Spooked: "Earth Angel - Classic" (December 26, 2025)

Podcast: Spooked by KQED & Snap Studios
Host: Glynn Washington
Episode Theme:
This episode, "Earth Angel - Classic," explores the mysterious realm where light and darkness, medicine and miracles, real life and the supernatural meet. The firsthand account, told by "Althea" (a pseudonym), recounts two extraordinary stories: her uncle's improbable cancer recovery and the dream-guided decision to intervene in a seemingly hopeless newborn case. The episode probes the boundaries of what we know, asking listeners to reflect on the presence of mystery, faith, and possibly angels in the healing process.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction: The Light and the Dark (02:53)

• Glynn Washington reflects on the relationship between light and darkness. Sometimes, Spooked "turn[s] toward the light in order to properly understand the dark."
• Content Warning: The episode deals with sensitive topics, including premature birth, pregnancy loss, and cancer.

Story 1: Zio’s Healing – Medicine, Mystery, and Faith

Zio’s Diagnosis and the Dream (05:07)

• Althea shares the close bond with her uncle Zio, her godfather—magical and mischievous, yet suddenly gravely ill (stage 3 lung cancer).
• Zio invites Althea to visit a famous priest reputed for miraculous healings. At first, she declines due to work commitments.
• Vivid Dream (07:02): Althea dreams of a Filipino woman in a hospital corridor, who confronts her about Zio's illness:
  • Quote:
    "She looked at me and she said, ‘Well, you know that nothing medical is going to save your uncle.’" — Althea (07:17)
• The dream’s urgency makes Althea reconsider. She calls Zio and insists on going to see the priest.

The Church and the Unexpected Sign (09:10)

• The church is packed, full of gravely ill people, including children. Zio is humbled, feeling unworthy to ask for a miracle amidst so much suffering.
  • Quote:
    "What am I doing here? Look at... God has to take care of these children." — Zio, paraphrased by Althea (09:19)
• The priest is described as striking—bearing stigmata, dramatic, "looked like Johnny Depp."
• Althea, skeptical yet swept up in the moment, prays a secret, personal prayer for a sign that she’ll be a real nurse soon.

The Fainting Woman: Becoming a Nurse in Spirit (10:20)

• At that exact moment, an elderly woman faints at Althea’s feet. Althea assesses her and confidently declares:
  • Quote:
    "It’s fine, I’m a nurse." — Althea (11:16)
• The woman recovers; Althea realizes this was the sign she needed, feeling her identity as a nurse solidified.

Miracle: Zio’s Recovery (14:22)

• After the visit, Zio's lab results improve inexplicably; scans show the previously inoperable area "was not there anymore."
  • Quote:
    "The doctor didn’t understand... he’s never had a recurrence." — Althea (14:33)
• Althea reflects: medicine didn’t save Zio, but something mysterious did. Zio remains humble, insisting the prayers be directed to children in need.

Story 2: The Premature Baby and the Nurse with An Angel

The Dream in the NICU (17:00)

• Years later, now a labor & delivery nurse, Althea recounts another vivid dream following a difficult shift.
• In the dream, she's in the neonatal ICU, noticing a "brilliant, large form" — an angel standing over a nurse, guiding her as she cares for a tiny baby.
  • Quote:
    "If the angel moved a certain way, the nurse would... move the baby's wire or guide the nurse's hands..." — Althea (15:36)

Confronting Reality: The Impossible Baby (19:30)

• The next day, Althea sees photos of an extremely premature baby, officially deemed "non-viable," but notices signs of life others overlooked.
• Trusting her gut and the message from her dream, Althea calls the NICU doctor, urging her to reconsider. After initial resistance, the doctor is moved to tears, later consulting her priest and deciding to give the baby "a trial of life."

Divine Coincidences: The Dream Nurse Appears (23:58)

• The following evening, Althea encounters a nurse she instantly recognizes—the one from her dream. She tells her about the dream and the angel:
  • Quote:
    "Now that I know you were in the dream... I know that this baby's gonna live. Like, this sounds crazy. I know it sounds crazy." — Althea (25:35)
  • The nurse replies, unfazed:
    "Don’t sound crazy at all."
• The baby survives after months in the NICU, goes home healthy, and the unit receives annual update cards from the grateful parents.

On Mystery and Agency (28:52)

• Althea reflects:
  • The chain of events was not caused by the dream, but by real-world actions and decisions influenced by a sense of unseen mystery and "bigger forces at play."
  • Quote:
    "But the dream illuminated to me that indeed there is a mystery, you know, and bigger forces at play." — Althea (29:16)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You know how when you have a regular dream... and then sometimes you have a very, very vivid dream where it’s just so very bright and so clear.” — Althea (05:46)
• “Nothing medical is going to save your uncle.” — Filipino woman in Althea’s dream (07:17)
• “It’s fine, I’m a nurse.” — Althea asserting her power and identity (11:16)
• “With Zio, it was kind of a cause and effect... with this lovely baby, it wasn’t the dream... it was the waking decisions that were made that night...” — Althea (29:30)
• "There is a mystery, you know, and bigger forces at play." — Althea (29:16)
• Host Glynn Washington’s closing meditation:
  “Some will tell you that the light and the dark are a continuum... In reality one is the same as the other. This is a distortion... Never, ever, never turn out the lights.” — Glynn Washington (31:23)

Important Timestamps

• 02:53 — Glynn Washington’s intro and content warning
• 05:07 — Start of Althea’s story: Zio’s illness and the call to faith
• 07:02 — The pivotal dream: a mysterious warning
• 09:10 — At the church: hope, humility, and skepticism
• 10:20 — Realizing her calling as a nurse
• 14:22 — Zio’s miraculous recovery and reflection
• 17:00 — The NICU dream: an angel in the nursery
• 19:30 — The premature baby: challenging medical certainty
• 23:58 — The dream nurse appears in real life
• 28:52 — Reflections on agency, mystery, and unseen forces
• 29:32 — Glynn’s outro, reflection on the episode’s theme

Tone & Style

The episode blends skepticism, faith, and emotional honesty. Althea’s storytelling is direct, humble, and heartfelt, balancing clinical knowledge with an openness to the unknown. Glynn Washington’s hosting is poetic and atmospheric; he frames the stories with philosophical musings on light, darkness, and the mysteries animating our world.

In summary:
"Earth Angel - Classic" is a moving meditation on the unexplained connections between dreams and reality, healing and mystery. Althea’s brush with the supernatural reaffirms both the limits and the extraordinary potentials in medicine and human agency, leaving listeners with lingering questions—and a sense of awe.