This Paranormal Life - #332 The Cavern Club - Do THE BEATLES Haunt This Music Venue?

Episode Date: September 11, 2023

The Cavern Club is one of the most haunted and paranormal locations in Liverpool, England. It's also the birthplace of the most famous band in music history - The Beatles. Clearly there is some kind of cosmic energy brimming and overflowing within the arches of The Cavern Club, but what exactly is going on? What have people seen and what is causing this paranormal activity? It's time for the world's two biggest Beatles fans, Kit and Rory, to investigate!LIVE TOUR - https://www.thisparanormallife.com/tourFollow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunitySupport us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! - thisparanormallife.com/storeIntro music by www.purple-planet.comResearch by Amy GrisdaleEdited by Philip Shacklady Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are goblins real and roaming the earth? Are ghosts made out of the same stuff as Wi-Fi? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Hello! Hey! And welcome to This Paranormal Life. This is the weekly comedy podcast where every Tuesday we get to the bottom of a different paranormal tale.

Deciding if it's truly paranormal or not. Mythbusters style. As always, you're joined by me, Kit Greer-Molvena, and Rory Powers, who's sitting across from me, my co-investigator. How are you doing today, Rory? I'm doing great, Kit. Fantastic intro questions there, specifically the one about goblins roaming the earth. I know it's become quite a popular thing for people to refer to loafing about the house as going goblin mode. Right. You know, maybe those lazy Sundays where you just want to watch TV, play video games and order Domino's pizza. And I want to say, I think that's a misuse of the term because if you're truly going goblin mode, yes, you would order a Domino's pizza online, but you would wait in the shadows until the pizza delivery guy arrives, club him over the head and then take the pizza and all the money he has in his wallet.

Yeah. And then do a little goblin shuffle as you leave, you know? Yeah. You might piss on his knocked out body body on the ground yeah yeah you're kind of you know literally rolling around in your own shit it's really a different level to what people are you know people are making into this cutesy little relatable thing yeah you don't want to go goblin mode no i went goblin mode for for a holiday weekend a few years back. I ate bugs.

I ate bugs for three days. And not in a nice way like the f***ing cast of The Lion King while they're singing Hakuna Matata. They were cockroaches. You're eating cockroaches like cornflakes. And he's been dealing with the parasites ever since. It's disgusting. We don't want to live like them.

There's few things in this life that separate us from the goblins and it's daily showers and vitamins. So take your vitamins and keep bathing.

I want to know if you can go all the other modes of the mythical creatures. Like, can you go elf mode where you're just really lean and handsome and i think you can run while you're sleeping yeah i mean i think that's the that's certainly how elves were depicted in lord of the rings between you and me i don't know if elves are

really that different from goblins because you know we've looked at icelandic elves and they were pretty tricky yeah they were actually sneaky little f***ers. So a lot of those elves went goblin mode. Cruel twist. I want to know if Gandalf ever went goblin mode. Like after the ring was brought and destroyed in the volcano or whatever it was, I want to know if the hobbits went goblin mode. I think when a hobbit goes goblin mode, it becomes Smeagol.

That's kind of how that happened. Yeah, I never fully understood that transformation. What was the point of where he came from? He was a hobbit, but then he was corrupted by the ring and that turned him into what he is. Yeah, which I think is still a hobbit, but like a really weird one. Right, but he seems like too different, doesn't he? He seems like a w weird one right but he seems like too different doesn't he seems like a

wretched little spider-man it's like uh you know you're you're one friend that gets into like deep web conspiracies and then the next time you see him he's like i can't believe you're living these little lives when the truth is is right in front of us and it's like he is still human but he is kind of like he's become a little weird but you draw the line if he's like naked on all fours like if his youtube rabbit hole leads him to that he just ate a fish from the river i just saw him grab a raw fish and bite its head off i did enjoy a tweet the other day i saw where it was a picture of uhothée Chalamet in a hot tub and they were like this is like yassified Gollum which is surprisingly spot on as much as I love Timothée

but we are not here to talk about child star Timothée we are here to talk about the paranormal specifically And we have a fantastic case we need to get into today A case, Rory, that came as a listener submission Whoa! Joe Heath writes Hey guys, hope you're well I have a little story for you Growing up in Birkenhead, I used to always get books like Haunted Liverpool, Haunted Whirl

And they would have tons of stories in Which today's email brings to light, and I feel you should cover this as the place has hundreds of stories. Cheers, Joe Heath. Where is this place, Birkenhead? This is just outside Liverpool. If you've ever got the ferry to Liverpool, that is at Birkenhead. Okay, okay.

So that's exactly where we're headed. Somewhere we have investigated a few times before, although not that recently. You know, we did cover a case involving time slips in Liverpool. Yes. Liverpool notoriously is full of little corners and alleys that if you walk down, you might go back in time. I think we did a few episodes set in Liverpool,

and after attempting the accent a few times, our listeners insisted that we stop. And we don't return. And we've been training, training daily ever since and today's the day we're gonna prove ourselves. Oh god, I hope there's not dialogue. You and I, we are going to go

f***ing method, Daniel Day-Lewis style, DDL mode engaged and that's exactly what we're gonna get into right after a couple words from today's sponsors with a reminder every episode of This Paranormal Life is available ad free right now at

patreon.com forward slash This Paranormal Life Today's story begins in November 1963 in the Cavern Club in Liverpool, a pumping live entertainment venue in the heart of Liverpool. Ooh, very cool. This was as swing in 60s as it got in England at this time. The club was busy because not only was stand-up comedian Jimmy Tarbuck performing that night,

he was being supported by Vic and the Spider-Men. The Jimmy Tarbuck and Vic and the Spider-Men? Oh my God. As the show ended, most of the punters filed out, leaving the regular stragglers hitting the bar to chop it up. The stage was empty

and the sounds and lights had ended for the night. Or had they? At that moment, out of nowhere, a green flash of light Took the drinkers by surprise It's the goblin! What? It came for the spider-man!

Oh no! Oh shit A pumpkin bomb rolled across the bar Oh shit It took them a second to realise what was happening Before one of them spun round There was a huge glowing green light in the center of the club. But inside it, something was visible, maybe even moving.

Whoa. The man sitting closest could see it was a girl. A young woman, dressed crazily though with bright pink hair and clothes like he had never seen before. She was wearing huge boots and had tattoos all over. He stood up, straining to see closer, but the light was vibrating and shifting. At this point, at least three different people were staring at this phenomenon. Before, after about ten seconds, the light suddenly vanished and the girl was nowhere to be seen, leaving the club dark and quiet again.

And they struggled to wrap their heads around what had just happened. Wow. What the hell is going on here? I mean, a girl with pink hair, tattoos and boots who in the morning is never seen again. I feel like I've had a very similar experience to this in my lifetime. All right. Amy, if you hear this call me is what i'm because you gave me your number but then you didn't after the first night you didn't

call me back so what's going on yeah you go because i put on twilight on the date i thought it'd be romantic you go into a hardcore show to to pick up raver girls is not the same as the paranormal happenings of this story. Yeah, you know, you are exactly right. The problem is that telling this story today, if in 2023, you see this woman in a nightclub surrounded by green mist, it's an e-girl hitting an elf bar, getting lit up by the dance floor laser. But back in 1963, this was not okay. Right. Of course, this is not the underworld in Camden on a Saturday night. Because this isn't even Liverpool, right? You said it's like a little...

This is in Liverpool. This is in Liverpool. Oh, but I mean like not in the city. No, it is in the city. I can't get anything right. We're dead center in the city. It was Joe. Our suggestion was written by Joe who lives outside Liverpool.

Okay, you f***ed me, Joe. No, no. You sabotaged this whole case. Joe was very clear. We are dead centre. But it's 1963, so I said things were pretty swinging. But you could probably get arrested for wearing a mini skirt. Yeah.

Fashion had not moved on this far. Things were, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But, you know this was uh the time of you know the first pop music you know things weren't that advanced even if we set aside the huge green orb portal the clothes the hairstyle basically none of it even existed back then leaving many who heard this story to believe that those men had witnessed someone from the future. Whoa. I mean, that would be what you would assume a time traveler would look like,

someone from the future. You know, it's like all the sci-fi movies where it's like, what is it like in the future? Well, people have crazier hair, for one. The boots, maybe not that wild. But yeah, I mean, even tattoos in the 1960s were more of a controversial thing uh they're much more commonplace now no you're absolutely right i mean if you watch like star wars or any sci-fi movie uh person from the future it's like slightly different hair

slightly different clothes not much i watched that um star wars series and or i don't know if you checked out that one. I hadn't. It was an excellent series. I do recommend it. But I will say the wardrobe at times, I was like, I'm pretty sure I own that one. That's a jumper from Top Man.

Right. The wardrobe was not doing enough heavy lifting for this to be in a galaxy far, far away. Yeah. That was a galaxy in f***ing Croydon because they were wearing Urban Outfitters and Uniqlo. Yeah. In a galaxy in f***ing Croydon. Because they were wearing urban outfitters and Uniqlo. Yeah, in a galaxy far, far away, people should be wearing gas. They should be made of spiders.

It should be so completely abstract and confusing. Not just like, you should see the f***ing hats they wear here. They're purple. It's crazy. So still a hat? But it is true. I mentioned right at the beginning of this episode liverpool is already notorious for time slips is that what we're seeing here right of a time slip but in such a specific manner where essentially a rick and morty-esque portal opened up and a traveler from the future appeared in the past.

Yes, not like we've seen before. If you haven't heard that episode we did on time slips, it was much more, I think the key story in it was that of a thief on the run from security, and he had stolen something, and he was running down an alleyway, and he basically tripped and fell into the 1500s. Yeah, that was a wild one.

And he's then like, whoa, fish out of water walking on a street horse and carriage almost hits him get out of the way junior yeah he spent a weird amount of time back there don't know i'm not going to go on record now to say whether that was a double yes or not but point being this is a little bit different to that okay okay in what i hope is an unconnected set of events, the day after this green girl was sighted, JFK was assassinated. Whoa. From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.

Now, this story would be mad enough as it is, but you just know this wasn't the first or last time something like this would happen at the Cavern Club. It turns out that the workers of this club were not remotely surprised at what had happened. I mean, I mean, there must have been a little. And if they weren't, start questioning them. Start with them first. Are they Time lords? What's their deal? There is a long history of paranormal activity at the Cavern Club.

Like Joe mentioned in our email at the top of the episode, the Cavern Club is home to hundreds of sightings of ghostly and paranormal occurrences. This wasn't even the first time the green flash had been spotted. Ghosts were heavily associated with these green flashes of light by the time these events took place. Oh, ghosts? So not time travelers specifically, but the green flashes are just being associated with all types of paranormal activity?

Could be. Maybe she's a ghost from the future. Future ghosts. Doesn't happen that often here on TPL, but there's a certain possibility i'm worried it sounds like a lot of this you're kind of making up on the fly you're like future ghosts yeah that'll do sure future ghosts you know maybe shouldn't be that surprising of course all corners of the uk are haunted we've covered a lot of them um And this building has been around for a long time too. The club itself opened in 1957, hosting jazz bands and dancing all the time.

But it was the 60s that put the Cavern Club on the map. Because in 1961, a little band called The Beatles played there for the first time. It hasn't been around for that long. Well, the building's been around there for a long time. The building's been around for a couple of years before the first ghost show. No, no, no. The club, the club has been,

the business has been operating for a couple of years. Oh, okay. But the building's been around since... Sorry. So you think whenever they, whenever someone wants to open a live music venue,

they go, okay, I'm just going to get some bricks and some cement and I'm going to build my music venue. The way you'm just gonna get some bricks and some cement and i'm gonna build my music venue the way you're wording it is really confusing the the the building is probably a thousand years old we don't know though all right it's in the center of liverpool how old is liverpool good point to be fair if it's in the center of liverpool which we do know it is should i find out yeah why not I want to get a specific here.

It's 1957. Let's just, you know, meet in the middle and say 700 years. Fine. You're getting focused on the wrong things. Didn't you hear

the Beatles showed up? This is a pretty spicy story. Okay, okay. They played their first gig there and then they made it their signature club, playing regularly, honing their craft inches from their first fans. Rory, wouldn't you have just killed to be there

at a Beatles gig in 1963? You know how I feel about the Beatles. Right, brother? Yellow submarine, huh? I could take it or leave it, I think. I'm sorry. I just think we might need to scrub that from the episode because I think I'm kind of doing this episode

to try and get the Liverpool crowd in. Right. And if not the Liverpool audience, the frankly millions of hordes of Beatles fans around the world who flocked Liverpool every year to worship the Beatles. I didn't even know the Beatles were from Liverpool. That's how little I knew about the Beatles.

To give you an idea of Rory's grasp of British culture, we're drinking cans of Diet Coke. And he said, who's this broad on the can? I definitely didn't say that. You didn't say broad. And I said, I said, it's Kate Moss. He said, who? And you didn't. Oh my God, this is a disaster. I think I then asked, is she a singer or an actress? And you said she's one of the most famous models of all time. And then we realized I only know Skate Moss, an Instagrammer who skateboards. Yes, to play catch up for Rory and for presumably the toddlers listening to this episode who don't know where the Beatles are from.

They're from Liverpool. Liverpool is Mecca, Mecca for fans of those guys. The toddlers listening to this episode who don't know where the Beatles are from, they're from Liverpool. Yeah. Liverpool is mecca, mecca for fans of those guys. And you know me, Rory. No one's a bigger fan than me. Let's talk about the paranormal. I think I don't need to talk about the Beatles. No one's a bigger fan than me. And I'm just, I'm really happy to have the Beatles fans listening.

You guys are so welcome. Welcome to this paranormal life. We talk about the Beatles all the time, to be honest. We did in a recent episode. Did we? how much we don't want to send people that one oh whoa yeah that got a lot of negative comments on youtube there's an interesting concept here when we're talking about this venue where if you're looking at the bands that played in this venue. The listings could go all the way back to, as you said, the Beatles in 1967. But if this place is really as paranormal as they're claiming,

there could be future bands playing there. Oh my God. Yeah, one night could be Beatles, the next night could be Squonk and the Gozos, who came from the year 40,000 to perform live? We don't know. Maybe the Beatles performed in the 1800s in this venue. What do you think music from four late years from now sounds like?

Well, we know that the music in the Star Wars universe played in the cantina is officially called jizz instead of jazz. Have we talked about this on the podcast? We have. I think we have before. For some reason, George Lucas decided, even though it was basically jazz, he was like, they call it jizz on their planet.

This is with no humor, no irony. He says it's canon that the cantina music is called jizz. He did. And then he said, and when the Star Wars fans hear it, they're going to jazz in their pants. I was like, George, you've got these big stuff. For f***'s sake, that is yet another. Maybe I have more bones to pick with the Star Wars universe than I thought,

because that is... We've got to get back to the story, man. Because because that is the fact that that is what constitutes music on another planet is just jazz is crazy all right we gotta get back to the story you're right it feels a little significant though right that this music venue chock full of paranormal activity also happens to be the birthplace of the biggest band the world has ever known? That will check out to you, Chief. Well, that's a good point. You're saying the two are related somehow. If only they could

have known what would be a hit song in the future. Okay, I didn't have that written down, but I like that train of thought. You can take it. I got more. Future ghosts. No, take that. I'll take that one and I'll put it away in a box and burn it. Is there some kind of

f***ed up energy field going on creating these strange happenings? I don't know if Ringo was from the year 3000 but, you know, it seems like there was an overspilling of some kind of strange energy goo going on

in this venue. All i know about the year 3000 according to busted is that triple-breasted women walk around town totally naked how did they get away that was a song for children yeah i sang it as a child they really snuck that in there all of their songs were about shagging it was kind of nuts what i go to school for air hostess it was all just about having sex that's crazy yeah it was kind of nuts what i go to school for air hostess it was all just about having sex that's crazy yeah it was kind of weird looking back now yeah they ruined my life i think okay i suppose i do have to move on and i should have known that even just mentioning paul mccartney was gonna make rory murderously angry so don't worry the beatles being famous isn't my

only piece of paranormal evidence in today's case. Because I haven't even told you the most famous and shocking paranormal events to take place in the Cavern Club. And after I do, you might not be able to f***ing sleep at night. You hear me, you goddamn son of a bitch? I do want to know more because the only thing that's happened so far is a girl turned up in a goo bubble. You're going to be crying for your mummy after you hear this and that the beatles played there this is an a24 horror movie script about to happen it was more than yeah well the girl was that was top tier paranormal happenings we would normally have to go sit through a two-parter Jeff Lamongu style to simply get a glance at a green girl from the future.

So we're going to get into all this and more right after a couple words from today's sponsors. To hear the craziest chapter in the Cavern Club's paranormal history, we need to jump back to the club's opening. Its first year, 1957. Which, to be clear, the building is probably older. Heaps older than that. Right. This is just when the club opened.

But the club, incredibly modern. It was basically like a f***ing hospital. There wasn't a brick left of the old building. And one night, three blokes, Johnny, Peter and Tony, decided to hit the club to listen to jazz in the small hours of the morning. Just to clarify, jazz is earth jizz. Right, for our Tatooine and Dagobah system listeners,

it's a lot like jizz. And they told their girlfriends to meet them there too. The music and the booze was flowing, and before long it was 4am. The room filled with smoke, but emptying out of people. And each of the lads had sank a Rory's dozen of pints. The six friends sat around laughing and smoking, talking about absolutely everything from sports to religion. sat around laughing and smoking, talking about absolutely everything from sports to religion.

At which point, one of the girls, Rita, brought up that the toilets in the cavern were supposed to be haunted. Peter wasn't having any of it. No way. I don't believe it for a second. That's probably made up by the owner, Alan, to get people talking. Of all the things he could say, why would he tell people it's haunted? But right then, one of the bouncers overheard them. You best start believing in ghost stories, because you're in one. He said that?

He did. This was the owner, did you say? This was a bouncer. This was a bouncer, okay. Jack. Sorry, you have a problem with that line? No, it's fine. So the implication is that he's been working at the establishment long enough to have...

He probably has. He probably has had experience in the bathrooms with the ghosts, if anyone has. Well, if you want to beat people over the head with the interpretation of the line, then absolutely by all means. I'm just so desperately trying to steer us away from the Pirates of the Caribbean. The Pirates of the what? And keep us back on track of the story. What are you talking about, dude?

That's where the line comes from. Caribbean? The best are believing in ghost stories. I was thinking about that beat of silence. Jack. We know. Captain Jack. It wasn't even him that says it in the movie.

Believe you me, it's no joke. One of the other bouncers saw the man in black just the other night, right here in the club. Why is he a pirate? Why is this man a pirate? Then, Johnny piped up. Oh, oh, I know. We should do a seance. Johnny, no, we said no more seances.

It's not even fun. It's just weird how into seances you are. Chechen goosh on. Chechen goosh on check it's the check that gets me the go john go john yes that was one so clear so hard but the girls agreed they thought it would be fun so they grabbed a candle and turned off all the lights, and even got the bouncers to join in. This is how you get ghosts, Johnny spoke first. Oh, Lord of Darkness, I invite you into the cavern. Give us a sign so we may believe. At first, there was nothing.

But then, at the edge of their vision vision They could see a shadow moving across the room But it wasn't a shadow It was a man in a black suit He was extremely handsome He calmly walked over and sat at the table The group were silent But assumed this was another straggler Who'd come to join the fun

I'm the devil Said the man But naturally They didn't believe him I'm the devil, said the man. But naturally, they didn't believe him. First of all, mate, there's no such thing as the devil, said Johnny. Well, if there's no such thing as the devil, give me your soul. Okay, then. Take it. Whatever, he said, laughing, trying to be cool in front of rita and the girls thank you said the handsome stranger and just then the candle went out everyone screamed shocked the bouncers got up and touched around the room to get the lights back on

and before long they did as their eyes adjusted the light, they could see the man was gone. He must have got up from the table. But one person wouldn't be getting up from the table, Rory. One by one, they all realized that Johnny was face down on the table. Jesus! They thought he was just drunk and passed out at first, but then realized something wasn't right. He was taken to hospital, but he was already dead. The coroner would rule the 27-year-old death to be from natural causes, but his friends at the Cavern Club knew that this was because he gave the devil his soul that night. Wow, that's terrifying. You know what's crazy? This kind of happened to me once before. Low key.

This is going to be nuts. Y'all ever wonder why my pupils are black? When I was living in Toronto, Canada, I went to a Halloween party once. And, you know, Halloween parties are great because there's some people that take it really seriously. There's some people that just want to dress up as sexy versions of things uh and then there's some people who get really creative and have like fun really unique costumes and at one part of the the night in this it was like a house party so i don't know it's just kind of pouring out onto the street you're wandering about at one point i met this guy and i was like i couldn't work out what his

costume was because it looked like he was just wearing a suit. And he was like a red haired gentleman with like slick back hair and a red tie. And he was walking around the party with a giant bottle of fireball whiskey and a clipboard. And I saw him like giving everyone shots and then they were like signing the clipboard and i went up to him and i was like what is what's going on here and he was like oh i'm the devil uh and he's like do you want a shot of fireball and i was like hell yeah man that would be awesome he's like cool give me your soul you were so easy you were so easy and he's he was like he's like that's what everyone's doing if you sign this and give me your soul i'll give you a shot of fireball whiskey and i was like yeah okay okay yeah sure

so i like you know poured the shot and everything and i was like i had the pen in my hand and i was like you're not though are you you're not you're not the devil rory's ancestors are screaming from the afterlife no no it's so obvious that's how he got all of us uh i didn't take the shot the guy i asked him point blank i was like are you the devil he winks he just kept smiling and i don't know if that's a thing the devil's not allowed to say if he is the devil or maybe he has to say he's the devil i don't know but i was like it's like police officers they can't lie yeah i was like i'm not gonna take the shot and then he just like kept smiling and walked over the next person i was like that was like kind of freaky this dude sold it as well he had like he was like a red-haired guy i swear he had a little goatee

um but yeah real like big creepy grin. It was very spooky. So I played it safe that night. Wow. I had no idea that this story would resonate with you so much, Rory, because it's exactly the same. A guy turning up by all, you know, intensive purposes, appearing to be a party goer. Yeah. So, you know, their guard is lowered.

They think it's all a fun little game. And then, uh-oh, Johnny goes night-night. I mean, I still ended up face down in a bowl of poutine that night. And I didn't sign my soul away. So how's that fair? But it is true. Like, you know, this story, it's easy to say that I know this is, it's almost got like a movie feel to it, a horror movie feel,

which makes it feel not real because it's just so kind of perfect for storytelling. But it's easy to forget that this is a small but famous club and the story had to come from somewhere. Granted, the story probably has been a little bit fluffed and embellished over time as these stories, it's been a long time since the 60s, it's been embellished and it's become a combination of a witness testimony and an urban legend, I'm sure. But these things have to come from somewhere, which is kind of crazy. So this was the first instance of something paranormal taking place at the club? It's not the first because I think the idea was the girls, you know, they had the seance

because there had already been rumors of sightings of ghosts and things. Okay. But it's probably, from what I gather, maybe the most famous paranormal story from the cavern. You can just imagine. We've been to these kind of haunted buildings, Rory. You can imagine the people who work here

are going to love telling you that story. Yeah, yeah. That's a pretty strong one to start with. I mean, probably a bad idea to let the general public perform a seance in your venue. Right, yeah. I don't think the insurance covers that. Yeah.

We've investigated a lot of places over the years, but it is certainly rare that Lucifer shows up. I can really only think of one other time other than rory's house party um it was the hellfire club outside dublin uh the devil famously visited that club that's very true yeah i forgot about that uh he also appeared in the retelling of the origins of the jack-o'-lantern oh that's right pumpkins because i believe there was an alcoholic irishman that put the devil in his pocket that's right yes quote get in me pocket get in me pocket but i think in the story of the cavern club this feels like an inflection point this feels like a

twist right we've got a couple different things going on the green girl and then the devil showing up those are not created equal if the devil is showing up to your club there has to be a damn good reason this isn't a time slip no one died in the toilet and is a ghost now something else is going on why are these paranormal occurrences happening here well you see the cavern club is is located on Matthew Street, a street named after an extremely wealthy Victorian merchant, Matthew Pluckington. He had operated a warehouse on the grounds that the Cavern Club now sits on. And between you and me, he didn't start his business with a bank loan, let's put it that way. Story goes that in order to become wealthy beyond his wildest imagination,

Pluckington struck a deal with the devil to worship him on this site in exchange for a prosperous business. Whoa. It's said that underneath the foundations of the Cavern Club, there still exists a temple or shrine to Satan created by the Victorian businessman. Holy shit. Lead with this. Lead with this! This is huge! Do you think that would cut it in terms of what we're seeing in this venue? I would say so, yeah. If the shrine still exists or hasn't been destroyed yet, it's still a beacon to the dark one to come to this place and assume that everyone in the vicinity are on board with the worshiping you know if you think of shrines and temples as spawn points yeah you know god and jesus they have millions millions and millions of of places on earth where they're where they're

good little safe zones uh the devil thankfully not many not that many i can't think of you know satanic shrines don't come up that often on tpl true yeah uh maybe some like rock and roll hardcore clubs yeah if the devil showed up people would be like oh shit yeah come on come on in you know but yeah not a lot of places i mean we've tried we've put we've created summoning circles live on stage but it hasn't really worked that was for a specific demon though not just the devil is true it's true you think rory would have signed up to doing that hell no i only draw those circles for one specific reason to try and get another shot of fireball whiskey. Well, interestingly, they were excavating this area in 1982 and did discover a huge vault underneath the stage

that the Beatles used to play on all those years ago. Whoa. I don't know if they found buckets of blood or chicken bones or crosses or whatever, but it's cool that there's obviously a grain of truth to that legend of a hidden passageway or something underneath the venue. Yeah, are we talking like a metal vault or like an area? I think more just like a hollow, you know, a little area underneath it all. Ooh, that's creepy.

You know, I think that's a pretty cool reason for some of the stuff to be happening the way it is. But fair enough, the club has been open for quite a long time now and is an unbelievably hot attraction in Liverpool for fans of the Beatles. I mean, this place has basically now just become a Beatles tribute spot. Any night of the week, you can go and just see Beatles tribute bands walking out. Which means a lot of potential paranormal witnesses. So surely we have some evidence from the modern day. Well, I do have one report.

In 2014, Christine Walsh went to see one of these tribute acts in the Cavern Club. And she understandably took some photos to preserve the memory. And was shocked to see what turned up in the photos next to the musicians. Hurry feast your eyes on this. So here's a photo of the band on stage in the club. This is, this place is so much smaller than I imagined. This is not a big club or a bustling venue. It's a railway arch. It is. They're literally just in, in like a hobbit hole. These motherfuckers really do look like the Beatles.

It's true. I mean, that's just turtlenecks and kind of shit haircuts. Okay. All right. Hey guys, we love the Beatles here and we don't want to hear any slander.

But Rory, I don't know if you see anything out of the ordinary. Let's punch in 300%. What is that? What are you talking about? What? The paranormal activity happening right before your very eyes. That.

That circle? Yes. The orb? It's an orb. I mean, if you're going to tell me, if you're going to point at a dust speck in a picture. A dust speck? Yeah. That's one of my biggest pet peeves in the world of paranormal investigation is people talking about orbs in photographs.

Have you ever filmed anything at night or taken a picture at night with a flash on? No, I'm scared. You get orbs. You get artifacts. You get this. Because the place is coming down with ghosts. I low-key thought it was going to be the devil somewhere hidden in this picture.

I didn't realize there was going to be a circle of white. I have kind of built up that expectation. That's fair to say. We know he's not shy. Okay. Not loving that piece of evidence. Yeah, I thought that was going to be kind of a shadowy figure watching from a hallway

or maybe like a photo of the vault. Maybe it is the devil. What is? The guy. Maybe the guy is the devil? Yeah, yeah. He's wearing black. I'm just worried now you're going to start saying that anyone could be a future ghost.

All right, this is going pearly in the latter section of the podcast. Hey, keep the energy high. Whoa. There's been a lot of good stuff. Maybe we could just forget that little bit. I've run out of words. I've run, yeah, the script's over. So.

Yeah. Rory, Rory, Rory. The Cavern Club. That's me, yeah. This has been something else. Yeah, not really seeing how the green future girl ties into things. Roray, Roray, Roray. The Cavern Club. That's me. This has been something else. Yeah. Not really seeing how the green future girl ties into things necessarily. But I do like the devil getting involved in the seance. That's pretty cool.

That's like pulling a shiny Charizard out of your Pokemon pack. If you're like, hey, we're just going to around, see who's out there in the demon world. Could be anyone. Could be any number of bastards from history. Oh, who is it? It's me, the devil. You just got the rarest one of all time.

This is when, you know, you go see the Bruce Springsteen tribute act and Bruce actually drops by because he's in town and he sings a couple songs. Yeah, that's exactly what you want. You're pretty excited and a little terrified um but i haven't heard of him specifically stealing a soul that just kills a dude on the spot yeah is that in his remit i mean i didn't know i didn't know if he took your soul i figured it was more of a when you die of natural causes yeah you're gone rather than you're gone rather than you're dead on the spot i mean maybe this guy just happened to also choke on a bar peanut directly after the devil's like i didn't do that the devil's like anyway i'll be back in 30 oh shit he died now like oh i didn't even bring a bag or anything. I got it. Guys, give me a hand here. We got it. There's a lot of steps we're going to need.

The elevator's out of order. So, yeah, no, this kind of goes against a lot of what the devil does. He usually doesn't tell people he's the devil because he's trying to trick them. Okay. And then usually if he does, as you said, steal a soul or own a soul, it's to the benefit of the individual up until the point of death. And then that's the price you're paying. This dude just gave his soul. Maybe that was it.

He didn't even make a deal. The devil was like, this dumbass didn't even get anything out of it. Yeah, I'll just take the soul. I'll kill you now, by the way. And it's over with. Maybe that's the theme maybe that's the theme of today's case is that you know sometimes reality sometimes the paranormal doesn't fit inside a neat box we love as storytellers here on the podcast to create through lines create a narrative but sometimes maybe there

isn't any and we've got a bit of that's convenient disparate kind of things going on we've got green flashes we've got ghosts turning up in the toilets, we've got the devil showing up and taking people's soul, and then some pretty convincing orbs too. But none of it really feels that connected, which puts us in a tough spot as investigators. Yeah, we've had similar stories before

when we're talking about ley lines or haunted locations. It's kind of a smorgasbord of paranormal activity. And unfortunately, the conclusion is always the same. Why would any of this happen? What's the links? And if you can't find them, it's very hard to say that these things did really take place.

At the end of every episode of this Paranormal Life, we have to decide whether our case is a yes or a no, whether it's true or not rory in the case of the cavern club of liverpool what are you saying and think about joe and think about joe who wrote in all the way from birkenhead pretty far away it's a no whoa it's a no joe all right joe i was trying to help you out here i i think unfortunately it is it is a it's a no joe we don't have enough paranormal evidence for any one of these to say that it's definitively paranormal um extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and you just lost your soul joe because that's what if you whoa we got

we got a little deal with the devil where if you submit a case for us to investigate and it turns out to be a double no, he gets you. He gets you. Not even a shot of fireball for compensation. Rory didn't mention that, but he got a little side action when he met the devil that night. He was like, let me set up a little, call it a referral scheme, if you will.

Use coupon code no to get one soul. Damn it. Well, thank you so much, Joe Heath, and anyone else who suggested that. Apologies if I missed you, but thank you for suggesting that. Really fun time looking into that. Always fun to get back to Liverpool.

Hell, you never know. We're not doing Liverpool on the upcoming tour. We're going pretty close to Manchester, but hopefully we could go check this spot out in person someday. I know Rory will be dying to see one of those tribute acts. Oh yeah, you know me. I do love the Beatles. I was actually in Liverpool recently for the first time in like 15 years

to attend a friend's wedding. I didn't stick around for too long, but I did go out for breakfast and had something called a Liverpool bun. Oh? Yeah. What was that? Some sort of jam and cream

in a very, very dry bun. Yeah, I noticed this trend, right, of regional buns. Sometimes there's a reason they don't make it out of the region. Right, yeah. I don't know if you've ever had a Belfast bap. What the hell is that?

It's a burnt bap. That sounds terrible. Let me show you it. A Belfast bap sounds something you do to someone. Like box their ears from behind or something. I mean, that's it there. It's burnt bread. It's the toughest

role you've ever had in your life i mean i understand that that there's one like a filled one with like an ulster fry in it or whatever right but like dude it is like i'm into the ulster fry one that sounds pretty good all right he's come around all right well you know these are just some of the regional delicacies we're going to have to try on our world tour. Fun fact, at that restaurant, because I was out there eating with some of the RKG guys that I work with, and the waiter came over, and he was like, did you guys do some video game stuff?

And we were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we still do the video game stuff. And he was like, oh, yeah, I used to watch you when I was a kid. Don't anymore, though though and then walked away well video games are nice to meet you too man video games are for children so you know it sort of makes sense yeah it's just like a lot of grown people watch our show

as well do you think I thought it was all like toddlers or something no no that's an accident that's happened is that it's weirdly become a big thing in the the toddler community which i'm not proud of but apparently when babies see my face they think i'm one of them they think koopa is papa he just has that vibe as i say we are going to be all over the uk as well as the usa uh in a very short period of time in oct, we are going to be all over the UK as well as the USA in a very short period of time. In October, we are hitting nine cities across the world.

Oh! LA, San Francisco, London, Dubai. No, not Dubai. Addis Ababa. We're going to be gobbling buns in every one of the biggest cities in the world. We want to try your buns in LA. We want to try your buns in LA. We want to try your buns in San Francisco. I want to eat all the local delicacies.

You don't even like sweet stuff. Give me some savory ones then. Fill them with bacon or chicken or something like that and put it in a bun. That could be arranged. Head over to thisparanormallife.com to get your tickets. They are moving fast. At the time of recording, there's tickets left for Chicago.

I don't know if there's going to be when this comes out. Godspeed. And you guys know that patreon.com is the home of all the extra episodes of This Paranormal Life.

Monthly full-length bonus episodes, weekly behind-the-scenes podcasts in the form of the After Party. There's another five podcasts a month coming out over there patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life which is why at the end of the show we like to give a shout out to those on the shout out tier

let's get into it let's do it special thank you to emma dodson emma dodson's got like 30 god sons. Whoa, that's a big family. I think just like she's just such an upstanding citizen, people just keep throwing god children at her, you know? That's a pretty good situation to be in. My parents said that they had a devil son, me. So I wouldn't complain too much about it about having god sons alright thanks also to Marcus Lidstedt

Marcus we need you to Farkas Farkas Marcus you've been falling asleep on the job Marcus we need you to Farkas you've been falling asleep on the job in the commune and we need you to Farkas because you're supposed to be men in the gate

and people are skyping Marcus skyping? skyping Marcus they're skyping escaping i don't know marcus they're escaping as we speak would you focus i don't know what happened to kit i think he fell and hit his head before that part but uh focus up marcus marcus thanks to mary trafford mary trafford builds bad forts. Bad forts.

So it's like when we were building the commune, we were like, she was like, you know, I'm going to build one too. I'm like an expert. Yeah, do a good job. I hope it goes great. And then, you know, after we built the utopia that is the commune, she built like another city

and she used like the river to power everything. Like they had a water wait one wheel and a whole irrigation system that meant the crops were like completely fully looked after and it was a weird system where it was like everyone was equal which is so but they who are they how do they know who the king is that's crazy mary what are you doing bro bro? Your forehead's bad, Mary. Thanks also to Jokelish. Jokelish has a joke-list so funny that the top five would make you wet yourself. Oh, a joke-list. A joke-list.

Okay. A list of jokes, you asshole. Yes. Are you f***ing hard of hearing? You guys sham shan of a shish. There's a lot. The list is insane. And if you...

That's cool. He has to hide it in a vault because if someone even reads the jokes, it's too funny. They'll explode. Thanks to Tom Swabik. We know that Tom DeLong is a big paranormal fan and alien enthusiast. This is Tom DeShort. Tom DeSmall. This little Tom is in a borderline

fairy jesus man he's so small um but you know we weren't sure whether he was one of those fairies that could cast bells and make things make food grow uh so we thought tom you're you're welcome here and also it's hard to keep him out because he can slip right through the gates. He can go through a f***ing keyhole. Yeah, he's that tall. A small. Thanks, lastly, but not leastly today, to David DeGernier. More like David DeBernier. Because if this guy sees something he doesn't like, guess what he does?

He burns it down and he moves on. Good man. Living through the rules of the paranormal commune. That's why we're on Commune 37. David, buddy. And please, David, I hope you like this one

because we can't we can't deal with another wildfire, quote unquote, David, because you've reported 36 of them now. All right. And we think you're starting them. Thank you, David.

Thank you to everyone else we have shouted out. Thank you for tuning in this week. Woo. We are going to be back on Friday with the after party on Patreon, but also on Tuesday, as always, with a brand new paranormal tale. Bye bye.