311 - Challenge Practice

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] That's Georgia Hard Start.

[2] Thanks.

[3] That's Karen Kilgarif.

[4] You're welcome.

[5] And here we are again.

[6] That's right.

[7] Here we are in the same room for the first time this year.

[8] The vibes are off the chart.

[9] This time it's really happening.

[10] This time it's personal.

[11] Can you handle it?

[12] Can you handle it?

[13] Frank's here as well.

[14] He's milling around.

[15] He's a little bit too interested in Georgia right now.

[16] And licking the couch He's got anxiety issues and it shows Maybe he smells the same on me Maybe he's like, we're kinderate anxiety spirit He's like, hey, I recognize the panic in your eyes Racing thoughts?

[17] Sleepless nights Licking a couch constantly?

[18] Oh, I know you.

[19] Oh, yeah, I see you, sister I see you licking that couch That's right How crazy it was it in The Great, which is a great show when she was pregnant and had to eat handfuls of dirt and I've heard of that.

[20] That's a thing when you're like low on some mineral, right?

[21] Yeah, I think there's a mineral issue that you could probably take with a nice centrum nowadays.

[22] You know, yeah, not back then.

[23] No, back then you actually legit how to eat dirt.

[24] The combination of the costumes, the setting, and then the fact that it's real.

[25] Yeah.

[26] Because I was like, when season two started, I was like, what's going to happen?

[27] and I'm like, oh, it already happened.

[28] You could look it up on Wikipedia of what happened to Catherine the Great.

[29] Many people go to college and learn about this intentionally.

[30] This is actually taught to us in public high schools, but I forgot.

[31] I mean, I had no idea.

[32] Look.

[33] Gone there.

[34] I was busy.

[35] I was busy that day.

[36] I just wish someone had approached learning in a different way for me. With cursing.

[37] Just like, yeah, and kind of like these are real people.

[38] Oh, right.

[39] Yeah.

[40] Yeah.

[41] And 19 years old or 17, like, tops.

[42] Right.

[43] Right.

[44] Like, what the fuck, man. Speaking of shows, because it's still a pandemic, so that's all I'm really doing.

[45] Oh, we're just, we're snapping right into that.

[46] Oh, I don't know.

[47] We don't have to.

[48] No, no. Go for it.

[49] I just wanted to say that there's a third and final season of the Ricky Jervais show Afterlife.

[50] Oh, shit.

[51] Where his, you know, his wife, the whole show promises that his wife had died of cancer.

[52] That's not a spoiler.

[53] And him, like, getting through the grief of it.

[54] It's not a spoiler.

[55] It's not a spoiler.

[56] It's called After Life.

[57] Correct.

[58] After her life.

[59] But this is the third and final season on that.

[60] We watched literally in one night.

[61] The whole thing?

[62] And I don't cry at things.

[63] And I was fucking bawling at the end of it.

[64] No, that show is really beautiful.

[65] It's really, really real and honest.

[66] Yeah.

[67] Is our friend that brilliant British actress, a tall blonde woman who was the sex worker in the second season?

[68] Is she in it?

[69] She's not in this season.

[70] She gets talked about.

[71] referred to, but she must have been filming something else.

[72] Well, because she had her own show.

[73] Right.

[74] Which we've already talked about.

[75] But, oh, that's, I mean, I'll miss her, but also, that's okay.

[76] But it, I mean, what an incredibly done show.

[77] It's just, it's so, it was so beautiful.

[78] Oh, I can't wait.

[79] Yeah.

[80] Thank you because, well, I didn't extended Christmas vacation where I stayed up north for an extra month.

[81] Yeah, you did.

[82] And I was in a house that didn't, I couldn't figure out it had streaming services it had all the stuff i couldn't figure out how to make it work so i was watching a month's worth of regular tv oh it's like a time machine you were in it for real it was it was like going back to the 90s when i used to just watch the jamie fox show because that's the only channel i got the wb or u pn i can't remember which one they were on but yeah it was very i did i it was a lot of like i'll just watch Law & Order.

[83] I'll just watch a lot.

[84] That's fine.

[85] It's easy.

[86] It's on.

[87] You can start in the middle of it.

[88] You know, when you're eating a cassidy or whatever.

[89] It's like not a big deal.

[90] It's always, it's always good.

[91] It's always good.

[92] It's always when you've seen before.

[93] So it's not like surprises.

[94] But then there's, I love the, and I talked about this with the That's messed up ladies on their show, but like I love a Jim Gaffigan walk on.

[95] Oh, yeah.

[96] There's so many like New York actors and comics that have bit parts on Law & Order from the 90s.

[97] It's so great and that's what that's messed up the exactly right podcast is all about we didn't mean to do that deep plug but if we have to do it let's fucking do it fucking right you know what if we're going to do a deep plug we've already made the announcement on our social media but we haven't gotten a chance to talk about it together yeah put on this public forum our podcast you and me face to face and to say we now are uh we have joined with a Wondry and Amazon music to be on their platform and we're super stoked.

[98] It's really cool.

[99] It's a really big deal in our lives, like celebrating deal, like celebration deal.

[100] It's been in the works for a long time.

[101] It's been hard and harrowing.

[102] But at the end of it all, it's so rewarding.

[103] It's still exactly right.

[104] Nothing's changing.

[105] We're not, you know, nothing's changing.

[106] They're going to help us to grow.

[107] But that doesn't mean you have to pay for anything.

[108] It's everybody's number one concern, of course.

[109] And so don't worry about that part.

[110] So it's like you can still get it on any platform.

[111] Wondry just gets to put it out a week early because we're working with them.

[112] Right.

[113] That's how deals work.

[114] That's how they get it.

[115] That's the bonus for them.

[116] But other than that, it's completely the same.

[117] So it's very exciting and we're super excited because then we get to make even more podcasts for Wondry, which if you know anything about podcasting, they are the stalwarts of the podcasting business.

[118] They've been doing it maybe the longest.

[119] Yeah, and the wellest.

[120] For sure.

[121] Like A plus work for almost 20 years.

[122] And it's incredible.

[123] This is just a big deal for you and me, I think.

[124] I can't wrap my head around it.

[125] You know, we started this podcast in my one -bedroom apartment because we liked talking to each other about true crime.

[126] And like we've just, we've built a fucking, business out of it.

[127] And now we have opportunities through exactly right to help other people that we admire and that we think are talented grow their own podcasts.

[128] And also all the employees at exactly right are so fucking incredible and talented that we get to, you know, we get to keep hiring rad people to work with us.

[129] It's just, it feels really lucky.

[130] I feel like there's a woman part of it, too, that like two women in any industry is, you know, has to work a little harder to kick downstairs and we did it.

[131] I'm proud of you.

[132] Thank you.

[133] I'm proud of you too.

[134] Thank you.

[135] Well, you know, here's the thing.

[136] When we started this, we let we do say that that's our party line of like we didn't know and it was just this little thing or whatever.

[137] But then once we started to know that it was becoming a thing, it was our intention, very intentional decisions we began making to make that network and to make that network the way we wanted it to be and to do business the way we wanted to do business.

[138] And, you know, we thank you guys who listen and who have supported us all along because I think you know us well enough to trust us for the intentionality and the consciousness that we bring to what we do and how we do it.

[139] And there's, you know, when announcements like this come out.

[140] It's like, who knows what can happen.

[141] But basically, the direction we have now turned to is incredibly exciting and has so much potential.

[142] It's just going to be really amazing.

[143] It truly feels like we're now in Barneys.

[144] We're in Sacks Fifth Avenue of podcasting.

[145] It smells like perfume, expensive perfume.

[146] And people are like, oh, do you want to want to get, do you want to get the perfect blouse with that pair of jeans?

[147] That's that expertise.

[148] Yeah.

[149] It's amazing.

[150] Yeah.

[151] It's a huge opportunity.

[152] I could cry if I keep thinking about it.

[153] But I thought you didn't cry.

[154] I don't.

[155] I said I could cry.

[156] Possibly.

[157] Probably not.

[158] I liked it on almost every episode you need to talk about how you don't cry.

[159] Right.

[160] Yet you did this one time.

[161] Right.

[162] It's like a monumental thing that I have to point out every time.

[163] Instead of just doing it and being fine with it.

[164] But like I want you to know, like if I'm crying, it's because that's how important it is to me. Oh, Station 11, I fucking bawled at the end of it.

[165] I'm only halfway through it because, again, regular TV for the past month, regular TV.

[166] Right.

[167] But I love the way people are raving about Station 11 on social media.

[168] So good.

[169] It's such, it's gorgeous.

[170] Yeah, that's a good show.

[171] Yeah.

[172] Well, let's see.

[173] Oh, I could tell the story of getting locked out of the place I was staying at, which was, it was kind of awesome.

[174] because it was right it was the day before i was supposed to leave yeah and we had to record a minisode yeah and we had a small window to record it like usually it's like can we push it can we push it and everyone can push it everyone meeting me and step and you yeah but this time was like no we have this two hour window and like we have to do have to do it then yeah so we're getting all ready i have all my stuff upstairs ready to go i just uh i just thought real quick well because you know that when you leave like you stay a place for an extended a period of time.

[175] And then when you start getting ready to leave, you start, you just go through room after room.

[176] Make sure you didn't leave a charger in the wall.

[177] Make sure your socks aren't behind the bed or whatever.

[178] And so I'd been doing that all day.

[179] And I thought, oh, the garage, they had a pool table in the garage.

[180] So I was like, oh, I didn't go out there that much.

[181] But when my family came to visit me several times, I know they brought stuff out there.

[182] So I was going to do a check through.

[183] So conscientious of you.

[184] Right?

[185] Like, I'm the adults with it.

[186] you know, in the rental house.

[187] I go out there, the door closes behind me, it's locked.

[188] And I at first was like, oh, it's just a, it's just a little lock, you know, it's just like a little turn, like one of those little things you turn.

[189] It didn't seem like, it certainly wasn't a dead bolt.

[190] So I was like, this is fine.

[191] I'll figure something out.

[192] You'll figure, you'll learn how to pick locks real quick.

[193] I'll just kind of, well, because we used to have like lockable doors, like the push in locks.

[194] at our old house that my sister and I would go get a butter knife and you twist it and pop that lock up and then grab the curling iron like, don't lock me out of the bathroom again.

[195] So that gave me the belief and the confidence that I was like this is only going to take me a second.

[196] And I'm messing with.

[197] And you're in a garage with like tools and shit.

[198] You're like in the best place to break in.

[199] But turns out this garage has I think it had a Phillips had screwdriver that helped me not at all.

[200] And nothing.

[201] Nothing else.

[202] Everything else was just kind of like a nice rental house garage.

[203] So there was nothing extra.

[204] Yeah.

[205] So I messed with that door for an hour and a half.

[206] And meanwhile, I was not wearing shoes.

[207] I was not wearing a bra.

[208] And I had not brushed my hair that morning.

[209] I'd just been drinking coffee.

[210] And then finally, I had to go outside.

[211] Because also I was way the fuck out in the middle of nowhere.

[212] there was other houses around me I hadn't seen anybody like on the street it wasn't like there was people around and thank God I heard a car coming it was a neighbor and I did go out and to the end of the driveway and wave sheepishly with my arms kind of keep my arms crossed but wave and be like holding your boobs like self bra and then wave a person down the nicest man who was like he rolls his window and he's like hello and I'm like I just got locked out of my rental.

[213] He's like, oh, no. And we figure out he knows Ellen, my friend who was the person who lived in town and who got me the friends and family rate in the first place.

[214] So he left a note on her door.

[215] And I was like, thanks so much.

[216] Well, she told me she was leaving town that day.

[217] So I was like, that's not going to help.

[218] So fuck.

[219] So I just went.

[220] And after a while, because I tried every door, that house was locked up so tight.

[221] They should never worry again about anything.

[222] I love.

[223] I literally was like taking the screens off the outside of windows to see if I could, it was crazy.

[224] Finally, a security guard drives by.

[225] I do the same shame wave.

[226] Like, hey, no, it looks weird.

[227] Because also at one point I was wearing a knit, black knit cap.

[228] Oh, you look like a burglar.

[229] I was dressed exactly like a burglar.

[230] The brawless burglar.

[231] Yeah.

[232] That's like, strikes again.

[233] Yeah, that's how she gets, like, freaks you out.

[234] And then she steals all your stuff.

[235] So I have to wave this guy down.

[236] And he, in all his, like, full -on biker mustache, like, he was a biker.

[237] Yes.

[238] And, but he was driving at, like, a Ravre 4.

[239] And I was like, hi, I lock myself out.

[240] You know those Harley guys.

[241] Love a rap.

[242] On the weekends.

[243] He's got to drive, like, a safe -looking security car.

[244] He jumps out, and he's got every house's house keys on a chain.

[245] Which seems dangerous, but I'm happy for him.

[246] He's security.

[247] Yeah.

[248] And you want it at that point.

[249] Yeah, right.

[250] It's, like, the best thing ever.

[251] He let me right in.

[252] It was the greatest.

[253] But I had been standing out there so long.

[254] I told you this.

[255] I got a sunburn.

[256] Like, it was that.

[257] Because at one point I just started staring at the sky.

[258] Like I was like, well, now I've completely blown off Stephen and Georgia.

[259] They're like sitting on the Zoom waiting for me and I'm just not there.

[260] But you've never not.

[261] We figured something was wrong.

[262] Yeah.

[263] Because you've never not been like, hey, I need this many more minutes.

[264] Right.

[265] And then when it's called me, I was like, oh, fuck.

[266] I usually text, hey, sorry.

[267] started plucking my eyebrows, now I'm late.

[268] But yeah, no, it was, it was hilarious.

[269] Because also, but barefoot, there was all kinds of walking around the house, which was like, is kind of a little bit on a mountainside, wasn't great.

[270] It was ridiculous.

[271] Jesus.

[272] Well, Stephen and I had a nice conversation about cats.

[273] Shocker.

[274] And then, yeah, figured figured you'd be around.

[275] Actually.

[276] Should we do exactly right news?

[277] Absolutely.

[278] It's laided to ladies one year anniversary of joining exactly right.

[279] They've been around for much, much longer.

[280] They're a very legendary old and storied podcast.

[281] But for their exactly right one year anniversary, their guest this week is Georgia Heart Start.

[282] Hey, that's me. It was really fun.

[283] I told them the story of punching a girl at soccer practice when I was a kid.

[284] And just we had a lot of fun chit -chatting.

[285] awesome yeah that was great great fun and then on this week's episode of parent footprint with my cousin dr dan host elizabeth taylor and alex shapiro who of course host the true beauty brooklyn podcast are his guests also we've been recording new fan cult videos and now if you're a member the fan cult you get to vote on like some of the um question topics like go to the fan cult if you are a member and you can see the new videos and then you can see also the way you can see also the you can interact and have a say in what we talk about on those.

[286] That's right.

[287] Tell us what to talk about.

[288] Oh, my God.

[289] There's a new MFM animated video by Nick Terry, of course.

[290] It's on the exactly right YouTube channel.

[291] Did you watch it?

[292] I haven't watched it yet.

[293] Oh, my God.

[294] He is every fucking time.

[295] He's a genius.

[296] He's really the greatest.

[297] He nails it so hard.

[298] I'm laughing at my own shit.

[299] It's like the best.

[300] So go watch it.

[301] The episode's called The Chainsaw Chicken based on an old hometown.

[302] It's just incredible.

[303] We love you, Nicktair.

[304] There's a bunch of other episodes that you, I mean, yeah, all of them are there.

[305] So please watch.

[306] Also, we just came out with, you know, the poetry fridge magnets that came at, that were very popular in the 90s.

[307] Well, there's now my favorite murder version of those with all the words that we like to use on this show.

[308] And you can buy those magnets and then stick them on your fridge.

[309] put together your own phrases.

[310] I have fuckety fuck fuck online and then all the names of my animals.

[311] I got one for free, if you can believe it.

[312] And then there's also other magnets and classic designs that are new.

[313] So go ahead and put those all over your fridge.

[314] If you, please.

[315] See, business.

[316] It's about business.

[317] We're business ladies.

[318] At the end of the day.

[319] What do you want?

[320] It's a business we've built here.

[321] Yeah.

[322] Well, should we get into it?

[323] Let's do it.

[324] I think you're first.

[325] I am.

[326] Okay.

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

[328] Absolutely.

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

[330] Exactly.

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

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[341] Connect with customers in line and online.

[342] Do retail right with Shopify.

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

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

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

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

[347] Goodbye.

[348] All right.

[349] Well, then my story this week was suggested to me while I was on my extended vacation by my friend Janet Ramazzi, mother of Mary and Sophie, all three who listened to this podcast.

[350] So hi, hi, everybody.

[351] Hi, Ramazzi ladies.

[352] And because it takes place in San Francisco and I was up there.

[353] So it's like, it's kind of, it's a hometown I never knew existed that's about the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, which has been our newspaper of note, along with the examiner, full props to the examiner.

[354] I don't think that one exists anymore, but.

[355] Oh, are you doing the Zodiac killer?

[356] No. I never heard of it.

[357] What if I just unrolled this thing?

[358] It was like it's four hours long.

[359] No, this is actually, it's about the murder of San Francisco Chronicle founder, Charles D. Young.

[360] Oh.

[361] This is fucking nutso.

[362] I'd never heard anything about this.

[363] Huh.

[364] You know, we're now in Kate Winkler -Dosson territory.

[365] This is very historical murder time.

[366] Okay.

[367] I'm going to give my sources.

[368] The first one is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle by writer Gary Kamia.

[369] There's the New York Times Archives from 1880.

[370] Wow.

[371] There's two articles from the archives.

[372] Then there's a digital book from Google Books that's written by Charles F. Adams.

[373] that's called Murder by the Bay Historic Homicide about the city of San Francisco.

[374] Then there is the San Francisco Chronicle Archives from newspapers .com and it's the actual article by Charles DeYoung about Calic.

[375] Then there's the Wikipedia page about Charles DeYoung, the Wikipedia page about Isaac Smith, Calic, and then there's the Charles DeYoung obituary from the New York Times archives in 1884.

[376] Okay, so I will tell you, it starts in 1870, So this is like, it just passed the minor 49er era of San Francisco.

[377] Okay.

[378] Where it basically gold mining like up in Sacramento and Sutter Creek and stuff brought all that money down into San Francisco.

[379] But it also brought all the miners and then a bunch of crooks and a bunch of people that were going to steal your money and a bunch of like, it was a gritty town.

[380] Okay.

[381] So this takes place in 1876 or this is, this one of the starting points, I should say, because that's when a very charming and boisterous pastor named Reverend Isaac Callick moves from Kansas to San Francisco, and he takes a job at the Baptist Metropolitan Temple.

[382] So this red -headed, red -bearded 240 -pound preacher captivates a congregation of up to 5 ,000 members every Sunday, which is the largest in the city.

[383] And he soon's over the hearts of many San Francisco believers, so much so that in August of 1879, the newly formed political faction in the area called the Working Men's Party nominates Calic to run for mayor.

[384] Okay.

[385] So what the faithful of San Francisco don't know about Calick is that he isn't necessarily, hasn't always been, I should say, the pious man of God that he presents himself to be in the pulpit every Sunday.

[386] Back in 1855, he had found it necessary to move from Boston, Massachusetts to Kansas to escape the bad reputation that he'd gotten for himself as a boozer and a gambler and a little loose with the ladies in his East Coast congregation.

[387] Amen.

[388] Right?

[389] Calick never quit these less than holy habits.

[390] He just was able to conceal them better in Kansas to the point where he'd even started a political career there, becoming a Democratic leader in the Kansas state legislature.

[391] Now, he's moved to San Francisco, hoping to rebuild his political career, but there's one man who stands in the way of his plans, and that is the editor -in -chief of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, Charles D. Young.

[392] So basically, up until this point, the Chronicle had supported the Working Man's Party, but in the summer of 1879, the DeYoung family and the Chronicle jumped political ships and they started backing the opposing party which was called the honorable bilks cool um when the news of calick's nomination for mayor got to charles de young the owner of the san francisco chronicle he vows to compel calic to decline the nomination so he doesn't like it he doesn't like uh anything about it and he's not into it and i think maybe he'd done a little research Right.

[393] So a couple days later, Charles D. Young calls Callick and tells him to his face over the phone to step down from the mayoral race.

[394] And of course, Calick refuses.

[395] So Charles threatens to reprint a story of Calick's Boston scandals in The Chronicle.

[396] Yeah.

[397] So Calick tells Charles to go ahead and then issues a vague threat of his own saying that he can share equally terrible stories about the DeYoung family.

[398] But Charles isn't scared at all.

[399] So on August 20th, 1879, the Chronicle releases its first in a series of disparaging stories about the Reverend Isaac Callan's past.

[400] So the first article details his many, quote, two intimate relations with several married and unmarried members of his flock, one of which actually led to a trial where ten jurors found him guilty of adultery.

[401] although he was never sentenced.

[402] There was another story that was a, quote, an escapade with one of the Tremont Temple choristers in Boston, and a third was about a failure to pay his debt.

[403] So all of these scandals, as DeYoung says in the article, lead to Calix being, quote, driven forth from Boston like an unclean leper.

[404] So essentially, it's now, it's just like a battle is waging in the newspaper against this man. DeYoung then publishes, at least two more stories about calyx immoral exploits, including one that accused even Calick's deceased father of sundry immoralities.

[405] Just vague and being immoral vaguely?

[406] You know, yeah, he's just kind of a bad guy.

[407] Yeah.

[408] Sundry.

[409] So Charles is now satisfied that all a bad press will destroy Calick's reputation for good, but for Calic this war has just begun.

[410] So let me just tell you a little bit about Charles D. Young and how he got to be the head of San Francisco Chronicle.

[411] He was born in 1846 in Louisiana.

[412] He's one of eight children.

[413] He has five sisters and two brothers.

[414] And the younger two boys are Harry and Gustavus.

[415] And around 1854, their father dies, leaving their mother to care for eight children on her own.

[416] So soon after, the whole family moves to San Francisco, where eight -year -old Charles gets work as a newsboy to help support the family.

[417] So it's real serious, you know, everybody has to pitch in and get a job.

[418] So, of course, this is 1854 San Francisco, so it's about as rough and dirty as it possibly can be.

[419] The quote here is, the great bulk of the population of San Francisco consists of gamblers, whiskey dealers, and miners who come to the city to dissipate their gains made in the mountains.

[420] So it's a little bit like Vegas or Reno in that way.

[421] Or the Wild West in a way.

[422] Yes, it's completely the wild west.

[423] Yeah.

[424] Like, there's a lot of gunplay in this story.

[425] It sounds fun, to be honest.

[426] So growing up in this environment makes Charles a particularly tough kid, and he's very intelligent and really street smart.

[427] He never shies away from a fight.

[428] And as he gets older, he makes a habit of carrying a revolver with him everywhere he goes, which kind of sounds like that was relatively common based on this story that I read and only this story.

[429] But at the same time, he has a very soft spot for his mother.

[430] so he's a real gun -totin cowboy sweetheart okay so he's not interested in school amen amen but he's trying to make life as easy as possible for his elderly mother and the rest of his family so he focuses on work and he ends up landing an apprenticeship at a local printing office and then soon after in 1859 when he's 13 years old he starts his own paper called the holiday advertiser That's up 13?

[431] Yes.

[432] He's doing it.

[433] You can tell he's one of those 13 -year -olds that, like, he probably wore, like, a little vest every day and had kind of a scratchy voice and was like...

[434] Had a timepiece where this...

[435] A pocket watch.

[436] I also love that his mom is called elderly.

[437] I bet she's 38.

[438] You know what I mean?

[439] Like, back then, it was like...

[440] She's 38.

[441] She looks like she's 70.

[442] She can't walk.

[443] That's right.

[444] And she's fucking had it.

[445] Yeah.

[446] Basically, here she's been exhausted by children.

[447] Right.

[448] and by gunplay and by her love of gold so so they he fucking starts his junior high newspaper it's like a zine it's just like you know what so here's what he does he's a businessman and a badass once he gets the holiday advertiser off the ground he turns around and he sells it right and then he joins forces with his brother Harry and he launches a new daily newspaper.

[449] Now, this one focuses on the happenings and gossip in San Francisco's theater arts scene, and it's called The Dramatic Chronicle.

[450] Fun.

[451] Right?

[452] Yeah.

[453] I mean, because you have to imagine in this era of San Francisco, there was tons of theaters and shows because all the miners are there to spend their money.

[454] Right.

[455] Right.

[456] It's like, it's all about that.

[457] And he's like, so -and -so sleeping with so -and -so, this person got fired from this, and they're fighting with that person.

[458] How fun.

[459] It's a gossip column.

[460] And then the shows at, one shows at eight and one shows at 10.

[461] Check your gun at the door.

[462] So they get enough advertisers and they release the first issue of the dramatic chronicle on January 16th, 1865.

[463] At this point, Charles is 19 years old.

[464] So they've launched the dramatic chronicle.

[465] So that newspaper's popularity grows.

[466] And then Charles and Harry enlist Gustavus, their other brother, in just for, four years, they transform their little drama gossip reg into what will become the journalistic juggernaut of its time and beyond the San Francisco Chronicle.

[467] So they basically take that and they just are like, no, we're going wide and this is going to be like the city paper.

[468] Wow.

[469] Their impressive office building at the corner of Kearney Street and Bush Street becomes the paper's first headquarters.

[470] And in a few years, the San Francisco Chronicle grows to be worth $250 ,000.

[471] but this is in in the late 1860s it's the equivalent of $6 million in today's market so they're rich as fun and they fucking do it they start their own teen newspaper business wow oh not like it they're teens and they start a newspaper they're the teens yeah this is sassy I mean what if sassy was a newspaper I should have kept my copies of sassy I swear to God I should have I got sassy first a dish because my mom, there was some magazine drive, and my mom signed me up for, it was supposed to be like teen vogue, but at the time it was new, and they just never came out with it.

[472] They were like, no, you're getting sassy.

[473] Sorry, sassy.

[474] Yeah.

[475] And I was like, great.

[476] I love it.

[477] Oh, my God.

[478] So Charles DeYoung is a man with strong opinions, good for a newspaper man. He's also open and honest, if not outright aggressive, in exposing the.

[479] ills of his enemies pasts through the use of the Chronicle newspaper.

[480] And this comes in handy as the success of the Chronicle earns him political clout.

[481] So he starts using his publication to support candidates for various political offices when he likes them and disparaging the candidates he doesn't like.

[482] And his sharp tongue earns him some enemies, but he isn't afraid of them in the least.

[483] In fact, he's reported to be, quote, proud of the notice.

[484] that he had obtained and proud of the personal danger as a legitimate element of that notoriety.

[485] Wow.

[486] That's from the New York Times archives.

[487] So this is like other newspapers talking about the newspaper and the newspaper owner.

[488] When the news man becomes the news.

[489] Yeah, man. I just kind of like that idea that if you're going to start this business, that you have to be like, yeah, I'll fight you.

[490] And it's like, oh, no, this isn't some intellectual endeavor.

[491] it's just like no we're fucking going for it okay so another element of san francisco in the 1870s but which by now it's the 1870s there's a lot of racial tension because there are 30 ,000 unemployed citizens because there's a big recession in 1877 this is going to sound very familiar to you but the poor white contingent begins to focus their blame on Chinese immigrants who they claim are taking their jobs And so the working men's party exploits this racist blame mentality and promotes themselves as the blatantly anti -Chinese party.

[492] Wow.

[493] So they vow to bring back jobs to the poor white people.

[494] And here comes the Reverend Isaac Callick with his charisma and his speaking skills and his popularity.

[495] He ends up being the perfect choice to lead this cause.

[496] So Charles DeYoung's disdain for Calic isn't just about a seedy pass.

[497] It turns out the last mayorial candidate, mayoral, mayoral, mayoral, who knows?

[498] Nobody knows to this day.

[499] So I'm going to go ahead and put an eye in there and say mayoral.

[500] It feels better.

[501] That sounds right.

[502] Candidate that The Chronicle endorsed was Andrew J. Bryant.

[503] You may have heard of his street.

[504] Oh, yeah.

[505] Bryant Street.

[506] So he won the mayorial election in 1875, but then quickly fell out of favor when the recession came.

[507] Right.

[508] So Charles DeYoung is basically kind of has a chip on his shoulder about who he picked for mayor and the control that he may or may not have in politics.

[509] May or may not.

[510] May or real, may not.

[511] So basically, DeYoung prints insult after insult about Reverend Callig for all of San Francisco to read.

[512] In one passage, he writes, quote, at the head of the list of communist tyrants stands Callick, the mock minister traveling Mount bank and carpet bag demagogue who wants to be mayor but not because he is fit but because he knows himself to be unfit for the pulpit and is probably an atheist and a blasphemer at heart what's up minced words don't do it it's like take this down and then he just starts ranting about all the different ways he can slam this guy how so in response reverend calic delivers several rage -fueled speeches calling all of the de youngs quote, the hyenas of society, and, quote, hybrid whelps of sin and depravity.

[513] In one speech, he even claims that if he's elected mayor, he vows to, quote, kill the San Francisco Chronicle.

[514] Oh.

[515] He's going to murder the newspaper.

[516] He's pissed.

[517] Okay, but DeYoung is unrelenting.

[518] He threatens that if Calick doesn't step down from the race that he'll publish the transcript from Calick's Boston adultery trial.

[519] Uh -oh.

[520] This is like clickbait central, but it's old -y fashion d newspapers.

[521] This is a Twitter feud.

[522] Right.

[523] So Calick, he's not letting up at all, except for he only has the one bit, which is basically calling the family trash and saying the mother is a whore, essentially.

[524] So he tells an audience he's speaking to one time, the de Youngs are the bastard progeny of a whore, conceived in infamy, and nursed in the lap of prostitution.

[525] Wow.

[526] So it's on.

[527] Yeah.

[528] It's on.

[529] Okay.

[530] So the next day after that speech, August 23, 1879, Charles DeYoung hears about these comments and he loses his shit.

[531] He grabs his revolver.

[532] He marches out of the Chronicle Office.

[533] He has his carriage driver take him to Calick's church.

[534] Around 10 a .m., Calick walks outside where he's greeted by a young boy.

[535] The boy points to the carriage on the street and tells Calick that a woman inside wants to pay him her respects.

[536] So Calick happily walks up to the carriage, but before he can grab the door handle, Charles DeYoung pulls back the curtain and fires a bullet at point -blank range right into the left side of Calick's chest.

[537] Holy shit.

[538] The horrified Calick stumbles backwards, clutching his wound as Charles stands and steps closer and fires another shot into Calick's thigh.

[539] Then he jumps back into his carriage and orders the driver to pull away.

[540] But there's a hitch in his plan because there's a working.

[541] men's party rally taking place nearby.

[542] So when they hear the shots, they rush over.

[543] They surround DeYoung's carriage.

[544] The mob's ready to pull Charles from the carriage and kill him in the street.

[545] He fends them off by threatening to shoot them.

[546] So he's waving that revolver around.

[547] Finally, basically, the crowd doesn't retreat until the police come, arrest Charles and take him away.

[548] So Calick's life hangs in the balance for the next nine days as a team of doctors and surgeons work to repair as wounds.

[549] Competing papers report in favor of Calick, because of course they're right, it's their rival that actually participated in this attempted murder.

[550] The shooting's called cowardly and cold -blooded.

[551] And of course, the working men's party is furious, especially Calick's son Isaac.

[552] He issues a statement saying that he's confident his dad will recover and become mayor, adding, quote, if DeYoung does not hang, then help me kill him.

[553] Whoa.

[554] Yeah.

[555] So it turns out Calick does recover.

[556] Yeah.

[557] And he does it just in time before the election.

[558] The press surrounding the shooting helps boost Calick's votes.

[559] And he ends up winning the 1879 election and becomes the new mayor of San Francisco.

[560] Nothing makes you more popular than surviving a fucking crazy -ass shooting.

[561] Yeah.

[562] And like coming back.

[563] And coming back.

[564] and being like, hey, don't think that was unfair?

[565] If that can't take me down, nothing can.

[566] Vote for me. Vote for me. I can't be murdered with bullets.

[567] Meanwhile, Charles D. Young posts a $25 ,000 bond, gets out of jail, flees to Mexico, and hides out there waiting for the whole ordeal to blow over it.

[568] Yeah, it is.

[569] So this is very Wild West.

[570] Yeah.

[571] I mean, it just, it can't be.

[572] they must have had dirt in the street still.

[573] Oh, yeah.

[574] I'm imagining.

[575] Cobblestones and dirt.

[576] And horse shit.

[577] And it's just like, it's rough times.

[578] That's right.

[579] Okay, so five months later in January 1880, Charles returns to San Francisco.

[580] He comes back and he's the editor -in -chief of The Chronicle again.

[581] He still is going to face a trial for the shooting.

[582] But in the meantime, he sends a reporter out to Boston together evidence that supports the claims that he initially made against Calick.

[583] So he wants it like on record.

[584] He wants the proof that he wasn't just saying your mom's a whore like Calick was.

[585] He's like, no, this guy is a bad guy.

[586] Yeah.

[587] The adultery, the failure to pay debts, his all around bad pastor behavior.

[588] But in the evening of April 23, 1880, while Charles is working late into the night at the newspaper office, Calick's son Milton is sitting at a bar on Market Street brooding over his drink.

[589] been there done that brooding over a drink he's got as my dad would say a pretty good heat on and he's got a five -shot revolver on his waistband and he's got revenge on his mind this is the son the son of the reverend okay his name is milton which is my favorite where it's like milton's going to have his revenge milt's good old milt's going to take care of it he's wearing a sweater vest and he's going to have his revenge his name is milton so later that night Charles is talking to an employee whose last name is Reed.

[590] The office door swings open and Milton Calick walks in the door.

[591] He points his gun at Charles and fires his first of five shots.

[592] He misses Charles.

[593] Charles takes cover behind his employee.

[594] Oh, not cool.

[595] Uh -uh.

[596] I think HR would have something to say about that.

[597] And then Milton fires his second shot.

[598] The bullet comes close enough for gunpowder to burn Reed's face.

[599] but Milton had missed again So Charles runs for the back exit Milton follows closely behind firing off another two shots that don't land So there's a chance that back then Everyone had a gun But no one actually knew how to use guns Or shoot them He was stewing over a couple drinks Not just one Oh no I think he had a bunch of drinks Yeah so he's just like Boop Bidoo I broke his shit He's just like are you over there I see why are there four of you My eyes are crossed.

[600] Charles takes the opportunity to duck down and reach for his own revolver.

[601] But before he can grab it, Milton unloads his last shot.

[602] And it's actually through Charles's face.

[603] He's killed instantly.

[604] Charles DeYoung was 34 years old.

[605] So while all this is happening, there's a group of DeYoung haters in a nearby bar.

[606] And when they hear the gunshots coming from the Chronicle building, they rush over.

[607] and then when they get there and when they see Charles DeYoung brought out on the stretcher with like the sheet over him, they all start cheering and celebrating in the street.

[608] So he really did have a lot of enemies and, you know, he was a controversial character.

[609] Charles' funeral is held two days later on April 25th, 1880.

[610] While his friends and family mourn the loss and celebrate Charles' impressive and controversial life, Calix supporters boo and hiss the funeral procession as it passes by.

[611] Guys, let the family mourn.

[612] No, they can't.

[613] So Milton Calick is promptly arrested after the murder and his trial is held in January of 1881.

[614] 208 witnesses provide their testimonies over the course of 22 days.

[615] So because they were at the Chronicle, all of the employees were there.

[616] They all saw what happened.

[617] They all were able to tell the story and they all were like, yes, it's clear he did it.

[618] Right.

[619] Milton's gun had clearly fired five shots while Charles's gun was never fired.

[620] It looks to be an open and shut case.

[621] Until the end of the trial, when Milton's father, now Mayor Reverend Isaac Callick, takes the stand.

[622] As the prosecuting attorney questions Mayor Callick, he notices the mayor clanging two small metal object around in the palm of his hand as he's speaking.

[623] Finally, unable to ignore distraction any longer, the attorney asks the mayor, what's in?

[624] your hand, the mayor stands and says, these are the two bullets from DeYoung's murderous weapon, which were extracted from my body.

[625] And then he turns and hands the bullets to the jurors.

[626] Oh, my God.

[627] What a power play.

[628] Also, it's his murderous weapon, except for DeYoung didn't kill him.

[629] Right.

[630] Murderish weapon.

[631] Murderesque.

[632] The jury deliberates for a few days, and then they find Milton Calick not guilty of the murder of Charles DeYoung by reason of extenuating circumstances.

[633] Damn.

[634] To make matters worse, one of the employees who testified to witnessing Milton murder Charles is hit with a perjury charge and ends up serving a stint in prison himself.

[635] What?

[636] So now a free man, Milton Callick skips town for a little while to let the dust settle on that whole ordeal.

[637] When he eventually returns, he works as a lawyer in San Francisco until his...

[638] death in 1930.

[639] Wow.

[640] His father, Isaac Kellick, serves two years as a mayor, then opts not to run for a re -election in 1881.

[641] He returns to his pastor job at the Baptist Metropolitan Temple for another two years.

[642] Then he leaves that job in 1883.

[643] He moves to what was at the time, Washington territory.

[644] It hadn't become a state yet.

[645] He takes up farming and he stays there until his death in 1887.

[646] Jeez.

[647] So in 1884, Harry DeYoung commissions sculptor F. Marion Wells to make an eight and a half foot bronze statue of Charles DeYoung at his grave in San Francisco's Odd Fellow Cemetery.

[648] Then Harry takes over operations at the Chronicle, and he ends up running it for the next 50 years.

[649] Wow.

[650] And the Chronicle is eventually built into a huge and well -respected publication, winning numerous Pulitzer Prizes and becoming famous for its writers, its columnists, and most importantly to me, its movie rating system that appeared in the Sunday edition of what they called the pink section, which was the entertainment section.

[651] I was reminded of this in the Wikipedia page, but this truly is the best movie writing system there ever has been and ever will be.

[652] And actually, and I found this in the Wikipedia page, Roger Ebert, said the exact same thing.

[653] Roger Ebert said, quote, the only rating system that makes sense is the little man of the San Francisco Chronicle.

[654] So basically, this is the movie rating system.

[655] There is a tiny man sitting in a movie theater seat, and the man is either sitting up out of his seat applauding.

[656] So it's like his butt is like raised up three inches from the seat.

[657] So that means he fucking loves this movie.

[658] He's going crazy.

[659] That's one review you can get.

[660] then he's just like sitting up really straight and clapping that's the second one then he's just sitting attentively and watching but not clapping that's the third one then he's asleep then the chair is empty those are the five ratings you can get wow in the chronicle and no joke it's like I took it for granted everyone in the Bay Area took it for granted because you would just go through it'd be like oh no the chair's empty like that's so complicated though well but it visually It's complicated to hear it described.

[661] But it makes sense when you see it.

[662] Visually, you get it immediately.

[663] Oh, my God.

[664] It's a little man that looks like wimpy that I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for him.

[665] I see it in my mind.

[666] And he's either loving a movie like he's going apeshit or he fucking left.

[667] Are he sleeping?

[668] It's the greatest.

[669] And that is the story of the murder of Charles DeYoung, the founder of the San Francisco Chronicle.

[670] Wow.

[671] I have never heard that.

[672] I had no idea.

[673] I'd never heard it at all.

[674] And I'm from there.

[675] Yeah, that's wild.

[676] Wow.

[677] Great job.

[678] Thank you.

[679] Twist and turns and dusty roads.

[680] Dusty old roads.

[681] This isn't historic.

[682] But so recently I was looking up just for fun, locked room murders or locked room mysteries where someone's murder in a room that by all intents and purposes, no one could have gotten into.

[683] And I came across the story I'd heard about, it's the mysterious locked room murder of Greg Flaniken.

[684] And there's this great, you know, long Vanity Fair article written by Mark Bowden.

[685] And it's a great article in a really crazy weird case.

[686] It's a mystery.

[687] But then it's not.

[688] Okay.

[689] So the locked room mystery is essentially a murders committed.

[690] There's no explanation for how the perpetrator was able to get in or out of the crime scene without getting caught.

[691] And here's a pretty crazy one.

[692] It's very Agatha Christie, this whole concept.

[693] Yeah.

[694] Yeah.

[695] So September of 2010, 55 year old Greg Flaniken is living in Lafayette, Louisiana with his wife, Susie.

[696] The couple had married when they were young, divorced when they're separate ways, and then 15 years later, got married again.

[697] Oh.

[698] Isn't that sweet?

[699] Yeah.

[700] They're very much in love and And Greg is the vice president of OGM Landco, which is an oil company.

[701] He started with his brother, Michael, and the company is doing really well.

[702] So Greg has this kind of weird schedule, work schedule.

[703] So a lot of his work is conducted two hours away in Beaumont, Texas.

[704] So on Monday mornings, he drives out to Beaumont, checks into this hotel called the MCM Eligante Hotel.

[705] Sounds elegant.

[706] Eligante.

[707] Eligante.

[708] It must be very elegant.

[709] And he stays in Beaumont until Thursday, going to work every day there, and then drives home and spends a weekend with his family.

[710] And Gregus is kind of like, he's like this kind of salt and pepper attractive, like handsomely rugged looking dude.

[711] Looks like he's in good shape.

[712] Greg has been working the schedule for 10 years.

[713] He always stays at this elegant hotel.

[714] It's like his place.

[715] He seems like a creature of habit.

[716] He could rent an apartment in Beaumont, but he likes the simplicity of staying at a hotel and has kind of a ritual when he goes there, which I totally appreciate.

[717] So his ritual when he gets back to the room after a long day of work, he's always tired, of course, so he likes to watch a movie.

[718] So he gets on his bed, props himself up with two pillows, watches a movie, eats a candy bar, drinks of soda and smoke cigarettes.

[719] Like, that's his ritual.

[720] On September 15th, 2010, Greg is staying in room 3 .48 at Elegante.

[721] He speaks to his wife, Susie, multiple times throughout the day, which is normal for them.

[722] He spends the evening like he does every other evening when he's in the hotel.

[723] Tonight, he's eating a Reese's crispy crunch bar, drinking a root beer, smoke in his siggies, and watching Iron Man, too.

[724] So just hanging out on the bed in his pajamas.

[725] The next day, Susie calls, but nobody answers, which is weird because Greg is known to always answer the phone when Susie called, even if he's in a meeting, which I love their codependency.

[726] You know what I mean?

[727] Like speaks to me. At around 9 .30 that morning, Susie calls Greg's office and finds out that he's not there.

[728] So of course she panics and two coworkers go to his hotel room.

[729] Nobody answers the door there.

[730] and so management lets them in, and they find Greg dead on the floor.

[731] He's face down on the rug with a cigarette in between his fingers, like he collapsed while walking across the room.

[732] The police arrive and noticed that there's no blood in the room.

[733] There's no obvious wounds on his body, and there's also no sign of a break -in or struggle.

[734] Nothing is missing from the room, including his wallet, he had a stack of hundreds in it.

[735] It's still there.

[736] So police don't suspect it's a robbery gone wrong.

[737] Because of the circumstances, everyone assumes that Greg's cause of death is just natural causes.

[738] And it turns out Susie was like, well, yeah, he never exercised and he never went to the doctor.

[739] So we kind of always figured, and he ate whatever he want.

[740] He wasn't, you know, unhealthy, but he kind of lived in the life he wanted to live.

[741] So I think no one was really surprised by it being natural causes.

[742] And then police speak with guests who were staying at the hotel as well.

[743] No one reports hearing or seeing anything unusual the night before, in fact, a maintenance.

[744] maintenance man had been in Greg's room around 8 .30 that night while Greg was alive because he had tried to microwave a thing of popcorn and had blown the fuses in like the whole hotel.

[745] So the maintenance man had to come up at 830.

[746] He was alive and wild.

[747] So natural causes seemed like the obvious reason.

[748] But Greg is transported to the medical examiner just for the basic autopsy.

[749] Dr. Tommy Brown examines Greg's body and finds only two marks, a one inch abrasion.

[750] where his face had hit the rug and a half -inch laceration on his scrotum.

[751] According to Vanity Fair, the article, the quote, sack itself was swollen and discolored and around the room was a small amount of edema fluid.

[752] The bruising had spread up through the groin area and across the right hip.

[753] So Dr. Brown theorizes that the wound to Greg Scrotum was most likely caused by a hard kick.

[754] So when Dr. Brown opens Greg's torso up, he finds something he is not expecting.

[755] It's a total mess.

[756] There's a lot of blood and internal damage, even though there's just that one little laceration outside.

[757] There are small lacerations to his intestines, his stomach and liver.

[758] He also has two broken ribs and a hole in his heart.

[759] Dr. Brown theorizes the injuries to Greg's chest and his body were caused by being beaten or crushed to death.

[760] Oh, my God.

[761] Then he surmises that Greg blue.

[762] led to death in less than 30 seconds, and Dr. Brown rules Greg's death a homicide.

[763] So when Lee Detective Scott Apple finds out that Greg was murdered, he is very surprised by it.

[764] Homicide doesn't line up with the evidence in the room, and Greg's body doesn't show any outward signs of being beaten or crushed, and there's no sign of an altercation at the hotel room, and no one at the hotel heard anything in the hallways or anything like that.

[765] so Apple considers that maybe Greg had been beaten to death somewhere else and then his body was taken back to the room but it doesn't make sense because someone would have heard or seen something in that case plus Greg was found without lit cigarette so no one would have gone to the trouble to put a lit cigarette or you know a cigarette in his hand yeah that doesn't make sense so Apple focuses on trying to find a motive so maybe there was someone who wanted Greg dead but it doesn't seem that way Everyone loved Greg.

[766] He didn't hear to have any enemies.

[767] Susie described her husband as a kind and intelligent person who lived an honorable life.

[768] She said Greg couldn't even tell a white lie and people respected that about him.

[769] Apple also finds that Greg was never at the hotel bar.

[770] He didn't socialize with anyone.

[771] It's not like, you know, he's a partier.

[772] Apple looks into the possibility that Susie had hired a hitman or maybe Greg's business partner, his brother Michael, had done so.

[773] But, once again he finds that those are dead ends.

[774] Both Susie and Michael loved Greg very much.

[775] So Apple looks into the hotel maintenance records again because, you know, the maintenance man had been in his room when he had broken a circuit, blown a circuit, whatever.

[776] So it had affected the power in multiple rooms besides Greg's.

[777] He called the front desk to let him know what happened.

[778] The maintenance man is sent to his room to reset the breaker.

[779] And turns out when Apple looks into the maintenance man, he finds out that the man is a sex offender.

[780] So Apple theorizes that perhaps the man punched Greg's scrotum with a screwdriver as some kind of sexual assault.

[781] And that's what caused the internal injuries maybe.

[782] But this angle doesn't pan out.

[783] It's just doesn't work.

[784] They're just trying to put something together.

[785] Right.

[786] The other lead is about some electricians staying in the room next to Greg's.

[787] At the time Greg was murdered, a grip of electricians from Wisconsin are all staying at the hotel for months.

[788] while they worked on a refinery expansion.

[789] And on the night Greg was killed, three of the electricians were in the room next to Greg's partying.

[790] They had been questioned on the day that Greg's body had been found.

[791] They all said they hadn't heard or seen anything.

[792] But Apple keeps going back to these three electricians.

[793] He knows that they're known to get drunk together and party.

[794] He theorized that the men were drinking when maybe when Greg blew the circuit, Maybe the men knocked on Greg's door were pissed about it.

[795] Some words were exchanged and then a fight could have broken out in the hallway.

[796] Then maybe Greg was kicked in the scrotum by one of the electricians who was probably wearing steel -toe boots, you know, just this far -fetched theory.

[797] And then Greg went back to his room and collapsed.

[798] But the theory doesn't make sense.

[799] Again, the cigarette found between his fingers and no one heard anything like that.

[800] Right.

[801] So in November, after a few months of no answers, Greg's family announces a $50 ,000.

[802] a reward.

[803] That leads nowhere.

[804] And so Susie hires a man named Ken Brennan, who's a former police officer and DEA special agent now working as a private detective.

[805] He's got like a really strong New York accent.

[806] It seems, sounds kind of rad.

[807] In April, Brennan meets with Apple and they go to the hotel room where Apple tells Brennan everything he knows, like they're going to work together on this case.

[808] Brennan says that Apple's theory about the electricians is the most plausible and they start looking into this angle further.

[809] They re -interviewed the electricians who had been staying in the rooms throughout the hotel.

[810] One says he heard rumors about a gun going off in one of the rooms, but he isn't sure if it's related.

[811] And Apple and Brennan go back to Greg's hotel room and scour the area for a bullet hole.

[812] They check the floor, the furniture, the wall, but they don't find anything.

[813] And then according to Vanity Fair, just as they're about to give up, Brennan, quote, notices an indentation in the wall alongside the closed door that leads into the adjoining room.

[814] Ooh.

[815] The indentation looks like a repair job.

[816] They decide to go into the adjoining room where the electricians had been and look at that side.

[817] There's a hole that lines up with the one that goes into Greg's room.

[818] It had been patched with toothpaste.

[819] Oh, that's like an old college dorm room trick.

[820] Like, yeah, you won't get caught or like...

[821] Right.

[822] Any kind of, if you have a pin prick in the wall, you cover it with a little toothpaste.

[823] Yeah.

[824] So it turns out it is a bullet hole, which had traveled through the wall of 349 where the dudes were partying and had exited through the adjoining door to room 348, the exact spot where Greg had been sitting, propped up watching Iron Man 2.

[825] He got shot through the wall.

[826] Brennan and Apple go back to the medical examiner, Dr. Brown, with their findings.

[827] He's like, that's impossible.

[828] He was not shot.

[829] There's no way I wouldn't have seen that.

[830] He had seen no evidence of a bullet hole.

[831] But as they look over the autopsy photos, they realize that the bullet had entered Greg Scrotum.

[832] And according to Vanity Fair, Dr. Brown hadn't realized it was a bullet entry because, quote, the scrotum was soft and pliable.

[833] It had folded over the entry wound, making it less obvious that it was actually there.

[834] God, that's so, that's just so odd and like.

[835] And like what are the chances?

[836] Yes, completely.

[837] After entering the scrotum, the bullet had bounced around inside of Greg's torso, damaging organs as it went.

[838] And the hole that had been found in Greg's heart had also been a bullet hole.

[839] Oh, my God.

[840] And her disgrunt and went through his body and did at his heart.

[841] So everything now makes sense to them.

[842] When Greg was shot, he was smoking a cigarette in bed.

[843] After being shot, he got off the bed and moved towards the door.

[844] He probably didn't, probably just had this sharp pain and didn't know what it was, right?

[845] So he gets up to go to the door, but he falls face first to the ground and dies before he could make it, which explained why he still had a cigarette in his hand when he fell.

[846] Dr. Brown's now convinced that Greg died of a gunshot wound.

[847] not of a beating or crushing.

[848] So Brennan and Apple decide to re -interview those electricians who had been in 3 -49.

[849] They first meet with Tim, and he tells them that he doesn't know anything, but after detectives tell him what they know and that they know something happened, Tim confesses.

[850] On the night of September 15th, the three men were drinking in the room.

[851] At some point, Lance asked Trent to go get a whiskey bottle and his 9 -millimeter pistol from his car.

[852] Trent comes back and Lance takes the gun and starts playing with it and the gun goes off accidentally and a bullet hit the wall behind them they didn't go check to see if the bullet had struck anyone I mean what are the fucking chances it would have right but still the chances are good it happens all the time right fucking play with guns you fucking idiot absolutely why is that a thing why can't men just be like hey I like hanging out with you Instead, they're like, go get my gun.

[853] I have to play with my gun in front of you.

[854] Yeah, my loaded gun.

[855] Guns should have breathalizers.

[856] I mean, good Lord.

[857] It just shouldn't be.

[858] They didn't go check.

[859] Instead, Lance freaks out, wraps the gun up, took it back to the car.

[860] Trent went back to his room.

[861] They were all really upset about it.

[862] And Lance and Tim used toothpaste and toilet paper to fill the bullet hole in the room.

[863] Then went to the hotel bar and kept drinking.

[864] They said they didn't know anyone had been hurt until Greg was found the next morning.

[865] They freak out and Tim thought Lance had killed the guy.

[866] They obviously could tell what was happening.

[867] Lance gives an attorney the gun.

[868] Then the attorney looks at the original autopsy and is like, no, he got beaten to death.

[869] So you didn't actually kill him.

[870] So you don't need to go forward with that.

[871] So Lance figured he was clear of all wrongdoing.

[872] You know what I mean?

[873] So the electricians stay at their job until it's complete.

[874] They go back home to Wisconsin.

[875] They don't tell anyone what happened.

[876] Before leaving the station, after being questioned, Tim calls Lance in front of Brennan and Apple, tells him that he'd confessed after officers told him that Greg had died from a gunshot wound.

[877] Lance refuses to believe it.

[878] But then Tim tells him it's true and he should contact his attorney and detectives.

[879] So the other guy, Trent, corroborates what Tim had said.

[880] said and Lance Mueller is arrested.

[881] And finally, the locked room mystery of Greg Flaniken is solved.

[882] So in October 2012, 48 -year Lance pleads no contest to manslaughter.

[883] He faces sentencing from probation to 20 years and he ends up getting sentenced to 10 years.

[884] After the judge tells him that he had just gone to authorities or at least check to see if anyone had been hurt after he fired the gun, he probably wouldn't have gotten in trouble.

[885] But, he didn't.

[886] And that is the locked door murder mystery of Greg Flaniken.

[887] God, it's just a tragedy all around.

[888] Yeah.

[889] It's like there's so much to lose.

[890] Yeah.

[891] There's so much to lose.

[892] He was 55 and you know, living his life.

[893] Also just random and crazy.

[894] Yeah.

[895] Yeah.

[896] Like what like what the chances I feel like are one in a million that they would hit someone who was sitting in an exact fucking spot.

[897] Yeah.

[898] And like not even hit him in the arm, like hit him and killed him.

[899] Within moments.

[900] Yes, exactly.

[901] Like the, the odds are insane and also just just in one second.

[902] Everything changes and everything.

[903] And they don't know, but they also didn't ask.

[904] Like, you shoot a gun through a wall in a hotel.

[905] Yeah.

[906] I would have somebody check on it.

[907] I would call down.

[908] be like, hey, we fucked up really bad.

[909] Yeah.

[910] But that idea that you're kind of like, I'm sure it's fine.

[911] I mean, even I hate to say that because, you know, there's no malice that was just a stupid drunken mistake.

[912] Totally.

[913] It's really, it's tragic.

[914] And yeah, that's what happens when you play with guns.

[915] God.

[916] Should we do a couple fucking arrays?

[917] Sure.

[918] I want to go first?

[919] Do you want me to go first?

[920] Go ahead.

[921] Okay.

[922] Uh, this was emailed to us.

[923] It starts, fucking hooray, I quit drinking two years ago today.

[924] I obviously didn't know that nine weeks into sobriety, the entire fucking world would shut down and I might lose my business and home.

[925] I've been hilariously pissed at myself for my terrible timing, but just imagining where I might find myself today after those months in quarantine with fear, anxiety, and booze makes me so fucking relieved.

[926] So cheers to pushing 50 and coping with the pandemic.

[927] And this hellscape, we call home, with the help of medical science and the world's greatest friends, not alcohol.

[928] Oh, nice.

[929] Wait, who wrote that?

[930] I didn't sign it.

[931] Oh, Anon?

[932] Anon.

[933] Alcoholic Anonymous?

[934] Amazing work.

[935] And you know what?

[936] It's such a good point to make that, like, everybody gets to have their escape, however they need it.

[937] We all need our oblivion, as my therapist likes to say.

[938] but it does add to it, you know, alcohol is a depressant.

[939] And the idea that that person is appreciating, it's almost like it's good to practice doing hard things.

[940] It's good to practice doing the thing you don't want to do because then the next hard thing is a little bit easier because you do it.

[941] I love that.

[942] Yeah.

[943] That's actually a quote from my cousin Stevie.

[944] He's the one that said that.

[945] That's a really great point, though, too.

[946] It's like I get grumpy that I have to do the things I don't want to do, but the things that I know will help me, like not drinking and exercise.

[947] But yeah, you practice those and then the big things come that are even harder to do and you can believe in yourself.

[948] It's like challenge practice.

[949] Yeah.

[950] Just kind of like, then you can, then everything doesn't feel so overwhelming.

[951] If you're kind of like, all right, this isn't, it's like when we were texting earlier, I'm like, it's not the hardest thing we're ever going to do.

[952] We can do it.

[953] Yeah.

[954] Which is, you know, that's like I stole that from someone else too.

[955] where I was complaining about going to the dentist because I didn't go to the dentist in a long time.

[956] And the person who said it to me is like, it's not the hardest thing you're ever going to do.

[957] And I was like, yeah, so you're right about that.

[958] Oh, God.

[959] My first one is from Ania, from Twitter, Anya underscore 0515.

[960] This is from back in November.

[961] I printed these ones up and I have them just sitting on my desk.

[962] I know.

[963] They're so a minor old.

[964] They're evergreen.

[965] Yeah.

[966] So Ania says, my fucking hooray is that yesterday, I got to open a production of R &H.

[967] What does that mean?

[968] R &H's Rogers and Hammerstein.

[969] Cinderella, in which I play Cinderella, showing all the children of color in my community, they can be whatever they want to be.

[970] Oh, my God.

[971] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[972] That is beautiful.

[973] Congratulations, Anya.

[974] That's incredible.

[975] I hope that run of Cinderella was amazing because, yeah, I bet it's over now.

[976] All right.

[977] My last one.

[978] This is once called Fucking Hooray, now featuring Tear Away Pants.

[979] Oh.

[980] This is from Megan.

[981] My fucking gray is that my boyfriend, who I spent all of Christmas Day roasting for wearing tearaway pants, ended up tearing off his pants in front of my whole family to reveal nice clothes and then propose to me. How good is that?

[982] Oh, I'm so jealous.

[983] Oh, good.

[984] That's such a, oh, that's supposed.

[985] best.

[986] So how did he propose to you?

[987] Well, whoosh.

[988] He showed up all sloppy and I had to give him shit for looking sloppy.

[989] He knew that would bug her.

[990] Yeah, what a good move to like, hey, Megan, in front of the whole family.

[991] Hilarious.

[992] He knows how close I am with my family and enlisted the help of my mom to make it absolutely perfect.

[993] Love it.

[994] He also picked out the ring all by himself and showed it to my mom whose response was, you literally found Megan in ring form.

[995] God, congratulations, Megan.

[996] High five.

[997] High five and tarot pants.

[998] This is also Twitter from Roman Danvers, R .M. Danvers.

[999] My fucking hooray is that after two years and seven months of not speaking, I saw my parents and we are now on track to having a better relationship.

[1000] They also told me that they were proud to have me a trans man as their son.

[1001] Oh, God.

[1002] Right?

[1003] Chills.

[1004] Congratulations, Roman.

[1005] Oh, my gosh.

[1006] Roman.

[1007] What an incredible name, first of all.

[1008] But, oh my God, two and a half like that.

[1009] Also, just the ability to stick in and keep trying with something that hurts so bad and is so difficult.

[1010] It's the amount of strength that shows.

[1011] Because it is all about repair work, as we know, in the long term.

[1012] And that is an incredible accomplishment.

[1013] And it really says something about Roman's parents too.

[1014] Yeah.

[1015] And it's such a, it's such a mature, like, it's mature to decide that you don't need a relationship with people who have hurt you, but it's just as mature to decide that you want to work through those things to have a different and better relationship with someone.

[1016] Yeah.

[1017] Yeah.

[1018] He killed it.

[1019] Yeah.

[1020] Congratulations, Roman.

[1021] Guys, great fucking arrays.

[1022] Keep sending them in and then we'll read them in three months.

[1023] Like, we'll read them when we read them.

[1024] They were in a drawer.

[1025] Mine had to simmer another draw a little bit to just get to the perfect spot.

[1026] They had a, not aged, lightly aged.

[1027] Perfectly aged.

[1028] Oh, my God.

[1029] Yeah, I think that's it for us, right?

[1030] Yeah.

[1031] You guys, all of this epic stuff, we couldn't fucking obviously do without you.

[1032] We're nothing without you.

[1033] We're nothing and we appreciate you so much.

[1034] We are huge fans of yours.

[1035] Yeah.

[1036] So stay sexy.

[1037] And don't get murdered.

[1038] Goodbye.

[1039] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[1040] This has been an exactly right production.

[1041] Our producer is Hannah Kyle Crichton.

[1042] Associate producer Alejandra Keck.

[1043] Engineer and mixer.

[1044] Steven.

[1045] Ray Morris.

[1046] Researchers, Jay Elias and Haley Gray.

[1047] Send us your hometowns and your fucking hoorays at My Favorite Murder at Gmail .com.

[1048] And follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and Twitter at MyFave Murder.

[1049] And for more information about this podcast, our live shows, merch, or to join the fancult, go to My Favorite Murder .com.

[1050] Rate review and subscribe.

[1051] Thank you.