Lisa Starr Olshewski is a 12-year-old student at Los Coches Creek CSMA Magnet School in El Cajon. After “surviving” Sixth Grade Camp, her mother, Jill Starr Olshewski, met her with a surprise. Her best friend Rainey wanted to surprise Lisa by appearing through a bouquet of red balloons and say, “Hi Georgie!” from their favorite Pennywise quote from the movie “IT.” The two best friends do not get to see each other as much as they used to because Rainey moved on to a private school, so it was a welcomed surprise for Lisa. The two then spent a few hours travelling through Alpine, mostly hitting schools like Alpine Elementary, Boulder Oaks Elementary, and other areas tying red balloons to sewer lines in commemoration of their love of the movie. A harmless joke, the two enjoyed their few hours together.
The family lived in Alpine for 14 years before buying a house in Descanso two years ago, but the Starr mother and daughter duo have a common love of all things scary. So much so, that the two began a “Scary In There” podcast about a year ago, talking about everything scary from books to movies.
Why Starr? Jill Olshewski got the middle name from her father, after Ringo Starr, and she passed it on to Lisa. So, the Starr podcasters are now telling scary stories and urban legends and dare listeners to join them if you dare to be scared.
“The first scary movie that was my favorite was “Carrie” by Stephen King,” said Lisa. “I like the 2017 version, but I did not really like the old one. But I do want to read the book.”
Lisa said she is currently reading some R.L. Stine books.
“Speaking of R.L. Stine, I am reading ‘Fear Street,’ she said. “I think my favorite in the ‘Fear Street Trilogy’ movies on Netflix movies is the second one. It has Sadie Sink who played Max in ‘Stranger Things.’ I also love ‘Yellowjackets’ because they are surviving from a plane crash.’ ‘Warm Bodies’ is one of my favorite movies because they fall in love. They are really cute. He keeps trying to save her and she keeps running away because she does understand that he (a zombie) really likes her, and he is not trying to eat her. The scariest movie I have ever seen was ‘The Strangers.’ I started hyperventilating.”
Lisa said she just likes having fun with the podcast and loves doing it with her mom.
Jill Starr said she thought the podcast would be a clever idea because the two of them love scary stories, scary movies and is always trying to get Lisa into it also.
“We have a thing where I am always trying to scare her, and she is always trying to scare me,” she said. “I’ll jump out from around the corner, she will put a fake spider somewhere, but we are always trying to get each other to scream one way or another. It is just practical jokes.”
Jill Starr said they began with little stories, like scary stores to tell in the dark. She said some they read from books, but some, she writes.
“I look up little history,” she said. “I’ve done them on fairies, Krampus, dreamcatchers, a carnival. It always usually involves some kind of creepy history, folklore, urban legends, before I get in to telling her a story. And then, we talk about it.”
“We did not expect to make it a big thing,” continued Jill Starr. “It is just something that we like to do together. It gives us time together and we laugh, make fun of each other, especially when we go over the bloopers. Overall, I think it is about making memories and making other people smile. I like scary stories and sometimes it is fun to be scared.”
