232. Cursed Items

One of Nora’s favorite pastimes is thrifting, and today we hear about some of the most…spooky items she’s purchased.  

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

Nora: I’m Nora McInerny, and I am a frequent visitor to various thrift stores throughout the united states. They call to me, whatever city I am in, beckoning me to sift through the discards of other people’s lives and find little treasures to add to my own.

One man’s trash is, sometimes, another man’s treasure. I don’t know why I had to have a bunch of metal boxes that used to hold a family’s slides, but I did. 

I own more typewriters in various states of disrepair than anyone should have. 

I love things.

But lately I have noticed that there are a lot of items in thrift stores that are, simply, cursed. 

And these, of course, are the items my kids want. That they have to have. That they must pay money for, and bring into our house.

Imagine a magnet with a clay…frog? With arms made of…some kind of cord? And clay hands? One of which has fallen off.

A snowglobe.

That says – wherever you go, their you are. THEIR. I don’t know what it means.

Imagine a piece of small…decor? That’s two small samurai swords. That turn out, when you pick this up, to actually be SWORDS WITHIN THE SHEATHS. Are they letter openers? Are they weapons?

Imagine…a broken figurine of a dolphin with eyes that seem to follow you.

A broken clock underneath a glass cloche.

All of these are cursed, and most of them have ended up in my home.

And while I am ready for the haunting to begin at any moment, I also love these weird little things. Because they are a sign that my kids are developing their own taste, furnishing their little corner of the house to reflect their own taste.

And perhaps, their taste has been influenced by a mother who has old doll heads in bowls on the bookshelf. Who’s to say?

So today’s okay thing, for me, is that weird frog magnet. And those tiny samurai swords. And even that snowglobe with the strange mis-spelling. But NOT that racoon. That raccoon is not okay.

CREDITS –

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