the mysterious hooded visitors
plus: our next live show, and a steph curry project!
Hi all, we’re back to regular programming of questions and answers, but a reminder that our next live show is at Caveat NYC on Thursday, June 27th with Avery Trufelman, Dan Rosen, Eli Bolin and more. Promo video below. Hope to see you there!
So, how does this newsletter work? Each newsletter you’ll see one reader’s answer to the previous question. Then you’ll see the question they have for the list, which you can respond to if you’d like. Or you can just read and enjoy.
Previous ask:
What mystery — from your own life or close community — would you most like to solve?
Mark answers:
I’ve shared this story elsewhere, but: My family moved to a new town when I was eight or nine. Our first Halloween there two people showed up at our door in dark hooded cloaks, hiding their faces. They handed my mom a card saying ‘guess who we are. You get three guesses’ and they barged past my mom, walked across the living room and sat down on the couch.
Mom was a little freaked that two grown adults would walk into our home uninvited but she played along. My mom guessed her coworker at work and his wife. The figures shook their heads. I guessed one of my dad’s fellow teachers (who was always doing odd things) and his wife. They shook their heads again. I forget who the third guess was but as soon as we said it they stood up from the couch and drifted across the living room again and out the door.
It freaked my mom so much she called my dad at work. No one ever admitted to being those two mysterious figures. It’s been 30+ years, my mom’s gone now, and I still bring it up with people from that town but no one’s stepped forward still to this day.
Mark asks:
What’s it take for you to actually get work done? What’s your secret?
If you’d like to answer this question, you can simply hit reply to this email and write it in. Be sure to also include a question that you’d like to submit next. And tell us a story — your answer will be the bulk of the next newsletter. We will only use your first name, but if you wish to answer anonymously, let us know. Or, leave a comment.
Thanks to everyone who responded. See you next week.
Odds & Ends
Another big project just dropped this week. A show called “Heat Check” with Stephen Curry and his dad Dell, talking hoops, family, and more. Obviously, getting to work with Steph Curry is a dream, he’s probably my favorite basketball player since Allen Iverson, and he’s an extremely thoughtful and good-hearted person to boot.
I posted a bit more on Instagram about the project, but here’s a nice photo from the shoot day last summer.
We spent an entire day in SF getting all the audio we needed for a ten-part series (Steph’s schedule is kinda crazy!) and then have spent the months in between gathering supplemental stories, and going through the scoring/editing/mixing process.
But I’m really grateful to Unanimous media for going with my idea for an unnarrated show, where we let stories told by the people who lived them come to the forefront. It’s my favorite kind of audio, I think you’ll laugh and think and maybe even cry.
I do hope you’ll check it out.
Find me on Threads!
That is such a freaky mystery!!