Season 3 – Beyond Beyond Belief

#32 The anomaly [S3E13]

By Mark Walberg | August 7, 2018

This is the season 3 finale! Will Mark win season three as he has with the previous two seasons? Will Chris get all five stories correct, as he’s never done in the history of this show?

Story 1: The Dealer—a shady blackjack dealer discovers the cards are stacked against him when a soldier sits down at his table.

Jesse doesn’t understand why the ghost would go through with this elaborate plan #GMEP
Chris doesn’t buy that the ghost would wait decades to come back and seek his revenge.

Story 2: Gratuity—a cab driver installs an insult machine for people who do not tip well, but fate steps in alongside a particular passenger.

The group discusses the pros and cons of tipping.
Everyone is surprised why this man isn’t fired.

Story 3: The Cake—a baker witnesses a frightening premonition after a mobster orders him to bake a special cake.

It’s very possible that this is just based on a mob hit.
Kyle thinks the baker is just stressed due to his dealings with the mob.

Story 4: 1st Time Offender—when a boy is arrested for theft, the judge lets him off with a warning, but only until a moment that’s beyond belief changes his mind.

This could just be a coincidence-based story.
Kyle thinks maybe this happened a long time ago.

Story 5: The Mirror of Truth—a beautician curses a vain woman, causing her to appear hideous.

Could be a psychological issue.
Could be a story that takes place in a different time.
Could be ripped off from The Twilight Zone.

The story results are revealed.

Chris is a statistical anomaly.
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.

The Season 3 results are revealed.

Chris wins season 3! And the coin is a close second.

#31 Why would you say no to the guac? [S3E12 with James Mastraieni]

By Mark Walberg | July 31, 2018

This week comedian James Mastraieni joins us in the studio. He performs regularly at The Upright Citizens Brigade and has a podcast called I’m Too Effing High. He’s not really a believer in the supernatural but shares a story about a maybe haunted drum set?

Story 1: The Handyman—after a cheating husband kills his wife, her spirit comes back for revenge in a “creative” way.

Mark wonders if it’s too fiction too be fiction, or if that theory is just thrown out the window.
James believes this could happen, but not the way they told it.
It’s revealed Mark has watched Faces of Death, and is horrible for it.

Story 2: Anatole—an elderly man brought to prison kills his cellmate and then mysteriously escapes.

Tiffany doesn’t know how this story gets out if the cop said he never turned the old man in.
The group wonders how much you can do when you astral project.

Story 3: Makeup Magic—a woman, who feels self-conscious about her appearance, is given a makeover by a mysterious woman.

Everyone agrees this story is a bit sexist.
Chris doesn’t buy that the “guardian angel” would be timid.

Story 4: Screwdriver—when a son moves to college and finds himself in danger, he’s helped by a mysterious and familiar good samaritan.

James is more interested in what’s going on between the mother and the son.
Chris thinks Finding Nemo is based on this story.
The group thinks this is a coincidence-based story.

Story 5: Charlie—a man turns his luck around with the help of a bathroom attendant.

James is infuriated with this story – why is it all about the guy?
No one knows who could corroborate the story.

The story results are revealed.

Chris misses out yet again on guessing all the stories correctly. Moving ever closer to becoming a statistical anomaly…
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.

#30 Don’t Wake Deadbeat Daddy [S3E11]

By Mark Walberg | July 24, 2018

The group reminisces about the game Don’t Wake Daddy.

Story 1: Deadbeat Dad—a cheating gambler who wants nothing to do with his ex-wife and son, sees his run luck out caused by a mysterious woman.

Jesse points out the loop group/background noise is ridiculous in this story.

Story 2: Ghost Town—a photographer lost in the desert stumbles into an old ghost town, but soon realizes he may actually be in the old west.

Chris points out that the time period of this story is actually before the old west time began.
The group debates whether one person telling this story is enough proof.
The group realizes this of similar structure as The Wizard of Oz.
Kyle thinks it was a drug deal gone bad. Then this guy made up the story to get the cops off him.

Story 3: The Sewing Machine—when a man tries to sell his grandma’s sewing machine, it starts acting up on its own in shocking ways.

The group argues whether the dress just appeared, was made by the sewing machine, or was found by the machine?
Jesse feels this is a case of the complicated theory.
Mark argues that MGM wouldn’t let the costume designer take the costumes home with her.
The group realizes that most times there are possessed inanimate objects in Beyond Belief, it turns out to be fact.

Story 4: The Sleepwalker—a dad suffering from sleepwalking vanishes one night, only to turn up in an unbelievable place.

Jesse thinks the dad was just having an affair and used sleepwalking as an excuse to escape his family.

Story 5: Money Laundry—a woman, about to be kicked out of her apartment, has a run in with some thugs who might actually turn her luck around.

The group thinks this one sounds like a coincidence.

The story results are revealed.

Turns out the writers “exaggerated the truth” of story 3. Huh?
Everyone is shocked by the results of story 4.
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.

#29 Dr. Seuss’s trash can [S3E10 with an 11-year-old]

By Mark Walberg | July 17, 2018

Tiffany is out, but we have a special guest-host, 11-year-old Wolfe Yanovich! We hope he can bring a unique child’s perspective to the stories of Beyond Belief. So far he just thinks the acting is bad. Like, 90’s bad. And he’s like, right.

Story 1: Devil’s Tattoo—when a biker forces a woman to get the tattoo of the devil, something strange happens.

Wolfe thinks maybe the tattoo artist is religious/superstitious and believed that the gun worked on its own.
Jesse doesn’t believe that police would throw out this case.

Story 2: Static Man—a businessman about to close a big deal is cursed for tearing down forests.

Everyone thinks the slow-mo scene was not shot in camera, but just the actors moving really slowly. Also the protest signs weren’t very good.
Wolfe thinks this sounds like Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax. He also criticizes Frakes’s puns.
Wolfe thinks they should have cursed a congressman or something. You would get more done that way.
Maybe this is a real condition and they just created a story around it.

Story 3: The Bloody Hand—two detectives attempt to solve a bizarre murder case involving an ex-husband, a wife, an expensive necklace, and a booby-trapped coffin.

Wolfe thinks this coffin is a horrible booby-trap and questions how the detective knew everything?

Story 4: Where Have All The Heroes Gone—two young thieves get a shock while robbing the home of a recently deceased western star.

Wolfe thinks it’s ridiculous that the robbers would talk about robbing them in front of cops and fans.
Chris and Kyle think maybe their fear got the best of them, or they made up the story so they didn’t seem like cowards.
Wolfe wonders why the robbers would tell this story?

Story 5: War Surplus—a struggling college student is unnerved by a vision of a man who looks like his dead father, only to find that following the man may lead to a promising future.

Mark doesn’t believe that a used army jacket would find its way to a surplus store.
Jesse thinks maybe the kid simply made up the story.

The story results are revealed.

Wolfe got three right on his first try!
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.

#28 Don’t let your ghost cat on the counter [S3E9]

By Mark Walberg | July 10, 2018

The group talks about how great it would be to interview Jonathan Frakes and James Brolin for the show. Would Frakes play along and would his predictions be correct? Did he record all of his material in a single day? Would Josh Brolin be a good host for the reboot?

Story 1: For the Record—Lauren and her fiancé, born on the same day, search for the truth of their birth.

The group points out how strange the voices of the actors are.
Chris points out that the daughter’s blood type has to match her parent’s. Turns out Jesse doesn’t know his blood type.

Story 2: Halloween—old man Harold Ratcher hates Halloween, scaring away the kids each year, but someone is about to scare him back.

The group agrees this is one of the spookiest stories on Beyond Belief.
Chris doesn’t think there was anything supernatural or ghostly going on. The props get in the way of his believability.
Kyle thinks the tropey-ness makes it feel fiction. There were a lot of slasher films in the ’90s.

Story 3: Precious—A child psychiatrist is called in to help a little girl who spends a too much time with her cat. Her dead cat.

The group thinks there was just an old picture on the roll of film.
Chris tells us that his psychic heard a passing dog say “my butt hurts.” Turns out the dog had hemorrhoids; ergo animals could have psychic abilities.

Story 4: Get your kicks at Motel 66—a police officer suspended for a teen beating stops at a motel with his wife, only to be haunted by vengeful ghost.

The group thinks the kernel is that a cop killed himself in this motel.
Kyle thinks they put in the Billy the Kid element to make us think its fact.

Story 5: Phantom Drifter—on a road trip, a bickering couple pick up a hitchhiker who ends up having some sage advice.

Kyle thinks the couple actually went to a marriage/couples counseling retreat.
Jesse thinks the drifter just sounded like he was reading fortune cookies.
Chris said this segment gave him chills.

The story results are revealed.

Will Chris finally get all of the stories correct? Nope.
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.

#27 The Help Me Help Me Ghost [S3E8]

By Jesse Chapman | July 3, 2018

Chris talks about his recent psychic reading with Marla Frees, where she explained that there are frequencies all around us that she can tap into to download info from beyond.

Story 1: Creepy Comics—after a publisher verbally abuses his comic book artist, he discovers his own fate illustrated before his very eyes.

Chris thinks he would have heard of this story if it happened. Kyle thinks this “would have heard about it” argument doesn’t fly with Beyond Belief.
Tiffany doesn’t know who told this story because both the characters died.
The group doesn’t understand why the police would have the deceased’s boss identify the body.
Paul Gleason played the mean boss.

Story 2: Louie The Dip—a pickpocket swipes a winning lottery ticket only to discover it has mysteriously vanished.

Kyle researches the term dip. Can’t find anything, but assumes it means a pick-pocketer.
Kyle then does find the term dip and it does mean pick-pocketer.
Everyone thinks this is easily fact. Yes, you could definitely lose a piece of paper.
No one understands why the lottery winner went to the bar before cashing his ticket. Just go cash it you idiot I mean come on.

Story 3: The Wailing—when a mystery writer moves into an old house, he soon discovers an eerie wail sounding from the walls.

What’s in the safe?! Everyone wanted to know what was in the safe. Turns out, we’ll never know.
Jesse points out how horrible the wig on the corpse is.
Chris, using the ghostly rules, buys that a traumatic death could cause the spirit to be trapped in the room.
Mark Moses from Desperate Housewives and Mad Men is in this segment. No one can play unconscious like Mark Moses.

Story 4: The Landlady—a wicked landlady is haunted by an old tenant.

Jesse reminds us that spirits can haunt people in addition to places.
The practical effects of a ghost trudging through mud were pretty good.
From a ghostly rules vantage point, Chris has an issue: why would a kind tenant spend his afterlife haunting the mean old lady.
No one understands what makes this story special, and where’s the evidence?
Chris and Jesse reenact the old lady shouting match.

Story 5: Curse—a young girl dabbling in witchcraft puts a hex on her psychologist and then joins a coven… a coven in which the tables are about to get turned.

Chris thinks the psychologist put on this whole witch thing as a scam to trick the girl into letting go of being a bad witch.
Tiffany thinks it’s so crazy it has to be 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.

#26 You had me at haunted barbecue [S3E7]

By Jesse Chapman | May 15, 2018

Tiffany is back from her vacation to India. She didn’t see any ghosts though. Also she may have an infectious rash on her hand or just a henna tattoo.

Story 1: Connie—a dead woman’s spirit or essence lives on in her husband’s new wives.

Jesse wonders what happened to the other women’s spirits. Did they just get booted out? Tiffany thinks the man was murdering his wives.
Who told this story? There are no witnesses.
Jesse thinks all the women are dying from some bird disease.

Story 2: Positive I.D.—a man is accused of a robbery that he didn’t commit, only to make a shocking discovery.

This is a perfectly reasonable story. But maybe too reasonable?
Tiffany sees it as an interesting example of nature vs. nurture.
Chris tries to utilize The Southern Rule.

Story 3: Trucker—a hitchhiker gets help from a mysterious truck driver.

Kyle is a fan of stories where people get super human strength in dire moments.
Kyle points out that this story is similar to another Beyond Belief story called The Tractor (which was fiction).
Tiffany thought Big Joe was the hitchhiker’s future self trying to teach him a lesson.
Chris dives into the ghostly rules: he doesn’t think a ghost can drive a vehicle. “Sounds like angel territory.”

Story 4: Cook Out—a dead relative’s grill saves lives at a family bbq.

Everyone agrees this is now the craziest story of Beyond Belief.
This could be a case of TFTBF.
Maybe the writers just elaborated the BBQ going crazy moment.

Story 5: The New House—a spirit intervenes when a fire starts in a new family’s home.

Tiffany thought it was a story about a mother’s instinct, but then it went in a wildly different direction.
Jesse thinks the info dump at the end could be the writer’s way of explaining all the factual details.
Kyle hoped the woman in the painting would have been moving around, Harry Potter style.

The story results are revealed:

The group plans on taking a mid season break, but agree thus far season 3 has been one wild ride.
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]

By Jesse Chapman | May 8, 2018

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!

#24 Weeng weeng weeng weeng [S3E5]

By Mark Walberg | May 1, 2018

Mark still can’t decide on an intro, and there’s a theme to this episode: Dreams. And Revenge. Umm.

Story 1: The Nightmare—a woman who’s having nightmares of her husband dying, sets into a motion a specific sequence of events.

Mark still believes that dreams can predict the future. Jesse thinks it’s more like deja vu.
Most don’t believe that a person could stab a bush with shears in such a way that it would impale someone.
Tiffany thinks the woman killed the man and came up with this crazy story.
Everyone is impressed by how smart and competent they portray the groundskeeper.

Story 2: The Stalker—a widow & daughter are plagued by visions of a horrible ex-boyfriend through the fathers compact.

Turns out men don’t know what women’s compacts are.
No one understands how a man can be thwarted by shining light in his eyes.

Story 3: The Impossible Car Dream—a boy’s dream of his dream car comes true, but with a twist of vengeance.

Tiffany feels this is realistic but doesn’t see how it was told.
Jesse points out that it feels like a local news story, but who pieced it all together?
The 16 year old son was definitely played by a middle aged man.
They point out the weird dream sequence and how repetitive it is.

Story 4: The Dresser—a hot shot decorator takes over the mannequin display, only to discover some may not want him there.

The group agrees this is one of the wackiest stories yet.
Jesse thinks the man came up with this mannequin story to get out of the job.
Can it be too fiction to be fiction (TFTBF)?
Somewhat similar to The Twilight Zone episode The After Hours.

Story 5: The Burial—a tale of premature burial in the historical South ends in a shocking discovery.

Historical stories tend to be fact.
Kyle thinks it sounds like an urban legend for a southern hero.
Jesse couldn’t understand a word any of these men were saying.

Break: This episode is brought to you by the Beyond Beyond Belief $1 Used Car Lot!

The story results are revealed:

Jesse points out a new theory: historical story so it’s fact (HSSIF).
The coin got 100% of the stories correct!
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!

Special Thanks!

Music provided by Free Vibes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDS7… • Roadtrip by Nicolai Heidlas and Stefan Schaulinski: https://soundcloud.com/nicolai-heidla… • Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0 • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5j6oa1

#23 Ghosts, who dat? [S3E4 with Claire Berger & Christian Honce]

By Mark Walberg | April 24, 2018

Usual hosts Tiffany and Mark are out, but we have two guest hosts: returning champ/actor Claire Berger and screenwriter Christian Honce. Claire stars in a new movie Bad Exorcist available on iTunes or anywhere you watch cool movies. Christian explains that since he was a child he has nightmares literally every night. One in particular is about his mom with a creepy glowing figure behind her. Recently when visiting his mom, this vision came back to him and he grabbed her right before she backed up over their dog, nearly falling… fact or fiction?

Story 1: E-Mail—A couple buys a used computer and starts receiving mysterious emails from someone trapped in a tomb.

Jesse is yet again frustrated that there are so many female short haircuts.
Claire doesn’t understand why the story doesn’t focus more on husband’s unhealthy obsessed with the computer. Feels writery.
Jesse is annoyed that it’s never explained how the trapped man communicated with the new owners.
Christian thinks the man in the tomb was just emailing via a Blackberry.

Story 2: Blood Donor—after receiving a blood transfusion, a man finds that he can see murders as they happen.

Chris believes that if you hold onto a loved one’s possession after they’ve passed away you can often times connect with the them.
Jesse has a theory – he thinks the man who saved the woman was actually the murderer all along.
Christian thinks maybe the man is the murderer who has just repressed his memories.
Claire thinks there should be records of the blood transfusion if this is fact.
The group dissects the choice of naming a laptop a Renzlo Power 700.

Story 3: Epitaph—a gravestone craftsman is given orders to create an elaborate gravestone for a dead man against the wife’s wishes.

Jesse feels this is another case of Ghosts Make Elaborate Plans.
What’s the kernel of truth? Christian thinks it’s shady people taking advantage of people in emotional distress—the stone carver is so good at handwriting (since he does it for a living) that he forges the paperwork.
Quote of the story: “You know they say it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.” No one says that.
The southerner’s theory: Christian believes that if you change the characters to southerners, it can go a long way to explain how certain stories could have happened.

Story 4: Stitches in Time—a woman down on her luck has an odd dream of when her mother and her made a quilt together.

Jesse doesn’t understand why the grandmother would stuff a quilt with money and not tell anyone.
Claire argues that she is a woman who wants people to work hard and earn what they deserve.
Christian explains that if the money was in the quilt it would make noise when they used it.

Story 5: Soldier—a soldier in Vietnam is rescued from death by a strange man who turns out to be more than he seems.

Christian believes he’s heard this story before. But does that mean that it’s more likely fact or fiction? And is it possible it’s just an urban legend?
The group thinks maybe he had his dad’s dog tags the whole time and was just trying to impress a cute nurse.
For the most part, historical stories are fact based. Will it hold up?

Break: This week we play a game called TALL TALE TOMBSTONES, where we’re tasked to guess which bizarre tombstones are real and which are made up.

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!