Somewhere in the Skies - Halloween Series | Living for the Dead (w/ Alexandré LeMay)

Episode Date: October 27, 2024

On another spooky episode of our Halloween series, Ryan sits down with paranormal investigator, Alexandré LeMay, to discuss the powerful experience that first got her interested in the paranormal and how it led her to her investigations she's conducted for television shows such as Ghost Adventures: House Calls and Living for the Dead. Alex then explains the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in paranormal media and investigations, and then she and Ryan discuss the possible connections between ghosts and aliens! This and so much more as we count down to Halloween... somewhere in our spooky skies! Follow all of Alexandré LeMay's work at: https://linktr.ee/AlexandreLeMay Patreon: www.patreon.com/somewhereskies ByMeACoffee: buymeacoffee.com/UFxzyzHOaQ PayPal: [e-mail] Website: www.somewhereintheskies.com Store: http://tee.pub/lic/ULZAy7IY12U YouTube Channel: CLICK HERE Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/somewhereskies/videos Order Ryan’s new book: https://a.co/d/4KNQnM4 Order Ryan’s older book: https://amzn.to/3PmydYC Twitter: @SomewhereSkies Read Ryan’s Articles by CLICKING HERE Opening Theme Song, "Ephemeral Reign" by Per Kiilstofte Produced by LIONSGATE Copyright © 2024. Ryan Sprague. All rights reserved. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is somewhere in the skies with Ryan's bread. Let's just dive in then. Like this is so cool. It's like one of your first spooky talks here on a UFO podcast of all things. So we'll dive into that aspect a little later because I want to get your thoughts on other stuff too. But guys, I should mention I am here with Alex LeMay from Living for the Dead, a wonderful show that came and went, we will get to that, Alex, because I think we got to get a little campaign going. But thank you.

Thank you for joining me on somewhere in the spooky skies, I'm calling it this month. Thank you for letting me be on this podcast. I mean, I love your work, so I appreciate it. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Well, look, I'm sort of the, I would say, the amateur when it comes to the paranormal and ghost hunting. So I'm looking at this interview more as a learning process for me, to be completely honest. So this is cool.

This is October. Every October I like to do at least one to 10, 30 episodes where I interview ghost hunters. I shouldn't call them hunters. Let's start there. I think that's an interesting way to start. Ghost hunting. For me, that kind of conjures a bad image of like. some guy in camo in the woods like trying to shoot an entity or something.

But, um, yes. And I think we should remove ourselves from that because, I mean, when I was a kid, I used to hunt bugs, but I didn't kill them, you know?

Yeah. I think the word hunting, people assume is like a violent thing, but it's just a way to capture something. And I think the, the word ghost hunting is cute because it's kind of vintage. Like, it sounds vintage to me. That's true. That's true. And I feel like the first kind of mainstream, I guess, paranormal television show was literally called Ghost Hunters. So it's kind of like everything followed from there. But let's get your origin story, if you don't mind. Who is Alex? How did you get interested in the paranormal, the esoteric? Yeah, if you don't mind, as much as you don't mind, as much as you.

you're willing to share? What is sort of your origin story with all this sort of stuff? That's a really good question. And people have asked me that. And I think because abnormal, strange things have been happening my whole life that I don't really have like an entry point in my life that I could remember started at all. I was born into the world kind of seeing spirit since I could remember. And my parents, well, my mom tells me these stories where I would be at my like little table that they put kids at and I would be laughing and talking to something that was like off in the corner and she always was very weirded out by it and like you know I guess that would be creepy if your kid was doing that but I've done stuff like

that my whole life and I've been able to describe you know whatever spirits are in the room with me at like five or six and I think a real defining moment was when I was having a sleep over at my best friend's house, I was like 10. And I think it must have been two in the morning. We were dead asleep, and I remember hearing some rustling in the living room, and her mom works night shifts. So she wasn't home. We were asleep. Everything we thought was locked up. But being kids as we are, I believe we forgot to lock the front door because we were young and silly and it just happened. But I got up and heard this rustling and I came around the corner and I saw the outline of who I thought was her mom. I thought maybe she'd gotten home at 2 a.m. And I watched her mom like clear as day. I saw that

every hair on her head walked to the front door through the hallway and locked the door. And I was like, oh, we forgot to lock it. I didn't say that. But I saw her mom and was like, oh, that's sweet. Went back to fall back asleep. Couldn't fall asleep because I was feeling kind of like, oh, her mom's home. Let's go get a snack. I'm awake now. I woke her up and we went to the kitchen and go get a snack and say hi to her mom thinking that her mom was home. And her mom was not home. So we got in the kitchen. We're looking for snacks. We're looking for her mom. Nobody was home. We were completely alone. And about 10 minutes into us discovering that we were completely alone, somebody tried to break in through the front door. It gives me goose.

once now thinking about it because they shook that door so hard they were trying to break in and I saw this ghost the spirit whatever this was lock the door and okay with me because it wasn't just something visual that happened I didn't just see an apparition I saw it physically and heard it lock the door gives me goosebumps even on my cheeks every time I think about it because of how I mean I've never experienced anything quite like that sense. It was really amazing. Wow, Alex, that's crazy. I got goosebumps too. Like, I'm a big wrestling fan in the rock.

He always goes like this. Like, oh, yes. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we chatted wrestling a little bit. Yeah, that gave me goosebumps soup. So I have to ask then, clearly this spirit that locked the door was protecting you. I, you know, I recently lost my mother and I have this beautiful bracelet that she gave me. If you're watching this on YouTube, you can see it.

It's sort of these links of mother and son. And she gave it to me about a year before she passed. And every day, like every day, Alex, we would say good morning, good night, our whole family. We've always been very tight knit. And she would always ask me, because I do these live streams every Sunday, for the podcast or, you know, I'm always posting whatever Instagram videos. And if I didn't have the bracelet on, she'd be like, where's your bracelet?

Where's it? That's supposed to protect you. And since I've done this season of my current haunted television show I'm doing, I wear this for true protection. And I do honestly feel like not only the spirit of my mother being here, but that this is a source of protection. So I love that sort of your initiation, I guess I would say, with like a spirit was a positive one, but also a little scary. So my question is, the thing on the other side of the door, was this legit like a burglar or someone trying to get in?

Or do you think that was another? Yes. Okay. It was. An actual human being. Okay, okay. Yes. And I know this because her brother had just gotten out of jail.

He was stealing cars. And from what I know, we believe it was one of the brother's friends. And they almost broke the door down because there was a crack in the door. And I remember them having conversations on how they were going to fix it and reinforce the frame. Because the frame of the door had come unattached a little bit, not enough to open, but enough to where there was evidence of someone trying to break in. So I know it was something. something that wasn't paranormal. Somebody truly was trying to break into the house. That's so scary. It was so intense. And her mother came home eventually. We did not go back

to sleep by the way because we were like, what in the hell just happened? It was wild to have a sleepover like that. What is sleepover? Yeah. Yeah. So her mom comes home and we're explaining it to her and she's like, oh, that sounds just like your grandmother or my friend's grandmother. They look exactly the same. They have the same haircut. She showed me a picture of her. And I was like, that was her. I was supposed to get it.

It's like, yeah, that was her. She was protecting us. And somehow, I don't know how if that's even possible. If she knew that our house was being targeted from the other side, whatever the other side is, and came to protect us from whatever harm was on our way. I just can't believe it. Like, when I think about it, it's truly one of the most intense experience. I've had. Yeah. Wow. I, gosh, I don't even know where to go from there. That's such a powerful

story. You know, sometimes it's just like, oh yeah, I saw a ghost on the show and I wanted to give it a try or like, yeah, yeah, demons are cool, man. Let's let's go punch a ghost in the face. Like, I love that you, yeah. I, um, yes, I have been known to say that I will punch ghosts, but It's only the ones that are being creepy. I have done that in my YouTube where I'm like, you know, it's an energy. It's like a movement. I'm creating energy by saying I'm going to punch you. So I have been like, if you don't get out of my room, I'm going to punch you.

I'm going to start throwing hands and I'll do this. I love it. Go so creepy. I see it works. I think you're right. I think there's something to be said about like shows that sort of go that route are very aggressive. and we'll try to provoke things. Yeah.

Yeah. But yeah, ghosts can be creepy. Like, I can attest to that. You've been exposed to a lot of creepy ghosts. Yeah, I'm sure. Well, that's kind of where I want to go next, Alex, if that's cool. We will get to Living for the Dead. But had you had any prior experience investigating the paranormal before the television show or, yeah,

what was life? pre-living for the dead, I guess, when it came to all this stuff. So after that experience with my friend's grandmother, who protected us, it kind of set the stage for my whole life in being absolutely obsessed with the paranormal. I never got over that experience. And already being able to see Spirit, I was walking around the grocery store and seeing what looked like, you know, someone's grandmother standing next to them and then they would disappear within an instant.

And it was like I got a one second frame of somebody there that wasn't there anymore. And I was trying so hard to like maybe debunk it within myself and try to understand why I was seeing this. Because I had one half of my family, my aunt and my father who were very open and cool about it. They were like, oh, your father sees ghosts too. It's totally in the family. Just don't be afraid of them. They were very sweet to me. And then my mother who got a little weirded out by it and was like, let's get your head exam and make sure you don't have schizophrenia.

And so there was a little bit of shame on one side of the family that kind of like, I wouldn't say I carry with me now, but it definitely set the stage for me being more into trying to capture concrete evidence and second guessing everything that's happening or that I'm seeing with my own senses, which I think is in my favor now. because I'm very skeptical of what I'm experiencing. And I think that makes me a good investigator. So this has just kind of been my whole life. I had sleepovers with friends coming over and we would light candles and we would have little seances. And my house that I grew up in was haunted. So it was very easy to initiate contact in some way.

And my friends were like, wow, you know. And then it kind of snowballed into, I think I must have been. Oh shoot, I think I was like 30. It must have been 30. It was like around 2018. I entered into this little video thing that Zach Baggins had about his new museum, the haunted museum he has now. Right.

He, yeah, he had a contest at the beginning where people would submit videos and he was going to lock these three winners into the museum by themselves and just let them experience it and video it as a Halloween special for both adventures. So I entered my video and in my video there's you can see like this weird anomaly in the side and I wasn't meaning for that to happen. But I think because that happened, it made my video stand out and then I ended up being, I actually wasn't chosen. Somebody else was chosen. And when they got on the plane, the plane broke. And then they called me. Oh God. Yeah. So like, The one other person that took my place ended up not getting on the plane, so they called me,

and it was like a 12-hour hit up. We want you to fly down to Vegas, and we're going to lock you in and strap you with cameras. So that was my first experience with the more malevolent side of a paranormal, because I had not been exposed to that. It was mostly just ancestors that I had been surrounded by or history and like echoes of that history still living in the walls. The situation was Zach's Museum, though that was like a whole other monster that I had not been prepared for, even though I am a practicing witch and have been my whole life.

So I think that's what launched my career when it comes to entertainment anyways, because I think I handled it really well, considering how scary everything was. Nothing really scares me. I don't get very spooked by things. So I was, you know, chatting with. this malevolent entity on the episode, you can see it's from 20, it's the Annabelle's curse episode. He brought Annabelle in and touched her and, you know, that whole controversy that came with that. It was like a few hours after that I came in and they strapped a camera to me, locked the door,

turned all the lights out, and just like pushed me in. And I had a blast. I don't think I'd have so much fun. But I sat in Kaborkeans van, and that was all positive. Absolutely loved that experience. when I got to the parlor where they had the odd fellows. Oh, I got goosebumps. There's so many weird connections in my life with the odd fellows,

and I don't really understand why yet, but I was in the odd fellow room most of the time, and I was having a conversation with an entity in there, and suddenly it all changed. And over the obulus, we got run, and we got all these other words as the mood started changing, and this dark figure mass came into the room and was slithering on the floor,

and I can visibly see it, which I don't think I've experienced sense that like slither, ooh, it gives me goose when's thinking about it again. I couldn't talk about it for a year because so many crazy things happened after that. But we captured it on camera. You can see it moving frame by frame in the full spectrum camera. And I handled it really well. I was brave about it. Like nothing can scare me is how I really feel.

I feel like I have a good spiritual backing with my ancestors and my protectors. So I was like, oh, this is. fine. But I went home, because this is my first experience with malevolent entities anyways, I went home and the next day, the tree broke in my backyard, came through the roof. At first, I didn't think it was real. I woke up to this blinding light and I was transported to another place. Pluto TV. Then I heard a voice. Come with me if you want to live. There were thousands of movies and shows and they were all free. The truth is our city. It's just so beautiful. On Pluto TV, free streaming of Terminator 2, Fringe Arrow, the 100 NX files may cause excitement, loss of sleep, and sudden belief in extraterrestrials.

No credit cards or alien encounters necessary. Pluto TV, stream now, pay never. Oh, my God. That's weird, right? Four days later, the trash man, we had an alley, the trash man backed up into our block fence and destroyed the block fence, like took it down. Another crazy thing. Yeah. Two days later, the neighbor across the way in the alley, he has this, oh, I feel so bad for him.

He had this beautiful, like, 1969 Chevy Corvette that he was selling. And he went to reverse it and the gas pedal stuck to the floor, went flying through his fence. My somewhat broken already fence and ended up in my tree, like total. So all these crazy things were happening. And I was like, oh, I need to do some banishing. like I need to do some stuff here. And that experience, I think, set me up for really understanding how dangerous the paranormal world can be, especially with people who like to provoke and who like to invite those more

negative energies. Yeah. But I think that helped set me up because I was invited back to house calls where I did an episode in Florida with Ghost Adventures team. And then after that, I think because I had already been on television a couple times at this point, when Kristen Stewart started doing casting, she, I don't know if it was specifically her, but I think it was Scout called my agent that I had at the time and was like, hey, we'd love to invite her to cast for the show. And I guess the rest is history because the casting experience was really fun. And that show was so much different than what I had experienced with ghost adventures. And it was all about, you know, positive experiences and uplifting history and understanding it and not being judgmental of the experiences that were happening. So it was more of like coming, listening to the stories, kind of having a holistic view of what's happening in the location and why it's happening and how we can help versus, you know, just trying to do anything. can to have paranormal activity happen. It was more about like if it does, it does, if it does,

it doesn't. And it was more about people based, like the people that were being affected by the hauntings themselves. And evidence we got was really quite amazing. And I think there's something to say about that when you walk into a place without any expectations other than to just listen and experience. Because I think there are a lot of maybe like whatever reality outside of our own consciousness, like whatever it is that's happening there, I think. wants to be interacted with in a way where we're just listening and being observing of it versus trying to explain it a way or trying to put it into a box, more so just experiencing it and letting it be what it is. Absolutely. So, I mean, my UFO work, Alex, is primarily

focused on witnesses and observers of UFO phenomena and how it affects them, how the aftermath, I guess of an experience and how that ultimately changes a person, whether it's their beliefs, you know, emotionally, mentally, physically. I mean, I've interviewed hundreds of UFO witnesses at this point. And there's a, there are small and distinct patterns I have found with observers of these type of phenomena who some of them have something like unlocked within themselves, whether it's, uh, they find, they pick up a, an instrument for the first time. And they just start learning an instrument or, you know, I remember one guy who was like one of these tech savvy, like startup

dudes who, you know, was all about the money and the numbers and the stats. And after he had this really dramatic like, almost orb like thing happened to him on several occasions, uh, he started drawing and like painting. And this was something he'd never done before. And he felt like it was because of that experience that he now had this new passion. So I guess what I'm trying to say is like, do you think these phenomena or if we are communicating or having some sort of communion with something on the other side? What is that message?

Why should we listen? What are they trying to tell us? I'm kind of fast forwarding to like the bigger picture. No, I love that. I personally think about that a lot. I do. I think that I was maybe born into a situation where I was already very creative and was already very connected to death. Like not to be too like creepy or anything, but like I overdosed when I was three and I had quite a few.

brushes with death that made me very obsessed with the idea of death. Like, compounded with the ghost experiences I was having, it made me almost very obsessed with it. And I thought about what that unlocked within me and who I would be if I didn't have those experiences. And I've met a lot of people like you have too, where people have kind of changed their perspective on life because of these experiences. And I can't say that I've met that many people with UFO experiences particularly, but I think anything that helps remove us from our small sense of self.

We're very, you know, we have this one perspective that we walk around. Well, most people have this one perspective that we walk around with, and our reality is built off of just that. And when you are having these otherworldly experiences where something is happening out of your control that you can't make any sense of, I think it kind of expands your lens. And like people that have close experiences with death, I feel like when you're faced with your own mortality

or you're faced with the idea that like life doesn't live, like you don't live forever, life doesn't go on. At some point it's going to end. And I think when people embrace that, they're able to kind of take a step back from that seat that they're in at that one point of view that they've been stuck in for a while. and they're able to ask themselves, well, what else do I love to do?

Like, what else am I capable of doing with my time that I would be sad? I wasn't able to explore if I continued living my life the way I currently was. Like creativity, being able to draw afterwards. I think there are, like, different areas of our brains that light up when we have experiences that take us out of our own perspectives.

Right. Like, it's really important to have different lenses brought into our worldview so that we can expand on ourselves and what we're capable of doing and what makes us happy. Yeah. I also think there might be something to people being abducted and coming back different. I don't believe or not believe in anything, but I've seen and heard a lot of experiences about people being abducted or having alien experiences where they come back with almost like more parts of their brain are working.

And I think that's also very, that's like really cool. And if it does happen, that's even cooler. Right. Yeah. Like, I'm with you, though. I think when I first got involved with the whole UFO thing, I was a very hardcore believer because I had seen a UFO. I really no longer had that luxury of disbelief, as many people say.

And I think as time went on, like you you start to you know hone in on what your quote unquote beliefs are but I think now in like 2024 after having done this for God decades at this point

that's awesome also a little depressing in terms of age but I don't believe in anything anymore either I think I've actually told people this recently like I just go where the evidence

leads you, go where the facts lead you. And also, like, I wasn't there when you had that experience when you were a kid. I wasn't there when someone claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Like, who am I to debunk or to try to find a, I guess, conventional explanation for something that happened to them? If that happens, like, cool. Awesome. Like, case solved, I guess. If we're really trying to go like a Sherlock Holmes route. But for me, I feel like you said, just listening is enough for a lot of people. It can be enough for closure, I think.

And I think that's what you guys did really good on the TV show, which I will dive into a little bit here, is helping people. Again, the people who are having the experiences, feel lost, feel like not in control of what's going on. in a situation, whereas someone like you, or I guess me, I'm slowly learning how to control a paranormal situation. Let's dive into it, Living for the Dead. You mentioned the casting, and that was a fun experience. Would you mind you maybe given us the Clifnose version, I guess,

of how casting went, how you guys found everybody. And what was the show? Because it was truly unique. It set itself apart from a lot of these ghost shows out there. So, yeah, a lot of questions thrown at you. Yeah, and people asking that stuff a lot. Living for the Dead was a really cool thing that C.J. Romero and Kristen Stewart got together and created with Scout, who is the same makers that brought you Queer Eye. It's kind of like Queer Eye with Ghosts, a lot of people have said, where our goal isn't to go in. and, you know, provoke anything.

It's just really to go in and actually I should back up a little bit because the casting process was for a show that was just supposed to be funny and lighthearted and ghost hunting with queer people and it'll be fun. And I don't think anyone expected it to turn out the way that it actually did turn out with so much heart. Because if you watch the show from first, you know, first episodes to the last, you'll see in the first and second episodes, it's kind of set up. differently. The first one's very, it's at the clown motel and it's very casual and we're like, there's a ghost here and we're kind of investigating, but we're not really talking to the people who own the place or talking about the history as a whole as much as we do with the other locations. That first episode, I think, unlocked something within us as soon as we all got together. We were realizing like, oh, we have much deeper perspectives on some of these locations that a lot

of people have brought in prior and the producer saw that and they were like let's really dive into that let's you know start unboxing some of these very real experiences that these people are having and talk to them about it because a lot of these experiences were tied to the paranormal happenings in the locations themselves as we get to say like the last episode lent mansion um there was a lot of history and trauma in that location and a lot of stories that paralleled the people who currently owned it. And they were trying to figure out how those connections were, I mean, we were trying to figure out how those connections were affecting them today. Because a lot of things that happen that are paranormal do tend to frighten people, especially if you don't understand it. If it's

happening, there's like books falling off the wall. Like a lot of that can be scary if you don't know what's happening. And so us coming in and investigating, I think we were able to say, oh, it's actually the family here. And they're getting your attention because they want to say this or they want to say that. And he just, he wants to be able to coexist with you in a way that is harmonious for everybody. And we're able to get to that at the end of the episode where everybody feels comfortable. And there's real magic happening when you're able to go from being afraid. And, you know, the unknown does scare people. It scares me. It scares me. me too, you know, going from being an unknown thing to something that is more calm and understood

and it has a name, like being able to name it is also very powerful. They're able to sit down and be like, oh, they know it's the owners of the house and say, hey, good morning, I know that's you, let's have a chill day today. There's no need to be doing all of this. Or take a second and listen and see if there is anything that they need. It changes the vibe entirely to where you can coexist whatever it is that's living in the house with you, if it's, it could be residual, it could be intelligent, who knows. But you respect it either way, regardless of knowing what it actually is. And I think that was the power of living for the dead as being able to kind of like remove fear from the situation and remove the unknown so that people felt like they were in control again.

And they felt like, you know, they were able to get their lives back on track because if, you're going through a lot, I think if you're coexisting in a space where there are spirit, where there's spirits, you going through a lot can kind of feed it negatively. And if you kind of get into this mindset where it is negative and you yourself are going through something negative, it kind of like spins out and echoes a lot to where it'll kind of mess with your point of view where you're seeing it as something negative and it isn't actually negative. But it's nice to have someone like a third party come in and be like, look, it's okay. Let me help you understand this better. Let's put it on a, you know, let's put it on the table

and understand it so that we can have a different lens and we can see this as something positive and use it as something positive and not negative. And I think the show just naturally became that because of us, of who we are and our natural inclination to be more like that than to investigate the other ways. And I'm not saying that. The other ways are bad. Like people are looking for evidence in whatever way that they get that. That's fine. I have no judgment towards other people and how they do what they do.

But I personally believe that I am going to be respecting every energy, if it's real or not. And I think that was the magic with Living for the Dead. Sorry I kind of rambled on about the show, but we can get to casting because casting's really fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Cliff Notes version, I got the call. like cool okay and then it was like months later i did a little video that they asked me for where it was just like who i am how i got to those tenting they only wanted like 60 seconds something to put down and then i got the call a couple months later after that where they were like we want to fly you out

everyone's going to stay in glendale and then we're going to do like a three-day casting process where they brought us in with a bunch of cameras in this really cool house that was haunted And there must have been, if I remember, I might have the numbers wrong, but there were quite a few people that were at the last cut of the casting process that they flew in. I think there was probably 30. So we were all staying in the same hotel having a blast. And like the people who do queer eye scout, all incredible human beings. There's so much fun to be around.

So the energy was high and it was fun. And it was like, if we get it or not, at least we're having this experience. And then it got really intense. where we were all at this house, and they would call five of us up, four to five group at a time. And they would have all the cameras rolling. And they would be asking us questions about how we feel about paranormal things. We would be doing different exercises. We did like a two truths and a lie.

I think that's what it's called where you say two truth and a lie. And then you have to guess which one's a lie. We did silly things like that. And I think it was just to see who mesh is best and who they could see being on the show. I messed that one up and ended up lying to everybody. Oh, no. If you want to hear that story, I'll tell you. Yeah, please.

Sure, but I haven't told anybody this. And Chris and Stewart, if you're watching, I'm so sorry that I lie to you. I hope she's watching. That'd be awesome. Like, if this gets clipped, I never know. Yeah, true. But here is the two truths and a lie. I guess maybe my.

my little dyslexic brain just didn't understand. I thought it was two lies and a truth. So when I walked up there, I told lies. I told two lies in a truth. And then I couldn't back up with the other lie. I had to be like, oh, my God, I'm living this forever because the other things I said were so intense. So my first lie was that I was related to Obama because it was last minute and I didn't

know what to say. And I was like, that one's going to be a lie. And I love Obama. So, like, of course, I'm going to say I'm related to Obama. So then that was my first lie. And then my second lie was that I was bit by a shark surfing, which should have been a truth. But it was, I have a scar on my lower back that's like this big because I was born with this cancerous. It was like a melanoma.

So I had like six surgeries as a kid and had this massive scar. So I could play it off as being a truth. And for some reason, my brain just lied and told everyone I was bit by a shark. So I was like, oh, that'll be so good because they'll believe it's real. Bad ass, yeah. I totally short-circuited. And then my third one, which was true, which was also very unbelievable, is that I burnt down a man's house, which I did because I found out he was a pedophile. I burnt his house down.

I was 12 at the time. I was 12 at the time. So, like, I don't think I can get arrested for that anymore. I think that's vigilant justice right there, Alex. I'm going to say that was justified. Yeah. I think so, too. You know, and it was really more of a shack than a house.

was very small. It was about to fall over. Okay. So I was like, oh, I'm going to win this for sure. But then like, you know, the alleged burning, people were like, that's the truth. And it was. And so I was like, yeah, you're right. So wait, no, I'm sorry. I said that I didn't want to say that that was the truth because I was scared, it was going to go to jail because I had never, I don't know if that was going to be what it is. You know, I was like, wait, am I going to be filmed? And then they're going to come after me because they burnt this house down. So I had to say that was a lie and then panicked and said that the shark fight was the

truth. All right. So we are, guys, we're clearing the air here for the very first time. The truth is Alex Burke down a house, okay? She went total TLC on this person. I, who is that what? I think it was left eye. I'm showing me from TLC who burned like her ex-lovers house down or something like that. That's the urban legend, yeah. Okay. Got it. Panic. And lied to everyone. All of the producers, Hulu, and everyone else thinks that I was bit by shark. I was not bit by a shark. I'm sorry. That's hilarious.

Okay. So love the casting story. Love sort of the premise of like focusing on the people and whatnot. I guess the LGBTQ plus elephant in the room, living for the dead. That's what really set it apart, I think, from, I mean, again, I'm a UFO person. When I think of ghost hunters, it's always like the dude, the neck beards with the black t-shirts and, you know, kind of looking like I am right now to be completely. No, I'm not doing. Yeah.

But, I mean, it's just the truth. But, I mean, times are changing. I feel like television is becoming more inclusive when it comes to things like this. And your show dealt with that in a very unique way in terms of the team members and everything like that. I want to fast forward to one of our Patreon questions because it actually ties into the show if that's cool. So cool, thank you. They get priority to ask guests questions, patreon.com slash somewhere skies, guys. I had to do it, had to do it.

So Corey, Corey T on my Patreon, he wants to know, Alex, your show was very inclusive concerning the LGBTQ community and it truly made someone like me feel seen. Do you think that queer investigators are able to communicate stronger with queer spirits or entities? Or does that even matter? So like I was saying earlier about our perspectives and what we brought to the show when it came to different locations, includes the queer aspect of it and the LGBTQ aspect of it. I think that we carry a different perspective in the way that we've been treated through life and our experiences that are able to resonate with the people that we visited and the hauntings themselves.

I think there's a lot of queer history that a lot of places like to hide and they like to keep it kind of buried a little bit. and us coming in and being like, we have no reason to hide any of this. It's, you know, it's 2024. We're not living in shame anymore. Like we need to come forward with who we are in our truths and live that way to be an example for other people too, especially with the show. We want people to feel safe.

We want them to feel seen. And we felt the same way towards the spirits themselves too. And there are things that came forward that didn't make the cut a lot of the because we in no way want to like out a ghost, you know, by any means, especially because it's a spirit and nobody knows if that's factual or not. But we did have a lot of evidence come forward where we were speaking to spirits who were like, we feel safe here with you because we are also one of you. And that was, it gives me goosebumps thinking about like how magical that was and how needed that is in this space in the paranormal world, especially because it is a very male dominated world. And I think it's important to bring more perspectives in that can maybe dig up and get some more, I don't want to say evidence because I'm not evidence-based,

but maybe just like do a little bit more healing when it comes to listening and truly understanding what it is that's happening in these spaces. I think it's important to have a crew that has a little bit of everything and a lot of different perspectives are important in this world. And I think people are starting to see that. And the media especially is like, oh, yeah, we should expand. We should expand who it is that we are allowing on these platforms because it's not a true representation of the world at large. Like, there are a lot of queer ghost hunters out there that are doing their thing that, you know, we need to be uplifting them in their voices so that people at home and the people in the real world are seeing a reflection of themselves on the television, you know, in media.

I think now we need it more than ever so that people understand that, like, we are here. Like, there's no reason for us to be hiding anymore because we've been here since the beginning of time, as it's shown even on our show through history. It's not going anywhere. And we deserve to have a safe space in the world of the paranormal and in everyday life. And I hope that the show has brought some people at home, that feeling of maybe being seen and feeling safer in who they are. and it makes me get choked up thinking about it.

I'm not going to cry. I just know like six-year-old me had like that Waverly episode where we brought out the picture of the boys where it was people who were assigned female at birth that were nurses at the place that were dressed up as the boys afterwards after work. Like really struck a chord with me. I was like, why is this being hidden? This is so magical. This has so much history that people don't talk about that would have. help a lot of people feel seen and feel safe and who they are. And I hope that they bring the show back because I feel like it is a very important piece of

media that doesn't, I wish they would bring it back. I don't want it to be lost, you know. I hope they bring it back because there are a lot of people that resonate with that. And I think that voice is needed more now than ever. For sure. I know when I first got, I'm three seasons in now. with our show and I have become more of a part of the paranormal community. I'm getting new like friend requests every day of like people that normally would never follow my work because

they see that I'm now not only involved and curious but I am appreciating the work that people like yourself do and continue to do and it's so cool to like find a community like that Like you said at the top of the show, a lot of us, the stigma and ridicule when it comes to all of this can be overwhelming. And for me, as a UFO person, it's almost become vindicated in terms of like the U.S. government is now acknowledging UFOs exist and they're officially investigating them. So all of us are like on our high horses now being like, I told you so, I told you so. And I have gotten the question, gotten, is gotten a word? Yeah. I've been given the, okay, cool.

Let's do it. Yeah. When is it our time? When will the government officially investigate ghosts or Bigfoot? And, you know, I'm really rambling here, but I swear I have a point. They have, the government has investigated Bigfoot. When it comes to the paranormal, like, look, we had an. entire remote viewing section of like the CIA and Department of Defense in like the 80s and stuff

or maybe earlier. I don't recall. But like this stuff has been intrinsically linked when it comes to something that we consider official, you know, the government. So I guess from there, what I'm saying is it's beautiful that like people who have not seen them. themselves represented on television before are now seeing that they they hopefully feel more seen now more than ever um and the way i kind of look at it too Alex is i was recently i live in scotland i'm in nova i mean i'm in new scotland right now nova scotia i live in old scotland and i was with my director of my tv show he happened to be over in europe visiting and um You know, we went on like a fun, haunted pub crawl down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

And of course, the night ended in a cemetery. Like we went into this kirkyard and we just, we're like kind of joking around. We're like, let's see if anything happens. So like, I think I may have even messaged you because I, you had introduced me to a new technology that I wasn't familiar with. And that was the SLS camera situation. And I was like, how does this work? I just downloaded an app. Like, what do I do?

And you were like, dude, you just point it. Like, that's all you got to do. It does everything for you. And we caught something, which was super fun and exciting. Cool. But it wasn't even like the tech evidence sort of thing. It was, Paul, our director, said to me, look at that grave right there. And it was like the grave of some super rich.

almost like royalty person of Scotland. And then right next to him, juxtaposed, was like a baker. One of the poorest, there was like a section in Edinburgh just for bakers who were so poor and, you know, couldn't really afford anything back then. And Paul just telling me, death is the ultimate equalizer. Like this is where it doesn't matter if you're gay, straight, trans, heteronormative, whatever, black, white, you name it. We all die.

You know, it's the one thing we all have to face eventually. And I think all of us are born into insanity. Like, we're born. We don't know why we're here. But we've been trying to figure that out for thousands and thousands of years. And then, boom, we're gone. And the real question is what happens next? And that's what people are trying to figure out.

And if we can get these like small glimpses from something on the other side that has seen that, is experiencing that right now, like, why wouldn't you want to listen? Why would you brush that away when you are spending your entire life just trying to figure out why I'm here? What is my purpose? Like that could be a purpose right there. So I don't know. That's me. Okay. Off my off my.

No, I love listening to that. because I think a lot of people don't want to face that because it kind of reminds them of their own mortality, like that death is going to come for all of us eventually. And I think people need to be reminded of that more often. I have Momentumori tattooed on me for that reason. So I truly believe that if you spend your days being conscious of the fact that this isn't forever, like you could potentially pass away tomorrow. I mean, it happens to everybody all the time. It would constantly surrounded by people passing, like this is the reality of being alive, that we're able to live our lives more fully and let go of the small things.

And I think judgment is in that cluster of small things that people hold on to a little too hard. And when it comes to LGBTQ and our little community, so many people like to put judgment on that and they like to really, you know, I know it's very religion-based, and people have these biases towards other people, but in the reality of the world, we all end up dying at some point. And that is what relates us all. And I hope that people can go forward and kind of remember that enough to where they see that there are more important things to worry about than being judgmental towards other people or like removing certain people from your point of view or your scope because you're nervous. that the Bible told you otherwise. There are so many layers to it to why people believe that they don't want to see representation

on television. They think it's going to like, not to get too much on that like soapbox, but they're like, oh, if my daughter sees this and she's going to grow up to be a lesbian too. And it's like, that's not how it works, first of all. And it's, I think it's fine that everybody is exposed to different experiences through life. Like, that's what makes you who you are and you're supposed to feel safe. and not judged, and you're not supposed to carry shame in your life based off of who you are. And I think that remembering that we're all going to die one day brings us back to the reality

that this is a very short moment in time. And we need to be living ourselves without shame and without judgment and loving others in the same sense. Yeah, I agree with you about the whole like it's a great equalizer because it is. Yeah, yeah. It really like, you know, we hear that. those things. But then when you actually, I think, for me, I'm a very visual person. So when I see it represented onto gravestones right next to each other, like, I just remember standing there. It's like two in the morning. It's like the most Scotland is everything's haunted. The bathroom in the McDonald's is

haunted. The library is haunted. My apartment, whatever, the shower is haunted. But it really put things into perspective for me. So that's cool. I want to ask if I can. God, we could talk forever. Hey, everyone. Ryan Sprague here, host of Somewhere in the Skies. If you've ever thought about supporting us, we have great two easy options for you right now. If you listen to the show on Apple podcasts, you can click the subscribe button at the top of your Apple feed. Or you can join our Patreon at patreon.com slash somewhere skies. Both of these options give you the same benefits, early access to the main show,

bonus episodes and content, and priority to ask our guests, your listener questions. So to help support Summer in the Skies, click that subscribe button on Apple or visit patreon.com slash somewhere skies. Thank you so much for your support. and keep looking up.

The show. Is there like, we won't go through every episode because obviously when it comes back, I'm not always an optimist. People will be able to see it. But what are some of your... I was told by somebody high up in Hulu that is coming back. They just don't know when.

Because they're having layoffs and stuff. Okay. We just don't know when. I know what that's like. You heard it here first, guys. It's coming back. Hopefully. hopefully. I never know though. Like they could have told me that. I don't know. I know. Welcome to

the biz as they say. What are some of your your most memorable moments from the investigations? Like maybe one or two you'd be willing to share with us here that had sort of the biggest impact on you. Do any come to mind? Yeah. I mean, there were so many. I didn't even, you know, I could make a list and the list would go forever because it would be every episode. Like it felt magical the entire time. I think the experiences I had at Waverly was probably one of my favorites. I went by myself into the morgue and just there's an entity there that has attached to hundreds of people. They say that, you know, it's at like 500 or something. I can't remember exactly, but there's an astronomical number of attachments that have happened from Waverly Hills. And they have

a haunted attraction in the morgue area where they would you know with the bodies so um i think the fact that they're having an attraction that's meant to scare people in a place that's already so energetically charged with all of that especially being waverly and all the deaths that that place has seen um created something and i had an intelligent conversation with whatever this something was that gives me chills thinking about. But you'll see it in the episode. But I'm there by myself, and I have my REM pod with me. Well, it's a melmeter with the built-in rem pod.

So I have it above my head, and I slid into where they kept the bodies. And it was just, you know, dark in there, chilling. I wanted to ask the entity, you know, what its goal was. What was the whole point of attaching itself to people? Why was it doing this? and I got really straight, clear answers from it. I asked it, I believe I asked it, let me think, what was, I can't remember exact wording,

but I was asking it how it was created. I asked if it was feeding off of the fear of other people. And what I basically got was that the reason it was attaching to people is because it was feeding off of the fear that these people were carrying with them. so they were kind of coming into places a little more vulnerable maybe they were coming into this haunted traction a little bit more vulnerable and ending up with an attachment where it was kind of siphoning that energy from them and this is what this entity was claiming and it gives me goosebumps

because the way it was interacting with the rem pod was very odd instead of it just being like an erratic response it was very well-timed right after I asked the question it would be about one second in and I'd have the exact strength on the rem pod every single time it answered. So it would go to like the first little notch and it would stay on for about five seconds and then turn off. But it was so rhythmic. It was absolutely wild to experience because normally it's like a, it's like an entity that's kind of like intense and it's making things go off and it's never quite the same and it's all

very erratic and chaotic and chaotic. but this one was very, very calculated feeling and the energy was always consistent, even though I was there for about 30 minutes. And that was the first time I've experienced anything like that, or having an entity that most people would say is like non-intelligent. It was like a thought form that was formed through, you know, a bunch of people being scared and having it respond and be self-aware to where it was telling me, like, yeah, it was formed out of the fear of other people.

that's what's feeding me. It almost gave me the impression that it was scared to not have that source anymore. Like it was a little nervous to no longer be whatever it is that was created. And that's why it's craving that fear from people because it's the only thing it feeds from. And so those attachments were continuing. And I mean, we gave advice at the end of the day just saying, hey, maybe move the haunted attraction to a different area. That isn't so charged and maybe people won't be having this issue anymore or giving people protective ambulance or something afterwards to take home with them so they're not experiencing these attachments

because personally I don't think attachments happen that often. I don't think it's something that happens a lot. And for it to happen that often from that location was really unique. And it expanded my idea of what an attachment is anyways. And my second favorite part didn't make the cut, but this second episode, Julia, Julia and I have such a special relationship. And everyone's like, listen, you two, you two lovebirds. And I know that, yeah, we might have been flirting a little bit, like me and this ghost.

But I, at the end of the night, when I fell asleep, I told Jujiro, I was like, I'm going to let her possess me and just see what happens. the camera crews, everybody was asleep. So I was like, let's just see what happens, you know. So it turns out that I had my phone on me blasting Lana Del Rey, and I was skipping through the hallway singing it, like hand in hand with her. And I don't really have much of a memory of this other than Rod telling me the next day. She's like, I thought you had lost your marbles. You were literally skipping up and down the hallway singing Long Del Rey with the ghost.

And I was like, I barely remember that. that. Wow. That is, oh, I love that. Yeah. I have some light possession. It was fun. I wish it made with that.

Light possession. That has to be a first in terms of like a first date with a ghost, I would say. Right? Oh, man, man. Yeah, how do you explain that to HR? Like, I was totally like really buddy, buddy with a ghost. There might have been something. there. I'm not too sure, but um, light possession happened. So you don't remember any of that happening

at all. I have a memory of I don't remember playing Lana Del Rey specifically because I had a playlist from the 20s that was approved for TV that I could play. Gotcha, gotcha. I don't remember that. I didn't remember it until Roz told me and then I remember the skipping part, but I don't remember for how long it happened. I have no memory of holding hands with a ghost. Like she said, it was so loud that she, like, opened her door and saw me skipping down the hallway the other direction. And it was only on the floor that Julia has been seen. So I was staying in Julia's room that night. And I guess I went back to bed in her room and, like, woke up the next day to find out that I had done all that. Wow. That is so interesting. Well,

you recently came out with a video on your YouTube channel where you investigated, I believe it was a hotel. Am I correct? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um, is that something you're willing to share with us?

What happened there? I watched the episode and I told you like, oh, man, like it gave me the feels and any good investigation should give you the feels. It's not just like, oh, my hair's standing up, but like it should resonate. It should stay with you. And I've had so many of those on my investigation. Some know. Like there's some that are just truly done. So like for every one good ghost investigation, there's like 10 that nothing ever happens.

And that's clearly not the stuff that makes it on TV or on like our whatever content providers. But it seemed like. I just want to interrupt you, but I think that you're a very good. investigator because you're not faking anything. It's true. There are stuff that never happens. Sometimes you go an investigation, nothing happens and it just doesn't make it. You know, the people don't see it. But that is the reality is like sometimes things just don't happen. Yeah, it makes me a great investigator. I just wanted to say that. Oh, well, that goes for anyone, you know. And it truly, like last night, I'm still riding a high because we got home at like 5 a.m. We had an incredible night of activity.

and like we were so pumped. Like I probably could have kept going for another three, four hours if I really wanted to. But the night before that, nothing. Like, nothing. And that's just the reality of these situations. It's the energy you bring into it, like you mentioned earlier. And it really is about the lens in which you view what is happening, like your perspective on all of that.

So, yeah, I guess getting back to that investigation, in your hometown, you're doing these cool investigations over on your YouTube channel, which we will link to in the show notes, guys, so you can check all that out. But yeah, what happened there? What was that case about if you don't mind me asking? There's this famous haunting that everybody knows about downtown at the San Carlos Hotel of Leon Jensen. And the story goes, according to all the rumors, that she left from the seventh story of the hotel.

unfortunately ended her life over unrequited love. There's a lot of musicals, there's little movies, things that people have done over the story, because it seems to be this trope that gets played out a lot in the paranormal, where the woman or whoever it is has ended their life because they didn't get the love in return from whoever it is that the story holds or whatever. So like, sorry, my dog is moving around, so I got a little distracted. No words. She's so cute.

Yeah. But there's always that trope, and I always felt like that isn't correct and wanted to get into that location really badly and just kind of have that conversation because I know that if I had died and somebody was like, oh, it's because this guy refused her love or like unrequited loves. It just feels so shallow to me. I was like, there's no way there's got to be more to the story. So I took my two really good friends that I get along with, Amber and Lorraine, and we stayed the night there.

We didn't expect to really get much. But right away, all of our devices were going off. I think some of these locations that I walk into when I have the intention of just wanting to listen and get the story straight, have a lot of activity the second I walk into these places. I think they somehow know prior to me getting there. And we got some of the best evidence I've ever gotten in an investigation there. And one specific one when we were doing the spirit box session in the room, because Meegu's was thinking about it, there's a male spirit, there are quite a few male spirits there,

but this one that was speaking to us quite a bit, I think, is friends with Leone. Or I feel like the spirits in that location were very protective of her. and she herself didn't come forward and speak much, but she did. And when she did, she really made it worth it. So we were asking, can you tell us what happened here? And we got a very clear response over the spirit box saying she is falling. And we were like, who's falling? And then it responded Leon in the same voice.

And it gives me goosebumps because I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like getting something that intelligent of a response and pertaining to the exact story that we heard. We didn't do any historical digging prior because I didn't want to go in with any pre-conce-like any biases or anything of what I was leaving, except for my friend Amber, who did a little bit. And I told her not to tell me, like, don't tell me anything unless it comes up to verify. So because she's really good at doing the digging stuff. So we got that first thing on the spirit box, which gave me chills. And then we started asking questions about how Leon died, because yes, I know that she had jumped to her death, which is very unfortunate, but I wanted to

dig more into what is it that caused her to do that. And we were given a very explicit answer that had to do with abuse, like not to trigger anybody, but the spirits there were pointing to that being part of the cause as to why she leapt from the seventh story. And as the investigation went on. We got more and more evidence towards that, kind of changing the story a little bit behind this relationship of this unrequited love that people always talked about. So as it went on, as soon as we found that out about Leon over the spirit box, we cut it out, but all of us were like crying. We cut it out of the scene because it was really intense. All of us started getting goosebumps and like we started tearing up. It was a lot to hear from the

spirit, especially when just knowing that that had happened to anybody is really heartbreaking. And over the spirit box, in her own voice, she said, oh, beloved, it's okay. And it makes me want to cry again because it was one of those really incredible moments where it's like, oh, my God, like she needed someone to come in and listen to her and get her story straight because, I mean, how long, how many, it was over 100 years ago that she took her life. And for that long, people have been saying and tying to her, tying her to this man who abused her that caused her, or may have been one of the reasons that caused her to jump off this building. And I can't imagine, I can't imagine dying and being stuck to my abuser in that sense and having plays showing my story and people talking about it and not having the truth be told. So getting that out of that experience and being able to tell people, be like, no, this is actually what happened.

As soon as we started digging into the history of it, we found that there were rumors of bruises on her body with the connection of this bellboy that she was said to have had unrequited love with. So the story started expanding into something much greater than just, you know, she was refused. It was much bigger than that. It was her also being very sick because she was. was a dancer and she loved to dance and perform. She was no longer able to do that because of this illness. And there was a whole other layer to this bellhop abusing her. And it brought her to a very unfortunate fate where it breaks my heart, even the end of her letter that she left behind. It says, signed a lonesome and ill stranger. And to think of her still being there wandering

those halls as people not as leone the version of this woman who a man didn't love her enough so she jumped off a building versus leone this beautiful beautiful person who had dreams and hopes and wanted to live a full life and she was a dancer and she had all this history there was so much more to her than just that i think being able to go into it and tell her story correctly will help her whatever it is that she choose to do now. Like I'm not sure I believe in those like moving on or moving on to the other side, but I think it'll help her be in a better place from wherever she is now. And I think my goal in investigating has always been that is just to elevate the truth and get to the bottom of what's actually happening, especially when it comes to different types of groups like women and the LGBTQ

community in particular. Wow. Yeah, that's, yeah, that got me a little misty-eyed. It really was so moving. It was one of those things. Like, every time I edited it, I was crying. I was like, oh, Leon. And I'm going to go back again with some flowers and stay and have another little hangout with her. Well, and you gave her, like you said, the work is never done on human beings, as I'm sure.

It isn't as spiritually either. Like you are evolving and growing and learning, even probably in the afterlife. I would make a very big assumption there. But it sounds like you gave her agency and sort of, like you said, rewrote her story in the way that she hoped it would be remembered. Like she was clearly a very troubled individual who like many in life unfortunately found no way of really coping or dealing with her situations. So to give her that space to like tell you what really happened and that had to just, I can imagine, give her the confidence to like go. to the next step of whatever is next for her. I'm hoping she's dancing again. Me too. We too. Right? That's kind of what I'm like envisioning. But yeah, who knows?

That's that's beautiful, Alex. It really is. Well, I know like, I hope you do more like that. Thank you. Those are the types of investigations and stories that I love doing. And we've had a few of those in our time on our show where we have we believe directly connected with an individual who we may have heard a story about but clearly it wasn't the whole story so that's cool that is so cool. And there's so many of those in the paranormal I feel like there's these stereotypes that these spirits or these stories always fall into so it's I think it's good work for us to go in and be like we got to get the story straight you know give them back their agency make sure that people know what actually happened here because it's so much bigger than that.

Exactly. All of this is bigger than any of us, you know, so I love that. I feel like, too, what you do, what I do in the UFO world, it makes us more human than ever. Like these experiences put you so much into your shoes again. Yeah, they're so grounding. Oh, God, yeah. Like there's nothing more immediate in human than like fear and love, I feel in many ways. And like these experiences do that for so many people. And I think, you know, we have so many distractions in the world such as like, let's be honest,

what we're doing right now, probably people watching us on YouTube or like scrolling through Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, whatever, that we forget about. like what's going on in front of us. And I feel like in investigating the paranormal, supernatural, I've found a part of myself, again, that may have detached a while ago in terms of the other things I do in my life. So that's what I take from it. What do you take from what you do? Like how does this help you as a person. Again, big sweeping question. But yeah, why do you do this? I think I grew up as a really lonely kid and not having that sense of connection or the real sense of connection. I believe that our phones kind of have this false sense of connection

that isn't as deep as like going out and just being around people. I think investigating, speaking to spirit and the connections it's made throughout, like the places these people live, the people who are involved in the hauntings and the people that I investigate with has brought me a sense of connection outside of my phone. Like it's a community that I've now belonged to that I feel very happy to belong to.

For me, my biggest takeaway, I guess, is being reminded of death and how that helps me live a more fulfilling life, today, but also the connection, like real human connection and how valuable that is and how we easily forget that. Because we do hear these stories. We hear, you know, these spirits are speaking to us about their loved ones and people they wish they still could have that connection with. And I think it's a strong reminder that, you know, you might be having a bad day and you don't want to call your aunt or uncle to catch up, but you should. You should call your friends.

you should say, hey, we need to get together more and be in person. Even if you do have social anxiety, just go sit at the park for 10 minutes and talk to somebody face to face. I think we're losing that in this day and age. And that's one of my one of my takeaways from investigating, I think, is finding connection again. Yeah, absolutely. Living for the dead. Like you guys could not have nailed the title any better. So Alex, we, uh, we sort of of talked about devices, you know, that's one way to approach all this, scientifically, evidence-based. And I will admit that when I first got involved with all of this, I wanted to depend on the devices. Like, that's what I wanted, concrete evidence that this stuff was happening.

And then one day, I was thrown out of my comfort zone by production. And they said, you're going on the Ouija board, something I'd never done in my life. Oh, yeah. Interesting. Okay. Like, I'm down to try anything once. And they also put another one of our investigators on the Ouija board with me, who was also extremely skeptical of that sort of stuff.

And of course, like, spoiler alert, we had incredible results from it. And we were stunned. And now we basically are, we. call ourselves the Ouija bros. Like we literally, we're like the first to go into the space now and like try to open up the conversation to whatever we're speaking with. And the other device that I really connect with is the spirit box. You mentioned that a few times, you know, for those who don't know, it's like it sweeps

through radio frequencies. You might catch words or sentences here and there. And meanwhile, you can't hear what's going on in the room. people might be asking questions. You know, it can get chaotic at times, but there are those times where everything lines up. And you are presumably speaking with something, spirit, an entity, and intelligence of some sort.

There was one time we thought we were talking to an alien, which was cool for me. You might be. Yeah, that's a story for another time. But those guys, one of the first inventors of the spirit box was speaking to aliens. I heard that. That's crazy.

Like that's why he, yeah, he created it. He has the recordings too. Yeah, he has all the recordings on his old website. You can listen to it where he's speaking to, I can't remember which alien person it was, but he has it all listed there. It's pretty cool.

What do you think of those two devices? Okay. Yeah, the Ouija board and the square box. And the Ouija board. I do like Ouija boards. I don't use them that often. I have made a few personally. I've made a couple spirit boards that illuminate upon touch.

So they're capacitive touch. It's kind of like my goal is to take it into a haunted location and maybe have the spirit interact with it without my own hand so that it'll illuminate in the areas that it's answering me. So like yes, no, that kind of a thing. I think they're super cool. I feel like maybe I'm, a little impatient with something.

So it's hard for me to just like sit and wait for that to happen. I love the spirit box for that reason. Yeah. Because I feel like it's like a streamlined way to sit down and just get answers and like you're sitting down and having real time conversation, which is super full. But I love the history of Ouija and I love the symbology and where like where it's been and how Hollywood try to demonize it. And it looks cool.

I think I think using it is super important and good for some people. who connect in different ways than I do. I think that Spirit Boards in particular are a way for us to maybe connect personally and through us, like maybe channel like a higher truth, like we're going through and connecting ourselves through our own bodies, which I think is really cool. But I don't really bring one on my investigations. Like I, I like it. I think it's cool, but I really love the spirit box. It's like my go-to. Same. Yeah, I feel like, so I'm from New York. I lived in New York City for like, gosh, 12 years, I think. So like I have that like mentality of like, go, go, go, go, go. I don't have time. Like, tell me, are you a spirit? What do you want me to tell the people? Like, let's do that.

Like we're supposed to be patient. I know. Which is that it's teaching me to be patient, you know. That is just what I was going to say. Like, I feel like the Ouija board has made me a more patient person. Because, look, it takes a lot of time. Like, again, we'll be on the Ouija board for an hour, like two hours sometimes. And then, of course, when it gets on TV, it looks like we had this incredible conversation in like two minutes.

Like, again, that's television. but like it has it's truly look if you want to talk to something on the other side earn it like it's this isn't like you're calling your friend or texting and being like why aren't you texting me back like immediately like you're literally talking to someone somewhere else in another yeah it's a spiritual iPhone in a way yes exactly exactly so like i feel like when i i do the spirit box, it's like New York me. And then when I do the other one, it's the other

part of me coming out, like, learning to be patient again. And look, I do a show with all Canadians. They're the most polite people, nicest in the way, patient, kind. And I think that's, that has helped me a lot to be a better person.

So, yeah. So you're all for the spirit box. That's like your number one device, if you had to use a device. Yeah, I do. I love devices. I feel like I need to be documenting in more than one way. Like I believe my senses, but I need to have it. Like, I need to see it light up. I need to see this also going off for me to really believe that's what's happening to me is happening. Yeah, because I question everything, you know.

As you should. Yeah. And it's when the things start lining up, I think, when you can truly feel like, yes, I am definitely communicating. Like, there's no, there's no debate there really. I want there to be no question about it. Yeah, right. Yeah, the ambiguity can be nice and alluring and mysterious, but at the same time, like, you want answers. You definitely want answers. As I think whatever's communicated on the other side wants you to give those answers, too.

Like, if we're just going to sit here and vaguely talk back and forth, that's cool. But, like, why? Why are we doing this? So I would have to agree. Okay, here's a good question. Our second Patreon question. We are in the Halloween spirit right now. Like, that's why I'm doing spooky skies.

Halloween, is this for you, Jacqueline wants to know on Patreon? Do you think Halloween amplifies paranormal activity at all? Or is it just another day like any other? Like what do you make of like these sort of more spooky times of the year? I mean, even Christmas has like a weird ghost storytelling tradition. But Halloween for you. Yeah. What do you make of that?

And does it amplify anything? I think it does. I do believe there. I mean, there are so many different practices, religions and faiths that believe that the veil is much thinner this time of year. And I do subscribe to that myself. I think, you know, I follow more of like a pagan path where this time of year, I do a lot more investigating because I feel like it's easier to speak to spirit. In my personal opinion, it is.

And from what I've seen, I think it is as well. I personally see physically more things around this time of year. And I love that you brought up Christmas because it's like, it's Salon and Yule for me or like Halloween and Christmas. those are to, I think, energetically charged times of the year because I think there's something special when a massive group of people come together on like a like-minded experience. And even if it's just like a holiday, there's a lot of power in that holiday because of how many people are like consciously coming together in that exact time. And I think that energy can be harnessed by spirit or whatever it is that we're communicating to. and it helps us communicate with them easier. Yeah, I think, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I would have to agree. I think, again, like, the power of a collective consciousness could truly change things. I mean, look at revolutionary movements throughout history. Like, they wouldn't have happened if enough people weren't on the same, whatever, frequency, wavelength, advocating for the same thing, nothing would ever change. So, yeah, I think you're right.

Like when everyone's kind of in that mood and like ready to believe, I guess, if we want to use that word more than ever, it can pierce that veil or make it thinner, like you said. Yeah. It's interesting. Whereas like people like you and me now to an extent, it's like Halloween 24-7 now. Oh, yeah. My whole life.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Let's see here. Okay. UFOs.

I have to. I'm a UFO podcast. I guess two-pronged question. What are your thoughts on UFOs? Have you ever had any sort of experience with a UFO or something like that? And the second part of that is, do you think these things can be connected ghosts, cryptids, UFOs. So yeah, however you want to answer that, Alex. I do believe in cryptids, aliens, UFOs. I think all of it's possible. I kind of sit in this,

like, camp of not believing and believing at the same time. Like I exist in both where I believe, you know, like we were saying earlier, you believe that people when they say it happened to them. I believe it happened to them. Like our senses are usually not lying to us unless there's like some mental health aspect. But I do believe that aliens could potentially be among us. I, from what I've seen, I think that maybe there was some kind of intervention at some point where they came down and maybe gave us some knowledge. There's just no way we're the only intelligent life form out there. I just have a really hard time believing that personally. And I've seen UFOs with my own eyes that I've been with

my friends before where, well, I've seen one that I am so dead set on it being an alien craft of some kind. And the other one was weird as hell, but maybe my brain is kind of like, oh, it's the government. And they like invented something that no one knows about yet, kind of a thing. But yeah, I kind of sit like in the middle where I'm like, I believe it. And I've been to Sedona and looked at the skies and seen weird things. And in Arizona, it happens all the time. Yeah. Like Phoenix Lights is like a part of our history.

So like it's just very widely accepted. And recently people have started seeing more very like congruent things to Phoenix Lights here just within the last year. So there's a lot of documents of documented sightings of that. I love aliens and I love cryptids, Mothman. And like the squawk, I love the squawk because I feel like that's me. I love the idea of it. I think that I do on a deeper level think that there's the potential of different dimensions, like maybe overlapping themselves.

And I like to think of time is less linear and more maybe happening on top of itself. So like kind of all at once but not. Like yes, we're in motion, but at the same time we're not moving. So like there's the potential for us to be overlapping with something else at the same time. When it comes to experiencing paranormal phenomena, I also think we could be interacting with the past or the future less than ghosts in some situations. In some situations, you know, it's just like an echo of history and we're triggering it in some way with whatever it is that we bring into the location versus like a cryptid I also think could potentially be something maybe on a different

dimension and at some point it just kind of like like the vibrations just kind of did one of these kind of thing and the veil was down for a second and everyone was like what was that that's not normal I think all of it's possible I really do yeah yeah I do you know there's a lot of talk in the UFO research community of aliens or us from the future. Like, you look at these small gray aliens and they're very, like, nothing really stands out about them. They're very androgynous. They're, like, we've evolved into that.

Yeah, like we've either evolved or somewhat even argued devolved into that. That's the point. Well, the way that the Earth is being, like, burnt up right now, like, who knows? Exactly. And so there's that idea that maybe it's us from the future. And then like you said, with ghosts, it's like I often look at it. Like if we are communicating with it, they're just as surprised as we are. Like, what is this futuristic? Yeah. Like, what is that dude? What's that on his hat? Like, what are those weird things on his ears? What's going on here? I do think. Like, it's just as weird and for them as. it is for us. So yeah, I think you're right. It's a, as a friend of mine, Greg Bishop, would say,

it's like a co-creation. Like, we're all dancing together. And like, we have to be in rhythm in order for all of this to work. And, yeah, I find that fascinating. We bring as much to the game as the possible ghosts do, too. Yeah, it's fascinating to have these thought experiments. It's fun. I think about it all day long.

I know. Welcome. Welcome to our lives. Okay. To kind of wrap things up, Alex. So you've been investigating all of this stuff for a while. Again, a lot of it's new to me, but I'm starting to get a handle on this sort of stuff. But there are a lot of younger people out there who probably saw your show, got super, like,

inspired by it and want to go out and do this stuff themselves. and there's like ghost hunting groups everywhere. Like I feel like every day I'm finding a new one in some small town, which is awesome. I love it. Yes, all for it. Do it. Start a club, start a little organization, go out there, investigate, be careful. Like I always tell people be very careful because it can be dangerous too. Not just mentally or spiritually, but literally you're going into an abandoned building.

Like, you don't know if someone's, like, squatting there or... Dead air is very real. Like, there's a lot of things can go wrong. So just be very careful. But that is my question for you. What advice would you give to younger people out there who want to do what you do and what I'm, I guess, stupidly attempting to do sometimes? You're doing a good job.

You're doing really good job. I appreciate that. Best advice, I think. is to do your research. And like you were saying earlier, there's a lot of groups out there. I think finding a group is a good idea, especially with Facebook and all these different ways that we connect nowadays. You could find like-minded people, bounce ideas off of.

My biggest thing that I think people need to remember is to listen to their gut. I think it's hard when you're in a situation where there's a lot going on, but just listen to your gut. If it's telling you you need to leave, you should probably leave. And if it feels like it's okay, then stay and see it out and see how it goes. But that connection to your gut and how you feel is probably your greatest tool when it comes to investigating. And really kind of honing in on that, I think, is your first step in becoming an investigator so that you know when something is maybe being pushed too far or when you need to maybe push yourself a little further. So yeah, just be safe.

do your research, find a group. Yep, absolutely. I love all of that. Noted, noted, noted, noted, noted for sure. Awesome, Alex. Well, of course, like, the biggest question of all. What comes next for you? Yes, like there's the TV show.

There's, like, the stuff you do on YouTube. But, like, what comes next for you? As an investigator, as a person, give us all the info that you can on what you're up to. and where can we find everything that you are up to? Yeah, I'm doing a lot of things right now. I have my YouTube. It's Alex LeMay, which gets confusing because it's ITS at the beginning, Alex LeMay, same with my Instagram.

I go by under paranormal Alex on the other platforms. I can't even talk about it right now, but I am in the casting process with a lot of really cool people for another paranormal show that hopefully I'll be able to tell. everyone about eventually. And, you know, what's next is really just elaborating on my YouTube and investigating with friends and seeing where life takes me. So you can find me on those platforms. It's Alex LeMay. And thanks for having me on this. I'm just really excited. I finally said yes to a podcast because I've been too nervous. So I really appreciate you having me here.

My absolute pleasure. You know, again, this is. is a learning process for me. Like, that's why I do interviews. I'm, nobody's an expert on any of this stuff. And if they say they are run, because that's not the kind of person you should be listening to. So no, no. We will have links to all of your stuff in the show notes, guys.

So be sure to subscribe all that good stuff. Go follow, support Alex's work. Of course, of course. And, yeah, I think. I think that'll do it. Again, we could talk for hours and hours. But I literally have to go to a paranormal investigation. I can't believe I'm saying that. I'm so glad. Yeah, yeah. Well, I can't wait to see what you do next, Alex. And I'm so happy that we connected. And a lot of your stories really resonated with me and inspired me. So I will take that with me onto my investigations and hopefully

commune with something powerful. And like you said, the most important thing I think any of us can do when dealing with this stuff is to just listen. To it, to each other, to everyone, the world would be a better place, and whatever comes next is going to be better because of that. So you said it best, listen, guys.

Listen, listen, listen. So again, Alex, I want to thank you so much for coming on somewhere in the spooky these guys today. Thank you so much for everything. I really appreciate it, Ryan. This has been a production of Lionsgate Sound. Please rate, review, and subscribe wherever possible. Thank you for listening. Lots of places can expose you to identity theft. Oh, no. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity, which is way more than anyone can do on their own. If we find anything suspicious, like new loans or

changes to your financial accounts, we alert you right away, all through text, phone, email, or the LifeLock app. Get the alerts that could make all the difference. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash special offer. Terms apply.