This Paranormal Life - #369 Was Beethoven Cursed? The Mystery of the Ninth Symphony

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

It’s said that Beethoven’s death was like a biblical scene — he shook his fist at the heavens and a clap of thunder roared across Vienna as he left this world. His contemporary, Mahler, would become obsessed with his death because of another strange coincidence surrounding it: he died composing his tenth symphony, making Beethoven one of a long line of composers to die after completing their ninth symphony. Mahler would call this the curse of the ninth. Is there some strange supernatural power that limits earthly musicians to nine symphonies like a cat has nine lives? Or have these composers made a deal with the devil? Time for Rory and Kit to put on their powdered wigs and investigate!Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunitySupport us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! - thisparanormallife.com/storeIntro music by www.purple-planet.comEdited by Philip Shacklady Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is there a musical note that could open up a black hole? What, if anything, is stopping woodpeckers from pecking something else? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of... This Paranormal Life! Hello! Hey! And good evening and welcome back to This Paranormal Life. This is the weekly comedy podcast where every Tuesday, myself, Kit Grimelvenna,

this guy sitting across from me, Mr. Rory Powers, get to the bottom of a different case every week and decide by the end of the episode whether it's really paranormal or not. How you doing today, Rory? Why are you dressed like this? Why are you dressed? Listen to the podcast, Kit is dressed in a,

what is this? You've got a powdered wig on, a vest and a floaty white shirt. I don't think that question even necessitates answering to be quite honest. I mean, you know, I always put that shit on. I assume.

I'm Mr. Put That Shit On. Uh, I assume it has something to do with today's case. Hey, it's just a shirt. So something, I mean, is this great, fellas, is it gay to wear a shirt? I mean, it's just a shirt. So, I mean, is this great? Fellas, is it gay to wear a shirt? I mean, it's just a shirt. No. Uh, and a shirt and a vest with some pretty tasteful lining, actually. And, um, I will say, I think the hair is an improvement on my hair.

Uh, it's, you know, if you gave that a little trim, it's doing something for you. Right. It looks pretty good. You look like an old- timey judge that's about to execute a witch. You're saying I look powerful, which I do like. Hmm, I don't know about that. I will come clean. It does have a passing, it was a coincidence that it has something to do

with this case. I did just happen to rock it because it was for sale. But it actually does have some bearing on today's case. Because Rory! Our story begins today in Vienna, Austria in 1827. Okay. Where one of the most important people in human history lies severely ill on his death bed.

Friends and family gather around to pay their final respects. And with his last moments of consciousness he speaks his last words. Applaud friends, the comedy is over. His last rites are administered and the sick man drifts into a coma. And yet later in his last dying moments he miraculously wakes up, rises from his bed, stretches his arm into the air. Eyewitnesses said he shook his fist at the heavens, and just then a huge clap of thunder roared across the city of Vienna. Whoa! These were the last dramatic moments of Ludwig van Beethoven. Oh shit! That is very very cool what a way to

die. Wow. It's going out with a bang closing your symphony off with an exclamation to that degree. It's pretty it's actually pretty kind of thematically on the nose that he kind of he spent his life conducting right giving it all this getting his wand like I've got here conducting yeah on his last moments he conducted the skies into a final rapturous applause. Right. It's very symbolic of how he lived his life. Right. If I was passing away, if this was me, I would say something like,

the comedy is now over. Right. And now we'd like to thank everyone that's supported us on Patreon. Shout out to... James McAllister! I'm just naming the nurses around me. Sean McWilliams. And an extra thank you to the heroine that has made the last four weeks durable.

He's shouting out the night terror demons that are standing in the corner of the room. And Toby Alzabub. I didn't like you at first, but I come to knew thee. Roy's on his deathbed, literally trying to do comedy. He's like, can we get a last prompt from the audience? He's like, well, you are about to die. Just say I love you to your children.

Give me a location, anyone. The hospital. OK. OK. What's the deal with hospital food? And a prompt? You're dying. All right.

Rory, Beethoven. The Beethoven. Pretty cool stuff. Normally, we have to deal with schmucks, chumps, and nobodies investigating the paranormal. But today, we get to investigate someone pretty well-known. I mean, as famous as it gets, really. And I feel like we should know something about Beethoven, right?

Let me tell you, we are very well-educated in this manner. We are people who have earned the right to cover this because I actually studied music in high school and Kit's wearing a powdered wig. So I think we know what we're talking about. Put us together. Yeah. And we're pretty annoying at house parties is what we're trying to say. It is true.

I guess what I'm saying is I feel like we should know something, yet we probably don't. We did, of course, study music enthusiastically, but not very well to our A levels at secondary school. I did go on to do music at university, you did film, but I didn't really do proper music. I did music technology, all the nerdy shit, whereas other people like we've made, so we went on to actually keep studying composition

and great composers. Yeah, the more classical side of things. You know, I will say, you don't really need to know a lot about these famous composers to impress people at parties, because the general level of knowledge is so low that you can kind of make shit up and people will be impressed. So I sometimes tell people, you know, things like,

did you know Beethoven actually had wooden teeth? And they kind of, no one's gonna fight me on that, you know, things like, did you know Beethoven actually had wooden teeth? And they kind of, no one's gonna fight me on that, you know? Because they turned his real teeth into a piano. Yeah, look, I'm not too proud to say a lot of composers blend into one for me. But so everyone's on the same page, Beethoven was dun dun dun dun and Furalice, Moonlight Sonata and so on. And in some ways, hearing about the death of an iconic composer feels like a paranormal case itself because artists and musicians and poets and things are sometimes surrounded by spiritual or paranormal theories.

Like many years ago, we covered Robert Johnson and how he traded his soul with the devil to play blues guitar. Right, some musicians reach such heights of greatness, it seems like they're connected to otherworldly energies. Energies that sometimes giveth, like Robert Johnson's guitar skills, but at other times they taketh away. Today we'll be exploring a paranormal mystery,

hiding in plain sight in musical history, and asking the question, can a piece of music be cursed? I love this. What a great idea for an investigation. Very excited to dive into this one. Let's do just that. After a couple of words from today's sponsors with a reminder that every single episode of This Paranormal Life and the bonus ones are available ad free over at

patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life and the bonus ones are available ad free over at patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life 80 years after that dramatic night in Vienna another musical genius Gustav Mahler Thought about his own mortality. He had become obsessed with Beethoven's death You see like Beethoven Mahler had written nine symphonies, and he became fixated on the fact that Beethoven had died writing his tenth. He started to develop a theory that we'll be investigating today, the Curse of the Ninth. I had no idea that Beethoven didn't make it through his tenth symphony. That's crazy.

Did you know he also had wooden teeth? Fun little fact. Now you did tell me a moment ago that you like to make lies about famous composers. That's not one of them. That's common knowledge, brother. Remind me, which famous composer couldn't hear? It was deaf. It was Beethoven. Is it Beethoven?

It is Beethoven. We better check, shouldn't we? Let's do that. We don't want this to be the Wizard of Alls and Disney all over again. Patrons will know. Yeah, looking it up quickly, Beethoven began losing his hearing in his twenties. But of course, by that time, he was already a pretty brilliant musician and composer. So because otherwise, you know, like if you were training to be a fighter pilot, and then you went completely blind midway because otherwise, you know, like if you were training to be a fighter pilot, and then you went completely blind midway through training, you would probably give up on training, right?

But Beethoven was already so elite. It would be like if Mike Tyson in his prime had lost an arm. It would have been like, he's still good with one. He still packs a punch, even if it was a left arm. It would have been great if he continued to make music and he's like, I guess I still got it cause you know, I'm making these beats and everyone's really excited about it and everyone's like, we're trying to tell you it sucks. You can't hear us.

It's so bad. But everyone's like frail in their arms about and he's like, all right, they're loving this one. They're going nuts with this one. Oh, someone took a swing at me. It's so good. Shit, crank it up, you say, all right. And just for fun, the cause of his deafness is a mystery,

but analysis of his DNA says it might be due to the large amounts of lead in his body. So yeah, bit rough, all those powdered wigs powdered with lead. But yes, Rory, maybe not commonly known because most people don't know what a symphony is, but he died writing his tenth. But Mahler became extremely superstitious about this. He began obsessing over numbers. Walking every day from his hotel to the Vienna court opera, he neurotically counted out 100 steps and obsessively tried to avoid finishing on number 99.

He had heard how Beethoven died and it sounded like a story from the Bible or something and it fueled this kind of superstitious fear in him. Mahler popularized an idea that anywhere between finishing your eighth symphony, writing your 9th, or beginning your 10th was a dangerous kind of territory for a composer, the danger zone, and this came to be known as the Curse of the 9th. Had it just been Beethoven, this might have just been an idea, but sadly it was the fate of another composer that really cemented this idea of a curse in Mahler's mind. Because only a year after Beethoven died in November 1828 Franz Schubert died of typhoid fever. Even

stranger Schubert had been at Beethoven's funeral actually carrying a torch and everything. Wow! Schubert had been nicknamed the King of Song. He wrote hundreds of secular works, worship music, operas and chamber songs, but crucially he had also written nine symphonies. And that was the moment he turned from composer to decomposer. Ha ha ha ha ha! I love it.

All right, so we're seeing a pattern here. Lots of famous composers making it to number nine, and then just like a baseball game the show is over once you hit the ninth. Yeah it's an interesting one. I don't necessarily know why writing this amount of music would mean that your time is up on this earth unless we're talking about some kind of deal with the devil as you alluded to earlier in the story. That maybe it's your little monkey paw wish. Yes, I will help you get all of these amazing works of art

into the world, but you only get nine. And if you try and push it, you go to hell. I own your soul, something like that. Yeah, I mean, I'm glad you tried to make that connection. Like I say, it was a different time. And I wonder how much, like there was an idea of, I do think today we live in a different time where it's much more of a like optimistic time, but also we have like lots of things like healthcare and stuff to keep us going that I think it

probably wasn't that long ago that, you know, like for example, you know, we have some friends that ran a marathon the other day. I went to go support them, cheer them on. The original story of where marathon comes from it's, it's because it was an ancient Greek battle or whatever, right? It was like a soldier ran from Athens to marathon, the marathon's the place. And the story was that he ran this distance to tell them that this army was coming, but then he dropped dead at the end after running it. And I don't know, doesn't the Bible talk about like, four score in this many years and-

That was Abraham Lincoln. No, the Bible says something too. Let me, all right, I put, to figure out. Bible. Didn't Jesus wear a big hat and freed the slaves? I was trying to remember the Bible verse about it, so I've looked it up, but even in the Bible, Psalm 90 verse 10, the days of our years

are three score years and 10, which I think I'm right in saying, right, is 70 years old. And if by reason of strength they be four score years, 80 years old, yet is their strength, labour and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. I feel like in the past, it probably was a lot more of this idea of a limit, of the limit of our human capabilities.

And maybe that's true, like you say, with cats and their nine lives. Yeah, yeah. You kind of get your lot and then it's done. Whereas nowadays we've kind of got enough billionaires injecting themselves with teenage rats' blood to know that all the limits of the past don't really exist anymore. Teenage rat is probably comparatively a very old rat. That's not really the one you want to go for. I mean, what I'm hearing is, if I never write a

symphony in my life, I'm never gonna die. I'm technically immortal by the sounds of things. Yeah, what Millennials like me and you have to worry about is if there's kind of a tweet limit. Mmm, yeah right. You know the way there's like a, used to be 140 characters. What if it's like if you craft 10, a tweet limit. Mmm, yeah, right. You know the way there's like, it used to be 140 characters. What if it's like, if you craft 10,000 tweets in your life, God just executes you on the spot. It's like, this needs to end. Right.

I think our generation's version of that is you get one mortgage and then you die. That's kind of where we're heading. You're a first time homeowner and then you die. You're kind of where we're heading. You're a first-time homeowner and then you die. You're never a second-time homeowner. Yeah. That's kind of our limits that we're reaching. Well the deaths of Beethoven and Schubert had sparked Mahler's imagination but like in the Da Vinci Code when he started looking back through the history books he realized this was the disturbing connection between so many deaths. It all came down to writing their Ninth Symphony. We have covered a lot of curses in our time,

from ancient sarcophagus to cursed diamonds to cursed ads for Kleenex. This actually kind of does feel like new territory. Interestingly, not a single piece of cursed music, but almost a cursed number. Maybe the same way you wouldn't want to stay on an unlucky number 13th floor of a hotel, you shouldn't write a Ninth Symphony. That's another way of looking at it.

Right. Yeah, I can see that. Because yeah, you're right. We have had the cursed Kleenex TV advert where there was a song that was allegedly cursed. We had a poem called To To Me Knows Hell, that if you read it, apparently, you were cursed or would die. But this is just a number of things, you know, and kind of, I'm not saying it's a seemingly normal thing,

writing a symphony, that's pretty extraordinary, but it is interesting to know, is there just a number of everything that if you have it, you die? You know? And the numbers change depending on what it is, so it's like, hey, did you know if you have it, you die. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And the numbers change depending on what it is. So it's like, Hey, did you know if you eat 2100 bananas, you die on the spot. Well, you'll definitely die if you eat 2100 bananas.

I think the number is far less. Is it, there is a weird number for bananas though, isn't there? Yeah. Isn't it like 12? You'll just... No, that's not true. It is. It is.

It's a small number. I think that was an urban legend. It's like, did you know there's so much potassium in bananas? If you eat six in a row, you turn to stone or something like that. As I, Hey, I read it in Ripley's world of believe it or not, or whatever it's called. So that means it's fact brother. Do you know Beethoven was also called the banana man? I'm going to Google how many bananas to die.

Cause those wooden teeth were eating six bananas an hour. Here's one result. Bananas are radioactive. You could die from radiation poisoning from eating a banana. If you eat 10 million bananas at once. There you go. No, there's something else. I think you'd sooner choke on the bananas than die from whatever's inside the bananas. Alright, damn it. Yeah, there seems to be an urban legend about eating more than six bananas

at once. But yeah, the BBC said is maybe might be more like 400 bananas. I know about that lie because I made it up at the same party. I made up a lot of the Beethoven stuff. If you're going to lie, make up more interesting shit like you could make up anything. You could say that you personally climbed Everest. It was the first thing. Well, no one's gonna believe that! They could.

No, but bananas? Something about bananas? Right. So it's not about me, it's about a banana instead? So needless to say, still a lot to be uncovered about this mysterious affliction, but Mahler was convinced that there was some kind of dark power lurking between a composer's ninth and tenth symphony. So he wanted to take action. Remember, this guy is one of the great composers too. Well, don't take action.

Here's how you read it. Do nothing! Put down the wand, brother. Put down the quill, hang up the wig. Yeah, he wanted to get to the bottom of it, so he took action and wrote his 10th symphony. No! Don't do anything! A symphony so good, the devil would have to let him live. Bad move. It is a good point. You're about to see where this is going. While he had already written

nine symphonies and was definitely in the danger zone, he felt if he could just avoid writing his tenth, because by some metric he's already worried, that's why he's so obsessed, because he's already worried he's crossed the threshold. It's like, you've done nine, that's the problem. But he felt if I could at least avoid writing my tenth, I might escape the curse. He announced that his next work, He announced that his next work, Das Lied von der Erde, that this piece, he called it a song cycle, even though it was clearly symphonic in structure. But he felt technically this wasn't a 10th symphony.

He didn't call it a symphony. It was never classified as one of Mahler's symphonies, not numbered that way. Kind of a genius move. Write the symphony, but just don't call it one. But it does go to show how seriously he took this idea. Right. You know, this does sound stupid on paper, but in all of these old-timey stories, this is exactly how everyone beats the devil.

Right. Right. Because he's so goddamn thick that everyone just finds loopholes and people get to keep their souls. Yeah. The devil almost gets a kick out of people finding a loophole. Yeah, he's got like a kink for loopholes. Yeah. Like, you know, someone will be like, oh, yeah, I'll come to hell with you, devil, as soon as you let me finish my last pint.

And then they'll just have, they'll drink it right to the bottom and they'll say... And he's like, I don't see any loopholes here. I don't see any loopholes at all. This is airtight contracts. You're a raging alcoholic, so you're definitely going to finish up this pint. The person drinks all the way down to the bottom and leaves a sip in the glass, and the devil's like,

ooh! Ooh, how did he f***ing get me again? There's a big smile on his face. Yeah, he's loving it. You can tell he's kind of into this thing. Um, I think he's got kind of like a humiliation kink for Ken loopholed out of his own deals. I can see it.

Hey, if I worked at Alcatraz, actually let's up the, the, the ante here. Azkaban. If I worked at Azkaban, if I worked in the most secure prison of all time where souls are locked away, not too dissimilar to hell itself, you know, your life is so boring, so regimented, you're just, you know, every day is just damning people to hell, locking them away forever. Sorry, you think that being a security guard in Azkaban, the prison for wizards

would be a boring day to day, nine to five? I do, because it's too damn secure. Stop pointing that conductor's wand at me. Because it's too damn secure. I keep thinking you're off the cast. The power has gone to my head. It feels fantastic. Famously wizards got out.

I think that's the plot of a whole movie. Yeah, but think of all the years that people didn't get out. When someone got out, they made a whole book about it. What I'm saying is if every day is just security, people not escaping, you're kind of going to get excited when, when people escape. Oh, I see. You're, you know, if someone, if you check or

you're doing the rounds, you're checking on someone's cell and then you see that the tile rope draped out the window down to the sea where a boat was waiting. You're kind of going to, you know, you might even slow clap, you know? Right, right. You're like, bravo. This is exciting.

This is exciting. Yeah. And I guess if you're the devil as well, you know, somebody doing something sneaky and underhanded, that's kind of your whole shtick. Just cause they're doing it to you doesn't mean you're not getting a kick out of it. You're probably getting off a little bit on it. That's what I'm saying.

So I think, no, let's be completely clear, way smarter if he'd just never written the f***ing thing. Yeah, just don't do it. Don't write a symphony. Write anything, write a pop song, who cares? But clearly the crack-like high of writing a symphony is too strong and he had to write it. But of course, with curses, part of what makes them fascinating is where they come from.

We've seen a lot of varieties, but broadly speaking, it's almost like two camps. Now stay with me here. There's almost like naturalistic kind of curses, which are almost more like bad luck, right? Like walking under a ladder, you could be said to be cursed, but it's kind of bad luck. Or on the other hand, you've got kind of an active curse where a wizard says, whoever lives in this house will be damned forever. What we want to know is how the curse

of the Ninth Symphony came about. Did he die? Did we finish the story? What happened to him? You're going to have to tune in after the ad break to find out. I mean of course he died! It was the 1800s! What do you think happened? He didn't live. He's not still here.

Please welcome Malor to the studio! You're like, did he die? The mother****** had wooden teeth! He couldn't eat. All he could eat was porridge. He was killed by woodpeckers. He couldn't eat, all he could eat was porridge. He was killed by woodpeckers. Now, sadly, the origins of this curse are pretty thin on the ground. Most believers, considering it mostly bad luck,

a bit like the Macbeth curse we covered recently, that was kind of its shtick, as kind of widely believed as the Macbeth curse is. And there is a little bit of a theorytick, as widely believed as the Macbeth curse is, and there is a little bit of a theory of like, maybe they accidentally said some witches words, it more just seems to be like, hey, all we know is, when someone does X, this happens. That's kind of where it's come from. The closest thing to an explanation for the curse came from another composer, Arnold Schoenberg,

who said, It seems that the ninth is a limit. He who wants to go beyond it must pass away. It seems as if something might be imparted to us in the tenth, which we ought not yet to know, for which we are not ready. Those who have written a ninth stood too close to the hereafter. Oh shit! Here's a little theory for you, alright?

Go on. You know, as humans, the further we evolve, the further we go down the line, it takes more and more for us to get close to the edge. You know? When I wake up in the morning, I need three cups of coffee, a Monster Energy drink, and to ride my car over here at 100 miles per hour without a seatbelt on just to feel something. I have to get my wife to kick me in the newt sack every morning just for me to wake up and open my eyes. Right. You go back far enough, there were probably cavemen that had to have a limit on how many berries they looked at.

Yeah. Or their heart would stop. Yeah. You know? That was their curse. They were like, hey, do you hear Jerry? He ate 12 blueberries, and his heart exploded because he couldn't handle the sugar and the adrenaline of having that many berries in him. Bro had like 25 calories in one sitting, and he passed away. Passed away instantly. Now we're kind of at that sweet spot where, you know, as humans and as

civilization, we're, we're branching off into all these different forms of art. The symphony has a hold on us. You know, this is to these musical composers, this is a drug. This is cocaine. Every symphony is a fat line of chow. And if you do 10 in a row, it's too much for the human body at this point to comprehend. Right, you're saying kind of musicians of the future in a thousand years in the Andromeda galaxy, they'll be cranking out symphonies like tweets. Right. But today

it takes too much kind of brain. You know, until the Elon Musk brain implant drops, we're stuck with nine or ten symphonies. I do like that. You know, you asked before, is there anything similar to it? And, you know, there's not too many people these days writing symphonies. I mean, obviously there's lots, but in the scheme of things, it's a small subsection of society. Not enough people are educated or skilled enough to write it.

Probably the closest thing might be, there might be a number of albums. Because this is one of my theories, is that it might even depend on the content of it a bit. Because maybe some prankster could come along and just smash out some chat GPT symphonies and just put out loads of them. But they're kind of meaningless and no and just put out loads of them.

But they're kind of meaningless and no soul or heart has gone into them. But a bit like an album, some artists just put so much of their life into each big body of work. They pour it out. That there's almost nothing left of them. They're just like a dried out little raisin

after their ninth symphony. It's a bit like us doing this podcast. We lay it all out there, we pour it all on the field, and by the time we say, thanks for listening, everyone, we'll see you next Tuesday, Kit and I just kind of turn to ash, crumble away in our chairs.

Because we are sitting here, if you strapped a chest heart rate monitor to me, or put a whoop band on my arm, the mother-****** scientists over at the lab would think I was Tom Brady on Super Bowl night because the kind of elevated levels of everything in my body, like we're podcasting at such a high level. Yeah, you really shouldn't be that. They would think I was Tyson Fury in the ring.

Yeah, have you had your blood pressure tested? This actually sounds really unhealthy. Your heart shouldn't be going this fast. Yeah, they said it was like I was being hunted for sport. Okay. Well, that's definitely not bad. Just taking a nap. In fact, it was like I was being hunted by wolves.

When was the last time you got to- I dream of wolves often. Okay. Well, that's a very different thing. I dream of wolves. All right. When was the last time you, I don't know, like had vitamins?

What's that? Do you get your... what's a vitamin? Do you get your five a day? Yeah, of course. I like to mix them up too. Sirloin, T-bone. Those are steaks. Sometimes I'll throw in a lamb sh... what?

That's mean I'm talking about vegetables? Yeah, five cuts of meat a day. When was the last time you exercised in any form? Um, let me think. Shouldn't have to think that hard. Uh, I would say, I, I did go for a brisk walk, uh, on my 15th birthday. I think, I think my, my mother told me there was the cake was in the car and I had to go collect it.

All right. So I think the reason your heart is racing is less to do with the fact that we're hosting this podcast and more to do with the fact you're a deeply unhealthy person. Okay. Yeah. So just something to bear in mind. I hear that.

Uh, you don't need nine symphonies. I think you might die any second. You could probably recite a poem and that would be enough to die. He's so short-winded by the end. Kids like, I can do it. Watch this. May I compare thee to a summer's day? It's happening.

Yeah. Forget about nine of these. This dude couldn't do nine setups. In the ground. Uh, yeah. It's the, it's the Kurt Cobain line. Something, something. No, it's not.'s the Kurt Cobain line. Something something, no, it's not.

Bad way to start a quote. So, so I don't remember the rest. You know, it's the the Kurt Cobain line. Something something better to burn bright and then fade away. It wasn't worth bringing up the quote. If you barely knew any of the words. Something something, the light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long. Half as long?

Half as long. Okay. But getting back to Schoenberg's definition, I thought that was f***ing badass as hell. It's like you hit a limit, man, and whether it's God or Brahman or some higher power of the universe. It's like there's a paranormal MIB that will shut you down if you get too close to the truth. Right. Um, but it's like you're getting too close to the other side. Yeah, I like it.

As I said, this writing symphonies was the most living anyone could do at this time. Uh, so if you write 10, yeah, you are getting close to seeing the face of God. I guess I don't know what it takes to write a symphony because these guys are describing it like it's going to Vietnam Right to war and it is weirdly connected to what what I was talking about at the beginning He's saying that composers like him like Beethoven Schubert Mahler and so on They're connected to a mysterious creative force, but that 10th symphony takes it too far somehow. This definitely reminds me of the 27th Club in a way.

Can you explain that one to the listeners by any chance? Oh, I don't know if I'm qualified, but I believe the 27th Club is, 27 was just an age where a lot of famous celebrities over the years, movie stars, actors, musicians, all hit 27 and then passed away through some means. It's such an exclusive club. Whenever I was 26, about to turn 27, I woke up on my birthday in my best suit.

I'd comb my hair. I thought I was destined to be one of the greats. You're ready to go. I had written a little farewell kind of note for everybody. And then that day I realized I was going to be a dud. I was going to be completely forgotten about the history books because I didn't die at 27. Yeah, it's a sad, sad moment when you don't get to be part of that elusive club and you've got to live the rest of your stupid life.

What's the point, huh? Especially because I spent all my money thinking I was going to be gone at 27. So I woke up in depth 28. That sucked. Imagine how that feels. Waking up, still alive on your 28th birthday, you call your parents to say, oh, it turns out I'm still alive and they said, we thought you died years ago. Horrible.

That's not a great way to spend your birthday, is it? This is the worst birthday I've ever heard of. It is a crazy list though of people. years ago. Horrible. That's not a great way to spend your birthday, is it? That is the worst. Yeah, that was the worst birthday I've ever heard of. It is a crazy list though, of people. I mean, I mentioned Kurt Cobain. He is one of the most famous. He is also credited with the 27 club started long before him, but he was someone who almost threw it into the public consciousness.

Um, I believe the 27 club dated back to the 70s. I don't remember which year exactly, but there, it was actually basically one year or two years where a lot of people died, including Jim Morrison of the doors and several others, I believe. Jimi Hendrix is in that club too. So they were in the seventies. That's when it really kicked off. Several amazing talents died very young.

Yeah. Coincidentally around the time where Hollywood was being flooded with drugs, uh, there seemed to be a wave of deaths of young people. If you're curious, go to the 27 Club Wikipedia page. They have an enormous table. They're actually keeping a list very morbidly of people are being added to all the time, celebrities from around the world who die young. But there is lots of interesting reasons for why the 27 Club exists.

It is kind of a threshold of youth into adulthood. And can you cross that Rubicon? Can you negotiate that movement from one stage of your life to the next? And maybe there's a little bit of that here too of, you know, it takes a bloody long time to write nine symphonies. So maybe by that time you're reaching like a point where you're not that healthy anymore. Yeah. But probably the one thing that's going to make you believe in The Curse of the Ninth Most is just seeing how many people this affected, how many famous people this affected in history. We're gonna check that out right after a couple words from today's sponsors.

So many people died from this thing and many many more believe in it to this day. For example Dvorak, remember him? Hmm, who's he? Kind of. The Czech visionary composer died in May 1904 of what was disturbingly described as an undiagnosed cause. Cough cough, curse! But here's where things get interesting. Dvorák only wrote five symphonies. Wrong.

He only publicly wrote five. This curse is clever and hard to escape. Oh. After he died, it was discovered that he had four more obscure and uncataloged symphonies lying around, bringing the total to nine. Whoa. The devil just shows up one night and he's like going through the scrap pieces of paper

on his desk being like, that counts. I know that's a doodle, but that was gonna become a symphony. I'm counting that one. He's going through his voice mem like, that counts. I know that's a doodle, but that was going to become a symphony. I'm counting that one. It's going through his voice memos and his iPhone. Like it's Dvorak on the tubes. Like, ah, just a quick idea. Do do do do do do do.

That's a symphony written all over it. I like the idea of the devil turning up to raid someone's office. Like the FBI. Just check how many symphonies they've done. Symphony police! It's like, no, no, no, I've never wrote a symphony in my life! It's a sonnet, it's a sonnet, I swear! What do you call this?

What do you call this? Oh, f***, f***, run! Shoot him. Next, the modernist Finnish composer Sibelius died while writing his 9th symphony. It said he was struggling so much with his 9th that he set fire to the manuscript out of frustration. He died in 1957 of a brain hemorrhage. Like I said, the curse cannot be tricked.

The great composer Bruckner seemed to have beaten the curse when he finished his 11th symphony. Oh, but Bruckner was renowned for being a perfectionist, constantly going back and revisiting and reworking his old pieces, sometimes even recalling them. It's said that this reworking constantly technically reset his total number of symphonies to, you guessed it, nine. Okay. And he died soon after in 1896. Okay, we're seeing almost a bit of final destination activity right here.

Yeah. Someone who thinks they got past it, but then because of technicalities, it still hunts them down. Yeah, honestly. Damn. Fun fact, Bruckner was fascinated by death, and supposedly was there when both Beethoven and Schubert's bodies were exhumed to be moved to another cemetery. It's said that he reached into their coffins to hold the skulls of his musical heroes.

Weird. Keep an eye on that dude. Yeah. Glazunov took 25 years to follow up on his 8th symphony and borderline the moment his pen hit the paper on his 9th he developed a drinking problem, writer's block and died. There's no way. He those 25 years he was jacked, he was tanned, flowing long hair, touched the manuscript for his Ninth Symphony and all fell apart. I believe he kind of fell apart in terms of his like confidence and creativity that he found it a bit like our friend Sibelius earlier struggled to write it so much then from Nine Onwards. Right. Is it a creative block or is it out of fear? It's hard to write when you're always looking over your shoulder.

Yeah, it's hard to write with a gun pressed to the back of your head, which is borderline where they were. Yeah, and you know, the music isn't going to sound too jolly and upbeat when the looming threat of eternal damnation is on your doorstep. Seriously. It's like the concept of a last meal. I never really got the concept of a last meal. I get it. It's like, oh, this is a courteous thing we do for people. It's like, hey, we'll make your favourite meal. Hey, you know your grandmother's mac and cheese. We'll make it for you. Give us the recipe. We'll make it for you. It's like, it's not gonna make up for much. I don't think it's gonna taste that good.

Yeah, the warden's like, how is it? Like, it fucking sucks. I'm gonna die today. This is, yeah, it all tastes like ash in my mouth. Yeah, it turns out. It's like, it turns out my favorite meal, even eaten at my work office desk on my lunch break, doesn't taste that good, given the surroundings.

Let alone death row. That's why if I ever go to prison and I'm served the last meal, I'm gonna order the key to the jail cell. Yeah, it doesn't work like that. And for dessert? Doesn't work. A gun.

Right, okay. Cause I'm allowed to have whatever I want. But as I said, in Azkaban, the wardens are like, ooh, got us. Yeah, what would you like for your last meal, wizard? Oh, hard to guess. The wardens are like, ooh, he got us! What would you like for your last meal, wizard? Oh, hard to guess. I'll take some butter beer, some of those chocolate frogs. And can I just get my wand and a Nimbus 2000?

Yeah, of course. Oh no! He's got away! A Nimbus! Motherf**ker! The Russian Alfred Schnittke managed to finish 8 symphonies, but by the time he reached his 9th in 1997, a series of

strokes had left him almost completely paralysed. It said that the handwriting on the original score of his 9th Symphony was almost unreadable. Wow. He died the following year. I thought that was just a cool visual. Doesn't that sum it all up? Literally the handwriting falling off the page of his Ninth Symphony. Yeah, love the devil turning up looking at a squiggle on a page and he's like, I'll take it. You're coming with me. The guy can barely walk. What a sick c***.

He was writing a note to his maid. No, that's a symphony. He was trying to write a symphony. That counts. You're done. The devil gets so desperate that by the end this guy's just sitting in bed at night reading, then eventually gets so tired, blows out the candle, puts his book by his desk,

and goes, That's a symphony! Alright, I knew you were trying to do something there. eventually gets so tired, blows out the candle, puts his book by his desk and goes, that's a symphony! All right, I knew you were trying to do something there. I'm taking you down. He blows out the candle. Was that a whistle? That was tuneful, that was borderline tuneful. That's an opening piece.

You're coming with me. The devil is planting evidence at the scene. He's like, no, I swear everything's in order, sir. Only eight symphonies. The devil throws down an at the scene. He's like, no, I swear everything's in order, sir. Only eight symphonies. The devil throws down an extra symphony. What? Take them away, guys. What are they going to say to the precinct

when they find this on you? And it goes on. Kirk Atterberg, Malcolm Arnold, Vaughan Williams, all died after composing nine symphonies. Damn. One very cool thing, I I thought is that apparently the curse lives to this day. Even contemporary composers are scared of it. In 2012, Philip Glass, the very famous cutting edge minimalist pianist and composer said,

quote, everyone is afraid to do a ninth. It's a jinx that people think about. Man, if I could be bothered writing Eight Symphonies, I'd take a swing at the knife. Right. You know, I'd give it a shot. Right, this is coming from a guy who rides a motorcycle, right? You just don't care. I'm ready. Yeah, you're just... Rory's grabbing the devil's revolver, pressing it to his forehead and saying, do it. I dare you.

Do it. Because you don't want me down there with you, buddy. Rory's got to be down there giving the devil hell. Yeah. I know what you mean. Yeah. Like it's probably also the fact that yeah, these guys are pretty old at this stage. Yeah.

Maybe it takes, maybe it takes an entire human's life to write nine symphonies. I think so. I think that's part of it, but I was going to say, you know, maybe they're like pretty risk averse at the end. You know, they're reflecting a lot on mortality towards the end of their lives. What we need is like a young hyperpop producer, 14 years old, you know, because when you're a teenager, you don't give a f***. You're getting face tattoos. Hell yeah. You're doing jackass stunts.

Oh yeah, smoking cigarettes. So if someone tells you, you know, you can flip off the devil by writing a ninth symphony, they'll probably do it. We actually didn't do a lot of that stuff growing up. No, we did. A lot of the... Yeah, I want to keep up the appearances

of being pretty cool, because yeah, I'm kind of losing some points in account of the old wig. The powdered wig and the floaty shirt. Well, you don't have a face tattoo. We were smoking cigarettes. You definitely weren't smoking cigarettes. Okay, I try.

I looked at one once and then the second I smoke with my friend puffing on it made me, gave me an asthma attack. You actually ratted out a few of the other kids to the principal. I didn't. I was- Extra tuck shot money. They broke the code. They broke the code of the school.

And I think that's pretty serious personally. And I think the, I think the rules are there for a reason to keep everyone safe. Sorry. Is that, can we cut cut that because that was especially cool. What's cooler than rules and safety? I don't know. Now Rory, we do have to address kind of the elephant in the room. You're probably wondering, there must be an exception to this rule, right? People might have beaten the curse. Yes, absolutely.

Some of the people we've already mentioned... No, no, they were all clearly technicalities. OK. It was... I think one guy who was on Eleven died, and one guy who only wrote Eight still died. Yeah, well, it's a danger zone from the Eight through Ten. OK.

Is a kind of... Shostakovich wrote 15. Mozart wrote 41. More like Goatsart, because he truly was the greatest of all time. And Haydn hit 104. 104? Damn, I'm a f***ing well and the Haydn, he was out in the open.

Haydn might be the devil. If he's rocking triple digits. God damn. They need to bring drug testing into symphony writing. Cause I think Haydn was juicing. There's no way he's not doing symphony enhancing drugs. I like the idea that Haydn though, was just writing them really quick. Like at that point, it's a case of how quickly you can write them. It's like, he's like, he's he's like 104 a bus hits him out of

nowhere. There's so many he's dodging like pianos falling in the street lightning striking. Right he's writing symphonies while basically being the frog from Frogger going across busy highways hopping onto logs. Pretty crazy god but it does it does go to show. Plenty of people have beaten it. But in some ways, isn't that all curses? I mean, we've seen it with even really fun and cool ones like the Curse of Tutankhamun. A lot of people get got and a lot of people don't. Yeah, it does happen.

It's the mechanics of the curse. That usually does weaken the claims of it being a curse. Ooh, really? If a lot of people are actually just kind of getting away with it. Yeah. And it's only. If a lot of people are actually just kind of getting away with it. Yeah. And it's only affecting a small group of people. That kind of lines up more closely with coincidence.

But we do have a pretty good pool of composers here. Well Rory, you asked about Mahler himself because we did depart from Mahler's story a little while back. Why don't we return to where it all started? Mahler was of course the one obsessed with this curse in the first place. When we last saw him, he had just called his latest work a song cycle. Let's see how that turned out for him. He was trying to beat the curse by not calling it a symphony. Yet, on May 18th, 1911, after a period of ill health, Mahler passed away

in Low Hospital in Vienna, Austria, just like Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner before him. He had tried to beat the curse and failed, struck down while writing his 10th symphony. Damn, okay. So it got him. It is, like I know it seems like this is like a little fairy tale, it's all tied together, but it is kind of funny that he was the one who was most worried about it And he really did die just like his his own curse predicted

Yeah, you know I wonder if it's um I feel like there's a phrase that explains this or like a condition that it's like almost this paranoia where if you focus on Things going wrong. Yeah, so where if you focus on things going wrong so sharply, there's no other outcome. And it feels like there's a world in which this happened for this gentleman. He was so convinced he was going to die. He was so paranoid he was gonna die

by the time he hit his 10th symphony that it was almost inevitable. There was no other thing that could happen and he did die. Yeah, and like I said, yeah, there's kind of a self-selecting thing happening where he was realistically I don't know what age he was after finishing number nine but he probably wasn't young probably wasn't 25. Right. He was probably thinking about his mortality because he was reaching the kind of winter of his life and

thinking wow this could be it for me the same way it was for my heroes. Yeah I you might be right, you know, it's not totally similar to, but you know, like, nominative determinism? This idea of people who are called, like we have a friend whose last name is Gardener, and people who are called things like that are statistically more likely to become things like gardeners. I didn't know that at all. That's interesting. Supposedly, it's gonna put into their head by their own name, so you get, you know, I don't know, a hairdresser called like Michael Barber. Right. Right, here you have Mahler, who he's utterly convinced

that this is how composers' lives end, and so it happens. There was really only one way my life was gonna turn out then with the second name powers. I think it was just to become a little weirdo. That was kind of it. Like a little jacked up energy ball of excitement. That's kind of it. Your second name is powers. That's probably gonna happen. Yeah. I think I embody that name pretty well. If you lived in a kind of X-Men universe maybe you would have a cool power, but we don't. So you're kind of good at...

What are you good at? Video games? Well, loads of stuff. Don't just jump straight to that. Sorry, sorry. People know you as... Tons of cool shit. Video game industry. How about making love to a woman?

Yeah, it's crass, so... You're like, people... Why would people know that that's a power that you aren't? You're not like it. You're not like... I'm talking about cool stuff. You're not Casanova himself. You're not like, known for that. I like to snowboard. I like to surfboard. In fact, if anything, you're...

You say that weird. That's... Say what? Surfboard? What's weird? That's how they all say it. I mean, it's some very cool stuff. If anything, you're known for making love to women badly, I think. If we're really to start splitting to women badly, I think.

If we're really to start splitting hairs. That's not true. Just because I've been divorced several times, that's no reflection on the lovemaking. Because in some of those relationships, there was no lovemaking at all. Arguably, there was no love in any aspect of the marriage, I think, is what some of them said in the courtroom. We were kind of finalizing things. You should stop talking. You ever heard of Dvorak? Well, I'm Divorce Jak. Because I think my ninth divorce might be my last.

The guy so nice that his wife divorced him thrice. We're talking about symphonies, but they didn't have any sympathy. For old divorce Jack. You're making this very much about yourself. You really are. Ha! I mean, you also have a very interesting name, Kit Grier Mulvenna. Sure.

I mean, I think... Like a gun. Definitely not as cool as that. You sitting in front of me right now with a fluffy white shirt and a powdered wig is exactly how I think Kit Grier Mulvenna should look. Yeah, I love the idea of people tuning into this part of my life for the first ever time, knowing nothing about the show.

And they're like, oh, hell no. I can't be listening to a guy that looks like that. With two last names. God damn it. Sheesh. Rory, today we have been traversing a pretty interesting curse story. We've covered lots of curses in the past. They're not the easiest paranormal case, uh, to come down as saying

is definitively true. They sometimes lack physical evidence because they're, they're rather, they're kind of a process of just taking lots of coincidences and putting so many together that we say, is it too many that it has to be paranormal? We do have a lot of cool stuff, a lot of people who seem to fall in line with our curse, a lot of very famous people, a pretty cool biblical story from the beginning of Beethoven's death. And it seems as if the composers themselves are pretty convinced of the thing. But as paranormal investigators looking at this pretty objectively, do we think there's anything there? Yeah, this is a tricky one. I mean, we were always trying to

find physical evidence to prove a case. Are symphonies physical? I guess the scores are, but it's not really evidence that would prove that a curse like this is real. I mean, we always look for patterns, you know, and if those patterns are strong enough, that's when we can say that there is without a doubt, something here linking these deaths together, there couldn't be another explanation. You know, for example, we always throw to

Tutankhamun and Carter excavating the tomb and the illnesses, the mysterious illnesses that befell all the individuals that were involved. Even that can be explained just because of the place they were, the time they were. And we're kind of seeing that now with today's case, I mean, how many of these people, these composers were struck down in their prime,

and how many were dying at a very reasonable age from very reasonable illnesses that would have affected people at this time? Yeah, they weren't all hit by lightning. It was like typhoid fever, stroke, heart attack. And because it takes a while to write nine symphonies, they're all kind of at the later stages of their lives. So I'm not entirely sure today that we have enough to say that the curse of the 9th symphony does exist,

and that if you try and cross that barrier, it will activate. I think Rory, we are circling the inevitable, which is that this is a no. It's a no this week. What a great case though! I loved this one. This was so much fun. Rory has been reading the comments on Patreon and other places that he's been too harsh to kit. So Rory has kind of had a conversation with him beforehand. I said, you gotta be nicer. You gotta be nicer. So Rory's pretty excited about this one. Good job, bud. Thank you. You really did pretty excited about this one. Good job, Bud. Thank you.

You really did a great job this week. I'm really proud of you. And the costume? The costume is something all right. It is, yeah. Maybe a little too far. It leaves a lot to the imagination, which I think is quite tasteful,

because no one can see what I'm wearing from the waist down on the camera. So, with that, we'll move on. 90% of the people can't see you at all. This is an audio podcast. You are spending a large amount of this company's budget on costumes, which is something I did not foresee. Wigs aren't cheap.

I'm having to explain this to our financial advisor. He's like, so let me get this straight. It's an audio show. Yeah. Audio only. And I go, yes. Yeah. And he goes, right.

Well, you spent $2,600 on costumes this month alone. And I have to explain to him who you are and why,600 on costumes this month alone. And I have to explain to him who you are and why you are the way that you are. They're priceless. And honestly, I don't have an answer for that. The value add to the podcast is pretty substantial and unbelievable. You bought six different wigs for this podcast

and you only picked one. Well, I didn't know my size. I had to get them different sizes. I didn't know which one I'd suit. So you're gonna return the other wig so we can get the money back? Is that what you're planning? God no.

One will suit Phil. One will probably fit you. No, but why would Phil be in a wig? Well, Phil's, yeah, Phil does have long hair, but I just think, you know, these kind of curls and ponytail that I've got are really something. He doesn't, he's the editor. He edits the podcast.

He's not even on the video podcast that we do very rarely. He doesn't need a way. What is it they say in the movie, The Prestige, something, something about... You need to stop quoting things if the quote starts with something, something. Because you clearly don't know what the quote is. Yeah. I'll actually take that criticism on the chin.

I think I do deserve that. I think that is... I've been kind of cruising up to that for a while. On the subject of the curse, what do you think the podcaster limit is? What's the amount? Because we're getting into pretty dangerous territory. You know, we've got 400 almost main episodes.

We're cruising up to that nicely. But then if you actually, a bit like the devil himself, if you started going through and adding up all the bonus episodes after Parties, we're well over 500. Yeah, luckily, there are podcasts that have been going a lot longer than we have that I think you probably found a few that would be in the thousands. Well, I do know that Joe Rogan is definitely in thousands, but he's dead inside. All right. Yeah, sure. I just don't know. I just don't know. I think there are ones that are thousands, absolutely.

Yeah, and they're still alive and kicking. So I think we got nothing to worry about. Yeah. Okay. Well, let's hope for... I might write a couple symphonies just to up the ante. I think there are some canaries in the coal mine, but I am worried that we are front runners. I've been going for seven years here. So I'm just going to start calling the podcast something different. I'm going to start numbering them weirdly, putting wingdings. I'll be like, uh, I'll be like, Hey, the curse of the ninth symphony episode number circle mouse tower.

Right. Like our guy in the story today, be like, this isn't a podcast. This is an audio circle. Audio cycle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You circle me. yeah yeah yeah you circle me no sense it's a whole it's a different thing yeah it's a completely different thing it's an audio experience I have to start releasing them on CD final cassette I like that thank you so much for listening to this paranormal life and the curse of the ninth symphony if you are a composer and you've been affected by the curse, please let us know.

Uh, we would love to know that at thisparanormallifepodcast.gmail.com. But of course, Roy, the place where people can get access to those unnumbered, obscure and undocumented symphonies from This Paranormal Life is Patreon. Because some of our best work ironically has ended up there. That's true. That's the, those are the symphonies that are a little bit too wild for the public's ear. So you have to hide them behind a wall over at Patreon. But the good news is if you enjoy this show, if you like listening every week and you want to get more episodes,

they're all available right on your doorstep for as little as five bucks a month. It's a little tip to the podcast and it gets you a bounty of bonus content. You'll be listening to it for weeks, months. You ever heard a symphony that's so problematic it would get you canceled if it wasn't paywalled? No, that's not a true, that's not a real symphony. That's what's happening over there. And that's not, no, no, that's not happening.

So I'm trying to appeal to our more kind of raucus listeners. Wrong crowd to appeal to. Those are kind of the ones we don't want to appeal to. I think we've got all the nice people. I think we want the bad people next. I think like it, which makes sense, right? The nice people, they're like, oh, like I want to support the show. Let's, let's give them some money.

Right. It's like a little loophole. Yeah. The bad people are like, I don't give a f**k. Why should I help them? Yeah. And I'm like, Hey guys, come on in. It's sick in here.

It's actually rad. And if you kind of make the good people like angry enough, they'll listen because of so mad, you know, angry. So we should borderline just start spouting like some kind of Donald Trump level nonsense because yeah, I feel like a lot of nice liberal people bought a lot of copies of the New York times every week. Yeah. During Trump's presidency. Cause they actually turned out they wanted to find of the New York Times every week. Yeah. During Trump's presidency.

Cause they actually turned out they wanted to find out what he was saying every week. Right. So they could kind of rag on him. I think the problem is that we're kind of generally such normal, nice, hopefully people that we really don't have that many controversial takes. I think if we were trying to do anything bad, we'd be like, you know what? I don't, if there was like a new puppy in this room right now, I wouldn't even pet him that much.

Right. I'd give him like seven, eight minutes tops. And then I'd turn my back on him unless he barked like a little bit and then, Ooh, I'd give him a little bit more. You know? I see what you're saying. Like me and you trying to be controversial is

like the hobbits from the Lord of the Rings trying to be controversial. Like Samwise Gamgee trying to be controversial. Yeah. He's just the Lord of the Rings trying to be controversial like Samwise Gamgee trying to be controversial Yeah, he's just too quaint. Yeah, like I mean it had small-minded. They don't have that in them. Yeah. Yeah, exactly So we can try but I think probably in in comparison It's not gonna be that crazy to what some other people are saying. I'm gonna try I'm gonna try and be an alpha male I'm gonna put on a leather jacket slick dye my hair black, slick it back, start chewing toothpicks. It's going to be cool.

All right, tune in to Patreon to see that. At patreon.com forward slash this part of my life. So another wig and another outfit. That's what I heard. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, you know what? You're right.

I'm going to return some of the wigs I bought, because a leather jacket, I mean, a real leather jacket these days is going to cost you too. So I'm going to need a little bit more wardrobe budget for that. Thank you for tuning in. Let's round out with a couple shout outs for those beautiful supporters on Patreon. Great idea. So a special thank you to Nova Bird.

Yeah, pretty sure I know of this bird. You know of a bird? Know of a bird? This bird has been stealing my wallet so consistently that I've had to take extreme measures to avoid this. Oh is it like a magpie? I've got a chain wallet now. Right well the magpie is probably attracted to the chain. You think that's what it is? Yeah they like shiny things. I don't think this is a magpie. This is a this Nova bird this is a black bird that likes

shiny things. That's a magpie. Huh? Yeah I'm pretty sure that's exactly what that is now you mention it I think my wallet just fell out the day that I thought it was still and then I think the chain Has been attracting it since you also keep all of your money in a fish and chip shop wrapper That's why the birds probably coming down and grabbing it. Okay. You have a flock of seagulls following you around town. Yes, but I know of this bird. Nova bird.

Nova bird. Thanks also to Anna Margarita. Can I get a shot of tequila? Um, to pint a Budweiser? Anna Margarita? Oh! Hey! It would be so fun to know Anna Margarita. I'm gonna guess they've heard that before. You think? And it's pretty old to them.

Oh shit. It's usually hot coats isn't it? Right, anyone who has the... Hard cut to Anna's size, she's like creasing. Hey let me tell you, if we were talking a little bit about second names and how they kind of dictate how your life has lived. Oh, Jesus. You're rocking around with a name like Margarita? You're getting cocktails and pizza your entire life. Those are like two of my favorite things.

I don't like Margarita cocktail. What is wrong with you? Too acidic. What are you literally talking about? No, I think that's not a controversial take. I think it's a pretty over- top kind of in your face flavor. I mean, when you describe them, they really don't sound like they should be good. It's like they are bitter. Bitter is all hell.

The rim is laced with salt. So immediately it's just kind of like a salty sting. And then the lemon hits you. Yeah, sure, it tastes like lifting up a skunk's tail and just letting the juice spray. Right, how do you feel though about frozen margaritas? No, why would I like one and not the other? They're different, they have a different... I'm gonna make you a frozen margarita and a margarita.

Thanks to Betty Aquino. You know, being called Betty in the era of Ugly Betty, if you remember that show, was probably pretty good. Because if there's an Ugly Betty on TV, then you're just by default Beautiful Betty. Right. You know, the real problem would be if there was a show called Beautiful Betty, and then every other Betty is like, oh, here we go. Oh, here we go.

We're getting compared to Beautiful Betty every single day. Yeah, or the opposite happens and everyone starts calling you Ugly Betty. That would probably be a pretty traumatic thing Oh, yeah, it's kind of just be better to not be named after any show It was like it was like me going to high school when Green Day dropped their single American idiot That was a great nine months of my life to be the only American kid in school. Yeah, that was fun So Betty I feel your pain that album album really took over, didn't it? Thanks lastly today to Daniel Pullen.

Daniel, I'm really pulling for you because I know you just wrapped up your ninth symphony and you're probably on your way out, but hey, I'm pulling for you. We all are here at the paranormal commune. Without your music, all we would hear is the complaints of the poor. So it's really good, it helps us kind of drown out those noises. So keep writing those symphonies. Make them loud though, because

sometimes when you do that little twinkly shit at the start on the harp, we can hear them. We can hear them, we can hear them. Like, where's the food? Yeah, like, why aren't we allowed in the golden banquet? So ideally, I don't really know what goes into a symphony what is the normal instruments but maybe like a tuba like right just anything just no silence at all start to finish it we'll just repeat that so yeah one of those would be great thank you if we could sit in the studio and help you compose because I think we could bring some good ideas that do so thank you so much to everybody who supported us on patreon this week and every week we couldn't do it without you. I could probably afford one wig, probably not the six that I did need to get today's case across the line. So thank you for that.

We will be back on Tuesday with a brand new Paranormal Tale, of course, before then too, on Patreon with the after party. Remember to live fast, investigate and die young babies!