We may receive a commission for purchases made by using the affiliate/partner links in this post at no additional cost to you. Thank you for helping to support our podcast!


As a young child, Floridian Joe Turino kept seeing and hearing strange entities peeking around corners and watching him as he slept. As an adult, he now hunts the ghosts that once tormented him.

In this episode, we interview paranormal investigator Joe Turino about the childhood experiences that led him into ghost hunting.

Episode Promotions

Acid Queen Jewelry

This episode is sponsored by Acid Queen Jewelry. You can use the coupon code homespun for 10% off her gorgeous handmade, one-of-a-kind necklaces, rings, earrings, cuffs. While you’re browsing her site, make sure to sign up for her newsletter for early access to new releases.

¡Ay Ghost Mio!

Our podcast promotion this week comes from ¡Ay Ghost Mio! by Melissa Trahan.

An Interview with a Paranormal Investigator

Joe Hunts Ghosts

Podcast image for Joe, of this interview with a paranormal investigator
Greetings from FLOWEIRDA, Joe’s new podcast

Joe is a Floridian paranormal investigator who works with Eric The Ghost Hunter of South Florida at War Party Paranormal nonprofit, which you can follow on FB and IG. He helps people with haunted homes get answers, including his family members. Joe has also worked with our friends Karly of The Village Tarot Witch and Stephanie of Stephanie Marie Marketing.

Florida is Florida-weird

In addition to his paranormal investigations with War Party, Joe has recently launched his own podcast called Greetings from FLOWEIRDA. Check it out wherever you listen to podcasts!

Bonus guest Carly Lyon

This week’s bonus episode contains a reprisal of Joe’s musings on why he’s so haunted, and how it might be the objects around him…or himself. Another guest, Carly Lyon, joins us to describe an experience with a haunted object that a fellow art show exhibitor foisted upon her. If her story intrigues you, so will her artwork! And if you live near East Cobb, GA, sign up for a pottery-throwing class with Carly. You just might run into Becky there. And, word on the street is, you’ll probably outshine her at throwing pots.

Can antiques be haunted?

Our interview guest, paranormal investigator Joe has many theories as to why he kept winding up in haunted homes. All his residences do possess a Florida address. However, Joe posits that his mother’s antiques caused some of the hauntings.

Would a house full of antique furniture make for a house full of ghosts? It does make a certain amount of sense that the older an object is, the more likely it would be to pick up a spirit at some point along its history. Also, with our lowered expectations for cheap, pre-fabricated modern furniture, a unique old piece does tend to spark some feelings.

Your haunted object may not be haunted at all.

Perhaps, your new-to-you acquisition picked up some residual energy while it rested in a haunted antique shop. The easiest way to dispel this residual energy is to thoroughly cleanse the object. Just make sure you use a cleanser that won’t damage the surface of whatever vintage find you’ve just acquired.

But sometimes, there’s more than just residual energy attached to an object. Usually, if an antique is “haunted,” it is because a previous owner just doesn’t want to let go. In this case, you’ll need to do more than perform a general scrub-down. Burn incense or your favorite herbs, play a singing bowl, or perform some other cleansing rite around the object to help its ghost move on her way.

A haunted doll named Sarah, found in a thrift store.

If that’s not enough, check out this expert’s advice on how to clear your antiques of ghosts. Better safe than sorry, right?

To hear another story about a haunted house full of antiques, check out this haunted house episode where our very own Diana tells us about the chilling experiences she’s had in her childhood home.

An impromptu inter-cultural using-up-leftovers curry recipe

Try a delicious non-traditional curry stew inspired by Diana’s polyglot fascination with transliteration, etymology/etiology/entomology, and the leftover crap in the fridge. Multiply approximately by the number of servings you desire. Make extra, too, because you’re gonna want more than you think you will. Be scant on ingredients that don’t smell good to you, go heavy with ingredients that do, this isn’t an exact science.

Ingredients per serving

  1. Oil for frying, based on your personal tolerance for greasiness and the fattiness of your meat.
  2. Onion, 1/2, chopped, yellow/white/sweet.
  3. Beef, 3-ish oz, cubed or sliced, leftover steak or roast is fine, based on your personal tolerance for animal protein (mushrooms and green jackfruit shreds might be a good vegetarian substitute).
  4. Carrot, parsnip, potato, rutabaga, radish, turnip, leek, or other mild root veggie or a mix thereof, 1 cup, chopped, based on your personal vegetable preference and what’s in your fridge, leftover is fine, just avoid cruciferous veggies like broccoli or things that tend to dissolve with cooking like squash and sweet potatoes.
  5. Jalapeño pepper, 2, sliced strips, deseeded based on your personal tolerance for capsaicin.
  6. Garlic, 4 cloves cut in very large chunks (if you only have minced or powdered, add it later with the ginger).
  7. Ginger root, 1″ nub, grated, based on your personal tolerance for isothiocyanate.
  8. Turmeric, 1/4″ fresh grated if ya got it, or 1 tsp powder.

Spices

  1. Yellow Curry powder, 2 tsp, based on your personal tolerance for deliciousness.
  2. Garam Masala, 1 tsp powder.
  3. Cumin, 1/4 tsp powder.
  4. Coriander, 1/2 tsp powder.
  5. Allspice, 1/4 tsp powder.
  6. Cashew butter or peanut butter, creamy, 1 tbl, based on your personal tolerance for nut allergens.
  7. Sugar, 2 tsp, based on your personal tolerance for carbs.
  8. Salt if you must, but not much, remember the sauces added later will add a lot of saltiness.
  9. Nutritional Yeast, 2 tsp flakes.
  10. Soy sauce, any kind, 1 tsp.
  11. Lea & Perrins or an inferior Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp (fish sauce is even better if ya got it, aminos might be a good vegetarian substitute).
  12. Cream or coconut milk, 2 tbls, based on your personal tolerance for dairy.
  13. Water, boiling, about 5 cups.
  14. Cilantro, finely chopped, based on your personal tolerance for soapiness (fenugreek leaves, basil, mint, garlic scapes, or chives might be good substitutes if you are anti-cilantro, but it needs something fresh and green).
  15. Optional side of buttered fragrant white rice like basmati or jasmine, or soft fluffy pita bread.
  16. Optional chopped toasted nuts for garnish.

Directions:

  1. Put the kettle on so you have boiling water on hand.
  2. Heat oil in a deep skillet to the highest appropriate frying temperature for your chosen oil’s smoke point and fry onion until browned, deglaze pan with boiling water if necessary to keep it from burning too much when it sticks
  3. Add meat (brown meat before adding veggies if using raw meat) and veggies except cilantro and aromatics in small amounts so as not to lower temp of the pan too much. Keep frying ’til everything has a bit of brown.
  4. Add ginger and turmeric, also half the cilantro or chosen green herb (this is a good way to use the stems) and minced garlic if that’s what type of garlic you’re using. Fry just until it starts trying to turn brown and stick to the pan.
  5. Deglaze the pan and add 1 cup of water per serving or enough to almost cover what’s in the pan.
  6. Add all the powdered spices, salt, sugar, and nut butter, stir, and simmer on low. Add a cup of boiling water and stir whenever it looks like it’s getting dry enough to start sticking to the pan.
  7. When root veg and meat are very tender, allow water to evaporate while stirring to the point of being a thick sauce that coats the veggies and doesn’t pool. Add flavoring sauces and nutritional yeast, stir, and remove from heat.
  8. Pour your cream into a bowl and pour curry on top with the rest of the cilantro or chosen raw green herb or chopped nut garnish next to hot, buttery white rice.

The first rule of ghost hunting

We’ve heard the first rule of paranormal investigating is “don’t investigate your own home.” Becky wants to investigate Diana’s house. But Diana doesn’t want to investigate anything. Is she frightened? Lazy? Or does she just prefer the mystery? Maybe all 3? What do you think? Would you hunt the ghosts in your own home? What’s the worst that could happen, eh? No, seriously, we need to know. We feel very at risk of having a spooky day.