And That's Why We Drink - Listener Stories: Vol. 94

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

Welcome to Dagust (Dog August), where we're melting! Tune in this month for an episode full of your scariest true crime tales, from family mob ties to near-kidnapping meet cutes, thank you all for sharing your scary stories with us, as always. Also, be so careful of the partner who's never caught up on current events and somehow discovers Chappell Roan before you... and that's why we drink!Don't miss our brand new tour hitting a stage near you this fall! Join us so we can show you all of our latest Pour Decisions... andthatswhywedrink.com/live

Tis August. It's those dog days. Dog days of summer. Doggist. What? Dogg August. Oh, I did not get it. I'm so stupid.

It's like, what's doggist? Is that like your new religion that we're starting? It's like, what's up, dog? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. By the way, I tried smells like up dog to Alison, and she literally went, what is that? I don't understand what that is. What is that? And I went, I went, you have to be kidding me. She's literally watched the office like probably more times than the average person.

Every, every day we stray further from each other in the world of brain rot and like I just I it's very upsetting because she has an underst- it's like we're it's like all of a sudden there's a language barrier half the things I say she's like what are you talking about? I do get that with Blaise and then on the off chance when he figured out who Chappell Rhone was before I did it like he just won just won't, he like won't let me, like he got a win, you know, like a pop culture win and it's so fucking annoying.

So be so careful, Em, be so careful. Cause like the second they get something over you, it's like, oh. Those people, the second they get, but it's true. The second that they have a moment in the spotlight, oh my God. But then the irony is because Allison's always, maybe not always, whenever she has like a good bout

of TikTok, we come back to a nice common ground. Yeah, that's what it is, yeah. But in the moments where she does learn something before me, I hear about it until it's outdated information again, so I'm like, okay, well you just. Oh, you're like, you're already behind, so yeah. Nice try, no. It's like you were so ahead that you became behind talking about how ahead you were, so. You like, la're already behind. So yeah, nice try. You were so ahead that you became behind

talking about how ahead you were. You like laughed me and then all of a sudden you were in last place. Yeah. Everybody knows how it happened. Yeah, that's how I feel about it all. And I, so I get it, I do, because I'm always like, oh, blaze, get with the program.

And then the one time I was like, who's Chappellrone? And he was like, I just saw that glint in his eye. I mean, this was a while ago. I feel like you could hear the silverware drop out of his hands. Like you don't know who Chappellrone is. The clatter, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I ticked, and that's what it is.

He's been on TikTok and Reels and I'm like, this is the danger zone. Cause he finds the shit out. Well, if he's on Reels, he is not a head. I promise you. Well, I know, I told him that too. So I kind of win all the time no matter what. Cause I'm like, he goes, I saw this TikTok.

I'm like, did you or did you see a reel? And then it's usually real. He's like, well, I don't use TikTok. So, cause it's so addicting. So he deleted it and now he just goes on reels. And I'm like, so you're just using like TikTok lights. Well, not so you're using like really delayed TikTok. That's like saying I don't want to like,

I can't even think of a good example It's like oh, I think I don't like my fully charged phone. I'd rather stick with my 10% phone like what yeah But it's and it's also like you're wasting the same amount of time, right? You're not winning the yeah the struggle like you're still on an app You might as well be on the good one if you're wasting an hour Yeah, you know, you get it you get it. I do. Thank you for saying that. Because I felt a little I felt behind this this month on all the cool pop culture things. So, you know, well, anyway, welcome to the dog days of summer, everybody to dogist

to dogist dogist first melting, probably. I am already it's it literally, we, Alison and I so many times have wanted to do something in the last couple weekends and then we just look at the temperature and it's like, oh, I guess we're inside again. Like it was like 93. Cause Leona would be like, let's go for a bike ride. And we'd go like five feet and she'd go, oh, nevermind, it's too hot.

And I was like, yes, let's go outside. She's one of us, thank God. Exactly. And then, but then she'd go, carry me home and my bike. And I'm like, oh my God. go outside. She's one of us, thank God. Exactly. And then, but then she go, carry me home and my bike. And I'm like, oh my God. Thank God it's only five feet. That's when you teach her natural consequences. Yeah, I'm like, well, good luck with that.

Well, you ride that home. I'll see you there. The faster you ride home, the faster we both have ice cream in our jammies. So you do something with that. Wow, no, there have been a few times where Allison is very similar to Leona. I'm not trying to infantilize her, that sounded really weird.

But I meant she also was like, let's go outside and then five minutes later she's like, never mind. It was a bad idea. Yeah. She got, I've said this before, I think on the podcast, but I bought a bike recently and I bought a bike on the last really lovely weekend of Los Angeles and I was like I can't wait I was like so jazz I was like I'm gonna I'm gonna like there's like Burbank is a really bikeable area so I was like oh we're

gonna do this and Allison does roller skating I was like we're gonna have a bunch of outdoor dates it's gonna be lovely and then boom the second I swiped my credit card it was a hundred and five degrees outside and I went nevermind. And then the bike sellers were like haha now they all go on sale and you missed out. He he he he. Yeah. And so one time Alison was like, we should actually go roller skating

because like you bought an expensive bike. Like I haven't done my roller skating. I really want to do it. And we went out for five seconds and we looked at each other and I went, we got to get back in that car. We got to go home. This is too much.

And like with all the like strapping yourself in the rollers, like forget it. Yes. Come on, come on. That's why I didn't get rollers. Well, I also, cause I have really bad flat feet, but if even if I had perfect arches, I'd be like, I'm not wasting my time.

It's not, it's so, it's so sweaty. I don't want to do that. No, no. Yeah. I want to hop on that bike. I don't want to hop off that bike. I want to be sitting even when I'm exercising. Do you know what I mean? Yes. I want to be gliding.

And also the best part is when I got the bike it really wasn't for exercise It was truly so I could glide and feel wind on me Yeah, but everyone's like but every single person is like, oh you're doing it for exercise. I'm like, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm Yep, that's exactly right. Yeah, it's called a fan, but it's much more work and it's outside Yeah, and I think that man made fan flawless a man-made fan is already man-made, but it's outside. Yeah, and I think that logic is flawless. A man-made fan is already man-made, but it's fine. I do understand what you're saying, and I think I just needed to say that,

so we didn't get tweets about it, even though I don't think anyone uses Twitter anymore. I don't know anymore though, because I've been off TikTok all month, so who the fuck do I know? I'll ask Blaze. I'll be like, what's the deal? Tell me.

What do the reals say about TikTok? Tell me. Yeah, yeah's the deal? Tell me. What did the real say about TikTok? Tell me. Yeah, yeah. Give me the scoop anyway. Well, what's your plan this August? What do you got going on? Well, oh my gosh, today, as we record this, July 19th, the Glass Animals new album came out.

And I don't know if I've ever talked about this. They're probably my number one favorite band ever. And their new album released. And so we're going to a concert, I think it's in August. It's either in August or September, the Glass Animals concert, right by my house. I'm so excited. Well, actually now I'm triangulating myself again.

But anyway. Cincinnati or Newport, Kentucky, I feel like that's kind of already known about you, right? Oh wait, I'm triangulating myself again. But anyway. What is it? Cincinnati or Newport, Kentucky? I feel like that's kind of already known about you, right? Oh wait, I'm wrong actually. It's at River Bend, which is where I saw Fall Out Boy, cause you know. Oh, perfect. Yeah, so it'll be really fun.

I'm really excited. I think that's in August. I'm not positive, but it's like all I can think about because they're just my favorite. The whole time you're there, you're gonna go, we needed this. We needed this. We needed this. I whole time you're there, you're gonna go, we needed this, we needed this. We needed this, I deserve one fun little treat, you know?

So I'm very excited, that'll be like, that's just gonna be a very big deal for me. And my sister is coming too and she loves them and it'll be really fun. Anyway, so if you're there, I'll be there, come find me. Anyway, yeah, so what we do every first of the month is we read listener-submitted stories, anything creepy or tangentially related to the podcast.

Eva said that she went on quite a journey, as she called it this month, and found, which this is maybe a first, I'm not sure, but like a bunch of true crime stories, like real true crime stories. And I feel like we never veer that far into true crime stories on the listener episodes just because people tend to submit ghost stories,

understandably, more often. I feel like more people have ghost stories than, at least I hope so, than true crime stories. Yeah, or like feel like they can share it in like a fun context, you know? I can understand if you go through a traumatic crime event, you're not like, I mean, some people clearly are. Which I love, so don't get me wrong,

but I'm sure there are fewer of them for that reason. So anyway, Emma, who goes first this time? I can go first. Okay. Especially because this first story is from someone named Loki and Loki has a double pronoun. So I'm really, really feeling it.

Loki, Loki has two pronouns. So. Loki, Hikie has two pronouns. And the subject line is how I found out my family was connected to the mob. Em loves these. These are very Em coded. They're like the mob ones.

Yes. And I think, I don't know how my family is affiliated with the mob. And not in like, oh, they were part of the mob. But like, they owed the mob money and were probably getting knocks on the door all the time. I don't know how that happened, but I've always heard stories of like, we were on the run from the mob.

That's like even scarier than being the run from the mob. So- That's like even scarier than being a part of the mob, right? Like, ooh. Yeah, well, whoever was running around, they're dead now. So hopefully it's not like, you know, they're just looking for- You're like triangulating some distant ancestor. Yeah.

But anyway, this is how apparently Loki's family found out that they hated my family, I guess. Okay. Hey, all you lovely peoples. I have been a listener for about a year now and binged it to get caught up in that timeframe. And I keep hearing people share about their grandparents knowing a mob or mafia boss, a mob member or mafia boss.

So I figured I'd share a story my mom told me that she of course told me not to tell people. Great. Okay. Okay. If the mob comes after us, know that it was not me. It was my grandpa, but it was not me. It was M's grandpa.

Do those bits get wiped when you die? I bet that's a real thing people talk about. That's what I'm saying. I'm like, should I be, are they looking for me? I don't know. Well, now they know about this fancy new bike you have. Be careful. If the mob only steals my bike

They can have my bike That would be like a Bill Murray story Have you ever heard about the Bill Murray stories where like he does ridiculous shit and then just says no one will ever believe you Yeah, and then just walks off into the sunset Bill Murray stole my bike. I would just die happy so I Literally, but no one would ever believe you so That's fine, I don't even care. I just would love the story so much. Yeah. Okay, this was probably back in the 70s or 80s.

I don't have an exact timeframe. One of my aunts was on a date with someone who attempted to assault her on said date. Great. She, being the badass that she is, proceeded to shoot him in the leg she did and then provided medical aid until EMTs showed up so I like how she was like you deserve that but also hang on you're bleeding out she's like they're

there I'll put pressure on it fuck you yeah I I don't know what the story is but I'm I think I'm on her side I do where she was almost assaulted and then she shot him That's true I was I was thinking like did like she punch him for like what like was this like the final step or was this? The first step did she just go straight for the gun and that either way. I think I'm fine Yeah, of course She was brought in to give a statement since she shot someone, and the DA at the time apparently didn't want the extra work.

He told her to plead guilty to assaulting someone with a deadly weapon, serve a few months, and then they just seal the records and she'd go on with her life. She, of course, told him exactly what he could do with that idea since she was acting in self-defense. The DA upset-

She pulled out another gun and pointed at the DA. Right, nobody is safe. The DA upset that she didn't just want to do his idea so that he didn't have to go through the hassle of a court case and decided- he decided to press charges on her and go out of his way to cause issues with her case. So he pressed charges on her. Okay. Eventually, like her torn blouse, like her torn blouse, mysteriously. Oh my God. Sorry. I'm reading this for the first time with all of you audience. And so the sentence I didn't see this coming. Okay. Evidence, like her torn blouse, mysteriously went missing from evidence lockup and she wasn't given all the information she needed. And her

public defender never prepped her to take the stand. It was a real nightmare for my mom's family at the time. Flash forward and my grandpa had a group of men knocking on the door to the house. They told him that there were mob ties in the family, though if they told him who, my mom never learned who it was and that they'd be more happy to make the case against my aunt just disappear. So they were like, we are not telling you who or what's going on, but we can help help fix things if you'd like. We can fix the problem. We can fix the problem. And I would be like, what is the fucking catch please. For sure it sounds very deal with the devil like yeah. My grandpa politely turned them down since offers like that

don't come free. Thank you. And he knew they'd turned to someone in the family to pay that debt back later and he was mainly concerned about it being my mom since she had just started her career at a local jail as a corrections officer. I see what's going on now. They wanted to do the family a favor so then the corrections officer and the family had to do them favors. Yeah, that's a dangerous slippery slope. Later on an uncle tried to do a family tree and quickly dropped that project and refused to tell anyone what he found. Oh my God. The way that I would call a Christine Chieffer

and I'd be like, I need you to hack into my uncles ancestry.com immediately. I'd go missing and you'd be like, oopsie. Anyway, glad I called Christine to do that. Kind of, yeah. You'd be right. My mom also learned that anyone else who ever tried to do a family tree also quickly stopped,

so I'm assuming they found those mob ties pretty quickly and chose not to probe too deep. Your family sounds like they would knock it along with my family because- Why are they? I wanna know it. Why would you not immediately dig into that? If I said, oh, I'm dropping the family tree,

I found out some shit, the way that my mother would get the first flight over and steal my laptop, look through everything, she'd call all of her sisters, all of her brothers, her mom, everyone would learn everything they could about this. The only way I would imagine I would drop something like that

is if somebody threatened me, you know? Like somebody said, drop it or something, that'll happen. Then I'd be like yeah fine for now Exactly, like or maybe like did you find out? The only way I can think is like you're related to someone who's still very alive and like you're afraid that They're gonna get notifications on Yeah, like you don't want to you don't want them to find out that you found out something That's the only way that I could see this going.

Cause if the only thing is you just lost interest on your own. Oh shit. Yeah, I absolutely can't relate to that. Okay, so anyone else who has done this has quickly dropped in and chosen us to probe too deep. Which of course has only made me all the more intrigued and increased my urge to also start a family tree. That's exactly right Loki

Thank you so much. And unless you were born with the name Loki I I sense that a lot of people are not born at birth given the name Loki You could probably go in like identity wise like you could be like you could like like no one's looking for Loki on the family tree You know, I mean? So, So if someone is, It's like a little bit of a shield from like distant relatives who might not recognize the name. You've got a little disguise going on maybe.

So, And that being said, Em and I have no liability whatsoever if something terrible mob wise happens. If we find out that the mob went after a Loki, all of a sudden I'm gonna go, Ooh, ooh. That was a bad advice we gave, okay.

Maybe one day I'll figure it out and can update you on who it was that I find. I find it odd that some mob boss remembers an old acquaintance enough to keep track of their family, but said family never learned about it. I have a bunch of fun other stories that I've learned from my mom

from both her childhood and her career in the jail system until she retired. But that's a story for another time. I'm sure she's seen some shit. I mean, the fact that she just shot someone in self-defense and then went about her day, you know, and tried to resuscitate him or, you know, help him from bleeding out, I mean, woof.

Sounds like quite a person. Lohi ends this with asking for you to give Gio a good little pat. Oh, I will. He went to the vet today. He got a shot. Oh, no. So I will give him.

It's for his allergies, so it's not anything crazy, but he's- He's so fucking bougie the way that he's got allergies. It's like outright. What's he sneezing about? No, it's not that. Their skin gets all, you know, like. Oh, it's his licking thing?

Yeah, they chew their paws and then they bleed and stuff. It's like, he gets like the, I think it's really common, at least in the Midwest, for dogs to need these fucking shots. And they're expensive, ha ha. I've been thinking about Gio recently because, where were we? We were somewhere just recently

and we had all those little stickers on the bushes came home with us. Like, oh my God. And the- Oh, those things, those little brambles. The little brambles. And all I can think about is the first time you got that house and not the house you're in,

but the house here. He dove into that fucking. And he, there's nothing he loved more than rolling around in brambles. And you couldn't even pet him. He would just do a big maddened mess. Cause he knows that I'm gonna pet him for three hours trying to pull them out.

And he's like, now I get your solo attention for three straight hours. No, I would just take the shears from him and I'd be like, oh, you thought you won. Let's shave, shave you, shave you. Now you're naked, now you're naked. Anyway, I have a story here from Mary Katherine, she her. And isn't that the kind of like, it sounds like a name of a nun, doesn't it?

Mary Katherine. It sure does. I would love a nun to listen to the show. I know. Wouldn't that be nice? I would be so scared though. Okay, this is the subject is my mom, the cop and her brother, the murderer. Oh, oh, oh, the murderer slash serial rapist.

Oh, boy. Wow, okay, so we've got an interesting Thanksgiving setup, is what I'm hearing. Yeah, this is gonna be awkward dinner table conversation, for sure. Definitely, definitely. Note, there is an old Cold Case Files episode on the story I'm about to tell you. It's currently on Netflix as part of their classic series.

This was sent in May 2023, so I hope it's still there, but, um, it's titled Cross Country Connection. Okay, so we can all watch along later tonight. Anyway, my uncle, Mark Francis Elder, was arrested in 2005 for the rape of several sex workers in Daytona Beach, Florida. After his arrest, we found out he was responsible for the death of a woman in California in the early 80s. The story goes one of the sex workers in Daytona Beach went to the police after my uncle offered her a ride, which turned into a rape.

She reported it and had a rape kit done at the hospital. The detective on the case who interviewed the sex worker while she was in jail later, parentheses the detective had been unable to find her and was finally able to get information from her when she was arrested. And while speaking with the officer, other sex workers who were in the jail at the time

overheard her story and had similar experiences with the man by the same description. Oh. Well, that's like in like the least fucked up way possible, but like that's pretty like perfect timing. Convenient timing. Yeah, it is. It is. Police started watching out for a man in a dark van with no windows in the area. One night an officer, I mean, I feel like you should, the police should be watching out for that

any area all the time. Right. I was like, hang on a second. Call me crazy. Yeah. Nothing good happens. I think in a, in a blacked out van like that. One night, an officer spotted a van that fit the description and pulled it over for a broken tail light. The officer noticed a partially smoked joint in the ashtray and confiscated it. I believe he played it cool and acted as though he was letting my uncle off with a warning,

most likely so he wouldn't leave. Oh, yeah, they didn't want to tip him off. I just got your fucking DNA, dude. Wouldn't leave the Daytona area until they could test the joint for DNA and make sure this was the guy they were looking for. So they tested the DNA. So smart.

Yeah, that is to just play it cool. That's some Mariska shit. Yeah, it is. Like just go home. You're like in fear for, you're like, you don't want to give them any ideas. Yeah. Ooh, so scary.

They tested the DNA and not only did it match the rapes that were recently reported, Like you don't want to give them any ideas. Yeah. Ooh, so scary. They tested the DNA and not only did it match the rapes that were recently reported, but it matched DNA from the California murder in the 80s. Holy shit. Imagine getting like all those dings and being like success and then like seeing a whole nother ding across the country. Like, shit, now we've solved a murder too.

My mom and dad were both Florida highway patrol officers and one weekend, my mom had to go to Tallahassee for a course. On her way to Tallahassee she stopped at my grandparents house for a quick visit. Her brother was there and she knew he had some warrants out for his arrest. She let him know that if she saw him again

she would have to arrest him. Imagine your sibling is like, I'll let you off this time. I mean, God, I'd be scared to be her. I feel like that brother could get some real vengeance. Well, she had to think like, oh, what am I gonna say when I get there? Like, this is an awkward situation. So awkward.

Well, I don't know if she knew he was there. Oh, oh, oh, oh. It sounds like this was a surprise visit. And she like, I assume he would have bounced if he knew a highway patrol officer was coming. But yeah, I don't know what the rule is there. Like what if like, could she have gone to her parents and been like, like legally should she have like gone to her parents and said, call him over?

Well she was probably supposed to arrest him when she saw him on the spot, but she probably was like, well, here's my brother, you know, I imagine that's a very tough like call to make such a tough call. So she said, if she saw him again, she would have to arrest him. I think she was trying to get him to turn himself in, but instead, my grandparents bought him a bus ticket to wherever he wanted to go.

He settled on San Diego, California. Once in San Diego, he met a woman named Janet. I believe they smoked crack together, and then he stabbed her to death over 30 times." Jesus fucking Christ. His blood was found at the scene and was collected as evidence, but of course at the time DNA evidence was still in the early stages. In the meantime he met and married a sweet woman. They had a kid and decided to move back to Florida to be closer to family. He swore he was a changed man and went so far as to turn himself in on his old warrants when he moved back to Florida.

The judge let him off as he seemed to be a family man now. The act didn't last and his marriage to my sweet sweet aunt fell apart. And not long after that was when he was arrested for the rapes of the women in Daytona and the murder of Janet. Oh, interesting. Yeah, that's wild. I feel you never hear that kind of. And I wonder too if he like knew he was about to get busted there For some reason I was like, let's go to Florida But like couldn't you pick a different state where you didn't have more? I know it sounds like yeah, it sounds like that's kind of a dumb move

But yeah, I'm glad he did it. I guess I Hated being around him as a child, but loved his wife and kids. So I just kind of dealt with him I remember my mom telling me as a kid that if he ever showed up to our school and said my mom sent him to pick us up to never get in the car with him, he was that kind of creepy. That is a, oh fuck. My uncle was not tried on the rapes,

instead he was extradited to California where he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 25 to life. He is up for parole in the next few years. Is he even trying to get us killed? Like all these stories, I'm like, he's up for parole in the next few years. Is even trying to get us killed. Like all these stories. I'm like, he's up for parole in the next few years. So glad you're telling this story and not me.

Ah, and my family's trying to find out what we can do to help keep him in prison. I'm sure I'll be writing you more in the future. I mean, I'll sign a petition. That's not very helpful, but I'll do it. I'm sure I'll be writing you more in the future. I have many more stories to share. My parents are both police officers

and for some time my dad was a homicide detective. So yeah, there's lots to share. Talk parents are both police officers, and for some time my dad was a homicide detective, so yeah, there's lots to share. Talk soon, Mary Catherine. Wow. Wow. Well, I hope we don't die. I hope we're not taking in for questioning at some point. If you're a criminal that we're talking about

and you kill us, guess what? Everyone's gonna know you did it, so. Sorry. They're gonna play this episode in the courtroom, just telling you. Oh my god, and then we're gonna get so famous so who cares? Oh my god. This is me trying to play it cool like you know. It's like where's the bright side? This this is from Tara who uses she her pronouns. Thank you for normalizing pronouns Tara and the

Subject line is cannibal soup. What? Not yet. I am so glad I'm reading this one. Okay. Cannibal soup? Oh God. Oh God. We all know that I have questions about cannibalism. So I... You do. I wonder if I'm going to get any answers today. Okay, here we go. A few years back, I took my daughter to

New York City for her 13th birthday, we stayed at my friend's house on the Lower East Side. My friend is very spiritual and into meditation, Reiki, etc. And his apartment is set up to feel very serene. Love that. He has tabletop waterfalls, plants, mandalas on the wall, meditation tables, dang, okay, so very serene. Just listening to this interior design. I'm gonna fall asleep just listening to this interior design.

I like to think that since you were a guest in his house, like he did that, what's the little, I don't know the right word for it, but the drum sound bath. Like he just would be next to your pillow, which is kind of- Just like find the right frequency to drift you off to sleep.

Give you an experience, yeah. It's beautiful. When my daughter and I got to New York, he was still at work and we sat quietly in his living room recuperating from waking up at the buck-rack of dawn to catch our flight while we waited for him to get home. Even though his apartment had the illusion of being peaceful, I couldn't help but feel extremely uncomfortable.

Uh-oh! We spoke too soon, Em. Oh, wow. Yuck. Maybe while you were sleeping he was staring in the doorway or something. I don't know. I think we're probably going to find out. I felt as though something bad was going to happen and there were eyes on me.

What? Now it feels weird that it was looking so serene because he wanted to put on this friend. Now I'm freaked out. Yeah, that makes it extra creepy that there's so like that there's like waterfalls and shit. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, all in all an unsettling feeling, but I chalked it up to being to it being my anxiety ramping up because of the lack of sleep and exhaustion from the day. The next day I woke up before my daughter and friend and was sitting in the living room and I just couldn't shake the feeling that I had the day before. So I decided to mess around with my ghost box app

that I had on my phone. Are you me? Love that. Oh my God. It's like, I already have anxiety building up in me. Let's really fuck myself over. Let's just like tip it, you know? Why not? I wouldn't usually play with this app in my house

because I don't wanna open myself up to the paranormal and the comfort of my own home, but hey, this wasn't my house. Hey, that is me. It does sound like me or you actually in this case, because I don't have any problem opening shit up in my house. I know that. The moment I opened up the app, it started saying things like murder, stuck and in the room. I never know how much I can trust these manmade apps and just figured it was made to scare people and I turned it off. Later that night we were all hanging out in the

living room again and I told my friend, I don't mean to sound offensive, but do you ever get a weird feeling here? He looked at me and started laughing. Well, this is the apartment of Daniel Rakowitz. And he continued to tell me the story of this man that murdered a woman in the apartment in the late 80s. Oh my God. At least it's not your friend. I really for a second thought that you were in a murderers apartment. I know,

and was ready to throw the friend under the bus. He wants it to look serene. He's gonna eat you. I was like, he's like getting prepped to like, well that makes sense. Okay, now it makes sense a third time of like, he like just wants to feel some fucking peace in this place He's like, oh it feels weird in here. Let's like put some buddha statues around and see what happens

Yeah, yeah, and I feel bad because for all the work he did to make it serene It's still obviously not serene enough fucking sucks. I'm so scared He continued to tell me the story of a man that murdered a woman in his apartment in the late 80s. The man left her in the bathtub for days, boiled her down, made soup out of her, and fed her to his unhoused friends in Tompkins Square Park. What? The fuck? This would be a crazy story for Christine to cover in a future episode. So I won't give away too many details, but suffice to say the weird feeling that I had

was for a reason. I would always say, I would say always trust your gut, but I have anxiety all the time and I would rather not believe it is because cannibal murderers are watching me 24 seven. Holy shit. Is that the end? Yeah, so then when you think, yeah, the end.

So in my mind, the ghost app is like, was that maybe the victim who was saying stuck in the room. Oh God. That's horrifying. In my mind, I'm like, oh, maybe she could sense it because like she's a woman, the victim was a woman. Maybe they like had some like. There's a kid there or a child,

I don't know if it's a child. Yeah. I don't know how it's a child or like a... I don't know how true that is, but in my mind it's like, maybe she was trying to reach out to someone with who could have more intuition on that, I don't know. When I heard the ghost app come out, I thought it was gonna say cannibal soup and I was like, oh, that's so scary.

And then it's like, no, that was actually a real thing. And I was like, that's so much worse. I was hoping it would just be like a weird like glitch on the fucking app, but oh, that's so fucking sad. Yeah, we should add that to a list to cover, especially now we have like, you know, a ghost story attached to it. Also feeding it to unhoused people, oh my God.

Like that's the whole thing is sick in so many, in like every possible way. Ooh, that gives me the shivers. Okay, so I have one here. This is from S, she, her, and the subject is, that person who sat on the serial killer's lap, I wouldn't let him have his underwear. What now?

All right, well no wonder you said your name's S, because nobody needs to know a damn thing about me. Okay. All inclusive hello. Thank you. I literally had to pause, very what? Very poignant. Oh, beautiful, yeah.

I literally had to pause listener episode 62 to write this story. In the episode, you talk about John Robinson, the person that might be the Santa in a childhood photo. Just to confirm, John Robinson was a Santa Santa I know another person who sat on his lap for a similar photo so it was probably him I like I don't know I don't remember that but I'm assuming somebody was like I sat on Santa's lap anyway yeah yeah no I get yeah now to my story regarding the creepiest quote-unquote person I have

ever met. What the fuck does that mean? Okay. I'm scared already. It's like the middle of the day. I used to work in a facility that has housed Robinson on and off again. Oh my God. This is very intense.

Okay. Specifically when he has court. He would go to and from this facility and his place on death row in the Kansas Department of Corrections. The facility that I worked in has very specific rules about types of clothing that someone can wear under their uniforms. Oh, okay. That makes the underwear thing make sense.

Totally, totally. When it comes to undergarments, they have to be all white. No logos, no colorful elastic bands, just white. One of my many responsibilities was approving underclothing, hygiene products, et cetera, that have come from other facilities for people to have when they go to the housing modules. Robinson is very, very manipulative. He is quiet, respectful, and kind so long as he is getting what he wants, which he typically does.

Unless that is, his legal team has brought him underwear with a black elastic band. I'm not sure at what point he requested his underwear, but my work partner and I got to explain to a convicted serial murderer that he would just have to free ball during his week in our facility. Quote, no, we will not give you these underwear. They are not approved and no one will approve them for you. No, not even our supervisor. His grandfatherly demeanor literally melted away before our eyes. Although the man is very old, short, and jaundiced, in that moment I knew that I was seeing the eyes of the man

who had placed eight women into barrels after killing them. They looked like the eyes of a shark. I don't typically drink, but that evening I am sure those eyes were why I drank. Oh gosh. What the fuck? You don't think drink, but that evening, I am sure those eyes were why I drank. Ugh! Oh gosh. What the fuck? You don't think about the aftermath, like all the people who have to have these encounters.

Yeah. You know? I can't imagine. That's traumatizing in its own way. I had a friend when I worked at the prop house, and her whole dream was to become a CEO one day. And I was like, oh my God, I can't. And she was like a cute little girl.

Like I was like, I was like, I'm so scared for you. I was like, the things that you're gonna see are gonna, they're already blowing my mind and you haven't even seen them yet. Yeah, that's, yeah, you should check in on her if she's doing okay. Yeah, she's doing lovely, so. Oh good, good, good, good.

It says, M, congratulations on correctly pronouncing, oh, for God's sake, O-L-A-T-H-E, Olafie, I don't have no idea. I'm gonna guess Olafie. Maybe. You say you don't remember, right? You don't know? No. Damn it.

No. Okay. So M, I think that S might take her congratulations back. I was gonna say, I could try to pronounce it now, and this would be the time I mispronounce it, of course. That's true, yeah, we don't miss pronounce it. Yeah, we don't want to risk it Also Johnson County Community College is nicknamed JCCC JCCC Okay, if you ever want to know yeah, that is annoying if you ever want to hear any more stories from a former Corrections worker Yes, feel free to ask

I'm very blessed to be out of that field Although the number of murderers that I've passed in my lifetime will always remain significantly higher than six. Xoxo S. Oh my God, wow. Wow, that was really good. That was like deeply disturbing. And also my only regret in that story S is I don't understand at all why they are so picky about like underwear with a black band versus,

like what's the meaning of that? Like is there like a... It's probably just one of those uniform rule. I mean, as someone who went and wore a uniform for so many years with like arbitrary rules, I wonder if it's just how they just keep it really specific for- I guess so.

Cause my thought is like, if they're like, what if it's like code, like, I don't know. Like remember like the old like, what is like the handkerchief code? Like colors mean things or something. I don't know, it could be that. I don't know, but anyway like the old, like, what is it, the handkerchief code, like colors mean things or something. I don't know, it could be that. I don't know, but anyway, other than that, perfect story. They're probably just very, like no logos or anything.

Like it sounds like it's, you're probably right. And I think at least what they would always say for us with uniforms, it's like to equalize everyone, right? Like it's like, you're not wearing like Gucci underwear. You know what I mean? Like, or like fancy underwear. I don't know Wow, okay. Yeah, cuz we had that same rule with our socks. They had to be all white all the time. Not it Thing I color on them. Oh, yeah, you're the elastic is for yeah for like

Use it to attempt suicide, but like it sounds like they can have elastic just not black elastic. Yeah. Okay. It sounds like it has to be all white. Okay. But anyway. Okay.

So yikes, that's all very scary. Also the fact that you confirmed for us that in episode 62, listener episode 62, that person who wasn't sure if it was John Robinson, was what, yeah, that it was him probably. Like that's also, I hope whoever wrote in that story gets to hear this as like validation, you know? Some sort of like, yeah, you've been acknowledged.

You were right, yeah. Yeah. Ooh, well, thank you for your story. And also sorry you had to see someone's eyes turned into shark eyes, that's crazy.'s I don't think I want to participate in that no I hope you had a real stiff drink that night like a stiff one I did too and if that's just a milkshake even that I hope had extra chocolate chips Yeah, stiff means stiff means whatever you want it to be. Yeah

Okay, this is from Morgan, whose is she her pronouns. Thank you for normalizing pronouns, Morgan. And the subject line is, my teacher, the attempted murderer. Are you kidding me with this? Okay. Here we go. Hello, Eva M. Christine and the whole and that's why we drink crew. I discovered your amazing show during quarantine and it seriously kept me from going crazy. Thank you for all that you do.

Very sweet. I want to hear about this teacher now. Okay. Quarantine and it seriously kept me from going crazy. Thank you for all that you do. Very sweet. I wanna hear about this teacher now. Okay. I have an absolutely insane true crime story for you. I'm gonna just jump right in. I go to a very small private school. I'm talking like 25 people in my graduating class

and 300 students K through 12. Oh, so did you go to my school? That's interesting. I totally know exactly the setup that we're working with here. Anyways, this smallness provides for a very close and intimate environment where everyone pretty much knows everyone. So I had heard of Matt Richards, the seventh grade English teacher, and I was familiar

with a few of his kids who went to the school there. Mr. Richards was not only a teacher, but also a youth pastor at a local church. Oh, so he's a pillar of the community, you say. He was widely regarded as a great and upstanding person. One might even say he was a pillar of the community. Okay, so you're on top of it. And he spoiled their line. You know what?

Morgan's on top of it. So it was to everyone's shock when we heard that in the early morning hours of September 16th of this last year, he had set his house on fire and attempted to murder his entire family. What? All five of his children, including his adult child

who was home visiting, and his wife were all asleep when he set the house on fire and started stabbing them. Two of the family members called the police. One of them terrified. One of them terrified and saying that their father was chasing them with a knife and the other calling because she had been stabbed. Oh!

When police arrived, the wife and children were rescued and taken to the hospital. Mr. Richards was obviously immediately taken into police custody. And it turns out that this insane act was because of finances. So he was, what's it called? Oh yes, a family annihilator.

Mm-hmm. Oh, that's so chilling because like, every time I hear one of those stories, I'm like, oh, it's like a famous one from decades ago. And now it's like, oh, last year he fucking did this. Oh God. Richard, what, Richards was the sole financial supervisor in the family and thus was in charge of all the family expenses.

Apparently he was also the only person in the family aware of their financial situation because things had gotten so out of hand and he was the only one who knew. Matt Richards tried to murder his entire family because they were going to be evicted from their home the next day and his family had not been told. So he just never, he didn't know how to like.

So they are just like having another night in the house, not thinking a thing and all of a sudden dad has a fucking knife. Little did they know they were supposed to leave the next day and he was, he had too much of a man's ego and he was too proud and he didn't want to admit failure. So he was like, well, they're just gonna die before they ever hear that I failed. What the fucking fuck. This is crazy.

Mm. As you might have gathered from the title, his family survived his attacks. Thank God. Although two of his children and wife were taken to the hospital in critical condition, they all survived and made a full recovery, physically at least. And this also hit my school as a whole pretty hard. Matt Richards and his wife were friends with most of the teachers and all of his kids had gone or were currently going to school there. Oh, imagine. And then it's a double because like, you know, the kids too. Oh, Jesus Christ. I mean, I can't imagine us.

But I grew up in a school set up that exact same amount of people. And like if one of the teachers did that, it would it would. I mean, the talk of everything forever. The school would have to end because like my school was bigger, but it was 55 kids. I mean, it would have been like it would have been honestly, I can't imagine what the family went through. So I'm not trying to like take from them.

But as just like a student who would have a teacher around like that, because also like, it's a school where there's so there's so few students that all the teachers like kind of go like they teach, they teach you multiple years. It's not like just one class one time, like I had a teacher who taught me like 11 classes. If like I found out that He murdered somebody like it would devastate me I'd be like this is a man who's been around in my life for so long and he's not even directly related to me like I thought that like you would know his kids too and like yeah, they went through I mean Jesus

Yeah, they're like your schoolmates just went through like being stabbed and set on fire or their house I was a fucking youth pastor, are you kidding? I mean, it's like you can't write a more cliche story. I know. I mean, Jesus Christ. Anyway, if you've gotten this far, thank you so much for reading my awful, horrific story. Sorry it was so long.

Yeah, please apologize about this story. This was not long also. I feel like people write very long, which is fine too, but don't worry. If you say it's sorry it's so long, it's usually not. And then we've got a link to the actual article. It's the- Oh, okay.

Well, send that to me, I guess. I will- KMBC, Shawnee, Kansas, Pastor Matthew Richards attacks family eviction. I guess I can Google it, yeah. Wow, okay. Ooh, Jesus. These people, I mean, like we said,

it makes sense why there are so few true crime stories in our inbox, cause like, Yeah. It's not fun to be part of, right? Like, it's not an enjoyable thing. Yeah. Ooh, okay. So, this is our last story, I think,

unless there's a bonus, I don't think there is today. I don't think there is. Okay, so this is our last one. This is from Mary Elle She her what a beautiful name and the subject is how and that's what oh come on Eva Eva Eva's like Just just stroking our egos here ready. I'm ready how and that's why we drink probably saved me from being kidnapped colon a Love story, and you know what I'll take it. Em's like, yeah, you're right.

I did do that. And you're welcome, by the way. And I'm finally getting credit. You are welcome. We're gonna make Em. Credit where credit is due. It took 400 episodes, but here we are. And you finally, you didn't even know it happened,

but you sorta knew in the back of your mind. I knew, I knew. I needed the medal for something. Hello, lovely people. I've been listening to your show for a year and especially love the listener stories. I have a few paranormal and true crime, but this is the one I felt was most important to tell.

When I was 22, I moved from a small town in New England to London, England. Oh my God, that would be so confusing. I'm moving to Old England. The New England. Like, what? I'm moving from New England, oh anyway. That's actually very funny.

It just trips me up. It's like moving from Jersey in the US, actual Jersey. Yeah, New York to York. I mean, they're all based on places over there. Mexico to New Mexico. Any of the news to go back to the old one? It's like, can't they be more creative, but whatever. When I was 22, I moved from a small town in New England

to London, Old England. It doesn't say that, but I'm just for specificity. I was newly single and using the apps to date. I had been on a few dates, but hadn't met anyone I really connected with until I matched with this guy we'll call Alex. Alex was tall, had blue eyes and curly blonde hair, and worked as an architect. He seemed genuine and straightforward and even though we hadn't chatted much he seemed intent on meeting up. He picked a place and made a reservation which I saw

as a green flag. We agreed to meet for dinner on a Sunday night and I headed out excited. He texted me that he had arrived early and was waiting for me. I was running a few minutes late so I responded I was going to be there soon. As I approached the restaurant a man walked up to me outside. Okay I'm so scared. I don't know why these are scaring me so much. All you had to say was a man walked up to me outside. He was tall with blue eyes and blonde hair but did look quite like the picture on the profile so when he started hitting on me I initially brushed him off saying I was meeting someone inside. That's when he smiled and said yes he knew he was my date. I was so surprised I said oh you

must be Alex sorry I didn't recognize you with the hat He laughed and said it was okay. We walked into the restaurant He spoke to the hostess and we grabbed a table outside. It was January. So I thought this was a little weird Oh cuz he knows the fucking real Alex is inside. He's like we have to sit outside Like he has to hide her away. Otherwise, like if you went to go find her before she started looking around for someone yeah. Okay I was so surprised I said oh you must be Alex okay. He laughed and said it was okay we walked in the restaurant he spoke to the hostess we grabbed a table outside it was January so I thought this was a little weird because he said he had made a reservation.

Oh good point good eye see red flag. Thinking thinking thinking. Thinking thinking then he asked. Thinking, thinking. Thinking, thinking. Then he asked if I wanted to stay here or go somewhere else. Before they ate. That is a red flag.

I'm sorry. Huge. Massive red flag. Also, like the fact that that immediately also feels manipulative of like, I picked a really cold, uncomfy place so that way you would say, yes, let's go somewhere else.

Yeah, don't you want to leave? Yeah, that's such a good point. Like you're cornering someone into saying you're leaving. Yeah. That's like if you put me in a place that like in intentionally turned off the air conditioning and you're like Don't you want to go somewhere else? I'd be like, yeah a bike ride for a fan experience outside on the trail My god, okay alarm bells start going off in my head I began asking him questions, but nothing lined up with his profile, his age, job,

everything he said was off, and he kept suggesting we go somewhere else. Then I started, ah! Then I started thinking about the book, The Gift of Fear, that you talked about on the show, and my gut was screaming, something is wrong. Then it clicked, this wasn't Alex. Oh my God, I have chills.

At this point, I had no idea if there wasn't Alex or if I had just been lured to this location by a fake profile. Gotta go to the bathroom. Gotta go to the bathroom. Either way, I needed to get out of there. I made an excuse about needing to use the bathroom, to which he looked me dead in the eye and said,

you aren't coming back, are you? Ew! Well, now that you said that, motherfucker, of course I'm not coming back. Yeah, I was terrified, but laughed it off and made some joke about leaving my coat as collateral. I then walked as, that's so smart. That's so smart. Good job.

I then walked as calmly as I could into the restaurant and made a beeline for the bartender, intending to ask for an angel shot and getting help. But on my way over, I happened to look to my left and saw the real Alex sitting in the corner with two glasses of wine staring at me with a look of utter confusion. He had been waiting for me for 15 minutes. I ran to him and even though we had barely spoken, I automatically broke down in his arms while trying to explain what had happened. He told me to sit down and he ran outside. I didn't know if real Alex was going

to confront fake Alex or what, but real Alex came back in a minute later saying he suspected he might've been concealing a knife. Oh! After a few minutes, fake Alex left and real Alex and I managed to put together the pieces of what had happened. We determined that this guy was a complete stranger to us both. He had targeted me randomly,

attempted to pretend to be my date, and then tried to take me to a second location. To this day, oh, I'm so scared. To this day, I have no idea if he was just a regular creep trying to sleep with me while using a fake identity, which don't get me wrong, is borderline sociopathic at best, or if he intended to harm me.

But either way, I think this is truly one of the scariest experiences of my life. Oh my God. I often think about how many women go missing under circumstances like that, and literally just a random person on the street who took them no rhyme or reason. I am so glad I- oh I have so many chills- I'm so glad I listened to that gut instinct and got myself out of that situation. For those wondering why I didn't call the police, technically he hadn't committed a

real crime and I didn't think there would be anything they could actually do. I hate that so many women are harassed and have no legal recourse since we all know that creeps like this only escalate. The real Alex ended up being a very sweet guy and we are still dating. So in the end, this rather traumatizing situation was our meet cute end of submission. And this was May 29th, 2023.

So I'm hoping things are still going well. If not, I'm sorry, but I'm glad you guys, I'm glad things ended up okay for a while at least. I also hope that Real Alex, I mean, well not hope, what I like about Real Alex is that I feel like there's so many guys that I just know kind of cursory in my life that if they heard that, they'd go,

oh really, there's someone out there? That's kind of crazy. This fucking guy was like, I'm on it. He was like, I don't even know you, and I was like, that's right, that, they'd go, oh really, there's someone out there? That's kind of crazy. This fucking guy was like, I'm on it. He was like, I don't even know you. And I was like, that's right, that's a good man. He's like, I'm gonna run out there and fucking give him a piece of my mind. Nevermind he has a knife, but.

Yeah, you gotta be smart about it. And at some point you gotta back away. And I love that he also didn't turn into full goon. I'm just gonna drag this guy by the, it's just like, both of you be safe. Eva said blaze energy, which it is very blaze energy. full goon, like, I'm just gonna drag this guy by the, it's just like, both of you be safe, you know? This guy clearly had bad intentions. Eva said blaze energy, which it is very blaze energy. Although I think blaze would be, I think he would, I don't know, how he used to be a literal,

what's it, a bouncer? A bouncer. I think he would throw that guy around and then realize there was a knife and he'd go, uh-oh, now we're both running. Yeah, he'd break his other orbital bone in the process, probably. And we'd all be like, god damn it, Blaze. And also, can you imagine some guy going, yeah, I'm Blaze, like the fake Blaze.

Like, good luck keeping that up. What are the odds that her name? Yeah, there are one of the odds there are two Blaze-lampic mallies. Yeah, that's zero, actually. I'm pretty positive about that. But I did meet Blaze while on a Tinder date with someone else. So it kind of is like a happy version of that story, you know, like a less traumatic version.

Definitely less traumatic. For all you know, the person you were supposed to meet was a... No, I still follow him because he's very funny to like, he's like, he was a very nice guy, but like he was just like really big into golf. And my friends to this day are like, imagine if you had gone out with like married Kevin, the golfer instead of Blaze. And I'm like, the world would be so different. He's your Michelle. He's my Michelle. Yeah, a little bit, except he slept through the date

and I was like, fuck you. So, you know, I'm not like finding. Michelle was very lovely on our dates. It just wasn't gonna work. That's all. I have a, I do have a Michelle. His name's Ryan though, a different Ryan, not the Ryan from anyway

It doesn't matter what date what date did you do with Ryan? What was your date we went to get fro yo and then we sat in the car and listened to fallout boy It's a good date. It was like very nice I was like you're a very like considerate kind man and now he's married and like just they have like a very happy life And I'm like, I just love to like Pop in we always like each other's photos, you know, it's just like a very happy because it was it didn't go very far you know, and I was like I'm not, I just love to like pop in. We always like each other's photos, you know, where it's just like a very happy, cause it didn't go very far, you know? And I was like, I'm not feeling it.

And then anyway. I, Michelle and I, I think we went on, we think we only went on one day, we might've gone on two dates, but actually I think at the, neither of us were really feeling it. I think in hindsight, if I could redo that, when we said, no, this isn't gonna work,

or she texted me, she said it's not gonna work. Or she's texted me, she said, it's not gonna work. And I was already kind of feeling that too. I actually, in hindsight, I think I was like, my ego was bruised and I was actually kind of mean with the text messaging. I feel like- Well of course, it hurts your feeling. It's not a nice text to get.

That's why I was so surprised when this guy wanted to keep talking and was just like, oh, it's okay. And I was like, that's nice. I would have been like, fuck you. I was, I mean, I didn't say fuck you, but I was definitely not who I, like 32-year-old brain and like 23-year-old brain are like completely different. If I could go back, when it ended,

I would have been like, honestly, like I actually really do just wanna be friends because I would have loved to stay in touch with her. That's kind of how it went with us. I was like, I think he was like, honestly, I actually really do just wanna be friends, because I would have loved to stay in touch with her. That's kind of how it went with us. I was like, I think he was like, yeah, I'm with you. Let's just talk about Fall Out Boy. Yeah, yeah.

Anyway, oh well. He was so nice. I should check on him. I should check on him. Why did I say check on him? I'm like, I don't need to check on him. He's living a very successful and happy life. But you know, check in, see what he's up to.

Yeah, I gotta go check on Michelle later, I guess. Yeah, yeah, get back to me. By the way, if you're like, who the fuck is Michelle? It was like a little bit, it was just like a bit in the episode, like now as this comes out, like a month ago, so you probably have no fucking clue what we're talking about, but I read a little blurb from our upcoming book where Em mentioned that Michelle is there. I don't know what you would call it. Someone from your past who you just haven't deleted off Instagram. That you're still kind of just slightly... I'm still engaged enough that when her stuff

shows up on my story, I'm like, oh, okay, that's cool. You're intrigued. The way that Em put it in the book was definitely very hyperbolized, I imagine. So it was very funny. It wasn't just like, oh, it's someone I tangential. It's like, I made my whole personality following her every move. So it's a lot scarier when you read it, but.

I sound like actually now in hindsight, I kind of wish I edited that sentence. No, it was funny and we all loved it. And the TikTok actually did pretty well. Okay, great. Well anyway, happy August everybody. I hope that you get all of your August dreams. I hope they all come true.

Unless they're bad and then I don't want them to come true. Unless they have anything to do with me and they're negative, yeah, I don't want that. Unless you're the mob boss or that Santa Claus serial killer Then I don't want you to ever have anything happy in your life again Exactly, and I guess we'll see you September 1st for even more listeners episodes or listeners in between you can listen to our show every Sunday and we're one two two months away from

October very excited about October We're one, two, two months away from October. Very excited about October. And? Anyway. Oh, and? That's why we drink.