Hmm.

He is called the sin eater.

[upbeat music]

Absolutely.

And, um, yeah, and people sure have.

Um, one of the, the earlier examples was 1972 on Rod Serling's Night Gallery.

They had a, um, a s- this was part of a series, and this segment was called Sins of the Father.

And it was based on a story by, uh, a mystery writer named Christiana Brand, and it was set in Wales and follows a starving young man named Ian, whose father was a sin eater, and his father fell ill and couldn't perform the ritual, so Ian goes in his place.

What was it specifically about history and storytelling that grabbed you at that age, and, and what has kept you chasing stories all these years later?

Um, honestly, that would go back to a trip to England, and I was eight years old.

My parents took me to England, and for an eight-year-old, that's a huge trip, right? It's a really big deal.

And it was a whirlwind.

I would say my mom planned ambitious, like, 100-hour days of tours.

I, I'm exaggerating, but it felt like that.

There in England, in York, England, which was the sister city to the town I grew up in, York, Pennsylvania, I had my first ghost encounter.

What does modern folklore look like?

So you, there was a point where you probably became a reader, right? And what made you decide to do that?

Well, I was always a reader.

I was just in the closet as a reader.

So I grew up as a reader and I did a reading this morning.

I have it's just part of who I am.

I have Roma in my background.

I have Scottish in my background.

Have you ever had an experience with something joining the party? Let's start with that.

Tell us what you think about Ellicott City and whatever you want to talk about.

Thank you so much, Lon.

OK, so I love Ellicott City.

I've never actually lived there.

I've lived all around it, but never in it.

I have worked in Ellicott City, though, for quite a while.

I worked with a well, I still work with Maryland History Tours.

Could you? That's about it.

Tell us what you think about Ellicott City and whatever you want to talk about.

Thank you so much, Lon.

OK, so I love Ellicott City.

I've never actually lived there.

I've lived all around it, but never in it.

I have worked in Ellicott City, though, for quite a while.

I worked with a well, I still work with Maryland History Tours.

Could you? That's about it.

Tell us what you think about Ellicott City and whatever you want to talk about.

Thank you so much, Lon.

OK, so I love Ellicott City.

I've never actually lived there.

I've lived all around it, but never in it.

I have worked in Ellicott City, though, for quite a while.

I still work with Maryland History Tours.

Could you? That's about it.

We were talking about what kind of places generally have the most ghost activity, and your thoughts on that?

So my personal take on that is that liminal places have the most hauntings, places that are kind of, um, an in-between space or like a threshold or an edge space.

And, um, there's a lot of different places that can be liminal places.

Um, in a house, you have liminal places.

You have doorways, you have staircases, and it is n- hallways.

All of these are places that people often will see hauntings.

And, you know, the world has liminal places.

[laughs]