Ghost Bites

Welcome back to Ghost Bites! It's officially summer, and we are kicking off our very first special series: Campfire Tales. Even though JT believes camping is just "voluntary homelessness with expensive gear," we are enjoying the spirit of the campfire from the comfort of our air-conditioned studio.

For this series, we're outsourcing our fear to our favorite podcasting friends. In this episode, we are joined by Brandon, the host of The Southern Gothic Podcast and Fear Daily. He brings us a modern urban legend from the edges of the Bible Belt about a vehicle locals call "The Benevolent Bus".

What seems like a harmless church bus with cheerful red lettering is actually something far more sinister. Targeting vulnerable populations under overpasses and in tent camps, the clean-cut drivers offer hot meals and warm beds with "no strings attached". But as one firefighter discovers while investigating the disappearances, those who board the bus vanish without a trace. His search leads him to an abandoned warehouse smelling of bleach and char, hiding a dark, black-edged drain. As JT points out, this predatory bus acts like an anglerfish, using trust and charity as a deadly lure.

Episode Highlights:

JT files a formal grievance against the concept of camping.

Brandon from The Southern Gothic Podcast shares the chilling tale of the "Benevolent Bus".

A deep dive into an insidious urban legend where the scariest monsters hide in plain sight.

Why JT insists that a church bus is essentially a "prison transport van that learned to sing alto".

Ghost Bites on Suno AI: ⁠https://suno.com/@ghostbitespod⁠

To listen to songs based on each episode, separated by season.

Copyright & Licensing Notice: This podcast adheres to all applicable copyright laws. The music and sound effects featured in this production have been explicitly licensed for use. Permission for the broadcast, synchronization, and distribution of these audio elements has been secured through active licensing agreements with Epidemic Sound and Suno AI. All rights reserved by their respective copyright holders.

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Pull up a log (we know what we said) and keep your safety whistle handy! This summer, Mike and JT are heading deep into the woods for a brand new collaboration miniseries: Campfire Stories.

We’re gathering some of our absolute favorite true crime, paranormal, and storytelling podcasters around the fire to share original, terrifying tales. Is it a terrible tactical decision to invite a bunch of people who literally study how to get away with things into the dark woods at night? JT certainly thinks so!

Get ready for a chilling lineup of stories, including The Stuffed Menagerie, Imposter in the Static, The Brick and the Bureaucrat (which might just be as scary as the DMV), and The Barn, the Brothel, and Aunt Rosie’s Couch.

We are thrilled to be joined by an absolute ambush of premium audio talent. This summer's campfire collaborators include:

Southern Gothic

Our True Crime Podcast

Dark Poutine

Octoberpod

Jayme McDonald (Chatterless)

2 and Out CFL Podcast

Barn Owl Brewery

Javier (The Pretend Podcast)

CJ (Rainbow Crimes)

Grab your bug spray, don't let the politely suspicious Canadians make the s'mores, and join us for Ghost Bites: Campfire Stories all summer long, wherever you get your podcasts!

Ghost Bites on Suno AI: ⁠https://suno.com/@ghostbitespod⁠

To listen to songs based on each episode, separated by season.

This episode was produced with permission and licenses from Epidemic Sound Pro.

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To close out the season, Mike and JT take on the heavyweight champions of paranormal litigation: Ed and Lorraine Warren. Mike details the origin of these "original Ghostbusters," from Ed’s Navy days to the 2-billion-dollar Hollywood franchise built on a foundation of 1970s polyester and absolute skepticism. JT delivers a sharp critique of Lorraine being the "Diet Coke of mediums" and mocks Ed’s "Occult Museum," where a "dangerous dark tome" turned out to be a Dungeons & Dragons expansion book from a comic shop. Between the Amityville "wine-fueled hoax" and the realization that the real Annabelle was just a plush Raggedy Ann doll with red yarn hair, this finale proves that the Warrens’ greatest haunting was simply a very profitable story copyrighted for the masses.

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Ghost Bites on Suno AI: https://suno.com/@ghostbitespod

To listen to songs based on each episode, separated by season.

This episode was produced with permission and licenses from Epidemic Sound Pro.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_and_Lorraine_Warren

https://tonyspera.com/

https://theness.com/index.php/hunting-the-ghost-hunters/

https://web.archive.org/web/20030726044418/http://www.thedemonologist.net/work4.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairvoyance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amityville_Horror

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2019/10/conjuring-the-real-ed-and-lorraine-warren/

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-connecticut-conjuring-ed-lorraine-warren-20210602-lfbiyfpsavfudp7yzid4x6tiua-story.html

https://answersafrica.com/ed-and-lorraine-warren-cases-family.html

https://thecinemaholic.com/ed-and-lorraine-warren-deaths-when-and-how-did-they-die/

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/632800/ed-and-lorraine-warren-paranormal-investigator-facts

https://elpaisanoonline.com/ae/2021/04/07/the-warren-cases/

https://alchetron.com/Ed-and-Lorraine-Warren

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/obituaries/lorraine-warren-dead.html

https://www.idolnetworth.com/ed-warren-net-worth-141198

https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/history/articles/7-of-the-most-famous-cases-investigated-by-ed-and-lorraine-warre

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/war-conjuring-disturbing-claims-behind-a-billion-dollar-franchise-1064364/

https://screenrant.com/the-conjuring-real-life-facts-about-the-warrens/

https://www.al.com/entertainment/2013/07/5_things_to_know_about_the_war.html

https://www.connecticutmag.com/the-connecticut-story/ed-and-lorraine-warren-of-the-conjuring-have-a-long/article_138e51f4-4e1d-5d65-9803-6bcd28c721dd.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/amityville-haunting-psychic-lorraine-warren-has-died

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeport,_Connecticut

https://www.popsci.com/sensory-deprivation-effects-darkness/

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In this installment, Mike and JT venture into the "Happiest Place on Earth," a pressure cooker of forced joy built directly on top of an ancient, cursed Florida swamp. Mike explains the architectural deceit of the "Utilidors," detailing the subterranean labyrinth where cast members take off their mascot heads to eat sad sandwiches under your feet. JT finds it hilariously corporate that Disney has "canon ghosts" on the payroll, like Redd the Pirate, and suggests that Walt Disney’s specter is actually the park's biggest rule-breaker for violating his own non-smoking policy on Main Street. From HVAC systems being mistaken for 19th-century poltergeists to corporate lawyers threatening to sue any unauthorized phantoms, this episode proves that at Disney, the only thing scarier than a ghost is the price of a twelve-dollar churro.

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Ghost Bites on Suno AI: https://suno.com/@ghostbitespod

To listen to songs based on each episode, separated by season.

This episode was produced with permission and licenses from Epidemic Sound Pro.

Anonymous. (n.d.). Cinderella Castle: The princess' guardian (Haunting tales, construction worker's daughter story). Disney Fan Lore. Retrieved from https://disneyworldhauntings.com/cinderellacastle-stories

Anonymous. (n.d.). Cold spots: Sudden drops in temperature in the Haunted Mansion. Disney Visitor Reports. Retrieved from https://disneyworldhauntings.com/cold-spots-mansion

Anonymous. (n.d.). Epcot's Spaceship Earth: Cosmic spirits (Disembodied voices, strange lights, and shadows). Disney Theorist Network. Retrieved from https://disneyworldhauntings.com/epcot-spaceship-earth

Anonymous. (n.d.). Ghostly apparitions, strange sounds, and unexplained occurrences at iconic attractions. Disney World Haunting Reports. Retrieved from https://disneyworldhauntings.com/general-attraction-hauntings

Anonymous. (n.d.). Ghostly boy: Photograph taken on the Haunted Mansion ride (Story widely regarded as a hoax). Disney Urban Legends. Retrieved from https://disneyworldhauntings.com/ghostly-boy-hoax

Anonymous. (n.d.). Redd the pirate: Rumors of her being a ghost or supernatural entity (Pirates of the Caribbean). Disney Insider Rumors. Retrieved from https://disneyworldhauntings.com/redd-the-pirate-ghost

Anonymous. (n.d.). Reports of items moving on their own in Haunted Mansion ride vehicles or within the attraction's scenes. Disney Employee Anecdotes. Retrieved from https://disneyworldhauntings.com/haunted-mansion-moving-items

Anonymous. (n.d.). The Ghost of Dolly (Rumored character who died in the Hollywood Tower Hotel). Tower of Terror Lore. Retrieved from https://disneyworldhauntings.com/tower-of-terror-dolly

Anonymous. (n.d.). The ghostly figure believed to be the spirit of a young girl roaming the upper floors of Cinderella Castle (Construction worker's daughter story). Disney Construction Myths. Retrieved from https://disneyworldhauntings.com/cinderellacastle-girl

Anonymous. (n.d.). Walt Disney's presence (Shadowy figure, distinctive voice, pipe tobacco scent near the firehouse apartment). Main Street U.S.A. Legends. Retrieved from https://disneyworldhauntings.com/walt-disney-firehouse

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Rogue Transmissions--the edgy, semi-annual anthology of indie podcasts--is invading your podcast feed with DUNGEONPUNK PART 2 ... a symphony of 80s nostalgia, dystopian cyberpunk, and savage swords drawn against both super sorcery & super science. Featuring an adventuring party of your indie podcast favorites!

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Mike and JT head to Fairfax County, Virginia, to investigate the "Bunnyman Bridge," a stone archway that looks like the exact spot a bridge troll would ask you a riddle about your property taxes. Mike clears the air on the fake 1904 asylum lore, only to reveal a much weirder reality involving a man in a white rabbit suit who threw hatchets through car windows in the 1970s. JT critiques the Bunnyman’s tactical choice of weapon, noting that it is impressively difficult to maintain peripheral vision in a mascot head while attempting primitive woodworking assault. Ultimately, the Bunnyman was just an anti-development activist funnelling his suburban rage through a Spirit Store costume, proving that there is no bridge creepy enough to make us believe in a six-foot-tall, hatchet-wielding Easter icon.

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Ghost Bites on Suno AI: https://suno.com/@ghostbitespod

To listen to songs based on each episode, separated by season.

This episode was produced with permission and licenses from Epidemic Sound Pro.

https://phobia.fandom.com/wiki/Leporiphobia

https://research.fairfaxcounty.gov/local-history/bunnyman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunny_Man

https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/10/23/the-scary-weird-somewhat-true-story-of-the-fairfax-bunny-man/

https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/bunny-man-bridge-the-scary-truth-behind-an-infamous-urban-legend/article_a27c7000-dca4-11e8-ad84-af51d935cbcb.html

https://dcghosts.com/the-bunny-man-bridge-of-clifton-va/

https://www.roadunraveled.com/blog/bunny-man-bridge-virginia/

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Rogue Transmissions--the edgy, semi-annual anthology of indie podcasts--is invading your podcast feed with DUNGEONPUNK PART 1 ... a symphony of 80s nostalgia, dystopian cyberpunk, and savage swords drawn against both super sorcery & super science. Featuring an adventuring party of your indie podcast favorites!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike and JT trade their EMF meters for tin-foil hats to tackle the "Stargate Conspiracy," a theory suggesting the 2003 invasion of Iraq was actually an interstellar repo mission. Mike lays out the "Exopolitics" claim that Saddam Hussein possessed an ancient Sumerian Einstein-Rosen bridge hidden in the basement of a ziggurat. JT hilariously points out the fatal flaw in this cosmic drama: if Saddam actually had an instantaneous portal to the Orion Nebula, why was he eventually found in a one-man hole in the dirt with a pistol and a box of chocolates?. The duo concludes that the idea of George W. Bush fighting space lords is just a comforting lie humans tell themselves because the reality—that nobody is in control and the world is rudderless—is far more terrifying.

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Ghost Bites on Suno AI: https://suno.com/@ghostbitespod

To listen to songs based on each episode, separated by season.

This episode was produced with permission and licenses from Epidemic Sound Pro.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_SG-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_(device

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/us-invaded-iraq-over-saddams-alien-portal-conspiracy-theorist

https://www.vice.com/en/article/533gxx/there-are-people-who-think-the-west-invaded-iraq-over-a-stargate

https://exopolitics.org/space-force-our-star-trek-future-book-6-in-ssp-series/

https://exopolitics.org/about/founder/

http://exopoliticsinstitute.org/

http://exopoliticsjournal.com/

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This episode of Ghost Bites explores the ultimate social apocalypse: Christopher Knight, a man who walked into the Maine woods in 1986 and decided that 27 years of hypothermia was better than one more mandatory staff meeting. Mike details how Knight survived nearly three decades without fire by executing over 1,000 burglaries, effectively becoming a "North Pond Ghost" with a very specific, administrative addiction to brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts. JT respects the absolute hell out of a man who would brave an "air hurts your face" winter just to avoid a group text, noting that Knight wasn't a monster, just an "aggressive borrower" of propane and frozen pizza. It is a study in extreme introversion that proves you can successfully ghost society for a quarter-century, provided you fly close to the sun on wings made of stolen toaster pastries.

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Ghost Bites on Suno AI: https://suno.com/@ghostbitespod

To listen to songs based on each episode, separated by season.

This episode was produced with permission and licenses from Epidemic Sound Pro.

Finkel, Michael. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit. (Comprehensive biography and psychological insight based on interviews with Christopher Knight) .

Hughes, Sergeant Terry (Maine Game Warden). Interviews and official reports detailing his multi-year investigation, the specific patterns of the burglaries, and Knight's capture in 2013.

Kennebec Journal / Central Maine Media. Contemporary news reports from 2013 detailing the relief of the local Belgrade Lakes residents and the initial inventory of stolen items.

Legal and Correctional Records. Court documentation regarding Knight's sentencing, psychological evaluation, and time served for the burglaries.

Local Folklore and Testimonials. Accounts from local residents and camp owners who attributed missing goods to the "North Pond Hermit" over two decades.

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Mike and JT travel to Toronto’s Financial District to investigate "The Leaping Lawyer," a haunting that feels like a spiritual contract in desperate need of renegotiation. Mike explores the legend of a ruined 1920s banker who, after losing everything in the market, decided to make his final exit a high-status, public affair by diving off a skyscraper. JT critiques the sheer inefficiency of a ghost trapped in a Doppler-effect freefall, noting that "eternity in a sudden drop" is a cruel punishment for a guy just trying to warn you about Apple stock. The duo also dissects the absurd real-life 1993 tragedy of Garry Hoy, a lawyer who accidentally defenestrated himself—and his firm’s entire future—while aggressively trying to prove that skyscraper windows are "articling student-proof".

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Ghost Bites on Suno AI: https://suno.com/@ghostbitespod

To listen to songs based on each episode, separated by season.

This episode was produced with permission and licenses from Epidemic Sound Pro.

https://sumit-kumar.medium.com/the-leaping-lawyer-4e9f7127a506

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Garry_Hoy

https://www.reddit.com/r/Lawyertalk/comments/157jp59/garry_hoy_was_a_canadian_lawyer_who_died_when_he/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/garry-hoy

https://www.curiousarchive.com/the-bizarre-death-of-garry-hoy/

https://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/leaping_lawyer_of_toronto

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