Skeletons Don't Lock Themselves in Closets

What are Men to Rocks and Mountains

In Chapter 8 of Spokelore, we find out that Annie has not gone MIA, but is simply and suddenly…so tired. Her bones and joints ache, her energy is gone, and she feels increasingly isolated in the house without Linnea. But lonely though she may be, she also has a sneaking suspicion that once again there may be another presence in the house, and this time it is a decidedly unfriendly one. Meanwhile, Nikki’s magical and romantic entanglements come to a climax (heyo). A stop at a handsome mechanic’s shop to treat Bartleby’s ongoing petulance results in a masculine standoff and a surprise romantic dinner with Neil. And as Nikki and Neil find themselves stranded together in a snowstorm, Annie receives a fresh burst of inspiration (despite her recent descent into Victorian waifdom) that impels her to finish her book. But when Nikki begins to read Annie’s manuscript, she finally realizes that something is indeed very, very wrong, and she must get to Annie before something terrible happens.   Credits Annie: Annie Wylde Nikki: Nikki Van De Car [https://www.nikkivandecar.com/] Spokelore is written, edited, and produced by Annie Wylde and Nikki Van De Car Credit song: Cryptid (Mothman) by Ratwyfe (Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/5OlARALdX4igefmFOROcjB?si=JZ4WG8iSQ4msQyhtJK_iPQ] / Bandcamp [https://ratwyfe.bandcamp.com/]) Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/spokelore] Further Spokelore misadventures can be found on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/spokelorepodcast/] and Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/spokelore].

Skeletons Don't Lock Themselves in Closets

Chapter 7 of Spokelore reveals what we all knew to be true: there were totally skeletons behind that locked cave door. After Annie successfully performs the soul-binding ritual, Linnea's response to her newfound freedom is a little less grateful than anticipated. But incorporeal communication remains spotty as ever. Annie performs another seance via telegraph machine, in which she learns that she has inadvertently freed more than Linnea's spirit from the house... there is something dark and dangerous that has been let back into the world as well. Meanwhile Nikki’s food truck shenanigans continue apace, but with sadly only mild interference from Neil the wandering folklorist. Though she resolves to limit her culinary antics to small magicks, she finds herself yearning for the wild and unpredictable faerie feasts that set her heart alight. Credits Annie: Annie Wylde Nikki: Nikki Van De Car [https://www.nikkivandecar.com/] Spokelore is written, edited, and produced by Annie Wylde and Nikki Van De Car Credit song: Cryptid (Mothman) by Ratwyfe (Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/5OlARALdX4igefmFOROcjB?si=JZ4WG8iSQ4msQyhtJK_iPQ] / Bandcamp [https://ratwyfe.bandcamp.com/]) Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/spokelore] Further Spokelore misadventures can be found on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/spokelorepodcast/] and Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/spokelore].

The Library of Precious Found Things

In Chapter 6, Nikki and Annie find themselves fraught with magical imposter syndrome, prompting some choices that turn out to be, well, pretty ill-advised. Nikki's magic escalates to unfortunate heights when a mishap with goblin fruit induces a Christina Rosetti bacchanal of orgiastic proportions. As she is saved yet again from the gluttonous masses by her mercurial folklorist, Nikki is suitably chastened and shunned by Bartleby and Squonk. Meanwhile, Annie finally stumbles upon the key to her ghost's sea cave and finds within its dripping walls a swoon-worthy workshop of magical artifacts, as well as a journal with a possible solution to free Linnea from her dismal afterlife. But Annie also finds something else in the cave that she didn't expect--a door containing something that Linnea has kept hidden for over a century, and which every instinct tells her not to open... Credits Annie: Annie Wylde Nikki: Nikki Van De Car [https://www.nikkivandecar.com/] Spokelore is written, edited, and produced by Annie Wylde and Nikki Van De Car Credit song: Cryptid (Mothman) by Ratwyfe (Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/5OlARALdX4igefmFOROcjB?si=JZ4WG8iSQ4msQyhtJK_iPQ] / Bandcamp [https://ratwyfe.bandcamp.com/]) Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/spokelore] Further Spokelore misadventures can be found on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/spokelorepodcast/] and Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/spokelore].

Seeing and Being Seen: Spectral Entity Edition

Chapter 5: Annie finally performs a successful séance with the assistance of some circling context, Internal Family Systems applications and, perhaps more controversially, just a lil’ bit of low-key possession. The two begin to bond over a shared appreciation for Patrick Swayze’s hotness in Ghost and Annie is somewhat gratified to know that her knee pain is  equally unpleasant for the possessor as the possessee. As Annie ponders the utility of spectral validation for chronic pain sufferers, Nikki has a rather adverse reaction to these events; she’s not jealous of her friend’s new ghostly roommate, certainly not--nope, not at all. She’s just feeling a little lonely and bewildered by her own forestalled arrival. Meanwhile, Nikki arrives in Nashville, where she inadvertently brews up some of Odin’s mead of poetry, prompting hillbillies to start spouting Eddeic odes to barbeque sauce and other absurdities. And when ripped t-shirt guy makes yet another appearance, his warnings about the unforeseen consequences of culinary magic are not well received. After all, where's the harm in leaving a town full of dubious poets in your wake? Credits Annie: Annie Wylde Nikki: Nikki Van De Car [https://www.nikkivandecar.com/] Spokelore is written, edited, and produced by Annie Wylde and Nikki Van De Car Credit song: Cryptid (Mothman) by Ratwyfe (Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/5OlARALdX4igefmFOROcjB?si=JZ4WG8iSQ4msQyhtJK_iPQ] / Bandcamp [https://ratwyfe.bandcamp.com/]) Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/spokelore] Further Spokelore misadventures can be found on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/spokelorepodcast/] and Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/spokelore].

The Elvis of Mythical Creatures

Chapter 4: Nikki's culinary tinkering results in a delightfully strange outcome: people like her food and want to pay to eat it! However Bartleby's hijinks are just getting started, as he parks himself in a cemetery and starts upsetting the funereal statuary. Over at the Annie's abode--aka Spooky Central--Annie summons the courage to read the ghost-authored story she channeled during her possession ordeal and finds it even more sad and disturbing than she anticipated. Fortunately, the mystical forces that be finally allow Annie and Nikki to talk in real time! And not a moment too soon, because Nikki has quite the tale to tell about an improbable encounter with a certain mythical creature and his odious yeti-obsessed groupie... Credits Annie: Annie Wylde Nikki: Nikki Van De Car [https://www.nikkivandecar.com/] Spokelore is written, edited, and produced by Annie Wylde and Nikki Van De Car Credit song: Cryptid (Mothman) by Ratwyfe (Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/5OlARALdX4igefmFOROcjB?si=JZ4WG8iSQ4msQyhtJK_iPQ] / Bandcamp [https://ratwyfe.bandcamp.com/]) Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/spokelore] Further Spokelore misadventures can be found on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/spokelorepodcast/] and Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/spokelore].