VYS0046 | Ding Dong Merrily On High Strangeness - Vayse to Face to Face with Stephanie Quick and AP Strange: Christmas 2024

VYS0046 | Ding Dong Merrily On High Strangeness - Vayse to Face to Face with Stephanie Quick and AP Strange: Christmas 2024 - Show Notes

Ho, ho, holy shit that's another year gone and Christmas is here again! To mark the ever-increasing speed at which the years fly past in a blur of spiralling anxiety and gathering doom, Hine and Buckley invite two of the nicest, wisest and funniest people in Weirdosphere, Stephanie Quick and AP Strange, to help them celebrate away the winter blues.

Drawing on the British tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas, Hine, Buckley, Strange and Quick (also the title of the upcoming Vayse autobiography) work their way around the cardinal points, each telling a ghost story from the place in which they were born: the North and South of England and the East Coast and West Coast of the US. There are tales of a murderous jester who stalks the corridors of a Cumbrian castle to this day; a red haired woman who haunting a pirate-built cottage in New England; a missing bride at a Christmas wedding in a very haunted stately home in Hampshire; and a revolutionary Californian abolitionist who still throws nuts from trees over 120 years after her death... and they discuss three lesser known British winter traditions: Raymond Briggs' Snowman, ignoring Thanksgiving and moaning about the weather... (recorded 8 December 2024)

Thanks to AP and Steph for preparing the stories and thanks to Keith for another year of show notes - follow the man on Blue Sky: @peakflow.bsky.social.

Merry Christmas everyone, thanks for listening!

Steph Quick online

Ghost Dog is a Mystery Box (Steph’s blog)
Steph on YouTube
Steph on Instagram
Steph on Facebook
Steph on Bluesky

AP Strange online

AP Strange's Weird Writings
The AP Strange Show podcast
AP on YouTube
AP on Instagram
AP on Bluesky

Hine’s intro

A Visit from St. Nicholas - All Poetry
VYS0013 | A Vayse-man Came Travelling - Yule 2022
VYS0028 | Psychic Jizz - Vayse to Face with Stephanie Quick
VYS0037 | Elvis with a Flaming Sword - Vayse to Face with AP Strange

A short history of the Christmas ghost story

Yule - Wikipedia
A Christmas Carol - Wikipedia
The Pickwick Papers
The Story Of The Goblins Who Stole A Sexton (BBC Radio Drama) - Archive.org
A Ghost Story for Christmas (BBC anthology series) - Wikipedia
M.R. James - Wikipedia
Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad - Wikipedia
Whistle And I'll Come To You - Dream Sequence (BBC Omnibus 1968) - YouTube

Buckley’s ghost story: The Murderous Jester of Muncaster Castle

Muncaster Castle - Wikipedia
Cumbria - Wikipedia
VYSXXXX | The Real Vayse: Halloween 2024
Thomas Skelton: The Murderous Jester of Muncaster Castle - Haunted Palace
The Remains of John Briggs, containing Letters From the Lakes, Letter XI: Muncaster Hall - Archive.org
Fool of Muncaster - Muncaster.co.uk
Thomas Ligotti - Wikipedia
Morecambe Bay cockling disaster - Wikipedia
Jester - Wikipedia

AP’s ghost story: Ocean Born Mary

New England - Wikipedia
In search of Stephen King in New England, US - Roadbook
H.P. Lovecraft - Wikipedia
Barney and Betty Hill incident - Wikipedia
Bridgewater Triangle - Wikipedia
Dover Demon - Wikipedia
Salem witch trials - Wikipedia
The Great New England Vampire Panic - Smithsonian
Bigfoot in New England: Sixty-Seven Credible Sightings? - New England Folklore
The Great New England Sea Serpents - New England Historical Society
New Hampshire Legend: Ocean Born Mary
Hans Holzer - Wikipedia
Sybil Leek - Wikipedia
Princess Bride (1987) clip, The Story of Dread Pirate Roberts - YouTube
The dark fandom behind healthcare CEO murder suspect - BBC News
American Gods - Wikipedia
Jack Parsons - Wikipedia
VYS0029 | If There's Something Strange In Your Neighbourhood - Vayse to Face to Face with Field Lines Cartographer and Bob Freeman: Halloween 2023
The Retributory Haunting of Bannister Doll - Beyond the Black Pool
La Llorona - Wikipedia
Jenny Greenteeth - Wikipedia
Unthanksgiving Day, The Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony Occupation of Alcatraz - Wikipedia
Unthanksgiving Day: A celebration of Indigenous resistance to colonialism - The Conversation
The Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Thanksgiving Service on Alcatraz Island - YouTube

Hine’s ghost story: The Mistletoe Bride

Bramshill House: Legends - Wikipedia
The Bramshill House Bride, or the Legend of the Mistletoe Bough - Burials and Beyond
Burials & Beyond website
The Mistletoe Bough (1904) - BFI National Archive restoration - YouTube
Rope (1948) clip - Reference to Mistletoe Bough - YouTube
The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales, by Kate Mosse - Goodreads
Bellowhead: The Mistletoe Bough (From BBC Four Sessions - The Christmas Session) - YouTube
‘The Incorruptibles’: Who Are These Mysterious Saints? - EWTN
Egregore - Wikipedia
VYS0044 | For Fear of Little Men - Vayse to Face with Jo Hickey-Hall

Steph’s ghost story: Mary Ellen Pleasant

Steph's Notes on Mary Ellen Pleasant
Mary Ellen Pleasant - Wikipedia
Napa County, California - Wikipedia
John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry - Wikipedia
Haitian Vodou - Wikipedia
Underground Railroad - Wikipedia
Marie Laveau - Wikipedia
Shusheel Bibbs’ MEP website
Heritage of Power: Marie LaVeaux to Mary Ellen Pleasant, by Susheel Bibbs - Goodreads
Mary Ellen Pleasant Memorial Park - Atlas Obscura
Lwa (Loa) - Wikipedia

Christmas weather

Radiation Fog - Weather.gov
The history of British winters - Net Weather
Little Ice Age - Wikipedia
River Thames frost fairs - Wikipedia

Christmas recommendations

Beltane Ranch and Vineyard website
The Christmas Toy (1986) Restored (video) - Archive.org
The Snowman: Bowie intro - YouTube
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Trailer #1 - YouTube
Scrooged Trailer - YouTube
Tom Waits - Wikipedia
New York Dolls - Wikipedia
Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus trailer - YouTube
David Johansen & Larry Saltzman: Last Kind Words (audio) - YouTube
Geeshie Wiley - Wikipedia
Buddy Hackett - Wikipedia
Hot Frosty Official Trailer - Netflix - YouTube
This American Life: The Super (audio)

Buckley’s closing question

Hands: A true case study of a phenomenal hypnotic subject, by Margaret Williams - Goodreads

Vayse online

Vayse Website
Vayse on Twitter
Vayse on Bluesky
Vayse on Instagram
Bandcamp (Music From Vayse)
Vayse on Ko-Fi
Email: vayseinfo@gmail.com

Special Guests: AP Strange and Stephanie Quick.