Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: On this episode of Common Mystics, we look into the fascinating history of vampires and ask why, after centuries of stories, superstition and fear, we're still so obsessed with them.
I'm Jennifer James.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Jill. I'm Jill Stanley.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: We're psychics.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: We're sisters.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: We are common mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. But not today, Jill. Not today.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Not today.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: It is spooky season, and so we are covering. Ooh.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: The
[00:00:43] Speaker A: topic of vampires.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Creatures of the night.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Creatures of the night.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Okay,
[00:00:51] Speaker A: I just want to say right. Right off the bat, I am not terrified of this topic the way I was terrified of the topic we covered on our Patreon. Just saying.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Okay, so the topic that we discussed on our patreon was what?
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Why do I have to say was Demons, Jill. Demons. You made me read the names of demons
[00:01:19] Speaker B: a bunch like. Yes, I
[00:01:21] Speaker A: did. Yes. And
[00:01:22] Speaker B: we're gonna go into famous.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: I didn't like it, Jill. I didn't like it.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: In pop culture on our detours. So from ancient evil to Hollywood horror. That's
[00:01:34] Speaker A: right.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: Makes me excited.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Really? Okay. Yeah. So you get to say the names of demons because
[00:01:40] Speaker B: it's fake in the. In the Hollywood. It's fake in the Hollywood.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: But they're still using the real names.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Some of them. Some of them.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Thank God I can't read them.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Okay, so as you said, this is our Halloween episode. Uses. Is.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: Yes. And so I'm looking at Jack O' Lanterns and fall leaves. How atmospheric.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: Thank you.
So.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: So
[00:02:08] Speaker B: vampires.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Vampires
[00:02:09] Speaker B: are associated with Halloween mostly because several traditions gradually coincided and made Halloween's focus on the dead and old vampire lore, gothic literature, and eventually movies and costumes. Isn't that interesting?
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Kinda. I mean, basically anything is suitable for Halloween if it's spooky. And vampires are spooky.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: Vampires are very spooky.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: And Halloween season. Spooky things. Vampires, they. They fit.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Graveyards.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: Graveyards. Yeah. Yes,
[00:02:41] Speaker B: because, you know, vampires come out of graveyards.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: They. They come out of caskets
[00:02:48] Speaker B: that are usually in.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: Unless you are like Count Dracula. He wasn't in a cemetery, was he?
No,
[00:02:56] Speaker B: Jennifer, you know what? That's very. One very specific example.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: Okay, well, the. The most pivotal example, I would think. Yes, yes. The most
[00:03:06] Speaker B: famous. Yes. Okay,
[00:03:07] Speaker A: so let's
[00:03:08] Speaker B: get into it.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: All right. Are we done fighting about this?
[00:03:11] Speaker B: I wasn't fighting. I was having a healthy debate with my sister.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Okay. Shall we talk about, like, where vampires come from?
[00:03:19] Speaker B: The birth of vamps. Yes,
[00:03:21] Speaker A: yes. The birth of vampires.
So not surprisingly, perhaps there's not just one birthplace there's not just one cultural tradition from which the concept of. Of vampires all stems from.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:03:39] Speaker A: There. There were different ancient cultures that had vampire, like, supernatural beings long before anybody was using the word or the term vampire.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Right.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: So if we go back to Mesopotamia, it's always Mesopotamia.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Mesopotamia. Why are they the scariest? Why are they so scary? Jennifer, what was happening
[00:04:00] Speaker A: in
[00:04:00] Speaker B: Mesopotamia?
[00:04:01] Speaker A: Things.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: Bad.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Bad things
[00:04:04] Speaker B: were
[00:04:05] Speaker A: happening with Mesopotamia. And they were angry. Okay? They were angry. Their gods were angry. They had demons coming out of there. And apparently some of the evil spirits coming out of there attacked humans and consumed their blood and flesh. Okay, I'm just gonna say it. I'm just gonna say it. In Mesopotamian lore that happened. Okay, okay,
[00:04:28] Speaker B: okay. And you said that it was like, demons, so.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: Yeah, like evil spirits. Now, they wouldn't have used the word demon. We know
[00:04:37] Speaker B: that from our Patreon.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:04:39] Speaker B: yeah.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: So these are more modern terms, but they definitely had undead spirits that they believed would, like I said, attack humans. Drink their blood, eat their flesh. Yes. Okay,
[00:04:52] Speaker B: nice.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: There are two in particular I'd like to tell you about because I think they're somewhat entertaining.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: Tell me.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: Okay, so Lamia. Probably saying that wrong. L a M I A.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Lamia. Lamia, she was a queen of Libya.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: And she had an affair with Zeus.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: No, she did not.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: She did. And then after this alleged affair, she went dark.
She went dark and she turned into a knight creature who ate children.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: I think Zeus's partner found out about it, and it was like this big, like, uncomfortable triangle thing, and it got violent, you know Hera.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Yeah. I
[00:05:38] Speaker A: mean, Hera's not going to take any.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: She really isn't. She's the queen of the queen of the gods. You can't be doing that.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So obviously this comes from ancient Greek mythology, but again, you see that idea of an evil spirit. Oh, we got some titties there, Lamia.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Her
[00:05:57] Speaker A: titties are out in, like,
[00:05:58] Speaker B: everyone.
You can't find a picture of this woman without her titties out.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: Really?
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: All right, well, join us on YouTube if you are interested in that sort of thing.
Anyway, there's another one.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Content our unedited content. Not just boobs.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: There is another one that I thought was really interesting.
E M P U S A M Pusa.
Ooh, she's kind of pretty. She. The way they did her hair there. What does she remind
[00:06:30] Speaker B: me? Love. Love. She's smizing for sure.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: She kind of looks a little like Medusa with the hair. It's almost. I don't Know if they're dreads. Exactly. But you see, they're kind of twisted into ropes a little bit.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: Anyway, so, Empusa. Okay.
She was a shape shifter.
She was a demon. She had fire for hair, according to some of these legends.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: That's kind of cool.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: She also had mismatched legs.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: That's not so cool.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: One was bronze.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: Okay.
And the other was either a donkey leg, a mule leg, or made of cow dung or. Okay, so her legs were mismatched.
Okay. But she must
[00:07:17] Speaker B: have had a hell of a limp.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: I'm sure. Hell of a
[00:07:19] Speaker B: pimp walk on her.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: But because she was a shape shifter, she could turn into an animal or better yet, a beautiful woman with a snap of her fingers. Right.
And so what she would do is she would hang out really along travel routes and look for young men who are traveling alone.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Girl.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: And she would feed on their blood and flesh.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: Oh,
[00:07:47] Speaker A: I found a little tidbit that I found to be kind of amusing about Aunt Pusa.
If you knew it was her, it was really easy to thwart her because all you had to do was shout insults at her, and she would cry and run away.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt you, Ampuza.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: Yeah, interesting. No,
[00:08:15] Speaker B: Well, I mean, what I think, like.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: Like how
[00:08:18] Speaker B: easy.
I were walking down the street and a young man just started talking to me. I would cry and walk away, too, and be like, what the.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: No, the difference is. And Pusa was the one who was preying on the young men. So it'd be a young man walking and a woman would come up to him. How many of them, especially if she turned herself into a young and beautiful woman, how many of them would be like, you know, yelling insults? No, they wouldn't.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: No, men are.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: No, no,
[00:08:43] Speaker B: most men. Most men.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Most men. I'm
[00:08:46] Speaker B: not stereotyping. I'm not. Don't write me.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: So, obviously, these weren't vampires, the way we think of, like, the Dracula archetype of a vampire. But you see, very early on, starting in Mesopotamia, she traveling through ancient Greece and Europe. We have supernatural beings that could take the life force of a human being. Okay,
[00:09:10] Speaker B: can I ask you a question?
[00:09:12] Speaker A: Please.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: When you say life force, do you mean blood?
[00:09:15] Speaker A: I do mean blood.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Why blood? Why is it always blood?
[00:09:19] Speaker A: Good question.
For most of human history, blood was not only, you know, what you saw, if you cut yourself, if you had an injury, but it had enormous symbolic power.
And long before science, long before people understood circulation, before they understood blood cells or how oxygen even courses through your body in your blood. People did understand at a very basic level that blood meant life.
[00:09:49] Speaker B: Okay,
[00:09:49] Speaker A: Right. Because if you're dead, they would know blood doesn't flow. Like they. They had that knowledge. Right.
And so when blood flowed through a living person, the person was warm, the person was conscious, the person was alive. And when blood left the body, life left with it. So it's not difficult to imagine how ancient peoples would have come to see blood as something that's much more important than just a part of the body. It was considered the essence of life itself.
And that idea creates the foundation for the vampire and why it's scary.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: Okay, I'm gonna ask you something.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Something I never heard about before.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Oh, tell me about it. Ask me.
[00:10:38] Speaker B: What was the great vampire panic?
[00:10:42] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. I had never heard about this before until you put this together in an outline.
Okay.
So the vampire that is most recognizable to us today began taking shape in the folklore of eastern and southeastern Europe.
Think the Balkans. Think. You know where Italy is?
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: The boot. Think just right of the boot. Okay. All that land. Just right of the boot.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Okay, gotcha.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: All right, so we're talking about there in that part of the world.
Those different regions had their own names and beliefs, but they all shared the frightening idea that sometimes, Jill, sometimes the dead came back.
And when they did, the living suffered.
[00:11:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: Suspected vampires were blamed for things.
Little things, like nightmares. Like, if you had a nightmare, you'd be like, oh, my gosh, a dead person came and gave me this nightmare.
Or livestock deaths. Let's say your cow died.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: Oh,
[00:11:48] Speaker A: my God.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: I know. I know. Today that does not sound like a big deal, but back in the day, livestock deaths were a real thing.
Were, like. Honestly, like, they were
[00:11:58] Speaker A: a big deal for sure.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: And they were doing, like, spells to protect your livestock,
[00:12:03] Speaker A: right? Yes, yes, exactly.
So livestock death, again, it must be a vampire, right? They were looking for.
For a culprit, like, why did livestock die? Why did I have this nightmare? But then why did I get sick? Why did my wife and children get sick? Why did someone die? Right. All of these, even from trivial things to more serious inflictions, they would blame on the dead who had come back to life to hurt, you know, or to, you know, inflict this pain and suffering on the people, the human population.
Obviously, they didn't understand infectious disease. Right. And so they were looking for another explanation.
And here's another thing. In the cases where several members of the family died in succession, which will happen with infectious disease.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: Yeah. It would.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: Suspicion would fall on the first person who died in the family.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: And then they'd be like, that is the culprit. That's the vampire. We have to, like, unearth it and make sure that it doesn't come out of the grave anymore.
Yeah, yeah.
And so because of these beliefs and this folklore and the desire to pin these bad things on something, you know, that they could name and describe. There was the vampire panic or the vampire craze that happened in the 1700s.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Tell me everything about the vampire craze
[00:13:37] Speaker A: in the early 1700s. Vampires stories were escaping from villages in southeastern Europe and they began spreading across the continent.
There are two very famous cases in particular.
They're obviously written in a language that I can't speak, so I'm going to try my best. Peter Blagojevich and Arnold Paoli.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: These two stories caused a sensation because officials investigated. They actually investigated claims that these two men who had been. Who had died, returned from their graves and were responsible for the death of others. So you have, like, the authorities investigating these claims that will give them credence.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: When your local sheriff or your local deputy or starts
[00:14:31] Speaker B: going. Looking for the
[00:14:33] Speaker A: glasses, Looking for the dead people.
Yes, yes, exactly.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: Girl.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: Now, not only that, but they started exhuming bodies.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: Like I said. So they're exhuming bodies and they're examining them for signs of vampirism.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: What signs?
[00:14:51] Speaker A: You put that later in the outline.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: Sorry.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: Okay, so here they are.
The signs were. They were examining for if the body was unusually well preserved.
Okay. So
[00:15:05] Speaker B: if you look good.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: If you look good, that was a sign that you're a vampire.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: Check
[00:15:11] Speaker A: also if there was any fresh blood visible.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: Oh,
[00:15:16] Speaker A: okay. That would be interpreted as evidence as that person is still feeding, especially if it was, like, around the mouth.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Does that make sense?
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Because when you. Like when you bite into an apple and the juice gets all up in your grill. The same thing. It's the same thing.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly.
And so when they found. Those are just two of the very, like, the most obvious signs.
[00:15:41] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: So if they thought that this person had. Was a vampire, then they would rip their hearts out and sometimes other organs and
[00:15:52] Speaker B: then
[00:15:52] Speaker A: burn them.
And in extraordinary cases, the ashes of those burned organs would become part of the folk remedies to, like, as a ritual
[00:16:07] Speaker B: to
[00:16:07] Speaker A: keep the rest of the family safe.
[00:16:09] Speaker B: Absolutely not.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So this was happening and like I said, because the officials were investigating the press, I mean, you know what I mean? Like, local pamphlets, newspapers were reporting on them. Physicians respected physicians. They were debating.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: They
[00:16:29] Speaker A: were debating how to, you know, beat vampires, how to get rid of vampires and if they existed, you know, and then the clergy were discussing them. What do you call someone who's reverends and priests and other church officials.
Yeah. So, you know, the funny thing is this is also the age of enlightenment, this time in history when Europe was embracing science and observation and reason. And yet this is kind of like the other side of that, where some people are like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know what I mean? Like
[00:17:03] Speaker B: when.
[00:17:03] Speaker A: Whenever the pendulum swings to one side, then you always have that backlash. And this appears to have come around at the same time when people were not maybe trusting science and falling back on folklore.
Yeah.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: So.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: Can you take me to New England? Lovely this time of year.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: It is lovely this time of year. If you're thinking that vampire hysteria was only a thing in Europe and the old villages,
[00:17:31] Speaker B: you
[00:17:31] Speaker A: would be wrong.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: You
[00:17:32] Speaker A: would be
[00:17:32] Speaker B: so wrong. You're so
[00:17:33] Speaker A: wrong right now. You're so wrong. Why are you so wrong all the time?
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Why are you so wrong all the time?
[00:17:39] Speaker A: America had its own vampire panic.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: Of course we did.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: And we had it later.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: We did.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: We had it later. When we should have known better.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: Tell me.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Okay. During the 18th and 19th centuries. So the 1700s and the 1800s,
[00:17:56] Speaker B: when we should have known better.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: Have you heard of consumption?
[00:18:01] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:18:03] Speaker A: what is it?
[00:18:04] Speaker B: Tb? Turbo?
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. Yeah, it's the old term for tuberculosis.
This was a devastating disease.
A person would become sick, and then another person and another person. What they didn't know was that it was extremely contagious.
And the way you died, if you had consumption was that you would grow weak.
You would grow pale and painfully thin.
You'd cough up blood.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: Oh,
[00:18:37] Speaker A: right. You remember Moulin Rouge?
Remember Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge?
[00:18:43] Speaker B: She was coughing up some blood. Yeah,
[00:18:45] Speaker A: she was coughing up blood. She was really pale. She had her pink cheeks. She was super thin. She looked gorgeous.
[00:18:52] Speaker B: Never looked better.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: Never looked better.
And without understanding how consumption, or what we call tuberculosis today, spread terrify, families would search for some sort of supernatural explanation.
Now, in some communities, they came to believe that a family member who had already died was somehow draining the life from those living. How are they doing it?
Vampirism.
And one of the most famous cases occurred in rhode island in 1892. That's really late for this nonsense.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: Honestly,
[00:19:29] Speaker A: that is really. I
[00:19:30] Speaker B: was really surprised by, like. Like, looking at these dates. It's like, we are. We should have known better.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Yeah. This is like the industrial Age.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: Yeah. We
[00:19:38] Speaker A: are like at the modern era, almost.
Wow. Okay, so. Rhode Island, 1892. The Brown family was devastated by tuberculosis.
20 year old Mercy Brown died and her brother Edwin remained seriously ill.
Desperate to save him, family members and neighbors exhume the bodies of the deceased relatives.
And Mercy's body, guess what? It was found unusually well preserved.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: She was gorgeous.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: Something we now know was largely explained by the fact that her body had been kept in freezing conditions before burial. It was one of those coincidences.
[00:20:23] Speaker B: Yeah, right. Yeah,
[00:20:23] Speaker A: but Rhode Island's also cold.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:20:26] Speaker A: but to the people gathered around the grave, that was evidence.
Mercy's heart and liver were removed and burned, and the ashes were mixed into a preparation that Edwin consumed.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Nope.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: In the hope of stopping whatever was killing him.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: Absolutely not.
[00:20:43] Speaker A: Didn't work. Edwin Brown died only a few months later.
Yeah.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: Gross.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: So Americans were digging out their relatives out of their own cemeteries and. Yeah. Doing some pretty strange things.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: This wasn't medieval.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: No.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: Europe.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: Nope.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: This was like almost 1900s. America, girl.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: I just want to say something else though.
This whole consumption period, like, people were crazy. Like, that was like a standard of beauty. If you look
[00:21:20] Speaker B: at
[00:21:21] Speaker A: art at the time, that waif, that thin waist, the rosy cheeks, the super pale, like that whole. It was a romantic.
[00:21:30] Speaker B: It was like a beautiful disease.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Yes. I think it was Robert Browning.
I. You don't quote me on this. One of the famous poets of the time was actually like, yes, I want to die of consumption. Then I know that I'll always look good.
Like, basically he said that.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: Like, it was like out there. Like, this is romantic. This is the most romantic way to die. I know. It's so sick, right?
[00:21:52] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: It was like the heroin chic of the time. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Do you remember the early 90s?
[00:21:59] Speaker B: Yes. The heroine.
[00:22:00] Speaker A: Yes. Super thin, kind of dirty. Because that was the grunge era.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: Oh, my God. My favorite dirty 90s person. I
[00:22:06] Speaker A: know who it is. I know who it is.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Say it out loud.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Kurt Cobain.
[00:22:11] Speaker B: Yes, ma'. Am.
You said you just
[00:22:13] Speaker A: wanted to
[00:22:13] Speaker B: breathe them.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: He was dirty. I know.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: You said you wanted to give him a bath.
Nice little sponge
[00:22:20] Speaker A: bath. He always looked dirty but hot.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: I mean, yeah,
[00:22:26] Speaker A: I want to give him a bath. It's not a sexual thing. I wanted to give him a bath the same way I want to give my Labrador retriever a bath. You know, like, oh, she's. She's cute. She just needs to be all scrubbed up a little.
[00:22:36] Speaker B: She needs to smell better.
[00:22:38] Speaker A: Right. He was a Little guy, though.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: Yeah. And he had
[00:22:41] Speaker A: a
[00:22:41] Speaker B: bad back.
[00:22:42] Speaker A: He did have a bad back. Anyway, we digress. But. But that whole idea of consumption being a romantic disease and not only that, a standard of beauty.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: So
[00:22:52] Speaker A: if you didn't have tuberculosis, you want it to look like you had tuberculosis.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: Ridiculous. Kind of scary, too.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: Kind of scary? Yeah.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:23:02] Speaker A: for sure.
And you can kind of see, like, if you're wasting away like that, why people might think that you're being preyed upon by someone who's like, drinking your blood.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:12] Speaker A: Do you know what I mean?
[00:23:13] Speaker B: And you're
[00:23:13] Speaker A: coughing
[00:23:14] Speaker B: up blood, so it's like
[00:23:15] Speaker A: you're giving up.
[00:23:16] Speaker B: You're giving up.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: You're turning into one.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: Don't,
[00:23:18] Speaker A: don't, don't. Right.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: Don't do it. Don't do it.
Don't do it.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So eventually, science moves itself along.
We begin to understand that tuberculosis and other epidemics explained why death could seem to move relentlessly through a family. Right. Because it was contagious.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: And decomposition might make a corpse look plumper or more bloated.
Oh, and also things like sleep paralysis that might have been blamed on vampires. You've had that?
[00:23:57] Speaker B: I have. It's so scary. It is so scary.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: Explain sleep paralysis, because I know you've had it.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: Well, you're. You're awake, but you can't move. You have no function other than your mind being like, move. You know what I mean? Like, the last time I had it, I was with you and Jenny and we were in Minnesota. And I thought that I was literally screaming your name, like, because that's like, in my head I
[00:24:21] Speaker A: was like,
[00:24:22] Speaker B: streaming. Jennifer. But I. But
[00:24:24] Speaker A: you were completely awake.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Completely awake. Couldn't move.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: It's so crazy.
[00:24:27] Speaker B: And it lasts for like 30 seconds to a minute and it's so long. And I just have to keep reminding myself, like, it's my body that just hasn't woken up yet. It's my body
[00:24:37] Speaker A: that doesn't have. Weird.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:24:39] Speaker A: but it's scary. Well, yeah, that sounds really frightening. See, that they would have blamed on a vampire.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Yeah. I still blame it on ghosts.
Normal.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: I know you do, but you're not normal. So moving on.
Yeah. And then. Oh, yeah. And then the fear of premature burial.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: Saved by
[00:25:03] Speaker A: the
[00:25:03] Speaker B: bell.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: This is so frightening. What do you mean, saved by the bell? What does that mean?
[00:25:08] Speaker B: You know what it means.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: I do, but maybe not everybody listening.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Okay, so like back in the day, when someone dies but they look good still, or they want to be sure that they're dead. They they wrapped a string around their finger in the casket and attached to a bell that was above the ground. So. So that if they were still alive, you would ring the bell, be like, hurry, hurry, get me out of here.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: Yeah, apparently that happened all the time.
Because science.
[00:25:36] Speaker B: How do you not know when someone's dead? What is
[00:25:39] Speaker A: this? The tests were like, pick. Take a pin, stab them with a pin. If they don't move, they're dead. Or take a minute. Did they not
[00:25:47] Speaker B: understand a heartbeat?
[00:25:49] Speaker A: No. Well, sometimes someone's alive and you can't feel their heartbeat.
If the. If you're, like, in a. No, seriously. If you're in a coma, your heart's not beating fast. Absolutely, Jill. They would do the mirror test holding a mirror in front of their face, and if no steam came out, they'd be like, they're dead. Bury them. Seriously, Those were the tests. And so a lot of people were prematurely buried. Yes. Yes. So there was a fear of that as well. It just kind of fueled the vampire lore. Can you see that?
[00:26:19] Speaker B: I'm afraid of that. I'm afraid of that. You
[00:26:21] Speaker A: know what? You don't have to be afraid of that these days.
[00:26:24] Speaker B: Even scarier. Like, what if you were in a graveyard and someone was clawing their way out because they were, like, they were prematurely buried?
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Or if a bell was ringing up. Shut up. Shut
[00:26:37] Speaker B: up. No. No.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: I'd probably crap myself.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: No. Well, you would have to help them. You would have to find the bell and help them.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: I know, but first I would crap myself.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: Fair.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: That'd be scary.
[00:26:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so everything we're talking about is scary, but somehow, along the way, vampires became hot.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yes, they did. They
[00:27:04] Speaker A: were, along the
[00:27:05] Speaker B: way, steamy.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: They became sexy.
[00:27:10] Speaker B: Yes. Them. You know, the type of.
[00:27:13] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Okay, so during the 18th and 19th century, the whole vampire folklore began making its way into literature.
And writers would transform the monster and the bloated corpse. Villagers that once feared that were once the source of fear would crawl out of its grave gradually becoming something much more intriguing.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:27:44] Speaker A: Aristocratic, intelligent.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: Mysterious. Well dressed.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:27:51] Speaker A: And seductive.
[00:27:53] Speaker B: Don't pretend you wouldn't swipe right on that. Don't you pretend
[00:27:57] Speaker A: I'm looking at Bela lugosi of Dracula, 1931.
He's on a tense screen. Vampire. Yeah, it's those eyes for sure.
So this turning point came in 1819 with a novel called the Vampire by John Polidori.
His vampire was Lord Ruthven, and he wasn't a peasant. A peasant or anything. He was wealthy. He was sophisticated, charismatic. And dangerous. So the kind of.
Yeah, the kind of monster that could enter polite society without anyone realizing
[00:28:34] Speaker B: the
[00:28:34] Speaker A: evil that he was. That's
[00:28:36] Speaker B: such a romantic twist.
Like the dark, handsome stranger. The aristocrat.
[00:28:42] Speaker A: And then came Varney the Vampire. Not a great name, but in 1840.
[00:28:47] Speaker B: Ridiculous name. It's
[00:28:48] Speaker A: like Barney the Vampire.
[00:28:50] Speaker B: It's like Barney
[00:28:51] Speaker A: and Carmilla, who is A woman, in 1872, pushed vampire fiction even further. Because then you get into sexuality, forbidden sexuality, attraction and intimacy. So now it's getting steamy.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Now
[00:29:06] Speaker A: it's getting
[00:29:07] Speaker B: hot in here.
Yes, it is.
[00:29:10] Speaker A: Right.
Yeah. And so now the vampire becomes less a monster and more about the danger of temptations.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: That's crazy
[00:29:19] Speaker A: talk. And you've heard of Bram. Bram Stoker?
[00:29:22] Speaker B: Of course I have.
[00:29:24] Speaker A: In 1897, he published Dracula.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: Changed
[00:29:28] Speaker A: the
[00:29:28] Speaker B: world,
[00:29:29] Speaker A: changed the mythology of the vampire 100%.
Because Stoker drew upon earlier vampire literature, folklore and the anxieties of his own Victorian world to create a monster that was wrapped up in ideas about blood, disease, sexuality, foreignness. Because he was a foreigner. Immortality and predation.
Or branding. Preying on others. I knew you were going to ask me that.
Yeah. And Dracula introduced a particularly powerful kind of terror. The monster didn't simply attack you. That would be too easy. No, he didn't.
[00:30:09] Speaker B: We wanted
[00:30:09] Speaker A: you
[00:30:09] Speaker B: to like it. He wanted you to like it.
Yes.
Hate the game, not the player. That's what I'm saying.
[00:30:18] Speaker A: He would seduce you. Exactly. So we're still afraid of him, but now we can't stop looking.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Now
[00:30:24] Speaker A: he can't stop looking at him.
[00:30:25] Speaker B: He's all, I want you to want me. Yeah.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:30:29] Speaker B: That's his goal.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: Yes.
So. And then Hollywood comes along. You've already showed one image of Bela Lugosi as. As a vampire. Dracula.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: I would actually say that thought of, like, I want you to watch. Want me? Has to do with inviting them in. Like, you have to invite them in.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: Part of the myth, Right?
[00:30:51] Speaker B: Yes.
Crazy. I just thought of that now, being silly. Oh.
[00:30:55] Speaker A: Bella Lugosi's portrayal of count Dracula in 1931 helps cement that vampire image as elegant, sophisticated, but also a predator. Right?
[00:31:05] Speaker B: Yeah. You
[00:31:05] Speaker A: got the cape, you've got the hypnotic stare, you've got the mysterious accent.
[00:31:11] Speaker B: No man is flawless, you know.
[00:31:13] Speaker A: No man is flawless.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: No man is flawless.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: That irresistible combination of charm
[00:31:20] Speaker B: and
[00:31:20] Speaker A: danger.
I mean, those are words to live by,
[00:31:24] Speaker B: right?
[00:31:25] Speaker A: Right. You always got to be wary of the charming ones.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: Mm.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: Right again.
Now, a vampire is someone who would rock. Walk right through your front door, charm everyone in the room
[00:31:37] Speaker B: and
[00:31:37] Speaker A: look damn good doing it.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: Yes, ma'. Am.
[00:31:41] Speaker A: And from there, the vampire just kept evolving. The myth of the vampire. And over the decades, they bec.
Some of them became monsters and villains, but also tragic figures, lovers, anti heroes, superheroes, and even teenagers could be vampires.
[00:32:00] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: And do you remember Anne Rice?
[00:32:05] Speaker B: Do I.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: Is that Tom Cruise in a wig?
[00:32:08] Speaker B: Yes,
[00:32:09] Speaker A: of course. I'm pretty sure I'm looking at. You know, I never saw this movie.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: You never saw this movie?
[00:32:13] Speaker A: I never saw Interview with a Vampire.
[00:32:15] Speaker B: It's.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: And now I have no desire to see it because I'm looking at Tom Cruz in a wig with red lipstick on.
[00:32:22] Speaker B: That's because he's. He's a flesh eater. He eats of the dead. Well, he makes people dead after he eats of them.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: You know, I am not a Tom Cruise fan.
[00:32:30] Speaker B: I. I'm not either, but.
[00:32:32] Speaker A: So you really like this movie? This is.
[00:32:33] Speaker B: I like this movie.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: Okay. All right. Wait, have you seen it recently?
Is this a last unicorn situation where you remember
[00:32:40] Speaker B: that
[00:32:41] Speaker A: it's really good,
[00:32:42] Speaker B: rude,
[00:32:43] Speaker A: and then you watch it again and you're like, wow, this is trash.
So when was the last time you've seen Interview with a Vampire?
[00:32:50] Speaker B: Okay,
[00:32:50] Speaker A: be honest with me.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: I was. I was. I was an adult.
I wasn't six. Does that help? I mean, I was a. An adult. Did
[00:32:59] Speaker A: you read the books? Did you read the
[00:33:00] Speaker B: book? Did not read the books.
[00:33:01] Speaker A: I did not read the books.
[00:33:02] Speaker B: I did not read the books. But I will tell you, Brad Pitts in there. I will tell you, Kristen, Chris, Kirsten Dunst is in there.
[00:33:10] Speaker A: Kiersten.
[00:33:13] Speaker B: Must you. Jennifer, must you?
[00:33:15] Speaker A: I only know that because I saw an interview with her once, and she was tugging at her in her ear, saying, kiersten, Kirsten. And now I can't stop seeing that.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: Anyway.
[00:33:24] Speaker A: Okay,
[00:33:25] Speaker B: good. And who else?
Antonio Banderas, I believe, is in
[00:33:29] Speaker A: it. Oh. Oh. A lot of hot men in it.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: A lot of hot men in it. Brooding hot men.
[00:33:35] Speaker A: And a child. Because Kirsten Dunst was a child.
[00:33:38] Speaker B: Because
[00:33:38] Speaker A: I don't know. See, you know what? I'm not sure it's good. Really.
[00:33:41] Speaker B: It was. It's good.
[00:33:42] Speaker A: Well, I'm gonna check the Rotten Tomatoes, the Flickster, before I. You know, I do that before I watch it.
[00:33:47] Speaker B: Do it now.
[00:33:48] Speaker A: No, I'm not gonna do it.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: I want to feel validated.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: You're not. You won't.
Let's keep going. I'll do it before we hang up. Okay. Anne Rice changes everything. Because in 1976, Anne Rice wrote Interview with the Vampire. And she did something incredibly important to the vampire myth. She led us into the mind of the vampire.
So now we have vampires who weren't simply monsters hunting innocent victims.
They could feel things. They could be lonely. They could feel guilt. They could be in love. They can feel grief and the crushing weight of immortality. You know, there is a dark side to being immortal.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: I would think it would be so, so sad. I would have to make you immortal.
[00:34:40] Speaker A: Why are you. Why? Why?
[00:34:41] Speaker B: If I. If I'm immortal? You're gonna be immortal.
[00:34:44] Speaker A: So if you turn into a vampire, you're gonna bite me is what you're saying?
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:34:48] Speaker A: Don't bite me, Jill. I don't want to be immortal. I'm already tired. I don't
[00:34:51] Speaker B: want it. You're gonna.
[00:34:51] Speaker A: That should have happened 20 years ago. Twenty years ago,
[00:34:55] Speaker B: you would want me to wander the earth alone by myself? My clumsy ass just wandering around?
[00:35:01] Speaker A: I don't know. We'll talk about it later.
[00:35:03] Speaker B: I'd still be on my shot. So it's not like I would be eating you for nourishment. I would just be eating you to change you.
Think about it.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: We're going to have to. We're going to have to delete everything you just said because I'm so troubled by it, I don't even know how to respond. Okay,
[00:35:24] Speaker B: this goes on YouTube now. Unedited, Brian. But if you're listening, it makes Jennifer feel more.
[00:35:31] Speaker A: No, it's fine. Leave it in.
Okay, so, yeah, so she changed everything because now she, like, brings them to life
[00:35:38] Speaker B: as.
[00:35:38] Speaker A: Yes, they're. They're monsters, kind of, but they're also. You've got empathy now. Now you like them on another level because you understand them
[00:35:49] Speaker B: being cranky and angry and all movie, like,
[00:35:52] Speaker A: for sure. For sure.
So the question was no longer, like, how do we kill the vampire? But what would it actually feel like to be one?
[00:36:02] Speaker B: Ooh,
[00:36:04] Speaker A: Right? So now it's getting psychological.
[00:36:07] Speaker B: Yeah. Huh.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And so, once audiences began sympathizing with the monster, the door was wide open for the next transformation.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: You know
[00:36:16] Speaker A: what
[00:36:16] Speaker B: it is?
[00:36:17] Speaker A: The vampire could be someone we might actually fall in love with.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: Mm. Tell me about the vampire boyfriend.
[00:36:26] Speaker A: Well, by the 1990s, this was a total thing.
[00:36:29] Speaker B: Total thing.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: The transformation of the vampire was about to take another major turn in the 1990s.
Now, teenagers especially, were falling in love with vampires. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Right. She was supposed to kill them. But guess what?
[00:36:47] Speaker B: Great show. She fell
[00:36:48] Speaker A: in love.
[00:36:49] Speaker B: He had
[00:36:50] Speaker A: a
[00:36:50] Speaker B: gypsy curse he had a gypsy curse
[00:36:53] Speaker A: she fell in love with angel the vampire. And then later, well, she didn't really fall in love with Spike. It was complicated. Spike.
I like Spike better.
[00:37:01] Speaker B: Okay, stop. Angel is better for Buffy.
[00:37:04] Speaker A: True.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: And please comment.
Please comment. Let us know what you think. Angel is better for Buffy. Spike was a better character for the show.
[00:37:14] Speaker A: True.
[00:37:14] Speaker B: But he was better with Drusilla.
[00:37:17] Speaker A: I agree with everything you just said.
[00:37:19] Speaker B: Okay, thank you.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: But if I had to hang out with one of them, I'm hanging out with Spike.
[00:37:23] Speaker B: Absolutely. Angel
[00:37:25] Speaker A: annoying the die hard, like, oh,
[00:37:29] Speaker B: God,
[00:37:31] Speaker A: I hate the brooding hot guy archetype. Shut up.
[00:37:34] Speaker B: Then you're not gonna like Interview with a Vampire. Because Louie,
[00:37:38] Speaker A: I never. I knew I wouldn't.
[00:37:40] Speaker B: Brad Pitt is Louie. He's hot. He's sad that he's a vampire. He adopts Kirsten Dunce because he wanted a companion. It's a whole thing. Actually, Lestat transforms Kirsten to become a vampire to cheer up Louis.
[00:37:59] Speaker A: I love how now every time you say her name, you're. Imagine like you're tugging your ear. Yes. Cute. Cute.
Yeah. And of course, Twilight.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: Twilight
[00:38:10] Speaker A: 90s too. You know, I've never seen Twilight either.
[00:38:13] Speaker B: Don't.
I'm not even gonna lie.
I was watching it with Chad. And it was the funniest thing, because I had, like, this phase. Like, I was. You know how, like, when I watch one, I had to watch everyone and I read, like, the books. Chad was like, I don't get it. Why don't they let her die? Tell me why they won't. Just.
[00:38:29] Speaker A: She's an annoying character, isn't she? Bella. Is that her name?
[00:38:32] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: You know, I'm sure people are listening who are fans of Twilight.
I'm sure of it.
[00:38:38] Speaker B: I will say
[00:38:39] Speaker A: you might be.
[00:38:41] Speaker B: Respectfully, I liked Twilight. My husband did not.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: And
[00:38:45] Speaker B: I thought it was funny that he bursted out in a theater, just let her die. I thought that was amusing. That
[00:38:50] Speaker A: would be amusing. Yes. Yes.
So anyway, with that, the vampire completed one of the strangest transformations in the history of folklore. The creature that terrified entire villages, that people once dug out of graves, decapitated, staked and burned, had become a teenage heartthrob.
[00:39:08] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: So, Jill, why do we love vampires?
[00:39:14] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Well, I want to be clear.
[00:39:19] Speaker A: Do you love vampires?
[00:39:20] Speaker B: I. Well, I want to be clear. There's a distinction here that I have to make. I do not love any demon. And a vampire technically is a demon.
But do I love the journey that the folklore took and the mythology twisted and how it became this, like, seductive figure that you wanted to get to know and was like, hashtag complicated and, like, mysterious and aristocratic.
Yeah, I think I like that.
[00:39:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great. I would like
[00:39:51] Speaker B: a rich stranger coming into my world and being like, hi, Jill. I'd be like, hey, how are you?
So you have a kink with biting my neck. Go on. You know.
[00:40:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:40:02] Speaker B: What about you?
[00:40:03] Speaker A: I agree with you 100%. But also, I'll add that part of the appeal of the vampire is that promise of immortality, because every one of us at some level, fears death.
It's just part of the human condition.
And so you have this balance of danger, but also, like, you could get something out of it. Now, is it something that.
That would make you happy? Ultimately? I guess that's the question, isn't it? But I like that psychological turn on it.
[00:40:37] Speaker B: Okay, before we go there, before they go there, I just. Follow me for a sec.
Every time someone in. In the Hollywood movie TV industry turns into a vampire, they get super hotter. Right.
What if it was like, your curse to get, like, super ugly? Like, you did not become the hot vampire. You were the ugly duckling of the vampires and you had to live forever.
[00:41:03] Speaker A: That's probably what would happen to me. Personally,
[00:41:06] Speaker B: I don't think that's what happened to you.
[00:41:07] Speaker A: No, no, no. I probably would.
[00:41:09] Speaker B: Would you live forever without becoming a vampire? Without the whole dead thing with
[00:41:16] Speaker A: that.
[00:41:16] Speaker B: The dead eating dead thing,
[00:41:19] Speaker A: personally, you're asking me?
[00:41:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:21] Speaker A: If I would live forever?
[00:41:23] Speaker B: If you would. If you.
[00:41:24] Speaker A: If I had the choice.
[00:41:25] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:41:25] Speaker A: To live forever?
[00:41:26] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:41:27] Speaker A: Would I never be able to be in the sun?
Because I love. You're not
[00:41:31] Speaker B: a vampire. You're just living forever
[00:41:34] Speaker A: in my current state. Like this body. This body that I'm currently in.
[00:41:39] Speaker B: I think so.
[00:41:40] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: It doesn't get. It doesn't get worse, but it doesn't get better.
You know what I mean?
[00:41:47] Speaker A: I would want to do it right now then, if that was a situation. Yeah.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: Like this moment.
[00:41:52] Speaker A: I don't think so. Because I think I would miss.
I would be so lonely because every. Everybody that I love, I would lose.
[00:42:00] Speaker B: That's why I would eat you now. You understand me?
[00:42:05] Speaker A: You would suck my blood? You wouldn't eat me. Stop saying that.
[00:42:10] Speaker B: I would suck your blood and then I would, like, shove my blood in your face. I'd be like, eat this.
Now it's a whole thing and you're gonna live forever. But no, I think that.
I do think I would be lonely, and I also think that my soul would live for. I don't know if I want to be Jilly. Forever. You know what I mean? I already know my soul's gonna live forever. I want new adventures.
[00:42:36] Speaker A: I mean, arguably, you would be able to create your own adventures. Then you could just reinvent yourself at any moment. Like, that's not,
[00:42:42] Speaker B: you know, how much money.
Yes,
[00:42:45] Speaker A: that's the thing. Like, how would you support
[00:42:47] Speaker B: me? Yeah.
[00:42:48] Speaker A: How would you support yourself? Yeah.
[00:42:49] Speaker B: Right.
[00:42:50] Speaker A: You're being very practical about this.
[00:42:51] Speaker B: Right. You see what I'm saying? Like, how. I mean.
[00:42:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:56] Speaker B: Right. How long is my 401k gonna. Like, I don't want to work.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: Yeah. At some point.
[00:43:02] Speaker B: Yeah. So, yeah. No, I don't want
[00:43:04] Speaker A: to live
[00:43:04] Speaker B: forever. Think my soul will live forever. Think I will reincarnate. I do not want a harder life than this one. I want to be very, very clear.
[00:43:12] Speaker A: You have a pretty good life, though. All things. It was
[00:43:15] Speaker B: like. But like, growing up.
[00:43:19] Speaker A: Anyway, back to vampires. Back to vampires.
To sum up, I think we are fascinated by vampires because it's really more about humanity and less about the story of vampires, because as it changed through the centuries, it really reflects what's going on with us.
And so I think. I think that is the most fascinating thing about the mythology of vampires, so.
[00:43:47] Speaker B: Well, thank you for this. It's not as scary as demons.
[00:43:51] Speaker A: No, no, not at
[00:43:52] Speaker B: all. That one,
[00:43:53] Speaker A: you didn't have to call on St. Michael, but I kept pretty baby Jesus.
[00:43:57] Speaker B: I kept him with me just in case it got scary.
[00:44:01] Speaker A: Just in
[00:44:01] Speaker B: case.
[00:44:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so meet us on Detours where we are going to talk more about demons, but Hollywood demonstration.
Right. Less scary.
[00:44:12] Speaker B: Less
[00:44:12] Speaker A: scary. Less
[00:44:12] Speaker B: scary
[00:44:13] Speaker A: than Mesopotamian demons?
[00:44:16] Speaker B: It's. It's. It's the holiday. Okay. It's the holidays.
[00:44:21] Speaker A: Yes,
[00:44:22] Speaker B: it is gonna be Halloween. When this. Like, the day before Halloween, Right. When this comes out?
Somewhere around. It's the Thursday before Halloween. Anyway,
[00:44:30] Speaker A: when this comes out. And then Detours is the week after Halloween.
[00:44:34] Speaker B: Yes. But the reason why I'm bringing it up is because I want you to. To give recommendations of the scariest movies that our audience should be watching this Halloween season. Because you're good at it. You're good at it. You're good at it
[00:44:50] Speaker A: on Detours.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: No, right now, just.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: Oh, oh, right now.
[00:44:54] Speaker B: Yeah, just.
[00:44:56] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. Okay, so number one is the Exorcist. If you haven't seen it, you have to see it. Okay.
[00:45:01] Speaker B: Okay. You
[00:45:02] Speaker A: must. The Original Exorcist,
[00:45:04] Speaker B: Part 3. 3 as well. It is.
[00:45:06] Speaker A: I agree. It's good.
[00:45:08] Speaker B: Really good. George C. Scott. I don't know. I have a low key Crush. I ain't gonna lie. Continue.
[00:45:13] Speaker A: That. That checks. That checks. Okay. The ring.
[00:45:17] Speaker B: The ring.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: The ring.
[00:45:19] Speaker B: The
[00:45:19] Speaker A: ring.
[00:45:19] Speaker B: What about the. The Japanese version of the ring?
[00:45:22] Speaker A: Ringu.
[00:45:23] Speaker B: Yes. Oh, that's.
[00:45:25] Speaker A: Anything Japanese.
All Japanese horror movies are terrifying.
[00:45:30] Speaker B: 100%.
[00:45:31] Speaker A: Yeah. The ring is good, too. The American version. Ringu. Also good.
[00:45:35] Speaker B: Yes. What was the Japanese one that, like, scarred you?
[00:45:40] Speaker A: The wailing.
The wailing? Yes. Now that's a long one. You have to stick with it, but it's worth it. The payoff is terrifying. It will give you nightmares. It gave me nightmares. The wailing. Okay. Also, do you have any
[00:45:58] Speaker B: babadook?
[00:45:59] Speaker A: Babadook? Yes. Don't
[00:46:01] Speaker B: mess with the babadook.
[00:46:03] Speaker A: Yes. Babadook. The orphanage.
[00:46:06] Speaker B: The orphanage. I love that.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: The Orphanage is a good one.
[00:46:09] Speaker B: I love that. It's a Spanish one. I love that one. It's romantic and dark.
[00:46:13] Speaker A: It's another one that. That you have to read with the subtitles on.
[00:46:17] Speaker B: But it's. I will tell you. And you guys all know that I'm dyslexic and I can't read, but I forgot I was reading the Orphanage. That's how captivating this movie is.
Forgot about that. That's a great one.
[00:46:32] Speaker A: Yeah, that is a good one. I also like the others. It's not terrifying, but I really like it.
With Nicole Kidman.
Oh, how could we forget the. With George C. Scott.
The
[00:46:46] Speaker B: Changeling.
[00:46:46] Speaker A: The Changeling.
[00:46:48] Speaker B: I.
[00:46:48] Speaker A: The Changeling. I have a crush.
[00:46:50] Speaker B: I have a crush. I love that movie.
[00:46:52] Speaker A: But also Halloween. Halloween. The original slasher movie. So good.
[00:46:57] Speaker B: I
[00:46:58] Speaker A: watched it
[00:46:58] Speaker B: twice already this season.
[00:47:00] Speaker A: It's really good, isn't
[00:47:01] Speaker B: it? It's watchable.
[00:47:02] Speaker A: It's so good.
[00:47:03] Speaker B: Watchable.
[00:47:04] Speaker A: I.
[00:47:04] Speaker B: I also enjoy classic Poltergeist. It's
[00:47:08] Speaker A: a great movie. Agreed. It is a great movie.
[00:47:10] Speaker B: Holds up. It holds up. I think these are things that we should have on repeat every year around this time. The same way we. We do Christmas carols. Like, these are standards that need to be repeated over and over on the networks and the streaming stations.
[00:47:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I think we have a solid list here. I know there are others. I watched so many horror movies recently. Unfriended. Did you see that?
[00:47:32] Speaker B: No. Sounds.
[00:47:33] Speaker A: That's really good. Unfriended. It's. It's really short.
It's about. It's basically about a zoom meeting.
[00:47:40] Speaker B: Oh,
[00:47:41] Speaker A: you didn't see that or. I watched it. Well, what's
[00:47:43] Speaker B: streaming service?
[00:47:44] Speaker A: I don't know. Just look it up.
[00:47:46] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. Well, this has been fun. Okay,
[00:47:49] Speaker A: thank you,
[00:47:49] Speaker B: guys. It's the holiday season.
Don't forget your favorite mystics. When you think holidays, please gift a subscription to Patreon. Any level would help to a friend or family member. Also, we are doing readings and mentorship, so please reach out to us to get those scheduled. We love your feedback. Even if you just want to reach out and say hi, it, like, literally makes Jackie's day.
[00:48:14] Speaker A: It does.
[00:48:14] Speaker B: Like, her tail wags. It's a whole thing. She gets the zoomies. It's like, for real.
[00:48:19] Speaker A: We have the best listeners. Thank you so much for your support. We really love you. We appreciate you listening. And even if you. Even if you don't reach out, thank you. We love you.
[00:48:29] Speaker B: Yes. To tell you the truth, the thing that makes me most proud of doing this podcast is the community we built and the people that listen. So thank you guys so much for listening and being such great people and finding us. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:48:43] Speaker A: All right, well, thanks, Jill. Love you.
[00:48:45] Speaker B: Happy Halloween.
[00:48:47] Speaker A: Bye.
[00:48:48] Speaker B: Bye.
This has been a common Mystics Media Production Editing done by Yokai Audio, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
