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Dr. Lewis
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Dr. Spacer
Please only move your mouth when speaking. I know the drill, Doc. Is your name Ronald Huckabee? My least favorite question of the whole test. Huck. It is good. Let's rate your fatigue level on a scale of 1 to 10. Then 7. What's wrong? I'm just tired. Your scan shows a nice and healthy plump brain. What's bothering you? It's emotional. I guess. I can prescribe some SSRIs. It's about Alex. You heard right? I heard. Doc Lewis believes Alex will die soon. You don't believe her now? We done flipped the questionnaire. Maybe you should get in here. I don't have an answer for you one way or the other, Huck. The good doctor hasn't let me scan her brain yet. Yet. Everyone gets a brain scan eventually. Can we get back to the questions? Let's rate your fatigue level on a scale of 1 to 10. Thanks. How is he better off than the last two?
Dr. Lewis
Men are stronger, in my experience. You know, with how much they screamed, I mean.
Dr. Spacer
Dr. Getz, have you started yet?
Dr. Lewis
We Waited for you.
Dr. Spacer
Oh, but he's already opened up.
Dr. Lewis
Why would we care about the external exam? I'm just saying we're trying to find a cure, right? Not cause of death. It's pretty obvious.
Dr. Spacer
It's standard practice for an autopsy.
Dr. Lewis
I agree with you, Dr. Spacer, but this is anything but standard.
I just need to get in those guts if I have any chance of figuring out exactly what. What degraded where.
Dr. Spacer
The skin being the biggest organ of the body, I'm sure looking at it can help. Not to mention the way I caught your slip ups was because the small capillaries in the extremities burst when they were exposed too quickly.
Dr. Lewis
Which didn't happen in these guys, obviously. Or in my later experiments. Except for Crowley, because she wanted to go so quickly.
Dr. Spacer
Dr. Lewis.
Dr. Lewis
That's quite enough sniping, you two.
Dr. Spacer
She's purposefully trying to get under my skin.
Dr. Lewis
Trust me, John, if I wanted to get under your skin, I would have done it a year ago.
Dr. Spacer
I don't see how her poking around inside someone is going to help her synthesize a cure.
Dr. Lewis
I'm not synthesizing anything. There's a whole lab of scientists for that. I just tell them what I find. My experience with the order and intensity, and they do the rest.
Unfortunately, outside of the tests we've done here, you and Dr. Gatz are the only two people to conduct autopsies on victims of this same severity of storm shock.
Dr. Spacer
Some of them more against their will than others.
Dr. Lewis
Don't forget, Dr. Spacer, every one of these victims was against their will. The atrocities Springfield Corp committed might be just as bad as those by Dr. Gatz's experiment.
Dr. Spacer
You let her in here and I'll.
Dr. Lewis
Sooner kick you out if you can't hold your tongue.
Come here, Johnny boy. I can hold your tongue for you.
Dr. Spacer is correct. We should allow him to examine the skin for anything that might be helpful.
Be my guess.
Dr. Spacer
Lighter. Purple, almost gray. Indicating some internal bleeding. Not rapid enough to fill under a dermal layer, but definitely present for a while. Did you notice this?
Dr. Lewis
Hmm.
Dr. Spacer
It looks like there's a distinct loss of hair on the forearms and legs. The previous victims being women? I didn't think it was significant. But here, there's almost no leg hair at all. It's. It's smooth. Other than some scars. No stubble.
Dr. Lewis
Maybe he shaved.
Dr. Spacer
If I can peel this back. We should see there. No hair follicles down this low.
Dr. Lewis
So they're not present. Or they died and fell out.
Dr. Spacer
I'm not sure.
Dr. Lewis
Real helpful how long does hair continue.
To grow after death?
Dr. Spacer
Well, the hair not being present at all doesn't line up with the patient's time of death. That's a myth. Hair doesn't keep growing after death. The skin just tightens and makes it look that way. But again, the hair follicles wouldn't just fall out in a matter of minutes after death. It takes years.
Dr. Lewis
Over 30 years. This victim was from the 1989 storm.
Dr. Spacer
You're saying that they died in 89, but they were just alive in here until you?
Dr. Lewis
I wouldn't really call that alive.
Exactly. All of the evidence we've seen so far correlates to the breakdown of the human body faster, slower, or sometimes in odd presentations. Hence my field of research.
Dr. Spacer
No offense, Dr. Lewis, but a hematologist would see this as a blood issue, and a neurologist would see it as a brain one.
Dr. Lewis
You think I'm biased?
Dr. Spacer
I wouldn't say that.
Dr. Lewis
I think you just did.
Dr. Spacer
I'm just. All of us, including me, we have our specialties, and we use that to show our medical viewpoint. But the purpose of an autopsy is to look at it without that lens to gain new information.
Dr. Lewis
But you just said you were included. Make up your mind, John. Jeez.
Dr. Spacer
Look, Amelia figured out her way of doing this, and it didn't sound the same as your cell degradation theory.
Dr. Lewis
Did you just compliment me?
Dr. Spacer
I read up on the charges against you.
Dr. Lewis
I'm flattered.
Your gift and Janie's are very similar. Have you spoken to her yet?
Dr. Spacer
What's that have to do with him?
Dr. Lewis
I've seen survivors of storm shock who don't age. Their cells, don't degrade. Others age rapidly, even physically, showing signs of decay while still alive. That's what we have here. And from my findings, it's almost as if the body ages, even dies, while the brain is still alive.
Now we're talking zombies.
Which explains why there are physical abnormalities. Curved spines, fragile bones, rapid nail growth.
Dr. Spacer
I wasn't aware additional eyes or limbs were part of a normal aging process.
Dr. Lewis
Maybe in another evolution. We don't know how rapidly the aging occurs. This could be a genetic mutation from hundreds of thousands of years in the future. Look, whether you disagree with my theory or not, you can't deny that this patient and the others we've examined show necrosis, tightening of the skin, the ceasing of functions of vital organs long before death.
Dr. Spacer
Well, we haven't gotten to the organs yet.
Dr. Lewis
Oh, let's just keep going. Too much medical mumbo jumbo anyway.
Dr. Spacer
You're A doctor.
Dr. Lewis
So move over. So, Johnny, since you missed the other autopsies, I walked Dr. Lewis through my process. I'll spare you the gritty details, but. Wait. Does he know about the secondary effects of storm shock?
Our findings have shown that each recurring storm has made people worse. Because.
Dr. Spacer
Primed?
Dr. Lewis
I suppose that's one way of putting it.
Dr. Spacer
A scientist from the Springfield lab near us explained it to me.
Dr. Lewis
Which one?
Dr. Spacer
Oh, his name was Mike. Mike Melba.
Dr. Lewis
Shame I don't think we recovered his body.
Dr. Spacer
Right.
Dr. Lewis
Okay, so we get sicker and sicker, right? That 2012 or 2013 storm, or whenever the fuck you all tried to hide, it definitely made people worse. It's why there was that huge surge of sick people in our er. It wasn't the storm that made them sick for the first time. It was them. Being affected by the first storm set them up to be worse off on every recurring storm. And I figured with people getting worse.
Everyone affected will continue to get worse, both physically and mentally, each time this happens. And by everyone affected, I mean most.
Dr. Spacer
Of the population now, thanks to the dissipation bubble.
Dr. Lewis
Now you see why my research is so vital. Can we continue?
Narrator/Advertiser
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Dr. Spacer
I'd say howdy, but I'm not a real cowboy.
Dr. Lewis
And I'm not a real alien.
Dr. Spacer
We're deep fakes. And because of fakes like us, it's.
Dr. Lewis
Hard to tell what's real.
Dr. Spacer
Unless you have McAfee. McAfee's scam detector automatically identifies text and email scams and even deep fake. And it works everywhere, even out on the range. Yee haw.
Dr. Lewis
But you're not even a real cowboy.
Narrator/Advertiser
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Dr. Spacer
McAfee.com KeepItReal I'm Christian McCaffrey, pro running back, and Abercrombie is an official fashion partner of the NFL. I'm not kidding when I say NFL by Abercrombie. Broke the Internet last year, and I think this season's lineup is even cooler. And so does my wife, who keeps stealing all my hoodies. Stay fit for the season. And Abercrombie's newest arrivals shop NFL by Abercrombie in the app, online and in store. So do you think being primed will kill us?
Dr. Lewis
Us?
Dr. Spacer
No.
Dr. Lewis
We seem to be immune to more harmful effects because.
Because y' all are superhuman now. Right? And I'm the crazy one.
Now, I didn't know Dr. Gatz here prior to 2012, but if she didn't have homicidal tendencies this advanced at a young age. I'm betting the 2012 Storm set it off.
So you think I'll get even more creative if there's another storm?
I'd rather not find out.
Dr. Spacer
This is absurd.
Dr. Lewis
And talking to ghosts isn't?
Please proceed, Dr. Gatz.
Gladly. Just like the last one, it feels like the lining of the heart walls are intact.
Dr. Spacer
How is this helpful at all?
Dr. Lewis
Come on, Johnny. Think back. You remember the good old days.
Dr. Gatz's quote unquote cure for storm shock didn't work on most of the people she killed, obviously. But as she got more data, I.
Was able to give myself a dose and live.
Dr. Spacer
You did it to yourself.
Dr. Lewis
Didn't Crowley tell you? You know, if you can really talk to ghosts, I figured she would have told you about our convo.
Dr. Spacer
If you already have the cure, why are you bothering with her here?
Dr. Lewis
Do I look gray? Do you see my extra limbs?
Johnny, she made something that can help wipe the blood of lesser effects. Think of it like hemodialysis. A way to filter out toxins from the blood. Dr. Gatz's first attempt at removing the minor effects of storm shock were barely successful in a few patients.
So it won't do a gosh damn thing to the gray bees. Zom Grays. Gray monsters.
So we need to identify the process of degradation that these particular victims experience to figure out how to reverse it.
Dr. Spacer
Yeah, I get it. Can we just keep going?
Dr. Lewis
Touchy touchy. Anyway, the reason I brought up the heart was because in my victims, John, they. What, Mr. Expert?
Dr. Spacer
The heart wall was damaged.
Dr. Lewis
Exactly. So here it's intact, which means it was still pumping well. And I'm thinking that whatever process happened didn't damage the heart. It might have just been my cocktail that did.
No heart involvement in three patients so.
Far, but it looks like it caused damage to the lungs. Some kind of pulmonary fibrosis. Poor oxygenation could have caused the graying skin. Look at that, Johnny. It had nothing to do with the derm at all.
Dr. Spacer
That's not fibrosis.
Dr. Lewis
Sure it is.
Dr. Spacer
If Dr. Lewis is right about the rapid aging. Pulmonary fibrosis is a terminal disease. Anyone diagnosed with it in 89 probably wouldn't be around today. Especially not if their cells started decaying faster than usual. And your victims had popcorn lungs, not weakening of the sacs.
Dr. Lewis
Then what is it?
Dr. Spacer
I can figure it out if you let me in there. But it's not what caused the poor oxygen circulation.
Dr. Lewis
Yeah, damaged lungs didn't harm their breathing.
Dr. Spacer
Sure I'm the medical examiner. Right.
Dr. Lewis
Forensic pathologist.
Dr. Spacer
Look.
Dr. Lewis
What is that?
Dr. Spacer
I think whatever reaction this victim had was autoimmune.
Dr. Lewis
You're thinking scleroderma.
Dr. Spacer
The body reacts poorly to whatever is actually coming from the geomagnetic wave, causing some sort of autoimmune response. The tissue and cells begin to inflame, which can damage the blood vessels.
Dr. Lewis
And what was your subspecialty bias, doctor?
Dr. Spacer
It fits.
Dr. Lewis
From looking for all of two minutes.
Dr. Spacer
The swelling in the joints and skin paired with the poor oxygenation can cause the graying color. And remind me, what does the suffix derm mean in scleroderma?
Dr. Lewis
Ha ha.
Dr. Spacer
What was that?
Dr. Lewis
Excuse me for a moment, Dr. Lewis. What have we write? Anything you come across on the board.
Just you and me, Johnny. Should we keep going?
Dr. Spacer
What are you trying to do here?
Dr. Lewis
The autopsy. You.
Dr. Spacer
Do you really think you can overwrite all the bad you did just by helping here?
Dr. Lewis
Oh ho ho, Johnny boy. Oh, he's such a naive, sweet soul. Fine. The Shirakan end. You got me. Did you really think I was here to atone? Or that Iris thinks that's why I'm here? Come on. They promised to let me go.
Dr. Spacer
No way. They wouldn't do that.
Dr. Lewis
Cause you know them so well. After you've been here, what, a week?
Dr. Spacer
Two and a half.
Dr. Lewis
I think I'm going to be free as a bird. And all it'll take is just a little poking around in some bodies, which, let's be honest, I was probably going to do that anyway.
Dr. Spacer
They're the good guys here.
Dr. Lewis
Good guys? Oh, Lord, when will you learn that there are no good guys? Hell, there isn't even bad guys. There's just guys. All of us. Maybe I'll get back to doing that. When I'm out, I can pick your brain about how you caught on. Then maybe next time I won't be so sloppy. Hmm. I wonder if I'll target next. I heard there's a whole cannibal ring. Not really my shtick, but I could always make an extra buck on the side or maybe go a Dexter route. What do you think, John? Johnny boy. What's the matter? Feeling a little light headed?
Dr. Spacer
What did you. What did you do to me?
Dr. Lewis
Oh, nothing, John. It's just called a panic attack. Feeling better?
Dr. Spacer
I don't have panic attacks.
Dr. Lewis
Never felt like you were looking through a fisheye lens or your head was spinning. Rapid breathing you can't control. Oh, of course not. You're perfect. That's a panic attack, John. I thought those sessions with Kim would have at least clued you in.
Dr. Spacer
I don't have panic attacks.
Dr. Lewis
Does this place have a yell meter? Jeez, what is that? I know what you know.
Dr. Spacer
It's locked. Dr. Lewis, let me try. You're gonna push, just like I did.
Dr. Lewis
Let me out of here or I'll kill Dr. Spacer.
Dr. Spacer
What the. Hey. Hey, guys. What's up?
Dr. Lewis
You tell us.
Dr. Spacer
I. I just gotta get you back to the living quarters. Why'd you look back behind you? What's out there? Nothing. The coast is clear. I. I mean, let's go.
Dr. Lewis
After you.
Dr. Spacer
Where is everyone? On lockdown. Nothing to worry about, though.
Dr. Lewis
Yeah, lockdown doesn't sound like something to worry about.
Dr. Spacer
Alex, seriously, I can't tell you anything. I'm sorry. Of course you can. Stop. Let's go. This way.
Dr. Lewis
Did one of those monsters escape?
Dr. Spacer
How many more people are we holding? It'll be fine. Make a left down here. Heads up. Don't fucking move. Grab him. What the hell? Look what I found sneaking around outside. Let go of me. Look, I'm a cop and you can't just. Da, da, da, da. Should I shoot him? Is that Mendez? John. I fucking knew it.
Dr. Lewis
You are.
Dr. Spacer
Keep it going, guys. And no shooting anyone. Eugene.
Dr. Lewis
What is it with you people? You're everywhere.
Dr. Spacer
Holy shit. It's you.
Dr. Lewis
I know. I know. It's me. In the flesh. Surprise, surprise all around.
Dr. Spacer
Oh, you can't be. Actually, guys, he's talking to me. No, no, no. This can't be real. You're dead. What's going on? Hey, little bro. Hey, spacer. How I Died is an Audio Media original production written by Vince Dejani with layout and sound design by Chris Harris Beachy, an executive produced by Michael Freiberg. Theme song created by Silent Mike Music starring Shana Waring as Sheriff Crowley, Luis Bermudez as Eric Mendes, Kaitlyn Roberts as Amelia, Chris Harris Beachy as Officer Hart and Agent Squires. Guancarlo Herrera as Alex Juliet, ann Jelly as Dr. Iris. Also featuring performances by Albi Robles, Anthony Morales, Maya Murphy, June Yoon, Bea Gnar, Nicholas Contreras, Alejandro Pedroza, Mick Wheaton, R.E.M. isaac Monroe, Nassim Binocour, Nick Bean, Angela Yee, Ray O', Hare, Gauthier Horber, Vin Vox, Melissa Lusk, D.W. draffen, Patrick Langner, Robert Echols, Karen Heyman and Tyler rudis. Check out patreon.com howidied for bonus content, ad free episodes and exclusive miniseries. If you're enjoying the show, don't forget to rate on your preferred podcast app. It really helps us get in front of new listeners. Until next time, try not to die.
Dr. Lewis
For a limited time at McDonald's, get a Big Mac Extra Value meal for $8. That means two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun, and medium fries. And a drink. We may need to change that jingle.
Dr. Spacer
Prices and participation may vary.
Dr. Lewis
I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times.
Dr. Spacer
And I'm Paul Scheer, an actor, writer and director. You might know me from the League, Veep, or my non eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters.
Dr. Lewis
We love movies and we come at them from different perspectives.
Dr. Spacer
Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know Joe Pesci was miscast in Goodfellas and I don't.
Dr. Lewis
He's too old.
Let's not forget that Paul thinks that Dune 2 is overrated.
Dr. Spacer
It is.
Dr. Lewis
Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites.
Dr. Spacer
Must sees, and in case you missed.
Dr. Lewis
Ems, we're talking the Home Alone From.
Dr. Spacer
Grease to the Dark Knight.
Dr. Lewis
We've done deep dives on popcorn flicks, we've talked about why Independence Day deserves a second look.
Dr. Spacer
And we've talked about horror movies, some that you've never even heard of, like Ganja and Hess.
Dr. Lewis
So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure.
Dr. Spacer
Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to hit the follow button.
Release Date: September 24, 2025
Podcast by: Audiohm Media
In this gripping episode, the strange deaths in Springfield drive forensic pathologist Dr. Jonathan Spacer and his colleagues to a new autopsy—and escalating internal tensions. The unsettled trio of Dr. Spacer, Dr. Lewis, and Dr. Gatz probe deeper into the nature of "storm shock," a mysterious condition plaguing the town. As bodies continue to pile up and the scientific debate grows more heated, personal vendettas, hidden agendas, and supernatural abilities threaten to unravel the fragile alliance among the doctors.
[01:34–04:58]
[04:58–10:12]
[11:27–13:20]
[13:12–15:17]
[15:21–17:01]
[17:01–19:18]
The episode maintains its signature dark, sardonic tone, with crackling medical banter, veiled threats, and an ever-present undercurrent of moral ambiguity. As science and the supernatural blend, questions of ethics, personal atonement, and what it truly means to save—or damn—a town come to the fore. The closing scene’s supernatural reveal ensures listeners are left unsettled, eager for answers the living alone can’t provide.
For more chills and mysteries, "How I Died" is available on all podcast platforms and Patreon for bonus content.