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The Halloween countdown has begun! In this minisode, Traci and Kathy are back at the museum with one of the most talked-about objects in the collection: a 150+ year-old couch once owned by Thomas Day—a free Black master carpenter in antebellum North Carolina.

Day claimed that when he napped on the couch, he’d hear a woman singing spirituals outside his window – a sign from God tied to his mission to protect and free enslaved people.

When the couch arrived at the museum in 2016, a skeptical radio crew recorded an EVP they couldn’t explain. Since then, two more investigations have recorded the same phenomenon.

Kathy breaks down why she doesn’t think the couch is technically “haunted,” what a tulpa might have to do with it, and how visitors react when they hear the audio for themselves. Plus, the ladies preview upcoming guests, including Dr. Richard Gallagher (author of “Demonic Foes”) and a drop-in from internationally known medium and author Vincent Genna.

For more on the Curious Explorers, visit: https://curious-explorers.com/

(And stay tuned for the upcoming interview with Vincent Genna!)

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Where is remote viewing headed next?

Traci talks with Luciano Arruda, President of the International Remote Viewing Association (IRVA), about the evolution of remote viewing—from its Stargate-era roots to today’s growing civilian community. Luciano also previews some of the speakers and topics to be featured at the upcoming October 2026 conference in Dayton, Ohio (link below).

Topics covered:

- Remote viewing + consciousness), ESP/parapsychology, and precognition

- Controlled Remote Viewing (CRV) and other related modalities

- Common challenges like Analytical Overlay (AOL) and burnout

- IRVA’s priorities: education access, research partnerships, professional pathways, and global expansion

- Where AI may support training and analysis (with humans in the loop)

- Traci’s brief survey about barriers to remote viewing (and an upcoming free meditation to enhance remote viewing sessions)

- IRVA collaborations and connections with IONS, IANDS, the Parapsychological Association, the Applied Precognition Project, the Society for Scientific Exploration, and more

To learn more about this year’s IRVA conference: https://www.irva.org/irva-conference

Take Traci’s brief survey on remote viewing and learn more about how to access a free meditation to enhance your sessions: https://forms.gle/E98ueM2QyNcs3E4Z6

For more on the Curious Explorers Podcast, Traci Stein and Kathy Kelly: https://curious-explorers.com/

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Historian Kathy Kelly shares the story of a hauntingly ordinary artifact: a camera-warning sign from Aokigahara, Japan’s “Sea of Trees” (often called the “Suicide Forest”). After a U.S. Marine stationed in Japan encountered the forest’s tragic reality, he carried the sign home and kept it for years—unable to throw it away, until he finally entrusted it to the Paranormal Museum.

Trigger warning: This episode includes discussion of suicide. In recognition of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month (September), we’re also including support resources below.

Support Resources

• International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP): https://www.iasp.info/suicidalthoughts/
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (U.S.): https://988lifeline.org/

Resources consulted for this episode:

1. Takahashi, Yoshitomo. “Aokigahara-jukai: Suicide and Amnesia in Mt. Fuji’s Black Forest.” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 18, no. 2 (1988): 164–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1943-278X.1988.tb00150.x. (PubMed)
2. Chang, Kathryn Yalan. “‘A Perfect Place to Die’: Thinking the EcoGothic, Darkness, and the Dark Sweet in Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees.” SARE: Southeast Asian Review of English 59, no. 1 (2022): 88–109. https://doi.org/10.22452/sare.vol59no1.7. (Southeast Asian Review of English)
3. Hart, M. “The ‘Suicide Forest’: Aokigahara, Japan.” In 50 Dark Destinations: Crime and Contemporary Tourism, edited by A. Lynes, C. Kelly, and J. Treadwell, 235–244. Bristol: Policy Press, 2023. https://doi.org/10.56687/9781447362210-042.
4. Cather, Kirsten. Scripting Suicide in Japan. Oakland: University of California Press, 2024. See especially Chapter 4, “Aokigahara Jukai, Sea of Trees,” pp. 87–108. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.18799921. (JSTOR)
5. Keefe, Alexa. “An Ethereal Forest Where Japanese Commit Suicide.” Photographs by Tomasz Lazar. National Geographic, February 23, 2017. National Geographic article (National Geographic)
6. The Sea of Trees. Directed by Gus Van Sant. Performances by Matthew McConaughey, Ken Watanabe, and Naomi Watts. A24/Roadside Attractions, 2015.
7. The Forest. Directed by Jason Zada. Performance by Natalie Dormer. Gramercy Pictures, 2016.

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