Lunatics Radio Hour
Lunatics Library 34: Bloody Mary Horror Stories
Abby and Alan present Bloody Mary themed horror stories. Our first story, The Mirror, was written by Abby Brenker and narrated by Adam McAlonie. The Sunday Stalker was written by JR Santos and narrated by Jeff Ayars. You can purchase JR’s book, We Living Failures on Amazon. And watch Jeff’s latest feature, This is Our Home (2019) on Amazon.
He Comes After Midnight was written by Courtney Eastman. Be sure to follow Courtney on Instagram @TheGhouldGuide. The story was narrated by Lissa Sweeney, follow Lissa @lissasweeney on Instagram. You can purchase your copy of the Feminine Macabre Volume 3 on Amazon. And finally, excerpts from John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs were narrated by the amazing Mike Macera. Listen to Adam and Mike’s band Beach Therapy here. And watch Long Beach Island here.
lunaticsproject.com
Get Lunatics Merch here. Join the discussion on Discord. Listen to the paranormal playlist I curate for Vurbl, updated weekly! Check out Abby's book Horror Stories. Available in eBook and paperback. Music by Michaela Papa, Alan Kudan & Jordan Moser. Poster Art by Pilar Keprta @pilar.kep.
What's it like to be a Cattle Rancher? FBI Special Agent? Professional Santa? Find out!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Abby and Alan present Bloody Mary themed horror stories. Our first story, The Mirror, was written by Abby Brenker and narrated by Adam McAlonie. The Sunday Stalker was written by JR Santos and narrated by Jeff Ayars. You can purchase JR’s book, We Living Failures on Amazon. And watch Jeff’s latest feature, This is Our Home (2019) on Amazon.
He Comes After Midnight was written by Courtney Eastman. Be sure to follow Courtney on Instagram @TheGhouldGuide. The story was narrated by Lissa Sweeney, follow Lissa @lissasweeney on Instagram. You can purchase your copy of the Feminine Macabre Volume 3 on Amazon. And finally, excerpts from John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs were narrated by the amazing Mike Macera. Listen to Adam and Mike’s band Beach Therapy here. And watch Long Beach Island here.
lunaticsproject.com
Get Lunatics Merch here. Join the discussion on Discord. Listen to the paranormal playlist I curate for Vurbl, updated weekly! Check out Abby's book Horror Stories. Available in eBook and paperback. Music by Michaela Papa, Alan Kudan & Jordan Moser. Poster Art by Pilar Keprta @pilar.kep.
What's it like to be a Cattle Rancher? FBI Special Agent? Professional Santa? Find out!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Lunatics Radio Hour podcast. Happy, almost Halloween. I'm Abby Brinker sitting here with Alan Kudin.
Speaker 2:Hello.
Speaker 1:And today we have Bloody Mary themed stories for you all.
Speaker 2:I'm really curious what kind of stories we're going to get about a children's game.
Speaker 1:I want to say this we went to a Halloween party last night and I dressed up as Bloody Mary.
Speaker 2:You did.
Speaker 1:Because I'm always marketing the podcast.
Speaker 2:but Hang on, you could have marketed even further. You had the new Bloody Mary swag to give out, but you didn't give it out to anybody.
Speaker 1:Felt a little cringe, you know. But here's the thing every single person at this party knew what Bloody Mary was. You are alone in your dismissal of it as a cultural moment.
Speaker 2:That seems impossible.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, 29 out of 30 attendees of this party disagree with you.
Speaker 2:This was a very skewed group.
Speaker 1:Why.
Speaker 2:Because no one even understood my costume.
Speaker 1:You dressed up as a very niche, specific board game.
Speaker 2:It's a great game though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a great game, but that doesn't mean that the general public knows what it is. It's not like Monopoly.
Speaker 2:Well, clearly they just have a very unique skill set of knowledge.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're right, it's the 29 other people, it's not you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, great Moving on.
Speaker 1:So today we have four Bloody Mary themed stories for you all. Two of them are fiction, two of them are nonfiction.
Speaker 2:Nonfiction stories about a ghost.
Speaker 1:Did you listen to the last episode?
Speaker 2:I watched the movie. Which movie? The movie you made me watch, the one with Elizabeth Bathory.
Speaker 1:We watched the Countess from, I think, like 2009. Which is my original intersection with Elizabeth Bathory. That was a weird one. Yeah, it wasn't really for.
Speaker 2:Alan, she's something I'll tell you. She's something else. She had a lot of bad habits.
Speaker 1:Elizabeth Bathory did. What were some of the habits that you thought were bad?
Speaker 2:I mean I got no qualms with, just like the world's first girl boss.
Speaker 1:I don't know that she was the world's first girl boss. I like to think that there were women with power before the 1500s, but I also don't think equating female serial killers to being girl bosses is quite the message that I want to put out there.
Speaker 2:Okay, no, no, no, this was just. She was being a girl boss before. It was trendy, way ahead of her time.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Clearly there's been other women in history, sure. However, she made some bad decisions, like the whole slathering and virgins blood to stay young. That's bad intel. It's not going to work.
Speaker 1:Between Elizabeth Bathory and Queen Mary, the first, who do you think was more evil?
Speaker 2:Oh, Bathory Hands down.
Speaker 1:Do you think that? Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 2:Queen Mary, the first was just a bitch.
Speaker 1:Well, with Queen Mary the first, we know what she did. We know for a fact that she executed 300-ish people. Bathory is still contested. Right, it could totally be political bullshit. So you have to give her a grain of doubt or something about her reputation. The thing with Queen Mary, though, is that most monarchs executed a bunch of people. It's a complicated web.
Speaker 2:I think of Queen Mary as just I don't know, just like this monarch. That's just like playing the game of you execute people that get in your way. Sometimes you execute people just to show that you're powerful. I'm like, yeah, that's evil, right, but that's also you got to take a perspective of the time All the cool monarchs were doing it. And then you have Bathory, where it's like you know what I could execute these people, or I can take their daughters and slather myself in their blood.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll say this Only one of them has a metal band named after them.
Speaker 2:I mean, yes, of course, bathory being an incredible black metal band. In fact, I made you listen to my favorite album, which is is Nordland One, which is actually different from most of Bathory's other stuff, but still it's my favorite. But there's got to be a band named after Queen Mary. There's bands named after just about everything and everybody.
Speaker 1:Let's look. Queen Mary is an upstate New York premier Queen tribute band and the only Queen tribute to feature a female singer in the role of Freddie Mercury.
Speaker 2:Okay, so not a metal band, but they know how to rock.
Speaker 1:Before we get into it, I also want to remind everybody about our Bloody Mary merch, which is up on lunaticsprojectcom. Click on merch in the upper right hand corner, designed by our incredible friend, pilar Kep, I think hands down the spookiest merch that we have to date. I love the design. It is so cool. We also have some stickers, so reach out to me on Instagram if you want stickers. But very, very, very grateful to Pilar because it's an amazing design.
Speaker 2:Pilar, if you are listening. First off, this is one of my favorite designs of all time and secondly, I wore the Bloody Mary shirt on set and was approached by multiple people asking what's this from? We talk about the podcast, but then they're like, okay, cool, cool, but who's your designer? And then I tell them who is, and then they immediately wanted your contact info. So you are just killing it.
Speaker 1:And if you want yours, you can head to lunaticsprojectcom and click on merch, which is where we keep all of our merch.
Speaker 2:Dan, it's in the merch bag.
Speaker 1:Okay, enough of that. I am actually incredibly excited for these stories because, among many reasons, but one of the reasons being that four of our very, very talented friends are making their voice acting debut on the podcast in this episode, and I'm really, really thrilled for you all to hear the work that they've done, because it's incredible. We have new people for this Fresh meat, if you will.
Speaker 3:Fresh meat.
Speaker 2:That was a butcher reference for all you Diablo fans out there.
Speaker 1:There's so many of you I know it's not just Alan. Okay, so let's roll the tape on the first story. We're going to ease our way into a density here, so this is our shortest story.
Speaker 2:I actually wrote this we're just going denser and denser.
Speaker 1:Denser and denser, yeah.
Speaker 2:Jesus, normally you do it the other way around, but that's okay, we're going denser and denser.
Speaker 1:We're going into the deep together. Sure, yeah, so let's just try a little brief one on for size.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, normally on a dive you go down, but then you come up again.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:We're just going down and staying at the bottom.
Speaker 1:I'll consider it Okay, we'll see. Nothing is set in stone yet.
Speaker 2:Alright, roll the tape.
Speaker 3:The mirror Red by Abby Brayker.
Speaker 4:Red by Adam McEluny Bloody eyes stare back at me as I stand in my dark bathroom. Only a single candle illuminates the horrific scene in front of me. I could see myself in the reflection of the mirror, but I don't look like myself. I look dead or maybe undead, but either way it isn't pretty. Blood drips from my eyes and teeth. My hair was hacked to bits and my nails were black and falling off. Now it sounds pretty metal, but in reality it's pretty gross. I admit I would have been scared, but this is just how my reflection appears at night.
Speaker 4:I've been living with this burden since I was eight and I played the sleepover game Bloody Mary. You know the one where you stand in front of a mirror and chant her name three times and blah, blah, blah. A ghost appears or some shit. All the other annoying eight-year-olds run in and out of the bathroom, giggling and scaring each other. No one ever expects it to work. Well, in my case it worked. Yay for me.
Speaker 4:Ever since that night, I can't go to the bathroom after dark without looking like an absolutely grotesque version of myself. At first I tried to avoid mirrors, but now I'm used to it. Hey, it actually makes me feel a bit better about myself during the day, silver lining. The interesting thing is that when I was eight and this first happened, I swear there was a figure in the mirror Beside me I mean Like a woman with a fucked up face standing next to me, smiling in the creepiest way Real B, horror movie shit. But ever since that night it's been me who looks messed up in the mirror, which begs the question how the fuck did that happen?
Speaker 4:Am I now Bloody Mary? Am I living in some alternate universe, while the real Bloody Mary has escaped into my body and is living out my hopes and dreams? Is this why I can't get out of this small, stupid town I've lived in for the past 29 years? Or is someone always with me? Is some screwed up demon watching me while I go about my sad life, sharing my brain? If I think about it all too much, I'll go crazy.
Speaker 4:So try not to for as long as possible, but inevitably I have to pee in the middle of the night and boom Bloody Mary's in my face yet again. If only I would remember to stop drinking sleepy time tea before bed. But that's a story for another day. And before you jump in with your obvious suggestions yes, I've tried reversing the ritual. Yes, I've tried about a thousand variations and yes, I've been to an exorcist no dice. Anyway, this is all to say. I had a lot of fun tonight. I'd love it if you came back to my place, but I wanted to warn you ahead of time in case you caught my reflection in the mirror after midnight. What do you say?
Speaker 2:That was the most abby story I've ever heard.
Speaker 1:There's nothing to keep you humble, Alan, bursting out laughing during a story that you wrote.
Speaker 2:Okay, so here's the thing. First off, this was my first time hearing Adam's narration and he's great. He's just got this quick energy to it. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:He has the perfect energy to not make the story too cringy.
Speaker 2:Getting to that. Nah, I'm just teasing. I really actually enjoyed this story. I thought you built a cool lore. You know. Again it's like how do you take this party game and turn it into a horror movie? And, as per the last episode, apparently there's a bunch of Bloody Mary horror movies, of which we've seen none.
Speaker 1:We've seen a few.
Speaker 2:We saw the Countess, which is not a Bloody Mary movie.
Speaker 1:Paranormal Activity 3.
Speaker 2:Did you see it? Yeah, oh, I did not.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Well, okay, I'll go watch it. All right, all right, but then if you want to talk true horror it's when you drink too much sleepy time tea and then try to go to bed it's impossible. You're going to have to get up and pee Again. This is the most abby story I've ever heard.
Speaker 1:I have a small platter. Anyway, I want to get back to Adam. I think Adam was amazing, so thrilled with his debut performance on Loot at Tick's Radio Hour. He did an amazing job, super talented. He brought a ton of great energy to the story.
Speaker 2:I want to hear Adam do a teen werewolf narration.
Speaker 1:Should we write a story for?
Speaker 2:him. I think that'd be perfect.
Speaker 1:Adam just screams teen werewolf to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, even his voice sounds pretty, you know, and there's always just like that juxtaposition between like pretty and gruesome in werewolf stories.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:I want to see that other side.
Speaker 1:You want to see his vocal range, the dark side of Adam's voice.
Speaker 2:I know it's there, I just I want to drag it out.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, I'll start working on it. Thank you, yeah, so thank you, adam, and Adam is one half of a little band called Beach Therapy, and we're actually going to hear from the second half of Beach Therapy later in this episode. I would say Beach Therapy is best described as indie, mellow, contemporary surfer, rock Sure.
Speaker 1:We have a lot of fun listening to Beach Therapy. We did. We actually went on a road trip recently with Adam and Mike and got to hear a lot about their philosophy on music, and so now I have a very profound understanding for the music that they make. So we'll leave a link in the description of this episode to our favorite album from Beach Therapy. And please listen, please support them. They're really, really talented and we're really, really thankful that they're part of this episode. I would also say that they're pretty talented comedians, but they are.
Speaker 2:They're funny guys.
Speaker 1:They're really funny guys. That's why we wanted to give someone a little something funny in this episode. You know it was pretty funny. Can't be all gore all the time.
Speaker 2:It can be.
Speaker 1:So our next story comes to us from a returning writer who's been on Lunatics Radio Hour previously. This story is from JR Santos, and JR also sent in a story for our Goblins episode. If you recognize his work, he's from Portugal. The story takes place in Portugal. It's a local take on the format of a Bloody Mary ritual, so it's a little bit different and I love that. We're going to get some kind of fresh energy in this yeah that's great yeah. Okay, so here roll the tape.
Speaker 3:The Sunday Stalker. Written by JR Santos. Read by Jeff Mears.
Speaker 5:The following testimony is a recreation translated from the original source material Translated from Portuguese. The original account is from an audio recording dating April 4th 1994. The statement was originally provided by Manuel Olivaire, age 82, who appeared to be in full control of his faculties. Older neighbors attested to him telling the same story for decades to anyone who would care to listen. I saw him myself. People had warned me before about him, but they warned us about mermaids too, and I don't think those are real. The funny thing, though, is that we don't have a name for him. It was just a man who would take you away if you were naughty a boogie man.
Speaker 5:Anyway, back then there was only one church, because was very isolated and too far south, just beaches in the sea. Imagine a little town with all the small little buildings painted white and everyone's skin is tanned by the sun. It's still hot during summer, hot enough. Some people die. My grandparents made me go to that small little church, and when the bell rang, everyone could hear it far and wide. Every Sunday, the church bells rang to call us to mass, and you would just go. Tourists were a thing, but not as much as these days. All the people who attended any church were locals and everyone knew everyone in the village.
Speaker 5:I was running barefoot down the street and this must have been. I was 12, or something like that. No, yes, yes, I was 12. My older brother died that year. My clothes had been my brother's leftovers. He had grown too big for them and I had no shoes. Yet he had his first pair that year, beautiful brown shoes. A local cobbler made them and they were the most beautiful shoes I'd ever seen. It makes me sad how we don't make things anymore. Oh, I remember I was alone that day. Did I say that already? My grandparents were sick and my parents had to go to the market at San Pedro to sell fish and they took my older brother with them. I was young, so young.
Speaker 5:The night before I snuck out of the house to meet my first girlfriend. We were up until late. We sang and played by the sea. She said to me go home, manuel. If we're late for church tomorrow, god will send a devil to punish us. I laughed and I told her I wasn't afraid. She dared me to prove it. I don't know if she made it up on the spot, but she told me her older sister had taught her. She made me pick up a small rock and draw a stick figure on a bigger rock. I drew the little man with long arms and legs. We buried him upside down and she drew a star in the sand right atop that rock. He had been called. I never forgave that girl. It's been so long now, so long.
Speaker 5:So the next day I'm running late and I'm all alone. He walks right to me real slow and I stop to look up Late to church. He asked me. He had a weird way of talking, his face all saggy. He was just standing between two homes. He was tall, really tall, and had a wide brim hat and wore all black. He also had a golden cross, a weird looking one. It looked wrong melted. When I first glanced at him I thought he's not the priest, he's no one that I know. Back then we were told to respect our elders, so I answered anyhow, I had completely forgotten the little game from the night before. I said yes and he grabbed my shoulder before I could get back to running. It was early but already so hot and his hand was cold. Here we're late.
Speaker 5:I don't know how it happened. A church was standing where he had come from, one I had never seen before. It looked nothing like the one I knew. Ours was all stone and white caulk and orange tiles and this one was all wood and painted black. It smelled awful, awful, like mold.
Speaker 5:The door opened on its own and I pulled away and ran. When I looked behind me, he was chasing me with big, big steps. He grabbed me by my hair and dragged me back to that church. Everything inside looked abandoned. Statues of saints were half broken, coated with filth. He pushed me to the altar and turned me around. Some people were just sitting on the pews and they hadn't been there before. I thought these are the damned. He grabbed my jaw with one hand, pried my mouth open with those long fingers of his, picked a tooth and then pulled it straight out of my mouth. Nothing ever hurt me that badly, ever again. It was a baby tooth, but nothing has grown since. He just plucked it with roots and all like a little pearl.
Speaker 5:I kicked and screamed and knocked down something that was on the altar. When I try to remember, it gets fuzzy. I remember little bones, other things too. The man let go of me to pick up the things rolling on the ground and the people on the pews rushed to the altar too, and I ran out with my mouth full of blood. He never said another word, but I remember hearing him breathing loud, so loud, trying to get all the bones back together.
Speaker 5:I ran for my life and made it to the church that I knew, then opened the doors and scared everyone. I was screaming and crying and I got a beating from my trouble. They told me not to make up lies and to be careful that I had hurt myself because I was a reckless little fool. Funny, isn't it? They warned you about him, but don't believe you when and that's it my brother died that year. Did I mention that he was playing outside? There was a storm and he told me he heard the church bells and he was gone, running in the rain running away to the bells. They found him the next day dead by a cliff. All his teeth were gone and other things. I got his shoes.
Speaker 2:I gotta say that story had chops. That was excellent. I wish we had more localized or especially foreign folklore type stories.
Speaker 1:On the podcast.
Speaker 2:yeah, and it's always been the great ambition project to just do a series of horror around the world, or we just do a series on Portugal, a series on Greenland I'm sure Kenya has some crazy fucking folklore, of course, and these are things that I wouldn't even know where to begin, and so it's gonna be Brands, bank and New. But, regardless this story, it checked all the boxes, it was relatable, it was scary and it had that very old time folklore feel, especially when you have this demonic entity or something that plucks teeth.
Speaker 1:It also I feel like I grew with all of that and it also has a lot of heart, because you have the heartache at the end of knowing what happened to your brother and the same thing that you know in this horrifying ordeal that you escaped from.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is just great writing.
Speaker 1:Great writing.
Speaker 2:And also excellent job pairing this with Jeff.
Speaker 1:Jeff.
Speaker 2:I'm familiar with Jeff from an acting perspective, but I've never heard him do voice work before he fucking nailed it. It's so awesome when you see someone he's like, oh yeah, he's really talented, and then you just see him do something completely different and then also nail that, yeah, and it's like, oh damn, he has it all, this guy.
Speaker 1:A double threat. So you can support JR by checking out a short story anthology that features his work. It's called Escalators to Hell Shopping Mall Horror and that's by From Beyond Press. You can also purchase his book we Living Failures on Amazon and of course, I will link that in the description of this episode. So please go support JR Again. We're such fans of his work. If you want to see more from Jeff, we actually have an interview with Jeff about this film up on our website, lunaticsprojectcom, and I'll put it across social media. But Jeff actually starred in a horror film called this Is Our Home, which you can watch on Amazon, and it's about a couple's weekend getaway and how it goes awry when a child arrives in the middle of the night claiming to be their son.
Speaker 2:A story as old as time.
Speaker 1:And I will say if anyone watches this film, come join us on Discord, because I would like to talk about the scissors scene with somebody else. So if you watch it, find us on Discord. Let's talk about the scissors scene.
Speaker 2:Okay, that was a great one. That's gonna be really hard to follow up.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's see what we can do.
Speaker 2:Bring in the heaviest hitter.
Speaker 1:Well, we have two stories left Again. Now we're in nonfiction territory Again. We're getting closer and closer in density to the molten core of this topic, if you will.
Speaker 2:That actually has a lower density.
Speaker 1:All right. So next up we have an essay that was written by our friend Courtney Eastman at the Ghoul Guide, and this is really special. I do want to say before we start that it actually first was published in the feminine macabre three, which is an anthology that I am such a fan girl of, so it's an honor that she shared it with us today. But this again is nonfiction. It's an essay all about a similar conjuring ritual to a Bloody Mary, and it gives you some context and directions on how to do it yourself.
Speaker 2:Well, now I'm just second guessing myself, because a liquid would naturally have a lower density than a solid. However, it's at the very center, leading to believe that the highest density things sink to the center. So like I don't even know what to believe anymore, there's only one way to find out. Roll the tape.
Speaker 3:He comes at midnight. Red by Courtney Easton. Red by Lisa Sweetie.
Speaker 6:Before I had my own paranormal experience around the age of seven, I had a natural curiosity towards the things that went bump in the night and the stories which were seldom told. As I grew older, the eagerness I had towards the supernatural grew along with me. It opened up doors that would lead me down rabbit holes of the occult urban legends and superstitions. While most of the urban legends and dark history would grab my attention, until the paranormal shows debuted, there had been one subtopic that had left me fascinated. Amongst the many under the supernatural umbrella, occult games and dabbling into the paranormal world seemed to have become a rite of passage. In the pre-teen years, not a sleepover went by without playing some type of supernatural game or telling the scariest tales right before everyone had fallen asleep. We're all guilty of indulging in these curiosities in some fashion. Many might have tried their luck at a round of light as a feather stiff as a board. Others might have gathered their friends to see what secrets could be revealed with a Ouija board. My friends and I often found ourselves testing our fears to see if the legends of Bloody Mary and Candyman were true. However, it didn't go without some convincing and trying to ease the fear-based hesitation that lingered in the room once the idea had surfaced. Oh come on, it's just a game. I never knew who I'd been trying to convince more when I made the enticing comment my friends or myself but it had been enough for everyone to hear as we piled ourselves into the bathroom to face our fears, though we didn't see anything besides our candlelit reflections. After muttering the cursed name, we ended up laughing over the fallen suspense when nothing happened and went on with the night. Still, these occult games and legends left me intrigued.
Speaker 6:In Made to Late 2011, my interest in these games peaked once more after lying dormant for some years. Vlog posts had come across my screen late one night detailing a handful of supernatural games that were crowned as the most dangerous games to be played. Each of them had been laced with just as many warnings as there were intricate roles. They were all unique, yet spoke of the same grim outcome if anything were to go awry. One by one, I read through the list. While slowly creeping myself out the further I scrolled. A dark twist on a beloved childhood game carrying a foreboding name claimed the last spot. Its frightening details were some I couldn't recall from past readings, and the unsettling feeling it brought left my stomach in knots. However, that didn't stop the morbid curiosity from pulling me deeper into the story of the Midnight man.
Speaker 6:It's to be believed that the Midnight man stems from an ancient pagan ritual primarily used as a punishment for lawbreakers to perform, served as a scare tactic to deter anyone from disobeying the gods. There are claims that this ritual could have severe consequences, including possible mental scarring. In what seems to be a tormented game of hide and seek, those whose fate is up for question summon the Midnight man, then are left to spend the dead hours of the night outrunning him and the ill fate that comes once he finds the victims. While a connection to actual pagan traditions has yet to be confirmed, from my knowledge the spine-tangling tale seems to have gotten its start on creepypasta, a popular horror blog accessed from around the world. Over the years, the original posting of the story had disappeared into archives, but the information of this ritual found ways of being spread. Short stories had been written by inspired bloggers, while thrill seekers looking for content dared to play the game for YouTube views. The legend had even seeped into the Hollywood world as several horror movies painted the picture to this grim game, and while it's known to take everything coming from the internet with a grain of salt, I can't help but find myself wondering if there's something actually to the game or if it's just a great story that knows how to pull a horror audience in.
Speaker 6:For the brave souls that wish to have their hands at this game, there are a few things you'll need to gather and need to remember as you go through your night. Though Tylee encouraged not to dabble with this game, if you happen to still go through with it, it'll be wiser to play with more than one person. The directions for the summoning are to be followed precisely and you'll need to remain vigilant. This isn't for anyone who cannot see anything through, because once the game has started, there's no going back. Supplies needed One candle, a lighter or book of matches, a piece of paper, pen or a pencil, a sterilized pin, a closed wooden door, salt, preferably enough to cast a circle, if needed, a home or building with enough space to roam around the invitation.
Speaker 6:Players are to begin before midnight. Once everyone involved has their own set of items needed to perform the ritual, you may begin. On your piece of paper, you must write down your full name, first, middle and last, with the writing implement you've chosen. Taking the sterilized pin, each player must prick their finger and squeeze a drop of blood onto the paper, thus sealing their fate in the game. While the blood soaks into the paper, take this time to go around the place you're playing and turn off every single light. Once all the lights in the designated playing area have been shut off, each player is to take the paper with their name on it and place it in front of a closed wooden door. Use the matches or lighter to light the candle and place it on top of the paper. Every player now must knock on the closed door 22 times, leaving the final beckoning knock to happen precisely at the stroke of midnight. After the final knock, you are to open the door and blow out the candles before closing it. Once the door has been shut, everyone must immediately relight their candle and prepare for a night that some might regret.
Speaker 6:The game begins. The relighting of each candle signifies the beginning of the frightful night one could be in for. Now, at all costs. Participants are to avoid the Midnight man as they wander through the area designated as the playing field until the clock reaches 3.33 am, each holding their candle matches in salt. Players need to constantly be on the move and hyper-vigilant to their surroundings. The Midnight man lurks in the shadows watching your every move as he waits for the chance moment to strike. If one becomes sentient for too long, they run the risk of becoming a target for the Midnight man in his wrath.
Speaker 6:There are a few known ways to tell if the Midnight man is close by and if danger is on the horizon. One could feel the sudden temperature drops that his presence can bring. While some might hear his taunting, disembodied voice, his shadow figure has also been spotted out of the corner of participants eyes or even lurking in the corners of the room. If any of those occur as you are playing, leave the room immediately and hope he isn't following behind. However, if the candle in hand goes out for any reason, that's when the danger truly sets in.
Speaker 6:From the second, the candle flame diminishes. You have 10 seconds to relight the candle in hopes to stay safe from the Midnight man. If the candle fails to become relit, the participant then must quickly circle themselves with the salt and stay inside until 3.33 am. You mustn't fail to do either. Failure to complete the salt circle or relight the candle could result in one's worst fears becoming true, whatever they might be. From the time failed to the game's end, the Midnight man tortures the failed player with hallucinations of their greatest fears. There's some tellings of this tale claim, if caught, he could remove organs and bring death upon those who lost the game.
Speaker 6:As the clock strikes 3.33 am, the game comes to an end. Those who have not been closed in a circle of salt can blow out their candle and stop wandering around. Those given a second chance can step out of their circle and, hopefully, for those who didn't quite make the 10 second time frame, their hallucinated nightmares are ending. For those who survived have avoided the Midnight Man's attempted attacks. You've successfully and narrowly won against him. However, players should never assume that he's left once the clock has struck 3.33 am. Some believe that once you've played, he never truly leaves.
Speaker 6:The warnings Players are not to turn on any of the lights or use a flashlight or lighter to replace a candle throughout the game. Players are not to sleep at any point during the game, even when surrounded by salt. Players are not allowed to leave the house or building once the game has started. You must remain indoors until 3.33 am. Players are not to use another person's blood at the start of the game. Players are not to provoke the Midnight man at any point during the game.
Speaker 6:The Midnight man will remain nothing more than a scary yet thought-provoking legend for me. I'm not sure if the unsettling realness feeling it always brought me will ever go away. It's been 10 years since I first found out about this legend, and yet the same stomach-knotting feeling I had that first night still rushes over me. The thrill that comes with the paranormal field has lured me into many unfortunate and scary situations, but trying my luck with an entity of his stature isn't one worth chasing, at least not yet. Though, if you do try your luck to see if this urban legend has some inkling of truth within it, I'd like to know your experience. I mean, what could go wrong? After all, it's just game.
Speaker 2:You might have said this early on, but where did this come from?
Speaker 1:So this is from our friend, Courtney Eastman, who's also known as the ghoul guide on Instagram. She's one of our great internet friends and this essay first appeared in the feminine macabre 3, which is an incredible anthology that I absolutely love, but it's filled with personal essays and kind of like information sharing from the paranormal community, and so Courtney took that opportunity to write about a legend similar to Bloody Mary called the Midnight man, and she provided again like historical context to the story instructions on how to play the game and some personal anecdotes in there.
Speaker 2:I just really enjoyed it. I felt it was very fascinating. I think we should put more instructables on here.
Speaker 1:Oh, instructables.
Speaker 2:It, just it was cool. It was a nice change of pace. I found it very matter of fact, while without being the least bit dry.
Speaker 1:There you go. We love that.
Speaker 2:Very cool, I don't know. It felt like. I felt like it's like the closest thing you can get to just like reading forbidden knowledge that's not written by like monks.
Speaker 1:Ooh, I love that okay.
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean nothing against John Fox.
Speaker 1:Well, we're gonna get to him.
Speaker 2:Okay, but you know, his shit's probably dry as fuck.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll see for ourselves in a few minutes.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, really yeah, okay, well, but let's I do wanna say please follow Courtney Eastman on Instagram at the Google guide it's one of the best Instagram followers you can take part in if you are a fan of the paranormal and also follow Lisa Sweeney, our narrator. Lisa is such a talented actor. I'm so, so thrilled that she was on this episode. I will link her handle, of course, across social media and in the description below, but Lisa Sweeney on Instagram and you will not regret it.
Speaker 2:That was Lisa.
Speaker 1:That was Lisa I did not realize.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's really cool. I've never met Lisa in person.
Speaker 1:Ships in the night.
Speaker 2:But we have an upcoming collaboration, so I'm very excited.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes. Stay tuned for that. All right, shall we move on to our finale story?
Speaker 2:Please, what could this possibly be?
Speaker 1:So, as you guys probably hopefully remember from the last episode, the history of Bloody Mary, we talked at length about John Fox and his Book of Martyrs, and Alan was actually supposed to be John Fox's Book of Martyrs along with me, dressing up as Bloody Mary for Halloween, but he punked out.
Speaker 2:I did. I couldn't get my fox costume together in time.
Speaker 1:And it was a huge missed opportunity for the history nerds that were at this party, but that's okay. There's always another year Just as a reminder, some historical context to place us in space and time here. Fox's Book of Martyrs dates back to 1563. And many believe that he is partially to blame for Queen Mary's exaggerated reputation. So this book was so popular that it went on to have four editions, and 30 of the 67 wood carvings used as illustrations in the first edition portray executions under Mary's ruling. It really paints Mary as a cruel and inhuman executioner of innocence.
Speaker 2:As opposed to those kind and humane executioners.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:Oh, I guess that's like veterinarians.
Speaker 1:God. Beyond the number of carvings dedicated to Mary's reign, there's also very obvious gruesomeness depicted in these visuals. Right, they're not easy to digest and we will post them on social so you can see what they look like. So, without further ado, I picked some of the most rock and roll execution portrayals that I could find under Mary's chapters.
Speaker 2:Let's see how rock and roll John Fox from 1563 can possibly be.
Speaker 1:All right, here we go.
Speaker 3:Fox's Book of Martyrs, read by John Fox, read by Mike Becerra.
Speaker 7:The execution of Lady Jane and then, kneeling down, she turned to Fekinham saying shall I say this Psalm? And he said yes. Then she said the Psalm in English in a most devout manner throughout, to the end, and then she stood up and gave her maid, mrs Ellen, her gloves and handkerchief and her book to Mr Bruges. And then she untied her gown and the executioner pressed upon her to help her off with it, but she, desiring him to let her alone, turned towards her two maids who helped her off their with and also with her frows paffed and neckerchief, giving to her a fair handkerchief to put about her eyes. Then the executioner kneeled down and asked for forgiveness, whom she forgave most willingly. Then he desired her to stand upon the straw, which doing she saw the block. Then she said I pray you dispatch me quickly. Then she kneeled down saying will you take it off before I lay me down? And the executioner said no, madam. Then she tied a handkerchief about her eyes and, feeling for the block, she said what shall I do? Where is it? Where is it One of the standards? By guiding her thereunto, she laid her head upon the block and then stretched forth her body and said Lord, into thy hands, I commend my spirit. And so finished her life in the year of our Lord, 1554, the 12th day of February, about the 17th year of her age. Thus died the Lady Jane, and on the same day the Lord Guilford, her husband, one of the Duke of Northumberland's sons, was likewise beheaded, two innocents in comparison of them that sat upon them, for they were both very young and ignorantly accepted that which others had contrived and, by open proclamation, consented to take from others and give to them the execution of John Rogers. Well said, mr Woodruff, I will never pray for thee, but I will pray for you, said Mr Rogers.
Speaker 7:And so was brought the same day, the 4th of February, by the sheriffs towards Smithfield, a little before his burning. His pardon was brought, if he would ever canted, but he utterly refused it. He was the first martyr of all the blessed company that suffered in Queen Mary's time that gave the first adventure upon the fire. His wife and children, being 11 in number, 10 able to go, and one sucking at her breast, met him by the way as he went towards Smithfield. This sorrowful sight of his own flesh and blood could nothing move him but that he constantly and cheerfully took his death, with wonderful patience in the defense and quarrel of the gospel of Christ, the execution of Mr John Hopper.
Speaker 7:After the second fire was spent, he wiped both his eyes with his hands and, beholding the people, he said with an indifferent, loud voice for God's love, good people, let me have more fire. And all this while his nether parts did burn. The third fire was kindled within a while after, which was more extreme than the other two. In this fire he prayed with a loud voice Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And these were the last words he was heard to utter. But when he was black in the mouth and his tongue so swollen that he could not speak yet, his lips went till they were shrunk to the gums and he knocked his breast with his hands until one of his arms fell off and then knocked still with the other, while the fat, water and blood dropped out at his fingers ends, until, by renewing the fire, his strength was gone and his hand clave fast in knocking to the iron upon his breast, then, immediately bowing forwards, he yielded up his spirit.
Speaker 2:It was pretty graphic. I'll give him that.
Speaker 1:Nothing like describing the melting of fat while you're burning somebody.
Speaker 2:Right, or things falling out of your mouth as like your organs boil. Yeah, it's a weird one.
Speaker 1:Kind of a somber note to leave us all on, I suppose.
Speaker 2:Like I know, this is a very important Christian text.
Speaker 1:Well, it's a very important piece of propaganda.
Speaker 2:Well, these are martyrs.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So theoretically, you're trying to be sympathetic to these people being executed.
Speaker 1:The purpose of his writings here is to exactly what you're saying provide sympathy to the Protestants that were executed under the reign of the Catholic Church in England and in Scotland.
Speaker 2:I think so. The reason for the heightened level of detail in these graphic displays of violence was to vilify the Catholic executioners.
Speaker 1:I think it was to vilify Catholicism.
Speaker 2:Sure, sure, sure sure. I now understand.
Speaker 1:Great.
Speaker 2:So John Fox is really just a hype man.
Speaker 1:Which is coincidental, because Adam and Mike are perhaps the hype-iest men that I've ever met.
Speaker 2:They are incredible hype men.
Speaker 1:It's incredible, mind-blowing hype men. I actually will equate this is gonna be a niche reference, not for everybody, but I will equate the hype man friendship between Adam and Mike to any given K-pop group.
Speaker 2:Go on.
Speaker 1:If you have seen any sort of video content with BTS say, they are so supportive and encouraging of each other. It's like a cultural thing. It's so lovely and nice and it feels very similar to the Adam-Mike dynamic.
Speaker 2:Well, that's wholesome.
Speaker 1:It's very wholesome.
Speaker 2:Unlike John Fox. Exactly, they're the anti-fox, you sick bastard.
Speaker 1:Again, remember Mike is one half of beach therapy, so check out beach therapy. Anywhere you listen to music and we'll set podcasts. And they're also all filmmakers in their own right, so I'm going to leave a link to one of their latest films in the description of this episode as well. And Mike certainly had the most challenging story in today's episode and just did such a great job with it. It really was one that I would have stumbled over quite a bit, given the language, and it was awesome. He did such a great job.
Speaker 2:I gotta say, all in all, this was a shockingly strong offering for a topic that I had zero faith in, not zero Cause I believe in you, I believe in you, but I don't believe in the topic.
Speaker 1:So but now, how do you feel about the topic?
Speaker 2:It's great. I think this is actually a pretty strong topic.
Speaker 1:Fuck yeah. Abby's revenge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to give it a solid like four out of 10.
Speaker 1:That's so annoying. Okay, okay, well, thank you guys, as always, for listening. We appreciate that everybody has come along on this Bloody Mary journey with us for our October series. I know we usually look at films. This year we threw something different at you, but there's always next year, don't worry.
Speaker 2:But that's also like on us there's a bunch of Bloody Mary films but we just didn't watch them, and so we're going to do that and tell you about them somehow. But I don't know, I'm actually kind of excited, Based off these stories that took very different directions, about just like the Bloody Mary lore or just a Bloody Mary adjacent lore, which I'm assuming is what a lot of these movies are going to be.
Speaker 1:That's right. Well, candy man I mean most people have seen Candy man. I think that's probably the most popular example that exists.
Speaker 2:Sure, I mean, yes, I admit that it's 100% in the world of Bloody Mary but, I, wouldn't consider that a Bloody Mary film.
Speaker 1:No, but it's the same mechanic.
Speaker 2:Same concept, right? Yes, it would qualify. And Candy Man's a great movie. Great movie. What's the sequel called? It's got a crazy fucking byline Candy man 2, Something of Flesh.
Speaker 1:Candy man, Farewell to the Flesh.
Speaker 2:The Candy man franchise really put John Fox on the payroll, because this guy can just write for them all day long. There you go, but regardless, yeah, I'm excited to see what Bloody Mary has to offer for the actual horror community. There you go and remember head to lunaticsprojectcom.
Speaker 1:There you will find articles, videos, everything that we put out, but also, if you click on Merch, you can get your own Bloody Mary sweatshirt.
Speaker 2:Did you really plug the Merch for the second time? This episode? Yeah, come on. Bald bald move.
Speaker 1:No one's even listening anymore. Anyway, the stories are over. Are you kidding me? These stories were great, everyone's tuned out.
Speaker 3:Did you hear the narrators?
Speaker 2:Did you hear Jeff's sultry voice? Like people are still here. I'm not saying that they stopped listening during the stories.
Speaker 1:I'm saying they stopped listening after the stories. That's what they're here for. Anyway, thank you guys so much for being here if you are indeed awake and listening to me and we will be back very soon with a fresh topic for you, and in the meantime, stay spooky, stay safe. Happy Halloween. Talk to you soon.
Speaker 2:Bye.
Speaker 1:Bye, bye, bye.