Is happening to me…and you…if you wished to hear an episode about strange objects surrounded by mysticism. This episode is inspired by their love Ke Huy Quan portrayal of Short Round in Indiana Jones. Marisa delves into the strange lore around the Cintamani Stone that spans multiple cultures, countries, religions, and pop culture. Far beyond wish fulfillment, did this strange stone have an influence over WWII or at least could have easily been another plot for Indie to spoil for the Nazis. After, Siho goes not to the Temple of Doom, but the Temple of the Sacred Tooth. At the core of this temple lies the revered relic - a tooth said to belong to the Buddha himself. 

Episode Notes

https://sg.style.yahoo.com/5-mysterious-mythological-objects-in-asia-041608308.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEAp9ux2qqxsY_S4NIgVlFuGvv12AFxgxgoxbtelrEQywNlTb1y7xDj3a1-Gpimlf4Yx5e840MgFhr5r_iIeOaBc0QCoshoXdEJwj7AJhaEkeZ21Y7-x3la1DqBrV9_4gn9ZxXTMYNKl3taENTgsFtm698IOBWvkM9hchGRBcQLB

https://mythcrafts.com/2018/10/09/the-cintamani-stone-the-wish-fulfilling-jewel/#:~:text=The%20Cintamani%20stone%20started%20as,the%20Chimera%2Dlike%20Makara%20beast.

https://louiswolf.com/english/2023/6/22/the-mystical-adventures-of-nicholas-roerich-in-the-mountains-of-asia

https://explorersweb.com/exploration-mysteries-shambhala/#:~:text=It%20has%20many%20names%20%E2%80%94%20Shangri,peace%2C%20free%20of%20all%20evil.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/cintamani-0013583

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

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/not-april-fools-day-prank-supernatural-rare-buddhas-tooth-healing-powers-continues-grow/2059018/

Have you ever heard of the Indus Valley Civilization of Pakistan? We haven’t either. Marisa gets into the seemingly advanced utopian community of the Harappans and the unexplained disappearance of this great civilization. Then Siho gets rolling to a mythical land of Xanaduuuuuuuuuuuu! Not just one of her favorite movies starring an Australian icon, but the summer capital of the Yuan Dynasty. Unfortunately, because humans can’t have nice things, this stunning “place where no one dares to go” suffered at the hands of war. 

Show Notes:

https://www.worldhistory.org/Xanadu/

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

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/06/xanadu-summer-capital-of-the-mongol-empire/132256

https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/case-studies/a7049-lost-in-time-xanadu-mongolia/

https://thebrainchamber.com/shangdu-xanadu/

https://watch.plex.tv/show/ancient-china-from-above/season/1/episode/2

https://www.worldhistory.org/Indus_Valley_Civilization/

https://medium.com/@TheUnexplained/indus-valley-vanishing-ancient-enigma-b69631bf24c7

https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/blog/the-first-ghosts-most-ancient-of-legacies-irving-finkel-in-conversation-with-nayanjot-lahiri

On this week's episode we chat about Close Encounters of the WEIRD Kind! We head over to Marisa’s favorite topic, aliens. Siho brings us the legend of Utsuro-bune, “hollow boat”. In this strange encounter a group of Japanese fisherman's catch of the day could be an alien…or a Russian woman on the run? Then we head over to Malaysia where Marisa brings us the serial invasion of mini-aliens and mini-UFOs spotted by children in the 1970s and 1980s. Encounters of the third kind for third graders!

Show Notes

https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/x-files/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/close-encounters-of-an-intimate-kind-peking-days-1611554.html

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/thailand-ufo-buddhist-aliens/index.html

http://agent-8971.x-files.tripod.com/id26.html

https://obscurban-legend.fandom.com/wiki/Alor_Island_Humanoids

https://www.faena.com/aleph/utsuro-bune-the-legend-of-an-extraterrestrial-arrival-by-sea

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/utsuro-bune/

https://medium.com/@cybertheticproject/malaysias-miniature-alien-mystery-unveiling-the-enigmatic-encounters-of-tiny-visitors-9e7247302907

https://journal.com.ph/the-weird-invasion-of-miniature-aliens-in-malaysia/

http://pinktentacle.com/2009/07/the-case-of-the-captured-mini-ufo-1972/

Siho and Marisa are excited to do our first guest episode, which we are calling Paranormal Chismis (the Filipino word for gossip) with our dear friend - the stage, film, and voice over actor Brian Kim McCormick. While we’ve all been friends from the 00’s we were surprised to learn about Brian’s early obsession with the paranormal, the occult, and a possible serial “haunting” that can be traced back to his childhood. Even creepier, a connection they never previously made, about a possible paranormal experience Marisa had with Brian many years ago. This fun episode between friends uncovers the deeper connections we all have to the good and evil that may lurk behind the veil of the unknown.

In the magical words of Taylor Swift, “Are we out of the woods?” No, we’re going deep into it. The ladies talk about some mythical forest creatures. Marisa talks about the O.G. fairies that come to us from Hinduism, the Manjari. These technicolor nymphs from India know how to have a good time! Then we head over to Japan, where Siho introduces us to the strange habits of the Kappa. These trolls are all about the shirikodama…it is worth a listen, just to find out what that is!

Show notes:

https://japanesemythology.wordpress.com/kappa-on-the-hunt-for-tonos-mythical-water-trolls/ https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/b02505/ https://www.roningallery.com/Turtle-and-a-Smoke

https://krishnarose.com/proof-of-ancient-faeries-from-india/https://www.mahanidhiswami.com/see-your-self-as-radhas-manjari/

Who you gonna’ call…not us, but maybe the people we cover can be of assistance. In honor of the newest Ghostbusters movie, Marisa and Siho checkout spirit hunters from around the globe.  Siho heads to of all places a mall in Singapore to cover a father son duo who has made ghost busting their life’s mission. Marisa then heads south of the border to Mexico to talk about the fascinating and wonderful practice of curanderismo that goes as far back as the Aztecs. 

Show Notes:

https://www.sfreporter.com/news/coverstories/2015/07/07/the-call-of-the-curandera/ https://mothership.sg/2019/08/ghostbuster-katong-chew-hon-chin-jeroen/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y40RCvter0 https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/exorcist-chew-hon-chin-ghostbuster-interview

In this episode, Marisa and Siho cover some crazy urban legends that strangely involve infrastructure of all things. Marisa’s civil engineer father would be proud! Marisa takes us over to Africa to the Zambezi River Valley to see what crazy trouble the great river god Nyami Nyami is stirring up for those who would disturb the flow of the river with a dam. Then we head over to Jakarta, Indonesia to talk about the tragic myth of the Sweet Girl of the Ancol Bridge. She also heads back to Japan to cover the horrifying urban legend of the Slit Mouth Woman. Dams, bridges, and colonizers, oh my!

Show Sources:

CGTN: The history of Nyami Nyami the guardian and god of the Zambezi River Valley

Siho and Marisa head to the movies…well at least to their couches. The ladies deep dive into a few scary films that were based on myths and urban legends. Marisa covers the 2007 Korean film Evil Twin, that accidentally led her down the rabbit hole to the unconnected yet has wild similarities to the true crime story of the attempted murder of Korean American Sunny Han by her identical twin sister Jeena. Siho covers the 2013 hit Thai supernatural romantic comedy-horror film Pee Mak and the ghostly urban legend of love that the film is based on. It is truly wonderfully all over the place!

Show Notes: https://www.horror-movies.ca/asian-horror-films-based-on-haunting-urban-legends/ https://medium.com/truly-adventurous/the-han-twins-cb293ac0f554 Pee Mak (2013 Movie) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2776344/ Mae Nak Phra Khanong: Thailand’s Most Famous Ghost (Love) Story https://www.thailandfoundation.or.th/culture_heritage/mae-nak-phra-khanong-thailands-most-famous-ghost-love-story/ Mae Nak Phra Khanong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Nak_Phra_Khanong

In a very spooky episode, we venture to some haunted places. Siho talks about the tragic aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan and the touching way those lost are still honored today. Marisa heads to Jamaica for the complicated history and haunting of the former sugar plantation Rose Hall. We chat about the horrifying legend of enslaver Annie Palmer the White Witch. 

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

https://www.lifeinpleasantville.com/rose-hall-great-house-and-the-white-witch/

https://boroughsofthedead.com/white-witch-rose-hall/

https://rosehall.com/

https://www.npr.org/2014/03/16/290615034/tsunamis-ghosts-haunt-japanese-earthquake-survivors

https://allthatsinteresting.com/tsunami-spirits

https://creativerecovery.net.au/project/the-wind-phone/