Episode 229 — The Spirit Of Christmas (w/ Jessica St. Clair)

[The_Other_MikeD 68]

On 12/23/2019 at 12:50 PM, grudlian. said:

For sure this. Turn it into a haunted house tour in October and the 12 days leading to Christmas is obvious. You could probably pay for half the year in that month and a half. If you can't get the rest of the year paid for in an old timey, New England inn, what are you doing?

I don't remember why the law firm needed the sale to happen by the end of the year. But the ghost only shows up for 12 days. Why didn't they schedule an appraisal anytime that isn't December 13-25? A sale this important and time sensitive seems like someone could have planned around that.

The previous owner has just died and it seemed that the lawyer boss had been told by the remaining relatives that they wanted to be rid of the property ASAP.

 

On 12/23/2019 at 9:41 PM, The Bee’s Knees said:

Oh ok. Maybe “expecting” is the wrong word. I thought the party guests knew he was on his way home, whether they believed he would make it on time or not. When the present-day inn keeper said they found his body in the woods near the property line, I thought it was the same spot where he was knocked out.

I think that Daniel went off on 'business' for indeterminate lengths of time so when he promised Lily that would be back for Christmas he didn't really know how long he would be gone. That's why the brother was telling her on the porch that he was unreliable since here it was Christmas Eve night and he hadn't returned. Since they didn't know exactly when he was supposed to return, they didn't run out and file a missing persons report. It just looked like he never returned so he was presumed dead.

[The_Other_MikeD 68]

In the DVD version I watched, Kate is told that the Christmas office party/promotion announcement is on Christmas Eve which is also Daniel's last day on Earth until next year. I thought "Oh, she'll try to make both parties (boring bar owner's party was the same night)." Then it skips to she's at BBO's party with no explanation of how she ditched the office party, as if she had just quit her job or given up the promotion to see Daniel one more time. I know this sort of gets explained later when her (ex-)boss calls her to find out where the paperwork is. That's when she should have blackmailed him for her job and promotion back.

Also there is a great little song that plays over the selection screen. It sounds reminiscent of Christmas Time is Here from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. The only original song listed in the credits is called 'Phantom Girlfriend'.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

On 12/23/2019 at 8:44 PM, AlmostAGhost said:

You have stumbled upon a classic law school property professor question!

My favorite new show, Property Law Brothers.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

On 12/23/2019 at 9:16 PM, DrGuts1003 said:

The behavior of the tavern lady and the way people behave around her with regards to Daniel makes no sense.  This is a small town and this inn closes every two weeks in December for several years.  There have been newspaper articles written about how it closes because of a ghost.  Yet she asks the innkeeper to let her use the inn as if she’s unaware of why the inn is closed.

Then the innkeeper and Kate go to lengths to try and hide Daniel’s true identity from her, but there’s pictures of Daniel all throughout the house. And I would imagine that the story of his murder is probably the biggest thing to have ever happened in that town, so surely everyone would be familiar with him and his story. How does she not put two and two together?

Similarly, the sheriff seems to just think Kate is crazy when she claims there’s a ghost in the inn.  Does he just think all young women are hysterical loons or has he never heard why the inn closes every year?

What makes this more bonkers is she's the one who gives us the exposition drop of Lily marrying the brother, having a baby "scarily soon," and then both her and the baby dying. This woman must have face blindness with regards to Daniel and is just straight up rude with regards to the fact that THIS INN IS CLOSED AND SHE KNOWS WHY!

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I know I'm triple posting here, bare with me, cause this is worth it.

The gang talked about the idea of falling in love with a ghost or even going to the bone zone with a ghost like that was the craziest idea they had ever heard. I'm so happy that Paul got to share his ghost story (please go on Roz Drezfalez's show Ghosted now, Paul, cause you know each other and that is a great show). But what worries me about the fact that they blew off this concept so readily is that means they have NO idea that an Irish woman legit married a pirate ghost. Not to mention the mass amounts of stories of people saying they legit had sex with a ghost lol. I know Roz has had at least two people that have said they legitimately fucked a ghost so this movie is honestly not out of the realm of possibility lol.

[Slavkody 7]

On 12/23/2019 at 10:46 PM, Cameron H. said:

And I know Jason felt Daniel did Lily a bit dirty by choosing Kate at the end, but from his perspective, he’s a century removed from that relationship. How long is he supposed to pine for the person he believes quickly jilted him for his brother. He may discover the real reasons behind it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those feeling will come rushing back.

He’s been dead around 100 years. 12 days, 100 times - that’s 1200 days. Just over three years of Daniel corporeal time. I’ve never been murdered and left behind a fiancé, but three years seems enough time for Daniel to move on. Or at the very least want a rebound hookup. 

[Slavkody 7]

I don’t know if it’s been mentioned, but did anyone else really look at the birth certificate Kate finds for Daniel’s son? It is absolutely fascinating to me. Firstly, Lily married the brother to cover up her out of wedlock pregnancy, but then lists Daniel as the father, names the baby after him, but then doesn’t include a “Jr.” in the name. So what is it, Lily? Are you ashamed of the pregnancy or owning up to it? I’m getting mixed messages here. 
 

But my FAVORITE part is how Lily’s name is listed. During a flashback, they say her name is Lily Culver. However, the birth certificate clearly says, “Maiden Name of Mother: Lily Forsythe”.

 

LILY. FORSYTHE. 
 

Does this mean that, not only does the birth certificate reveal the truth of the baby’s real father, but also that Daniel and Lily are related?? Maybe even siblings?!?  So not only do they have a child out of wedlock, but also the product of incest? While that would make this movie a million times more interesting, it would make it that much more confusing. 

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I think my favorite thing about that birth certificate photo isn't anything you listed, but the fact that this movie has Daniel pegged as a man from the 1920s when this in fact reveals he died December 24th 1919. He never even made it to the 20s.

This also begs the question of the whole idea surrounding him being a "rum runner" during Prohibition. For his final 6 months of life there was a technical war time prohibition on anything with an alcohol content greater that 1.28%. In October 1919 they did finally pass the Volstead Act, which banned the sale of all alcohol, but the country lacked the resources to enforce it at the time. To me this means that the idea of rum running probably didn't even become a thing until the actual 20s, because the country was not actually considered "dry" until January of 1920. After Daniel's death.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

1 hour ago, taylor anne photo said:

I think my favorite thing about that birth certificate photo isn't anything you listed, but the fact that this movie has Daniel pegged as a man from the 1920s when this in fact reveals he died December 24th 1919. He never even made it to the 20s.

This also begs the question of the whole idea surrounding him being a "rum runner" during Prohibition. For his final 6 months of life there was a technical war time prohibition on anything with an alcohol content greater that 1.28%. In October 1919 they did finally pass the Volstead Act, which banned the sale of all alcohol, but the country lacked the resources to enforce it at the time. To me this means that the idea of rum running probably didn't even become a thing until the actual 20s, because the country was not actually considered "dry" until January of 1920. After Daniel's death.

So technically his job as a rum runner would not exist or if it Dr it wouldn't be as profitable.  Like unless he's stockpiling like a crazed alcoholic doomsday prepper his job is pointless?  Wait I take that back! Actually people often get this key fact about prohibition wrong: the only thing illegal was the *sale and manufacturing of alcohol*NOT the drinking of it. SO TECHNICALLY any alcohol people had after January 1920 was theirs to do with as they pleased as long as it was for personal use. In fact many wealthy people did have large stocks of wine and other libations. So him becoming a mad booze squirrel desperately trying to stockpile alcohol for the dry years ahead would make a weird kind of sense ...

[gigi-tastic 2322]

There were a surprisingly large number of ways you could legally get alcohol without having to abandon your knocked up fiancee on Christmas during Prohibition. You could brew your own wine legally, up to 200 gallons a year, and you could even have a doctor write you a prescription for medicinal alcohol. Those prescriptions could be for a wide variety of things to from insomnia to depression.  If you still needed a kick there was always religion! Religious exemptions for things like sacramental wine were allowed. And many beer companies sold this stuff called malt syrup that you could basically add yeast and water too to ferment at home. Wine makers sold a similar thing for wine that was like a concentrated  wine brick.  Would these ways save your struggling inn and the only reason your soon to be father in law thinks your worth anything? Maybe not but I don't think they would get you murdered either

This is an example of an alcohol prescription.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/during-prohibition-your-doctor-could-write-you-prescription-booze-180947940/

[grudlian. 4725]

1 hour ago, taylor anne photo said:

I think my favorite thing about that birth certificate photo isn't anything you listed, but the fact that this movie has Daniel pegged as a man from the 1920s when this in fact reveals he died December 24th 1919. He never even made it to the 20s.

This also begs the question of the whole idea surrounding him being a "rum runner" during Prohibition. For his final 6 months of life there was a technical war time prohibition on anything with an alcohol content greater that 1.28%. In October 1919 they did finally pass the Volstead Act, which banned the sale of all alcohol, but the country lacked the resources to enforce it at the time. To me this means that the idea of rum running probably didn't even become a thing until the actual 20s, because the country was not actually considered "dry" until January of 1920. After Daniel's death.

I thought maybe there was a dry county in Massachusetts but a quick Google search doesn't pull up anything. So, if he wasn't bootlegging, what was he doing? Was he lying to his girlfriend in the 1920s about why he was gone for weeks at a time? Is he lying to us now about what he was doing? What was so bad that he's willing to cover it up with breaking federal law?

[taylor anne photo 11311]

49 minutes ago, gigi-tastic said:

So technically his job as a rum runner would not exist or if it Dr it wouldn't be as profitable.  Like unless he's stockpiling like a crazed alcoholic doomsday prepper his job is pointless?  Wait I take that back! Actually people often get this key fact about prohibition wrong: the only thing illegal was the *sale and manufacturing of alcohol*NOT the drinking of it. SO TECHNICALLY any alcohol people had after January 1920 was theirs to do with as they pleased as long as it was for personal use. In fact many wealthy people did have large stocks of wine and other libations. So him becoming a mad booze squirrel desperately trying to stockpile alcohol for the dry years ahead would make a weird kind of sense ...

Except he was working for someone else! So all of the booze he was running wasn't even for himself it was for someone else. Did that dude get crazy with prepping and decide to pay a bunch of people a fuck ton of money to hide his own booze?!

43 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

I thought maybe there was a dry county in Massachusetts but a quick Google search doesn't pull up anything. So, if he wasn't bootlegging, what was he doing? Was he lying to his girlfriend in the 1920s about why he was gone for weeks at a time? Is he lying to us now about what he was doing? What was so bad that he's willing to cover it up with breaking federal law?

Clearly this is more evidence towards a Canadian production that can't get their fuckin history straight!

[gigi-tastic 2322]

What exactly was Daniel doing in England for a summer at the Savoy? He claims he learned to make the Hanky Panky from it's creator the famed bartender Ada  Coleman ( one of only two women to ever hold  the job as head bartender to this DAY) If he died in 1920 I would think that he would have served in WW1. Are you telling me he served as a barback? Because I don't see him getting over there before 1914 to just spend a summer as an intern. I've always read you STIR a Hanky Panky instead of shaking it like he did. 

[DrGuts1003 462]

9 hours ago, taylor anne photo said:

I know I'm triple posting here, bare with me, cause this is worth it.

The gang talked about the idea of falling in love with a ghost or even going to the bone zone with a ghost like that was the craziest idea they had ever heard. I'm so happy that Paul got to share his ghost story (please go on Roz Drezfalez's show Ghosted now, Paul, cause you know each other and that is a great show). But what worries me about the fact that they blew off this concept so readily is that means they have NO idea that an Irish woman legit married a pirate ghost. Not to mention the mass amounts of stories of people saying they legit had sex with a ghost lol. I know Roz has had at least two people that have said they legitimately fucked a ghost so this movie is honestly not out of the realm of possibility lol.

Here is a story about a woman named Amethyst Realm who claims she only has sex with ghosts now.  She had been engaged to a man, but they broke off their engagement after he caught her having sex with a ghost.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

6 hours ago, DrGuts1003 said:

Here is a story about a woman named Amethyst Realm who claims she only has sex with ghosts now.  She had been engaged to a man, but they broke off their engagement after he caught her having sex with a ghost.

Sounds legit

[gigi-tastic 2322]

15 hours ago, DrGuts1003 said:

Here is a story about a woman named Amethyst Realm who claims she only has sex with ghosts now.  She had been engaged to a man, but they broke off their engagement after he caught her having sex with a ghost.

While not sex with ghosts there is a Chinese practice of marrying off single dead people to each other or Ghost Marriage.Married dead people have more advantages in the after life, and so do their living family in many cultures. Also there's the fear that a single person might haunt you and cause sickness and misfortune. The problem is that there are currently far more men in China than women.  Also Men Technically Ghost Marriage is outlawed ( and you might understand why) but it's still widely practiced in Northern parts of China. So the most common form is a marriage between two dead single people, however living women have been involved in these ritual marriages recently( more on this on a bit) .  So traditionally a "bride's" family would ask for a bride price and even get a dowery according to a BBC article I read " 

there is even a dowry, which includes jewellery, servants and a mansion - but all in the form of paper tributes.

Factors like age and family background are as essential as they are in more traditional weddings, so families hire feng shui masters to work as a match-maker.

The wedding ceremony will typically involve the funeral plaque of the bride and the groom and a banquet. The most important part is digging up the bones of the bride and putting them inside the groom's grave. " 

This is where we get a problem. As I mentioned because of China's vast disparity between the sexes due to China's One Child policy and the favouring of boys there's not a lot of dead single women... 

So some people are turning to grave robbing ( and worse).  Some women's bodies are stolen, interred, dug up and sold again. 

( more from the same article)

 " 

Huang Jingchun, the head of the Chinese department at Shanghai University who carried out a field study on ghost weddings in Shanxi between 2008 and 2010, the price of a corpse or the bones of a young woman has risen sharply.

At the time of his research such remains would fetch around 30,000 to 50,000 yuan (£3,400 to £5,700; $4,500 to $7,500). He estimates the price these days could be up to 100,000 yuan. The sale of corpses was outlawed in 2006 but that hasn't stopped grave robbers. 

A man arrested in Liangcheng County, Inner Mongolia last year told police officers that he murdered a woman so that he could make money by selling her body to a family looking for a ghost bride. "

I first learned about Ghost Marriage watching a video of on of my favorite youtubers and authors Caitlin Doughty. She's a fascinating mortician and death positive activist. Her video on the subject is both funny and far more informative than I .

 

( I can't make this other video go away. Please enjoy a second helping of the Death Mother)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37103447

[gigi-tastic 2322]

On 12/27/2019 at 10:12 AM, taylor anne photo said:

My favorite new show, Property Law Brothers.

Which Daniel could star in as a low budget Property Ghost Brother

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

If Lily was already a Forsythe, maybe she was actually their mom who they French kissed.

I don't know much about prohibition but I'd like to chime in on it being easier than going to Canada (did he walk in the snow all the way there?). My great grandfather was a bartender and then when prohibition hit, his census occupation just changed to "beverages." Sneak level 100. 

[E.Lerner 111]

On 12/27/2019 at 6:33 PM, gigi-tastic said:

 I've always read you STIR a Hanky Panky instead of shaking it like he did. 

 Interesting that they got the ingredients right — Daniel laments the sorry conditions of the bar after not being able to find the Fernet Branca — but the preparation wrong. Drinks that are 100% spirits (ha!) should always be stirred. 

For those playing at home, a Hanky Panky is:
1.5oz Gin
1.5oz Sweet Vermouth 
2 dashes Fernet Branca 
Stirred and served up in a large coupe or martini glass, garnished with an expressed orange peel. 

It's a variant on the Martini's predecessor, the Martinez. There are a lot of different historic formulations but here's a good one:
2oz Gin
.75oz Sweet Vermouth
.25oz Luxardo
Dash Angostura Bitters 
Also stirred and served up in a large coupe or martini glass, garnished with an expressed orange peel. 

[wthiessen 0]

Every time Jason or Paul said "What are the rules?!?" all I can think of is the song in the episode of Sunny "The Gang Turns Black". haha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BexZfTUdDbI