Dread Memory in North Carolina

Summary

In this episode of Haunted Cosmos, titled "Dread Memory in North Carolina," the creators tantalize listeners with a haunting tale set amidst the eerie backdrop of Asheville, North Carolina. The story delves into historical narratives, starting with the serene father-son mountain biking experiences in DuPont State Forest transitioning into the chilling tale of Helen's Bridge—a site of tragedy and purported hauntings. This morbid narrative intertwines both atmospheric and emotional roller-coasters, offering listeners a glimpse into the peculiar blend of history and legend that Asheville embodies.

Highlights

• A special behind-the-scenes peek into the Haunted Cosmos world. ✨
• A vivid description of a perfect autumn day in North Carolina's DuPont State Forest. 🍂
• An exciting mountain biking adventure showcasing father-son bonding. 🚴‍♂️
• Transition from idyllic memories to the chilling tale of Helen's Bridge, highlighting a mother's tragic story. 😢
• The depiction of supernatural legends echoing through Asheville's haunted history. 👻

Key Takeaways

• Experience a captivating father-son bonding moment amidst the beautiful North Carolina mountains. 🚴‍♂️
• Discover the haunting tale of Helen's Bridge, where tragedy and lore collide. 👻
• Uncover the mysterious, chilling atmosphere that surrounds Asheville, infused with both natural beauty and dark legends. 🌲
• Explore the concept of place-bound souls and its connection to tragedy and supernatural occurrences. 🏞️
• Dive into the contrasting emotions of nostalgia and fear intertwined in the beautiful yet haunting Appalachian setting. 😱

Overview

Imagine a perfect autumn day in North Carolina's DuPont State Forest: the sky is blue, the leaves are aflame with color, and a father and son are engrossed in a mountain biking adventure. Their journey through the picturesque trails captures the beauty and tranquility of the setting, offering a heartfelt glimpse into familial bonds and nostalgic memories of simpler times.

However, this peaceful narrative takes a ghostly turn as we delve into the story of Helen's Bridge, a place steeped in tragedy and supernatural lore. The story recounts the heart-wrenching tale of Helen, a mother whose life was engulfed by sorrow following a devastating fire. Her spirit is said to haunt the historic bridge, leaving behind an eerie legacy recounted by those who pass.

As the podcast episode unfolds, listeners are left to ponder the weight of the past and the stories that places hold—stories of beauty, tragedy, and a supernatural tapestry that ties it all together. North Carolina reveals itself as both a vibrant landscape of joy and a haunting ground of unresolved histories, never fully escaping the whispers of the past.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 02:30: Introduction and Background In the introduction and background chapter, the podcast 'Haunted Cosmos' presents a special show called 'The Dusty Tome,' which is usually available only to monthly supporters on Supercast. As the team prepares a new season of their main show, they offer all their listeners a glimpse into what typically lies behind their paywall.
• 02:30 - 12:30: Bike Ride with Dad The chapter titled 'Bike Ride with Dad' describes a picturesque autumn day. The setting is illuminated by a bright and gentle sun that enhances the beauty of the season without being overly harsh or hot, creating the ideal conditions for a memorable bike ride.
• 12:30 - 18:00: Reflections on Place and Memory The chapter titled 'Reflections on Place and Memory' begins with a vivid description of the natural landscape. The narrator talks about a cool breeze from the East, filled with the refreshing scents of Appalachia. The leaves are described as if they are burning, having undergone a beautiful transformation throughout the summer, now displaying their true colors. The narrator reflects on this scene while standing on a mountain bike, feeling a deep connection with nature, and pondering that this is how the world should appear on such awe-inspiring days.
• 18:00 - 30:30: Helen's Tragic Story The chapter titled "Helen's Tragic Story" paints a vivid picture of a perfect fall day in the American Southeast, with clear blue skies and cool temperatures that contrast sharply with the oppressive heat and humidity of summer, now a distant memory. The narrator describes a journey with their father to a lake house owned by the stepmother's family, set against the backdrop of the rolling Blue Mountains. The idyllic setting creates a sense of nostalgia and serene beauty as the narrator reflects on this particular day, which stands out in their memory, even though the exact date is forgotten.
• 30:30 - 39:00: Consequences of the Tragedy The chapter reflects on a memorable trip to Southern North Carolina, characterized by joyful activities and a sense of simple happiness. The narrator recalls high spirits throughout the trip, marked by nightly card games, movies, and adventures in the woods or relaxation by the lake. Despite the nostalgia for simpler times, the narrator acknowledges that their father might have seen things differently, though he was never one to dampen the mood.
• 39:00 - 53:00: Discussion on Theories and Haunted Places The chapter discusses various theories, particularly focusing on the concept of time having its own seasons of rest, sowing, and reaping, akin to the natural world. The narrator reflects on childhood memories and the simplicity of those times, drawing a contrast with the complexity of adulthood. The mention of a 'good dad' highlights a deeper emotional context, possibly hinting at personal losses or absence. Amidst these reflections, there is a philosophical pondering on divine Providence and its influence over the passage of time.
• 53:00 - 57:00: Conclusion and Upcoming Content In the chapter titled "Conclusion and Upcoming Content," the narrator describes the challenging and steep climb that they regularly undertake with their dad in the DuPont Forest. The climb is a demanding workout that starts with a nearly vertical section, requiring concentration and physical endurance, and is followed by a switchback trail that is only slightly less steep. Despite its challenging nature, it is a familiar and routine part of their bicycling activities.
• 57:00 - 60:00: Outro Music The chapter titled 'Outro Music' details a challenging journey up a trail leading to a summit ridge, which is described as being filled with roots and rocks. These elements, however, paled in comparison to the sections of the trail comprised of loamy and dark dirt, which were soft enough to swallow the tires and halt any prior momentum. The narrator describes their frustration and struggle a third of the way up the climb. Despite the beauty of the woods and the perfect weather, the narrator's focus and thoughts were elsewhere, specifically on something or someone named Copus, reflecting a deep personal struggle or distraction.

Dread Memory in North Carolina Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 every week here at haunted Cosmos we release a special story driven show called The Dusty to just for our monthly supporters over supercast but while we prepare a brand new season of the main show in the haunted Cosmos laboratory we decided to give all of you a peek behind the pay wall so welcome to a special release of the dusty tome [Music]
• 00:30 - 01:00 [Applause] [Music] it was a perfect day in the bleeding heart of autumn the sun was bright and gold but was not too harsh or hot the
• 01:00 - 01:30 breeze that blew out of the East was cool and wicking and filled with all the smells of appalachia's best things and the leaves all the leaves the leaves looked like they were burning like they had suffered some glorious metamorphosis for all the summer and were now finally showing their true colors from Where I Stood propped up on my mountain bike with one leg standing in the dirt this was what the whole world looked like or perhaps I thought more how this is what the world should look like on days like
• 01:30 - 02:00 that the memory of the horrible heat and humidity of Summer grows scant in the mind like a Stein beckian Amnesia in the Selena Valley all that seems to have ever been is that perfectly Sunny perfectly cool fall day the kind with the bluest and most cloudless Sky you've ever seen that you can only find in the American Southeast on that day but the date escapes me my dad and I were about halfway through one of our regular trips up to a lake house my Stepmother's family owned and rolling Blue Mountains
• 02:00 - 02:30 of Southern North Carolina it had already been one of the best trips I could ever remember Spirits had been high since our arrival the nightly card games and VHS movies had set a soundtrack of laughter under everything that we did and the endless opportunity for either Adventure in the woods or Leisure at the lake me that you could never really be bored I was young and times felt simpler then I'm sure my dad would like to chime in here and say that they weren't simple times at all but then again he probably wouldn't my dad has never never been a killjoy he'd
• 02:30 - 03:00 probably rather not along to my youthful naive and smile at just how great being a kid with a good dad must be something he never experienced but even now I do think those days were simpler for everyone if God gives everything in creation seasons of rest and seasons of sewing and reaping why would he not also give those Seasons to time itself is it not a field that he plants his Providence in looking back I think those days marked the end of some years where time had been L to fallow anyways With
• 03:00 - 03:30 the Wind whistling through the Ageless and haunted trees of DuPont Forest my dad and I buckled our helmets fist bumped and clipped into our pedals to begin the grueling climb up to the top of our trail that was a climb that kicked my butt no matter how often I did it it was one of those that makes you start panting for breath almost immediately because of a nearly vertical first section that required a ton of focus and balance as well as some stiff legs that was followed by an only slightly less steep Switchback trail
• 03:30 - 04:00 that went on for Miles roots and rocks peppered the trail all the way to its Summit Ridge but these obstacles were nothing compared to the sections of lomy and wi dark dirt which were soft your tire would just sink right into those and all your momentum would vanish and Flash sure enough a third of the way into the climb had me cursing the day I was born youths are dramatic too and thinking nothing at all of the beautiful woods around me or the perfect weather all could think of was Copus which is to
• 04:00 - 04:30 say I could only think of myself pushing the stupid rock up the stupid Hill every stupid day every once in a while i' take an extra big gulp of air and hold it down while I sucked on my water bladder for a few drops of relief but then I'd nearly spit out the water in order to grab hold of more air it was all really good fun in those days my dad always called me a goat on the mountain bike I would fly ahead of everyone on the climbs like it was the thing I really enjoyed I guess I must have been fitter
• 04:30 - 05:00 back then and that accounts for the speed but one thing that's true now was also true on those days I always went carelessly fast on climbs because I hated them so much and just wanted them to be over but I was also too stubborn to not just not do them it really was careless too I'd often find myself growing faint and passing in and out of heavy tunnel vision at the end of an uphill one time I did actually pass out but I didn't care all I wanted to do was get to the top of this mountain play
• 05:00 - 05:30 around a bit on the bald's BMX track at the top have a snack and then gear up for a white knuckled descent to the parking lot like I said my dad always called me a goat back then but when it came time to hop and skip the bike around the switchbacks and over the jumps on the three mile single track downhill I could only dream of keeping up with him on this day I had hopes of finally beating him but I held those hopes Loosely and didn't say anything to him about them wouldn't want fatherly pity to slow his bike down to make me feel a little bit better now that I'm a
• 05:30 - 06:00 father I know how ridiculous that is if my son told me he wanted to beat me at something you can bet it would make me try even harder at it a father and a son are strange things in this world so full of tension and so full of affection makes one wonder what it all means finally the claustrophobic trees gave way to an Open Sky on the trail as it did the slope grew milder and milder until it was a rolling flat single track baking in the endless Sun it was exposed to my heaving breaths settled down into
• 06:00 - 06:30 rhythmic drones and I could hear the birds chirping everywhere once again I also suddenly regained my appreciation for my surroundings thinking how foolish I'd been to think it was too hot only a few minutes ago you know what they say about alpinists right how the best of them have the worst memories yeah that can be said about a lot of things mothers pastors triathletes and apparently High School mountain bikers too after a while my dad came crawling up the trail after to me we sat in the
• 06:30 - 07:00 shade trees On The Fringe of the bald and ate a quick snack the hard part was over it was time to just enjoy the ride down but there I go again I think enjoy is the wrong word trying to race down a single track Mountain Side in DuPont State Forest especially when one of those Riders racing is actually fast isn't exactly something you enjoy it's fun make no mistake but it's only fun after the fact when you're in it it's mostly just terrifying the good kind of terrifying though the the kind that makes you focus on the trail ahead of
• 07:00 - 07:30 you the kind that makes everything else fall by the wayside it shoves your mind into a state of necessary control and presents your very manhood with the question how courageous will you be daunting we finished our snacks and drank a little bit more water I admired the salt stains on my shirt from how much I'd sweat and how quick in this weather it had dried up then we strapped back in and rolled toward the little channel of re-entry to the woods what followed was something of a paradox to
• 07:30 - 08:00 me to be honest I don't remember much of The Descent it is muddied with memories from other cool rides I did in that area I remember hitting the jumps faster and more confident than I had before I remember breaking later and lesser than I had on the switchbacks I trusted my tires I looked as far down the trail as I could I pedal in sections that made me question whether doing that might kill me but that's it just vague images surely the wind must have felt wonderful as it yanked tears out of my eyes and
• 08:00 - 08:30 down my cheeks I would bet the farm on the checkered light coming in half blocked and half brightened by the bleeding leaves above me made it even harder to pick the right line through root and Rock Gardens I'm sure of these things but the details are fuzzy what I do remember is getting to the bottom of the trail before my dad I remember how I could hear him cheering me on not far behind me at the beginning shouting about a nice jump here and a nice turn there shouting Woos over and over and over again as he had his own fun and terrif time pushing his own limits I
• 08:30 - 09:00 just assumed that he had been right behind me the whole time because of this but looking quickly back over the ride I realized that somewhere in the midst of it his cries had fallen away into the woods I had gone down one of the wildest downhills we knew about faster than my dad when he did fly out of the trail the smile on his face was enormous I figured it was because he'd had so much fun and he did but when he wrote over to me I learned the truth he held out his hand in a sort of thumbs up but without the
• 09:00 - 09:30 thumb and said if I had a torch I'd pass it to you my dad was happy because he was proud of me he was happy because I was the only guy in the world he wanted nothing else for than to surpass him in all of his greatest qualities and I had in this small thing of riding a bike quickly downhill he was happy that his son had beaten him a piece of my soul stayed in DuPont Forest that day it became a place that helped make me and therefore I will never Escape it isn't
• 09:30 - 10:00 it funny how that works place is such an interesting thing it gives us so much that we take and consume for granted but it most certainly demands things of us too it demands our affection even undying and an unmistakable piece dare I say of our soul of course using language like this can get problematic for our modernist ears which so often insists that putting something in one place means it absolutely cannot be placed in another place too this is folly and we
• 10:00 - 10:30 all know it to be so before anyone gets nervous and starts thinking that this might actually be some pantheistic nonsense pushing its way into this beloved project we're all doing together let me present you with an illustration imagine an oak tree strong and beautiful very very old imagine it's cut down by a logger somewhere where had the logger not been there nobody would have heard it fall the branches are lopped off and a stick of heavy Timber is placed on onto a truck with other oak trees that
• 10:30 - 11:00 look just like it the truck drives to the lumber yard and some summer employee fires up The Sawmill a couple of forklifts work together to haul this Beast over to the mill where it's roughs on into all the little planks it will be displayed by and sold for its branches were taken its bark is gone it's now just a bunch of much smaller pieces that will be further separated by the different carpenters and weakened Warriors who buy it of course one could ask the question as to whether or not it
• 11:00 - 11:30 is still the same tree and if it is which piece of it is but that's not the point the point for this illustration requires all the pieces to be sold together so let's just say they are a custom Carpenter comes and buys every single plank that belong to that one tree no more and no less he takes all the wood to the job site where he joins and PLS the surfaces before molding some into crowns and gluing some into tables and dovetailing some into hope chests for the different rooms of this one
• 11:30 - 12:00 house what has now become of the tree well it's been beaten and cut it's had many of its pieces torn off and left to Rod as Deadfall in a forgotten wood somewhere it has lost its look and is now seen always from the inside out it is quantitatively less than when it was taken from the forest but qualitatively it is become so much more where branches guarded the Slender form the Slender form has been revealed as a eyes where
• 12:00 - 12:30 bark was guarding the rich grain patterns the bark has been brushed off like a robe and where dryness caked the character in drab beige finishing oils have made the wood shine as the centerpiece of many rooms in a lovely home in God's Eternal decree that tree was designed to be killed and in dying was designed to give Beauty to a home and a family in losing pieces of itself along the way it was being prepared for the utmost purpose of its existence making a home more ornate and more
• 12:30 - 13:00 fruitful isn't man similar to this of course it is different because for what I'm discussing with the concept of place the losing of pieces of a man is a positive thing and those pieces never get fully left behind but stick with us in our soul and yet I think it works sometimes I feel like a tree whose branches got locked off by racing my dad through the pine forests of North Carolina my branches are still there and so I care about that place but I'm better off here and now because I left
• 13:00 - 13:30 them behind and all the while I'm still Body and Soul the total man of the total me offered each day as a Living Sacrifice to God now that we've established the truth of leaving real and yet somehow less than totally real or perhaps more real pieces of ourselves in the soil of the places that form us we can turn to the vein of today's episode For What happens when the cutting of branches or the trimming of of bark is not hidden behind
• 13:30 - 14:00 a jovial veil of love and laughter between Father and Son what happens when a place Cuts our branches off painfully what happens when it keeps on cutting what happens when we join in the violence there's a good reason I picked the story I did for the introduction of today's show DuPont State Forest is one of my favorite places in the world it lies just outside the limits of a small city called Bard the city where my dad lives which is deep in the dark and Shadow bowels of Appalachia it is also
• 14:00 - 14:30 very close to a city a strange city in these days often an evil city named Asheville in case you didn't know Asheville suffered some of the worst effects of hurricane Helen's Onslaught still the people there who are in some measure my people suffer greatly so I told the story I did so we would all have a touch point in that Gem of a neighborhood in God's world but also because if the stories are to be believed Asheville has endured much more
• 14:30 - 15:00 than Earth churning hurricanes before it has also they say seen the continuous cutting of countless Souls over the years they say that the trees and granite chunks in the woods sometimes cry out in lamentation at all the heartache some say entire places cry out but most say that one place Cries Out louder than the others so please consider the weighty chunks of you that the places you've been formed by have taken away and while while you do so
• 15:00 - 15:30 enjoy this creepy story of Helen's [Music] bridge in 1884 a fellow named John Evans Brown returned to the fertile Foothills and mountains of Appalachia from the rugged Fring lands of New Zealand he was returning back to his homeland for he had grown up in the sweatbox and bitter cold extremes of Southwest North Carolina and finally thought of it
• 15:30 - 16:00 as home in all of his travels and Fortune making it was not however an empty-handed return no Brown had done very well for himself during his sojourn with the kiwis how this Fortune was precisely acquired is not entirely known does not concern Us in this tale all that is important is that he had it so sensing his trip home would be a permanent one brown picked out a favorable spot on the hillside of one of app lcha sleeping Giants namely boow
• 16:00 - 16:30 catcher mountain and threw money at Builders until a mansion sprang up from the wet leaves in black dirt like a flower in Spring it was beautiful a sort of tutor style permeated everything and the timber frame outline of the white stucco made it look like a beacon of light and hope in a place whose fortunes had hitherto been very back and forth in 1889 after 5 years of impatiently waiting for his castle in the clouds to be completed the final Stone was laid
• 16:30 - 17:00 and the home was christened with the name zelandia by her owner just 6 years later John Evans Brown died in his new home and as part of his settlement zelandia was sold to the highest bidder a man who turned out to be OD Revel revel's stay in the Mansion was somehow shorter than Browns and was of course far less eventful in 1904 Philip S Henry bought the property and immediately began a series of Renovations and additions that saw the place finally
• 17:00 - 17:30 come into its own form of absolute flourishing if its building was like a flower budding fresh from the ground its rebuilding by Henry was like a maple sapling becoming a monolith pillar of God after years of weathering countless Mountain storms and haunted Winters from his work zeelandia which retained its name the whole time nearly doubled in size a museum was added Courtyards were landscaped and entire wings of the Mansion suddenly appeared as out of thin air and yet as if they'd always been
• 17:30 - 18:00 there in another sense but with these Renovations the need arose to access the home from other parts of the property that were originally too far removed from the home to worry about one part was beyond a gully deep in the woods the sides of this Old Creek bed from ages past were too steep for cars or wagons but the idyllic Meadow it served as gateway to was also much too lovely to ignore Henry had to be able to EAS easily get there thus a bridge was built
• 18:00 - 18:30 it was a gorgeous Stone Bridge named zelandia Bridge after the castle it paid obedience to that almost seemed to fit right into the landscape it now dominated the mildly rounded Archway beneath it seemed Supple in support of its Cobblestone path on its top from far away and maybe squinting a bit one might mistake the bridge for a large tree that had fallen across the gullies reach it served its purpose well for Henry but its usefulness was not limited to him
• 18:30 - 19:00 public roads from town ended up merging with the bridge and soon Henry happily looked on as other citizens of the blossoming Asheville walked across his feet of engineering at all parts of the day the particular beauty of its spot was only enhanced by the glimpse of zeelandia one could catch Through the Trees from it as well it was built in 1909 and then like today was a landmark for the people after only a couple of years the stalking growth of nature started to reclaim bits of the bridge
• 19:00 - 19:30 this only added to its beauty and it seeming much older than it really was you might call it a dignified bridge if there can be such a thing Moss peppered the exposed Stones closest to the dirt banks of the Gully and thick Vines of privet or some other jungle plant for of course Appalachia is akin to a rainforest for much of the Year stretched further out until stems from either side nearly met in the middle in that middle again as the city developed a road was established it was about 40 ft from the bridge down to the cold
• 19:30 - 20:00 pavers into this sprawling scene of Newfound industry mixing with the hard living of Appalachian nature came a woman named Helen the tales say that she was in her mid-30s when she traed into Asheville with a baby on her hip and a dark history following close behind she'd come looking for work which was a good idea seeing as how work was not in short supply in the region of course the lack of any father for the child made this difficult and just not the least
• 20:00 - 20:30 bit scandalous but desperate startup times for a society sometimes call for a less Keen Eye on the business of those looking for shelter from some storm in their past thus it was that Helen moved to a small cottage that she rented and began work exactly what is lost to time while she was also raising her baby days passed and Helen carved a life indeed out of the Granite Boulders of those dark woods to her as to everyone else Asheville was not so
• 20:30 - 21:00 bad opportunities existed for even the lowest rungs of economic Society the harsh extremes of the sweaty blue infernos of Summer and the bitterly cold silver Winters were offset with the most lovely Springs and Falls she had ever experienced what's more her little child had finally grown enough to not require quite as much constant attending to not a toddler but not an infant anymore really and as she got as near as she had ever been to settling into into a place in routine the time came for her toll to
• 21:00 - 21:30 be paid to the place she was beginning to call home a dark toll it was long ago 12 Spies went to study a land their God had told them to possess when they returned from the perilous Journey they complained that theirs was a land which consumed its inhabitants oh how often that is true dark places are old places and in this world old places are all too frequently shot through with evil Asheville is such an old place one
• 21:30 - 22:00 morning Helen began cooking some strips of bacon on her stove top her oven was on at the same time the smell of sourdough biscuits filled the kitchen with warmth after a while one of the oily Rags hanging down from the hook above the stove started to smoke before igniting into a sudden burst of quiet flame Helen was turned around towards her child attending to him the rag burned long and slow and hot before for suddenly falling into the smoking and
• 22:00 - 22:30 popping pan of bacon grease still Helen did not see and did not yet smell the dangerous smoke mixing into the wafting clouds of good smoke a sudden gust of heat smoted her back and Helen turned around to see a stove and oven engulfed in oily Flames the terror she felt then must have been something few can imagine with a wall of death before her encroaching on her and a baby hiding beneath her apron she was faced with the choice to immediately grabbed the child and run out of the house to face the
• 22:30 - 23:00 Monumental cost of repair that would come of it all or try and put the fire out she chose wrong first she ran her child into the other room where the air was a bit clearer then not realizing the particular danger of oil fires Helen ran back to the kitchen and grabbed a jug of water next to the wash basin she strained to haul it smoothly over the oven before lifting it onto the table and up to the crook of her hip from there she poured gallons of water onto the fire and watched in searing and burning pain as it unceremoniously
• 23:00 - 23:30 swallowed up the liquid and only grew much larger she scrambled to try and throw towels onto the Flames but they disintegrated into molten black rubbish right away down to her last wit she turned around coughing and squinting her eyes at the thick smoke that now filled the entire house through the bumps and bruises that came from confusedly rushing through the small place into the other room containing her child Helen was horrified to see the smoke in it was just as thick and black as it had been
• 23:30 - 24:00 in the kitchen she could not even see her child though the room was hardly 10 ft Square she tried to find her way to the child's cries without knocking anything over and onto him she grew dizzy and started to sway this way and that finally to the tune of her crying heart she collapsed to the floor completely unconscious from smoke inhalation the firefighters arrived and did all they could they finally did douse the fire and were quick to work through the house looking for the mother and child they found both incapacitated and started resuscitation efforts as
• 24:00 - 24:30 soon as they were clear of the smoke after what felt as near to countless minutes as a man can feel Helen shot her eyes open and coughed out a black Flem she was alive and was breathing again her child however was not and her child never did wake up for weeks neighbors observed Helen descend into a spiral of Sorrow depression and guilt she had done her best but it wasn't enough now her own son the only left that gave life and light and laughter to her was gone she
• 24:30 - 25:00 cursed and muttered to God in one moment before wailing to the same God beseeching him for pity the next she was a woman Torn Between the death she now hoped for and the life she was forced to walk each day and this went on for weeks until she took a walk in the woods one night those pisin woods rolling with Shadow and noises unclear to the ear on which night had fallen can overwhelm the tightly interlocked branch anes of the unfeeling trees seem too close in behind
• 25:00 - 25:30 even as they open up before you like sand floating in a tide and unaware of its prison and with a full moon staring down on the mad woman with a drunken silver Helen espied the bridge not too far ahead she walked to it slowly and ceremoniously she uncoiled the hemp rope she had brought with her she anchored the rope and slipped the loop at the other end around her head and then Helen jumped it was not long into the morning morning before she was found a ghastly
• 25:30 - 26:00 harbinger of death swinging gently beneath the bridge Helen was taken and buried in the local graveyard but locals even right away started talking of how she'd never really left the bridge that soon bore her name today as visitors flock to the historic remains of zeelandia they drive past and often times walk upon the cursed Bridge drivers report trouble with their car's Electronics when they roll under the stone Walkers shiver as they talk about the cloudy and less than solid woman
• 26:00 - 26:30 with the crazed look in her face running here and there along the bridge screaming about her Lost Child nightstalkers hesitate to confess the existential dread they feel when having walked along the road to the bridge in the dead of night they are faced with the woman dangling from the top by a stretch of rope wrapped around her neck they say the woman is smiling calling to them in a sort of mechanically dead voice beckoning them closer with a bony and translucent fingers
• 26:30 - 27:00 stay safe mask up get the VX don't take unnecessary risks be careful we've been coddled smothered in warnings trained to fear and avoid risk we've been taught to play it safe and be on our guard and not just against a scraped knee or a failed Endeavor no we've been taught to censor
• 27:00 - 27:30 our speech our words even our thoughts don't think those dangerous thoughts don't notice don't speak out if you do we're coming for you who's coming for you it almost doesn't even matter whether it's the HR lady at your company of either sex weaponized Church courts the social media censors or even those you once considered allies watch out take care play it safe but was it always this way have we always lived under this kind of stifling wet blanketing
• 27:30 - 28:00 panopticon is this the spirit of our Christian forefathers of the men who founded our nation in Blood and in faith willing to face down all the might of Britannia and her Red Coats there was a time when Americans didn't shrink from risk when they would rather die than bend our Christian forefathers knew what it was to draw the sword and throw away the scabard they knew what it was to set sail for
• 28:00 - 28:30 the unknown they defied tyrants they built explored and dared great things who settled this land who built one of the greatest Nations ever to be who settled the west and covered the continent from CA to SE with the Christian people who searched out glories crisscrossed the plains with railroads and fought off usurpers and Invaders on all sides risk wasn't a bug it was a feature without it our fathers knew there was no greatness and now
• 28:30 - 29:00 we're supposed to trade boldness for bureaucracy we're supposed to tremble at the unknown instead of mastering it we're supposed to Bow and scrape not even before bullets but before HR ladies we don't think so it's time to remember who we are this year join us here at new christom press for our annual conference safety third recovering the American will to Greatness 4 days to forge new friendships build Coalition and work to recover what was lost it's time to
• 29:00 - 29:30 reclaim the spirit that built this nation to break free from Fear to risk to build to lead the future belongs to the Bold well thank you Ben for that horrifying and Bone chillingly and cripplingly depressing story that you forced me to read I want to say thank you for that and just um yeah wow yeah you're welcome you know we had to kind of that that's why the start of the
• 29:30 - 30:00 episode was more of a butterup Feelgood father son we're oh we're riding our bikes we're all having a good time good and then you're like well let me tell you about a story where everyone dies and it never gets better that is thank you really genuinely tragic you know I it's stories like this that and I know like we disagree with the stone tape Theory and we can talk about exactly what that is but it is stories like this that make me be like I get why people are convinced by this Stone tape Theory idea where really heavy events uh in
• 30:00 - 30:30 history are kind they kind of like etch themselves into the stone MH and then as time goes on there's Echoes of what happens and it kind of like replays the tragedy I get why people think that because this is just I mean it's one of the most horrible stories I've ever heard yeah it it is truly depressing on the other hand it it reminds me of what something we said in our ghost episode I think season three or so um that the the
• 30:30 - 31:00 demons love to manipulate our emotions so they show up and they latch on to things and they use things for their own purposes that are true horrifying depressing dark things and then they they decide that they're going to like take advantage of that yeah you know cuz it's like we we know again CR published works we we know that that shimmering hazy person cloud is not actually your dearly departed Aunt be be great name that's not where souls go
• 31:00 - 31:30 beatric great name they don't linger yeah uh they it's a pointed once for man to die and then judgment it's like that's that's not what happens but you could see why it would be convenient for like the superstitions of men combined with the Demonic deceit to try and latch onto something like this and then like revictimized the world again from something that already brought sin and Devastation and pain and it shouldn't surprise us that um um that some evil power or dark power would use things
• 31:30 - 32:00 like this that have that have already happened they're not made up we know that this actually did take place because uh the the world of spirits is a world of intelligences like they they do have an intelligence they can learn they can know that things happen in a place and if they were all and you know like I believe that all of the Angelic Spirits were created at one time so they all have been around for a really long time it makes sense that they would learn as
• 32:00 - 32:30 they go they would latch on to new things take up new motifs that end up being you know just the same kind of motifs as as they were already harping on but repackaged to stay up to date with the changing world and uh and that shouldn't surprise us like these dark entities can learn they do have intelligence uh they are being put under the foot of Christ and they're being squashed and they're being you know extinguished from the world but they're still here yeah they're
• 32:30 - 33:00 still they're still active yeah still trying to deceive well guys we hope you've enjoyed this just really brief uh foray into the dusty Tome that was just one chapter in the dusty Tome it's got more than a 100 chapters I think close to 100 at least yeah I think by the time this comes out yeah right right around 100 so if you like the main show that we produce um we we're obviously hard at work right now getting ready for the next season of our main show to come out but we wanted to give you guys just just a window into what are what are the our
• 33:00 - 33:30 patrons and supporters over at supercast enjoying every week and it's this kind of stuff you know 30 to 40 minute stories that are um sometimes dark sometimes strange sometimes shimmering with light as well but mostly dark they're all good mostly dark though mostly dark if we're being honest if we're being honest and and they're and they're good they're really well done and so we hope that yall enjoy the future episodes that you're going to get um over the coming weeks and I think it'll be a good selection of
• 33:30 - 34:00 really what Brian's talking about all the different Vibes that we have with the dusty tone yeah just a few chapters so yeah so hope you guys enjoy that thank you for watching and we'll see you next time
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• 34:30 - 35:00 [Music] [Music]