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Cryptids & Coulrophobia
37 Plays1 year ago
Unable to choose just one, Nylene gives us a buffet of cryptids for our curious minds. Then Nym ruins everything by talking about clowns at length.
Enter the nightmare for full show notes and transcript.
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Transcript
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome
Introduction to Nightmare Cottage
00:00:26
Speaker
to Nim and Nyleen's Nightmare Cottage, where we explore history, mysteries, and other tales of the macabre. I'm Nim. And I'm Nyleen. Let the nightmare begin.
00:00:41
Speaker
Disturbing and mature content to follow. Into the nightmare, if you dare.
00:00:54
Speaker
So here
The Nightmare Move
00:00:55
Speaker
we are. All moved in. All moved in. I'm so tired of moving. i have never been so tired of moving in my entire life. I bet you were last time you moved.
00:01:06
Speaker
Yes. Besides just moving here, i told you that I was also trying to get a new couch for my own cottage, right? Right. It was a literal nightmare. Yeah, we love nightmares here.
00:01:21
Speaker
I swear we measured it before we ordered it. i swear we did. i swear we did. The only problem is, it has this divot in it that makes it impossible. Like it's just like an inch off.
00:01:36
Speaker
No matter any way you turn the couch, you cannot get it through. It went through the front door, but not through the door in the room that I needed to go to. Oh no. Yes. So, and there's like this like weird, it's a weird hallway. is oh So you can't pivot very much. Right.
00:01:50
Speaker
We spent three or four hours trying to get this couch and into the office until we were like it decided to look into the return policy it's not refundable once it's delivered okay well my living room has a new couch i guess um but yeah no ace was not about that so him and our friend decide they're gonna take the hinges off of the door first they try that still doesn't fit
00:02:20
Speaker
So then they decide, you know what, we're going to take the frame off of the door. How? They literally have decided to pry the frame off of the door.
00:02:32
Speaker
What if it's important for the structural integrity of the house? It's not because like, it's just like the white part that goes like that wraps around the framing. Yeah. Right. So like they're just taking off the pretty part, I guess you can say, not the actual like base. But like think of it like you're just taking off the picture frame.
00:02:51
Speaker
You're not actually f***ing with the picture. So you can put it back up? Yes. If you take it off right, you don't have to buy a new frame to put on, which they did. Okay. Oh, good. So they took the frame off. Like this is this has all been like a weekend. Okay.
00:03:05
Speaker
They took the frame off. And somehow they managed to get it all off in one piece. And with some finagling still, they were able to get the couch in the room. It is massive. I'm going to have to take furniture out of this room for this couch to fit at this point. And this couch is literally just going to die in this room. Like if we ever have to take it out of the room, it's going to be decontracted because we literally looked at, can we get through the window? i was about to ask because those windows are huge.
00:03:31
Speaker
No. So they look huge because they're double windows, but they have a bar in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. We couldn't get through the window. We looked, we took the door off. It didn't work. We took the frame off. They finally got it in. So now they have to try to get the frame back on which apparently Corey can do. Like he does apartment maintenance. So he does this kind of thing all the time and he has the tools, but it's just like, he has to go do it.
00:03:55
Speaker
So that's, that's probably what we're going to do tomorrow. And I am, I have concerns. but I'm trying to stay out of it You know, I like, I ended up taking down the baby gate and putting it in the hallway. So literally dojo and bash have just been like literally standing at this gate, dojo barking at it every five seconds, every thump that happens. Cause he needs to know what's happening. And Sebastian going, what doing, what they doing,
00:04:24
Speaker
What's that sound? What are they doing? Dojo, stop screaming.
Settling In
00:04:29
Speaker
What are they doing? and I'm like, I love you both so much. Everyone stop. It has been bad. So not only have I had to basically deconstruct a part of my house to get a freaking couch in there.
00:04:44
Speaker
We also finished moving into the nightmare. ah So no more moving. We live here now. I'm not. We're not leaving anytime soon. I'm okay with that. Okay.
00:04:56
Speaker
I'm okay with that. I'm not even, I'm not switching spots. I'm not moving a table. We are lighting the fire and just calling it a day. Tell me how you really feel. i did. I just did. tell me how you have been, obviously, hopefully better.
00:05:14
Speaker
Well, this is this is my magic week. This is the week where power is at its peak. This is the week of Halloween. Oh, yeah. with your With your your festival of Halloween.
00:05:26
Speaker
Well, that would have been last night. And we both feel great and not hung over at all. That's what I'm saying though Your power is at its peak from the festivities. It is It is. Absolutely. I have ah absorbed all of your energy for another year.
00:05:43
Speaker
That's what it is. That's why always feel so drained the day after. I'm like, ah, I should be refreshed. That's
Exploring Cryptids: Batsquatch
00:05:51
Speaker
what the fire is all about. You just, eat we think it's smoke inhalation. It's not.
00:05:55
Speaker
I refuse to comment. Is that why the smoke follows me every time i i move around the fire? No comment.
00:06:08
Speaker
Speaking of things that are shrouded in mystery, like yourself. And your magical Halloween powers. I decided i wanted to look into cryptids this week, o which honestly was a little bit more difficult than I thought. So I was like, I really want to like find things that we don't hear of all the time. Right. So no Nessie, no Bigfoot. Yeah, I was trying to avoid that. Like, obviously, like, they're usually legends passed down through either folklore, stories, sightings, whatever. Sure. And that's kind of what I was looking more for, like, things that haven't been popular media, but are still, like, seen in a lot of different places. Yeah. Because it's like, it's kind of weird, right? Like, how are so many different areas, especially during specific time periods, seeing very similar things? So, like you mentioned, typically cryptids, they can't be proven by science. There's no solid proof of their existence. Yeah. or at least it's hard to come by Some of the more well-known ones, the fuzzy photos of Bigfoot and the blurry images of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. So there's some that seem to be more widely held for a significant area. So like Mothman, right? We know about Mothman. Right. So yeah, again, wanted to look at things that weren't more common knowledge. I came across plenty of nightmarish ones and some silly ones. So here's just a few that I found interesting. I did a few of them because I wanted like a good...
00:07:27
Speaker
I got assortment. Sure. A cryptid assortment, if you will. Here for it. So the first one is called bat Squatch. Bat Squatch. Bat Squatch. I have not heard of this. You haven't heard of Bat Squatch. This is great. I don't want you to have heard of him. Excellent. So he said to have yellow eyes, a muzzle like a dog, blue fur, sharp teeth, and claws like a bird on its feet. But his wings are like leathery bat wings.
00:07:55
Speaker
So I'm picturing this in the animation style of Castle Crashers. What? I don't know why. But there we go. Are you able to see this picture I'm going to send you?
00:08:10
Speaker
Because I'm, and I'll put this on the site. I just want you to see pause. Oh my God. Sorry. I was going to delete it before you got there, but I couldn't.
00:08:26
Speaker
Sorry. Our share scares folder still had some scary, scary things in there. I am going to shit myself. Don't. That was horrible. I thought you didn't want to move and it'd make it smell funny. Oh, well, it'd make it more nightmarish for sure in some way. That's fair. All right. So I put all the different pictures. So as I talk about them, please open them up. So Batsplot is one we're talking about. So I just sent you a picture of him.
00:08:50
Speaker
It's weird. That's a conglomeration of what they've described him as. Is he in front of Mount Fuji? Yeah. Yes! Um, no. Sorry. Mount St. Helens. Sorry. I don't know why I said yes so excitedly. I was excited like guessed it was so excited. Well, because I was like, yes, it's a well-known one.
00:09:07
Speaker
But no, not that one. But not that one. Not that one. So yeah, so he said to have those bat wings and he can span up to 50 feet and he's about nine feet tall, which is insane. So he was first sighted around Mount St. Helens after the eruption in 1980. it was said that he had red eyes. He would fly through, which is funny. I said red eyes in this one, but the last one, it's yellow or red, like dependent what you're reading. So it was said that he would fly through the plume at the time of the eruption, and they were seeing this thing just flying around. Most the stories seem to suggest that Batsquatch affects a car's ability to work in some way.
00:09:49
Speaker
So there's actually a few pretty notable sightings of this. So in 1994, Brian Canfield was driving through the backwoods in Washington, and suddenly his car just froze in place. He stated that he tried to start the engine several times,
00:10:04
Speaker
With no luck. So he was like, okay, car is not starting, whatever. I'll get out and take a look under the hood. So he started to get out and then he saw something swooping across his headlights. Okay. So he was like, okay, I'm in the middle of backwards. It's just a bird, whatever. So he said to get out anyways, he starts to get out, but says suddenly he heard a huge thunk.
00:10:27
Speaker
and saw something massive land on the hood of his truck. His statement is as follows, quoted. It was standing there, staring at me, like it was resting, like it didn't know what to think.
00:10:41
Speaker
I was scared. It raised the hair on me. I didn't feel threatened. i just felt out of place. It's looking right at me, like in a deep stare, like right through me.
00:10:52
Speaker
It's standing perfectly still. It stood for how long? A few minutes? So was his quote of... its wings began to unfold those wings were as wide as the road it turned its head and looked back at me and started flapping its wings a few minutes later the truck just started and i took off as fast as i could so that was his quote of The event that happened, apparently it was published in a magazine. So I did find the statement of its fingers twitching to be a little odd. But beyond that, it it just kind of sounds like an encounter with a large bird of prey, which I mean, in its own, like it it is scary, right? He didn't say anything aside from the wings as far as description, like what its face looked like. It said it was staring at him. Yeah. And and no, he didn't. that That was his whole statement. the The whole thing with like talking about the eyes and the beak and the nose and the muzzle. I don't know. it's It's all over the place. But yeah, so just sounds like it's a large part of prey to me. Like I said, scary, but I don't know. I don't know if I could really consider that a cryptid. But there was another sighting um from a local liquor store owner around the same time. His name was Butch Whitaker.
00:12:03
Speaker
He reported to have seen bat squatch during a midday flight in his personal plane over that area. the same area that Canfield had been driving in. Hmm. Yeah. So he said that it flew beside him for several minutes before turning and disappearing from view. And he was just stunned. Like he didn't understand what was happening.
00:12:22
Speaker
After 1994, it seemed to drop out from view. There weren't as many sightings, but the ones that did come up were odd and seemed to contrast the original sightings again. Like I mentioned, like it's weird. None of the sightings seem very similar. So it makes me think maybe they're seeing the same thing, different thing. I don't know. So in 1998, a few years later, a log trucker claimed to have hit Batsquatch with his truck. He reported that it was 15 feet tall now but with a purple nose and eyes and tiny wings.
00:12:53
Speaker
So 15 feet tall, like you know how big my 12 foot skeleton is. Yes.
00:12:59
Speaker
Like, is this Godzilla? With tiny wings? Yes. Teeny wings? Yeah. And he has a purple nose instead of the other one. Which was like a dog nose. Purple.
00:13:10
Speaker
But like what shape? like i'm I know. i'm imagining like like a Muppet. Right. Like Sesame Street. Like like a Gonzo style. like i was thinking more like Burt and Ernie. Like the little. The little round. But you know that't the muzzle. so That's true. So maybe more of a Gonzo. But I feel like Gonzo was. Wasn't Gonzo supposed to be like a bug of some kind?
00:13:28
Speaker
Don't get me lying. I don't know. i don't know. I didn't think it Anyways. Listen. This is getting off topic. So. Okay. Okay. In 2009, a group of hikers reported seeing a flying humanoid creature with bat-like features.
00:13:42
Speaker
They said he was as as stocky as Hulk Hogan with leathery wings. Specific. I need someone to draw this for me, please. And he was 50 feet from one end to the other and the face of a bat.
00:13:59
Speaker
So again, all of these things, like they're all naming it Batsquatch. But like, it either seems to evolve in some way, or it's just a different thing. But it's multiple people claiming to have seen it.
00:14:12
Speaker
So the orange body is said to be five foot tall primate with black leathery wings, red skin, long thin tail. Again, this one seems to be a little more sinister. It's said to live in the unexplored rainforest of Saram and is known for kidnapping children.
00:14:27
Speaker
So from what I read, it apparently is well known in that area to raid nearby villages at night and take children and eat them. So while this might seem like a scary story that your parents would tell you to keep you from sneaking out at night, the natives insist that there is literally an infestation of these creatures attacking villages.
00:14:49
Speaker
The a hole is another one. It's described with similar features, but seems to have more of a taste for local animal life rather than people and only occasionally attacks humans. Are these areas where giant bats live? That's what I've been wondering. And I did look into that a little bit. Some people really, really think that might be what it is. So again, what's really interesting about all three of these is that they're bat-like primate type creatures. They've all been reported in areas that have networks of caves, which That are extinct or active near active volcanoes. huh I wonder if it's possible that these are in fact real creatures that dwell deep beneath the earth in unexplored areas. Maybe you know areas where we can't quite reach. Maybe they can withstand the extreme temperatures of volcanic caves. I don't know.
00:15:36
Speaker
I'm not saying like there's like a real cryptid like type creature, but like just, you know, bats that have evolved to be bigger or, you know, some other animal and maybe they're just fuzzier and it keeps them from getting burnt up. I don't know. I don't know how any of this works. I don't know science. Yeah.
00:15:52
Speaker
No, that's really interesting that they have similar geographic features. Yeah, yeah. I found that really, really interesting. So those are the bat-like kinds. There's a
Iceland's Beach Walker
00:16:02
Speaker
few weird ones that I found too. um I won't spend too much time on them since they're more silly than anything else. So Iceland has a cryptid that's known by a few names. The Fjurali, think, or the Shorladi, or the Beach Walker.
00:16:17
Speaker
Oh, yeah, it's said to look like a mix between a beaver and a pug, which I thought was just the best description. Apparently, you've seen those Renaissance paintings of cats that don't look like cats. this This is almost like a Renaissance painting of a beaver that doesn't look like Apparently, it really likes to have sex with sheep.
00:16:37
Speaker
Oh. And yeah, they say that anytime that there's like a deformed lamb born, it is likely that it was a product of this creature having its way with their sheep. um So pictures of it look like a sea otter. I'm 99% sure they just have really active sea otters.
00:16:54
Speaker
And, you know, it's just a weird thing. I don't know. Maybe sea otters with mange. I'm not really sure. That's disturbing. Where's this one at? That one was Iceland. Okay. Lots of... I know. and that's why was like, it's Iceland. Like, they're like hitting cats in bags or something. I don't know, man. So the next one is kind of funny because it seems to be the product of a really bad game of telephone. What is that?
00:17:21
Speaker
It's like... It's like a dinosaur in the face. And it felt like a shark tail. and like... and and not an alligator but like i told you i just found like the most off the wall it's almost like a killer whale and a dinosaur like a quadrupedal dinosaur okay so what the am i looking at it's called clut a clut It came from Inuit folklore. Okay. So it's said to be a shapeshifter that could change from wolf to whale to continue its hunt from land to sea. The idea came from wolf tracks that would stop abruptly at the sea.
00:18:01
Speaker
So apparently once Westerners heard about the legend, they thought it was like literally a four legged whale monster. But, you know, either way, the mystery was solved when they realized that the wolf tracks abruptly disappearing were likely just pieces of ice ricking off and drifting away. So not actually a wolf turning into a whale and Westerners deciding to put them together like some weird hybrid. so Sorry to tell you how the magic was made, but I just thought that was really, really funny. That is some actual nightmare feels. So
Tales of Man-Eating Plants
00:18:34
Speaker
lastly, for your actual nightmare ones, there is a legend of a giant death worm known to Mongolian tribes as the Algoi.
00:18:44
Speaker
Kyorgy meaning intestine worm. It's said to be blood red about five feet long with spike like projections at both ends. It can shock or split corrosive venom at you.
00:18:57
Speaker
Allegedly they live in the sand dunes of the Gobi Desert servicing during June and July due to the moisture. So like trimmers in the Gobi Desert. Apparently sandworms are real. It's funny because I actually thought more of like Star Wars.
00:19:11
Speaker
And yeah, yeah. Also Dune. Yeah. And so, man, I don't know. this is just a thing they say. And like the fact that they have like specific seasons, I think it's pretty interesting. It was really hard. I will say like reading these, remembering like these are cryptids. I there's no, there's no science for this guys. There's no science because I'm like, oh yeah, like this sc creature I saw in this movie. It's totally real. It's crazy. I'm like, wait a minute. No, it's not. It's not. Everything's okay. Okay. This one was kind of creepy. So 1874, there was an article written by a German explorer who claimed he met the Makoto tribe in Madagascar and witnessed a ritual that the tribe had.
00:19:53
Speaker
They would offer up a human sacrifice to a carnivorous tree called Yate Deo. This instantly gave me chills because... Ya te veo in Spanish translates to now I see you. oh And I'm not quite feeling settled by that name for a giant carnivorous plant. And this is a quote directly from Lichi's article, the guy who discovered it. Not discovered it, but saw it. Right.
00:20:16
Speaker
The slender, delicate palpite with... Fury of starved serpents quivered a moment over her head, then as if instinct with demonic intelligence fastened upon her in sudden coils round and round her neck and arms, then while her awful screams and yet more awful laughter rose wildly to be instantly strangled down again into gurgling moans.
00:20:41
Speaker
The tendrils, one after another, like great green serpents with brutal energy and infernal rows, retracted themselves and wrapped her about in fold after fold, ever tightening with cruel swiftness and savage tenacity of anacondas fastening upon their prey.
00:20:59
Speaker
While this specific man-eating plant was found to be a hoax, and there were other stories of actual man-eating trees introduced in about 1889 that appeared in Africa, Central America, and South America.
00:21:13
Speaker
While this one, I mean, may not have been real. Maybe there's something similar to like a Venus flytrap out there for humans. Who knows? I'm sorry. i didn't know that there were ever actually man-eating plants. I don't either, but this is what they're saying. So i I don't know. I do love a good carnivorous plant though. They're so neat. I really want one for the nightmare cottage so that you can. Yes, but I've always been afraid of having one because I don't want to kill it.
00:21:39
Speaker
Like I would feel extra bad about killing it because it feels, i know it, I know it's still plant. I know. Yeah. And I mean, apparently, you know, everything says like there's no man-eating plant that actually exists. Yeah.
00:21:51
Speaker
But you never know. I mean, i feel like most of the Amazon forest has not been. Also tell that to my friend named Seymour. Seymour Butts. Jesus Christ, Nyleen. Different times, but for different rhymes. um So our final cryptid for this episode, maybe you've heard of him.
00:22:10
Speaker
The Flatwoods monster? I feel like I have, but remind me. Okay. So the first sighting was in September. Oh, i Yes. Of 1952, a group of boys in Flatwoods, West Virginia, saw something strange flying in the sky above them and land in a nearby field.
00:22:28
Speaker
When they went to investigate, they happened upon the 10-foot-tall Flatwoods monster. Apparently the same creature was seen by one of the boy's mothers and a national guardsman. They stated it was Frankenstein like is quoted with quote blood red body and a green face that seemed to glow.
00:22:48
Speaker
Other reports stated head was spade shaped and that it looked like it was wearing a dark metal dress All these people reported what they saw to the police, but the police just chalked it up to mass hysteria. The only problem with this theory is that other residents in the area also reported seeing something strange at around the same time. One woman claimed she saw a ball of fire on a hill and that an unnaturally tall man emerged from the fire.
00:23:16
Speaker
Yeah. Another couple say they saw the Flatwoods monster after the car broke down. They claimed to smell sulfur. Yeah, which we know to be demonic presences, they say. Or, you know, sulfur.
00:23:32
Speaker
Or, you know, farts. They claimed to smell sulfur. They claimed to smell sulfur before seeing a 10-foot tall creature in front of them with clawed hands and a reptilian head.
00:23:44
Speaker
While it didn't attack them, it touched their car, drifted into the woods, and then their car started up again after the creature disappeared. The story apparently got so big that the US Air Force actually launched an official investigation into this. And they just reported that the streak in the sky was just a meteor and the creature must have just been an owl.
00:24:04
Speaker
I'm sorry, but I think I know what a f***ing owl looks like, especially one in a dress. So a metal dress, a metal dress. So I don't know. Again, like it was really hard for me with these to be like, it's not. real it's It's not real.
00:24:20
Speaker
It's not real. Like trying to convince yourself that it's not real? or Like, not that I was like afraid that it was real, but like, you know, like I've been researching mostly like real murders and like real like things that people, you know what I mean? Like real movies and things. And so I'm like...
00:24:38
Speaker
now researching this thing that people say that they've seen, but there's not any real proof of. And then like, you know, they're adding the credibility of like the U S air force launching something. It's like, okay.
00:24:50
Speaker
You know, I am very curious about what's actually happening in those situations. And i and I do feel like there's like, I'm sure that they're actually investigating it because they think there might be a foreign threat. You know what I mean? And not like a spaghetti monster or something like that.
00:25:05
Speaker
But you know, in your face i don't know what to do with that i'm sorry me neither but yeah i ah i get concerned about those things because when there are so many people that can corroborate story from separate places from separate places like how can you say that's mass hysteria right but i want to know what really actually happened and there's no way to ever find out and that 100 but i do like a good spooky story and so to me those are stories They are just really cool, fun, spooky stories. Yeah, I agree. And I had a lot of fun looking into them, especially like the fact that there's so many of like the bat like creatures in the same areas. I thought that was really cool. And then the silly ones that you're like, okay, obviously that wasn't real, but it was fun for for the moment. Right.
00:25:52
Speaker
not going to lie that last one when I was researching it, because it was really late at night. I was like some a little, little weird dreams after that, but you know.
00:26:07
Speaker
are you looking at today? I'm really sorry. Why? i know you hate clowns. No, please no. no Don't say that. like ah I don't know. I just, I really hope that after doing all of this, I don't actually upset you. Like, are we just doing like the history of clowns? Like, what is this? No, we're, we're talking about colerophobia, which is the fear of clowns.
00:26:32
Speaker
That was my soul leaving my body. so was curious well That was me throwing up my literal brain. Do you want to talk about why you're afraid of clowns or or how you feel about them or or no? I understand if you don't. Like, I don't know, man. Like, I don't know if I, I don't know if I actually know why I was afraid of clowns. Like, I know that like as a child, I had a very overactive imagination.
00:26:56
Speaker
My sister, for some reason, loved clowns. Like she would collect little, i don't know if it's porcelain or ceramic, little figures, you know, like those precious moments ones, but like clowns.
00:27:09
Speaker
Colorful ones. And she would put them all over the room that we shared as children. And I remember I broke one or two of them, maybe at least mostly on accident, maybe once. um But yeah, they just scared the crap out of me.
00:27:27
Speaker
I think it was the smile that felt very sinister to me. Okay. I think it's what it was. And I think the fact that their faces were usually so white and their expressions painted on that it felt...
00:27:38
Speaker
It felt unsettling yeah unsettling. It's that
Fear of Clowns: Origins and Media Influence
00:27:41
Speaker
uncanny. like It just felt like what's what's going on underneath the mask. And now I do remember as a child, I watched Alice in Alice Through the Looking Glass.
00:27:52
Speaker
was it It was a live action and it had a Jabberwocky in it. yeah Do you know which one I'm talking about? know what you're talking about. That was my my childhood Alice in Wonderland. Yes, I loved that one. The only thing is there's this part where she meets...
00:28:08
Speaker
Someone in white. I don't remember who she was supposed to be. well the white rabbit and the white queen are both in it. i think it was the white queen because there was this scene. Yes, her. And I love her voice. I love her voice. But she had this laugh.
00:28:24
Speaker
It was... It was so unsettling. It was maniacal and and unsettling. And of course, you know, the the effects in that at that time weren't great. But I mean, I was like maybe 10 max, right? Sure. And I still remember the the transition of her laughing maniacally. And then I think she turned into a goat.
00:28:46
Speaker
That sounds right. So it was that maniacal laughter with the face shifting. That's what that reminds me of when I think of clowns. It's that... that unsettling shift. Right. And I still remember that scene so much this day because it scared me so much. And then I was scared of goats for a while there too. That explains that. Yeah. I mean, not fun. i know. I just, I went on a whole thing, but yes. So that this is why, and i have a feeling you're about to try to destroy me. Okay. So when I was going through this stuff, I actually realized I don't have fear of clowns.
00:29:18
Speaker
Unsettling, like like actually scary and clowns. Yes. Like if they're intending to be scary. horror clowns yes i can find those frightening but like killer clowns from space yeah yeah like killer clowns is that supposed to be scary i mean it's as supposed to be as scary as any horror movie kind of situation so there's there's a lot of sinister clowns out there and those are fun and all but like they don't none of them are really disturbing to me yes if i had a clown chasing me with a bloody knife i would be terrified it would be more because of the knife than the clown.
00:29:52
Speaker
No, like real quick. I still remember one haunted house that I did go to and there was this clown. It was just supposed to be a clown room and they're just supposed to be clowns. They didn't have any weapons.
00:30:03
Speaker
You were just supposed to walk between them. And I couldn't, I was in the corner just, and they were just standing all around me. And I guess it had gotten to be so long. They were like, you can go. was like,
00:30:15
Speaker
oh no but so yeah sorry didn't interrupt you no that's i i would be so mad like i i actually love haunted houses but that they broke character well no no i that they would surround i wouldn't like to be surrounded like that but they never touched me because i don't think there're they're not allowed no they really meant not Unless you're one of those really crazy ones that makes you sign a waiver and then they actually torture you. It's great. I i say that. I would never go to one of those. say
00:30:48
Speaker
Give me the safety of a non-waiver signing haunted house any day. Anyways, and so I was actually really kind of surprised at the abundance of information there was about Culverphobia. Yeah, I feel like it's a really well-known fear.
00:30:58
Speaker
It is. it is. i was actually really surprised about the amount of medical journal content I found. While cholerophobia isn't listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or the DSM. Oh, good to know. I'm not, you know, disordered about that. It is it is studied indirectly via, like, phobias in general. Mm-hmm.
00:31:18
Speaker
Despite that, I actually found WebMD entry, a solid article on psychcentral.com and a super thorough study that was published in the Library of Medicine journal. And all of those will be linked. If you're interested in in it, I recommend that Library of Medicine one. It was a very fascinating read.
00:31:34
Speaker
So not a small amount of people from a whole lot of cultures have colorophobia. Clowns have been around in some form or fashion since at least ancient Egypt in the form of jesters and fools. They've been prominent in popular media for hundreds of years, including in the works of Shakespeare. feel like with Shakespeare, it was most...
00:31:50
Speaker
This is just clowns in general. This is not scary clowns. Okay. Okay. Okay. But having said that, the maybe the first representation of an evil clown in popular media was an in an 1892 opera called Pagliacci.
00:32:03
Speaker
It's spelled like Pagliacci, but it's Pagliacci. In that one, the title character dresses as a clown to murder his wife and her lover. Oh, fun. Yeah. You always good thing. But yeah, that's like one of the first, the the earliest one I could find that was recorded of a scary clown in a, in a production of some sort of, Since then, there's been countless scary clowns in pop culture. i'm Obviously, like Pennywise from It, but the Joker from Batman. Okay, but he's cool. That's not like a... hazy He's a different kind clown.
00:32:30
Speaker
Well, he's scary and psychotic. I know, but I think the psychotic part makes it better. And that he's like a real person. Not like, okay, you know what I mean? That's not what I meant. I didn't mean like, okay, you know what? Okay, well, I will also include in this list the doll from Poltergeist. And then like Captain Spaulding from House of a Thousand Corpses and Devil's Rejects. I don't think ever saw either of those.
00:32:54
Speaker
I would like to watch those movies with you. no, no, We'll talk about later. It's not about this. So anyways, the the fact that it's kind of all over and and so prominent it brings me to the why of it all. Why are so many people afraid of clowns? And I really like how you answered your question because it really kind of drills down to the actual root of it. So it goes beyond like just a general dislike of clowns it or a general unease. It's not they just kind of make me uncomfortable kind of situation. It's an irrational fear that causes actual real psychological and physical effects. Excuse me? and Irrational? Irrational?
00:33:29
Speaker
Meaning it's not based on true life. You're scared of this clown that's not going to do anything wrong to you. you don't know. People have this issue even if they like just, I'm not done explaining. Sorry.
00:33:42
Speaker
You just like presented me with my like actual nightmare and I am, I'm okay. Go on proceed. But I was immediately after those words going to say, and this is if in the presence of a clown, seeing a picture of a clown or just thinking about clowns, if one experiences accelerated heart rate, a need to escape, a loss of control, perspiration, chest pains, nausea, and other anxiety related symptoms,
00:34:09
Speaker
there's a good chance you have coulrophobia. ye So it's not just, and then that's why I say irrational is because if you just like see a picture of a clown and you get that tightened anxiety feeling or however your body reacts to it, that's the sign of true coulrophobia instead of just like a, I find clowns unsettling. do find it interesting because it's not all of them. Like I watched that one show about, i think it was Zach Galifianakis.
00:34:35
Speaker
Is that his name? Yeah. That is a person. And he did that show about being a clown. Fuck, what was it called? That one didn't scare me for some reason. Maybe it's because it had an emotional aspect to it.
00:34:47
Speaker
don't know. Anyways. So one of the prominent theories and what I find to be one of one of the two most likely common triggers is the uncanny valley. Like you were saying, the uncanny. Yes. So uncanny valley is feelings of fear or unease caused by something that is almost but not quite human.
00:35:05
Speaker
This experienced a lot these days in some video games like CG characters in movies, people in masks and of course clowns. This is likely a lizard brain response that evolved from the time when homo sapiens were not the only homonyms human-like creatures. Something that looks similar to you, but is distinctly off instills a primal fear in a lot of people. Since clowns are clearly humanoid, but they have exaggerated smiles, pale complexions, and outrageous clothes, it'd be easy to see where the Uncanny Valley would apply here. Yeah, I like vampires.
00:35:35
Speaker
Ha ha ha ha
00:35:39
Speaker
That's ah another a Freudian conversation, I think. Oh. But i've I found that interesting because you said it was the smile and the the pale complexion. Yes. Like you actually use those particular things. And I i i don't know. You have chlorophobia, bitch. I know. But I think it's really funny, too, because like my sister's mother-in-law, she is a professional clown.
00:36:01
Speaker
Yes, my sister would marry someone whose mother was a professional clown. What's her clown name? I don't know. i never asked, but she is the sweetest person in the world. i have not seen her in clown makeup. And so I'm like, I don't know. i don't know if that would be scary because I know that she is a really sweet person.
00:36:20
Speaker
i think that would change it for me because I've never actually. Put a personality, a real life behind the clown. Yeah. So something else interesting to think about in the psychological aspect of it. Fair. Fair.
00:36:34
Speaker
and The other theory that I feel plays a large role in the commonality of chlorophobia is the media. ah You mentioned before that the clown from Poltergeist had ah a hand in developing your fear of clowns, right? Mm-hmm. Ugh. So there's so many other depictions of spooky, scary, or just irritating clowns in movies, TVs, literature, and more. Then it'd be kind of difficult to avoid in encountering a terrifying version of what of what is meant to be a fun and cheerful character. Mm-hmm.
00:36:58
Speaker
People who develop phobias when they are young in many cases have a high chance of having that phobia heightened significantly in adulthood. i think about Ace's aversion to horror movies that lasted decades because of walking in on a particularly gross part of Gremlins when he was young. That one small moment affected his media consumption habits well into adulthood. In general, the most successful treatments for phobias are exposure therapy and and cognitive behavioral therapy.
00:37:23
Speaker
So as I like to do I'm going to go into some real life examples of scary clowns. And i'm going to start with the most terrifying and probably the most famous, Pogo the Clown. Pogo? Why does that sound so familiar? Otherwise known as serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Oh, that's why. That guy.
00:37:40
Speaker
o Okay. Gacy had spent 18 months of a 10 year sentence for raping a boy. And then a few years later developed... 10 Yeah.
00:37:50
Speaker
18 months. Still. Of a 10 year sentence. Oh my gosh. And then a few years later after that is when he developed his clown persona. He performed at neighborhood events, children's parties, political rallies, and more. And there's even a picture of him with, with the first lady at the time, Rosalind Carter, just months before he was arrested. oh my gosh. He, you know, that's, uh, and then, ah He killed at least 33 boys and men, most of which were buried under the crawlspace in his house. And didn't he say that like, it wasn't even him that did it. Like that must, they must've been there when he moved in or something like that. i don't. think that was his first offense. Sorry. Yeah. I don't recall honestly, but that wouldn't surprise me. Anyways, there's a lot to his story. Everybody has covered him already and he could, he could easily be his own episode. Yeah. But I'm i'm not really, I just wanted to kind of bring him up. But he was executed by lethal injection on May 10th, 1994. Mm-hmm.
00:38:42
Speaker
His last meal was a bucket of KFC, French fries, a dozen fried shrimp, fresh strawberries, and a Diet Coke. So I kind of feel all that except the Diet Coke. Like you're going out. Why diet? Unless you really just prefer the flavor, I guess. Okay. So I did used to when I was a lot younger. Same. It was like flat Coke. I just really liked.
00:39:02
Speaker
Like it wasn't bubbly flat. The taste was flat. Yeah. So that's actually why i liked fizzy water so much for so long. Cause it was like, Oh, I don't have to have that weird ass kind of sideways soda flavor. Yeah. Like I don't like Dr. Pepper cause it's way too syrupy. I know I am the odd man out. No, no, no. I'm the same way except for I really like diet Dr. Pepper.
00:39:20
Speaker
No, I haven't tried diet. That might be an interesting thing. Yeah, if I have to have a diet beverage, which I usually just drink water and tea, but that's that's the one I'll go for if they haven't. Apropos, nothing. Oh, but and then here's a picture of him as his clown self. why you know what I don't know why don't know why I showed you that I actually have another scary one to show you here bit I'll warn you before shove it in your face oh my god I can see it I love you alright so another real life instance of scary clowns it's much more recent do you remember
00:39:54
Speaker
2016 being so fucking weird. I'm going to throw And creepy clowns started showing up all over the place. Yes, i do. So this started in late August and police were getting calls that clowns were trying to lure children into the woods. The media coverage for this went viral and soon people in sinister clown costumes started appearing all over the world. Mm-hmm.
00:40:11
Speaker
Most were meant as a joke, but with widespread cholerophobia, mass hysteria, of course, whos ensued. People who worked as clowns for work had to be extra careful for when they were in costume, as the public was primed to assume that it was sinister, right? That that they were dangerous or at least intended mischief. There were talks of clown bans and general why and other they just generally irrational responses to this worldwide prank. It was basically a prank.
00:40:35
Speaker
I'm now i'm going to touch on a couple of urban legends. Okay, of clowns? Of clowns. Oh, no. I'm going to guess you have you heard of Sprinkles the Clown? No. Okay. So as the urban legend goes, in the early 70s, a circus caravan was traveling through Appalachia.
00:40:50
Speaker
The roads were icy and apparently some cars went off the cliff. One that was never found was a car carrying four clowns. I'm not really sure why they'd be traveling in costume, but there you go. Maybe they that was just their profession. They weren't in costume. A few weeks later, two of the four clowns... This is the urban legend. I know, I'm hoping they weren't. Okay. Okay. Anyway, a few weeks later, two of the four clowns turned up half-dressed, horribly frostbitten, and pretty f***ed up in general. They were treated for months before they were able to respond to questioning. They said that one of them died in the wreck and the other one was Sprinkles.
00:41:23
Speaker
It was also said that Sprinkles used the dead body to feed the rest of them. He kept them tied up like hostages in the wreckage. It wasn't until one of the survivors got his hands free to take the upper hand on Sprinkles long enough that they were able to make their escape. They left Sprinkles laying in an ice cold stream.
00:41:40
Speaker
So that's the the legend that happened. It's supposedly that happened in 70s. So they're saying that like this never actually happened. Well, it's just a story that made the rounds, you know? So fast forward 2010, some trail cam photos started making their way around the internet.
00:42:00
Speaker
and You don't want to see it? I can just post it online for everybody else. No, I mean, that's what we're here for. It is the nightmare cottage. Why though?
00:42:10
Speaker
e so sorry.
00:42:15
Speaker
So these pictures were thought to be decades old and people started reviving the legend of sprinkles. Additional viral posts. That guy looks way too plain to be sprinkles. Right? Yeah, I agree. he He definitely was not stranded in the wilderness years ago before trail cams existed.
00:42:33
Speaker
Other viral posts hit that tried to add credibility to the story, but there's no evidence to support those claims. So another urban legend that started circulating on the internet in about 2004. So this one was about a girl that was babysitting for a family for the first time.
Urban Legend: The Clown Statue
00:42:49
Speaker
When the parents called to check in, she asked if she could cover the clown statue because it was kind of making her nervous. They told her to take the kids and go the neighbors because they didn't have a clown statue. The end. That's it. she just There was a clown statue. It's an urban legend. It's fake. There's no... Anyways, I've got one more.
00:43:05
Speaker
This look on your face. The last one I have, in response to the 2016 clown panic, An unreputable news site posted an article that stated haunted attraction in Salem, Massachusetts. Some kids were going through the hunt and came across a clown with a chainsaw. And while it looked really gruesome, they assumed it was just great effects. Yeah, I did that once in a haunted house. There was a clown with a chainsaw. Why? go on.
00:43:31
Speaker
ah Why? Well, in this one, they noticed that the bodies of that were missing limbs on the ground were screaming and act in actual pain. The group ran to get help. And when the police were investigating, and they found 18 dismembered bodies. This has been verified as totally false. Okay.
00:43:48
Speaker
But it inspired some really fun fiction, which I'll talk about it in a bit. But yeah, there's a ton of these stories online. I'll share the links I use for research, but there's really quite a bit to explore out there.
00:44:06
Speaker
And I guess maybe now I can tell you about my nightmare fuel. Okay. ah Well, as I've been tending to do, I'm going to recommend another book or book series anyways. I just went through a series called Clown in a Cornfield. It's a trilogy by Adam Caesar. That sounds horrible. It's fantastic. It's like a teenage slasher kind of situation. And it's got a final girl kind of vibe. And I don't know, it was it was a lot of fun. Because of course, it's not, I don't know, it it had a lot of really good storytelling in it. And the deaths actually kind of like made me cringe and stuff, which is hard to make me do in a... I feel like reading something...
00:44:43
Speaker
for me forms almost a better picture than watching because you know your mind gets carried away and you create your own world yeah so sorry go on something about hallucinating while staring at dead trees because you're reading dead trees paper books hallucinating because you're picture oh anyways i thought it was kind of a fun thought you look terrified thought but i don't know clowns dead trees it just it all got really creepy creepy paste creepy paste
00:45:14
Speaker
but so that's my nightmare fuel do you have nightmare fuel yes so cryptids i i went over cryptids this week i like i am more often to recommend media so there's actually the show i think it's on hulu One second. Yeah. So it's
Show Recommendation: Out There
00:45:34
Speaker
on Hulu and it's called out there. okay Out there crimes of the paranormal is what it's called.
00:45:40
Speaker
It came out maybe around a month ago and I haven't watched all of it, but I did start with like episode, i think and and it started talking about lizard people and stuff. And it got real weird, real fast. Yeah. It's really interesting though, like, because it's like, it talks about like real crimes that are committed or like,
00:46:04
Speaker
scary things that happened based on like people really believing that these cryptids or these creatures. I think there's one about one of those bridges that's supposedly haunted by some kind of goat man and like teenagers keep dying on it mostly because they go and to try to taunt the goat man in the middle of a bridge that is literally just big enough for one train and then the train comes and then they die. So yeah, so things like that.
00:46:29
Speaker
It is a really interesting watch though. Like if you go through it, there was one weird one about aliens that I just, it was not working for me. Usually I'm all about that fun stuff, but it just, it it didn't make sense. So yeah, not all of them are great. The one about the lizard people, like just, it was so messed up because the crime it was based on was the one that I don't know if y'all remember. There was like a bomb that went off at like 2am in like, I think it was Nashville. Yes. Yes. So apparently that guy that did that, he thought that lizard people had taken over leak. This was the one that happened on Christmas, right? Yes. And like he had told this lady what had happened and she had tried to report it like multiple times and they kept just taking her to the mental hospital.
00:47:18
Speaker
Oh my God. Yeah. And so she's like, i'm keep trying to trust the police and they keep fucking thinking I'm insane. So yeah, crazy. So sorry, not to get too into it, but like it was a pretty good show, I think. So yeah, Out There, Crimes of the Paranormal, that's my nightmare fuel.
00:47:36
Speaker
It was, it was, it was, it was good.
00:47:42
Speaker
I know that normally we like to end off on a positive note. Okay. But I was going to make you do a quiz to see what kind of clown you are. i thought, I thought you loved me. I do.
00:47:55
Speaker
Remember that thing I said about exposure therapy? Like, what do you mean What kind of clown? like I don't know. Let's find out. Your hair looks good like that, by the way. Oh, thank you. Like what? What does it do? Just the way that it's framing your face. Thanks.
00:48:09
Speaker
Okay. Question one. oh Do you like to make people laugh? Yes. So you wanna to just go with sure? Yeah. Okay. I didn't realize there could be so many options. There are many options. Are you an introvert, an extrovert, or an ambivert?
00:48:27
Speaker
What's an ambivert? Where you you're kind of both. Like, I think I'm kind of both, but. Like, I feel like I'm mostly an introvert unless I'm around very particular people. Yeah. Like, I have to be really close to you. to Same. So yeah, probably an introvert. Yeah.
00:48:44
Speaker
Okay, so this next question is, I don't even really need to ask, but thoughts on the scary clown trope in horror movies. Less scary clowns, more sexy clowns. It doesn't affect me either way.
00:48:55
Speaker
I just like violence in general. The clown part doesn't add or subtract from that. remark how was going to say none of those. I like s scary clowns. No. It relies too heavily on outdated so stereotypes.
00:49:08
Speaker
I don't enjoy it because it's mean to clowns. I don't enjoy it because I'm afraid of clowns. So we're going to go with that one. Yeah. Pick an actor the internet loves right now. o is it? Let me see. He looks, he looks real, real hot. Yeah. There's the lot of hot. Can you like lean the, the screen down a little bit? Yeah. all right What are these names? Also Oscar Isaac, Dev Patel. Okay.
00:49:33
Speaker
Jake Gyllenhaal. Oh, there's something about that man. Robert Pattinson. Okay. Pedro Pascal. Oh yes. Joaquin Phoenix. Oddly enough. And Keanu Reeves. Always. Okay. Like always Keanu Reeves. But like, let's, let's go up a little bit. yeah I think Pedro Pascal, he has this weird, don't know. Charm. He's got a charm about him. It's like, yeah, he's not weird. It's just like, he has this vintage, soft, old, sweet feel. I don't know.
00:50:01
Speaker
What is your love language? Acts of service. Okay. I will put that on there. Me too. Okay. Pick a famous clown character. No, I don't want to. Pennywise. Harley Quinn. oh I like Harley Quinn. That's weird. Krusty the Clown. Okay.
00:50:18
Speaker
Ronald McDonald. Why? Anime Clown. Is this a specific character? is he from JoJo's? It looks like he's from JoJo's. What does it say? it just says Anime Clown. Oh, he's either from JoJo's or Baki. I can't really tell. Okay. Or Mr. Mime from Pokemon. What?
00:50:35
Speaker
I like the anime clown guy because honestly, they don't scare me as much. I think it's because, you know, anime just feels different. There's some scary anime out there. Pick a balloon animal.
00:50:46
Speaker
I like balloon animals. Okay. So this top one's like a penis hat. Oh, that is a duck, ma'am. That is a duck. Is it? Okay. Then we have a flower. We have the balloon dog. like the the classic balloon dog. Okay. Okay.
00:51:04
Speaker
I always liked the like little piece of like the unblown tail. it was kind of cute. Yeah, that was one of my favorite parts. Pick a texture. oh God. i hate textures. um Fur, leather.
00:51:18
Speaker
I like the smell of leather. No, no wool.
00:51:23
Speaker
Metal, lace, velvet, leather. Silk. I don't like velvet. It's too warm like wool. Silk almost feels like like it's grabbing you sometimes.
00:51:36
Speaker
I like fur. i like fur, but not in like, I want to murder an animal, but like, I want to cuddle an animal kind of way. So fur. Okay. Pick a smell. okay Coconut. Rose.
00:51:49
Speaker
Bread. Rain. Rain. Smoke. Coffee. Gasoline. o Rain. Okay, there's just two more left. Pick a carnival food.
00:52:01
Speaker
Pretzel. Candy apple. Churros. Cotton candy. The monster energy drink you bought from home. Ace. ah Used to. corn dog.
00:52:13
Speaker
Or popcorn? Ooh, I love a good popcorn, but i think I'm going have to say churros. Last one. No, they're not sexy. Clowns are not sexy.
00:52:23
Speaker
There is something wrong with you, I think is how i'm going to answer that question. Yes, please. I want to psychoanalyze you for even asking this question. No, I don't want to I don't want anything to do with this person. They just, there's something wrong with them.
00:52:35
Speaker
that Okay. You. looks like a silent film clown. It is. piro is one of the classic clown tropes originating from Comedia dell'arte. See, I can deal with those kinds like mime. I can deal with mime. The brokenhearted man, hopeful, emotional, and creative. That sounds right. So you're not a scary clown.
00:52:55
Speaker
You're f***ing See, I can deal with that. And a mime is a terrible thing to win. I don't know what to do.
00:53:06
Speaker
I'm just, i'm I'm pressing buttons now. com
00:53:14
Speaker
If you have topic requests, book or movie recommendations, or just want to say hi, email us at nightmarecottage at gmail.com or visit our website at nightmarecottage.com. Sweet dreams.
00:53:35
Speaker
Bye-bye.