SPIRIT TALES AND MAGIC
Our host; Dr.G had his first paranormal experience at only eight years old. With over five decades of storytelling, magic and paranormal story collection he is an award winning story teller on a mission to revive firelight and the telling of stories!
SPIRIT TALES AND MAGIC
Pop Culture, Killers, And The Blurred Line Between Reality And The Paranormal
A sitcom saved a man from a murder charge, a horror classic echoed through real killings, and a dating show matched a contestant with a hidden predator. We pull on these threads to ask a bigger question: when culture touches crime, are we witnessing the paranormal or just the parts of reality we tend to ignore?
We start by challenging how we define “paranormal,” noting how legal language and scientific disagreement leave room for a gray middle where strange events live. From there, we walk through jaw‑dropping intersections of screen and street: a Dodgers game captured by a TV crew that later confirmed an alibi; a high‑profile case where knife training for an unaired pilot nearly became evidence; and a hospital technician who slipped from a small on‑screen role into the annals of true crime. The boundary blurs further with actors tied to organized crime, sets unknowingly employing violent offenders, and stories that end up shaping the real world they’re supposed to only reflect.
Horror’s shadow looms large. The Exorcist surfaced in killer letters and rituals, Taxi Driver stoked a dangerous obsession, and Psycho became a twisted script for violence. We also talk about modern hunting grounds like classifieds and social platforms, the realities of serial predators operating in plain sight, and the cases that never fully close. Along the way, we share field insights, a Detroit story that still stings, and a reminder that the unseen isn’t always supernatural; sometimes it’s the network of influences we overlook until the evidence makes them visible.
If this kind of boundary‑pushing storytelling resonates with you, tap follow, share the episode with a friend who loves true crime and paranormal crossovers, and leave a review to help others find the show. Got a story or a lead? Visit our site anytime and send it our way.
Good afternoon, everybody. It's Dr. G Spirit Tales of Magic. Just a little after four in Phoenix. We're in the studio. Been going through quite a bit of both snail mail and email during the day. Got a rather interesting letter from uh a gentleman that I alluded to yesterday that I have an NDA with. Uh it's an email, not a letter. Sometimes when I say one, I mean the other. To me, they're both the same. One just gets here faster than the other one does. He talks about the influence that the real world, now that to him means TV, news, you know, that sort of thing. When the real world enters into real serial killers or real crimes, that sort of thing. He said, I know you spent some time Doc on a couple of different task forces. Can you uh mention some of that kind of stuff about when TV or actors or acting interfered with real life or spawned a new killer or that type of thing? Is that paranormal? Huge question mark. So let's talk about for a moment paranormal. There are two quotes that I always think about when I when I think about that. One's a definition, one's a quote. If it's beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding, then it's paranormal. Beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding, I can tell you, after all I've done in my life, if you have five scientists in a room and you ask them why is the sky blue, you might well come up with five different answers. So I would argue in court that that one is subjective to interpretation. The next one, when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. I've heard that used in court. I Spock said it on Star Trek. Um, the quote I believe is goes back to Arthur Conan Doyle when he wrote Sherlock Holmes, and it may even go back further than that. But let's examine that for a moment as well. When you have excluded the impossible, get a Black's Law Dictionary, look at the definition of impossible. So, to me again, and you know, my ramblings and ten dollars to get you a nice size coffee at Starbucks. What is impossible? Because what I think is impossible may not be what you think is impossible, and then someone you know says, Oh, well, that would be possible, but then someone else would say, No, that's impossible. So again, that is subject to interpretation. So anything that's a gray line, right, or in the gray area, or anything that is subject to interpretation, can't be clearly defined as item A, B, or C, or have a defined scientific explanation for the same. So by definition, that's paranormal. Paranormal doesn't always have to be a ghost. There is a place where I grew up. It's a exit from the interstate, it's the Route 214 exit from 70 West, you go down a hill to this stop sign. You put your car in neutral, take your foot off the brake, you will roll backwards up the hill and back onto the interstate. There's a dozen scientific explanations for that, I understand. But when you're there and you look at it and it happens to you, trust me, it's paranormal. So we had some cases on file where you know things were maybe not necessarily paranormal, but things that would make you go, wow, that's interesting. Or hmm, how about that? So, probably one of the wildest behind-the-scenes thing I remember. Um, I don't know if Kerbier enthusiasm is still on, I kind of doubt it, but it was a show from a while back that literally saved a man accused of murder, possibly even from the death penalty. So, one Catelyn, I believe, was accused of murdering teenager Martha Puebla in 2003. Now he claims that he was at a Dodgers game with his daughter and his friend when the murder occurred, but there's really not enough proof. That is, until his lawyer discovered Kerbier Enthusiasm had filmed that very same game on the very same day. And raking through the footage, they found him, just as he said he would be. And that backed up his alibi. Similarly, the famous, or should I say the infamous, the O.J. Simpson trial. Look that up if you've never heard of it. The trial almost used footage from OJ's recent TV pilot. I believe that was called the Frogman, or Frogman, however you want to say it. But I don't believe it was ever released because of the murder accusations. But why then would the footage have even been close to relevant? Well, allegedly it showed O.J.'s proficiency with a knife. Simpson had reportedly received military training for the role. The co-star Todd Allen had once gone with O.J. to Ross Cutlery, which is the suspected source of the murder weapon, which by the way was never found. Between shooting the scenes, they went to that shop. Eerily, the show also featured the death of the character's ex-wife by stabbing. Remember The Exorcist? Features a real murderer and possible killer. Director William Fredkin went to, I believe it was NYU Radiology Lab to scout locations and extras and to observe an angiogram that would later inspire a scene in the film. But while he was at the lab, he met a technician, I believe, Paul Bateson, and they declined to cast him as a technician in the movie. Bateson was later convicted of the murder of film critic Addison Vero and suspected of multiple other murders. Then if we go to the Godfather, going to be started on Godfather, that's my family. It's my father's side of the family. The Godfather cast, and I believe it was Johnny Russo, after he helped smooth tensions between mob boss Joe Columbo and the film's producers. Russo had grown up adjacent to the mob and knew many of the mob bosses, including Frank Costello, lending authenticity to the film, which jumpstarted a long acting career for Russo. The film actually saved his life at one point. You see, Russo owned a casino. He got into an altercation with a customer, which led to Russo killing him in self-defense. Now it was a justifiable homicide. But you see, Russo wasn't off the hook. The man he killed was a cartel member. According to Russo, a hit was put out on him, but he was spared because Pablo Escobar loved the film The Godfather. The Sopranos cast, several men had mob ties, including Michael. I'm not even going to try your last name, Michael, because I'm going to mess it up. After his death, he was accused of being involved in the murder of drug dealer Ralph Hernandez. It was claimed that he had lured Hernandez to a club so that he could be shot by a member of the crime family that he was associated with. However, he was later infamously convicted of being a mob assassin. And those aren't the only actors that were involved in that sort of thing, but let's go back to the exorcist. The Zodiac Killer was a big fan of the film. He actually mentioned it in one of his letters, calling it the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen. The famous killer would later inspire the film's screenwriter to write what would eventually become The Exorcist III. Oh, and Jeffrey Dahmer was a fan of this film, and even showed it to one of his would-be victims. I believe that was Tracy Edwards, who escaped being murdered by Dahmer, who was paying more attention to the film. Then there was Danny Rowling. That's the Gainesville Ripper. We may talk about him later. He was also influenced by the Exorcist III and the book that inspired it, which was, I believe, Legion, which featured the Gemini killer. The murderer claimed that his alternate personas, Gemini and Yandin, which is Danny backwards, were responsible for his crimes. The backwards spelling of Danny appeared to be a reference to the possessed speaking backwards in the film. Now, while you're on the subject of killers inspired by films, you gotta mention John Hinkley Jr. That's the guy that tried to assassinate Reagan to impress Jodie Foster. He had become obsessed with her after seeing her in Taxi Driver. So that's about eleven so far. You could go twelve, a handyman allegedly obsessed with psycho, reportedly set out to murder Marlene Renfro, the woman who acted as Janet Lee's body double in the notorious shower scene. But he killed the wrong person by accident. His victim, it turns out, was Myrna Davis, who also went by the stage name Myrna Jones, who was Lee's stand-in for lighting and staging, but not the double scene on the screen in the shower. Though the hand that you very briefly see is Myrna's hand. So as you can see, there are crossovers and influences. Things that we often say, does life imitate art or art imitate life? Jean Spangler was just starting to gain headway in Hollywood when she disappeared at twenty seven, leaving behind a note that read Kirk, can't wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while Mother is away. Kirk apparently referred to someone Spengler had met on set, according to her mother. Police speculated that Kirk might refer to the famous actor Kirk Douglas, whom she had recently worked with on Young Man with a Horn. Douglas was in Palm Springs at the time. He told police that he barely remembered Spangler. Actor John Lewis. He had once stated carried Katy Perry and is allegedly, allegedly, the person the one that got away is written about. He murdered his landlady, killed her cat, then attacked a house painter and his neighbor, who were able to escape before dying from what was ruled an accidental fall in 2012. Ironically, Lewis had left Sons of Anarchy years prior because it was too violent. In the years since he had played a serial killer on Criminal Minds and started in the horror film Lovely Molly. Serial killer Clifton Bloomfield appeared as an extra on shows like Breaking Bad and Felon. Basically, mid-killing sprees, for example, he was hired on Felon after serving time as a convicted killer. And a month later, he went on to kill three more people before being caught. And then he was imprisoned again. According to the casting director, no one on the set even knew or was told that Bloomfield was actually a convicted killer. Now are those stories paranormal? I don't know, you tell me. They're interesting. And they're definitely life imitates art or art imitates life. Here's another one. Imagine going on a dating show. You're gonna meet the love of your life and meeting a killer instead. That's exactly what happened on the popular show The Dating Game. Contestant Brogney Akala actually won his episode, though he ended up being rejected for the date. It was later revealed that he was a serial killer who would end up being convicted of seven murders and suspected for many more. As many of you who know me know, did spend some time tracking some folks that were serial killers. Much of that I believe is still classified, so we're gonna leave it alone. However, you have heard of things like the Craigslist killer and people who stalk their victims by using media or ads, let's say. I have no idea what that was. It sounds like something fell, but nothing has fallen. That happens in most of the major cities that I've been in. You'll hear a story about, you know, this guy answered this ad in some something like Craigslist and dies. He's never heard from again. At any given time in your operating area, the places you frequent, the things that you do on a daily basis, there could be up to four serial killers trolling for a victim. I always thought that was a lot of BS, and then I encountered two of them within two years. One of them I was involved in the apprehension of, that would be Mr. Oakland County. He was a terrible person, and the other one was the hand of God Killer, which was not apprehended, and to this day has not been apprehended. There have been several movies that were made about the hand of God Killer. Excuse me for one moment. We're not gonna pause, we're just gonna have a drink. Matthew McConaughey stall I believe started one called Frailty. Where they talk about the hand of Godkiller. I'm not gonna ruin that one for you, though you should watch it. It has a cool twist in it. In Detroit, in the building that I lived in, where my mother lived, it's kind of an upscale place. Um we had apartment 406, one of our upstairs neighbors was Diana Ross. Definitely not a, you know, was not the slums, it was a pretty great area. There was a story that I wasn't gonna say anything about because it connects to the our friend, the pusher. But there was a maintenance man who stalked his victims by running a side window cleaning business of all things. He would offer them first cleaning on the house. Of course, the first cleaning would be your last cleaning. We'll talk about him a little more later. Tomorrow we may talk about Stephen King and the movie It. There's some interesting things that we can definitely relate to in that realm. We'll also continue some of the celebrity ghost stories. And Cassandra and I will be out and about, as always. Keep in mind that you can go to the website 24-7 to submit your stories to us. You can book us for the storytelling show or the theatrical sales or any of our corporate things. We will get back to you just as soon as your mail gets to us. And today I was going through our stats for who we're reaching and what's going on. And if you remember watching the Jerry Lewis Telephons ever, you know, the give me a timpany roll and the drums would go. Here's our new numbers. And that was always kind of fun to watch that. Let's see where Spirit Scales and Magic might just be today. So we've grown a little bit. We are now currently in 26 countries and 202 cities. And again, I've got to say thank you to everybody who's helping us along the way. Follow us, please. Give us a share, give us a like, recommend us to someone else. The only way we're going to keep growing this thing is with you. And remember, my friends, regardless of what any of the naysayers say, there is indeed a world unseen. It's a world that exists all around us all the time. And every now and then, for whatever the reason, we catch a glimpse of it. And the dead get in. And hey, tell a story. There's a wide range of things that can be paranormal. We'll talk to you tomorrow.
