Latest / Boozy Banter with Friends / A Thanksgiving Ghost Story

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A Thanksgiving Ghost Story · Boozy Banter with Friends

• 0:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hello and welcome to boozy banter,
• 0:20
  Diane Black: With friends.
• 0:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm Leyla.
• 0:22
  Trisha Smith: I'm Trisha.
• 0:23
  Diane Black: I'm Diane.
• 0:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: Grab your favorite spirit and join us because shits about to get real.
• 0:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hello,
• 0:39
  Trisha Smith: Hi, It's like watching a pitcher wind up to the bat. How are you?
• 0:51
  Leyla Zmeskal: Greetings and salutations. I can always go with that,
• 0:56
  Trisha Smith: You could,
• 0:57
  Leyla Zmeskal: One day I think I'm going to do that to completely surprise you.
• 1:00
  Trisha Smith: Oh, that would be a good,
• 1:01
  Leyla Zmeskal: You won't know how to act.
• 1:03
  Trisha Smith: I won't. I'll be like, huh,
• 1:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: What?
• 1:05
  Trisha Smith: Right?
• 1:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: Wait, did we do we start already?
• 1:11
  Trisha Smith: True story.
• 1:12
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yep, yep. So how are you doing?
• 1:15
  Trisha Smith: Good,
• 1:15
  Leyla Zmeskal: Busy?
• 1:16
  Trisha Smith: Busy.
• 1:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's that time of year where things are starting to ramp up.
• 1:19
  Trisha Smith: I know I always say for me it starts in like September.
• 1:23
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 1:23
  Trisha Smith: Birthdays, than the holidays, and then you it January rolls around. You're like, what do I do with myself?
• 1:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: Because everything's done and over with,
• 1:32
  Trisha Smith: Right, then you have a break.
• 1:34
  Leyla Zmeskal: Now. Yeah, now it's, you know, Thanksgiving is tomorrow.
• 1:37
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, so fast.
• 1:39
  Leyla Zmeskal: This year did go by fast I think.
• 1:41
  Trisha Smith: It did. I think because we came off such a very non busy year, like we were all cooped up, we couldn't go anywhere. We can see anybody.
• 1:48
  Trisha Smith: And then to go from this stagnant existence to seeing everybody again and going back to work and going back to doing life.
• 1:59
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 2:00
  Trisha Smith: It was like it made time speed up so much. Like It just seemed like it was just Halloween the other day.
• 2:05
  Trisha Smith: 20 times faster than, It does.
• 2:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: It really does.
• 2:12
  Trisha Smith: I'm still eating Halloween candy. So I agree completely.
• 2:15
  Leyla Zmeskal: Damn candy corns.
• 2:18
  Trisha Smith: And, you know, it doesn't help that we roll over our Halloween drinks right into Thanksgiving because it's all fall,
• 2:26
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's still fall,
• 2:27
  Trisha Smith: Right. We still have like three more days before you can officially drink Christmas. You can't have Christmas cocktails until after Black Friday.
• 2:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, you cannot turn on Halloween lights until thanks. I mean, Christmas lights. Halloween lights.
• 2:43
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, Thanksgiving is over.
• 2:45
  Leyla Zmeskal: I mean, even Thanksgiving night I say it's okay. Turn on your turn on your Christmas tree. I mean, it's okay.
• 2:51
  Trisha Smith: A lot of people put up their Christmas tree that weekend.
• 2:54
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm fine with that.
• 2:55
  Trisha Smith: We used to do that.
• 2:57
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm totally fine with that.
• 2:58
  Trisha Smith: Now I have so many Christmas decorations. I have to start,
• 3:01
  Leyla Zmeskal: Early,
• 3:02
  Trisha Smith: Early. But we do not decorate the tree until after Thanksgiving. It might be up you know it's kind of airin out.
• 3:10
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, it's got to kind of like you know, settle.
• 3:12
  Trisha Smith: Shake it at all branches. But yeah, it does not get decorated till after,
• 3:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's nice I like that.
• 3:18
  Trisha Smith: It's just the one thing I can hang on to everything else out the window.
• 3:21
  Trisha Smith: It's like I got to decorate now I get too much crap.
• 3:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: Exactly. Because it takes a long time to put out all the Christmas decorations and then you kind of want to get the most out of it.
• 3:33
  Trisha Smith: And I want to enjoy it but I'll tell you what, the earlier I put it out the faster I am to pack it up. Like if I put it out,
• 3:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: Really?
• 3:41
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. It's like no January 1, like okay, start getting out the boxes. I got to put it all away Christmas holidays are over.
• 3:50
  Leyla Zmeskal: I think that's normal because that's me too.
• 3:52
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, you know, maybe that first weekend after it's okay to extend it but anything else you look like these people their Christmas decorations up for half the year.
• 4:04
  Trisha Smith: There's my daughter's friend her family leaves it up till Three Kings Day which is I think the week after weekend after New Year's or something like that. I always felt like they left their Christmas decorations up forever but they had a reason,
• 4:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: They had a reason,
• 4:22
  Trisha Smith: And then I would go over there and then I was kind of jealous because you know my stuffs already put away and it's like I want Christmas back.
• 4:30
  Leyla Zmeskal: You're like no I'm okay,
• 4:31
  Trisha Smith: Nevermind,
• 4:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay you know I'm good now.
• 4:34
  Trisha Smith: I need 10 months to recover. So and this time of year to everybody's like, putting all the stores are putting out their Christmas stuff. And then I forget how much Christmas stuff I really have. And I'm like, oh, I need this. I don't need one more damn thing. I don't have anywhere to put it. But in my mind I have nothing. It's like clothes, I have nothing.
• 4:59
  Leyla Zmeskal: I just don't know, I don't have anything.
• 5:00
  Trisha Smith: What is this crap?
• 5:00
  Trisha Smith: This is I need new things.
• 5:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: This is two seasons ago.
• 5:04
  Trisha Smith: And then I opened up my Christmas boxes I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is so cute. Oh my god, I bought this like the day after Christmas, I forgot all about it. Sometimes I come up with two things, like I buy something this year I'm like, Oh yeah, I bought that the day after Christmas one went on sale. Oops,
• 5:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: I have a couple now. I'll just put that off to the side to give to somebody.
• 5:23
  Trisha Smith: Most of that stuff ends up on my mantle because then I can make it like symmetrical. That's not if you see things that match on my mantel. Those were not on purpose.
• 5:36
  Leyla Zmeskal: Just happened that way.
• 5:38
  Trisha Smith: It's because I got overzealous with my shopping so,
• 5:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: Well clearly you liked what you liked? Because you bought it twice.
• 5:45
  Trisha Smith: Right? Right.
• 5:47
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah.
• 5:47
  Trisha Smith: So what are you doing for Thanksgiving this
• 5:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: On Thanksgiving?
• 5:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: I am doing what I've done for year?
• 5:51
  Leyla Zmeskal: the last few years is go over to my god daughters. Yeah, they're doing normally do Thanksgiving.
• 5:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: Last year, I kind of guilted him into doing it or did we know last year they came over and we did Thanksgiving and then they did Christmas because normally we'll do a Christmas dinner and they do Thanksgiving by with the work schedules last year. Um, cuz she's a nurse. So so she had to work so we just kind of flip flopped. So this year, they're actually having it today. Okay, now so after we get done here, we're gonna it's gonna go over there and do it because they have to work Thursday. I baked m, normally I do a bourbon pec n pie is already,
• 6:31
  Trisha Smith: Ready to go.
• 6:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: Bourbon pecan pie, it's become like a requested favorite.
• 6:36
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 6:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: And balsamic glazed onions, baked balsamic glazed onions.
• 6:43
  Trisha Smith: That sounds good.
• 6:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: Came across that recipe like couple of years ago.
• 6:46
  Leyla Zmeskal: And it's just so easy,
• 6:49
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 6:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: It turned out so good. It's almost like the roasted garlic that you throw in the oven, so easy and so delicious.
• 6:56
  Trisha Smith: You have to make that when you come over to my house, too.
• 6:58
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, because you are.
• 7:00
  Trisha Smith: I know, I my, I normally host Thanksgiving or we go to my mom's and this year, we're going to my aunt's house, in Tampa. And so it's kind of a long haul, but it's also very nice knowing I don't have to do anything. I just show up eat sleep in the car on the way back, my husband's gonna drive.
• 7:23
  Leyla Zmeskal: He's such a trooper Don is.
• 7:26
  Trisha Smith: So because of that, and for various reasons, it just worked out really well.
• 7:29
  Trisha Smith: You know, I've got kids are going different places, different directions. So we're all meeting back up here on Sunday, where you and yours will be joining us and it's I'm looking forward to that. That'll be a nice relaxed day, just without the stress of a Thursday. Thanks. I don't know why having Thanksgiving in the middle of the week stresses me out. It's I should be doing other things on Thursdays besides getting ready for I don't know. Like when Christmas falls in the middle of the week.
• 8:05
  Trisha Smith: It stresses me out. I love it when it falls on the weekend. So like every seven years I'm a happy girl but,
• 8:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: Those other six years to dam stressful.
• 8:21
  Trisha Smith: Making it easier we have these delicious cocktails that I'm going to be serving up.
• 8:27
  Leyla Zmeskal: Holy schnikeys.
• 8:27
  Leyla Zmeskal: The simplest,
• 8:31
  Trisha Smith: Yes.
• 8:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: Dang cocktail.
• 8:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's two ingredients.
• 8:35
  Trisha Smith: The three,
• 8:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay, three.
• 8:36
  Trisha Smith: If you include the garnish.
• 8:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah.
• 8:39
  Trisha Smith: Which is kind of essential. It made it super good.
• 8:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's so good.
• 8:43
  Trisha Smith: Right? So we're having salted caramel apple,
• 8:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: Martini.
• 8:49
  Trisha Smith: Martinis.
• 8:50
  Leyla Zmeskal: So, so good.
• 8:53
  Trisha Smith: It is so delicious.
• 8:54
  Leyla Zmeskal: Holy biscuits.
• 8:55
  Trisha Smith: All I did well, all we did was dip the glass in some caramel topping. Yeah, and sprinkled some kosher salt along the rim. And then I squirted some caramel in the glass,
• 9:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: Little extra.
• 9:12
  Trisha Smith: Right. And you just shake up. Leyla feels like we should do equal parts
• 9:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: I think we should, I mean come on now.
• 9:19
  Trisha Smith: I did three ounces of apple cider and two ounces of caramel vodka,
• 9:25
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 9:25
  Trisha Smith: But three and three would not be a bad mix.
• 9:27
  Leyla Zmeskal: Three would not be a bad mix because then of course as the night goes on and you're interacting with family more you can always bump that ratio back to how much family is getting on your nerves.
• 9:43
  Trisha Smith: Right and pour that in the glass and that caramel just kind of seeps in to the to the actual drink and then you take a drink and it's got the salt and it is so good.
• 9:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, yeah and for people because I'm I'm a very hit or miss apple liqueur kind of person. Like some of it's okay, but then some of it is not I have a huge bottle of apple vodka like. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do with it.
• 10:10
  Trisha Smith: Right without using the real apple cider in the drinks.
• 10:14
  Leyla Zmeskal: This is delicious.
• 10:15
  Trisha Smith: So good. And it's going to be a dangerous drink because it's like your you can taste the caramel but it's not heavy. It's not a heavy drink by any means. I did see a recipe for an apple, a caramel apple hot toddy that I do and also be really, really good. And
• 10:33
  Leyla Zmeskal: That does sound good.
• 10:34
  Trisha Smith: Yeah.
• 10:36
  Leyla Zmeskal: Well martinis to they're just tiny.
• 10:38
  Trisha Smith: They are.
• 10:40
  Leyla Zmeskal: I mean, you just have even a sip and you're like, Oh, um,
• 10:43
  Trisha Smith: My glass is empty.
• 10:45
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm going through it so quickly.
• 10:47
  Trisha Smith: I know,
• 10:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: It is just a sip.
• 10:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: But this was a great recipe.
• 10:53
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 10:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: Super easy. Very, very good.
• 10:55
  Trisha Smith: Right. And I think it'll, it will appeal to a lot of people, you know, on your guest list.
• 11:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh, absolutely.
• 11:03
  Trisha Smith: It's not overly sweet.
• 11:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: No,
• 11:07
  Trisha Smith: It's actually really good. So, yeah, if you're still struggling for a Thanksgiving cocktail, uh, you have probably a couple more hours, you can run out and get yourself some apple cider, caramel topping, and caramel vodka. And you're set. So what do you have for me today?
• 11:22
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh, you want me to go first?
• 11:24
  Trisha Smith: You want me to go first?
• 11:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: No it does matter I can go first. Let me do it.
• 11:26
  Trisha Smith: Okay, go ahead.
• 11:27
  Leyla Zmeskal: All right. Since it's Thanksgiving in everybody's busy,
• 11:29
  Trisha Smith: Right,
• 11:30
  Leyla Zmeskal: No one wants to spend a damn long time listening to a podcast because they got shit to do. Or maybe they are doing this while they're cooking and doing all kinds of things,
• 11:38
  Trisha Smith: Which is what I would be doing if I was having thinks maybe I'll do that on Sunday. I'll listen to a podcast while I'm cooking.
• 11:45
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah. Yeah. I like to listen to music. I do a lot of music,
• 11:49
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 11:50
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 11:51
  Trisha Smith: I like the podcasts because then I can it like keeps me entertained, especially when you're having to like do gravy or anything where you're having to stand and like, do a rue or you know,
• 12:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: Repetative yeah.
• 12:03
  Trisha Smith: And it's and music is okay, but then I find myself going to the beat. So atleast a podcast is consistent.
• 12:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: You could just like zone in on what they're saying and not continue,
• 12:15
  Trisha Smith: To speed it up.
• 12:15
  Trisha Smith: Slow it down. Speed it up. Slow it down.
• 12:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: The consistency of this is just strange. So I am,
• 12:27
  Trisha Smith: Damn 80s music.
• 12:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: Exactly. So I have a Thanksgiving ghost story.
• 12:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: That has an interesting twist at the end.
• 12:37
  Trisha Smith: Okay.
• 12:39
  Leyla Zmeskal: This is about the ghost story about Duffy's Cut in Pennsylvania.
• 12:45
  Trisha Smith: Oh,
• 12:46
  Leyla Zmeskal: Have you heard of it?
• 12:46
  Trisha Smith: No.
• 12:47
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay.
• 12:48
  Trisha Smith: Is it a place?
• 12:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: Duffy's cut?
• 12:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah.
• 12:50
  Trisha Smith: Oh, okay.
• 12:51
  Leyla Zmeskal: So every Thanksgiving twin brothers Bill and Frank Watson would listen to their grandfather tell a ghost story about Duffy's Cut in Pennsylvania. I just like saying, Pennsylvania.
• 13:03
  Trisha Smith: Fransisco.
• 13:07
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, it's like the Groundhog Day. Bobby, Bobby blah. So their grandfather used to be a railroad railroad worker, and even said the Pennsylvania Railroad kept records of the stories of the ghost of Duffy's Cut.
• 13:27
  Trisha Smith: Wow. Okay,
• 13:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: So back in 1909, a man was walking home from a tavern when he saw and I quote, so you know what's going happen.
• 13:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: Now, you know me I do terrible accents.
• 13:41
  Trisha Smith: Wait, I'm taking a sip first.
• 13:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: I don't know what a Pennsylvania accent is.
• 13:46
  Trisha Smith: I don't know either but I'm sure you'll come up with something.
• 13:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: So who knows what's gonna happen right now.
• 13:52
  Leyla Zmeskal: Back in 1908. A man was walking home from a tavern when he saw and I quote, I saw with my own eyes, the ghost of the Irishman, who died from the cholera a month ago. A dancing around the big trench. They were buried.
• 14:08
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's true, Mr. It was awful.
• 14:14
  Leyla Zmeskal: Why? They looked as if they were kind of green and blue fire. And they were a hoppin and poppin on their graves, a herd those hours men were hunting the place because they were buried without the benefit of clergy. un quote.
• 14:30
  Trisha Smith: So Pennsylvania accent, like a bad mid Midwestern or a northerner copying a southern accent.
• 14:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's probably, I mean, yeah, I mean, he say, a hoppin and a bobbin. Like you had to add an accent to that.
• 14:52
  Trisha Smith: He must have or drunk or a drunk accent.
• 14:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: They were bobbing on the ground. I heard,
• 15:00
  Trisha Smith: Oh my god.
• 15:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: So after the grandfather died, and the brothers inherited all his old railroad papers, and they actually began to believe the ghost story was real. They found many documents about the blue and green ghosts in the area.
• 15:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hmm, surprisingly, one document said, X marks the spot.
• 15:24
  Trisha Smith: Oh,
• 15:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: What does that mean? Suggesting suggesting, suggesting, that's such a hard word right now, that the men were buried where they were making the fill, which is the old original railroad bridge.
• 15:36
  Leyla Zmeskal: Now, Duffy's Cut was a huge project to fill in a ravine so that the railroad could come through. And many of the workers that worked on this major project were poor Irish immigrants. So back in 2002, the brothers began digging and found forks and remnants of a shanty, however, in 2005 they found a ipe with an Irish flag on it, nd they knew they were close, ut needed hard science to get hem to the next step. So the wins had a friend who knew eophysicist Tim Betchle. Who did earth scans which could he p detect if there was anythi g under the ground. And so th y didn't have to like d g everywhere or drill ever li e nope, that's not it. Let's d g this next hole. Nope, nop, that's not it. So by shooti g electrical currents through t e slope, Bechtle found odd ar as where the couldn't where he current couldn't pass throu h, which indicated something mi ht be beneath the surface, and aybe a good place to start dig ing. So 2009, one of Bechtle stu ents found a human bone and
• 16:43
  Trisha Smith: One of those, more pieces were being found And that's when they said, kay, look, we're getting all hese pieces of bones and thing. We need to find out if th y're human or if they're an
• 16:54
  Leyla Zmeskal: Here comes Janet, to help separate human bones mal, because you don't know.
• 16:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: o in comes Janet mog Mong M goo. Mongay.
• 17:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: from animal bones. Seven skeletons had been found at Duffy's Cut, including four skulls.
• 17:21
  Trisha Smith: Wow,
• 17:22
  Leyla Zmeskal: The skulls had cracks on them that would indicate they died from a blow to the head, either from a bullet or an axe. Janet said.
• 17:28
  Leyla Zmeskal: She also said that if they had cholera, it didn't kill them. It would say something I would say something else killed them. So there was a cholera outbreak and many workers tried to leave Duffy's Cut and find other places to stay. But everybody was like, bugger off,
• 17:50
  Trisha Smith: With your chloera,
• 17:51
  Leyla Zmeskal: With your chloera because I don't want to get it.
• 17:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: So they're like, Well, we're gonna go then. So they went back to Duffy's Cut and the shanty where they were all living. So the story goes that the Sisters of Charity and a local blacksmith were taking care of them. And as the men die, they were put into a mass grave and the blacksmith burned the shanty to the ground. After some research into the actual death toll of the cholera outbreak, it was found that around 57 men actually died, and that the newspapers did not accurately report the deaths counts at all.
• 18:26
  Leyla Zmeskal: So kind of questioning like maybe the reporters were pressured by the railroad, not to kind of say.
• 18:36
  Trisha Smith: You know, that doesn't make them look good.
• 18:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: No, no, not at all.
• 18:40
  Trisha Smith: Let their workers just die in their little shanty town
• 18:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: Of cholera.
• 18:44
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 18:45
  Leyla Zmeskal: You know, so the twins said that they want to find every last body so they can be identified and laid to rest.
• 18:52
  Leyla Zmeskal: They think it's likely that these men were secretly buried in a mass grave to cover up, you know, so the railroad can actually keep recruiting workers to kind of work for the railroad is the ghost story, their grandfather told them about the blue and green ghost real, maybe?
• 19:08
  Trisha Smith: Well, now they at least have a reason for it.
• 19:10
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, yeah. It's plausible. If the Irishmen didn't really die, maybe they were murdered to stop the spread of the disease. And maybe, just maybe, that the people who saw the ghost of the Irishman knew what really happened. And they were just trying to tell someone about the mass grave so the dead could be found.
• 19:31
  Trisha Smith: Oh, that's an interesting theory.
• 19:34
  Leyla Zmeskal: So maybe the guy or some of the you know, reported people that said, hey, saw the blue and green, you know, fires just to hoppin and a boppin around that trench where you know, they were burned from the cholera maybe they weren't really died from cholera. So that's like a ghost story that ended up being like having real merit
• 19:59
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 20:00
  Leyla Zmeskal: Kind of crazy, isn't it?
• 20:02
  Trisha Smith: Yeah it is.
• 20:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. Why would you tell something like that on Thanksgiving every Thanksgiving?
• 20:10
  Leyla Zmeskal: Gather around, folks. I'm gonna tell you the story of
• 20:13
  Trisha Smith: What did the I wonder what the grandfather really knew?
• 20:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: I don't know. It said that he was pretty. The article said it was he was pretty involved. Like he was a right hand man to the President or he was some kind of advisor to the president.
• 20:24
  Trisha Smith: Maybe he was like telling them on Thanksgiving because maybe something happened on Thanksgiving. And he's feeling a bit guilty.
• 20:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, maybe he actually knew what happened
• 20:36
  Trisha Smith: Right. So many theories.
• 20:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: I know. I know.
• 20:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: So that's kind of like a short, sweet. Happy Thanksgiving ghost story.
• 20:44
  Trisha Smith: Happy Thanksgiving.
• 20:46
  Leyla Zmeskal: There's not really many ghost stories out there. There's lots of ghost tales of.
• 20:52
  Trisha Smith: There are and there's a lot, when you look up horror stories or ghost stories for Thanksgiving, a lot of them are like things that have happened to people on Thanksgiving.
• 21:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yes.
• 21:02
  Trisha Smith: That are not good.
• 21:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yes. Yeah.
• 21:05
  Trisha Smith: But I mean, they're not like, you know,
• 21:07
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 21:07
  Trisha Smith: Paranormal or,
• 21:09
  Leyla Zmeskal: Slasher related.
• 21:11
  Trisha Smith: They're all like my turkey burnt. I don't know. I didn't read any of that. I too, looked for a ghost. I couldn't really find one that I you know, I mean, there was like, maybe something that happened around Thanksgiving. There are some Thanksgiving I thought I saw something about Thanksgiving massacre or something. I don't know. Because, like, Well, did they all come back to life where they ghosts? Did somebody stick around? You know, I couldn't. So I just skipped it.
• 21:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: There is like, there is said to be like the true dark history of Thanksgiving, which is not.
• 21:50
  Trisha Smith: Oh, gosh. Okay. So here, let me tell you my story, because that kind of ties into what you didn't do.
• 21:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah.
• 21:57
  Trisha Smith: Because it's so involved and sad, and,
• 22:01
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah.
• 22:02
  Trisha Smith: When you really think about how this country was formed? And the sacrifice that was made for,
• 22:09
  Leyla Zmeskal: Not really by us either.
• 22:11
  Trisha Smith: Right, it's, you know, is a hard truth to grasp.
• 22:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah.
• 22:18
  Trisha Smith: And so I did not focus on that either. Because I'm like, I don't want anybody to be like, thanks. You know, this is something I should have said last week before Thanksgiving. If you're weak to kind of stew, on it.
• 22:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah.
• 22:32
  Trisha Smith: But instead, I did a little reading about Plymouth, because Plymouth Rock. we all,
• 22:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: We all knew about that.
• 22:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: The most haunted?
• 22:42
  Trisha Smith: Right. So I was looking at the connection between Thanksgiving and America's first oldest and most haunted cemetery, The most haunted,
• 22:54
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm surprised.
• 22:56
  Trisha Smith: So you know, when we're in grade school, you know, we all learn about the pilgrims.
• 22:59
  Trisha Smith: I think everybody's been in a Thanksgiving. What do they call it,
• 23:05
  Leyla Zmeskal: Play,
• 23:06
  Trisha Smith: Or something where you had to dress up. Some of you were pilgrims. Some of you were Indians,
• 23:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: Which if you read the true dark history of Thanksgiving,
• 23:15
  Trisha Smith: Right, didn't happen.
• 23:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: It did not happen they were taught that it happened.
• 23:21
  Trisha Smith: Exactly. But we all learned about how the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower on Plymouth Rock. And after a difficult year, they were doing so well. They invited their new Indian friends over for the first Thanksgiving. And they did a bunch of singing and eating. Isn't that what we all remember from like, first grade?
• 23:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's not what really happened.
• 23:39
  Trisha Smith: It's not. And like most people you learned it wasn't a kumbaya moment for the Pilgrims in the Indians and never gave it much thought again.
• 23:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 23:49
  Trisha Smith: You learned Oh, they really did all these things. And then you just move on to another topic. Right? So now, you know, we don't think about the past we think about what are we making for Thanksgiving?
• 24:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 24:04
  Trisha Smith: What time is the parade?
• 24:05
  Leyla Zmeskal: How long do I have to spend time with my family?
• 24:07
  Trisha Smith: Right. Do I have the right size stretchy pants?
• 24:10
  Trisha Smith: You know, we all have other things to think of.
• 24:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 24:13
  Trisha Smith: Um, so occasionally I hear about a descendent of the Mayflower you know on like that show, Who do you think you are?
• 24:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: No.
• 24:22
  Trisha Smith: They do like, they trace your family genealogy and yeah, and the only other time I heard about it was back in the 80s. Remember the Mayflower madam?
• 24:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: No.
• 24:34
  Trisha Smith: Was the socialite in New York.
• 24:37
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh, wait a minute, okay. Yes, I do.
• 24:38
  Trisha Smith: She, her descendants were from the Mayflower and but really, she was but she ran like a brothel.
• 24:45
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay,
• 24:46
  Trisha Smith: Well, I shouldn't say it was a brothel,
• 24:47
  Leyla Zmeskal: It was a high flauten.
• 24:48
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. High class escorts. So that was the only real time I heard about somebody being a decendent from the Mayflower.
• 24:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's true entrepreneurial ship right there.
• 25:00
  Trisha Smith: My family was on the Mayflower, so I'm gonna just have a bunch of sex workers come work for me.
• 25:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 25:07
  Trisha Smith: Because that makes complete sense.
• 25:08
  Leyla Zmeskal: But now you know, were classy, just using a different set of people.
• 25:14
  Trisha Smith: So but the reality was that there are very few
• 25:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, descendants now because not many of the original pilgrims
• 25:18
  Trisha Smith: I mean, you know, they arrived in December in the survived their first year in Plymouth. After arriving in December of 1620, 52 of the 10 passengers died that firs winter. It was called t e starving time.
• 25:43
  Trisha Smith: Northeast,
• 25:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: That was poor planning on their part.
• 25:45
  Trisha Smith: Seriously. So
• 25:47
  Leyla Zmeskal: They should have checked the Farmers Almanac.
• 25:51
  Trisha Smith: And they had no supplies because I didn't get into this. But evidently there were two ships that left at the same time, but one kept having issues and kept having to go back and finally it was scrapped altogether. And so the Mayflower arrived without its full amount of supplies.
• 26:10
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 26:11
  Trisha Smith: And so they they didn't have everything they needed.
• 26:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh, wow.
• 26:14
  Trisha Smith: So these 52 people were part of a mass burial on Coals Hill, where the settlers bury their dead until about 1637, when the fort was completed nearby. A historic account describes a storm in 1735 that washed skulls and bones out of the hill and into the harbor. And that was when people realize oh, hey, there's graves over here that kind of forgot about that.
• 26:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's where we buried grandma.
• 26:44
  Trisha Smith: Further excavation throughout the 18th and 19th centuries found even more remains in a 1921 they were all gathered together and finally laid to rest where they were originally in the on the same site where they originally buried on Coals Hill in a giant granite crypt named the sarcophagus. The inscription on the crypt says, this monument marks the first burying ground in Plymouth of the passengers of the Mayflower. Here under cover of darkness, the fast dwindling company laid their dead, leveling the earth above them less the Indian should know how many were the graves. So at the same time, they didn't want any, you know, the Native Americans to know that they were losing people left and right,
• 27:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 27:32
  Trisha Smith: Because then, you know, they were afraid that things would happen to them if they knew. So it said, If you visit the sarcophagus today, you may hear talking or whispering coming from inside, there's no outside access into the sarcophagus,
• 27:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: Let me out.
• 27:49
  Trisha Smith: Exactly.
• 27:51
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm not dead yet.
• 27:51
  Trisha Smith: What am I doing in here?
• 27:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: Could you bring me a Pepsi?
• 27:58
  Trisha Smith: So the Pilgrims built their first fort on nearby Burial Hill, because the higher rise allowed them to see much of the colony below so they kind of keep a lookout, you know, things like that. It was also used as a meeting house, a church and a courthouse. And many scholars believe that around 1637, they also began using it as a graveyard.
• 28:20
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay,
• 28:21
  Trisha Smith: Why inside there fort, I don't know, maybe it was like, I don't know, I just, that's weird.
• 28:26
  Leyla Zmeskal: Different times back then,
• 28:27
  Trisha Smith: Different times.
• 28:27
  Trisha Smith: It's now on the National Historic Register, and it's considered the oldest cemetery in America. Many Mayflower passengers were buried here, including Governor William Bradford and William and Mary Brewster, and the last burial took place in 1957.
• 28:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: Holy schnikeys.
• 28:49
  Trisha Smith: I know, that's a long time to be putting bodies in that same cemetary. Most you know, have a cut off.
• 28:58
  Leyla Zmeskal: Sorry,
• 28:59
  Trisha Smith: Remember, we went to like Savannah was like,
• 29:01
  Leyla Zmeskal: Too full,
• 29:02
  Trisha Smith: You know, the cemetery itself has this many but all around, there's a whole bunch.
• 29:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 29:07
  Trisha Smith: You know, I'm surprised that they still were burying people there in 1957. So the earliest grave markers carved out of wood were carved out of wood and did not survive the elements over the years, which left many of the grave sites unmarked. Today the oldest gravestone is from 1681, belonging to Edward Gray. Burial Hill is the final resting place of over 2,500 people. So of course, it's also considered haunted,
• 29:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: The most haunted.
• 29:36
  Trisha Smith: Right, before the Pilgrims arrived. The Indian village of Patuxent once occupied the area where Plymouth now stands. before their arrival, the entire village was decimated from the plagues that had wiped out much of the Native American tribes in the New England area. And there are stories of an imp creature that roams the grounds of Burial Hill. Some consider it to be a Native American curse. And others say it's not a curse but just another ghost that roams the grounds. Visitors have spotted them from the corner of their eye appearing as a white figure darting by, I wouldn't be surprised if
• 30:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: I wouldn't be surprised if the Indians put a curse on him because you know what? We were not nice to the
• 30:24
  Trisha Smith: No. So located within the cemetery is an Indians.
• 30:27
  Trisha Smith: obelisk with a mass grave under it. In 1778, the bodies of 70 men were buried there following the wreck of the Brigadier General Arnold. The ship ran aground during a blizzard and even though the residents of Plymouth could see the stranded ship, they were unable to help the now freezing crew because the water was turning to ice. It was two days before townspeople were finally able to come aboard, where they found over 70 sailors dead and frozen. The Captain James McGee was one of the few who survived and he asked to be buried with his crew, but it's believed he was not buried with them. So to this day, he reportedly roams Burial Hill looking for his crew. I k ow, so according to the webs te, Boston ghosts.com visitors a d paranormal investigato s describe Burial Hill as hea y and hostile, reports inclu e sightings of full bo y apparitions, dark shadow figur s and disembodied screams. A d Boston ghosts reports of o e woman's story of a whi e silhouette lunging at her fa e and screaming for her to o away. While another visitor s e saw a giant figure in deersk n clothing walking up the hil, ignoring the visitors calls, t e figure eventually turned arou d to face them only to pure at h m with no eye
• 31:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: And then all of a sudden, a middle finger was raised.
• 32:00
  Trisha Smith: Stop yelling at me.
• 32:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: What the fuck you want?
• 32:05
  Trisha Smith: There's so much more about that area as you found out and as I found out and and that's why it's considered the most haunted. It's called America's hometown, Plymouth, Massachusetts.
• 32:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh, wow.
• 32:22
  Trisha Smith: So whether you're looking for history, or the paranormal, Plymouth has something for everyone. It's just 40 miles away from Boston.
• 32:27
  Trisha Smith: And if you go to Boston ghosts.com They've even put together an entire haunted road trip if you happen to be in the area.
• 32:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: There you go.
• 32:38
  Trisha Smith: Right. So we'll put the link on our website at
• 32:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: Light hearted.
• 32:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: Boozy Banter with Friends.com.
• 32:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: So it's just like it there are some other things that make this town haunted. You know why it's
• 32:48
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, light hearted, considered haunted that I did not even talk about like you
• 32:52
  Leyla Zmeskal: Light hearted.
• 32:52
  Leyla Zmeskal: were saying about Native Americans. A lot of the houses and it was you know, I there, it would be a whole it would be an
• 32:59
  Trisha Smith: Why did our pilgrims end up? At Burial Hill, hour, you know, just to touch on each topic. So I'm like, let's just keep it nice and simple.
• 33:11
  Trisha Smith: now, you know.
• 33:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, I first started looking into the true dark, horrific history of Thanksgiving. I was like, Oh, just you know, the true dark horrific history of Thanksgiving. Oh, like, oh, wow, that sounds interesting. Oh, my God, this sounds. I mean, it's fascinating to read, it really is all you have to do is just if you're interested in it, just Google it. I mean, and it's fascinating, but it is not what you were taught in school.
• 33:38
  Trisha Smith: Absolutely not.
• 33:40
  Leyla Zmeskal: At all,
• 33:41
  Trisha Smith: You know, it's just another one of those things that you you have got to you got to know your past.
• 33:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 33:49
  Trisha Smith: And as children do, I think that as a child, I needed to know all that. No, I always think of the Addams Family. Do you remember the Addams Family movie we go to summer camp?
• 34:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yes.
• 34:05
  Trisha Smith: Wednesday.
• 34:08
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's one of the best sceens.
• 34:11
  Trisha Smith: I know and she starts telling the history of the Indians and then they fight back and they're shooting the,
• 34:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: She had the spray where she's spraying the crap.
• 34:23
  Trisha Smith: That's yeah, that's what I imagined now for Thanksgiving.
• 34:27
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's actually more accurate.
• 34:31
  Trisha Smith: Or the what was Pugsley something about a turkey, eat me, he's singing a song it's like, eat me,
• 34:45
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm gonna watch that movie because that's just fun,
• 34:50
  Trisha Smith: We have to watch at least forward to that part.
• 34:52
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, at least that part.
• 34:53
  Trisha Smith: Right after we refill our,
• 34:56
  Leyla Zmeskal: Would you like some lemonade? It's a made with real, it's made of your lemons?
• 34:58
  Leyla Zmeskal: Would you like some Girl Scout Cookies? Is it made with real Girl Scouts?
• 35:07
  Trisha Smith: Love Wednesday Adams, I thought you're gonna ask me if I want another cocktail. I was gonna say yes, please.
• 35:14
  Leyla Zmeskal: Well hold on one second there young lady. Would you like another cocktail?
• 35:18
  Trisha Smith: Yes, please. Oh wait Are they made with real...Happy Thanksgiving.
• 35:28
  Leyla Zmeskal: Happy Thanksgiving. Cheers.
• 35:30
  Trisha Smith: Cheers.
• 35:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hey, like what you hear?
• 35:33
  Diane Black: Check us out on Instagram.
• 35:34
  Trisha Smith: Or send us a message at Boozy Banter With Friends.com
• 35:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: Thanks for listening.
• 35:39
  Trisha Smith: Until next time.
• 35:40
  Diane Black: Late-a.