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Episode 5 - Creepy Paste
9 Plays1 month ago
In this episode, Nylene explores several fascinating cryptids, while Nym touches on one of Nylene's biggest fears - CLOWNS!
Enter the nightmare for full show notes and transcript.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome to Nim and Nyleen's Nightmare Cottage, where we discuss dark locations, sinister media, and other tales of the macabre. I'm Nim. And I'm Nyleen. Let the nightmare begin.
Moving Challenges and Solutions
00:00:45
Speaker
So here 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 the last time you moved. 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.
00:01:11
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. It's just like an inch off. 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? We spent three or four hours trying to get this couch
00:01:44
Speaker
into the office until we were like, fuck it, decided to look into the return policy. It's not refundable oh once it's delivered. Okay, well, my living room has a new couch, I guess. um But yeah, no, and Ace was not about that. So him and our friend decide they're going to take the hinges off of the door first. They try that, still doesn't fit.
00:02:11
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. What if it's important to 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.
00:02:32
Speaker
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 you're not actually fucking 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 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 deconstructed because we literally looked up. Can we get through the window? I was about to ask because those windows are huge.
00:03:21
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 of 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. So that's, that's probably what we're going to do tomorrow. And I am, I have concerns.
00:03:53
Speaker
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 with every thump that happens because he needs to know what's happening. And Sebastian going, what are they What's that sound? What are they doing? Don't just stop screaming. What are they doing? And I'm like, I love you both so much. Everyone stop. like 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, we also finished moving into the nightmare. So no more moving. We live here now. I'm not
00:04:43
Speaker
We're not leaving anytime soon. I'm okay with that. Okay. 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. So tell me how you have been, obviously, hopefully better.
Halloween Energy and Cryptid Curiosity
00:05:05
Speaker
Well, this is, this is my magic week. This is the week where my power is at its peak. This is the week of Halloween. Oh yeah. With your, with your, your festival of Halloween. Well, that would have been last night and we both feel great and not hungover at all.
00:05:23
Speaker
That's what I'm saying, though. Your power is at its peak from the festive edition. It is. It is. Absolutely. I have ah absorbed all of your energy for another year. That's what it is. That's why I always feel so drained the day after. I'm like, I should be refreshed. That's what the fire is all about. you just eat We think it's smoke inhalation. It's not.
00:05:46
Speaker
I refuse to comment. Is that why the smoke follows me every time I i move around the fire? No comment. Oh.
00:05:56
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, 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 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.
00:06:47
Speaker
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 and good assortment sure A assortment, if you will. Here for it. So the first one is called 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,
00:07:38
Speaker
and claws like a bird on its feet, but his wings are like leathery bat wings. So I'm picturing this in the animation style of Castle Crashers. What? I don't know why, and but there we go. Are you able to see this picture I'm going to send you? because i'm And I'll put this on the site. I just want you to see paws.
00:08:03
Speaker
she Oh my god. Sorry, I was gonna delete it before you got there, but I couldn't.
00:08:14
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, make it more nightmarish for sure in some ways. Nice clothes. That's fair. All right. So I put all the different pictures so as I talk about them, please open them up. So fat splotches when we're talking about, so I just sent you a picture of him. It's weird. That's a conglomeration of what they've described him as. Is he in front of Mount Fuji? Yes. Um, no, sorry.
00:08:48
Speaker
St. Helens. Sorry, I don't know why I said yes. I was excited. I was excited because I was like, yes, it's a well known one. But no, not that one.
00:09:00
Speaker
and So yeah, so he said to have those bat wings and he can stand 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. So 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 on what you're reading.
00:09:24
Speaker
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 of the stories seem to suggest that Bat Squatch affects a car's ability to work in some way. 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 with no luck,
00:09:54
Speaker
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.
00:10:10
Speaker
So he's setting it out anyways. He starts to get out, but says suddenly he heard a huge thunk 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. I was scared. It raised the hair on me.
00:10:33
Speaker
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. It's standing perfectly still. It stood for, how long, a few minutes? Several minutes. Then its fingers twitched. Its wings began to unfold. Those wings were as wide as the road.
00:10:53
Speaker
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.
00:11:28
Speaker
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 it just sounds like it's a large bit of prey to me like i said scary but i don't know i 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 wittaker 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.
00:12:10
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
Exploring Cultural Cryptids
00:12:21
Speaker
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 bat squad with his truck. He reported that it was 15 feet tall now.
00:12:38
Speaker
though with a purple nose and eyes and tiny wings. So 15 feet tall, like you know how big my 12-foot skeleton is. Yes. Like is this Godzilla?
00:12:50
Speaker
with tiny wings? Yes! Teeny wings, getting a massive... And he has a purple nose instead of the other one, which was like a dog nose. Purple! 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 Bert and Ernie, like a little... the little round But you know, that in the muzzle. 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? Don't get me lying, I don't know.
00:13:18
Speaker
i don't know I didn't think it was- Anyways, listen, this is getting off topic. In 2009, a group of hikers reported seeing a flying humanoid creature with bat-like features. They said he was as stocky as Hulk Hogan with leathery wings. Specific.
00:13:40
Speaker
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. So again, all of these things, like they're all naming it bat squash, 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. So the orange body said to be five foot tall primate with black leathery wings, red skin, long thin tail.
00:14:07
Speaker
Again, this one seems to be a little more sinister. It's said to live in the unexplored rainforest of Suram and is known for kidnapping children. 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.
00:14:37
Speaker
The whole 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.
00:15:08
Speaker
that are extinct or active near active volcanoes. 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. 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.
00:15:37
Speaker
I don't know science.
00:15:41
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 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 Fjörrali, I think, or the Shorelady or the Beachwalker.
00:16:05
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 is almost like a Renaissance painting of a beaver that doesn't look like a beaver. Apparently, it really likes to have sex with sheep. oh And yeah, they say that any time 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.
00:16:34
Speaker
um So pictures of it look like a sea otter. I'm 99% sure they just have really active sea otters. 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?
00:16:51
Speaker
That one was Iceland. Okay. i Lots of shit in Iceland. I know. And that's why I 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? It's like, it's like a dinosaur in the face. And it's not like a shark tail. And like,
00:17:19
Speaker
and not an alligator but like I told you I just found like the most off the wall shit it's almost like a killer whale and a dinosaur like a quadrupedaled but dinosaur. What the fuck am I looking at? It's called a klut. It came from Inuit folklore. okay So it 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. So apparently once Westerners heard about the legend, they thought it was like literally a four-legged whale monster.
00:17:58
Speaker
But, you know, either way the mystery was solved when they realized that the wolf tracks are roughly 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 um I just thought that was really, really funny. That is an actual nightmare field. So lastly, for your actual nightmare ones, there is a legend of a giant death worm known to Mongolian tribes as the al Algoi.
00:18:33
Speaker
kyorky 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. 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. And yeah, yeah.
00:19:02
Speaker
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 is 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 creature i saw in this movie it's totally real it's crazy and i'm like wait a minute no it's not it's not everything's okay This one was kind of creepy. So in 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. They would offer up a human sacrifice to a carnivorous tree called Jätteveil. This instantly gave me chills because
00:19:50
Speaker
yateveo 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 Lychee's article, the guy who discovered it, not discovered it, but saw it. Right. The slender, delicate palpae 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 moan.
00:20:30
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 Anaconda's fastening upon their prey.
00:20:48
Speaker
while this specific man-eating plant was found to be a hoax. um There were other stories of actual man-eating trees introduced in about 1889 that appeared in Africa, Central America, and South America. 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
Cryptid Skepticism: Fact or Fiction?
00:21:10
Speaker
knows.
00:21:10
Speaker
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 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. 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.
00:21:40
Speaker
But you never know. I mean, I feel like most of the Amazon forest has not been. Also, tell it to my friend named Seymour. Seymour Butts? Jesus Christ, my wing. Different, different times, but for different rhymes. um So our final cryptid for this episode, maybe you've heard of him.
00:21:59
Speaker
The Flatwoods Monster? I feel like I have, but remind me. Okay, so the first sighting was in September of a group of boys in Flatwoods, West Virginia saw something strange flying in the sky above them and land in a nearby field.
00:22:17
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, as quoted, with, quote, blood red a body and a green face that seemed to glow. Other reports stated its head was spade-shaped and that it looked like it was wearing a dark metal dress.
00:22:45
Speaker
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. 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. Or, you know, farts. They claimed a small sulfur before seeing a ten-foot-tall creature in front of them with clawed hands and a reptilian head. 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.
00:23:41
Speaker
The story apparently got so big that the US Air Force actually launched an official us 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. I'm sorry, but I think I know what a fucking owl looks like, especially when 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. It's not real.
00:24:10
Speaker
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 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 US Air Force launching something. It's like, okay. 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. But you know,
00:24:55
Speaker
in your face. I don't know what to do with that. Me neither. But yeah i ah I get concerned about those things because when there are so many people that can corroborate a 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. I hate that. A hundred percent. 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
Fear of Clowns: Personal and Cultural Perspectives
00:25:28
Speaker
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. as 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 the moment, right? I'm not going to lie that last one when I was researching it, because it was really late at night. I was like some little, little weird dreams after that. But you know,
00:25:54
Speaker
What are you looking at today? I'm really sorry. Why? I know you hate clowns. No, please no. no Don't say that. 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 cholrophobia, which is the fear of clowns.
00:26:18
Speaker
That was my soul leaving my body. I was curious. 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. My sister, for some reason,
00:26:45
Speaker
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, 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 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 it felt
00:27:25
Speaker
Unsettling. Yeah, unsettling. It's that 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. Was it? It was a live action and it had a jabber-walkie in it. Yeah. Do you know which one I'm talking about? I do know which one you're talking about. That was my childhood Alice in Wonderland. Yes, I loved that one. The only thing is there's this part where she meets someone in white. I don't remember who she was supposed to be. 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. It was
00:28:12
Speaker
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.
00:28:33
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 cause it scared me so much. And then I was scared of goats for a while there too. That explains that. Yeah. I'm 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.
00:28:59
Speaker
Okay, so when I was going through this stuff, I actually realized I don't have the fear of clowns. Unsettling, like like, actually scary fucking clowns, yes. Like, if they're intending to be scary horror clowns, yes, I can find those frightening. But, like, killer clowns from space.
00:29:16
Speaker
Yeah. Like killer clowns. Is that supposed to be scary? I mean, it's supposed to be as scary as any B-worm or any kind of situation. So there's, there's a lot of the 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.
00:29:36
Speaker
it would be more because of the knife than the clown. You know, 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 there was just supposed to be clowns. They didn't have any weapons. 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. And I was like, oh oh no.
00:30:06
Speaker
So, yeah, sorry to interrupt you. No, that's... I... I would be so mad. Like, 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 they're... They're not allowed. No, they really are not allowed. 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 say that. I would never go to one of those, as you say.
00:30:35
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 cholrophobia. Yeah, I figured like it's a really well-known fear. It is, it is. I was actually really surprised about the amount of medical journal content I found while cholrophobia 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.
00:31:05
Speaker
Despite that, I actually found a 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 when it was a very fascinating read. and and So not a small amount of people from a whole lot of cultures have cholrophobia. Clowns have been around in some form or fashion since at least ancient Egypt in the form of gestures and fools. They've been prominent in popular media for hundreds of years, including in the works of Shakespeare. I feel like with Shakespeare it was most
00:31:37
Speaker
This is just clowns in general. This is not scary clowns. OK, OK, OK, OK. But having said that, the maybe the first representation of an evil clown in popular media was an in an 1892 opera called Payachi. It's spelled like Pagliachi. But it's Payachi. In that one, the title character dresses as a clown to murder his wife and her lover. Oh, fun. Yeah. It's always a 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 and a production of some sort. of Since then there's been countless scary clowns in pop culture, 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 of clown. 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?
00:32:27
Speaker
That's not what I meant. I mean mean, like, okay, you know what? Don't talk to me. I will also include in this list the doll from Poltergeist and then, like, Captain Spalding from House of a Thousand Corpses and Devil's Rejects. I don't think I ever saw either of those.
00:32:41
Speaker
I would like to watch those movies with you. No, no, no. We'll talk about it later. I thought about this. So anyways, the fact that it's kind of all over and in so prominent 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 or general unease. It's not, they just kind of make me uncomfortable kind of situation.
00:33:10
Speaker
It's an irrational fear that causes actual real psychological and physical effects. Excuse me. and Irrational? Meaning it's not based on true life. You're scared of this clown that's not gonna do anything wrong to you. You don't know. People have this issue even if they like just, I'm not done explaining. Sorry.
00:33:29
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, there's a good chance you have colorephobia.
00:33:58
Speaker
ye So it's not just, and that's why I say irrational is because if you just like see a picture of a clown and you get that tightened fucking anxiety feeling or however your body reacts to it, that's the sign of true cholrophobia instead of just like a, I find clowns and settling. I do have an interesting, cause it's not all of them. Like I watched that one show about, I think it was Zach Galifianakis, was that his name? Yeah. That is a person. And he did that show about being a clown.
00:34:28
Speaker
was it That one didn't scare me for some reason. Maybe it's because it had an emotional aspect to it. I 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 and ease caused by something that is almost but not quite human. This is 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 or human-like creatures.
00:35:06
Speaker
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, but I like vampires.
00:35:26
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 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. Yes, my sister would marry someone whose mother was a professional clown.
00:35:52
Speaker
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. I think that would change it for me because I've never actually. Put a personality, a real life behind the clown. Yeah. So
Clowns in Crime and Panic
00:36:15
Speaker
something else interesting to think about in the psychological aspect of it. Fair.
00:36:21
Speaker
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 a ah hand in developing your fear of clowns, right? ah 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 and encountering a terrifying version of what of what is meant to be a fun and cheerful character.
00:36:45
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 Aces' aversion to a 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.
00:37:10
Speaker
So as I like to do, I'm gonna go into some real life examples of scary clowns. And I'm gonna 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. Oh. Okay. Gacy had spent 18 months of a 10 year sentence for raping a boy and then a few years later developed- 10 months?
00:37:37
Speaker
18 months it' 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 in it And then ah He killed at least 33 boys and men, most of which were buried under the crawl space in his house. And didn't he say that like it wasn't even him that did it? like that must They must have been there when he moved in or something like that? I 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 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.
00:38:29
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 break I guess. Okay so I did use to when I was a lot younger. Same. It was like flat coke I just really liked. Like it wasn't bubbly flat, the taste was flat.
00:38:51
Speaker
Yeah, so that's actually why I liked fizzy water so much for so long because 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 because 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. No, I haven't tried diet that might be an interesting thing.
00:39:11
Speaker
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. I propose nothing. Oh, but and then here's a picture of him as his clown self. Why? You know what? I don't know why. I don't know why I showed you that. I actually have another scary one to show you here in a bit, but I'll warn you before I shove it in your face. Why? Oh my God, I can see it. I love you. no All right. So another real life instance of scary clowns. It's much more recent. Do you remember?
00:39:40
Speaker
2016 being so fucking weird i'm gonna throw and creepy clowns started showing up all over the place. Yes, I do. ah 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.
00:39:58
Speaker
Most were meant as a joke, but with widespread cholrophobia, mass hysteria, of course, who 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 they were dangerous or at least intended mischief. There were talks of clown bands and general... What? And other just generally irrational responses to this worldwide prank. It was basically a prank. And now I'm gonna touch on a couple of urban legends. Okay, of clowns? Of clowns.
00:40:27
Speaker
Oh no. i'm gonna 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. 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.
00:40:49
Speaker
a few weeks later two of the four c clon this is the urban ledge 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 for off bitten and pretty fucked 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.
00:41:10
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. So that's the the legend that happened supposedly that happened in the 70s. So they're saying that like this never actually happened?
00:41:36
Speaker
Well, it's just a story that made the rounds, you know? So fast forward to 2010, some trail cam photos started making their way around the internet. 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? e I'm so sorry.
00:42:02
Speaker
So these pictures were thought to be decades old and people started reviving The Legend of Sprinkles. Additional viral posts hit... No, that guy looks way too plain in Peace Sprinkles. Right? Yeah, I agree. he He definitely was not stranded in the wilderness years ago before trail cams existed. Other viral posts hit that tried to add credibility to the story, but there's no evidence to support those claims.
00:42:27
Speaker
So another urban legend that
Debunking Clown Myths and Legends
00:42:29
Speaker
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. 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 to the neighbors because they didn't have a clown statue. At 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. Just look on your face. Last one I have in response to the 2016 clown panic,
00:42:58
Speaker
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 fucking haunted house. There was a clown with a chainsaw. Why? Go on. ah Why? Well, in this one, they noticed that the bodies that were missing limbs on the ground were screaming in actual pain.
00:43:27
Speaker
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. 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. I'm thralling.
Nightmare Media Recommendations
00:43:50
Speaker
And I guess maybe now I can tell you about my nightmare fuel. Okay. 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 a lot of fun because of course it's not, I don't know, 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 it. I feel like reading something for me forms almost a better picture than watching. I agree. 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 and hallucinating because you're... Anyways, I thought it was kind of a fun thought. You look terrified. It was a fun thought, but I don't know, clowns, dead trees. It just, it all got really creepy, creepy paste. Creepy paste.
00:44:59
Speaker
So that's my nightmare fuel. Do you have nightmare fuel? Yes. So cryptids, 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 on Hulu and it's called Out There. Okay. Out There Crimes of the Paranormal is what it's called.
00:45:24
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 one and two and it started talking about lizard people and stuff and it got real weird real fast. It's really interesting though like because it's like it talks about like real crimes that are committed or like 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
00:46:12
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 2 AM m in like, I think it was Nashville.
00:46:40
Speaker
Yes. Yes. So apparently that guy that did that, he thought that lizard people had taken over the lead. This was the one that happened on Christmas, right? Yeah. Yeah. 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.
00:47:01
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. It was,
Clown Personality Quiz and Outro
00:47:20
Speaker
it was, it was, it was good.
00:47:28
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 left me. I do. 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 is it doing? Just the way that it's framing your face. Thanks. Okay. Question one.
00:47:58
Speaker
Do you like to make people laugh? Yes. So you want 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? What's an ambivert? Where you, you're kind of both.
00:48:16
Speaker
like I feel like i I'm mostly an introvert unless I'm around very particular people. I have to be really close to you. to Same. So yeah, probably an introvert. Yeah. 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.
00:48:39
Speaker
It doesn't affect me either way. I just like violence in general. The clown part doesn't add or subtract from that. I was just saying none of those. I like scary clowns. No. It relies too heavily on outdated so stereotypes. 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 gonna go with that one. Yeah.
00:49:00
Speaker
Picking after the internet loves right now. Ooh, is it? Let me see. He looks, he looks real, real hot. Yeah, there's a 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. Jake Gyllenhaal. There's something about that man. Robert Pattinson. Okay. Pedro Pescos. Oh yes. Joaquin Phoenix. Oddly enough.
00:49:28
Speaker
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 i charm. He's got a charm about him. Yeah, he's not weird. It's just like he has this vintage soft old sweet feel. I don't know. What is your love language? Acts of service. Okay, I will put that on there. Me too.
00:49:54
Speaker
Pick a famous clown character. No, I don't want to. Pennywise. Harley k Quinn. Oh, I like Harley Quinn. That's weird. Presto the Clown. okay Ronald McDonald. Why? Anime clown? Is this a specific character? Oh, 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.
00:50:17
Speaker
Okay. Or Mr. Mime from Pokemon. What? 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. I like balloon animals.
00:50:34
Speaker
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. I like the classic balloon dog. Okay. I always liked the like little piece of like the unblown tail. And it's kind of cute. Yeah, that's like one of my favorite parts. Pick a texture. Oh, God. I hate textures. Fur, leather.
00:51:03
Speaker
I like the smell of leather. No, no wool. Metal, lace, velvet, silk. I don't like velvet. It's too warm, like wool. Silk almost feels like, like it's grabbing you sometimes. 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.
00:51:30
Speaker
Pick a smell. Coconut. Rose. Bread. Rain. rain Smoke. Coffee. Gasoline. o Rain. There's just two more left. Pick a carnival food. Pretzel. Candy apple. Churros. Cotton candy. The monster energy drink we bought from home. Ace. Used to. Corn dog.
00:51:58
Speaker
Or popcorn. Ooh, I love a good popcorn, but I think I'm going to have to say churros. Nice. Last one. No, you're not sexy. Mom, you're not sexy. 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. Okay, you. It looks like a silent film, Mom. It is.
00:52:27
Speaker
is one of the classic clown tropes originating from Commedia del Arte. Arte, del Arte. See, I can deal with those kinds, like mime, I can deal with mime. Yeah, the brokenhearted man, hopeful, emotional, and creative. That sounds right. So you're not a scary clown, you're a fucking mime. See, I can deal with that. And a mime is a terrible thing to win. I don't know what to do. I'm just, I'm pressing buttons now, okay.
00:52:56
Speaker
If you have topic suggestions, movie or book recommendations, questions for the cottage, or just want to say hi, you can email us at nightmarecottage at gmail dot.com. You can find us on Instagram at nightmarecottage and on our website at nightmarecottage.com. Sleep tight, if you dare.