Latest / Paranormal Lens - A Crossroads Of Curiosities, LLC Production / MidWest WeirdFest 2026 recap; and MORE mysteries of Jacques revealed

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MidWest WeirdFest 2026 recap; and MORE mysteries of Jacques revealed · Paranormal Lens - A Crossroads Of Curiosities, LLC Production

• 0:00
  All right, welcome back to Paranormal Lens. On
• 0:02
  this very exciting episode, we have a recap of
• 0:05
  the recent escapades, escapades, I just love
• 0:09
  that word, escapades, that Angela and I partook
• 0:13
  in, partaken? Partook? The Midwest Weird Fest.
• 0:17
  We're talking about the Midwest Weird Fest on
• 0:18
  this episode of Paranormal Lens. Welcome to our
• 0:21
  podcast, where we take deep dives looking at
• 0:23
  various topics through a paranormal lens. Okay,
• 0:29
  welcome back from the intro. You might hear my
• 0:31
  voice. As soon as we got back from our long weekend
• 0:34
  on Monday, the day after, I went down with a
• 0:37
  little cold, and I'm still kind of recovering
• 0:39
  from that. I'm fine now, but you might hear it
• 0:43
  in my voice. I think so. I don't believe it.
• 0:48
  That wasn't convincing. I don't believe it. Okay,
• 0:51
  okay. Physically, I'm fine. Emotionally, who
• 0:53
  knows? I'm in the same weird space I always am.
• 0:57
  But just like last year, the Midwest Weird Fest
• 0:59
  was the best film festival of the year. It's
• 1:04
  hard -pressed to find something better. Dean
• 1:06
  Bertram, who puts it together, does a fantastic
• 1:08
  job of just sequencing the selections. There
• 1:12
  were like over 1 ,000, almost 2 ,000, I believe,
• 1:15
  films submitted. And whittling it down to the
• 1:19
  ones that shone and the sequencing behind it
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  to make it really... A real ebb and flow and
• 1:25
  narrative and thematic structure of the entire
• 1:28
  festival. Really hard work, and it really, really
• 1:32
  was an enjoyable experience. And this year, we
• 1:34
  got to experience the entire festival, so we
• 1:36
  watched as many films as we could. Still couldn't
• 1:40
  watch all of them, unfortunately, because the
• 1:42
  festival is so big. They have two going simultaneously,
• 1:44
  A Night of Horror and the Midwest Weird Fest,
• 1:47
  two separate festivals. running at the same time
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  on two screens in one very haunted theater in
• 1:53
  eau claire wisconsin um so before we talk about
• 1:56
  the films let's set the stage and we're telling
• 2:01
  brie all about this you you've heard some of
• 2:03
  these stories brie but we want to tell you how
• 2:05
  crazy yeah i'm bummed i'm bummed i missed out
• 2:09
  again this year it's uh just an unfortunate weekend
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  that i'm always busy and can't make it so well
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  i guess first how was you were up north for the
• 2:19
  fred bear day back in uh grayling where we did
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  the piercini plague in the pine stock so how
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  was uh celebrating fred bear it was good i mean
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  i only take part in the one day which is uh the
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  sportsman trade show um because i am a vendor
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  for it and but it was really good i got to see
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  a whole bunch of my regulars people i see every
• 2:41
  year um fredbear's granddaughters always come
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  say hi to me and they're always super great um
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  but yeah it was it was nice seeing the same people
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  coming out to celebrate fredbear and um you know
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  just being able to share my art with people who
• 2:59
  also appreciate nature and wildlife as much as
• 3:03
  i do so listen is it you were busy with something
• 3:07
  equally exciting. And we were all kind of spreading
• 3:10
  out a little bit. You went to Northern Michigan.
• 3:12
  We went to Western Wisconsin. Was it Western?
• 3:17
  I'm pretty sure it's Eastern Wisconsin. No, we
• 3:21
  were in Western Wisconsin. I was trying to do
• 3:24
  the soggy waffles. You heard that too, the never
• 3:27
  eat the soggy waffles? No, we were... We're not
• 3:32
  close, but we're on the closer side to Minnesota.
• 3:36
  Oh, I thought it was on the opposite side. I
• 3:39
  don't know. I didn't go. I wish you'd know. But
• 3:42
  point being, we're all spreading out, sharing
• 3:45
  our. work and our art with other people so you
• 3:48
  know you sounds like you had a really successful
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  uh vendor weekend um at the annual event you
• 3:54
  do over there and uh next year i'll tell uh the
• 3:58
  festival runners that we won't be attending if
• 4:00
  they conflict with fred bear day don't say that
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  because i'm telling you need to come next year
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  brie come well what is this saying so hell or
• 4:10
  high water hail or high is it hell or hail i
• 4:14
  know it's high water I think it's hail. I don't
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  know. We should not try to be saying... Whoa.
• 4:23
  We should not try to be... I'm still not saying
• 4:27
  this right. Well, let's move on. You know, it's
• 4:31
  idiomatic phrases that are Achilles' heel. Uh
• 4:35
  -huh. Yes. Anyways, so let's set the scene. Brie,
• 4:43
  you've never even experienced Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
• 4:45
  You don't even know where it is. Nope. So, Eau
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  Claire, Wisconsin, I will die on this hill. It
• 4:51
  is the most haunted city I've ever been to. There's
• 4:55
  something in the air. Because when you go to
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  Eau Claire, you can feel something. There's something
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  about that town. That is true. I would just put
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  it like this. The amount of weird interactions
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  we had with everyone, everywhere, is unrivaled.
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  So many weird interactions. So we show up and
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  we get our motel and it's the same motel we got
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  last year. We're trying to replicate the scenario
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  because last year we got this motel and it was
• 5:23
  the creepiest motel ever. Not based on... Yeah,
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  like you go inside and the rooms look fine. It's
• 5:30
  clean. It's not like sketchy. But we had like
• 5:34
  a bunch of paranormal stuff happen last time.
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  We were hearing voices. We would put water bottles
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  on the counter and they would start vibrating
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  and shaking. and like nothing else like papers
• 5:43
  we had next to them weren't moving at all like
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  just weird stuff so we got the same motel to
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  try to replicate the scenario to be like is it
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  just as creepy it was just as creepy we did find
• 5:55
  out after that someone did get gunned down in
• 5:57
  the parking lot a few years ago so that might
• 5:59
  explain some of the paranormal activity anyways
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  um we were at this motel and we decided to order
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  a pizza and i look it up and there's a pizza
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  There's a pizza place around the corner. And
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  I order the pizza. And the guy has like the thickest
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  accent on the phone. Like I couldn't understand
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  him. All I heard was 20 minutes. So I'm like,
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  okay, 20 minutes. I'll just head over there.
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  I do. And thank God I left early because I ended
• 6:30
  up passing this place like five times because
• 6:31
  it looked abandoned. There were no cars in the
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  parking lot. There was nothing on the exterior.
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  and like this has to be the place though so i
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  go in and i open the door and on the inside it
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  looks like a hopping place there's murals on
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  the walls it's like looks really good again same
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  as like the motel you don't expect it but you
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  go in and it's like really clean really nice
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  and the only thing is no music playing oddly
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  silent no people not even anyone behind the counter
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  and i'm like uh this is strange so i go ring
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  a bell And this guy pops out. Again, there's
• 7:10
  no one there. But then this one guy pops out.
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  This older guy. And he just like gives me a weird
• 7:17
  point and smile and just like stares at me. And
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  I'm just like, hi, I have a pizza. And he goes,
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  that was you? That's not what you usually get.
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  And I'm like. it's my first time. I'm not from
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  here. I'm at a motel across the street. What
• 7:36
  do you mean? And he goes, oh, I'm so sorry. Our
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  one regular looks just like you. He always comes
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  and he doesn't, he orders something different.
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  And I'm like, oh, okay, that's not, that's not
• 7:45
  me. And he goes, okay, the pizza's gonna be ready
• 7:48
  in three, two, one. And right on cue, the oven
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  dings. He gets the pizza. And mind you, this
• 7:53
  guy does not have an accent at all. So I have
• 7:55
  no idea who that guy with the accent was. He
• 7:58
  hands me the pizza and he says, you know, This
• 8:01
  is a very strange pizza for someone to order
• 8:03
  for their first time. What even was the pizza?
• 8:07
  A barbecue chicken pizza. They did all these
• 8:09
  specialty pizzas. Like, there was literally the
• 8:12
  third option on the menu. Hmm. I feel like it's
• 8:15
  not that strange. No, that isn't that strange.
• 8:18
  It's a pretty normal, like, special pizza. Yeah.
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  It was literally on the menu. It was cheese,
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  pepperoni, barbecue pizza, Hawaiian, and, like,
• 8:26
  they had, like, an Alfredo. Like, that was weird.
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  If you got Alfredo. and then it's just so random
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  it's so random so random and then you know the
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  festival was three or four days long after the
• 8:37
  first night we went to the after party there's
• 8:40
  an after party each night this one person was
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  like oh i saw your film today i'm like oh it
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  doesn't screen till tomorrow and she goes no
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  i saw it i'm like no i don't remember this now
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  yeah you weren't there ang oh okay well you didn't
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  tell me about this oh i didn't Okay, so I'm telling
• 8:54
  both of you. I mean, it's not much of a story,
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  but this one person, I mean, she might have been
• 8:57
  drunk, but she didn't seem like it. She insisted
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  that she saw our film. And I was like, you didn't.
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  She was like, yeah, you did. You presented it.
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  I'm like, no, I didn't. Maybe she was living
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  on a different parallel timeline. And a different
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  layer of cheese from us and just melted over
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  for a hot minute. I mean, it is the cheese state,
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  Wisconsin. Yeah. They're the cheesiest. The cheesiest.
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  They sure are. But then the next day was the
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  day we were actually presenting. And the way
• 9:28
  this motel worked was you had to go outside and
• 9:30
  go inside to get breakfast. I mean, that's a
• 9:34
  motel. Yes, yes. I'm just reiterating. So I go
• 9:37
  outside to then go back inside. We're telling
• 9:39
  the fancy people of this earth who's never been
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  to a motel. Hard to believe, but yes. so i was
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  getting us breakfast and as i'm kind of walking
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  three doors down there's this old man hobbling
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  next to me and he has a cap on a hat that's covering
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  his eyes so i can't see his eyes and it's awkward
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  because he's hobbling right next to the door
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  i need to go in so i'm just standing there i'm
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  like morning you know trying to be nice to this
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  elderly man this elderly brando Random person.
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  Yeah, I have no idea where he's coming from.
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  He's just walking past the door to the, you know,
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  lobby. As he walks past me, I say, morning. And
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  then he doesn't say morning back. He just says,
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  very creepily, this is our funny day. And I start
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  laughing. Not a funny day. Our funny day. He
• 10:35
  says, this is our funny day. Ha ha ha ha ha.
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  And then I say. sure is and then he says sure
• 10:44
  will be and just keeps laughing and he just keeps
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  walking into like the horizon oh my gosh and
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  i swear part of me thought this in the moment
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  and then what did you say angela when i told
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  you this oh it's like it kind of gave jocks vibes
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  hmm It's like, I'm just going to ignore them.
• 11:09
  You guys had jocks with you, too. Oh, that's
• 11:15
  another thing. We brought jocks all the way to
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  Wisconsin to have them be at the festival. I
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  wish I had listened to Angela, but I didn't want,
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  because we had to get housekeeping to come, and
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  I was like... We're going to put jocks in the
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  car. I can only imagine the housekeeper walking
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  in and seeing jocks staring back at her and be
• 11:35
  like, ah, jocks! You know, so I was like, we're
• 11:38
  putting them back in the car. But how funny would
• 11:40
  that have been to get, like, a reaction video
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  of, like, a housekeeper walking in on jocks?
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  Have them tucked into your bed. Even better!
• 11:49
  That would have been hilarious. Oh, my God. In
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  downtown Eau Claire, where the festival was going
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  on, is this, like, oddities antique store called
• 11:58
  Mabel's. we walked in and this shop had such
• 12:03
  an interesting vibe and in the corner of the
• 12:07
  shop there was a like mannequin of like this
• 12:12
  small boy mannequin was so interesting it was
• 12:16
  like how do you it was like a small kid hunched
• 12:18
  over facing the corner just like facing the wall
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  and you turn him around he has no face And he's
• 12:26
  not wearing merchandise. It's just like a wooden
• 12:27
  block or something. I don't know. I didn't get
• 12:30
  a good look at it. A red painted stripe on the
• 12:32
  face. Again, no merchandise. Just like wearing
• 12:35
  all black. And he gave the weirdest vibe. And
• 12:40
  Angela felt it too. So then I went back to like
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  examine him closer. As soon as I touched him,
• 12:45
  there's a pole string light above. The light
• 12:47
  went out. It flickered. It went out for a split
• 12:50
  second. And then I took my hand off. Right when
• 12:52
  you touched it. Yeah, and I took my hand off
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  and the light came back on. Mm -hmm. And then
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  I ask, is the mannequin for sale? And the shop
• 13:00
  owner looks at me, and he just, like, smiles
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  and shakes his head. Like, I don't even think
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  he said anything. No, he said no. After I stared
• 13:08
  at him for a while. And then he was like, no.
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  Like, it wasn't, like, in the media. It was just,
• 13:14
  like, he smiled, shook his head, and he was confused
• 13:16
  why we were asking. Mm -hmm. Hmm. Didn't make
• 13:22
  too much sense. It was just strange. It was just
• 13:25
  strange. Why do you have a mannequin of a little
• 13:28
  boy with no face, wearing all black, not merchandise,
• 13:31
  tucked against a wall, and someone wants to buy
• 13:33
  it, and you just smile and shake your head, and
• 13:35
  then get confused? Like, why would you have that
• 13:37
  in a shop if it wasn't for sale? Yeah, and it
• 13:41
  was in such a weird spot. Or, like, on display.
• 13:45
  Yeah, it was like there was this little cubby
• 13:48
  thing that only maybe, like, two people could
• 13:50
  sit in. like standing and it had a bunch of knickknacks
• 13:54
  and pins like all against the wall and stuff
• 13:56
  and then there was just this child mannequin
• 14:00
  that wasn't even facing out it's just in the
• 14:02
  corner that little space in the corner facing
• 14:05
  the corner like it was in timeout yes yeah honestly
• 14:10
  what if it was in timeout like what if they know
• 14:12
  it's haunted or something and they're like you
• 14:15
  were being uh very rude or mischievous and you
• 14:19
  have to go in timeout for the day that would
• 14:22
  make sense honestly though that's what it looked
• 14:25
  like yeah and the kid was hunched over like i'm
• 14:29
  gonna he was like hunched over like bending over
• 14:31
  he's in his thinking corner i love that um but
• 14:35
  then there's another shop and okay i angela said
• 14:39
  something that we're probably gonna repeat here
• 14:41
  so we may not include the name of the shop but
• 14:44
  anyways this shop We tried going to, and we weren't
• 14:48
  sure at first if they were open. The shop had
• 14:50
  a very dark aesthetic to it. It was kind of hard
• 14:54
  to find. Hard to find. It's not a hard building
• 14:59
  to find. It's just the sign for the store is
• 15:03
  only on one side of the building. It's not obvious,
• 15:07
  and it's kind of in the alleyway. So it wasn't
• 15:10
  even facing the main street or anything. Yeah,
• 15:13
  and a dark aesthetic inside, so it's hard to
• 15:15
  tell from looking in the windows. Yeah. So the
• 15:18
  sign was on one side, and I had to go around
• 15:20
  the corner to see. No sign on, like, the main
• 15:22
  street, but just, like, an open sign. There was
• 15:24
  no open sign or anything like that either. There
• 15:27
  was, but it wasn't on. Yeah, oh, yeah. So it
• 15:31
  was hard to tell. So we go up, and the door works,
• 15:35
  and the hours say they're open. So we go in.
• 15:39
  And there's music playing. The lights are actually
• 15:41
  on. It just was hard to tell from the outside.
• 15:44
  Clearly they are open, but there's no one in
• 15:48
  there. And a callback to a previous episode.
• 15:55
  I've never experienced the back rooms, but this
• 15:58
  might be the closest. It's kind of what it reminded
• 16:01
  me of. Interesting. There was a variety of stuff
• 16:06
  in there, but there wasn't like... a lot of stuff
• 16:09
  in there was basically just like one big room
• 16:11
  and then there was also stairs like um going
• 16:15
  upstairs in the back and i heard a tv going or
• 16:19
  maybe like a radio going on up there so i'm guessing
• 16:22
  the owner was maybe up there but still like we
• 16:25
  were making it so clear that we were there like
• 16:27
  we were talking and the floors were creaking
• 16:30
  but yet like no one came down you know it's like
• 16:34
  we're we're in a store like why aren't you yeah
• 16:37
  aren't you like here with the customers like
• 16:40
  what happened if you want to buy something you
• 16:42
  know and it's just had such a weird vibe it literally
• 16:45
  gave backroom vibes i was like the owner's upstairs
• 16:49
  probably like cutting off a body killing someone
• 16:51
  and then i'm gonna come down here for like us
• 16:53
  as their next victims or something probably not
• 16:56
  no but she told me that and i was like that's
• 16:59
  what it felt like at the time I was like, makes
• 17:02
  sense. In hindsight, probably doesn't. But, you
• 17:05
  know, in the moment, I was like, makes sense.
• 17:07
  In the moment, it made a lot of sense. And then
• 17:11
  I tried posting a TikTok. And then, you know,
• 17:15
  whenever I post on TikTok, I then repost the
• 17:19
  same thing on, like, Instagram and Facebook.
• 17:20
  I tried posting a video of that shop. Nothing
• 17:23
  gory or bad or anything in the video. It got
• 17:28
  flagged on all three. What? for going against
• 17:31
  community guidelines. I'm like, what? Yeah. It's
• 17:34
  just, I do, like, stuff like that all the time.
• 17:36
  There was nothing bad in it. Yeah. Like, going
• 17:38
  through shops. Absolutely nothing. Yeah, no,
• 17:40
  because I saw the video. Like, there was nothing...
• 17:43
  Yeah. So that just adds to the strangeness of
• 17:47
  it. And it wasn't... That's really weird. Sometimes,
• 17:50
  you know, on TikTok, something will slip through
• 17:51
  the cracks and it will get flagged by accident.
• 17:53
  Yeah, but all three Facebook, Instagram, TikTok.
• 17:58
  Yeah, I think technically only... TikTok and
• 18:01
  Facebook got flagged, but on Instagram it didn't
• 18:04
  get flagged, but it got, like, three views total
• 18:06
  after, like, two hours, which tells me probably
• 18:10
  on the back end, you know, because it's all meta
• 18:12
  or whatever, but still, very strange. It only
• 18:16
  adds to the strangeness. Mm -hmm, mm -hmm. It
• 18:19
  really does. Weird. So that sets the scene a
• 18:23
  little bit for the Midwest Weird Fest. So picture
• 18:26
  that weird town. and that weird energy, and then
• 18:31
  a full three days of the weirdest films you've
• 18:36
  ever seen congregating to this one weird, weird,
• 18:41
  I keep saying weird, but weird spot. And I had
• 18:45
  a theory. Weird in an intriguing way. In the
• 18:48
  best way possible. I had a theory, and I ran
• 18:50
  this by Dean, I think, on his podcast, Talking
• 18:52
  Weird, which if you're not listening to Talking
• 18:54
  Weird, again. weird talking weird uh the festival
• 18:58
  runner uh dean bertram has a great show angela
• 19:01
  and i were on it i've been on a couple times
• 19:03
  uh called talking weird um but i ran this by
• 19:06
  him i'm like do you think i want to run this
• 19:08
  by you do you think if you have a town that's
• 19:12
  already has this energy to it and you're in one
• 19:18
  of the most haunted theaters one of the most
• 19:19
  haunted buildings in this haunted town and you
• 19:25
  congregate all these people with all their energies
• 19:27
  and all their emotions and you sit and you watch
• 19:30
  these weird films and these horror films do you
• 19:33
  think that's like this energy loop that's just
• 19:35
  like you know if you went to a random theater
• 19:39
  it might not do anything but this already has
• 19:41
  an energy and a vibe and the films themselves
• 19:44
  kind of reflect that energy and vibe do you think
• 19:47
  like there's something to that like that yeah
• 19:50
  i think that's a good point i mean i we've stated
• 19:54
  many points on this podcast at this point that
• 19:57
  we believe in vibes and like what you bring to
• 20:01
  a place or what you bring to a location is going
• 20:04
  to influence it i i don't see how that would
• 20:09
  be any different well said well said what about
• 20:11
  you ang i mean yeah i agree i think i mean we
• 20:17
  we had that um I don't know what to say. We had,
• 20:21
  we had that mindset, like everything's weird.
• 20:23
  So maybe everything is going to be weird. That
• 20:25
  is true. That's true. So, um, I don't know. I
• 20:29
  don't know. I don't really have too much of a
• 20:30
  opinion. Well, but okay. So I get it. We went
• 20:36
  back this year and part of what we were doing,
• 20:39
  like getting the same hotel room was trying to
• 20:41
  prove or disprove that. how weird we thought
• 20:45
  Eau Claire was and the energy of Eau Claire was
• 20:47
  was real like we were like on a mission to be
• 20:50
  like let's retrace our footsteps let's see if
• 20:52
  it actually is weird so when you go in with that
• 20:54
  bias perhaps you read everything as weirder than
• 20:57
  it actually is but what are the chances that
• 21:00
  over the course of one film festival so many
• 21:03
  weird interactions all having to do with like
• 21:05
  like being a double like oh I saw your double
• 21:10
  someone looks just like you Always comes here.
• 21:13
  I already saw your film. This is our funny day.
• 21:17
  You know, like, and the word funny kept coming
• 21:18
  up too. It's like, that's a funny thing to order.
• 21:22
  This is our funny day. You know, it's like just
• 21:24
  the idea of like a double and like things being
• 21:29
  weird, like recognize, oh, I saw your film already.
• 21:32
  Oh, you, you order a different pizza every time.
• 21:35
  And it's like, you can't make that up. That is
• 21:38
  weird. What we're saying is weird. that's definitely
• 21:42
  weird it is weird it just it reminds me of jocks
• 21:46
  like the whole funny thing because it's like
• 21:49
  jocks is like the fool and i can be like maybe
• 21:51
  like a trickster type of thing vibe if you know
• 21:54
  what i mean and i don't know the whole funny
• 21:58
  thing it's just like one big joke almost is what
• 22:01
  it seems like and i will say when we screened
• 22:06
  the film We were paired with a feature film called
• 22:11
  The Hole Story, which is a really... It was really
• 22:15
  good. It was a really good and really interesting
• 22:17
  documentary about this big hole. And then no
• 22:22
  one knew, like, why it was started and what it
• 22:27
  was, but it started to become, like, a safety
• 22:29
  concern. It was like a, what was it, 60 -foot
• 22:31
  hole or something crazy like that. I don't remember
• 22:35
  exactly, but yeah. Yeah, something crazy like
• 22:37
  that. It just appeared out in California. And
• 22:40
  no one knew why it was started. It became like
• 22:43
  a safety concern, like I said. And... Hey, don't
• 22:47
  be spoiling too much, though. I'm not going to
• 22:49
  spoil anymore. That's it. But it started tapping
• 22:53
  into all these weird local legends and theories.
• 22:59
  Because, you know, when you have something like
• 23:01
  that happen... people start theorizing when especially
• 23:04
  when that area is steeped in so much lore so
• 23:06
  we were paired with this documentary um the way
• 23:09
  the festival was run they were like blocks of
• 23:12
  short films but occasionally a short film would
• 23:15
  screen kind of before or after a major one yeah
• 23:19
  because they they would sell blocks like you
• 23:21
  know you could either get a day pass so we can
• 23:23
  pass or like a certain block so this block was
• 23:25
  the jocks film and then followed immediately
• 23:28
  by the whole story And we introduced the block,
• 23:34
  and when we introduced it, we were like, this
• 23:38
  is gonna make a lot more sense in a minute, and
• 23:41
  it'll creep you out a whole lot more in a minute.
• 23:43
  But then we placed jocks right underneath the
• 23:45
  screen, facing the audience. And then our film
• 23:50
  started. And, you know, like, a couple minutes
• 23:52
  in, people were, like, kind of confused. Like,
• 23:54
  what does that gesture have to do with it? And
• 23:56
  then as soon as jocks is introduced... you could
• 23:59
  like just see everyone turn their heads turn
• 24:02
  them back and then he stayed there throughout
• 24:05
  the whole story as well yeah and then afterwards
• 24:09
  uh there was like a step and repeat and like
• 24:12
  a red carpet you know for photos and we brought
• 24:14
  jocks down and people were coming down to not
• 24:17
  talk to us they want to talk to jocks and um
• 24:20
  we got at least three people who said that you
• 24:24
  know because this was the first in -person screening
• 24:27
  of the film The third festival got into it with
• 24:30
  the first actual screening of it so far. People
• 24:32
  were like, you need to bring jocks to every screening.
• 24:37
  Because they were talking about how the film
• 24:40
  was already... Because the film did, and I hadn't
• 24:44
  seen it since December because I edited it, made
• 24:47
  sure it played properly, then I sent it out.
• 24:50
  I haven't seen it since. And it did linger so
• 24:54
  much in those... tense moments you know i was
• 24:57
  like it really did feel like the build -up to
• 24:59
  a horror movie so it did fit right it did yeah
• 25:02
  it felt like when you were like channeling jocks
• 25:05
  and stuff that's what what it felt like the tables
• 25:10
  were gonna turn is gonna turn into like a horror
• 25:12
  film and we're gonna die any second type of thing
• 25:15
  like that's kind of what it felt like yeah i
• 25:18
  mean maybe it was just being surrounded by a
• 25:20
  bunch of like weird and horror and you know,
• 25:23
  blended hybrid horror documentary films, but,
• 25:26
  like, Brie, imagine the last two minutes of Jacques'
• 25:29
  movie and just right when I start channeling,
• 25:32
  Jacques, like, comes alive and kills us or something.
• 25:34
  Like, that totally, like, would have fit in.
• 25:36
  Like, it was so tense and lingered on those kind
• 25:39
  of, not awkward, but uncanny. And just having
• 25:42
  Jacques there staring at the audience during
• 25:46
  the whole screening, too, probably just added
• 25:48
  that extra extra shiver down your spine yeah
• 25:55
  people were telling us like that added to the
• 25:58
  experience they're like oh my god because and
• 26:00
  then that like it made jocks make more sense
• 26:02
  like we didn't have to say anything just looking
• 26:05
  at him in person just it made sense to people
• 26:08
  um i think just his presence you could feel it
• 26:12
  um and people one person did say they saw They
• 26:18
  swore his eyes shifted and they were looking
• 26:22
  right at, like, the way he was positioned, he
• 26:25
  was, like, kind of looking off past them. Then
• 26:27
  at one point they looked and his eyes were looking
• 26:28
  straight at them. They were like, it was like
• 26:30
  the moment at least that the eyes kind of move
• 26:32
  and will look at you if you look at them. But,
• 26:37
  yeah. So that was interesting. But anyways, you
• 26:42
  know what's really interesting? And I'm just
• 26:43
  going to drop this casually. And I'm sorry, but
• 26:47
  I haven't done enough. research on this to really
• 26:49
  elaborate on it too much and i don't want to
• 26:52
  talk out of my ass any more than i usually do
• 26:55
  on this podcast so i'll refrain from sharing
• 26:57
  too many details but since we put seven mystery
• 27:01
  jocks out there which is you know it's been streaming
• 27:04
  on paraflex the last couple months um ahead of
• 27:07
  the festival um we were kind of hoping as we
• 27:11
  do with everything that when we put something
• 27:13
  out there It's then that people, like, give us
• 27:15
  tips, and I'm like, why don't you talk about
• 27:17
  this? Oh, you should talk about that, you know?
• 27:19
  Yeah. There's only one thing people told us to
• 27:23
  research after putting out the film, and there
• 27:27
  were two people that commented this on two TikToks.
• 27:30
  They said to look up Saint Germain, which is
• 27:36
  this old, it's a lot to get into, but it's known
• 27:39
  as, like, the Lord of the Seventh Array, Seventh.
• 27:43
  ray seven seven seven mystery jocks okay uh so
• 27:50
  he's also known as like the lord of the seventh
• 27:51
  ray a lot to do with like alchemy and that sort
• 27:54
  of stuff um but most notably uh saint germain
• 28:00
  i guess like his descendant or like him reincarnated
• 28:05
  uh again need to do a lot more research into
• 28:07
  this i just kind of we were getting these comments
• 28:09
  i did some brief uh skimming on the interweb
• 28:12
  but i guess the street that we were filming um
• 28:19
  in new orleans you know with the mask and we
• 28:22
  were kind of calling out to jocks like jocks
• 28:23
  come here jocks we're prepping for the ritual
• 28:26
  with this mask on that very street there is a
• 28:30
  well -known urban legend that for some reason
• 28:32
  no one on the ghost tours in new orleans told
• 28:34
  us about but it's one street in particular there's
• 28:37
  a legend of jocks saint germain who is said to
• 28:42
  be a vampiric entity that is this you know lord
• 28:46
  of the seventh ray reincarnated and he haunts
• 28:49
  that very street huh everything i want it to
• 28:53
  be it's so cool and interesting so i had that
• 28:59
  in the back of my mind again it was like not
• 29:01
  an urgent thing to like look it up but we got
• 29:04
  two comments about it so i was like yeah fluke
• 29:07
  a little coincidental okay right right there's
• 29:10
  the seven connection there's a jocks connection
• 29:12
  just on a quick google search but when we watch
• 29:18
  the whole story and again the way this festival
• 29:20
  don't try don't spoil anything i'm not i'm not
• 29:23
  i'm just gonna say one quick thing and we'll
• 29:25
  leave it at that we're going to be cognizant
• 29:27
  of spoilers on here but again i'll reiterate
• 29:32
  there were thousands of submissions and whittled
• 29:35
  down to whatever couple dozen that actually screened
• 29:38
  and there were short film blocks but for some
• 29:42
  reason seven the mystery jocks was chosen not
• 29:45
  to be part of the short film blocks and instead
• 29:48
  proceeded and was paired with the whole story
• 29:51
  the festival the festival it was perfect but
• 29:55
  Festival Runner had no way of knowing this about
• 29:58
  the St. Germain connection. That area where that
• 30:02
  hole was dug, they thought one of the leading
• 30:05
  theories was that a local cult that worshiped
• 30:09
  St. Germain dug it. What? Yeah. The whole doc
• 30:16
  was basically talking about St. Germain. What?
• 30:20
  Yeah. No way. Isn't that just a little odd? Like,
• 30:25
  I'm not saying anything, but just... Yeah, I
• 30:27
  mean, it's enough coincidental that it's like,
• 30:34
  huh? But also, you know, is it coincidental?
• 30:39
  Is it synchronicities? I don't know. Hard to
• 30:45
  say. Well, because another thing, too, is like,
• 30:47
  is it... Because at first I was like, whoa, I
• 30:50
  need to look this Saint Germain stuff up a lot
• 30:52
  more, which I do have to look it up a lot more.
• 30:54
  But at first I was like, this could be the key
• 30:57
  to unlocking it all. But what if it was just
• 30:58
  foreshadowing the festival? Because when we did
• 31:02
  Dweller last year, the year before, whenever
• 31:05
  we did that, there was a random mention in the
• 31:09
  Estus method we did. of Indrid Cold, this entity
• 31:13
  known as Indrid Cold. I'm like, Indrid Cold has
• 31:15
  nothing to do with this. Why is it brought up?
• 31:17
  And I left it in the film just for shits and
• 31:19
  giggles, but then the first film festival that
• 31:22
  Dweller got into was a festival that took place
• 31:25
  in the town where all the Indrid Cold sightings
• 31:28
  were, and they had a big Indrid Cold party after,
• 31:31
  so I kind of took that as, like, maybe it foreshadowed
• 31:33
  that film festival. So maybe it's the synchronicities
• 31:37
  kind of pointing towards, like, the first screening
• 31:40
  in the film at this festival and that it means
• 31:42
  nothing more beyond that but maybe i don't know
• 31:46
  who's to say um maybe we'll have an update we'll
• 31:49
  probably have an update later but just that was
• 31:52
  just struck me as weird the whole yeah uh all
• 31:55
  that it's definitely it's weird it really is
• 32:00
  yeah it's it's uh huh you know what else is weird
• 32:09
  What? We haven't talked about egregores in a
• 32:11
  while on this podcast. Oh. We haven't. So, what
• 32:16
  do you say? Want to talk about the Philip experiment?
• 32:20
  The what? So, the Philip experiment. He's like,
• 32:27
  what? Wait a minute. What the fuck was that?
• 32:30
  Did that happen to you guys as well? What was
• 32:33
  that? I don't know. That was whack. That was
• 32:41
  a weird sound. What the heck was that? Phillip
• 32:47
  experiment. God. Should this be the next episode?
• 32:54
  No, but I'm going to say what I want in the next
• 32:58
  episode. It's my turn to pick the topic or whatever.
• 33:01
  So I'm going to tell you live what I want the
• 33:03
  next episode to be. But not now. Anyways, you
• 33:09
  definitely have heard of the Philip experiment,
• 33:11
  even if you don't know it by name. I mean, according
• 33:13
  to the film's official synopsis, I'll just read
• 33:16
  this. When we get paranormal phenomena in a seance,
• 33:19
  knocking sounds, the table levitating, is that
• 33:22
  because we've actually summoned a ghost? Or because
• 33:25
  of the latent psychokinetic abilities of the
• 33:27
  participants causing the phenomena they expect
• 33:29
  to happen to happen? In 1972, the Toronto Society
• 33:33
  for Psychical Research designed an experiment
• 33:36
  to answer that question by summoning the ghost
• 33:39
  of someone who never existed. An egregore. So
• 33:43
  it starts off as just like documentary talking
• 33:46
  about the Philip experiment, but it eases into
• 33:48
  like found footage where they're getting a new
• 33:52
  team together to retest the Philip experiment
• 33:54
  to see if it still holds up. and it slowly descends
• 33:58
  into like madness and like a horror film but
• 34:02
  like still that found footage style and you know
• 34:05
  what's really crazy is there's some weird synchronicities
• 34:09
  going on we found out during actual filming of
• 34:12
  it too oh yeah i won't spoil much at all no yeah
• 34:17
  you don't don't say Don't say too much now. I'll
• 34:20
  say this. I'll say this one thing. They were
• 34:22
  filming, and when they were filming, they were
• 34:24
  filming on location at, like, a real, like, library
• 34:27
  or something, and they set up the shot, and they
• 34:30
  notice that right when they set up the shot at
• 34:33
  this random place without any, like, scouting
• 34:35
  or anything, not planted, right behind them,
• 34:38
  the first book they see is the book about the
• 34:41
  Philip experiment. Huh. That's crazy. Like, of
• 34:44
  all things. Mm -hmm. And, like, we all know the
• 34:47
  Philip experiment, even if we don't know it by
• 34:48
  name, right? Yeah. But, like, it's an obscure
• 34:51
  thing to normal people. Why would that book be
• 34:53
  there? Mm -hmm. So random. So, and I'm just so
• 34:59
  fascinated by this film, too, just because the
• 35:02
  whole thing is, like, can you create a ghost?
• 35:04
  If you make up these imaginary details about
• 35:07
  a ghost, in this case named Philip, and you're
• 35:10
  like, all right, so there's a ghost named Philip.
• 35:13
  These are, you know, this is. The age he died.
• 35:16
  This is, you know, information about his life.
• 35:19
  You know, X, Y, and Z. We're going to essentially
• 35:21
  create this character. And then we're going to
• 35:23
  try talking. Hey, Phillip, are you here? And
• 35:25
  try talking to the ghost named Phillip. And you
• 35:28
  have like varying degrees of, you know, some
• 35:30
  people in the group know certain details. Some
• 35:32
  do not. See if those details still come through
• 35:35
  to the people that didn't invent the details
• 35:37
  themselves. You know, so like trying to essentially
• 35:39
  see if you can, if your own mind can create a
• 35:42
  ghost. Yeah. And it's all about creating. lore
• 35:45
  you know i'm just so fascinated when you make
• 35:50
  a hybrid documentary film like this that introduces
• 35:55
  new lore about philip the egregore to the film
• 36:01
  a lot of people in the audience probably didn't
• 36:05
  know about the philip experiment beforehand and
• 36:07
  this was their introduction to it so is the film
• 36:11
  itself acting as a philip experiment Hmm. You
• 36:17
  know, that's a very good question. It is. Kind
• 36:22
  of like that thought. Huh. Yeah, because it changes.
• 36:27
  You know? I mean, if you take it a little further,
• 36:30
  too, and extrapolate it, is the Philip experiment
• 36:33
  itself, even though this wasn't a real Philip
• 36:35
  experiment, just kind of adding to the lore and
• 36:39
  making it presented in this way? Adding to the
• 36:41
  Philipness. Adding to the Philipness, or adding
• 36:44
  to what people perceive as, I don't know, if
• 36:48
  not the experiment itself, maybe whatever entity
• 36:51
  is Philip. Yeah. I just thought, you know, it
• 36:55
  could go in so many directions and it was so
• 36:57
  interesting the way it eased from documentary.
• 37:02
  into yeah i was i loved it so much because while
• 37:06
  watching it because i thought it was going to
• 37:08
  be like a mockumentary type of thing like found
• 37:11
  footage i mean i mean it is but it's like you
• 37:16
  start watching it and i'm just like okay maybe
• 37:18
  maybe i was totally wrong where why am i have
• 37:20
  this idea because it was like a full -on like
• 37:23
  documentary style in the beginning and then it
• 37:25
  slowly turned into like a found footage mockumentary
• 37:30
  type of thing and i was like oh this is really
• 37:32
  cool but it's still kind of like played that
• 37:35
  little trick in your mind it's like wait is this
• 37:36
  real or not like i generally can't tell not even
• 37:40
  like mockumentary would be like the right term
• 37:43
  but i people that aren't familiar with film i
• 37:46
  think like mockumentary oh it's making fun of
• 37:48
  no this is a serious like horror piece yeah and
• 37:53
  it's it was just so well done overall and i can't
• 37:57
  wait for it to be more widely available for everyone
• 38:01
  um i say you guys brie is acting as you guys
• 38:05
  for you guys to see it yeah yeah it sounds like
• 38:09
  something that i'd be interested to see oh yeah
• 38:12
  brie you would have loved everything like all
• 38:14
  of it i feel like like they had such good films
• 38:17
  this year but also you know it's not even funny
• 38:20
  i'm you know i'm also like kind of a chicken
• 38:22
  too so like Yeah, but, like, they weren't necessarily,
• 38:26
  like, horror, you know? Okay, that's fair. That's
• 38:28
  fair. Like, they were just, like, quirky, odd,
• 38:31
  like, fun films, too, you know? There was one
• 38:36
  film, and this is the other one I wanted to bring
• 38:39
  up. I mean, we can't go over every film played.
• 38:43
  I wish. I wish, but we just don't have time.
• 38:47
  But I was trying to think of, like, the two or
• 38:49
  three that would be relevant to the audience
• 38:51
  here. And the other one is this. amazing film
• 38:54
  called midnight driver which would probably be
• 38:56
  the closest to a horror like straight up horror
• 39:00
  film and angela what did you say about it i i
• 39:04
  generally like it's been a hot second since i've
• 39:06
  actually seen like a scary movie and i was generally
• 39:10
  kind of like freaked out there's some really
• 39:12
  creepy scenes in there i was like i actually
• 39:16
  was covering my eyes because like i don't like
• 39:18
  pop -ups but i it felt like there was going to
• 39:20
  be some pop -ups in it because it was just like
• 39:23
  It was just so good. It was so good. That tense.
• 39:26
  It was good, yeah. It crept up on you. Again,
• 39:29
  same with, like, same, I guess that's the theme
• 39:32
  of the years. Like, the Philip experiment eased
• 39:35
  into the horror. The whole story eased into,
• 39:37
  like, the woo -woo weird stuff. This one started
• 39:40
  off, like, perfectly normal, and then suddenly
• 39:42
  by the midway point, you're like, is this the
• 39:44
  same movie? Like, it started off like, oh. not
• 39:49
  necessarily like you know unicorns and rainbows
• 39:51
  but just like nothing bad can happen here it's
• 39:54
  just gonna be a fun you know you know maybe a
• 39:57
  little spooky halloween movie because it took
• 39:59
  place in like halloween you know really uh it
• 40:02
  was like a 90s period piece like really kind
• 40:05
  of leaned into those halloween 90s aesthetics
• 40:07
  really well done but you're like this is safe
• 40:10
  you know and then by the midway point you're
• 40:12
  like what the hell There's some really weird
• 40:17
  things in there. I loved it. But I've never seen
• 40:20
  Angela so creeped out. I was really creeped out.
• 40:23
  I really was. It was genuinely such a good movie.
• 40:28
  Interesting. And I don't want to talk too much
• 40:31
  about it, though, because this is where I introduce
• 40:35
  my topic for next week. Oh my god, I did it again!
• 40:37
  Oh my god, that scared me that time. I didn't...
• 40:40
  We didn't hear it this time. You didn't hear
• 40:43
  it this time? It just happened on my end. Yeah.
• 40:47
  It must have been on all of our computers last
• 40:51
  time. Yeah, but this one was on mine. I heard
• 40:56
  it really loud. I didn't hear anything this time.
• 40:59
  I didn't hear anything, so it must have only
• 41:01
  been through Angela's device. I don't like that.
• 41:05
  I don't like that. Right when I say that is my
• 41:08
  topic for next time. So anyway, this film, The
• 41:13
  Midnight Driver, is loosely based on the Hooded
• 41:20
  Man Ritual. Have you heard of it? I don't think
• 41:25
  I have. Let me find it real quick. It's one of
• 41:29
  those rituals. I might actually have it in my
• 41:33
  game ritual book or whatever. I'll have to look.
• 41:37
  I probably do. it's one of those things where
• 41:40
  like you know brie when you're a kid maybe not
• 41:42
  you specifically i say you generally again but
• 41:45
  yeah when you're a kid and like you have a sleepover
• 41:48
  it's one of those like it's like one of those
• 41:50
  bloody mary sorts of things bloody mary type
• 41:52
  of dare rituals there's like steps it's like
• 41:55
  a game like do you dare do these steps and you'll
• 41:58
  meet this hooded man you know so this ritual
• 42:03
  um just found uh ParamoRituals .Fandom .com The
• 42:10
  wiki, I guess. The Hooded Man ritual allows the
• 42:15
  player to access another dimension, which is
• 42:18
  called the Otherworld. In this ritual, the player
• 42:22
  will call an entity to drive him to the Otherworld.
• 42:24
  And it's like, you need certain things. You need
• 42:26
  a cord of telephone. We do not have one of those.
• 42:31
  No, we don't. You need a watch. You need a table,
• 42:37
  a chair. Oh, this wasn't included in the film.
• 42:41
  You need to get naked. What kind of sleepover
• 42:43
  is this? You need to get naked. Do we have to
• 42:45
  do that part? Because I was wanting to do it
• 42:48
  all together, but that might be a little weird
• 42:50
  then if that has to be part of the set. Oh, no.
• 42:52
  I'm not going to do that with you guys. No. Not
• 42:55
  on the... What are you... Angela! I was wanting
• 43:00
  to do... i wanted to do this all together but
• 43:04
  if one of the steps is having to get naked like
• 43:06
  let's not do that like that's really weird why
• 43:08
  is that part of it let's whack that's really
• 43:11
  weird and unnecessary that's probably why it
• 43:14
  wasn't part of the film and then it goes on to
• 43:22
  say it is recommended to play at night and if
• 43:24
  you are playing with friends if you are playing
• 43:28
  with friends you need to get naked um it's one
• 43:36
  of those rituals where like you do these steps
• 43:38
  and then you will summon this entity to pick
• 43:41
  you up in his cab and he'll take you to the other
• 43:43
  world you know we've all heard of these rituals
• 43:45
  you know yeah the games same with bloody mary
• 43:48
  you know you go in front of me or say these things
• 43:51
  it's like they're not real rituals per se maybe
• 43:54
  they are but you know so it's illusionally based
• 43:57
  on that one in particular the hooded man ritual
• 44:01
  Interesting. I want to talk more about that next
• 44:03
  week. All these fun game rituals. And Angela,
• 44:07
  believe it or not, not to spoil too much, but
• 44:08
  Angela has a book of these type of rituals. And
• 44:11
  our second date, we summoned a demon baby and
• 44:15
  flushed it down the toilet. We sure did. What?
• 44:20
  In the dark, pitch black bathroom. Oh my god.
• 44:24
  Why does that sound accurate, unfortunately?
• 44:29
  Well, you didn't have to get naked for that one.
• 44:31
  That would have been awkward for a second date.
• 44:34
  That would have been pretty awkward for a second
• 44:35
  date. I mean, maybe not for some people, but
• 44:37
  for us, yes. Oh, boy. Oh, goodness. So, it'll
• 44:46
  be interesting to talk about those type of rituals
• 44:48
  more next week. So, next week on the podcast,
• 44:52
  are we doing this live on the podcast? No. Or
• 44:56
  are we going to do it? We're just talking about
• 44:58
  the different... games yeah i was because i was
• 45:03
  gonna say if we wanted to do um the hooded man
• 45:06
  ritual me and ben we could do that one and get
• 45:10
  naked together since it's just us no we're still
• 45:16
  recording a podcast inch know that we're a couple
• 45:20
  oh my god no the point the point is we're recording
• 45:24
  a podcast we do post a video of it i don't care
• 45:27
  if anyone knows we're a couple that doesn't mean
• 45:29
  they can blur that part out or you just won't
• 45:32
  record yourselves for that part we gotta we gotta
• 45:35
  do every single step okay what about this we
• 45:37
  look at other um the other rules for due to the
• 45:41
  hooded man ritual and see if that part is part
• 45:44
  of it because i just can't imagine that being
• 45:46
  part part of it But if that's in every single,
• 45:49
  like, list that you gotta do for just telling
• 45:54
  you how to do the hooded man ritual, then, like,
• 45:56
  you gotta get naked during it. So, what's it
• 46:00
  gonna be? Do the ritual properly or not properly?
• 46:03
  Because if we don't do it properly, we're not
• 46:05
  gonna be summoning no taxi man to take us to
• 46:09
  a different universe or whatever the fuck he
• 46:11
  said. I don't condone any of that. The hooded
• 46:15
  man one, that one sounds so fun. You also just
• 46:19
  got creeped out by watching a fictional account
• 46:21
  movie loosely based on this ritual. So imagine
• 46:26
  your terror when it actually works in real life.
• 46:30
  Oh, dear. I'd be freaking out. That's a good
• 46:34
  point. I'd be freaking out. Okay. Well, we're
• 46:39
  just going to wrap it there. Just want to highlight
• 46:40
  a few of the films that really... stood out and
• 46:46
  and i think would be relevant to our audience
• 46:48
  um so check out the the links in the show notes
• 46:52
  for the philip experiment the whole story and
• 46:55
  uh midnight driver and uh follow all their uh
• 46:59
  relevant accounts and hopefully they're more
• 47:02
  widely available soon so everyone can watch them
• 47:04
  any final thoughts ang no not at all Bree, do
• 47:10
  you have any pleas or petitions to not have next
• 47:14
  year's festival conflict with Friday Bear Day?
• 47:18
  We'll see. That was so creepy. This reminds me,
• 47:24
  though. I have big plans I want to do for the
• 47:28
  future jocks film. I've been writing stuff down.
• 47:34
  Oh, boy. Oh, yeah, because we are extending.
• 47:37
  We are extending the short film into a feature.
• 47:41
  I just hope, Ben, because I know you usually
• 47:44
  are the director, but I would love to put some
• 47:47
  of my twists into it. Yeah. Go for it. I'm not
• 47:54
  even in, like, jocks feature film mode, though.
• 47:59
  So it's good that you are. Oh, I 100 % am. Good.
• 48:04
  Do you realize, like, how... many weird wacky
• 48:09
  things that has happened in the past few years
• 48:13
  that surrounding jocks maybe not all the synchronicities
• 48:18
  and like what we just talked about seven and
• 48:21
  that cult and all that lovely stuff in the vampire
• 48:25
  in new orleans and all that like like it's amazing
• 48:30
  it's so much amazing stuff You could really make
• 48:34
  something out of it. The amount of synchronicities
• 48:36
  and stuff, even with the whole discovering him
• 48:38
  and then the Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends book,
• 48:41
  which everyone needs to buy a copy and read Ypsilanti
• 48:45
  Ghosts and Legends. You might recognize the familiar
• 48:48
  face, I believe, on page 60, where there's a
• 48:50
  whole chapter about jocks. I don't know the exact
• 48:52
  page. I do. Because I would have freaked out
• 48:55
  if it was page 7. Oh, it was really creepy, too,
• 48:59
  after we screened the festival. screened the
• 49:02
  festival we screened the entire no we screened
• 49:04
  our film at the festival um this guy came up
• 49:06
  and looked at me and said let me see your eyes
• 49:10
  in the light what and then you did not tell me
• 49:14
  this either oh i didn't so we went out you know
• 49:19
  somewhere with better light and he looks at my
• 49:21
  eyes and says there were 27 in jocks and i said
• 49:25
  yeah and he goes there's still five inside of
• 49:27
  you what huh What? And then I said, I said, I
• 49:36
  didn't know what to say. So I was like, oh, do
• 49:38
  you know any exorcists? Then he goes, I used
• 49:42
  to. And he says, this guy, Garrett. But I misheard
• 49:45
  him as Derek. So I said, Derek. And he goes,
• 49:48
  Garrett. And I say, Garrick. And he goes, Garrett.
• 49:53
  So it was just awkward. And then he just kind
• 49:55
  of walked away. I feel like you make some of
• 49:58
  this stuff up sometimes. That was 100 % true.
• 50:01
  I swear on my life. I believe you. I believe
• 50:03
  you. But also, just the randomest, weirdest stuff
• 50:08
  happens to you all the time. Like, there's no
• 50:10
  way that this is real. This is a Midwest weird
• 50:12
  fest. This doesn't happen on the street here.
• 50:15
  This is all - Brianna! This type of shit happens
• 50:19
  to us on the daily. I know. I'm aware it does,
• 50:22
  but, like, and I know who's telling the truth,
• 50:25
  but any regular person would be like, you're
• 50:28
  full of shit. I know! Okay, so, I was inspired
• 50:36
  the festival. You guys know I've wanted, like,
• 50:39
  well, actually, I don't want, because it's a
• 50:41
  nightmare to do so, but I kind of got re -inspired.
• 50:46
  for the time being, to do a fiction something
• 50:50
  that I kind of want to do for next year's Midwest
• 50:53
  Weird Fest. So I started outlining a script.
• 50:55
  I'm going to bleep it, but it's based on the
• 50:58
  real encounter we had called, the tentative title
• 51:03
  of the film is called The D***. Oh my goodness.
• 51:08
  I feel like that real life encounter would make
• 51:11
  for the best film. you know like a horror film
• 51:14
  or something i feel like this would be such like
• 51:16
  a good little cute short yeah so i started outlining
• 51:19
  it today because i was talking to other people
• 51:21
  at the festival and stuff i was like yeah you
• 51:23
  know i i just i'm a documentary guy like films
• 51:26
  scare me and he's like giving me things like
• 51:28
  just do this this and this it won't be any different
• 51:31
  so um but i feel like i feel like you gotta do
• 51:34
  something like maybe a sequel or something about
• 51:36
  like People go to a film festival to screen a
• 51:40
  horror film, and then the film itself comes to
• 51:45
  life around them. Kind of like this, and you
• 51:47
  just meet these weird people. Today's going to
• 51:51
  be our funny day. Maybe he becomes a doppelganger
• 51:55
  that's trapped in the real life. All these interactions.
• 52:00
  I've always loved the idea of doing a found horror
• 52:03
  film, too. I think it'd be so much fun to do.
• 52:08
  I don't know. Like, Blair Witch vibes. Ugh. Love
• 52:13
  it. That would be fun. It would be. Yeah. Especially
• 52:17
  if it's, like, that might actually work really
• 52:20
  well for that idea, for, like, the go -to -film
• 52:22
  festival. Like, what if they do behind -the -scenes
• 52:24
  for the movie they made? yeah you know so you
• 52:27
  have a behind the scenes videographer which would
• 52:29
  make sense why it's being filmed and you're doing
• 52:32
  it behind the scenes and then it just like slowly
• 52:34
  descends from like a oh this is cool regular
• 52:37
  film to a found film yeah and it's just like
• 52:42
  are you messing with me like all these people
• 52:46
  no we're not yeah because like how cool would
• 52:50
  it been to actually have a camera crew with us
• 52:52
  angela the midwest weird fest to actually document
• 52:56
  all these weird encounters so it doesn't sound
• 52:58
  like just insane shit. Think how cool it would
• 53:00
  be if we had a crew, like a film person with
• 53:06
  us at every single weird event that has ever
• 53:09
  happened to us in our life. So people can actually
• 53:12
  believe us when we tell them shit. Uh -huh. I
• 53:17
  mean, you'd still get the comment that you posted
• 53:20
  to TikTok or Facebook and the first comment would
• 53:22
  still be fake. 100%. AI generated. I posted a
• 53:29
  quick TikTok of this cool statue at a cemetery
• 53:33
  that we stopped by that has all these legends
• 53:36
  attached to it. And it's real and lots of people
• 53:39
  know the folklore behind it. Someone commented
• 53:42
  saying, The video cuts away too fast. It must
• 53:45
  be fake. And I say, what do you mean? And they
• 53:48
  say, the video was too short and the shots of
• 53:51
  the statue only lasted a few seconds out of like
• 53:54
  a 10 second video. So I'm saying it must be fake.
• 53:57
  And I say, this is a TikTok, not a feature film.
• 54:01
  It's intentionally supposed to be short. It is
• 54:04
  very real. So even the length of a TikTok now
• 54:07
  means it's fake. I was reading through the comments
• 54:12
  on that post and I'm like, what? I feel like
• 54:15
  we have no business calling this Midwest Weird
• 54:17
  Fest recap at this point. Nope. There's a bunch
• 54:21
  of different things we're talking about, honestly.
• 54:23
  At this point, we're just rambling about things
• 54:27
  that have stuff, things that have happened. I
• 54:31
  don't know. That's just this podcast. Exactly.
• 54:35
  We just go with the flow. It's just our streams
• 54:38
  of consciousness. Yeah. Wait. Streams of consciousness.
• 54:43
  What podcast is this? Thanks for listening to
• 54:48
  this week's episode of Paranormal Lens. If you
• 54:50
  liked what you heard, every five -star rating
• 54:52
  and positive review tells the algorithms we're
• 54:56
  a worthy podcast and pushes us out to more listeners.
• 54:59
  We appreciate each and every one of you. And
• 55:02
  we'll see you next Thursday for another paranormal
• 55:04
  deep dive.