Episode 431 - The Kit-Bag

what about a podcast that predicts the deads op people and a day later these people die for real!turns out that Reaper is behind the podcast

Wesley Vanroose

How about a haunted phone? Check ut "Your tiny hand is frozen" by Robert Aickman. This story had a strong and unsettling impact on me when I read it in the early 90s.

Did anyone else...hear something while listening to this episode?

As requested, here is our show with Christmas Ghost stories: <a href="http://sixdemonbagpodcast.com/2018/12/24/2018-christmas-special-part-three-deadly-night/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://sixdemonbagpodcast.com/2018/12/24/2018-christmas-special-part-three-deadly-night/</a>

Jeff C. Carter

Did anyone else imagine Greig Johnson as the Johnson character?

Jeremy Impson

I got major BOB from Twin Peaks vibes when listening to he story, and when Johnson saw the murderer creeping up behind the bag. cCool that you caught it too. That scene’s been stuck in my mind ever since. I was probably too young for watching Twin Peaks at eleven...

When I was really young I went on a field trip to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and the have this huge replica of a human heart that you can walk through. There's even an beating noise to add to the ambiance. Well, I was too scared to walk through it, and my dad went through to show me there was nothing to be afraid of. He reached the top and waved to me and then continued down the other side. But after a while he never came out. It turns out a fat woman got stuck and was blocking the line... I don't know why, but I was terrified of that stupid heart for several years. I used to think it was hiding in the hallway behind my bed, beating and waiting to get me! (Even though there's no way it could've fit anywhere in our house...) :)

This story was so creepy! I agree completely that it's not always the premise that matters but how it is done. Once someone asked Neil Gaiman about his book Coraline being too similar to Alice in Wonderland and a similar story from another country, but Gaiman said there's probably lots of stories with that general idea but it's about the execution and style and other things. Not exact words, but something like that. And reading that in my teens made me appreciate literature in a new way =)

When you think about it, every one of us is a haunted leather bag.

Pearce Duncan

Great episode, Chad’s impression of Mr Hanky, the Christmas Poo was a real highlight.

I don't know if this will work but apparently the entire story is visible on Google Books preview of the aforementioned megapack. Just google "grab bags frank belknap long" and it's the fifth or so result.

In the spirit of the niche but surprisingly entertaining subgenre of bag-related horror, I'd like to suggest everyone look up Frank Belknap Long's "Grab-Bags are Dangerous". I don't think it's freely available online but it's in the really cheap Megapack e-book of Longs collected work (the "9th Golden Age of Weird Fiction Megapack"). It's humorous horror but has some genuinely creepy moments (and IMO qualifies as a rare American example of a Jamesian ghost story).

I think you just described the Haunting of Hill House

Jeff C. Carter

By the way, I think what Heracles did would constitute a "crime of passion" nowadays, or justifiable homicide depending on how badly he was getting beaten.

Mandy Reznor (She_It)

<a href="https://youtu.be/SqabF3TAV0Y" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/SqabF3TAV0Y</a>

When I was a child, I had horrific nightmares. They were all about a blue calculator shaped like a soldier which kids had in the late 1980s here in the UK. I would wake up drenched in sweat, convinced that a large version of it was marching up the stairs to murder me. No idea why it terrified me so much.

Ah yes! I used to have the USB curse too, the Universalserienbusumformenverwünschung. I think it was first described by von Junzt?

Beats by Dréad

Bret Kramer

Interesting hearing you two talk about being creeped out feeling you are being followed by something up or down staircases. Cause thats exactly what happens at the ending of another Blackwood story you guys have covered. The Empty House.

Andrew Buchanan

What about a haunted...GHOST? I'm seeing a woman inheriting an ancient family mansion only to discover when she moves in that it's haunted by the ghost of her great great grandfather. But terror mounts on terror when it turns out the great great grandfather is in turn haunted by his great great grandfather, who doesn't care about the heiress but boy howdy is he gonna scare heck out of his great great grandson. But then --and here's the big twist-- it turns out the ghost of the great great great great grandfather is secretly being haunted by the ghost of HIS great great grandfather. This last ghost is really itty-bitty for some reason, and has been concealed under the great great great great grandfather's hat for most of the story. But THEN THERE'S A SECOND TWIST BECAUSE IT TURNS OUT THE GHOST'S GHOST'S GHOST IS HAUNTED TOO BY- and etc. you could spin this out for years, is what I'm saying, with legions of older and older micro-ghosts.

Richard Horsman

When Blackwood sticks to the basic plot and atmosphere of a ghost story, there are very few writers his equal. What's so immensely frustrating for me is that in most of his stories (this one being a welcome exception) he loses himself in pages of esoteric crap rambling that just about ruins any mood he might have successfully set up prior to that point.

Hey Chris, he may have had duck-feet and a woman’s face, too. But did he have a chicken-head? Or was he just waiting in the “Bushes of Love?”

I assume most of my electronics are haunted, not so much by soul stealing demons, but more by obnoxious pixies. While my current earbuds and phone are both as mildly malevolvent as can be (bluetooth not connecting or losing connection), I think the most diabolical of all spirits are the ones that haunt the USB plugs and ports, transforming them constantly as I attempt to insert. There must be a German word for that. But as far as a story idea goes someone should do something with Bluetooth and headphones or speakers picking up transmission of something from the other side of the veil. I would guess there are stories or even movies already out with that premise, but I've only come across that in the occasional thriller/crime story. Hey it could be an adaptation of From Beyond.

Idea for a haunted story : “21 Grams of Beats” , audio peripheral weighted by the cursed soul of its mindless purchaser.

I also dug this story despite the fact that it was about a haunted duffel bag. Blackwood is one of my favorites because he can scare the crap out of you with a story about a canoe trip where almost nothing happens (for example). This story reminded me of times I've been alone at night and talked myself into a state of terror over the closet door being cracked or something similarly mundane. Blackwood seems to be able to tap into that phenomenon and translate it into really effective horror using almost nothing else.

You're on to something with the haunted headphones, but I think a haunted sound board would yield more satisfying madness. There are many studios and mixing boards that bands/singers/musicians think of as magical. I say go all the way and start sacrificing groupies to get them mad, mad beats. How far would you go for a platinum record?

Not quite having a good holiday season yet because its still finals week, but hey the end is in sight. 20 and in college ala that other young listener from the comments show. You guys may have more of us out there than you imagine, which only speaks for the quality of the show. Off to not study bio, fhtagn

Caldecott's 'Christmas Re-union' reminds me of 'A Visitor from Down Under', which you covered a few years ago - same basic set-up (man returns to England from Australia and is pursued by the ghost of a man he murdered there) and a ghost that behaves in a rather unghostly fashion. Also, your suggestion of haunted headphones reminds me of Caldecott's 'Sonata in D Minor', which is about a haunted (or cursed?) phonograph record.

Yes, it is a haunted laundry bag but this story worked for me. I think chad’s microphone should be haunted with lying Vincent Price.

Have you considered a ghoulish tale about a haunted pie tin? Maybe it's haunted by the ghost of a sweet old granny out for revenge. If you don't get rid of the pie tin by Christmas day, she'll whack you with a rolling pin in your sleep. Or how about a haunted plunger with the face of Charles Manson? "It's my plunger. I want it."

"Pacl up your troubles in an old kit-bag", indeed.

Phil Nadeau

Blackwood can write, no doubt about it, but the second I realized it was haunted luggage, well I couldn't get any sort of scary vibe. The whole internal debate about not turning on the light was simply ludicrous. Of course I want to see a duffle bag trying to creep up on me. Reminds me of Dr. Strange's Cloak of Levitation attacking Thanos or any bad guys. A very cool garment, but still just funny. Considering Blackwood's dismissal of HPL,I hope HP wasn't thinking of this story when he writes about weird fiction needing a breathless and unexplainable dread. The only thing dreadful here is this thing ate his underwear.

My friends and I have written some Christmas ghost stories for our own show and it was delightful to sit in a group and be scared and entertained. It is a tradition I hope to continue. Speaking of spooky traditions, here is a haiku I call “Earculous”: Ouch my neck it hurts I’ve been strangled a whole bunch by these Beats headphones

Jeff C. Carter