Spooked - The Inkwell

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Just because someone’s passed over, doesn’t mean they’re not still watching over you. STORIES The Tapeworm Richie “Tapeworm” Herrera ran one of the most badass tattoo parlors in Chicago. It was haunted, and he didn’t mind that. That is, until the ghosts tried to push him out. Thank you Anne, Chris, Tony, and Adam for telling us about the amazing Richie “Tapeworm” Herrera. Produced by Anne Ford, original score by Leon Morimoto The Bull Ring Todd loses someone he loves very much, but it seems his friend is not truly gone. Thank you, Todd Narron, for sharing your stories with us. If you want more stories from Todd, check out his book, Country Stories of Ghosts and Bad Men and Country Stories of Ghosts and Bad Men: Series 2 - The Dead Ones. Do not miss out on these amazing stories! Produced by Annie Nguyen, original score by Renzo Gorrio Artwork by Teo Ducot Episodes now drop weekly. Featuring brand new stories -- along with episodes previously available only by subscription. Listen for free wherever you get your podcasts! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When you feel the weight of an unseen stare, but see no one, it might mean somebody, something wishes you ill, sure. But it could be someone else sees that ill intent. And that ill intent has to go through them into spooked. Stay tuned. When I was just a little kid, my mother's pastor told me that if I saw a spirit, either walking in the light of day or in my dreams at night, to know that it was sent by Satan and that the devil is a trickster,

that this trickster can assume even the form of those dear to me. I was to understand first and foremost that whoever stood in front of me, whatever appearance they stole, whatever whispers they lied. Fear the pastor promise. All I had to do was call. on the Lord's name and shout, be gone, Dean. It would flee. Back from whence it came.

That is the mighty power of God's word, the pastor said. So, I didn't tell the pastor. Didn't tell my mother. Didn't tell anybody else what I saw at night. Who I spoke to. And who spoke back to me. Maybe some were not who they said they were, but I learned early on

many of us are not who you say we are. My name is Ben Washington. Spook starts. No. Understand. We go to a lot of haunted places on the spooked. Hotels, brothels,

asylums, alleys, farms, brownstones, houses, resorts. But never, ever, have we been to a tattoo parlor. Until now, The story comes to us all the way from Shytown where our own spout correspondent, Ann Ford, is on the ground at Odin Tattoo. Spoot. This building located at 3313 West Irving Park Road was originally a funeral home in the late 1800s.

This funeral home was different from the funeral homes of today because everything was done on site. The bodies were literally wheeled in, in barrens. calmed here, cremated here, the funerals were here, the wakes were here, everything was done on site. And that started in the late 1800s until 2001 when my buddy Richie took it over. Richie Tapeworm Herrera was the head tattoo artist and owner of Odin tattoo in Chicago. Shaved head, pierced nose, 6-3 with his boots on, the center of attention wherever he went. They just love to be different. And the fact that he got to open up his own tattoo parlor in a funeral home was just mind-blowing to him.

The family that owned the funeral home had said for decades that it was haunted. Richie loved that, too. From hearing dark whispers, from hearing scratchings at the floor, things falling off the walls, door slamming not due to wind. they said due to the thousands and thousands of thousands of bodies that were processed, that the spirit activity in here to them was just off the charts. Whenever anyone asked Richie if he worried about opening a business in a place filled with ghosts, he'd say, What do I care? I get along with everybody whether they're living or dead.

And he did. Richie lived in the apartment above the tattoo parlor, and he was known for treating his... friends like family. One of those friends was Chris Bratech. Get off of work, didn't feel like going home, came to the tattoo parlor, hung out with Richie. Things weren't going your way, and you did somebody to talk to, you needed some help. You didn't go to the bank or to your aunt or to your uncle or to anybody. You came to Richie. I mean, I couldn't tell you how many times people crashed on his couch upstairs when they had nowhere else to go.

He'd wake up, walk out and be like, hey, asshole, what are you doing on my couch? And I'd be like, you let me sleep here. Oh, that's right. All right, man. Yeah, no, no, what worries? You hungry? You want some breakfast? He was just as casual about the ghosts.

The old funeral home turned tattoo parlor is an underground legend in Chicago. Adam Seltzer is a ghost tour guide, and he came by to head up Richie about its eternal residence. He talked about a guy in a brown suit that he saw watching him while he was tattooing. And I remember he said, you know, I stopped tattooing and just stared at the guy because everyone knows you look away from these cats for one second, they'll be gone. Ritchie called the ghost in the brown suit, Walter. Walter didn't show up much. Most of the time, the ghost stayed unseen. They seem to enjoy annoying Ritchie.

He would be taking a shower upstairs and the water would go from freezing cold to pite. wiping hot within three seconds, which is not due to a bad water tank or a heater. His lights would flicker constantly when he was trying to relax, alarms would go off when no alarm was set. Stuff like that. Like little playful, annoying things that if you were anybody but Richie Tapeworm Herrera would make you insane, but they made Richie laugh. Richie laugh. Every time he would hear a loud bang or a boom or something would fall off the walls for no reason, doors would slam. He would always scream. I'm not afraid of you motherfuckers. Is that all you

got? Tony Ficcicello worked in the tattoo parlor at the time. He says there was no place in the shop that was free of ghost activity, not even the bathroom. I was in there and I'm using the toilet and standing. And the sink has the old turn knobs, you know, the antique type turn knobs. Well, they turned on. So it's like, all right, well, I'm just going to leave you guys alone in here.

This is weird, you know. Mostly, Tony and Chris remember how Richie was constantly hanging things up, only to have them fall down. There was a mask, but it kept falling off the wall. But if it fell, like just, like the fell off the nail, kind of you'd think it would go straight down. It's almost as if it, like, jumped off the wall

because the masks underneath it wouldn't get touched. It was never, oh, the walls are old or the nail was bad. It was, all right, one for the ghosts. And he would go back and just get a gigantic nail slamming into the wall and hang the picture up a second time. It seemed like it was a big game, of course. cat and mouse in which he never felt like he was the mouse. He always felt that no matter what came his way, he was just going to make the best of it. But one night, the ghosts up their game.

It was Halloween, and Richie was getting ready to throw a party in the tattoo parlor. When he opened the door of his apartment to walk down the long staircase to the shop, there was the ghost he called Walter, standing there in his brown suit. Walter said to him, Walter said to him, Hey, what are you doing here? He said he lived here. Walter said I want you out. Then he immediately pushed Richie down the 22 metal edge steps. Now the stairs in the front of the shop are solid metal framed. He fell down 22 stairs and being six foot two six foot three with gigantic combat boots on weighing about 250 pounds. That was a huge fall. He actually flipped upside down and his boot caught the wall and put a huge dent in it.

They never patched the hole. It's still there. There's Richie's boot print. He hit it with his heel and this all shattered off. And to be honest, I laughed, and then I walked over to make sure he was okay, and he was already walking into the party joining the rest of us. He just got up, brushed himself off, said, wow, that hurt. And thank the dear Lord. broken bones, just a couple bumps and bruises and scratches.

After that, Richie kept running the tattoo parlor, kept yelling at the ghosts. But something had changed. There used to be a couch back here, and he used to, he was laying on it the one day. He just looked over at me, and he was like, Papa, if I die in this place, he's like, it is on with these ghosts. He said it a lot. That ghost tour guide, Adam, remembers it. to.

He pointed up at the staircase that led up to his apartment and said, now that's what freaks me out as them stairs. So everybody knows you can't fight back with these cats, right? Listen, if I die in this place, it is fucking on. One day, shortly after Richie's 37th birthday, Tony was on his way to work at the tattoo parlor. You know, I was calling him that day, late to work as usual. and that day I was calling and calling and when I got here,

people were already here and the ambulance had already showed up and all that, so, yeah. Richie, tapeworm Herrera, had died of a heart attack in the apartment above his tattoo shop. Richie loved to play jokes on people. So I immediately thought it was bullshit.

And then when his widow Jackie started crying, instantly I knew that it was not bullshit and that he had passed to A-OA.A. And I was just devastated. I felt like I honestly had lost a part of myself because this shop wasn't just

Richie's tattoo parlor. This was our home. All of our friends hung out here. You were bored any day of the week. Rain or shine, night or day. You just came here. And everything was honestly better. And now a huge part of our lives was just taken away.

Chris and Tony don't blame Richie's death on the ghosts. They think it was just something that happened. After Richie died, Chris and some other friends took over the tattoo parlor for him. And they say he's still around. At Richie's tattoo station, only people that physically knew Richie when he was alive can work there. I've had numerous artists come in off the street, looking for work and I've tried to set them up at his old station and their power supplies are jumpy or their machines just do not operate.

This is just not pure coincidence. This is not poor craftsmanship. There is no disruption in power flow. It's not old crappy wiring, anything like that. So I honestly believe that Ritchie at his station only wants people to work there that he knew and that he approved up. And then there's the other ghostly activity. The weird noises, the lights, the things falling off walls.

Chris and Tony say that all that dropped off considerably after Richie died, as if he's in the afterlife, keeping everything in check. If anybody's going to fuck with me in this shop, Richie's going to take care of me and have my back. So no matter how weird shit gets, in the end, I always know that Richie would never let anything happen to me. At the end of the night when I'm here by myself or when I come in before the shop opens and everything is super quiet and super serene.

And I say, hey, Richie, how you doing? I get a really good feeling. If I was having a shitty day or a shitty morning and I walk in here and I say, Hey, Richie, how are you? Or good morning, Richie. I automatically feel at ease. I automatically feel a thousand times better. And I know that can only come from him.

I mean, we've been here since 2006, and everybody's been happy, healthy, and safe. And I attribute that a lot to Richie, but I also attribute that it a lot to not fucking around with things. I'm not one to trip and fall, but when I walk down the stairs, my hands are firmly, one on the wall, and one on the railing. I can remember me and him were locking up.

It was a cold winter's night, maybe about four or five years ago. and I was shutting off the lights, setting the alarm, doing my usual good night, Richie, and we were standing in the hallway, and as I pulled the door shut, and I locked from the outside the twin wooden doors, we both just heard this super shrill,

quiet, but sharp cry, and we looked at each other, and just said, time to leave, and walked right out of the front door. So, we're here, Richie takes care of us and at the same time it's obvious

there's other things here besides us so don't stick your hand in the fire don't poke the bear he's only gonna do so much before he says all right fuck it this one time I'm gonna let it I'm gonna let something happen to you he would go to me Chris

I told you from day one this place was haunted there are some things you just don't fuck with but you were stupid and you had to go fuck with him that's honestly what he would say and he'd have a big smile on his face and his arms would be wide open and he'd give me a big hug and he whisper into my ear. I love you, but I've told you so.

I want to thank Ann, Chris, Tony, and Adam for telling us all about the amazing Richie Tapeworm Herrera because I'm pretty sure he can hear me. I want to shout out Mr. Tapeworm himself, the artist and the legend. I don't know. If you remember Todd Naron, took us all over North Carolina chasing capone curses

and boating around Barbara Nichols Pond. Well, Todd, Todd is back, but this time he's got a whole different kind of story. I've written the story down, but I haven't always wanted to tell it out loud. But after all these years, I'd like to tell it for you. The story began in 1979, and all those kids had just gotten back from school after Christmas and New Year's break. So when I walked in my classroom in Mrs. Dean's 8-3 class, I saw something strange. It was a little fellow sitting at my desk. Now, this wasn't just a regular desk.

It was the best seat in the house. Right beside the radiator and big window to look out of a daydream anytime I wanted to. I intended on keeping that desk, so I went up and told him to get up or get beat up. He looked at me and said, you ain't got your name on it, of which I said, yes, I do. And I pointed to it, Todd Curtis Nairn, in the right end corner. After seeing my name, he licked his fingers and smudged it out and began to tell me it was his desk now for me to get lost. About this time, the teacher showed up and told everybody to have a seat for roll call, pledged allegiance, and a flag, and a prayer to the Lord. The teacher then introduced our new student to the class as Luther Rex and asked us to make him feel real welcome.

I made him feel real welcome all right as I took a nearby seat and made threatening gestures to him. while the teacher wasn't looking. He just rolled his eyes and mouth come on and get some if you think you can. I mailed back to meet me at Rixis in the boys' dugout. The news of the upcoming fight was spread fast. By the time I got to the dugout,

it seemed as if half the school was there to see a Muhammad Ali-Fite. I'd then jump into the dugout, to my surprise, he was already there. All 60 pounds of them. I thought of myself I was going to put a whip it on him until he cried.

And about that time, that little rascal popped me on the top of the eye. Now, with us other boys, we would fight, but we'd never hit each other in the face. So after I got over my shot, I grabbed him around the neck and tried to squeeze his head off with a powerful eighth-grade headlock. And then basically, I just put my weight on him and he hit the ground first, which we all know made me to win her, even though my eyebrow told another story. When we got back to class, I took my desk back. Life's hard on little things. And he just had to be one of the little things.

Anyway, so that was my first day with Luther Rex. The next day at school, me and Luther just kind of stared at each other and shrugged our shoulders and smiled. And after that, we became good friends. So he lived just down the road for me, and I would help his family on the farm. And he would help us on our farm. When we kids weren't working, played war in the woods.

Every war from the Civil War to Vietnam. Luther Ricks was small and that stature, but he made up for it in heart. He would do anything from riding hogs, jumping off barns with umbrellas to see if he could float down. I could tell he was certain sometimes, but he would bounce right back up and do it again. The neighbors accused of the raiding gardens

and stealing watermelons, but they never really saw us. Yes, sir, we became good friends. me in Luther Rex. Sadly, his daddy died next year from a heart attack. And I just left him and his mama and they grew to be very close. I at least had a stepdaddy that treated me well, so I didn't have all the pressures of life like Luther Rex and his mama had. We passed the summer together working to keep things going for the little farms, raising cucumbers and tobacco. Time seems to just roll along as we grew up together and Luther Rex ended up being bigger than me

by a junior year. I sometimes think he just kind of carried me around like a brother, as he grew bigger and faster. As he became playing sports, in school his mom would go to every game to cheer him on and right beside her would be me. The next summer finally came when it was time to pick cucumbers and carry them to the market before the tobacco season started.

His mother had gotten some money after Luther's daddy died, and she bought two more acres of land. Unfortunately, she bought a field right beside Buck Parker's cow farm and the fence came out right up to Luther's field. And standing in it was a big red bull with the ring in his nose. Mr. Parker teased and poked at that bull trying to make him aggressive. So he might put him in nearby rodeos and make a little change for himself. On this particular day, Luther and I started working on the far side of the field.

As we went up and down the roads, we got closer and closer to the fence holding that bull. I could tell Luther had his mind on. that bull. So I finally asked him, what are you doing staring over there at that bull? Luther said that he wanted to try to pull the ring for the bull's nose and get back over. I told Luther

sometimes you just got to turn down a challenge and that we should just finish to work and go home. After a while we got right beside the fence. Working and that bull walked up about 20 feet from us. I saw Luther drop his cucumber sack and walked toward the fence. As Luther

declined the fence, I started to tell him to stop, but Luther kept going. When he stepped into the pasture, the bull and that Luther just stood there staring at each other until Luther made a quick run toward the bull with his hand and arm outstretched to get in the prize. I started across the fence to maybe

stop what was about to happen when I saw the bull put his head down in charge. Luther collided with the bull as the horn sunk deep into his Luther's chest and it started to grind Luther on the ground and the fence. I screamed and even took my shirt off and started waving

to get the bull's attention, but it was too late. The bull was mad and only pushed harder into Luther. After a while, the bull quit and walked away, leaving my best friend dead, after we're hanging on the fence. I ran to Luther not believing what I was seeing. Mr. Parker came because he heard me shouting and somehow got the bull peeing up so he could get him out of the pasture. Well, I was right up there holding Luther until the ambulance people got there, and then they told me to back up.

So I just backed up, but I couldn't believe what I was saying, really. It was just a mess. They worked on Luther for quite a while before pronouncing him dead. As they were taking him away, I reached him for his hand and felt the cold nose ring held tightly in his hand. But back then, you couldn't really cry in front of me, but I would go to the woods and cry. Well, I cried to my mom.

I kept the nose ring, and I just pulled out and look at it. And I couldn't believe it. My friend had died for this. And it hurt me to see it. Well, when we went to the funeral, and I waited until they were about to close the casket. When they did, I walked up to Luther Rex

and I put the ring in his hand. And the mama saw it, but nobody else saw it. And I knew they were fixing and closed the casket. I put it in there. I don't know really know why. other than just show him that he might have got killed, but he got what he wanted. But, I mean, it really wasn't worth it. His mama saw what I had done and didn't say a word while I was doing it.

That was the last time I saw Luther Ray. But a few days later, his mama called me and asked me to come over, and I did as she wished. As we sat down at the kitchen table, she brought out a handkerchief and pulled the nose ring out of it. It scared me, because I had known what I'd done. I knew where the ring was at. I knew it was the ring.

It had a little gap in it. It was a little gap in it, and it was red right around one of the gaps. It felt cold. No matter how hot in the room, the nose ring, I always felt cold. Kind of like ashes of cold after a fire. I knew it was the same ring, and I just couldn't figure it out. The mama couldn't figure it out. In my stomach, my chest, and my arms felt real heavy, like they were full of blood.

And I just didn't know how to handle it. She started to tell me in the night She heard noises in when she awoke She found the ring on her nightstand I didn't know that it was that Things could move the way the ring moved And how far away it was We talked about four miles from the house

She continued to tell me that she took it back to his headstone But it always appeared as a gift to her Every time she woke up I think bringing the ring back to his mom showed that he was maybe a little harder than the grave. She finally carried it back, laid it down, and told Luther to please rest in peace and that she would see him again in heaven.

I eventually grew older, got married, and moved on. But I've always carried Luther's memory with me. Just like his mama said, we'll all be together someday. Thank you, Todd Nairn, for joining us one more time on the spook. Big love out to everybody. North Carolina. Now it's on. You know it's on.

This episode may be over, but the journey continues. 26 all-new, spooked episodes as we sail, the River Six through the season of darkness. If you like your storytelling in the bright light of day, subscribe to our sister podcast, Stamp Judgment, storytelling with a beat. Cinema of Soul. It might just change your life.

Snapjudgment.org. which is produced for the team that always holds each other's hands in the nighttime. Mr. Mark Ristich, Anna Sussman, our chief spookster, Eliza Smith, Annie Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguerio, Ann Ford, Leon Monimoto, Jacob Winick, Lauren Newsom, feel the unseen hand. You might not know whether it intends good or ill. It may have risen from your past or be torn from your future. Unknown's a bound. but understand this whatever you do and whatever it came from

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