The daily gossip: Josh Gad's apartment was haunted by 'Exorcist-style demons,' Armie Hammer sued by American Express over unpaid $67,000, and more

The year's scariest horror film has been unfolding exclusively in Josh Gad's apartment. The Frozen star told Jimmy Kimmel a terrifying story about living in a possibly haunted apartment for three months in Australia. While Gad insisted he doesn't believe in ghosts, he recalled waking up and hearing "what sounds like two Spanish men from the 17th century whispering to each other over my face." At a co-worker's recommendation, he proceeded to walk around his apartment with sage, asking the ghosts "nicely" to leave. But two weeks later, lights began flickering and his white noise app started turning off by itself. So Gad turned to a woman who charged $300 to deliver him a "10 page report of the different ghosts in my house," including "Exorcist-style demons," based solely on a blueprint of the apartment he drew. By the time Gad left, the apartment was seemingly still haunted, so paging Ed and Lorraine Warren: We have your next case. 

American Express is bringing the hammer down on a certain disgraced actor. Armie Hammer is being sued by the credit card company for allegedly owing $67,000 for "unpaid charges and/or cash advances, plus balance transfers," TMZ reports. This balance reportedly stems from a joint account Hammer shared with his estranged wife, Elizabeth Chambers. TMZ reports "we're told it'll be resolved as they iron out the final details of the divorce," though American Express said they've unsuccessfully tried to get Hammer to pay the balance, leading to this lawsuit. This comes after reports earlier this year that Hammer, whose career imploded over sexual abuse allegations, has been selling timeshares in the Cayman Islands, which People reported was because "he needs the money." What, you're saying DVD sales for The Lone Ranger aren't still paying out the big bucks? Clearly, though, you can't rack up $67,000 in unpaid credit card charges without making a few enemies. 

She's only cryptic and Machiavellian 'cause she cares. Taylor Swift continued her Midnights rollout by dropping a music video for "Bejeweled," which she admitted on The Tonight Show contains a "psychotic amount" of Easter eggs — so many that she needed "a PDF file" to keep track of them all. The Cinderella-themed video features Laura Dern playing Swift's evil stepmother and the Haim sisters playing her evil stepsisters, and it includes many hints that Speak Now will be the next album Swift re-records. For one, she gets in an elevator and presses a purple "3" button, surely a reference to Speak Now, her third album. The 13th floor button is also purple, and counting re-releases, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) would be her 13th album. Dern's character even says the line "speak not," and the video dropped on Oct. 25, the same day Speak Now was released in 2010. If you look closely, we're pretty sure the identity of the Zodiac Killer is in here somewhere, too. 

Let's try this apology again. James Corden returned to The Late Late Show on Monday to address being banned from the restaurant Balthazar for allegedly being abusive to staff, saying he "deeply" regrets making a "sarcastic, rude comment" to a server. He said he was upset about his wife being given the wrong meal three times because she has a "serious food allergy," but because he "didn't shout or scream," he felt he didn't do "anything wrong," hence why he said as much days ago in a defiant interview with The New York Times. But Corden has now apologized and admitted he was "ungracious," an about-face that surely has nothing to do with the fact that restaurant owner Keith McNally said that if Corden apologized, he could "eat for free at Balthazar for the next 10 years." McNally declared Tuesday he'll now lift the ban — and instead, "I'm going to ban myself from Balthazar for 2 weeks." That's one way to give yourself a vacation. 

Who's willing to bet the House of the Dragon series finale airs before The Winds of Winter is published? It seems like a safe assumption at this point, though author George R.R. Martin has offered a slightly promising update amid the 11-plus year wait for the next Game of Thrones book. During a virtual event, Martin seemed exasperated as he answered "the question I knew I was going to get": What's the status of The Winds of Winter? "I think I'm about three-quarters of the way done, maybe," he revealed, though he added, "That's not 100 percent done." He also noted he just had to rewrite some chapters because he "didn't like them well enough," which could be part of the reason it's taking so dang long. Well, it's a good thing he doesn't have any other projects on his plate that might distract from completing this task, like being involved in an endless string of HBO shows, for example. Any decade now, George!