January 3, 2025 • 50 mins
This week the Wizard discusses his trip to witness controlled tests, simulations and the test of software.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM paranormal
podcast network. Now get ready for us Strange Things with
Joshua P. Warren.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to our podcast. Please be aware the thoughts and
opinions expressed by the host are their thoughts and opinions
only and do not reflect those of iHeartMedia, iHeartRadio, Coast
to Coast AM, employees of Premiere Networks, or their sponsors
and associates. We would like to encourage you to do
(00:34):
your own research and discover the subject matter for yourself.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yet ready to be amazed by the wizard of Weird.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
This is Range Warren.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I am Joshua with Warren, and each week on this show,
I'll be bringing you brand new mind blowing content, news, exercises,
and weird experiments you can do at home, and a
lot more. On this edition of the show, I visited
the Zoltar Factory. Yeah, who out there envies me the
(01:33):
Zoltar Factory. I am one of the world's biggest Zoltar fans,
and Zoltar fortune telling machines are all over the world,
and I feel almost certain every single one of you
have seen some version of this machine. But there are
(01:54):
people who listen to this podcast all over the world.
So just in case you're not sure what I'm talking about,
Zoltar is the fortune telling automaton. Basically, it's a wooden
cabinet with a glass top, and sitting in there is
(02:17):
this automaton, a dummy if you will, but one that
can move, wearing a gold turban and he has a goatee,
and he wears usually a gold shirt with a vest.
And you put some money in this machine and he
(02:39):
starts moving around and he will talk to you, and
then in most cases he will spit out a little
yellow ticket that has your fortune as well as some
lucky numbers. And by the way, in researching this, I
wasn't quite sure there actually is a difference between an
(02:59):
automaton and an animatronic. An automaton is basically programmed, if
I understand this correctly, just sort of move the same
way every time, whereas an animatronic has more options where
you can go in and make it, switch it up
and make it a little more unpredictable. So that's the difference. Also,
(03:20):
I mentioned he has a go tea. Do you know
that a go tea is be called the go tea?
Because it looks like you have hair on your chin
like a goat. So Zoltar machines are you know, there
are thousands of them all over the world. And of
course I am such a fan of these Zoltar machines
(03:41):
that I mean, I can't tell you how many Zultar
products that I have in my house and my studio,
in my office. I mean, I have all kinds of
little miniature Zoltar toys. As a matter of fact, earlier
this year, I did a giveaway where I bought one
of the more advanced Zoltar that works with the tickets.
(04:01):
I bought one for myself, and then I bought one
and did a giveaway and sent it to one of
my listeners for free. As a prize, I've got, you know,
a life size cutout of Zoltar. I've got bottles that
have like soda bottles that have had Zoltar labels. I
can't even remember all the Zoltar merch that I've got.
(04:24):
And in fact, if you go to the casinos here
in Vegas, you'll even find Zoltar slot machines. I don't
know if that's just here in Vegas or if it's
in other places. As well. Zoltar is all over the place.
And here here's what really surprised me. Of course, I
moved here to Las Vegas about seven years ago, and
(04:48):
it wasn't until after I moved here that I ended
up finally going one day to this quaint little town
about thirty minutes outside of Vegas called Boulder City, Nevada.
Instantly I fell in love with the place. And that's
because that well, right off the bat, when you start
sort of pulling into town, there is a place called
Tom Devlin's Monster Museum. And Tom Devlin is this movie
(05:14):
special effects artist who has created all of these elaborate
statues of movie monsters, and you get to walk through
and see all of his artwork and exhibits. And then
also when I got into the historic downtown area, they
had a whole shop devoted to nothing but UFOs and
the whole flying saucer phenomenon. I found out that the
(05:37):
famous space pins that NASA developed for astronauts to use
an outer space back in I guess the nineteen sixties,
the Fisher space pins, they are made in this little
town a Boulder City. I actually went to very factory
one time, and I was able to buy one of
(05:57):
their latest space pins. What blew my mind most of
all about going to little old Boulder City was that
there is a workshop there called Characters Unlimited, and that
is where every single Zoltar machine and similar machines, every
(06:18):
single Zoltar machine in the world is made right there
in that shop by hand. It's basically a family owned business.
And I was like, what, couldn't believe it? And I
thought I'd give anything to go in there and have
a look around. Well, of course, eventually I created a
(06:39):
walking tour in Boulder City called the Haunted Boulder City
Ghost and UFO Tour. Everybody loves it. We have rave reviews.
If you're ever in the Vegas area, you have to
go to Boulder City. Go to a Haunted Bouldercity dot
com and take the tour. Well, one of my tour
guides is a beloved man in town named Alan Goya.
(07:00):
Alan knows everybody. He's lived in Boulder City for decades,
and at one point Alan decided to spice up his
presentation sometimes when he was guiding a tour, so he
went over to the Zoltar factory Characters Unlimited, and he
talked to the owner there. The owner is a man
(07:21):
named Oloff Stanton, and Oloff gave Alan permission to dress
up as Zoltar when Alan was hosting the tour and
kind of, you know, play up the whole Zoltar motif.
What a really nice, cool thing for him to do.
So basically, Alan, you know, I don't know if he
(07:42):
how long he's been friends with Oloff, the president and
founder of Characters Unlimited, but I kept telling Alan, you
got to introduce me to this guy. You know, one
day I got to go over there. And you know
how it is, I just kept getting behind on projects
and I never was able to do it. And finally
the other day I needed to go to Boulder City
(08:03):
to get some work done, and I said, you know what,
here it is it's Christmas time. What a fun like
idea to go to some kind of a workshop. And
so I contacted Alan, and Alan blessed to be you.
Alan Allen arranged for me and Lauren to go over
(08:23):
and meet Alla Oloff and take a tour of the
Character's Unlimited workshop where they produce again not just Zoltar,
but similar things like you may have seen. There is
the Old Pappy. Pappy, the old hillbilly. In some places,
(08:44):
there's also a man in an outhouse, farmer, and a chicken.
They also have things that don't even have the automaton.
They're like the love tester. They've just knocked this out
of the ballpark. And one of the things that I
learned early on was that, Okay, a lot of people
first heard of Zoltar by watching the nineteen eighty eight
(09:08):
movie called Big starring Tom Hanks. And in that movie,
the main character, who is a little boy at that
time named Josh, he wants to be big. He doesn't
like being a kid, and so he ends up going
to some kind of affair or carnival, and at one
(09:29):
point he looks off to the side and he sees
one of these mysterious fortune tellers there, and he walks
up to it and it says Zoltar speaks, and it
looks very similar to the Zoltar that you've seen, not
quite exactly the same, but anyway, he puts he drops
a quarter in the machine, and then the machine says,
(09:50):
you know, what is your wish and he says, I
want to be I wish I were big, And then
a card comes out that says your wish is granted,
and then after that the kid the machine wasn't even
plugged in, and then the movie kicks off when he
wakes up the next morning and now this kid overnight
has transformed into a grown man played by Tom Hanks.
And so I always kind of figured that there was
(10:12):
a company out there that made that made Zoltar machines,
and that when the when the movie Big came out,
they had provided a machine and this is like the
best publicity in the world, and it must have been
like a huge boon for their business. And then Zoltar
took off. It didn't happen that way. Turns out there
(10:34):
have been similar kind of fortune telling machines and automatons
kind of like this, going all the way back to
at least the early nineteen hundreds, different kinds of characters.
There was one, I think maybe the nineteen sixties called Zoltan,
And what happened was when they decided to make the
movie Big, that machine was just a unique one off
(11:00):
prop made for that movie. And I'm assuming that they
came up with the name Zoltar because they were basing
it off of the word zol ten. As a matter
of fact, in a minute You're gonna hear me interview
Oloff as I walk around the workshop, and I think
he will clarify that. So some of the stuff that
I'm telling you may be a little bit redundant. But basically,
(11:20):
the movie Big had been around for quite a while,
and Characters Unlimited had been making these types of attractions
since nineteen eighty seven, and they got gradually more and
more into these automaton type figures, and then they finally
got the rights to Zoltar in two thousand and six
(11:44):
and they started making them. And that is where the
Zoltar you know and love comes from. Today, when we
come back, I'll tell you a little bit more about
the history of this. And then I actually brought a
recorder with me. You're going to hear me excited as
a kid on Christmas morning walking through the Zoltar factory
(12:05):
and given a personal VIP tour by the owner. Huh,
what a day.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
I love small workshops and things that are family owned businesses.
I have my own workshop where I make some of
my own unique goodies from time to time, and if
you want to know when they're available, go to Joshua P.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Warren dot com.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
You'll find some of them right now in the Curiosity Shop,
but also be sure to sign up for my free
and spam free e newsletter right there on the homepage.
Put your email address in there. Hit subnip. Takes you
two seconds. Trust me, you'll be glad that you did.
I am Joshua pe Warren, and you are listening to
Strange Things on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM
(12:49):
Paranormal Podcast Network. And I will be right back. Welcome
(13:29):
back to Strange Things on the iHeartRadio and Coast to
Coast a M Paranormal Podcast Network. I am your host,
the Wizard of Weird, Joshua P. Warren, beaming into your
worm whole brain from my studio in Sin City, Las Vegas, Nevada,
where every day is golden and every night is silver.
(13:51):
Giatato zoom mate. And if you go to their website,
Characters Unlimited dot com, it says, since nineteen eighty seven,
Characters Unlimited, Incorporated has specialized in making your place and
attraction by designing and building affordable, life sized, mechanically animated
(14:13):
and talking characters. We have hundreds of characters available for
you to choose from, including animatronic people, birds, animals, dinosaurs,
fortune telling machines, sign waivers, and much more. We own
the trademark for Zoltar Speaks and are the only manufacturer
of the fortune teller Zoltar Speaks since two thousand and six.
(14:36):
Our story says Oloff Stanton, the president and founder of
Characters Unlimited, Incorporated, grew up and worked during his adolescent
life in the booming tourist town of Wisconsin Dell's, Wisconsin.
He learned how to build non animated dummies or characters
from his stepfather back in the nineteen seventies. Surrounded by
entrepreneurs his entire life, Oloff knew that he wanted to
(14:59):
start a venture of his own, so after graduating college,
he packed up and headed west to a small town
outside of Las Vegas called Boulder City, Nevada, where he
founded Characters Unlimited, Incorporated. And like I was saying, this
is basically like a you know, family business now and everything.
I mean, they mold all their parts right there and
paint them. There's a guy at the town right down
(15:22):
the road, Henderson, who builds the wooden cabinets. I mean,
it's not like they're sitting around waiting for some factory
and China to build this and ship it to them.
I mean they're making it right there, homegrown. I love that,
and I mean talk about quality. You can get one
of these Zultars starting at seven three hundred dollars, and
(15:42):
then from there they can go up in complexity, going
up to you know, ten to twelve, depending on various
things you want. Even Zach Began zach Began's at his
haunted mansion here in Vegas commissioned the custom version of
zach Began Zoltar. So if you go into his Haunted mansion,
(16:05):
one of the first things you'll see is a Zoltar
type machine with Zach Began's inside wearing a top hat. Yes,
also looking over some of their literature, just to clarify
it says our characters are electro mechanically animated and have
a plug and play design. No pricey air compressors or
computers needed. By the way, that prop that was used
(16:33):
for the movie Big that inspired Oloff to start making
these has well, it seemed to sort of vanish for
a while and nobody was sure where it was. And
I started looking into it, and I'm not one hundred
percent sure, but here's what I think. The movie Big
(16:57):
was directed by Penny Marshall and her Let's see, I
guess I think Gary Marshall was her sibling. And there
is a theater in Burbank, California called the Gary Marshall Theater,
(17:21):
and the last I heard that original prop was on
display in the Gary Marshall Theater in Burbank. I have
not been able to confirm that. I tried getting in
touch with him and have her back, but that's where
that prop might be. How cool would it be to
get a hold of that and put it somewhere in
the Zoltar factory in Boulder City. One last thing I
(17:44):
want to tell you before I start playing this audio
is interestingly, right before we were going to go visit
the workshop, I found out that there had recently been
a fire in the workshop, and I believe it was
an electrical fire that started. And so because of that,
(18:05):
they are temporarily working out of a different building that's
down the street. So and that will come into play
also a little bit later in the podcast, I'll explain.
So I wasn't actually able to go into the main
workshop where they usually work, but I was able to
(18:26):
go to their temporary workshop and they should be back
into the main one maybe in a little over a
month or so. But anyway, having said that, here we go.
This is me walking through and talking with ole off
Stanton as he's showing me all of these just fascinating
and wondrous things that characters unlimited.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
And then the fortunate towers. I mean, I started in
nineteen eighty six where we drove around in a van
selling still figures out of the van. Well, my wife
and I we'd make them in the backyard the garage.
We'd get a load of twenty static figures together, and
we hit we hit the road with a Dodge MAXI
van and be gone for two weeks. Meet me and
her two cats and twenty two dummies, you know, And
(19:10):
we didn't come back until we sold them.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
So now I read that your your father was a
sculptor of some kind, right, and you learned from him.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
My stepfather was a was an artist and okay and
uh in the and so he dabbled in Indian jewelry
and Indian artifacts and things like that, and he would
make replica tomahawks and spears, and and he developed this
this a sitting Indian character that people like to put
out front of their trading posts and antique shops and
(19:38):
gift shops, and and they got two of them sitting
in front of the Western and Western Mexican Center here
at Boulder City. Those are the original static Indians characters
that we used to sell. And then I got into
making you know, cowboys and sea captains and pirates and
things like that. And my mom married my stepfather when
I was fifteen years old, and I started helping him
make make these, and through school and a little bit
(20:01):
in college and then college I started making some characters
and selling them for extra money. And I would do
trade and stuff like that, and then get finished in
college in nineteen eighty six, the business and marketing degree.
I could have took a job like everybody else was doing,
but I wanted to try something on my own, and
so we uh, I came out here. My brother happened
to be out here at the time. He had learned
(20:22):
to do this as well, and we started the business together,
and we were in business for ten years, and I
bought him out, and then we started getting in tomorrow
of the animated talking and moving and then putting him
in a box and charging money to hear him talk
and and then eventually we were making cowboys and pirates
and sea captains and old miners, and then we developed
(20:45):
what called Artiswami, and I didn't want to call him
Ultar because Zultar was in the movie and I didn't
want to get in trouble. Well, anyway, in two thousand
and six, I finally looked into the trademark status of
Altar and we'll behold, nobody ever Trademark'sultar. So we so
we got the trademark for Zultar too thousand and six, gosh.
And then then we started developing our own version of Zultar,
which she most people are familiar with today. You know,
(21:06):
this is one to say.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
So with the Zultar in the movie then was just
a one off prop for that movie, isn't it right?
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Does anybody to know what happened to that? That was
the movie? Big? Yeah, It was a prop that was
in the movie, and it was really not designed to
be an arcade game. You remember, he fed the quarter.
He was like cranking feed the quarter into the mouth
and the mouth had to open at the right time
to drop in right and then and then he simply
he had a breathing sound, and his chest went up
(21:35):
and down, and he his eyes lit up and gave
the car. Well, that wasn't it wasn't talking the movie
like cars. He he didn't even have arms in the movie,
you know. So we made a move his arm, move
his head, move his eyes and talk and and give
him a voice, you know, his ultar wish we have today.
I wonder who came up with the names Altar any
idea there Ultar was a cartoon back in the forties,
(21:59):
and before it was a fortune power. And then there
was a Zoltan machine. There was on a pedestal and
the head was on a pedestal and you put it
in a quarter and you held the telephone receiver to
your ear and you could hear your fortune by by
way of this talking head. And I don't think they
had to actually talk, but that that was called zold Tan.
(22:21):
And then this movie came out, and I don't know
if they changed it from Zoltan to Zultar because they
didn't want to the old people who made the game.
I'm not sure what they call it the old Tar,
but uh, yeah, it does have the name does have roots,
and I think uh Greek origin.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
So did you have to learn robotics yourself to start
making these or did that?
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Well, we just we started dabbling in and when people
would buy a character that from me, you would have
plaster had plaster hands, ploppy jointed arms and legs which
can sit up straight and beat this is in the
front of the store. And they would say, well, it
would be really cool if that could move its arm,
or it could move its head, have some movement. So
we started dabbling with made a torsol that would accommodate movements,
(23:14):
and I found local guys that were that were handy
with uh welding and stuff and motors, and they developed
a mechanism that would turn the hat or make the
arm move. So we started making the move for us
while and then and then we were Then somebody saw
me at one of the gift shows that we were
doing and said, hey, I can make this same move
(23:35):
as mouth. And I said, well that that that'd be cool.
You know, you make me a head that's hollow and
I could take it with it out I can make.
I show you what I can do. And and he
came back with this I had had and he put
a draw back in it and every time a sound
came out, you have the jaw move. And it was
basically what's called the colored organ circuit and the disco days,
(23:56):
you'd have a sound and then the sound would make
the light go on. Well instead of the lights go on,
the sound. Every time he had a sound, it would
make the jaw pop open, right and uh so that
the time we got the sound actively had a job.
So once we have that, we could make it, make it, uh,
make it talk with a microphone or any any recording.
Back then we were using endless loop cassette tapes and
(24:17):
then we started, you know using uh uh you could
use any any audio for us. Then we started with
flash cards and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
You know, all right, time for a break. And of
course you can hear his workers in the background working away,
just like busy little lelves and Sands's workshop making those
zultars and similar figures. And of course you're listening to
(24:46):
me and my wife Lauren and my buddy Alan Goya.
Maybe we should call him Alan Zoltar Goya. Getting a
personal tour from ohl Off, the owner, founder and owner
of the Zoltar Factory. Characters unlimited, More to come. I'm
(25:10):
Joshua pe Warren. You're listening to Strange Things on the
iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network, and
I'll be back after these important messages. Welcome back to
(25:58):
Strange Things on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM
Paranormal Podcast Network. I'm your host, Joshua Pee Warren, and
this is the show where the unusual becomes usual. Now
back to the audio from my personal tour with Oloff
(26:22):
of the Siltar Factory in Boulder City, Nevada. Character is
unlimited me you handmaking each.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
One of these here in your factory.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Well, we have our cabinet makers in Henderson and Okay.
He works out of his two carbohage and that's all
he does is pop up portugalo machine spars. Why did
you choose Boulder City When I graduated from college, I
came from what little town in Wisconsin called Wisconsin Dell's.
It's a world tourist town and had boat rides and
(26:52):
water parks and tractions like that, and and my family
was involved in the business and it was a seasonal,
seasonal deal. I was making good money with my summer job.
And then when I graduated, I had to go somewhere.
But the people that worked in Wisconsin Dell's that drove
(27:13):
the boat, they had to have coastcard licenses to do it. Well.
Some of the guys that we knew from Wisconsin Dell's
heard that they needed boat drivers on Lake Meat and
to buy drive a boat on Lake Meat for the
tours down that you needed a coastcard license. So after
labor Day they would come out here and drive boat
to Lake be So they happened to be out here.
And my brother was just traveling around selling characters, and
(27:34):
he stopped and stayed with his buddies for a whole
and me and he just was here for a couple
of years. When I got here, he had never left. Meanwhile,
they were leaving and he stayed. And when I graduated college,
he happened to be here. So I came out with
the car and trailer and whatever I had to add
to the business, and we started it together. And my
wife at the time, Kanta say at the time, came
(27:55):
out after she graduated semester later. And honestly, we don't
know how we stayed. We didn't have nothing for working
out of the backyard. We used to We used to
pad the bodies with Bible class instillation. We're back there
one hundred and twenty degrees in the dirt, in the
garage with no air condition or anything, spray and lacquers
all over the place, you know, and neighbors were really tolerant.
(28:15):
And he'd sort of tried to get together a load
of characters to hit through over to make, you know,
seventy eight thousand bucks and then come back and do
it again.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
You know.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
But and we first came out being from Wisconsin, what
do we we aren't staying in this desert. We're not
staying in the desert. Sucks. It's hot, it's there, no trees,
you know, it's terrible here. Well, after a few years
it ended up being a great location to be to
go to the ocean and go to the mountains, go
go any anywhere you want, and a major tourist start
and sell our stuff. And then we started doing convention
(28:45):
as well. Any kind of convention you'd want to try
would be in Vegas, so it's right over the hill.
And traveling in Boulder City was away from the rat race.
And when we start having kids, it was a nice
place to raise kids. So we stayed and I told myself,
I can make an money to get out of there
when I want to, I can.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
So I guess you just hired a voice after at
some point to do the voice of sults are.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Yeah, the guys said, we do our voices. A lot
of them. Started off. We got an order for ten
different nautical themed characters for a boat sales place in Michigan,
big indoor boat sales place. And this guy had an idea,
I'm going to put a different character on the back
of each boat in my showroom and be a pirate
(29:28):
and a sea captain, an oldssault and the fresh washer
water fishermen, and I want these guys talking to people
as they're walking through the show room talking about the boats. Well,
he was using this voice talent company out of Tennessee
called Premiere Companies, and he had them do the voices
for the characters. But prior to that, we would just
kind of do the best we could. Well, they're a
professional voice talent and they were an answering machine on
(29:51):
whole message on machine company. So he hired him to
do voices for the characters. We heard the voices like, well,
this is great, you know coming to get our numbers,
so we started using them and we have one guy
in his company named Josh Harrison. He's the one who
did the first Soultar voice and we've stuck with him
two since two thousand and six. Whenever somebody wants to
(30:11):
do a Zoltar voice like the slot machine. Every gaming
in Vegas has seven hundred and fifty slot machines around
the coffee right now, and whenever they need to do
new audio, we insist that they use his voice.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
Becaus think that he goes to the bar and says,
guess who I am. I'm those voice of Zoltar, and
everybody's like, yeah, have another.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Shots behind the scenes, Yeah, is this one ready to go? Here?
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Yeah, let me turn the volume up.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
That's true. Before I tell you it is true. The
smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention. Take
it from me, the great Zultar. Intending shall get you nowhere,
but doing yes that will bring you much much reward.
Provide Zultar as your and I will provide you with
(31:02):
the depth of wisdom. Your fortune is mind for the
tally and yours for the healing. So that was the
attract message that went off. This is a motion sensor
down here and that goes off like every three minutes,
and then we put your money and that drops out and.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
I know what I'm going at the roulette wheel today, Yeah,
roulette or lottery.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
The different we saw. We watched them videos with the
guy who said.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
That you set number.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Yeah, yeah, we put yeah, we put on Donald Kingman
and on the way to cam In in the in
the in the place we sell, we put get your
lucky numbers from Zoltar. Yeah, and we have stories with
people that have won tens of thousands of dollars. If
you go to wikiup on the way ninety three on
the way to Phoenix, yeah, if you if you put
the thing that's the main form of entertainment, that truck,
(31:50):
that restaurant over there, because when people play those, I
played the Zoltar over there. Like the kitchen staff came
out to look at what Zoltar had to say.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
It's like this kind of board, a couple of molds
that we just got done running today that these are
these are plaster plaster pairis two part moles and those
are filled up with this.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
This stuff called liquid latex and that that's filled solid
with that it sits there for two hours, and the
log you keep it in, the more thickness it builds up.
So and then when it's done, when it's finally the
next day, it's fry enough to take.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
And so who sculpts the face?
Speaker 3 (32:29):
I've used many different artists.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
Yeah, cool.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Now what do you do if, like say, one of
your machines in Michigan malfunctions or something that needs work?
You have people get on the phone and and then
we figured it out the phone.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
They need to us directly, I mean, do you travel
there in service?
Speaker 3 (32:50):
No, it's not necessary. It's not necessary. I mean if
they want to pay for us to fly in and usually,
just like Dispenser, we would glad to do that, but
it's not. Everything can be serviced over the phone by
somebody who's basibly mechanically inclined, and we could fastime them.
You'll give up till we fix.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
Them, you know. And so where do the tickets come from?
Who writes those? And how are those produced?
Speaker 3 (33:18):
A lot of them we've collected over the years from
various antique machines and tarot cards that we have found,
but lately we added probably sixty new fortunes like we
have about a connect ones right now, and and we
just keep creating. We have a call artist named Brod
(33:40):
Beasley who who makes vintage looking artwork that goes along
with each one. But it all started with this vintage
looking at artwork we like to.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
Stick with, you know, yeah, I think yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
And he is really good at at duplicating that, so
whenever we come up with a new fortune, he captures.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
It in a so in the face is just latex?
Is that? Is this a finished face?
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Yeah? Yeah, it's late not that not the latex you
would normally think of this as flexible. It's this is
called rigid latex. It's got more solids in it, so
it dries hard.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
Okay to touch that, that's so huh Okay, I'll see
what you mean. So it has that you can tell.
It feels a little rubbery, but it's also very stiff
and durable.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
How many zultars do you think you've made, or how
many of these types of machines in general?
Speaker 3 (34:28):
How many have we sold? Yeah, over the years, I
would say a couple of thousands old tars, uh huh, yeah,
and fifteen and fifty old miners, pirates, captains, medicine. Then
we get more and more people that want themselves made
or celebrity made. We did Dan Campbell the Culture of
(34:50):
the Lions for the NFL Draft. We did Andre three
thousand for a Super Bowl commercial last year. And yeah,
speaking yeah, I mean people want there's a there's a
robot forty collar in there.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
Oh yeah, I love playing the Zultar slot machine.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Now what is the process like when somebody contacts you
and says I want to turn your product into a
slot machine.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Well, that's a good question. I was I had to
trademark since two thousand and six, as you know, when
I was selling Zultars and I was doing trade shows,
and we were starting to think, you know, with Zultar's
household name, we should have products. We should do, you know,
coffee gups, we should do T shirts, we should do hats,
and and I happened to be playing in New Orleans
for the for the Halloween and Costume Show. And the
(35:40):
Halloween Costume show used to be in Rosemont every year
in Illinois, and then they split up the costumes from
the Halloween Haunts stuff, so I had to go to
New Orleans to do it. And and because they split
it up. It was really dead that year, and it
wasn't very many people and I wasn't ha at really
good show. But this lady comes up to the booth
and she starts looking at at my off and it's like, Zultar.
(36:02):
Do you how can you call that? Zultar? Wasn't that
in the movement? I said, well, yeah, but I got
the trademark And he said, She said, we ever thought
of doing products and stuff like that? And I said, yeah,
We're to do some t shirts and hats and things.
He says, no, I'm just I'm talking about taking a
nationwide and doing you know, the stuff that would be
sold in Walmart all over the place. And I said, well,
(36:24):
we got to be open for that. He said, well,
let me talk for my partner. I'll get back to you.
So she she got back to me a week later
and says, we'd love to take you on a contingency.
And we're we're licensing agents, and we're brand managers, Firefly
Brand Management and uh and and they had the connections
in place to go to people that that make toys
(36:45):
and say, hey, would you like to do an the
Ultar toy or would you like to do a Zultar
coffee or his Ultar soda or his Ultar slot machine,
you know, and they get a deal with them and
they get a little They get a little bit and
need a little bit. So the wine is, the wine
is coming out. The love of them. The uh, the
slot machines was was a good thing. The uh the
(37:07):
running press, uh, little mini Zoltar that's been, that's been
a real hit.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
A lot of our friends have that little key chains
playing cards.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
All right. Time for a break when we come back.
Is the Zoltar factory haunted? And also I got my
own Zoltar fortune directly from Oloff's hand. I'll tell you
what it says when we come back. I'm Joshua P.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
Warren.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
You're listening to Strange Things on the iHeartRadio and Coast
to Coast DAM Paranormal Podcast Network, and I will be
right back. Welcome back to the final segment of this
(38:24):
edition of Strange Things on the iHeartRadio and Coast to
Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network. I am your host, Joshua P. A. Warren.
And as I mentioned, Zoltar has been licensed all over
the place all kinds of different interesting merchandise. I have
(38:45):
most of it. And you may have heard Oloff even
say there is a Zultar wine coming out soon. He
actually showed me that this wine is going to have
a really special feature, but I'm not sure if he's
ready to reveal that yet or if it's still a surprise.
So I'm not going to say what that feature is.
But so I was asking him, well, you know, what
(39:08):
is it like? What is the process like to have
this this famous trademark that you're you're licensing all over
the place, so all you do is sign.
Speaker 4 (39:16):
A piece of paper and then click checks.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
Yeah, yeah, that's pretty good. Running around and over thirty
stressing out as used to make a lot of money
while you sleep.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Yeah, right, So do you consider yourself an artist or
and or business man?
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Was a little bit of both. I still make all
the molds, you know, and I haven't a knack for that,
and I always I've always hired hired painters. I have
a hard time with the painting of kind of cuddled
line with different colors, mixing and stuff. So I just
find people to do what I need to get done,
you know. And now we got uh, my my daughter
Krena and my son Gunnar are working with us and
(39:55):
and they're helping take this to the next level, especially
with the ols old Tar brand popping and doing things.
You know. Yeah, it's excited. Why did your parents thend
you o Off? We came from Central Wisconsin, really heavy
Scandinavian heritage back there. My mother's maiden name was Eric Simon.
My dad's mother's made name was Gregorson Stanton. But my
(40:18):
dad dad loved the Norwegian heritage. I was named Oloff,
had a brother named Bjorn, Eric and Grieg and tour
Norwegian names, so that's why I named Gunner. Everybody calls
him GONNERD, but it really would be Gunar to you.
G and Nar.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah, Okay, that's going to do it for now. I'll
explain what I mean in a second. But first off,
once again, I just really want to thank Alan Goya
for arranging this special tour for us, because the Characters
Unlimited is not ordinarily open for people to come in
(40:55):
and take a tour that has to be specially arranged.
And Olof, well, I want to thank you and your staff.
Everybody was so warm and welcoming, and it's just it's
amazing to see a homegrown business like this with such creativity,
with such care, with such love, and it's just, you know,
(41:17):
I admire that they're able to take such an unusual
product and make it to such a success. But now,
of course this show is called Strange Things. You know,
I investigate a lot of paranormal phenomena, so I did
inquire as to whether or not there are any ghostly
(41:40):
stories connected to the business, because of course, well we
all know, we hear about halted dolls, haunted statues, the
haunted figures at the wax Museum. When you're making these
lifelike figures and you want them to appear as if
they are interacting, well, are you creating some kind of
(42:00):
a tulpa, a spirit that is inside them. It's a
good question. It wouldn't surprise me a bit. And what
I was told was that indeed there is a ghostly
history at the Character's Unlimited Workshop, but I'm gonna have
(42:23):
to wait until I go there, because the one that
I went to was the temporary one because, as I
mentioned earlier, the main one, the original one, had a fire,
so they are temporarily displaced. But I have been invited
to go back, maybe in the next month or two too.
(42:44):
Into the original building where they've been for years and
years and years, and that's where there is supposedly some
some paranormal activity attached. And so I guess it'll almost
be like a part too, because I want to go
back there and maybe bring some equipment and just do
a piece about anything that I may pick up, or
(43:05):
any stories or any any kind of research I can
dig up about paranormal phenomena related to Zoltar. Now, at
one point while I was there, uh, one of the
Zoltar machines that was sitting right there next to us
was sort of it had its cabinet open, some of
(43:26):
the electronics were exposed, and at one point Oloff reached down,
punched a button and a fortune popped out. Oloff took
it from the machine and handed it to me, and
I thought, wow, this will be a prize possession, because
there's no telling how many of these Zultar tickets I've
gotten in my life. But to have one handed to
(43:46):
me from a machine at the factory by the man
who creates them, I mean, that's pretty special. This is
going to be framed. Here is what it says.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
Are you ready?
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Onyx was made especially for you? Wear it and good
luck will follow you. So let me pause here. Well,
I've already bought an Onyx necklace after reading this, so
I'll let you know what happens when I get it.
Then it continues. Don't let opportunity knock at your door
(44:21):
in vain. Grasp it, and the course of your life
will be different. You will be very happy with the
one you have chosen for your life's companion. Be patient.
Those who have tried to interfere with your happiness will
soon find they have no influence on your loved one.
You seem to be very impetuous and outspoken. This has
(44:44):
caused your dear ones some moments of unhappiness. Curb your temper,
and not only will you be happier, but healthier too.
And I was like, that doesn't sound very positive, I thought,
Lauren read that goes No, that doesn't sound like you impetuous.
That means careless, thoughtless. You know this kind of I mean,
(45:08):
I'm not am I am I that way. I guess
I'll hear about it now everybody will contact me. But well, actually, Joshua,
but fortunately, I don't think that this is a particularly
accurate fortune because it has here my lucky numbers, and
(45:29):
I said, play again, lucky numbers fourteen, two, three, nineteen,
twenty two and twenty three. So guess what I did.
I went right to the casino. I played a number
of Keno machines where you pick numbers and the balls
fall and you can win a lot of money. At kino,
(45:52):
I usually do very well, but I didn't win on
any of those numbers. So finally I even went to
a live roulette table where you have the live dealer there.
I can't remember what they call the person who spends
the wheel at a roulette table, and I put money
(46:12):
on each one of these numbers, and nope, I didn't
win any So I have not one on these numbers.
So I'm going to say that I cannot vouch for
the fact that a fortune that comes out of a
Zultar machine is going to be the God's honest truth.
(46:35):
So it's for fun, it's for entertainment purposes only. I
don't think I would take this very much to heart,
but it's a great it's a wonderful souvenir, and it's
just it's something to make you think, and you know what,
I will be continuing to get my fortunes and I
will keep playing whatever numbers come out until till I
(46:59):
find the combo all right again. Their website is Characters
Unlimited dot com and I will be following up with
you soon on my next visit there. Real quick, I
have an email I want to share with you. I
was talking on a recent show about some people who
believe in the conspiracy that we may not have landed
(47:20):
on the Moon and say that Stanley Kubrick may have
faked some of that footage. Got an email from a
man named Tom. He said, many have said there is
something fake about the Moon landing. Let me clear this up.
As I recall, the amount of battery life on the Moon.
On the Moon mission craft was very limited. That is
(47:40):
why most of the quote live footage that was seen
during the mission was in fact live footage live from
the studio set. This was to conserve battery life. Later
there were recordings of footage that came back with the astronauts.
This confused many people and now they say it was
all a studio set. Others say it was all real.
I remember the why and that makes sense. Hope this
(48:03):
clears it up. The Moon landing was real and due
to nineteen sixty nine battery technology acted out simultaneously on
a set so that our televisions could show the public
views of what was happening up on the moon without
broadcasting from the moon, saving much needed battery life. And
then he wrote a second email just to clarify the
point further. He said, due to the nineteen sixty nine batteries,
(48:26):
it was impractical to send footage from the moon, but
we the public needed to see what was going on
up there, so it was done on a set. Later,
the actual tapes that came back made all of this
more confusing. So yes, it was live footage, and yes
it was a movie set. Thanks Tom. Well what do
you think about that? That might explain it? Huh? All right,
(48:48):
my friends, take a deep breath, if you can close
your eyes. Let's end with the good Fortune tone. That's
(49:18):
it for this edition of the show. Follow me at
Joshua P. Warren Plus, visit joshuapwarren dot com to sign
up for my free e newsletter to receive a free
instant gift, and check out the cool stuff in the
Curiosity Shop. All at Joshuapwarren dot com. I have a
(49:38):
fun one lined up for you next time, I promise,
So please tell all your friends to subscribe to this
show and to always remember the Golden Rule. Thank you
for listening, thank you for your interest and support. Thank
you for staying curious, and I will talk to you
(49:58):
again soon. You've been listening to Strange Things on the
iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (50:24):
Well, if you like this episode of Strange Things, wait
till you hear the next one. Thank you for listening
to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
Welcome to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM paranormal
podcast network. Now get ready for us Strange Things with
Joshua P. Warren.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to our podcast. Please be aware the thoughts and
opinions expressed by the host are their thoughts and opinions
only and do not reflect those of iHeartMedia, iHeartRadio, Coast
to Coast AM, employees of Premiere Networks, or their sponsors
and associates. We would like to encourage you to do
(00:34):
your own research and discover the subject matter for yourself.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yet ready to be amazed by the wizard of Weird.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
This is Range Warren.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I am Joshua with Warren, and each week on this show,
I'll be bringing you brand new mind blowing content, news, exercises,
and weird experiments you can do at home, and a
lot more. On this edition of the show, I visited
the Zoltar Factory. Yeah, who out there envies me the
(01:33):
Zoltar Factory. I am one of the world's biggest Zoltar fans,
and Zoltar fortune telling machines are all over the world,
and I feel almost certain every single one of you
have seen some version of this machine. But there are
(01:54):
people who listen to this podcast all over the world.
So just in case you're not sure what I'm talking about,
Zoltar is the fortune telling automaton. Basically, it's a wooden
cabinet with a glass top, and sitting in there is
(02:17):
this automaton, a dummy if you will, but one that
can move, wearing a gold turban and he has a goatee,
and he wears usually a gold shirt with a vest.
And you put some money in this machine and he
(02:39):
starts moving around and he will talk to you, and
then in most cases he will spit out a little
yellow ticket that has your fortune as well as some
lucky numbers. And by the way, in researching this, I
wasn't quite sure there actually is a difference between an
(02:59):
automaton and an animatronic. An automaton is basically programmed, if
I understand this correctly, just sort of move the same
way every time, whereas an animatronic has more options where
you can go in and make it, switch it up
and make it a little more unpredictable. So that's the difference. Also,
(03:20):
I mentioned he has a go tea. Do you know
that a go tea is be called the go tea?
Because it looks like you have hair on your chin
like a goat. So Zoltar machines are you know, there
are thousands of them all over the world. And of
course I am such a fan of these Zoltar machines
(03:41):
that I mean, I can't tell you how many Zultar
products that I have in my house and my studio,
in my office. I mean, I have all kinds of
little miniature Zoltar toys. As a matter of fact, earlier
this year, I did a giveaway where I bought one
of the more advanced Zoltar that works with the tickets.
(04:01):
I bought one for myself, and then I bought one
and did a giveaway and sent it to one of
my listeners for free. As a prize, I've got, you know,
a life size cutout of Zoltar. I've got bottles that
have like soda bottles that have had Zoltar labels. I
can't even remember all the Zoltar merch that I've got.
(04:24):
And in fact, if you go to the casinos here
in Vegas, you'll even find Zoltar slot machines. I don't
know if that's just here in Vegas or if it's
in other places. As well. Zoltar is all over the place.
And here here's what really surprised me. Of course, I
moved here to Las Vegas about seven years ago, and
(04:48):
it wasn't until after I moved here that I ended
up finally going one day to this quaint little town
about thirty minutes outside of Vegas called Boulder City, Nevada.
Instantly I fell in love with the place. And that's
because that well, right off the bat, when you start
sort of pulling into town, there is a place called
Tom Devlin's Monster Museum. And Tom Devlin is this movie
(05:14):
special effects artist who has created all of these elaborate
statues of movie monsters, and you get to walk through
and see all of his artwork and exhibits. And then
also when I got into the historic downtown area, they
had a whole shop devoted to nothing but UFOs and
the whole flying saucer phenomenon. I found out that the
(05:37):
famous space pins that NASA developed for astronauts to use
an outer space back in I guess the nineteen sixties,
the Fisher space pins, they are made in this little
town a Boulder City. I actually went to very factory
one time, and I was able to buy one of
(05:57):
their latest space pins. What blew my mind most of
all about going to little old Boulder City was that
there is a workshop there called Characters Unlimited, and that
is where every single Zoltar machine and similar machines, every
(06:18):
single Zoltar machine in the world is made right there
in that shop by hand. It's basically a family owned business.
And I was like, what, couldn't believe it? And I
thought I'd give anything to go in there and have
a look around. Well, of course, eventually I created a
(06:39):
walking tour in Boulder City called the Haunted Boulder City
Ghost and UFO Tour. Everybody loves it. We have rave reviews.
If you're ever in the Vegas area, you have to
go to Boulder City. Go to a Haunted Bouldercity dot
com and take the tour. Well, one of my tour
guides is a beloved man in town named Alan Goya.
(07:00):
Alan knows everybody. He's lived in Boulder City for decades,
and at one point Alan decided to spice up his
presentation sometimes when he was guiding a tour, so he
went over to the Zoltar factory Characters Unlimited, and he
talked to the owner there. The owner is a man
(07:21):
named Oloff Stanton, and Oloff gave Alan permission to dress
up as Zoltar when Alan was hosting the tour and
kind of, you know, play up the whole Zoltar motif.
What a really nice, cool thing for him to do.
So basically, Alan, you know, I don't know if he
(07:42):
how long he's been friends with Oloff, the president and
founder of Characters Unlimited, but I kept telling Alan, you
got to introduce me to this guy. You know, one
day I got to go over there. And you know
how it is, I just kept getting behind on projects
and I never was able to do it. And finally
the other day I needed to go to Boulder City
(08:03):
to get some work done, and I said, you know what,
here it is it's Christmas time. What a fun like
idea to go to some kind of a workshop. And
so I contacted Alan, and Alan blessed to be you.
Alan Allen arranged for me and Lauren to go over
(08:23):
and meet Alla Oloff and take a tour of the
Character's Unlimited workshop where they produce again not just Zoltar,
but similar things like you may have seen. There is
the Old Pappy. Pappy, the old hillbilly. In some places,
(08:44):
there's also a man in an outhouse, farmer, and a chicken.
They also have things that don't even have the automaton.
They're like the love tester. They've just knocked this out
of the ballpark. And one of the things that I
learned early on was that, Okay, a lot of people
first heard of Zoltar by watching the nineteen eighty eight
(09:08):
movie called Big starring Tom Hanks. And in that movie,
the main character, who is a little boy at that
time named Josh, he wants to be big. He doesn't
like being a kid, and so he ends up going
to some kind of affair or carnival, and at one
(09:29):
point he looks off to the side and he sees
one of these mysterious fortune tellers there, and he walks
up to it and it says Zoltar speaks, and it
looks very similar to the Zoltar that you've seen, not
quite exactly the same, but anyway, he puts he drops
a quarter in the machine, and then the machine says,
(09:50):
you know, what is your wish and he says, I
want to be I wish I were big, And then
a card comes out that says your wish is granted,
and then after that the kid the machine wasn't even
plugged in, and then the movie kicks off when he
wakes up the next morning and now this kid overnight
has transformed into a grown man played by Tom Hanks.
And so I always kind of figured that there was
(10:12):
a company out there that made that made Zoltar machines,
and that when the when the movie Big came out,
they had provided a machine and this is like the
best publicity in the world, and it must have been
like a huge boon for their business. And then Zoltar
took off. It didn't happen that way. Turns out there
(10:34):
have been similar kind of fortune telling machines and automatons
kind of like this, going all the way back to
at least the early nineteen hundreds, different kinds of characters.
There was one, I think maybe the nineteen sixties called Zoltan,
And what happened was when they decided to make the
movie Big, that machine was just a unique one off
(11:00):
prop made for that movie. And I'm assuming that they
came up with the name Zoltar because they were basing
it off of the word zol ten. As a matter
of fact, in a minute You're gonna hear me interview
Oloff as I walk around the workshop, and I think
he will clarify that. So some of the stuff that
I'm telling you may be a little bit redundant. But basically,
(11:20):
the movie Big had been around for quite a while,
and Characters Unlimited had been making these types of attractions
since nineteen eighty seven, and they got gradually more and
more into these automaton type figures, and then they finally
got the rights to Zoltar in two thousand and six
(11:44):
and they started making them. And that is where the
Zoltar you know and love comes from. Today, when we
come back, I'll tell you a little bit more about
the history of this. And then I actually brought a
recorder with me. You're going to hear me excited as
a kid on Christmas morning walking through the Zoltar factory
(12:05):
and given a personal VIP tour by the owner. Huh,
what a day.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
I love small workshops and things that are family owned businesses.
I have my own workshop where I make some of
my own unique goodies from time to time, and if
you want to know when they're available, go to Joshua P.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Warren dot com.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
You'll find some of them right now in the Curiosity Shop,
but also be sure to sign up for my free
and spam free e newsletter right there on the homepage.
Put your email address in there. Hit subnip. Takes you
two seconds. Trust me, you'll be glad that you did.
I am Joshua pe Warren, and you are listening to
Strange Things on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM
(12:49):
Paranormal Podcast Network. And I will be right back. Welcome
(13:29):
back to Strange Things on the iHeartRadio and Coast to
Coast a M Paranormal Podcast Network. I am your host,
the Wizard of Weird, Joshua P. Warren, beaming into your
worm whole brain from my studio in Sin City, Las Vegas, Nevada,
where every day is golden and every night is silver.
(13:51):
Giatato zoom mate. And if you go to their website,
Characters Unlimited dot com, it says, since nineteen eighty seven,
Characters Unlimited, Incorporated has specialized in making your place and
attraction by designing and building affordable, life sized, mechanically animated
(14:13):
and talking characters. We have hundreds of characters available for
you to choose from, including animatronic people, birds, animals, dinosaurs,
fortune telling machines, sign waivers, and much more. We own
the trademark for Zoltar Speaks and are the only manufacturer
of the fortune teller Zoltar Speaks since two thousand and six.
(14:36):
Our story says Oloff Stanton, the president and founder of
Characters Unlimited, Incorporated, grew up and worked during his adolescent
life in the booming tourist town of Wisconsin Dell's, Wisconsin.
He learned how to build non animated dummies or characters
from his stepfather back in the nineteen seventies. Surrounded by
entrepreneurs his entire life, Oloff knew that he wanted to
(14:59):
start a venture of his own, so after graduating college,
he packed up and headed west to a small town
outside of Las Vegas called Boulder City, Nevada, where he
founded Characters Unlimited, Incorporated. And like I was saying, this
is basically like a you know, family business now and everything.
I mean, they mold all their parts right there and
paint them. There's a guy at the town right down
(15:22):
the road, Henderson, who builds the wooden cabinets. I mean,
it's not like they're sitting around waiting for some factory
and China to build this and ship it to them.
I mean they're making it right there, homegrown. I love that,
and I mean talk about quality. You can get one
of these Zultars starting at seven three hundred dollars, and
(15:42):
then from there they can go up in complexity, going
up to you know, ten to twelve, depending on various
things you want. Even Zach Began zach Began's at his
haunted mansion here in Vegas commissioned the custom version of
zach Began Zoltar. So if you go into his Haunted mansion,
(16:05):
one of the first things you'll see is a Zoltar
type machine with Zach Began's inside wearing a top hat. Yes,
also looking over some of their literature, just to clarify
it says our characters are electro mechanically animated and have
a plug and play design. No pricey air compressors or
computers needed. By the way, that prop that was used
(16:33):
for the movie Big that inspired Oloff to start making
these has well, it seemed to sort of vanish for
a while and nobody was sure where it was. And
I started looking into it, and I'm not one hundred
percent sure, but here's what I think. The movie Big
(16:57):
was directed by Penny Marshall and her Let's see, I
guess I think Gary Marshall was her sibling. And there
is a theater in Burbank, California called the Gary Marshall Theater,
(17:21):
and the last I heard that original prop was on
display in the Gary Marshall Theater in Burbank. I have
not been able to confirm that. I tried getting in
touch with him and have her back, but that's where
that prop might be. How cool would it be to
get a hold of that and put it somewhere in
the Zoltar factory in Boulder City. One last thing I
(17:44):
want to tell you before I start playing this audio
is interestingly, right before we were going to go visit
the workshop, I found out that there had recently been
a fire in the workshop, and I believe it was
an electrical fire that started. And so because of that,
(18:05):
they are temporarily working out of a different building that's
down the street. So and that will come into play
also a little bit later in the podcast, I'll explain.
So I wasn't actually able to go into the main
workshop where they usually work, but I was able to
(18:26):
go to their temporary workshop and they should be back
into the main one maybe in a little over a
month or so. But anyway, having said that, here we go.
This is me walking through and talking with ole off
Stanton as he's showing me all of these just fascinating
and wondrous things that characters unlimited.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
And then the fortunate towers. I mean, I started in
nineteen eighty six where we drove around in a van
selling still figures out of the van. Well, my wife
and I we'd make them in the backyard the garage.
We'd get a load of twenty static figures together, and
we hit we hit the road with a Dodge MAXI
van and be gone for two weeks. Meet me and
her two cats and twenty two dummies, you know, And
(19:10):
we didn't come back until we sold them.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
So now I read that your your father was a
sculptor of some kind, right, and you learned from him.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
My stepfather was a was an artist and okay and
uh in the and so he dabbled in Indian jewelry
and Indian artifacts and things like that, and he would
make replica tomahawks and spears, and and he developed this
this a sitting Indian character that people like to put
out front of their trading posts and antique shops and
(19:38):
gift shops, and and they got two of them sitting
in front of the Western and Western Mexican Center here
at Boulder City. Those are the original static Indians characters
that we used to sell. And then I got into
making you know, cowboys and sea captains and pirates and
things like that. And my mom married my stepfather when
I was fifteen years old, and I started helping him
make make these, and through school and a little bit
(20:01):
in college and then college I started making some characters
and selling them for extra money. And I would do
trade and stuff like that, and then get finished in
college in nineteen eighty six, the business and marketing degree.
I could have took a job like everybody else was doing,
but I wanted to try something on my own, and
so we uh, I came out here. My brother happened
to be out here at the time. He had learned
(20:22):
to do this as well, and we started the business together,
and we were in business for ten years, and I
bought him out, and then we started getting in tomorrow
of the animated talking and moving and then putting him
in a box and charging money to hear him talk
and and then eventually we were making cowboys and pirates
and sea captains and old miners, and then we developed
(20:45):
what called Artiswami, and I didn't want to call him
Ultar because Zultar was in the movie and I didn't
want to get in trouble. Well, anyway, in two thousand
and six, I finally looked into the trademark status of
Altar and we'll behold, nobody ever Trademark'sultar. So we so
we got the trademark for Zultar too thousand and six, gosh.
And then then we started developing our own version of Zultar,
which she most people are familiar with today. You know,
(21:06):
this is one to say.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
So with the Zultar in the movie then was just
a one off prop for that movie, isn't it right?
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Does anybody to know what happened to that? That was
the movie? Big? Yeah, It was a prop that was
in the movie, and it was really not designed to
be an arcade game. You remember, he fed the quarter.
He was like cranking feed the quarter into the mouth
and the mouth had to open at the right time
to drop in right and then and then he simply
he had a breathing sound, and his chest went up
(21:35):
and down, and he his eyes lit up and gave
the car. Well, that wasn't it wasn't talking the movie
like cars. He he didn't even have arms in the movie,
you know. So we made a move his arm, move
his head, move his eyes and talk and and give
him a voice, you know, his ultar wish we have today.
I wonder who came up with the names Altar any
idea there Ultar was a cartoon back in the forties,
(21:59):
and before it was a fortune power. And then there
was a Zoltan machine. There was on a pedestal and
the head was on a pedestal and you put it
in a quarter and you held the telephone receiver to
your ear and you could hear your fortune by by
way of this talking head. And I don't think they
had to actually talk, but that that was called zold Tan.
(22:21):
And then this movie came out, and I don't know
if they changed it from Zoltan to Zultar because they
didn't want to the old people who made the game.
I'm not sure what they call it the old Tar,
but uh, yeah, it does have the name does have roots,
and I think uh Greek origin.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
So did you have to learn robotics yourself to start
making these or did that?
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Well, we just we started dabbling in and when people
would buy a character that from me, you would have
plaster had plaster hands, ploppy jointed arms and legs which
can sit up straight and beat this is in the
front of the store. And they would say, well, it
would be really cool if that could move its arm,
or it could move its head, have some movement. So
we started dabbling with made a torsol that would accommodate movements,
(23:14):
and I found local guys that were that were handy
with uh welding and stuff and motors, and they developed
a mechanism that would turn the hat or make the
arm move. So we started making the move for us
while and then and then we were Then somebody saw
me at one of the gift shows that we were
doing and said, hey, I can make this same move
(23:35):
as mouth. And I said, well that that that'd be cool.
You know, you make me a head that's hollow and
I could take it with it out I can make.
I show you what I can do. And and he
came back with this I had had and he put
a draw back in it and every time a sound
came out, you have the jaw move. And it was
basically what's called the colored organ circuit and the disco days,
(23:56):
you'd have a sound and then the sound would make
the light go on. Well instead of the lights go on,
the sound. Every time he had a sound, it would
make the jaw pop open, right and uh so that
the time we got the sound actively had a job.
So once we have that, we could make it, make it, uh,
make it talk with a microphone or any any recording.
Back then we were using endless loop cassette tapes and
(24:17):
then we started, you know using uh uh you could
use any any audio for us. Then we started with
flash cards and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
You know, all right, time for a break. And of
course you can hear his workers in the background working away,
just like busy little lelves and Sands's workshop making those
zultars and similar figures. And of course you're listening to
(24:46):
me and my wife Lauren and my buddy Alan Goya.
Maybe we should call him Alan Zoltar Goya. Getting a
personal tour from ohl Off, the owner, founder and owner
of the Zoltar Factory. Characters unlimited, More to come. I'm
(25:10):
Joshua pe Warren. You're listening to Strange Things on the
iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network, and
I'll be back after these important messages. Welcome back to
(25:58):
Strange Things on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM
Paranormal Podcast Network. I'm your host, Joshua Pee Warren, and
this is the show where the unusual becomes usual. Now
back to the audio from my personal tour with Oloff
(26:22):
of the Siltar Factory in Boulder City, Nevada. Character is
unlimited me you handmaking each.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
One of these here in your factory.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Well, we have our cabinet makers in Henderson and Okay.
He works out of his two carbohage and that's all
he does is pop up portugalo machine spars. Why did
you choose Boulder City When I graduated from college, I
came from what little town in Wisconsin called Wisconsin Dell's.
It's a world tourist town and had boat rides and
(26:52):
water parks and tractions like that, and and my family
was involved in the business and it was a seasonal,
seasonal deal. I was making good money with my summer job.
And then when I graduated, I had to go somewhere.
But the people that worked in Wisconsin Dell's that drove
(27:13):
the boat, they had to have coastcard licenses to do it. Well.
Some of the guys that we knew from Wisconsin Dell's
heard that they needed boat drivers on Lake Meat and
to buy drive a boat on Lake Meat for the
tours down that you needed a coastcard license. So after
labor Day they would come out here and drive boat
to Lake be So they happened to be out here.
And my brother was just traveling around selling characters, and
(27:34):
he stopped and stayed with his buddies for a whole
and me and he just was here for a couple
of years. When I got here, he had never left. Meanwhile,
they were leaving and he stayed. And when I graduated college,
he happened to be here. So I came out with
the car and trailer and whatever I had to add
to the business, and we started it together. And my
wife at the time, Kanta say at the time, came
(27:55):
out after she graduated semester later. And honestly, we don't
know how we stayed. We didn't have nothing for working
out of the backyard. We used to We used to
pad the bodies with Bible class instillation. We're back there
one hundred and twenty degrees in the dirt, in the
garage with no air condition or anything, spray and lacquers
all over the place, you know, and neighbors were really tolerant.
(28:15):
And he'd sort of tried to get together a load
of characters to hit through over to make, you know,
seventy eight thousand bucks and then come back and do
it again.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
You know.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
But and we first came out being from Wisconsin, what
do we we aren't staying in this desert. We're not
staying in the desert. Sucks. It's hot, it's there, no trees,
you know, it's terrible here. Well, after a few years
it ended up being a great location to be to
go to the ocean and go to the mountains, go
go any anywhere you want, and a major tourist start
and sell our stuff. And then we started doing convention
(28:45):
as well. Any kind of convention you'd want to try
would be in Vegas, so it's right over the hill.
And traveling in Boulder City was away from the rat race.
And when we start having kids, it was a nice
place to raise kids. So we stayed and I told myself,
I can make an money to get out of there
when I want to, I can.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
So I guess you just hired a voice after at
some point to do the voice of sults are.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Yeah, the guys said, we do our voices. A lot
of them. Started off. We got an order for ten
different nautical themed characters for a boat sales place in Michigan,
big indoor boat sales place. And this guy had an idea,
I'm going to put a different character on the back
of each boat in my showroom and be a pirate
(29:28):
and a sea captain, an oldssault and the fresh washer
water fishermen, and I want these guys talking to people
as they're walking through the show room talking about the boats. Well,
he was using this voice talent company out of Tennessee
called Premiere Companies, and he had them do the voices
for the characters. But prior to that, we would just
kind of do the best we could. Well, they're a
professional voice talent and they were an answering machine on
(29:51):
whole message on machine company. So he hired him to
do voices for the characters. We heard the voices like, well,
this is great, you know coming to get our numbers,
so we started using them and we have one guy
in his company named Josh Harrison. He's the one who
did the first Soultar voice and we've stuck with him
two since two thousand and six. Whenever somebody wants to
(30:11):
do a Zoltar voice like the slot machine. Every gaming
in Vegas has seven hundred and fifty slot machines around
the coffee right now, and whenever they need to do
new audio, we insist that they use his voice.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
Becaus think that he goes to the bar and says,
guess who I am. I'm those voice of Zoltar, and
everybody's like, yeah, have another.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Shots behind the scenes, Yeah, is this one ready to go? Here?
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Yeah, let me turn the volume up.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
That's true. Before I tell you it is true. The
smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention. Take
it from me, the great Zultar. Intending shall get you nowhere,
but doing yes that will bring you much much reward.
Provide Zultar as your and I will provide you with
(31:02):
the depth of wisdom. Your fortune is mind for the
tally and yours for the healing. So that was the
attract message that went off. This is a motion sensor
down here and that goes off like every three minutes,
and then we put your money and that drops out and.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
I know what I'm going at the roulette wheel today, Yeah,
roulette or lottery.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
The different we saw. We watched them videos with the
guy who said.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
That you set number.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Yeah, yeah, we put yeah, we put on Donald Kingman
and on the way to cam In in the in
the in the place we sell, we put get your
lucky numbers from Zoltar. Yeah, and we have stories with
people that have won tens of thousands of dollars. If
you go to wikiup on the way ninety three on
the way to Phoenix, yeah, if you if you put
the thing that's the main form of entertainment, that truck,
(31:50):
that restaurant over there, because when people play those, I
played the Zoltar over there. Like the kitchen staff came
out to look at what Zoltar had to say.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
It's like this kind of board, a couple of molds
that we just got done running today that these are
these are plaster plaster pairis two part moles and those
are filled up with this.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
This stuff called liquid latex and that that's filled solid
with that it sits there for two hours, and the
log you keep it in, the more thickness it builds up.
So and then when it's done, when it's finally the
next day, it's fry enough to take.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
And so who sculpts the face?
Speaker 3 (32:29):
I've used many different artists.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
Yeah, cool.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Now what do you do if, like say, one of
your machines in Michigan malfunctions or something that needs work?
You have people get on the phone and and then
we figured it out the phone.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
They need to us directly, I mean, do you travel
there in service?
Speaker 3 (32:50):
No, it's not necessary. It's not necessary. I mean if
they want to pay for us to fly in and usually,
just like Dispenser, we would glad to do that, but
it's not. Everything can be serviced over the phone by
somebody who's basibly mechanically inclined, and we could fastime them.
You'll give up till we fix.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
Them, you know. And so where do the tickets come from?
Who writes those? And how are those produced?
Speaker 3 (33:18):
A lot of them we've collected over the years from
various antique machines and tarot cards that we have found,
but lately we added probably sixty new fortunes like we
have about a connect ones right now, and and we
just keep creating. We have a call artist named Brod
(33:40):
Beasley who who makes vintage looking artwork that goes along
with each one. But it all started with this vintage
looking at artwork we like to.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
Stick with, you know, yeah, I think yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
And he is really good at at duplicating that, so
whenever we come up with a new fortune, he captures.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
It in a so in the face is just latex?
Is that? Is this a finished face?
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Yeah? Yeah, it's late not that not the latex you
would normally think of this as flexible. It's this is
called rigid latex. It's got more solids in it, so
it dries hard.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
Okay to touch that, that's so huh Okay, I'll see
what you mean. So it has that you can tell.
It feels a little rubbery, but it's also very stiff
and durable.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
How many zultars do you think you've made, or how
many of these types of machines in general?
Speaker 3 (34:28):
How many have we sold? Yeah, over the years, I
would say a couple of thousands old tars, uh huh, yeah,
and fifteen and fifty old miners, pirates, captains, medicine. Then
we get more and more people that want themselves made
or celebrity made. We did Dan Campbell the Culture of
(34:50):
the Lions for the NFL Draft. We did Andre three
thousand for a Super Bowl commercial last year. And yeah,
speaking yeah, I mean people want there's a there's a
robot forty collar in there.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
Oh yeah, I love playing the Zultar slot machine.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Now what is the process like when somebody contacts you
and says I want to turn your product into a
slot machine.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Well, that's a good question. I was I had to
trademark since two thousand and six, as you know, when
I was selling Zultars and I was doing trade shows,
and we were starting to think, you know, with Zultar's
household name, we should have products. We should do, you know,
coffee gups, we should do T shirts, we should do hats,
and and I happened to be playing in New Orleans
for the for the Halloween and Costume Show. And the
(35:40):
Halloween Costume show used to be in Rosemont every year
in Illinois, and then they split up the costumes from
the Halloween Haunts stuff, so I had to go to
New Orleans to do it. And and because they split
it up. It was really dead that year, and it
wasn't very many people and I wasn't ha at really
good show. But this lady comes up to the booth
and she starts looking at at my off and it's like, Zultar.
(36:02):
Do you how can you call that? Zultar? Wasn't that
in the movement? I said, well, yeah, but I got
the trademark And he said, She said, we ever thought
of doing products and stuff like that? And I said, yeah,
We're to do some t shirts and hats and things.
He says, no, I'm just I'm talking about taking a
nationwide and doing you know, the stuff that would be
sold in Walmart all over the place. And I said, well,
(36:24):
we got to be open for that. He said, well,
let me talk for my partner. I'll get back to you.
So she she got back to me a week later
and says, we'd love to take you on a contingency.
And we're we're licensing agents, and we're brand managers, Firefly
Brand Management and uh and and they had the connections
in place to go to people that that make toys
(36:45):
and say, hey, would you like to do an the
Ultar toy or would you like to do a Zultar
coffee or his Ultar soda or his Ultar slot machine,
you know, and they get a deal with them and
they get a little They get a little bit and
need a little bit. So the wine is, the wine
is coming out. The love of them. The uh, the
slot machines was was a good thing. The uh the
(37:07):
running press, uh, little mini Zoltar that's been, that's been
a real hit.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
A lot of our friends have that little key chains
playing cards.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
All right. Time for a break when we come back.
Is the Zoltar factory haunted? And also I got my
own Zoltar fortune directly from Oloff's hand. I'll tell you
what it says when we come back. I'm Joshua P.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
Warren.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
You're listening to Strange Things on the iHeartRadio and Coast
to Coast DAM Paranormal Podcast Network, and I will be
right back. Welcome back to the final segment of this
(38:24):
edition of Strange Things on the iHeartRadio and Coast to
Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network. I am your host, Joshua P. A. Warren.
And as I mentioned, Zoltar has been licensed all over
the place all kinds of different interesting merchandise. I have
(38:45):
most of it. And you may have heard Oloff even
say there is a Zultar wine coming out soon. He
actually showed me that this wine is going to have
a really special feature, but I'm not sure if he's
ready to reveal that yet or if it's still a surprise.
So I'm not going to say what that feature is.
But so I was asking him, well, you know, what
(39:08):
is it like? What is the process like to have
this this famous trademark that you're you're licensing all over
the place, so all you do is sign.
Speaker 4 (39:16):
A piece of paper and then click checks.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
Yeah, yeah, that's pretty good. Running around and over thirty
stressing out as used to make a lot of money
while you sleep.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Yeah, right, So do you consider yourself an artist or
and or business man?
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Was a little bit of both. I still make all
the molds, you know, and I haven't a knack for that,
and I always I've always hired hired painters. I have
a hard time with the painting of kind of cuddled
line with different colors, mixing and stuff. So I just
find people to do what I need to get done,
you know. And now we got uh, my my daughter
Krena and my son Gunnar are working with us and
(39:55):
and they're helping take this to the next level, especially
with the ols old Tar brand popping and doing things.
You know. Yeah, it's excited. Why did your parents thend
you o Off? We came from Central Wisconsin, really heavy
Scandinavian heritage back there. My mother's maiden name was Eric Simon.
My dad's mother's made name was Gregorson Stanton. But my
(40:18):
dad dad loved the Norwegian heritage. I was named Oloff,
had a brother named Bjorn, Eric and Grieg and tour
Norwegian names, so that's why I named Gunner. Everybody calls
him GONNERD, but it really would be Gunar to you.
G and Nar.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah, Okay, that's going to do it for now. I'll
explain what I mean in a second. But first off,
once again, I just really want to thank Alan Goya
for arranging this special tour for us, because the Characters
Unlimited is not ordinarily open for people to come in
(40:55):
and take a tour that has to be specially arranged.
And Olof, well, I want to thank you and your staff.
Everybody was so warm and welcoming, and it's just it's
amazing to see a homegrown business like this with such creativity,
with such care, with such love, and it's just, you know,
(41:17):
I admire that they're able to take such an unusual
product and make it to such a success. But now,
of course this show is called Strange Things. You know,
I investigate a lot of paranormal phenomena, so I did
inquire as to whether or not there are any ghostly
(41:40):
stories connected to the business, because of course, well we
all know, we hear about halted dolls, haunted statues, the
haunted figures at the wax Museum. When you're making these
lifelike figures and you want them to appear as if
they are interacting, well, are you creating some kind of
(42:00):
a tulpa, a spirit that is inside them. It's a
good question. It wouldn't surprise me a bit. And what
I was told was that indeed there is a ghostly
history at the Character's Unlimited Workshop, but I'm gonna have
(42:23):
to wait until I go there, because the one that
I went to was the temporary one because, as I
mentioned earlier, the main one, the original one, had a fire,
so they are temporarily displaced. But I have been invited
to go back, maybe in the next month or two too.
(42:44):
Into the original building where they've been for years and
years and years, and that's where there is supposedly some
some paranormal activity attached. And so I guess it'll almost
be like a part too, because I want to go
back there and maybe bring some equipment and just do
a piece about anything that I may pick up, or
(43:05):
any stories or any any kind of research I can
dig up about paranormal phenomena related to Zoltar. Now, at
one point while I was there, uh, one of the
Zoltar machines that was sitting right there next to us
was sort of it had its cabinet open, some of
(43:26):
the electronics were exposed, and at one point Oloff reached down,
punched a button and a fortune popped out. Oloff took
it from the machine and handed it to me, and
I thought, wow, this will be a prize possession, because
there's no telling how many of these Zultar tickets I've
gotten in my life. But to have one handed to
(43:46):
me from a machine at the factory by the man
who creates them, I mean, that's pretty special. This is
going to be framed. Here is what it says.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
Are you ready?
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Onyx was made especially for you? Wear it and good
luck will follow you. So let me pause here. Well,
I've already bought an Onyx necklace after reading this, so
I'll let you know what happens when I get it.
Then it continues. Don't let opportunity knock at your door
(44:21):
in vain. Grasp it, and the course of your life
will be different. You will be very happy with the
one you have chosen for your life's companion. Be patient.
Those who have tried to interfere with your happiness will
soon find they have no influence on your loved one.
You seem to be very impetuous and outspoken. This has
(44:44):
caused your dear ones some moments of unhappiness. Curb your temper,
and not only will you be happier, but healthier too.
And I was like, that doesn't sound very positive, I thought,
Lauren read that goes No, that doesn't sound like you impetuous.
That means careless, thoughtless. You know this kind of I mean,
(45:08):
I'm not am I am I that way. I guess
I'll hear about it now everybody will contact me. But well, actually, Joshua,
but fortunately, I don't think that this is a particularly
accurate fortune because it has here my lucky numbers, and
(45:29):
I said, play again, lucky numbers fourteen, two, three, nineteen,
twenty two and twenty three. So guess what I did.
I went right to the casino. I played a number
of Keno machines where you pick numbers and the balls
fall and you can win a lot of money. At kino,
(45:52):
I usually do very well, but I didn't win on
any of those numbers. So finally I even went to
a live roulette table where you have the live dealer there.
I can't remember what they call the person who spends
the wheel at a roulette table, and I put money
(46:12):
on each one of these numbers, and nope, I didn't
win any So I have not one on these numbers.
So I'm going to say that I cannot vouch for
the fact that a fortune that comes out of a
Zultar machine is going to be the God's honest truth.
(46:35):
So it's for fun, it's for entertainment purposes only. I
don't think I would take this very much to heart,
but it's a great it's a wonderful souvenir, and it's
just it's something to make you think, and you know what,
I will be continuing to get my fortunes and I
will keep playing whatever numbers come out until till I
(46:59):
find the combo all right again. Their website is Characters
Unlimited dot com and I will be following up with
you soon on my next visit there. Real quick, I
have an email I want to share with you. I
was talking on a recent show about some people who
believe in the conspiracy that we may not have landed
(47:20):
on the Moon and say that Stanley Kubrick may have
faked some of that footage. Got an email from a
man named Tom. He said, many have said there is
something fake about the Moon landing. Let me clear this up.
As I recall, the amount of battery life on the Moon.
On the Moon mission craft was very limited. That is
(47:40):
why most of the quote live footage that was seen
during the mission was in fact live footage live from
the studio set. This was to conserve battery life. Later
there were recordings of footage that came back with the astronauts.
This confused many people and now they say it was
all a studio set. Others say it was all real.
I remember the why and that makes sense. Hope this
(48:03):
clears it up. The Moon landing was real and due
to nineteen sixty nine battery technology acted out simultaneously on
a set so that our televisions could show the public
views of what was happening up on the moon without
broadcasting from the moon, saving much needed battery life. And
then he wrote a second email just to clarify the
point further. He said, due to the nineteen sixty nine batteries,
(48:26):
it was impractical to send footage from the moon, but
we the public needed to see what was going on
up there, so it was done on a set. Later,
the actual tapes that came back made all of this
more confusing. So yes, it was live footage, and yes
it was a movie set. Thanks Tom. Well what do
you think about that? That might explain it? Huh? All right,
(48:48):
my friends, take a deep breath, if you can close
your eyes. Let's end with the good Fortune tone. That's
(49:18):
it for this edition of the show. Follow me at
Joshua P. Warren Plus, visit joshuapwarren dot com to sign
up for my free e newsletter to receive a free
instant gift, and check out the cool stuff in the
Curiosity Shop. All at Joshuapwarren dot com. I have a
(49:38):
fun one lined up for you next time, I promise,
So please tell all your friends to subscribe to this
show and to always remember the Golden Rule. Thank you
for listening, thank you for your interest and support. Thank
you for staying curious, and I will talk to you
(49:58):
again soon. You've been listening to Strange Things on the
iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (50:24):
Well, if you like this episode of Strange Things, wait
till you hear the next one. Thank you for listening
to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
Host
Joshua P. Warren
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com