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Hey weirdos. I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid. [music] This is morbid. It's very dreary today.
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It's a very fall gloomy day and I love it. Oh yeah, it's gloomalicious. Yesterday was even more fall.
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>> Yeah, yesterday was like super duper fall. And then the day before that I was
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driving around at night and I was like, "Oh, this it looked like the '9s outside. It looked like '9s fall to me."
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>> I love when it looks like the '9s. >> Yesterday to me looked like the '9s. >> Yeah, I agree. And you know what? Even
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today looks a little bit like the '9s. >> It does look a little like the '9s. I I
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just long for a simpler time. >> Yeah, I have that word that we looked up like probably a couple days ago that I
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don't remember, but I have it. >> That's true. We do. We have that. >> We have the nostalgia.
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>> That and I just >> Yeah, you have just regular nostalgia. >> Sadness for the time that I can't. It
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started with an A. You're probably yelling it at me. >> Yeah. I don't feel like looking it up
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right now. Uh we're tired. Like >> Yeah, it's been a tiring week. >> Yeah, >> we we always have, you know, something
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going on. >> There's always somebody in the hospital. >> There's always somebody in the hospital.
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>> Everything's fine. >> It's always my mom. >> Uh [laughter] she's okay. She's fine.
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>> She's okay. She's >> She had the penomi. Yeah, she had pneumonia, which is not great to get
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when you're like almost 80. >> No, it was freaking me out because Ma is Diane Katon. Diane Katon and Ma are the
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same person, I think. Like they look so of each other a lot. >> So when Ma got diagnosed with pneumonia,
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I was like really beside myself for a minute there. >> Yeah, she was in the hospital for over a
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week. So it's been >> it's been a lot, but things are good now. >> She's doing better. She's home.
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>> Trying to get her on the on the road to recovery >> on the up and up. >> But I'm going to make her some pastina.
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you know. Yeah. Let me tell you, I don't know if we've mentioned this. I'm sure we have.
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>> People want my recipe. >> Okay, I'm going to say it again for the for everybody in the back.
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>> Tell them. >> I fully believe that [laughter] Ash has magical pastina that can cure what ails
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you because Thank you. >> I have this [ __ ] make me this pastina. I don't even have her do it. She just
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says, "You want my pasta?" It's I know when somebody requires I said it to your one of your kids today and her eyes
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she's like she isn't feeling well. Her eyes lit up and she was like she nodded emphatically.
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>> Yeah. Like one of my kids has like just one of those small little like you know
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uh cold and flu season viruses. Like she's completely fine. I think [clears throat] it was just like dry.
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>> Yeah. Literally. It's probably allergies to [laughter] be honest. But you know
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everybody needs a little health day. Yeah. >> Uh so she was home and Ash told her she
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would make the pastina and she was like yes. It's like [laughter] hell yeah. >> It cured my co I it was the only thing I
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would eat after neurovirus. Like >> it's a it's it's a delicacy. >> Thank you. >> It's a delicacy
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>> cuz I stragana. >> It's true. I love that pastina. >> I'm just like a I'm I posted it the
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other day. I don't know if you saw it. I think I'm a kitchen witch. >> I think you are too.
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>> You know how everybody's like a certain kind of witch. I'm a kitchen witch. >> I think you are. And that pastino alone.
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>> Thank you. Well, and I like to do like simmer pots and like that kind of thing,
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you know? No, I think you are. >> Thanks. I'm going to make an apple crisp today, too. I got to Let's record this
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because I got to get baking. >> I know. I want to get bacon, too, cuz I got to make I haven't made my pumpkin
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loaf this year yet, and I always make one. >> Please make that today. >> Yeah. And I know Ma likes that, too, Mom
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and Peppa. So, >> I will trade you pastina for pumpkin loaf. >> Oh, yeah. I will do that.
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>> We will trade the pea dishes. >> And today is the It's the day before Halloween.
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>> Yeah. And I have been trying to make a super spooky lunch for the girls every
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single day this week. >> Like over the top spooky. >> What did you do today? >> I was running out of ideas, but I I
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really hit it out of the park today, I think. >> Let's say what you already did first.
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>> So, let's see. So, for on Monday, >> mummy pizza. >> I did um an everything bagel, but I made
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it like a pizza bagel, but I made it look like mummies. >> That was cool. >> I should post pictures of these cuz
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they're real cute. >> Yeah. This [ __ ] is easy to do. >> This [ __ ] is giving Pinterest bomb, but
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she's the [laughter] gothiest goth. >> I just I like to wake up early, so I that's when I do it.
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>> Yeah. >> Uh cuz like I just I don't know. It's fun. >> Then you did Frankenstein wraps.
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>> I did Frankenstein wraps, which was just a spinach wrap, and I put hummus, cucumbers,
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uh carrot, like matchick carrots, apples, >> and like a little bit of uh like spinach
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in there. >> Yummy. Uh, and I did like garlic hummus because they love that. And I just
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wrapped it up like a burrito. And then I took a food marker that I got on Amazon.
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You can get them. >> Get them. And I drew Frankenstein on it cuz it was green. I can only imagine all
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the moms out there listening to this right now like, "Yeah, Lena, my [ __ ] kid's not going to eat matchstick
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carrots, red peppers, apple slices, and garlic hummus." >> Let me before before I come off as like,
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"My children will eat that. They will eat that." But let me tell you, [laughter] anything else, it's been a
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like one of my kids is not picky at all. >> She will eat anything. She will try anything. She'll tell you if she doesn't
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like it, but she will always try it. And she's pretty open with [ __ ] >> My other one, 50/50.
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>> Sometimes she's going to try it, sometimes she's not, sometimes she likes it, sometimes she doesn't. She's she's
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the one you don't really know, but you have a shot. >> It's a toss up. My youngest,
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>> nothing >> is in the pickiest phase I have ever been through. >> And her favorite thing to do right now
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is to tell you something you make looks something you made looks disgusting. >> Yeah. And or and she'll try to she'll
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try to like uh like kind of couch it. She'll be like, "Oh, it looks disgusting, but maybe it tastes good."
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[laughter] And I'm like, "That's an awful thing to say." >> She told me my apple crisp looked and
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she literally goes, "That looks disgusting." >> And then she loved it. And then she
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loved it. And she says it. She's like, "It looks gross, but [laughter] it tastes really good." She says that about
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my sweet potato stretch. >> Damn girl. >> But yeah, so it's that for some reason
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that that wrap the it happens to have a mix of things that they will all they all do love cucumbers and carrots.
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>> There you go. >> And they love a hot peppers >> and they love apples. >> These Mediterranean queens.
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>> I love a Mediterranean food. So in their blood >> at loving a Mediterranean food.
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>> It's so good. It feels good to eat. American [ __ ] I also want >> I love fried food and McDonald's.
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>> I like a lot of [ __ ] [laughter] but I like healthy stuff, too. >> Yeah, but it's honest. So, just so you
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know that I'm not being like, "Oh, my kids will eat vegetables all the time, and they will eat everything." No, they
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constantly won't eat things. >> What did you do? >> That just happens to work. >> What did you do today?
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>> So, today I did um pizza skulls. So, I had a skull mold that I got from Michaels,
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>> as one does. >> Uh, and it's like a little silicone mold of like skulls. >> And I used crescent rolls.
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>> Mhm. >> As the dough, and I put them in there. Yeah. >> Very easy. Took me five minutes.
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>> I took Hunts tomato sauce or no, I put mozzarella cheese in there. >> Yep. >> Cuz you just like put them in the skull
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thing. But leave enough room around it where you can like cover it up >> cuz it'll like it'll pop out a little
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bit. So, you put the mozzarella cheese in there and then you put a little bit of Hunts tomato sauce or whatever tomato
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sauce you like. I just like Hunts. >> Hunts is correct. >> Put a little more of the mozzarella on
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top. And then you just close it up. Pinch it around. Make sure it's all closed up.
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>> And you just bake the crust 350 20 something minutes in the oven. And then I took like an extra step cuz we happen
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to have extra time this morning. You can just do it like that and it's perfect. They like it gets like golden brown and
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then when they bite into it, it's like a little crisp. It's very yummy. >> And then you get you get the mozzarella
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pull. >> The mozzarella pull. And so today I did I melted a little butter in a bowl. And
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then I just put some Parmesan cheese and some garlic. >> Made a little garlic butter and I just
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kind of brushed it on top. >> You're just the most casual [ __ ] >> Today for you I've [laughter] created a
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garlic spray. >> Took like no time. >> It really doesn't. It really did. the fanciest things like I mean some fancy
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things obviously take a long time but like sometimes you'll be like people be like oh my god I can't believe you
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whipped that up and it's like genuinely did like >> it's not it's not >> and I heard about this one on like Tik
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Tok and I all the moms that I saw do it were like this literally takes 5 minutes.
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>> Yeah. >> Like you're just using jar tomato sauce and mozzarella that's already shredded.
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>> Here's my secret. When I make my pasta sauce, my Sunday sauce Oh yeah. >> It's just h tomato sauce that I like
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spice up. >> Yeah. You put a little put an onion in there. >> Put an onion. I do a bunch of garlic. I
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put some wine sometimes. >> Wine and tomato sauce is really good. >> Yeah, you got to. But then you have to
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cook it so much longer. I get so scared it burns off. >> Yeah. >> But yeah, that's I mean that's it. I
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have no I did say I really I back I really painted myself into a corner. >> Why?
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>> Cuz um I told them I was really going to knock it out of the park with breakfast
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tomorrow morning for Halloween. So I really got to come up with something fancy for that.
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>> Go on TikTok. >> Yeah, I'll figure something out. And then I also kind of used up all my
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lunches. [laughter] So I'm like I got to figure out what to do. >> You can make make cinnamon buns, dye the
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frosting black. >> Oh. >> And then put something as the little legs. >> Oh, there you go.
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>> And you could put the weird eyeballs on them and they could be like giant spiders.
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>> Yeah, cuz honestly your best friend during Halloween with kids is to get a little jar of those candy eyeballs. Like
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just the white ones and they're different sizes. You can put them on everything. Mhm.
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>> Put them on brownies. Put them on cupcakes. I put them on the pizza. >> Yeah.
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>> I'll post that pizza, the little pizza bagel cuz it was real cute. I was adorable. Stick it out of the wrapping
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so it looked like a little mummy. >> I loved it. >> It's so much fun. I'm trying to think
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what else you could do tomorrow. Oh, you could make breakfast sausages and use crescent dough to make mummies again.
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>> Oh, yeah. That's a good one. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I think this is the Food Network.
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Now, >> I'm also going to set it up. That that's [laughter] also my uh my little tip to
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you is anytime you can do it like at night, like set it up at night >> the best.
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>> So you can just throw it in the oven or you can like heat it up. That's what I've learned for me works really well.
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>> You got to plan ahead. >> Yeah, it's all trial and error. >> And that was our Food Network segment.
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>> It is. So I'll post those pictures. >> I can't wait for Halloween. I'm excited
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>> cuz it was really easy. >> Yeah. And it was super cute. >> Oh yeah. And um Drew and Ash are going
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to be Blanch and Sydney for Halloween. [laughter] The kids have no idea. We always try to
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be something like that the kids will think is funny cuz like what's the point otherwise? And we always go
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trick-or-treating, too. >> Hell yeah. >> Like we don't go to the door and everything. Let me let me be clear.
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>> We partake. [laughter] >> I'm like trickor treat. >> Imagine my my grown half showing up at
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your doorstep >> as a dog. Trick or [laughter] treat. They'd be like, "Are you okay?" I love
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it. But yeah, we're going to be Blanch and Sid. And I'm excited to see the kids' reactions.
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>> Yeah. And John and I are finally going to be Jack and Sally. The girls have been wanting us to be Jack and Sally. So
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that always makes me want to sing Blink 182 at you. >> I know it's true. >> Jack
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on Christmas. >> We could go forever. >> Oh, great. All right. Well, spooky season isn't over yet. Queens and kings
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and >> Yeah, cuz you know >> it's almost over. But >> which hurts me deeply to my core.
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>> Halloween is almost over. Spooky season isn't. Yeah, spooky season November very
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state of mind. >> Yeah, >> November is spooky. I think it's pretty [ __ ] spooky.
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>> Yeah, it is almost. >> But because um spooky season is not over yet, we have a haunting for you today.
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>> A haunting. >> We're going to talk about the Hansdale house haunting. >> The Hansdale house, you say?
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>> Yeah. It's like close to our neck of the woods. It's in New York. >> Oh [ __ ]
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>> Upstate. >> Oh, damn. >> So, we're going to talk about the Hinsdale family, which all starts with
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Clara and Phil Dandy. >> All right. Dandy. Did I say we're going to talk about the Hinsdale family?
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>> I think just the house. >> Okay. Hopefully I just said the house. [laughter] Let me say that cuz they're
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not the Hinsdale family. It's just the Hinsdale house. >> I think you said the house.
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>> Okay. Well, you can leave that in. And listener, you tell me what I said. So,
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when Clara Miller met Phil Dandy in 1954, he was just getting out of the military and he was working at the local
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grocery store in Buffalo, New York. >> Phil Dandy. >> We I know Phil Dandy sounds so much like
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um Phil Don. >> Thank you. [laughter] I kept wanting to say Dundy. >> Dundy. >> The coffee hasn't hit, honey. So, Phil
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had grown up in rural Kentucky and after he got out of the service, he decided to, you know, give Buffalo a try instead
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of going back to Kentucky where he probably would have spent the rest of his life working in the coal mines,
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which wasn't super desirable in his opinion. >> Black lung pop. >> Yeah, I think I have the black lung.
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[cough and clears throat] So Clara said she was immediately drawn to Phil's soft southern accent, but she
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admitted as a staccato talking buffalonian, I was impatient with a slow draw. I don't even know if she sounds
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like that, but she does in my head. >> So before long, they were seeing each other most nights a week. And by July
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1955, they were married. A year later, she had their first child, Mike, who was followed by Beth in 1957, Laura in 1960,
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and the baby Mary in 1962. So they got a lot of kids. >> They got a lot of kids. Now the first
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year or so of their marriage was very happy but things started to get rocky as you know more kids came into the picture
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and life challenges arise and you know all that. So in retrospect Clara felt like the differences in their
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upbringings and their personalities were a lot more consequential than she wanted
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to accept when it was like when they were in the thick of it. >> Yeah. It becomes more pronounced.
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>> Yeah. Well and looking back you're like oh now I can I can see clearly what happened.
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>> So she said I was a devout Roman Catholic. I attended a Catholic grammar school and a Catholic academy and Phil
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had no real religion at all, which like those are big differences, you know. >> Yeah. I mean, yeah.
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>> Yeah, they can be. So, Phil's time in the military and living outside of Buffalo, he had I was going to say gave
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him and then I just said I like switched my thing, so I said, [laughter] >> it gave him like a wider take on the
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world that Clara didn't have or he didn't feel she had. So, they just had simple differences.
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>> Yeah. Clara said, "I was a convent educated prude while he was a freewilling product of an entirely
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different upbringing. Our relationship suffered from the clash of cultures and backgrounds."
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>> Oh, that's sad. >> Which could happen. >> Having kids together definitely helped
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keep them on the same page, though, and looking toward the same goals. And in 1963, though, Clara gave birth to their
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last child, who was unfortunately still born. >> Oh. >> So, that really only led to the tensions
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in their marriage coming back. >> Oh, that's terrible. >> Yeah. That's if you're already having
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problems and then you go through something so traumatic like that. >> That's really sad.
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>> That's going to be really tough. >> Yeah, >> it's tough no matter what. I can't
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imagine. >> I can't even fathom that. >> So, eventually Clara was like, "We've drifted way far farther apart than I
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ever even thought." >> So, to try to get some good vibes going again, she was like, "You know what? Why
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don't we take a little like family vacation together? I think we need some, you know, slow down, reconnect, change
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of scenery time." So, by that point, it was 1967 and some friends of theirs had actually just bought a small cabin near
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Alageney State Park in upstate New York. And they were nice enough to offer it up
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to the Dandies to enjoy whenever they weren't there. >> Yeah. If we're not there, Dandies, go
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enjoy the Dandy Cabin. >> Hell yeah. >> So, just as Clara hoped, the time spent together on this, you know, quiet, cozy
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trip, it actually did wonders for her relationship with Phil. >> And in time, it started to feel like
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their marriage was, you know, spiced back up again, like how it was in the early days. The kids also seemed to
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thrive in the more relaxed atmosphere and you know it was the mountains up there so there was a ton for them to do
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and explore and when it came time to head home to the city everybody was actually pretty disappointed to be going
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home and like leaving the you know the nature behind. >> So in the three years that followed the
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Dandy family pretty much spent all of their vacations in upstate New York and every time they they would go it became
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clearer and clearer that they were all much happier when they were away. I was going to [clears throat] say it feels
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like there's a common denominator here. >> Yeah. So, finally in 1970 they decided
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that even though they both had jobs in Buffalo, it would do the family a world of good to get out of the city. And so,
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they were like, "Let's find a house in the country. We can enjoy a slower pace. Let's do this. Like, we're we're
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committing." >> That's very selfless of them. It is. >> They already had jobs. They were already
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like really That's not easy to do. No. >> To just pick up and leave. >> But they saw like, you know what, this
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will be so good for our family. It's good for the gander. >> Let's figure it out. It's the greater
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good. >> Yeah. >> So, they hired a realtor and they started looking at houses in the western
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New York area. >> At the time, like we were just saying, they both had reliable, pretty
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well-paying jobs in Buffalo. But if they moved to a more rural part of the state,
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one of them was going to have to quit their jobs to stay home with the kids. You can't just like leave your kids in a
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cabin in the country. >> Why not? >> Uh, so many reasons. >> Okay, [laughter] >> I'll trust you.
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>> Okay, >> I'll take your word for that. No, since Clara obviously made less money than
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Phil because we hate wage gaps, um that person was going to be Clara. >> Yeah. >> Living on only one income limited their
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options obviously for housing to a degree. But to their surprise, once they got far enough outside of the city,
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housing prices obviously dropped significantly. >> Yeah. >> So ultimately, they determined that they
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could afford a house price a little under $6,000, >> which today would today would be about
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$50,000. Holy [ __ ] And then I wrote in my notes, "Inflation is really a [ __ ]
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huh?" The bitchiest of [ __ ] When I read, "Holy [ __ ] they could afford a house a little under $6,000." I was
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like, "What the [ __ ] are you going to get?" >> Yeah. Today it would be under $50,000.
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It's not a thing anymore, >> but like that was that was a thing. >> People used to buy houses for like
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$3,000 and they'd be like sick ass like cape houses. >> Damn. >> Yeah. Life is tough these days.
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>> [ __ ] I mean, yeah, sure. So, back then, their budget didn't seem like much, but
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the Dandes realtor had the perfect place in mind, and the small town of Hinsdale,
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about an hour outside of Buffalo. Clara remembered, "When we saw the house, I can't really describe the feeling we had
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because it was so peaceful and the air was like breathing in champagne." >> Wow.
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>> I was like, I think that would be lovely. >> What a what a way to describe that.
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>> I think it's just like saying that the air is crisp, but in the most poetic of
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ways. It is because my like blunt ass was just like that's a good way to aspirate. [laughter]
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I was like that that feels uncomfortable. >> Don't breathe in the bubbles. >> Don't breathe in the champagne.
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[laughter] I think she meant like the smell of champagne. >> Yeah, that poetically that makes a lot
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more sense. >> Crispy Elena. Okay, so the house was over a hundred years old and it
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definitely needed some repairs, but it was big enough for their large family. It was in it was in their budget and
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more importantly it was exactly the kind of rural environment that they had all envisioned. Hell yeah. Looking back,
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their son Mike Dandy said he remembered having similar feelings. He said, "I was
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very much into wildlife, so this was just perfect for me. It was where I wanted to be. So everybody's happy.
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[music] Uh, the house was situated on 8 acres of land with the nearest house about a half
00:19:21
a mile away. And it was like a typical 19th century American farmhouse. It's beautiful if you look it up.
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>> I was just looking it up. It really is. >> Yeah, it's gorge. The top floor had a
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large bedroom, a bathroom, a large closet. So, that would be Phil and Clara's area of the house. And
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downstairs were the remaining bedrooms, a living room, and a nice large kitchen.
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The only thing that Phil and Clara hadn't expected was the crawl space underneath the stairs.
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>> Oh. >> Clara had always lived in, you know, modern homes that had attics. So, she
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had never seen a crawl space, and she really didn't like it. >> Yeah. >> She said it gave her a funny feeling.
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>> And the other strange thing was that inside the crawl space, there was a brick fireplace and a chimney that like
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seemed to go up into the staircase above. >> So, it's like very strange. Yeah. >> Crawl houses, I think, are very like
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obviously New York isn't New England, but >> Yeah. >> It's like a very New Englandish vibe.
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>> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? >> Yeah. >> So, the Dandy family moved into the
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house on July 18th, 1970, and Clara's parents and her younger brother, Gordon, was there to help. That morning, Gordon,
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her brother, got ahead of the moving truck. He just had like some small items packed up in his car. And when he got to
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the house and went inside, he was horrified to find that almost every room in the house was swarming with bees.
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Just bees. Like there were so many bees that you couldn't even see out the windows. He said bees on bees on bees.
00:20:45
That'd be scary. That'd be terrifying. >> Yeah. And in the handful of times that
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they had visited the house between the first time they saw it and moving day, Clara said she couldn't remember seeing
00:20:55
a single bee in the area. But now the house was like infested with them. >> I hate that a lot.
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>> It's just very random and really gross on like >> I don't like that at all. And also on a
00:21:06
side note, I was looking at the house and I was like, what does this house remind me of? It reminds me of Zisa axe
00:21:12
murder house. >> Yeah, it's very similar looking. >> I could definitely >> It's got a little bit of vibes of Hinter
00:21:17
Kyek as well. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Just had to put that up there. >> Fun. >> Yeah. So
00:21:21
>> good. Not good vibes >> and bees. >> And bees. >> Bad bad vibes and bees. Yeah, swarms and
00:21:27
swarms of them. >> So, according to the exterminator who came later that day, it was actually
00:21:32
completely unnatural for bees to even swarm at that time of year. So, this was even weirder. Like, that wouldn't leave
00:21:37
you feeling really good at all. >> No, cuz it's like if this is cuz when was this? Do you know like what what
00:21:44
time of the year? >> Yeah, it was July. >> July. Cuz I was going to say like certain times of the year you would
00:21:50
expect to see more bees, but you would not expect to see swarms of bees in the house.
00:21:54
>> That's the thing. swarms of them is crazy. >> So he was like, "Yeah, like this is not
00:21:59
typical." But he left and Gordon and Clara's mother spent more than an hour sweeping up piles and piles of dead bees
00:22:06
that were now just covering the floor. >> Damn. >> Now, in the weeks that followed, there
00:22:10
would actually be several more run-ins with the bees, but eventually they managed to evict the hive completely.
00:22:16
>> Dang. >> Luckily, so after moving a mass of insects from inside the house, they the
00:22:20
move in got underway and things actually went smoother after that. And Clara was
00:22:25
like, "Yeah, I should have known it was too good to be true." Especially after the bees.
00:22:28
>> Yeah, especially after the bees. >> It didn't take long for them to get settled in. And even though she had
00:22:33
spent her whole entire life in the city up to that point, Clara actually found that she liked being a homemaker in a
00:22:39
more rural area cuz remember she was working before this. >> Yeah. >> Within a few days they met their
00:22:44
neighbors and they found that they had a lot in common. They had children around
00:22:47
the same age. This that and the other thing. And Clara, you know, she had some initial reservations about the move, but
00:22:53
she was starting to think that they were going to be better off in the country. >> Unfortunately, that was very
00:22:58
short-lived, that little comfort that she felt. >> The first bizarre incident, aside from
00:23:02
the bees, came about a month after the move. Clara was still working at the office, actually finishing out her last
00:23:08
week when she got a frantic call from her son, Mike. He and his sister Beth had been out in the field behind the
00:23:14
house with some neighbor kids when somebody started shooting at them. >> What? Yeah. Somebody started shooting at
00:23:23
them. >> What the [ __ ] >> Apparently, as soon as they all heard the shots, they all dropped to the
00:23:28
ground and crawled back to the neighbor's house. >> What? >> Where they called Clara. According to
00:23:33
Mike, he none of them could see where the shooting was coming from. They just knew that it was close. And Mike told
00:23:38
his mother that just before the shooting, they had seen the car of a man who lived about 2 miles from them and
00:23:44
was known locally as an eccentric and he would chase people who got too close to
00:23:48
his property. So that he was like, "Maybe it's that guy and like he was upset with us or something and he's
00:23:53
shooting at us." >> So Clara reported the shooting to the state police, but nothing ever came of
00:23:58
her report. >> That's [ __ ] up. >> Yeah. So she was like, "Wow, maybe I don't love real life." Yeah, because I
00:24:03
it's like, wow, cool that I just reported that somebody shot at my family and nothing happened.
00:24:08
>> Yeah, like my family and my neighbors, like young kids, too. The hell? >> About a week later, Mike was walking
00:24:15
home with his friends Bob and Matt when they spotted what Mike later said was a tall teenage boy in the woods just
00:24:21
walking by the road carrying a rifle. That's too rural for me. >> It's so rural,
00:24:27
>> you know. Way too rural. >> Much too rural. At first, Mike was like, "Oh, is that like a farmer?" Like a
00:24:33
local farmer or something. And when he pointed him out, the other two boys were like, "Oh, no. That's that ghost that
00:24:38
lives around here and is like known to walk up and down the road." >> I'm massively obsessed with that because
00:24:45
I really [laughter] like how casually they dropped that lore. >> Lore lore like that should always be
00:24:52
dropped with not a [ __ ] to be seen. Like, >> no, that's just that guy. That ghost
00:24:58
>> that that that's just that's a ghost with a gun who just walks up and down like what the [ __ ]
00:25:03
>> Obviously >> what you think that's a corporeal being >> over there? That's just a [ __ ] ghost.
00:25:08
>> And not out here in these rural streets. >> That would put me weirdly at ease.
00:25:12
>> That says a lot about >> that everyone's so there's like, oh yeah, that's just that ghost with a gun.
00:25:17
>> I would just think they were [ __ ] with me. >> Why do you why do you ask? Like I'd be
00:25:21
like, you know what? Why do I ask? Like why am I should mind my [ __ ] business is what I should do. I would just
00:25:27
probably cry, [laughter] I think. >> I just love that. >> Yeah, >> the casual lore drop will get me every
00:25:32
time. >> Well, they were very excited. They started running to get a better look at
00:25:35
the ghost, but the ghost always managed to stay about 6 or 8 feet ahead of them.
00:25:40
But then when they finally got close enough to touch him, Mike said the mysterious teenager stepped behind an
00:25:45
apple tree and disappeared, >> as everyone should, >> which I am also highly obsessed with.
00:25:51
>> Yeah, that's how I'm going to be uh getting out of situations when I'm a ghost. So, I'm going to step behind an
00:25:56
apple tree and you and I'm gone. >> I'll throw up throw up the deuce at you and then I'll step behind my apple tree.
00:26:02
>> It's always going to be an apple tree, [laughter] too. >> You got to find the nearest one.
00:26:06
>> Yeah, >> you might be running for a little bit, but it's worth it for the >> I'll find the apple tree. Yeah.
00:26:11
>> So, afterwards, Mike ran home and told Clara about what he'd seen. He's like,
00:26:13
"Mom, there's a [ __ ] ghost and he disappeared behind an apple tree." >> Sick. >> And Clara was like, "Yeah, cool. You
00:26:19
kids are just so silly." >> Yeah, that's obviously didn't take it very seriously. I wouldn't either. Well,
00:26:23
I am who I am, so I probably would. But I get why Clara did it. >> Absolutely. >> So, she might not have taken that story
00:26:29
about the gun toing teenage boy, but it turned out that the other children had also seen the ghost, too. Like her other
00:26:35
kids, either out on the road or walking along the treeine at the edge of the woods. And the neighbors kids had also
00:26:41
seen him on multiple occasions. So, everybody's talking about it now. Most of them described him as looking like a
00:26:47
farmer. But one of the neighbors kids, Pat, insisted he was a black man. And she didn't mean like like his race. She
00:26:55
meant that his skin was like blackened. Like he was like like burnt >> Yeah. >> And she was absolutely terrified of him.
00:27:06
That's scary as like the other kids were like, "Oh yeah, like there's a ghost and
00:27:09
like I think he's a farmer. Like isn't that so crazy?" >> She's like, "Nah, he's charred." She
00:27:13
literally said he's charred and like she was so scared of him that her parents were like, "Okay, like some awful. I
00:27:21
hate that a lot." Yeah, >> that I I'm not massively obsessed with that. I hate that.
00:27:25
>> No, I'm like I'm the I'm not even a little bit obsessed with it. I'm the least amount.
00:27:30
>> So to Clara, the early experiences could have been written off as kids just being
00:27:34
kids and adjusting to moving into a more rural area, but a few weeks later, she had her own experience in the woods that
00:27:40
she simply could not explain. >> Oh no. Stay out of the woods. >> I know. What the hell are you doing in
00:27:44
the woods? But they just moved there. So, they're obsessed with the woods >> and they're just in the woods.
00:27:47
>> Yeah. >> Like there's nowhere else to go. >> Yeah. >> So, it was an early fall afternoon. Oh,
00:27:52
love to see it. And Clara was just taking the dog out for a walk in the woods behind the house.
00:27:57
>> Oh, I can't get mad at you for that. I would too. >> I would too. She was about a half a mile
00:28:01
from the house when she started to hear what she said sounded like chanting like
00:28:05
like chanting you might hear in church. >> Yeah. >> Oh, turn around. >> Yeah. Get out of there.
00:28:10
>> Get home. For the life of her, she said she couldn't figure out where the sound
00:28:13
was coming from. And somehow she said it sounded like it was coming from every direction all at once.
00:28:20
>> That's because it's none of your business and you [laughter] should go. >> When things are coming at you from every
00:28:25
direction, >> it is none of your business all at once. [laughter] It's >> Pave had no mind, mama.
00:28:30
>> That's not for you. >> You did not see something. You did not need to say something.
00:28:34
>> No. Just get out of there. Take that dog and run. I'm also like, what was the dog
00:28:37
doing? >> I know. So later after she got home, she casually mentioned the sound to Mike and
00:28:42
moments later he was like, "Yeah, cool. Me, Bob, and Matt are going to go investigate that. Peace out.
00:28:46
>> That's awesome." >> So he just ran out of the house. >> Another casual lord drop.
00:28:49
>> Yeah, we love the 70s. >> Send him in action. >> Yeah, just go out in the woods, figure
00:28:52
out what that was. So on both occasions, the boys, like the other two boys, were
00:28:56
game for whatever investigation that Mike wanted to undertake. >> Oh yeah. >> But this time when they got to the
00:29:01
woods, Bob said he got an intense feeling of dread and he was like, "Yeah, I'm not going any. Good for him." Into
00:29:06
the woods, I'll be here. Good for him listening. >> So the other two were like, "Okay, we'll
00:29:09
head in without you." And they just left him standing at the edge of the woods, which is almost worse than going into
00:29:13
the woods. I think >> that charred kid is is patrolling the edge of the woods. >> Exactly.
00:29:18
>> I'd be more scared of that. >> Me, too. I don't want to run into a charred kid.
00:29:21
>> No. So, after about 10 or 15 minutes, they had reached the spot where Clara said she heard the chanting, and they
00:29:27
stopped to see if they could hear anything. They stood quietly. They closed their eyes so that they wouldn't
00:29:31
be distracted, and they just listened as hard as they could. At first, they didn't hear anything, but then out of
00:29:37
absolutely nowhere, they heard the loud, sharp sound of a woman screaming her [ __ ] head off.
00:29:44
>> That is got to be one of the scariest things to hear out of nowhere. >> Out of absolutely nowhere. And
00:29:50
especially when you're like >> in the woods, >> you're and you're locked in. Like you're
00:29:53
10 toes down in those woods just trying to hear what's happening and it's quiet and it's quiet and then you hear,
00:29:59
[screaming] >> "Oh my god, >> I would poop my pants." You're out there trying to figure out what the woods are
00:30:05
trying to say and they're just saying >> ah >> like that's no >> too scary. >> No.
00:30:11
>> So they um ran the [ __ ] out of there and went back to the Dandy house and they
00:30:15
were like Clara help us. And she was like I don't know what to tell you. She's like [ __ ] that. So since moving to
00:30:20
the Hinsdale house several members of the Dandy family had now had really [ __ ] weird inexplicable experiences
00:30:26
and they had mostly brushed it off to that point. Mike's story about hearing the scream in the woods was different
00:30:31
though. At that point, they wanted to see and they started to realize that something was off. And you know, Clara
00:30:38
was like, "Is it like the house or is it the entire area that we moved to?" Now,
00:30:42
the swarm of bees on moving day turned out to be just the first of many problems with the house itself. During
00:30:48
their first winter, the main pipes leading into the house froze and broke, which was obviously super expensive to
00:30:54
repair and very annoying because while they were getting fixed, they had to carry water from a well to the house.
00:31:00
[groaning] >> Which also, if you think your house is haunted, and honey, the land is also
00:31:05
haunted and you got to go to down to a well. >> Oh, that's [ __ ] up. >> I'm not going to a well in the middle of
00:31:10
a haunt. >> No. What are you asking of me? Honey the land. >> Honey the well. Honey the well. Honey,
00:31:16
Samara. Yeah. Uh-uh. [laughter] Exactly. Honey, no. Uh-uh. So, after that, it seemed like things were just going wrong
00:31:23
every other day. Within a two-month period, the kids four pet birds, a dog, and two guinea pigs were found dead in
00:31:30
Mary's bedroom from unknown causes. >> Oh, which like I'd be looking at Mary. >> Yeah. What the
00:31:37
>> like what's up with our kid here? >> I'd be real worried about Mary, first of
00:31:40
all. And also >> second, I would want to square up with a whatever entity >> did that.
00:31:46
>> I don't even know if this entity has hands, but it's got to figure out some way to square up. [laughter]
00:31:50
>> Four birds, a dog, and two guinea pig guinea pigs. >> Guinea pigs. >> Those poor guinea pigs.
00:31:55
>> The guinea pigs. [laughter] >> Not the guinea pigs. >> Not the guinea pigs. >> Clutching my pearls.
00:32:00
>> So that's the other thing. Things were constantly going missing, including small sums of money and jewelry from
00:32:06
Clara's lock box, which um was locked. Oh, [laughter] that's a good detail to have, you know.
00:32:12
>> Uh, holy [ __ ] >> Yeah. So, she said she started to feel like they weren't wanted in the house.
00:32:17
Like she just got this distinct feeling. >> What gave you that idea? I don't know.
00:32:19
Was it when they killed your pets? >> Was it when they killed literally every pet you've ever had?
00:32:23
>> Every living thing that isn't a human in that house >> and stole all your money?
00:32:26
>> Yeah. >> But because it seemed like a lot of the unfortunate mishaps had reasonable
00:32:30
explanations, maybe the more bizarre occurrences didn't stand out at first, but like they were getting more and more
00:32:37
bizarre as time went on. >> Yeah. that many animals uh end up dead in one of my kids' rooms.
00:32:43
>> I'm calling someone. >> It's going to stand out. >> I'm probably going to call a
00:32:46
psychologist first. >> Yeah, it's going to be top top of mind. >> Yeah. >> You know,
00:32:51
>> well, that's not one you have to write down to remember. >> No, you'll remember that for sure. And
00:32:55
there was things even in the beginning that they were like after all these bizarre experiences had happened, they
00:33:00
were looking back and being like, was that also like a weird [ __ ] like what was that? So, there was the time a few
00:33:06
months after they moved in where Clara and Phil came home to find that even though all the doors had been locked
00:33:11
while they were gone, it looked like somebody had broken into the house and thrown the family's clothes all around.
00:33:16
>> Oh, >> like the entire family. >> Oh, I hate that. >> Mary's record player had also been
00:33:21
smashed, but money and valuables were all untouched and in plain sight. So, it wasn't like somebody had robbed them.
00:33:27
Yeah. They just like ransacked the house, >> came in and threw clothes around. >> Yeah. Then there was the time in early
00:33:33
1971 when Clara and Mike were home alone and something outside was emitting such
00:33:38
a strong light through the windows that it would lit it like lit up the entire house.
00:33:42
>> What? >> And they both were like, "What?" A few nights later, Mike said he was woken up
00:33:46
from sleep when a board game on the shelf above his bed fell on his head while he was sleeping.
00:33:51
>> Oh [ __ ] >> He was like, "That was weird." >> Rude. >> It didn't seem like that unusual, but
00:33:55
when he looked at the shelf, everything that was stacked on top of the board game was still in place.
00:34:01
So it had literally like >> slid out. >> Slid out from the bottom of a stack of other things and fell on his head
00:34:06
>> and everything else had stayed up there. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That's weird. It's
00:34:09
>> like when you like pull the tablecloth out and everything stays on the table.
00:34:12
>> Everything else stays on. >> So that was weird. And he said there was absolutely no way I could come up with
00:34:17
an explanation for that. >> No, I wouldn't be able to. >> And then of course there were the
00:34:21
frequent sightings of the farmer on the road and all the strange noises both in and outside of the house.
00:34:26
>> Yeah. On one afternoon in 1971, Phil took the kids into town to do some shopping. And he just left Clara at home
00:34:33
to relax and enjoy some quiet time. You mamas know you need that. >> In the haunted house.
00:34:37
>> In the haunted house. I know. Well, that was before they really realized how haunted it was.
00:34:41
>> She said it was a warm day, so she opened up all the windows on the first floor to, you know, clear the house out.
00:34:46
And she was just settling on the couch to read a book, >> and she started to hear all the windows
00:34:51
slamming back shut. >> Oh, [ __ ] that. But then when she went around and checked all the windows, they
00:34:59
were all still open. >> I hate that. >> Yeah, >> I hate that a lot. >> Like first of all, I'm trying to relax.
00:35:08
>> I'm I'm just sitting down with a book. >> I'm like all my kids are gone. Like
00:35:13
quiet in this house. >> And then I'm I need some fresh air even though it's for dead people. And you're
00:35:18
like pretending to close my windows and you make me get up and look and then they're not even [ __ ]
00:35:22
>> They're not even close. Like that's some [ __ ] up [ __ ] Come on, man. >> I don't like that.
00:35:25
>> Come on. >> I don't like that teasing. >> So, now that they were looking back at
00:35:28
all of this, they were like, "Okay, there's definitely a pattern of like es there's an escalating pattern here,
00:35:34
>> for sure." >> So, it was only when the inexplicable things started to enter the home that
00:35:39
Clara and sort of Phil started to take things more seriously. Clara definitely took things more seriously than Phil
00:35:45
did. One evening in July of 1973, so they'd been there for like a few years at this point. Beth, one of their older
00:35:52
daughters, had some friends sleepover and they were all sleeping in sleeping bags in the living room. By that time,
00:35:58
Mike was already sleeping most nights on the couch because he found the atmosphere in his own bedroom
00:36:02
disturbing, quote unquote. And a little, so he was down there and the girls are down there. And a little before midnight
00:36:08
after they wound down and were trying to sleep, they all heard heavy footsteps walking around the kitchen like somebody
00:36:14
was angrily pacing in the kitchen. So Mike was like, "Okay, it's probably just one of the dogs maybe angrily pacing
00:36:21
around the kitchen." >> Yeah, as dogs do. So Beth got up to check and there was no one in the
00:36:26
kitchen, human or canine. >> Imagine if it was just a dog on two on like two legs angrily pacing. He's just
00:36:32
pissed. >> That's I hate that. I hate it as well. That also used to happen in our house.
00:36:38
>> That's really scary when that happens. >> But we would hear them coming up the
00:36:41
stairs, which would be even scarier. >> And it was like heavy boots >> and then you'd look out in the hallway
00:36:45
and there would be literally no one there, >> but you could feel it. >> Yep. >> So after 2 years of increasingly
00:36:51
aggressive encounters with things that they couldn't explain in and around the house, Clara was like, "Yeah, I have
00:36:57
nothing left to explain. Like I'm trying to explain this all away, but I don't have anything."
00:37:01
>> Yeah. This only so long you can explain it away. >> Yeah. So a few days after the sleepover,
00:37:05
she was speaking with their local priest, Father Bob, of course, >> Father Bob. >> And she was telling him about the
00:37:10
activity, and he suggested that she get into contact with, "Are you ready?" Father Alonsis Alrebled.
00:37:18
>> Honestly, yes. >> Alonsa, if your name is Alonsus, Yeah. >> What the [ __ ] are you doing going by Al?
00:37:27
>> Yeah. >> Missed opportunity, my guy. >> You go by Alons. I would shove my hand
00:37:33
into everybody's face and say, "Hey, it's me, Alonsus." [laughter] >> I would never shut up about who I was.
00:37:39
>> And also, if your name is Alonsus and what is the full name? >> Alonsis Al Trabold.
00:37:46
>> Yeah. If your name is that, [laughter] you >> you said I better be a priest that can
00:37:53
perform some kind of exorcism and get rid of demons in a house. >> You better be.
00:37:57
>> You better be. >> You better be. Not only was he a priest, but he was also an assistant professor
00:38:02
of theology at St. St. Bonaventure University. >> Yeah. Obsessed. So throughout 1973,
00:38:10
Father, >> he goes by Father Al, but I got to call him Father Alons. Father Alfonsis has
00:38:16
had given several lectures on the paranormal and had invited other experts to speak. So if anybody could help
00:38:22
Clara, it was probably him. So she called and she left a message for Father Alonsus. And in the meantime, Father Bob
00:38:29
blessed the house, which made everybody feel a little bit better. >> Yeah. Two days later, Clara finally got
00:38:35
her Alfonsa's call. The two of them spoke spoke briefly, and Father Alfons suggested that they were probably
00:38:41
experiencing a poltergeist. >> Okay. >> Which kind of sucks. >> I don't know. >> You don't know if it sucks or you don't.
00:38:49
>> I don't know if that's a poltergeist. >> So far, nothing really sounds poltergeist to me.
00:38:54
>> Poltergeist. I also think this was the ' 70s and like they didn't [clears throat]
00:38:58
have a lot of uh >> Yeah. like research on this stuff. I I guess like the clothing everywhere and
00:39:03
stuff is kind of poltergeisty. >> Yeah. >> But I don't know. I wouldn't have immediately said poltergeist on this
00:39:09
one. >> Well, he said they had two adolescent children in the house and their heightened energy might be causing the
00:39:14
problems and poltergeists do feed off of that. >> They do love the the whole puberty
00:39:19
thing. >> It's a weird I hate that part of it. >> Such a such a weird connection.
00:39:22
>> It is. It it makes sense when you think about it, but it's like [laughter] [ __ ] [gasps]
00:39:33
>> [ __ ] Oh my god, >> my heart. >> Holy [ __ ] >> I wish you could feel how hard my heart
00:39:41
is beating right now. >> Oh my god. I actually just started crying. [ __ ] >> All right, so now that we've recovered
00:39:49
from that, let's find my place. So like, yeah, adolescence, puberty, weird poltergeist feeding off of that. By
00:39:55
then, Clara had done some research and the suggestion of a poltergeist also didn't make sense to her.
00:40:00
>> She said, "I felt like there was more to it than that. From what I've read, poltergeist had no motive, no mind
00:40:05
behind it. And this seems to have motive." Yeah, >> which is true. >> I agree. >> But given how stressed Clara sounded and
00:40:11
the fact that she wasn't reassured by his advice, Father Alfonsus said, "You know what? I'll come out tomorrow."
00:40:16
>> That's really Alfonsis. >> It's so Alonsus of him. >> Yeah. So, it took Father Alfonses much
00:40:21
longer to get to the house than he expected cuz he got lost along the way. Lost in the woods.
00:40:26
>> You know who among us has Alonsus. >> So, by the time he arrived, there really
00:40:29
wasn't as much time like that for him to explore before he had to leave to get back to the church again, which kind of
00:40:36
sucked. >> So, Clara and the kids spent about 20 minutes explaining everything they
00:40:39
experienced. And to their surprise, Father Alfonsus did not seem phased at all. >> And he also didn't seem to doubt
00:40:46
anything that they were telling him. >> What a good guy. So after hearing them out, Father Alfonsis got a tour of the
00:40:51
house and the immediate property by Mike and Clara's brothers, Gordon and Craig.
00:40:55
They didn't see or hear anything unusual on the tour, but in each room, Father Al
00:41:00
said a prayer, and he said one in the yard, too. And then he performed a blessing before he headed back out for
00:41:05
the night. He was like, "Good luck with that. Bye, [ __ ] [music] Who knows if it was the blessing or just
00:41:23
the simple fact that somebody had listened to them without judging them, but Father Al's visit did have a calming
00:41:28
effect on the house and the family, it seemed. >> Mike said it bonded us in a way because
00:41:33
we were more together for support and which is nice like, you know, everybody realizes like something's going on here.
00:41:40
>> I like it. Now, not only did he validate their experiences, but Father Alfonsus
00:41:44
also explained that they weren't defenseless against whatever they were dealing with, and there were people who
00:41:50
researched the scientific basis of experiences like theirs who might be able to help them get rid of whatever it
00:41:56
was that was causing all their trouble. So, for the first time since moving in, Clara was like, "Okay, maybe this nice
00:42:02
country life is possible without all these disturbances, >> without the ghost. >> Maybe we can move on from this." For a
00:42:08
few days after Father Al's blessing, like I said, things felt better in the house. But it didn't last very long.
00:42:13
>> No, it never does. >> No. One night, less than a week after the first visit from the priest, Phil
00:42:18
was away on a business trip, and everybody else in the house was asleep when Clara was woken up by the sound of
00:42:24
somebody walking around on the first floor. She thought it was one of the kids, so she looked over the banister at
00:42:29
the top of the stairs, and she saw what looked like a teenage girl walking down the hall on the first floor toward
00:42:34
Beth's bedroom. cuz remember all the kids bedrooms are on the first floor. >> So she was like, "Oh, okay. Must be
00:42:40
Beth." Like maybe she went to the bathroom. She's going back to her room. >> So she turned and started to walk back
00:42:45
to her own bedroom. But then she realized that the girl she saw was wearing a flannel night gown and she
00:42:51
knew for a fact that Beth had not worn that to bed. So she was like, "What?" And then she was like,
00:42:57
>> also she had shorter hair than Beth now that I'm thinking of it. Like who the
00:43:00
[ __ ] is this girl? >> Oh, this that made my hair stand on end. So, she ran downstairs, tore open Beth's
00:43:06
bedroom door, and when she got inside, Beth was just fast asleep, and there was nobody else there.
00:43:13
>> Oh, that [ __ ] me up. >> I would light the house on fire. >> That [ __ ] me up and leave.
00:43:18
>> Yeah. No, I don't want anything to do with that. >> Like, who is that? >> And just being like being half asleep
00:43:25
and just like seeing that and being like, "Oh, okay. That's just one of my kids." And then just being like,
00:43:29
>> "Wait a second. >> That did not look like my child." like I would lose it >> when that happens and you're and you
00:43:35
realize like okay like that's not one of my kids >> and I just saw that person like I saw
00:43:40
their form where are they now? >> That's the thing like are they still in the house hiding? What the [ __ ]
00:43:46
>> Yeah. Like it's like um with the Sally house it's like you probably part of her
00:43:49
was like is that an intruder or is that a ghost? Like I don't know. >> Absolutely.
00:43:53
>> So the experience of seeing the unfamiliar girl in the house was pretty [ __ ] unnerving.
00:43:57
>> Yeah. >> But Clara tried to put it out of her mind because she was like no the
00:44:00
blessing worked. I'm going to have my nice country life. [ __ ] this. God damn it.
00:44:04
>> But the next day, she heard a scream from Beth's bedroom. >> And when she ran in to find out what
00:44:09
happened, Beth told her mom that she was just sitting at her vanity when she saw
00:44:13
a teenage girl behind her reflected in her mirror. >> And she said when she turned to look,
00:44:19
the girl vanished. She was gone. Oh, no, no, no. And Clara said, "I thought, wait
00:44:24
a minute. I'd been taught that this worked, that a priest could come in and say a blessing. It did not work.
00:44:29
>> It did not." She's like, "Well, this is supposed to work." Cuz remember, she grew up religious, like super religious.
00:44:34
So, she's like, "I went to the priest for help. The priest came and he did his thing. It's supposed to work."
00:44:39
>> Yeah. I mean, he he can do that. >> Yeah. Um, >> ghosts have other plans, >> but the ghosts can can say, "Fuck off."
00:44:46
Like, they you know, >> the power of Christ doesn't always compel them. >> It's not always compelling. So,
00:44:50
>> unfortunately. >> Yeah. >> So, that night, Clara called Father Alfons. She said, "911 Alfonsus."
00:44:56
>> Alonsis. >> And he said, "On my way." She said the blessing didn't work. They were still
00:45:00
experiencing the frightening phenomena. So he was like, "Okay, I'll come back with an a paranormal expert. Like we're
00:45:05
gonna we're gonna guns." >> Exactly. >> Yeah. >> So a few nights later, while Mike was
00:45:10
staying with friends and the other kids were in bed, Clara and Phil, who was back from his business trip, they were
00:45:14
just watching TV and they heard a loud thud out just outside the living room window. So Phil grabbed a flashlight and
00:45:20
they both went out to see what the [ __ ] was outside. After looking around and finding nothing, they were like, "Okay,
00:45:26
it was probably like an animal going through the trash. It's rural out here. >> It's rural out here.
00:45:30
>> It's rural out here." So, they turned. They went back inside. And as they rounded the house in the direction of
00:45:34
the front door, Clara casually looked up at Beth's bedroom window and saw the same girl that she had seen a few nights
00:45:41
earlier just looking out at them. >> I This is Okay, this and the farmer the charred farmer kid.
00:45:50
>> You got to go. >> That would send me into orbit. I don't know. Please stop being in my space.
00:45:56
>> Yeah, that's we've crossed a line here. >> So, they ran back inside because Phil
00:46:00
she pointed up and Phil also saw it and he was like, "What the fuck?" So, they ran back inside to check on Beth and
00:46:05
when they got to her room, they found her sitting at her vanity completely unresponsive and just straight up
00:46:10
disassociating. What the [ __ ] It took a few minutes to snap her back into reality. And when she did, she said,
00:46:17
"Yeah, I saw her, too." But she struggled to describe the girl, saying all she remembered were her big dark
00:46:22
eyes and her filthy hair. >> Why is her hair so filthy? >> Why is her hair dirty?
00:46:32
>> It's full of secrets. >> Oh my god. >> I hate that. >> It's full of darkness.
00:46:36
>> Oh, that's so much worse than her perfectly clean hair. Like I I >> Perfectly clean hair is the best.
00:46:42
>> I Oh, why is her hair dirty? It's washed in. >> Why is it filthy? Filthy. Filthy.
00:46:49
>> I don't know why that [ __ ] me up so much >> because you picture just like >> like a greasy, stringy.
00:46:56
>> I hate it. >> I can still feel my heart beating from when the alarm went off and that was
00:47:00
like 42 minutes ago. I'm scared right now. >> I'm in fight or flight right now. >> Telling these stories gets me into a
00:47:05
place. >> Apparently it gets both of us in there. >> I know. >> Damn. >> So, as they stood in Beth's bedroom just
00:47:10
trying to comfort her, they all started to hear scratching and thumping noises coming from the room above them. Oh, god
00:47:16
damn. >> And then all the lights in the house went off like somebody had cut the
00:47:20
power. >> Come on. Like that's horror movie [ __ ] >> What the [ __ ] >> So the lights came back on a few moments
00:47:28
later and the scratching sounds had moved from the upstairs and were now coming from the crawl space.
00:47:34
>> Oh, that [ __ ] crawl space. We got to learn about that crawl space. You knew
00:47:38
the crawl space was coming back. >> That crawl space. >> You knew the crawl space was coming
00:47:42
back. >> There's some [ __ ] that went down [laughter] there. Clara, Phil, and Beth
00:47:46
reluctantly approached the crawl space, and after a few moments, Phil gathered the courage to open the door.
00:47:52
>> Phil, >> just inside the door, there were loose bricks from the fireplace stacked in
00:47:58
small piles. >> Oh, >> they'd been in there before. >> Oh, >> and that hadn't been there.
00:48:05
>> Oh, >> and then they open the door and like somewhat Blair Witch style, there's just
00:48:11
small piles of bricks. Oh, [snorts] >> ew. Period. >> No. >> And Clara said, "I can't fight this
00:48:20
thing." Whatever it is, it's too strong. She just succumbed to the beast in that
00:48:23
moment. >> She just succumbed. >> I would said >> we all succumb at some point. She was
00:48:28
[laughter] like, "Okay, stack the bricks. I suppose >> end of the road for me. >> Okay, look at me from my come to my
00:48:36
window." That's what she said. >> She was like, "Whatever. Eventually, you got to just go Melissa Aidge and just
00:48:42
start singing, you know, >> just gotta. It's [laughter] all you can do. So, the next night, Father Alfonso
00:48:49
said, "I'm back." And he he said, "Here I am." >> And this time, he was in the company of
00:48:54
a well-known psychic medium, Alex Tanos. >> So, not Sylvia Brown. [laughter] >> No, no, no, no. He introduced everybody
00:49:01
and Clara started to explain the history of the house but was immediately cut off
00:49:05
by Alex who told her he actually didn't want to know anything about the house before walking through each room which I
00:49:11
respect. He was like >> this is this is before he could be looking this up on like interwebs.
00:49:16
>> No, there was no interweb. >> He could go look it up like elsewhere obviously, but it would take a little
00:49:21
more effort. >> It would. So, Father Alfonsus took Alex throughout the house, letting him get an
00:49:26
impression of each room before returning to the family in the living room. When he walked into the living room, he just
00:49:32
casually dropped, "Did you know you had a mass murder here?" >> Again, a casual lore drop. I love it. I
00:49:41
love it. I would sit down, >> tea would materialize, and I'd be like, "Tell me everything. Tell me everything
00:49:48
about you had a mass murder here. Do I look like I know I had a mass murder? You think we'd be calling you if we
00:49:54
didn't know that? >> Babe, you're here with a priest. >> Yeah. >> Do you think I know that there was a
00:49:58
mass murder here? >> I say, "No, the [ __ ] I did not." >> Who Who ever knows that there was a mass
00:50:03
murder? >> Oops. >> Come on. >> So Clara said she was stunned and she just said, "Uh, no.
00:50:09
>> No, I don't." >> According to Alex Tanos, there were seven spirits in the house.
00:50:14
>> Some much stronger than others. He said there was a man who had been stabbed to
00:50:18
death on the property. >> Dang. >> A woman who was hanged by the pond out back. a woman who was drowned, a man who
00:50:24
had been beaten to death, >> a young girl of around 8 years old who had also been beaten to death,
00:50:29
>> which is awful. >> Oh my god. >> And then two other spirits who he said he just couldn't really get a read on.
00:50:34
Like he couldn't figure out who they were or why they were there, but they were there.
00:50:38
>> And one he described as an elderly woman whose death was recent, and Clara wondered if that was maybe the previous
00:50:45
resident of the house who had died in the house at age 90. >> Holy [ __ ] >> So he was like kind of on to something.
00:50:51
Yeah. So, he explained that over a hundred years ago, before the house had even been built there, there was a
00:50:56
general store and an inn on the property and it was a regular stop along a popular stage coach route.
00:51:02
>> Okay. >> So, he said the original owner knew nothing about the murders, but he
00:51:06
believed somebody else used the space to find victims that they would rob and kill like on the stage coach stop.
00:51:13
>> And they he said they would sometimes hide their bodies in the crawl space under the stairs until he was able to
00:51:19
bury them. This is very bloody benders. It is like coded, you know. >> It is super. You were so right with
00:51:25
that. So, when Father Al showed uh medium Alex there, the crawl space, he said he quote saw bodies piled up like
00:51:32
stacks of firewood. What the [ __ ] >> Which it's like, is that why they're stacking bricks?
00:51:39
>> Oh, >> like they just like to stack. >> These love to stack. >> They love piles.
00:51:44
>> Doesn't matter what it is. Bodies are bricks to stack. >> Makes no diff. >> That was it. Were they trying to like
00:51:49
show like this is what I do? >> I stack. >> This is my thing. >> This is >> and I could stack you.
00:51:55
>> This is kind of my thing. >> I'm a stacker. >> I'm kind of known for this. >> I stay stacking.
00:51:59
>> He stays stacking. That's [ __ ] up. >> So, he managed to identify a lot of the
00:52:04
spirits in the house, but he was Alex was visibly drained by the end of the night. And he said he needed to rest
00:52:09
before he could go any further. >> I I don't blame him. So he dipped and he told them he'd be back soon to let them
00:52:14
know how or if they even should proceed with anything. >> Yeah. >> In the meantime, Clara and Phil started
00:52:21
to consider the options if he wasn't able to get rid of the ghosts in the house. The strange occurrences and
00:52:26
annoyances that they experienced when they first moved in were one thing, but now in recent months, the ghosts had
00:52:32
actually gone after specific family members in ways that were very scary and unsettling.
00:52:37
>> Yeah. But the problem was like it is with so many other cases like this, they
00:52:42
were living on a single income and they sunk all their money into this house because not only had they like, you
00:52:48
know, purchased the house, there was all these things that had gone wrong with it
00:52:51
that had cost a lot of money. >> Yeah, of course. >> Over the past 3 years, so they didn't
00:52:55
really have the money to move at that point. >> It's not that easy. >> So like what the [ __ ] do we do?
00:52:59
>> Damn. >> So a few days after Alex visited the house, the mood and the air in the house
00:53:03
felt better to Clara than it had in some time. and she was again optimistic about
00:53:08
the future. But then one afternoon in late October 1973, that all changed with a visit from a state trooper.
00:53:16
That morning, Phil and Clara woke up early. They had gotten on, you know, with some chores around the house. Mike
00:53:22
had stayed with a friend the night before, and he said he would be home early the next morning to help with the
00:53:26
chores, so his parents were really annoyed when late morning rolled around and he still hadn't returned. A few
00:53:32
minutes after Clara came back from a trip into town, there was a knock at the door and when she answered it, there was
00:53:37
a New York State trooper standing there. >> Oh [ __ ] >> So, he explained that Mike had actually
00:53:41
been in a car accident about a mile down the road and he'd been taken to the local hospital. And the doctors
00:53:48
explained when they got there that Mike's injuries were pretty severe and they actually wanted to transport him uh
00:53:54
to Buffalo once he was stable enough to move. >> [ __ ] So, as they drove to Orleenos or
00:53:59
Oolene Hospital a few miles away, Clara and Phil passed Mike's car and they literally saw it like leaning against a
00:54:06
tree on the side of the road. >> Oh my god, that would have been horrific. >> Yeah. As far as Clara could tell, it
00:54:11
really didn't look too badly damaged, though. So, she was like, "Okay, like maybe maybe he's not in that bad of
00:54:17
shape. Like, maybe they're making too big a deal out of this." >> But unfortunately, when they got to the
00:54:21
hospital, she realized things were a lot more serious. Mike had suffered a head injury and he was also bleeding
00:54:27
internally from a torn spleen. >> Holy [ __ ] >> Which is crazy when you think about the
00:54:32
fact that they saw the car and they were like, "Oh, it's probably not that bad."
00:54:35
But like, I mean, that's >> Oh, damn. >> awful. >> So, they said they needed to operate as
00:54:40
soon as they could to reduce the swelling. And that after they were done with the operation, he was going to have
00:54:45
to be placed in a medicalinduced coma to let his brain heal. >> Oh my god. >> Like things were this was pretty dire.
00:54:51
So they gave their permission obviously and Mike was put under. So while they waited for him to come out of surgery,
00:54:57
they were approached by another state trooper who wanted to know if either of them knew where Mike had been coming
00:55:02
from and who was in the car with him. And they explained like he was probably on his way home and he must have been
00:55:08
alone. And that caught the trooper off guard because according to the paramedics who brought Mike to the
00:55:13
hospital, he kept saying there was somebody else in the car with him right before the crash. But they searched the
00:55:20
area and they didn't find anybody. >> What? >> And like nobody had al nobody had come
00:55:24
to the hospital with injuries from a car crash like like that. >> So the trooper and paramedics were like
00:55:30
um you know I mean he has head trauma. Like it's probably some kind of injury that he thinks somebody was with him.
00:55:35
>> Yeah. >> But to Clara, she took it as proof that whatever had been attacking them in the
00:55:39
house had now managed to get Mike in the car. >> Holy [ __ ] So it took several weeks
00:55:44
before he came out of a coma. And when he did, he was suffering from temporary blindness,
00:55:50
>> which is awful. >> Holy [ __ ] He's really going through it. >> He is. So eventually they were able to
00:55:55
bring him home and obviously they wanted him to rest and recuperate. But as soon
00:55:59
as he was well enough, they said they were going to contact Father Alfonsis to do something about the haunting once and
00:56:03
for all. So, by the time Mike was starting to feel like himself again, you know, had recovered mostly, it was early
00:56:09
1974, and the paranormal experiences had taken such a toll on the kids that Beth
00:56:15
had actually started to see a specialist for stress induced ulcers. Oh my god. >> Things were so bad, she was getting
00:56:22
ulcers. Holy [ __ ] And to make matters worse, Bob Curran, a writer for the Buffalo News, had written a series of
00:56:30
articles on Father Al and his work with the paranormal that ran in late February. And the article didn't name
00:56:35
the Dandy family specifically or provide like super easy identifiable details, but a lot of the locals were savvy
00:56:42
enough to know that they like they could point out some of the details and they figured out that it was the Hinsdale
00:56:48
house. >> Oh [ __ ] >> So now they're being like attacked by the press, which is the last thing they
00:56:52
need. Yeah, >> Father Al had told the outlet, "I visit there a couple times a week and they're
00:56:57
always glad to see me because nothing ever happens when I'm there." >> Oh [ __ ]
00:57:01
>> I know. [laughter] >> So, the art >> sort of like a read to me. >> I know, right? The articles in the news
00:57:06
kicked off a growing interest in the house and with permission from the family, Father Al came to the house with
00:57:11
Bob Curran and Bob's son, the reporter. Nobody experienced any ghostly happenings at that point in the house
00:57:17
during the visit. But Bob's interviews with Father Al gave people a unique window to look into about just how
00:57:23
taxing this whole thing had become and how defeated everybody was feeling. He told Curran, "I had hopes of helping the
00:57:29
family, but there were so many problems. Then I was disappointed when Alex Tanos,
00:57:33
the renowned psychic, reversed his course after making some definitive statements about seven murders being
00:57:39
committed here. I know the pressure on psychics, but I had hoped he'd help more than he did. So, it sounds like he just
00:57:45
never went back. >> Wow. which is pretty >> tells you something. >> Yeah. Like he was exhausted.
00:57:51
>> Yeah. So, Father Al was referring to the last time that Alex had been to the house. He tried to clear some of the
00:57:57
ghosts, but by the end of the visit, he said he was so exhausted and he had to leave. And then later on, he called them
00:58:02
and was like, "Yeah, I can't come back again. Like, there's nothing I can do for you."
00:58:06
>> Holy [ __ ] So, they all hoped that the efforts of Father Al, Alex Tanos, and
00:58:11
some of the other experts who had come in would finally get rid of the spirits haunting the house, or at least make it
00:58:16
livable. But just a few weeks later, the activity started to ramp up again. And Clara and Phil were like, "We're out of
00:58:23
ideas. We're completely defeated here." >> Yeah. >> By that time, Mike had recovered and he
00:58:28
had joined the Navy, so he was out of the house. Beth had married her high school boyfriend, so she was out of the
00:58:33
house. And now they really didn't need this big place anymore. >> Yeah. So that August they put the house
00:58:38
on the market listing it at just $20,000. >> Wow. >> Which remember they bought it for like
00:58:43
>> 50. >> I think it would have been today's 50. Exactly. >> So by the time they listed the house,
00:58:48
the news about the haunting had been spread far and wide in all the articles. So there was no point in trying to hide
00:58:53
it from anybody. >> You might as well lean in at that point. >> Well, and they did cuz they actually
00:58:57
even started getting calls from out of state news outlets who were interested in in buying the house.
00:59:02
>> Oh [ __ ] So, by the end of October, Clara and Phil moved out. And without the kids or the ghost to distract them,
00:59:08
it seemed the problems in their marriage had returned. And this time, it didn't seem like there was going to be room for
00:59:13
a resolution. >> So, they ended up separating and they did eventually get a divorce.
00:59:17
>> A year since the Dandy family moved out of the Hinsdale house, interest in the
00:59:21
house and the story of the haunting has remained. People are super interested in
00:59:25
this house. >> Yeah. Subsequent owners throughout the years have reported seeing super unusual
00:59:30
things, hearing things, hearing the screams that Clara heard. Like, this house is very much still active.
00:59:36
>> Yeah. >> In 2011, it went up for sale and it was listed as one of the nation's top 10
00:59:41
haunted houses. >> Holy [ __ ] >> And in an article about the sale, the property agent told a reporter, "I'm in
00:59:46
hopes that somebody who really respects and believes the paranormal will buy it and remodel it." But in the end, the
00:59:52
house was purchased and turned into a haunted attraction that is still active to this day.
00:59:57
>> I kind of want to go. >> We will be going there. >> Yeah. It's not that far. >> Go. It's really not.
01:00:01
>> We could go. >> It's like, yeah, >> let's do it. >> Let's go. Let's Let's grab Sabrina and
01:00:06
Karen >> and go. >> And we're going. >> But that means we have to go in the woods, too, cuz honey the land. Honey
01:00:12
the land. Honestly, we got to do it. I love that the psychic was like, "Yeah, all this [ __ ] happened
01:00:19
here and like I would love to come back and help you, but I can't. It's too exhausting.
01:00:22
>> Too much. >> That's big for a psychic." And he was like renowned, too. He's very highly
01:00:26
respected in this. >> He said, "Honey, the house." >> He said, "Honey, the tired."
01:00:30
>> Yeah. He said, "Absolutely not." >> Damn. >> Yeah. For me, it's really the charred
01:00:35
teenager and then the filthyhaired girl. >> The filthyhaired girl. >> The filthyhaired girl takes the cake.
01:00:41
>> She's getting me. >> She's in the house. She's just walking around in her [ __ ] flannel night
01:00:47
gown. She's just looking at people. >> Something about that. Something about a flannel night gown and filthy hair. I'm
01:00:52
like, not only do you have filthy hair, but you're probably hot. >> Maybe that's why your hair is so filthy
01:00:57
cuz you're so sweaty. >> A sweaty Betty. >> Like I can feel how hot you are at night.
01:01:02
>> Yeah. >> And that makes me feel sick. >> It makes me feel yuck. >> And I don't like that you're just like
01:01:08
looking in my mirror while I'm looking in my mirror. >> No, I hate that. >> That would freak me the [ __ ] out.
01:01:12
>> No, I don't like it at all. Yeah, that's that's a fascinating and terrifying story.
01:01:16
>> It's a spooky one. And I love that it really had no resolution whatsoever. My
01:01:20
favorite thing is when there's a haunt and there's no resolution >> and they're just like, "Yeah, I don't
01:01:24
know. It's still haunted." >> Like [laughter] Alonsus couldn't do anything. Alex couldn't really do
01:01:27
anything. >> Slowed down. It was just like >> Yeah. The ghost said, "I'm here to stay,
01:01:31
bitch." >> Yeah. >> That's crazy. >> Yeah. And we're going to go there. >> Damn. We're going there.
01:01:36
>> So, we hope you keep listening for when we do go there. >> Yeah. And we hope you
01:01:40
>> keep it weird. But is it weird that you're a ghost with filthy hair? Wash your hair in the
01:01:46
afterlife. >> Yeah. God damn. God damn. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music]
01:02:48
[music] [music] [music] [music]