Latest / Journey to the Fringe / Pale Figures, Dark Encounters

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Pale Figures, Dark Encounters · Journey to the Fringe

0:03
from the unexplained to the mundane. Come join
0:06
us on a Journey to the Fringe. Hello and welcome
0:16
to Journey to the Fringe. Maybe just a figment
0:19
of your imagination and maybe you just forgot
0:21
to turn those headphones on. Anyhow, we are your
0:24
podcast host. We probably exist. Don't think
0:26
too much about it, Taylor and Chelsea. Here today
0:29
doing a Chelsea episode. It's probably not the
0:32
mushrooms you just ate. We're not literally talking
0:35
to you, right? It might be the mushrooms we just
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ate, but who knows for sure. Anyhow, on with
0:41
the episode. Don't think too much about what
0:43
Taylor just said. This episode has been a long
0:47
time coming. I really hope nobody's done some
0:49
hallucinatories while listening to this. I'm
0:53
actually surprised - Oh no, is it a bad trip?
0:55
Yep. Coming up, turn it off right now. You know
1:00
who you are. You need to be in a better place.
1:03
I'm actually surprised we haven't covered it
1:06
yet, except for briefly once on a Halloween episode,
1:10
I believe it was. And if there was another time,
1:13
boy was I wrong. Today, I'm covering the fascinatingly
1:18
horrifying world of all that is pale crawlers.
1:23
So let's not beat around the bush and let's just
1:25
jump right in. You don't need to hear where I
1:27
came up with the episode. If I say crawler, what
1:30
are we thinking of? Well, They are almost completely
1:35
opposite of Bigfoot or Mothman, though they are
1:38
humanoids, characterized by their pale, emaciated
1:42
appearance and quadrupedal movement, crawling
1:46
for the layman person. I don't know why, Chelsea,
1:49
but I always feel that you can see their spine,
1:51
like very prominently. Yeah, me too. And it's
1:55
for a reason. It's because they're supposed to
1:57
be like hunched over. And they're emaciated.
2:01
So that would logically lead you to believe that
2:03
you can see their pointy spine. I assume it's
2:05
pointy, too, for some reason. Yep. We're on the
2:09
same page. Perfect. They have translucent skin,
2:13
pale ash gray. Some people have noted that it's
2:16
leathery looking. I don't picture it that way,
2:19
but I haven't seen one and I hope to never see
2:21
one. They're extremely tall and gangly, appearing
2:25
thin and emaciated abnormally. Yeah, we got that.
2:28
We got that. Elongated limbs, visible ribs, long
2:33
fingers with claws or talons, and always naked.
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Always naked. But... Yeah? Rarely are the genitals
2:42
described. Never. And I'm sorry, it needs to
2:44
be addressed because we are that podcast. We
2:47
are that podcast. The podcast about cryptogenitals.
2:51
Yeah. That's us. But thankfully, it's not Crawlman
2:54
or Crawlerman. It is crawlers. So yeah, it has
2:59
not been gendered. So I don't think it matters
3:01
as much. Yep. I'm not going to hold it up as
3:04
a gripe compared to say a moth man. Yeah. No,
3:07
this one's completely ungendered and I'm just
3:10
putting it out there. If any of you ever see
3:14
a cryptid. Please make note of the genitals.
3:18
Please. It's all we're asking. Maybe. This is
3:21
what this live cast is for. If anything, tell
3:23
us about it. It might make the whole interaction
3:25
less scary if you just see something like dangle.
3:28
It's true. And you're like, man, I got an email
3:31
journey to the French. We're really looking for
3:33
it. And we hope the first one is about some cryptid.
3:39
We're getting put on some weird spam lists right
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now. I can feel it. Okay, where was I? Always
3:47
naked. Their face is sunken in large black or
3:51
glowing eyes even. Often black, a visible nose,
3:56
no hair, totally bald with their nudity as well.
3:58
They're probably pretty cold. But for some reason
4:01
I always hear of them in like not like super
4:03
warm climates. Like they're usually, the places
4:06
I've heard of them being spotted are more like,
4:09
I don't know, northern states. From what I've...
4:11
taken in it seems like they're everywhere why
4:14
they're not in warmer areas specifically with
4:17
all their nudity no idea maybe they don't feel
4:20
cold maybe i don't know that wasn't in the notes
4:22
yeah and they don't have any fat either they
4:24
wouldn't know you made that very clear in your
4:26
description yeah except for the fact that i did
4:29
you guys know that they're emaciated Well, quadrupedal,
4:34
they're capable of bipedalism and they move hunched
4:38
or bent over frantically and quickly. They are
4:41
known to be incredibly fast as with the quickly,
4:46
stealthy, smart and move quickly. I'm really
4:54
trying to make my points here. They're generally
4:57
nocturnal, elusive, and highly observant. They
5:01
are often reported watching humans from the tree
5:05
line, rooftops, and they're typically encountered
5:07
around abandoned buildings or in forest caves,
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other heavily wooded areas. Most sightings are
5:13
at dusk, night, early morning before sunrise,
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so main takeaway in that is they like the darkness.
5:20
They have been reported as chattering, high -pitched
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screams often associated with sightings as well.
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They're even associated with mimic behavior,
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impersonating someone, calling out your name,
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crying children, crying babies. And a lot of
5:37
people also mentioned the overwhelming feeling
5:39
of dread. I always think of the creatures on
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the descent when I think of crawlers. Yeah, I
5:44
was actually gonna say that too. Yeah, I wonder
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if it's based on that. Is there a chance that
5:49
it is a Bigfoot with blight? No. Maybe? Actually,
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I have a story that you might like. It might
5:57
be. I don't know. Next thing I want to spend
5:59
a little bit of time on is distinguishing between
6:03
a rake versus a crawler, which I have seen used
6:07
interchangeably sometimes. The rake. A rake.
6:12
Rake. I don't know how he likes to be called.
6:15
Yeah. Yeah. And I was saying, I said blight.
6:17
What I meant was alopecia. It's where they like
6:19
lose all their hair. No, I would think they're
6:23
different guys. Just based on how they walk around.
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Okay. Because Bigfoot's not really reported as
6:28
walking around quadrupedally, right? Fair. I
6:31
think he's mostly upright. Unless he had like
6:33
a fun night, probably. So the rake, or Senor
6:38
Rake. is essentially the same thing as a crawler
6:41
however the rake was definitely created on 4chan
6:45
and is most definitely made up the history of
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the rake is a perfect example of how internet
6:51
culture can manifest a modern legend which is
6:55
something that we see quite a bit now, I think.
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While many people today claim to see them in
7:01
the woods, calling them crawlers, the rake actually
7:04
has a very specific documented origin story from
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the mid -2000s. In late 2005, an anonymous user
7:12
on 4chan's Slash be slash board posted a thread
7:16
saying hey be let's make a new monster. I've
7:20
never used 4chan I think it's not around anymore.
7:23
I think I don't know. Oh, it's still around it
7:25
is actually Specifically listed in the Epstein
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files that just came out. Oh, it is 4chan like
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had a lot of stuff on there right here I don't
7:33
know what that slash be slash means. Those are
7:37
their subreddits. Okay, basically Thank you for
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clearing that up. You're a 4chan expert that
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means. Users brainstorm features. Pale skin,
7:46
sunken eyes, lanky limbs. The goal was to create
7:49
something so creepy it would feel like a real
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urban legend. Similar to Slender Man. in the
7:55
way they're both made up, I guess. Not the same
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creature, same kind of concept. One was from
8:00
Creepy Past or something like that. Both totally
8:02
made up. During the development, it was briefly
8:05
called Operation Crawler before the name The
8:07
Rake Stuck, referring to its long tool -like
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claws. The 4chan creation even had made up documentation
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for the rake to make the story believable and
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the creators wrote several fictional historical
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documents that are now core to the rake lore.
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So they got the miners log written in 1691, an
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English seaman claims a creature came to him
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in his sleep demanding he leave the land and
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never return. The Spanish Journal from 1880,
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a translation of a diary from a man who was so
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traumatized by the hollow black eyes watching
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him that he could no longer sleep. There was
8:45
a suicide note in 1964 of a man who took his
8:49
life leaving a note for his daughter, Linnie,
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claiming that he, the rake, spoke her name. And
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there's a media blackout 2003 where the lore
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claims that this that there was a flurry of sightings
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in northeastern US in 2003, but a mysterious
9:06
blackout occurred and all local news records
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were destroyed. Unlike typical monsters that
9:11
just attack, the rake is a psychological stalker.
9:14
Its most famous behavior is sitting at the foot
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of a victim's bed and simply watching them while
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they sleep. Seeing the rake is often considered
9:22
an ill omen. It chooses a victim and stalks them
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for years, eventually driving them to madness
9:27
or suicide, which is a weird note on this one.
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It is one of the very few creepypasta monsters
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that speaks. It usually speaks in a shrill metallic
9:37
voice, often whispering the name of its next
9:40
victims. I'm actually pretty sold him in. He's
9:42
actually pretty cool as a made up guy. Yeah.
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You know, as far as made up stuff goes, this
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one, I like the videos for like people who claim
9:50
to have seen crawlers. Like they are creepy.
9:53
They do a good job. Yeah. So the rake is described
9:58
as hairless, emaciated. A specific detail from
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the original 4chan thread is a mouth that hinges
10:05
open much wider than a human's, revealing rows
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of small, dull teeth. Very important. It's namesake,
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long, thin fingers ending in sharp, rake -like
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nails used for lacerating prey. I also just picture
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them raking with it. Why else would they have
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them? Nature obviously wanted them to rake up
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some leaves. In the original lore, it's sometimes
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depicted with three neon green eyes, though modern
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crawler sightings usually describe two large
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glowing white or sunken black eyes. It's known
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to move faster than the human eye can track,
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often scuttling away the moment it's spotted.
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It can hide in plain sight, often standing perfectly
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still in the corner of a room or behind a thin
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tree. In many stories, it seems unfazed by physical
10:52
damage or gunshots, though it usually chooses
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to flee rather than fight when confronted. So
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I didn't directly comment on your comment because
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obviously there's a lot of crossovers between
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the two, perhaps even drawing inspiration from
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a crawler or perhaps a little bit of Tulpa. So
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why not both or none of them? Perhaps we can't
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have one without the other. It's always a fun
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thought experiment that way, but they are two
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totally separate things. Rake made up, crawler.
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There are sightings of crawlers even before the
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rake came into made up existence. Chelsea, I
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do just need to ask you something at this point.
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I don't know if it came up at all for your research
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on this, but Is it not called the rake, that
11:40
Sacramento video of like that guy with that night
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cam footage of those beings walking through his
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backyard? No, that's the Fresno Nightcrawler.
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Nightcrawler, okay. Yeah, totally. For some reason,
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I've always thought that was called a rake. No.
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But it did come up in my research because it
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has crawler in it. Okay. So I know exactly what
12:03
you're talking about. but something that you
12:06
might recognize, I'm just gonna share my screen
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with you. I just actually have to find the right
12:13
screen to share with you. You might recognize
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this guy. This guy's a very famous rake that
12:22
you may have seen him passing. Oh, and I always
12:24
thought that one was a crawler. So it's a rake
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because it's made up. It's made up. So I mean,
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I would just consider really anything that is
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made up. Probably a rake is what I think. I don't
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know. So what I just shared was. I guess I should
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tell you. It'll be included somewhere. Yeah.
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Maybe it might even be the the title page of
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this episode. That is the Louisiana swamp monster
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which came out of this online universe and is
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probably the most recognizable fake footage.
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There are tons of like what are they called trail
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cam footage of quote unquote crawlers, rakes,
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what have you and tons of fake footage out there.
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I would go as far as to say the most I have had
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to sift through to find actual information for
13:17
any cryptid ever. So much made up AI crap and
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stuff out there for this. It's insane. The roots
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of the legend, lore, myths, and origins of the
13:30
crawler were off the rake now. Honestly, the
13:33
crawler itself doesn't go very far back, which
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is something interesting to note, especially
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with the advent of the rake. There are sightings
13:43
that go before the rake was made up officially,
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probably going back to the early 2000s. The rake
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comes in the 2005s, slightly before The thing
13:54
that does seem to come up with the crawler is
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that it does seem like it could possibly be mistaken
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for other entities. And while what I read for
14:05
you does seem distinct to the crawler because
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you don't really hear anything else described
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as that. I mean, we could be looking at something
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that's a skinwalker. which I was informed crawler
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did come up in the skinwalker episode actually
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to my shock and disbelief. I don't know about
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that. I didn't go double check the information
14:24
I got, but here we are. As well, the Windigo
14:28
could actually fall into crawler territory. Even
14:32
things like the Djinn or ghouls could potentially
14:35
fall into crawler territory, which I did get
14:39
pulled into a little bit because I haven't heard
14:41
of them before. Ghouls? And I had to read you
14:44
this because what a creepy thing. And this comes
14:48
from Arabic countries, just like the djinn. It
14:51
sounds so creepy and cool. The ghoul in popular
14:55
legend is a demonic being believed to inhabit
14:58
burial grounds and other deserted places. In
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ancient Arabic folklore, ghouls belong to a diabolical
15:06
class of djinn spirits and were said to be the
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offspring of Iblis. the Prince of Darkness in
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Islam. Sorry for butchering that. I already know
15:14
I did. They were capable of constantly changing
15:17
form, but their presence was also recognizable
15:20
by their unalterable sign, ass as hooves, which
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is super creepy. Just like the jinn. Can you
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say that again? Asses, hooves? Like a donkey.
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Oh, okay. Like hooves. Okay. I was in the wrong
15:33
place with that. They put it funny. Just like
15:37
the jinn are recognizable by their backwards
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feet. I always found that to be such a creepy
15:43
detail. Considered female by the ancients, the
15:47
ghoul was often confused with the sea la, also
15:51
female. The sea la, however, was a witch -like
15:54
species of jinn. immutable in shape. A ghoul
15:57
stalked the desert, often in the guise of an
16:00
attractive woman, trying to distract travelers
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and, when successful, killed and ate them. That
16:06
sounds like a good career. The sole defense that
16:09
one had against a ghoul was to strike it dead
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in one blow. A second blow would only bring it
16:14
back to life again. That's gonna be the robots,
16:17
I bet you. The ghoul, as a vivid figure in the
16:21
Bedouin imagination, appeared in pre -Islamic
16:25
Arabic poetry, notably that of Ta 'abata, Shiran.
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In North Africa, it was easily assimilated into
16:33
an ancient Berber folklore, already rich in demons
16:36
and fantastic creatures. Modern Arabs use ghoul
16:39
to designate a human or demonic cannibal, and
16:42
frequently employ the world to frighten disobedient
16:45
children. As you do. So much of this world has
16:49
demons and like scary things to scare children.
16:54
Anglicized as ghoul, the word entered English
16:57
tradition and was further identified as a grave
17:00
robbing creature that feeds on dead bodies and
17:03
on children. In the West ghouls have no specific
17:06
image and have been described by Edgar Allan
17:08
Poe. He's obviously the man to get the description
17:12
from. As neither man nor woman, neither brute
17:15
nor human. They are thought to assume disguises
17:19
to ride on dogs and hares and to set fires at
17:22
night to lure travelers away from main roads.
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Pretty cool, isn't it? I couldn't not put that
17:28
in. Yeah, I mean, I know enough about ghouls
17:31
from The Witcher, the video game, not from the
17:34
show, but I'm not familiar with either. Yeah.
17:38
They are very cool and they are super like because
17:41
I've always thought of them like before knowing
17:43
what their background was as very just like generic
17:47
ghosts and ghouls like you never really know
17:49
exactly It's like the boogey but no they are
17:52
terrifying. They eat bones of dead bodies. Yeah
17:55
the graveyard Yeah, so I just think it's interesting
18:00
that they don't officially appear as a crawler
18:03
until around that time like I said there are
18:06
sightings of these creatures what they exactly
18:09
are it could be anything um with that being said
18:14
just coming recently to being identified as a
18:18
crawler So now we're onto evidence and sightings,
18:21
which is what we've all been waiting for. I already
18:24
mentioned all the fake footage, so no need to
18:26
mention that again, as I've been doing in this
18:29
podcast episode. In doing my research, there
18:32
were a fair number of pale crawler sightings
18:35
that are regurgitated throughout the community.
18:38
known as confirmed sightings. It includes law
18:41
enforcement or something around the Midwest and
18:44
Ontario. I'm not going to tell you these sightings
18:47
because if you do any bit of digging on pale
18:50
crawlers, they're the first sightings that come
18:53
up. And to be frank, the sightings suck. There's
18:56
no details, which lead me to believe that they're
18:58
also fake. Every podcast I listened to on these
19:03
pale crawlers, the podcast read these stories.
19:06
And OK, I'm just gonna read you one so you can
19:08
see. So this is from Wikikrypted, and they have
19:11
it under confirmed sightings. Like, give me a
19:14
break. Listen to it. June 14th - Is this a Deer
19:17
Man -like story? Oh, just wait. June 14th, 2008.
19:21
Near a forested area in Higgins Lake, Michigan,
19:25
in which two unnamed men were injured and one
19:28
is killed. Police passed it off as a bear attack
19:32
officially. The validity of the bear attack is
19:35
unlikely as video has since been lost and was
19:38
shown to have disproved that theory. That's it.
19:42
And all the sightings were like this. Okay, so
19:45
they'd have no first -hand account despite the
19:48
fact that somebody survived. Yeah. They have
19:50
no reason to believe that it wasn't a bear attack
19:53
other than the person telling us says it wasn't
19:56
a bear attack. Yeah. And there is a video that
19:59
has now been lost. Was there a video at all?
20:03
Who knows? Because all it just says now - We
20:07
just know a general idea from a city. Like a
20:11
forest near a city. They have no idea where that
20:15
is. No, to one named Men. No, it couldn't have
20:18
less detail. No, you know what? Dear Men was
20:20
more accurate. and more sexy just gotta say it
20:24
like i know it was so much more intriguing and
20:28
i don't get it and the amount of podcasts i listened
20:31
to that repeated these was like it was ridiculous
20:35
it was so ridiculous anyhow i just had to get
20:38
that in there how stupid it was the crawler is
20:41
an enigma and Let's get to some actual good sightings.
20:45
Sightings with a disclaimer, I did exclusively
20:47
limit myself to phantoms and monsters. And guess,
20:51
surprise guest, I know that there are some good
20:54
and creepy reddit sightings out there. even funny
20:57
and entertaining. I know that's where you got
21:00
your creepy backwards encounter. Do you remember
21:02
that one? I believe it was close to Banff. I
21:05
do. Yeah, I believe that was a Boogeyman episode
21:07
where that one came up. Oh, yeah, that was a
21:09
good one. That one was so funny. Because I think
21:11
I decided to say that the Boogeyman kind of transfers
21:13
to the crawlers in how I saw it. Yeah. Oh, and
21:15
it came up again on this one. OK, but I... the
21:19
crawler sightings reddit or the crawlers reddit
21:23
both of them there's two of them crawlers crawler
21:26
sighting it was so difficult to sift through
21:29
all the aid generated fake bullshit of crawlers
21:32
and the sightings themselves were stupid i did
21:35
not want to spend that much time looking for
21:38
like decent stories to read you guys so lon does
21:42
good work and i just want to know what I was
21:45
in for and have some good sightings for you because
21:48
that's in the end. We want good sightings. Sometimes
21:51
a funny one is good, but we're going to get some
21:54
actual creepy ones here. We're starting off with
21:57
a fucking creepy one. OK, this one's giving me
22:00
the creeps right now. I'm glad I have the lights
22:02
on. In the fall of last year, a couple traveling
22:05
through isolated back roads south of Zanesville
22:09
experienced an encounter that defies easy explanation,
22:13
I'm sorry anyone who lives in Zanesville that
22:15
is offended in the tone I took in reading that.
22:20
What initially appeared to be a forgotten Halloween
22:23
decoration turned out to be something far more
22:25
disturbing, brazen questions about an emerging
22:28
pattern of anomalous humanoid sightings in rural
22:31
Ohio. The witnesses were driving toward Colossalcon
22:42
in Sandusky, choosing a quiet one -lane route
22:46
through the dense forest south of Zanesville.
22:49
See, I said it better this time. The road was
22:51
narrow and unlit. bordered by trees on both sides,
22:55
with no houses or traffic in sight. As they rounded
22:59
a curve, their headlights illuminated what appeared
23:02
to be a human -shaped figure hanging directly
23:06
over the roadway. Their first assumption was
23:09
that it was a Halloween prop, possibly left behind
23:13
after the season. That assumption ended abruptly
23:16
when the figure turned its head towards the vehicle.
23:20
I would fucking die. The entity was suspended
23:23
in midair with arms outstretched. Its body dangling
23:28
but clearly not attached to any visible structure,
23:32
wire, or branch. The limbs were unnaturally long,
23:35
with joints that appeared twisted or misaligned.
23:38
Its skin hung loosely, described as sagging like
23:42
soaked fabric clinging unevenly to its frame.
23:46
The face was thin and drawn. The skin stretched
23:49
tightly over the skull, giving it a parchment
23:52
-like appearance. As the car passed beneath it,
23:55
the entity opened its mouth wide. No scream was
23:58
heard. The witnesses described the silence as
24:02
more unsettling than any scream. Neither spoke
24:05
until they reached Interstate 70. The route has
24:08
not been used again since the encounter. I assume
24:12
by the witnesses? Yeah, just by then, I hope.
24:18
They called the police and they said, Kate, we're
24:19
just shutting this road down. Yeah, we're shutting
24:21
this place down. That sounds fucking creepy.
24:23
We'll see if we can get them to nuke this spot.
24:26
I'm just going to read Lon's commentary and notes
24:28
that he follows it up with here. Kind of floating.
25:18
Some of them. Some witnesses describe these entities
25:22
crouching or standing unnaturally still. Others
25:26
report levitation or vertical movement inconsistent
25:29
with known biological mechanics. Possible origins
25:32
include an undiscovered biological entity adapted
25:36
to nocturnal environments, an interdimensional
25:39
manifestation temporarily intersecting physical
25:43
space, or an alterterrestrial presence using
25:46
perceptual camouflage and silence as a defensive
25:49
or observational behavior. The lack of sound
25:52
and the entity's reaction to headlights may indicate
25:55
awareness and intentional exposure rather than
25:59
accidental discovery. more gives me the creeps
26:16
than anything I've heard like some of the talk
26:18
on crawlers is like fallen angels and just like
26:21
the fact that it would be floating would be like
26:23
yeah I get where that's coming from yeah that's
26:26
true yeah I actually haven't heard I mean Mothman
26:29
will kind of suspend yeah but he's mostly flying
26:32
it's not something yeah it's not well you don't
26:35
really see like the wing but yeah he's like not
26:39
just suspended, which is interesting. He says
26:41
that there's other sightings like that gives
26:44
me the creeps. It's just one of those unnatural
26:47
things that, you know, shouldn't be happening.
26:50
So it's just like extra creepy, just like the
26:53
hoops, the asses hoops. Anyhow, you're going
26:57
to like this one. This one is from the special
27:00
guest, not Lon. but I took it from somebody that
27:04
Taylor actually turned me on to, who was Hammerson
27:07
Peters. Oh. And he took these stories from the
27:12
comments on his videos. It's actually highly
27:15
recommended. Maybe I'll link it up in this for
27:17
you to go over to. He said he was getting so
27:20
many comments on people saying that he was AI
27:23
on his videos that he does. Yeah, he's got a
27:26
very bland voice when he's speaking. So he just
27:30
wanted to do, I guess, is the topic that he did
27:33
he said he was gonna do it more podcast and actually
27:35
like do things where he's not reading off his
27:38
script so I found the the start of the video
27:41
pretty funny where he was saying that so on this
27:45
one he was reading specific encounters through
27:49
videos that he posted on these so this one comes
27:52
from user rookie mate I'm not sure where that
27:55
is maybe YouTube I don't know where he posts
27:58
I don't know if he has a podcast platform on
28:01
Spotify or something. Yeah, I don't know. He
28:03
definitely has a YouTube channel. I know that.
28:05
So let's just say from there user rookie mate
28:07
writes this one. My buddies and I, when we were
28:11
younger, we're checking out this abandoned factory.
28:14
And when we first got there, my buddy was like,
28:16
look, And we looked up and we saw an orb going
28:20
across the field in front of the factory and
28:23
then the next second we saw a seven plus foot
28:26
white humanoid being looking thing chasing the
28:29
orb. Let me tell you I've never seen such a thing
28:32
ever before or again. The way the white figure
28:36
moved was super frightening. We'll never forget
28:39
that night my buddies and I ran so fast the two
28:42
of us lost a shoe. This is all maybe a hundred
28:45
feet in front of us and the tall white thing
28:48
that for sure was no regular human being. It
28:52
was maybe 15 feet behind the orb chasing it,
28:55
but what made it so frightening was how fast
28:58
they were both moving. It was almost like they
29:00
were in fast forward. I've never seen anyone
29:03
or any other animal move that fast. The whole
29:06
experience was definitely inhuman. I think about
29:09
it often because it always raised questions for
29:12
me and it helps me keep an open mind in today's
29:15
world. End story. Doesn't that remind you of
29:19
one of those weird Bigfoot stories? The Bigfoot
29:21
gets weird stories, yeah. Yeah, doesn't it? And
29:25
you know me, I love like quote unquote Bigfoot
29:29
get weird stories that you're never going to
29:31
hear anywhere else because they just defy every
29:35
known aspect of reality outside of UFOs and stuff.
29:39
They're just so bizarre. And I love it. Like,
29:42
what the hell is going on here? Oh, yeah, no,
29:45
it's Thankfully, that's not, like, looking at
29:48
you, but that would still be horrifying. Like,
29:50
it's got its own thing it's going after, but,
29:52
like, at any moment you could be spotted. Aw.
29:55
Yeah, it's one of those things where in the end
29:57
you go, thank God it didn't see me, but I can't
30:00
get out of here fast enough. What the fuck did
30:03
I just see? But yeah, I had to include that.
30:06
I was so happy that I found this and I - I'd
30:09
be very curious because he didn't really mention
30:10
where it was, correct? Other than like what they
30:12
saw? Because like, Hammer St. Peter's really
30:15
focuses on Canadian lore, but - He did. That's
30:17
not necessarily Canadian lore because it's coming
30:19
from some comment on his stuff. No, and he -
30:23
I can't remember, but yes. I went through the
30:26
video and he kept saying, oh, where is this one
30:28
from? And one was - They were all over the place,
30:31
but when was next to Edmonton? I don't think
30:33
it was this one, though. Well, that's Dear Man.
30:35
Sorry. Yeah, that is Dear Man. Does Hammerson
30:37
Peters do Dear Man? He does not. As far as I
30:41
can tell, he does a lot, though. Maybe I should
30:44
comment that he should do a Dear Man episode.
30:47
The next encounter is Mozambique. No, I'm not
30:50
going to read you the title. Because I put the
30:53
links for the thing here for my reference. Don't
30:56
read it Chelsea Okay, so I never thought I would
30:59
find myself writing this for context I hold a
31:02
doctorate in wildlife biology reside in Mozambique
31:06
and spend a considerable amount of time in the
31:08
ocean as A result I had to process that he's
31:13
always in the ocean as a result I've encountered
31:15
a fair share of everyday yet unusual phenomena
31:19
The night before last I couldn't sleep so I went
31:21
down to the living room sofa so I wouldn't wake
31:24
my partner. Sitting on the couch I hear rustling
31:27
in the front room. We have cats and two large
31:30
dogs. We leave the front door open so they can
31:32
come and go as needed. The house complex is guarded
31:36
but the incident occurred around 3 .30am the
31:38
night before last and the guard is likely half
31:41
asleep in his hut. I mean, first of all, what
31:43
the fu - I can't possibly imagine, especially
31:46
in Mozambique, like sleeping with the door open?
31:49
I don't know about that. It's probably pretty
31:51
common. You gotta assume. What if you get like
31:54
some weird creatures in there? Like what's about
31:57
to happen? I don't want to spoil anything. I
32:00
think the wrestling is the cats and think nothing
32:02
of it, but start to feel uneasy. Some slight
32:05
movement in the mirror by the room's door catches
32:08
my eye. I smashed my head around and saw something
32:11
bipedal in the mirror. I saw a head with large
32:15
glowing eyes, shoulders, and two arms ending
32:18
in what appeared to be claws, devoid of any coloration.
32:22
The whole body seemed the same pale grey except
32:25
for the yellow eyes that seemed to glow or reflect
32:28
the light from the room I was in. This was hanging
32:32
from the roof on the other side of the door,
32:35
seemingly watching me through the mirror, our
32:38
eyes locked for about three to five seconds before
32:41
I leapt up. I can't even imagine making eye contact
32:44
with this for that long. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's
32:48
awkward with another human. Imagine this pulling
32:51
my growing in the process. I shout, nope, nope,
32:54
nope, this is not real, this is not happening
32:57
as I run out of the room. In my head, I want
33:00
to ID it sensibly so I don't go crazy. The thing
33:03
immediately moved fast, exiting the house around
33:06
the same time as I exited the room. I then see
33:09
a tremendous shape on the deck, running left
33:12
to right before it literally appears to jump
33:15
off into the night. I go upstairs and explain
33:17
what happened to my partner. My hair is standing
33:20
on end. I have constant shivers down my spine
33:23
and I end up in tears. I'm a big boy. I've chummed
33:27
water for sharks, jumped in and take them with
33:30
a spear gun, sampled whales with a crossbow off
33:33
a speedboat, been around baboons. We don't have
33:37
them here and there, much smaller than what I
33:39
saw. And I am familiar with the smaller animals
33:41
that we see rarely at night here. This terrified
33:45
me. What terrified me more was the thought of
33:48
the white cement ridge beam row of blocks on
33:52
the ceiling that it was hanging from on the roof.
33:55
And the two dirty marks I found the next morning.
33:59
No fingerprints or monkey paws. Just what is
34:02
usually marked from the bottom of the palms of
34:04
your hands are dirty. Usually animals wouldn't
34:08
dare enter the garden due to the large dogs which
34:11
were sleeping in the bedroom with the cats the
34:13
whole night again, weird as the dogs usually
34:16
are perfect guards. I've asked some locals and
34:19
they have a name for it in the local language.
34:22
They reportedly see a lot of unusual things in
34:25
these communities. They said that sometimes when
34:28
you see them running far ahead of you and then
34:31
they disappear and you turn around to find them
34:33
coming up behind you. We've never seen anything
34:36
before save for an odd blue light out at the
34:39
sea we wouldn't explain a while back but nothing
34:42
like this. There have been a spate of dog killings
34:46
in the area lately. It was terrifying, but I
34:48
didn't feel in any danger or likely wouldn't
34:51
have gotten up. As a biologist, I've always been
34:54
interested in overlooked signals. For example,
34:57
many plants that appear dull and visible light
35:00
can look quite unusual in infrared or other wavelengths
35:03
of light. Something like that, specific times
35:06
of light and light levels allow things to be
35:09
seen that usually can't be. Interesting. from
35:12
the UK originally never seen anything close to
35:16
this the guys I work with knew what it was and
35:19
had seen something similar before the only thing
35:21
I recall is that it looked caught like an animal
35:24
with a light in its eyes and froze for a second
35:27
too either that or it took a moment to figure
35:29
out if I could really see it yeah it got awkward
35:32
yeah three minutes of eye contact will make anybody
35:35
awkward Next one. I'm ready to talk. I've never
35:40
posted this anywhere, but I'm prepared to share
35:42
my story I grew up in Pennsylvania specifically
35:45
in the central Pennsylvania Appalachian region
35:48
You can probably figure out where I was as it's
35:51
the most wooded area in the middle of PA this
35:54
happened between 2014 and 2016 I can't exactly
35:58
remember when but I know I was with my ex -girlfriend
36:01
will call her Carrie I've talked about this to
36:03
maybe six people in my entire life so far and
36:06
I was around 13 or 14 at the time. I was leaving
36:09
work with my girlfriend's grandma. Being a typical
36:12
teenager, I was trying to smooth talk my girl
36:14
as we drove to her grandma's house, which wasn't
36:17
far, maybe seven or eight miles. That's a phrase
36:20
I have not had in a long time. I could look it
36:24
up, but I don't feel like it. Carrie's grandma
36:27
owned a small BBQ restaurant where I worked,
36:29
so I was used to seeing black bears and had even
36:32
encountered one with mange. But I promise you,
36:35
this wasn't what I saw. I've hunted my whole
36:37
life, not proficiently, but I'm familiar with
36:40
the local wildlife, including our scarce piebald
36:43
deer population. And once again, this creature
36:46
wasn't that. We were about 2 -3 miles from our
36:48
house and had just turned off the main road onto
36:51
a more minor side road that led directly into
36:54
the woods and farmland. We had gone maybe a quarter
36:57
mile down the road by an old pond I used to fish
37:00
at when something came out of the woods. It was
37:02
pale, off -white and slightly hunched over. It
37:05
wasn't huge, maybe five, six at the most, but
37:09
it could have been as short as four feet. It
37:11
was humanoid and I didn't see its face, but it
37:14
was definitely on two legs. It sprinted across
37:16
the road at a fast pace and jumped over a sign
37:19
that the homeowners of the lake had put up at
37:21
the end of their deeply wooded driveway. Presumably
37:24
to show off. What? Carrie's grandma quickly pulled
37:28
over to the side of the road and, excuse my language,
37:31
said, what the hell was that? And then it was
37:33
gone. I never saw it again. I didn't see giant
37:37
claws or glowing eyes or any sex organs. Wow.
37:40
Good! Good on you, buddy. He good on him! I love
37:43
- I love that, that's our first. He had the wherewithal
37:45
to check, well, he had genitals on the mind,
37:47
let's face it. Yeah, well obviously. But that's
37:52
our first, I think, that it's ever come up. This
37:54
is incredible. Mark your calendar. Just a humanoid
37:58
pale creature running on two legs and jumping
38:00
over this gate. This was the early 2010s, so
38:04
of course, I thought I'd seen the rate. It wasn't
38:06
moving at some unbelievable speed, and honestly,
38:09
if we had been going faster, I probably have
38:12
seen pictures of it wrapped around the bumper
38:14
of her Hummer. What the fuck? Grandma's driving
38:17
a Hummer? Yeah, they're teenagers. Grandma's
38:21
probably in her late 50s at most. but it was
38:25
fast like an adult man sprinting that's it i
38:28
never saw it again and never heard anything unusual
38:30
in the woods after that the coyotes disappeared
38:33
for a couple of months or at least they stopped
38:35
howling oh i was gonna take this out because
38:38
it kind of sucks but they do mention the sex
38:40
organs i'm cutting that one short because it
38:42
wasn't really going anywhere no Oh man, that's
38:47
uh, you gotta love teenage boys. They don't know
38:49
how to talk. Leave it to them that that's the
38:52
one that he comments on. Yeah. The genitals.
38:56
That's what I got. I think there are a variety
39:00
of options for what this could be, including
39:02
Tulpa. The sightings did start before the rake
39:06
was created, so maybe not. And the rake was created
39:09
out of mass consciousness pooling together, maybe.
39:12
So it could be paranormal, could be cryptid,
39:16
could be ultra -terrestrial, or extra -dimensional
39:19
being. could be Dear Man of Southern Alberta.
39:22
I think there's so many options for what the
39:24
crawler could be at this point and I think the
39:28
sightings that I included just leave so much
39:31
more openness to it because they really divide
39:34
everything I think that we've covered as a cryptid.
39:37
Or maybe all of it. Encapsulated all of it. I'm
39:40
not really sure. Yeah and in fact we got what
39:41
we've been looking for this whole time in this.
39:44
It's true. In that somebody finally looked at
39:46
their junk and told us what was there. Which
39:49
was nothing. Yeah. So, I guess we're not getting
39:55
that email anymore. No, still look at the genitals
39:59
and emails, please. Still do it. You can still,
40:01
yeah. Yeah, you can still do it. You can be the
40:02
first to tell us. Yeah. The true people who know
40:05
what's going on. We'll start polling. We'll start
40:07
a poll. Just do it. Do you have anything to add
40:10
or say? Add and say. So, Lon, he covers quite
40:13
a bit of this, Lon Strickland, or is it? Strickler.
40:16
Lon Strickler. i'm just wondering how like when
40:19
he's covering these they're coming from all over
40:21
the world for him or is he because he's mostly
40:23
just american -based right or is that just like
40:25
he is like he speaks english so you have to be
40:29
able to like it's true it's true and i think
40:32
a lot yeah he does like all of his are first
40:35
-hand accounts like he's talked to the person
40:37
who's had the sighting for the most part yeah
40:39
they try to contact them back after and do a
40:41
follow -up on it now i think there's a lot to
40:44
be said it Hopefully future episodes. We've done
40:47
a few where we look at other cultures. Cryptids
40:50
are so cultural based too, and we only have so
40:53
much understanding of our own language, right?
40:55
So much can be lost in translation. So much of
40:58
our cultural experience can be tied into these
41:02
creatures. And it's funny when they defy cultures
41:04
and stuff like that, there's really something
41:06
to it then at that point, but... Where I'm going
41:08
with this is my very next encounter that I did
41:12
have, which I think I'll save for another episode,
41:14
was France, which is not that culturally different
41:19
than North America as, say, like an Asian country,
41:22
but still different country nonetheless, to answer
41:25
your question. Okay. Well, no, that's the only
41:27
thing I've had. Like I've seen crawler sightings
41:29
before. And like I've said, there's movies out
41:31
there, people purporting to have seen crawlers
41:33
where they're the creepiest videos and I don't...
41:36
care whether or not they're real or not because
41:38
they are just creepy. I know. Like that's why
41:40
I'm watching them. They're creepy. Yeah. And
41:42
it I think it's that kind of like uncanny valley
41:45
effect where it's humanoid enough, but it's different.
41:50
And that is something that is just like, I think,
41:54
core to humans where if there's something just
41:57
off. but it looks similar to us, it's creepy.
42:01
And I think that's a big part of it. And that's
42:02
the thing about crawlers. Yeah. And the thing
42:04
about crawlers too is every single sighting is
42:07
somebody getting scared or it's creepy. There's
42:09
none that are just like awkward or they catch
42:13
it kind of dazed or like they don't know what
42:15
to think. No, it's everybody is creeped out or
42:18
scared. Yeah. And it has that overwhelming sense
42:21
of dread, which you see with some certain cryptids
42:25
or paranormal creatures for that matter which
42:29
gives it that like similar to the ghouls it's
42:32
I don't know where I'm going with that but yeah
42:34
and on the train of thought that you're on scrolling
42:39
through crawlers and rigs. So much found footage,
42:44
so much AI, just so much made up stuff. I don't
42:48
know why it goes hand in hand with this. You
42:50
virtually see none of that with the Love Lamp
42:52
Frog. It's all real footage. Why doesn't any
42:55
- I know! But to be fair, we've tried doing AI
42:58
images of the Loveland Frog, and AI just doesn't
43:01
get it. It's true. No matter how hard you try,
43:04
it just can't capture the magnifique that is
43:07
Loveland Frog. He just has such a fantastic ass.
43:10
Those thighs. I know. Anyhow. And the crawler
43:17
definitely does not. Like, it's a Macy. We don't
43:20
have to worry about that. Such a terrible ass.
43:22
Ass technology has only gone so far with the
43:24
AI we have. The Love Live Froggy's gonna win
43:29
any ass competition out there, hands down. That's
43:33
probably a good place to stop. Chelsea, thank
43:35
you for this episode. I have been Taylor, here
43:38
with Chelsea. We are Journey to the Fringe. Thank
43:40
you all for listening and we'll see you next
43:41
week. Bye. Thank you for listening to Journey
43:46
to the Fringe. If you have liked what you have
43:48
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44:20
I'll see you in the next episode.