It's the fifth anniversary of the What Fresh Hell podcast! Thanks for listening, sharing, and being part of the best mom community anywhere.

To celebrate five years of community– and the spooky season that is upon us– this week we're here to talk about the super-creepy parts of life with kids, with a little bit of skepticism and a little bit of "okay, that freaks me out a little."

From phantom cries to sleepwalking to night terrors, our kids are creepy. Perhaps never more so than when they tell us they see their dead great-grandfather sitting next to them in the back seat. Are ghosts real? Some of our kids sure think so... and what do we think? We'll quote child psychologist Jacqueline Wooley: “It’s important to never say never, because it’s the scientific way to be.”

Here are links to some of the writing on the topic that we discuss in this episode:

Rosemary Counter for WaPo On Parenting: Why do so many kids ‘see ghosts’? We asked some psychologists.

moms.com: Doctors Explain Why Moms Hear 'Phantom Cries' Even When Our Kids Are Grown

Clarkson University: Why Do We See Ghosts?

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Carola Binder, "Shock Values: Prices and Inflation in American Democracy" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

New Books in Public Policy

Introduction

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