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- [00:01]
June Parker
Sometimes the best part of a secret is being part of its reveal, and it's even better if I can solve a mystery or two of my own along the way. When I'm looking to escape reality and bring out my competitive side, I turn to a tale of murder and romance in June's Journey. It's a game full of secrets where every clue brings you closer to the truth. June's Journey is a hidden object mystery game where you play as June Parker as she uncovers scandalous family secrets at her sister's estate. I love playing June's Journey because I get genuinely invested in both the storyline and my ability to spot all the clues at each level. Each chapter brings you deeper into the story. Plus it's set in the Roaring twenties, so beyond discovering clues, you can explore stunning scenes from New York parlors to Parisian sidewalks. They get more complex the further along you go, and it's so fun to compete with friends and other players for the fastest case solving and highest scores. How sharp are your observation skills? Put them to the test in June's Journey Download for free today on iOS and Android.
- [01:14]
Rob Benedict
Hi, this is Rob Benedict and I am Richard Speight. We were both on a little show you might know called Supernatural. It had a pretty good run, 15 seasons, 327 episodes. And though we have seen of course every episode many times, we figured, hey, now that we're wrapped, let's watch it all again and we can't do that alone. So we're inviting the cast and crew that made the show along for the ride. We've got writers, producers, composers, directors, and we'll of course have some actors on as well, including some certain guys that played some certain pretty iconic brothers.
- [01:50]
Vince
Was kind of a little bit of.
- [01:51]
Rob Benedict
A left field choice in the best way possible. The note from Kripke was he's great, we love him, but we're looking for.
- [01:58]
June Parker
Like a really intelligent Duchovny type.
- [02:01]
Rob Benedict
With 15 seasons to explore. It's going to be the road trip of several lifetimes. So please join us and subscribe to Supernatural then and now.
- [02:12]
Vince
Hey everyone, this is Vince, voice of John Spacer here. Now that it's getting into the fall, you guys know that I love Halloween and everything scary. So I wanted to introduce you to a show called Thirteen. It's an audio fiction podcast that tells slow burn, atmospheric, spooky stories releasing on the 13th of each month. These are original stories too, only found on 13, not Reddit classics or creepypastas. And they're eerie tales that stick with you less Friday the 13th and more haunting of House Hill. You'll find yourself immersed in the eerie universe of the supernatural, occult and of course, a haunted house or two. Thirteen is currently releasing their annual October series, a long form original horror story told over five episodes. In this series, a group of friends play a spooky game as kids, only to find out that it comes back to haunt them as adults. Search 13 the word, not the Number Wherever you listen to podcasts and you're about to hear the first episode of the series.
- [03:35]
Rob Benedict
I grew up in a little town on the Ohio river, and when I was a kid I was really involved at my church. It was where most of my social life happened. Of course I went to school and I had other friends outside of church, but as time passed, other kids, other friends, they came and went and the people at church, they stayed constant. Most of us had known each other our whole lives, and when the transition to middle school upended our other friend groups, we still had each other. In sixth grade we started doing youth group. We still had Sunday school and regular church in the mornings, but on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights we had Bible studies activities and things that were just for us. I really looked forward to going every Sunday and Wednesday, and I was especially close to a particular group of girls, Emma, Abby, Jess, and Kaylee. The five of us did everything together. We ate lunch together at school, we had sleepovers and we talked constantly. We told each other everything. We lived in a sheltered little bubble. The world was small and we were everything to each other. Life was good in my little bubble. I was in seventh grade when everything started to change. It was 1999 and I think that with the inevitable turning over of the calendar, a lot of people were thinking about endings and new beginnings. And for a lot of churches at that time, it meant really getting into the Book of Revelations and other end times prophecies from the Bible. This had been going on in the church for a while, and I'd overheard little pieces of it from conversations and references when I joined my parents in big church. But as little kids we'd been mostly sheltered from it. As we got into middle school, that changed. Some weeks we had guest speakers who talked about the Rapture and the end of the world. Now that we were old enough to begin to understand it, we all went to the adult service to hear them on those weeks. And me and all my friends, we were beginning to think that the Rapture and the End of Days was coming any moment. And that change on the calendar from 1999 to 2000. That seemed like as good a place as any for something big to happen. Being a kid and believing you're living in the last days is complicated. After leaving church on Sunday morning, the second coming of Jesus felt real and imminent. It was the only thing that mattered. But as the week went on and Sunday service faded in my memory, I forgot all about it. We went to school and talked about growing up and what we would do as adults. On one hand, you're convinced the future isn't coming, and on the other, you have to prepare for it nonetheless. And I took both of those ideas very seriously. I made sure that I prayed every day and that I studied the Bible. I wanted to be ready when the end camera. And I tried really hard in school. I daydreamed about adulthood. And most of all, I wondered if my friends now would be my friends forever. I couldn't imagine adulthood any other way. It's easy to hold on to both of these contrary thoughts when it's all you've ever known. One thing that inevitably comes along with a belief that that the end times are imminent is a belief that the devil is trying to tempt you away from God before the end comes. There was this belief in the 80s that rock bands were hiding satanic messages in their songs, or that certain games were portals to demonic influence. It was called the Satanic Panic, and in a lot of places, that never completely went away. And as the adults in church told us, if mere humans could recognize the signs of the end times, the devil could see them too, and he'd be working extra hard to claim as many souls as he could before it was all over. Some of the adults in church took all of this very seriously, and others didn't. My parents were sort of in the middle. They believed in the Rapture. Maybe they even believed that it was coming soon. But they didn't live their lives around that idea. But some of my friends, their parents, took it deadly serious. I'm telling you all this so you can understand why we had to keep it a secret when we played the Mirror Game. Emma was the first one to suggest the game. She taught it to us the summer between elementary and middle school. We learned it in her basement during a sleepover. And the point of the game was to tell you your future. She never told us where she learned it, but this is the way she taught us to play. You start by standing in front of a mirror and you ask a question. And if everyone does it right and everyone follows the rules, you should be able to see your Answer in the mirror. Everyone had to agree on a question ahead of time, and you had to ask the same question as everyone else. Then, one by one, you had to walk into a completely dark room by yourself. The room has to have a mirror in it. A bathroom is usually perfect since it has a mirror and usually doesn't have windows. You could only have a single flame for light. It could be a candle or a lighter. It didn't matter. You look into the mirror and ask your question, the same one as everyone else. And then you're supposed to see your answer. Now, if the game is to be believed, you're seeing something in the mirror because something is showing it to you. Some kind of spirit. So Emma taught us that before starting, we had to protect ourselves. It sounds pretty occult y for a bunch of kids who are afraid of demons, but you have to understand, even though this kind of stuff scared us, everyone has a dark side. The game had to begin at midnight. If you were even one minute early or late, it wouldn't work. The rules for protecting yourself from the spirits went like. When the game begins, you have to sit or stand in a circle holding hands. This creates a ring of protection. Then you have to tell a secret, something you've never told anyone before. This shows the spirits that you have perfect love and perfect trust, and they can't divide you. I loved playing the game. I got a rush of adrenaline when we turned off the lights and each lit our candles in Emma's basement. When we held hands and told our secrets, it felt intimate and magical. Was I worried about demons and the devil? Sure. But I was never really and truly afraid when all of my friends were together. And by the time our story really begins, when we were in the eighth grade, we'd been doing it for a couple of years and nothing had happened yet. But just to be on the safe side, I always said a little prayer afterward, just in case. The first few times we played the mirror game, we agreed on questions about one person. Like would Abby be the lead praise and worship singer next year? Or would Emma's parents let her get a dog if she asked and did really well in school? But pretty soon we realized we could ask more general questions. Who would I marry? And what will I be when I grow up? These are questions that apply to all of us, so we should all be able to get our own individual answers. But I never saw anything. When I took my candle into the bathroom and asked my question into the mirror, all I got was the fear that something or someone would walk out of the darkness behind me. And that bothered me because usually my friends did get an answer. They'd come rushing out and tell the rest of us what they'd seen. Then the next would go in and a few seconds later come flying out talking about how they were going to marry the boy they had a crush on, or that they'd be a rich doctor with a big house. I made things up so I wouldn't have to say that nothing happened again. Every now and then, one of the others wouldn't see anything. Emma came out dejected when we asked who we would marry, saying that it must mean she'd end up all alone. Even so, they all saw nothing. Some of the time. I always saw nothing. Was I doing it wrong? Even though the game didn't seem to work for me, I still loved playing it. The intimacy and the closeness that I felt with them, that was the real value of the game for me. On those sleepover nights, someone always brought along one of those old disposable cameras and we took pictures all night long. Not during the mirror game. We had to be focused for that, but before and after. Sometimes we'd be up in Emma's room where her walls were lined with bookcases. She loved books and she spent hours by herself reading. But usually we were down in the basement snapping photos and just being kids. By the time middle school ended, our bedrooms were littered with these photos. Silly faces dressing up and posing. All of the goofy things you do when you're not sure how to grow up yet. And when we all eventually laid down to go to sleep somewhere around 2 or 3 in the morning, I felt warm and secure, surrounded by everyone I loved. And I couldn't imagine that life wouldn't always feel this way. Our church had lock ins for the youth group a couple of times a year. Once over summer break and another during winter break. I loved lock ins. It was like one huge sleepover for everyone in youth group. There was food and games, and when it got late, it was time to set up camp. It wasn't really a camp, but that's what they called the sleeping areas. The boys all set up their air mattresses in the fellowship hall on one side of the building, and the girls would go upstairs and walk the winding hallways all the way to the other side of the building. And we'd set up our camp in a few Sunday school rooms with about six girls to a room. And obviously our little group tried to end up in the same room at one of these lock ins. During the summer after eighth grade. We stayed up late waiting until all of the adults were asleep and we snuck out of our room. We tiptoed down the hall. We crept out of the Sunday school wings and to the main atrium just outside the big sanctuary. We didn't turn on any lights for fear of an adult noticing the ceilings were tall in this part of the church and there was a lot of glass letting in a mixture of bright street lamps on one side and cool moonlight on the other. We stopped just outside of the restroom doors. We were here to play the mirror game. I thought back to the last time we played. It was a sleepover at Jess House. I always loved those because she lived by the river and we would sometimes sneak out onto an old railroad bridge. When we played at Jess House. We'd asked how long we'd live. Jess had come out with the highest number, 99 years old. Emma had come out with the lowest, 34 years old. Guess I'll just have to make the most of it. She didn't sound too worried about it. The time before that was another sleepover at Emma's. We'd asked who we would marry, and Abby said that she saw her and Tyler Webb standing side by side at the altar. Abby had been in love with Tyler since she was old enough to like boys. Do you think he really likes me? The rest of us ignored her. Jess spoke up next. I saw someone, but I didn't recognize him. I probably haven't met him yet. Sometimes I thought that the others just said what they wish they'd seen in the mirror. Kind of like I did. But they were so confident when they talked about it, so certain I didn't know what to think. That was how the game usually went. But the night at the Lock in, we were playing the game for the first time at church. We stood outside the bathroom doors. Abby had brought one of her dad's cigarette lighters to use as the flame. We watched the clock on the wall above the sanctuary doors. Finally, the hour and minute hands were both pointing directly upward. It was midnight. Okay, everyone get in a circle. We did as Emma said, huddling up shoulder to shoulder and grabbing hands. Who wants to go first? Remember, it has to be something you've never told anyone. I'll go. I was at the grocery store with my mom and I forgot to bring money, so I stole a pack of lip gloss. Kaylee rolled her eyes. Oh my God, who hasn't stolen lip gloss? Abby spoke up next. I haven't stolen lip gloss. I haven't stolen lip gloss. It was Emma's turn next. Sometimes I worry that you all don't really like me and you're just humoring me and letting me tag along with you. Emma, stop it. You know that's not true. Yeah. Don't ever think that again. It's not true. Thanks. Kaylee went next. I snuck out this week and was supposed to meet with Josh, but he never showed. Ooh. What were you gonna meet him for? Gross. And then it was my turn. I'm afraid of growing up because I don't want us to all grow apart. It was Abby's turn last. I. I think I'm gonna try to get Tyler to kiss me. I have to see if he likes me or not. How are you gonna do it? Don't wait for him. Just make a move. He's gonna melt. Shh. We're gonna get caught. Jess was right. We'd gotten too loud. We stood there in silence, straining to see if we could hear movement or voices, any signs that we'd been heard. Something about the setting, this big room and the high ceilings. Maybe it was the magic of being in a place at night that you're only used to during the day. Maybe it was that we were playing our little game in the church. But I remember feeling exposed. All of the windows made it feel like someone could be looking in. The moonlight cast shadows in the shape of the window panes. And it seemed like we stood there for a long time. But I know it was only a few seconds. Finally, Emma spoke up. Okay, are you all ready? We nodded eagerly. Our question is, how are we gonna die? One by one, we took the lighter and walked into the bathroom. Then we'd rush out a few seconds later. All I can say is I die under mysterious circumstances. I die of natural causes at the ripe old age of 99. I die in a car wreck. I didn't see anything. Maybe that means you get raptured. What does that say about the rest of us? When it came around to my turn, I took the lighter from Emma. I flicked the wheel of the lighter. It lit up on the second try. I always loved and hated this part. Walking into the bathroom, the bright flame on one hand and my eyes trying to adjust to the dark on the other. I let the door close behind me. It was a big bathroom, several stalls and a bank of three sinks and a big long mirror stretching across them. I turned the corner to face the mirror and took a few steps forward. I looked at myself in the fire's light. I liked the way it made me look mysterious. Otherworldly serious. I took it in for a moment, feeling a creeping fear, even though I knew my friends were just outside the door. Then I spoke. How am I going to die? And just like always, I didn't see anything. I made my way out of the bathroom. I couldn't think of anything to tell my friends, so I decided I would tell them the same thing. Emma said, I didn't see anything. Maybe that means I'll be raptured, too. When I walked back out into the atrium, the other girls were silent and they looked scared. A wave of anxiety and dread came over me. What happened? What did they see? Had we conjured a ghost or a demon after all? Even though we'd held hands in a circle to protect ourselves, I followed their eyes, and the answer was almost worse. It was Ms. Lander, one of the youth leaders. We'd been caught. After we were caught, we were sent back to the girls side of the building. We joked and laughed for a little while, and then we went to sleep. We had no idea what a big deal this was about to become. The next morning we were pulled aside before breakfast and some of the adults asked what we'd been doing. Some of them seemed to think that we were trying to sneak over to the boy's side, but that didn't make sense. We'd gone in the other direction, toward the sanctuary. That's when Jess spoke up and told them about the mirror game, thinking we'd be in more trouble if they thought we were trying to meet up with the boys. She was wrong. When our parents picked us up that day, they were told about us sneaking out the night before. The way the youth group leaders described it to our parents, it sounded like we were summoning a demon, like we'd been dabbling in witchcraft. Were they right? Had we? When I got in my mom's car, I thought I'd be in trouble. I started explaining myself, telling her it wasn't witchcraft or anything else like that. My mom just chuckled. Hon, she said, I'm not worried about you joining the occult. She said that when she was my age, her friends played Bloody Mary. Light as a feather, stiff as a board. It's just a thing kids do. She said that some of the people at our church may have gotten a little too caught up in the spiritual warfare side of things and just don't do it there. Again, I was glad I wasn't in trouble. Mom asked me how the game worked. When I explained it, she smirked. Have you ever seen anything? I told her I hadn't. She went on, then they probably haven't either. These kinds of games, they're not magic, but it's a way to open up to each other. It's a way for you all to talk about a new crush. And maybe they feel insecure about telling you outright, but they'll say they saw him in a mirror. I felt better by the time we got home, and I assumed that the other girls probably had a similar experience talking to their parents. I expected that when I saw them again, everything would be back to normal. Since it was summer, the next time we were all together was at church the next weekend. Abby had had a similar experience to me. Her parents weren't too worried about it, but it had always been Abby's dream to work at the church one day and her parents warned her that she should start showing that she's a good example even now. But Emma, Kaylee and Jess, that had been a different story. Their parents took it deadly serious. Like I mentioned before, the satanic panic didn't go away in some parts of the country. And there was a sense among a lot of people in the church that there was a big conspiracy to convert their kids away from Christianity. That the media was in on it, and the music industry and TV shows. Emma, Jess and Kaylee had their music and TV privileges taken away for a few weeks. At the beginning of the summer. We didn't even see each other outside of church. And they weren't supposed to talk to us when we were home alone during the day. We'd all talk on the phone, but that was it. It wasn't until after the 4th of July when all of their parents relented. We had our first sleepover since the lock in at Emma's house. But her mom made her leave the basement door open so they could hear what was going on down there. As it got later into the night, Abby finally broached the question. So, do you all want to pick a question for the game? Emma, Jess and Kaylee shared a series of glances between each other. Then Emma finally spoke up. I don't think it's a good idea. We had a couple more sleepovers that summer, but it was different. We didn't talk on the phone like we used to. We didn't meet up to go to the mall. Things were changing and I didn't like it. I had this inescapable feeling that we were growing apart. It was always at the back of my mind. I only played the Mirror Game one more time. I did it by myself, even though I hadn't seen Anything in the mirror. All of those other times. I guess I was just feeling anxious. The last night of the summer, the night before my first day of high school, I sat awake in my bedroom. I had turned out the lights. I needed my mom to think I was asleep. And I looked around the room, the silvery blue light coming through the window blinds. My closet doors were the kind that folded outward and they stood open across the room. Inside, the closet was pitch black, out of reach of the light from the window. My alarm clock said 11:50. It was time to get ready. I opened my bedroom door and tiptoed down the hall to the kitchen, where my mom left her cigarettes and lighter on the counter. I picked up the lighter and I glanced at the clock on the stove. 11:53. I crept out of the kitchen and through the living room. I glanced at the time on the DVD player. 11:54. I made my way back down the hall, passing my mom's bedroom. And then I stepped into my room where I could watch the orange numbers on the alarm clock. 11:56, 57, 58, 59. The moment the clock switched over to midnight, I took a few hurried steps to the bathroom and I closed the door. It was totally dark inside. I flicked the wheel of the lighter and the room lit up. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and I whispered my question. Are we going to stay friends? I waited and watched every corner of the mirror. I looked for any little change in the darkness behind me. Nothing happened. I stood there for a couple extra minutes, just waiting. When the wheel of the lighter got so hot that it was burning my thumb, I gave in to the idea that none of this was real. I was on my own, just like all the times before. I crept to the kitchen again and put my mom's lighter back where it belonged. Then I went to my room and crawled back into bed. It was 12:07. After standing in front of a flame, my eyes weren't adjusted to the darkness the way they had been before. I looked around the room, but there wasn't much to see. The closet door was closed. It had been open before. Had I done that? Closed it absentmindedly as I paced the room, waiting for the clock to strike midnight? It didn't matter. I was tired and I had a big day ahead of me tomorrow. As my eyes closed, I was greeted with a comforting vision. In that space between dozing and dreaming, I saw the five of us. We were older, our parents age. We were all in a living room. My living room. We were drinking wine, which seemed funny to me, for some reason, maybe this was just a rough patch, but it didn't mean it had to last. Maybe we really would be close forever, but high school would not go well for our friendship. Over the next four years, we grew apart. Thinking back to those pictures we used to take at our sleepovers, I can see that it was already happening way before we realized it. And the things that my friends had wanted and that they said they'd seen in the mirror game, they didn't come true. Kaley had always wanted to be a hot girl. But her parents would never let her lean into that side of herself. So she packed a change of clothes in the morning and changed before she got to school. She wore revealing tops and form fitting jeans. And she got a reputation around the school. Even though I don't think any of it was true. Even so, she reveled in the attention. Abby wouldn't go on to marry Tyler Webb. Tyler got his license when he turned 16. The first week after he had a car, he pulled onto Kaylee's street at night. She snuck out and they kissed and made out in the car. It went on for a few weeks until someone tipped off Kaylee's dad and he caught them. It broke Abby's heart. Her best friend and her oldest, deepest crush. We didn't speak to Kaylee after that. Her parents found out about her reputation at school and they sent her to a Christian academy where she finished out the last two years of high school. Her parents hoped that the kids there would be a better influence on her. Abby didn't end up working for the church either. Instead, she started hanging out with the goth girls and drinking and smoking cigarettes at parties. Nothing too wild for high school. But to our sheltered upbringing, it was scandalous. After that, Jess and Emma and I kept our distance. As for the three of us, it wasn't anything but big and dramatic. We just kind of grew apart. We said hi in the halls at school, but we didn't hang out anymore. Emma was the only one that tried to keep things alive between us. She stopped and talked in the hallway at school. It wasn't awkward or weird, but there also just wasn't much left to talk about. We'd all grown in different directions. We had different interests. That's what growing up is like. Emma even asked me in junior year if we should all do a sleepover like we used to. But I told her I couldn't. I felt bad when I saw her face drop. But no one stays best friends forever. And I think that out of the Five of us. Emma had the hardest time coming to terms with that. On holidays when all of our parents would make us go to church, the five of us would all show up and we'd sit in different parts of the big sanctuary, all spread out, all on our own. There's one thing, though. One thing that I never told any of the others. I was the one that tipped off Kaylee's dad to what she was doing with Tyler Webb when she snuck out of the house. I let it slip at church when he was standing nearby. I'd found out about her and Tyler, and I was so furious at her. Furious that she would do that to Abby. But I didn't know that it would mean she'd get pulled out of school. I didn't know she'd have to endure the looks and glares of all the students and teachers at her new school. Looks that said, I know exactly why you're here. Knowing what I know now, I don't think I would have done it. But some things can't be undone. We all graduated and went on to college. And that vision I'd had, that half dream as I was dozing off the night I played the mirror game for the last time. The one where we'd still be together as grown ups in my living room, drinking wine that seemed further away than ever. As the social media age arrived, Emma and I reconnected early on. She was in Louisville like me, and much later, in her late 20s, she'd make a fresh start for herself in Chicago. Next was Jessica. She was in Cincinnati, and over the years I'd watch her grow more and more influential at her practice and her salary, house and lifestyle all grew accordingly. Next, I reconnected with Abby, who'd grown out of her goth phase long ago and moved back to our hometown after college at the University of Kentucky, Kaylee was the last to get back into touch. She'd ended up in California, and by the looks of it, she was living her best life. Her feed was all beaches and restaurants and gorgeous selfies. By the end of our twenties, all of us had reconnected online in some fashion or another. Everyone was following or friends with everyone else except for Abby and King. I guess some betrayals are harder to get over than others. And life just kept on moving. We weren't best friends anymore, not even close. We didn't DM or comment on each other's posts. We were adults out in the world and we were far removed from the lives we'd had when we were young. Back when. When the world was so small back when we were everything to each other. That brings us to the present. It had been a long time since middle school and high school. I've been in Louisville almost as long as I was in my little hometown, and it had been a long time since I'd heard from any of the other girls. Like most things, when it happened, I heard the news first on social media, of all places. I was at work. It was a Tuesday morning and I was sitting at my desk. I checked my phone, and out of habit, I tapped on one of my social media apps and I knew what it was before I even read the text. A post with a photo of Emma smiling big into the camera. It wasn't from Emma's account, but she was tagged in it. My heart sank in my chest. It was an announcement that she'd passed away. I read the entire thing twice, looking for any hint of what happened, but there was nothing. I scrolled the comments to see if there was any more detail. There wasn't. I left my desk and I found a private corner of the office where I wouldn't be disturbed. I scrolled back up and tapped the photo, bringing it to full screen, and I just stared at Emma's face for a long time in disbelief. It didn't feel real. I tried to go back to work, but I couldn't bring myself to focus on anything else. So I went to my boss and I told her I'd gotten some bad news and needed to take the rest of the day. On the way home, it really hit me. I started crying on the freeway and I thought I might have to pull over. By the time I got to the Highlands to my apartment building, I'd managed to compose myself. I lived in an old neighborhood. The houses were close together, broken up by the occasional old brick apartment building. I lived in one of those buildings. It had six apartments, two per floor, one on each side of the hall. I was on the second floor. Just as I reached the landing outside my door, I felt my phone begin to buzz. Notifications from Abby and Jess. They'd heard, too. I sat down on my couch. It was strange being home during the workday, the sun coming in through the back windows. It was a little bit brighter than usual as the first leaves had begun to fall, letting in more light. I laid my head back on the couch cushion and I looked up at the ceiling. The world felt a little bit emptier. I must have dozed off on the couch, because when I came to, the light had shifted a little and I hadn't responded to Jess or Abby yet, but there was another notification from one of my social media apps, Kaylee. It was just a sentence in Messenger. Do you know what happened? I wrote back and I told her I didn't know anything yet. Kaylee is the member of the group I'd been in contact with the least, but we checked in a couple of times over the years. Almost right away I could see that she was typing. Do you know when it happened? I pulled up the post again and re read it. It says it happened yesterday. Kaylee was typing again. Something felt off about the exchange. It didn't feel like two old friends checking in after a tragedy. It felt more urgent than that. It felt desperate. Finally her message came. Has anything strange been happening to you? I was taken back by the question. Kaylee was normally cool and collected. She put a lot of energy into looking like she was effortlessly in control. This wasn't like her. I asked her if she was okay. She responded by sending me her phone number. I'm coming home for a few days. Do you think it'll be okay with the others? I paused for a moment, thinking of Abby and knowing that's who Kaylee was really asking about. I didn't know if they were still on bad terms, but even if they were, Abby isn't in charge of Emma's funeral. I wrote back. Yes, of course you should be here too. You're worrying me. Is something wrong? There was a moment before the three little dots showed that she was typing again. They appeared, then disappeared, then appeared again. I could sense the hesitation. Finally her message popped up and I couldn't believe it. Kaylee said, I saw her last night. Hi, I'm Sarah Gabrieli and I've traveled to every single lesbian bar in the.
- [47:12]
June Parker
Country for my podcast, Cruising.
- [47:14]
Rob Benedict
Dancing was a no, no, no women dancing. That would be something that, yes, the cops would grab you for. There were no black owned female gay bars. We needed a place to follow on. In those days. We went to the bars to socialize because there was no other way. When you went to Brady's Bar, you knew you were safe. This is Cruising, a documentary podcast about.
- [47:41]
June Parker
Queer spaces, history and culture. Each episode of Cruising features space and.
- [47:46]
Rob Benedict
Tells the stories of the humans that.
- [47:47]
June Parker
Run it and the humans that call it home.
- [47:50]
Rob Benedict
You can listen to Cruising on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [47:54]
June Parker
Season one and two are available now, so be sure to binge them before season three, which will go beyond the.
- [47:59]
Rob Benedict
Bars to queer bookstores, farms, peace encampments, and more, premiering February 4th. Contained herein are the heresies of Radolph Bantwine, erstwhile monk turned traveling medical investigator. Join me as I study the secrets of the divine plagues and uncover the blasphemous truth that ours is not a loving God and we are not its favored children. The heresies of Redulf Bantwein Wherever podcasts are available.