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Small Town Hauntings: Unmasking Local Monsters with Dominique Mann
21 Plays6 months ago
Prepare for a spine-tingling journey into the heart of small town America's darkest secrets! 🏚👻 On this episode of What's Kraken, host Jim Phoenix welcomes writer and investigator Dominique Mann, who shares bone-chilling personal encounters with local ghosts and historical hauntings. From abandoned schools to eerie hotels in the middle of nowhere, we'll explore the supernatural phenomena that make small towns a hotbed for ghostly activity.
Dominique's firsthand experiences will leave you questioning the line between reality and the supernatural. Dominique's firsthand experiences will leave you questioning the shadows in your own backyard. Don't miss this haunting exploration of things that go bump in the night – and don't forget to share your own ghost stories in the comments! #SmallTownHauntings #GhostStories
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everyone, Jim Phoenix here, and in this episode of What's Cracking, we have Dominic Mann, and we're gonna talk about small towns and the hauntings and horrors that can go on psychologically and paranormal. All this and more, and that's What's Cracking. Hit it.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hey everyone, Jim Phoenix here and today we've got Dominique Mann. That's right. We're going to talk about small town, big town, all sorts of towns and spooky stuff. I have to admit I saw your stuff online and it blows my mind away. i want Thank you for being talented.
00:00:47
Speaker
that's that Thank goes to you for that one. I love that you're digging into the smaller towns. What inspired you to go small? Sure. So I grew up in in a small town and my sort of safe haven was a small town. So I grew up in New England, um, in a small town in Massachusetts, outside of Boston and an even smaller town. My grandfather lived in, in Connecticut and Connecticut's very spooky. And so,
00:01:13
Speaker
my grandfather would just get thrills from scaring me as a kid. And I wasn't scared. I was like, do it more. And I and i think um small towns, not only did they provide the inspiration for like the horror short stories I would write, but also it provides a level of intimacy, you know, to really understand humanity, especially like if you're consuming horror, for example,
00:01:38
Speaker
um And you can really see the dynamics between different people because it's such a controlled space. And so that's why it's just nostalgia, what I grew up in. And it inspired me so much to just write and tell stories. That's a great idea connecting those two. It's like the monster in the house to control space is a small town. Yes. and And think about a lot of small towns are isolated so they can't like I'm gonna get out of here like you can't.
00:02:04
Speaker
Yeah. I love that premise of like your, I know this sounds so dark, but out that you're trapped. You can't get out, you know, of a small town and there you can't leave. Like that's why I'm into the show from on Amazon and MGM plus right now, because it's like that exact premise of like a small town that you can't leave. Really? So many whores. Yeah. It's a really great show. I need to do that out.
00:02:25
Speaker
Yeah. And then at night monsters come out, unless you have a talisman in your window and they're monsters disguised as humans that smile at you and try to goad you into coming outside your house. Um, and then they maul you to death if, um, if you let them in, because once you invite them in, all of them can come in ah stranger danger all over again. It is, it is a small, fear of outsider and they target people. Like for example, kids, for if you have a kid, you have to board up your window because the kid is more susceptible but to being deceived.
00:02:53
Speaker
So it'll be like this like old lady, like who's obviously a monster, like knocking on the window, which of course is creepy in and of itself, but the the kid doesn't know any better. So then the kid looks and it's like and a woman be like, Oh, it's Nana. Come out. It's Nana. And you know what happens after that. So it's like, it's just, ah, man, it's a good show.
00:03:12
Speaker
I love that concept of it. And when you said small town can't leave, I thought it meant all my friends from high school. oh I actually missed that layer too because good horror also touches on your, of your deeper fears of like everyday life. We consume horror to face, right to to process the the fears that we face in our everyday lives. And so I had that fear growing up, even though small town environments inspired me, I was like, I was so eager to leave my small town to experience the world. Cause I didn't want to be,
00:03:41
Speaker
trapped in it emotionally, you know, even though my family's still there and I still love small town stuff, so it's not an aversion to it. It's just that I had this like I itched to experience the world. And I didn't want to be limited by the, the neighborhood and the block that I grew up on. Yeah. I think if it was from a small town, it's very identifiable. It's the, you'll go back. You're not like ashamed, but yeah, you you want to open past 8 a or eight.m. 8 p.m. Like yes, it's 8 p.m. Exactly. Like the store closed down. Like there's only one and yeah what friends who did stay there and they're asking you the same questions they did 10 years ago. Like,
00:04:20
Speaker
You want to go to this spot and get some Chinese food. It's like a loop. You want to cruise down in your car? Exactly. Exactly. I'm like, no, I want to evolve as a human. So I appreciate it, though. I remember we had a McDonald's. That was big news. You have McDonald's now? Yes, yes, yes.
00:04:44
Speaker
That was a treat growing up for me, like the to yeah the toy and like, you know, like everything. That's the thing is is a treat. And that's exactly what it was back then a treat. Now it's like the everyday occurrence and the small. Yeah, exactly. Sometimes keeps us grounded more. Now I understand that small towns can be scary and your grandfather trying to scare you.
00:05:07
Speaker
Yeah, so he would, um even when I was like really young, like six years old, it just like grew up around that. So we would watch ah the original Wizard of Oz and right. And then it would be dark in our small one floor home that he built. So he knew all the nooks and crannies and where to hide. and So right when the part when either the witch or definitely the flying monkeys, and he would sneak outside and then the TV was in front of a window and then he'd just start banging on the window. And we would scream, you know, or you'd get on all fours and like.
00:05:42
Speaker
You know, it's just like you would see like in the grudge or the ring. He would just get on all fours and chase. I know it weird. Like it seems weird. did Why would you do it to a little kid? But he knew I loved it. And I would just laugh. And I was like, when can I be scared next, right? But the Wizard of Oz flying monkey scene, him banging on the window like that that, that would always do me in every time, every time. it's For those of you who never watched the original Wizard of Oz, back then, kids movies were terrifying. Yes, they were.
00:06:09
Speaker
Like Disney was not playing like, Oh, MGM. We're not, uh, we want kids screaming yes exactly forever scarred and for him to do that. That's funny. Cause I'm having flashbacks. I'm like, yeah, that'll scare me. yeah That's why I like this game is scary enough but to have the boom, boom, boom. Uh, creepy, creepy, creepy. So that's where you got your love from horror from is your grandfather is I would say, yeah, my grandfather and the fact that, um,
00:06:35
Speaker
He encouraged me when I would write be short stories about horror. like I was creating characters with weird names like Addison Foster. I probably saw it on a show or something. And I was like 10 years old. And I would just sit there and start writing and writing because it was so dark outside in this small Connecticut town. Our house is right in front of like a his house in front of the like the woods. And so I would write. And then whenever time I'd write, he'd be like, oh so much. And I'd be like, OK, so I like this feedback. So I'm going to keep doing it.
00:07:03
Speaker
And um it kind of just grew from there. So I guess, yeah, now that I think about it, it would be my grandfather who inspired horror and the in the layers of it that bring me so much joy and it's so much fun. That's an amazing thing. And we're just talking about this in theory before, where if you encourage a child's imagination, they will spark it forever. As soon as you say, no, that's not how it goes. You killed that child's imagination forever. exactly Oh, that's a really great point. That's exactly what he did for me.
00:07:34
Speaker
imagining possibilities on our small plot of land, right? And little things like if there was a hole in a rock, which is like weird, but normal at the same time, I don't know. And I would like, look put my finger in the hole, because I'm curious about it, and like would just like, act like a snake was there was like, freak out. So like, his small little house was just this like, constant adventure and imagination. You know, even though when you look at it now, it's like, okay, this is very you know, tiny space, but it it was, it was so much more to me. Magical. Did you ever hide underneath the table? Um, will um the weird no, because I, because, because if he would find me, you know, unless like unless it was a tablecloth, you know what I'm saying? I, um, and also I think I'm, I, I'd like having control in situations, even though you can't always. And so the idea of hiding under beds or under things where you can't see what's
00:08:29
Speaker
you know, like around you, like that would, you know, like that, I like to be able to see what the threat is. You know what I'm saying? Like, me too I never understood like hide under the bed. That's where the monster lives. I also watch, if you remember, I don't know if anyone remembers this, uh, Disney channel show that had no business being on Disney that don't look under the bed. And it was, it was, so it played obviously Disney channels for kids. So it plays on kids worst nightmares.
00:08:57
Speaker
And it's a boogeyman, but not like some cartoonish, like fun boogeyman. I mean, like really, really formed and like like grotesque. And it had these long fingernails and it would like its claws would just like wo come up from underneath the bed.
00:09:11
Speaker
And they really were trying, it was like kid horror. And then I'm like, but I loved it. You know what I'm saying? And so to me though, lesson learned, don't hide under the bed. Yeah. Bad things happen there. If you can float above your bed and sleep, that'd be even better. Exactly. Yeah. Dizzy trying to like, something this way comes. Although bread knobs, bread knobs, bed knobs and broomsticks. Bed knobs and broomsticks. Yeah. I remember that.
00:09:37
Speaker
That was an amazing little psychedelic movie. I watched it again as a toy. I thought that pickup was the kid. She's like, yeah, come on, kids. We're going to fly this bed over to Animal Kingdom Island and have everyone that we kind of already drew out for different stories in Disney appear in this movie. And then the psychedelic scene happens.
00:09:59
Speaker
Yeah, that that that one. It's been a long time since I've seen that one. So I don't remember. I do remember being spooked by that. um But even like the remember the Olsen twins and they were like big, but they had this movie that was double, double toil and trouble. Yes. And you would think it's like a cute, like cute little twins. Halloween. It was dark. I was scared of that movie. I couldn't stop watching it, but I was scared like that old woman, Agatha, who I think her name was Agatha. I'm not even sure, but it was like she was a witch. And I just remember I don't know. It's like that, like jump scares, everything. So it was not like a, it was, kid horror was a genre in the nineties, I feel. Right. I think we've gone away from that. Now I'm looking at the, the, lot of the kids stuff right now is before kid kids, but you're right. The nineties, we grew up with Freddy Krueger whose yeah mission in life was to kill little kids in their sleep. Exactly. And that was like targeted at like, Oh, you're 12. Watch this. Like,
00:10:58
Speaker
Yeah. You will never sleep again. Like you will never sleep again. You're right. Nope. Good rhyme. I watched the, I'm so sorry. Go ahead. No. And now we're doing other things. What did you watch? What'd you watch? The sixth sense, a fourth grade birthday party. Fourth grade? Yes. I don't know what parent signed off on it. And I'm just like, and the idea of that, like only, was it the kid who, yeah, it was the kid who can only see dead people and you only see them when you're alone. That was nightmares for me. Oh, that's going to be creepy.
00:11:29
Speaker
It's like fourth grade. Yes. This Bruce Willis movie. that' like exactly Exactly. It's like, um it's only when you're alone, you know, like that creeped me out so much. So now I have to ask, have you seen ghosts as a kid? So I, so I, I hesitate because I, I think I have, I have, but I'm not sure. I think the, as I got older and the, you know, the rational quote, rational side, whatever you have redefined, I was like,
00:11:58
Speaker
No, but I just had a very vivid, there was this, I thought it was a nightmare, like just a vivid nightmare of this like, man wearing my dad's t-shirt, it was not my dad. Like wearing this like purple t-shirt just standing in the hallway. And I just remember like, I like looked up and then he looked at me. And then I just like pretended I was asleep and I got so scared. And I just, I remember that. And it's different because you think, okay, you were dreaming or a nightmare, but I know I've had some very vivid nightmares where I can tell you the details. right This felt different. This felt like I was awake.
00:12:36
Speaker
You know, and um so still up for debate could have been just the most vivid nightmare I've ever had. Or I don't know if it was ghosts of my father's past. I don't know. I don't know. I really don't know. Could be. um And then actually in adulthood, I had an an eerie experience that I got confirmation that they someone else in the hotel, I was staying and experienced it too. But that's not when I was a kid. So do you tell people about these things?
00:13:04
Speaker
i I don't, I don't think, I think the kid one, I didn't tell because, um you know, you know if i maybe I told my mom at the time because I thought that, you know, she'd be like, okay, you had a bad dream. But like, later in life, I don't i don't think of an occasion where I volunteer it unless we have an explicit conversation like, you know, have you seen a ghost? And even then that one when I was a kid, I don't mention, but I i share the one where more recently where like,
00:13:33
Speaker
I heard noises in a hotel and like a rocking chair above me and go down the front desk the next day and said, no one was above the room above me that night and talked to other people in the hotel. Like, did you experience this too? And they're like, yeah, we heard some weird shit. Sorry, I don't know if I can swear on this. Oh, we just did. Okay. it just I'm sorry. You can edit it out. Yeah, no. Joe Bob Briggs took that away when he did the F bomb. I was like, we're all good after this. but We earned that explicit label.
00:13:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's amazing when you're staying at these hotels, because you think about all the people who come through these places. Yes. And some of them don't leave. That's my that's what in the what what was eerie about it is that so it was in Mississippi, why I was in Mississippi, it was sometimes I was so my grandfather obviously was important to me. And years after he passed away, I wanted to trace his roots in Mississippi because he was pushed up north because of the largest flood in American history, the 1927 flood. And he luckily escaped. It's like the Red Cross evacuated him. He was a sharecropper in Mississippi, but not everyone survived. So it turns out I wanted to trace his roots, go to the flood museum, this tiny little shack of museum. And the only hotel that was available, it was right where the levee broke. um And they would house
00:14:48
Speaker
people who were struggling, some died, um, or who were like, um, needed medical attention in the levy building and the levy building became the hotel. So that's what made me think like these are some restless spirits, someone who did them wrong, did not evacuate them. You know, there was a lot of injustice during the flood in terms of who got saved and who did not. But, um, so it just, I,
00:15:13
Speaker
First, I heard scratching on the walls. I'm like, OK, well, it's a storm. And of course, it's like a flood worthy storm the night I get there. And I'm like, is it a rat? Like, it was just scratching. But in the middle of the night, and I like couldn't see, I was really upset at the people above me. Like, I was like, who is rocking? There's no rocking chair. And then a kid, I heard a kid running up and down. I assumed it was a kid, because who would be running up and back and forth? And I'm like, just so irresponsible. I can't sleep.
00:15:38
Speaker
And then I went to go complain and they said, man, there was no one above you that night. oh my gosh And I was just, and so that that made me think that's hard. I have to challenge like what I think is rational because I know what I experienced and that building has a history. They didn't just like build a new, like this that hotel was literally the levy building where people died or they were getting medical attention um because of the floods destruction ah destruction in 1927.
00:16:04
Speaker
Yeah. Though I, I hear those stories like, nope, not staying there. only hotel like yeah I don't know, man. I can't be outside. It's a big storm. Oh, okay. I guess I will, you know? yeah Yeah. Even the people at the front desk were like, don't tell me this. I don't want to hear this. like yeah and And it's like, they accepted it. They weren't like, okay, she's a little off. They were like, uh, you know,
00:16:27
Speaker
This sounds like what I've been hearing. I don't want to hear it because I need a job and I need to work here. I didn't need to work here. It's at night. It's scary enough. i yeah yeah I don't want to hear confirmation of the fears that I already know exists. Oh man. When you're you're going through this and your rational mind's like, no, it has to be, you know, when you hear this scratching in the door, you think, especially during storm, it's got to be a rat or a field mouse trying to get in. Yeah, exactly.
00:16:51
Speaker
And then you don't see anything and then you hear the stuff above you and you get the confirmation. There was nothing at all above you. know Is that a place you want to go back to? Majority of me says no, but there is that small part of me that's like, I kind of do. I don't think I would say there at night unless I was with, with company. Um,
00:17:13
Speaker
I don't know, because it's almost like this need for validation. Like, did I really experience that? But of course, I'm the person in all those horror movies, like it's got, you know, that gets taken, like dies, because they're too curious. And I always judge those people like, what, why would you do that? Why would you go into the basement right now? And when it's dark, when you heard something, and and I say that, and I grew up in a family where we're like, Oh, no, like, I don't, I don't know if I believe in ghosts, but we will not entertain this just to find out. Um, but there is, I would be lying if I said there wasn't a small part of me that does want to like explore and see, invalidate what I experienced or not. You got to find out and those experiences make us. And I do believe what you're making now is that based on an experience you've had. Yes. I mean, it's, it's based on a series of experiences I've had, particularly in, um, you know, small towns and the fact that
00:18:07
Speaker
I see connection between horror and our history, whether it's like literal history and like ghosts with unfinished business or like, um you know, just shows like Sleepy Hollow or literally the...
00:18:19
Speaker
goes to Bob Crane version was scary. Yeah, I refuse to watch. I mean, i maybe I will. But even the cartoon version was scary. and um And then the remake, I think was for Fox. Like, that was scary. And it's just it's just like, it's just all the through line that people miss sometimes is that it is history like haunted houses. It's a house with a history. And so what I'm currently currently exploring a project um that I'm going to start as a short film and and try to sort of get it around the story around a short format. But the longer format is basically like, um because I have a background in politics and organizing and stuff, but you know, I wanna write what I know and I think that increases my chances too of people taking the voice yeah seriously. But it like the premise is that after a grassroots organizer disappears in a small Connecticut town, um you know it you know, a diner host, a mental health advocate, land surveyor, um
00:19:15
Speaker
and ex White House aides search for answers and the White House part because it's like, I don't want to lean too much into government conspiracy things in this climate, but it's more of like, um, anything that represents institutions. But of course, when they go to the small town, they find more than they imagined and they have to confront the town's mysterious customs. Think the lottery. If y'all know that short story.
00:19:36
Speaker
Fewer hours of sunlight each time each day, an eerie surrounding a forest, a swaying presence in the trees, an abandoned schoolhouse at the edge of town, which I have experienced in Connecticut, a really eerie red schoolhouse that my grandfather would go to as a kid, but we would visit there um when it was abandoned. I don't know why we we did that. We're all around to an abandoned. Yeah, so what drives the story forward is like, what is this town secret plot? What's their deal? um What are these horrors that are unfolding and they're in conflict with the town? and And the characters, meanwhile, of course, I like good horror intersects with like what makes us human and what we're all seeking. And so the characters are seeking um belonging, is you know, connectedness in a world that feels disconnected. um And I wanna show that through a small town, you know, horror story. I love that idea, i especially though a small town, i one of the things, if you are in a major big metropic, if you're on LA, for example, yeah if something bad happens, you've got neighbors.
00:20:34
Speaker
Exactly. Someone's going to know about it. Yeah. Someone's going to know. Almost immediately, something bad is happening. It happens all the time. If you're in a small town, ain't no one finding out. Exactly. You're on your own. No street lights. No pavement for half the time. You're in the middle of a forest. Exactly. Exactly.
00:20:54
Speaker
ah So it brings the element, like where' where where's your house? Well, it's is a third tree on the left. Go there. Yeah. ah You drive down another hour and a half and that's where the driveway is going to start. However, like God. Yeah. And like buildings tend to be like, because of infrastructure issues, probably ah issues probably with the town, like buildings don't get, like versus a city, like unless the city is really struggling, if there's an empty storefront, someone's going to buy it up quickly. And if they're real estate agents are struggling to sell it, they're, you know, developers will bring down the price or whatever it is, right small towns, it's like, it could go abandoned for a minute, like for a while. And so, and so I often see like ah the ghosts of a diner from like decades ago that I'm like, y'all didn't just tear it down. Like,
00:21:42
Speaker
And it's just there. Maybe they're scared to tear it down. I don't know, but in small towns, as there's not as much investment in, you know, like the houses and the buildings to make look like people live here. And so that's eerie. And yes, you're, you feel isolated. You're always an outsider to whatever is existing there. I don't know. It's like, it's, it's just, yes it's just, yeah, if something happens, you know, it's like if a tree falls in a forest and no one's there to see it, did it happen?
00:22:08
Speaker
So it's the idea of something happening and no one knows about it. Like that you know you hit it on the head. You're always an outsider. If you were not 12 generation in that small town, exactly. You are an outsider. Yep. You're no longer trusted. And then you're being attacked on two friends from the inside and the outside as well. And it's trying to bring that rational world to a small town thing where things could be completely insidious happening.
00:22:33
Speaker
Exactly. And they live in an echo chamber of like, how often am I leaving that small town? You know what I'm saying? To go, they do they know the world has changed? Do they think certain things are normal? Like they were, you know, that's why I believe that short story about the lottery spoiler and feel free to edit this out if people want to go read it. um They, this idyllic town turns out that they're sort of lottery is not what you think it is. The lottery is they stone people to death.
00:22:58
Speaker
Um, and wi the pig yeah, if you win, you, yeah, you get stoned to death. Yeah. you' trying to fit ty And I, even though it seems outlandish given human history, right. But also the fact that if you're in a small town, if that was the norm for like centuries ago or whatever, or even sooner, if you don't have anything gut checking you to be like, okay, this is pretty bad actually. Then like, that's just normal for you. And so for me, I'm very curious about what are those tough customs in the town.
00:23:27
Speaker
that get normalized, haven't changed over the years, you know and just exist in this echo chamber of that town. Yeah, and the echo chamber part is correct when anyone leaves a small town. I i went to Vegas, I guess. and And I was like, wow, all those things I thought growing up, completely wrong.
00:23:48
Speaker
You know, completely wrong. There's like, you you find a whole new world out there. And if you stay in a small town, you go back. If we go back, talk to your friends, you almost have to talk to as a different dialect. Yep. And the words themselves, like, you know, it's weird learning up. and ah So I can see the connection with the small town. It does make a great story background, especially if you have people that small towners will not trust the government. Yep.
00:24:14
Speaker
will not trust that person. They will not trust the authorities, right? Because they are in their inner, like you said, echo chamber, chamber, I i usually say like the, in a little bubble. So without giving anything away but for your story, when you're going through the human aspects of it, does it necessarily have to be mystical evil? Or is it also also a small town mentality that could work against You know, the secrets yeah i I want to intentionally through my story, I think good horror, or at least the direction we should move horror in as a genre is to interrogate what is actually the real horrors. Right. And so I want, and through my story, you're gonna, even though the, the horrors in the forest are scary and eerie, it almost, you'll get sort of distracted by that, but then slowly but surely the town is, is becoming more weird to you than you thought.
00:25:13
Speaker
and And so then it sneaks up on you and then you kind of realize, well, maybe the town is actually more horrifying than what's out there, there right? And um and so i i I think that's something that I really wanted to play with in the and in my story is this idea and interrogating what is the real horrors and the interplay between the things that the townspeople you know decide to do and normalize with in conflict with the the the the forest. And who knows, I'm not saying this will happen, but maybe the the forest exists because the town did something pretty bad. You know, the consequences that they have to face and the town doesn't, so they try to suppress the forest. Doesn't mean this forest isn't scary, but you got to look at its root causes for the why it was, it exists the way it does.
00:26:00
Speaker
I love that idea because we always see things like the American Jeremiah and they everyone going west young man, you know, and yeah go on populace and that was pushing some ideologies through the United States when it was a lot of like the forest or brand new. These are yeah undiscovered yet someone's already living here.
00:26:23
Speaker
country, you know, I was like, hey, wait a minute, ah we won't count that. But when they started to try to take over those lands, the land sometimes pushes back. Where the expeditions were go missing. And we don't know if something something personal will happen to them or is just a land saying, we've had enough. yeah You know, and you you kind of grow in those things. Now, if you could give the young version of you who's writing that very first short story, advice. What would you give the advice? What advice would you give? Oh, I love this question. Um, I don't want to sound cliche with this, but don't give up imagining or creating, um, yeah, don't give up your imagination and sense of wonder and curiosity about the world because we, as we get older and there are certain norms that get imposed on us, whether healthy or unhealthy, many unhealthy in today's society. especially yeah
00:27:23
Speaker
the age of social media and and and such, um that I think it stifles our sense of creativity and imagination, like what if? And um I would tell her, even though she earn this young version of me already has that imagination, that young me was also dealing with stuff in school, like bullying and other things. And I would tell her that, oh, I mean, it gets better. That's number one. um And to continue to create these worlds that are fun, imaginative, and yes, scary because maybe you'll create a sense of belonging for other people and then you'll have it for yourself. I would translate it differently for a young version of me because I don't think she'd understand what I just said, but but essentially just I would say keep keep dreaming, keep imagining. you know youre you know people People want to join the world you're building you know because that's it doing so you're creating
00:28:14
Speaker
belonging for other people. ye I agree 100%. That is the magic of it. Keeping your imagination and keeping the wonder of the world still alive, especially in today's age of cynicism, ah to everything's quick. you know I think building that world for other people to enjoy because yeah they need it.
00:28:37
Speaker
they need this world to be built. And I that's a perfect advice to younger you. and yeah I have to say this has been fun as I when I see small. Yes, I can talk about i it so much fun. You know, I can't have this conversation all the time about small towns with people. So like, I was so thrilled when you got back to me about this. I was like, Oh, my gosh, yes. Finally, I can really like dig deep into the small town, the layers of why they're so fascinating and why there's a reason why they're so popular across genres, you know, mystery and cross true crime and, um, just, just magical realism and sci-fi fantasy. Small towns are always it for a reason. They are. Cause this is where, this is where the invasion happens. Small town, u you know, it could be ghosts, it could be aliens, but this is where we're coming here first. And growing up in a small town, we've all had stories.
00:29:34
Speaker
Yes, we all we've all done even the most quote rational person, my uncle included, he's had some eerie experiences in that Connecticut town that he grew up in. I mean, connect end Connecticut house, the same house. um So it's it's a real thing.
00:29:48
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And keep believing, keep reading. And I look forward. I want to see this when you get it all spiffy and you get it all on screen. Let me know. I want to review. I want to enjoy your version of the small town. I do. Thank you so much. That makes me feel so good. And I hope that for you and for for your listeners, too, it makes it creates the escapism um that is, you know, escapism has this bad name to it like you think it's like you're not in reality nocappism makes you ah
00:30:23
Speaker
bring out the best parts of yourself and, and to have a safe space to imagine, you know, imagine dream creative, be scared and feel the full range of your emotions. So I hope to create that. and I will most certainly keep you updated on that. And, please do um, yeah, thank you for hosting me today. Oh, um thanks for coming. Thanks for coming. And because where I am is going to be Thanksgiving, I think tomorrow, I guess for me to early Thanksgiving for you, I guess. And,
00:30:53
Speaker
That's how time works. Thank you again, Dominique Mann. Where can we find you on social media? Speaking of the evils. I'm primarily on Instagram. So Dominique J Mann. D-O-M-I-N-I-Q-U-E. J-M-A-N-N. I say that because people spell Dominique differently. um So yeah, Dominique J Mann. That's just it. I love it. And Instagram is the perfect, especially for horror. Oh yes. Oh yes. Halloween. I'm going to be, my Instagram is just going to be like grotesque images. So beware.
00:31:22
Speaker
be where I'm going to be there. Well, thanks again, Dominique. It's been lovely and for everyone at home. Good day. Oh, that's Paul Harvey. That is small town then. Bye everyone.