Hello again, Story Club members.

I'm Ivy, your ghostly host with Most and keeper of the strangest, spookiest tales on earth.

Today is another Ivy's chilling tale.

This culinary tale story club members might make you reconsider changing that old family recipe.

It's one I call loaded nachos.

It was game day in Laura Garcia's house.

She loved Super Bowl Sunday with her dad and uncle.

She wasn't a football fan so much, but she loved watching all the ads that played through the game,

and she also loved scarfing down the food spread out across the long, wide coffee table.

There would be the usual cakes and cookies and sodas and chips, but what Laura really loved was

her Aunt Zelda's loaded nachos. Her aunt had died last year unexpectedly, which was a huge loss for Laura and her

uncle. This was the first game day without Aunt Zelda, so Laura wanted to do it upright and make

some loaded nachos in her memory. The family recipe was at least a century old, and her making

them as her grandmothers and great-grandmothers had done would make her aunt proud. Laura's mom was in the kitchen to help. She had all the ingredients. Pico de gallo, pinto beans,

three kinds of cheeses, spices like cumin, paprika, and chili powder, avocados, olives, tomatoes,

onions, jalapinos, sour cream, cilantro, lime, and of course, corn chips.

But these weren't just any corn chips bought at the supermarket.

These were handmade, with just the right amount of salt, oil, and spices.

Her aunt was a bit of a fussy foodie and had been obsessed with making incredibly complex

meals.

Sometimes it had been scary how obsessive her Aunt Zelda acted in the kitchen.

In fact, when Laura was putting all the ingredients together,

...