And That's Why We Drink - E186 The Patron Saint of Porches and the Age of the Spinster

Episode Date: August 30, 2020

Join us for ghost brunch this weekend, won't you? For episode 186, Em's taking us to Charleston, South Carolina, specifically a local haunted brunch spot called Poogan's Porch. Then Christine covers the unsolved case of Texas fitness instructor Missy Bevers. And we're sorry for calling you out for your OBX bumper sticker... and that's why we drink!

This is where we talk about SportsCenter. Sports, because they are scary just like the rest of our topics. Yes, just as frightening, just as intimidating, and we know just as much about them. Also, I missed you so much. I'm so glad I'm sitting next to you. Oh yeah, I'm back again, by the way. I keep coming back.

It's me again. It's me again. This is the new normal for me, I guess. I just kind of get on a plane, don't sleep much and show up. I love it. How was your flight? Was it okay?

It was fine. I'm waiting for them to put that direct flight back in though because these layovers for 10 hours. How long was your layover? It's not long. It's like an hour. But it's like in the middle of the night or something. You like, you know, go like to Atlanta, which is the wrong direction.

And then you fly to LA. So you're adding like three hours. It doesn't matter. It's very boring. But my arms are so tired that I can't even think straight. Oh, great. Well, we're in for a great episode. How are you?

I mean, tell me about how's life been since I last saw you? What are you up to? Are you doing fun things? Do you have a reason why you drink? I'm missing you. Oh, good. That's it. And my house is broken. Your house is broken? Yeah, everything's broken.

How? The AC broke. Like it's falling apart? Central air broke. And then the guy came to fix it. And then my mom went, what's that? And I looked up and the whole ceiling had flooded and it's like this huge stain. And we went to the attic and there's just like standing water around the HVAC system, which was quote unquote brand new. I got to be honest, because it's you,

there's no way this was going to go smoothly. No, I know. And I was like, you know what, this house, we had a person, we had like an inspection. Everybody was like, everything's brand new. Like nothing is wrong. They replaced the HVAC system last year. We have a full warranty. Everything's fine. And then like immediately the second we moved in, the AC just stopped working.

So it's like 105 degrees. And then the ceiling flooded. And then it's just really. LA missed you. The sun was like, you got to feel me again. Don't you miss this sweltering heat? Anyway, but otherwise. Well, also I tried to install a window air conditioner in the studio.

Like remember how we had? Because I was like, I need to be in this room and it's on the third floor. And it's like this creepy, you know, haunted attic. And so I tried to install this window unit and I've installed like many of them, but I sliced my fingers open on the back, like where all the metal, uh, it's, it's, it's scarred now, but there were like all these metal things in the back and I sliced my fingers open, trying to not drop it out the window. And then I started putting it in and it was like dark out and whatever. And

the next day I went upstairs and there's like bloody fingerprints all over the windowsill. It's so gross. That's officially our studio. Wait a minute. I know. I was like, actually. That's the Cincinnati studio. Kind of on point.

It's just like bloody fingerprints all over the window. Just leave them there and see how long it takes Blaze to figure it out. Poor Blaze. He got home and I was like, I installed a window air conditioner and I was just like covered in blood. I can imagine you being so proud. Like, look at all the work I've done. There's just like hand swipes of blood all over the walls. Well, and I was like, oh, well, this is what you get

for like buying a house instead of renting. But then you were like, hey, guess what's happening at my apartment? I have to move out for a day. And I was like, oh, I guess it's not just me. I feel like I moved out for a day, but I checked out indefinitely. For a long time. Yeah. Everyone who is following me on Instagram knows about my cockroach uh extravaganza yeah troubles and uh it's been a real uh it's bad emma was sending me videos of these things crawling around i was like oh no it's been a stinker uh life-wise um that's what they say um yeah we've had some pretty wild cockroach problems for a while now, which like I say this every time, but I feel the need to defend that like we're clean people like that. We the cockroaches

came as a shock in an apartment like you're not. It doesn't matter if you're as clean as possible and the person above you isn't like you're screwed. The person above me is the Miss Cecilia girl. Yeah. So also I do want to say real quick thank you for the starbs i oh you're welcome i held it up earlier and then we never talked about it and it just looks like i did like a weird product i kept talking about sports no christine surprised me with starbucks day so i got very excited oh god oh and they asked do you want the sweetener in the ice london fog and i was like yes so now they're clearly asking for a reason it's gonna be a good day but no the the cockroaches we've had it for a while now and it started as like

we would see them for like we'd see one a month and we were like okay we live in our apartment like we're not gonna complain like that's just what happens and then uh then we started seeing them weekly and we kind of excused it of like okay well like it's just hot out it's really hot out and the bugs are coming in and we're the closest one to a trash chute so like it's just easier for them to get to us oh no let's just be really good about putting our food away oh no and then like pretty quickly after that it started happening daily and like within a few days it was just like overload day and we started, there was a two-hour period where we killed,

like, a dozen of them. It was, like, getting real out of hand. Ew, how are you killing them? With my shoe.

Ew. Or, like, we had raid, but it wasn't working. These were, like, some weird turbo cockroaches.

And so, and also, here's, like, the real gross part, is the only place they were, which is, like,

not shocking, was where all the food was. So, it was in, we saw a bunch of them in the pantry, so then we threw everything like not shocking was where all the food was so it was in we saw a bunch of them in the pantry so then we threw everything out from the pantry away and we had just gone grocery shopping and uh and then we realized that our a while ago the maintenance guy told us that our refrigerator was old and like we needed an upgrade anyway but i guess we they didn't have enough fridges when they got to our apartment and they were like you're fine with the

old shitty one apparently it doesn't have a seal on it what which like I didn't notice until like I saw all the cockroaches in the pantry so I was like okay now I'm gonna do a deep clean of the fridge because I'm just terrified and we had literally seen them crawling on the fridge okay but we thought like okay well at least the fridge closes like anything in there is fine and then once I cleaned it spectacularly, I must have cleaned all the adhesive or suction off or something because then the door doesn't close anymore. And they started getting in the fridge.

They were like, thank you for the doorway. Exactly. Thank you for keeping it wide open for us. Oh, no. And so then we realized they were probably coming from under the fridge. And we, like, realized that there was probably a nest back there the word nest i'm sent that to the group text and even i about puked on our phones so um we had to take everything apart and fun fact if you've never had a cockroach infestation

consider yourself lucky because apparently you have to take literally everything that you own and move it to the center of the room. And you have to wipe it all down because apparently cockroaches sometimes leave secretions that allow more cockroaches to like keep the track or whatever. To keep it going. Yeah, we had one in Glendale. Imagine wiping down every single item you own because I'll tell you what, it took eight hours. It was awful. I would prefer not to imagine that actually, but thank you for living it for me.

And then we, Allison and I stayed at the, and that's where we drink studio, which was nice. It was a little, thank God we have that now. Thank God. I know. And they, uh, they, they sprayed. But then when we came back, they were like, oh, don't put anything back right away. Because also a lot of our listeners, uh, who I did an Instagram live of this whole saga. And a lot of our Instagram, a lot of people watching Instagram live were like, I know an exterminator. I am an exterminator. I work in like cabin cabinets because I was showing them the pantries. I remember that. I was reading all the comments. I was like, tell me more. And they were like, most people or at least a lot of people, once you have someone spray, usually they

have you like set another appointment because apparently it doesn't work right away. And so when we asked the exterminator about that, because we called him out, we were like, we have a lot of people telling us that like, we're going to need you to come back. So can we just like book that now? And apparently he was like, oh no, the spray is working. People are just upset that they still see cockroaches alive after a week because apparently the spray takes two to three weeks to kill them all because some of them when he comes into spray are pregnant with up to 50 cockroaches at a time okay okay and apparently then you need to wait for them to die yeah then they're the egg sacks that they're in uh it protects them from the spray so you have to wait for them to hatch and then

like scatter all over your fucking apartment again and then they die from the spray. So you have to wait for them to hatch and then like scatter all over your fucking apartment again. And then they die from the spray. Well, that's fun. Anyway, that was the first horror story that we tell you today. I feel better about the blood all over my window, I guess. I feel like that's like I'll live with the blood. Anyway, we have like two more weeks to go before we can like before we have a living room and a dining room again. Good.

Well, at least we have this bonus apartment if you need to go there. The end. Okay. I do want to hear your story, but I have two tiny announcements before I forget. Yeah. They're just like my announcements, I guess. But I am very excited to say I was on per normal cat-tivity and the episode aired and Eva's out there. And it was super fun. And we recorded a while ago, but it's about this like gun control book, like this like satirical gun control book. So it is also kind of timely. But anyway, it was really fun. And it was just like one of the funnest recording sessions ever. So go listen to Paranormal Cativity. Em was on an episode a while back too. We read Benicula. Yes, exactly. Em said

the last book they're ever going to read. Ever again. Although the book that you read, I have skimmed it because I gave it to my stepsister for Christmas. I gave it to my stepdad one year for Christmas. It's a great book. I was like, wait, I have this book. It is. It's really funny. And so anyway, I was on paranormal captivity. So go check that out. That's Eva's lovely podcast with her sister. And you were on Mega. Yeah. And I was on Mega, which is like my dream. It's your version of Christian Stories. Yes, exactly.

And it's like a satirical. If you guys haven't listened to it, you really should. It's so funny. It's a satirical mega church podcast where these two improvers like every week have like a new staff member of the church come in. So it's like the joke is it's a mega church. So they just like have endless staff members. It's just like a

revolving door. Yes, of like people who are like full-time staff and like have, you know, they run like the social media or they're like the backup third drummer of the band or whatever, you know,

this mega church. And they know a lot about like the history or like evangelicalism and so they play into that. It's very funny. And so I got to pick my character and I played Chrissy Schaefer, who's the owner of the doggy daycare at the mega church. And the doggy daycare name I came up with was Noah's Bark. And I was

very proud of that. Oh, I love that. Thank you. Wait a minute. I was very proud of that. I was like, I know we're going to improv this, but can I just insert one thing I've prepared? Cause it's that. That's hysterical. Well, thank you. And I had a whole thing where I have 12 dogs named after the disciples. It's a whole thing. Anyway, I had a lot of fun and it's one of my favorite podcasts of all time. Um, and so I was very honored and flattered when they asked me to be on it. So I just had a fun couple of weeks here on, on shows. That's nice. I would have assumed you would also be the person in the mega church who, in the mega church who has like your wine bra, you're kind of like, I should have like in between shifts.

I did do like an MLM bit where I was like, I also sell essential oils. I just like couldn't pick it up. I haven't talked to you since high school, but I know I haven't picked Elaine. But I had, I had all my, I did have all my business cards and stuff.

Anyway, it was very fun. So check out mega and check out Paranormal Cat activity. They're both very excellent shows. Well, I'm proud of you. Thank you, Em. I know you've talked about that show a lot. I was just very happy because I was like, I did improv for a while, but I'm not like

an improv. Christine's great at improv. She's not going to say it. I appreciate you. I used to go to all of Christine's improv shows. Poor Em had to be dragged to my improv. That's when I knew Em was a real friend. He would show up at my improv shows. I was like, wow. I had no other friends. You were like, can I stand outside? I'm too nervous to watch you do this. I really was.

I remember. I was like puking. I was so nervous in the back. And I had the audacity to be like, I'm nervous too. And I was like sitting in the audience. I know, but I appreciated it. I was like, someone gets it at least. Anyway, who knew one day we'd be on a stage together. I remember the first time I saw one of your shows. I was like, thank God that's not me up there. I hope that never happens. And then I was like, hey, come join me. Okay.

Anyway, sorry. I know that was a long intro, but I wanted to. Well, that's okay. We had time because my story is super short today. Oh, great. Speaking of Noah's bark. Oh. I wonder if this was one of the names of the disciples because I did not read the Bible.

Oh, didn't you? No. I'm going to pretend that this is one of the disciples though. Okay. Deserves it at the very least. I'm going to be really embarrassed if I don't know the answer. I think you'll know the answer. The answer is a firm, hard no. Oh, okay. I thought we were really playing a quiz game here. No, so this is a story about a dog who would have probably have probably been a noah's bark um who would have you know had some wine from your wine bra in his bowl um so this was something that during the last instagram live i did uh one person named cheeky livy um just i remember that name i feel like i'm sure you did because in the instagram live cheeky livy you uh really wanted this story

told because you probably wrote a hundred times that's why I probably recognize it uh which is I mean I was asking for story ideas and Cheeky Livvy fucking wrote that they know we just like sometimes miss them yeah really really uh shot your shot there so you know what I'm I'm rewarding you here is the story that you requested so badly so this is in South Carolina. It's in Charleston, and it is called Pugin's Porch. Oh, I don't, I've never heard of that. Pugin is the disciple, so you're stupid.

Oh, sure. Saint Pugin, the patron saint of porches. Yes, that's the truth. Yeah, I know him. Okay, so we're gonna, you're gonna love Pugin. There's no reason to jump into this and be nervous later about Pugin's story. So thank God. Um, and it is super short, but cheeky Libby, listen, you screamed Pugin porch enough times. I'm going to, I'm going to have to look into it. So it is one of South Carolina's most haunted

restaurants. And it is one of it's from the travel channel. They say it's one of the most haunted restaurants in the world. Um. It is a grand Victorian home. It's on 72 Queen Street in Charleston. It was built in 1888 and opened as a restaurant in the 70s, I think 1976. And during the 70s, there was this wave in the area of residential spots kind of becoming commercial properties, which I guess makes sense because when I think about any shop or restaurant or anything in Charleston, I think of them in, like, really beautiful homes. Those, like, old-timey Victorian houses with the porch.

Yeah. Yeah. And they're, like, boutiques now. I don't think of storefronts. I think of, like, oh, it happens to be in this very delightful home. Yeah. So that's what Boogan's Porch looks like. It's a restaurant.

With, like, you know, obviously the wraparound beautiful southern porch and all that stuff. Love a good wraparound porch. Love a good wraparound porch. Love a good wraparound. So there are two stories to how Pugin's Porch, the restaurant, got its name. The first one, and I don't know which one is accurate. I don't know if one is more believed than the other. This is just what I saw in two different sources. So the previous owners that lived in the house left their dog behind

as one of them. And the dog sadly always sat on the porch waiting for his family to come back. I thought you told me I didn't have to get sad in this story. Well, that's the last of it. The other version, which I think is more popular, is that he was just a stray in the neighborhood and everyone knew him and he would wander from porch to porch for food. Okay, I like that story better. And the owner who ended up purchasing this house as a restaurant ends up taking him in.

Aw. And so this dog would greet people as he came into the restaurant and would regularly be there and everyone just kind of knew like, oh, like this is the restaurant with the dog. The dog's name was Pugin and he always sat on the porch and welcomed people into the restaurant so they called it Pugin's porch um and so he was around for a long time he became kind of obviously the mascot with his name being the restaurant and everything um but in 1979 which was three years later he died and they uh buried Pugin near the porch with a little grave. So you can still see Pugin's little grave at the restaurant.

It's very sweet. I have a picture of his grave right there. It has a little puppy dog. It's a sea. It says R.I.P. Pugin. Oh, honey. You know, I'd sprinkle little crumbs on my way out. Oh, yeah, you would.

You'd just drop a whole steak on it. Absolutely. Half of a steak. The other half goes to me. Not an entire steak. I would let him have the leftovers if there were any. But yeah, so if you went to Pugin's Porch today, apparently people still see Pugin there, which is so sweet.

That's the best. The ghost dog idea is my favorite. I would love a ghost dog. I guess we sort of had one with Walt and Gabe. That's true. Although I've never heard from Gabe. Well, maybe. No, that was the other apartment that we saw the ghost dog. You did see a ghost dog in my other apartment. You've only had dogs haunt your homes. Well, that's good. I'll keep hopefully until this one until this one. Well, shit. Well, shit. I am also like bleeding all over the walls. So I'm sure like I'm not attracting the savory

kind of ghost. No, there, anyone who came into your house as a ghost and had class, they looked at that window unit and they were like, next house. They were like, I lived in this house in 1894. Oh shit, what has she done to the place? We're leaving. Oh no.

So, and I'll talk about getting to see Pugin in a little bit, but there is another ghost there named Zoe. So in the early 1900s, when it was a residential home, a woman named Zoe lived there with her sister Elizabeth. Okay. And Zoe was a teacher and she was a spinster, a.k.a. probably 19. Yeah, exactly. And unmarried, God forbid.

And, like, in one article, they said that, like, her clothing didn't help, which like I'm sorry. Like a modern day article? A modern day. What the hell? I don't know like what time period that quote was taken from, but I read it on a modern day article. Oh, yikes. But apparently she wore long black dresses and thin framed glasses. And I was like, a lot of people who are not spinsters and are 19 and are also 30 and not spinsters and are also 40 not spinsters wear

that shit yeah i was like that sounds pretty on brand actually um so in 1945 elizabeth passed away and apparently i guess zoe didn't have a lot of friends i mean obviously her clothing wasn't helping obviously not but so the only friend she had was her sister so when her sister passed away she like just had a freaking breakdown. And one night she was actually seen outside of her house walking up and down the street, screaming out her sister's name, looking for her. And the neighbors were like, yikes, she needs some help.

And so they took her off the street and they brought her to, I'm pretty sure it was a mental hospital. It just says the St. Francis Hospital, but she never came out. So I'm assuming they just kind of francis hospital but she never came out so i'm assuming they just kind of admitted her there and never she never came back out oh no um so as for the ghost a lot of people see zoe in that house also um and they say she's probably looking for her sister oh ew um so some of the ghosts there uh or no the only ghosts there are zoe and poogan

so staff members and guests alike will see Zoe throughout the restaurant, and they think she's either a guest or an employee there. But people see a solid human walking around, and then they find out later when they look at a portrait of her on the wall that she's not alive. They're like, look at those glasses and that black dress. And they're like, I should have known the second I saw those glasses. I should have known she was a dead spinster. Look at that 19-year-old spin like, I should have known the second I saw those glasses. She was a dead spinster.

Look at that 19-year-old spinster. I should have smelted on her. So other tourists say that apparently the house across the street is, I guess, some sort of B&B or a hotel. But people have looked at the restaurant in the middle of the night and seen a woman, like, panically banging on the windows like she's locked in there oh and like freaking out not just staying there but like panicked and so they'll call the police thing like hey someone's locked in the restaurant and the police will go and open it up

and it's completely empty the alarms haven't been tripped and so there's one source that kind of it was this alleged rumor that like when cops get a call about someone breaking into Pugin's Porch they like just don't even check anymore because like they get that call so many times

can you imagine being on the phone and they're like oh it's nothing and you're like I'm literally calling you for a reason or also like

imagine if you're the manager of Pugin's Porch and you're like no this time I'm being robbed and the cops are like I don't buy it

it's a ghost so apparently people have seen her not just locked in the restaurant, but people have also seen her in the bathrooms. And they think that she's another guest and they'll even talk to her. Oh, my God. One person said that she actually was in a stall and a woman on the other side was banging on it frantically, which kind of plays into the banging on doors and banging on windows.

But apparently she witnessed someone banging on the stall while she was using it. And she was like, homie, I'm busy. Like, I'll be out in a sec. Come back later. And when she opened the door, a woman was standing there that was dressed in black and she just like faded away in front of her. What does she want i know like how rude to like be like to scream for attention and then be like never mind then you come out with your pants down you're like what and she's like just kidding i changed my mind uh apparently um there's a quote from the assistant general manager who says

occasionally you see her looking for her sister in the front dining room i don't know how you know she's looking for her sister specifically but apparently she see her looking for her sister in the front dining room. I don't know how you know she's looking for her sister specifically, but apparently she's seen looking for her sister in the front dining room. Okay. Some people have seen her also walking around outside the house or through the restaurant. Sometimes people have heard a woman calling out the name Elizabeth. Oh. So they assume that that must be her throughout the house. People have also just heard a woman's voice, so they assume it's her. Some people have actually heard a voice singing or screaming or humming or. Or all three. Just living amongst you, apparently.

Living very extremely, I guess, singing and screaming. That's pretty. Having a lot of emotions. So some people have also seen Zoe standing behind behind them whether that's in pictures or in mirrors don't love that um i don't and apparently some people will like be looking at you and behind you they'll see someone else you know i'm feeling someone looks over your shoulder and you're like what's behind me firm pass i've done that to you before uh-huh just in case you're wondering i've noticed don't forget I see your wandering

eyes. Sometimes that happened. I feel like at the apartment or something. I'm sure a lot of. Oh no, that was with poor Eva. Eva was sitting there and you were in the bathroom and I saw somebody, remember I saw something in the room, like across the hall and I jumped up to like, or like I saw, and then I heard you flush the toilet on the other bathroom the other bathroom and I went wait a second because I thought you had been like coming out. I remember that. And so I looked over Eva's shoulder and she was like what? And I was like uh sorry to trouble you. I forgot to tell you. Did something happen? Last night. No. I was lying in bed and I got poltergroped again. No. In the apartment? In my apartment. Oh, no. But not in the. The last one happened in D.C. at Deirdre's old apartment.

Right. But this last night wasn't your apartment, not the. And that's where you drink apartment. This time was a full snuggle. Wait, what? Which I did not like. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I thought because I was lying on my side looking at my phone because I don't ever sleep.

That's what you do. And I felt someone like come up and like rub my back and like, like up like snuggle up to me and i thought it was allison behind me sleeping and i went like oh that's so sweet and i turned around and she was like on the other side of the bed no no no no are you serious yeah it freaked me out and out loud i went what the fuck and allison woke up and was like can you be quiet but then i like absolutely didn't sleep and that's how i started that's how we got on looking into sports that's how i started looking into you were traumatized into looking into sports i was so i was like well i'm not sleeping i might as well learn everything about everything i've never looked at poltergeist i've it was a full i felt

a full hand volume rubbing my back and she was unconscious like not near me it was the creepiest yeah wait but that wasn't at the and that's where you drink apartment right no that was at my apartment you're fine it was on my apartment because i was saying i saw something in our apartment the and that's where you drink apartment remember that's what so i thought you meant because while you were sleeping there that happened we're not safe anywhere they're everywhere people are probably like, you guys are just. I know what I felt last night

and I didn't like it. That's to be fair. And I said out loud after what the fuck, I was like, whatever you just tried, we're not doing that again. Why do you think

it was doing that to you? It was trying to snuggle up so it could read Twitter over my shoulder. I don't know. Well, okay. Here's my question for real. What?

Do you think, remember this happened at Deer Displace last time, right? Yeah. And both times I thought someone was trying to snuggle me. Do you think it's the same entity? Like it wants, it just keeps trying to snuggle with you. And maybe sometimes you're asleep when it happens. So it doesn't, you don't even know it's happening. You're just doing the thing that I do with to you. I know. I'm going to look over your shoulder in a second. Now you said it it's like i mean because it was similar right there's no way to know unless they're just like a multitude of no they are different i would think could the last one grab my ass that's true that was a real

group and with confidence so you would think if that was the first time because you shamed them the first time as you should have yeah now they're a little more like i'll start at the shoulder is this is this better? Either way, I didn't like it. If it were one spirit or two, I hate it. So I made it clear. I said out loud, I was like, nice try. We're not doing this anymore.

I was like, I'm not here for that. Next time they're just going to like touch your head or something. Like, I still want. I was like, just get the fuck away from me. I have told people many times that if I've ever heard anything in my apartment, I literally just go, no, thank you. And then it stops. You do.

No, thank you. Oh, my gosh. Anyway. I'm freaked out. Okay. So some people have seen Zoe standing behind them. That's where we were. Yes, right.

Also, place settings have moved on the tables and customers have felt someone staring at them or sitting at their table while they eat. They've just felt like something next to them while they're eating. There's just like another person there? Just like an, yeah, some weird ominous feeling at your table. Okay, not to derail one more time, but I was listening to Jim Harrell's Campfire, another great podcast that we love, and there was a story somebody submitted in a recent episode where they said their sister worked at a hotel restaurant and they went and they were serving a table with two parents and two daughters, and they went to, like, bring the water out or whatever and said, like, oh, do you need

anything for the girls, thinking they had gone to the bathroom, and they're, like, what girls? Yeah. And they were, like, sitting at the table with them, and she's, like, there were two girls with them, and then, like, they said, we don't know any girls, so they'd just been sitting there. We have a building in Fredericksburg. It's, like, the first one on Caroline. I feel like anyone who's from Fredericksburg listening to this knows what I'm talking about. But there's a house that's notoriously haunted. And it's been Fredericksburg lore that's like one of the most haunted places in the world. If it were, anyone else would have fucking heard about it.

Has Zeebe been there? Right, right. That's my meter, my metric of how haunted it is. Has Zeebe and his acid-washed jeans been to Fredericksburg? I don't think so. Have his acid-washed jeans been to Fredericksburg? I don't think so. Have his acid-washed jeans stained the furniture of that particular building?

But it is, at least in our town, it's probably one of the most haunted places in our town because at least, I've lived there since 96, and I don't think there's been a company that's stayed

in that building for more than a couple years. Wait, it's a restaurant? Or wait, no, you just said it's a building. It's usually a restaurant. Okay. And apparently the story is during the Battle of Fredericksburg, this little girl was looking out the window.

No. And she was waiting for her father to come home because he was supposed to come home that night or something. And a stray bullet hit her through the window and so now it's either like on the anniversary of her death or her birthday or whatever people swear they see a little girl looking out the window onto the main street and apparently she had a little brother and every person I know that has either worked there or you know a lot of people have eaten there they all say that there's always a little boy playing with, like,

old vintage, like, trucks in the corner. And then when you go back to ask him, like, where his mom is, he's gone. Blech. Yeah. Isn't it weirder that those two girls at that restaurant, like, sat with two parents who had no idea who they were? That's creepy because, like, they want to still be near. They want to be in the table with family.

Yeah, blech. Anyway. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. At least the two that I know of in Fredericksburg. Do their own thing. Leave everyone alone. They're like always in the corner and by the window. They're like, don't touch my vintage truck. Thank you.

Excuse me. It's made of lead. Do you even know how rare this is now? It's made of lead. And asbestos. Exactly. So. Oh my gosh.

Where are we? I'm sorry. I will stop derailing. No, no, no, no. So some people have seen her standing behind them. They've seen her in pictures. They've seen her in mirrors. They've heard a voice talking to them.

Place settings move. Okay. And customers feel something ominous at the table. Also, the kitchen staff have said that pots and pans cling together on their own, fly across the room. They've seen orbs in corners of the restaurant. Guests have gotten the of the restaurant.

Guests have gotten pictures of apparitions and kitchen and bathroom faucets will turn on and off all by themselves and doors will open and close. One person said this guy's Ed Macy, and he's a co-author on a bunch of paranormal books in Charleston. And he said, to my knowledge, Zoe's been seen well over 200 times, often in broad daylight, like during brunch hour. Oh, that's fun. Zoe's just, look, she's 19. She wants to go get brunch.

She's like, now I find, I was born in the wrong decade. Like back then. Everyone looks so fun right now. Yeah. Mimosas. Uh-huh. Spinsters are not 19. Look at all these spinsters at brunch.

Employees also say that she had, oh, one employee actually said she entered the kitchen and she found a woman dressed in all black kneading dough. So she's also like there to help you make your goddamn food. She's like, I'm just going to make some rolls. I love this chick. Listen, if I had a ghost that was making me brunch, I'd be like, you can stay. Instead, it's just grabbing your butt all the time. It won't stop. It's not, listen, okay. Look, maybe I just look real cuddly. I would be traumatized.

Sorry. If something grabbed me in my sleep, I can't fathom that. That would scare the absolute bejesus out of me. I think it was something kind this time. I do think they were different things because the first one like felt like it was like a random prankster. Like you're not from here, but I could probably freak you out. This one felt kind because afterwards like I remember thinking like I feel fine like at peace like I never felt anything dark

it wasn't like lingering it or like leering at you in the dark if anything it might have been like a ghost I know like a family member or something I don't know yeah that's why I was wondering if it was following you but you're right if it was like a different event or a different agenda it's been like three years so like they haven like they haven't done it while I was awake since. But this one felt fine. Like afterwards I was surprisingly calm, which is usually a sign of like something being positive. At least to my experience. But so, oh, okay.

So she saw this woman kneading dough. And then when she told her like, I guess the employee assumed she was a guest and said, hey, you can't be here, the woman just disappeared. You can't be putting your hands in our dough. Like, what a weird thing. She was probably like, well, if I can't make dough, then what is this all about? And she just left.

So another time, a neighbor saw a shadow figure banging on the window of a street, and the neighbor reached for her phone, and when she turned back, the figure was gone. A lot of employees say that they hear noises during the night shifts when nobody else is there, just them, especially noises upstairs. There was one pastry chef who had to work overnight, and she would hear noises upstairs so loudly that it was drowning out her radio. Oh, my God. And so she went to go check and

nothing was up there and when she turned the radio back on she heard a woman singing the song with her no thank you like this spinster ghost also knows modern music this is the age of the spinster she's like living her best life redo the chinese calendar yeah yeah this is the no longer the year of the spinster year of the spinster yeah And also every year from now on will be that also. I'm just going to redo every calendar. It's the Chinese calendar, right? The astrology. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. I want to make sure I got that right. Which one are you? I think I'm a monkey. Yeah, I think you are because you're 92, right? I think I'm like, oh, God, I always forget. It's either a goat or a rat. I think.

You both. Or like a cryptid combination, which I guess would be like a chupacabra. Sure. That's yeah. So, uh, yeah, so she was, she turned the radio back on, was like, I'm going to try to ignore that. So she started singing this music and then a voice sang with her and nobody else was in the restaurant.

Um, another chef was making coffee and left the room for a minute. The cup was completely gone. He was the only and left the room for a minute. The cup was completely gone. He was the only one that had been in the kitchen. And when he turned around after making another cup of coffee, the original cup was now there and had lipstick stains on it. Ooh, ooh. Okay, that's creepy. One employee was cleaning and felt something behind her. She looked behind her. There was nothing there. Looked back into the mirror and it was not her reflection she saw, but an old woman wearing thin glasses who then disappeared and she saw her reflection.

Okay, so it wasn't like it was even standing behind her. It was like she had moved into her. Okay, that is very frightening. That's where I check out. I'm like, bring me my bill. Yeah, you can have my coffee. Check. You can stick your fingers in my dough.

That sounds really like a euphemism. It's not. I didn't mean for it to be. But yikes. Yeah, don't like take over my body. Please don't take away me seeing myself in a mirror. That's horrible. The owner actually saw a wooden stool fall over on its own and saw the doors open and slam shut violently during renovations.

Oh, man. Which is pretty common during renovations is for to stir up energy. Um, and the owner also said when construction was finished to, Oh, this is, I think a quote from that story. When construction was finished for the day, I was trying to lock the building and couldn't get the alarm to set while the phone, while on the phone with our security company and trying to figure out the problem. All of a sudden the barstool came flying across the room, knocking over the other stools. Then the kitchen door went flying open as if someone had kicked it open and had gone into the kitchen. And I guess she originally thought that she was being robbed and someone saw her in there and freaked out and ran off. But she swears it was a ghost.

She's like, nobody was in that apartment or no one was in that building. Um, and then real quick, some people see Pugin. And so where did he go? I miss him. Uh, people say that they see Pugin hanging out in the restaurant and on the porch and Pugin is drawn to children. So a lot of little kids will say that they're like playing with a puppy or, um, people claim that they feel a dog brushing

past their legs at the table especially little kids he's just looking for crumbs they believe is looking for crumbs stop and people i like how i say oh wow what a shocking discovery i've made and people have heard a dog paws walking on the floor little click clacks that's so sweet um and his photo is on the wall i'll show you that photo in a second and they believe uh oh no and like i said he's buried on the property uh with his picture next to his grave um or with a statue of him next to his grave so you can say hello and leave treats for him and i said it earlier but the eatery is open for breakfast lunch and dinner with not including covid um and it's apparently known for their brunch and mimosas. Yeah, I mean, if I were a spinster,

I'd be there too after my death. If I were a 1940s spinster. When you've got brunch, mimosas, a ghost who's like kneading your dough and kind of a dog also. This is Pugin on the left. That's his, what he looks like. What a sweet, oh my God.

Oh, that's a cute dog. He's an itty bitty puppy dog. He's a floofy smiley dog. He looks like he has a very energetic tail. It really, yes, he does. Yeah. Also, it freaks me out that this picture of his grave was taken at night and there's like a flash. So it looks like extra spooky. Yeah, that's Pugin's porch. What a baby. And it has an A rating with the Department of Health. So that's good. Bingo. Good to know the ghosts don't get in your dough too often.

I know. I was about to say, despite all that involvement. Oh, my God, Em. I like how every time you're like, I have a short story. I'm like, great. I'm going to insert myself every five seconds. Now I should have. It helps me because I have said many times that I'm scared about when my stories start getting shorter.

But Christine's here to take the bait. I am happy to overextend any conversation ever. Every time I say I have a short story, she's like, excellent. I planned nine anecdotes that have nothing to do with each other. I will find a way to relate them somehow tangentially to your story. Okay, well, Em, I'm excited about this one, okay? Very excited about this one. I am as well.

I don't have nine anecdotes, but I do have eight. You do have eight. Good. Yep. Great. Well, prepare them, please. Oh, they're prepared. They better be not even a little bit related.

I'll find a way to sagoo them then. Okay, good. Okay, I'm excited about this one. This is the story of Missy Beavers. And, oh my goodness, I had known about this for a long time. I don't even know why or where I saw it, but it's one of those weird cases that like, I was like, what's that? And then I started reading about it and I went, oh my God, I know what happened.

Like I've like seen this on like shows and stuff. Do you think that'll happen for me halfway through this story? I don't know if you know it. That's, we're all going to ride this ride together. It's an interesting adventure. You know what? Because I was looking at some of the – there's a couple little video clips for this one. And I was watching them last night and my brother was like, oh, I've seen that on Reddit.

So, I mean, he's even seen it. So, I don't know. I'm pretty active on Reddit. Yeah, but you're probably in the tea subreddit. I was going to say, not the unnecessary drink Reddit. I'm on the weird – I've got some weird stuff going on on my reddit pages. Yeah, reddit, like, figured out that I'm part of – because I think I clicked on one link once, and now it starts emailing me this week's digest of the ATWW podcast subreddit.

I'm like, I refuse to open that email. No. I'm not even subscribed. My reddit is, like, a very – like, an old man's reddit. Like a dad reddit. I follow a bunch of like restoration projects and like yeah i just follow like uh let's not meet and like uh creepy stories i don't know mine's all like mysteries very simple diy and like that's fun i also follow like are funny like

they do really basic just like this is funny i don't know i also followed the dugger one because a lot of people like of course you have obviously have to theorize what's going on in the world of the you know the christians so yeah um we just don't like to theorize see what other people are theorizing about us because it gets in our heads no i christine told me i had to delete that one well it wasn't healthy for your mental state or mine. Anyway, so this is the story of Missy Beavers. It is quite a creepy mystery. Now, the main sources, I used quite a few, but these are like the main ones. I listened to Crime Junkie did an episode on this.

There's a YouTuber named Bella Fiore who did an episode on this. That was really helpful. A blog called True Noir Stories, which is like a really involved blog. That was really helpful. CBS, Dallas Observer wrote this like really thorough account. I feel like I got different stuff from each one. So I just want to like give them. Oh, that's fun.

I know. There's so much. And then some Reddit perusing. So that's how this all came about. So this takes place in a town called Midlothian, Texas. Oh. Which is about 25 miles south of Dallas. Morning of April 18, 2016.

So it's not that long ago. Sorry, I don't know if we should like. Coming after you. Somebody commented in a recent thing being like, skip over this part if you're driving because there's sirens in the background. Everyone's like, yeah, I had to skip over that part too. I was like, okay, my bad. Did you read that on Reddit?

Probably. Probably. Okay, sorry. I'm a, okay. Did you read that on Reddit? Probably. Okay, sorry. I'm a cesspool of all bad opinions. Everybody just gets mad all the time about things that I can't control. It's fine. The reason I went, oh, with Midlothian is because

Midlothian is a Virginia thing, too. It's in Richmond. I see. Okay, because I know that name, but it's probably in multiple places. Same with Fredericksburg. The only other Fredericksburg is in Texas. Maybe you guys are like sister states. Texas likes to take all of our stuff. Maybe.

Yeah, I guess you guys were there first, so just saying. So 5 a.m., April 18, 2016. So there's this camp gladiator fitness class that takes place at this church called Creekside Church, and it's this kind of boot camp. My mom used to make me do a boot camp with her. It was awful. Oh, hang on. Tangent number one.

It was 5 a.m. And we'd have to go to a church, literally. And like we didn't go to church, but this was like this big mega church with this huge parking lot. And I did a boot camp every morning at 5 a.m. I'm taking my flip flops off. This is a big one.

Anyway, so I like I've done this kind of a boot camp. It's like my mom would make me go at five in the morning. It's awful anyway. And then you run around the building. It's not Christian. It's just like they since megachurches have like huge parking lots. They would like use the parking lot, I guess. But it's the same idea.

Sounds terrible. It was. Thank you for asking or commenting. You're correct. Thanks for saying what I was thinking. Yeah, so this took place at the Creekside Church, which is like a big church in the area. And people began to gather for the church, for the class, a little bit before 5 a.m. And the fitness instructor who leads the class is 45-year-old Missy Beavers,

who lives in nearby Red Oak, Texas, with her husband, Brandon, and their three daughters. So Missy typically arrives for the 5 a.m. class about half an hour early so that she can like set up and they have these like microphones and like put on these speakers with like Kesha playing at five in the morning. Like it's very hardcore. Nothing against Kesha but like there's no faster way to not like Kesha. I was gonna to say, no joke, that summer it ruined so many pop songs for me because I just heard them on repeat. Adele is ruined for me because when I worked at Chipotle, all of Adele's songs up until that point were

I guess approved by Chipotle corporate. Oh god. To be used on their soundtrack or something? They have different CDsds they had cd they had like approved music um and it was like i think it was a cd at the time that they used but there was one for like the day shift for like the night shift when you were cleaning after the fact really uh

yeah i think now it's all one big thing but i remember the music would eerily change once we started cleaning and it was just all Adele. They were like, it's just like sad, weepy music while you sweep. Well, it's specifically the song Rumor Has It. Oh. So they train you like exactly how you're supposed to clean the restaurant. You're supposed to do one thing first, one thing first, one thing first. And by the time I always got to cleaning toilets, Rumor Has It was playing.

So now I just always think like, Rumor Has It. Oh, no. You're plunging. Yeah. So if I ever meet Adele, rumor has it. Oh no, you're plunging. Yeah. So if I ever meet Adele, I'm going to be like, I just think about toilets. I'm sorry.

Yeah. It's not her fault. It's really not. It's not Kesha's fault either, honestly. But here we are. So she's there setting up this class and she's there about 4.30.

And although it had been raining, the class was still taking place. So the night before on April 17th, she had posted in her Camp Gladiators Facebook group, if it's raining, we are still training. So it was still on for that day. Much to everyone's chagrin, I'm sure. So instead of training outdoors, they would be training inside instead.

So when the first students arrived for the class, they headed to the room where Missy would be setting up for the class. The first students arrived for the class. They headed to the room where Missy would be setting up for the class. And instead, they entered to find Missy dead on the floor, covered in blood, and surrounded by broken glass. Oh. Ugh. Okay. So they call 911 at 5.06 a.m.

Paramedics, police, and fire department are on the scene within 10 minutes. Unfortunately, paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. She had been bludgeoned to death and had received multiple puncture wounds to the head and chest. Puncture to the head? Yeah, like stabby, stab. You know? I know. The word puncture is really just. It's a bad word.

Yeah. It's very onomatopoetic, like puncture. It's just like, ugh. It's got a really like awful ASMR. It does. Like thing going on. It does. So this is like obviously very shocking to

everyone. First of all, there hasn't been a murder in Midlothian in seven years at this point. So this is like the first murder in seven years. Wow. Yeah. It's like a really small town. And then secondly, they're like, why on earth would anyone want to hurt Missy? Like she's this like really peppy, you know, bright spot in everyone's lives. She doesn't seem to have any enemies. She like has a lot of local friends and is very bubbly and outgoing. And it's obviously cliche, but she's like very well loved. Like nobody could think of an enemy that she has. Right. Her Facebook page, which is now a memorial page, still features her bio. And it reads, having an impact on others and helping others reach

their fitness and health goals is my passion. So that's still like up. So that's just like her, you can like picture this woman, like she's just like fun and peppy and wants to get everyone at 5 a.m. once everyone's singing along. She must have been that person like at a, like the college orientation. Yes, exactly. Like running the icebreaker. She's like got Jonathan Van Ness energy. Yes, exactly. Like just never goes out. Just like really, really bubbly. And so at first everyone's like, well, the police are like, well, this must be a robbery gone wrong.

Like maybe somebody came early. An accidental situation. And thought, oh, I'm just going to rob the place. Didn't know someone would be there at 5 a.m. Right. Right. Like just a bad timing. There was broken glass. There were open doors.

The attacker had used a crowbar or like a pry bar, they called it. It's like a crowbar to smash a window and get into the church. So that's how they'd gotten in. So they assumed Missy had just gotten in the way of this robbery and that's why she was killed. But some things didn't add up. So for one thing, none of the jewelry she was wearing was taken, including her wedding ring. And she had like some expensive jewelry. So it was weird that somebody wouldn't have taken her wedding ring if they were taking the time to puncture wound her whole body like and before they left. And what's more, they quickly found out the church had a functioning surveillance video

system. Oh, that's useful. It is. So right away they were like, shit, we can like watch the video footage and see what happened. So they checked out the surveillance footage and were very happy to discover that for once, I feel like on this podcast, the tapes hadn't been deleted or whatever. Like they actually had footage of this person in the bag, in the bag. So, uh, they were happy to discover the video not only shows Missy's arrival at 418

that morning, but it also shows her murderer, like following up, like when she gets there a few minutes later for sure like it was the person yeah yeah so it actually features several minutes of the perpetrator walking around the church before her death like knowing she'd be there yeah so i'm actually gonna show you a little clip aroo oh this is the first time i get to see video on here so this is um i'm gonna show you a clip if you're you can watch this on our youtube um this is from the midlothian Police Department. So do you see this person? They're in a seemingly.

That looks like a police SWAT unit. Like a SWAT uniform, exactly. They have a police vest on and they are holding a hammer. And so this person is kind of just walking around. And they also have a very distinctive gait, which comes into play later. And they're just kind of casually walking around opening doors. Just killing time. Yeah, exactly. Before actually killing. of gate which comes into play later and they're just kind of casually walking around opening doors yeah exactly like peeping around corners kind of uh weird this is i mean it's very eerie isn't it it took almost 200 episodes but finally like i'm so watch the way he walks this is very just like

this is um kind of with feet turned outward a little bit. So that just becomes kind of a point later. But so it's kind of creepy because the whole place is video, you know, set up for video. And they're just watching this guy in a seemingly police SWAT uniform with a helmet and everything. So you can watch that on YouTube if you want. Oh, and then he starts swinging his hammer into the wall. Like practicing? And just like smashing the wall for no reason. But it's almost like lazy.

Like it's not even like they're intentional about anything. Maybe he doesn't. Granted, I don't know how many murderers I've walked by in my life. But my guess is like they have a little more intensity. And like especially if you're about to kill someone, you'd think you've got like some like hyped up adrenaline. Yeah, you're like on an agenda. Right.

And you know, I mean, if you knew she was there, for example, and you were planning this, like you would know other people were coming. Like you would want to take care of the situation, I would think. So weird. I mean, I was just in the middle of saying that like 200 episodes in, I've never gotten to see like video footage. I know. This is the first time where I was like, you need to see it for like effect. That's super eerie.

It is really creepy. And so if you don't get the chance to watch it, basically, it's what we just described. A guy or a person, I guess, in a SWAT uniform with a helmet. So you can't really make out any features. Kind of walking with like kind of a distinctive like waddle sort of gait. Opposite a pigeon toad. Yeah, exactly. With like feet turned outward.

Walking around with just swinging a hammer, opening doors. And he looked like he was like literally, he looked like he was like a night guard. Like bored. Yes, bored. Yeah. Just swinging different doors open, peeking his head around. It's super creepy.

So they figured out the individual had entered via a back window that they'd broken around 3.50 a.m. dressed in what looks like SWAT gear but is actually fake. So, I mean, not surprisingly, but the police looked at that and went, nope, that's not ours. Like, that's not, you know. It's padded and it has the word police written on the back wearing a helmet that looks more like a motorcycle helmet. It didn't look like it matched the uniform. Yeah, exactly. The person carries what seems to be a hammer, walks calmly, casually checking locks, breaking windows every now and then for no seeming reason. The person, like I said,

also walks with kind of flat feet and perhaps even a slight limp. Some people think like it looks like they're favoring their left foot a little bit as if the right was either injured or they were kind of unbalanced. Okay. And we didn't watch the whole thing, but if you watch it like over and over, you can start to like realize that pattern. If you're analyzing. If you're analyzing. Exactly. And they even leaned on walls seemingly to like relieve their right foot off the ground a little bit. Okay. So, but otherwise their identity is pretty much fully hidden. So the person meanders around, half-heartedly opening doors for a half hour. And at this point, I guess Missy hadn't even been there yet because they got there at 3.50 and she arrived at 4.18.

So basically they were waiting for her to arrive. Yeah. And also like the, I know it looked lazy, but like to be hammering with the hammer, it felt like it was like kind of like he was like a daydreaming kind of pretending. Just like, here we go. Right. Like planning it. Yeah.

Yeah. Really lazy planning, but still looked like there was like that was the plan. That was the plan for the hammer. Yeah, exactly. So at 418, Missy arrived, at which point the two presumably cross paths and Missy was murdered. Sure. So if there is footage of the murder itself, thankfully, I mean, probably that footage hasn't been released. So if they do have footage of that, the actual crime, they haven't

released it publicly. So for obvious reasons, police rule out burglary because they're like, well, this person, hey, this is a church. It's not like they're keeping like millions of dollars hidden anywhere. Right. Unless it is like a mega church, but I don't think it is. You never know. It's not Greenleaf. So I don't know. Right. Unless it is like a mega church, but I don't think it is. You never know. It's not green leaves, so I don't know. Right, exactly. So they started investigating the case as a homicide at this point for obvious reasons. And based on the video, police were able to estimate the perpetrator's height as being

somewhere between 5'2 and 5'7. Oh. So unfortunately, the church's outdoor cameras were not functioning that morning, but the cameras of a nearby store did show something unusual from the night that night before she was murdered. So they showed a car pulling into the store's parking lot, circling the store with their headlights turned off. So they pull in the lot, turn off their headlights, start kind of dark out. It's dark. Yeah. It's like middle of the night. So it's not like you accidentally forget to turn them on. Right. Like they drove in, turned them off in the dark and started driving around. They they parked for three minutes out front and the car is a light colored 2010 to 2012 Nissan Altima with a distinctive oval shaped bumper sticker underneath

the license plate. You know, those like kind of like outer banks. That was my first example. Outer banks. You've been called out. Also, anyone with an outer bank outer banks you've been called out um also anyone with an outer bank sticker you've been called out or like salt life i've also yes or i was the dmb they have like dave matthews man ones oh my god um anyway no comment except total comment um so that's but you can't tell what it says but it is like it definitely is one of those i usually just call them outer bank stickers yes and i find out later what it actually said. Um, so that's funny. So some theories are that if the car was actually connected to the Beaver's case, like maybe the driver was checking, um, the lot to make sure there were no police or

security guards around. Like maybe they were scouting the area to make sure like no one was on duty. Maybe the killer was parking and changing into the SWAT gear in the dark. And that's why they were parked out front. So police say they have yet to identify the driver of the car. And although they've publicly stated they don't have a reason to link the car to the murder, they do say that they do want to speak to the driver of the car just in case. So they still don't know who this is. So if you have an Outer Banks sticker in Midlothian, Texas,

somebody wants to talk to you. Probably a hundred people. That's true. So the next step, of course, was to delve into Missy's personal life and see who might have wanted her dead. So first they discover that Missy and her husband, Brandon, were having marital problems, not a good look, due to both financial issues as well as extramarital affairs.

So they got warrants to look into her phone and her social media accounts. They found texts between her and another man that were really flirty. And they found texts between her and Brandon indicating that Brandon knew about the affairs. Okay. Despite the fact that Brandon said he was finding out about the affairs through the media and that they were news to him. And then they went through her phone and were like, no, you knew about this. Yeah. And he was like, I don't know what kind of card he was finding out about the affairs through the media and that they were news to him and then they found they went through her phone and were like no you knew about this yeah and he was like i don't know what kind of card he was playing that's not cute not a good look no no um so they also got warrants to look into missy's linkedin profile which i was like that's kind of random

but i guess warrants interesting she used it a lot though her linkedin which um i have not used in a long time i mean neither have i but then again look at our fucking job yeah like we don't really it's not useful it's so weird people on the east coast I hear about LinkedIn yes and maybe it's maybe it's actually all across the country but like all my friends on the east coast happen to like work near DC so yes it's very big jobs like in college and DC everybody like we literally in one of my classes like had to build out our LinkedIn profiles. Yeah. It was like a big deal.

And then I moved out here and I'm like, let's go ghost hunting. I literally made a thing on LinkedIn that was like a producer. And that's what we drink. And that's why we drink. It's like so dorky. My LinkedIn literally says like, my coworkers are ghosts. Exactly. So I guess they are actually more effective than we thought.

So less than three days before her murder, Missy had shown her friend a private LinkedIn message she had received. And the friend explained that the message was from a strange man that neither of the women knew. And both of them were like that. They called the message creepy and strange. So basically Missy had gotten this message from a stranger that they both agreed was creepy and strange. Unfortunately, the friend couldn't recall the name of the person who'd sent the messages and police were able to recover only a portion of the messages because they'd been deleted. So what they did recover, according to the warrant, appeared, quote, intimate in nature. So whoever was messaging her, it was like

considered creepy by her and her friend, but also was intimate in nature. So sounds pretty creepy. Yeah. Yes. Of course, the first person I look at is a husband. There's like an easy motive. She's cheating on him. He knows about it. Sure. And they're having financial troubles. If I were a cop, I'd be like, well, that's it.

That's it, right? If I were me, I'd be like, that's it. Yeah, exactly. So he did have an alibi. He was in Mississippi on a fishing trip. And like they have phone records, plane tickets, receipts to prove it. Okay. So now they're thinking maybe like he hired someone to do this.

Sure, that would be my next thought too. Because like how can we. Leave town. It's always that way. It's like, oh, I just happened to be on a fishing trip. Like really? Yeah. What great timing you have.

And this was an annual fishing trip too. So it wasn't like he goes all the time for work or something. It was like his yearly fishing trip. She just happens to be murdered, which maybe it's just really bad timing. I don't know. It could be. We don't know. So they're thinking maybe murder for hire.

It's fishy. Wink. I hope it zoomed in really. Take me out. So maybe someone, they were like, maybe someone close to him did the deed for him

while he was out of town. Then as if on cue, four days after Missy was murdered, a call comes in into a police from a local dry cleaner. The dry cleaner explains that a man had just come in with a women's white long sleeved shirt to be dry cleaned, and the shirt was covered in blood. The man. Were they working on a window unit in the house? It was my husband who came home and said, my wife is too embarrassed because she. The boy said, please just toss this out.

I'll go buy a new one. Please just put this in the trash. Christine thinks you can bleach it, but I'm not going to even try. That's a good question, Em. I'm sure I do have one or two of those lying around. I'm sure. So the dry cleaner calls the police and said, this man just walked in with a women's shirt to be dry cleaned,

and it was covered in blood. The man was Missy's father-in-law, a.k.a. Brandon's dad. So like, holy hell. He explained that his, this is actually very sad. He explained that his chihuahua had been attacked by another dog and that the blood was dog blood. And everyone was like, uh-huh, okay. And interestingly, Randy, who's the father-in-law, he becomes kind of a news, you know, he's on the news and he becomes part of the media sensation around this, especially after showing up with a bloody shirt. Sure.

Yeah. You'd think so. And weirdly enough, he also seems to have the same gait as the person in the video and seems to favor his left foot while also walking with both feet pointed outwards. So now I have another clip for you of them walking side by side. And it is a little bit hard to tell, but I just want to show you at least like a couple seconds of this. So it takes a minute for it to kind of like. Also, they're definitely the same build.

Yeah, same build. See how he kind of walks with his feet pointed like. Yeah, he's doing the. He kind of waddles a little bit. The penguin toad. Yes. I don't know. It's the non-pigeon feet pointed? Yeah, he's doing the... He kind of waddles a little bit. The penguin toad. Yes. I don't know. It's the non-pigeon toad.

Yeah, the opposite. And here they are opening door. It just seems... It seems... There's several minutes of this, and I'm not going to obviously show you all of it, but just the way his feet kind of turn outward when he walks is very distinct. And he's got something odd going on with his walking.

Yeah, he kind of walks. Something's going on. It's like something's wrong with one of his legs. And so's got something something odd's going on with his walking. Yeah he kind of walks. Something's going on. It's like something's wrong with one of his legs. And so they kind of compared this and people immediately watched this on the news and went wait a second that's like the exact. Well I'm looking more at his arms and the arm. Yeah. The arm the way that he's waving during they're both like his arms seem like kind of like like this part is out while his wrists are in and he's kind of swaying. He like waddles a little bit. A little confident, yeah. And when he stops walking too, it's almost like he stops in this very weird way where one foot,

one foot, and they're both pointed outward and then his arms are down. I don't even know how else to describe it. I would immediately think that they're the same person. They're similar, right? Okay. So then everybody is kind of like, wait a second, that's like so on point. I love this. This must be the guy. I know, right? Well done bringing in video footage. I was like, can we do that?

Is that a thing we can do? And they were like, I mean, yeah. So maybe we'll find more video content for the future. So police got a warrant to test his shirt, obviously, and it actually was dog blood. So it turned out to be dog blood and the Chihuahua's vet visit was confirmed. And unfortunately, the Chihuahua did not make it. Really sad. Very sad. Although if I were him, I would have held off on like

bringing any bloody clothing anywhere. I know. That's why I'm just like so wild. I'm like, what were you thinking? This is days after your daughter-in-law got murdered? Yeah. Like, doesn't this remind you of a bloody shirt someone else might have worn? Yes, it's so weird. So, exactly. So, that was just really strange. And people were like, okay, sure, it's dog blood. But it's just such a weird coincidence, right?

Like, it just seems really strange. So, Randy was also, interestingly, in California at the time of the murder. So, he also had an alibi. He was not in town. So it is weird to me that both men who live nearby happened to be out of town the day that she was murdered. But again, that could be coincidence. It is just a weird fact. Yeah.

So both of them were at this point off the suspect list. So police had to look elsewhere. them were at this point off the suspect list so police had to look elsewhere and their interest soon falls on a man named bobby wayne henry who was a former police officer who was mentioned mentioned in numerous tips to police throughout 2016 and this was actually i found this out from crime junkie i hadn't heard it elsewhere police searched bobby's home and find out that not only was he a former police officer but he also attended church at creekskside Church. Oh. And he worked security at Missy's memorial service after she was killed. Like he was hired to work. It's just weird.

Yeah. Yeah. Like I get it's a small town but it's just a lot of like weird A lot of bumping into each other. Especially for somebody that police keep getting calls about that people are like look into this guy. Right. I would at the very least be like please don't find anything else about me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I just going to stay inside. Like, I don't want any more

accidental coincidences. And what's more, he worked as a tactical officer and admitted that he still owned some of his tactical gear. Bye. Yeah, there it is. Yeah. So they were like, well, we kind of got him on that. And interestingly, Bobby walks with a very distinctive limp. It's actually so similar that police called in a forensic podiatrist to compare their walks. There is one? I know, right? Isn't that a weird job? I guess there's like forensic odontology.

I remember that one. There's like a lot of things I've learned through this podcast. I just wonder at what point can you professionally call yourself a forensic version of that? Like, what classes do you need along with podiatry to also be like, oh, this makes it forensic? I wonder if it's because you're analyzing evidence, like, for a case rather than just, like, fixing people's feet. Who now gets to call themselves a forensic podiatrist? I think, I would imagine it's someone who studies that because it's, like. Like, took a class on, like, watching footage. footage i guess or something like that i don't know i know

there's like like svu so my knowledge is tip top but like you know when you see like a a foot or a boot print or shoe print in the mud and like knowing like how they leaned on it yeah yeah that's probably similar stuff i would imagine yeah okay I just, like, am literally in my brain. Because there's, like, forensic dentistry where they compare teeth and stuff. Just as someone who doesn't read true crime stuff, unless you're telling it to me, it doesn't even phase me that there is a forensic podiatrist out there. I know. You wouldn't think so. But, like, it makes sense.

I mean, it's a very specialized job, I imagine. Like, you don't get called on that regularly. I hope, at least. I don't know. I hope all the forensic podiatrists out there have like a group chat. A club. Yeah. Me too.

I'll come up with a name for it later. I know. I was like I'm going to start talking before we start getting involved in all the puns we're trying to come up with. So the forensic podiatrist can't make a link between his gate and the perpetrators. He does pass a polygraph test and is officially ruled out as a person of interest when his alibi also checks out. So I'm unhappy to inform you all that this case is still unsolved to this very day.

I know. Christine. That's why it's so crazy. You brought in the guns. You brought in the big guns with like the videos. You can see the person for several minutes on camera and we still don't know who it is. That's the wildest part. That's so frustrating. So police have been very clear, interestingly, that although they initially used he, him pronouns, which like you're most likely

to do when you're talking about a murderer, you know, in situations like this, statistically. Stereotypically. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Statistically speaking. But they said there's nothing to indicate that this person isn't a woman or someone who's not just your average male murderer. Sure. So they said like we don't want to quote unquote pigeonhole this for lack of a better term into you know this is a guy. This could be any number of people. Don't want to put the murderer in a box.

Right. You wouldn't though would you? So in fact they suspect it actually might be a woman due to what they call a feminine sway in the walk. So I don't know if that's true. And then we're getting into all sorts of gender problematic things. Like could be someone who was born male, but raised with several women around and kind of learned their game. Yeah. And not to be like that person, but I don't think the Texas police are looking at it that way. I don't think so either, but you really could argue a lot

of ways of like nurture versus nature. Yes, exactly. And so or they just had a messed up foot like they initially thought. Yeah. And that's why they were kind of leaning funny. Exactly. So who knows? But they do say it actually could very well be a woman. So don't like look just at men if you're trying to figure out. Or it could have been someone trying to make a weird walk.

That's the one somebody I think in Crime Junkie they said that or she was like, what if? Like what if they walk fine but just so like they don't get caught they did a weird walk. They did a thing to like throw off this. Exactly.

That's what Britt said on the show and she was like, I'm actually going to find that. Oh, okay. I'll mention it in a second because there's also a theory floating around out there

that the wife of the man Missy was having an affair with may have been angry enough to kill her. So she was allegedly pregnant at the time and some internet sleuths believe that may be why the perpetrator was wearing so much padding and why maybe they were walking with kind of like a gate of like a pregnant woman. Yeah. That being said, we can take this all a step further and say there's nothing to prove

that the gate wasn't exaggerated or fully made up like you said and as brit pointed out in crime junkie if this person isn't used to wearing like big bulky clothing or a uniform like this maybe they're just not used to walking with all this padding and so they're just kind of walking differently than normal so there's really a lot of ways to look it's gotta be so frustrating as like a detective because like you see footage like that and someone like me at first glance be like oh hook line sinker you figured it out exactly and then they're like well that walk could mean nothing yes it's like so let's just write that off entirely and it's frustrating because you know they came out right away and said like oh well if you know this man

and then they had to go back and be like wait wait we know we said that but like if you we didn't mean to make it so specific you know like yeah they're backtracking basically so either way despite 2 000 tips that have come in over the years police still have not one single suspect for this case crazy and this seems like such a solvable case which is why it's so frustrating um so if you and it's very recent still last last four years so if you have any information you can text midl and your tip to 847411 or or call crime stoppers of Ellis County at 972-937-PAYS, P-A-Y-S. And so that's the story. I mean, if you happen to know someone with an Outer Banks bumper sticker and a SWAT uniform,

like hit us up. Or maybe a penguin in a SWAT uniform. Or a pregnant penguin in a SWAT uniform. Let us know. But it is really frustrating because like, I don't know. It's all very fishy too. I would be pissed if I were Missy's family because like you're so close and yet so far from answers.

And after a couple of years, it's like, well, things just die down. Like, yeah, now what? You know, so I feel like if you all know anything about this, go watch the video. If you have any, if you know anything about Midlothian or know anybody who might have some information, let's figure this out. All right. Well, thank you guys for listening. I wish we had more answers for you.

If you're in South Carolina, hopefully you get some takeout from Pugin's Porch. Yeah. While you're listening to this, that'd be way fun. Support small businesses. I imagine Cheeky Livvy is like, I'm literally eating. But the amount of love I sense for Pugin's Porch, I imagine you should go eat it. This is your sign, Cheeky Libby specifically. Go eat Pugin's Porch.

That's right. This is the year of the spinster and we're all going to eat at Pugin's Porch every night. Absolutely. All right. You can go to andthat'swhyadrink.com for more information. Otherwise. And. That's. Why. We.com for more information. Otherwise. And. That's.

Why. We. Drink. Clink. Oh. Oh. Look at that. Wait.

Clink. It's just going to sound like ice. It's going to sound like plastic. It sounds like nothing at all. Okay.