Boo_ep608

[TRANSCRIPT]
0:00:00 - (Jethro): You're familiar with Yogi Bera, the baseball legend? Yeah, from the 50s. No, no, that's Yogi bear. Yogi Beara was a catcher for the Yankees.
0:00:11 - (Kat): Yes, of course.
0:00:11 - (Jethro): During their dynasty. I know. You know, and he was famous for saying weird things, kind of spoonerisms, right? Kind of like that, yeah. He said things that weren't quite right but still ended up being more beautiful than what he was trying to say. Here's a few examples. He said, the future ain't what it used to be. He's the one that said it ain't over till it's over. And that's just become a cliche. Right, these days.
0:00:39 - (Jethro): He said if the world were perfect, it wouldn't be.
0:00:46 - (Kat): No, I think that's true.
0:00:48 - (Jethro): He also said you can observe a lot just by watching. Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical. You wouldn't have won if we'd beaten you.
0:01:06 - (Kat): Nothing so far has been untrue.
0:01:08 - (Jethro): When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
0:01:11 - (Kat): Well, I guess that's especially true if you're short on silverware.
0:01:15 - (Jethro): He also said, nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded. And one of my favorites is it's deja vu all over again. Yeah. And that leads us to deja vu, my topic for today. It directly translates to already seen in French. And it's of course that weird sensation that almost everyone has encountered at some point. It's an abrupt, almost disconcerting feeling where a person finds themselves in a situation and despite the logical understanding that this should be a new experience, everything seems eerily familiar.
0:01:59 - (Jethro): You might walk into a restaurant in a foreign country for the very first time and suddenly feel like you've been there before or meet somebody new and feel this unexplained sense of recognition, or.
0:02:12 - (Kat): See a black cat cross a doorway, and then you know there's a glitch in the Matrix and then you have to find a phone.
0:02:19 - (Jethro): Yep, exactly right. And people do refer to it nowadays as a glitch in the matrix. And the sensation is very common. I didn't realize this. They estimate about 80% of the population on the planet Earth has experienced deja vu at least once in their lives. I've experienced it so many times, it just seems like a common thing. I just assumed everybody did. But I guess there are some people that don't experience it.
0:02:47 - (Kat): See, I'm surprised that it's as high as 80%. That seems like a lot to me.
0:02:52 - (Jethro): It's most frequently reported among people between the ages of 15 and 25. I thought that was interesting.
0:02:58 - (Kat): That is interesting.
0:02:59 - (Jethro): And that might suggest that it's linked to brain development or the prime of memory function. The feeling of deja vu is often described, as you mentioned, like a glitch, a momentary break in the fabric of our perception of time and space. And it's not a prolonged state. It typically lasts maybe just for a split second or a few seconds at the most. Some people, in rarer cases, have had deja vu that's lasted for several minutes.
0:03:30 - (Kat): Oh, I would hate that.
0:03:31 - (Jethro): Despite the lack of any actual previous encounter with the present scenario, your brain, for some reason, is convinced that it's a rerun. The vividness of this illusion can vary. It can be a faint whisper, or it could be something like the black cat walking through the doorway over and.
0:03:49 - (Kat): Over, like a very vivid, literal kind of repeat experience.
0:03:54 - (Jethro): Deja vu is a widely acknowledged phenomenon, but there's no definitive answer as to why it happens. There are many theories that have been proposed, mostly a cognitive anomaly that's related to how we process memories.
0:04:08 - (Kat): Okay.
0:04:09 - (Jethro): The brain has such. I mean, it's a pretty impressive piece of machinery we got between our ears.
0:04:16 - (Kat): And there's so many connections from one part to another, and it's not surprising that we don't have.
0:04:22 - (Jethro): Things misfire.
0:04:24 - (Kat): Yeah. More often it is.
0:04:26 - (Jethro): It's an intricate network of connections dedicated to storing and retrieving countless bits of information that we encounter, very much like a computer.
0:04:36 - (Kat): It actually makes me think of synesthesia.
0:04:39 - (Jethro): You know, I wonder if there's some kind of a connection there. Like the Oliver Sachs book, the man who thought his wife was a hat, which, by the way, fascinating read. But occasionally there might be, in your brain function, a slight delay or even an overlap in processing, leading to the sensation that a new experience is being recalled rather than lived in the present. But occasionally, there might be, in your brain function, a slight delay or even an overlap in processing, leading to the sensation that a new experience is being recalled rather than lived in the present.
0:05:17 - (Kat): Aha.
0:05:18 - (Jethro): Our brains are constantly looking for ways to streamline the immense task of all of the information that it's processing.
0:05:26 - (Kat): We were just recently talking about how much information your brain has to process every second of every day. And it is outrageous that we don't just fall over more often.
0:05:40 - (Jethro): Yeah. What was it we were talking about? The amount of bits processed. It's something like 11 million bits of information every second, but we take in billions and billions of bits. And if we were to try to process all of the bits, not just 11 million that we can perceive, but all of the bits filtered out.
0:06:06 - (Kat): Right.
0:06:06 - (Jethro): It wouldn't take a second. It would take, like, 760 years for your brain to process all of the information that's out there that we filter out. So it's not surprising that something like this, like deja vu, could happen. Some people associate it with dreams, suggesting that the sensation might arise when an actual experience triggers the recall of a dream.
0:06:31 - (Kat): That's actually called something different, though. That's deja revey, I think. Deja revey, is it? Yeah.
0:06:39 - (Jethro): Interesting.
0:06:39 - (Kat): That is where your feeling is that you're experiencing something that you have already dreamed, kind of a prophetic dream situation.
0:06:47 - (Jethro): You had a moment yesterday where you just kind of stopped in your tracks and went, oh, I just remembered something about a dream, and then you couldn't remember what it was. And we discussed how sometimes you and I recall a dream, but it's not what happened. It was the emotion we felt at the time.
0:07:05 - (Kat): Yeah. And it happened as soon as I opened my purse and I smelled dog food, and it was, like, triggered. And my brain went, oh, dream. And I went, what dream? And it went. I don't know.
0:07:15 - (Jethro): In popular culture, deja vu is often depicted as something that's mystical, maybe a sign of a parallel universe. There are a lot of films and books, of course, that have played upon that. The psychological and neurological theories go this way. It's memory based theories suggesting deja vu occurs due to a glitch in the brain's memory system, creating a false sense of familiarity. There's the dual processing theory, which proposes that deja vu happens when the brain's separate cognitive systems process the same information at different speeds, resulting in a mismatch and a feeling of familiarity.
0:07:54 - (Jethro): That's amazing.
0:07:55 - (Kat): That's wild. You need intel inside.
0:07:59 - (Jethro): Studies indicate that the temporal lobe, which is crucial in memory and processing sensory input, plays a key role in triggering deja vu. In some cases, it's more frequent in people with epilepsy, particularly temporal lobe epilepsy, indicating that it's very possibly a neurological, that it's neurologically based.
0:08:24 - (Kat): That's fascinating.
0:08:25 - (Jethro): It absolutely is. And I want to dig more into that, but I got to get into this part. The mystical explanations. Yeah, time slips. The concept of time slips. It's one of the more fascinating mystical theories associated with deja vu. People who believe this or put this theory forward suggest that deja vu may be the experience of a momentary slipping into an alternate timeline. Deja vu may be the experience of a momentary slipping into an alternate timeline or dimension. This theory stretches, of course, your imagination, which I love stretching my imagination. Otherwise, it gets all kinked up, and it hurts when I get up in the morning.
0:09:10 - (Jethro): This proposes that time is not linear, but rather more of a fluid concept where past, present, and future coexist and are accessible through certain triggers or states of consciousness, like the alpha state when you're just about to fall asleep, right. It's more apt to happen. So this theory says that it's like a cosmic glitch, allowing an individual to peer into a parallel reality where an event similar to the current one has already transpired.
0:09:39 - (Jethro): But for those brief seconds, the barrier between those timelines is dissolved and the person experiences this convergence of temporal streams, which leads to the sense of deja vu.
0:09:52 - (Kat): Well, that explains it.
0:09:54 - (Jethro): Not as well as this one. The notion of past life recall offers a more personal explanation for deja vu. It's rooted in the belief in reincarnation that the idea that our consciousness or soul experiences multiple lifetimes to grow and evolve. And deja vu, from this perspective, is seen as a fragmentary memory from these past lives breaking through to our current awareness. And people who support this argue that certain locations, people, or events may resonate with our soul due to the similarity to experiences we've had in former lives. When we encounter these, I guess you could call them echoes from our subconscious.
0:10:40 - (Jethro): When they're recognized, we experience that as deja vu, as if your soul remembers what our conscious mind has forgotten. And let's be honest, even though I know you kind of poo poo this stuff, we both. When we first met, there was a.
0:10:55 - (Kat): Familiarity there, but it wasn't a deja vu.
0:10:58 - (Jethro): It wasn't deja vu, but it was almost a recognition that we knew each other somehow.
0:11:03 - (Kat): It was, like, from somewhere in time. Is it you?
0:11:06 - (Jethro): Da da da da.
0:11:10 - (Kat): Na.
0:11:13 - (Jethro): It's one of our Christmas movies, by the way. And then there's the quantum physics angle. Modern scientific theories like quantum physics and the multiverse theory have provided a form of validation for many of these mystical ideas. Quantum physics, with his exploration of particles existing in a state of superposition and entanglement, suggest that there are layers of reality that we do not fully understand and that our perception of time and space is very limited. Again, we're only processing 11 million bits of information per second, but there are, like, billions and trillions of bits that we filter out. Billions, billions, billions.
0:11:55 - (Jethro): The multiverse theory is popular in cosmology. Almost, said cosmetology. Maybe it is. I don't know. Discuss the collapsible universe theory and get a haircut. And it's also popular in science fiction, of course, says basically the existence. There is an existence of an infinite number of universes, including ones where different versions of ourselves are living out alternative life paths.
0:12:19 - (Kat): And you were just discussing the doors of perception yesterday. And so maybe deja vu is like just a little bit of LSD.
0:12:28 - (Jethro): Eldos, Huxley. If these universes were ever to intersect or influence one another, it might manifest as a sense of deja vu in our universe. The mystical explanations for deja vu, of course, I love to ponder those. They're a lot more interesting. Well, I won't say a lot more interesting, but to me, it's more interesting than just, oh, it's a brain fart.
0:12:53 - (Kat): Well, I would be hesitant to clump the quantum physics one in with the mysticals, because quantum physics is so much about our world that we don't understand, and our brain is absolutely included in that. Like, we do not understand our brain.
0:13:12 - (Jethro): What fascinates me about quantum physics is, and I've said this a million times, it's the intersection of hard science and mysticism. And so, in a sense, quantum physics scientifically provides the possibility of these more mystical explanations.
0:13:27 - (Kat): The branch of physics concerned with quantum theory, a theory of matter and energy based on the concept of quanta, especially quantum mechanics, it really doesn't define any. I mean, its definition doesn't include anything about any of that.
0:13:43 - (Jethro): The concept of superposition and entanglement suggests, again, that there are levels of reality that we're not fully aware of or fully understand, and those could be parallel universes. And so that would tie into parallel timelines and the possibility of bumping up against. I would put that in a mystical category, would you not?
0:14:08 - (Kat): I wouldn't, no. Because I think of mystical as being more spiritual rather than, okay, all right. But I guess that's semantics. Either way, it's really interesting.
0:14:16 - (Jethro): It is. And cultural and individual differences in perceiving deja vu are quite stark. How deja vu is interpreted varies greatly across cultures and individuals. And, of course, it's influenced by religion and spiritual and philosophical beliefs. Personal anecdotes often underscore the mystical side of deja vu, with many reporting predictions of future events or sensations of reliving a moment and that sort of thing. But research in the labs continue.
0:14:49 - (Jethro): Advances in neuroscience and psychology are advancing, and we're beginning to unravel some of the mysteries of deja vu.
0:14:58 - (Kat): Did you just say advances are advancing?
0:15:00 - (Jethro): Yes, I did.
0:15:01 - (Kat): That feels a little deja vu.
0:15:03 - (Jethro): Yeah, it's weird, isn't it? But there's a growing interest in the scientific community to study deja vu in the context of consciousness and reality perception. It's particularly exciting now with the integration of technology and brain imaging and the studies, the cognitive studies, it's opening all kinds of new doors of perception, if you will. And I can't help but think that perhaps AI is going to tie into this somehow.
0:15:31 - (Kat): Ooh. Interesting.
0:15:32 - (Jethro): In the study, deja vu remains a tantalizing enigma, though. Whether it's just a misfire of our machinery between our ears or maybe something more profound, it reminds us that the brain is a complex thing, and so is our perception of reality. The fleeting nature of deja vu makes it difficult to study because you can't plan on it. It just friggin happens. But it is curious and an extremely fascinating subject.
0:15:58 - (Kat): Agreed.
0:15:59 - (Jethro): I got my information from discovery, the Smithsonian, scientific american, and psychology today. And now that thing in the middle was watching a travel video the other night on YouTube, and one of the weirdest commercials I have ever seen came up. In fact, I'm seeing it a lot now. And basically, it's this. Energy companies are really mad at this guy because he's invented some sort of heating device out of empty cans, that kind of thing. And it reminded me of all the stupid products that you see on tv, especially during the holidays. We just kind of came through it, those made for tv products.
0:16:41 - (Jethro): And so the thing in the middle today made for tv products, but really stupid ones.
0:16:48 - (Kat): It's actually my favorite section of any store.
0:16:51 - (Jethro): Do you remember the titty bear?
0:16:53 - (Kat): Yes. And I think it's very clever.
0:16:55 - (Jethro): Okay. It was a little stuffed bear that went on your seatbelt so that it wouldn't hurt certain parts of women's anatomy. Or I guess guys.
0:17:08 - (Kat): My mom always said that she didn't wear a seatbelt when she was younger because it was very uncomfortable. You've seen her. You can imagine why that might. But the titty bear wouldn't work for her either. She'd need, like, a titty rhino or some shit. Remember the shakewaite?
0:17:32 - (Jethro): Yeah. That was really almost an obscene commercial.
0:17:35 - (Kat): It was shocking that they aired that ever, and every time. It's almost like everyone in the commercial knew what was happening, of course, but had to do it anyway. And I just really like it.
0:17:53 - (Jethro): Bring back the shake weight.
0:17:55 - (Kat): Oh, I saw one at a.
0:17:57 - (Jethro): As seen on tv section at your local Walgreens or something.
0:18:03 - (Kat): Yep.
0:18:04 - (Jethro): Then there was the slumber sleeve, which looks like a beer cozy with the bottom popped out that you put it. So you put it on your arm and when you put your hat on your arm, it's softer.
0:18:16 - (Kat): I actually don't think that's a bad idea. Has anyone tried the slumber sleeve? Can I please get some real reviews?
0:18:25 - (Jethro): Curator@theboxofodities.com thank you.
0:18:28 - (Kat): The bear, scratch this I've never heard of. It's a stick. It's a stick that you attach to your wall so you can lean up against it and scratch yourself like a bear might.
0:18:39 - (Jethro): Yeah, it looks a little bit like a log. Like somebody just bolted a log to your wall.
0:18:46 - (Kat): Yeah. So what happens is you see this infomercial and my brain would go, I'm just going to go get a stick. I'm not paying 1999 for that.
0:18:57 - (Jethro): I got sticks. I get a screw gun, right? I'm good though.
0:19:02 - (Kat): If they. But wait, there's moored me and offered me two sticks.
0:19:08 - (Jethro): That'd be tough to turn down. Do you remember the great looking hair system?
0:19:13 - (Kat): Is that what it was called?
0:19:14 - (Jethro): It was called the GlH. Great looking hair system.
0:19:17 - (Kat): No, I don't think that's a very good name.
0:19:20 - (Jethro): Well, it was actually spray paint, more or less. You sprayed on colored hair thickener and apparently it was the ultimate solution for balding men and women. It was popular in the. Remember Ron Popeal? I don't know if you remember that guy.
0:19:39 - (Kat): I do. He was a set it and forget it guy.
0:19:41 - (Jethro): Yeah, right. Exactly. This was one of his early products or he had one like it and he just showed how it worked on himself. He had a little bald spot on the back of his head and he just took this can of what looked like spray paint and just sprayed over it and on tv it looked pretty impressive.
0:19:59 - (Kat): Did you ever see it in real life?
0:20:01 - (Jethro): No.
0:20:01 - (Kat): See, I wonder if it really works, though. See, I'm someone who would get sucked in by this. I'm like, you don't know.
0:20:08 - (Jethro): I'll give it a try.
0:20:10 - (Kat): I think the ultimate heavyweight cage match opponent to Ron Popel is Vince offer.
0:20:17 - (Jethro): Oh, Vince offer.
0:20:18 - (Kat): He was the slap chop guy. Slap chop guy and so many other things.
0:20:22 - (Jethro): Well, yeah.
0:20:23 - (Kat): And he just got more and more extreme and wild and weird with every infomercial. And I was there for it. Yeah, I was pro Vince offer.
0:20:32 - (Jethro): I remember when he was showing how the slap chop worked and he moved along to peanuts and he said, you're going to love my nuts. And this one's my favorite of all time. Somebody thought this up and convinced people this would be a good idea. And actually, you know what? It's not that bad an idea, but it's weird. The Euro club. This was a golf. It looked like a golf club, but it was hollow so that you could.
0:21:00 - (Kat): Whizz while you're on the golf course.
0:21:02 - (Jethro): Pee while you're out on the golf course. It came with a little apron so it looked like something that you could wipe the ball off with or whatever, but then you would pee into this golf club.
0:21:13 - (Kat): Yeah, I have one of those.
0:21:15 - (Jethro): You did not.
0:21:16 - (Kat): I did. It was not as helpful when I was like at the old port, just going from to bars.
0:21:23 - (Jethro): Bars.
0:21:23 - (Kat): No, it didn't blend in as well as I had hoped.
0:21:28 - (Jethro): Do they make them for women? Are there special models for women?
0:21:33 - (Kat): I have very good aim. You ain't got to worry about me.
0:21:36 - (Jethro): That's good.
0:21:37 - (Kat): We got a message from novel addictions on Instagram. Another boo effect box. Five nine nine. You mentioned a farmer named Joe who had pancakes with aliens. Did we? What is this podcast anyway? Well, it happened on my birthday, and Joe and I share the same surname. What are the chances?
0:22:01 - (Jethro): Wow.
0:22:01 - (Kat): Requesting alien pancakes as my next birthday cake.
0:22:07 - (Jethro): Amy writes us. I had to just tell you guys that I was just listening to the episode where you talked about Robert the doll, and something strange started happening as I was listening to the episode. As soon as Kat said she'll be talking about Robert, the episode started skipping, almost as if I was listening to a CD. So I messed with the episode on my phone to get it to play again, and it kept skipping off and on randomly through the story about Robert.
0:22:36 - (Jethro): However, all of the other subjects you guys talked about in the episode were totally fine and played normal. It only skipped through the Robert piece. Then after I had listened to the piece on Annabelle, I went to the store and over the loudspeaker I heard someone say, annabelle, please come to the front.
0:22:57 - (Kat): What?
0:22:57 - (Jethro): Just a small boo effect to add to the experience. Love you guys, and thanks for all you do, amy. We love hearing from you guys. We get so many emails and messages that we can't up until now anyway, read them all on the air. We're going to try to read as many as we can in our new segment, the inbox of oddities, which will premiere very soon.
0:23:22 - (Kat): Share your stuff with us.
0:23:23 - (Jethro): Yeah, and if you want to tell a story, you could record it on your phone and send it to us. Kind of like what we do with the Halloween show, but you can read your own email to us. Share your experience with us. Curator@theboxofodities.com did you know that the curator used to dream of being a game show announcer? Hard to believe, right? This is the box of oddities.
0:23:49 - (Kat): When a historical practice is done discreetly, how do we confirm that the practice took place at all? How do we discern the truth out of the folklore that was passed down? Confirming historical practices that were done discreetly can be super challenging, and researchers often rely on a variety of sources to discern the truth. These might include written records, archaeological evidence, oral histories and cultural artifacts.
0:24:22 - (Kat): Comparing and cross referencing these sources can help to validate historical practices and separate fact from folklore. Additionally, collaborating with experts in related fields and utilizing modern scientific techniques can provide further insight into the accuracy of historical accounts. And sometimes you just have to accept that we can't know for sure. Appreciate legends for what they are and what they can teach us. Though the not knowing, as I said, can be frustrating. And sometimes we just like the idea enough to believe it without proof.
0:24:57 - (Jethro): I love believing things without any proof.
0:25:00 - (Kat): And this is one of those instances. We're going to Sardinia, a large italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. Sardinia has a rich tradition of myths and legends that contribute to a mysterious and intriguing atmosphere. From ancient neurogic civilization to folklore and traditions, the island has a unique and captivating history that can certainly be considered mysterious and to some, even spooky.
0:25:31 - (Jethro): I'm going to try to work Neurogic into daily conversation on a regular basis. This is going to be one of my New Year's resolutions.
0:25:38 - (Kat): I love that the island's rugged landscapes and ancient ruins add to the allure, making it a place with an unmistakable aura of mystery. There, in each village lived a woman with a very special job. When a terminally ill person was suffering greatly, the family, out of compassion, might reach out to her. She was the Femina acabadora, also known as the lady of the good death.
0:26:08 - (Jethro): I'm listening.
0:26:10 - (Kat): The name is derived from agabadora, which translates from she who ends.
0:26:17 - (Jethro): So she was like a hitman? Hit person, hit woman.
0:26:20 - (Kat): I don't think that's quite an appropriate way to categorize her. But she often was described as a mature woman, clad and black, with a shawl covering her head in a big club.
0:26:33 - (Jethro): Yeah, really?
0:26:35 - (Kat): She would use what appeared to be.
0:26:37 - (Jethro): A walking stick and she'd beat people to death.
0:26:40 - (Kat): Stop. She was chosen by the community to perform euthanasia for the elderly and the infirm. The acabadora would conduct this solemn duty with remarkable precision, employing a cudgel crafted from a section of a tree branch fashioned into a hammer like tool. Similar in appearance to the irish chilele.
0:27:03 - (Jethro): I think it sounds lovely to be beaten to death with an irish chile. It just sounds poetic, doesn't it?
0:27:09 - (Kat): It is kind of lovely. And I think a lot of times the acabadora is portrayed as like a scary or morbid figure. But to me it just seems like it would be such an incredible honor and a position that would hold such respect.
0:27:25 - (Jethro): Yeah. She wasn't perceived as just some crazy old lady flailing her chilele.
0:27:31 - (Kat): No. She was offering relief and kindness to these people. The primary method involved striking a blow on the patient's temple or neckbone with a mausalu. Her meticulous, silent and painless ritual began when she entered the house. What would happen is the family would reach out to her. They would figure out the day that this was to happen. And then the family would leave the house, but leave the door open.
0:28:02 - (Jethro): Oh, my.
0:28:03 - (Kat): And so she would come through the open door and do what she needed to do.
0:28:09 - (Jethro): So the. I'm not going to use the word victim, but the patient, shall we say, was not aware that she was coming. I don't know, I think that that would be cruel if people, if they. Yeah, listen, Kevin, I know you haven't been feeling well and stuff. We're going to go for a walk and an old woman with a chilele will be showing up.
0:28:33 - (Kat): I think in most cases it would actually be the Kevin who had asked their family to ask her to come.
0:28:39 - (Jethro): Interesting.
0:28:40 - (Kat): It wasn't like it was just anyone in the family know they wanted to get rid of. It was someone who was going through something.
0:28:47 - (Jethro): Of course. But I can't help but think about Monty Python. Bring out your.
0:28:52 - (Kat): This is. Listen, I'm not dead yet. You need to be more respectful.
0:28:56 - (Jethro): It's an old woman with a chile.
0:28:58 - (Kat): Though the acabadora would also attempt to induce death in a dying person by encouraging the soul to depart from the mortal body. She would help them do this by removing any jewelry or amulets that they might be wearing, which they believed would help bind the soul to the body and prevent the soul from departing. Now, there are versions of how the akabadoro would go about her work, but one includes using a miniaturized model of a yoke placed under the patient's neck, pillow or bed.
0:29:36 - (Kat): And this was like a wooden replica of an agricultural yoke.
0:29:40 - (Jethro): Okay.
0:29:40 - (Kat): And it was believed that the patient's prolonged suffering was a result of some sort of potential transgression committed possibly in youth, such as burning a yoke, stealing agricultural tools or altering land boundaries.
0:29:59 - (Jethro): Let me see if I understand what you're saying here.
0:30:01 - (Kat): Go ahead.
0:30:02 - (Jethro): In some cases, they believed that a person was ill and dying because they stole farm implements.
0:30:10 - (Kat): Yes.
0:30:11 - (Jethro): That's a rough crowd.
0:30:12 - (Kat): Yeah. So this miniature yoke would be used either to be present during the event or actually put under the patient's neck during the event. Before employing the instrument of death, she would recite prayers as part of this ritual, serving to hopefully hypnotize the patient to some extent. And then she would cradle the patient using the pillow. And sometimes that pillow would be used to suffocate the patient rather than using the chile tool.
0:30:49 - (Kat): Again, it's not actually a chilele.
0:30:51 - (Jethro): No, it's chileli like.
0:30:54 - (Kat): Correct. Additionally, she might employ strangulation methods to induce death, either by applying neck pressure or positioning the victim's neck between her knees.
0:31:05 - (Jethro): Holy crap.
0:31:06 - (Kat): Despite the sometimes frightful nature of the famina acabadora, she was seen as a provider of good death, offering a valuable and humane service during a time when more clinical forms of euthanasia were unavailable. Similar figures assisted in death of the elderly and infirm are found in other parts of Italy and in Greece, where the practice might have originated as euthanasia translates to good or easy death in Greek.
0:31:37 - (Kat): Now, in each generation in a village, only one acabadora would serve the local community until her own passing, with a successor already designated and trained for the role.
0:31:51 - (Jethro): That was going to be my next question. Okay, what if the. How do you say that again?
0:31:57 - (Kat): Akbadora.
0:31:57 - (Jethro): Acabadora. She's on her deathbed and she wants to be put out of her misery, right? She's got an understudy.
0:32:06 - (Kat): She does.
0:32:06 - (Jethro): Okay.
0:32:07 - (Kat): The rationale for the acabadora's existence stemmed from the belief that just as only a woman can bring life into the world, only a woman should bring it to an end.
0:32:18 - (Jethro): Okay.
0:32:19 - (Kat): I'm pretty sure my mom said similar things to me during my childhood.
0:32:24 - (Jethro): My mom too. Yeah.
0:32:26 - (Kat): The practice of the acabadora in Sardinia is believed to have roots stretching back several centuries, perhaps even to ancient times. Some researchers suggest that its origin could reach as far back as neolithic times.
0:32:42 - (Jethro): Holy crap.
0:32:43 - (Kat): Indicating a tradition that may have persisted for thousands of years, even connecting the practice to ancient revered goddesses. The connection between the acabadora and the ancient goddess in Sardinia is intriguing. As Sardinia holds on to ancient folk customs that may stretch back millennia, it's compelling to consider that the Acabadora, also known as the woman of death, or Senora de la Morte, as embodying a kind of magical archetype this association gains further weight when looking at the neolithic stone figurine discovered at the archaeological site of Torga in Sardinia.
0:33:25 - (Kat): This figurine, described as a totem for those who tend to the sick and dying, bears resemblance to the goddess Janus, a figure in sardinian mythology representing mother death. This implies that the roots of the acabadora's concept could potentially extend back to neolithic times, a period when the deceased were placed on elevated wooden platforms, a practice known as excarnation, offering the remains to scavenger birds.
0:33:56 - (Kat): In antiquity, after the birds like crows and ravens and rooks and vultures, have meticulously stripped a carcass, the bones were gathered and placed in tombs or ossuaries. This practice held profound significance as a means of connecting with the ancestral spirits. Considering this, it's plausible to think that the acapadora's role was intertwined with charnel rites, acting as a mediator between grieving families and the psychopomp whose duty was to guide the departed spirit to the afterlife. As per the greek concept of a soul carrier.
0:34:33 - (Jethro): How does one become a psychopomp?
0:34:35 - (Kat): Unclear. We should look into that, though.
0:34:37 - (Jethro): Do you have to take a test? Do you need to be certified?
0:34:40 - (Kat): I think you're voted in.
0:34:42 - (Jethro): Oh, okay.
0:34:44 - (Kat): So this practice hints at a deep historical connection, suggesting that the role of the acabadura may have origins reaching back to this distant era.
0:34:53 - (Jethro): That's crazy.
0:34:54 - (Kat): And even Wilder. This practice is said to have continued among some sardinian communities up until the 1970s.
0:35:02 - (Jethro): Shut up. That's not true, is it?
0:35:05 - (Kat): It's the word on the sardinian street. An assisted death provokes discomfort due to ethical, moral, legal implications, as does assisted suicide. And it challenges deeply ingrained societal beliefs regarding the sanctity of life and the duty to preserve it. However, in specific contexts, it represents an essential and humane option. For individuals facing unbearable suffering due to terminal illness, the ability to choose a dignified end to their life can be the epitome of autonomy and compassion.
0:35:38 - (Jethro): I agree with that.
0:35:39 - (Kat): In essence, while the concept of an assisted suicide or an acabadora situation may continue to evoke discomfort, it remains an important and humane option that demands thoughtful and considerate examination. As we talked about, the existence of the sardinian acabadora and the related end of life practices is deeply rooted in cultural folklore and historical accounts. And if true, the role might be both important and complex, involving a mix of compassion and cultural significance.
0:36:14 - (Jethro): And don't forget chileles and chileles.
0:36:17 - (Kat): Despite being associated with death, the role holds significant cultural importance, and it's deeply intertwined with local traditions, spirituality and the care for the dying. Making it deserving of the utmost respect. Culturally, the acabadora embodies a profound sense of compassion and care. And that reflects the values and traditions deeply rooted in sardinian society. Though, as I said, concrete proof or documentation of these practices is limited.
0:36:48 - (Kat): The acabadora's role was often discreet and passed down through oral traditions. Making it challenging to find verifiable evidence.
0:36:57 - (Jethro): Also challenging to prosecute.
0:36:59 - (Kat): Sure. Yeah. Mousseo Gallora's director Pala has compiled a book of testimonials available at the museum's website. For all of those who can recall in their youth the presence of an acabadora in their villages.
0:37:15 - (Jethro): Amazing.
0:37:16 - (Kat): The museum has a section dedicated to the acabadora in Lurus, Sardinia.
0:37:23 - (Jethro): It stands to reason that they would want to keep it on the down low.
0:37:26 - (Kat): Yeah, absolutely. And I know that even though there was tremendous respect connected with this position. Probably it didn't always feel good. Maybe you didn't want everyone to know. To know.
0:37:38 - (Jethro): Well, yeah, it's kind of like the hood that the hangman would wear.
0:37:44 - (Kat): Yeah. And that was a highly respected position.
0:37:47 - (Jethro): Sure was.
0:37:48 - (Kat): Inside this museum, you can see the hammer of the acabadora found in an old stable being demolished nearby.
0:37:56 - (Jethro): So was there just one that was passed on from person to person?
0:38:02 - (Kat): That's something. I don't know. I don't know if you had your own or like a baseball bat. Right.
0:38:08 - (Jethro): Everybody has their own preference. Personally, I liked a 36 with a wide barrel.
0:38:14 - (Kat): Do you prefer wood or metal?
0:38:16 - (Jethro): Oh, wood. Come on. I'm a traditionalist.
0:38:19 - (Kat): Okay? So I could outbat you, is what you're saying.
0:38:21 - (Jethro): Well, you don't.
0:38:22 - (Kat): Stupid wouldn't bat.
0:38:24 - (Jethro): I don't dispute that notion. But there was a day where maybe that wouldn't be the case. Back when I was swinging that 36 ounce Louisville slugger.
0:38:36 - (Kat): Oh, God.
0:38:37 - (Jethro): Back in the day. I'm sorry.
0:38:40 - (Kat): Go ahead. No, it's fine. This wooden hammer was found with small fragments of black wool. Which would make sense if the acabadora was wearing an all black face covering outfit.
0:38:55 - (Jethro): Sure. Were there any biological samples?
0:39:01 - (Kat): It was not stated whether or not there were any biological samples. Don't be gross about this. It is.
0:39:06 - (Jethro): Well, I would think that if one.
0:39:07 - (Kat): Was deserving of respect.
0:39:09 - (Jethro): I understand that. But I'm thinking strictly from a scientific standpoint. If one wants to verify that this is actually a club that an old woman used to kill people with. They would do some forensic testing on it.
0:39:24 - (Kat): Find it really interesting that now you're really concerned about. Strictly from a scientific standpoint, I'm always. That is never your concern.
0:39:32 - (Jethro): I'm always that way. What are you talking about? It's just my science is much broader than yours.
0:39:38 - (Kat): It's not how it works. Alternate facts aren't a thing anyway. While some historical records and anecdotal accounts mention the acuvadora, the lack of widespread documentation makes it really difficult to establish the practice as widely accepted historical fact. And it's important to approach these stories with an understanding of their cultural context and the acknowledgment that folklore often contains elements of myth and symbolism.
0:40:08 - (Kat): But it's also important to remember that most fanciful tales from the past do contain at least a little bit of truth.
0:40:16 - (Jethro): That's what I'm saying.
0:40:18 - (Kat): Is it?
0:40:19 - (Jethro): I'm still stuck on this forensic testing thing.
0:40:22 - (Kat): I got my information from andrewCollins.com. Weird Italy, Italophiles, gallerias, it and Tapatok.
0:40:31 - (Jethro): I love that story.
0:40:33 - (Kat): Thank you.
0:40:34 - (Jethro): It's fascinating. And the idea that it could stretch back to neolithic times and that there's this unbroken chain of people who perform this service, it's remarkable.
0:40:46 - (Kat): And its connection to goddesses that they worshipped on the island, I mean, it's just magical.
0:40:52 - (Jethro): That's crazy.
0:40:53 - (Kat): Also, in case you can't tell, I am a supporter of assisted death.
0:41:00 - (Jethro): I am, too. Everybody's got their opinions and respect all to you. Yes, indeed.
0:41:08 - (Kat): But I think it's a basic common courtesy.
0:41:10 - (Jethro): We've decided that if I get to a point where I am incapacitated or nearly incapacitated, cat's going to take a pitching wedge to my neck.
0:41:20 - (Kat): We have not decided that, nor am I shooting you out of a cannon.
0:41:24 - (Jethro): I want to be shot out of a cannon.
0:41:25 - (Kat): Keep saying these things.
0:41:28 - (Jethro): I think it would be awesome to be cremated and then shot out of a cannon, kind of like hunter S. Thompson was. But I want to take it up a notch from. I just. I just want my bloated corpse blasted out of a cannon.
0:41:43 - (Kat): I remember when you and I were very early in our stages of romance, and I had commented to you that I was as swollen and bloated with love for you as a corpse you might find in a river. And your dad said, you certainly do have a unique way of expressing your feelings. And I was like, yep. Welcome me to the family. Big thanks, by the way, to Angela for sending me this topic.
0:42:13 - (Jethro): Well done, Angela.
0:42:14 - (Kat): Never stop.
0:42:17 - (Jethro): Being a fan of know I'm pretty much a ufologist.
0:42:22 - (Kat): Is that right?
0:42:23 - (Jethro): I don't know, but I've often wondered all of the stories that I've read about ufos, why they all started right about the time the atomic bomb went off.
0:42:35 - (Kat): Interesting.
0:42:36 - (Jethro): And so there have been theories that, that caught the attention of our space brothers who are like, oh no, the kids are playing with matches.
0:42:47 - (Kat): Right?
0:42:48 - (Jethro): We got to go down there and fix that crap.
0:42:50 - (Kat): Let's go down to the basement and look at the porcupine in the closet.
0:42:55 - (Jethro): I have often wondered about that sort of thing. It seems like in the mid forty s, all of a sudden there are ufos everywhere, people are seeing things in the sky and Roswell happened and 1 minute the skies are clear, the next minute there's all this strange stuff going on and it all happened in the mid 40s. What if I told you that this might have begun not with advanced technology or little green men, but with a ritual, a man and a portal to another dimension?
0:43:31 - (Jethro): Sounds like something from a Sci-Fi movie. I know, but stick with me. Our story begins with none other than Alastair Crowley.
0:43:39 - (Kat): Okay, I've had.
0:43:41 - (Jethro): Yep, yep. The infamous occultist. He was a master of the mystic arts and potentially the inadvertent father of modern ufos.
0:43:51 - (Kat): Who is the mom? Because I bet that hurt.
0:43:53 - (Jethro): Well, yeah, if it came out Sideways.
0:43:55 - (Kat): Especially breach or UFO.
0:43:59 - (Jethro): C section, caesarean.
0:44:02 - (Kat): Pleiades. Caesarean. Sounds like pleiades somehow, but I can't figure out how.
0:44:06 - (Jethro): No, I can't make that work either. It was New York City in the early 20th century. Alastair Crowley was already notorious in the circles of esoteric and of the esoteric and the occult for his controversial writings.
0:44:21 - (Kat): Celestial section.
0:44:23 - (Jethro): Okay, yeah, like a cesarean. Okay. Anyway, in New York in the early 20th century, as I was saying, alastair Crowley was already notorious in the circles of the esoteric and the occult for his controversial writings and practices.
0:44:39 - (Kat): Yeah, I feel like you said that already. It's so weird.
0:44:43 - (Jethro): In the winter of 1917, behind the closed doors of a nondescript apartment, Crowley began a series of experiments that some say forever altered the course of paranormal. You know, I know a little bit about Alastair Crowley and I know how controversial his practices could be, but from what I'm finding here is that it wasn't just flipping through ancient tomes or reciting arcane incantations. Crowley was attempting to orchestrate what's called the Amalanthra workings.
0:45:22 - (Jethro): And that's a ritual that's aimed at piercing the veil between our world and the unknown. It's said that he wasn't looking to commune with spirits of the deceased. His sights were set much higher, or perhaps much farther. Crowley sought contact with entities from other dimensions, intelligences that were beyond our earthly constraints. This is what he was attempting to do.
0:45:49 - (Kat): And that's what they said at Bolscan House, that he didn't close. Like he had opened some incantations or whatever and didn't close them. And that's why the house was all funkadoodled.
0:46:01 - (Jethro): Yeah, he apparently was good at opening portals but not closing them back up again.
0:46:06 - (Kat): It's like me and cupboards.
0:46:08 - (Jethro): Alistair, how many times do I have to tell you? When you open a portal, close it when you're done. So anyway, he sat about his work, and these rituals were pretty complex. They involved symbolic representations, elaborate magical formulas, and a series of invocations and visualizations designed to extend human consciousness beyond what we perceive as our boundaries. And he wrote in his diaries. In fact, they were filled with cryptic notes and sketches, suggesting that he had tapped into something far more profound than the spiritual mediums of his time.
0:46:49 - (Jethro): Now, it is documented that during these sessions, Crowley claimed to have made contact with a being named lam. L-A-M. Lamb or lamb. And lamb or lamb. I'm going with lamb. It sounds a little delicious. No, that would be lamb.
0:47:06 - (Kat): No, lamb. Like a nice peanut sauce.
0:47:09 - (Jethro): That's weird that he made contact with a being from another dimension named after a peanut sauce. Anyway, in his diaries, he drew a sketch of lamb. And the portrait bears a striking resemblance to our modern representations of extraterrestrial life, namely the gray aliens.
0:47:31 - (Kat): Big head, big eyes.
0:47:33 - (Jethro): Yep. Oversized head, large, penetrating eyes. Suggests a being not of our world and certainly not our dimension.
0:47:42 - (Kat): It's so weird that the greys have this otherworldly look. The huge head, the long fingers, the elongated limbs. And that chick from Venus just had some big eyes.
0:47:58 - (Jethro): Yeah, I think we all know the chick from Venus was a bunch of hooey. And this is okay.
0:48:04 - (Kat): Okay.
0:48:05 - (Jethro): According to Crowley's records, Dolores. An alien named Dolores. At least she wasn't named after a peanut sauce. According to Crowley's records and later commentary by occult scholars, the Amalanthra workings wasn't a one off event. They were a series of rituals, each building upon the last, pushing the boundaries of Crowley's magical theory and practices. Some say that through these workings, Crowley opened a portal, a literal window to other dimensions or other worlds. And it said that he ultimately sealed it shut.
0:48:43 - (Jethro): But perhaps unbeknownst to him, left the window a jar. He's not good at closing portals. I think we've established that the question that arises from this claim is whether Crowley's interdimensional contact could be responsible for the surge in UFO sightings that began in the early to mid 20th century. Did his ritualistic dabbling send out a beacon across planes of existence? Did he draw the curious eyes of other worldly visitors?
0:49:14 - (Jethro): Like my thought on the atomic bomb.
0:49:18 - (Kat): I just love the idea that everything that went wrong around this time, people are like, probably it was Alastair Crowley. That guy's always causing trouble.
0:49:27 - (Jethro): Oh, God. So let's fast forward. This was 1917. Let's fast forward a couple of decades. There's a guy named Jack Parsons. Now, he was a rocket scientist by day, by night, he was an occultist. Parsons'story is one of the peculiar tales that kind of blurs the line between fact and science fiction. His connection to Aleister Crowley is really just kind of a footnote in history. It's a chapter that may, however, have some profound implications about what we're talking about, extraterrestrial interdimensional understandings.
0:50:06 - (Jethro): He was born Marvel Whiteside Parsons. He would later just go by Jack Parsons. He was.
0:50:14 - (Kat): Why?
0:50:15 - (Jethro): I don't know. Marvel Whiteside Parsons.
0:50:19 - (Kat): I think it's rad. Marvel. That's a great name.
0:50:23 - (Jethro): He was a self taught, explosive expert, which really, I don't think I'd put on my resume, but he was a man of credentials. He was one of the principal founders of the Jet propulsion Laboratory. But his contributions to rocket science were just one aspect of his very multifaceted life. Parsons was deeply entrenched in the world of the occult, and he was heavily influenced by the teachings of Alastair Crowley. In the 1940s, while the world was in the throes of the Second World War, Parsons was waging a different kind of battle, one that sought to transcend the earthly and touch the divine, or perhaps otherworldly.
0:51:08 - (Jethro): His weapon of choice, the Babylon working, a series of rituals he performed with the aim of invoking the thalemic goddess Babylon to earth. The Babylon working wasn't just a haphazard invocation. It's an intricate series of rituals that drew heavily from Crowley's thalemic magic. Parsons aimed to do nothing less than to alter the course of human history by birthing a new era. The rituals involved a series of magical practices, sexual magic and invocations.
0:51:44 - (Jethro): But why Babylon? In thalemic lore, Babylon is more than just a goddess. She is a symbol of liberation or the primordial feminine force, the counterpart to the beast, representing the union of opposites and the potential of a new creation. Parsons believed that by bringing forth Babylon, he would be instrumental in initiating the next stage of human evolution. And again, this guy was one of the founding partners for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
0:52:13 - (Kat): I mean, I'm on board with this plan. It sounds like it would bring about some nice things.
0:52:19 - (Jethro): Some say that during these rituals, Parsons succeeded in tearing through the fabric of reality and reopening the portal that Crowley had supposedly sealed years before. Almost immediately after he did this, witnesses began reporting strange phenomena, from otherworldly apparitions to unexplained power surges. But it wasn't just about what was seen. There was also a palpable change in the air, the feeling that something had shifted. On a fundamental level, the consequences of Parsons'actions if we're to entertain the theory, were far reaching.
0:53:00 - (Jethro): This timeframe saw a dramatic increase in UFO sightings, beginning with the infamous Roswell account. Some ufologists speculate that Parsons'Babylon workings may have been a beacon or a cosmic flare drew the attention of beings from another world. So what's the deal with Jack Parsons? Was he a madman playing with forces beyond his control? Or was he a visionary who sought to expand the boundaries of human potential?
0:53:28 - (Kat): Yep.
0:53:28 - (Jethro): You're going with the latter?
0:53:30 - (Kat): Oh, no. Just both.
0:53:31 - (Jethro): Okay, yeah, well, it could be a little bit of both. Parsons'life was ironically cut short in an explosion. Yet his legacy does live on, not just in the annals of rocketry, but in the tales of those who continue to seek the otherworldly. Whether he truly reopened Crowley's portal or simply added another layer to paranormal lore is certainly up for debate. Here we are, though, a century later, nearly, and the UFO phenomena is as alive as ever.
0:54:07 - (Jethro): Are these sightings merely a coincidence? Or are we seeing the ripple effects of Crowley's otherworldly contact? And when you think about it, there's been a huge surge in technological advancements. The mysterious events at places like Roswell and the countless sightings around the world. Could they all be traced back to a single man? A single set of rituals performed by a guy dabbling in the unknown? Whether you're a believer in the paranormal, a UFO enthusiast, or even a skeptic, I'm guessing the story of Alastair Crowley and his potential link to the UFO enigma is fascinating to you?
0:54:45 - (Kat): It sure is.
0:54:46 - (Jethro): One thing's for sure, though. The skies above us hold many secrets that we cannot fathom. And maybe they were unlocked by a man who attempted to peek beyond the veil. But it is so weird. Like one of the principal founders of Jet Propulsion Laboratory does this ritual and ufos start showing up immediately. My source information an article by Andrew Arnett in Paranoia magazine called 100 years ago, did Crowley Usher in the modern UFO wave?
0:55:18 - (Kat): Wait, what was the source?
0:55:19 - (Jethro): Paranoia magazine. Okay, it's a leading source in paranoia. Also an article called Alastair Crowley and Jack Parsons from above, topsecret.com and Angels, UFOs and Alastair Crowley, estranged history, cinepunks.com.
0:55:40 - (Kat): Wow, that was fun. Okay, you ready?
0:55:43 - (Jethro): Yeah.
0:55:44 - (Kat): The spanish flu, also known as the 1918 influenza pandemic, was a severe global influenza outbreak that occurred from 1918 to 1919. And looking into what the cause of this was, many point to Alistair Crowley.
0:56:02 - (Jethro): Interesting.
0:56:04 - (Kat): I'm just kidding. I'm all done. I don't have another story.
0:56:07 - (Jethro): That's real. That's got to be real. It tracks. I.