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Speaker 1: Hey guys, it's EJ. This is the usual part of

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the show where I thank you for listening. I encourage

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you to follow the show on x or on Facebook

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to share the show, and I let you know what

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to expect in the next few months. Then I hand

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a show off to Igor, followed by a thunderclap and

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the theme music. But this episode isn't that, because what

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I'm about to share is different. You see, most of

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the stories you hear on this show are the true additional, short, scary,

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suspenseful stories that are a product of my imagination. They

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are written by me by simply asking what if over

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and over, sprinkling in a touch of this and that

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with a twist, and taking them to their natural creepy conclusion.

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This episode isn't one of those. I'm going to share

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with you a bit of lore, an urban legend, if

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you will, from my part of the world, in a

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tale titled the Bell Tower. A few weeks ago, I

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was doing some errands and I found myself cruising through

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the older part of the city. It's gone through many stages.

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It started off as farmland hundreds of years ago, transitioned

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to residential of mostly Polish and Eastern European at the

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turn of the previous century. Factories and stores soon followed,

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and today it's a multicultural potpourri, unfortunately, all of whom

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are down on our luck. Lots of abandoned buildings, boarded

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up windows, closed stores and factories, Homes that have seen

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better days, peeling paint, porches just hanging on, abandon overgrown

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lots dotted with garbage and debris. I found myself looking

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at a large abandoned lot just like the one described,

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except this one did have one structure on it way

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in the corner, a bell tower that extended seven stories high.

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It appeared it was maybe once part of a church

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and is the only remaining structure made of fieldstone and mortar.

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The spire still looked sturdy and strong, with two entrances

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on the bottom, the original steel exterior door appearing locked

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and secured, and a doorway that I imagine once connected it

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to the church itself blocked now by red brick, the

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bell tower itself boarded by slats of wood. I could

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still see an errant pigeon or two intermittently flying in

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and out and around. I found myself parked there, wondering

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why it wasn't taken down with the rest of the church.

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Why had they left it? How long has it been

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standing there? Idle nature had reclaimed the lot. Trees and

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shrubs here and there dotted the area with tall grass.

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As my mind pondered all these questions, I lost all

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sense of time and my surroundings. A rap at my

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window brought me back to my senses. A fairly imposing

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older gentleman stood, there you lost or trying to score? Now,

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I'm if you're just lost, go straight till you get

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the broadway, then turn left, keep going until you get

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to the throughway. You'll find yourself home. No, I'm if

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you're trying to score, you're on the wrong block. Keep

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on going. You won't find that stuff in our neighborhood.

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I I was just coming back from some errands. I

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found myself looking at at that Saint Tony's, sorry, Saint

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Anthony's bell tower. Yeah, what's the story? What happened to

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the church and why did they leave the tower? Back

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about eighty five, the church closed, The tendons started to

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drop and such, and it became expensive to keep up,

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so they came through and closed it and tore it down. No,

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that that was after Okay, when they closed it, they

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had a big seren news crews, politicians and church folk

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from all over, and they deconsecrated it. What does that mean,

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you know, made it no longer hollowed ground, not a

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religious place, no longer sacred, not a safe spot here

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on earth. About a week later, it all started, noises

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coming from the church at all hours, screaming, yelling, and banging,

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the sounds of windows breaking. People reported seeing shadows against

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the windows, and when the cops showed up, no one

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was there, all the windows intact and no signs of

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anyone breaking in. It went on like that the whole summer.

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Then about the end of October. I know that night

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in October the fire. The whole church went up in flames.

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Every fire engine in the city came. It took them

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all night and into the morning to put it out.

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It burned so hot like the devil himself was fanning

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the flames. No one was hurt, but nothing was left.

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They rode it up as some squatters starting a fire

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to keep warmer shooting up. The only thing left, though,

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was is the tower. The bells still chime, Yeah, they

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do that. They are a timer or something. No one disabled.

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No electricity was turned off long ago. No one exactly

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knows why they chime, not for certain anyway, What's that's

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supposed to mean? You? Uh got some time? Sure, but

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come on, I got something to show you. A few

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minutes later, I found myself down the street in his garage,

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a small one car detached wooden one that served as

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a workshop, storage area, and man cave with an old

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refrigerator on the back wall, a tool bench along the

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right and yard tools along the left, oil stain in

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the middle of the cement. I watched as he rummaged

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through the old wooden boxes stacked next to a small

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console TV. I watched as he rummaged through some old

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wooden boxes stacked next to a small console TV that

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was sitting atop a dresser missing all of its drawers.

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Sitting beside the TV was an honest to goodness eighties

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boombox fleet with tape deck and a VCR perched on

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the first set of slats of the dresser where a

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drawer should be. What exactly are you looking for the

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rest of the story. You need to see it to

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believe it all right. Back in eighty nine, a girl

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went missing, Jenny Stratton. It was in all the papers

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on the news for weeks, local neighborhood girl, nice kid

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by all accounts, good grades, good family, no problems. Well

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it seems some of her friends dared here to go

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up to the tower and ring Saint Tony's bell, and

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not just go up the tower and ring it, but

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go up at midnight, just making the whole dare worse

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walking up those creaky steps all alone, nothing but a

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flash light and whatever moonlight that came through the slats

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at the top of the tower to guide your way.

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Nightmare kind of scenario. Right, Kids are cruel that way.

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You remember what it was like being that young peer

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pressure at that age, wanted to be cool and fit in.

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Her friends nagged her for week's pestered and joked. She

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finally gave into our there our nagging and pestering. I'm

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not proud of it. That Friday night in October we

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all snuck out, all eight of us. Tommy Ortiz even

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brought his family camcorder so she could take it up

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to the tower with her document the whole thing. We

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cheered and jeered her all the way to the lot

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and watched like chickens from the sidewalk as she crossed

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the lot to the tower. I remember how scared she looked.

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Back Then what was the church entrance was boarded up.

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She kicked out the bottom board easy enough, and we

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watched as she crawled on in. We waited two minutes,

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five minutes, then ten minutes. It felt like forever before

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we heard the bell ring. We let out a cheer,

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which was stupid. Not only did the bell ringing alert

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the adults something was up, but our cheering didn't help.

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Lights went on in every house on the block. Parents

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came out, and we all scattered and ran back home,

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trying not to get caught. Man did I catch hell

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from my old man? We didn't know until that morning

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the cops came to all of our homes what happened.

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He stopped his search, but didn't turn to face me.

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Shoulders slumped, and he let out a big exhal Jenny.

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She never came home. We all told them what had happened,

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our dumb dare to ring the tower bell. They searched

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every inch of the tower and found nothing. Jenny was

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never seen again. Four weeks months they put up posters

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of her news cruise came, did stories to try and

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help her. Face was even on the back of milk cartens.

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For a few years, nothing and the bell ringing. A month,

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maybe after Jenny disappeared, the bell rang. Cops came, people's

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hopes got up, investigated. Nothing. It happened every week or

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so at random times, morning, afternoon, middle of the night.

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Cops came, people's hopes got up. Cops investigated, and nothing.

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They blamed it on punk kids. They bricked up the

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entrance safety hazard and all here it is, and he

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turned to face me. I watched as he produced an

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old VHS tape from the bottom of a wooden crate

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marked Jenny cream Ale that first spring. This was found

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in a lot a few yards from the tower. Well,

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not this specifically, this is a copy, don't ask. This

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is what Jenny filmed from inside the tower the night

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she disappeared. He turned and walked towards the TV and

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VCR and placed the tape in the machine. Then he

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pressed play contact