Tag: doctor

#44 Frakes and geeks [S4E12 with Samm Levine]

#44 Frakes and geeks [S4E12 with Samm Levine]

Kyle is sitting out but we have guest-host actor and podcaster Samm Levine. Samm has watched the show before, and also had a neighbor who bragged about acting in an episode of Beyond Belief.

Samm is a hardline skeptic of all things supernatural. A big believer of known skeptic James Randy and the million-dollar challenge.

Samm has appeared recently on the show Movie Trivia Schmoedown.

Story 1: Witness To Murder – A ghost hunter who captured ghosts on film meets a mysterious end.

  • Samm tries to unpack Chris’s belief in ghosts.
  • In talking about the integrity of true stories in BB, Samm tells us the actual true story of Cool Runnings.
  • Most people find this story too be ridiculous and very writery.

Story 2: Roulette Wheel – A down on his luck gamboling addict finds himself on a mysterious winning streak.

  • Samm does not believe that odds could allow this to happen. Also, the pit boss would have thrown him out way earlier.
  • Chris thinks there are so many gambling stories that this could have happened.

Story 3: The Phrenologist’s Head – A doctor given a Phrenologist’s Head finds a smudge on it that leads to a miraculous discovery.

  • Samm explains that the doctors would have figured it out eventually upon surgery…And a lawsuit.
  • Chris believes that something could have happened to lead the doctor down the right path.
  • Jesse wonders if Freud’s ghost is involved in the smudging.

Story 4: The Bridge – A hiker crosses a shaky bridge and is helped by a mysterious woman who turns out to be more than she appears.

  • Jesse thinks the woman had her mom’s name in her subconscious and projected onto the woman.
  • Samm thinks it’s a single-source story where the woman miss remembered the events. points to Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink.

Story 5: The Cigar Box – A girl buys an antique, which turns out to belong to a neighbor.

  • This segment stars Campbell Lane, who does VO for the second half of BB.
  • Jesse thinks there are one too many coincidences.
  • Samm walks through how it could have happened – he was just a bitter old man who died after being denied his antique box by a little girl.

Friend of the podcast, Misty Stinnett (who has a new podcast Go Help Yourself) shares some self-help tips. But some are fact and some are fiction.

The story results are revealed.

  • Samm tells us a story of when he “met” Jonathan Frakes.
  • To find out which stories are fact and which are fiction… you must listen to the podcast, or check out the full episode below or on Amazon Prime.

#34 Uncomplicated playtime [S4E2]

#34 Uncomplicated playtime [S4E2]

The group discusses Frake’s use of illusions in the intro. Does he come up with them himself? They reminisce about Fox’s Breaking The Magician’s Code. And discover it was Valentino all along!

Story 1: Writer’s Agent—a slimy literature agent is haunted by a deceased client after he publishes her book.

  • Tiffany thinks maybe the whole thing was a sting by the police, including a phony book signing.
  • Kyle said he’s more or less played this scenario out in a game called Crack The Case.
  • Chris doesn’t believe any bit of this.

Story 2: Crypt Ghost—three kids find themselves in over their heads when they sneak into a cemetery to make a movie.

  • Jesse thinks the found footage element is just the writers ripping off The Blair Witch Project.
  • Tiffany thinks it sounds like an urban legend that kids could have believed in and then told.
  • Chris explains that ghostly markings are common and are on his list of The Ghostly Rules.

Story 3: The Doll—when Susan finally becomes an elementary school teacher she realizes one of the students may be someone from her past.

  • Kyle and Chris debate reincarnation.
  • Jesse and Tiffany don’t understand how this story got out. It’s a one-source story.

Story 4: Hubert’s Curse—when a construction worker doesn’t take a curse seriously, something strange starts happening to the tools.

  • The group thinks the ties to Merlin and the roundtable are ridiculous.
  • None of the hosts believe the curse is real, but they believe the carpenters believe it is.

Story 5: Shared Vision—a mysterious nurse diagnoses a sick child when all other hope is lost.

  • The group debates the supernatural logic. Is it a physic story, a ghost story, or a guardian angel story?
  • Jesse points out the writers are getting smart and tricked us by introducing the other elements first.
  • Tiffany thinks the nurse just noticed other subtle symptoms that the doctor missed.

Part 2 of our Ouija Adventure:

  • Chris and Mark decide to research Ouija boards by playing a game called Ouija or Noja. Real one-star reviews of Ouija boards are mixed in with fake ones, and it’s up to Kyle and Jesse to separate fact from fiction.

The story results are revealed.

  • To find out which stories are fact and which are fiction… you must listen to the podcast, or check out the full episode below or on Amazon Prime.

#25 The Beyond Belief Cinematic Universe [S3E6 with Mohamad el Masri]

#25 The Beyond Belief Cinematic Universe [S3E6 with Mohamad el Masri]

Chris is out for this episode, but in his place we have guest host Mohamad el Masri, who is a writer on HBO’s Here And Now. Mohamad wants to believe in the supernatural but ultimately comes at things with a scientific approach.

Story 1: Red Line—a reckless race car driver gets a warning from beyond the grave.

  • Mohamad wonders if the speedway is haunted. Jesse believes that ghosts can haunt people in addition to places. If only Chris were he to answer that question…
  • Maybe the heat and the fumes caused the driver to hallucinate.

Story 2: Two Sisters—a woman marries her dead sister’s husband, only to discover something strange with the wedding dress.

  • It’s a logistical nightmare for the sister to switch clothes with her dead sister in the middle of the funeral floor.
  • The dress may have been un-wearable after the morticians fixed it to the dead body.

Story 3: Eclipse—on the eve of a full moon, a prisoner believing he is a werewolf asks to be placed in a room with no windows.

  • Jesse believes this one is a bottle episode.
  • Kyle points out that the vampire segment was true.

Story 4: The Ice Box—when a man suffers from heat stroke outside an antique store, a large block of ice appears at just the right moment.

  • Mohamad points out that the character in the Little Giants was named The Ice Box.
  • Mohamad doesn’t buy the initials carved into the icebox. Kyle thinks this detail was just added by writers.
  • Jesse thinks it was just a hot day in the writer’s room.

Story 5: The Gathering—a burglar attempts to rob four elderly women, but discovers he may be outmatched when strange things start to happen.

  • The group loves this one so much… but does that make it fiction?
  • Mohamad thinks it felt too silly to be fact.

The story results are revealed:

  • Tiffany gets a ZERO.
  • Mohamad points out the relevance of Beyond Beyond Belief in today’s culture.
  • To find out which stories are fact and which are fiction… you must listen to the podcast, or check out the full episode below or on Amazon Prime!