It's the second installment of our super spooky Halloween DBTB. Dave interviews unsuspecting Appalachian State students as they wait to board the AppalCart and uncovers even more bone-chilling AppalCart tales of terror.

Transcript

Speaker 1: Tales from the AppalCart Part 2.

Dave Blanks: Hey folks! I’m Dave Blanks and it’s time for another “Dave by the Bell”! It’s the return of our most popular ever “Dave by the Bell,” “Tales from the AppalCart.” We’re going to be gathering spooky stories pertaining to the AppalCart. For instance, crazy stuff that has happened to you on the AppalCart … possibly supernatural or possibly just something strange. Tales from the AppalCart. That is the agenda for today. I’m by the bell. Let's do this.

Elijah Smith: I’m Elijah Smith.

Dave: OK, so Elijah, Halloween is coming up.

ES: Yeah.

Dave: A spooky time right?

ES: Right.

Dave: Have you ever heard of the AppalCart?

ES: Yes, absolutely.

Dave: Have you ever had an unnatural, spooky or weird experience on the AppalCart?

ES: Yeah. Actually, I have.

Dave: OK! All right. Do tell! What happened?

ES: Well, it was game day, and I was on the way to the game, obviously, so the AppalCart picked me up on my street. And I got on and someone had a speaker playing, and there were two people just grinding on each other.

Dave: Whaaaat?

ES: It was something else, man! I was just in shock.

Dave: Do you remember the song?

ES: It was like, Flo Rida maybe.

Dave: OK, all right.

ES: It was raw, though, dude.

Dave: I thought you were going to say it was some kind of super inappropriate song like … It was “Wind Beneath My Wings.”

Cate Smith: I’m Cate Smith. Sometimes the people at the bus stop, at Walmart, are really scary.

Dave: Right? They’re not afraid to talk to you.

CS: Yeah.

Dave: Me neither, but hopefully I’m not that frightening.

CS: No, you don’t seem very confrontational.

Dave: OK good. All right. I’m not trying to start anything with you, Cate. All right? Well, so, is that where y’all are headed now? Walmart?

Cate: Walmart.

Dave: Gah! You know, best of luck to you!

CS: I appreciate it.

William DeCarolis: I’m William DeCarolis. I was on AppalCart one time with some friends and there was this dude sitting probably like, I don't know, maybe 5 or 8 feet from us, and he was just holding a conversation with the air in front of him.

Dave: Just talking to himself.

WD: Yeah, yeah. He wasn’t hostile or anything, and wasn’t bothering anybody. He was just talking to himself, and we were just kind of looking at each other and then the person sitting next to us was like,” Yeah, he has been riding this thing in circles for like, four or five loops.”

Dave: Oh man! Well how did they know that? Maybe they got on and then got off and then got back on? Do you know what I’m saying?

WD: Maybe, or maybe they asked the driver. I don’t know.

Dave: Like, (whispering) “Is that guy oK? Yeah, he just talks to the back of this seat over here.”

WD: Yeah.

Dave: Well that’s pretty spooky. So you didn’t chat with him?

WD: Yeah, I didn’t want to interrupt him.

Dave: Understood. Understood. Well, thanks William.

WD: Yeah! You’re welcome.

Maggie Behm: I’m Maggie Behm. Yes, there was this one dude who kept talking to me about spaghetti he left in a ziplock bag in his car all day with ketchup on it and he just really wanted to get home and eat it.

Dave: That was like, what he was really looking forward to?

MB: Yes, that’s why he was bummed that the AppalCart wasn’t here yet.

Dave: Oh! While you were waiting at the stop.

MB: Yes, and he just kept talking to me about spaghetti in his car in a bag. It was spaghetti he made and put ketchup on in his apartment and left it in his car in a grocery bag.

Dave: That sounds pretty weird.

MB: Yeah, I didn’t know how to respond.

Dave: Well, how did you respond? I’m just kind of curious. Were you like, “OK”?

MB: I just nodded and then the bus came, and so I put my headphones on.

Dave: “Oh thank God!”

MB: Yeah, I don't have to create a response to this.

Dave: I wonder how it was. What if it was, like, really good spaghetti?

MB: No. He said it was not good spaghetti.

Dave: But he was still looking forward to it?

MB: He was just looking forward to it and he was like, “Yeah I just want it. It’s in my car.”

Dave: Very enticing. I can’t believe you didn’t like try to go get that spaghetti.

MB: I was ready to get out of that conversation.

Dave: I’m sure. I’m sure.

Sydnee Hodge: I’m Sydnee Hodge.

Dave: So, has anything strange ever happened on the AppalCart?

SH: No.

Dave: It’s just been smooth sailing.

SH: Yeah.

Dave: Well, you got to work on the costume.

SH: Sometimes I trip a lot ... and I don’t know why.

Dave: OK tripping a lot.

SH: … and I don’t know why.

Dave: Oh, is that the only place that you trip?

SH: Yeah.

Dave: On the AppalCart?

SH: Yes. It’s like the AppalCart curse to embarass you!

Dave: The Curse of the AppalCart!

Dave: Does it happen at movie theaters ever?

SH: No.

Dave: No. Just the AppalCart? Wow! It’s like it’s got a vendetta …  potentially.

SH: It does. It’s out to get me.

Dave: Well, that’s like good for Halloween! Right? Yeah. OK, thanks Sydnee!

Grace and Allyson: I’m Grace Zelen and I’m Allyson Medlin.

Dave: Allyson and Grace! Cool. Have you ever had anything unusual or possibly supernatural occur on the AppalCart bus?

Grace and Allyson: I can’t say that I have. Well, there is Lenny. Lenny.

Dave: Lenny? Wait.

Grace and Allyson: Lenny is a man. His name is probably not Lenny, but we named him that.

Dave: He’s Lenny to you.

Grace and Allyson: He just gets kind of … he kind of talks about polygamy sometimes …

Dave: What? He kind of talks about polygamy sometimes?

Grace and Allyson: … which is totally fine. Yeah, he just talks about multiple wives, and I’m like, “OK.”

Dave: Wait, like, he is a polygamist?

Grace and Allyson: Who’s to say? I don’t know and you do you. But he’s like, “Aww, I gotta tell all my wives that,” and we’re like, “Lenny, you’re wild.”

Dave: Oh Lenny! Do you call him Lenny to his face?

Grace and Allyson: No.

Dave: You should! If he’s talking about polygamy, surely you can call him Lenny.

Grace and Allyson: I mean to be honest, he reminds me of a Lenny. No, but the AppalCart is honestly great.

Dave: Yeah. Tell me about the AppalCart. It’s handy to have, right?

Grace and Allyson: I’m going to go hop on Red Route right now.

Dave: Red Route sounds haunted, right? Have you seen “The Shining”?

Grace and Allyson: Yeah! Red rum!

Dave: Well, maybe something is going down.

Grace and Allyson: Well, let me know if you hear anything.

Dave: We’ll see. All right, thank y'all for your answers.

Kellie Brown: I'm Kellie Brown. The bus driver that used to drive red last year, he played like really loud, like Indian, like music every single morning. It was excellent, but I loved it, but it was very spooky noises.

Dave: Oh, that’s kind of cool. OK. That counts. All right, well that was a good answer. Thank y’all very much.

Katie Parrella: OK. I'm Katie Parrella. Honestly, I'm kind of thinking that it could happen. I was actually riding it the other night and I was kind of feeling a little creeped out just because again, nighttime I can feel a little weird, especially because like it's not as, there's not as many people on it. And so, I rode back from Walmart and I was like, it's like it's a little awkward because there's not a lot of people. So, I wouldn't be surprised if there's something paranormal going on.

Dave: Maybe Halloween night.

KP: Maybe. Maybe I’ll have to give it a try?

Dave: Yeah, maybe it’s going down. Yeah, if you're, if you’re into that.

KP: Yeah, definitely. Hey, that'd be kinda cool. I’d love to encounter something.

Dave: Thanks, Katie.

Matthew Frankel: I'm Matthew Frankel.

Dave: Have you ever had an inexplicable, potentially supernatural occurrence on the AppalCart?

MF: No.

Dave Blanks: Thank you, Matthew. Have a good day. Nothing weird has ever happened?

MF: I've gotten offered drugs by this woman who looked like she could be a zombie.

Dave: OK. That counts. That counts. Zombie offering up some drugs ...

MF: Yeah, she was like, “Hey, kid, wants some drugs?”

Dave: You didn't take them though, right?

MF: Nah.

Dave: That's why you're not a zombie before me now.

MF: Yeah.

Dave: All right, cool. Well, thanks guys. All right. Have a good day.

Lindsay McNeil: I am Lindsay McNeil

Dave: And what is your name, sir?

Nick Ehlin: I'm Nick Ehlin. I remember one time there was a uh, an older gentleman. He kind of got upset at the driver, uh, because he, he was talking about, uh,  Harris Teeter.

Dave: Like, he was talking trash about Harris Teeter?

NE: He was asking them about Sam's Club, if they had a Sam's club up here.

NE: The older gentleman was asking the driver if they had a Sam's Club.

NE: And the driver said that Harris Teeter was similar to Sam's Club, which isn’t true, obviously.

Dave: Not Accurate.

NE: The other guy got upset at him because he's like, “Harris Teeter's not like that.” And it almost turned it into, uh, an aggressive argument.

Dave: Well, that's a pretty haunting story. So everything ended well, thought? They managed to work their differences out?

NE: He got out off the bus pretty quickly.

Dave: They get off at Harris Teeter?

NE: No.

Gisselle Marinaro: I'm Gisselle Marinaro. Um, no, I don't think so, except the one time, like, these two people were basically twerking on each other on the AppalCart.

Dave: So, does it hold you to this day?

GM: Yeah, it haunts me to this day. They weren't in rhythm.

Julie Arnn: I'm Julie Arnn. It's pretty spooky when it's crowded as much as it is.

Dave: You don’t like it when it’s crowded?

JA: Like that's pretty scary to me. It almost seems like people are just riding it around and not getting off. And that's kinda eerie to me.

Dave: I see what you mean. Like you have a place to go. They’re just cruising around, spending their lives there.

JA: It's like, maybe, like, they're stuck there, you like that?

Dave: Oh! I love that! Oh, that’s  great. OK. So, they're, like, trapped in the AppalCart dimension.

JA: Maybe, like there's something that needs to be done that they can't figure it out.

Dave: Maybe you're the one that can help them. You got to ride today..

JA: Man, they're all relying on me now.

Dave: I know! There’s so much pressure on you now! Hey, that was a great answer.

JA: Thank you.

Dave: Now, that was cool. I think I'm going to end on that one. I didn't get anything super duper supernatural, but people doomed to constantly ride the AppalCart. I mean, that's pretty haunting. Props to Julie. Nice job. I'm Dave Blanks. I hope you have a spooktacular Halloween, App State, and thanks everybody for listening. This has been Grave by the Bell.

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As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, affordable education for all. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.