Crazy for Cults

"Do you know somebody by the name of Benjamin Franklin? Doesn't ring any bells." While it might be time for someone to go back to school to learn some American history, today's history lesson isn't something they taught you back in the day. On today's episode of Beyond the Norm we truly go outside of the norm and look at one of America's founding fathers through a new lens.There are many words that one could use to describe Benjamin Franklin, but would you ever expect a lot of them in his time were "perverse" "taint" "rank" and "feral"? It turns out Franklin had a noted history of being a pretty crazy sexual deviant, and Christi has all the salacious details. From his youth to his dying days Franklin indulged in just about all his sexual whims. He would frequent brothels and would bed women both old and young, often simultaneously! His first child wasn't even with his own wife, and she still raised that child!One things for certain, you'll never look at a $100 bill quite the same after today's episode.Quotes“Don't send Stephen nudes, that is my request. That's what Snapchat is for.” (02:38-02:45 | Christi & Stephen)“I don't want to be pretty! I wanna be scary and terrifying.” (08:50-08:53 | Stephen)“I feel like rather than being like you're a sex addict, if "pervert" is in there or "perverse" or anything, we're going down a slippery slope." (32:44-32:52 | Stephen)“I don't know if he had syphilis. Allegedly. Alright he frequented red light districts. Oh he had syphilis. Spoiler!” (34:40-34:51 | Christi & Stephen) LinksSend us your ghost or weird stories here: [email protected] to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeyondtheNormPodcastFollow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiakFollow Stephen on IG: www.instagram.com/s_c_mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"They found like a gelatinous mass in the septic tank because all the body parts had fused into a clump. You're not allowed to say the words "gelatinous mass" again!" Christi is very upset with Stephen because when he's not intentionally messing up words to keep his husband on his toes he's either struggling to say the right words at all or he won't stop saying "gelatinous mass"! What stories might compel Stephen to repeatedly use the phrase "gelatinous mass"? Well he's got two recent true crime stories for our Ghouls and Goblins this week that more than justify the use of the phrase.Our first story concerns the crimes of Xu Guoli, who was recently executed in China for the murder of his wife. Security footage showed his wife never left their residence and yet it took almost an entire year for the police to find her remains. How did Xu manage to hide the body for that long? The answer is so outrageous even Christi had a hard time believing it was real.In our second story we jump to Thailand where a Spanish celebrity chef, who also happens to be the son of two high profile Spanish actors, was just this week charged with the murder of a Columbian plastic surgeon he was meeting up with for a music festival. The detail of how he got caught and his "plan" might be up there for some of the dumbest crimes we've yet to cover. It turns out when you're rich you really can fail to the top, even when it comes to murder.Quotes“Hello all my Ghouls and Goblins... so stupid. I'm going to make it work though. It's going to work like "Fetch". Fetch is not a thing you dumbass.” (00:01-00:12 | Christi & Stephen)“I don't give a f**k what you do. I don't care what you do. You know as long as you're not murdering people or whatever.” (09:53-09:58 | Stephen)“He probably thinks that we're unhinged. No he knows we're unhinged, there's a difference." (26:27-26:32 | Christi & Stephen)“The craziest part of all of this... was homeboy murdered this guy and then went to the music festival that night.” (46:00-46:06 | Stephen) LinksSend us your ghost or weird stories here: [email protected] to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeyondtheNormPodcastFollow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiakFollow Stephen on IG: www.instagram.com/s_c_mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"We've all seen Poltergeist. Rule number one: leave Indian burial grounds alone!" While a good rule of thumb for all of our ghoulish listeners, unfortunately Poltergeist didn't exist in the 1800's or today's subject might have second guessed his decisions.In part due to Stephen's love of the Haunted Mansion ride, as a kid he and his friends became obsessed with real life haunted houses and discovered that not too far outside of Los Angeles in Redlands, CA there's the Barton Villa, one of California's oldest haunts. Constructed in 1866, it's the oldest surviving house in Redlands, though with a place as haunted as Barton Villa you can imagine no one ever wanted to go near it to even consider getting rid of it!What strange happenings occurred to give Barton Villa its reputation? What memories has Stephen kept of it after all these years that haunt him still? Tune-in to find out the answers to these questions and more!Quotes“I'm gonna start saying like, 'Hey all you cool ghouls and goblins!' You don't look amused.” (00:48-00:54 | Stephen)“What I'm saying is you're forgiven because pretty people are allowed to make mistakes... no that was so horrible! Oh my god Stephen, that's like something we say in private.” (18:22-18:29 | Christi & Stephen)“Watch I'm going to get like sued by Disney. Though this is like in the past and they didn't catch me. And I could just be making this up for clout... so that's what I'm doing." (35:34-35:47 | Stephen)“This is why we're both pretty, we don't do this stuff.” (44:36-44:39 | Stephen) LinksSend us your ghost or weird stories here: [email protected] to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeyondtheNormPodcastFollow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiakFollow Stephen on IG: www.instagram.com/s_c_mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Someone is going to jump off a building if Christi walks by," jokes Stephen, but as Christi is quick to point out in some cases that isn't too far from the truth! But could you imagine one of those incidents occurring at the "Happiest Place on Earth"? It's true, and it's just one of many creepy Disneyland occurrences we'll be covering on this week's episode of Beyond the Norm.Now there is a surprising amount of haunted happenings occurring everyday at Disney Parks, like The Haunted Mansion alone might as well have its own wiki page for the real life haunts that inhabit its grounds. So expect this to be the first of MANY Disney themed episodes. So to kick things off we figured it would be appropriate to give a little sampler of every kind of Mickey-themed horror, from the ghosts of children lost on park grounds to the shocking way Disney handles deaths in the park and the lengths they'll go to keep things hush hush. So hunker down and practice your best rendition of "Grim Grinning Ghosts" because this is one ride you may not return from. Quotes“Everyone was a bullied gay kid in middle school, I get it. I was a bullied gay kid and I wasn't even gay. Well you're gay adjacent.” (18:48-18:55 | Christi & Stephen)“I hate Reddit. It's where they hate me the most so I don't normally patronize Reddit but for today I had to make an exception.” (23:07-23:14 | Christi)“It's the ghost of a little boy who has been given the name of Timmy by the cast-members. P.S. there is about eight Timmy ghosts in Disney properties. Every ghost is named Timmy, I don't know why." (23:26-23:36 | Christi)“Now this little boy haunts the Haunted Mansion. Well they always say there's 999 haunts and there's room for one more! Yeah I don't think they really mean that.” (32:28-32:39 | Christi & Stephen) LinksSend us your ghost or weird stories here: [email protected] to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeyondtheNormPodcastFollow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiakFollow Stephen on IG: www.instagram.com/s_c_mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Pikachu?! It's Tinky-Winky! And actually Tinky-Winky was the purple one and Po was the yellow one. You are all over the place!" argues Stephen as Christi discovers if there's one line she shouldn't cross t's Stephen's nerdiness (it's ok Christi, Po was actually the red one!). An in depth-analysis of Tinky-Winky's purse might not be the spookiest topic to kick-off this week's episode, but trust us that once the actual topic gets underway you'll deeply miss the innocence of Tinky-Winky's purse. On this week's episode of Beyond the Norm Christi and Stephen are diving head first into two modern true-crime stories that are equal parts shocking and revolting.The first story concerns the fate of Lacey Fletcher, a woman who was left to die on her family's couch over the course of 12 years. After Lacey suffered a cognitive set-back in her 20's, her parents decided she was better off on the couch where they wouldn't have to deal with her. Slowly but surely Lacey's body atrophied into the cushions, fusing with the couch itself. The resulting scene was so horrific that the medical examiners determined it to be one of the cruelest crime scenes they'd ever witnessed.The second story brings us back to our Beyond the Norm home of New Orleans for the scandalous murder of Addie Hall by her boyfriend Zack Bowen. Trapped together by Hurricane Katrina, their relationship was already on the rocks and both Addie and Zack hit their breaking points. Addie handled it by requesting that Zack be evicted. Zach handled it by murdering Addie and killing himself. The eight page suicide note left behind by Zach detailed his crimes in exacting and haunting detail. The crime scene is the stuff of pure nightmares. There's still plenty of people in the French Quarter who remember the events well. Some of those people might even know Stephen and have given him a little direct insight into the lives of Zack and Addie, and if you tune-in he might just share them with you! Quotes“I should just change your name in my phone to Ignorant Bitch instead of Christi. I mean that's just more appropriate.” (5:42-5:48 | Stephen)“My husbands here, I'm not neglecting [the dog], he's taking care of her. Oh my god! Like if you could chew up food and spit it down her throat like a bird you would.” (31:41-31:48 | Christi & Stephen)“Hey thanks for your service! Here's some nipples!” (37:31-37:36 | Christi)“No human flesh was found in his system. Ok good. Which means that he didn't actually eat her... not that that makes it any better!" (43:34-43:42 | Christi & Stephen) LinksSend us your ghost or weird stories here: [email protected] to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeyondtheNormPodcastFollow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiakFollow Stephen on IG: www.instagram.com/s_c_mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I think people want to belong to something," Christi postulates as she picks up the pieces from last week's episode on cults to try and get to the heart of what makes groupthink tick. To better understand this phenomenon Christi has brought a true story for this week's episode that's sure to raise a few hairs every time you have to remind yourself that it really happened.It's the 1960's and Ron Jones, a Palo Alto history teacher, is trying to impart to his students why the German public was able to accept what the Nazis had done while they were active. Jones begins a little experiment to help teach his students a lesson. He founds "The Third Wave" movement and begins to teach his students strict forms of discipline and resolve. What starts as a brief classroom trial quickly explodes across the campus, with other classes of students getting involved and Jones taking on a more dictorial role in the proceedings.Is this a case of taking a lesson a lesson plan too far, or are the haunting implications of the Third Wave experiment a powerful statement on the nature of fascism? It's a scary reminder that sometimes if you ask someone wether they'd jump of a bridge if someone else did it, they might just answer yes.Quotes“The smell of Bourbon St. comes in waves. Like sometimes you're walking and you're vibing and you're like whatever. Then all of a sudden like a fucking Mack Truck to your face you're just like BAM, oh my god what is that?” (12:01-12:14 | Stephen)“He told them that they're going to salute each other both in and out of the class. Now right now it's just his class that's part of this Third Wave. I don't like it already. Oh, you're not going to like it at all." (26:44-26:56 | Christi & Stephen)“There were all kinds of people pushing back like this was unethical and you shouldn't have done that. But... I don't think anybody forgot that lesson. Was it unethical? Probably. Should you have kids literally about to riot each other at school? Probably not. By the way it's 1967 and I don't know if anyone knows but parenting didn't really exist in the 60's, 70's or 80's!” (36:28-36:52 | Christi & Stephen)“We talked about cults. How did it happen? This is how it happened. Everybody wants to belong.” (42:25-42:30 | Christi)  LinksSend us your ghost or weird stories here: [email protected] to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeyondtheNormPodcastFollow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiakFollow Stephen on IG: www.instagram.com/s_c_mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"At one point if I was in that compound I'd be like, 'Look I get it. I'm your spiritual wife... but I gotta go.'" Stephen jokes, but it gets to the heart of the matter on what makes his chosen topic for this week episode, Cults, so fascinating. Why do people join and stay in cults? How do you convince 900+ people to take their lives for a stupid cause? Group think can be scary and that's what makes cults the scariest subject our wicked duo has tackled yet, because what's scarier that real life documented horrors? Ok Vampires are still 100% real and terrifying, but Scientology is lurking around the corner waiting for you in the night!Join us as we delve into five of America's most notorious cults... don't the crazy cults seem to always be American? What's wrong with us, why do we have so many cults?! From Jonestown to the Children of God we're just too good at being messed up.Quotes“Of course that was my first intro that I clearly need to work on. Well we just have to chat for a minute. Like you have to ease them in. I have to take you on a date first. Yes! You have to take us on a date before we go to bed. Does that say a lot about me that I'm like, 'Let's go! I'm ready!'” (1:58-2:16 | Christi & Stephen)“Group think? No... well I mean look I was part of a cult. It was called the ALDC! Like we're all like, 'We must win, we must win at all costs!'" (3:34-3:41 | Christi)“I taught myself high school! So my pronunciation and my literacy are fine ok. I'm a qualified teacher apparently!" (10:07-10:15 | Stephen)“Netflix just did a whole show on this, it was crazy. Thanks Christi now I have to go watch a whole freaking show now!” (24:49-24:55 | Christi & Stephen)  LinksSend us your ghost or weird stories here: [email protected] to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeyondtheNormPodcastFollow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiakFollow Stephen on IG: www.instagram.com/s_c_mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Florida, we need to have a talk." jokes Stephen as this week's story takes us to Key West where nothing ever wild happens! Just kidding, because even if nothing else weird ever happened in Key West this story would be enough to forever mark the city. It's certainly got both Christi and Stephen shaking in their boots as there's a level of macabre in this, very much true story, that's unforgettably creepy to its very core. We're of course talking about radiologist Carl Tanzler and his corpse bride. Often referred to as Count Carl von Cosel (a name and title he made up and gave himself), Tanzler became deeply committed to pursuing a patient of his after recalling a dream where his true love looked exactly like her. Unfortunately for Tanzler she passed away from tuberculosis, and unfortunately for her that didn't stop Tanzler. After two years of longing for his unrealized love, he took matter into his own hands and dug up her remains, hellbent on making her his wife. The many years it took to uncover Tanzler's sick escapades resulted in the situation only growing weirder, but you'll have to tune-in to discover the sordid details that even your spooky minded hosts struggle to fully accept is real.Quotes“So he just makes stuff up. He's just like, 'Eh, I think I'm gonna be a Count,' which by the way from this point forward I would like you to refer to me as Baroness, because uh, I'm a Baroness!” (11:10-11:18 | Christi)“So, Carl visits her daily and every night he continues to call here and propose over the phone. Bitch are you gonna tell him? She's dead boy, she ain't answering!." (15:40-15:54 | Christi & Stephen)“No I can relate because what always freaked me out was the Tooth Fairy." (34:30-34:33 | Stephen)“Fuck you Carl! Fuck you Carl! Alright so we're going to call this Stephen Give too Many Fucks.” (40:11-40:17 | Christi & Stephen)  LinksSend us your ghost or weird stories here: [email protected] to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeyondtheNormPodcastFollow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiakFollow Stephen on IG: www.instagram.com/s_c_mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"She literally shoved someone's head into the mirror and it cracked and fell off the wall; then the bar had to replace it. You took me willingly to this bar? Oh yeah it's great!" If there's one thing Christi and Stephen can't seem to avoid it's haunted bars and houses around New Orleans. It wasn't enough that there were vampires, but now there's ghosts in the French Quarter too?! We promise to cover other cities at some point, but NOLA is just too spooky not to cover in more detail. I mean the realtors literally will promote on their For Sale signs if a house is haunted or not, it's serious business! Is it any wonder why Disney chose to put The Haunted Mansion in the New Orleans Square section of Disney?As Stephen gives tours around New Orleans, he hears a lot of first hand accounts of ghost sightings directly from his clients. Whether they're passing out in front of the infamous home of serial killer Madame LaLaurie or seeing Bloody Mary in a bar mirror, it's hard not to get the sense that something truly wicked is in the air that isn't just the humidity. Tune-in to hear some of Stephen's haunted highlights on this week's installment of Beyond the Norm and you too may feel a chill crawling up your spine!Quotes“I have to stop you, hold on. I have to yell at you. You didn't tell the whole fucking LaLaurie story! you talked about them buying back the slaves, you didn't talk about the night of the fire. Stephen that is the part of the LaLaurie story that makes people's jaws hit the floor. (...) She was just mutilating these people and basically they were torn from limb to limb in the atic. I guess I just totally B-lined around that. Yeah, you just forgot about the massive experimental torture!” (12:43-14:21 | Christi & Stephen)“It felt like... you know when aa gust of wind behind you kind of like pushes you? And I don't want to say it like grabbed my ass, but... Stephen! The ghost did not grab your ass." (23:40-23:52 | Christi & Stephen)“If you come with a group of girls (to New Orleans) and you're that one bitch that's like, 'My feet hurt I'm ruining the night!' because you didn't listen to us and wear tennis shoes, you're friends are going to hate you." (37:18-37:27 | Stephen)“She has artifacts, she has like... well I don't want to give it away. She gave me a raccoon dick.” (45:43-45:50 | Christi & Stephen)  LinksSend us your ghost or weird stories here: [email protected] to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeyondtheNormPodcastFollow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiakFollow Stephen on IG: www.instagram.com/s_c_mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"When I did Christi's Couch, the most popular stories were always when I covered dark stuff," says Christi Lukasiak, though as a listener of Christi's Couch that may not come as too much of a surprise. You may know Christi as a Dance Moms OG, but she's also VERY into the dark and creepy side of things. What better way to explore those topics than with a podcast dedicated to them! Welcome to Beyond the Norm, a podcast dedicated to all those urban legends and things that go bump in the night. Joining Christi is her gay soulmate, Stephen Maynard, who has had quite a dark past himself with gigs at haunted theme parks and running a haunted tour company! Together they'll brave the depths of every macabre story out there.To kick things off we turn our attention to the place Christi and Stephen call home, New Orleans, to uncover it's vibrant and violent history with vampires. If you associate New Orleans with vampires, it's most likely because of Anne Rice and her 13 book opus "The Vampire Chronicles", which began with the New Orleans set "Interview with the Vampire". The book made the city synonymous with vampire culture and is host to many vampire themed events including The Endless Nights Vampire Ball, of which Christi and Stephen eagerly anticipate every year now.But there is a plethora of real historical tales of vampires in the city itself. As a city largely founded by criminals, New Orleans was a lawless town that would make it quite easy for a vampire to prey upon those who wouldn't be missed. There are even signs visible to this day that indicate there may be some truth to these tales. Join Christi and Stephen as they cover three of the French Quarter's most infamous vamps including The Carter Brothers, The Casket Girls and The Count of Saint Germain.Quotes“Don't ever walk around Bourbon Street in sandals. EW! I see people all the time... just don't do it. Or heels! I love the girls who try and rock the heels. Girls. There is not one flat suface in New Orleans. You are undoubtedly going to fall into a hole at some point, stone cold sober or not.” (8:02-8:21 | Christi & Stephen)“Well she was an energy vampire and it was funny because I was talking to her and then she goes, 'Hold on,' and then she goes [Make sucking noise] and I was like, 'What the fuck is happening,' and she says, 'I just fed on their energy!' Ok but here's the thing for being an energy vampire her energy was shit because she was an asshole.'" l(40:13-40:29 | Christi & Stephen)“I was like, 'maybe I'm a vampire,' and he literally looked at me and was like, 'No, you are a Were-Kitten,' and I just ran with it. I will forever be a Were-Kitten. But then I got low-key pissed because I was like, 'Well I couldn't be a werewolf?'” (41:33-41:46 | Stephen)“What doesn't track about that though is why would he bite her if he had bottles of blood already? Maybe he wanted warm fresh blood, Stephen. I'm just saying I don't trust that woman. She lied. Oh my god your victim blaming!” (49:21-49:34 | Christi & Stephen)  LinksSend us your ghost or weird stories here: [email protected] to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeyondtheNormPodcastFollow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiakFollow Stephen on IG: www.instagram.com/s_c_mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.