Those you have to behave this week on The Dinner Party Download. Tonight at 9 am tomorrow night at 8 Good evening I'm Kyle and Wolf at 7 o'clock a rebroadcast from this morning's where we live is next and support comes from Columbia that. This is where we've been I'm listing all the Fanshawe footsteps in the attic shadows in the basement Please going to call Shamus dentist and sometimes providing them with the evidence from explaining this is just a human spirit over 9 and they're not going to hurt you and maybe we can co-exist they're happy with today where we live we chat with the founder and director of the thing society of paranormal investigations will hear spine tingling stories of hauntings in Connecticut plus. New. The out you can forget that Halloween classic Charles Schulz is 966 it's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and how much do you know about competitive pumpkin rowing the real life Great Pumpkin from 27000 Coming up we'll take a closer look and learn about the history of pumpkin patches in the Northeast from the conversation this hour and why was that right after the new. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Jack Speer the State Department today listed dozens of entities with ties to the Russia defense and intelligence complex N.P.R.'s Scott Horsley reports people or companies a do business with those entities could find themselves subject to sanctions the list from the State Department is nearly 4 weeks overdue and lawmakers had criticized the administration for foot dragging Congress ordered the list drawn up in response to Moscow's meddling in last year's presidential election and other transgressions White House spokeswoman Sara Sanders says the administration wanted to get it right there was an interagency review that's now been completed that was the cause for the delay the guidance was issued by the State Department and that's now being carried out State Department officials have been spreading the word to u.s. Allies that people doing significant business with the list of enemies could face sanctions beginning early next year Scott Horsley n.p.r. News the White House Vice President Mike Pence paid a visit today to one of the nation's premier nuclear bases during a stop at my not Air Force Base in North Dakota pen saying the u.s. Intends to keep up the diplomatic pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs while making sure the country's own nuclear deterrent force remains strong this bedrock of freedom deters potential adversaries pretexts and assures our allies and improves every day to the world the United States has both the will and the fire power to annihilate any existential threat to our people or homeland minor is one of the nation's 2 b. 52 bomber bases overseeing 150 of the air forces for 50 minute man 3 nuclear missiles Defense Secretary James Mattis took a similar tour 6 weeks ago to Tennessee towns preparing for a white nationalist rallies this weekend or banning anything that could be used for violence like Farmer of member station w p l n n national report protesters can't have guns mass or helmets authorities in Murfreesboro and Shelbyville do not want to repeat of Charlottesville over. Genya there restricting water bottles and balloons filled with think that have been used as projectiles selfie sticks or even banned in preparation businesses are acting like a natural disasters about to arrive boarding up windows Clinton a demo is from Murfreesboro here to Henry at Nelson Why would it in the cities where there's just that tension in the air right now and it is so surreal it's it's like I'm in a movie to avoid any use of cars as weapons streets have been cordoned off and special parking has been designated far from the side of the back to back rallies vehicles in both towns will be towed if they haven't been moved for n.p.r. 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The Palestinian militant group Hamas says one of its top security chiefs was wanted an explosion in his car in the Gaza Strip mosses calling it a failed assassination attempt more from N.P.R.'s Daniel Estrin from Jerusalem Hamas said in a statement that the director of internal security in Gaza to feet up on aim was moderately wounded in the blast it's unclear who may have caused the blast House didn't immediately assign blame and says it's investigating forces under the security officials control have fought against some of the few groups who challenge Hamas his rule in Gaza the explosion comes as Hamas is trying to reconcile with its rival Fatah which controls the Palestinian Authority government and must have control of Gaza 10 years ago and says it's willing to give Gaza back to the Palestinian Authority but there's a dispute about whether Hamas must dismantle its militant wing Daniel Estrin n.p.r. 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This is where we then I'm listening up and do you believe in the paranormal Today we hear from a Connecticut resident who investigates hauntings will tell us here it's if you believe in that sort of thing aren't all bad so why do they pop up and what do you do if there's one lurking where you bit later will turn our attention to a howling classic The pumpkin Americans are no longer breaking growing records think Europeans are now topping the charts find out why coming up 1st have you watch Ghost Hunters paranormal investigators are real Seamus Dennison is one of them he's with us today Seamus status and welcome to where we live thank you for having me I'm excited I understand that your founder and director of the famed society of paranormal investigations before we learn about your group I was curious about your background so you're a Connecticut native Yes I am. Technically born in Rochester New York I spent most of my life in Connecticut and currently with no one in Connecticut and that's where the organization is based so born in Rochester but raised in the southeast corner of the state tell me what town and about your family yeah. Version aeration American my dad was born and over the seas in the old country and he was an Irish man and my mom's Italian American and I was kind of just raised around you know folklore and you know ghost stories and things like that more on your father's side because he was from Iowa yeah he was you know it was very popular discussion of family you know family gatherings would always inevitably be a competition between my Uncle Joe and my dad talked about ghost stories and sharing that sort of thing and when you say little people you're talking about leprechauns the fairy people that we focus can you tell us some of you remember a particular story that you remember growing up while the particular story in Schiller's referred to it along. The tale of the band she and she's claimed she's heard the band she cry you know over the years and it's. Traditionally it's so sad with impending doom of someone yourself dying or someone you know and fortunately no one no one has but they've they claim to have heard it so so when you were growing up and you heard your relatives your father talking about these stories what did you think did you think they were just stories or they were no they were real to me I mean it wasn't some sort of thing where it was kind of movie it was it was kind of passed on it was a cultural thing and I think a lot of Irish people from you know over there it's kind of a matter of fact thing people believe it's part of our culture and and spirits is par for the course did you tell these stories to the kids that you grew up around I didn't they kept it in the family kept in the family but it became more and more serious because what had happened was the house we moved into lived in Monfils Connecticut at the time and I realized house was haunted was what did you hear or see my my 1st real experience was you know some small children do I think I may have been 6 or 7 and I was for some reason I was sleeping at the foot of my parents' bed and I woke up in the middle of the night and I heard someone calling my name and I went to the bedroom door and I opened the bedroom door and they heard my name being repeated repeatedly called from down the hallway and my father had had prior to that I had bought my mother a baby grand piano for a present and I heard the baby grand piano a couple of notes going Think think think on the piano and that was you know I was quite frightened by that but that was my 1st kind of. You know experience with unusual things if you think that maybe a sibling or thumb with plan a trick on you know I didn't because I knew where because I left. In my bedroom with my brother I know he was asleep so what if your parents tell you the next day when you know they kind of they kind of blew me off I come later find out that they didn't want to share that that they knew that other things were going on in the house but because I was a child they didn't want to scare me other things like Well my dad had a personal experience one time we had a home office in the house and come to find out the spirit was like a mimic and if you came to my home and spending like than time there and you've left weeks later you can sound like you're in the house. But this particular sound that he heard was to garage door opening and we had a breezeway door that led from the garage into the main part of the house and he heard the gradual been heard the doors open slam he heard someone walk up stairs put the groceries down on the table kind of distinct noise so he thought it was my mother and he called out to er and she wasn't around and so he went best to get in found everything locked so I went back to his office left his office door open and then hears a noise again. And hear the garage door open breezeway doors open cetera et cetera. No one around but this time he was sitting at his desk waiting to see someone walk by he sees a shadow man standing in the doorway of his office. That's pretty scary so when we watch our horror flicks usually when the house is haunted the inhabitants leave but this is the house that your family stayed in you know we stayed in. My dad put a lot of labor of love into the house and did a lot of work to over the years and made it you know really his and he you know he wasn't leaving he was allowed something like that and I think it was part of our upbringing culture that that Norland everybody says parents are like a sub par for the course they're everywhere so I don't think it really bothered him as much as maybe some of us that experience these things so but the sense you grew up there where you curious about you know what the Spirit was the the back story of the home he was living as a kid I was less curious more scared but as I got older and I became a teenager my brother had a person experience where he claimed he was held down in the bed he woke me up in the mill and I was in the next bedroom over and he was held down and he said a woman was holding him down in bed and he was screaming and that scared him enough that he moved into a different part of the house different room and they left me there and I didn't have any experience I'm a teenager and like I was my privacy anyway few weeks later I was I had my t.v. I left my t.v. On fell asleep and I woke up to seeing shadow people running at the foot of my bed back and forth there was that was scary too so when you say shadow people so 16 shadow moving Yeah there was at least 2 or 3 people almost like they were darting back and forth like. It's like someone jogging at the foot of my bed it was very odd. So fast forward and you founded this organization as an adult the theme society of paranormal investigations. And the members are from that New London County so you this kind of became your passion to follow Paranormal Activity Yeah well you know I got involved in a few kind of kind of thrill seeking cosigning people and after a few years go by I realize it's really not going anywhere I really want to kind of do it my own way and about 2010 I ran into a person that I had worked at work with that Connecticut College and he had mutual interest in the paranormal I said I'm going to found a group and. And he said Ok I'll join So a lot of the original founding members came from Connecticut College. And then after that. You know more people added on and for the longer I have you know I have an associate director Stephanie stare and a couple other great people that really. You know make it a great Paranormal Society So what do you do what does your organization do so we provide paranormal investigations free of charge we don't charge anybody for what we do. We we strive to try to find tangible results so we can show our clients. Through education and follow up and that's a big part of our organization that we're here to help so obviously. When people contact us they're scared about what's going on so we don't want to leave them scared one want to give more stories want to want to give them more reasons to be scared Alternately we want we want to try to find a resolution for them. This sounds similar to a lot of different groups or t.v. Shows that people have watched over the last decade or so like Ghost Hunters is that something that you find because people see it in pop culture they're more apt to contact your organization absolutely I think back in the eighty's in even before that this was kind of underground and there was a few select people and people didn't know how to find these people and so people kept these type of things to themselves and now like you said now it's in pop culture and we see these t.v. Shows and it bring it more in the mainstream and more people feel more comfortable not to be ridiculed that these things are happening to them you must run into skeptics that what do you say even to people who are listening now and saying what is he talking about there's no such thing as go through well fair enough in there entitle to their opinion however my personal experiences and things that I've seen and there's no doubt in my mind but for skeptics I don't think there's going to ever going to be any amount of evidence that's going to prove them otherwise. So someone will contact you organization and you go to their home or their business location and walk us through you know what kind of information you gather and how you decide whether something makes sense for you to move forward and investigate this because you know you have a day job you're right this takes a lot of time it does take a lot of time and like I said we got a big group of people various backgrounds that have kind of specialties we have psychiatry and the group and the group that kind of help screen clients because you know there are people out there that maybe have some mental health issues and you know and if that's the case where you know we can we can try to weed that out or substance abuse and things like that and once we get past a lot of that you know and and these people seem legitimate we'll will probably take the case. So you talk with them and when you take the case like what is an average time that you'll spend on location while on location at least 8 hours 8 to 10 hours sometimes but the case is more involved that takes weeks to put in preparation we do a background of the Historical of anything that associated with the property may find a reason for the haunting and things like that and we want to interview anybody that's ever witnessed anything and it's kind of like a detective thing so we interview we tried it we try to trick you up in the interviews and see if you're not perpetuating a hoax and things like It's very involved and takes a lot of work. But you have the night investigations is the fun part of course so walk us through that so you come prepared you've done your homework I've done the interviews and then nights you go into this location with particular equipment what do you bring with you we bring all kinds of things things that are made for goes hunting specifically and others that are not that are there are items from other. Sort of. The tools from from other things and we you know we've. We used to try to use them and cosigning so microphone at. Salie audiovisual we have electro electro magnetic field meters which is really used for more like electricians and things like that and that helps us find false positive doesn't help us find ghosts but it can try to explain environmental conditions for us. That are that are noteworthy and that are we're finding as patterns for hauntings if a place is haunted Why would the spirit only come out at night they don't they come out all hours of the day but a lot of times we're getting called by clients because they're home and they're home in the evening and overnight hours and that's when they're witnessing these phenomenon but we've had cases where we've gone there in the middle of day because that's when that's when it's happening so they've been doing this for a number of years I mean what do you learn from I learned from some of the more seasoned people I know there's real no real experts in the field these are people that I have experience and what's good is that there's a lot of great people in the field that have been doing this a lot longer than I have and I'll learn from them and obviously we know about the warrants and things like that and and maybe John's aphis and other notable people in the field. They're considered like the senior people and I don't know them tell me a little bit about it so the John John's aphis is actually related to the war and so the warns of the ones that will associate with all the movies The Conjuring and things like that based on the true case files. You know but John's aphis is he got into the field from the warrants then and he's out of Strafford I think and but yeah he does lectures too so I try to tend lectures where I can and and read as much as I can on the field and in. Anything related to the paranormal How big is the community of investigators who are looking in their paranormal activity here in Connecticut if there is but there's a good there's a good sized community here in Connecticut there's a lot of groups. Not all of them stick around as long as we have but there are there are a few out there this is where we live I'm talking with Seamus the dentist and founder and director of the famed society of paranormal investigations so to lead us through some of the notable thight thing Connecticut that your group has investigated let's start with the mother Bailey how things are rotten that's that's a great place it's located on theme street in Groton I think it's owned by the city of Groton actually but what's great about historic place it's associated with the American Revolution and I'm a woman called and Warner Bailey and she was a famous woman in her time and was known to be a great storyteller but she became famous she had a couple of stories associated with her but the one that comes to mind the British burned new one into the ground during the American Revolution and they were afraid of that happening again in the Maury 12 so and that soldiers going around looking for wadding for cannons. And what had happened was she donated her petticoat and she took it off and handed it to him that they wouldn't women of the that time when even talk about having wearing one big thing in their mind taking it off and she did that and she became famous for that and she would tell her story at the tavern that was inside the mother Bailey house in the basement area and home unfortunately she caught her dress caught fire and she passed away from the fact that in the home but she was supposed to be a lively storytelling individual and so there's a lot of stories associated with her in the home and and also an unknown colonial figure was seen in the bulkhead at the old entrance of the tavern and seen in a tri point hat in period dress. And who contacted you to investigate the mother Bailey have well it was the mayor at the time I had talking and spoken with her and and she she actually came with us on the best occasion she found it fascinating and and you know we had a lot of fun so when you were walking through can you tell us what you discovered so so I have a medium on the team too and what she does her name is Emma and what she did is she picked up on she picks some very spirits and she claimed that she and was in one of the bedrooms upstairs and. And then but most of our most of our documented stuff in this is what the tangible when I'm talking about hard to substantiate mediumship but most our evidence was caught down in the tavern area which is no surprise and we have a couple of recordings from that what one was are you here and I was asking her that and she says I'm here and then we had another one where. Another individual for the city employee was asking George which would have been her own call and a house George and and I believe we hear someone responding saying dead dead dead dead I think we have that recording of your let's say let's hear it. Well that's really. All. I was sure. You know how secure. This is actually a device that we use it's called Frank's box a spear box it's experimental piece of device that we use it's supposed to use direct conversation of obviously we do controls to establish whether we're talking and I was talking to ourselves and and this was a result of that so when you hear this spirit responding I mean does that raise I mean how do you feel when I hear that I get excited and I want to do more and excited not scared not scared I'm kind of used to it so I'm a little strange I'm not saying I don't get scared from time to time but you know when stuff like that happens and it's relevant to us and and the getting to work responses we get excited I was reading a story that the patch did on you in your organization a few years ago and you actually walk them through the different types the spirits thank you and your team encounter so a spirit like an. Would qualify as an intelligent spirit and what I mean by that not just because she was smart I'm sure she was It means they can interact with the living not all spirits can do that. So intelligent you can get direct response from intelligent type of ghost. There's also riseth Jules which is more like a tape replaying itself and we can interact with that we may witness it when conditions are right but some That's more research will and then obviously there is like the inhuman stuff that we hear about in all the horror films in the terrible so that holds for guys yeah well poltergeist you have told you guys very vigorous hauntings they don't last very long it's usually triggered and a lot of theories in the paranormal field is based around the person the person is generating enough energy to create a poltergeist So it's a little bit different than someone has died in now owes a spear when you travel around Connecticut even out of state how often are you encountering these intelligent spirits versus something like a poltergeist So as I explained before we vet people so. We find some of the cases a lot of the cases we deal with Earn Teligent hauntings in the vast majority of them are research will those are the most common but that is fairly common but we try to do our homework and pick the best cases and so once you discover some paranormal activity and it's legit what happens next or how do you counsel the the homeowner or the business owner that this is here well it's it kind of depends on the client and what their needs are if they just want answers we can do that and sometimes providing them with the evidence and explaining this is just the human spirit and they're benign and they're not here to hurt you and maybe can co-exist they're happy with that and other times people are it's a nuisance and people want to go on and and I network and because I'm in the paranormal field there I work with members of the clergy that I'm friends with and they come in we'll do blessings and people from pastors and things like that they can do those sorts of things for them so by the time your team is on site investigating the conclusion is never that it's maybe a critter up in the attic making that strange noise when we look into that that is that is part of our process a lot of time because we'll do initial visit before we do that over the whole she bang over night long investigation and we'll do a tour and a site survey of the house before I ask you about some other locations that even Vesta gaited around Connecticut you had said something earlier that often you're not scared but there have been it wasn't what was that moment like when you were actually terrified well when it's down my team members playing a prank on me and no but seriously it is not a natural thing to see a spirit or an apparition appear to you and is mazing is that is for paranormal investigator still on settling. But what's most important to know is that how do you feel did you even once you get over the initial fright of seeing something like that how did it actually make you feel did you feel their intent was to scare you because maybe it was or maybe just for them to make themselves known and that's how you have to stay objective. Now when you are in all your years even doing this I mean why do you think them Spirit thought may present themselves in particular locations there's a lot of factors. Sometimes it's them just trying to send a message that they're also here and they're watching over the house or kind of like guardians or your home or your site whatever historical place I think that's a lot of it in my this is outside paranormal is my personal belief is that sometimes people pass and as a reward you can come back and visit places that you enjoyed in your life time. I've never encountered something evil Yeah one or 2 cases I think they had a home case in Springfield that didn't end well. It was terror I was scared you know there was portions of that whether we talk about times or I was scared that. We had enough evidence there we didn't even need to do a full investigation because there was something so vigorously I want to say evil like. Intimidating The intimidated us they scratched us a bit another investigator we heard a growl going in all kinds of craziness. Yeah typically those those are not the good cases when you say it doesn't end well so at that moment in time you leave but how do you then follow up with the individual that has asked you to investigate what do you tell them I tell them what they have in the resolution you need to take to correct this and ultimately falls on the client to take my advice or not it's up to them Can you walk us through what kind of advice you would give someone in that particular situation I would definitely if I think it's I would I would ask them to probably contact someone that a religious person that some of their affiliation someone they're comfortable with the bring in to try to do a clearing of some sort for deliverance ministry or something like that that's an interesting point because people come from very different faith backgrounds or maybe no faith at all and so I would assume that at times they've drawn what they've been how they've been raised or how they've been taught and Zach with what they're most comfortable doing moving forward that's that's exactly that and all that that's what's great about the paranormal is that it crosses all boundaries of religion I'm not saying you know not promoting anyone's religion over the other however I I think we'll find a common spirituality amongst everybody this is where we live I'm listing all potential Hellenes almost here it's the perfect time to reflect on the paranormal our guest in studio is Seamus dentist in the Connecticut resident and founder and director of the famed society of paranormal investigations based in London County when we come back from the break we'll hear more about the hauntings Shamus has uncovered a historical sites. 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This is where we live I'm Lucy not with Anshul today we're learning about the people who investigate whether a place is haunted with us in studio is Seamus dentist in founder and director of the fame society of paranormal investigations now let's talk about some of the historic sites in Connecticut it almost appears that this area this region would be a real hotbed when you look at our history that we're really fortunate a lot of even in eastern Connecticut we're where we spent a lot of our time there's a lot of significant historical sites in that part of state and have great history . I don't lot of times we got involved in some of these historic sites because during our research we're trying to establish baselines that I didn't necessarily reach out to. You know some of these historic sites because I wanted to find a haunting there that I just wanted to you know create a baseline some you do research and basically so I have a better base knowledge of what a haunting is and what it isn't and sometimes some of these historic sites we find spirits are still lingering around sites like the Russell house in Middletown I believe that's the on the campus of Western University Tell us about that there was a great case that we had. Sammy Russell was a c. Trader and a sea captain they made his money off of that and so the houses was also rumored to be part of the Underground Railroad. But now it's under the hands Wesleyan it was the Honors College and you know things like that they use it for various academic reasons but where contact to hollowing to go actually to come up and do investigation for them. A lot of the public safety officers who work on campus have talked about hearing footsteps behind them and just you know the building gave them a creepy vibe and sometimes a creepy vibe is a legitimate concern I mean because you don't always feel that way in your space. Besides that they also. You know heard rapping and knocking and voices and things like that in the building but during our investigation. I don't think they wanted just taping there we set up our surveillance cameras throughout the building and throughout the night our cameras were constantly being knocked over off the tripods and we actually have footage happening which is amazing so you know what I didn't get a picture of a ghost which is everybody wants to see that the fact that my cameras are being knocked over and it was recorded is is interesting sure it wasn't one of those lesson kids it was on lockdown. There's also another site that you know that is very story the old Newgate prison anything Granby Yeah that that's kind of my list kind church trying to get in there and get the team in there and see what we can find so you will get requests from people often times of this time of year or a year oh my gosh this time of year. So getting I think you know we're so busy yeah we're working on that 3 cases we have a home case in Clinton we're working on where ongoing case that we haven't gotten some vets social clubs for some rain veterans apparently they have some activity we're going to do another investigation there and we don't events for the public and we'll be at the Asheville Woodward house in Franklin Connecticut and we're doing a public ghost hunt there to kind of educate an outreach to the public to show them what investigation is really about rather than what you see on t.v. So people can experience that sort of thing so we stay busy there is also another house and Groton that you profiled on your website Avery copouts the museum tell us about that house and what you discovered that's a wonderful house I mean I don't think you get to go to these places and think your media is going to get creeped out with because of ghosts and things they have but they've recopy is a wonderful museum dedicated to the Avery family and and and the cops that Joe Cobb inherited the home it's basically a living museum and Joe Cop was an bit of an eccentric individual that inherited the home. But he didn't throw anything away he was a very organized hoarder you know in the most polite way you would open up random draws in the house and you'll find strings because he kept string I mean this guy didn't throw anything away so it's really like that in caps time capsule and so the stories no one is really stayed there overnight there was a story of one of the claims of a woman standing in Victorian dress and in one of the the windows and she chill be seen standing there from time to time but someone that stayed overnight. Like you said not people people don't stay overnight normally but they allowed this person stay overnight and throughout the night they're walking up to people someone walking down the hallway towards your bed Emily's bedroom and. Then the door slam into Joe cops old room. And I will tweet out a link on our from our Twitter out where we live to this profile on your website but you actually have clips from the investigation using that device you called the Ghost Box That sounds Yeah it is spear Yes dear Franks by ghost box yeah it's in the names it's a family affair for you Seamus in terms of like your relatives also helping you I know in my brain my brother is also on the team and he joined a little later on but yeah he enjoys it and he's one of my investigators do you have children I have a 12 year old and my wife but they're not really involved they're kind of creeped out. And I just want to be odd as they want to do with it but but they're very supportive obviously I spend a lot of time doing this and they're great for Allow me to you know pursue my my interests now for someone who might be listening who thinks that there is a spirit where they live what are the do's and don'ts Well what I would what I would 1st thing I would do is not assume that it's a ghost I know that's maybe counterintuitive but I don't want you to always think oh I saw a shadow and also when you start thinking everything you lost your car keys and now it's now you're blaming it on the ghost and and you know like you said the squirrels in the attic get in there in the winter time is now you think that's you know you know Mr Marley there from a Christmas carol she constraints no it's nothing it's nothing like that I just want people to be objective and I know it's kind of tough when you're frightened but like like I said before you got to be stay objective and realize how do you actually make you feel Were you frightened by it were you just startled. Because sometimes the intent there and you can actually sense if you do this enough you can sense. The spirits intent and they may not be there to scare you just make themselves known lets you know they're still around. I live in a house that's over 200 years old and my neighbors to have told me that the original owner was born in that house and died in that house and so occasionally I wonder you know what I ever encountered this person's spirit I mean is that something you may or may not I mean if we think about it prior to our modern times people. Gave birth in homes and they passed away in homes and it was very normal occurrence. So it's a possibility however a lot of times we get calls from people that have recently done renovations to their homes and they've kind of disturbed things and that's very common. So I shouldn't disturb. Go up they I don't even think there would be maybe they might get upset you put in the new kitchen counter I don't know but. You mentioned that the old Newgate prison is a place that you would like to investigate what are some other dream sites that in this region that you would love to have you and your team go and explore well ledge lighthouse in New London Connecticut is is on the list not legislate. You know Ernie the lighthouse keeper the story goes that he was so distraught over woman that he threw himself off the top of the lighthouse and now the lake house is purportedly to be haunted and a lot of people that are visit the house of experience journey what about that there's also the Norwich state hospital now unfortunately it looks like they're tearing down all the buildings and that would have been nice to get in there and do something official but them. Well maybe whatever they build there I have an opportunity to go into any other place. Well there's places around the country I'd like to get I would like for my paranormal bucket list is like to get into Alcatraz in San Francisco and maybe. Try to explore that one day I Do you often take up requests from out of state or mostly a week usually like say on average maybe every 3 or 4 months some will get contact with somebody out of state and it's obviously you know feasibility and things like that but we've done case Massachusetts right and I need New York and New Hampshire so you mentioned earlier you what you do have a day job Yeah but this is your passion Yeah this is it as I would love to make this my my job no offense to my present employer. I love it there but yeah this is this is this is how I want to spend my time and what would you say to the skeptics So yeah you know keep an open mind and well you're to think that's what I would say to skeptics is is that I only takes one paranormal experience for you to become a believer. Well you be doing on Halloween. Trick or treating with my daughter now did spend family time so. Any last tips for us Seamus Don't be frightened and if you ever encounter a ghost reach out to a trusted paranormal to I'm. Sure they'll be happy to help you Seamus dentist and founder and director of the famed society of paranormal investigations thanks for coming in it's nice to speak with you here was great thank you for having me coming up for years Americans top the record books for growing great big Pumpkin's the squashes native to the new world now the record holders are in Europe what's their secret we'll find out after the break this is where that 6. The boss is unforgiving when you're running late and for that matter either to boss or Morning Edition start your day with news that is ready to go when you are there still flooding shops are shuttered any every day life is not promised any kind of urgency on a dock of fix we can be the generation that is the opioid epidemic listen to Morning Edition every day to catch the latest Even if he caught a few extras. Monday from 5 to 9 am. The color of justice examines. The color of justice revisited Thursday. From the Connecticut Juvenile Justice advisory committee. On the Jackson Laboratory. During Morning Edition. A little bit still though are. You. Kidding. Me This is where we live I'm missing off with Anshul we're not talking about s n L's hit character David as pumpkins Instead we're focusing on pumpkins a true Halloween classic and you carved your holiday in pumpkin to get this time of year the popular squashes everywhere it's important crop for some farm stands as summer shares wind down now growing giant pumpkin has become a pretty big deal in Europe Europeans are squashing the competition to tell us more on the phone with us is Steve reiners chair of the horticulture section at Cornell University c. Welcome to really live good morning we know pumpkins are native to North America so when did Europeans when they arrived here what did they think when they saw these pumpkins growing Well we've been told that after a long ocean voyage they saw these fields that had squash or pumpkins and that they missed Ok well they mistook them for melons they weren't familiar with squash at all so you can imagine there's they're hungry they're thirsty they're getting off these both thinking we're going to have this wonderful melon to eat they eat it some find out it's the squash extremely healthy very good for you but certainly was probably a disappointment to them but squash had been grown here for for hundreds of thousands of years by the Native Americans and important crops when did it become such a hot commodity specially during the how lean season were and it seems like you know there's been it's been associated with the Irish and we have a lot of people feel it was probably the Irish when they were immigrating here in the mid 19th century that brought that tradition with them and the 1st the 1st time we've ever seen anything in the literature about. A carved pumpkin is about 8 that made $860.00 s. I think when we 1st see that so it's at that point the mid 1900 centuries that we start to see that the idea of a pumpkin and the pumpkin carving the association with that with with Halloween. And it just kind of spread from there before pumpkin when they carving Well the original thing that they were carving was turnips and that goes back to the original story about why we even carve pumpkins or or turnips and that goes back to a. Man supposedly in Ireland named Jack with a jackal Lantern is named for who pulled the trigger the dean the dean the trick the devil I've got the teen on my mind trick the devil. Devil expected to get us all his soul. Jack reneged on it and when Jack died of course having made a deal with the devil he couldn't go to heaven he went to hell the devil didn't want him before he closed the gates of Hell Jack reached down the half eaten turnip that he had pulled out an ember out of hell and continues to walk the earth looking for a resting place there were talking about pumpkin growing today and had become competitive How has that competition evolved over the years. What's it's really amazing when you look back at you know and we're reportorially talking about is the size the biggest pumpkins that you can grow and you know for for like 70 some years the biggest pumpkin or squash that was grown was around 400 pounds and I think the record stood from like 1901 thing the mid 1970 s. And then after that point we started to see a lot more interest so you know we had a 400 pound record winner and in the 1970 s. I think in 2000 we finally got over a 1000 pounds in 2006 over 1500 pounds in 2000 and we finally. Or 2012 we finally get the 2000 pound pumpkin the one ton pumpkin and you know I never thought so it's just amazing how quickly this is this is happening and now you know we're looking at a 2600 pound winner. That's the biggest one that's been grown in the world and who's who are growing these giant pumpkin Well up until the last few years it has certainly been an American and really a northeast tradition you know pumpkins do very well with the climate that we have here in the northeast so we saw a lot of the the largest pumpkins the record holders for many years were coming from Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut you know New York and this area here but shockingly in 2014 out of the blue all of a sudden we had a winner that came out of your up with a 2300 pound pumpkin. And then all last year or last year 2016 weeks we had a $2600.00 pound pumpkin that came out of Belgium so it's Belgium Germany Switzerland that we're now seeing the largest pumpkins I understand the the winners are actually point side says they have unfair advantage in a way of how they're growing the giant pumpkin strategy Well what we're what we're hearing is that they're actually doing more of growing these pumpkins and greenhouse protected structures where again they can provide maybe some heat on the cold nights they can provide a little cooling on the days that are too hot so when they're doing that in a controlled environment like that they're able to just maximize the ability for that pumpkin to put on some size. Now for some local perspective on growing pumpkin on the phone with George who met director of the New England giant pumpkin grow at the Growers Association George welcome to the show Hi How are you I'm doing well so what's your take on these Europeans growing these pumpkin indoor well. I think there is an advantage to growing indoors for sure. But there's also some downsides to these guys that are doing this are also professional greenhouse growers. The patent brothers and. I really can't pronounce his his last name Willem engines I imagine is how you pronounce it. Their professional grow as they so they've got the knowledge behind behind them. So they know how to operate a greenhouse this heating cooling you know if you just roll up a greenhouse around here you better be prepared to be able to cool it in the summer and I think another thing that they're probably doing and no one will admit to it but I think that they use and c o 2 which is easily done with the c o 2 generator in a greenhouse It can't be done outside and that's a that's a game changer there now and a George you've been doing this for a long time talk us through how the The New Englander grows a pumpkin in the strategies that you know I tried to have a pumpkin patch a few years ago I got to be nice for my son and then I was introduced to the squash beetle of mass and my son did indeed. Go ahead and tell us the best ways to grow a pretty good pumpkin here well I can tell you the best way but I'll tell you how I do it and most of us do it. Usually start the seeds in April probably the 3rd week in April indoors we put heating cables in the ground with a small who pouch our greenhouse mine is 6 by 10 c. . So we preheat the soil we put that plant out around I go out usually May 5th which is you know pretty early for around here. And we try to get our plant. Out in growing and be the size we want by the 21st of June which is you know the longest day of the year so that's when we try to pollinate our pumpkins right around that time so we can take advantage of the long longest days of the year. Was photosynthesis Alysa lot of timing involved so when you do pollinate if you're lucky if you're outside if you're lucky it's the weather's good for those 10 days when you know that pumpkin is. Going through cell division and pollination but if you have cold weather or whatever you may that may slow it down so timing could affect even on that 1st 10 days going to affect your final size so that's where a greenhouse could probably really benefit you know. When we talk about competition for monetary benefit here it's the repair the they bring in cash prize or they're a cash prizes but if you think you're going to win and make money growing giant pumpkins you're going to go from. Like we competed Topsfield Fair which is a great sponsor top prize of $6500.00 which is a good a good amount of money. But I won't say it cost $6000.00 to grow a giant pumpkin but we spare no expense we spend a lot of money on them soil amendments and Michael Ries you know. So these things want for nothing they get everything they possibly could made. The reiners as with as chair of the horticulture section at Cornell University the European growers are there are they selling the seeds for big money. You Buy years ago there was as Steve mentioned earlier that you know when the record was much lower 400 pounds how would deal. Had a seat that he developed the Atlantic giant seed and that's the seed that we all use. So there was a 20 year seed patent on that and even after that. Expired people more or less respect it and just traded seeds for free back and forth you just asked someone for seeds and they would send them to you. As you know there's more groups now there's much more much more competition it's spread to Europe. People started watching seeds to make money for the club so that they could have prize money. By their way OS So now we're going to the next step where people are actually selling seeds. And I won't say whether that's a good or a bad thing I mean people put a lot of time and effort into it but the reason we have gotten where we are is just backyard growers trading seeds you know and doing genetic. Selective breeding. Look where we've come where you know we're going to we're going to see 3000 pounds in our life they're very sharply I mean we're at 2600 now there was it was a big deal to hit 700 when I started growing pumpkins 20 years ago I'm going to have the Steve reiners away end on the giant pumpkin then you know the selling of the seeds the well yeah I mean. I think George and others sometimes sell themselves short in terms of not being you know train plant scientists but in a lot of ways they they are just as knowledgeable if not more than than a lot of scientists in terms of the best way to grow these Their they've they've done this they've learned it and they have selected it these great sized pumpkins So I mean I'm happy to see them being able to sell some seed because of the effort that they've put into it I hope that the money you know they get they get it and they can. Get it fairly in terms of you know everybody's getting a shot of helping the club and the others it's kind of a shame to see it as sort of become as George was saying you know something everybody was sharing information we're sharing the feed and now we've gotten to the point where you know somewhere or are spending big money to get that seed we're getting an email from a listener she wants to know Og's I'll go to you George can these these big pumpkins be eaten do they taste good what's done with them in the end Well well what's done with me and is a lot of times there you know we try to we try to get some of our money but we spend a lot of money to grow up on time so we might sell one to you know a restaurant or a casino or you know. Close to something. We tie them into both sometimes there's quite a few pumpkin right God is in the world now. I had no idea of being eaten they've been bred for it's and it's and we always say it's not a beauty contest over there they're not necessarily we don't really care too much what they look like there was beautiful swaths you know when you grow it but. They don't taste good there they're mostly water very watery so no pie no pie and we use you know we do subsist on x. So it's not a good idea he may use stuff that's not approved for food crops to grow them well I want to thank George who missed director of the New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Association and Steve Rogers is also with the chair of the horticulture section at Cornell University I do magic you need a pretty strong chainsaw to carve these thieves Yeah it certainly would have not something going to be able to do easily with a knife and from a challenge I'll throw out to everybody and some engineers that the size of pumpkins and they feel that probably you could get up to a $20000.00 pound pumpkin before it would just become too large and we're just sort of fall in on itself so we we may have a lot further to go when I want to thank you for for telling us about this competition out there in the world for the biggest pumpkin show produced by senior producer Lydia Brown thanks to Technical Producers Caio and wealth I'm with you now but then Sean thanks for listening and don't forget stranger things. 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Next time I let you know us say well it's that time of the year again that great hollowing tradition cultural appropriation there are things that are seen to be a part of black culture that as a black person might not have particularly affinity for and which my boyfriend who was raised in a predominately black and Latino environment in the Bronx might actually have an affinity for.