Spooked – “Sea Legs / The Crossroads” – Detailed Episode Summary

Podcast: Spooked
Host: Glynn Washington
Release Date: October 17, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of Spooked presents two first-hand supernatural stories, each exploring encounters with the unexplained in deeply atmospheric settings. The first tale, “Sea Legs,” recounts Coast Guard member Jordan’s chilling brushes with a spectral figure at sea and the rituals that resolved it. The second, “The Crossroads,” brings listeners inside San Francisco's infamous Condor Club, where bartender Rachel shares her unsettling experiences with ghosts tied to the club’s wild and storied past. Both stories probe how haunted places and unresolved souls leave indelible marks, leaving narrators and listeners alike at a crossroads between belief and skepticism.

Story One: “Sea Legs” – Coast Guard Haunting

[03:29 – 18:50]

Setting the Scene

• Jordan, fresh from boot camp, is assigned his first unit aboard a 270ft Coast Guard cutter patrolling the chilly, star-lit waters off New England.
• Alone on catwalk watch at midnight, Jordan wears a float coat and uses night vision goggles to look for hazards.

The Encounter

• [06:00] Jordan spots a man at the furthest edge of the bow, arms out, military haircut, and the silhouette of a Coast Guard uniform. No one should be out there.
• He yells for attention; the Officer of the Deck (OD, his boss) comes out. Jordan gives her the night vision goggles.
  • OD’s response: "Oh, shit." [~09:15]
• Both see the figure. A Bosun’s Mate of the Watch is dispatched with a flashlight and extra life jacket—no one visible in the physical world. Yet, through goggles, the shadow remains.
• Shockingly, they watch the Bosun’s Mate walk through the ghostly figure, unable to see what Jordan and the OD plainly do.
  • "My blood runs cold. I’m dumbfounded." – Jordan, recounting [12:19]

Fallout & New Revelations

• The next day, the OD sits with Jordan on the enlisted mess deck (unusual for an officer) and confesses, "I saw it again. After I got off watch, I went to my room and it was standing in the hallway." [14:45]
• Shadow sightings become common: stories spread of crew members glimpsing mysterious figures on the fantail, in the gym, or while smoking in the night.

The Burial and Resolution

• [15:46] During weekly “quarters,” the executive officer unexpectedly announces a burial-at-sea. The urn contains the ashes of an Electrician’s Mate who’d served aboard this cutter in the 80s and requested to be interred near his first rescue.
  • Jordan realizes the shadow may be this EM’s spirit revisiting his old ship.
• Jordan volunteers as urn bearer for the ceremony. At the ritual, he feels a sense of closure:
  • "When we drop the urn in the water, I sort of say a little bit of a prayer... And after that, the sightings stop. The Shadow just feels like another shipmate." [~17:47]
• Jordan reflects that the ship’s unique smell and memories might be exactly what the EM’s ghost was drawn to.
  • "Maybe that's what that electrician's mate was doing as well. Just taking in the memories." [~18:40]

🎧 Notable Moments & Quotes

• Haunting Realization
  "I just watched a man walk through another man." — Jordan [12:29]
• Chilling Officer Confession
  "I saw it again. After I got off watch, I went to my room and it was standing in the hallway." — Officer of the Deck [14:45]

Story Two: “The Crossroads” – Hauntings at the Condor Club

[20:21 – 36:07]

Welcome to the Condor Club

• Reporter Zoe Ferrigno visits San Francisco’s legendary Condor Club with her fiancé, Pete. It’s Sunday night; only the Condor is lit with neon amidst North Beach’s otherwise dark streets.
• The club claims fame as America’s first topless bar, oozing old-school burlesque vibes.

Rachel’s Story: Bartender Meets the Unknown

Strange Occurrences Begin

• Rachel, bartender since 2019, is charmed by the club's ornate, aged atmosphere but soon spooked by odd happenings while prepping solo:
  • The same Hennessy bottle repeatedly moves from its proper spot.
  • "I'm one of those people where I'm like, it needs to be in, like, a perfect little place..." — Rachel [23:14]
• Unseen footsteps run up and down the private room stairs. The manager dismisses it: "Oh, yeah, that's the ghost. I've heard it, too." [24:23]

Mirror Sighting

• Cleaning a lipstick-marked mirror on stage, Rachel glimpses a bearded man in a black suit reflected behind her—gone when she turns.
  • "I saw it in the mirror... I turned around and no one was there. And I was like, what just happened?" — Rachel [27:04]

Shadow Woman from the Ceiling

• On a busy night, Rachel and another dancer witness a shadowy woman with an hourglass shape and pinned-up hair descend from the ceiling, then vanish on the floor:
  • "It was like a raindrop hitting the floor. It was, like, poof, gone." — Rachel [30:28]
  • Rachel is certain: "Absolute Carol." [31:24]

The Legend of Carol Doda

• Carol Doda, legendary topless dancer, explains her act:
  "It consisted of a piano, a ceiling, and a body coming out of the ceiling on the piano with this wild rock and roll music." — Carol Doda (archival) [31:55]
• Carol’s spirit presumably remains, emotionally tied to the club after her death in 2015.

The Tragic Piano Incident

• Rachel recounts a notorious club legend: in the 80s, after-hours intimacy atop the piano ended in horror when the platform malfunctioned, crushing the man (the “Beard”) to death—possibly a mob hit, not accident.
• Rachel wonders if he was the bearded apparition in the mirror.

Energy Lingers

• "To me, it's like a lot of different spirits that are there... There's just so many different people that have come and gone from that place." — Rachel [34:45]

Closing the Visit

• As Zoe and Pete leave, Pete lingers near the infamous piano—ground zero for both ghostly sightings and Condor legend.
• "I want to get my fiancé out of here in one piece." — Zoe Ferrigno [36:02]

Episode Reflections and Philosophy

[36:07 – End]

• Host Glynn Washington wraps up with gratitude and a musing on truth, denial, and the personal cost of suppressing what we know to be real:
  • "If we insist that we saw, or we experience what we saw... if we turn away efforts to rationalize it away... then it might not go so well for us... So we do pretend. So we do make nice. We didn’t see what we saw anymore. It’s easier that way." [38:20]
  • He warns against the dangers of self-delusion: "I wonder if, when we refuse to acknowledge our own reality, does it make it easier to ignore someone else’s?" [38:25]

Key Insights and Themes

• Supernatural Encounters are Shareable, Common, and Community-Building: Both stories highlight the sharing of ghost stories as a means of camaraderie, workplace folklore, and making sense of haunted places.
• Rituals & Closure: Jordan’s tale suggests the importance of honoring the dead to resolve lingering presences.
• Places Hold Energy: Buildings like the Condor Club, shaped by decades of dramatic, emotional life, become repositories for “residual energy” and ghostly recurrence.
• The Thin Line Between Skepticism & Belief: Both narrators began as loose believers but found personal experience undeniable—punctuated by the forced rationalizations that bring unease rather than comfort.

Timestamps for Notable Segments

• Jordan’s Ghost Ship Encounter Begins: [04:07]
• Jordan & OD Both See the Shadow: [09:15]
• Bosun’s Mate Walks Through Spirit: [12:29]
• OD’s Hallway Sighting Confession: [14:45]
• Discovery of the Urn and Burial: [15:46]
• Rachel Introduced to Condor Club: [21:41]
• First Hennessy Bottle Incident: [23:04]
• Footsteps on the Stairs: [24:19]
• Bearded Man in the Mirror: [26:57]
• Shadowy Woman from Ceiling: [30:28]
• Carol Doda Archival Clip: [31:55]
• Piano Tragedy Story: [33:14]
• Host’s Reflection on Truth and Denial: [38:20]

Tone & Style

The episode is laced with Spooked’s signature blend of suspense and empathy—stories are told with awe, humor, and humility. Listeners are invited to suspend disbelief, sit with darkness, and recognize the power of shared stories—whether to unburden, remember, or light a candle against the unknown.

Recommended for fans of: real-life ghost stories, folklore, haunted locations, tales of the sea, queer San Francisco history, and the perennial human search for meaning amid the unexplained.