#44 Frakes and geeks [S4E12 with Samm Levine]

Kyle is sitting out but we have guest-host actor and podcaster Samm Levine. Samm has watched the show before, and also had a neighbor who bragged about acting in an episode of Beyond Belief.

Samm is a hardline skeptic of all things supernatural. A big believer of known skeptic James Randy and the million-dollar challenge.

Samm has appeared recently on the show Movie Trivia Schmoedown.

Story 1: Witness To Murder – A ghost hunter who captured ghosts on film meets a mysterious end.

• Samm tries to unpack Chris’s belief in ghosts.
• In talking about the integrity of true stories in BB, Samm tells us the actual true story of Cool Runnings.
• Most people find this story too be ridiculous and very writery.

Story 2: Roulette Wheel – A down on his luck gamboling addict finds himself on a mysterious winning streak.

• Samm does not believe that odds could allow this to happen. Also, the pit boss would have thrown him out way earlier.
• Chris thinks there are so many gambling stories that this could have happened.

Story 3: The Phrenologist’s Head – A doctor given a Phrenologist’s Head finds a smudge on it that leads to a miraculous discovery.

• Samm explains that the doctors would have figured it out eventually upon surgery…And a lawsuit.
• Chris believes that something could have happened to lead the doctor down the right path.
• Jesse wonders if Freud’s ghost is involved in the smudging.

Story 4: The Bridge – A hiker crosses a shaky bridge and is helped by a mysterious woman who turns out to be more than she appears.

• Jesse thinks the woman had her mom’s name in her subconscious and projected onto the woman.
• Samm thinks it’s a single-source story where the woman miss remembered the events. points to Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink.

Story 5: The Cigar Box – A girl buys an antique, which turns out to belong to a neighbor.

• This segment stars Campbell Lane, who does VO for the second half of BB.
• Jesse thinks there are one too many coincidences.
• Samm walks through how it could have happened – he was just a bitter old man who died after being denied his antique box by a little girl.

Friend of the podcast, Misty Stinnett (who has a new podcast Go Help Yourself) shares some self-help tips. But some are fact and some are fiction.

The story results are revealed.

• Samm tells us a story of when he “met” Jonathan Frakes.
• 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.