MFM Minisode 247

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] And welcome to my favorite murder.

[2] The minisode.

[3] There you go.

[4] There you are.

[5] And here we are.

[6] You asked for it.

[7] He begged.

[8] He begged, pleaded.

[9] And now we had to relent and give you a mini.

[10] And we will.

[11] Do you want to go first?

[12] Doddy's sitting on my papers.

[13] Absolutely.

[14] Let her have a moment to herself.

[15] I'm going to.

[16] I'm going to.

[17] Poor, please.

[18] That poor cat needs some rest.

[19] Okay.

[20] This one's kind of exciting for me. The title gives it away.

[21] Hi, MFM crew, big fan.

[22] Heard you needed new hometown, so I finally sat down to write mine out.

[23] All right.

[24] I'm from Petaluma.

[25] Oh.

[26] And I love every reference Karen makes about our hometown.

[27] Tuttle drugs, Carithers, the old longs.

[28] That's the thing that my cousin Stevie's wife, Kim, it drives her crazy because she didn't grow up there.

[29] and we refer to everything as the thing it was when we were growing up and not the thing it currently is.

[30] So Tuttle Drugs has been a restaurant like five times over, but we still call it Tuttle Drugs.

[31] Let's go to Tuttle Drugs for dinner.

[32] Yes.

[33] I love that.

[34] A little confusing.

[35] Sure.

[36] Charming.

[37] A small town charm.

[38] Absolutely.

[39] Do you know that when I was a kid, we had a Sergeant Pepperoni's Pizza Place?

[40] And it's now a totally different pizza place.

[41] so we still call it Sergeant Pepperoni.

[42] You got to.

[43] Like, hey, let's all get together.

[44] That's a hilarious name.

[45] It's so good.

[46] They had to change it because Ringo Starr sued the shit out of them.

[47] Did you know that?

[48] Okay.

[49] After college, I lived near Seattle for a few years, and I worked at a truck assembly plant that had a very infamous former employee.

[50] I was talking with some coworkers one day in human resources, which is exactly the right place to talk to coworkers.

[51] Human resources.

[52] Chill.

[53] And they had been looking through old employee badges when one of them said, I have expected to find Gary Ridgeway's badge in there, but I think they confiscated it.

[54] I assumed I heard them wrong, and I asked her what she was talking about.

[55] So she responded, oh, the Green River Killer worked here.

[56] Oh, my God.

[57] Chills, chills.

[58] My job hit the floor and I demanded to no more.

[59] Another coworker spoke up because she worked there when he did and knew him.

[60] That was all in caps.

[61] She said there were rumors that he would leave jewelry in the women's restroom that he had stolen from his victims.

[62] You've heard this?

[63] Yeah, he definitely did that.

[64] That was one of the things.

[65] I just read the Ann Rule Greenwood over killer book and that was totally one of his fucking things.

[66] So he, according to this email, he would leave jewelry in the women's restroom that he'd stolen from his victims in hopes of seeing his coworkers wearing his trophy.

[67] around work.

[68] Oh, my God.

[69] Just horrifying.

[70] She also said, by the time the cops were trying to nail him for these murders, they would come pick him up from the factory to bring him in for questioning.

[71] And people would joke to his face that he was the Green River killer.

[72] But in all caps, he was the Green River killer.

[73] Oh, my God.

[74] Jesus Christ.

[75] It's just that I'm sure those people were just like, it can't be here.

[76] It can't be someone I know.

[77] It can't be.

[78] Yeah.

[79] He can't be hiding in plain sight like this.

[80] Joke you joke.

[81] Right to your face.

[82] He's just sitting there with his dead eyes and his weird mustache.

[83] Creepy eyes.

[84] I remember hearing at some point in an episode, either Karen or Georgia mentioned the Green River killer and said part of how he was caught was paint flex that were so specific they were able to determine where he worked.

[85] I started listening to MFFM after I moved to Seattle and the combo of learning I had a connection through work to one of the worst serial killers.

[86] and listening to the podcast was when I realized I had a love for true crime.

[87] Thank you for everything you do with the show in the community and for normalizing, being fascinated by true crime, despite having deep anxiety about anything and everything.

[88] Stay sexy and don't wear jewelry you find in bathrooms.

[89] No name.

[90] Wow.

[91] Yeah, Green River Running Red, I think, is the Anne Rule Book.

[92] I just listened to it over the summer, and it's very victims -oriented.

[93] You know, she tells every victim's story.

[94] Yeah.

[95] Of course, and is very sensitive to their lives.

[96] It's a really good book.

[97] That guy is a fucking creep.

[98] Murders are always tragedies.

[99] In this instance, he got to go on and on and on because he chose people without a voice, without advocates, without people nearby that knew what was going on.

[100] Like he victimized the most vulnerable people.

[101] and, yeah, it's the grossest.

[102] It's one of those tragic fucking stories of a monster who gets away with it for years.

[103] Okay, this is my brother tried to murder me story.

[104] Oh, hi, cult leaders.

[105] I'd like to start, lighthearted, by the way, I'd like to start this kind of important.

[106] Sorry.

[107] It wasn't like a, yeah, you sounded really bummed and I was like, oh, no, no, no, no, like a funny kid.

[108] It's like a funny little kid one.

[109] Yeah.

[110] That was information you had and that when that sentence came out.

[111] That's right.

[112] It was just like we go from one horrible murder to the next.

[113] That's what this show is.

[114] Well, this could have been.

[115] Okay.

[116] I'd like to start this off by saying, I'm fine.

[117] Thank you.

[118] In February 1999, I was two weeks old laying in my parents' bed doing what I did best, screaming at the top of my lungs.

[119] Unfortunately, for my four -year -old my parents' room was the only place he could watch his cartoons, and I was louder than SpongeBob.

[120] Our mom had taken our sister out for the day, and our dad was busy cleaning up the kitchen, so without an adult to consult, he devised his own plan to quiet me down.

[121] He gathered all the pillows he could find and placed them on top of my tiny infant body.

[122] Finding that this was not enough to deafen my screams, he sat on top of his pillow pile, And voila, I was silenced for the first time in my short life, and he was free to enjoy his show.

[123] Oh, no. My dad, who was washing the dishes at the sink, noticed that the house was suddenly much quieter and assumed I had finally tuckered myself out.

[124] He finished up his last dish and came to check on his two youngest little angels.

[125] When he came into the room, he saw my brother on his goose down throne and no baby in sight.

[126] He threw my brother onto the bed, tossed the pillows off, and found him.

[127] me purple -faced and not moving.

[128] Oh, no. Not one second later, I took in a deep breath and screamed twice as loud as before.

[129] Brother was less than thrilled.

[130] I was alive.

[131] Dad was relieved and big bro got a lesson about what death is.

[132] Oh, Jesus.

[133] Uh -huh.

[134] Fast forward to February 2019.

[135] The family is at my brother's graduation from Navy boot camp and I reminded him of this story.

[136] We laugh.

[137] He gives me a big hug and says, I'm so glad I didn't kill you.

[138] That would really have fucked me up.

[139] For real.

[140] Yeah.

[141] It's all about you, dude.

[142] Yeah.

[143] Thank you for everything you do.

[144] And I'm glad you had time to recharge so you could keep up the good work.

[145] I'm thankful for my sister for introducing me to you and for my shit memory that allows me to listen to old episodes as if it were my first time hearing it.

[146] Stay sexy and don't get murdered by a four -year -old, Haley.

[147] God.

[148] Yeah.

[149] I mean, it's lighthearted, but you almost killed a baby.

[150] It walks right down that edge.

[151] But it's like Haley knows the story that they're telling.

[152] So it's just like, I'm fine.

[153] We can all laugh.

[154] We're all laughing.

[155] Right, right.

[156] The subject line of this email is I saved my entire family by being a worry wart.

[157] Hi, Karen, Georgia, Stephen, and animal babies.

[158] In 2005, my mom, dad, brother, and I all went on a camping trip in the Cascades of Washington State.

[159] After setting up all the tents, we headed out of my dad.

[160] stepdad's four -wheel drive jeep for a bit of off -roading before dark.

[161] We took a series of trails barely wide enough for the car for a few miles up the nearby mountain and everyone including me was having a great time.

[162] But as we got more and more away from the main road, I started to worry about breaking down and having to navigate back in the approaching dusk.

[163] I was 15, highly morbid and deeply into true crime already.

[164] Woohoo.

[165] Yay.

[166] I had an escape route for every situation.

[167] Everyone was getting super loud and excited as the trails became more and more rough, knowing the Jeep could handle it.

[168] I, however, was getting nervous as fuck, or it says AF, but that's what they mean, as the quality of driving and navigation was getting sketchy.

[169] All of a sudden, we hit a clearing with a sizable hill in front of us.

[170] The hill was probably 200 feet to the top, and my mom and brother started to get super amped.

[171] No, Mom, you're supposed to be safe.

[172] She's full of Mountain Dew and she's ready to offer Code Red, Mountain Dew Code Red.

[173] Moms love it too.

[174] Mountain Dew Code Red and vodka.

[175] Try it.

[176] It's called Mom's Special Weekend.

[177] Join her.

[178] Okay, so the amped up part.

[179] Yelling and egging on my stepdad until he says I'm going to gun it.

[180] No. And then there's a full online break separate.

[181] So it's just a sent.

[182] and standing alone, and it says, I cannot overstate how stoked everyone was.

[183] I love the idea that, like, not only are you the worry ward, everyone else is like, fucking gung -a -ho on shit.

[184] It just makes you the weird one out.

[185] I understand it completely.

[186] I love the idea of like an off -roading type of family.

[187] And then the goth sister, who's like, guys, we're all going to die.

[188] I love it.

[189] Okay.

[190] When people talk about intuition, red flags, and guardian.

[191] and fucking angels whispering in their ear.

[192] I know it's true because at this exact moment, I almost involuntarily opened my door and said, I'm going to check first.

[193] For some reason, every cell in my body needed to do this.

[194] They were saying things like, don't be a worry ward and the car will be fine, didn't care.

[195] So I got out of the car and I started to walk in the middle of the path up the hill so they couldn't pass me without hitting me. About 10 feet from cresting the hill, my entire body starts buzzing and was in complete.

[196] tunnel vision.

[197] I was standing dead still looking down into a 50 -foot drop into large rocks and trees.

[198] I sat down right where I was until my family got out of the car, asked what was up, walked up, and looked.

[199] We all would have died.

[200] If not from impact, from injuries and exposure from being miles on the side of a mountain with no GPS and no one knowing we decided to go off -roading.

[201] It was a quiet drive back to camp.

[202] Intuition is everything.

[203] Stay sexy.

[204] don't get murdered and always know what's at the top of a hill X -O -X -O -X -O Kira with two eyes.

[205] Oh my God.

[206] Isn't that good?

[207] Yes.

[208] I'm scared of everything.

[209] And it's okay because it's true.

[210] Because you're right.

[211] I'm right.

[212] You're right.

[213] Kira's right.

[214] Hira.

[215] Goth's, no, everything.

[216] Goths, no. This is called classic.

[217] The 50s need to go to J. It's a quick one, but I think it's really funny.

[218] Hello, Karen, Georgia, at all.

[219] I'm such a huge fan of you both, and everything you've done with your platform is so impressive.

[220] As a long -time listener, it's been awesome to watch you achieve success and still be the coolest people.

[221] Thank you.

[222] Now to the story.

[223] My mom told me this gem after you wanted more praise.

[224] A little bit.

[225] It feels so good.

[226] You're both beautiful and cool, and I think you both have nice nails and great hair.

[227] Georgie, you're not reading.

[228] I made it up.

[229] Now to the story.

[230] My mom told me this gem after I explained the premise of hometowns on your podcast and how they often have to do with funny stories about shit grandparents did that seem crazy inappropriate today.

[231] She goes, oh yeah, like when my dad sent me on bank runs in the Bronx.

[232] And proceeds to tell me that my grandfather, Larry, appreciate the name, Addin, used to send her a four -year -old named Barbara.

[233] Then it says, take your moment to enjoy that.

[234] Yes.

[235] To the bank by herself.

[236] This involved walking a few blocks from the toy store where my grandfather owned in Pelham, taking a bus, getting off the bus, and walking a couple more blocks to the bank where she stood on her tippy toes and held up a note explaining her business, which my grandfather had written so my mother didn't need to speak at all.

[237] Then she'd hand over the money.

[238] Yes, she took a green zipped envelope containing what?

[239] whatever, a full till in the 1950s was on the bus in the Bronx as a four -year -old.

[240] What?

[241] How is this possible?

[242] Four.

[243] Do you know what four -year -olds are like?

[244] Yeah, they're a lot like three -year -olds.

[245] They're a lot like babies.

[246] They're very young.

[247] They're very young.

[248] I was just, like, I just hung out with my nephew today who's six.

[249] And, like, he can't even hold a cupcake without dropping it.

[250] I watched him drop a cupcake.

[251] This is where that's saying, it's like taking a zipped leather bank pouch from a baby.

[252] Can you imagine you just walk up to a four -year -old girl and the sidewalk and be like, can you hand me that for a second?

[253] I want to hold it for you.

[254] Excuse me, I'm taking that.

[255] And I love that the bank teller was like, great, here you go.

[256] The bus driver's like, well, she had her fare.

[257] There's nothing I can do.

[258] That's right.

[259] Fair is fair.

[260] Fair is fair.

[261] I know.

[262] I didn't want to say it.

[263] I know you didn't.

[264] I could hear it.

[265] though.

[266] So I stole it.

[267] And apparently felt really proud of herself.

[268] Of course she did.

[269] This apparently stopped after my grandma found out.

[270] So I guess one person, so I guess one person in the 50s was paying attention.

[271] He was doing it behind his wife's back.

[272] What do you mean?

[273] She just she takes it to the bank.

[274] I can't leave the counter.

[275] Yeah.

[276] There's never been an issue.

[277] but the rest of the 50s need to go to jail as Georgia might say thank you guys for everything you do and for being a source of comfort to so many much love a oh my god that's legendary that's yeah imagine like imagine if you just had a time machine and you could go back to like 1951 and stand on the sidewalk and just watch the baby pedestrians going by doing their business Yeah, just smoking their cigars.

[278] Just carrying bags of money smoking cigars.

[279] I mean, definitely we have a lot of babies in the 80s who went and bought cigarettes for their parents at the liquor store.

[280] Like that was a saying with a note you did.

[281] Oh, yeah.

[282] Here's what we need.

[283] We need our older listeners and the younger listeners with grandparents.

[284] We need you guys asking them like about these questions because I feel like we get a lot of.

[285] 80s and 90s of what your parents did that was fucked up.

[286] But we need the really fucked up 50s and 60s one.

[287] Jesus, where it's like, well, what, how old were you when you got your first job?

[288] Yeah.

[289] I was six.

[290] What was that?

[291] What was the first surgery you performed?

[292] I was 10.

[293] Yeah.

[294] Was this the first time you had to drive one of your drunk parents home from the bar?

[295] I drove them every time.

[296] Okay.

[297] Yeah, it's intense.

[298] Send those.

[299] I mean, I used to, well, because we walked down to Aegis's every day, which was our corner store, which was like a half a mile away to get bags of candy.

[300] We did it constantly.

[301] And so we knew Jim and Frank and Chick and Topsie Aegis, who were the husband and wife brothers, brothers and their wives that ran this grocery store.

[302] And so I would, my mom would literally be like, I would give the note and be like, Benson and Hedges lights 100s.

[303] I was going to ask what kind she's smooth.

[304] Those big lung, 100s, that's and hedges.

[305] So sexy.

[306] Softpack for some reason.

[307] I don't know.

[308] That is an interesting.

[309] Okay.

[310] How does anybody pick?

[311] Yeah.

[312] Fucking big tobacco.

[313] Karen, you know I'm all about vintage shopping.

[314] Absolutely.

[315] And when you say vintage, you mean when you physically drive to a store and actually purchase something with cash.

[316] Exactly.

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[332] That's Shopify .com slash murder.

[333] Goodbye.

[334] The subject line of this one is, shh, don't tell my dad's cousin.

[335] And then in parentheses, a story of unexpected treasure.

[336] Karen, Georgia, and company.

[337] That might be my favorite new one.

[338] I like it.

[339] And company.

[340] A while back, us listeners were tasked with sharing a time we found treasure, and boy, do I have a story that will truly blow your mind.

[341] When I was younger, my dad would often invite his cousins over for a cousin's day that would eventually turn into a large family dinner full of laughs and fun.

[342] My dad's one cousin would always bring me the same gift every time she would, came, a yellow box cake with chocolate frosting.

[343] This was, and still is my go -to dessert for birthdays and celebrations.

[344] I mean, can you go wrong with that combo?

[345] No, you can't.

[346] That's my pick for my birthday.

[347] Absolutely.

[348] Classic.

[349] Add some sprinkles in your fucking home.

[350] You're good to go.

[351] You can stick like rainbow sprinkles on the top of that.

[352] You can just put, you can put chocolate sprinkles on the top of that.

[353] You could stick one rollo.

[354] Well, you could do some, like some nuts.

[355] If you felt like some almonds, maybe.

[356] No, that's gross.

[357] But it doesn't need anything.

[358] It doesn't.

[359] It doesn't.

[360] It's classic.

[361] Yeah.

[362] As long as your sponge is well made.

[363] I have another important question, though.

[364] Does it need to be room temperature or like cold from the fridge?

[365] Vince likes cold from the fridge cake.

[366] Oh.

[367] That is good.

[368] But I feel like I'm spoiled and I'm used to people having just made the cake if it's your birthday.

[369] So it would almost still be a little warm.

[370] is the way I like it.

[371] Yeah, I love it.

[372] A little bit, okay.

[373] But cold cake from the fridge is good, too.

[374] Yeah, I mean, look.

[375] Anyway, one time she came and decided that it would be really great to bring a gift from my sister.

[376] Her gift was a fake bracelet that she recently found in her new home.

[377] When moving into the home and cleaning a closet, she came across this piece of costume jewelry that she figured would be perfect for my preteen sister.

[378] My sister was instantly drawn to it And would wear it everywhere she went A few months later My sister and I were in the bathroom Either brushing our teeth together Or washing our faces Oh, the joys of a one bathroom home For real Standing behind people and trying to get stuff done Oh my God, the worst Soon she began bothering me And since her new bracelet was within reach I grabbed it and threatened to break it by Stephanie Sisters Are doing it for themselves breaking treasure items Oh fuck You just don't You don't want to mess with a sister You just don't They'll fucking ruin your life That's right The spite is so deep Deeply embedded in your soul From the moment Just shoot straight out of you Usually about outfit stuff Usually about clothing or accessories That's the worst The worst area to get into She clearly wasn't having this and instantly started screaming for our mom who came into the bathroom, took the bracelet with her into the living room.

[379] Solved.

[380] Nobody gets it.

[381] Yep.

[382] Now you both lose.

[383] We could never learn that lesson.

[384] Now you both lose.

[385] It took forever.

[386] Now this was the first time my mom actually took a look at the bracelet and she noticed something interesting.

[387] The clasp of this bracelet was way too intricate.

[388] And she quickly showed it to my dad who confirmed that this was unusual for a piece of costume jewelry.

[389] They were legit, shocked by it.

[390] Well, that was the day my sister lost her beloved bracelet.

[391] Take things away from your children whenever you want.

[392] That's the name of the game.

[393] You see, my parents knew a jeweler and decided to get it checked out just in case.

[394] The jeweler was astounded by the bracelet and soon offered my father upwards of $15 ,000 right there on the spot.

[395] Holy shit.

[396] Which means it was worth $45.

[397] That's right.

[398] Yep.

[399] The bracelet was not only really.

[400] but it was worth a significant amount of money.

[401] Soon my mom took possession over the bracelet and would wear it to weddings and celebrations.

[402] That's a bitch.

[403] She should have sold it and taken them on a cruise.

[404] That's not fair.

[405] Sorry I called your mom a bitch.

[406] That's how special and expensive this bracelet was.

[407] I'm calling bullshit on this.

[408] Like this is not fair.

[409] Okay, go on.

[410] What's that called?

[411] It's like it's the rule parenting where it's like anything you have is actually theirs because they've bankrolled your life totally but in this scenario that really does suck okay eventually the bracelet was sold but still to this day my dad's cousin has no idea that the random piece of costume jewelry she gifted my sister was actually a real tennis bracelet worth a significant amount of money oh my god this is a secret we have been sworn to keep but hey why not share it with the whole world yeah hope hopefully she's not listening right now but if she is sorry girl oh my Anyway, stay sexy and always get your jewelry appraised, Peter.

[412] Peter, that is good.

[413] Tell those family secrets, Peter.

[414] That is so fucked up, and I love it.

[415] It's hilarious.

[416] All right, this is a long one, but it's epic.

[417] And I'm not going to read you the name title.

[418] The name of it.

[419] An all -inclusive hello, it starts.

[420] Nice.

[421] Modern.

[422] Modern.

[423] About three years ago, I spent my Labor Day weekend at the beach with a couple of girlfriends, along with the rest of the greater Boston area.

[424] We fought to find a decent spot near the water, eager to spend the final beach weekend of the year, enjoying what was left of our always too short summer season.

[425] To put it lightly, the beach was packed.

[426] Though I don't remember my exact words, I think it was something along the lines of, we need to move our towels.

[427] I don't would have been a better description.

[428] There were easily 20 -plus people huddling together under a wave of umbrellas.

[429] The adults and teens already sharing what appeared to be hard liquor at 10 a .m. Yes.

[430] That's a beach party.

[431] Those are the East Coast Kilgarovs.

[432] Kid in there.

[433] The music coming from their Bluetooth speaker was loud enough to drown out the sound of the water near 10 feet in front of us.

[434] Yes.

[435] And it was a country station, which was arguably worse.

[436] than the drunken chatter.

[437] I looked around the beach, hoping to spot a more vacant area, but I knew we weren't going anywhere.

[438] Everyone from New England seemed to be there.

[439] Towels touching as far as the eye could see, almost like area rugs.

[440] Oh, to be that close to strangers, right?

[441] I mean, that's the reason I don't go to most places is because I need to be, even pre -COVID, 15 feet away from people.

[442] I don't want to hear you.

[443] If I'm near you, I will have to eavesdrop on in your conversations.

[444] I'll judge you.

[445] I will be mad at your music even though I do like some country music.

[446] But, you know, that's the kind of thing where that kind of invasion, I'm not an easy, breezy person.

[447] No. And if I'm drinking, I'm going to interject too, much to Vince's horror.

[448] Vince can tell what I'm about to turn and say something to like a table next to us.

[449] And he'll be like, don't, don't, don't.

[450] No, no, it's fun.

[451] It's fun.

[452] They like it.

[453] They like it.

[454] I have wine.

[455] But nowhere else for us to move, we stayed put.

[456] It was fine at first.

[457] My friends and I smiled and waved at the group, murmuring a friendly hello when some of the younger kids made eye contact for a beat too long.

[458] But after a few hours, the majority of the adults were hammered, stumbling into the water, slurring their words, lots of hugging.

[459] I finally caught a glimpse of the bottle being passed between them.

[460] Peppermint schnapps.

[461] Ugh.

[462] On a fucking sunny, hot, warm beach day.

[463] It's warm.

[464] You know it's a warm bottle.

[465] Good.

[466] Good night.

[467] Just straight from the bottle.

[468] it's so fucking gross it's like just drink mouthwash then that you're going to be like that well hold on oh there might be a reason it was hard it was Santa Claus's family they had a one cup of hot cocoa and a thing of French knops they're like this Christmas is going to be different in Boston it was hard not to watch what happened next the music was turned off the entire group gathered into a circle to hold hands imagine that scene in how the Grinch stole Christmas when all the hooves stood around the town's tree and sang Oh, that's sorry, that's peanuts I don't know I wouldn't know Oh yeah you're right Oh wait Ooha oohra Didn't they sing something weird like that I've never seen it Is that crazy?

[469] I know I'm Jewish You would love it He stole Christmas I don't give a shit He's still Hanukkah What do I care It's none of my business selfish Hanukkah Celebrator It's Christmas Cindy Lou Who had her whole fucking Every gift stolen and the light bulb You have to see it You have to see it It's really funny Okay I'll watch I feel like I just made a really big confession Just there That was kind of big I feel like a lot of people are going to stop listening To this podcast Okay you know what We had to stop at some point That's right If this is what breaks us So be it I'm not mad I'm like it canceled for not watching this movie It's like, there's so many worse ways to get canceled.

[470] Yeah, for real.

[471] And the majority of them then began to cry.

[472] I looked at my friends who were equally puzzled and uncomfortable and then said, we need to stop staring.

[473] We all agreed just as one of the many adults of the group began speaking.

[474] And that's when we realized we were accidentally attending a stranger's memorial.

[475] No. And then they write, listen, there's no correct way to grieve.

[476] people handle death and whatever capacity works for them.

[477] And I am in no position to judge.

[478] If anything, I love the fact that this family wanted to celebrate the life of their loved one in such a non -traditional way.

[479] Maybe peppermint schnapps was their favorite.

[480] Maybe they loved country music the most.

[481] Maybe the beach was their go -to place.

[482] Whatever the case, my friends and I did our best to respect their space, even though we were essentially back to back with them and tried and mostly failed to not listen to a eulogy, documented.

[483] what was very clearly an unexpected death.

[484] Oh.

[485] I know.

[486] At long last, the speech was over, and most of the little ones resumed their playing.

[487] I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when suddenly the mother of the deceased stood up and began waiting into the knee -deep water.

[488] I watched in horror knowing what was about to happen as she opened the small box in her hands.

[489] The woman then emptied the box's contents, a strong breeze picking up at that very moment.

[490] the ashes flying everywhere.

[491] No. My friends and I stared, unable to move, a witness to the cremains landing gently behind her onto the many, many unsuspecting strangers lounging on the sand.

[492] This is also like that scene from White Lotus with Jennifer Coolidge.

[493] Oh, yeah.

[494] Oh, yeah.

[495] She's putting her mom into the water.

[496] Just throwing a handfuls in there.

[497] Oh, no. I'm unsure if there are Massachusetts laws about releasing human, cremains during peak beach visiting hours, and I'm sure as shit not going to Google it.

[498] Regardless, I think of that family all the time and I truly hope they are healing and that they are happy.

[499] Stay sexy and maybe wait for the breeze to die down before scattering ashes.

[500] CJ, she, her.

[501] Wow, that's, I love that story.

[502] I do too.

[503] Because you know what?

[504] Everybody knows how it feels to lose someone suddenly.

[505] maybe not everybody but a lot of us do and no matter what the extended look of that gathering is or judgment or traditions yeah that all the different ways we all decide to judge each other yeah when it comes down to it you we all have the same feeling when we lose someone and we all know what that feels like yeah and we all need to do these things like you know funerals are one thing But, like, you and I just went to Memorial last week for Neil Mahoney, everyone's friend.

[506] And, yeah, you need laughter.

[507] You need some weird traditions.

[508] We all drink his favorite whiskey.

[509] You know, we all watched a memorial video.

[510] It's like you have to do what you have to do to heal.

[511] Yes.

[512] And a funeral is fine.

[513] But sometimes it really does, like, sitting around and telling stories and having it be less formal and more what that person would want.

[514] is, I think, a very nice way to help process those feelings.

[515] Totally.

[516] Like a celebration of their life.

[517] Yeah.

[518] What was really beautiful about Neil's memorial is his uncle got up and talked about how helpful and how lovely he found all of Neil's friends who did all of that stuff for him when he died so suddenly.

[519] It was really, I mean, there were moments where it like pin drop silent and everyone was just crying.

[520] It was so, it was so moving.

[521] It was so sad to lose such a good person.

[522] It really was.

[523] He was a very good one.

[524] Send us your stories at my favorite murder at Gmail.

[525] Send us anything you want at this point.

[526] I mean, that one was epic and beautiful.

[527] I love that.

[528] I love the peppermint schnapps family.

[529] Yeah, me too.

[530] Wishing them well.

[531] Stay sexy.

[532] And don't get murdered.

[533] Goodbye.

[534] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[535] This has been an exactly right production.

[536] Our producer is Hannah Kyle Kreit.

[537] Associate producer Alejandra Keck.

[538] Engineer and mixer.

[539] Steven.

[540] Ray Morris.

[541] Researchers, Jay Elias and Haley Gray.

[542] Send us your hometowns and your fucking hoorays at my favorite murder at gmail .com.

[543] And follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and Twitter at MyFave Murder.

[544] And for more information about this podcast, our live shows, merch, or to join the fancult, go to my favoritemerder.

[545] Rate review and subscribe.