And That's Why We Drink - E430 Opening Night Haunts and Scamaroonies - Live Show at The Brooklyn Bell House, Brooklyn, NY

Episode Date: May 4, 2025

It’s Episode 430 and this week we’re throwing it back to our live show at the Brooklyn Bell House back in 2019! First Em kicks us off with the many Ghosts of Broadway. Then Christine covers a dooz...y of a story with the tale of George C. Parker, the greatest conman in New York City’s history. and does anyone happen to be in the market for the Brooklyn Bridge?? …and that’s why we drink! For a list of resources or ways to help those affected by the fires in Los Angeles visit: http://bit.ly/atwwdfirehelp ! Only a few cities remaining for our Pour Decisions Tour! Get your tickets today at http://andthatswhywedrink.com/live ! ___________________ Get better sleep, hair, and skin with Blissy and use code DRINKPOD to get an additional 30% off at http://blissy.com/DRINKPOD . Get 15% off, plus free shipping on your first set of sheets at BollAndBranch.com/drink . Right now, And That’s Why We Drink listeners can save 30% on their first order of Cornbread! Just head to http://cornbreadhemp.com/DRINK and use code DRINK at checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 What up New York? Hey! Oh my god! What's going on? Oh, hello. This is so exciting. Christine, how are your arms? They're so tired.
Starting point is 00:00:32 But also very fucking cold. It's so fucking cold. What is wrong with you guys? I knew there was a reason we lived in that hellhole of Los Angeles. When I first moved to LA, I was like, oh, it's going to be like the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to
Starting point is 00:00:40 be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person who's going to be the person cold what is wrong with you guys oh there was a reason we lived in that hellhole of Los Angeles when I when I first moved to LA I was like oh it's gonna be like the perfect weather every day and then I got there and like every day all the time it's a thousand degrees and I was like what the fuck is wrong with this place and I was like I need a little cold in my life and then I came
Starting point is 00:01:02 here and I was like never fucking mind No more we nope, but we're here, and you guys are here, so thank you for yes. Thank you I like to consider New York my pseudo home both my parents are from New York, so I Have New York blood even though I've never lived here, so Thanks for that good one. Thank you. Do you guys like my anecdotes? Yeah, it's really natural. We're really good at riffing, right? Riffing, yeah.
Starting point is 00:01:32 We were told to riff earlier during the sound check and we just, we didn't know what, we were like, ugh. Anyway, thank you guys for being here. So, so nice. We have a drinking game for you. If you wanna warm you up a little bit before you go back outside. Yeah, so yeah, warm yourself up.
Starting point is 00:01:52 So, it's pretty simple. You're pretty much gonna get hammered. Everyone wins. Especially me. Especially Christine. She brought a whole bottle, so. I did. It's half gone already, but I'm working on it.
Starting point is 00:02:05 So drink once if Christine says listen. That doesn't happen though very often, so don't worry about it. Say oh, oh, drink again. Don't say anything. Don't say anything. Sorry. Can you tell I don't know what I'm doing up here? Also drink once if Christine gasps.
Starting point is 00:02:23 Also very rare. Because I make the rules and it's pretty much anything Christine does, drink once if Christine gasps. Also very rare. Because I make the rules and it's pretty much anything Christine does, drink once if Christine says, "'sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure.'" That one does happen pretty often. Yes. But also drink if I say, "'Fun fact,' because here's the thing,
Starting point is 00:02:41 "'the facts are never fun.'" No. "'In fact, they're pretty fucked up. Also, drink twice if we bring up our sweet baboo, little baby Gio. Oh, he's so sweet. Drink twice if we tell Eva what to do. That happens very often.
Starting point is 00:03:00 It's happened a lot already. Already drink twice. Just do it now. Is there anything else? I think we're good, we're good. I mean, we usually just make the rules up as we go. Also, for a bonus round, drink twice if I go, honestly, it's just fucking funny.
Starting point is 00:03:15 I always get so happy when I think, I forgot that one. Are you guys so jealous that Christine gets to see me every day and I probably use it 10,000 times a day. So she drinks a lot. Yeah, it's good. With that, who wants a ghost story? You.
Starting point is 00:03:32 You. You. Good, you're in the right place. All right, so I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do because it's New York and it's gotta be pretty wonderful, right? So. It's your blood or whatever.
Starting point is 00:03:45 It's it's kind of my pseudo blood, if you will. Listen, let me do this real quick. Oh, shit, I already did it. We had a show in Dallas and both of us were trying to like be really cool with our microphones and then we just rip them off the wires. No one to stop working. We just share it. It's a fun ride when this isn't edited for you. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:05 So I wanted to make this pretty spectacular. Let's see. Don't set yourself so high. So I thought, OK, well, what's quintessential New York? And so I thought, I'm going to cover as many ghosts as possible of Broadway. Oh. Oh. Interesting.
Starting point is 00:04:28 I wanted to give you a variety of sorts. Just don't sing, please. So I just I just know. OK, there. Wow. Every theater seems to be haunted in New York. So not surprised. Oh, fun fact. Damn it.
Starting point is 00:04:44 I also asked in advance about this theater and it is too haunted. We'll get to that. So, I was like, is that it? You're not gonna tell us? The end, I'm done. So, I wanted to do as many as I could, but it seemed like there were two theaters
Starting point is 00:05:04 that are more haunted than the rest, so that's the main focus, and at the end I'm just gonna try to shove as much information I can about the other smaller theaters. So, I wanna first give a shout out to Playbill, because apparently they actually keep track of all of this. Really? Yeah. Cool.
Starting point is 00:05:19 They have a whole article of theater by theater, all the things people have seen. So, most of my information came from that. Shout out Playbill. So, did you like that? No. Okay, so one thing that they actually find very interesting is that there is quite a consistency of the ghost sightings
Starting point is 00:05:40 and it is an impressive consistency quote. Ooh, ah. It's very impressive, yeah. The first theater I'm gonna cover, and I like to say I'm from New York, but I don't know these theaters, so I guess I'm not very New York, but applaud anyway. The New Amsterdam Theater.
Starting point is 00:05:56 Shit. Holy shit, that's a ghost. All right, it is haunted. So yes, shout out to that theater, because I'm about to talk about it a lot. So, I also avoided the history on this. It just seemed like there was a lot of ghost stuff, so. You get quite a punch.
Starting point is 00:06:16 So there's just no history. No, you don't need to be educated today. Okay, I'm ready. Let's go. So, the most active ghost on Broadway is at the New Amsterdam Theater and her name is Olive Thomas. Aw. Someone knows her tonight.
Starting point is 00:06:32 Yeah. She was a chorus girl and appeared in the 1915 variety show cast of The Follies. Ooh. Okay. Cause I didn't know. I was like, I don't know if that's important. You do this glance up like in fear. I like, I like affirmation.
Starting point is 00:06:49 I feel like I have to fill in, oh my God. Right, right. Every now and then I'm like, look scared. Fantastic. So she went to New York at 16 and won a contest called the most beautiful girl in New York City. Oh my God, me too. Oh.
Starting point is 00:07:04 Well, what a. Oh. Well. What a coincidence. Uh oh. So she then modeled and wound up on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. Oh. Oh, I guess this has a little history, huh? Oh, you tricked us all.
Starting point is 00:07:16 I lied. She was then moved from the Follies on the main stage upstairs to the roof theater for quote, a naughtier group called the Frolics. Where she was painted nude. She was painted nude. Okay. Also, I didn't write this down, but I remember it.
Starting point is 00:07:41 Fun fact. So one of the people that owns the theater then bought the nude portrait and put it in the theater and he was like, oh yeah, it doesn't mean anything. I'm not attracted to her or anything. And then his wife saw that he had purchased the portrait and I think they divorced because of that. What?
Starting point is 00:08:00 Okay, hold on. I thought you meant, I'm sorry, I shouldn't say this out loud. Oh, well, too late. Too late. I thought you meant, I'm sorry, I shouldn't say this out loud. Oh, well, too late. Too late. I thought you meant, so stupid. Listen, English is not my first language. Sometimes, sometimes I get mixed up. Okay, so I thought you meant she was painted nude like she was nude and they were like painting. No. So they painted a picture of her.
Starting point is 00:08:19 I was like, that is naughty. Wow. I mean, maybe who knows what the frolics were doing I get it and then I was like someone also painted a picture of it this is right yeah okay it makes a lot more sense I kind of wish I didn't I wish I went with your version because that makes it better so she became a silent film actress and married Jack Pickford and in 1920 Jack Pickford told her that he had syphilis. Oh no. Five years after being married. Oh no. And then said she should probably get checked out. Oh. I hope you guys like laughing because now it gets sad. So everybody be quiet. So official reports say that she accidentally
Starting point is 00:09:10 took a lot of pills, and that's how she passed on, because she was just so grief stricken with the news of that. The pills that she took were Jack's mercury pills. Oh good. And she took the whole bottle. Oh God. Fun fact?
Starting point is 00:09:28 Nope. The pills were shaped like coffins. I wrote it down so I'm saying it, but that was a- What the hell? So I don't know how one accidentally takes a whole pill bottle, but official records say that she accidentally ate all of them. So that's how she passed on, but immediately after her death,
Starting point is 00:09:49 before it was even reported that she had died, people at the New Amsterdam Theater were running into her backstage. Oh, shit. So as she was, oh, this happened in Paris too, where she passed away, so while she passed away in Paris, and before news even got back to the theater, they were running into her backstage,
Starting point is 00:10:09 and they were like, oh, I thought you were in France. And then she disappeared. So her ghost showed up right away. She was a very active ghost in the 1920s, but it died down during the Depression because a lot of people weren't going to the theater and she apparently is a social butterfly and thrives on people being in the theater for her to show up.
Starting point is 00:10:33 Okay. As people started going back to the theater, she started coming around more often and she is now more active than ever after the 1990s when Disney bought the theater for Disney productions. Oh. During renovations at this time, construction workers kept seeing a woman in the off-limits areas and they kept trying to tell her to leave and she wouldn't. And then they would try to like call the manager and tell her to leave and the manager would
Starting point is 00:10:59 be like, well, she's dead. So she's, you're in more danger than her in that area. So, oh God. She was described as wearing a green beaded dress, a beaded headpiece and a sash. And carrying an empty blue pill bottle. Oh. So after people started seeing her everywhere,
Starting point is 00:11:22 the vice president of operations put pictures of her at every entrance of the theater so that people could say hi or goodbye to her as they leave or enter the theater. She needs a lot of attention. Well apparently it works so it's now custom if you're an employee there that as you walk into the theater every day you say hi and as you leave you say bye and it keeps activity from blooming I don't know going wild. Yes, blooming. Apparently acknowledging her at the start and end of each day makes her active she's still active but you don't see her and I guess that was the thing that would
Starting point is 00:11:58 freaking people out the most so in the 2000s the roof theater was being turned into office spaces, and that was where she was a frolic. She was painting. She was being painted. Body paint, body paint. And I remember. When in the 2000s, they were renovating that area, people would always hear tap dancing, 1920s music,
Starting point is 00:12:22 giggling, but nobody was ever there when they would check. And apparently they would also hear knocking on the floor so that you would hear it on the ceiling and it would respond to you. Super creepy. She would also sometimes speak to you and whatever, what she said was different between people but they always would try to to do an impression of her. And I guess she had the, I don't know if it was the transatlantic accent,
Starting point is 00:12:50 whatever an old timey accent is. Don't look at me. I don't know. You know about English and me. They would all impersonate her exactly the same. I guess she had a certain dialect and they all happened to do it without knowing that other people heard it like that.
Starting point is 00:13:06 So people have also seen, this is where it gets weird for me, people have seen a woman or sometimes only disembodied feet climbing up the stairs. Climbing, oh no, no, no, no. She's also been seen walking across the stage and disappearing through solid walls. Cool. And during the previews of Aladdin, a...
Starting point is 00:13:28 Okay. Woo! A conductor who was a woman was getting ready in the dressing room and she knew about Olive, so she said out loud in the dressing room, well Olive, I'm here and I'm a little nervous. I just wanted to introduce myself and ask if you could please give us some good luck.
Starting point is 00:13:45 I wonder what the Folly Girls would wonder, I wonder what the Folly Girls would think about a female conductor. And so the dressing room had just been fitted with brand new light bulbs that day and they flickered on and off for several seconds and then faded back on by themselves, which light bulbs don't do or didn't do in that room. They faded on by themselves. And then during the show, a woman in the audience asked an usher
Starting point is 00:14:14 for a booster seat for her kid. And the usher waited until intermission to bring her the booster chair, but the woman already had one by that time. Oh boy. And when they asked how she got one, she said, oh, the lady in the back brought me one. Oh boy. And the venue didn't have a woman working
Starting point is 00:14:30 in the back that night. And everyone who works there knows not to interrupt the middle of a show and to wait during intermission. All of the staff were questioned and nobody had done it. Ooh. And then she described the girl as having a green dress and a sash and a headband. And a pill bottle.
Starting point is 00:14:47 So weirdly dressed usher. And she was nude and painted crazy colors. It's a very weird Disney theater. All of the staff, oh yeah, all the staff are questioned. We got there. She is most regularly seen by men and she is very flirty. She likes to rub their backs. Oh dear.
Starting point is 00:15:10 Men have reported smelling perfume and hearing a woman whisper, hi fella, into their ears. Oh! Do you like that? Hi fella. It's fun. She has shown up to the security guards in dressing rooms when they're alone. One elevator man actually saw that in one of the floors had, I'm looking up like that's
Starting point is 00:15:34 where the fucking floor is. Saw that one of the upper floors had like called for an elevator. So he got on the elevator and rode it up to the floor and nobody was there except Olive in her green dress smiling at him and giggling and then faded away as the doors closed on him and he was like oh yikes it said that if you see her be calm and don't overreact so you don't scare her and I'm like, fuck you. I'm scared.
Starting point is 00:16:07 I am allowed to act however I want. Someone went, yeah, I like that, thank you. Yeah, solidarity. Yeah, naked lady. Get your painted body away from me. Don't scare her. She has also blown all of the lights out in the offices and likes to move set pieces.
Starting point is 00:16:27 Oh dear. She is most active when there are two separate things. One, when there are renovations that are being done to the building, and the second is when previous Follies performers are invited and come back to the theater for certain events. So she sees her friends. That's so sweet. When Folly's alum come to the theater the
Starting point is 00:16:49 stage and the sets shake on their own and all the lights on multiple floors will burn out simultaneously. The staff were, oh this is a good one, ready? I'm already there but you don't know yet, hang on. We get excited about our own notes sometimes. Sometimes I'm like, oh, I forgot about that. Okay. So the staff was talking about an old movie called The Artist, and some said that Olive became a silent film star by that time,
Starting point is 00:17:16 and another employee said that the real silent movie star was Mary Pickford. How dare he say that. Who was also her husband who had Syphilis' sister. Oh no. She's like, no you didn't. Yeah. And so after.
Starting point is 00:17:32 Bella. Sorry. So after he said that, witnesses watched a stack of DVDs fly across the room and hit the wall. And apparently like at least 10 to 15 people all saw that happen and swear by it. So, people try hard to catch a glimpse of Olive
Starting point is 00:17:53 and they will try hiding in the theater until after closing to see her. And so security have gotten used to seeing like people hide in the seats. And so like thinking that they won't notice and then lock up and then leave them there to go ghost hunting. Like that movie with the zoo or there was a museum. I don't know. I was like what's happening? Yes, exactly like that. Delete that part.
Starting point is 00:18:19 No, you got it. Eva, edit that out. Please. So need more. Hold on. You keep going. You're doing great. Okay. See, I like affirmation. She knows that. You're welcome. Yeah, so since I feel like everyone's just going to watch you and I feel jilted. Don't look at me.
Starting point is 00:18:40 Okay. So anyway, I'm just kidding. So yeah, so there's all these little heads of people just like hiding in the chairs and they think security guards are not gonna notice. So the security team at the theater now have a routine where they actually basically do a whole look around, I don't know what the right word is, patrol the area.
Starting point is 00:19:04 A little looky-boo, I don't know. A looker is. Patrol the area. A little looky-woo. I don't know. A lookeroonie. Lookeroonie. A lookeroonie. I'm trying to make that a thing. It doesn't work. I add rooney to the end of it.
Starting point is 00:19:12 Christine loves adding rooney to anything. Is it a little parkeroonie? Nope, okay. We'll work on it. So the security people now do two rounds of patrolling and the second time they have to check everything, like inside closets and everything to make sure that nobody's hiding out.
Starting point is 00:19:29 That sucks. Here's my favorite quote. Oh wait, I'm not there yet, ha ha. What a tease. It's coming though. So Olive only appears when you don't want to see her, which is very fun. So those people in the seats are just screwed.
Starting point is 00:19:45 Right, it's like you're going to sit there and be really disappointed in 12 hours. So she, like for example, she doesn't show up around Halloween, or if they do a ghost tour she doesn't show up. She only shows up right around when you kind of forget that she's there, and then you open an elevator door and she's standing there. Fantastic. Cat, oh, and you have to be calm because you don't want to scare the ghost.
Starting point is 00:20:10 She is really something. So here's my favorite quote. When people try to find her, they can't. You don't find Olive, Olive finds you. What the fuck? It's a little fucked up, I think. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. So other casual things that happen in this theater are,
Starting point is 00:20:28 I'm just gonna read through them real quick. Noises knocking, doors and cabinets opening, lights flickering, cold spots, mists, orbs and photos, objects and furniture moving on their own, voices in your head, seeing apparitions, distorted faces and reflections, watching figures walk past you, and feeling your arms and backs being touched.
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Starting point is 00:22:43 they have a waffle blanket, like a part of it. They have a waffle blanket, like a waffle print blanket. It's divine. I don't know what it is about me and waffle print these days, but they have a waffle blanket as well. Just giving them a shout out. It's very lovely. Feel the difference. An extraordinary night's sleep can make with Bolan Branch get 15% off plus free shipping on your first set of sheets at bolanbranch.com slash drink. That's bolandbranch, B-O-L-L-A-N-D, B-R-A-N-C-H, dot com slash drink to save 15%. Exclusions apply, see site for details. Well, that's that on that then.
Starting point is 00:23:16 So, that's one theater down. But we got more. Don't worry. Good. It's not all about Olive tonight. So, stop insulting or she's gonna show up. Well, let's, oh no. Nope, nope.
Starting point is 00:23:32 That's too live of a show. My anxiety would not be able to handle a ghost on stage. I'm already sweating. So the next one up, and again, I think this is a pretty big theater, the Belasco Theater. Okay. I think it is too. Sources say yes. So the main spirit in this theater is the original owner, David Belasco. I wonder how we named that theater. He was once known as the Bishop of Broadway.
Starting point is 00:24:07 Oh. Because he used to dress like a priest. Okay. No comment. Thanks, priests, yeah. No comment. And people also nicknamed him the monk, which is like not even a priest.
Starting point is 00:24:22 But whatever, it's fine. They built the theater in 1907 and it is the oh fun fact this is the sixth oldest theater in Broadway and he loved the theater so much that he actually also lived there he just moved in. What a nut job. Well I don't want to insult him either I feel like these people are just gonna come after me. Oh yeah, so while you've said that, Christine and I have realized that we have absolutely primed ourselves to think that every hotel we're staying in
Starting point is 00:24:52 is either haunted or surrounded by murderers. There's definitely, in every ceiling of every hotel room. Well, last night there was an actual, something happened. Yes, it did. Tell the way. Tell the tale. Well, I was playing Pokemon and... That was it.
Starting point is 00:25:06 I just wanted her to admit it. That was the story. And I was sitting there and I heard Em start coughing and make the Em noise, the throat clear. And I chuckled because I was like, oh God, I can hear Em through the walls. And I knew that the room was on the other side. So I texted Em and I was like, I just heard you cough. It makes me miss you. Blah, blah, blah. And then I get back, I'm downstairs. And I was like...
Starting point is 00:25:29 And I did not believe you. I was like, you are so full of shit. So I ran into the hallway. I wasn't wearing pants, by the way. And I ran into the hallway and Eva's like, comes out from the other side. And lo and behold, you were coming up from the other side of the hallway. It's very spooky. And then I got to sleep in that room. Yeah. That was fun. Well, and then Em goes, I wonder if it was,
Starting point is 00:25:48 what did you say? I didn't like it. Oh, I was like, I wonder if it knew that I wasn't in the room, so it was like trying to make fun of me. Or I wonder if it knew you were alone and it wanted you to hear something. It wanted you to think I was there. I was like, what the fuck, Em?
Starting point is 00:26:05 Anyway, I was up till 4.30 a like, what the fuck, Em? I was just voicing. Anyway, I was up till 430 AM playing Pokemon because of this. So it's been a rough night. But every single place, we have for sure thought it was either haunted or the- Did somebody just ask where we're staying? We're not going to tell you that. I did do that at one show.
Starting point is 00:26:19 I did announce where we were staying. And then I quickly- Well, she said half of it. But it was the obvious half that anyone could pick up on and then I looked her and I was like, shut the fuck up man. And then I was like, the Weston and I was like, no everybody already heard. But yesterday, I know, so there was a ghost thing and this hotel, I don't even know, yesterday's hotel.
Starting point is 00:26:41 But yeah, the hotel before that, Christine's story was pretty wild for New Jersey, and so she was like blocking her door in the middle of the night and putting suitcases up. Yes, but then I thought, what if the killer comes through the ceiling of the closet? So then I was like, well, then I would be blocked from the door. And so then I put a lot of suitcases in the closet. And then I- It was a full disaster plan in the middle of the night. It was, no, it was not good.
Starting point is 00:27:08 But I was fine, see, it worked, so. Yeah. So, anyway, there was our riffing. So, oh yeah. The monk slash priest. So, he was also, so he obviously wears many hats, but he's also known as the man of the century, apparently, on Playbill.
Starting point is 00:27:27 By himself? Oh, they called him that? They called him man of the century. Because he made sure that his theater was the classiest and most modern possible. So he paid what is now the equivalent of $18 million. Oh my God. paid what is now the equivalent of $18 million. Oh my God.
Starting point is 00:27:45 Back then it was $750,000, small potatoes. And the theater had Tiffany glass decor, an elevator stage, a wing and fly space, a special effects studio, and it had a top of the line lighting and hydraulic system that was the first of its kind and has been replicated in future theaters since. So very she-she.
Starting point is 00:28:11 He was also so detail oriented. This is like kinda bananas, but I also really appreciate it. He was so detail oriented with his productions that he also used scent design. So if scenes took place in like a kitchen or a coffee shop, he had certain smells go through the feeder vents. That is so extra. So you'd feel like you were there.
Starting point is 00:28:34 Ew, sorry. I'm kind of down with it. But that means he literally was like, because they didn't have like, you know, glade. So he probably had like spaghetti that he was like. No, he actually, he had, so he had a separate team where in a kitchen they were actually making the food. That's insanity.
Starting point is 00:28:49 So like if it was a coffee shop, you would have them brew a shitload of coffee so it would go through the vents. I like that part. I just feel like it could go wrong. It could go south. Just inhale caffeine. It could go south very quickly. So he died in 1931 and he began showing up pretty much right away.
Starting point is 00:29:07 And Playbill gave him another title, which is one of the most alive-looking theater ghosts. He's described as tall with messy hair and he's wearing his priest outfit, his collar and all that good stuff. Can you tell I'm not religious? It's this thing. We get it. Fun fact, on his 150th birthday, the cast of Dracula was performing,
Starting point is 00:29:35 and after the show, they had a cake made for him, and they sang happy birthday to him in the theater. Which like, that's adorable. Can you imagine a bunch of people dressed up like vampires singing happy birthday to you for your 150th so you feel like a vampire? But there's like nobody there, they're just singing to the air. Right, the air.
Starting point is 00:29:50 This is so strange. I'm into it. You're weird, New York. So here are some of the ghosts of this theater. So we start small with cold spots and room temperature changes. There are also footsteps nearby or behind you, pretty much at all times, so have fun with that.
Starting point is 00:30:09 People see him in the mirror behind them when they're doing their makeup, and then he disappears when you turn around. Oh. One, I also feel like if you're doing your makeup, you don't want anyone staring at you whether or not they're dead. Like if they're alive too,
Starting point is 00:30:27 they really shouldn't be like eyeing you. If a man appears over my shoulder in the mirror, it's probably worse if he's alive. Like I'd rather him be dead. I'd rather him be dead. Maybe they hope he's dead, I don't know. So one usher was closing up the lobby one night and playfully said, I didn't choose playfully,
Starting point is 00:30:43 I took that from Playbill, playfully said, good night Mr. Belasco, and all of the outer lobby doors swung open silently together and then closed silently together. Aw. Yeah, it's like aw. That's peaceful, I think, I don't know. So an apparition of him has been showing up
Starting point is 00:31:03 in dark stairways and hallways, the best places for a dark apparition to show At 4 p.m. On the dot every day if you have a dog bring it to the theater And you will see a growl in an empty room where there's no one there But apparently it happens every day at 4 any dog in the theater just starts freaking out Test it yourself But don't tell anyone we told you to do that. Yeah. Because it's probably not allowed.
Starting point is 00:31:27 Right, right, right. So, apparently the candles, so on the candelabras for one of the sets had six different chunks of candles and one of them kept blowing out and wouldn't stay lit and then they finally were able to keep it lit and the entire candle melted, and the others didn't.
Starting point is 00:31:46 So that's supposedly, I mean, it's weird. It is weird, yes. So I put it in. Women have heard their bathroom doors locking and unlocking, and the bathroom glows a weird blue color at night. What a pervert. I don't like that it keeps showing up while you're trying to get ready.
Starting point is 00:32:03 Well, you're not wrong, because apparently, most of the time is when women in the dressing room bathroom are showering. Okay, well there you go. I told you. You nailed it. I just... I get the vibe. I just know.
Starting point is 00:32:15 So, office doors will also lock and unlock themselves, which obviously frustrate the staff. And in case you didn't know, and the show Hedwig and the Angry Inch actually wrote a nod to Belasco in their script. Really? When the character says the front door in my office suspiciously locks itself from time to time and I know it isn't me doing it that is apparently when they performed it at the Belasco they were saying stop fucking locking the doors and although it is now sealed shut the private elevator that used to go to Belasco's office is still heard running on its own. Oh that's creepy. And people have heard a man arguing and when they
Starting point is 00:33:00 follow the sound to see where it's coming from, it leads them to a portrait of Belasco. It's super creepy. And doors will, like I said, swing open and close, the curtains will fly open, and puffs of cigar smoke will come out of nowhere. That's cool. Okay. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:33:18 Also, Belasco loved watching shows from the balcony, so sometimes a dark figure is seen in the balcony staring at the stage. Oh, that's creepy. Many women, you were back onto that whole shower and locked door thing. I told you. Many people have reported feeling their butts being pinched and squeezed. Come on.
Starting point is 00:33:35 That's just too on the nose is what that is. Which like, also being, your butt being, whoever's pinching butts in 2019, pinching is never fun at all. No. People have heard- TSA. TSA, let's never pinch again. No. People have heard wild parties accompanied by the 1920s. Oh, by 1920s music.
Starting point is 00:34:00 Whoops. I was like, why is that period there? Whoops. Accompanied by 1920s music. And so basically it'll sound like there's 100 people in a room and then they'll go check the room to see what's going on or to make a noise complaint or something and the whole room's empty
Starting point is 00:34:16 and no one's in there. Cool. That's my audition for Broadway. For a ghost? Yeah. So one actress, I did not write her name, oops, but she's got a good quote. It says, you know, you know her.
Starting point is 00:34:33 I guess she has a friend named Kathy, because she talks about Kathy in this. What the fuck? She says, when it comes, she was asked if anyone has ever seen the ghost of Belasca that she knew of. She said, Kathy saw him walk into the mirror the other day. When it comes she was asked if anyone has ever seen the ghosts of Belasca that she knew of she said Kathy saw him walk into the mirror the other day She thinks he lives in the mirror in the wall outside of the dressing room. Oh
Starting point is 00:34:54 One night I forgot my coat and I had turned out the lights in my room I turned back to get my coat in the dark, but someone turned on the table light for me so I could see my way As I opened the door to leave and as I was walking out, someone closed the door behind me. I didn't touch it, but I watched it move. So spooky, super creepy and chivalrous. There's no pinching in that one. I like that.
Starting point is 00:35:21 This is my favorite because I feel like this should really, if there was someone holding a camera at this exact moment, we would just have proof of ghosts. But apparently, Belasco is known to actually physically, as the most real looking ghost or whatever, he is known to walk up to actors, shake their hands, and tell them they did a fine job after a performance.
Starting point is 00:35:46 That's nice. And legend has it, if Belasco appears in the theater on opening night of a show, the show is blessed. Aw. But if the show doesn't go well. Do you see him here tonight? Uh-oh. I'm asking for a friend.
Starting point is 00:36:02 Uh-oh. Oh boy. If the show doesn't go well, Belasco will quote ransack dressing rooms. What an asshole. Furniture, decor, and personal items have been thrown against walls and across rooms after bad nights.
Starting point is 00:36:16 And sorry, I read it again. I was like, that's wild. He, so as of 2010, they did another renovation and he has been quiet for the most part. People will still sense him, but after they renovated the place, he is much more quiet than he has been. So there's another less active spirit called the Blue Lady
Starting point is 00:36:41 and she is said to have been a dancer for men. Oh, all right. We know what that means, but she was a dancer for men. I don't, can you explain it? Nah. She worked in the building when it used to be a strip club, and she died by suicide in the basement. Terrible.
Starting point is 00:37:05 She is now seen as an icy cold blue mist that glows around you. Oh no. She appears in the stairs and in the dressing room and people sometimes feel her sadness. Oh God. But she is also sometimes seen with Belasco in the hallways which means that they're friends.
Starting point is 00:37:22 Oh, okay, that's good. And that's that on the Belasco Theater. Okay, nice. I got, thank you. I got one more in me. Yay. Hey, all right. This is the Palace Theater.
Starting point is 00:37:39 All right. Cool. All right, man. So the Palace was the nation's technically first vaudeville theater. It's not called that, but before vaudeville became its own thing, it was, they were already showing vaudeville shows there. Um, the, some of the ghosts that are there are H. cellist. I always want to say cellistist and I know that's wrong.
Starting point is 00:38:06 I just got scared and everyone watched me be like, yeah, yeah, you're good, you're good. A cellist dressed in white in the orchestra pit, a small boy who will play with his toy trucks, a man dressed in brown who walks through the theater offices and a little girl who's crying in the balcony. Oh, that's sad. There's also the spirit of Judy Garland.
Starting point is 00:38:29 Everyone's like, sad little girl who? Judy Garland is here. She has been seen near the door of the theater that was built especially for her. Oh. One day we'll have our own door, Chrissy. We will, yes. Let's manifest that. Sure, vision board it. So, actors will see,
Starting point is 00:38:50 oh, oh, oh, oh, sorry. Hang in there. Sorry, I saw Judy Garland, I got distracted. People also hear a piano playing by itself in the middle of the night, and another spirit walks past doorways at night, so you can hear his footsteps in the hallways when you're the last people working.
Starting point is 00:39:10 Yikes. Sometimes people hear a voice calling out for Judy, and there's one spirit named Clyde, who is known to stand up during a curtain call, bow and fade away. Oh, okay, sure. Also, props from the set and personal items from the dressing rooms will be taken or found
Starting point is 00:39:30 in random places throughout the theater. There was one instance where, I guess, during a play someone had like a doctor coat on and all of the doctor, I don't, doctor tools. They were supposed to always stay, yeah, they were always supposed to stay in the pocket of the jacket and then one day they were just all gone and then they ended up finding them like in the back of a bathroom. Like they were just, you just find them in random places. One goes
Starting point is 00:40:00 to a void is Louis Borselino, which is the most New York name I've ever heard in my life. Yeah. And so when Louis was around, he was an acrobat, but he also, he mid-performance fell to his death. Oh God, that's terrible. Actors will now see him walking a tightrope from the top left, I don't know how stages work. North quadrant.
Starting point is 00:40:37 In one way, they will see him walking from one end of the stage to the other via tightrope. I can follow that. So apparently apparently those who actually see his ghost die within a year. What? So you really don't want to mess with Louie Borsellino. That's terrible. Big Louie I don't know. So he's probably not that big cuz I don't know Skinny Louie So yeah, that's that's more like it So the staff say when the theater is empty his ghost can be seen swinging from the rafters. Oh dear and
Starting point is 00:41:18 he and then he lets out a blood-curdling scream and Then he ran axis nosedive to death. Not my words, that was Playbill. So if you see him, you might die in the next 365 days. So don't do that. Just close your eyes. Just close your eyes for the whole show. Not now, open them.
Starting point is 00:41:39 Not this one. Unless you want to, then it's just a podcast all over again. Oh, that's true. I guess that is sort of what you do anyway. Okay, good point. If anything, this is the new thing for you when listening to our voices.
Starting point is 00:41:51 So those are the three main ones, but I do have a quick, quick list of the Richard Rogers Theater, Eugene O'Neill Theater, Gershwin Theater, New Victory Theater, and Radio City Music Hall. Yay! They all happen to have like a couple ghosts, but none of them had lengthy stories like that.
Starting point is 00:42:11 So I'm just gonna read them off real quick. There's a ghost of a small child. This is a combination of all these. So you don't know where they are. You're just gonna have to go to every theater. There's a ghost of a small child just off stage during a show and people think he actually snuck backstage but he just hangs out there while you're acting.
Starting point is 00:42:30 There are red lipstick smudges in the bathroom that appear on their own and then if you wipe them away they will reappear. Oh God. There are items that fall from the upstage prop shelf onto the stage, one of which at one point during a play were gardening shears. Oh Jesus. Actors hear their characters' names being whispered into their ears on stage, which
Starting point is 00:42:54 is so distracting as an actor. Hey fella. Hey fella. I like that better. People think they bump into someone behind them, but no one is there. My favorite is there was an actor who wanted to take a nap in between rehearsal and his show, and so he asked his friends to wake him up before the show. That's you. And his friends forgot.
Starting point is 00:43:13 Oh, that's me. And so, even though they forgot to wake him up, he got slapped on the bottom of his shoes with such a force that he got shoved into the wall. And when he opened his eyes, nobody was in the room with him. Oh dear. Okay. Also- That was Eva.
Starting point is 00:43:31 That was Eva. Wake the fuck up! So- She has to do everything around here. Actors will see their castmate up on the catwalk and then look to their side and the same castmate is standing right next to them. Eww. Instruments will tune themselves in locked rooms and one time a costumer couldn't find a bow tie in their kit and so they were looking around for it
Starting point is 00:43:53 and walked past a random storage closet and a giant Tupperware bin flew into the air by itself, flipped over and the bow tie was sitting on top of the bin. Eww, creepy. And those are all the ghosts abroad. Oh my God. Thank you. Very good.
Starting point is 00:44:10 Very good. Thank you. All right, everyone. You know that I'm dealing with a lot these days. I first of all, already have sleep issues, but on top of that now I'm dealing with this new dog that's come into our lives I'm still learning the ropes with him and You know, there's a there's a lot of things every now and then that stress me out and when it comes to Christine
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Starting point is 00:45:22 And that's why we drink listeners can save 30% on their first order. Just head to cornbreadhemp.com slash drink and use code drink at checkout. That's cornbreadhemp.com slash drink and use code drink. Thank you so much for indulging me. That being said, it is now Christine's turn. Hey, hey guys.
Starting point is 00:45:48 I'm so excited. Team one. Thank you. Somebody, somebody. Okay, guys. I am pretty excited about this story. I keep giggling to myself and M doesn't like it. I don't know, because I don't know the stories. Like, I learned the same time you do. And so I've been with her for several days and she's like, the Brooklyn story is so good.
Starting point is 00:46:11 And I'm like, okay, well, I can't wait. Oh, poor M. Okay, so I want to give this a little caveat, which is that this story isn't quite like, it's not like a gory murder story. It's technically a crime story, but it's just, it's not like a gory murder story. It's technically a crime story, but it's just, it's a fucking doozy. So let's go for a ride.
Starting point is 00:46:30 Yeah. All right, I'm going to tell you. Someone went all right or Rooney. Oh, fuck yeah. Fuck yeah, Rooney. Here we go. It's gonna catch on, I swear. So this is the story, thank you.
Starting point is 00:46:44 This is the story of George C. Parker, the greatest con man in New York City history. Ooh, all right. All right. Someone's ready. I'm ready. So George C. Parker was born in New York City in March 1860. He did graduate from high school,
Starting point is 00:47:02 but then quickly realized that rather than follow an ordinary career path, he had a knack for the fine art of swindling, you know, swindling, fine art. It is a craft. It is, yes. So he quickly adopted a variety of aliases, including James O'Brien, Warden Kennedy, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Taylor, and he started scamming people by selling the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm like not even kidding. I was absolutely drinking wine
Starting point is 00:47:32 when I read this and I was like I'm not understanding this right, but that's right. This is really what happened. Okay, so it started kind of as a whim. So in 1883 when he was in his early 20s, that's when the Brooklyn Bridge was completed. See, we drove over the Brooklyn Bridge and I kept going, ha ha ha ha, and I was like, oh, that makes so much sense now. Yeah, I was being extremely annoying. She kept being like, is this the Brooklyn Bridge?
Starting point is 00:47:57 It wasn't. And I was like, I don't fucking know. I don't think it actually was the Brooklyn Bridge, but anytime we were on a bridge, I kept going, oh, the Brooklyn Bridge, and I was like, this is not. And even I were like, how do you know so much about bridges? Like, we're not even from here. I know absolutely nothing about bridges. So, okay, so basically the Brooklyn Bridge was completed,
Starting point is 00:48:17 and Parker decided on a whim to see if he could sell it to an unsuspecting tourist. Us. Me. Yeah. Me, yeah. It turned out to be so easy that he tried it again a few days later and succeeded. He dropped all of his other cons and went into Brooklyn Bridge sales full-time.
Starting point is 00:48:38 This is so absurd. Okay, so believe it or not, George C. Parker is actually not the only man to have sold the Brooklyn Bridge. Another man named William McCloudy, also known as I.O.U. O'Brien. Wait, really? Yeah. Do you know, back then I feel like everyone just had a cool name, a nickname. Yeah, I like that. I don't know about I.O.U. I feel like that's like a I'm in debt kind of name.
Starting point is 00:49:01 Well, yeah, he was a bad guy. But so his name was William and then they call it McCloudy and they call him IOU O'Brien. I don't know why. I think they just wanted something to sound cool. So he was sent to Sing Sing for selling the bridge. Yeah, Sing Sing, love it there. I hear it's beautiful. So 1901, I'm so used to saying that
Starting point is 00:49:22 because every time someone cheers for like a neighborhood, I'm like, oh yeah here it's beautiful So I just know so now oh yeah People they're lovely So I found this The thing about IOU O'Brien going to sing sing was in a newspaper And the article next to it from like 1901 or 1902 the news article next to it I just thought I would feature it for
Starting point is 00:49:45 fun. It has nothing to do with anything. But the headline is, Small Cop Bests Two Six-Foot Thugs with a Pistol Butt. And I just was like, remember when you could just like, like, the cop was small, but somehow he beat two thugs. It's like, that's not how news works. That's not how journalism works. But anyway, I had a fun time with that. So this guy went to jail, right? But then Parker is like, no, no, I'm going to do this better. And he takes it to the next level. So his plan was super thought out, carefully executed.
Starting point is 00:50:15 What he would do was he would target the immigrants coming to New York through Ellis Island. Yeah, it's actually very fucking shitty. He's not a great guy. He'd bribe the men working the boats that would ferry the immigrants to New York and then those guys who were working on the boat would basically do recon and find out
Starting point is 00:50:32 which of the people on the boat seemed well off and had some money or were carrying a lot of cash on them and then they'd report back to Parker and be like, oh, these three guys have a lot of money and they're worth targeting. And then so Parker would basically be waiting on the other end, so he'd be kind of just stationed at Ellis Island being like, I have a deal for you.
Starting point is 00:50:55 It's wild times. And so once they landed on American soil, he would present himself as the proud yet overly stressed and desperate to sell owner of the Brooklyn Bridge. Oh, I see. He just couldn't handle the responsibility of such a large bridge anymore. But I bet you can.
Starting point is 00:51:13 I could do that for you. Yeah. So he would then produce impressive forged, so he'd bring them back to like this office, like he had a literal office space and it said like owner of Brooklyn Bridge and the whole nine yards. Wow.
Starting point is 00:51:26 Yeah, just ridiculous. And then he would produce these impressive forged documents to prove that he was the owner, and then convince buyers that they could make a fortune if they bought it because they could control access to the roadway and like charge tolls. I mean horrible, but genius also. Yes. Yeah, I mean and it worked, so I don't know, but genius. Yes. Yeah. I mean, and it worked. So, yeah, I don't know. Hats off. And it's also important to know that these people, it's like very fucked up.
Starting point is 00:51:50 They're extremely vulnerable victims. They were in a new land. They didn't understand the law. And basically all they had heard a lot of times of America was like, oh, it's a land of opportunity. So who knows? You know, I mean, this guy's just very maybe someone will sell you a bridge. You can do anything there.
Starting point is 00:52:03 Who knows? There's a lot of bridges out here. I think so. Yeah, I was I was on one. I was on one earlier Parker I told you it was the Brooklyn Bridge the three different bridges I called them all that because I don't I don't know any other one Okay, so I think one of them was also like not in New York. It was like in New Jersey somewhere and I was like Brooklyn Bridge. All some or none of them could have been the Brooklyn Bridge, we just don't know.
Starting point is 00:52:31 So Parker knew not to play, hold on, rewind that. Pretend you didn't hear that, okay. Parker knew to play not only into their gullibility but also their vanity by convincing them that they were smart and successful enough to become a great capitalist in America and start this new business venture. And unfortunately, this is just crazy,
Starting point is 00:52:50 on a number of occasions, the NYPD had to remove Parker's victims as they were attempting to erect toll booths on the Brooklyn Bridge. Oh. Which they believed they now owned. And this became so common that the police were like, you don't own the bridge. And they're like, no, no, I bought it.
Starting point is 00:53:04 And no, you don't own the bridge. And they're like, no, no, I bought it. And no, you don't own the bridge. It is, it's very sad. So why the Brooklyn Bridge, I hear everybody asking. Well, let me tell you why. There were several reasons. I feel like I'm giving a PowerPoint at school. Slide one, word art. Okay, so there were several reasons
Starting point is 00:53:25 why he picked the Brooklyn Bridge. Its proximity to the port made it highly visible to newcomers, and the size provided opportunities to show it off from a distance so he wouldn't have to get too close because the cops were like, somebody is telling these people to buy the bridge. They all somehow think that they own this,
Starting point is 00:53:42 what's going on? Yeah, so he would like stand far away and he's like, look at it, I own that. And most importantly, the bridge's fame was its most famous asset. According to the New York Historical Society, the Brooklyn Bridge was one of the two best known symbols of America, the other being the Statue of Liberty.
Starting point is 00:54:01 Which Parker also sold. Oh my god. So that happened to- Oh no. Which Parker also sold. Oh my god. So that happened to... Oh no. I just... Parker sold a number of New York landscapes. Nope, landmarks.
Starting point is 00:54:16 You know. You know, English. Depending on how far away you are, it becomes a landscape. Thank you. Yeah, thanks. That's what I meant. You get me. I know, we should start a podcast.
Starting point is 00:54:26 Oh my God. I don't know, I don't think that's a good idea. Okay, so, da da da da da. Parker sold a number of New York landmarks, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant's Tomb, and Madison Square Garden. He also successfully sold several shows and plays that he had obviously no legal ownership of but he'd be like, you can buy this play, you can buy cats on Broadway.
Starting point is 00:54:52 Oh my God. I don't know. The Music Man? Listen, I'm not from here. So he had a different, so he would have these different aliases and cons set up depending on what he was trying to sell. So for example, when he sold Grant's tomb, he would pose as General Grant's grandson.
Starting point is 00:55:14 And he would set up a fake office to handle his real estate swindles. He produced documents as evidence to suggest that he was the legal owner of the tomb because his grandfather had Bestowed it to him in his will I don't know and you like cry and be like well It's so sad that I can't take care of grandfather's tomb, but you can do it too. Yeah So he had like all these different cons set up and they were working and it sounds like Obviously ridiculous and hokey but he
Starting point is 00:55:45 was not fucking around he actually sold the Brooklyn Bridge twice a week for several years some say up to 30 years is like the guesstimate as for the selling price I hear you all asking me that yes it varied from person to person so he would kind of like gauge where they were and try to like sell it at a certain price point. And that would be anywhere from $50,000 to $50,000. Oh, wow, that's a lot of money. $50,000?
Starting point is 00:56:16 Yes, back then, yeah. So I absolutely did not Google how much that is. It's probably like $ million dollars if my inflation calculator is correct. Anyway, so he would, it was basically dependent on how wealthy the person looked and seemed and like the intel that he got from the people working on the boat. His forte was talking you into basically spending every single penny you owned by saying, like, you'll make this back tenfold, you know.
Starting point is 00:56:47 And he was very good at it. He talked, I don't know how many people, two times a week for 30 years. Enough, enough people. Into spending every penny that they had, which is just fucked up. He even accepted payment installments if his victim didn't have enough cash up front.
Starting point is 00:57:05 And some of his victims actually paid him regularly for months before realizing they'd been duped. I guess they just went to set their toll booth up finally. Right. Nasty surprise. So these people have just moved to America, taken for all they had. Pretty messed up.
Starting point is 00:57:22 Amazingly though, Parker stayed in business from 1883 to 1928, which is, oh, I wrote, I used calculator, so that's how you know that this is correct. 45 years. You had to trust yourself, you're like, no, no, no, you're good to say this. Christina, you can say this, you used a calculator.
Starting point is 00:57:38 Don't worry. 45 years is what that is. What does that say? Oh, okay, I'll tell you, it says. However, Parker's scam was not perfect. He was arrested three different times for fraud. After one arrest around 1908 though, he managed to escape by walking out of the courthouse
Starting point is 00:58:00 wearing a coat and a hat that a sheriff had just sat down after coming in from the cold. So he just waltzed right out and then they were like, oh, drats or whatever they, drats, whatever they said back then. Right, right. Oh, darn it. I don't know what they would say.
Starting point is 00:58:18 I don't know. You're fired to that man who put down his coat. After Parker's third conviction on December 17, 1928, he was sentenced to life in prison at Sing Sing, our favorite place. Yeah! They love it there. I don't know what that says about you,
Starting point is 00:58:35 but he was 58 years old at this point. I found another newspaper clipping that describes his arrest. Quote, the man who sold the Brooklyn Bridge to a small butter and egg man from Indiana received, what does that mean, I don't know. Like, did he sell butter and eggs? Like a farmer? Butter and egg man?
Starting point is 00:58:53 Maybe. I don't know. To a small butter and egg man from Indiana received a present today of three meals a day and a roof over his head for the rest of his life. Oh. It's so fucked up. Oh my God. Wow. They, it's so fucked up. Oh my God. They had a good time back then.
Starting point is 00:59:09 You could just do whatever the hell you wanted. Apparently, and just wear someone else's clothes and wall-try it out of jail. Oh, boy. So the article goes on to call him an amazing rascal, which I guess that's one way of putting it, but that's a story for a different day, I guess. At Sing Sing, believe it or not, Parker, you know about it.
Starting point is 00:59:30 Parker was extremely popular among both the guards and his fellow inmates who loved hearing about his exploits. I kind of like picture it as like the sleepover where they're all kind of like this. And they're like, tell us again, tell us again about Madison Square Garden. So they would basically all gather at his cell and listen to him tell tales of selling the Brooklyn Bridge,
Starting point is 00:59:53 Madison Square Garden, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Up until the 1920s, people actually were still trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. This was apparently a very popular scam, but it became more difficult. Immigrants had become much more knowledgeable about the U.S. and around the time that the processors at Ellis Island began handing out cards or little booklets that said,
Starting point is 01:00:14 you can't buy public buildings or streets. Oh. At least someone's finally telling them, right? They're like, such terrible. You can't buy Brooklyn Bridge. It's just not possible. So this is why historians believe the Brooklyn Bridge in particularly was associated with swindles
Starting point is 01:00:34 as opposed to any other New York bridges because by the time the newer bridges were built, the scam was no longer as widespread and they were kind of cracking down on it. So Parker's methods have, this is very strange, I just put this in here, we'll see what happens. Parker's methods have passed into popular culture, giving rise to idioms such as, see I didn't know this,
Starting point is 01:00:53 I'm not also from this nation, this fine nation, I mean I am, but I like to say that I'm not. This is an idiom I suppose, it says, and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you Okay, everyone seems to know it except me Do you know that phrase? Oh, okay. Good. That makes me feel better. I'm sure other people do I just don't we don't Yeah, we get it. We get it. You're smart Geez
Starting point is 01:01:19 So that's a popular way of expressing a book. So that's probably us Yeah, like we could literally be the victim of this idiom. Yeah, no. Because we don't even get it. Okay. A thousand percent. Anyway, I'm understanding this all now. It turns out that after all these years,
Starting point is 01:01:35 the con still apparently lives on via the internet. According to the New York Times, there's a website called Scamorama. Oh my God..com, Scamorama.com. Scamoroni, thank you. Trademark, somebody, Eva, buy that. Buy that domain, please. I went there and I was like,
Starting point is 01:01:55 I'll probably, my computer will probably die now. Your FBI agent is like, what is going on right now? My NSA guy is like, come on, we've talked about this. So I went to Scamoroni.com, and there was no virus, thank God, the slogan of their website is, why should scammers have all the fun? Like, yeah, I guess, I guess so, I don't know. Basically, this website is stories of people
Starting point is 01:02:21 trolling all the scammers and then, like, posting screenshots of the conversations. So it's kind of like if you get an email, people will respond and play along and then mess with the other person. I don't know, people have a lot of time on their hands. They have a book, in case you're interested. They sell it at Barnes and Noble.
Starting point is 01:02:39 It's called Turning the Tables on Email Scammers. All right. Anyway, okay, my point is that someone posted on the site a few years back when they received an email from a scammer named Genevieve whose riches had gotten tied up after a coup in Liberia. Oh. Man, number of times that's happened to me.
Starting point is 01:03:00 All she needed, of course, was just a little bit of money to free her assets and then she would repay him in massive amounts of wealth. So the person who received this email did his best to gain the Swindler's Trust, then turned the tables by offering shares in the Brooklyn Bridge. The scammer's interest was piqued, and they asked for more details as to how they could go through with the sale. As the ruse went on though, the scammer finally realized they were being messed with and bailed.
Starting point is 01:03:30 But it goes to show that this scam actually still works, so just be careful out there. Apparently I've been doing spam emails wrong my whole life. It just makes me think of the Office episode. Mike Scott, yeah. Nigerian Prince yeah if he contacts you directly you answer boy so today George C. Parker is remembered as one of the most successful con men in the history of the United States as well as one of history's most talented hoaxers he died in prison in 1936 but his twisted legacy, I hate that
Starting point is 01:04:05 I wrote this, his twisted legacy lives on. God I was very proud of that I'm sure. Mid like drinking wine while you did your notes you're like that one's gonna fucking rock. I even put a dot dot dot. That's how you know. Yikes. Yikeroonies. See it works a little bit. No? Okay. I'm going to end on a quote from vaudeville performer and humorist Will Rogers. They may call me a rube and a hick but I'd a lot rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it. And that is the story of New York City's George C. Parker. All right. Thank you, guys.
Starting point is 01:04:51 Thank you, thank you. I just thought that was the most absurd thing I've literally ever heard. No, that was bananas. I didn't know you could, not that you should, but I didn't know you could do that. Interesting. No. I guess you can do just about anything.
Starting point is 01:05:07 Okay, that's my wisdom for the day. Somebody write that down. Okay. Oh, good. I also brought a little horoscope of George for you guys. Now, for those of you who don't, so for those of you here who were dragged to your bite and you're unwilling and you don't know what you're doing here.
Starting point is 01:05:25 This is a part in which I give unsolicited astrological advice to people who are already dead and can't use it anyway. People in Dallas, like the Texans were like, astrology, get out. Yeah, they were like, we don't do that here. I'm back with my people. Sometimes it lands, sometimes it doesn't.
Starting point is 01:05:42 No. So George was a Pisces. Oh, so were the with my people. Sometimes it lands, sometimes it doesn't. No. So, George was a Pisces. Oh, so were the Sing Sing people. Okay. Cool. So was Eva. So, here we go. Eva, listen up.
Starting point is 01:05:54 This is for you. Pisces, this week you may feel you have to perform to make the money trickle in faster. Ooh. You're better off keeping your cards close to the chest. No one wants to hear that they're responsible for their own downfall, even if they are. They'll figure it out sooner or later without help from you. The end of the week finds you a master of communication, whether you're leading a meeting, giving a talk, or persuading innocent people to buy
Starting point is 01:06:21 the Statue of Liberty. I added that. That's not actually in there, but you get the idea. And that, for the Pisces and for everyone else, is finally the story of Georgie Parker. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, New York. Oh, we're so happy to be here.
Starting point is 01:06:44 Thank you guys so, so, so much. Thank you, Brooklyn York. We're so happy to be here. Thank you guys so, so, so much. Thank you, Brooklyn. We love you.

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