missdefying - Tumblr blog

missdefying · 1 year

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hey! i have context for you, re: the thing that both tonia and the person on bluesky would have have been responding to. it's towards the end of anonymousad's hellishly long and weird shelterwood takedown and it, uh, doesn't exactly make them look any better. if you want to see if you can """read and understand""" (lmao, you're right, that sucks so bad) the true meaning of their words, here they are, in full context so as to avoid accusations of cherrypicking! "as an example, let's look at the Afflicted Season 2 crowdfunding campaign that just ended in failure.

this was a FIXED GOAL campaign. they were asking for $23,500 USD and they only made it to $13,283, just over 50% of the way there. so they got none of it. it was all or nothing and the result this time was nothing.

and that really sucks for a lot of reasons.

I had some criticisms about that campaign that I kept to myself at the time, in part because diverse voices in audio drama is really important. Afflicted provided a lot of opportunities for marginalized creators to get established and share their unique voices. so often the campaigns that are getting met are the ones that continue to prop up the same types of voices and experiences as we've all heard before.

I am much more interested in the unique horror that a show like Afflicted is bringing to the table as a production driven by a Black woman than I am with hearing from the same types of voices we are used to. we have a lot of similar people making stuff in the community, and frankly a lot of our "diversity" is mostly driven by being white and queer. these voices are important too and there's a lot that is good, but that is the majority in this space. that's why we need to make sure we are getting opportunities to the people who don't have the privilege or connections.

this is a personal opinion, not one everyone will agree with. but we are better as a community when we do extra work to make sure that more varied diversity is highlighted and supported.

Afflicted planted their foot saying "this much or nothing" and took the gamble that most of these high number campaigns are unwilling to do. a gamble that they succeeded in last year to fund the first season.

the difference is partly that the economy looked really different last year. disposable income, rent prices, general cost of living. it wasn't great, but it was better than it is now and that MATTERS. we all know how fucking bad it is right now, especially in the US, so to be asking these massive amounts of money is tone deaf. in this case, Afflicted was even asking for MORE than they raised for season 1. you could argue some of that is because they already managed to prove themselves as creators who were good for the money and deserved that kind of chance.

but the fact of the matter is that people just don't have that kind of cash to give over and over.

which leads into my main point.

every time I see a campaign with this high of a goal I think one thing:

"this is hurting the community."

now, that may not sound reasonable to some of you, especially if you are one of the people who believes that numbers this high are justifiable.

when we talk about supporting each other from a audio drama creator standpoint, it is done so freely and with an understanding that new listeners isn't really a thing we're going to run out of. if I recommend 10 podcasts I like, that doesn't hurt MY show. it just helps the community by sharing things we generally enjoy and care about it. this is how you end up with the networks of support that we've seen in newer places like the Audio Drama Lab.

unfortunately, money is not the same.

the amount of money that each of us has to give to support the things we like is limited based on our individual situations. anyone recommending a specific crowdfunding campaign to give money to DOES have an impact on the amount of money left in the pool for others.

so when something like Shelterwood or Arden or Afflicted or Among the Stacks or The Magnus fucking Protocol asks for these amounts, this is ACTIVELY impacting whether other campaigns will succeed."

Ooooh, okay, okay, okay.

Thank you for sending me the context, I do quite enjoy reading drama at times

I actually don't mind accusations of cherry picking, it's fine either way but thank you for your concern. It's very sweet.

The main reason I'm about to do what I'm about to do is because I've actually had microaggressions on the brain for plot reasons and this is positively wonderful practice to put these things into words.

Alright, so OPs argument here is that there's a set amount of money in the AD pool from which we can draw from, and that taking bigger draws for a production leaves too little for the rest of the AD community.

I'm not going to argue whether this is true or false right now (but I am going to point out...what this echoes later and why I do not like the argument) and instead am going to continue as if this statement is fact.

My question is why bring up the race and gender of Afflicted's creator? The entire diversity statement here is completely unnecessary. If the argument is that big budget audio dramas are taking too much money, and that is detrimental to ADs economic ecosystem then it does not matter if Afflicted's show runner was an alien from Venus. OPs decision to bring up the race and gender of the showrunner and then point out that the actions from this particular production is harming the AD community was a contextual...decision.

And as a result the following is now colored by the acknowledgment of the creator's race and gender so things like hinting at the aggressiveness of the campaign

"Afflicted planted their foot saying 'this much or nothing'"

and that she's taking too much for the ecosystem to survive

"every time I see a campaign with this high of a goal I think one thing: 'this is hurting the community'"

...is just a bad look. Because these comments simply don't exist in a vacuum.

I also have to wonder why the chose Afflicted in the first place. This could have been avoided if they had brought in the numbers of the Magnus Archives Protocol (whose numbers are still available ~700,000 pounds) or Arden (a successful campaign that aimed for 26,000 but made a tidy $12,065 and will use that money to continue production) or Shelterwood (which aimed for $26,000, made ~$6,000 and will also be going into production). Because...why use a "failed campaign" to highlight the money this one production is taking and "harming the community" with, when they, in reality, took nothing at all?

Why choose Afflicted? Was it timing? Was it because they were at hand? Was it because it gave OP a chance to talk about how accepting they were to different types of diversity?

Let's zoom out for a moment. We've heard this argument before the "there's not enough to go around and some people are taking too much and leaving too little for everyone else"...in things like affirmative action, and immigration. It's a very faint, "if you blink you might miss it" replacement theory argument.

And it begins to fall apart when they bring up this argument

Because if there's an understanding that new listeners aren't really a thing the AD community is going to run out of...while claiming that the funds (coming from people who donate, aka the pool of listeners that is ever growing) is stagnant the argument fails to hold up.

All in all, very odd. I'd claim there's a lot here that I didn't touch upon such as the acknowledgment that the AD pool is majority white and that the one production in this list that is asking for the least amount cash at highest stakes that contains the highest concentration of diverse voices is somehow taking money from the acknowledged "majority" is a bit of a hot mess, but I digress.

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missdefying · 1 year

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here's the quote from the original AD article talking about a Black woman hoarding resources: "because what you are doing is creating an ecosystem where only YOUR cast and crew will get fair wages for their work. everyone else will have to do the compromise for YOUR sake." and I discovered the BlueSky user was actually my co-creator (who is white and queer), because she was standing up for me because I wasn't in a solid enough mental state to do so for myself. But she knows why I created Afflicted, what it means to me, and what our mission is in terms of giving opportunities and visibility to marginalized communities.

read MORE carefully when you feel attacked, not less

I honestly wonder about the reading comprehension of some people because some of the reactions to my posts seem to go like this:

me: I think pancakes are better than waffles other person: WHAT THE FUCK, WHY DO YOU HATE WAFFLES

and... no, that isn't what I said?

I didn't say people don't deserve to be compensated for their work, I said that you can't be trying to pay people like it's a salaried job without having that kind of stable and consistent business income. that's literally how businesses go bankrupt all the time.

I also didn't say that you can't/shouldn't be able to make money in audio drama, I said that you need to do it SUSTAINABLY. off the top of my head I can name several shows that do just that (WOE.BEGONE and Malevolent being two I've mentioned in the past), not to mention people like Lauren Shippen. timing and luck have a lot to do with success, absolutely, so that isn't to say it is easy or guaranteed if you follow in those kinds of steps, but it does show that it can be done in ways that are self-sustaining rather than constantly asking for large cash drops to stay afloat.

speaking of, I didn't compare Harlan to JK Rowling, I pointed out how "death of the author" has been deployed by people who don't want to face HER hatefulness while still engaging with Harry Potter (I know many people like this as we all do I'm sure) as an example of why you have to be cautious when throwing it around as an excuse.

and I definitely didn't say that a Black woman was hoarding resources by having a crowdfunding campaign with a high goal??? very weird assumption for you to draw from what I actually WAS talking about, person on Bluesky. almost like you didn't actually read and understand that whole section before trying to jump down my throat about it.

I have found, both in writing this blog and generally in life, that the more people feel defensive the less they are able to engage with what is being said. anyone who has ever tried to argue for trans or gay rights with a right winger has experienced this, it's the reason that "debate bro" types are so successful. you pick out the parts that make you feel angry and you go on a tirade about them, rather than stepping back and trying to synthesize the whole message.

not once has one of the people defensive about the crowdfunding stuff addressed my key point of it being "unsustainable" in their responses to it. that is literally the thesis, sidestepping it does not make it go away. it just reinforces to me and others that you are not thinking long-term about what will and won't work for us as a community.

I should also say that none of what I post comes just from me. every single thing I've said on this blog has come from at least a few different people. it is not a one-person opinion party, something I'm not sure I've ever said outright. especially with the crowdfund stuff I have had conversations with at least a dozen showrunners who all think the current methods do not work, are not sustainable, and are only benefitting the same people over and over. I have these conversations with my "colleagues" (because I can't think of another word) in the space because I find it interesting and important and valuable. I am engaging with these conversations outside of this blog because I have an emotional investment in us as a community figuring this out so that we can thrive.

I still regret not making this blog when I first desperately wanted to to talk about The Magnus Protocol campaign. (I do have thoughts on the TMA ttrpg though, as a general thing that exists and also based in some basic understanding of how the selected system was a bad choice for what people will be hoping to get from this thing so people will likely be disappointed once they actually play it)

anyway, that's all I have to say on that right now.

tldr: I know my posts are long and there is a lot to get through sometimes. but if you are going to fixate on one sentence and ignore the larger context you are setting yourself up to misunderstand the actual point being made. and yes, there is usually a point, one that I find important enough to bother writing about in the first place.

actually, I should also say that I would be more than willing to have a conversation with Tal or someone else from that part of the community who believes that the current crowdfunding model is working and will continue to work in the long run. seriously, if I am missing something obvious then explain it to me so I can understand what about this is working. and I don't just mean working for you, I mean working for the community and creators as a whole. because I still see a lot of campaigns fail for much less, even when following the vague tips being handed out about how to run a successful campaign.

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missdefying · 1 year

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Dear Anonymous AD,

I can’t remember where I heard this quote, but the sentiment is something like this: “Those who complain without solutions are an isle of bitterness. Those who discuss solutions are a community.”

Originally, I wasn’t going to respond to your post about Afflicted’s crowdfunding campaign (among others), mostly because when you posted it, I was in a really bad place mentally. Your words absolutely made it worse, because when I’m in that headspace, every bad thing someone says about me feels true, even when it isn’t. I’m finally on the other side now, and want to reply, so please forgive me for the delay, and please don’t apologize. Apologies that require a prompt aren’t apologies I’m interested in, nor will they change my opinion of you.

To tell me, essentially behind my back, that “to be asking these massive amounts of money is tone deaf” and that I was “hurting the community” was cowardly, and frankly, bad journalism. There was zero mention of the fact that Seed and Spark went down during our biggest and first marketing push, robbing us of momentum. You only reference the economy, and you also neglected to discuss how Twitter’s new policies to deplatform anyone who isn’t a paying member or an outrage account affect creative entrepreneurs. There was no mention of the WGA strike and how that affected all campaigns, but mine specifically. If you’re going to talk about someone, especially anonymously, at least reach out to them for context, and ask to tag them. Don’t surprise them with hurtful words right after something VERY important to them personally, professionally, and financially failed.

Not only were your words inaccurate and hurtful, they weren’t even solid journalism.

Let’s address your accusations—first that it’s “tone deaf” to ask for this much money for a podcast. I’d argue it’s tone deaf to ask people to work for peanuts in a struggling economy for someone else’s entertainment. We are not entitled to free entertainment simply because the economy sucks. In fact, when the economy sucks, entertainment is what folks turn to as an escape. People’s time has value and so does entertainment, and that value is increased when the world is in a bad place. Following your logic, no one should be asking for money for anything but health care or other emergency expenses because there are people starving and unhoused. Why don’t you write a letter to indie filmmakers and tell them putting out entertainment is tone deaf? Tell them they should put their careers on hold until the world isn’t such a mess.

Let’s talk about “hurting the community”. Which community? Because the community I serve are marginalized people who deserve fair wages for their work, and deserve to hear characters like themselves in media. And you say that the GOAL ITSELF harms the community, so this isn’t even an issue with losing money from the rotation, because reaching the goal is what does that. You just don’t like productions that want to pay people a living wage.

Which brings me to my next point: A living wage doesn’t mean I give someone all the money they need to live. It means that I pay them enough per hour that if they continued to make that same money elsewhere, they would be able to live without doing without necessities or the occasional luxury coffee. If you don’t understand that basic concept, you should really be reconsidering whether you should be criticizing crowdfunds at all.

The success of higher-dollar campaigns does not keep you from being successful any more than it keeps someone from getting lifesaving cancer treatment. OF COURSE anyone aware of a campaign to save someone’s life would and SHOULD give their money to that campaign over any audio drama if they have to choose. Why aren’t you mad at people who get sick because they don’t take care of themselves, or the American healthcare system? Why aren’t you calling out the cause of our economic problems as to why people like us are struggling? Why are you attacking your own community over a disagreement of an opinion…because that’s what this is—your uneducated opinion.

Saying that the Magnus Archive helped justify what we asked for is just…wrong. Multiple podcasts (Iliad House, We’re Alive, SAYER, Drabblecast Reborn, and Unseen are just a few examples) asked for and raised in excess of $20k before Magnus did their Kickstarter. We didn’t raise our amount for Season 2 vs Season 1 because of Magnus; we did it because my co-creator and I made less than minimum wage for the first season, and we wanted to at least get minimum wage for season 2. We each got paid about $300-$350 per episode to direct, produce, write (me), and sound design (my co-creator) each episode, which took us each about 50 hours from planning to posting, and that doesn’t count the time spent doing things like paying bills, updating websites, and appearing at events (at a cost to me, so I actually lost money to produce Season 1 because I was investing for a Season 2) for marketing. Shipping costs also raised considerably, and rather than excluding non-US supporters from physical rewards, we opted to charge appropriate shipping. Again, I strongly suggest you talk to the creators rather than making up what you think is true, or framing your arguments to make what you’re saying sound reasonable.

I’d like to address this quote:

because what you are doing is creating an ecosystem where only YOUR cast and crew will get fair wages for their work. everyone else will have to do the compromise for YOUR sake.

Before my head was clear, this was a gut punch to me. I have been very public in stating that my goal is to help EVERYONE in this industry. In fact, I’m part of the WGA Audio Alliance Organizing Committee and I’m the Indie Fiction Co-chair. We are actively discussing ways to make this a sustainable career for anyone who wants it, and is willing to put in the work to put out professional quality work.

You may think you have to compromise because I want to pay people fairly, but let’s be honest here: you’re actually insecure. You’re worried someone will want to spend their hard earned money on my show instead of yours. You're worried that you’ll have to pay more for quality talent because people like me have shown them they don’t have to work for peanuts, and they should expect people to run their audio dramas as a business—including fair pay. This industry is no more a competition than book authors. It says a lot that you look at this as a competition rather than a cooperative industry, considering what you do publicly.

The only reason you’d have to compromise your own creative vision because of what someone else is doing is because your vision is limited and focused on someone else other than yourself and the people you want to serve.

You complain about rising tides and how people are broke. Let me tell you this: I have long Covid. I have PTSD so bad that sometimes I can’t work for weeks. My expenses exceed my income on a regular basis. Audio dramas are one way I can make money within the confounds of my current abilities, and as the person clocking the most work hours for the show, I theoretically should be getting paid the most. Even though I am personally struggling, I make sure my cast and crew are paid fairly first, even though many of them are more financially secure than I am. If you consider me trying to stay off of disability, while helping other people who are trying to do the same, or just trying to make it in a world that hates them as “exploitative”, in the nicest way possible, I invite you to kiss my ass. Pay my bills, and then we can talk about who and what I’m exploiting.

You’ve followed up since then complaining that people are misunderstanding you. I have not seen anyone talk about how podcasting shouldn’t become sustainable. In fact, many of the folks you accuse of misunderstanding you are my colleagues in the WGA Audio Alliance. We’re literally doing free labor so that this becomes a sustainable career for you, for me, and for everyone. What are you doing besides complaining? I don’t mean that as a dig. I mean that as a question, because from your posts on Tumblr, you seem to be tearing the community apart and chastising anyone who doesn’t agree with you completely like they’re just too foolish to understand your brilliance. Even if you are helping people create audio dramas, if your private principles match your public ones, you’re encouraging them to work on a shoestring budget that requires them to take advantage of people. Most people call those places sweatshops if they’re creating physical products. Why is an intangible product any different?

And yes, you absolutely did say that, me, a Black woman, was hoarding resources. Not with those words, no, but read that quote above and tell me how the sentiment is any different. What you’re not gonna do is talk out of both sides of your mouth about how important my work as a Black woman is while turning around and saying that my goal amount means no one else gets to play. You don’t get to compliment me to shield yourself from accusations of racism while telling me I’m doing it wrong. Either my Blackness is a factor or it’s not.

Finally, as Tal mentioned, no one thinks crowdsourcing is the best/only way of making this business work. There will be other options, but crowdfunding is an important piece now. This is something else we’re working toward in the Audio Alliance—figuring out how we can help each other, and brainstorming ways of funding our productions and pooling resources to cut costs. But you wouldn’t know about that—you’re too busy complaining on your isle of bitterness to work with the community toward solutions, though you certainly pretend you uphold the community publicly.

Once your anonymous persona matches your public one, I’d be happy to have a chat with you to discuss what the WGA-AA is working on. Until then, you are not a trustworthy source, and worth no more of my time.

read MORE carefully when you feel attacked, not less

I honestly wonder about the reading comprehension of some people because some of the reactions to my posts seem to go like this:

me: I think pancakes are better than waffles other person: WHAT THE FUCK, WHY DO YOU HATE WAFFLES

and... no, that isn't what I said?

anyway, that's all I have to say on that right now.

#podcasting #anonymous ad #crowdfunding #journalist ethics and process are important #check yourself before you wreck yourself

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missdefying · 1 year

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Here's another great show currently raising money for production. If you donated to Afflicted's campaign, and it turns out that we don't hit our goal, I hope you'll take the money you planned to give to us and give to this show. And if you can give to both, please do.

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missdefying · 1 year

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10 days left on our fundraiser. Over $14k to go. Not gonna lie, this one hurts. We're still topping podcast charts, but between our biggest platform (Twitter) deplatforming folks who refuse to line Elon's wallet, and our issues with Seed and Spark going down during our biggest promo push and missing out on $6k in donations...we're struggling to find hope. And, to be honest, I'm also in the middle of EMDR treatment for PTSD, and I just don't have the spoons to constantly post and seek out more promo anymore. I want this to succeed, but I've also made a conscious decision that I won't sacrifice my mental health to do it. I could be angry at Seed and Spark for utterly failing at their one job, then refusing to make it right.

I could be mad at Elon for making the place where I built my career absolutely useless. I could be mad at the people who betrayed me for fucking up my mental health to the degree that I have to spend so much time on self-care just to keep my head above water that I can't fully participate in my business for now. There were so many early signs that this was the story Jen and I were meant to tell for Season 2. Little synchronicities of things that felt like signs this season was meant to be, the incredible success of our first season, and the way the story just flowed. So, instead of being angry, I'm just sad and confused. What is the future of audio drama if a hit show can't get funded for another season? People being squeezed by inflation is a monster we can't really fight. It doesn't matter how much people want another season if they can't spare funds to make it happen.

Ours isn't the only campaign suffering. Others are missing their goals, or raising far less money than they need to produce a show and pay people a living wage.

Make no mistake--the future of indie audio drama is at risk. We're almost entirely funded by the generosity of everyday people, and now those everyday people either never see we're raising money, or they simply don't have it to give.

The visibility problem can be solved with time.

The problem of corporate greed is much more complicated.

Jen and I would still very much like to hire our incredibly diverse cast and crew for another season. Those people deserve the world. And we'd love to bring a new story to our fans...and frankly, we'd love to keep making haters mad that we dare to include Black and queer people in our lead roles.

If you can, help us out. If not, we totally understand. Times are hard for everyone, but we will get through this.

#audio drama #indie

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missdefying · 1 year

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this is the tumblr explanation i needed. thank you!

obligatory welcome guide for redditors

A lot of the guides I've seen don't actually seem to understand how reddit works in comparison to tumblr so

your blog is basically your own small subreddit. some people curate this heavily to fit a theme, like a sub, most people don't

reblogs are culturally equivilant to upvotes but functionally equvilant to crossposting

there is an algorithm. it sucks and nobody uses it. turn it off in settings. everything is generally chronological

likes are functionally equivilant to saving a post

you've probably already seen this but change your icon and put something in your bio or people WILL assume you're a bot. personal info not required

generally, anything you would put as a comment on a thread should go in the tags or the replies of a post. only add comments in reblogs if you want it to become part of the base post

tags are mostly equivilant to flairs, used for organization and commentary

your dashboard is an aggregation of everyone you follow

there is an r/all equivilant(trending page) but it sucks and nobody uses it

our search also sucks. your best bet is using tumblr.com/tagged/[TAG] and not /search

there are no mods

by extension, reporting something doesn't put it in front of the mods, it sends it to staff, who may or may not do anything(usually they don't)

there is no karma, there are no karma limits. anyone can reblog anything, comment/reply to anything, or post in any tag

"reposting"(reblogging) old content doesn't matter. people can and will reblog the same post multiple times, including in a row

CAVEAT. reposting someones art(NOT reblogging, making a new post) is a dick move. i know this is commonplace on fandom subs but its not necessary here. everything you post should be [OC] unless you are reblogging. or posting shitty memes

we have our own sitelore, you'll pick it up

(though im not opposed to bringing some over from reddit)

our app also sucks. we do not have third party apps and any that claim to be are scams. sorry

for desktop, most people use the XKit Rewritten extension for QoL improvements and to revert shitty aesthetic updates, much like old.reddit

we have no idea where the porn rules are at either. add a mature content flag to anything you'd get fired for looking at at work, that's about it

finally, from the bottom of my heart, fuck u/spez

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missdefying · 1 year

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Thanks for the shoutout <3

The Afflicted team had to transfer funding platforms and lost the $3k+ they raised so far - if you have a few bucks to spare, please help them fund the second season of this amazing audio drama! There's great perks to be had as well.

Here's the pitch for their new season:

This season: a modern retelling of the Bell Witch haunting...this time with a (demonic) bookish twist. Last season, we took on Lovecraft Country meets True Blood, but this season, we're more about The Conjuring meets Lovecraft Country.

Season 2 of Afflicted will be set in the 1960s, and focus on a family being tormented by an unseen entity. Folks from the area insist that the Bell Witch has returned, almost 150 years after her original appearance, but is this Bell Witch a copycat, or something far more sinister? If you listened to Season 1, you know a demonic book bound in human flesh was responsible for the supernatural disasters that befell Gunnaway, and this season is no exception. The question is...who wields the book's power this time?

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missdefying · 2 years

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Had a great time teaching the next generation about podcasting at @cphslibrarytx Those kids are so lucky to have such a great librarian! Thanks for having me. 🖤 Also…one student is working on a podcast that I can’t wait to listen to! Want me to visit your school? DM me! I do in-person and virtual, everything from quick overviews to workshops! https://www.instagram.com/p/CoX1YtcvXE4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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missdefying · 2 years

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Christmas day hike! 🖤🖤🖤 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm67GxhOPbI/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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missdefying · 2 years

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So....where are all my horror friends?

I am old and don't understand Tumblr. My feed is all podcasting, but I want to round it out with some of my horror peeps. Help me find y'all!

#horror

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missdefying · 2 years

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I'm part of the WGA AA and I'd love for every single one of you in the audio industry to join me. This industry is horribly exploitative and we need to change that. #solidarity

The only way to change the exploitation of creatives in this industry is collective action.

---

What Is The WGAE Audio Alliance?

The Audio Alliance is a union of podcasters, both registered WGA members and not, committed to raising pay and benefit standards in the scripted audio industry.

We are involved in everything from high-budget audio fiction produced or financed by large companies to small-budget indie podcasts that we produce ourselves; and we come from all corners of the creative community: the film and television industry, the theater, the literary world, and beyond.

We are committed to centering BIPOC and other underrepresented writers in our organizing, and to making sure that our events are welcoming and safe spaces. Our goal is the come together as a community to discuss our experiences and disseminate information that is otherwise not easily accessible.

---

What can the Audio Alliance do for you?

Just by joining the WGAE Audio Alliance, you'll have access to contract support to help navigate negotiations around:

Payment,

Rights,

Creative Control,

Derivatives,

Crediting,

and More!

---

How do I join?

Twitter: @WGAAudio

Discord: discord.gg/ZKXhhex7HX

On Our Website: WGAEast.org/WGAAudio/

...or you can follow us here on Tumblr!

#wga audio alliance #unionize #solidarity

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missdefying · 2 years

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this. @afflictedaudio got several 1 star ratings yesterday and today and I think @nightlightpod did too (there are more ratings there so I can’t say with certainty that NIGHTLIGHT got hit as well, but i’m fairly confident it did).

Listen up pod pals, what we’re NOT going to do right now is stop engaging with RQ Network shows.

If you read The Article and that’s the conclusion you came to, I beg you to reread.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, these shows ARE NOT PRODUCED BY RQ. Cutting your support to them because you want to disengage from RQ is not the answer. You would be hurting the people you want to help.

This includes in house RQ creators. Do NOT harass them. We’re. Not. Doing. It.

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missdefying · 2 years

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Good Bones

A few years ago, we had our house remodeled.

Shortly after, the dog started to scratch and bark at the wall randomly.

youtube

At first, I thought maybe the new A/C was leaking down into the wall since the unit was pretty much directly above where he barked.

So I went up to the EXTREMELY hot attic...in summer time...in Central Texas. I was up there for at least 20 minutes, soaked from sweat, and so thirsty.

I looked for evidence of a leak, animals, structural issues.

But there was nothing at all.

A few days went by and he started scratching and barking at the same place again. So I went up into the attic…again.

And there was still nothing. Not even a smell to indicate mildew or animals.

A few weeks went by and he kept it up. didn’t matter if it was day or night, if the A/C was on or not.

Now, a couple months before, I kept finding dead bees in my office. Like a lot. Every single day, there would be at least 3 or 4…

…but only in my office. which was on the opposite side of the house from the A/C.

Like any good horror writer, I began to cook up stories about the bees before the thing-in-the-wall incident...

until I watched a show where some people had a whole ass bee hive in their walls.

So I grabbed my stethoscope and sat it next to the couch, waiting for the dog to go over and scratch again.

A couple of days went by, and he finally did.

So I put the scope up next to the wall, shushed the dog, held my breath, and listened...

Now, if you’ve followed me for a few years, you might remember how I used to talk about something very big walking on my roof.

I even got up there at one point to look for evidence of what it could have been.

I never did find out what liked to walk across my roof. It was way too big to be a squirrel and the footfalls were too heavy to be a bird or cat.

But I know what a person walking on a roof sounds like, and that was it.

I just didn’t know WHO or HOW they got up there. So anyway, I'm listening with my stethoscope.

And I heard those same footsteps on the roof.

But I also heard something else. Talking.

Not whispering.

Talking.

So I pulled the stethoscope from the wall and listened.

I couldn't hear it anymore, so I took the stethoscope out of my ears...

…and still couldn’t hear it.

The dog started going crazy at this point, so I gave up. Eventually, I went to bed, trying to make sense of what I heard.

The chimney was about 12 feet away, so maybe people were outside and the sound was coming from the chimney.

But that didn’t explain why the dog was scratching at that spot and not closer to the chimney. Again, if you’ve been following me for a while you know I used to be a data scientist.

So naturally, I collected data. Times, weather, temperature, whether the A/C was on, how many dead bees were in my office.

I didn't find any time correlation, but I also didn’t know if whatever it was haunted my walls while I slept since the dog stayed locked in the bedroom.

I did find a correlation with bees though. On the days there was sound in the walls, more dead bees appeared the next day.

So I researched. Bears, birds, and raccoons are all bee predators.

We don't have bears around here, but I did have plenty of birds and raccoons sniffing around outside the house.

So, I decided it must be that. Birds are noisy in walls, so I made up my mind that it must be a raccoon.

I explained away the talking I heard.

Until the dog got mean.

He wasn’t scratching and barking at the walls any more. The hair on his back stood up, he perked up his ears, and let go a growl I'll never forget.

He didn’t even growl like that when he found snakes in the backyard, or when one contractor that he absolutely hated came to work.

Whatever was on the other side of that wall, he wanted to rip it to shreds. He was salivating so much, I worried he’d become rabid, despite having all his vaccinations.

I finally pulled him away from the wall because he was carving marks in it, and dragged him to the bedroom and closed him in.

He fought like hell the whole way.

I got my stethoscope again and listened.

The dog was barking his head off the entire time, but luckily the bedroom was far enough away I could still make out what I was hearing.

Words again. An argument. “Don’t listen”. “Lied”. “Cheated”.

“I smelled it”.

MY words. In MY voice.

The other voice? My now ex-husband.

We were arguing in the walls.

He wasn’t even home. He wasn’t outside.

There was no denying that the voices weren’t other people outside. The words didn’t even sound familiar….

Not until a few weeks later, when we were arguing.

I realized I was repeating the same words. I tried to change the argument up, use different words, but we both stuck to what I'd heard in the walls, no matter how hard I tried.

That's when I knew I was hearing the future in that wall. Or maybe the wall was dictating the future.

I don't know.

All I know is we sold the house in the divorce. It’s been sold at least 2 times in just over 2 years.

No one stays for long. Even our old neighbors have all moved.

We both knew something was weird about that house when we started fixing it up to move in.

The previous couple sold because of a divorce, so we just chalked it up to bad energy and saged the space.

But I know now that it wasn’t just bad energy. Something lived and fed in that house.

Something that drained me of energy so badly I became severely depressed to the point I sought help.

Something that fed on bees. Something that instigated arguments. Something that manipulated us.

#horror #scary stories

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