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Mystery Guest

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:50repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. JONATHAN COULTON: This is ASK ME ANOTHER, NPR's hour of puzzles, word games and trivia. I'm Jonathan Coulton here with puzzle guru Art Chung. Now here's your host Ophira Eisenberg.

(APPLAUSE)

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST: 

Thank you, Jonathan. Before the break, our contestant Andrea won her way to the final round at the end of the show. We're going to find out a little later who she will face off against. But first, it's time for a game we call Mystery Guest. A stranger is about to join us on stage. We have no idea who this person is or what makes them special but our puzzle guru Art Chung does.

ART CHUNG: That's right. You and Jonathan will have to ask yes or no questions to figure out our mystery guest's secret. Mystery guest, please introduce yourself.

MARIE CARTER: Hi, I'm Marie Carter, and I have a job that takes me all over New York City.

CHUNG: So Jonathan and Ophira, your job is to figure out what her job is. Ophira, you get the first question.

EISENBERG: OK, does your job involve the subway?

CARTER: No.

EISENBERG: OK, that's what I thought might take you all around New York City.

COULTON: When you are going all around New York City, are you're primarily in a vehicle or is it important for your work that you be outside?

CARTER: Not in a vehicle.

EISENBERG: Not in a vehicle.

CARTER: Not a vehicle.

COULTON: OK.

EISENBERG: Does your job mean spending a lot of time outside?

CARTER: Yes.

EISENBERG: OK.

COULTON: Is it important for your job, as you're going around New York City outside and not in a vehicle...

EISENBERG: (Laughter).

COULTON: ...You're looking at things?

CARTER: Yes.

EISENBERG: Oh, wow.

COULTON: See?

EISENBERG: Good one.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: I eliminated four senses.

EISENBERG: (Laughter) That's right. Oh, I'm so glad your job isn't smelling. Are you on foot?

CARTER: Yes.

EISENBERG: Ok, you're on foot looking at things. What could you be looking at? Are you looking at things that have a heartbeat?

CARTER: No.

EISENBERG: Interesting.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: So just to be clear, you're not looking at people or anything like that, you're looking at something else. But clearly you're not looking at buildings.

CARTER: Yes.

EISENBERG: Oh, yes, you are looking at buildings, but what about them? Oh, no.

COULTON: Are you, like, inspecting buildings?

CARTER: No.

COULTON: No.

EISENBERG: No, no.

CARTER: No.

COULTON: Are you a tour guide of some sort?

CARTER: Yes.

EISENBERG: Oh, wow. Good job.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: All right, so you're a tour guide and you're showing people things about New York. Are you a tour guide doing something, you know, sort of like this is where particular television shows were shot?

CARTER: No.

EISENBERG: OK.

COULTON: Are they tours of something that is historical in nature?

CARTER: Yes.

EISENBERG: Does it have to do with New York history?

CARTER: Yes.

COULTON: Are they ghost tours?

CARTER: Yes.

COULTON: What? Really?

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: So all the people on the tour are ghosts?

(LAUGHTER)

CARTER: No (laughter).

CHUNG: No, no, no. So Marie is a licensed tour guide with a company called Boroughs of the Dead, which gives spooky walking tours of New York City. So, Marie, how did you get started giving these tours?

CARTER: So I grew up in Scotland, and my father was a tour guide. And then I moved to New York City. And a couple of years ago, I heard that a company called Boroughs of the Dead was doing tours in Brooklyn. And I thought, this is a great way to learn the history of an area while also hearing some of the creepier stuff.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

CARTER: And then I suggested doing a tour in Astoria where I'm now living, and it took off from there.

EISENBERG: Can you give me, like, a creepy, little factoid?

CARTER: Sure, since we're at The Bell House...

EISENBERG: Yeah.

CARTER: ...In Park Slope...

EISENBERG: Perfect.

CARTER: ...I will give you a ghost story of the Park Slope. There is a place called the Chiclet Mansion. It was owned by someone who invented the Chiclet. And the family went away on vacation and left the servants behind. And they were the first place in Brooklyn to have an elevator. And they told the staff not to play around in the elevator. But the staff wouldn't listen to them and they ended up getting trapped in the elevator. And they perished there.

And people say that they can hear the voices of the staff yelling for help, trying to scrape their way out of the elevator.

EISENBERG: That is totally weird and creepy.

COULTON: That's really creepy.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Also, I hate when my staff dies in my elevator.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: It's such a pain in the neck. You have to get a whole new elevator. It's, like, you have to get a whole new staff. It's a whole thing.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Wait, I have a question. Do you believe in ghosts?

CARTER: I'm something of a skeptic. I believe that there is something out there, we just haven't quite figured out what it is yet.

EISENBERG: Have you ever encountered what you think is or was a ghost?

CARTER: Yes, when I was staying in Savannah, I was asleep. And about 6 in the morning, I felt something scratching the back of my neck.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

CARTER: And I was staying in a hostel all by myself. And when I turned around, there was no one there. At first, I thought I was dreaming, but the scratching still went on. And I was fully awake and no one there.

COULTON: You are totally creeping me out right now.

EISENBERG: Yeah. And this must be your busy time.

CARTER: Very busy at this time of year, yes.

EISENBERG: Fantastic. I love - I mean, I would love to take a tour, find out about some stories that scare me more than the stuff I already know about the town with the living.

COULTON: (Laughter).

EISENBERG: Give it up for our mystery guest, Marie Carter.