WEBVTT 1 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:22.320 Very Christmas listeners, and welcome to this bonus episode of 2 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:25.920 the Supernatural Current Studies podcast. 3 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:27.320 So Festively Paranormal. 4 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:31.000 That's right. I am Jason Knight, and with me as always. 5 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:35.000 Is Oscar Spector bigudgingly doing a holiday. 6 00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:39.479 Episode producer extraordin there and podcast co hosts Bahumbug. 7 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:44.399 That's right. I put the hum and Bahambug, sure do yeah, 8 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:44.600 I do. 9 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:49.000 Well. It's Christmas Eve. It's magical. We wanted to wanted 10 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:50.439 to bring something special to the way. Yeah. 11 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.359 So we're re listening this on Eve, right, Christmas Eve? 12 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:53.640 Right? 13 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:57.560 So do you imagine, because we're really listening on Christmas 14 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:00.920 Eve as a bonus episode, do you imagine people as 15 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.920 a stocking stuffer? Is a recording of this episode for 16 00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:05.480 people to listen to us. 17 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:08.319 Like they somehow put it onto physical media and put 18 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:13.120 it into us. I hope so hope t work. Maybe 19 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:14.799 some dedicated listeners out there will do that. 20 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:15.719 I think that's kind of cool. 21 00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:17.799 Share the Supernatural Current Studies pod. 22 00:01:17.799 --> 00:01:20.120 Can you imagine people sitting around at some table somewhere 23 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:23.799 or after they open presents and they listen to this, Ah, dude, 24 00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:25.519 I would love that. I mean, I don't think that's happening. 25 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:27.280 But that's guess what. We talk about shit and we 26 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:30.560 swear and you know, so maybe not but like maybe yes, 27 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:34.159 not very holy. I'm not holy. I mean I have holes, 28 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:35.040 but I'm not holy. 29 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:40.079 I could get the snows falling. The fireplace is crackling, 30 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:41.920 Christmas tree is lit. 31 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:43.560 I don't have a fireplace. 32 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:47.560 Little children are sleeping amongst the gift wrapping underneath the 33 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:52.359 tree tucker from the day's events, and the parents just 34 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:53.840 sit back and listen to the show. 35 00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:58.519 With a bottle of something. Absolutely, the bottle of something 36 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:03.879 some calling that's great. Have you been drinking anything festive? 37 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:05.840 By the way, do you drink anything festive for the season? 38 00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:10.199 Do I drink agnog starting November until Januy? That's right, 39 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:12.439 you love eggnog. I did only only in November to 40 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:14.759 generate though when I say so, I do like it. 41 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:16.960 I don't go out and actively hunt it, like if 42 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:18.960 I have to store, I'm like, oh ship, yeah, sure, 43 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:19.439 I'll grab some. 44 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:22.120 Yeah. But I do like the Jack Daniels egg nog. 45 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:23.719 Do you ever get that? I do like that one. 46 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.800 It's a good one. Yes, Sometimes I'm make in my own. 47 00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:28.439 It makes my own. But other times I buy pre 48 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:32.000 made already, so I don't any worry. I also like coquito. 49 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:35.159 You make it a perto Rican get over here. Sometimes No, 50 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.759 that's or chatta that I make. Coquito is a Puerto 51 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:42.560 Rican is spicy version of it, the creamy one. Right, Yeah, 52 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:46.360 you're both similar. Maybe maybe I brought your maybe I 53 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:49.879 did remember anyway, but coquito is typically a Puerto Rican thing. 54 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:51.800 Not to say I can't make it because I'm not 55 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:54.719 Puerto Rican, but I've had it from Puerto Rican families, 56 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:59.039 like my sister in law's mother makes it every year. 57 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.159 So I would put in a demand give it ten 58 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:04.879 bucks and a bottle, and that's good. I like that. 59 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:07.199 That is good, So I remember you. I did like it. Yeah, 60 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:08.599 especially can put Awrican egnog. 61 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.240 I know my daughter works at Starbucks, and she told 62 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:13.560 me the egg drink is out. 63 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:16.360 Yeah, it is out, so I have to go get that. Yeah, 64 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:18.120 and then to spice it up. Of course, because I've 65 00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:21.439 never liked dignat by itself. I only like it with whiskey. 66 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:24.120 With whiskey, yeah, bourbon whiskey. 67 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:28.759 Speaking of we are drinking a Penelope architect or Penelope. 68 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.759 This is a bourbon whiskey finished with oak. Staves, staves, 69 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:36.639 stiovs stas state, it's good. 70 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:38.039 Do you like it? I do like it. 71 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:41.439 It's like what one hundred what is it? A one 72 00:03:41.479 --> 00:03:42.479 hundred and four proof. 73 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.080 That's a good proof. It's good on its proof. Yes, 74 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:46.800 I've also had penalope before. I don't know if I 75 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:48.599 have this one before, but I've had it before and 76 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:49.400 it's very good. 77 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:49.800 I like it. 78 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:50.759 It's good. 79 00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:55.080 Brant Howiday drinks? You got to cookito? My wife makes 80 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:56.599 her apple pie. 81 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:00.280 Yes, I still have I still have some. I mean say, 82 00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:02.479 I savor it. Yeah, did you bring home a jar? 83 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:03.319 Did you give you a jar? 84 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:05.360 Yeah? Last time put the Halloween Yeah. 85 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:07.280 Yeah, that sh is. That shit is like crack. She 86 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:09.240 makes a caramel one of vanilla one and like a 87 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:10.120 plain one. 88 00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:14.240 And personally I like I like the ol g More apple. 89 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:16.079 Do you like the plain one? Well, that's awesome. 90 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:19.160 That's my favorite. I like them all, but that's my favorite. Cool. 91 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:21.920 Yeah, that shit will toast you quick man, because you 92 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:22.920 don't taste the alcohol. 93 00:04:23.079 --> 00:04:25.839 No, it's so you'll you'll you'll get up from your 94 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:27.480 seat like whoa right. 95 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.680 And it warms you. And those cold winter nights that 96 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:31.639 warm you up quick. 97 00:04:31.959 --> 00:04:36.079 Yeah, it's great for homeless people, yes, right, because they're 98 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:37.040 cold outside, don't. 99 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:40.920 We support the homeless here on the podcast, and the 100 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:43.639 houseless give them. Oh yeah, you can't say homeless, Yeah 101 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:43.800 you can. 102 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:45.600 That mean the same thing. It'd be it'd be one 103 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:47.079 thing if it was a different word. But it's the 104 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:49.560 same word. We're using a synonym for home. It's house, 105 00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:54.560 Jesus Christ, it's unhoused. It's like dorm undormed. It's like, 106 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:58.800 come on, enough homeless is fine. Oh they don't care either. 107 00:04:59.160 --> 00:04:59.639 It is enough. 108 00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:01.399 Trust. I never got a homeless guy that gave a 109 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:06.560 ship what we call it, you know, Jesus? Yeah, you're 110 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:09.000 right enough. No, I'll get the political stuff in general, 111 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:11.560 but that I think is too far. That's stumb in 112 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:16.680 my opinion. Anyway, moving on, speaking of Christmas, I have 113 00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:19.120 this thing, funny thing I can do for you. So 114 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:22.160 I have a friend for another show, Luke. He's never 115 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:24.480 been on the show, I don't think, but he's been 116 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:26.600 in a huge part of my other show that I do. 117 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:31.000 What show is it, Let's called another movie podcast? Another 118 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:33.480 movie podcast? Right, guess what we talk about? Do you 119 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:39.839 talk about books and sewing? Yeah, anyway, couchang. And he 120 00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:41.519 has this thing where he's the he's the money bags 121 00:05:41.560 --> 00:05:43.560 in our friend group essentially because he's single and doesn't 122 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:46.920 know a house, so like you know, and he makes 123 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:50.639 really good money. He's manager area. And but one thing 124 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:53.079 he's done year after year after year, well, he does 125 00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:56.560 two things. One is that he never waits. He hates waiting. 126 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:58.399 When he buys a present for somebody, he gives it 127 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:01.639 to him the next day. He gave me his already 128 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:06.600 four days ago. He gave me two new video games. Wow, 129 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:09.879 like like expensive because they're newer, they're expensive. Sixty dollars. 130 00:06:10.040 --> 00:06:13.199 And he gave me a trilogy pack of our Criterion 131 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:18.879 collection Blu Rays set of Chris Lawski's Three Colors trilogy. 132 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:22.759 People who know you know it's an expensive thing. Wow, 133 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:24.480 sixty dollars at least there at least I don't know 134 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:26.480 how much you spent. But he always does this. He 135 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:29.199 always overspends and gives it to me way too fucking early. 136 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:32.519 It's sweet. No, it's a competition. Jay I took it 137 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:35.639 seriously this year, so I went out and I split 138 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:37.240 it with my brother Rob because I can't afford it 139 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:40.519 by myself. We bought him a three hundred dollars Blu 140 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:43.120 Ray set of the West Anderson Collection, Holy shit, and 141 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.959 Blu Ray the Criterion with all his movies. Well it's 142 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.639 ten movies since that's a Criterion box. It's a huge box. 143 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:50.439 I just got it in today. I wrapped in myself. 144 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:54.120 Motherfucker is going down this year. This isn't what Christmas 145 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:55.879 is supposed to be about. No, it's fun. It's all 146 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:58.519 in the fun. Yes, of course I appreciate it, and 147 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:00.560 it's all for I don't take it seriously, but that's 148 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:02.399 how I that's the energy I'm coming in with. 149 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:04.519 Wow, so amazing. 150 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:07.160 So I did that. Yes, I'm like, nope, he's not 151 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:09.480 winning this year. He's gonna most year's I'm really broke, 152 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:11.439 but not this year he's not. He's not gonna win. 153 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:12.920 What did he get you last year? Do you remember? 154 00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:17.279 He got me the NASA the NASA Space Shuttle lego, 155 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:19.839 which is like a two hundred three hundred. I don't 156 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:21.079 know how much. There's a lot of money. 157 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:22.720 Damn. I gotta settle up more than Luke. 158 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:26.240 Yeah, he's fucking me up. I was like, dude, I 159 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:28.759 got you like shit, and I know it doesn't matter, 160 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:30.639 and I know it doesn't matter, but I like to 161 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:33.199 complete play, complete, compete with him anyway. 162 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:35.720 That's awesome. So Luke's a good dude, always liked them. 163 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:36.680 Yes, yes, good? 164 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:39.360 Uh? Any special plans for Christmas? 165 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:42.240 You're going anywhere tonight Christmas Eve? No, there are a few. 166 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:44.839 There's a rave by four, and there's a a rave 167 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:47.160 a rave, and then there's a rave on New Year's Day, 168 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:51.680 but not around Christmas itself. So no, just family, okay, 169 00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:54.399 but there is a Christmas Eve rave. There is a 170 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:57.160 Christmas theme brave and I think next week or something. 171 00:07:57.360 --> 00:07:59.720 Said Christmas Eve, no to my bad. 172 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:04.319 Okay, on pie, gonna watch a movie probably Avatar. I 173 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:09.160 think comes out on Christmas. Oh fire and ash Okay, 174 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:11.319 I'm I to that. I usually watch a movie on Christmas. 175 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:12.959 What are you for us? 176 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.319 Let me see working out. No, we're celebrating christ So 177 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:19.519 my mom has this new position she's had for a 178 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:21.639 little over a year now. She has to work all 179 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:26.079 the holidays, so she works on Christmas, which is what sucks. 180 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:29.079 So we're having our Christmas like a week before with 181 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:31.639 my mom and family, just like we did for Thanksgiving, 182 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:33.960 which we haven't talked about yet. No, we have not 183 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:36.759 the magic of editing. So we're doing the same thing 184 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:40.000 with Christmas. We're having that early. It'll just be us, me, 185 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:44.720 my wife, the kids. On Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, we're 186 00:08:44.759 --> 00:08:48.399 going to my in laws and then we're heading to Florida. 187 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:51.120 So I'll meet up with my mom and stuff when 188 00:08:51.159 --> 00:08:53.960 we go to Florida, and we probably have another Christmas 189 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:57.519 after with some other family members. But jumping down to 190 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:01.759 Florida again, it's our Christmas slash your ritual. I already 191 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:05.159 got his uh Discovery Cove tickets swimming with the dolphins, 192 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:08.559 were going to Animal Kingdom and Epcot and the beach, 193 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:11.679 all that fun shit. So oh man, really looking forward 194 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:13.120 to it. And I just got back from New Jersey 195 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:14.840 like last night as of this recording. 196 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:18.519 Oh damn, was that like an dare someone dare you to? 197 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:19.200 It should be? 198 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:22.120 It was for work, right And you know, of course 199 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:25.440 listeners by now know me. I hate flying. I dread flying. 200 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.879 So the month and a half leading up to this trip, 201 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:33.360 I've just been a wreck like anxiety that long before. 202 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:36.120 Oh yeah, that's the word. The anticipation of the flight 203 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:37.519 is the worst. Once I'm on the plane. 204 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:40.080 Why didn't you ask your job to tell you, like 205 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:43.279 three days before by way save yourself some heartache there. 206 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:45.519 So you try to save money. But girly, you save money. 207 00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:49.120 That's why. Yeah, but it's it's probably better than being 208 00:09:49.159 --> 00:09:53.600 stressed for six weeks before, you know. No, they like 209 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:56.639 it short. They don't give a ship. Just get there right, 210 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:01.480 you're right, but you know, and the flights were fine. 211 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:03.480 It was fine. How sure happened? 212 00:10:04.039 --> 00:10:07.159 You know? Taking off from New Jersey from Newark was 213 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:10.240 really bad. Matter of fact, the flight attendant came and 214 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:12.240 stood right next to me. I was on the aisle 215 00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:15.000 back of the plane on the aisle. She stood right 216 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:18.039 next to me to make the announcement on how the 217 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:22.399 takeoff from Newark was gonna be really rough, to make 218 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:25.120 sure you're buckled in so you don't get hurt. It's 219 00:10:25.159 --> 00:10:29.039 gonna be rough. And I'm like what the fuck? I'm 220 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:32.120 texting everybody like consistence, could you please said this? Whyn't 221 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:34.279 they just cancel the flight because really windy? 222 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:36.559 Right? Is that why I got a text me? It's like, oh, 223 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:37.639 you've been a good friend. 224 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:42.960 There's the code to my safe and sure it was. 225 00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:45.720 It was pretty rough taken off Okay, that fucking plane 226 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:49.120 got up and then it made this hard right bank 227 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:52.039 and that left wing went fucking up to the sky 228 00:10:52.120 --> 00:10:55.000 and I said, oh fuck. I screamed out, oh fuck, 229 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:57.919 because it looked like you felt like it was gonna. 230 00:10:57.799 --> 00:10:59.960 Roll over like that movie flight. 231 00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:01.879 And then it just, you know, evened out. You got 232 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:05.159 above the clouds and it was fine. So dude, it 233 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:07.960 was bad, but we made it. And here we are recording. 234 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:12.559 Yeah. Good good. So I have a great little story. 235 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:14.200 It's not a long one today, right. 236 00:11:14.279 --> 00:11:16.639 You know, people got things to do. It's Christmas Eve, 237 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:17.559 they have family to see. 238 00:11:17.720 --> 00:11:23.519 Play this why you're roasting chestnuts, you know, port chet chestnuts. 239 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:30.200 Okay, this is a little story. It's not not a 240 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:35.039 long one, Okay, but uh it's great. I fell in 241 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:38.679 love with this story, all right, I had me, so 242 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:43.600 ask her. It's it's Christmas Eve, nineteen fourteen, and the 243 00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:48.320 world is drowning in war, a war so new, so 244 00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:52.840 enormous that no one alive has language for the horror 245 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:58.559 that's unfolding. On a frozen battlefield in Belgium, men huddle 246 00:11:58.600 --> 00:12:05.120 in mud filled trenches, shivering, starving, waiting to die. That night, 247 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:10.600 on one frozen strip of mud between France and Belgium, 248 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:14.919 a proper no man's land of misery and death. Something 249 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:21.960 impossible happened. The air grew unnaturally still, guns went silent. 250 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:26.720 Men who had been killing each other for months stood up, 251 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:30.399 stepped out of the trenches, and met face to face 252 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:35.279 in the moonlight. Some call it a miracle, some call 253 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:42.240 it mass hysteria. Others call it something else. Entirely because 254 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:47.600 before the spontaneous truce, before the Carols, before the gifts, 255 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:52.200 and before men walked into no man's land unarmed, the 256 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:56.799 soldiers reported seeing things in the sky lights no one 257 00:12:56.799 --> 00:13:02.639 could explain, apparitions or verbs, shapes that moved in ways 258 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:09.480 that artillery cannot, voices singing from nowhere. This is the 259 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:13.840 story of the Christmas Truce of World War One and 260 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:20.080 the eerie, ghostly phenomena that came before it. Soldiers swore 261 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:25.000 that before the ceasefire, something supernatural moved across the battlefield. 262 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:29.679 But what started it? What triggered the most impossible moment 263 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:35.440 of World War One? So let's go back. It's December 264 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:40.639 nineteen fourteen. The First World War is only five months old, 265 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:45.279 but the horrors already feel eternal. The Western Front has 266 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:50.240 become a graveyard. Trenches filled with waste, deep freezing mud, 267 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:55.399 bodies half buried in the earth, staring with ice crusted eyes, 268 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:00.320 rats feeding on the dead, frostbite eating men alive, and 269 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:07.720 the onslaught of artillery. The smell of death, sulfur, unwashed bodies, 270 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:12.480 and gun oil hung permanently in the air. This hell 271 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:18.759 stretches four hundred miles. Young soldiers arrived at the front 272 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:22.279 thinking that this war would last weeks, that they'd be 273 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:27.240 home in time for Christmas. Instead, they found themselves trapped 274 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:31.919 in a world of smoke and blood. A diary from 275 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:36.720 a British soldier reads quote, hell cannot be worse than 276 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:41.480 this place. The Germans feel the same, the Belgians, the French, 277 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:46.879 all of them. Here. Christmas means nothing. There was no holiday, 278 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:53.679 just survival. But as Christmas Eve approached, something strange began 279 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:58.720 to unfold. The first report came just after sunset on 280 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:03.720 December twenty fourth, Christmas Eve, along the quiet sector of 281 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:08.519 the Western Front, near the Belgian town of Epra, British 282 00:15:08.519 --> 00:15:13.600 soldiers noticed something rising above the German trenches. At first 283 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:19.600 they think its flares, but flares burned downward. These rose 284 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:25.080 they moved sideways. They hovered and glowed in colors flares 285 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:31.799 cannot produce, described by one soldier as orbs drifting like lanterns, 286 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:35.120 but with no flame. The lights were also described as 287 00:15:35.159 --> 00:15:41.399 white spheres, bluish globes, and stars moving with purpose. A 288 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:44.799 German officer later wrote that the orbs appeared on both sides, 289 00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:51.039 observing the opposing trenches from above, While one British private 290 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:56.320 swore he saw three orbs forming a slowly rotating perfect triangle, 291 00:15:56.919 --> 00:16:00.919 another insisted they flickered and sink with a face humming sound, 292 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:06.120 a sound no one could locate. At around seven pm 293 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:10.759 on Christmas Eve, the second strange event began. A sound 294 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:15.960 drifted across No Man's Land, a melody, soft and beautiful, 295 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:21.279 but eerie. British soldiers looked toward the German lines. German 296 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.799 soldiers looked towards the British. No one was singing, yet 297 00:16:24.840 --> 00:16:29.080 the music continued. A private from the London Rifle Brigade 298 00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:33.240 later wrote the sound came from nowhere, from the air itself. 299 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.279 Some described it as a hymn, others as a choir. 300 00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:41.639 A few claimed it didn't sound like human voices at all. 301 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:47.720 Private Frederick Heath described it as voices without bodies, carried 302 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:53.559 by no wind. Minutes later the real singing began. This 303 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:58.240 time it clearly came from the German trenches still knocked, 304 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:04.640 Heilig knocked or night in German letters from soldiers note 305 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:09.119 a curious detail. The mysterious music with no identifiable source, 306 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:14.039 stopped precisely when the Germans started singing, as though signaling 307 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:19.680 them to begin. Then, at around eight thirty PM, something 308 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:24.279 happened that should have been suicide. Inside that German trench. 309 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:28.880 A single soldier stood up, He stepped onto the firing 310 00:17:28.920 --> 00:17:32.359 step and climbed out of the trench. And he wasn't 311 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:36.279 holding a gun. Instead, he was holding a lantern, its 312 00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:42.200 glow flickering across frost covered mud. British rifles aimed instantly, 313 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:47.400 Officers screamed to hold fire, and miraculously none of the 314 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:51.480 British soldiers pulled that trigger, because at the same moment, 315 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:54.799 one of the strange lights in the sky seemed to shift, 316 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:58.799 as if turning its attention downward, like it was shining 317 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:04.519 and watching the lone German soldier. Just then, the second 318 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:08.759 German climbed out of the trench. Then a third, British 319 00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:13.759 troops remained frozen, but then a British soldier stepped up, 320 00:18:14.119 --> 00:18:17.880 and then another. Before long, dozens of men are standing 321 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:23.319 above ground, unarmed. They walked towards each other, guns slung 322 00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:28.720 over backs, hands raised, voices calling greetings across the frozen night. 323 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:32.200 They met right there, in the middle of the deadliest 324 00:18:32.200 --> 00:18:37.359 place on Earth, no Man's land, and what follows is real, 325 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:44.359 verified by letters, diaries, military reports. British and German soldiers, enemies, 326 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:49.039 greeted one another. They shook hands, They shared cigarettes and 327 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:53.599 chocolate and brandy. They traded buttons and hats and photographs. 328 00:18:54.680 --> 00:18:59.599 They buried the dead lying between the trenches. Some played 329 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:05.440 football or soccer, some saying Christmas carols, and many men 330 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:09.920 prayed together. Many soldiers wrote about something else, something not 331 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.319 mentioned in official records. They wrote that while all this 332 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:18.079 was happening, the air felt charged, electrical and living, and 333 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:23.079 that the sky glowed. A German corporal wrote, it felt 334 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:26.599 as though a great present presence watched us, not God, 335 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:32.480 something older. A British private wrote, I felt hands on 336 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:36.279 my shoulders though none were there, while another soldier wrote 337 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:42.240 it was as if the battlefield itself sighed Some thought 338 00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:45.200 these lights were souls of the dead, A few believed 339 00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:49.720 they were divine, some called them omens. Whatever they were, 340 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:53.000 they marked the beginning and end of the most unexpected 341 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:57.960 event of World War One. At dawn on December twenty sixth, 342 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:01.960 nineteen fourteen, a German officer fired a single shot into 343 00:20:01.960 --> 00:20:07.480 the air, a signal the truce was over. Men shook 344 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:11.359 hands for the last time, returned to their trenches, and 345 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:16.039 continued killing each other. By ten, a m artillery roared 346 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:21.319 once more, machine guns chattered. Men who hugged and prayed 347 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:24.319 together the night before were killing each other once again. 348 00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:30.240 By the spring of nineteen fifteen, entire units who participated 349 00:20:30.279 --> 00:20:35.039 in the Strange Truce were completely wiped out. Many of 350 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:39.319 the soldiers accounts, especially those mentioning the lights and ghostly music, 351 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:44.279 were quietly suppressed by military command, but enough survived to 352 00:20:44.359 --> 00:20:49.279 reveal something extraordinary that soldiers on both sides described the 353 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:53.559 same lights, the same strange music, and the same eerie 354 00:20:53.599 --> 00:21:00.440 stillness before that truce began. Whether the cause was supernatural, cyclical, 355 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:04.400 or something else, the truth of the Christmas Truce of 356 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:10.799 nineteen fourteen remain shrouded in mystery. Today. Historians celebrate the 357 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:14.079 Christmas Truce as a moment of humanity in the middle 358 00:21:14.119 --> 00:21:17.759 of horror. But the soldiers who lived it, those who 359 00:21:17.799 --> 00:21:21.519 saw the strange lights, heard the unearthly singing, felt the 360 00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:25.640 impossible calm settle over no man's land, They left behind 361 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:31.000 another story, a stranger one. Did shared trauma create a 362 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:35.680 shared hallucination? Did the Aurora burialis drift too far south? 363 00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:43.680 Was it ball lightning? Or did something beyond explanation, something ancient, watching, 364 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:50.440 benevolent intervene for just one night. Whatever the truth, the 365 00:21:50.519 --> 00:21:53.400 Truce of nineteen fourteen remains one of the most enduring 366 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:58.880 mysteries of World War One. For one night, the battle 367 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:03.440 field itself seemed to live with possibility, with friendship, and 368 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:12.039 something somewhere wanted peace, if only for a moment. Merry Christmas, 369 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:37.359 wherever you are. I like it. 370 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:38.400 It's not too expensive. 371 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:42.240 Is it a green monster? It's a no sugar one, 372 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:46.440 but yes, no sugar green. Yeah, really, it's the only 373 00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:47.839 one drink. I don't drink sugar anymore. 374 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:49.200 Man good. 375 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:52.400 I never I'm like whoa because I like how green? 376 00:22:52.599 --> 00:22:54.559 I like to taste of green. But I only thought 377 00:22:54.559 --> 00:22:56.119 they made the blues and no sugar. 378 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:58.440 That's funny. I've only seen well I'm sure I just 379 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:00.599 don't pay attention to the blue. I have seen it 380 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:02.799 and just forgot it. But I've only I've forgotten this. 381 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:06.079 O't that white one if they don't have this one. 382 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:08.279 I tried it. I was like, yeah, it's okay, it's 383 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:10.799 just it's just okay. You're right. It's like going in 384 00:23:10.839 --> 00:23:13.319 a pinch. I'll get it, not like my staple. 385 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:16.200 Yeah, well, when we go on the road trip, that's 386 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:18.400 I will get those. I will look for those because 387 00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:19.960 the blues are okay, but. 388 00:23:20.039 --> 00:23:23.279 I don't like the blue. No, the green is better. Yeah, yes, no, 389 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:24.480 you can try it if you want to try to 390 00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:25.240 make sure you like it. 391 00:23:25.319 --> 00:23:27.799 I've been sick, like I'm just getting over a cold. 392 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:30.440 My new system is so I want to thank you, 393 00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:31.480 but I'm okay, I'm okay. 394 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:34.039 I appreciate it. I don't get sick like I felt like. 395 00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:36.559 Shit this week in Jersey and I'm like, oh god, 396 00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:37.680 I hope my voice is okay. 397 00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:40.640 Well, their first mistake was going to Jersey. Cool, but 398 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:43.000 I'm just saying that I don't be surprised. It isn't much. 399 00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:45.920 That's okay. Yeah, I mean, if it's a regular Carol 400 00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:48.279 that you fuck with somehow to make it sound creepy 401 00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:48.759