Episode 701: Spooky Games That Will Ruin Your Actual Life Vol. 4

Summary

Morbid Podcast: Episode 701

Spooky Games That Will Ruin Your Actual Life Vol. 4
Date: August 25, 2025
Hosts: Ash & Elena

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Overview

In this celebratory yet spine-chilling episode, Ash and Elena return from a short break to dive into their fourth volume of "Spooky Games That Will Ruin Your Actual Life." These are legendary, ritualistic games said to summon spirits, attract demons, or otherwise bring supernatural chaos into your world—often with a hefty dose of risk. With their trademark blend of humor, pop culture tangents, and macabre storytelling, the hosts unpack the do’s, don’ts, and countless dangers of these viral paranormal games.

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Episode Highlights

1. Opening Vibes & Banter (02:14–12:28)

• Hosts catch up after a week apart, celebrating personal wins and recent podcast milestones.

  • Elena: “I have had the best fucking week this week.” (02:36)
  • Ash: “You guys sold out the motherfucking Wilbur Insane show in a matter of minutes.” (04:02)

• Movie and TV recommendations: Ash and Elena discuss the original “Catfish” documentary, their issues with rom-coms (especially "You’ve Got Mail"), and current TikTok obsessions.

  • Elena: “If you haven’t watched the original catfish movie from, like, 2008, you gotta. I’m telling you.” (09:06)

2. Dangerous Spooky Game #1: Is Anyone There? (16:55–24:06)

• Source: Ghost in My Machine (book and website)

• Purpose: To try to meet a ghost or supernatural entity.

• How It Works:

  • Requires salt, a knife, a blindfold, and totally dark empty room.
  • The player knocks and asks, “Is anyone there?” repeatedly, using ritualistic language and polite phrases.
  • If nothing appears, ritual is closed. If something does, you can converse—except there is no formal way to end the ritual, meaning the entity may never leave.
  • Ash: "There’s no way to close this ritual out. That sounds awful." (22:26)
  • Elena: “If you keep hearing nothing at all for a while, the ritual failed… Don’t open that door ‘til the sun rises.” (21:03)

• Memorable Moment:

  • Elena: “You can give it a try and be like, 'Okay, bye now. This was fun.' But if they’re like, 'Go fuck yourself,' they might stick around.” (22:36)
  • Ash (on requirements): “I’m immediately out. Double dark is for real business.” (17:28–18:44)

3. Dangerous Spooky Game #2: The White Kimono Game (24:06–29:40)

• Solo game invoking a bloodsoaked woman in a white kimono.
• Highlights:
  • Requires a room with four corners, starts after midnight.
  • Player chants in Japanese, then must imagine the woman approaching and—when she is close—immediately goes to sleep.
  • In dreams, player must not reveal their name or let her whisper in their ear.
  • If you wake and see her shadow, turn the lights on immediately and “never ever be in the dark again.”
  • Failing to wake = death.
  • Ash: “If by the grace of the sweet, sweet universe, you don’t see her… you’re safe. But you can never do this again.” (28:08)
  • Elena: “You chose this. Not me.” (27:18)

4. Dangerous Spooky Game #3: Charlotte’s Web (33:31–41:17)

• Two-player game to summon the spirit of a 15th-century girl, Charlotte Webster.
• Procedure:
  • Sit before a large mirror, place a toy for Charlotte behind you.
  • Simultaneously recite, “We want to play Charlotte’s Web.”
  • If Charlotte appears, she’ll play with the toy (if she likes it). If not, tantrum ensues.
  • Do not turn around. Do not look at her—ever.
  • Engage gently, ask questions, close the game only when she fades away.
  • Elena: “Don’t look at her. Don’t look at her. Don’t look at her.” (38:06)
  • “If you piss her off, she’ll throw a tantrum. She’ll hurt you.” (40:56)

5. Dangerous Spooky Game #4: The Picture Game (41:29–51:16)

• Group game that attempts to photograph spirits.

• Setup:

  • Sit in a circle with a rope, glass of wine (or liquid), and mirrors.
  • All chant, “The door is open. Please come in.”
  • Each player takes turns, with flash on, saying “I caught you” before snapping a photo.
  • Disallow anyone entering the circle; do NOT look at photos until the end.
  • If someone feels sick or cries, skip their turn.
  • At the close, everyone says “It’s time to go home” three times and destroys the rope.
  • Do NOT view the pictures of anyone who felt off during the ritual—or you must destroy the camera.

• Ash: “This is one that I might want to play…” (41:33)

• Elena: “If you break your mom’s camera, I don’t want her calling us.” (49:56)

6. Dangerous Spooky Game #5: The Answers Game (52:08–56:47)

• Solo Q&A game in total darkness.
• Instructions:
  • Set up ashes on “Yes” and “No” boxes, small portable light, pen, paper.
  • When presence is felt, ask yes/no questions. Disturbed ashes indicate answer.
  • MUST end within an hour; close out with thanks and a cleansing.
  • If the game overruns or is improperly closed, spirits may linger or lie.
  • Ash: “So many of these are just like, go fuck yourself if you don’t do it right.” (55:19)
  • Elena: “When I tell you it’s time to leave, get out. I’m done.” (56:52)

7. Dangerous Spooky Game #6: El Juego del Libro Rojo (“The Red Book Game”) (58:19–60:32)

• Simple, “yes/no” question game using a red hardcover book and red candle.
• Overview:
  • Ask permission: “Red Book, can I enter your game?” Randomly select a passage with eyes closed.
  • Take turns; only those with “yes” continue.
  • When ready to end, MUST get an explicit “permission to leave” from the book.
  • Some legends say failing to stop (ignoring a “no”) results in mysterious disappearances.
  • Ash: “You can't end until everybody has got explicit permission to end the game.” (59:42)
  • Elena: “You could keep playing until you perish.” (60:02)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Omens and Ritual Risks:

  • Ash: “You’re a whole ass adult…You choose your own way. Go your own way, as Fleetwood Mac says. Or it’s your prerogative, like Britney Spears.” (23:32)
  • Elena: “If you tell [the entity] it’s time to leave and they say ‘Go fuck yourself,’ they might stick around.” (22:36)

• On Group Mania:

  • Ash: “I wrote this down…I don’t want your mom calling us.” (49:56)
  • Elena: “Here we’re here to tell you to repress your feelings. Don’t speak them out loud for the sake of this game.” (50:25)

• On What NOT To Do:

  • “Do not turn around and look at [Charlotte]. Don’t look at her in the mirror. Don’t look at her.” (38:06)
  • “If you don’t get permission [from the Red Book], you just have to keep going…could last a whole lifetime.” (59:49)

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Timestamps for Key Games & Segments

• 16:55 — "Is Anyone There?" Ritual
• 24:06 — "White Kimono" Game
• 33:31 — "Charlotte's Web" Game
• 41:29 — "The Picture Game"
• 52:08 — "The Answers Game"
• 58:19 — "The Red Book Game"

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Final Thoughts

This episode brilliantly weaves comedic commentary with authentic unease around these so-called “dangerous games.” Ash and Elena make it clear: don’t try these at home (but if you do, bring a hard exit strategy and a really good broom).

Elena: “When I tell you it’s time to leave, get out. I’m done.” (56:52)
Ash: “We hope you keep it weird, but not so weird that you don’t come on over with us…” (60:56)

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Resources & Recommendations

• Ghost in My Machine (Website & Book) — for detailed write-ups and origins on ritual games.
• “Catfish” (2008 Documentary) — watch for the OG vibes.

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Morbid: Research with a dash of comedy, a full serving of creepy.
Keep listening, keep it weird—but maybe don’t go summoning the White Kimono Lady tonight.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Ash]

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[Podcast Host]

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[Ash]

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[Elena]

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[Ash]

Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena and this is Morbid.

[Elena]

Guys, it's Friday, August 8th when we.

[Ash]

Record this portal Energy.

[Elena]

I have had the best fucking week this week.

[Ash]

No same.

[Elena]

It's been an iconic week.

[Ash]

I missed you.

[Elena]

I missed you.

[Ash]

We were away from each other.

[Elena]

You guys as well.

[Ash]

And we missed them.

[Elena]

Yeah. And I was including Mikey as well.

[Ash]

Oh, yeah. You missed all of us. I was like, we haven't really been away from the listener.

[Elena]

No, I miss both of you. Yeah.

[Ash]

I miss both of you, too. It was horrible.

[Elena]

Mikey's giving the Taylor Swift heart.

[Ash]

He said, here you go. But it wasn't horrible. It was horrible to be away from my friends and family. It was so nice.

[Elena]

Yeah, it was a very nice week. I mean, like, right? Monday, it was, like, boom.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Great week.

[Ash]

I just woke up to, like, the most beautiful day.

[Elena]

Yeah, it really. It was a great day.

[Ash]

It was.

[Elena]

And I got to hang out with my family all week, and it was just lovely.

[Ash]

It was great.

[Elena]

Yeah. It was, like, a very refreshing week.

[Ash]

It really was. I did cry because I love my dog so much this week, because we were off this past week.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And I was just looking down at her, and I. I was like, does she understand that I have to go back to work? And I just. I really started, like, ask Drew. I started, like, cry. Crying.

[Elena]

That's wild.

[Ash]

I think I'm PMSing.

[Elena]

But.

[Ash]

But she's so beautiful, and I just want her to know that even though I have to work, I love her.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

You know, so she will. That's. Drew said that.

[Elena]

Yeah. He said, she knows. Yeah. As long as you're kind to them, they get it.

[Ash]

I'm so kind to her.

[Elena]

Yeah, exactly. I'm like.

[Ash]

I'm, like, wicked kind to her.

[Elena]

Yeah. But, yeah, I think it's been a good week. We got a lot of cool. Oh, you guys sold out the motherfucking Wilbur Insane show in a matter of minutes.

[Ash]

We got that news today in my head. Sporadically combusted.

[Elena]

Yeah. I lost my mind, truly. And, you know, we're looking into ways that we can. The people who didn't get tickets, because a lot of you have been messaging us or, you know, commenting or anything, and even people we knew. We know in, like, life are like, yeah, we don't get tickets. And so, like, you guys are rad as fuck for doing that, but we're looking into ways to make it so that you can all hopefully make it to a show. You know, like, we'll see. We'll see. We'll let you know as soon as we know.

[Ash]

Not a tour.

[Elena]

Yeah, we're not doing a tour. Yeah.

[Ash]

It's gonna be fun. I'm excited. We have a lot of good ideas up our sleeves for this show.

[Elena]

This is gonna be fun.

[Ash]

And maybe another show in the future?

[Elena]

Maybe.

[Ash]

I don't know.

[Elena]

Who knows?

[Ash]

I don't know.

[Elena]

Who can be sure?

[Ash]

Not me.

[Elena]

You know? Who can be sure?

[Ash]

Not I.

[Elena]

It's gonna be fun. And yeah, I was. I was gonna say. I was gonna say I have the unlikely storybook event coming up, but, like, by the time this comes out, that's already happening. Yeah. Far past happening. It was great. I bet you had fun. I bet I had so much fun. You know what? I think this is the last few episodes that we will be doing that, so there's. That won't be far into the past anymore.

[Ash]

Yay. Isn't that gonna be great, you guys? We're fucking excited. And thank you for being excited for us.

[Elena]

Yeah. You guys have that. When we announced that we, you know, found a home at serious, you guys were unbelievably incredible. Yeah. Like, the. The response was wild. It was, like, beyond my expectations. It really was. For being so, like, with us. Yeah, we know.

[Ash]

And everybody was saying, like, we were deserving and, like, I know. Like, I saw so many people being like, I've been here for, like, the full eight years, which is. This is my longest career.

[Elena]

Yeah. That's crazy.

[Ash]

Eight years.

[Elena]

Eight years.

[Ash]

I can't believe. I don't think we're up eight right now.

[Elena]

But we're almost. We're going into the. We're in the eighth year.

[Ash]

Exactly.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Which is just crazy. But I've seen. I've saw. Hello. I've seen so many. I see.

[Elena]

I saw, I see. I saw, I see.

[Ash]

I saw the people. I seen so many people say that they've been here since the beginning, and, like, they just love watching us succeed.

[Elena]

Which I was like, that's really nice. We're very excited for the future. And interesting enough, our last episode was big seven zero zero.

[Ash]

That's crazy.

[Elena]

And we. We weren't super in the mood to celebrate it at that point, but. 701.

[Ash]

We're ready. Here we go.

[Elena]

7:01. So that's crazy. That's a lot of episodes.

[Ash]

Yeah, it's insane.

[Elena]

It's a lot of episodes. It's insane.

[Ash]

Madison.

[Elena]

It's insane. Madison. I've been re. Watching all those things, like Southern charm and all that shit, and it is a trip.

[Ash]

Yeah, it really is the trip.

[Elena]

Oh, also, what. We'll get into it. Don't worry. This is a spooky episode. We're gonna be talking about dangerous, spooky games.

[Ash]

We're also, like, in a celebratory mood, so it's super Loosey goosey. We're coming off a week off, so we're, like, silly.

[Elena]

Well, we're coming off of that scorecard killer, which. Holy hell.

[Ash]

We need a little loose goose moment.

[Elena]

Yeah, I need a little loose goose moment. And so I just. Out of nowhere, I heard. This is such a weird way to.

[Ash]

Connect to this as well.

[Elena]

I heard the girls were watching something and it had Good vibrations in it from the Beach Boys. Yeah, Banger. And for some reason, when I heard that, I was like, where have I heard that song? In, like, a movie? And then I was like, oh, has.

[Ash]

It never been kissed?

[Elena]

The catfish movie. It opens up with that, like, child chorus singing Good Vibrations.

[Ash]

One thing about me is I fucking hate. No, but then chorus.

[Elena]

Well, the thing is, I was like, holy. I haven't watched the catfish movie.

[Ash]

Watch it.

[Elena]

I rewatched it.

[Ash]

It's scary.

[Elena]

It's just as good as it did.

[Ash]

The first time I rewatched it. I went through, like, this period in Covid where I would stay up until, like, 3:00am like, all the time and just, like, sleep all day. I rewatched it during COVID at, like, 3am that shit was genuinely scary.

[Elena]

Yeah, it's. It's very.

[Ash]

It's fucked up.

[Elena]

It is. And when you rewatch it, you're just.

[Ash]

Like, whoa, Yeah, I gotta rewatch this soon.

[Elena]

15 profiles she was using or something.

[Ash]

And they were all like, family.

[Elena]

Yeah, they were all interacting with each other, like. And then. I'm sorry, this. This movie is just. If you haven't watched the original catfish movie from, like, 2008, you gotta. I'm telling you. And I remember when we used to live with, like, all of our friends in that apartment near Boston. We. We rented this movie when it came out, and we got Fish movie. Yeah, we got it to watch, but we. We had no idea what it was about because at that point, catfishing was not a thing. No, the movie made it a thing, and that made it a thing. And so, like, we didn't know what it was about. And it was kind of almost billed to us as like, a horror movie. Like a found footage horror movie.

[Ash]

So while we watch he's gonna die.

[Elena]

No, he literally, when he shows up at the farm, like, when all three of them show up at the farm in the middle of the night, I remember John being like, oh, it's about to pop off. Like, he was like, this guy's gonna die. And then it was like, it does pop off, but in a way different way. Not in the way you expect.

[Ash]

You Know what, too? It's also a very sad movie.

[Elena]

Oh, it's so sad.

[Ash]

It's really sad.

[Elena]

Yeah, it is. It's got everything. If you haven't watched it, it's an incredible watch. Yeah, I like. I. I know nothing after that. I just remember that movie really having a certain vibe.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And it was really interesting to re watch. So that's just where I'm at right now.

[Ash]

Do you know what I watched the other day? You've probably never seen it.

[Elena]

What?

[Ash]

You know how we were talking about rom coms the other day?

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

I said to Drew, I go, I really want to watch a rom com. And I love everything iconic with Danny Pellegrino. And his favorite movie is you've Got Mail. Have you ever seen that?

[Elena]

I've never watched that movie.

[Ash]

You shouldn't.

[Elena]

I know that movie.

[Ash]

You shouldn't. Have you seen it, Mikey? No.

[Elena]

Is it Tom Hanks and.

[Ash]

Yeah. And Meg Ryan. It's fucking awful.

[Elena]

Yeah, I'm sure it is.

[Ash]

It's like infidelity from the start, which I was, like, immediately pissed off.

[Elena]

A lot of rom coms are kind of based on infidelity or the idea of infidelity. Yeah.

[Ash]

When you really think about it, they actually are.

[Elena]

That's why I'm not a human.

[Ash]

It tease me.

[Elena]

Oh, yeah.

[Ash]

And then the end is kind of stupid in my opinion.

[Elena]

Damn.

[Ash]

So if you've ever seen you've Got Mail, I need to know if you agree with me and if you haven't seen it. Well, just agree with me.

[Elena]

If.

[Ash]

If you don't agree with me, don't tell me.

[Elena]

Only agree with me.

[Ash]

I'm in a happy place. Okay.

[Elena]

Just agree with.

[Ash]

But if you haven't seen it, don't.

[Elena]

Don't watch it. No, I'm here to kill their careers right now.

[Ash]

Movies from, like, 1994. Here's the thing. Parts of it are really cute. And I was. At first, I was like, oh, okay. Like. And then it just progressively fell off.

[Elena]

Yeah. I feel like infidelity is kind of just like. Everyone's like, isn't it so cute?

[Ash]

Yeah. No, it's not.

[Elena]

It's not.

[Ash]

It's the.

[Elena]

But, yeah, those are movie recommendations and non recommendations. The catfish movie. It's my good feeling. Watch. I'm like, go watch this. It's such a comforting movie.

[Ash]

I don't know what to tell you to watch. It's definitely. Oh, wait, I wish you had seen any bit of it. Has anybody watched Hunting Wives?

[Elena]

Has anybody?

[Ash]

I need you to watch Elena, like, a couple of TikToks.

[Elena]

I'm probably not.

[Ash]

No, no, no. Not the TV show. I need you to do this. At least watch a couple of TikTok clips.

[Elena]

Okay?

[Ash]

It's insane.

[Elena]

I can do that.

[Ash]

It's insanity. And I think I need to finish it because I need to know who murdered who and whatnot.

[Elena]

Whoa.

[Ash]

But like, no, that's the thing. There's like a murder as part of it. Not even a spoiler. Don't worry.

[Elena]

But, I mean, I'm not worried.

[Ash]

But it's in. No, it's just insane. So if you're watching it, let me know.

[Elena]

Holy shit. And that's recommendations with Ash and Elena? It is. All I offered was the catfish movie from 2008.

[Ash]

I'm sure you've got more.

[Elena]

I do. I'll give some more. Yeah. So there's that. And now we're going to talk about dangerous games that you should never play.

[Ash]

Yeah. Spooky ass games.

[Elena]

And I feel like always I got these from like a few different places. Mine.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

But there's this one website that I highly encourage you to go to and buy the book.

[Ash]

Is it Ghost in My Machine?

[Elena]

Ghost in My Machine. They get their information from a variety of sources. The book is amazing. It's a book on dangerous games. You can get it through that website or like on. You know, you can get it at any bookstore, but highly recommend it.

[Ash]

Yeah, we'll link it in the book.

[Elena]

We'll link it all again. Just so you guys can make sure to go to that website because they have hundreds and hundreds of entries, all kinds of cool, like, legends and stuff. It's just a really interesting read. So I just wanted to start out by like sending you there.

[Ash]

No, it's fun. She'll tell you, like, the history of things and where they came from and, like, what the objective is. She goes really far into it.

[Elena]

I think.

[Ash]

Is it Lucia?

[Elena]

I think. Yeah.

[Ash]

Yeah, it is.

[Elena]

Lucy. It is, yeah. And she's just like really good.

[Ash]

I got some of my information from there too.

[Elena]

Yeah. So solid.

[Ash]

Shout out.

[Elena]

Another recommendation.

[Ash]

See, Alina's are more in line with the show. Mine are all over the place, but that's akin to that makes sense.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Do you want to go first?

[Elena]

I'll go first.

[Ash]

Do you want to go like back and forth?

[Elena]

Yeah, okay, let's do that. So the first one that I saw that was very interesting was called. Is anyone there? Hello? Hello?

[Ash]

God, are you there? It's me, Margaret.

[Elena]

That's what it's called.

[Ash]

This is the Most dangerous game to play. God, are you there? It's me, Mark.

[Elena]

Honestly. Valid. Yeah, it is. So this one. Have you ever just been, like, sitting around and you've been like, I would love to meet a ghost? Kind of.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Not just see a ghost. I want to meet one.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Say hello, talk about our lives.

[Ash]

I kind of. I kind of get that.

[Elena]

So, like, I feel like most people have that. Listen, if you're ever sitting there thinking about it, you want to, you know, you want to meet a ghost or some other supernatural baddie. That's the thing. Like, it's probably supposed to be a.

[Ash]

Ghost, but, like, be a demon.

[Elena]

Could something else creep in there?

[Ash]

Could be a vamp.

[Elena]

You know, you open a door for somebody and, like, three other people walk through, and you're like, I wasn't opening the door for you. Oh, that's kind of how this is. It's like maybe you open the door and a ghost comes in. Maybe you open a door and a demon from the netherworld comes in.

[Ash]

That's rough, you know, and that's. You need to know that going in.

[Elena]

That's the risk you take when you play these games. To be quite honest.

[Ash]

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[Elena]

So here's what you're going to need for this. Because you want to meet the ghost. You want to say hello. You want to have a conversation. And you're not fucking worried about who else is coming in. Okay? That's where you are.

[Ash]

You signed off.

[Elena]

So you need salt, you need a knife or something sharp. Could be like a letter opener, anything. Like that black cloth that you can use as a. Blindfolded. You gotta be blindfolded. That's fucked up. Which I'm. I'm immediately out.

[Ash]

How are you gonna meet somebody blindfolded?

[Elena]

Well, you're just gonna have a conversation.

[Ash]

You know, truth is in the eyes.

[Elena]

Don't worry, the blindfold will come off eventually. But they're shy. You know, she did like a little.

[Ash]

You did like the, like what's her name? From superstar Mary Katherine Gall.

[Elena]

Shy.

[Ash]

She's shy.

[Elena]

But yeah, maybe they're just shy. I don't know. But you need a watch or some other, you know, probably now a phone. An empty room with a door in it. And that door has to close completely. It would also be like pretty sick if it locks okay from the outside. A second room you need to be able to like sit or stand and wait in. So you need two rooms.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

So it has to be at 2:00am I'm sleeping. I was gonna say it's so far past my bedtime.

[Ash]

You might be up with kids.

[Elena]

I might. That's true. Hopefully not. But turn off the lights where you are. You have to turn off all the lights. I like dark. Make sure you're in front of the doorway that leads to the empty room. You're gonna close that door, and then you're gonna blindfold yourself and make sure you can't see a thing.

[Ash]

It's already dark. Why you gotta do that?

[Elena]

That's why I'm out.

[Ash]

I can't do that double dark thing.

[Elena]

Yeah, that's double dark. That's what we call double dark.

[Ash]

Double dark is for real business.

[Elena]

That's a lot. So this, the first part of it is called the invitation.

[Ash]

Oh, that's ominous.

[Elena]

So again, you're blindfolded. Can't see a goddamn thing. You're gonna pick up the salt. You're gonna pour some of that salt into your left hand. You can close your hand to hold the salt in there.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Then you're gonna pick up the knife and keep that in your right hand. The knife for sharp. Yeah, holding salt and left hand knife, sharp object.

[Ash]

You're like pouring things, picking up things, and you're blindfolded.

[Elena]

This is a lot of responsibility. And if you can't, don't do it.

[Ash]

All right?

[Elena]

Okay. Because this is serious. Now. You're gonna knock on the closed door.

[Ash]

Three times with your salt hand.

[Elena]

With your salt hand. So boom, boom, boom. And then you're gonna say out loud, is anyone there? Reach out again, knock with your left hand three more times and say, is anyone there? Do it one more time. Left hand, knock three times, say, is anyone there?

[Ash]

This is a ritual.

[Elena]

And then you wait. You just wait. You may not hear anything. And if you don't, if you're not hearing anything and you're not sensing anything around, you say in the. I think this is really polite, to be honest, and I think it's nice. If now is not a good time, I will wait until you're ready.

[Ash]

You know what?

[Elena]

That's. Which is pretty.

[Ash]

Like, that's a therapist adult. That is a therapized way to go about things.

[Elena]

If you're not. If now's not a good time, I'll wait until you're ready.

[Ash]

I like that.

[Elena]

That's nice. And then you go into that second room that you have and you wait and you sit. You sit cross legged. You do whatever you're comfortable doing.

[Ash]

Sure.

[Elena]

And you wait. You keep that left hand clothes. You do not open your right hand. Hold that sharp thing, and you stay blindfolded.

[Ash]

And here's the thing. They might need a minute because you are holding a knife.

[Elena]

Exactly. And you did summon them. So it's like, I feel like if you're Just like. Like out of nowhere. And you're just like, whoa. Even someone's like, hi. Holding salt in one hand and a knife. And blindfolded.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

You may need a second to be like, let me just gather myself.

[Ash]

Agreed.

[Elena]

First, so you know you're doing that. If you keep. And again, that's. This is if you didn't hear anything.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

So you don't sense a present. You don't hear anything. You don't. Nothing.

[Ash]

You just go, wait.

[Elena]

So you're waiting there. If you keep hearing nothing at all for a while, the ritual failed.

[Ash]

Failure.

[Elena]

You put the knife down, you take off the blindfold, you get rid of the salt, you turn on the lights, and you keep the door to that empty room closed forever. If you can lock it, that would be great. Don't open that door until the sun rises. Okay.

[Ash]

All right.

[Elena]

So lock it. Let it stew.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Don't open till the sun rises.

[Ash]

Here's the thing, though. If that's a ghost, they're not corporeal. It's true, as you learn from Buffy. So they might be able to look right through.

[Elena]

Well, again, that's if you hear nothing. And it failed.

[Ash]

All right, so what happens if you hear something?

[Elena]

If you hear something, you should, you know, say hello.

[Ash]

You gotta greet them. You're the one summoning here.

[Elena]

Yeah. You invited them here.

[Ash]

Yeah. It's like having a dinner party with no dinner.

[Elena]

If you don't see anything, you open the door and you take off the blindfold. And you may see something or you may see nothing, but no matter what, you say. Hello. Yeah.

[Ash]

You have your manners.

[Elena]

Yeah. You absolutely do. And here is where you can ask questions, you can talk to them. They have agreed, according to this ritual, to chit chat with you.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

So apparently. Now, this all sounds great, you know, except, like, there's no way to close this ritual out.

[Ash]

That sounds awful.

[Elena]

So there's no formal way to be. Like, this is over now. You should go back to wherever you are coming from. So they may just stay.

[Ash]

Oh, no, I don't like an extended visit.

[Elena]

You can give it a try and be like, okay, bye now. This was fun. But if they're like, go fuck yourself, they might stick around.

[Ash]

I don't like an extended visit.

[Elena]

Yeah. And to me, that doesn't feel worth it.

[Ash]

I love a heart out.

[Elena]

I love a heart out.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

I search my whole life in social.

[Ash]

Situations For a hard out I'll make up my heart out if I don't have a heart here's the thing. I always Have.

[Elena]

I was just gonna say thing about me, I always have a heart.

[Ash]

Whether I do or don't.

[Elena]

Yeah, I do. You don't have to worry about that here. No, no.

[Ash]

Hard out.

[Elena]

It's pretty soft.

[Ash]

I'm not gonna do this.

[Elena]

Yeah, I won't be doing this. But the blindfold was my immediate. Like it's a no go for me. I. I need to be able to see.

[Ash]

Yeah. The multitasking also really, sensory deprivation is not my.

[Elena]

Not my bag. Can't do it. So I was out immediately when the blindfold came into the situation. But I mean, I don't rec. And again, we don't recommend you do any of these games.

[Ash]

No. Do it at your own risk.

[Elena]

But you're a. You're a whole ass adult, I assume, if you're listening to this. So, like, you choose your own way. Yeah. Go your own way. As Fleet Medical Fleetwood Mac says, it's your prerogative, like Bobby Spears. So. Okay, we're in different. You know what, though?

[Ash]

Bobby Brown said it first. Fair enough.

[Elena]

I said, oops.

[Ash]

Fair enough.

[Elena]

Yeah, Bobby Brown.

[Ash]

We showed our ages.

[Elena]

And then Britney Spears repeated it and it bears repeating again.

[Ash]

It's your prerogative.

[Elena]

So. Yeah. So that's the is anyone there Game.

[Ash]

All right, well, I see that and I raise you the white kimono game.

[Elena]

Oh, let's go, girls.

[Ash]

So this one you have to be really brave to play because it's a one player game, which yours also sounded.

[Elena]

It is.

[Ash]

It's sort of one player, but then there could be more because you're inviting people over.

[Elena]

Exactly.

[Ash]

But this also kind of goes that way too. So you also need a dark room for this game with four distinct corners. You need a light with a switch that's easily accessible. So like a lamp.

[Elena]

Okay.

[Ash]

You might want a compass, but it's not totally necessary. You just need to know which direction each of the corners of your room are in for help. Sun rises in the east, sets in the west.

[Elena]

Oh, there you go.

[Ash]

Unless you're in the north or south pole, then I don't know what you do. Get a compass. Get a compass.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

You have to start after midnight, and apparently between 2am and 3am is the best time to play the white kimono game.

[Elena]

That makes sense.

[Ash]

So what you're going to do is you're going to go into your room with your four distinct corners. You only want four, and lucky for you, at this point in time, your light is still on. But you need to make sure that you can turn them off while you're lying on your back in the middle of the room. So think about that. Yeah. Okay, so now you're lying on the floor in the middle of the room. So you focus on the ceiling.

[Elena]

Focus on it, look at it, look.

[Ash]

At it, look at it, look at it. And you get ready to play. When you're ready, you turn and look at the north corner, then the west and then the south and then the east in that order. Always looking around to the corners. Do this two more times, working counterclockwise so that once you're finished, you've done each corner three times.

[Elena]

Okay.

[Ash]

Now once you're done looking around the room, cross your arms and repeat this chant three times. This is Japanese, so I'm gonna do my best on B. Eroki Yama Shironi Sawaka.

[Elena]

Okay.

[Ash]

You have to say that three times. Here's the thing. Nobody really knows what that translates to.

[Elena]

I was just about to ask that.

[Ash]

Yeah, nobody really knows. So you should probably think about that before you chant it at your ceiling.

[Elena]

Yeah, I would absolutely think that one through.

[Ash]

Yeah. I did put it into Google Translate and all I got was colorful machine.

[Elena]

Okay.

[Ash]

So that could be part of it.

[Elena]

That might be. That's nice.

[Ash]

And it is the white kimono game.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So there you go, you know. Okay, so if you've decided to go through with the chant now, you're going to picture a woman with long black hair, dressed in a white kimono, covered in blood, walking toward you.

[Elena]

Oh, me personally, in the beginning, I said, wow, what a beautiful picture. Covered in blood, covered in blood, walking towards you.

[Ash]

Yeah, me personally, I don't know why you would choose this.

[Elena]

Yeah, but you're.

[Ash]

That's on you.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

You make your own decisions. You're an emergency, you're a prerogative. Hopefully, yes. Bobby. Bobby Brown, Britney Spears can do what.

[Elena]

You want to do.

[Ash]

Exactly. So as soon as she gets in front of you, you have to uncross your arms, turn off the lights and go to sleep. You cuckoo nut.

[Elena]

Man. You have to go to sleep.

[Ash]

You have to go to. Right to sleep. Straight to bed.

[Elena]

What?

[Ash]

Yeah, as soon as she gets right in front of you, uncross your arms and go to sleep.

[Elena]

Just go to sleep and turn off. Is going to sleep, turn off the.

[Ash]

Light when she gets, like, right near you, right over you. No, you have to.

[Elena]

No, you gotta.

[Ash]

You chose this.

[Elena]

You chose this.

[Ash]

You chose this, not me. So here's the deal. If you see this woman in your dreams, you did everything right. Oh, but don't get too excited. Because you're not done yet.

[Elena]

I haven't been excited this whole time.

[Ash]

She is going to try to talk to you in your dreams.

[Elena]

I hate small talk, so I'm not.

[Ash]

Yeah, you'll be fine.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

You can't talk to her.

[Elena]

Don't worry, I will.

[Ash]

You can't say it, and this is big. Do not tell her your name.

[Elena]

Oh, no.

[Ash]

Never. Don't tell her name.

[Elena]

Do you know why?

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

Oh, okay. I don't know. It's just an ominous word.

[Ash]

It's just ominous. It's even better that way.

[Elena]

Like, we don't need to know why.

[Ash]

No, I don't ask questions. I know what I'm told.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And also don't let her get anywhere near your ears. Because if she whispers into that ear of yours, or both of them, maybe even you're done for. You're done for.

[Elena]

You're fucking done for.

[Ash]

Yeah. If you didn't heed my warning and she does whisper into your ear, or both of them ears, you better wake your ass up right away and check the corners of your room. And if by the grace of the sweet, sweet universe, you don't see her and you don't see anything, you're safe. But you can never do this again.

[Elena]

I mean, who among us.

[Ash]

If you wake up and you do see a shadow in the corner of your room, you have to turn the lights on immediately and you can never be in the dark again. And if you can't wake up. You died.

[Elena]

Oh, my God.

[Ash]

Rip Brother mine's like, I don't know.

[Elena]

You might talk to a ghost. Maybe they'll hang around. You're like, you and you died.

[Ash]

I told you. I see your in the dark. Was anyone their game? And I raise you.

[Elena]

The White Komodo.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And you can never be in the dark again. So you just have to remain in the light forever. Yeah.

[Ash]

If you wake up and you see a shadow in your room.

[Elena]

Awful.

[Ash]

Turn those lights on and never ever be in the dark again. Which will really complicate your life.

[Elena]

Yeah, I don't. I'm not gonna do this because also.

[Ash]

Everybody has kind of a broad definition of what the dark of. What dark is, I would assume. Like, you can't be in any kind of darkness. Anybody's definition of darkness. Physical darkness.

[Elena]

Yeah. Not the darkness.

[Ash]

You'll probably be in the darkness in your head because you'll be like, really freaking out.

[Elena]

You'll be living in the darkness.

[Ash]

I mean, realistically, can you close your eyes? That's the dark.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

You're Fucked.

[Elena]

Oh, I hate that.

[Ash]

That's scary.

[Elena]

I really don't like that at all.

[Ash]

Like we said spooky ass games that will ruin your actual life.

[Elena]

Yeah. And might actually kill you, Rip.

[Ash]

Like I said, like, do you guys.

[Elena]

Remember that Three Kings game?

[Ash]

I'll never forget that game as long as.

[Elena]

Me neither. Every time I live, every time I come across anything about it, I'm like, that scared me to my core.

[Ash]

There are so many, like, little blogs about that.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

That just go on and on and on and it. I'm like, why are people still playing this me up?

[Elena]

It's scary, the idea of that.

[Ash]

There's so many that we've covered that I'm like, yeah, what?

[Elena]

Like, didn't you. Did you cover Dry Bones? Did I? Maybe we didn't cover yet.

[Ash]

I saw. I actually ran across Dry Bones when I was researching.

[Elena]

You have to like hide from him.

[Ash]

I think I covered like a very.

[Elena]

Like a version of it because I remember I was reading it and I was like. Like that.

[Ash]

I think mine was the Shadow man or something.

[Elena]

I think it's similar to that. It's like a variation, but like.

[Ash]

Or no, no, no, no. Mine was Midnight Man.

[Elena]

Midnight Man. That's what it was. Which is.

[Ash]

It was very similar to dragons.

[Elena]

That's. I hate it.

[Ash]

Yeah, me too.

[Elena]

I hate it a lot. It's easy to feel lost today. One thing that always helps me, amazing mentors. Like, I love learning from. I know Gordon Ramsay. I like learning from him. How to be a baddie Chef on Masterclass. If you want insights that make your life better, you need Masterclass. With Masterclass, you can learn from the best to become your best. With plans starting at just 10 bucks a month billed annually, you get unlimited access to over 200 classes taught by the world's best business leaders, writers, chefs and more. Explore how to spot a liar with criminal profiler John Douglas. Ever heard of him? Learn hostage negotiation techniques with FBI legend Chris Vaugh. And be the smartest person in the room with declassified techniques from former CIA officers. And the classes really, really make a difference. Three in four surveyed members feel inspired every single time they watch Masterclass. Plus every new membership comes with a 30 day money back guarantee, so there's no risk. Right now, our listeners get an additional 15% off any annual [e-mail] morbid. That's 15% [e-mail] masterclass.com morbid.

[Ash]

With prices going up on just about everything lately, dealing with money can be very stressful. Trying to manage subscriptions track spending and cut costs can feel very overwhelming. But luckily, Rocket Money can relieve some of that stress and help you feel confident in the financial decisions you're making. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so that you can grow your savings. If you have a goal you want to save for, maybe like a vacation or a new car, something like that, Rocket Money can analyze your accounts to find the best time each month to set aside extra money for whatever that goal is. And that's not even it. Rocket Money will even try to negotiate lower bills for you. The app automatically scans all your bills to find opportunities to save and then gets to work to get you better deals. They'll even talk to customer service so that you don't have to. I would marry them if they were a person. Rocket Money's 5 million members have saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, with members saving up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to rocket money.commorbid today. That's rocket money.commorbid rocket money.commorbid.

[Elena]

All right.

[Ash]

Well, what you got?

[Elena]

All. I mean, mine's not, not. Mine's not that bad. Okay. You know, so mine's called Charlotte's Web.

[Ash]

I saw this one.

[Elena]

It's pretty bad. I mean, it could be or it could be. Okay, I suppose me, I'm not trying to do this, but so what we're trying to do here. Not me, but maybe you are trying to get the spirit of Charlotte Webster to appear. Yeah. Who Charlotte Webster was, was a seven year old little girl and she lived in the 15th century and her mother was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Yeah, Charlotte watched whole thing and then ran away into the woods and ended up dying in there.

[Ash]

Horrible.

[Elena]

Pretty horrific. So, of course, why wouldn't we want to, you know, bring her back? Yeah, you know, why not? Let's ask some questions.

[Ash]

Life didn't mess with Charlotte enough. Let's bring her back.

[Elena]

Let's bring her back. Why let her rest, you know, like in peace. She earned it. So what we need for this is you need a room with a pretty large mirror. You need a flashlight.

[Ash]

I got those things.

[Elena]

You need two chairs.

[Ash]

I got those.

[Elena]

A table. I have tables. And a child's toy.

[Ash]

I actually don't think I have a child's toy.

[Elena]

I have plenty of those.

[Ash]

Can I use a cat toy?

[Elena]

Yeah, we can work together for this. I don't think that'll work. Okay, so you have to play with one other person. Oh, okay.

[Ash]

I like. I like a group game.

[Elena]

Yeah. I like it when there's another person, like a partner. You go to a room, the room with the big mirror. You bring the flashlight. You bring the toy with you. And it should be a toy the little girl would find appealing.

[Ash]

Hell yeah.

[Elena]

You sit in the two chairs in front of the mirror, facing the mirror.

[Ash]

Spooky.

[Elena]

And you put the table behind you and you put the toy on the table.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

You should be able to see the toy in the mirror. So you look in the mirror. And this is very important because you only have one chance to say this and you have to say it at exactly the same time.

[Ash]

That's a lot of pressure.

[Elena]

Yeah. If you it up, you don't get to do it again.

[Ash]

You know what, though? We would probably be good at this because we say things in unison all the time, even when we don't mean to.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

We would kill it. Yeah, we really would. So you have to say at the same time, we want to play Charlotte's Web. Okay. Charlotte is supposed to appear behind you, which I hated immediately.

[Ash]

I don't like it.

[Elena]

And she's gonna start playing with the toy. If she likes it. Okay, if she doesn't like it, I.

[Ash]

Was gonna say, what if she doesn't like it?

[Elena]

Yeah, if she doesn't like it, she'll throw up. She'll go fucking. She'll do what a 7 year old does and she'll throw a tantrum. Well.

[Ash]

And also, she had a hard life. She doesn't know about emotional regulation.

[Elena]

And also. Exactly. And don't give me a fucking. Don't. Don't summon me back just to give me a shit toy that I don't want to play with.

[Ash]

You better get her a Barbie Dream House or some shit.

[Elena]

You better show up with some K Pop Demon Hunter realness.

[Ash]

Her kids are really into this right now.

[Elena]

They are. That's a banger of a soundtrack.

[Ash]

Okay, guys, I still have to watch it.

[Elena]

If your children have not gotten into it. Trust me, it sounds kooky because when I heard it, I was like, K Pop Demon Hunter. Like, what is. I thought that was like some crazy YouTube thing or something.

[Ash]

And I was like, sounds great.

[Elena]

You're not allowed on YouTube. What are you doing? No, it's on Netflix. It's awesome. Banger of a soundtrack.

[Ash]

I'll probably watch it tonight I'm watching them.

[Elena]

It's pretty great. One of my kids is gonna be roomie for Halloween, so let's fucking go.

[Ash]

We gotta order hair and everything, so.

[Elena]

Yeah, so give Charlotte some K pop Demon Hunter shit. Like, really come to the fucking game prepared.

[Ash]

Get one of those Wonder Balls and you open it and there's all these.

[Elena]

Mini surprises you can build.

[Ash]

Or like lol. Dol.

[Elena]

Got a lol.

[Ash]

I think it's lol, but I. It should be lol.

[Elena]

It should be a LOL doll.

[Ash]

Where was the marketing person on that? You're right.

[Elena]

So, well, I just got the girls little Wonder Ball things that are little books, mini versions of real books.

[Ash]

That's so cute.

[Elena]

They're really cool and they love them so far. I love it. But yeah, get her one of those. Yeah. I'm yelling at you guys like you were coming to the table with some. But, like, I'm just trying to warn you. Really bring some stuff to the table.

[Ash]

We're just giving you ideas.

[Elena]

Yeah. I don't want her throwing a temper tantrum in your house. She could destroy your house and she can destroy you. So we're just coming up here and one of the main things is she's. So she shows up. If she starts freaking out, you just gotta sit there. Don't turn around. Don't look at her. Don't say a goddamn word to her.

[Ash]

Oh, so you're doing like, the opposite.

[Elena]

You just have to sit there. Yeah. You're doing the whole life. Like, I'm not acknowledging this tantrum. Oh, wow. And you can't look at her. Don't look at her in the mirror. Don't look at her in real life. Don't look at her.

[Ash]

Don't look at her.

[Elena]

Don't look at her. Don't look at her. That's what she says when she shows up. She just said, don't look at me.

[Ash]

And then she starts freaking out.

[Elena]

But if she likes that new K Pop Demon Hunter thing you bought her or Wonder Ball. Or Wonder Ball or Barbie Dream House, then she'll start playing with it and that's great. Again, do not turn around and look at her.

[Ash]

Oh, so even if she's happy, don't perceive her.

[Elena]

No, do not perceive her.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Don't do it at all. She does not want that. I don't blame her. She's been perceived too much in life. Yeah. So you can just let her do her thing and then you can start talking to her and you can start asking her things. But again, do not turn around. You can ask her questions and she'll answer them to the best of her ability.

[Ash]

So you're just like looking at yourself in the mirror.

[Elena]

Yeah, you're just looking at yourself in the mirror and you're just asking her questions.

[Ash]

That'll fuck you up.

[Elena]

Letting her play. And the main thing is you have to be nice. Yeah. You just be gentle, be kind. If you have any kind of attitude, she's gonna be like my youngest and she's gonna call your ass out for it.

[Ash]

Yeah, she will.

[Elena]

She will call you out.

[Ash]

She'll make you think about all your life choices.

[Elena]

She's like. She's like a Covid baby. Like, they are built different. Charlotte is built different.

[Ash]

Yeah, she's not gonna put up with that. She's like a Spanish influenza baby.

[Elena]

Yeah, she's definitely not putting into that. She's.

[Ash]

She's before that.

[Elena]

Way before that.

[Ash]

Yeah, she's the black plague pandemic during her life.

[Elena]

She's back there, but. So you can ask her the questions, talk to her, have a conversation, you know, like. But again, be chill. And you should really, like, you should, you shouldn't ask her things that like, require her to be like, all knowing, you know?

[Ash]

Well, yeah, she's playing seven year old.

[Elena]

From the 15th century and she's busy. Yeah.

[Ash]

Putting together her miniature.

[Elena]

So, you know, you got, you got your answers, you got your little thing. That's fine. That's when you say, goodbye, Charlotte.

[Ash]

Oh, that's a little bit rude and sudden.

[Elena]

And she might be like, go yourself. And she might keep playing. If she does keep playing, you gotta just sit there and wait for her to be done.

[Ash]

So you sort of just adopt a child.

[Elena]

You're just babysitting a child. A traumatized child at that.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Who has no emotional regulation. So if. If she doesn't want to leave yet, you just gotta sit there and let her do her thing. And when she does leave, she will just kind of fade back into the darkness.

[Ash]

That's pretty fucking metal of her.

[Elena]

Yeah, she doesn't like, you know, she doesn't do like a spin kick and then like. And then just be like, charlotte out. She just fades.

[Ash]

That's a bummer. She should work on it.

[Elena]

And the thing is, you can't turn around until she is completely out of view. So if you turn around too quick, shit's gonna go down.

[Ash]

Yeah. So what happens if you do turn around?

[Elena]

That's the thing.

[Ash]

Nobody knows.

[Elena]

I don't know.

[Ash]

Oh, that's.

[Elena]

That's.

[Ash]

It's like Scream when there's no motive. It's scarier that way.

[Elena]

And if we haven't heard what happens, then we can assume that nobody is around to tell us what happens when. So that's again. If you piss her off, she'll throw a tantrum. She'll hurt you. So don't do it. I don't like it, but that is the Charlotte's Web game, all right? That you might die from.

[Ash]

That you might die from. Maybe it's dangerous. You could. We don't know. Yeah, that's the scariest thing we don't know.

[Elena]

Terrifying.

[Ash]

All right, well, my next one is not as dire, okay?

[Elena]

It could be.

[Ash]

It's the picture game.

[Elena]

I think I've heard of this one.

[Ash]

It's. I kind of want to play this one. I'm not gonna lie.

[Elena]

Oh, damn.

[Ash]

This is one that I might want to play.

[Elena]

Ash. Who won't be in the same room as a Ouija board.

[Ash]

No, it's different.

[Elena]

We had a full discussion about this.

[Ash]

I know. I'm sick of you people testing trusting me.

[Elena]

It makes zero sense.

[Ash]

It makes sense. It's a gut feeling. And you listen to your gut. Yeah, and Ouija boards are so much more complicated to close out. You don't know what you're with. No, you don't know what you're with here, either, but there's not a lot of steps to close it out. So just listen to me, okay? For this game, you have to start right at midnight. And I like that. I like promptness.

[Elena]

Yeah, I love that.

[Ash]

I'm not good at it.

[Elena]

I'm just gonna.

[Ash]

No, I. I like when I do you. Yeah. I like when I am prompt. It just doesn't happen a lot. Listen, stop coming for my throat or I'm not gonna tell you about this game.

[Elena]

You two just love to be ball.

[Ash]

Shut up.

[Elena]

Get out of here. We both went.

[Ash]

Yeah, I like when I'm on time because it doesn't happen often.

[Elena]

It's true.

[Ash]

But you have to be on time for this game.

[Elena]

Okay? I'm on time.

[Ash]

You have to start right at midnight. You're not always on time.

[Elena]

Midnight. I can be on time.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

I'll definitely get there.

[Ash]

So here's what you're gonna bring. You have to bring and prepare a string or a ro. Long enough to make a big circle by, like, tying the ends together.

[Elena]

Okay?

[Ash]

Once you tied the ends together and you have your circle of rope, you're going to set it up in the middle of the room and you're going to place A glass in the center. According to writer Chrissy Stockton from Thought catalog, wine is recommended to fill the glass. But if you can't do wine, just use your own discretion. I don't care what you put in there.

[Elena]

Cranberry juice.

[Ash]

There you go.

[Elena]

A Shirley Temple.

[Ash]

A Frappuccino. If you ask, grab all your players and have everybody sit around the rope outside of it.

[Elena]

Oh, that's big. Don't sit in it. Yes.

[Ash]

Make sure you can easily hand somebody the camera that you're gonna hand them when it's their turn. And make sure that nobody for any reason steps inside the circle that you made with the rope. I don't know what happens if you do again, you go ahead and find out.

[Elena]

You know, it's not good.

[Ash]

I don't recommend it. Now, once each person is sitting, place a small mirror in front of them facing up toward the ceiling. And then you're gonna grab your camera. And you really need, like, an actual camera, not your phone.

[Elena]

Oh, okay.

[Ash]

We're going old school.

[Elena]

I was just gonna say we're kicking it old school. I like it. Yeah.

[Ash]

Now make sure the flash is turned on. Turn off all the lights in the room and go sit with the group. Okay, Everybody's gonna close their eyes now, and they're gonna take each other's hands. It's like a little Kumbaya moment.

[Elena]

Love that. That.

[Ash]

But instead of singing Kumbaya together, one person says, I trust you, and then the next person, and so on and so forth until everybody in the circle establishes trust.

[Elena]

Cute.

[Ash]

I kind of love it. It's like team building. You should do it with your work colleagues.

[Elena]

Do it. Don't.

[Ash]

I'm not recommending it.

[Elena]

Don't.

[Ash]

So make sure it's stated one at a time, by the way, like, I trust you. And then the next person goes, like. Not all in unison. Okay, so now in unison. All together. All together now.

[Elena]

All together.

[Ash]

Now say, the door is open. Please come in. And everybody can open their eyes at that point. Oh, it's a little spooky.

[Elena]

This is very spooky.

[Ash]

I like it.

[Elena]

This is way spookier than Ouija.

[Ash]

It's fun, though.

[Elena]

It feels. It is.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

It feels more fun and more spooky.

[Ash]

It doesn't feel as dangerous as Ouija. Ouija just feels so dangerous.

[Elena]

See, this feels more dangerous to me because you're literally saying, the door is open. Come on in.

[Ash]

Yeah, but you close it out. You kind of have to say that when you do Ouija, too. You open the door.

[Elena]

Well, you just you can just kind of start.

[Ash]

I don't think you're supposed to do that. You're supposed. I think you're supposed to, like, actually make it a. That's. See that.

[Elena]

Well, you can close it out.

[Ash]

But how do you close it out? If you open it.

[Elena]

Opening it with such vigor feels scary.

[Ash]

I don't know. I think you're stating your intentions. But anyway. Now somebody takes the camera and says, I caught ya. And takes a picture with the camera facing directly in front of them.

[Elena]

I caught you.

[Ash]

Yeah, you could say it however you want. You could say, I caught you.

[Elena]

Oh, damn. Now I'm pissing them off.

[Ash]

You could say, I caught you. You say how you say it.

[Elena]

How are you gonna say it? I caught you.

[Ash]

I didn't expect that. Wow, that was so weird. Melissa, the rewatcher that just came out. He sounds like Molly from the Rewatcher.

[Elena]

That's who I channeled.

[Ash]

I think I would say, gotcha.

[Elena]

Funny, you can't.

[Ash]

You have to say, I caught you.

[Elena]

Gotta be quicker than that. I caught you.

[Ash]

How would you say it, Mike? I would say, gotcha.

[Elena]

Gotcha.

[Ash]

Gotcha, Gotcha. All right, so that's how we're all saying it. And then you pass. You pass the camera to the next player and everybody does the same. But don't look at any of the pictures until the game is finished.

[Elena]

I won't.

[Ash]

So you have to go around enough times for each person to take three pictures.

[Elena]

Damn.

[Ash]

If during that time frame somebody starts to feel nauseous or starts crying, you skip them. Skip the stupid baby who's crying. I'm just kidding.

[Elena]

So many people are like, oh, I'm out. It's like, nauseous, girly.

[Ash]

If my dog comes, I just start crying. I'm like, oh, my God, I hope she knows I love her. They're like, get out.

[Elena]

So the poor person that's like, I don't feel good.

[Ash]

And you're like, go yourself. You ruining picture. They have to stay there, but they. They have to just not take a picture.

[Elena]

You just have to shut the. They sit there, but they sit there nauseating.

[Narrator]

The town of AGDA in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex. But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn. The town's men mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption. His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant. Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.

[Elena]

I am the Archangel Michael.

[Narrator]

The whole town has been Thrown into.

[Podcast Host]

Chaos as the mayor is unable to carry out his duties. I would like to address you.

[Elena]

All legal proceedings have been initiated.

[Narrator]

Join me, Anna Richardson and journalist Leo Chic for the mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power corruption and magic. Binge all episodes of the mystic and the Mayor exclusively and ad free right now on Wonder Plus. Start your free trial in Apple podcasts, Spotify or the Wondery app.

[Ash]

So once you've done that and you've skipped the nauseous crybabies, put the camera down and make sure everybody's eyes are closed again. This time, everybody says the farewell together. Three times. You say, it's time to go home. It's time to go home. It's time to go home. I like it. There's a beginning and an end.

[Elena]

That also feels very like. Time to make the donuts. Time to go home.

[Ash]

Yeah, it's a little Stepford yb.

[Elena]

I like it.

[Ash]

But then everybody turns their mirrors upside down upon that. At that point with the reflective part, like facing down, you're going to go turn on the lights and grab a knife or some scissors just to cut through the ropes.

[Elena]

Just grab a knife.

[Ash]

Yeah. Don't stab anyone.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And then pour the contents of the glass outside. Apparently you're supposed to do this on, like, some dirt.

[Elena]

Okay.

[Ash]

Now look at you being a brave who just went outside after all that.

[Elena]

Look at you.

[Ash]

Look at that. Then go into the safety question mark. The safety, like the safety, like, of your own home. Oh, but I don't know if it's safe anymore.

[Elena]

Here's the thing. I. I know it's not. I can tell you right now.

[Ash]

It's like sexy from rods.

[Elena]

Sexy.

[Ash]

And we'll explain later. And look at your pictures. A lot of people see really freaky. But it's important to note. And this is from the ghost of my machine, which we were talking about at the top of the show. If anyone playing the game starts to feel sick or they start acting weird and they do take a picture, do not look at that specific picture that they took.

[Elena]

I'm gonna look at that picture.

[Ash]

Well, you can't.

[Elena]

There's no way you're gonna tell me. Don't look at this picture.

[Ash]

You can't look at. You can't look at that picture.

[Elena]

Look at it.

[Ash]

And you also have to destroy the camera if somebody takes a picture when they're acting.

[Elena]

You're not using my camera.

[Ash]

Well, that's what I said. I said, I wrote this down. I said, definitely think about that going into It. Because if you break your mom's camera, I don't want her calling us.

[Elena]

Yeah, I don't want that.

[Ash]

I don't want to hear it.

[Elena]

No.

[Ash]

Oh, also, if anybody says out loud that they're scared or freaked out. Shut up, chicken.

[Elena]

Oh, no.

[Ash]

Just kidding. You really should end the game right there or else that person becomes a target.

[Elena]

Oh, no.

[Ash]

So don't really state out loud that you're scared.

[Elena]

You know what? Here we. We're here to tell you to repress your feelings. Don't speak them out loud for the.

[Ash]

Sake of this game.

[Elena]

Nobody wants to hear them.

[Ash]

They. We don't.

[Elena]

Emotions. Gross.

[Ash]

Not here.

[Elena]

Don't want to hear it.

[Ash]

Not until it's time to go home. It's time to go home.

[Elena]

It's time to go home. And just for the couple of people that will take what I just said very seriously.

[Ash]

Shut up.

[Elena]

I am kidding. I'm not telling you to repress your emotions.

[Ash]

Get out of here.

[Elena]

You can say, I'm just not during this fucking game. And I mean that. All right.

[Ash]

What you got? Red.

[Elena]

I like that one.

[Ash]

It's fun.

[Elena]

Would you play it? It's scary.

[Ash]

I want to play it.

[Elena]

I kind of want to, but I also feel like I. Someone will not feel.

[Ash]

Well, I feel it will probably be me. It will probably be me.

[Elena]

And then I'll be pissed that I. And then, like, if you took picture, I'd be like, I just want to see that picture.

[Ash]

And then you'd have to destroy your camera.

[Elena]

It's like, curiosity. I just. I'm too curious.

[Ash]

There's the thing, though. Nobody knows what happens if you look. So it could be fine.

[Elena]

So maybe it'll be fine.

[Ash]

Or it could be really detrimental.

[Elena]

Maybe it would be a picture of Rod Stewart, and everything would be okay.

[Ash]

And he would say, sex is. And we would say, anything for Rod. Anything for Rod.

[Elena]

I think we discussed Rod Stewart on. On a past episode.

[Ash]

I think we did. Yeah. We went to the concert. Anything for Raw Rod.

[Elena]

Yeah, anything for Rod.

[Ash]

You played if you think I'm sexy. Yeah, we did. Because we sang it. And then I thought the next lyric was come on, sugar baby. Yeah.

[Elena]

Yep.

[Ash]

But it's not.

[Elena]

And I did not correct you when you said that.

[Ash]

No, you didn't. You never do.

[Elena]

No, I. I never will. I love.

[Ash]

Your lyrics are always better.

[Elena]

They are. They're always superior. So I just let them go.

[Ash]

She's so beautiful.

[Elena]

She's so beautiful. That one might be my favorite one.

[Ash]

I wrote a better song than they did. Okay.

[Elena]

Like, I'm just gonna be honest.

[Ash]

I did humble brag.

[Elena]

All right, so I have one last one.

[Ash]

Okay, girl.

[Elena]

Here. It's called the Answers game. Ooh. This one isn't, like, super scary. It's more just like if you want some answers and then, like, potentially you could invite, you know, sinister force into your house. Wow. But that's, you know, it's not guaranteed. It could happen.

[Ash]

Yours are very answers coded.

[Elena]

They are. I wanted answers. You're so curious. I told you I'm curious. So for this, you need a small light. Any kind, as long as you can bring it with you. Like a portable light. Like a little flashlight, Flashlight, candle, something like that.

[Ash]

Oh, bring a flashlight. Candle's kind of scary.

[Elena]

Yeah. Candle could go out.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

You need a watch or something, you know, phone, whatever. You need a large flat surface. And you need chalk, matches or a lighter, something too light. Something else. A dish that is fireproof and lots of paper. And a dark room. Okay, so it's done after nightfall. So as long as it's dark, always. No, like real time. Go into a room that is pitch motherfucking black. No, make it as dark as you can. Draw shades. Put stuff over the windows. You gotta be in a place where you can't see your hand in front of your face.

[Ash]

You need to walk in that room and say, hello, darkness, my old friend.

[Elena]

And if you. If you don't sing that when you walk in, the ritual fails. Oh, yeah. So that's it.

[Ash]

I knew.

[Elena]

So get on it. On the large, flat surface, you're gonna draw two boxes. And on top of one, you're gonna write yes. And on top of the next one, you're gonna write everybody.

[Ash]

No. No. Are you asking this date to prom.

[Elena]

Will you go to Circle yourself? Now use the lighter and burn one paper at a time. And you're gonna collect all the ashes onto that dish.

[Ash]

Oh.

[Elena]

Do this until you have a shit ton of ashes. Me? Yeah. All the ashes you need. And you're gonna spread those ashes to cover each box. So you need enough ashes to cover both boxes.

[Ash]

All right?

[Elena]

You're gonna light that light that you brought. Candle, flashlight, whatever it is, only that light. Note the time and. Or set a timer for an hour. No more than an hour.

[Ash]

It's a long time. Yeah, that's plenty of time.

[Elena]

It is. But, like, it's very important. You sit in front of the boxes and you say, I invite you to cross the threshold. Speak to me. Wait until you feel something. You have to feel a presence. You have to like, actually feel like there's someone or something in the room with you.

[Ash]

I kind of always feel that way when I'm alone.

[Elena]

I know. I feel that way, too, so it could be misleading, but you need that one little light is the only thing on in that room. Everything around you should be pitch black. And then you'll start feeling something. Now. It shouldn't take a ton of time. And after. After, like, close to an hour, if you're still sitting there and you're not feeling anything, the ritual failed. Okay. You got to clean everything up, and you just do, like, whatever kind of cleansing you really want to.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

To kind of get rid of all the bad yuckies. If you do feel something in the room with you, then keep going. Don't stop now. Start asking your questions. You should come in there with questions. You don't want to start feeling something and then be like, whoa, wait a second.

[Ash]

What do I say?

[Elena]

Because they're gonna has to be like, go yourself.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

So many of these cheese are like, go yourself if you don't do it right. So come in with questions. After you ask the question, look at the boxes. If the answer is yes, then the ashes will be moved. Like, disturbed in the yes box. No. Same thing.

[Ash]

That's cool.

[Elena]

Sometimes they'll be disturbed in both or in none. And that could mean that they're either fucking with you or that they don't probably will like, a decent answer for you. So it's like a maybe. All right. You have to fix the ashes each time if you want to keep asking questions. You must end this game in an hour. Yeah. You cannot go over an hour.

[Ash]

Why would you.

[Elena]

If you go over an hour, you.

[Ash]

I don't want to do most things for a.

[Elena]

Don't do that. And you thank them. You say, thank you so much.

[Ash]

Be courteous for that.

[Elena]

And then you say, it is time to leave now. That, though, but thank you. Okay. Really be appreciative. Yeah. You cleanse the room and shit, and that should be good. Or there is a possibility that you invited something that is not super awesome. They could lie to you. Yeah. They could, like, fuck you over.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And they could just stay. Like, there's a potential that when you say, bye, it's time to leave. Thank you so much. That they're like, oh, my God, go fuck yourself.

[Ash]

Well, your ghosts really love to say that that is the complication with any of these. And that's usually what turns me away, because I don't like ambiguity.

[Elena]

I don't want. And I When I tell you it's time.

[Ash]

When I tell.

[Elena]

When I tell you it's time to leave, get out. I'm done. When I'm done socializing, get out.

[Ash]

Do you have a broom?

[Elena]

Like get it? Yeah. Do you do the.

[Ash]

You got to do the broom trick.

[Elena]

The broom trick?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

What is the broom trick?

[Ash]

I. I need to make sure I have it right. Let me do a quick Google. It's either you flip a broom like upside down to get unwanted house guests out.

[Elena]

Oh sure.

[Ash]

Or right. I think it's upside down. I think like the bristles face the air.

[Elena]

Shit.

[Ash]

How to get rid cleaning the air of them unwanted house guests with a broom.

[Elena]

Imagine if it's just like you hit them with the broom, they will leave.

[Ash]

You start beating the shit out of them.

[Elena]

Your house guests will leave if you strike them with a broom. Which is, I mean that is true. I'm not telling you they do that, but I'm just saying it would work.

[Ash]

Stand it up by its bristles near the door.

[Elena]

Oh, there you go. How up would that be though? You just see someone get up and grab a broom and just place it by the door. Be like. I think it's like nothing magical about that.

[Ash]

I think it's just uncomfortability that you'd.

[Elena]

Be like, I'm gonna go. Like, that would be it.

[Ash]

Whatever it takes.

[Elena]

Cuz you'd be like, whatever's happening here is weird and I need to leave.

[Ash]

Maybe they won't even come back after that. That's even better.

[Elena]

Oh my God. There you go.

[Ash]

I love it.

[Elena]

He's like, you go, you lose.

[Ash]

Friends love it. Well, you usually like your friends are okay to stay for a bit. Yeah, just a little bit.

[Elena]

Just a little bit. A little bit. But yeah. Those are my spooky, scary dangerous games.

[Ash]

Okay, well I have one more.

[Elena]

You have one more.

[Ash]

It's a shorty but a goodie.

[Elena]

I love that it's and I hope.

[Ash]

I say this right, this is Spanish, so it's El Hugo del libro rojo. Which translates into red book game.

[Elena]

Let's go.

[Ash]

So all you need to play this one is a red hardcover book. Book with no pictures inside.

[Elena]

Okay.

[Ash]

And you need one red candle. So first you gotta turn off all the lights. Set the mood.

[Elena]

Hell yeah.

[Ash]

And light your red candle. Whoever is playing puts the palm of their hand on the book. And they ask, red book, can I enter your game? Then with eyes closed, they go to a random page and they point out a sentence. And the sentence should answer your question. But it's sort of up to you to use discretion. No, it's really fun. I would actually probably do this. Yeah, it's sort of up you to you to use discretion to figure out the answer. If you feel like it's a yes, then you can start. If it seems ambiguous, like I said, I don't like ambiguity, you try again. But if it says no, then you better not continue playing. You better be like, okay, cool, Bye.

[Elena]

Cool. Sorry I bothered you.

[Ash]

Yep. Everybody playing can take turns. If they get a yes. Passing the book around, asking one question once they've been let in, and you close your eyes, opening to a different page, point at that sentence on the page and seeing if that answers your question.

[Elena]

I like it this.

[Ash]

So, yeah, it seems pretty fun. To end the game, you have to ask red book, can I leave your game? Oh, and this is where it gets.

[Elena]

No, I'm not leaving it up to someone else.

[Ash]

Well, you have to. If you play this, you can't end until everybody has got explicit permission to end the game.

[Elena]

Oh.

[Ash]

And at that point, you can then turn your lights on, blow out your candle and go about your life. But if you don't get permission, you just have to keep going. So this could last you a whole lifetime?

[Elena]

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. You could keep playing this until you perish.

[Ash]

Yeah, you could.

[Elena]

Whoa.

[Ash]

That would really stink.

[Elena]

Yeah, I won't be doing that.

[Ash]

But there are examples of people who kept playing after the book, told them it was time to stop and shit got really fucking weird for them.

[Elena]

Oh, no. Yeah, don't do that.

[Ash]

I read a story about a man who just disappeared.

[Elena]

Oh, no. Yeah, like into thin air, gone.

[Ash]

He ran into the woods and they never found him again.

[Elena]

Oh, no.

[Ash]

Yeah, she. It had creepy pasta vibes, but I don't know.

[Elena]

Could be real, but I like it either way.

[Ash]

I'm. I don't like it, but I'm afraid of it.

[Elena]

I'm terrified.

[Ash]

That was my foot. I saw you. I did not fart. It was my foot.

[Elena]

We recreate it. Oh, okay. Recreate.

[Ash]

You know, when you can't recreate, you're like, I swear.

[Elena]

I swear, I swear.

[Ash]

Well, what a good way to end this episode. We are so happy.

[Elena]

We're so happy.

[Ash]

I'm so happy. So we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird, but not so weird that you don't come on over with us to SiriusXM.

[Elena]

Woo.

[Ash]

Seriously? Seriously.

[Elena]

Sam. Foreign.

[Ash]

If you like morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey.