telekinesis – Beyond Beyond Belief

#43 A good first draft [S4E11 with Jonathan Kite]

By Jesse Chapman | January 1, 2019

Kyle is out, but joining us is the comedian, actor, and writer Jonathan Kite. Who has a new movie out – All The Creatures Are Stirring.

Jonathan is familiar with the show, but hasn’t seen it until now.

Jonathan talks about Nightmare on Elm Street’s origins, and how he’s seen a ghost in a girlfriend’s video.

Story 1: The Mystery Of Douglas Hibbard – A man, sick with the cold, checks into a motel and mysteriously stashes something in a safe.

Tiffany feels like it’s an urban legend.
Maybe the clerk just messed up the timing of events.

Story 2: Wheelchair Man – A criminal with psychic abilities gives up his cronies after being pushed out of a heist.

Jesse doesn’t understand why a criminal would help the cops.
Jonathan doesn’t believe cops would give up a witness.
Tiffany just thinks burglars are dumb.

Story 3: The Vigil – A comatose woman about to be taken off life support finds a way to communicate with her boyfriend.

Everyone agrees it was a very forgettable story. But maybe that means it’s true?
Jesse thinks the boyfriend believed it enough, but it was just a coincidence.
Maybe it’s too fact to be fact?

Story 4: The Mandarin’s Bowl – After a family trip to China town, a young boy is revealed to be the reincarnation of an old pottery master.

Jonathan doesn’t understand why the master and student don’t ask more questions. Their reunion is very short.
Everyone agrees the parents would have freaked out more.
Tiffany thinks the most ridiculous stories are fact.

Story 5: Ghost Writer – A cruel man hires a ghostwriter who accidentally records a confession of a horrible crime.

Chris felt it was very similar to Batman Returns.
Chris pitches the boring theory. So boring that it’s fact.
Jonathan thinks it’s a good first draft but then it falls apart.

This week we call up a listener and have him play a game in which he needs to decide if our news headlines are real or 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.

#41 Into the spider closet [S4E9 with Will Hines]

By Mark Walberg | December 18, 2018

Kyle is out this episode, but in his place we have guest host Will Hines! Will Hines is a comedian who performs at UCB LA and co-hosted the podcast “Don’t Get Me Started.”

Will hasn’t seen the original show before and is a hardline skeptic.

Story 1: The Wealthy Widow – A man marries a widow and goes looking for her late husband’s buried fortune.

Who tells this story?… since the man is dead and the other witness is a ghost? Will thinks maybe the widow murdered both husbands.
Everyone agrees the ghost taunting the husband is the best part.

Story 2: The Witness – A group of girls avenges their friend’s murder by summoning her spirit.

Tiffany thinks the girls just knew details about the suspect and relayed it to the police.
Will thinks it’s very similar to the movie The Craft.

Story 3: The Accident – A year after a man saves someone in a car accident, he finds himself in a similar situation.

The group debates the integrity of windshields.
The group uses the coincidence rule. Except for Will, who thinks it’s too obviously fact, that it must be fiction.

Story 4: Bad Dreams – A woman’s deadly predictions about her 30th birthday seem to be coming true.

All agree this is one of the better stories, with an actual twist ending.
Chris had a premonition about running to neighbors, and then seconds later ran into them. Is that really a premonition though?

Story 5: Mental – A couple pretending to have telekinetic abilities discover something incredible when they face real danger.

Is this just a story the couple told to drum up business?
It’s crazy to think she had powers but then could never use them again.

During our ad-break, we read and listen to audience-submitted stories that are very Beyond Belief…

The story results are revealed.

Our guest-host Will only guessed one correctly and 100 percent questions the integrity of Beyond Belief’s research.
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]

By Mark Walberg | September 18, 2018

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.

#13 Ten thousand Beyond Belief dollars [S2E7]

By Mark Walberg | January 16, 2018

Today we review Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction season 2, episode 7. Kyle and the gang agree that this episode was particularly good, though Kyle doesn’t quite know what a creepy noise sounds like, or what jelly sounds like. Jesse admits he doesn’t have a good grasp on the stories this week. Chris asks off air, “Do you guys write down fact or fiction ahead of time?” Kyle doesn’t. Tiffany does. Mark usually writes “fact” for all the stories ahead of time; Jesse usually writes “fiction”.

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