The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 372 - America's First Ghost

Episode Date: April 9, 2019

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine Nelly Butler and her kick ass return. TOUR DATESSOURCES REDBUBBLE MERCH

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. That was my son. What was that intro? You just said the name of the show? Yeah I said you listen to dollop on the

old things company network and I played the song. You just said yes well let's do the intro. That was the intro. No you say you know you listen to dollop this is a bi-weekly coastal. Do I do that before the music? It certainly has happened by now. You're listening to the dollop on the all things comedy and network. This is a bi-weekly American history podcast each week I Dave Anthony read a story from American history to my acquaintance. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Now you do the music. Are you happy? Yeah it's better it's still shoddy. You suck. Wait you're doing it again? Yeah. Come on we don't need to hear the intro again Dave. This is why we can't have a new

soundboard on. This is bullshit stop playing the intro again. Nobody wants this. Is this some sort of lessons you're trying to teach? Are you trying to teach some kind of lesson? What is what is anything? What's gonna happen is I'm just gonna edit out the first part and now you'll sound like an asshole. That's unfair. That's that's that's what's gonna happen and that's what you should have understood from the beginning of that. That's unfair. Why is it unfair? Because we don't you just keep it the way it is you know just how about this? Do it right. Well it didn't happen sometimes in recording of events and exciting moments in history like we're recording right now. This is

what I feel like. I feel like you and your son did one of those body switch things today and now Finn is here trying to like get through the show but just like. Why are we now shitting on my kid? No he's out of his element that's the whole charm. Out of my kid now my kid's out of his fucking element is that what you're saying? You'll have fun hitting you know dingers on the baseball field okay? It's a fun it's a it's a light vibe asshole. It's a shitty movie trope that's been done a million times. It's been done once. One time. It's done all the fucking time. Like father like son they did it once. Jesus what are you stupid?

There's a movie out right now. What's it called? It's they're doing a... Lies, fake news, fake news. It's your fake news, everyone's fake news. April 25th, 1776. That's why there's no photographs in this one or pictures or anything. Why come? They actually did not have photos. Instagram? No. Oh whoa. Eleanor Hooper was born in East Franklin, Maine. Okay. Your favorite. I like Maine. Maine's great. Her parents were David and Joanna Hooper. David was a veteran of the American Revolution. Okay. The couple would go on to have nine children altogether. Eleanor came to be called Nellie. Okay. I guess that's short for Nellanor. Sure. Yep. When Nellie was 19

she met George Butler. Okay. He's a sea captain and that's a hot job. That's a hot job. You come rolling off the sea the ladies are like oh hello sea captain. I had to tell them all how to die. Is that what a sea captain? Yeah, for the most part it's telling people where to put the bodies after they've died. Yeah. Move some of these bodies over there. Are you thinking of a like a mortician or are you... Same thing in this era. Okay. All right, it just seemed... Yep. Take care asshole. Good to meet you. Oh yeah, it was great to... You're a real contrarian, aren't you? Wow, you're a captain. Yeah, you're damn right I am. What have you done, huh? Exactly. I own the bank.

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. I don't have money. I know. I know. You're a captain. Yeah. George's father was one of the original settlers of East Franklin so he's an OG. Sure. The family very well off owned a sawmill so George is a catch. Oh, Dave, you don't need to tell me they're well off. If they own a sawmill, boom. Say no more. I know what you're talking about. I know the money. I know money. I know economies. How else are you gonna cut down the tree parts? Yeah, what are you gonna do with the parts? The thing that goes into it. Yeah, what are you gonna do? Things can be gone if they don't have it in there. How are you gonna make the

trees? It's not for your things. How are you gonna make the trees into square parts? Tell me an industry that gets by without that industry you're talking about. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. George and Nellie Butler were married. They lived on Point Butler, which named after them obviously. Of course. Well, I would go there if there was like a Reynolds Island. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was a very forested area. Nellie got pregnant after a couple of years. Okay. Things are going great. Sure. Oh, but she died the day after she gave birth. Oh, June 13, 1797. You're a real asshole, huh? Yeah, she's had a story. Okay. She had a good run. We'll never hear from her again. She's dead. It's your deal.

What are you talking about? Very dark. It's not dark. I'm just saying we're not gonna hear from this lady. You set it up. She's dead. She's out. Forget about her. All right, fine. Nellie Butler's gone. She was buried in an unmarked grave. Cool. I don't understand that. So George is a good guy. Yeah, George is like, how about we tell her she's not a thing? Put her under a rock. A shilling of words, you say. So the baby's dead, George's wife is dead. It's all. The baby died too? Yeah, yeah. It's a do-over. Jesus. Don't call it a do-over. That's what they call it back then. Unfortunately, it'll be a do-over. I guess this is a do-over then. Yeah. A bit of a mulligan, I suppose it is. One more shot,

isn't it? After a couple years, George started to develop a relationship with Lydia Blaisdale. What? Blaisdale. Okay, you almost had me. Yeah. She lived about 10 miles away in Sullivan with her family. Okay. She's 15 years old. What? Well, the age is a problem for me. How old is George? It's like 29. Okay. So yeah, there's an issue there, for sure. Yeah, it's a problem. Why? Because she's 15. Well, she's like half a way. I like how there's a phase where we didn't really know what. That was like, that's fine. But it wasn't fine, actually, then. Oh, it wasn't. Yeah, so. So he's even. Okay, that's sort of comforting. Yeah, so as things started ahead in the direction of courtship, her father made it clear that he was not down with 29-year-old George. Wait until

she's 16. That's right. Coming around and asking about his daughter, he's like that, how about you not do that and find a lady your own age that's still alive. But so for the most part, older men marrying teenage girls was not how it was done in Maine at the time. They were not down with it. It's heartening, right? In a way, it's just the, yes, it is, it is. It's better than the alternative. Right. She's considered too young and the age difference was, you know, also an issue. Right. Right. Abner Blaisdell, her father, Lydia's father, was also a vet of the American Revolution, a very religious dude. Sure. Super into the God stuff. The family prayed together and tried to live life the way God wanted them to, right? No, not at a nightmare. Yeah, it wasn't great. Yeah.

His wife is Mary. They had seven kids. They live on a hundred acre farm. Okay, that sounds pretty good. Yeah, it's not bad. Yeah. Except for the praying all the time. Yeah, the praying all the time is a problem. Yeah. But I mean, you could just tune out. Yeah, you could tune out. You know what I mean? Just start thinking, be like, I gotta get that molasses. Gotta go get a bunch of molasses later. That's what you think happens during molasses. That's an errand. Going to get molasses is an errand. For sure. Yeah. At this era? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're an asshole if you didn't have a bunch of molasses. You gotta go get molasses. You gotta get a bucket of it. Got at the shop. You have a molasses house. Yep. At the sawmill. Go grab some molasses. That's right. You knew how everything

worked in the town. I know the general overview of the history of this time. Yeah. Yeah. And let me know if you have any questions. I know. I don't. I'm gonna help you through some of these. You're really filling in the holes that I have. You're welcome, man. It's just like you're being in the hot room at Party Boys. The hot room is so fucking great. Okay. And I'm in there all of July. Let's go. The town of Sulphun only had around 20 families. Everyone in town knew Abner was against George marrying Lydia. This makes me worry that George might be on track to marrying Lydia. Why? Because you're sort of setting up the counter argument. Like, yeah, I just don't think you'd do that unless we were sort of headed for a destination. You know what's gonna happen.

It just feels like... Well, maybe there's gonna be some curveballs in here. I don't know. Abner had a, quote, notorious and inflexible opposition to their connection. No. Okay. 100% these two are getting married. What are you talking about? Whenever you're ready to tell me. In 1799, Lydia spent most of her days in the cellar sorting and picking wool fleece. What a dream! Who doesn't want to be in the... She's living the life. This is a young lady who's living the dream all day in the cellar picking wool. Picking wool. Just picking shit out of wool. Yeah. In December, she became very ill. Okay. Very ill. She's bedridden. She has a terrible fever.

She seems very near death. Sure. And as she lay in bed, she heard knocking sounds coming from the cellar. Okay. It's the wool. Abner went down to look, found nothing. There's no reason for there to be knocking. But still, to be certain, he got the family together and they all prayed. Smart. Better safe than sorry. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, because you didn't pray in this situation. What are you doing here? Well, then, you know, but it may as well be said, in worst case scenario, you just talked to God for a few minutes. If you don't, a hell mouth could open up down there. Big time. Yeah. They prayed that if the knocking was a deception, then God would make it, then God should make it known to them. But if the cause was actually God, then the noises

might be preserved. So that's their prayer. So this is, without question, the greatest era for pranks. Yeah. Oh, fuck yeah. I mean. This is when you could just so easily convince someone that you're God. They're basically saying, if it's God, let's have it keep going. Let's not start talking. It is God. Oh, yes, it's God. Oh, my God. Lord, Lord, we are so humbled with your presence, Lord. Lord, why have you gone to the cellar? What do you need to communicate to us, Lord? Knock it in. I want you guys to just start fucking everybody in town. Lord, it's against the teachings, Lord. Oh, not anymore. Not anymore. Just get out there and start fucking. Lord, even your terminology is so... Lord's super into pussy and just getting down on shit.

Lord, Lord, Lord. Lord's into hot cock, hot cock and pussy. Lord. Super type balls. Lord. Faceloads. Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord. Lord, stop, Lord, please stop, Lord. You guys know what a blumkin is. Girls, cover your ears. Cover your ears. The knocking sound in the cellar kept coming back. So now the entire family starts hearing it, not just not just sick Lydia. Sure. A little while later. So it's not a symptom of her death. That's right. There's actual knock. And then she's actually getting better. The knocking's helping her. Yeah. Making her strong. A little while later, they heard a disembodied voice. How does one... What is a disembodied voice? It sounds like it's like... Far away? Or just like... Bowly? I don't know. What's the word for it? It sounds like it's

all throughout the house. It's like a... It doesn't sound like coming from a specific place. It's like... The house is talking. Yeah. Well, I mean, no, the house is not talking, but it... The voice is coming from inside the house. Also, they can't see a person that's making the voice. So it's a woman's voice. Is she speaking? That's Kathy. You couldn't understand what it was saying at first. They head down to the basement and they'd find nothing down there. This goes on for a month. For a month? What? The voice... Yeah. The knocking and then the voice. For a month? A whole fucking month. Yeah. I mean, within that month, you're... At least I'm tossing out alternative plans. I've got a lot of different ideas. One of them is moving. Moving is high on it. But also,

I think I can find what this is. You think you can find what the... I'm certainly not living in a house where there is a lady's voice just kind of coming from everywhere. What if it's God? Then he's being a real jerk off and I might need to rethink things. Well, wow. She's being a real jerk off. So after about a month, the voice said she would appear soon. Abner told the family to keep this on the download. Don't tell anyone. Not a great look in the town to let everyone know that there's a ghost in the cellar. 1799. There's 20 families, so it's like you got to test pretty high. Yeah. It's not a good time to be... We got a ghost in the cellar. What are you guys doing?

Yeah. Right. Because they're like, oh, nothing, Abner. All right. Tonight we have to cook Abner's brains and eat them. That's right. It's the only way. So the voice would dart around the cellar. So if they go down there, the voice would be bing, bing, bing, bing darting around. This is insane. And then the voice claimed to be on a mission from God. It's a blues brother. Exactly. This is the first blues brother story. Jane blues. This is a prequel. Wow. On January 2nd, the female ghost appeared in the cellar. Is this going to be Nelly? She would stand there.

Shroud and white. Glowing. So the ghost is now there. Ghost is there. They don't often follow through. Right? Yeah. Well, this is a ghost that's up to her word. She's fucking standing by her. Classy. She's not all talk. Classy. She told the Blaisdells she was the ghost of Nelly Butler. Okay. Our girl's back. I mean, you missed her. And you said we wouldn't hear from her again. I did. Very explicitly. Because she was dead. I had to had assumed that that would end the character. Usually that wraps up the character. That is the end normally. So Nelly's been dead at three years this point.

Here she is. So ghost Nelly told Abner she was there to get Lydia and George married. Okay. And she didn't just want it. She ordered that it happened. She ordered. David. David. Quote. Dave. The parties must and would be joined and what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. All right. Now, let me walk you through a scenario that I find impossible. A lady has died. Her child has died. That's right. That's right. Right. Her widower has found a 15-year-old. That's right. That he likes. And the family, because of just general conviction, but potentially religious conviction as well, have said no to the union. And now the dead wife has come back to be like,

he needs a new wife and she should be that teenager. Yeah. Welcome to America, buddy. No. This is classic America. This is how we... Feels a little illogical. Now, I'm going to... May I see the theory early? I don't think this is Nelly. Wow. Yeah. You're so cynical. I'm more positive and more believing in stuff that's wonderful and I think this is Nelly. Yeah. It's a love story from beyond the grave. Just your ex-matchmaking from the other side. That's how it happens sometimes. I came all the way back to make sure that these two kids don't pass up an opportunity for a fruitful bond. Boo. Also, give me the kid's teeth. Two things. Two teeth. Abner, obviously not about to stand in the way of what God wanted.

Good boy. When God talks to you through a dead ghost mom, you don't say no to that. Would you like the 12-year-old too, good lord? So Nelly goes and told Abner and Lydia to go see George's father to tell him Nelly wanted them to get married. Okay. Wait, who goes to... So Ghost Nelly wants Abner and Lydia. Okay, the two of them. To go to... Not George, but George's dad and say that Nelly's in our basement as a ghost and she would like... She's near a bunch of wolves. So... She also wanted them to tell George's father a verse of scripture. Okay. Quote, for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. The two will become one flesh. They are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore...

Suspise girl sunk. Yeah. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate. So she's using a little bit of scripture. She's throwing a little scripture in. Abner's way. So he's like, okay, this is for sure her. And it makes her seem a little more like... It's validating. She's got... She's the voice of God. Dude, God is giving her cliff notes. He's being like, this is the one. Nobody else would use scripture. No. No. No, no, no. So off Lydia and Abner go, there's a terrible blizzard out. Boy, Nelly. They head out immediately. Okay. So they're going through this nightmare. They could die.

Maybe wait a few days until the weather's died down. Gotta happen now. No. Ghost say now. I talked to God and he said, wait until it calms down out there. No. Really bad out there. So they go across ice sheets on the Taunton River. During the journey, Lydia said she's not down for getting married. She doesn't want to marry George. Oh, nice. But God is talking to them through a ghost in their cellar. This story's got lots of fun variants. Yeah.

Yeah. Lydia also said she really didn't think it was great. They were doing this just because a ghost told them to. That doesn't seem like... So in other words, Lydia is, how would we say, logical? A 15-year-old kid who's like, what? Hey, I don't want to marry a grown man. And also, that's pretty... I'm pretty sure that's a character actress. But while this is going on, Nellie appeared in front of them out in the middle of, you know... Hey! And she consoled Lydia and encouraged them to keep going.

Just marry him. Just get to the dad's house. It'll be terrible, but marry him. It's what I had to come here to tell you. So they finally get to George's dad's house. They explain the situation. They're like, okay, so there's a ghost. Boy, I actually should have rehearsed this because this is going to sound a little bananas, sir, now that I'm going to have to pitch it back to you. Well, you remember Nellie?

Yeah. Oh, George is... Sure. My daughter-in-law. My now deceased daughter-in-law buried under a rock. Deceased daughter-in-law no longer. Yes. The Lord has sent her back. She's been living in our basement for a few months.

I'm sorry. She started by kind of throwing her voice around the house, but then eventually the apparition appeared. I don't... Anyway, we almost died getting here by the way. We started last night. We started literally last night. You guys should leave. No, no, no. In this storm, we'll die.

Have you been eating the mushrooms that you find underneath the cow-potties? I would... First of all, you sound like a cool guy for sure, and I would love to talk about that in another juncture. Okay. But right now, I'm here to tell you that Nellie has said that George and my Lydia, who is... Nellie is not dead. She's around a bunch of wool in my cellar as whole, okay?

And she's gave me a Bible verse. And so here's my daughter, Lydia. She is very young. She is inappropriately young. And I put my foot down more. I could not have at the union ship. But the Lord has told Nellie, who again lives where my preserves are. She's dead, but now is a ghost.

And so George and Lydia have to get married. And Lydia's kind of opposed to it. She's been a real stick in the mud, just because he's twice her age and that's creepy. Oh, okay. This all sounds good. What are you cooking? I'd love to come in and have a bite. That's a head.

Oh, boy. So George's dad was also... George's dad is also against George marrying this 15-year-old. So really the only person on board with this is George and the ghost? It seems like it. Abner explained that his dead daughter-in-law was the one who wanted it to happen. Abner even dropped the scripture on George's dad, but he's not having it.

George tells... George's dad says, get the fuck out of here. He's disgusted they had come with such a story. He's like, this is just fucking nonsense. Sir, I didn't make this up. Don't come into my house with a bunch of ghost shit. You didn't make it up. Oh, there's a ghost in my basement who wants my prepubescent daughter,

marry my old son. Get the fuck out of here, weirdo. Crazy asshole. Back onto the blizzard. Maybe you guys will die and come back as ghosts and tell me to... Oh, make sandwiches or whatever. And like, get the fuck out of here. Good to meet you, sir.

Yeah, nice to meet you. But then after they left, George's dad starts thinking the situation over. Sure. And he's like... He takes a minute to process this. He's like, why would they come in such crazy weather? Yeah.

They're basically risking their lives. And then he also knew Abner had always been against the marriage, so it doesn't really add up. Yeah. So when Lydia and Abner get home... George wants you back. Go back through the storm. What?

No. Nellie starts knocking. My toes fell off. Nellie starts knocking down on the cellar again. Hello. Nellie goes... They go down there. Hey, it's Nellie, the cellar.

Yes, okay, we'll be right down. No, no. I want some food. I've been out all fucking dead. No, get that down. Okay, hey. Hey. Hello.

Hi, how are you? How did it go? Not great. He's not really down. Go back now. No. He's into it. He's not into it.

Go. You're a sh... He changed his mind. What I would like is some food. I'm going to go upstairs and... I do and peckish. Gorp. Feed the ghost.

We're going to have some gorp or whatever. Make me a sandwich. Cotton. Also some rum. So they go down there and they talk to the ghost Nellie again. And this time she says, we'll go get my dad, David Hooper, and bring him here. He's going to love this.

Yeah, he's going to be like, my girl, what's up, my girl, what you doing? Yeah. So this is another six mile journey through the storm. So they decide, well, let's wait till morning on this one. No, now it must be. But the storm is pretty bad even in the morning, but they still head out.

Okay. They go all the way to Franklin where David Hooper hears the story and he's like, yeah, no, I'll go see my daughter's ghost. Okay. Cool. So the least resistant is father. Yeah, he's like, yeah, let's go do this. Awesome.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's weird. Which jacket should I wear? I have a ghost jacket and then I have just like a winter jacket. I'll wear this one. So then Lydia and Abner were told to go see George Butler after they told Nellie's dad. Right.

So they go to George Butler and they are like, hey, you're your ex, you're, I don't know what we call her. You're almost. You're dead. You're your ex-wife and your old wife, the dead wife. Right. She's actually in our cellar. She's glowing.

She's white. She's saying a lot of stuff. She's pretty chatty. Right. And George was like, oh, okay, I'll come, I'll, I'll cruise over and check that out. Sure, sure. So David is already on his way and now George is headed over there. Cool.

David Hooper. She's gonna be an emotional reunion. Yeah, it's gonna be a big day. Big ghost day. Yeah. So David Hooper arrives at the Blaisdell home first in the afternoon. Sure. Goes out of the basement.

Hello. Super shocked to see his daughter as a ghost. Sure. And super weird. Hey. Hi. I live in the basement near all the wool. Hey.

Hey, Dad. I guess I miss, I do miss you, but this is also super. I miss you. The only thing I need to get done is for Lydia and George to get married. What? I don't know. It's my mission now. That's your mission?

Yeah, it's weird, but. It's not. God works in really weird ways. I don't know if that's a God thing. Whoa. Okay, that makes sense. Bring me some rum. Yep.

Put it down here. You're gonna, what are you gonna do with that? You're a ghost. It's a sacrifice. Turn your back and it'll go away. What? Wait, how can you drink if you're a. I didn't.

Huh? You went and gulp. I was doing rum-tending. Okay. I don't want. See ya. So David has a chat with a ghost and he's convinced it's his daughter. Sure.

Um, David wrote, quote, by the request of the specter sent by two messengers, I went to Abner, Blaisdell House, and by conversing with, with, uh, she obtained such a clear and irresistible tokens of her being the spirit of my own daughter, as gave me no less satisfaction than admiration and delight. She gave a reason satisfactory to me why she put me to the trouble of coming there instead of coming to my house. It's just the storm is worse for ghosts. I couldn't, they don't make mittens on this side.

So I didn't want to go back to your house dad because I know mom keeps a lot of canning and stuff in the cellar. And also you guys have the washing machine and it's quieter here. And then I also thought, well, I'm a ghost, so maybe I should freak out people. I don't know. I can't travel. Also, you guys, I mean, I'm an adult and it's just a bummer to live with your parents. It would be weird.

All the other ghosts that think it's weird. I'm looking at a condo. So then George shows up, right? So David's very excited, his daughter's back as a ghost. So then David shows up a little bit later. What I'm hoping is that ghost Nellie doesn't have a bunch of returning feelings once she sees George. Oh my God.

I know, right? Because then talk about Romcom. Oh boy. Hello. So David comes in, he's brought a friend. Wait, George brought a friend? George brought a friend. Sorry.

George brought a friend? Yeah, but he was like, I don't want this. Well, wouldn't you bring a friend? We hang out. Wouldn't they be like, hey, your ex is down in my basement as a ghost? And you'd be like, hey, Frank, come with me. This is a little weird. No, it'd be weird.

Yeah. I mean, every answer is weird. Yeah. I'd definitely be like, no, I'll do this. I want to go see my ghost wife. You wouldn't bring a buddy? You wouldn't bring Luke? You wouldn't be like, hey, Luke.

You want to go see my ex ghost wife? I'll probably bring Luke. So he gets there after David has already finished talking with his dead daughter, and then George goes down and talks to the ghost, and he's convinced it's Nellie. See, now in my head, I'm thinking George is behind this. Yeah. Well, it could be. But maybe it's a ghost.

You're a dick. Quote, when I was called to talk with this voice, I asked, who are you? It answered. I was once your wife. The voice asked me, do you remember what I told you when I was alive? Yes. I answered, I do not really know what you mean. The voice said, do you remember I told you I did not think I should live long with you?

I told you that. If you were to leave me, I should never wish to change my condition, but that if I was to leave you, I could not blame you if you did. George is like, wow, this is something only Nellie would have known. What is happening? Yeah. So she's saying she basically did not think she was going to live a long life. And so he thinks, because she said that, that she would only have told him that, but there's

no way any woman's also going to tell her friends that. Like, she's going to be like, I'm so scared I'm going to die young. That's just a thing. Okay. But he thinks, well, she could only tell me. I'm starting to think. I'm starting to think ghost. Yeah.

There was something appeared to my view right before me, like a person in a winding sheet and her arms folded under the winding sheet. Untangled. I can't. The sheet is too long. I've come back to say untangled help that don't pull on this side and only tightens it. Yeah.

It cuts the circulation. If you do it there and then this hand, oh my God, I don't get blankets fucking foot in it now. Don't give a blanket instruction and go get scissors. This is a total redo work. I should have gone to the ghost orientation. I didn't go. Now I'm wrapped in blankets home by this.

Oh, okay. Her arms folded under the winding sheet and on her arm there appeared to be a small child. What? Yeah. What is going on? It's the baby. Yeah. I know who it is.

By this appearance, I did not know possibly, but I might be deceived. I reached out my left hand to take hold of it. I saw my hand in the middle of it, but could feel nothing. The same evening, it appeared and disappeared to me three times. So he put it, he reaches out and his arm goes through the ghost. Is it the same people who did hologram Tupac? Is that the big reveal? It's the same technology.

I knew it. George's friend was there and watched the whole thing and confirmed that he saw George's hand pass through Ghost Nellie. So David Hooper, father of the dad, he goes to see George's dad, who's a member who's resistant to this whole great thing. But sort of thought a little once he realized the... Yeah, he's thought a little bit. And David tells him, yes, the ghost thing is true and she's hanging out in the cellar

of the Blaisdell's and he spoke to her. Tangled up in a sheet. She's a hell of a ghost. She's a hell of a ghost. Like a Houdini. Houdini. And he says, guess what? It's her.

That's my daughter. And he wants George to marry Lydia. She wants George to marry the ghost. So George's dad was like, okay, fine, I mean, I get it. This makes sense. So just to be clear, to get a head count, there's now no resistance, except for Lydia. Except for Lydia, but it seems like everyone's pretty on board. Yeah.

Well, George is obviously going to be on board. Yeah. Yeah, I would assume so. So George's dad's in. After all, this is clearly God's will, right? So on January 5th, George's dad headed over to the Blaisdell's and said he was on board. He would let George marry Lydia. Is there going to be a more awkward ceremony?

It's not going to be great. Okay. Yeah, it's going to be a little odd. Okay. So both Abner. Father of the bride, father of the groom, father of the ex-deceased bride. Oh, deceased lady. Deceased bride.

Thank you for coming here. Deceased, dead deceased baby. And of course, George's friend. Hey. It's crazy when he almost touched the baby. So both Abner and George's dad are still not thrilled that this is happening, but they feel like, well, this is God's will. So we don't really have a choice.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. He may, he, again, this is what people forget. He works in mysterious ways, which is no, a lot of ways is carte blanche. Yes. So that's why he appears in toast or sometimes dog's anuses or a tree or a tree or, you know, I'm sorry.

Did you say dog's anus? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's happened too. Someone thought they're dogs. Is it? Something like that. Yeah.

It was the butthole or butt. Yeah. Maybe you're looking too close to the dog's butthole. Well, I mean. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, I guess that is. Because you really got to be staring at a dog's butthole to see Jesus in there.

And so that's like the 10 minute after miracle question. Yeah. Hey, Andy, why were you staring at it so long? I was trying to see, first I was trying to see if I could see like, like boats or different kind of shapes like that. You know, you look at an anus and try to figure out what it resembles, what's hidden inside it. It's like a magic eye.

You have a dog. Yeah. What, are you walking it? So the two fathers set the date of the wedding, May 29th to 1800. Okay. So not too far off. Right. So word then went out that 29 year old George was going to marry 15 year old Lydia, locals

not happy. Well, but they haven't met Nelly. That's right. They haven't met the ghost lady. Lord. Um, first they were, first they were shocked to hear that Nelly was back as a ghost. Shocking news. And then second they were shocked that the ghost was telling Lydia to marry George.

Yeah. It's a little scandalous. So they, some thought, not all, but some thought Lydia was clearly faking the ghosting in her own basement to trick George into marrying her. But, but wasn't it, was it not George who wanted to marry her and she was resistant? I guess maybe she could after the fact be feigning resistance to, but still George was into it. Right?

What a girl who invented a ghost act like she didn't want to get married. Don't take on the role of the narrator talking to you, but was he ever resistant to it? He was into it. No, he's into it. Okay. Okay. But I think she's into it too. I think that she, you know, was into them because they were, because they were hanging

out together. She was like cruising by the house. Like it clearly was a connection there. It's a cool guy to be cruising around at 15 years old. So some thought the apparition was actually a demon or at least demon familiar. Well, at least that there are logical counter arguments that people are, you know, people are obviously, you know, fools. It's not an apparition.

It's a demon. She's clearly a demon or demon familiar. Thank you. We're the demon faction. One of Nellie's sisters went to see the ghost with her husband. Lydia spoke to the ghost and the ghost answered, but this was not the voice Nellie's sister expected. When the voice said, quote, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, which is

what, oh, that's classic ghost talk. Yeah. No, that's. It's almost hacky. Legally. Well, the sisters, the sister realized this was not Nellie's normal voice. No, no, no. She's doing a girl in the woods impression.

Look, it's not great. Look, if you are not on board with the idea that this ghost is now in the basement doing some sort of character reel, you're out of your mind. I totally agree. Come on. I'm testing out some new material. I'm doing impressions. I'm doing a one man show at Melbourne.

It's really good. April. Yeah. They took me, but not the guys. So the, so the sisters like that's not Nellie's normal voice, but it's the voice that Nellie had when she was sick and dying in bed. I am just, I'm hanging on a lot of these words waiting for the logic. Yeah.

No, it's just all logic that you're getting. This, this is all, it's all the logic. Okay. Okay. So this person is now there like, well, she does have sick voice. And my guess is when you die with sick voice, you maintain it. Well, her sister then thought that this was, because of the voice, this was evil at work. A demon is inside of Nellie.

Bingo. Quote, from this time, I cleared Lydia as to the voice and accused the devil. Uh-huh. Okay. So we've got our demon camp, our Nellie camp and our devil camp. Yes. Okay. Others started coming by to visit the ghost.

Okay. So Captain Paul Simpsons came, Captain Paul Simpson came, because one of Abner's sons kept insisting that he check it out. Sure. So one of the sons, one of the boys of the sons was like, dude, you got to see this fucking ghost in my basement. I'm busy. No, it's fucking.

I'm swamped. Captain. It's fucking crazy. It's a ghost. Thank you for respecting me, but I'm busy. It's a ghost. Look, this ship's not going to be a particle itself. Okay.

She's talking scripture. Well, I do like that. She's all wrapped up. She did not get out of her blanket or whatever. Sure. She hangled blanket. And she's like telling people to hook up. All right.

Let's go. So he goes to the cellar. The son puts out the candle because they always blow out the candle before the apparition would appear. Yeah. Again, there are limitations as to what they can do in the afterlife. Some of them need a candle blown out. That's right.

Like a birthday. Yes. So they blow out the candle, they wait, and then the knocking comes. Good news. Look alive. Look alive. And then the captain spoke and Nelly said, quote, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. And then the captain. What? And then the captain and ghost Nelly chatted for a while, she apparently was very good with words. She had a way with words. Sure.

She really knew how to win people over. Sure. Super. Charming. Ghosts. Yeah, for sure. Quote, after a little discourse with her, their fears were easily dissipated and succeeded by some givers.

I know it sounds crazy. It's, if I heard it, I would think it's crazy too. Yeah, no, I would think this was total bullshit. I would be like, no way. But here I am. Here I am. And I'm the one telling you. So I totally get it.

And I'm like, I'm the ghost. And I'm like, this is weird. I'm like, this is bananas. Succeeded by singular pleasure. So delightful was the mode of her address and conversation. So she's good at talking. Yeah. Pretty soon everyone was stopping by to get a look at a chat with the ghost of Nelly Butler.

Hey, what's up? Hi. Hey. All right. Please send in someone else. The bakers out there. All the bakers. Great.

And all the fishermen. Maybe we do it in a big group of bakers. Yeah, I guess. But that's not very... It's better that way than doing individual bakers for me. It's just, you know, I've been doing this all day for the past three days. It's just been nonstop. I think people would think that was rude if you...

Sure. We could do them one-on-one. But I'm not going to spend a bunch of time with them. So it's just mostly... Have their question ready, I guess is what I'd say. It's mostly just a photo and then they want like a signature and then like a five-minute... I can't get my hands out. And then like a five-minute chat.

I can't be doing five-minute chats for all the bakers or all... It's just... It's not... I have a life. I have to go back to Ghost Town too. I have a whole thing there. I have a family there. I'm like...

They're like, what's going on in the cellar? I'm like, it's nuts, you know? Look, the point is just bring in one of the fucking bakers. Let's go. Okay. Well, that seems like demon talk. No, I'm just... Sorry, no.

It seems very demonish. No, no, no. Forgive me. Oh, you have somewhere to be? Like a demon house? No. It's none of that. No, I just...

Maybe there's a hell mouth nearby that you have to go back into. Please just send in some bakers. Okay. Let's just do this. Okay. Thank you. Well, maybe be nicer. I said I was sorry.

I've been doing this a lot for the past couple of days. This is pretty hard. I said... What do you mean? The tone's not great. It's demonic. I have no... It's a demon-familiar tone.

Please just bring them. I'm excited to meet the fucking bakers. Okay, okay. There's the... I'm having trouble. Okay. So, everyone's stopping by to have a chat with Nellie Butler. She would often tell them...

What else am I going to tell you, Nellie? There's another thing. She would also often tell them, quote, fear not, one evangelist who stopped by... So, she has catchphrases now. Yeah. He stopped by on his travels and said he thought she would knock first to avoid scaring people. So, he's like, that's why she's knocking first, because she doesn't want to just pop in and be like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, God.

So, it's like a slow intro kind of thing. Yeah, right. He also said she only appeared in the cellar because that allowed the Blaisdell family to be able to be ghost-free upstairs. Absolutely. And I think, of course, I think, you know, let's say there's 5% of the people listening to this, they think that sounds crazy. Now, no, you guys are wrong.

Yeah. Okay? And when you think about it, the basement's where you keep your wool. That's right. And the last thing you need is some sort of... Someone ghosting you're upstairs. That's right. Like, you're in your kitchen, you turn around.

Like, you're in your kitchen, you turn around. Oh, God, ghost. Oh, God, ghost. Sorry. Just the hen eggs look fantastic. Yeah. That's not what you need. It's freaky.

No, that's sitcomic. Yeah. That's not the vibe we need. That's not all. Ghost Nelly was not in any way a normal ghost. She... I'm like Kramer. I just come over at certain points and...

Look, I can juggle cats. She quote, exhibited all the mental and emotional characteristics of a living human being. Well, that should not be selling you. That's... No. That's how fucking super ghosty she is. No. She's like a real human.

She was also super into the affairs of the living. She pees. She pees during one of them. She's also super into the affairs of the living. She seemed motivated by personal vengeance, vanity... I'm opening a bank account. ...and arranging the marriage. Okay, so...

So she's just from beyond the grave, maybe like a wedding planner. Yeah. Yeah. I have a show on HGTV. Every ghost has a thing. I think this would be nice. That bookcase, perfect. She also often announced where and when she would show up next.

I'm doing a 730 and then a 945. It's the same show, so I, you know, don't come to both. And she invited people to, quote, come and handle me. What? So they, because no one could touch her, so like, go and put your hands through her. Right, okay. Come punch through me. Which they would.

This just increased some people's belief that Ghost Nelly was a fraud. She didn't at all act like a ghost. This is not like all the other ghosts that I have met. I've met a lot of ghosts and none of them are chatty or like, hey, give me a hug or... That's why we are joining the demon party. We are pretty positive it is a demon. It's definitely a demon. It's definitely a demon.

We're not crazy. What else could it be? I also, but my friend was saying it might be demon familiar. I'm not opposed to that theory, it is wild, but I definitely think it is a demon potentially outside Jens' demon familiar, outside of that nothing logical makes sense. But Nelly, Ghost Nelly was not just appearing in the cellar now. She started popping up in different houses. I'm doing a tour.

I'll be appearing at the next seven houses on the way, 73940, come out. Some as far as five miles away. Sometimes she shut up outside. One of the Blaisdell's sons said he saw the ghost kicking it out in the fields around their house. Cool property. What's your property line? I try to get apples, but every time I reach for them, my hand goes through the apple.

Looks like it should be a solid harvest from what I can tell. This is so great. It's really on the sun. It's great. Anyway. Okay. I'm holding my baby. Hey.

This is outside. It's cool. So she said she didn't touch, he said she didn't touch the ground, she was like floating above it. Sure. That son was actually not thrilled about the ghost Nelly the whole time he'd spoken out against her to other people in the town. So soon she told him that she had come on behalf of God and speaking against her was

speaking against God. So she's dropping a fucking hammer. There we go. Right. Yeah. News of the ghost spread to nearby towns. I would imagine that at the time this would spread everywhere. What is more interesting than being like there's a ghost to talk to?

There's literally nothing else happening. Everything else you're doing is like, oh, we was just watching a dog. That's it. How long? Four months. He just walks a bunch. We think we've seen Jesus in his butt. Oh, God.

Yeah, that's what we said. Okay. It sort of talks. Yeah. This is why the preacher says don't look at a dog's butt for so long. Yeah. Well, what else can do? Okay.

That's fair. Yeah. So people started making the journey from around the country or around the area to see ghost Nelly. Yeah, for sure. There were so many people now they would pack into the cellar. Okay. So a ghost Nelly would come and she would often talk to the crowd for two or three hours

to cover a bunch of different topics. What is going on? What? I mean, okay, look, I understand that like their minds had not really adjusted. Like there's stuff we do that we have yet to fathom for sure. But I mean, she's doing like full on Ted Talks in front of sold out houses. Yeah. I mean, look, she's a big attraction.

What else is going on? Like you said, what else is going on? Two to three hours. Everything, man. She fucking covers. Outhouses are crazy, huh? They ask her questions. She answers.

They all topic. She's covering all kinds of shit. I'm running for president. Fine. I'm down. Okay. A witness quote. At first the apparition was a mere mass of light then grew into a personal form about

as tall as myself. We stood in two ranks about four or five feet apart between these ranks. She slowly passed and repast so that any of us could have handled her. When she passed me, her nearness was that of contact so that if there had been a substance, I should have certainly felt it. The glow of the apparition had a constant tremulous motion. So deny that motherfucker. Don't talk to me like that.

Get some real shit, a dude touching ghosts, watching ghosts bounce around. What's up with the marriage? We'll get to that. Right now we're just kicking up with a bunch of folks. Seems like she's just gone all Hollywood. People like her. What's she going to do? How long until she's doing cocaine?

I can't do an apparition unless I have my two bumps. I'm like Stevie Nicks, blow it in me. Not everyone bought it. Some just thought the idea of a ghost was bullshit and it had to be a demon. Or it was something Lydia had brought forth and was using witchcraft. Another option. Some thought Lydia and her sister Hannah were using deception and trickery, creating this fraud to get George to marry her.

Those people became increasingly vocal as time wore on. They noted that Ghost Nelly never appeared in a house that Nelly had actually lived in. I won't. Yeah, why? I'm just trying to look at all the other properties. But this like blows the idea of what a ghost is. A ghost? Uh-uh.

You'd blow the idea. Ghosts don't hang in places they've never been. Yeah, yeah, for sure we do. We love doing that. We do that a lot. What other ghosts has done that? I just don't want to go where I've lived. That's weird.

You don't understand. Also the Blazell cellar was only ever lit by a candle or two, meaning someone else could be hiding down there. And the cellar had- So during these visits from beyond, at no point are people like inspecting the area with light? Well, yeah, they really can't because there's one or two candles and then they get blown out when the knocking starts and then they're in the darkness until the ghost appears.

The cellar also had two other ways in, there's a window covered by wood and then a door to the outside. Okay, so there's a backstage. At one point a local guy snuck in and tried to impersonate the ghost, but everyone caught on pretty quick. He was grabbed. It turned out it was John Arana, 33-year-old shoemaker, and they threw him out of the house. Okay, so the shoemaker was like, I'm gonna have a little fun.

Oh, let me show you motherfuckers. It's true what they say, best sense of humor, cobblers. Lydia said- I'm opening for her. Lydia said she's actually not sure about the ghost. She told her friends as she considered running away before the wedding day came. She actually came up with a plan to stow away on a ship and go to York where the family had relatives, but then she told George and broke off the engagement.

George was not happy because he was a perv, obviously he was going to marry a 15-year-old. Naturally, Ghost Nelly heard about this plan to run away and the breaking off, she confronted Lydia in front of several witnesses in the cellar, so there's a bunch of people down there. It's in her face. I don't mean to do this in front of people, but what is your deal? I'm a ghost, you motherfucker. I'm pissed.

She told Lydia to stay. She told Lydia if she left, quote, her afflictions would sail with her. That's right. She's basically saying wherever you go, I'm fucking going, motherfucker. Unless it's in the house. And then not. Or if you go to my house, then you're fine, I guess. Stay here.

So at that point, Lydia's like, okay, and she agrees to marry George. They get married on May 29th. And that argument was in front of people, you said? Yes. Right. Interesting. Interesting. So if you're keeping track, this means the ghost has been hanging around talking to people

for about six months. Yeah, probably is ready to do the hour. The day after the wedding, Nelly Ghost visited the newlyweds. Hey. Hey, what are you guys doing? Work in front of me. So can I watch? Come on.

This whole thing was about this. I'm a real weirdo. I want to see George come. Then I'm going to jump in Lydia's body, and it'll be me. Oh, yeah. Let me see. So she told them that Lydia was not going to live very much longer. Then it'll be me and her picking your next wife.

That'll be fun. Girlfriends. She said Lydia was going to get pregnant, have a child, and then die soon after having the child. What? Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much like what had happened in Nelly.

Yeah. Well, exactly. After the ghost dropped that bombshell, she stopped appearing in the cellar. And so then George and Lydia had to live with all the rumors and whispers from locals. There are those crazy people. I almost got married because of that ghost. When it increased, people got more and more upset about it. The ghost is gone.

Right. A lot of people think it's fraud. A lot of people think it's a demon, so shit's heating up. And then it goes on and it's really sort of reaching a fever pitch, and then boom, Nelly reappears. Hey. Hi. Hey.

And back in the cellar again, and of course, people flock back to the cellar to get a look at Ghost Nelly again. She's doing props. That's right. Starting in August, 1800, at least 100 people saw her in the cellar. Okay. So she's selling out. Yeah.

This is a big fucking show. Yeah. Putting the cell in the cellar. It's the same thing every time, the ghost would invite them into the cellar. They'd go down. Blow out the candles. It'd be dark. Blow out the candle, then there'd be the knocks, then the white ghost would appear and start

talking. Hey. What's up, y'all? What are you guys doing? Hey. I heard a new song or whatever. That's great. Yeah.

Someone played a new song on the Fife. But not everyone could see her at the same time. Some people, like she'd be right in front of someone and the person next to them would say they couldn't see her. What kind of... What are they working here? I don't know. Others would be like, no, she's right here.

Sometimes everyone would gather and she wouldn't appear at all. I'm not doing the show tonight. I feel tired and it's just a drain and there's so many negative Nancy's. My throat. The reviews were awful. She was always in a glowing white dress or shroud. Sometimes she had on a cap, sometimes no cap. Sometimes she'd be holding a dead rat baby.

Okay. So there's looks. Yeah. There's different props. Sometimes she would hang back 10 feet, other times she would lean in and speak right into people's ears. Some kept saying this is bullshit, especially because the ghost voice would come first. Then she would order everyone to leave the cellar and come back.

So we can break this down. She says everyone come. Abner goes down with a candle. He blows it out. It's dark. Abner's knocking. Then the voice goes, okay, everybody upstairs. Don't leave me alone for a minute.

It's ghost stuff. And then they come back down and that's when she appears, a glowing white ghost. Okay. So. So that's not, that's pretty normal. It's not normal. One man noted quote. That's weird.

It was always she or one of the blaze dolls who would, who always controlled the condition to her appearance. Okay. So yeah, this opens the suspect list a little. But eight times the ghost did not tell people to leave and come back. She just appeared glowing in ghost form in front of them. What's going on? Also usually Abner would blow out a candle and plunge the cellar into darkness before

the ghost appeared. I said that. And then the man, Jeremiah Bunker said the ghost shape shifted finally a rational mind in the group. It appeared and disappeared several times quote. The personal shape when it disappeared first changed to a substance without form then vanished. The full personal form appeared again in a moment. These changes I observed several times.

One constant argument was that the voice was clearly Lydia. Okay. When someone said that, Nelly would send Lydia away and then keep talking. Now what bitch? What's up now? Quote about 14 persons by the direction of the specter went into the cellar. As soon as they were there, the specter said to Lydia Blazdel, go up and sit with others in the kitchen hearth that this company may know that it is not you who speaks.

After she was gone up, the ghost conversed with the company on several topics suited to authenticate her mission. Okay. So tonight I'll talk about God, snakes, prince. He's got a new album out. Awesome. And I guess the show Mama's Family. Oh, it's a great show.

This is great. Yeah. So those are the topics tonight. Oh, I can't wait. Oh, shit. Oh, that's good. I'm a ghost. That's awesome.

Yeah. She told people to get as close to her as they wanted and ask whenever they wanted. Now they would also talk about her life to convince people that she was Nelly. That's a nightmare. She talked about only stuff George knew about and then asked if George remembered and he'd say yes. So they're all down there all the time. So George is now like also part of the act?

I think they're all down there all the time. George, do you remember that? Yeah, I do. George, see? Isn't that crazy? Yeah. So another time with George, we were sitting around eating some bread and George said, should we toast the bread?

And what did I say? Do you remember what I said, George? You said, yeah. I said, yeah. And then do you know what happened? I don't. Yeah. What happened?

We did. We toasted the bread. We toasted the bread. Yeah. All right. So that ends the George portion. Yeah, this was great. Can I go?

No, no, no. Okay, I'll sit here for another four hours. You might be behind this. Okay. One day she told Abner that his dad was in heaven. Good news. I just figured it out. Well, his dad was still alive, as Abner thought.

But it turns out his dad had been sick and had died seven days before and the family in York had not yet sent news. By sending news for a deceased father took that long. Yeah. But the ghost knew. The ghost knew about Abner's... By mid-August, Nellie's a hot ticket. Cellar is fucking packed.

Yeah. But the more packed... Guys, move a little. We got to keep room for the fire exit. Come on. Excuse me, fire department here. This is way overcrowded. This is a Capacity 35.

We've got at least 50 in here. Your son is ill. What? Your son's ill. No. Yeah, yeah. I left him in Boston. No, go home and look.

I left him in Boston. He was fine. Go home and look. Go to Boston. Don't do this. Go to Boston in the Blizzard. Don't do this, guys. Go to Boston.

Don't do this, guys. Don't do this, guys. Go. Don't do this, guys. Don't do this, guys. All right. Now I'm going to do stuff that I did with George. One of my big hits.

The more packed the cellar got, the more others talked about the demonic shit that was going down in the Blaisdell's basement in response to the ghost started preaching and talking about religion. One guy asked her if she loved Christ and she said she did, then she started singing Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Well, she can't be with the devil. I actually just recently became a Christian.

It's so weird, but now I identify with a religious sect. A local came down to the cellar a couple of days later to confront the ghost. He had been going around the village saying the ghost was the devil's doing. Ghost Nellie told him, quote, you have often said that I am a devil or a witch. I am from above praising God and the lamb. Yeah. A few days woman after that, a woman asked her if she came from happiness or misery and Nellie said she was from above and came with God's message.

Then she broke into Hallelujah again. Hallelujah. And also with these albums are for sale on the way out. Hallelujah. On the night of August, a bunch of people who thought this was all fraud and bullshit like tricks, you know, came to the cellar. Things got very heated and physical. There was pushing and shoving.

Some of the guys started showing they could copy the knocks of Ghost Nellie. Oh, yeah. Oh, is it me or the ghost? I like how the knock is the thing to do like, see, it's like, yeah, I can copy a knock. Um, Abner threw them all out like a bouncer, so he's not like a ghost bouncer enough. One of those guys was Paul Simpson. The whole thing got really, uh, really bugged him. And as he walked home, he decided he would get to the bottom of what he thought was fraud.

And so he turned around and went back. That's it. Abner let Paul into the cellar and told him to light a candle and look around as much as he wanted. He said Paul could, uh, grab anyone who appeared, meaning only one person is going to appear. Yeah. So, you know. The short list.

Yeah. Paul waited until everyone else. And you, it's not just Nellie's ghost. If you find any others, feel free to tackle them. Anything down here you can touch. It's fair game. This is our fucking room. Okay.

Uh, so Paul waited until everyone left and made sure the door was locked. Uh, he's sure he's alone and then the knocking began. Okay. Then Nellie appeared, but this time it was weird. First the ghost was five feet high and then it moved close to him and became as tall as a normal person. It went back and forth past him five times, then shrunk down to a foot tall and then disappeared. I'm little now.

So that's some fucking showing off right there. Or it's like I'm bringing it. Yeah. Oh, what's up, Mr. I don't believe in me. Yeah, that's right. People in the towns of Franklin and Sullivan were really, yeah, we're really starting to get into heated arguments about the ghost or demon or fraud camps formed on the night of August 13th, 47 people came to the Blaisdell house to see ghost Nellie.

She was apparently prepared for it and was ready for a confrontation. Let's do this. At 1 a.m., she told them all to walk to a house two miles away. It was the house of James Miller, who was a huge loudmouth skeptic. So ghost Nellie told them to walk in groups of two, right? So side by side and sing the 84th song the entire time they walked and ghost Nellie said she'd follow them. I'll be there.

You guys. I'll be there. As they walked, a few said they did see her walking with them while others said she's not there. Yo. Hey. Yeah. So some saw her and some didn't?

Yeah. Okay. What is going on? When she finally got to the Miller house, everyone packed inside. One of the Blaisdell boys asked if Miller would go down to the cellar with him and Miller said, sure, I'll go down to the cellar with you to see your fucking dumb shit, bullshit nonsense. Okay.

So when they got down there, the voice of ghost Nellie said loudly, quote, I have come to let you know that I can speak in this cellar as well as the other. Are you convinced? I only do sellers. Okay. And Miller's like, fuck yeah. This is awesome. I'm totally in.

No more skeptic. He goes up to talk to the crowd who have now moved back outside in front of his house. And then they waited for ghost Nellie to return and she did right there. And then she told them. Right there? Yeah. In front of the house? Yes.

And then she told them all the walk, keep walking. Go walk more. More. We're going to walk again. It's really good to do after dinner. Two in two. Two. Two by two.

And we'll sing another song. Yep. The ghost, okay, this time ghost Nellie said she was going to walk besides Lydia who was going to be at the front of the pack. Okay. She's a gal pal. We've really bonded. The ghost said she was doing this to put an end to all the talk that Lydia was behind

a deception or that she was a witch. As they walked, people watched as Lydia and ghost Nellie walked beside each other and sang a hymn together. Even the skeptics. We have a duets album. Everyone's like, I am in. Okay. After this March, the skeptics and believers who thought that it was a devil or whatever

were pacified. Okay. It was a big fucking show and everyone was like, this is, I'm in, I'm fucking in. Ghost Nellie then said she wanted her dead baby dug up and buried closer to her grave on. What? She's getting a little cocky. What?

A little cocky. But now everyone, now she's convinced everyone. So now she's fucking. All the babies. Go big or go home. All the babies. Dig up your baby and get it buried closer to you. Go big or go home.

So she tells them she wants her baby dug up and put closer to her grave. That's where they could go to heaven together on judgment day and everyone was like, yeah, that's not so cool. Fair request. We'll dig up your baby. For sure. You're awesome, Nellie. The thing is we dig up babies and move them out all the time.

It's kind of what we do here. Yeah. It'll be nice to have a purpose behind it for once. The day of the excavation, 80 people from four towns came to watch a baby get dug up. The baby's corpse was moved 30 feet up the hill and placed next to Nellie. Things calmed down quite a bit after that. Much less ghost. George and Lydia were married and now lived in Franklin.

Okay. Lydia became pregnant. Oh, no. The baby was due on March in March, 1801, but the birth was difficult. Both Lydia and the baby died just as ghost Nellie Butler had said they would. What? After she died, George put all of Lydia's belongings on a boat, pushed it out in the water and set it on fire.

His viking funeral and her shit. This probably meant that he thought there was some sort of witchcraft. It's in the clothes. Devilry. He burned all of her possessions. It probably means he thought that she was up to no good. Because why? Because she died?

No, because he might have thought she was behind the ghost shit. Okay. He didn't. Oh, okay. Right. Right. How does one often... This time has passed, so over time, people are more suspicious or less suspicious and

clearly he became more suspicious. Right. But still... Got to burn that shit. Okay. The boat... Is the hard thing to fake or do intentionally. So the boat is pulled out by the tides while it's burning.

And it goes right past the Blaisdell's farm. And the Blaisdells were really pissed that all Lydia's shit's burning on a boat. Seems dramatic. They thought it was offensive to her memory. Oh, yeah. Abner would forever hold a grudge against George. Oh, that's... Finally.

Okay. All right. Found a line. Yep. Finally found something that he's like, that's crazy. George married again and had four kids. He was a traveling evangelist who had come... Oh, sorry.

There was... The traveling evangelist we had talked about before who had come. He ended up coming and getting eyewitness written accounts from people. Okay. He published all of them with letters about the haunting in a book, 37 letters, dispositions and testimonies. Okay. In 1806, he was at home when two men said there was a ghost walking around...

Who was it? George's? No, the... Oh, the evangelist. Yeah. Right, okay. So he's walking around. Two men come to his house and say, hey, there's a ghost in your field.

So, he looked out, but all he saw was a white rock and he decided it was nonsense. He wrote down what he saw, quote, three minutes after, I accidentally looked in the same direction and the white rock was in the air. It's formed a complete globe, white and with a tincture of red, like the damask rose and its diameter about two feet. While I was constantly upon it, I went on four or five steps when it came to me from the distance of 11 rods as quick as lightning and instantly assumed a personal form with a female dress.

I went into the house and gave the information, not doubting that she had come to spend some time with us as she had before. We went out to see her again, but to my great disappointment, she had vanished. That was the last time anyone ever reported seeing ghost Nellie Butler. The grudge Abner held against George for burning Lydia's stuff would continue for years. George joined the first church in town of which Abner was a member, but at some point the church learned that George had burned all of Lydia's things and the church investigated it.

George was then excommunicated from the church. Some in the church were against this and the church basically split in half. Jesus. This was a divisive, divisive story. The split lasted 17 years until the church was finally dissolved. The reason was because so many disputes broke out over the boat burning. Over 17 years. The ghost of Nellie Butler was seen in the day and the night in the cellar in four houses,

including the Miller's house after the two mile walk. Along the two mile walk in fields, a couple of times outside in fields, she was the first recorded and documented ghost in American history and many believed Nellie Butler's haunting led to America being swept by spiritualism in the 1800s, but nobody knows what in the fuck happened. What? What? Nobody knows.

What are you talking about? Nobody knows. How do I go to bed? What? Take care, everybody. Do we have anything that we want to say? Well, join Planet Change 10. Planet PLANIT Change 10.

That's starting off and yeah, like we said, we're going to have a nice fluid dates coming up so. Yep. We will let you know. Thanks. Thank you.