A (10:47)
Congrats. But also yikes. Between crates, beds, toys, treats and those first few vet visits, you've probably already dropped a small fortune. Which is where Lemonade Pet Insurance comes in. It helps cover vet costs so you can focus on what's best for your new pet. The coverage is customizable, sign up is quick and easy, and your claims are handled in as little as three seconds. Lemonade offers a package specifically for puppies and kittens. Get a'llemonade.com pet your future self will thank you. Your pet won't. They don't know what insurance is. This next story starts in Nepal. It's 2015 at a tiny school in the countryside. One morning, a 14 year old girl started screaming in class. All of a sudden she was writhing on the ground, her eyes rolled back. Within hours, 12 more students collapsed with the same symptoms. By the end of the week, it was 50. The students said they were possessed by spirits. Some were deceased relatives. Others said they were taken over by snake gods and were crawling on the ground, hissing. Something was clearly wrong here. But when doctors examined the students, they couldn't find anything wrong with them, at least not physically. But the terror the students felt was real, and it wasn't isolated. Something like this has happened in over 130 schools across Nepal in the last decade. Researchers call it mass hysteria, but the people experiencing it call it spirit possession. But whatever you want to call it, there are clear patterns in how the possessions spread. It almost always started with a student dealing with extreme stress. Then it would spread through social networks. Best friends first, then classmates nearby, then friends of friends. It moved like a disease, but instead of a virus, it was an idea. Once a kid saw their friend writhing on the ground and being taken seriously by adults, they subconsciously gave themselves permission to do it too. The schools really did take it seriously, and when doctors couldn't help, they brought in local healers instead to conduct religious ceremonies. Eventually, the possession stopped, not because of any medication, but because the community treated it like a spiritual problem with spiritual solutions. Like in many cultures, possession tends to go hand in hand with religion. That was the case in Taiwan, where the Wu family lived. Mediums there will go into trances to channel gods. During certain religious temple festivals, you'll see people piercing their cheeks with metal rods, walking across burning coals, slicing their own Tongues, all while being possessed. Nobody calls an ambulance. This is just what happens when the gods show up, allegedly. And this isn't unique to Taiwan or Nepal. In India, there's DOT syndrome, where men think they're losing their fertility through their urine and that it's killing them. They feel weak, exhausted, anxious, and depressed. Nothing's wrong with them physically, but the suffering is real. In Korea, there's something called fire illness. Middle aged women who have been swallowing their anger for years start feeling heart palpitations and a tightness in their chest, which turns into a burning sensation, like their chest is actually on fire. And that's exactly how these women experience it. And in Japan, hundreds of thousands of young people completely withdraw from their lives. They avoid all social interaction, even with their family isolating themselves in their rooms for months, sometimes years. The syndrome is called hikikomori. It's a direct response to Japan's crushing social expectations. These conditions are all real. The suffering is genuine. But it was also perpetuated by societal pressure. In the west, we tend to think about mental health as your brain chemistry going wrong, something biological. But in some Asian cultures, distress gets understood through social harmony, family obligations, and even spiritual balance. So when someone's suffering, their symptoms follow scripts that actually make sense. Within that framework, it's not exotic or weird. It's just a different language for expressing the same human pain that we all go through. Possession is a big part of that. And researchers have actually found that it's not a random phenomenon. Possession episodes happen under specific conditions. First, there's stress. Real, overwhelming stress. Like those students in Nepal. A lot of them came from families dealing with migration, poverty, and abuse. Then you need that cultural framework that says possession is possible. Third, there's a trigger. Seeing someone else in a trance or hearing rumors about spirits. And finally, there's social reinforcement when you show the symptoms of possession and people take you seriously. The Wu family had all of these conditions. Feng Jun was having nightmares about sexual assault. Definitely stressful and extremely traumatic. And the wu's regularly visited spirit mediums and lived in a culture where some people believed it was possible to be possessed by gods. Then the trigger came when the family's youngest daughter came home from the altar claiming to be possessed. And once one family member claimed divine possession, the others followed. Each person's possession validated the others, which explains how all six of them came to believe that they were gods. The Wu family weren't monsters. They were extreme believers. And when that belief took hold, there was no letting go. But here's where it gets even scarier because these shared delusions aren't just contained to small groups. Thanks to the Internet, they can spread like wildfire. And before long, it can consume everyone in its way. The Wu family's shared delusion resulted in a tragic death. But what happens when that delusion goes from a small group to the depths of the Internet? In May 2016, a Russian newspaper dropped a bombshell. 130 teenagers had killed themselves because of an online game called the Blue Whale Challenge. Sorry again for another trigger warning, but this third story does contain topics relating to suicide and self harm. So if that makes you uncomfortable, then feel free to please skip ahead. Apparently, anonymous curators were giving vulnerable children 50 tasks over 50 days. It started innocently enough, like they'd have to wake up at 4:20am and watch a scary movie. But by the end, it turned deadly. The kids were given more and more extreme and dangerous tasks as the 50 days went by. For example, to stand on the edge of a building. And by the end, they were coerced into ending their lives. When this went public, the panic was immediate and quickly spread across the globe. Parents were terrified, schools sent out warnings and it was all over the news. Suicides around the world were getting blamed on the Blue Whale Challenge. And it was all tracked back to one person. A 21 year old Russian man named Filip Budakin. He got arrested and confessed to pushing at least 16 or so girls to taking their own lives in court. He literally called them biological waste. This guy was a monster. But the Blue Whale Challenge, that part was basically an urban legend. When actual journalists dug into it, the story fell apart. That 130 suicide number made up the only deaths that could be directly linked with the Blue Whale content were those 16 girls. And even those connections were sketchy. But the panic it created was very, very real. And it was amplified by the same people who were trying to warn us about it. Kids who had never heard of the Blue Whale Challenge suddenly got a detailed how to guide on how to hurt themselves from every news outlet and worried parent. And some kids out there who were already struggling could have possibly heard those warnings and thought, there's a thing that I could do. So in the end, partially, it was the warning that was the weapon. This time it was a case of good intentions gone wrong. But what happens when a bit of harmless fun spirals out of control? Have you heard of the Streisand effect? It's the idea that trying to hide something only makes people want it back more. For example, that's how some people got so curious about the secretive Area 51 that they actually showed up and camped outside. Area 51 is one of the most secretive places on Earth. A lot of people in the UFO community think that it's full of aliens, which, of course, has always been denied. But those denials have only led to more curiosity about Area 51. The Streisand effect had already primed the Internet. All it needed was a spark. That Spark came in June 2019, when a college student jokingly created a Facebook event titled Storm Area 51. They can't stop all of us. The description was absurd. Naruto, run past guards and finally see them aliens. It was satire, pure meme bait. But the Internet didn't care. See them aliens, you guys. We're going to see a bunch of white owls from the fourth kind, and then you're going to forget about it and think that you're dreaming. The event spread everywhere. Reddit dissected it. Twitter amplified it. YouTubers reacted. Brands joined in. Celebrities joked about joining in. The Facebook event exploded to over 2 million people marked as going and millions more as interested. What started as irony became momentum, and the authorities started paying attention. But here's where it stopped being funny. Area 51 is an active military base with lethal force authorization, and plenty of people have been stopped from getting in. One man was even killed after trying to drive into the base and refusing to stop. And when the day finally came to storm Area 51, 3,000 people or so showed up near the base. No storming, no raids. Just alien costumes, music, desert selfies, and a strange, peaceful gathering now known as alien Stock Storm Area 51 wasn't about aliens. It was about curiosity, secrecy, and the unstoppable force of viral culture. The Streisand effect lit a fuse, and the Internet carried it the rest of the way. So even though it ended up being pretty tame, it could have gotten out of hand. And when you tell millions of people, you're not allowed to know, don't be surprised when they show up asking questions. Because once something goes viral, control is the first thing that disappears. That limitless power of the Internet to spread belief is what caught filmmaker Kevin Ko's attention. So good, so good, so good. Springstyles are at Nordstrom Rack stores now, and they're up to 60% off. Stock up and save on Rag and Bone, Madewell, Vince scenes, and more of your favorites. How did I not know rack has Adidas? Why do we rack for the hottest deals? Just so many good brands? Join the Nordy Club. To unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first and more. Plus buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Score more with the college branded Venmo Debit Card and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash Got paid back with the Venmo Debit card you can instantly access your balance and spend on what you want like game day, snacks, gear, tickets, tickets and more. The more you do, the more cash back you can earn. Plus there's no monthly fee or minimum balance. Sign up now@venmo.com collegecard the Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. select schools available. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo me stash terms max $100 cash back per month hey, it's Heidi. Looking for your next true crime podcast to listen to? There's a new crime house show for you to check out. It's called the First Final Hours and it's hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah is an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose sister disappeared in 2001, and Courtney is a true crime storyteller and investigator who witnessed firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experiences to every case, looking not only at what happened, but what led up to it. Each episode examines the moments just before a person disappears, the routines, the timelines, and the small details that often get overlooked because every disappearance has a moment where everything still feels normal. A text that doesn't raise concern, a routine that goes unchanged, a door that closes just like it always has. Until it doesn't. The final hours puts those moments under a microscope because when it comes to justice, there's no such thing as over analyzing. Listen to and follow the final hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen new episodes every Monday. Incantation is unique because it doesn't just want you to sit there watching from your couch. It tricks you into participating in the experience and lures you into your own doom. The movie begins with the main character, Leigh Ronan, addressing you through her camera. Her six year old daughter Dodo is dying from a mysterious affliction and she needs your help. Throughout the film, Ronan teaches you an incantation. It comes with a hand gesture and a symbol for you to memorize, and she asks you to submit your name as a blessing. Ronan explains that the more people who participate, the weaker the curse on her daughter becomes. Sounds good, right? A mother desperately trying to save her dying child by asking strangers for help. But to understand why Ronan is in this position and why Dodo is cursed in the first place, the movie goes back six years to when Ronan made a terrible mistake that started all of this. Back then, Ronan ran a ghost hunting YouTube channel with her boyfriend Dom and his cousin Yuan. The three of them traveled to a remote village looking for their next viral video. The village had some pretty spooky traditions centered around a deity called Mother Buddha. When Ronan, Dom, and Yuan got there, they were hit with a warning. Do not gaze upon Mother Buddha's face or very bad things will happen. Naturally, they did not listen. They crawled through a tunnel. The ghost hunters found an altar with Mother Buddha's face concealed by a cloth. And of course, they took it off. And not only did they look at what was underneath, they filmed it. That's when catastrophe struck. The moment they filmed that face, Yuan lost his mind and jumped to his death. Dom started convulsing and died after he repeatedly smashed his own skull against the wall. Ronan, who was pregnant with Dodo, made a run for it, but she couldn't get away from what they'd unleashed. She carried the curse with her. Now, six years later, that affliction is consuming her daughter. Mysterious marks appear on Dodo's body. She talks to invisible presences. The invisible presence that she nicknamed Batty. Ronan tried everything she can to help foster care, Buddhist monks, modern medicine, and nothing worked. The whole time, she's asking for your help. Repeat the chant, remember the symbol. Keep blessing her daughter. And eventually, the film reveals its devastating trick. Spoiler warning. This is your only spoiler warning because we're going to talk about the trick with the ending, which, in my opinion, is what makes this movie so scary. But if you want to experience it for yourself, then here's your spoiler warning. In the final act, we learn that everything Ronan told us was a lie. The Blessing wasn't protection at all. The incantation, the symbol, the hand gesture, they were all a part of the curse itself. And now that you participated in it, the curse has spread to you. Ronan didn't want to save everyone. She wanted to save her daughter by spreading the curse to as many people as possible, including you. The film ends with Dodo, alive and healthy, running through a field. The burden has been shared with millions of Netflix viewers worldwide. And the question, are you cursed now? So here's what happened after Incantation was released. The film premiered in Taiwan in March 2022 and became the highest grossing Taiwanese horror film of all time. Then Netflix picked it up in July 2022. The film stayed in Netflix's global top 10 for five weeks. But more importantly, it became a social media phenomenon. People on TikTok posting videos of themselves watching the movie, their genuine terror captured on camera. Including me, by the way. I was also terrified the first time I watched it. I remember I was alone and in the dark. Some people even showed themselves trying to reverse the curse with counter rituals. Others posted warnings telling people not to watch, that they were actually cursed. But their warnings actually had the opposite effect. The hashtag incantation racked up hundreds of millions of views, which I can imagine Netflix was very happy about. That's not the real takeaway from this, though. For me, it confirms the idea that curses can be real as long as you believe in them enough. And with the power of the Internet and social media, who knows how much damage they could do. Think about those kids in Nepal where the possessions spread from student to student that required them to be physically close to each other. Kids in the same classroom seeing each other, feeding off the same energy. But social media removed that limitation. Now we're all in the same room together all the time. It's called the for your page, and when the curse hits your algorithm, there's no escaping it. Incantation never answers whether the curse is real. Was Dodo genuinely dying? Did sharing the curse save her? The film leaves it up in the air, and by doing that, it makes sure you'll keep thinking about it. You'll talk about it, post about it, google it late at night like I did. So did you feel cursed after watching Incantation? The wu's family tragedy taught us that belief can override logic, medicine, and reality itself. An incantation showed us that in the digital age, belief can be supercharged. Kevin Coe didn't just make a movie about a supernatural curse. He made a movie about the curses we're already living with by putting the sword stories and ideas in our heads. The scariest thing isn't what happens on screen, it's what happens in your head after the screen goes dark. Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of Twisted, a crime House original. I'd love to hear from you. Have you watched Incantation? Did it get under your skin? Have you ever encountered something that felt like it crossed the line from fiction into something more real? Leave a comment or review wherever you're tuning in. And be sure to follow Twisted Tales so we can keep building this community together. I'll be back next week with another unbelievable true story. Until then, stay curious and remember, there's no reason to fear the dark unless you try to hide from it. Hey, it's Howie Mandel and I am inviting you to witness history as me and my How We Do It Gaming team take on Gilly The King Wallow 267's million dollars gaming in an epic Global Gaming League video game showdown. Four rounds, multiple games, one winner, plus a halftime performance by multi platinum artist Travy McCoy. Watch all the action and see who wins and advances to the championship match against Neo right now@globalgamingleague.com that's globalgamingleague.com everybody games. Hi, it's Heidi. If you want more true crime stories, check out the new Crime House original about disappearances, the Final Hours hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Listen and follow the Final hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.
