00:00:00
Hey weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And well, that threw out and this is Morbid. I just felt sing-songy about her name.
00:00:36
went for a run at the end there. I said, "I'm Ash." She's a runner. She's a runner. She's a track star. Even though
00:00:42
your children quite literally go to whenever they want me to play tag or something. I'm like, "Remember?" And
00:00:46
they all say it together. TT doesn't run. Running is bad. Running is great if you're running away
00:00:54
from something you should be running from. Yeah, that's always good. Yeah. It makes
00:00:59
um my mouth taste like blood when I run, so. I've talked about it. It's a thing.
00:01:04
I like found it on TikTok. I think it's like I they don't really know why it happens, but many theories are that
00:01:10
there's like little like little vessels in your lungs are bursting. So, that's like I don't think I'm meant
00:01:17
to run. Yeah, I don't think so either. meant to be thickums McGee, baby. quite honest, that sounds terrifying. I
00:01:24
mean I walk, so that's good. That's always good to walk, too. Yeah, move. Don't Yeah, don't be
00:01:29
stagnant. groove it, baby. Um I have a poltergeist story tonight. Yeah, we're getting creepy with it.
00:01:36
Getting creepy up in here. It's almost Halloween. Spooky season. Remember, we're doing all
00:01:44
kinds of you know, spooky stuff. Yeah, also I we haven't even talked about like what we're going to be for
00:01:49
Halloween. Like what are you being? Cuz we are we we're doing the thing, right? Yeah.
00:01:53
This is just like a family party. This is us just making plans on the side. right?
00:01:58
Yes, what it's like are we doing the thing? Oh, you're like we're doing that thing. I was trying to distract We're
00:02:03
doing that black mass in the woods, correct? Yeah, no. Sorry, I'm letting it all out.
00:02:07
God, Elena. Um I had an idea. Can you tell me? For us. Oh, for me and you together?
00:02:13
And we should Yeah, and maybe we can like put a beep over this part of the episode so that it could be a surprise
00:02:18
for later. What are you going to do a couple's costume with John for the thing or me
00:02:23
and you just doing with Arby a couple this year? That's wrong, but like are are we a
00:02:28
couple of Halloween girls? A couple of gals? I don't know. Cuz I have an idea for me and Drew.
00:02:35
Oh. Did I tell you what we were doing? Yeah, maybe for the cuz I don't think that that idea I just
00:02:39
gave you is great for the family event because I think Yeah, no. It's super bloody. Yeah, I
00:02:45
think the the gals would not appreciate that. Maybe they would have to I was going to say they probably would,
00:02:50
but maybe the fam bam on a whole level wouldn't appreciate that. going to. Um But yeah, so
00:02:58
So, yeah. I think maybe we can do that for something else. But do you have any couple costume idea?
00:03:03
Cuz usually you have such a good couple's costume. honestly have not even had time to think
00:03:07
about it, so I'm going to sit down and brainstorm. We can beep this, too, but I think me and Drew are going to be
00:03:12
That's [ __ ] amazing. incredible? Don't say I think we're going to be that. No, I'm pretty like when I say I think
00:03:19
like we decided that. don't you dare ponder over that. Like do that. I'm pretty stoked. That's phenomenal.
00:03:25
Right. But beep that out. Don't tell the masses. Don't tell the masses. I'll just say it
00:03:28
on my Insta, but it's an exciting Such a trendsetter. Spooky time surprise. There's a lot of fun things happening
00:03:39
I love Halloween. Hell House LLC, there's another movie coming out. I think it might be Oh, a prequel. Prequel.
00:03:47
love that you were about to say a prelude cuz that's a prelude to the trial is what I always think of.
00:03:52
prelude? Is that wrong? I mean it's No, not really. Yeah, I don't So, I I it's still I
00:03:58
always think of Mickey from Scream 2 saying, "A prelude to the trial." And you do love Mickey. Oh, love Mickey.
00:04:04
You and John should be Mickey and Sidney for Halloween. Oh my god. I mean it's wrong, but Very wrong, but
00:04:10
very right Yeah. as well. Also, your dog should be Sidney Sidney. The dog should be Sidney
00:04:16
should be Sidney Prescott. But aren't they being like a hot dog and a and a um Oh, you should make one a hot dog and
00:04:22
one a trench coat. That would be hilarious, but one of them is being a hot dog and the other one is being
00:04:29
a pumpkin. A pumpkin, yeah. Uh but yeah, I think the I was going to say where did we just go?
00:04:37
Hell House LLC prelude prequel. Yeah, it had it has a prequel coming out I think near Halloween, which I'm very
00:04:42
excited about for all you that are listening that haven't watched Hell House LLC. Don't listen anybody who says
00:04:48
it's you know, found footage is is crap because this is a great one. And we were talking to John about it the
00:04:53
other day and it's not like found footage that will give you vertigo. So, anybody that has that and is worried
00:04:58
about like found footage, I feel like you'll be fine. And I mean like I'm not a doctor, so but like they don't take
00:05:05
that for Yeah, I mean if you get vertigo from it, that's your own problem. Not my
00:05:09
chair, not my problem. If you get vertigo from it, [ __ ] you. That's your own problem.
00:05:19
Um but then there's the Saw prelude prequel. Yeah, there's a lot of fun stuff happening I feel like.
00:05:25
Just fun things to do. I think there's just fun things, so I think we're we're getting back into the
00:05:30
swing of the spooky season and that's exciting. And what's really spooky about the spooky season is poltergeists. That
00:05:37
is one of the most spooky things about any season, I would say. Yeah, so I have a poltergeist today that it's a really
00:05:43
interesting story, but I am going to let you know from the the jump that it's not
00:05:48
really like solved Huh? at all, which is interesting cuz you're like how do you even solve that in the first place? But
00:05:53
it's all it hasn't really been debunked either. Ooh. So, that's fun to me. That is fun. We love when it hasn't been
00:05:59
debunked. I don't love a debunked. Yeah. I've been doing a couple debunks lately
00:06:03
and they make me feel a little upset in my stomach Yeah. cuz I'm like not fun. Not fun.
00:06:08
This moderately fun. Okay. You know? So, this is the I believe it's the you say it's Saughy and Elena can
00:06:15
tell you I looked at like a bunch of pronunciations. did. Um it's in Scotland, but it's the
00:06:20
Saughy poltergeist. Oh, Scottish. Yeah. Let's go. We have Ireland and Scotland up in here. And this
00:06:26
poltergeist became known as Wee Hughie. That makes this perfect. Like exponentially better.
00:06:35
Wee Hughie. Wee Hughie, which I'm I'm like is that just like Lil Hughie? Lil Hughie.
00:06:39
Lil Hugh Hugh. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. Also, I like the name Hugh. Just wanted to say that. So anyways, in
00:06:45
the fall of 1960, Annie and James Campbell, a couple in their mid-50s living in Donegal, Ireland and I looked
00:06:52
that up, too, so please don't yell at me. did. But they had grown really tired of
00:06:56
the economic struggle that they were having. You know, their rural life made it hard for them on the farm. Like it
00:07:03
would things weren't really going well. Yeah. So, they made the decision to sell
00:07:07
this family farm in Ireland and relocate to Scotland. Now, at the time their youngest son
00:07:13
Thomas and his wife Isabella Campbell were living in a house in Saughy, Scotland. Ah.
00:07:19
So, uh Saughy is like a small coal mining town in central Scotland and it's really
00:07:24
well known for its association with regional football, which I believe it's not like American football, but like
00:07:29
Yeah, I think we're the actually makes sense. Football that actually uses your foot
00:07:33
with a ball. Yeah, the United States is embarrassing when they say football because of like because you're not
00:07:40
really using your foot that much, so Yeah, my 7-year-olds were very confused about that cuz they learned that
00:07:46
football is soccer in other countries and they were like they were both like that makes more sense.
00:07:52
Right. And I was like I know. There's a lot of things that don't make sense here
00:07:55
and I'm sorry, you're going to have to learn that. Yeah, it really like unlocks like this
00:07:58
weird feeling inside of yourself where you're just like, "Huh? That doesn't makes no sense whatsoever. Yeah, piss
00:08:04
off. They kick it like once a game, maybe. I think I don't even know when they like
00:08:08
Oh my god, I was like do they kick it? But you're right, there's like a kicker, yeah. Um anyway, that's all I have to
00:08:14
say about football. For this couple, it was a new start and one that honestly wouldn't really
00:08:20
require much of a financial investment on their part cuz they were moving in with their son. So, they started making
00:08:25
plans to move themselves and their youngest daughter, 11-year-old Virginia, to Saughy.
00:08:30
Now, the economy in Saughy at the time wasn't really more promising than where they were at now, but I don't think it
00:08:37
was really about like the financials. I think it was more about like missing family kind of thing, you know?
00:08:43
Um So, in October of 1960, Annie, the mother, and Virginia moved in with Annie's son and Virginia's brother
00:08:51
Thomas and his wife Isabella and James, the father, stayed behind to sell the family farm. Okay. Now, also when you
00:08:59
read about this, it says that a lot of like a lot of sources say that uh the family moved in with an aunt, but that's
00:09:06
not true. It was the brother and sister-in-law of Virginia. Oh, that's good to know. So, at the time
00:09:10
of the move, Virginia Campbell's life had been pretty lonely and isolating. She was the youngest of the Campbell
00:09:16
children, so all of her siblings had moved out of the house, had moved away from their tiny village. And as George
00:09:22
Owen wrote, quote, "The only real companions that Virginia had were her pet dog Toby and one friend." Aw.
00:09:28
was like her very best friend. Oh my god. So, even though she was already lonely at home, the move to Saughy was
00:09:35
still a lot on Virginia because she might not have had a lot, but she was leaving all of it behind.
00:09:39
Yeah. And she was being uprooted from the only world that she knew. So, she definitely
00:09:45
struggled to acclimate to her new life after the move. Her teacher Margaret Davidson recalled, "Virginia was a shy,
00:09:51
withdrawn girl, but very pleasant. She was in every other way quite normal." Hm. So, the fact that she was quiet or
00:09:57
withdrawn is uh pretty understandable. She had, like I said, just been uprooted from the family home. And now she was
00:10:04
thrown into this new living situation where she was sharing a bed and a bedroom with her niece Margaret. On top
00:10:11
of that, her father still hadn't been able to join them. The dog hadn't come yet. I don't
00:10:16
actually know if the dog ever ended up coming back. I think they like left it at I don't know if it was like a farm
00:10:21
dog. Aw. It's sad. So, that was a lot of upheaval for an 11-year-old. Remember, she's 11.
00:10:27
And there was about to be more because just a few weeks after arriving in Soky, Virginia's mother got a job at the
00:10:34
Dollar Academy. Um it was only 5 miles away from their new house, but the job required her mom to work evening hours,
00:10:42
and a lot of times she had to stay overnight at the academy. Oh, okay. And I forgot to mention
00:10:48
that Virginia also lost connection with her best friend, like completely. So, she was going through it.
00:10:55
Now, eventually she would shed a lot of her shwy shwy shwy all her shwy ways. I think I was about to combine shy and
00:11:02
quiet and make it shwyet. Like that. shwyet She would shed a lot of her shy and quiet tendencies as she settled into
00:11:08
her new life, and she eventually she did start making friends. But to school adminish administrators, I can't talk,
00:11:15
the initial apprehension and awkwardness of the Campbell family as a whole, like
00:11:18
not even just Virginia, was obvious. According to Mr. Hill, who was the headmaster at the primary school where
00:11:25
Virginia was now going, Annie, Virginia's new mom, initially, quote, offered no more information than was
00:11:31
necessary, and her voice seemed to come unwillingly from behind the mask on her face. They gave the impression of people
00:11:37
who lived for a long time in a remote and isolated place. Huh. So, basically they were just
00:11:41
private. Yeah. Interesting. You're moving to an entirely new place, like you might be a little apprehensive.
00:11:48
So, since she was older than her niece Margaret, Virginia was placed in a higher grade where obviously she didn't
00:11:54
know anybody. And on top of everything else that she was going through, she struggled with the language difference
00:12:01
between the rural Donegal and Soky. George Owen, author of Can We Explain the Poltergeist, wrote, "At first she
00:12:08
was extremely shy, and her teacher found it difficult to establish real connection with her. But it was clear to
00:12:13
everybody that she was very intelligent and she was kind, even if she seemed very emotional and under distress."
00:12:20
Okay. Now, I what are you looking at over there? Um, nothing. Oh, you looked like you
00:12:26
were looking at something. Oh, no. You always think I'm looking at something. I think whenever you're
00:12:30
reading something, you get this face where you look you look like very like invested.
00:12:34
Yeah, cuz I think I focus when I'm reading something. Yeah, and then I'm like, "What is she
00:12:38
reading?" I was looking up things about that Like I was looking at this little girl and like the things she adorable.
00:12:43
Don't spoil anything for yourself. So, the picture of Virginia Campbell that comes from most accounts at this
00:12:49
time is that of a fairly normal 11-year-old reacting pretty appropriately to a pretty disruptive
00:12:55
life event and struggling, but refusing or failing to not refusing or failing to
00:13:00
adapt to her new life. Yeah. She was open to getting to know Yeah, she wanted to adapt. She was just
00:13:05
having trouble. Yeah. And like I said, by all accounts behind the quiet shy exterior, there was a perfectly lovely
00:13:11
intelligent girl who seemed eager to engage with the world around her. And in time, like I said a minute ago, she did
00:13:17
make a lot of new friends. Yeah. But that being said, George Owen, who was actually involved with the
00:13:22
family at the time of the supposed poltergeist activity, is quick to point out, quote, "It may be of significance
00:13:29
that at present she is going through a period of extremely rapid physical development and mature maturation.
00:13:36
Puberty in the full sense has not arrived, but she is going through a very rapid pubescence. It may also be of
00:13:41
significance that on occasion she did give some indication of mental and emotional turmoil. At times she talked
00:13:48
in her sleep showing signs of both upset and aggressiveness." Talking in her sleep? She was upset and
00:13:56
aggressiveness? According to him, and that might cuz when I read that at first I was like, "I talk in my sleep. I talk
00:14:02
in my sleep." But when you hear about the kind of talking in her sleep that was happening,
00:14:07
it wasn't your normal like Having a weird dream like Like she would go into trances and like
00:14:12
sit up, but they were like she was still asleep. That's also a night terror. It seems like she may have been having some
00:14:19
night terrors, but then when you put it hand in hand with everything else that was going on,
00:14:24
Well, maybe the night terrors were caused by something else. Because the girls have had night terrors
00:14:31
for small spans of time before, and they are terrifying. One of them in particular, one of the girls
00:14:37
Yeah. Yeah. Freaky. They are scary. I Kids are [ __ ] terrifying. If your kid is scary, I'm
00:14:44
sorry, Gary. And a night terror is the thing like you can't really do anything about it. You just have to like comfort
00:14:50
them through it. Cuz it's Isn't it like hard to wake them up? And technically you're not really
00:14:54
supposed to. They're asleep, but they're acting awake. And they're just kind of like
00:14:59
They're not focusing their eyes on you or anything. Like it's very strange, and it's a very strange moment. So, you just
00:15:05
kind of have to like if you can rub their back and the stuff, just kind of be like, "I'm here. Like I'm here." Like
00:15:10
let them know that you're here and And then hopefully it kind of like It Yeah. goes into their dreams.
00:15:17
Like subconscious somewhere. I think it's like if you show comfort and like, "I'm here" kind of thing, then slowly
00:15:23
they they can come out of it. That was scary. And it's like how like when your alarm will ring in real life,
00:15:29
but it manifests as something else in your dream. it's just this loud noise in your dream
00:15:33
that you can't get away from. So, maybe like some big random thing is comforting you and not your mama. Not
00:15:37
your mama. Not your mama, so big random thing is comforting I just pictured like
00:15:41
a cloud comforting me, like a giant cloud with legs. I honestly pictured cloud guy, but like
00:15:45
big. Oh. From Trolls. Oh, yeah. Cloud guy would comfort me. Cloud guy does comfort
00:15:51
me. And so does um [ __ ] what's his name? The the giraffe. love the giraffe. the giraffe. Cooper. I [ __ ] love
00:15:57
Cooper. I'm excited for the new Trolls movie, and this is not a paid campaign. I'm
00:16:02
just genuinely pretty excited. I love that. Anyway, that's all to say, while Virginia
00:16:08
Campbell may have been a normal, healthy, fully functional 11-year-old, her behavior did indicate a certain
00:16:13
amount of frustration related to her circumstances that maybe was seeking some kind of outlet subconsciously or
00:16:20
consciously. Okay. [ __ ] was going down. Truly. Or or not. No, it was. It was going down,
00:16:26
Charlie Brown. So, as far as anybody could tell, the poltergeist activity began on November
00:16:31
22nd, 1960. Not long after Virginia and her niece Margaret had gone to bed that night, the
00:16:37
two girls began hearing what they later described as a thunking noise. They said
00:16:42
it was almost like someone was throwing a rubber ball against the wall. Okay. can kind of picture that.
00:16:47
Yeah. Now, they couldn't fall asleep because it was so loud. So, they went downstairs, but the sound actually ended
00:16:53
up following them as they were walking down the stairs, like the ball was hitting each step just behind them. Ooh.
00:17:00
Now, in the living room, the girls reported the noise to Thomas and Isabella, which would be Margaret's
00:17:05
parents and Virginia's brother and her sister-in-law. But the older, like the couple, Thomas
00:17:10
and Isabella, were like, "Okay, you guys need to go to bed. Like clearly this is
00:17:13
some kind of tactic to stay awake." And they didn't hear anything. So, they just escorted them back up to bed. But
00:17:21
as soon as Thomas and Isabella closed the door to the bedroom after getting the girls settled, they heard the sound
00:17:26
from outside of the room, and they were like, "Okay." Now, Thomas just figured it was the girls pulling some kind of
00:17:31
prank. Like once he closed the door, he's like, "Oh, they're trying to make me think that I hear this." So, he
00:17:37
opened the door to tell them to cut it out, but he was surprised to find both of them under the blankets, their hands
00:17:42
completely covered, and the sound emanating from the headboard of the bed they shared. Damn. Now, confused and
00:17:50
somewhat concerned, they moved Virginia and Margaret to a different bedroom to fall asleep, but the noises continued,
00:17:56
and they only stopped after Virginia had fallen asleep. Ooh. Just random. That's
00:18:03
interesting. Like it was inexplicable. So, that night was uh not restful at all for Virginia. She had a very fitful
00:18:11
sleep, so that they decided to let her stay home from school the next day cuz they were like, "First of all, we have
00:18:16
no [ __ ] idea what's going on, and you also didn't sleep last night, so it's not going to be a good day for you."
00:18:21
Now, that afternoon, when Thomas, Isabella, and Virginia sat down in the living room together, all three of them
00:18:27
watched in shock as the sideboard next to Virginia, quote, "moved out 5 inches from the wall, then slid right back into
00:18:35
place." Oh. Yeah. Okay. So, at the time Virginia was seated less than a foot away from the sideboard, but
00:18:44
both Thomas and Isabella swore that she never touched that sideboard. Like it moved very much on its own. And they
00:18:51
were like, "What are we dealing with here?" What is going on? If my little If I like
00:18:56
Well, I do have a little sister, and if she moved in with me and this [ __ ] started happening, I'd be like, "Listen,
00:19:00
I love you so much, but you got to go." Yeah. Cuz like my house is chill, and you're unchilling it.
00:19:06
Yeah, the you know, don't be all uncool. Yeah, be cool. Don't be all uncool. I have wine glasses that say that.
00:19:14
They're a pair. Just in case you were wondering. Yeah, I think I got them on Etsy, so try
00:19:18
to find those. But that evening, after Virginia and Margaret had gone to bed, the family started hearing the knocking
00:19:24
again, but this time it was all over the house, and there was no obvious point of
00:19:29
origin. They're all like hunting around to see like is this like a pipe? Is this
00:19:33
a that? Is this a whatever? They can't narrow it down. And eventually the knocks became so loud
00:19:38
that even the neighbors could hear the noise and were like, uh what's going on over there? Like please quiet down. And
00:19:43
they were like, "Yeah, we can't control this at all. Like we don't know what's happening."
00:19:47
not doing it. We are not well, [ __ ] Nobody of the living is doing it, so sue. Finally, after enduring the noise for
00:19:56
hours and being just really unsure of what to do, the couple, Thomas and Isabella there, ended up calling their
00:20:02
priest, Reverend T.W. Lund. And they were like, "Can you come out here and just help?"
00:20:08
So, Reverend Lund arrived at the Campbell house just after midnight that very night, and he was briefed on the
00:20:13
activity that had been occurring throughout the last 24 hours. He could also hear the knocking sounds, and he
00:20:18
eventually traced them to that headboard on the bed where Virginia and Margaret were sleeping. They were still asleep.
00:20:26
So, he actually, the Reverend, suspected that Virginia was causing these noises somehow. He said maybe she was like like
00:20:33
uh putting her head up against the headboard and kind of like thudding it against the wall.
00:20:37
So, he asked her to slide down away from the headboard. Like, they woke the kids
00:20:41
up, obviously. And he assumed that the noises would stop, but after she did, they continued.
00:20:47
And he also noticed that the headboard hadn't actually even been touching the wall at all, so there wasn't even the
00:20:53
possibility that it was being vibrated and like hitting the wall. Debunking. It's not happening. No.
00:21:00
So, when the when the Reverend pressed his hand against the headboard, he could feel a vibration with every knock, which
00:21:08
convinced him that no matter how impossible, this knocking was coming from inside the headboard itself. Oh,
00:21:14
damn. And he could not figure out how. So, during his visit to the house, Reverend Lund also noticed a large linen
00:21:21
chest, like pretty big. It was 27 in long, 17 in high, and 14 in wide. He saw it rocking back and forth for no obvious
00:21:31
reason. And then, the sideboard slid more than a foot across the linoleum tile and then just slid back into place.
00:21:41
Yeah. He could not explain the movement of the chest, especially because it was full of
00:21:46
linen and not likely to move from any kind of vibrations. Like, it's a big heavy chest. So, he shifted his
00:21:52
attention back to Virginia, and he was like, "I think you guys just need to go back to bed." Like, Virginia and
00:21:56
Margaret, try to go back to sleep after witnessing that. It's fine. And when he made that suggestion, the knocking from
00:22:03
the headboard became violent and rapid. Like, no, no, no, nobody's going to sleep tonight.
00:22:09
Right. Oh, I don't like this at all. No, it's weird. It doesn't get weirder, but and it and
00:22:15
it's scary in and of itself, but this particular poltergeist doesn't seem violent.
00:22:21
But he seems like aggressive. Yeah. Which I don't like. Like, knowing that it's Wee Hughie, it's it does sound like
00:22:29
just like a little kid poltergeist. Like, this little boy Hughie just make acting a fool, you know? Yeah, it's
00:22:33
true. Like, Wee Hughie really does take the terror down a notch. It does. And it
00:22:38
just seems like a little boy being rambunctious as a ghost. I also saw it described as a
00:22:45
possible leprechaun. Are you serious? Yeah. But they never found the leprechaun. I'm
00:22:52
just saying. I love that. Maybe maybe Wee Hughie is a little leprechaun. know. I don't know. Who's to say? Not I. Yeah,
00:23:00
they called it and actually they called him a vengeful leprechaun, so. But I don't really know how vengeful he was.
00:23:05
Like, he didn't do anything bad. I yeah, I don't know. I'm just saying he has had
00:23:10
that reputation. He has the bad reputation, I think is what Taylor Swift says. So, the noises and the disruptions
00:23:17
continued the next day with knocking coming from the walls, the sewing machine was turning on and off by
00:23:22
itself, objects were moving on their own. Virginia's father by that point, James, he had sold the farm and moved to
00:23:29
where they were now in Scotland. He claimed that he witnessed an apple rise out of a fruit bowl, hover in the
00:23:35
air for a second or two, and then drop back down into the fruit bowl. And he like this man is like a farmer.
00:23:43
Like, he's not he's like a no [ __ ] kind of guy. Yeah, he's just like that. I saw what I saw, and I don't know
00:23:50
why I saw that. I saw what I saw, and I don't know why I saw it. It's weird. Like, that is it. And I just love that
00:23:56
it's like Wee Hughie like picked up an apple, was looking at it, and then was like, "Nah." And just put it like,
00:24:01
"Health, no." Health, wellness, fiber, absolutely not for me. I just picture like a an apple floating on itself and
00:24:08
it would be like, "Can you take the skin off this?" And nobody answers, so he's like, "Fuck
00:24:13
it." Just put it For some reason, no one heard him. But imagine if you did. That would be
00:24:20
actually terrifying. Not and also not to know the context here. Can you take the
00:24:25
skin off this? I'd be like, "No, I can't." An apple's just floating IN THE AIR. BECAUSE LIKE, IT'S AN APPLE.
00:24:36
NO. NO, thank you. So, later that evening, Reverend Lund went back to the Campbell home, and this time he brought
00:24:43
a local physician, W.H. Nesbitt, with him. Once Virginia and Margaret had gone to
00:24:49
bed, they both went into the room, the Reverend and the doctor. And once they walked into the room, they looked on in
00:24:55
utter shock as Virginia's pillow rotated about 60° while her head was still resting on it.
00:25:03
Okay. That's interesting. That's weird. That's weird. Suspicious. That's suspicious.
00:25:11
So, neither of them had really any time to process what they'd seen before the knocking started up again. First at the
00:25:17
headboard and then in the walls. And the knockings were followed by the lifting and slamming of the lid on the linen
00:25:23
chest, which again moved out from the wall on its own before sliding back into place against the wall. Okay. But all
00:25:31
the while the lid is being like lifted and slammed back down, lifted and slammed back down.
00:25:36
That's disruptive. It is. So, these phenomena were shocking, but the final event witnessed that evening was the
00:25:43
most inexplicable to them. As Virginia and Margaret lay in bed with the covers pulled up to their chests,
00:25:50
both men witnessed what they later described as a strange rippling movement move up and down the bed covers as the
00:25:56
two girls lay beneath. Almost like the cover was doing the wave. Yeah, obviously.
00:26:02
What? No. I hate it. Nope. And I'm also like, "Damn, y'all are just sleeping through this?" I know, that's the thing.
00:26:08
Everybody's just like going about their business after this. Like, kids can sleep through anything.
00:26:13
They truly can, apparently. But then they have like they need like one glass of water and it's over for you [ __ ]
00:26:19
I mean, going to sleep, forget about it. Forget about it. Now, since the activity started a few
00:26:25
days earlier, Virginia had been staying home from school cuz they were like, "Do
00:26:28
we send her to school while this is happening?" But by Friday, November 25th, the Campbells decided there was
00:26:33
really no point in keeping her at home any longer, especially because Yeah. And they weren't even any closer
00:26:40
to understanding what the hell was going on. So, after being home all morning, and you know, Virginia was probably like
00:26:46
ticking them off a little bit. Like, you know, like they were like, "Go find something to do." And she was like, "I
00:26:50
can't." So, they were like, "You know what? Go to school." So, they sent her to school for the remainder of the
00:26:55
afternoon. Now, that afternoon, as she was sitting in class, her teacher, Margaret Stewart,
00:27:00
noticed that she seemed to be struggling with something at her desk. From Mrs. Stewart's vantage point at the front of
00:27:06
the class, it seemed like Virginia was fidgeting with her desk lid in like an unusual manner. She's like, "What the
00:27:11
[ __ ] is she doing?" She didn't say that, though. She said, "What the [ __ ] is that
00:27:15
little girl doing?" Virginia, what the [ __ ] are you doing? She didn't say that. That would have
00:27:20
been so rude. She would have had a problem with Annie Campbell if she said that.
00:27:24
And James, I'm sure. And me. And me. How about that, Miss Stewart? Never. No, Miss Stewart's a sweetie. So,
00:27:31
she assumed that Virginia was just fooling around. So, she called out and was like, "Virginia, what are you
00:27:36
doing?" And Virginia said, "Nothing, Miss Honest." Like, she was like, "I'm really not doing anything."
00:27:41
So, when the teacher told Virginia to stop distracting the class, she did as she was told and just lifted her arms
00:27:46
off the desk. And at that point, the wooden lid of the desk began rising and falling on its own as the other students
00:27:53
just watched in complete shock and horror. No. That's not great. She might have been like because she
00:28:00
said the teacher was like she looked like she was fidgeting with her desk. It sounds to me like she was trying to stop
00:28:05
that from happening. Yeah, like I was trying to figure out why it was happening. Like, just being like, "What
00:28:09
is going on here?" Like, trying to see if it could stop it. And then she takes her hands off, and it starts just going
00:28:15
for it. And all the kids in class are like, "What the [ __ ] We got a Matilda up in here." We got a Matilda? So, later
00:28:22
that afternoon during a period of silent reading, the classroom was again disrupted when the empty desk behind
00:28:27
Virginia slowly rose about an inch off of the floor and just gently settled down again on its own.
00:28:35
What do you even say as a kid in that class? You're like, "What's happening?" What is going on? When she was
00:28:41
interviewed about the incident a short time later, Mrs. Stewart told George Owen that during the first interruption,
00:28:47
Virginia was in her line of sight, so she could tell that Virginia was not lifting the lid of the desk. And again,
00:28:53
her hands were in the air. And after the second incident, Mrs. Stewart went back over to the desk
00:28:58
behind Virginia and examined like the whole entirety of it and said she quote found no strings, levers, or anything
00:29:05
else that had been in operation to make the desk rise and fall seemingly of its own volition. So, this wasn't a prank.
00:29:12
Yeah, like they checked it out, it seems. Yeah, they tried to debunk everything, and they literally couldn't.
00:29:17
See, these are the ones that it's like when they're going and checking it out and actual adults are looking and being
00:29:23
like, "I yeah, I can't explain this." That's when those are the scary scary ones. They are. And they're they're
00:29:28
scary This For some reason, I just find this one fun. Yeah. I mean, it's Scottish. Who doesn't love a Scottish
00:29:35
tale? I love a Scottish tale, by the I love a Scottish tale. And it's an Irish girly. Yeah, you know we love it.
00:29:43
Later that evening, Reverend Lund and Dr. Nesbitt returned again to the Campbell house to check up on Virginia.
00:29:49
And when Reverend Lund asked her how school had been, Virginia said, "All right, but something funny happened when
00:29:54
I was there. When my teacher was standing near my desk, the lid of another desk went up all by itself."
00:30:00
You know, funny. Reverend Lund was like, "Okay, I'm going to talk to your family,
00:30:03
so give me a minute." Wild. Now, while he sat and talked with the family in the living room, Dr.
00:30:08
Nesbitt spent the evening sitting in the girls' bedroom watching for any unusual
00:30:12
behavior. Now, while he was alone in the room, Dr. Nesbitt witnessed similar but less
00:30:18
intense activity than had been reported days earlier, including the light knocking sounds, the lid of the linen
00:30:25
chest lifting and lowering, and still multiple rotations of Virginia's pillow as it just sat on the bed. Yeah, that's
00:30:33
wild. So, it's not even like cuz I I guess you're kind of thinking or at least I was when they first saw that
00:30:38
pillow rotation, I'm like, maybe there's something that like she can pull that like makes it happen. I mean, that's
00:30:44
like you just You're trying to think of anything But now he's sitting alone in there.
00:30:49
That's the thing. Like she's not there to do anything. No, and this is the 1960s, so it's not
00:30:54
like she has like some remote control that's like hooked up to anything, you know?
00:30:57
I'd be like, all right, maybe it's like a drone or some [ __ ] Right, but now like back then, it's like
00:31:02
no. No. So, the family hoped the arrival of the weekend maybe could bring some kind of just chill to the situation.
00:31:09
They're like, it's been really chaotic up in here with the paranormal activity. Maybe we can have a calm weekend,
00:31:15
please. But unfortunately, uh it didn't take long for those hopes to be dashed. Saturday the 27th did pass with minimal
00:31:22
activity. The most really anyone witnessed was more pillow rotations and that rippling of the bed covers. I love
00:31:28
that. More pillow rotations. More pillow rotations! It's like more bumpteenies! Now, Sunday on the other hand found the
00:31:36
family experiencing an entirely new phenomenon when Virginia appeared to go into a kind of trance. Ooh.
00:31:44
This is kind of what I touched on earlier. Okay. That afternoon, Dr. Nesbitt returned with his colleague, Dr.
00:31:49
William Logan. Oh. I know somebody with that same name. But they brought along his dog, Dr. Logan's dog. And Virginia
00:31:57
took an immediate liking to this dog, telling the doctors that he reminded her so much of her own dog, Toby, who she
00:32:03
like really missed. I really don't understand why they couldn't bring Toby with them, but
00:32:07
Justice for Toby. Justice for Toby. Truly. Pour one out. I I will. Now, the day passed without incident. The children
00:32:15
played with the dog. They seemed generally happy. But that evening, after the girls had gone to bed, Virginia
00:32:21
appeared to slip into this kind of trance trance, excuse me, and she started speaking almost like she was
00:32:27
talking in her sleep, calling out for Toby and her best friend, Anna, who she'd left behind in Ireland.
00:32:33
Now, Virginia's parents did what you would do. They tried to comfort her as she's like seemingly having some kind of
00:32:39
night terror distress. They gave her a teddy bear, but she ended up violently throwing the teddy bear across the room
00:32:47
and started thrashing and striking out in all directions. Oh, damn. And they were like, I don't know what to do. So,
00:32:53
they left the room. I don't really know what else they could have done, I guess.
00:32:57
Yeah. And she just fell asleep normally after that. Oh, wow. Yeah. Huh. Have you Have your kids ever had a
00:33:04
night terror to like that extent? No, they've never like thrashed around and like become like scary like that.
00:33:10
potentially violent. Yeah, they've never become violent or like even aggressive. They more It
00:33:15
always kills me because like they would They don't have them anymore really, knock on wood.
00:33:21
And they didn't get them a ton. They would just every once in a while. And I got them when I was little, so I knew
00:33:25
what they were. What to do. But I They basically like it They get very like They cry.
00:33:32
And they get very like inconsolable like for a moment, and then finally they'll they'll fall into it and be like
00:33:40
and calm down. But even like even so, you feel bad leaving them because you feel like quite got them to a comforted
00:33:47
place yet cuz they Right. they'll lay down and like go to go back to sleep, and it you can still
00:33:52
see like the stress on their face, so it always used to kill me. Aw. And then I go in like an hour later, and they were
00:33:57
like peacefully asleep, so I was like, okay. Okay, we're good. But yeah, and it's always one of those
00:34:01
things where you're like, but I've They never got aggressive. I know. I don't Well, I don't know if that's just
00:34:06
different strokes for different folks. Yeah, that's the thing cuz in my mind, I'm like, maybe
00:34:10
beca- What George Owen said earlier about how like she was clearly dealing with something whether she knew it or not. I
00:34:18
don't know if maybe she was the kind of person with the temperament of like not allowing things to get the best of her
00:34:24
while she was awake, but then at night she was like angry about the fact that she had to move like in her
00:34:29
subconscious. Yeah, no matter what, she's young and she's going through a an upheaval. So,
00:34:35
it's like I feel like that's always going to put a kid in a different mindset when it's the when it's not
00:34:40
quite settled or, you know, when things are settled, it's easier to be in a good mindset, but for a kid,
00:34:47
unsettling and movement can really throw them off. Yeah. Like way more than we think it
00:34:53
does. It's And it's interesting. Like And I think a lot of it I think a lot of things with kids happen subconsciously,
00:34:59
you know? yeah, for sure. Be- because it's just like they can't necessarily make sense
00:35:03
of a lot of it. Exactly. There's so much going on. Well, anyways, the next day Virginia did
00:35:08
return to school, and it was almost immediately apparent that whatever had been affecting
00:37:56
I think I would literally go insane. Yeah. So, later that night, the Logans were
00:38:01
called back to the house in Dollar by the family, who were concerned because Virginia had fallen into another trance.
00:38:07
And they were like, yeah, we haven't experienced this before, so we're not really sure what to do. Not sure. So,
00:38:12
when they got to the home, Dr. Lo- Logan discovered that Virginia was sitting up
00:38:16
in bed quote talking in a loud unnatural voice, calling for Toby and Anna, and throwing herself about the bed.
00:38:24
According to Logan, even though Virginia's eyes were closed, she heard and responded to questions normally, but
00:38:29
she did note that her responses indicated a lack of shyness that was typically present in Virginia's
00:38:37
personality. Like usually usually she was like a pretty soft-spoken shy child, but when she was answering these
00:38:43
questions, it was very like confident. Yeah, just like outside of her natural kind of disposition.
00:38:51
an interesting like little side effect. Yeah. So, the doctors stayed with her for 10
00:38:57
or 15 minutes until she did eventually emerge from the trance, and she did eventually fall asleep. But they were
00:39:02
like, what the [ __ ] They just had never seen anything like this before. it adds up. No, and it's not And none of
00:39:08
it is like of typical poltergeist activity. Yeah. Like the obviously the moving of
00:39:14
the furniture and that kind of the tapping noises, but just I don't know. It's not your typical
00:39:19
poltergeist story. very strange. So, Virginia returned home the next day, November 30th, and the
00:39:25
family actually reported no unusual activity. But that break did prove to be short-lived because the noises returned
00:39:31
the following night just around the time, and it always seems to be around the time that the girls are getting
00:39:35
ready for bed. Of course. Which makes you think that it's a prank, but then they try to figure it out, and
00:39:41
there's no way that the girls are causing this. Yeah, it's like what the [ __ ] So just before 9:00 p.m., Dr. Nisbet and
00:39:49
Dr. Logan set up a camera in the girls' bedroom hoping to capture any of this activity on film. Now the camera
00:39:55
captured long periods of continual noise, quote, "ranging from barely perceptible tappings to agitated knocks,
00:40:02
more rippling of the bed cover, and quote, a considerable a considerable amount of hysterical talking by Virginia
00:40:09
in which she showed the same lack of inhibition she had previously in her trances."
00:40:14
Huh. So she's she's this very like confident outspoken girl in her trances. And then when she's awake and out and
00:40:23
about, she's very shy and reserved. Yeah. Hm. It's just interesting. So that same night, Reverend Lund
00:40:29
arrived at the Campbell house in the company of three other local ministers to conduct a service of intercession, I
00:40:35
believe is what it's called. It's not an exorcism. Those would become more popular in the
00:40:40
media in the following decade, but what they were doing now, a service of intercession, is basically just a prayer
00:40:46
session where a group prays to their God on behalf of another person. Okay. In this case, Virginia. Okay. So
00:40:53
throughout the 15-minute prayer session, these men who were praying over her reported hearing considerable loud
00:40:58
banging, quote, "a harsh rasping sawing noise, Ooh. and screams and bouts of hysterical
00:41:05
talking from Virginia, which they described as babbling." What the [ __ ] So this was clearly agitating
00:41:13
Yeah. the entity. Ew. Now the activity, which had begun about a week earlier, had not
00:41:18
only been disruptive to everybody involved, but also to the large number of witnesses to the phenomenon. It
00:41:22
wasn't just Virginia that was going through it, it was everybody. Yeah. Now usually in paranormal cases
00:41:28
similar to this one, first-hand experiences are limited. Yeah. But Virginia's poltergeist had
00:41:33
never really been shy about demonstrating its abilities, and it was only a matter of time, of course, before
00:41:38
the press got onto the story. Hm, of course. You knew it was coming. Of course. So the intercessional prayer session
00:41:44
coincided with an article that was published on The Wire by United Press International.
00:41:49
The article it kind of annoys me when they do things like this because it it was poking fun at this. Aw. It had and
00:41:55
it's like this is an 11-year-old girl. Like you don't It's like, come on. It's one thing if
00:41:59
this is adults and even that's like pretty rude, but Yeah. you don't need to make fun of
00:42:03
people. don't need to make fun of an 11-year-old. No. So but it was it had an unserious tone, but at the same time it
00:42:10
did lay out some of the facts that had occurred, and for sa it emphasized the ways in which Virginia's quote-unquote
00:42:15
ghost was disrupting the class. And Virginia's teacher, Margaret, was interviewed for it, and she told
00:42:21
reporters, "I don't believe in the supernatural, but I was mesmerized by what I saw." And she was referring to
00:42:26
that movement of the desk. She said, "It looked like an elaborate practical joke,
00:42:30
but there was no string and no one touched the desk when it moved." Wow. was like, "I don't believe in the
00:42:35
supernatural and even I can't explain this." to say, but she's like, "I don't believe
00:42:38
in the supernatural, but I have no idea how they did that." It's like, I think I believe in the
00:42:42
supernatural now. Now in addition to the description of paranormal activity occurring at school, the UPI article
00:42:48
noted the rumors. I just said that like Meredith Markle marks a little bit. There's this new
00:42:54
clip on Housewives where one of the housewife goes, "The rumors." The way she says it is
00:43:00
wild. I need I'm going to play it for you later. Please do. But the UPI article noted the
00:43:04
rumors the rumors that had been making their way around town. And quote, "Villagers said that they understood
00:43:10
church authorities would be consulted to determine if this case was warranting of
00:43:16
an exorcism." Ooh, here we go. Now you can assume the writer was referring to Reverend Lund. Like they were like, "Is
00:43:22
this [ __ ] going to start an exorcism?" Because he had been involved with the case from the very beginning, Yeah. and
00:43:29
up to this point had never made any ention uh mention, excuse me, of an exorcism.
00:43:33
But this news report raised concern among the Reverend and the doctors and Virginia's family that any additional
00:43:40
attention was going to make things harder for Virginia. Oh, damn. They were like, we like all these articles are
00:43:46
going to [ __ ] [ __ ] up. Like it's we don't need this. Which I mean, yeah. She's 11. Yeah. So after discussing it
00:43:52
with the family, the men decided that the best course of action would be to report to the news service that, with
00:43:58
help from her doctors and the Reverend, the problem had been solved. They were like, "We just need them to believe that
00:44:03
this is over and we can do this privately." They're going to be like a dog with a bone. Yeah.
00:44:08
Now in their joint statement, the three men, which is the doctors and the Reverend, they provided some small
00:44:13
details about the activity saying, "We concluded that the happenings could not be accounted for in the normal sense of
00:44:19
cause and effect." And writing on behalf of the church, the statement went on, "When the observances did not quickly
00:44:24
disappear, we attempted to help the child by changing her environment and to deal by means of sedatives with her
00:44:30
hysteria, which we all agreed was a secondary emotional effect. We realized the need not only for medical care for
00:44:37
the child, but also spiritual help for the whole family, and we can consulted certain ministers who have had the
00:44:43
experience of abnormal phenomena of a similar nature. All along we have recognized the possible importance of
00:44:49
restoring the child to her previous environment in Ireland. In our opinion, the phenomena are rapidly diminishing,
00:44:55
and it is it is our belief that they may soon disappear altogether." So they were
00:45:00
like, "Things are really chilling out over here. Nothing to see." Yeah, don't worry about it. We fixed it. Now the
00:45:04
statement Good, good, good. Cool, cool, cool. Awesome. So the statement actually
00:45:09
seemed to satisfy a lot of inquiring minds about town, but some local news outlets still wanted more information.
00:45:15
Of course. And when none of the three men would provide any additional details, they looked elsewhere.
00:45:20
So in an article from December 2nd, 1960, the paper quotes secretary of the Alloa Spiritualist Church, James
00:45:27
Henderson, saying, "In my opinion, this little girl has certain unusual psychic qualities, and I am convinced that some
00:45:34
person who has passed on is trying to communicate through her. I believe that a responsible medium should be taken to
00:45:40
see the little girl, for such a person could certainly help her." Huh. Which okay, I get it.
00:45:45
Interesting. Now that same article goes on to quote a spokesperson for the spirit or the the spokesperson for the
00:45:51
Spiritualist National Church. That's a mouthful. It is. James McNeish. He said, "Happenings such
00:45:57
as such as are taking place with this little girl are not nearly so unusual as many people think, and contrary to
00:46:04
popular opinion, they are not necessarily evil in nature. Children are much more alive physically than adults
00:46:10
are, and often, although unconscious, real mediums. If much of what is called their blethers was seriously examined,
00:46:18
they would be discovered to contain communication from people who have passed on." Okay.
00:46:22
So basically he's saying what I think a lot of people believe is that kids are more susceptible to like seeing spirits,
00:46:29
making friends with spirits, being visited by spirits. Being open to spirits. Being open to it because they they're
00:46:36
not as scared of it yet because they haven't had the experience yet. And their mind is more open.
00:46:41
And their mind is more open. older, we close our mind a ton. Exactly, which sucks cuz like
00:46:46
up [ __ ] boundaries in our own minds. I want to see a ghost. I mean, I've already seen a few, but I
00:46:51
want to see some more. But yeah. So despite that statement though, or the statement that Lund,
00:46:57
Nesbet, and Logan had made, the press, like I said, maintained an interest in Virginia's story that went on for weeks,
00:47:02
capitalizing on quotes from teachers, classmates, and then finally it did die out a few weeks later.
00:47:08
Yeah. Now although the the statement put out by Lund, Nesbet, and Logan had kind
00:47:12
of been intended to convince the press and neighbors that the problem had been resolved and there was nothing more to
00:47:17
see, the fact was actually following the intercession service performed on the evening of December 1st, the activity
00:47:24
had seemed to come to an end. Huh. So they were like manifesting kings and queens.
00:47:28
going to say, there you go. Now aside from one more incident at school in late January where a bowl of bulbs moved
00:47:34
across Miss Stewart's desk, there were no additional reports of disturbances from the Campbells or their neighbors.
00:47:40
Now I don't know if that's just because they were worried about the press continuing to Yeah. bother them or if
00:47:47
genuinely the the [ __ ] just stopped. Yeah. Now the story did end up getting new
00:47:53
life in the summer of 1965 when George Owen released his book, Can We Explain the Poltergeist? Can we? Can we? I like
00:48:01
that title. I always love when a book title is a question. I do, too. It's fun. Can we? Can we?
00:48:06
Let's find out. Read this book. So in his book, Owen, who is a Trinity College mathematics professor, he explores the
00:48:13
potential realities of poltergeist phenomena uh phenomena, excuse me, paying particular attention to
00:48:18
Virginia's experience. The book isn't exclusively about Virginia's case, but it did revive interest in that case in
00:48:25
the UK, especially with the tabloid newspapers. In a 1965 article in the Sunday Mirror,
00:48:32
5 years after this had originally happened, the paper played up the family's rural origins and supposedly
00:48:38
superstitious nature of Irish people, describing Donegal as a quaint isolated part of I think it's Eire is how you say
00:48:46
it. It's e i r e. I Eire. Eire. You're supposed to say it with like an accent, but I'm not going to do that cuz
00:48:53
it's not my accent. Yeah. I don't I I I have no idea. But it says where banshees are said to
00:48:58
wail before death and tiny leprechauns prance at the bottom of the gardens. So basically they were like kind of poking
00:49:04
fun at their Irish roots, which is were being like, "They're Irish, so they're probably dumb and think stupid
00:49:09
things." And it's like, "Wow." Yeah, okay. Like they're like, "Oh, they're just superstitious because folklore."
00:49:14
Yeah, [ __ ] off. Like cool. Thanks. Like I just did a a big old bird. she just flipped me off in case anyone
00:49:21
was wondering. was the Sunday Mirror. It wasn't you. I know. So like, [ __ ] you, Alaina.
00:49:25
for no good reason. Just for the hell of it. good reason. Just in the middle of this
00:49:32
episode. [ __ ] you. I really like [ __ ] you for no good reason. It's a good reason. No good
00:49:39
reason. Like that. The articles that followed the release of Owen's book told this the story of
00:49:47
Virginia's experience with the poltergeist that she and her friends had come to refer to as Wee Huey. That's
00:49:53
where Wee Huey comes in. Eventually Virginia named her poltergeist Wee Little Huey. I love that she was like,
00:49:58
you know what? He needs a name. Hell yeah. But eventually they got around to the question every reader wanted
00:50:03
answered answered. What caused the poltergeist? Now most people simply believed it was a
00:50:09
matter of what Owen called, I hate the name of this theory. It's called the naughty little girl theory.
00:50:15
But he I yeah, I don't love it. It's just you know. Yeah. But he basically was saying that
00:50:22
or the this theory was saying that the activity was nothing more than a prank caused by Virginia herself.
00:50:28
After all she had been through a serious disruption in her life, maybe you know,
00:50:32
feeling anxious or unstable with both parents absent. So she created the Wee Huey scenario in order to get attention.
00:50:38
That was one theory. I personally don't buy that one because we've looked at all the ways in which
00:50:43
she couldn't have caused what was going on. Well, that's the thing. It's like that
00:50:45
would be a that would be a very good theory. And it makes sense in times when even adults were like I don't know how
00:50:52
she could have done that. Exactly. And then like the the thought process behind the theory makes
00:50:58
sense when you look at the disruption in her life and everything. And it wasn't but then like you said even the adults
00:51:04
were like no That's where it's confusing cuz it's like how did she pull that [ __ ]
00:51:08
off? So that's where you kind of have to axe that theory and it's great that you have
00:51:10
to anyway. Now Owen acknowledged the possibility that some of the activity actually could have been caused by
00:51:16
Virginia or her niece Margaret, but he rejected the belief that the entire thing was a hoax. He told a reporter,
00:51:22
"It is possible to suppose one could be the victim of illusion or hallucination.
00:51:26
However, it is beyond all possibility that everyone could be deceived over such a long period of time."
00:51:32
Yeah, that's the thing. So if it wasn't a hoax, what was it? Was Wee Little Huey? Well, Owen said, "When girls are
00:51:38
approaching puberty, they often seem to attract poltergeist phenomena. There are
00:51:43
many cases which suggest that activity is more likely to arise in that age group."
00:51:48
That's weird as [ __ ] And it's be I guess it's because your body is going through a lot of upheaval.
00:51:53
That's real weird. It is a little weird. Just don't I don't like it. I don't love it.
00:51:57
like connecting it to puberty. I don't know why. It just gives me the It gives you the It feels icky. I get
00:52:03
what he's saying and I I I don't think he's saying it like to in No, no, no, I don't I'm not I'm not like offended by
00:52:09
him or anything. I'm just No, just for some reason that just always makes me think like ooh Yeah, I
00:52:15
know. You know? I totally It has like a Yeah, it well and it's such a shitty time like puberty anyways and it's like
00:52:24
to add that like and you know what? You might unwillingly attract a poltergeist while you're at
00:52:30
it. I come on. I mean that sucks. it kind of makes sense because there are like a lot of entities like poltergeists
00:52:38
and all different kind of entities that will attach to somebody while they're going through serious upheaval in life
00:52:45
like your hormones being all out of whack and like Wow, we should start warning kids about
00:52:49
that. We should start being like here's the ins and outs of puberty and what you
00:52:53
can expect. Here's the poltergeist section. You might also attract a poltergeist. There's really not a lot
00:53:01
you can do. Hate to break it to you, kid. Yeah, that's that's part of the the side
00:53:04
effects of puberty. That might be That might make those classes a little bit more Right. Remember when like they
00:53:09
would separate the girls and the boys in like sixth grade and be like here's what's going to happen to your body and
00:53:13
you're like [ __ ] my whole life. I also love that cuz I'm like yeah, definitely don't teach them what happens
00:53:18
to the other, you know, like set of students. Like No, no, no. None of you should understand each other
00:53:24
in any way. No, we had to sit there and watch all these [ __ ] wild ass videos and the boys were like we just played
00:53:30
like a game. Yeah, they're like our voice might crack. Yeah, and [ __ ] you guys. Okay, or you
00:53:34
might be possessed by a [ __ ] poltergeist. How do you like those apples? So it could be real easy or real
00:53:39
hard for you. Exactly. So Owen theorized that moving from Ireland to a new home where she was
00:53:45
uncomfortable along with those feelings of law from loss from having parted with
00:53:49
her dog and her best friend left Virginia quote in a state of some tension. And he believed the result was quote
00:53:55
"Circumstances may well have triggered off a physical force around her which is not yet known to science."
00:54:01
Now unfortunately while Owen could offer those theories as to what may have triggered the paranormal events around
00:54:07
Virginia, he was at a loss to explain precisely how those phenomena function. But the Sunday Mirror summarized
00:54:17
and I really hate this summarization, but go off Sunday Mirror. They said, "If a girl is emotionally upset during her
00:54:23
28-day cycle, she can acquire an unexplained power strong enough to move things without touching them."
00:54:30
And Owen agreed with that summation adding, "We are ignorant to the nature of this force and have no idea how it is
00:54:36
applied. We cannot even begin to understand its potential, but one thing seems fairly certain. The hidden force
00:54:43
is wild and uncontrollable at the moment." It's probably why we won't let women be
00:54:48
president over here, I guess. Just out here moving things and we don't know why. I had no idea that during that
00:54:56
time yeah, that I was so [ __ ] powerful. I mean I've never Matilda during my cycle, but
00:55:06
go off. Ovaries are scary as [ __ ] Ovaries I mean they are a little scary. Ovaries hurt sometimes. That is
00:55:15
that's hilarious that that's how they summarized this entire thing. They were like welp Yeah. period
00:55:21
periods They are wildly and they can create demonic presence in a home and it's like no, no. I am the
00:55:32
demonic presence in my home. during that time You're like Giorgio and you are confused.
00:55:38
Yeah, I'm like I don't need an outside entity to make that happen. Like don't you worry.
00:55:42
It ain't Wee Huey. It's me. It's not Wee Huey. I am the demonic force. Like he just texted us ovaries are scary as
00:55:50
[ __ ] y'all. We should get a shirt that says that. Ovaries are scary as [ __ ] y'all. And if
00:55:56
it's not the demonic force, it's me. It's me. Yeah, honestly. Wow, this that got hilarious at the end.
00:56:04
I was I was excited to present you that theory. I was writing it and I was like I don't even personally want to look
00:56:10
further into this. I like the go off Sunday Mirror. I'm like go off Sunday Mirror. I'm like
00:56:15
okay. Did the man write that? Probably. That's awesome. Yeah. So the flurry of public interest
00:56:22
around the case and Owen's book did die down after a few weeks and the case of Virginia Campbell went back into the
00:56:27
corners of people's minds. And it wasn't until about 30 years later that Virginia's experience popped up again in
00:56:33
the news in the middle 90s. It was the 90s. It was the 90s, Kevin. Kevin Kevin. But
00:56:41
thank you to the interest of a high-profile paranormal investigator Malcolm Robinson, his mother grew up in
00:56:48
the Sauchie area and he said, "I initially looked into the case in 1987, but I never got anywhere. However, I had
00:56:54
more success in 1994 when I looked at it again." Huh. So initially he was kind of trying
00:57:00
to investigate this like I just said and he was struggling to find anybody related to the case and all his letters
00:57:05
and his phone calls were going unanswered. But then in 1994 he tracked down one Margaret Davidson, formerly
00:57:13
Stewart, Virginia's former teacher. Oh. And as one of the primary witnesses, she was actually an ideal reporter not
00:57:20
only because of the respectability of her position, but also because of her seemingly excellent memory. Huh. She
00:57:26
said, "I had never really heard the word poltergeist before. I thought it was some kind of medicine. That's how naive
00:57:31
I was." poltergeist Do two poltergeists and call me in the morning. Imagine. Now over the course of their
00:57:39
conversation, she was able to verify much of what had been reported on in the press and she also was able to fill in
00:57:45
some gaps for Robinson. For instance, during the peak interest in the story as the press was relentlessly pursuing the
00:57:51
family and actually even waited outside of school, Mrs. Stewart formerly was able to tell
00:57:59
this reporter that one of Virginia's classmates actually ended up donning her coat and backpack in an attempt to lead
00:58:05
the press away from the school so that Virginia could leave without being harassed.
00:58:09
Oh my god. Like that's how bad things got. Oh damn. So you can see why. And I I love that the reverend and like the
00:58:16
doctors were like we need to put a stop to this because she deserves to live a normal life.
00:58:20
Yeah, like we don't want to make this a big a big media circus. Yeah. If they were like all about it, it would be one
00:58:27
thing. Yeah. But the fact that they wanted it to go away. And to protect her. It's so pure. Yeah. And you don't
00:58:33
really hear about a lot when we talk about these stories. Usually it's very like You're like what's happening here?
00:58:38
Yeah. And so Davidson also added some of the less savory details that wouldn't have been published by the press in the
00:58:44
60s including a frightening incident where Virginia was harassed by a woman who believed her to be quote "one of
00:58:52
God's chosen ones" and asked if she could touch her. Oh. Oh. What? Oh. Somebody just what You walk up to a
00:59:05
child and ask if you can touch them because I think you're one of God's chosen ones?
00:59:12
I'd be like you better hope you are cuz I'm about to send you into eternity right now for asking my child if you can
00:59:18
touch them. Like what the [ __ ] Damn. weird That's [ __ ] up. And that's yeah, that's not good.
00:59:28
Ew. So for the most part Robinson's investigation just kind of reiterated what was already reported in Owen's book
00:59:33
30 years earlier. It didn't offer a ton of additional details other than the ones I just mentioned.
00:59:38
Yeah. Or really any new theories that could explain what happened to Virginia, but it did underscore what made this
00:59:43
case so fascinating in the first place because like I said a little bit earlier, unlike the majority of supposed
00:59:49
hauntings and so-called poltergeist activity that had been reported on before and since Virginia's claims had
00:59:55
been made, this poltergeist case does remain one of the few that still defies explanation. Yeah, cuz We still have no
01:00:02
idea what the [ __ ] happened and why it did. They couldn't confirm or debunk it.
01:00:07
Exactly. always the ones you want to you want to pay attention to. Mhm. Now, as Owen
01:00:12
pointed out in 1965, obviously it's possible to trick someone like one person or even a handful of people into
01:00:19
believing something is real, but to trick multiple professionals with no connection to this home and an entire
01:00:26
classroom full of students and a teacher and like a myriad of other people into seeing and hearing things that weren't
01:00:32
there, no way. No. So, this really happened. Meaning it's entirely possible that there is some
01:00:39
truth to Owen's conclusion. The poltergeist phenomena were real and not due to trickery, ground tremors, or
01:00:45
induced weightlessness. That was a quote. Induced weightlessness. I like that. Yeah. So, Virginia Campbell's
01:00:52
experience with Wee Hughie the poltergeist is in a lot of ways similar to so many other stories except for the
01:00:58
fact that people believed her. And that's really the only difference at all. That from the moment everything
01:01:03
began, she was taken seriously. Yeah. So, but maybe that is why this particular case lacked the level of
01:01:09
aggression and violence that we see in so many other cases. And maybe that's also why it was kind of resolved in a
01:01:14
relatively short matter of time cuz everybody gave it the attention it deserved and believed her. Exactly. Like
01:01:20
this thing didn't feel like it needed to get bigger and bigger to prove that it existed.
01:01:24
Yeah. Yeah. So, in the weeks and months after the intercessional prayer, the Campbells said they experienced only
01:01:30
occasional activity in the form of knocking noises and a slight a slight movement of objects, but nothing at all
01:01:35
like they had experienced in late November of 1960. Damn. And a few months after the press coverage ended, James,
01:01:42
Annie, and Virginia did move out of Thomas and Isabella Campbell's house and into their own home in the Scottish
01:01:47
Midlands, seeming to leave little Wee Hughie behind in Saughall. See you, Wee Hughie. Bye. Now, a few years later
01:01:54
after she finally settled into her new life in Scotland, Virginia got a job working in a factory and she was free of
01:02:01
disruptive forces, so she was able to enjoy the things that girls like to enjoy. Good for her, man. And people
01:02:07
like to enjoy. Now, in a final note closing out the series of articles in 1965, Virginia
01:02:12
said of the poltergeist, "It never really worried me, but for the sake of others, I hope it never returns."
01:02:18
Ooh. And that is the end of Wee Hughie the Saughall poltergeist. to that. I hope it never returns. See,
01:02:27
this has like it's poltergeist-y, but it's also like a little like fae realm Yeah.
01:02:34
to me. I could see that. Totally. It feels very like, you know, like [ __ ] around.
01:02:40
or something. Like one of those little like [ __ ] around [ __ ] around, find out, fae.
01:02:44
Yeah. I feel like it's and maybe it's because I'm reading the girls and I are reading
01:02:49
the Spiderwick Chronicles at night now. Like we're going through the whole series and it's all about like fae and
01:02:55
[ __ ] but it it reminds me. It's weird that you did this one while we're reading. It that always works. I That
01:03:00
always happens to us. up cuz we're reading those and it just it kept making me think about it all the
01:03:05
like mischief and [ __ ] Yeah, I meant to say your case that you did earlier, I'm not going to say the
01:03:11
the the the Torshocker Torshocker witch trials. I did say it, yeah. Um There was like a date that you had
01:03:18
mentioned in the whole case and I think it's releasing around the same time like
01:03:25
now. is weird. Yeah, isn't that weird? That is very strange. have things like that happen.
01:03:29
Yeah. Oh, yeah, cuz I think the actual trials were October. Yeah, they were. October
01:03:34
10th or something like that? I think you're right and I think it's I think you said like the 12th or the
01:03:39
15th. Yeah, it probably. I think that's just off the top of my head. But it was I
01:03:43
think it's releasing around that same time. So, it's just weird. Very weird. We don't claim these things. No, I wish
01:03:49
I could say we do. That would make us a lot more, you know, with it, but I think this is
01:03:53
just the universe guiding us here. I was going to say maybe we are super with it and we just don't even know how
01:03:58
with it we are. most with it. Yeah, kids. What is that gift for the guy doing the kid like
01:04:04
like with the kids? Oh, hello youths. Hello youths. Hello youths. Hello universe. Hello kids. I
01:04:11
don't know. I don't know. You know, that was a crazy story. It was. that it wasn't debunked or confirmed. I
01:04:17
know. I I wish it had been confirmed somehow. Like I wish they did get to the bottom of it and like what really
01:04:23
happened. I know. But it is kind of cool that they didn't and it is kind of cool
01:04:26
that Virginia was like, "Listen, I don't know what happened, but I hope it never
01:04:30
Just saying. I don't know. That was that was that, but like let's hope it doesn't
01:04:33
come back for everyone else's sake." And it's like, Oh, okay. Drop that mic, Virginia.
01:04:38
Okay, Virginia A. Way to leave us. I know. With a gasp. With ooh. I know. Crazy story. I had fun doing this one and Dave
01:04:47
helped me a lot and it was really a fun to do together, so David. Yay, David and yay, you guys and we hope
01:04:54
you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird, but not so weird that you blame a 28-day cycle for a poltergeist
01:05:02
activity because we're the demons. That's hilarious. Bye.