0:02

Welcome to the Hidden Gin, a production

0:04

of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild

0:06

from Aaron Minkey. Some

0:30

of you may know that I am an attorney by profession

0:33

and spent most of my legal career doing immigration

0:35

and civil rights work. Well you may

0:38

not know is that my legal work eventually

0:40

led to working briefly for about six

0:42

years in national security policy. Now

0:44

that's another story to tell, but suffice it to

0:47

say that work connected me to experts

0:49

across the field, military and

0:51

defense folks, policy walks, and government

0:53

and think tanks, homeland security officials,

0:55

diplomats, social media executives,

0:58

researchers, academics, commune and

1:00

social workers. Let's just say

1:02

it was a broad reaching and deeply interesting

1:04

work. Now, many of these connections

1:07

were virtual, which is pretty common these days.

1:09

So I was excited at one point to be invited

1:11

to present at a conference where I would meet

1:13

some of these folks in person finally,

1:16

and one of those people I was looking forward to meeting

1:18

was a national security expert and former

1:20

intelligence operative from another country,

1:23

someone who was pretty well respected in industry

1:25

circles by all indications

1:27

online. He was a fairly serious guy with

1:30

some intense experience in the field,

1:32

and he was often called upon to testify in

1:34

high level hearings on national security matters.

1:37

I have been following him online for a few years

1:40

and vice versa, and I was pleased

1:42

when we met to find him to be pretty laid back

1:44

and friendly, and on the first evening

1:46

of the conference, as we mingled after dinner,

1:49

I began gently asking this gentleman

1:51

about something I had been curious about

1:53

for a while. Years earlier,

1:56

he had been involved in a controversy that

1:58

involved a criminal proceeding, and

2:00

it seemed to still haunt his social media

2:02

mentions every so often. I

2:05

remember I was holding a soda taking

2:07

SIPs as he began telling me about

2:09

what had happened and how he and his family

2:11

had gotten through it. But nothing could

2:14

have prepared me for what he was going to say.

2:17

He told me that for a very long

2:19

time, for years, he had

2:21

a group of gin, his own

2:23

gin that protected him.

2:26

The details on how he got ahold of these gin

2:28

and got them to do his bidding is fuzzy

2:31

now, probably because I was trying

2:33

to process a whole lot going on in my head. As

2:35

I listened, he explained

2:37

that on the day he was to testify in his highly

2:40

publicized and controversial case.

2:42

He was sequestered in a witness waiting room,

2:45

but his GIN were able to show him what was

2:47

happening in the court room, almost

2:49

as if the walls between him and the room

2:52

where the judge, jury, and lawyers were

2:54

doing their duties had disappeared.

2:57

The gin had lifted the veils of the material

3:00

world in order to calm him down,

3:02

to reassure him that they were with him.

3:05

And so he sat in the witness room

3:08

down multiple halls, able to see

3:10

the proceedings before he was even

3:12

called, and when the bailiff

3:14

came to get him, he didn't need to be guided

3:16

into the courtroom. He knew every

3:19

turn down the hallway, and he knew

3:21

who was who before he stepped in front of the

3:23

judge. These

3:26

jen he said, had been with him for a few years

3:28

before all of this had gone down, and

3:30

they protected his life after the trial

3:32

too, But eventually he

3:34

had dismissed them, no longer needing

3:37

their services. Now,

3:39

as I was standing there taking this in, you have

3:42

to understand I had no reason

3:44

not to believe this man. First,

3:46

Why would he a professional with a solid

3:49

reputation share a story

3:51

that could so undermine him.

3:54

Second, I had seen or heard nothing about him

3:56

or from him, Otherwise that would make me wonder

3:58

about the state of his mind or his credibility,

4:01

and believe me I had asked around. Finally,

4:05

I know I have my own inexplicable

4:07

experiences and which I've been convinced a

4:09

jin was at the root of my troubles.

4:12

So if I believe that, why wouldn't I believe

4:14

this guy? Where exactly

4:16

do you draw the line on what Gin stories are too

4:18

fantastical to be true? I

4:20

mean, really, it's like being a little bit pregnant.

4:22

You're either all in or not. Anyhow,

4:26

it did get me thinking though about the very nature

4:28

of gin. Up until that point,

4:30

most of the firsthand stories I had heard from

4:32

people who had Gin experiences were

4:34

either outright frightening or at

4:36

least kind of spooky. Even

4:39

the stories of the far far past, like the

4:41

gin that built Solomon's first temple, were

4:44

only helpful to humans when they were being controlled

4:46

against their will. But this

4:48

man's story shifted my perception a little

4:50

bit about the Gin, Putting aside

4:52

the fact that it was a little problematic as a lawyer

4:55

that they rendered the sequestration of a witness

4:57

completely meaningless. These gin

4:59

were protective of their human They

5:02

were not just there to guard him physically, but

5:04

to calm him down, to take care of his emotional

5:07

and mental state. The question

5:09

then becomes what to make up a gin.

5:13

What we know is that while they may be everywhere

5:15

surrounding us at this very moment, and

5:17

that they're powerful and able to wreak all

5:19

kinds of havoc on us if they want to, they

5:22

mostly don't. They

5:24

just go about their business while doing their best

5:26

to steer clear of humans, and they don't

5:28

even like human beings entering their space. So

5:32

are they good? Are they evil?

5:35

Are they our friends or our foes? If

5:38

you recall the legend of King Solomon's Jinn's

5:41

when they were eventually released from their bondage,

5:44

they vow to be an enemy to mankind

5:46

forever. But most scholars

5:48

and experts say that you can't broadly label

5:51

the gin as good or bad anymore

5:53

than you can with people. According

5:56

to a scholar of Arabic literature, so Nila

5:58

Mubai, orthodox traditionalists

6:01

say that people cannot understand

6:03

the gin. We're either not capable

6:06

of it or we're not meant to, but

6:08

why not? It would seem they're

6:10

not too much different than us. They

6:12

feel anger, rage, happiness, lust,

6:15

love, They have free will, they

6:17

marry and have children, and they are countless

6:19

stories of Gin studying alongside humans

6:22

and earthly educational institutes, so

6:24

it seems like they like to learn and grow just

6:26

like us too. They live in families

6:29

and tribes and societies, and their leaders

6:31

governed peacefully, but will also

6:33

wage war when necessary. The

6:36

Gin characters found in Old Arab

6:38

folklore are almost unnervingly

6:40

human, facing the same kinds of troubles

6:43

and issues we all do. I imagine

6:45

Jin spouse is arguing over the bills, and Jin

6:48

kids pouting over bedtime, and Jin

6:50

grandparents spoiling their Jin grand

6:52

babies. I

6:54

think that, just like people, we tend

6:56

not to hear about the silent majority of the Gin

6:58

just living their lives. The stories

7:01

we know about the Jin come from the opposite ends

7:03

of the spectrum, the good ones,

7:06

the helpers, or the

7:08

very very bad ones. My

7:10

name is Robbia Chadar, and I'll be your guide

7:13

into the world of the hidden Gin. Welcome.

7:28

While the universe may be full of Gin, most

7:31

of them will live their lives completely unknown

7:33

to us. Some,

7:35

however, we know by name because of their power,

7:38

or their stature in the Gin realm,

7:40

or their impact on human lives. And

7:43

one of the most famous of the ones that are named

7:45

is a Jin whose life story reflects

7:47

the complicated nature of these creatures.

7:51

That Jin is King Schamharush,

7:53

both demon and saint, feared

7:56

and loved. The

7:58

story of Chamharush is thousands of years

8:00

old. He's one of the seven Jin

8:03

kings who originally ruled the Jin kingdoms

8:06

called alta Jar. The Flyer. King

8:09

Chamharoush was known to be the fastest

8:11

Jin, able to fly between physical

8:13

places and dimensions, faster than

8:15

any unit of measurement our

8:17

feeble mortal minds could ever come up with. But

8:20

there may be another reason he's called the flyer. It

8:23

could be because of the speed of his vast

8:25

communications network. King

8:28

Chamharoush was way ahead of the social

8:30

media and e messaging game, with

8:32

a network that's been compared to a river

8:35

with thousands of tributaries and

8:37

each tributary branching into tens

8:39

of thousands of smaller ones. The

8:41

river itself a legion of

8:43

Jin that report back to him, and

8:45

each of these gin with the legion of their own, and

8:48

those jin with allegiance of their own, all

8:51

set up so that Schamharush not only knows

8:53

what is happening in every part of the world,

8:55

his world and ours, but he

8:58

knows it virtually instantly. How's

9:00

that for a grape vine. The

9:03

name Shamharush itself means the usher

9:06

a moniker he may have gotten because it's

9:08

believed that while he might have been a

9:10

king, he still did serve more

9:13

powerful masters, and so

9:15

the usher at King Shamharush stood

9:17

guard at one of the entrances

9:19

to Satan's palace and was directly

9:22

in the service of the son of Satan, Prince

9:25

Mora. Clearly, this

9:27

king had allegiances to dark forces,

9:29

I mean like he was tight with the worst

9:31

of them, but it seems like he eventually

9:33

saw the light. His legend

9:36

predates Islam and Christianity,

9:39

but it said that once Jesus came along,

9:41

Shamharush apparently became a Christian,

9:44

and six centuries later he met the prophet

9:46

Mohammed, prompting him to then become

9:49

a Muslim. Not only did

9:51

he become a Muslim, though he became a GODDI

9:53

a judge of Islamic law, presumably

9:56

presiding over matters of religion in

9:58

the Jinn world. That's what ultimately

10:01

landed him the reputation of being a saint,

10:04

long before he became a Christian or a Muslim,

10:07

even before these religions existed. Actually,

10:09

sham Haush was revered. We

10:12

know this because almost two thousand four high

10:15

up in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, there

10:18

stands a massive rock painted

10:20

white with a green and white flag

10:22

flying from its summit. It's

10:24

not just any old rock. It's a shrine

10:26

to King sham Haroush dating back

10:29

thousands of years, and

10:31

throughout the history of that shrine, seekers

10:33

in need of help have flocked to it, making

10:36

pilgrimages to ask the Jin's favor

10:38

in granting their wishes, and they still

10:40

do by the way. Eventually,

10:43

though, when Islam did spread to the region about

10:46

years ago, a mosque was installed

10:48

next to the shrine. But the rock

10:50

that forms a shrine is so big that

10:53

it dwarfs the humble little mosque.

10:55

The earth itself is hollowed out beneath

10:58

the rock, and some say it's a zo

11:00

liam that once held the remains

11:02

of the Great Jin king himself. Now,

11:05

it's not clear when or how cham Harous

11:08

went from guarding Satan's palace to being venerated

11:10

at a shrine, and it's also not

11:12

clear if he's dead or alive. As

11:15

I mentioned, some think the shrine

11:17

is where the king is laid to rest, but

11:19

others believe he's still very much

11:21

alive and takes care of those who seek

11:23

him out. One of the signs

11:25

that he's still around is that food and water

11:27

magically appear to pilgrims as they

11:29

journey to his shrine, as befits

11:32

his reputation for hospitality and

11:34

benevolence. Cha Haroush's

11:37

story is remarkable in that it means

11:39

Gin, very much like humans, have

11:41

a capacity for new beginnings. Even

11:44

the most evil of them can turn their lives around.

11:47

It's quite a redemption story, if you ask me, and

11:49

it confirms the theory that Jin aren't fundamentally

11:52

good or bad. Most, as

11:54

I said earlier, just quietly stay in their

11:56

lanes, living their lives and leaving

11:58

us alone. But there are many

12:00

stories of Gin entering our world when they want

12:03

something from it. And no, I don't

12:05

mean to haunt and possess and torture us. In

12:07

fact, you'd be surprised at how ordinary their interests

12:10

are. In

12:17

the book Legends of the Fire Spirits,

12:20

author Robert Lebling relays a contemporary

12:22

story from a young Bangladeshi woman about

12:25

her time as a college student at the University

12:27

of Taka. The woman isn't

12:29

named, but for the sake of the story will

12:31

call her Maria. In

12:34

the fall of Maria had moved

12:36

out of the campus and into a dorm where

12:38

she was assigned a roommate named Lucy.

12:41

There is something, however, about Lucy that

12:43

wasn't quite right. Lucy was

12:45

beautiful in an extraordinary way.

12:48

She had exceedingly bright eyes, a

12:50

big, welcoming smile, a dimple

12:52

and a mole on her left cheek, and she

12:55

was tall with long, dark hair. Her

12:58

beauty, said Maria, was unpaired. Allowed

13:01

She wasn't just lovely on the outside, though she was

13:03

incredibly kind, loving, amiable,

13:06

and simply good. The

13:08

two young women quickly became close friends,

13:11

sharing secrets and confiding in each other,

13:13

and said Maria, I could not but love

13:16

her, and I am sure that she loved me the same.

13:18

Over the course of the next few months, Maria

13:21

noticed that Lucy would do inexplicable

13:23

things like finished tasks

13:25

and work faster than humanly possible.

13:28

One night, Lucy went to visit another student

13:31

and Maria waited up for her, knowing that she didn't

13:33

have a key to the room. But eventually

13:35

Maria got sleepy, so she decided

13:37

she would just lock the dorm door and get

13:39

up to open it when Lucy returned and knocked,

13:43

so she fell asleep, but when she woke

13:45

up a few hours later, she found Lucy

13:47

in the room with her. Maria

13:50

demanded to know how she got into the room, because

13:52

she knew without a doubt that she had locked

13:54

it, but Lucy assured her that no,

13:56

the door was open when she got back. Maybe,

13:59

she said, Maria was so drowsy that she imagined

14:02

she had locked the door. Maria

14:04

was sure that was not possible, and

14:07

yet she had no other explanation for what

14:09

had happened. The next day,

14:11

though, everything became clear. It

14:14

was Lucy's birthday on December thirteenth,

14:17

so on the night of the summer twelve, Maria

14:20

wanted to surprise her exactly at midnight

14:22

with a necklace she had bought for her friend.

14:25

As the clock approached twelve am, Lucy

14:28

sat down in front of their shared dresser, brushing

14:30

her hair, preparing for bed. Maria

14:33

pulled out the gift and stood behind her roommate,

14:35

wishing her a happy birthday. As she latched

14:37

the necklace around Lucy's neck, Maria

14:41

looked up into the mirror to see how the neck was looked

14:43

on her friend, and to her shock and horror,

14:46

the mirror held no reflection of

14:48

Lucy at all. There was

14:50

just a necklace suspended by itself

14:52

an air Maria screamed

14:55

and fainted, and when she came to, she was surrounded

14:57

by other girls living in the dormitory who had heard

15:00

scream. Lucy, however,

15:02

was nowhere to be seen, and in fact,

15:05

she would never be seen again. Maria

15:08

was so shaken by all of this that she left school

15:11

and returned home for a few months, not wanting

15:13

to return to the university. Over

15:15

time, though she felt guilt and regret,

15:18

she remembered how wonderful Lucy was and what

15:20

a great friend she had been, and realized

15:23

that her terrified reaction had driven Lucy

15:25

away because others

15:27

told her that Lucy was probably a

15:29

ginn who had taken human form. To

15:31

study at the university, and

15:34

it could have been that. After a few months with Maria,

15:37

Lucy thought they were close enough to reveal

15:39

her secret to her roommate, but

15:42

instead it had backfired and Lucy

15:44

had to quickly disappear. Maria

15:47

eventually returned to the campus and was assigned

15:49

a new roommate, a girl named

15:51

Mini. Mini was like Lucy

15:54

beautiful, although she didn't exactly

15:56

look like her until she

15:59

smiled. As smile that seemed oddly familiar,

16:02

and that's when Maria noticed on Many's

16:05

left cheek a dimple and

16:07

a mole. Lucy

16:14

story doesn't come as much of a surprise to me.

16:16

I've actually heard firsthand accounts by

16:18

people people I trust who

16:20

are certain that some student or another

16:22

they studied with years earlier was

16:24

a gin. It seems to be a rather

16:27

common theme the gin entering

16:29

the human realm to study, though

16:31

to be honest, I do have questions about their registration

16:34

process, transcripts and finances, parent

16:36

teacher conferences at all, but maybe

16:38

I'm thinking too much into it. It

16:41

may seem odd that the gin would want to go to human

16:43

schools, but it's said that one

16:45

of the ways a gin can increase their rank

16:48

or power is through more knowledge.

16:50

I mean, even we know that knowledge is power,

16:54

and gaining knowledge is so important to some

16:56

Gin. They not only enter our worlds

16:58

to study alongside us, they also

17:01

study the ancient texts of the past to

17:03

grow ever more powerful. A

17:06

legend relayed by the nineteenth century mystic

17:08

Madame Helena Bolovatsky and her

17:11

occult classic Isis Unveiled,

17:13

tells of an ancient, petrified and

17:15

buried city where the Jin pursue

17:18

their studies. The city referred

17:20

to is the three thousand, five hundred year

17:22

old Ishmania, today

17:24

known as Al Ashmunain, located

17:27

in Middle Egypt and rumored

17:30

to once be filled with the petrified bodies

17:32

of men, women, and children. Ishmonia

17:35

is found near the ruins of a vast and well

17:37

known necropolis. This city

17:39

of the dead is Hermopolis, which

17:42

was once the opulent center of the cult

17:44

of the pagan deity of Learning and Scribes,

17:47

both known to the Greeks as

17:49

Ermez. Archaeologists

17:51

have uncovered a labyrinth of streets

17:54

and catacombs and ruins related

17:56

to the temple of both. But

17:58

here the ground underneath your feet contains

18:01

not only thousands of catacombs holding

18:03

the mummified bodies of people and

18:05

animals. According to Madame Blavatsky,

18:08

there are also vast subterranean

18:11

galleries filled with millions of manuscripts

18:14

and scrolls, hidden archives

18:16

holding the ancient writings of thought, the

18:18

god believed to be the inventor of writing

18:21

itself. And while the ruins

18:23

stand lonely and unoccupied during the day,

18:26

according to Madame Blavatsky, everything

18:29

changes at night. For

18:32

no amount of money would the Arabs go near it at

18:35

night? They say, from the crevices of the desolate

18:38

ruins, sunk deep in the unwatered

18:40

sands of the desert stream, the rays

18:42

of lights carried to and fro in

18:45

the galleries by no human

18:47

hands. The afrite Jin study

18:49

the literature of the Andaluvian ages,

18:52

and the Jin learns from the magic rolls

18:54

the lesson of the following day. So

18:59

yeah, the Gin definitely know the value

19:01

of education and knowledge. These

19:04

tales also provide us with a different and

19:06

fascinating insight when it comes to

19:08

how the Gin see themselves in relation

19:11

to humans. And that's this. They

19:14

may be so much more powerful than us

19:16

in many ways, with supernatural

19:18

abilities. We don't have, but

19:20

we know things they don't. They

19:22

may lift thousands of years more than us and

19:25

witness events that we never could, and

19:28

yet they lack something we have

19:30

and they know it, which might be why,

19:33

according to all of the Abrahamic faith traditions,

19:35

at least mankind made

19:37

of mere flesh and blood, is

19:40

God's most superior creation. And

19:42

that's not just me saying it, that's according to God himself.

19:45

Human beings are superior to the angels,

19:48

and yes to the Gin for

19:51

sure. That could rub some gin the wrong way.

19:54

And then, of course, remember, the Gin were here before

19:56

us, thousands of years at least before

19:59

then. We came along and took over the earth, God's

20:02

new favorite children early

20:04

on, though it might not have bothered them too much,

20:07

because well before the advent of the Abrahamic

20:09

religions, people not only believed

20:11

in the Gin, but they worshiped them

20:14

in ancient times. Scholars

20:21

believe that the early divinities worshiped by

20:23

the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Akkadians

20:26

thousands of years ago were Gin deities,

20:29

but the advent of monotheism turned

20:31

people away from gin idolatry, further

20:34

enraging them tolerating

20:37

humans wasn't so bad as long as a Gin

20:39

felt in some way superior to them, and

20:41

then even that was taken away from them.

20:45

According to the authors of the book The Vengeful

20:47

Gin, here's a long history of

20:49

perceived indignities and injustices

20:52

the Gin have had to bear because of humans,

20:55

and many of them have felt deeply wronged ever

20:57

since we arrived on the scene and took it over.

21:00

The Jin who once occupied this world

21:03

now seek to reclaim it back from us,

21:06

and if they can't have it back, they'll

21:08

at least make our lives miserable for

21:10

it. Some Jin get

21:13

their kicks by playing harmless pranks on people,

21:15

disappearing objects, moving things around, playing

21:17

with our heads, nothing malicious,

21:20

but sometimes a way to let a person know

21:22

that they're around. But one

21:24

of the ways they exert actual power over

21:26

people, power that can be used

21:28

to harm is through shape shifting,

21:31

continuously deceiving our eyes while

21:34

at the same time enticing us

21:36

to them. There's

21:38

a fascinating ancient story relaid

21:40

by the scholar Amira al Zane in

21:42

her book Islam, Arabs

21:45

and the Intelligent World of the Gin that

21:47

illustrates how the Gin go about their

21:49

vengeance. In

21:51

the story, a gin named Abu Hadraj

21:54

recounts his days on earth to a man

21:56

who was interrogating him about his life. Hadraj

22:00

gains by explaining how the gin and mankind

22:02

have been gifted different things. Man,

22:05

he says, has the gift of stratagem,

22:08

and the gin have the gift of power.

22:13

I have suffered evil from men, and they

22:15

from me. The children of Adam

22:17

were evil to me, and I likewise treated them.

22:20

Once I entered into their world, wanting to sleep

22:22

with one of their maids, and I changed

22:25

my shape into the form of a field rat, and

22:27

the cats chased me. And when

22:29

they got me, I shaped shifted into a striped serpent

22:32

and slinked into a tree stump, but

22:34

they uncovered me. I followed

22:36

along the timbers plank, and while

22:39

they were wondering where I was, I went

22:41

to the Virgin, who was under a mosquito

22:43

net. And when she saw me, the

22:46

fear hit her that her

22:48

family gathered around her from all sides

22:50

and brought exorcists that called doctors,

22:52

and they made every effort to revive her,

22:55

but I did not respond. I clutched

22:58

to her tightly, and when death hit

23:00

her. I sought to replace her by

23:02

another, then another, then

23:05

another. Abu

23:09

Hadraj killed the woman that he sought,

23:11

the virgin. Yes, I know, it's

23:14

always a virgin somehow. But

23:16

he wasn't satisfied. His rage against

23:18

mankind was so deep that he killed another,

23:21

and another and another. The

23:23

story ends in an interesting way, though the

23:26

Jin confesses that he stopped killing young women

23:28

when he saw the light of God and repented

23:31

his sins, he says were now forgiven.

23:35

This story was originally penned by the blind

23:37

tenth century Syrian poet and philosopher

23:40

Abu Almari, who wrote it in

23:42

response to a topic of hot debate in that era,

23:45

whether jin were good or evil, and whether

23:47

they could make it to paradise after dying. The

23:50

way that Almari wrote it, the jinn Abu

23:52

Hadraj was telling his story from

23:54

where he sat for eternity at

23:57

the mouth of a cave in Paradise.

24:00

So it seems the gin like man can

24:02

find their way to heaven. A rather

24:05

powerful redemption story. Given them

24:07

many lives. This gin had taken lies

24:10

of young women that apparently had done nothing to deserve

24:12

the ire of this gin. But

24:15

that's not always the case, though. While

24:17

there are times a gin may choose their victim

24:19

arbitrarily, more often than not

24:22

there is some specific reason a gin will

24:24

attack a person. Provoking

24:26

them on purpose or not is one sure way

24:28

to draw their vengeance. In traditional

24:30

Arab culture, it was forbidden to casually

24:33

cast a stone or a fruit pit into the

24:35

open, or throw water out of a window,

24:37

or drive stakes into the ground for fear of hurting

24:40

a gin without meaning to, and

24:42

particular care should be taken not to harm

24:44

or encroach on places that the gin might

24:46

live, like forests and caves

24:49

and lakes. Pre modern Persian

24:51

texts warned not to set wildfires

24:54

or to throw waste into bodies of water or

24:56

trash in the desert, because you might

24:58

inadvertently be di throwing a gin's home and

25:01

I can't help. But note it's also some great

25:04

advice to keep the planet green and

25:06

clean, so the next time you

25:08

find yourself about to check some trash in the woods,

25:10

you might want to rethink it. Just

25:13

because you think no one can see you and no one

25:15

lives there anyway doesn't mean it's

25:17

true, and that's as good as any

25:19

reason not to litter. You

25:22

also never want to strike an animal, especially

25:24

a black one, first because

25:26

it's simply a terrible thing to do, but

25:29

also because that could very well be

25:31

agent in disguise, and doing

25:33

something like that could very well turn and otherwise

25:36

neutral Gin into your enemy,

25:39

an enemy that is able to mentally and physically

25:42

torment you, make you sick, possess

25:44

you, even kill you. Although

25:47

it's said that only the most evil of them go

25:49

to those lengths. But

25:52

perhaps one of the most frightening things that gin can

25:54

do to humans is abduct them

25:57

and carry them off into their own world. Stories

26:00

of gin abductions stretched back to the Middle

26:02

Ages, and there are a number of reasons

26:04

people believe the abductions take place. Sometimes

26:08

a gin will kidnap someone they've become obsessed

26:10

with. Sometimes a person

26:12

is dragged into their world to stand trial for

26:15

an offense they committed against a gin. And

26:17

sometimes the jin snatch up young children

26:20

or babies, never to be seen again,

26:23

unless, of course, they leave a change

26:25

link a gin baby in exchange

26:28

for a human baby. Not

26:30

everyone disappears forever, though some

26:32

return, and interestingly,

26:34

the accounts of those who claim to have been

26:37

kidnapped by gin in the centuries past

26:39

are often very similar to moderate accounts

26:42

of those claiming to have been abducted by aliens.

26:46

The reason I think this is the most frightening possibility

26:48

of all, and the worst thing a Jin could do to

26:51

a human is because well, no

26:53

one will ever know what happened to their loved one.

26:56

A missing person, a missing child leaves

26:59

open a gaping wound forever, a

27:01

black hole of uncertainty and fear for

27:04

those left behind death.

27:06

In many ways, it's much easier

27:08

to cope with now.

27:21

The most common gin human relationship

27:24

that most of us have heard about is the classic

27:26

genie that grants three wishes scenario. Someone

27:29

finds an object imprisoning a gin, and

27:31

the gin bargains for their freedom or sometimes

27:33

rewards it by granting a series

27:36

of wishes. It might seem like

27:38

a pretty innocuous set up, a straight

27:40

deal, something that seems pretty appealing. In fact.

27:43

I mean I know, as a kid, I rubbed plenty of old

27:45

bottles hoping to gin would pop out and be under

27:47

my command and control. What I

27:49

didn't know is that in most cases the

27:52

Gin are never under your command and

27:54

control, not completely. Remember,

27:57

they have free will, and they use

27:59

that to outwit even their liberators.

28:02

No story about a gin granting wishes

28:05

ever ends happily. In

28:07

the book The Vengeful Jin, the authors note that

28:10

when asked to grant a wish, the Jin

28:12

themselves will often warn the unsuspecting

28:15

human that they may not be happy

28:17

with the consequences of their wish. First

28:19

of all, say the writers, the gin might be emerging

28:22

from their captivity after thousands of

28:24

years bitter, resentful, full

28:26

of rage, rage against mankind

28:29

for imprisoning them. And while

28:31

they may or may not be essentially evil, their

28:34

experience has made them so. That's

28:37

why, no matter how carefully a wish is

28:39

worded, a gin will find a way

28:41

to outwit their liberator by granting

28:44

the wish in a way that brings the person

28:46

a lot of harm or pain. Oftentimes,

28:50

in these stories, the person will regret their wishes

28:52

and try to use the last of them to undo

28:54

the earlier ones. Interestingly,

28:57

a similar dynamic exists in Irish

29:00

folklore with fairies, and as I've noted

29:02

previously, many people consider fairies

29:04

to be a kind of gin. A common

29:06

theme in these stories is fairy brides who grant

29:09

their human husbands all sorts of wishes, but

29:11

with conditions. If any

29:13

of these conditions are broken, even if

29:15

it's years and decades later, everything

29:18

will disappear into fairyland. The

29:21

husband will not just lose everything he gained

29:23

through his wishes, but he'll lose his fairy

29:26

bride too. Another

29:29

common theme in fairy stories is that

29:31

they'll put arbitrary conditions on someone

29:33

they've granted a wish to, for example,

29:36

telling the human not to look back as they walk

29:38

away, or not to look at whatever

29:40

object they were granted until they get home.

29:43

Of course, there's nothing like a restrictive

29:45

condition that compels the human being

29:48

to do exactly what they were told not to,

29:50

and as soon as they break the condition, poof

29:53

the prize disappears, Which

29:55

brings us back to our original question,

29:58

what to make of the gin? Are they

30:00

our friends or our foes? Suffice

30:03

it to say that, according to the experts, including

30:06

the famed century theologian

30:08

Ivantamia, the Jin are generally

30:11

quote ignorant, untruthful,

30:13

oppressive, and treacherous. There

30:16

never ever to be trusted. They

30:18

lie, make false promises, they break,

30:21

are vindictive, and they are master deceivers.

30:25

Their power may have limits, but in many ways we

30:27

are no match for them. Even when

30:29

we think we can control them, it's only for a matter

30:31

of time. And remember time

30:34

is on their side, not ours. If

30:37

every ying has its yang, then the

30:39

Jin are ours their

30:42

fire to our earth, fighting for the

30:44

same space on this planet. It seems

30:46

in many ways we are and will forever

30:48

be pitted against each other, both

30:51

creatures wielding the most dangerous

30:53

weapon of them all free will.

30:57

Thanks for joining us this week. Next week

30:59

we'll be bad to take you into another step into

31:01

the world of the Gin. Until then,

31:03

remember we are not

31:06

alone. If

31:14

you loved today's episode, I'm gonna ask

31:16

you a big favor. Please stop my iTunes

31:19

and leave me a rating and a review,

31:21

even if it's just one short sentence. Not

31:23

only is that how other listeners discover the

31:26

podcast, but it's also what keeps the

31:28

podcast going. And for every

31:30

thousand reviews that I get on iTunes,

31:33

I'll release another Patreon episode absolutely

31:35

free. That's right, We're on Patreon,

31:37

so if you're a Gin enthusiast, check

31:40

out the Companion Patreon series at

31:42

patreon dot com slash Hidden

31:44

Jin. Again, that's patreon dot

31:46

com slash Hidden Gin, and remember Jin is

31:49

spelled d J I N N that's

31:51

where you're gonna find an amazing series

31:53

of interviews between me, scholars,

31:55

experts, artist, historians, and every

31:58

day lay people who have had extraordinary

32:01

experiences with Jin and

32:03

everybody can check out the first episode absolutely

32:05

free. It's me and my husband sharing our

32:07

Jen stories and it was a lot of fun.

32:10

And if you have any Gin stories, well, I'd love

32:12

to hear from you. Email me at

32:14

the Hidden Gin at gmail dot com. Once

32:17

again, it's The Hidden Gin Gin

32:19

with a D at gmail dot com and you

32:22

might just hear back from me, or you

32:24

might hear your story on this show. And

32:26

finally, don't forget to follow us on social media.

32:29

We're on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

32:31

with the handle the Hidden Gin. There

32:34

you can tweet, post, insta,

32:36

dm me. I'd love to hear from all of you,

32:39

and believe me, I read every single message.

32:44

The Hidden Gin is a production of I Heart

32:47

Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron

32:49

Mankey. The podcast is written

32:51

and hosted by Robbia Chaudry and

32:53

produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor

32:56

Young, with executive producers

32:58

Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and

33:00

Matt Frederick. Music

33:02

for the show was provided by Smithsonian

33:05

Folkways Recordings. Our

33:07

theme song was created by Patrick Cortez.

33:10

For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit

33:13

the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

33:16

or wherever you get your podcasts.