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Jill’s fairy tale is more frustration than fantasy, and Tony might not be here if he didn’t take after his father in driving ghosts around in this episode about supernatural messages and their messengers.

Episode Summary

If a little voice in your head told you to turn around, would you listen to it? If a strange woman appeared in the backseat of your car, would you pay attention to her? And, if something really wanted to trick you, how would you know? We speak with Tony and Jill Cox-Cordova, a couple that we met on Fireside. They live here in the Atlanta area.

And they’re also very haunted.

Episode promos

About the Guests, Tony and Jill Cox-Cordova

We met Tony when he raised his hand to come onstage at one of our first live shows on Fireside. We shared a laugh scrambling to improv off of Tony’s prompts. Then Tony introduced us to his wife and co-host, Jill. We all hit it off right away, and we were excited to hear that the couple live very close to Becky in the Atlanta, GA, area. But not as excited as we were when they started dropping hints that they had a slew of unique paranormal experiences to tell us about.

Jill

Jill Cox-Cordova holds an MFA from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky, and a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University. She worked as a journalist for 21 years at such media outlets as CNN.com, The Weather Channel, MSNBC, and WSB-TV. She also freelanced for Essence magazine. As a creative writer, she has had flash fiction published in an anthology and creative nonfiction in Parks and Points, where she placed second in the publication’s essay contest. She works as a nonfiction associate editor for the Library Journal. She is also a member of the Atlanta Writers Club.

Tony

Anthony Cordova is a spoken word poet and host of the Fireside show Poetic People Fighting Racism, in which he uses his creative work to spark dialogues about and possible actions against discrimination. Originally from Long Island, New York, he has called Georgia home since the early 80’s. Known as “Tony C” aka “The Man about Love,” he has performed his poetry countless times in venues all around metro Atlanta, including when he read and placed in the radio-related “In my South” spoken word contest. Some of his work also draws upon his observations of human nature, or occasionally, nearly the 40 years he spent as a truck driver.

Together, the couple co-host the show “I’m Right, I’m Right” on the Fireside Apple app. We were honored to be their guests in an episode about the art of friendship. To keep up with Jill and Tony, follow them from their social media links here.

Episode Show Notes

Fairies are tricky by nature.

Jill tells us a story about how she received a supernatural message that gave her a purpose and a calling: to tell the story of feminist and civil rights activist Flo Kennedy. She worked and worked to write the story. But every time she put words on paper, something just wasn’t right. It wasn’t until much later that she realized the messenger may not have been so trustworthy.

We often think the key to becoming more clairvoyant is trusting in the small voice within that’s telling us to listen. But what if that small voice is a big liar?

Fairies are a supernatural race of humanoid creatures primarily from Celtic and Germanic folklore. Trolls and elves are both related to fairies. Some fairies are benevolent, such as those in the Seelie Court, and even marry into human families intentionally. But some are as wicked and evil as they come, like the skinless centaur Nuckleavee of the Unseelie Court.

Beautiful and magical, fairies are also quite mischievous. Folk lore tells of fairies carrying off human babies, replacing them with changeling look-alikes, much like cuckoo birds. Even adult humans who enter fairy rings may become trapped, or get stuck in endless dancing mode.

Was it a fairy, then, who told Jill to write about Flo? That just might explain the frustration she felt in attempting to complete the task. After all, Flo did have a sister named Faye.

Big Rig, Big Reward

Truck driving is a dangerous job. We have all been on a long road trip that lasts deep into the night. We’ve felt the strain of staying awake and alert. It can be hard to stay awake without sugar and caffeine that we know is just going to make us crash later (pun NOT intended, yikes). As we stare out the windshield at the endless yellow dashes, we become almost hypnotized. Dash…dash…dash. Then suddenly, we jerk back to reality. What was it that roused us from our stupor? Could it have been a spirit guide? Tony certainly credits a sentient supernatural being with his survival one fateful night when he received a message to turn his rig around.

Would you listen to a supernatural messenger?

Would you take advice from the mysterious sources Jill and Tony describe in these true ghost stories? Whether it’s a trick or a treat, listening to a message from an unknown supernatural entity is always a risk. Either way, you’ll probably have a spooky day!