MFM Minisode 177

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] Hello.

[2] And welcome.

[3] And welcome to my favorite murder.

[4] The minisode.

[5] This is the short one.

[6] Yeah.

[7] We read your letters.

[8] Yeah.

[9] And then you read them back to us.

[10] Is that how it works?

[11] And we all stay alive in the new America.

[12] Holy shit.

[13] Holy shit.

[14] Holy shit.

[15] We are doing this.

[16] It's happening on a Sunday afternoon, knowing full well that the world might be over by Monday.

[17] So please.

[18] Anything could happen.

[19] But I would like to say, amazing action has taken place in the past 48 hours incredible brave amazing shit and people are rising up it's very inspirational if you have any extra money go find either on social media there's plenty of lists of bail funds for protesters who are out there letting it's speaking truth to power and cannot be in jail during a COVID fucking pandemic that's right and more than likely don't deserve to be in jail.

[20] Right.

[21] Have been rounded up.

[22] I'm fairly, I mean, there's some shit going down, but the good news is it's going down on everybody's little camera phone.

[23] Right.

[24] And you guys know, we are here for you.

[25] We support Black Lives Matter.

[26] If you don't know that about us, you haven't been listening.

[27] Okay.

[28] You go first.

[29] Do you want to go?

[30] You don't have to.

[31] All right.

[32] Do you want to do that?

[33] Okay.

[34] Then I'll go first.

[35] Go forth.

[36] I'll go forth.

[37] I'll go forth and go first.

[38] Could you wait?

[39] I'll go three times and you'll go forth.

[40] Perfect.

[41] This is called Leo Frank and ADL Connections, which of course is the Anti -Defamation League.

[42] Hey, team, our grandfather was a civil rights activist and the director of the ADL in New Orleans from 1964 to 1992.

[43] At times he worked with the most prolific civil rights leaders of the 1960s and 70s.

[44] He prevented several bombings and attacks on churches and individuals.

[45] And because of this, he and his contemporaries were targeted by the KKK because of their work.

[46] But they wouldn't back down.

[47] On June 12, 1964, white supremacist named Byron Dela Beckwith, aka the asshole of the story, assassinated civil rights activist Medgar Evers outside his home in front of his wife and three children.

[48] Beckwith wasn't arrested until June 21st of 1963, but the jury deadlocked.

[49] He wasn't prosecuted and convicted until 1994.

[50] Beckwith hated our grandfather because he thwarted effects to bomb a black church.

[51] The FBI called to let our grandfather know that.

[52] Beckwith was coming to assassinate him just in time for our grandfather to begrudgingly leave his home with his wife, father, and daughter in tow.

[53] Quote, I won't let a bigot remove me from my home, he said, but they did end up leaving for safety reasons and because of a strong Jewish wife or amazing grandmother who was still alive at age 93.

[54] Shortly after, a dear friend of our grandfathers, a policeman who was formerly Irish Catholic who converted to Judaism and then it said, yes, really.

[55] It's like half me and half you.

[56] caught Byron Dela Beckwith on the Lake Pontchartrain Crosway, thank you, on the Lake Pontchatrain Causeway Bridge with a ticking time bomb, guns and a map with our grandfather's house circled on it.

[57] He said, quote, I don't know whose guns and timed bomb and maps these are, he reportedly said when he was caught.

[58] Sure, Jan. He was sentenced to three years in Angola prison for conspiracy to commit murder.

[59] After his 1994 conviction, he spent the remainder of his life up until his death in jail for the assassination of Medgar Evers.

[60] Even David Duke had some choice words for our Papa B. Quote, that man will never die in natural death.

[61] Jokes on him, he died of a heart attack.

[62] Jokes aside, though, our Papa B was a damn badass who created a legacy of fighting racism and anti -Semitism in the South.

[63] We're proud to carry on his legacy as best we can.

[64] Someday we hope to write a screenplay about the story.

[65] Please use your, and then there's like cute little lines, Hollywood Connections, trademark, to get Merrill Streep to play our grandma.

[66] To stay sexy and carefully piss off the KKK, Marlana and Abby.

[67] Wow.

[68] That's like that's around her kitchen table.

[69] Like that's historical family shit.

[70] Yeah.

[71] It's interesting that you should read that because this one goes right along with it.

[72] It says murderers are bad, but racist murders are worse.

[73] Hello, everyone.

[74] I live in Montgomery, Alabama.

[75] There are lots of things that Alabama is known for.

[76] country music, sweet tea, horrible education, et cetera.

[77] I didn't know that.

[78] What we were most famous for, perhaps, is slavery, racism, and the civil rights movement.

[79] Wow.

[80] Being a minority in this environment has never been ideal, but thankfully, I was able to go out of state for college.

[81] On September 19th, 1963, a bomb exploded in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

[82] The church had a predominantly black congregation and was a meeting place for civil rights leaders.

[83] The bomb exploded before the Sunday morning service and killed four girls.

[84] 14 -year -old Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, and Carol Robertson, and 11 -year -old Denise McNair.

[85] 10 -year -old Sarah Collins, who was in the restroom at the time of the explosion, lost her right eye, and more than 20 other people were injured in the blast.

[86] Birmingham at the time fostered one of the most violent chapters of the KKK, and their police commissioner, Bull Connor, was known for his approval of violent attacks against the black community.

[87] Bombings of African -American homes, community leaders, community centers, and schools were so common, the city got the name Bombingham.

[88] After this church bombing, thousands of protesters flooded the streets, and police forcefully broke up the crowd killing two young men in the process.

[89] Everyone in Alabama knew that clan members were responsible for the bombing and the four girls' deaths, but the state of Alabama never conducted a proper investigation nor put anyone on trial.

[90] 14 years later, clan leader Robert E. Chambliss was convicted for the murder and eventually died in jail.

[91] The case was again reopened to try three more suspects, also clan members, Thomas Blanton, Bobby Frank Cherry, and Herman Frank Cash.

[92] In 2002, 39 years after the bombing, Blanton and Cherry were convicted and imprisoned, but Cash died before he could be tried.

[93] My friend's father was one of the prosecution attorneys who convicted Blanton and Cherry in 2002, and his eyes got a bit puffy when he would retell the story.

[94] I'm not sure if it was out of sadness for the deaths of four innocent children or out of anger that white supremacist trash murderers were able to live 39 years with no repercussions, probably both.

[95] I guess the jokes on them, though, because their actions caused national outrage and led directly to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

[96] Hate never wins.

[97] Wow.

[98] Thank you for writing that in.

[99] Thank you for letting us.

[100] us say that read that yeah awesome thank you audrey thanks for writing that in this is it's so important to talk about the things people do to show support you know and and the lives that get lost because of these fucking monsters well also the lives that are touched because it's there's lots of people connected to these movements whose stories don't get told because you'll only hear the biggest or the most but you know things like that where it's like my friend's grandfather was the prosecutor.

[101] It's like there's there's lots of people who have those connections and it's cool to hear like first and second person versions of the stories.

[102] Totally.

[103] It's very cool.

[104] Okay.

[105] So let's change topics a little bit.

[106] I'm not going to read you the story.

[107] I almost said one of the words, the word casserole.

[108] I'm not going to change the casserole of this.

[109] Wait, sorry.

[110] I'm not going to.

[111] Here we go.

[112] Hi, Georgia, Karen, Stephen and pets.

[113] My twin sister turned me onto the show around a year ago and I've been hooked ever since.

[114] I'm not sure if she sent these story's in yet, but I'm not telling her I'm sending this because she would definitely try to send something first.

[115] Sisters.

[116] Anywho, let's get into it.

[117] When we were in middle school, my sister and I went to a magnet school in the downtown area of a large city in Florida.

[118] It was right across from a general hospital and had giant blue gates to keep out the crazies, but some still got in.

[119] Like that one time a guy jumped the fence while running from the police with his mother's head in a grocery bag.

[120] And ran across the football field full of sixth graders in PE uniforms.

[121] Or the time the school had to go on lockdown for hours while a SWAT team apprehended a convicted murderer at the McDonald's across the street.

[122] But the craziest story of all involved our sweet little librarian whose daughter was in our grade, who would always let us hang out in her office after school or give us food if we forgot our lunches.

[123] She was short, unassuming, with a very motherly presence.

[124] After we left that school for a high school down the street, we saw on the news that her husband, a high -ranking naval officer, had died.

[125] We all felt terrible for her and her daughter.

[126] and my mom even brought her some casseroles so she wouldn't have to worry about cooking dinner.

[127] I love that.

[128] There was a funeral.

[129] Everyone cried and comforted this poor widow and a college fund was even created for their daughter.

[130] I have a feeling.

[131] I have a feeling about where we're going.

[132] That's right.

[133] The casserole was poisoned.

[134] The casserole was a red flag just right at the top.

[135] A few months after we had moved away from Florida, my social media was suddenly filled with people from our old school expressing their shock regarding a recent news article.

[136] Turns out our sweet librarian, all caps, murdered her husband with her secret boyfriend so she could avoid getting a divorce and collect his life insurance money to run away with her new man. In complete shock, I showed the article to my mom and all she could say was, but I baked her a casserole.

[137] I never found out what happened to her poor daughter, but needless to say, I'll now think twice before trusting sweet librarians.

[138] stay sexy and for the love of God get a divorce and maybe just don't live in Florida Jamie It never ceases to amaze me It's all you have to do is go on to like some website like we the people And just drop those papers It's not that big of a deal What's that legal one?

[139] Legalzoom .com Or legalzoom .net Dot e .u Pick one and get a divorce.

[140] Dot UK of course You know I love my perves so that's why I picked this one I know you do I love a Perf story What's in your pants Okay I'm not going to be just subject line Hi y 'all Just want to say thank you for all you do As a Floridian Oh it's a theme now Where no one takes the pandemic seriously It's nice to feel community elsewhere Let's get right to it My mom has told this story about my aunt My entire life And it's honestly my favorite non -ghost Scary story Oh Oh what a great beginning because why not in your life make a list of non -ghost scary stories and you just share and keep them separate like when someone needs a story they specifically ask for a ghost story if not you've got this other you know thing to go off of because there's some people aren't believers so a ghost story doesn't hit them the same way but just a regular life scary story of like oh do you want me to tell you about the time I found that her milk was being poisoned by the neighbor with sleeping pills because eventually his plan was to break into their house while they were drug.

[141] Did you just make that up?

[142] Are you just telling me this story?

[143] No, it's true story.

[144] It's one of my scary stories on my scary story list.

[145] Oh my God, that's good.

[146] And the only reason they realized it is because the milk had a needle puncture wound in it.

[147] Who fucking sees that?

[148] It was like a week, just like a, by chance, one of them noticed it.

[149] And they also just noticed that weird stuff was happening, like stuff was moved and the other person didn't do it.

[150] And it was one of those kind of things.

[151] Have you never told me this or am I just always drunk?

[152] I get, no, no, no. I don't think I've ever told it to you.

[153] It's the one I keep under my armpit for four and a half years.

[154] It's true.

[155] And it, when she told me, it was like at a family wedding when I was like 19.

[156] And it was just that thing of like, oh, there's all these things you think about when you're a gal living by yourself.

[157] That's pretty important.

[158] And that, you know, trust no one and you'll never understand the depths of depravity some people can fucking think of.

[159] Check that.

[160] Milk carton.

[161] Oh, my God.

[162] Okay, so D. D. D. D. Scary story.

[163] My mom and her family grew up in a tiny town in Pennsylvania where no one locked their doors.

[164] One night, my aunt got home late.

[165] Everyone was asleep.

[166] And she was just chilling in the kitchen when she heard weird noises from the basement.

[167] Getting creeped out.

[168] She went upstairs into her room and changed into her pajamas.

[169] I'm creeped out.

[170] I'm so scared.

[171] I have to have my nightwear on for this.

[172] Let me get my jammies on.

[173] In bed, she heard.

[174] heard rustling from down in the kitchen.

[175] So instead of waking her parents up, three question marks in parentheses, she decided to pretend to be asleep.

[176] She's panicking.

[177] She then heard the creak of her stairs and decided to look into her mirror, which reflected into the hallway when she saw a man crawling.

[178] No, crawling.

[179] Yes, crawling up the stairs.

[180] No crawling.

[181] Yes, crawling up the stairs.

[182] Was he backwards and upside down?

[183] because then that means you're actually telling us about the movie Hellraiser.

[184] Okay.

[185] Why she still refused to scream, I do not know, but she proceeded to pretend to be asleep and heard the man enter her room and felt the bed go down.

[186] This is like my guest story.

[187] Yeah, it is.

[188] And then she woke up in the hospital.

[189] Ooh.

[190] Ooh.

[191] What?

[192] My aunt had a really bad case of pneumonia and in the middle of the night became fevered and delirious to which my nana took her to the hospital.

[193] My aunt insisted that there had been a man in her room but my nana wrote it off saying it was the fever talking flash forward a couple of months later dude the town's doctor yes there was literally one it was that small had a son who was caught sneaking into girls houses and watching them sleep okay i need a breath hold on this is okay let's you know what let's all inhale for three and exhale three was that one more time inhale for three and accept go on with this creepy man it's over fun needless to say my aunt had been proven right but it wasn't a great win anyways I know this was long but I thought you might enjoy by the way the boy had snuck into my mom's childhood home before but he had been peeping on my mom who walked into the house after a day of shopping and heard footsteps upstairs she proceeded to talk to my nana as if it were her and changed into the new clothes she bought.

[194] She saw someone rush behind her and saw that it was a boy, but he fled out the back door.

[195] I tried looking him up, but my mom forgot his name and Google searching peeping time, 1960 something was kind of a grab bag of weird.

[196] It's safe to say that the boy would have eventually hurt someone since he was testing the waters already.

[197] Thank you for everything you do and stay sexy and make sure to have a better plan than pretend to be asleep.

[198] McKenzie.

[199] I've woken up in the hospital.

[200] You have too, I'm sure.

[201] No, no, I well, I woke up in my apartment and then I had to get taken to the hospital.

[202] I had a seizure as a kid.

[203] What age?

[204] I was like 10 or 11.

[205] And I had a seizure and like missed the whole fuck.

[206] My sister ran into my mom's bedroom.

[207] We had a bunk, shared a bunk bed.

[208] And she goes, Mom, George is having a cow.

[209] That's we were really into The Simpsons.

[210] Yeah, and that's all I were.

[211] And then I woke up in the hospital.

[212] So scary.

[213] But you didn't have to go in medicine or anything?

[214] No, it's just like a one time hormonal thing.

[215] Like my brother had one too.

[216] Oh, yeah, I think we've talked about this, right?

[217] Just random.

[218] That happens, that happens most at the time.

[219] Yeah.

[220] But not you.

[221] You're special.

[222] Nami.

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

[224] Absolutely.

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

[226] Exactly.

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

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

[229] That's right.

[230] Shopify is the sound of selling everywhere.

[231] Online, in store, on social media, and beyond.

[232] Give your point of sales system a serious upgrade with Shopify.

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

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

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

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

[237] Connect with customers in line and online.

[238] Do retail right with Shopify.

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

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

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

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

[243] Goodbye.

[244] This is called fucking hooray.

[245] Goddamn flood during a fucking pandemic.

[246] What?

[247] It starts, sup nerds.

[248] Last week was one fuck of a week Because I'm working remotely And my partner isn't I'm sheltering a place with him In Midland, Michigan If you've been keeping up with the news I am not so totally get if you aren't either Yes, that Midland Michigan That I have had three dams Up River fail and cause a huge ass flood We had their surreal experience Of seeing the pandemic coverage Get interrupted to broadcast an emergency evacuation order God, can you imagine on top of everything else fucking town flooding and it wasn't one damn collapsing it was fucking three and it was like yeah it was crazy and there had been warnings for years that they were going to collapse and then she writes jesus goddamn christ we are fine and didn't end up being affected by either the floodwaters or the blackouts although many unfortunate people were and just evacuated for a night and spent a lovely evening with his parents as you might imagine all this bullshit combined with living in michigan where many idiots have decided quarantining slash wearing masks is restricting their personal freedoms to be idiots has made for a pretty stressful time and we needed an outlet.

[249] So while my partner was napping yesterday, I decided to sneak into the creepy unfinished basement and surprise him by making a miniature golf course down there.

[250] Oh, wow.

[251] I made two holes with leftover carpet, coffee mugs for holes and items from around the house, each with a theme.

[252] I had to go where my found objects took me, so I used all the weird shit I found down there from previous renters and his old memorabilia, etc., to make a haunted basement slash his childhood -themed hole, complete with an abandoned old -timey high chair as a windmill, a box of medical syringes and board games for the borders, and his old baseball trophies as obstructions.

[253] He's a pretty big animal guy, so all his novelty animal paintings became borders and a preserved shark in a jar, honey bear, plush possum, and alligator skull served as obstruction.

[254] instructions before the hole between the front legs of a large Steph Lama at the house safari -themed hole.

[255] This person is so creative.

[256] It's a lot of work.

[257] It took a couple hours, but it was so worth it to see the look on his face and to play together while blasting.

[258] We like to party by the Venga boys on repeat to really dial up the put -put vibes.

[259] It's horrifying and weird and wonderful and the best thing we have going on our lives right now besides each other.

[260] Not going to send pictures because I truly cannot emphasize how weird and horrifying it is.

[261] but we like it.

[262] X -O -X -O -Lidia.

[263] Wow.

[264] This person sounds fun.

[265] Lydia, I would love to get a drink with you after this nightmare is over.

[266] Lydia, you're on one.

[267] This has all the things I like in it.

[268] That's this one.

[269] Okay.

[270] This title gives it away.

[271] Hi, friends.

[272] Earlier this year, I was riding in the car with my boss and the mayor of the tiny town in Tennessee where I work.

[273] Oh, that's fun.

[274] Wait, your boss, Ann?

[275] Or is the boss your mayor?

[276] Is your mayor?

[277] My boss and the mayor of the tiny.

[278] It sounds like there's three people in the car.

[279] I would assume there were three.

[280] They were driving me around, showing me all the sites and sharing some old southern gossip.

[281] I was pretending to be interested.

[282] Then somehow, sinkholes were brought up.

[283] And the mayor began to tell me this story.

[284] I had to force myself to listen and actually get the details because all my brain was yelling was, oh my God, Karen would love the story.

[285] So here goes.

[286] A few miles outside of the town where I work is a historic farm called Rock Rest Farm.

[287] arms.

[288] In 1902, a man by the name of Elijah Creek bought the 630 -acre property and built a stage coach inn that served travelers along the Nashville to Louisville Pony Express line.

[289] There were many rumors about Elijah's origins.

[290] He claimed to be from an island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain, but this story was widely disbelieved.

[291] Regardless, the other local people found Elijah to be super creepy.

[292] Francois Michaud, the French naturalist, wrote in his diary in 1802 about his stay at Cheeks Inn, quote, fearing that I should witness some murdering scene, I quickly took my leave and put up in an inn about three miles further on, end quote.

[293] That fucker was trust his intuition.

[294] Yeah, that's right.

[295] That's how the French are.

[296] Yeah.

[297] They know how to make good wine and they listen to their gut.

[298] And because of that, they're very thin.

[299] Francois's gut wasn't wrong.

[300] Rumor had it that Elijah would rob and kill the guests in the caves behind the inn where they would store cold foods in the underground stream.

[301] These rumors were never confirmed, and Elijah died of natural causes in 1818.

[302] It's not known exactly when, but at some point after Elijah's death, the caves were searched for signs of the murders.

[303] Some jewelry and some small bones were found, but no bodies.

[304] So, jump ahead to me in the car with the mayor, and he tells me, the mayor.

[305] It's like this person's bragging.

[306] like I hung out with the mayor for the day like that's a really impressive awesome thing I mean when have I hung out with the mayor?

[307] Never you fucking never Don't even act Don't even front like you've hung out with a mayor like this person because you haven't Okay so jump ahead to me in the car with the mayor And he tells me that about 20 years ago There's a massive flood And during that flood There's all kinds of themes in this show Yeah for sure A massive flood and during that flood A sinkhole located on the property filled completely with water bringing to the surface a bunch of floating human bones.

[308] Oh my God.

[309] Uh -huh.

[310] The bones were taken away and tested and found to be dated back to the 1800s.

[311] These are believed to finally be the discovered bones of several of Elijah Creek's victims.

[312] He would murder and rob his victims in the caves and dispose the bodies by throwing them down the sinkhole where they stayed hidden for nearly 200 years.

[313] Wow.

[314] A fun little fact, the stagecoach in Burndown in 1847, the evening.

[315] And was rebuilt and was again destroyed by Union soldiers.

[316] In 1952, another barn on the property was burned down.

[317] Maybe the ghosts of Elijah Cheeks pissed off victims stuck around.

[318] Anyways, you guys feel like some of my best friends that I get to hang out with every day on my way to work.

[319] And when I heard this story, I knew I had to write in.

[320] You were so right.

[321] Stay sexy and always check the sinkhole for bodies, Keelan.

[322] That had everything you love in it.

[323] The mayor, hanging out with the mayor.

[324] driving around with the mare tiny bones tiny bones little tiny bit of treasure in a cave and then 200 year old bones that actually prove an old theory that people were like you must be insane and suddenly it's like in your face the sinkhole the sinkhole holds secrets and one day the sinkhole flourishes the secret I don't know the secrets up to that you know what you're saying is fill every sinkhole with water and let see them Bones.

[325] Many bodies.

[326] So send us your emails, everyone.

[327] Thank you for sending everything in.

[328] We know it's an insane time right now.

[329] It's probably even crazier than we know it is.

[330] But we're with you.

[331] We're together.

[332] We're here to make you laugh in times, scary times and times of high stress.

[333] We know everyone is going through their own little hell right now.

[334] And we're we understand and we're here to support you anyway we can.

[335] If that's laughing, if that's hearing stories that are way horrible or somehow uplifted.

[336] and making you feel stronger, you know, please send those in if you have them, please.

[337] Yes, for sure.

[338] And stay strong.

[339] And remember, if you are scared, help somebody else.

[340] It will help you because there's people that are in much worse positions than you are probably.

[341] Yeah, reach out.

[342] Yeah.

[343] Yeah.

[344] And stay sexy.

[345] And don't get murdered.

[346] Go bye.

[347] Elvis, you want a cookie?