Whoever holds the conch, speaks.
The setting was intimate but there was no shortage of guests. People sat in booths with friends, ordered delicious pizzas and waited until they drank enough to gain the courage to get on stage.
Tuesday night, people went out to Lightnin’ Salvage behind Satchel’s Pizza to participate in Grow Radio’s monthly storytelling event, The Conch. This month, the topic was pets and companions.
The stories consisted of unusual first pets such as mice, a UF student’s cat that took over her room while she was away at college, a young man who asked for dating advice from a fish and a young woman who had taken care of a bunch of stray cats.
There was even one woman who brought her white Pomeranian, Bobby, as inspiration for the crowd.
Arugably the most interesting story of the night belonged to Janice Dees, who spoke about living with her sister and her sister’s boyfriend in a haunted house.
The ghost of an old woman supposedly haunted the house, and not long after living there, Dees experienced paranormal activity firsthand.
One day, Dees returned to an empty home, and her sister’s dog, Stinks, was in the backyard.
Dees knew that she had left Stinks inside when she left. She checked with her sister. Neither she nor her boyfriend had been home since Dees had left, and she had shut the doors before she left for the day.
She chalked it up to the old woman ghost.
The 26-year-old admitted to being a regular at the event but said she doesn’t rehearse her stories before hand.
“Oral history builds community bonds, and it’s a way to pass stories through the generations,” Dees said.
She said she believes it is important in maintaining the human connection. Telling stories, she says, “It’s in our genes.”
