{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","title":"The Mechanic and Mr. Machine","description":"In tonight's dead letter, listener Dean takes us to his grandmother's old Victorian house in a region of Scott’s home state of North Carolina known as the Sandhills. His family has traded strange stories about the family home for generations, from slamming doors in an empty house to a lady in white under the apple tree. He spent years as the family skeptic, right up until he started helping his aunt sort through the massive Americana collection left behind by her late husband we’ll simply call  ‘D’, a mechanic with a passion for old gas pumps, slot cars, and vintage toys. A series of events that were too strange to chalk up to coincidence finally convinced Dean that something unexplained was going on, and frankly…we agree.\n\nReference Links\n\nMr. Machine from Ideal (1960) — Toy Tales (https://toytales.ca/mr-machine-from-ideal-1960/)\n\nMr. Machine — Wikipedia\n (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Machine)\nHorikawa Robots and the Space Explorer \"TV Robot\" — Fab Tin Toys (https://www.fabtintoys.com/horikawa/)\n\nHouse in the Horseshoe — NC Historic Sites (https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/house-horseshoe)\n\nThe Coastal Plain and Sandhills — NCpedia\n (https://www.ncpedia.org/geography-part-2-cradle-north)\n\"Haint Blue\" — Historic New England\n (https://www.historicnewengland.org/haint-blue/)\nBlack Shuck — Wikipedia\n (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Shuck)\nThe Beast of Bladenboro — North Carolina Ghosts (https://northcarolinaghosts.com/piedmont/the-beast-of-bladenboro/)\n\nWhat a Hospice Physician Can Tell Us About End-of-Life Visions — Discover Magazine\n (https://www.discovermagazine.com/what-a-hospice-physician-who-interviewed-1-400-patients-can-tell-us-about-42464)\nEp 209: The Phantom Horse of Greensboro — Astonishing Legends (https://astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2021/5/22/ep-209-the-phantom-horse-of-greensboro)\n\nWe're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com!\n\nThis episode is sponsored by Firstleaf. Take a quick quiz, and Firstleaf matches premium, award-winning wines to your taste and delivers them right to your door — with tasting notes and pairing tips in every box. You control the schedule, skip shipments anytime, and every bottle is backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Go to TryFirstleaf.com/dlo for 50% off your first box PLUS free shipping for a whole year.","author_name":"Astonishing Legends","author_url":"https://audioboom.com/channels/4322549-astonishing-legends","provider_name":"Audioboom","provider_url":"https://audioboom.com","width":480,"height":95,"thumbnail_url":"https://audioboom.com/i/43705044/600x600/c","thumbnail_width":600,"thumbnail_height":600,"html":""}