Halloween Neighbour Wars, Signs From the Afterlife & Should Kids Trick-or-Treat Alone?

0:00Something's happened to him at Halloween, he does not want to go, oh, chick or cheating. Maybe you shit his pants. It's not feasible. It's not feasible? We're in our 40s. Speak for yourself. You don't want a ton of tea cake in there, do you? No, I hate it when you get a tea cake. What the f***? Put the tea on like a blue ribbon. Yeah, a club. An orange club. A f***ing club you in a minute. That's the f***ing animals. I can't stop. Ask me anything Welcome to Ask Us Anything. All good. All good in the hood. Okay. AMAs? AMAs. This AMA is a Halloween edition. A spooky special. We touched on it on Tuesday, just about Halloween in general.

0:50But this is the night before Halloween. It's called Mischief Night. Mischief Night. I wasn't across this. See, I thought only people in Liverpool did this. It's where you go around egging people's houses, throwing toilet paper. Mizzy night, we call it. Mizzy night. I was going to say, there's no way you call it mischief night in Liverpool. It's a Mizzy night all day, isn't it? Mizzy night, yeah. See, I was never privy to Mizzy night. Were you not? No. Yeah. Me neither. As if. Yeah. What was that? You were privy to it or what? No, I wasn't. No, to be fair, my mum wouldn't let me out on mischief night.

1:26No? Mm-mm. Is it just where... I don't want to go around egging people's houses. It's when all the young scallywags take over. Young scoundrels. Yeah. Okay. So we've asked our audience to write in with some of their most spooky stories. Spooky questions, yeah. We did an AMA post on our socials and asked you guys to get in touch and this is what you came up with. Well, plenty have. Hi, Fabab, Playdate, Pete and R Ross. Saw your post about the Halloween questions the other day and I thought I'd get your input on the turf war that's happening. We live in on an estate that goes mad for Halloween. Fake graveyards, smoke machines, music blasting.

2:04Love it. One of our neighbours complained it was disturbing. Now there's tension every year between the spooky lot and the grumpy ones. Would you turn it down? It's like the lady in Ibiza in the house next door to us, which was on the opposite side of the mountain, kept telling us to turn the music down. I was like, we're in Ibiza. It's closing weekend, baby. Remember? Yeah. shut the fuck up we're going high

2:33literally like seriously of all the places to not like music Ibiza like seriously what the hell why would you move there I know it baffles me because for a lot of people Ibiza isn't just like a it's zen yeah it's a very spiritual island it's also a rave island

3:00raving in the night uh zen in the actually it's zen in the day rave at night no it's raving the day zen at night oh yeah yeah it's back to bloody front i was like why do these djs start at 3 a.m why can't they start at like 6 p.m yeah till 2 a.m yeah i've i've genuinely said i'm gonna write a letter to the Ibiza board of council of councillors and say I need them to start far earlier and it needs to finish at like four max and then we can have a nice day you and yoga on the beach I'll be raving till 12pm the next day it's not feasible it's not feasible we're in our 40s think for yourself I'm in my 40s I was ready to go you were holding me back but I had that raw sardine wasn't very well and three bottles of rose I don't drink rose sorry champagne sorry I forgot champagne champagne well I mean you know would you tone it down for peace or go full haunted mansion out of spite if you had a next door neighbour that was anti-Halloween I'd go full blown out for spite.

4:16I can't bear being told what to do. Especially about bores and mizzles. I think you'd go round there, I think, and just try and have a conversation and just say, look, the kids love it, you know, please, can you just tolerate it for one? We won't knock on your door. Yeah, and literally, Halloween's not like a Christmas job. We'll just be knocking on your brain with our loud music. Yeah. It's not like a Christmas build-up where it'll be like three weeks or whatever. It's like max a week to four days. But if I heard a next-door neighbour having a party, I wouldn't dream of going round. yeah but it sounds like they're doing like the estate goes out like when they're saying big Halloween what do you call it decorations and stuff like that that's more than like one party I think that's going to be like an event for a week for one day no for a week you don't just put decks up for one day do you well you would for a birthday oh yeah I suppose you know what I mean but I don't see that decorations are that's not a problem is it like loud music I get maybe but decorations don't offend you Do you know what I say?

5:15Live, laugh, love. Just have fun and shut up. I remember my first holiday to Ibiza. I'm not sure you're quite like that. Not bloody loud music, Pete, as if. No, I don't think you'd have a go at that one. No. Give me time. Turn it up. Yeah. Oh, I love this one. Sandra! I remember Next Door had a party, didn't I? remember when we were like trying to fish around for an invite that was our complaint where the hell where was our invite for that he'd jump over the fence hi you've got bloody frozen log flu they had a freaking band on and everything didn't they yeah they had that band on and we were like having a barbecue just we turned ours right down and listened to theirs yeah wasn't it like U2 or something no it was good U2 tribute it might have been a tribute but they were good it was a good band no it was like Kings of Leon Kings of Leon tribute yeah because we were standing on the chairs looking over the fencing and sex is on fire

6:22we were sober as judges

6:30like we went out and did a barbecue instead of cooking indoors because we were enjoying it yeah I think you might get a glimpse we might be on for an invite here babe mind you we did that in Mexico didn't we when we did that at the wedding. That's really embarrassing. At the wedding. Yeah. Yeah. That was embarrassing. Left our light on and started dancing to the music that was going on on the beach. Do you want to come down? No, we were sending them bottles of champagne to the beach so we'd get an invite just because it looked so much fun and we'd been on our own for two weeks together and we're like...

6:57It worked though, didn't it? Yeah, but people, we were severely ostracised. No one would talk to us. Plenty of the part. I mean, bear in mind the party was Brazilian and they're speaking a totally different language and had to change for the people that invite themselves. They didn't want to speak to us. Of all the people to invite themselves to the party, it's the people that didn't, so they're expecting the people at the party to speak their language. Oh, class. Do you remember, but someone stood it to us and we didn't like it. Yeah, do you remember? We got rid of them. Yeah, we got rid, someone knocked on our door, we were having a party once in a holiday destination.

7:36Yeah. At our house. And they knocked on the door and said, do you mind if we come in? And someone in the party let them in and then we were like, we don't know this person. Yeah. And asked them to leave and then it was - Did they kick off? No, but the woman, it was the same woman who was on the plane who put the seat back on Pete and nearly broke Pete's leg. Oh. So she witnessed that whole thing and she said like, we saw you on the plane being miserable and I being miserable again or something. Do you remember? and being like, you got us completely wrong. With the life and soul of the party. Pete did the robot show.

8:21Oh my God, I've just got a flashback of me doing the worm in Pasha. Oh, brilliant. Yeah, I remember that. Cracking. I love it. No one would join in. I love that for a game. All getting a circle and all go in and do a move. The worms. Yeah, I wasn't in the mood for that, was I? No. You said get in a circle and I was like No So Abbie's on the floor Come on Pete Your turn Nice Too cool for school He's in a beef up Really No I just wasn't That wasn't Yeah I wasn't in that zone You caught in the car for me Yeah Hi Abbie and Pete This isn't Halloween specific per se But certainly in the spirit Pun intended Did we speak your music over it?

9:09Okay. Do you believe in signs from the afterlife? My nan passed this year and ever since weird things have been happening. Lights flickering, doors creaking and once her favourite song came on, just as I walked into the kitchen whilst I was thinking about her. My husband isn't really a believer and whilst he does appease me, I've overheard him saying it's a coincidence, but I like to think it's her saying hello. what's your take contact or coincidence love the show and my hubby uh he has been my rock throughout all of this and would never say anything to purposely upset me when it comes to this i was just ear wigging oh well that came up on the last pod a little bit didn't it um about our belief in the afterlife spirit world i think there's definitely something there and i think if you have lost a loved one if you take any sign and you believe then that's a nice thing if you take comfort out of it yeah for sure taking comfort out of it you're not you know doing any harm to anyone and if it makes you feel connected with them in some way then why the hell now we've had we've had some ones haven't we like there was a a surgeon that we knew who reached out to you oh my god before so no i i had a doctor who i love and i kept in touch with him for years and years and the thought of him just popped into my head so i thought i'm gonna text him and his wife texts me back and said he just died oh no and i i tormented this doctor by the way he was like dr jeffrey yeah literally tormented him anytime anything my kid had a call and he was like top top top top surgeon in the world yeah and i used to bloody text him all hours of the night oh this is and i honestly felt like he was saying goodbye but we hadn't spoke to him for five six years no p i always i always used to i always used to message him i don't want speed though yeah literally so it's not it's a coincidence no it's not a coincidence i thought you hadn't spoke to him friday's and then that popped into your head it was a it was a year say that i hadn't spoke to him thank god um because you know you're only speaking to doctors when something's going wrong yeah and i just i was just sitting at the dinner time and i was like oh i must text william and then she said he just passed away and i thought that's a sign i yeah i buy into that as well to be honest i think everyone like and i think every time your mom comes here my kitchen lights flicker and they never do yeah and we say it's trish she has that effect on people um yeah power gone yeah no no no we've definitely had things as well in our house things that i feel too coincidental songs being one of them as well and and the electricity I don't know it's a nice thing to think of it's comforting I think it is as well well the answer there was we don't really know but we do believe yeah yeah hi guys please please please help me settle this argument I have to have with my Grinch who stole Halloween other half the other year long story short they are absolutely dead against trick or treating every year when it comes to comes around to getting sweets sweets in for the neighbour's kids, he flatline refuses and describes it as a modern form of begging.

12:42I've always taken this as a bit of a lighthearted joke and since we have lived in flats, most of our relationship has never really impacted us. However, now that we've moved into a semi-detached, family-friendly cul-de-sac, the fear of him not answering the door to trick-or-treaters is killing me. It also makes me a bit sad, the thought he will never take our kids out trick-or-treating. So they're not even allowed to go? He's genuinely great with everything else. So any advice on how I can get him right into spooky season will be greatly appreciated. Oh. God, you've got to get involved. Got to go through the source of the problem there, ring his parents.

13:19What's going on here? Ring his parents? Yeah, something's happened to him on Halloween. He does not want to go, oh, she called cheating. Maybe he shit his pants. He had too much candy and shit his cacks. Or just got scared by a neighbour. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. and everyone called him spooky shitty pun.

13:42But do you remember we bought them masks, Pete, and we were waiting all day for it to go dark. And we were like, we couldn't wait. We were like, we're going to scare all the kids. We're going to do this. We're going to do that. Yeah. And like, we do it and jump out. Like Pete, I'd open the door and Pete had run around the side, dressed up, scared them. They were just like, oh, hey, Pete. And we were like, oh. Killed me. We were so excited, weren't we? I was just so gutted. I was so up for this. Trying to proper scare them as well. I was going to watch this, babe. They're going to shit themselves.

14:10Went round Freddy Krueger as well. The mask was amazing. And now it's Dinnian. All right. Blair Pedro. God, he's sweet. Ped. Not ped. Oh, God. You know, we're all up for it in this house. Yeah, that would make me sad as well, the thought of not doing it with the kids and stuff in future as well. You've got to get them out of that. Unfortunately, there's things, you know, certainly... Bonfire night, Christmas, Halloween. Easter, Halloween. Easter. Easter egg hunts, you've got to do Christmas Day presents and, you know, things like that. They're just part and parcel of being a parent, I think, in this country.

14:50Yeah. You've got to get over it. Yeah. Agreed. You know, because everyone at school is doing it. I don't let my kids eat all the sweets though no you can't you've got to wrap them up I'll take them off them yeah you'd go absolutely ballistic if you did ballistic I think as a kid you know you've got to like try and get as much as you can as well when I was at school I was like trying to do Diwali Yom Kippur the whole lot really we're celebrating there's a kid in the class Thanksgiving Thanksgiving you know what I mean like just like if you're a kid you gotta blag it you gotta keep going there's loads of them out there just google them but I thought those you know like do you remember when it used to be when I was it was like the World Cup and they do like street parties and all of that yeah yeah yeah they're great though street parties there was some for the World Cup I remember seeing I think it was in Bermondsey or something for the World Cup and they had all the flags out and everyone was big long table down the street all the street everyone bringing food out drinks big telly out did they have them for the coronation King Charles or whatever yeah yeah did they have loads of that for the coronation I think it was mate yeah they've done some quite well to be fair I will say as well really brings the community together like there are people in their house you know on their own that come out and just feel like like a tea party tea party yeah I think it's a lovely thing to do I do I think just just try and explain that yeah you know it's a sense of community isn't it just say come on Victor get out yeah Okay, it feels like a pretty good place to take a quick break and hear from our sponsors.

16:36And remember, if you're enjoying this top class Crouch content, don't forget to share with your friends and family. Hi both. Is it wrong that I secretly judge people by their Halloween sweets? My husband says I'm a snob, but if you're handing out raisins or two pennies, you deserve to be egged. He says it's about the gesture. I say it's about the Haribo. Who's right? I think they're both alright. But you're definitely getting judged, unfortunately. Yeah, there was a couple of houses by us that used to just leave out a thing of coppers, you know, like an old couple or something like that. They'd just, because they didn't want to be getting up every 10 minutes, they'd just leave out like...

17:16A penny jar? A penny jar, yeah, literally. And you'd be fucking gutted. You'd be like, oh, the pennies. What are you going to do with them? Nothing. You'd at least leave out some sweets, wouldn't you? I hate it when you go and they go one just one each like that our kids are like that we do say one each don't we yeah to them but I think you've got to do as a parent but you know if you can fiddle two or three I'm just going to turn them behind that like what's your thought on like a box of celebrations and you're allowed one oh no what's celebrations are good I think they're alright they're nice they're nice but you can't have one celebration one celebration Solibration.

17:57Two or three of those. I like the Maltese ones the best. Yeah, same, I think. What is the ideal, what's the ideal snack? Like a little packet of Haribo's? Yeah, I think so. Or like a refresher. You know, like the little mini refreshers and that. No, I think you should do the whole proper gift bags. What? Oh, take a whole bag of sweets and stuff. We can do that in our road because it's more, they say how many kids are being involved. So a lot of the people in our road, they make like big bags that loads of different things in. Oh my God. I think pop and candy is a great one for Halloween. Yeah, I like that actually to be fair.

18:31And spider lollipops. And they do around Christmas bring out like, around Halloween, they do bring out Halloween themed. Like a small party bag. Like eyes and all of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The orange and green ones. I think it has to be Halloween themed. Hmm. Yeah, that makes sense. You don't want a ton of tea cake in there, do you? No, I hate it when you get a tea cake. What the fuck? puts a tea or like a blue ribbon yeah a club an orange club I'll fucking club you in a minute and the fucking animals I can't can't stand that I hate them tea cakes though anyway oh mate save I hate them horrid crikey okay Pete what's your ideal sweet if we didn't get to yours yeah like a little packet Haribo I mean I always have some of that on the way around but yeah like a little sherbet like with Sherbet Dib Dab oh Dib Dabs yeah it's not a bad one they're good but yeah I think I think one with Abby Fizz Wizz is the best I love that pop and candy don't I yeah you do what about a fun sized Snickerd or Mars Bar what's your thoughts on them I just don't think Choccy it's not seasonal either appropriate like you said it needs to be like Choccy is not the way yeah yeah I see the convenience in it because you just buy like the fun snack sizes and there's loads in there tip it in a bowl Bob's your uncle and he's your fans okay hi guys and ghouls love the fact you're doing a Halloween special it's genuinely one of my favourite holidays in the calendar free sweets and costume parties what's not to love well imagine my horror when my 14 year old daughter told me that she wants to go to her school Halloween party dressed as a sexy zombie cheerleader this we touched on this on Tuesday this was something that we if my 14 year old said that to me that it's gonna have to be a no the word sexy and zombie shouldn't be in the same sentence let alone attached to my child she's on the cusp of becoming a young woman I understand but for fuck's sake I know where this slippery slope leads to my wife and I are not seeing eye to eye on this at all which doesn't surprise me given the scanty clad outfits I've seen her dressed in over the years so I have to turn to you guys for help it's a tough one they're all they're obsessed with it though aren't they they're teenagers yeah but I think, you know, the sexy outfit on wife is totally fine.

20:57It's acceptable. But not on the 14-year-old daughter. That's not acceptable. No. No, save it for you. Save it for when you go to uni and get out to, like, sight out of my eyes. Sophia went as a zombie beauty queen. That's quite a good one. Yeah. Yeah. So she had, like, the tiara on with the pageant thing with all blood. Yeah, she looked nice as well. She looked incredible. And it wasn't sexy. yeah is it slutween no that's too young it is it is 14 it's giving me the ick I'd say save that to you at uni or college it was uncle fester love you so much better all the boys will think you're dead funny that's a good way of getting round it that no you don't want to do that that's so stereotype go against the grain yeah Frankenstein for you headless horseman if you want to go as a girl it's Wednesday

21:56nice pleated dress some make-up oh class Morticia's a good one I've been Morticia a few times oh Catherine Deter Jones yeah well she don't you know Morticia's she's not Catherine Deter Jones isn't Morticia she certainly is since when? since not the 70s whenever you're watching it I'm talking I'm talking primetime Catherine Zeta-Jones as well, mate. Late 19s, 2000s. I thought that's Darling Bones of mine. Yeah, oh yeah, baby. Yeah, he knows. I didn't know Catherine Zeta-Jones is bloody Morticia. Big time. It was the lady out of the original Witches. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's her name? Yeah, but she's attractive.

22:40Is she hot as anything? Not in Witches, but... Well, she is until she takes her figure. and has water all over her head. Okay, hi Peter and Abby. I love the pod more than I love Halloween, which is currently causing a minor headache in the household. My wife goes all out for Halloween, matching family costumes, themed snacks, spooky playlists. The problem is, she expects everyone to match her energy. I tried to keep it chill last year and she accused me of ruining the vibe. I don't know about you, but Halloween could not be much further down my list of fucks given. let's be real it's an American themed holiday tradition that we have bandwagoned and there is absolutely no need for parties and matching costumes I don't begrudge kids getting dressed up and doing trick or treating but come on I would genuinely rather have a party for bonfire the night the week after I like bonfire nights for the party you know so do I it's our John's birthday and my dad's birthday always around the same time I don't buy into this the only thing with Halloween is historical thing it's about it's an American holiday like I know it is yeah but you know we don't have to have a thousand year old history on a day to you know Bonfire Night obviously you know is yeah yeah as we all know is you know House of Parliament goes back years and years 400 years yeah but but it's still a good day that kids like so you just do it I know what you're saying I the only thing I what pisses me off about Halloween is it just turns into a fancy dress yeah so i'm gonna go as a unicorn and just put blood on me like you've gotta be something spooky that's a very good point as well drives me mad if you're gonna go out i'm going as a slutty can can girl with a little bite on me neck just no no just no yeah and i'm all for the sisters i'm a girl's girl but i don't know i don't think lads are that arse by halloween could you remember being that but like i like trick or treat when i was a kid but like i feel like Halloween is a big event in the calendar for the girls.

24:45For my lad mates, fuck all. What about Hot Girl Friday? Oh, I'll speak to them tomorrow. Friday. Freaky Friday. Yeah. Hey, Pete and Ross. First of all, thank you for all the fun times and the advice this podcast has given me over the past couple of years. Even though this is my first time writing in for advice myself, I've definitely used advice you have given to others over similar issues I have been going through in the past forward slash given to my friends and passed it off as my own so here's my dilemma my son wants to go trick or treating with his mates alone this year no parents allowed he's 12 and thinks he's basically an adult my husband says let him go but I still think he's too young we live in a nice enough area but even still I think a lot of mayhem happens around Halloween forward slash mischief night and I'm worried about my son getting caught in the crossfires.

25:39Do you remember the first time you let your kids go out solo for something like that? And how do you not follow behind in disguise just to check? I think 12's too young. I agree. Yeah. But I think what you can do on Halloween is put a costume on. Yeah. Like, be a ghost and just follow them. Your obsession with ghosts think of something else. That's the only thing you've said. Yeah, because you can just put a sheet over them. But no one ever does put a sheet over themselves. Think about this. Imagine getting annoyed by me saying ghost. No, because the sheet thing, it doesn't stay on, Pete. I'm going to, when we go up to our room, I'm going to put a sheet over your head and see how long it lasts.

26:20That's our pool. I'm pretty sure. That's our pool. I'm going to be your banners. They used to be, looks like a little dude. Yeah, but if I put a sheet over my head, it's just me with a sheet on me. Do you know what I mean? Like, if you're a normal sized person, that would work. When they put the sheet on E.T. He's so cute. Oh, snug as a bug on a rug, isn't he? But what I'm saying is, put a disguise on, And as long as it's a good disguise, like I had a full mask the other day, last time, didn't I? It was brilliant. Like a Freddie Kruger kind of mask, but then you put, I don't know, some sort of clothes.

26:48Yeah. But like the only problem with me is that they'll know it's me, you'd have to go. Because of my foot, but. I think you should, what about that Chewbacca outfit? That's a good one. That's a good one. That's a good one, yeah. Yeah, but like, they'll never know. It's quite impractical though. A friend of ours said that when his daughter was going out, that he put a disguise on and just sat in a bar. Did he? Yeah, yeah. When she went out, they sat and he just had a drink with his missus. Well, with the groucho, what's the thing called? Where do you have the glasses on the nose? Yeah, yeah. He said we just hid in a bar with a disguise on and just watched all night.

27:24Yeah, but that wouldn't work for you because every two minutes people would be coming over and there's Peter Crouch, there's Peter Crouch. Again, you'd have to be there or someone else. But yeah, no, I thought that was a really good idea. Yeah. Like, it's also a nice night out for you and your wife especially if it's you haven't got that many kids or whatever you can get the other one minded and go and have a drink until they start copping off at the bar and you've got to watch the club neck and all that I know put me little kids out will you spill my drink over the fella like that sorry mate don't get yourself cleaned up and have a stern word with him in the toilet yeah you'd just move from a mile away to be fair couldn't you I think on that note we need to get our outfits sorted I want to get a good one this year take your back and one's a good show you know We've got Chewbacca upstairs.

28:06It's not scary, kind of, like what we just... Chewbacca is scary. No, but I mean, like, it's not like zombie vampire Dracula vibes, is it? Is it more just fancy dress, would you say? Yeah. I do think that... It's monster-esque. Yeah. It's difficult to have a kind of hot chocolate or an alcoholic beverage.

28:25Who the hell has hot chocolate on Halloween? Surely you have a hot chocolate, though. Pete, you would make an excellent Dracula, or you just would, wouldn't you? Especially with... That'd be good. the fact that he sleeps like that. I'm really excited.

28:42I'm really excited. So, well, enjoy your trick or treating. We will. We'll let you know how we get on. Yeah, I'll let you know how I get on.