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Death und Spiders

Today’s episode “Death und Spiders” is on Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOvercast, Libsyn, Pocket CastStitcher, iHeartRadio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Today’s blog is short. Today’s episode, eh, not so much. But today’s episode is straight from the heart. Unscripted. No lists. No websites to reference. No links to stuff into the end of this post. We recorded today’s episode in the aftermath of the helicopter crash that killed nine people, including Kobe Bryant. We recorded today’s episode the day after Kym’s father passed away. Given the option to go dark for this week, Kym said, “Nope, let’s record,” so we did. We set up in her front porch, overlooking her yard, watching squirrels, birds, and lizards as we talked. We tackled the obvious: loved ones are not guaranteed to us forever and ever. It’s easy enough to believe we’ll have a certain number of years with each other, but the reality is sometimes they leave without any notice. Tell the ones you love, “I love you”, and remind them how much you care about them being in your life. Family, friends, pets. Let them know.

We also ponder how the role we play in people’s lives does not automatically grant us respect – or love. Respect is earned. But love is too. Honestly, there are many layers of love. We love chocolate, yeah? We love weekends. We love our parents and our kids. We love our significant other. We love driving down that long stretch of highway at daybreak. We love our country. We’re told to love everyone because love is the answer and the key to all healing. Right?

Dare we say…some love is earned. Real, deep, true emotional love is so precious – not to be given away frivolously or expect to be handed to us in spite of bad circumstances or behavior. Simply put, not everyone is entitled to this precious connection. And then there’s the fact that none of us love – or grieve – the same way. We adore celebrities we have never met and struggle to find good in a person vitally entangled in our lives. Some may potently feel the loss of a superstar, yet not know exactly how to feel when a family member who has created a lifetime of chaos crosses over. The gamut of emotions in such a situation can sometimes be accompanied by guilt and confusion. “I shouldn’t feel so sad about this celebrity” or “I should feel sadder about my family member.” Nope.

There’s no right way to feel after news of death hits us. There’s possibly a sense of relief, or confusion, hurt, anger, sadness, or sometimes nothing at all in varying stages and degrees. Grief is organic and intimately personal. It takes time to process…though that “time” cannot be dictated by anyone…not even ourselves.

So we just talked. Talked about those 9 souls in the helicopter, talked about Kym’s cantankerous dad, and talked about some of our favorite podcasts. And then, just to lighten things up, Kym sent Kris into on-air spasms of shivers by recounting her most recent arachnid encounter. It’s all pretty typical, just two old friends talking about important things, and about things that aren’t so very important at all – wrapped up in a circular conversation. Such is The Mugly Truth Podcast.

Check out The Mugly Truth Podcast’s episode “Death und Spiders” on Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOvercast, Libsyn, Pocket CastStitcher, iHeartRadio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Then all you need to do is 1) subscribe 2) download and 3) listen! AND!!! 4) If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review (pretty please?). The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.

And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

© The Mugly Truth 2020 and © The Mugly Truth Podcast 2020. All rights reserved.
Intro and outro music, “Clever as a Fox”  by Espresso Music through premiumbeats.com.

Featured Photo of Photo Album by Valeria Boltneva on Pexels.com

Episodes

Call Me Korgia

Blog Card
Fangirl Alert! Listen to “CALL ME KORGIA” on iTunes, Spotify, Overcast, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts!

lighted happy birthday candles
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Before we get into the details of today’s episode, Call Me Korgia, let’s say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR VERY BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL KYM!! TODAY is Kym’s birthday and we wish her all the best!

So! Happy Birthday and Happy Tuesday!! Today’s episode is allllllll about the serious, hardcore fangirling over and paying an homage to Kym and Kris’ most favorite podcast, My Favorite Murder. Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, hosts of the epically popular podcast, are the ladies who inspired us to get into podcasting. When we started we had no delusions we could do anything at the level of these two amazing women, but we knew we wanted to podcast  anyway. And so we did with coffee mugs in one hand, mics in the other, and a whooooole lot of opinions, stories, and laughter. And we have loved every minute of it from day one.

As a birthday kickoff for Kym, we went to the January 11, 2019, My Favorite Murder podcast live show at the Civic Theater in San Diego, CA. After the show, we met Karen and Georgia where we were able to thank them (profusely) for inspiring us. In today’s episode we recount the mega highs and the very few (only one actually) annoying lows of the night. Oh, and there’s Kym’s especially slick maneuver at the meet and greet. That’s our girl, Kym.

Kym and Kris in San Diego MFM Show
Waiting for Georgia and Karen in San Diego Civic Theater January 11, 2019, My Favorite Murder.

Karen and Georgia MFM On Stage
Karen and Georgia sit down to talk murder, San Diego Civic Theater, January 11, 2019, My Favorite Murder

Fangirl Moment
The moment we got our act together and got to thank Karen and Georgia for inspiring us to start podcasting.

The second half of the episode segues into a very MFM-tributesque recounting of two stories from our travels: The “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Bathory of Slovakia, and the underground area of Edinburgh, Scotland called “Mary King’s Close“, where people spent generations living, working, and dying in darkness.

Kym talks about how Elizabeth Bathory and her husband reigned bloody supreme (literally) as sado-masochists in their castle (now in ruins) on a hill in Slovakia. But it wasn’t until after the death of her husband that Elizabeth’s unbridled vanity and penchant for fatal torture earned her the reputation as being history’s most prolific female serial killer. Elizabeth believed the blood of virgins would keep her young (sound like any bloodsucker you’ve heard of?), so she took advantage of her social standing to get as many into her clutches as possible. Spoiler alert: she was caught, but she is proof that the rich and powerful could (and still can to this day) literally get away with murder because although Elizabeth’s servants – who were forced to do her disgusting dirty work – were put to death for their participation in her schemes, Elizabeth was merely sentenced to live out the rest of her days in her own home. Did we mention she lived in a castle? Tsk. Poor, poor, bloody Elizabeth.

elizabeth_bathory_portrait
Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the first female serial killer in history. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia, artist and copyright unknown.

 

Čachtice Castle, Slovakia
Ruins of Elizabeth Bathory’s castle. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

While there’s no murder and intrigue in Kris’ story, there is definitely creepiness and death as she talks about the history of Mary King’s Close, and how part of the current city of Edinburgh was built right over the top of existing streets, businesses and homes, some still intact. Despite the lack of sunshine and fresh air, life continued underground for many of the poorest folk for generations, even when the plague devastated almost half the population of Edingurgh in the 1600s. In fact, underground was where the plague victims were quarantined (albeit provided for), until the devastating disease ran its course. One of the plague’s most famous victims, little Annie, still receives gifts to this day as visitors try to help alleviate her sorrow of being abandoned by her parents as she died a slow and pitiful death in the darkness of Mary King’s Close.

marykingsclose_wikipedia_thecontinnuumgroup
The actual Mary King’s Close, with props to recreate what life was like in the underground “city”. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia, photo by The Continnuum Group

Mary King's Close Model
Model of Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Kristen Core.

Mary King's Close Plaque
Plaque describing the model of Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Kristen Core.

A Scottish Close
What a typical close looks like, open to the fresh sky. Photo courtesy WordPress Free Library, by Pixabay

Oh…and the city mentioned by Kris as being the home of the “Cathedral of Bones” near Budapest is called Kutná Hora and the “Church of Bones” is named Sedlec Ossuary. Here’s a look at some of the eerie, beautiful craftsmanship inside the church. Yep. Those are human bones.

Sedlec Ossuary Kutná Hora
Photo of the Bone Church, Sedlec Ossuary in Kutná Hora Hungary, Photo courtesy of Wikipedia, by Pudelek (Marcin Szala)

Check out our CALL ME KORGIA episode on  iTunes/Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOvercast, Libsyn, Pocket CastStitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Then all you need to do is 1) subscribe 2) download and 3) listen! AND!!! 4) If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review (pretty please?). The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.

And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

© The Mugly Truth 2018 and © The Mugly Truth Podcast 2018. All rights reserved.
Intro and outro music, “Clever as a Fox”  by Espresso Music through premiumbeats.com
Episodes

Episode 04: Julyoween!

 

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Happy Tuesday!

Oh, dear mug-clutchers, we keep trying to manifest cool, crisp Autumn!! As we sip iced-coffee, fan ourselves and bemoan California summer heat, we try to bring a bit of October by regaling ourselves with Halloween-inspired tales…hence Julyoween! We talk about our own experiences with the paranormal – apparitions, floating ghosts, messages in our dreams, moving photographs (and not the super amazing, always wonderful Harry Potter kind), ouija boards, EVPs, orbs, ghost walks, ghost bus tours (the best in Edinburgh!), creepy childhood homes, long-passed grandmas, cemeteries, and even a dancing box.  And we also learn some of the most haunted spots in Orange County, California: Yost Theater in Santa Ana, The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, Yorba Linda Cemetery, The Wild Goose Yacht in Newport Beach, the Howe-Waffle House in Santa Ana (NOT the Whaley House, which is in San Diego – good one Kris *eyeroll*), Rutabagorz Restaurant in Old Town Orange, Kmart in Anaheim (wait…WHAT?? Yes you read that right…unfortunately Kris was thinking Walmart, ergo the what’re the ghosts wearing quip. Oh man. We hate when jokes get messed up on technicalities like accuracy and FACTS. *crossing arms, tapping foot, pouting*), Cypress College Photography Department, just about all of Fullerton, and so…much…more!!

Don’t be scared, click the Libsyn link below to help you cross over to the latest Episode of the Mugly Truth Podcast!

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Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! And leave us your own tales of the paranormal on any of those sites, or email us here at sipsters@themuglytruth.com!

Note from Kris: Hi all…I found a photo of my beautiful friend Kerrie Ann, circa 1987-1988, during Christmas time at my parent’s house (yes the one where most all my paranormal moments happened!). As I edited this episode on Sunday, 15 July, it hit me that that was her birthday. I miss her every day. Our birthdays were intertwined and mine was never the same after she passed. Rest in Peace my lovely, beautiful soul-sister, you will always be in my heart.

© The Mugly Truth 2018 and © The Mugly Truth Podcast 2018. All rights reserved.
Intro and outro music, “Clever as a Fox”  by Espresso Music through premiumbeats.com