Live From San Fran SketchFest!

Summary

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Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch

Episode: “Live From San Fran SketchFest!”
Date: February 11, 2026
Host: Rachel Dratch with Irene Bremis
Guests: Tom Lennon, Cole Stratton, Audience Members
Location: Recorded live at San Francisco SketchFest

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Episode Overview

This special live episode of "Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch" brings together comedians, haunted house anecdotes, and audience participation to share stories of the unexplained and eerie. Recorded at San Francisco SketchFest, the show blends humor, skepticism, and genuine curiosity as Rachel, co-host Irene Bremis, guests Tom Lennon and Cole Stratton, and audience members recount brushes with the otherworldly. The episode’s highlight: a spontaneous, inexplicable “woo woo” moment live on stage that leaves everyone in awe.

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Key Discussions and Insights

1. Opening and Audience Energy (00:02–05:04)

• Rachel Dratch and Irene Bremis kick off their first-ever live episode, brimming with excitement and nerves.

• Rachel reflects on how collecting stories has made her more open to the supernatural:
  “I believe everything anyone tells me now after having heard all these things.” (03:37)

• The audience is invited to later share their own paranormal stories, setting a tone of inclusion and spontaneity.

• Rachel and Irene explain the podcast’s evolution and the joy of mining authentic “woo woo” tales from friends and strangers alike.

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2. Introducing the Pendulum (“Penji”) (05:04–10:15)

• Irene introduces the use of pendulums for divining answers to yes/no questions.
• She shares how her pendulum, “Penji,” once accurately picked an entire football season—leading even a skeptical journalist to write an article supporting Penji’s powers. (06:11–07:24)
  • Irene: “Penji has what's known as gambling powers. She picks winners 24/7.” (07:03)
• Live demonstration: Rachel and Irene use their pendulums to predict the upcoming Super Bowl winner, but the live results amusingly clash, highlighting the unpredictability of “woo woo” methods.

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3. Guest Segment: Tom Lennon’s Haunted House (12:13–17:59)

• Tom Lennon (Reno 911!, actor/writer) returns to summarize his haunted house experience:
  • Bought a 1913 house that previous (notably famous) owner claimed was haunted but didn’t disclose this to him.
  • Recounts eerie noises, unexplained footsteps, and especially his young son seeing “a guy” in a window:
    • Tom: “He looked up at the window… and there was nobody in the window, but he said, ‘who is that guy? … Daddy, I don’t like that guy.’” (15:19)
  • After renovating the haunted areas, the activity ceased, leaving Tom speculating between ghosts and more rational (but still creepy) explanations.

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4. Cole Stratton’s Chilling Coincidences (18:06–25:59)

• Cole Stratton (SketchFest co-founder) offers two ghostly tales:

  1. Childhood Sleepover:

     • At a friend’s, hears unexplained baby cries coming from a forbidden room, later learning the family lost a baby at that time of year.
     • “It sounded like a baby crying in that room.” (20:24)

  2. The Penny Phenomenon:

     • Since college, he and his wife inexplicably find pennies in strange places, including new residences and hotels—sometimes seeming like a sign from beyond.
     • “We constantly find…penny, like, sitting in front of the closet.” (21:42)

  • Observes that their cats often meow at empty corners, suggesting animals might sense more than we do.

    • Cole: “If any animals kind of are a conduit to the other side, it’s cats. I really believe that.” (25:34)

  • Cole wonders if the pennies are a sign from his late mother, intertwining personal loss and the search for meaning in random events (26:34).

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5. Tom Lennon’s Affirming Ghost Encounter (30:41–34:16)

• Tells of a powerful supernatural moment after a young girl (who’d recently had her portrait taken with Tom’s dog) suddenly passed away.
• While Tom was emailing her mother photos, a previously unused radio in the room suddenly turned on by itself.
• Tom and his wife both experienced an overwhelming, affirming positive feeling:
  • “It felt like an unbelievably positive piece of energy from the other side came through to us.” (33:31)

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6. Irene and Rachel’s Accidental “Sign” Story (36:51–38:23)

• Irene describes her mother’s recent death and a strange synchrony:
  • Rachel accidentally texts Irene a goofy photo with a tiny ice cream cone. Later, Irene discovers her last photo of her mother was with the same expression and a small ice cream cone.
  • “We’re filing it under—we’re putting it in the Woo Woo files, I guess.” (38:24)

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7. Live Audience Woo Woo: The Kazoo Incident (38:46–46:17)

• Audience member Susanna stuns the room by producing a kazoo, having been “told” to bring it by an intuition—unaware it’s central to Tom’s earlier ghost story.
  • Rachel: “I’m truly, truly stunned. The more open I go through life, the more I see… The more open you are, the more you notice.” (40:49)
• Upon further questioning, Susanna reveals she works in “energy architecture”—space clearing and energy healing.
  • Susanna: “I work with the quantum field… The field that you see.” (42:13)
  • Explains how she “clears” spaces and people, working remotely or hands-on, leading to another string of quirky stories about intuition and unexplained knowledge.

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8. More Audience Stories: Jana’s Duplex of Ghosts (49:23–57:54)

• Jana recounts her experiences with two ghosts after moving into a 1911 house in Philly:
  • The third floor is serene (grandfather’s ghost, cigarette smoke, cats drawn there); the first floor/basement is turbulent (grandmother’s ghost, causing floods and destruction).
  • Finds a portrait of Mary and Jesus behind a wall (“I put it back in the wall when I ran over the house…” 52:15).
  • After unsuccessful Jewish rituals, a Catholic friend gives her holy water and advice to speak kindly to the ghost. When Jana does, the phenomena subside.
  • Returns after months away (due to the pandemic) to find plants still alive—believes the ghost cared for them.
  • Sells the house to an Italian family; the ghost is now content ("She kept my plants alive—and they're all distributed with my friends.” 57:50)

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9. Reflections, Humor, and Final Thoughts (58:02–end)

• Panel discusses The Exorcist’s “true story” origins and ghost etiquette (e.g., telling spirits they're free to move on or stay).
• Cole reveals all the found pennies are always tails-up—"I just don't ever touch them.” (59:00)
• Superstitions and pendulum ("Penji") queries resurface; Tom admits to being deeply superstitious:
  • “I have all of the superstitions of an Irish person from the 1800s.” (60:04)
• The show wraps with gratitude, health updates (Irene is cancer-free!), and a sense of joyful community:
  • “Let’s all, like, go about our lives putting goodbye into the world. Right? Sending light, sending love.” (63:22)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote / Moment | Speaker | |------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------| | 03:37 | “I believe everything that anyone tells me now after having heard all these things.” | Rachel | | 07:03 | “Penji has what's known as gambling powers. She picks winners 24/7.” | Irene | | 15:19 | “He looked up at the window… and there was nobody in the window, but he said, ‘who is that guy? … Daddy, I don’t like that guy.’” | Tom Lennon | | 21:42 | “We constantly find… penny, like, sitting in front of the closet.” | Cole Stratton | | 25:34 | “If any animals kind of are a conduit to the other side, it’s cats. I really believe that.” | Cole Stratton | | 33:31 | “It felt like an unbelievably positive piece of energy from the other side came through to us.” | Tom Lennon | | 38:24 | “We’re filing it under—we’re putting it in the Woo Woo files, I guess.” | Rachel | | 40:49 | “The more open I go through life, the more I see… The more open you are, the more you notice.” | Rachel | | 42:13 | “I work with the quantum field… The field that you see.” | Susanna | | 46:03 | “The idea that this is actually your field, and then you brought the kazoo... I’m amazed.” | Rachel | | 57:50 | “She kept my plants alive—and they’re all distributed with my friends.” | Jana | | 60:04 | “I have all of the superstitions of an Irish person from the 1800s.” | Tom Lennon | | 63:22 | “Let’s all, like, go about our lives putting goodbye into the world. Right? Sending light, sending love.” | Rachel |

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:02–05:04 – Welcome, show origins, audience participation setup
• 05:04–10:15 – The Pendulum (“Penji”) and live Super Bowl demo
• 12:13–17:59 – Tom Lennon’s haunted house tale
• 18:06–25:59 – Cole Stratton’s childhood ghost and the penny phenomenon
• 30:41–34:16 – Tom Lennon’s affirming posthumous encounter
• 36:51–38:23 – Rachel & Irene’s matching ice cream photo story
• 38:46–46:17 – The live Kazoo “woo woo” moment, Susanna’s energy work
• 49:23–57:54 – Jana’s Philadelphia ghost stories
• 58:02–end – Reflections, superstitions, closing thanks

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The Episode’s Woo Woo Moment (The “Kazoo Incident”)

A powerful example of serendipity:
An audience member named Susanna, with no knowledge of the prior story or pre-planning, brings a kazoo to the show “just because something told her.” The same object was central to Tom Lennon’s earlier affirmation story from a deceased child. This uncanny alignment astounds all present and becomes the episode’s signature “live woo woo” event.

• "You just brought a kazoo out of nowhere?" (38:59 – Rachel, stunned)

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Tone and Style

Lighthearted, irreverent, and welcoming—Rachel and Irene balance humor and skepticism, approaching every story with a mixture of curiosity and warmth. Guests and listeners are invited to share openly, underpinning the “trusted pal” vibe. The show neither debunks nor blindly endorses supernatural narratives, but, as Rachel says, “the more open you are, the more you notice.”

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Conclusion

This SketchFest episode encapsulates the spirit of “Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch”—real stories, comic honesty, open minds, and the joyful unpredictability of the unexplained. With both laughter and chills, the live format brings out new layers of spontaneity, culminating in a shared sense of mystery only possible when a room is open to magic.

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Transcript

[A]

Hello, and welcome to Woo Woo. We have a special episode this week that was recorded live at the time. Anyway, at San Francisco Sketch Fest, we did a live episode of Woo Woo for the first time, our first episode in front of a real audience. And we have Tom Lennon, who was a guest previously, who told these stories in a greater length, in greater detail. He tells them in an abbreviated fashion this week. And then we also have Cole Stratton, who was one of the co founders of the San Francisco Sketch Fest. Those are our guests for this week. But what's fun about this episode is we opened it up to audience participation. So we have some random audience members that stood up and told some pretty great stories. That was really fun. And please listen, because a very Woo Woo thing happened during this recording that blew everybody's minds. It's really cool. And I mean, we couldn't have asked for a better Woo Woo occurrence to happen during this pod. So, yeah, we had a really fun time at Sketchfest. Right, Irene?

[B]

We did. And no spoilers. What happened here was mind blowing. You're not going to believe what unfolded. People were so eager to tell their stories because I think people just want to be seen and heard when they have these occurrences.

[A]

What you'll find is everyone has a Woo Woo story of some sort, and this was no exception. We had some people stand up and share some great stories, and we were hoping to do this again because we had so much fun. It was really fun and spontaneous to hear people's stories. Just people raised their hand from the audience. No plants here, people. Just real people from the audience telling their Woo Woo stories. Anyway, please enjoy our episode in front of a real audience from the San Francisco Sketchfest. Welcome to Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch, the podcast that explores the unexplained with humor and curiosity. Hello, San Francisco. Hi, everybody. I'm Rachel, and welcome to Live Woo Woo. Yes. So I don't know how many of you have listened to our podcast. Oh. Oh, my God. Okay. A lot of people. Okay. So, yeah, so this is our first time doing a live show. We have some guests who are telling stories, and I don't know if anyone in the audience has a story, but we thought maybe a little later in the show, we'll take advantage of actually having a live audience here and do maybe some listener tales, if anyone has something Woo Woo in their back pocket that you feel like sharing with the group. So, yeah, so this podcast has been going on for two years, and I've been to Sketch Fest many years in a row. I love this festival. And yeah, but as for Woo, the whole idea started because I just love hearing people's Woo Woo stories. I'm not particularly like a Woo Woo person myself, but I think I've become one just hearing all the stories that I've heard. So I used to qualify all the time. Like, you know, we believe in science. Like, I felt the need to say that all the time. And now I'm just like, I mean, of course I still believe in science, but I'm also like, I believe everything that anyone tells me now after having heard all these things. But it started because I always love. Like, there were a few stories that I heard like 30 years ago, 20 years ago, and they always stuck with me. And then when I decided to do this pod, which I thought at the time was like a super original idea, and then I. Then I found out there's actually a lot of podcasts like this, but none exactly like this. But I tracked down the people that had told me these stories and yeah, so it's kind of my favorite thing to think, like, what if? And so, yeah, then we started doing this. And sometimes, as you know, if you're a listener, sometimes it's someone with this really amazing, crazy story with the beginning, middle, and end and all that, and other times just a celebrity pal of mine who we find out, like, what's their take on Woo Woo? And you hear me mention Amy Poehler a lot because she's my most skeptical friend. But we had a really fun time because she came on and talked about the whole Enneagrams personality test and stuff like that. So if you're new to the podcast, we cover a wide range of topics, anything from ghosts to psychic experiences to signs from beyond to crystals, which I don't even know much about crystals. But anyway, without further ado, so as you may know, I have a co host. She's also my high school pal, and some of our high school friends are actually out here. I think there's some Lexington Minutemen out in the crowd. But please welcome my co host and dear friend, Irene Bremes. Here she is. Yes, you've heard her voice. Here she is in the flesh. Yes.

[B]

Happy to be here.

[A]

Hi, Irene.

[B]

Hi, sweetie.

[A]

Sweetie. Welcome to our show, to our live show.

[B]

I love it. A lot of energy in the room, people. You're looking good.

[A]

But one thing that Irene brought in to the pod was the whole idea of the pendulum, which I don't know if you guys know what a pendulum is, but I brought live version of Pengie in my pocket here.

[B]

So we each have our own.

[A]

So, yeah, we each have our own. And we'll get into our stories of Pendulum later. But the Pendulum is a soothsayer.

[C]

I don't know.

[A]

What do we say? Or a truthsayer. It's a truth sayer. And Irene introduced me to the Pendulum. And, Irene, why don't you talk about how? And just so you know. Cause we have the. The visual effect here. So the way the pendulum works is you kind of ask it, like, which way is yes and which way is no. So, like, for me, if I say, show me yes, it swings up and down, right? Remember, I'm not crazy.

[B]

She's not moving her hands either.

[A]

Then if I say, show me no, mine either stays still or it moves side to side. But Irene started with the Pendulum, and she picked a whole football season. And tell how that happened.

[B]

Okay, well, okay, so let me just tell you how that happened. So I got a pendulum. It was gifted to me from a very dear friend of mine. And I started just taking small questions, like, am I gonna have a boy? Am I gonna have a girl? And, yes, other things, right, for other people. And then she started, you know, Penji, I guess by nature, is a gambler. A friend of mine said, you know, does she pick teams? Does she pick games? And I'm like, sure, why not? So I started using it and picked an entire football season. Can we give it up for Benji? An entire football season. No mistakes.

[A]

And even, like, there were games where, like, the, like, one team was favored to win by a lot. And you would say, no, it's this one. And it would. It was real, right?

[B]

It was real. It was so real that a friend of mine who was a journalist, if we can call him that, he wrote for the HuffPost. But anyway, nonetheless, he wrote an entire article, because this guy's a very disbelieving guy, but he wrote an article supporting that. Penji has what's known as gambling powers. She picks winners 24 7, which I think is a special thing for any of the dudes in the audience with the super bowl coming up, right?

[A]

And we thought, not the second, but in a little while, we're going to pick with Pendulum who's going to win the Super Bowl. And this is funny, but, like, Penji was really doing really well for a while. And then Penji started to go off her game, which Irene doesn't like when I say that, because Irene firmly believes in Penji. And so here's what just happened. We just had a thing. So I started well at first, actually. I really believed in Pendulum. And then I got a little too invested in Pendulum. Like, I'd be at my son's basketball game, and there'd be a minute left, and I'd be all nervous. I'd immediately take off my necklace because this works, too. And I'd be taking off. I was like, are they going to win? And it would say yes. And then I was like, it's okay. They're going to win. Like, I just, like, totally chilled. And they did, like. It was kind of amazing. But should we do our super bowl pick? Yes, let's take it off, right?

[C]

Let's do it.

[B]

Let's kick it off.

[A]

Let's do it. So what we need is we need an audience volunteer to just stand here because we don't want to. Now, we did the pick backstage. We did the pick earlier, and we have our winner. Those four teams that could be in the super bowl, we picked with Penji, who's going to win the Super Bowl. But now we want to do, like, the blind test. So if someone could come up here and just, like, stand off to the side.

[B]

Oh, great. Hey.

[A]

So we're going to get a yes or no. Hopefully, we'll only get one yes out of these four. Okay, so first team. Can everyone see the first team?

[B]

I did. I did.

[A]

Now, did you get only one yes? Because I got only one yes. Okay. I got a yes. I hope they match. I really do.

[B]

I really do.

[A]

Because I got a yes for whatever the first one was.

[B]

Oh, here we go.

[A]

When did you get a yes?

[B]

I got a yes for the last one, whatever that was.

[A]

Okay, so what was the first one and what was the last one? Rams was first.

[B]

Seahawks.

[A]

No, Patriots.

[B]

This is a lot.

[A]

Okay, now this is what happened.

[B]

Oh, God.

[A]

When we did backstage, we both got the Patriots.

[B]

Yes, we got the Patriots.

[A]

So you know what could be happening. Irene was afraid of doing this because she didn't want Penji's reputation to.

[B]

I didn't want Penj's reputation marred. But you know what's happening. You're each secretly wishing for your teams, and it messed us up. It's the only thing. Mixed signals.

[A]

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

[D]

Thank you.

[A]

That was clearly a scientific study. So it's going to be either the Rams, the Seahawks, or the Patriots. We've definitely ruled out the Broncos, and that's what we did here.

[B]

The Broncos are losing, that's for sure. I'm sorry.

[A]

That's the best thing that we know. Okay. Do we have anything else or should we bring out our guests? Is there anything else that we were going to chitchat about? No. Let's bring out our guest.

[B]

Let's bring out our guest.

[A]

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[D]

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[A]

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[D]

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[A]

So we have two guests for you. Two ghost stories if you will. And the first guy is an actor and a writer and you know him from Reno 911. You know him from boat trip and he told me that he also lost the best Kiss MTV award. So please welcome Tom Lennon. Tom Lennon. Hello. Hello Tom. Welcome, welcome.

[D]

Thank you so much. Woo.

[E]

Woo Podcast.

[A]

Thank you so much. Tom already did an episode but he's filling in to tell us one of the stories for there and may. He's got some great stories. And then the second person we have here is the co creator of the whole festival. His credit, well one of his many credits is he was in an episode of America's Most Wanted and was shot by the zodiac killer in that. So please welcome Cole Stratton to the show. Hi, Cole. Thanks for being here.

[D]

Thanks for having me.

[A]

So you guys both have a ghost or several ghost stories. And, Tom, I roped you into this a long time ago because you and I were doing a show together, and you happened to tell me that you lived in a haunted house.

[E]

Yes, and I guess I should clarify for real estate purposes. We still live there, and it's mostly okay now. It's been better. We did some renovations on the really spooky part of the house.

[A]

Okay.

[E]

Although the house was sold to us by someone who. I won't say who she is because she's notable, but had told, apparently a lot of people that there was footsteps and sounds in the house, but did not tell us when we bought the house. This was not a detail that came up. She also didn't say that the neighbor was a legitimate psychopath. So there's a couple things that didn't get mentioned, but footsteps.

[A]

But a famous actress sold you this house.

[E]

Yes.

[A]

And did not tell you it was haunted.

[E]

Did not. And then we definitely. And the house is. It's 1913, so it's old, you know, for Los Angeles. That's a very, very old house. You know, and for a while, we would just hear footsteps up in the. Sort of. In the guest bed. It has a guest bedroom. Guys, I've worked very hard. I mean, I got cut out of boat trip, too.

[A]

Oh, you got cut out of boat?

[E]

No, I got cut out of hot tub time machine.

[A]

Okay. Sorry. Cut out of hot tub. That was one of the credits.

[E]

Yes. Hot tub time machine, too, I got cut out of. But so we bought the house and, you know, we'd heard some footsteps and things like that. And eventually I met a person who was friends with the actress who had sold me the house. And she said, oh, yeah. She always told everyone that house was haunted. She'd always talked about it. She heard footsteps. There was things moving around. And it all kind of led up to my son, who's here right now. I'm going to corroborate the story, but is a lot bigger. We were. He was very little, and we were sitting out in the hot tub. I work hard, guys. There's a hot tub. I work really hard. There was a hot tub, and Ollie was about. He was just at the age where he could start talking, you know, whatever that is. So, you know, 16. So Ollie was quite little, and he was sitting in my arms, and I Was kind of bouncing him out by the hot tub. And he looked up at the window where we always heard the. The footsteps and things. And it was only us there. Jenny was out of town somehow. And he looked up at the window, and he said, daddy, who's that guy? And there was nobody in the window, but he said, who is that guy? And I said, oh, I said, I don't know. And then he said the thing that was like, someone stepped on my grave. He said, daddy, I don't like that guy. And then. Then we just sat there in silence, looking at the window for a while. And that was really. It was very distressing. But I don't know if you remember doing that, Ollie, but it was really distressing. Maybe you were just messing with me, but it was for a child to mess with you. Like, that would be really. I mean, that would be so planned. I don't see that you would have planned that. But, yeah, it was right from where the sounds always came from. And then he said, who's that guy? I don't like that guy.

[A]

Yeah, well, I thought there was some, like, stairway.

[E]

Yeah, there's a secret stairway. The secret stairway has a lot of sounds on the secret stairway. Yeah, but the secret stairway is where the footsteps came from quite a bit. And then the guy in the window is in the guest bedroom where we make people stay. And then we generally hope they have not heard the podcast about the man in the window. That also, nobody likes who apparently lives in that room. Yeah. Or used to. He doesn't live there anymore, we don't think.

[A]

Okay. So then it kind of dissipated.

[E]

We redid that part of the house a little bit, and it seems like it maybe exorcised whatever was up there. Cause it's been. Nothing's happened in a while.

[A]

And did you ever run into the actress later on and confronted her?

[E]

We've never talked about it. I did see her once at an event, but she was real far away. And we made eye contact. I gave her a look like, I'm about to come ask you about why you didn't tell me about ghosts. Now, the other thing that could be possible is that it wasn't a ghost. It was a guy that was living in our house. And maybe I don't want to freak out my son who's here, but maybe he's just dead inside the walls now. You know, like that thing in the X Files, the liver fluke guy who just, like, creeps around in the walls. It could just be the answer could be as simple as that, you know, that it was never a ghost. It was a goblin man.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Who's just died.

[A]

Yeah, that's always a possibility.

[E]

It's a great possibility. And I like. I like to think it's that.

[B]

That's much better. That's more.

[E]

I can sleep a little better knowing it was just a liver fluke.

[C]

Man.

[A]

Cole, did you have. Well, you said you had two stories. One from when you were little and one from now.

[D]

Yeah. So I guess I'll do the kid one now. So I grew up in Michigan, Okamis. You know, when you're that age. I think I was like, seven or eight. Like, we had, like, me and my friends would have sleepovers on Saturday nights or whatever, and so I went to sleep over at my friend's house this one night. Well, actually wasn't so sleep over that night. But they're. A really bad storm came, and I was already over there, so they're like, oh, you can just like, stay the night or whatever. But his parents were acting really weird that night, and I didn't know why, because, you know, it's oblivious to these things. But they had a room that nobody went into. Like, no one was allowed to go into this room. And I didn't know why, because I was a kid, I was like, we just don't go in that room. And in Michigan, you can have big houses because they don't cost anything. So it's a big house. So we were just kind of playing this off, and, you know, it was raining and storming and stuff, and his parents were just being really strange. Like, you go to bed, go to bed, guys. You should just go to bed. And so, of course we don't want to go to bed, because if you're told to go to bed when you're like, eight, you're like, that's the last thing I want to do now. I just want to be awake. And so the room was. We could hear, like, noises coming from the room, like a crying noise. And we were just like, that's weird. But didn't think much of it. And then. And then his parents were really being strange, and they really wanted to send me home, but they couldn't because it was going to be hard to get me home with it until the rain dissipated. And then it turns out I found out after the fact that they had had a baby that died in the house.

[E]

That.

[D]

I know it's sad, it's not like a fun ghost story, but so had died in the house. And they just never like. Or, like, A year ago. It was like a year date of that. And I didn't know that because he's a pretty new friend of mine at the time. And so they just never really kind of got over it. And. But they didn't touch the room. They left the room the way the room was. And it was like the one year anniversary of that. So I don't. I mean, it's creepy as hell. And after the fact, I was just like. I found that a couple years later when he told me about it because I, you know, couldn't explain what it was at the time. We were just like, this is just bizarre. But, you know, hey, let's just go drink Mountain Dew and eat Mike and Ike. It wasn't anything weird after that, but like, yeah, that's the thing that happened. And it was really creepy and weird.

[A]

Ooh. So wait, you heard baby.

[D]

It sounded like a baby crying in that room.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

So that's. That was the one from when I was a kid.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

All right.

[D]

And then the current one, which is just weird, but for years. So I've been with my wife Jenny for a long time. We've been married for 18 years together. 10 years before that. So like almost going on 30 years now in college. And she rented a place in Daly City with a bunch of people. We all went to SF State, and yay, Better than Okamiss, Michigan. Cool. And we. So they rented this place on Gellert Boulevard in Daly City. But one thing that they noticed at this place especially is they would always just find pennies everywhere. Just like random pennies that were not there before. Just constantly found pennies. Like, okay, cool, pennies, neat. Didn't think much of it. But then pretty much always since then, everywhere we go at some point we find random pennies where I know for a fact that there wasn't a penny before. And it's not like we have a lot of change in general because that's been discouraged. And they stopped making those things. So we constantly find, like, we just bought a house in Northridge. Yay. Hooray. And like, in the master bedroom, like, and we moved in.

[E]

It was.

[D]

Everything was clear of everything. And after being there for like a day or two, Penny, like, sitting in front of the closet thing at our. My hotel right now, in the hallway in front of the door. Penny. It happens.

[A]

I really want to look down and see one right now.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

It would really make up for that super bowl thing. No, I don't think. See one. Okay, go ahead.

[D]

I like to think of it as either the ghost is paying rent or a change is going to come.

[A]

Oh, I like that.

[D]

But that has been happening for 20 plus years and it, it's in, it's weird. And it's either that or like Jenny has been gaslighting me for most of my life.

[E]

Occam's Razor. She's gaslighting, right?

[D]

She just has one roll of pennies that she's just been like periodically.

[E]

It's the most obvious answer is correct.

[A]

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[E]

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[D]

Taxact is going to name some now.

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[D]

Digging a hole, digging an even larger.

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[D]

Fun, but TaxAct can help you get them done.

[A]

TaxAct.

[E]

Let's get them over with.

[B]

Now.

[A]

When you see those, do they give you any sort of like. Like, affirming, like, someone's up there, like, I got you, or is it just like, have you attached any meaning to this?

[D]

I don't know.

[E]

Me.

[D]

So we've had cats for a long time, too. And like, they always periodically. We had four cats. We have two currently. But they will just, like, there's corners of certain rooms, like the apartment that we were at for a long time. In the bedroom, there's a corner where they would constantly, periodically just stand and meow at the wall.

[C]

Love that.

[D]

Stare at it.

[B]

Scary.

[D]

Yeah, like, a lot. This is, like, pretty commonplace. And I kind of. I don't. I don't know how I feel about all this in general, but I do believe that if. If any animals kind of are a conduit to the other side, it's cats. I really believe that.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Because you could tell that because they also, like, if it's gonna. If there's about to be an earthquake, cats freak out before it happens. Like, I think they just sense these things, and I especially think that with this. So in. In every place this has been a thing, there's always a little weird section of whatever room that we, like, live in in the house or the apartment or whatever that periodically they'll have conversations with the wall.

[A]

We love corroboration by an animal.

[B]

We do. Yes. And it's terrifying.

[A]

It's one of the trademarks.

[C]

Yes.

[E]

Have you thought about calling the story Pennies from Heaven or Hell?

[A]

Oh, that's good.

[D]

I feel like you and I need to go pitch this to Nature.

[A]

Now. This is a area that Irene and I think were most skeptical about, about, like, signs from beyond. But even that, I'm, like, now I'm sort of like, why not believe? But I was wondering, like, do you have anyone on the other side who you've ever thought, like, is this from them a sign that's. Yeah.

[D]

I'm not sure. I think so. Like, my. My mom passed about a year and a half ago. Brain cancer, which I don't recommend. 0 stars. Bad Yelp review.

[B]

Sorry.

[D]

Yeah, it's terrible. You see somebody slip away that you've known for a long time. It's really terrible. But one of her things for us is she really wanted us to get a house. Like, it was a thing that she really, really, really, really wanted. So I feel sometimes that not with the penny goes things. But I do feel like there's been signs periodically, especially since we moved in, that, like, my mom's saying hello and like, I don't know specifically what that is, but you just kind of. You just get this feeling, you know.

[B]

You get a feeling. I mean, I believe that, you know, I. I think we believe in visitations, like, Right. But we just don't. We. We're very apprehensive about mediums.

[E]

We got. I think we got a letter from. This is a strange thing. There was a letter that my grandmother wrote to my wife and me that was delivered after she died, which was interest. Very interesting because it happened sort of quickly. She was very, very old. My grandmother had had 10 children, and so she had never missed the wedding of a grandchild. But this would be mine. Would have been the first wedding of any grandchild that she was not at. And she wrote a letter on, like, Wednesday, and then she died on Thursday. And our wedding was on Saturday. And we got the letter from her that she'd written four days earlier. And it said, I will be there in spirit.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[E]

That was. That felt. That was pretty. We freaked out a little bit when we opened that one up. Yeah.

[A]

See, sometimes woo woo can get kind of like, heavy, right? Because we've heard some really poignant stories on our show.

[D]

I have two signs from my mom that pop into my head. One was, and usually it's at a weird time, like, I was in Palm Springs with Jenny. We were about to hit the roads. We were just grabbing Taco Bell really quick. And we're in there and I can't remember what we were talking about. It was something like, had to do with, like, making a decision for something semi important. And my mom's favorite song was the Motown song by Rod Stewart. And it started playing in this Taco Bell in Palm Springs. We both stopped and we're like, well, I guess we should do this thing. Because I feel like my mom is telling us do the thing by, you know, hijacking the Taco Bell playlist. And then the other. And this one was really weird. And it was. I was. Was able to get an explanation. But this is, I don't know, maybe six months ago. I was like, just chatting. I looked down, I'm like. My mom was calling me from her cell phone and I was like, for. My first thought was like, who has my mom's phone? I did, you know, what happened with it? So of course I Was like, I should pick this up, right? Because I was, like, kind of stopped in my tracks being like, should I just let this go to voice? I don't know what this is, but this is, like, really creeping me out. So I took it, and it just, like, sounded like a muffled thing and nothing's really happening. And then it hung up. So I was like, like, oh. Oh, God.

[E]

And then.

[D]

So I texted my brother, and I was like, hey, mom just called, so that's weird. And then he didn't respond for a while, and I was like, what is happening? And then he's like, oh, yeah. We were just doing stuff with her iPad, and it accidentally. Whoa. We opened it up and it called you. We didn't know that. They didn't know that. But, like, they were doing, like. So that's what it was like.

[A]

But there was, like, a real explanation is what you're saying, right?

[D]

Somehow the iPad called me, but they didn't do it. But when they were unlocked, the iPad or whatever it had called, but they didn't know that until they looked when I was like, please tell me that one of you did this, because I don't know what to do otherwise.

[E]

Would have been great if your mom had sent a warning that had kept you from going to Taco Bell in Palm Springs, like, just before, like, the day before.

[D]

Also, I was like, my mom, don't.

[E]

Let us get to that Taco Bell.

[D]

She didn't like it when we ate, like, garbage like that. So she could have just been there being like, why are you talking about right now?

[B]

She's rebuking you from beyond, right?

[D]

Probably.

[A]

Should we have Tom tell his other tale?

[B]

Yes, we should.

[A]

But this is getting so dark. I didn't mean for it to get dark.

[B]

No, it's not.

[E]

In the darkest way. Yes. Because it actually. The ending is kind of affirming.

[A]

It's kind of affirming.

[E]

So it starts with. We'd been given this. I worked for Comedy Central. Thank you. For a long time. And they always give you some thoughtless, pointless thing at Christmas. And this year, it was one of those, like, fake radios that has a CD player and a tape player and stuff. And we left it over in the. We'd never turned it on. It was just sitting in the room. And then we bought a portrait for our dog Lelo. We had. Lilo was a Yorkshire terrier, and we. At some charity auction, we paid for professional dog portrait.

[A]

He works hard, guys. He works hard.

[E]

I work hard, guys. I work so hard. You don't see all the paddling under the water that's happening to get night at the museum two going, So many meetings. So we got the dog portrait. The woman who came to take the dog portrait brought her 10 year old daughter with her. And they were just the greatest pair. They had so much fun together. The daughter had a kazoo that she would blow to get our dog to look. And the photos were incredible and they were like best pals. And we had sort of said we weren't gonna have kids and we thought we were over that part. And then we met this woman and her daughter and we're like, boy, you could have a kid who becomes your best friend. And that is so cool. And we got the photos and we didn't really think about it for a while. And then a month or so later we got an email. I'll do the shortest version of it. And it was the mother. And she said, I know that you took some pictures with me and my daughter while we were photographing your dog. Could you send me those photos? Because those were the last pictures taken of her while she was alive. And she had had seizures and things and she ended up passing away, which is a very tragic thing. But as. So I was composing an email and I'm putting together the photos of the daughter to send to the mother. I tell Jenny this story and Jenny's in the other room and I'm putting the photos together and there's a picture of the girl right in front of that Comedy Central novelty tape deck radio, CD player. And as I am looking at the picture of the girl, that radio that's never been turned on starts going. And it was just like we were both like, oh, she was just here. She was absolutely just here because were we. We had forgotten to give her back her kazoo that she had forgotten. And we felt like that. But anyway, so what I would like to say is while we were absolutely positive she was there and we could feel it, it was also one of the most upbeat positive feelings. Like, it wasn't. We didn't scream. It wasn't. That was what was really interesting is neither of us, like, we didn't scream or gasp. We both just like felt. Remember in Poltergeist when she like feels her daughter go through her, it felt like that. More than that, it didn't feel like a lightning strike. It felt like an unbelievably positive piece of energy from the other side came through to us. And then we started trying to have kids again. And then we have Ollie who now sees ghosts every goddamn day. But it was actually it was a super positive experience experience and and except for then affirming it was affirming experience about that maybe the other side can talk to you sometimes. And this was a a girl that had made a huge impact on us as a idea and as a person.

[A]

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[B]

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[B]

I wasn't going to tell this story, but I feel like this was one of the weirdest things that happened to me and I have to share it. Okay. My mother recently passed away and yes, she recently passed away. And when she did, I immediately texted this girl and I said, my mom just passed away.

[A]

And I get, well, let me explain. So I'm going to text her back. And in my phone, because I'm like a techno idiot, I accidentally send a goofy picture of me holding a very small ice cream cone that I was upset because it was so small, right? So I had this, this picture in my phone. I had this picture in my phone of me going like, at this ice cream. An ice cream. And I'm writing back to you and I'm like, I actually send that photo. Like, she's like, my mom died. I'm like, so. So then I immediately was like, oh my God, I'm so sorry, you know, and then we called on each other. But then, well, so.

[B]

So I get this picture of Rachel with this expression on her face, you know, with the ice cream cone, and I'm like, thanks. And I knew it was a mistake. You know what I mean? And it made me laugh, by the way, in a moment of sadness. And then it turns out, you know, we didn't expect my mother to die as quickly as she did. But I get the last picture of my mother with the same expression and.

[A]

A small ice cream cone holding an ice cream cone. Same exact one. This is the last picture. And she's like, her mom's so cute and she's holding this ice cream cone and she's like, it's kind of the same photo.

[B]

It's the same photo. Now, we didn't.

[A]

We don't really know what to make of that. We don't really know what to make of that. But it's. We're filing it under. We're putting it in the Woo Woo files, I guess.

[D]

Just don't take photos with ice cream.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

Yeah. So shifting off of death. No. Yes. Yes. Oh, really?

[E]

Oh, my God.

[D]

No.

[E]

Oh, no. Like, seriously, because you'd listen to that podcast. Did you listen to the one before?

[B]

Wow. Wow.

[E]

Are you serious? You just brought a kazoo out of nowhere?

[B]

Are you kidding?

[A]

Wait a minute. This is much better than the super bowl pendulum.

[B]

This is making up for Benji. That's what I just think we all.

[E]

Always meant to give it back to her and we never did. And we actually still have it and we've. I guess we.

[A]

Can I ask you. Let me just hand this to you.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

This is when you said something told you to bring a kazoo. Like, what do you mean by that?

[F]

It was sitting on my desk. I've had it for a long time. We actually used it for Passover one year. We all had musical instruments and something said, grab the kazoo and take it with you. Do I just like her? Bring the.

[E]

But nothing. You've never heard me talk about that before.

[F]

Never.

[B]

Never heard the episode. This is this. You're seeing it in real time, people. This is making up for the pan. This is unbelievable.

[D]

The important question.

[E]

Way, way too weird.

[D]

Who does the kazoo think is going to win the Super Bowl?

[F]

The Patriots.

[A]

The Patriots of Patriots. That was our first.

[B]

That was our first aggressively.

[A]

Something just told you, grab. Something told you grab this kazoo.

[E]

Just nothing. Just self healing.

[F]

Take the kazoo. I went back into the room and took the kazoo.

[E]

And then you were. Wow.

[A]

Amazing.

[E]

It really couldn't be weirder.

[A]

I mean, that's like that. It's like the most random item.

[B]

I mean, it.

[A]

It. It doesn't get more random than those.

[E]

It's also in a box that says kazoo. It's insane. Just impossible. My wife is crying really hard on the sidelines over there.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

Oh, my gosh.

[E]

It keeps being a sign. Oh, hon, we're gonna have another baby. I know I'm 50. I'm two years older than Jerry Garcia ever was, but I guess we're gonna have one more baby.

[A]

Okay, wait. I'm truly, truly stunned. I'm truly stunned. You know what I find also, like, the more open I go through life, the more I see or whatever. I don't mean see like I have special powers. I just mean the more you notice, the more open that you are.

[B]

I have a question for you. Now. This is so random and so unbelievable and it's happening live, which is extraordinary. Did you ever have any other. Are you open?

[E]

Yeah. Has this happened before?

[F]

Oh, yeah, actually, yeah. I do this sort of stuff, but that Was the first time I've ever.

[D]

Like, delivered to you.

[F]

I work in that kind of woo woo realm.

[A]

You do? What do you do?

[F]

I shift energy in people's places and businesses and lives and homes.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Kind of like.

[F]

Help me.

[B]

Yeah, help me.

[A]

Wait, do you want to come up here for a sec?

[C]

Sure.

[E]

Come on up here.

[A]

Do you want to. Here, scoot. Sorry, what's your name?

[F]

I'm Susanna.

[A]

Susanna. Do you want to sit down?

[C]

Sure.

[E]

Those who are just listening to this. I don't know how to describe the boots.

[B]

I said, nice boots.

[C]

Aren't they?

[A]

They're amazing.

[D]

They're pretty great.

[F]

They are fantastic.

[A]

So is it like a feng shui? Kind of like, I don't know anything.

[F]

About this, but yeah, it's adjacent to feng shui. People call it space clearing. I call it energy architecture. And so I'm working with the quantum field. The field that you see.

[B]

I believe in the quantum.

[A]

I'm all over this.

[B]

It's all over it.

[F]

You guys have talked about people who come in and burn sage and I burn sage and I work with flower essences to regrid the place and release what doesn't belong there. Now, do you feel.

[B]

I'm sorry, do you feel energy?

[F]

Yeah, I can, and sometimes I don't, but funny things happen and I have. Sees things in my mind's eye and have like, weird.

[A]

I'm not kidding. That's almost what we called this podcast. It was almost called Weird Shit. That's Real, but I didn't want the vulgarity in the title.

[F]

But anyways, well, like, Bringing the Kazoo. I mean, who picks up a kazoo and leaves the house with it? Yeah, it was insane.

[A]

So when you walk into a space sometimes, are you just like, oh, this couch should be over there? Are you like, I gotta redo this in my mind, or.

[F]

No, I only know enough about feng shui to be dangerous.

[A]

Wait, so what do you mean?

[F]

Well, I would be like, oh, the thing about the cats howling. Cats are howling in the wrong places. I'm like, what's going on here? So let's work with that area to stop the cat and release whatever it is. But I don't move furniture around, per se.

[A]

Okay. Is it like, put a plant here to ward off meow, meow meow? Or is it like, what, like, what's like a. Like literally meow meow meow? But like, what's like a thing? What's a thing you would do?

[F]

I would like, I would stand around with my hands and work with the energy after I've brought in some flower essences to work with the grid and then, like, let things go into the earth to.

[A]

It's very San Francisco.

[B]

Oh, I like it. I like it. I like it. Now you do that with people as well?

[F]

I do. I do it with people to, like, release it from people.

[B]

But, sweetie, please.

[F]

My hands are very warm. Yeah.

[A]

Is it. Is it a hands on thing or is it like a. I don't know much about Reiki, but is it hands on or is it like a vibes for clearing people?

[F]

For clearing people. It can be vibes and it can be hands on. Like, I work with people remotely, and so I work on them away from where they are. Like if they're somewhere else and they need stuff shifted out or like. I was working with a sailing team last week, and this was so weird. I was working with the sailing team. They were going to race in Miami, and I was like, you guys need to check the boat. So the regatta was Saturday, and they went to check the boat on Friday. And also I heard, check the port side of the boat, which is the left side for all you non sailors up there. And when they went to check the boat, it wasn't there. It was gone. It wasn't in its locker or whatever. And then when they finally found the boat, somebody had cut the bungees on the left side, so they had to repair the boat so that they could sail it.

[E]

Oh, my gosh.

[F]

It was super weird.

[B]

I'd like for you to look at my car. That's what I want. I'm getting.

[A]

I have a question. Can you heal the nation?

[F]

I know.

[A]

Susanna, we're counting on you. We're counting on you.

[B]

Start working on it.

[A]

Working on it. Okay.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

Wow. Well, thank you. Thank you. That was. I can't believe the kazoo.

[C]

Amazing.

[E]

I guess I'll Venmo you for the kazoo. I mean, I know it was used on Passover over.

[D]

I mean, I was.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

I have a roll full of pennies if you want to come to Northridge.

[A]

No, but the idea.

[F]

Heads or tails?

[A]

The idea that this is actually your field, your. Your like. And then you brought the. And then you brought the kazoo.

[E]

It's crazy.

[A]

I'm amazed. All right, well, thank you so much. I might have someone else come up and tell a tale. Thank you so much.

[D]

Wow.

[E]

That was me.

[A]

Oh, yeah, we're good.

[E]

That was really neat.

[A]

That was amazing. The older I get, the more conscious I'm trying to be about health goals. And one of them well, they're pretty simple, I'm gonna admit to you. But one of my goals is to try to eat more protein and the other one is to try to eat breakfast. Cuz I'm pretty bad about eating breakfast. Well, this is where cachava comes in. And I mean, I want to say it's changed my life, but let's just say it's definitely changed my daily routine and thus my life. Cachava is an all in one nutrition shake that's crafted with the highest quality ingredients. And I know because I read the label because I've been searching for a shake like this that doesn't have all this fake stuff in it. Cachava provides clean nutrition to fuel wherever your day takes you. No fillers and no nonsense. No artificial flavors, colored or sweeteners. See, this is what I've been searching for. It's non gmo, no soy, no animal products, no gluten and no preservatives. Just two scoops provide 25 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, greens, adaptogens and so much more. It's all the good stuff your body craves. It comes in six flavors and wait for it, they taste good. I know. I've been searching for this too. I tried all the flavors. My favorite is actually vanilla. Now I like chocolate too, but I'm morphing into vanilla. But you know what else I'm really digging their chai and their matcha. Yeah. And you just blend it up with some ice I got out of the ice. And you can use just water even or almond milk. You throw a banana in there however you want to do it. They also maybe you've seen on TikTok and stuff, but people are posting a lot of recipes using cachava and you can find a bunch of recipes on Cachava Kitchen. In any case, that's a sidebar. Kachava provides you energy with five key vitamins and minerals. I've noticed that drinking cachava in the morning kicks off my day just right with energy and I feel like, okay, I got my protein and I got some vitamins and I'm off for the day. And I'm not just skipping breakfast anymore. So I'm really digging cachava and I think you will too. So try Kachava risk free with their love it guarantee. So stick with your wellness goals. Try Kachava. Go to kachava.com and use code woo for 15% off. Again, I want to say it tastes good. That's important. You can hear a lot of ads for These protein shakes. This one actually tastes Good. That's Kachava K A C-H-A-A.com and use code. Woo. We all have that dream trip we've been wishing we could go on. But too often, life or usually price gets in the way. That's why Priceline is here to help you turn your dream trip into reality. With up to 60% off hotels and up to 50% off flights, you can book everything you need for your next adventure. Don't just dream about that next trip. Book it with Priceline. Download the Priceline app or visit priceline.com and book your next trip.

[B]

Today.

[A]

You have a ghost story. Okay. Come on up. Okay. What's your name?

[C]

I'm Jana.

[A]

Jana. Do you want to sit?

[C]

Sure.

[A]

Here, sit. Sit right here.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

There you go.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I moved into a house I bought in Philadelphia in 2018. It was from 1911. And all I knew when I bought the house was that it had never been owned by anyone but the family I bought it from. So it had been in the same family that whole time, which confused me as to why they were selling it, honestly, because presumably there'd be, like, no mortgage or any. Like, there was no reason. And I moved in and there were all these weird things that started happening in two places in the house. And one was, like, pretty calm and happy. So on the third floor of the house, which was where the grandparents had, like, lived before dying in the house, which I didn't realize, there was also an extra kitchen. That's like, really common in these three story row homes to have an extra kitchen for these, like, old Italian families. This is in South Philly, like, deep Italian. And I would, like, smell cigarette smoke every now and then. And I didn't have any cats, but I would, like foster cats. And they would always, even if they were scared from the shelter, they would, like, end up up there, like, lying on their stomach, like, pretending to get their stomach scratched. And like, that was pretty calm and nice. There was a door to the outside on the third floor, too. And some of these foster cats, like, are cats that had just kind of been moved indoors. And, like, sometimes I'd have to, even with that door locked, I'd come upstairs and the door is, like, open with the cats, presumably, like up there with that ghost. But that didn't bother me that much. It's that on the first floor in the basement, there was all this, like, really destructive stuff happening that definitely felt like a totally different ghost, which was the area that that ghost's like, wife used to be in, and she was doing, like, crazy things like flooding the basement and destroying different pieces of the house. And when she flooded the basement the first time, I opened up a wall to deal with it. And there's like, a portrait of the mother, Mary and Jesus in the wall.

[A]

Now we're getting somewhere.

[C]

Yeah. And I was like, okay, that was covered. Yeah, like, behind, I guess. I did talk to some of my, like, South Philly Italians.

[E]

They were doing things they didn't want Jesus and his mother to see.

[C]

Yeah, I guess. Okay. Like, I guess it's pretty common to put religious artifacts in the walls when you. I don't know. I'm not sure about that part, but so I start talking.

[E]

No, I am sure that's not. That's not common.

[B]

It's really not common, actually. Especially if you're a child.

[C]

Well, I put it back in the wall when I ran over the house, so.

[A]

Okay, so you find this, like, in the wall?

[C]

Yeah. And so I start talking about this at work because, like, it. It was starting to get really annoying how many, like, really destructive things she was doing in the house.

[A]

And wait, one thing I think is funny because sometimes on our show, like, we'll hear someone's story. And I like how you said, like, she flooded the basement. So just to ask, like, how do you know she was flooding the basement?

[C]

Yeah, I, like, brought the engineering to figure out because, like, basically there was just water that started coming through one of the walls out of nowhere after it, like, it had rained a few days prior.

[A]

And I was like, engineer is like, it's a ghost.

[C]

He didn't say that, unfortunately. Okay, but so in Philly, there were a bunch of, like, tributaries to rivers that had been, like, rerouted. And so it's not that uncommon for rivers to kind of shift, but had never happened in that house, like, prior. There wasn't any evidence of it. She was just like, who knows?

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I say she because of what happens at the end of this story, I think. And also, she did die in this house. And I ended up finding more about her. Her name was Nicolette. And so I started talking about this at work. And a few of my, like, more woo. This is Philly and not here, or else I could have used your services. Some of my friends at work were like, sage the house. And I was like, okay, why not? Like, I don't. At that point, I didn't believe in ghost, but I was like, okay, I'll sage the house. So I staged the house. And she just got Angrier. Kept doing, like, more like, I'd come home and the sink would be on. Or like, just like, really?

[A]

What would be on?

[C]

Like, the sink.

[B]

More water.

[C]

Yeah. She was like, destroying things. And. And then I also work with a bunch of people from Latin America and I. I'm Jewish, and I had, like, tried also some, like, Jewish Ish things. I was like, what if I try praying that way? But these are like deep Italian ghosts. These are not Jewish ghosts. So I'm talking to my friend at work, my colleague, who's from, I think, Argentina, and she's Catholic. And she was like, oh, no. Like, this is absolutely. This woman. Like, you have to. This is a Catholic woman. Like, you can't be doing any of these things. You're just going to make her angrier. She's like, what you have to do is like, when you come home, you need to talk to her as if, like, you need to speak to her and. Because she lives with you. And I was like, okay, whatever. So I, like that night, I get home and I walk in the door and I was really angry because I think she had done something else. I don't remember. And I was like, your family's not coming back.

[B]

You just cut to the chase.

[C]

And then she got so mad.

[A]

Of course she did.

[B]

Abandonment issues.

[A]

I was like.

[C]

Anyways, so then I told my friend the next day, she was like, did you talk to the ghost? And I said, yeah. I came home and I told her this, and she was really upset. And so my friend was like, find out her name for me. Go to, you know, I'll go to church and I'll pray, like, for her. I'll make an. Like, I'll. What do Catholics do? Make an offering? I don't.

[E]

I can't go into it. It takes a while.

[C]

Yeah. And. And she brings me. She does this and she prays for Nicolette. And she brings me a little vial of holy water. And she's like, sprinkle this around your house, and when you come home, just tell her about your day and whatnot. So I started doing this and everything subsided. Fast forward. And I also found out. When I found out her name, I found out some more information about her. She really loved gardening and plants, which was not that common in South Philly. A lot of the Italian families had removed all the trees on the streets and stuff. Fast forward to 2020. I got stuck outside of the US for seven months, like, starting in March 2020. And my house is sitting empty. And I come back and this is after I'VE like, had a good relationship with her. I come back and all of my houseplants are alive, and no one has been in my house for eight months.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And wow, that power.

[E]

The power of Jesus Christ.

[C]

Yeah. And then. Which I'm glad that I put that painting back.

[A]

And then to answer.

[C]

And I was reminded of this, actually, because I sold the house. And in the disclosure papers, I disclosed there was a ghost. The first, like, two.

[E]

You are supposed to.

[C]

Yeah, there are two ghosts. I also thought you were supposed to. And my lawyer said I'm not allowed to.

[D]

Oh, good.

[A]

Really?

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

He made me different. We do have an episode with the real estate agent.

[C]

Yeah. He made me do different forms. He's like, if you can't legally prove something, you can't put it in the disclosure papers.

[B]

Just look at my plants.

[A]

You should have said.

[C]

Yeah. And so then when I sold my house, I did, like, I had a number of. It was 20, 21. Everybody wanted to buy houses. I had a bunch of offers, and I chose this, like, lovely Italian couple who was gonna have a child. And I've run into them, and they've had, like, no issues at all, because I think she's finally happy to have.

[E]

Because they're Italian, so she's kind of racist.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Okay. She didn't want a nice Jewish girl in the house. Why can't I just get a samorin of Italians? And I start feeling, yeah, this used to be a nice name. Neighborhood.

[D]

Oh, Maron.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I think it was more the Catholic, honestly, than the race. Because she did take. She did take my Latin American college holy water.

[A]

That's a sweet story.

[C]

Yeah. She kept my plants alive. And they're all distributed with my friends.

[A]

That was a great story. Thank you, Jana. Thank you so much. Thank you.

[E]

Wow.

[A]

See, a lot of people have a story.

[B]

They have some good stories.

[E]

Speaking of, you know, that just. It's a detail that I'd like to point out in terms of famous movies. Jaws is fictional, and the Exorcist is based on a true story.

[A]

I think I did hear.

[E]

Look it up.

[A]

I did hear The Exorcist.

[E]

It's 100% based on a true story.

[B]

Yes, it is based on a true story.

[E]

As a young boy, he was in St. Louis, and then they did move him to the Jesuit in Georgetown to give him an exorcism.

[B]

Right. Scariest movie ever. Yes.

[E]

Yeah. So true story.

[A]

Wow.

[E]

Take that. Take that for what you want.

[A]

Okay. Now, regarding our ghost stories. A lot of times we've heard people that say, to the ghosts, like, you know, please move on. Like they say in a friendly way. Either you're welcome to stay here or please move on. Not always. Your family is not here anymore. Yes, But. But we have heard stories like that. That. And.

[D]

Yeah. Yeah. I will say on the penny thing, like, this is a detail because she sort of asked. It's always the tail side, which I heard is like, don't pick up a sales penny if you see it on the street. So I just. I just. I don't ever touch them.

[A]

Okay. Wow, that's.

[B]

That's an interesting detail right there. Right.

[A]

Well, I mean, I think we might be, like, close to out of time here. Right? I don't know. Is there any other. I don't know what. Is there any other. Woo. We've left out of the proceedings.

[B]

Things.

[A]

Maybe it.

[B]

I'm still very upset about Penji. Benji is. Has stage fright. That's the other explanation.

[C]

Maybe.

[A]

Should we ask if. Should we ask if you guys want a Penji answer on something?

[E]

Oh, boy.

[A]

No.

[E]

I'm really, really, really superstitious.

[A]

Okay. Okay.

[E]

So I might not even want to wake up that. Because if I feel like I'll ask it something, and then I believe every superstition.

[A]

Okay.

[E]

So I do salt over the shoulder. I do. If I leave the house, I sit down. If you come back in the house, I do. I have all of the superstitions of an Irish person from the 1800s.

[B]

That sounds very Irish.

[E]

Just. If I were from the 1800s, it wouldn't be any different.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

So, Cole, maybe you want to wish on some. You want to wake up some dark magic.

[B]

Would you like to summon a demon.

[E]

That will follow you forever?

[A]

Yes or no? Yes or no? Go ahead.

[E]

Wake it on up.

[A]

I mean, we've gotten.

[E]

Not for me, thank you very much.

[D]

All right. Here.

[E]

So ask the witches what they're gonna do for you. Go ahead. Witches, wake up to dark side for core.

[D]

Let's. Let's stay on the football side of things. I'm gonna give it a chance to redeem itself. We won't know till next year.

[A]

Oh, next year. Okay.

[D]

I'm a huge Lions. I'm a huge Lions fan.

[A]

But wait, wait, don't tell. Wait. What do we do?

[E]

Do we have a.

[A]

Not.

[B]

No. You can't say a word.

[E]

You get eaten by a lion, you.

[A]

Don'T tell us till afterwards.

[D]

Okay.

[E]

You asked for this.

[A]

You think, and then we'll give you the answer and then you reveal it.

[D]

Got it?

[A]

Okay. Ready?

[D]

Yep.

[A]

Okay, here we go. Okay. I Have a yes. She is a no.

[B]

Why are we at odds today?

[A]

Don't know. The pendulum is.

[D]

Let me. I'll clear my mind. I'll do something else. Just like, sort of prefaced a little bit of what I was thinking.

[A]

That must be it.

[B]

There's always an explanation, a logical explanation.

[A]

Y. Yes. Okay. Ready? Okay, Irene, we better match this time. What do you have? Oh, I think we don't match again. You know what, what do you have? Do you have a no? No. I have a yes. Okay.

[E]

What do you. Are you going to tell us what you're trying to match?

[B]

Yeah, why don't you just tell us?

[A]

What was your question?

[D]

The first thing was, will the Lions make the super bowl next year?

[A]

Next year.

[D]

Because they've been sort of competitive, but not in the second thing. So many have asked. Asked to get to Sketchfest for the last decade. Who wants to do it? But it never works out. So I was trying to see if next year was the year.

[F]

Oh.

[A]

Of this particular person.

[B]

Mine says no now.

[A]

I want to know who it is.

[D]

I'll tell you. It's Michael Keaton. So been trying to do that for.

[E]

And we just found out that he has passed.

[D]

He does.

[E]

So, yes. I mean, it couldn't have been clearer.

[C]

Yes. Yeah.

[E]

Someone please check on, on him.

[C]

It's a 50.

[B]

50 chance.

[A]

Well, I, I, I guess we have to wrap it up. Irene, do we have any parting words?

[B]

Well, this has been a lot of fun. How's that?

[A]

Wait. Thank you to Susanna and Janet for sharing her stories. Now, that's super fun for us because we're only relying on people that are good friends of mine or who I bump into at a party and rope in to be a guest. So it's really fun to have people just, you know, listeners or audience members share spontaneously, so share their stories.

[B]

And, Tom, I have to tell you, you know, you're not that superstitious.

[A]

I'm Greek.

[B]

And when I was going through something, I had an ailment. Well, I'm cancer free now, but I did have cancer. And when. Thank you. That does deserve a little something. When I did, I didn't want her.

[A]

I didn't.

[B]

Did you just.

[E]

I knocked on my head because there's no wood.

[B]

I didn't want to use the pendulum.

[A]

Yeah. She went Penji free during that time.

[B]

During that time, yeah.

[E]

Correct. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So correct. Superstition.

[A]

All right, well, everybody, I don't know, let's all, like, go in about our lives putting goodbye into the world. Right. Sending light, sending love. Thank you all for being here. Thank you and thank you for listening. And bye. Thank you, sweetie. And you can find me on Instagram at Ray Dratch, that's R A e Dratch. And you can find Irene at IreneBremis. That's B R E M I S Bremis. And thanks for listening. Thanks for joining me on this journey into the world of Woo Woo. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch is a Q Code production executive produced by David Henning and Steve Wilson. Produced by Alexa Gabriel Ramirez Edited by Will Tendi.

[D]

Here on the job site.

[A]

With Dale, who's a framing contractor.

[E]

Hey, good morning.

[D]

Dale traded up to Geico Commercial Auto.

[A]

Insurance for all his business vehicles. We're here where he needs us most.

[E]

Yep, they sure are. We make it easy for him to save on all his insurance needs all.

[D]

In one place with coverage that fits.

[A]

His business and bottom line. Oh, I shouldn't have looked down.

[E]

It's all right.

[D]

We're so far up here. Look at me. Take a deep breath.

[A]

No, I'm good. So, so good.

[D]

Get a commercial auto insurance quote [e-mail] and see how much you could save. It feels good. To Geico.