This Paranormal Life - #412 The BUTTERFLY People of Joplin Missouri

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

When disaster struck the town of Joplin, Missouri in 2011 in the form of an EF5 tornado, the last thing you would expect the townspeople to be thinking about was the paranormal. And yet, in the aftermath bizarre stories began to emerge of a strange humanoid seen amongst the carnage of this otherworldly natural disaster. But were they real? And if so, who are they and what did they want? Time for Kit and Rory to 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 ShackladyResearch by Ewen Friers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kit here from TPL, just a heads up that this episode discusses the 2011 Joplin Tornado. We recorded this about a month ago, so a few weeks before the recent tornado outbreak in Missouri and the Midwest. It's a coincidence that this episode discusses some of those themes. And of course, our thoughts go out to everyone affected. What did moths fly towards before the invention of the lightbulb? Where is the Shadow Realm? Or was Yugi from

Yu-Gi-Oh! just straight up killing people? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Hello and welcome back to This Paranormal Life, the weekly comedy podcast where every Tuesday me, Kit Grier-Mulvenna and this guy Mr. Rory Powers get to the bottom of a different paranormal case, deciding by the end of the episode whether we think it's really paranormal or not. How you doing today, Rory? What an honor to be back for my favorite day of the week where we get to sit down and just talk about my favorite thing in the world. Monsters. Ghosts, demons, weird stuff that

inhabits the world that we live in. It's always a joy, it's always fun, and I'm hopefully not wrong in assuming that this is going to be our best episode yet. Yeah, probably. I think so. We've just kind of been peeking upwards. As soon as we hit the metal man, I knew we were on the right path. Right, well it is awards season after all. I don't know.

I never looked into whether podcasts are automatically entered into the Oscars. I assume they are. Yeah, right? And we won't be getting a call any second now. Hello! Okay? Again, I don't know when the Oscars is, but I assume. Get your tux ready, Rory.

I want to meet Timothy Chalamet. You think he'd be darned to clown with the paranormal? I think he would. I think he'd be kind of cool. He's been on podcasts before. I think you can't give an Oscar-winning performance without the darkness in your soul you get from seeing the paranormal in real life up close. You can't be Robert De Niro if you haven't seen, at the very least, a dead body,

but maybe a banshee or something. Right. So we just need to rock up to Timothy and say, hey, Timothy, we need a guest for next week's podcast. What are you doing? What are you doing? Doon two night. Yeah, doon two night.

We're getting dragged away by security. Yeah, so I like it. I like it, a potential guest on the podcast. Okay, yeah, you know, shoot for the stars, literally. Rory, it is awards season, at least in the world of movies. So that means we gotta be on our best behavior. And I think today might actually clinch it for us because today has it all.

It has excitement, it has drama, it has moving emotion. And actually, it is quite cinematic, as I think you'll find. Whoa, okay. So this is gonna be like listening to a movie. Look, I don't wanna give away too much before the jump, but I do have one question for you, Rory. Have you seen 2024's movie Twisters?

Yes, I have seen the 2024's movie Twisters starring Glenn Powell. Um, it was a banger. I actually really liked it. And Daisy Edgar Jones. Yes. Uh, it was a banger, wasn't it? It was really fun. Phil Daisy Edgar Jones. Yes. It was a banger, wasn't it? It was really fun. Phil, cue the country music.

Look, I'm not saying we're definitely going south, Rory, but you might need this. Whoa, what is happening right now? All right, Kit is bringing an enormous box, Jesus. Christ, it's a lot bigger than I thought. For sure weird to bring props this large onto an audio podcast Where 80 to 90 percent of the people experiencing this will have no idea of what we're doing ha ha What the hell kit bought a cowboy hats you're damn right? I did all right

We're gonna need these where we are going Rory Borderline cardboard is very rigid. How much did these cost? Redacted! I'm not gonna say that this is gonna be the sexiest episode of the podcast yet, but not only am I wearing a cowboy hat, it's very cold in London and my lips are actually a little bit chapped, so I will periodically, very sensually be applying chapstick throughout the process of this podcast. I just need people to know that.

All right, we need to, I don't need you kind of throwing that in there because you mentioned Glenn Powell was in that movie. Yeah. Look, we don't have a f***ing hope in hell of being anywhere near as sexy as Glenn Powell. I don't have the abs, I don't have the jawline. So we don't need to be periodically applying anything to our lips, alright? Let's just keep it off camera ideally. I'm gonna do it now.

And work on that, alright. At least smolder while you're doing it. He might have done that. The desert's a hot place, he might have done that. Right! I mean, you know he's gonna go cherry, it's the best flavor. Alright, we gotta get into this case right after a couple of words.

I kissed Glenn Powell and I liked the... Now you're... The taste of his cherry chapstick. See, works. All right. You're into the wrong star of the movie, all right. No, that's what people say about when they kiss me. Cause they'd be confused.

We're gonna get right in after a couple of words from today's sponsors and a reminder that every episode of This Paranormal Life is available ad free on patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. Rory, we are in Joplin, Missouri, where on May 22nd, 2011 disaster struck. A category EF5 tornado hit the town, wreaking untold damage and destroying almost everything in its path. With 161 people tragically killed, I will be taking off my hat right now as a sign of respect, and over 1000 injured, the Joplin tornado ranks as one of the deadliest in American history. Wow, that sounds brutal. Something that we really don't have to worry about in the UK. Tornadoes.

Yeah, although I think, didn't I read that? Wasn't there a tornado in London like this winter? What? There was like, there was a mini one. Sometimes you'll see these headlines. It's like the way the UK sometimes gets like, I don't know how to explain this, but there is a lion in Kent in a field and it's just messing shit up and we don't know where it came from. I think occasionally just like a tornado will form for like five minutes. Right, I didn't see it. So I guess we were on skates. But you're right. If we do have tornadoes, they're definitely not EF5, which I believe is the highest classification of tornado.

I think it might've even featured in the movie Twisters as like, they're like, oh shit, they're holding onto their hats. It's an EF5. Listen here, Mr. Scientist, your nerd shit doesn't help me understand the power of a tornado, all right? Don't call it an EF5 or a category 3. You need to call it things

like nightmare. Yeah. Lightning. Well, lightning's already a thing. There's lightning probably in the tornado, to be honest. Fire. Yeah, no, no. It causes fires. Flood. Messes stuff up. Explain to me how dangerous the tornado is by comparing it to other things that might happen to me. Yeah, divorce How ferocious is this rejection? Yeah, like scary things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll scare She's actually your cousin. Whoa, you know something that like could happen Southern not that southern. All right Food poisoning we've got a category of food poisoning coming from the horizon.

Look, I realize this is a dark place to start today's investigation, but I hope you know I'm only taking you to such a scary and dark moment in recent American history because something mental happened that day. All right, let's hear it. And today's story begins by bringing us right into the center of the chaos of that fateful day.

A local Joplin woman is desperately trying to get herself and her four-year-old daughter home before the tornado hits. Driving through downtown Joplin, the storm is closing in. Deciding it would be safer to abandon the car and seek shelter in a nearby building, she pulls over. And sensing it would only be a matter of time before the car was thrown shelter in a nearby building, she pulls over. And sensing it would only be a matter of time before the car was thrown into the air, the mother unbuckles her little girl and

makes a dash for it. Okay, I'm gonna carry you. One, two, three. Running for her life with her daughter in her arms, the mother glances over her shoulder. But just as she feared, the car is airborne. Whoa! It has been lifted off the ground by the force of the tornado and it is hurtling towards them. God damn! She dives to the ground sheltering her daughter the best she can. The collision seems inevitable and yet it never comes. Just like that the winds die away. She turns around and the car is safely back on the ground. She breathes a sigh of relief. Just then her daughter who's

been facing the direction of the car says, weren't they pretty? Weren't who pretty sweetie? Didn't you see the butterfly people? What? They protected us mommy, they saved us. Now whilst the identity of this woman was unknown, the story circulated Joplin widely in the tornado's wake. And what a wake it was. The damage was astonishing. At its height, the tornado was almost a mile wide, and with 200 mile plus winds, it ravaged the city for over an hour. Some 8,000 buildings were

damaged including 4,380 homes and 2.8 billion dollars worth of damage. It is truly truly terrifying and Rory just for you to get a sense of this thing let me show you a video. I don't know if I want what I don't want to see a video. Literally just to get a sense of the scale of this thing, this is a video captured by a storm chaser on the day itself. Wow, that is terrifying looking. Bro, it is. I was watching this late at night, one night,

and it was freaking me out, man. It is truly, truly, truly terrifying. This is two, a group of people driving around the tornado. Camera's pointing out the window. It is just black sky with lightning flashes, debris soaring through the sky. Jesus Christ. Yeah, the lightning is terrifying in itself.

There's a car windscreen that's completely smashed by the way. This guy seems to be called Jeff. You can watch this video online. His website seems to be twisterchasers.com. Oh hell yeah. I don't know if that's still active. Yeah, so I'll not show you a ton of that. I will say because it seems kind of ethically ambiguous, these people kind of driving around chasing a storm. It is actually a relatively touching video. Jeff seems like a real one. People in the comments were pointing out, like he drives around and then,

obviously this is his job, he's trying to capture as much footage as he can. But as soon as he finds like one person in need, he just like ends the video. He's like, he just kicks into action. Like I need to save as many lives as I can. He's like pulling out people out of the rubble and finds a dog and this whole thing.

So he seems to be a real one. He's getting what he can until he can help somebody and then he does. I love you. So he seems to be a real one. He's getting what he can until he can help somebody and then he does. I love it. You're like, he seems to be a real one. And by that I mean a real butterfly man. Ha ha ha! He's flying around quite literally. He has sort of insect-like wings. That's why he was able to... That's not a drone, by the way.

He was flying. That's a GoPro strapped to his head. That's why halfway through he stops at a bunch of daisies to refuel and then gets back into the fight. He's like... sucking on the flowers. Alright, I'm coming. Takes off again.

He's like... So I'm out of breath, I was a f***ing caterpillar like a week ago. I'm just not used to this much air time. This is actually really tiring. Michael, sugar water, sugar water. Okay, I'm going back out. Whish! Wings spread. I'm going to sleep so well on my chrysalis tonight.

This is insane. All right, we go on. We continue. Look, I just wanted to get you a sense of the scale of the destruction of this tornado. Sadly, what it means is there are many, many victims of this thing and many people impacted and what was really surprising was the fact that a number of the city's children had similar experiences to our first story. Only the kids? Particularly children. Keep an eye on the butterfly men. I just don't think

that's just not a thing that like a guardian angel should do. But they are the meek, they are the innocent, they are the ones who can't help themselves. This is the butterfly man's lawyer in corner. I'm just waiting to see a video where a group of guys corner a butterfly man. And they're like, why are you here today? And he's like, oh, well, I have to rescue... To save the kids. Why kids? Yeah.

Why not? You know a woman died two streets over, a grown woman. Didn't you hear her cries? Sure, but the... well, yeah. It's a kacha butterfly. The kacha butterfly? TheyHAHAHA To catch a butterfly? They all just show up with nets HAHAHAHA

Who are you here to meet today? Oh shit, he's trying to get away! Flaps his wings Taser him! Why are you here to- Rory I don't appreciate you taking this in a dark direction Why don't you take a seat over there? Why don't you take a seat over there Mr Why don't you take a seat over there, Mr. Butterfly?

We haven't even heard a single testimony from one of the people who's seen the butterfly people yet. They are... To catch a butterfly! Okay, I'm sorry. Sorry. I need more... I need more chopstick here.

Let's get this sexy again. That would have been a very different album by Kendrick Lamar. To pimp a butterfly? more like to catch a butterfly. Certify lover boy, certify butterfly! Gonna save a human and it's probably a minor! That's who Kendrick's gonna go for next. F***ing butterfly people. This is... this might be our worst episode yet. So far.

If you're listening from Joplin, Missouri, I am genuinely sorry. There is a point to this case that we are getting there. Okay. First responders, parents, teachers, pastors, and law enforcement officers all reported hearing strange tales from the children of the town. Tales of the butterfly people. They were described as beautiful, serene, humanoid creatures who, with butterfly wings, could fly. One newspaper, The Daily Herald, wrote about the phenomena,

explaining how clinical director Danielle Robinson heard these stories firsthand from many children. Many of these children stated that they somehow knew these butterfly people were there to calm them and to help keep them safe. A common trait was that the butterfly people offered a protective presence, often shielding them from debris. One similar story involved a man sheltering his two young sons. The storm had all but enveloped the family when even the soles of the man's shoes were ripped off.

And yet somehow the storm passed over and they all survived unharmed. The preschool-age boys, who were calm the entire time said they saw butterfly people protecting them from above. What? In one case, a girl was thrown into the air by the tornado, but says she was caught by one of the butterfly people returning her safely to Earth. In some cases, roofs were ripped from buildings, and the children sheltering inside said they saw winged creatures floating above them This is weird for a lot of reasons because if there was a tornado that ripped the roof off of my house

to reveal Butterfly men I would think it was the butterfly men that were doing it. I wouldn't feel calmed by their presence I'd be even more terrified. I think I'm already dead. Yeah. That is really crazy. But what we're seeing here, I guess, is something very similar to third man syndrome, which is a case that we covered on the podcast before.

I think it even got a double yes. It did, yeah. Which is people who are in very deadly or traumatic moments in their lives being calmed by the presence of an individual, an extra person that turns up and you know context aside there's just something about them that they understand that to not be afraid.

Which is quite nice and romantic I suppose. I'm glad you brought that up, yes it seems to be like with all paranormal experiences it is not simply a materialistic phenomenon where you just see something and you react using all your biological instincts. This is something inherent in the experience itself is calming. Yes.

You know, it's like a moment from the movies where, you know, the angel comes down and then it's like a full body experience. Yeah. It's almost like the vision and the physical experience is all one. Yes, yeah, yeah. So this is maybe what we're seeing here.

So a feeling and sensation so powerful it can calm you even in a storm, which sounds like something from the Bible. Isn't that something from the Bible? It's a divine intervention, definitely. Yeah. This is Gandalf coming down the hill with the big army on the sunrise, you know.

There was one high school counsellor, Shelley Wilson, heard so many accounts of the Butterfly people turn her time as a volunteer for the Red Cross. She wondered if these protective winged beings genuinely might explain why the tornado had not claimed more lives. She said quote, it's the only way we can honestly understand how more people were not killed. Okay, that's worrying. Look, Roy, you've kind of beat me to the punch here, but what I was gonna ask you was, look,

this is clearly a mad one, but yet with lots of individual elements we have seen in other cases too. You've already brought up third man syndrome, but are there any others? I mean, off the top of my head, I jumped to Mothman. Not only because of their biological similarity, Moth, Butterfly. The children didn't mention whether the butterflies were caked up.

Mmm, good point. With kind of dump truck asses, the same way the Mothman is. Also, Mothman, he, what's his lore? He would appear before natural disasters as like kind of to warn people about it. So maybe he passes that information onto the butterfly people. And then they turn up when the disaster is coming. He's kind of the, like the 999 like call center.

He dispatches the butterfly people. What's your emergency? Yeah. Which I think we've made that joke before haven't we that like that like Mothman turns up and then it's like can you help? He's like gotta go. Yeah, go to be honest now my job. Yeah, not my job. I'm just here to say hey keep an eye out It's gonna get crazy. I'm not really trained in first aid. So I'm gonna and oh, yeah We've got a we got an eruption at Mount Vesuvius at four o'clock here. So I gotta be Gotta be off. Yeah, he's gonna move on to the next one. It's kinda like, he's like Zordon from the Power Rangers.

He's the big head in the jar. Yeah. That just, but he just dispatches the butterfly people. Yeah, I mean, it is, like, I genuinely think it is, this is not a small comparison. I think that is genuinely quite mad that you've got Mothman, pretty famous one from West Virginia on the one side,

turns up is winged, humanoid, turns up at the eve of a natural disaster or some bad occurrence. And then you have now these kids, kids who know nothing of the paranormal, really, talking about butterfly people also showing up during natural disasters, quite a coincidence.

Of all the human insect hybrids to kind of rescue me during a natural disaster, I don't know if I would choose the butterfly people. Yeah, have you seen a butterfly under a microscope? It's horrific. Yeah. They are as hairy. Kind of gross.

Disgusting. Many eyes. Also like not very durable. Like a weak, dainty butterfly, you know? Yeah, although I think it's like the same way they say, like if an ant was the size of a human, it could lift up the World Trade Center or some shit. Like I think proportionally, they're very strong.

But that's just all bugs, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So it's like, look, if there's shit raining from the sky and there is a storm coming down on me, I want like a beetle to take me away. Yeah. Hard shell, sturdy legs, solid body. Get in, brother. What the f***? No time to explain, brother. You know they keep saying brother. Get under my wings, brother. We'll tunnel to will tunnel to freedom it looks oh it looks slimy in there there will be slime oh right I don't know if I want to die or not but brother whereas yeah I agree butterflies wings famously like paper paper mache way hello yeah take

shelter in my, a school bus comes and goes right through it. Oh, butterfly blood squirting over the children. Help me, help me. Yeah. Oh my God, we're gonna die. No, you're not brother. Beetle boy.

Ignore the butterfly man. They're bitches. They're little bitches to me. I'm strong. The school bus knocks him on his back. Oh, I can't get up. Oh, help. Help roll me over. Quickly, children. Roll over the beetle boy. Why are all these bugs trying to help?

They can't help themselves. A giant spider turns up. Hello. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'd rather die. Jump on my back. I know his ass is trying to trick me. He turns up, hello, no, hell no. No, no, no, no, no,inks of the insect world. It's like Timothee Chalamet offering you a piggyback ride. It's like, we're not getting far. We're not getting far. Quickly, children, grab onto daddy's long legs.

Absolutely not. The parents are like, no, nobody touch daddy's long legs. It's not gonna happen. Rory, of course you, Jesus Christ. Of course you mentioned third man syndrome. Of course, spirits that appear in a time of crisis. That is a big one that will reappear later. But I did before we move on

from other paranormal parallels, sky people? I'm really glad this came up. Silphs? Yes, Silphs the Sky People. This was a bonus episode of this paranormal life that was so funny that it actually made an appearance in our best of at the end of the year. Okay, yeah.

Maybe we'll include a- Not funny because it's ridiculous, but funny because it's so illegal. I don't know, you didn't hear the clip that I put in the episode. Maybe at the end of this we can do a clip for the bonus episode on Sky People so people can understand what that was.

I forgot it was a bonus episode. Okay, sorry, sorry. Yes, it was a bonus episode. I just came out of nowhere with that. There's something called Silphs. Yeah, which isn't sky people. Not sky people I'd like to f***. It's... I shouldn't swear.

And it's sky people. There was an ancient tale that might be to do with aliens coming from outer space and they were spotted above an old church. And... and they were spotted above an old church. And they weren't spotted above an old church. The anchor for their floating pirate ship came down and smashed through the church. And then the sky people came down to earth momentarily. And then very realistically, the people on earth tried to beat him to death

and he tried to get away and And he swam through the air. It's a very strange story. It's a really good story. But Rory made fun of it, but there are multiple references to sky people throughout ancient history. And it was the angriest I've ever heard, Kit, on an episode of the podcast. This could be it.

Really? I don't remember. He's different behind a paywall, guys. He's really mean to me. He's abusive. Look, I think several really great paranormal references here. Yeah, yeah. But of course we're missing one of the most believable references of all.

There is of course one explanation which is most common, most popular in the actual area of Joplin, which is still kind of paranormal. Sunday school teacher, Marsha Sherrod, had heard the Butterfly People stories when she volunteered during the cleanup. She said that when she discussed them later during her Sunday school classes, quote, one boy, a quite 11 year old, raised his hand. The boy said he saw the Butterfly People that night too. Marsha Sherrod, understandably like the vast majority of people in this area, is deeply religious and interpreted the Butterfly People from a Christian viewpoint, believing them to be angels. Yeah this was bound to come up at some point or another are these angels

protecting children from disaster and death. Yeah because you know I think the secular community, the atheist community, you know definitely likes to point out the lack of angels in day-to-day life. If God is looking out for us and angels are here to protect us, guardian angels, why do they let so many bad things happen? My guy's on a lunch break.

Yeah, long ass lunch break. Scrolling on his phone. He's on Instagram Reels. Like everybody who works in America today, just AirPods in while they're working. I could name like nine times as a child I almost died and no one turned up to save me. Not even my parents. Right. Oh I've said on the podcast before, almost choked to death on a gobstopper, got lodged in my throat, couldn't breathe, vision went to a pinpoint, swallowed it and it dissolved in

my stomach for two months. That one wasn't great. At a bowling alley, tried to jump over a wall, fell face first onto my neck. This isn't funny. This is very traumatic. It's kind of funny. It's why I am the way that I am now. When I was camping once, climbed a tree, fell off the top branch and hit every other branch nuts first on the way down. Where was the angel then to grab me and gently guide me back to earth?

You really, as they say, fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down. Hahaha. Got nutted by every branch on the way down. Uh, I, for one, as a child, dived into the shallow end of a swimming pool. Head first. That went as well as you think it would. It was like I had been severed. By the time they pulled me out of that pool,

I couldn't remember shit. Also got knocked unconscious. My limp body slid into a McDonald's ball pit. Visiting my cousins in Germany, ran face first into a pipe above a water slide, once again got knocked out, slid down into the swimming pool. You're a Looney Tunes character. Your face was flattened.

I'm starting to think the angels are setting me up. Yeah. They're not there to save me. I think they want me to die. Look, we've heard a number of different possible events of what's going on here, all pretty paranormal to be clear, from angels to third man syndrome to the mothman to anything else you can think of. But I think if we're to possibly understand what's going on in Joplin 2011, we do need

some more information. What would be ideal is some more evidence, some first hand accounts. Everything we've heard so far has been pretty much secondhand from children. Was there anyone prepared to come forward with a first-hand testimony? Enter Mason Lillard. As the dark clouds roll in on Joplin that afternoon, 10-year-old Mason Lillard and her cousin Lage are sitting in the back of their grandparents parked SUV. They've taken a last-minute trip to Home Depot to grab some supplies before the storm hits but they've miscalculated badly and run out of time. A grandfather is inside the shop and grandmother Sharon is in the car with

the kids as the tornado hits. Taken by total surprise there's no time to run for shelter and Sharon urges the kids to jump to the floor of the car and begin praying. Whoa! Within moments the roof of the Home Depot is peeled back like a sardine tin and the family's SUV was thrown 300 meters across the car park. Holy shit! When the fire service finally finds Mason a metal rod is pierced through the roof of the vehicle and impaled her shoulder.

Oh my god. After 45 minutes just to cut her free as well as extensive surgery, Mason is saved. Tragically on finding her cousin Lage, the first responders pronounce him dead on the scene. It's only hours later when ER nurse Tracy Dai is passing through the hospital's morgue, she hears one of the bodies let out a scream. And Lage is rushed to surgery and makes a miraculous recovery. But Mason's memories of that day are truly crazy. She later claimed in the moments before the tornado struck as they knelt in prayer, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Quote, I thought it was Lage, but when I turned, I saw two angels in robes,

one with brown hair and one with blonde hair. It was kind of calming. Damn. She said, I knew God was with us and that he'd take us to be with him or leave us to do something great. And to be clear, all medical experts and staff involved claimed that Mason and Lage's survival

amounted to nothing short of a miracle. Wow. Yet another example of children experiencing something to do with divine intervention or some paranormal intervention, but at least this feels more concrete maybe than the other sightings, because, I mean, you can look up those interviews with Mason and Lage now as adults where they can talk about their survival and what happened to them. Wow. I mean, it's pretty funny that the only people that have come forward and given these testimonies personally, they're like, it was angels, for sure. For sure. And it's like, oh,

okay. Because we had a bunch of people say that they were butterfly people. No, they weren't butterfly people. They were angels. No one who's seen a butterfly person wants to come forward. It's a good point. I'd say there probably are people, given there were so many childhood witnesses, and they're only, if they were children at the time, they're not that old now. It's only 15 or so years later, 14 years later today. So they're probably just young adults now. It would be very interesting to know how many people stick to that original story of the butterfly people.

There's got to be some Rory Powers there who stick to the Gorilla Man story. Yeah, that's true. Well, mine was real and then it actually happened. So it's not like there's another option. You didn't survive a natural disaster, so let's not exactly discredit. It naturally disastered my life from that point onward. Look at EF5 hit my credibility, that's for sure. Yeah, I just think. Where someone had intervened,

where someone had helped me. I don't even need them to be a butterfly man. I'd take a regular man just to come in and help me in that situation. To kind of psychologically process what happened. Right. Yeah, I just think that's a problem today is that we don't have anyone who,

all the stories, you're right, all those stories we hear about people who said there was a butterfly person hovering above them. We didn't even get a single name from anyone. It's people who know people, or it's someone who knows children. Yeah, I think that's my fault. I don't think that.

I think as you're about to see, the butterfly phenomenon, as in the talk and and the belief is very real in Joplin Maybe maybe I haven't provided enough names. Let me get into that. Okay, cuz you're about to see I'm also a little worried because Just now while you were getting ready to read the next part of your script You lifted up all the pages and I did get a glimpse of some photos on the back page there. I Got a little I call a a glimpse of some photos on the back page there. I got a little early glimpse of what's coming so I might just... we can go to conclusions now I think. Having seen those pictures I think we can go to conclusions now. Rory I think you will see as I did kind of what really struck

me as crazy is that whatever happened that day, the butterfly image is deeply embedded in the psyche of Joplin, in the psyche of the city. When something like this happens in a place, they obviously want to commemorate it, remember it as best they can. And for example, when muralist Dave Lowenstein was hired by the city to pay tribute to the town's rebirth and reconstruction, the town recruited 200 kids from the local area to share their ideas and images for the mural. He basically received the same suggestion again and again and again as images of butterflies were put forward by the young people of Joplin.

As the Daily Herald wrote, butterfly murals came to dominate the town along with butterfly sculptures, paintings, t-shirts and business signs. Can you imagine being like a first responder or a fireman in this town and the mayor's like it of course, of course it could have been so much worse if it wasn't for the incredible action of the butterfly people. You're like still covered in like suit and debris. You haven't slept in like 78 hours. You have a metal pole through your shoulder. Yeah. It's like...

So we actually, the children have gathered today to unveil our brand new Butterfly Man statue. And we will be donating personally two million dollars to the local butterfly sanctuary to commemorate their heroic deeds. He's wearing a firefighter's outfit, he's wearing a firefighter's uniform. He's got a child over his shoulder in the statue. I would be so offended. I mean I know you shouldn't become a firefighter or first responder in the assumption that you're going to get praise for how you act in a natural disaster, but come on. Don't give it to... don't... don't... Imagine after a tsunami if they were like,

yeah, and I just want to say thank you because I think a lot of people wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Dumbledore. Just Dumbledore, I know he's a fictional person, but I really think we have a lot of Harry Potter fans in this town, and Dumbledore, I know he's a fictional person, but I really think we have a lot of Harry Potter fans in this town. And Dumbledore is a strong leader in a time of adversity. So, yeah, we actually built a bronze statue, and this is now Dumbleday. Guys, you're like, this is f***ed. This is f***ed. I was on a boat pulling people out of the tsunami.

And it's Dumbleday? Rory, well, you joke, but we heard it earlier from a woman who volunteered with the Red Cross. She said, the only explanation I have for why more people didn't die that day is the butterfly people. No, you shouldn't have a job. If you're-

It's not a job, it's a volunteer. That makes a lot of sense. Ha ha ha ha. Yeah, check it out. It is quite cool and mad, but yeah, some of the butterfly art that you will find to this day in Joplin. Wow, all right, yeah, I really wasn't expecting this.

I mean, it's just butterflies. There's murals of lots of nice things, but it is just beautiful butterflies. Yeah, I mean... Not men. Well, actually, there's another, there's like a kind of school mural or something. You can see that one, to be fair.

That's more of an angelic vibe, I would say. Oh, shit, yeah. That's a real right angle from the last two. The other ones are just like beautiful wall art of colorful butterfly wings. One is like rainbows and flowers and a nice sunset. Kit handed me a second one, which is... It's the tornado. It's destroyed houses, gray skies.

Um, a mother shielding a child in the storm. And yes, then in the sky above them. I mean, these are much more just kind of classic angels. We got the white robes, the blonde hair kind of coming down. Kind of freaky. Kind of weird looking. This would freak me out in a storm. Sure.

I mean, there's not much that wouldn't. You probably should be freaked out in a storm, I would argue. Rory, and you know, we do talk about first-hand witnesses. Maybe I should have brought these up earlier, but yeah, there's a lot of people with one-off experiences. For example, one Emily Huddleston, who was a teenager at the time of the tornado, suffered devastating injuries during the storm, but miraculously survived.

But she talked about how, and this explains part of why you have the symbolism still in the town, was she says, during her long road to recovery, she said that anytime she went outside, a butterfly would land on her. Confused at first, it was only after hearing all the stories of the butterfly people, she attached the powerful significance to her experience, saying, I look at them as angels. I really do.

Wow! Look, this is the end of our story. We're left with a bit of a mad situation. I mean, we always have some boring scientific explanations towards the end of our story. We're left with a bit of a mad situation. I mean, we always have some boring scientific explanations towards the end of an episode. And I think I can sum it up to say that researchers, people who think seriously about this in an academic sense, you know, it's the old story. They say that these sightings, these stories are a trauma response to what happened, a kind of fight or flight, near-death experience, scenario where you see visions and blah, blah, blah. Which as usual, kind of explains things, kind of explains nothing,

but it is definitely remarkable, the consistency of people's reports. Yeah, you have to assume these are people also that have had no contact with each other, all making the same individual claims. Yeah, you know, I'm gonna throw it to you, Rory. I don't think we need to massively beat her on the bush. I think we know that we don't have a shred of physical evidence

to say that anthropomorphic, Mothman-style creatures... Yeah. ...were in the sky. But what do you think? Does this fit into your third Man Syndrome-like phenomenon? I would say so. I think it's quite cool. I was surprisingly up for the story of the Third Man and Third Man Syndrome. A great episode, if you haven't heard it yet, beginning all the way back when Ernest Shackleton, famous explorer, decided to go into the Arctic and his ship got caught and they almost died

in the icy tundra where they witnessed, they experienced a third man guiding them to safety. A very cool episode. Also, Sky People, that was a good one too. Um. Didn't like that. Two great episodes to investigate and that are linked somewhat.

Self, by the way, let's give them a proper name. That are somewhat linked to today's case. Which I said, isn't Sky People I Would Like to F? Some of them are pretty hot, but moving on. Right. I don't know. I like to think that this phenomenon I'm not done with, I think we could investigate this in many more forms, but I think if we're focusing specifically today on the concept of butterfly

people that becomes a lot harder. Just becomes a lot harder to prove. So yeah, it's a tricky one. You're not exactly going to get photo evidence or video evidence if these are things that don't even necessarily exist within the realms of our world. Yeah, I think that's it. I feel, I feel very satisfied with this story. And I love that we did give third man syndrome a yes back in the day, because

I think that we, we talk a lot about physical evidence as an important thing for coming down on conclusions, but I think it would be ignorant for us to always demand it of the paranormal because I think, I think third man convinced us that some experiences go beyond, it's clearly not something you could take a photo of really. Um, and I think that's personally, I think that's what we're dealing with today. You know, far be it from me to discount the hundreds of people who find deep meaning in this and to claim that this

situation, this phenomenon saved their lives. Far be it for me to say that's not real, but I'm also very content with saying it's fine. I don't think I have to believe in anthropomorphic butterfly people. I think this is probably something real-ish, but it's probably third man syndrome. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but it's probably third man syndrome. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that means it's a no for Butterfly People. It is a no this week for Butterfly People. I think that was the right choice.

A difficult one, but the right choice. And shout out to the first responders of the world. I want you guys to get some credit today. I feel like too much gets thrown on the Butterfly People. You're the ones doing all the hard work out there saving lives. Uh, shout out to you. You want to discount the butterfly people. It sounds like they did a lot of really good work.

And, uh, as I say, the Red Cross didn't do shit. Apparently, um, they were, I think, playing crossy bird or something. Flappy bird. Red Crossy bird. But shout out to the good people of Joplin, the good people of Missouri. Um, thank you for letting us tell that story. Can I be, because I like, I'd like to be a first responder. You know, when I was in school.

No, you wouldn't. You'd be f***ing useless. What are you talking about? Well, watch it. How dare you? When I was in school and I did my careers test, they said, I've talked about this on the podcast before. I did the whole exam.

They asked me all the questions. And the two options that came out the end were stuntman or firefighter They shouldn't that is irresponsible to put stuntman in there. That is like, yeah I think we joke the teachers came over and they were like, how did he even get that? That's not one of the real jobs He had sharpied over this the computer screen. I think I think one of mine it was a shit piece of computer software I think I think I got mine, it was a f***ing shit piece of computer software. I think I got Ice Cream Man. I think it was like, just buy a van.

Which isn't even... No shit, not really a career. You just bought a van and some ice cream. That feels very geo-located to where we grew up as well. Right, seaside. Yeah, so they were like, what did you get? Ice Cream Man. It's like, what did you get? Cafe worker. It's like, this is what?

This is all very North Coast. So I kind of always told myself, I was like, look, if I'd like to at some point in my life be a volunteer firefighter, I think that would be great. I would really love to do that. And then if the rest of my life falls apart and I lose all of my other jobs, I'd like to become a full-time firefighter.

I think that would be a full-time firefighter. I think that would be a cool thing. Okay. Little scary though, little scared of fire. It's hot as hell, I don't know if you know that. Smoke is like hard to breathe in and stuff. Sometimes the hose is really heavy, so it's like you have to hold it for ages,

which gets a bit bad. So I was like, is there such a thing as a last responder? So not a first responder, but you're like the last guy to turn up. Everything's kind of been sorted, but there's still stuff to do. And you kind of jog there and you're kind of out of breath. Like, sorry guys, I'm as fast as I can,

but Rory, it ended a month ago. Yeah, you guys, I got the Jersey Mikes. I got a box of subs here just if anyone needs them. I got some of those silver blankets. They, Rory, it was weeks ago. Everyone's warm again. Yeah. Well, I want a last responder You know what you're still responding, but it's just you're the last one to do it It's kind of the it's the first responder equivalent of those emails where it's like shit. Sorry. I missed this. Thanks Thanks for bearing with yeah. Thanks for sorting all that out. Just just seeing this now

I hope it's not too late. And people still, you know, people appreciate the person who like hangs back and cleans up after the party. And maybe that could be me. Like when the event's done. Sounds like hard work though, because it is quite messy. A lot of hard work cleaning up too.

Yeah, you might need a real person to do that. I'll like come along and I'll bring like, I've got like my wireless Bose speaker so I can like put some beats on and stuff. I'll have aux during the response. Maybe that could, you know, that's kind of a motivation. Sadly recently with the Pacific Palisades fire in America, we did, we got to see this dynamic up close and personal as in on the news, we weren't personally there, although we did see the aftermath of it in California. And yeah, yeah, it's always sad and inspiring to see a community come together. And people, I think, really appreciated

their firefighters, their volunteer firefighters, and their incarcerated firefighters who are not even really getting paid to help out. Yeah, I think we actually have, or had at one point, a firefighter slash firefighters who listened to the podcast. Right. Because we got sent a video of them like listening to it in the firehouse and they like turned the lights on for us and everything while they're like listening to the podcast. I was like, this is awesome. I'm so glad our show is hitting the exact demographic I want. Yeah.

Which is buff dudes with mustaches who are saving lives, playing poker, drinking beers. That's what I think being a firefighter is. Hanging out in a cool clubhouse. Hanging out in a cool clubhouse. Drinking beers. Yeah, and then the alarm goes and it's like, all right, action time, you know?

I think you're thinking of like the Ghostbusters or something. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's what I'm thinking of. Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray. That's who I want to listen to our podcast. Yeah, okay, Well, I guess you're right, Roy. Shout out to the first... I was kind of willing to give all the credit to the Butterfly People, but maybe you're right. Maybe you're right. Maybe they do deserve some credit. So shout out to them. Shout out.

I hope you enjoyed this week's investigation into those there Butterfly Peoples. And a very special quick thank you to Will Akin and Josh Miller for sending in that suggestion to the TPL inbox. That's thisparanormallifepodcast.gmail.com. That is where we scar the inbox for great podcast ideas and we are truly the last responders to that inbox. Sometimes it takes us four, five, six years. Sometimes long after the person who submitted the story has stopped listening to This Paranormal Life.

We'll then cover it. AKA all those firefighters. They're probably long gone. Not dead. Just don't listen anymore. They don't listen. But thank you so much for that. But of course, you know the place to be. We mentioned it earlier is patreon.com forward slash

This Paranormal Life. Our patrons are like our first responders. know the place to be, we mentioned it earlier, is patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. Our patrons are like our first responders. When we're in need, when we're like help, we need to pay the bills for our podcast studio so we can record podcasts. Our buff, tanned, gorgeous and cool patrons step in to save the day by contributing money over at patreon.com and in return they get hundreds and hundreds of bonus episodes, weekly content, giveaways, community events, et cetera, et

cetera, merch, all over on patreon.com. It's true. It's true. These are donations that help rebuild the mess that is this podcast and this company. You know, just so much financial mismanagement going on over here that every month we require just an insane amount of donations to keep things ticking. I'm not.

Well, half of us is. You spent $200 on these cowboy hats. I think it's clear I didn't, because they're made of cardboard. I didn't want to say anything, but I did at one point in our, because we share an email inbox, and I saw an email come in from Amazon, which did get cut off, but it just said the word cowboy, dot, dot, dot.

And I was like, I don't know what he's cooking up. I think I mentioned on a recent after party, my wife is big into Yellowstone. We also mentioned in the after party that Phil, our editor, has gone country. Yeah. So country's a big theme. And when I say my wife's big into Yellowstone,

she doesn't find me physically attractive anymore. She's more into Kevin Costner. And I sort of thought, this hat isn't really for the podcast. It's really to win back my wife. I'm trying to change the way I talk to try and win her back as a kind of country gentleman. Well, hey, one of the things we do over on Patreon.com is a monthly raffle where you can win something from the TPL studio. Dare I say, should we do for one of our upcoming raffles

this very hat, a TPL cowboy hat? That's a good idea. It's a good shot. We give away something from the studio every month to a random patron. It's a lot of fun. We've given away signed books recently. Gave away the spirit box that we used during our Edinburgh vaults investigation. That one was a tough giveaway because that was expensive. the spirit box that we used during our Edinburgh vaults investigation. That one was a tough giveaway because that was expensive. That was quite an expensive thing. I was like, can we actually just give you the money?

Because we need the spirit box. And they were like, I want the box. It's like, yeah, this is f***ing. Because we have an investigation coming up as well. We really need all the equipment that we can have. And he said, when is the box arriving? We had to send it. He said, on second thought, the only way you can have." And he said, when is the box arriving? We had to send it. He said, on second thought,

the only way you can have the box is if I take your shirt instead. And he was like, what the f***? What do you mean? Yeah, the one you're wearing. Yeah, right off your back. Yeah. Present the next episode topless is what he said.

So the power has gone to their heads. Patreon.com is the place for all those patrons. This podcast has been sexy enough. I can't do cowboy hat topless while applying chapstick. That's a little too far even for me. I don't think anyone wants to see that. I might have to go into nine months of kind of Marvel style body training before we pull off that one.

At the end of every episode, we like to do a couple shout outs for those beautiful patrons. Let's do it. Of course. So a special thank you to Pixie Lilith. A Pixie listening to this podcast? You know they're friends with the butterfly people. Yeah, very similar anatomy, right? I don't know a lot about pixies, but kind of aren't they similar to fairies? Yeah. Human body, big wings. How do you get AirPods small enough to listen? I'm not quite sure. Mmm, good point. Yeah, if they're that small they just go inside a pair of AirPod Max's.

Like you can sleep there. It's like a f***ing nightclub in there. Super loud. Well, thanks for supporting the podcast. We'll see you next hurricane. Thanks to Aaron. Aaron does sound like the name of one of the rescue beetles. Aaron is like a beetle name, you know?

Come in, brother. Brother, it's Aaron, the beetle. Yeah. Get aboard my gooey sack. I'm not getting in, I think it's called a sack, my brother. No time, get in Aaron's sack. I can see it, I can hear it. It's got a good strong name to it, Aaron.

I get that, yeah. That's right, you know what, you actually get a shout out to the Beatles of the world for saving lives. Talking about insects, you most want to get a beer with. You know what I mean? The Beatles. Thanks also to Grabenger. Speaking of someone you don't want to get a beer with, Grabenger, because they just don't know when to let the night end. You're having a couple of drinks, you're having a good time and then you're like, you know what, I think I'm actually going to call it here. I got work tomorrow

in the morning. I think it's going to be great. And then, and then they're always grabbing your wrist. They're grabbing your wrist and they're thinking, well, you can go cause I bought you a shot. I go, we got a shot of tequila. You're not going to go now, are you? Cause I bought you a shot. And then all of a second they're like Gravenger shirt. Yeah And if things go really bad, they're Gravenger neck. Whoa. Yeah a little throttle. So a little handsy That's why you gotta like I like to schedule like coffees with Gravenger, you know, keep it chill Stay off the booze Yeah, I know we all get a bit funny off a couple Don Julio

the booze. Yeah I know we all get a bit funny off a couple Don Julio but Grabinger gets borderline grabby. And thanks lastly today to Dan Husserich sorry if I'm butchering your last name Dan. Dan Husserich he decided to support us on patreon on the $40,000 tier. No. Yeah check again, brother. Oh my god is true. Yeah, that's right. Wow. So of course You know that tier is classified on patreon. We can't talk a lot about it right here, but uh, hope you're enjoying That little crate we sent you in the post the other day, buddy You're gonna have to feed that thing once every lunar year lunar cycle Yeah, not a moment sooner. Don't because it will become too powerful and you have to keep it wet Keep it very very wet

Because I think that thing dries up. No, no, no keep it moist. You need a hose. Yeah, absolutely No, you can just kind of like set a sprinkler on it Like like chain it up in the yard and it's just always getting blasted by a hose. That will make it angry for sure, but not as angry as if it gets dry. You're gonna know anger if it gets dry. That's all I'm gonna say.

So keep it wet. That just sounds like a good slogan. Keep it wet, guys. It sounds like we probably should have told them that up front and not kind of waited weeks until it arrived to be like, oh, by the way. By the way, keep it wet. Keep it wet.

So hopefully things are going well for you. Thank you to all our patrons we've shouted out and to the ones we're going to shout out in future. We're back with more shout outs, more episodes, more research, more hats. Yee-haw, brothers. Yee-haw. Next week with a brand new paranormal tale. Keep

her wet, partner.