Open Lines (Life After Death) Part 1

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Sea to Sea with Dee Dee Arthur
Tuesday, September 13th, 20XX

Dee Dee Arthur: Top of the hour, we’ve been talking about life after death here on Sea to Sea and now it’s time for you to call in with your thoughts.  Tell us about your near death experiences, your thoughts on life after death, or maybe you have a story about someone contacting you from beyond the grave, we’re waiting to hear from you.  Eastern callers dial 1-800-555-1516.  Western Callers, 1-800-555-2342.  First time caller line is 1-800-555-6108.  We’ll be back after this short break.

–BREAK–

Dee Dee: Here we go with the open lines portion of our show tonight, I’m Dee Dee Arthur and I’ll be listening to what you have to say.  We’ve been talking about life after death this evening and I’ve just got to say that it’s a subject that really fascinates me.  It’s seems that just about every culture out there has some sort of ritual associated with death.  Death is something ever present in life.  Some might say it stalks us from the moment we’re born, and other might say it’s the catalyst that causes us to achieve greatness.  Countless books and movies have been made detailing different philosophies and theories about what happens to us after we die.  Do we ascend to a higher state of consciousness?  Is our spirit reborn here on Earth again?  Is there just nothing and what exactly would that be like, nothingness?  Whatever your take, I’d like to hear it.  Ok, west of the Mississippi you’re on the air.

Caller 1: Hello, Dee Dee?

Dee Dee You got it.  Who am I talking to?

Caller: Oh, this is David out of St Louis, Missouri.

Dee Dee: A pleasure to talk to you David. How are you doing this evening?

Caller 1: Oh, pretty good. I’ve been loving the show.

Dee Dee: Well, thank you.  We try.  So what have you got for us?

Caller 1: Well, I’ve just finished reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead, so your show tonight is great timing.  I like to read a lot about the afterlife, but this book really spoke to me, you know?

Dee Dee: How so?

Caller 1: Ok, so it basically says that when you die you’ll sort of rise above yourself, you know?  Like in some of those near death experiences you hear about.  You basically go through three transitional states until you’re reborn.

Dee Dee: Interesting.  Can you tell us anything about these states?

Caller 1: Yeah, in Tibetan they’re called Bardo.  There are six throughout the course of a souls journey through life and death. I’m going to skip a few here, but right when you die you enter the Bardo of the Moment of Death.  Like I said, I you rise up above your body and experience, as closely as your soul is able to, the light of reality.  Then you enter the Bardo of the Experiencing of Reality, and you catch glimpses of all of the other Bardo.  You travel through your life and see your past, birth through to your death.  The last state is the Bardo of Rebirth, and you can catch glimpses of your loved ones after you’ve died.  There are karmic hallucination and you are reborn.

Dee Dee: Karmic hallucinations, huh?  Sounds like the afterlife for me.

Caller 1: Heh, yeah Dee Dee.

Dee Dee: Seriously though, the whole process has a sort of beauty to it, at least as you’ve presented it.  Well, thank you very much for sharing.

Caller 1: Thank you Dee Dee.  Have a great night.

Dee Dee: The Tibetan Book of the Dead.  I’ll have to get around to reading that one soon.  Ok, next caller, east of the Mississippi, you’re on Sea to Sea.

Caller 2: Hey Dee, this is Jerry out of Boston.

Dee Dee: You enjoying the show tonight Jerry?

Caller 2: Very much, Dee.

Dee Dee: So what have you got to share with us?

Caller 2: Well, I just wanted to share my own near death experience.

Dee Dee: Ok, I’m all ears.

Caller 2: Ok, Dee, this may not sound like your typical NDE, but it’s definately going to be the most interesting one you’ve ever heard.  So I was at this bok signing, you see.  It was some kids author that my son likes, I think he wrote that collection of stories about Sir Frog or something like that.

Dee Dee: I never heard of Sir Frog before, sorry, but please continue.

Caller 2: Anyway, my daughter was the last one in line to get her book signed and I felt this pain in my chest.  I was having a heart-attack, Dee.  I fell to the ground and was lossing consciousness, but that’s when everything went weird.  That book author, aparrently he knew a little first aid and he came running over to help me, but he looked different somehow, like he was some sort of elf or something.  Everything had changed around me.  There were swirls of color and weird creatures were watching us.  The author told me that everything was going to be ok and his friend came over to us and his hands were glowing.  He touched me with his hands and I don’t know what happened from there.

Dee Dee: You blacked out?

Caller 2: Yeah.  Woke up in the hospitol a few hours later.  They told me that the author and his entourage saved my life.

Dee Dee: Wow.  It’s almost like having that near fatal event allowed you to look into an alternate universe or something.  Just fascinating.  Well, thanks for your call Jerry.  I wish you the best of health in the future.

Caller 2: Thanks Dee Dee.  I’m eating better now and taking real good care of myself.  Thanks for listening.

Dee Dee: It makes you think, huh?  I wonder how many other realities run parallel to our own.  Some are probably so far removed from our own that they seem like a fantasy world.  All it takes is the right things to give us a small glimps.  It really makes you feel like there’s so much out there to be explored.  All right, we’re going to take a short break and we’ll be back for more of your calls at the bottom of the hour so please stay tuned.

“Bustin’ Makes Me Feel Good”, a musing on the modern amateur ghost hunter

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by Dee Dee Arthur

Hey folks!  It’s Dee Dee Arthur, co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show Sea to Sea, and I’ve got a word or two about the present day ghost hunting craze.  Recently, a friend of mine’s teenage son was at their home by himself.  He starting getting that unnerving feeling that he wasn’t alone.  It was a windy, cloudy, stormy sort of night, the kind of night that gives you goosebumps by default.  So here’s young, we’ll call him “Albert”, home by himself, out in the country.  There’s no moonlight so it’s nothing but darkness for miles around, and the wind and rain is battering down on the walls and roof in a symphony of spooky.  He starts to get that feeling of being watched and then all of a sudden he sees something out of the corner of his eye.  He turns to look but there’s nothing there.  There’s a bang coming from up the stairs and now poor Albert’s really creeped out.  He calls his Mom, who drives home to make sure her only son is OK and they do a good search of the house but turn up nothing.  Later that night, as a nervous, already worked up Albert is almost asleep, he sees what he thinks is a person walking past his bedroom door.  He turns the lamp on and looks out into the hall, but there’s nothing there.  I have to marvel at this young man’s bravery here.  By this point, I’d probably have screamed bloody murder and wet my bed.  Albert has had enough though, he wakes his Mom and the two of them drive to Grandma’s house to spend the night.  So what’s going on here?  Is the house haunted?  Here come the ghost hunters!

Before you knew it there were psychics and amateur ghost hunters a plenty descending on poor Albert and his Mother.  It turns out everyone wants to be a ghost hunter and soon the house was thick with EMF meters, digital thermometers, and digital audio recorders.  Just as thick were the skulls of these ghost hunters.  Without having gone back to even look at their collected evidence many of them had already come up with theories of who the ghost was and why it was there.  Some thought it was a murder victim(though no murder has ever been reported to have happened in the house), others thought the ghost was a murderer.  The stories just kept getting worse and scarier with each new amateur who walked through the house.  Albert’s Mother had had enough!  She decided that she and Albert were going to spend the whole night waiting up for the ghost.  She allowed Albert to invite a few of his friends over and they ordered pizza and watched a few scary movies.  It was another dark, stormy night, but you know what?  No ghost.  Nothing.  As a matter of fact, neither Albert nor his Mother have ever heard a peep out of that ghost since.  So what happened to it?  Did it move on?  Did the pizza and movies serve as a cleansing ritual?  Was the place ever haunted at all?  What was going on with that ghost?

It turns out the answer is more simple than you might think, dear reader.  How many of us have felt that weird feeling before?  I know I’ve felt it plenty of times, when it’s dark and windy outside and I’m all by my lonesome.  How many times have you seen something out of the corner of your eye and then when you went to look there was nothing there?  How many times have you been freaked out by something you saw or heard just on the line between sleep and wakefulness?  Are each and every one of these happenings something paranormal, some creature from the beyond?  Here’s my answer (and I hope I don’t shock or appall my audience too much):

No, they aren’t.

Now before I’m inundated with comments calling me a close-minded traitor, let me explain a bit.  Think about it for a minute.  How many times have you seen a creepy shadow on the wall that looked like a person stalking into your room, only to realize that it was just an illusion caused by the way the moonlight caught your shirt draped across that chair by the window?  I think we’ve all had that happen to us in some fashion or another.  There are things out there that can’t be explain, things out there that we don’t know anything about, and there are also things that have a rational explanation.  It’s our duty not to jump to conclusion in pursuit of the paranormal.  Our default position should be that there’s some reasonable, mundane explanation and move on from there.  To go into a situation already believing that it’s paranormal, now that’s the close-minded approach.  Sometime we just can’t trust our own perceptions.  When it’s late and spooky out and you’re all alone, of course you’re going to be jumping at ever noise it’s hardwired into your survival mechanism.  The human brain is so powerful and so full of imagination, when the right circumstances happen it’s powerful enough to make us see things that just aren’t there.  There are also plenty of people out there looking to make a quick buck and unfortunately for honest, professional paranormal investigators, the charlatans have us outnumbered.  Now remember folks, this is all coming from a bonafide believer in all things paranormal.  As many of you know I studied parapsychology at Soobrook.  I have gone hunting for ghosts, UFO’s, Bigfoot, selkies and all manner of things strange and bizarre(and I’ve seen more than my share of things that can’t be explained!), but I always do so from a professional and scientific point of view.  Like most things in life, friends, it’s best to leave it to the people that know what they’re doing.

Well, I hope I haven’t struck a sour chord with too many of you.  I’d like to think that my audience is a pretty open-minded crowd and wouldn’t take it personally just because I happened to have an opinion contrary to them.  If I wanted divisiveness on the radio I’d go listen to people like Rush.  But when I want an open-minded group of people, willing to listen to what someone has to say and give them a chance even when they disagree, I’ll come looking for you Sea to Sea listeners.  And you know what?  You guys never let me down.  Danny says we gotta go.  Talk to you on the air!

Dee Dee

An Interview with Dr. Anton Stark (2)

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Sea to Sea with Richie Eliot
Thursday, August 25, 20XX

PART II

RICHIE ELIOT (RE):  Greetings, truthseekers of the world, and welcome to another night of Sea to Sea Radio, with your host, Richie Eliot.  We’ll conclude the second half of my interview with noted psychiatrist Anton Stark.  We’ll tell you all about the recent spate of paracosmic events documented by listeners over the past few weeks, and hear what Dr. Stark has to say on the topic.

All this and more, next on Sea to Sea Radio.

[BREAK]

Tonight on Sea to Sea:  Dr. Anton Stark and paracosms.  What’s up, Doc?

DR. ANTON STARK (AS):  …Hello again, Richard.  I’m glad to be back.

RE:  Doctor, I’ll begin at the beginning of this paracosm surge.  Let’s start with the Crawfish incident in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania this past May.

AS:  The elementary school assembly, wasn’t it?

RE:  Yeah, that’s the one.  That kids’ author, ah…Crawfish Llewellyn, paid a visit to an elementary school for a live reading.  From all that’s been said and speculated, it’s been hard to learn what actually happened that day.  The questionable posts of AC Rising forumites aside, I came up with the following summary of events.

Shortly after Crawfish began his performance, *something* happened.  Children began interacting with people and things that simply were not there, all of them characters apparently inspired by the writer.  Several kids got up and joined the author on stage, even as school officials moved to intercept.

Many children watching the strange event also described the children’s author as colorful, or wearing colorful clothing.  Furthermore, three other individuals were described as drastically different–most strikingly, a boy with “kitty ears,” was described more than a few times.

A few teachers and staff, under condition of anonymity, confirmed seeing the “frog knight” and other fantastic creatures that emerged.  Notably, these characters persisted in the perceptions of the children even after Crawfish was forced off the stage by school officials.  According to the accounts I’ve read, when administrators asked teachers to deal with the excited kids, the strange world and its inhabitants vanished from their sight.

What’s your take on the incident, Doc?  It certainly sounds like some of the symptoms of patients from your books, except I don’t recall much about a paracosmic light-switch…or this shared fantasy.

AS:  Richard, I admire your attempt at sorting out the events of that day from such a perspective.  However, there are factors at work here that may need a bit more explanation.  In less technical terms, what happened that day is merely the dangerous influence of an adult individual with extensively maintained paracosmic disorder.  I speak of Mr. Llewellyn here, from all descriptions a possible victim of Paracosmic Disorder.

As with the patients I treated in Chimera: Living Within Our Dreams, the children at this assembly were pulled into the man’s deluded reality.  I am particularly concerned about those seen cavorting on stage with imaginary creatures.  I hope to speak with school administration on that issue and offer my services in the near future.  Young minds, especially the ones whom perpetuate the skewed reality of adults with PD like Mr. Llewellyn, are easily led into collaborative fantasies like what we’ve heard.

RE:  So you believe it was just a grouping of young and older individuals with the disorder, and, what, easily excitable children?  Some kind of folie à deux expansion, or maybe folie à plusieurs?  

AS:  They call it shared psychiatric disorder these days, but yes, that’s my offhand assertion.  In that Harrisburg school, a coincidental meeting of individuals afflicted by Paracosmic Disorder were given a chance to entertain a susceptible audience.  It should be unsurprising that many children, fearful of sticking out, claim to have seen the things they were told to see.

RE:  A, whatsit called, perfect storm scenario?

AS:  Precisely that, Richard. The behavioral symptoms of the disorder, such as the increasing frequency of interactions with the imaginary, are expected.  Furthermore, my research supports the assertion that a person dealing with PD seeks others of similar mental dispositions, and failing that, company of those with little reason to question or criticize the worlds they create.

While Mr. Llewellyn’s exact role that day is unclear, I have no doubt he and the children on stage with him are suffering from Paracosmic Disorder.  The temptation to share their highly imaginative but entirely fictitious mindscapes with a receptive audience was clearly too great to resist.  And that, Richard, is what I believed happened in that Pennsylvania auditorium.

RE:  I would agree with ya, Doc, ‘cept for this pile of about a dozen stories from across the country.  These are just the verified ones.  Got a pile from the past month alone that need examined still, and the inter…er, seekers-in-training tell me that the show’s inbox is stuffed with email claims of surreal encounters along the lines of the Harrisburg incident.

In central Ohio, parents reported that a white unicorn crossed a soccer field in front of their children, causing the kids to break from class and rush after it.

In a Brooklyn residential neighborhood, a young girl swore that the giant bubble she began following wanted her to visit its own home.  She claimed this bubble was huge and could talk.  Since that day, stranger events have been reported.  They are pending verification, but that bubble was just the beginning.

At a dollar store in the Little Ramallah area of Paterson, New Jersey, a group of children claimed to have met and even spoken with a jinn.  They claim the creature came out on of the toy machines and demanded his release from the confines of the plastic bubble.  The children freed him, but what they got out of the deal is unclear.  Their parents and the store’s manager were unavailable for comment.

AS:  Certainly these are simple coinc…

RE:  And lastly the notable increase of reported missing persons cases throughout the state of California, evidenced by these articles from the Times and Chronicle.  The most recent of these “fantastic escapes” occurred in Sunnyvale, when various teenagers at a summer program addressed unseen parties and ran into the nearby strip of forest, only to apparently vanish from sight themselves.

I can go on, seriously, folks.  From sea to shining sea, and including Hawaii and Alaska, there’s something more than coincidence.  The thread I’ve come up with is this:  every missing kid was seen conversing with invisible companions by family, teachers, and bosses, although there are conflicted accounts from other eyewitnesses who claim to have seen these companions.  There’s something wild out there.  We’ll get an expert’s response when we return.

[BREAK]

RE:  Welcome back, truthseekers.  I have Doctor Anton Stark, famed for his successful treatment of Paracosmic Disorder.

Now, my layman understanding is that such behavior is one of the symptoms the doctor described earlier tonight when he talked about PD.  I refer, listeners, to the Harrisburg incident from a few months back.

I can’t help but ponder what these phenomena and the disappearances might mean, Doc.  Your thoughts?

AS:  Richard, let me begin by reminding your audience of the importance of reporting these incidents to a proper authority–parents, teachers, nurses, guidance counselors, anyone that can step in and help steer these victims back to the real world.

As for the trends you report…I am aware of the rise of paracosmic disorder.  I waited in my office for five years.  The surge of these incidents does not bode well for the youth of this nation, and I am obligated to apply my expertise to assisting schools in any way I can.

RE:  What about the patients, or “afflicted,” as you put it in your last book?  How about their perspectives?

AS:  That is for their parents, guardians, and teachers to decide.

Let me be frank, Richard.  My psychiatric career is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of individuals with Paracosmic Disorder.  I do not believe that children have the capability to resist the effects of their own imbalanced brains without proper diagnosis and treatment.  Artistic expression may help with some older individuals, but this is a case by case basis at best.

RE:  And what about the possibility of these events being part of something greater?

AS:  This description of a “shared paracosmic experience” as you suggest is a theory I have considered for some time.  It’s been five years since I caught wind of new cases of this kind of forceful fantasy-world, at least among children.  The strange absence of PD patients almost made me believe such a thing at one time.  Yet the current series of seemingly PD-related events is nothing more than a large-scale circumstantial coincidence.

RE:  A big coincidence?

AS:  Yes.

RE:  Well, truthseekers, you know what that means.  However, we’re out of time tonight–Doctor Anton Stark, it was great to have you on Sea to Sea Radio.  Best of luck dealing with all these, um, coincidences.

AS:  It was a pleasure, Richard.

RE:  Good night every body!  Check our website, C2C Radio, for a new ghost-hunting article from Dr. DeeDee. You won’t want to miss it.

 

An Interview with Dr. Anton Stark (1)

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Sea to Sea with Richie Eliot
Thursday, August 18, 20XX

PART I

RICHIE ELIOT (RE):  And we’re back!  That’s right, Sea 2 Sea is on the air again, and broadcasting all the news and interviews that truthseeking minds want to know.  Thanks to all you dedicated listeners across the nation and around the world who supported us during our transition to this new format!  Rest assured, we will be heard, coast to coast and sea to shining…well…you know…

RE:  On this most auspicious of evenings, we’ll talk about the latest in a series of nationwide paracosmic childhood experiences, and what parents, teachers, and officials can do about them.  Dr. Anton Stark, noted child psychiatrist and lecturer, has some fascinating things to say on the topic.

[BREAK]

RE:  Dr. Anton Stark is a licensed psychiatrist from the state of California who specializes in treating children and young adults.  In the early 1990s, his best-selling book, Chimera: Living Within Our Dreams, alerted the nation to rising paracosmic phenomena–and documented his controversial methods of dealing with these patients.  He has been consulted for a number of federal and state policy decisions, from insurance companies to the US Congress, though his proposed “Stark’s Paracosmic Disorder” has not been acknowledged by either the APA or by the psychiatric community at large.

Dr. Stark’s other notable paracosm-related works include Imaginary Companions, Invisible Dangers, which coincided with his second academic tour in 1998, and 2002’s Living Nightmares, Terrible Dreams, which laid the framework for his proposed paracosmic disorder.  In addition to articles in psychological research journals, Dr. Stark’s intended return to the lecture circuit this fall has already caught the attention of the paracosmic psychology community, and the doctor has much to say on that topic.Dr. Anton Stark, our special guest tonight here on Sea to Sea.  Helllllo Doctor!

DR. ANTON STARK (AS):  …Hello there, Richard.  How are you doing?

RE:  Quite well, Doc.  Thanks for asking.  Before we delve into more…paracosmic topics, why don’t you tell me where you’ve been these past–what, five–years?

AS:  It’s been that long?  [chuckles]  The short answer?  Back in California, continuing my psychiatric practice.

RE:  And the long story?

AS:  I suppose I could…well, there were a few, uh, factors that went into my decision to withdraw from the so-called popular awareness about psychiatry and mental health.  Fatigue–the ordeal of traveling has never sat well with me, and by the time I reached the East Coast stops, I felt I was burning out.  But my concerns about the mental health of the children of this country had sustained me before, and would again.  I pushed on:  the days, listeners and venues blended together into a grey, meaningless blur.  I don’t remember much until my presentation in North Carolina.  After that, there was a conference in Atlanta that would have been the culmination of my tour.  I was hoping to have my paracosmic findings accepted for review by the APA in the fall, I think.

RE:  Where about in North Carolina, Doc?

AS:  Oh, Asheville, of all places.

RE:  Asheville?  Really?  I would think Charlotte would have been the more apt venue, or Raleigh…

AS:  Yes, that was the plan.  …odd, that I only vaguely recall the reasons given to me, but I was in a constant state of exhaustion.  I don’t recall asking too many questions…there was an incident involving a schedule conflict at the one-day event, and a bigger crowd-pleaser than me was involved.  It is strange that I don’t remember names–I’m usually quite good with them.

RE:  Fatigue’s a real killer.

AS:  …perhaps…but I’m off-topic here.  Uh, in Asheville I noticed how much my audience had changed.  Simultaneously, I would be looking for a new booking agency, should I ever tour again.  Incidentally, I have a very good one now.

RE:  What do you mean by “changed,” doctor?  What was so different?

AS:  The people I found myself in front of are what I could describe as “friends of imaginary friends.”  All age ranges–it was a confirmation of my worst fears as a psychiatrist:  full-grown, reasonable (save one obvious exception) adults who fervently held to a sort of shared fantasy world.  Teenagers and children seemed to share in their sick paracosmic fantasy world.

That night, it seemed that the younger members of the audience had more to say about my findings than the older ones.  It was bizarre.  I heard a pretty young graduate student selectively dismantle my findings in a logical manner, yet minutes some rougher-tongued ten year olds took me to task to the consequences of my research on their deranged fantasy world.

RE:  Quite an experience, Doc.  So these…paracosm-supporters, what did they want, exactly?

AS:  They wanted me to stop treatment of patients I diagnosed as having Stark’s Paracosmic Disorder.  Naturally, I refused, but in my heart and mind I knew of a far more devastating disorder that was spreading through our country’s citizens.  The tour would serve no further purpose for me, for I had a new calling.  As you already know, I never went to Atlanta, regrettably ending my chances for the APA to even consider my research for the next DSM committee.

I felt then, and still feel, that something had shifted in the…what can you call it, the psyche? of this nation, and I became fully aware of the enormity of America’s psychological wounds.  To my horror, the insecurity and fear of a damaged people trickled down, through all ages, and the escape into a paracosm–a fantasy world of their own creation–was an enticing response for many people.

RE:  That’s…a little hard to believe.  So video game sales are higher due to a terrorist attack?  Escapism always sells, Doc.

AS:  No!  No, you misunderstand me, you don’t…ah…allow me to share the rest of this tale.

RE:  Go ahead–though I think we may have to wrap this up in the near future.

AS:  Thank you.  I left Asheville and returned to my practice.  I sought out any and all paracosmic cases, as well as the perspectives of a more spiritual bent that I could support with my findings.  Yet…in the past five years, I have found no patients with the severe paracosm obsession that my work had documented the previous decade.  It was puzzling, and frankly, I had settled back to less specialized patient care…until an intern brought to my awareness what I would call a “spontaneous manifestation” of the disturbing shared fantasy that I had successfully cured ten years ago.

The time had come for me to act.

RE:  And me too, Doc.  I’m afraid that’s all the time we have for tonight, but stay tuned for part two next week, where we will have a chance to ask the good doctor the questions you want asked.  Email me at richie.eliot.sea2sea@gmail.com with what you want to know.

For Sea to Sea, this was Doctor Anton Stark, and I’m your host, Richie Eliot.

[BREAK]

 

An Interview with Jeanne Bidel (About the Slenderman)

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Sea to Sea with Dee Dee Arthur
Tuesday, August 16th, 20XX

Dee Dee Arthur: Top of the hour, we’ve got a great guest for you tonight.  She’s a leading authority on myth, folklore,  and cryptozoology, and a personal friend of mine from way back, Jeanne Bidel.  She’s here tonight to talk about the  recent string of sightings of a creature people have been calling “Slenderman”.  We’ll be hearing about a few of those  sightings and Jeanne is going to give us a run down of some of the possible origins of Slenderman when we return, so stay tuned.  We’ll be back in a moment.

–BREAK–

Dee Dee: We’re back on Sea to Sea.  I’m your host for this evening, Dee Dee Arthur, and you guys are in for a real treat tonight.  With me tonight, she’s an expert on all things myth and folklore and she’s one of the top researchers into the “Slenderman” phenomenon, Jeanne Bidel.  She’s also a long time friend of mine, we’ve known each other since elementary school in Glen Rock, New Jersey.  How are you this evening Jeanne?

Jeanne Bidel: Hey Dee Dee, it’s just great to be here.  It’s been a while since we did a radio show together…maybe  fifth grade?

Dee Dee: {chuckle} Yeah something like that.  So what have you got for us tonight, Jeanne?  We’ve been hearing reports of this Slenderman figure all over the internet.  Who, or what, is this thing?

Jeanne: Well, Dee Dee, let me start by talking about a few modern Slenderman sightings.  Around late Spring, 2004, a  young boy from Wichita, Kansas disappeared right out of his fenced in backyard.  His mother had seen him playing near a  group of trees just an hour or so before hand.  There was no sign that he left the yard or that anyone else entered the  yard; he just vanished into thin air.

Dee Dee: Wow, the hairs on my neck are already standing up.  What happened when the local authorities got involved?  Did the police have any leads?

Jeanne: Well, he had been having problems in school leading up to his disappearance.  When guidance counselors talked to  him he kept going on about a very tall, very thin man dressed in black.  A few days after the disappearance, the parents  noticed a similar looking figure lurking in the background of some recent birthday pictures.

Dee Dee: Oh man…can we get a copy of that picture?  {slight pause} Wow, that’s just frightening.  And the parents,  whoever took this picture, didn’t notice that guy standing there?

Jeanne: Not at all Dee.  Not a single person, not the parents, not the magician in the picture, not any of the kids, no one can remember that figure standing in the background.

Dee Dee: I’m going to make sure a link (http://img.waffleimages.com/1948cb4bf8d1732105c6e3d423fb47fff19594f1/outdoor%20bday.jpg) is included to this picture when we post the transcript online so everyone out there can get a look at how  creepy this picture is.

Jeanne: It’s just remarkable, Dee, that no one saw him…if you can even call it a him.  No one saw it that whole day.   There are other Slenderman sightings.  There’s another photograph that was taken of him by an unknown photographer in the 1980’s. (http://img.waffleimages.com/4d7791a36c5d8618428539002107b09a6ff9e53f/paranormal%201.jpg)

Dee Dee: {Pause} Gosh..That’s just..And I thought the other picture was creepy.

Jeanne: According to records, the photograph was taken the same day four-teen children disappeared without any trace of what became of them.

Dee Dee: You’re kidding.  It’s like he’s that guy with the burnt up face and the claws, preying on little children, but  these disappearances actually happen, huh?

Jeanne: And if you go back even further you find some pretty similar stories in German folklore.

Dee Dee: Really?  Well, I gotta ask you something about this picture first, Jeanne.  Where’s it’s face?

Jeanne: It’s not there.  It’s a common report in Slenderman sightings.  He’s always very tall, seven feet or so,  sometimes even taller.  His limbs are also very thin and in some reports he has multiple arms, like testicles; but there’s never a face.  Even when people can see his head clearly, like in the 1980’s picture, there’s no face that anyone can make out.

Dee Dee: Spooky, to say the least.  So you were saying that there’s traces of what we call Slenderman today going back in  German folklore?

Jeanne: Yes, in 16th Germany we start seeing a popular folktale about a creature called “Der Ritter”.  I’ve heard there’s also an old wood carving done showing a knight doing battle with the tall, thin, multi-limbed creature.  By the 17th century it looks like the Der Ritter stories turned into “Der Grobmann”.  Der Grobmann, or the Tall Man, is where a lot  of the Slenderman legend really starts to form.  Der Grobmann dresses in black like Slenderman.  He is tall, taller than  a man in the legends, and very thin.  He has nothing where his face is suppose to be, like Slenderman.  Der Grobmann  waits in the wooded areas and forests for unlucky travelers and the majority of Slenderman sightings happen around trees  and wilderness areas.  It’s almost like he gets his powers from the trees.  There’s another story that suggests that  Slenderman was the inspiration for one of Johanne Goethe’s poems.

Dee Dee: Goethe, huh?  Just amazing.  So this guy isn’t just some Johnny-come-lately internet fad; it looks like he’s  been around in some form or another for a long time.

Jeanne: Oh, there’s no doubt that the rise of the internet is leading to more people coming forward with their stories, but yeah, Dee, I think these stories have been around for a very long time.  We’re only starting to hear more about it now because people have the tools they need to talk about it.  For example, there’s a wonderful series of videos on the  internet detailing a large number of Slenderman sightings during the shooting of a student film.

Dee Dee: Yeah, I’ve seen some of those.  They give me goosebumps just thinking about them.  We’ll include a link to those  videos with the online transcript as well. (http://www.youtube.com/user/MarbleHornets start with the intro and entry #1 down at the bottom of the list) You know the internet is just a fascinating thing, isn’t it?

Jeanne: Absolutely, Dee.

Dee Dee: I mean,Richie and I, we’re going to start posting the transcripts of our shows on our website, that’s ovprod.com/c2c, for people who might have missed the show or if they just want to read the interviews we do.   It’s just so amazing.  When I started doing radio and a listener wanted to get a hold of a transcript we’d have to have one of our guys physically mail them one, and now they can just jump on the website and check them out for free.  There are also going to be separate posts from me and Richie on whatever topics interest us at the moment.

Jeanne: It’s just a great way to reach people.  There’s so much information at the tip of your fingers.  I have my own  blog that I write in every so often to keep people updated on the research I do into Slenderman and other creatures like Bigfoot or the Mothman.

Dee Dee: Yeah, I make sure to check up on all of your latest adventures whenever I get the chance.

Jeanne: Aw, thanks for following me.

Dee Dee: Well, Jeanne, Love, I hate to say it but we’re running out of time.  I’ve had a whole lot of fun talking with you tonight.  I hope that maybe we can have you back on the show sometime.

Jeanne: I’ve had a lot of fun too, Dee.  I’d just love to come back on, you know I’d do anything for you.

Dee Dee: Thanks so much Jeanne, we’ll talk to you again real soon.  There you have it folks, on behalf of everyone here  at Sea to Sea, I’m Dee Dee Arthur and thanks for listening.  Danny says we gotta go, so I’m out of here.