The NoSleep Podcast Presents: Conversations with Ghosts

Episode: Faded Spirit
Date: November 19, 2025
Host: Mal Fleming (snippet narrated by Cummings)

Overview

This episode features a haunting cross-promotion of the new audio drama Conversations with Ghosts. In “Faded Spirit,” Mal Fleming converses with a forgotten spirit in Greybriar Cemetery—a ghost so old it no longer remembers its name, life, or why it lingers. The episode explores themes of memory, legacy, identity, and the liminality between histories lost and preserved. Storytelling weaves horror with melancholy, blending urban legend, faded history, and the poetic sadness of the unknowable.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Conversations with Ghosts

• Cummings introduces the new show, highlighting its blend of horror, nostalgia, history, and loss (00:01).
• Premise: Each episode is a dialogue with a different spirit, focusing on what anchors them to the world.

2. Encountering the Faded Spirit

• Mal Fleming begins his conversation by attempting to establish the ghost’s identity—asking about name, memories, and cause of death (01:37).
• The spirit, confused and repetitive (“the tide comes and the tide goes”), reveals their profound amnesia and detachment from former self (01:47–02:15).

3. The Struggle to Remember

• Ghost hesitates about being named, fearing it will mold them into someone they were not:

  “Perhaps if you name me incorrectly, you will influence me into being someone I was not so as to fit the name. Like water filling a vessel. Better to have no name at all.” (Unnamed Ghost, 02:46)

• Mal gently probes for memories; the spirit likens recalling their past to holding water—a fleeting impossibility (03:21).

4. The Nature of Fading and Oblivion

• The ghost expresses apprehension about truly passing on, influenced by a mysterious “something” that whispers promises of oblivion:

  “Something whispers to me about oblivion... Something tells me to let go, to take the hand of the thing. But I think the thing is lying.” (Unnamed Ghost, 05:23–05:50)

• The idea of a “door made of onyx” as a barrier to passing is introduced—a key metaphysical motif (06:52).
• Caldwell, a previous intermediary, is referenced—his notes are cryptic and unhelpful for Mal (04:06, 07:55).

5. Language, Identity, and the Power of Names

• The ghost and Mal discuss language, gender, and the evolution of identity across death and memory (09:01–10:29).
• Notable rumination on the importance and insignificance of names:

  “Sometimes I think they are the most important things in the world. And sometimes I think they do not matter at all.” (Unnamed Ghost, 08:44)

6. Grasping at History: Place, Trapping, and Memory

• Mal and the spirit theorize about the ghost’s origin—possibly Dutch or English, perhaps a beaver trapper from New York’s early days (10:36–14:50).
• The spirit describes a vivid trapping scene:

  “And the beavers would come out in the winter... The traps were heavy and their legs were destroyed. And then they would drown... And then the skinning would begin. The hats are so warm, though the height of fashion. All the rich men in Europe had to have one.” (Unnamed Ghost, 13:05–14:00)

• Ghost wavers between owning the memory and questioning if it’s even theirs.

7. The Meaning of Stories and the Weight of History

• Reflections on the historical myth of Manhattan’s “sale” for $24 and how repetition creates history, not necessarily truth (15:13–15:45).

  “If a story is repeated enough times, that makes it... If not truth, it makes it history.” (Unnamed Ghost, 15:23)

• The ghost continually references water, tides, and being washed up—conflating themes of migration, erasure, and transformation (16:14–17:06).

8. Philosophical Reflections on Memory, Identity, and Letting Go

• Mal emphasizes the immutable influence of the past, while the ghost wonders if freedom lies in forgetting.
• The spirit asks if they should embrace a new existence, cleansed of history, or if their past is truly inescapable (17:06–18:58).
• The ghost is hopeful yet skeptical that echoing glimmers of memory (like the trapping story) might suffice for passage.

9. The Onyx Door and Passage

• The episode culminates with Mal offering the spirit a name—an act both intimate and ineffable. The ghost requests Mal whisper the name privately, suggesting that a new identity, even briefly bestowed, can become a “skeleton key” for transcendence (20:23–21:02).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Identity & Naming:

  “Like water filling a vessel. Better to have no name at all.” (Unnamed Ghost, 02:46)

• On Memory’s Ephemerality:

  “It's like trying to hold water in your hand.” (Unnamed Ghost, 03:21)

• On the Fear of Oblivion:

  “But there's something in his voice, something wrong. A skull is always smiling, mouth slimming.” (Unnamed Ghost, 05:56)

• On History and Storytelling:

  “Once you say a word enough, it becomes a new name. Manahatta became Manhattan, became New York. All for $24. It's history.” (Unnamed Ghost, 15:37)

• The Onyx Door:

  “I keep trying but it is a door. A door made of onyx that I cannot open. It needs something, a key...” (Unnamed Ghost, 06:52)

• The Healing Potential of Stories:

  “Can hold onto it along with some other flotsam and use it as a skeleton key to open a door made of onyx.” (Unnamed Ghost, 19:16)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:01–01:36: Cummings introduces the show and synopsis
• 01:37–03:14: Mal meets the faded spirit; identity and memory loss
• 05:19–06:39: The ghost discusses fears of oblivion and a sinister “something”
• 10:56–14:50: The spirit recalls scenes of fur trapping; questions of memory’s truth
• 15:13–15:45: Meditations on historical myth and the power of repeated stories
• 16:14–17:06: Water metaphors, beginnings, and the loss of identity
• 20:23–21:02: Mal offers the spirit a name, enabling the passage

Tone and Atmosphere

The episode is meditative, eerie, and profoundly melancholic. The ghost’s voice is wistful, floating between confusion and longing. Mal is empathetic and tentative, never forcing enlightenment but gently guiding, invested in the dignity of each story. History, myth, and emotion bleed together, blurring the boundary between haunting and healing.

Summary

Faded Spirit exemplifies Conversations with Ghosts’ ability to marry ghost story chills with the heartbreak of forgotten history. Through the spectral interview, the show interrogates the power of stories, the cost of lost memory, and the profound challenge of truly passing on—a perfect morsel of horror for fans of the reflective and the uncanny.