The Moth - A Spooky Scary Halloween: The Moth Podcast

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

If you've been moved by a story this year, text 'GIVE25' to 78679 to make a donation to The Moth today. Are you ready to get spooked? Or scared? Or just generally creeped out? Well then, on this episode, in celebration of Halloween, we’ve got three stories all about the larger forces at play in the universe. Plus, a conversation with a Moth director about a haunted hotel. This episode was hosted by Sarah Austin Jenness. Storytellers: Ophira Eisenberg dresses as an alien for a Halloween dance in middle school. Ethan Sweetland-May discovers a creepy room in his attic. Rich Tackenberg takes some advice from a psychic. Podcast # 944 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Welcome to The Moth. I'm Sarah Austin-Geness. I've always believed in ghosts. Believed in is such a funny phrase because spirits to me are of course, around us. At all times, I don't find this scary. In fact, I find it comforting. I and the other moth directors travel the country helping people tell their stories,

and we've stayed in a lot of hotels, a number of which are haunted. In fact, once in New Orleans with our pop-up porch, I was at a restaurant on Frenchman Street, and I was tapped on the shoulder, double-tapped actually. I turned around and no one was there. Not only was no one there, but there was no door behind me, no entrance or way to exit. And I told my friend next to me, and she nodded with a smile. Spirits are everywhere, and I'm into it. On this episode, in celebration of the spookiest of holidays, Halloween, we've got three stories all about the larger forces at play in the universe.

Plus, I'll talk with another moth director about some of the supposedly haunted hotels we've stayed at over the years. First up, a story about Halloween itself. Ophira Eisenberg told this when she was hosting our main stage in East Hampton, New York. Here's Ophira live at the morning. I'm just going to share just a couple minutes on a big night story of mine. I was remembering seventh grade. Seventh grade.

That was the first year for my life that there was a dance that was co-ed. That was a really big deal. And I will admit to you that I was a girl that just always wanted a boyfriend. I always wanted a boyfriend. Never a pony. Always a boyfriend. And so it was the first school dance

and I had a crush on this guy. Bradmore, did not change his name. Bradmore. And he had he was kind of goofy and he had brown floppy hair and he played saxophone. But I just thought he was, I thought he was incredible. I had a huge

crush on him. And so I went to get a Halloween costume. We were thrifting at the time, even then, and I found this purple and gold jumpsuit that was all sparkly, like some, you know, Ziggy Stardust cover band fell apart, and they donated all their clothing. And so I bought it, and I was going to be a space alien, very seventh grade mentality. And I was getting ready for the evening, and I was pretty excited about the dance. And my sister, my older sister, was an aspiring special effects makeup artist. So she was like, I want to do your makeup.

Makeup has come such a long way, my friends. Because she decided she was going to put glitter all over my face. But the way there wasn't glitter makeup like there is now, she put sections of white school glue on my face, and she would tap the glitter out of the little vial and we'd wait for it to dry and then she would do more glue here and tap it yeah and so she did these bands of glitter that were like blue

purple gold silver all with school glue we had a friend I grew up in Calgary Alberta Canada who had given us some pheasants that he shot to eat and my mother had plucked them and kept all the feathers because they were beautiful. So my sister was like, let's glue the feathers all through your hair. So she glued all these feathers through my hair. So I had all these feathers made my hair huge pheasins feathers and this crazy glued on sparkles and this gold and purple jumpsuit.

I looked like big bird on assets. But I thought it was cool. I thought it was cool. And I went to the Halloween school dance, and I got there, and I was so, like, I was impressed by myself, but I thought, oh, I'm going to make a big splash. And I walked in, and you know what? Nobody was really dressed up. Like, there was some lame, you know, like, I'm an angel, I'm a witch, but, like, barely.

And I felt, I felt over-dressed at a Halloween party. And I felt pretty bad. I felt really had a place, and it wasn't unlike how I already felt in my class, I felt different. And I was like, oh my God, I am an alien. Like I literally was like, I am an alien. And Brad Moore did not ask me to dance. He danced with all the other girls. He danced with the lame angel and the dumb witch and the kitty cat and not me.

And I was just stewing in my feathers and jumpsuit. the last dance of the night I don't know if your school dance if this is what happened to but the last dance was always stairway to heaven yes okay because it's like 17 minutes long

or whatever and it was you know what this is so old-fashioned it was totally not a thing where a girl would ask a guy to dance seventh grade so innocent and stairway to heaven started

and I was just you know what enough And I marched over to Bradmore, who was dressed as a punk rocker, which just mean he took a jean jacket and cut off the sleeves, and it had a whole bunch of safety pins, because, you know, one safety pin is safe, but many are dangerous. And he had spiked his hair, and it was sprayed green

with that, like, classic spirit of Halloween hairspray that you would only be available at the Kmart right of, in October. And I just marched over to him and I said, I think we should dance. And he said, I didn't know you wanted to dance with me. I know it was the, a man, I'm 50 years old, a man has not been that vulnerable to me since that day. And I was like, yeah, I want to dance with you. So we dance, and we dance like this, arms

on shoulders, hands on hips, that's what we're supposed to do. But we did creep closer and closer, and at one point my head was right beside his head and I was deeply inhaling that sweet toxicity of the Halloween

hairspray. It's such a specific smell. It's like turpentine and febreze and And I might, you know, I was, my entire body was just on fire, electricity, or maybe I was high off the fumes, I don't know. But it was exhilarating. And then after that, we went around for two months. That's what we said back in seventh grade.

We went around. And I will just tell you that, you know, sense memory when it comes to smell is one of the strongest. And I will go into stores. right around Halloween and find, you can still find it, spirit of Halloween, that particular hairspray. And I'll just be like, I'm just trying it, and I'll spray it on like a little card and inhale it. And I'm just reminded of being exhilarated and empowered.

That was Ophira Eisenberg. Ophira is a stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the podcast, Parenting is a joke. She'll be recording her new comedy special, I Used to Be Nicer, at the Comedy Cellar in New York City on November 9th, produced by Lewis Black's production company. So I mentioned earlier that while crisscrossing the country as a moth director, I've stayed in some haunted hotels. I invited fellow director Jody Powell to talk about some of our shared experiences. Sarah, I'm so excited to be here. This is right on my alley. I love this topic.

So, yes, I have one moment in particular. And I remember we had a show coming up in West Virginia. And when I looked around the area of the venue, there wasn't any place for us to stay. So we had to stay a little bit out of bounds, let's call it. And when I looked up the hotel that was available to us, it probably, mentioned that it was haunted. I didn't have to search for it. It was right there. And I thought to myself, well, we could stay here or nowhere. There was nowhere else, right? So I put my producer hat on and I showed a voice off in my head. And let's be clear. Let's be

clear. I'm from Jamaica. And in Jamaica, the concept of ghosts and the third, wherever realm I want to imagine, is 100% there. In Jamaica, we call them Dupy. But I had to kind of quiet that down a little bit. and I had to put on my producer hat and I said, I'm going to book it. Nobody will know. And we're just there for two nights and we're going to be in and out. And, you know, we'll get over it.

It's going to be fine. And I booked it. We showed up. And when I showed up, I thought, uh-oh, it looks haunted. It has kind of like the shining vibes. You know, like long carpeted corridors. You know, you could imagine somebody walking towards.

you somebody not alive you know and did you yourself feel an energy there when you walked in Sarah 100% okay 100% I feel the back of my you knew here on the back of my neck stand up yeah they have an abandoned restaurant or a restaurant that was not fully functioning okay and you'd go through little it just feels creepy like it lives in the the textures of the wall and the carpet and everything or it feels full maybe or or yes right without physical people there There are some other things turning around in this hotel, let's say. But again, I kept it buttoned up, told no one. And we had a good time that evening, and we all went off to bed.

And the night was okay. For me, I was hoping the morning would come rather quickly. Did you sleep okay? Not really. But I imagine the rest of the cast did, because I was hanging out with one of the cast members downstairs. And Jennifer Birmingham, you know, one of our staff members, came barreling at me the morning. And she looked like, I don't know if she looked shocked or she just looked a little bit off. And she came to me eyes wide and she said, this place is haunted.

And, you know, something in the way she was so convinced of it made me feel like there was no lying here. You know? And so I said, yes, it is. I thought nobody would know. And she's like, yeah, well, I do. I know. And it's 100% true. And then the rest of the cast got wind of it.

And that day, kind of going into the second day, because remember we have one more night, right? You could feel it in their body language. Everybody was just a little bit more hesitant, just like over the shoulder looks. Something else is here with me. a little bit more uncomfortable, wanting the day to end and the night to end even faster. You know?

And then for me, it became 100% real because remember all this time I was producer. I had to now contend with the fact that this is real and we're going to all individually go into our bedrooms that night and sleep. And I was terrified. Almost as if there was some different type of ghost in West Virginia than in Jamaica that I didn't come up with, but I was terrified. You know? And we all slept. I did kind of with one eye open, more open than the night before. And then we woke up. And let's just say we exited the premises rather quickly. Well, thanks so much for sharing your story today. Anytime.

After the break, stories about the secrets that lie beyond mortal Ken. Be back in a moment. This episode is brought to you by Peloton, a new era. of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs, with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress.

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on LING on MacC or magazine. Welcome back. Sweetland May told our next story at a Louisville Grand Slam. Here's Ethan live at the Moth.

So even if three separate strangers hadn't told us that our new home, our first house, was haunted. By the end of the first two weeks of living there, even after, even after. Averland and I were admitting that the house had an intense energy. I mean, we love the house. We loved the 100-year-old wood floors, and we love the high ceilings. But, like, if after three years of marriage, her, the temperate rationalist, and me, the paranoid spiritualist, both were weirded out by something as ephemeral as energy, it was serious.

It felt like the house, like, wasn't ours. It was, like, holding on to, like, the memory. and the secrets of the people that live there before us. So I was actually really relieved when I heard Aberlin coming in through the front door after she'd been gone on a run, and I got up from unpacking, and I came to greet her, and she kind of stopped me.

And she was like, did you open the window in the attic? And I was like, no. And she's like, that's weird, because I was walking up just now, and it's open a little bit. And I was like, oh. The paranoid spiritualist is like, uh-uh. And she's, but Aberlin is like high on running endorphins, right? and she is not thinking about the randos who told us our house is haunted.

And she's like already out of flashlight. And she's like, we got to get up there and close that thing before it rains. And before I really thought it through, like I am following her up the ladder into the creepiest part of the house, right? The area in the attic, only a little bit of it has a floor, like right around the ladder. The window we need to close is on the opposite side of the attic. I have to squeeze through this gap in the wall they've put, and I've got the flashlight, and there's all this hanging black plastic blocking from getting there.

So I have to like half crawl, half crouch through the claustrophobic dark. around the edge of the attic to get to the window. I am hating this, and I like, get there, and I close the window, and I am starting to make my way back. I'm freaking out a little bit, but I'm also starting to feel a little bit better because nothing super weird has happened, and this is over, and we can get out of the attic, right?

And I get back to the gap, and I hand over in the flashlight, and I'm climbing through, and we are like, I see the ladder, we are free and clear, and we are almost there when we hear the unmistakable sound of a hinge turning. There are no doors in the attic. And we turn, and a wall has opened. It is not a wall. It is a door.

And Aberlin shines the flashlight through this open doorway, and there is a tunnel of black plastic leading to the other side of the attic, and it takes a turn into the dark, and you can't see around it. And I am frozen. I cannot move. I am not thinking. And while I am frozen and not thinking, I realize Aberlin is walking into the tunnel.

And like every stupid guy who's in love with the hot girl in a horror movie, I just start following her without thinking about what's happening. And we get to the end of the tunnel and we turn and we are standing in this room, all made of black plastic. And the first thing her flashlight falls on is this low table made of plywood and two-by-fours and right next to it is an identical table. And all around it on the floor,

are like zip ties and cords and there's a pile of lamps in the corner and we look at each other and we both just finished the first season of Dexter and we are thinking one thing and we just like without saying anything we're just like out of there backwards down the ladder shut it up and we have this panicked brainstorming session we are like what do we do and I'm like we call the cops and she's like tell them what we found a room in our attic there's no blood there's no crime and then I remember that like my sister and my brother-in-law like are coming to see us the next day and I'm I'm like, okay, okay, we just table this for the night. And she's like, I don't have a better idea.

That's what we're doing. It was a really long night. I just laid there listening to the house creaking, staring at the ceiling, and like trying to imagine some pleasant, harmless hobby that you would need a scary murder room for. And the next day, my brother-in-law gets there, and he's one of these walking human encyclopedia people

who you bring up houseboats, and suddenly he knows about houseboats. I'm like, dude, I got to show you something. and he's like, okay, and I like take him upstairs through the secret door and the dark tunnel, and he's like, dude. And I'm like, I know. And he starts rooting around doing his Sherlock thing,

and I'm just standing there like, oh my God, people have been murdered in my house, and he stands up with like a handful of aquarium rocks. And he sees the grim look on my face, and he just starts laughing at me. And I'm like, what? And he's like, dude, do you know what this is? I'm like, no, and he's like, it's a grow room.

And I'm like, homeschooled, what's a grow room? And he's like, these are aquarium rocks with hydroponics. They use them for soil to grow plants, you know? The room's all blacked out because they had UV bulb. Dude, they were growing pot in here. And I was like, oh, my sweet Jesus, it was just drugs. They were just using the house for drugs. There's no murder.

Oh, my God. Thank you, Jesus. We go downstairs and I tell Aberlin and my sister and everyone's laughing and we are just relieved. The next day, Abilene went up there and we ripped it all out. No, no, this is our house now. We burned sage. We prayed. Seven years later, we still live there.

And, you know, sometimes, you know, we talk about, like, moving somewhere else and finding a new house. And, like, every time we do, my stomach gets really tight. And I'm like, I just don't think I can go through all that again. Thank you. That was Ethan Sweetland May. Ethan has loved hearing and telling stories from his earliest memories, and he's been captivated by the power of shared narrative. He's running for state senate in his home of Indiana.

Our next story is a reminder that not all experiences with the other side have to be haunting. Rich Takenberg told this at a time. New York City Grand Slam. Here's Rich Live at the Moth. I've always been a very atypical atheist because I'm the non-believer that wants to believe. I see it seems very comforting and I like being comforted but I'm also very stubborn. So to believe I need proof. Well two years ago my wife hears about a psychic named Pat who holds salons at house now I don't believe in God I think you can guess what I think about psychics but I want to go because maybe Pat will prove me wrong so two weeks

later we are in Pat's huge empty living room there's six other strangers with us were all seated in folding chairs Pat is a short older lady who tells us that her guides will be speaking through her so she gets around to me and she He says, one of my guides was a race car driver, and he says, get your car inspected. Hmm. Now, I hadn't driven there, so there was no one looking at my car, and I said, sure. And she says, no, there's a problem with your car, the front driver's side wheel. He's saying it's above the wheel, but check out your front driver's side wheel.

It's very dangerous. You will get stranded. And this sounds bad and I'm ecstatic because a psychic has said something to me so specific that I can prove whether it's right or wrong. That never happens. So a couple of days later, I bring my car in to get an oil change and a judge. general inspection. And I do not tell them about the wheel because I don't know psychics, but I know mechanics. And if I tell them there might be a problem, it's like the secret. I will spiritually manifest a $500 repair. But I do get a call and I approve a repair, not for a wheel for

the suspension. So five o'clock that night, I'm back to pay for my car. And it's a very crowded waiting rooms, one woman at the front counter in her late 30s, and I asked her about the repair, and she says, oh, okay, we changed, we put on a new sway bar, it's something that sits underneath your engine, it connects at either side of your car, and one of the two connectors was cracked, and if it had broken off while you were driving, it would have been really bad, and you would not have been able to drive the car, and I'm like, so I would have been stranded. So I said, where exactly does this bar connect to my car? And she says, oh, I think it connects at the front two wheels.

And for a moment, I couldn't breathe. And I said, the damage, which wheel? And she says, oh, I don't know. And I said, well, could you find out? And she says, sir, it doesn't matter because the whole bar had to replace anyway. So debit or credit. But it mattered to me because normal people would hear that there was a problem at either of the front two wheels and take that as a sign that Pat was right.

But I'm so stubborn that to believe I require 100% accuracy. So I say, can you find out? And so she makes a call, and the other customers are getting very restless, and she hangs up, and she says, I'm sorry, the mechanic doesn't remember. So, I don't know, unless you want them to look through the garbage. And I think, am I now the guy that asks a stranger to dig through garbage for this? Yes, yes, I am. And so I lean over, and as quietly as I can, I say, I'm asking, because I have been told that there was a problem with a very specific wheel of my car by a psychic.

And now with this news, I can't leave without knowing which wheel. and she looks at me and says, sir, that is amazing. I am going to go and find out and she runs out to the garage. And I'm in a roomful of people who are very annoyed with me and my body's full of adrenaline. But weirdly, I'm calm in a way that I don't really know. It's like the actually just the idea that maybe there might be something out there that is bigger than me in the universe is bringing me a weird piece that I haven't felt.

And I realize I've been looking for proof, but maybe the power in believing is in the believing. And then five minutes later, she comes back in and she says, well, we did find the bar, but just to be clear, the bar doesn't actually connect at the wheels. The mechanic explained to me, the sway bar connects to your car above the bar. the wheels. The damage was above your driver's side wheel. And then I tell her about Pat and above the wheel, and then we are hugging appropriately. And I will say since that day, I still don't believe in God. But I do allow for the possibility that there is a dead race car driver that is looking

after me or my car. And I believe just to believe, and it feels silly, but it also feels comforting. And I like feeling comforted. Rich Takenberg. Rich has now lived in Los Angeles longer than he grew up in New York. He's a managing director in executive search, specializing in media, entertainment, and nonprofit placements. Married for almost 25 years, he's most proud of not screwing that up yet. That brings us to the end of our episode. Thanks so much for joining us. From all of us here at the Moth, happy Halloween, happy all saints. We hope you'll join us next time.

Sarah Austin Janice is a director, the Moss executive producer, and a co-author of the bestselling How to Tell a Story, The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from the Moth, which is available now wherever you get your books. This episode of the Moth podcast was produced by Sarah Austin Janice, Sarah Jane Johnson, and me, Mark Salinger. The rest of the Moss leadership team includes Sarah Haberman, Christina Norman, Marina Cluchet, Jennifer Hickson, Jordanale, Kate Tellers, Suzanne Rust, and Patricia Ureña.

The Moth podcast is presented by Odyssey. Special thanks to their executive producer, Leah Rees-Dennis. All Moth stories are true, as remembered by their storytellers. For more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story, and everything else, go to our website, the moth.org.