And That's Why We Drink - E470 Leatha Weatha and Dirty Santa Texts

Episode Date: February 15, 2026

It’s episode 470 and for the first time ever we’re both drinking tea! Before we crack into this week’s stories, Christine is joined by Taylar from Creeps and Crimes Podcast for a round of ParaPods Network speed dating! Then Em brings us to Vermont for the dark and slightly weird history of the haunted Laurel Hall Mansion. After, Christine covers the intense Part 1 of the Todt Family Murders, a case so wild that it must continue next week. So while you wait, why don’t you go chase some ghosts! …and that’s why we drink!P.S. Happy 9 years of And That’s Why We Drink!!! We’re so grateful to all of you for listening to us whether you’ve just started, or been here from the beginning. Here’s to many more episodes!Photo Links:Laurel Glen Mausoleum StatueMegan Todt and childrenCatch Taylar over on Creeps and Crimes wherever you get your podcasts or visit https://creepsandcrimespodcast.com/ for more info!Catch our bonus Yappy Hour intermissions on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3L28lDw or subscribe on Patreon: http://patreon.com/ATWWDPodcast!___________________Save 20% Off Honeylove by going to https://honeylove.com/drink ! #honeylovepodGo to http://hellofresh.com/drink10fm to get 10 free meals plus a free Zwilling Knife ($144.99 value) on your third box; offer valid for new subscribers while supplies last.Switch to Mint Mobile and, for a limited time, get unlimited premium wireless for just $15/month—visit http://mintmobile.com/ATWWD to claim the offer.Enjoy 30% off with code DRINK at http://boxiecat.com/DRINK.If you think you or someone you know might be struggling with OCD, go to https://learn.nocd.com/ATTWD and book a free call with their team to learn more.Download SAILY in your app store and use our code DRINK at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/drink Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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with a specialized type of therapy called ERP or exposure and response prevention. And with no CD, you can do live virtual ERP therapy with licensed therapists who specialize in OCD. NoCD therapists are highly trained so they really understand OCD and they won't judge you no matter what your thoughts are about. And no CD therapy is covered by insurance for over 155 million Americans. So if you think you or someone you know might be struggling with OCD, please don't wait to get help go to nocd.com and book a free call with their team to learn more that's nocd.com to schedule a free call and learn more. Hello and welcome to and that's why we drink I in a first ever event have worn a red lip today for my date. I love it. I'm here with Taylor we're doing a fun as Eva called

it unhinged speed dating segment. I just Taylor and I just kind of showed up so we don't really know we don't know what's happening. We have no idea what's going on I actually told Morgan who recorded with Jerry last night. I was like, I'm, you know, I'm so grateful that you got with Jerry, but I'm also even more grateful that I got with Christine because one thing about me and Christine is we never know what the hell's going on. So this is going to be the most eventful one. It's just like okay that way. That's just like how we thrive and live, you know. We're joined by Eva in the corner there with a buzzer and she has a buzzer from Blockbuster. Don't ask me where that came from or why she owns it, but it's here. It's here. And we have some questions that we're going to ask. And Taylor,

I obviously are ready to kick things off. We are ready to go. Doesn't it look like shirts and all? Look at us. And I'm going to ask the first question. And Eva has this buzzer up like ready, ready to buzz us. Oh my God, no pressure. Okay.

Taylor, I'm going to ask you the first question here. Okay. Which random VHS tape did your family of origin watch on repeat? And the subtext is, and why was it, all dogs go to heaven, which is one that my family watched on repeat. Exactly. Exactly. Okay.

So do I have 30 seconds from... Eva. He was just buzzing Taylor five seconds. Hello? Enough. Okay, so I was an only child for the first like seven years of my life. And then my little sisters came and by the time they came CDs or were the only like DVDs were the only thing. So I was the only one with VHS.

So it was the queen of the house. So therefore it was Snow White, the original cartoon. And I cried and screamed every single time that, She did that like mirror transition. Terrifying. Terrifying. But I literally like ruined that tape. Fantastic.

That's a good answer. This was sent in to us, by the way, from That's Pretty Dark podcast. Eva, will you tone it down? I'm just kidding. I'm just, I'm just kidding. I mean, it's a 40-year-old button. I don't know. It's like three decades old.

All dogs go to heaven. I think my dad tried to make a swedged Dumbo a lot. and all dogs go to heaven and I think he really was trying to push the like suffering of you yeah see those are horrible movies you're gonna be taken away from your family I had to hide dumbo under my mattress and it was like years later that uh we moved out and my dad was like why is this great film under the mattress um so it's a lot of traumatic events um and then like that weird soccer one about green green not the green mile the other one for joker not green mile please god What is that green soccer movie?

Hold on. Oh, green machine. Oh, what? It's not the big green. Who was your first cartoon crush from Spooky Delight? Underscore. I don't think I realized what it. I don't think I, I don't, it was probably a girl cartoon and I didn't understand what

was happening and I wanted to be your best friend. But honestly, I don't know. I feel like a lot of people's answer is like that, like, animal characters, and that always makes me feel a little weird to say aloud. I don't. Yes. This is so lame. I don't really have an answer.

I feel like a lot of people choose like Danny Phantom to like those people. That's a good answer. That's a good answer. Okay, I have one. And I'll just say it with the, the timer's going to be quick. Actually, not Snow White.

Sully from Monsters Inc. Whoa. Interesting. And I don't know why. Like, it's not like I married a big burly man either. Like I didn't. But it's just like. Maybe you should have.

have. Maybe it was his voice and who voiced him? Who voiced Sully? It's not Billy Crystal. So that's the good news. Sully, thank God. Sully's Monsters Inc. Let's see. James P. Sullivan. Who are you, sir? I'm like, who the fuck is James P. Sullivan? Never heard of that man a day in my life. It's Taylor's first crush. Like, wait. And what's so funny is, what if you didn't say Sully? What if you said your first cartoon? This is James P. Sullivan and we were all to see the fuck is. Who the fuck is that? Okay, I'm going to tell you who played, okay, John Goodman. You know that man. John Goodman, I sat next to him on an airplane and he was literally the most delightful person.

Was he really? And he gave up his middle seat, or he took a middle seat to like let somebody else in the aisle. And he sat next to me. He's a big man. He's a big dude and he was like so kind. And someone said like, I'm a huge fan and he was like, oh, that's so sweet. And then like he kind of joked and like three different people sent him like whiskies. and he's like, oh, I'm okay, no thanks.

And I was like, I'll take them. I'm going to ask you the next one. What is your dream reincarnation? That's from Mirrorball Bookshelf. Oh, my God. I mean, I would always love to be a cat. Like, I think that'd be really nice to be a house cat, just lay in the sun, eat my food, do the things.

Like chase some shit around. Yeah, you know, play with my parents, annoy them at night. What about you? Everybody and everything kind of sucks right now. So it's sort of like, what does, what sounds enjoy? for me, not really much. I mean, maybe like, maybe like of Robert Irwin's family member, like a family member of the Irwin's

where I'm like, that is such a great call right there. You nailed it. Wow. Okay, wow. Well, we did get a very specific answer for that question. Is it my turn to ask? I think so. Okay. I'm even numbers, right? Okay. Literally, I don't know how me and Morgan run this podcast because I have no idea what I'm doing half the time. Your listeners are like, is she going to fucking ask if it's her turn again? Like, seriously? No, don't worry. They'll be like, Christine needs to know what's going on on her own show.

So the next question is, how many seagulls would you have to find in your home to think that someone was putting them there intentionally from underscore, underscore Megan Ruth? Megan Ruth, that's a craziest question I've ever heard. A very high question to ask. Like a real seagull or like little statue? of seagulls because both are alarming. I'm assuming a real seagull, right? Yeah, yeah, okay. Well, I don't know that any amount would make me think.

If there were 10 in my house, I'd be like, oh, an invasion of seagulls has occurred. I don't know that I would, like, blame a person for it. But do you know? I don't even know the answer. One. A single. There's none here. Like, I've never seen a seagull in East Tennessee my entire life.

So if someone brave, but if a seagull would stay in my house, I'd be like, Logan, this has to be a joke. Who that hell put this in here? Well, this one is interesting. We're Ross and Rachel on a break, Taylor. This is from Alyssa Marie 10. One of the most poignant parts of that entire section of the film was the fact that he did not respect her job or film, the show, was that he did not respect her job, that he just kept barging into her office. And he kept being like, it's just a job.

It's just like, you don't understand. It's something that, like, I'm actually good at. And like, I do. And honestly, if a man ever, like, so were they on a break? Who cares? He was disrespecting her. are irrelevant. He's just a fucking relevant.

He's just a dick. Like, whether he's on a break or not, irrelevant. And he's just a big whiner baby. Oh, he's such a whiner. I just don't relate to a whiner baby. If a man is a whiner baby to me, I can't be a part of it. Only women are allowed to be whiner babies. I'm going to say, I whine enough for both of us, you know?

We don't need another one. I mean, do you think like James P. Sullivan would ever be a whiny baby? No. Absolutely not. That's why he took that middle seat. And we'll always bring it back. Christine, this is from baby underscore glow glow glow glow. What was your AIM username?

I'm always crazy, 4-4-4. You know, I could have answered that for you because I've listened to your podcast for so long. The Mount M brings it up. Everybody probably already knows that. I don't think I had one. Oh, I guess you're, yeah. In any, like, chat room that I did have,

I literally always just put my name. because I was like, well, what if you don't know that it's me? And so that's where we got. I would just make up fake names and be like, I hope you don't know it's me. Well, it's so funny because everyone's like, what was your first email? And like, I had a few crazy fake emails that I still own to this day that I will never ever tell the truth behind because I have about like seven that I put in my rotation. Hell yeah.

But so everyone would be like, what was your crazy email name? And mine was literally Taylor H. at First American Equity.com because I was like, that's company, and he put me on there when he made me an email. It's always like the parents making the email.

Yeah. If an alien studied you for a week, Taylor, what incorrect conclusion would they reach? And I think it might have something to do with anything we've said already because I feel like the phones, the last names, the voice. Goes on.

Are you kidding me? The Sully crush. Okay, depending on the week that they hit me, okay, if they hit me on population week. They would be like, this bitch's face is so symmetrical. Wow. And they'd be like, she's so energetic.

She goes and works out so much. She gets so much done at work, and she didn't even have to take her second dose of Adderall. That's how much she got done. And then they would catch me in my ludial cycle. And they'd be like, she's a raging, crazy bitch. But that would be the correct. Oh, okay.

Okay. That's sort of the base level. Okay. I think it's pretty transparent once you come into my home like what's going on, you know? I don't know that like even during my ovul, which like I haven't even thought to put that together. I think if I had a better understanding of what part of my cycle did what to me, I'd probably have a little grasp. The day you wake up and you think your eyebrows look good. Like that's if I wake up and I'm like, wow, my eyebrows look so even today. I'm like, oh my God, I must be. Are you serious? I don't think I've ever woken up and thought I liked my eyebrows. So maybe it truly. No, it truly is about like this like, like, how. how my face looks in the morning when I wake up. Like some mornings I wake up and I'm like, oh my God. What's happening? I gwash out only one side of my face last night. Like, what happened to her?

Okay, so the next one is, can you give me a ride after this from Wild underscore Puff? Taylor, I would give you a ride any day the week. Ever since you came to that live show where you had to drive back with Morgan for work at like four in the morning. And I was just like, I cannot believe these people came all the way out of here. crazy um what is the most con oh this is interesting what is the most common compliment that you

receive from kimberly dot ariel it really depends like if it's about like me as a person a lot of people like my voice and i'm like well that's literally the most highest comment you could ever give me because that's literally my entire job so i just like when people call me funny that's my favorite compliment um i think that's probably i don't know you guys i don't know Tell me my compliment. I know my favorite compliment that people give you online. What? Because I agree with them often.

My favorite compliment that your listeners or not even just anyone gives you online is like how, what's the word? Like how well spoken you are and how you actually can think a lot before you speak. I don't have that gift. So the next one, the final one we have is shout out your emotional support water bottle, style brand colors stickers situation etc if you have one and if you don't why don't you like hydration and this says a little note from eva inspired by creeps and crimes talking about their emotional support water bottles oh my god taylor you inspired a speed dating question oh my god i'm really honored to be here

and this question for everybody okay okay um i have this beautiful uh big it's like this Stanley and it's the it's it's It's black, but it has chrome accent. And Eva mailed them out to, like, the couple of us on the, two years ago, I think. And it, was it last year, yeah. It has, like, our name on it and, like, a thirsty little rat, like, little icon in, like, the chrome color. And it's just, like, so, like, I feel like when I hold it, I'm like, ooh, this feels fancy. I mean, unless you see the rat on the side. But other than that.

I think you see the big giant rat. And then it's, like, buck teeth. But other than that, and then, you know, it has like a little sticker that says scrappy. And I just, I don't know. It's just my, that's definitely my comfort one. And it has my name and giant letters. And as a Gemini, that like really speaks to me. Of course, it does.

Yes. And I agree 100%. Here it is. Oh, oh, that's a cutie. So this is my L.O. Everyone, Morgan has the same exact one. They're 22 ounce pop and fill. Hers is green.

Mine is. yeah yo. And, but the reason why this is the best L.O. water bottle, because they have multiple water bottles, it's because not only, like, I could throw it in my purse and I'm okay, right? Right, right, right. This is why it's called the pop and fill.

Okay? This little part pops up and then you have the nipple that you can like suck the water up through, which is attached to the inside where there's a straw. Oh, my God. So you can just fill up the water bottle without taking the straw out and you can put the ice in without taking the straw out.

But if you need to clean it, you can screw the whole lid off. And here's another thing about this. What will they think of next? They have a lock on the side. Oh, E L L L O. Okay. Yellow L. We've declared these the absolute, and this is the pop and fill. We have declared these the water bottles of 2026. Everyone wants to go O-Wala. No. Wrong. We're going L.O.

We're going L.O. Do you feel like it's enough water in there? See, okay, they have a larger one. And if I had the larger one, I would have to fill it up as much as I want. So me and I'm going to get me and Morgan one. We don't do stickers on things because we're pickers. So we pick everything off of everything. Yeah.

And I think that was our last question. Wow. Taylor, I had the best time on our date. I had, hey, you want to see each other again? Um, absolutely. I imagine. Hmm, let me get back to you. I'm really busy.

No, I'm all of a sudden blocked from all the parodds on emails and stuff. Are we in a competition? Did, like, do we win? I think we did. I'm pretty sure. Right, Eva? I'm pretty sure we won, right. Anyway, well, thank you, Taylor.

Go listen to creeps and crimes wherever you get your podcast. It's such a fun show. Taylor and Morgan are just a delight. And they talk about the same shit we do. so it's just bound to be a good time. All the same bullshit. For everybody. All right, guys.

All right. On that note, thanks for listening. And I guess on with the episode. What the hell are... What's that? I don't want to tell you. Let me guess. Was that an apple slice?

No. Is it tuna and celery? No. It is some bread. then I didn't have anything to put on it. So I put butter and then I put big hunks of mozzarella cheese off of a block. Why wouldn't you want to tell me? That sounds delicious.

Was it to keep me from being jealous? It looks pretty gnarly. I thought I saw a slice of something hit the ground and I did see you eat that. That's what we should be talking about. That's right. Unhinged your jaw, girl. You got to do what you got to do for the bread. That looked good. That looked delicious.

I don't know why we were hiding that from me. but um it's just one of those like meals you look at and you go oh oh dear no that's how i feel about you intend to fish though that's how like i am about most food so yeah well welcome to uh the sickly podcast christina's not feeling 10 out of 10 today but ma'am i bet you're feeling at least one point better with that bread in your system so i am i'm feeling i'm feeling okay i just sound terrible how long how many days in are you Mm, four or five. I feel better.

I just sound worse. You know when you near the end, you start to sound worse for some reason? Mm-hmm. Like your body's trying to reset. Yeah, I sound worse. You sound, but I, fine. I slept for like noon. You sound, you don't sound as bad as I think, you think you sound.

But you do sound sick. Hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, I've got tea, speaking of, thinking things. What type of tea? What do you put in it? How do you take your tea? Um, thank you for asking.

So I went to World Market with Leona When they were selling these cute little honey sticks Like I'm not like the honey stick that you They're like little stirers But at the end they have like a little heart made of honey And you can like stir your tea I was like what a genius idea because I have honey up here but so sticky

And then it gets everyone You get us find a spoon to stir it And it's like it's giving shark tank You know what? It is giving shark tank I think they're going to invest like a whole $300 in something like this For a stick I certainly hope so. Honey on a stick.

I saw, I don't know if I saw, I think it was like some clickbait. I think I saw something about like Pete Davidson went on Shark Tank for like, I was asking like a half a million dollars for his sock company. This had to be click take. Or I had a dream. Feels like an SNL skit or a dream. Well, I've been having to be really careful about what I'm seeing online these days because my mother and I have been getting

into heated arguments about how I am not interested in keeping anyone in my life that's MAGA for obvious reasons. Oh no, your mother disagrees. She's like, no, come on. She's... She's... Let's put it this way. She voted the right way and, you know, she's... We don't need to throw hate at her. I think she still

is trying to show some sort of compassion. I'm not into it. I... Because I'm not in... I'm not feeling it. But in their day... Oh, wait, did we record? Yes. A few. Sorry, I'm traumatized from last week. In their day and age, in their day, in their elderly day, now I'm going to make, now your mom's going to go no contact with me. In their day and age, though, it was like, oh, we could all get along. And now it's like, things have not gone that way anymore. I, and I'm, I think our generation, at least people I was surrounded with, I grew up in kind of country club

living. So I was surrounded by people from a few walks of life. Let's put that way. And I remember it being normal that you could break bread with those people. But this is a different ballgame we're in now. Totally. The stakes are much higher. Much higher. And so my mom's defense has been like for other people, not for herself for anyone. Everyone back up.

Leave my ball below. But she said like, well, have you considered that maybe they're not getting the same material or they're not seeing the same things on their screen that you're seeing? And so they're just not educated. And I'm like, okay, then I'll educate them. And so I've been on Facebook recently flooding my mom's friends profile. files. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to save them. I don't know what's wrong with me. I've just been bored. I started getting information that says M. Schultz posting on Facebook and I'm like, what? And then it like happens every day and I'm like, is M like really into Facebook now? No, I'm not at all. But I'm just so frustrated because I've heard through the grapevine that people in Fredericksburg are upset with me because I no longer want to speak to them. And I'm like, okay, well, then I'll just show you why I don't want to talk to you. So I've made it by personal vendetta for absolutely no reason. But I've been on Facebook recently, which has not happened in a long time. And now I have to double check.

everything. I'm reading some like, shit, these people really have just been reading completely different information than me, including Pete Davidson going on a shark tank for half a million dollars with the socks. What if that was a dream and you posted about it? You were like, this is real news. That'd be silly. Maybe it was, and now everything's fucking AI. Who the hell knows? You know what I mean? But you know what's wild? So I've been getting in fights with this one guy on Facebook. Oh, I think I saw him. Probably. He's a work. He's a nightmare. Well, he was from. Oh, no, he for sure went on. shark tank with some socks. Oh, okay. So then maybe people on Facebook are going to get my information. No, this one guy's been a real nightmare. But he, my favorite part is, I'm not going to say what I said.

I was a little harsh. And then I regretted, I was like, I don't need what I have to say out there. So I deleted what I said. But he kept being like, really? We're family. And I'm like, babe, I haven't seen you since I was four years old. What the fuck are you talking about? We're off. Family, please. And also, we're not. Like, you're a random guy from my town. What are you talking about? And also, so the fuck what? Yeah, exactly. I've put out closer people for less baby, you know, like, fuck it. We're burning it all down. He said something about like, whatever, you can just go chase a ghost.

And I was like, I have. Chase it off! Literally, I was like, what a weird fucking thing to say. You know that that's the thing that's offended me the most so far. Now I'm pissed. Well, I thought it was very silly because he's very proud. Maybe I will. Well, I ended up saying like, um, it got me a job.

So I'm pretty sure, like, I don't know what you're complaining about. He bought me a job. I made a job. I made a career out of it, you fuckhead. He, the whole argument was about like deflection, deflection, deflection. And then I made a point and he was like, whatever, go chase a ghost. And I was like, okay, whatever. Anyway, so I've been having a lot of fun. A lot of fun on Facebook. Um, maybe that's why I think this week. A Sin and Said has never been said since 2012. Yeah. And by fun, I really, it's not fun. I just, I don't know why I've brought this duty upon myself, but I think I'm over my

mom defending, uh, people that are still in our circles. And I'm like, I'm just going to now they have no reason to not see what's going on. And if they're still in our circles, then I really, I can't, I don't have to defend myself to anybody, including my own family at this point. Yeah. I mean, I know. Yeah. I mean, people just see things and then they're like, that's irrelevant to me.

because it doesn't fit my world view. You know, it's, but I mean, it sounds like it did something with that guy, so that's good. It got him all fucking worked up, so that's nice. I kind of love that. And like that, honestly, is beautiful in and of itself. Thank you. I really have no fucking business even doing this. I just, I think this is how my brain is reacting to cracking in half with the horrible

news that's coming out every day. I'm just like, if I just flood other people's feeds and at least my eyes aren't alone in this. I don't know. You're just like, let me just like, yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Anyway. Here Derek.

I don't know the guy's name, but here Derek. Watch this. It's not Derek, right? Because then it would be. No, that would be so crazy. You. Anyway, so I guess that's why I drink that I've like become one of those like, I don't know. I'm not like proud of myself for doing it.

I just, I think I, I don't know why I did it. I need to talk to a therapist. Anyway. Your turn. Why do you drink this? I drink because my phone keeps like giving me Facebook notifications. It's like, I'm sure. shared three posts. And I'm like, and you know what I keep saying is M shared posts you missed.

And I was like, then I missed. Like, what is happening? And then I always think like, is this some sort of life update the way Facebook is making it sound? It's like you've missed M's major life updates. My big ass milestone. Yeah, M and Derek. Yeah. Well, Em and Derek, the fight, that when I was glad I went into my notifications and got a little, little peep on that. But battle royale, no, um, battle royale. I, it's mainly the exact same thing because I've been posting on Instagram or wherever I can post them. But I've just, I have a new audience now. And so I've actually found some, I didn't know this, but I was assuming there were some people who had, who were on the wrong side of history in my hometown, who I have found out are very on my side.

And I've actually like jumped on the comments also, which is very wonderful. Oh, that's always so, like, satisfying when you see people that you were like, not sure where they would land. And then they're like, yeah, no. the shit down. You're like, oh, thank God. You know what I was the most beautiful of them all is this never happens, but there were three men from my hometown who all apparently voted in our favor, which I did not see coming. And they all were like defending my post to that shitty guy. And I was like, oh my God, I'm just watching men fight over me. Ah. Oh, Am, how does it feel? Oh, it's been, I've been waiting my whole life. Especially when they bring up like Trump and immigrants and you're like, this is so,

It's about me. So romantic. Oh, I wanted to show you. I told you last week that one of my favorite newspapers in my town is the Burbank Bulletin. That's right. And I wanted to let you know that Brad Corb has done it again. You don't say.

Burbank Bulletin. And then let me just prove this to you. Now this. Talk about breaking fucking news. Facebook. Step aside. I want to know about this situation. I went looking for it because I was like, I literally just.

It came in the day that we recorded. It's meant to be. This is called analog breaking news, people, okay? This is the original Facebook post. That's right. This is where Derek fucking has to sit down and just accept the facts. Derek, look within yourself. Look within.

Look at the fucking Derek. Pick up a Burbank bulletin. A fucking eat rocks. Brad did it again. Brad did it again. Wait, Brad did it again with the sale of. of Quarina's house in... Panorama City.

In Panorama City, yeah. Brad did it again. Fucking hell yeah, Brad. He does it every goddamn month this comes out. Brad has done it again. I can't. It really...

In a world full of darkness. You know what? I can always rely on Brad Corp. I mean, we need a little bit of sunshine, you know. I feel like at this point, one, there's going to be a month where Brad Corp doesn't do it again. And he's going to be like, cut the press. I was going to say, like, there's not going to be an...

An issue. Like, what are they going to release an issue without Brad doing it again? Like, we, we can't. Like, the day he doesn't do it again is the day that that newspaper fucking sells out through the roof. You know what I'm saying? I would make Brad Corb sign it. I'd be like, I need you to, I need you to know that I've been waiting for this day. We thought you could never do it.

Anyway, that was, uh, I, as soon as we'd finish recording, it showed up at my door and I went, well, I got to see if Brad did it again. He has. The fact that this thing. Wow. It's, wow, it's good. Thank you. I needed that little light of sunshine in my life. Thank you. Hmm. You're welcome. Are we both drinking tea?

Oh, finally. We never have done that. 470 episodes. It's only nine years in. I finally figured out how to drink a cup of tea, I think. I'm trying anyway. I'm not very good at it. We got stuck on the honey stick, but do you put anything else in it or is it just funny? Sometimes I put a splash of milk. if it's like an Earl Grey situation I put a little splash of milk and honey

but you know today I'm just rocking with like the honey stick and it's kind of a vibe I like it yeah got me some horny and sons you know those pretty ones those pretty tin containers that then I keep and tell myself I'm going to fill with wildflower someday I understand I just fill with dust

Well, I have, I put out an Instagram post about it, and I would like to also leave it to the masses over here as well. I still don't really know what to do because everyone kind of gave the same answer, but it wasn't really an answer I was looking for. I was going to ask what the, so you were looking for a way to turn the scent of this tea that Allison doesn't usually drink this loose leaf tea, right? Into like a candle or something.

Okay, okay, okay. And a lot of... To extract the scent and use it for something else. Allison's obsessed with the smell, but neither of us will drink it. It's just the smell that we like. But I am so tired. It's been sitting with us since the last apartment. Like I'm tired of this.

I don't want the same more. I'd rather use it for good and not take up space. You know what I mean? We already live in a kind of a small spot. And the spot where all of our coffee and tea goes, like this is a big bag of loose leaf tea. And I'm like, it's got to get out of here. Yeah, it's got to make room.

So I'm trying to find a way to keep the scent, but get rid of the tea. And a lot of people said, like, wax melts or something. Oh, to put it in, okay, okay. Are those just little candles? Am I mixing it up with something else? So a wax melt is more like you have little, like, shapes of the hardened wax,

and then you put it on, like, a dish or something, and you put, like, a little tea light. They make, well, mat, bye. They make wax melt warmer. So that's weirdly hard to say. and you put it in like a little dish, and then the light, like, kind of melts it, and it, like, makes a really nice smell.

I see. I, it blows my mind that a candle is not just that. Is that not just a big wax milk? Well, there's no fire involved. Well, I guess there is fire for using a little candle underneath. But it's more just, like, it heats up little, and then you can reuse it, right? So it'll, like, kind of harden, and then you can light it.

I have a candle warmer that's, like, just a really, it's a light bulb, and it, like, warms a candle and melts the wax, and then it lasts a lot longer. Nice. Sort of like that. Maybe that's what I, maybe everyone's, I mean, everyone's saying either that or like, um, um, melting it for like an oil diffuser or something or like. I think that's probably really similar.

Yeah. Okay. Well, I don't, I just wish I could just get someone to come over here. Like that seems like a lot of work. Because I don't, I would love to just throw it in like a candle and then burn it, but I feel like burning it isn't, it's not the same thing. Yeah. Can you see what the ingredients were?

Like, is there a way to see what's in it and then like, kind of try to replicate what scent she likes a lot? Probably. I mean, it's literally just an Earl Grey tea, but there's something about this Earl Grey tea. So I'm like, I'm not, I'm no, I'm no magician, you know. Why won't you drink it? It doesn't taste as good as it smells.

It does not taste as good as it smells, but it, I mean, it tastes fine, but it's like, I, she would prefer to smell it compared to me drinking it. Understood. The ones are different. And, um, uh, also I'm not a big fan of loose leaf tea. I want, I like tea bags. Yeah. Looseleaf freaks me out.

feel like I'm just drinking stems. You are. I know. And one's going to slip in there. And then I'm paranoid for every sip. I'm like, what got in my mouth? So what about the little? It doesn't work.

I don't care. I don't care. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. It's literally never worked. Well, what about? No. Okay.

Unless there's an airtight lock on it. And even then, it still has the whole thing's made of holes. Something's going to get out. Yeah, it's got to be made of holes, you know, because of the water. Like, I want my tea to look like this at the bottom. You know what I'm saying? I want there to be nothing. Just a plastic container.

A plastic container. Yeah. Oh, I, I, well, never mind. The time is past. I was going to say another reason why I drink, but I just realized that we've done that already. Oh. But next time, next time.

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New subscribers only varies by plan. Okay. I have a story for you, Christine. Thank God. And we, I don't, we're going to learn together because I did these notes a bit of a bit ago. So let's find out together. This is. Oh, that was going to be my big thing. Sorry.

What? This is like the third day. It was like, we were supposed to record Thursday. And I was like, let's record tomorrow. Then like an hour before, I was like, I'm freaking out. I'm never going to get these notes. done and then now we're here and I'm sick and it's just a mess anyway. I apologize because then I was like, oh, poor, I'm not going to remember their story because it's been like a week and anyway.

That's never stopped me before. That's okay. Fair enough. This is the, the main name for it is the Laurel Hall mansion. Although I have seen online it also being called the Bowman House, but it's the Laurel Hall mansion. So Laurel Hall is prettier. And it was named Laurel Hall. Bowman House is just named, it's like the house that the Bowman's living. in, but the Bowman's named it, Laurel Hall. So, like, shouldn't we respect them? Even they knew it was a nicer name. Have you figured out yet what your family house would be named?

I'm so tired of this, Christine. Just figure it out. You're tired of it. You're the only one that brings it up. Keep waiting. I like the Christine Chapel is fun. I think that's hysterical. But that was my name, and then that includes nobody else in the house, which is fine.

I mean, I'm Margaret's Lell. that's fine let's do it beautiful um let's i mean geo's castle there might as well be a christine chapel attached geos castle is cute because that does sound like a video game it does i love that um and also if you were to say giovanni's castle it sounds it sounds like a muppets place adventure okay something just felt okay so these headphones were really old and they have like these little like you know how the pea peeled off yeah but like it looked like something just fell out of my hair because i was moving it and something big just a chunk felt and I want people to know that was the headphones and it was not like a spider or something gross thing out of my head out of my hair just so you know okay thank you because

I didn't see but I'm I'm glad I don't have to worry I just don't need that slow mo of like just something I think it's on your shirt right there yeah yeah it is it's like this gross like uh whatever this is beautiful mine is still pretty solid and mine is fucking destroyed mine is fucking destroyed mine Mine are pretty good. And when I was last at my aunts for Thanksgiving, I don't know if Stoll is a right word, but I took without permission. Borrowed. Yeah.

Well, I took without permission headphones that once belonged to someone who live there and now they no longer live there. Oh. And that counts. And they, when they left, they said they took everything and anything that was left in their house was up for grab. So I went, okay, thank you. Yeah, that's the definition of.

They were nice headphones. Hell yeah. Are those them? No. I'm waiting for these to crap out. And then I've got nice new ones. But um... Got it, got it, got it, got it.

But these, these have lasted a long time. These went on like two tours with us. Yeah, they look, they look much more put together than these, obviously. No, yours literally says studio on top. That's so fancy. I think so, it does, doesn't it? Studio monitor. What the fuck does I say?

Oh, studio monitor. It's upside down and backwards in my, in my view. Um, here we go. This is the Laurel Hall Mansion. It is near Cuttingsville, Vermont. Hmm. And it is, so my understanding of it, which you'll realize my confusion, my understanding of it is this is an entire estate where like we're just talking about the mansion specifically. Oh, okay, okay.

Which technically makes it a manner, by the way, because if I have not screamed this enough, a manor is just the main house people live in on an estate of buildings. I know you've screamed about it, but I do appreciate the re-up and information. Thank you. Thank you. the Laurel Hall Manor. Manor. But less educated people than me, decided to name it Laurel Hall Mansion. Pathetic. Disgusting.

So, this mansion is directly across from a cemetery, which is important. The cemetery is similarly named. This will confuse you because the mansion is Laurel Hall. The cemetery is Laurel Glenn.

Okay. You don't have to care about that anymore, but just know that I took the time to write that down. So there's a mansion, the mansion is across in the cemetery, and in the cemetery is the Laurel Glen Mausoleum. So the Laurel Glen Mausoleum and Laurel Hall Mansion are owned by the same people. Okay. They just pick the worst fucking similar names.

The mansion, fun fact, I don't know about the mausoleum, but the mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places, and our main character is John Bowman. He was a tanner and he made his wealth selling leather goods to the union during the Civil War. And he was, I guess, especially famous for his boots and shoe soles. You know what's so funny is nowadays, like, if you do that job, you're basically like a bespoke Etsy creator. You're like, I'm a cobbler at heart. Right?

Like, I'm a leather, leather good, leather good. I make leather good, fine leather goods. Now it's a hobby. Yeah. And it's also like a, like a business, but it's like a really like up there, like fancy business. You're selling things for high prices because it's homemade, handmade, I mean. And if you do work in leather in like an old cobblestone shop ran by Grandpapa at one point, you're the fifth generation leatherman of your time, this is not information for you,

but I need everybody else to know that if I needed a leather good today, I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know where to go except Etsy. Yeah, I would have to like look for local leather goods. So if you are that leatherman or Tanner, I need you to really start promoting yourself. Get a Gen Zier to do your TikTok and you'll be fine. And then M will find it. And then I'll know exactly where to go. Instead of M Googling where to find leather goods, we would like you to get viral.

To get viral. So we can find us is what we're trying to say. I really, I really, you've already done enough with the leather work, but I need you to do one more thing. That's right. So we're going to get on TikTok later. It's just going to be fucking leather, leather, leather goods. Actually, it's going to be like, a leather goods, $2.99 off the TikTok shop. I think we should redo the S&L bit of Sweat of Sweat of Weather weather, but make it leather weather.

That's good. Use that to the tanners who are trying to build a TikTok and get famous, leather weather. Yeah. Yeah, you told them to use Gen Z folks. Now you're trying to come up with ideas. And I feel like you're immediately kind of giving them conflicting. And I'm using Gen X references too. That's exactly what I was going to say next.

And also, kind of the content is a little bit outdated. I'm multi-generational. Okay, this is why it's not my job. Do that thing the Gen Z do where they're like, I had a Gen Z intern, film my thing. And like, Mom Donnies was like, yay, you know. Like, do that. You know, if it worked for him, it could work. for any. It was pretty good. And even I saw it and I'm not very youthful. Well, so John Bowman,

he was that guy when it came to the union we love. And I didn't see anything about any other team. I'll tell you that. So I think he was just, I'm going to assume he's one of the good ones. I'm also going to assume he's one of the good ones because not only was he super successful, he was loved by his employees. He literally not just like made sure that they could afford to live. he, with his own wealth, built them houses, so they would have homes. Oh, that's nice. And then whatever the average wage was at the time, he doubled it. So he doubled their minimum wage, which I think.

What? I know. So we love him. Okay, but then I ask why. Hmm. Interesting that you... Like, it's one thing to, like, I know, I'm immediately like... What's your agenda?

Suspicious. You're trying to use... Are you trying to use money to control me? You want me to work twice as hard, is that what you're saying? Yeah. Are you trying to put pressure on? Yeah, exactly am. Thank you.

I got you. I mean, it's fair. We can't ask him. Do you have a Ouija board? Do I have a weird? We could find out tonight. Okay, how about during the, tonight? Tonight.

Okay, how about, how about during the yafy hour, I will open my ghost at, what is it called again, ghost tube? Ghost tube, which I did recently. Oh, good. And we can discuss your use of it because also I just went, you know, we love a rocket money and I just went on there the other day and it was like, ghost two subscription. I was like, oh shit. But instead of canceling it, I was like, I got to use that more.

So how about today we use that? I love it. Love it. I'm happy to. Great. So he, just John Bowman, he married his true love, Jenny. And they got pregnant. They had a daughter Addy. Unfortunately, Addy had scarlet fever and died in infancy. And a couple years later, they had their second daughter, Ella. But in her early 20s, Ella mysteriously fell ill and also passed away.

and I say early 20s because some sources said 19 some said 23 anyway her early 20s and we don't know how she passed away but the thought is something in the realm of typhoid cholera scarlet fever or consumption as we love it um Ella was their only childs that survived into adulthood so when she passed John and Jenny were devastated especially devastated and six months later, this is like the real kicker, six months after they had to grieve their daughter, Jenny also died. Oh my gosh.

So he's going through it. He's going through it. Oh, no. And right before she died, the two of them had been discussing building their dream home to distract from the grief. Get out of here. This is so sad.

I know. And you said it was a few months later, right? Six months later. Which like... You haven't even begun to grieve after six months. It's just the shock has worn off. and now you've got a whole new shock. The shock has worn up, but also,

it's not like she was already sick, so you were, like, preparing for, like, losing two people. It's like, okay, we're ready now to grieve that. And it's like, nope, now here's another thing. Right as you think, like, you've passed that grief. Oy. Yeah. So, and the irony of, like, one of their last conversations being,

like, how do we deal with this grief? And then she dies. And he's like, well, fuck. And I didn't even know what to do then. Now I don't know what to do at all. Terrible. Well, now that he's alone, he's grieving his wife and his daughter, and I'm sure still grieving, you know, his other daughter who passed an infancy. John decided to go through with it anyway as one of Jenny's last requests, and he decided he was going to build what would have been his family's forever home.

Oh my God, that's so dark. I know. But also, like, so, I mean, beautiful in a way of, like, he had something to do, you know, like a mission. to me it feels like even though she thought that she was requesting this for him she was actually like almost giving him a task like she was before she passed she got to give him she got to tell him what to do project right

yeah in her honor almost yeah so that's how he looked at it it was like if she were here we would be doing this and you imagine how guilty you'd feel though on your deathbed you're like sorry I would have waited They, what was I going to say? Oh, so they lived in New York, but they came back home to, he came back home to his state of Vermont and found this one spot he could build, which was a cross from Laurel Glenn Cemetery.

Okay. And so simultaneously, not only did John build himself their dream home, but across the street in the cemetery, he built a mausoleum for, his family to be interred. So we're going to talk about the mausoleum first. Even though the house, the house being haunted is what we're focusing on, the mausoleum is so important to the story.

So this was during the first big wave of spiritualism and funerals and memorials were an especially busy business. They were very lavish. This was like the Victorian era. So everything was very gaudy and through the roof. Yeah. As someone who lives in a house that was

reconstructed in the 2000s to attempt to look like a Victorian style, it's something else really with all the like gilded curly cues, shit like that. And also actually, remember when we went to the Winchester house and they were telling us all about like the Victorian mourning period?

Oh, that was crazy. Yes. I wonder how much of that played into like his grief and building this house because like, talk about properly mourning in a Victorian way of like, I'm going to build you a house and a mausoleum. Yeah. And like the pomp

and circumstance behind the grieving back then was like something. Yeah. So in his morning, he put his full focus into construction and aimed to have

the best mausoleum in the whole cemetery. And he put it right at the edge of the cemetery's road so that way it was like directly across from his house so he could always watch his family. Oh my gosh.

I know. Oof. Um, please hold. I'm gonna listen to what Hank's telling me to do. I was like, Em, do you think he's talking to you? I've officially snapped if that happens. I was like, okay. It happens to the best of us.

I'm gonna take a page out of his book and he's slurping away, but that'd be crazy. I was like, it sounds a little bit like he's just making dog noises. It's like, Allison needs to come home. Yeah, I was going to say, you're really having a moment there. First, I'm arguing with people on Facebook. That's literally not my style at all usually, but I can't stop it all of a sudden. I don't know what's going on with me. Maybe you found like a new outlet.

You're like this is actually really fun. Because also like you're not as sensitive as I am and that's a compliment. I mean not anymore really, but. Oh, okay. No, no, no, no, no. Sorry. What I mean is you are never as sensitive as I was. I'm much better about it now.

But like. Gotcha. I would get like so bad out of shape if somebody commented something and you've always been just like, whatever, fuck them, you know, like you're better at that. So I feel like maybe you found like a new passion project. I think, well, I think I'm. I think the main motivator has really just been like, I'm tired of people using the defense of like, oh, well, they don't know. And it's like, there's no way you can't fucking know.

And also that's bullshit. Because first of all, that's bullshit. The second of all, that's bullshit. Yeah. And I think my original motivator with this was like, if that's how you really feel, then I'll make sure that they do see all this stuff. Yeah, your mom's probably regretting that. Can't use that argument anymore. M's just like fucking all over the feed.

Yeah. I love that you're making a name for yourself. I don't even know if I am. probably it's not if it's even being seen. If M didn't share on Facebook, if I wasn't friends with Em on Facebook, I would never have known that Pete Davidson went on Shark Tank and won. And I'm so glad I pushed that to you. And you know what?

Go hunt a ghost. You know what I'm saying? Go chase a ghost. Go chase a ghost is so good because it's like go kick rocks, but it's like way less of an insult. It's not, it's just good. Like it's like, okay guy, yeah, I will. In any other circumstance, I would say like, that was a good one. That was a good one.

But the fact that, like, it was like, he really thought that was a good one makes it not a good one. Like, especially- But that makes it so much better to me because I'm like, oh, I love that this guy thought he was insulting us when really like, I would love nothing more than to go chase a ghost, okay? I think his whole bit is thinking he's really killing it. Like, which makes me laugh. Um, anyway, I- and- Go chase a ghost. There have been a few other people who've said things too, but he's like, I've been,

This is how I know that my stuff is getting pushed through people's feeds, even if they don't want to see this content, is because since I started pushing stuff out nonstop, I'm not tagging anybody. I'm just putting it out and hopefully it lands on your content farm. Yeah. Yeah. And he has now been posting just as much shit as me and tagging only me every time to be like as a gotcha. So you're getting him spiral. I'm freaking him out, which I love. I love. And I've even been writing things like whenever he's gotcha. I'm getting him spiral. I'm freaking him out, which I love. and I've even been writing things like whenever he tags me I'll write like weird how obsessed you are with my opinion like no literally Derek like you're being really fucking weird dude like it's chill crazy like and also like

anyway he's a piece of shit okay so let's see where we are now okay he decided that he was going to put a mausoleum at the foot of the cemetery so he could always watch over his family the cemetery I had a hard time understanding what was going on in the world of my sources

because some people were covering only a part of it. Anyway, what I have gathered is that this cemetery was not very flashy. It was actually like maybe kind of small and not being taken care of. But he came up with some sort of agreement with the town that he would then, he would fund improvements for the entire cemetery if he could put in this like really flashy mausoleum.

Oh, okay. I think, I think the agreement was something, something like if you were born in this town, like you have a free. This guy. I know. Community-minded. You know what I'm saying? I've always had that about him.

We'll have to tell him about that later on the Ouija board. Oh. Yeah, write that down for sure. On the ghost tube. Get him on the horn. Get him on the horn. Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring. The ghost tube.

Wap, ba-da-da-da-da-da. Oh. You know. Yeah. I do know now. You don't know what I'm singing. Oh no. Was that a jingle?

You created that? No, it's a Rafi original banana phone. Oh, banana phone. Banana phone. Sorry, I actually don't always have Rafi at the front of mind, but... Why? You know, if you... First of all, talk about a fucking activist.

He wrote a song about Minneapolis. He's like anti-fascist, like, he and Miss Rachel are on like this next level, like, I got to say, Rafi gets me going. And by the way, I think we've had to have talked about this at some point hundreds of episodes ago. However, if you don't mention Joshua Giraff, I don't want to hear it. You're right that we've discussed this because I hadn't known about Joshua

giraffe and then you told me about it and I looked it up and it upset me. And I thought, this is not the Rafi I remember. That was during his like rebel ears, I think. Yeah, clearly he had, he kind of like veered off track for a minute. Um, my favorite album is where he's dressed as Papa Noel on the cover and it's, um, his Christmas album and I made everybody listen to it at Christmas morning and Blaze was so ill that he could barely sit up, but he's sitting there and I'm, it's like, Papa Noel. And I made everyone sit there like six in the morning and listen to it. Um, anyway, banana phone is

fucking, oh, next level. I'm sorry I didn't catch the reference right away, but you were right. I should have known. I should have known. Anyway, shout out to Joshua. I miss you every day. Haven't thought about it in a long time. Who is that again? The giraffe.

Yeah. Oh, my God. There's a dog at the dog park named Joshua. I fucking hate him. Joshua? Don't get me started. Please. I have never hated a dog more of my life.

But what if the dog were a giraffe? Would that make it different? No. I hate him. You don't think if you met a giraffe and they were like, like this is Joshua, you'd be like, oh my God, I get it. Yes, I thought you met if Joshua the dog dressed up as a giraffe. Oh, no, no.

I mean like if it were a literal giraffe. If I met a giraffe and his name wasn't either Jeffrey or Joshua, we're fucking done. Case closed. I get it now. Giraff has the just sound. I was about to ask why they all sound like J names. Joshua Draf for Raffee, Jeffrey Draft for Toys R Us. Because I'm not an idiot.

Let's start there. Okay. Well, let's, wow. Let's get back to basics. Let's start back at day one. Yeah. Jeffrey Draf. Do not pass go.

You know what I can't stand about Jeffrey Draf? It's Jeffrey with a G. G-offrey. It's kind of got to be. You know why. I know. I know. I don't like it.

Anyway, if you know a dog named Joshua and he goes to the dog park from 4 to 6, tell him this. How about that? Okay? Big old middle finger. Jesus. I just put a giant middle finger to the camera. Okay.

So first of all, Derek has gotten M like on a new one. I feel like they're like a Joshua know each other. God damn. I'm on a tear here. Like, oh yeah, you want the Derek treatment, everybody? Sit the fuck down. I literally had people at the dog park text me when Joshua was there and they're like, don't calm Joshua's here.

And I'm like, thank you for telling me. I can't stand this dog. Oh, my God. And he can't stand me, by the way. And he can't stand Hank. Well, I wouldn't stand you either if you couldn't stand me. He, like, actively, it's the owner. We all know it's the owner.

But it's also Joshua. I really have a problem with both of them. No, I was going to say, it seems like it's a little more than that. It's both of them. The owner does not seem to care that Joshua is actually vicious. And then, like, starts real, real bad fights, real bad fights, especially with Hank. And, like, Hank is terrified. And it's very bad.

It's very bad. And with the name, like, Joshua. It's like, Joshua heel, you know? It just feels insane. I can't say it. And then the guy, he just, like, he'll see it happen. They just keep scrolling on his phone. He's such.

I don't even want to talk about it. Okay. Yuck. Ugh. Anyway. Where were we? This fucking cemetery. I swear to God, these were show.

I just can't stop myself. The cemetery was not flashy. He decided that he was going to help build it up so that way he could put his mausoleum there. And when he came to the cemetery's remodeling, this is a quote, he greatly improved the cemetery, turning it into a smaller version of an elaborate

park cemetery. And besides enlarging the cemetery, his extensive improvements included an 800-foot cemetery wall with three gates, walks and carriage drives, shade trees, two fountains, and benches. Wow! He really said,

Lovely. I'll give you a cemetery. This is a park now. I love when they used to be parks. Sometimes they still are, but yeah, it's not, not often. You don't see a lot of park cemeteries these days. I think this is how we ended up with the estate definition for this place, because technically there's land on one side of the street,

and he owns property on the other side, and he's also funding the stuff going on on the other side. Plus, during his expansion, each of these properties seemed to like bleed into each other and he built even more buildings on the property between his house and the mausoleum so it just became a building building out his his whole estate an industrial complex of sorts oh nice he he built a conservatory or a greenhouse and keep in mind this was so he could he built all this just so he could give his family a nice place to like be um but he my favorite part was that he added this greenhouse and it was just a so he would always have fresh flowers for them. If he wanted to, he would, folks. I'm just saying. Even when you're dead if you wanted to, he would.

Seriously. And I think even though that was the original intention, now I think they use the greenhouse area for all the flowers in the cemetery. I think they've really put it to work now. He also built cottages for his caretakers. He built barns. He built an ice house.

And as for the mausoleum itself, it took 125 workers just to build this one mausoleum. It's huge. It costs the equivalent of $2.5 million today. Whoa. And it's made of like seven, there's a quote, 750 tons of granite, 50 tons of marble, 20,000 bricks, over 500 barrels of cement,

10 barrels of plaster, and 100 loads of sand. Like it's fucking huge. What the fuck? The inside of it is almost entirely made a marble, including marble busts of his wife and daughters. The fact that that's the inside. The inside, like, like crazy. And then the real kicker,

and what this mansion is most known for now, because tourists will go, and they always remember this one thing, which is across the way from the mansion, when you look at the cemetery, when you look at the mausoleum, outside of the mausoleum is a life-size, I think marble statue of himself in grieve.

Oh, no. It's a little scary looking of a statue. Yeah. If you were five, you might not want to stand next to it to take a picture with it. But it's outside the mausoleum. He's in funeral clothing. He's holding a funeral wreath and a key to the tomb so that one day he can also go in.

And he's looking into the vault to mourning. Oh my God. Yeah. This is a man who loved his family. I mean, this is a thing. This is a man with a vision. You know, yeah. And one that will perpetuate after he's gone.

For sure. It's weird that he built a, I feel. feel like a statue is usually commemorative of a person after they've passed, but the fact that he's stood next to that statue and has since passed, it's kind of trippy. That's, like, so trippy. Can I look up a picture of it? I'm just curious. What's his name again?

Laurel Hall Mansion statue. I'm, like, so curious. Is he, like, crying in it? No, I only saw one picture of it, and he's just, like, sad. He's just kind of, like, you can tell he's in grief. That is, like, a wild. Oh, dear. Like as a child I would be scared because it's just like a large man kind of hunched over and looking sad.

But as an adult, I'm like, that's clearly he's just like. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. He just looks sad. He has his hat off and he's like clutching into his chest. Yeah. He's leaning on the mausoleum like to study himself.

I mean, it's very. It's a great statue. Wow. It's like an obvious. You don't have to wonder what it's all about. Oh. And then you can fill it. You can fill it with different flowers.

Like he has like a spot in his arm where you can like fill it with a bouquet. Yes, he's a funeral. He's holding his top hat and a funeral reef. And I think you can put flowers in the wreath. And then he's also holding a key to the tomb, I think. Wow. This is something else, man. Which like I'm, and I like that the statue, I know I just brought this up,

but the statue was built by someone who was still alive. I like that he was able to approve it. Like this is exactly how he wanted it to look. Oh, yeah. He's like, that looks just like me. Yeah, he's like, I get it. nailed it. Oh, inside there's like a little,

a little baby statue playing. Oh, that's sad, dude. Yeah, it's very, very sad. This was just the mausoleum across the street. At the same time, remember, he's also doing construction, building his wife's dream home. Right.

And when that was done, they were built within like one or two years of each other. They were finished. But the mansion was 21 rooms. it had 16 foot ceilings it had every kind of room you could imagine it had music rooms

grand parlors it had oh my god why can't I imagine a room it's got that then they've got it has a wraparound porch

you know I love a wraparound porch it has a tower you know I love a tower I love a tower ornate wallpaper it had electricity it had temperature regulated running water

which was unheard of at the time it had baths it had porcelain sinks It had stables. It had fire hydrants on the property. Wow. Fire. Oh, my word.

Very state of the art. I thought of everything. So, fun fact, this was designed by a guy named G.B. Croft, who I think you would have wanted to use for your own house. Because his designs, he was known for, I guess, making Victorian mansions, but they were specifically extra haunted looking. Yeah. I love that.

He was known to make exaggerated Victorian buildings. So I think the. the one of the sites I looked at said that he would build things a little extra juttered out so when the sun hit it right, the shadows were more intense and stuff like that. Oh, I love it. I love it. Love him. So anyway, fun fact, it was designed by that guy. And sadly, because he wanted this to look like his wife's dream home, even though his family was no longer with him, he still put in all the bedrooms that they would have wanted. Oh, wow. So this is, this is sound of very Sarah Wittenden. Winchester. Yes. Yeah. They would have probably done well and group therapy together.

Right. Like not letting go of your grief, you know, for better for worse. Yeah. Yeah. John Bowman had multiple bedrooms built into the home,

at least four of them, which we assume would have been for his family and a guest room. And despite the fact that, this is a quote, this is like the SaaS quote I saw on any of the sites,

this mansion was built for a man who had no family. Oh, dear. Oh, God, it was so sad. Despite that, he built all those rooms. And again, this was when spiritualism was very normalized. And so it's rumored that around the time John began talking to close friends and staff about the afterlife a lot. Very Sarah Winchester.

Good, good catch. It is. I just, I can't stop thinking about it. It seems that he maybe built Jenny's dream house and so close to her and their daughter's bodies. because then maybe they would be drawn to the house or it would be easy for them to find him against so they could all be reunited. Like as ghosts?

As ghosts, I guess, just that they could be with him. Okay. Other rumors are that he actively got into setting the occult, and he was looking for ways to bring his family back, and I don't know what that means, but that's the rumor. Okay. He used the house as a summer home, basically, and he used it to, like, entertain friends sometimes,

so he wasn't there all the time. Come on over. Come on over. Look at the mausoleum. It's a really normal, happy, not at all, sad time. Don't look in the bedrooms. Don't look out the window to the cemetery. That looks like me, but it's not. Actually, the statue, we're going to have people cover that up when you come over. It's a perfect replica of me if you're asking. I'm going to explain myself otherwise. Yeah. When he wasn't there, he had staff offer tour. So it was already like a museum when he was Oh, wow. Was alive. He was really prepping for what was going to happen after the fact. He's like quite a businessman. though he's like he's got it down he was like if i'm gonna do this and i'm not i might as well make some money

off of it but when he was staying there he'd spend his time looking at the mausolea mostly and often walking across the street just to sit with his wife and kids they said he would go over like every day after dinner and just sit with them oh oh oh i mean i guess i can understand that because you're just like a walk away and you can just chat sure it's just so sad just sad at the end of his life he did move into the house permanently. He did pass away there and he was also interred in the mausoleum. When he died though, he, in his will, they found $50,000, which today would be $2 million. Oh my word. With a note for it to be for future upkeep of the mansion. Oh. And with this money, by the way, came some very odd rules for the staff that pointed to him really rooting for this existence of an afterlife.

Because remember he was like, what if, hopefully they can come find me and live in this house with me and that's why I built it. This is a quote. His will allegedly stated that he wanted his caretakers and servants to act like he would be coming home each evening. So in addition to mowing the lawn and tending to the gardens, servants would change the beding each night as if he would want to come home to a fresh bed to sleep in. Fires would be lit and the cooks would prepare an elaborate meal which would be presented in the dining room. Just in case he showed up unannounced one night and wanted a warm supper. From the dead? From the dead.

Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Okay, this is becoming a little bit rough. I think he was thinking, because I also, my understanding was that it was like the table had to be set for four. Yeah. And I think he thought, hopefully when I die and find them, we can all live in this house together. That's not how that works, bud. I know.

Also, like, what do we do with the food then? Did the staff go, like, it's been sitting for 20? I mean, it just feels so strangely wasteful in a weird way. I don't know. Yeah. And I hope that maybe they didn't have to cook meals, but they just had to set the table. And then it's like symbolic of like, oh, they could have dinner together. But it sounds like cooking fucking meals. Isn't it say elaborate meals? Yeah. It was also allegedly stated that this would be done, like I said, for the whole family, including his wife and daughters, and the table would be set for all four. so that if they found each other on the other side, they could all come home and have family dinners together.

But in 1953, the funds of $2 million finally ran out after over 60 years. Wow. Which means over 60 years of your job being putting out food for people who won't eat it. That's crazy. Oh, dear. Items in the home were auctioned off. No more dinners were longer made. And the mansion was basically rented out to people.

And eventually it was handed over to a couple. who converted the mansion into a, quote, haunted bookshop. Okay, but imagine the day he does come back and he's like, where the fuck is my Ville cutlet? What the fuck? Yeah, I'd be pissed, honestly. I'd be like, where did the money go? And we'd be like, it's been 60 years, dude.

We've literally fed you 60 times over. And also in today's world, $2 million would get you like a year of food. For sure, yeah, $2 million. $60 years is wild. insane. I'm surprised that it, yeah, that it lasted that long. They should have, it would have been fun if they could have made it last 100 years and then like the centennial was like the final meal, you know?

Oh, the last supper. You know I would make it a themed party. I'd be like, I know you would. One last time. That might be when he shows up. Can't resist. That'd be so nice. I'd be so honored.

I'd be like, he showed up for my party. Oh my God. Oh. The house is now maintained by the local historical society and holds tours and open houses for people throughout the year. But the mausoleum and cemetery are open to the public where you can see the mansion across the way. You can see the statue,

which, by the way, is covered in the winter in case you're going there to see it. It seems that today the house is haunted and maybe John was right that his family has finally reunited. I mean, it seems like he live in the house together. He put that energy so much into it. It wouldn't surprise me if there is some lingering energy of the whole family, you know?

100%. I feel like if that doesn't work, I don't know what would at this point. Exactly. Exactly. Because like to conjure something. Before death and then after death be living out your own. It would be. To really believe it and like act on it and spend money on it and put resources and time and energy. And you're 100% right. The manifesting of that is insane.

Cinematically, this would be a wonderful movie. TM. TM. People claim to see a flickering light in the windows now as if someone's walking through. people feel someone watching them on the stairs people have seen shadows moving around them they hear conversations when nobody is speaking including this is how the movie would end a man a woman a younger woman and a baby all talking with each other as if they're like all reunited people also hear a baby crying and see a woman walking through the mansion as if going about her day so like she's finally getting to live out what she would have one source said that staff have

straight up seen the Bowman family all gliding through the rooms together. And when the building has been leased out, one family's husband was skeptical, but his wife and daughter swore that the police was haunted. They would wake up to a woman standing over their beds. They would wake up to hearing a baby crying

and they couldn't find the source of it anywhere. On one tour that happened at this house, a little girl stuck her tongue out at a painting, and the painting threw itself off the wall and hit her in the face. now that is some Scooby-Doo shit I love it I feel like don't disrespect me

yeah I've been waiting for someone to stick their tongue out at me for hundreds of years I like how since the 1800s sticking your tongue out of someone really is like I guess so maybe it meant something way worse back then maybe I wonder what the

where it first came from like what's the origin to sticking your tongue out of somebody maybe it's just innate interesting yeah it's just like an innate reaction um there is a dark stain in the house that people think is blood. Oh.

Which would mean that it has to be John's blood because nobody else ever lived there. Or someone who had an accident and didn't tell anybody on the tour. But apparently if you step on that blood stain, people feel incredible dread. Yeah, I mean, I would argue most bloodstains I step on wouldn't bring me joy. You know what? Why the fuck am I reporting this? That's a great point. That's a great point.

I'm just here to like be, you know, it's sort of like the view. you're right i love it's like a sounding board you know who on the view would you be i've never seen it in my life i have no clue you'd be christine got it um i wouldn't be on it because they'd be like you're this you know nothing of what's happening well police have been called by locals thinking that somebody has gotten into the house after hours but nobody's ever found and one time a couple's car broke down in front of the house they saw a light was on in the house they went to go knock on the door for help And they didn't hear anyone on the other side, and the light turned itself off in the window. They're like, shit.

They're like, fuck. That's me when the, like, people door to door come to the door and I'm just like, if I slide really slowly down the wall, they'll never know I was here. And they're staring right at me, you know. I know they're from a different era, but they're very meant for today if they're like, who the fuck is at the door? For real. Like immediate panic when the doorbell rings. As they finished fixing the car, though, in horrific news, they heard heavy. breathing next to them and then the trunk opened itself slammed itself down and this is a quote then

one by one all four doors opened and shut and the hood was slammed down one by one oh that's upsetting talk about cinematic that's some steaming king shit yeah too much for me when the building was a bookstore the owners tried to sleep upstairs a few times and after like two times they never came back they wow they were like we heard so many doors slamming so many footsteps on the stairs they could never say the night again. In fact, once it was dark, they would close up shop and just go home. And I'll end on this quote from the owner of the bookstore. He said, as soon as the sun starts to go down, everybody is asked to leave and we take off to. They were like, I want nothing to do with that. Now it's their house. It's their house now. Yeah. This is cinematic. And this is quite a

movie. Like, I would watch this. This is cool. I think so. But I think it's at least very precious that like maybe they all did really find each other. And, yeah. Can you imagine being a ghost for decades? And then you're like, oh my God, like, now where do we live? And it's like, oh, my God, I'm watching my husband across the street build this fucking giant thing. As soon as he dies, we're in there. Like a porcelain, a gorgeous porcelain with heated water. I mean, damn.

You think as a ghost, she was like, don't put that there. And he couldn't hear it. So it's still a little fucked up. Write that down. I'm going to have to move that sconce to the other, to the east facing wall. He'll never understand. He'll never understand. He's doing it all wrong.

I know. But he's all. we've got left, we got to just root for him. He's nailing Christine-style curtains the wall with a staple gun. Anyway, that's the Laurel Hall Mansion. Very good. Very creepy. Thank you.

That is like dark and sad and weird. It is. I know, that was a bit, I don't do a lot of bummers, but, um, whatever. You know, it reminds me of all those stories we've heard that I feel like are, I mean, maybe they are not less common, but I feel like back then, if you had such a, such a I mean, there was a lot of tragedy, but if you had such a tragedy where you lost your both of your children and your wife and you didn't have, like, the resources, an outlet, you're a man. You don't have, like, a therapist. You don't have, like, a group of buddies who are going to be open and, like, help you heal. You know, it's just like, what are you going to do? You have to have an outlet. And, like. And there wasn't, like, the internet. And, like, so, right. You don't know what to do. If you were to go talk to some. somebody you'd have to wait like two to three weeks for their letter to get to you it's like so of course you fixate right you're like fixating on this project like this will fix this will help

because it'll like make a place for us i mean it's sad but it's like kind of very human oh yeah it's something even with all the resources like i currently have if my entire family died i can't promise i wouldn't lose it right yeah and then you think about back then it's like the lack of resources the different time culturally. Oh yeah. And it was probably encouraged back then if this was like the Victorian morning period. They were like, oh, he's doing it right. And if he's putting money into like the town and making. Yeah, they were like be sad, keeping sad. Doing great. Yeah. Oh, wow. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you so many times there. No, what a story. Thank you for sharing. I'm going to go blow my nose because I'm sure everyone's really

sick of hearing me like try to quietly clear my throat um but after that i'll get out ghost tube maybe we can see who's around be wonderful who are we going to talk to again john bowman oh we were going to talk to him okay we can talk to whoever you want okay okay we have said it before but we cannot be more grateful for ment mobile they have been so helpful to us when we were on the road that really was so wonderful to have before that we were really struggling stop paying way too much for wireless just because that's how it's always been. Mint exists purely to fix that. And same coverage, same speed, just without the inflated price tag. It really has been such a gift to us. We hope you also use it. It really, I hope that you no longer have to struggle. And with a seven-day

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childhood best friends own cats. My mom owns cats. Actually, my mom has the litter boxes in my room. Thanks so much, mom. And every time I go home, she goes, I hope it doesn't smell like litter in there. And it always does. So what I'm going to do to prevent this problem from now on is I'm going to get my mom BoxyPro. What makes BoxyPro different is that in their cat litter, their formula has probiotics in it, which stops the bacteria that causes those odors, so you never have to smell your litter box ever again. So that means Boxy Pro keeps the box continuously odor-free infinitely, and all you have to do is scoop off the top, there's no dumping anymore, and no wondering if your house smells gross to guests. So, Mom, you are welcome. And if you are like my mom

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Yeah, we went in, yap, yeah, we were hoping to talk to some ghosts. Not a single fucking go, shut up. But M played the theme song for a former tenant of the home. they live in. Yeah. Resonant of the home. Someone who lived here before me was quite the... Had his own theme song.

Quite the singer-songwriter. And we did get to listen to that. And the ghosts had nothing to say. I think they bounce. They're like, that's too much. They're probably out over it. Yeah. All right.

Well, I bummed you out for once. So I'm just really hoping you brought nothing but happiness today, Christine. I'm so glad that finally for once I can say. Just kidding. I brought a really horrible story today. I'm going to blow my nose real quick. Sorry, Jack. Every time I blow my nose, I'm so sorry, but cut it out.

Sure. Christine also did a really, I'm assuming, very good job on her notes because they apparently are very long. They took a long time to get through. There was like at least 15 pages worth of notes. And so it took a lot of study. Oh, my word. I'm proud of you.

I don't even know what your topic is yet. But Christine sounded stressed about it. So we're going to give her a round of it. applause. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate it. It was it was one of those where I started researching it. I mean, you know this and you've done this same scenario a million times, but I was like, oh, this is pretty straightforward. And then all of a sudden it's like, I'm watching three-part docu-series and like I'm on newspapers.com taking clippings of like articles for, I mean, it is insane. Okay. And I, when I text...

you to say it's too many pages it's 15 pages um and then i worked on them all day that day and at a certain point i looked down it was 19 pages and i went oh my god well that did the opposite of what i was hoping what's the average page count for your notes seven okay got it so like it's yeah so yeah seven is usual for me so 19 is not as crazy as if it was like yours are like one or something because you make them so tiny mine are one but they're one but they're one and 8 point font. Yeah. Exactly.

Because you're a psychopath. You're a normal person, yeah. Sort of. So this is the story of the tote family murders. And I think part of the reason that there's so much about it is that it happened in 2019. So it's relatively recent. And so there are just a lot. There's a lot of coverage on it.

And there's a lot of coverage online about it. I imagine the hardest stories for you to cover, which tell me if I'm wrong. But not just in the day and age of. of the internet and TikTok and everyone can give their opinion. But as soon as true crime podcasting became popular, I would imagine that there's just almost too much information. Oh, you're totally right because, and I'm one of those people who's like, the more info, the better.

So I'm like adding like details. Like this is the movie they watched. This is the, you know, this is the character. Like I was adding everything and at a certain point you just have to be like, it's too much, it's too much. Yeah. So I would imagine, I would personally, out of, fear want to stick with the ones that are that have less information. That way it's like a

succinct story and like you don't feel bad about not having a lot of information. Yeah. That's what I thought I was doing. But then what you're right. Because once you realize like, oh, there's so much more, it's like, well, I can't just cover half of it. Like I can't half ass it, you know. Um, also I'm, I open my little mini deep pep because I really need a little something, a little treat, you know? You know what I found recently, which is not common around here as a Mr. Pib. I fucking love Mr. Pibb. I think I love, Mr. P more than Dr. P. I think I do too.

Although now it's called Pib Extra. No. The one I found is a full-blown classic Mr. Pibb. Pib Extra was my favorite as a kid. Maybe I flipped him. Pib Extra had like lightning on it. Oh, I thought Mr. Pib changed. Maybe not.

Maybe not. I've never seen this logo before, so I do think they rebranded. I think you're right. Oh, I just looked it up. Yeah, for sure. Look at this. It looks something like I remember. But they don't make a lot of Mr. Pib out here.

I just never see it. And I was in a gas station. I went, what the hell is this? And I bought six of them. M of it. Okay, wow. Tell me. Coca-Cola brought Mr. Pib back in October 2025, nearly 24 years after discontinuing the original

brand. Because for a while it was just Pib Extra and that was it. And then in late 2025 and in 2026 it's rolling out as Mr. Pib again throughout the nation. It sure is. And I am very excited about that. Early adopter. I was like, is this just a Southern thing or something? Because I haven't seen Mr. Pib since I left.

No, it's definitely not, but I'm glad it's coming back. I miss that shit. Hmm. You eat that with a Snickers and a Twizzler and you're on a road trip and you're going to be awake all night, dude. Don't even talk to me. I'm so excited. You are not falling asleep at the wheel.

That's what my stepdad always told me, get a Pib extra or Mr. Pibb. Some Twizzlers and a Snickers bar and you will not be falling asleep. I like a little twick section. I would say a Twix and a Pib. Yum. Okay. So here are the dark tales of today.

This is the Tote Family Murders. We've got this family. Of course they're picture perfect. Of course they light up a room. Of course they are well loved in town. They live in Connecticut. Their names are Tony and Megan. They're high school sweethearts from small town Connecticut who built a very normal kind of middle

upper class lifestyle. They met in high school. Tony was voted most likely to succeed as his superlative. He kind of fulfilled that. He earned a master's degree in physical therapy and opened his own practice in Colchester, Connecticut, which, by the way, fun fact, is where Blaze worked at Blockbuster in high school in Colchester, Connecticut. Get out.

Fun. Yeah, at the local Blockbuster. Still have the T-shirt. It's pretty cool. Fun. Yeah. So Megan, who also held a degree in physical therapy was described by her friends as a gentle, kind-hearted soul.

She was just a very empathetic, loving person who wanted more than anything to be a mother. By the late 2000s, that dream came true. They ended up having three kids. It was Alexander, also known as Alec, Tyler, and Zoe. They were a very beloved family. You know, he coached youth soccer. he volunteered at like a special needs school. He just like a very in the mix kind of family.

Megan homeschooled the kids but was very, very insistent about taking them places, traveling with them, cultural things to travel, to meet other kids. So they were still very social even though they were homeschooled. Around 2017, the Tots made a big life change. that in hindsight marked the beginning of kind of their downfall. They moved from Connecticut to the town of Celebration, Florida. Do you know much about this town? My mother's obsessed.

Really? She's obsessed. Oh, my God. That was one of her big retirement dreams. She was like, one day, maybe I'll just move to Celebration, Florida. I'm like, okay, girl. That is the most, like, Reagan-era nonsense I've ever heard. She, you know, stuck in her way sometimes.

Celebration. Okay. So if you're not familiar, it's basically an upscale master planned community originally conceived by the Walt Disney Company. It's like right near Disney World. It's like this storybook type town. The idea behind it was it's basically a social experiment is what it was described as. Like it's the your mom would just waltz right into a social experiment on purpose. Happily. And then she'd go, I don't really know what that's all about, but I'm loving this. I do not care. It's meant to be very storybook. It's meant to look like old school, traditional Americana, Disney vibes, like just pristine, green. Like the chance to live in Disney World. Like if you could, it's like it looks like you're living on like, I imagine Main Street, USA. Yes. And even the hospital is like disguised as like an old-timey hotel. Like, you know, it's just really something else.

As someone who loves sets, I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I wouldn't fucking eat that up. Oh, I'm fascinating. I mean, it's fascinating. And especially because it was created by this sort of like over, over committee who like kind of secretly, it's a little creepy. Like the whole thing is a little creepy the way it was created. But, you know, everything's very whimsical. It's meant to encourage community. And they have like these little courtyards where people can gather.

And, you know, apparently from what I saw, you can get from there to, inside Disney within six minutes. Holy shit. Yeah, it's built for Disney heads. It really is just an extension of Disney. Correct. And it's no longer owned by Disney. They sold it, but it was originally owned by Disney.

Now it's just like right next to it and it's sort of still vibes that same way. Imagine working at that hospital and like you need you need full access to like people rolling in and gurneys and there's just tourists coming to take pictures. Oh my God. And there's just like Robin Williams. like in in what's that movie is it patch Adams or something with a clown nose and you're like no this is a real hospital please like this is not a theme park anymore um so they moved there and they bought a home on reserve place in celebration they wanted to kind of have this like sunny warm Florida dream much like Linda but of course Tony he's still working so he's still tied to

Connecticut in this way. He continues to run his physical therapy clinic up in Connecticut. Then he would commute down to Florida, which is not unheard of, you know, especially if you have the money for that kind of thing. He would fly down on weekends to be with his family. So that often meant he spent weekdays alone in Connecticut and weekends with his family in Florida. So I know I already kind of hinted at this, but in Connecticut, the family was very socially engaged, very active within their community. But in Celebration, neighbors didn't really know them as well. They were more withdrawn. They kind of kept to themselves.

They didn't dislike the family, but they just didn't know too much about them. They did know that Megan was a trained yoga instructor and physical therapist and was homeschooling her kids. But privately, which was not really known by neighbors or people on the surface, is that Megan had been dealing with some health challenges. So in 2017, according to Tony, during one of the family's frequent trips to Disney World, she was bitten by a tick and contracted Lyme disease. Yeah, and this became chronic, and Tony would later claim that Megan's health never fully recovered,

that she suffered persistent pain, fatigue, even miscarriages, which led to bouts of depression. By 2019, some friends had noticed Megan had lost weight and become more subdued, like a less bright version of herself. Tony also started to change. He had once been, like, very fit and energetic. and active. But very quickly, he'd gained a significant amount of weight. He'd developed type two diabetes, which he attributed to stress. And things were struggling. And do you have a guess?

Because I'd forgotten that I wrote the notes in this way, but it's an interesting question. Do you have a guess as to why? Like her health decline seems, appears to be related to the Lyme disease. Do you have a guess as to what Tony's health decline has to do with? I would just guess something hormonal. I have no idea. Money. What? He was crashing and burning financially.

So he is gaining weight. He's developing diabetes. He's stress eating. He's not taking care of himself. He's not sleeping. His cortisol, I imagine, is through the roof. This fucking guy, classic story. Finances can fuck you up.

he was grappling with a full-on financial crisis behind closed doors. In April 2019, federal agents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services opened an investigation into Tony's Connecticut physical therapy practice for health care fraud. Auditors discovered that Tony had been billing Medicaid and private insurers for therapy sessions that never happened, effectively charging patients for care they never received. Dang. Yeah. So it's just a lot of fraud?

A lot of fraud. Okay. A lot of fraud. Over time, the fraudulent billing added up to about $130,000 in ill-gotten funds. And by his own later admission, he'd been using this income to, like, keep his family afloat financially. He had to help pay, he had to pay the mortgage on the Celebration House. They went to Disney World often. Basically, they're living out of their means, you know, outside their means.

Tony had also taken out additional loans from financial firms. So that was the, excuse me, the $1,000, some $130,000 was insurance fraud. Then the, like, just as an example, he apparently filed insurance claims for one patient for like 53 visits in like a four month period. And they hadn't come in once. So like he is like pushing it. Like he's looking through wherever he can get. He's in full panic. He's in full panic.

He's pushing it to the limit. And of course, it caught the eye of the feds. But in addition to the financial, the investment fraud, he's also taking out additional loans from financial firms. So in 2019, he was over $100,000 in debt, being sued by creditors for nonpayment. Court records in multiple states showed liens, eviction notices, and lawsuit. so like the stress it makes my hit sweat just thinking about it the pressure was immense and at first when they investigated and questioned him about the billing irregularities he maintained his innocence like he really tried to bluff his way out and it's like good luck guy that's so crazy

they've seen it all before oh my god yeah I'm stressing for him I know he told agents that Megan knew nothing about the scheme that she was totally out of it, out of the picture about this. He also said that his employees had nothing to do with it. He confessed finally, said, okay, yeah, I'm in a tough, I'm in a tough place. I'll cooperate. This is my doing. My wife had nothing to do with it. My employees had nothing to do with it.

It was all me. So he took the blame. And definitely the children, of course, did not know. They were pretty young at this point. At this point, am I allowed to? Yeah. Yeah, talk away. Am I allowed to pity him so far?

Because it sounds like I... You're allowed to do whatever you want, baby. I'm not going to tell you what to think and feel. Well, I just, so far, I can't imagine, you know... I'm imagining he got into the fraud out of panicking. I mean, think about that, like, stress. Like, we've all been in, like, that... Well, maybe not all of us, but we've...

Most of us have been in that financial stress of, like, how do you squeeze another penny out? Yeah, I could see desperation doing crazy things. things. Oh, yeah. And now your whole family is going to have to deal with the repercussions from that. So in that way, I do feel bad for him. I don't, I'm not, you know, defending the fraud, but I can understand the fraud. Yeah, I mean, and it's like a tale as old as time, right? Like, you get it in over your head. You try to, you try to borrow some money. And then you need to borrow money to pay back that money. I mean, it's just like, classic story. Yeah. So just to give you an idea that kids at this point, Alec was 13, the oldest, Tyler was 11, and then Zoe was four,

just to give you an idea of, like, the age of the kids. So they were not privy to this, right? Like, they didn't know. They were just living their lives going to Disney, probably having a good time. So he confessed. He said, my kids, my family, my employees had nothing to do with this. Essentially, he was living this double life, right? On the one hand, he's a family man and he's taking his kids to Disney and he's just like, man about town. And then secretly, he's, drowning in debt and legal trouble and the feds are after him. Okay. By late 2019, Tony's precarious balancing act was heading toward disaster because his license to

practice physical therapy had expired in September 2019 after he failed to renew it. And he's still at the office and his clinic is faltering. One office had been evicted because he didn't pay rent. Patient appointments were being canceled because he was. was just calling and saying personal reasons, I can't do your appointment. I mean, he can't, he doesn't have a license to even practice anymore. And he's just hiding to that information. He's just hiding. Totally. And so around Thanksgiving of 2019, um, his business is pretty much collapsing. The feds are like, we need to talk to you about this and get this figured out. He says,

okay, okay. Yes, I will talk to you about this, but I have to go to Florida for Thanksgiving. I'll be back by December 8th is what he tells them. So meanwhile in Florida, the Toots had moved into a rental home in the North Village area of celebration, which is a different house that they had been in. But by December, they were also behind on the rent there. Jesus. I know. It's just like this stress. And his wife still has no idea.

As far as we know. As far as we know. Wow. The federal agents said they did not believe Megan had any knowledge of this. And I feel so bad for her, too, in hindsight being like, oh, I was like saying, let's go in all these. trips or let's do this or we should get this for this kid's birthday presents like he was fully panicking yeah and she's sick so on December 26th 2019 the day after Christmas yikes the Osceola County Sheriff's Office posted an eviction summons on the tot's door for failure to pay rent

and Tony essentially knew that federal agents were closing in and there wasn't really much else he could do like time was running out he said he was going back by December 8th. The clock is ticking. It's end of November. But of course, they tried to maintain some sense of normalcy. For the first time in years, they decided not to travel back to Connecticut for the holidays, which was, they usually went back to Connecticut for family events like Christmas, you know, to see family to be in like the winter weather, the snow. Oh, apparently Celebration Florida also like puts out fake snow like in winter months. like they like put

pipe out there's no snow coming and they also pipe bird song through hidden speakers throughout oh my god oh my god I mean it does feel it I like how there's two it feels Disney there's two trains of thought here

because you say creepy and I think that sounds magical yeah right I know I know so you're like you're like I'm into it actually I could understand the for the aesthetic I get they're committing to a bit I love committing to a bit you know what i can't fault you for that that's beautiful all right so back to this so they're trying to maintain like some sense of normalcy um at this point you have to imagine that megan knew at least about the rent payments right because they're if they have eviction notices on the door like she's got to have some understanding i would think that things are not quite as

picture perfect as they seem right so they decide to um not not going to um not to New England this year to see relatives, but stay in the sunshine for the 2019 holidays. On December 14th, 2019, Alec and Tyler participated in a music recital. They were gifted musicians at their school in celebration. It was a holiday concert showcasing talented kids in the community. That night, 13-year-old Alec received a special commendation for his piano and violin performances. 11-year-old Tyler earned an award for his skills on piano and guitar. There's some really cute photos of the brothers, like, smiling and holding their little, like, awards. And then, I know, it's really sweet.

And then Zoe, age four, won a free year of dance lessons in a raffle and was, like, beside herself with delight. Because she just loved, she was like a little princess. Like, she loved to twirl. And a year of dance lessons was so exciting. No one realized this would be the last time that the tote children were ever seen a lot. in public. Oh, big shift from where I thought we were heading. Okay.

My bad. Okay. So I've got my thoughts immediately, but I'm going to let you carry on on. Thanks. In the coming days, some neighbors believed they saw the family preparing for a trip. One neighbor later told police they observed the TOTS SUV packed with belongings. And they did see the SUV drive away from the home on December 15th, and it's unclear where they were going, if anywhere,

but Tony had told various people about an upcoming educational home school trip to St. Augustine. And so that's where people and family members thought they were going. For months, Megan had mentioned a relatives that she and Tony wanted to take the boys to St. Augustine as a learning adventure.

And so, you know, the plan was to go after Christmas once everyone was feeling better from the colds they had. So as the Christmas 2019 approach, the Toad's communication with extended family became like a little bit dicey, like sporadic and a little bit off, right? So about a week before Christmas, Megan's aunt in Connecticut, Cynthia or Cindy, Copco,

received a text from Tony, so this would be her niece's husband, her nephew-in-law, received a text from Tony that struck her as a bit unusual. Tony told Cindy that the family was leaving for a short vacation and would be going off the grid and that they would be turning their phones off for a while. Uh-oh. I know, red flag. He specifically said not to worry if no one could reach them. Given that Cindy was both Megan's aunt and godmother and one of her closest confidants,

this was a little bit jarring. It wasn't like unheard of. Like she was like, well, I could picture them doing like a tech-free getaway with the kids, right? Something like that. Sometime around December 22nd, Tony sent another update, claiming the family had arrived in northern Florida on route to St. August. but that, oops, Megan had lost her phone,

so she won't be able to talk to you. Oh, okay. Soon after, a message came from Megan's own phone. That's weird. Didn't she lose it? That's a great point. To Aunt Cindy. And this time, the text said that the entire family

had come down with a terrible flu. Quote, they've had the flu for probably a couple weeks. They were really down and out during Christmas, is how Cindy later remembered the message. The text explained they were delaying the St. August an excursion until everyone recovered, which is like, weren't you just on the way there? And then you lost your phone and now you're home and saying you're delaying the trip. It's just weird.

It's all weird. It said, we're just going to wait until we're over this and then we're going to head out. Initially, these explanations didn't totally raise red flags. I mean, we know, I know personally how rough flu season can be and like it can literally incapacitate a whole family, even if not everyone's sick. Yeah, everyone can be put out. Totally. It made sense that the trip might be postponed if anybody was sick.

but in hindsight, Aunt Cindy just felt like something was off, especially because she never heard Megan's voice on the phone. And they always called. Cindy is like, this ain't right, dude. And she's like, I got a feeling in my gut, and my gut's not wrong. And my gut's never wrong. She was a little concerned that Megan never called because they always talked on at least Christmas Day. But there was just silence on the other end.

And when she asked if they could talk, Megan would say. say, oh, I'm too sick to talk on the phone. I mean, hello. Have we never been in MySpace era? We know. I want you to say it again because my webcam's broken. Bullshit. I need a clear hit of that so I can use it as a text tone later. I need you to go, I mean hello. I mean hello. Have we not been around the Myspace era? Like, you know, if somebody is catfishing you, that's what they say. They say, no webcam's broken. Oh, I'm too sick to talk on the phone. That's what I did. I broke up with a boyfriend that way. Am I proud of it? No. But did I know what I was doing? Absolutely. We're not, we're mean, not idiots. Yeah. Right. I'm socially averse to any sort of conflict. Not

idiot. Not an idiot. Maybe a little bit. There's a lot of things I am. Stupid ain't one of them. Stupid ain't one of them. Okay. I know when someone's catfish in someone. So Cindy's concern, as she should be. That Megan does not want to talk. Megan's too sick to talk. Megan, the kids are too sick to talk. No one can talk to her. It's Christmas Day. They're not up in Connecticut as usual. Things are just like a little bit concerning. At one point, a family member texted Tony, this is a huge red flag, asking for photos of the kids opening their presence on Christmas morning. I mean, that's like a normal thing, right? Like I always, with my family members, I'm like, oh, what did so-and-so get? And I want to send pictures of like Leona opening things. It's

just part of like family culture. Yeah. So people ask for photos of the kids opening the presents. And Tony replies, oh, the kids are still sleeping. On Christmas morning? Huh? Mm-hmm. I mean, I'm just trying to, I'm trying to come up with an excuse here. And I can see if I were a parent at it's Christmas, I still don't really want to wake up early. So maybe we're all just late, late blooms. Hey, I never want to wake up early either.

And Leona sleeps till nine. Guess who woke up at 5.30 a.m. on Christmas morning and said, A man. Santa came. No, Leona. I thought she was going to, I was expecting a. a Gio or a blaze in there. No, a blaze was incapacitated

with the world's worst super flu and I was Santa. It was a nightmare. So she wakes up at 5.30 and I'm like, I just went to bed. I really can't do this. I thought you were going to sleep till at least eight for me. Nope. So kids lose all sense of like sleeping in on Christmas. Okay. As far as I'm concerned,

a four year old, an eight year old, 11 year old, I don't think they're sleeping in late. But maybe, listen, maybe. But if that's the case, I want to add to that he never sent photos. It's not like later that day or the next day he sent photos. Like, there's just nothing. That's a great point. I had not looked at it through the eyes of a, of someone who is responsible for a child 24-7.

You're totally right that they, you tell them Santa's going to be here and you get a day of opening presents. Yeah. Hey, there's like dozens of presents downstairs for you. I. And cinnamon rolls and no school. Come on. That sounds nice. I could use that right now.

That sounds great. That sounds really good. That sounds really nice. Sounds really good. No, you're totally right. Okay. So the assumption now where we are, with hindsight, is that they are probably already gone by Christmas. Correct. Correct. Correct. Tragically. Yes.

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anyway. And like, this is not in character. Usually Megan is sending everyone photos. Usually Megan is like uploading pictures, taking videos. Like this is her bread and butter. This is what they live for. But no, nothing. Quiet. The extended family began to suspect, of course, that something about Tony's story was not adding up. In Connecticut, Tony's sister, Chrissy, was especially uneasy because she'd always been really close with her brother and his kids and she had been texting Tony through late December. And at first he said, you know, we have the flu, we'll be fine. But by the last week of the year, his replies kind of stopped.

And she started to get worried. So December 29th, 2019, Chrissy was too worried. She placed a call to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office asking them to conduct a welfare check. She said, I'm wondering if someone can do a wellness check on my brother and his family. They've been really sick for the past week and a half and I can't seem to get a hold of them. She mentioned she'd been texting with Tony a few days prior, but he stopped replying and didn't call when he said he would. The only person anyone had managed to contact in the family was Tony himself.

Neither Megan nor the children had been heard from directly in some time. So she's worried, and she tells a 911 operator, they take this seriously. They send deputies to 202 reserve place and two deputies knock on the door, but they get no answer. The house is quiet. The window shades are down. There's nothing obviously wrong. They check around the perimeter.

They speak to a few neighbors who say they haven't seen the tote family in a while, maybe since before Christmas. There's no sign of forced entry. They look through the door. There's still a Christmas tree standing inside. But there's nobody there. And so they're just thinking, oh, well, they're probably on a trip or, you know, celebration like you were saying about Linda.

Like, it's sort of a place. It's oftentimes like a place you go in the winter, right? You're like a snowbird. Like you go there because so even though it's Christmas time, maybe they went somewhere for the holidays and they'll be back. Like maybe this is a secondary home. You even said like, oh, they decided to stay home for the holidays, but they would usually go somewhere else. So it's easy to assume that they went somewhere else. Or like friends invite them over or something.

Exactly. And the neighbors said like, oh, we don't know them that well. And, you know, they're in and out. So it's like, it's not that jarring or shocking. So they left. They wrote a report. Nobody answered. Nothing looked amiss.

It didn't even look like anyone was home. But the family was not reassured by this. I think I would imagine it made them more uneasy, right? Because, like, nobody answered the phone. It would make me, also, you was, this is, tell me if I'm crazy here. But I would think on Christmas, you have, even if you're not looking at your phone, you have your phone nearby because you always, like, call family to say Merry Christmas and things like that.

Yes. So you would at least- In 2019, like, we're all in touch at that time, you know? Yeah, you're at least sending out a mass text message saying Merry Christmas. or one of those chains where it's like dirty, nasty Santa calls or whatever. Do you know about those? Yes. Squirt in my stocking.

And it's like, what the fuck, Renee? Why the fuck would you send this to me? We're 34 years old and I have a child. Stop sending me this shit. You've been a naughty elf or whatever it is. Oh, yeah. Tong emoji, tongue emoji, squirt emoji. I mean, Jesus Christ, these fucking things.

I've been getting the instance of like ninth grade and they still come every year. I'm telling you Santa wants your cookies. You got to do. What the fuck up? Who's the person? Let's get baked, you know. Who's the person in your life that sends this to you? Oh, man.

There's a lot. One of them is my friend Kai. One of them is my cousin. One of them is someone back home. But that I'm usually, it's usually in my friend Cole. Someone in his family sends it to me. It's not always cool. Oh, Cole would do that.

That feels right. It's a lot of people. Nice to know that it's just immediately went to Renee for you. Literally, Renee, one time Eva's partner Ray sent one and I went like, oh, that's different from the one I got from Renee. And Ray goes, oh, I made this one. And I went, you are fucking sick. I was like, you don't understand now. This is next level. You made that one? Oh, no, no, no. These are usually copy pastas, you know?

I, uh, and I was like, never again. Never again. I will block you forever. I'm going to do my best to just stop speaking because otherwise I'm just going to talk about. Oh, crazy. We're just going to find. Yeah. Because every holiday, at least one gets sent to me, and they're always worse than the last one. And then, like, it's always when you least expect them, like, oh, sham rock in the bed. And I'm like, why is there a fucking...

The leprechaun ones are especially odd. Leprocon ones are, like, make me, like... The pot of gold, you know. So uncomfee, dude. Anyway, I... Taste the rainbow. My God, it gets, like, out of control this shit. Just to...

If you guys don't know what we're talking about, consider yourself so lucky. that you don't have like, disgusting friends. Psycho friends. Because like it's, for me it really is just mostly Renee, but she will send like, she'll,

I'm assuming get them from probably 16 of her friends because that's just the kind of circle. She rolls in circles like you do. Love that. And then forward them to people who they know are going to feel uncomfy. And they're always these weird long diatribs with a lot of emojis

and they're just like deeply uncomfortable. They try to be as x-rated as possible. It's like the old email chains where it's like, if you don't send this to six people, people then bad luck forever and it's so then you just get anyway Santa's elves won't blow you and it's like what I don't want that? To real it that again all this to say in 2019 one of those was probably getting sent to her phone or something like that like you have you have your phone available in 2019

Christmas morning to at least say hi to somebody or to see if elves will blow you you know you got to know and honestly you think about it too like you're in group chats right like they're so social with their town, with their neighbors, with their family, extended family. They're in group chats. Someone has to know where they are or be able to reach them to say Merry Christmas. You'd think so. And like if they're in a bunch of group chats and not responding to a single one, like that's just shady. Hmm.

So Chrissy calls for this welfare check. You know, they go there. They don't notice anything. But the family doesn't feel particularly reassured. Over the next several days, multiple parties were trying to locate the family. The property manager of the home in celebration grew concerned, especially after finding a Facebook group called Finding the Tote family. Like someone was looking for them.

And she, the landlord, found this Facebook group and was like, oh, shit. Because she was trying to get the eviction notice to them and say, like, you owe us rent. And now she's seeing like, oh, I don't even know. And she knew, of course, that they had kids. So she's starting to get really worried. Yeah. The property manager contacted authorities separately, asking them to check the house, mentioning nothing had been heard from the family.

and so multiple people are reaching out to say like they're concerned. Meanwhile, up in Connecticut, federal agents are actively hunting for Tony, not because of the missing person's reports, but because his fraud case, ding, ding, ding, it's well past December 8th. Remember when he promised he would be back and now it's after Christmas? And they're like, that's bad. Buddy, where are you? You pinkie promised us.

Speaking of like his cortisol levels through the roof just because he was like having financial problems. Imagine now trying to escape this. The feds, the FBI. How has he not had a heart attack from the stress yet? Well, that's why his health just like plummeted, you know? Like people noticed he was just like crashing and burning.

Agents from the FBI's field office in New Haven and from HHS were aware that Tony had this home in Florida and suspected he might be hiding out there. So an FBI agent placed multiple calls to the Osceola Sheriff's office in early January alerting them that this guy, that now they're sort of starting to become familiar with this family because people keep calling for wellness checks, that kind of thing.

Now the FBI calls and says, hey, just so you know, they have a federal arrest warrant out for Anthony Toat. And he could be down there in that celebration house because he's not up here. So a team of federal agents quietly went to the Toe residence on January 9th, 2020. They hoped to find Tony, arrest him on the health care fraud, and then can put to rest all these other concerns people were having. but there was no answer at the door, and it's been reported that agents did not see any movement. So again, they just kind of had to let it go. And now weeks have passed, two weeks have passed, since anyone had heard Megan's voice or seeing the children. At that point, her sister has got to be like in PI mode and just...

Oh, my word. So it's his sister and her aunt, just for clarity's sake. But yes, only because it becomes more relevant who's related to whom later. but you're right. Like the dread must be. People are absolutely talking around town now, being like, have you seen them? Really worried, really worried, especially because up there in Connecticut, like, the employees are not being paid. There's just like, uh, fucking, the appointments are canceled.

He's gone. The kids are gone. The school? The school is like probably going to start wondering soon. Mm-hmm. So on January 13th, 2020, things escalate again. That morning, Chrissy calls the police. she's in Connecticut. She calls Florida police. She's now sounding a lot more urgent. You can listen to these calls online. She tells a dispatcher that her worries have increased. And in the second call, she reveals a chilling new detail. She says, and I quote, just in conversations with my sister-in-law, Megan, was making a comment basically that the world is ending on December 28th. And nobody has talked to them, she said. So she tells them nobody had physical.

talked to Megan since December 26, and that was just, I believe, a text message. So we don't even know if that was her. Right. And the comment about the world ending on the 28th was a little alarming. And now that they're kind of going weeks without hearing from them, she's starting to wonder if that has anything to do with it, like if there was some delusion happening. Sure. Did she have mental illness in her? Not that we know of. No, no. Nothing in her history. Additionally, Chrissy pointed out that Tony had also stopped texting as of Monday, January 6th. Basically, radio silence.

So the Osceola County Sheriff's Office and federal agents decided to coordinate this time to serve an arrest warrant on Tony that very day and do another welfare check and enter the premises if they have to. So January 13th, a team of plainclothes agents from the officer of Inspector General staked out the tote residents on reserve place accompanied by sheriff's deputies. they believed Tony was probably inside. After a short period of surveillance, the agents saw movement. Tony Toat himself emerged onto the porch, looking disheveled and dazed, blinking in the daylight. It looked like he was struggling to walk. He had some sort of a limp.

The agents originally were going to just go right up when he was outside, but he clocked him. They made eye contact. So he, he, notice their presence, darted back inside, and shut the door. Do you think they watched them just slowly backtrack in? 100%. They did.

Oh, he looks pretty guilty. Just scoge back on, click the door locked. So of course, now they don't want to stand off. So they decide to enter. They knock, they announce themselves. When Tony doesn't reopen the door, they get a spare key, they unlock the door, and they step in immediately being hit by the pungent odor of decomposition. Yeah.

It was a smell everybody recognized. on the team, unfortunately. The foyer opened onto a staircase, and at the top of the staircase, by the way, the house had all the curtains drawn, it was dark, it was dim, it was just creepy, and then there's Tony standing at the top of the stairs in a t-shirt in his underwear, and he's leaning against the wall for support, mumbling incoherently. Agents start to ascend the stairs, and he slurred, don't touch me all fall. Huh?

He's just being dramatic. Yeah. Okay. Agent Melissa O'Neill calls out, Tony, where's Megan? Where are the kids? And Tony says, Megan is upstairs sleeping. Forever, probably. Yeah.

The smell of decomp. How do you, he either he knows through, I mean, obviously he knows he's something, but either he thinks he's really getting away with it, which tells you he hasn't left in a long time because he doesn't recognize the smell that he just. Right. I hadn't thought of that. You know what I mean?

He probably just doesn't even realize that they can smell it so much. Maybe he thinks he got away with it there, but like there's no way. Because I was thinking like how stupid is he? But you're right. Like if he was maybe used to and he thought like, oh, I'll just get them out of the house and then I can like. Which means he's just been sitting in that house for days if he doesn't even smell it. Weeks. You're right.

Unfortunately, I am right. He calls out her name. He goes, Meg, Megan, this fucking guy. Like, at some point you have to feel stupid doing this. Like, you... I sure hope so. Come on. At the very least.

As if, like, beckoning her, right? And then they say, where are the children? And he mumbles that he's not sure. Maybe they had a sleepover last night, but he can't remember. He had a sleepover with his fucking wife and kids? What are you talking about? No, no. He's saying maybe they say, where are the kids?

And he said, I think maybe they went to a sleepover last night. I'm not sure. really? Really? Okay. Tony's affect was very detached and strange. He was sort of acting like he's in a trance. So they escort him down the stairs, all wobbly. They take him outside onto the porch while the others, you know, of course rush in to look for Megan and the kids. Agents O'Neill and Jim Newell led the way upstairs and when they got up there, they noticed the primary bedroom door was wide open. they glanced in and they saw a pile of blankets on the king-sized bed, some bundled objects on a mattress on the floor,

but when they look closer, they could see a pair of human feet protruding from under one blanket. And beside it, what looked like the shape of a body midsection under another cover. And they realized pretty quickly they were looking at multiple bodies. The first identified was 42-year-old Megan Tote lying on the bed on her back, heavily decomposed. She was discolored. The heat down there, the AC had been off. Oh my God. Her skin, Aiden O'Neill described, had turned black as leather. I mean, they're basically like, yeah. I mean, they're decomposing fully bodies in the bed. For weeks. For weeks in the heat. For weeks. Oh, my God. Clutched in one of Megan's hands was a rosary with a crucifix as if she had either died praying or someone had placed it there.

Yeah. Take a fucking guess. For like forgiveness or something. Yucco. Next to Megan on the bed under layers of blankets where the remains of her two children. This is really hard to listen to people if you can't have already got, if you haven't already guessed. So just a heads up. Alec 13 and Tyler 11 were found side by side on a mattress placed on the floor next to the bed.

It appeared as someone as though someone had moved the boys' bodies from their own bedrooms into their parents' room, laid them there and then covered them. with blankets and put a crucifix or rosary in their hands. It's like a symbolic funeral in some way by putting them all together. Also probably to like keep the smell contained for a second at one point in the bed. No. No? Because he hung out in this room. They found snack.

They found snack wrappers. They found like he had been just like hanging out in there. This is like the most fucked up version of the story I just told of the man building like wanting to mausoleums. Oh, you're right. You're right. I hadn't even thought. I hadn't even put that together.

Except he did it right. He did the right way. He didn't kill them. How heinous to be like you have such a beautiful thing and now you. How do you even? This is not what's important, but I also can't get past. You are going to get so. Please ask because I have the amount.

When I tell you sincerely, I stayed up to 3 a.m. for, I think, four total days doing these notes. Like it is. I'm surprised. slowly killing me and that's probably why I'm not healed from my illness yet. Yeah. But I got really invested in the detail. So if you have a question, please feel free. Well, I mean, the first thing that is like just coming to mind is just like biologically,

like the bacteria in the air that you're just sitting there and eating snacks and like, like you're just eating particles, I imagine. Like it's just. There's even a receipt where we can see what snacks he bought. Fair I ask. Peanut Eminems. Yeah. I don't know what I expected.

I don't know what I thought. I have chips. I don't fucking know. Like, what do you eat next to your dead fucking family? Imagine like being like, what am I hungry for? And it's like, really? And also is he? By the way, he had a receipt meaning he went out and bought them.

Thank you. I was about to say did he like Uber eats the shit? OM, I have so many fucking, this is where, this is why. Begging you. Whatever information you have. You're not. Thank you. Whatever you have.

Because I don't need to ask. what snack someone's wondering that's right because when people say like oh he went out of the house I'm like where guess what I'll spoil one for you now he went to Starbucks what the fuck are you doing a Starbucks and that's one of those thoughts where I'm always like oh I wonder how many murderers I walked past in my life it's like imagine being working at Starbucks you're like how many murderers have I served who like yeah you're like a body in their house right now a fat free cappuccino for this fucking guy and he just murdered his whole he's going home why does he smell so bad because he's been like living in a bedroom with his family. I mean, it's like, you don't think this way. There are so many times where I

drive, it's only because I've watched so much law and order, but I'll be driving on the road. I'm like, how many houses am I driving past right now that have someone like in the basement? Like, oh, yeah, held hostage. And it horrifies me. But then you see like that come out and it's like, so unsettling. Like, the chances are at least one. If it's happening in celebration, Florida, like the most like happy place on earth or whatever the fuck, you know, like, it's just really dark. Yeah, I wonder how many people I've walked past that are like, who need help and I didn't know. Like, it's, I don't know why I do that to myself. It's kind of haunting. But imagine being the Starbucks person later who's like, I fucking knew it. That guy smelled like a dead body. Like he's like, and of course.

Something was wrong with this guy. Or even more unsettling, perhaps, I didn't notice anything was wrong. He was super friendly and fine. You are, in case you're like trying to withhold information to like speed up the story, people want the details. Okay, good, because this is going to be at the very least a two-parter. I'm sorry in advance, but it has to be. But I'm also glad that you even said, like, oh, he went out to CVS. Because my first thought was like, were people coming to the house and didn't know or smelled it and didn't report it? So that's good to know that he was leaving.

But also, how can you, if I left my house and there were dead bodies in there and I, whether or not I was responsible for the deaths of them, I would be fucking out of my mind paranoid that someone was about to knock on the door and walk right in while I'm gone. This is that same thing that we always hit on, which is that people like this, they're so, they think that they're just gonna get away with it. Did he really think he was going to get away with it?

Because it sounds like he was full-blown panicking, knowing eventually he wouldn't be getting away with it. And how do you, how dare, how do you think you're going to get away with it when, like, people are, do you really think people aren't going to ask where they fucking went? Like what was your plan? I don't understand.

I don't get it. If you lived in the middle of bum fuck nowhere nowhere and nobody and they had no friends, you would successfully isolated all of them, you told everyone that they died years ago or something, maybe you'll get away with them for a few years, maybe forever. There's no way when you live in a bustling community where you are active with children who go to school and a wife who is involved in your family. And you're ordering caramel macchiados on a Tuesday? day. I don't understand. Like, it's not just

narcissism at that point. It's like delusion. It's a full blown you something is It's got to be delusion. Right. Like it's got to be. Because you're right. Like even Narcissus don't want to get like can see they're not stupid right like you can see like oh shit. Yeah exactly. No that's a really good point. Like when you think like it's it didn't cross your mind for a second that someone was going to wonder ever. Don't worry. Don't worry. Here's what I'm where I tell you that he. He's got it all figured out. Oh, my fucking God.

I know. I know you're wrong. Let's hear it. So here it sounds like, oh, how could you ever explain this away? But don't worry, he's got an explanation. Okay. Let's hear it. Let's hear it.

So he's like, maybe the kids are to sleepover. Uh-huh. Sure. And when he said that, he went, I plan that one. That's a good one. Yeah. I've thought about that one for weeks. I nailed that.

Now they're never going to come back. Yeah. Nailed it. So just so sick. Just so sick. So the bodies are all in one room. Sorry. The reason that that got into turned into a tanger

was because you said, oh, maybe it was to put them all in one room to contain the smell. And I said, no, because unfortunately he was also like living in that room with them, which is just so. Was he sleeping in there? I don't know.

I think probably. Like next to his decomposing wife? I don't think in the bed. I think it was insinuated that he spent time in there like regularly, but maybe not that he slept in there. I'm back to the bacteria thing. I couldn't open my mouth in there.

I feel like I'm breathing it in. I don't think I could so messed up. Like, I don't even, like, imagine it. Like, I don't even know if I would, like, I can't imagine it, but I know I would, like, the smell alone, not even the bacteria of it, just the smell would take your breath away. You couldn't be in that room for long,

unless you really had totally lost some of smell to it. Well, that's what I wonder. I wonder if it's gradual if you do just kind of get accustomed to it. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that, but. I mean, also, then you could argue, like, if he had any remorse at all, like if I don't even want to think about it

it being my family but it wouldn't matter to me what they smelled like I'd want to be near my fucking family and maybe did he have some sort of like I know you're going to talk about this and people just want the story to get moving but no no no tell me was there did he have a plan to eventually move them and was he just keeping them there while he grieved

because like we don't even it's like he didn't because part of it's like I couldn't I couldn't move someone would have to physically move my parents body out of the he was not let's just to say he was not planning on moving them as far as I can tell. Okay.

Sorry. He may, he may have planned to eventually try and flee, but also he spent weeks there. So it's like, you had plenty of time to flee. I don't know. Was he hoping they would like, I know this is so fucked up. I'm so sorry to everybody listening, but like, like, like, what if I? Like, was he hoping they would just decomp so badly? Eventually they'd go away and then he wouldn't have to worry about it?

I mean, there would be skeletons, though. I haven't, I don't know anymore. I feel like I'm trying to make sense out of something that does not make fucking sense. And he makes it very clear in every sort of writing that he ever does, which is far too much, in my opinion, that he's a doctor. He wants it to remind everyone. Huh? So remember how he's a doctor? I forgot after everything else you told me.

I know, but like this guy's a fucking doctor and he makes sure to remind you. And his wife is too, by the way, but okay, I guess we're just going to talk about him. Yeah, she definitely didn't. I'm going to agree with the consensus that she did not know anything was. going on. She wasn't in on it. No. No. No. So at first, this is again really heavy and hard to hear. At first they couldn't find Zoe, the four-year-old. So they searched the house. They looked everywhere. They looked in the fridge, in the freezer. Like, they didn't know where to look. They looked everywhere. They were hoping, of course, like maybe she's out somewhere. Maybe she is okay. But they checked again.

and they found this time in the primary bedroom that there was another little blanket at the foot of the bed near Megan's feet. Oh my God. I know. And that's where Zoe was. She had been laid beneath her mother's legs at the foot of the bed. And due to decomp,

it had just been hard to find her at first because she was so small. My God. How, she was, I just want to make sure I'm getting that right She was so badly decomposed They couldn't find her originally Yeah

Mm-hmm She's four Something similar happened to the family dog Breezy Who was also found in that room The fluffy white dog Lying on her side in her dog bed In a corner of the primary bedroom

Mostly decomposed Just a horror show, right, to walk in on Season law enforcement officers were overcome by the horror of this just completely in shock. The medical examiner later noted the bodies were partially mummified, consistent with having being dead since late December. Investigators noted other eerie details in the bedroom.

For example, all the victims had been carefully wrapped in blankets like they were asleep. The children's bodies were like holding, like I said, a rosary or crucifix. Did he just go out and buy a bunch of crucifixes or did they happen already own them? had them. I think it was just they were Catholic. Okay. Nearby lay a small shrine of family photos and like a printed out poem about like why God made little boys and like a trophy like all their favorite things and toys and dolls.

Now the only living being found in the house was Tony himself who was of course now in handcuffs outside being tended to by deputies. and when they brought him out, he started dry heaving and sweating. He insisted he was not well, so they called an ambulance, and paramedics soon learned why he was groggy. He admitted he had ingested a large amount of Benadryl, an entire bottle's worth, in an attempt to kill himself. So investigators found empty packaging of children's liquid Benadryl in the home, like family-sized bottles, as well as crushed Benadryl tablets and empty Tylenol P.M. bottle in the kitchen trash. there was also a typed suicide note that they found that was apparently written by the whole family.

What? We and like we've decided that this will be in a better place. Oh, fuck you. Really? Yeah. So he obviously wrote it on their behalf and then planned on doing it to himself and then couldn't go through with it. Correct. Beautiful.

It said everyone was in a better place, no longer suffering, that they asked the children and the children agreed. Shut the fuck up. Does that not make you want to fucking scream? Like the fan, yeah, you ask a four-year-old, hey, if mommy, if daddy dies, would you want to be, would you want to be here alone? Of course they're going to be like, no. Also, like, you know they didn't fucking ask any of them.

Well, fair enough. Yeah, that, that story is besides the point. Right, exactly. But no, like, he clearly, like, but that does prove, like, he clearly thought that he had a good plan. It's like, oh, yeah. You couldn't have written that and thought,

this this uh this makes me look a lot more innocent like this is well they gave me permission to kill them well they volunteered for this they asked for it she gets she gets to decide she's four like what the fuck are you on about what are you talking about oh my god so they find this fucking letter and it's like so long and wordy and like kind of unhinged and it talks about the end of the world and it's like we're all in a better place because it's the end of the world yada yada we wanted to be together and die together so that we'd be together forever in the afterlife. It's just nonsense. So Tony was taken to the hospital for treatment about this overdose.

He apparently had taken over 40 times the normal therapeutic level of diphenhydramine, which is Benadryl's active ingredient. He had apparently, it had appeared to them that he had been consuming Benadryl over multiple days to keep himself sedated or slowly poison himself. Didn't work. Barely 48 hours later with Tony medically stabilized, Osceola County detective sat him down for a formal interview to be like, hey, bud, what the fuck is going on?

They read him his rights and began asking the question that had to be asked, which is, Tony, what happened to your family? They asked for it. It's in the letter. It's in the, just read, did you read the letter? It sounds like you don't know how to. to read. This could have been an email. Check the letter. No. What followed was a shocking confession. Tony freely admitted to murdering his wife, his three children, and their dog Breezy.

In a calm, detailed voice captured on a taped recording, Tony explained that he had done it out of love and a desire to save them. He claimed that he and Megan had made a mutual pact. They were convinced, he said, that an apocalypse was imminent and that by ending their lives, they could all pass over together to the other side, for the cataclysm. He basically then continued to describe step by step how this family annihilation was carried out. I'm not going to read every detail because it's

pretty heinous, but I'll read most of it. Tony said that in mid-December 2019, he and Megan agreed everybody needed to die so they could maintain their unity in the afterlife. On a chosen night just before Christmas,

they set the plan in motion. And according to Tony, he was the one who physically killed the children one by one. In the recording, he gives graphic details about, ooh, ooh, it's really rough, suffocating his own children, and then stabbing them in the abdomen with a kitchen knife to ensure they were dead. He did the same thing to all three of his children until they were motionless. And weirdly enough, just side note later, autopsy showed that. that the stab wounds were post-mortem, which is strange to me.

I don't know how it got worse, but okay. Yeah, I don't know what that's about, though. Like, why? Like, just to double check, or is it, like... To, like, stage something? I don't know. Maybe to stage something, or, like, maybe, like, when he, like,

I'm imagining he's snapped, as they say. Right. And maybe when he realized what he actually did, he reacted again. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, it says, yeah, I mean, people can only hypothesize. the size that like he was just trying to be sure that he had done it yeah yeah done it all the way through

throughout this recitation tony remained eerily composed uh just talking through it like nonchalantly pretty much in his confession tony painted megan as a willing participant in the plan um he claimed that after he killed the children megan turned the knife on herself and stabbed herself in the abdomen bullshit. I know. When those wounds didn't immediately kill her, Tony said, he felt he had to finish the job out of mercy or spiritual necessity.

Quote, I put my hands over her mouth and a pillow over top of her until she stopped moving. After that, according to Tony, he noticed Megan was somehow still alive. So in a rather cold side note, he added, he needed to save her soul so she would see her children on the other side as they had planned.

So he needed to make sure that they were all goners, including the dog, because of course the dog was a member of the family, and they wanted the dog to be with them in the afterlife. Couldn't just like, I mean, I guess I get that ass logic, but like we couldn't just like send him somewhere. No, no, no, no. Yeah, why kill the dog? Tony's answer, I wanted the dog. to be with us. I wanted her to be with us too because dogs have souls as well. So, um, what, how much of that do you believe in the, in terms of like the religious?

Zero. Okay. I also think zero. I, it's a good question because some people wonder, because it's unclear. Like, I'd be honest, like, we still don't totally know if any of that was true. I call complete, utter bullshit. You too. That's my own opinion. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, feel like that was just the cover he came up with of like nonsense and he texted the the family member like oh the world's ending so that way it looked like it was so it looked like it she was in on it as well right and i watched some creators cover this story and say like well why would she say that the earth the world is ending like was that really part of it and i was just screaming at my computer that wasn't her i can promise you that wasn't her and also planting seeds for his

fucking weird ass story he was inventing in this on the spot and also if it was her like and really believed that like he did quote then she wouldn't have said anything because they'd hidden it up into this point why say anything right before you're about to end at all that's the other thing it's like either you would be telling people like don't worry we're going to a better place i really believe this and you should listen to me too yeah or if you had hidden it for a reason you'd fucking probably keep it that way so yeah right doesn't really make sense or if you really believe that you would be trying to recruit people you also love so everybody yeah so bullshit and i think it sounds like classic family annihilator where he just absolutely snapped at the financial issues

killed them all because he thought that it was just easier he was going to help he was helping them by taking them out of the suffering that he's enduring or something and then he was like that's what he told himself and now it's like oh yes yeah now i get to start over without all these burdens on me you know a sick wife three kids and also for weeks like he had to have been sitting and pondering, like, how do I get rid of the evidence? Like, it's wild that he wasn't proactive at all in any of this. Like, I don't know if that's even the right word, but, like, if you did this truly because I'm going to just assume he really loved his family and kids, and then he had a full-blown

mental breakdown with the financial stuff, and then this happened. You would think within the next 24 hours after he's killed them, he would be, like, in complete mourning and, but also in terms of, total panic that this happened. How do I hide the evidence? I can't imagine sitting next to the evidence for weeks and not thinking. Or maybe he thought eventually they're going to get me and I just need to own up to it with a with a story. I don't know. I don't understand how he had all that time to come up with a fucking plan and he didn't come up with a plan. I think he had planned this for a while. I think his plan was to make it look like a murder suicide pact between him and his wife.

Sure. And that's what he tried to do. And then he claimed he just couldn't go through with the suicide part. Okay. Wow. Fucking idiot. And also, like, if you really believe that, and now it's past December 28th, don't you feel kind of stupid?

Yeah. Good point. Everyone's dead now. Don't you wish you could not killed them since you think December 28th was the end of the world? Well, when they asked him how he felt now that he was alive and his family was gone, he said, I'm sad. I'm still here. Okay. Okay. Well, sure. It seemed open and shut, right? So January 15, 2020, 2020, 2020. 2020.

2020, 2020. Wow. That is how long 2020 felt, I'll tell you. It's still happening. It's like we're just in an infinite loop. On January 15th of 2020, Anthony Tote was formally arrested in charge with four counts of first degree homicide and one count of felony animal cruelty. The state of Florida now had a man who had ostensibly confessed to a full familicide, like a full, what's the word use of, family annihilator situation. This is like a death penalty level case. So he was extradited from the hospital to the county jail where he was placed on suicide watch. He was kept inside a steel cage, which was like some people thought was because he was

suicide risk, but then also it's like you killed your four-year-old daughter, like in cold blood. Like, you're probably going to get the shit beat out of you, you know? So it could be because of that. As he sat in jail in the months awaiting trial, his story about what happened started to change a little bit. Would you know it? I just might have had a hunch. He forgot that he didn't actually kill anybody. Oh, okay. Actually, he wasn't even home when it happened. Isn't it funny how that works out? Isn't it funny how you forget? Was he at Starbucks? He was at the CBS. He was getting a caramel macchiato.

And peanut numbs. What the fuck else do you want from this guy, you know? So have we lost the whole plot on like December 28th and religion and like... We've not lost the plot. We've just given it hand over heart to Megan and said she's crazy. Oh, that's beautiful. Okay. Yeah.

You know, classic. So in the first few weeks behind bars, he called his sister Chrissy. who was like, what the fuck is going on? Truly. And, yeah, right. And these calls, of course, are recorded and were later obtained by newspapers. Tony insisted that he was confused and had nothing to do with it. He said, I couldn't stop this because I wasn't there.

He asserted he had been working in Connecticut or maybe running errands, like the story would change. Essentially, he was just claiming he was not home when his family died. he started to now sow seeds of blame toward Megan. In the jail calls, Tony suggested Megan had been very unstable. This wasn't the first time she had tried something. He said there had been multiple attempts. Cryptically, he would say lines like that to just kind of insinuate, you know, that Megan was crazy and dark and unwell.

This was a first hint of what Tony would turn into his full defense in court, that Megan did everything, he did nothing at all. Okay. I mean, I'm sure that's the direction we went. Right, of course, why not? So she pressed Tony on this. She's like, what do you mean you weren't there? What about your confession?

And he says, I don't remember a confession. What the fuck do you mean? The entire period of that time of December was a blur. And that anything he said to police was under duress or misguided loyalty to Megan. He was like, if I said anything that implicated me, it's because I was on a lot of Benadryl and going through something. Or I was trying to defend my wife. But nobody knows. Okay.

I don't even. I imagine as he's saying this to people, their eyes are just like rolling so far in their head. Like he has to be seeing people not believing it. I, you know, and it's hard because poor Chrissy is his little sister and they grew up in a very traumatic way that like they were very bonded. And so it's really horrible because she's like so confused and trying to understand like they're your kids. They're my nephew's and niece. Like, what are you talking about? And also to like gone through trauma yourself with him and then to know that he was arguably just as bad if not worse than he was like the one person you could trust through all that.

Oh, I can't wait. Wow. You're leading me right into my little segue. Wow. That's what I do. It's what I do. Oh, it's poignant. Okay.

So, Chrissy later told reporters that Tony's claims in those calls were utterly unbelievable to her because she had known Megan well. I mean, they started dating in high school, right? Like, she had known this girl since high school. They were teenagers. And they were really close. And she had never seen any sign that this girl was violent, suicidal, like, mentally unwell. Something in Tony's voice hinted that even he wasn't, like, he kept vacillating. Like, he would change things around, depending on what suited him in.

that moment and it just nothing rang true about what he said in june of 2020 tony took a more concrete step this is the last thing i'm going to read for part one here in june 2020 tony took a more concrete step to lay out his defense and his version of events and in doing so he penned a long rambling letter of 27 handwritten pages to his father robert bob tote now chrissey and Tony had been estranged from Bob, their father, for most of their lives. Because Tony couldn't reconcile and Chrissy couldn't reconcile what their father had done. Oh, shit. Okay. You see, back in 1980, when Tony was just four years old, he had witnessed a hit man that his father had hired to break into the family home and shoot his mother.

Great. Like father like son. Thank you. The apple does not fall far from the tree. and that is part one, and next week we'll get into the story of Bob Toots attempted murder of his own wife. Like a replay. Like imagine that. Oh, and spoiler. Bob thinks that this, this is the most insane part of all. Bob, the dad, who went to prison for attempting to kill his wife.

When this all happened with his son, Tony, he expressed concern that Tony's case was giving him bad press. That's how these people are. Like, they're so... Just a sea of mental cases. Oh my God. Like a sea of assholes. Man, that is terrible. It's just like shocking.

Anyway, so now you see why I had to go into a part two because that's just the fucking beginning, dude. I totally, are we going to go back to it at all? Or are we just going... Oh, yeah. Okay. I know if we were just getting a two-for-one situation here. But I guess secondly we are.

You are and you're going to, don't worry, you're going to get the finale also of like, thank God the prison sentence. So. Oh my God. I totally get why you needed more time. I totally get it. And there's so much shit, dude. Like, there's so much shit. I'm listening to, um, there's a full podcast on this called finding, I think it's called Finding the Tote family.

Um, where it's like, they interview neighbors and like talk to family members and, um, that's really good. too because but that's that's the trouble I get in because then I'm like well I'd like to put all 11 episodes worth of information into my notes and it's like there are there are some stories where I have started them and I plan to finish them but I'm like oh I can do this in like two days nope just like another quote another fun fact there have been some stories where I've started like over a week in advance because there's so much stuff and then when I think I'm finally done then there's like a Netflix eight episodes special and I'm like what the source exactly Yeah, I can't.

Exactly. Oh, the podcast called Looking for the Tote family. I apologize. But yeah, it's really good and, of course, really dark. But if you want to, like, get a more in-depth storyline of how this went down, please feel free to listen. Yeah. Well, well told.

Thank you. I hope you're feeling a little better. Do you have any plans for today besides just bed rest? I got to blow my nose a few more times. and I'll probably make some mac and cheese for everybody tonight, you know? That's nice of you to make mac and cheese for everybody when you're sick. I'd be like, this is my mac and cheese. You can figure it out.

Normally I'd make something a little more, I don't know. Now that I have a child, I feel a little more, I don't make it for plays. I make it for Leona and me. He eats, like, healthy stuff. Is it just like a box mac or you got a rest of? or what? You know, I don't know yet. I haven't quite decided.

Depends on how I feel in about one hour. I would imagine if you're sick, box it up. Yeah, that's usually how we end up going. Yeah. Well, feel better. Thank you. And everybody who's listening, I hope you're excited for the next episode where we get the finale of this because I am hooked.

So, well done. and we'll see you when we will see it next week I was like when do we record again oh you know what the next episode not this one but the one we record next comes out on two two two two your lucky number also by the way if that comes out on two to two that means that this one came out what day two one five two one five oh happy valentine's day

happy valentine's day happy fucking nine year Well, you know I forget every year, right? I just realized I was like, did we miss it? Oh, shit. Of course we missed it. When is it? February 11? I think so.

So it's this week. This is the nine year anniversary episode. Very cool. Well, happy anniversary, everyone. Good thing I blew my nose repeatedly on air. We will have to, I don't know. Talk about this for the next month. We'll remember at our birthday, in our birthday month, we'll give it a shout out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, well, everyone celebrate for us to have a little drink for our nine year. And that's why we drink.