The Empty Chair

Speaker 1 As I prepare my instruments, I tell the person lying on the gurney that I have done this procedure several times.

Speaker 1 Doctor,

Speaker 1 doctor, she asks, will I be okay?

Speaker 1 I turn on the gas and pull the anesthesia mask over her face.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 I'm not a doctor.

Speaker 1 You've crossed over to spoot.

Speaker 1 Steady.

Speaker 1 Tune.

Speaker 2 Let me tell you about the online cannabis company that's revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges.

Speaker 2 From sleepless nights to stress-filled days, Mood.com has created an entire line of functional gummies that target specific concerns with 100% federally legal THC blends delivered discreetly right to your doorstep.

Speaker 2 You can get 20% off your first order at mood.com with promo code spooked for me.

Speaker 2 The epic euphoria gummies are perfect for those days when you want to chill and hit the reset button.

Speaker 2 What makes these different is how they've paired THC and other cannabinoids with herbs and adaptogens. You're just not going to find gummies like this anywhere else.

Speaker 2 No pesticides, pesticides, no BS, and they can ship to most states in the U.S. Best of all.

Speaker 2 Not only does Mood stand behind everything with the industry-leading 100-day satisfaction guarantee, but as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code SPOOT.

Speaker 2 So head to mood.com, browse their amazing selection of functional gummies, and find the perfect gummy for whatever you're dealing with.

Speaker 2 And remember to use promo code SPOOT at checkout to save 20% on your first order.

Speaker 3 There are millions of podcasts out there and you've chosen this one. With Yoto, your kids can have the same choice.

Speaker 6 Yoto is a screen-free, ad-free audio player with hundreds of cards, stories, music, and podcasts like this one.

Speaker 8 But for kids, just slot a card in and let the adventure begin.

Speaker 3 Now through December 1st, Yoto is having its biggest sale of the year.

Speaker 10 YotoPlay.com.

Speaker 11 If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason.

Speaker 14 But with Zen nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

Speaker 15 Zen is America's number one nicotine pouch brand.

Speaker 16 Plus, Zinn offers a robust rewards program.

Speaker 15 There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen.

Speaker 19 Check out Zen.com slash find to find Zen at a store near you.

Speaker 18 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 20 This holiday season, find something extraordinary.

Speaker 20 The Genesis Signature event is your moment to experience power you can feel and every Genesis comes with Sirius XM, three months of ad-free music, plus sports, news, and more.

Speaker 20 Make Genesis a memorable start to your season.

Speaker 21 Stop scouring the web for the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Use Racketon, your shopping sidekick, for cash back on gifts for everyone.

Speaker 21 Get up to 15% cash back at your favorite stores and stack cash back on top of the biggest sales of the year. Hurry, up to 15% cash back ends December 2nd.

Speaker 21 New members will receive a welcome bonus after minimum qualifying purchases. Go to racketon.com, download the app, or install the browser extension.
That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Terms and conditions apply.

Speaker 1 It's crazy to recall,

Speaker 1 but in another life,

Speaker 13 before spooked, I went to law school,

Speaker 1 walked the halls of power, and at this law school, there's a list.

Speaker 1 If you fight your way to the top of the list, doors are open, tables set, futures are promised.

Speaker 1 But land further down the list,

Speaker 1 These same doors slam shut. Understand

Speaker 1 the profession of law does not embrace people like me.

Speaker 1 I hear their whispers. To even have a chance, I must land on the top of their list.

Speaker 1 Yet I know pretending to belong here is a lie,

Speaker 1 a make-believe mask.

Speaker 1 Still, I need this.

Speaker 1 My grandparents pick cotton.

Speaker 1 My parents pick cotton for this chance. So

Speaker 1 against my better angels, against my weeping inner voice, I make a bargain with darkness.

Speaker 1 In exchange older than time, I gamble

Speaker 1 that I can touch the shadow and remain unharmed.

Speaker 1 So instead of ignoring their barbs,

Speaker 1 I feed on every slight,

Speaker 1 every dismissal, every sneer, stoking the heat of rage. I hear them.

Speaker 1 How to get in here?

Speaker 1 Black bastards, stupid. That smug laughter from those of the manor born.
I stoke the storm because

Speaker 1 in the anger,

Speaker 1 in the fury, there is power.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 1 Chad?

Speaker 1 You think you can best me?

Speaker 1 Beat me? You don't know where I'm from?

Speaker 1 I will skate next to madness. Will you?

Speaker 1 My rage reads their books again and again. Rage whispers, they said you don't belong here.

Speaker 1 Rage does not sleep. Rage burns the midnight oil.
Rage checks and rechecks. Rage knows each and every person is my enemy and treats them accordingly.

Speaker 1 because each and every person

Speaker 1 wants what must be mine.

Speaker 1 The terrible, awful, really bad thing is in the end when I finally force myself to walk alone, step by step, over to the judgment wall

Speaker 1 to see the final grades.

Speaker 1 I look up

Speaker 1 and find my name high

Speaker 1 on their list.

Speaker 1 Not the very top,

Speaker 1 but high enough.

Speaker 1 Because rage

Speaker 1 works.

Speaker 1 Rage was right. Rage is a truth teller, a problem solver,

Speaker 1 but not a deed done.

Speaker 1 I need to put rage back in the bottle

Speaker 1 Because I want light,

Speaker 1 companionship, laughter again, to feel something,

Speaker 1 to feel anything beside fury.

Speaker 1 But this rage,

Speaker 1 this new self refuses to go.

Speaker 1 The broken, vanquished, better part of me wails.

Speaker 1 Shrieking,

Speaker 1 screaming, I told you,

Speaker 1 I told you we should never have let this monster in.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 1 Who

Speaker 1 do you let in?

Speaker 1 Max is just eight years old. He lives in Santiago, Chile, with his three sisters.
His dad, his mom, and his mom's oppression.

Speaker 1 I'll let Max take it from here.

Speaker 1 Spooked.

Speaker 1 My mom, she's a seamstress.

Speaker 1 It was mostly for the community.

Speaker 1 If kids had to have costumes for a specific tradition or like musical theater sometimes,

Speaker 1 She would also

Speaker 1 fix clothes for us

Speaker 1 and other moms in the neighborhood if they needed something for their kids she would you know do those things so she was very good at that.

Speaker 1 She would stay up late sewing

Speaker 1 since it was a small house and the walls between each room they were not very thick

Speaker 1 in the dead of night we would hear the sewing machine going off.

Speaker 1 It was a very

Speaker 1 old machine, very good quality, but very noisy, especially at 3 a.m., 4 a.m.

Speaker 1 It became a bit frustrating if I had to get up early the next day, but at some point it also became a bit comforting.

Speaker 1 The

Speaker 1 sound of the machine, it was telling me that she was was there, she was present.

Speaker 1 So it was probably around fall.

Speaker 1 Me and my family were having lunch.

Speaker 1 We were

Speaker 1 just having some small talk.

Speaker 1 We heard that the gardens gate was opened.

Speaker 1 Which is very unusual because someone would need the keys to get in.

Speaker 1 But we didn't give any extra set of keys to any uncles or family friends, so that was weird.

Speaker 1 We looked at each other

Speaker 1 and after a couple seconds we heard a knocking on the door.

Speaker 1 My older sister, Solidad,

Speaker 1 she made a joke about how it's probably the Mormons handing off, you know, Bibles or their little pamphlets.

Speaker 1 My dad got up and walked to the door, opened it, and there was no one there.

Speaker 1 So he comes back to the table and he says, oh, it's probably just a ghost.

Speaker 1 We laughed about it because from where I come from, it's what you usually say when you cannot really find the reason why something happened.

Speaker 1 So a week or two later, we're having lunch again on a weekend.

Speaker 1 We're all sitting down and

Speaker 1 small talking, and then it happened again.

Speaker 1 We heard the garden gate open and then we heard the knocking on the door.

Speaker 1 I thought it was pretty weird, and I noticed that my sisters were a bit concerned because they exchanged looks.

Speaker 1 But my dad, he just distracted us talking about things about the news that he didn't really agree with

Speaker 1 to just focus our attention away from that thing that we cannot really explain.

Speaker 2 Cold mornings, holidays. This is when I want my wardrobe to be simple, to be classic, but it's got to look good, right? For me, that's Quince.

Speaker 2 And the bonus is with Quince, your holiday shopping is handled because Quince pieces make great gifts too. Like Quince's $50 Mongolian cashmere sweaters feel like everyday luxury.

Speaker 2 Wool coats that are equal parts, stylish, and durable. And here is a simple, unscripted quote from one Marissa Dodge.
When she saw my Quince motorcycle jacket, she said, Awesome!

Speaker 2 Looks like you stepped out of the matrix.

Speaker 6 What?

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 2 Give and get. Timeless holiday staples that last this season with Quince.
Go to quince.com/slash spooked for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

Speaker 2 That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash spooked. Free shipping and 365-day returns, quince.com/slash spooked.

Speaker 3 There are millions of podcasts out there, and you've chosen this one. With Yoto, your kids can have the same choice.

Speaker 6 Yoto is a screen-free, ad-free audio player with hundreds of cards, stories, music, and podcasts like this one.

Speaker 8 But for kids, just slot a card in and let the adventure begin.

Speaker 3 Now through December 1st, Yoto is having its biggest sale of the year.

Speaker 10 YotoPlay.com.

Speaker 11 If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason.

Speaker 14 But with Zen nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

Speaker 15 Zen is America's number one nicotine pouch brand.

Speaker 16 Plus, Zen offers a robust rewards program.

Speaker 15 There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen.

Speaker 19 Check out Zen.com slash find to find Zen at a store near you.

Speaker 18 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 22 When it comes to gifting, everyone on your list deserves something special. Luckily, Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals on amazing gifts, so you don't have to.

Speaker 22 That means your mom gets that cashmere sweater, your best friend, that Italian leather bag. Your coworkers unwrap their favorite beauty brands, and your nephews, the coolest new toys.

Speaker 23 Go ahead.

Speaker 22 At prices this good, you can grab something something for yourself, too. Marshalls, we get the deals, you get the good stuff.
Shop now at marshalls.com or find a store near you.

Speaker 1 Now's the time to start your next adventure behind the wheel of an exciting new Toyota hybrid.

Speaker 1 With the largest lineup of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electrified vehicles to choose from, Toyota has the one for you.

Speaker 1 Every new Toyota hybrid comes with Toyota Care, two-year complementary scheduled maintenance, an exclusive hybrid battery warranty, and Toyota's legendary quality and reliability.

Speaker 1 Visit your local Toyota dealer today. Toyota, let's go places.
See your local Toyota dealer for hybrid battery warranty details.

Speaker 1 One night, the sound of her machine woke me up.

Speaker 1 And I felt the need to go to the bathroom. So I just went out of my room

Speaker 1 and I saw my mother's room. I saw the door open

Speaker 1 and I can see her from behind. She's looming over the machine.

Speaker 1 She didn't even notice that I was there looking at her. She was just completely 100% focused on her sewing.

Speaker 1 And next to her, she has this old wooden chair placed placed as if someone was next to her looking at her work.

Speaker 1 I thought to myself, why is she working with the empty chair next to her?

Speaker 1 But I just brushed it off, went to the bathroom, did my thing, and then went back to bed.

Speaker 1 I remember a couple times, a couple nights, doing the same route, you know, needing to go to the bathroom at 3, 4, 5 a.m.

Speaker 1 and my mom would never close her door it was always open so every time I would walk outside of the room I would see her and the chair

Speaker 1 on Sundays we all do a general cleaning of the house she would usually be on a weird mood and she would like to do things the way that she does it and in a very specific way or or she didn't want to be bothered but this Sunday I noticed that she was playing music very loudly

Speaker 1 because she's in a good mood

Speaker 1 she was

Speaker 1 sweeping kind of to the rhythm of the song

Speaker 1 we have two dogs that would try to play with the broom and she would usually tell them to piss off but that day she didn't and she was laughing with the dogs like playing with the dogs, which made a big difference to me.

Speaker 1 It was curious to see her like that because I've been used to seeing her very

Speaker 1 depressed for so long.

Speaker 1 We all notice it.

Speaker 1 My older sister, Soledad, she asks my mom, hey, like, you seem in a very mood. Like, did something happen? Did something in particular happen?

Speaker 1 She just looks at us and she says, Well,

Speaker 1 lately, I've been missing my mom a lot. And for the past couple nights, she's actually

Speaker 1 coming to visit me.

Speaker 1 I felt surprised because by this point, my grandmother had died eight years ago.

Speaker 1 She says that when she's sewing, she can feel that someone is behind her and that she can feel someone softly breathing next to her ear

Speaker 1 and that somehow she knew that it was her mom.

Speaker 1 I felt like

Speaker 1 a tingle through my spine.

Speaker 1 I personally thought it was scary to even picture that, that you would be doing something at night by yourself, and you would feel someone breathing next to you.

Speaker 1 But she said that she was not afraid.

Speaker 1 And then she said that,

Speaker 1 so for her not to get tired, I would put a

Speaker 1 seat next to me so she can sit with me, so she doesn't have to stand up.

Speaker 1 So, after my mom says this out loud, I can see that my sisters are

Speaker 1 as shocked as I am, my dad as well.

Speaker 1 This awkward silence

Speaker 1 takes over.

Speaker 1 I think we all felt a bit bad for her.

Speaker 1 I thought that she was getting better and it was actually just

Speaker 1 that she thought that her mom would come visit.

Speaker 1 No one really challenged her views. I think we all felt more comfortable with her

Speaker 1 having these moments of happiness than just

Speaker 1 plain old depression.

Speaker 1 My older sister, Soledad, she comments on how good the food is. She's like, Oh, yeah, the food is very good.
Like, thank you for making this

Speaker 1 and changed the topic.

Speaker 1 So it's a few weeks later.

Speaker 1 I came back home from the mall with my dad, and my sisters are in

Speaker 1 the living room. I ask my sisters, where's mom? And they tell me that she's in her room.
She spent in her room all day sewing, so I shouldn't, you know, go bother her.

Speaker 1 We turn on the TV, we were watching something.

Speaker 1 Then we hear her bedroom door open

Speaker 1 and she comes crying,

Speaker 1 like completely hyperventilating. She's freaking out, so she couldn't speak very clearly.

Speaker 1 I remember my dad grabbed her and hugged her, and we set her on the couch.

Speaker 1 We put on some water to boil and we made her a tea.

Speaker 1 And when she calms down, she tells us that

Speaker 1 she

Speaker 1 heard the phone ringing.

Speaker 1 My mom had a phone of her own

Speaker 1 in her room, in her studio.

Speaker 1 And when she picked it up, she said hello.

Speaker 1 Is anyone there?

Speaker 1 She cannot hear anything from the other side of the line.

Speaker 1 But then

Speaker 1 before she decides to hang up, she starts hearing a breathing, a very soft breathing.

Speaker 1 And then that breathing becomes louder

Speaker 1 and raspier.

Speaker 1 and more labored

Speaker 1 and that's when she tells us that it sounded exactly the way that her mom would sound like at her last stage of her cancer.

Speaker 1 And then my mom asks, Mom, are you there? Like, is it you?

Speaker 1 And then the breathing becomes louder and louder.

Speaker 1 It becomes very, very deep and loud and calls for her name.

Speaker 1 That's when my mom freaks out and throws the phone and leaves the room and comes to us.

Speaker 1 I'm petrified.

Speaker 1 I feel like my heart is racing because I can see my mom freaking out in front of me.

Speaker 1 I saw on her face a very

Speaker 1 special mixture of sadness and fear that I have never seen in anyone else.

Speaker 1 I also saw that my sisters and my dad were freaking out.

Speaker 1 He was walking back and forth

Speaker 1 in the living room, trying to get close to my mom, but also taking a step back because he knew that she was very upset.

Speaker 1 so after this episode my mom that night she didn't sew she went to bed pretty early she was very exhausted

Speaker 1 it was one of the few nights in which i didn't hear the sewing machine

Speaker 1 that made me

Speaker 1 very uncomfortable

Speaker 1 the following days my mom became very depressed again.

Speaker 1 She was not interacting with us as much.

Speaker 1 She isolated herself again.

Speaker 1 It was early in the morning, I would say 10 or 11 a.m.

Speaker 1 I was sitting on the couch in the living room reading a book about dinosaurs because I was obsessed with them.

Speaker 1 I hear my sisters talking in the dining room,

Speaker 1 and when I go to

Speaker 1 meet them, they are starting to burn the Palo Santo.

Speaker 1 My older sister Soleda tell me, like, oh, this is just, you know, a little ceremony.

Speaker 1 I

Speaker 1 thought it was exciting.

Speaker 1 So they start burning the Palo Santo and a lot of smoke is coming out of it. Like a lot.
I've never seen so much smoke.

Speaker 1 They were walking around the house slowly, burning the Palo Santo, and I got a bit scared because I thought maybe the house is going to catch a fire.

Speaker 1 But then, when I was just surrounded by smoke, I felt very safe

Speaker 1 as if it was, you know, a screen to protect me and protect us from this thing, from this spirit.

Speaker 1 They started reciting these passages.

Speaker 1 We waited for the palacant to consume itself.

Speaker 1 Nothing happens right away. After this ceremony, we do our things as usual.
I don't remember that we even talked about it,

Speaker 1 but I instantly felt safer.

Speaker 1 To me, that was enough.

Speaker 3 There are millions of podcasts out there, and you've chosen this one. With Yoto, your kids can have the same choice.

Speaker 6 Yoto is a screen-free, ad-free audio player with hundreds of cards, stories, music, and podcasts like this one.

Speaker 8 But for kids, just slot a card in and let the adventure begin.

Speaker 3 Now, through December 1st, Yoto is having its biggest sale of the year.

Speaker 10 YotoPlay.com

Speaker 11 If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason.

Speaker 14 But with Zen nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

Speaker 15 Zin is America's number one nicotine pouch brand.

Speaker 16 Plus, Zin offers a robust rewards program.

Speaker 15 There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen.

Speaker 19 Check out Zen.com slash find to find Zen at a store near you.

Speaker 18 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 1 Now's the time to start your next adventure behind the wheel of an exciting new Toyota hybrid.

Speaker 1 With the largest lineup of hybrid, plug-in, hybrid, and electrified vehicles to choose from, Toyota has the one for you.

Speaker 1 Every new Toyota hybrid comes with Toyota Care, two-year complimentary scheduled maintenance, an exclusive hybrid battery warranty, and Toyota's legendary quality and reliability.

Speaker 1 Visit your local Toyota dealer today, Toyota. Let's go places.
See your local Toyota dealer for hybrid battery warranty details.

Speaker 24 Welcome to Walgreens. Looking for a holiday gift?

Speaker 1 Sort of.

Speaker 25 My cousin Freddie showed up to surprise us.

Speaker 24 Oh, sounds like a real nice surprise.

Speaker 1 Exactly.

Speaker 25 So now I have to get him a gift, but I haven't gotten my bonus yet.

Speaker 26 So if we could make it something really nice, but also not break the bank, that'd be perfect.

Speaker 24 How about a Keurig for 50% off?

Speaker 1 Bingo, savings all season.

Speaker 25 The holiday road is long.

Speaker 13 We're with you all the way.

Speaker 1 Walgreens.

Speaker 27 Offer valid November 26th through December 27th. Exclusions apply.

Speaker 13 It's never too early for Lowe's Black Friday deals. Snag some of our biggest savings of the season right now, like 25% off select pre-lit artificial Christmas trees.

Speaker 13 And get yourself free select DeWalt, Cobalt, or Craftsman tools when you buy a select battery or combo kit before the Black Friday rush. Because everyone loves free stuff, right?

Speaker 1 Lowe's, we help.

Speaker 13 You save. Valid through 12-3 while supplies last.
Selection varies by location.

Speaker 1 After

Speaker 1 the ceremony took place,

Speaker 1 we were sitting in the living room in the couch.

Speaker 1 We were all cramped against each other watching this reality TV show.

Speaker 1 On the right side of the couch, there is the

Speaker 1 door to enter the house

Speaker 1 and the lights were off. The only light that was on was coming from the TV.

Speaker 1 I feel this icy cold wind pass in front of us.

Speaker 1 I thought to myself maybe I left the window open.

Speaker 1 But then I immediately remembered that I closed all the windows earlier.

Speaker 1 It was very strange.

Speaker 1 After the wind passes, after a couple seconds, I see this shadow

Speaker 1 pass

Speaker 1 between us and the light from the TV.

Speaker 1 It's about a meter and a half tall

Speaker 1 and it doesn't really have a definitive shape

Speaker 1 and when it passes between us and the TV, it doesn't completely block out the light, it's still semi-transparent.

Speaker 1 What is that?

Speaker 1 And I noticed that my sisters and my mom also reacted to it. We all saw it, we all kind of stood up from where we were sitting,

Speaker 1 and then

Speaker 1 we saw the door open.

Speaker 1 It is an old door that makes a lot of noise, but this time it didn't.

Speaker 1 It opened very smoothly.

Speaker 1 I felt goosebumps all over my skin.

Speaker 1 We were all looking at each other.

Speaker 1 And before it even closed, we heard the garden gate open.

Speaker 1 and after a couple seconds of just silence and tension

Speaker 1 the door closed very strongly

Speaker 1 and then we heard the garden gate close again

Speaker 1 my sister kind of jumped and screamed and my mom was

Speaker 1 just

Speaker 1 shocked

Speaker 1 My sister turned to my mom

Speaker 1 and they said at almost the same time like

Speaker 1 did it leave

Speaker 1 and to me that was what gave away that we were all thinking the same thing

Speaker 1 after all that i went to bed and i heard my mom get into

Speaker 1 her studio.

Speaker 1 She turned on the sewing machine, and after a couple seconds, she started playing music again.

Speaker 1 I heard that specific blend of the buzzing of the sewing machine and the music, and it made me feel

Speaker 1 safer.

Speaker 1 I woke up again around 4 a.m.

Speaker 1 and walked up to her room, and the seat was not there anymore.

Speaker 1 It was only her sitting by herself.

Speaker 1 To me, that also felt safe

Speaker 1 because I felt like my mom was coming back from where she was before.

Speaker 1 Nothing ever happens again.

Speaker 1 I

Speaker 1 personally think that there was this spirit

Speaker 1 and that was the thing that was opening the garden's gate and then knocking on the door.

Speaker 1 To me what made this

Speaker 1 spirit evil was that it slowly came close to my mom pretending it was my grandmother.

Speaker 1 This spirit, this entity, is

Speaker 1 scaring everyone on purpose.

Speaker 1 And my grandma being the sweet lady that she was, she would never do that. She would never scare us.

Speaker 1 It wasn't till my mid-20s that I came up with the theory that maybe my mom let in this spirit to our house.

Speaker 1 My grandmother, when she started to get sick, my mom developed some sort of avoidance to, you know, the painful reality of what it's like to have a mom with a cancer.

Speaker 1 So she started going to their family house much less.

Speaker 1 And when

Speaker 1 her mother died, she started

Speaker 1 feeling these

Speaker 1 very strong

Speaker 1 feelings of guilt and shame.

Speaker 1 I can see my mom

Speaker 1 just sewing for hours in the middle of the night.

Speaker 1 I always pictured her just thinking about her mom, ruminating about their relationship,

Speaker 1 hearing the door

Speaker 1 and biting it in.

Speaker 1 She was hoping that it was

Speaker 1 her mother coming to visit visit her.

Speaker 1 It was almost a promise of

Speaker 1 making peace with her past.

Speaker 1 Thank you, Max, for sharing your story with the spook.

Speaker 1 That peace was scouted by Elizabeth Z. Pardieu, was scored by Lalene St.
Just,

Speaker 1 was produced by Zoe Frigno.

Speaker 1 Now then,

Speaker 1 sages have long told us that we share this place.

Speaker 1 With entities that are not us.

Speaker 1 Not angels, not demons, neither good good nor bad, but other.

Speaker 1 And other wants,

Speaker 1 other needs.

Speaker 1 Sometimes every once in a while,

Speaker 1 other wants what we have. And this is a very dangerous place to find yourself.
And I wonder if I know someone who's interacted with the other.

Speaker 1 Perhaps that someone is you.

Speaker 1 If so, I'd love to know about it. Please send a message, a picture, a passenger pigeon, spook at stepjudgment.org because understand,

Speaker 1 there is nothing better

Speaker 1 than a spook story from a spooked listener. Spooks is brought to you by the team that doesn't need to touch the fire to know that it is hot.

Speaker 1 Except for Mark Ristich.

Speaker 1 Because to Mark,

Speaker 1 every day is a brand new adventure.

Speaker 1 There's David Kim, Zoe Ferrigno, Ann Ford, Eric Yanez, Taylor DeCotte, Marissa Dodge, Miles Lassie, Doug Stewart, Paulina Creeke, Elizabeth Zipardu, Adithia Matu, Lulu Jemima, the spook theme song is by Pat Masidi Miller.

Speaker 1 My name is Glen Washington.

Speaker 1 And you know Arthur C. Clarke, the brilliant writer, futures, thinker.
He once said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Speaker 1 And he's kind of right.

Speaker 1 You flip a switch, light appears. Tap an app, food arrives, magic.
But what about when you're lying in bed?

Speaker 1 And you know with 100% certainty that someone is watching you from the corner of your room? What about when your three-year-old daughter points to an empty chair and she asks, daddy?

Speaker 1 why is that man crying?

Speaker 1 Technology doesn't explain the handprints that appear on the insides of your windows, doesn't postulate why your dog growls at empty doorways,

Speaker 1 doesn't suppose how sometimes you can smell your grandfather's cologne years after he's passed, right when you need him most. No.

Speaker 1 Mystery Mystery doesn't care about our algorithms because Clark had it backward.

Speaker 1 Magic isn't what happens when technology advances.

Speaker 1 Magic is what happens when technology fails.

Speaker 1 When we need to know someone else has walked this valley, someone else sees through this illusion and it might be a candle.

Speaker 1 It might be a torch.

Speaker 1 It might be just the strike of a match, but whatever you do,

Speaker 1 however you do it,

Speaker 1 never,

Speaker 1 ever,

Speaker 1 never, ever, never, ever, never,

Speaker 1 never,

Speaker 1 turn out

Speaker 1 the lights.

Speaker 3 There are millions of podcasts out there, and you've chosen this one. With Yoto, your kids can have the same choice.

Speaker 8 Yohto is a screen-free, ad-free audio player with hundreds of cards, stories, music, and podcasts like this one but for kids just slot a card in and let the adventure begin now through december 1st yoto is having its biggest sale of the year yotoplay.com

Speaker 12 if you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change you really only need one good reason but with zen nicotine pouches you'll discover many good reasons zin is america's number one nicotine pouch brand Plus, Zen offers a robust rewards program.

Speaker 15 There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen.

Speaker 19 Check out zin.com slash find to find Zen at a store near you.

Speaker 18 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 23 We're interrupting this podcast to ask you a very important question. Have you had your Hershey's?

Speaker 23 When you need to brighten up your day, put a smile on your face with the classic creamy texture and pure milk chocolate flavor of Hershey's Milk Chocolate.

Speaker 23 Whether you're eating it on the go, breaking off a few pieces for s'mores night, or just treating yourself to something sweet, Hershey's Milk Chocolate checks all the boxes.

Speaker 23 Shop for Hershey's Milk Chocolate now at a store near you. Found wherever candy is sold.

Speaker 1 Now's the time to start your next adventure behind the wheel of an exciting new Toyota hybrid.

Speaker 1 With the largest lineup of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electrified vehicles to choose from, Toyota has the one for you.

Speaker 1 Every new Toyota hybrid comes with Toyota Care two-year complementary scheduled maintenance, an exclusive hybrid battery warranty, and Toyota's legendary quality and reliability.

Speaker 1 Visit your local Toyota dealer today. Toyota, let's go places.
See your local Toyota dealer for hybrid battery warranty details.

Speaker 24 Welcome to Walgreens. Looking for a holiday gift?

Speaker 1 Sort of.

Speaker 25 My cousin Freddie showed up to surprise us.

Speaker 24 Oh, sounds like a real nice surprise.

Speaker 1 Exactly.

Speaker 25 So now I have to get him a gift, but I haven't gotten my bonus yet.

Speaker 26 So if we could make it something really nice, but also not break the bank, that'd be perfect.

Speaker 24 How about a Keurig for 50% off?

Speaker 1 Bingo. Savings all season.

Speaker 13 The holiday road is long.

Speaker 27 We're with you all the way.

Speaker 1 Walgreens.

Speaker 27 Offer valid November 26th through December 27th. Exclusions apply.