The Classics - EP 651 - Make It Shine! Can A Song Be A Secret Spell?

The episode opens with host Steve Carpenter at the end of his rope. It is the season finale of his daily paranormal podcast, and he has just scrapped an entire recorded episode because it lacked energy. He is physically and mentally exhausted, recording in a hot closet, and desperate to get something—anything—out the door. What follows is a patchwork episode built from two failed attempts, held together by a single thread: the idea that a song might function as a secret spell.

The Mason Lodge Arsonist

The first story takes Carpenter to Vancouver, British Columbia, where on March 30, 2021, three Masonic lodges were set on fire within ninety minutes. An off-duty cop spotted a man walking away from a burning building whistling a jaunty tune, wrestled him, and got his license plate. The suspect, later identified as Benjamin Ryan Carlson Coleman, was a 42-year-old man who believed the Masons were an evil group secretly ruling the world. Carpenter predicted at the time that conspiracy theorists would claim the Masons set their own buildings on fire to cover up a blood sacrifice. But the real story turned darker.