OVERNIGHT AT THE HAUNTED GUY FAWKES INN | Ghosts in England's Most Haunted City, York (Ep 350)

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Remember, remember the 5th of November. Gunpowder treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot. I'm taking researching to a whole new level. I'm in the very spot that I'm going to be talking about. I am in Guy Fox in in York, England.

Yeah. Yeah.

Very spooky.

Hello. Hello everyone. We've got a really exciting episode. This is Two Girls, One Ghost. Two Girls, One Ghost. I am your ghost, Sabrina. That is Karen. And we are in two different locations today.

Yeah, Sabrina's on location.

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I'm on location. Yeah, I am in York, England, one of the most haunted, if not the most haunted towns in England. And I am within the bones of a very, very haunted spot called the Guy Fox in. And what better way to be on location than to tell you all about the haunted location that I'm in for an episode while you're in it. While you're sitting here and your flashlight stopped working and you had to move the phone cuz it was glitching and all the different things that the spirits might not want to hear about themselves. They're going to get told once more right now by you. I have so many stories to tell you. I did do a live paranormal investigation on Instagram last night. It's posted on our Instagram, but now it will probably be a month since it was posted. So, we will link it in the show notes for you to go and watch. There wasn't a ton that

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happened aside from I chugged a beer. Yay. Hair [laughter] toss. I was like, I got to put on a show. If the ghosts aren't going to, I will. No, I chugged like literally this much of my beer. It was not much. Was it your idea or did were you getting encouraged in the chat?

I don't need anyone to peer pressure me. I peer pressure myself. [laughter]

So good. The place that you're in is just like so incredibly beautiful. I just can't even like your background right now is just it's like how is it real?

That's Guy Fox right there with his little smirk.

Hey. All righty. Are you ready for an episode about the Guy Fox in which I am sitting in right now? I am. Are you ready, Sabrina? After one peaceful night's sleep, I

remember, remember the 5th of November...

think I am. All right. London, England. The early hours of November 5th,605. The sun has barely risen, but that is no matter for the light don't shine where this man sits. [laughter]

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This kind of feels like a rap song.

Thank you. I'm a rapper now. Call me Lin Manuel Miranda. Actually, [laughter] Lynn Lin Manuel could write a really cool version of Hamilton, but like about this story.

Okay. This man is deep beneath the houses of Parliament, surrounded by damp stone and 36 barrels of gunpowder. Above him the city stirs. Parliament will open soon and with it will come England's most powerful politicians, nobles, lords, and King James I himself. King James I of England. The name itself is enough to send a tremor through him, a mix of faith and fury. because that is why he's here. To strike back against the persecution, to light the fuse of rebellion that might finally set England free. He has spent more than a year

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plotting and planning. And finally, the day has come, the 5th of November. It will be remembered. He stands beside 36 barrels of gunpowder, enough to turn stone to ash, enough to start a revolution. The air is thick with smoke. Outside, the city of London sleeps, unaware that history itself is about to change. In a short while, he will strike the match and the revolution will begin with a bang. And you might be wondering, who is this man? His name is Guy Fox. And if you recall middle school history class, you will remember remember the 5th of November. Gunpowder, treason, and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot. Guy fox. Guy fox was his intent to blow up the king and the parliament. Three scores of barrels of powder below to prove old England's overthrow. By God's

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providence, he was catched with a dark lantern and a burning match. Hello boys. Hello boys. Let the bells ring. Hello boys. Hello boys. God save the king. I did not learn that in school. Did you?

I definitely learned remember the 5th of November. It might have been high school because it was like world history, UK history. But you might also remember that phrase from V from Vendetta if you've seen that movie because Guy Fox inspired it.

Oh, I did not know that. How interesting.

Yeah. So, I'm going to get more

lots of murder to come. I'm guessing now. Well, unfortunately for Guy Fox and his co-conspirators, he did not succeed at blowing up Parliament. I think that is something everyone would have remember. He didn't succeed in his act of rebellion. He instead on November 5th was captured and then tortured at the Tower of London until his execution, but he has surely been remembered. Even if

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you don't know the story and all the details, like the name Guy Fox, I feel like probably does ring a little bell maybe in the depths of your subconscious. And if you're from the UK, even more so, Guy Fox has been

Sabrina is on location

remembered. Like I said in the beginning, I'm taking researching to a whole new level. I'm in the very spot that I'm going to be talking about. I am in Guy Fox in in York, England. So, this is the building where the man Guy Fox, the one who nearly blew up Parliament, was born, very possibly in the room right next door, although we'll get to that in a second. So, Guy Fox left York as a young man and he fought in wars. He conspired with rebels and then he did die a very violent death after being tortured at the Tower of London. But maybe some part of him never really left here. So today I'm going to share the history of this place and tell you about Guy Fox and perhaps maybe by the end we'll interact with a spirit or two.

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Last night when I did the live investigation, someone said that like they saw an orb flying kind of in this path over my head towards my right.

Oh wow.

So

if you are watching the video, keep an eye out. Let me know if you see anything. There also very possibly could be dust. This building is how old it was? I mean it's centuries old. It's very very old. It is. I wrote this and it it's beautiful. So, I'll read it. [laughter] If you sit here in the silence, it is almost as if you can hear the whispers of four centuries ago. But truly, I've now spent a day and a half here. And one, not only is this room absolutely gorgeous and stunning, but the pub itself and the town itself is just magical. Truly magical. These buildings are old. They like are crooked and slanted. And sometimes on the outside, you look at buildings, you're like, "How is that floor still?" Mhm. How can people still walk on it? Because you can

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literally see on the outside them like curving downwards and in. You know what I'm picturing it as? I decided I wanted a Christmas village. I want I'm going to start a Christmas village. And so I went on Facebook Marketplace. This guy was selling the Dickens collection. And what you're describing now is like totally the vibe of these little Christmas houses. [laughter]

It does have Christmas village vibes. It really does. And there's a little market. I I don't know if it's every day, but it was it was on Sunday in the shambles area. And I think it's one of the oldest markets in all of England, like licensed markets, um that still operates. And they had like little Christmas village stuff set up. And you can see where they're setting up the whole winter Christmas market that will be up from November through. Yeah, it's truly magic. I did have my first mold wine yesterday. So good. So good.

So good.

And mold wine is delicious. There is this I will say it is an urban legend or it is like a myth and it's a or a dramatized fact about York because

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people say and multiple people have DM'd me saying that York has as many pubs as there are days in the year which means that there would be 365 pubs at least in this town. And this town, keep in mind, is so small that you can walk like the entire town in like 30 to 40 minutes at least like the downtown area. I did look it up and unfortunately that's not true. I think that there are 263 licensed like restaurants that could qualify as a

liquor liquor licenses.

Yes. Which is still close.

Wow. Okay. But it's like in the spirit of drinking that,

right? I get it. I get it. Where it's just like Yeah. The alcohol seems like a big priority for [laughter] for

Absolutely. And that's basically all I've done while being here is like you go sit in a pub and you have a drink and you ask the staff about ghost stories which I did so many times here and I'm going to get more. Um I'll share a couple stories that I did get from staff members. Oh great. I can't wait to hear.

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I wish I'd grabbed it but I didn't for this episode but a few years ago in our PO box a listener who was in London I don't think they live there but they were doing kind of I think some of the same spots that you're hitting Sabrina. They sent a little ghost of York. Like there was a little ghost of York figurine and they sent it to us

because of and it would have been perfect for me.

Well, there's a shop called the ghosts or like the merchant of ghosts or something like that and the line is so freaking long, but I am going to go to it today. They're handcarved ghost figurines. The line was truly around the block.

Yeah. So, that's exactly what they sent us.

Bought that for us. Thank you. That is like that was a commitment. That was Now I'm like tempt I won't but I'm tempted to like turn around and rifle through all the drawers to

to find it.

But I won't. I won't. I'll sit quietly and I'll listen.

Okay. If we ever have to take a break if I have to pee for any reason during this episode, that's your job.

I can do I can do a quick search.

Guy Fawkes Inn & history of York

Yeah. Okay. So, I'm going to get back to Guy Fox in a second, but I want to tell

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you the history of this land and specifically of this inn. So, the Guyox Inn is located at 25 High Peter Gate in York and the structure I'm in right now dates sometime to the early 1700s, but it is built at top the grave of so many previous buildings. The remnants of those previous structures were actually used to build the Guy Fox in. So, this is something common with like all the buildings here. can see where like one wall still stands from a building that probably was built in the 1600s. And so they built using that wall structure. So you can see like the different layers and different elements of centuries that have been included in the structure that stands today. Part of me is like that is so cool because you get to peel back layers if ever they're doing anything or like restoring anything and you get to see. But at the same time, part of me is like how many inches of space and square footage have they lost just because like walls and things are are slowly coming

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forward. But I do love like that's you know back in the day people loved like the Dr. Pimple Popper videos and stuff. I feel like my version of that is watching home renovations where people buy really old homes and they rip up what they think is like old damaged floor and they find the original hardwoods down below

or they find like hidden fireplaces. I love that stuff.

Yes.

Love.

No, I really feel like there is something about being in this town where the spirits are begging you to reach out to them or perhaps they're already reaching out and like it's not them asking me. It's like they just already are.

Yeah. But like it in a sad way or in a social way. I kind of feel I feel bad for these now.

In a way that like history is so palpable here.

Okay. Okay.

Like you live and breathe it. Like you feel like you've transported through time just being here.

Okay. So like I said, the structure that I'm in now was actually built in the 1700s, but there are so many different structures that did stand here before

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this building was built. And the Guyox Inn is a protected building. I think it's like a I didn't write what the stamp of historically approved or whatever it is, but it's a protected building because it's so historic. Okay.

So, this building has evolved from private residence to pub and in which it operates as today. So, it's a in and a pub and it has 13 onsuite bedrooms that you can rent out. And I highly recommend it because it is stunning. It's so good. And the food also down at the restaurant. So good. What's the vibe? Is it like pub food? Is it like

Yeah, it's

fish and chips and

it's got everything. They have their famous steak and pie ale like and it's like basically you have to give it 30 minutes for them to make it, but it's like a hearty meal. They also have like a Sunday roast. They have pizza. They have fish and chips. They have salads. They have There's a carrot ginger soup

that is so good.

It's delicious. Also, the green beans that I had last night. M chef's kiss.

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Delish. So, I have some personal photos

Sabrina's personal photos

that I will add into the video here if you're watching that I took, but unfortunately the exterior is currently they're like doing some renovations or like protection of the building. Yeah, restoration. That's the word I was looking for. Um, so there's scaffolding up on the exterior. So, those photos I did have to take from online. Okay. But Guy Fox in sits directly opposite St. Michael Leelfrey and it's also in the shadow of the York Minster which is one of the most magnificent cathedrals in the world. I walked into it yesterday. It is stunning. It It also is built a top Roman ruins which you can go into like the basement and see the remaining walls from those Roman structures. Crazy. It's like wild that this exists and then there could be so much more that we could like truly explore and understand if things hadn't just been like lost to time. Like we get to we both have been to Machu Picchu. We get

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to see those ruins, but like how cool would it be to actually like see something more intact and know exactly what happened in certain places.

If only time travel.

I just want to time travel I think is my

Exactly. I really do wish that, and we've talked about this before, that there was like some type of app or like a virtual reality that you can experience where you could be in a place, but then it would just like change this the landscape around you to what it looked like in different like decades and times.

Yeah. No one steal our idea because that's actually that's a two girls, one ghost idea we've been sitting on for a few years

and we've it's we have it recorded so we know if you stole it. Yeah.

We'll know. But then we have to finals like historians and be able to like model. Like I feel like people could use this in school, but we also don't have the knowledge that we want to be getting from the app that we want to create, you know? Anyway, tangent over. Back to the history of this land. And I think the most important theme of this episode is

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how many layers upon layers there are here. Like history just like on top of each other. And I think that is keep that in mind as we're thinking about this story and this place. York itself has prehistoric ties. So a lot of people when they talk about York they say like oh it dates back to like the 600 AD. But archaeologists have found evidence that proves that people either lived here or briefly settled here dating all the way back to 8000 to 7,000 BC. Just think about that. We are in the year 2025 ADH

7,000 BC.

When I hear that, I need some like facts on what was different with people back then. Like were we still kind of the same?

Everything

or like were there certain things that were like a little bit different? Like I'm talking about like bodywise, you know, like right now some people are being born without their like tonsils or

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wisdom teeth, but like back then what was going on? Did everyone have another toe? Like what? [laughter] We have three belly buttons.

I mean, I definitely want to know they have like on evolution like I think they show you like the caveman to human evolution. Like I imagine that there's probably

Yeah, but was that long enough ago? That's where like my mind can't like comprehend. Like is that long enough ago or were we developing so slowly that we're still basically the same?

I don't know.

Someone let us know in the comments. [laughter]

And then it was a town in Roman time, so like the early ads. Its Celtic name was Euphoric, which meant wild boar town, which I mean I imagine means there were a lot of like wild boores roaming this land.

Vikings took over the land. So there's a lot of Viking history here in York. There's even like a Vikings museum and I went and did the I went to the York dungeon yesterday. I thought I was walking into a place where they showed you like different torture like things.

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It was the most immersive storytelling experience. They took you to different rooms. They had actors and they took you through like the different phases of development through York. One of them being the Vikings. And it was quite terrifying.

I want to go to York now. I'm envious of your trip. This sounds so cool. It sounds like everything you can possibly do there is just like one of the coolest experiences.

It's so nice and it's also just relaxing because yes, there's lots of sites and stuff to see, but it's so small that you can really just enjoy yourself. Like you don't feel like you're rushing to sight to sight. You can just be like

I'm just going to roam the shambles and the snickleways. That's what they call in the snickleways. It's like a combination of like alleyway and a couple other words, but they're like tiny little streets that are called snickle ways. So cute.

I know. Love. Vikings took over the land and then there was the Anglian like Anglo-Saxon settlement of North England in the early 6th century. It became a royal center for North Umbrean kings in the early 7th century. York was damaged and rebuilt many times before prospering in the medieval era. And many of those

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medieval structures can still be seen today. Now, this is like a grossly bastardized recap of the history of York. I'm sorry because I can't start all the way back in 8000 B.CE and go through the time with you, but that's basically the concept is it is all these different settlements like on top of each other, different groups of people coming in, coming out, influencing what York is today. Okay, it's layered. It's complex. History expands far before and far beyond Guy Fox himself. So, yes, while Guy Fox is remembered, there are also millions of other stories, millions of other souls and secrets all beneath my booty right in this very moment. It's

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Guy Fawkes

know that the story does go way beyond Guy Fox, but Guyox is so infamous and so revered and remembered. He's literally behind me peeking out listening to me as I'm recording this episode. So, let's talk about him a bit more. The inn is named after him. So, this building that I'm in was built in 1700s. Guy Fox was born in 1570. So, it's said that while he wasn't born in this actual building, he was born on the land in the building that stood here before, the one that is here now. This one probably does have portions of that building still attached to it. There is a photo that the staff shared with me that Guy Fox was believed to be born in the Stonegate building, which is the building that I'm in. In the video, there's a photo. It's like the earliest photo said to be taken of this building. Even right outside my room, there's a

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little stone statue that you can see in the photo. I'll take a picture. I'll put them both side by side in the episode. Or Jamie will give you credit. Jamie will put them side by side so you can see. It's literally as you exit the main building and like go into the beer garden that's right downstairs and you go up the stairs. The Stonegate building is literally the building I'm in right now. There's two rooms, 10 and 11, but it is said that 11 is the room that he was supposedly born in, but maybe it's here. I have not heard from Guy Fox since I've stayed here, but there's still time.

Yeah. Did he live there or is it just rumored that he was born here? I think he was born and spent time as a young kid here, but he didn't stay in York for a very long time. Okay.

And also because it's 1570, like even online when you try to find like the exact day that Guy Fox was born, it's very hard to they just say April of 1570. Downstairs in the pub it says he was born April 13th of 1570.

I don't know for certain. And then this

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is also something that historians debate and they're like, "Well, blah blah blah blah blah." But there's documentation that says that he was born across from Michael St. Belelfrey, which is the little church that's right outside of the pub. So that's why I think some historians say it's this building. Got it. But what is not debated is the following. Guy Fox was born in 1570. He was baptized just across the street at St. Michael Leelfrey. His father worked for the church courts and his mother raised him in faith. And now this this is where Guy Fox's story begins. His mother was a Catholic. She raised him as a Catholic. But this was a very very dangerous thing to do at the time because as we know with any of the history we've talked about about England, so much of the like political volatility has to do with religious persecution. So I'm going to review very quickly. 1534, King Henry VIII broke off from the Catholic Church and established

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the Church of England, making himself the head. So that's kind of like Ambblein stuff. 1534, Catholics who refuse to accept Henry VII as the supreme are executed. Now 1547, Henry's son Edward V 6 takes the throne and he is a devout Protestant. So the Catholic faith is further frowned upon, meaning that Catholic mass and icons are banned. 1553 to 1558, Mary, Queen of Scots, restores Catholic ties and starts to persecute Protestants. And this was a big thing. But then 1558 to6003, Queen Elizabeth I reclaims the throne and reestablishes Protestantism. Catholics must attend Protestant services or pay fines. priests are outlawed and executed and this is the time upon which Guyox is born. So the fact that his mother raises him as a Catholic during a time where Queen Elizabeth I is literally executing

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people who are believing in Catholicism and following that faith is very very dangerous. He grows up with this feeling of like pride with his religion and also frustration like why do I have to hide my faith and like this frustration grows in him. It fers it gets bigger and bigger and as he grows up he leaves York and he goes to fight for Catholic Spain. So he's literally leaving England to go fight for another country for their religion. Right? So he returns back to England and he's even more hardened. He's even more devout Catholic. And in6003, he finally gets some hope because King James I who is Mary, Queen of Scots's son, and she's remember the first one who like in that brief interim period took the throne and then brought back Catholicism, but then she was also executed for a lot of things. People are hopeful that when King James I, her son, is coming into into heir and ascends to

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the throne, he is going to return to Catholicism. But King James I does not do that at all. I think there's a quote that says, and I'm going to bastardize this quote, but basically the essence of it is that King James the 1 was excited to be the first king to have to come into the throne and not have to change anything. So he basically was like, I don't want to ruffle any feathers. We're just going to keep going as is.

That's an interesting move.

He also is the guy who was terrified of like witchcraft and ghosts and the paranormal leading to all of the witch executions and witch trials. Good times. Good guy.

It almost feels backwards where it's like, well, if you're afraid of that, like if I were afraid of a witch, I would just steer clear of witches. I wouldn't outwardly seek them out and try to harm them.

Well, he thought that people were out to get him, and so that's why he was trying to kill them. He like thought everyone was cursing him.

Paranoia.

Yeah. The [clears throat] thin line between paranoia and paranormal. [laughter] But anyway, King James the

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first when he ascends throne, there's a moment of hope, but he lets everyone down. So, Guy Fox is now like, I'm going to take matters into my own hands. And he doesn't do that on his own because he ends up meeting a man named Robert Katsby who ends up being like the leader of this group. And by his mid30s, Guy Fox had joined Katsby and a dozen other men in secret to end Protestant rule once and for all. And there's a photo of this group. It's like a It's a drawing of these men. They all look the same. And they have delightful hats on. Also, Guy was born with the name Guido Fox, by the way, but Guy was his nickname.

Guido?

Yeah.

Didn't you date someone named Guido?

I did. And he was a Guido. He had like spiked Italian hair, always wore a white white beater, which I hate that that's a nickname that those shirts have, but yeah. Yeah, I did. I never spoke to him, but I dated him. I could be still dating him for all I know.

Were you also the one that dated someone named Carbonara, or was that I think it

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was Carbonara.

What?

It was like a pasta dish.

Someone dated someone named Carbonara.

It was a pasta dish as a name.

Okay. Well, now I really want to know people. And this is no hate at all about names, but I'm just curious like what's the name of someone that you dated that like is such a outrageous strange name? Maybe someone will be inspired for their future children's names. [laughter]

Okay, so now Guy Fox has joined this group of co-conspirators and it's all led by this guy named Robert Katsby. And Guy Fox's role, he was going to be the explosives expert because he had spent so much time in the military studying gunpowder, being the explosives expert in war. So what a perfect role for him.

Mhm. And it was his knowledge of explosives that would bring their plan to life. So that is how in the early hours of November 5th,605, Guy Fox found himself beneath Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder. And if

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anyone's interested, there's so much more about this history, but basically it started out with these 13 conspirators, right? All led by Robert Katsby. But there was the plague that began. So what started as a plan that like began to form in like 1603 kept kind of being pushed back. So by the time it's 1605 more people were being filled in on this which is a little bit problematic. And also you could rent out the chambers beneath parliament. Like this was a common thing. So the question of like how did he get 36 barrels under there? They rented out a chamber beneath parliament for their plan. That's crazy too cuz it's like they so clearly didn't care about getting away with it. They just cared about executing their plan because like there was their identity. They rented it.

Yeah, but I think it was rented under someone else's name. Like it's the 1600s. There's like you're not like thumb printing, showing it your your feather quill.

Yeah, exactly.

My name is Xavier Smith.

Exactly. But I do think a lot of this

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plan was shortsighted, which we'll get to in a second. uh November 5th, 1605, the day of opening of the state or opening of the house, which is like the day like parliament was supposed to open and the king and all the like the noble people would come with the politicians to meet at the house of lords. So, it's a good day for their plan to happen because [clears throat] all the important people are going to be there. If they kill the king, there will be room for someone new to ascend to the throne, which is what they wanted. Someone who could help bring Catholicism. like what a risk like who who's going to take the throne?

Or it also could ignite other Catholics to uproar and join the rebellion and fight against the king and the throne.

Yeah. Either way, unfortunately, in the early hours of November 5th,605, Guy Fox is discovered with his 36 barrels of gunpowder and a light. And I guess he had a long fuse. So, it was very clear what he was going to do. When

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the people discovered him, he gave a name like John Johnson. I think he gave a fake name and he was like, "I'm just here for something." And then it was like, "No, no, like we can tell what you're doing. Like, you have enough explosives to literally blow up the entire city of [laughter] London. So, like we know who you are." So, they

Oh my god.

capture him. And also, so the reason that these people went looking down in the chambers is because an anonymous letter had been sent to Lord Monteal warning him to stay away from Parliament on November 5th, which

he then grew suspicious. He informed authorities. Authorities then grew suspicious, which is why that morning they go search the chambers. They discover Guy Fox. Fox was arrested and taken to the Tower of London and for days he refuses to speak. Even King James I who had taken a large interest into people who especially wanted to kill him. He questioned Guy Fox himself and he described Fox as possessing a Roman resolution because he would not speak, didn't say anything. So then King

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James I authorizes gentle torture leading to the worst kind of torture should it be necessary. Do you want to know what gentle torture was? Yeah. Okay. The first

I'm nervous to ask because this was like the era where they'd put like a box on someone's belly, right? With like a rat inside and then they'd light a torch at the other side so the rat would try to like burrow and make its way through someone's belly to escape the heat of the fire. Yeah. So they didn't do that one, but they did do some pretty bad ones. So the gentle torture was the first was manicles and man rope. So Guy Fox's wrists were chained behind his back and then he was suspended from the ceiling like from those wrists. So like basically like backwards like his arms were

so he was hung from the ceiling and then slowly the weight of his body would dislocate his shoulders. Still, he does not speak. And then he is tortured by

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the form of a torture tactic called the scavenger's daughter, which is basically an iron frame that compresses the body from head to knees, forcing blood from the nose and ears.

Oh, I don't like that.

Still, he does not confess anything. He does not give up. Oh, just wait. He doesn't confess anything. He doesn't give up his co-conspirators. So then King James, he had said in his letter, he authorized the worst kind of torture, which meant the rack. So on day three of Guy Fox's torture in the Tower of London, day eight of his capture, Guy Fox was stretched, his body and joints stretched and pulled from one another until all of his joints were popping, vessels were being torn, and after just hours, Guy Fox confessed. Even his handwriting, and this is one of the most famous documented pieces about Guy Fox, is his handwriting prior to his torture.

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You can see like there they have a side by side. His signature is like beautiful, perfect. His handwriting after the rack appears shaky, faint, broken.

God, this truly feel throw up.

So gross.

I know.

I'm sorry. There is one portion of this that does get more gruesome in a moment. So he confessed and he gave the names of his co-conspirators and then he was taken to the Tower of London for another two months where treatment was terrible. Finally, in January of 16006, Guy Fox and seven other conspirators were tried at Westminster Hall and found guilty of high treason, sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. So now I'm going to talk about what that execution looks like being hanged, drawn, and quartered. So on January 31st,606, Guy Fox was dragged to Westminster to be executed. He had spent the last 3 months in the Tower of London. So his hair is

35:00

matted. His body is still broken and unhealed from the rack in the previous torture tactics. He is so weak that he can barely climb the scaffolding to the top of where his sentencing was to be unfolding. He stands at top the scaffold awaiting his hanging and he watches four others before him be hanged. They are cut down still alive. They are then disembowled and then beheaded and then quartered. Basically their bodies cut into four and then pieces of their body are sent to all four corners of the kingdom as a warning to others who dare think of conspiring against the crown. Guy Fox is next. He's watched four conspirators before him go through this horrible death and he's next. Guy Fox is like, "I don't want to do that." So, he takes matters into his own hands and he leaps from the scaffolding before they can hang him.

Yeah.

So, he plummets to the ground and breaks his neck where he dies instantly. So he

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doesn't go through like the torture of the rest of the killing, but they do still behead him and quarter him and send pieces of his body to the four corners of the kingdom to warn people. And so for a long while after his death and the failure of this rebellion, it effectively destroys the Catholic resistance in England for generations to come. And King James I is so proud that he has survived and like so happy that he wasn't killed in this like act of terrorism or what would have been if it was completed. He declares November 5th a day of Thanksgiving. So from6005 till today it is still celebrated. It is called Bonfire Night and every year people have these massive bonfires to celebrate what is also now kind of like Guy Fox Day. It started out back in 16.

It sounds so [clears throat] horrible, but like we're basically doing the same

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thing with Thanksgiving in America. So

Oh, 100%. I mean, yes, most holidays aren't for good things. Most history is pretty freaking gruesome and dark, which is why I think it's so fascinating. Okay. So the first celebration in6006 they celebrated by burning effiges of like priests and religious things like Catholic symbolism. But over time it evolved and while Guy Fox was not the leader of this planned attack he is the one who's most remembered and people started burning effiges of Guy Fox which there are two places I think in all of UK that refuse to celebrate Bonfire Night. And I'm in one right now. Guy Fox in. Because they're like, we don't want to celebrate and like burn effiges of the man that this place has like the namesake of. And also, if you do think about it, yes, it was horrible and short-sighted and you don't violence is not great. But Guy Fox was fighting for something,

fighting for people whose voices for so

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long had been silenced and persecuted for their beliefs,

right? He was one of the people being hunted and murdered. So, he was acting to try to stop

Exactly. from happening to him and people who had similar beliefs. He had good reasonings, but and and I do say like over time like while yes, he was a villain to the Protestants and to the royals over time he has kind of evolved into this folk hero and is a symbolism for rebellion and for standing up for your beliefs and even inspired the comic that was first V for Vendetta now is the movie V for Vendetta. And this is a mask which you might recognize that is from that movie. Oh [ __ ] I was wondering Payne posted a Instagram story of him like wearing a mask, but it was so fuzzy that I thought it was like a filter, but then I was like, did he get face paint? And then I was super confused as to how it happened, but it was that mask. It's

I was like, what happened in New York?

39:00

Yeah. Did you just get face paint? But no um yeah like he really has become this inspirational figure of standing up for your for your beliefs and religious freedom and freedom of your own practices and fighting government oppression kind of thing. So given his

Guy Fawkes's ghost

story and especially the way that he was tortured and killed, it's no surprise that perhaps his ghost wanders earth still to this day. And what better place to haunt than the place you were born, the place that is named after you. And also, what better time to haunt than perhaps the holiday that is celebrating your failure? Wouldn't you want to haunt that day, too?

Yeah. I'm staying here. I'm staying here until November 4th. Oh [ __ ] You're missing it by one day. I know, but it's close. Maybe you know based on what the hauntings are like, but do you think that the spirits are feeling angry that it wasn't like a successful overthrow of

40:00

I'm going to be very honest and I don't want to be disappointing to all of you, but I don't think any of the spirits here have to do with Guy Fox or the rebellion whatsoever.

Okay. because I was like that's an interesting energy for like that particular day. Like is everyone angry or are they like oh wow people are celebrating me and my my name and my attempt but it's not here then I guess none of the above.

So this actually segus perfectly into the spirits and the hauntings at this inn. I do yes unfortunately I don't think if Guy Fox haunts here he's kind of just like chilling and walking around because there is a spirit who like just walks around looks at people just like lingers. Yeah,

but there's no way to know if it's Guy Fox. So, if it is him, he's chilling. He's good. Doing fine on the other side. I imagine that Guy Fox does haunt the Tower of London, which I think I mentioned his spirit haunting Tower of London when I did that two-parter. So, if there was anywhere he'd be haunting, it's probably there, but we don't know

41:00

how ghosts travel and come and go. Maybe he does stop by here once in a while,

which does make me sad that so many people were like tortured and had horrible things happen to them and then have to haunt the place where those things happened,

but is it their active spirit? It could be

or is it just like the residual or chipped off piece of their soul that died that day when they were tortured?

Yeah.

Yeah.

But okay, there are some people who were here. So, I talked to shout out to Joe Pierce and the staff of Guy Fox in cuz I've been emailing back and forth with them and they've been sharing some ghost stories and hauntings and Joe shared that there is an entity that is like a cloaked figure, shadowy figure kind of entity that moves throughout the corridors and the the main pub area.

So, some people including the staff are like, "Ooh, maybe it's Guy Fox himself." But unfortunately, it's hard to verify. He's not like walking around saying, "Hello, I'm Guy Fox. Hello. Nice to meet you."

It's me, a guy.

It's your guy.

The guy from November 5th. [laughter]

42:00

Remember? Remember the 5th of November. It could also be a former owner checking on guests or truly like any number of people who have visited here, lived here. Again, the history of this land dates all the way back to 8,000 BC. So,

it's very hard to know.

Yeah. Could even be a spirit of someone who is still living, who had themselves a couple too many drinks here and fell and hit their head and there's a piece of them left here. Who knows? And if he doesn't haunt [clears throat] the inn, that's okay because there are plenty of others that do, especially one room, the haunted Belelfrey suite.

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haunted Belfry Suite

the Belelfree suite is a top the main building of the inn. It's a whole top floor. It's like basically a suite. It has like multiple rooms and it is said to be the most haunted room of the Guy Fox in. Unfortunately, it is occupied while I am staying here. Although, they do have breakfast in the inn every single morning. So, I'm really hoping that tomorrow morning I'm going to sit in the breakfast area from like start to finish of breakfast and just try to like understand cuz the breakfast is only for people staying here. So I'll know that everyone at breakfast tomorrow is staying here. So one, I'm gonna collect ghost stories and two, I'm gonna try to figure out who's staying at the belfry suite and be like, "So how'd you sleep last night? [laughter]

Good. Get the gossip."

I did get some gossip from housekeeping cuz they came to our door and she told me a couple stories which I will tell you in just a moment. Um, but there are reports of children. This is all in just that room. Children, shadow figures, and many unexplained illnesses. But the

45:00

ghost children are perhaps the most reported and also sad haunting of the suite. It is said that sometime in the 1700s, two small children died of chalera in this suite. And it is said that their spirits continue to haunt and spend time in the inn specifically that room.

Well, I'm glad they're together, you know, like they have a play.

Yes. And they do hear people report hearing children running and playing, which is positive. Like you like to think that children are enjoying themselves rather than like stuck and sad. Totally.

But late at night, there's an intense sadness that will overcome guests staying in that room. And also in the middle of the night, a strange illness will overcome guests. So, there's a creator called Bard who is like a spooky st storyteller. They like are self-proclaimed like the child of Edgar Alan Poe and Mary Shel, which I say that too, so I guess I'm unoriginal. But Bard spent the night in the

46:00

Belelfrey suite and she reported that she was struck by a mysterious sickness. So she woke up randomly at 3:00 a.m. and felt nauseous, dizzy, and ill and kept going to the bathroom from like 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Was like mysteriously sick having to go to the bathroom, having to throw up constantly. woke up totally fine. Granted, tired from the sickness in the night,

but like no signs of illness, which is also something reported by other investigators and guests of that room.

Yeah. It makes me wonder if it's just because like people had died of illnesses and just like felt so terrible or if there's some sort of like energy from the anxiety of the era

or just like from being tortured like how many people were hunted down and tortured

or did those kids like die? in those hours like did they die in the hours of 3 to 5 and like that was the worst of their illness? I don't know. There are also a lot of stories from employees in that room. So apparently

47:00

there is a spirit who likes to pull the hair of new employees in that room.

That's so annoying.

This is a story shared by one of the staff members to me via email. They said, "It was my first day as a head housekeeper. I checked all the other rooms. I went upstairs to go check the belfry. I didn't really know anything about the history, so I walked upstairs and as soon as I opened the door, there was an oppressive, heavy atmosphere. I kept going. I checked the living room. I checked the hallway and I started walking past the top of the stairs when something pulled my hair very forcefully pulled it back and not like the full ponytail, but truly a few strands within the ponytail. And it was very painful. I was like, "Oh, okay. Strange." and obviously almost about [ __ ] myself. So, I was very quick as I carried out checking the rest of the room and left as quick as possible. I didn't say anything, but I mentioned it to my partner when I got home and mentioned it to Lucy, another staff member. The next day, the housekeeper that had been

48:00

working at the inn for like 13 years, asked, "So, did he pull your hair?" I was embarrassed and said, "No, what do you mean? Nothing happened." And she said, "Are you sure? Because every new person who works here, he pulls their hair. See, that's such a good like entry into just immediately being like, "Yeah, that did happen." I don't know why you wouldn't say yes.

Maybe scared, not wanting to like realize or come to terms with the fact that you're working at a haunted place where something physically can touch you. Yeah. They said that I didn't admit it to her until like 3 years down the line from when he actually pulled my hair. Then yesterday when we were sitting at the pub, I asked the waitress if she has any personal ghost stories and she said that she's never spent the night and she's never really had anything like maybe like an odd thing move here and there, but like it's always been able to be written off.

And then she goes, but ages ago, like she's like this was like a really long time ago now. Granted, she then told me it happened like less than a year ago, so not ages ago. a man came to check

49:00

into the inn and was given the belfree suite because I think it's the nicest room and it wasn't booked. So like they gave it to him and an hour after checking in, he came like running downstairs and was like, "I can't stay here." And he was convinced that a ghost was in his room with him.

I mean, probably that was true.

Multiple ghosts probably. And then

just like an hour before we started recording, someone knocked on our door and it was housekeeping and they're like, "Do you need anything?" And I go, "Yes. Um, do you have any ghost stories?" [laughter] and she said that it all happens in the Belffrey suite. And she said she's like heard things, seen things, but there was one time and she's like this is the strangest thing that's ever happened. There was one time where a housekeeper, not herself, but like someone on our staff had gone to clean the Belelfree suite, cleaned the entire room. They left and about an hour later went back up to the room. It was completely a mess. Like things thrown ac across the room, beds unmade. And she was like, "I swear I cleaned this room." So they all

50:00

checked cuz there's cameras on the exteriors of the rooms obviously, but not inside. And they checked. They have security camera footage of her walking into the room and of her leaving the room. No one entered or exit exited between that time. So ghosts were just having a party.

Annoying. And then it's also like, yeah, you have to like check on the room that you already cleaned a bunch to make sure it's still clean.

And that I guess that's only ever happened once, which I'm glad it's only ever happened once, but how It makes me wonder who the guest was that was checking in because perhaps the spirits knew and they were like we do not want this person and like trash the place so it's not ready so that they don't get to stay here or

did the guest before leave something or did they hide something from the previous or like did the ghosts hide something and they like needed to find it they couldn't find it because it feels like like moving everything around feels like searching for something.

other hauntings

Yeah. So, there are other hauntings that are not in the Belelfree suite. And so, Joe Pierce, who is the marketing executive of the inn, who was emailing me and providing me with a bunch of history in the hauntings, did tell me

51:00

that visitors report seeing a gray lady lingering around the main building, and that there's also a priest that people have seen, but he couldn't remember any of the details of like the story regarding the priest haunting. But the Yorkminster is literally right here, and so is like the St. Michael Leelfrey. And this is also I think this town has the most historic churches still standing. Like there's like there are so many churches in this town. So I wouldn't be surprised if there are some priests popping into pubs, haunting, stopping through wherever they are. And then naturally, of course, I went to Trip Adviser and I was like, "What's going on on here? What are people saying?" And someone wrote, "I was staying with my sister here and I was awoken one night by her convinced that there was a ghost in the room." That's all it said. Then another review was written by someone who stayed in room 11, which is literally across the hall from me. And they said, "Room 11, which is situated at the back of the courtyard, was the room that Guy Fox was born in. Apparently, the room was very dark and

52:00

very cold." But those are the hauntings and the history of Guy Fox and the Guy Fox in

Dang. And these are like just the people who have reported like the people who are actively writing a review. Think about how many people like we experience stuff and we're not like, "Oh, we had these crazy things happen to us at this hotel on review websites." I'm sure it just it's every day there's probably something happening.

There's also thousands of people who have come to stay here and done investigations. Like I did a little mini investigation last night. the um waitress last night at dinner was like two weeks ago this group like a paranormal investigative group came to stay in the Belelfree suite and she's like we had to carry up like bags and bags and bags of like paranormal investigative equipment and she's like I don't know if they found anything so they probably did a whole investigation who knows for what if it's on YouTube or what

but that the staff doesn't even know what they found.

Damn.

Yeah. It also is interesting because I feel like sometimes depending on who's

53:00

going into an investigation or the energy or even just like the timing, sometimes you get so much happening and sometimes you get nothing. Like even like we have been on investigations where someone's like, "Oh, I've been here like before and none of this happened or been here three times and this is the most activity that has ever occurred."

I know.

So, it's kind of a crapshoot. That's why you just got to keep investigating.

Well, should I put Ghost Tube on for a minute?

Yeah.

Okay. But Ghost Tube, I'm turning you on. Are there any spirits here? It was quiet last night, so I imagine it might be quiet today. All right. Well, I think the spirits, like I I will say like I've had a very peaceful night's sleep here, which is kind of the ideal situation. If you want to stay at a haunted place that has the best vibes, the best beers and food that you can get literally right beneath your feet and like have tons of history, but you get a peaceful night's sleep, come stay at the Guy Fox in in New York. It's amazing.

Honestly, just like the room itself being so beautiful makes me want to go.

I know. And there's a claw footed

54:00

bathtub Karin that you would love. [sighs]

Mhm.

Oh, I've given up my dreams of renovating our bathroom here so that I get a claw foot tub. And I'm just like, okay, maybe when we eventually sell this house and have like a our next home for retirement when I'm like when I'm 70, I'll get a closet.

Why? You could have so many years. You could you could renovate that. But the dream is on the back burner for now. You'll figure it out. Okay. But I have a

listener story

listener story and this is from someone who lives in New York and she has sent a few stories in, but I picked one to share.

Okay. Hi ladies. I just finished a PhD in ghost beliefs.

So you can call me Dr. Ghost.

My deadline for this PhD was Halloween. How appropriate, right? Isn't that so cool?

Dr. Ghost, I want to know more.

Okay, wait. I should have done this before this uh Google search before. Okay, wait. So, it says that York St.

55:00

John you University offers a PhD in hontology and spectrality.

That is amazing.

So, maybe that's what it was. And then the University of York also has research that you can participate in maybe about like modern ghost lore, spiritual and paranormal experiences and different like ghost related research. That is so cool.

So cool.

I am doing a ghost tour tonight. So, I'll hear more about York's ghosts tonight.

It's appropriate. You have to do a ghost tour every

Oh, yeah.

town you go to.

Back to Dr. Ghost Sarah. To celebrate, we did a little ghost walk around the historic property that I work at. It's called Treasures House located in York, England.

Have you been there?

No, but now I'm going to look it up.

She writes, "We have a lot of spirits here. at least three active and about 30 residual. We believe we have 22 Roman ghosts, including horses, that passed through our basement. It's a very famous story if you

56:00

horses. Oh my god. Wait, I literally I've walked through that area.

Oh my gosh. Okay, so it's called the Treasures House in York, England. We had a lot of ghosts, 22 Roman ghosts, including horses that passed through the basement. This is a large, beautiful house with history going back to the 1500s. As I work here, me and my two friends walked around the house during closing, shutting the shutters, turning off the lights, and this means no one else is in the house at this point.

One of my friend communicates with her guardian angel and spirits through a pendulum. And through the pendulum, we were told about the three active ghosts.

James Mcto, a Victorian era boy that died of a disease who was around 10 to 15 years old. We were able to actually find record of the mctoff name in York. So we need to do further research to see if we can find anything about James himself. Is a I s a b l i e a brother to one of the owners George is who was there in the mid to late 17th century. And the third

57:00

ghost Abigail Johnson a servant girl from the early 1500s who was sadly murdered by being pushed down the stairs.

Jesus. We were told that nobody knew that she was murdered. She was 15. She was with child at the time and it was the father of the child that pushed her. Her story matches another report given in the house by a visiting medium. She was just visiting the house and shared that a woman was pushed down the stairs, but nobody knows that. We did not know about the medium telling the story until after I already shared this information that we got from the pendulum with one of my managers. Wow. Confirmation. That's so cool. I love that. And we were able to receive these names from a mix of these names being implanted into our heads and using a written alphabet and the pendulum pointing to a letter. Okay, so now on to the activity in our cellar. That is where the bathrooms are. Wait, so you're basically not only not only do you work in a haunted place, but you're also kind of a psychic

58:00

and clairvoyant or clare audient

if they're giving you their names.

Seems to be

Dr. Ghost/MD. That's a show. That is a show. Sarah, you should. Dr. Ghost, I'm hooked already. Doesn't even exist and I want it.

In our cellar is where the bathrooms are. It's also a cafe and where James likes to hang out and play with his ghost cats. So cute.

The manager was closing up and I waved hello. I'm just going to the bathroom real quick. And there are two doors to get to the girl's bathroom. I opened one. I saw the other door open and the back of someone and their leg entering the room. I of course think it's one of the waitresses just finishing up. But when I got to one of the stall doors, I see that they were closed. So, I'm thinking that this person is in there going to the bathroom, right? I was about to leave and I was so tempted to do a double check, looking like a crazy person. So, I got down on the floor to see if I could see any feet beneath the stall door and nothing. So, I was actually all alone. Could you imagine if someone actually was there and then like

59:00

just that is so scary? I'd be like, "Why are you looking at me while I'm peeing?"

Peeking down.

Yeah.

Yeah. I'd be on edge, too. So, I'm like, "Are you the ghost? Are you a peeping tom ghost?" Okay. So, I retested the door as sometimes there's a draft and the air tunnel can make one door open when the other one is. I did it twice and the other door did not budge. Later, the pendulum said that that person I saw was James. We did ask them before walking around to see if they can make themselves known. And one of my friends saw a white substance that she later explained is looking like a handkerchief just being yanked across the air. Damn. And while we were closing up the house, and remember this is an empty house when we're doing the closing, we heard a loud moan come from behind us in one of the rooms. It sounded exasperated like, "Come on, it's closing time. Time to go." [gasps] We were told it was Ice Billy. I cannot say that name that had made that sound, but like the brother of one of the previous owners.

Yeah. Yeah. It was a great intro to the

1:00:00

house and it I'm very intrigued to do more investigations.

Oh my gosh. Are you there right now? Can I Dr. Dr. Ghost, can I come investigate the treasure?

You should go in ask for Sarah.

Yeah, ask for Sarah. Okay. P.S. Although we weren't able to catch anything on a camera ourselves, I've attached a link to a video on Treasure House Facebook that a guest had shared with us. You can see a figure of a transparent and disappearing woman crossed behind the girl's shoulder. And that was taken about a month ago. Pendulum says it was one of the gray ladies and is residual. Thanks for reading. I have a ton of historical ghost stories if you're ever interested. See you on the other side, Sarah. Okay. Shall we watch the Yes.

Oh my gosh. No. It says the content's no longer available.

What? Sarah, find it for us.

Oh my gosh. What?

That has to exist somewhere. Sarah, you help us.

Oh yeah, Sarah. that you have a job now cuz what a tease. And then it's not

1:01:00

there.

All right. Well, that's a treasure house in New York. The wind just shifted outside and like it got like kind of a spooky feeling.

Hey, spooky.

It's perfect time. It's actually 3:33 p.m. right now where I'm recording.

Feels like a spooky time to be wrapping up. And it is November 3rd

at 3:33, which means it is time for a beer at the Guy Fox pub.

[laughter]

So, I'm going to go down there and I'm going to ask more people for ghost stories and you all have to share your ghost stories with us by way of email. So, please email them to us at two girls one ghost podcast atgmail.com. I saw someone email it came in this morning saying these are stories from England so I'm not sure if it fits with your podcast. Like literally any ghost story fits with our podcast. Anything fits with our podcast. We make the rules so we can figure we can make anything work.

Exactly. Because it will fit an episode [clears throat] whether now or in seven

1:02:00

months from now.

Let us decide. You just send us whatever you want to send us and we'll decide if it fits. How about that?

Okay. Thank you so much to our editor Jamie Ryan who edits and produces this podcast and helps with the delay because this is the first time in a long time we've recorded cross country. Uh not even cross country, cross globe and service is a little poor. So, thank you for editing and making this a much more enjoyable experience for those of you who are listening and watching. And thank you to Emma Leventter, our producer, who helps with so much behind the scenes, but we couldn't do without her.

Thank you to all of you who come back every single week, multiple times a week, and who send us all your ghost stories

and suggestions of where to go. We really appreciate it and we love you. And we appreciate everyone who follows us on social media. We have Patreon where there's really cool things. So, hop on over there. And if you're ever in the York area, go to Guy Foxin. Oh, it's amazing.

We love you and we will see you on the other side.

1:03:00

Very spooky.