Spooked: “Mirror Image” (March 6, 2026)

Podcast: Spooked
Host: Glynn Washington (in partnership with KQED and Snap Studios)
Featured Storyteller: Jennifer Finney Boylan

Episode Overview

“Mirror Image” delves into the eerie intersections of memory, identity, and the supernatural, as Glynn Washington frames two real-life accounts: his own youthful foray into hypnotism and a chilling story from author Jenny Finney Boylan about the haunted house of her adolescence and the meaning of what one sees in the mirror. The episode also briefly recounts the famed reincarnation case of James Leininger, a boy claiming to remember a past life as a WWII pilot.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Dangers of Hypnosis and the Power of Suggestion

[00:10 – 08:14]

• Host Glynn Washington recounts his high school experiences with amateur hypnosis—at first harmless pranks, but then an encounter that turned dark. He reflects on pushing boundaries during a session with his friend Tammy.
  • Key Insight: Even without harmful intent, actions can cause damage if you don’t comprehend the consequences.
• During a regression exercise, things go wrong; Tammy, under hypnosis, sees something terrifying from a supposed past life and collapses into a “safe place” Glynn set up in advance.
  • Memorable Quote: “See, it does not take evil intent to do harm. And I will be forever grateful that this time, for the first time, before putting someone under my ridiculous child's concept of hypnosis, this time I told her about the safe place.” (Host, 07:15)
• Glynn’s story serves as a cautionary tale about meddling with forces—psychological or otherwise—that you do not fully understand.

2. Jenny Finney Boylan: A Haunted House and a Haunting Identity

[08:14 – 27:56]

Moving In: The House with Secrets

• Jenny and her family move into a rundown house outside Philly in 1972—chaotic decor, a sense of menace, upstairs rooms steeped in gloom.
• Jenny is “exiled” to the third floor, formerly the boys’ space, with a “creepy yellow wallpaper that featured what looked like sheet music.”
  • Memorable Quote: "It had this just kind of creepy vibe. There was an absolutely creepy vibe in there." (Jenny, 10:30)

Discovery Behind the Wallpaper

• Alone, Jenny attempts to strip the wallpaper; underneath, finds graffiti:
  • “In this room, in the year 1898, lived Dorothy Cummins, who was not of sound mind and drowned.”
  • Below, children’s drawings—including “the face of a woman with this long hair”—presumably Dorothy.
• Jenny paints over the evidence, but the house’s atmosphere weighs heavy.

Growing Up Alone, Growing Up Different

• Isolated on the third floor, Jenny feels unseen—by family and by the world—which echoes her experience growing up trans at a boys’ school.
• She describes sneaking her mother’s and sister’s clothes, playing “Girl Planet,” and only finding a semblance of freedom locked away, alone with her secret.
  • Notable Moment: This internal world blends with the sense of the house watching her.
• First encounter with the supernatural: sees in the bathroom mirror “an old woman… with long blond hair… her hair seemed wet.” No one is there when she turns around. (18:28)

The Disaster: Water and the Past

• After a night of borrowing clothes, Jenny flushes the toilet to “cover her tracks.”
• Later that night, chaos erupts: the toilet overflows, water destroys the house, ceilings collapse.
• Jenny’s guilt intermingles with the memory of Dorothy Cummins, the drowning victim, and the vision of the wet-haired woman: “And the last time I’d seen her, her hair was wet. And now, here’s my house.”
  • Memorable Quote: “What was that girl, Dorothy Cummin? She was of unsound mind and drowned. And the last time I’d seen her, her hair was wet. And now here's my house.” (Jenny, 21:33)
• The family repairs the house; life moves on, but the presence in the third-floor bathroom mirror lingers.

Adulthood: Resolution and Return

• As an adult, Jenny comes out as trans to her mother, who responds with unconditional love.
  • Memorable Quote: “‘I would never turn my back on my child.’” (Jenny, 24:30)
• During her mother’s final days, a home nurse claims to see “the face of an old woman” in the mirror—implying the haunting endures.
• After her mother’s death, Jenny returns to the house, mourns her parents and her lost girlhood:
  • Memorable Quote: "I went to the bathroom and I looked in the mirror, and there was that old woman looking at me again. But I realized it wasn’t a ghost. It was me, age 55. It was the woman that I’d grown up to be." (Jenny, 27:26)
• The haunting, once external, becomes internal—a powerful metaphor for self-recognition, acceptance, and what it means to truly see oneself.

3. Reincarnation: The Case of James Leininger

[27:56 – ~33:00]

• Glynn shifts to retelling a documented case of past life memory: James Leininger, a two-year-old who described vivid details of dying in a World War II fighter plane.
• Leininger names real people and ships, draws accurate details, and contacts the sister of the man he claims to have been.
  • Notable Quote: “After they put down the phones, Ann sends a package to young James, along with a letter. She includes her brother’s belongings… returned as if they are his own birthright…” (Host, 31:30)
• The family brings James to the site of his purported death, allowing him to lay flowers for “himself, from himself.”
• Glynn notes this is “one of the most extensively documented cases of past life recollection ever,” referencing investigative work by Dr. Jim Tucker.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote/Context | |-----------|---------|---------------| | 07:15 | Glynn Washington | “See, it does not take evil intent to do harm. And I will be forever grateful that this time… I told her about the safe place.” | | 10:30 | Jenny Finney Boylan | “There was an absolutely creepy vibe in there.” | | 21:33 | Jenny Finney Boylan | “What was that girl, Dorothy Cummin? …And the last time I’d seen her, her hair was wet. And now here's my house.” | | 24:30 | Jenny’s Mother (recalled by Jenny) | “‘I would never turn my back on my child.’” | | 27:26 | Jenny Finney Boylan | "I went to the bathroom and I looked in the mirror, and there was that old woman looking at me again. But I realized it wasn’t a ghost. It was me, age 55. It was the woman that I’d grown up to be." | | 31:30 | Glynn Washington | “…Ann sends a package to young James, along with a letter. She includes her brother’s belongings… returned as if they are his own birthright…” |

Important Segments & Timestamps

• [00:10] – Glynn’s high school hypnosis gone wrong
• [08:14] – Jenny Boylan moves into the haunted house
• [13:15] – Discovery of Dorothy Cummins’ message
• [18:28] – First supernatural sighting in the bathroom mirror
• [21:33] – Water disaster and linking guilt to haunting
• [24:20] – Coming out and mother’s loving response
• [27:26] – Jenny’s final mirror revelation
• [27:56] – Introduction to James Leininger’s reincarnation story
• [31:30] – Evidence and emotional resolution of James’ past-life memories

Tone & Style

• The episode expertly weaves personal storytelling with a haunting, reflective tone, binding together fear, regret, memory, and ultimately acceptance, both of the supernatural and oneself.
• Glynn’s narration balances suspense, empathy, and philosophical musing.
• Jenny’s storytelling is candid, atmospheric, and deeply moving—a blend of supernatural mystery and the journey of self-realization.

Further Reading & Resources

• Jenny Finney Boylan’s Memoirs:
  • I’m Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted (more on her experiences in the house)
  • Cleavage: Men, Women and the Space Between Us (recent release, as of episode)
• Book on James Leininger:
  • Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot by Bruce and Andrea Leininger

Closing Reflection

“Mirror Image” explores haunted places both literal and figurative. The ghosts in Jenny’s house are inextricably linked to her struggle with her identity, and ultimately, her confrontation with her reflection is both an ending and a beginning. The episode’s final note—on past lives and unresolved stories—asks listeners to consider what haunts them, what they need to reconcile before their final rest, and whose eyes, living and dead, stare back from the glass.