If Memory Serves (Mandela Effect, Folk Trust, & AI)

We split the party! While Perry is searching for answers to all the inexplicable weird things happening lately, Mason is searching for Digby. Meanwhile, Digby is out to find his place in the world as an artificially-intelligent raccoon - and he just so happens to catch a ride with Andrew Peck. Perry finds something strange in a pre-recorded interview with Andrea Kitta, and as the crew goes their separate ways... it seems that everything is converging on a single familiar location.

In This Episode:

• Andrew Peck does a phenomenal job voice-acting, after Mason wrote him a ton of lines.
• Andrea Kitta covers a ton of ground very quickly, as we talk about several facets of folklore in the modern age.
• The deferral of fact-checking, and the implicit trust within folk groups.
• The impact of AI tools on disinformation, as well as 'information' more broadly.
• The Mandela Effect, and how unreliable memory is.
• Mark Norman makes an acting cameo.

Guests:

• Andrea Kitta: A folklorist with a specialty in medicine, belief, and the supernatural. She is also interested in Internet folklore, narrative, and contemporary (urban) legend. Her current research includes: vaccines, pandemic illness, contagion and contamination, virality, stigmatized diseases, disability, health information on the Internet, and Slender Man. She is a fellow of the American Folklore Society.
• Andrew Peck: A folklorist, media scholar, and ethnographer whose research focuses on how digital media offers new possibilities for persuasion and everyday communication. His current research focuses on how online communities circulate and contest knowledge using memes; and how hoaxes, rumors, and urban legends develop and circulate across networks.

Featuring voice acting from:

• Brooke Jennett of THIRTEEN as Digby
• Mark Norman of The Folklore Podcast as Mark Norman

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Whoopsie Daisy!

Mason bodied too much turkey and wine, so now the episode is going to be late...

In the meantime, watch our livestream with Daisy & Dom from Folkwise - it was SO much fun.

Thanks again for your patience, and this message will self destruct as soon as Mason remembers to delete it.

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See for Yourself

Perry picks up Mason from his house at 4:00am (yes... four in the freaking morning) for a road trip out to the gravesite of Elijah Bond - inventor of the Ouija Board. On the way, they encounter quite a few remarkable folks with stories to tell...

Content Warnings:

Because of dynamically inserted ads, timestamps would be inaccurate. Here's how to avoid potentially triggering content:

• Suffocation: in the Hoosac Tunnel story, when you hear us talk about the "Central Shaft", skip ahead ~4 minutes.
• Racially motivated violence: When you hear the phrase "Mini Lights", skip ahead ~3 minutes.

In this episode:

• An opening retelling of the classic "Hook Hand Man" urban legend.
• A short retelling of the history of the Hoosac Tunnel, and how Mason paid it a visit.
• What it means to get to the origin of local legends, and exploration of how they change over time and the purposes they serve.
• A discussion with a professional ghost tour guide.
• Discussion around the importance of studying urban legends, and a retelling of the Bunny Man legend.

Guests:

• Mark Muncy, author of the bestselling book Eerie Florida and other compilations of local legends.
• Paul Prater, multifaceted entertainer and ghost tour guide.
• Betty Aquino, a graduate student in the folklore program at George Mason University.

Featuring voice acting from:

• GennaRose Nethercott told our opening story of the Hook Hand Man. GennaRose is a an author, poet, folklorist, and an associate producer and researcher for the highly acclaimed Lore podcast.
• Eric Gray was the voice of AM radio host Bart Chime. Eric creates the podcast "Dumb People with Terrible Ideas" which is a hilarious, pun-filled teardown of hubris - all delivered in his iconic voice. Mason's personal favorite episode is this one about FM radio.
• Ruben Basalto was the "Moon Man Dad Caller" at the beginning of the AM radio show. Ruben is a voice actor who you can hire for your next project!

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💁‍♀️ Support us on Patreon

🕸 Sign-up for our newsletter, check our our merch, and learn more about the show at digitalfolklore.fm.

📚 Check our book list for some great folklore-related books

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• Twitter: @digiFolklorePod
• Facebook: DigitalFolklorePod
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Technical Difficulties (Dr. Lynne McNeill)

We're joined by veritable digital folklore superstar Lynne McNeill! We are also joined by innumerable technical gremlins, as well as some obvious problems as Perry discovers that Mason has bulldozed the inside of his studio in order to look good on the video chat.

Dr. McNeill offers up an immense amount of knowledge and insight, while Perry and Mason barely hold things together.

In this episode:

• Lynne's brilliant definition of folklore.
• Misinformation, disinformation, media literacy, and the dark side of folkloric transmission.
• How studying folklore might be more important now than ever.
• The 'Folklorist's Forensic Toolkit' (how to think like a folklorist).
• Too much great information to fit in this list!

Guest:

• Dr. Lynne McNeill, author of Folklore Rules, and head of the folklore program at Utah State University. She's also on Twitter!

Featuring voice acting from:

• Brooke Jennett of THIRTEEN as Digby.
• Tucker Bettez of PodCube as Dr. Sphynkyll.

🗣 Join our Discord community

💁‍♀️ Support us on Patreon

🕸 Sign-up for our newsletter, check our our merch, and learn more about the show at digitalfolklore.fm.

📚 Check our book list for some great folklore-related books

Find us on the socials:

• Twitter: @digiFolklorePod
• Facebook: DigitalFolklorePod
• Instagram: DigitalFolklorePod
• TikTok: digitalfolklore

REMEMBER THE ARTIFACTS - KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN

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Hey listeners! Just popping into your feeds real quick to give you some really cool news and ask a favor.

First the news: We're happy to announce that Digital Folklore has been recognized as Finalists in the 2023 Signal Awards. This is cool because it is a listeners choice award and shows the passion of our fanbase. These kinds of recognitions are really important for new shows like ours... awards give enhanced credibility to potential guests as they decide if they want to come on the show, potential listeners as they are deciding if they want to try out a new show, and — of course — potential sponsors as well.

And honestly, it just feels good to be able to say that our show... this quirky little thing that we throw so much time and effort into... is being recognized in this way.

Here’s the request: We'd be super-appreciative if you can take a couple minutes to vote for us! Here are the categories and links:

• Most Innovative Audio Experience: https://cl.s7.exct.net/?qs=f2df1a04953b10accd8964412f2af751b2bf84708c91464069129467475ac1febc309ff98bb142f70e2ab5ea6a3e4558442481ddb24f2adf6c878b3e3a9c120c
• Best Co-Host Team (Pop Culture Podcasts): https://cl.s7.exct.net/?qs=f2df1a04953b10acdd290579bd37c44ff308fc72a67eab2ebdc29d2162a917f24327f7a6594572201ec0dd73c925866fb365f736366ee8afc27e3aaea49cc256
• Individual Episodes - Best Trailer:https://cl.s7.exct.net/?qs=f2df1a04953b10acaf459c6d2a551f2c052b36a0515422e59ad47d996d4d3c707e0705fa020bbc539f7aec28f781058f550921161c331bf9df187595b2d34644
• Best Indie Podcast: https://cl.s7.exct.net/?qs=f2df1a04953b10ac430cc7f8a3460a233a0440975cbec03e7ca21d005cdf935ce9d9eba5e3fb3bc0d86d37d75b1ffa572a942a96d236813debb84064ac7a7d9a

Voting closes at 11:59PM Pacific time on October 5... and this message will self destruct at that time as well.

Please help us out if you have time.

Thanks so much and we’ll be back this coming Monday with a brand new Digital Folklore unplugged episode!

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