TRUE MONSTER STORIES | Cryptids, Monster Under the Bed, Paranormal Frights (Ep 341)

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I don't want to close my eyes. We're in the dark.

A body absent of skin.

Something reached for a swimmer in the Ohio River.

What was that?

An acorn.

We're going to dive into some really creepy monster stories.

Ooh.

How did you get Yeah. Yeah.

Very spooky.

Hello. Greetings. This is

This is Two Girls, One Ghost. Two girls, one ghost. Can you hear the earth rumbling around us? The critters in the woods. Hopefully, we don't see any eyes

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that aren't our own. We're in the woods. And

we are.

And who are we?

We're two I said we're two ghosts.

Oh, well, I didn't say where your guest is, did I?

No, you didn't.

Okay. Where your guest is? That is Karen. I'm Sabrina.

Hello.

And yeah, we're in the woods. We're deep, deep, deep in the woods. so close to civilization. But I will say setting up I was very on edge because the woods are behind us. There were a lot of creeks. There were a lot of cracks. And

Crimes Of announcement

we have been recording

our new podcast, Crimes of powered by Crime House at Pave. And we've been talking a lot about creepy things that happen in the woods, like petty murders, which is all about a horrible crime that happened in a cabin.

Yeah. which was basically equivalent to the movie The Strangers. So, we're a little on edge cuz we've been talking about murder and horrifying things all day. And now we're like, "Oh, well,

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let's just cool down with some ghost stories, right? What better place to set up than the woods

outside?" And it actually is kind of peaceful. It's the perfect temperature. It's getting crisp. You can hear all the peepers. The peepers. The peepers.

There might be people. I was so Brian was helping me set up and I was like, I'm so grateful you're not this person because I could see a world where another individual would know that we were doing this, put on a creepy mask and literally creep in the woods behind us and poke their head out and terrify the [ __ ] out of us. Which

if my mom hadn't left today, I bet she would have been that person.

Would have horrified us. But so real quick before we get into our spooky stories for the evening, please do check out Crimes of wherever you get your podcasts. This season is all about crimes of infamy. So, we're talking about the real life horrific crimes that inspired some of the most iconic horror films

like The Ketty Murders and the movie The Strangers. But there are so many more and some that I didn't even know

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inspired certain movies that have horrified me and stuck with me forever.

Forever. And in case you're wondering, nothing's happening to Two Girls One Ghost. were just spreading ourselves thin and doing more more with our time and creating more content.

It seemed fun and interesting. So,

it was and every season, so it's going to be like subseasons, but it's a weekly podcast and we're going to mix it up. So, season one is Crimes of Infamy. That's the first eight episodes. And then the second eight episodes are going to be Crimes of the Paranormal. Yes.

Yeah. Oh, they didn't have us long before we started to try to weasle in our way in.

Yeah. We're like, "Okay, this is fun and this is great, but we have a lot of suggestions when it comes to the paranormal."

Yes. And so, in honor of the paranormal,

intro topic

we're going to dive into some really creepy monster stories.

How did you get?

That's scary.

Horrifying.

Let's hope that we don't get what is it?

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West now virus, malaria. What's going on around here? I thought you meant like a seizure because of the flashing lights or give other people a seizure.

No, the mosquitoes in Massachusetts have become quite dangerous and so we have our citronanella candles to light light our path through these spooky stories.

Light our path. Also, one quick little tidbit. If you want to check us out live, we're doing one night only live show in Somerville, Massachusetts on October 8th. It's a Wednesday and we're going to be diving into a really, really scary investigation that we did a couple years ago now that we have never shared with anyone. So, if you want to see what the heck we got ourselves into, come see us live October 8th. But tonight, I wrote a spooky story to start us off. Great. I love when you do this. You're like, I got creative and I was like, I'm so ready for this.

I I really am. We're all afraid. Afraid of something. Spiders crawling into your ears as you sleep. Falling from great heights. Death knocking at your door,

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thirsting for your soul, monsters under your bed, waiting for that moment you slip into the unconscious. And tonight, as the darkness envelops us and mosquitoes try to suck our blood, Krin and I are going to entrance you with a monster mash. And not the delightful Halloween song that gets you going, but no. horrifying tales of monsters that lurk on our earth, haunt our land and our sea, and have fortunately or unfortunately for you, booked an appointment with you this evening. So settle in, our little children. Let Mama Karin and Sabrina share some terrifying tales.

Mommies, mama, mommy,

a lot of you don't even watch Love Island, but you are on TikTok, so you know what that is. I actually am about to get off of TikTok and all social media because I accidentally saw three murders before they got

censored thing.

Yeah. And I'm like kind of [ __ ] up from it.

Yeah.

So, okay.

That was the last reference you'll hear me make for a while.

Well, we are going to focus on spooky

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stories about monsters. And I wrote a

monster meditation

little bit of a monster meditation. So, close your eyes. Embrace the night.

I don't want to close my eyes. We're in the dark.

No, we're in the woods. Notice how all of the light disappears. How a heavy darkness begins to inch its way from your head to your toes, wrapping you in its void. As all outside distractions fade away, feel how the air presses down on your chest. Feel the night. Greet the night. Listen to the whispers. Pay close attention to the creeks, the clicks, and the clacks in the world around you. But be wary the shadows, the way they stretch and bend and flicker behind your closed eyes. Greek, what was that? You open your eyes quick. Your heart races. You're used to meditations that lull you to sleep, so your heart rate, lower your blood pressure. But this is not one of those meditations. This is a two girls one ghost monster meditation. And now that

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we have you looking over your shoulder, let us warn you what waits for you in this episode. A monster. Maybe it has crusty claws that scratched the wood of your floorboards. Maybe it has a devilish grin that stretches all too wide with way too many crooked yellow teeth. Or maybe it has no teeth at all, just a vortex of black that wishes to swallow your soul. It waits at the end of your bed, outside of your tent, maybe in the backseat of your car, or at the bottom of a lake, reaching for your ankles. Wherever it lurks, you know what it wants. you, your joy, your soul, your life. You tell yourself, "No, this isn't real. Monsters aren't real." But deep down, you know, we all know that creek down the hallway, it wasn't just the house settling. That breath on the back of your neck, it wasn't just a draft. The shadow standing in your corner is not just a pile of unfolded laundry. No, it's a monster. Every culture has them.

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They don't all look the same, but they feel the same. Wrong, hungry, evil. So, whatever you do tonight, do not trust the silence. This monster is closing in closer than it's ever been, and it is waiting for you. I have three things to say after that. One, when you started talking about Sorry, cue the fog. We do our own effects here. like don't even have a remote just like bent over pressing the button.

I'm the real monster here.

When you were talking about the spiders and just like all the different fears, I literally like felt things crawling on me. It's like the

the psychological effects of thinking about your fears. So that was really great. I also think you'd be amazing at writing YA horror stories and this makes me want shows like Goosebumps and stuff to come back and I want you to create that.

Goosebumps did come back. Justin Long was in it.

Oh yeah, I watched it.

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Someone hire me.

Someone hire Sabrina. And

because we have so much time.

A third, if the world goes quiet around us, like in your creative narrative,

we're bolting inside.

Hell yeah. Because it is so freaking noisy out here. I don't know if people can hear it, but like there is a swamp behind us. Bigfoot may lurk, but you can hear the frogs. Like they are so so loud.

It is very peaceful. I agree. And I feel like this episode, if we do hear nothing, if it goes silent, this will turn into an episode of Blair Witch where all of the cameras get knocked down and you see some monster lurking. And

I just found Okay, I can't lean back in my chair because what if a spider comes and crawls up?

Lean back. Lean back. Well, let's pivot from spiders and just talk about monsters.

Okay, we've each prepared a monster for you tonight.

We have.

Will you make it through the episode?

I don't know. I've got I've been dizzy since 400 p.m. and driving here I was

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like is this a sign I shouldn't be like I'm so

lack of water.

I think it's definitely a lack of water but I'm so I'm so out of touch with my physical mental well-being right now that I'm like if this was a paranormal warning that I should not you know like an instinct gut feeling of don't get in the car

I would ignore it. I did. I just I got in the car. I made it here. But I figured if I feel worse after this, I'm sleeping in your bed with you and Brian.

We have a king, so there's there's room under the bed.

Well, because Oh, spooky scary. Um, is yours really scary?

It's scary in the sense that I wrote it scary, but the reality of running into this monster is pretty slim. Wait, look, I'm so nifty. I'm using my toe.

Brilliant. I'm sitting in like the most uncomfortable position because I'm trying not to touch any sides of the chair due to spiders.

Oh, there are for sure. I did clear off some spiderw webs for you. You're welcome.

Thank you. Sometimes, actually, there's a really cute little tree frog who lives

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around here. And sometimes,

what's his name?

Um, I don't know, but he he nearly perished at the hands of Noah when Noah was trying with his chubby little fingers to hold him. He injured his leg, but we've seen him since. He's okay.

He's been hopping.

I heard him earlier. I think he's a couple trees down.

Bob, I'm coming over.

Bob.

the Nuckleavee

Okay, I will start. My monster lurks on land and sea. It appears to embody the shape of a horse with a human-like torso fused to its back. A body absent of skin. Huge veins and muscle fiber exposed and raw, throbbing and pulsing. Ew. How dare you use the word throb in this scenario. Oh, so very wrong. And in my sicko brain, there's a feature on a male specimen that it makes me think of. That's all I will say for the children. This creature's arms are

scared yet.

This creature's arms are grotesically long, dragging almost to the ground. So,

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it's like a torso on top of a horse with arms that like drag on the floor.

Yuck. And what?

What was that?

What?

Oh my god. Did I just see a shooting star?

Okay, you

I saw a shooting star.

We have to make a rule.

Sorry.

There's no audly gasping in the woods.

My biggest fight with my dad driving in the car. He's

I'm like, "What?" And he was like, "Oh, I I don't know. What the [ __ ] was that?"

I literally just saw a shooting star. That was so cool.

I wish I come outside more.

Touch grass.

Yeah. But yes, worst of all is its breath. It is so foul, so toxic. It reeks havoc and spreads like the plague. This is the knucklevie, a purely malicious and spiteful monster of the Scottish moors. Oo, he's a Scott with long, gingly arms and a throbbing, muscular, skinless body.

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And I just read the book We Live Here Now. Highly recommend it. So good. But it is a haunted house story and it's all about like the moors and it takes place like the setting is the moors and there's just like a creepy ambiance to it.

These flashlights do come in handy. We can see things. I'm going to guess it was a squirrel just a few moments ago.

So the stories of the Nakvie are always the same. Wind howls across the moors rattling the windows of your home. And despite the heat within, a cold whips itself through your bones. You lie awake with the feeling of being watched. Your ears strain, listening with caution, and that's when you hear it. Slow, deliberate sound of hooves. Each thud echoes and shakes. Slowly you emerge from underneath the sheets to peer outside, and there's nothing but darkness, thick, oppressive, and endless. And that is when you smell it. The air grows sour, rank, its decay, the smell of rotting seaweed and death,

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bloody, coppery, and foul. Yuck. Although I'm kind of into the seaweed stink. That part's interesting.

This one you're not. And that sound of the heavy hooves gets louder. With it joins labored, breathing, wet, ragged, like lungs filled with disease. All of your instincts tell you to run, but the old stories have taught you. You never run from the safety of your home when it is near. You know what awaits you outside, and you have no desire to look it in the eyes. It is a creature born from nightmares that crawls out of the sea. Its skin stripped away to reveal only blackened muscle, tendons, and pulsing veins. And there are some photos of the knuckle in the YouTube video. I mean, renderings, drawings, no one's caught an actual image.

Oh, yes.

It's horrifying.

Yeah.

If you saw that in real life,

that that's the thing. It's like this feels so fictional in the way that it looks. You're like, "Oh, of course." Like, "This is a scary movie. This is a scary cartoon. This is Scooby-Doo."

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Which you would hope. But there are stories and they say that its very breath can stick in your crops, poison your cattle, and wither away your life force. And as it draws nearer, there is only one thing that can save you. The question is, will you make it in time? Or will you fall victim to the monster that has haunted your ancestors for centuries. The Neklave is a horselike sea demon from Orcne folklore, feared as one of the most malevolent Scottish spirits. And I hope none of you shall ever or have ever encountered it. But as we always say, if you have, email us.

origins & description

Okay, so now I'm going to talk about the origins and the description of the Naklav. Pronounced Nuclav, but spelled N U C K E L A V E. It comes from Orcadian folklore, which is the Orcne Islands of Northern Scotland. The name translates to devil of the sea, and it is considered one of the most fearsome creatures in Scottish legend. often called the most evil of all sea demons. And everything I found is like they harp

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on the fact that it has zero redeeming qualities.

It's also so creepy that this thing is a sea demon because it doesn't look like one.

No. And so that's another thing that's up for debate. Like no one knows what it looks like when it's in the ocean or in the sea.

Oh,

but it doesn't seem like based on stories, it doesn't seem to attack people in the bodies of water. Hm. It has been tormenting the people of Orcne Islands and northern Scotland for centuries. So, where the heck are the Orcne Islands, you might ask? Well, they're off the north coast of mainland Scotland. And up there, there are about 70 islands, 20 of which are inhabited by humans. These islands have been inhabited for over 8,500 years. Originally occupied by the Mesolithic and Neolithic tribes before eventually becoming absorbed into the Kingdom of Scotland. So, it's a place of blended traditions. And we'll kind of at the end talk about how this morphed being, like literally it's a human torso fused on top of a horse is almost a direct fusion

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of all these different cultures creating a monster.

You creeping me out.

Sorry. Well, I'm keeping us safe. My head's on a swivel. If I see something, I look. If I hear something, I look.

You say something. Okay. So, these islands are known to have mild weather. They are known for extremely fertile soil and a rich history of folklore. The islands are divided by straits with dangerous tidal currents that result in frequent whirlpools. So keep that in mind.

So scary. Whirlpools.

Very dangerous waters.

Oh, people are talk about riptides and are afraid of riptides. Whirlpools.

Horrifying. Where do you go?

You can't get out of that.

The wind whips wild upon the lands and it's so violent that even most of these islands are barren of trees. like they can't survive because of the wind being so wild, which you might think, great, I can see in all directions. Like right now, we are our views are limited because there are trees. There's different structures. You would think, great, no trees, I can see everything. But that also means you can see everything

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and they can see you

and there's nowhere to hide. So, the Nucle is perhaps as old as the islands themselves, but as with many legends that we've discussed on Tyros, the story of the Nuclavvie has spread through oral tellings and was passed on from generation to generation, which unfortunately means we don't know the specific origin of the Nucle.

Mhm.

But there is one that it's considered to be the earliest written account of the Nucle and it comes from the 16th century. Walter Trail Denison was a well-known folklorist from a sande in the Orcne Islands. And in the late 1800s, Dennis went around collecting, documenting, and preserving the oral traditions of the Orcne Islands, which snaps for Dennis. He published them in collections and shared vivid details so that these traditions were preserved forever, not just in oral traditions, but in written word. M

one of the stories that he documented was the story of Tamas and the haunting

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encounter with the knucklevie. So this story was first published in the Orcadian sketchbook and Dennis noted that the knucklevie was considered the most terrible of all sea monsters of the northern Isles. Now this is the famous

the famous encounter

encounter. This is the story of Tomas as he himself shared and was then passed down through oral storytelling over generations. Tomas was a local orcne man, and he was making his way home on a dark and stormy night. His path was along the sea, a desolate route, where he walked this many a time. He rarely ever encountered anyone, especially walking back at night. The wind whipped at him from all directions, and Tomas pulled his jacket tighter around his body. He continued on his way home when all of a sudden, he heard the heavy thuds of hooves behind him. There was something wrong about this sound. One, he rarely ever passed another living soul on his late night walks home. And two, these hooves did not sound like a normal horse. They were heavier, and they were approaching fast. Tomas turned

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his head looking for the source. And that is when he saw the monstrous figure. It was horse-shaped but without skin. And Tomas can see the vein, every vein and every muscle fiber and every tendon as it pulsed and stretched with each gallop.

That's so sick. If you've ever been to the body museum.

Yes.

It's like that.

We did a Girl Scout troop sleep over there.

What?

Oh, wait. No, it Sorry. It was the museum of science and then we slept in the We were assigned My troop was assigned to the body room. So, I actually did sleep beneath Open Muscle.

And you make a lot more sense now.

Like if we were ever to do like a story about you, that would be part of your origin story.

Origin. And how it began when I had to sleep under the muscular skeletal system,

a plane.

A top this beastly horse was a man. But this man was also missing its skin. And as Tomas stared in horror, he realized this is not a man riding a horse. It was literally fused to the horse, part of

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it. And that wasn't all. With so much horror, Tomas could hardly believe what he was seeing. And everything is happening so quick. But despite that, he's able to remember every single detail because how can you forget something so horrific? I feel like it's either one of the other words. You disassociate, repress all of it, or you cannot forget a single,

right? It's haunting your eyes forever. You close your eyes and that's all you see.

The arms of this monster were dragging on the ground far too long. And in the middle of the horse's head was a single red burning eye glaring towards him. H. As it approached nearer and nearer, Tamas was struck by the smell he could only later describe as the smell of death. It rire of rot and disease, like swallowing the plague. Now Tomas, yes, he's terrified, but he knows what he's looking at.

Mhm.

He hardly can believe it because he thought it was a story made up by his parents, a scary story told in the dark back in, you know, the old days. But no,

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it was real. The Nucle, as he had been warned, was now right behind him. And seriously, it is right behind him. It is catching up to him. It's closing the gap. It's racing towards him at an ungodly speed. And Tomas racked his brain trying to remember everything his parents and neighbors had told him about the knucklevie. Something he couldn't remember. There was something about fresh water. Should he run towards fresh water or should he run away from fresh water?

Right. Is that where the thing lives normally?

Couldn't remember. But he was running out of time. And there was a stream nearby, so he had to make a decision quick. He decided to run towards the stream. hoping the knucklevie feared fresh water, not revered it. The knucklevie was now inches away, and Tomas could feel its rancid hot breath on his neck. The stream is steps away. His heart is pounding and just as he feels the demon's long hand brush its nails on his back. Tomas leaps over the stream. He stops, puts his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath, and he notices silence. The demon is no longer behind him. He turns and sees the

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monster standing on the other side of the stream. It stares at him and it lets out a terrifying night shattering shriek that is filled with anger and rage and it continued to scream as it turned back towards the sea and vanished into the night. Terrified, Tomas ran all the way home, closed all of his windows, locked the door, curled into a ball, and rocked himself to sleep. I think I added that detail, but I imagine that's what he did because that's what I would do. He awoke the next morning. Fortunate he lived to tell his tale. and tell his tale he did. He shared his nightmarish encounter in vivid detail, giving the world the first, as far as we know it, detailed record of the terrifying and skinless plaguebringing demon called Naklavvie that we know today.

Wow. And Tamas was a well-known, respected member of society. And so they believed him. They had no reason to think he was making it up. And they could tell he was terrified. So this encounter was passed on year after year. And it was also not the first encounter with the knucklevie. Like this became like nowadays when um Dennis was doing

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the research that was the most famous retelling of it. But I think in his research it became clear that that wasn't the first time the knuckle was spoken about.

Yeah.

It was just the most memorable story.

Yeah. Like that thing seems like it's ancient and there's probably been so many encounters. It's just this is written.

It's more modern.

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Glowing.

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Thanks. So are you.

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what does it want?

Ken, you might be wondering, well, what the heck does the Necklavi want? That is a great question. He's just pure evil. No, he has to have some need, right, or desire. The belief was that the monster was said to bring about disease, famine,

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and destruction. And sightings of the Knuckle were always accompanied by cattle epidemics, crop bllightes, and drought, as well as mysterious illnesses in villages. So, it seemed like the knucklevie was determined to destroy mankind. And we're going to break that down a little bit more in a moment, but I want to share a couple more new characteristics that have evolved over time. It was said that the knucklevie was confined to the sea most of the year, and that the mother of the sea kept him in check during summer months. But then, in the colder months, when storms raged and nights grew long, he could evade the mother of the sea and roam land freely. No one knows for certain what form he holds in the sea, but it seems like land is the only place to worry about him. And the only way to survive the knuckle is fresh water, a stream, a pond, or even the Scottish rain.

Oh, I like that.

And it's also weak to iron, but rain or fresh water is the only deterrent. Otherwise, you're doomed.

Huh.

It is scary that it's like land and sea, but the only thing that will save you is fresh water. What about like a running faucet, a bathtub?

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I I mean, that's water. How much?

Your own human body is made up of a lot of water.

I don't think your own human body will protect you.

Maybe if you drink a gallon of water a day.

Oh, shoot. That's salt water.

Yeah. But as you can tell from the

unfolding the folklore

descriptions of like what it is believed that he wanted a lot of the themes come with cattle dying, crops dying, people getting sick, towns getting ill,

very chupacabra.

So,

and vampire and plagues

and everything. But I think that is it's a theme that's very common when we talk about folklore, urban legends, and the creation of or the belief in a lot of these monsters

because there's usually with most monster stories a message behind the fear. So we're going to look back at the history of the place that he yields from, the Orcne Islands. This area is not part of Scotland until 1472. And until then, they were ruled by the Norse and their descendants. The islands were then settled by the picss and the land

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Scots which created a unique cultural mix which is embodied in the physical representation of the necklav. Horses played a large role in the Celtic and Norse mythology. Odin rode a horse that could cross water. Hell rode a three-legged horse that spread death and decay. There were also many fairies and supernatural forces in these cultures that could not cross running water. So it feels like this necklav is truly a blend of these cultures. And as is common in history, famine, death, and decay were a plenty. And they were so common that people truly revered nature. They would do rituals. They would make sacrifices to gods in hopes of a bountiful harvest. And then when faced with famine, they were really desperate to find reason or a cause. That means they must have angered the gods. Or perhaps there were evil entities out there to get them. Which if we look at the origins of the knuckle, it begins around the time of the kelp industry. And back in the day, the Orcadians would burn seaweed to produce what they called kelp. And not kelp as we know it today,

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but it was basically like burning seaweed to produce a sodium carbonate that could be used for fertilizer.

It could also be used to produce soap or create ceramics. And it was the main industry of these islands. Whenever they burned seaweed, which was a lot because it was like their main industry, people would die, death and decay would follow, crops would die, cattle of the islands would die. And they truly thought Nucklav was punishing them for burning seaweed because he was of the sea, and that his revenge would come in the form of a horrid, rancid smell, his breath, and death would take people, cattle, and crops. M

but we have learned in recent times that burning seaweed produced a side effect. It released arsenic.

Oh okay. So yeah it released arsenic and when ingested caused people, animals and crops to die. Around the 19th century, kelp production became a thing of the past and slowly so too did Knucklav's

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wrath on the people of the Orcne Islands. For years though, the knucklevie was the embodiment of human fear, the unstoppable force of nature. And while now today, we understand like the side effect of burning seaweed in the way that they did probably was the cause of a lot of these things,

right?

For them, it was such a terrifying reality that they wanted to believe it was the sea demon that was truly evil. And so while the real threat of knucklevie is not truly as prominent today, folklorists and historians rank it as one of the most horrifying creatures of European myth because of its appearance, its body, its breath, its pulsing o veins. Yeah, I would vote it very creepy for like the everyday monster, but I will argue that I think the creepiest of the European folklore is all of those cryptids and creatures and witches and ghouls and fairies all around

Christmas.

Christmas. Oh, 100% Krampus.

They are way scarier.

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Pesta. Although I love Pesta. Love

just all of them. Oh,

Christmas is the worst.

Christmas is scary.

Christmas should terrify you. I terrify myself sometimes. Okay, but so the knucklev has appeared in a few fantasy novels and video games, but sadly it's not as remembered or revered in the Orcne Islands or really in the world. So that is why today we are giving the knuckle a platform. Please don't come riding out of the woods. But

no, we have a bottle of fresh water next to us and a pond behind us.

Yes.

So we will survive.

I will survive. The knucklev does remind us that monsters that lurk in the dark might not always come in physical form, but harsh winters, illness, and death are inevitable. And those threats are very real and always will be, as will the wilderness and nature and the darkness. That reality is way worse than the nightmarish vision of the Naklav. And whether you see him or not, his hoof beatats and terrible morning breath are carried by mother nature in the angry

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volatile waves and the storms that rage on. a mind of their own, unstoppable by any among mankind. Man, this is such a good reminder that so many of these tales and kind of like older ghost stories do have roots in just famine or something horrible happening and people are grasping for anything that could make sense of the terror that they're experiencing. Though I do feel for him because while I don't like stinky things, I have to admit I think that I am the stinky thing because I have been drinking so much coffee. I can't even imagine how rancid my breath is half the time.

I sit close to you quite often and I have not smelt any rancidness.

That's you telling a lie to yourself because I think for a good six hours of the day when I'm cranking through that coffee pot.

Yeah. I think more than anything, we're both so severely dehydrated that we probably are not aware of each other's own stink.

Yeah, that's true. We're going to work on that. Actually, I've decided that I'm going to do stuff about my health and my

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appearance.

We even said that in our 2026 meeting about the podcast and our business, our well,

take care of ourselves.

I used to cook. I used to work out. I used to

Yeah.

Now I'm the neckl if you saw me.

I mean, my health is so bad. My dentist said something about it.

I don't even have dental insurance. So you don't even have a dentist,

guys. We're struggling.

We're struggling.

And so let's ignore and forget about us.

monster in the water

Onto my story. I have written ah a peaceful afternoon swim around a lazy river.

Oh, okay. This is a lazy river monster.

This is a lazy river.

Okay. We're on a lazy river,

but we're not at a resort, you know. It's not a man-made lazy river. river.

A lazy river, you know, a real one. Yeah, we're having a calm, lazy, sweet summer afternoon.

The sun is warm on your skin. Water gently lapping against you. Your friend is seated on the edge of shore, chatting

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with you about nothing really. Life is good. It's slow. It's peaceful. It's summer. Your mind drifts to some evening plans. Perhaps you'll stop for some ice cream on the way home or Taco Bell.

Or you'll head to that new restaurant,

or both. or both. Or maybe you'll head with a friend to the new restaurant that you've been wanting to try. And as your mind drifts to these thoughts, suddenly it's interrupted because something has brushed your leg.

Ew. Probably just a fish, right? But then without warning, you are violently pulled beneath the surface by something powerful.

Wait, yours is a water monster, too?

Yes, we both water monsters.

We should have done this in River.

Get a hot tub. Oh, a hot tub would be so

nice. I'm shaking of cold right now.

This is making me want a hot tub so bad.

Okay, pivot the conversation and the podcast. We're now redoing just hot tub combos. That's the new podcast. We've got a whole different Two Girls, one

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coast.

Yeah, two girls one coast.

I'm going to I'm going to wear like a full-on like just like a a hoodie sweatshirt like not exposed at all just in the dripping wet hot tub. So you are now pulled underneath the water by something quite powerful. Its unseen claws are gripping deeply around your ankle. Its grip so firm, so unmoving, how will you ever break free? Your lungs burn as you fight desperately for air. Your heart pounds as the claws dig deeper and you yourself claw or attempt to claw your way back to the surface. This reminds me so much of a listener story we read a couple of episodes ago on an encounters where she kept having that nightmare of like this headless woman pulling her under the water and then she found a photo of like that woman standing in front of their old barn on the property. I was like I just got chills. Yeah.

Yeah. Like it didn't make sense that her spirit would be so angry and do that but she had the connection to the property and she died there.

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Yeah. So in this scenario that I've just told you, this actually is not just the stuff of nightmares. This is something that happened. For there is a beast in the American waters. This is the

the beast attacks

greenclaw beast of the Ohio River. Oh, the Ohio River winding through six states and flowing over 980 m. It holds many secrets. Let me just itch my eye and keep talking so everyone can watch my eyeball move around.

You have the perfect nails for an eye itch.

Oh my god. You know what I hate so much? When people are rubbing their eye and their eyelid accidentally flips open.

Oh, anyone like it? Comment below on YouTube and give us give us your weirdest physical things that you like about bodies that everyone else think is icky.

Yeah. Beneath the Ohio River lives many secrets, its murky depths holding monsters, ghouls, dead people. And among its darker legends is a creature that locals still whisper about. Have you seen the creature? Is the water safe? Did you hear? I think the beast is back.

37:00

Let me guess.

But let's rewind 70 years. Does it have a green claw?

It does.

Very apt uply named. So 70 years ago, August 21st, 1955, it was sweltering hot. It was August and it was the afternoon on the Ohio River in Evansville, Indiana. Naomi Johnson and her three children along with her friend Luis Lamble enjoyed a very leisurely swim in the Ohio River near Dog Town, unaware that their day of relaxation was about to turn into something absolutely terrifying.

So Louise was not a strong swimmer. So she brought with her to the river that day a black inner tube and she was swimming in the tube.

A camera just died.

Yeah. Tech issues in the woods. So now

just a wide camera,

one angle and that's all you get. Okay, so Naomi, she's swimming just freely. She doesn't have any flotation devices with her.

Swimming, swimming,

swimming.

Her three kids that are

Sorry, swim.

38:00

Your neighbors are like, "What are these ladies doing?"

They know what we do.

True, but they have not seen it in the wild. Like, so the three kids that are with Naomi, they Excuse me. Sabrina's misbehaving for my story.

Oh, stop.

Look at this guy. Look, Sabrina, get distracted.

I'll be on guard.

Tell me how many stars you see. Ready? Can you count to five? When you get to five, you can

I am your child. I'm your second child.

I am sleeping in your bed tonight.

So Naomi's three kids are on the shore. They're on the bank. After just a few minutes in the water, Naomi feels something brush against her leg.

That's truly my worst year in the water. What is going to grab you underneath

beneath me? Actually, I have a very quick story. I on Lake Champlain was swimming with a bunch of friends and like our parents,

a bunch of champs.

We were all swimming there and something touched me and I refused to put my legs back down. I was freaking out. I like remained on the surface and I was like, I got to get back to the boat and

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everyone's like, "You're overreacting. You're overreacting." I was freaking out. So, we all make our way back to the boat. As soon as we get on the boat, what surfaces? A giant snapping turtle.

So, everyone else is like, "You're overreacting." And they could have gotten their toes bit off.

Snapped right on off.

So, if something touches you, get out

right now. It's the end of you and me. Okay.

I'm letting my impulses wait for you to beun her. [Laughter]

Uh, thank you. Encore is happening on Patreon.

This should be a Patreon special cuz we are delusional. I am shivering. Okay, so something brushes against Naomi's leg and then suddenly it comes back and it grabs her. And this time it is not brushing up against her leg. It is violently grabbing her leg. And what grabs her leg seems hairy. So she's like feeling this really hairy thing beneath

40:00

her. And a giant hand wraps around her and it is pulling her down from the water surface.

Is it hair or is it like wrapped in like some stringy seaweed that feels like hair?

I don't know.

Either way, it's awful. They did kind of I think one article compared it to like almost like a bear pop

and so I do think that it was like truly feeling furry. Yeah.

Louise is watching and she is absolutely shocked. She's frozen in fear. She's horrified. She's watching her friend 15 ft or so from her thrashing in the water struggling to get her head above the surface. She's like literally drowning fighting for her life. And so Naomi, she manages to break free from this thing. and she gasps and gasps for air. And as she's doing this, she's reaching for Louise's tube. And Louise is like making paddling over, like making her way over with the inner tube.

Scary.

Then they reach each other and Naomi grabs the black inner tube and the rubber makes this loud, you know, like the sound of your hand like

41:00

grabbing like wet rubber. It makes this kind of like popping sound. And that scared whatever this thing was enough for it to just retreat into the water. The Green Cloud Monster doesn't like rubber.

No, he's spooked by sudden noises and movement.

So now the two quickly make their way to shore and that is when they see a mark on Naomi's leg. And this is where she felt the claw or like this furry hand grab her.

The mark is deep, deep scratches on her, the form of a handprint. And oddly there is a green stain. It's like it handprint didn't just like bruise her or like leave

the decay that exists in bodies of water.

Yes, she's like truly stained.

It does remind me of a Scooby-Doo creature. Who is the one that lives in the water? There's like a

I think he wears the um old timey like scuba outfit with the big It almost looks like an astronaut.

Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember this.

Yeah. I think he has like the green sea sledge.

42:00

So, they report this incident, right? and local authorities quickly mobilize. They scour the river. They're looking for any signs of Naomi's attacker, but they find nothing.

Naomi is then taken to the hospital and her wounds mysteriously fade by morning, leaving the doctors very baffled and they have no clue what this is or what happened. And they have nothing to go off of anymore.

It must be supernatural.

It must be supernatural.

That's so fascinating cuz I was thinking about how terrible that scar must be, but no, it literally vanished.

It just vanished. Yep. It was like a 24-hour thing at that.

So Naomi, she continued to do some interviews with local press and she recounted how it felt really furry. It felt really strong. It seemed to want to keep her underwater and bring her deep deeper down.

And so she did these initial interviews and I keep calling her Naomi because that did come up most often, but there were a couple reports that said her name was a different name. And basically people were saying like that doesn't actually like most of the time you would think like oh well then this is a fake

43:00

story but people were like no no no that doesn't discredit the story. It was just spreading like wildfire in this local community and a while she did some interviews she didn't do a lot of them so it was kind of like misprints in retelling the story

right or the details didn't change it was only her name.

I also imagine like someone being like oh it was my friend and like they said a name to like be closer to the story but it was actually Naomi. Well, and so Naomi originally did a few interviews, but she didn't do a ton of interviews because someone else was trying to keep her quiet about this whole thing.

The Greenclaw Monster.

The US Air Force.

Oh, I was going to say, is the Greenclaw monster visiting her in her nightmares?

No. A colonel from the Air Force.

Oh my god. Like a men in black.

Right. So, apparently he paid the Johnson family a visit and at the end of said visit basically was like, "Oh, we need to hear what happened. Like, we're collecting a report." But then at the very end as he was leaving, he warned them to never speak to anyone about this encounter ever again.

Not proof that aliens live in bodies of

44:00

water. Maybe the green cloud monster is actually an alien.

Shape of water.

Oh my god.

NOCD

I feel like OCD is such a misunderstood diagnosis.

It absolutely is. And I would know because when I was 14 years old, I had to go to therapy for my OCD and learn all of the ways to cope with it. And I feel like the way it's portrayed in media and how people are always like, "Oh my god, you're so OCD." I'm like, "Haha, yeah." But that is not what OCD is.

No. OCD is a very serious and highly misunderstood condition. And we're grateful that we are partnered with no OCD because it feels like there's now a place for people to go to get treatment.

Mhm. So, one of the things people with OCD might experience are your good old intrusive thoughts. Like for example, when I became a mom, I was obsessed with the idea that I was going to fall down the stairs or just throw my child down the stairs, which was not at all a possibility, but it was just like allconsuming. It's overwhelming, but with the right kind of help from a specialized therapist who truly

45:00

understands what you're experiencing and is trained to treat it, OCD is extremely manageable. And at NOCD, every therapist deeply understands OCD. Plus, NOCD accepts most major insurance plans and is covered for over 155 million Americans. NOCD makes sure that you are supported between sessions with powerful in-app tools such as therapist messaging and communities. If you're ready to get help from a therapist who truly understands OCD, visit nocd.com to book a free call. That's noocd.com.

witnesses

But it was too late because Naomi already did interviews. And so news of Naomi's attack spread like wildfire. It sparked a wave of fear and curiosity throughout Indiana and the neighboring states. And on Monday, August 15th, 1955, the Evansville Press ran a story about a local woman who fought off something in the river. And the headline read, "Woman battles it in Ohio River, identifying her as Mrs. Darwin Johnson,

46:00

which that's a different name than Naomi Johnson, and noting the clause

specifically. A lot of attention on the clause." Yes. So, as a legend grows, more chilling accounts surface, each one eerily similar in detail, and people begin talking. Some people are saying that they are spotting something really large moving underneath their boats on the Ohio River. Another person said that they too felt something really strange and possibly hairy brush up against their leg. And as these additional encounters surface, residents of Evansville and

No,

that one was longbodied.

Ew. Don't even you had a quick reaction time.

It felt furry.

It almost like went in your nose, too. I know

to a slow zoom replay of mask.

That was I'm sure this expression, but it was a horrendous experience

as well. Okay. So, the surrounding communities, they start talking, right? Because now other people are like, well, I think that there's something strange in the water. And then there were these reports that were printed a bunch of times in different news outlets. And so,

47:00

people are like, what could this be? And soon theories of a beast begin to develop because so far we only know that there's like a green stain. Something grabbed her, felt like a furry hand, pulled her down, and it left claw marks and everything mysteriously disappeared the next day,

which doesn't line up with most water creatures.

No. No. The local platypus isn't wrapping you like this. So, some speculate that it might be a previously undiscovered river crypted lurking underneath in these muddy waters. Perhaps a survivor from prehistoric times like

basically saying monster basically saying like it's not a crypted it's just a dinosaur that we basically have

a survival

I'm so sorry everyone we can't stop

yeah can't stop but kind of like the same theories that come with like Champ and Nessie right where it's like okay well are these just iterations of a

prehistoric creature

that survived

others whisper about darker theories like a radioactive waste beast incident

48:00

from an industrial plant nearby that seeped chemicals into the water source and created some sort of horrid mutated beast.

How far is this from the frog men of Loveland, Ohio?

Oh, that's interesting

because maybe there's a weird chemical leak.

I have no clue that

it's a good segue into one of my next parts, but through the various reprints of Naomi's Encounter, the crypted soon developed the moniker, the Greenclaw Beast. So, it's interesting you brought

Kentucky goblins

up The Frog Man because exactly one week after the Evansville encounter, the region was flooded again with a headline, not of the Frog Man, but the Kelly Hopkinsville encounter.

Wait, what you talked about? Yeah, like a few years ago.

And that one has ties to a bunch of different other crypted alien type things too that I think we've referenced in other episodes.

Isn't that what Helier is? I think it Helier is about the Kentucky Green

Goblin.

Yeah. Okay. So, this headline, the Kelly

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Hopkinsville encounter, happened from August 21st to August 22nd, 1955 in which a family near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, told police that they had been besieged by small goblin-like beings. And this case is basically attributed to aliens and UFOs, and it is among the most reported in UFO lore, and it's often the one that is said to basically be associated with the phrase little green men.

Yes. United Press follows up. It's weird timing that it happened so close together,

right, within a week.

And we did cover it. We'll find the episode and link it or put it in the show notes so that people can go back and listen to that episode.

So, one of the news outlets actually took a picture apparently of Mrs. Johnson or Naomi reading about the Hopkinsville coverage, which I think is like so

I love that.

So meta.

So meta.

It would be even better if it was a picture of the little green goblins reading about themselves. But basically was like speculating could this little green goblin that you know kept this

50:00

other family captive or like held them in the house for a couple days.

Could this also be this green sludgy creature that attacked Naomi this one day?

Totally. It could be. How do we know? What do we know? But I feel like the description of this like beastly claw feels much bigger than the description of the little green men.

Yes.

But can they change size? We don't know.

Do they have big hands and small bodies? We don't.

Well, and this is kind of where it gets confusing cuz in the original prints of what happened, details did kind of remain the same and Naomi's name has changed a little bit. But now this is where new details are emerging or things are changing and the story is kind of all over the place. But it is weird because in all of this investigation and the retelling, people start to realize that actually the day that this greenclaw beast attacked a woman in the Ohio River, people on the shore of the Kentucky side of the Ohio River that same day had reported seeing something strange in the sky.

51:00

Oh. Oh. Ooh.

So now

coincidence? Me thinks not.

Me thinks not. Two unrelated stories one week apart in the same river and valley region. That seems very weird, right?

Yeah. So, this doesn't explain the Hopkinsville goblins encountered nearby, but for Louise and Naomi, some speculated that the encounter was not with the greencloud beast, but maybe with a fish because the Ohio River offers many a big fish, claw yielding fish, hairyhanded fish, I don't know. I don't know. There's blue catfish that exceed 100 pounds and several species of gar with bony scales and abrasive fins. Indiana's official record for a blue catfish was 104 pounds for a catfish that was caught.

Massive.

Yep. It was caught in 1999 in the Ohio River.

Okay.

But none of these animals have hairy paws. None of them leave strange green

52:00

stained handprints that disappear under 24 hours on

and the act of whatever it is fully grabbing her. I feel like yes that's terrifying and maybe you misremember some details but you don't forget the feeling of something grabbing you in that manner.

Yeah. And like I mentioned my encounter with a snapping turtle and some people did say okay well like there are some pretty big ass snapping turtles in the Ohio River and it could easily like claw and scratch and startle a swimmer. But basically like seizing and dragging her down and having a whole handrint grab again. It's like

we go back to what was actually presented to hospital staff when she was

examined and none of this makes sense for the green stained handprint and nail marks dug into her skin.

Nope.

So now we're back to the paranormal options, right?

Which we've been at the whole time,

right? And as if this mysterious human attack encrypted wasn't enough of a

53:00

mystery, another paranormal occurrence begins.

Another?

UFOs

Yes. So, we have the Kentucky goblins nearby, but then people are starting to see strange glowing lights hovering over the river late at night. There's no sound, just these really bright lights. So, like basically UFOs.

People begin to claim

smoke cloud came in a circle.

Oh, yeah.

It blew O's.

The Kendall blew O's.

Some people begin to claim that there is a metallic disc looking object that appears beneath the water surface and not like a UFO underwater. And so people are like, "Well, could this be aliens or aliens visiting the US and the Ohio River along the Indiana Kentucky region? Was there some sort of weird wormhole or portal that opened up here leaving access for these creatures to venture into this region at this time?" Which kind of makes sense to me cuz I'm like, why else would

so many encounters all happen around the same time,

right? Like that's so bizarre. And they're like not exactly the same, but they're like really strange paranormal

54:00

encounters that are quite vivid and people are being physically attacked or held.

What if the portal exists in the river and the greenclaw beast was trying to grab onto Naomi to get out to get to the surface to then creep on other people. Yeah. Or it wanted to turn in the inner tube. I don't something like that. Well, I guess if that were the case, they wouldn't have been scared of the inner tube. Louise would be attacked and not the not Naomi. So people are like, "Okay, well, is there some sort of extraterrestrial experiment going on, a secret government testing site nearby, especially because the supposed visit from the US Air Force colonel where he was like, "Never speak of this again."

Like that seems suspicious if that did truly happen.

What was that?

An acorn.

That was violent.

That was violent.

Okay, let's from me. If that hit our head, I think it could crack our craniums.

I'm going under hood.

I'm going to too.

Now we're the scary people in the woods.

55:00

And then some people were like, "Okay, well maybe it's a fish or maybe it's driftwood. And maybe it was just the river itself. It's cold. It's murky. It's slimy. It's alive.

It's alive."

And sometimes alive things that we'll never truly see perhaps dinosaur. But what we know for sure, because we don't really have any answers as to what this thing is, is that in August of 1955, something reached for a swimmer in the Ohio River.

The papers called it a beast. And whatever it was, it has not scare you.

Yeah. It hasn't been explained since. And if it happened once, who's to say it won't happen again? And that is the green cloud beast of the Ohio River. I truly believe it's an alien.

Oh, it definitely seems like an alien.

I guess when it comes to cryptids and monsters, like where do we draw the line of like a creature we haven't found or discovered on Earth?

56:00

I guess if we think of alien something different than for us. So, it's like

can kind of encompass all crypteds and paranormal in a way.

Well, a question for you. Who would you rather face, the knuckle or the green clawed monster? A question for you actually, Karen. What who would you rather?

This is a tough one.

I think the neckl.

Interesting.

It's a hard answer, but I I think that one just because there's a way to survive where it's like

What if you're nowhere near water?

Run.

I do agree.

I'm never not near water. How about that?

Just travel around with like a little kiddie pool in your trunk full of fresh water.

Yeah. I mean, like water bottles.

I do agree. it feels easier to escape. Whereas if you're in the river, you don't know what's beneath you. Unless you're like right next to the shore, what could grab you? Same with the ocean.

Yeah. And also the neckl seems to be regional, right? Where it's like you could

57:00

you could avoid this or like be really careful around water sources and like things that you're doing if you're in that region.

Yeah. While the Green Claw beast could be from what we know only appeared in the Ohio River, it does seem like it's connected to these sort of UFO sightings and goblin sightings and just kind of like alien creatures. So, who's to say it doesn't pop up anywhere anytime? And it just comes with the UFOs.

And didn't you say it's 900 something miles of river?

Yeah.

So, it could travel. It's

It totally And also like is it living in the spaceship beneath the surface?

Well, now maybe I should pick the green cloud monster. Take me down. Take me. Take me with you.

Although I can't survive underwater, so

I don't think my fate would be very good abducted that way.

Anyway, monsters and falling acorns and bugs. Lots of things to be afraid of. Yeah, we got to go. Close your closets. Check under your bed. Keep your toes underneath the covers. And join us on Patreon if you want episodes one week early and ad free. Rate and review us on

58:00

iTunes. Check us out on YouTube. Tell all of your friends and family and strangers about our podcast because that's how we take over the world. Shout out to Jamie Ryan who edits and produces our podcast. Thank you, Jamie. And thanks to all of you and we will see you on the other side.

Very spooky.