeles family. To me, I don't really know what that means. I feel like there's... Vegan. Maybe. Vegan surfers. That's got to be it. Vegan surfers. Oh, wow. OK. All right. I'm calling it. Your dad was actually part avocado. So. Oh, that explains it. Well, that means Olivia is also part avocado. I would imagine for her. Wow. Hey, guys,

my name is Olivia and I come from a stereotypical Los Angeles family. Both of my parents are in the entertainment industry and have been divorced since I was born. OK, that I mean, I'll do it. Okay. Okay. That'll do it. My mom lived in WeHo, and my dad has a place in Laurel Canyon. His house was right above the Canyon store, and it was creepy AF. My dad doesn't know how to settle in a house, so he basically likes to buy them and flip them. I don't know why he picked this house, but I can tell you that i'm so glad he doesn't live there anymore when they first started working on the house my dad ended up finding a ceramic bird bath buried and broken into three pieces because my dad is psychotic he decided to put

the bird back together and display it outside that sounds like the most dad thing i've ever heard in my life it's like i've got epoxy and some gorilla glue let's put this bad boy back together it's like i don't see where it's broken good bath birth it was a bargain i got it a long time ago why it's not that broken come on it's perfectly good my dad used to be a heavy oh sorry i forgot the line this is where everything starts to get fucked up okay my dad used to be a heavy smoker. Oh, sorry, I forgot the line. This is where everything starts to get fucked up. Okay. My dad used to be a heavy smoker, so he'd often go to the backyard to smoke.

One day when he went back, he saw a girl with long blonde hair, but he couldn't make out her face because she was basically in the woods. My dad thought she needed help, so he asked her if she needed anything, but she wouldn't respond. He got freaked out and went inside because he thought she might be a crazy woman a few weeks went by and one day when he got home all of what a few weeks went by and one day when he got home all of my baby dolls were sitting upright on the couch i he thought it was my uncle trying to prank him because my uncle had been helping out with all the construction however after that every day once he got back from work the dolls would be back on the couch in the same position he finally called my uncle and told him to stop because it was freaking him out and my uncle said that he had no idea what he was talking about once my dad

explained everything my uncle told my dad that he had also seen a girl with long blonde hair my dad finally put two and two together and reburied the birdbath after that everything stopped he also sold the house smiley face okay this one ends with the end what a what a um an eclectic group of endings to this i know i feel like everybody is like so i'm just gonna back out of here i don't know how else to leave i'm waiting for somebody to just end it with like finn oh yeah i love that that's how i end things wow okay so i guess don't unbury bird broken bird baths i guess if you find something spooky buried in the ground like don't take it upon yourself to trust that it's been buried there for a reason right like it wasn't let's not gorilla glue it it wasn't buried there for you

to unbury it yeah for a crafting project you know wild, though, because I feel like I would see that and not think anything spooky about it. I wonder why the girl was so attached to the birdbath. Maybe that was her favorite place or something. Maybe it was her birdbath and somebody shattered it. Yeah. Whatever. I'm glad after it was unleashed, it was re-leashed. Unleashed.

Well, thank you for your story. This one comes from Amanda. Here's something real crazy. It is... Oh, I'm looking at it too. I think I had to scroll. There's like a giant cat picture somewhere in there. Yes, yes.

And a doll picture. Just so you know. I really hope I didn't just see ptd because i think i just did well one of the pictures unless i'm oh no no it just got split in the pdf pdfs are crazy pdfs are crazy said the boomer in the room are you ready what's the deal with pdfs you know hang on what's the deal with pdfs you know hang on i literally didn't know what you're doing i was like what oh is that or whatever no it was which actually worked better okay cool okay good good good okay so anyway this one's from amanda and the uh subject line is oh listeners episode uh so amanda is keeping it vague

for us love that and amanda says uh hello and that's why we drink team fam and fluffy friends amanda they them pronouns love a fellow baby thank you for normalizing pronouns uh my favorite drink is arnold palmer oh we're starting you we're starting hot i know am i amanda but out of cold out of i need to eat food i'm like so mad right now that i can't eat i feel like i said arnold palmer and you got like really triggered yeah i did i Except I could probably have that, right? No, that's definitely the color of dark tea and lemonade. Damn it. And how's your Sprite?

Take a swig. Actually, look what I got. It's Sprite Cherry, which I didn't know existed, but it's like clear flavor or it's clear colored. Remember Sprite Remix? Sort of. When we were kids, it was like, there was like a purple one and a red one, but it was clear and it blew our minds.

Oh, yeah. See, this is what I like is that it's cherry flavor, but I feel like I'm tricking everyone because I love cherry and they're like, you can't have cherry. And I'm like, oh, can't I? If you put that on a cup, a doctor would approve it, you know?

Mm-hmm. All right. My favorite drink is Arnold Palmer, but out of the two, I would have to be Team Milkshake. Yay. Sorry, Team Wine, but I'm more of a hard liquor person. I don't know what you're apologizing for. I was going to say, I mean, me too. My partner introduced me to your show recently, so I'm very new, but I love these viewer episodes,

and i forgot that i have a story of my own to share it always makes me so sad that if if they're just listening 340 episodes ago like they're not gonna know that they were chosen as a listener's episode i thought that too but think about it if their partner oh yeah the one who introduced it maybe they'll be like oh shit like amanda your story you know yeah yeah okay i hope so that's that's the hope But think about it. If their partner is the one who introduced it, maybe they'll be like, oh, shit. Like, Amanda, your story, you know? Yeah. Okay.

I hope so. That's the hope that I tell myself. To preface, my partner and I both love spooky shit. Like, really, like, spooky shit. Horror movies, animal bones, and other oddities. So my partner takes it a bit further. He has probably over 100 dolls that he has either purchased or had been given by friends and family i was on board until the dolls this is what people thought

we wanted which is why they started sending us dolls at some point remember that's true and i did kind of keep them for a while so i was we were accidentally building a collection from earlier you were amanda's partner yeah uh seven of these dolls which are there's over a hundred as amanda says seven of them are haunted honestly those stats are low compared to what i was expecting um agreed i thought 97 7 like that's pretty low i'll take my chances i have a feeling you'd want to see so i attached a picture of them all okay that's what that was oh is that the one can i go look i don't want any spoilers let me see i don't know if i'm where i'm where you are i don't know if a spoiler is coming i know i you

know how sometimes you used to yell at me because i would read along this was way back in the day i don't do that anymore but um whoa oh i mean beautiful i'm gonna just change the subject super not haunted at all the haunted dolls were purchased through ebay if i'm not mistaken and he likes to do this he likes to do it this way because they usually give a description about what kinds of things the spirit likes and what activity the owners had been experiencing. Each doll has an interesting story, personality. It's like Tinder for dolls. Like it's like loves attention, but needs a little bit of like alone time.

Or it's like Pet Finder maybe, like Pet Finder, like good with kids. I feel like let's TMTM this, but like why don't we create a haunted doll Tinder where like collectors can go look and swipe around and see now and purchase now we're talking because you know why because we would have to be the ones to be acquiring all of these items you realize that right no no no it would be like a third party to ebay or something we're like the silicon valley type and someone else has to do all

the like legwork we just i'm so lucky you're so lucky i don't know how to code because the things i would get us into would be crazy i like kind of do but i have some secret things that i've been waiting to reveal to you but i shouldn't have said that what do you know it's been like a year two three years in the making so but what do you know i don't know anything did you learn how to code christine oh i know how to code yeah i took coding courses in college and um so what else is there what's what's what's coming out of this what do you oh i just i've made a few things oh my god i just never knew what to do with them so they're kind of sitting in limbo waiting for the right

moment is this the right moment i will say no not yet okay well let me know what it gets here um i just like to strike a little tinge of fear in your heart every now and then she's there i promise at a hundred percent capacity um okay well moving on having learned nothing and a lot all at the same time from that experience. Oh, eBay. Right. And then we do the Tinder thing. Okay.

Each doll has an interesting story, personality, characteristics, likes and dislikes, just like anyone else, really. They are currently displayed on a bookshelf in one of the basement bedrooms because they do not like being kept in boxes. Okay. Don't put baby in a box. That's exactly right. When we moved into this house, we did not yet have a bookshelf for them, and they let us know that they were not pleased. They let us know. I feel like you're just signing up for like a toxic environment.

Like you're not even dating this person or something, but they're like, well, first things first before you do anything. It's like a roommate. Yeah, it's like a roommate who's not paying the rent. And you're like, oh, you have so many demands. Yes, exactly. I can imagine it was a lot of energy cramped into one box originally. And the activity was physically harmless, just startling. Great.

My partner had a tube of chapstick thrown at him. We heard the sound of broken glass one night and we were unable to find any kind of source. And when I was walking up the stairs, they made it sound like someone was actually falling down on them. I didn't hear it, however, despite being right there. So I guess their partner heard it yeah it's fair to say that we do to think like oh you're you hear crashing and you're like oh my god you did you fall down the stairs and they're like on the stairs like what no i it's there's nothing there's nothing scarier well i'm sure there's scarier things but there's there's nothing. Finish the sentence.

There's nothing scarier to me when two people are in a room and only one is experiencing the thing. Oh, that is really that is really scary because at least you have the validation and the like we're in this together. And think about the mind fuck of like, oh, so like now both of you know that things could be happening around you that you're not even aware of true and that this thing is control it can can this thing can control beyond your own senses so like it is it if so then it spirals even more and it's like so if you're experiencing something it's because it wants you to know ew and it's like specifically choosing you to witness it but also like if i for example harry i'm not giving you any ideas here but if i heard like if leona were a little older and she were going up the stairs and i heard someone fall down the stairs like worst nightmare you know and then you turn and it's like she's fine like that's really scary oh it's so scary yeah well now i have always been

completely fine with the dolls being around luckily these kinds of things don't bother me wow you the stick you're you must be nice my ability to see that as anything other than a red flag is like different than yours let's just put it there because i'd be like uh it's mirrored the dolls at this point for sure i've always been completely fine with it um i figured they weren't bad spirits they were just a little salty about being kept in a box for a few weeks and honestly valid i wish that this first story were about any of these dolls but it's not since my partner is an avid haunted doll collector, he's very sensitive to energies and objects with generally spooky vibes. What if he wasn't? What if it was like he has zero, like he just has a wall

there and he's like, I don't know, I just like how they look. And everyone else is like, you're ruining our lives with these dolls. He's like, what? I don't hear anything. That would be the red flag, actually. That one is like. I feel like that would be the only acceptable way to collect dolls, though. If you're like, they don't bother me. Like, if. Yeah. I don't know.

That's true. I don't know. I see both sides of it. I feel like if I went to somebody's house and they had a bunch of dolls that were obviously haunted, but they just denied it. That's true. That's true. Like, this person is crackers.

Yeah crackers. You like you are delusional. Is what I would be like. At least admit it. At least admit it. Unless maybe they're trying to like. Not scare me. So they're like telling a fib.

But then you've got to. Like what if they know that they're haunted. And they're trying to like. Be coy about it. So they say they're not haunted. And now the haunted dolls are mad at you. For not acknowledging that they're haunted publicly. And suddenly you're falling down the stairs. And that how we got here exactly well apparently while thrifting one day a seemingly random doll stuck out to my partner

on the shelf he said that it was like the doll was reaching out to him please please please get be for real like if i if if i ever felt something reaching out to me and it had a face i would be like no no you'd be like push away it's like i'm glad you're reaching out i'm i'm going this is a fun dance we're doing i'm going into another aisle all i could tell about the doll was that it looked pretty cute had big eyes and he wanted it so it came home with us little did we know what was in store for us in the short two weeks that we had this doll yep before we get to the good good oh great i think it's important to add that we are both

desensitized to spooky things so it did take a while for us to put the pieces together about what was going on i like how you prefaced it because my first response was going to be, are you kidding me? Yeah, seriously. Okay. Because I assume everything's a ghost. So if like if Allison sneezes, I'm like, oh my God. Oh, not again. Yeah. So I am the opposite of you. I would already be running. For the two weeks that we had the doll, noticed that my cat also pictured because i love him was coughing a lot see allison's teasing cat coughing i told you it's not it's one in the same we thought that it was maybe just dust or dirt bugging him since he goes outside sometimes we took him to the vet of course and they gave him some medicine thinking that he had a kitty

cold or possibly asthma he did better on the medicine and we didn't think much else of it. My bedroom is right above the doll room and I was starting to notice that I was having heart palpitations pretty frequently combined with a general chest pain every once in a while. My partner and I were discussing some of these things and thought that it might be the doll's energy not loving being around other dolls. So we agreed that we would have our witchy friend come and sage the doll's energy not loving being around other dolls so we agreed that we would have our witchy friend come and sage the doll and the house in a few days the same night i went to bed and at around two to three in the morning i woke up and saw a shadowy figure standing

in the doorway of my room now my sleepy brain thought that it was just my partner coming to say good night or checking on me and i didn't think much of it until the next morning. I got up with some chest pain and bad mental energy. I would think it was finally starting to get to me. When I was putting on my shoes, I heard a thud beneath me in the doll room. I may be an idiot, but I'm no, I may be an idiot, but I'm no idiot. Okay. Wait, that's the best line. Put that on a shirt. You need to put that on your cricket. I am. I'm no idiot. Okay. Wait, that's the best line. Put that on his shirt. You need to put that on your cricket. I am. I'm literally like somebody give me a design. I need to put that somewhere. I may be an idiot, but I'm no idiot. So that's beautiful. So I did not go check it, the stud. When my partner got up, I told him what what happened and apparently he had his own run-in

with the doll that night he was putting away some laundry when i went to bed and when he came into the living room he could hear something like a metal table violently shaking he's a badass so he screamed if you don't cut this shit out i'm going to destroy your vessel whoa and the shaking stopped what a spooky thing to say that's exactly what a fucking like wizard would say. I mean, literally, like, I will destroy the vessel upon which you came. I mean, Jesus, like what an alarming thing to say, but also probably very effective. That kind of sentence is what Zach Bagans thinks he's saying every time. Okay.

I was going to say, I almost thought it was a Zach Bagans thing. And then I was like, I don't think you could come up with that on the spot, though. Does he know the word vessel? I't is this a vessel i've definitely heard him say it but it might have been written by somebody else i'm not really sure uh yeah he's only said it in like some spooky poetic way about like that episode where a horse was pooping in the carriage or something okay yeah i love that episode he's like oh look okay it's horseshit oh my god so anyway your partner's a real badass got it okay uh and the table stopped shaking we talked about the doll and my partner decided that this doll would do better at the museum of shadows what sure a haunted object museum in omaha nebraska okay so now i know where we're

going next we got a plan we got a road trip plan by the way three minutes ago i was talking about how i'd run in the opposite direction and now i'm like we have to go to omaha let's get in the car immediately we'll stop at hell's house on the way yeah exactly yeah i guess the drive down there with the doll was not a smooth one but now they have her and she is out of our lives witchy friend still came and brought a sage and all kinds of protection jars and for a palate cleanser i'll give you a funny spooky story one of the dolls named melanie likes to fuck with technology so she is the one housed in a glass box with twinkle lights in it. Okay. Kind of adorable.

Precious. She has to be so happy about that. Against my better judgment, I kind of love it. I absolutely love it. She can play with the lights to her heart's delight. Aww. Well, one night we had some friends over and one of them got absolutely obliterated. He's Team Peppermint Schnapps.

Oh, whoa. That is a rough night for them. And probably, I mean, imagine the puke the next day. Oh, it's got to burn. I gave him my room, which again is above the doll room. We went to bed somewhere between 1 and 2 in the morning. And what we didn't know was that Melanie's lights ran out of batteries. Some of the dolls communicate through dreams.

Oh, my God. So what we think happened is she snuck into this poor drunk person's mind, made him get out of bed, walk down past a baby gate we have for the cats and into the doll room just to turn on the main light. Because we have a video camera in that room that picks up motion and sound. because we have a video camera in that room that picks up motion and sound and all you see on the camera is them peeking into the room just long enough to flick on the light and then a moment later you hear them say what am i doing downstairs i love that they were like peppermint schnapps that does the trick now i can enter the mind and soul of this person melanie tonight you know melanie sounds like she might also like peppermint schnapps. That's true.

Anyway, that again, we've Irish goodbyed here on the letter. Oh my gosh, you guys. Are you all okay? Like it's worrisome because they're all about dolls. And I'm like, somebody just tell me you're okay. Can you imagine if all of these people didn't actually write us at all? And in the middle of the night, all their dolls just started typing on keyboards, sending in their own stories to us?

No, it's like anyone at their house who drank way too much peppermint schnapps got on and started. Why am I on their computer? I'm imagining Melanie with a little bottle of schnapps just banging her plastic hands on her keyboard. Hang on. Hear me out. Writing about her fairy lights.

Hear me out, Amanda. Maybe you need to give her just a couple drops of some peppermint schnapps. See what happens. If she likes, well, never mind. I was going to say, if she likes lights, you should give her like a scented candle. And I'm like, no, don't leave fire by a ghost. Wow, maybe don't put flames near the doll. But, you know, it's a good effort.

Oh, no, but you know what you should do they have like those little tea lights that like um they're electronic and they like change color oh melanie would eat that oh you could give her like a whole light show to control oh my gosh oh at christmas time imagine the possibilities you should direct her towards the window on a night where there'll be fireworks. Oh, Melanie would lose her mind. I wonder if this reminds me of like a Stranger Things thing. Like maybe she can communicate through the lights, you know? Yeah.

I wonder if you like do some like lucid dream work, if you can just hang out with Melanie at a firework show. Oh, how fun. That'd be dope. I mean, it seems like Melanie can fucking roam around and enter people's brains. You know what? Never mind. She's like, why is she even in a fucking roam around and enter people's brains. Yeah, you know what? Never mind. Why is she even in a glass box?

Yeah. She's good. Actually, I think Amanda thinks she's in a glass box, but a lot of the time she's not. She's roaming around. Melanie, if you're listening, please don't enter my dreams. We love that for you, though, Melanie. I love your journey, but keep it over there. All right.

Last story, I think. It is is we have a seventh bonus here today so this is from april hi april it says oh so the subject is creepy doll on my property april uses she her pronouns it says hello m christine and eva long time listener first time write-in i don't have a story but more of a question oh this is the first yeah this is a first uh we can't promise any wisdom but we'll try a few months ago while i was leaving my house on a walk with my son who i also call babu shout out to sweet baby g okay that's adorable i noticed a small doll laying on the bright yellow fire hydrant that is outside my house along our road seems innocent enough right no in my opinion no

so i just know more's coming so like okay well no i have listened to plenty of your episodes and listener stories that being said i have built in paranoia about dolls, especially ones that just show up randomly. Of course, I'm sure it was just placed there by another child on a walk, but why is it still there? It has been there for months, maybe even longer.

I snapped a photo and sent it to my husband joking about it and he had seen it months prior and told me not to touch it, saying he was creeped out by it too. My son always points it out now and I just distract him with something else or keep walking. My husband had a great idea to write to you guys to ask how I should get rid of this doll

without getting haunted or receiving bad juju. Do I use tongs to pick it up? A broom to knock it over and sweep it into the street? Do I throw it away? I know how much you guys love talking about creepy children's toys and dolls and i need your take on it i've attached a picture of the doll in all capital letters i love you guys so much and i would binge listen to you more if my three-year-old wasn't around so much april okay let me zoom in can you see this picture

kind of i it's it's small much smaller than i thought it was gonna be i can't really it's like like it's a tiny little doll that can sit on the rim of a fire hydrant how do you i can't zoom in let me try i think maybe i don't know if what its face looks like but i get the gist it's like a little a little miniature is it like old timey doll or is it like modern day doll it looks like it's a plastic kind of barbie doll situation you know i wonder okay every time i see a duplo interesting every time i see something kind of like uh placed up high like on on a walking like on a sidewalk i usually assume like this happens sometimes like there will be like a mitten or a hat or a toy like

on our fence because i think if a kid drops it out of the stroller like someone walking past will just pick it up and put it like right out of the sidewalk so i'm wondering if that's what it is but it is a little weird that not one single person has felt comfortable yeah moving it it's not that a whole neighborhood sees that thing there and either it's they're all giving like it takes a village energy and they're like oh we'll leave it for the person who kept it there and just having like the best honor code i've ever seen a neighborhood handle or everyone's freaked out which is also hysterical but bad bad news bad news i think it's like kind of like funny in a fascinating way of like how is everyone getting this kind of vibe from this you know even the husband was like just don't touch that like they were like oh i'll send you a joking

photo and then they were like don't touch that i've seen it is there i mean my first thought without touching it i would leave a sign next to it or a letter and be like does anyone know what this doll's about like i mean i've made friends by leaving notes in the street and so oh my lord okay but so like what would you write like let me get let me have an example uh i mean so if i were just trying to be as generic as possible i'd be like we keep seeing we've seen this doll for a while uh does this belong to anybody or uh is someone missing a doll or wait i know why don't you do a next door post yeah you know yeah a ring like on the ring or neighbors or whatever it is yeah like on next door uh you can have you can just post a photo of it and be like hey this has been here

for a while not sure and then if nobody knows what it is, or maybe you'll get more intel. Like maybe people will be like, I've seen that too. Something creeps me out, you know? Then you can get like the consensus from the neighbors. That's what I would do. That's what I would do.

I also, I mean, I love leaving a note. I feel like- But like, where would you put, like, what would you write? Like text me? Would you write your address? I mean, you're asking, no, no, no. You're asking, your would you put like, what would you write? Like, text me? Would you write your address? I mean, you're right. No, no, you're asked your your your questions are all reasonable. But I'm talking from a place of like 3 a.m.

I'm not thinking all the way through. I'm not. I'm just asking, like, so that she can do what you're suggesting. Like, should she put like, text me and like her number, you think? Or like, I don't know. I have no idea i i'm telling you what i would do and it would have not been fully thought out i would leave a note as if i'm maybe the doll and i'd be like help where am i supposed to be why am i here and then it would

have just created even more drama i would just leave a pen for like more people to write on the to continue writing on the paper and it'd be a fun little back and forth. But realistically, I would just do what you said. Just like reach out to as many people as possible. And like on an app. Or like if you have a Facebook neighborhood group and be like, hey, found this outside. Does it belong to anyone or should I toss it and then see what happens? And I would say, I don't know if it's if it's like super creepy and it really gives you bad vibes like i just probably would leave it like i don't yeah no it's not your responsibility i guess i mean i guess if you're you don't want your son to accidentally grab it i can see why

you might want to get rid of it but yeah i mean if you if you felt then compelled to get rid of it or something i would just maybe i'd i'd do like a like a proper little like funeral or burial or something and like leave her with love and light like i would be like yeah i would google i'd sweep her into like a little shoe box or like a a little ziploc bag or something and you know do like a proper like we love you and and you can leave now you can move on and i don't know if you wanted to but you also yeah like christine said this isn't your responsibility yeah i would say like don't feel like you have to unless you really want to um but also if it feels like i'm being compelled by a dark energy, then maybe just leave it. Yeah.

Maybe just leave it. And I wonder if by putting so much energy into caring so much about this doll, that's giving it energy. That's a great point. Especially if everybody else is like, yeah, you seen that doll? It's creeping me out. And if your husband's like, oh, I saw that doll. Like, I don't know. I'm getting nervous about this doll now. Why does everybody have such a strong opinion about it?

Yeah, I don't know. It's very weird that so many people are freaked out. Yeah. So let us know what happens. Let us know if you do post about it. Because I am curious, like, what other people think or have said or feel about it. Make a TikTok, maybe? Oh, that's a good idea.

And just be like, this little girl she is terrifying all of the neighborhood yeah if you're wondering what we would do we would try to make content out of it i'd exploit it for sure yeah so and then leave it with love and light no yeah do like a blowing blowing a kiss emoji at the end of the video yeah yes that is that there we go just like but all this was for her to have a nice happy time yeah somewhere else exactly far away uh anyway that's that's our first q a we've ever done here wow what a delight was it fun for you it was fun for me but i don't think that they got any good answer i mean maybe they did but i mean i feel like they went to the wrong place asking for genuine advice i think especially probably especially because

neither of us are experts when it comes to like what a proper ritual would be if you actually felt like this thing had something attached to it so exactly that's exactly it so maybe you know google it but that that's that's where I stand with it. Yeah. Anyway, good way to end this. Doing something new for August. Oh, Christine. So next time we hear some stories from us, it will be September. But thank you, everyone who submitted stories. And thank you to Eva and Katie for, like, finding a theme through all of this.

Curating them. Love a doll story and with that i guess what do we do we just see you next month i guess everyone i think we see you next month i go drink my sprite and cry and just think the next time we're recording a listener's episode this will all be done you don't have to worry about it anymore for a while i'll be snacking away but don't worry i'll mute my mic folks i feel like you should uh for september bring a real fancy drink that's just caked in red dye just bring oh my god i'll bring my cherry spray but i'll just put red food dye in it just to make

it like feel more exciting all right everyone we'll we'll uh we'll see you next week or sunday or whenever whenever you hear us next and that's why we drink