And That's Why We Drink - E101 A Ghost in the Nude and a Pasta Peddler

Episode Date: January 6, 2019

Christine’s immune system rebelled against her this week, so we’re coming at you with our first Philly live show! Em covers the General Wayne Inn, which features some pretty judgmental drunken spirits, and Christine covers the Philly Poison Ring, which is full of spaghetti, witchcraft, and, of course, murder. Philly, thanks for being good to us. Til next time. And that’s why we drink!

Hi everyone, so this is episode 101, 101 Dalmatians, as I like to call it, and Em and I have not been in the same room for many weeks, and it is very weird, we haven't seen each other at all since long, long time ago, 2018. This week we were planning on recording an episode for you all, and then I ended up with a lovely trifecta of a sinus infection, a UTI, and six cold sores. So unfortunately we were not able to record as scheduled, so we have this extra special episode that we were planning on releasing in a couple weeks lined up for you guys. It's our show from Philly, from Punchline Philly, and we had so much fun at the show, and it's one of my favorites, so we've been saving this up to play for you guys. The audio of these shows is getting a lot better, so if that's a concern of yours, do not worry, and pretty soon we are getting ready to gear up for our new shows, which are coming up soon. We have a lot. We just sold out Chicago. We're almost sold out of Boston. And there are several shows, including Phoenix and some other ones coming up that still have tickets left. So please, please, please come see us. You can check our tour schedule at

and that's why we drink dot com slash live. And that will take you to the list as well as the links to all the shows that are available. So keep an eye out our Instagram. That's where we post new shows and be sure and buy tickets because a lot of them have already sold out. So we want to make sure you guys get a chance while you can. Uh, that being said, we are super happy to share this episode with you guys and we cannot wait to record the next several, um, which we're going to do this week and release while we're on tour. So don't worry, you're going to get a lot more episodes coming up. But for now, here's our Punchline Philly show. And it starts with a pretty bang in tune. So get ready. Crackin' Sorry I feel like a kid that's about to give a presentation

That he has no idea about We just flew in from Los Angeles And boy are my arms tired Fun fact, he was a wonton Listen, English is my first language Is Tamara Holmes? Whoops Sassy with me

Sassy the clown The clown is showing Finish your drink And that's why we drink Sassy the clown. The clown is shy. Ooh, a fight. Ooh, sweet that boob. Finish your drink. And that's why we dream. Hello. Hello, Philly. Oh, my God. Em doesn't let me walk out anymore during the song.

I have to wait so I can't dance in front of you. I didn't say anything. I was like, we can go out and dance. I just didn't want to. Last time I ran out and I was dancing and then it was just really long, a really long song. Yeah, we didn't realize how long it was until we're just waiting there. And I was just gyrating and it was really not fun for anyone. Hi, Philly. Hot damn. What's going on? I've never been here before. Oh, those aren't your notes.

Get off my notes. You haven't been here before? Not to Philly, no. No, I haven't, and it is beautiful. They're like, I've been here before. I came here on an eighth grade trip. And it was a sleepover. Oh.

We were a very bougie school. But that was the last time I was here, so I guess I'm no better. Well, I asked my mom earlier today. I called her and I was like, oh, I'm in Philly. And she's like, ha, ha, ha, Philly. And I was like, I don't know what that means. And she's like, I once decided to go on a vacation from New York to Philly when she was living in New York in her twenties. And she was like, so I got on this overnight Greyhound and all I hear is a man going,

whoever's going or whoever's getting off at Philly, like time to get off now. And she was like, I'm not going to Philly. I'm going to Philadelphia. So she just stayed on the bus. And she's like, eight and a half hours later, I woke up in Cincinnati and thought, this is a cool town. And guess where I'm from? Is that really the story? Oh, my God. Well, she didn't move. She was like, this is a nice town. And then a few years later, she found a job there and was like, yeah, I went there when I was trying to go to Philly. Oh, my God. Well, that's a great origin story, I guess.

So she loves to brag that it's called Philly. And I'm like, yeah, everyone knows that except you. So it's okay. Well, while we're here, when in Rome, we had Philly cheesesteaks for lunch. And then our Uber driver was like, you went to a very touristy no i don't remember listen everyone's shouting names that they're all the names that we didn't i'm not gonna tell you listen we'll try again another time um and do you have a reason why you drink am i putting you on the spot we didn didn't prepare this. We didn't really.

I mean, we're just happy to be here. I'm so excited to be in Philly. I've never been here. I'm so amped. Why do you drink? I always forget. I drink because, well, I'm glad that I am seeing, oh, there it is.

I'm trying to be discreet. I'm glad to be seeing a little change of pace because for the last week I've been in D.C. and no, yeah, huh, and nobody knows this

except the people who were at the D.C. live shows but my mother was in attendance. For both shows. And, whoa, I know. She had a more red carpet affair

than we did because Ever in my life, yeah. she rented out a stretch limo a white white stretch limo a white stretch limo to take her from fredericksburg to dc which is about an hour and then she filled it with a keg she filled it with a half a gallon of tequila several bottles of wine and vodka. I wasn't invited. And I got a text from her before she even got to the venue and she was like, it's all gone.

And then the security guy comes in. He knocks on the door and he's like, so the party started. We're like, what happened? And he said, so your mom and some friends walked in with solo cups. Full solo cups with the leftover booze. And said that Em told them they were allowed to bring in their own alcohol. And we were like, we didn't know such a thing. Their own open containers. And I was like, and which one of them told you that?

Your mom. And I was like, no, I didn't say that at all. In a red fur coat. It was quite an evening. Anyway, that's why I drink. I'm glad I'm in like a space of sanity now so yes thank you guys although I learned something really interesting about Christine and her her the way that she handles people being really uh feeling really stressed

out so I really was just panic stricken that my mom was going to get us kicked out of the venue and so I started crying it's okay because it was a panic-inducing moment for me. It was truly just out of anxiety, because we all know my stage performance anxiety is tops. Between that and my mom bringing all of Fredericksburg hammered to DC, I started crying a little bit. One stoic

tear. And Christine, this is how she handled it. She went, hey, hey, hey, let's play Pictionary. And Pictionary wasn't an option. It just came out. She was like, let's just play. And I was like, what would I want to hear? Anyway, I drink because I found out

another very touching thing about Christine. That was a beautiful moment. And poor Eva was like, am I supposed to go get Pictionary? I don't know what to do with this. Anyway. All right, I've talked about my mother enough it's time it's about me now yeah yeah and you I guess you're here so anyway hi guys okay all right let's do this let's let's start off oh you all you're also gonna see me bending a very specific way because apparently the computer is over here well I, I think we can probably... The instruction said

you can... What did the instruction say? Let's learn about this now. It said you can stroll... It said you can stroll around a 30-foot conference room. Okay, let's see. Well, it didn't work.

Shit. Eva! It was only $7 on Amazon. Wait, give me that. Guys, actually, you just get our logo for the whole show. Wow! Em, it's off.

Oh. It's literally off. Why would we trust me with anything? There it is. So, now that I've gotten that out of the way, who would like to hear a ghost story? Me, me, me, me, me, me. All right. I do this for suspense what is it this is the story of adding suspense here you see oh my god i just like to be dramatic

i'm sorry this is the story of the general way Inn. Does anyone know? Nope? Great. We're all going to learn. We do appreciate the cheers. Sometimes it's just very quiet. I know. It's like they either don't know it or they really hate it. Yeah, and then it's really awkward because you have to sit here while I talk about it for a while. Alright, well I'm glad you guys

seem neutral at least. Let's see if I really win you over. The General Wayne Inn. Ooh. Oh my. Look at that little horse. So spooky. The General Wayne Inn is in Marion Station.

Do we know where that is? Alright. It's apparently on Google Maps 18 minutes away from Philadelphia. Great. Great. Yeah. I like all of the, like, everyone fully sums. You are amped. Love it, love it.

Everyone's like, yeah, 18 minutes. So, the house was designed in the style of a 1700s English coaching inn. Mm-hmm. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Sure. Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. Damn it, that was fast. Originally, town meetings and different

ghost hunting organizations would use this house to meet in the dining room for their events. So for a long time, this is ghost hunting has been quite well known to this house. Because ghosts have been in this house since the 1700s.

Whoa. Ooh. Old-timey ghosts. So, it was originally known as the William Penn Inn, the Wayside Inn. All right. The Tunis Ordinary. Tunis Ordinary.

Woo-hoo. Yeah. All right. Doesn't matter. And Streeper's Tavern before it got its current name in 1793. And famous guests include George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Edgar Allan Poe, and General Mad Anthony Wayne, which is who the place is named after now. So it was built in 1704, and it was starting to get used originally by a Quaker named Robert Jones who

got into the restaurant business and wanted to use it for travelers going to and from Philadelphia. During the 1800s many people vacationed here and enjoyed dishes at the home such as squirrel ragu. Yum. Until the 1930s there

used to be a glass window in this house that Edgar Allan Poe had scratched his initials into. That's kind of rude. And then they got rid of the window, so I guess they didn't realize how priceless that was. Before being an inn and a restaurant, it was also a post office, a general store, and a social center for newly arrived immigrants. Oh, what are you looking at me? I saw that side eye. It is supposed to be the,

it's supposedly, I just spelt it wrong. It's supposedly the oldest functioning inn in America. Cool. All right. So in 1995,

there's a little true crime here before we get into the ghost stuff. Sorry, Christine. I mean, whatever, it's too late now. There were two best friends. Are you listening?

Sure. Named James and Guy, and they bought the restaurant, and Guy was having an affair with the sous chef. Oh, no. The restaurant also was not going very well, and they were going into debt very quickly. The day after Christmas in 1996, James was murdered by a single gunshot in the restaurant's third floor office.

So if things go awry between us, this might be you. I don't know. I don't know. I just like to get you involved in the story. Keep me on my toes. Got it. You never know what's going to happen. Cool. So evidence soon pointed to Guy actually being the one that killed his best friend. He literally just told me that, but I'm just still shocked. And, uh, because he was the

one who actually found the body. He also lied to the police and said that he never owned a gun when that gun was his. Okay. This sounds like a Dateline episode. And he, uh, he also tried to make a claim on a large life insurance policy that he had taken out on James. Guy actually claimed that his mistress, the 20-year-old sous chef, Felicia, was the murderer. And she had committed the act out of revenge because James did not approve of their relationship. The stress of her involvement in the case was too much for her and she died by suicide and guy is now serving a life sentence so now very quick justice was wait now he's now serving well yeah as of when like as of 17 nice oh i thought this was in 1793 oh i mean no i don't think he would still be alive.

Wow. Oh, okay. I literally thought we were like 250 years ago. No, no, no. 1990s. Sorry if I didn't say that. Got it, got it, got it. So that was one of the many deaths that happened in this building.

That's the one with probably the most detail. Also, fun fact, in 2006, just so I'm just going to tell you the ending of this whole story. In 2006, this ended up getting bought out by a Jewish synagogue and is now renovated into a center for Jewish life. That's where we stand today. Cool. All right. Moving on.

Ooh, creepy and black and white again. Here's some of the other deaths and spooky things that happened. So, a cook was beaten to death at the restaurant. Oh. Hessian soldiers were murdered here, some being burned alive in the basement. Oh. And stories suggest that a Revolutionary War soldier

got accidentally locked in the basement and died from starvation. Some say that one of the soldiers went down to get wine from the cellar and didn't know that there were actually armed revolutionaries that were hiding and waiting to attack him when he got there. A lot of people are dying in the basement. Psychics claim that soldiers were also killed by spies in the cellar and buried behind the walls of the inn.

The earliest known experience was actually in 1748 when... What? I was like, shit, I didn't get the joke. I know that was funny, but okay. When the inn... Listen, just take it. If they laugh, just go with it. The inn was used as a local polling site during that year's election.

Sorry, this is 1848. You were right. That was funny because I messed up. When the inn was used as a local polling site during that year's election. At one point, one employee went down to the cellar to gather more ballots. And when she came upstairs, she told everyone that she had seen a soldier wearing a green coat with yellow lapels it was uh later learned that those colors were the uniforms of the hessian soldiers during the revolution and many others saw this soldier for over 150 years there is supposedly over 100 different experiences that people have seen this guy with this one guy

this one guy oh um One of the former hostesses of the inn said, it was around 3.30 in the afternoon and I was setting up for dinner and I heard someone calling my name over and over and over. I was really annoyed and I turned to say, what do you want? And there was a man standing on the stairs and he had

a uniform on from the Revolutionary War. He looked like a general to me and he looked so startled that I called him out that he just disappeared. And apparently he looked really surprised that she could see him at all. Oh, my God. So he was just trying to get her attention.

He was just screaming her name, thinking no one's going to notice. And then all of a sudden she turned around. Yeah. I mean, I don't know what he expected. I don't know either, but it happened. All right. Apparently this guy is just popping up all over this house. Okay.

And now we're at our first and that's why we draw. Oh, yeah. For those of you who don't know when that's why we draw is, we put out a couple prompts before the show, and they're taken completely out of context, and we want people to send in drawings of what they think the prompt might be, not knowing at all what the story actually is. So this one was ghostly formal introduction.

Okay. And I'll explain the prompt in a second. But this is what someone wrote in. Oh. It's us being introduced via dimensional portal to Zach Baggins. Oh. Look at him up there. Zach Bagel Bites. You guys, my hair looks...

Your hair is so beach wavy. This isn't actually my hair, but I like it. I wish it was my hair. My hair is like morphing into my skin. But I'm down with it. This is by Melissa, by the way. Thank you, Melissa, for this nightmare. Are you there?

No. Oh. Is Melissa here? Are you Melissa? No. Oh. Well, thanks, Melissa, wherever you are. You never know.

Sometimes people are actually here. Anyway, so the reason that ghostly formal introduction even exists in this story is because... Wait, this is just the best. Sorry. I need to take a second. Can I make this my new pro pick actually i think we should make it my caller id and when i call only the zach baggins part look at him hey in 1970 uh mr bart johnson brought the or he bought

the general wayne in and he grew up in the area and was well aware of the ghosts that he had heard about since childhood and knew that there were at least 17 different spirits in this house okay so uh he went to a couple psychics and they actually uh demanded the spirits demanded that they would be properly introduced to him. And so they all, one by one, spoke through the medium and told each of their stories to him. Okay. Look, allegedly. But he learned why they couldn't rest,

and they also, oh, it was just very, it was very well described in these stories that they were very polite, and they were very, very orderly, and nobody interrupted each other. They had like a talking stick. Good to know. They're better than some humans, some live humans. Many live humans.

Actually, this doesn't usually happen, but all of mine, that's why we draw, are back-to-back. So here is the next one. This is Judgmental Ghost. Okay. Not all of them were polite, supposedly. So this This is Judgmental Ghost. Not all of them were polite, supposedly. So this one's Judgmental Ghost. Oh my. I think someone's here.

What's up? Maria. Thank you. It says, ew, is that really what you're wearing? And the other ghost says, Megan, we're literally wearing the same thing. It's the most Megan thing I've ever heard. Look at her. I mean, look at those lash extensions, though,

that Megan is wearing. The side ponytail. Holy crap. That is truly what my seventh grade bully looked like. Like, actually. Bald everywhere except the ponytail. Yeah. Thank you, Maria.

So, I'll keep that up for Christine's entertainment. Oh, it's really entertaining. So, all of the ghosts, although they were very polite, they stated that they were generally satisfied with the inn, but they had some suggestions for Mr. Johnson. Oh, so they were just passive aggressive. Yeah, they were like, I love how you'll just wear anything. So they loved the dinner music. They did the classic start with a positive.

Yeah, compliment sandwich. So apparently they said they loved the dinner music but they did not like how loud the drummer was. So that was something they requested requested also they said that although they loved the tea which makes no sense because i don't know why ghosts are drinking i mean who are you to apparently they had high standards with the tea and they appreciated what was being stocked in the inn but the gin beer and wine didn't taste quite right to them i mean which is absolutely the most christine spirit thing I've ever heard.

Listen. I'm still drinking wine and I'm not happy with what's going on. Walt told us he likes gin and whiskey, right? Yeah. All right. Well, I guess Walt was here. He's allowed to have an opinion. So anyway, those were the two main requests of,

you need to get that drummer to shut up and you need to get me better quality alcohol. That's also my request for you. So there you go. Alright, my final, and that's why we draw, is Ghost in the Nude. I, for God's sake, I don't know where this is going. What could this mean? I don't know. After what you just showed me.

Alright, this is Ghost in the Nude. This is a a Playgirl spread, or a Playboy spread, but Playghost. And on the side it says, ghostly Sophie bears all. I prefer to be nude. What's he doing under your bed? Oh, God.

And how to keep the ooh and boo. If the sheet is a flutterin', and then they didn't finish. You're supposed to finish that yourself. Thank you, Stephanie, for the greatest pinup magazine I've ever seen sexy love it so this prompt comes from the fact that

the Hessian soldier came back up to say hi during this whole very formal introduction and he said his name was, I think this is German Wilhelm. Is that how you say it? All right. Wilhelm.

And he was killed in the revolutionary war. And most of the time he liked to stay down in the cellar. Um, he said he couldn't rest because he was buried only in his underwear. Well, that's really scary that that is the thing that can make you like not rest easy i wonder if it's like something that simple every time right like or was he just picky you think you wouldn't care anymore you know at that point but i mean i maybe i don't know so apparently apparently

it's a thing i'm glad i've been warned he was the ghost in the nude truly is the point yes he was the ghost in the nude and he said the reason he was buried in his birthday suit is because he was stripped of all of his clothes once he had died not just his uniform but his brand new boots maybe that's what he's pissed

about I think so yeah someone took his brand new boots so another soldier could wear them someone basically I robbed him of his clothes. Oh, I mean, I'd be fucking pissed too. So. I mean, at least he's down there with the wine, right? Isn't that where they keep the wine? He's down there in his underwear with wine, just like Christine probably.

Talk to me in two hours. He said that he was still searching for his uniform so that he could be buried honorably. That's really sad. I know. I know. But now we know his story. One of 17 so far. Alright. You're not going to go through all 17, are you? No, ma'am.

Okay. Alright, here's a more updated picture, I suppose. So, here's some other ghosts that he did talk to with less interesting stories than being buried in your underwear. Okay. Here's some other ghosts. One is a little boy who lost...

This one's really sad. I wouldn't laugh if I were you. Awkward. He lost his mother, and he has not stopped crying long enough to give any other details about his afterlife. Why would you tell us that? What the fuck is wrong with you?

Oh, my God. So, two other spirits were young women named Sarah and Sadie, who worked at the General Wayne Inn at one point during the mid-1800s. And their death, even they don't really want to talk about it in their afterlife,

apparently, but they did talk about everything leading up. So they really just gave us a tease. So they said before they had died one of the guests in the inn was a persian rug seller yeah me too and uh apparently this persian rug seller was acting really shady one day and he was waiting to meet a potential buyer but the buyer never showed and so the peddler asked the women to hold on to the rugs while he went to go look for the buyer, but he never came back.

And then they found out that the rugs were stolen. Oh, no. And so it was apparently put, it was their responsibility all of a sudden that they had all these stolen Persian rugs. Right. And then after that, they gave no other information. They just said somehow they're related. That correlates with their death. That's sad.

So who's to say? Who's to say? They also believed that at the seance that Mr. Johnson was having, all of them were intruders, and they said they did not like them in their home. All right. Fun fact for you. Also, eight other soldiers besides Wilhelm also haunt the inn upstairs and in the cellar. So now there's nine whole soldiers.

And there are two others that live there that don't speak. They only appear, which is just the worst. In 1976, another Hessian soldier named Ludwig. Ludwig? Okay. Sure. He appeared, but he wasn't a part of the seance that happened a couple years beforehand. He just showed up as a brand new ghost.

And he showed himself to one of the guests named Mike. And he began to appear every night at 2am in Mike's bedroom sitting on his bed and then eventually sitting on his chest. Nah. That's not very nice. He asked Mike to dig up his remains because he said he was

casual. He said he was killed in the Revolutionary War and his bones were buried in the cellar wall in the inn. Asked him to dig up his remains and bury them in a cemetery. And Mike actually believed this enough to go to Mr. Johnson and get permission to dig up the cellar. And Mr. Johnson was like, why not 18 ghosts instead of 17? Sure, go ahead and take apart the walls of my building.

God damn. And Mike excavated the cellar and actually found an unknown room under the parking lot of the inn. Holy shit. Then he found pottery and unidentified bones. Holy shit. So he found them. He found them.

So after burying the bones properly, Ludwig came back still sitting on his chest. See, that's where you're like, you know what? You did your job. Don't sit on him anymore. He showed up to say thank you. See, that's where you're like, you know what? You did your job. Don't sit on him anymore. He showed up to say thank you. It's like, can you thank me in any other way?

But he's still sitting on his fucking chest. Can you write him a little note? Yeah, can you just say thanks in a whisper and then never come back? So this is more of what the side of it kind of looks like today. So we're going through the years, if you can't tell. So a few years later, Mr. Johnson tried to get some evidence that the spirits were actually stealing alcohol because it had been going missing. Was there a teenager living in that house? Because I feel like that's the best excuse ever.

My first thought would be the staff, but apparently someone then went back to him and said, Hey, remember that seance forever ago when they were being really picky about the alcohol and you got better alcohol and now it's all gone? Ah. So he went to go get some tape recorders and equipment and he believed that the spirits were to blame after several nights of hearing people in the bar when nobody was actually there and the building was locked up.

I feel less bad for these ghosts now, though. I mean, they're partying. They're partying hard. In their underwear. In the limo. That sounds great. So he borrowed a tape recorder and he picked up sounds in the empty building. And the sounds that he picked up were several swiveling bar stools, the water faucet being turned on, and a glass catching the water.

The doors opening and closing by themselves, and one guest actually at the same time was peering through the inn's bar window to see if it was open, and he found a guy dressed as a Hessian soldier slumped over at the bar while the bar was actually locked and all the lights were off. Ooh, creepy. Many guests have seen an apparition of a woman dressed in a long white skirt and a long-sleeved blouse rush past them,

and some have even tripped because of her dress, which is apparently worth mentioning. I mean, it is kind of funny. Well, apparently Mr. Johnson himself has tripped over her multiple times, and then when he turns around to be like, whoa, watch out. I don't know. If he says whatever he wants. That's what you would do.

He turns around and no one's there. So staff have also found water in the open drawer of the cash register, even when they were the ones who locked up the night before. So it's wide open and now there's, random liquid in the drawer by itself. And no money is stolen. Sounds like a college party. Yeah, it sounds... Vodka is ending up in just all the wrong places.

Mixer attachments and clean towels have been thrown all over the kitchen. They have also been thrown at the staff. Both front doors have been found unlocked in the morning after being locked that night. And one soldier actually scared one of the employees who was sweeping in the dining room because he walked up to him glaring and growling and then walked through him. Oh, well, that's not... And then that guy quit. Yeah, sounds about right.

I don't blame him for that one. German soldiers have been seen all over the inn eating in the dining room, talking to each other sitting at the bar and hanging around upstairs the soldiers also enjoy blowing on the necks of the young women sitting at the bar stools gross

and the website I got this from was clearly written by a guy who doesn't understand that that's not cool because he kept being like this romantic, I was like no no i was like if i think he thinks it's okay he's justifying it because ghosts do it or something what if it's just him and he's just being a creep he was like isn't it funny how ghosts do that it's like no don't yuck don't do that uh the soldiers have a mischievous habit of playing tricks on Mr. Johnson's wife. So one time she was trying to help the accountant on the third floor,

and she was having a hard time adding up all the numbers on a calculator. And I don't know when this was written, by the way, because calculator was literally called adding machine on my notes. Oh, my God. I was like, I'm going to take a stab in the dark. It was an abacus. Yes, yeah. So after trying several times to add up the numbers,

she kept getting all these numbers wrong. She didn't know why. And so she tested the calculator and put in 2 plus 2, and the answer came out to be 53. Oh, that's actually a hilarious prank, though. Yeah, and they have been known to apparently mess with other electronics in the building. And then it typed boobs yeah it blew on her neck and then wrote boobs with a five yeah that's what i would do she immediately suspected that someone was messing with the calculator so she screamed at the soldiers and said guys get out of the room i'm trying to work

and then everything went back to working fine oh Oh, so she knew it was a ghost. Apparently, they fuck with her all the time. That's so sad for her. She was like, get out. I'm trying to add two plus two. It's not a good day. Poor lady. Poor lady.

Oh, Jewish life. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, this is where we are today. This is present day. Cool, cool, cool. Bad. Oh, OK. I was like, whoa, yeah. This is where we are today. This is present day. Cool, cool, cool. Bad? Oh, okay. I was like, whoa.

Security. Just kidding. Shabbat shalom. Okay. So other experiences. There have been, aside from the soldiers, because they seem to really be taking most of the rap here. So there have been frequent sightings of a beheaded soldier. And his head often appears to employees on a pantry shelf.

Oh! Usually, when they're looking for food. No! And then where they know the food is, they find a head in front of the food. That's so mean! The ghosts of several women around the inn are seen sitting at the bar together and then they vanish. There have been a few times where people

have tried to sit at the bar and it looked packed and then they blinked and then it was totally empty. Mr. Johnson claimed that once there was a loud bang that came from the other side of the room he was in and him and his friends looked over and saw a cannonball rolling across the floor.

When Mr. Johnson stood up to go grab the cannonball it vanished in his hand beds have unmade themselves and pulled blankets off of people while they were sleeping and shadows of soldiers have stood in the corners of rooms and stared at you while you slept right don't mind me right everybody don't worry about it coffee just like the booze coffee will go missing in the morning so you can leave your coffee cup out and the whole cup will be gone that's me i love these ghosts people will get locked in rooms that don't have locks on them and hangers will be heard rustling around in closed closets. It's that guy looking for his uniform. Maybe. Maybe he's looking for more than his underwear. Maybe.

After one of the parties that Mr. Johnson hosted, apparently a lot of guests went up to him and said that they really enjoyed the hired actor dressed in period clothing that interacted with everyone. That is creepy. And he was like that was not a thing. No, he's like, yeah, yeah, extra tips, please.

Also, it would suck if the guy that everyone remembered at the party was someone who was dead and wasn't there. How sad for you. It's like, ooh, I guess I'm not the social butterfly I thought I was. Aw. The most famous ghost at the restaurant is Edgar Allan Poe. He was a frequent visitor in the 1940s and, like I said, scratches initials into the window. He also wrote part of his poem The Raven at the inn.

Whoa. And guests report seeing him sitting by the window, either looking out the window or writing in his journal. And then I didn't put this in my notes, but I do want to mention it. There was a guy, I'm really going to butcher it because I didn't write the notes down, There was a guy, I'm really going to butcher it because I didn't write the notes down, but there was a guy who apparently had a near-death experience that brought him this power where he can now speak to ghosts. And so in 1995, there was actually an article in a newspaper that came out called Meet the Ghosts of General Wayne Inn.

And he personally spoke to Edgar Allan Poe and told you everything that he experienced in the hotel. And Edgar Allan Poe is listing off all of these stories that he actually wrote at the inn. The only one that they can really confirm is the raven. But I can't back that up. So I kind of just left it out of the notes. But there is an article somewhere written by ghosts, apparently. It's in the news, so it must be true.

Thank you for your support. Yeah, not fake news. so it must be true. Thank you for your support. Yeah. Not fake news. No. No such thing. So guests report seeing Poe writing in his journal or staring out the window. And in 1988, there was a parapsychologist named Michaelene Mayer, and she conducted an investigation at the inn where she actually had three different mediums go in on their own, in the dark without any knowledge of the

inn and just walk through and mark x's at spots where she where they thought that something supernatural might have happened okay then he brought in three people who did not claim to be psychics or mediums and had them go through and try to figure out if anything supernatural might have happened in those areas and then put an X where they thought something might have happened. And they basically kind of just guessed based on how spooky the room looked, I guess. I mean, if you don't have the power and someone's telling you to go use your power, I don't know. They just put Xs wherever they wanted, I guess. But the findings ended up being that all of the mediums who didn't know any of the information about the inn or any of the spirits that were there they actually ended up nailing all of their

gut feelings that things happen in all of those spots really whereas the people who were not psychics and tried this they were kind of they failed every time they were like there are so many cobwebs in this corner. Right. Something happened here. But one good thing that came out of that study that happened at this inn is that mediums and psychics got a lot more credibility to their name because their gut feelings were correct and actually corroborated with a lot of the stories from witnesses and staff. That's good. So that's a fun fact for you.

Jesus, you're saying that a lot today. I know. a fun fact for you. Jesus, you're saying that a lot today. I know. And then my favorite little note that I left at the bottom is we all remember the beheaded head. Oh, I remember it.

Apparently someone has walked into the bathroom and it was spinning on the toilet. I don't know. He's giving himself a swirly. I don't... That being said, that is himself a swirly. I don't... That being said, that is the story of the General Wayne Inn. That was good. And then here is Christine's story, but I don't know what it is.

I love ending on a toilet. I love ending on a disembodied swirly. All right. You had a lot of options for keywords for And That's Why We Draw. I did. I really didn't know. I feel like if I gave people the opportunity to do disembodied swirly, I really didn't know what was going to come through.

You're right. We got to put a line somewhere. In D.C., one of my words for And That's Why We Draw was phallic worshipers. I don't know why you did that a mistake poor eva had to like organize the it was just like all the dick pics you never wanted but hand drawn i i regret it i'm sorry eva it it was not a good time for anything moving on a lot of people spent a lot of time on those, too. It was like that montage in Superbad where it was like all of those drawings, like dick, dick, dick, dick.

And then my mom was at the show, and I was like, oh, brother. So anyway, another reason why I'm happy to be in Philly. No dick pics today. All right. Okay. no dick pics today all right okay so this i'm going to cover the story of arsenic incorporated aka the story of the south philly poison ring i've never heard of that in my life has quite a lot of nicknames all right so we're in philly in the 1930s great depression 25 unemployment, which was actually a lot higher than the rest of the country.

So Philly had like a lot higher unemployment rate. Half a million people in the city were out of a job. And there were two guys named the, oh, I forgot I was going to look up how to say this. Oops. Let me say the Petrillo cousins. Okay. Petrillo. Sure.

So Paul Petrillo was a reputable tailor. He had emigrated from Naples in 1910, and he was known as Paul Petrillo, the tailor to classy dressers. Ooh. Very nice. What a name. So, like I said, Great Depression. So he actually lost his shop and was facing financial ruin. And meanwhile, his cousin Herman Petrillo emigrated to Philly.

Okay, hold on. Let me take a photo first. Hold on. Wait. Hold on. There he is. There's Herman. Okay. So this is Herman. Meanwhile, Herman emigrated to Philadelphia as a spaghetti salesman. Dream job. Yeah. Yeah. Dream job. I know. spaghetti salesman what dream job yeah yeah yeah dream job i know and i was like wow like i looked everywhere and it was just casually a thing like he was just casually what year was this uh 1930

okay so he was a spaghetti salesman um but they also called him because you know the newspapers were all like trying to find flashy way to ways to say things so they called him, because, you know, the newspapers were all, like, trying to find flashy ways to say things, so they called him the pasta peddler. And so I didn't even, like, make this up. The first, and that's what we draw, is literally pasta peddler. I was like, we'll see what happens. So this is what I got from Corey. That's exactly how I imagined it, though. I mean, that's so accurate. Well, I will say, I will say it was hard to pick. It was hard to pick because every single person sent me a drawing of a man in a trench coat flashing everyone with noodles.

And I was like, I just got to pick one. I mean, it's exactly what one would think. Every single one was a guy in a trench coat flashing everybody. He was like the original Postmates. I imagine someone just walks up to your door and is like, hey, do you want some ravioli? Freudian slip. We're very hungry for ravioli.

We spend too much time together. Okay, cool. So anyway, he was literally a pasta peddler. It wasn't even out of context. That's probably what he looked like. So after trying, okay, so he was like, well, I can't, I guess, I guess in Naples, he could do that for a living. But when he got to Philly, he was like, I can't make a living doing this. So I need a new job. So he tried being a barber for a while. And then he decided there were easier ways to make money. You know,

like arson. Yep. And then very quickly he realized that that wasn't going to work because within like a few weeks they were like you've burned down ten buildings. At least he's good at it. He's not really because they were like you just burned down

ten buildings. You don't get money out of this. And he's like, oh, I understand. I just thought like catching things on fire. No, he's very good at setting things on fire. Right, right. Just not for his own benefit, basically. I hear you. Right.

So he and Paul decided they were going to team up and pool their resources. So Paul had recently picked up the fine art of counterfeiting money and was running an insurance scam business out of the back of his tailor shop to the classy dressers you know that one oh yeah um and he would target the sick and elderly and basically make them like like convince them to buy these plants and then just wait for them to die because they were elderly and sick and then he would list himself as a cousin or a brother and get the money. Okay. Got it. Okay. Note taken. Okay. So they decide to partner up and decide to start a new business venture. Quotes.

Either... Okay. So... Sorry. Enter. I don't know what I'm talking about. Enter a guy named Morris Bulber. Good.

I like where this is going. He's a Russian immigrant gang member. Let me show you a photo. There he is. Oh, he went to Eastern State. Just quick aside, I picked this photo because it's his mugshot from Eastern State Penitentiary. Just a little throwback to your episode back in the day. Thanks.

Just for you. So this is Morris Bulbert. Now, this mofo has quite, quite a colorful past. So he started university in Russia when he was nine years old, graduating when he was 12. He became obsessed with mysticism, and in 1905, he decided to study with a sorceress, and he lived with her for five years,

learning to make potions and poisons, and apparently one of the things she taught him was like, a knife is the witch's most powerful weapon, and I'm like, I mean, it's a knife. Like, it's a lot. It's pretty powerful regardless of whether or not you're a witch. It's a lot of people's most powerful weapon, but whatever. So she's like, you could do a lot to people's lives with this knife.

I was like, yeah, but okay. So anyway, so he studies with, he's basically her apprentice, right? This witch's apprentice. And he decides eventually to emigrate to Philly, sets up shop as a faith healer, and he just casually puts the initials DR in front of his name on the storefront. Oh, right, okay.

To make it look like he's a doctor. So it's just like Dr. Morris Bulber. Dr. Sorceress. He was not a doctor. But back then, I guess you could just fucking do that. So he, in 1932, he had a female patient who came to him with complaints of her husband cheating on her. I guess you could see that. So he's a therapist?

I don't know. He's a faith healer slash doctor slash knife wielder. I'm not really sure what's going on. So she shows up. She's like, my husband is cheating on me. So Morris and the Petrillo cousins, who were, by the way, friends at this point, they had somehow just found each other, they decide to hatch a plan where Paul would seduce women who were unhappy in their marriage

and might be interested in reaping the benefits of their husband's deaths. And then Herman, Oh, who, by the way, fun fact, fun fact was a, uh,

also a part-time actor. He's really trying everything. Um, wait, who, which one's the part? Herman, one of the cousins,

the spaghetti, the spaghetti salesman, got it. Pasta peddler. He's also an actor. Um, and he would play the part of the husband purchase life insurance and then make a couple payments and then they would murder the real husband and then get

the insurance benefits and split it three ways okay i mean i got it oh you do get it i got it i was just like whoa cousin paul seduces the woman yep then herman plays the the husband and like signs up for a life insurance policy. They murder the real husband and they're like, oh no, he signed up for this policy and now he's dead. And then they would,

the wife would reap the insurance and share it. Right. You know, it makes a lot of sense. Don't worry about it. So Herman liked to call this process of murdering men, quote,

sending them to California. It's kind of like when my mom sent my cat to the farm actually no she's oh no she sent she sent my cat to texas yeah where she but then she actually did and i was i like expected the whole farm are you sure no she did she well i don't know she could have planted pictures in the beginning, but she like I got pictures of the cat often. Listen, here's the thing. And you also got a letter from the SpongeBob fan club that can confirm my. So my mom here's OK, let's just travel back to my mother for the thousandth time. my mother for the thousandth time um she's still here with us today i i had braces twice once because it was necessary twice the second time because i wasn't feeding the cat and that was my punishment apparently my what the fuck my mom was like if you don't feed the cat then

i'm gonna put braces on you and I was like do it and then she did she's not look thank god there was only one child she was supposed to raise holy crap but then that cat apparently there was a whole family with like four kids who wanted the cat and then she just gave the cat away but the cat lived in Texas and she didn't tell me and then one day I came home and I was like, where's the cat? Well, then I got a dog. I don't really know. My mom's parenting was not great, guys. Why didn't you tell this story yesterday when Linda was in the audience?

I was too busy describing the amount of alcohol she put in her system. That's true. That's true. It's amazing I made it out of Virginia, guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, moving on somehow with this murder. Listen, I don't know. She'll let you do your thing.

Sending them to California. Right. Oh, right. And the cats in Texas. Right. Right, yes. So that was my second worst Cali vacation. Because I'm thinking,

sending someone to California sounds great, but not if you're giving them arsenic. So this was my thing. And here's the thing that I accidentally did. I made a little mistake, but it's fine. I accidentally opened some old,

and that's why we draw this, because I was misreading the folders, and I was going through some of them, and I was like, oh, this one's perfect. And it was from an old prompt, which was the Disneyland nobody wants to go to or something. But I was like, oh, this is so perfect.

So I just stole it. So you used it anyway? I'm sorry. So I kind of cheated. But this is the Disneyland no one wants to go to. And I will explain. It's hard to read, but I'm going to just tell you what it says because it's so fucking good.

Okay? This is from Christian. It says, it's a picture of disneyland uh that nobody wants to go to and over here it says merry-go-round of insecurities um temporary solutions student loans a student loan mascot um there's uh mr toad's wild ride of responsibilities there's uh taxes taxes there's taxes that say, I've been waiting. Bad grades, student debt, anxiety. I mean, you know.

Christian hit all the right spots. There's a beautiful little happy cloud that says, crippling depression. Oh, my favorite one. My favorite one. The mountain that says, you don't matter horn. Anyway, I just was like, holy shit, this is really clever. And then I was like, oh, this is a folder from September. But it is still the worst California.

It's the worst vacation in general, I think. I mean, it's literally the worst experience anywhere ever. So I just used that one instead. Sorry about it. about it it's fine so all right so they're sending men to california quote unquote um and the victims uh ralph the first two victims ralph caruso and joseph arena were drowned and bludgeoned on fishing trips and a third was bludgeoned and then run over by a car. And they were truly just reaping the insurance benefits from these people. How many people was that?

That was the first three. First three. Yeah. So meanwhile, the depression is just getting worse. The group has committed about a dozen murders. Oh, sorry. We skipped ahead. Oh, we went from three to a dozen.

We're at 12 now. At this point, the Petrillos are basically heading an informal gang because they've just brought in so many other people into this ring of people. And they're heading this informal gang and it's called

Arsenic Incorporated, which also sounds kind of like AFI's sister band. Arsenic Incorporated. I mean, it sounds like a band that we all would have listened to when we were 15. That I would play in the green. Really ang and... That I would play in the green...

Really angsty. That I would play in the green room after Sum 41 and you would be like, Christine, you need to get it together. Which is what happened, by the way. Which is what happened. It's fine, okay?

Jeez. I have eclectic taste. We went from Mika to Sum 41. Listen, I'm a wild card it's fine so Philly Poisoning right so one woman that they had kind of like roped

into this gang her name was Maria Carina Favato she was a faith healer and her community called her the witch and to be clear she did not call herself a witch, and that was kind of just part of the culture of the day. She was doing things people didn't understand, so the first thing they just jumped on was witch, just to clarify.

Got it, got it. She considered herself a matchmaker, actually. She utilized curses and potions to help women move on from unhappy relationships to new men and the potions actually were really um really effective uh because they were arsenic got it so she was she was really doing a job a good job a job got it she was really good at getting rid of a bad relationship or ending it ending Ending it for good. In her own special, special way.

So when the husband or the lover would die, they would have already taken a life insurance policy on them and then the group would split the money. So basically the same kind of thing, but she was just posing as this matchmaker. Another fun fact, Maria had already killed three men in her own family uh two husbands and a stepson with arsenic uh so she was very talented at that so she

her own family yeah two of her husbands and a stepson oh yeah yeah no it's not good um and by october 1938 arsenic incorporated had about 24 members um but this i mean obviously i feel like when you get to a group of the size of any situation things start to unravel so um police were getting suspicious because so many italian immigrants in the area were dying of suspicious circumstances aka every time they died and checked their blood they had just elevated levels of arsenic. And they just happened to be in the same community.

They were like, something's going on. And then there, luckily enough, was a break in the case. Arsenic Incorporated had tried to... Arsenic Incorporated? I can't take that seriously. It sounds so fucking stupid. Alright. Arsenic Incorporated had tried repeatedly

to poison a man named Ferdinand Alfonsi with no success. So when an upholstery cleaner named George Myers approached Herman Petrillo to ask for a loan to save his business, Herman decided this was a perfect opportunity to pay George Myers the $500 if he killed Ferdinand Alfonsi for them. So he's like, I'll give you the loan, but only if you kill this guy for us

because we haven't had luck yet. He was instructed to hit Ferdinand Alfonsi with a lead pipe, then drag him up the stairs and throw him down the stairs to make it look like an accident. Got it. Yeah, they're really, I remember he went to acting school, so. Right, he was really good at acting like he was throwing someone down the stairs. He knows what he's doing. So this guy, George Myers, this upholstery guy who just wanted, he just wanted to save his freaking carpet business. He's like, I don't know, I didn't ask for this. So he immediately goes to the police. Oh, nope, he didn't. He went to the U.S. Secret Service.

Sorry. Oh. He really got help. You know, that. Riff for a second. I need a drink. Uh, Riff. You did great. You did good.

You did really good. Thank you. i love being put on the spot yeah look you made everybody clap it was amazing thank you i'm a clown i'm all about the magic yeah that's right um so they were already i guess like eyeing herman and paul for the counterfeiting money because they had been doing this for so long. The U.S. Secret Service was waiting for a break in this case already. When George showed up they were like, great, we're in. One of the undercover

agents posed as a hitman and contracted with Herman. He basically went up to him and was like, I'll kill Ferdinand Alfonsi and throw him down the stairs and hit him with a pipe and whatever for $500. That's it? Wait, what year was this? 1939?

Something like that. In the 30s. Okay, got it. I would have just done it for more money. Yeah, someone's just like, oh, I'd do that for $500. Okay, so he's like, oh, I'll do it. And they're like, okay, great. So they're really just inviting anybody into this. it's just

becoming like the island of misfit killers yeah yeah you know um so they this undercover agent is like i'll do it and they're like okay um but before uh this undercover guy could kind of get in on this plot um ferdinand alfonzi ended up so sick that he was admitted to philadelphia's national stomach hospital Ferdinand Alfonsi ended up so sick that he was admitted to Philadelphia's National Stomach Hospital. I don't know. Some people are really excited about that. And some people don't really know. I think everyone's very confused.

So I looked it up because I was like, that can't be real. It sounds like something I made up because I didn't know what the actual name of the hospital was. That's what it was actually called it was called the National Stomach Hospital and I was like I want that's where I belong I need to go there but unfortunately it is now defunct and it is now

some other lame hospital with not as cool of a name so National Stomach Hospital was a real place I didn't make it up. But so that's where he ended up. And then the hit was called off because he was hospitalized and they couldn't really throw him down the stairs subtly

while he was in the hospital, you know. But before he died, Ferdinand Alfonsi actually told police he had applied for life insurance several times, but his wife intercepted the mail and kept telling him he wasn't approved for life insurance. But it turns out she was just like, he was getting approved for all of these different life insurance policies. And she was just like collecting them. Yeah.

And then at his death, she would have received more than $8,000, which today is $136,000 if he had 000 if he had died oh my goodness so unfortunately he actually didn't survive and when they tested his urine sample uh they found large quantities of arsenic in it so they had been trying to kill him for like months and they were basically just giving him yeah there was fucking you know science they're just piling right just piling up arsenic arsenic so his urine was just full of arsenic so uh at this point the police are like great well we got him like this insurance fraud and obviously they poisoned him so herman was arrested for homicide um but they were worried that now that alfonzi was dead they wouldn't get enough information to put Herman away. But to everyone's amazement, Herman wouldn't shut the fuck up

and was like, let me tell you about everything I've done. Oh my god! In the last few years and how talented I am. And so he gave them this mind-boggling list of all the victims, all the conspirators. He told them that

his cousin Paul and Morris were the masterminds behind the conspirators. He told them that his cousin Paul and Morris were the masterminds behind the whole operation. He explained that all but three of the victims were killed with arsenic, and then three were the ones that were drowned or hit by the car at the beginning. Before they developed their new arsenic plan, I guess.

Before they were arsenic ink. Before they were established. Right. So when they put Morris himself on the stand, the guy, the Eastern State dude, when they put him on the stand, he confessed to lying to clients. He said he would charge to rid people's houses of evil spirits and that he once put a frog in someone's basement, leading them to believe there were evil spirits down there.

What? I'm sorry. You put a frog in the basement? Yeah, and then he's like, that noise, do you hear it? Couldn't anyone just go in the basement and be like, oh, it's a frog? It's a demon. No, they didn't know. I don't know.

I'm not blaming you. Moving on. Listen, as someone who knows you pretty well, if you heard like a croaking noise in the basement and a psychic was like, that's a ghost, you'd probably believe it. Am I wrong? You're right. No, you're right. I know. I'm not going down there.

You can grab the demon frog. Just saying. Just saying. Just saying. Just saying. So he said he would put this frog, so he'd put a frog down there and be like, wow, do you hear that horrible, horrible noise? That is a demon. And then he would charge them $75, and then he would just walk down there and remove the frog. Oh my God.

And be like, look, it's gone. Listen, I don't know. Between this and the spaghetti business, I'm very confused about this time of the world. Doing notes for this was really weird. He even went, oh, this is really sad. Okay. Not sad, just sad for this guy because he's just a little dumb. The frog escaped?

What? No, it's worse. So he once convinced a fellow arsenic ring member named Salvatore Sortino, who was called, quote, simple-minded, to carry an egg under his armpit for nine days and nine nights because the special egg would then hatch a devil. That's literally some Ace Wong shit. Yeah. That's like, oh, eat a chicken egg,

and then I'll put my belly next to your belly, and then you're a demon. Yeah. Or whatever that was. That was the weirdest story. Okay, got it. Maybe Morris was behind it. I don't know.

Apparently. And then on the last day, it gets worse. On the last day, Salvatore was supposed to walk around a graveyard with his arms outstretched with the egg under his armpit, you know. And then sit in the basement and wait until the devil appeared. Okay. I don't even have anything to say. I don't know. I don't even have anything to say.

I don't know. And then he said, oh, I also used to chant Chinese incantations over Salvatore's socks for good luck because he would just get so excited about it. Which is just so mean. Okay. Look, my head's spinning in a million directions between the frog and the chicken egg and praying over socks. Usually your stories go this way mine don't usually um so yeah so he's like well i sometimes like sit on trial like this poor salvatore is probably in the audience like oh no my lucky socks it's just really sad so he would like do chinese incantations so he probably made up for good luck. It's just really rude.

So on February 2nd, 1939, the grand jury indicted Herman and Paul Petrillo, Stella Alfonsi, and Maria Favato. They reached the verdict only seven and a half minutes. Yeah, real fucking quick. They were like, okay, we...

I think we've got something on our hands here. They heard that egg story and they were like, you're an asshole. Herman and Paul were both sentenced to death by the electric chair in 1941. And 15 others, including many of the poison widows, which is what they called the women who wanted their husbands dead, were handed life sentences in prison. Stella Alfonsi, whose husband husband ferdinand was the one who was at the national stomach hospital okay um was actually not found guilty or found not guilty she just had a really great attorney i guess um and so when the courtroom

when the courtroom settled down uh the judge congratulated the jurors. And he said, he's like, you made the right choice. You can see how mean and vicious this man is. You now realize that was the only verdict you could have returned. And then he sentenced Herman Petrillo to die in Pennsylvania's electric chair. And then following. Ow! Woo-hoo! Yeah!

Yeah! Yay! Following! Yay. Following the verdict, defense attorney, so Paul and Herman's defense attorney, stood up and apologized to the court and said, I'm sorry.

I wouldn't have defended him if I knew he was such scum. And it's like, it's like,'s like that's not really how that works yeah not at all so he was like my bad and i think he just didn't want to look bad in like the newspapers you know i mean because i mean it was crazy they were like uh attorney apologetic for his hand in trying to defend mass murder i don't know i didn't write newspapers back then yeah but if you can't tell or now or now or ever um so this is my oh here it is what

does it say apologetic attorney right because Okay. So this is just the funniest thing I've ever seen. This is, wait, Casey's here, right? Yeah. Hello. I thought it said so in the email right so this is a this is your your new friend gritty right is that that is yeah so that's gritty back there and this attorney realized he made a big mistake apparently and i like how in front of this this guy just says hi on the piece of paper that's all he wrote that's all that needs to be said that's his only notes so I thought Casey did a great job

with that that was pretty fucking funny and I wish that this was what the story was about but unfortunately it's about the electric chair but this is better more fun I saw this picture earlier and I was like, I really hope Christie takes this one. That's how I felt

about the Zach Bagans picture. Oh my God. Okay. So anyway, uh, upon the conclusion of the trial, investigators announced that they would exhume 70 bodies to examine for signs of arsenic. Yeah. And this is one of the pictures from the uh paper oh well oh i accidentally forgot to send it it's fine these are the mug shots of uh all like some of the people that they arrested but there were like pages and pages so i just picked a few um but these are some of the men and women um there's paul in the middle there jeez if you can't see he has a black eye and i'm, this guy just got into a lot of trouble. And then up there

is Maria, who was the one who was like the witch by her. Yeah, her fur. It looks like Linda's fur coat. I know. Yikes. My mom really made a lot of statements this weekend.

And we did not. We have no relationship. And then Christine and I almost played Pictionary. Yeah. We've had a busy week. So like I said, Herman and Paul were both executed in the electric chair. Before Herman's execution, he announced, Gentlemen, you are about to see the execution of an innocent

man. And then a moment before the switch is pulled, he mumbled, I want to see the governor. Too late! Yeah, those were his last words. I looked everywhere for his last words and I was like, that was it? I thought it'd be something.

At least he tried to get one last thing in. They were literally like, well, we can't do that for you now it's a little tiny bit late um so it's interesting because a lot of the uh articles and things at the time would mention witchcraft and said they were like witch doctors and cult leaders but again um that was kind of invented by reporters at the time who were trying to get like a flashy headline and trying to make this like a dramatic case. And like it was already a dramatic case.

It didn't need to be made much more dramatic. A lot has already happened. A lot has happened. But they did add a lot of elements of like, oh, this guy was in China one time, so he's a witch doctor. It's like, that's not quite how that works. But like ultimately, the whole point of this poison ring was money and insurance fraud,

and it was later estimated that the group netted at least $100,000, which today is $1.7 million. Woo! Yeah. Prior to the arrest of any of the members, so they got away with a lot of it before they got arrested.

And it's estimated that they've killed anywhere from 50 to 100 people in the few years that they ran this ring. And y'all, that's the story of the Philly Poison Ring. Oh, and who's this guy? Oh, I don't know.

Oh, I don't know. I think I sent you the wrong photos. Okay. But look at his piercing blue eyes. I think I picked that one. He's one of the mug shots. I hear you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But look, like, I mean, look at that hat.

I just thought he looked like a cool dude. All right. And what was the name of this? The Philly Poison Ring. Philly Poison Ring. Slash Arsenic Incorporated. All right. Wait, I got a horoscope. All right. dude so all right and what was the name of this uh the philly poison ring philly slash arsenic incorporated all right wait i got a horror scope all right yeah yeah yeah so i didn't have uh uh harris or i'm sorry not harris what the hell was his name paul or herman jesus okay thank you i have morris's birthday because I couldn't

find the other one's birthdays. So Morris Bulber's birthday was, and he's the guy, Eastern State Penitentiary. His birthday was January 3rd. And so he is a Capricorn. Just like Blaze. So here is the horoscope that I have for him. Have you been hoping to widen your social horizons, Capricorn? Start looking around because under this lunar liftoff, I don't know what the fuck that is, you'll find plenty of kindred spirits and potential collaborators. One excellent use of your energy would be to rally the troops and get some real teamwork going.

Oh, no. Your spirit is likely to be contagious, and you can affect the environment around you more than ever before, whether it's work, home, the dating scene, or murdering many people. Right, right, right. I added the last one, but the rest were still pretty creepy. Yeah, that was a little too spot on. So that is his horoscope.

And that is the story of the South Philly Poison Ring. Yay! Woohoo! I feel like that was a very fact-heavy one, and I'm sorry. I feel like my face was in the paper the whole time. I think my takeaway was that there was a job where you could sell spaghetti door to door. I know.

After I said that, Em's brain just went elsewhere. I was like, I'm locked into this story. Oh yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So I know that was just a lot of information,

but I thought it was a wild ride. So yes. And thanks for staying on board. You didn't really have a choice, but thanks anyway. And thank you guys for coming out. It really means so much that like Philly wants to like see us. And before we forget,

we always forget. Shit. Okay. Tip your service. Cause they're great. Also, cause it's a nice thing to do. And also,

uh, we're selling merch after the show. Eva's selling merch. We're not selling merch. Eva's selling merch. Thank you guys so much for coming out. It means a lot to you guys. This is our first little leg to a very big tour coming out. And so we're glad that we got to test it out on you.

coming out and so we're glad that we got to test it out on you. So thanks for seeing us in all of our in our glory. I don't know. I don't know what you're saying but I'm just nodding. And happy belated birthday

to Giovanni. Yes. Alright well thank you guys so much for coming and that's why All right. Well, thank you guys so much for coming. And that's why we speak. We speak. Yeah.