MFM Minisode 389

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] And welcome to my favorite murder.

[2] The minisodes.

[3] That's right.

[4] We read you your emails.

[5] It's email time, everybody.

[6] Are you ready?

[7] Do you want me to go first?

[8] Sure.

[9] The subject line of this email is, Are you mad at me?

[10] And then it just goes right into it.

[11] That's the only reason I can think of as to why you haven't picked this hometown yet.

[12] And then it says, I'm from Seattle.

[13] You already know.

[14] One afternoon in 2001, my mom took my sister and me out of school to see a movie because fuck fifth grade social studies.

[15] She knew it was important.

[16] We grew up in a questionable neighborhood, so we often traveled to a neighboring city to go to the good theater.

[17] To get there, you had to pass through a creepy road called Peasley Canyon.

[18] It is long, winding, and poorly lit.

[19] This particular day, we turned a bend, and there were probably 50 people in bright orange and yellow vests, digging up the steep canyon.

[20] We all thought it was odd, but went about our day.

[21] When we got home, my mom turned on the 5 o 'clock news and immediately yelled, oh my God, that's Gary.

[22] No. That's what they meant by, I'm from Seattle, you already know.

[23] Oh, my God, Gary Ridgeway.

[24] So she ran to the back of the house to grab my dad, and they watched the news in shock.

[25] The man whose mugshot was on the screen was that of Gary Ridgeway, the Green River Killer, and what we had driven by earlier in the day was police digging for bodies and or evidence.

[26] My mom had been a barista years earlier and Gary frequently stopped by her coffee shop on Pack Highway.

[27] She said he was always really polite.

[28] They had small talk and she regularly told him what was new with my sister and me. Unfortunately, my mom, Julie, passed away when I was 22 from brain cancer.

[29] Oh, I'm so sorry.

[30] I'm 33 now and there are, isn't a day that goes by that I do not miss her.

[31] She was a warrior that took no shit, and she was my other half.

[32] She taught me to fuck politeness and always trust my gut long before I found MFM.

[33] She also made me a paranoid freak.

[34] Folks, don't let your children regularly watch Dateline and CSI, I beg you.

[35] Jules forever.

[36] Stay sexy and be careful of who you serve coffee to, Dana.

[37] My God, Dana.

[38] Wow.

[39] I mean.

[40] Yeah, that's just.

[41] A big one.

[42] It is the like my mom met a real life monster.

[43] Yeah.

[44] And nobody knew.

[45] You couldn't tell.

[46] You can't tell.

[47] Yeah.

[48] At all.

[49] So crazy.

[50] Okay.

[51] This one's sad.

[52] It's a PSA.

[53] Hometown slash carbon monoxide PSA.

[54] Oh.

[55] Trigger warning deaths of children and adults.

[56] It starts high tias like aunties in Spanish.

[57] My parents are from a tiny village in Mexico and there's never a shortage of crazy stories coming out of there.

[58] However, today I'm writing in with a car.

[59] morbid monoxide horror story.

[60] In a neighboring town, there was a house with 12 people living inside, a couple with their adult children, their adult children's spouses, and their own kids.

[61] Basically, the adult children built additions onto the parents' house and lived there with their own families.

[62] About two weeks ago, a pot of food was left burning on a stove overnight.

[63] I mean, I could see myself doing something like that.

[64] I have definitely, not overnight, but I have done that.

[65] Yeah, just forgetting that you put on water to boil or something like that.

[66] Yeah.

[67] They think the pot might have overflowed a little, put the stove's flame out, and messed up the pilot light thingy.

[68] As a result, carbon monoxide steeped out and flowed into the room adjacent to the kitchen where one set of parents and their three young kids were sleeping.

[69] Unfortunately, it's pretty common for doors not to have traditional locks and instead be bolted from the inside by something.

[70] So by the time other people in the house realized what had happened and tried to get into the room, it was too late.

[71] The parents and the three three kids from that room by the kitchen were found dead, and a baby that also lived in the house, but in a different room died soon after.

[72] Six of the 12 people in the house died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

[73] Horrifying.

[74] Terrifying.

[75] I can't fathom so much loss in one house, and my heart truly goes out to that grieving family.

[76] After my mom told me about it, she said, quote, yeah, your great uncle also died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

[77] Your grandpa had to pull his body onto his horse and take him home to their mom, end quote.

[78] My mom loves to drop traumatic bombs like this in the most normal tone ever.

[79] Since hearing all this, I ordered a carbon monoxide detector for my apartment and was shocked to see that it was less than $20.

[80] Everyone, please go buy one.

[81] Yes.

[82] Karen and Georgia, you two are a huge part of why I got myself on antidepressants and why I fostered a cat.

[83] Hey.

[84] Two amazing things to do for yourself.

[85] And then it says, which I immediately failed and adopted.

[86] He's an orange cat named Jimmy.

[87] And yes, I also have ADHD.

[88] hence the parentheses.

[89] Like all three of those asides were in parentheses that I just said.

[90] I've been listening since 2016 and I love you both so much.

[91] Thank you and your entire team for all you do, heart emoji.

[92] Stay sexy and beware of carbon monoxide, Steph, she, her.

[93] That's a rough PSA, but so necessary because I think people don't think about it.

[94] I think the stories are so horrible that are like that.

[95] Totally.

[96] People don't talk about them.

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[111] Goodbye.

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[126] That's Audible dot com slash murder or text murder to 500 500 for a free 30 day trial and your first audio book for free goodbye okay we'll take a little left turn here i love this story i love this email the subject line is a worthwhile things in wall's story hello all long time listener sixth isish time writer maybe today's the day it is the day today's the day before i begin i want to say thank you For what you do, I just adore you both.

[127] Anyway, here's my things in Wall's story.

[128] When I was 13 years old, I scored my dream job working in my small town to cinema movie theater.

[129] A couple years after being there, a few of us noticed a door that blended in with the wall at the rear exit of the theater.

[130] This door was located in a small, dark, vestibule -like area between the two sets of exit doors.

[131] The door was maybe three by three, painted black like the wall surrounding it.

[132] One night, in between showings, when we had a 90 -minute break, we decided to pry open the back exit and check out what was behind the mystery door.

[133] Armed with our cinema -issued flashlights, most commonly used to bust horny or misbehaving teenagers in the theater, we wedged open the door and climbed up and through the opening.

[134] I really thought we might find something like a small storage closet, but we found our Narnia.

[135] Behind this door was a huge room with a ceiling up to the exposed rafters, an old couch circa 1975, a couple of chairs, a lamp, and a coffee table, basically an outdated and dusty relic of a living room.

[136] The room was directly behind the movie theater screen, so we could see the movie playing in an inverted format.

[137] Oh my God.

[138] This room became our secret hideout between movies, and it became the sacred spot where we shared our 90s, teenage angst, had a few make -out sessions, snuck in warm beers, and smoked, oh, so many cigarettes.

[139] I can only imagine the theater's customer's confusion in seeing smoke come out of the screen, but oddly, nobody ever complained.

[140] Wow.

[141] No narcs in your town, that's pretty cool.

[142] Who set up that room you may be asking or not, but I'm going to tell you, well, the generation of teenage cinema workers before us had set it up because one of the guys was the owner's son, so he knew about the room.

[143] They never told any of us, though, and we had to discover it on our own.

[144] That's right.

[145] You had to earn it.

[146] You had to care.

[147] You had to be curious.

[148] You had to open small weird doors and take the risk.

[149] We, too, never told the next generation of employees, but I like to think that each generation found it and made the same kind of incredible memories we did, minus the cigarettes, but probably plus the vapes.

[150] Stay sexy and use your flashlight wisely.

[151] Nicole, she heard.

[152] Oh, my God.

[153] Use your flashlight wisely.

[154] I like that.

[155] That's so cute.

[156] Okay, this one's called I accidentally stole an old man's dog and posed as a possible teen kidnapper question mark.

[157] And then it starts, hello, said in the same way your intro begins.

[158] So I just had to do it.

[159] Not only am I writing it for the first time, but I am also listening to your latest episode, blobs and goo.

[160] So that's an answer to what are you even doing right now?

[161] Getting it all done at one time in one email.

[162] That's right.

[163] But honestly, I just paused it because I can't focus on what I'm writing despite your lovely intro banter.

[164] Here's my story.

[165] A few years ago, I had a baby and then decided to train for a marathon to lose some baby weight and have something outside of the baby to focus on, you know, as people do.

[166] So it was December 23rd and I was running with my faithful sidekick Lou, Mini Aussie, who'd run herself to death if she could when I spotted a little wiry -haired dog near an upcoming turn with no other human.

[167] in sight.

[168] I stopped to look at its collar, which didn't have a tag, so I decided to put it on my double -sided leash and run the three miles home.

[169] It was very slow, so I encouraged it.

[170] I named it McGillicuddy and cheered the little guy on using a bad Irish accent.

[171] When I got home, my husband was like W -2F, but also kind of used to me finding lost dogs on my runs.

[172] It was a Sunday, and the shelter was closed, so we packed our new baby, the human one, into our car, as well as our new dog edition, the neighborhood trying to spot someone looking for a dog.

[173] As we did this, it started getting dark because it was 4 p .m. in Montana in December.

[174] We pulled up to a department complex near where I'd found McGillicuddy and saw a set of teen girls walking toward an apartment.

[175] Since we were looking for anyone walking around, my husband was driving super slow.

[176] My husband rolled down the window and yelled, do you happen to know the owner of this dog?

[177] It's in our trunk.

[178] If you come closer, you can just look in the back window and see it.

[179] fucking man that doesn't even sound like it doesn't even it sounds like an english translated sentence where it's like you started you buried the lead also is the dog in the trunk what's happening i must have an SUV but it's also like hey i write up a like how do i get these teen girls to look in my car you know what i mean it's just such ridiculousness yeah give me some luring language yeah exactly to which they stop dead in their tracks fear in their eyes so obviously Obviously, he said, we're not creepy.

[180] We have a baby, which somehow made us less sketchy.

[181] They quickly ran to their apartment and we were like, whoops, and laughed.

[182] And eventually gave up and took McGill Cuddy home for the evening.

[183] The next day of my husband took her to the shelter.

[184] And as he was getting her out of the car, an old man pulled in, rolled down his window, and he screamed, Molly McGee.

[185] And she went running towards him.

[186] Oh, Molly McGee.

[187] He started crying and offered my husband money for taking care of her, which, she didn't take.

[188] The old man asked where we found her, and I guess she was like a hundred yards from his apartment fence when I scooped her up and took her three miles down the road.

[189] Yeah.

[190] But what a great Christmas Eve miracle I gave him.

[191] Anyway, stay sexy and don't steal old men's dogs, question mark.

[192] Elise.

[193] Well, you cannot leave a little scrappy dog by itself, even though it's right near its own apartment.

[194] We can't have another dog.

[195] I know that.

[196] I know it's like we shouldn't and we can't.

[197] We won't.

[198] But sometimes if I see a dog like at the park that I don't, that's walking off leash and I don't immediately see its owner, I get so excited where I'm like, our new dog.

[199] Yes.

[200] Of course we're taking a dog.

[201] Yes.

[202] Of course.

[203] And it's exciting.

[204] And it's like suddenly you get to be the hero, you know, and you keep this dog from anything bad happening.

[205] Because that idea, like, that's all my TikTok is.

[206] is people, a little puppy being discovered in like a field or something.

[207] Oh, my God, my dreams.

[208] Like, the best.

[209] It's like you can't purposely get a do dog or another dog, but you can accidentally happen upon one.

[210] And then it just, that's your dog now.

[211] Then it's you didn't do anything.

[212] It's the law.

[213] It's God's law and will.

[214] It's God and the Lord's law.

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[235] okay here's my last one i won't read you the subject line it says dear captivating karen and gripping georgia oh my god love it um those are our new nicknays i'm a day one listener thanks to my sister naomi who played the john veney ramsie episode in the car one night wow was that your first story yeah dang their day oh it said it right there i didn't register oh i'm a i'm a day one listener I was literally about to be like, guess what?

[236] Naomi, you're a day one listener.

[237] Oh, you said that already.

[238] Oh, no, and it's Naomi as the sister.

[239] Okay.

[240] Anyhow, in Minnesota 355, you asked for stories about large families, how you get all those kids around, and FOMO about family events from before you were born.

[241] Here is that story.

[242] I'm the eighth of ten kids from, and I'm guessing the pronunciation here, Geylong in Australia.

[243] Could be G -Long, could be G -Long, could be a whole other choice that isn't obvious.

[244] My parents, Frank and Louise, have 10 kids who range from 40 -ish to 18 -ish to answer common questions.

[245] Number one, we're all full siblings.

[246] Number two, the ratio is six girls to four boys.

[247] And number three, yes, my parents had a TV.

[248] And then there's an eye roll in parentheses.

[249] So I think that's a joke about her parents doing it.

[250] In the early 90s, my dad bought an old limo to transatlose.

[251] port the seven older kids around.

[252] They called it the beast.

[253] Apparently, it used to be an airport boardroom for a big company in Melbourne and had seven rotating leather seats, a bar, and a dividing window.

[254] Wow.

[255] Dad said he loved being able to close the dividing window to block out the now.

[256] I bet.

[257] That is the best.

[258] To block out the noisy kids in back.

[259] apparently Naomi would wind down her window and wave to people on the street like she was the fucking queen.

[260] And like she was the fucking queen is in quotes.

[261] They had the beast for about five years until dad decided it was ridiculous to drive seven kids around in a bloody limo.

[262] This all happened before I was born.

[263] So obviously I have severe fomo.

[264] Love everything you do, especially surrounding mental health.

[265] Love to you both, Cherie.

[266] Oh, Shiree.

[267] That's such a good one.

[268] A gigantic family driving around in a limo.

[269] Fuck yeah.

[270] When you were a kid, a limo was like a dream.

[271] The greatest.

[272] Yeah.

[273] Okay, my last one's another Wheat -Wistle story.

[274] Why, hello, you all.

[275] I just listened to a minisode episode where a listener wrote in about two young girls hanging out in a basement when they heard strange whistles coming from behind hanging partitions.

[276] I loved how Georgia couldn't whistle and was laughing so hard at the Wheat -Wood description of the whistle.

[277] I forgot that's where it came from.

[278] Yeah.

[279] This reminded me of my own wheat -woot story.

[280] So I wanted to share.

[281] When my kids were three and five, around 15 years ago, we took a family trip to Hawaii.

[282] While my kids and husband were playing on the beach, I decided to take a quick walk to the local mini -mart to buy some popsicles.

[283] I had to pass by some houses to get to the store, and on my way there, I heard that cat calling whistle.

[284] While internally flattered, wow, do I still have it after giving birth to two kids?

[285] I externally rolled my eyes, pervert.

[286] I finished my task of buying popsicles and on my way back, I heard that we whistle again.

[287] I rolled my eyes again, but was curious, so I turned back to look.

[288] The offender?

[289] A fucking parrot sitting on the porch of a house.

[290] Talk about getting put in my place of instant humility.

[291] I told my friends, and to this day we still crack up.

[292] I hope you all are cracking up as well.

[293] Stay sexy, but not so sexy or you have to roll your eyes because of cat calls from a cute parrot.

[294] It's like the parrot was fucking with Susie.

[295] That's so funny.

[296] I dare you to look over here.

[297] I dare you to look over here.

[298] Oh, it's a parrot.

[299] It's a parrot.

[300] Also, it's like a parrot doing an impression of a purve, which is so triple funny.

[301] Yeah.

[302] Well, you got to wonder, like, who taught it how to do that to people walking by on the beach.

[303] Someone knew.

[304] A guy that wants to catcole and can't do it anymore.

[305] Yeah, that's exactly right.

[306] This is what it used it to be like, back in my.

[307] Is that it?

[308] That's it.

[309] Oh, my God.

[310] All right.

[311] Well, thank you guys for listening.

[312] If you want to watch what just happened that you just listen to, there's video of it, parts of it on the fan cult.

[313] Yep.

[314] It's really compelling because my hair is doing the weirdest shit and I'm trying not to fix it the whole time.

[315] Yeah.

[316] It's hard.

[317] I'm trying not to wipe my nose the whole time because I have allergies.

[318] It's so fun.

[319] You guys, the visuals of a podcast bring a whole other world to your feet.

[320] Engage.

[321] And fascinating.

[322] It's so exciting.

[323] All right, stay sexy.

[324] And don't get murdered.

[325] Goodbye.

[326] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[327] This has been an exactly right production.

[328] Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

[329] Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[330] This episode was mixed by Leanna Squalachie.

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

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

[333] Goodbye.