Gina (01:08)
The recording has begun.
Kathryn (01:09)
Yay.
Gina (01:11)
And so will we.
Kathryn (01:13)
And eventually so will the episode.
Gina (01:17)
Speaking of, uh, I'm gonna go ahead and get us started. Welcome to I Scream You Scream, your weekly scoop of the most chilling histories, mysteries, and paranormal perplexities. My name is Gina.
Kathryn (01:27)
And I'm Kathryn
Gina (01:28)
And this month we're talking about circuses while we have slushies. I'm very excited to hear what you
Kathryn (01:34)
Yay.
Gina (01:35)
have, Kathryn. If you already know us, welcome
back. And if you want to see more from us each month, or if you want to get episodes early and ad-free, feel free to go on over and join us on Patreon. Link is in the show notes. But until then, grab a spoon and let's dig in.
Kathryn (01:50)
So I don't have a slushie. Cool.
Gina (01:52)
Me neither. What do you got?
Kathryn (01:54)
So I so I did this on purpose, I will say. Um so remember last month when I didn't have to, but I'm gonna say have to purchase bulk bluebell ice cream in order to get it online.
Gina (02:09)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Kathryn (02:11)
I purchased all my flavors for the year, and one of the flavors I got was
Cherry vanilla. And that is because my favorite flavor of slushy is cherry. So that's it. That's what I'm eating. Yeah. It's part of the theme.
Gina (02:23)
Feel like that's fair. There's a tie-in. It's related. Yeah, that totally counts.
Yeah, I'm into that. I uh was
Kathryn (02:31)
What are you eating?
Gina (02:32)
going to try to make a slushie, but then when I was at the store, I saw cream ice. Not ice cream, cream ice? And I was like,
Kathryn (02:41)
Okay.
Gina (02:41)
well, what's that? I have to try it. Does it put the emphasis on the ice instead of the cream? That sounds like a slushy. I don't know. So it's strawberries and cream flavored. Fruit cream ice.
Kathryn (02:54)
Okay.
Gina (02:55)
That
that is s more similar to uh slushie than ice cream, I guess. It's just
Kathryn (03:00)
Okay.
Gina (03:01)
like kinda like a freezer burned ice cream a little bit. But it tastes really good.
Kathryn (03:04)
Good. Nice. That's so I will say this cherry vanilla has so it's just cherry vanilla ice cream, but it has frozen cherries in it. And the cherries do have a little, not a slushy flavor, but they are kind of icy. So it's got that.
Gina (03:20)
Mm.
Kathryn (03:22)
I'm gonna say frozen feeling, obviously it's frozen, but you know what I'm talking about.
Gina (03:26)
I know, that texture, yeah.
Kathryn (03:28)
Yeah. It's like a candied cherry, not a fresh cherry, but like a frozen maraschino candied cherry situation.
Gina (03:35)
Ooh, that sounds nice. We had frozen
chocolate covered strawberries not long ago and it was wonderful. Highly recommend. Oh my gosh.
Kathryn (03:42)
Mm. Those are good frozen. Yeah.
Gina (03:45)
I had never had them frozen before. They're so good. Cause you can kind of gnaw on it like a little beaver.
Kathryn (03:49)
Yeah.
I do love that chocolate covered strawberries are supposed to be like this romantic snack and they are just the most disgusting things to eat. Like no one looks sexy eating a chocolate-covered strawberry.
Gina (04:05)
You got shards of chocolate flying every which way. There's always a stain on your shirt that you don't remember getting there. Yep.
Kathryn (04:09)
Yeah. Always a stain.
Gina (04:11)
maybe that's why it's sexy, because then you gotta take your shirt off.
Kathryn (04:13)
Okay, there it is. Maybe I just
yeah, I gotta think about the whole situation, not just the gross food. Not gross. I do like them. But yeah, all right.
Gina (04:22)
And using this framework,
you know what else is a really sexy food? Spaghetti.
Kathryn (04:26)
I just gonna say that. I was gonna mention pasta. I didn't want to go on too much of a st tangent. But yeah, because that's a
Gina (04:28)
my gosh.
Kathryn (04:32)
whole thing too, like a romantic Italian dinner. And then I've got like a freaking babon, because I can't handle myself around a tomato sauce. Yeah.
Gina (04:40)
Mm-hmm. Get so bloated
you have to roll me out of the restaurant I'm so full of carbs.
Kathryn (04:45)
So good though.
Gina (04:46)
Yeah, I kind of want some spaghetti now. Uh how have you been? What's new?
Kathryn (04:48)
Yeah, me too.
for once, actually, so much is new. Well, not new, but I've done a lot since the last time I saw you. I feel
Gina (04:54)
Yeah.
Kathryn (04:55)
like we've been like power recording and it's actually been I mean, I don't wanna be dramatic. It's been like a week, but we've lived
Gina (05:02)
Feels like a long time.
Kathryn (05:03)
lives since we saw each other last.
Gina (05:05)
I've
grown and then shrunk again.
Kathryn (05:08)
Um, so I you can't see it. I wore it on purpose. I'm wearing my Lake Tahoe sweatshirt because I went to
Lake Tahoe for Clowbear Money Coach's wedding. And
Gina (05:19)
Yay.
Kathryn (05:20)
it has a little bear on it because I saw a bear while I was there.
Gina (05:24)
Magical. What a sign.
Kathryn (05:26)
w
Exactly what I said. yeah, I was just out on the patio having my morning coffee. It's like 7 a.m., no one's around. I just see a little bear, super cute. And then Chloe, the groom, the groom's sister, and her boyfriend all saw the bear elsewhere from the house because we were all staying at the same house together. And so I'm out on the patio all by myself, and I'm like, my god, I have to get a video of this because I didn't know anyone else was awake because I was the first one up. And
All
of sudden all these people come flying out all these doors, like, it's a bear, it's a bear. And we were all standing in this after we all got like our videos and stuff to show everyone. We're all standing in a circle, like jumping up and down, like we saw a bear. Cause that's like the one thing everyone like really wanted to see a bear on this trip. So we did. It was really, really good omen. It was the morning of the wedding. It was good. yeah, we had a great time. gonna tell you a ghost story, possibly.
Gina (06:18)
Ooh, okay.
Kathryn (06:18)
Because on our way, so this they got married the day before my birthday. Um, is not the ghost story yet. I'm still talking about the wedding, sorry, but just to like paint a picture. Yeah. The ghost story is I'm getting old.
Gina (06:27)
Ooh.
Kathryn (06:35)
but so we everyone kinda did their own little thing. She they rented this whole house that we all were staying at and we all kind of like made our way in and out throughout the weekend and
Phil and I, um, I I mentioned my birthday because we o we stayed one day less than everyone else did. And we went off to Reno and stayed my birthday night in Reno, which all I have to say about that is Reno is weird as hell. And I like kinda hated it when I first got there because we had such a hard time navigating. Like, it's one of those places where I get why seasoned casino people
have a great time in Reno,
Gina (07:14)
Mm
Kathryn (07:15)
but it was a both of our first time. And it was like, is this a one way? Where's the entrance to the hotel? Like where do we park? Like
Gina (07:21)
Mm.
Kathryn (07:21)
blah blah blah. It was just one of those cities where it's like you it's a very small city. It wasn't that intimidating. It's like very similar in size to like a Milwaukee, but just like, I don't know, it was all this casino chaos. It was Saturday night. And I just was like, I hate this so much. And then once you get into the casino, it's a maze and we had to go up like six different
stairs and escalators and all this, blah blah blah. It was a pain in the ass. But as we were leaving, we're like, wow, what a great time. Had a lovely time, just like getting in. It was so chaotic. We
Gina (07:51)
Ha ha.
Kathryn (07:52)
we stayed at Circus Circus so that I could stay on theme. I literally did that on purpose.
Gina (07:56)
Wow, how was it?
Kathryn (07:59)
It was fun. Turns out I love roulette. It's so much fun. I
Basically, we kept playing until we were up high enough to like pay for our dinner. So we essentially got a free dinner. So much fun.
Gina (08:11)
Hell yeah.
Kathryn (08:12)
Guys, we should all start playing roulette. Why do m more people not gamble? It was great. I won like 130 bucks on the 15. It was so much fun. Love it.
Gina (08:23)
And that'll happen every time.
Kathryn (08:25)
every time. No, it happened twice because it got like 150 on the eleven. It was so much fun.
Gina (08:30)
Ha ha ha.
Kathryn (08:30)
Actually, I will
say roulette is a fun like intuition test because Phil had all his like strategies and he was like, I'm gonna put two on the black or whatever. He's like doing all this stuff. And I would just like close my eyes and be like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and like press all these buttons. And I literally won more when I did that than when we like actually tried to like be
Gina (08:52)
God trust your gut.
Kathryn (08:52)
strategic. Yeah.
anyway, so now I'm gonna talk to about the ghosts. on our way up, we stopped at Donner State Park so that we could go to Donner
Gina (09:01)
Hm.
Kathryn (09:02)
Lake.
Gina (09:02)
when you texted me that you were at Donner Lake, I mentioned it to Tom and he asked for information about cause he he knew the Donner Party
Kathryn (09:10)
God.
Gina (09:10)
existed because I've mentioned the Donner Party in the past, but he
Kathryn (09:12)
Yeah.
Gina (09:13)
didn't know like the story of it. And trying to explain the story of the Donner Party to someone who doesn't really know it and isn't
Kathryn (09:19)
Yeah.
Gina (09:19)
from America when you yourself don't know the story that well is incredibly difficult.
Kathryn (09:24)
Especially when you have to tell it real quick, like a quick summary.
Gina (09:27)
Yeah.
Kathryn (09:27)
You can't really tell. I mean, I'm gonna do it right now for the listeners who don't know, but like I'm struggling with that. Basically, it is the camp where the Donner Party, they were like, I don't know, pioneers, whatever,
who thought they were going to take a shortcut and get out west faster, unknowingly stumbled into these mountains, ended up starving to death. Tragically, many of them did. And to save themselves, the remaining parties ended up eating some of the deceased members.
Definitely something we will cover someday. Uh, I
Gina (10:05)
Mm.
Kathryn (10:05)
know at least one of us, I think we both were both thinking of doing it when we were casually thinking of doing a cannibalism month, which we bought we put on the put the kibosh on real fast because we couldn't
Gina (10:16)
Ha ha ha.
Kathryn (10:16)
handle that. Um yeah, it's just a very tragic story that has like a very obviously like dark history in that area. Um, which, fun fact, didn't know this.
Abraham Lincoln was gonna be part of the Don he was invited to be part of the Donner Party before yeah, before he ran for president.
Gina (10:32)
For real? Oh my god.
Kathryn (10:36)
but his wife, Mary, was pregnant at the time and she was like, Fuck that. I'm not walking thousands of miles and giving birth to a baby. So yeah, they chose to stay in DC and he ran for president a few years later.
Gina (10:50)
Holy shit, that's crazy. Yeah, that's bananas. That's a good one.
Kathryn (10:51)
Yeah. Yes.
Anyway, so We went to the lake and it was so beautiful. The whole park is really lovely. didn't get any negative or weird vibes. It really was just a beautiful
State Park. We went on a lovely walk down by the waters, saw the lake, and came back. Everything was fine. And we get into the car, and I have to share a little background on this car. It'll make sense in a second. It's one of those. I've only ever had older cars, so I've never had this, but it's one of the cars where like if something's happening on the outside, it'll give you a little alarm, kind of like a
Gina (11:30)
Mm, mm.
Kathryn (11:30)
Like, don't
change lanes. There's a car there or whatever. I don't know what that's called. Most cars have them now. None of the ones I've ever owned have. Um, but we've driven cars, like some of the cars we've rented in the past have had those. And Phil is always so annoyed, annoyed by them because the alarms always startle him. Like, so it's like,
Gina (11:47)
Mm.
Kathryn (11:47)
I would be fine if you hadn't just screamed at me, you know? And I mentioned that because this car just had a little light. And we both commented on it while we were driving out to the park, like,
it's so nice that this is just a mild light. This isn't anything crazy. It's not gonna like startle us when we are driving. This is great. Love this one. So we get into the car to leave to go to the house where the wedding was happening. and it's the parking lot is essentially not right on where their camp was, but it's just like moments away from where their camp would have been set up, the dinner party. Um
And I turn on the car and I put it in reverse. And the right rear alarm starts like screaming at me. Like I turn it as the moment I put it in reverse, it starts going like beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, like blasting. And there was like the red light showing that there was something near my passenger rear brake light. And I was like, what the hell? What is that? Thinking that there's like, you know, a family walking by trying to get to the trails or something.
So I take it out of reverse and I wait and I look and no one's there. So I do it again and the alarm goes off again. And to the point where Phil gets out of the car to see if there's like an animal back there or something, like this is the most aggressive alarm that we've heard thus far. Like it sounded like there was someone like leaning against the car. Like it was that aggressive, like all these red lights flashing and all that. And nobody was there.
There wasn't a gust of wind. There was no animal, nobody around. We were literally the only car in the parking lot, except for like employees and all of that. Um, to the point where he gets to the car, he's like, Nobody's there. I think we have a ghost situation. I was just like, I don't know what
Gina (13:32)
Oh damn.
Kathryn (13:33)
else it could be. Like, yeah, and like, I don't know, it could have been the wind or, you know, a leaf was blind by or whatever flying by or something. But yeah, no one was there and it was acting like there was someone like.
Right
up against it.
Gina (13:49)
Ooh, d okay. Good
Kathryn (13:50)
Yeah.
Gina (13:50)
vibes or bad vibes or neutral.
Kathryn (13:53)
There really weren't any vibes associated with it.
at all. It was just like a thing that happened. It could there could be
Gina (13:59)
Mm.
Kathryn (14:00)
a perfectly logical explanation for it. I I do want to say that. But it was just where we were and the history and all of that. I was like, mm-hmm. Cause we weren't even looking
Gina (14:11)
Yeah.
Kathryn (14:12)
for anything. Like I'm not super like outdoor haunted spaces. I don't really look for stuff like that just because there's so much that could, you contribute to
hearing or seeing things. So I really wasn't paying that much attention to that. So it was like that's why it was so notable, because it was like, there it is. Like we are not gonna leave without experiencing something.
Gina (14:36)
There's um a book about the Donner Party that I really wanna read. I'm gonna struggle to remember the name of it
But it follows um
like one specific woman who was in the Donner Party
But I'm scared to read it because oof,
Kathryn (14:48)
Yeah, but it's, I mean, I feel like so many, and not that this is why you're scared, but just the thing with the Donner Party is so many people put the focus on the cannibalism. And that really, oddly enough, is such a small sp part of the whole story.
Gina (15:03)
Mm.
Kathryn (15:04)
That really was just like
The ending, you know, like there was so much else that went into it. And I don't know. it's easy to forget that it wasn't just these barbaric, awful people. They were just like
Gina (15:16)
Mm.
Kathryn (15:17)
there just wasn't no fo any food, you know? I don't know. I feel like we make
Gina (15:20)
And that's what that's the bit that scares me. Is it's the sense of hopelessness.
Kathryn (15:25)
Yes, yes, yes, exactly.
Yeah, I do, I do.
Gina (15:28)
Well, you wanna talk about circuses?
Kathryn (15:31)
I was trying to think of way to bring it back. I
Gina (15:33)
Yeah, I I don't know how to tie Donner Party to the circus.
Kathryn (15:36)
no, I know. I yeah, I was like, what the hell? Okay.
this week we're talking about the Ringling brothers, specifically the Al Ringling Mansion. Ringling family built one of the greatest circus empires in American history, bringing wonder, spectacle, and a little bit of magic to audiences across the country.
But in Baraboo, Wisconsin, one piece of their legacy, maybe a little bit more mysterious than the circus that they put on. The Al Ringling Mansion was home to the eldest Ringling son, Al, and his wife Lou. And it is said that they are still there, along with dozens of other spirits that creep through the halls day in and day out. But before we get to the spirits, we're gonna take the story back to the beginning and roll through a little bit.
Of
circus history specific to the Ringling Brothers, just because I simply cannot help myself. So
Gina (16:31)
Ha ha
Kathryn (16:31)
it started with the father of the Ringling Brothers. I scrolled too far. Hold on.
Gina (16:37)
Yeah.
Kathryn (16:38)
It's a that thing where it like jumped the page.
Gina (16:42)
For the first
millisecond of you saying that, I thought you were saying his name and I was like, ooh, she really likes this name. She's getting so excited.
Kathryn (16:48)
I jumped to far. His name was I jumped too far Ringling.
Just kidding, it was August. August Ringling. I love the name August He was born in Germany in 1820 before eventually coming over to Milwaukee with his family, where he met his soon-to-be wife, Salome Juliard, was originally from France.
And they were married in Milwaukee before moving to Chicago, where their first son, Albert, a K L Ringling was born. And that was in eighteen fifty-two.
They would move to Iowa after living in Chicago for a few years, and eventually they settled in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Teensy, weency little town that would eventually become known as the birth of the American Circus per the Ringling family. During the course of moving throughout.
The Midwest, they would have 11 children total. Yes. Yeah.
Gina (17:47)
Yes, that's a normal amount that elicits no reaction from me whatsoever.
Kathryn (17:52)
Well, finally, a family that is as big as my mom's. You know how I always am like underwhelmed. This so my mom had 11. Yeah. I think
Gina (17:56)
Finally Yeah.
Kathryn (17:59)
technically 12, but Anne died as a baby. similar to the Ringling brothers, they had 11 children, but eight.
would make it to adulthood, as was sadly normal around this time period. Of the children who survived, they had seven boys and one girl who was the youngest. Can you imagine being the youngest
Gina (18:20)
Ooh.
Kathryn (18:20)
girls with s seven older brothers?
Gina (18:23)
Oh that poor girl, first of all. Also
Kathryn (18:25)
Bananas, I know.
Gina (18:26)
feel so bad for anyone who ever had a crush on her. Whew.
Kathryn (18:30)
my god, I know I thought that same thing. And I wonder what the age differences were. Like I wonder how much
Gina (18:36)
Mm.
Kathryn (18:37)
older they cause they had to have been pretty close. Back then they were just like it was like a t-shirt gun of children. Anyway. Sorry, it's a girl. Okay. A girl for the nosebleeds.
I'll go over their names later. It won't make sense or matter now. There's too many of them, but it'll make sense later in the story.
so anyway, August, the father, worked as a harness maker, and once Al was old enough, August taught him the trade, eldest son, that whole deal. But Al wasn't into all that. He was kind of bored by it. He had his heart set on performing.
Growing up in the Midwest, there was very little to do, but every now and then the circus would come to town, and the boys just absolutely adored the circus. This was like the thing to do in the summer. And I am gonna focus on the boys just because like the sister, like she was the youngest, so she was a baby as they were growing up, so she wasn't really included. Girls didn't matter back then, so sadly she's not really part of the story.
But by the time Al was twenty, uh, so in eighteen seventy-two, I He was on his own and working in the upholstery business and he made like leather canvases for carriages and wagons and all that kind of stuff. So he would travel around and do this like leather canvass stuff that he didn't really want to do.
But this was like the dream that his father always had. He was following in his footsteps. But while he did that to make money, in his free time, he would practice his circus skills. He loved learning how to do new tricks and stuff like that. Like he would emulate the things that he saw people do in the circus when he was little. And he became really, really good at it. He taught himself how to juggle. He taught himself how to spin plates, which I always forget is a thing that people do, but like,
Gina (20:33)
Wow.
Kathryn (20:34)
yeah, like those plates.
Plate thingies. He taught himself how to do that. And just like all that type of like trickery and stuff that you see in the circus. And he eventually also learned how to train dogs and horses to perform. Um, and like complex tricks, not just your average sit and stay and stuff like that. By 1877, he had joined local circus show.
Literally every kid's dream, he like went and did that, basically ran away with the circus, but he was a grown man when he did it. And then five years later, Al and two of his brothers put on a little local show at the theater in Baraboo. And then just a few years later, after that, the five Ringling Brothers officially set out on their first circus tour as a family, as like the Ringling Brothers was officially born.
What seems obvious now, but was actually really notable back then, particularly in the circus world, was that they each had their own distinct roles. So this is where you're gonna finally get the list of names. Al, our main guy, he served as um partially an equestrian manager. So he would do like all the horse stuff and organize all of that. But he was also responsible for like the program in general, hiring of performers. He was kind of like the head guy, project manager, director.
like
lead circus bro. Otto Ringling was the treasurer and he handled all like the ticket sales and budgets and that type of stuff. Charles Ringling was the most musical of the group, so he became the orchestra leader. And then Alfred, not to be with Albert, who was Al Ringling, you know, really short on names in the 1800s.
Gina (22:23)
Ha ha ha.
Kathryn (22:24)
He
Was the band leader and eventually he would become their like PR/slash publicity marketing type guy because he was the most literate out of all of them. So he would like write the programs and flyers and like talk to the press and all that kind of stuff.
and then the last one of the main five is John, who was the youngest at the time and therefore started off his career as a clown. So
Gina (22:50)
Yeah.
Kathryn (22:52)
I know. I do love the idea of like, you're the baby brother.
technically old enough to like be part of this but don't know what to do with you, why don't you just be a girl?
Gina (23:02)
Yeah.
Kathryn (23:04)
Um, so yeah, just as a rem reminder, these are the big five. There were still still two younger ones, but these are the ones that were like the owners of the company.
So these roles would change over time as each of them kind of fine-tuned their skills and learned what they were passionate about and good at and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. For example, John was not always a clown. He just was a teenager when they got started. And like I said, they were just like, Where can we put you? Um, but even though their roles changed, the fact that they all had a specific job.
never changed, um, which was notable at that time. Up until that point, most circuses were just like a bunch of ne'er do wells doing the best they could with what they had and, you know, whatever they needed to do to get by, that type of thing. Things were just like chaotic and messy in the circus world. There were very few legitimate circus operations. And the fact that the Ringling Brothers were so organized and meticulous right from the beginning.
is largely credited for their eventual for their eventual success because it got to the point where they became such a well-oiled machine that they were just going, going, going. They became untouchable and they were growing at such a rapid pace. They didn't just grow as a show, but also as a business.
And eventually their two youngest brothers, Henry and Gus, which I love is like a youngest son's name, because it's like we got two L's and a Gus. Like I don't know. I just think that's so cute. The mouse. Always. How could you how could it not? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Gina (25:31)
Little Gus Oh Gus always makes me um it always makes me think of Cinderella. Gus gus? Yeah, yeah.
Kathryn (25:43)
So yeah, Henry and Gus, they joined the team, but they the original five always was the original.
Five. The business ownership was split five ways. Checks were split evenly five ways. Even though Al was kind of like in charge charge, he got paid the same as the other four brothers. And then Henry and Gus, because they were so much younger, they came on more as like employees versus like part of like the family business. Um, Henry was in charge of mapping out their parade route and like where they were gonna go next, and Gus would post flyers to advertise for the circus. So they would kind of go ahead of
The rest of the group to like prepare people for the circus coming to town, basically. In the early years, Al would marry the coolest woman in the country at the time. Hurt it here, folks. What? Hurt it here first.
Gina (26:34)
Ha ha ha
Kathryn (26:37)
Her name was Eliza, and she went by Lou. And in addition to the brothers, she played an extremely pivotal role in getting the whole operation off the ground in the first place.
Her primary role was wardrobe supervisor. That was her official title. Especially in the early days. She literally made all the costumes that everybody wore. And she also worked as a horse rider, a mind reader's assistant, and a snake charmer. I know. You when
Gina (27:05)
What the hell? How cool.
Kathryn (27:08)
you truly when you see pictures of this woman, you will be so obsessed. I
She's like wrapped in snakes and like, my god, she's so effing cool. I know.
Gina (27:18)
I am smitten, said
Kathryn (27:20)
Truly. I saw her and I was like, girl, so glad you existed. Love this. This makes this story so much better. It's
Gina (27:25)
Hell yeah.
Kathryn (27:28)
but in addition to the she kind of filled in here and there wherever they needed her. She would occasionally do like tightrope walking, just like she was kind of like Al. Like they just loved stretching limits and seeing what they could do as far as performance is concerned. So the show started off traveling by wagon. This made sense. They were originally just a five-man band plus Lou.
Um, so they didn't need that much space, but they faced significant limitations just traveling by wagon. You can't really go that far, you can't move very quickly. So most of their productions in the early days happened in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. But they kept growing by the mid-80s, 1880s, not the 80s we are familiar with.
Gina (28:13)
uh And then they lived for a hundred, hundred years.
Kathryn (28:19)
By the 1880s, they had acquired a 90-foot roundtop tent, nearly 20 wagons with performers and employees and animals. At this point, they had a full caged animal display with a hyena, bear, monkey, and an eagle. And by 1888, they acquired their first elephants. So I will say at this point in the story, before anyone comes for me, as a lover of animals, but particularly my girl, the elephant.
I do of course need to acknowledge that we know now that everything that happened to these animals was unethical at best, but more accurately horribly abusive and awful, fully support circuses doing away with animal performances and displays. But in the 1880s, a million years ago, having an elephant in your arsenal, let alone multiple, was like the creme de la crème of circus performances. They
We're
doing great business-wise, but the moment they got those elephants, it was like to the top immediately. To the big top, if you will. So I'm I was proud of that. I didn't even write that down. That just came to me.
Gina (29:27)
Hey, that's good. That's beautiful.
Kathryn (29:34)
Thank you. Wow. I'm
Gina (29:35)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (29:35)
gonna write about this in my diary later. Okay. So
Yeah, this was huge for them. Um, they purchased a bunch of train cars immediately thereafter and were officially a national operation.
Eventually they would purchase Barnum and Bailey, the other most prominent circus at the time, and very quickly it got to the point where if you were going to a circus, you were going to either a Ringling Brothers performance or a Barnum and Bailey show. The conglomerate dominated the country for over a century. The Ringling Brothers, of course, became super rich, but their winter headquarters remained in Baraboo.
So they were this like super incredibly rich family in this teensy tiny town in the middle of absolutely nowhere. And their wealth was essentially eons above everyone else's. There wasn't really a whole lot going on in Baraboo. I assume that it was like a farming community because it's still very small to this day. So they, of course, build all new houses in this town that don't have any mansions for these very rich people.
The largest of which was Al's, which was an estimated fourteen times the average home cost for the area. I know.
Gina (30:48)
Wow.
I'm surprised they still live and didn't just move to a big city year round or s or somewhere more, I don't know, wealthy might be the word to use I don't you know what I mean?
Kathryn (30:58)
That was I
do, I do. And they wanted to. That was Al's decision. he cared a about Baraboo. This was their home. This was where they grew up. He wanted to maintain the status of like hometown heroes, basically. He felt
Gina (31:14)
Hmm.
Kathryn (31:15)
that they could like they were bringing commerce to Baraboo, basically. Like they are the reason this town survived.
They yeah, they they were truly pillars of the community. Anything the town needed, the ringlings were there to fund it essentially. They donated money here and there, just kind of all throughout the town. But one of the most notable donations was the theater that is still there in Baraboo to this day. When the previous local theater burned down, Al specifically paid to have a whole new one built.
Sadly, it would be the last project that he funded because just six weeks after the theater opened, Al Ringling died on New Year's Day, 1916. You have a lot of New Year's episodes
Gina (32:01)
wow.
Kathryn (32:01)
lately. Um, but like I said, to your point, he was the reason they were still in Baraboo. So as soon as he died, the rest of the Ringling family was like, Buck, these Wisconsin winters, we're going to Florida. So
Gina (32:16)
Mm. Yeah, fair.
Kathryn (32:19)
Yeah, so that's what
Gina (32:18)
Wow. Okay.
Kathryn (32:20)
that's what happened. Yep. So they moved to their winter headquarters down there, where the headquarters would remain until the company eventually put on their final show after a 146-year run on my father's birthday, May 21st, 2017. Which is also Cinnamon's birthday, by the way. Bunch of Geminis.
So
This is sad. I always had mixed feelings about the circus because like I said, I was so obsessed with it growing up and just like elephants in cute outfits was literally my dream come true until of course all the reports of animal abuse came out. And, you know, once everything kind of hit the fan in 2000s, 2010s, it was only a matter of time before they closed down. Nowadays things like Cirque du Soleil and other animal-free circuses are still around and the Ringling Brothers company just
Couldn't
keep up with that transition. Boycats ensued. Eventually they closed up shop. But that doesn't mean that interest in the Ringling Brothers company waned, especially here in Wisconsin. Baraboo has remained the circus capital of the country per them. And there really isn't a lot going on in Baraboo that is unrelated to Ringling.
Or just the circus in general, which for pretty much most of the 20th century, like I said, those two things were synonymous. And arguably, one of the most famous landmarks in the town is the Al Ringling Mansion, which is just absolutely filled to the brim with ghosts. And one thing I find particularly notable is the fact that the ghost stories we have about the mansion really aren't.
like
retrospective. a lot of the stories I feel like I've researched lately that have to do with haunted houses have been like, you know, it's sat empty for, you know, X number of years. And then in the late 90s, early 2000s, someone bought it and suddenly there's like all this lore and ghost stories and blah blah blah. Um, I feel like that's kind of a normal cadence for stories, but that's not the case with
The Ringling Mansion. Ghost stories at this house date back to the early thirties. Nineteen thirties. To be specific. Yeah.
Gina (34:40)
Okay, and that's when prohibition
was in effect, so it wasn't even a drunken hallucination. They were all bored and sober.
Kathryn (34:44)
No. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
well keep that in mind because Prohibition will kind of come up a little bit. Well, not even
Gina (34:51)
Okay. Oh.
Kathryn (34:53)
a little bit, but yeah, that'll come up later. Um, Yeah, so the story started when the local elks chapter
bought the house to like preserve it as a historical site. And pretty much right off the bat, multiple people would report strange things in the house. And to your point, like you said, the 30s were not a time where people were concerning themselves with ghosts. There were like bigger and more important things to worry about at the time. But multiple people would report lights turning on and off by themselves.
cold spots all the way throughout the house. Like there wasn't there didn't seem to be one particular room. It would just be like randomly, you'd get like shivers up and down your spine. And there were a lot of unexplained noises that people couldn't really find a source to.
To this day, one of the most common ghosts seen at the mansion is that of Lou Ringling herself, the matriarch of the circus, if you will. There's activity all over the mansion, but a huge percentage of the stories come from Lou's bedroom.
one of the stories about Lou specifically, I believe it was one of the owners,
He was sleeping in Lou's bedroom and he saw a woman in Victorian clothing emerge from the bathroom completely out of nowhere. And she walked over.
And just stood beside the bed for like several seconds before eventually she just vanished. Which I find like really ominous. But like
Gina (36:22)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (36:24)
it seemed like it wasn't bad vibes. It seemed kind of n neutral. I kind of wonder if it was like a she's like who the fuck's in my bed right now?
Do you know what I mean? Like that was and
Gina (36:35)
That's what was thinking. Yeah.
Kathryn (36:37)
yeah, like I don't know. Obviously, I wasn't there, but I don't know. I feel like that it didn't seem like she was like hovering in a gross, creepy way. I was kind of just like standing there. but another story was during a paranormal investigation, and one of the investigators went into the bedroom to see if they could get any activity. And
When they went in, they saw a gray figure sitting in the rocking chair that was in the corner. And the figure stood up and she walked into the bathroom. And she was so real that the investigator for a second was like, Is someone already in here? Like he thought that like someone was investigating the room, like someone had already like taken the room or something like that. But like didn't feel like a real person. You know what I mean? So they were like, What
Kind of just in that weird headspace of like what is going on, like what I'm seeing doesn't match reality type thing. So they go into the bathroom to like look for someone, but knowing that no one was gonna be there, and they weren't. The bathroom was empty, so it was like confirmed, I'm not going crazy. That was not a real person. And the rocking chair story is notable because the rocking chair itself.
remains kind of a focal point of a lot of reported paranormal activity, particularly in that room. At one point, um, while the owners were finishing renovations after they first purchased it, there were electricians in the house working in the room. And more than one my God, I'm why am I pronouncing words so weird today? More than one. Okay.
Gina (38:15)
I love it.
Kathryn (38:23)
More than one electrician witnessed the rocking chair moving on its own and then just stopped dead. So it wasn't like a slow
Gina (38:32)
Mm.
Kathryn (38:33)
stop. It was like rock, rock, rock, stop. I know, isn't that spooky?
Gina (38:39)
It's kinda I'm choosing to view it as Lou this and the her standing over the bed. I choose to view it as her being like going about her day doing her thing and then being like, shit, I'm supposed to be dead Poof, vanishes, you know?
Kathryn (38:52)
Yeah, I agree. I
don't we'll talk more about the vibes later, but but I agree. I don't think it's ominous. I think it feels ominous because we're used to seeing that type of imagery in like horror movies, like paranormal horror. I
Gina (39:08)
Yeah.
Kathryn (39:08)
don't feel like it's intentionally scary or bad. You know, it feels like just someone in a rocking chair. And it could even just be like
The fail it the veil is thin and now it's closed. So it's not it's like gone. Do you know what mean? Like reality's
Gina (39:22)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (39:25)
weird for a second and now we're back, you know? Um,
Gina (39:28)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (39:29)
but yeah, I don't get bad vibes from that story. Even though it is objectively very freaky. Oh, absolutely, me too. I'm mean yeah, that's just normal. Who cares? So
Gina (39:35)
I would be very scared if I saw it, but me s sitting comfortably in my safe little office, I'm like, that's not scary.
Kathryn (39:45)
the rocking chair stopped. Get a live.
Gina (39:47)
Ha ha.
Kathryn (39:51)
it is notable that the rocking chair is an original piece of furniture that did belong to the ringlings when it was in the house when they lived there, as was her bed, which explains why she'd be like, Who the hell is this sleeping in my bed?
And a lot of other furniture in the house in general is all original to the ringlings. And I believe I could be wrong on this, but I believe the room that does have the most original furniture is Lou's room. So it makes sense that she would have the most activity there and she would be seen there the most because she actually physically used these items when she was alive.
If you're doing an investigation in the house, this is the room that basically you want to be in. Like this is the one that's been reported as being really active. But the whole house in general is really active. one of the owners, Joe Colossa, I think it's pronounced, was giving a tour one night, and in the middle of the tour, he caught a glimpse of a man with this like super prominent mustache in the mirror. and
Al Ringling had one of those like big old H.H. Holmes mustaches that all those guys had back then.
Gina (41:03)
Ha ha ha.
Kathryn (41:05)
so yeah, really hard to miss. You're you're not gonna just be like, that's just some guy on my tour. No one's really walking around with mustaches like that anymore. so when you saw this guy in the mirror, he immediately knew who he probably was. His guess was Al, but could have been any of the brothers. Um, the man in the mirror was also dressed.
The way the ringlings would have dressed in the early 1900s, late 1800s. And the tour guide wasn't the only one who saw the apparition in the mirror that particular day, and in days since, like other people have claimed to see men in the mirrors. But one of the guests on that tour specifically later asked about quote the tour guide who was dressed in period clothing.
And
Gina (41:55)
Mm.
Kathryn (41:55)
Joe was like, we don't do that here. We don't have like shows or impersonations like that. There are no tour guides who dress in period clothing. That was Al, basically.
Gina (42:07)
Wow.
Kathryn (42:08)
So, little bit of background on Joe, the owner, the guy who saw Al in the mirror. He and his wife, Carmen, are former circus performers, and they have a lot of circus artifacts. They are like
People of the circus. This is like their passion. And when the house came up for sale, multiple friends were like, You gotta do this. Like, you need to buy this house. So they bought it from the Elks, who had had it this whole time. And when they were handing over the keys, the people selling it to them were basically like, FYI, strange shit happens here. Keep a lookout. And they were just like, okay.
Gina (42:48)
Great. uh
Kathryn (42:51)
Yeah, they were like, okay, whatever, sure. I like kind of brush past it, like whatever. Um, but they would quickly learn that they were not messing around and things really started happening, essentially right off the bat. I think that he had only been in the house for like a week or two when he had his first experience there. in the early days of renovation,
Joe was at the house by himself as they were getting the renovation started. And he was staying in the servants' quarters at the time. So one night he was in bed reading a book before going to sleep.
when the end of the bed like shook. He described it as someone like bumping into the bed or like kicking the bed or something like that. was like, What the fuck? Are you kidding me? What the hell was that? So he calls his sister.
And
her her husband, who just so happened to be paranormal investigators, and he asked them like what to do. And she told him, you know, just talk to them, be respectful, just tell them that this is your house now, you're allowed to be here, blah blah blah blah, like the whole thing, just like walking him through how to react in that situation. So he does, and he tells the ghosts, you know, please don't bother me where I live.
But he also tells them, like, you don't have to leave. You can stay in the house. Just please don't bug me in my like living quarters. Like I have to sleep, you know, this is like my home, basically. And And at first
The activity was concentrated to the third floor where I think his like apartment or living quarters or whatever were. Um, but by the time the renovations wrapped up, people started seeing things like throughout the house. So it did kind of seem like they stuck around and just like went like down a couple floors basically.
so yeah, in the days since they've opened to the public because they do put on paranormal and history tours and they'll host paranormal investigations and all that kind of stuff, or you could just
Take a daytime tour. People have seen many, many things. Um, people tend to see, like, I love this one. I don't really know how to describe it, but you'll know what I'm describing. They'll see like skirts kind of swishing around the corner, as if a woman has just like turned to leave the room. But it's like you'll only see
Gina (45:12)
Mm, mm-hmm. Ooh.
Kathryn (45:15)
a piece of it, you know? It's like the last moment before she's gone. They don't see the full apparition. It's just like that last little transition to her being not there anymore.
Which I think is super notable. I I haven't heard that too many times as like a recurring thing. it's almost like you're almost seeing someone, but not quite. And then another common sighting is someone walking up the staircase only to like slowly vanish. Like you can see the figure like slowly fading as it goes up or down the stairs.
And that one I think is so fun because a lot of people, like stairs in general, are considered kind of a portal because they're in they're like an in-between space, obviously, in between floor one and floor two. Um, so it's almost like you can see them traveling through the portal. Like now I'm in this world and then I'm back. I don't
Gina (46:11)
Yeah.
Kathryn (46:12)
know. But same with the skirt thing. Like you're in one room and now you're in another. I don't know. There's a lot of like
Gina (46:17)
That's what I was thinking.
Yeah. Yeah.
Kathryn (46:19)
Yeah, there's a lot of in between energy here, it feels like.
Gina (46:23)
Ooh, very crossroadsy. Love it.
Kathryn (46:25)
Yeah.
and um I think they are on a crossroads. I think it is on the corner. Notable.
Gina (46:30)
Well heyo.
Kathryn (46:31)
There you go. there is a lot of ghost lore around this place. Um, and a few particularly popular stories kind of paint a little bit of a darker picture of the house.
I'm
not gonna share those though. I kind of like hemmed and hawed about whether or not I was gonna share them. The only reason I'm not sharing them is there is no reputable source to tie them to whatsoever. They really feel like local urban legends that have grown. Kind of what we were talking about. Like those stories that started after the house was purchased and built, and suddenly it's like, oh, there's this story about like blah, blah, blah.
I don't even remember what
Gina (47:11)
Mm.
Kathryn (47:12)
they are. They were just like things that people made up to make the house seem spookier, which is very annoying to me because there are so many authentic sightings and a lot of energy that already exists. We don't need to make up shit to make it scarier than it is. Like there's already ghosts there. You don't
Gina (47:28)
Ha ha
Kathryn (47:29)
have to like make up stories. I I'm gonna say this because I'm petty. I won't, I'm not gonna say the name of the ghost show.
But there's this ghost show that did an episode at the Al Ringling House that Phil and I watched the night before we went to the clown museum that one time because we were like getting, we just had like a whole circus weekend that day. And they had heard about the legends that I'm not gonna tell. And they were like hellbent on communicating with one of the women from this story. And they were using, I think it was a spirit box and a Ouija board or something like that. Something that like gave you words and answers and
Like clear responses. And they would ask these questions, like trying to talk to this person that the story is allegedly about. And the answers they were getting were so clearly not her. Like they there were some times where they straight up would be like, No, like, and
Gina (48:22)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (48:23)
it was like saying names and all this, and they would just like ignore every response until it came to a response that was like.
maybe sort of a little bit tangentially related and then be they'd be like, my god, scary! And I was just like, guys, shut the fuck up. Like it was so annoying. Um but these are the stories that circulate because they're scary and weird and uncomfortable. And like anything that makes something demonic or bad is what gets like clicks and likes. So I'm choosing to be petty and not tell any of those stories. If you want garbage go somewhere else, sorry.
That's not what we do here. Um,
Gina (49:04)
Huh.
Kathryn (49:05)
but yeah, I'm I'm not gonna share the name because it's and the reason I'm not sharing the name is it's not just them. I'm not blaming any one show or anything like that. It's like these are the stories that have circulated that are just kind of simply not true, basically. Or I should say unsubstantiated. Like they might be true. There is no proof whatsoever. There has been.
Proof
or at least corroboration to these other stories that, for example, we know Lou is very likely still there. We know that Al is very likely still there. We cannot prove any of these other things that people claim to have happened. So Anyway,
Even though these darker stories are most likely untrue, this house is still definitely haunted. Many psychics and mediums and just investigators in general who have visited the house, the average number that people claim is there is between like 25 to 30 different spirits at any given point. So that's a pretty busy house. That's a lot of energy. uh it kind of gave me rough house vibes, which I think makes sense.
Were you thinking that too as I was talking about it? Yeah. Yeah.
Gina (50:17)
I was I was, yeah.
Kathryn (50:19)
I could tell by some of your reactions to some of those stories. I was like, I know exactly what she's thinking of. Um, but it makes sense, right? Like they were traveling a circus that's busy, busy, chaotic, fun, filled energy. You know what I mean? So it makes sense that it in the afterlife it would be very busy, I guess. Um and
Yeah, like so I totally believe that there's at least 25 to 30 spirits there at any given time. because even though Phil and I didn't go to the house proper, we did visit the brewery that is there, which is attached to the house. it's one of those things, it must have like stables at one time or something. Because the building's still all original. It's just been turned into this big old brewery. And
Boy, boy, could I feel something. Like I feel like I probably talked about it on the podcast whenever we went. The moment we walked in, it was very like I bring up the number of spirits because I genuinely remember thinking like it felt crowded in there. I hate saying heavy or claustrophobic because it wasn't necessarily bad. It just felt like there was just a lot going on there. I don't know how to describe it.
So my personal theory, well, one of my theories, um, about why so many spirits have stuck around so long does kind of have to do with the brewery itself. as a quick backstory, the brewery opened in the fall of 2020, if you can believe it. Bold move, horrible timing, but they're still open, they're still around and they're doing well. I just like
Gosh, talk about stressful um I know
Gina (51:56)
Damn, that's brave. But you know what?
There was there was an optimism in fall 2020. We all thought by this time next year
Kathryn (52:03)
Well
Gina (52:03)
it'll all be back to normal.
Kathryn (52:04)
and also like they opened in the fall of twenty twenty, which means they'd probably been planning it for like a year. You know what I mean? So can
Gina (52:10)
Mm.
Kathryn (52:11)
you imagine being in the middle of planning that and all of a sudden March comes and you're like Oh
Gina (52:16)
my god.
Kathryn (52:17)
my god. I do wonder if maybe they were s set to like to your point the optimism, maybe they were scheduled to open in like the summer or something and they had to bump it back until people were
Gina (52:27)
Mm.
Kathryn (52:28)
like ready. I don't know.
Anyway, during renovations of the house, they had been pulling up floorboards to like redo things, and they found a wooden box in I know, I know, just wait.
Gina (52:44)
Okay.
Kathryn (52:45)
Just
wait. Inside the box was a folded up piece of paper that had a beer recipe written on it.
Gina (52:53)
Oh come on that's so perfect
Kathryn (52:55)
I know you can't
you can't write this shit. Well, you can. People have, but this time it's actually real. So
Gina (53:01)
Yeah.
Kathryn (53:02)
this recipe, which was probably written and hidden in Prohibition, um, it would become the Ringling family original beer that you can get at the Al Ringling Brewing Company. Now, because of the timing, I do wanna say, I don't think it was specified whether or not it actually was the Ringling.
family that wrote and hid the recipe could have been the elks. I don't know. I don't know if it was ever like confirmed that that's who it was that did it. But I kinda like to think that it was the Ringling family. Cause like, can you imagine like as a family building this grand mansion with a secret beer recipe hidden inside the house? And that's why I honestly think it may have been then, because it was built into the floor. You know what I mean?
Gina (53:48)
Yeah.
Kathryn (53:49)
Like there were no signs that the floor had been
obstructed in any way, to my knowledge, I should say. And then over a century later, your recipe is being served in an establishment with your namesake to like your community members. And the establishment is basically a museum for the circus that you create. I just like that would be reason enough to stick around. Like I would never leave. That would be so I would
Gina (54:16)
Mm.
Kathryn (54:16)
be so touched by that as a ghost. I'd be like, my God, of course
I'll be an apparition on your ghost tour. Why would I not? You know what I mean? Like, yeah,
Gina (54:25)
Totally. Yeah.
Kathryn (54:26)
absolutely. So that's why part of the reason I say, like, fuck those bad stories, because that's real good vibes, in my opinion. I believe that the Ringling family is sticking around because their legacy has been kept alive by the people who own this house. That's all they ever wanted and all they could ask for.
Like
I said, it's essentially a circus museum with a beer attach a beer brewery, whatever, beer place attached to it. Um yeah, that's real good vibes through and through. And I fully believe that it is 100% haunted and 100% haunted with happy good ghosts.
Gina (55:05)
That sounds like so much fun.
Kathryn (55:07)
I know. I want to go there so bad. It's like top of my list for paranormal investigation. It's just because it's a mansion, it's you gotta have, I think, like a big group. It'd be too expensive for me to just like pop over. You know what I mean? Like I could like I think you could
Gina (55:19)
Okay. Yeah.
Kathryn (55:20)
like join, like they host tours, but if we want like if we wanted to go with the TWATs, for example, not that I have actually no, we did actually mention that to them. Um,
Gina (55:30)
Manifested.
Kathryn (55:32)
yeah.
I know. Actually, I have to talk to them about that. Because we have talked about that. We're like trying to put something together. But that was like over a year ago that we started talking about that. but yeah, I would love to do that. I'd love to get like a big group together and go do that. it just seems like it has good vibes. But may I'm also like, maybe that's just me being obsessed with the circus. I don't know. I think it's got good vibes.
Gina (55:52)
My memories of the circus are so positive. I j I yeah, I loved the circus when I was a kid. What a nice reflection
Kathryn (55:54)
They're so good and me too.
Gina (55:59)
of the legacy. I would be so happy if I was a Ringling
Kathryn (56:01)
Um
Gina (56:02)
ghost. So when you were there, did you have the Ringling family beer? Did you try it?
Kathryn (56:08)
Phil did. I'm not a beer person, so I think I did. I think I just took a sip of his. Um I mean, I didn't like it 'cause I hate beer, but I'm sure it's good to people who do like beer. Sorry, I can't
Gina (56:19)
Okay. I wanna try it. I wanna give that a go.
Kathryn (56:21)
give a better description of that.
Gina (56:24)
I'm not good at describing beer either. Whenever I order
Kathryn (56:27)
me either.
Gina (56:28)
a beer, I just want beer flavored beer. I don't I don't know how else to I don't.
Kathryn (56:32)
The only terms
I know are hop.
Well, the only term I know is hop.
Gina (56:39)
AHA
I know one term.
Kathryn (56:43)
I know, one beer. Yeah. and Pilsner. I think I know what a Pilsner is.
Gina (56:50)
I like a I like a Pilsner. I know that I think a Hefeweisen tastes like bananas.
Kathryn (56:55)
That's a lot of things that I hate. I don't like anything
Gina (56:57)
Ha ha ha.
Kathryn (56:58)
you just said, sorry.
Gina (57:02)
man, I want to go to the circus now. And I wanna go to Baraboo, Wisconsin
Kathryn (57:04)
Me too.
Gina (57:05)
with you, which is not a sentence I ever thought I would say. No shade to Baraboo, I just don't
Kathryn (57:08)
Girl,
Gina (57:09)
know anything about you.
Kathryn (57:10)
listen. Baraboo rocks. I love Baraboo, Wisconsin. That's where we went to the International Hall. Wait, what is it called? International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center. Um,
Gina (57:22)
Hell yeah.
Kathryn (57:22)
there's also a circus museum. Like there's it's different from the Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center. But we did we will certainly go back. Well, we need to go back next time you guys are in town.
w amongst all the other things we are planning to do next time you're in town.
Gina (57:39)
I would love to I'm not saying I'm going to, but I would love to bring a crowbar and see what else they got under the floors there.
Kathryn (57:45)
Girl, right? I know. 'Cause now
Gina (57:47)
What are you hiding?
Kathryn (57:48)
I'm wondering like if I were this Joe guy and 'cause there's another owner too. I'm sorry, I don't know his name. All the stories came from Joe. but man, I'd be hiding things left and right during those renovations.
Gina (57:58)
Dude.
Same. My dream home is one with lots of little hidey holes and trapdoors and secret
Kathryn (58:03)
I know.
Gina (58:03)
cabinets and things. Oh. I would love a labyrinth.
Kathryn (58:06)
I know.
See, I w I used to say that until I had a house with Heidi Doors. Now it's my fucking nightmare. uh I know. I like I used
Gina (58:14)
Okay, yeah, actually it is really creepy.
Kathryn (58:19)
to agree until I got one. And it's not a labyrinth to my knowledge. I won't go and check. I literally
Gina (58:24)
God.
Kathryn (58:26)
won't look. Um
But
yeah, I've uh yeah, we have those like even in the basement we have kinda hidey hold things and I just don't wanna I don't wanna know who or what is there. It's just none of my business.
Gina (58:38)
No, that's not for you to know. And it's not for you to find out.
Kathryn (58:39)
Yeah, nope. Nope,
it's not.
Gina (58:43)
Well, I do have a I have a little ghost story about a creepy haunted room, if you want to hear it. Okay.
Kathryn (58:46)
Please do, always.
Gina (58:48)
So we actually got a story submission. This comes from
Kathryn (58:51)
Yeah
Gina (58:52)
Beth. It is about her haunted childhood bedroom.
Kathryn (58:57)
Okay.
Gina (58:58)
It goes. My family home was built in 1901. We were told that two sisters who lived there had died in my childhood bedroom of Spanish influenza in 1917.
Kathryn (59:10)
Jesus.
Gina (59:11)
I know. Yeah, right? Like, whoo! Who's who's telling their kid that? Geez. Well, apparently Beth's.
Kathryn (59:14)
Right off the bat. My God. I hope they got a
discount. Yeah. Well, we know who's totally making sense. That's so funny.
Gina (59:22)
We know. We know precisely who it was.
Lots of weird and different things would happen in my room, but occasionally elsewhere in the house as well. One night I remember being awoken with an overwhelming urge to look outside my window, which projected into the back garden. I saw a circle of orange lights on the grass. Young me thought it was a fairy circle.
But a lot creepier things would happen. The door to the airing cupboard would creak open by itself all the time, and I would often feel h a heavy weight dipping down on my mattress as if someone was sitting on it, but there would be no one
Kathryn (1:00:01)
Uh.
Gina (1:00:01)
there. On many occasions, I would wake up to a face right in front of mine. oh dude! I know, seriously, yeah.
Kathryn (1:00:06)
Oh my god, feet off the ground. my god. Absolutely
not. my god.
Gina (1:00:14)
No. Sometimes
I would see silhouettes walking in from my doorway, but it wasn't my parents. I always felt like someone was watching me from the window, which no normal person could have done because I was two floors up. Before anyone thinks this is just me being an imaginative crazy child, my now husband also experienced things.
One night he was staying over when my family was away, and he was lying on the sofa, because he's an awful snorer, when he heard footsteps shuffling around above him, which was in my parents' room. He texted me and asked what I was doing in there. I was in my bedroom, definitely not walking around, and no one else was home. He also experienced knocking on the lounge door and called out for me to come in, but it wasn't me. Again, I was lying in bed.
Nothing has ever occurred in the flat where I live now, which leads me to think there was definitely some weirdness going on in my old house.
Kathryn (1:01:14)
Okay. Fuck that. I was
Gina (1:01:17)
Yeah.
Kathryn (1:01:18)
I was curious because that I I don't we've definitely talked about this. I don't know if I've mentioned it on the podcast, but I always am like, is every house or establishment I ever walk into haunted or am I haunted? So now like that, like anytime someone has especially when they're little, because like, you
Gina (1:01:39)
Mm.
Kathryn (1:01:39)
know, you never know. Kids are just psychic in general.
Um, but it's notable that nothing has ever happened in where like where anywhere else she's ever lived.
Gina (1:01:51)
Yeah. Yeah. The face right in front of when you wake up. I can't that's so scary. That's
Kathryn (1:01:54)
I can't. I fucking hate that. Mm-mm.
Gina (1:01:58)
my god, no. That makes me never want to open my eyes again. But I have to. Umf unfortunately I do
Kathryn (1:02:01)
Yeah, absolutely not. You do, I'm so sorry.
Gina (1:02:06)
have to see things. Oh god. Uh
Kathryn (1:02:09)
Ha ha
Gina (1:02:10)
well, if you have a spooky story about your childhood bedroom or any spooky story, or any story, really, you can send it to iscreamyouscreampod@gmail.com
Big ol' shout out to Clowbear Money Coach and a huge congratulations on your wedding. Hooray!
Kathryn (1:02:25)
Yay!
Gina (1:02:26)
Congratulations, congratulations. Thank you for sponsoring today's episode. Reminder to join our new hot fudge tier on Patreon for episodes that are early and completely devoid of ads.
Kathryn (1:02:39)
Yeah.
Gina (1:02:40)
If you could leave us a rating or a review wherever you listen, it would mean the absolute world to us.
We will see you next time. Until then, keep it cool.
Kathryn (1:02:48)
and keep it creepy.
