MFM Minisode 373

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] And welcome to my favorite merner, the minisode.

[2] That's right.

[3] Did I say merner?

[4] My favorite merner.

[5] I left out the D. Is this the spinoff podcast?

[6] My favorite merner.

[7] What could a merner be?

[8] My favorite merna, which is someone's grandmother named Merna, and it's dedicated emails to just Merna.

[9] Kind of what it's become, yeah.

[10] Okay, so if your grandmother's named Merna and she's got a great story, please write it in for real.

[11] This is your moment.

[12] Yes.

[13] You want to go first?

[14] Oh, sure.

[15] The subject line is, my dad's run in with a member of the International Most Wanted list.

[16] Hi, Karen in Georgia, long -time listener, first -time emailer.

[17] Love you guys.

[18] I have so many stories that I could be telling you right now.

[19] My family and I have this weird habit of falling ass backwards into the weirdest situations, all of which make for great tales to trade for free drinks when I'm out.

[20] Oh, that's smart.

[21] Yeah.

[22] But one of my favorites actually happened to my dad when he was in grad school.

[23] back in the 90s her dad was in grad school in the 90s Wow I was so old back in the 90s my dad was living with a bunch of male models and then in parentheses it says that's another story and one of them had a female model friend who would come around a lot with her boyfriend who owned a shoe store my dad didn't know this guy well seeing as he was his roommate's friend's boyfriend but they've all hung out together before and they got along well enough The guy even lent my dad and his roommates of Fouton when they had a bunch of family staying for the holidays.

[24] Wow.

[25] I'm going to borrow my friend's boyfriend's futon for you, Mom, and you can go ahead and sleep in the hallway.

[26] Can crash there.

[27] Unbeknownst to everyone, this guy was a low -level mobster, and the shoe store was a front.

[28] He and his business partner, also a mobster, came up with this big insurance fraud scheme.

[29] He took out a massive life insurance plan on his business partner.

[30] Then they flew to another city, killed a random man, and turned the body in as the business partner.

[31] My dad comes home from class one day to find the FBI had raided the apartment, tore open the pillows, overturned bookshelves, The Works.

[32] Apparently, in between committing the murder slash fraud and fleeing the country, the guy stopped by my dad's apartment to pick up the futon.

[33] What?

[34] He was fleeing with the futon.

[35] Oh, my gosh.

[36] It was the last time he was seen in the U .S. The guy ended up on America's Most Wanted, then International Most Wanted, where he was finally recognized by a girlfriend somewhere in Greece.

[37] Like I said, asked backwards into weird situations.

[38] Hope you like the story.

[39] I have others, but this one was pretty long.

[40] Amazing show of restraint.

[41] Stay sexy and don't accept futons from mobsters, Lily, she, her.

[42] Wow.

[43] They went somewhere else, killed Ram.

[44] I know, dude, how sad.

[45] Oh, my God.

[46] Horrible and random, one of those kinds of crimes that are really hard to investigate and, you know what I mean?

[47] It's why they do it that way.

[48] Totally.

[49] But then slow themselves down by getting a futon where they, you're going to, sorry, are you shipping it overseas?

[50] Like, how does that work?

[51] I feel like you can buy one when you get there after that kind of criminal.

[52] Aren't they from overseas?

[53] Like, America didn't, we're not the first in futons.

[54] We can't be.

[55] Okay.

[56] Mine's called Murder Mansion Tour Guide from the story I did recently about the Glenching Mansion.

[57] Right.

[58] Right.

[59] Anna Little, who works at exactly right, media also had a story today on our staff meeting.

[60] That's right.

[61] Everyone in Duluth, it's a national treasure.

[62] Greetings.

[63] I wasn't sure if I was qualified to call myself a longtime listener until I realized that it has actually been quite a few years of listening to you tell stories.

[64] Oh, time goes by so vast.

[65] So yes, I am indeed a long -time listener.

[66] I look forward to every episode and have had so much fun exploring the early episodes I missed.

[67] I can't imagine my commute or making dinner without you.

[68] But I have been waiting with faded breath for your episode covering the Glen Sheen murders, which, by the way, I covered when we were in Minnesota, it turns out.

[69] Oh.

[70] So when you were like, this sounds familiar.

[71] And I was like, no, it doesn't because I had covered it.

[72] Well, if it's new to you, then it should be new to me to.

[73] Right.

[74] Sure.

[75] Okay, but a waiting, braided breath.

[76] I went to college at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and my side slash summer job was drum roll as a tour guide at Glen Sheen Mansion.

[77] Insider.

[78] I have been in each and every one of the 39 rooms and in almost every nook and cranny.

[79] I've been in the apartments above the carriage house and in the furnace room in the basement with a secret tunnel.

[80] I've even had the opportunity to give a tour to some descendants of the Cognin family.

[81] And that says I was kind of a big deal on the staff.

[82] and then there's the nail painting emoji.

[83] Which I love.

[84] Yeah, flex it.

[85] Flex it if you can.

[86] Glen Sheen is really stunning.

[87] It has nearly all the original furnishings.

[88] It's Gilded Age opulence, gold leaf ceiling, imported marble, colored glass fireplace tiles that would glow, endless hand -carved woodwork, and the list goes on and on.

[89] Wow.

[90] As a tour guide there, when I was working there in maybe 2007, we were taught not to make the tours about the murders, but about the history of the family and the estate.

[91] But if people asked about the murders, we had a few talking points and could answer questions respectfully.

[92] And we directed people to the books on the topic in the gift shop.

[93] Oh, nice.

[94] There you go.

[95] That's how you do it.

[96] But we also had a little freedom to read the room.

[97] If a tour group was acting foolish about it, I would shut it down.

[98] If people were respectfully asking questions and the vibe was right, I'd go into more detail.

[99] Things may have changed since I've been there, of course.

[100] The only actually remnant of the murder in the mansion is a large blood stain on the wall.

[101] they left it there yeah at the top of the staircase where velma petea was bludgeoned with the candlestick the walls weren't wallpaper they were almost like a fine high -quality burlap that was hand -painted with a design it was like a tapestry and absorbed enough blood to permanently stain it to clean it would destroy it few people know to look for the stain but it's there wow i know there are all kinds of other cool mansiony things about the home though hidden cabinets and the wood paneling on the staircase a writing desk with a secret drawer that can only be opened by pushing a hidden latch.

[102] Yes.

[103] The aforementioned basement tunnel.

[104] It had a central vacuuming system in 1908.

[105] Oh shit.

[106] Yeah.

[107] What was that?

[108] Was it run by children?

[109] It's like little children in the basement.

[110] Just, yeah.

[111] Well, that's Oliver Twist, getting all those hours in?

[112] The boys' rooms still had letters and journals.

[113] Closets had family photo albums.

[114] The cedar closet still had blankets and linens.

[115] It was wild how many of their things were still in the home.

[116] So, is it haunted?

[117] I can't say I experienced anything unusual at Glen Sheen, and I spent a lot of time there, but is it spooky as hell when you're locking up the estate at midnight after working a wedding?

[118] Yes.

[119] Can you believe you can get married at Glen Sheen Mansion?

[120] How fucking cool would that be?

[121] Incredible.

[122] Yeah.

[123] It could be run up the stairs out of the basement before the demons get you level spooky.

[124] All in all, Glenn Sheen is fabulous, and if you find yourself in Duluth, it is well worth the visit for the sheer beauty of the estate.

[125] Stay sexy.

[126] Brian, from Queens, New York.

[127] Brian, thank you for that inside information.

[128] Now I'm like, I realize slowly but surely when we talk about stuff like this, all the different things I'm actually obsessed with.

[129] And old houses with secret panels and latches and buttons and all that stuff.

[130] But I also have an idea for the current people, maybe they've already done this, they should do a totally separate tour for people who are into true crime.

[131] Oh, yeah.

[132] Right?

[133] So that nobody has to talk about it if they don't want to in the tour at 11 and 3.

[134] And then you get that late night spooky tour.

[135] Yeah, that's a great idea.

[136] I'll send him an email.

[137] Guys, everybody doesn't like true crime.

[138] Everybody doesn't want to talk about the horrible thing that happened in someone's family.

[139] A lot of people do.

[140] That's what we've discovered over the years, but not everybody.

[141] And that's important.

[142] That's okay.

[143] That's how you find your people.

[144] Do you find the ones who do?

[145] That's right.

[146] On the tour.

[147] And then you decide how much.

[148] you're going to bother the person to make them tell you.

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

[150] Absolutely.

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

[152] Exactly.

[153] And if you're a small business owner, you might know Shopify is great for online sales.

[154] But did you know that they also power in -person sales?

[155] That's right.

[156] Shopify is the sound of selling everywhere, online, in -store, on social media, and beyond.

[157] Give your point of sales system a serious.

[158] upgrade with Shopify.

[159] From accepting payments to managing inventory, they have everything you need to sell in person.

[160] So give your point of sale system a serious upgrade with Shopify.

[161] Their sleek, reliable POS hardware takes every major payment method and looks fabulous at the same time.

[162] With Shopify, we have a powerful partner for managing our sales, and if you're a business owner, you can too.

[163] Connect with customers in line and online.

[164] Do retail right with Shopify.

[165] Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify .com slash murder.

[166] Important note, that promo code is all lowercase.

[167] Go to shopify .com slash murder to take your retail business to the next level today.

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

[169] Goodbye.

[170] Okay.

[171] This is, okay.

[172] The subject line of this email is, speaking of stories you didn't ask for, and then it just starts, how about the time I, as a five -year -old, was forced to abandon my family and find a new home?

[173] And then in parentheses, it says, lighter.

[174] And then says, but first, love you.

[175] Anyway, I was in kindergarten when I experienced my first substitute bus driver.

[176] This guy's method of dropping us off involved reaching a stop and calling out anybody get off here.

[177] Oh my God.

[178] See, I never took, I think I've talked about this, I never took the bus to school.

[179] Yeah, me either.

[180] But because we went to Catholic school, our next door neighbor Andy Wittington went to public school.

[181] So he did.

[182] The bus stopped right near our house, but we never took it.

[183] And it was like this exotic, cool thing that, like, other people did.

[184] So reading this email made me laugh really hard because I'm like, oh, I think I actually don't know how school buses really work.

[185] No. I don't even know, honestly, if we had one, that might be really naive of me, but I was in such a small little community that we had to walk, like from kindergarten through high school.

[186] I walked to school.

[187] I know.

[188] I still have heart attacks thinking about you as a kindergartner walking home alone from school.

[189] So insane.

[190] So insane.

[191] Meet you at home, nobody, because nobody was home.

[192] Let me get this key out from around my neck and let myself in.

[193] Exactly.

[194] If there's a problem there, I guess I'll handle it.

[195] I am six.

[196] Okay.

[197] So, anybody got off here?

[198] We eventually reached my stop.

[199] And when he yelled out, anybody get off here?

[200] I grabbed my bag and stood up to start getting off.

[201] Maybe I was too small to see.

[202] Maybe I just wasn't fast enough.

[203] Or maybe I missed the part where I'm supposed to answer verbally.

[204] Either way, he decided no one got off there and pulled away.

[205] horrified and highly distressed, I sat back down and tried to process what had just happened.

[206] My home was long gone, and now I had to figure out what to do.

[207] Obviously, I had to go home somewhere, even if the home that I knew was no longer an option.

[208] Despite losing everything I had ever known, I knew I had to buckle down because I had a new task ahead of me, finding a new home.

[209] Oh, my God.

[210] The logic is so sweet.

[211] Love it.

[212] And it's so dead on.

[213] Like, if you're left to your own devices, when you're a child, you literally are going, okay, I guess I don't live there anymore.

[214] Yeah.

[215] This is a conclusion.

[216] It's why we need older people, at least to help.

[217] Okay.

[218] This is bringing up a lot of stuff for me. Okay.

[219] I used all the focus my five -year -old brain could muster five years old, same age as you.

[220] Oh my God.

[221] Could muster to assess house after house looking for one that appealed to me. I rejected houses that were too brown, too small, too dreary, and so on until we finally pulled up to what appeared to be a mansion.

[222] It was straight out of a movie sitting on a big green hill, shining white in the sun, and too perfect to be real.

[223] This was the one.

[224] I had my bag ready this time.

[225] And when the driver yelled out, anyone get off here, I made sure to use my big girl voice and yell, me, I do.

[226] I got off the bus and ran up the hill fully convinced that the act of choosing this home meant my new family would be inside.

[227] waiting for me. So I called out, Mom, Dad, I'm home.

[228] Oh, my God.

[229] You give up your old parents so easy.

[230] But what choice did she have?

[231] Her other home had disappeared because the bus driver didn't stop.

[232] Right, because it wasn't in her sight anymore.

[233] Her five -year -old brain.

[234] Yeah.

[235] Object permanence is maybe not fully developed.

[236] Okay.

[237] I yelled out, Mom, Dad, I'm Home, Not Understanding that life does not, in fact, work like the movies.

[238] When I got to the front door, two white ladies opened it with puzzled looks on their faces and asked how they could help me a little black girl.

[239] This is when I realized that I had fucked up.

[240] I burst into tears and they rushed to bring me inside and console me. They brought me into an office, sat me down, and gave me a mini can of Coca -Cola, asking what was wrong.

[241] I sobbed, I lost a tooth at them, which, while true, was entirely irrelevant to the matter of hand.

[242] For some reason, they had Hallmark -style cards explicitly for congratulating kids on losing teeth, and they gave me one.

[243] Aw.

[244] Did she, like, happen upon a dentist's house?

[245] This was very cool and distracted me for a moment, but when they started asking questions to try to figure out where I belong, I remembered I was lost and alone in the world and broke down all over again.

[246] They asked where I went to school, to which I replayed, HK something, sobbing over my Coke and tooth fairy card, and apparently that was enough information.

[247] They made a phone call, and not long after, my pretext.

[248] principal pulled up in his red pickup truck to take me home looking pretty miffed it wasn't my fault i'd become a tiny runaway but i wasn't going to plead my case i just quietly sipped my coke i don't remember anything that happened after getting home but i still think about this story sometimes hope you enjoyed stay sexy and maybe just let kindergarteners be car riders all the best carina and then it says pronounced carina not doubting your abilities i've just had a lot of people get it wrong over the years Amen.

[249] I mean.

[250] Oh.

[251] Let's look after our five -year -olds, please.

[252] I just feel like so much in common with Karina and five -year -old Karina trying to make executive decisions and fucking it up.

[253] And then it's like, and then you're going to get in trouble for handling that brand -new situation incorrectly.

[254] The principal's mad at you because you inconvenienced him, a five -year -old?

[255] Because you hired him.

[256] a bus driver who didn't know not to yell anybody get off here.

[257] Yeah.

[258] Yeah.

[259] Okay.

[260] This one's called Parents Without Partners Save My Dad's Life.

[261] Remember the Parents Without Partners from my Glynching story as well?

[262] I do.

[263] Hey, MFM crew, long -time listener, long -time procrastinator.

[264] And trust me, with my little story collecting ADHD brain, I've had about 99 reasons to write.

[265] What got me to sit down and do it?

[266] Fucking parents without partners, man. Buckle up.

[267] This is a is a crazy story.

[268] Okay.

[269] My dad grew up in a little town, super close to Seattle.

[270] The houses were narrow and tall, but the staircase on the outside of the house leading to a small deck off the second floor kitchen.

[271] His mom was beating a rug on the little deck, and he watched as the entire staircase slash deck structure literally just fell off the house with his mom on it.

[272] That's so horrible.

[273] You know, those fucking, just like, they just kind of stick them to the wall a little bit.

[274] I mean, I think you and I've talked about this.

[275] It happened one time in San Francisco when I lived there.

[276] I was in my 20s, but it was like a high school house party.

[277] You covered one once.

[278] Yeah.

[279] Oh, it's the, yeah, and we covered him.

[280] It's horrible.

[281] Nightmare.

[282] So the whole thing just kind of detached from the wall and fucking falls.

[283] And that's a child watching his mother.

[284] Yes.

[285] That's the worst.

[286] It gets worse even.

[287] It says she didn't die.

[288] Yay.

[289] But wouldn't you know after coming home from the hospital, she was a completely different person.

[290] His once normal mom was suddenly violent, both in words and actions.

[291] She was always screaming at someone and got very good at hurling dishes across the room where they shattered against the wall, taking pieces of the plaster with them.

[292] I know what you're thinking.

[293] His mom had a traumatic brain injury from the fall.

[294] Totally.

[295] But this was 1958.

[296] So she was shipped off the local mental institution without a second thought.

[297] It says her story ends here, although she did find love in the institution.

[298] with a guy named Rusty, and the two of them broke out and enjoyed a several -year -long petty crime spree.

[299] Oh.

[300] That's an aside.

[301] Anyway, his dad was now a single father, working two full -time jobs and trying to keep tabs on three kids who received no help from the trauma they had endured.

[302] Yeah.

[303] My dad's oldest sister was the first to go.

[304] At 16, she left town with some cowboy on the traveling rodeo circuit.

[305] Fun fact, her secret baby she gave up for adoption during this time actually just found us through 23 and me. Whoa.

[306] Yeah, this story has a lot.

[307] This story has it all, actually.

[308] He does.

[309] His older brother killed himself via high -speed car crash into a concrete pile on the Ballard Bridge.

[310] Oh, no. I know.

[311] My nine -year -old dad, the youngest, found a little crew of troublemakers, and they spent their time taking the bus to Seattle, stealing hubcaps, and taking the elevator to the top of the Smith Tower, then Seattle's tallest building at a whopping 38 stories.

[312] Wow.

[313] Obviously my grandpa was out of his depth.

[314] He was down to one kid and knew he wouldn't have him for long at the rate they were going.

[315] A coworker told him about parents without partners and desperate.

[316] He carved out some time and started going.

[317] And that's where he met Grandma Kay.

[318] Her husband had recently died and she had two teenage boys.

[319] At this point, my dad was 11 and Grandma Kay's boys were heading off to college.

[320] She had some extra time and used it to literally change the course of my dad's life.

[321] Oh, I'm going to start crying for sure.

[322] You are definitely going to cry.

[323] They moved a few towns over so my dad didn't have access to his little street crew.

[324] And Grandma Kay forced my dad to partake in her 1960s home economics teacher hobbies.

[325] Instead of stealing hubcaps, he was now attending garage sales, refinishing furniture, gardening, making jam, and cooking balanced meals.

[326] It says she made sure at least three different colors are on your plate.

[327] She had that kid doing fucking needlepoint so they could recover the seats on some dining chairs they got from a fancy downtown Seattle hotel.

[328] that was being torn down.

[329] And here's the coolest part.

[330] He actually liked doing all that.

[331] She took a surly 11 -year -old kid and taught him that hard work is rewarding.

[332] And actually, the cooking thing may have saved his life.

[333] He was drafted for the Vietnam War in 1968.

[334] When he was at the training camp, they found out he could cook and put him in the kitchen.

[335] He ended up serving time as a cook at the Army base instead of going to Vietnam.

[336] Like my dad.

[337] Marty.

[338] Right.

[339] Fucking wow.

[340] Uh -huh.

[341] Anyway, my dad still has a little bit of trouble.

[342] rubble maker running through his veins, but he's also managed to build a business for our family from the ground up because he has never stopped working.

[343] We were flipping houses for my dad to turn into rentals long before HGTV.

[344] In fact, my favorite dad story is from one of these old houses.

[345] He was working on the very outdated knob and tube wiring.

[346] He needed to get into the electrical box but was rightfully nervous.

[347] Instead of deciding to hire a professional, and it says this was the 80s, he handed seven -year -old me a broomstick and said, if I get electrocue, my hand is going to be stuck to the electrical box.

[348] I'm going to need you to use the broom to hit my hand away and then call 9 -1 -1 immediately.

[349] Uh -huh.

[350] It says, so anyway, stay sexy and don't knock parents without partners.

[351] He says, also please hire a professional for your electrical needs.

[352] It's super expensive, but my dad failed to mention is that he would have for sure been dead when I knocked his hand away with a broomstick.

[353] Yes.

[354] The broomstick wasn't a solution to the old.

[355] electrocution.

[356] No. Just the stuck to the wall part.

[357] Yeah.

[358] Holy shit.

[359] Jessica, she or her.

[360] Oh, my God, Jessica.

[361] That email.

[362] I mean, we journeyed with your family that was beautiful and touching.

[363] And yes, like, Grandma Kay, thank God.

[364] Yes, her heart.

[365] Also, I think, like, she came into Jessica's dad's life.

[366] What she was doing was pulling a little kid in and going, you come with me because you still belong with me and you know any kid's going to be interested in needlepoint if they're getting focused attention because it's like saying you and i are doing this thing and let's get this done together yeah and who doesn't have a garage sale i mean right i love it that was great okay here's my lasty and it's the subject line is an mfm meet cute in time for valentine's day hey hi mfm crew a while ago you asked for listeners to send in their me cute stories or any other story bar none.

[367] I attribute my meetcute to MFM as well as a beautiful obsession to this podcast that you have created for both me and my best friend.

[368] Wonderful.

[369] I love that when we're in the story, too.

[370] It was the weekend of my 27th birthday and my best friend and I were out day drinking in Denver, you fucking luckies.

[371] We were contently tipsy off of margaritos and we decided that we would take a lift back to my place to drink champagne and watch whatever murder documentary Netflix recommended.

[372] Perfect day.

[373] Perfect day.

[374] Right?

[375] Just a dream.

[376] We got into the back of the lift and started talking about the latest episode of MFM.

[377] As we recanted the crazy details of episode 78, our driver chimed in, explaining that he was a paramedic with some very crazy stories and a true crime fan himself.

[378] He recommended that we watched The Voyeur, an interesting documentary about a guy who owned a motel here in Denver, and would watch his guests from the vents.

[379] Oh, yeah.

[380] Yeah.

[381] Remember that one?

[382] Yeah, I do too.

[383] Because it wasn't 100 % true, right?

[384] Jesus, I don't remember that part.

[385] Wasn't there something where there was like there was no way they could prove it because it was the man that wrote the book about it?

[386] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[387] Anyway, but a great documentary.

[388] Either way, watch the documentary because whatever is the truth, it's like wild.

[389] But yeah, amazing.

[390] Okay, back to the email.

[391] We had a great conversation.

[392] And as I got out of the car, I told him to stay sexy and don't get murdered, parentheses, thanks to the liquid courage, confident one -liners, are not.

[393] not typically my M .O. Flash forward several hours and several bottles of champagne several bottles.

[394] Oh, dear.

[395] My friend and I had taken his advice and watched the voyeur, and as I drunkenly complained that I would never find a good guy to date, but somehow this vent watching creep found a wife.

[396] That's what I say every time.

[397] I know.

[398] It's not fair.

[399] My best friend goes, you should text the lift driver.

[400] You guys kind of hit it off.

[401] And with just enough drunken fervor, I thought that was a great idea.

[402] I went into my Lyft app, and I reported that I'd left something in the car.

[403] Oh, my God.

[404] Brilliant.

[405] Yes.

[406] Brilliant.

[407] This is so brilliant.

[408] My heart.

[409] My heart.

[410] Also, so alcohol fuel.

[411] Oh, absolutely.

[412] In some ways, yes, please don't drive a car.

[413] But in other ways, watch as your brain serves up, like, this kind of cunning shit that you're like, the schemes come out.

[414] So I wrote him a note saying I hadn't really left anything in his.

[415] car but if he ever wanted to go out he should call me now we're getting ready to celebrate our sixth anniversary oh my god oh my god i'm so glad i finally met the good man i was always looking for and fell in love with someone who shares my love of true crime and i owe it all to your show and finally being able to talk about my true crime obsession in public even in the back of a lift oh i love credit stay sexy and strike up a conversation with your lift driver you might just fall in love katie when we tour again someday someday they got to come to our denver show oh my god maybe he can propose on stage oh my god well maybe maybe he already did oh okay six anniversary i don't know what that means but maybe she could propose to him then true love it loving it loving it all right only in wisconsin slash two bars one house ladies Hope all as well.

[416] This past week you asked for house bar stories, kind of, and I knew it was finally my chance.

[417] Yes.

[418] I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin in the 2000s and was lucky enough to have some badass great -grandparents having not one but two bars in their home.

[419] My Avon selling great -grandma, Marion, and Prison Guard slash World War II vet great -grandpa Joe, Joe and Marion, knew how to fucking party.

[420] Walking down into their basement was akin to walking into.

[421] your favorite dive bar.

[422] Wood paneling on the walls.

[423] Massive wood headboard behind the bar and it says whatever the fuck those are called.

[424] I don't know.

[425] Like a wall, I guess.

[426] I'd love to see a picture.

[427] Why can't people send in pictures?

[428] A headboard.

[429] Massive mirror in the center and liquor shelves on each side.

[430] The bar was even complete with a kids section.

[431] It says yes, a kid section where the bar top dipped down and three small stools stood where my mom and their cousins spent plenty of holidays and neighborhood get -togethers.

[432] They gave them a seat at the bar.

[433] Hell, yes.

[434] This is what we're talking about.

[435] Tiny stools.

[436] I love it.

[437] As my great -grandparents got older, they built a sunroom onto their house and added a second bar so they didn't have to hike everything up and down the stairs.

[438] So smart.

[439] So smart.

[440] Industrious.

[441] The bar was complete with vintage beer signs, not stupid vintage, but legit vintage.

[442] Photos of my great grandma's childhood and our personal favorite, a Dean Martin singing bobblehead.

[443] As kids, my brother and I would play behind the sunroom bar until we were old enough to 10 bar for family, friends, and neighbors at the ripe old age of maybe eight.

[444] Sure.

[445] Little did I know, this experience would serve me well as I bartended my way through college just 10 years later in a gay dive bar now owned by the iconic Trixie Mattel.

[446] Oh my God.

[447] I love Trixie Mattel.

[448] Absolutely.

[449] Some of my absolute best memories came from holidays, birthdays, and really any excuse to go to grandmas for a drink.

[450] Both of my great -grandparents have been gone for a good handful of years now, but I feel so beyond lucky to have those unique memories, definitely.

[451] Currently, I'm living in Ireland where there's obviously no shortage of house bars, but that's another story.

[452] Stay sexy and have a few drinks with your great -grandparents if they're still around, Alex, he, him.

[453] Alex, what an email.

[454] I love that story and I love that whole email.

[455] but the thing I'm talking about is an actual business, not just family.

[456] I know.

[457] He was saying, you kind of asked for that, not really, because he knew that it was like that.

[458] But yeah, you're asking, you're talking about businesses where you come over and, yeah.

[459] I interpreted that as, that's how we said it, is kind of not really.

[460] So I thought we were being vague about what we were asking for.

[461] No, I think it was like any excuse to write in a hometown at this point is works.

[462] Got it.

[463] Well, we love it.

[464] Yeah.

[465] That was perfect.

[466] And hey, write yours in at My Favorite Murder at Gmail.

[467] If you're in the fan cult, you can watch this whole thing you just listen to.

[468] I guess we should say at the beginning because now they have to go.

[469] But no one wants to listen to this again, but in video form.

[470] Yes, but if you do, you don't have to look at that.

[471] You can see how I have not dyed my roots in so long.

[472] And my hair is so many different colors.

[473] I look like a calico cat right now.

[474] I love it.

[475] Can I show you my little vintage sweater detail?

[476] Yes.

[477] It's a golf bag.

[478] Bag.

[479] you see it?

[480] That's gorgeous.

[481] It's a golf sweater.

[482] Do you golf with Vince?

[483] Absolutely not.

[484] I've never in my life.

[485] Minature golf.

[486] I just liked that I have a little golf stitch.

[487] Well, thanks for listening, guys.

[488] Appreciate you.

[489] Just saying, these are some of the wonderful visual details that you could be picking up if you were over in the fan cult watching this video.

[490] Perks.

[491] Perks.

[492] Stay sexy.

[493] And don't get murdered.

[494] Goodbye.

[495] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[496] This has been an exactly right production.

[497] Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

[498] Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[499] This episode was mixed by Lianas Qualachi.

[500] Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail .com.

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

[502] Goodbye.