The Cursed Episode

Summary

Distractible Podcast: "The Cursed Episode"

Date: October 17, 2025
Hosts: Wade Barnes (host), Mark Fischbach, Bob Muyskens

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Episode Overview

On "The Cursed Episode," the Distractible crew—Wade, Mark, and Bob—explores the logic, lore, and language of curses. While the trio starts with banter about recent gaming news and their love for roguelites, the crux of the show revolves around uncanny misfortunes, legendary hexes, and the fine line between spooky folklore and harsh reality. Along the way, the hosts debate teaching methods, roast each other with faux curses, and reel at breaking sports news that feels like a curse in real time.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Banter and Small Talk

Timestamps: [03:10] – [15:10]

• Wade opens as the day's host, navigating gentle ribbing from Mark and Bob.

• Discussion on teaching reading in America: Mark brings up phonics vs. whole word instruction, with Bob summarizing a podcast series about the teaching shift and the influence of publishers.

  “The story basically goes, there was a woman who was a teacher, but was not like a researcher and was like, I think I know a better way to teach kids and just sort of came up with her own system. And everybody liked it and everybody got in line behind it." – Bob [05:00]

  "I can't imagine not being able to do that. It's like being robbed of this ability." – Mark [07:45]

• EA’s Massive Sale: Wade introduces breaking news about EA possibly being bought for $55B by a Saudi Arabian consortium. The group debates whether private ownership means better games.

  "If there's anything I've learned in modern society, it's that private capital always fixes the problems that ail businesses." – Bob, sarcastically [11:29]

  “The only scenario I've seen where things go better is when the original group or person reinvests and brings it private.” – Mark [12:09]

• Favorite Video Games:

  • Mark raves about Hades II: "It is so goddamn good... such a tight, fun, specific type of fun..." [15:21]
  • Bob is excited about “megabonk” and buying a riding lawnmower to embrace his inner Midwestern dad. [19:46]
  • Wade considers the time commitment for new roguelites and discusses “Clover Pit,” a spooky gambling game. [21:22]

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2. Main Theme: Curses in History, Folklore, and Real Life

Timestamps: [25:11] – [57:32]

What is a Curse?

• Wade introduces famous curses: Tippecanoe, Bambino, Kennedy, and King Tut’s tomb.
• Mark muses about the fungus “curse” theory for Tut's tomb—some practical explanations for superstitions. [26:36]

Sports & City Curses

• Bob details the "Cincinnati curse" and multiple sports-related hexes such as the Curse of the Andrttis—racing legends who can't win the Indy 500. [32:53]
• Wade shares news mid-episode about the Bengals trading for Joe Flacco. The moment is immediately read as being "cursed."

  “I’m going to call it right now. Joe Flacco is leading us to the playoffs… if he can throw one interception or less per game, he’s definitely an improvement over where we are right now.” – Bob [42:54]

Legendary and Folkloric Curses

• Dead Man’s Hand: Mark recounts the origin story from Wild Bill Hickok:

  "If you get aces and eights, all black cards, you’re gonna die or something like that." – Mark [32:28]

• Superstition Mountains & The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine:

  "...people went out into the Superstition Wilderness...some of them turned up dead, some of them are said to have gone mad hunting endlessly..." – Bob [40:18]

“Real” Environmental Curses

• Coal Fires and Limnic Eruptions: Mark explains the Centralia, PA coal fire that’s burned for 60+ years, as well as the Lake Nyos disaster—a lethal release of CO₂ that killed over 1,700 people, described as "a real curse."

  “There are probably times in history where an entire town just wiped out...CO₂ bubble explosion, real life curse.” – Mark [46:34]

• Mammoth Mountain “Cursed Forest”: Mark recounts a California forest where CO₂ killed entire swathes of trees, creating a scene straight from a haunted RPG. [49:40]

The Hope Diamond and More

• Bob describes the curse of the Hope Diamond, and wonders if America now "owns" its misfortune since it's housed in the Smithsonian. [48:33]

Curses You Can Say to People – Lighter Side

• Mark reads "funny curses" from the internet, like “may all your exes meet over tea and share gossip about you,” lampooning low-grade hexes. [27:46]

Modern Urban Legends

• The Busby Stoop Chair: Anyone who sits in it after Busby’s execution dies soon after.

• The Cursing Stone of Carlisle: Mark describes a real monument etched with 383 words of an ancient curse.

  "Since then, it was placed in a gloomy underpass between Carlisle Castle...there has been a cacophony of misfortune..." – Mark [56:01]

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3. Game Mechanics & Recap

Timestamps: [57:32] – End

• Competition & Point Scoring:

  • Wade awards points for curse knowledge, entertaining stories, and gags. The score is close between Mark and Bob, with a spinning “wheel” for bonus points based on arbitrary (and sometimes meta) criteria like “most angry” or “best comeback."

• Closing Thoughts:

  • Bob ekes out a win, riding the curse theme all the way to the end.
  • Memorable “winner’s speech” as Bob laments the Bengals' cursed luck, punctuated by the real-time trade news.
  • Mark’s “loser speech” admits his own curse was showing up, joking, “I blame everybody but myself. And I can’t wait to go with my new nickname to do things with that nickname.” [64:27]

• Wade wraps with:

  “That was, there was a lot. We found a lot of curses there.” [57:35]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I cast. Fuck you.” – Mark, playfully (on curse words) [25:28]
• “May your blade chip and shatter.” – Bob, finding a 'serious' curse [28:17]
• “Earth is cursed.” – Mark, mid-lament on environmental disasters [59:13]
• “Anyone who’s ever played an EA game is now a sleeper agent…and anytime you hear the words 'ultimate team' you’re just like, gotta buy more Madden packs.” – Bob [15:10]
• “Just constantly...I’m excited to cruise around the neighborhood with a beer on my riding lawnmower, so that’ll be pretty cool. I think everyone will respect me more.” – Bob [20:52]

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------|--------------------------| | EA Sale Discussion | [10:51] – [15:20] | | Hades II & Favorite Games | [15:21] – [18:36] | | Roguelites/Mega Bonk/Mower Chat | [19:14] – [21:22] | | The Concept of Curses Introduced | [25:11] | | Famous Curses (Sports, Tut, etc.) | [25:28] – [33:03] | | Real-World “Cursed” Events | [34:42] – [52:33] | | The Hope Diamond | [48:33] – [49:30] | | The Cursing Stone of Carlisle | [54:16] – [57:32] | | Winner & Loser Speeches/Wrap-Up | [63:26] – End |

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Tone and Language

The episode is marked by:

• Casual, humorous exchanges and irreverent digressions.
• Occasional deep dives into history, science, and personal anecdotes.
• Mark’s scientific curiosity, Bob’s skeptical but enthusiastic contributions, and Wade’s self-deprecating, sometimes flustered hosting.

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For Listeners Who Missed It

• This episode is a classic Distractible blend: broad-ranging, fact-meets-folly, with curse stories that span sports, local legends, and bona fide disasters.
• The banter is tight, the topics unexpectedly educational, and the tone always leans toward “distract the hosts (and each other) as much as possible.”
• Key takeaways: Curses are everywhere—sometimes superstitious, sometimes rooted in history or science, sometimes just the daily indignities of sports fandom or house repairs.

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For more Distractible, check out new episodes on Spotify or follow the hosts on their platforms. Next episode: Bob takes over as host to see what new shenanigans await.

Transcript

[Wade]

This episode is brought to you by Mentos Gum. Keep things fresh. It's important, right? And I'm not just talking about fresh breath. It's important to switch up your routine whenever you can. I just. I'm the person who can't help but chew. You put a mint in your mouth, you're supposed to suck on it. I'm like, swallow. So I kind of need gum.

[Bob]

You turn into a cartoon dog. I'm sorry. Next time we hang out, I'm giving you a mint just to see what happens.

[Wade]

And of course, another way to refresh every day is with Mentos gum, available in a range of fresh flavors like Spearmint Fresh Mint and Strawberry Mint. Yes to fresh.

[Bob]

This episode is brought to you BY T Mobile 5G Home Internet. I'm sure everyone can agree with me when I say that nowadays, everything in your house keeps getting smarter. Smart speakers, smart mirror, smart toaster, smart coffee maker, smart shoes, smart carpet.

[Mark]

Everything.

[Bob]

What isn't smart? Luckily, t mobile 5G home Internet makes it easy to keep all your devices connected. With their quick one cord setup, you can hop online in literally 15 minutes or less. They've also got fast speeds, a price that works for any budget, and a five year price guarantee. So if you're looking for Internet that keeps up with you, connect to T Mobile Home Internet for their fast 5G speeds, easy 15 minute setup and 5 year price guarantee. Visit t mobile.com homeinternet to check. Availability guarantees monthly price of fixed wireless 5G Internet data exclusions like taxes and fees apply. Service delivered via 5G network speeds vary due to factors affecting cellular networks. Guarantee exclusions and details@t mobile.com homeinternet this episode is brought to you by Panda Express. If someone wanted to tell me that they love me, all they would need to do is get me some honey walnut shrimp from Panda Express. The message would not be lost in translation. In fact, I might even rather have honey walnut shrimp than words from an actual human mouth hole. If you're trying to get a message to me Honey walnut shrimp, however you want to say it, say it with delicious, authentically cooked American Chinese cuisine from Panda Express. Have you eaten yet? Order now or visit the Panda Express near you.

[Wade]

This episode is presented to you by Battlefield 6. Rip through the Skies in an aerial dogfight. Demolish your environment for strategic advantage.

[Bob]

Harness complete control over every action and movement. Every aspect of Battlefield's core gameplay has been honed to feel more fluid, responsive and immersive than ever before.

[Mark]

And with more maps, modes and ways to Rally your squad. Battlefield 6 is the ultimate all out warfare experience. Available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S and PC. Good evening, gentle listeners or watchers, and welcome to Distractable. This episode, Wendy Wade mentions EA and ghostly gambling, then delves into horrible hexes. Brief Bob picks on pedagogues, loves bonking, blowing off mowers, then brings up Bangle's bow, crashes and Dutchman Modest Mark drops an early F bomb. Vilifies Villeneuve, but identifies aces and limnic lakes. From trashy teaching to witch finder generals.

[Wade]

Yes.

[Mark]

It'S time for the cursed episode. Now sit back and prepare to be distracted and enjoy the show.

[Wade]

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Distractable. I'm today's host. He's gone. I guess I shouldn't have said those words. I upset Bob already. Why would you do that? I was just saying I was today's host. I was gonna say because I won the last one, but I.

[Mark]

It just happened, man. He just got robbed.

[Wade]

That was at least four or three days ago for the everyone watching and or listening, like time has passed for everyone else.

[Mark]

You know what they say, time is relative. Someone smart said that once. Hey, wait a minute.

[Bob]

I took way longer than I thought it would. Sorry, I'm back.

[Wade]

Hey, man, welcome back. Yep, I should not have been hosting today, but I am. And man, Bob should really have been the one sitting in this chair.

[Mark]

It's a nice shirt. Oh, it keeps getting better.

[Bob]

It's a really good shirt.

[Mark]

You're getting an eyeful, listeners. He's got a shirt on.

[Wade]

Don't worry about says Dick Straw.

[Bob]

Dickstractable.

[Mark]

They started teaching phonics again. I heard they tried the whole word approach and you know, when kids couldn't read and not know what words were. Have you heard about that?

[Bob]

Yes. Actually, there's a really interesting podcast series about how we got to where we are in terms of teaching reading in America and why the current generation, the last couple generations, have had such worse reading outcomes.

[Mark]

Do you know why they shifted?

[Wade]

Because they ruined Elementop.

[Mark]

That may not be it.

[Bob]

The story. I listened to this a while ago. The story basically goes, there was a woman who was a teacher, but was not like a researcher and was like, I think I know a better way to teach kids and just sort of came up with their own system. And everybody liked it and everybody got in line behind it and the book publishers got in line behind it. And once the book publishers get lined up behind a certain pedagogy, that's the only thing that gets taught because they're like, buy these books. You have to buy these books. Everyone has to buy these books. Like this lady, I don't think it was malicious. I think she thought she had a better way to teach reading. Because I think what happened was she came up with a different system than phonics and she was getting good results, but she was teaching the kids who didn't learn very well from the phonics type of teaching, which obviously are kids who would benefit from an alternative teaching modality. Like, sure, that makes sense. But the kids, like the majority of kids were learning fine from the phonics thing and they steered completely away from that. And it turns out most people seem to prefer phonics and that this new way of teaching is really good for kids for whom that does not reach. And it's like, not like it's an illegitimate thing. It's just not the only way we should teach kids how to read. But there's a whole series of like, I know this podcast kind of sensationalized it, right? There's a series of like, it's a conspiracy. And they don't. The businesses were trying to kill the old ways of. Because they were just trying to sell these new books and make money. Um, but I see it's an interesting story. There's a lot to. There's like an eight part podcast thing. It's like, there's a bunch of different parts of it.

[Mark]

I would love to listen to that at some point. But the whole thing is fascinating to me because the, what it boils down to, this is oversimplification. But kids, when they get to a certain point in their education journey and they're like, sufficient in reading, they're. They're guessing what the word is. Sometimes, especially if it's a complex word, they're looking at the shape of it and it could be calligraphy and they might say it's like cartography. You know, they might, they'll just guess what the word is and have no semblance of what the actual sounds of the letters make. So they have to. And it blows my mind because I can't imagine thinking that way.

[Bob]

No, I couldn't, I couldn't have learned anything like that.

[Mark]

In some streamers. I've seen it when they're trying to like read. And for me, I've done this so much in games where I'm reading the, the, the text in games and stuff like that. And I'll get comments sometimes that are just like, wow, how you doing that? How are you reading these words? It's like I've read a lot, number one, so I'm better at it. But it's also just like I can sound out what they are. So even if it's a new word I've never seen before, I know how to pronounce it based on my ability to know the English language and know its pronunciation rules. And like I can extrapolate from different things to get to new words that I've never even heard before. And it's. I can't imagine not being able to do that. It's like being robbed of this ability.

[Bob]

No. Well, yeah, that's the thing. The new, the new style of teaching is give them a book that's at or above their reading level. Like give them something that's going to be full of words they don't know or haven't seen before and then use context clues and use and guess basically. And then you either are told, yes, that's right or no, that's wrong, but you have no, there's no sounding it out tools involved in this teaching method. I agree with you. It sounds completely unhinged to me. But. But it works really well for some kids. Some kids really need that, I'm sure. I don't know if it has to do with if you have like dyslexia or other sort of reading, you know, whatever differences. But it's wild.

[Mark]

There are certain sound based pronunciation routes in words that even if you don't know what the word is, because if you sound it out, you might hear like graphee or you know, o meter, you know, you might understand that it's a measuring device outside of the ometer, like lettering. If you say it out loud that way, or someone corrects your pronunciation, you might know what it means just based on the sound. Because a lot of root words have similar sounds and like the Latin basics. I don't know, it's just, I feel like a lot of people, kids growing up, they're going to get to this point where they're like, they'll catch up if they really want to read. I feel like it's not learning doesn't only happen as a child. And then you get. I got way better at reading after I started doing YouTube. Trust me, way better at it. But yeah, I just feel like people will feel robbed and that's unfair. Ah, fuck.

[Bob]

Hmm.

[Wade]

Interesting. Interesting.

[Bob]

So.

[Wade]

So the sentence was someone will get better at reading.

[Mark]

Everyone gets worse at reading.

[Bob]

No, he said people. People will feel robbed and that's unfair.

[Wade]

People will feel robbed and that's unfair.

[Mark]

Okay, so if this goes well, we change the whole learning system for everybody. And we will. We will save everyone's reading ability. But if it's doubly unfair, no one can read.

[Wade]

We'll rob everyone's ability. That sounds right to you, Bob. Either we fix the learning or else we ruin it for everyone.

[Bob]

That sounds like the level of influence I expect us to have.

[Wade]

Okay, this is really going to move us up those podcast charts.

[Bob]

Heads.

[Mark]

Tails.

[Wade]

Heads.

[Mark]

Oh, damn it.

[Wade]

Well, well, coins out of the way.

[Bob]

Well, everyone still can't read or whatever.

[Wade]

So, yeah, the learning system is what it is.

[Bob]

Gee, I hope nothing unfair happens the rest of the episode.

[Mark]

The host has free reign. What have we done?

[Wade]

That's right. I do. I'm guessing we're into small talk. Mark, you brought up the reading. Was that right?

[Mark]

No. Well, I mean, I mentioned it. Bob had more input on it, I'd say. I mean, yes, that was all me.

[Bob]

Mark gets credit. Yes.

[Wade]

He both just got some points. That's fine. Okay, well, we'll open it up to small talk and before I throw it over to you, because it's absolutely fair for me to have small talk as the host. You guys hear about EA selling?

[Bob]

I have heard about that.

[Wade]

Yeah. $55 billion.

[Bob]

If it goes through, is it approved? I heard they were trying to get that approved.

[Wade]

No, it. It has to go through approval, which I think will go into, like, June of next year. And then.

[Bob]

Right.

[Wade]

If that happens, then early 2027, the sale would actually be finalized. Some group in Saudi Arabia. I forget the name of the group, but in Saudi, public investment fund Silver Lake and Affinity Partners agreed to a $55 billion purchase of EA, which means that's pretty crazy. It'll be out of public market. And maybe that means that games could be made to be good rather than made for investors to be happy.

[Bob]

If there's anything I've learned in modern society, it's that private capital always fixes the problems that ail businesses. Every business that's ever been bought up by private capital has turned right around and become absolute paragons of their industries, and nothing bad will happen.

[Wade]

So the curve is individual or small, group makes great thing. People love it. Companies goes public, people can buy stocks, and all of a sudden they've got pressures. They got to make money to make the investors happy. Game goes, and then private company swoops in, buys it, and then where's it go? Better? Worse? Same?

[Mark]

It depends. The only scenario I've seen where things go better is when the Original group or person reinvests and brings it private. That is the only time I've seen these things turn around. I'm sure there are outliers. I'm not an encyclopedia on all the business dealings that's ever happened. But usually if you as a consumer want a better experience, the original inventor of the said good product needs to be the person that goes back into it.

[Wade]

So do you think Saudi Arabia, Saudi Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners equal? Trip Hawkins?

[Bob]

Maybe he's in there.

[Wade]

Maybe he's.

[Mark]

Yeah, maybe he's in there. I can't say. Trip Hawkins.

[Bob]

I don't know where Trip's at these days. Trip.

[Mark]

Oh, look at this guy. Look at that smile. Yeah, he's definitely.

[Wade]

I didn't know EA was founded in like the early 80s, was it?

[Bob]

Yeah, I don't know that either.

[Wade]

Yeah, apparently EA was founded 1982.

[Bob]

Whoa, that seems pretty early.

[Mark]

He was director of strategy marketing at Apple Computer.

[Wade]

All the. It's.

[Mark]

I feel like all these big companies have the same like 20 people that were in all of the companies doing all the things all at once and they all just jumped around and did everything. Not like today where we only have like five people that are at the heads of all these other companies.

[Bob]

Well, no one cares now because they're all actually just owned by one large ultra mega corporation. So it's all the same. What are we talking about?

[Mark]

Games.

[Wade]

Ea. The big sale of EA and whether or not we'd make it in the.

[Mark]

Game or whatever it is. Get in the game. Get in the game.

[Wade]

EA Sports. It's in the game. Yeah, well, I hope it works out for the best because I mean, some EA games, like, you know, some of the battlefields and stuff are fun, I'm looking forward to, but man, like, games like Madden and even the new college football just aren't nearly as good. Maybe it's nostalgia, but like I remember really enjoying them when I was younger and then I tried playing them in recent years and I'm like kind of buggy and whatever. And everyone loved the new Battlefront when it first came out. Maybe they like it more now, but boy oh boy, whenever you had to pay money to be Darth Vader or whatever it was, loot boxes to unlock characters. People loved that.

[Mark]

Sure, sure.

[Wade]

So that's my small talk. Just want to bring up EA figured you guys probably heard about it if I heard about it.

[Bob]

But I guess I'm jaded because my main take is can it get worse? Maybe always.

[Mark]

Pretty much.

[Bob]

We'll Find out, I guess. But they can't force me to buy anything that they make.

[Wade]

So like if you've bought an EA product In the last 30 years, you are obligated to buy every EA product for the next 20.

[Mark]

I guarantee you there was some board meeting with like, what if we put in some like mind control images that make people want to buy more? Like forcing people. What if we tie people in shares, take their credit cards and put it into the game. What if we make their account name the credit card number and the password is the, the, the secret code plus.

[Wade]

The air brand name. It's like, you know, subliminal messaging every like 60 frames. You see, I'm having fun. This is fun.

[Bob]

Anyone who's ever played an EA game is now a sleeper agent. And anytime you hear the word ultimate team you're just like, gotta buy more Madden packs.

[Wade]

You don't even play Madden. I know.

[Bob]

I love the packs.

[Mark]

I will tell you about the game that I've been playing that I have been enjoying. I love Hades. And Hades 2 came out and it is every bit as fun as the original. It is so goddamn good. The story is so tightly in there, I don't even care what's going on. It's just like oh man, it's such a tight, fun, specific type of fun where you get the randomness, you get the rogue light ish nature of it, the repetition. It's easy to jump in, do one round. I'm like, I'm just going to do you. Continually making progress. It's super fun. God, it's good.

[Wade]

I've heard good things. I've heard a couple of gripes about like how it ends or something like that and a couple other people have like minor gripes but overall I've heard mostly great things.

[Mark]

Well, don't spoil anything for me.

[Wade]

I don't know anything about it. Just people are, you know, people, they can be happy. Maybe they're right. Cause I don't know. But maybe they're wrong.

[Bob]

Those are the two ways.

[Mark]

And it's made by a small team. Supergiant Games is the developer and they self publish. They only have 25 employees, you know, but for a 25 employee studio, this was like such a beautifully polished, clean like experience. I've, I've only experienced like two bugs in the entire thing and they weren't even game breaking bugs. Like it's just like, oh, it's just so good.

[Bob]

Yeah, no, super giant Supergiant kills it. Have you played their other stuff?

[Mark]

I have not. I remember Transistor when it came out and I looked at it and being like, ah, it might be fun.

[Bob]

I think I. Transistor was. Was good.

[Mark]

It's. That's very much like Hades, right?

[Bob]

It's very similar. Yeah.

[Mark]

Top down, kind of exploratory.

[Bob]

I. Well in Bastion I would say too you should check out if you really like Hades. Both Transistor and Bastion.

[Mark]

Oh yeah, that's definitely like. Yeah. So they've really mastered that type of game. And I heard about Transistor, I heard great things, but I just never got into it. But when Hades came out, like I think I played that just before COVID and it was. Oh, it was so good. I just remember sling it every day and every night I play this well and I even.

[Bob]

I have played their other one too. Pyre. I forgot I have played that also. Very good. Hades is really their like breakout. Like everyone loves Hades, but their whole catalog is like, if you really like Hades, that's what they do. It's awesome. They're all so good.

[Mark]

Which is why games like, you know, video game developer simulator don't make any sense because it's like they're always want it's the same game as before. It's like, I don't care if it's the same type of game, if it's as good, if it's as fun. Because whenever I get done with those games, it's like I just want the same with new maps and new enemies and new fun characters and. But just do this, don't change it that much. And that's basically what they've done so far with some fun additions on top of it. It's like, oh, that's delightful. Every time I come up on one of the surprises, like I'm playing the same core gameplay that I like. Whereas like with Diablo 3 and Diablo 4, a lot of people were like, wow, it's way slower, you know, and they got used to that fast speed. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's like it is very different feel of it. But these all feel the same as like snap, snap, snap. So good. God, so good. I haven't enjoyed a game in a long time, so I've been very happy about this.

[Wade]

So it's a great feeling when you listen. You guys have heard me talk about like blueprints, you know, whatever the game is, I find that I'm in love with.

[Mark]

We like good games.

[Wade]

Okay.

[Mark]

I mean, I should declare unfair on what I just said, but I can't, you know, it's oh, wow.

[Bob]

Unbelievable.

[Mark]

Oh, man. There's a. I know it's easy to like this character in Hades, too, but there's Narcissus, which is exactly what it sounds like. That character. Every time I come across Narcissus in that game, I laugh every time. God, I'm not gonna spoil any more of it, but very fun. It's probably an easy character for people to like, but very fun one.

[Wade]

Do you close the door when you run into Aphrodite? Bob, what's new with you?

[Bob]

Same. Same feeling and experience for me. But with megabonk so far.

[Mark]

Megabunk. I've heard about this Megabunk rate new.

[Bob]

Top down roguelite thing. Wade has more hours in it than I do. It's real good. You definitely do.

[Mark]

Oh, we talked about this previous episode. Yeah, it looks really cool.

[Bob]

Same, same. But I'm really into megabonk. And literally, I just, like, just unlocked something that has been on my mind all day today. I'm like, man, I can't wait to get back to that and play that new thing I unlocked.

[Mark]

Yeah. Wait, Wrap up this episode. We got a game to play.

[Wade]

Okay.

[Bob]

No, guys, I'm excited. I'm making a commitment. I'm buying a riding lawnmower. Yes. I am a Midwest dad living out his childhood fantasies. We currently, we have people who cut the grass. And, like, that's very convenient, but I've always felt kind of like a lazy piece of shit about that. Like, growing up, my dad always cut the grass. And when I was old enough, he had me do it. And, like, it's really not that bad. And we have a big enough yard that it's, like, totally legit to have a riding mower. I'm so excited. I have to go. I have to do some shopping. I have to do some research. I don't want a zero turn. I want a tractor style. I don't know how. I got to make sure the deck's not too wide to get through the size gate we have in our fence. All this fun. Like, I'm excited about it.

[Wade]

Are you going to, like, do something with the grass? Are you just going to, like, spit out and sit on top of the old grass? You going to collect it and, like.

[Bob]

Unless I have to bag it if I let it get too long. But, like, I'll just. I'm just gonna mulch. Mulch it and put back out and blow off edge. Edge the edges and then blow off the sidewalks and stuff.

[Mark]

And he's gonna edge the edges, blow off the Sidewalk?

[Bob]

Yeah.

[Mark]

Hell, yeah.

[Bob]

God, it's like a party. It's like a constant party over here. But I am excited to cruise around the neighborhood with a beer on my riding lawnmower, so that'll be pretty cool. I think everyone will respect me more.

[Mark]

After they see that I respect you more.

[Bob]

You haven't even seen it. Just wait.

[Mark]

I haven't seen it.

[Bob]

Yeah.

[Wade]

Hey, listen, Mega Bonk and doing stuff, those are two good things, Hades. I need to play both to compare, but in my brain I'm like, oh, man, do I have time for more than one roguelite at the moment? Probably not, but I'll do it anyway.

[Bob]

Maybe you will.

[Wade]

Yeah.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Wade]

Well, I also want to play Dead Zone, Rogue and Jump Space. I've only got to play, like, very limited amounts of those games. And then there's a new game. I might even stream it today in the past for everyone. You guys heard a clover pit?

[Bob]

Yes.

[Mark]

No.

[Bob]

Isn't that like gambling or slots or. What? Is it something.

[Wade]

It's like a spooky gambling game.

[Mark]

Oh, hell yeah.

[Wade]

I think it's kind of like. I don't want to say Balatro meets gambling, but what's the game with, like, the. The creepy face dude and you have the gun and you load the bullet.

[Bob]

Shotgun roulette.

[Wade]

Shotgun roulette. It's kind of like a shotgun roulette meets slot machine ish kind of thing. I don't know. That's kind of the vibe I got from it. Lo.

[Bob]

Verb.

[Mark]

All right, I'll. I'll get it. You sold me. Yeah, it actually has a bunch of bundles. It's got a inscription bundle. It's got a.

[Wade]

Is it why the same people did inscription? It kind of has that feel to.

[Mark]

It, and it also has buckshot roulette as a bundle, but it might be.

[Wade]

It has a very similar feel to those style of games. Not scary, but like horror setting. And if you screw up, you die or something.

[Mark]

Oh, maybe not. Maybe the bundles are just Steam packaging. Things that it thinks are similar together. That might be it.

[Wade]

Yeah. I'm not sure. I'm not done it yet. But I've just. I've seen a little bit of gameplay of it and I've heard people talk about it like, okay, I'll just give that a shot.

[Mark]

I'm doing it.

[Wade]

Good time for games. We've had. We've had a pretty good year for games.

[Mark]

I have heard that there is many contenders for Game of the Year this year, And I think Hades 2 is up there, but I'm Like, I'm hoping that there's other ones.

[Wade]

Blueprints won't be. It came out too early and was kind of niche, but man, it would never be. Should be.

[Mark]

Nevermind.

[Wade]

It's because you didn't play it right.

[Mark]

It's because your controller was broken. It's because you, you, you. You don't know.

[Wade]

This episode is brought to you by Welch's Fusions, the newest drop from Welch's fruit snacks. We've got to warn you about the consequences of eating Welch's Fusions. It's like three dudes hanging out on a rooftop talking about the future.

[Mark]

Three dudes hanging out on a rooftop installing solar panels to provide a sustainable future.

[Bob]

Three dudes on a roof installing solar panels so that they can power their computers and record their brilliant idea for a podcast.

[Mark]

Pretty awesome consequences if you ask me. New Welch's Fusions are so good. Each one is a combination of two fruity flavors in one juicy bite. One flavor on the outside, another on the inside.

[Wade]

It's an unbelievable taste sensation. So they are recommended for experienced taste buds only. You've been warned. New Welch's Fusions. Please use responsibly.

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[Wade]

This episode is brought to you by Uber. You know that feeling when someone shows up for you when you need it most? Yeah, we all need that sometimes. And Uber knows that. Uber isn't just a ride or a meal delivered. It's showing up no matter what.

[Mark]

I think that might be them knocking on the door. And because they're, you know, Uber's really good about getting them right to where you are. To them or the FBI? I'm not 100% sure.

[Wade]

Yep, when it really matters, whatever it is, you show up or there's a will. We're on our way. Uber on our way. Download the app today. All right, well, I've got some time for an episode, so I guess unless you all have anything else, I'm gonna do an episode. And by episode, I mean you guys are doing all the work.

[Bob]

Kind of sounds right to me.

[Mark]

What else is new?

[Wade]

It's October still, and I think we need to buckle down into the scary.

[Mark]

Into the scary.

[Wade]

Do you guys believe in.

[Bob]

Curses? No.

[Mark]

Curse words?

[Bob]

No.

[Wade]

Curses.

[Mark]

I cast. Fuck you.

[Bob]

No.

[Wade]

All right, Curses like the curse of Tippecanoe, the curse of the Bambino, the Kennedy curse, Tutankhamun, maybe the curse of Tippecanoe came into play. I'm not sure exactly when the curse was like mentioned. Every 20 years, a president elected to office died. That was starting in 1840 through JFK in 1960. Every 20 years, a US president elected to office died in office. The curse of the Bambino was when the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees. And then they went 86 years without winning a World Series. And it was attributed to trading to like their most hated rival.

[Bob]

That'll show them.

[Wade]

And then the Kennedy curse is just. A lot of bad things happen to the Kennedy family. A lot of deaths. A lot of deaths. Tutankhamun's tomb I've not looked into extensively as far as the specifics of what happened, but people who came in and disturbed the tomb typically had a lot of misfortune afterward.

[Mark]

And it was, I've heard, I don't know how true this is. I've heard with that specific one that there was a type of fungus in the tomb that obviously when people went into it, they breathed in the fungus and the spores and things like that, and it caused illnesses, fungal borne illnesses in the people that went into the tomb. Therefore, they went in the tube, they got sick, they went out and died. I don't know if that's true. It might just be a theory of how that happened, but I could totally believe that happening because you're in a tomb in a dark. I don't know how damp it is in there, but even some funguses can live in drier environments. And you know, it's just, it's totally possible, but. Yes. Are we looking up curses?

[Wade]

Yeah, yeah, just either ones. I've mentioned other ones, but we're gonna talk about curses. I'm looking at the Tutankhamun's tomb. One toxic mold theory is mentioned, but the primary figure associated with the curse, Lord Karn Carnarvon, apparently died from an infected mosquito bite shortly after opening the tomb.

[Mark]

Infected mosquito bite, wow.

[Wade]

But some of the other people who died was attributed to natural causes or accidents. But the toxic mold theory is mentioned.

[Mark]

All right, are we taking turns on this?

[Wade]

Yeah, sure. And that's fine.

[Mark]

This is, this is a list of curses to say to other people.

[Wade]

And they're not.

[Mark]

And let's find funny hex Curses is a thread. And I'm not showing shade on this, but unsalted pretzel. You're as sharp as a marble, mother hugger. For someone who is 70% water, you don't look very refreshing.

[Bob]

Damn.

[Mark]

May all your exes meet over tea and share gossip about you. If you get to heaven, tell my grandma I said hi and that she made the best cookies. That's not a curse, May. You always have a broken sheet. These are. Pass.

[Bob]

May your blade chip and shatter.

[Mark]

That is a good idea. I love the. Wait. Javier Bardem just owned that whole role. The rest of it, like. Okay, I like Villanovu. Villanovo. Villanova. Villanova.

[Wade]

The college Villanova.

[Bob]

Nova. Nova.

[Mark]

Villa. Voona vu. Right? Really great cinematographer, incredible shot composition. There's no doubt about the art of the shots that come into that. However, a movie can be entirely pretty shots and there is some story there and some good storytelling. But it's just like. There's a theme that goes through a lot of his movies where. Because it's just like music. Sting. Big, big beautiful shot. A lot of slow mo. A lot of. It's like a particular vibe. And I get very tired of things very quickly. This is stupid of me. I mean, that's not the point.

[Bob]

Pass.

[Mark]

I said pass. I said pass.

[Wade]

Keep going.

[Mark]

All I'm finding are curse curses to say to other people. May you bite into a big chunk of garlic so your mouth feels funny for the next few days. That doesn't happen.

[Bob]

What are they talking about? I don't know. Pass. Okay, go on.

[Wade]

Is it. I'm sorry. It might be unfair that I'm not letting you pass, but you can't declare it.

[Mark]

All right. That's all right.

[Wade]

Okay.

[Mark]

All right. Okay, fine.

[Bob]

I know a curse. Fuck. Anyway, no. Cincinnati has a sports curse. It's not our fault that we can't win sports games. The Reds are cursed because umpire Johnny McSherry died during a game on the field in 1996. I actually don't know if it was on the field, but I did not know that that happened. That is a terrible story. And I get why that might make a team feel cursed if it literally an umpire dies mid game during your game. That is not ideal. Also, there's the bo Jackson curse. 1991 playoff game, Bengals Bo Jackson, career ending injury during the playoff cursed ever since.

[Wade]

But we did finally beat the Raiders in a playoff game, which maybe was the end of that particular curse. And then we probably have to start of a new one. The Reds one. I will say The Reds, unrelated to the reasoning that you'd mentioned, they kind of deserve to be cursed. Wasn't it just a few years ago that people were complaining about the product and the red zoner was like, well, there's no other game in town, and we don't have to do anything because you have no choice but to watch us, so deal with it. Something like that. Which is why whenever we go to Reds things, Molly wears her Minnesota Twins gear because she's like, yeah, fuck the Reds.

[Bob]

I go ahead.

[Wade]

I finally found one since I curse. Okay, Mark. All right.

[Mark]

So this one's a famous one. A lot of people know it, but Dead Man's Hand. Do you know about Dead Man's Hand?

[Bob]

A specific hand in poker or something?

[Mark]

It is, it is. So there was a gunfighter by the name of Wild Bill Hickok, which great nickname. We should bring back these kinds of names. Nicknames. I want. Actually, I don't know if I want the subreddit. Wild Mark Fischbach, actually, don't, you know, don't come up with nicknames for me. I don't want that at all, actually.

[Bob]

All right, Subreddit. I'm looking forward to that thread.

[Mark]

A book was published in 1926. The earliest reference to this was 1886, where the dead Man's Hand was originally considered a full house with jacks and tens. But then the Jackson Red Sevens was called Dead Hand man's hand by 1903, and then 1907, it became Jackson Eights. But while Bill Hickok's hand in 1876, which was apparently before all this, was eights and aces, all black cards. And then the fifth card could be whatever, but it's eights and aces. Black cards is Dead Man's Hand. Now, I don't know if this has ever happened again. Afterwards, it seems like he got killed with that hand, and therefore it became the Dead Man's hand.

[Bob]

Yeah, so what hand do I not want to have right now?

[Mark]

If you get that? If you get aces and eights, all black cards, ace and aces and eights, you're gonna die or something like that.

[Bob]

Is it aces full of eights or eights full of aces?

[Mark]

Eights in between. Aces.

[Bob]

Okay.

[Mark]

It's an Ace 8 sandwich.

[Wade]

So three Aces, two Eights, all black.

[Bob]

You know, that's why people are afraid of aces, because ace, eight, nine, Pass.

[Mark]

I have more. I have more.

[Bob]

Oh. Apparently, the only curses I actually do know anything about are all sports curses. So do you know the end ready curse and. Or do you know The Andretti family.

[Wade]

I've never met them. No.

[Bob]

We don't ever talk. I'm a. I'm kind of a motorsport fan, and we don't ever talk about that. As far as I know, you guys are not big motorsports fans, but Mario Andretti is an incredibly decorated race car driver. He won the Daytona 500. He won the Indianapolis 500 in the 60s. And his family, his sons and successive generations have basically all gone on to.

[Mark]

I don't know about all.

[Bob]

Many of them have gone on to be very successful, very good race car drivers. But Mario's Indy 500 win in 1969 would be the family's last ever. As far as I know, they. Since 1969, every Andretti who's ever raced in the Indy 500 has had breakdowns, has had crashes, crashed out, have. Well, there was one really dramatic, heartbreaking loss that happened. But they cannot win the Indy 500, which is not a particularly meaningful race in terms of what it represents. It's not like some grand championship or anything, but it's an iconic race brickyard in Indianapolis. It's like a. At least for American motorsports, it's like the Daytona 500. The Indy 500 might be the only two races a person who doesn't otherwise know anything about race cars would have heard of, because those are the two big, iconic. Anyway, the Andretti's legendary racing family, literally, in several different branches of motorsport, at the core of the best family of drivers possibly that's ever lived, having won another Indy 500. Can't do it. Curse forever. Take that. Damn.

[Mark]

I've got a curse. What if you lived in a city that just suddenly started burning and it didn't stop burning for 60 years?

[Bob]

Cleveland. Oh, 60 years.

[Mark]

Yeah. Cleveland's on fire, baby.

[Bob]

Take that, Cleveland. Ha.

[Mark]

No, I'm talking about the coal fire in Pennsylvania.

[Wade]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Mark]

There's a town of Centralia in Pennsylvania that since 1962 has started burning. And it's just because there is a large coal vein underneath the town. And coal, when it burns, it will ignite all the other coal around. And if coal vein ignites, there's really, really not many ways to put it out until the fuel runs out. Now imagine this was a town in, like, before Common era times, or even early Common era times, where you have a town that just suddenly erupts in flames for no particular reason, because they didn't know that the rocks nearby would light on fire or something like that, and it just kept burning. And then that city became a cursed city because it doesn't, it's, it's not exactly good air. When coal is gushing out flames everywhere in the city. There's also like other chemicals and gas, not chemicals really, like other compounds that could burn and release. So imagine the world's largest vape down there and you're huffing that and then. Yeah, so that could be considered a curse both in this time now where this town is, you know, cursed forever to burn, and then in the past there might be other towns that have burned just like this.

[Wade]

So for this particular one, I've not looked into it extensively. The coal was exposed, which is why it's been able to burn. Because wouldn't if you just closed it up, if it was underground, you closed it up, wouldn't it smother? Because it would run out of oxygen. Like how, how did it burn for so long?

[Mark]

I'm not 100% sure of the chemistry of it. When you have coal like this. Depending on the arrangement with underground caves and stuff, it could technically pull in air from a completely separate area. If there's any underground cave connections that connect to where the coal vein is. And then it will, the gases it creates will push vents through the soil. And so I think that's what happens a lot. You'll get a lot of sudden outcroppings of like smoke and plumes of fire will like appear here and appear because it's, it's a self sustaining reaction where the heat it generates causes air movement to be pulled in and upward, pushed upwards, which draws it in from any lower terrain area and it'll, it'll become a chimney basically and create its own. It's so large the, the area that's burning that even if it were to stop having oxygen, the heat alone would erode the dirt and stuff around it to the point where it could, you know, if you have like coal or you put wood in a tin box and deprive it of oxygen, it will turn into charcoal right from the heat alone. And that is just more ignitable material so that the moment any oxygen gets in there, it'll ignite again and keep going. It's just such a large fire. And I may be saying some things wrong there. This podcast, we only ever say things that we think we know. We don't, we don't know fully. I'm probably not getting it exactly right, but that's what I've heard correct us.

[Bob]

Make sure you go to the subreddit and tell Mark exactly what he said. That's semantically incorrect or Minutely wrong.

[Wade]

And what his new nickname is.

[Bob]

He wants to learn the fiery markipliery.

[Mark]

I'll take it. Actually that's pretty good.

[Wade]

Thank you.

[Bob]

Give yourself a point.

[Wade]

Okay. You talked me into it. Better hope for no golf rules.

[Bob]

My turn.

[Wade]

Oh yeah.

[Bob]

Because I want to talk about the legend of the lost Dutchman's gold mine and the curse of the Superstition Mountains. This one's actually just one of those old school goofy ass things. So this dude was his name Waltz something? Waltz, Jacob Waltz. German dude. Dutchman Deutsch. German was. This is out in Arizona. There's just a mountain range called the Superstition Mountains that's located in the Superstition Wilderness. And the mountain at the heart of it is called Superstition Mountain. So this is just an area. I don't know why you name something that goofy ass name. But that's what it's called. And this dude Jacob Waltz supposedly was out there and found an absolute motherlode. Found a mine and had his own secret mine that nobody knew the location of. That was just a ridiculous motherlode. He was finding gold and gold and gold and more gold. And on his deathbed in 1891, legend is that he revealed the location to the boarding house owner who had been taking care of him and who owned the place where he died. And everyone has been searching for the lost Dutchman's gold mine ever since. The actual story. See people seem to think it's pretty likely that he actually just worked in a different mine called the Vulture Mine. Which is an established mine with lots of. He just was a miner for company and he was just stealing gold from them. And then was like oh, I have a secret mine. This is. This gold is from my super secret. Nobody knows but me. He was probably just stealing from his company. But the curse is that apparently this legend made it made the rounds. And a bunch of people were like I'm gonna find his secret mine and be rich. And people went out into the Superstition Wilderness. And some of them turned up dead. Some of them are said to have gone mad hunting endlessly for the lost Dutchman's gold. So it's the curse of the Superstition Mountains. Don't whoever names like lots of stuff. Basically everything's named at this point. Who the fuck named something like oh yeah. Superstition Mountain. That's good. This is the Superstition Wilderness. Like this is the extra scary forest.

[Mark]

Was it originally a different name? A translation? Translated in English possibly.

[Bob]

It was originally, I think a native name. There was a name for it in Yavapai, which is in language spoken by the Yavapai people in central and western Arizona. There are four dialects, apparently. I don't know if this is a translation or an incorrect translation or just a new name. But even still, even if it was in another language, naming something, the Superstition Wilderness, it's just setting it up for bad. That's just a bad place. Now you could. If it was named the Happy Fun Wilderness, it would have a totally different vibe. That's just a really fucked up thing to do.

[Mark]

Then you could do the opposite. Naming, where you say happy Tree friends and it's really horrible. You know?

[Wade]

Before you go, Mark, I have breaking news that will be dated by the time this episode airs. Bob, I think I have to give you a point for this because you've been doing all the sports and Cincinnati Curses.

[Bob]

Is Joe Burrow dead?

[Wade]

The Bengals just made a trade for a quarterback.

[Bob]

Aaron Rodgers.

[Wade]

Not Aaron Rodgers.

[Bob]

Joe Flacco.

[Wade]

Yes.

[Bob]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Wade]

They traded.

[Bob]

He's available because the Browns benched him.

[Wade]

No, the Browns got Joe Flacco, who was a Baltimore Raven for his whole career. He's like 80 years old. The Browns, who haven't been able to successfully run the quarterback position at all other than Baker Mayfield, had like a.

[Bob]

Good year or two and now he's killing it down in Tampa. Now Baker Mayfield's killing it for like 30 years.

[Wade]

Benched their quarterback and the Bengals just traded a fifth round pick for him. They get a sixth rounder back. But we gave a fifth rounder for Joe Flacco, who just got benched.

[Bob]

Benched by the Browns because he wasn't good enough for Cleveland, who aren't even.

[Mark]

I'm looking him up. You know what's funny? You said he was like 80 years old, right?

[Bob]

It's like 42 or something, isn't he?

[Mark]

He was born in 85. I don't think any of us can say that.

[Bob]

It's like a thousand years old for a quarterback.

[Wade]

That makes him a thousand years old for sure.

[Bob]

For sure.

[Mark]

For sure. I just want to point out.

[Bob]

All right, so Joe Flacco, a man who's basically the same age as us almost, but looks like a grandfather, is probably starting for the Bengals this coming weekend is what you're saying, because Browning can't throw less than three interceptions per.

[Wade]

Game by the time this airs. I wonder if he'll be playing or not still.

[Bob]

I'm going to call her right now. Joe Flacco is Leading us to the playoffs, getting benched in Cleveland was exactly the wake up call he needed. He's going to remember to take his medicine in the morning and he's going to show up in Cincinnati bright eyed and ready to kick some ass. And if he could throw one interception or less per game, he's definitely an improvement over where we are right now.

[Mark]

So I mean, if, if it's any consolation, I think we do have a chance to get to playoffs. And this is me actually talking about sports a little bit, which is shocking. I know you guys, isn't it? Just because the Ravens and Browns are also doing so unbelievably, terribly.

[Bob]

Oh, they stink. Our division is stinky, stinky so far this year.

[Mark]

Yeah. So there's a real good shot.

[Bob]

So it's I when this, this is either going to be the most dead on ridiculously hot hot take or I'm going to look like an idiot. But either way it'll be funny. In the future, you in the future, look it up. Maybe I'm right. Maybe The Bengals are 2 and 7.

[Mark]

I have a passage and I actually have to say this passage is a little disturbing for people at home. Ooh, but this is true. Absolutely true. A first hand account of a real life curse. I could not speak. I became unconscious. I could not open my mouth because then I smelled something terrible. I heard my daughter snoring in a terrible way. Very abnormal. When crossing to my daughter's bed, I collapsed and fell. I was there until 9 o' clock in the morning of Friday the next day, until a friend of mine came and knocked at my door. I was surprised to see that my trousers were red, had some stains like honey. I saw some starchy mess on my body. My arms had some wounds. I didn't really know how I got these wounds. I opened the door, I wanted to speak. My breath would not come out. My daughter was already dead. I went into my daughter's bed thinking that she was sleeping. I slept till it was 4:30 in the afternoon on Friday. That same day. Then I managed to go over to my neighbor's houses. They were all dead. I decided to leave because most of my family was in wom. This is the name of the city. I'm probably not pronouncing it right. I got my motorcycle. A friend whose father had died left with me for one. As I rode through Neos, I didn't see any sign of any living thing. When I got to one, I was unable to walk even to talk. My body body was completely weak. This is a real quote. This is not story, this is something that actually happened. The the survivor's name is Joseph Nikwain from Sabum and he described what happened after a CO2 eruption from the local lake of this city. So what that means is occasionally there are pockets of gas beneath the earth. Much like the coal fire. There are pockets of gas beneath the earth. They're not just always natural gas. There can natural occurrences of carbon dioxide accumulating at certain places. And when it gets to a point where it has so much buoyancy that it might push through the soil, go up through a lake or go out through any kind of outcropping because CO2 is heavier than oxygen, it will create a blanket of just carbon dioxide flowing through the landscape. It will asphyxiate almost anything there because they just there is no oxygen. This happens a lot in caves too. So cave explorers need to be very careful and they, if they bring fire they can tell because like they'll have a torch and they dip it just below the cave. Completely invisible torch will go out immediately just because there's no oxygen there because of the layer of carbon dioxide is so thick. This is something that actually happened. But once again, if you bring it back to a time when science cannot explain it, there are probably times in history where an entire town just wiped out. Everyone dead for no apparent reason. CO2 bubble explosion, real life curse.

[Wade]

What year was this in?

[Mark]

This happened in 1986 is when this event occurred. So this was fairly recent. They called a limnic eruption at Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon. It killed.

[Wade]

Whoa.

[Mark]

It killed 1,746 people and 3,500 livescott.

[Wade]

Amazingly, anyone survived. How the hell did Joseph survive?

[Mark]

I mean it's stunning. I mean it's probably just because the way his house was shaped in one way or another, it just kept a little oxygen in the building and that's it. Yeah.

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[Mark]

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[Wade]

Any more curses, Bob?

[Bob]

The Hope diamond is cursed. Guys know that one? That's a classic.

[Wade]

I've heard of the Hope Diamond. I don't know about the curse.

[Bob]

Its previous owners have met with bankruptcy, gone insane, and some of them also were brutally killed. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette once owned this diamond. They were famously executed during the French Revolution. It sits in the Smithsonian. I've seen it in person in the Smithsonian. Sits in the rare gemstone collection or whatever at the Natural History Museum, I think.

[Wade]

So. The Smithsonian's gonna die.

[Bob]

You know what? But if it's in the Smithsonian, does that mean that our country owns it? That might explain some stuff.

[Wade]

Who owns a Smithsonian Institution? Because they are currently the owners. What's it worth? What's the value of The Hope Diamond? 200 to $350 million. Forget movie theaters. I think what we need to do is acquire the Hope Diamond.

[Bob]

I've heard that large diamonds are very profitable. What's Mark's curse?

[Mark]

Oh, another depressing one. I want to show you guys a picture.

[Wade]

Right?

[Mark]

Okay. You want a picture, all you listeners? I'm going to describe it. You're going to describe before them. You got this, guys. Okay.

[Wade]

Oh, only wait.

[Bob]

Appears to be a building, possibly a church or a barn.

[Wade]

Church or a barn? Yeah.

[Bob]

In the middle of a bunch of trees that appear to be completely dead. It looks like maybe fire came through.

[Mark]

Not fire.

[Wade]

One of the trees is curved over in a complete arch.

[Mark]

Yeah. Not ash. Yeah. The trees are deformed, sagging. It looks like a cursed wood, right? Sure.

[Wade]

Yeah.

[Mark]

Like just a wrong landscape. Like in World of Warcraft.

[Wade]

Looks like a lot of the bark is even peeled off of them.

[Mark]

Yeah. So you go into this zone and you're like, oh, this is the bad place.

[Wade]

No grass, no vegetation. There's, like leaves in the background. But nothing in the immediate vicinity has any life to it. It looks like.

[Mark]

Yeah. So, Bob, you were partially correct by this. This was caused by an eruption, but it wasn't the actual eruption itself. There's a place called Mammoth Mountain. Right. It's a dormant volcano in the Sierra Nevada region of California and is underlaid by shallow dacitic dome that releases cold and dry CO2 rich gases through fumarole vents and fractures located in the flanks of the mountain. So there was a portion where this picture is taken that a vent opened up higher up in the Dorman volcano and just created a constant river flow of this toxic gas. And so that's why you see living trees just beyond the picture, because it was literally a narrow channel of gas flowed out of this for probably a long time. I don't know how much. How long it was, but the gases came out at about 1,200 tons of gas per day that were flowing down this mountain to cover an area of 100 hectares. How much is a hectare?

[Wade]

That's a hecking lot of acres.

[Mark]

So if you ever want to. If you ever want to know curses, like, whether you're like, curses are magic or curses like the earth objecting to you, living in a space, I feel like is the ultimate manifestation of a curse. And I don't know if anyone died in this. It wasn't a town that was here. There's like a couple buildings. But on that picture, it's funny because, like, the paint is stripped from some of the. The stain of the. Or the wood is either stained or like paint is stripped. Something has happened to that building. And those trees, the way they're just all limped out. It's really freaky weird.

[Bob]

Yeah.

[Mark]

That is a cursed location. I don't think it's still going through that area. It probably stopped, but could happen at any moment.

[Wade]

And the term was a. Heck, a hectare.

[Mark]

A hectare is a. Yeah, it's some unit of.

[Bob]

It's 10 errors. It's metric. It's larger than an acre. A similar type of unit of measure of area.

[Mark]

Metric of an acre. Okay, I see.

[Wade]

Okay, man. So that means like in the rest of the world, when they watch Looney Tunes, it was Acme hectares, but Acme acres. Any more curses or should I wrap this bad boy up? Did you guys see. I guess before you. You answer, do you guys see Busby stoop chair?

[Mark]

No. What is this?

[Wade]

This was a guy who was getting executed. And the story differs as to what exactly happened. Either he was drunk in his chair and just cursing, or on the way to his execution, he put a curse on the chair he was executed in. This was in. Let me see, was it in the early 1700s, I think. And for some reason after he was executed in this chair, other people that weren't meant to be executed sat in it for whatever reason, including like an entire group of Airmen never returning from a mission. Other, like, weird fatal accidents. I don't know. The chair at one point was hung in a museum, so nobody could sit in it. I don't know where it's at now. Maybe it's still hanging somewhere. But anyone who sat in this chair after Busby's execution, Thomas Busby, Busby, however you pronounce it, they died after he cursed this chair. Bob, you got one more?

[Bob]

Honestly, I didn't have any other ones.

[Wade]

That I really liked.

[Bob]

This is not a curse. But Cincinnati Music hall is haunted. It's kind of a curse. It said that there are, like, ghostly figures that you could see, and also things will just sort of move themselves around. It's a beautiful old building. It's a very cool building. It was renovated, oh, like a decade ago, but it's still very historic and cool and supposed to be haunted. That's kind of like a curse.

[Wade]

Kind of like a curse. Hauntings and curses are related.

[Mark]

I got a legit curse. Beware, beware, beware. The cursing stone of Carlisle. I have arrived in the Scottish borders on a clear morning to see if I can bring an end to the accursedness, which, by all accounts, has been going on for far too long. The prologue was almost five centuries ago when in 1525, the Archbishop of Glasgow, Glasgow editors pronounce it correctly, weren't we in Glasgow? Gavin Dunbar brought a whopping 1069. Nice word curse on the Reaver people who were pillaging the district. I curse their head and all the hairs of their head. I curse their face, their brain, their mouth, their nose, their tongue, their teeth. May the thunder and lightning which rained down upon Sodom and Gomorrah rain down upon them. This led to widespread destruction in the area. And then it slept for hundreds of years, until in 2001, as part of a millennium celebration, the council asked a person named Gordon Young, a local artist and descendant of Reaver, descendant of the cursed people from the original, to carve a new set of curses. 383 words of the original curse onto a stone and place it as an art installation in the town. Since then, it was placed in a gloomy underpass between Carlisle Castle and the Tule House Museum. And then, if you believe Carlisle fell victim to the curse once more, there has been a cacophony of misfortune, foot and mouth mouth disease, floods, fire at Rathbone's bakery, job losses at Cavagan and Gray, which makes coleslaw for Marks and Spencers, and the footballing relegation of Carlisle United. So they hired a witch finder. The witch finder general.

[Wade]

The witch finder general.

[Bob]

I didn't know that was a job.

[Mark]

Oh, his name's Jim Tootle, the witch finder general who represents the castle ward where the stone sits. He demanded the destruction of the stone or its removal from. From the city in a council motion that was debated the night last night. Whenever this was written in 2005 in order to establish scale, since the millennium Frodic, there have been several disasters reaching biblical proportions, yada, yada, yada. But now I think the stone is still there because they couldn't decide whether if destroying it would bring about more curses or fix it. Yeah, I. I'm afraid of it, says Steven, a local boy. Just look at it. It's evil. Why take the chance? The main issue in this town is not the ancient curse. It's a future of Carlisle United and traffic gridlock. Anyway, it's still there, I think.

[Bob]

Why did they do that?

[Mark]

I don't know, man. Tempting curses, you know, that's not good.

[Wade]

I guess they were like, this is a cool part of history, let's like display it.

[Bob]

Let's tempt fate. Uh huh.

[Mark]

Yeah, I think whenever. Yeah, definitely. Inscribing these horrible curses onto a stone and placing in the middle of your town by the person who was originally descended from the cursed people. Yeah, I think that would, that would carry the curse on. Yeah.

[Bob]

That kind of seems like they did it to themselves. Yeah.

[Wade]

Well, let me wrap it there. That was, There was a lot. We found a lot of curses there. Let me go through the points here, Bob. I'll start with you. You got a point for supergiant Good reading podcast. Mark said that you had a lot of knowledge about reading. So you got a point for via Mark there you got a riding mower. Mega bonk. Edge, blow. Edge and blow.

[Bob]

Oh yeah.

[Wade]

Edge and blow.

[Bob]

Yeah.

[Wade]

Yeah. The lost Dutchman's gold mines. Cincinnati curse. The Andretti curse. You got a point for Flacco coming to Cincinnati because it happened right after you mentioned Cincinnati sports being cursed. First, the hope diamond was right ish about the eruption in Mark's tale.

[Mark]

Oh sure.

[Wade]

Mark kept saying you were right about things, so I had to give you points when Mark said you were right. Fair. And then I gave you half a point for the haunting of the Cincinnati music. Cincinnati Music Hall. Is that what it was? Because it was a haunting, not a curse. I'll give you half a point. Mark, you got points for being the best reader reading because I think you brought it up. Can't pass, but want to pass. 80s two dead man's hand, Villa. Lots of poker hands. You named a lot of different poker hands, and I was trying to keep up with the different amounts of poker hands. I couldn't keep up with the aces over jacks and the eights and aces and the. The all Blacks. And you. You lost me a little bit. You had the pass call back Joseph N. Whatever his name was. CO2 eruption. Pennsylvania coal fire. Earth is cursed. It made me laugh when you said, earth is cursed, and I was like, earth is cursed. It's kind of a. I made myself laugh with what you said. So you got a point.

[Bob]

So who's.

[Mark]

What was in your head? I'll take it. You know I'll take it.

[Bob]

Why can't I make you laugh at yourself about my stuff?

[Wade]

You made me sad with the Cincinnati curse. Be glad I didn't take away points. You brought Joe Flacco here, cursing Stone of Carlisle and Mammoth Mountain gas flow. However, you did lose one point Mark for insulting my love of blueprints.

[Mark]

That's fair.

[Wade]

Right now that brings the total, Bob. 12 and a half points. 13 for Mark. 13 and 12 and a half. So very close game. I have one point.

[Mark]

Well done, man.

[Bob]

Wheel time.

[Wade]

Wheel time.

[Bob]

How many spins will there be? It looks like it's gonna be three.

[Mark]

Oh, no. All right.

[Wade]

Okay. Three pointer.

[Bob]

What are we adding, Wade?

[Wade]

Let's do one point to the most cursed, which can be left to interpretation. Most cursed contribution or whoever is the most cursed, like Bob with bad luck or, you know, some real life events. Just one point to the most cursed.

[Bob]

Feels like it's pretty heavily in my corner on that one.

[Wade]

But spin number one, unless it's house troubles, because I've been pretty cursed with that. All right, first spin.

[Bob]

Drop the most items.

[Wade]

Did anybody drop anything?

[Bob]

I don't think I did. It's usually me.

[Wade]

I don't remember hearing anything cling or see anything drop.

[Bob]

No, I wasn't, like, fidgeting with anything today. Respin.

[Wade]

Yeah, respin.

[Bob]

Spin number one again. Mentioned their significant other the most literally.

[Wade]

I think only Mark. No, that was last episode. Because Mark came up with the last episode. Did any of us mention our significant others.

[Bob]

In the episode? No, I don't think so.

[Wade]

So I should shout out Molly for helping me get this episode because she was talking about, like, hauntings and different things to talk about, which led me down the rabbit hole that led me here, so.

[Mark]

Well, that's not going to get you any points.

[Wade]

No, no. I don't want points for it, but I do.

[Bob]

All right, spin number one again. That's gonna be a lot of spins today.

[Wade]

Yeah. Oh, the best comeback.

[Bob]

Joe Flacco has a pretty good comeback because he's gonna come to Cincinnati and lead us to the Super Bowl.

[Wade]

You know what, Bob? Sure. I'll give that one to you.

[Bob]

All right.

[Wade]

Hey, but if you're wrong and we.

[Bob]

Reconvene, I lose that point retroactively. Yeah. Okay.

[Wade]

Yeah. If we reconvene, Mark gets a point retroactively as long as one of us remembers.

[Bob]

Fair enough. Spin number two. Somehow, witness protection.

[Mark]

Oh, man.

[Bob]

We're all in our normal. All right, re.

[Wade]

Spin two again.

[Bob]

Spin number two, which is actually spin number five.

[Mark]

It's pretty niche.

[Wade]

Yeah, some of them are.

[Bob]

We don't always get.

[Wade]

Oh, Mark lost most points.

[Bob]

Yeah, he did lose points, didn't he?

[Wade]

Okay, so Right now it's 14 to 13 and a half. Half point to Bob would make this a tie.

[Mark]

Wouldn't that be fun?

[Bob]

Spin number three, which is actually spin number six or seven. Oh, most angry.

[Wade]

Bob might have been the most angry.

[Bob]

I was worked up about something.

[Wade]

I don't remember Mark being worked up. But you were.

[Mark]

Oh, you were both angry about football. That's what it was.

[Wade]

Is Bob the most angry at this?

[Mark]

I wasn't angry at all. So I guess technically he would be more angry than me.

[Wade]

I mean, if you. All right. You can see that. Yeah, sure.

[Mark]

It's the only thing that I could say, because bringing up the football, you both were like, yeah, I think even after my story about the lake that killed so many people, you're like, I'm still pissed about that. So I think, yeah.

[Bob]

God damn Joe Flacco.

[Mark]

He might be great.

[Bob]

Ah, I think he's gonna be great. God damn him.

[Mark]

God damn Joe Flacco, man.

[Wade]

We had really concise amounts of spins there, Bob. You eked out the victory. However, my title of this episode was just curses, so there's nothing weird going on. You win, Bob.

[Mark]

Almost got him. Almost good.

[Bob]

They had me in the first half.

[Wade]

Winner's speech.

[Bob]

This. This one. This one turned out pretty good. When you said curses, originally, I was like, oh, no. But then I realized there's lots of sports curses, and I know some of those. We got to witness a curse manifested in real life in real time. As we were sitting here recording, the news came out that once again, the Bengals have done something that doesn't make any sense and is not going to help us win football games more than likely. So hooray. We're cursed. But I win, so I did it. Go me. I'm not cursed.

[Wade]

Unless this win puts a curse on you for winning. After bringing Flacco to the Bengals.

[Bob]

I didn't bring Blackout of the Bengals.

[Wade]

I feel like it happened right? There's no way the talks were happening and the trade was being worked on behind the scenes. It all came to fruition in the 30 seconds after you mentioned Cincinnati sports.

[Bob]

Ah, that must be Mark.

[Wade]

Loser speech.

[Mark]

Curse from the start. My own worst enemy. But that also got me a point. So I guess it wouldn't have mattered either way. I frankly, just showing up was my downfall. I blame everybody but myself. And I can't wait to go with my new nickname to do things with that nickname.

[Wade]

You know what? That's fair. Maybe you cursed yourself by saying unfair in the intro.

[Mark]

I think I did.

[Bob]

Yeah.

[Mark]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Wade]

Well, if you guys haven't already, go follow these guys. Mark at Markiplier or soon to be known as Fiery Markipliery or whatever you come up with. Tall Mark Bob at Meisker or Meinion 777 or Lordminion 777. We have or we had or we will once again have merch at Distractable Shop. But check it out. Bob will host the next one. We'll see. This is his first time hosting since we did the couch episode.

[Bob]

That's accurate.

[Mark]

Wasn't that my host?

[Wade]

Doesn't feel very good either, does it? Until then, I'd cast out.

[Mark]

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