331 - Hermetic Lifestyles

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] This summer, one of our favorite podcasts is back.

[2] Yes, it's the second season of 10Fold More Wicked Presents, Wicked Words, and it's out now on Exactly Right.

[3] We'll be sharing the trailer at the end of this episode.

[4] On Wicked Words, host Kate Winkler -Dawson interviews true crime writers and journalists about the best cases they've covered.

[5] Together, they explore the stories behind the stories.

[6] This season features even more great guests, including Diane Fanning, who recalls a story from her youth about when a serial killer told her and only her about the murder he'd committed.

[7] And Paula Yu, who's an award -winning author who wrote a book about the killing of Vincent Chin and the trial that galvanized the Asian -American movement.

[8] And Brendan Presser, a travel journalist who explored a remote island in the South Pacific with a history of mutiny and greed.

[9] We think you'll love these historical and modern stories that come straight from the experts who investigated them.

[10] Stay tuned at the end of this episode for the Wicked Words Season 2 trailer.

[11] And then check out the season premiere, which is available now.

[12] New episodes drop every Monday.

[13] And follow the show on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[14] Goodbye.

[15] Hello.

[16] And welcome to my favorite murder.

[17] That's Georgia Hardstock.

[18] That's Karen Kilgariff.

[19] I mean, and that's that.

[20] And that's you, and that's me, and that's them and they.

[21] That's, this is us building a bridge from the.

[22] Very rehearsed and very known opening of this show, which we do the same way every time.

[23] Right.

[24] But we're trying to be like a little loose this time.

[25] You know what I mean?

[26] Like we thought, let's get out of this like, you know, mold we've set for ourselves of professionalism.

[27] Let's find the new spots.

[28] Let's explore.

[29] We both have improv backgrounds.

[30] Absolutely.

[31] So we're just like, let's heighten.

[32] Let's fucking explore.

[33] Mm -hmm.

[34] Let's play around.

[35] Let's play some improv games.

[36] George, I act like you're walking through honey.

[37] That was the first time taking an acting class, and it was a movement in theater class.

[38] Okay.

[39] I should have known what was coming.

[40] Of course, movement in theater.

[41] As a person entirely uncomfortable with her own body and highly Catholic, and they're just like, all right, everybody just walk around the room.

[42] Okay, now you're walking through honey.

[43] And I was just like, no, I am not.

[44] I'm not walking through honey.

[45] And I wouldn't know.

[46] I'll never fall into a vat of honey.

[47] And if I fell in, maybe swimming through it, I will never walk in it.

[48] And I don't think you'll ever get cast as a character who has the ability to comfortably walk through.

[49] Like, you know what I mean?

[50] Like, that's not the caring, care of role type is not a, be super casual through.

[51] I don't know what that means.

[52] But that, like, you know what I mean?

[53] You're you.

[54] You'll never walk through honey in real life.

[55] I'll certainly never, like, the idea is that.

[56] But if you're walking through honey, you are also like honey.

[57] Or it's like, you'd be suffocated.

[58] You'd be captured like an amber, like a weird bug.

[59] It would be panic -inducing.

[60] But so tasty.

[61] Oh, my God.

[62] And your throat would feel so soft.

[63] And your hair would be glistened.

[64] It's good for your hair right.

[65] Oh, and your zits would go away.

[66] Did you ever date?

[67] Did you have all those bear friends?

[68] Did you ever date an improv guy?

[69] No, no. Only stand.

[70] of comedy.

[71] That's good -ish.

[72] That's good -ish.

[73] No?

[74] Well, it's all different kinds of problems, but what's the parameters around dating an improv guy, aside from going to their motherfucking shows?

[75] I mean, that's it.

[76] You have to go to their motherfucking shows, which is fine if they're, like, seasoned and a good improv team.

[77] But when you find them and they decide to start improv, And you have to go to their empty room shows and tell them what parts you liked about it before.

[78] And they're not a great boyfriend to begin with.

[79] So you have to like then, you know, it's not satisfying.

[80] No. And I would imagine you were on the younger side where you didn't know that that's what that feeling was.

[81] Like, I should have known.

[82] I was 30.

[83] So, you know.

[84] That's very young, though.

[85] I think that's still, emotionally it's young.

[86] I think.

[87] Absolutely.

[88] I needed that to be true.

[89] No, it is, but I look back and like little Georgia, 30 Georgia should have known, you know.

[90] Well, also, yeah, I guess much in the way that you know I would never walk through honey, I also, it's not that I wouldn't want to support a boyfriend because I definitely went to lots of boyfriend's things, but I would want to be on the stage.

[91] So I just be like, this should be me. or why it would be like extra unpleasant because I wouldn't just the idea of being the person that sits by and applauds and never goes like, okay, now you sit down, it's my turn.

[92] Now you're not here to give suggestions.

[93] Right.

[94] I'm great.

[95] Absolutely.

[96] Now you hold my fucking jacket for sure.

[97] I used to, I had a boyfriend who, I've had several boyfriends where when they would come to see me to stand up in the car on the right home, I would say, here's what you're going to do now.

[98] is tell me everything you liked about my set, and you're going to say I was the best one, and I don't care what your real opinion is.

[99] I mean, you should not have to fucking say that.

[100] That is boyfriend, girlfriend.

[101] You'd like to not have to.

[102] Yeah.

[103] You'd like to not have to, but the reality is, especially when it's also a comic.

[104] But it's like, yeah, you don't.

[105] You have to tell me I was the best one because I have to keep doing this, and it's so difficult.

[106] How hard?

[107] I need it.

[108] How hard is it to perform in front of a boyfriend like that?

[109] I mean, as someone who's, Vince is our tour manager and I'd be like, did you hear when I said this thing?

[110] He'd be like, oh, I don't listen.

[111] He like, doesn't watch and doesn't listen.

[112] Of course not.

[113] I said something really funny, Vince.

[114] He's like, I guess I'll listen to it on the show.

[115] He says, he goes, I listen for my name.

[116] If something's going wrong, then I hear, Vince, we need you.

[117] But I wanted to watch me until I'm not good.

[118] And then I'm like, I hope you weren't watching that.

[119] Yeah.

[120] There's a, well, you know, it's like you want them to be watching and then you also really don't want him to be watching.

[121] Because I loved every single show we ever did.

[122] Yeah.

[123] But I can't imagine.

[124] Well, I can't imagine.

[125] I've had to do that where I'm like, if I'm writing for somebody and then I have to watch them every night.

[126] Oh, yeah.

[127] Or it's part of a job.

[128] But it can be so boring, especially within the same, when we were on the same cities.

[129] So, like, he's seeing us repeat stories or, like, fudge it up from one cracker, a anecdote to the other.

[130] No one wants to see their spouse Night after night Doing the same -ish shit I understand On top of which he doesn't like True Right Right It's like Imagine if you were Stage managing his wrestling Podcast There is kind of an unspoken rule Of like not rule But just like understanding That we don't listen to each other's podcasts Ever Yeah No No No No, because, I think we've said this a million times on this show, but it's like, you can't convince people to like a thing this specific.

[131] Right.

[132] And everyone has their specific thing.

[133] And in relationships, it's good to have your own specific thing.

[134] Yes, true.

[135] Because you need to be an autonomous person, even if you're codependent, which we are.

[136] Very true.

[137] Well, and also, you've got to bring that small talk.

[138] So if everybody's looking at the same book all the time, there's going to be no new input.

[139] right at all right speaking of new input yeah i went to a concert last night who are you i don't know it's summertime karen um my new personality and it was is the old lund 97 so it was amazing so good it was in a relatively for uh for one of my first or like first big concerts going back it was in It was a packed room.

[140] Like indoor, indoor?

[141] Indoor, indoor.

[142] Oh, dear, okay.

[143] And packed.

[144] And I was, like, not wearing a mask like, yes, summertime, 22, we're back.

[145] All day long, I'm like, low -grade headache.

[146] Oh, no. Yeah.

[147] Is it that quick?

[148] You and I, like.

[149] I don't know.

[150] Everyone I know, like, you and I and Vince and a couple of people are like the last holdouts who haven't gotten it yet, which is like everyone's gotten it.

[151] At this point, it's weird that we haven't gotten it.

[152] True, right?

[153] Well, I think it reflects my intensely, and sorry, but your intensely hermetics lifestyle.

[154] Don't dare you.

[155] Should we, don't be offended.

[156] Should we go out to the, no?

[157] It's like it was not hard for me to quarantine.

[158] It was, I was thrilled.

[159] I was just like, fine, like, justification.

[160] I thrived.

[161] I thrived in quarantine, not, you know, not happy anyone's sick.

[162] However, that's my, you know, it happened the other day.

[163] So my birthday's this week and...

[164] Happy birthday, Georgia, everybody.

[165] Cards and letters, cards and letters.

[166] This is coming out a week later, so don't worry about it.

[167] Apology cards.

[168] But I was going to have like a little dinner, and then I, like, didn't fucking feel like it and text, you know, the friends were going to come.

[169] Like, I'm not doing it.

[170] And then my friend Micah, Calabrese, who knows me very well, wrote, Oh, my God, you're flaking on your own birthday.

[171] Which was just like, how?

[172] Because he knows, like, I'm the biggest, like, I'm blaking on my own birthday dinner.

[173] Like, that is...

[174] It's kind of badass.

[175] It's kind of the best.

[176] It's pretty next level.

[177] It is.

[178] I respected immensely.

[179] Well, also because just the idea that you're reserving the right to pull the plug.

[180] I don't want a birthday party.

[181] Nobody wants a birthday party.

[182] It's for everyone else, right?

[183] Yep.

[184] Well, and I think, I think it was so funny us missing our big ones in quarantine.

[185] Yes.

[186] 40 and 50.

[187] 40 and 50 in quarantine?

[188] I kind of am like, yeah, I don't need any of those things anymore.

[189] I'm like, whatever.

[190] Who celebrates their...

[191] I mean, 42 is my favorite number, but who celebrates their 40 -second birthday party with a big old bash?

[192] You know what I mean?

[193] Seriously.

[194] It is, I think the older you get, the more special you make it by not, like, not doing that.

[195] Right, by toning it down a little.

[196] Although that reminds me, and I don't even think I would have remembered this, but if I may just, of course, the improv way, change it back to me. When I went home for, like at the beginning of May, I went just to visit my family.

[197] And I got there.

[198] And I, there's a couple things happening.

[199] I think they were with the dog.

[200] So I was like, which, by the way, sorry, but you can hear Frank chewing on a bully stick this entire episode.

[201] I think our audio engineers, including Stephen, are very good at, editing that out.

[202] Yeah.

[203] Okay, good.

[204] Because he won't, he won't leave the room.

[205] There's a lot of barking today.

[206] It was the thing.

[207] But I ended up...

[208] You were barking?

[209] Yeah, I was barking and he was upset.

[210] I drove up on my birthday because of delays.

[211] Yeah.

[212] And so I got there, got up there, and just figured I was just going to, like, get there and, you know, go to sleep or something.

[213] And when I got there, Lauren Adrian had set up a table and had, like, They made it look like there was like this birthday party waiting.

[214] It was the cutest thing.

[215] They hung.

[216] Remember at Christmas when I was up there and we hung up a sign for Nora's birthday and then I just left it up.

[217] So every meeting that we would have on Zoom, people would be like, Karen, is it your birthday?

[218] And I'd be like, no. I just love a nice letter, individual lettered sign.

[219] Yeah, those are gorgeous.

[220] That's so sweet.

[221] So they did that for me. It was just so cute and funny where I was, I truly didn't expect.

[222] anything and didn't care.

[223] And then suddenly, and they also got those kinds of gift bags with the tissue that sticks up.

[224] So it kind of looks like people bought you expensive gifts.

[225] It was really funny.

[226] That's sweet.

[227] Like they set up a thing like, it's your birthday.

[228] I love that.

[229] Oh, that's nice.

[230] Well, I'm doing therapy on my birthday, which I can't.

[231] I have therapy.

[232] She was like, I have Wednesday.

[233] And I'm like, that's my birthday.

[234] Let's do it.

[235] Like, what's a better present to yourself than, and I have a new therapist, which is weird, you know, and new and like, I like her a lot.

[236] Oh, good.

[237] Yeah.

[238] So I'm going to do therapy on my birthday.

[239] What's a better present to yourself than.

[240] What if you, because it's your birthday, tell your therapist all the worst birthdays you've ever as a way of celebrating.

[241] That's a great idea.

[242] Why aren't there themed therapy sessions?

[243] Yes.

[244] What a great idea.

[245] Give me the five most embarrassing moments of your life.

[246] Give me the three.

[247] worst improv shows you've ever been to.

[248] Tell me what?

[249] You just because it's kind of like the buzzfeedification of your therapy thing or you're just kind of like, can I get a listicle of my own problem so this doesn't weigh me down so much.

[250] And I was shook.

[251] That's like the five things that I heard and I was shook.

[252] I fucking hate those headlines that are like and I was and I am beside myself.

[253] It's like you're supposed to be a journalist.

[254] There's no I was this.

[255] I know.

[256] You see that sometimes on, like, that bleeds over onto, like, the Yahoo homepage.

[257] Yes.

[258] Where it's like, these pictures of Britney Spears' new gym will have you shook.

[259] And it's like, sorry, am I reading the news or my niece's phone?

[260] What's happening?

[261] And I love a listicle, but just like, don't, okay, I'm not going to tell people how to journal because of journalism, because clearly we're not perfect.

[262] Wait, what?

[263] Wait a second.

[264] That sounds like something your new therapist told you, and I don't agree with it.

[265] whatsoever.

[266] Oh, all right.

[267] Well, I just cracked my shoulder in the craziest, loudest way.

[268] B, I remembered, because I've already talked about this TV show, Gaslit, that I raved about.

[269] Yeah.

[270] But then they had, like, episode six.

[271] And I just got to say, and I, so I'm going to repeat some raving.

[272] Which was the one?

[273] Tell me what it's about it.

[274] Gaslit is the one about Watergate and how the Watergate is.

[275] scandal broke, which normally I would never watch because I don't care about like politics and 70s and that kind of stuff.

[276] But it's Julie Roberts, who is transcendent in this role, may I?

[277] Martha Kelly, who is coming in with a wig to end all wigs.

[278] And then the reason I'm bringing this up again is because I forgot to mention one of the best people in this series, which is Allison Tolman, who we know from Fargo, the second season.

[279] Oh, yeah.

[280] Who is such a great actress, and she plays the journalist that is talking to Martha.

[281] I can't remember her last name, but it's Julia Roberts' character.

[282] And she's so good and so grounding and so real.

[283] And she has to wear these 70s clothes.

[284] I was so happy when I saw her.

[285] And this most recent episode is unbelievable and heartbreaking, and it's kind of a about women and women's positions in the world and in power and in families.

[286] And it's pretty mind -blowing.

[287] It's just really good TV.

[288] Okay, I'm into that.

[289] I'll watch that.

[290] I'll stop harping on it, but I really felt guilty because Allison...

[291] Would you shut off about the fucking show already?

[292] God, you love Watergate.

[293] It's so boring.

[294] You've always loved Watergate more than anything else.

[295] I just, also, I just, the idea that I forgot Alison Tolman when I truly am her number one fan And it was a little bit heartbreaking.

[296] So we were all pretty bummed about that.

[297] Right.

[298] It's disappointing.

[299] And it?

[300] Like, we believed in you.

[301] I watched the Sex Pistols show, the New Sex Pistols TV show.

[302] What do you think?

[303] I like it a lot, but it depressed me in a lot of weird ways.

[304] Like, it's a good show, but like the whole punk rock thing kind of gives me weird flashbacks of being a woman or a girl really in that scene and how disenfranchising it is.

[305] and everyone's kind of sad and, like, you know, Johnny Rotten actually is, like, portrayed as, like, this kid who is, like, who is mentally ill and was, like, this week, I don't know, it's, it is really good.

[306] So, the show is called Pistol.

[307] The woman who plays Chrissy Hind, who's Sidney Chandler, is so great in it.

[308] And then Thomas Brody Sandster.

[309] He's the little kid in love, actually, who's also in the...

[310] What's the chess movie?

[311] The chess movie.

[312] What's it called?

[313] Chess attack.

[314] I think it's called chess attack.

[315] Come at me with your chess attack.

[316] Look at my bangs.

[317] Chess story.

[318] A chess story.

[319] A chess improv story.

[320] He's so good.

[321] I mean, it's good.

[322] And like Vivian West, it's like, you know, it's a really cool period of time that's like really interesting.

[323] It's a good show.

[324] It's light.

[325] And it's good to know.

[326] It's based in the truth.

[327] I thought it was just kind of like, I just didn't get the sense.

[328] of that it was basically a kind of a biopic of that band.

[329] Because it's based on Jonesy, Steve Jones', you know, the guitar players, his biography about it or his memoir.

[330] So it is based in his truth, whatever that is, and he's so rad.

[331] Yeah, and he was there for it.

[332] It's not like a journalist doing it.

[333] It's like Steve Jones.

[334] Jonesy's jukebox, one of my favorite radio shows of all time.

[335] So good.

[336] So good.

[337] And he's, yeah, he's a classic.

[338] So it's based on his book.

[339] So it's actually...

[340] Oh, good.

[341] It's cool.

[342] It's cool.

[343] It's gritty.

[344] It's fun to watch.

[345] It depressed me a little.

[346] But, you know, I have a new therapist, so, like, don't count on my mental health being exactly what it's supposed to be.

[347] Well, also, don't you think these days we can do that with TV shows and then not have it impact us as hard as, like, maybe a year or two ago?

[348] Oh, you know what I mean?

[349] Like, feel that depression, get, like, visit those uncomfortable feelings and then kind of be.

[350] be able to walk away a little easier than maybe before?

[351] I don't know.

[352] Feeling my feelings is always a hard thing for me. But let Hulu help you.

[353] So my new therapist is named Hulu.

[354] It's actually just me watching Hulu.

[355] 1295 a month.

[356] It's really reasonable.

[357] On my birthday.

[358] Actually, what I meant was on a binge watch Hulu shows for my birthday.

[359] Perfect.

[360] Great.

[361] Oh, should we do some real business?

[362] Yeah.

[363] Yeah.

[364] Hey, we have a podcast network.

[365] It's called Exactly Right.

[366] Media.

[367] And there's stuff going on all the time on it.

[368] For example.

[369] How's that intro?

[370] How's that improb intro?

[371] Okay, I'll stop with the improv.

[372] So for example, it's the one year, that's kind of mind -blowing.

[373] It's the one -year anniversary of parent footprint with Dr. Dan.

[374] He, his guest is comedian, mother, and co -host of That's Mess Up in SVU podcast, the great Kara Klink.

[375] She's a great mom.

[376] She really is.

[377] And I'm excited to hear.

[378] this episode.

[379] And you guys, parent footprint, Dr. Dan, please listen.

[380] Dr. Dan is my cousin and one of the greats, one of the nice people in life.

[381] So please take a listen to that.

[382] If you have some children and you need some like parenting guidance, some parenting guidance or therapy or just experts kind of telling you this or that, honestly, just take a listen.

[383] Look through the people.

[384] He's had amazing guests and really good topics.

[385] And he just really knows what he's talking about.

[386] He does.

[387] I will also say for non -parents as an aunt myself, it is great to listen to these things and then tell your siblings what they're doing wrong parenting -wise.

[388] Yes.

[389] I highly recommend that.

[390] That's really smart.

[391] It is.

[392] Come in hot at the holidays with advice.

[393] Well, actually, what I read, Lee, this week on our newest exactly right, show adulting with Michelle Boutot and Jordan Carlos.

[394] The guest is Aloke, who's a writer, performer, and public speaker, and along with Michelle and Jordan, they answer all of your adulting questions like about self -care.

[395] Getting older.

[396] All the things you need to know so you can be the kind of aunt that is correct when you tell your siblings how to do things.

[397] Yes, it's advice -based.

[398] If you haven't yet tried adulting with Michelle Boutotow and Jordan Carlos, I am telling you it is an easy list.

[399] listen, it's fucking hilarious.

[400] They're such good comics, and they're such good podcasters.

[401] Like, I listened to the first episode with Maeve Higgins, who's one of my favorite people in the world, and it's so funny, and it's such a joy.

[402] It truly is, like, a joy to listen to.

[403] You've got a list of that podcast.

[404] Definitely.

[405] Oh.

[406] Oh, also, guys, just FYI, the whistles have been re -stocked in the MFFA store.

[407] It's like this little sense.

[408] It's at the end of the page.

[409] We seem like we're talking about our zine.

[410] We have whistles in our zine store again at my favorite murder .com.

[411] Wee -woo.

[412] Weet -woo.

[413] That's it?

[414] Yeah.

[415] Oh, I go first this week.

[416] I know.

[417] I could have sworn it was me. And I'm kind of mad about it.

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

[419] Absolutely.

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[437] Goodbye.

[438] Well, speaking of Alejandra, who I don't know, Alejandra, if you're prepared to have this discussion, but our producer Alejandra is stepping in for Stephen tonight because Stephen got to go to the movie premiere of the new Jurassic Park movie.

[439] Which, as you know, he has a Jurassic Park podcast.

[440] He has dinosaur costumes.

[441] This is literally like maybe, I think, the first time he's ever taken a recording, like asked for a recording night off.

[442] Yes, in six years, Stephen Ray Morris has never done, this has not happened unless I'm sure there's been times maybe that he's sick, but I can't think of any.

[443] Like things happen, we have to reschedule.

[444] But this is the first time he was like, you know, three weeks ago, can I please have Monday on?

[445] Can I have it?

[446] Yeah, this night off.

[447] So, of course, we're like, no. Yeah, we're like, go to hell.

[448] This is show business.

[449] You're fired.

[450] So our producer, all the last.

[451] Alejandra's sitting in for him.

[452] And Alejandra, do you know who recommended this story to me?

[453] Was it you?

[454] Was it Hannah?

[455] Was it Gemma, our researcher?

[456] I found it.

[457] But I think we started getting a bunch of tornado stories after you talked about the flight, one of your survivor flights, and you were talking about tornadoes or weather there.

[458] Oh, right.

[459] Because the story of the pilot getting sucked out the window on the plane, I referred to the the tornado scale, like the threat scale of tornadoes.

[460] And then, and we had had that minisode where the British people were in New Orleans and there was a tornado warning and they freaked out.

[461] Yeah.

[462] So basically, tornadoes have been in there.

[463] Oh, Karen.

[464] I almost just said it.

[465] It's like, oh, damn it.

[466] It's been around in a topic of conversation, but what's funny to, I think, both me and Georgia is because we're from California.

[467] Yeah.

[468] We do not know anything about tornadoes or how they work.

[469] I think we were getting some shade about the fact that we were just like, what's a tornado like, you know?

[470] Yeah, that's the same kind of thing of like people being like, oh, if you're cold in California because it's 60, then you are a bad person or whatever where it's like, you know what, you know what, Midwesterners, you can live that way if you so choose.

[471] Sure.

[472] And you know what?

[473] Earthquakes are kind of fun when no one gets hurt.

[474] So, suck on that.

[475] And also, it is cold when it's 71.

[476] It is.

[477] It's just a different kind of experience.

[478] Yeah.

[479] So I'm going to now tell you, Georgia, about the deadliest tornado in United States history, and that's the 1925 tri -state tornado.

[480] Yes, three states and one tornado?

[481] It covers so much ground.

[482] It is so frugged up.

[483] It is really crazy and scary.

[484] But I'm going to explain it to you in the way that we love to do, which is like Gemma put this research together explaining how tornadoes work.

[485] So now I'm going to read it as if I know.

[486] But I don't.

[487] Oh, no. She could literally be like, if you mix chocolate and peanut butter in the air, you get a tornado and I'd be like, and that's the fact.

[488] But I will also say she is from and lives in Australia.

[489] Do they have tornadoes in Australia?

[490] There's no way.

[491] I don't think so.

[492] You know what they have is they have tornadoes of snakes and sharks I was going to say giant spiders yeah just all mixed together so she doesn't know we don't know let's get to it but guess who knows the internet and please we'll just say this before we even start feel free to email your corrections and your passionate objections to my favorite murder at gmail .com that's right dot tornado Okay, so here's how tornadoes work.

[493] Also, I find that we have a lot of newscasters and meteorologists that listen to the show and say hi on social media.

[494] What's up?

[495] I felt, I thought of them a lot as I was reading, putting this together, editing it for my own use.

[496] And I feel very nervous.

[497] Good.

[498] So here we go.

[499] Sources for this story I'm about to read you are Britannica .com, of course, Wikipedia, the National Weather Service website, which is www .weather .gov. Hell yeah.

[500] Get on there.

[501] There's a Washington Post article by Kevin Ambrose.

[502] There's a tornado fax .net website.

[503] There's a tri -state tornado 97 years later, which is an article written by Amber Rush.

[504] for K -F -V -S -12 .com, Indiana .gov website on the Tri -State Tornado, Associated Press article by Chris Hottinson, and the rest will list in the show notes.

[505] Tornadoes form from inside large rotating thunderstorm clouds called supercells.

[506] Inside these clouds, there's a combination of air temperatures.

[507] Okay.

[508] Warm, humid air rises.

[509] Oh.

[510] While the cooler air falls, also there's rain and hail and lightning, and when the warm air rises and the cooler air falls at the same time, they can cause horizontally spinning air currents, and that's called a vortex.

[511] And sometimes those air currents become vertical and drop down out of the cloud, creating a funnel, and that is what fans of the Wizard of Oz know to be a tornado.

[512] Who needs college?

[513] Come on.

[514] Yeah, for real.

[515] Okay, but however, there's lots of variations of this, of the warm air, cool air kind of combo and different things that can happen.

[516] And that's what makes it very hard to determine exactly what a precursor to a tornado is.

[517] So they are a little bit like earthquakes that way, where they're a bit mysterious and kind of like, we wish we knew more.

[518] Sure.

[519] So a storm cell can spawn one or more tornadoes.

[520] That's horrifying.

[521] Which means a cluster of tornadoes can break out and cause tons of damage during a tornado outbreak.

[522] Now, this is what I didn't know.

[523] They usually occur during spring, starting around March and peaking between May and June.

[524] And they most commonly occur between the hours of 4 and 9 p .m. Right?

[525] Yeah.

[526] Because that's when the air goes up and down.

[527] Oh, okay.

[528] Hot and cold goes up and down.

[529] I don't know.

[530] Got it?

[531] I was asking you.

[532] Oh.

[533] I was like, yeah.

[534] Yeah.

[535] Yeah.

[536] Most of the time they travel at speeds between 20 to 40 miles an hour, and sometimes they can just go for a mile.

[537] Sometimes they can go for 100 miles.

[538] And usually the United States sees around 1 ,200 tornadoes annually, and they're most common in the Midwest.

[539] Hey.

[540] And there's an area that people know about in the Midwest that goes from Texas and Louisiana to Oklahoma, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska.

[541] And that is known as tornado Alley, baby.

[542] Also my album.

[543] Okay.

[544] So there are warning signs when a tornado is about to hit.

[545] Birds stop chirping, singing, and flying.

[546] When the sky goes, quiet, run.

[547] That is terrifying.

[548] Just run away.

[549] So birds, their little tiny ears, can sense a change in the barometric pressure, and they can hear the low frequency sounds that signal a storm.

[550] And that's why they know that flying would kill them, and so they stay out of the sky, and they zip the lip.

[551] Cute.

[552] Another tornado warning, which we learned about in the minisode email that I was referencing earlier, is a green sky.

[553] This is not a well -understood phenomenon, but scientists have basically figured out that because of the time of day, which is usually roughly around sunset, the sky is already yellow, orange, and red.

[554] And then the air doing its weird thing underneath the cell, that's blue.

[555] And the combination makes a green sky.

[556] Yellow and blue make green.

[557] Right?

[558] And sometimes there's like hail or, you know, like frozen ice, frozen rain, I mean, or whatever.

[559] So, and that reflects that color so it makes it, makes it stand out.

[560] Got it.

[561] You can tell it went off the page right there.

[562] Okay.

[563] Tornadoes also happen when there's no green sky.

[564] So it's not like a hard and fast rule.

[565] Cool.

[566] So don't just think you can sit in a bar in New Orleans and drink and wait for the green sky because you could be wrong, possibly.

[567] People from England.

[568] Okay.

[569] So tornado strength is measured using the enhanced Fujita scale or the EF.

[570] I talked about the Fujita scale briefly and found in my other story when I brought it up that this is one of my favorite things that I don't know why.

[571] It's very appealing to me to have tornadoes broken down this way.

[572] So I'm going to walk you through the Fujita scale right now.

[573] F0 is a 40 to 72 mile per hour.

[574] wind speed, it causes light damage, branches are broken off trees, and there's minor roof damage.

[575] An F1 is 73 to 112 miles an hour.

[576] That's moderate damage, trees are snapped, mobile homes can be moved off their foundations, roofs are damaged.

[577] An F2 is 133 to 157 miles an hour.

[578] It's considerable damage.

[579] Mobile homes are demolished entirely.

[580] Trees are uprooted, strong homes.

[581] are unroofed.

[582] No. Strong -built homes, it says.

[583] The F -3 is 158 to 206 miles an hour.

[584] This is severe damage.

[585] So trains get overturned.

[586] Cars are lifted off the ground.

[587] Strong -built homes, the outside walls blow away.

[588] Jesus.

[589] An F -4 is 206 to 260 miles an hour.

[590] That's devastating damage.

[591] Oh, my God.

[592] Like, the only thing left are piles of debris.

[593] Oye.

[594] Cars are thrown 300 yards or more.

[595] So an F5 tornado is 261 to 318 miles an hour.

[596] It's incredible damage.

[597] Wow.

[598] Strongly built homes are completely blown away.

[599] Car -sized missiles are generated from the amount of debris.

[600] So it can blow, as we all learned from Twister, the movie, like a cow into the air or people or things.

[601] I mean, it's incredible power.

[602] Wow.

[603] So the national disaster I'm about to tell you about was an F -5 tornado.

[604] And, as I said, the deadliest one in American history.

[605] So at 1 .01 p .m. on Wednesday, March 18th, 1925, a tornado basically touches down three miles north -northwest of Ellington, Missouri.

[606] It's in the southeast part of the state in the Ozark Mountains.

[607] and nearby the residents, and I'm thinking this line, because they say people were expecting rain and wind, not a storm, definitely not a tornado.

[608] And it makes me think back then when people used the farmer's almanac, because they had to predict weather.

[609] They had to know when it was going to rain or snow or something like that because they had to get prepared, whether it was because they were farmers or whatever, but it was like the 20s, so they didn't, it wasn't like the nightly news was there.

[610] They had to, that was the way they knew.

[611] Had a plan and everything.

[612] Exactly.

[613] So what's interesting about that is this was, there were no tornado warnings back then because not just like it hadn't been invented yet, the government believed if you warned people about tornadoes, it would cause hysteria and panic.

[614] So actually, from 1887 to 1948, there was a ban on using tornado sirens or saying the word tornado.

[615] No. Saying the word, like, publicly.

[616] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[617] Yeah, in any way, because that would cause people to freak out.

[618] Yeah.

[619] Which is insane.

[620] Yeah.

[621] Like, give them a minute to fucking hide with these sirens, right?

[622] Yes, people need, yeah.

[623] Sometimes hysteria isn't the wrong reaction.

[624] Especially because back then, but in, you know, by 1925, 500 people would lose their lives every year to tornadoes.

[625] Wow.

[626] So there was a need for that warning.

[627] So when the residents of Ellington, Missouri, see this huge tornado coming, they think it's actually a massive dust storm.

[628] That's how big the bottom of this tornado is.

[629] Holy shit.

[630] It's taking up, like, all their eyesight.

[631] And they just think, oh, that's weird.

[632] It's a dust storm.

[633] Yeah.

[634] Holy shit.

[635] Miraculously, this tornado passes through Ellington, Missouri with no fatalities and no injuries.

[636] Okay.

[637] So we normally imagine and have seen in movies and stuff, tornadoes being on flat ground.

[638] But because this one started in the mountains, like no one was ready.

[639] That's not something people are used to.

[640] Ah.

[641] Like you can see it coming when it's on a flat ground.

[642] Okay.

[643] Yes.

[644] And you can warn people and there's some kind of like scope of it.

[645] But this one started very differently.

[646] So it moves northeast from Ellington through five counties in Missouri.

[647] So it goes through Reynolds, Iron, Madison, Bollinger, and Perry counties.

[648] Eleven people are killed in the Missouri towns of Annapolis, Bealey, Frona, Redford, Lidana, and Cornwall.

[649] So then a double funnel tornado becomes visible as the storm intensifies.

[650] Witnesses say it sounded like a freight train.

[651] And it crosses the Mississippi River and it moves to southern, into southern Illinois.

[652] And as it goes, it's gaining more and more power because it's moving across flatland.

[653] So there's nothing impeding its path, I guess.

[654] Got it.

[655] So now wind speeds are estimated to be around 300 miles an hour.

[656] And it meant this storm itself measures three quarters of a mile across.

[657] Fuck.

[658] I didn't know they could get that big.

[659] I don't think they normally do.

[660] Like this is, this was, yeah, this was a monster.

[661] Yeah.

[662] It passes through Jackson, Williamson, Franklin, Hamilton, and White counties in Illinois.

[663] And through the towns of Gorham, DeSoto, Murphysboro, Hurst Bush, Ziegler, West Frankfurt, 18, Parrish, and Crossville.

[664] Do you think we have any listeners in any of those?

[665] I mean, I don't know because here's what's interesting.

[666] Like, you can look on YouTube and you can see a crop duster went up and there's black and white film footage of them flying over Murphysboro and DeSoto afterwards.

[667] And it is like, it's just that thing of like everyone small, there's a little house that for some reason didn't go down.

[668] And it's, but as far as the eye can see, it's just piles of debris.

[669] And it's mind -blowing.

[670] Like, you've just never seen anything like it.

[671] So, yeah, all these, basically on its path, these are the towns that just got, you know, got hit.

[672] In DeSoto, Jackson County Deputy Sheriff George Boland, he's on foot patrol when this storm hits the town.

[673] And the strength of the tornado lifts him off of the ground and he disappears up the funnel and his body is never found.

[674] What?

[675] Yes.

[676] Holy shit.

[677] It lifts a grown man off the street.

[678] So in the mining town of West Frankfurt, 800 miners are working 500 feet below ground when the tornado strikes.

[679] And so, of course, they lose electrical power.

[680] Right.

[681] But they don't know why.

[682] So when they come up to assess what's going on and to fix the power problem, because they just think the power that cut for some reason, they're in total shock as they look and see, that this town has been leveled and basically the majority of the town's dead are women and children because the men are down in the mine.

[683] And also, long ago, I recommended a TV show called Godless that's on Netflix.

[684] And it's about, it's the exact opposite of that tragedy, which is there's a mine explosion and all the men are killed in the mine and the women are left to run the town and then bad guys come to take over and the women fight back.

[685] And it's such a good show.

[686] It's like unbelievably great, great show.

[687] Okay.

[688] The heaviest loss for a single family is the Carnes family of Caldwell near that town of West Frankfurt.

[689] Eleven people from just one family die that day, including a storekeeper named Isaac Carnes, his wife, his daughter, his son -in -law, a daughter -in -law, and seven grandchildren.

[690] Oh, my God.

[691] Horrifying.

[692] In the town of Gorham, Illinois, it's completely leveled.

[693] Half the town's population is either killed or injured.

[694] The railroad tracks have been ripped out of the ground.

[695] Fuck.

[696] This tornado hit Gorham at 2 .30, and then it continued at top speed, and it hit the next town, which is Murphysboro, at 2 .36 p .m. So in Murphysboro alone, 234 people are killed, and 1 ,200 buildings are destroyed.

[697] And this is the town that you can see the footage of on YouTube.

[698] It's black and white.

[699] And it's pretty crazy.

[700] So basically now, in just 40 minutes, this tornado has left 613 people dead in the state of Illinois, including 30 farmers.

[701] And the reason that's amazing is because farmers, obviously, like many people back then, but especially if you're a farmer, you absolutely track the weather.

[702] You have to pay attention.

[703] You have to know all the little signs when it's going to rain, when it's going to snow, and what you need to do, right, to keep your farm going.

[704] Yeah.

[705] And so for these farmers, all of them, to be completely taken unaware as this tornado hits, just really shows how deceiving it appeared, even to experts and even to people who were used to paying attention to stuff like that.

[706] There, of course, there's no photographs or film of the tornado itself, but witness reports described it as looking like an amorphous rolling fog.

[707] So, like, that's why people thought it was a dust storm.

[708] Right.

[709] Because it was so big and it just didn't have any of the qualities of a regular tornado.

[710] That just sounds huge.

[711] Yes, and horrifying.

[712] Horrible.

[713] So from Illinois, the storm continued.

[714] long its path of destruction.

[715] It crosses southwestern Indiana at four o 'clock over the Wabash River, and Posey Gibson and Pike counties are all directly in its path.

[716] The towns of Griffin, Owensville, and Princeton, Indiana are all destroyed in addition to 85 farms.

[717] One Griffin resident grabs a door handle during the tornado, but coming to close the door.

[718] His entire house blew away.

[719] He was left standing, holding the door handle.

[720] What the fuck?

[721] Mm -hmm.

[722] By the time the storm ripped through, the Indiana death toll stands at 76 people.

[723] Wow.

[724] So by 4 .30, the tornado dissipates three miles southwest of Petersburg, Indiana.

[725] It traveled 219 miles through three states, and 695 people are killed in just three and a half hours.

[726] Almost 700 people are killed.

[727] Wow.

[728] It's the longest, largest, fastest, and farthest traveling storm in the country to date.

[729] 15 ,000 homes across 164 square mile area are reduced to rubble.

[730] And one -third of the tornadoes victims are children.

[731] Oh, they.

[732] Yeah, because they were all, a lot of them were at school or away from home.

[733] Right.

[734] So the tri -state tornado was actually.

[735] part of a bigger tornado outbreak on the same day.

[736] So that outbreak also hit Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Kansas.

[737] And in all, with the total of all storms that day, kill 747 people and injured 2 ,298 more.

[738] So this was a horrible day, basically, in the United States.

[739] So there's, of course, heavy rains following the tornado, which caused the Wabash River to flood.

[740] By March 23rd, five days after the storm, the only way to reach the devastated town of Griffin was by boat or railroad.

[741] Yeah, so insane.

[742] So, of course, basically, if you were lucky enough to survive this insane, terrible disaster, you have nothing but the clothes on your back.

[743] Chances are you don't have a home, you don't have a place to go to.

[744] Wow.

[745] Lots of people lost their family.

[746] or, you know, members of their family.

[747] And some people lost their livelihoods.

[748] Right.

[749] What wasn't destroyed by the fierce winds is then at risk of burning to the ground as fires take hold in numerous towns.

[750] And some victims are still buried alive.

[751] Like, it's just a horror.

[752] People, of course, then begin looting and stealing.

[753] No, don't.

[754] Because if you're a survivor and you're just standing there, you have nothing.

[755] Right.

[756] So there are a couple crazy, like, stories from this, like, in West Frankfurt, a farmer finds a barber's chair that's, that when they end up tracking it down, it was from another town entirely.

[757] And those things are fucking heavy.

[758] Someone found a bond, like the piece of paper.

[759] It had been in a safe, and it was just out freely, 125 miles away from where it began.

[760] and the person that found it mailed it back to its owner.

[761] Aw.

[762] I know.

[763] Residents of the nearby towns that were not hit, they mobilized to provide aid and relief to the survivors.

[764] And the American Red Cross and the Indiana National Guard provide medical aid and emergency supplies.

[765] The Red Cross alone receives almost $400 ,000 in donations from the public, which is almost $7 million in today's money.

[766] Wow.

[767] And also this is 1925.

[768] It wasn't an easy time in America anyway.

[769] Right.

[770] So those donations are used to open relief centers, provide survivors with food and medical aid and clothing, to buy building supplies, to make repairs, buy tools, household goods, transportation.

[771] The donations also fund Tennis vaccines to protect against infection of the wounds because literally you're just out piles of wood and like things that used to be buildings that are now just like exposed nails and broken wood.

[772] Yeah.

[773] So crazy.

[774] And then like dirty water from the flooding and stuff too, right?

[775] Thank God for vaccines, right?

[776] Thank God for vaccines.

[777] Hopefully no one fought their tetanus vaccine.

[778] There was a picture I saw of people standing around and it looked like somebody's front porch.

[779] So there was a piece of wood going vertically.

[780] And then a second piece of wood that had come through and just bisected it horizontally.

[781] Like this, it was flying so fast.

[782] But it was like a two by four.

[783] Yeah.

[784] That went, pierced this first piece of wood like an arrow.

[785] Wow.

[786] And it's just people standing around looking at it.

[787] Like, I'm sure after all the devastation, then it's slowly revealing of like the reality of the winds like that.

[788] Yeah.

[789] Okay.

[790] So, of course, the U .S. government is totally unprepared to deal with devastation at this level.

[791] So aid and resources are slow to make their way to the affected areas.

[792] Overall, the damage is estimated to be about $16 .5 million back then, which is a $1 .4 billion in today's money.

[793] Yeah.

[794] And two -thirds of that damage took place in Murphy's Borough, Illinois alone.

[795] Wow.

[796] The very last victim of the tornado was a 46 -year -old man. a West Frankfurt coal miner named Jervais Burgess, who dies from his injuries January 3rd, 1926, almost a full year after the disaster.

[797] So the reason the tri -state tornado was so ferocious was determined later to be because, and this was by, we used to have a U .S. Weather Bureau, but I guess we don't have it anymore because the phrase was, by the then -U

[798].S.