Transcript
Speaker: Darkcast Network. Indie pods with a dark side.
Speaker: welcome back to castles and cryptids where the castles are haunted and the cryptids are cryptic as fuck and I'm Alanna and I'm Kelsey and Gordo is also here and that's Gordo yeah yeah i'm like he's moving around his collar is making jingly sounds he's purring a centimeter away from the mic he really wanted to make sure that might picked him up he's all up in my business see oh yeah the second we're like let's start
Speaker: Yeah, we were fine for our half an hour like chit chat and then as soon as you're like, I'm gonna start the recording I hear do do do do do entering the room and I'm like, Jesus, how do you know?
Speaker: How do you always know? And if you're new here, Gordo was Kelsey's boyfriend. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker: Oh my god. No, that's... call back to when I was listening to another pod and they're like always talking about their dog, Sydney, and then they're like and so and they joke that they're the producer but then if people just tune in they don't know that it sounds really weird. Sydney, stop farting in here with your salami farts.
Speaker: Wow, you're really mean to your producer.
Speaker: we don't have a producer if you couldn't tell because our schedule's been all over the place so sorry about it yeah oh my god as always blame it on ah fucking medical problems i don't know oh yeah somebody's always going through it in some way or another right that's just the way life goes you know You're up. yeah They're down. yeah but Yeah.
Speaker: Hopefully. i'm still waiting test results, but... ah I don't know. Well, maybe i'll I'll tell everybody what's going on when I actually have a fucking clue. but yeah Yeah, I was just gonna let you take the lead on that. I'm like missing half my shifts at work or even early, like half the time for the last three weeks. So yeah, problems.
Speaker: yeah problems concentrating and like anything like that so yeah feeling a bit better now work yeah yeah they've been really good about it that's good because some employers just stick No, they've been good. They sat me down and like we did a modified work thing and they gave me some other paperwork. They were like, okay, if your doctor has like specific recommendations that they want you to follow, like this is the paperwork that they should fill out. So they gave me that and were like, but just make sure you let them know that like you're on a modified work thing already and like this is what we've...
Speaker: um kind of like talk to you about already so they're like take that with you when you go and see them so yeah we'll see right yeah hey we're in canada at least we have mostly free health care famously but yeah like thank god for that at least i haven't had to pay like um anything like that for any of these doctor visits. I think I'll have to pay if they have to fill out that form because it's like like a doctor's note thing. i think like a doctor's note you pay like 35 bucks for. So I'm sure this will be more because it's like very detailed.
Speaker: But... They have like a price list. When I was at my doctor's appointment earlier, it was like, you need this? It's this much. you need but I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. but Yeah, I've never done any, had to do anything like this before, so I don't really know.
Speaker: No. But I'm hanging in there, so that's why we dropped off the face of the earth a bit. That's, we yeah, yeah. Well. Not entirely. i have seen people in podcasts go like completely dark right and they post something like three months later. Yeah. We're still alive. if You're like, oh, yeah, I haven't heard from you in a while. Yeah.
Speaker: But hopefully we weren't, yeah, we weren't quite gone that long, but we weren't quite on our on our schedule either. Sorry, we didn't give it any updates or anything, but so there's our update. Yeah. We'll have on. Thank you for.
Speaker: Yeah. Sorry. I was thinking about that thing I told you when at work, one one of the people or whatever were told they had to go on, um they shortened the acronym to STD.
Speaker: And it was, remember, it was for short-term disability. Yeah. oh Why? I'm hoping it's not. I'm hoping it doesn't end up coming to that, but.
Speaker: yeah No STDs for us, please. We'll see.
Speaker: I've managed, like, what, yesterday I worked my whole shift. The day before that I only could work half the day. then But the two days before that I managed to work my full shifts.
Speaker: So, yeah. Damn. It's just, it's real hard sometimes. i'm like, yeah yeah, it's crazy. Yeah.
Speaker: I can't really um relate. My biggest complaint was that like my new desk or temporary area where we're sitting, im like between, there's these two ceiling vents, air conditioning, Oh yeah, you were telling me about that.
Speaker: ah yeah I'm like right in between them. So like I go over to sit in my little corner. I don't know if because got the windows there and they think it's going get really hot, but I would rather be fucking hot and just put the shutters down or whatever. Then have it blowing all day from like eight in the morning until I like like ah until i leave. its One day I left my nose with so would get a headache. oh It does. Yeah, it's really hard to concentrate. And I asked them if we're going to be up here much longer, if they're still fixing our stupid...
Speaker: basement office then i need to move like at least a little bit away from that corner because it's horrible it's horrible yeah like i was like that's crazy yeah like the loudest white noise like loud as an airplane i'm like oh i don't like it someone came over to my corner the other day and they're like why is this so loud over here bench look yeah like try and concentrate or get anything done if you're sitting like in that situation or like environment all day.
Speaker: Between two ferns, except it's between two vents.
Speaker: that's Between a vent and another vent. Yeah. ah Oh my god. Well, we're recording the afternoon, so we're full of... but What? Pep?
Speaker: vi i'm I'm drinking caffeine because I was yawning 20 minutes ago, And you were drinking tea last night, but I'm assuming that was uncaffeinated.
Speaker: I don't really know. the package doesn't say a whole lot. It was hibiscus and something black tea. oh I got it free at work. That's yummy. like a Hope you guys are all doing well out there and everybody's staying healthy.
Speaker: Let us know what you're all drinking. I just smashed a London fog. and I'm drinking a glass of water that has a floaty at the bottom of it. Hopefully, uh, hopefully somebody is having some an alcoholic beverage while they listen to your episode after a post.
Speaker: They're just be their favorite drink of choice. Yeah. It's been a, it's been a long time, I think, since we recorded in the afternoon. So this feels weird. and It's been like months and months, I think.
Speaker: And we had to talk about how bright it is in there. But all that to say. Yes, it's like blinding. I'm trying to like figure out where to put my head. it because you surrounded me in a halo.
Speaker: it I'll send a screenshot. Oh, can see a halo. Take it away, Beyonce. Oh, my God.
Speaker: You know what I can't stop listening to this summer? And I think I probably told you that before. I don't know if you caught up on that show yet. The vampire list. Okay. okay I'm taking a picture. It doesn't really show how bright it is. Oh, hold on.
Speaker: Oh, that's so much better. It's okay. It's on a timer anyway. Sorry guys. I'll put it up and then everyone will understand. Alana's like squinting trying to look at me while I do my segment. yeah my My big ol' head is trying to block the window.
Speaker: and the crazy thing is is the sun isn't even coming from that side of my house. The sun is facing the other side of my house. So like this is just regular natural light coming in. It's not even the sun coming in the window.
Speaker: Damn. This is just irregular. so bright. Two in the afternoon. Yep. Anyway, we'll stop annoying people like the podcasters that are all go, ah go see what we're doing on YouTube. ah ah And you're like, no.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly. It's nice when it's on Spotify. So like, cause I do listen on Spotify. So some people have the video, like say, and you're listening to Amy Poehler's podcast. You can just listen to the audio or you can just click video and then it's just.
Speaker: Oh, cool. it's like yeah a lot of time playing on my phone anyway so i don't do that yeah except for and then she'll talk about the free food people bring her free fake food for her studio because that's her little thing anyway yes we we need to start a thing send me free food i keep saying free food i mean fake food sends me meat in the Let's get a PO box so people can send us rancid meat. ah Room temperature.
Speaker: like on more like why would we do that? Meat's expensive. Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, God. Okay. Yeah. don' Are you ready? I don't even know. I have an itchy scalp. um It's tingly. I don't know why. i I typed these notes like, God, what, like a week and a half ago?
Speaker: um I barely remember them. That makes sense. It was like, we did try. Yeah, it was like. Friday? Thursday? Oh yeah, Friday. But we didn't. It couldn't be. Yeah, because I was thinking like, oh, I might try recording with you like not this last weekend because I was supposed to close, but like the weekend before. And I remember typing up the notes on like that Saturday and Sunday. So it was like a week and a half ago I finished these.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. yeah And last time comes out. Schedules been all over the place. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, no, wait, not this one. Next one will be October. Holy moly.
Speaker: Yeah. Where has the year gone? know. Yeah. ah Summer can't be over. I love spooky season, but like, oh, we've had no sunny days.
Speaker: Very few. Very few. But on that note, I'm going to make a post about how I have giant fucking sunflower plants that have finally started to Oh god Sunflowers with and they're Fucking seven feet tall Huge Yeah they're really big Oh what happened Ah That was weird and lost you for a sec Okay Oh wait like It showed me still here but then you were gone my god what is happening Technology Technology Uh yeah
Speaker: screaming we're screaming uh okay no i think it's okay it's still recording okay what the fuck
Speaker: dude this thing is crazy sometimes uh yeah the zencasters weird looking now don't like weren't we not besides were we always like anyway it doesn't matter i'm gonna shut up Stop talking about the visuals. Okay.
Speaker: What are we doing today? i I have a bit of haunted history, but more so like history. And then, yeah, so a few haunts at the end. Right.
Speaker: right like in Because we were doing haunted sort of historic places, I believe. Yeah. And I had ah wanted to cover like Grand Central Station.
Speaker: Because I think it's really cool.
Speaker: Have we not talked about a station before ever? Weird. um I think I covered one in it's like cool places or something because I remember talking about like architecture in one or something. I thought I remembered seeing pictures or something. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: there was something about like tile work and everything in one of the terminals but damn if you guys remember let us know could have been a patreon could have been a regular clearly don't
Speaker: yeah uh yeah so in like looking this up i'm like who who doesn't want to visit new york and then you always see like grand central i'd say especially if you're doing like a drama or like romance movie set in New York. It's got to somehow feature a shot or two in Grand Central Station. just necessary. Right after the skating in the park scene or whatever. Oh my God, yes. Skate by the big Christmas tree. The Christmas tree lighting.
Speaker: um and It's the must have on the checklist. So you let the people know you're in New York. How else are they supposed to know they're in New York when it's being filmed in not New York? Yeah, exactly. It really sells it. the Yeah. And a bodega.
Speaker: Yes. Oh my god Only New Yorkers bodegas. Have you ever noticed that? They don't get called that like anywhere else. Yeah, they're just like convenience stores. Exactly. That's all it is. Corner shop.
Speaker: Anyway. Yeah. I digress. But New York, you have to be special with your bagels. They don't exist anywhere else. Oh, my God. And you're upstate. Everything's upstate, except it's not all upstate.
Speaker: Why? Why is And fucking Broadway. so Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I was like, don't even get me started on the yeah the the bagel debate. The Montreal bagel versus New York bagel.
Speaker: Donate to Patreon so we can go to New York. See all these things we just complained about in person. Do a bagel comparison.
Speaker: Yeah, so I wanted to look up the history because I assumed it was like a pretty old building, but I maybe didn't realize like how old it really was. Yeah. And like how much ah thought and everything really went into like building it.
Speaker: And like how- building myself. no no I don't know what's going with my throat, but I cannot get a clear. It's crazy. Do you need to get some water?
Speaker: i need to get one soon. Mine's starting to have the... I'm getting nearer to the floaty. Yeah, well, I still have my coffee. Okay. And I don't want to go between hot and cold.
Speaker: um can't Confuse yourself. don't know. Oh my God, what is with this? it just did it again. Yeah. Weird.
Speaker: don't know. I don't know it's doing.
Speaker: I'm like, my laptop's really hot, but that's just because I'm trying to charge it. well, it's still going. The fan is like working overtime. Gordell, go back to sleep.
Speaker: Working overtime, fan out. yeah. Uh...
Speaker: so So cast your mind back to long before you and I were born. ah it's Anytime.
Speaker: And any of our listeners, because it's the mid to late eighteen hundreds in New York City. Oh, yeah. Turn of the century. it The Gilded Age.
Speaker: I've been watching this pretty good. i ah So, you know, New York is rapidly expanding. it mostly is relying on railroads at the time, which I'm sure almost everywhere was. um This was really important for travel for the people of New York. But there was a law at the time that stopped ah the steam trains um from going past 42nd Street. So there was like a cutoff and that's where the
Speaker: um kind of edge was because that started going into the main part of the city so like the trains and everything to get to New York City would like kind of drop you off there and then you would have to take um transit from another method so you would like disembark there yeah okay yeah uh makes sense so typical right This cutoff was the ideal spot for a train depot that was commissioned by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1869.
Speaker: You gotta build something with a name like that Vanderbilt Yeah um I don't have it in my notes anymore but if I remember correctly he at the time had bought two out of the three train stations that like dropped off at that train depot and then was like you know what I want to like merge them kind of together and like make this more efficient since he owned two out of the the three Yeah Big bucks was rich right Yeah, it's like one of the richest people in America or something.
Speaker: um So this was in 1869 when construction on the large station for three of the New York Railroad companies began. um The first station, which was called Grand Central Depot, finally opened to the public in 1871 that spot.
Speaker: in that spot And though it was brand new at the time, it as I'm sure like most public infrastructure, um it very quickly had trouble keeping up with the traffic um that started coming in.
Speaker: Right. Yeah. I think I saw something that said like 120,000 people, like 127,000 people were there on the first day. was like, Jesus Christ. And this was 1871. Oh boy. That's a lot. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. That's like, you want to maybe try a soft open next time, guys? I don't know. Yeah. Family and friends only. Yeah. yeah Give them and a ticket to enter.
Speaker: ah Yeah, so they, although it like continued to stay open and serve the public, um it was like pretty quickly. um They were noticing problems in like efficiency and just not being able to keep up with the demand quite a bit, but it still had to stay open.
Speaker: um It was the last stop for anybody like entering New York City um buth bye bye but by the early 1900s it was now kind of at the heart of New York City because it had expanded to wrap around it so it was now kind of like it wasn't the end anymore it was kind of in the middle a New York had expanded so much around it over the last like 40 years okay kind of like but don't know I hear similar
Speaker: things about Edmonton starting at one point and then just widened and then everything ends up being like well now it's all northwest because everything's northwest of where we started building and you're like not everything in the city can be in the northwest it's just illogical yeah And then the like your GPS is wild things like, turn onto this street, northwest east. And you're like, what?
Speaker: Yeah. You're like, how the fuck I three directions right now? Yeah. This is part of the stupid street name. You're like, Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, stupid. In the house I grew up in, my parents said when they moved to the city, they could look out our front window and, like, look to the left and they could see the, like, edge of our town like our town, because it was a town at the time. I don't think it was even a city. Like, they could look out from the front window and see the border of where I grew up. And now that's, like, the middle of the city.
Speaker: Like. it's crazy like so it's like the same kind of thing it's like oh yeah that used to be the end and now it's like so much more almost almost like we could call it like the greater edmonton area like you know the vancouver does because it's like vancouver and freaking yeah what are all those other neighborhoods richmond and whatever yeah damn Yeah, so New York a had expanded a lot in that time.
Speaker: um i guess it became known as Grand Central Station 1901. um There was like some renovations that I think took place in this time, um but not a whole lot.
Speaker: What did they call it before that? It was just like a station. ah It was Grand Central Depot. Oh. And then it was like Grand Central Station. ah In there...
Speaker: there There was like a really tragic collision um in the Park Avenue tunnel um when two of the like steam trains, I guess, collided somehow were like crossed paths. um Yeah. So there must have had some overlap in tracks that was happening. Right. Some of them were on the wrong track.
Speaker: Yeah, this ended up killing 17 people and injuring another 38. And then because it was like steam trains and everything with like the smoke, uh...
Speaker: that happened like it kind of filled up the tunnels and just like was yeah it was like really disgusting and it further like the public at the time was really wanting to get away from steam like locomotives or steam trains and this kind of like furthered that talk of like hey we should just like how messy the cleanup and everything was along with like noise and air pollution because it was just Yeah, there was like a lot of soot and stuff in the air. they're powered
Speaker: by steam? I think it was like the coal. Like they're just using the coal to like heat the water and then it was like steam. Yeah. Right. So like and so yeah just dirty and stuff to be like in tunnels and like in a building.
Speaker: So much soot. Yeah. um I didn't mean to and the noise laugh at the. Oh, yeah. No, it was just when you were saying that where it happened, it sounded like it was it was just very Monopoly.
Speaker: Park Avenue and Grand Central Station. that was like Yeah. I was like, that yeah, that might be where they got it from. yeah I don't know where Monopoly. I believe so.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it's named after. Yeah. railroads yeah i was like okay yeah that one's worth lot so that that one happened in 1902 and then um so that kind of really pushed this talks uh increased rail traffic and then a law that was passed in 1903 that banned steam trains in manhattan was actually due to take effect just five years later. like They passed this law and we were like, hey, um five years from now, like the steam train's got to be gone.
Speaker: So they quickly um were trying to figure out. And they came up with, I think, really, really good thing um that same year. like They made the plan and immediately began working on a more modern train station that would rely solely on electric rail traffic.
Speaker: um which i didn't even know was possible in like fucking 19 what by 1908 like that'd be crazy i wouldn't have ever thought that was like possible but yeah it's weird how fast some things can be replaced and then other things were like well fossil fuels forever like yeah and like um i'm pretty sure i read that book by like a smart ass geologist lady or whatever that was like hey one step we could even just start with getting you know putting out the still burning coal fires in the world because they're so bad for the environment and i was like that seems like an easy one we could just like like you just said make a law that like in like by five years we have no more stupid constantly burning coal fires or whatever the fuck is happening in some places
Speaker: But then again, there's places where they have not been able to put out fires for decades.
Speaker: those are There's crazy stuff that can happen when you get like certain natural gas, like eternal fires kind of going or um if fires go like underground too. That's not something I knew was possible, but um like they're extremely hard to put out. and they can Yeah, and they can like they can burn for years underground. i'm like, didn't even know that was a thing. How can they survive the winter?
Speaker: i'm like, what? Right? How can we? No, no. fascinating cut off the air to it somehow by like dumping something in the whatever whatever was that caught a fire a mine or something there like oh yeah
Speaker: um Yeah, so this law was going to take effect. So they now have five years. They have to transition from steam trains to electric rails and like basically rebuild the station. Of course. they dis they figure out, which I think is amazing. I actually got some...
Speaker: Of my information from this website that was about civil engineering, like, and it was talking about historic landmarks and it was talking about those, like how historic Grand Central, um like terminal or station was for just like engineering at the time and just like how well it worked with what they decided to do. Because what they do over these next five, yeah, these five years is plan for what was once like just a drop-off area and then the trains would leave it would now be a two-level station which would separate the long haul um so like they get deliveries and everything i guess like those types of trains come through grand central which i didn't know about yeah um
Speaker: Yeah, and then they also had to figure out what to do with like the suburban or actual just like regular traffic that occurred every day. So they decided to separate those on two different levels and have like the um like cargo ah trains and everything be underneath, as well as the suburban traffic um that would rely on an extensive system of pedestrian ramps because they...
Speaker: have very few stairs actually within the whole building it's almost completely like wheelchair or like accessible it's kind of crazy there's almost no uh stairs or anything yeah when they wouldn't necessarily had laws about that in that time maybe yeah um Yeah, so there's like extensive, i think something said it was like the most extensive pedestrian ramps like in the world or something. It's crazy. Wow.
Speaker: Yeah, so they... Because they had started ground, like, working on it. I think they kind of bypassed um the law, like, banning the steam trains in the next five years because they were actively working on it.
Speaker: Because the thing things I read said that um they did all this construction work in the new layout over the next 10 years. And they did it without interrupting any of the current train services. Those all...
Speaker: fully continued to run with absolutely um almost no interruption caused by the construction that was happening all around them. Wow.
Speaker: it's like Yeah, which is part of the engineering feat that they they talk about being like just groundbreaking at the time is how well it was done. um the excavation was an enormous undertaking as the grade of the rail yard so like the ground level was lowered an average depth of like 30 feet below street level so they had to dig all that down for like miles to put these trains going underground underneath what is now a full city above it right what which used to not be there
Speaker: I do remember I'm talking a lot about how they the the grading was done for the railroads going out west in the the little house in the prairie series because i was like yeah you don't really think about how like you have to make it kind of flat in places you know it goes up or it has to be like a slope of certain degrees yeah yeah like if it's too steep then you're like okay well you gotta kind of like cut the ground down but then if it dips down you gotta to like fill it in and it's like a whole process you're like huh and that's even before you lay tracks and shit like wow yeah
Speaker: um Yeah, so like the train like the steam trains were still operating and then they were basically like digging beside it or like underneath it and stuff and making these new tunnels um and digging out all the dirt and everything.
Speaker: um There was different trains that they had during construction that were removing the excavated material. And delivering other construction supplies, kind of like back and forth. um And these also had to be scheduled to not interfere with the 75,000 to 100,000 daily passengers that were still riding the trains.
Speaker: Well, they're like, the trains will run on time. That was yeah Mussolini. with ah ah There was like spoil material or like stuff they didn't need. This I didn't like. yeah It was transported up to 40 miles away and then dumped into the Hudson nedz River. Oh. um Yeah, just fucking dump it in that river. all your waste. Oh, but they carried it upstream.
Speaker: Yeah. Like what? so Yeah. um Yeah, dumped it into the hudsons river or Hudson River to widen the railroads right of way for the creation of a train yard at the Croton on Hudson.
Speaker: I don't know what that means. I think that was from the um engineering website. I was just like, I don't know, but I wanted to keep in that they dumped stuff in the fucking river because I'm like, I'm going to mention that because i don't like that.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly. We can we can yeah you know appreciate the good parts, but still point out there was some flaws. Yes. ah The project served as the catalyst and anchor for a civil civic center within Manhattan as development above the rail yards, restored the street grid, and opened up 30 city blocks.
Speaker: ah so at first I didn't really understand what this meant but i guess like because the tracks were now going to be underground like now where those tracks used to be people could develop and stuff so this opened up 30 city blocks for like more development and everything in New York and it helped make the grid like they could continue kind of that checkerboard grid that they had going on um yeah where it used to be cut off by the tracks I guess Okay. ah
Speaker: It was the first station to use ramps on a large scale, largely eliminating staircases and entrances and exits were planned carefully and spaced far enough apart so that they wouldn't interfere with each other during peak times.
Speaker: That sounds smart. Yeah. um At the time, was there was and a baggage handling facility. Okay.
Speaker: Because I guess on the old steam trains, like, your baggage used to be stowed under, and people would, like... oh yeah, yeah, yeah. can pick Yeah, they would, like, put it under, but because people are doing, like, this is now going to be more, like, commuter-type stuff, um there was, like, a a baggage handling facility...
Speaker: that Kind of like how airports now, they like put your thing on and then it goes away and then you just continue on. um you're not like yeah yeah That's not the last thing you do before you get on the train. um ah It was like kind of a new invention, i guess.
Speaker: This eliminated passengers and baggage from being loaded or unloaded in the same location. And this was pioneering at the time and is now commonplace in modern rail and air transportation.
Speaker: At the time, it was basically unheard of. Yeah, probably just everybody got out and started milling around and going for their bags and it was probably chaos. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: i mean, we've all seen what people do when they're on airplanes. They don't act like humans. As soon as they're like, take off the seatbelt thing goes on, everybody stands up and you're like, we're going to be sitting here another half an hour. Like, calm down. Right.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to be looking at your ass in front of me. Yeah. I'll get up maybe to stretch my legs, but I'm not standing for half an hour. Okay. Oh, one time it was just at that time and then Pat had to fart.
Speaker: and Then you're all stuck in that little spot. Oh, no, that'll clear though that. That'll clear your space. Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, my God. ah Okay, so the station, ah when it when they were renovating it, it transferred into having 44 platforms glitched again.
Speaker: missing I know yeah and then like 30 seconds later it's probably gonna be like reconnected on the bottom i'll be like yeah I know
Speaker: we' start a new soon and then it'll hopefully work better don't know ah So the station, when like the one they're renovating or getting ready to open, had 44 platforms. That was the most of any train station in the world.
Speaker: And 41 of the platforms are still in use, ah while the extra ones store the extra train cars when they're not needed. And there is, I think, one other one that has a special purpose that we'll get into later that I thought was kind of cool.
Speaker: On February 2nd of 1913, Grand Central Terminal, as it's, think, now called. It's still called Grand Central Terminal, technically. Not Grand Central State.
Speaker: Wow, wow. uh it kind of twisted or wait hold on let me see let me see because it changes names there's three different names over the course of its life and that's why yeah my identity crisis
Speaker: Right. Everybody's like, every time we renovate it, we must rename it. um so In 1913, it opens as Grand Central Terminal to the public with more than like 150,000 people visiting and going through it on the first day.
Speaker: ah together with Penn Station, which was the other train station, they became like iconic landmarks in New York.
Speaker: And this new station continued to serve its public for decades. ah And I guess in 1947, station set a record,
Speaker: like record with sixty five million travelers And I think that was supposed to be in the year, but there's so many things I so read that said 65 million travelers in a day. and I was like, that cannot be right.
Speaker: There's no way 65 million people could ride like how many trains in one fucking day. That would be like the entire population probably of America at the time riding it like multiple times in a day. That's I don't think that's possible. It has to be 65 million in the year.
Speaker: You know, you're better at math than I am. But like, yeah. Well, like Canada, this i think Canada, we just hit 40 million people. and this is almost 80 years ago.
Speaker: so like that'd be the fucking population of Canada riding this train in a fucking day. i don't think so.
Speaker: Maybe it was year ago. Wild if true. it's gotta to be a year um but that was the record i guess 65 million and um i never saw anything saying any other amount so i think that's still the highest they ever saw i don't think they do that even now yeah just to adjust because they have more like cars and stuff yeah the sun went behind the cloud i think at the time Oh yeah, you're all dark.
Speaker: Yeah, I think like more people have cars and stuff now, so i think a lot of people travel. Like the taxis stuff.
Speaker: ah Yeah. But still, crazy amount of people. ah As the neighborhood and the areas prospered, so did Grand Central. And this was kind of interesting. I didn't realize it wasn't just like a station. it had other...
Speaker: like cool things in it. there was there There is an art gallery. There was an art school. There was a newsreel movie theater that was there.
Speaker: ah They also have a rail history museum. And then there was a bunch of like temporary exhibitions that used to get put on.
Speaker: um There's also a bunch of offices and like meeting and like conference rooms and everything and a whole bunch of restaurants and bars and stuff. I was like, oh, that's actually kind of cool. Like, i don't think I've ever really been heard about all that. Yeah. That's why i was like, it'd be cool because you can just go in and I assume you can just go in and like,
Speaker: If you have a pass to get through. I don't know at what point you have to swipe your like fucking like metro card or whatever it is. that right to get to the platforms? Oh, okay. I've been to... like There's a big one in Toronto can't remember the name of. but Yeah, you could just walk in and go kind of see the shops and then like yeah maybe down a level then there was the turnstile thingies and then that yeah then if you're actually getting on that's when you that's when you pay or whatever that'd be so cool yeah i would love to it would be so cool there was also the new york one would definitely be cool yeah yeah yeah the toronto one's not it looks old like you know what i mean like you get a feel that so like it's yeah the building is historic i don't know yeah i call yeah yeah
Speaker: pretty But yeah, there was also other stuff talking about like the question booth that they have in the middle because I assume like if I went there, I'd be like, sorry, can I just say ask you a question?
Speaker: How do I get? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because like, we're not. Oh, yeah, we're tourists. um Said something about like, they get like 1000 questions a day and like, all this stuff. It's like sitting in the middle of the main concourse.
Speaker: Okay. Okay. So we talked about what else it had. um Grand Central was the busiest train station in the US. And... Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, it's literally like a synonymous, like, with busy. Yeah. You know what i mean? Like, people are like, my house feels like Grand Central Station today. You know what i mean? Like, it's like an expression. of Yeah.
Speaker: Anyway. It had famous long distance trains, which had some cool names. um One of them was called the Fast Mail. Another one was called the Water Level Limited. Yeah.
Speaker: Water Level Limited. The Wolverine. ah like that. The dead. The dead. ass I don't know where it went. yeah I don't know where it went or where it was coming from. but and then there was also the 20th Century Limited, which sounds like it's sponsored.
Speaker: Limited. but Also, limited? Really? um That's what you're going with? Yeah, i was like, what? And these all departed from the main concourse, which is like the main, the area that's always shown when they're like, I'm in Grand Central Station in a movie. It's like, oh That main thing is called the main concourse. I was like i kept forgetting the word. Um...
Speaker: um
Speaker: Oh, this was from Architectural Digest um saying long before ah brands. Oh, there was like different brands that like had pop ups there to like advertise shopping. It was kind of fun um because it was such a big like area and there was so much traffic.
Speaker: So they would kind of like rent out like little like kiosk almost type things. So long before brands staged pop ups and activations, um In Vanderbilt Hall, a Grand Central Terminal served as a showcase for corporate America.
Speaker: In 1961, Oldsmobile, which was my first car, ah displayed one of its gleaming convertibles in the terminal. um So they had like a car there, you know, like they do at the mall, like at Westhead. They started that tradition? There was a car in the... Maybe. Maybe.
Speaker: Putting cars in places they shouldn't be. ah Yeah. With a show model. Yeah. Yeah. um So they had like a car there using the landmarks, monumental interiors and the steady stream of daily commuters as a ready-made audience.
Speaker: um Not all of these kind of things were welcomed, however, 1950. This sounds like some like... um this sounds like some like um dystopian shit they would do now.
Speaker: I'm surprised this was what started happening and back in 1950. It said in 1950, the terminal began piping commercials and music through the speakers in each of the rooms. But the backlash, which included boycotting the advertised products, was so strong that authorities had to cancel like that venture.
Speaker: I'm like, these started doing that in 1950s? Like, let's put ads through the speakers? That's crazy.
Speaker: Yeah, they also said that um they also said because it's got like those big windows in the main concourse that like let in all these all this nice natural light like there was starting to get like billboards that would like face the window. So instead of seeing outside you would be like looking at a fucking billboard and stuff and those were getting torn down like there was yeah people were trying to do shit.
Speaker: and then new york was not having it and ads i mean go to any comment section on any podcast lately it's like oh my god ads and other and but then the other people like literally just like just skip ahead yeah i'm like yeah this is like the i'm like this is it's crazy i wasn't expecting it's crazy that it worked them to yeah they're like railing against it so hard Yeah.
Speaker: ah So in 1963, New York, ah the New York City station operators um like that oversee all the train stations, they ended up actually demolishing Penn Station that was also like helping commuters out. um I did not know this.
Speaker: um They demolished it to make room for Madison Square Garden. Yeah. Yeah. They got the grand one. What do they need that little one for? Right. And that's part of the thing. So obviously it took more burden on Grand Central Station now. Or Grand Central Terminal. I'm sorry.
Speaker: To make room. So Madison Square Garden got built. And this was controversial at the... Yeah. Give me some MSG. Yeah.
Speaker: This controversial choice left grands state Grand Central as the main train terminal for the whole city. Grand Central. yeah However, decades of usage, sorry, of age, use, and lack of maintenance was beginning to cause problems.
Speaker: So, and more and more foot traffic coming in.
Speaker: This is a Oh my god, is this the original 9-11? Sorry, just got distracted by the date of this and what it is. That's crazy. It's a little um jump scare. Sorry, cut that out. That's when we tried to record on the anniversary.
Speaker: 25th anniversary. that's when we tried That would have been wild. ok ah Yeah. Ooh, weird. I rescind me saying this was the original 90s.
Speaker: okay. yeah Do you don't want to get canceled? It's still a really bad thing that happened. People are real. yeah they're They're real sensitive about that one. Yeah. They didn't like that old Donnie Trump was falling asleep during the ceremony. He couldn't stay awake to listen to all the names.
Speaker: He's too old. Oh, maybe. yeah maybe elect somebody fucking younger. Not your oldest president you have ever fucking had. ah Yeah. Oldest and dumbest. Anyway, somebody who doesn't need to wear compression socks.
Speaker: Sorry. and Anyway. Shit some stuff in public. Oh. no Did we say that? That's okay. they don't like He doesn't like us right now anyway. Yeah.
Speaker: Moving on. Yeah, this is pretty bad, but definitely could have been worse. On September 11th, 1976, some Croatian nationalists, everything said, planted a bomb in a coin locker in the station.
Speaker: The bomb, thankfully, was... um or sorry Yeah, the bomb was found, but as they were disarming it, it didn't it wasn't disarmed properly. and the explosion killed one of the bomb squad specialists and also injured three ah and NYPD officers.
Speaker: So, like, if it hadn't been found and had gone off, it would have been, like, absolutely devastating for how busy um the station is. but Wow, yeah.
Speaker: and Very, like, obviously it's tragic because somebody died, but very thankfully there was only one death. Because, yeah, there probably would have been, like, affecting the trains and then, like, that amount of anything with, like, that amount of people like the chaos and panic and everything can also cause deaths and yeah yeah and what it's like what were they even trying to say and never i'm not sure nothing things nothing really said and i don't know enough about politics to know but yeah
Speaker: In 1967, York City Landmarks Preservation Committee um tried to save the station, um like, to help them by granting it a landmark status.
Speaker: um So there was, like, this stuff about them wanting... like there was fights over the station for years at this point as developers were making plans to demolish the station and replace it with a skyscraper. That's what they wanted to do.
Speaker: um What? But obviously, yeah, obviously that would be very bad for like the actual general public and like commuting and that would have been a nightmare.
Speaker: So the preservation committee is like, okay, if we grant it landmark status, it like, It can't be demolished and it can't be altered like drastically like that.
Speaker: um This dispute that was like, yeah, going back and forth ended up going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And it lasted a long time because it it was not until like 1978 when they ruled in favor of saving Grand Central and allowed it to be preserved as a landmark.
Speaker: So it took them like 11 years to fight back and forth about that. Stupid. But in that time, obviously. Sorry.
Speaker: Made me think of something else. Anyway, go ahead.
Speaker: Yeah. there i just theres anyway go ahead yeah Their success in saving the station didn't do anything to fix the wear and tear that was still needing to be fixed.
Speaker: So... like because they were just trying to save it from demal getting demolished for 11 years, but they didn't mean that they had money to do all these crazy renovations. I think something said it took like $500 million, dollars this renovation, um that happened in the nineteen eighty s um to revitalize the station. um This this like um revitalization construction took over a decade again, but it was well worth it.
Speaker: um So it helped them fix like the interiors and problems they had been having. And was also interesting because they for the first time like cleaned the main concourse area.
Speaker: And because the ceiling was black. first time And they're like, we don't we don't think it's supposed to be black. So they they went about cleaning it all this grime and residue from what they thought was years of trains and like the steam trains coming through and just like soot from that. Yeah.
Speaker: That was removed from the ceilings. ah And in them cleaning it, it was actually determined that all of this residue was actually just from the commuters who were smoking in the main areas, had turned the ceiling black.
Speaker: ah So... Oh, no. Because there was no more coal. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah, they're just like, oh, we thought this was like, just residue from the steam trains. it's like, no, it's just from people smoking. ah Just millions of people smoking for decades.
Speaker: ah but underneath this ah like grime and everything revealed beautiful um it's like a sky mural and then there's like constellations which ah with I guess lights like there's like think something said like 2000 little lights in them that like form the constellations in the sky. That was actually underneath all the like dirt and grime.
Speaker: Oh, in the main concourse area. this Yeah. So it's a beautiful ceiling ah since they cleaned it. But they decided to leave. um It's by one of the constellations. I can't remember.
Speaker: what it said which one it was but they left one of the bricks um how it looked before they cleaned it so if you look up and look at one of the constellations you can see like a little black spot um because they left one of the bricks all black so that's how dirty the whole ceiling was so that people would see it guess i was trying to look at pictures but it was making the audio cut out on me but that's funny it reminds me of like that's the if it looks like the sky Like the Great Hall in Hogwarts.
Speaker: It was always magic to look like the sky. Whether it was like light out or dark. That's cool. Yeah. um I guess there was also billboards of some kind that were put up um that were also removed to like make it back to just like the nice stone work and everything that was done.
Speaker: Um, yeah, there's a bunch of little like areas you can get into that probably cool. um Located beneath the main concourse is this famed whispering gallery. It's decorated with these beautiful tiles.
Speaker: Yeah, it's like one of the ones who you stand at one end and then you like whisper and like the acoustics go through and then you can hear it on the other side. one of those kind of deals that's cool there's also the grand central oyster bar which is very famous um i read yeah they serve um drinks and everything and I saw a thing that said there was like stuff about the bar going back and forth but I guess now it's actually 100% owned by the employees of it which is kind of cool yeah that is cool yeah and it's still operating yeah sorry
Speaker: yeah this ah yeah two people can stand in separate corners and whisper something and they'll likely hear the other person that's the tiles I don't know why they have the oyster bar in the middle of there. um Right in the center of the main concourse.
Speaker: Oh, this is so stupid. The main concourse is this like clock that is at the top of, I think, the information or like booth. um It's a popular meeting point at the station.
Speaker: And this opal glass clock, everything i read was like, oh, yeah, it's real opal. And it's valued at like $20 million. dollars And it's like so amazing and expensive.
Speaker: And there's two different places that I guess ah are said to have evaluated it. um But neither of them have ever publicly confirmed what they evaluated it at, but everybody just says it's $20 million. Okay.
Speaker: okay Because they're they're trying to, like, pass it off as, like, Opal, but then other stuff is, like, it's Opal class, which is different. I don't know. So... It seems like it's not actually worth $20 million, dollars but yeah it's a very iconic place still. If you're being like, meet me at Grand Central, then you just say, oh, meet me right by the information booth at the clock.
Speaker: Yeah, we're an estimated every day at least a thousand questions are asked and answered. Gordo Goy. Yeah.
Speaker: So that's the like history of this haunted history. ah Now we can get into some of the haunteds, which are are kind of unique, let's say, to Grand Central Station.
Speaker: Nice. The... Yeah, um this first one is maybe one of the most famous ones that they talk about.
Speaker: um It's a presidential dog, which was kind of cool. so um President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he had a beloved Scottish terrier named Fala.
Speaker: It was a well-known ghost a story for Grand Central. i guess during Roosevelt's presidency, he sometimes traveled covertly on a private armored train um that was on track 61.
Speaker: So he had like his own train that they would use for him that was like heavily armored and his own on this track that like not too many people knew about ah it was a secret platform that was been train yeah that's how i felt kind of i was like yeah what would they call i'm like i was trying to think of like how how like air force train names like yeah because you were saying some of them had names like underground yeah underground force yeah oh god
Speaker: too many train names yeah so this this secret platform that was beneath the station like one of those ones um it had an elevator that led directly into the waldorf astoria hotel this was like a very famous hotel that a lot of influential people would stay at and then they would have a private elevator directly into grand central and they could use this track to like go and then get somewhere else but um President Roosevelt also used to use it, it seems like, but he had his own private car for when he was using it.
Speaker: And when he was using it, I guess he took his little dog um on these rides. And today people say that they see um like the ghost of his dog, his little Scottish terrier, ah in the shadowy corners and especially near the now closed off Track 61.
Speaker: cute yeah you can't really get to it but I guess the entrance to that elevator to go into the Waldorf Astoria hotel I guess it's welded shut um so like it's not accessible but the dog is also seen near there and maintenance workers and late night staff have seen the small black terrier running in the terminal before it vanishes into air into the air ah His barking has also been heard in empty corridors and most often he's heard late at night when it's the quietest at the station.
Speaker: he's seen by a lot of like employees and stuff in quieter areas of the station. That area. Wonderoy likes hanging out there. he likes going for rides. Yeah, right.
Speaker: Yeah, he liked the train. yeah There's also ah the story of the phantom train and the man in grey. A man in grey? It's of creepiest... Yeah.
Speaker: It's one of the creepiest tales, or legends, if you want to call it that. um It's of a midnight train and the man in grey saying grey-haired man was wearing a black hat had approached a station attendant late into the night and he claimed to be waiting for the midnight train to hell.
Speaker: As one does. um
Speaker: Midnight Meat Train. You ever see that movie? It's horror. I know, but I saw the... I watched the the one with... Oh
Speaker: um my god, I'm blanking on her name! No! Samara Weaver? It's a haunted... No, it's a train one, and it has... What did...
Speaker: now can think of it's Halloween it has Halloween yeah she's in it it's like older i think it's like 70s or 80s and it was like a killer on a train type thing i don't remember i think it had a Halloween costume party or something in it too but yeah um love a murder on a train yeah it was pretty good ah Yeah, so asks this agent, says, I'm taking the midnight train to hell.
Speaker: And the agent tries to tell him that there's no, there's no train to hell. ah But I guess the clock... You can to Sorry. The clock strikes midnight and a steam whistle is, like, pierces through the silence. And this ghostly street steam train appears on the platform uh despite the platform sorry i thought you were stopping for a sec i'll have to watch it despite the platform still being used um like being changed to electric tracks as the steam train is now like there
Speaker: Because it's a ghost train. Witnesses described a rush of hot air and an unmistakable steam engine. The man in gray then vanished, leaving behind only his hat. And then after he disappeared, this phantom train disappeared into the darkness.
Speaker: um And some people still say that they can hear like the steam train whistles and stuff through the tunnels, even though like that's Not possible.
Speaker: chugga, chugga, chugga. I don't know if I can do it. Yeah, because those, like, actual steam trains are so fucking loud. I can't imagine being stuck, like, in a tunnel with one of them going like, brrrr.
Speaker: Like, you lose your hearing. be crazy. It's so cool, though. You don't hear of ghost trains or cars. or It's always just ships.
Speaker: Yeah, I haven haven't heard too many. um Then there's, like, this famous ghost couple or ghostly couple at the Campbell Bar. That's another one of the bars, like the Oyster Bar.
Speaker: um It's...
Speaker: Oh, formerly a one of the offices of the financier, John W. Campbell. This is now converted into Campbell's Bar, and it's another main area for ghost activity.
Speaker: Staff and patrons have reported seeing an el elegantly dressed older couple in 1920s attire. They're often seen enjoying cocktails on the mezzanine or the balcony of the bar.
Speaker: So they just like sit out there. Yeah. um These sightings have even occurred after closing time, like when all the other patrons are out and they are like cleaning up and then they look out and this cute little couple's just on the balcony having a drink. And they're get out of here, we're closed. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, that's cute. ah They do so describe them as, like, friendly. um But in the bar, they have other activity, like cold spots. Sensations of being pushed or touched on the stairs.
Speaker: ah They've heard unusual noises. Yeah. One incident involved a woman who entered the upstairs bathroom and locked the door and then she vanished.
Speaker: ah But when staff like thought nothing of it at the beginning, but then eventually made their way upstairs and were like knocking on the door. And then when there was no answer because it was locked, they were like, okay, we're going to open the door.
Speaker: and they opened it and found it empty. and it had like been locked from the inside. that's pretty creepy. Yeah.
Speaker: I feel like it explains why sometimes you go in and there's a stall that's just locked. Like, but how? Yeah, that happens at my work. And ah the only thing we've been able to figure out is that the doors, like, because they, I don't know, they're weighted or hung in such a way that they, like,
Speaker: naturally always swing closed so that they're like closed um it's like the the door swings closed too hard sometimes and then the like momentum of that sometimes moves the lock and locks it oh my god yeah that's craziness yeah because i don't think anybody is locking the door from the inside and sliding on a public bathroom floor under the door i don't think people are doing that that's gross no Because it happens often enough that it's like, okay, the door's locked again.
Speaker: And we have some on the floor we're on now where it's like that they don't they actually have all doors that go all the way to the fucking floor. Shocker. Because, yeah, why don't we have those in America? it's kind of cool but they're very tiny most them are like an airplane i'm like you barely have to like you have to swing the door open and you're like practically leaning back over the stupid toilet it's like a toilet on a train almost um oh i hate that yeah they're so weird and then like yeah i thought my friend my friend mayola at work was saying something weird happened in one of them the other day where she was like i went into one stall and the other because the other two were like
Speaker: door shut and she's like, and I didn't hear anyone come out. And then I came out and both the doors were open. She was like, that was weird. She's like, didn't hear anybody come out of the the other stalls. I was like, Hmm, I don't know.
Speaker: But yeah. Ghost. Yeah. you campbell sorry In the Campbell Bar, ah ghost investigators and staff have blamed ah the spirits on the bar's history of celebrations, um like business dealings being made there, and even, I guess, briefly being used as a jail. that's true.
Speaker: Yeah, well there's a lot of history I had to cut out for this one, but I don't remember them talking too much about a jail. Right? right it Sounds like like, yeah, this was a pretty...
Speaker: pretty deep dive already its yeah even more i just have a couple things um so there's tracks like 112 and 114 where a ghost is said to haunt these tracks um maybe not anymore according to the legend a police officer was like super mad and finally just convinced the ghost to quote migrate south to Florida for the winter.
Speaker: Just like, get the fuck out of here. And I guess after that he said that to the ghost, ah the disturbances on those tracks disappeared. They stopped.
Speaker: um Weird. The ghost went to Florida and retired in Florida. Happy. very complacent ghost and just just complied right yeah he just didn't know where to go and then the police officer was like get your ass to Florida and he like okay I hear it's nice this time of year yeah um Grand Central is also many reportings of disembodied voices phantom footsteps being heard in quiet areas of the terminal often these occur late at night and in rarely used or quiet areas
Speaker: A lot of people that work there describe cold spots, um feelings of being watched, and fleeting glimpses of figures described to be boarding invisible trains, which is kind of creepy. i There was a truck go by in my neighborhood.
Speaker: If anybody heard a disturbance, it sounded like a ghost train. I didn't know if it got picked up. I don't think so. Okay. Yeah. Kind of cool.
Speaker: Damn. That's like a lot. I'm like, if it's always so busy and everything, especially during the day, i can get how it was would probably be pretty echoey and creepy if you were there at night, just because it is such a big building.
Speaker: oh yeah. And then when places are closed and you're not used to seeing them empty and stuff, it gives it that very c creepy liminal space vibe. Yeah, it's the back rooms all up in there. Like, 44 platforms of back rooms. I want to watch, I don't know if that, that one horror movie, Exit 8, it has to do with, like, some sort of platform or something.
Speaker: I don't know. I want to watch it. I haven't seen it. But the trailer always looked creepy to me. think it's to do with. Oh, yeah. What's something else? This is like new.
Speaker: Just came out this year. Yeah, that's ah that's all I got. There's a lot more history if people want to like deep dive into it, but it's like, damn, I couldn't cover much more. My segment would have been nine hours long.
Speaker: Right? I'd have to speed read through mine. No questions! sos like how How did mine still become four pages? i was like, oh, it cut out. Yeah.
Speaker: I was like, what's the bare bones of like an interesting stuff? was like, okay, let's talk about like i like innovation and some of the historical like spots and stuff. And I was like, I won't get into much else.
Speaker: Hey, well, people can listen to the history or they can skip through it. It's up to them. But I always think that kind of stuff is pretty cool. There's always some weird little It did.
Speaker: yeah Yeah. Made me want to visit. I was like, oh, the like, the fact that they figured that out so long ago. been like, oh, we were able to do this construction over 10 years without disrupting any of the existing trains and everything like that. I'm like, oh, that's pretty, actually pretty cool. that Like, yeah, it was so well, well planned. Yeah.
Speaker: Just from an engineering standpoint, yeah, it's pretty. Yeah, pretty cool. but Yeah, we will be back. I don't know. We'll take a break.
Speaker: I don't know if we're taking a break, but we'll have a break. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Yes. All right. Are we back? I think so. we Yeah, probably. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At some point, you know, I don't know. We're checking it. I finally check out out the pictures and it looks really cool.
Speaker: Yeah. Plus, like, presidential dog ghost. wasn't expecting that because you weren't covering the White House. I know, right? I didn't expect that either. They're like, our most famous is a dog. I'm like, what?
Speaker: a little time not a white lady a lady white yeah yeah not a single one but a man in gray who he wasn't even wearing gray he just had gray hair was that the one that left behind that was weird i was like okay he's on the midnight train to to to hell oh my god no now gonna have midnight train in georgia in my head again I think of that Journey song Midnight Drangle would be anywhere
Speaker: Oh Yes that one Don't stop bleeding Come on The ah boys this super famous Just classic Put it in a room full of white people And all of them are gonna fucking sing it My head radio is switching from channel to channel Every time you said oyster bar I was thinking of the Oh, no, the way to the old whiskey bar.
Speaker: Oh, don't ask why. You say that one? Okay. Only from The World's End.
Speaker: The what? They play it. The World's End, the Cornetto trilogy. They play it in one of the things. They're walking down the street when they're pretending. still don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker: You're making Google things. Um, Cornetto trilogy? Yes, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End. Oh.
Speaker: What's that?
Speaker: never heard I don't think I've ever heard call about Sorry That's what it's called They're very famously called the Cornetto Trilogy But Cornetto is an ice cream Yes, because there is an ice cream in each of the movies What?
Speaker: Cornetto ice cream Yes Why did I never look those up? They talk about them all the time on the Off Menu podcast because they're British people talking about food. They look like our drumsticks. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Speaker: I freaking love them. phonix oh cornettdo yeah oh Nick Frost has been on the Off Menu. Anyway, going to stop promoting other podcasts. They're pretty fun. cast like Yeah. God. Free ad space. I'm not even getting paid. I'm sorry.
Speaker: The other day Pat literally rolled his eyes at me and said, you talk about Ed Gamble like he's the only British guy you know. like, shut up. I was listening to a lot of podcasts. Okay? I'm sorry.
Speaker: Don't get out much. to take me out to do things. Oh, we did find a nice um park nearby. Like, I didn't know there's a provincial park within 20 minutes of our place. that is So it's provincial, so it's free.
Speaker: Yeah, it's got like a little... like a duck walk, my mom likes to call them. like It's got like a marshland area. It's called Lois Hole Centennial Park. Because we to name things after that Lois Hole lady. Apparently she did a lot of stuff.
Speaker: Doesn't like a hospital wing? Anyway. Yeah, it was really fun. Yeah, we took the dog a couple times now. And yeah, nice can like walk around this lake area. And I looked it up. It was called Big Lake. Yeah.
Speaker: Wow, so creative.
Speaker: Exactly. um Not like we have big lakes here. Yeah. in In what city limits or anything. Yeah. No, but why are some of the lakes in and Alberta named, like, kind of stupid things? like what's Why is it called Smokey Lake?
Speaker: My cousin lived for a while in the town, which is just called Cold Lake. So I'm assuming the lake there is just Cold Lake. Yeah.
Speaker: We're so fucking creative. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh, guys. Yeah. No, I love them. that Some of the historic places in Elbert have great names. But if we tried to rename them and we opened it up to the the public, it would just be like like Lakey Make the Lake Base.
Speaker: If there wasn't a lag, we would have said that at the same time, I swear. There's definitely lag. If there has been anything in the last 10 years, it's that anytime somebody has tried to name something by public poll or like...
Speaker: put in your suggestions anything it's always been whatever mick whatever face like without fail for like the last 10 years it's so fun actually i read that those those eagles they have had a nest cam in uh oh god cal ah california park fuck i forget the name of it now it's probably something really simple too um bear smoky bear the they Okay, the eagles the eaglets were to be named by like a third grade class.
Speaker: I don't know. they Now I'm trying to remember what their names were. Anyway, it was an eagle mcEagleface. Probably only because there's more than one.
Speaker: if it's It's when you give the option of only being one you get it, but if you have more than one, then people tend to actually give names. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's when the... <unk>s Yeah.
Speaker: So funny. That's the ah my favorite long-running joke that's been going on for like 10 years now. It's just that every time.
Speaker: Oh, yeah yeah. I can they' already guess. They're like, we've opened up to get the names to the public and immediately on whatever make whatever face, this is going to be one of them. yeah It's just got to be.
Speaker: Big Bear. that's what anyway That's the place with the eagles. One of them is named Jackie.
Speaker: oh Okay. Likely name for a baby eagle. Jackie. This is Jackie. What should we name? I always, yeah. Or maybe it's a tradition. seems like sometimes it's my mom that names my cars because she did give me the first one. We had Sophia the Sorrento.
Speaker: It's very Italian, right? Alliteration. yeah What was the first one? Anyway, need to name my new car. What are we going to name my Ford Edge? Something and starts with F or something that starts with E?
Speaker: Could be like Fiona. I don't know. Maybe she doesn't feel like a Fiona. Write us in. It's black. We'll see. Yeah. yeah Come up with your...
Speaker: Your best suggestion. Or Alana's family. Way in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys the name her car for her. It's so funny. Once mom gets to episode because she's behind on them.
Speaker: All Anyway. Shout out if you've ever named cars. We had one called the Peekmobile. Yeah. Nice.
Speaker: Pads are easy because I can just call it the Patmobile, the Paddy Wagon. Yeah. He doesn't love it. It doesn't catch on. Stop trying to make Patmobile happen. It's never going to happen.
Speaker: Oh my God. Anyway. Okay. So yeah. When you were said, when you had suggested like the historic haunted places,
Speaker: course i was just tickled because i love historic and i thought ah thought oh geez like you know what do i want to do like you think like the white house that's been done and then i went to see if there was maybe something like in um our capital city like to see if there's a haunted parliament building which is like our oh yeah well not really our equivalent but i guess maybe the equivalent of like the capitol building or i don't know american politics anymore and i don't care to
Speaker: Yeah. Anyway, we've bashed America enough. I'm so sorry. I know we have American listeners. We know you're not all assholes and we love you. We're bashing your government and not you. Yeah. There's a distinction.
Speaker: Exactly. And a lot of them are doing that bashing it too. Yeah. Okay. So on to our shitty government. No. No. So our capital city of Ottawa. Yes, it's Ottawa, not Toronto.
Speaker: Fun fact. you didn't know. Yes. We have more than two cities in Canada. Yeah. Well, it is the biggest city in Ontario, so you'd think, but it's, yeah.
Speaker: I don't know if they changed it or they wanted to make, you don't always want it to, like, sometimes they move capitals because they're like, oh, this one's not very secure. or We don't want it on the water. or Like, you know what i mean? Like when we were in travel school, they would be teaching us capitals of places and they'd be like, and this one's not an obvious one.
Speaker: You know what i mean? And so it's like, like Toronto, Ottawa, or like, you know, the capital of British Columbia isn't Vancouver. It's Victoria. You know what I mean its It's not always the obvious one. Yeah. yeah um Anyway, so all that to say, I don't know why it's Ottawa, but that's where we're going.
Speaker: It's a lovely beautiful city. Yes. I've had family live there. And so I've visited a few times and, you know, you've got the canal, you got the, Yeah, Parliament and all that.
Speaker: I've never really been. we had a Leo. vo we I flew into there and then drove out of it back to like Manitoba. But yeah, so I've never like really properly been too much. so We are talking about maybe going to like Montreal.
Speaker: Oh, hell yeah. And like Quebec or something next summer. Yeah, speaking of bagels. So we'll see. Yeah, that'll be like different for sure. Oh, yeah. Oh, you want me to take you out east? You're so bright. I know.
Speaker: All of a sudden your screen was just your head and then a halo of white. And I can't stop. It's like ah I can't stop looking at ah my face in the horrible lighting like like a train wreck that I just can't look away.
Speaker: Don't pay attention to it. No, look at Kelsey. She's much nicer to look at. All I have to do is move my head and it's fine. put it back.
Speaker: Oh, God. Sorry. Okay. ah So to Ottawa and the old Ottawa jail, a.k.a. the Carleton County Jail. She's got a few names.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah. This one is also old, 1800s, 1862, first opened. So similar timeframe.
Speaker: And I don't have as much history. Sorry, guys. Or you're welcome. Either way. yeah It'll balance out. um It was considered quite modern at the time. ah And it's it then it was in use for over a century.
Speaker: ah damn But, you know, at the time, those places were... I think it was considered modern in architecture terms and not ah cleanliness and that other stuff you want to have.
Speaker: Probably not. Yeah, it's like those old jails, those old sanitariums and whatnot. It was described as a madhouse.
Speaker: Lovely. phil Yeah. Yeah. It was at times filled to person with men, women, and children. you know, because go to jail for reading too much or whatever.
Speaker: Like those other places.
Speaker: Had a horrible history of violent guards, high death rates. Probably due to violent guards and bad conditions. I'm guessing. Yeah. um Yeah, pretty bad. Like they would use food deprivation as a punishment.
Speaker: And most people didn't get to eat much more than one meal a day. Yeah. That's...
Speaker: Anybody who's ever had faced any food insecurity to knows how much... Yeah, it sucks to be hungry. Yeah. Yeah. They were mostly then just left to their own devices.
Speaker: Yeah, pretty unsupervised. And if they got rowdy, they'd throw them in the hole. Just like watching any old prison show. Yeah, like Shawshank.
Speaker: Shawshank of you. just fear The light's gone again. Jesus. Yeah. What's happening?
Speaker: I need a flashlight under my chin. I know i can barely see your face. um Okay, so when they were thrown in the hole, they were... yeah so that solitary cell was stone cold. They were left there nude. don't know how many times I saw them throw in Christopher Maloney nude on Oz, but... Pause, rewind. No, i'm just kidding. Ha ha
Speaker: I know people like to look at his butt, but I don't mind looking at his front, I'll tell you what. Anyway. ah Yeah, here we're all for equal nudity in movies and TV shows.
Speaker: Hell yeah. People were praising Game of Thrones for at least having some dongs instead of we're always will seeing full frontal female nudity. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. Jesus. That's what the equal rights movement wanted all along. Yeah. More dong. Okay.
Speaker: I'm going stop sounding so happy describing these horrible things. Yeah. Then we left alone. bad. So bad. ah This is probably one of the worst parts. a Left alone in the hole for 23 hours and 45 minutes per day and only got 15 minutes to stretch and exercise.
Speaker: Damn. Yes. The boredom. Oh my god. um Yeah. And then there were sick people when the basement was a quarantine zone.
Speaker: So entire families. Yeah. You're like, not only. You've got like a leper colony under here. No. I don't think was lepers.
Speaker: But entire families would be shut up. Quarantine down there. I suppose to either get better or just die. Whatever. Whatever. you know, comes first. um And somehow the whole thing stayed open until like 1972. So I don't know how long those type of conditions lasted.
Speaker: a Oh, but yeah, not that long. I think they started, they must have started putting in like general wellness requirements.
Speaker: Yeah. Hopefully still not quarantining whole families, but I'm sure they probably still had the whole, I'm guessing. And then they just like were like, fun fact, they had no toilets, vents or lights. And I was like, again, just at the beginning. like No lights ever.
Speaker: No lights.
Speaker: That's one source said. don't know. I wonder if if I looked into it more because then there was like. I remember some of the sanitariums and stuff then were made in a style and then they named it after the guy who came up with the style and they were like, let's put in more sunshine and like actually allow them to see outside. Yeah, it looks like there's like quite a bit of like windows across from like each of the cells. So... Yeah, I think saw some sort of outdoor corridor. Honestly, they didn't look too long at the pictures, but...
Speaker: interesting so yeah so of course the area around the hole jesus christ i'm gonna stop saying that describe the hole to me what did it look like i know it sounds like a call to your doctor the area around the hole is very uh dark
Speaker: it's down by the laundry room it's dumb but but um it's down normal um yes sorry so nowadays investigators will go there uh you know psychics love go there and be like oh savvy energy and stuff investigate um also i found that uh there was a mysterious note once found in a secret hidden staircase oh gordo's back if he starts purring he woke up and now he's right beside the mic again classic gordo yeah he's the um
Speaker: What, the third act entertainment? give sheana a gi If you give a Gordo a mic. Yeah, so you will burn into it. Yeah. that oh Okay, secret note, read.
Speaker: i am non-veridical vampire. Vampire. Sorry, I was not expecting that. okay I don't know. It's not even word I've ever heard.
Speaker: of vertical or it's not vertical no it's spelled oh it's spelled almost vertical v-e-r-i-d-i-c-a-l veridical veridical don't know new types of vampires okay go or so somebody's writing a screenplay like the what are they called in cats jellicle cats I don't know. I'm staying away from that for my entire life.
Speaker: Release the butthole cut! If I ever engage with any of the cats, like... Oh, then I'll know you're taken over by a demon? Yeah, if I ever mention fucking um whatever the main cat's name is.
Speaker: Starts with a J, doesn't it? Oh, no. There's a, somebody's name is Mr. Misopheles. I heard that on a podcast when somebody was talking about they the person they were working with was naming their 50 cats.
Speaker: Oh, I forgot about Mr. Misopheles. Oh my God. What? fifty Don't ask where I heard that. I don't remember. Okay.
Speaker: Sorry. i got three words into that and I couldn't contain myself. It said, I am a non-veridical vampire who will vanquish you all. ah venomin One by one.
Speaker: i will ornate your odorous flesh with famished fangs. But who? what Question mark. A book on the top shelf will lead you on the night path.
Speaker: And that was it. Except for a signature? ah I don't know. it was They called it an inverted code. But it just read like capital S... The number three lowercase a. And it was in a circle. It's very like Zodiac killer. I don't know. Yeah, was just going to say original Zodiac. Vampire.
Speaker: crazy person manifesto yeah who was also almost V for Vendetta and then he changed to F's in the middle of the sentence i was like oh you were so close everything was V's and then it was like oh now it's F's uterus flesh with famished fangs
Speaker: oh I'm not okay whom um yes Gordo I'm so glad we're putting you to sleep. No, I don't know. um I'm clutching Gordo because I'm so scared of this vampire.
Speaker: um not the vampire Fabio. Oh my god. Lustat is so funny. in events Okay. Gordo! Sorry, he just like headbutted the mic. i don't know what that sounded like.
Speaker: It was like, bonk! Can I just tell you, when I woke up this morning and I was in a great mood, but then I was watching a video that had the the actors from the list at show reading thirst tweets about their characters oh no i was like i'm so confused they were like they have a lot of opinions on these dynamics
Speaker: like term terms i've just yeah omega alpha bussy Yes! he always they really They always bring up Bussy now and then somebody has to explain it to the celebrities. Somebody else awkwardly sits there. How did he say it? He was like, Bussy? And they were like, actually it's pronounced Bussy. And he's like, what? I'm still not saying it right.
Speaker: I was like, I don't understand. Does it mean like butt pussy? The internet is a wonderful place. So funny. Ugh.
Speaker: Jesus Christ. Oh my God, we're so off track. Okay. My favorite one of those ever, sorry, not to get more off track. No, I'm the worst. One of my favorite one of those ever was, um is it Tom tom Ellis that played Lucifer?
Speaker: Look up his his. His answer to every single one of them was like, when and where? there and it's like like yes and and yeah oh i love that energy yeah yeah it was just like i want him to fuck me through a wall and he's like that sounds fun like where when like all these things and everything they could be be like you have a great imagination like tell me more oh no they're all so filthy they were actually like insane
Speaker: like some of the most unhinged this was years ago this was probably like four or five years ago so at that point like those were the most unhinged ones like that were released and he was like yeah sure all four because like that's his character he was like playing it up and was like you're playing whistle yeah yeah so funny gosh should we a fanfic patreon oh god there's cryptid stuff i swear i've talked about it before oh no i i don't think i could read about mothman's butt or abs no see yeah something like had some chuck tingle author or something oh i don't remember but because of that statue oh anyway Or Bigfoot.
Speaker: Bigfoot fanfic. It exists. It has It's about Bigfeet.
Speaker: Kelsey's drinking. I'm trying get to do a spit take now. oh Anyway. Continue. Tell me more about the prison, the inhumane prison conditions.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. On to the ghosts, actually. Oh, okay. Okay, talk about ghosts. Yeah. The most prominent person who haunts the property now is a Patrick Whalen. Ooh, ghostly Patrick. Why does that Maybe it's just the last name, Whalen. sounds familiar.
Speaker: It does kind of, right? ah Yeah. yeah Whalen...
Speaker: no
Speaker: Waylon was a nomadic man who wandered into Canada and joined the military in 1865. Fascinating. me i lived Back when you could just wander into Canada.
Speaker: Just walking in and like, suddenly I'm in Canada. I can't live here now.
Speaker: Yeah, we'll take you. Yeah, he'd lived in Buffalo. so ooh New York connection. hu Then he'd lived in Hamilton um and finally settled settled in Montreal, which is getting brought up a lot on this episode.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He settled in Montreal. I believe he was ah living or in a relationship with a woman named Bridget Boyle, who was 30 years his senior or 57 he was 27 damn yeah and when was this sorry last thing i remember it's still the 1860s or no you just like other history so okay now we're back to hauntings okay so back in time i was just like what's it when is this 1970 yeah was this kosher then uh yeah kind of
Speaker: They're both consenting adults. And I like that the woman's older. 27 also isn't a terrible age. i feel like if you're... I feel like almost any age, if the person's kind of like over the age of 25...
Speaker: And almost any other age, it's fine. yeah at all at that point, nobody can really tell you what to do. Unless you've lived like an incredibly crazy sheltered life, I don't think anybody can manage to get to 25 without being basically a functional adult.
Speaker: Exactly. Yeah, you should be mature. o but to These kids these days. They're not living in the crazy existence we were sometimes. ah No.
Speaker: ah By the time i was my kid's age, I was ah pregnant with her. Yeah, I was just going to say.
Speaker: Oh, God. Anyway. okay oh yeah don't think about it too much don't think about it too much oh it's fine i love it i love that the new generation are like hey if we don't want to start like drinking and stuff right away and like you know it's like whatever that's fine yeah you know you don't have to do what your parents do or whatever they'll always find a way to rebel anyway Yeah. I'm going to start a TikTok account. yeah
Speaker: You're like, no! going to go straight Christian. but but No! So, okay, yeah. By 1868, this other guy, Thomas Darcy McGee, apparently a founding father of Confederation in Canada, which is...
Speaker: to got Whatever. Confederation, not the same more as it meant in the States with the confederate. That's what we call like our making of the country.
Speaker: Basically. That's why I'm always confused. I was like, is that fact?
Speaker: No, we like it because we named... You were speaking of civil engineering earlier, and that made me think, yeah that's my dad's job. And he worked on the Confederation Bridge, which was a marvel that connects PEI to New Brunswick. And it's the longest bridge over ice-covered ice covered waters, I think.
Speaker: so anyway I hate those videos of people driving on those. I'm like, thank you. Oh, it's weird because, yeah, there's like a dip where you like can't see the rest of the bridge for a minute. It's kind of cool.
Speaker: I don't want to drive on a roller coaster. Well, before that, you to take the ferry, so it's much more convenient. and Oh, yeah. I'm proud you got to work on it.
Speaker: Okay, so yes, all that to say, Founding Father. confederation canada pat this guy Thomas was Darcy McGee he returns home from somewhere i don't know and i'm giving you guys all the too long didn't read reddit not the full seat which is unusual don't know where who cares I don't know. Yeah, I've been busy at work too, guys. I'm sorry.
Speaker: um So he was, yeah, he was known as a former advisory to British politics, but then changed his allegiances after a political defeat. ah So for this Pat Whalen guy, that was ah not not it. He didn't like that.
Speaker: So they didn't share the same sentiments and whatever, political rivals, you know, all this to say, I guess that's the motive for the murder. So one night when Thomas went to get back into his boarding house, he was shot as he reached for his keys.
Speaker: The boarding house owner, Mary Ann Trotter, was opening the door for him when he she was like, oh, where are my keys? And she just sees him get shot through the neck and fall down. Damn.
Speaker: uh yeah it's like pretty crazy he uh yes he was hit by a bullet from a 32 pistol 32 caliber pistol du whatever that's all it said um but it apparently hit him so hard that it knocked his dentures out which is crazy i know big weird ah bad bad dentures
Speaker: I mean, it is 18, like, yeah, 18, Yeah, I gonna say, was this the famous president or whatever that they said had wooden teeth, Washington?
Speaker: They were probably slave teeth. Wooden teeth wouldn't actually work that well. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. A common misconception, I think. um So Thomas Darcy McGee died right there on Spark Street where he lived and the Waylon, Patrick Waylon became a top suspect.
Speaker: So he was found to have the same kind of gun. Yeah, apparently they arrested him. He stood trial and was sentenced to hang. All it took. I don't know. and bar You own the same gun.
Speaker: Done. Or were they just like John Mulaney cops? Mop it up, I have a hunch. Yeah. ah He would deny the murder and continue to do so as he walked out of the courthouse after sentencing, i guess.
Speaker: He said, I'm held to be a murderer. I'm here standing on the brink of my grave and I wish to declare to you and to my God that I am innocent, that I never committed this deed. So...
Speaker: He was hanged on February 11th, 1869 in the gallows of the jail in front of a crowd of 5,000. Ooh, should got picture of the gallows. Yeah, the gaput you can still see the gallows there.
Speaker: Like, public hanging thing. I know, still in the 1800s.
Speaker: We got no TV. gotta watch people die somehow. the true yeah The true crime ah phenomenon was alive and well and even grosser than today. we we you know We try to do better now.
Speaker: But yeah, so he could have been innocent. Totally. I don't know. And maybe that's why he still haunts death row where people hear noises, feel heavy dread, depression, and they see him gliding along in the cell and in the hallway.
Speaker: Creepy.
Speaker: Yeah. um i know that one didn't have a lot this is why ended up with like a listicle mine had short ah stories and stuff so i was like yeah there was uh there's another haunted place called friday It was called Friday's Roast Beef House.
Speaker: oh Hard swing. Totally. Okay, hold on. just do Just talking about prisons and yeah death sentences. And now we're talking about what? Friday's Beef Swing? Yeah,
Speaker: it becomes this restaurant, this place called Friday's Roast Beef House. beef okay yeah like and it's haunted yeah okay so i know we need to do haunt we need to legit do haunted restaurants um okay so it was originally built in 1875 alexander grant alexander grant so it's called the grand alexander beef house but there's one whenever i read it in like outland or whatever and it makes me laugh it's like the society for the appreciation of the english beefsteak and it's like a gentleman's club oh my sign me up that sounds great
Speaker: ah Yeah. um Okay, so built for the Sir James Alexander Grant, ah highly regarded as a medical expert. He was prominent in political circles. I feel like I probably have heard of him. i don't know.
Speaker: ah He was known to be eccentric. And after it was his place, it ah became in 1972. We keep going back to the 70s here. Wow, that was a long time.
Speaker: Beef restaurant. It was like 100 years. It was something else. Yeah, I was a little unclear because it was, yeah, it was that, it was this restaurant.
Speaker: don't think it had another name. Whatever. Even the jail. but it's If you look up the jail now, it's a hostel. It's still there, but it's got a completely different name and it's a hostel.
Speaker: Anyway. Damn. So, yeah. I didn't go hard into the history.
Speaker: Well, at least if they're like preserving it and have like repurposed it like that's not too bad yeah it's cool the ghosts are like we'll stick around and then renovations they love renovations or hate them means more ghosts when you open up the walls it releases the other ghosts
Speaker: um now someone's lawn mowing out there jesus cold spots oh it's a steak and beef heavy restaurant with warm and rustic charm and ghosts and yeah and cold spots and spirits who can be heard ah breathing loudly and coughing which is annoying oh in your restaurant if you have misophonia you're fucked you're like stop it stop coughing and panting um and something dr grant might haunt the building i don't know how accurate or nice this is to him but uh sometimes women feel eyes on them in the washroom
Speaker: so cool yeah peeping tom yeah don't at me i don't know if he was really a pervert or not Yeah, i was going to say he used to be a respectable doctor. Yeah.
Speaker: They're not all respectable doctors. Okay. um So, funnily enough, this is another one, and the longer one. But I didn't get any pictures of it.
Speaker: But there probably is some. I'm terrible. um It's called the Lisgar Collegiate I think that's how you say that word. Institute.
Speaker: Lisgar Collegeate Institute. So it it came up on one listicle as like haunted high school. it was like, what? Okay. hu Yeah. It's a historic building that stands on 29 Lisgar Street in Ottawa and has since 1873.
Speaker: ah Most notably known for a haunted fourth floor, which they now call the fifth floor, but they're not fooling us. Oh my God. One of those. We have no third floor.
Speaker: Yeah, we have no 13th floor. Go straight up. ah ah So in the 1940s, the school's head girl was struck in the head by a slab of falling ice and killed.
Speaker: Fell right off the roof. Damn. Yeah, so after that, the section that lies beneath the steep fourth floor attic was then closed off. I mean, good job, I guess. Yeah.
Speaker: Although one source said they couldn't find anything to back this up. So it could all be the school rumor. You know what i mean? Yeah. ah But yeah, apparently it had snowed, the story goes, and then iced over. of course it became really heavy. And as we all know, you don't stand underneath an overhang of snow and bash it with your broom because you will get hit by it.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Shit just be falling off your roof when it starts to melt. But now she haunts the area where they see a slim girl in the attic window or some people hear her unearthly shrieking and they get too close.
Speaker: Fun. Creepy. Yeah. And then it's kind of like those or what was it? The couple ghosts you said they had seen they're open. Oh, yeah. They're not too bad.
Speaker: Yeah, and then this is like the the fourth floor or the attic or the fifth floor, or whatever we're calling it. It's not even fully got a floor. It's got planks like going across. Oh, so can't even really walk up there well? Not really. It was basically just used as storage for like sports equipment and stuff like that. And then by the Lisgar Rifle Club and the Cadet Corps as like a shooting range. So they would lie on the planks. What? Oh God.
Speaker: From a lying position. Yeah. Kind of cool. Inside a building. Yes. Wonderful. Apparently. i don't know if they're just, i don't know if they're shooting or just like practicing positions. don't know.
Speaker: But, um, There's another ghost that is also sometimes seen in this area. It is probably one of the custodians who was, you know, responsible for shoveling that snow off the steep attic roof and stuff like that. Like they'd have to go out to this little ledge and stuff. And he was given a nickname at his during his time there because he was not very nice. And they called him the Asp.
Speaker: but Do you know what an Asp is? The No, what's that? It's a kind of snake, I guess. Oh. And I think the first time I learned that was because R.E.M. has a song, the Man on the Moon song, where they he goes, Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp. And I'm like, are they saying asp?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That part. Anyway. Shout out to R.E.M. ah So this guy called the Asp. He's nasty, mean to the students. So they called him that.
Speaker: And ah he died there, which I won't explain. But yeah, then so now there's like cold spots and strange noises, of course, and lights that turn on and off.
Speaker: So from WordPress.com article, Untold Stories of the Fourth Floor by Sam yi Many years ago, there was a custodian who the stick students nicknamed the ASP. According to several former students, he always seemed to appear out of thin air to chastise the students about not cleaning up after themselves.
Speaker: Oh, my God. I mean, if I was a custodian, I'd be yelling at kids all the time, too. Yes. Pick up your garbage. ah Some say this Custodian resembled a cranky old koala who just wanted to nap.
Speaker: I like their description. They said, honestly, that description... Yeah, and then it's like in brackets. Honestly, that description sounds like most grade 12s suffering from senioritis, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a mix-up.
Speaker: um And then it goes on. However, despite his more unfavorable traits, the asp was supposedly the quickest to fix anything broken in and building in the building, and a loyal member of the school staff.
Speaker: And legend has it that one cold, icy morning... Yeah, he's good at his stuff. He was at least, competent. Exactly. That's why I didn't like him. No.
Speaker: Yeah. um Legend has it that one cold, icy morning, the asp went up to the school's roof, ah and sadly he slipped and fell to his death 30 meters below. Damn.
Speaker: Yeah. And then strange happenings began to occur shortly after the death of this custodian. Other custodians reported feeling like they were constantly being watched. Some reported bizarre noises from up above and others claimed they saw lights flicker at any mention of the missing custodian as if he was listening to their conversation through the walls and ceiling.
Speaker: End quote. creepy he's just like over their shoulder being like i wouldn't clean that like that you missed a spot it's micromanaging from beyond the grave um no but seriously it because the the the last part there was like uh in the 70s again at the 70s and a renovation uh revealed evidence of something strange and the walls you knew said something about the walls no there was a head body
Speaker: Oh, God. always No. It's a body in walls. A million dollars. There's money or guns or drugs for a body.
Speaker: Sorry. I remember we were watching something where there was like a boy in the floor. That was horrible. Okay. um There was evidence of former electrical fires that had started between the walls of the attic.
Speaker: um They found signs that the fires had been smothered or put out somehow. So they found evidence that they had been put out in the walls after they'd been started. So they thought the asp was still looking after the place. even He didn't want the school to burn down.
Speaker: Yes! Which I thought pretty cool. And then it just said that now it's a haunt they run a haunted house there and it's an annual tradition put on by the Spirit Committee started in 2016.
Speaker: be is it yeah Is it still a school then? think so. Yeah, that's kind of fun.
Speaker: Oh, sorry. You know me, I over research or apparently some I under research because can't find enough. That's okay. Mine ended up being way longer than I thought it would be.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. We're, like, we'll be okay. But what as this stands, we're already at an hour and a half for this second recording. The first one was half an hour. This is it like two hours again. How does this keep happening?
Speaker: Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, once we cut out some of the intro crap, we'll see. Because we probably blathered on for a few minutes. But give the people what they want. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. And it had just been weeks and weeks since we... Got to talk. We've been texting, but... That's true. Talked in a lot of time.
Speaker: I've been like, hey, y'all good over there? Been a minute. oh Yeah. Hope she's still kicking. Yeah. Just lying on my couch being like, I'm watching TV.
Speaker: Oh my god. Yeah. ah Yeah, send thoughts and prayers. No, I'm just kidding. I'm dramatic. No, no, no. um Yeah. Yes. We thank you for your patience.
Speaker: Yeah. we hope everyone Hope everyone is feeling well on the mend, doing as good as can be. Yeah. Thriving. or surviving whatever you can manage yeah yeah and we've got a patreon coming up we just picked it so we don't have it recorded yet but we uh yeah we know we didn't get one out in the last 30 days so we'll make sure to have their what did we decide on the next bonus one out
Speaker: I don't know. I don't even have that open anymore. i had to close my brain tabs. ah I know. I'm doing such a good job promoting it. um Whatever.
Speaker: it's It's in there. It's in my book. Duly noted. we'll We'll keep you guys updated. Yeah. and we post It'll be there. We'll do it. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Might even start that buy me a coffee if people don't want to commit, but they just want to support with the one-time donation.
Speaker: We'll take your money any way you want. Do have an ice cream truck? Yeah! I'm like, ice cream? I hear it. Yeah. We're in a fever dream. It's September. what i know most places are still hot, but we've been cooling off a bit, so...
Speaker: I don't know. Oh, it's been crazy. it was like as soon as it hit September 1st, it's like, hey, you're going to be like 10 degrees cooler every day. my god. Seriously, right? Also, what's with the Ice Cream Truck Man horror theme?
Speaker: I feel like there was like a new movie and then watched... Ice Cream Man or whatever? Is that what it's called? I think there's one of them that keeps getting recommended to me. I was like, I don't know.
Speaker: Oh, I don't know. But yeah, there's the bad guy in the Mr. Mercedes series, which is based off the stevenson Stephen King trilogy. He's a creepy ice cream truck guy.
Speaker: But also murdery and psycho-y. Damn. It's great. It's good.
Speaker: Yep. That's all on that. You got anything? ah No. i I already told you what I have been watching lately. Oh, adults.
Speaker: Adults. Yeah. If anybody out there needs a TV show recommendation, watch watch adults. That's so funny. I'm dying. I wrote it down. It's so funny. I'm watching all of the traitors.
Speaker: yeah Please do more episodes per season. bring Bring back 20 episode seasons for like all shows. I want filler episodes. i want a random musical. i want a random dance episode and like bottle episodes that don't further the plot. Stop stop your eight episode and six episode seasons. If you're not a limited. no Yeah. Yeah. yeah if you're not If you're not a limited series, you you shouldn't only be six episodes or eight episodes long. Yeah, man.
Speaker: Yeah. Sucks. Yeah. Anyway. yeahover ah Yeah. All right. I guess we'll see you next week. Oh, that's what i was checking. um Ah, for. We'll see you.
Speaker: Celebrity TV star crime. So. Yeah. In October. Yes. See you next time. but Oh, right. Yeah. Unless you want to come back for our Patreon. Join Patreon and do it, do it now.
Speaker: Uh, yes. Pretty big backlog of content there. And trying to put out more as we go along. I would like to be able to put out like one, you know, bonus episode where we do, yeah, like our little research or whatever. And then more and one where we just get to go over our saves and our fun finds and stuff. And yeah fun and they're shorter and they're less hard on us.
Speaker: And Kelsey loves robot failing videos, which I was going to tell you at the beginning the Weird Al concert we went to He opened with that. I don't remember his name. Some sad clown guy.
Speaker: Whatever. Something the something clown. Not Sam the Samdown clown. But he had and then he had a thing where he was singing this song and then it was these robots and they were all fucking failing on the screen. And was like, Kelsey would love this. It's one compilation videos of robots doing stupid things.
Speaker: And he was singing about them. Being like, yeah, they're not going to take over our world something. was like, this is great. That's I forgot you were going to Weird Al. was fun. I saw him out of...
Speaker: i saw him probably seven or eight years ago. oh you did? Oh, nice. Yeah, he came. Yeah, it was part of, like, a comedy thing. So they did they did a couple of his, like, more well-known, like, parody songs, but a lot more of like, his actual, like, original songs.
Speaker: And then... Nice. I love the classics. It was okay. The rest of my family didn't really... end up caring for it i was like oh my god oh my god the people that were the elliot everyone was so into people were dressed up like the vibe it was like no it was so epic yeah oh that's so fun and i remember the opening person was like a stand-up comedian though so it was like a weird vibe it was pretty good but he was like older he was quite a bit like older and then yeah so it's like yeah it was a different vibe I think but no that sounds fun oh okay
Speaker: Oh, that was great. i was like, i wish I had taken pictures, but then i was just like, nah, I just was there enjoying it. But like, he did come out dressed up and like, I don't know, something. He was was was in the Rogers or whatever arena. So then he was like walking past the Oilers staff and he's dressed up and he's wearing his like, don't know. I was like, ah, you're in Edmonton and you can tell and you're here. and You're amazing.
Speaker: And then he like had 17 million different outfits. Like when he was doing the fat song, he was in a fat suit. It was like, you're amazing. Oh my God. my God. Yeah. This, when we went, it was like a tiny show at River Cree, I think.
Speaker: like it was way different cool this was like tiny tiny show at river creek do you know what just opened there hell's kitchen oh is that where pretty sure yeah we just got a hell's kitchen at one of the freaking casinos that just opened Which is like, oh my god.
Speaker: I could try a sort of sticky toppy pudding once I have like $1,000 to go spend there. yeah You know. Yeah, if it's not like the burger place. The burger place is supposed to be like the reasonable ones.
Speaker: Oh yeah, didn't we try to go there? We were thinking about it when we were in Vegas, but... I think we were going to try. We never got around to it. There's so much other stuff going on.
Speaker: Yeah. You probably got to have a reservation. But. Yeah. Anyway. Until next time.
Speaker: Yeah. Keep it cryptic. right. Stop.
Speaker: It's Tuesday, and you're listening to Murder Unscripted.
Speaker: My name's Ed. For the past two decades, I've been producing true crime content for some of your favorite networks like Hulu, Oxygen, and of course, Investigation Discovery. And I'm Melissa, Ed's bestie and walking, talking true crime database.
Speaker: We've combined my behind-the-scenes insight with Melissa's morbid curiosity to bring you a podcast that immerses you in the true crime genre like never before. We highlight victims' cases and bring you exclusive insight from the people who lived through them, with a touch of humor to lighten even the darkest stories.
Speaker: This is Murder Unscripted. Dun dun dun!
Speaker: Gordo. Gordo. That's not an invitation to... Don't lay in front of the mic. Get your shenanigans out of the way, kid.
Speaker: Hi, baby. Hi, baby guy.
Speaker: Can you hear him purring? Yeah. so yeah That's funny. as we did start He wants to intro us.
Speaker: Yeah. He'll be the background sound instead of just a silence when we're not talking. It'll be Gordo purring. could stand that.
Speaker: it's but It's when people have music and stuff that's too loud that you're like, I can't hear you now. Oh, yeah. but That can be distracting. Yeah. I don't like it.
Speaker: Just don't change the color. Why are you not black?
Speaker: Tell me about it. Stupid laptop. Stupid pictures when you try to save them and they save as a J5. I was trying to look up the pictures before we started, but I didn't get very far.
Speaker: I got annoyed. Started a folder.
Speaker: Everybody looks all all business. I'm like...
Speaker: hats but yeah i think it'd be really cool to to go in there yeah hats ever it was an event okay you get on it's like people used to treat getting on a ship now they're just like used to used to stand on a pier and wave to random people leaving
Speaker: Oh, the theater. That's cool. Yeah, it's kind of cool. I would love to, like, walk around and like, just go in there.
