#21: The Haunting of Lockdown! at the Disco
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Spoopy sound effects
Ah, pipe down will ya?! Some of us are trying to record a podcast up in here…cripes, some ghouls, eh? They just don’t know when to shut up!
TRACK ONE: “In the Room Where You Sleep” – Dead Man’s Bones
Hiya! Bring your spooky self in here and rest those weary bones of yours because you’re listening to Comics Youth presents Lockdown! at the Disco and this is the first episode of our Halloween spoot-tacular this year which we we’re calling The Haunting of Lockdown! at the Disco.
And this episode is dedicated to all things haunting and haunted, ghoulish and ghostly. The unseen things that follow and watch us. The mirages that sleep on our shoulders and whisper bad things into our slumbers.
Opening today’s episode there was “In the Room Where You Sleep” by Dead Man’s Bones and that’s taken from their one and only album of the same name and it’s something I listen to pretty much non-stop throughout every October since it was released in 2009.
I just love that it’s a concept album about spookiness and Halloween and it kind of plays like a Saturday morning cartoon of spookiness and morbid fascinations – full of affectionate dedications to ghosts, ghouls, the afterlife, cemeteries, monsters, and things that go bump in the night.
Another interesting thing about Dead Man’s Bones is that album features a really awesome children’s choir throughout it but it’s also the project of Hollywood actor – and one of my many unofficial Hollywood husbands – Ryan Gosling who is a self-proclaimed spooky boy. He just loves horror and Halloween and good grief, do we stan people with a whole lot of spooky in their souls.
So, today’s episode has been lovingly curated as ever with the help of our spectacular Safe Spaces group and we’ll be chatting about ghouls and ghosts and how every human is haunted with a spattering of some ghost stories in between.
And to keep those vibes jumping, this is “Haunted” by Beyonce.
TRACK TWO: “Haunted” – Beyonce
TRACK THREE: “Walking With a Ghost” – Tegan and Sara
That was “Walking With a Ghost” by Tegan and Sara and it was requested by Tom, who also shared that his favourite ghost story is Boy Scout Lane – so let’s set the mood today by delving into that one shall we?. But first, lemme just casually hop into this haunted graveyard here like the cryptkeeper to really set the atmosphere for y’all.
Spooky sound effects
Okay, there we go. SO – Boy Scout Lane. For those of you who may be unfamiliar, Boy Scout Lane is a notoriously spooky and isolated road located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin and its so renowned for apparent paranormal activity that gangs of youths often hang out there hoping to experience something spoopy – and it’s also, as its name would suggest, the basis of a number of ghost stories and urban legends surrounding a bunch of unproven and allegedly fictional deaths of a bunch of boy scouts.
According to DangerousRoads.Org – which just FYI, is obviously my go-to website for looking up such things – Boy Scout Lane was quote, “given its name because of a tragic incident that a troop of Boy Scouts were killed while on a camping trip in the 1950s or 60s. It is said that the desolate road is now haunted be the ghosts of the Boy Scouts who died there. It’s a stretch of unpaved road that runs through the woods, with little around it to recommend itself. But many will still often wander down it, curious to see whether the stories connected to it are true.” END QUOTE
Interestingly, the Urban Legends Wikipedia page on this tale delves deeper into the intricate folklore of it all and how there are multiple variations on the story behind this notorious stretch of road and what even supposedly happened to this boy scout troop. The page states, QUOTE:
In some variations the murderer is the troop's Scoutmaster. In others it is their bus driver. In other versions of the legend, a small group of Scouts leave their camp during the night and accidentally drop their lantern, resulting in a forest fire that kills the entire troop.
Other variations of the story exist including one in which the Scouts are killed after their bus crashes or accidentally catches fire. There is also a version in which the Scouts vanish without explanation and are never found.
In some versions of the legend, two Boy Scouts escaped the fate of the rest of the troop and tried to find help, only to become lost in the woods where they die of starvation and/or exposure.
In most variations of the legend it is said that the dead Scouts haunt the forest where they died and can be heard hiking through the undergrowth, or their lights can be seen at night as they seek help or their fellow Scouts.
It’s worth noting that people have reported the feeling of being watched, hearing snapping branches and footsteps though nobody is around, as well as weird visual occurances like ghostly lights and figures as well as more extreme reported incidents like phantom buses or handprints on windows.
Spoopy, spoopy stuff indeed!
And if you have a favourite ghost story you want us to talk about this month then please get in touch for us to investigate and read out on air, drop me a message on amy@comicsyouth.co.uk.
And now, let’s “bury a friend” with Billie Eillish…
TRACK FOUR: “Bury a Friend” – Billie Eilish
TRACK FIVE: “Suspiria” – Goblin
That was the supreme “Suspiria” by Goblin and it’s the lead theme to the stupendously kitsch and beautiful Giallo horror from 1977 by Dario Argento. That film isn’t about ghosts but witchcraft, but regardless there is something undoubtedly haunting about that theme which really creeps between the cracks on your knuckles!
And now for another spoopy story, this time courtesy of Lucas M. So lemme just crawl back into this haunted graveyard once again to set the atmosphere for this one.
Now, some important context for this story: Lucas worked in a care home for a while and so he was apparently privy to a great deal of unusual happenings and this story is about one such unusual happening. Lucas says, QUOTE
“In winter last year a lady had just passed away. It was the end of the day shift - 8pm in winter so it was pitch black outside- and we had like 10 minutes left before we had to leave.
The building is split into two ends, so I went down to the unit at the bottom - all the residents that live down there were watching TV in the lounge, or they were in bed because they couldn’t mobilise independently, so everyone was accounted for.
I sit down next to the other carer that was down there and I hear footsteps going down the corridor towards the door.
Proper clear footsteps
Nothing ambiguous
Those were damn footsteps
Me and the other carer look up to make sure everyone is still in front of us, and then both look at each other and say, "did you hear those footsteps too?"
I don’t believe in ghosts but there was NO ONE THERE and those footsteps were going AWAY from the room of the lady who had just passed away.
No thanks”
END QUOTE
Thanks Lucas! And Bell also shared with us a similarly spoopy tale where she said, QUOTE:
“There was a spooky story my friend told me when she lived in an apartment where they said lots of weird things happened like doors banging and cupboards opening.
But she told me one time her and her friend were sat chatting by the window and said friend went really still and quiet for a moment.
Later in the day they told said hat they were too scared to say anything at the time, but they saw someone walk past the window – crucial note here, their apartment was on the second floor...” YIKES!!
This is “Ghosts” by Mayday Parade and it was requested by Lucas M
TRACK SIX: “Ghosts” – Mayday Parade
TRACK SEVEN: “Ghostbusters” – RUN-DMC
That was “Ghostbusters” by RUN-DMC – the lesser known and lesser loved Ghostbusters track but one that I love nonetheless. You can’t go wrong with those lads as far as I’m concerned!
I’m still reeling from those ghost stories there – and I’m so fascinated by all ghost stories and what they represent to us as a society. You know, I love the horror genre especially for how horror narratives delve into difficult subject matter and explore societal and existential ills through the conduit of monsters and suffering and hauntings.
Ghost stories are fascinating because they really hinge on our collective fear of the unknown and our collective fear about death. For some of us, ghost stories are horrible and terrifying because they press their thumbs too deep into our sore, sensitive spots – those places that we don’t like to think about and that we don’t want to engage with.
But for others, ghost stories can bring about a weird feeling of morbid curiosity and intrigue – sometimes even a little bit of comfort. It’s like Lydia Deetz says in Beetlejuice when the two ghosts she’s just casually befriended in the house she’s just moved into ask her how it is she can see them.
And she explains that the handbook for the recently deceased says that “live people ignore the strange and unusual” and so she can see the deceased because she herself is strange and unusual.
And I think that is part of the reason why horror and spoopiness is a genre for marginalised people all round to enjoy – because it’s a genre that explores otherness and the types of fear and survival and difficulties that many marginalised people sadly experience.
When we look at ghosts we’re simply looking at humanity through a veil of extinction. And there is something as equally tragic and terrifying about that as it is familiar and comforting.
We’re all just ghosts in human form.
And now for a weirdly wonderful and haunting bop about romantic transmutation, I guess? I dunno. See if you can figure this one out – it’s a weird one and I love it and there’s definitely some kind of a ghost story or a possession story buried within it. I just…I dunno…
This is “Centipede” by Rebbie Jackson.
TRACK EIGHT: “Centipede” – Rebbie Jackson
TRACK NINE: “Somebody’s Watching Me” – Rockwell
That was “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell and both those tracks have Michael Jackson connections, obviously – and they’re also weirdly spooky which we stan – Ash requested a different Michael Jackson track for today but I think we’ll probably be saving that for one of our next episodes in which we continue our Halloween Spook-Tacular with more tricks and treats of the musical and chatty variety and spookys-a-plenty!
Until then friends, remember: Everything is not cool, but it can be. Stay safe, stay sassy, and my goodness – stay spooky.
And maybe grab your ghost crush and do some casual sexy pottery, maybe because this is “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers as excellently requested by Ellie and this is Amy Roberts signing off and getting clay EVERYWHERE…it’s a “Ghost” reference, folks!
Byeeeeeeeeeee!!!
TRACK TEN: “Unchained Melody” – The Righteous Brothers