This Paranormal Life - #266 The Legend of the Third Eye Man

Episode Date: June 7, 2022

The University of South Carolina boasts about it's groundbreaking academics, world-changing research and a thriving student life… but there’s something else the university is known for… and it��s not found INSIDE their halls. It's UNDERGROUND, living inside the ancient catacombs beneath the schoolSupport us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! -  thisparanormallife.com/storeFollow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunityAdvertise on This Paranormal Life via Gumball.fmResearch by Amy GrisdaleEdited by Louis BlatherwickIntro music by www.purple-planet.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did jellyfish come from another planet? What if we put on our socks over our shoes? All of these questions you can find the answer to on This Paranormal Life! Hello everyone and welcome to This Paranormal Life, the comedy paranormal podcast hosted by myself, Rory Powers, and my co-host, Kit Greer Mulvena. Every week, we come at you, whether you want us to or not, in the night from the shadows while you're sleeping.

Sounds a bit threatening, dude. You think you've checked everywhere. You've checked the closet. You've checked behind the door. But we're under the bed, f***er. Surprise! This is not the kind of message we should be spreading. That sounds like we've attacked before as well.

If you're checking the cupboard. You're checking all the regular places underneath your car, in your f***ing cereal box. That was a hard one. I had to squeeze real tight to get in there. But every week we find a new location and we pop out with paranormal stories. This is a fun show, I should say. It's enjoyable to listen to. It's sometimes family friendly. Yeah, sometimes. But not today, f should say. It's enjoyable to listen to. It's sometimes family friendly. Yeah, sometimes. But not today, f***ers!

Today's a surprise episode! We released it on a Wednesday at 3am! Nothing new there. Just to freak people out. I am kidding, of course. This is your weekly comedy paranormal podcast where every week we investigate a brand new

paranormal case, tale, claim, beast, and come to a conclusion at the end to decide indefinitely, finally, whether it is truly paranormal or not. I'm excited to be here, Kit, because despite what people would think in 200 odd episodes of this show, we haven't run out of cases yet. They all thought we would. Hell, we thought we would. But it turns out if you keep scraping the bottle of the barrel, sometimes the bottle of the barrel gives out. I don't think that's the phrase.

And then underneath the barrel is a treasure trove of dirt and soil. I think it's scraping the bottom of the barrel. I don't think you scraped the bottle of the barrel. No one said bottle of the barrel. I think you did twice. I of the barrel. I don't think you scraped the bottle of the barrel. No one said bottle of the barrel. I think you did twice. I don't believe that I did. So I think. I think you're scraping the bottle of my barrel right now.

The point is. Leave my bottle alone. The point is that every day I get out a rusty hatchet and scrape the bottom of that barrel as hard as I can. Yeah. And it turns into this Paranormal Life episode every week. And any prospector will tell you that when you're in the darkness digging for long enough, anything starts to look like gold. Even normal rocks.

Even dirt and worms starts to look actually kind of shiny in the moonlight. That's where we are today. That the cases we said no to three, four years ago actually start looking pretty promising in year four. So with that in mind. With that in mind, we'd like to thank this listener submission. From 2016. That's right, before we started the show. This week's is actually a listener submission from Dr. Mike Watson.

Ooh. That's right. There's no from Dr. Mike Watson. Ooh. That's right. There's no way he's a real medical doctor. I'm going to guess that's a doctor of contemporary dance. Yeah. Or as we mentioned in a previous podcast, a love doctor. But regardless, it's very nice to know that someone with a doctor in their title does consume this podcast. It's nice to know that someone who finished secondary school listens to this show.

This is where I read the email and I'm like, sorry, no, this is from my doctor. He says, I need to stop drinking so many energy drinks and wear more sunscreen. Right. Your LDL cholesterol is 500 over a number that I honestly can't read because it's too long. That's why this came up. He said that my blood pressure was paranormally high. And I assume that this was a listener submission. But he thinks I have the blood alcohol percentage of a dead body.

So he's like, you should be a ghost. Right. A lot of these words he used kind of flagged up. Blood alcohol level of a literally soaked in alcohol Egyptian mummy to preserve them. Again, shit that would flag up in the paranormal emails. So understandably, that's why it came up. But my doctor, Mike Watson, also said that he wanted us to investigate a paranormal case set in the University of South Carolina. OK, okay. So that's where we're going, to the University of South Carolina,

a public research university in Columbia. On their website, they boast about their groundbreaking academics, world-changing research, and a thriving student life. But there's something else the university is known for, and it's not found inside their halls or its sprawling campus. It's underground, living in the ancient catacombs beneath the school. Very interesting. And presumably this doesn't heavily feature on their campus website. No, I think that's the kind of thing that you maybe mumble at the end of the tour. You're like, and our you're like and our actually our football

team uh made it to the semi-finals this year which was great and that about rounds up the tour oh you have a sewer man um sorry sorry what was that lesbian ah just saying just saying that many of our students have gone on no i think to do incredible things i think i got that bit in both the world of sport and the world of academia. Mm-hmm. And there's a sewer man. Anyway, so if I can direct your attention over here towards our public tennis courts. I could have sworn there was something about, I don't want to turn a molehill into a mountain here, but a sewer man? No, no, no.

A sewer, I think. A man from the sewer is what you said? Many of our students have gone on to do great things, both above and below ground. Was he a student? Not necessarily. Many of our students have gone on to do great things, both above and below ground. Was he a student? Not necessarily. Did he break into the faculty using his sewer man paranormal abilities? Absolutely. Absolutely he did, yeah.

Were we so intimidated that we gave him a diploma? Of course. That's right. You know a story is going to be a good one when it starts underground. The date was November 12th, 1949, and Christopher Nichols, class of 53, and one of his friends were walking back home around 1030 at night. Christopher was a writer for the campus newspaper, The Game Cock. Don't laugh. I believe that is, usually we would beep the word cock,

but this is in reference to their school newspaper, and I think their school sports teams are called the Gamecocks, because it's like cock fighting, like chickens fighting. Oh, I see. Very distasteful. But, yeah, I will take the opportunity to say cock as much as I want. And not have to beep it. And have it as part

of a family-friendly show yeah you just can't say cock and balls because we have to beep those ones because of the uh which you only said right now to illustrate that point obviously so the cocksman batted the ball around the field in a game of cock versus ball Christopher was eager to get home and prepare for the next issue. He and his friend hastily made their way through campus, walking bristly by the famous Long Street Theater. We have to make sure we get the formatting finished tonight. All right, Christopher. I mean it. You remember what happened the last time we left it this late? It was a nightmare. The whole paper was- Wait. Christopher. What's that? Christopher glanced over at his friend, who was now frozen in fear,

his arm outstretched, pointing at a figure in front of them. Christopher tried to make out what it was, but it was so dark he could only see its silhouette. Plus, me and you, Rory, we've been at university. We know what it's like. You know, whenever you say welcome back at 10.30 through the campus, we all know you've been at the big fraternity party. You've smoked so much weed, you've almost gone blind.

Whenever they say they've got to get back and finish the paper, they mean roll up that paper and pop in some ganja because last time the formatting was wrong, aka you forgot to put it in the roach, Christopher. And I almost choked on loud. So Christopher isn't able to see so far into the distance here on account of all the chronic. You never were invited to a single university party.

I know. So I don't pretend. I heard about them. I heard. So don't pretend on the podcast. Like you were this van Wilder who was rocking every night. All right. Cause you lived with your mother for the three years that you were at university off campus in her basement. Sometimes, sometimes mommy would, she would drive me to the party. And then as soon as she saw that there were people drinking,

she would, she would turn the car on to bring me home but i i i swear one time i i smelled what i could swear was weed from the car okay i rolled down the window um my mommy said just don't call her that man you're not don't inhale don't inhale and i went because i was so desperate to be part of the party but uh i'm high mother I'm high. She slammed on the accelerator and brought me home again. And well, I was grounded for the rest of the semester. But I heard about the crazy fraternity parties. Yeah. I will say that, you know, I think Christopher and his friend weren't really having a rock and roll night this evening.

I think it was pretty tame. I think they did really work. I bet they told their mummy that, too. I bet they honestly did. Because they probably called her every night like I did right i don't think so i think these were kind of like guys who had grown up left home uh right we're living independently i was living pretty independently being quite ambitious changing my own bed sheets writing for the the the campus newspaper which is sometimes i'd even cook my own meals pot noodle ever heard of it it's not cooking really you're

just putting hot water in dry noodles so i don't think that counts as like cook my own meals. Pot noodle? Ever heard of it? It's not cooking, really. You're just putting hot water in dry noodles. So I don't think that counts as like cooking your own meals. But my tummy was quite... Don't say tummy. It was quite easily upset. Stop using baby words. Mommy would often... As a man.

Oh, my God. This is so embarrassing. We're getting off track. No, these were two borderline men. Hardened men. What did I say it was? 1949. This is 1949. They probably served in

Normandy. These guys were about to graduate from university. And then you, at that point in 1949, you had about six months left to live. You married at 12, graduated, got your first car, which was an eight liter engine Cadillac, had 16 children, and then popped your clogs after retiring at the age of 17. As I said, it was so dark he could only see this figure's silhouette. It looked like a human, but it was hunched over, its body strangely contorted. As the figure shuffled into light, it looked like it had silver skin. What the hell is that thing? Possibly startled by their arrival, the figure bolted across the street,

looking to make an escape. It ripped a manhole cover from the ground and hopped into the sewer, pulling the cover perfectly back into place to cover his tracks. Oh my god. It was Splinter. Splinter from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I don't know a lot about sanitation workers or people that work in the sewers, but I'm pretty sure it's not regulation to waddle about in the night like a goblin. Wearing a silver morph suit. Yeah. And then jump into the sewers like you're Super Mario. Wahoo! Straight down. Yeah. That's not how that works. If you startle someone and their first instinct is the sewers like i've never been in a situation where i've ever thought i could go in the sewer that's never been an option in my life unless i was spending

time in the sewer it's like oh man the traffic lights here are broken and there's a lot of traffic uh i need to get across this road i guess huh the sewer i'll just open up a manhole cover imagine being having a friend who pitched that one day, and it's like the Uber says it's going to be like 15 minutes. Oh, damn it. And traffic is backed up, so I don't really know what we're going to do. I saw a manhole out front, so maybe if we went down, there'd be some sort of shit slide that we could kind of rock down into the main hub and just find a ladder

and pop up one of those bad boys I'm sure we find pretty close to the bar. You stink of shit. You stink of shit. And I was wondering and I didn't want to bring it up. Yeah, that's someone who's been in the sewers before.

Often. And, you know, as a fellow Dr. Dre 2001, the chronic fan, again, I've never tried THC or any drug of any kind. I've never even so much as sipped a cup of tea. But as you said, you live with your mother. She was very anti-drug. Yeah.

Once smelt weed out a window and got grounded. Once I snuck a teaspoon of honey and she said it was too much sugar and my tummy would be upset. And of course she was right. But I know that one could you shouldn't punish your child so much sneaking honey loud okay that you see things but i think even this is outside the remit of weed induced hallucinations your mother wouldn't let you have honey no no of course not nutella honey agave maple syrup all absolutely banned from the household. From the household, okay. At one point, I came over to visit, and your mother offered me rainwater collected in a burlap sack,

which I politely declined. She said I had a Red Bull in my backpack, and she evicted me from the house. That kind of goes without saying, because the acrid smell of a Red Bull would turn my, did I mention, incredibly sensitive tummy? I would not be able to handle that at all, Rory. So why you would? Also, rude to turn down the burlap sack water because burlap is the perfect filtering consistency to filter all impurities from the water. Your mother knew if your sweet little innocent child had even just...

Also, call her mommy. Don't call her mommy. I'm not going Also call her mummy. Don't call her... I'm not going to call her mummy. My mother is kind of rude. That's exactly what I should call her, by the way. No. Say your mummy. I refuse.

I absolutely refuse. Man the f*** up and call her your mummy. She knows if you had so much as just seen the vibrant colors on a can of Red Bull, your face would have melted like the Nazis in Indiana Jones. We need to get back on track. Enough about my, let's face it, pretty crazy university years. Very sheltered childhood. I don't know.

Like, there's a lot more stories, and who knows? It might come up later. Let's maybe save it for the after party, because I feel like we're getting sidelined here, and people are here for the paranormal story. The two men were flabbergasted. What the hell was that, Christopher? Christopher replied, all I know is tomorrow's paper just got a new headline.

Christopher did write about his experience in the university newspaper. And before long, everyone on campus was talking about the South Carolina Sewerman. Holy shit. So he got, he really got that name right from the jump. We see this a lot in cryptids. They're often named after just a very defining characteristic. Absolutely typical in this world of entertainment and showbiz in America. You get typecast, you know?

You do. You play Superman once, you're Superman forever. world of entertainment and showbiz in america uh you get typecast you know you do you play superman once you're superman forever you you jump in one manhole and pull the cover down on top of you you're sewer man forever yeah he's like that's not fair i can play guitar pretty good jump in one sewer and you're the sewer man forever do you you not see my silver f***ing skin? Takes me three hours to put this on. I thought they'd call me the silver surfer. I've been trying to seed that nickname for months. Christopher's like, I can't believe it.

Goblin boy walks among us. What? Oh, sure. You have little pointy elf shoes and pointy ears and a little goblin hat and you're goblin boy forever. Unfortunately, because of how little detail there really was in Christopher's story, it only captured the imagination of the university for so long. Eventually, interest in the sewer man died down and the story faded into obscurity. Until almost six months later on April 7th, 1950, a university police officer was doing the rounds, patrolling the campus at night.

The officer made his way down the quiet streets, right by Long Street Theatre. That's when he heard a noise. What the hell? He looked down at his feet and realized he'd stepped on some kind of bone. down at his feet and realized he'd stepped on some kind of bone. In fact, a trail of bones and feathers leading round the back of the theatre towards the loading dock. Now this guy works as university police. That means, as we said, he's probably seen some strange stuff that's gone on. Wild parties, fraternity initiations. The occasional fresher wandering around looking for a party that would accept him, sure.

So, a bunch of animal bones just lying about? That could have been part of some weird ritual to bring in some new people to a fraternity. Who knows? Ah, I guess you're absolutely right. But, he decided to play it safe and head back to his car to report what he'd seen over the radio.

Hey, this is the campus security for USC. I got a bunch of bones out here on campus. car to report what he'd seen over the radio. The security guard could have walked away, but his curiosity got the better of him. He went back to the Trail of Bones, following them into the darkness behind the theater. As the trail faded, he heard a shuffling noise in front of him. Hello? The security guard turned on his flashlight and pointed it into the darkness. And there he saw it. The same bizarre figure that the students had seen six months ago. He was hunched over a pile of animal pieces. The man had a grotesque, twisted face, silver skin,

and strangest of all, in the middle of his head, he had a third eye! Oh my lord! The security officer blinked hard. Was he imagining this? No, it wasn't a hallucination. This figure's third eye was staring right at him. Beat him to death. Beat him.

The officer screamed and ran back to his car, immediately calling for backup. Good security reaction. Running for your life. It would have been quite funny to be at the, uh, the police station that night and you get one call. That's like,

Hey, I found a bunch of bones. I don't think it's fine though. I'll go have a peek. And you're like, all right, well, it seems like it's under control.

Two seconds later, third eye, third eye, chicken bones. How could it have gotten this out of control so fast? Start praying! Start praying now! He's real! Isn't it so f***ing f***ed up that in society,

if you come across a pile of bones, there's one question and it can go one of two very different ways. Okay. If it's an animal bone, who cares, brother? Keep moving. Doesn't matter. Couldn't matter literally less. It's a bag of rubbish has split open.

Yeah. If it's a single human bone, shut the place down. Get 100 police officers on here to start combing the area. There are choppers in the sky. This thing is now a crime scene. Like, animals have every right to hate us so much. It's like, ah, don't worry. It's just a dead polar bear. Put it in the bin. It's like, oh, a child grazed their leg here quickly. We need backup. Find out what happened

here. Find out who owns this rusty bin and sue them for millions. It's very true. I guess, you know, because of the world we live in, a world of carnivores, coming across animal bones, not that weird a thing. It's true. It's busted. This is why I try and eat veggie. As I said, the officer

ran back to the car, calling for backup. But by the time the other officers had arrived on the scene, the figure was gone, and all that remained were the bones that he'd left behind. This was possibly the most famous sighting Sorry.

Sorry, dude. Just talking about smoking weed is like, honestly, like, is like messing with my lungs big time, bro. I really think, you know, you obviously have a lot of weird shit going on. And I think if we just table that for a little bit, because that was actually going to be a big beat in the episode. I was going to reveal the name of the cryptid, but. You already did, the sewer man.

He's changed his name. All right. Sorry. Now I got to get back into gear. By the time the other police officers arrived at the scene, he was gone. Do you remember that? This is where we were? Don't be mad about it. I had a coughing fit.

All that remained were the bones that he left behind. Do you remember that? I do. And this was possibly... For sure cut this from the podcast. Okay, well don't interrupt if I'm trying to do it again! Son of a bitch! This was possibly the most famous sighting of the third eye man. Oh, that's right.

No longer the sewer man. Hey, good for him. He shooketh that stereotype off. Yeah. Imagine having so much wild shit going on that you're no longer known for jumping into sewers in the middle of the road. Like your third eye trumped that. And now you're known as the third eye man.

That's called a successful rebrand, folks. It really is. He basically did sewer man 2.0. New artwork. Before we get any deeper into our investigation of what people call the third eye man, let's look at an artist's interpretation. Hmm. What do you think about this, Kit?

Holy moly. F***ing hell. Is that hair or is that just a black background? That's a really good point. I think that's a black background. I don't know. Either way, by the way, it's a mere footnote on what is more terrifying about this image.

Weird thing to focus on because he has a third eye in the middle of his head. It looks like if Hitman, Agent 47, went on a crash diet, lived in a sewer, and carved a third eye into his head and grew stubble. This guy is terrifying. He has the most piercing eyes imaginable. And three of them. Yeah, it's not exactly a face you want to be met with in the middle of the night. Yeah, it's not what you want to see when you turn on your torch in the forest. Even if it was two eyes, it's still pretty weird.

Accurate. So who is this guy? What does he want? His origin is pretty unknown. But the idea of someone living in the sewers underneath the university maybe isn't an unrealistic idea. Because believe it or not, underneath the city are secret catacombs, many dating back to the 1800s, where they were rumored to have been used during the Civil War.

Also, tuition fees and rent are expensive, so the sewers could be a low-cost alternative to prospective students. Who hasn't considered it at one point? Wow. That's kind of interesting and news to me, this concept of the catacombs, because as we talk about a lot on This Paranormal Life, America is a baby. America is a very young country. We don't normally think of it as having things like this. It's true. I mean, having these kind of ancient tunnels that date back to the Civil War

probably is some of the older infrastructure that exists in America. The catacombs is an intricate system of tunnels that was established earlier than the Civil War. The big misconception with the catacombs is people think that they were, they just mysteriously were built during the Civil War. If you know anything about the catacombs themselves, there's probably about 16 miles of tunnel under the city. Holy moly. 16 miles?

Under USC, under the state capitol, and two accesses to the river. They were built actually in the late 1700s after Columbia was incorporated as the state capitol as a way of dignitaries and people of popularity or importance to travel throughout the city without being harassed or assassinated by other people. Third Eye Man is said to haunt the theater at night and run the catacombs during the daytime. People aren't allowed down into the catacombs simply because there's a lot of people who

want to see a ghost. There's people who believe in the paranormal. There's people who think that they're going to be the one to get a picture of the Third Eye Man. normal. There's people who think that they're going to be the one to get a picture of the third eyed man. The campus decided to close the catacombs off due to the fact that there is very, very, very high water down there at certain times of the year. And there's a lot of injuries that can occur from someone walking down there. The floor is real slippery and they don't want the liability of if there is someone or an occult or a serial killer living down there, they don't want to have

any chance of either students getting killed or come up missing like they did in 1972 i could see that guy's mouth moving and all i was hearing was blah blah blah i'm a f***ing m.i.b you mean to tell me that everyone wants to see the third eye man yes he haunts the catacombs, but we can't go in there because the floor is slippy. Oh, as if that's a big f***ing deal. No, it's a bigger deal. There's a son of a bitch cryptid down there and he's hunted. He kind of hit a really weird tone in that where he's like, you know, we don't let people down there because, you know,

there are some people that believe in ghosts, that believe in the paranormal. And it's a dangerous place, of course, because the Third Eye Man does live down there and he is a menace to society. It's like, so wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, hold on. You're acknowledging the Third Eye Man multiple times

and yet saying there's some wackos out there that believe in the paranormal that aren't allowed there because of that reason. It's like, well, which one is it? Is he real? Or do you think that they're just going to get hurt in the sewers? Yeah, you can't say the third eye man runs around

in the same sentence as the history of the catacombs. I think that guy is like an official tour guide for the catacombs as well. So for him to even mention passingly the third eye man is like, that should be against procedure. Not preclude it with some think there is a such thing as a man with three eyes. Yeah, never did he even say that it was like a legend or a story.

He was like, of course, Third Eye Man is down there, so our tourists generally try to stay away from that general area. Third Eye Man, Terry, is all I like to call him. He does hang out down there. It's true, Kit. The fact is that these catacombs are not only real, but entrances that I think have since been blocked were found right on the campus of the university.

This is some London Underground disused station shit, except much more ancient. Yeah, crazy tunnels built underneath the city where possibly some sort of man or creature has been living all these years. Futurama style. It makes sense as well that he's been spotted repeatedly on the campus if that's where there were genuinely entrances to those tunnels. Pretty terrifying. I would not have wanted this to be my first experiences of life away from home. A strange, naked silver man with three eyes running around harassing people. Yeah, your parents don't really prepare you for that. You know, make sure you do your studying. Don't leave everything to the last minute.

Yeah, cook healthy meals, look after yourself. There is a man on campus with a third eye and silver skin. Sure. And he will sometimes try and eat your chickens. I don't want to go to university anymore. I want to go to an Ivy League college. Simply repeat, silverman be gone, Silverman be gone,

and the spell will be activated and he'll be banished back into the sewers. So those are my words of wisdom for you, my son. Believe it or not, the sighting on April 7th, 1950 wasn't the last time someone had an encounter with the Third Eye Man. In the late 60s and early 70s, the catacombs at USC

became a pretty popular spot with students. I'm raising my hand. Can I just pause real quick and just voice a suggestion? Yeah. Fill the manholes with cement. I don't think, well, they do stuff. They like tunnel shit. Not enough. I'm pretty sure. They don't have enough function to allow this to happen.

I mean, look, is he really hurting anyone? This poor little silver three-eyed man? Yes. And all the warning signs are there. If he doesn't do it soon, it's a matter of time. These catacombs are an ancient part of the town. They were. They were a treasured part.

And it's very sad that they have to be filled in with cement in order to secure the safety of our students. If there was a f***ing weirdo living inside of the Statue of Liberty, would we knock it down? No, right? We would at least remove it. Remove that. What if you can't catch him? What if you f***ing go up, he's in the torch, you go up there, he's in the head.

He's hard to catch. He's got three eyes. At least no one lives on that little island. that's true yeah on liberty island whatever it's called i'm just saying you know the way to deal with this inconvenience isn't to just fill fill it up with cement or knock it down you have to address the problem you have to hunt the cryptid we didn't burn down the rainforests to try and catch bigfoot. We did it because we want paper. I don't know if that's the reason. I don't know why we did it.

Trees, wood. I think soy or something. Or beef. Not a good enough reason. We didn't drain the loch to try and find Nessie, you know? This is where paranormal investigators come in. That's our specialty. We hunt cryptids without causing damage.

Sometimes a little damage. Except for the last couple investigations in which it caused a hell of a lot of damage. And I don't want to give too much away, but the place we damaged started with rain and rhymes with schmorrist. So, yeah, sure, it did cause a bit of damage. Sure, a lot of people

are still dealing with the fallout of that. But the fact is, if we were brought on to investigate the Third Eye, man, we wouldn't fill it up with cement. Fire, though? We'd burn them out. Sure. Sure.

In the late 60s and early 70s, many fraternities would lead their new pledges down into the catacombs as part of a spooky initiation ceremony. The story goes that one year, a group of students snuck down into the catacombs, ready to haze the newbies joining their fraternity. But what happened down in those tunnels would be an experience they would never forget. All right, pledgers, you took on the leap of faith,

you ran the sacred naked mile, and you drank from the golden chalice, which many of you worked out, yes, was full of piss. But now, it's time for you to officially join Delta Psi. Have a drink from the chalice of acceptance. Ha ha ha! That was also piss! Alright, that's enough. Here is the real chalice of completion. Have a good ol' swig of that one, Pledges. Wait, Brad, what's that noise? There was a rustling noise coming from further down in the tunnel,

but it was so dark the students couldn't see anything. Hello? Brad, go check it out. I'm not going. Make one of these little piss drinkers go. Before the Pledges could go explore, the noise started getting louder. All of a sudden, a goblin-like man emerged from the shadows, dressed in all silver. Oh no. He was screaming, swinging a lead pipe in the air. He struck one of the students, knocking him to the ground.

Holy shit! The students scattered, running as fast as they could out of the students, knocking him to the ground. Holy shit! The students scattered, running as fast as they could out of the tunnels. Once they were out, they reported the incident, claiming that they had seen the legendary three-eyed man. That night, a manhunt took place, where campus security searched the tunnels up and down, but they came up empty-handed once again. Wow. So this guy really, he only appears when he wants to be seen. Yeah, or when, yes, to be fair, this is the only time where it seems like people were kind of

stepping on his territory. Before, it was kind of the night, where maybe in the nighttime is when he emerges from the sewers to, I don't know, eat a f***ing chicken and then come back again. But this time, they went down into his territory. Yeah. And pissed him off. I don't want to say he was completely justified

in swinging a lead pipe at the little piss drinkers, but Brad had it coming. After that, many of the entrances to the tunnels were sealed and students were banned from entering the catacombs. Hell yeah, concrete up. Finally, yeah. A lot of interesting parts to this story. The sightings, the secret catacombs.

But really, let's be honest, the weirdest part is the third eye. Let's not dance around it. It's the only paranormal bit, that's for sure. And maybe the silver skin, depending. Depending on whether it's aluminium dance around it. It's the only paranormal bit, that's for sure. And maybe the silver skin, depending. Yeah. Depending on whether it's aluminium foil or not. While this third eye doesn't really have any immediate relevance to the history of the school or the catacombs or the man itself, the third eye, quote unquote, is actually a popular concept in many cultures and religions.

It's often seen as a symbol of enlightenment or a gateway to higher consciousness. You smoking off of that ganja, bro. That'll scrub open your third eye. That's for sure. I don't know if you knew a lot about it because I didn't, but it's a popular thing in a few different Chinese religions. Yeah.

And it's a Hindu thing as well. The third eye is a symbol of enlightenment, connecting with your chakra. It's a big part of symbolism. You know, a lot of statues as well, like have that built into them, the third eye or markings in the middle of their head. Yeah. It's always something generally in the gist of whilst we use our two regular human eyes to see the physical world that surrounds us. The third eye is what we have to open in order to see the spirit world or the world that is less obvious. Yeah, you tap into like a higher consciousness.

You know, you've opened up that portal, a gateway, the third eye, which is kind of worrying, admittedly, that if this dude managed to see the world for what it truly is and the first thing he does is eat a chicken raw and jump into the gutters and swing lead pipes at strangers beat children i mean students are really annoying it's true i mean i guess like hey if if that's what it takes opening your third eye, you see like the unseen truth of the universe,

why we're all here. Maybe he realizes there is literally no point to any of it. That's totally true. And he's like, everything pales into insignificance. Yeah. He's like, I'm not going to like,

I can't go work in an office now. I can't just buy a house and have kids. I've seen everything yeah i'm just gonna give me that chicken just like blood and flesh is all that is in this universe i'm gonna jump into that shithole you know he's just he's living in the moat he's living raw basically yeah like there was one uh greek philosopher i'm gonna ask sir. Hey, Siri, what Greek philosopher lived like shit? Ah, yes, Diogenes. He was a famous Greek philosopher.

He was also known as the dog. There are many accounts that this famous philosopher was intentionally homeless, lived in a large jar in the street. He just ate on the street, apparently publicly masturbated in front of people. Okay, that's maybe a bit far. And he actually pretty relevantly plucked a chicken live. And yeah, generally lived like a complete dog in the street. But he was so wise, that was what he chose to do. Right. That was very similar to today's creature, the third eye man.

You reach a level of enlightenment where the nonsense of every day just seems so bland that, yeah, you reach the final step. So even though there isn't really anything that we can get out of the fact that this man does have a third eye, we can get more out of the history of the university because it turns out the third eye man isn't the only paranormal part of the USC. Because of the establishment's long history and old buildings, there have been many reports of ghost sightings, strange noises, and objects inexplicably moving around the campus. They even offer ghost tours of the school. Wow, that's interesting. Which, if you go to the open day to check out the university, make sure you find the right one.

Because you don't want to be like a prospective student. And they're like, this is where... You here for the tour? Yeah, you're like, oh yeah yeah i'd love to find out a little bit more about uh what you guys have going on here you get that mother we saw the video of earlier as i say kind of stress enough the third eyed man will be running around flat out every single day you're there with like your your notebook ready to learn about the university and the guy's like in uh 1938 a woman le leapt from that balcony and died right here on the floor.

And a Civil War soldier actually hung himself from that tree. What? What about the curriculum? Ah, yes, the curriculum. I almost forgot. That is the stone circle in the public courtyard where witches were burned. I'm leaving. I'm done.

One of the locations we talked about today was the Longstreet Theater, one of the most haunted places on campus. And I actually found a video where staff members are interviewed about their experiences by, you won't believe it, Gamecock Television. Oh my god. That's right. The cocks men are back. The same student organization that allegedly first reported about the sewer man. I mean that's pretty cool isn't it? I mean it checks out if they're the university paper. They've been going for that long that they now have a YouTube channel. Near the center of the U of SC campus a building holds a different kind of energy. At least that's what Longstreet Theatre

instructor Lisa Gavaletz will tell you. This building has ghosts. Lisa has been here for... Well, there you go, folks. That's it. There's our evidence portion. The faculty at this university are very matter-of-fact about the paranormal goings-ons. I'm kidding, of course, there is more. And she says... If you are here in the building late at night, you will hear noises beyond just the normal, you know, creaks and whatever. She hears ghosts all the time, but it's more than what you might hear. When we sat down to talk in the basement, the air just felt heavy. But why talk in the basement? Well, it's where most of the paranormal activity has been reported. Here in the basement and up above, students have heard footsteps, seen apparitions, and ridden on elevators. They get cold all on their own.

Seeing spirits might seem strange and hard to believe. When I had paranormal investigators Sean England and Paul Sanders look around Longstreet... Do you feel that this place might actually live up to some of those rumors? Not currently. I don't feel that. They didn't feel... Disregard that. Disregard that section. We're going to have to cut that from the podcast. Sorry, so the one actual paranormal investigator says there's nothing?

They said not currently, maybe that, you know, they were looking for ghosts. They weren't looking for the third eye, man. That's a different thing. Disregard that. It's not great, is it? On campus, had that aura, had that haunting. Longstreet would be right up there just due to its use. She says during the Civil War, Longstreet was a hospital for Confederate soldiers.

Those who died ended up in the morgue. Today, it's the theater's green room. Street was a hospital for who died ended up in the theater's green room. And are being held again on c time to hear the history by themselves. Some might these tour guides say as you know, something's got

at some point it was true to be true. The spooky sights and sounds could be enough to scare people away. But for Lisa, it makes the job frightfully fun. Interesting. Slightly conflicting statements, I will say. Yeah, it's a little bit all over the place. It starts off with like, oh, there's ghosts.

And it's like, but we brought in paranormal investigators. There are no ghosts. It's moving very quickly, that news piece. And like, fair enough, the faculty probably don't have any vested interest in claiming that there's ghosts

if they're just like, hey, I just work here and yeah, I see stuff all the time. But on the other hand, the university runs official ghost tours. So they can't really say there aren't any ghosts. And I'm going to guess that they

don't get the faculty members that don't believe in ghosts to talk about the ghosts. Yeah, that's very true. And I think, you know, there's a reason why I included this at the end of the story. And it's because this can really tip us in one way or the other way. Does it help our story about the Third Eye Man that there are ghost tours and different haunted buildings on campus? Or does that kind of dilute our story and show that the Third Eye Man is one of many hauntings that take place on this campus? Is the Third Eye Man even a haunting?

He ran at some students with a steel pipe, which he hit one, by the way. He connected. Yeah, he didn't like- He's very real. He didn't talk to them with his mind and say like get out of my tunnel he did bodily assault he squealed like a stuck pig or ran at them the most paranormal thing he did was eat a chicken on campus i mean and yet he is arguably more interesting than the other ghost sightings.

Genuinely, I don't know what it is. I have a weird affection for this little guy. I think because he has no purpose. There is literally no reason why he should have silver skin. He's basically Shrek in his swamp wanting to be left alone. Yeah.

And I think if you actually sat him down, I don't even know if he knows why he has a third eye or silver skin. He'd be like, look, man, I don't know. All I know is everyone above ground treats me like a freak. He wants me dead. So I'm just staying down here and I'm just doing my thing. And if you come down, I'm going to hit you with a pipe. That's the rules. It's Shrek's swamp. He's got a Boston accent, by the way. That's how

down to earth he is. Yeah. Look, I think this is one of these cases where we don't need to spend a long time on the conclusion because the story concludes itself. He hasn't been seen since the 60s slash 70s. Yeah. Since the tunnels were kind of sealed up. So if he did exist, he's probably dead. He probably starved to death. I sort of regret campaigning so hard for the concrete. You've kind of won me over into liking him. Yeah. At least if it was you that sealed him up,

you would have probably pushed a hundred chickens in and then sealed it up to give him a fighting chance. I don't really know where to conclude with this one. I think the fact that this campus has ghost tours, weirdly, there's other paranormal stories taking place on campus that make way more sense. There's a history behind it. Civil War soldiers use it as a hospital, you know?

There's a rich history. So a guy with three eyes living in the sewers, I mean, there is never at any point any sort of explanation as to why he's there, who he is. Some kind of f***ed up Hindu demigod with an open third eye is living on campus in Carolina. Yeah.

So I think I kind of know where we're heading with the conclusion. We're headed towards this conclusion swinging a steel pipe at it. So I'll toss it over to you first, my friend. Kit, what are your thoughts today on the third Iron Man? Really cool, really different, really fresh. It's fun, right?

Strange, very strange. And yet, next to no physical evidence for the existence of the third Iron Man. Granted, eyewitness testimonies aside. Therefore, I think we do have to conclude um in the absence of that evidence that it's a no yeah i think it's going to be a no from me today it's a fun case and it's a cool one and it's an interesting and unique one that is fun enough to talk about that it deserves an episode totally but um but at the end of the day there really isn't a lot to go on here. Disappointingly, there's not a lot of lore around that third eye. So I think from me today, it is also unfortunately going to be a no.

What I would give to see that third eye man in the flesh. I know. But once again, thank you so much to this listener submission from my own doctor, Dr. Mike Watson. I'm working on that cholesterol doc. I swear to God I am. Thank you for the submission. If you are a medical doctor, just don't be

researching the paranormal while you should be treating people. That's all I would say. Unless you're one of those old-timey doctors that prescribes cocaine and leeches and like a plague doctor. I think that's okay. If you have a case that you would like us to investigate, or maybe your own paranormal story,

you guys know what to do. Email it in to thisparanormallifepodcast at gmail.com. And we will check it out. Thank you to Amy Grisdale for researching. Thank you to Louis Blatherwick for editing this episode. Guys, if you want to open up your third eye, there's a way you can do it. Over on Patreon.com, you can open up a secret tier of content. I know people say, hey, you open up that third eye and you can see the world of like auras and fulfill yourself. The mystic world of ghosts and spirits.

Full enlightenment. But how about you just open it up and you get to listen to more episodes of this paranormal life doesn't sound so bad what if I said you also got to get your own magical token a paranormal coin a shiny gold and silver

coin that can grant you access to an exclusive club made of gold and silver and pillars. And there's a fountain of champagne that will flow through the lobby when it's completed. To be clear, it's not finished.

When it's complete, those are the blueprints, of course. Actually, yeah, blueprints is all it is. And we're talking on the back of a McDonald's napkin as well because we couldn't afford an architect to draw up the plans. Of course, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. But it will be lavish and it will be gorgeous. And you can get in there by heading over to Patreon.com and checking out some of the rewards that we have on offer. We're also doing raffles where we'll be giving away items

used on episodes of This Paranormal Life. We recently gave away the Ouija board that we actually used in an episode of This Paranormal Life. And we have a new item every month. I'm going to be giving away a signed bong. That is right, a bong.

Because me and Rory are going to be ripping fat bowls in the after party. And we will give that away. Not going to happen. On the Patreon to some weed loving f*** in the Patreon. This month, you have a chance to win the actual cursed doll used on the episode of This Paranormal Life. This is the doll that we bought on eBay that came with the back of bones that we tried to actually use as a voodoo doll.

I'll be honest, I just want this thing out of my apartment. Yeah, and my wife wouldn't have it anywhere near my apartment. It's been living with me for about eight or nine months. And some of you will know for listening to the after party, but my apartment's overrun by bugs and moths. And I need to have this thing gone because I think it brought them into the house. You could be one of the lucky winners. You could to have an actual artifact from this paranormal life. So head on over to patreon.com.

We've got a ton of amazing awards for you to check out. And crucially, one of those rewards is your very own special, exclusive, personal shout out at the end of the podcast. So thank you very much to... Rahul Nehru. Rahul, of course, named after our very favorite Egyptian god. Of course. Love to see that. You know, parents were like, hey, maybe we call him Osiris. Maybe we call him, you know, any other. Come on, help me out here. What's the name of any other? Isis. Isis. Is that

the name of an Egyptian god? Yep. Well, they didn't go for that. All right. They went for Rah, our favorite. And because of that, alright? They went for Ra. Our favorite. And because of that, he was destined to listen to this podcast, which we appreciate. Namaste, brother. Thank you to Andrew Campion. Andrew Campion, the undefeated champion! Ding ding! Whatever he sets

his hands to, he's the champ. Except boxing. Well, yes, yeah. It's all the kind of like Mind games Drop a pin Andrew I really think I could take you Don't threaten to fight our listeners I think it's a bad idea Ding ding bitch

Thank you to John Doyle Ding ding John drop a pin No Stop saying you're going to fight our I'm a couple podcasts in and I'm ready to fight bro Yes I'm skinny but I'm a couple podcasts in and I'm ready to fight, bro. Yes, I'm skinny, but I'm a featherweight. Have you seen John Doyle's picture, his avatar?

He looks like six foot. There's a picture of him on holiday in San Francisco. He's got a six pack and biceps. Sorry, brother. Drop a pin for me to bring you cupcakes to say thank you, sorry, and namaste. Yeah, I wouldn't challenge John. And then when his back is turned. Ding, ding. Don't say ding, ding when his back is turned because he's going to know you're about to hit him.

It gets to be by the throat. Thank you also to Bunny Sobieski. Bunny Sobieski likes a dram of whiskey. Who doesn't? Who doesn't? Bunny likes to hop on over to the nearest watering hole. And then like one of those like little drippers they use to feed hamsters. Right.

They just like drink up that whiskey. Problem is it's not good for bunnies. It really isn't. I think it's borderline poison. Thank you to John Webb. John, I believe you probably are half spider based on your second name. But that being said, drop a pin. Oh, you're getting involved.

I'm getting involved. That's right. This is a tag team match. Kit got pummeled by the last John. I'm still in hospital. He's tagging me in. And Mr. Webb, I'm about to spin you a web of pain. Thank you also to Andrew Druski likes a brew ski.

That's right. He likes to hop over to the local watering hole. A bunny? Another bunny? No, he's just a grown man. He just hops a lot. He has like one of those space hoppers and likes a nice ice cold Bev. That's pretty cool.

It's a good mode of transport and you've always got a seat at the bar. Thank you also to Hector Cortez. Drop a pin, Hector. What? Drop a pin. No pun with your name, you son of a bitch. Based on nothing? You're Cortez. You're dead.

Thank you also to Nathan Ellingsworth. Based on nothing? You're quartet deads. You're deads. Thank you also to Nathan Ellingsworth. Nathan Dwellingsworth has been known to dwell inside of a jar. Much like Diogenes. He's a lot less wise, though, but it's probably for the best. He kind of doesn't get involved in the public masturbation side of things, as far as I'm aware, though. Yeah.

Hey, what happens in the jar stays in the jar. Thank you to Timmy Nolan. Tim nolan is bowling out of control he's got the richard millie watch he's got the ice on his chain he's got the ice on his wrist not a rapper though he just he's like a postman he just inherited a insane amount of gold and diamonds from his great, great grandfather. Wow. Timothy Nolingsworth VI. I mean, that's pretty, hey, fair play to sticking with your profession, even when you're carrying that much drip. Must be hard to run away from the dogs when you're basically like the tin man from Wizard of Oz. Thank you, lastly, but not leastly, to Sean.

Sean, drop a pin. Drop a pin and Kit and myself are going to be there. I'm afraid if they team up on us, there's too many. Sean, you're gone. Say goodbye, brother. Okay. So I hope that is a warning to all of you other patrons who want your own personal shout out. Is that sometimes you'll get a nice little pun on your names.

And other times, we're coming for you. We shouldn't be. You'll never expect it. We'll come in the dead of night or the crack of dawn. Sometimes much like the third-eyed man with a pipe. Swanging. Sometimes with just a bit of chicken. But we will be there.

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the podcast. If you support us on Patreon, of course, we will be back on Friday with an episode of The After Party. Oh, yeah. Or until then, we will see you next week for a brand new paranormal tale. Ciao!

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