And That's Why We Drink - Listener Stories: Vol. 93

Episode Date: July 1, 2024

Happy July! It's hot AF and our livers are bigger than they look! Tune in this month for some Whaley House themed stories chosen by Clam Boleyn herself. We're reliving our ghost hunt and On the Rocks tour and freaking out at all the ghostly photos y'all sent in. Come join us while we look back as we move forward to our brand new tour, which we're definitely not terrified about and currently still writing... and that's why we drink!Speaking of our brand new tour, come join us this fall in a city near you! andthatswhywedrink.com/live

It's hot AF. It's 98 degrees in Cincinnati right now. It is wherever you are. It is not as bad here, but it's still hot. It's just not humid or... Sweltering. Yucky, or at least by nightfall, it gets a little better. Well, I want to say that because we haven't announced anything yet and we haven't... Nobody knows when we're recording this. I will say Emma and I, and Emma and Eva and I

just hung out recently, and we had a lot of leftover alcohol from our hangout session, which is, I think our livers are bigger than they look, you know what I mean? Is that a thing? Maybe not. Mine was just as big as I thought it was. Yes, so we had a lot of leftover alcohol

and a lot of iced tea alcohols So I'm drinking in your honor today and a hard iced tea Okay. Well, that's nice. Is it a twisted tea or is it an Arizona tea or what is the Rhine Geist Rhine Geist tea? Rhine guys half and half. It's very delicious And it's caffeinated which is probably a terrible idea. It's 4 p.m. But I mean, I'm never gonna drink these again because I can only drink them like before 2 p.m. If I want to sleep that night. So it's gonna take me probably two years to get rid of these but...

Does it actually taste like tea and is it enjoyable like tea? It actually does taste quite sweet, like sweet tea. Yeah. Oh, okay. You probably wouldn't like it, like it would probably have a weird aftertaste But to me it tastes like like the Arizona ones tastes like tea to me really yeah I want to believe everybody but every time I've taken a sip of something and no you would notice you would notice like My virgin palette. Yeah. Yeah, it's just it's just like compared to just straight alcohol. It's very good. But okay. But yeah, it's officially July when you everybody hears us. So happy July, happy month seven.

Officially more than halfway. More than halfway. We're just starting the second half of the year. Yes. And I'm assuming it's only worse for you temperature wise than it currently is as we record this So sorry to Christine and anyone living nearby Anybody living nearby me because you'll probably smell me from very far away Good apology. That's very necessary. Even I were just saying while we were with you that it has We have not showered that much The way that we were I mean I was taking like two showers a day It was just so much very fortunate that my car now has that thing where because it's like a hybrid or whatever where it's when

It's plugged in you can like start it remotely and like let the air conditioning run for a few minutes. That is a new Evolve a god for me. But it is really delightful. Well, happy July and, hmm. Are you doing anything in July that you're excited about? Yeah, oh, I'm touring for Beach to Sandy. I was gonna bring this up on the regular show. But we are touring and guess what show has sold the least amount of tickets in?

Cincinnati. Oh, wow. What a kick in the face. Yeah, it hurts. So we're trying to get the word out. So if you want to come see us live, it's really fun show. We read one star views of your town

and we are going on tour multiple weeks in July. So help me. I wonder if it's not as popular in Cincinnati because you are locals of Cincinnati. And so people feel like they almost like could run into you and get a free show anytime, you know? Right, because I'm going to stop into an hour and a half just on the sidewalk.

Well, like you'd be like, oh, well, I might just run into them at the grocery store. I wonder if I could get a meet and greet anyway. I feel like 40 people of our closest loved ones and friends maybe just assume that they get free tickets. And we're like, no, just go buy them. I don't have enough free tickets to give you if we're not going to do a show.

That's like my mom and all of her 900 acquaintances. They all assume that I will help them out. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Well, how was your first shows? Because you just did your first leg. Well, we did. Seattle and Portland, we're both sold out. That was really fun. And it just, I don't think I've ever,

I mean, it's just very fun to do like a very low key because ours is more like production value. And like, you know our shows are like very involved and awesome and like Just require a lot of prep. I feel like these ones we just kind of show up walk in with our laptop and like, you know what? Portland and Seattle since the beginning of our touring your touring history. They have never once fucking missed Literally are always two of our best cities. Nailing it every time.

Always loud. I think it's because they're just a bunch of silly little queer people. I can't imagine anybody else living in either city. Yeah, they really just tell it like it is and they don't hold back and I really appreciate that. And they're loud. They're always loud. Always appreciate it. Well, that's at least, those are great cities to start your tour on. They give you like a boost. I really appreciate it. And they're loud, they're always loud. Always appreciate it.

Well that's at least, those are great cities to start your tour on, they give you a boost. It really kicked it off strong. Yeah and then Cincinnati's like, nevermind, we hate you, hee hee. And I'm like, well fine, fuck you. I would love to have a tour either begin or end with a Portland, Seattle leg

because you're gonna get so jazzed either way. I do recommend it, I do. But we are going to DCM as well, so you know. I do know about that. I do want to come visit. Maybe M will be there I just gonna keep telling everyone maybe M will be there and that'll like maybe drive ticket sales up My mother has already asked if I'm coming to DC soon. Yeah, she knows about your show. So Anyway, so I'm yes. Good luck on the rest of your tour. I can't believe you're touring I have big news just now. Open Facebook got a message request in my folder that I don't ever check

from none other than Esther Marie Flonase, my favorite drag queen. What, what? And she just messaged me, Eva can probably hear me somewhere, and it says, you talking about me on that podcast? Oh my God, I am so starstruck right now. I could just cry.

Holy shit. This is the biggest moment of my life. Eva, Eva, are you there? Okay, good. First of all, amazing for you. Second, love that you have to browse Facebook to talk to me while we record. Well, I was kind of pulling up the list of cities

that I posted on Facebook yesterday for the tour. So I promise it was relevant. And, I was kind of pulling up the list of cities that I posted on Facebook yesterday for the tour, so I promise it was relevant and then I got totally sidetracked. Esther Marie's flow maze. You're one step away from an autograph, my friend. It sounds like she's... It's better than an autograph. It's like she's mad at me, but not really, you know? Like she's talking to me in all caps and I'm like, are you yelling? But she's drag queen mean, that's, that's you're in. I feel so honored. Eva said I'm screaming icon.

I love her. And I do. You have to, we have to, you have to get a shirt or something now. Wait, she's on my computer. The one I'm on right now. She's on there, my sticker. Shit, I wish I could show it, but it's on the back.

Tell her, tell her I'm screaming about you on the podcast again. Yeah, sorry, Esther. You're never going to get off. It was actually on Beach to Sandy. Now I got her on this one. So I feel like we've got Esther Marie's all over the place spreading the good news. Wow. Well, I was going to ask why you drink, but there's obviously no better answer than that. Thank you so much. And I hope you're having a lovely July not touring. How's that going for you in the future? Chef's kiss, 10 out of 10.

I do love touring. Oh wait, I'm sorry I'm interrupting you, but I feel like on that note, Eva did say, oh, these stories that Eva picked today, a handful that Emma and I have not read yet, are all of a very specific, familiar place, And I kind of can see just from the subjects, what place that is. Oh, I haven't. I haven't looked yet. OK, OK, sorry.

I didn't know if you knew. So you'll find out. But anyway, go ahead. You're having a lovely time not touring. I'm having a lovely time not touring. I do love touring with you. Right now, Christine and I are currently petrified because our tour hasn't been fully written yet.

And ticket sales are already happening. Hasn't been fully written yet and ticket sales are already happening. Hasn't been fully written. Hasn't been written yet. Hasn't been even conceived. We're literally in the fertility process right now, trying to get this thing off the ground. Right now, I'm scared about going back on tour just because I'm not prepped, but when we are prepped, I will feel good about it. I'm loving not having to,

I mean, I was just on an airplane yesterday. But I'm- It doesn't probably feel like you are off tour yet. I'm happy for like one breath should not be in an airport. There are obviously chunks of our lives where it feels like we just live in airports and hotels. And yeah, I'm feeling cozy. I might take a shift on the bar ship tonight. I don't know, things make it crazy.

I literally thought you were about to say take a shit. I was like, I don't think we need to know that. Thank you though. I was like, oh wow. Shift at the bartender, gotcha. I've got my night shifts and I haven't been to the bar recently, but I gotta go get those tips tips so I might hustle a little bit this weekend. Wonderful. Yeah I'm having a good time. I don't have any drag queens reaching out to me. That you

know of I mean again I never checked that folder I don't even know how I ended up there I just like clicked on it I was like who is that little icon that looks like Esther Marie? Miss Flonys herself. That's amazing. Do you know if you were to be a drag king, I suppose, what your name would be? I think about this all the time. And somebody, when I visited Spotify recently,

asked me that same question. It was almost like their icebreaker question. I was like, this is such a powerful intro question. That's a hard icebreaker question, because you have to ask soft, soft, like lowball questions because you have the icebreaker is like, Oh, here, let me ask you an easy question. So you don't have to like feel pressure. Yeah.

Like put you on the spot. Um, yeah. Eva, Eva loves the name Clambolin, uh, like and is ridiculous. What's yours? Um, Clambolin is very Anne Boleyn. Clambolin is ridiculous. What's yours, Em? Clambolin is very good. I don't have one. I never know. Although the way Eva spelled Boleyn, instead of Boleyn, it says Boileyn, which is also very funny.

Clamboin. It sounds like Clamboin, which also kind of works. I think mine would be Tess Tosterone. Oh, that's good. You did tell me that one once. I really like that. I really like that. It's a good backup one until I come up with my real name. Yeah, that's good. I will brainstorm it. Maybe like in the middle of one of your stories,

I'll just scream the drag name out. That's great. Okay. I love it. Well, happy July to everybody. And if this is your first time listening to our listeners' episodes, this is where we read your true crime and paranormal stories, hand selected by Clam Boylan herself. And...

I'm gonna call her Clam Boylan until she fixes the spelling. And we've got apparently six from a location we're familiar with, so do you want me to go first or you, Christina? I would love you to go first so you know, so you get the idea pretty quick where we're going. Where we're heading, what So do you want me to go first or you, Christine? I would love you to go first so you know, so you get the idea pretty quick where we're going. Where we're heading, what direction this takes us. Okay. This is, well I see immediately if the title is On the Rocks. Yep. On the Rocks

follow-up. Oh my gosh. Well hey I thought our On the Rocks tour was over. Apparently not. We've got some updates for everybody. This is like our like, our like looking back as we prep to go forward. You know, it's like kind of like, we're in limbo between tours right now. So it's kind of like, we're reminiscing as we prepare for our future tour. It's stunning.

That's beautiful. Honestly, thank you. Even though Eva did this and we just found out, I feel like that feels like a power move. Well, the letter starts with you all, not y'all. My name is Christina, and my pronouns are she, they. Love a double pronoun. Hello, Christina.

Thank you for amazing pronouns. I found your podcast September, 2023. Wow, you are new. Welcome. We planned a family trip to San Diego on April 23 for April 24. And my spouse connected that the Whaley house was really close to where we would be on our trip. It kind of fell off our radar.

But then we went to your live show in Minneapolis. So you had no idea that they were connected. I see. That's actually very funny. Yeah. The Whaley house in parentheses, by the way, your live show was awesome. We had a great time. Oh, I see. That's actually very funny, yeah. The Whaley House, in parentheses, by the way, your live show was awesome, we had a great time.

Oh, what if Eva added that in? She's like, I'm just gonna add some annotations here. Aw, clam, you shouldn't have. Miss clam. The next morning after your show, we left for San Diego and saw Eva at the airport. Holy shit! You saw a drag queen?

That's amazing. You saw a clan balloon? I don't know, by her Christian name, clan balloon. My wife had the courage to go talk to her and we asked if we were, she asked if we were going to the Whaley house. Wow. That really is a lot of layers there. Wow. Yeah, it is. That's like, it feels like the universe was like shoving you into the Whaley house with all this. Yeah. You were like, by the way, we're going to start this show a couple months before our live show. So we're going to hear about the Whaley house only a few months before going to the show about the Whaley house. Oh my gosh. And you met Eva. Okay, now I feel like Eva only inserted the story in

because she got the very specific shout out. Anyway, we experienced lots of cold spots at the Whaley house. We got a couple of pictures with unexplainable shadows. Okay, as two people who were there overnight with no air conditioning, I can say that has to be paranormal because that place is fucking hot as hell. Oh yeah, there's no, I mean we were there a year ago?

Two years, a year and a half ago? Two years ago? I don't know anymore. Two years ago, wait. But it was as hot as we were complaining about earlier. It's out of control hot. So to feel cold spots, that was, that had to be fun for you. It's ghostly presence.

For sure. We got a couple of pictures with unexplainable shadows, a creepy woman in the window that others seemed to get, and a really unexplained malfunction with our 13 year old's camera when the flash kept getting turned on in the theater. And the scent of lavender was so strong to me. And I thought they had a lavender bush outside.

Which by the way, lavender was one of the smells of Anna Whaley. Okay, but also as to people who spent two nights in the Whaley house looking for evidence, we did not get any of that. We did not. No, I smelled a lot of cigar smoke in certain areas that it would be weird because I would smell it

and I'd be like, whoa, this room's really strong smelling of cigar smoke. And you guys were like, I don't smell it. And then half an hour later, you were like, whoa, I just smelled the cigar smoke. And I was like, I don't smell anything. So it was kind of weird. We had that.

But no lavender, no creepy woman in the window, no shadows, our flashlights didn't malfunction. I attached photos of us as responsible parents, the weird photo from the theater, the shadow room that looks like someone was sleeping in it. And maybe Christine napped in there. Oh, okay. Does this say that? Yeah. Oh, I never nap anywhere, but yeah, maybe.

I did think in the Whaley house at one point, I was like, maybe we should all just take turns sitting in different rooms and maybe just try to fall asleep. Because we were there until like seven or eight in the morning. So I remember thinking, let's make a designated sleep room and see if anything happens. Yeah, but it was like either the fucking room

where the dead people slept on the bed or like the wooden benches in the theater. So it wasn't the most cozy place for something. Also the unexplainable photo from the theater. Keep in mind this photo was taken at night. It is not distinguishable and the flash would just turn on. My kid was kind of a skeptic until she went. Thanks for your fun show. Stay spooky. All of and then their last name but but Christina, Althea, and The Kid, which I love that they just call their kid The Kid. Okay, so we wanted to add as well, Eva put folders for all the photos here and we're

going to reach out to, Eva's going to reach out to these folks and see if we have permission to share them on our YouTube video, potentially our Instagram as well, just so people can follow along, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay, should we open Story 1 picks? Sure. Okay. So let's see what we got.

Story 1. The group outside. The group outside, oh, being responsible parents, okay. Aw. And then the shadows, the weird shadows in the bedroom. Oh, ew, look at the pillow. It looks like there's an indent on it. Yeah.

Gross. This was the bedroom I thought we should sleep in. Which one is this? Is this the primary bedroom or the... Yeah, this is where the little kid was jumping on the bed, right? Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, what is I gonna do? Sleep where the fucking kid is jumping on my stomach? And this is...

Ooh! Oh, weird, you can see something in the... Ooh! Wait, oh my God, zoom in. and Kit is jumping on my stomach. And this is, ooh. Oh weird, you can see something in the. Ooh, wait, oh my God, zoom in. You can literally see a full dress. Yeah, I see the ruffles. With puffy sleeves and a big like, oh my gosh, that's really weird. It's like her head is behind something. And then a blurry photo.

Let me see, what is that one supposed to be? That is supposed to be... When she dropped her camera. Oh okay that must be it. Yep. Wow. No I was kidding. I know. Okay. Unexplainable photo from the theater. Keep in mind this photo was taken at night and is not distinguishable and the flash would just turn on. So it just like took itself. Yuck. Yuck. Wow. Well, thank you, Christina. Thank you, Christina and Kid. And thank you for the photo evidence. Oh, and Kid. Yes.

I also really like the idea that now we're getting like some cool stories about the place we just covered for like two years. It's just neat to see like other people's experiences now, you know? I am also though slightly jealous because I'm like wow could he use that evidence for for our show I'm like our show was like two and a half hours long. We did not need more evidence I'll always take more evidence, but no out I know

But anyway, thank you Christina. That was a apparently I think we're gonna be having a Waley House themed listeners episode. So I'm about to see quite a lot of evidence. It's like the Waley family reunion and we're just inviting ourselves. We're good at that. So this is the second email. It's called ghostly picture evidence that the Waley House is truly haunted.

This is now, let me go scroll down and see, this is from Rachel, she her. It says, hi M Christine Eva Allison petrified fruit for babies and of course baby Leona. Love that Allison got a mention but not Blaze. My sister Rebecca keeps telling me I need to submit the story to you both and I finally was able to write and send you this. By the way we both went to your shows when you came to San Diego, and we loved hearing Em tell the story of the Whaley House during the first show. So here's even more ghostly evidence for you, Em.

Too late. Thank you. I grew up in San Diego, but had never had the opportunity to tour the Whaley House in Old Town until this last year. My sister and her girl, imagine growing up in San Diego and never going to the Whaley House till you're like an adult.

That's crazy. Couldn't be me. My sister and girlfriend took me out for tacos and a tour of the Whaley house till you're like an adult. That's crazy. Couldn't be me. My sister and girlfriend took me out for tacos and a tour of the Whaley house for my birthday, which is like the perfect birthday present for me. And probably I'm adding every listener of this podcast. My birthday lands right around Halloween, so perfect time. Don't worry, I'm a Libra, not a Scorpio.

We started the tour in the Whaley house and everything was pretty normal. Nothing felt odd or eerie. And we had an amazing tour guide who told the story in this wonderfully creepy sort of way. It wasn't until we entered the parlor area of the house where I started to get this irritating sensation on my neck right under my jawline. It felt like a burning sensation and I kept feeling my neck to see if there were any bug bites or bumps but couldn't feel anything. It was hard to describe and I didn't think much of it so I didn't tell my sister until later. It wasn't until the tour guides started

telling the story of the parlor and that before the house was there, the parlor archway was where the public hangings took place in San Diego. Oh good. Yes, the archway was the gallows. Then they turned it into this delightful little delicate beautiful parlor archway. Why not? Of course. Of course. Of course. My blood ran cold as I realized I was probably feeling

the sensation of a rope around my neck. That's what it felt like, a rope burn. Forget it. Ugh! Thankfully, oh and then wrote, eek. Wait, is this just a message from Eva? No, it has too many E's for Eva. Oh. Thankfully the sensation went away as soon as we left the room. Wait, is this just a message from Eva? No, it has too many E's for Eva.

Thankfully, the sensation went away as soon as we left the room. The tour ended outside in the grounds behind the house. I started to take some pictures around the house just to see if I could catch anything. As I was taking the pictures, I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary on my phone's camera. It wasn't until I looked through the pictures with my sister as we stood outside the house when we realized we caught something clear as day. I attached the photo for you guys to look at.

Based on the features, my sister and I are pretty convinced that we captured Mr. Whaley's spirit posing for us outside his home. Posing. Posing. I'm picturing like Esther Marie Flonay's pose, you know? Yeah. Um, for reference, I attached another photo

of the back door without the spirit there so you can see the difference. You can see my shadow on the right side without the spirit there so you can see the difference. You can see my shadow on the right side of the photo, so clearly that's not me. We think the black area is a top hat and then the gray area could be hair, mustache, or a beard. I also attached a photo of Mr. Whaley to see if you can see the resemblance too. I showed this photo to our tour guide and she was floored and asked me to send it to her.

She said this is one of the clearest photo captures she has ever seen. Yeah, I'm looking at the pictures now. Wait, don okay. I mean you can but okay. Keep going. Sorry There's just several more paragraphs. I was simply elated after capturing that photo and unlike my poor sister's girlfriend Who was terrified during the entire tour? I'm not sure if she slept that night I found it hard to sleep because I couldn't believe I caught a ghost on camera Anyway, hope this story and picture gave you goose cam and my sister and I look forward to seeing you again. I also just got back from my honeymoon and I think I successfully hooked my husband

on the podcast too, so maybe he'll come along as well. But like imagine trying to explain to someone else Em's troll hole, Gio's butt curtain, and Lemon without any previous context. Anyway, love you both, thanks for what you do, Rachel. Okay. Thank you for all your hard work, by the way. Yes, okay, let me go look at it with you.

So I see it in picture two. I don't see it in picture one. No, remember she said one is without, one is with. Okay, thanks, more sense. For relative. Yeah. The hat. That's a big ass hat, is that the hat you saw?

Literally. That's a big ass hat. Is that the hat you saw? Literally. That's pretty wild. But it was on top of the stairs more, you know? But he, so, oh my God, that's crazy. So I saw an apparition of Mr. Whaley years ago before Em and I ever went. And it was this man walking by with almost like a half, half a top hat looking thing,

walking past the top of the stairs. That is crazy. Yeah. The fact that there's one and then right next to it, it's just gone. Super. Mm hmm. Yeah. I wonder if because it feels like almost like he was sitting or something or because he looks too short. Yeah. Yeah, true. Or maybe just like really close or maybe really close. Yeah, I don't know. But that's super weird. I mean, you of all

people would be able to confirm this hat because you're the one who saw it. Yeah, well they also have a cardboard cutout out front. Not cardboard, but like a wooden cutout with that same hat. That big old hat he wears. So that definitely matches. I like to think that if it was his like fashion accessory, I hope he's really stoked that when people make recreations of him, he's in his little hat. He's like, this hat, I got the bang for my buck out of this damn hat. Whoever sold him that hat had no idea how much investment was going into the hat for eternity. Do you remember that book, Confessions of a Shopaholic?

I don't know if you remember that. Yeah, it was written by Thomas Whaley, I think. There was like a whole part where she said, okay, so what I'm going to do is when I buy something, I'm going to figure out how many times I'll wear it and then divide it by that time to know how much I would spend on it every day. I feel like this hat is fucking free. Pennies, not even.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh my god. Only because I'm thinking of old men in black and white currently. I just learned recently, did you know that there was once a $100,000 bill? Whoa. And I wanted to ask if you knew who was on the $100,000 bill. Whoa.

And I wanted to ask if you knew who was on the $100,000 bill. I don't know, was it Mr. Whaley? I have no idea. That'd be hysterical. No, it was, I think it was FDR. I was like, do you know? FDR was involved.

I don't know if, I think it was approved by FDR, but someone else was, I think Cleveland maybe. Oh, Woodrow Wilson. Woodrow Wilson. Just before we get tweets, you know, not that I am on Twitter, but wow. It makes me feel bad that I don't know more about presidents because I'm kind of like,

what did you deserve to get that bill versus like. And I don't think that is gonna answer many questions for you, to be honest. But I'm just like, of all the presidents, how come you versus another one? Well, probably because like they didn't have any left. to be honest. But I'm just like, of all the presidents, how come you versus another one? Well, probably because they didn't have any left. I mean, there's like 10 bills, right?

I know, I'm just saying like when Woodrow Wilson was president, they were like, oh, we'll put you on one, but we kind of used up all the bills already. We can make 100,000. Oh, I see, I see. You wanna be on that? I don't know. Yeah, anyway, I don't know.

Fun fact, if you... My turn? Okay, as I pull it up, tell me if you had to be on a bill, which one would you want to be on? Whew. Like, if I replace someone on the bill? Yeah. Oh, I'd love to be on a five-er.

Really? I think I feel best on a 20. 20's good. Yeah. Not a 50, because 50 is, like, I think the feel best on a 20. 20 is good. Yeah, not a 50 because 50 is like, I think the least used one. Yeah, exactly. I do too. And like on an ATM, it's always in 20s. Everyone would be seeing my face everywhere if I were on 20. All over the place.

Yeah. And then a five is nice because anytime I see that I have like a random dollar in my wallet, I'm like, what am I going to use that for? But if I see a random five, I go, oh, that's an FLT. That's an FLT right built in right there. And then it's me smiling on the cover. Yeah. Would you be smiling for your bill portrait?

Hell no. I think I would just do like one of those like coy little like like a Mona Lisa, like a like a hmm, you know, like a little like bitchy smile like hmm. Yeah. I know you're going to use this for and it's not gonna be Anything good. I would do this They're totally looking at it'd be funny if it was just you looking in the complete wrong direction. Yeah

It's just back of my head It's like the dime, you know where they have like the silhouette of you know, yeah That that would be me except I would be like turned too far and you would just see my head yeah FDR is on the dime I think but he's sideways yeah you know who doesn't get enough appreciation the nickel nobody cares about nickel if someone I'd rather have a penny than a nickel what am I gonna do with a nickel? All right. What are you gonna do with any? I don't know. At least it's good luck. Yeah. Okay, here's number three.

This is titled, My Brother Definitely Saw Yankee Jim. Again, another thing we did not experience, but we did. Wow. Very jealous, very jealous. Okay, this says, hey, Christine and Em, I heard about your podcast from Morbid and I love it. I sent in the following listener tale to Morbid a while back, but after getting into and that's why I drink

and hearing what big fans you are of the Whaley house, I had to share it with you too. I unsent it to Morbid. And I had to share it with you. Just kidding. Feel free to read it on a listener tale if you would like. Well, here we are. This, by the way, I don't know,

maybe they don't want me to say, oh no, this says Macy at the end, but I don't know Macy's pronouns. Tsk, tsk, tsk, Macy. Okay, some people just don't feel comfortable. Back in October 2015, my family and I went on a little trip to California and one of our stops was Old Town San Diego. We loved the old timey and fun vibe the town gives off, so we decided to spend the evening there. We had no idea that the most haunted house is located there. My family and I are really into paranormal true crime stuff,

and we saw that they were doing a ghost tour that night since it was close to Halloween. After dinner, I suggested we do the tour, but my parents said it was too expensive and it was getting dark, so we were gonna shop around. I know, tomato, tomato, tomato. Shop around for a few minutes before heading back to the hotel.

My mom, sisters, and I checked out some shops while my dad and brother got ice cream and waited outside. When we came out, we found my dad and brother across the street right outside the Whaley house. They told us they decided to get tickets. Of course, as soon as they wanted to do it, they were like, okay, well now we're gonna get tickets. They told us they decided to get tickets for the ghost or after all and we were super excited

But confused as to why my dad had changed his mind Side note my brother sees spirits quite often great They said they decided to get tickets for the tour because my brother had already seen a ghost in the yard of the house I love that. He's like totally just just saw a ghost. Now can we go? I like how the parents are like, well, that's a clear indicator that we should do this versus nope, let's run away. Right.

My brother had already seen a ghost in the yard of the house, so it must be worth it. Which is interesting because the last listener story we just did, the picture of the ghost was in the yard. True. I don't think we even realized that was something that happened there. Never occurred to us to even look in the yard. I mean we knew that Violet Whaley... We did, even I took a ton of photos outside, but we didn't get anything. It was of you drinking out of 10,000 flasks? No, no, it was of the windows and stuff. We were hoping to get

a silhouette, but... Violet Whaley is seen a lot in the yard, but it didn't even occur to me that anyone else would be seen out there. Anyway, my brother said the ghost was weird though, because it was standing several feet above the ground. Uh-oh, I know what that means. Yep, and he'd never seen a spirit do that before. While we waited in line, we decided we would pass the time by looking up the house's history,

and my sister suddenly gasped and started freaking out. That's when we learned that where the Whaley House stands was the town's first gallows. So this ghost was probably reliving his death. It was, yeah. We showed my brother and he goes, "'Oh yeah, that would make sense.' The tour guide told us about the most famous ghost people

report seeing on the property named James or Yankee Jim Robinson, who as you know, was hanged on the property for larceny in 1852 and basically strangled to death since his neck wouldn't break. During the tour, my brother also saw a little girl spirit in one of the doorways. That's Marion, the granddaughter, the one who likes to tickle. And a woman in the kitchen. I 100% believe Christine's story about the man peaking at the tour from upstairs. Also for the record, if I would have been there when she got fake proposed to out front,

I would have made the biggest deal about it and clapped and bought you drinks. Thank you. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story. Love you guys, Macy. What does it feel like that your girlfriend proposed to me? I ask you this all the time.

Honestly, she got it out of her system. That makes me so happy for her. Hilarious. How did it feel for you to be proposed to by- Just literally the best. Okay, hey, well we all got what we wanted. Except you didn't get any drinks out of it. Oh, I got so many drinks.

I mean, we went and bought ourselves a ton of drinks. I know, but I feel like someone per Macy should have said, congratulations. We probably shouted we were engaged and got a few. I don't recall. It was a long night. Okay. Okay, I have another one here.

This is from Morgan. Thank you, Morgan. It says, hey guys, my name is Morgan. I love your podcast, and I'm currently listening to it on Spotify. I did the dumb thing and listened to all of your episodes backwards.

Oh, for God's sake. Oh, Morgan. So I only just recently listened to the episode you did on San Diego's Whaley House. That's episode two? Episode two? I only recently got to the second to last episode. Whereas M's pronouns are going backwards.

Like, you were your now they then. I'm becoming girlier. I'm becoming girlier. I'm becoming more ignorant. We're both becoming more ignorant, let's be real. Definitely. I visited there in 2013. I wonder if like when Eva started, if there's like a clear like going backwards where you're

like, oh, yeah, I can tell. The quality went down. Yeah. If I'm going backwards, the quality went down. Yeah. OK, let's see. I visited there in 2013 with my mom and sister, and we had some interesting encounters.

Oh, this was written in 2018. Oh! Oh. So they just heard the episode. This is before we ever did a show on it, like a live show. Well, Morgan, I wonder if you listen anymore, but hopefully so. We probably won't find out. I visited there in 2013.

We'll find out when we're like, can we use your photos in a show? And they're like, who is this? Like, it's been. Oh, sorry, it's the girl and the ignoramus, actually. It's those idiots, OK? The girl and the idiot, yeah. I visited there in 2013 with my mom and sister and we had some interesting encounters.

First off, let me say we were the first people in the building with me leading the way. Before we were ushered inside, our tour guide told us to have our cameras out to take pictures of everything. I had my iPod touch, I know, so vintage, and was the first person to walk into the courtroom. As I entered, I saw a girl that was green just staring at me.

She had bangs, long hair, and was wearing a pinafore. We just stared at each other for a minute before she began to sink into the ground. Girl, no way. I snapped a quick pic, not really thinking anything of it, and sat in one of the benches with my family. I should also mention that as soon as I stepped into the house,

my neck felt really hot. I felt like I was developing a fever and my neck felt raw. Keep in mind that I hadn't touched my neck at all because I'd had my iPod in my hands. Yes, the unwieldy iPod with two hands. You have to hold it. The tour guide started sharing some of the basic stories of the property.

The big one I think Em mentioned in their recap of the house and its stories. I don't remember his name, but there of the basic stories of the property. The big one I think Em mentioned in their recap of the house and its stories. I don't remember his name, but there was a cowboy hung on the property that would be Yankee James, Yankee Jim, who was too tall for the gallows. His neck didn't break on first drop and he ended up strangling to death for about 25 minutes. The tour guide said that some people feel like they are being strangled and that some guests actually develop a rash around their neck.

I recognize that this might be what was affecting my neck. I was very careful for the rest of the tour not to touch my neck. I was waiting for my sister or my mom or anyone to say something to confirm my fear that I was actually being haunted, but they didn't say anything. The rest of the tour went by smoothly, but I felt horrible the whole time. My neck felt like it was on fire and I started to feel like I couldn't breathe. By the end of the tour I was just freaking done with the whole time. My neck felt like it was on fire, and I started to feel like I couldn't breathe. By the end of the tour, I was just freaking done with the whole thing.

When the tour guide said it was over, I ran out onto the porch. As soon as I stepped outside, I started to feel better. That's when I pulled out my iPod to glance through my pictures and see if I'd caught anything. I had actually forgotten about the little green girl. Insane to me, by the way,

because that's something you should never forget. Yes, but is that not the most, like, Astonishing Legends talks about this all the time of paranormal apathy where like something happens and like, for example, in the middle of the night and you just go back to sleep. And then the next day you're like, wait, what the fuck? Why was I sleeping? I mean, it's happened to me as I get it. It's just still wild as a sentence.

Totally. Oh yeah, totally forgot about the girl who sank into the ground right in front of my eyes. We both stared into each other too when it happened. Yeah, I wonder, I feel like also probably she's like, well, let me stop choking to death first and then I guess I can think about her. Okay, that is, so I totally forgot about

the little green girl. That is until I saw her staring back at me in one of my pictures. Holy shit, that's freaking right. I caught a picture of a ghost. I'm gonna attach it to this email so you guys can take a peek and see what you think. I snapped it as she was sinking into the floor.

So basically only her face is seen. She's peeking over the table and her face is in between the white picture and glass. If you zoom in, you can actually see her eyes and the outline of a face. It's pretty flipping crazy. So while I'm looking at this picture, my sister and mom joined me on the porch.

The first thing my sister says is, mom, look, it's going away. Guess what they were looking at? Yup, my neck. It turns out during the whole tour, I had this huge, horrible looking red welt or mark all across my neck. My mom and sister had been waiting for me

to talk about how uncomfortable I was, and I was waiting for them to say something about my neck turning red. Crazy stuff. I have lots of stories. We'll be sharing more of them with you in the future. Thank you, Morgan. Wow. Let's pull this bad boy up.

Is this story four, right? Yeah. I see the green thing, but it's definitely sinking. It's definitely like behind the table. Oh, over there. Oh, weird. And it for sure is green. It's definitely green and definitely definitely almost see-through.

You could tell it was probably see-through. I don't see the eyes. I see the top of a hat or something. Oh, like a girl's hat? Yeah. Yeah, I don't see eyes. But it is obviously green. It's very weird.

That's freaky. I wonder why she's sinking into the floor. I don't know. I have no idea. Just descending like an elevator was there or something. Yeah, because we've never heard that story before. No, but I've also never heard of any of these people being seen outside or like Yankee Gym

literally still seen floating. Like, that's crazy. I know. Everyone is reporting on things I've never even heard of online. That's like the one of the best and worst things about being someone who talks about ghost stories for a living is that there's only so much information you can find online, but everybody's got a completely unique story. The anecdotes.

Yeah. Most of them have never been posted online. So I'm only ever telling a chunk of a story. I mean, we should search our inbox next time we go somewhere haunted and see if we have like other people's you know. Extra sources yeah. Anecdotes yeah yeah yeah that is so creepy well I'm sorry about your neck I mean the fact that we got multiple emails about that I'm just honestly relieved we didn't experience that. I am happy about that yeah. Yeah for once I'm not jealous of that.

Yeah, for once I'm not jealous of that. We've got two more stories. Yes. So this one is called, oh, this is just point, to the point, full apparition at Whaley House. Oh my gosh, that's like what I saw. This is from Mary, who's she her pronouns. Thank you for normalizing pronouns, Mary. And the email says, hi, Eva, I just visited the Whaley house this weekend and while I

had no experiences while inside, I caught a picture of an apparition of a woman in one of the upstairs bedroom windows. And one of the, I think that might have been violet. She's seen a lot in her bedroom upstairs. True. I went back to the house to check and there are trees outside that window and nothing else. Also showed the staff member working there and our waitress at the restaurant across the street, and they both had interesting stories. Oh, I also showed the pictures to the staff members,

and they both had interesting stories. The waitress mentioned that the toddler girl, Marion, that died in the house goes to the restaurant a lot and has left flower footprints all over the floor. The other day, a similar girl, Marion, that died in the house goes to the restaurant a lot and has left flower footprints all over the floor. Wait, that's like your cookie story, sort of, like back in the day. That's just like my cookie story, yeah.

It's so wild. Like, now I'm like, oh, should we have brought flour? Like, you know, it's like, should we have? I know, should we have dumped baked goods all over the floor? Should that have helped? Our security deposit would not have been given back. Uh, one of them working at the Whaley house

said that she has been pushed upstairs while conducting a paranormal investigation and showed me a picture of Ms. Whaley holding up her hand to her mouth like she was shushing them. Oh, my God. Which is wild. She's like, please, please. I'm so busy here in the silence.

I'm resting my eyes. I'm busy in the silence. I'm like ultra introvert. I get it. I'll attach my photo. Feel free to share if it gets read. I always approach the paranormal with a healthy level of skepticism, but I have not been able to disprove it.

I'd like to add, other people have caught pictures of the same woman, but in different poses, so I know it's not a reflection. And that's the whole email. So- Okay, I just opened it. Let me see. Oh! What?

A picture of- I'm just up the brightness on my screen. Up the brightness all the way. I literally got just the biggest jump scare of my life. Oh my God. Okay, now I, okay. What a fun thing to hear right before I- I'm like really genuinely freaked the F out by this.

This is so, this is one of the best- Oh, hell no. This is one of the best ghost pictures I've ever seen. That's me too. That literally looks like you're holding, that looks like a picture or something. It looks like somebody is holding one of those old timey cameras

that you have to wait three years standing really still, you know, to get your photo taken. And she's just standing there stock still staring at the the flash bulb. That is super freaky. Creepy, yeah. If Megan posts this, we should, or when Megan posts this, we should definitely brighten up the image

because I feel like that will show it. Ooh, I hate that. That is like the most, that's a full body apparition. That is- That's really truly, and you can look at like, cause my first thought was maybe it's one of the cutouts from outside, but like there's, you can see that there's no feet.

No, and you can see the collar and the like the eyes. The hands, the arms. How the hair is parted, like you can see everything. The eyes, and she's looking right at you girl. That's creepy too, it really looks like. Is she smiling? I swear to God if she's smiling. No, I think she's almost just like-

Just there. Just kind of staring neutrally like they used to. I almost would give anything in my entire life for her to not be smiling, just in case. I'm just gonna say she's not, just for our own sanity. For our own sanity, okay, great. Wow, hey, that's a great one. All right, well, that was a quick one, but that was-

Mary, you killed it. That's terrifying. Thank you so much. For lack of a better term. Okay. Oh my God. This is from Julia. It's called My Whaley House Story.

And this is our last one. And it also has pictures, I believe. Okay. Hey, Christine and Em, I'm Julia from Nashville. Team Wine here. Sorry, Em. Oh, this is also from 2018. Oh my gosh.

I recently discovered your podcast and I'm addicted. The thing that caught my interest Team Wine here, sorry. Oh, this is also from 2018. Oh my gosh. I recently discovered your podcast and I'm addicted. The thing that caught my interest was the second episode when you talked about the Whaley house because my friend and I went there last year and we had a really creepy experience. I've been meaning to tell you guys about it ever since I heard that episode. And then I just listened to episode 23

when Christine talks about going to the house. Wow, this is the ultimate throwback. Wow, throwback, yeah. So here goes. My friend Allie and I were on vacation in San Diego. We were walking around after dinner when we came across the Whaley house. I love anything haunted or scary,

so I got really excited when I saw it. But Allie was like, hell no, we are not going in there. But somehow I convinced her to go in anyway. I like Allie. Allie's that person. That's like you with the Ouija board, where I'm like, I'll break down your willpower.

Just wait. So we're on the tour, and I'm taking pictures like crazy, trying to catch something on camera. We get upstairs, and Ali goes into one of the bedrooms, which we later learned was Violet's bedroom. Then a minute or two later, she runs out of the room, clutching her chest, breathing really hard, and her face is white as a sheet.

She could barely speak, but told me to go in the room and take pictures because she thought something was in there with her. After I took the pictures, I asked her what happened when she was in the room. She said that the minute she walked in, her heart started racing, and then all of a sudden, she felt like something punched her in the chest

and knocked the wind out of her. What? It was only after this that the tour guide told us a story of Violet's divorce and how she shot herself in the heart. Super creepy. We were also looking through the pictures outside once the tour was done and got a live photo during the tour of a person or ghost looking back at us in Mrs. Whaley's room. I converted it into a GIF in this email, but I don't know if you'll be able to see it.

It's one of the rooms that's glassed off, so at first we thought it was just a reflection, but we were at the end of our tour group, so I don't know if you'll be able to see it. It's one of the rooms that's glassed off. So at first we thought it was just a reflection, but we were at the end of our tour group. So I don't know whose reflection it would be. The tour guide also let us go back inside to test it out. Allie walked around behind me while I got pictures from the same camera angle, and we could not see any reflections in the pictures. So who knows, but maybe we caught a ghost on camera.

We also got- Yeah, it's, sorry. Hold on, hold on. Stop opening them, you're spoiling it. We also got margaritas after the- Sorry, I- Hold on, hold on. Stop opening them, you're spoiling it. We also got margaritas after the tour like Christine and Allison did because- Went in Rome? We also got margaritas after the tour like Christine and Allison did because Allie said I owed her a drink for making her go in there.

We went to Old Town Mexican Cafe. I'm curious where y'all went. No idea. This was so long ago now. I'm sorry, I never got back to you back then. Some other random side notes. I got super excited when I heard Em's trip to Nashville and I'm also from Kentucky,

so I loved when Christine taught everyone the proper way to say Louisville. And now I live in Kentucky. I wonder if you listen, Julia, still, probably not. Love you guys, can't wait to get caught up, Julia. Okay, sorry, so you see the, you've seen it? Is it creepy? I can try to open it.

I think what I'm seeing is it looks like, or is it open for you? Oh yeah, there it is. To me, it looks like a face, like a face that's like on our side of the doorway in a rocking chair. You're right. That looks like a really incredibly detailed face.

Because you can see the whole body kind of shifts backwards. And then even if you look at in the left side by that dark cabin, you can see the hand rocking with the... And it moves. Yeah. Like it's like the whole body tilts. That's such a good point, Em, a rocking chair I I really want to like screenshot right where the face Is kind of in the middle because that's a fully detailed face right the fact that it's a live photo

I never thought about checking a live photo to watch. Yeah That's so smart to make a gif out of it. Okay, that is honestly the more I watch it. I'm getting scared Really freaky and, looking directly at you. It is looking and it's really close. Like why are they all up in everyone's business? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea, but it is super freaky.

I feel like I wanna download this and pause it. You know, on the- Yeah, yeah. That's what I wanna do too. Cause you can see the details of like the shadows of the nose. You can see the shadows of the lips. You can see the eyes. Yeah. I think you can even see the hair maybe the lips. You can see the eyes and the...

I think you can even see the hair maybe in one part. The thing that freaks me out is the hands down there because it really feels like they're sitting in a way where they're in a rocking chair, which by the way, Anna Whaley is always seen in her rocking chair. Oh my God, Em, okay. If you download it to your computer, it turns into a bunch of stills, like 26 stills.

Oh, perfect. So you can go piece by piece. Perfect. Oh my God, you can see the lips on this person. That's what I'm saying. This is freaking me out, man. This is a really weird one. Let me see if I can.

Oh my God, you can make a flip book almost when you do this. Oh! Yeah, you can make like a flip book almost when you do this. Oh, yeah, like you can see everything and they look old timey. It looks like a tin type or something. Yes, yes, it totally does. Man, that's a great one. I've never seen so much photo evidence in a listeners episode before. I know, folks, I know that like maybe it's not the best for audio, but like maybe we should get more people

sending in like your photos. This is so cool to see. Yeah, that's really, I mean between like- And then if we put them in the videos, then we'll have them on YouTube too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That would be dope. The blur in one of the first stories we did,

and then the woman standing outside and now this, like they all feel like they're Anna Wehle. Well, no, the last two feel like Anna Wehle. The other one with the top hat was obviously Thomas Wehle. Oh, I'm looking now again at the one of the woman. Oh, God, yes, standing in the reflection. Now I wanna go back and take a- They look like they're the same person.

It does look like the same person. Yeah. Ew, oh, I wonder if there's something to that, like to the reflection being, like more easily for them to show themselves, I don't know and the green the glowing green that's crazy. Oh These are creepy you guys I'm really impressed. I'll be honest man. Um, I Don't know what to say. That's all very freaky. I'm I don't think I'm jealous anymore I don't know what to say. That's all very freaky.

I don't think I'm jealous anymore. Evo back there was probably like, just wait. Wait, oh, you know what I just did? I just upped the brightness on the Mr. Whaley picture too. And you can definitely see a lot more of his, it's almost like you can see facial hair and shoulders. Oh, weird. God, this is so spooky.

Well, thank you everyone for sending in all your pictures and your stories. And thank you, Eva, for giving us a Whaley house, almost like a close up from the On the Rocks tour. Yeah. I'm excited to tell everyone more about our future show when it's been written. Yes. But, but just so you know, we are diligently working on it, so it is in progress. And we're very excited about it. And until then, I guess everyone,

we're gonna, you're gonna hear more stories in August, so I hope everyone has a great July. Yeah. Oh, and also this is where we shout out Christine's tour with Beach U Sandy. This is where we shout out Christine's tour with Beach You Sandy. This is where we shout out our book, Ahana Road Atlas Next Stop. And our tour, which is on sale right now. Mm-hmm.

And, uh, that's, I think that's all we got going on right now. But please, uh, tune in, um, you know, for our regular series, but also for, on August 1st for the next listeners' episode. And that's why we drink.