These Jonesborough ghost stories are on YouTube:

Or listen right here:

About the Guest: Anne Mason of Jonesborough, TN

Anne G’Fellers-Mason is the current program director of the McKinney House, formerly with the Heritage Alliance of of Northeast Tennessee & Southwest Virginia. She co-authored the book Haints and Hollers: New Ghost Tales from Appalachia, available on Amazon. She’s even familiar with Woolly Days, featured in Becky’s hilarious childhood summer camp story, Magic in Appalachia (or Shearer Terror). In this interview she shares true ghost stories about several haunted locations in and around Jonesborough, TN.

Haunted Places In Jonesborough Mentioned in Anne’s Ghost Stories

The Chester Inn

The Chester Inn is a historic site housing the Heritage Alliance of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. It’s also the oldest commercial building in Jonesborough, built in 1797. It is now a museum that offers tours to the public. But it was once a haunted apartment building that Anne’s grandparents lived in.

The inn has a spooky reputation, attracting the attention of paranormal investigators. The inn has been the subject of several paranormal investigations. These include events open to the public where participants can join in the investigation led by professional teams.

The McKinney House

This current art museum started its life as a segregated schoolhouse: the historic Booker T. Washington School (not the one Diana is an alumnus of), which was built in 1939. In 2010, the Town of Jonesborough decided to restore the school. Today, it houses the Mary B. Martin Program for the Arts and is also available for special events.

The transformation of the McKinney Center into a community arts center marks an important part of Jonesborough history. For more information, you can visit the Town of Jonesborough website.

Duncan House

The Duncan House was built in the 1840s. It is a historic site that now houses the Heritage Alliance of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. The Alliance preserves the architectural, historical, and cultural heritage of the region. For more information, you can explore the Washington County, Tennessee Department of Records Management and Archives website here.

Anne heard footsteps on the stairs for years while working in this grand old house. Then, they mysteriously stopped. Did the spirit move on, or did he just decide to stay downstairs from then on?

The Mars Hill Theater (not in Jonesborough)

The Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre (SART) is the professional theatre company of Owen Theatre in Mars Hill, North Carolina. This theatre produces a range of plays since 1974, many of which highlight the heritage of Southern Appalachia.

Anne helped SRS Paranormal investigate this haunted theater. For more information about the theater and its productions, you can visit the SART website.

Jonesborough Stories About Ghosts and Graveyards

A Play in the Graveyard

Anne wrote an original, research-based play called “A Spot on the Hill.” Fascinatingly, you can watch it in the Old Jonesborough haunted cemetery every October. This theatrical experience narrates the stories of individuals interred in the cemetery, how they came to Jonesborough, and their fates.

The play is presented among the headstones of the actual cemetery, providing an immersive, spooky, and historically rich experience. The proceeds from ticket sales are used for tombstone restoration and preservation in the Old Jonesborough Cemetery. For more information and ticket details, you can visit the Heritage Alliance website.

The Jonesborough Cholera Pit

Anne tells us of a new development in old history. Just last year, a significant historical discovery was made by cemetery volunteer “Graveyard” Gordon Edwards. Edwards used GPR technology to locate a long-rumored mass grave from the cholera epidemic of 1873. This epidemic claimed around 35 residents of Jonesborough in a span of a month. Edwards’ research on the victims led him to a specific section of the Old Jonesborough Cemetery. His findings suggest the presence of a mass grave, potentially containing 15-20 individuals.

This discovery is an important piece in understanding the town’s history and the impact of the cholera epidemic. The Heritage Alliance of Northeast Tennessee & Southwest Virginia provides more details on this discovery on their website.

Do you work in a haunted historical building?

We still believe that working in a haunted place is the best way to reliably encounter a spirit. Even if you never hear or see them, you can be sure the ghosts are constantly gossiping about you. And like Anne, maybe say “hi” to the spirits when you get to work every day, just in case. You never know who you’ll inspire to have a spooky day!

The post All the Ghosts are Talking About Me appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Episode Summary: Paranormal Investigations and Ghost Tours in Alabama

When you visit a haunted location, it’s all fun and games until something follows you home. The Southern Ghost Girls, a team of paranormal investigators in Alabama and surrounding states, use period equipment, clothing, and tools to communicate with the ghosts in haunted homes, museums, and jails. However, they’ve had a few encounters with entities that wanted to keep interacting, even after they started on their way home.

Let’s chat with Lesley and Makayla, just two psychic Southern girls trying to preserve history and help people, today, on Homespun Haints.

AI-generated transcript of this episode available upon request.

About the Guests: The Southern Ghost Girls

The Southern Ghost Girls Tours and Paranormal Investigations, LLC is a team of about 10 professional women who perform paranormal investigations and lead tours in Alabama, Georgia, and the rest of the South. They focus on US history and historical value. To honor that, they donate profits back into the historical venues they investigate to help with preservation. And even more fun, they dress in period costume to ghost hunt!

Everyone on the team has some sort of inborn or inherited psychic gifts. Also, they have all agreed to use their gift for the good of mankind. Today we speak with founder Leslie Ann Hyde of Birmingham, Alabama, and paranormal investigator Makayla Neighbors of Jasper, Georgia. Follow them on Facebook to keep up with their investigations. Join them on one of their tours or investigations at SouthernGhostGirls.com and experience a real live paranormal investigation for yourself!

Episode Show Notes about Psychics who Work with the Police and More

Ghosts of The Haunted Jasper Jail in Talking Rock, GA

Makayla tells us about the many ghosts at her hometown historic prison, including:

• Shadow Man on the men’s side upstairs.
• Cherokee spirits still bound up in the Trail of Tears on the Old Federal Road.
• Children of the old sheriff, in the sheriff’s quarters.
• The entire family haunting the Kirby Quinton Cabin next door.
• The elemental shape-shifter that attached to Leslie Ann and followed her on her drive home.

Since they lead tours of the jail, the Southern Ghost Girls are familiar with all of the above. But none of the Jasper Jail ghosts could have prepared them for what followed them home from the Brown-Proctor Museum.

What is a human pendulum?

Becky uses a pendulum to speak to ghosts when a Ouija board would be too clunky. Becky’s pendulum is a semi-precious, carved, polished stone in a plumb bob shape that dangles from the end of a delicate chain. But really, any necklace or bob can be used as a pendulum, as it purportedly runs on intention and spirit interaction. Several guests we’ve had on the show use some sort of pendulum similarly. But what else can you use as a pendulum?

According to our guests today, one’s very body can be a pendulum, in the right circumstances. Since the spirit has to directly manipulate the person acting as pendulum, this adds a whole new creepy factor to ghost hunting. According to Makayla, it can be a very intense physical experience for the person acting as the pendulum. Does the spirit possess the person-pendulum, or just shove them around a bit? Or does the spirit merely whisper suggestions into the person-pendulum’s subconscious, causing them to sway subconsciously in the direction that gets the spirit’s point across? Or is the person-pendulum allowing their intuition to subconsciously guide their sway?

What is a tipping table?

The tipping table is a classic Victorian spiritualist movement tool. Leslie Ann says it was popularized by Queen Victoria herself, and that mediums of the day may have used a tipping table for readings for the likes of Mary Todd Lincoln and Albert Einstein.

We had grand visions of ghosts literally toppling the séance table, like an angry drunk losing at Monopoly. But the reality is much more modest. Basically, a tipping table is a marble top lazy susan. The mediums and spiritual séance attendees put their fingertips lightly on the lazy susan like they would a planchette. When the lazy susan spins, the medium interprets the message based on a meaning she establishes with the ghosts. If you compare it to other spirit communication methods, a tipping table is basically a large pendulum.

Do the police really work with psychics to solve murders?

While it may sound like the theme of a TV show from the Naughties, the police in Auburn, Alabama are actually open to working with a psychic medium to solve crimes! In this episode, Leslie Ann tells a story about the time she just couldn’t not come forward with her knowledge. Most surprisingly, the police still treated her with respect even after they realized she had gleaned her knowledge on the case through clairvoyance.

Should you wear period costume while you ghost hunt?

Part of what sets The Southern Ghost Girls apart from other paranormal investigators is that they dress in period costume while they ghost hunt (and while they do live interviews, which is really what makes us love them). In today’s episode, they go into details about how this practice comforts the spirits they attempt to contact. As female-led and female-dominated team, they find their strength in gently and respectfully meeting the spirits on their own terms, at their own comfort levels. Leslie Ann believes this is what gets them the awesome evidence they frequently collect.

Paranormal investigations and Ghost Tours in Alabama

What do you think? Would the police in your town work with the evidence brought forth by a psychic medium? And would you dress in period costume to get better ghost hunt evidence? Would you visit the ghosts at the haunted Jasper Jail, knowing they might follow you home? Is there a right or wrong way how to be a medium? If you do, that’ll be a spooky day!

The post Do the police really work with psychics to solve murders? appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Episode Summary

Would you frequent a luxury resort if you knew that 20,000 bodies rested under its manicured lawn? Would you stay in a town where everything is named after cannibals? If you think this sounds perfectly fine, then you’ll fit right in with the stories our guest has to share.

Courtney has been collecting stories about the stranger aspects of San Francisco and northern California nd she’s encountered some famous ghosts along the way. Snuggle in for some bizarre history and ghost stories, where the bodies keep piling up.

AI-generated transcript of this episode available upon request.

About the Guest: Courtney Minick

Courtney Minick is a storyteller based in San Francisco. She focuses on tales of California Gothic – uncovering the ghosts, urban legends, and buried stories that haunt the Bay Area. By her own admission, she is a storyteller because she just can’t keep a story to herself…especially when it involves corpses in awkward situations.

You can read her written work at www.hereliesastory.com, her blog/saga about the famous ghosts of San Francisco and beyond that is, in her words, part therapy, part campfire, part podcast, and part ghost tour. Keep up with new posts by following her on Instagram @here_lies_a_story. 

Episode Show Notes about The Ghosts and Corpses In and Under San Francisco

Fortunately, Courtney is a fabulous and engaging writer, so we’ll refer you to her blog Here Lies A Story for the full scoop on the topics she discussed on this episode.

Mary Ellen Pleasant, Mother of Civil Rights and one of San Francisco’s most famous ghosts

Courtney has written a seven part saga about entrepreneur, abolitionist, and millionaire Mary Ellen Pleasant, which you can find here. What do you think was really going on between her and the Widow Bell? Did she really meet Marie Laveau? Where did she keep her millions? But most importantly, why haven’t we learned all about this incredible historical figure before now?

Whose corpse is under this woman’s porch?

Edith Howard Cook was 2-years-old when she died of marasmus in 1876. Her well-preserved remains (graphic actual photo here) were found in a windowed Victorian Fisk Casket under a porch in 2016. The discovery started a year-long labor of care and respect to identify the little girl and find a local relative.

The home where she was found was built over the old Odd Fellows Cemetery, which had been moved about a century prior. Before discovering the casket, the homeowner would hear ghostly children’s footsteps in her home. But those phantom pitter-patters stopped after the girl was relocated. Coincidence?

Famous Haunted Places around San Francisco Mentioned in this Episode

• Beltane Ranch in Sonoma, CA, once Mary Ellen Pleasant’s home and current vineyard.
• Bell Mansion at Bush St and Octavia St in SF, CA, by Mary Ellen Pleasant Park.
• University of San Francisco Dorms built over an old cemetery in the Lone Mountain Neighborhood, where Edith Cook was disinterred.
• Finally, Lincoln Park Golf Course, which was built atop the old City Cemetery.

Ghost Stories from San Francisco

Storytelling confers immortality. Thank goodness for indie internet blog writers like Courtney who immortalize these stories so that future generations can connect with history in a fun, spooky way.

Seen a ghost? Submit your story to be featured on the next episode of Homespun Haints! Or, let us know on our Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/homespunhaints, so we can have a spooky day together!

The post The Bodies Under San Francisco appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Transcript

BECKY
Hello, Hainted Loves. Welcome to Homespun Haints, Bonus Edition. I’m Becky

DIANA
I’m Diana.

BECKY
We just heard from Gerry Hunter on our episode on Monday. He is a minister. He’s retired now though; he’s the Reverend Gerald Hunter. He’s an author. He is a paranormal investigator. And what I think he spoke about in depth on that interview was the machismo of many of the men that were around him and how they reacted to ghosts.

And Diana, I thought this would be a great opportunity to revisit a topic that we had on our Patreon. If you guys are not members of our Patreon yet, you can go check that out on patreon.com/homespunhaints where our lovely patrons get all sorts of bonus content. And one of the things we talked about in depth was the idea of masculinity and femininity in paranormal investigation.

DIANA
Specifically for TV.

BECKY
We’re going to talk a little bit about that again today. But if you want more detail, go join our Patreon

DIANA
We talked about how it’s kind of emphasized for the benefit of the viewer and the television milieu. But what I want to talk about today is more just the general idea of approaching spirit communication and paranormal investigation in general, and what that has to do with masculinity and femininity in the larger scheme of things. Yeah.

BECKY
That sounds great. Let’s dive in.

Please subscribe!

Before we get started, I just want to give a shout out to you guys. Thanks so much for listening to us. If you like what we’re doing here today, I already mentioned our Patreon. Please consider joining that at patreon.com/homespunhaints. Also subscribe, subscribe, subscribe, subscribe wherever you’re listening to this. If you’re listening to it on our website, you can go to Apple or Spotify—wherever you like to get your podcasts—and look for us and just follow us there. Or if you’re on YouTube, please subscribe because we want to be in your ear holes every day. Or at least twice a week.

DIANA
And if you aren’t watching this on YouTube, you could be watching this on YouTube right now. Go to YouTube.

BECKY
Yeah, we have a YouTube.

DIANA
You can see our faces. Do you know what color our hair is right now? Do you even—can you even guess?

BECKY
I don’t know, changes every day.

DIANA
I guess you could call it “undefined.”

BECKY
I can tell you though, that our hearts are black. [EVIL LAUGHTER]

The Book We’re Referencing

I wanted to point out this book, Ghost Channels by Amy Lawrence. We got a lot of information about this on our Patreon episodes because it is the first, perhaps the only sociological study of ghost hunting shows. Ghost hunting reality shows. We will have a link to it on our website, but it is called Ghost Channels: Paranormal Reality Television and the Haunting of 21st Century America by Amy Lawrence.

And it is a fabulous book, and we’ll touch on some of the things that she talks about today. Then, we’re going to go into our own experiences in this field as storytellers who have talked to a lot of paranormal investigators and what masculinity really means. We’re going to do our best because as you can probably tell, we’re women.

DIANA
Well, it doesn’t mean we’re not masculine

BECKY
That’s true. Or are we women?

DIANA
Yes.

BECKY
Oh, okay. Thanks for defining that for me.

DIANA
You’re welcome. Put you in your box and stay there. Get in that pumpkin shell!

Aside from gender, does that book also kind of address, like you mentioned, that part of the title is “21st Century Ghost” stuff. Does it address the difference between how you would have been seen in the 20th century having a haunting or talking about your haunted house or talking about the ghost you saw, and how people are seen in the 21st century, because that is also a topic that Gerald brought up was that, nowadays, there is less stigma because people are actually seeking out haunted tourism and ghostie experiences and ghost hunting and ghost shows. And growing up in the mid sixties, he was very, very afraid of being made fun of and being a pariah for having a ghost in his house.

Did the show Ghost Hunters change attitudes about the paranormal?

BECKY
Yes, attitudes have definitely changed between now and 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago with regards to the paranormal and being open to the paranormal. And the show, Ghost Hunters, really kind of paved the way for that. And that that was the first one. The original Ghost Hunters came out on the Syfy Channel, and Ghost Hunters really came about in about 2002.

BECKY
And what happened was there was an article in the New York Times about this group of plumbers who were doing these paranormal investigations on the side. TAPS. The Atlantic Paranormal Society, and somebody over at SYFY saw the article and was like, Hey, this would make a great reality show.

DIANA
Absolutely.

BECKY
By 2009, it was the most popular show on SYFY.

DIANA
Really?

Your Average Joes

BECKY
The reason that the show is so successful isn’t just because they’re looking for ghosts. However, I do remember—and it may be in this book, but I do remember hearing this elsewhere—that because of the show of Ghost Hunters, belief in the paranormal amongst average Americans soared.

DIANA
Could that be because they were manly plumbers?

BECKY
That is part of it, yes. So the show did kind of open the way—it made it okay for people to kind of come out and be like, yeah, it’s okay. I believe in ghosts because these average Joes are out here doing these paranormal investigations. And sometimes they find things, sometimes they don’t, and they’re very scientific about it.

Now, prior to Ghost Hunters coming out, you definitely did have people on the fringe. Especially in the south where I live, there’s always been this sort of belief in spirits and haints and things like that. And then of course, we had the whole spiritualist movement in the Victorian era with mediumship and all that. So it does go in waves.

The Relationship Between Horror and the Economy

BECKY
It does go in trends. However, belief in the paranormal and interest in scary things such as ghosts and horror and all that tends to go up when the economy goes down.

DIANA
That’s so cool, isn’t it? Because also, I know that the interest in horror movies is linked to how many wars are currently waging on the planet.

BECKY
It’s an escape, right? It’s an escapism. Think about it now. Ghost Hunters, 2002 and then what happens in 2007 to the Global economy?

[MISSILE EXPLODING SOUND]

DIANA
Nothing good.

BECKY
We have this big major crash. And guess what we start seeing a lot of? Ghost hunting shows.

DIANA
Ghost shows! Ghost shows! yay!

Gender and Paranormal Investigation

BECKY
But we want to talk about gender, don’t we?

DIANA
I think so. That’s what we started out talking about. So. Yes, yes, that’s what we’re talking about.

BECKY
Let’s backtrack a little bit and let’s talk a little bit about what Gerry said about being macho and the reaction to ghosts.

DIANA
Oh, I just love that he used the word “macho man.” That way we can use it without feeling awkward. Yeah. No, he actually came out and said my dad was a very macho man and the brothers were also macho. And then he said, “I’ve always been the one who wasn’t macho in my family, despite my best efforts.” That kind of surprised me. Like, Oh, right, I wanted to be macho, like my family, but I’m not. But I tried, but I’m not.

BECKY
Well, it’s interesting that to him, being open to the spiritual kind of ran contrary to being quote unquote macho. And that also is discussed in this book. So when you think about the reason that these paranormal investigation shows have done so well, and if you notice that there tends to be a formula that they follow.

The Formula

DIANA
Yes, I have noticed that.

BECKY
So a couple of things that I want to point out. First of all, the men—because they’re mostly men. Yes, there are outliers. There are definitely women. They tend to be white men. Again, huge exception of Ghost Brothers, but they’re still dudes and they all tend to be from like a working class tough guy background. They’re plumbers, they’re contractors, they’re handymen. They are your everyday Joe. They’re your guy next door.

DIANA
Yeah, exactly. You know, you’re not going to get like, I’m Dr. Anthony Fauci, and I’d like to talk to you about ghost hunting. Yes.

BECKY
No.

DIANA
It’s like average people.

Your Average Joes

BECKY
It is. It is. And that’s very appealing. That’s very appealing to guys just like them, because what do they do, even though they’re these average Joes, even though they’re not out there conducting brain surgery, they’re still really tough because they can walk into a haunted house and not be afraid of the ghosts. It’s very appealing. So you dudes that watch the show, have you been like, “Yeah, I want to be like that?” I mean, I’ve watched the show and I’m like, “Yeah, I want to be like that.”

DIANA
Not afraid to go into a haunted situation. I think at first when I started watching the show, it kind of did impress me.

BECKY
Yeah, I was like, I want to fill up with that masculine energy and just be like, Yeah, and bring me my K2 meter. Come and get me ghosts. Mm hmm. No, I love it.

DIANA
I always thought that it was because they were plumbers. They could find out like, is it the pipes? Like, everybody always blames the pipes. Like they’re plumbers. They would know. Finally, we can get somebody to eliminate all these pipe sounds for for hauntings.

BECKY
Think about the stereotype for the average Joe, Right? He’s not the Ph.D. ivory tower academic; he’s down there working with his hands; he’s got more common sense. It’s the common sense, it’s the being of the people, knowing how stuff works. It’s not just theoretical. So that’s kind of where that comes in.

Analytical vs. Empathic

BECKY
Couple other things. They’re very analytical, right? They use tools.

DIANA
Yes.

BECKY
It’s not about feelings. It’s not about sensing.

DIANA
It’s supposed to be objective measurements, regardless of what those measurements are, they are objective.

BECKY
And in very stereotypical gender roles, men are thinking, women are feeling men use tools and objectivity, women use their emotions and their intuition. Hence, again, a big masculine thing. These guys never show fear because they have their tools. Now I’ve heard in actuality they do get scared. They just cut that out of the final cut.

DIANA
They just cut out the scary, scary part. Oh, oh, I feel cheated. I want the scary track. I want the track of of of screams beep.

BECKY
There’ll be a lot of screams, but it’s usually the women on the team. Have you noticed that?

DIANA
I have noticed that the women scream a little bit more, or at least their screams make the edit.

BECKY
Yeah. So that is the second aspect, right? So we’ve got Average Joe; common sense; doesn’t get afraid, not giving in to silly flights of fancy, right. Because he’s a blue collar worker, he just is in the dirt. He’s climbing under houses every day. He’s very analytical, very masculine. Again, very analytical, uses tools, does not get caught up in feelings.

Outside vs. Inside; Public vs. Private

BECKY
And thirdly, all of these shows—have you noticed that every single one of these shows, they always show them going to the place? They always have to have that cut of them in the vans, talking to one another on their way to the location. They make a very specific point of showing them going to the location. And that’s that’s a lot of film work, right?

Like they got to have the cameras in the car on the dash. They have to have the camera set up on the road watching their black vans in succession go by. Why—why make such a big point about it?

Why?

Again, traditional gender roles. Women are of the inside, men are of the outside of the world. And this dates back to ancient times. Ancient, ancient times. Back in classical Athens, the saying was a righteous, virtuous woman leaves her house twice in her life: once for her wedding, and once for her funeral.

This is this is where this comes—I mean, that’s not where it comes from. But that idea, right, is that women are supposed to be of interior spaces. They take care of the home. Men are of exterior spaces. They are public. And so, you have to make a point of showing that the men are outside. They’re going to another location.

It’s public to them, even though they’re going to be in a house, maybe. There’s a big deal of showing that they’re going there. They’re existing outside of the interior. They’re doing something in public.

DIANA
Yes.

BECKY
It all follows a formula and it’s very appealing to those of us that want to embrace our love of ghosts but not feel like we’re not macho. Read the book.

Does machismo mean you won’t do paranormal investigation?

DIANA
Interesting. You don’t think it’s got anything to do with just, happenstancially, in Gerry’s case, his mother believed in ghosts and his father was macho and didn’t believe in ghosts. And those have nothing to do with machismo. It’s just he saw a masculine role model, and so did his brothers, who didn’t believe in ghosts. And so that’s how they learned machismo.

BECKY
It has everything to do with machismo.

DIANA
So it’s an inherent quality of machismo to be like, I don’t believe in this. You’re making this up. I want nothing to do with this. I’m going to leave instead of—

BECKY
Well, think about it.

DIANA
—sticking it out and seeing if I—

BECKY
Even in these paranormal investigation shows, they always have to—it has to be proven right. And 95% of the time they don’t find anything. And that’s okay.

It has to be proven. It can’t be felt.

DIANA
Yeah, that’s true.

BECKY
It has to be proven through analytical tools. They have to catch something that cannot be shown any other way to be true.

DIANA
That makes sense to me. I like that. I don’t consider that necessarily an inherently masculine trait. To want objective proof of something. Stereotypically, yes.

Masculinity and Femininity in all of us

BECKY
When I say masculine, I don’t mean men. We all have masculine and feminine sides to ourselves, right? I’m talking about just society’s way of defining what masculine versus feminine is and whether or not you agree with it or not, I’m talking about the stereotypes that we’ve grown up with. Masculine is objective, analytical, feminine is feeling and intuitive. I know we are not cut and dry like that.

BECKY
That’s just the societal definitions that we are using to apply to this analysis. Does that make sense?

DIANA
I was looking at what I what I wrote in the show notes. If you’re interested in the show notes, they’re at homespunhaints.com right now, top of the page. But when I was kind of like rolling this around in my mouth earlier this week and I was thinking about the way that he was presenting the how he kind of viewed interacting with ghosts in general as an anti masculine trait.

And I was trying to think of qualities that I consider like inherently masculine, not manly, just masculine qualities has nothing to do with machismo. But the idea in my mind of like what is masculinity is I was mulling it over and I’m thinking like guidance and protection for one’s wards. Gallantness In the face of defending people who have less power or advantage than one’s self. Bravery in accomplishing intimidating tasks or confidently taking some action, mainly action based on rational reason and feats of physical strength and endurance, of course.

And those are kind of like when I kind of distill what is a masculine quality versus what is a stereotypical machismo quality. That’s what I think of. Does that make sense?

Machismo vs. Masculinity

BECKY
It does. And I love that. I love that. And I think you’re absolutely right. Like the machismo, I guess prior to these ghost hunting shows, that was typical of macho men or women who considered themselves macho men would be, Oh, I don’t believe in that. You’re just being silly. You’re being silly. There’s no proof. There’s no proof ghosts exist.

It’s not like you told me you saw a spider.

Rationality vs. Always Being Right

DIANA
And that’s interesting to me because, okay, I understand saying I don’t see any rational explanation within your ghost theories. I understand that. And kind of taking a step back as a masculine person wanting to be like, I don’t see the rationality behind your theory. You’re just talking about your feelings and what you imagined to be there. You’re not proving anything objectively.

I understand that and wanting to take a step back away from that. But the idea, especially when, you know, Gerry’s showing his brother, look at this, here’s my evidence. And his brother goes, I told you I didn’t want to see any of this, and leaves. That doesn’t strike me as masculine. That strikes me as very fearful, which again, is kind of contrary to the idea of masculine people being gallant, brave defenders.

I don’t know. So in that sense, the machismo itself kind of goes against masculinity.

BECKY
It does. It does. No, I think you’re absolutely right. And I think it’s because part of this machismo is having to prove that you’re always right. And if you see something that completely goes against that idea of, Oh, I was right, you’re just going to want to get out of the situation, you can’t handle it because your head’s going to explode.

Full of Rage

BECKY
He also points out that when these people are afraid, their reaction to being afraid is to get angry.

DIANA
To get full of rage.

BECKY
It’s like he got angry. He said, I don’t want to have anything to do with this. And instead of forcing himself to look at what he was seeing and re analyze all of his beliefs, he just left. He just removed himself from the situation. He couldn’t handle it.

DIANA
So what you’re saying is machismo is more about perhaps close minded authority.

BECKY
And always being right. Yes.

DIANA
Than it is about real masculinity. Right?

BECKY
Right. It can certainly appear as leadership. Right. If if you happen to always be right and people follow you.

DIANA
We don’t know anything about that in America. Not one bit!

[LAUGHTER]

Qualities of Masculinity

BECKY
I think real masculinity is like you said, if you’re presented with evidence that doesn’t fit with what you knew before, you have to pivot because you’re a leader.

DIANA
That would be the scientific method for those people who enjoy objective data. It’s the willingness to change your mind in the face of new objective data. That’s why I was so baffled by that reaction. I don’t want to see this leave What?

BECKY
Because it challenges your worldview and it also implies that you were wrong. You can’t be feeling like you were wrong. Yeah, you just got to get out of there.

DIANA
It’s a vulnerable position to realize you were wrong because before you realize you’re wrong, being wrong feels exactly like being right. So it doesn’t matter if you’re wrong or right, as long as you think you’re right.

BECKY
Right, right.

DIANA
But as soon as you realize you’re wrong. Uh oh, that’s very vulnerable. Machismo and vulnerability don’t tend to go very well together.

But masculinity and vulnerability do.

DIANA
Oh, there you go. Tell me more about that.

The Wartime General Analogy

BECKY
So let’s say you’re a general, right? General leading people to war or coming up with strategies and you get new information that says, oh, we’re being flanked on all sides. The approach that we were planning isn’t going to work. Are you going to be like, Oh, I’m never wrong and just go with your original strategy? Or are you going to be like, Oh snap, I better change?

Okay, I didn’t know that. I got new information. I gotta, I got to protect these people. These are my soldiers. I’m not just going to lead them into a slaughter just because I can’t be wrong.

DIANA
It’s your job to defend people who have less power or station than you do as a leader. And so therefore you’re going to pivot. Yeah, I agree. I think it’s good to reexamine your point of view when faced with new evidence.

BECKY
Also, you can choose whether or not that that makes you appear vulnerable or weak, because what real weakness is, is not being able to accept things in front of you. That’s real weakness.

Pretending Machismo is Masculinity

DIANA
In this case. We’re seeing the actions that Gerry was labeling as macho as something that is kind of almost like a mask, a masc mask, if you will. That will hit with a certain subset. An appearance of masculine qualities that don’t actually embody the qualities that you’re hoping to embody. I don’t want to tell you anybody is doing it wrong. That’s not what I mean.

I just it feels like in this whole episode, the machismo ran contrary to analyzing evidence and protecting and defending. Thank you for sharing your insider’s viewpoint of masculinity for me and those of us who may or may not be in the know. And I guess you’re not really a real, real, real insider because you weren’t raised male in a patriarchal society where you had to embrace certain trends of masculinity to survive and not get the crap beat out of you

BECKY
I feel so sorry for men. It’s got to suck.

DIANA
Especially growing up in 1960s, rural Michigan. Blech. Hainted Loves, If you were raised male in a patriarchal society and you have a differing viewpoint or want to point out things that we missed or want to point out things that we did wrong, or just feel like mansplaining your two cents into our conversation, we welcome that. Please let us know.

The conversation goes on and on, on our Facebook group, Facebook.com/groups/homespunhaints

BECKY
You could also leave a comment below on our YouTube.

DIANA
But either way, let us know. Let us know from the insiders point of view. Let us know from an outsider’s point of view. We just want to understand what machismo and masculinity have to do with ghosts. And in the meantime, have a spooky day.

The post Are You Macho Enough to go Ghost Hunting? appeared first on Homespun Haints.

In this episode of Homespun Haints, we explain the history of these ESP cards. We’ll also talk in-depth about the lengthy (and oft hilarious) research trials that went into psychic ability at Duke University during the 20th century.

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AI-generated transcript available upon request.

What are Zener Cards Anyway?

These cards were invented by Duke professor and perceptual psychologist Karl Zener to aid parapsychologist J. B. Rhine. Rhine’s psychic research on ESP is an example of how an experiment can give us years of data without enhancing our understanding of the subject matter one iota.

What are the five designs on a deck of Zener cards?

Zener cards have five designs: a cross, a hollow circle, a hollow square, a hollow five pointed star, and three vertical wavy lines. A deck of Zener cards has five of each design, so twenty-five cards in total.

Who was Joseph Banks Rhine in Psychic Research?

Dr. J. B. Rhine grew up as a Midwestern Christian farm boy. Originally, he wanted to go to divinity school. His wife was amore practical person (maybe?), and she talked him into studying science instead by arguing, “it’s the wave of the future, Joseph.”

So they moved to the city and they both started studying botany. As their interest in nature science grew, they began to wonder how they could use scientific tests to determine the answer to “life’s big questions” that they had pondered in their very religious upbringing.

One thing led to another, and eventually, they began testing psychic abilities. Rhine even coined the term “Extrasensory Perception.” Rhine approached a colleague of his, Zener, and asked him to develop a pack of cards he could use for tests.

The Zener Test Era

For the next three decades, Rhine tested thousands of students for psychic abilities in his Duke University lab, with funding from private donors and the U.S. Government. The public grew so interested in his experiments that astronaut Edgar Mitchell agreed to conduct psychic ability experiments for him while in space aboard the Apollo 14.

How Does a Zener Card Test Work?

Rhine’s psychic ability test involved subjects predicting the symbols on Zener cards. Basically, the experimenter picks a zener card from a shuffled pack, and looks at it, very seriously. The person being tested concentrates on reading the mind of the experimenter, using psychic abilities alone to get an idea of the symbol on the one card from the Zener Card pack that the experimenter is holding. The subject is told if his symbol guess is correct or not, then the experimenter continues to draw the next card and the subject being tested continues to attempt correct guesses.

Since the test subject is expected to guess the cards with no data or hints, the statistically expected outcome of the test would be equivalent to random guessing, right? Well, some subjects scored above random chance, making their test results statistically significant. This statistical analysis of the results was crucial in evaluating the validity of psychic abilities.

Does the Zener Card Test Prove Psychic Abilities?

Unfortunately, the early Zener Card ESP tests had several design flaws.

Rhine’s experiments used a hand-shuffled pack of Zener cards; poor shuffling of the cards could lead to greater predictability of the next draw in line. Informing subjects if their guesses were correct could increase their accuracy through card counting. Some tests were conducted in poorly controlled environments, like in a moving car. Further testing in future years attempted to control for these variables in several ways, with machine shuffling, etc, (but after seeing Ghostbusters, we’re doubting that all subsequent Zener Card users were as dedicated to hard science).

What Did We Learn From Extra Sensory Perception Zener Card Tests?

Even more disappointingly, the Zener Card test didn’t answer, or even begin to address, “life’s big questions.” At best, the Zener Card Test can merely determine if the test subject has psychic abilities. It provides no insight into how one might become psychic, or improve their psychic abilities.

After thirty-odd years of Zener Card experiments yielding no valuable information to the US government, funding for Duke Parapsychology Laboratory dried up in 1965. The organization restructured as a nonprofit, called the Rhine Research Center. Also, you can still buy Zener Card decks today, either with real cards or trick cards, depending on how much you trust your psi abilities, and how much your friends trust you.

Listen to the episode to learn more about extrasensory perception

For the hilarious and in-depth history of psychical research and J. B.Rhine, listen to our episode! And have a spooky day!

The post What Are Zener Cards? appeared first on Homespun Haints.