This Paranormal Life - #269 The Paranormal CURSE that Haunted an Entire Baseball Team

Episode Date: June 28, 2022

Baseball is often referred to as 'America's favourite pastime', so it may surprise you to know that the history of the sport is RIDDLED with paranormal curses that have HAUNTED teams for years. From sacrificing goats to digging up dead bodies, today we're talking about the paranormal in the world of Baseball and sport as a whole. VOTE FOR THIS PARANORMAL LIFE IN THE IRISH PODCAST AWARDShttps://www.theirishpodcastawards.ie/vote/Support 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.

Is there a giant global conspiracy to stop me from affording a house? What happens if I drank a vampire's blood? All of these questions you could find the answer to on This Paranormal Life! Hello everyone and welcome to This Paranormal Life, the comedy paranormal podcast where every week myself, Rory Powers, professional paranormal investigator sits down with the man across from me, Kit Greer-Molvena, also a professional paranormal investigator. The man in the mirror. And we sit down and we come to a conclusion as to whether or not a story that we investigate truly is paranormal. Sometimes a sentence is so nice, you've got to say it thrice. How are you doing today, Rory? I'm doing great today, Kit, because on today's case,

we are going to be investigating a pretty unique phenomenon, one that we haven't covered, I don't believe, in any previous podcast. Hopefully. Okay, I'm intrigued. Color me intrigued. Today's case comes from one of our amazing listeners, Eric. He wrote, Intrigued. Today's case comes from one of our amazing listeners, Eric. He wrote, I know Rory played a lot of baseball growing up, and I've seen him wearing an Atlanta Braves cap.

So I think he might appreciate Major League Baseball's paranormal history. Interesting. He went on to say, P.S. I once saw a giant turkey in the woods behind my house. It was legit, like five feet tall, but had normal-sized turkeys following it like it was some sort of god. I had pictures, but I accidentally deleted them, and I don't think I have backups. Thank you, Eric. Not sure to do with the turkey information. That might have to be a bonus episode, maybe a Thanksgiving special. Yeah, when you deleted the photos, it got demoted from main episode to bonus.

But I will say the paranormal history of baseball is an incredible idea for an episode. So that's what we're going to be tackling today. Let's go back to 1918. We're in Boston, home of the Red Sox. At this point in time, they're one of the country's most successful baseball franchises. The team had won five of the first 15 World Series titles in history, more than any other major league team at the time. Okay, I'm just gonna have to pause you right here.

Yeah. Full disclaimer, I don't know anything about baseball. Okay. Truly nothing. Yeah, some of our listeners anything about baseball. Truly nothing. Yeah, some of our listeners might not be big baseball fans. I will do my best to keep the language simple. But if you have any questions, feel free to interject. You, Kit, not them.

The key to the success of the Red Sox, a little player that goes by the name of Babe Ruth. Okay, I've heard of this guy, this old son of a bitch. Oh, yeah. I mean, the fact that you've heard of him and you don't even know jack shite about baseball, that tells you something. This little f***ing piglet that went to the big city, he's actually pretty famous.

Was that ever a cool nickname, Babe Ruth? Oh, you mean even at the time? Yeah, because his full name is George Herman Ruth Jr. I don't know where Babe came from. Because he's such a goddamn goddamn hunk i don't know what he looks like maybe he was a 10 who knows can we find out right now live was he a 10 all right i mean is he a good looking guy he's uh i mean we're talking about a baseball player in 1918, so I assume he was four foot tall, as wide as he was long. You know, I'm not going to say that I know what makes the perfect man, but this ain't it, chief.

He's got a... He's fine! He's got a thing going for him. I just don't think he was named for being a candle. He does look like if you took the glasses and the mustache off of Mr. Potato Head. But is that a bad thing, Mr. Potato Head? It's a sexy little spud. Nowadays, he's arguably one of the most famous American sportsmen of all time. And for good reason. George Herman Ruth Jr., nicknamed Babe because of how young he was when he signed his contract,

was a mold-breaking left-handed pitcher. At the start of his career, the great Bambino, as he was also known, was on fire. Whenever you're that good, you get as many nicknames as you want. He has a lot of nicknames as well, so you can tell he's a pretty good player.

I know I just Googled Babe Ruth to see what he looked like, but then I also wanted to know where he was from. You're not going to f***ing believe this. Where? Pig Town, Baltimore. You're kidding me. I'm not. There's no way.

That's the most Southern American town I've ever heard. That is astonishing. Wow. The Red Sox were flying high, winning left, right, and center. They took the title in the 1918 World Series, cementing their place at the very top of the league. Things were looking good. There was only one problem.

Their owner, Harry Frazee, is borderline bankrupt. He only recently acquired the Red Sox in 1916 and they cost about a million dollars. Wow, which in today's money is presumably all the diamonds on planet Mars combined. He also owns a theater that was underperforming and things were not looking good. He needed to make some cash fast. Bad businessman! How do you own the most successful team in the league and a theater and you are broke beyond belief?

You can't afford lunch. You can't afford a haircut. How do you own Baby Bambino the Piglet King of baseball and yet you can't cash a check to pay for your f***ing dentist appointment. Unless he borrowed a ton of money to buy the team in the first place, there's some financial mistakes that are pretty glaring. You're paying the babe too much. Well, you can't start cutting the babe's salary,

because then, uh-oh, babe goes to the big city. A.K.A. Portland Horror. Harry needs to make some cash fast before somebody shows up and breaks his legs. And they could do it pretty easy, seeing as his office is probably filled with baseball bats. In the end, there's only one thing he can do. He calls Babe Ruth

into his office. You wanted to see me, coach? Good to see you, champ. Take a seat. Ah, Babe. Bambi. The great Bambino. That's right, sir. Babe in the big city. Boptimus Prime. Hit me, baby. One more Ruth. Do you need me for something? You're off the team, George. What? Look, it's nothing personal, kid. But my finances are a mess and I gotta sell you to make some cash. Huh. I guess it is personal now that I say it out loud. But my finances are a mess and I gotta sell you to make some cash. Huh, I guess it is personal now that I say it out loud. But what about the team? They'll be fine. And more

importantly, so will my kneecaps. Anyway, good luck with the new team, kid. You're gonna do great with the, uh, New York Yankees. God help you. Like anyone's gonna want that on a baseball cap. I'm still sitting right here, Chief. With that, the Babe headed off to the New York Yankees, a lackluster team on the best of days. But things for the team change immediately. In his first year on the team, Babe Ruth hits a record-breaking 54 home runs. The next year, he breaks that record again by another five. The Yankees had never played in a World Series before, but since buying Babe Ruth, they've gone to win on 26 of them. He's such a success that the newly built Yankee Stadium

is dubbed the house that Ruth built. All right, you're throwing too many numbers at me. I told you to go easy. And you're throwing, oh, oh, 54. Oh, oh, oh, 25. Like, slow down, genius. What's so hard to believe that after his trade in 1946, he hit 54 home runs, beating it by five in 1963.

I can't take it. Listen, I'm a simple man. I'm born in 1963. I can't take it. Listen, I'm a simple man. I'm born in Britain, aka slash Ireland, Northern Ireland. All we have is football, mate. Footy. You said he scored 54 home runs. Is that like scoring like 54

back of the net, top right corner penalties? Is that like 54 pints? I don't understand. Is that like 54 beans on a slice of toast? I'll simplify it down for you. He was traded to another team, the New York Yankees, and he f***ing popped off.

Okay. He hit balls hard, which is a good thing in baseball. Okay, to be clear. And for the Red Sox, it was the beginning of a drought so bad that it became known as the Curse of the Bambino. They don't make it to the World Series again until 1946. That's a dry spell. It really is.

It was the bottom of the eighth inning. The score was tied 3-3. Was this the moment they would be able to break the curse? The batter for the Cardinals stepped up to the plate. Here's the windup and the pitch. Walker hits a double to left field. It's headed toward Pesky of the Red Sox. What are you doing, man? Get the ball! One of Boston's players begins fumbling at his feet while the crowd starts screaming.

It looks like the glare of the sun is bothering him. He's squinting, just barely managing to find the ball as the Cardinals score and take the lead. In the end, Boston had one more chance to score, but it was too late. The curse was already awakened. But it was too late. The curse was already awakened. And Higgins is forced out at second to end the ballgame, with the St. Louis Cardinals winning the seventh and final game of the 1946 World Series by a score of 4-3. Baseball's highest honor has gone to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Over the next few years, the Red Sox were plagued by disaster. Their best players choke under pressure. When other teams play against the Red Sox, normal average so-so players on the opposite team will have the best game of their life. Wow, so it's not even just a curse that brings them down, but it actually gives a f***ing Super Mario mushroom power-up to all the other players. Yeah, the other team could be like a player down,

so they recruit the janitor from the changing rooms to go up to bat in the ninth inning. All of a sudden, he's f***ing nasty with it. Yeah. They're like, holy s***! Chuck just hit a grand slam out of the stadium, setting a new record for MLB home runs. He swung very early, by the way.

I'm pretty sure I saw the ball slow down midair. The whole crowd's like, Chuck, Chuck, Chuck. This is when the narration comes over the piece. Chuck would go on to become one of the most legendary ballplayers in the game. He had never played a sport up until that day, and he barely spoke English. On account of being legally blind, he actually had to be led around each base by a member of the arena staff. Yeah, I mean, at this point, if you were playing against the Boston Red Sox, you could probably have a couple beers before the game.

You could maybe, like, get out early to beat the traffic if you were on the opposition. You know you're going to be guaranteed a win. They became a laughingstock. Loss after loss, defeat after defeat, things got so bad that the entire nation started to get behind the idea that the Boston Red Sox were cursed. And what started it? The day they traded the soul of the team away, Babe Ruth. To this day, the curse of the Bambino hangs over Fenway Park like a dark cloud. Pretty cool idea. I mean, we've never covered this idea before on the podcast that a sports

organization could be cursed. A franchise could be cursed. By doing something just morally corrupt, you know, trading away the heart of your team, the soul, basically selling the soul of your team away for money, for profit. And you're cursed and punished for that decision. It is a whole fascinating can of worms, as you say, kind of surprising that it actually hasn't come up before now, because as I say, not a huge sportsman, but I am aware that this is a common theme amongst different sports. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when you actually think about it, superstitions do play a huge role in sports. Many people have traditions or routines that they try and follow to manifest a win, whether it's wearing the same jersey every week, preparing the same food, kissing a trophy, making a deal with the devil, sacrificing a child. No, no, no. Whatever it takes to get a win.

I don't know much, but I don't think anyone does that. You're absolutely right, though. There's so many do's and don'ts of being a professional athlete. Yeah. And I think there's something fun about it as well. I think people get a kick out of creating their own rituals. I think don't have sex. Is that one?

You don't have sex before the big game. Is that something you do? I'm not being glib. I'm just saying. I don't know if that's so much superstition as you need the special sauce for the big day. I don't know how else to say it. I don't know how else to say it. That if you, I don't know, that if you keep yourself wound up like a tightly coiled spring, you keep the edge.

Because the edge is what, I don't know, you can tell I don't play sports. The edge is what, I hear the edge is what can be the difference between the win or the L. I can disprove that myth right now, okay? Because I actually went without sex before the big game for 27 years. And then when the big game arrived, I ran out on the pitch, tore my ACL, and blew my load. I was so pent up from 27 years of preparation for the big day. My balls were so swollen, I could barely run onto the field. I think we can dispel that myth right now.

Okay, sorry I brought it up. Of course, when a curse this bad hits an entire state, they're going to do whatever it takes to break it. People were taking this thing really seriously. Hey, when we're talking about an entire state. They're going to do whatever it takes to break it. People were taking this thing really seriously. Hey, when we're talking about an entire franchise, we're talking about a lot of money. Or in the case of Babe Ruth's former boss, no money whatsoever. Yeah. But normally, lots of money.

Red Sox fans began to do some crazy shit to try and help their team out. Somebody hiked Mount Everest and placed a Red Sox cap at the peak, then climbed back down and burnt a Yankees cap at the bottom. Okay, I don't know if that's... I'm pretty sure the Himalayas is pretty sacred to a lot of different people on Earth. So I don't know if burning a Yankees cap

on their land is really a good omen. Look, you gotta do what what you got to do. The curse of the Bambino is real. You got to do whatever it takes. Go to sacred temples, burn a Yankees cap. No, don't go to a temple. Go to like those civilizations that have never made contact with the other world.

Sure. Give them Red Sox jerseys. No. Do whatever it takes to break the curse.seys no do whatever it takes to break the curse you gotta do whatever it takes dig up the grave of the guy who founded the yankees piss all over his dead body no this is just illegal why do you think that would break the curse and not make many many more curses like whatever happened to appeasing the gods making a simple offering like but this is interesting though because because it demonstrates

I don't think they even know who cursed them. Yeah. Normally in our curse episodes, it's like a curse placed by boy king Tutankhamun and the Egyptian gods, or it's a curse by a voodoo priestess or something. Yeah. Someone was wronged. Yeah.

And that is how the curse originated. Like, unless the Bambino was a wizard himself. Frustratingly, that was another one of his names. The baseball wizard, the whiz kid, the great Bambino, Bambi, Babe Ruth. The piglet with a wand. Anything you can think of. But you're right. I mean, this almost feels like a curse that was handed down by karma itself. By just making a bad decision, you've had this curse imposed upon you fans were god-fearing people probably it's crazy

how sports superstition and curses the paranormal transcends all of that yeah it's like hey we might pray to different gods and uh you know live our lives differently but we can all get on board with a good old-fashioned paranormal curse yeah it's quite weird, isn't it? It's like even, you know, the Christian religion is pretty black and white with what it believes is real and not real. And yet these people are like,

we need to hire a wizard. We need to hire a wizard to come onto this car's life. Because those goddamn Yankees are going to rub it in our faces for another season. If they have a wizard, we're going to need a wizard too.

One diehard fan tried to reconnect Babe Ruth with his long lost home team by dragging a piano that apparently once belonged to Babe Ruth out of a lake near his old house. And I don't know, and then he played it or brought it to the field or something.

So many lengths. Things got so serious that in 1976 after 10 straight losses, Laurie Cabot, the official witch of Massachusetts, was brought in to help break the curse. No way. The losing streak was broken, but the curse of the Bambino raged on. 90s Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee suggested that the way to break the curse

was to dig up Babe Ruth's body. Oh my God. And transport it to Fenway Park. Once there, they should all publicly apologize to the decayed corpse for making the- Too late. Too late and wrong and bad. And I was joking earlier. I thought I was joking.

I can't believe someone actually pitched this. When you're digging up a body to apologize, you're already heading in the wrong direction. You're only making the... Now you got a new curse on your hands, buddy. Now his ghost is going to be shitting in the bathrooms of your stadium until the end of time. It is true that if you were the ghost of Babe Ruth, you would be pissed off.

But let's be honest, whenever you have a disagreement or a falling out with someone, it's like, isn't this the ultimate dream that even after you're dead and gone, they're on their hands and knees begging for your forgiveness? I think it's the dream until they decide to dig you up

and apologize. It's like, I want you to be upset still, but not enough to dig up my body. Yeah, just apologize next to my headstone. You just know that these Red Sox players are like, we wanted to bring the body here and apologize in person to his disgusting, decaying skeleton. And just to make sure that his spirit lays at rest here, we will smash his legs into pieces.

And as a sign of good faith, we'll hang his skull on top of the stadium. And we'll each wear a piece of his bones as a necklace around our necks. So many curses. You can just see the curses swirling around them like the f***ing Raiders of the Lost Ark. Things didn't get better until 2004, only 18 years ago.

During a game, Red Sox player Manny Ramirez hammered a ball deep into the bleachers. The crowd are going wild. Is this it? Is the curse broken? The ball went soaring into the crowd and struck a child in the face. Okay. Knocking out two of his teeth. God damn it.

Now this might sound like the curse in full force, but there was more to this bizarre incident. It turned out that the boy who was hit lived on Sudbury Farm, the same farm once owned by Babe Ruth. Oh my God, they cannot catch a break here. These men need to grow up. Should we go into the crowd and find more children to sacrifice to appease the babe? They are worse than like the ancient Aztecs or something. These are the most superstitious people we've ever come across in this paranormal life history. They will stop at nothing to win a game of baseball. At this point, dissolve the franchise, dissolve the the team start a new team with no curses because at least the ancient aztecs i think there was some sort of

logic in place where they were like we think the gods like blood so we're gonna kill people and let them bleed down uh the the steps of our towers the red are like, maybe I'll put a hot dog up my ass and that'll appease Bambi himself. Yeah, Bambi loves hot dogs. They're just trying anything now. But some people did genuinely believe that whatever happened when this child was struck in the face,

that it at least rattled the curse of the Bambino. And there was only one way to find out for sure. The Red Sox continued their season. They were doing good, but things were looking tight. They made it to the World Series once again, but were head-to-head against the New York Yankees,

the same team they traded Babe Ruth to all of those years ago. If you didn't know, the World Series consists of seven games. If a team wins four of them, they are the champions. And in 2004, the Yankees had won three in a row against the Red Sox. Okay. Not the outcome that you're hoping for so far. But maybe it was luck. Maybe the curse had an 86-year expiry date.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was the act of sacrificing that boy's face. There's no way. That's not how sacrifices work. Never mind. Something changed. The Red Sox won game four, then game five, then game six. What? And the Red Sox became the first team in MLB

history to win the World Series after losing the first three games. And with that, the curse appears to have lifted. Wow, really? Ever since? To all the way to 2014. I mean, winning the title, that is a sure way to know that you have broken the curse of the Bambino,

the great Bambi, Optimus Prime himself. I guess so, but has it lasted? Because we don't know if the curse has been lifted or if the curse was simply napping during the time of the 2014 World Series. Right. Every new season, it needs a new child. You have to feed it teeth. It's like saying, I need to get the tooth fairy on board because this thing is insatiable.

Or maybe up in heaven or down in hell. I don't know what he did. The great Bambino was like putting mustard on his hot dog, chomping away. And then he like turned around to see that the Red Sox had won the World Series. He's like, oh, no, no, no. Get back here, you little bastards. Zap, zap. Yeah, he's slinging thunderbolts like Thor.

So I haven't been keeping up with how the red socks have been doing recently who knows maybe they're back i'm just gonna look up on uh siri oh they're all dead they all died in a terrible plane crash one month after winning the world series now as we talked about earlier although we don't think about it much there's a weird amount of sport that is wrapped up in rituals and superstition players and spectators That's so nuts. that's so nuts that sounds like something you would uh do not to make yourself lucky but to like distract the other team yeah like you can they don't want to play against a guy with a toilet stick do you have any such uh sporting superstitions or something like a sporting superstition do you have your like favorite pair of boxers you wear before the big day or da-da-da-da-da? Not particularly.

If I do, they kind of come and go in very specific circumstances. So like there was one time I was watching an important baseball game where the Braves were playing. And when I went to the bathroom, they like hit a home run. So then my brother was like, you can't be in the room for the rest of the game. You have to watch. You can only come in when the opposite team are batting. And anytime the Braves come up, you have to leave. I'd have to watch from the window.

Be like, can you like toss me a beer or something? I want to watch the game. That just sounds like your brother doesn't like you though. Yeah. Like he would enforce that about a lot of stuff so just like if we were cooking food and he was like this chicken nugget is like a tiny bit too burnt you have to now eat in in the toilet and it's like i don't understand the rules though like is there a reason why and he'd be like just go just go eat in the toilet eat in the toilet so i would just be like eat eating there like by myself just on the bowl and like i thought like on christmas day your

parents would usually say like uh you know look there's no chance you're getting any gifts but if you want your brother to be in with a chance of santa bringing him at least one present you have to be outside for all of christmas day yeah they would see like you can't come in the house they would be like santa's coming santa's coming. Rory, like, go out to the garden. And sometimes it would be like... We just like, don't come back. It would be like Boxing Day. And it's like, why is Santa coming?

You're like, it doesn't matter. You can't let Santa see you. And it's like, well, Colin's still here. Like my brother, my sister, we have the whole family over. Like, get the f*** out, Santa's coming. Get out of here. Sometimes it'd be like Easter. It wouldn't even be, yeah, yeah, yeah. there's no reason why he should be in the vicinity it would just be like middle of summer we'd be on vacation and they wouldn't like they wouldn't

invite me but I'd find out through like photos that they put up on Facebook like tagging saying like the whole family together finally and I'd be like oh s**t they must have forgot to message me about the holiday so then I would like turn up to Barbados and they're like, Santa's coming. Get out of here. We don't we don't love you. It's such a piece of shit, you know, because sometimes they don't even bring up Santa. It's nothing to do with Santa. Which is weird.

Like, I know deep down it's because Santa's coming and I have to I have to leave. But sometimes they don't even mention Santa or the North Pole or anything. Sometimes they just serve you papers to say that you've been like what's the opposite of adopted like given up yeah and it's like that's weird can you give up a grown man like it feels illegal but like it's kind of really not because they did it uh so i guess they're more superstitious than you are that way. Yeah, in a weird way. And like I've tried dunking my hands in toilet water and stuff, like all the shit that they've said.

I've tried drinking toilet water, dunking my head in it, licking it. That might be why they don't want me around anymore. It's mostly the toilet water stuff. Do you have any superstitions like this? I mean, real real answer not particularly like the closest thing i do to a uh organized sport is like skateboarding or something and i do know in that world there's a lot of talk of like the madness which is an individual skateboarder because it's just a lot of trial and repetition you're trying to land a trick might take dozens

or hundreds of attempts is yeah people develop uh which i i assume is the same across all sports their little tick what they call the madness of what they do every time before they make their real attempt before they really land it so like it might be like spinning your board once tapping it twice oh i see like a little throwing it down with the right hand and then they're gonna land it that time the madness madness sounds like an old timey disease that pirates would get when they're on the ocean for too long. Yeah. And then scientists today would just realize it was like scurvy.

Yeah, yeah. I've got the madness. I have to tap my skateboard three times before I try. Just eat an orange. Just eat an orange. I've got the madness. I haven't shit in days. And every time I cough, it's blood in my hands. That's not the madness.

I think you're dying. Former LSU Tigers coach Les Miles used to eat grass from the field before each game. Why are these such horrible, like toilet water eating grass? It can't be a nice thing. Just suck on a mint. How about that? It can't be. But then you're just doing this. Make Just suck on a mint. How about that? It can't be a... Make your ritual calling your

mother. How about that? Two-time all-star Steve Finlay pinned his success on what he described as healing minerals. Okay. I mean, there's something more to that. He told anyone that would listen that they gave him a, quote, layer of protection against harmful

external energy intruders. Okay, I don't know if he can prove that low. Did I mention he was eating grass? Quite a bit, actually. Dennis Rodman would famously snort cocaine in the days leading up to Chicago Bulls games. No, that was just partying. Also, without getting into the details, there's quite a few that actually involve piss.

Whether that's pissing on things, people pissing on other people or themselves. Jesus. Drinking piss. People do some weird stuff if it means getting the W. That's fascinating. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats.

Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goal tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those, too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Now, if the curse of the Bambino isn't enough to win you over,

let's talk about another famous baseball curse, the curse of the Billy Goat. The story begins to unfold in 1945. Local business owner William Shanice is supporting his local team, the Chicago Cubs. If the name Billy Goat turns out to be another nickname for f***ing Babe Ruth, I'm going to lose it. The great Billy Bambino is what they called him. The baby goat himself. He was the goat for sure.

So that would make sense. Now, Shanice owns the world famous Billy Goat Tavern. And of course, a real life pet Billy Goat called Murphy. Naturally. Shanice and Murphy went everywhere together. It was like Mary and her little lamb. Wherever Shanice went, Murphy was sure to follow. Insane way to live your life.

I just want to establish that right off the bat. Whatever happens to him is justice. I had no idea sports people were so strange. They went to the bar together, the supermarket together, and even baseball games. One evening, Shanice left his bar in safe hands so that he and Murphy could go cheer on the Chicago Cubs. However, when he got to Wrigley Field, Murphy's presence began to annoy some of the other fans. It's the bottom of the ninth inning here at Wrigley Field. Runners on first with two out.

The Cubs are going to need to make a play here if they want to get out of this inning. It's a two and one count as Finchley steps back into the box. We've seen some big hits from him so far in the season, but he's been struggling in the away games. Hey, buddy, buddy, can you tell that goat to shut the up? Big swing here. And it's a line drive towards left field. Hey, who the hell's been chewing on my jersey? Somebody took a shit on my hot dog. It looks like goat shit. Get that fleabag out of the stadium! Enough people complained that Shanice and Murphy were ejected from Wrigley Field. As the pair were ejected from the stadium, Shanice was muttering under his breath.

Stupid country. Can't bring a goat to a baseball game anymore. You never could. You never could. There was no... Maybe in the Middle Ages you could bring a goat places.

But ever since the invention of baseball it hasn't been kosher to take a goat. How did he get in here? How did he get into the stadium? At some point he must have passed security who were like,

Janice, Murphy, and they just let him take a seat and a goat. Didn't you say it was like a little goat? No, I said it was a billy goat, but that doesn't have a reflection on size, does it? I don't know. For some reason, I thought it was like a young one. Okay, so this is an established relation. This is an eating, shitting, buying machine. This thing is very frustratingly large.

He muttered, they'll see. They'll all see. What could they possibly see? As he reached the exit, he stopped and shouted, them Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more. And so began the longest baseball curse of them all. The Cubs don't win another National League

pennant as long as Shanice lives. And they don't earn a World Series victory until 2016. 110 years since their last win. That is a long time. Maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe goats going to baseball games was a big thing back then. If anything, they need more goats. Yeah. Now, the story does differ from source to source. Shanice's family claimed that he actually sent a telegram to the team owner, which read, you are going to lose this World Series and you are never going to win a World Series again because you insulted my goat. Wow. Now, similar to the other famous baseball curses, many people tried strange and bizarre rituals to break the curse. And in a wild twist, one of those peoples was Shanice himself

before he died. Huh? I guess he just regretted it. He was like, I meant it like as a metaphor, like, I hope you guys don't win. But you did write the letter. Yeah. Signed in my blood. Yes. And that night lit a few candles, drew a pentagram on the floor, swore allegiance to the dark Lord and said, I will give you my soul if they never win.

So that's why you regret it. But as a goof, like as a guy just messing around. And yeah, Murphy took a shit and smeared it on the book of the devil and sold his soul too. Just as like a funny little thing. So I don't know how to break it. Curse be gone, I guess. Abracadabra. I feel like you've got to put as much effort into breaking it as you clearly did in creating the curse it's like oh you want to break it okay so first of all you're gonna have to go outside under the light of the full moon get some pure water you know what i don't know if i could be bothered doing all that

yeah can you guys just play a little harder maybe next time after shanice passed away sam shanice his nephew went to wrigley Field multiple times with a goat, attempting to break the curse. I guess this time they're just like, let the goat do anything. Let it do whatever it wants. If it wants to eat the grass on the field, if it wants to piss all over the bases, just let the goat go wild. Yeah, the goat gods have spoken. Yeah, we pissed them off, and now this is their kingdom. Wikipedia actually has an amazing list of all of the ways that the curse was attempted to be broken. And some of them are wild. In 2008, a Greek Orthodox priest tried to end the curse during the 2008 playoffs by spraying holy water around the dugout.

Okay. I like it. General kind of fail safe curse lifting. Yeah. Okay, I like it. General kind of fail-safe curse lifting. Yeah, I didn't know that you could just hire someone to, you can just pay someone to use holy water. I thought it was supposed to be quite special. I read that differently. I read it that the priest himself was such a goddamn Cubs fan that he used his authority to try and break it. Maybe he was. Maybe at the Sunday service, people were going up and be like,

Maybe at the Sunday service, people were going up and being like, I needed a drop of the Holy Lord's water just to help me through the week and send my life into blessing. So, a drop, Father? Oh, yeah. Holy water. Yeah, for sure. One kick. Thank you, Father. Thank you.

Sorry, just. Peace be with you. Peace be with you. You usually say it back, Father. Peace be with you. Just say it back, Father Peace be with you Just one freaking second, dude Just cover your ears a second Okay Blessings to you, my child

It's fizzy, Father Yes, sure That's extra holy That's how you know It tingles my skin, is that a bad sign, Father? That the holy water That is the you know. It tingles my skin. Is that a bad sign, Father, that the holy water does... That is the Lord speaking to us in mysterious ways, truly.

What? It smells different. It smells like Sprite. Why does the holy water smell like Sprite, Father? You're somewhat mistaken. You're somewhat mistaken. I think that is... Well, what did I say last time? The Lord? Yeah. Alright, you got me.

It's goddamn seven up. Go Cubs. Go f***ing Cubs. On April 1st, 2011, a social enterprise called Reverse the Curse began donating goats to families in developing countries. This is too much effort. This is far too much effort. At least that's a nice one, right? They basically started a charity called Reverse the Curse and started just giving goats to third world countries.

This is astonishing, the lengths people will go to to reverse it. I mean, this is the thing. You know, we've said before that the problem is that they don't know who, well, they actually do in this case. I think it was Shanice did it by accident. But at this point, they're just trying to break it by being good people, you know? Donating to charities. Maybe bad idea to use all of the town's holy water on a baseball field.

Yeah, the dugout was soaking. It wasn't just like a little droplet. It was like, we can't take any chances, guys. I assume they just put it into the sprinklers of the field and just douse the whole thing with holy water you know but this is why sports psychology exists because and i assume we'll get into this you know the curse may be one thing but clearly it even extends beyond the curse itself and it lives deep in the minds of the players and the fans this is what we're going to talk about in the conclusion is when we're talking about curses that it can affect players who are performing in a game.

How much of that curse is genuinely paranormal and how much of it is them acknowledging the curse's existence? And in a weird way, that affects your mindset. Exactly. your mindset. Exactly. They're heading into games with their tail between their legs being like, I mean, I'll try and hit the ball, but honestly, some f***er and his goat got kicked out of a game 80 years ago. So what's the point? What's the point in even trying? They're so tired from trying all these methods to lift the curse. They have no energy to hit the f***ing ball. They're so malnourished. They've all been drinking

holy water and goat's blood for three weeks in the preseason. By the time it actually gets to the game. On Monday, the coach is just like, all right, guys,

we're just looking at the week ahead. Obviously, every practice is canceled. We have so many goats to get into the Middle East with our charity. And then Tuesday, nine to five, drinking goat's blood and piss.

No, just get better at the game. Can you imagine first game of the season and the announcers are like, Yankees are warming up on the field here, looking like a great team this season. They managed to secure a few MVPs from the league in the trade before the games have started. We're looking at record numbers and the forecast is that they're going to have a great season. Now, of course, is the Chicago Cubs. Recently changed their name to the Goat Goats. Had a bit of a different preseason.

Mostly practicing goat sacrifices, worshipping goats. Changed their mascot to a goat. We'll see how it works out for them. First up to the plate, Goat Goat. Of course, all the players change their name to Goat Goat to appease the goat. And for going wearing trainers as normal on the baseball field and actually wearing hooves.

They can barely walk. I don't know how they'll be able to run around the bases. It didn't work out for them very well because, as you can tell, they had a very bad, bad, bad season. A bad season. Nice season nice dude i mean i'm not going to complain too much about starting charities to give away goats because also on april 10th 2013 a severed goat's head was delivered to the cubs in an effort to lift the curse they

need to be stopped yeah i they're just throwing anything at the wall. It's like, let's kill goats. Let's worship goats. Let's eat goats. So confused. It's bad. They obviously don't know what caused the thing and they don't know how to stop it. And look, even though we've investigated these two specific cases, there are a lot more. One of the most famous one involves the player Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was accused, I believe, of not cheating in baseball. But I don't remember what the term is when you're basically placing bets and then playing bad to lose games. Cheating. Yeah, that might be cheating or just being a bad person. Yeah, I know what you mean.

Him and a lot of players got accused of that. Oh, it's called throwing a game? Yeah, throwing a game. Yeah, like throwing a fight basically in boxing. And a lot of people believe that he was innocent. A lot of people believe he was guilty. But the curse of Shoeless Joe went on to affect his team for many years. This isn't an outlier, you know.

These teams really did undergo something tragic. And it affected their franchise for years. This isn't an outlier, you know. These teams really did undergo something tragic, and it affected their franchise for years. In some cases, as we just said, 110 years. Rory, I've been keeping a low profile all the way through this investigation, but that belies my own personal experience of a sports curse. Whoa, really? You see, Rory, my grandfather,

on my mother's side, which I never met, he was a Gaelic football player here in Ireland, Tom Greer. He actually played and won the All-Ireland in 1936 for Mayo, the first time they ever won

the All-Ireland Championship for listeners abroad. The All-Ireland is like the national Gaelic football tournament. It is the biggest game there is. That was the first year Mayo ever won it. Do you know how many goats you have to appease to even make it to those finals? It's a family secret we do not talk about. But most people, even Irish listeners, will be surprised to even hear that fact.

Because whilst Tom Greer was in the first team to ever win the All-Ireland for Mayo, Mayo was not a team that is known in modern times for winning the All-Ireland. That's because in 1951, the story goes that they made it to the final and they won the All-Ireland in spectacular fashion. And then as they do, lifting the trophy, kissing the trophy, getting loose and partying. Of course. On their victory ride home through the town.

Oh dear. They passed a funeral. The story goes that even as they passed the funeral, they either didn't notice or didn't care enough to quieten down and pay their respects instead they kept yelling and shouting and cheering and lifting the trophy high even as they passed this funeral procession yeah like spraying champagne over in the face of the family bereaved sure well the priest who was leading the congregation of the funeral was so furious he is said to have cursed the mayo football team wow and they've

never won the all ireland since since 1951 over 70 years of playing and that is not without reaching the final many times it becomes like a running joke that i think even last year in very recent years at least they have reached the final and everyone just rolls their eyes and says, like, why even watch? Like, we just know they're going to lose. And every time it happens, all Mayo supporters are like, maybe this is the year, like, they're playing really well, this could be it.

But the curse is officially yet to be lifted. I would love to know if they have made any attempts to break the curse, to, like, rectify what they did wrong. Have they identified who the poor bastard was in the coffin and spoken to his grandchildren? Have they, you know, sacrificed the goat? Probably not. Killed any goats?

Could have nothing to do with it. Sometimes it's worth trying, you know, knocking it out of the park. You've got to get the basic ones out of the way first, just to make sure. Kill a goat goat drink some piss and then i don't know hire a wizard those are the three that you move on to like yeah i don't know apologizing to the families involved sure like making a donation on behalf of the team sure but like drink the piss first and wait a second have a couple glasses because sometimes that first

glass won't kick in it won't break things it shake the curse, but it won't break the curse, you know? Spoken as a true piss connoisseur. That's crazy. That's really crazy. I don't know, actually, enough about the story. As I say, cannot stress enough, I know nothing about Gaelic football either. But I did see whenever I was looking it up

that it was noted that in the last couple of years, the last surviving member of the original curse team died. And so people were probably looking at that and going, maybe once he passes away, the curse could be lifted because none of the people who offended them are alive to bear the curse anymore. But of course, in the stories we've looked at today, that doesn't seem to have had any effect

because even as players have moved on you said 110 years later yeah i mean shannas the guy who placed the curse tried to break it couldn't died and the curse still continued on afterwards maybe it was the goat who placed the curse in the end maybe it was murphy i don't know so true this is just a little psa on the podcast. Just be careful who you tick off because curses are very easy to get and very hard to lose. Well said. And that just about brings us to the end of this week's podcast kit. We're looking at a difficult concept here, not just the idea of curses, but specifically curses in the world of sport, in the world of baseball. Do you think that there is any genuine paranormal fact in these stories?

I think the thing I struggle with most in this instance of a curse being placed is, you know, the motive and the operation of the curse itself. How does it work? You know, I mentioned before we've done recent curse episodes. And you know, what I like to see, at least it makes sense in my brain, is whenever there is a reason for the curse. Okay, we might have that. But is there a person who cast it? Did they invoke a god or a ritual or a religion, or use some magical rite? How does it work? And what is the mechanism? I think that's what i'm missing in this yeah i mean it's kind of it tends to be like a guy yells out like y'all are never gonna win again

and then that's kind of enough yeah you know and some of these make more sense than the others the billy goat one that's a bit nuts bringing a goat and then banning a goat and then that is how the curse starts sure that's a little more out there but i mean the original story the curse of the great bambino it's like it's a mystery all right we traded away our best player and then we started to lose and they started to do pretty good yeah it's like okay i think we can put two and two together here maybe that's not necessarily paranormal um but also as as we said, how much of this is like placebo curses? Players hearing about a curse, it getting like stuck in their subconscious, and then they have that bias when they're playing games that they think that they're going to lose.

I think that's what's really interesting about this case, and maybe not paranormal, really interesting about this case and maybe not paranormal is it just shows the sheer extent that psychology controls the world of sport. Yeah, it's true. And, you know, may it continue to rule the world of sport because I like a good ritual. I like to drink a glass of piss from time to time. And now if that means I got to gotta be cursed go ahead and curse me because i want to keep drinking my team that i support the atlanta braves actually won the world series last year and uh a big part of their season and some of the rituals around it where one of the players jock peterson used to uh wear a pearl necklace whenever he was playing for the braves and he played for them in that season where

they made it all the way and won the World Series and that took off so much that in the stores that they had in the stadium they were selling merchant pearls merchandise Atlanta Braves pearls that you could like everyone in the crowd were wearing pearls people were swinging the pearls as like a way to like rally up the troops when they all came to bat uh we watched the world series we all bought like pearl necklaces so that was like i like buying into the superstition exactly you don't have to drink piss you don't have to kill a goat you don't have to do any of that stupid stuff and we won was it because i was wearing a pearl necklace yes so it's a yes for So it's a yes for me and the Powers family.

No, look, hey, I don't think we need to dance around this for long. I think it's a fun idea, but ultimately, I don't believe this is paranormal. And I'm happy to say that we're just talking about these ones today. We don't have to come down on all sports curses, just these particular baseball ones. Yeah. Yeah, I think as far as these curses go, the curse of the Billy Goat and the curse of the great Bambino,

Boptimus Prime, Hit Me Baby, One More Ruth, the legend himself, the goat, the wizard of baseball, little piggy goes to the big city. It's a no, it's a double no. Thank you though so much to Eric for sending in this recommendation.

What a cool recommendation that I never really would have thought of. If you want to send in your own cases, head on over to thisparanormallifepodcastatgmail.com. Send us a case you want us to investigate and we'll check it out. Thank you so much to Amy Grisdale for researching this week's episode. And thank you to Louis Blatherwick for editing. Guys, I know we've talked a lot about how bad curses are on this week's episode, but sometimes there are curses that you do want and that's the cursed items that have featured on episodes of This Paranormal Life. Some of you may know that on patreon.com, we offer some of the objects used on this podcast as a reward to our patrons. We do monthly raffles where we give away those objects to one lucky winner.

And this month, it could be you. We are giving away the aura glasses used in a recent episode of This Paranormal Life. Now, I don't know if you guys remember exactly what these glasses could do, but you could see ghosts. At least I could. Kit could, yeah. Interestingly, it didn't really work on me. Maybe I'm dead the whole time.

That could be the twist. But you're going to want to check it out because it is just one of the many amazing rewards we have over there. We have bonus episodes. We have a limited edition commune coin for true fans. There's a bunch of cool rewards, digital and physical. So go check it out on patreon.com forward slash

this paranormal life. All right, new reward, just spitballing here, but I just liked the Pearl story you told about our friend Jock. Yeah. So I'm just going to throw this one out there. I got my first kiss while I was wearing my lucky pair of absolutely shredded,

disgusting, soiled underwear. My favorite pair. Shouldn't be your favorite pair. I don't know why they were so shredded at that point, but if you can imagine after that day they became my lucky pair, they're even more shredded today. So I am willing to sell these.

Nobody wants this. Nobody wants this. To our listeners. Because, hey, if I was able to get... Not even give away? If I was able... No, I'm going to create more shredded pairs. And then we will sell them to the listeners,

much like the pearls for the Atlanta Braves. Yeah, I just think, you know, the pearls are like a cool novelty thing. You can wear them and have them out on display and these you can wear and like you can just privately enjoy your shredded pair and just enjoy the luck that it gives you no one even needs to know i think it defeats the purpose of the lucky object if they're hidden away and shredded yeah and soiled belief and soiled yeah i i don't think that's something that people are going to be interested in maybe like a lucky marble or like a lucky i don't know it's just like you know i actually did have a lucky marble for a while oh really yeah what happened i lost it

so i don't know where it went your life went downhill ever since yeah i lost it the day we started this podcast. Check it out, patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. One of the rewards that we also give out is a custom shout out that you can get at the end of the podcast. And that's what we're going to do right now. Thank you to Richard Hicks. Richard Hicks, ex-manager of the Knicks.

He got fired after, unfortunately, unleashing a curse beyond belief after he stood on a puppy's toe one day. Unbelievably small thing, but when you're the manager of the Knicks, anything can do it. Yeah, you got to watch out where you're stepping, bro. Thank you to Alex Lynch. Alex Lynch the pinch. If there's someone in your life that's kind of driving you a little bit crazy, not too crazy,

and you just want them to be just nipped a little bit. Okay. Just pinched. You hire Alex. That sounds like harassment. No, no, no. It's not harassment. It's just a pinch.

You can't be arrested for pinching someone. You can. You absolutely can. Yeah, for sure. Alex, no, it's not harassment. It's just a pinch. You can't be arrested for pinching someone. You can. You absolutely can. Yeah, for sure. Alex, you might be in trouble then. Thanks to Hamish Lewis. Hamish is tame-ish. You can like take him out in like public spaces and like, he's tame-ish.

Okay, that sounds like he's just not tame. No, he's like, he's nice. He's cordial. He'll like talk to people. Kind of. What? So now and again, you can take him to a baseball game. And he'll chat.

He'll enjoy the game. He's having a great time. So if he's kind and calm, but kind of, that pretty much by definition means he's angry and not camp so well sometimes on one occasion specifically he threw hot nacho cheese in a man's eyes okay so so he is tame not tame at all you know i'm not gonna hang out with just keep him away from the cheese thank you to christy simmons come on down to Christy Simmons Cinnamon-nims Bakery. That's where you can get all the most delicious, fresh cinnamon-nims goodies.

So you did it twice, so you didn't misspeak the first time. It's a very confusing sign. It looks like a type of cinnamon-nims. You get all these delicious treats. No bread, though, or dough. Just cinnamon-nims. That one was a mistake. That one was a mistake. That one was different.

That one was a mistake. Thank you to Callum Patterson. Callum Patterson, a famous filmer of the Patterson footage. Wow, that was him? Pretty good. Well done. Well done, mate.

Well done. His life was ruined by it, though. Really was. He was just trying to make a whole movie bigfoot walked into the background oh game over yeah game over i accidentally filmed the bigfoot on a family holiday once and i just deleted it i was like i don't need this i want to be a normal man uh thank you to jack mason jack mason the jacked freemason this guy is who the freemasons put on the door uh to scare away people who shouldn't be entering the freemason this guy is who the freemasons put on the door uh to scare away people who

shouldn't be entering the freemasons because he's on account of being so jacked smart smart we're talking borderline encrypted 12 foot three oh really weird dude three eyes but hey it's not someone you're gonna mess with on the front door so it does the job they get to tanner brown tanner brown if you don't own a tanning studio you are missing out because you can get people tanned till they're brown that sounds like a great business idea right there yeah tanners tanners that's like when uh when in the olden days when like blacksmiths were called smiths and bakers were called bakers you're called tanner for a reason buddy i'm pretty sure though back in the day that was for tanning hides oh right was it

not for getting you a sick tan i'm a professional spanker thank you i'm not gonna even correct that thank you to that's a tanning a hide thank you to james kaiser. James Kaiser, don't get any ideas here in the commune. There's only room for one slash two Kaisers. It's true. The Kaiser Chiefs. That's right. The eponymous

indie band of the mid 2000s. They run the commune here. They are the, they're doing a residency. Thank you to Amberley England. Amberley, much like Tanner, if you don't own England,

you're missing a trick. You really should try and buy it, because that would really just tie the whole name thing together. Right, like, you know, most people need a sick URL, but like, a country? That's pretty up there, actually. Yeah, and if England's not available, maybe just lower it to like, Amberley Tree, and just see if you can plant a shrub or something, you know? It's more achievable. Yeah. Sure. Thank you to Bailey.

If it isn't Whaley Bailey, anything you say to Bailey is gonna upset them. Honestly. Sometimes you're like, hey, I got you a happy birthday. I got you a cake. Upset because the cake's too small or something. Or it's like I didn't use the right ingredients.

Yeah, you did give him a cupcake. Or like sometimes, like one time I forgot to cook it. So it's just like an egg in a bowl. That's not a cake. And Bailey's upset just because I didn't do it right. They'll cry at anything, honestly. They should. Thank you to Kyle Heinem.

Better keep your possessions away from Kyle. Because he'll hide them. That's just like a weird thing he does. That's stealing. No, no, no, it's not stealing. Of course it is. He'll just hide them at his place or like pawn them off. Stealing, theft, illegal.

It'll just be small things, though, like a knife or a plate or your car. It's not that small, No, no, huge. Or like a loved one sometime. One time it was a loved one. Kidnapping, of course. It's hiding them. Thank you to Jennifer Yeaton. Keep Jennifer away from your things

because she'll yeet them. She'll yeet your loved ones to another country. Hey, throwing shit is fun. What can we say? Even baseball pitchers know that. Thank you to Emma Smith Bodie. No Bodie can fight like Emma Smith. Really?

She's trained in every kind of martial arts. Karate, judo, knives. That's not a martial art, though. Hitting people with cars. Any lethal way of taking down a human. Poison. Thank you to Tyler Martin. Tyler Martin says they're not a Martian, but I don't know, Tyler.

Sometimes I don't understand what you're saying. Sometimes I give you a glass of water and you just put it in your ear, which is pretty weird, dude. Slightly suspicious. And it's like, I don't know. Like some days you have one eye, which is, I guess, finelightly suspicious. And it's like, I don't know, like some days you have one eye, which is, I guess, fine.

But other days it's like six. And I'm just a little like, I'm just a little confused because I trust him, you know? He's like a friend. But I feel like he's lying to me in some way.

You don't even know how many eyes he has. Thanks lastly today to Cliff Trolley. This guy's a man on the edge with so much baggage they call him Cliff Trolley. But it's a man on the edge with so much baggage, they call him Cliff Trolley. But it's all good, brother.

Whatever curse you're afflicted with can be lifted. Back the trolley up. Yeah, and if you need to go off that cliff, just hop in the trolley, and you're going to have a sweet ride to the bottom. No, no, no. Thank you so much to everyone who supported us on Patreon, and thank you to everyone who just listened to this week's episode.

I hope you had a blast and of course, we will be back next Tuesday with a brand new Paranormal Tale!