A Documentary, a Dog, and a House With Rules

0:00 Someone made a true crime documentary about my death. But I'm still here. A few months ago, I got an email at three in the morning. Life Rights Inquiry. Untitled project. Wes Bennett. Documentary producer. I looked him up. He'd done two films I actually recognized. The kind that get nominated for things. He said he'd spent the past year developing a story about me. Wanted to talk. I couldn't imagine what about my life was worth documenting. Hi, Cassie. Hi, Caitlin. Hi, creepy people.

0:44 Hello! Hello! This is PNW Haunts and Homicides, where we chat about true crime, the paranormal... We are doing something a little bit different today. We're still probably going to do a tarot reading. I don't know. We'll see how we feel when we get there. We have to. Okay. Well, we'll see. That's our thing. It's kind of our thing. I came across a story that I thought, holy shit, if I told someone to write a story that would somehow combine tarot our two genres flawlessly, what would it be about? It would be about this. This is that story. Murder and ghosts? Maybe.

1:36 Maybe. A little bit. Or is it like a bank robbery and cryptids? Oh, that would be so cool. Bigfoot robbed a bank. Yeah. That would be sick. That would be sick. No. Damn it. Okay. Okay. So I had a different story by this same Reddit user that I actually reached out to them about first. Oh, cool. Yeah. Okay. So PieEater727, thank you so much because I almost was like, okay, be cool. I definitely was. It wasn't almost. I was definitely like, be cool, be cool, be cool. because I'd already gotten their approval to read a different story, and I was like, what if they think we're just greedy now?

2:29 But I was like, if I can't read any other Reddit story possibly ever, I want to read this one. We're starting with a scary story that somehow is the stuff of both of our nightmares. We'll also hear about an unsettling encounter that And then maybe we'll see. Maybe we'll wrap up our time today with what I thought might, depending on the interpretation, be considered a palate cleanser. So we'll just see how you feel about it when we get there. Someone made a true crime documentary about my death, but I'm still here. Oh! Spooky.

3:16 It reminds me of like when celebrities, like they, someone fakes, puts out that they had died and then they read it or like their friends read it and like try to contact them and be like, are you dead, bro? Are you dead, bro? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. All right. Well, save your guesses, interpretations, and pee until the end. A few months ago, I got an email at three in the morning. Life Rights Inquiry. Untitled project. Wes Bennett. Documentary producer. I looked him up. He'd done two films I actually recognized. The kind that get nominated for things. He said he'd spent the past year developing a story about me. Wanted to talk. I couldn't imagine what about my life was worth documenting. He signed off with a coffee shop three blocks from my apartment.

4:17 He was already sitting when I arrived. Latte on the table, made exactly how I take it, down to the extra shot I usually get. Hell yeah, me too. I was like, this is where Cassie gets so invested. Yeah, extra shot. She's a Derby's girl. I save all my points to buy the extra shot. A leather folder sat under his hand like it might try to leave without him. We talked about my life, my childhood, my job, the street I grew up on. At first, it was almost flattering. I remember relaxing into it, laughing at something he said.

4:59 He had a charm you didn't notice until it closed around you. Then he mentioned a third act. Is he going to kill her? I figured it out. A stretch where I go quiet. Pull away. Get hard to reach. The front door, one night, wouldn't be locked the way I left it. No forced entry. I was so confused. Asked him what kind of documentary was this supposed to be? True crime, he said, like I'd missed something obvious. I laughed. The alternative was worse.

5:43 Who's crying? He looked at me the way you look at a child who's asked something idiotic. Open the folder, absent-minded. Photographs. My building. My hallway. My front door, shot from an angle that didn't exist unless the camera stood inside my apartment, looking out. Ooh, I got chills. That's creepy. My chair screeched against the floor before I knew I'd stood. Wes closed the folder with the same calm he'd opened it. We already have most of the footage, he said. I just wanted you to know your side gets told too.

6:26 Seemed like the ethical thing to do. Dude, this is really creepy. Is he like the documentary serial killer where he like Does the documentary about the killing, but like he killed them? Could be. I blocked his number that night. Email, phone, the production company's main line. A week of nothing. One night, my neighbor mentioned in passing that a man had come by asking questions about me for a film project. He said it as a compliment, like I'd made it big. Couldn't remember the name. Was pretty sure he'd signed something. I swear things in my apartment started moving around after that.

7:12 A mug two inches from where I'd set it. A chair turned toward the window like someone had been staging it for a shot. Ooh, it sounds like some books that I read. Right? I stopped sleeping right. Awake at strange hours. Certain I heard a shutter click. Hide under the covers. Hold my breath until my chest burned. I never saw a camera. That absence became its own kind of animal. A wrongness under the skin. The way you feel a fever coming on. I moved. Told no one the new address. Not even my mother. That's exactly what you should do. I know, right?

7:57 Kind of sounds like you got the right idea. You're in wit sec now. One sleepless night. I opened a streaming service looking for something to fill the quiet. A thumbnail stopped my thumb before my brain caught up. My face. Badly lit. Mid-laugh. A title underneath. Plain sight. A documentary. One hour, 33 minutes. Released today. My hands went cold before I pressed play. The first 20 minutes were the coffee shop. Our conversations. cut tight, scored with ominous strings. Wes's voice pitching to a version of me who looked far more frightened on screen than I remember feeling in the room.

8:47 My old building, my neighbor telling the camera how we met, my front door filmed from inside looking out. No. That angle again. A news segment, the kind that runs after a body turns up. a reporter at the edge of a tree line, floodlights, officers moving through underbrush, heads down, sweeping flashlights over the ground. The reporter said my full name into the microphone. Cut to my mother in the house I grew up in, sitting too straight at the kitchen table, hands folded like she's bracing for news that hasn't quite hit her yet. She looked into the lens, said how she misses her daughter, wishes she could hear her voice again. The tree line again, closer now. A stuffed rabbit, half sunk in wet leaves. The one that slept on my bed since I was six. The one sitting on the shelf behind me right now. The camera moved, slow, reverent.

9:57 There I was, face down, in the dirt, a coat I don't own yet, hair fanned out wrong. I remembered my own voice, high and cracked, screaming at the television that none of this happened, that it wasn't real, like the television could be argued with. Then, my new apartment. Right now, a static shot of my front door. Heavy breathing, like someone standing too close to the microphone. I looked up from the screen. My front door was open. I slammed it shut. Locked it. Called the police with my back against the wood. They came fast. Walked the apartment. Checked the hinges, the frame, the fire escape. Nothing forced. Nothing broken. Nothing missing. I told them about the TV. Told them the counter was still crawling. They just needed to look. Okay, so this is where I'm going to interject and say, you know, at the bottom of the screen when you're watching the show. Okay, okay.

11:10 Not the counter was like crawling with ants. Yeah, yeah. That's where my head went first, which is how you know that I live. In a place with a lot of greenery. Yeah. Because we have ants all the time. No matter what you do. There was nothing. Just a blank screen, they said. Kind. The way you talk to someone who's had a scare over nothing. They told me to get some rest and left for the night. The documentary didn't stop. It doesn't stop. That's the part I keep circling back to. Awake at four in the morning with the runtime bar, still sitting at five minutes remaining, no matter how many times I check.

11:59 Five minutes of a thing that hasn't happened. Counting down to a version of me in woods I've never been. I sleep with the rabbit now. Make sure it's on the bed every night before I check the locks. I mean, I don't know if I'd want it with me if that's a part of it. I would maybe get rid of it. I don't know if getting rid of the singular stuffed animal changes anything. It could. Butterfly effect. I'm still here. I want that on record somewhere that isn't their footage. I'm still here. I'm still alive. I'm still here. Dude, that's so creepy. Is that the end? That's the end.

12:49 That is so creepy to like have a documentary with the person who was murdered in it like talking. Right. Like I know people use like past videos and things. Yeah. During the production. Right. Because you shouldn't know that this person is going to be murdered. Yeah. So many things. Oh my God. All right. This next one is actually a Pacific Northwest story. Oh, okay. I like that. By OK The Nomad. Okay. The Nomad. The Nomad. Dog perceives things in my little cabin near Mount St. Helens. Dash, dash, dash. Posting in real time. Ooh.

13:41 I'm at my little cabin in the middle of nowhere near Mount St. Helens in Washington State. My dog just did this weird thing he has started doing at the cabin. In fact, he is doing it now. It only happens when it is dark outside. Here's what happens. All of a sudden, he becomes super alert. Body frozen, tail up, eyes fixed on something across the room. Only there's nothing there. Yes, there is. You just can't see it, but your dog can. He often tries to walk up or follow what he is seeing. He just did that a few seconds ago.

14:24 He just stares vigilantly like he's watching prey or something. Whatever he is seeing, he sees in various parts of the cabin. He goes and checks corners, etc. He will do this for much of the evening. Really, the whole evening. Ooh. He is not a hunting breed. He is just a little cute rescue with an underbite. Oh, I love an underbite. So cute. Tonight, I asked him if he wanted to play his game. It's one of those dog games you can buy where they find hidden treats. Like a puzzle? Yeah. That's what I'm picturing.

15:06 Yeah. I play this game with him every night and he loves it. He gets all excited when he sees me pull out the game and fill it with treats. He barks with joy when I ask him if he wants to play. Oh, that is so cute. Tonight, he was so intent on whatever he was looking at, he didn't even notice when I loaded his game. Dude, something's there. He didn't look at me when I asked him if he wanted to play. This is a dog who is highly motivated by food, too. Finally, I interested him in trying to play. He made a few half-hearted attempts, but he'd stop trying to make a treat appear and start looking at his whatever. He didn't even finish the game. Usually, he plays it full-heartedly and we do two rounds. I didn't even bother him with the second round tonight. He hasn't always done this in the cabins. It started maybe a few months ago. I don't live here. It's more a vacation cabin that I come up to on weekends. Crap.

16:14 Now he's whining a tiny bit at whatever he sees and looks at me like he wants to show me what he sees. He just jumped off the couch to go after whatever it is. Oh my god, I can like see him in the cabin like typing this out. Right? I'm getting creeped out right now. even more creeped out by writing this. I love the cabin. It's my place of peace and I'll never stop coming here. But ick, I'm creeped out. I wish he'd stop doing this. This has nothing to do with my story, but my cabin is in major Sasquatch country. I thought Sasquatches have been reportedly seen here more than anywhere else in the country.

16:57 I've never seen one myself, but Sasquatch is well-liked here. It could be part of the story. Could be. It could be. You know what is part of the story? What? Just a short little update. Oh, that was the end? Okay. Well, yeah. Then I want an update. Yeah, you want an update. Update to dog perceives things at my little cabin near Mount St. Helens. Hey, everyone. A couple months ago, I posted about my dog acting strange and Getting the super alert and walking up to walls at my cabin as if he perceived something. Here's a little update. After the weekend I posted in real time, we came up to the cabin a second time. At night, he was still at high alert and spent the evenings stalking his prey.

17:48 Pretty much the same as the weekend I posted. Now we are here a third time and what does he do? Nothing. Nothing. First couple of nights here, he was on alert a little bit at the beginning of the evening, maybe 25 minutes, then nothing. For the past five days, he isn't even interested. Right now, he's just sleeping in front of the fire. Now I'm feeling a little guilty and worried that he is bored after all the fun and action when he could spend the entire evening stalking. I'm glad he stopped though. I haven't done anything different here at the cabin compared to several weeks ago, but the autumn is spectacular here in Washington and I've taken up a new hobby, animal tracking.

18:34 I'm just beginning. The dog and I go to the nearby lake bed, which is a reservoir that is drained after summer. It is really easy to see prints. but I'm just getting into it and need more practice. So far, I can basically do dog, not dog. Although... I. Know, I know. Although I think I saw fox prints and possibly a cougar, but I'm not going to claim the cougar because I'm not sure. Thanks for all the help on my previous post. And I'm going to read some comments. Okay, I have one thing to say first. Yeah, you got to get in there. Actually, two things. I feel like there was rodents in the wall. Oh, maybe. Just like, I don't know.

19:23 Maybe they were there and went away. But wouldn't you hear it? Maybe not always. Like, I know a dog could, like, hear it way better. I don't know. Something was in the walls or something. Or it just, like, got used to the dog and, like, stopped. Like maybe it was checking out the dog or like the dog just got used to the entity. Something like that. But also about the prints. Okay. I know how to tell cougar prints. Oh, really? Yeah. Like they have like the stilettos. Oh my gosh. Yes. Okay. That totally makes sense. Okay. Cougar print. I'm going to look it up. Yeah. Because like you mean like their little nails? No. Oh.

20:07 Oh. Oh, my God. That was so funny. You fucking meant like cougar town. I meant like, yeah, they wear stilettos instead of like a wedge. Oh, my God. What cougar in her goddamn mind is actually wearing stilettos? I don't know. It was just a funny, I thought. Yep. Thank you. It's funny now that I get it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. I know nothing about animal prints. Yeah, I feel like you should have been forced legally to say that. I guess so. I see where your brain went, though. And that was smart.

20:49 Was it? Because they got, like, the stiletto clause. Was it? Was it? You're like, yeah, stiletto clause. I get it. I have to go. So, one of her comments here. I don't know if this was actually the top comment, but they say, I remember your post. With him stopping his anxious behavior, I wonder if a bear or some other apex, they say creature, but apex like predator, right? I mean, had been stalking around the cabin. Yeah. But with winter approaching, has gone into hibernation or elsewhere for easy food.

21:29 That makes sense. It's not a bad theory, to be honest. Because you might not necessarily hear it with your human ears. Right. Yeah. I mean, they're smelling it. Probably is kind of the thing. So if we were going to go with like a logical explanation, I feel like this is a good one. Or it was Bigfoot out there. Right. I mean, it could be that. Because he would still smell Bigfoot. I think it was Bigfoot. Now that I'm thinking about it. They're in Squatch territory. I take it back. Yeah. No, it was definitely Bigfoot. Could have been fucking Batsquatch. It could have been. Mount St. Helens. Mount St. Helens. It was Batsquatch. Just saying, man. Yeah. They go on to say, it might be worth going on a survival course in case you are ever lost in the woods. Even the best can have a bad day. Also, firearms training with bears and things about. Better to know how and never need it than don't and wish you did.

22:25 Bear mace is for sure a must. Oh, yeah. Which I'm inclined to agree with that. That's a must for just anything, just like in your apartment. Yeah. We're finally getting around to watching Fargo. And listen, if you haven't watched it yet, well, congrats, because we are those people that haven't watched it yet. It's not a spoiler anymore. The show or the movie? Fargo. Yeah, the show. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I've seen the movie, but I haven't seen the show. Oh, okay. I don't think I've seen the movie either. Well, what? Anywho. Steve Buscemi? yeah well so here's the thing there is a big can of like bug spray that comes up in the second season and that's what it makes me think of and i was like good for you judge there's a wood chipper in the movie a wood chipper in the show uh not a wood chipper there's another body destructing device yeah you Okay, I'll go see them.

23:24 Just for the accents alone. Honestly. Well, and now that we went and saw Wine and Crime and then we did the Cannon Beach trip where we actually got to meet them, Chris was like, he's really enjoying their worst Man of Sultan accents. It's really cute. It's so cute. Okay, so the rest of the comments. If you go hiking a lot, invest in the emergency SOS satellite phone things. They can get signal where a normal phone can't. Also, let people know roughly where you were going and what trail, as well as when you think you should be back. Sorry if you know this already, but I watch a lot of missing hiker stories and stuff like that.

24:08 I mean, it's good to comment to have even if the poster, the OP knows, like anyone reading it, you know. If you have info, put it out there. Who cares? Exactly. Yeah. I mean, you never know. Somebody lurking could benefit even if the OP doesn't. Yeah. I feel like that's fair. The OP responded. Thanks for the advice. There was actually a cougar who came into the little cabin community and attacked a dog. Dog is okay. Right in front of a bunch of people. The owner scared him away. Most people think it was a juvenile male who got amped up. Aww. Kate, you remember Cocaine Bear?

24:48 Yeah. Cocaine Cougar. Cocaine Cougar. Sequel, Cocaine Cougar. Just saying. I haven't seen Cocaine Bear, but. Okay, the rest of the comments. This sort of thing happens rarely, but it does happen. I'm asking my kids for a trail cam for Christmas so I can see what goes on outside the cabin at night or during the day, which I also think is really smart. If you set it up to record, you can even, you know, kind of thumb through the footage and check and see if you, you know, before you go up the next weekend, you can see if somebody's been, you know, kind of. Yeah. How else are you supposed to catch Sasquatch? Right. Exactly.

25:29 Exactly. Unless it malfunctions. You have a responsibility. He's like an interdimensional being who fucks up with technology. Well, listen, you got to try. You got to try. What if you catch like something else, like a not deer or like something like a skinwalker or something? Nah, I don't want to talk about that. No trail cams for me. I'm good. I don't need to see what's in the forest. Nah. I'm all good. I like scary stuff, but like, I don't know, creepy forest creatures, like, Unless it's like Jimothy or something. You know? I think I'm all set. Just, you know, across the board. I don't know. I think maybe I'm good. I don't know. With the weird raccoon.

26:10 I don't know. With the spinal deformity. You know? He's so cute. I think maybe I'm just all good. Yeah. I think. She's scared of Jimothy, you guys. I'm just, I'm scared of everything. And I feel like our listeners know that. Yeah. I feel like for some of you, it really keeps you coming back. Next episode, Jimothy. I will go. To actually the first story that I got from that same user, you know, because he wrote the true crime documentary one. This next story is. Also by Pie Eater. 727. Title is... I inherited my uncle's smart house. It came with three rules. Smart house? Yeah. Is this like that house from that Disney movie? Totally.

27:05 Wasn't that called smart house? I have no idea. I think it's basically the same. I'm sure it's just like a Disney movie. Well, it turned out scary because, like, the woman who was, like, the AI of the house, like, tried to take over and whatever. But the house was so cool because they had a party. And to clean it, they just all sunk into the carpet. Like, they didn't have to do anything. That's pretty cool. It just cleaned itself. Is it this, this, that kind of smart house? It's totally that smart house. It's that exact smart house. Yeah. For sure, Zs. I met my Uncle Herb exactly once at nine years old. A funeral for someone I can't remember. He stood in the back the whole time, avoided photos, scanned the room like a security feed. All I knew was that he worked in tech.

27:57 My mother didn't seem keen to tell me more. My only interaction with him was a quick handshake. Lasted maybe a second. He looked through me like I wasn't even there. 20 years later, a lawyer called me out of the blue. My uncle was dead. He left me his house in the will. Was I really all he had? Oh God, no, it's like 13 ghosts. I don't know. Maybe. I'm like referencing all these movies. You've never seen. We don't want it to be a 13 ghost situation. It's just like that. That didn't end well. Well, it ended okay. Well, we've already established this one's basically a Disney film about a Disney house. What could go wrong?

28:46 There's ghosts in the basement and they're all being released. The place sat alone at the end of a long and winding gravel road, swallowed by dense brush. Felt like entering a portal to another dimension. Inside were nests of cables, thick as roots. Tangled masses like untended wilderness overtaking a forgotten landscape. Sensors and hubs in every room, blinking soft blue. The tangled cords, like, Reminds me of Chris and how he would just hate that. He would hate it. I should have saved this story for an episode that I read with Chris because it really would have been nightmarish for him.

29:34 Yeah. Maybe I'll still read it to him and record his reaction. cord control or what do you call it yeah no cord control yeah cord management cord management yeah yep there it is i didn't recognize half of what i was looking at i'm impressed that she knew what the other half of it was Sheehy. I'm sorry. I keep gendering this person. I know. Yeah. You're like, I don't really know. I'm not sure, but. I know. And in the last story, we did eventually get a gender because the mom was talking about the daughter. Right. I don't know if we get a gender reveal in this one. Felt like walking through Willy Wonka's data center.

30:18 On his way out, the lawyer pressed a post-it note into my hand. Number one. Keep the hallway light on between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Dude. Number two. If the light on the kitchen speaker turns solid white, leave. Do not pack. Get out. I hate that. I don't like this. Number three. When it speaks, answer. Never initiate. Signed, HP. Harry Potter? Hewlett Packard? I don't know who that is. That's a computer brand. Oh, I don't know. OHP. I got it.

31:01 Yep. My uncle's initials at the bottom. A dead man's checklist. Cute. I laughed about it that first night in his recliner with a glass of his good skin. Honestly, if I were to leave like a big house to somebody, I would probably leave like weird cryptic things too. Like, ooh, don't do this. You would also leave cryptic things. Yeah, cryptic things too. That's kind of a good idea though. It's like an after death prank. Right? I ended up falling asleep at 8.55. Woke up at 3 a.m. to the hallway lit gold. Humming like a low church organ. The sensors blinked like nothing changed.

31:48 But something had. I could feel it in the air. I started keeping a lamp next to me after that. Made sure to set an alarm for 8.55. Felt stupid for doing it. Did it anyway. One night, I came downstairs for tea. The kitchen speaker's light had gone from its usual pulsing blue to a low, dim, like it was thinking hard about something. I just stood in the doorway and watched it. I don't know how long. Enough that my drink went cold. How long had I been there? Weeks passed. The house started to feel less like an inheritance and more like a routine. Lamp, At 8.55, tea before the speaker changed, a life built around the house's rhythms instead of my own. Some nights, standing close to the hub, I swore the pulse matched my heartbeat. I told myself, that's probably just what smart devices do now.

32:56 Biometric syncing. Uh-huh. Sure. Yeah, that's totally normal. I wouldn't worry about that at all. Four months in, I ended up breaking rule number three on purpose. Share loneliness more than anything. Don't talk to it. I sat at the kitchen table, said out loud to no one, are you going to talk to me or not? Alexa, are you going to talk to me or not? Oh man, you just pissed off a lot of people. You're welcome. And remember, Whatever happens here could happen to you. Is that what it says in the story? Did you say that? No, I just said that. Oh, you're creepy. I know. It's spooky season. Caitlin got creepy on us. The blue light steadied.

33:50 Out of the speaker, it spoke. My uncle's voice, or something built from the memory of it, I guess. It asked me how my mother was doing. My uncle must have built some kind of AI assistant into the walls before he died. Fed it, years of himself, until it became a crude imitation. Rule three. I answered. Same as always, I said, not knowing what else to. The house just responded with a low thrum. Contentment? The white light came later that week. Hmm. I stood in the kitchen doorway, watched as the speaker turned the color of bone. No. My heart pulsed a new rhythm entirely.

34:37 Some primal response evolution forgot to erase. I remembered the note. Leave. Do not pack. Get the fuck out. I didn't go. Months of a being that knew my mother's name. My uncle's voice, worn like secondhand skin. Leaving. Felt like abandoning something that already had a piece of me. No, bitch. Told you to go. Go. Yeah. I mean. Leave. Listen to the dead man. Yeah. After that, the rules seemed to loosen. Like training wheels, I'd outgrown. I'd forget the light some nights. Wake to darkness and a dead blue sensor. Nothing would happen. The white light eventually returned.

35:23 The house talked more now. Told me. About my uncle as a boy. Like casual small talk between friends. It started asking questions of its own. What I remembered about being nine. A funeral. A car ride afterward. Staring at the back of my mother's headrest. Wondering what she'd look like in the casket instead of the stranger. Biting the inside of my cheek until the thought finally stopped. I never told it about that. I never told anyone about that. I can read your mind. I ran for the stairs. A gentle beep emanated from the hallway. A room I'd never noticed before. What? Inside, at the center, crumpled, into himself, was what remained of my uncle. Mouth open, wires burrowed into him like roots.

36:22 What? No! A soft blue blinking where his ribs used to be. I have a vague memory of what happened after. Destruction. A crowbar from the garage. The sound of a hub shrieking in pain. My uncle's cries, room by room. The kitchen speaker being ripped off the wall. Darkness. Silence. I don't think the house fought back. I've been in a hotel for the past few weeks. I still sleep with the lamp on next to me. I listed the house.

37:04 I don't remember writing the description. Must have been on autopilot. I mentioned the hallway light. That it runs on its own schedule. Nine to six. That the kitchen fixture has a sensitive bulb. Best not to touch it. That the voice assistant is responsive. appreciates being spoken to. That's the opposite of what you were supposed to do. I mean, at least that last one. I read it back after posting and finally understood what I'd done. I was passing along a debt I hadn't finished paying. Hoped someone would carry the load so I wouldn't have to feel the pull of that place anymore. Did you mention the dead body in the room? I check the listing every night now.

37:52 No offers yet. I say something close to a prayer. That somebody looks at those photos of the sunlit hallway. The sleek kitchen speaker. Doesn't think twice. That somebody signs. God help me. I hope they don't answer. Whoa. Is that not so creepy? So her uncle was like the computer of the house? Yeah. I mean, he became part of it, I feel like. Is that not? That is creepy. Do you think, I kind of am getting like a 13 Ghost vibe from it where I think he kind of like, because in that movie, the uncle like lures his nephew in to like use him as part of like a ritual. So, like, did he, like, lure someone else in to, like, also become part of the house, the smart house to make it more powerful?

38:52 Right? I think it's funny she just left or they just left and, like, there's a literal body connected to wires in. A room that you never noticed before. Nobody will notice that. Well, they didn't notice the room. Maybe they wouldn't. Maybe it's like the Harry Potter room. Oh, my God. The room of requirement where it only shows up. when you really need it that could be I suppose. So weird I don't know why that one was the creepiest I. Know right yeah oh god I don't even know I feel like it's almost like a dead tie though really like a true crime documentary being made about your real life in real time I'm like oh my god but something about like that like creepy technology like that feels like apocalyptic so I don't know I really like.

39:47 These like they would make like good short scary Like a short, scary series. Mm-hmm. Um, I think in honor of our St. Helen story, I'm going to use the dog tarot. Oh, okay. Yeah. For the purpose. For the purpose. For the purpose. And the one that survived the cougar attack. I know. That's so sad. To poor baby. It was okay. I know, but. He probably looks like this right now. He traumatized. It's all cuddled up in a blanket. Oh. He's fine.

40:29 Sending vibes. I hope no one listening ends up on a documentary. Seriously. Unless it's a very positive one. Yeah. About how your life is so totes awesome. You're the longest living person ever. Okay. What are you feeling? Yeah, I feel like that's good. I'm going right between the P and the M. Ooh, for the pie man. Pie eater. Oh, interesting. Okay, you're going to have to look at the book. It's leashes. So I think cups? Yeah, they're cups. It's the eight of cups.

41:09 You pulled it up, right? Yeah. Do you want me to read what this says? Yeah. A dog can wear only one leash and one collar at a time. Not true. Charlotte wears a collar and a harness frequently. Anyway, so why are there eight of them hanging on the wall? Because you like options. Relationships like leashes can fray and outlive their usefulness. Upright, you remember each and every leash hanging on those hooks. Associate every one of them with a season of your life. But only one leash is in good shape and fits well. You know which one it is. Ask for it. Wear it proudly to the park. And leave the unraveling, ill-fitting collars and leashes behind. Aww. That's kind of interesting. I'm thinking of the house, like, with all the cables and things. Like, they said we're all jumbled up.

42:04 Yeah. And, like, a bunch of leashes all entangled. So, our keywords are... Turning away. Cutting losses. Decline. Dejection, and seriousness. This card often pictures a person with his or her back to us, which the dog tarot shows a dog with his back to us walking away, which famously leashes for walks. Sometimes a waning moon overhead symbolizes decrease. When the Eight of Cups appears, a situation has become untenable and you have decided to turn your back on it. The Smart House. The Smart House. Bye.

42:50 This is definitely, it's Smart House all over. Oh, you know what's interesting about the two stories, though, is like, was it the middle one you read with the Bigfoot, the dog? Yeah, the cabin. Okay, that was the middle one. So, like, the last two stories you read were both about, like, a house and, like, maybe being creepy and, like, that person could have left the cabin forever and never went back, but they chose to stay. Yeah. And then the second one, they chose to leave. Yeah. Yeah. That is interesting. I didn't intend originally to read those in the same episode. Oh, last sentence of the description.

43:31 Now you must strike out in another direction. The upright interpretation says you wish things had turned out differently, but you can't salvage a matter and you realize you must abandon it. Oh, I realized, too, the first one, they left their apartment. Yeah, they did. Oh, my gosh. That's so crazy. I didn't even make that connection. Two people leaving in between one who stayed. It's time to let go and get out of the situation that has failed, despite your best efforts. Well, I mean, I don't know about despite your best efforts. But anyways, move ahead with determination, find a new direction, and learn from your experience. In a reading about money, an investment hasn't paid off or you've lost money through no fault of your own except perhaps not seeing things accurately. Like if you can't sell a house you inherited? Maybe. Cut your losses and conserve your resources. If the reading is about your job, the Eight of Cups may recommend pouring your heart and soul into an endeavor. I feel like this is the uncle in the tech house. Oh, yeah.

44:43 Or the person who made the documentary. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Two like very passionate like career fields. That's interesting. Don't let distractions throw you off course. Sometimes this card advises leaving a job that no longer interests you. In a reading about love, this card can mean ending a relationship that's lost its spark. Conversely, it may show you getting serious about a partnership, giving it your all. You're no longer interested in casual flings. Extra excerpt says, when you feel most like holding on to something, it is usually the best time to let go. That's a tech house because it was like.

45:26 Yeah, for sure. Right? That's creepy. Okay, and then that last extra excerpt, it's from... A happy pocket full of money. I want that. Wait, what? I just, I was like, I just looked down and I was like, a happy pocket. And I was like, HP. Oh, I thought you were saying it was literally like quoted HP. And I was like, no. No, that is weird, though. I never would have picked up on that. Happy pocket. Harry Potter. You be the judge.

46:06 Ooh, that's cool. I liked it. That was fun. I really like this one. Yeah. Thank you. I did not see like all of the parallels. And honestly, I have a few stories that I was like super excited about and we can't read them all in one episode. But the true crime documentary one, I like have been trying at the bit. Yeah. Like, yeah. No, that was good. Yeah. That happens, too, when I... I feel like when I pick Reddit stories, like, there ends up... Like, I pick a ton, and then I either have you, like, pick a number or whatever, or I'll just, like, randomly pick. But it's, like, there always seems to be, like, a theme. Yeah. A vibe. It's crazy because, I mean... quite literally in this case, we sort of put this together on the fly.

46:54 Yeah. And I knew I had a lot to work with and I could kind of just do what I wanted, but. And they're all so different, but like have some sort of like connecting invisible string, if you will. Well, should we do that thing? Have a creepy ass day. We'll see you next Thursday. Unless you get eaten by a smart-ass. Oh, God. Or a Sasquatch. Or murdered by the documentary killer. Don't do that. None of those things. Watch out for them stiletto prints, y'all. Keep an eye out.

47:35 I can't. I can't. I can't. Oh, my God.