#23 Ghosts, who dat? [S3E4 with Claire Berger & Christian Honce]

Usual hosts Tiffany and Mark are out, but we have two guest hosts: returning champ/actor Claire Berger and screenwriter Christian Honce. Claire stars in a new movie Bad Exorcist available on iTunes or anywhere you watch cool movies. Christian explains that since he was a child he has nightmares literally every night. One in particular is about his mom with a creepy glowing figure behind her. Recently when visiting his mom, this vision came back to him and he grabbed her right before she backed up over their dog, nearly falling… fact or fiction?

Story 1: E-Mail—A couple buys a used computer and starts receiving mysterious emails from someone trapped in a tomb.

• Jesse is yet again frustrated that there are so many female short haircuts.
• Claire doesn’t understand why the story doesn’t focus more on husband’s unhealthy obsessed with the computer. Feels writery.
• Jesse is annoyed that it’s never explained how the trapped man communicated with the new owners.
• Christian thinks the man in the tomb was just emailing via a Blackberry.

Story 2: Blood Donor—after receiving a blood transfusion, a man finds that he can see murders as they happen.

• Chris believes that if you hold onto a loved one’s possession after they’ve passed away you can often times connect with the them.
• Jesse has a theory – he thinks the man who saved the woman was actually the murderer all along.
• Christian thinks maybe the man is the murderer who has just repressed his memories.
• Claire thinks there should be records of the blood transfusion if this is fact.
• The group dissects the choice of naming a laptop a Renzlo Power 700.

Story 3: Epitaph—a gravestone craftsman is given orders to create an elaborate gravestone for a dead man against the wife’s wishes.

• Jesse feels this is another case of Ghosts Make Elaborate Plans.
• What’s the kernel of truth? Christian thinks it’s shady people taking advantage of people in emotional distress—the stone carver is so good at handwriting (since he does it for a living) that he forges the paperwork.
• Quote of the story: “You know they say it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.” No one says that.
• The southerner’s theory: Christian believes that if you change the characters to southerners, it can go a long way to explain how certain stories could have happened.

Story 4: Stitches in Time—a woman down on her luck has an odd dream of when her mother and her made a quilt together.

• Jesse doesn’t understand why the grandmother would stuff a quilt with money and not tell anyone.
• Claire argues that she is a woman who wants people to work hard and earn what they deserve.
• Christian explains that if the money was in the quilt it would make noise when they used it.

Story 5: Soldier—a soldier in Vietnam is rescued from death by a strange man who turns out to be more than he seems.

• Christian believes he’s heard this story before. But does that mean that it’s more likely fact or fiction? And is it possible it’s just an urban legend?
• The group thinks maybe he had his dad’s dog tags the whole time and was just trying to impress a cute nurse.
• For the most part, historical stories are fact based. Will it hold up?

Break: This week we play a game called TALL TALE TOMBSTONES, where we’re tasked to guess which bizarre tombstones are real and which are made up.

The story results are revealed:

• To find out which stories are fact and which are fiction… you must listen to the podcast, or check out the full episode below or on Amazon Prime!