Palate Cleanser: Haunted Bar Stories
Kathryn (00:10)
Hello everybody. Welcome back to I Scream You Scream. We are your weekly scoop of the most chilling histories, mysteries, and paranormal perplexities. My name is Kathryn
Gina (00:21)
I'm Gina.
Kathryn (00:23)
And for the month of July, we've been telling stories about spooky bars. And while we tell those stories, we've been having boozy ice cream. Today's a little bit of a special episode. We'll talk about that more in a little bit. But before that, we just wanted to say we're only two months away from our first podcast birthday. So we're very close to a really big milestone.
What we'd love more than absolutely anything for our birthday is if everyone listening just gave us a quick five star review. You can do it right now while I'm rambling, struggling to get to the transition. You could be halfway done by now. All right, awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you for leaving that five star review. Happy birthday to us. ⁓ And yeah, grab a spoon, grab a drink, and let's dig in.
Gina (01:05)
I loved that.
Kathryn (01:17)
Thank you. Very excited for our birthday. Sometimes you just need a little encouragement. I'm sure there are still some people stuck. I have faith that they'll get the five star by the time we're done with this episode.
Gina (01:18)
The positive affirmation as they went along. That's very good.
Speaking of positive reinforcement, when I was in kindergarten, they sent home, it was like the first day, and they sent home some little sheet that the parents had to fill out that was like, okay, tell me about your kid, when's their birthday, what's their favorite color, blah, blah, blah. And one of the questions was, how did they learn? And what my mom put for mine was, Gina only responds to positive reinforcement. And it is still true to this day.
Kathryn (01:57)
That is true. That's something that whether people think so or not, I think is just one of those universal truths that is more evident in some than others. But it'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't genuinely operate better with positive reinforcement. Honestly. Like, I've looked. I've tried. Can you think of someone? Can you think of people?
Gina (02:24)
Well, I was trying to, I was thinking about Phil because I don't think I've ever watched him successfully take a compliment.
Kathryn (02:32)
That's different though. I think a lot of people have trouble receiving compliments. Phil is like the most positive reinforcement. He won't admit it. He's the exact perfect example of what I just described in the whole like, I think there are people who like think that they do better with negative reinforcement, but no, he's definitely one of those people that like...
Gina (02:34)
Yeah.
Okay.
Kathryn (02:57)
If you tell him something bad, he'll be like, fuck you and just be worse on purpose. I'm the same way. I'm like, yeah. I'm one of those people where if you tell me something, I'm gonna like do whatever I can to spite you. And yeah, no, he's definitely a positive reinforcement person. I don't think he would outright admit that. I think everyone is like deep down. Everyone just wants to do a good job and like be loved.
Gina (03:02)
Okay, I respect that. I respect
Yeah, and if they're not, ⁓ baby, what happened? I'm sorry. You know what I mean?
Kathryn (03:28)
Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say if they're not, it's something is like they've been trained to think that that's like normal. I know that got real deep, but that's been my experience.
Gina (03:36)
Ugh.
Yeah, but speaking of Phil, happy birthday, We're recording this on his birthday.
Kathryn (03:44)
Yeah, as I psychoanalyze him in depth against as well, it's Phil's birthday.
⁓ We, just moments before we hit record here, Phil and I got back from birthday lunch. ⁓ Did you ever go to Night Owl in St. Francis?
Gina (04:03)
No, I don't think I did.
Kathryn (04:05)
There's a place, it's this little burger place. It used to be a little diner and now it's just a walk up window. I think they've been no indoor seating since COVID. It's just this little local place down in St. Francis across the street from the airport. And they have really, really good burgers and they're open from like 10 in the morning until they run out of ingredients for the day.
It's like, have to, yeah, you have to get down there when you can. And they're only open, it's seasonal. They're open during the spring and summer and that's it. So we went and got burgers from there. And then we sat in the observation lot at the airport and watched the planes come in and you can like listen to the radio. You turn it to the radio station that has the airport.
Gina (04:31)
Ooh, I like that.
Kathryn (04:56)
Like radio system and you could like hear them navigating the planes and landing the planes and stuff. Not a lot of air traffic today but we saw a few come in so that's what we did.
Gina (05:08)
That feels like the scene you just described feels like a coming of age film.
Kathryn (05:13)
Yeah, straight like Stand By Me vibes, like Quaint as Hell, but like a little ominous for some reason. Yeah, it's the best. Yeah, it was fun. He's not a big birthday guy. He doesn't really care about his birthday. He just tries to pretend to care about his birthday because he knows how much I care about birthdays and like everyone in his family cares about birthdays. So he's always good sport.
Gina (05:16)
Yes. ⁓ I love that. What a good birthday lunch.
Kathryn (05:38)
when it comes to birthday celebrations.
Gina (05:40)
You know what, now that I think of it, I don't think I've actually ever met a man who was a birthday person. Because Tom's not either. My dad's not.
Kathryn (05:49)
Yeah, I think that's something that's like trained into them by society, like they're not allowed to care about celebrating themselves, which circles back to the compliment positive reinforcement thing, I think. Yeah. Yeah, being a boy sucks. I would hate being a boy, no offense.
Gina (05:54)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. God, that fucking sucks.
Well, if you're a dude and you're listening to this, celebrate your birthday. know, have fun. Have a you day. Take yourself out for a little pedicure.
Kathryn (06:12)
Yeah, celebrate things.
Yeah, be happy about stuff and celebrate things that you do and stuff. Yeah, and give them a big old hug and be like, you know, I'm about to go down a rabbit hole, nevermind, I did this part now. I'm like.
Gina (06:21)
Yeah, and when someone compliments you, just say, you. Thank you, you're right. And then give them $20.
Kathryn (06:40)
Literally as I was sitting here speaking in my brain, I was like, Heather, what are you doing? Like, don't take any more sips during this intro. It's starting. It's hot. Yeah, exactly. Get on that airport control radio call an SOS.
Gina (06:47)
Mayday, mayday.
Kathryn (06:57)
Anyway, so what are we doing here today?
Gina (07:01)
We have a medley of stories.
Kathryn (07:02)
How do I try?
Gina (07:04)
This is gonna sound like exactly what we did last week. But there's no ranking system this time. It's communist.
Kathryn (07:04)
I even know what I was talking about.
Literally. Honestly, let's... yeah. We'll just... exactly. So instead of doing researched stories like we typically do, we are going to be sharing some Reddit stories slash some of my own personal spooky stories slash some other little special nuggets of stories all pertaining to bars.
And I'm excited because I love doing a hodgepodge of stories. Let us know if you all like this format too, because I'd love to do more of these. But if you want us to stick with just the research stories.
We'll probably end up doing both because it's our podcast and we're going to do what we want. But we want you to enjoy it as well. So we do want your feedback, but also know that there will be more of these. So yeah, don't what do you want to go first? Or do want me to hop in? I have no preference.
Spooky Bars: Our stories begin
Gina (07:52)
Aha, yes, that is important, yeah. I can go first, I don't mind.
So our first story today comes from a Reddit user named Blanco the Magnificent, which is a great username. That's just fucking awesome. So I'm gonna read the first sentence and you'll know why I picked it. I live in an old market town in the UK. Yep.
Kathryn (08:17)
⁓ love that name. Yeah, perfect.
Yep.
Gina (08:32)
That's just how it is. it
Kathryn (08:33)
That's a gene episode.
Gina (08:35)
sure fucking is. On Saturday and Sunday, I clean a pub between around 7.30 and 9 a.m. I'm always the only one there. It's the oldest pub in an old town. It dates back to the 1600s. So pretty on par with what I've talked about. I actually do, kind of low key wonder if I've talked about this pub, because they don't give the name of it. So I don't know. Maybe.
Kathryn (08:58)
Maybe. Oh, yeah.
Gina (09:01)
But there's a lot of old, I don't know, anyway, I'm getting too distracted. Back to the story. It's oak paneled, creaky, ancient, and supposedly haunted. I've been working there around four months and I have a feel for it. I went in two weekends ago and the Christmas decorations had just been put up. I started cleaning. I do the toilets first, then I sweep the bar and the lounge. Then I go to the large room at the back and I sweep that.
This room was apparently used by Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War as a courtroom for royal trials, royalist trials. So that's interesting. Little history tidbit. So I swept in there too, and it all felt just a bit off. I noticed the door to the kitchen was slightly ajar, although it had a closing mechanism on it. I filled a mop bucket in the kitchen and went to mop the bar and the lounge.
Kathryn (09:41)
Yeah, that's cool.
Gina (10:00)
At this point, I just felt slightly unnerved. I chalked it up to the door being slightly open to some sort of breeze. I pulled it shut. Anyway, it was soon time to go back and mop the back room. I got fresh water in my bucket and went back in there. It felt like the atmosphere had changed. The door was open again, a couple of inches just like before.
and it was noticeably colder and more oppressive. I started mopping quickly. I just wanted to go home. I felt like I was being watched from the corner by the fireplace. After about five minutes, the door opened wider and the Christmas lights around the room undulated in a wave all the way around the wall to the opposite door. It must have been the wind then. Phew, I'm overthinking it. I shut the door. It clicked shut.
Except, less than a minute later, there were footsteps, which I heard walk from the door, past the fireplace, along the wall, and out the door. I stood there and followed them with my ears and my eyes. I grabbed my coat, set the alarm, and noped out of there. I hurried out of the courtyard, and as I approached the back gate, it opened, then slammed behind me.
It wasn't windy and I'm damn sure it wasn't the wind. I just was not welcome in that room on that day. So a little, little, little spooky story to get us started. Yeah, some ambiance.
Kathryn (11:35)
Spooky. Ooh.
Yeah. spooky. Suspicious wind. Ooh, I like that. Yeah, the whole door opening and closing situation always throws me, because that happens a lot around here. But I also know that airflow is weird in this house. So there's always a question of could it just be the wind? It could be, absolutely. But is it? I don't know.
Gina (11:38)
Suspicious wind.
Mm-hmm. And what fucks me up about this story is like the door had a closing thingy on it, so it should have just done it by itself, which that always freaks me out.
Kathryn (12:05)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Gina (12:09)
Ghosts that can mess with machines and mechanics can go get fucked. I don't like that. They shouldn't understand how that works.
Kathryn (12:16)
I never really thought of that.
Gina (12:18)
I don't like it. Like I know there's some movie out there, I can't remember what it was, but I remember seeing trailers for it. There's probably lots of these movies where the ghosts are like in electronics.
Kathryn (12:19)
Yeah, I don't like that either.
I hate that. almost like an AI type horror, but not quite. Yeah. Yeah, I don't like that. There's
Gina (12:31)
Get fucked! Yeah, what are you doing in there? Get out!
You died of the plague hundreds
of years ago. You don't belong in my MacBook.
Kathryn (12:41)
Yeah, I don't like that.
Gina (12:43)
So on that happy note, do you have a story for me?
Schute’s Saloon in Calumet, Michigan
Kathryn (12:45)
Anyway, I do. I'm going to start with ⁓ one from when we were in the UP last summer. And actually, so for those who don't know, because I've mentioned the UP a few times, the UP is Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I don't know if people internationally know about that. just further up north than I was recently is all I mean when I say that. It's like...
small town Sasquatch kind of country. Okay, so we were up north and we stopped for a visit in this small town named Calumet. Real small. We're talking like 650 people small. And they have a really well-known bar called... I always thought it was called Shoots Saloon. Turns out it's called Shute's. So sorry for everyone. I've said it was Shoots all this time.
I'm still secretly calling it Shoots in my head because I just like that better, no offense to the Shooty family. anyway, so Shute's Saloon, this place dates back to very old 1890s. But it's just stunning. I mean, it's very similar to what you described, the dark wood, old oak, like vintage looking just
Gina (13:49)
You
⁓ boy, whoo!
Kathryn (14:11)
old nice bar. But the whole back bar, fun fact, is all original to the original saloon and it's actually owned by the Historical Society and just the bar is just like allowed to continue quote borrowing it even though it's still like on the premises. I don't know. I just think that's interesting that like the owners of the bar technically don't own this one piece of the bar. I've never heard of that before but
Gina (14:11)
Love that.
⁓
This is interesting.
Kathryn (14:37)
Yeah, they I think I've told you about this. They have this really beautiful stained glass overhang over the back of the barn that that's one of the things they're kind of known for. People like come far and wide to see this bar. ⁓ So they're very used to like tourists and you know, people going up north for the summer stuff like that. But it still has small town vibes, you know, like when we went there, I had been there before, but I wanted to bring Phil and it was like
us, the bartender and two or three men sitting at the end of the bar who've like not left those seats in 50 years. You know, it was like that kind of vibe. So we were just having casual conversation with the bartender, like trying not to be too touristy and obnoxious, but trying to like, you know, be friendly and learn about the town. ⁓ basically I had an agenda and we were trying to lead the conversation to ask if
Gina (15:13)
Nice. Hell yeah.
Kathryn (15:34)
bartender had had any ghost experiences, which finally we got to the point in the conversation where I did ask. And at first she was a little hesitant to directly say anything. I could tell she was like given that kind of guarded. That's the reason I mentioned it's like a small town. She was giving kind of like a look like why do you ask kind of thing, which immediately I'm like, yes, this means you have a story to tell me and I want to know what it is.
So, I continued gently pressing and she realized, okay.
Gina (16:02)
You're fine.
Kathryn (16:08)
this chick really is actually interested in the story and isn't just trying to like make fun of the small bar or whatever. So she tells me this story that I will relay to you now. So one night she was working and it was relatively busy for especially just compared to what it was when we were there. This place does not get packed. It's not like a elbow to elbow like bumping club type place, but
you know, there was plenty of people, all the tables were filled, average Friday, Saturday night at a bar. So she's working and she serves this one man a couple of beers, doesn't think anything else of it. But a few minutes later, he comes back to the bar and has this kind of shocked and confused look on his face.
And she's like, okay, what the fuck's wrong? Like, did I give him the wrong beer? Like, what's happening? And he says, I'm so sorry. This is gonna sound so weird, but something very strange just happened. Can I get another beer? And she was of confused, not really understanding what's going on. Like I said, it's kind of a busy night. She's not really comprehending. So he follows up with
Gina (17:24)
you
Kathryn (17:25)
I don't know how to ask this, but is this place haunted?" She's like, wait, what? What the hell? And he says, I swear I'm not drunk. Like, we just got started for the night. This is the first place we've been. This is like my second drink of the night. But I swear my beer just flew off the table. And she's like, okay, whatever.
People have said weirder things to get a free beer. Just, yeah, sure, I'll get you another beer or whatever. Take it and go. So she moves on with her night. Then later in the evening, she's talking to the manager about this story, just as like a hey, heads up, I had to give away a couple of free beers, like blah, blah, blah. Then they realized that based on where this guy was sitting, there was a security camera pointing directly over
their table. So they were like, all right, let's see, what actually happened. As she's telling Phil and me this story, she pulls out her phone with the security footage on it. Yes. So now this is not me sharing her story. Now I will explain what I saw with my own eyes on this security footage. So.
Gina (18:33)
shit!
Kathryn (18:45)
It's you can see in the footage, their table is like kind of in the lower right hand corner, but you can see them very clearly. Like they are in frame. The entire table is in frame. There's probably, I don't remember how many people there were, but between like four and six people are all around this circular table. And you can see him, I believe he's facing the camera and his beer is like diagonally to his right. And it's just.
It's in the middle of the table. Like, it's just the usual spot your drink would be in like the upper corner of where you're sitting as is where anyone would put their drink. And they're just sitting, he's not even paying attention to it. No one is near this drink. And all of a sudden, the beer shoots off the table, just like out of nowhere. Like no one's near it, no one's by it, nothing's happened. No one's like up and like no one bumped to the table or anything.
all these people sitting around the table are looking around like, what the fuck just that you? Like what just happened? They like all kind of realize at the same time, like something weird just happened basically.
Upon the first viewing, was like, okay, maybe something happened. Maybe it was like, you know, when you get the condensation and it kind of starts sliding if you don't have a coaster. I was like, maybe it was something like that. But if you watch it, which I realized yesterday, I should have reached out to them to see if I could get this footage. So I'm going to, I'm going to see if I can get ahold of anyone.
Gina (20:04)
Yeah.
Kathryn (20:21)
I mentioned it was a small town because they don't even have a website and I don't know when the last time they updated their Facebook is so I don't know if I'm going to be able to contact anyone. But I really want to because I want to see if they'd be okay with me sharing this footage because it looked like what it looks like when a drink is sliding in the condensation 10 times faster. it started from zero and flew off this table.
Gina (20:26)
Hmm
That freaks
me out.
Kathryn (20:51)
Yeah, it was wild. It was so weird to watch I am not a skeptic at all, but I was trying to be like, okay, what could this be? Did someone bump into someone who knocked the table? Was it, you know, could they have faked it? I don't know. There just wasn't.
you could genuinely see on their faces that they were astonished. Like if they were, if this was a faked video, they're great actors because you could see them all. They were doing like triple takes, like what is going on? Anyway, that's my story.
Gina (21:25)
but a ghost, right?
Kathryn (21:27)
Honestly, I like I know this is a secondhand experience, but I'm usually a lot more skeptical on the secondhand experiences. Like I believe everything I see with my own eyes because I'm the one seeing it. But when it's footage of something, I'm like, OK, what else could it be? But this one kind of blew me away. I was not expecting it to see. And it's was it's clear as day in the video. I've never seen something so clear with my own two eyes. I can't believe they haven't submitted it.
anywhere, you know, and maybe they have, I don't know, but it's pristine primo evidence quote unquote, if people are looking for some, I'll see, I'm going to try to see if I can contact someone and see if they'll be okay with us sharing it. But it would be, I really hope they do. But for now, you'll all just have to take my word for it.
Gina (22:08)
That would be cool. That would be very cool.
Use the mental picture she gave.
Kathryn (22:20)
Yes, exactly.
Gina (22:21)
I do feel like
I just watched Paranormal Activity, because that's what I'm picturing, like the found footage-y.
Kathryn (22:25)
It was kind of that vibe, yeah. Because it was
like the night vision, black and white, kind of pixelated. But you know, it's one of those places, just in addition to that, that you walk in and you can tell, like, there's someone here for sure. And it's worth noting, it's right next door to the Calumet Theater, which has a lot of haunted history. Like, it's pretty known.
Gina (22:38)
Hmmmm
Kathryn (22:51)
for paranormal activity and it's right next door to the bar. So I'm sure there's a lot of energy coming from that as well.
Gina (22:55)
Okay.
I wonder who the ghost was that was like, fuck your beer. Because were there other drinks on the table too and it was just this one drink they picked out and smacked? Okay, interesting.
Kathryn (23:02)
I know.
Yes. Yeah, they were all... Yeah. Yeah. And I don't
know. Well, what's interesting, I'm going to probably do an episode on Calumet or just the UP in general one day because it's got a lot of really interesting history because it was a mining town. And then when the mines were shit kind of hit the fan economically. I won't go into all of that right now, but there is a lot of kind of sad energy. ⁓
But I'm just, this is like a classic, was it one of the, was it a minor who like that used to be his spot or like he doesn't like what happened to the place or you know, something went down there or I don't know, it could be anything, but that's where my head goes.
Gina (23:47)
Totally, yeah. Okay, so we need to go there together, is what I'm hearing.
Kathryn (23:51)
Yeah, we do.
I would love to go to the UP with you. There's a lot of haunted stuff up there.
Gina (23:54)
Okay,
I'll bring a Ouija board.
Kathryn (23:57)
Okay, me too. Well, everyone bring a re- B-Y-O-O-B. Bring your own... Yeah, B-Y-O-O-B. All right, tell me a story.
Gina (23:59)
Sweet, yay, okay, cool.
BYOOB. ⁓ I love that. Okay, so yes, story.
La Llorona, is that you?
Okay, so this comes from another Reddit user, because I don't have spooky bar ghost stories of my own, so I had to turn to the internet. Yeah, you're right, I'm young. I'm still a young spring chicken until November anyway. So this is from Reddit user, I think it's CointrelleVintage or CointrelVintage, something like that.
Kathryn (24:27)
Give it time. Give it time.
Yes.
you
Gina (24:45)
The bar slash restaurant I work at is very actively haunted at all hours. Here are some experiences coworkers and I have had. And then they list some, but then it gets into a chunkier story. just, I don't know why I'm telling you the structure, but I could just read it. OK.
Kathryn (25:04)
No, I love this.
I feel like I'm reading it myself.
Gina (25:07)
Bar sink faucets turn on and off by themselves. I've witnessed this several times and have a few coworkers as well. have a few coworkers. Coworkers hear disembodied voices, footsteps, and restroom stall doors close only to realize that they are alone in the restrooms. There's six inch gaps between the doors and stall walls and the floor. So like there's no one else in there they can tell.
Restroom lights also turn off when servers are in there alone. When closing alone, managers hear footsteps, restroom doors slam and dishes rattle around in the kitchen. Co-workers have felt hands on their shoulders and backs to find no one behind them. And we all feel mysterious drafts at random. We live in the desert and our air conditioning is weak. So make it make sense. All right.
Kathryn (25:37)
Yeah.
Gina (26:06)
One night, a coworker went to toss our trash, but opted to leave it inside because he saw a human, question mark, laying in the fetal position by the dumpster. It gave him a bad vibe that scared the shit out of him. And he's tough as nails, 60s something dude who's lived through some serious shit, including cartel related violence and Juarez. And like it scared him. FYI, our
Kathryn (26:34)
Yikes.
Gina (26:35)
Yeah, our dumpster is surrounded by a high, non-climbable gate on all sides, impossible to get into without unlocking a padlock. Yet a person, quote unquote, was in there. One day, the opening shift came in to find most of our glassware shattered on the floor. Surveillance footage captured it flying off the shelves on its own earlier that day around 2 a.m.
The craziest haunting I've ever experienced so far happened a few weeks ago. It was slow with only a manager, back of house staff, two servers, and Ion Shift. Only two customers, an elderly couple seated far from the restrooms, were present at the time that this occurred. Server number one and I went to use the restroom, which has three stalls. We walked in, all three stall doors are flung open, no one else is in there.
We lock our stalls, start to pee, et cetera, and within seconds, there's a loud and aggressive as fuck banging on the front door of the restroom. We freak out knowing there's no way it was either of us pulling a prank. We got out of there. Everyone else was where we last saw them. Server number two is still chatting with the elderly couple at their table. Manager is in the kitchen along with the back of house guys.
Kathryn (27:46)
Oof.
Gina (28:04)
There's no way it was any of them pulling a prank. It all happened just too quickly. The couple leaves. Server number one and I tell server number two what happened. Manager joins the conversation. I joke that the ghost is drawn to the sink and the bathroom because the ghost, la la, is it la Llorona? Is that how you say it? Yes. Yes, so he's.
Kathryn (28:29)
Yes! Oh my god, I love her! I mean like,
not I don't love her, but yes. Oh, spooky!
Gina (28:35)
So yeah, this guy is
like, ⁓ he jokes that the ghost is drawn to the sink in the bathrooms because the ghost equals La Llorona, if you know, know. Looking for her kids. La Llorona searching for her kids in the toilets. Well, I must have offended the second after I said that our stereo system went silent, TV screens froze.
tablets for delivery orders and Wi-Fi went out, the lights flickered. Meanwhile, the smoothie place next door who used the same internet provider as us had no technical issues. We called our internet service provider and our electrical company who reported no outages or other issues in the area. We went without music, TV, DoorDash and Wi-Fi for two hours.
Then they all resumed working at the same time, as if nothing happened.
Kathryn (29:36)
scary.
Gina (29:37)
I know. I started with the not as scary one and then I went for the scary one with the second.
Kathryn (29:41)
Yeah,
that spooky, that La Llorona name drop, I feel like makes us so much more ominous. We'll definitely do an episode on her. I love her story. It's so sad and so scary. I feel like the sad stories are very scary. I should say scarier. Man, that's weird. That's kind of similar to not
a haunted electronic, but the fact that things can just be shut down for so long with no explanation whatsoever. Because that's a lot. What did you say? Two hours?
Gina (30:10)
I know.
And I always, yeah, two hours. And I always feel like places like this have backup generators and shit.
Kathryn (30:21)
backup
generators, and two hours, if there was something weird, your electrical company would have an answer for you in two hours. You know what I mean? Like, when our power goes out, I get a notification within 15, 20 minutes saying, hey, this thing happened. We're working on it. You know? That's weird that everything shut down and there was no explanation.
Gina (30:44)
Yeah, also hate the idea of a haunted bathroom. Get out of there. None of your business.
Kathryn (30:49)
my god,
truly, that's so invasive. That's the most vulnerable place in your home. It is mean. ⁓ I'm... Well, and also, I feel like all I mean, you know this, I think we just talked about this last episode. One of the hauntings I hate the most is a mirror haunting. ⁓
Gina (30:51)
Right?
It's so mean of a ghost to do that.
Kathryn (31:09)
What is a bathroom but just a fucking place where you have to see yourself in the mirror and like who knows what else is there? Did I ever tell you I... This is kind of embarrassing, we might want to edit this out, but I'm so scared of looking in the mirror at night and like having my eyes closed in the bathroom that I wash my face one half at a time. Have I ever told you that?
Gina (31:14)
That's true. my God.
respect the fuck
out of that.
Kathryn (31:33)
I'll wash the right half of my face so I can keep my left eye open and then I rinse it off and then I wash the left half of my face. Because I know it's too vulnerable. I can't just sit there for five minutes with my eyes closed, my head in a sink. I'm- no, I can't
Gina (31:49)
What's that? There's an animal.
It might be like a shark or a fish or something, but they only sleep like one side of their brain at a time so that they're always ready.
Kathryn (31:58)
that's my dog. He's thinking spooky. Spooky? Have you ever watched spooky? He doesn't blink, he winks. So he can always have one eye open. Have you ever noticed that? Yeah, he'll be like looking at you and he'll just be like.
Gina (31:59)
Hahaha! ⁓
Aww, I think you did tell me that before, I forgot about that.
I don't want to stop looking at you.
Kathryn (32:15)
Yeah, he just winks at you. Yeah, it's because
he's like always ready to go. But yeah, I think I think that's sharks actually. That actually does that. Yeah, but like a scared one, a scared and vulnerable shark. Sharks are vulnerable. We need to protect the sharks. That's a whole different discussion. But yes.
Gina (32:23)
You're like a shark. Powerful and scary.
Sharks are scared too probably and they just have more teeth. Except for the ones that are in Bournemouth. I'm not
saying we should kill the ones that are down by me, but I would appreciate if we asked them politely to go somewhere else because they do make me a little nervous.
Kathryn (32:44)
do they get real close to the beach?
Gina (32:48)
Close enough. Yeah, like there's a few stories every year. I don't know. And it's also not like the scary. It's not like Great Whites or anything like that. Like I'm pretty sure all the ones here are like the harmless kinds. But there's something, because it's like ingrained in your head that sharks, ah, scary. so I just don't, oh, it makes me a little uncomfortable.
Kathryn (32:50)
Yeah. Is that like a migration path?
Yeah.
Did you know, fun fact about great white sharks, that it's impossible to ever have a great white in captivity because they travel so many hundreds of miles a day?
Gina (33:20)
I respect that. I work out too much. You can't.
Kathryn (33:21)
You would just never be able to... Like, they would die
immediately. Yeah. Which is sad. Don't ever try to capture a great white. But, anyway. Yeah. Like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles every day. Maybe more. It might be in the thousands. I just don't want to say that because I don't want to be exaggerating. So.
Gina (33:29)
But from an evolution perspective, that's pretty cool.
I hope
I don't get reborn as a shark, geez.
Kathryn (33:43)
That's a lot of work, I really don't want to be reborn as a Greenland shark because I do not want to live that long. What's the oldest one right now? Like 600 years? Yeah, the oldest living one is like five or six hundred years right now. And that's like normal. Yeah, it looks like it's 500 years old. It's got like moss hanging off of it. It looks like a zombie shark.
Gina (33:44)
There's a lot of-
How long do they live? What? Really?
that's too old.
Ha ha.
Kathryn (34:11)
Have you never seen this? I cannot believe I'm obsessed with the Greenland shark. Yes, please do. I cannot believe I haven't talked. This is one of the things. I have a short list of things that keep me up at night. This is one of them.
Gina (34:13)
No! Hold on, can I Google it?
⁓ wait, hold on. Oldest Greenland shark images. ⁓ yeah. Looks old.
Kathryn (34:26)
Are you looking at him?
Yeah.
Gina (34:38)
my wow, it actually you know what it kind of looks like it looks like a
I mean, just a really old man. I don't know where I was.
Kathryn (34:47)
Yeah, it looks old. Yeah, you can tell that it's old. Yeah.
Gina (34:49)
But it genuinely does.
It just looks like it's making a hh sound.
Kathryn (35:02)
it does. Yeah, they live in like the deep dark depths of the ocean and just kind of float around. That's part of why they can live so long is they don't exert a lot of energy. They just float around.
Gina (35:03)
Fuck that.
okay, so I could be a Greenland shark.
Kathryn (35:17)
You could if you wanted to be.
Gina (35:20)
I appreciate this for it. Also,
I'm sorry because I don't know how we got here, but I want you to tell me a story.
The Congress Hotel in Chicago, Illinois
Kathryn (35:27)
Listen, I'm just this is a very special kind of episode. Thank you all for being with us. Okay, I have another story. Listen, you know, it wasn't as weird as it could have been. You're welcome, everybody. I feel like we kept it pretty, pretty tightened up. Okay. On that note, onto my second story. Okay, so this one is about the Congress Hotel in Chicago.
Gina (35:31)
We said that bar month was gonna be fucking weird.
for where it could have gone, yes.
Kathryn (35:56)
Also, Famously Haunted, also fully planned on doing an episode about it. I'm obsessed with the Congress. So Phil and I were staying there one night. had, we were going to some event in Chicago. It like a concert or something. I don't know, but we were staying the night and they have a really beautiful lobby and more importantly, a great hotel bar, which you know how I feel about those. Shout out to episode 38.
And fun fact to all of our listeners, Gina and I have been to that bar together. That's only notable because we live so far away from each other. I realized mid-sentence, it's not weird for best friends to be at bars together, but it was a big deal for us. So just bear with me. Okay. So I used to frequent this bar semi-regularly just because when I was in grad school, I went to school just like a block away. And it was just one of those places that
Gina (36:27)
Mm-hmm.
You
Kathryn (36:52)
is real, it's known for having a lot of paranormal activity. There's a pretty strong mob connection, just stuff like that. So I, of course, just ate that shit up while I was down there. So I would go as often as I could. So needless to say, I was dying to take Phil there when we were staying. And before, was either before we went to the event or after we got back, we were sitting at the bar and I was telling him.
much more detailed and lengthier long-winded version of what I just told you just about like the history and all the spooky stuff that has happened there. And while I was talking about it, I said the sentence, I really hope we have a ghost encounter while we're here. And immediately as I said that, his eye, he was looking at me because we were talking obviously, his eyes like shifted past my shoulder.
Like, as I was saying, I don't even think the sentence had gotten out of my mouth yet. And he was looking at something and his eyes got, like, wide. And, full disclosure, he does fuck with me a lot when it comes to, like, spooky things. So, at first, when his face did the thing, like, initially, I could tell he looked caught off guard. Like, it seemed genuine. But then my second thought was, okay, he's probably just messing with me because of what I just said. And...
So was like, ha ha, LOL, I'm not falling for that. You I'm like, you can't trick me, I'm prepared, you know? And he was just like, no, seriously, something weird just happened. And I could tell, like in the tone of his voice, that he was actually being genuine. So I was like, what, what did you see? And he told me, this was also kind of a secondhand experience, but he said that the moment I said, I hope we have a ghost encounter while we're here,
the light on the wall directly behind me on as if someone had the switch and it just took a second for it to light up. And first thought is this is an old building. It could just be a weird electrical issue, but it was in a row of lights that were all like connected. Like the switch.
for that like that bulb had appeared to have burned out and then suddenly it wasn't, you know what I mean? Like the same switch that operated all of these lights was already on and it was just the timing of it. Like had that light just gone on by itself, we would not have given it a second thought. Well, I would have absolutely given it a second thought, but he would not have given it a second thought. It was just the timing, the moment I said that the light turned on and like stayed on.
Gina (39:16)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (39:37)
It was just spooky. And more things happened that night and I'm going to save the other stuff that happened for when we eventually do episode on it. So stay tuned. But there is more light stuff that happened. But that was the one that happened in the hotel bar. The rest happened in the room.
Gina (39:40)
But in
Cool. ⁓
has a vibe to it, like a very cool vibe, but it feels old, like old school Chicago kind of old.
Kathryn (39:58)
It does. Yes,
you can. It's definitely one of those bars in my opinion, kind of similar to the one I mentioned before, to Shute's that like you walk in and you're like, shit's gone down here. Like you can just feel it. It's like it feels like the air is thicker in there.
Gina (40:13)
Mm-hmm.
It's also gorgeous.
Kathryn (40:20)
It's so pretty. It's so pretty. The design is really lovely. It's like, what is that? What is the design style? I think it's deco. Is that the one around the 20s? Yeah, that's it's art deco. Yeah. I love that style. Me too. Yeah.
Gina (40:21)
It's really beautiful.
Yeah. Is it Art Deco?
Yeah.
Love Art Deco, hell yeah. gorgeous.
Glassnote Candle Bar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Kathryn (40:40)
Yeah. So I want to end on the special listener story that we have, which I'm very excited about. So I'm going to double up and tell my final story so we can get to yours. Okay.
So I'll try to make this one quick. This one is actually a first-hand one and not a second hand for me. So I get a little excited about this one. So I'll try to be brief. So there is a bar here in Milwaukee where you can make your own candles and it's called Glass Note Candle Bar. Highly recommend if you're ever in the area. It's so much fun. I loved it. We'll have to go here when you're in town because it's so much fun. I love it. And it's beautiful. It's like old brick. I love it.
Gina (40:58)
Okay.
my god, yes.
writing this down.
Kathryn (41:20)
So yeah, it's kind of like a speakeasy. It's not, it's very well known, but you have to like go up these stairs to get to it. It's a second floor bar. It's not, I don't know, it's just cool, cool vibes. So Phil and I went there a couple years ago for just date night. I think I got it as like a Valentine's Day present for him, but it was actually for me because I really wanted to go. So we're there and I'm going to try to like...
explain the setup. Maybe I'll try to see if I can add a picture or something because the way things are set up matters to the way this happened. I have two stories about this place. So we're sitting across from each other and I'm looking at Phil, obviously, because we were talking and there was a hallway behind him that had the door raised into the bathroom, but I didn't know that. I thought I didn't know what was back there was just like a random ass hallway. And there was a wall that juts back out a little further.
then the corner wall it meets up with, so there could be like a table in that corner on the other side of the wall is the hallway, and then there was a door behind that table, which I thought was to the bathroom. I didn't, I wasn't like paying much attention to it. I just saw a door there and assumed it was the bathroom. reason I thought it was the bathroom is because as I was talking to Phil, out of the corner of my eye, I could see a man sitting
at this table in this random little corner. And at one point he got up, he stood up from the table and went and stood in front of that door. so like, I wasn't really paying attention to him. I could just kind of like, can gently understand what was happening. You know what I mean? Like I wasn't paying attention to him, but I was noticing it was happening. Cause I was clocking where the bathroom was where in case I needed it, you know?
Gina (43:05)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Kathryn (43:12)
and he was just standing outside of the door. So stopped paying attention to him, but could still see him out of my puriffs as I was talking to Phil. And then behind Phil down the hallway, I saw a woman come out of what was the actual bathroom at this place. And at the same time that this woman was coming out of the bathroom, I could like see both of these things happening out of my puriffs, but like,
Gina (43:40)
Hehehehehe
Kathryn (43:41)
different griffs, you know? And like, meanwhile, I'm like trying
to pay attention to I have no idea what Phil was talking about this time. At the same time, she came out of the bathroom, the man standing by that door was opening that door. And it like hit me, wait a minute, what is he doing if that's a bathroom? So I look at him. Nobody's there. There was no man. The door was closed and locked because it was like an employee only.
Gina (44:04)
my-
Kathryn (44:10)
door. don't know where it was. It was like a storage room or something. Yeah.
Gina (44:14)
Can you remind me where in Milwaukee
this place is?
Kathryn (44:18)
Walker's Point. Super fucking haunted, the most haunted area in Milwaukee. Yeah, it was like, yeah, we had the night of our wedding, we had dinner at Morrell. It's like a block from there. Yeah.
Gina (44:20)
Okay, yeah, all right.
Yep, super historic.
Okay. And that's
where, yeah. There's a few haunted bars in that area.
love that there's a ghost at a candle bar. I think that's enchanting. candle ghost.
Kathryn (44:42)
I know, I know, I know. So I have
one more story. I have one more story with this because that, I was shook. I like stopped Phil mid-sentence and so I was like, I'm so sorry, but I need to tell you what I just saw. And he fully believed me because of how shaken I was. I was like, like I saw this happen. Like this wasn't just, and it wasn't like a, happened in a split second. Like this was a solid.
Gina (44:49)
Mm.
Kathryn (45:10)
minute of time that I thought I saw a man out of the corner of my eye. But he wasn't actually there. So then our poor waitress, because now I'm like, all right, I need to know the story of this place. Our poor waitress comes over, and she's standing on Phil's side of the table, but kind of on the corner. So her back is directly toward that door. And she's, I don't know, I think she was giving us the spiel about like,
how the candle making works and what to do and what she recommends and blah, blah. Mid-sentence, she kind of moves forward and leans into our table. And was kind of like, what the fuck is she doing? And she turns her head and looks behind her and starts to say, ⁓ I'm sorry. no one is there. And she pauses.
because it became very clear to all of us that what was happening was she felt someone moving past her. So she was like moving to get out of the way, but nobody was there. And we're watching this happen. So this poor woman just like, sorry, laugh. Cause like it was, it was kind of funny, but I felt really bad for her. She froze. Like you could tell like, like she, was several moments that she was just leaning and like looking and like you could tell a.
Gina (46:12)
Mmm.
Kathryn (46:33)
She was processing like, the fuck was just behind me? You could tell she was scared and weirded out. And B, you could see her processing like, how do I dial this back in, in front of these customers? Like, how do I backtrack from this? Like, how do I get out of this? So I was like, there's no coming back from this. So I just straight up say, you just felt a ghost, didn't you? And she was like, okay, listen, I do not believe in ghosts because I'm too scared, but like...
Gina (46:45)
How do I get back into customer service mode?
Ha
Kathryn (47:02)
was weird, right? Did I just feel a ghost? And I was like, yep, you did. That's what just happened because let me explain to you what I saw just like 10 minutes ago. And she was super freaked out. We like had a little moment together, all of us. I was going to try to get stories from her about the place, like I said, but after that didn't feel like I needed to, cause I was like, my God, I'm like literally part of one of her stories.
But she did say she didn't tell us any additional stories because she didn't have any that overt, I guess, because she straight up said, I try to ignore it because I'm too afraid. I like don't want to know that this place is haunted. But objectively speaking, there is a vibe here. And things do happen sometimes that I just try to ignore because I don't want to see them. It's like, girl, that means it's haunted. So anyway, I named my candle scent ⁓ haunted candle bar and
Gina (47:51)
Ha ha!
Kathryn (47:56)
It smells great. We did a great job on those candles. We still have them because I stopped burning them because I don't want to run out of it. yeah, I just never watched someone have like that blatant of an experience on their own. Like I watched her react to it and she was like, she was freaked out. Like you could tell. That's another one. You just can't, can't fake what she was feeling. You know what I mean?
Gina (48:18)
Mm-hmm.
Especially
when it's someone who doesn't believe and you had a similar experience 10 minutes earlier.
Kathryn (48:26)
Mm-hmm.
Exactly. And it was like barely, it was maybe 10 minutes. Like I had just like I had just finished telling Phil about it. So I'm sitting here plotting how do we get her to tell us more stories. And then that happened. I was like, and this is when Phil's like a healthy skeptic. He definitely believes but doesn't fully believe he believes this is a story that even he tells people because he's like, that was fucking weird. Yeah. So there's no question.
Gina (48:32)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
That's a good one.
Kathryn (48:57)
it was it was cool. I always forget about it because I don't really think of that. You don't hear stories about that place specifically, but that area as a whole, there's a lot of stories around there. So
Gina (49:10)
Yeah, we definitely
need to go there when I visit in November, 100%.
Kathryn (49:13)
Yeah, my god,
it's so much fun. I would want to go back there, whether it was haunted or not. That's just cherry on top, yeah.
Gina (49:17)
Fuck yeah.
Listener story: The Red Barn Murder exhibition
Oh, I love that. Okay. Um, we have one more thing on our list and it's a very exciting, very special listener story that I'm super thrilled about. Uh, and at the end of the episode, right after this last story, we're gonna tell you guys a little secret about next month and what we're doing next month. So, I don't know, listen to the end because secrets are fun. Anyway,
Kathryn (49:26)
Wrap us up, yes!
Yay.
Gina (49:45)
So this very special listener story comes to us from Louise of the Morbid Tourist fame. So shout out to the Morbid Tourist. ⁓ We have a link to their socials in our show notes, so make sure you guys check those out. But she went to go visit...
Kathryn (49:52)
Yay. Love morbid roast.
Gina (50:03)
⁓ The exhibit I was talking about a few episodes ago for the Red Barn murder case, how they have like all those artifacts in Bury St. Edmunds. So I'm going to recount and read to you her experience while she was there. I visited Bury St. Edmunds for a spooky weekend away late last year. Bury St. Edmunds is one of those underrated places that you don't realize has tons of dark history and spooky things to do once you arrive.
My main reason was to visit the Red Barn Murder exhibition inside Moyse's Hall Museum. I still don't know how to pronounce that. I'm just assuming it's Moyse's Should have looked it up.
Kathryn (50:40)
I realized that as
you were saying and I was like, wait, did we ever learn how to say it? That's okay. I'm sure it's probably Moyse's or something similar.
Gina (50:45)
No, God.
It's okay, I'll
deduct a point from my own scorecard. Don't worry, guys, I get negative one point. Howl I'm ⁓ sure that's how you say it. It's only a small exhibition, but it's the only place in the UK you can find artifacts related to the case, as well as a book bound out of William Corder's skin, which we talked about. It's super weird. There's also part of his scalp on display.
Kathryn (50:53)
What's his?
Yes.
Yep.
Gina (51:17)
Plus a replica death mask. It's kind of gruesome, but absolutely fascinating. The whole case is fascinating, especially the part about how Maria's body was found due to the dreams her stepmother had. Totally agree with you, Louise. Fucking cool. I didn't... my God, yeah. I love a dream case. We know this already. I didn't experience anything weird at the museum, but it is haunted.
Kathryn (51:34)
Yeah, we talked about that.
I know. Yes, I know.
Gina (51:46)
as well as the Red Barn Murder exhibition, there's also a gibbet, gibbet, gibbet, I think it's gibbet cage on display. I really didn't do my homework this time.
What fuck's a jibbit cage?
Kathryn (51:57)
I just don't know what that
is.
Gina (51:58)
So it's one of those things that have you ever seen a movie where someone's like put in a little cage and then like lifted to hang on display for a cra- yeah, it's kind of like that. As well as mummified cats and information about witchcraft.
Kathryn (52:08)
Yes.
That's cool.
Gina (52:23)
Interestingly enough,
there's another mummified cat on display in Bury St. Edmunds, hanging above the bar in the nutshell pub, also the UK's smallest bar. So that's officially on my list of to visit.
Kathryn (52:39)
of this, nutshell bar? I've heard of this like recently, I think I heard about it on a podcast recently. I don't know where I would have heard this on, but I recognize that name because I remember thinking that was cute for a small bar name.
Gina (52:39)
Really? Yeah.
I wish I had, yeah,
we should have done that for the bucket lists one. But I guess we can update our bucket list to be whatever we want.
Kathryn (52:57)
Yeah, we can, yeah, we can, that
can be an ongoing thing. I'm sure there are thousands more bars that we will make it turn to.
Gina (53:05)
That is true. That is true. Aw, you and me, babe. We're together in this. You, me, and our sad little livers.
And Louise closes it out by saying, all in all, it was well worth visiting Burt St Edmunds to learn more about the case, especially since sadly, you can't actually visit the real Red Barn. So I am officially going to be visiting Bury St Edmunds at some point, hopefully soon. Thank you again, Louise, for sending us that. I was so excited when that hit our inbox because I want to go there so bad. Yeah, so thank you.
Kathryn (53:37)
I know, me too. Yeah.
thank you for sending that to us. That's so cool. I love when people send us. You don't have to have your own experience to send us your experience with spooky things. Like, I love just knowing that people are experiencing these things. So please send us your stories. iscreamyouscreampod at gmail.com. ⁓ Yeah, I love that. Thank you so much for sending that to us, ⁓
Next month’s topic and ice cream
Gina (54:05)
Yeah, and to close us out, I think we should talk about what we're doing next month.
Kathryn (54:07)
What do you think?
I think so too. I'm very excited about this. Sure, yes. So next month we will be telling stories about curses.
Gina (54:13)
Do you want to break the news?
Kathryn (54:22)
And we couldn't think of like what would be a universal curse for ice cream. So what we're gonna do
I will be eating Gina's least favorite ice cream and Gina will be eating my least favorite ice cream, which I am going to disclose to her right now. She does not know what she's eating yet, so I will tell you right now that you will be eating pistachio ice cream. I told you you were gonna like it! I knew it!
Gina (54:50)
I don't mind that at all. thought
thought for sure you were gonna say plain vanilla because I know you don't like plain vanilla.
Kathryn (54:57)
Nope. Nope, I wouldn't do that to you. But you can have pistachio. Yeah.
Gina (55:00)
Okay. Okay. Well,
I'm actually really looking forward to that. I like pistachio ice cream. Do you want to know what you are going to be eating? You're going to be eating the most chocolatey ice cream you can find.
Kathryn (55:06)
So cool. OK. Please tell me.
Oh no! Boo hoo! Great, we're gonna have a great month. I know, this is a great month. Cool. Yeah, so... So excited for this. I've really loved all the themes we've chosen recently, but all of our themes in general, which is great because we're the ones picking them, so good thing we're liking them.
Gina (55:16)
hahahahah ⁓
Curses fucking rock. Agreed.
Kathryn (55:45)
⁓ but yeah, so join us, grab some ice cream, and join us for curses month starting one week from today. August. I can't believe it's August. Can you believe it's gonna be August? Okay, I won't. All right, we won't talk about August. my god. Okay, let's just get the hell out of here. Okay, goodbye everybody. Keep it cool.
Gina (55:56)
My god, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. That's disgusting.
Keep it creepy.
