228 - The Season of the Abyss

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] Hello.

[2] And welcome to my favorite murder.

[3] The podcast.

[4] The podcast that you tune in to every, what, Thursday morning?

[5] You do your best.

[6] Afternoon nowadays.

[7] Maybe Friday, maybe a Friday evening.

[8] Sure.

[9] Life is changing.

[10] You're changing.

[11] Things are busy.

[12] Who knows what day it is anymore?

[13] Yeah.

[14] In this season of your life, that's what the influencers are saying now.

[15] Like the lifestyle influencers are calling like the, like, the, the part of your, like in this season of my life where it's like, you're changing.

[16] I'm going to have to ask you to check out of whatever that's entire culture is that you're talking about right now.

[17] It's a cult all right.

[18] It sounds horrifying.

[19] I'm picturing a lot of felt hats, people speaking that it were wearing felt hats at the same time.

[20] That's right.

[21] The word autumnal comes up a lot probably even when it's not autumn.

[22] There's a lot of people that pull their sleeves down over their hands to talk.

[23] Yeah.

[24] Yeah.

[25] And, No thanks.

[26] No thanks.

[27] That's Karen Kilgariff.

[28] Oh, that's Georgia Hartstark.

[29] Hi.

[30] Well, how are you?

[31] What's going on?

[32] Just got back from a nice trip with the fam.

[33] Mm -hmm.

[34] And again, in this season of my life, it feels like I can't tell how much time is passing.

[35] So I literally one day turned to my sister and went, I've been here for three weeks.

[36] She was like, I don't care, stay here.

[37] I was like, no, I can't just leave my home and dogs and life.

[38] Yeah.

[39] But it was really nice, so I got to be up there for Father's Day.

[40] A lot of lovely well wishes on Twitter for Home Gym, which he pretended he didn't care about, but then had already looked at by the time I got to his house for Father's Day dinner.

[41] No, he does.

[42] Of course he does.

[43] He's now a legit Twitter lurker.

[44] Like, I can't really be myself on Twitter anymore.

[45] Oh, no. Because my dad's there.

[46] What if he just doesn't follow you?

[47] He, like, lurks everyone else's stuff.

[48] He's really into Chrissy Teigen and all of the things she makes in her beautiful kitchen.

[49] Now, she's fun.

[50] She's on.

[51] No, she's legitimately funny.

[52] Yeah, that would be so typical.

[53] How have you been?

[54] Fine.

[55] This season of my life revolves.

[56] What season?

[57] Is it winter?

[58] It is absolutely winter.

[59] It is the winter of my life and existence, and I'm in pajamas right now.

[60] fucking staying home right yeah I mean it does feel like a lot of people have decided they're just not quote unquote doing quarantine anymore while the numbers skyrocket out of control I mean it's almost like the layers of this seven day layer dip of horror they just keep coming where it's like I thought already had guacamole now here's another one of guacamole horror where people are pretending the pandemic ended because they wanted to.

[61] I read like some quotes.

[62] Like there were these gals in Florida who like 16 of them went to a bar when they opened.

[63] They all got it.

[64] And the late the gal was like, I was just done.

[65] I just needed to get out.

[66] I was done.

[67] And it's like, well, but, but the global pandemic isn't.

[68] So it doesn't care that you're done.

[69] And also we're all fucking done.

[70] We're all done.

[71] No one likes.

[72] it.

[73] Okay.

[74] Like, no one likes it.

[75] You know what I really miss?

[76] I miss missing Vince.

[77] I bet.

[78] I bet.

[79] I just like, when I went down to record just now, I gave him a kiss and I was like, I'll miss you.

[80] And then I was like, will you?

[81] Will you?

[82] Will I?

[83] Let's do your best to miss Vince in this nice.

[84] I would love to.

[85] You know, this will be our first three hour, my favorite murder, just so you can miss him a little bit more.

[86] That would be great.

[87] Thank you so much.

[88] It's very strange.

[89] It's like, well, it was nice in Northern California.

[90] They're not doing that up there.

[91] They've been very serious since the beginning.

[92] I understand the thinking of like, I can't do it anymore or I need to socialize, like, the people in their 20s.

[93] Like, if I was in my 20s in a quarantine hit, I would have gone insane.

[94] Totally.

[95] I would have, absolutely.

[96] So it's not like there's not empathy, but it's also like too bad.

[97] Are dating apps still, like, happening or more than ever?

[98] now more than ever now more than ever um no how would i know i don't know you i want to ask you but you don't fucking i would i would love to know i would i would love to know i just don't yeah i could never um i couldn't do it even just to be just to peek around and yeah have the gossip i know come on make up a name and and let's know i mean look by the end of this i might have to simply because, you know, being cut off from humanity really, it really puts your, you know, it helps you put your pride aside.

[99] Sure.

[100] When you're like, oh, no, no pride left.

[101] I looked at myself in the mirror yesterday when I got up and I was just like, you can't go another minute without a shower.

[102] Like I keep looking at my hair and I'll do, I have this thing where I pull my bangs back and pull my ponytail in.

[103] So it doesn't matter that my hair is a greasy mess.

[104] And it was my hair was just like, mm -mm.

[105] it's there's not another moment i forgot what a real my sister's a real cleaner clean nick real so she her season of cleaning is her abundant it's non -stop it's year round um she did not like my she'd always be like you're gonna take a shower and be like why we're going to safe way like who cares yeah but she was not into it so that was kind of it was good to be around people and it was good to kind of have that check every day of like why not put on a little lipstick it's not you know why give up just because there's a pandemic and total social upheaval and the exposure of a of a completely white supremacist system and government and government and people who are supposed to be our peers and we're like who are you who are you but now we know but but but we have to talk about we have to keep it positive because the best thing that I would have never been able to envision for this season of our lives, I would have never, I've never been able to know that this was possible.

[106] And the TikTokers and the K -poppers made it happen.

[107] They put in, and everyone already knows the story, but I just want to say it anyway.

[108] If maybe you're out on the tundra and you haven't heard about this for the Tulsa Trump rally, which was such an offense.

[109] It was so gross.

[110] They originally planned it on June 10th, June 19th of this year, and they did it in Tulsa.

[111] Which is the day of emancipation, that emancipation went through.

[112] And in Tulsa, sorry, you were saying it.

[113] And then I just saved it over you.

[114] But it's true.

[115] I mean, like, it's the kind of thing where it's almost like these facts of reality of what this, these people do and how offensive it is and how gross it is.

[116] It just doesn't land anymore.

[117] because it's one thing after the other.

[118] But I was like, yeah, if there is some kind of serious rioting because of this, it's deserved that what kind of fucking bullshit is this that they're like, oh, oh, we're going to go to Tulsa, Oklahoma where the Black Wall Street massacre took place on Juneteen and we're going to have a Trump rally.

[119] If that isn't fucking on purpose and like a fucking fuck you to black people, then.

[120] I don't know what is.

[121] The season of the abyss has happened and turned.

[122] Yes.

[123] Right?

[124] That's a Slayer song.

[125] Yeah.

[126] The season of the abyss?

[127] Uh -huh.

[128] It was one of my high school boyfriend's song.

[129] He was a fucking metalhead.

[130] And so Slayer's Seasons of the Abyss was our song.

[131] I thought you were just making that out.

[132] I'm not.

[133] Oh, shit, girl.

[134] Yes.

[135] I'll just bust it out on air guitar with Vince or he'll start singing it and I'll bust it out on air guitar fucking good It's the season of the abyss It's so true It was right Fuck Slayer Get your felt hat on Because we're here It's here Get the patches sewn into your sweaters It's here Make your Is Slayer the one that had that S That was like a line And then I think Yeah That was all over That was carved into every desk in my high school.

[136] I think.

[137] Slayer was big, big, my high school.

[138] Well, it's funny you mentioned that because I have a show.

[139] The perfect segue.

[140] It's funny.

[141] You mentioned that.

[142] Okay, so there's a new, did you know there's a new Perry Mason, like a remake of Perry Mason?

[143] Wait, is it on already?

[144] Yeah, it just started this last week.

[145] Because it's the guy from the Americans.

[146] That's so awesome.

[147] Matthew Reese.

[148] Yes.

[149] I think he's Welsh.

[150] Holy crap.

[151] Is it good?

[152] Oh, okay.

[153] First of all, there's no, they did not, I'm going to go ahead and do what they should have done, which is trigger warning, dead baby, like full -on trigger warning, dead baby.

[154] Oh, no. It's very, it's a really gruesome, like, dark show.

[155] British, right?

[156] No. Oh.

[157] It takes place in L .A. in the 20s.

[158] It's nothing like the old Perry Mason.

[159] He's not even a lawyer.

[160] He's like a detective.

[161] Cool.

[162] Okay.

[163] Yeah.

[164] It's dark and it's good.

[165] And it's like noir -y and a little over the top.

[166] and then you remember that it's Perry Mason and that was a little over the top so it fits.

[167] It's not, it's good.

[168] I like it's like, I want to watch all of it and get into a deep, dark depression well.

[169] I feel like, you know?

[170] Yeah, like a period peace depression.

[171] It reminds me of boardwalk empire, which I really want to watch again.

[172] For the outfits.

[173] Outfits, fucking everything.

[174] It's good.

[175] Do you, do, were there shots of L .A. where you're like, I know that spot that they're remaking in this, you know what I mean?

[176] Yeah, it's Angels Flight.

[177] They're an Angels flight.

[178] And when they show it with the buildings around it, because that's, you know, that's how it used to be.

[179] It's exciting.

[180] I love it.

[181] It's good.

[182] Good old noir, L .A. stuff.

[183] Perry Mason, that's amazing.

[184] Oh, and then trigger warning.

[185] Enormous surprise dick.

[186] At one point.

[187] Don't ruin it.

[188] I'm not going to ruin it.

[189] You'll see.

[190] Take a shot when you see the surprise enormous.

[191] Dick Now is it What is it a skyscraper Or what kind of How big is it?

[192] How big?

[193] I don't want to I don't know I mean you know Do you know what channel it's on?

[194] HBO Oh sweet The gritty reboot of Perry Meade I wish I could have been there For that pitch meeting People are like Huh?

[195] Yeah it's not what I expected And it's yeah that's good I should be To counter that I should be talking about Marcella right now because season three is out.

[196] I watched one episode when I was at my sisters, but I had to wait until Nora went to bed because I don't understand anything bad.

[197] And, of course, I fell asleep four minutes in because they all have Irish accents.

[198] It was like, me old grandmother, lullabyed me to sleep, or I just always go to sleep at 10 .30.

[199] But I did last night start for true escapism.

[200] there's a television show it's British but it's on Netflix and it's called 100 % hotter and it's like a makeover show 100 % hotter they get these British people and I think I mean not to say that Americans aren't absolutely like this and you couldn't absolutely cast this show in four minutes in Los Angeles but there seemed to be a lot of people in England who are like decided that they're going to be what was that what's that girl's name you know how they have like the page it's like the page two girls or something from the tabloids I don't know if that's the right page number but basically like it's like super sexy where like you save up all your money to get humongous implant you're like you're like a like Kim Kardashian type right like perfect but like a Brat's It was way, yes, it's a Brat's doll going way over into the like performatively sexy, like beyond.

[201] Yeah.

[202] And so they take, there's a couple of people like that.

[203] Then there's a couple people who just have very strange style.

[204] And there's a girl, there's a girl who's doing a full on Harjuku look where she has two different color contact lenses and like, Hello Kitty stickers on her cheeks and shit.

[205] Oh, so they take people with a look with a really extreme look and then they make it's, it's, it's, it's, the classic like reality show where then they there's people on the street looking at pictures of them and suspiciously all of the people on the street giving ratings because they're like I would give this a three out of 10 I would and the people are shocked they're like what um I'm really hot how could I be a three or whatever the people on the street that are being interviewed about the ratings all are wearing scarves different beautiful scarves where I'm like sorry you're cast because this is a scarf commercial.

[206] Is this sponsored by Scars, et cetera?

[207] You know that store Scars, et cetera.

[208] Anyway.

[209] But it's a good, like, just put it on.

[210] Here's the thing.

[211] It's an amazing makeover show because at the end of the day, who doesn't love a really good haircut and really good makeup and the, and also the outfits are amazing.

[212] Do they turn them into like, like classy, like a classier look?

[213] They basically try to take what they want to look like and just make it more like if you're walking down the street, people won't run into a pole because you walk by.

[214] Because you have stickers on your face.

[215] Yeah, or because you, there's one guy that is like an industrial goth where he has a wig of like dreads made out of rubber.

[216] Oh, no. You know, that kind of thing.

[217] And goggles.

[218] You know, that oh yeah.

[219] That look.

[220] It's pretty extreme.

[221] That sounds fun.

[222] They just redo everybody.

[223] But what it is is just awesome makeup, awesome hair.

[224] It's just really sad.

[225] The Harajuga girl, when she gets redone, because you can tell, and everything is like, it gets very philosophical, where you're like, we're all wearing masks.

[226] We're all wearing different masks.

[227] But like the Harjuka girl, she takes all her stuff off.

[228] And the makeup woman's like, look at your eyes.

[229] What do you do?

[230] And then gives her this, this makeup wear.

[231] And the girl is just like this really beautiful young girl who goes, I never thought it could look like this.

[232] Like, it's the cutest thing.

[233] Oh, what's it called 100%.

[234] A hundred percent hotter.

[235] Hotter.

[236] And the hair guy is such a legendary hair guy where he himself has my sister's hair from 1989.

[237] Nice.

[238] Like a spiral perm, I think.

[239] Amazing hair guy.

[240] And he gives the best hair cuts.

[241] What about the show where I get turned into a club kid?

[242] That's what I want.

[243] I want the opposite.

[244] I feel so fucking boring now.

[245] You want to go back?

[246] I want to go back to when I was 16 and had huge fucking crimped pig tails.

[247] Yeah, I can cut your bangs all fucked up.

[248] Okay, vinyl pants great.

[249] And then I would put stickers on my face too.

[250] Really?

[251] Now, was that the drugs telling you to put the stickers on or was that your style choice?

[252] The drugs were the stickers.

[253] Oh, they're going through the skin, what's that called?

[254] Absorbing it through the skin?

[255] Yeah.

[256] Yeah.

[257] Okay.

[258] What else?

[259] Well, there's season two of Dirty John has started.

[260] Okay, I haven't done that.

[261] yet.

[262] It's the Betty Broderick story.

[263] Yeah, which you did.

[264] I did it.

[265] She's the woman down in San Diego.

[266] Yes.

[267] And it is, it's very dirty, it's very much dirty John season one.

[268] They have this style about it.

[269] That's kind of like it's, um, outfits and it's, it has almost a right.

[270] Shoulder path.

[271] Feel to it.

[272] Yes.

[273] Because this, it happened in the 80s.

[274] So everyone is real 80s outfits.

[275] The problem that I have is Amanda Pee's.

[276] is playing Betty Broderick and Betty Broderick one of the main issues going on in that relationship was her husband was leaving her for a younger, hotter version.

[277] Right.

[278] Right.

[279] And no one's leaving Amanda Peet.

[280] Never ever.

[281] Sorry.

[282] Like she's, she's Hollywood perfection.

[283] Yeah.

[284] So I got that she's a great actress and she's playing the intensity and she's really good as a character.

[285] But there's a whole piece of that character that I, that should be there.

[286] Yeah.

[287] And I think I want to if it's because they didn't want to, like, in the, you know, the year 2020 put someone in, like, a fat suit or fat wedding.

[288] But, like, that's part of the issue and part of the story.

[289] Yeah, I wonder.

[290] Like, was a mom and, you know, wasn't tiny and wasn't, you know, I don't know.

[291] I mean, that's TV for you, you know.

[292] They TVed up Betty and then in doing so, in my opinion.

[293] She doesn't even resemble, she doesn't even resemble her.

[294] Not even a little.

[295] The brown hair, I guess.

[296] She was a blonde.

[297] She was a blonde hair.

[298] The blonde hair.

[299] Oh, she didn't.

[300] Yeah.

[301] But it's good.

[302] Definitely watch it.

[303] It's a good story.

[304] And, you know, it's Christian Slater and Amanda Pete.

[305] So it's so watchable.

[306] Guys, unless you hear the amazing music that Stephen puts under an ad, we're not, this is not us pushing any of these shows.

[307] We are being paid $0 by Amanda Pete for talking about.

[308] Amanda Pete has never worked.

[309] worked for us a day in her life.

[310] Not once has she called or DM'd.

[311] I've asked her to cats it.

[312] She fucking refuses.

[313] Can you imagine?

[314] I'm scared.

[315] I'm scared of her.

[316] She was so good in togetherness.

[317] Is that still on?

[318] Can you find that anywhere?

[319] Remember that show?

[320] The Duplas Brothers vehicle?

[321] Yeah.

[322] I don't know, but she was so good in that.

[323] She's so good in most all things I see her in.

[324] Yeah.

[325] Bloss her heart.

[326] I don't know because I don't watch TV alone anymore.

[327] There's no like, neither Vince nor I watch what we want to watch because we're always watching together.

[328] You know what I mean?

[329] I'd be careful of that.

[330] Why don't you get a second TV?

[331] We have one, but then it's just like, is then where do I go downstairs?

[332] Yeah, and it's like, yeah, it is weird.

[333] Yeah, it means you don't want to be around me. Say if you're mad.

[334] Just say it.

[335] Are you mad at me?

[336] Just tell me, it's totally fine.

[337] Look, I want to follow you to the kitchen if you don't know.

[338] admit it.

[339] Can I tell you that I have cried more since I turned 40 than I did my entire 30s?

[340] What?

[341] What's going on?

[342] Two weeks, three weeks.

[343] I don't know.

[344] PMS and then I also found a psychiatrist so my meds are getting tweaked a little.

[345] Oh, yeah.

[346] So that's fun to be like that those two weeks of like, will they or won't they work?

[347] And like, or what kind of insane side effect is it going to give me that I that I won't remember is a side effect.

[348] So I'll be like, I can't stop sweating.

[349] What's wrong with me?

[350] Shit.

[351] Well, then cry it out.

[352] Who cares?

[353] You're at home.

[354] It's been...

[355] I was saying, oh, but you meant for Vince, like it's...

[356] Yeah.

[357] Because you're next to him watching TV on the couch.

[358] Constantly.

[359] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[360] Oh, life.

[361] Oh, and then the...

[362] I'm so excited for the Golden State Killer show.

[363] Oh, yeah.

[364] That one Karen Kilgariff, friend, best friend of the podcast.

[365] Friend of the pod.

[366] I'm an insider.

[367] I like to say, I've been listening since episode one.

[368] That's right.

[369] I haven't seen that trailer yet.

[370] I'm too, like it, but, yeah, I've heard a lot of feedback that people are excited and excited to see it.

[371] Are you going to, can you watch yourself?

[372] Are you going to do it?

[373] No, no, no, no. Okay.

[374] We'll do it for you.

[375] Please do.

[376] And then just say nice things.

[377] I don't care.

[378] Of course.

[379] I don't care if you don't like it.

[380] Only compliments only.

[381] I used to say that after my stand -up shows.

[382] Nice.

[383] I'm just like going somewhere with people afterwards.

[384] I'd be like, compliments only.

[385] I only want to hear if you thought I was the best one on the show.

[386] Other than that, keep it to yourself.

[387] Totally.

[388] No critiques.

[389] This isn't fucking critique time.

[390] Unless you're funnier than me. No critiques.

[391] Right.

[392] Yeah.

[393] Should we do exactly right, corner?

[394] Sure.

[395] So our podcast network exactly right.

[396] is a thing.

[397] Isn't that great?

[398] We like it.

[399] And we're adding shows just by, I would say, every three months, four months.

[400] Every season.

[401] Every season.

[402] Every season's turn.

[403] There's a new fucking show.

[404] It takes so long.

[405] Guys.

[406] Guys.

[407] But they're coming.

[408] They're coming.

[409] They're in the works.

[410] You know, they're all great.

[411] The newest, for example, the newest I said, no gifts has the great Andrew Mishon on it who is from podcast but outside that a podcast I recommended on this show long ago but Andrew's a great standup that's friends with lots of people and knows everybody so and my friend my friend Mamrie Hart is on bananas this week and she's been friends with Scotty for decades so they decades they're so young a decade probably sure sure just one just one and she's so funny so listen to bananas and they oh God this podcast will kill you is they're talking about what's the disease that it affects cows it's called render pest render pest yeah so that's i haven't listened to that one and i'm really looking forward to it because that sounds like the worst thing of all time yeah you know it's not the worst thing of all time is from our our one of our favorite podcasts um do you need a ride chris fairbanks has a new stand -up special that's coming out called rescue You Cactus, and it's available for rental and digital download.

[412] Now on, what is it on?

[413] Nice one.

[414] Thank you.

[415] Well, he's a new stand -up special.

[416] Look up Chris Fairbanks.

[417] He's so fucking hilarious.

[418] He's hilarious.

[419] I'm sure it's on his Twitter or his Instagram, and we can, and we will, you know, we'll put it on our website so that you can find it.

[420] My friend was there.

[421] He filmed it in Portland, and so my friend Jason, our stage mother, Jason, who who always the day of a show love him text notes Francis Stephen he went and watched it and said he it was so great and then at the end he cried that's how good it was because there was like a touching quote Chris cried or Jason cried Jason okay good but there was like you know there was touching I watched one joke I watched just a you know a quick clip of one joke and it's it was one of the best jokes I've heard the masturbating the masturbating one with the parent yeah yeah he's really he's really legendary i mean he's you know he's the chris is the real deal and he really is like one of those truly unique comedy voices i mean like you don't get the sense of it on our podcast because we are taught are constantly interrupting each other and and and one person's trying to tell a story and then somebody else starts to start talking about something else but when chris does stand up you know i've seen him in like in aside from being on the road and stuff in rooms around Los Angeles, like him destroying a room when he's just up to do a 10 minute set.

[422] It's one of the most like thrilling, breathless, amazing things you've ever seen because it's very hard thing to do.

[423] People who are good at it make it look so easy.

[424] Totally.

[425] Yeah.

[426] And he's one of those people.

[427] So it's, yeah.

[428] If you're looking for a good laugh, I think Chris Fairbanks will help you out with that.

[429] Also, please check out our merch store where we have our black and white logo pin.

[430] It's a really cool enamel pin.

[431] It's 10 bucks.

[432] And all the proceeds are going to the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective.

[433] So that's really exciting.

[434] And we have some new merch in there.

[435] We have a puzzle and some fun stuff to check out.

[436] That's on my favorite murder .com in the store.

[437] Yeah, we're very, I'm very proud of that puzzle.

[438] There's a puzzle for everybody that's that still believes in the quarantine and the puzzles.

[439] It's puzzle season.

[440] It is puzzle truly puzzle season.

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

[442] Absolutely.

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

[444] Exactly.

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[457] important note that promo code is all lowercase go to shopify .com slash murder to take your retail business to the next level today that's shopify .com slash murder goodbye okay this case i'm doing it's less of a case and more of a it's a disaster story okay and so this is the st francis dam collapse oh shit yeah i I feel like I've started this one many a time.

[458] Yeah.

[459] I can't believe we haven't done this at an LA, a live LA show.

[460] Yeah.

[461] It's like, it's one of these stories, and I'm sure you feel the same that I've always kind of heard about in the background.

[462] Everyone knows Chinatown is loosely based on the water wars that came before it.

[463] And it's always just been this like eerie story that I didn't know that well.

[464] But I think being from California and Southern California, you hear little things.

[465] about it.

[466] Yeah.

[467] But it's been forgotten kind of in history a little bit too because it happened right before the stock market crash and the Great Depression.

[468] So like nobody cared.

[469] Yeah.

[470] Sorry, I was just going to say, that would be an amazing book to a book of all the stories that got buried by huger stories.

[471] Yeah.

[472] Didn't we just talk about something recently that it was like, but then 9 -11 happened and so this story got buried?

[473] Yes.

[474] Yes.

[475] It was a documentary I was watching or something like that we were like how could you not know about this right it was I think it was McMillians oh yeah wasn't it or it was something like that where it was like it wasn't a you know wasn't a horrible story or anything like that it was more of a like huh how could this happen and then just got erased by nine right or like the hearing was in late September and so nobody gave a shit at that time yeah yeah this is like that so let me quickly read my sources.

[476] I got some info from history .com.

[477] On LitHub .com, there was a section from the book, The Mirage Factory, Illusions, Imagination, and the invention of Los Angeles.

[478] And that's by, I know, doesn't not sound good, that's by Gary Christ.

[479] And then there's SCVHistory .com, Smithsonian Mag, K -C -E -T article by Hadley Mears, waterempower .org, some great information and photos from there.

[480] all down to the DWP.

[481] They gave me a little information.

[482] They let me come look at their micro -fiche.

[483] It was great.

[484] An article on a, there's a website called Failure Magazine.

[485] And I think it's just failures.

[486] Just, that's not rad?

[487] There's a web, there's a page about the book called Flood Path, the deadliest man -made disaster of 20th century America, and the making of modern Los Angeles.

[488] They all have these fucking names.

[489] That's by John Wilkman.

[490] And then did you know there's a song by Frank Black from 2001 called St. Francis Damned Disaster?

[491] No. And there's these like unofficial music videos, a video from the disaster and photos from the disaster.

[492] It's cool.

[493] Jesus.

[494] Yeah.

[495] So St. Francis Damned disaster is known as the worst American civil engineering disaster of the 20th century.

[496] And it's kind of compared to the Triangle Shirtways factory fire in that it kind of led to this movement of safety legislation because so many people lost their lives.

[497] So before we can get into the collapse of the actual dam, we kind of need to go over some history, and that is California's water wars, and that'll give us some context.

[498] By the end of the 1800s, Los Angeles was still a relatively small settlement, and it got all its water from the L .A. River via a system of reservoirs and these open ditches made that were made.

[499] They're called Zanhas.

[500] and that had been used since the Los Pobladorus built them in 1781.

[501] But by the early 1900s, there's a huge population boom in Los Angeles, and over half a million residents are now living in L .A. And the city's growing.

[502] So does the need for water.

[503] But we're in a desert, you know, so there's a bunch of drought.

[504] City planners wanted Los Angeles to become a major American metropolis, like these people who had money in and stake in the city, growing and that could but that could only be achieved if there is water you know yeah so greed right greed great great oh i thought you said and greed so it's like yes and greed greed greed is a big part of it yes i need to make that point greed and water what more does one want so this dude fred eaton he's the mayor now and he used to be the superintendent of the los angeles water company and so he fucking knocks on the door of the new superintendent of the water company and that and he's like let's build an aqueduct like that's how we get water to the city and that new superintendent is William Mulholland Oh, I've heard of him.

[505] Yeah, you have.

[506] So you know like Mulholland Drive, everyone knows.

[507] So let me do a quick sidebar on William Mulholland he's got this fancy storied fucking life.

[508] So William Mulholland is he's born in Belfast.

[509] Aye.

[510] Yeah.

[511] And in 1855 he's born into a family of modest means and he leaves home at 15 with his brother and they go to America and he ends up in L .A. around 1878 at 23 years old.

[512] He's got $10 in his pocket.

[513] So he gets a job in L .A. as a Zonharo, which is digging those wells in what is now Compton.

[514] And he uses his downtime while he's not working a fucking crazy job with manual labor because he's really interested in engineering.

[515] So he starts studying engineering, geology, hydrology, and mathematics.

[516] You know, as you do.

[517] Just weekend stuff.

[518] Casual stuff.

[519] It was like the 1857 version of 100 % hotter.

[520] What do you think of this engineer on the street with their scarves?

[521] I'm thirsty.

[522] There's no water.

[523] Please, just give me a class of water.

[524] So he actually becomes a self -taught engineer, which doesn't seem like it should be a thing.

[525] It should not be a thing.

[526] Well, that's fucking some, uh, what's it called right there.

[527] Foreshadowing.

[528] Thank you.

[529] Yeah.

[530] So for the next 20 years, uh, Mulholland rises through the ranks at the water company.

[531] He becomes a foreman and then it comes to superintendent until 1902, when the city officially forms what becomes known as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, what you and I pay every fucking month.

[532] Um, and he's named the chief engineer, which is super impressive.

[533] However, I feel like maybe as a surgeon or there's certain jobs you don't want self -taught.

[534] You want a paper degree that says you learned all of it, right?

[535] Yeah, and that people who already knew everything taught it to you, not you taught it to you.

[536] That's right.

[537] And you're like, I got everything.

[538] I got all of it.

[539] And you're like, how do you know that?

[540] Oh, it's me, Bill Mulholland.

[541] I know everything.

[542] Oh, okay.

[543] I bet he was really tall.

[544] So everyone would just listen to everything.

[545] Yeah.

[546] Yeah.

[547] But it always happens with tall guys.

[548] I think even as a young man, he looked like a grisly old man and people believe him, you know?

[549] Yeah.

[550] So he earns a good reputation when its projects are built under budget and ahead of schedule, which I also think is bad.

[551] Like, take your time and use the money and build it right.

[552] Like, don't make it quick and cheap, right?

[553] Yeah, he's like a sellout engineer because usually engineers are like, no, it has to be right.

[554] And that means if we go over budget or over schedule, it still has to be right.

[555] he's like hey guys hey money men are you happy then I'm happy exactly and one of those projects that he got a good reputation for includes friend of the podcast the Silver Lake Reservoir in 1906 oh would you agree I think it's a friend of the pot I think it is a friend of the pot it is Silver Lake Reservoir yeah um so back to the water wars moholland is now tasks to transport water.

[556] They look for water where they can like divert it from a certain part of the state and bring it to L .A. And they find that in the lush Owens Valley, which is located on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada.

[557] It's about 200 miles away.

[558] It looks like it's right on the Nevada border, basically.

[559] It's over where over where no one goes ever.

[560] Exactly, where you have to drive through to get to Vegas and it looks really hot and deserty.

[561] Yeah.

[562] So meanwhile, though, the United States reclamation service, which was responsible for settling the Owens which is this, like, lush place where lots of things grow and people are fucking thriving.

[563] They had settled the Owens Valley in the late 19th century with farmers and ranchers.

[564] And they are like, we're going to use the Owens Lake to build irrigation systems to help these farmers in the area.

[565] Like, we're going to grow this area.

[566] Yeah, we have plants.

[567] It's our water and we're making plants for it.

[568] Exactly.

[569] So there's this whole water war over who's going to get that Owens Valley water.

[570] I mean, that's a whole book in itself, so I'm not going to do it justice.

[571] Read me the book.

[572] Okay, page one.

[573] Unfortunately, for the farmers and the ranchers and the people who live there, this dude Eaton has extensive political contacts, of course, including the president of the United States, and he and Mulholland aren't above using, like, dubious tactics, like bribery and deception.

[574] So after these fucking long water wars, and by the end, of 1905, they're able to acquire enough land and water rights in Owens Valley to block the irrigation project.

[575] And they are going to build their aqueduct.

[576] Wow.

[577] And when this canal project goes public, people fucking lose their shit because everyone in LA knew that like their livelihood and them staying there and working and building families and more people coming to Los Angeles depended on this water.

[578] So finally, you know, there's a front page headline that Los Angeles finally has water.

[579] People celebrate property and real estate prices the day it's announced, double within a day.

[580] Wow.

[581] Yeah.

[582] People are just squirting hoses straight up into the air.

[583] Right.

[584] Use it all you want.

[585] We got more coming.

[586] Exactly.

[587] And so in 1907 with a budget of $23 million, which I looked it up, and you can't even go that far back.

[588] You could only go to 1913 on this calculator.

[589] I didn't look for another one, which I just realized I could have.

[590] That would have.

[591] That would have been.

[592] $600 million in 1913.

[593] Jesus Christ.

[594] Yeah, but don't worry.

[595] Mulhoan won't use it all.

[596] You know how he is.

[597] Oh, yeah.

[598] That's right.

[599] He loves to come in under budget.

[600] That's right.

[601] So, construction begins on the Aqueduct in 1907.

[602] Around 4 ,000 laborers work at top speed.

[603] They use new technologies like, for example, a caterpillar tractor.

[604] Fucking new thing.

[605] Wow.

[606] They set records for miles tunneled and pipe cut, which I wrote, which is like, slow down, guys, get this right.

[607] Yeah, and I wrote.

[608] Also, how hideously were they abusing those manual laborers that they were breaking record?

[609] That's in the desert.

[610] So they're working under the fucking blaring sun in the desert.

[611] There's no such thing as bottled water.

[612] Not even Desani.

[613] Everyone's least favorite water.

[614] Not even Desani.

[615] It tastes like plastic.

[616] Desani.

[617] And it is really, I mean, once I started looking into this and like looking at photos and reading about it.

[618] It is a really impressive feat.

[619] It's 200 miles that they were able to take from this lake in Owens Valley to the San Fernando Valley.

[620] And in 1913, construction of the 200, it's 223 mile aqueduct is finished in 1913.

[621] At the time of completion, it's the world's longest aqueduct and the largest single water project in the world.

[622] Wow.

[623] Yeah.

[624] So it's super fucking impressive.

[625] It's a self -taught kid from fucking Belfast who made it happen.

[626] He becomes this big hero.

[627] And while we're talking about it, dairy is not Belfast although it's also in Northern Ireland.

[628] And just call it Dairy.

[629] Okay.

[630] I got a, I needed a pick me up the other night when I was watching TV alone and, which I know I said I don't do.

[631] So I started watching Dairy Girls again.

[632] Yeah.

[633] It's just so comforting.

[634] It's so comforting.

[635] It's the greatest.

[636] So the city of Los Angeles is stoked, you know, something like 40 ,000 people come to see the dam get, you know, turned on the thing.

[637] What am I doing right now?

[638] You're doing some bathtub?

[639] Exactly.

[640] Turners?

[641] They turn on the faucet.

[642] Oh, a big faucet.

[643] They open the big faucet.

[644] During the opening ceremony, Mulhoan famously says to them, there it is, take it about the water.

[645] There it is.

[646] Take it.

[647] You know, which is like so, I think he got a really big head and became really cocky about all the things he could do.

[648] And it almost is like he's godlike where he's giving them this like essential, you know, thing.

[649] Yeah, he made it happen.

[650] He made it happen.

[651] And it's true.

[652] Like a lot of people credit him with Los Angeles becoming what it was because it wouldn't have without the water.

[653] And he should also be credited for how bad people have allergies here because it's, It's the water that then made the non -native plants get brought in.

[654] And there's all kinds of weird plant combinations here that don't make sense.

[655] And you could have no allergies your whole life.

[656] And you move to L .A., you're screwed.

[657] Yeah, I have them.

[658] But damn you, Mulholland!

[659] Mulholland!

[660] The next time your hay fever hits, Stephen.

[661] That's Mulholland talking through your nose.

[662] He was a great order.

[663] He was a great nasal order.

[664] Is that the right word?

[665] Okay.

[666] He becomes this local hero.

[667] And Los Angeles is able to overcome its drought issues and virtually overnight becomes a boomtown.

[668] The San Fernando Valley is transformed from a grain -raising community dependent on the rainfall, essentially, for water.

[669] It becomes an empire and quickly becomes one of the richest agricultural communities in the nation.

[670] Wow.

[671] So a lot of people make a fucking shit ton of money, essentially.

[672] Because they had a, this is where they had, at least I know when I lived in Burbank, like, it was all citrus growth.

[673] It was like tons and tons of orange and lemon groves.

[674] Yeah, I grew up in Orange County.

[675] And that's why it's called that.

[676] Yeah.

[677] But meanwhile, back in Owens Valley, by 1924, so much water has been diverted from the area that the actual lake, Owens Lake, is drying up.

[678] And the agriculture economy is fucked in the valley because they don't have access to the water anymore.

[679] And a group of pissed off farmers start to protest.

[680] And one of the things they do is that they use.

[681] use dynamite and blow up parts of the aqueduct, not just to sabotage it, but so they can get the water.

[682] Like, they blow up certain parts to get the water to start, you know, flowing to their areas.

[683] Yeah.

[684] And, you know, there's all these like underhanded things.

[685] Like they won't, you know, Los Angeles County won't give the farmers an adequate payment for their land so they don't want to sell and they're threatened.

[686] And it's just like this, it's, it's really shady and underhanded.

[687] So there's just all kinds of legal action going on and there's it's really that's that's what the water war is.

[688] And because of the water wars and the aqueduct controversy and the fact that, you know, he, Mulhung realizes that his aqueduct could be sabotaged really easily and they'd be screwed.

[689] So he thinks, you know, what we need to do is make these kind of these smaller storage systems closer to Los Angeles so that if something happens to Owens like, or the Owens.

[690] Valley Aqueduct will have, you know, these little pockets of water that can sustain us while we fix it.

[691] So in the early 1920s, he starts to build major reservoirs closer to L .A. with concrete dams.

[692] There's the one where rich people live above in Hollywood, the Hollywood Hills.

[693] Oh, yeah.

[694] Yeah.

[695] I went to a rich person's party once and saw that and it's gorgeous.

[696] It's just this, like, beautiful reservoir.

[697] The Hollywood reservoir with, you can walk.

[698] around it and it's actually like being in nature right in the very middle of Hollywood it's crazy right and you can see the Hollywood sign from there right yeah okay yeah it's kind of right right below there okay and that's the one that when there was a drought here what was that like six years ago or something when it was really bad and I would go up there to take my dogs to that dog park which is now no longer a dog park sadly but I would come over that hill and that reservoir would be going down and down and my anxiety and panic was constantly going up based on the water level until a man at the dog park explained to me that that is not drinking water and it's actually not really used that way so don't worry about that don't worry about the reservoir i was like thanks he's like excuse me miss i've been seeing your face every time you come here and you look sadder and sadder you are freaking out and you don't mean to take a deep breath and here's the bottle of desani don't worry it's me dan dasani here to comfort you about the reservoir it's the season of plenty okay so he built that and then he's like another one we need to build is in the san franciscoito canyon which is 40 it's a canyon that's 47 miles away from l .A and he's going to name it the saint francis dam so it took that long to get to our dam the reason why it's there construction begins in 1924 and in his haste and with he has this kind of mohun has this confidence in his abilities so much that he is just like plows through making this dam.

[699] He breaks ground without extensive consultation with geological experts.

[700] It's just like here and, you know, points to a place and they start building a dam.

[701] That's not true, but something like that.

[702] And essentially, Mulhollen, he also keeps raising the height of the dam as they're building it.

[703] So it keeps going up by like 10 feet of what the plans were, but they don't, they don't widen the base of the dam.

[704] to match that and so it's super dangerous and it fucks with the structural soundness of the dam so when the dam is completed in 1926 it's able to hold 12 billion gallons of water from the aqueduct so the water from the aqueduct goes there there's 12 billion gallons of water and it's enough for two years worth of reservoir water in case something happens and the main structure reached a height of 205 feet of this concrete these concrete walls damming this lake and it spans 700 feet and you can look at, there's so many photos, which is fascinating of before and after the disaster.

[705] And it is, it's huge.

[706] It's like, I think it was like the precursor to the Hoover Dam.

[707] Oh, wow.

[708] So it's a big, fucking giant concrete structure.

[709] And the Hoover Dam, I can assure you, was built by college -educated engineers.

[710] That's exactly right, Karen.

[711] I mean, this is a guess for sure, but I would bet my arm on it.

[712] Because what in the fuck are you doing building something that big?

[713] Right.

[714] With no. I mean, but at the same time, like the aqueduct never fell.

[715] None of the other structures fell.

[716] It was just.

[717] Yeah, but aren't aqueducts?

[718] Don't they just go flat along the ground?

[719] They're just taking the water and running it as opposed to like barriers.

[720] Yeah, no, you're totally right.

[721] I realize I'm being highly critical of Bill Mulholland.

[722] I'm not on his side.

[723] Seriously.

[724] I'm not going to argue for him.

[725] This is hubris.

[726] I'm seeing it.

[727] And I know where this.

[728] sense.

[729] It is humorous.

[730] So over the next two years, cracks and seepage appear in the dam.

[731] But inspections show that they're all within normal range for a dam the size of St. Francis.

[732] So they're just sealed up and patched.

[733] But on the morning of March 12th, 1928, the damkeeper named Tony Harnishfegger, he discovers a new leak during his morning inspection.

[734] And this leak worries him because the leak has blood in it.

[735] There's a finger sticking out of the hole coming from the, no, there's a ghost sound.

[736] There's a ghost in the fucking dam.

[737] There's a dam ghost.

[738] No, because the water is muddy, which means that the water is eroding the foundation of the dam and bringing up like the muddy water.

[739] And so he calls out Mulhollen.

[740] Mulhoan comes to the dam.

[741] He takes a look and he and his assistant are like, nope, looks good to us.

[742] All is fine.

[743] and they take off and go back to Los Angeles.

[744] But Tony, the damkeeper, and as well as the powerhouse workers who live in the nearby hydroelectric power plants nearby, and so there are these powerhouse workers who live there.

[745] And the farmers who live in the small towns in the valley below, they're not convinced.

[746] Like, they can just see that something ain't right.

[747] And they can also see that the mountain above is soaked in water.

[748] So workers start joking.

[749] See you later if the dam don't break.

[750] like it becomes a joke and one farmer is so wary that he sleeps in his barn with the door open so that same night why not just get out of town you know what that's a great point I really wish they had but at the same time it's like they almost live in a rural area you know it's it's it's so far away from anything especially with those little cars they had right so on that same night the night of when Mahalong was like Like, all looks good.

[751] It's fine.

[752] I'm going back home to eat or an expensive dinner.

[753] The concrete begins to shatter.

[754] No surviving human sees the dam break at about 1158 p .m. Oh.

[755] Mm -hmm.

[756] The damkeeper, Tony, who lives in a small cottage right below the dam with his six -year -old son, Cotter, and his girlfriend, Leona Johnson, are speculated as the first victims.

[757] So Leona's body is later found fully clothed and wedged between two blocks of concrete near the base of the dam, which suggests that she and Tony may have been inspecting the structure right before it collapsed.

[758] Oh, my God.

[759] So seconds later, as the water rushes from the dam, nearby power lines are swept away, leaving the whole canyon without power and in total darkness.

[760] the residents of the San Francisco Canyon are awoken to shaking and rumbling and some mistake it for an earthquake we're in California you know however within moments the canyon is filled with 12 .6 billion gallons of rushing water and I've always pictured when I heard this story in the past I've always pictured like shanty towns you know it's like the 20s and you think it's just like you know tents and stuff but no these are you can see photos.

[761] These are communities of houses, of homes.

[762] Yeah.

[763] Yeah.

[764] This is not just kind of, you know, pup tents and shit.

[765] Right.

[766] It's not, yeah.

[767] It's not like workers' cabins that are just nearby.

[768] Exactly.

[769] Yeah, yeah.

[770] No, these are real homes.

[771] They're towns.

[772] They're towns.

[773] They're actual towns with with infrastructure and with, you know, livelihoods.

[774] So at 12 .3 a .m., a wall of water more than 10 stories high sweeps into the community of 74 people at the powerhouse number two.

[775] An LADWP employee, Ray Rising, who lives in that area with his wife and three daughters, remembers being asleep in his wood -framed house when he hears a roaring that he said sounds like a cyclone.

[776] The water is so high, they can't get out the front door, and the house just disintegrates around them.

[777] And Ray gets tangled with an oak tree, he swims to the surface, and then he gets wrapped with electrical wires.

[778] He's able to grab the roof of another house that's floating by and jumps off.

[779] He gets onto the roof and he jumps off the roof when it floats by the hillside.

[780] So he lands on the hillside.

[781] By himself.

[782] Uh -huh.

[783] He's standing there.

[784] He's got no clothes on.

[785] It's a freezing cold night.

[786] There's, you know, no light because all the electricity went out.

[787] And the only other person on the hill with him there is his neighbor, Lillian Curtis Eiler.

[788] And she, is holding her three -year -old son.

[789] What happened with Lillian was a few minutes before midnight, Lillian had woken up in bed and noticed a strange mist.

[790] And she and her husband instantly knew it was the dam.

[791] I think it was a worry on everyone's mind.

[792] And he shoved, her husband shoved their son into her arms, pushed her through the window.

[793] And he's like, I'm going back in to save our daughters.

[794] But he and his daughters are swept away with the rest of powerhouse, the powerhouse number two community.

[795] And the concrete powerhouse itself gets swept away, which just tells you how strong, you know, this rushing water was.

[796] And so the three lone survivors on this little hillside huddled together and wait for rescue.

[797] Oh my God.

[798] And the, you see this 200 feet tall dam completely collapses.

[799] It's not a hole that's punched in it.

[800] There's one.

[801] There's one.

[802] structure in the middle that people end up calling the tombstone.

[803] But on its right and left, these enormous concrete structures completely crumble.

[804] And those big pieces of concrete also start flowing with the rushing water as well.

[805] Oh, God.

[806] Yeah.

[807] So from there, the water continues to surge.

[808] It's rushing at a rate of 18 miles an hour.

[809] And it's causing catastrophic damage to the towns of Castaic, Saugus, Fillmore, Santa Paula, and Seth.

[810] Medicoi.

[811] Wow.

[812] So you know when you're driving down the five to get the fuck out of town and you drive past Magic Mountain and all that shit on the right?

[813] All those towns, yeah.

[814] Yeah, that's where it is.

[815] What's that called when you drive down the five?

[816] Well, I call that if I'm on my way up, that's the first leg of the journey.

[817] And if I'm on my way home, it's the last leg of the journey.

[818] So it takes 45 minutes for the reservoir to empty completely of water.

[819] God.

[820] The idea of 10 stories of water is very upsetting to me. It's, it's, I really don't like it.

[821] Fleshbloods are a big fear of mine.

[822] Yeah.

[823] And rightfully so.

[824] I mean, it's horrifying and it, but that idea, because it's like, they didn't even have skyscrapers that tall or buildings that tall.

[825] I mean, I guess they did in like downtown LA or whatever, but I mean like that.

[826] Not there yet.

[827] I don't think.

[828] It's, it's just like so monumental and horrifying.

[829] Yeah.

[830] you know, beyond like it's just that idea of all the sudden something's happening that you could never imagine and in the middle of the night to wake up to that you know and to not know what it is or to I feel like it's worse to know what it is yeah that's coming your way yep yeah I mean the chance of survival is tiny oh also to see your neighbor naked would be I'm just and I know it's not a big of a deal yeah but it just be like did she just go hey look we just live who cares, get over here.

[831] And I guess there wouldn't be any, there wouldn't be an awkward moment if you both, if you and your son and your neighbor are the only people in your town that live through something that you'd just be like, deep shock.

[832] Yeah, you'd have to be in deep shock.

[833] It's horrifying.

[834] It hurts because I think of so many people who woke up and immediately their lives were over, you know, their entire, the house disintegrating around you is such a crazy visual.

[835] Because also water is so powerful.

[836] It's scary.

[837] Right.

[838] You have to think of it like that where it's not like, no, you just swim to the surface.

[839] No. And it's carrying so much debris.

[840] It's carrying all the houses and all the cars and the concrete from the dam with it and wires.

[841] And it's just horrifying.

[842] And it takes 45 minutes for the reservoir to empty.

[843] So this fucking flood is happening for 45 minutes.

[844] And 12 .4 billion gallons of water flood the canyon and the Santa Clara River Valley.

[845] Residents who are able to get out of their house in time grab onto whatever they can.

[846] It's said that a woman, some people see a woman on top of a water tank dressed in evening wear.

[847] I know.

[848] A woman and her three children hold onto a feather mattress as it swept away in the flood for two miles.

[849] They hold onto it.

[850] A man named William Spring swims a mile with his infant around his neck.

[851] holding his infant while his wife had climbed up an orange tree and just stayed there until she was rescued.

[852] A man named Cliff Corwin of Fillmore, he's trying to outdrive the flood in his car when it picks him up, picks his car up.

[853] And he had a passenger with him, I guess.

[854] And the passenger was like said, quote, I won't be caught like a rat in a trap and jumps out of the car and is killed.

[855] But Cliff himself stays inside the car until it almost completely fills with water.

[856] And then he hangs under the hood and he is.

[857] carry to safety.

[858] Oh, thank God.

[859] I know.

[860] Sorry, that just reminds me of, remember, the tsunami and that video of the car that is driving like this and then has to do a three -point turn really fast and it just is staying on the edge in the front of, oh, the Japanese tsunami.

[861] God, yeah.

[862] Horrifying.

[863] So, five miles downstream in Kemp, a group of 150 workers for the Edison Company are asleep in their tent camp.

[864] So the night watchman, this guy named Ed Lowe, he sees the flood coming he tries to wake up as many people as he can in their tent and 84 workers die of the 150 workers and that people who do survive they survived because they had zipped up their tents and they were able to float like what the fuck are the chances oh that because also that's such a zipping up your tent is like I just don't want this to be happening right or like maybe it works earlier in the night or whatever Oh, oh, like, you just never got out of it.

[865] Right.

[866] So I thought it was like a reaction of like unzipping.

[867] Oh, no way.

[868] Later days.

[869] Wow, that's amazing.

[870] And as Locke himself dies and he's considered a hero, one of the bigger heroes of the disaster.

[871] Yeah.

[872] God.

[873] The first official alarm is sounded at 1 .20 a .m. via the Pacific long distance telephone company.

[874] So there's telephone operators, Luis Gipe, and she's in Santa Paula and Resel Jones in Satticoi.

[875] I don't even think of the first.

[876] fact that they were in the flood zone.

[877] So they were they were like potential victims themselves, but they refused to leave their post and start calling residents in lower areas to warn them to get the fuck out of their house and leave a higher ground.

[878] They're later nicknamed the hello girls for some reason.

[879] Oh, that just gave me chills.

[880] They know.

[881] They understood what was happening and tried to call everybody.

[882] Yeah.

[883] Holy shit.

[884] Wake up, get the fuck.

[885] So they probably save so many lives because they called the people that were like further down.

[886] Oh my God.

[887] One of those operators, the woman Luis, she calls this dude Thornton Edwards.

[888] He's a California Highway Patrol officer and he becomes known as the Paul Revere of the St. Francis flood because he goes door to door.

[889] He's in he's on his motorcycle blaring his siren warns residents to get the fuck out.

[890] And then also deputy sheriff Eddie Hearn rides his motorcycle up the Santa Clara River Valley toward the flood with his siren blaring, making people wake up and get the fuck out.

[891] He makes it as far as Fillmore before he runs into the flood and gets swept away.

[892] Many residents are able to rush to safety in the hills because of these two and the women operators.

[893] And there's a monument to the officers in Santa Paula called the Watchers.

[894] Wow.

[895] Meanwhile, okay, meanwhile in the cozy, I'm sure, opulent home of William Mulholland, the phone starts fucking ringing.

[896] In the middle of the night, his daughter answers and she brings her dad the phone.

[897] And when he goes to reach for it, he says, quote, please God, don't let people be killed.

[898] Please God, don't let people be killed.

[899] So, like, she must have been like the dam collapsed.

[900] And he's immediately like, you know, knows what's happening.

[901] The flood damages whole towns and farming communities for a 54 -mile stretch before emptying into the Pacific Ocean, south of Ventura.

[902] Whoa.

[903] 54 miles at 5 .30 a .m. with a wave still two miles wide and traveling at six miles an hour, it's carrying debris and it's also carrying bodies with it.

[904] It's thought that at least 500 people are killed.

[905] And that could be anywhere between 500 and 1 ,000 because there's lots of people who were, you know, workers and undocumented so it's it's hard to exactly say and victims are recovered from the ocean as far south as the Mexican border and many are never found because they just got swept to see the the wave itself and the like the river it turned into was two miles wide I mean that's like I can't even I can't wrap my head around it um the B school district in the area lost 13 of its 15 pupils.

[906] The Ruiz family, a family of farmers in the canyon that had been there since the mid -1800s.

[907] They lose six family members, Rosario and Enrique Ruiz, and four of their children, age 8 to 30.

[908] And many of those who were hit the hardest were Mexican -American farm workers.

[909] And aside from the loss of life, there's also a huge devastation to the land.

[910] And, you know, these are people's livelihoods.

[911] Over 1 ,200 homes are destroyed.

[912] Orchards are ripped from the ground.

[913] Livestock are killed in the thousands.

[914] And the Red Cross quickly sets up a headquarters near the dam site.

[915] And men search the muddy debris as high as 20 feet in some places for survivors.

[916] And there's actually video that you can see that people took of this, you know, silent video of them bringing bodies out of these cars from back then.

[917] And so they sort through the rebel, volunteers weighed through all of it to find bodies.

[918] bodies, more bodies and survivors, and makeshift morgues are set up, some in the fucking local dance halls, and crowds form at the morgue as people look for their loved ones.

[919] Oh.

[920] And, you know, they want to search through the night.

[921] So actually, Universal City studios loan them giant spotlights to use.

[922] Oh.

[923] A 10 -year -old girl is found under Brush still alive.

[924] She had been carried 10 miles from her home.

[925] Oh, my God.

[926] Yeah.

[927] She lived.

[928] She lived.

[929] It's said that a baby thought to be dead starts crying at the morgue.

[930] She's still alive.

[931] And a man is found stuck in the mud up to his neck still alive.

[932] And a 12 -year -old girl is found by her neighbor in a tree.

[933] And she's naked, yeah.

[934] So news and aerial photos of the collapsed dam spreads across the nation.

[935] People fucking lose their shit.

[936] It's a relief fund is set up.

[937] And telegrams and monetary donations roll in from all.

[938] all over the country.

[939] And then so the investigation starts, at least a dozen official inquiry panels by the federal, state, county, and city government are immediately set up to investigate the collapse.

[940] And eventually, there's so much, of course, the collapse is attributed to four factors, unsuitability of the foundation.

[941] And so actually, they later find out that there had been an ancient Paleolithic landslide on the exact spot where the dam had been built, which there was no way to know that, actually.

[942] And then an uplift thing is called an inadequate design.

[943] So ultimately, a coroner's inquest determines who's responsible for the disaster.

[944] And during the inquest, William Mulholland says, and he, okay, so he does seem genuinely devastated by.

[945] He must be.

[946] It's all his fault.

[947] He knows it, and he takes responsibility.

[948] He says, quote, whether it is good or bad, don't blame anyone.

[949] else, you just fasten it on me. If there was an error in human judgment, I was the human.

[950] I won't try to fasten it on anyone else, which is like, yeah, you're to blame.

[951] But it's also like, I can't imagine someone these days taking that much responsibility for their obvious mistake.

[952] Right.

[953] Yeah.

[954] It's it's very laudable for sure.

[955] Yeah.

[956] So the inquest decides that Mulholland and the governmental organizations that oversaw the dams construction are at fault, but they clear Mulholland of any charges, but they do, they're basically like construction and operation of a great dam should never be left to the sole judgment of one person, no matter how eminent that person is.

[957] So like, you got to get a second opinion, essentially.

[958] William Mulhlden, who's been looked upon as Los Angeles's savior for so long, is now seen as a murderer.

[959] People fucking turn on him.

[960] People across the region even put up signs in their windows that read, kill Mulhold.

[961] Oh my God.

[962] So he's devastated.

[963] He retires from the Bureau of Water Works and Supply.

[964] In 1928, his reputation is ruined.

[965] He retreats into a life of semi -isolation.

[966] His granddaughter, Catherine, says she remembers him sitting in silence at family gatherings, just lost in his thought.

[967] He dies in 1935 of a stroke at the age of 79.

[968] The victims are compensated for lost lives and land.

[969] And by 1931, the tragedy is pretty, much completely swept under the rug.

[970] And in fact, there's a book about California water that doesn't even mention the disaster.

[971] Wow.

[972] Yeah.

[973] In later years, Mulholland's reputation is restored and the Mulholland Dam in the Hollywood Hills, Mulholland Drive, Mulholland Highway, and the William Mulholland Memorial Fountain in Los Felis, that pretty colorful one.

[974] Yeah.

[975] Are all named in his honor.

[976] There are still remains of the St. Francis Dam that are like weathered broken chunks of gray concrete at the site where the dam was that you can see today.

[977] Wow.

[978] Isn't that creepy?

[979] On a positive note, in response to disaster, the California legislature creates a dam safety program and soon has some of the strictest oversight laws in the country.

[980] In 1929, the California legislature also passes laws to regulate civil engineering, smart, and creates the state board of registration for civil engineers, and there is no more self -taxel taught engineers.

[981] The collapse of the St. Francis Dam is considered to be one of the worst American civil engineering disasters of the 20th century and remains the second greatest loss of life in California history right behind the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

[982] Wow.

[983] The exact death toll remains unknown.

[984] Recent estimates say it's around 1 ,000.

[985] And since original counts didn't include the number of Mexican American migrant workers or transients, remains a victim.

[986] continued to be discovered in that whole fucking area every few years until the mid -1950s.

[987] Wow.

[988] So they continue to find bodies.

[989] The remains of one victim is found deep underground near Newhall in 1992.

[990] Oh, my God.

[991] And other bodies believed to be victims of the disaster are found in the late 1970s and in 1994.

[992] And that is the story of the St. Francis Dam disaster.

[993] Wow.

[994] Amazing.

[995] Sorry, that was so long.

[996] There's just so much fucking information.

[997] Well, also, yeah, you needed kind of the backstory, but, wow, that's incredible.

[998] Thank you.

[999] It's amazing.

[1000] Yeah.

[1001] All right.

[1002] Well, I, it have been so long since I've done a survivor story that I figure it was high time, that I needed one personally and emotionally and morally.

[1003] Okay.

[1004] And I can't go back to my old, the old ever -loving well of I -survived stories because now I -survived has its own podcast.

[1005] They basically have taken all those stories and there's an I -survived podcast.

[1006] So, and now you can just go and hear firsthand the people tell their own stories.

[1007] Cool.

[1008] I was the Band -Aid in between the time where the people from I survived understood this was a needed thing.

[1009] Right.

[1010] It's happening.

[1011] You're welcome, America.

[1012] So go listen to the real first -hand I -survive stories because there's so many, there's so many good ones.

[1013] So when I was looking for this, I was looking for one I'd never heard of before and that wouldn't count as an I -survive story.

[1014] Because there's a couple of them that are so unbelievable that they haven't only been on I -survived.

[1015] Yeah, right.

[1016] They've been on like a couple other different kinds of shows.

[1017] Yeah.

[1018] This is one I had not heard of.

[1019] It's the girl in the bunker.

[1020] It's the survival story of Elizabeth Shoeff.

[1021] Have you heard of this one?

[1022] No. Okay.

[1023] I'm in true.

[1024] I get it.

[1025] Let's do it.

[1026] So, sources for this are the state newspaper, that's in Columbia, South Carolina, A &E .com, the inside dateline blog on MSNBC .com, L .A. Times, Wikipedia, did I say that, Today .com, and the Lifetime movie, The Girl in the Bunker.

[1027] Mm -mm.

[1028] Yes, starring Henry Thomas.

[1029] Who's that?

[1030] Henry Thomas, Elliot from E .T. Ooh.

[1031] As an adult or as a kid?

[1032] Adult.

[1033] It's a recent movie.

[1034] Oh.

[1035] He plays the bad guy creep and he's really good at it and it made me really sad how good he was at it.

[1036] Oh.

[1037] Because I love, he was one of my first great loves.

[1038] Sure.

[1039] Is Elliot from E .T.?

[1040] I was just like, why do I love him so much?

[1041] When he was dying, I was dying.

[1042] Totally.

[1043] Okay.

[1044] So it's September 6, 2006.

[1045] And 14 -year -old Elizabeth Schafe has just gotten off a school bus and she's walking up her driveway.

[1046] And so her driveway basically runs through this wooded area.

[1047] It's a very rural area where she lives.

[1048] It's outside the unincorporated community of Lug -off, which is the population is just over 8 ,300 in South Carolina.

[1049] So she's about halfway up her driveway.

[1050] And she hears a man. call out her name and she looks over and there's a man in a sheriff's uniform standing alone in the woods.

[1051] Nightmare.

[1052] Nightmare.

[1053] Just picks off.

[1054] Any uniform alone in the woods.

[1055] No. And he calls her by name, Elizabeth, and he waves her over.

[1056] And so she complies because it's a person in uniform.

[1057] Totally.

[1058] She's a 14 -year -old girl and she asks what he wants.

[1059] and he explains that he's with the Kershawk County Sheriff's Department and that she's under arrest.

[1060] And she is totally confused and asks why and is really freaked out, but he's already handcuffing her with her hands behind her back.

[1061] He tells her that the Sheriff's Department has found a bunch of marijuana plants at the house and that she's in a lot of trouble.

[1062] So she's really freaked out, confused, scared, but she also asked to see, her little brother, who's already home, he gets home before her, and they're home by themselves after school because their mom works.

[1063] So the officer starts walking her through the woods and says, that's where I'm taking to him right now.

[1064] But they walk further and further away from the house, and she starts to realize that something is really wrong.

[1065] At one point, they are walking along a riverbank, and he makes a point of keeping her off of the sand so that her footprints aren't in the sand and his aren't either and she starts to realize there's something really wrong so she finally gets up the courage to ask him where they're going and he stops and tells her you know I'm not a policeman like 14 is that perfect age of being naive and starting to have an understanding of the world yep but you're still you're still so yeah my miss is 13 and she's so young, but she's like, but she's kind of, you know, she's definitely getting more mature by the second, but they're still their babies.

[1066] They really are.

[1067] Like, they really are.

[1068] Totally.

[1069] So at this point, he puts a collar device around her neck and tells her that it's a bomb and that if she tries to run or get away at any point, he'll detonate it and she'll be dead.

[1070] She says she won't and that she'll comply.

[1071] When he asks her if she's a virgin, she's so skis.

[1072] scared she can only nod.

[1073] So when Madeline Shove calls from work to check on her kids like she usually does every day, Elizabeth's little brother tells her that Elizabeth hasn't come home yet.

[1074] And Madeline doesn't think much of it and says she's going to call back.

[1075] She'll check back in a little while.

[1076] So when she calls back a couple hours later and Elizabeth still isn't home, she knows that something's really wrong.

[1077] So she leaves work.

[1078] She tells Bobby to walk down the driveway to see if for some reason, Elizabeth is down there like hanging out with her friends and because she has a friend who lives across the street when he does he he sees Elizabeth's friend walking down her driveway too she's looking for Elizabeth as well because Madeline called the friend to say do you know where she is and so basically they started looking for her so Madeline gets home calls the police she waits for over an hour for someone to show up in her house and when no one shows up she calls back and finds out only to find out that they had gotten the county wrong.

[1079] And they had sent an officer to another county.

[1080] So finally, after several hours, an officer shows up only to tell Madeline that she's overreacting.

[1081] He says that most teenagers run away for a day or two.

[1082] No parents ever think their kids, the type who would run away.

[1083] Elizabeth's probably at a friend's house or off with her boyfriend somewhere.

[1084] And Madeline's trying to convince him, no, this is not her at all.

[1085] She, every day she comes home and takes care of her little brother, makes him food, like, this is not her at all.

[1086] And the guy says, it's, you know, I see this all the time.

[1087] Don't worry about it.

[1088] He explains he can't put out an amber alert for her because it's too soon.

[1089] He assures her, Elizabeth will come back and he leaves.

[1090] So, we're back in the forest.

[1091] After walking for more than an hour, Elizabeth's kidnapper stops at the side of a hill, reaches down to the forest floor.

[1092] and pulls up a perfectly camouflaged door.

[1093] It's the hatch to a bunker.

[1094] And there's a manmade, like a homemade ladder made of branches that lead down, eight feet down into total darkness.

[1095] And he makes her walk down into it and follows her.

[1096] God.

[1097] It's cold.

[1098] It's pitch black.

[1099] As her eyes adjust, she sees, it's a 15 -foot -long space that's dug into the forest floor.

[1100] so it's the floors are dirt the walls are dirt it has a six you know it's a six foot ceiling there's a well there's a bed there's a stove with a chimney and uh huh and there's a battery operated television the walls are lined with shelves that are stocked with canned goods guns other weapons porn she said it she would later say that it looked like something out of a nightmare and now this man chains Elizabeth to the wall by her neck and sits her on a man -made bed that he that he a bed he fashioned out of branches swimming floats and comforters so it's really weird and janky and creepy elizabeth looks over and sees an inflatable doll in the corner oh and she starts to cry but the man tells her there's no point in crying that she needs to get used to it because this is how it's going to be for her now he says that he's not going to hurt her.

[1101] And very soon after that, he rapes her.

[1102] So this man is 36 -year -old Vincent Filia, and he's an unemployed construction worker whose father died when he was a year old.

[1103] So his mother remarries a man with a substance abuse problem.

[1104] And so Vincent begins his binge drinking at age 14, and he'll go on to be treated for alcohol abuse 10 different times.

[1105] And this is the drinking problem that ends up getting him fired from his job as a construction worker and will eventually leave him with alcohol -induced brain damage.

[1106] So he's got a bad drinking problem.

[1107] And just a year before Elizabeth Schafe's kidnapping, he is charged with sexual assault of a 12 -year -old girl, but when the authorities go to arrest him, he's nowhere to be afound.

[1108] So the authorities assume he left the state, but it turned out he was right under their noses.

[1109] The entire time and their feet.

[1110] Okay, so obviously after a couple days, the police begin a search with this show family keeps going back to them and saying, you have to start looking for our daughter.

[1111] So they put up, they, you know, distribute flyers with her picture on it.

[1112] And then they start doing searches and they start walking the forest.

[1113] And there is a point where they are sitting in the bunker and they can hear the searchers walking above them.

[1114] No. But it's so perfectly camouflaged that no one sees it or notices anything about the bunker at all.

[1115] So after five days of captivity, Elizabeth has built a bond with her captor.

[1116] So this girl, she's 14.

[1117] She's really innocent.

[1118] She's really sheltered.

[1119] She is so fucking smart.

[1120] Like, it's mind blowing.

[1121] I don't know what she.

[1122] I don't know how she knew any of that.

[1123] this stuff.

[1124] But she knew that she needed to make sure that this guy knew she was a person.

[1125] Yeah.

[1126] So she would ask him what his interests were and she would pretend to be super into what he was into and she talked to him all the time.

[1127] And she basically slowly won his trust and like establish this bond with him.

[1128] Wow.

[1129] So like when they hear the searchers, he holds a gun to her head and tells her if she screams, he'll kill her.

[1130] And when the voices fade, she tells Vince, that she likes him and that she wants to be down there with him and she never would have screamed.

[1131] So she's basically like establishing this kind of like that I like being here with you.

[1132] Like you wanted me to be here with you.

[1133] I want to be here with you.

[1134] Getting him to trust her.

[1135] Yeah.

[1136] Yeah, exactly.

[1137] She soon builds enough trust with him that he lets her leave the bunker so that she can go take a bath and like wash dishes in a nearby pond.

[1138] Wow.

[1139] Yeah.

[1140] So when she's there, she put.

[1141] pulls out strands of her own hair and leaves it around the side of the pond so that if they ever have dogs searching in that forest, they'll be able to find her.

[1142] She also, one time when she goes to the pond, leaves her shoes behind just in case someone might see her or the dog, again, if there's tracker dogs.

[1143] That's so smart.

[1144] It's genius.

[1145] And then like when she's, he says, where did your shoes go?

[1146] She's like, I must have left them at the pond.

[1147] I can't find them.

[1148] Like, and he believes everything she's says because she's so sweet and innocent and like and and playing it so perfectly yeah the most genius thing and like of all the genius things she does though in this nightmare situation is building enough trust so that when she asks him if she can play a game on his phone he let oh holy yes yes so she basically waits enough time um and and you know basically builds the builds the trust enough um and because she'd gone to the pond and not run away yeah so she'd done all these things and not done anything to break the trust she was convincing him that she liked him and that they had this kind of like a relationship how long how long after she had been there that she asked for the phone day five wow so or i believe day five or day six um so she starts playing games on his phone now he figures yeah she didn't run he can trust her and also there's they don't have phone service in the bunker.

[1149] So it's not like he, she can't make a call so it's safe.

[1150] Yeah.

[1151] So she'll use his phone, play a game, give it back.

[1152] And that's like a thing that that he starts getting used to her doing.

[1153] So on the eighth night, when he's asleep, she climbs up the makeshift ladder and holds the phone out the bunker door and text her mother.

[1154] Holy shit.

[1155] Yep.

[1156] She writes, it's so genius.

[1157] She writes, hi mom.

[1158] I'm in a hole across from Charm Hill where the big trucks go in and out.

[1159] There's a bomb call police.

[1160] Can you imagine being a mother and getting that fucking text?

[1161] Especially after that amount of time where the police haven't helped you.

[1162] They've argued you.

[1163] Then it turns out your child is missing.

[1164] Then everything that happens is like they're not finding anything.

[1165] There's nothing coming of any of the searches.

[1166] There's no results of anything.

[1167] And then suddenly, She was actually on her way to a vigil that night.

[1168] They had started holding vigils for her.

[1169] She was headed out of the house for a vigil and she looked at her phone and that text was on her phone.

[1170] She probably, I mean, would she think it's a hoax or like someone messing with her in the beginning?

[1171] Well, no. She immediately was like, this is Lizzie.

[1172] The family called her Lizzie and she knew it was her because that's, it's, she knew she knew it was her daughter.

[1173] When she showed the police, they called the police and showed the police.

[1174] police the first officer that came to the house said um she might have like gone away with her friends and now she's trying to establish a lie to come back and at that point she was like are you fucking kidding me yeah like what so but then the sheriff shows up and and also the little brother this actually happened in the lifetime movie i'm not sure if this was what was happened what happened in real life but it was a kind of a genius moment in the lifetime movie because the first cop that says she might be trying to establish like an alibi is going to call back on the phone and the little brother goes yeah isn't that a bad idea because what if she's what if she took the phone and that's going to get her caught and like and the cop's like oh i think i'm the one that's the policeman here and then when the sheriff shows up he's like we don't want to call because that could put her in danger and the little brother just looks the cop like um so they don't respond to the text um instead they run the cell phone number and it comes up registered to a woman and when they drive out to the address of this woman's house the sheriff recognizes the area this is where they served the warrant over a year ago for the child rapists who had fled so they're now starting to put it all together okay so they end up searching the property while they continue to question the woman who lives in the house and it turns out that it's his girlfriend slash common law wife and that when they search the the property, they find what they think is a trash, like a trash hole, and she ends up telling them, this is a bunker he dug here.

[1175] And then they find there's like an abandoned car somewhere on their property, because it's all in this foresty area.

[1176] And she admits that she had been leaving food for him.

[1177] She'd been going and buying food for him and leaving in that abandoned car for him to come and pick up.

[1178] So now they know he's nearby.

[1179] Okay.

[1180] So he'd been hiding out and she'd been aiding and abetting him.

[1181] Exactly.

[1182] And so now they know he's within walking distance.

[1183] Because he's hiding out somewhere else but near enough to come and get supplies.

[1184] So, but what they decide to do is they realize that the theory is that he's a coward.

[1185] He's not, he's going to run.

[1186] And this is not, he's, you know, he's a child molester, rapist, but he's not a serial killer, whatever, so the chances are that if they leak this to the press that the mother has actually gotten a text and that this girl might be somewhere alive and that they're going to go on a manhunt now, that he'll probably run.

[1187] And so that's what happens.

[1188] They leak the story to the local press.

[1189] Meanwhile, down in the bunker, when the 11 o 'clock news comes on, Elizabeth and Vincent are watching on their weird little TV and he sees the entire report of Elizabeth's mother, got a text.

[1190] Now the cops know that she's being held nearby and now there's a huge manhunt on.

[1191] Of course, Vincent loses it.

[1192] He's enraged.

[1193] He's panicking.

[1194] He's freakinging out.

[1195] And he's screaming at Elizabeth.

[1196] And she's like, I would never do that to you.

[1197] It's so amazing.

[1198] She convinces him that she didn't do it.

[1199] And she basically says, well, couldn't it be the woman that's leaving food for you?

[1200] How does she know about that?

[1201] Oh, he told her.

[1202] Because she's getting the food.

[1203] Yeah.

[1204] She knows everything She's like in his life now And basically She convinces him It's not her that she didn't do it And so then he's like He basically goes Well then what should I do And she says You should run Because they're gonna come and catch you And they can't catch you down here You should definitely run And so he does He listens to the 14 year old girl And he collects What a gamble he could have just fucking killed her in anger Right Right.

[1205] But she's so smart.

[1206] She's able to fucking.

[1207] She's so smart.

[1208] And she later on on that, and it's a, it's called Inside DateLine.

[1209] It's this blog on MSNBC .com.

[1210] And so she wrote a thing on there that was really, it was so, it was so young girl of her where she was like, but she basically said he was really stupid.

[1211] So she realized after a while that it wasn't like she didn't think he was going to be violent.

[1212] Like she thought all the things he were.

[1213] was doing was kind of like out of desperation she realized she could outsmart him yeah and so she just knew basically she bit got him to do exactly what would get him caught so he took he took all his weapons and um the pipe bombs that were down there and some night vision goggles and he told her um i really love you and uh i really want to marry you and she was like yeah i totally want to marry you too And he's like, okay, well, I'm going to run, but then I'm going to, I'm going to find a way to come back to you.

[1214] And she was like, okay, sounds great.

[1215] You better go.

[1216] And he's like, don't leave here until tomorrow morning.

[1217] And also, while she had been staying there with him, the whole time he was telling her how the whole thing was booby trap.

[1218] The whole bunker was booby trap.

[1219] Oh, my God.

[1220] And that there were bombs and different things everywhere all around.

[1221] So even if the police did come, you know, he could make it blow up.

[1222] So he leaves.

[1223] and then she waits until the next morning and then she comes out of the bunker.

[1224] Now, meanwhile, the morning of September 16th, authorities had set up a line search and they were walking the woods because they knew that she was somewhere in the vicinity when they hear someone yelling help.

[1225] They find Elizabeth standing alone outside the bunker and the officer who got to her first and she was like, be careful, there could be bombs, it could be booby -trapped as he was like running toward her.

[1226] and he later was quoted as saying, I received credit many times for saving her and I did not.

[1227] That child saved herself.

[1228] Vincent's Philia is found the same day kneeling on the side of Interstate 20 in Richland County.

[1229] So he just basically went and gave himself up and got arrested.

[1230] Wow.

[1231] Holy shit.

[1232] At his trial, moments before his trial happens, he pleads guilty.

[1233] to kidnapping 10 counts of first -degree criminal sexual assault, two counts of second -degree sexual assault, possession of explosives, attempted armed robbery, and impersonating a police officer, and he is sentenced to 421 years in prison.

[1234] And at his sentencing, the judge told Filia, this position requires I be the conscience of the community, and the community is outraged by your acts.

[1235] Many people have difficult paths, and they don't commit the heinous crimes you committed.

[1236] You have preyed upon helpless victims with violence and in a savage manner.

[1237] Good luck to you, sir.

[1238] Wow.

[1239] And then on that MSNBC Dateline blog, the great Keith Morrison writes this about his experience interviewing both Elizabeth and Vincent for the two -hour date line special episode.

[1240] They interviewed him.

[1241] They interviewed both.

[1242] They interviewed him from jail and they interviewed her.

[1243] They did a whole thing about this whole case, and here's what Keith Morrison said.

[1244] When Vincent snatched Elizabeth just 14 years old, she had never dated a boy, never once spent even a single night away from home without a family member.

[1245] She was taken by a wily wolf of a man who had just spent the better part of a year, eluding the efforts of law enforcement.

[1246] She endured unspeakable horrors, faced what seemed to her certain death, and she prevailed.

[1247] The contrast, Vincent to Elizabeth, was quite remarkable.

[1248] Where his story was self -serving, claims shifting back and forth to suit whatever version he was trying to sell, Elizabeth was open and brutally candid.

[1249] Where his fearsome behavior wilted in the presence of a television crew, Elizabeth seemed to gain strength from telling the experience.

[1250] And having come through it with her dignity and humanity fully intact, she smiled a smile to light up the room.

[1251] Every once in a while, a dark tale turns out well, and the worst in human behavior is overcome by the best, which is why it was quite an honor to tell the story of Elizabeth Schoof.

[1252] And that is the harrowing kidnapping story of Elizabeth Schoof, the survivor.

[1253] 14 years old.

[1254] 14 years old.

[1255] 14 years old.

[1256] Oh.

[1257] She's so smart and strong.

[1258] She's unbelievable.

[1259] Oh, my God.

[1260] Hell yes, girl.

[1261] That was great.

[1262] Great job.

[1263] Thank you.

[1264] I needed that one.

[1265] To find that Keith Morrison quote at the end, like, God, those guys, those dateline guys are the, they're legend.

[1266] Do you follow Josh Mankowitz?

[1267] He's so funny on Twitter.

[1268] Oh, yeah.

[1269] Oh, yeah.

[1270] He's my Twitter friend.

[1271] Friend of the podcast.

[1272] A friend of the pod, Josh Mankowitz.

[1273] He's the greatest.

[1274] Wow, great job.

[1275] That was, yeah, I think we all needed that for sure.

[1276] Yeah, it's been a while.

[1277] Speaking of, it's been a while, should we do fucking hoorays?

[1278] Oh, yeah.

[1279] This is from A underscore Gilchrist.

[1280] Wanted to drop my fucking array here for y 'all.

[1281] For years, my dad and I have been on separate size of the Colin Kaepernick protest.

[1282] No matter what I said, he just always felt, quote, it wasn't the right venue.

[1283] I don't want to talk about it.

[1284] I never gave up trying to help him to see, but I figured he was pretty set in his ways.

[1285] This morning, I got a text from him that said, quote, I was wrong.

[1286] I was Drew Brees.

[1287] I didn't get cap.

[1288] I do now.

[1289] I cried and told him I was proud of him.

[1290] He said, I'm proud of you.

[1291] So no matter how long it takes, no matter how uphill the battle seems, we must continue to push for our black community.

[1292] Pedal to the medal.

[1293] Love you guys.

[1294] Hashtag Black Lives Matter.

[1295] I love that.

[1296] Well, mine is similar.

[1297] The subject line is Birmingham says, you in your Confederate Memorial.

[1298] This is from Shannon P. Hey there, murder pals.

[1299] My fucking hooray is that in my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, during their protests on Saturday, local DJ Funny Main Johnson declared that it was the goal of himself and the crowd gathered there to finally tear down the Confederate Memorial that has been an eyesore in Lynn Park for too long.

[1300] This memorial has been surrounded by plywood for years because last time folks tried to pull it down, that was the state's solution.

[1301] for protecting it, but also hiding it.

[1302] Kind of the perfect metaphor for American racism.

[1303] Let's cover it up instead of dealing with it.

[1304] It is needed to go for far too long.

[1305] After a few hours of protesters pulling away plywood, the city's mayor, Randall Woodfin, entered the crowd to speak with Funny Main.

[1306] He said he didn't want anyone to get hurt, so he would like for them to let him tear it down and promised it would be gone by Tuesday at noon.

[1307] They agreed and the crowd dispersed.

[1308] true to Woodfin's word, the memorial was removed Monday night.

[1309] It's been the source of contention in the state for years, and the state's attorney general, Steve Marshall, said that he would sue if Birmingham tore it down.

[1310] What a dick.

[1311] Woodfin said, I don't fucking care, paraphrasing, and tore it down anyway.

[1312] What a hero.

[1313] Both he and Funny Main are.

[1314] I am so proud of these hometown heroes right now.

[1315] Hell yeah.

[1316] That is, I love that that's happening everywhere.

[1317] Yeah.

[1318] People aren't messing around anymore.

[1319] It's so important.

[1320] It's so important for dignity's sake.

[1321] Yeah.

[1322] That's incredible.

[1323] Yeah, that's really good.

[1324] Those are two nice ones.

[1325] Please send us your fucking arrays.

[1326] You can just comment on our Twitter or our Instagram or send them in via the website.

[1327] The fan cult.

[1328] The fan cult.

[1329] That was good.

[1330] Thanks for listening.

[1331] Thanks for always being our rad friends.

[1332] Yeah, I hope everybody's doing good.

[1333] Stay strong.

[1334] stay uh make sure you log off every once in a while and just you know go sit by a tree if you possibly can please wear your masks um please tell other people to wear their masks but most of all stay sexy and don't get murdered goodbye elvis eliz you want a cookie ah good boy that was right on the money