Palate Cleanser: New Year's with Billy Sprinks
Kathryn (00:11)
Hello. Welcome to I Scream You Scream. This is a very special New Year's Eve Eve episode. Thank you so much for joining us. My name is Kathryn.
Gina (00:23)
I'm Gina.
Kathryn (00:24)
And I didn't say we're the most chilling histories mysteries and paranormal perplexities. I'm like fucking this up so bad. Today we're just Kathryn and Gina. We're not talking about anything perplexing. ⁓ We do though have a very, very special shout out for our friend Chelsea who just joined us on Patreon. Thank you so much for being there with us. We love having you. And if you all want some special
Gina (00:31)
Today we're just Kathryn and Gina.
Kathryn (00:54)
fun behind the scenes things, show notes, sorry. If you want to see our show notes, link is always in the show notes. And Gina, we have a very special thing that just got sent out to the first batch of people who joined our Patreon. Do you want to show the people watching what they're going to get if they join us for three months?
Gina (00:58)
If you want to see our show notes.
My yes I do.
Behold, in all his majesty, Billy Sprinks the Keychain!
Kathryn (01:23)
How cute is he? So we did just start sending these out. We're never gonna have these anywhere else. So if you want a Billy Sprinks keychain, join us over on Patreon. love him. He turned out so cute. I'm obsessed. I'm like not wanting to give these away, but we will if you join Patreon, promise. Our December topic was ghosts and the flavor of the month was and still is cocktails.
Gina (01:36)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (01:47)
But like I said, this is a special New Year's episode, so we've got a little bit of a hodgepodge celebration going on. So go ahead and grab a drink and we'll dig in. Cheers to the drink.
Gina (01:58)
the drink. Cheers.
Cheers. I like the color. We both went red.
Kathryn (02:04)
Mm-hmm. both have a little red situation going on. What are you drinking? What's your cocktail?
Gina (02:09)
I'm having a side sleigh is apparently, it's a variation of a sidecar, which is one of my other favorite cocktails. So this one has cognac, ⁓ orange liqueur, I'm using Cointreau, and cranberry juice, and that's it. And it's real strong.
Kathryn (02:16)
A sideslay? What's that?
Okay.
Okay,
that sounds really good. Mine is kind of a makeshift version of what you made for my faux bachelorette party. It is raspberry liqueur, orange juice, grenadine topped with sparkling wine. It's very good. It is very good.
Gina (02:48)
Yum. That sounds real good. Nice.
I do have something to tell you that I think is real funny. Okay, so it's a word that means something different in the UK that I thought did not mean something different. So the word is quite
Kathryn (02:56)
tell me.
Gina (03:11)
Since I've lived here, my speech patterns have changed a little bit. There are some words that I've started using more often. There are some words that I've stopped using as often. I use the word quite a lot more than I used to. And only yesterday I found out that it does not mean, it's not a synonym for really or very here. If I say someone is quite cute, I mean, they're really cute, they're hot. In the UK,
Kathryn (03:30)
What?
Gina (03:35)
It means that the adjective, like it takes the adjective you're about to use and it brings it down. Like it makes it a little bit shittier. So if you say someone is quite cute, it means like, they're fine.
And I have told people, it doesn't make any sense. And I have been using this word for five years. I tell people at work that their work is quite good all the time. And to me, I'm saying you're doing a great job. To them, they think I think they're a little bit shit. And I just learned this yesterday.
Kathryn (03:46)
What? That doesn't make any sense.
cannot be right. Who taught you this?
Gina (04:06)
So I saw it on, it was like one of those Instagram posts where it's just a screenshot of something that somebody said on Tumblr, and it was saying that exact thing, like, UK people, like how did we not know this, blah, blah, blah. And so I showed it to Tom, and was like, is this true? And it took him a minute to figure out what I was saying because he had never considered that the word quite could be a synonym for very or really or something like that.
Kathryn (04:14)
Mm-hmm.
my brain like refuses to accept this because
Gina (04:32)
Right?
Kathryn (04:33)
That can't be real. Is this real? iscreamyouscreampod@gmal.com. Is this real? What? I hate this.
Gina (04:38)
It's some bullshit, dude. I'm not happy about it. I'll tell you that.
It's quite bad. Wait, does that mean it's kind of good?
Kathryn (04:46)
Okay, so here's the thing. feel like, so no, it doesn't. But here's where the confusion is. If it brings it down a little bit, it doesn't necessarily mean...
Like, so if you say it's quite bad.
Gina (05:00)
That would mean it's real bad. Just a smidge, just a little bit. Like the adjective will stay in the same category as what you're trying to communicate, just like a little bit less.
Kathryn (05:01)
Like how far down does it bring it? Like does it mean it's good?
So it would be the equivalent of saying it's a little bit bad versus saying it's very bad. Okay. Okay, so that's not that aggressive. It's still annoying.
Gina (05:13)
Yes, I think so.
But it's still the opposite of what I thought. Yeah. Yeah.
Kathryn (05:23)
That's upsetting. That honestly is really annoying to me. I'm so sad.
Gina (05:24)
Yeah, so not to
end this year on a sour note, but language isn't real. Nothing exists. Everything sucks.
Kathryn (05:32)
It's not real. Listen, this year is ending on a real solid note. I want
to talk about my experience at Krampusnacht real quick, insofar as I did not have one because I'm a klutz. So Gina and I specifically planned this recording for today because we had all of these things we were going to want to talk about and like...
Gina (05:41)
Yeah.
Kathryn (05:59)
Included in this episode and one of the things was Krampusnacht here in Milwaukee. They do it every year There's a really cool parade. Well, I don't know if it's cool because I've never been but it looks cool. I Literally took off work To go so that Phil and I could go there's like a makers market and there's like all these spooky things my shit on some ice the other day and now I'm immobile ⁓ and we were not able to go so
Gina (06:09)
you
Hmmmm
Kathryn (06:26)
If anyone has ever experienced ⁓ that and or any other very spooky winter festivity, please let us know because we would love to hear about it. And this is me putting the energy out there so that maybe I can go next year. It's like every year something happens. This year, I sprained my ankle, but that's okay. Yep, 2026. I'm not gonna say it's my year.
Gina (06:27)
you
Yeah. Yeah. Wait, 2026?
We get to do it all over again.
It's A year. We'll start there. We'll start with that and see how it
Kathryn (06:53)
Yeah, not ever gonna say it's my it's it's a year. It's another year ⁓
Yes, I'm trying to like, I know I'm trying to like use this to like transition to like holiday, blah blah blah, but I like, it's not going the way I planned.
Gina (07:01)
This is really uplifting.
Well, listen, you know what? Maybe
in a weird way, this is the perfect way to start a New Year's kind of holiday cozy winter episode because this time of year is all about taking a step back and thinking about what really matters, which is ghost stories and spooky shit. And speaking of ghost stories, natural segue, I think we might have some.
Kathryn (07:24)
Yes.
We do, we do have a couple of ghost stories for you. Do you a preference of who starts?
Gina (07:41)
I do not. I'm happy to spin you a tale if you would like.
Kathryn (07:45)
I would love for you to spin me a tail because I thought it was ready, but I'm not.
Gina (07:49)
Excellent. Okay.
I'm going to take one sip and then I will be good to go.
Kathryn (07:54)
yes, me too.
Gina (07:55)
Chin chin. my god. That's the kind of drink, it's gonna be real bad when it stops being cold, I know it. Okay, so. Yeah, I can't see. Yeah, I'm good, I'm good because I'm sitting down. All right, so. This first story comes to us by way of chillers and thrillers, so thank you very much chillers and thrillers for this holiday treat, New Year's treat.
Kathryn (08:03)
⁓ yeah. my God, are you okay?
you
Gina (08:25)
and it is called The Black Cat by KnivesOut21.
it goes. I was about 16. It was Christmas Eve and snowing heavily. My parents and I were sitting in the living room with the Christmas tree lights on, having eggnog and opening up my stocking gifts as was our tradition. We suddenly heard the door knocker banging really loudly three times.
We saw no one out the window, but my dad opened up the door and looked down. There was a bloody black cat lying across the threshold in the snow. I know, sorry, I probably should have done a content warning for this one.
Kathryn (09:04)
That's so sad.
Gina (09:07)
Yeah, the cat,
will spoil it. The cat is okay. The cat is fine. Yeah.
Kathryn (09:10)
okay, okay, I was like, whoa, maybe I should
have gone first. Sorry. Okay.
Gina (09:15)
Okay, sorry guys.
But yes, so, ⁓ what was fucked up was that there was no human footprints in the snow, no tire tracks, and logistically there was nowhere and no way that we would have not seen anyone if they put the cat there. My family and myself are huge animal lovers. Of course, we took it in and made it comfortable. It was a young male who was not fixed and had been in a terrible fight. A few days later,
Kathryn (09:36)
you
Gina (09:48)
We took it to a vet and he recovered nicely. The weird thing is, aside from the knocking and no footprints in the snow, was my mom gave it to a friend of ours that lived down the street. And about four or five months later, the cat, now happily part of the family, woke them all up by howling and screaming, just freaking the fuck out. Turns out an electrical fire had started in the garage and one of the cars was also on fire. They all woke up.
Kathryn (10:17)
Woo.
Gina (10:18)
Everyone was okay and the car didn't blow up, which I love that they included that detail. Me too, to be fair. And only the garage was damaged. They were very lucky in general, but especially because there was all kinds of flammable stuff in the garage. He was a really nice cat and he lived to be pretty old. The end. Yeah, so he's all right. He had a good long life.
Kathryn (10:23)
Yeah, that is something I would wonder.
you
Awwww... Wait...
What an emotional roller coaster. Okay, wow.
Gina (10:49)
I know. Yeah.
So a lot to unpack already.
Kathryn (10:55)
Yeah,
that's like...
That feels very like Christmas miracle! It's a Christmas miracle! Yeah, that's wild.
Gina (11:02)
It's a Christmas miracle! pretty dark one. It was Krampus
probably.
Kathryn (11:10)
Who, Krampus left the cat? Or the cat is? Whatever.
Gina (11:13)
Yeah, sure.
I just feel like this is more...
It's more Krampus Coded than Santa Coded, I think.
Kathryn (11:25)
a bloody black cat being left on the doorstep, yeah.
Gina (11:29)
Yeah,
that's my scholastic insight into this story.
Kathryn (11:34)
Well, I'm happy the cat lived though. Oh, what? What's the idea?
Gina (11:34)
We should-
I was gonna say we should call this episode the dark side of ice cream you scream.
Kathryn (11:43)
God, that's like how I'm feeling. that's a good story though. I'm happy it has a happy ending. That would.
Gina (11:48)
Me too. I'm
glad that that detail was included because if it wasn't I would have been yeah, worried forever. Yeah. But yeah, again to the tune of trust your animals, animals know things that we don't. They save lives all the time.
Kathryn (11:52)
Yeah.
Yeah, that's fair.
Mm-hmm. Black cats are lucky, actually, for those who don't know. Actually.
Gina (12:08)
Actually...
Do you have a story for me?
Kathryn (12:13)
Sorry,
Alright, I'm gonna just read this email from top to bottom it says, this is Frank from Unknown Unsolved Unseen.
I saw you two We're looking for some spooky stories from Christmas time. And boy, do we have an unsettling one. Let's roll back the clock to the summer of 2023. My wife and co-host Sage and I know a guy, which is so ominous. I love that. They know a guy, you know, love it. We know a guy. They know a guy. Let's just call him D. I went to college with D and he moved by us for a job.
Gina (12:38)
Yeah, we know a guy.
Kathryn (12:49)
He was living with us for a little bit and wanted to get a house. He was dead set on some pretty high requirements for a house and ended up getting a fixer-upper that was originally built in the 1860s. Now, we live in an area of Pennsylvania with a lot of old buildings. We're not awfully far from Gettysburg, but back to Dee's house. It was a piece of work, bordered a cemetery, and did you think I was gonna say piece of shit?
Gina (13:18)
Yeah.
Kathryn (13:18)
Me too. I know when I first read through
this, I thought it was going to be like it was a piece of shit. No, I read through this to like pseudo practice and I kept accidentally saying shit. That's why I was practicing. Yeah. So it was I mean, maybe it was a piece of shit. I don't know. But it was a fixer upper. It was a piece of work. And it bordered a cemetery and has an undisclosed amount of buried dead cats by a tree.
Gina (13:23)
I was like, wow.
Kathryn (13:47)
Just lovely vibes. I know, right? My assumption is like the former owners had a bunch of like dead cats or so. Not they had a bunch of dead cats, but they had a bunch of cats. I'm sorry. Man, this episode's really going down real fast. I don't know if we can ever do this ever again.
Gina (13:48)
Undisclosed? But they know that they're there?
you
my god. Whew.
Kathryn (14:11)
So apparently, trigger warning, dead cats in this episode too. So sorry, everyone. But they all lived good lives. can... We have the freedom to assume that because we don't know. But yeah, that's my assumption. It's like the family before them where something had buried pets or whatever. Anyway. He bought the house in November of 2023 and didn't start living in it until the following May.
It took a while to make it livable. In the time he spent getting it ready, he would feel various presences and hear odd noises. The house has a basement, two floors, and then an attic. So four levels overall. Which I'm going to interrupt again and say that is my dream. I really wish that we had like a finishable attic. I love the old houses that have you know, the three story, but one of them is an attic. I love that.
It says The attic apparently always gives weird vibes, but the basement gave off straight up sinister vibes. He would often report hearing footsteps on the stairs from the basement to the first floor. to December, 2023.
So right after he bought it. It's right around the holidays. We have plenty of time to do things we probably shouldn't do, like paranormal investigations. I had bought Sage Catballs and an EMF reader for her birthday that same, that same month. That means her birthday just happened. Happy birthday, Sage.
Gina (15:41)
Happy birthday!
Kathryn (15:42)
Also great birthday present, cat balls and EMF reader. Love that. Dee had gotten us a spirit box too for Christmas so we had some basic equipment capable of putting us in a bad situation. Dee wants to do an investigation on his house a few days before Christmas because why not? We agree and we head out
Gina (15:52)
Hehehe
Kathryn (16:00)
So we get there, it's around eight on a December night in South Central Pennsylvania. It's probably high 20s and based on this house's description, no heat at the time. So we bundle, sorry, I you were gonna say something. Yeah, that sounds horrendous. For non-US listeners, this is 20 degrees Fahrenheit, so what's that Celsius? Like negative 40 billion, yeah.
Gina (16:16)
no, yeah.
below zero. Like, yeah,
yeah, around there.
Kathryn (16:27)
It's well below freezing, yeah. So we bundle up and begin our investigation. We start in the kitchen and have the EMF reader go off a few times, and same with the cat balls. try to be a skeptic, but I can't explain the cat balls going off. They really do need a solid touch in order to light up. The spirit box has some potential responses, but that works through cycling radio frequencies, so it's hard to verify. I heard at least twice the word Toyota from
cutting into a Toyota ad for a brief second. I don't think any ghost is trying to sell me on Toyotathon. Maybe, maybe he is, who knows?
Gina (17:11)
This Toyotathon, celebrate with your fellow spirits.
Kathryn (17:16)
Once we conclude in the basement, we moved upstairs and there we got more lackluster responses. Same stuff as earlier, but the floor is very unlevel and easy to shake, so we have the cat balls going off a lot. All our fault, so it wasn't anything paranormal. Then we make the move back to the basement, a decision I partially regret. We make it down there and this place is so creepy.
It's a garage for half of it and then three rooms divided by a hallway going through them all. I'm not a home designer so my description probably sucks. I will say I was not following that at all. In my head it's just ⁓ I'm imagining my basement. Do you ever do that when someone is telling a story? I'm like I'm just imagining my basement but sounds much bigger than mine because there's a hallway.
Gina (17:55)
You
Yeah.
Kathryn (18:04)
At the end of the hallway is an item Dee told us he sees in his nightmares and it keeps him up at night. An old Korean war chest. It had a bunch of hubcaps in it and Dee believed that the...Dee believed that something sinister was attached to it. We head over that way to start investigating and we're getting absolutely no responses. Then Dee mentions he felt something on his back.
He pulls up his shirt and we see three red marks down his back. Like a three-fingered scratch.
I tried to be the skeptic in most of these situations, but I was there the whole time. There was no time for this to have happened without us seeing anything happen.
It sends chills down all of our backs and we realize we gotta get the fuck out of there. So we start to head out, but before we go, I stop us for a quick prayer. I prayed St. Michael's Prayer before we left, as that's one used in exorcisms and for protection. We then leave and do what any sensible group of people would do. We go to McDonald's and discuss what happened. As you should, what else are you gonna do? ⁓
Gina (19:14)
Mm-hmm. As you should.
Yeah.
Kathryn (19:18)
We all agreed something paranormal happened and something had to be done about the chest. I suggested an exorcism, which does still happen to this day. As we know, we've covered that multiple part of the Catholic Church and I know there's avenues for this. Dee contemplates on it, but he doesn't decide.
Eventually, we head home and Dee showers and when he comes out, he shows us the scratches and he shows us that it actually broke his skin. This unnerved us even more and the next day it had scabbed over. I don't know how he could have even faked three parallel cuts like that when we were all with him. I'd love to know if someone has a possible explanation.
On the fate of the chest, Dee just threw it out and the malicious stuff all ended all at once. know, anticlimactic. the picture I sent was from when we were in the house and it had just happened moments before.
you have any other questions about the story, please let us know. We'll have to eventually send you some more stories like the ghost photo my cousin has. Hello. Yes, please send us that photo. What? How do you just tease us like that? What the hell? Yes, please send.
Gina (20:24)
is.
you
Kathryn (20:29)
So I'm, I'm gonna send you this picture and we will insert it into the video. And there, this is immediately after it happened. They're like in the basement.
Gina (20:30)
So we have a picture?
Kathryn (20:44)
I don't know how he could reach. That's like the spot you can't really reach on your own.
Gina (20:49)
Because I was thinking like, ⁓ maybe he, if he was doing housework on this fixer upper of a home, maybe he like accidentally scratched his back on something. But I will say two things about that. One, that doesn't look like it's been sitting there for a while. I don't know how to describe it, but it looks fresh. Like when you just get scratched and it's all red and raised. And also if he scratched himself on like a piece of like a counter or like something he was working on, I feel like the lines would be straight.
Kathryn (21:04)
No, that looks fresh. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Gina (21:20)
This
not only has different thicknesses, but it's kind of wiggly. Like this is what fingers would look like if they scratched you. Not, I scraped myself on a piece of plywood.
Kathryn (21:30)
He also, I feel like he would, if he was scratching himself in the plywood, the only way it would be able to make this pattern is if he was like standing up while it was happening or bending down because of how long it is across his back. It's not like he would just walk. This is not something that he could have done previously and not known what it was. You know what I mean?
Gina (21:45)
Yeah.
That's the other part
is like the fact that he only noticed when he was in the basement too.
Kathryn (22:00)
That's spooky. Yeah, that's legit.
Gina (22:00)
I don't know.
I don't
mess with that. That gives me ⁓ like Bloody Mackenzie vibes. Like how when people go to the mausoleum they get scratched and choked and stuff.
Kathryn (22:09)
Yeah.
I don't like the fact that I broke skin. That feels...invasive.
Gina (22:15)
That's
messed up.
Yeah, no, that's very scary. Well, thank you for sending that. I'm scared.
Kathryn (22:20)
Yeah, thank you, Frank.
And thank you, Unknown, Unsolved, Unseen. We do expect more. It was Sage who sent me the photo over Instagram, but then Frank emailed us. So thank you both. Please send us that frickin' ghost photo and whatever story that
Gina (22:30)
Okay.
I just want to know why there was an undisclosed number of dead cats. I feel, I...
Kathryn (22:42)
Yeah, I'm not even worried.
I'm not even thinking of the chest. They're very convinced that whatever the sinister thing is was attached to the chest. But I'm like, man, was there other stuff going on there? Because he just said the sinister stuff stopped when they got rid of the chest, not that necessarily everything stopped. So I wonder if there's more there or if, I don't know.
Gina (22:51)
Yeah.
Yeah
cat ghost?
Kathryn (23:08)
my God, I love a cat ghost.
Gina (23:10)
Or Shadow Cats, which I did not know that shadow things existed until we went on that ghost tour at Shaker's for your Bachelorette. Didn't know that was a thing.
Kathryn (23:17)
my god, really? That's what I saw!
Remember when I told you that story about...
Gina (23:20)
but I didn't know it was like a thing.
Kathryn (23:21)
The first time?
⁓ yeah. Like shadow people?
Gina (23:25)
No, I had no idea. Mm-hmm,
yeah, didn't know.
Kathryn (23:29)
yeah, Shadow people are spooky.
Gina (23:31)
We should do an episode on them someday. But until then, I have a story called Black Eyed Children.
Kathryn (23:33)
Yeah.
Yes, you do! Oh, I'm excited for this one.
Gina (23:39)
Mm-hmm.
It is by esteemed author Anonymous. So we don't know who wrote this. Unless it was ⁓ that one group that like hacks a bunch of people, but probably not. Anyway. happened a few days ago while visiting my family for Christmas this holiday season. Before I describe what happened, I've never been a serious believer in anything paranormal. Despite this,
Kathryn (23:45)
Beautiful. Okay.
Gina (24:08)
What happened that night still left me a little spooked, and the family members who were also present have been talking about it a lot since. It was Christmas Eve, and my parents and siblings were staying with my extended family at my grandparents' house. My grandparents live in a small town in a rural area, and since it was the night of Christmas Eve, nobody was out. Since we didn't have anything to do, my grandma, my dad, and my siblings went out to look at the Christmas lights.
We had a good time and after a while we decided to head home. At one point we were driving down a street in a residential area and saw a child walking across the road. My grandma didn't see the child and may have even hit it if my dad hadn't told her to stop. There were a few things that were strange about the child. The first thing is that it didn't seem to react to getting so close to the car and almost being injured.
Kathryn (24:53)
Ooh.
Gina (25:05)
It continued across the street, unfazed, as if nothing had happened. It was also strange that the kid, who was probably between seven and 10 years old, would be outside and alone at night on Christmas Eve. I was confused as to why my grandma didn't react to the child, and when I asked, she said that she didn't see it. Keep in mind that my grandma is not that old, being only in her 60s, so she should have been able to see it well enough to react.
Her vision is not all that bad, which makes this whole event that much more unusual. Which I will say, if someone's going to be driving and their vision is not all that bad, they probably should. Anyway, we're going to move past the Yeah, when there's Christmas lights everywhere, yeah. Anyway, I'll save my judgment for 2026. For the rest of 2025, I'm just living. so from what I saw.
Kathryn (25:44)
Not gonna say it. Especially at night in the wintertime. Yeah. It's probably fine.
Gina (26:02)
The child was a boy and was wearing green Christmas pajamas and had long brown hair. My sisters said it was a girl but couldn't agree on the color of the clothes she wore. And my dad said it was a boy wearing a coat and a stocking cap. I would usually forget these differences in the description of the child if it weren't for a detail my dad would bring up later. A couple of days later, my dad and I discussed what happened and he seemed bothered by it.
He said the child had completely black eyes. I was skeptical, but my dad is usually pretty relaxed and he seemed genuinely concerned. So I listened to him. He insisted that the child had black eyes and now several days later, nobody in my family, including myself, has any idea what happened that night. And I've been wondering about this experience since it happened. Maybe I'm just making something out of nothing.
But regardless, what happened that night was definitely strange.
Kathryn (27:05)
Man, that's, I don't like stories like this because they scare me even more because this reminds me of that one recently that she sent us from Chillers and Thrillers about the one down in Louisiana with the guy, because I'm like, man.
Gina (27:12)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (27:27)
The only thing worse than it being a real black-eyed child is if it was just a child wandering in the snow by himself. Like, you know what I mean? I don't know. That gives me real weird vibes no matter what it was, you know?
Gina (27:34)
On Christmas Eve,
I agree, but I'm thinking of it from a little bit of a different angle, which is like when I hear stories like this, or the one that was in kind of the bayou with the guy on the road, like if we suspend any kind of skepticism and disbelief for a second and like assume these stories are real,
It's like glimpsing something paranormal is just as scary as something bad actually happening from it because it always leaves the question of what did that thing do when I was gone? Like who did it, who was it going to? Like who did it wind up getting? Like where is it now? You know what I mean? There's like so many more questions.
Kathryn (28:09)
⁓ yes, absolutely.
Yeah.
Ugh. Yeah, I don't like that. That story is... See, it's the stories, it's the stories where not a lot happens that are the scariest.
Gina (28:21)
Hmm, spooky.
Yeah.
Kathryn (28:27)
Ugh, I don't like-
Gina (28:28)
because they
leave it all up to our imaginations. Yeah, yeah, it's scary.
Kathryn (28:31)
Man, it's
too much.
Very spooky.
Gina (28:35)
a little bit worried about the grammar.
Kathryn (28:38)
I know, I'm like, listen,
not to be a hater, but exactly how bad is her vision? Is this just saying she needs glasses while she drives or?
Gina (28:44)
Yeah.
Just
like, like she got glaucoma, like what's the skinny, what's the deal? But I mean, yeah.
Kathryn (28:52)
Is she still driving? I don't know. Because 60s isn't that old. So it's like, I
don't know. Like my dad has bad vision. But he wears contact. You know what I mean? Like stuff like that.
Gina (29:04)
Yeah.
But it's ways to adjust, like we both drive and we have glasses. So maybe we're being a little. Yeah. But yeah, freaky. And freaky when there's another part of this that I think is extra compelling, which is the dad not being like, cause like the subtext I feel was like he's not.
Kathryn (29:12)
I love how we're like, we can drive even though we need to see eye doctors.
It's probably fine.
Gina (29:35)
like a super reactionary kind of like, my God, it's like something, like he's a relaxed dude is how he's described. And for people like that to admit that like, I can't explain this or something is wrong or something is weird. I always feel like that's more convincing than someone who was predisposed to believe that kind of thing.
Kathryn (29:46)
Mm-hmm.
absolutely. And the fact that he sat on it for a few days. Like you know he's just been sitting there wondering if he should say something. Or if there was anything really to say.
Gina (29:57)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I agree. Gross, ew.
Kathryn (30:06)
scary.
Gross.
So thank you for that story. We're going to move on because we're doing a whole bunch of random shit today. And we got some A plus questions from some of our followers that we answered on our socials. But we're going to answer them here too because why
first question we got was from a listener named Kirsten. Her username is lightwolfenergies. And her question was, is there a story you have done that's changed your mind about a previous belief? And it is implied that we say which one. Which story? Which I have a few.
Gina (30:52)
Yes. ⁓
Kathryn (30:55)
So the
one I put on Instagram was of course, the Winchester house, Sarah Winchester, because that was our first one that kind of fucked us up and like what we thought we knew. But I'm intrigued by the word belief. So do you have any like additional ones that you want to dive deeper into beyond just Sarah Winchester?
Gina (31:00)
Mmm.
Hmm.
So the first one that came to mind for me was Elizabeth Bathory, actually. just thought.
Kathryn (31:20)
okay.
Gina (31:22)
for my entire life that she actually did those things and then you did the episode and it was like, well actually, like here are all the reasons why people probably lied about her doing those things and stuff like that. So that was an eye opener for me. That was a pretty cool one.
Kathryn (31:36)
Okay, coming in strong with our very first episode. We were breaking down Gina's beliefs from day one. Okay, I didn't have that experience just because I was largely unfamiliar with Elizabeth Bathory, other than from kind of a folkloric perspective.
Gina (31:39)
I know, yeah.
Seriously, yeah.
Kathryn (31:53)
OK, one, I will say one of them from the top of my head be Lavinia Fisher. We don't really talk about Lavinia Fisher a lot. But that one, that was one of the first ones I did where.
Gina (32:01)
Yes, my gosh.
Kathryn (32:08)
It was a very different episode than what I was planning on doing. Just because kind of same vibe. I was expecting it to be like, here's all the brutal shit she did. And it actually turned into. She likely didn't do any of this stuff, or at least not in the way. You know, people believe she did.
Gina (32:19)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (32:27)
But as far as like a greater belief, know you and I have talked about this quite a bit. I know we talked about it on the Jaunty Haunts podcast with Courtney is I feel like we're meeting in the middle as far as our belief in overall paranormal things. Just the fact that this podcast has made me a little more skeptical is the greatest surprise of my life. Like I never thought that was going to happen. And not in a bad way, so very my toned down.
Gina (32:36)
Hmm
Kathryn (32:55)
belief in the paranormal is still someone else's outrageous belief system. You know what I mean? But it has definitely toned it down for me. But it wasn't one specific episode that did that. was just, there have been so many stories that we've done, like the two that we just mentioned, plus so many others that as I'm researching, I'm like, ⁓ this wasn't paranormal. This was just misogyny. That has happened so many times.
Gina (33:01)
Thank ⁓
Kathryn (33:25)
So, yeah.
Gina (33:27)
Yeah, yeah. And vice versa for me. I've definitely become more... Like, I still am skeptical because I'm a human being, so of course I'm going to be skeptical. But I'm a lot more open to believing things that I didn't used to be. Particularly, I will say, like, you've done quite a few episodes that talk about either deities or...
Kathryn (33:31)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Gina (33:48)
Like, you know, I'm thinking like Tutupele, Lilith, like the more kind of high level spiritual things that I don't think I had ever really established a belief in that I now understand the allure and the power of those beliefs and the context behind them a lot more than I used to. And so I feel more in tune with.
Kathryn (33:57)
you
Gina (34:08)
Just like spiritual stuff as a whole. I don't really know how to package that in a way that doesn't make me sound a little... But that's how it is. You know what mean?
Kathryn (34:21)
Yeah, I know what you mean. Which is actually a good segue into the second question we got.
Gina (34:22)
Mm-hmm.
the second question from Randy from Purgatory Club podcast is, you have any spiritual slash witchy practice? If so, what kind?
Kathryn (34:38)
Yes, I love this. I keep wanting to say we, I keep wanting to answer for both of us, sorry. ⁓ I do, and I'll let Gina answer for herself. But yeah, it's mostly private. don't ever think we've mentioned it outright other than me mentioning taking.
Christina's candle magic class and that one day you came in with a revenge candle lit for no one in particular ⁓ Yeah, so it seems like recently we've been on a candle magic kick But yeah, it's changed I've been I remember I was just gonna say my the first spell I ever cast I was in sixth grade also had to do with fire I accidentally lit my fleece blanket on fire down at the lake with my friends. Yeah, it was the best friend spell. It did not work
Gina (35:01)
Sometimes you gotta.
⁓ no.
He he!
Kathryn (35:26)
⁓
Ali, our artist, the woman who created Billy Sprinks she was there. I'll have to ask her if she remembers that. So yeah, I've dabbled for the last several years of my life. But yeah, there's no one particular type though. There isn't any kind. It's just whatever, whatever I'm feeling, whatever I'm doing that day.
Gina (35:31)
Hey.
Kathryn (35:50)
Usually retrospectively, does usually have to do with fire though. But I wouldn't say, I'm not Wiccan, not like, I don't ascribe to anyone named practice, I'll say.
Gina (36:04)
Yeah, I would say it's the same for me. But I'm also like, we have different journeys with it, very much so, because I'm way newer to all of that side of life. I'm still kind of, I'm in the phase where I'm still learning what my practice is. And I feel like I've come pretty far over the course of 2025, but I'm still figuring out what feels right. And just what feels right for me. But I think a lot of it for me,
Kathryn (36:10)
Yeah.
Gina (36:31)
comes down, like I do a lot of intention setting work because that's something that I struggle with. Whenever I enter a situation, I struggle to know what I actually want to get out of it and what I am trying to embody. And so it's kind of, it's almost like a mindfulness practice for me. And equal parts mindfulness and I also want to take over the world someday, so I'm trying to do some magic to make that happen.
Kathryn (36:35)
Mm-hmm.
Gina (36:56)
But yeah, it's not like one specific practice. It's what feels good and right to me at the time. I've experimented with a few different things. don't know. Ask me again in like 10 years when I'm experienced.
Kathryn (36:57)
Bellad.
I know. See, that's the thing.
everything you just said, like, I don't think your answer is going to be that different in 10 years because everyone's always just figuring out what feels right at any given moment. I do think there is this kind of misconception. And I don't know if this is what, like, I don't know what was specifically meant by what kind, whether he's asking if we're, like, know, wiccan or if we're asking...
Gina (37:34)
a of fucking Satanists.
Kathryn (37:37)
Yeah, satanic witchcraft or whatever. But the whole concept of needing to choose like, are you a green witch? Are you a kitchen witch? Are you a water witch? That's very much a result of social media. Like that did not exist when I was setting my fleece blanket on fire. You know what I mean? Like that's just not, but I do feel like people feel, and I'm not saying this for you. I'm just saying like in general, I like have met people who feel like they need to choose.
Gina (37:39)
Mmm.
Yeah.
You
Kathryn (38:05)
And that really isn't it at all. It's literally everything you just said. Like one day you're feeling one thing, the next day you might be feeling another thing. You're just kind of constantly figuring it out and like doing what fits. Like I do have my things that I'll go back to.
time and time again, like what I'm doing any given day changes like and has and will continue, you know, so.
Gina (38:25)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Kathryn (38:31)
last question was from a friend of the pod, Michaela Kelso And quick shout out to Michaela. We'll share her profile on socials because she's got a really cool like glass making business. And I actually got my pendulum from her. I'll share a picture of it. But I had been on the hunt.
for my perfect pendulum for like literally a decade. And she posted about it. It was one of the first ones she made. And I was like, that's it. That's the one. So shout out to Michaela. Thank you for sending this in. And hers, I just love hers. It's so straightforward. It is, what are your favorite winter horror movies? Do you have any? Now that you suddenly are watching all these horror films, even though you hate them, allegedly.
Gina (39:15)
I
think we're past the point of pretending that I hate horror films. I'm now intrigued. I'm horror curious. ⁓ So The Shining, obviously, like that has to be on the list, I think. But also the one that's like sprang to mind for me, which I was surprised by because it's not a winter movie, but I do have a case for it. The Mist?
Kathryn (39:20)
Okay good. Okay good.
Yeah.
⁓ I think that's a winter horror movie. Do you not? I don't know, anything... Anything with fog can be watched in the winter. Yeah.
Gina (39:41)
You- okay, you agree? Well, I didn't think it was a- like a winter movie.
That's what it,
cause it's like the everyone, like the kind of claustrophobia of being inside all the time and like you're in cramped quarters and it's like, if you go out, there's danger, be it monsters or like, you know, death by freezing or whatever. Like it's very winter coated, even if it's not wintery.
Kathryn (39:53)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Every any movie that is filmed with a grey color cast is a Fall and Winter movie. That's my argument for the mist, yes. Yeah, I support that.
Gina (40:13)
Great. Great. But yeah, yeah, I do,
I enjoy the mist. I like the mist.
Kathryn (40:19)
Okay, yeah, those are good choices. the three that I posted on social in response to this message, Shining was, got an honorable mention. We just watched The Lodge and Phil, okay, I have to say, Phil and I watched that movie five years ago, six years ago when we first started dating and he fell asleep immediately. Like,
Gina (40:42)
You
Kathryn (40:43)
Literally when we were rewatching it the other night, he was like, I don't remember this happening like five minutes into the movie. So this movie is so fucked up. It's like it's somewhere between horror and like psychological mystery. It just fucks me up so bad. And I mentioned Phil because he does not get fazed by anything. And it like kind of fucked him up a little bit when we watched it the other night at the end when it was over. I was like, so what do you think?
Gina (40:51)
You
Kathryn (41:12)
Wasn't that great? He was like laying there under the covers like, what was that? It very much like I am going to compare it to The Shining. I don't know if that's like sacrilegious to all the Stephen King fans out there, but it has a very like devolving into madness kind of vibe. It's just like so fucked up. Such a good movie. Also Frozen, not the Disney movie.
just so there's no confusion. ⁓ No, I promise that's not a joke. There really is a horror thriller called Frozen. It's really good. It's mostly just dialogue, because it's about these people who are stuck on a ski lift. ⁓ Yeah, it's horrendous, but it's so good. And then Let the Right One In is a very good movie. Those would be my top three.
Gina (41:40)
I did, I thought you meant the Disney movie.
⁓ God.
Okay,
I have not seen any of these.
Kathryn (42:07)
I would recommend starting with Frozen of the three of those because it's the most...
Gina (42:10)
⁓ Okay. That's the one I was like
the most afraid of.
Kathryn (42:17)
I'm trying to think of which one you would be... I don't know, I think you would like all of them. They're all very slow burns. But I would say, in my opinion, The Lodge is the slowest burn because it's one of those things they utilize a lot of really long shots and slow movement so it's like you're just sitting there watching things happen kind of slowly.
Gina (42:26)
Okay.
Ohhhh
Okay.
Kathryn (42:43)
Which is a little, it's so, it's like very frustrating in addition to being like, but that's why I compare it to The Shining, because it's just like you're stuck in this lodge in like a winter storm. Yeah, it's very good.
Gina (42:54)
Yeah.
Yeah, I just looked up the ⁓ art, like the, what is it, like the movie poster art, whatever, for, and the Frozen is already, I'm like, ugh, that looks terrifying. Okay, I'll give it a watch.
Kathryn (43:04)
Mm-hmm.
Frozen? Yeah, I don't know if you'll like Frozen, but I think you should start with it. It's like early 2000s kind of bro code type. there's like a bunch of, it's like a, I don't know, it's so good. The dialogue is fantastic. ⁓ Yeah. And then Let the Right One In is kind of sad, but that one that's a classic. But there's an American remake of it.
Gina (43:15)
I'll give it a go.
think I'll
Okay, okay, I'll check it out.
Kathryn (43:37)
starring that, what's her name, Chloe Moratz, ⁓ that just came out a few years after it was released. I think it's, what is it? I think it's like a Swedish movie or something, hold on.
Gina (43:40)
⁓ I know that name.
Okay.
Kathryn (43:48)
Let me get the correct thing before I say this. Yeah, it was Swedish. OK.
Gina (43:50)
Oh man, let the right one in.
It has 98 % on Rotten Tomatoes.
Kathryn (43:55)
It's so good. It's such a good movie.
Gina (43:58)
Wow.
Okay.
Kathryn (44:00)
Maybe start with that one. don't know. kind of wanted you to end with that one because that one, think, in my personal opinion, is the most well-made out of all three of them. Not even my personal opinion. You literally just said it has 98%, so that's not like a hot take. But I would end with that one between the three of them.
Gina (44:09)
Okay.
Okay, yeah that one
will be, Tom's a big fan of Swedish movies, so I'll be an easy sale.
Kathryn (44:25)
Maybe just start with that one, but
know that it's gonna be like the most well-made one.
Gina (44:30)
Okay, okay, got it, got it, got it. I'm so intrigued. Okay. Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Kathryn (44:32)
But love all three of them. All three of them are my favorites though. Yeah.
Gina (44:37)
I don't think we have much else to share before the end of the year. So I guess the last thing that we put into the world content wise in 2025 should probably be what we're doing first in 2026, no?
Kathryn (44:55)
Yes, I think so. I think I announced it last month, so now it's your turn. I feel like I've been stealing it. I've been stealing it from you the last couple of months. Unless you want me to. ⁓ OK. me too. Cheers.
Gina (44:57)
Okay, do you want to share with our friends?
⁓ okay. right, well here, I'll take... Yeah, I did get a little... Okay. Well, I'll take the last sip of my drink. Cheers! Yay.
⁓ Perfectly timed. right, so in January we are talking about cryptids in all of their beautiful glory. I'm so excited about it. We have such a fun January lined up, which is great because January is usually like cold and gross and kind of miserable and boring. So if you want to have fun every Tuesday, there's going to be a new cryptid to explore.
Kathryn (45:27)
Yes. People have been waiting for this. Yeah.
Yeah.
Gina (45:46)
And do you want to say what we're ⁓ pairing it with?
Kathryn (45:46)
Join us.
you're just trying to avoid saying the word. I know what you're doing now. Damn it, Gina. Okay, well you have to announce the next three months then if I do this. Okay, we are eating sherbert, sherbet, sabae, sherbae, sherbert. ⁓ Yeah, we will be eating slash calling it sherbert. If you call it something else, that's fine. We can all coexist happily. You don't have to be mean or weird about it.
Gina (45:51)
I am, I am. It's stressful.
Okay.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Hehehehehe
Kathryn (46:19)
So yes,
we will be proudly eating sherbet while we discuss cryptids. And Gina will need to be saying it on some of the episodes.
Gina (46:26)
Yes
I don't know what you're
talking about. I I bet. Actually, you know what? No, because I do, I am gonna have to say it and yeah, okay. Yeah, I have to say it for yours. Okay, well, you know what? Maybe I'll find an artful way around that. But until then, keep it cool.
Kathryn (46:35)
Nope.
You have to say it for mine.
and keep it creepy.
