Let's Go To Court! - 211: A Creepy Manager & Balloonfest '86

Episode Date: April 20, 2022

Alisha Bromfield wasn’t interested in being Brian Cooper’s wedding date. But Alisha didn’t have much of a choice. Brian was her boss, and he was a vindictive creep. If she rejected his invitation, he might cut her hours, or worse, fire her. So Alisha told Brian she’d go to his sister’s wedding with him, as a friend.  Then Kristin tells a story that’s light on court stuff, but brimming with balloons! In 1986, the city of Cleveland wanted to reinvent itself. They figured out exactly how to do it. They’d host the biggest simultaneous balloon release, ever. It would be so fun! They’d be in the Guinness Book of World Records! They’d raise a ton of money for the United Way of Cleveland! What could go wrong??  And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Balloonfest” short film  “How Cleveland’s Balloonfest ‘86 became a public disaster,” by Corey Irwin for ultimateclassicrock.com “Balloonfest ‘86: 35 years since downtown Cleveland event turned disastrous,” by Suzanne Stratford for Fox8 “When the balloons inflated, so did a man’s career,” by John Rogers for NBC News In this episode, Brandi pulled from: “Postmortem Depravity: The Murder of Pregnant Mother Alisha Bromfield” by Kym L. Pasqualini, Medium “Horrific crimes against Alisha Bromfield spur law change in 32 states” True Crime Daily “Alisha Bromfield” chillingcrimes.com “Seventh Circuit Slams Home Depot in Employee Murder Case” by Lorraine Bailey, Courthouse News “Sherry Anicich v. Home Depot Inc.” findlaw.com YOU’RE STILL READING? My, my, my, you skeezy scunch! You must be hungry for more! We’d offer you some sausage brunch, but that gets messy. So how about you head over to our Patreon instead? (patreon.com/lgtcpodcast). At the $5 level, you’ll get 30+ full length bonus episodes, plus access to our 90’s style chat room!  

One semester of law school. One semester of criminal justice. Two experts! I'm Kristen Caruso. I'm Brandi Egan. Let's go to court! On this episode, I'll be talking about Balloon Fest 86. And I'll be talking about a horrible murder.

Oh, wow. I was trying to come up with a catchy name. You've said horrible murder at the beginning of like 30 episodes. There was a couple things that I was going to do and then I was like, that just feels disrespectful. And so, yeah. It's just a horrible murder. Just horrible.

Okay. You know, it's not horrible. Your bangs, they look very cute. Thank you. Yes. But what is horrible is that I burnt half my mouth off at lunch. Everyone, it was a tragic tale of a tater tot too hot to handle. It was a hot tot.

Brandy got so hot, you literally started sweating in the restaurant. I did. I started sweating, and I couldn't finish my lunch because my mouth hurts so bad. Anyway. It's fine. Everything's fine. I'm sure I'm going to talk completely normally. Everyone, we've started a Patreon just to help with Brandy's mouth.

If you sign up at our Patreon at the $5 level or higher. That money will go directly to fixing my mouth and giving me the skin grafts that I need to replace that skin that I lost due to that hot tat. Also, you get bonus episodes every month. Oh, we just recorded a bonus episode? Yeah, we did.

What did we talk about? Okay, I talked about controversial Noom. Yeah, you did. Hey, everybody. Don't sign up for Noom. Don't sign up for Noom. Don't do it.

Don't do it. They say it's not a diet. It is a diet. It's just like every other diet. But also there's a class action lawsuit. Yeah, don't sign up for it. You just can't get your money back. Also, I talked about a viral interrogation video.

It was very upsetting. Yes. Yeah. Anyway, you know you want to hearation video. It was very upsetting. Yes. Yeah. Anyway, you know you want to hear all that. It's a good episode. Quite good. We recorded it a day and a half ago. That's right.

And so here we are today recording yet another episode. Who works harder than we do? Maybe Ryan Seacrest. Does he still have 8 million jobs? I don't know. I don't care. I mean, you brought him up. You know what?

You're right. I did bring him up. Jesus. Like, don't talk to me about Ryan Seacrest. And you fucking brought him up. I just was never really a fan, if you must know, Brandi. I get it. All right. I get it all right i get it all

right yeah hold on i just have to check my mom just sent me two pictures of my beautiful little baby that i just have to look at real fast okay perfect and now i'm ready to talk about okay couple of couple of shouty shout outs um to – well, it's not – I was going to say a shoutout. Shoutout? Oh, no. A shoutout, that's not what you want. No. That's the opposite.

I told you right about the time when I'm pretty sure I witnessed someone shouting. No! Oh, I remember it perfectly. I was at work and I used to work at a university and there was this little cafe in the building next door. So sometimes I'd go to the cafe on my lunch breaks, you know, whatever. This is all unimportant details. The thing you have to know is I was in line to order a coffee at the cafe. A man in front of me.

Sharted? He sneezed and I know he farted but the look on his face was so stunned and panicked and like every muscle just tensed. I have reason to suspect

that he sharted. I witnessed a shart. I saw a TikTok this very morning and it was like a channel that just says like Steph caught on security cameras. Uh-huh. It was like a guy checking out at a TJ Maxx. Okay. And he's like checking out.

Uh-huh. What happened? He has like shorts on and just shit fell out of his shorts while he's standing there checking out at TJ Maxx. You know what he did? What? He just tried to kick it under the counter. No! Yeah.

Yeah. Kick the shit? Mm-hmm. And it was like a real liquidy shit. Well, yeah, you can't kick liquid. Yeah. I mean, I guess I don't have to tell him. He just like smeared it a little bit and then like pushed it up under the lip of the register counter.

Oh, my. You know what? I'm trying to tell him how to live his life, but there but for the grace of God go I. I mean, sometimes those lines at the max. But I mean, what's – so you leave that for a worker to – That's exactly what that man did. And also tracked it because he had it all over his shoe now from the kicking it. Well, and you know

everyone in line saw. Yeah. I didn't see any people around him. Okay, well then that makes it truly inexcusable because it's one thing if you've been in the line for way longer than anticipated, but if you just waltzed on up there and shat your shorts. Yeah.

As they say. Anyway, I'm glad you told us about this. Anyway, sorry. Okay, let's talk about a horrible murder. Shoutouts to Kim L. Pasqualini for their article for Medium. Alright. And also True Crime Daily

and ChillingCrimes.com Oh my gosh, you're just going with all your usual haunts. That's right. Brian Cooper needed a wedding date. His sister was getting married, and she had asked him to walk her down the aisle. Brian was 36. Wow, I totally misunderstood. What?

When you said wedding date, I was like, well, okay, pick one. And then he's the brother. And then I'm like, why is this his responsibility? I'm with you now. Yeah, I'm with you now. Okay, great. Brian was 36 and single. And the idea of going to the wedding alone wasn't something Brian wanted to entertain.

So he did what any 36 yearyear-old single man would do. Did he, like, get an escort? No. Oh. No. He just went on and out. No, this is a totally normal thing he does. What?

He asked his employee, 21-year-old Alicia Bromfield, to attend the out-of-state wedding with him. Oh, you weirdo. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Oh, that's not a weird power dynamic. Yeah, no fucking shit.

Yeah. Alicia had worked for Brian in the garden center at Home Depot in a Chicago suburb for like five years. Brian. Ew, so he'd known her since she was a child. Since she was 16. Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. I believe he'd hired her when she was 16.

Oh, cool. This story gets better and better. Brian was a regional supervisor of the garden centers for Home Depot in the northern Illinois region. And as such, he oversaw Alicia's scheduling, hours, job duties. Yeah, so you really shouldn't say no to him because he controls like everything cool i love it alicia loved her job and she was alicia and not alicia it is alicia i looked it up specifically it's spelled a-l-i-s-h-a and so then i was like is it it Alicia? Is it Alicia? I watched a snippet of some court testimony. And it was, at least in that court testimony, it was pronounced Alicia.

All right. Anyway, Alicia loved her job and was great at her job. But Brian, and this will surprise no one, was a terrible boss. He sounds great. He sounds like the guy who takes his employees on trips out of town. Yeah. He made it clear that he was attracted to Alicia, and when she brushed off his advances,

he would threaten to cut her hours or even fire her. Oh. Mm-hmm. Initially, Alicia brought these complaints to other supervisors within Home Depot, but she was just kind of, like, pushed away. You know, they were like, oh, yeah, that's Brian, or...

What is wrong with people? Yeah, you're not the first one to say that about Brian. Yeah, we're not collecting hilarious stories here. How about, like, we actually do something? But this shit happens all the time. What year was this? It's 2012. Yeah. This shit happens all the time.

No, this is super unique. Nothing was done about it. And so Alicia did what so many women in her position do. She learned how to handle Brian. She became friendly with him because that was the easiest way. Kind of walk the line. Yeah. Make sure he doesn't get pissed off. But yeah. Yeah. They would occasionally hang out outside of work. Like, you know, he'd ask and

ask and ask. And then finally, you know, every so many times she'd give in and occasionally she would go over to his house and walk his dogs for him. By August of 2012, when Brian approached her with that wedding invite, Alicia was at a very challenging place in her life. She was 21 years old. She was a semester away from graduating Western Illinois University with her degree in forensic psychology and criminal justice. And she was six and a half months pregnant. The pregnancy had come as a surprise. She was really shocked by it. And when she told the father, a guy she went to school with, he had made it clear that he wasn't interested in being a part of it. But Alicia was fine with that. She was fine being a single mom.

She had a great support system in her parents and her younger siblings. And she was thrilled to be having her baby. It was a girl and she was going to name her Ava Lucille. It was a girl and she was going to name her Ava Lucille. But in order to make it all work, in order to have her baby and be able to graduate, she had to keep her job at Home Depot. Oh, my God. She told her mom and her friends that if she didn't accept Brian's invite to attend the wedding, she was sure he'd fire her. This sucks. So she told her mom she was just going to go and it was going to be fine.

She knew how to handle Brian. The wedding was in Door County, Wisconsin, which was like a four hour drive from Alicia's home in Plainfield, Illinois. They would leave Saturday morning, attend the wedding, stay overnight one night at the same hotel that the rest of the wedding party was at, and then they'd come home the next morning. So they left early. The only way this story can go in a way that I would enjoy is if she murders him.

Yeah, that's not what's going to happen. Yeah, no, I know. Because you said it was a horrible murder. Yeah. So they left early in the morning of August 18th, 2012. They hit the road. They were, you know, had to get to the resort where the wedding was taking place. I thought he didn't even have good road snacks. Oh, I'm sure he didn't. And Alicia's mom, Sherry, got kind of a weird call from her daughter shortly after they'd taken off. They'd made it to the hotel, apparently. So not shortly after, like four hours in, but still way before the wedding was supposed to happen. Right. And Sherry got a call from Alicia and she told her mom, we're packing the car up. We're leaving.

I'm not doing this. Whoa. And Sherry was like, oh, my. What happened? Yeah. And Alicia's like, we got in a fight. And Sherry's like, OK, all right. You know, is there, you know, think about his sister.

Is there any like what what's going on? And she's like, no, I'm coming home. And Alicia's mom was like, how could he do this to his sister? Like this is terrible. And so she's like, OK, you have a responsibility here to like let his sister know you're not going to make it to the wedding. At least talk to her before you leave. No, she doesn't have to talk i agree i agree but i mean i'm not i'm not mad at the mom here but in this situation he can tell his own sister yeah what happened yeah and so so alicia said i don't even know where she is i don't even know where she's staying

yeah she's the bride i mean yeah that's what she's up to. And she's like, okay. Okay. And Sherry's like, what do you mean you don't know where she's staying? I thought you guys were all staying at the same place. Turns out, that's what the fight was about. They'd showed up at this resort and checked in and it turns out Brian had lied.

They were not staying at the same hotel that everybody else was staying at. He'd taken them to some hotel in the same area where the wedding was. Okay. But it was just the two of them at this particular hotel. And so that made Alicia mad that he'd lied to her. Yeah, so they're even more isolated than she thought. And so she told him she wasn't doing it.

Yeah. And so Cher was like, okay, I'll see you when you get home. How was she going to get home? Didn't they drive? Yeah, she was going to make Brian drive her home. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so Sherry text her a short time later and was just like, is everything okay?

I just want to, you know, make sure you're okay. And she's like, everything's fine. I'm going to stay. I don't want to make him miss his sister's wedding. It's fine. I'm going to stay. I don't want to make him miss his sister's wedding. It's fine. So it seemed to Sherry that everything had, you know, kind of boiled over. Yeah, exactly. And so, you know, it is what it is. And Alicia and Brian went to the wedding. Brian walked his sister down the aisle. They attended the reception. They had – there are pictures of them at the wedding reception and Alicia is dressed nicely and sitting at the family table with Brian and whatever.

And they stayed until the final like champagne toast and then they went back to their resort that they were staying at and told everyone they were going to go to bed. And Alicia was never seen alive again. Oh, soaking wet. Was it rainy? No, no, it was not. He walked up to the person behind the counter and he asked to borrow the phone to call 911. the phone to call 911. He said he needed to report an emergency, or as I have it in my notes, an emergrancy.

Which is just as serious. It's worse. It's R-rated. The emergency has grown. That's right. The clerk handed him a phone and then looked on in disbelief as Brian relayed to the dispatcher that he had murdered. What? 21-year-old Alicia Bromfeld.

This is part of the call. He just said it? Mm-hmm. He said, hello, I'd like to report a murder, please. Fuck. And the dispatcher said, you know for sure that a murder occurred. Brian. Yes.

Dispatcher. Do you know if it was today that this happened? Brian. Last night. Dispatcher. And did you witness it? Brian. Yes.

Dispatcher. You witnessed it. Okay. Do you know where her body is? Brian. It's in the room at Sands Bay Beach Resort. Something like that. Dispatcher. Do you know who murdered her?

Brian. Yes, I did. Oh, my God. Dispatcher. You did. Okay. Was it an accident or were you angry or? Brian.

It was intentional. Whoa. Dispatcher. It was intentional. Okay. Well, you're doing the right thing. I'm glad you called me. Brian. I'm a good person beside what I did last night.

Alicia's family is going to flip. Everyone is going to flip. Well, yeah, you murdered someone. Yeah. Yeah. But you're a great guy otherwise. I'm a great guy. I'm a good person besides when I murdered someone last night.

You know, Hitler wasn't so bad if you just take out all the genocide. Yeah. Yeah. So the dispatcher asked Brian to stay where he was and he did. And moments later, Door County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the gas station and they took Brian Cooper into custody without incident. The Door County Sheriff's Office then called in like their, I don't know, one of their main homicide investigators, Mark Winkle. And they sent him to the resort where they had been staying. him to the resort where they had been staying. And so he said when he arrived at the hotel, he walked in the door that they had been staying and he said that he could see that Alicia was laying on the floor. She was laying next to the bed. Her head was propped up on a pillow and she had a blanket pulled up over her, like over her whole body up to her chest.

Underneath the blanket, she was nude and it was clear that she was deceased. There was extensive bruising and scratch marks to her body. Gosh. Matchmarks to her body. Gosh. So they get to work, you know, kind of processing that crime scene. And then this Detective Winkle goes to the sheriff's office and sits down with Brian Cooper to get a statement from him. They sit down and, you know, really not sure what to expect.

Obviously, this guy has been very forthcoming about information so far. Yeah. He's taken responsibility, whatever. And so Detective Winkle sits down with him and he's like, so, Brian, tell me, what brought you to Door County? Brian said, we were here for my little sister's wedding. The detective says, OK, so when was that? And Brian's like, yeah, it was last night. There was a reception, all that. And the detective's like, yeah, it was last night. There was a reception, all of that.

And the detective's like, okay, who was with you? And Brian said, Alicia. And the detective asked him, how do you know Alicia? And Brian says, we're coworkers and we're somewhat dating. No. Or we were. No. No. No. There's no somewhat dating. No. Or we were. No. No. No.

There's no somewhat dating. And then he says, and she's pregnant. And the detectives goes, she's pregnant with your child? That's a reasonable question. Yes. And Brian says, no, not my child. And so the detectives are like, okay, but you're dating? And Brian's like, well, you know.

I wish. Kind of. You know, I always wanted more. Oh, wow. So literally, I wish. Yeah. But I was respecting her because of her pregnancy. What the fuck does that mean?

Yeah. Yeah. And so then Brian went on to tell the detective what had transpired that day, that earlier in the day they'd arrived at the resort to check in and they'd gotten in a fight. Alicia had learned that Brian had not been truthful about where they were staying. He'd taken her to a separate hotel than everybody else was at. And so they'd gotten into a big argument. And Alicia had said, you know what? Fine.

I will go to this wedding with you. I will be what you want me to be at this wedding. I will be there as your friend. After today, we're not friends anymore. Yeah. We have no relationship after today. Yeah. It's anymore. Yeah. We have no relationship after today. Yeah. It's done.

Yeah. And so Ryan says he thought about this the whole night, that like this was his last chance that he was ever going to get to hang out with Alicia. And he just kept getting more and more upset about it. So after the reception, they'd gone back to the room and it had two beds in it. And Alicia had gotten right in bed and she'd gone to sleep. And Brian stayed up drinking. He'd been drinking throughout the reception and he had more drinks when they got back to the room. and he had more drinks when they got back to the room.

And while he was in the room and she was sleeping and he was drinking, he just got more and more upset that this friendship that he valued so much was over. And so he just was drinking and pacing back and forth in their room and going out to the balcony and smoking cigarettes and coming back and just getting more and more upset. He said the reality was setting in that there wasn't going to even be a friendship when we got back. And so the detective's like, okay, so you didn't want that to happen. And Brian says, I didn't. No. And I was debating what I was doing. And so I was doing some prepping and thinking about her and thinking about harming her. And so the detective is like, OK, what do you mean by prepping?

What were you doing to prep? And so then Brian talks him through how, like like initially he had planned to tie alicia up oh my god he laid out these cords next to the bed so that he could tie her up and just have a conversation with her oh yeah because that's how you know nice calm conversations yeah happen and so the detective's like okay okay so you were so you were going to, oh, my God, you were going to tie her up and strangle her? And he's like, no, no, I was just going to tie her legs up so that she couldn't leave and that she would talk to me and we could talk through this. Oh, my God. Yeah.

And so Brian went on to say that at one point he had walked outside to smoke a cigarette and he came back in. And at that point, Alicia kind of woke up from the noise of him coming in and out. And so he kind of jumped on that opportunity to talk to her. He tried to wake her up a little bit. And he was like, why don't you come over tomorrow night after we get back and we'll just watch a movie and we can just put all of this behind us and we'll just like hang out and we'll watch a show we'll watch a movie we'll watch whatever you want and alicia was like no no absolutely not i didn't even want to be here yeah yeah, no, there isn't going to be a Sunday with us.

Yeah. And Brian said that triggered him. And at that moment, he jumped onto her bed, straddled her. Oh, my God. And began strangling her. She fought back. She kicked him. She begged him.

She said, think of my baby. Oh, God. She bit him on his hand, which caused them to fall off the bed together. And then once they were on the floor, he continued strangling her until she was dead. Oh, my God. Mm-hmm. He said,

I think it happened really fast. I think it only took a couple of minutes, is what he told the detective. And then the detective said, OK, what happened next? Yeah, because she wasn't found on the floor. She was she was found she was found on the floor. Oh, in a bed that he had made her. He put her head on a pillow. He put a blanket over her, but she was on the floor and she was naked. And so Brian very calmly told the detective that after

he'd strangled her to death, he wanted to know what she looked like naked. Oh my God. And so he took her clothes off and he raped her. Oh my God. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yep. And then he made that little bed for her. And then he slept that night in the bathtub. And then he thought about what he'd done and he decided he would die by suicide. So he tried a couple of things that were in the hotel room. He tried to use a corkscrew. He tried to use a knife, but they were both too dull.

And so the next morning he got up and he drove to a nearby park that had like a bay. And he said he swam out in the bay as far as he could get and he tried to drown himself. But he said, I was panicking and I couldn't do it. And the detective said, you realize that life was still worth living. And Brian said, yep. So I got back in my car and I went to the gas station and I called the police. Oh, my God. And so the detective was like, OK.

And he said, you know, have you ever done this before? Have you ever harmed someone before? Have you ever done anything of this nature before? before and brian said once he tied up his ex-girlfriend so that he could get her to listen to him and they could have a conversation but she'd never reported it he'd never been charged with anything yeah yeah just tied her up to have a conversation just to have a real calm conversation yeah this dude for sure is a rapist oh you don't just you just yeah no this is not like a oops first time thing murdered someone and raped them yeah so then the detective was like, OK, so, you know, tell me more about like your reasoning behind doing this. And he's like, I didn't want to go back home and be alone. And the detective said, OK, you didn't you didn't want to be alone.

Well, you're not really going to find reasoning. Well, exactly. I think he's looking for motive where you're not going to. Yeah, you're not going to find a reason. You're not going to be alone. Well, you're not really going to find reasoning. Well, exactly. I think he's looking for motive where you're not going to, yeah, you're not going to find reason. You're not going to find motive. And so the detective was like, okay, so you were upset that you weren't going to be friends anymore. You weren't going to have any friendship anymore. Did you mean to kill her?

And Brian said yes. Wow. friendship anymore. Did you mean to kill her? And Brian said yes. Wow. I can't believe he. To me, the most shocking part is that he's admitting to all of this. I agree. Yeah. So Brian Cooper was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree intentional intentional homicide and third-degree sexual assault of a corpse.

And he pled not guilty. Yeah. Okay. So 10 months later, his trial began. And the prosecution had a slam-dunk case. Well, yeah. So 10 months later, his trial began. And the prosecution had a slam dunk case. Well, yeah. They had his confession.

They were able to show the jury that Brian was obsessed with Alicia. Beyond anything that we've heard at this point. Really? Mm-hmm. Police found videos of Alicia on Brian's computer. He had hidden cameras installed at his home. And so those times that he'd send her to his house to walk his dogs. He had hidden cameras set up in his bathroom. Oh, gross.

Yes, he had all kinds of recordings of her going to the bathroom. He'd even brought one of those hidden cameras to the hotel in Wisconsin and set it up in the bathroom. He had footage of her getting in and out of the shower. Oh, my God. Oh, this is sick. Yep. Yeah. Friends and coworkers testified that Alicia believed that if she didn't go to that wedding, she would lose her job. The whole reason that she went was to keep her job.

He'd previously threatened to cut her hours if she didn't do what he wanted, if she was rude to him. Yeah. Rude in air rude to him. Yeah. Rude in air quotes. Yes. Yeah. And then it was the defense's turn. And they argued that Brian should be found not guilty due to voluntary intoxication. What?

Mm-hmm. Brian was too drunk to know what he was doing. Well, that's not true. He couldn't form intent. That's right. But this was part of a pattern. I mean, he'd tied up an ex before. Yeah, but he'd never murdered an ex.

Okay. And he was too drunk to have criminal intent. And so they had some people testify about how much he had had to drink at the wedding. And Brian took the stand in his own defense. All right. Here we go. And he talked about how much he drank and he talked about his state of mind and how, you know, it only made sense to him at the time because he was so drunk. Mm-hmm.

And that if he wasn't drunk, he wouldn't have done that. Never would have murdered her. He wouldn't have done that. Never would have murdered her. I'll never forget the time you drank all that fireball. And murdered someone. And murdered all those people. Yeah.

Yeah. The prosecution told the jury that this defense made no sense because he'd confessed the crime and he'd been able to do so in great detail. If he was so drunk that he couldn't form intent, how could he remember every little detail from that night? Testimony lasted about five days. And then the case was handed to the jury. And they deadlocked. What? They found him guilty on the third degree sexual abuse of a corpse.

And they deadlocked on the two charges of first degree murder. Okay, okay. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I've got to know more. So Brian, white guy. Mm-hmm. Alicia, white woman? White woman.

Huh. He also, I don't know if this helps you, but he has a real douchey chin strap. Ew, of course he does. Yeah. Real douchey chin strap beard. Well, they should have found him guilty just for that alone. What? Okay, so the jury was split 10 to 2.

The two holdouts were... What? Women. Really? That is shocking to me. They believed the voluntary intoxication defense. Ugh. What the fuck?

Yeah. Alicia's mom, Sherry, was... Did they talk at all about their logic or were there no juror interviews? I didn't find any juror interviews. All that I found was that I mentioned was that it was two women who were the holdouts. Yeah, you've got to wonder what the logic was there.

Yeah. Yeah. Fuck. Yeah, Sherry said she couldn't believe it. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck. Yeah. Sherry said she couldn't believe it. She left the courtroom as soon as they said they were deadlocked. She just couldn't be in there. She couldn't hear it.

So on those two charges, a mistrial was declared. But the conviction on the third degree abuse of a corpse, that stood. degree abuse of a corpse that would that stood and so another trial was scheduled but it would be like another year before they got in court for those for the to redo the murder phase of this trial and in the meantime sherry was like i can't i can't let this happen to anybody else. This should not be a law. This shouldn't be a possible defense. Yeah. That you wouldn't have to take responsibility for your actions.

Mm-hmm. And so she lobbied to get voluntary intoxication taken off the books. Wow. And it worked. It got banished from the books in Wisconsin and 31 states, other states, thanks to her lobbying. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, that's a ridiculous defense.

Well, it certainly is. Yeah. I can't be held responsible because I was drunk. I can't form intent because I was drunk. I guess you could get away with drunk driving. Yeah. Absolutely.

Yeah. However, removing the law is not retroactive so he still gets to use that as a defense in his second trial. And so a year later, second trial happens. It's a carbon copy of the first. You know, every all the same people testify. All the same evidence was presented.

The 9-1-1 call confession. The interview with Detective Winkle was played. Was it the same as the first? It was the same, yeah. First verse, same as the... Whatever. I can never get that right. You can't.

You've tried it like every time. Third verse, same as the first. That's what it is. There she is. This time, the jury returned a verdict within an hour. And they found

Brian Cooper guilty. Yeah, of course. Of both charges of murder. Brian Cooper was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison. Sherry wasn't done. All right, Sherry.

She thought someone needed to be held accountable for brian's actions did she sue home depot sure fucking hell yes she sure fucking did yeah because those other managers should have done something somebody should have done something there were multiple complaints of course about brian cooper of course there were. About Brian Cooper. Of course there were. Yes. Someone had quit over his antics. Probably multiple people had quit, but there were like documented accounts of somebody quitting because of. It always amazes me when companies do this. They keep the creep.

Yeah. Why? Yep. Yep. So Sherry, acting as an administrator of the estates of Alicia and Alicia's unborn daughter, sued Home Depot, Grand Service LLC and Grand Flower Growers Inc., which are like the sub companies that manage the garden centers. So sued all of them for wrongful death. And she said that they employed a man with a known history of sexually harassing, verbally abusing and physically intimidating his female subordinates. Yep. But the three companies argued that they had no duty to control Brian's behavior outside of the

workplace. They said the murder happened on a personal trip and not on work premises. So they asked for the case to be dismissed. Did it get dismissed? And the district court agreed. But Sherry still wasn't done. She appealed? She appealed!

Okay. Because that's the thing that gets me is it was all tied to the job. If this was some guy who came up to her on the street, she would have said, hell no, I'm not going to that stupid wedding. So on the appeal, the appeals court heard that Brian had a history of harassing female employees. They were able to present this case of this other employee who had made several complaints and then finally left the job when nobody would do anything about it. It was after that person quit

that Brian really set his sights on Alicia and her treatment became so much worse. Multiple people were able to present evidence that they heard Brian make advances on Alicia at work, and when she turned him down, he'd call her a bitch, he'd call her a slut. Oh, my God. How did this guy not get fired?

That's my favorite thing. When you get turned down and you call her a slut. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Mm-hmm. when you get turned down and you call her a slut. Yeah. That's cool. The appeal said that these companies were responsible because his behavior was known to senior management. His behavior had been reported multiple times. Alicia had reported it.

Yep. And they hadn't done shit. And they hadn't done shit. And they hadn't done anything. At one point, after one complaint, he was required by human resources to take anger management classes. And he didn't even complete them. Okay. So, well, then that's even better because that shows that they needed something to happen. Yeah.

And even they didn't follow up on it. Mm-hmm. The appeals court. Come on, appeals court. Cited with Sherry. All right. Kind of. All right.

They said it's not up for the court to decide if Home Depot is responsible for his behavior. It's up for the jury? It's up for a jury to decide. And so they said, yeah, move forward with this case. This needs to go in front of a jury. That ruling came down in 2017, and I found nothing else about this case from then. It is still working its way through the court system.

I hope she gets $11 billion. Same. All right. Same. Through the court system. I hope she gets $11 billion. Same. All right.

Same. Alicia's parents, to honor their daughter and their unborn granddaughter, started the Purple Project. So Alicia's favorite color was purple. Alicia's mom wanted to wear a t-shirt with her face on it, like through all the court proceedings. And it's not allowed. A judge wouldn't allow her to. Can't wear anything with the victim's face on it because it could sway the jury apparently. All right.

And so instead she wore purple to everything. And she had anybody who was coming in support of their family wear purple. And so they started the Purple Project. And each year the organization sponsors a young single mother for the entire first year of their baby's life. They give them financial and emotional support.'s amazing yeah yeah oh i love that absolutely do i get to look up pictures yes but i want to tell you one more thing about this case and then we can look at pictures according to sherry alicia prophesied her death no No way. So I took this directly from a memorial page that's on Facebook that's run by Sherry. It's an Alicia and Ava Bromfield memorial page.

She said, Alicia knew that she wasn't going to live long. A year prior to her death, before she was leaving for college, we were packing her car up. And we took a break. And we sat down in the garage. And she said, Mom, I'm going to die young. And I'm going to die a horrible death. What? Sherry said she told her, don't you ever say that to me.

I could never live without you. But Alicia said she just knew it. She said that she was going to die like a CSI episode and that a Lifetime movie would be made about her death. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's really weird. Yeah. Yeah.

So far, as far as I could see there's no Lifetime movie made about this case. I mean it's perfect for a Lifetime movie. It absolutely is. Oh. And that is the story

of a horrible murder. Yes please look up Alicia Bromfield A-L-I-S-H-A Oh she was so cute. Yeah. Oh God she was so cute. Oh, God, he was such a douche. Yes, he looks like a giant douche. This is the picture of them at the wedding reception.

No, I'm looking at it. Just classic douche. He's got sunglasses on. It's clearly nighttime. Nighttime. And they're indoors. Oh, my God, he looks like a thumb. Yeah.

Gosh, she was so young looking. Oh, my God. Ew, look at him. Brian's sister actually reached out to Sherry following the trial and Brian's conviction and has actually helped do some work for the Purple Project. Oh. Yeah. She said it was really difficult to reach out. She didn't know what the reception would be.

Of course not. Yeah. But yeah, Sherry, they have some kind of relationship now. Brian's sister said it really bothered her in court when Brian refused to take any responsibility for what he'd done. Yeah. And so she felt like she needed to partner with Sherry in some way to make sure that Alicia's memory was kept alive. And thanks to Sherry, that involuntary intoxication defense has been taken off the books in 32 states. Good. Yeah.

Yeah, this picture of the two of them at the wedding, Alicia is like all the way over to one side of a couch and he's like as close as close yeah he's like yeah and this is actually cropped he actually has his hand like reached over too and it is so clear that she's just trying to distance herself as much as possible she's trying to be nice yeah yeah well he's awful yep yeah I've told you it was a horrible murder. Well, you did not lie, Pam. I did not. You told us all the truth. Tell us about balloons, balloons, balloons.

Balloons, balloons, balloons. Brandi, should we start with your story of balloons? It's been a while since you told it. It's been a while. I could tell it again. It's one of my favorite stories. I guess I'll tell it. A brief foray into fetish porn. Yeah, about almost six years ago now, I was getting ready to open my hair salon.

The tanning salon has always been there. And so, like, that part was open for business and I was there just like. That was opened in 1876. 1876, that's right. I can't believe you remember the year. Yeah, yeah. And so, I was, like, setting up the hair salon side and this guy comes in and he's like, hey. And so, the front desk girl, Jenny, and I go up and we talk to him. He's like,

hey, it's my friend's birthday. She's coming in later to tan. I'm doing this thing. I'm going around town to all the places she's going to go today. I'm leaving a balloon for her. So at the end of the day, she's got all these balloons that she's collected from all these places. And then tonight we're going to have a big party. We're calling it balloons, balloons, balloons. tonight we're gonna have a big party we're calling it balloons balloons balloons and we're like oh you know cool yeah and he's like can i can i leave a balloon here for her she's gonna come in this afternoon and we're like oh yeah absolutely sounds like a super fun idea yeah so he's like okay great i'm gonna go out to my car and i am imagining that he's going to bring in like a mylar balloon and so that she has like a nice like balloon bouquet at the end of the day. That's not what he came in with.

Instead, he entered the salon with the largest latex balloon I've ever seen in my life. Like I couldn't reach my hands all the way around it. That had just been blown up with his mouth, evidenced by the amount of spit that was trapped inside of it. Stop it. It was visible spit inside the balloon. Ew, that wasn't spit. Oh, God, Christian! You hadn't considered that, had you?

Oh, I had not. So, we're like, oh, no. This is not what we thought it was clearly not what we thought it was so he brings a balloon and we're like he's like oh where can i put this and we're like oh you know we'll just put it back here out of the way for when your friend gets here and her her name was sherry that's what he told us um and she'd be there around 4 p.m. that day. And so we're like, great, we'll have it here for her. You know, you're, I've got to call you out on this. What?

You're introducing a level of skepticism that I know you would not display when you are first encountered with a story like Balloons, Balloons, Balloons. Oh, no, I loved it. You're an enthusiastic person. I loved the story until he came in with the giant latex balloon. You weren't a little excited about the story? No, no. As soon as I saw the balloon, I was like, this is not good.

Danger, Will Robinson. And so then I politely was like, yeah, let me just set it back here out of the way. And he's like, oh, not so fast there fast there missy let's get a picture of you guys holding the balloon you know i'm gonna make like a i'm gonna make like a bulletin board of all the balloons that i dropped off today for the party tonight he said you're not gonna believe this i got 60 of these balloons blown up in my basement right now and so i bet you do sir so jim Jimmy and I were like, okay, great. Yeah, no problem.

And so we held the balloon between us. And then this man pulled a digital camera from his pocket. And I just knew at that moment that this was so much worse than I initially thought it was. And so we're holding the balloon, smiling politely. And he's like, come on, girls, really just hug the balloon, hug the balloon. Oh, my God. So we did. He took a couple pictures and he left and nobody ever came to get that balloon. And that's the story of how my picture ended up on that latex fetish website. Balloons, balloons, balloons. Balloons, balloons, balloons.

Oh, it's so weird. It's so weird. This is the problem with having a business where just anybody can walk in and breathe. That's right. I hope you've learned a thing or two. Ew. That was gross. Okay.

Well, you ready for the ultimate balloon story? Yeah. First of all, do you know anything about this? No. You know nothing about Balloon Fest 86? I know nothing about Balloon Fest 86? I know nothing about it. I was, when did it happen in 86? Because, you know, I was born in 86.

I do know that. Yeah. Was I alive when this happened? You were alive. How alive was I? Pretty alive. Okay, great. You were out on your own breathing i was okay great

okay shout outs to uh there's a short film i mean it calls itself a short film it's literally seven minutes long it's called balloon fest okay helpful. Also reporting from Fox8.com. And UltimateClassicRock.com also had a great article on this. Ultimate Classic Rock? Was this a concert? Was there music involved in this Balloon Fest? Well, I'm sure they played music. Oh, okay.

Can you hold on for a second? Keep my pants on? Yeah, if you will. I guess. I know you like to take your pants off around balloons because that's your thing. I do have to start off with an apology and an explanation. What's that face for? What are you apologizing for?

Okay, I have wanted to cover Balloon Fest 86 for like three and a half years. Like I remember we only had like a few episodes and I found out about Balloon Fest and I wanted to cover it. And I started to cover it several times. But every time I stopped myself because there are like two tiny scraps of court stuff in this entire story. Oh, yeah. But yesterday, as I was preparing for today's episode, I was like, God, I want to talk about Balloon Fest. Yeah. I want to talk about it so bad.

So I decided, you know what? I'm doing it. And yeah, other people may have only found two little sentences about the court stuff. But I. Found three. I'll find more. And then they didn't exist? Nope. And yeah, other people may have only found two little sentences about the court stuff, but I... Found three. I'll find more. And then they didn't exist? Nope.

Yeah. I'm sure they exist somewhere. Yeah. But I wrote up the whole damn thing and then I could barely find anything. That's funny. So, you know... What is this, a court podcast? Exactly.

Not today. Well, you know, you court podcast? Exactly. Not today. Well, you know, you did some heavy lifting. There were two trials and a civil suit and a law change in mine. Court stuff covered. Go balls to the wall on your balloons here. Here we go. Picture it. 1986, Cleveland, Ohio.

Great year. Cleveland had a bit of a chip on its shoulder. The city had been dubbed the mistake on the lake. Oh, I always heard Cleveland rocks. I know. Drew Carey did a lot for that city. Right. No, but isn't that rude as hell?

That's super rude, yes. The mistake on the lake. Yeah. I would submit that only people from Cleveland are allowed to say that. Oh, yeah. I'll be the first to admit. People from outside Kansas City talk shit about Kansas City. You punch all of them in the face.

Yeah. Yeah. And insult their mothers. Yeah. We actually, David and I were just talking about this last night. We were watching the Royals game. The Royals are playing the Cardinals in St. Louis right now. Albert Pujols plays for the Cardinals, but he's from Kansas City.

He talks shit about Kansas City all the time. Fuck you, Pujols. Exactly. That's exactly what David said. Yeah. Not okay. Not okay. He's just mad because he's in St. Louis.

Right. I'd be mad too. Boom! Okay, I love how I just said you can't talk shit about other cities. Yeah. And then I took a big dump on that arm. That's right. All right.

Directly on top. Which way would it slide? We don't know. That's why we have to do it. For science! on top. Which way would it slide? We don't know. That's why we have to do it. For science!

So, cool things were happening in Cleveland Brandy. Earlier that year, the city had landed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was going to say they have the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame there, but I didn't know when it was built. It was brand spanking new. Okay, great! That year, 86. Yeah, I was born the same year I was.

Boy, you are really factoring into this story a lot more than I anticipated. They were a city to watch. They were a city on the rise. If they just played their cards right, Cleveland would become a destination city. New York, L.A., Cleveland. Well, apparently they didn't because any day now, Brandi. The people of Cleveland knew just how to put themselves on the map. They needed to do something big, something bold, something that would land them in the Guinness Book of World Records. Okay, you remember the Guinness Book of World Records?

That was like a big – I love the Guinness Book of World Records. I know, I know. I had multiple volumes. Don't brag to us. But no, it was a big deal. Yeah. I was always very into the people who had like the longest nails.

Oh, that's so gross. Yeah, how it would curl. And the longest hair. Longest beard. Yeah. Yeah. I loved that shit. How about the biggest simultaneous balloon launch?

Wow, I really stumbled over that. I'm not interested in that, but I would be interested in the biggest simultaneous balloon launch. I'm not interested in that, but I would be interested in the biggest simultaneous balloon launch. That was so shitty. Fuck you, poo holes. So it's a little tough to figure out exactly who can be credited with or blamed for this idea. In one article, this guy who became the project manager for the balloon launch said that there was a guy working at the Cleveland branch of the United Way and it was his idea. Regardless of whose idea it was, people loved it. And that was a good thing because this was no small feat.

You see, in order to set the record. How big were they? They were like a size 10 in women's. Maybe an 11. Depending on the shoe. Yeah. Huge. Huge.

Huge. Not small, like a nine. You know, a nine is like really delicate. Dainty. Kind of sexy. Yeah, super sexy. You get into the tens, the elevens. Woo!

Shoe doggies. There. There. You think you're the only bitch in this room? I'll just prove you wrong. In order to set the record for the biggest simultaneous balloon launch, which I just said perfectly, so suck it, they would have to beat the current record holder. And that belonged to Disneyland. Oh, those fuckers at Disney, huh?

Those fuckers at Disney were so smug with their balloon launches. Happiest place on earth, my ass. Welcome to Cleveland, motherfuckers. Yeah, you ever heard of Cleveland? In 1985, Disneyland had celebrated their 30th anniversary by simultaneously releasing one million balloons. Oh, fuck, that's a lot of balloons. One million? How many did you think?

I mean, I don't know. Okay, but how are they doing that? I'm sorry. That was like the best. Oh, fuck, that's a lot of balloons. It is. It's called Balloon Fest. What did you think?

I don't know. Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of balloons. I don't know. What's the environmental impact of releasing a million balloons at a time? What? Yeah. This was 1986. The environment had not been invented yet.

Literally no one was asking that question. So Cleveland had to do it better, and they had to do it bigger. And boy, did they. They hired some of the people who'd worked on that Disneyland balloon launch, including Treb Henning. Oh, Treb Henning, you say. Henning. Oh, Treb Henning, you say. Henning. Oh, Treb. Oh, yeah.

Treb Henning, a.k.a. the Balloon Man, a.k.a. the Confetti King. The Balloon Meister? I just told you what his two nicknames were. Treb got his start in ballooning when he was 15. What's Treb short for? I have no idea. I love the idea that it's not short for anything. Yeah. He got a summer job at Disneyland.

Trebulin. What? Yeah. Why does that sound familiar? Well, because there's that Pyke's Peak guy. Zebulon. That's not where my mind was going. Okay.

Who knows where my mind was going? Probably somewhere smart. Okay, so he got his start in ballooning when he was 15. I bet he did. Trev, fun fact, was the guy who went to your salon that day. He got a summer job at Disneyland where he sold balloons. I don't think you can open that computer anymore, Christy. Why are you so critical about how far I like to push back the little lid on my laptop?

I like to just glance at it like it's like a teleprompter. Yeah, I'm delivering a speech. A keynote speech. Mm-hmm. I apologize. And you are the ungrateful listener. I am. I apologize.

There's so much you could learn from Balloon Fest, but will you learn a thing? No. I apologize. Okay, Treb got his start in ballooning when he was but 15 years of age. A young boy. Yes. When I was a young boy. See now.

My father got me into ballooning. Now I go to salons. I say it's for a party, but it's not. Balloons, balloons, balloons. Okay. Good thing we think we're funny. okay good thing we think we're funny you know he got that summer job at disneyland where he sold balloons and some might say that that summer he found his passion the hot july moon saw everything Saw July moon. Saw everything. Are you seeing? First taste of love.

Are you seeing Dina Carter at us? Oh, bittersweet. Strawberry wine? Green on the mind. Like strawberry wine. I made a mistake of looking into your eyes when I said that first line. If I hadn't have done that, I could have got it. You know, I'm just, you know, I felt like that was the perfect song for capturing passion at a young age.

Yeah. Why? What's that song about? Anyway, the fields have grown over now years since they've seen the plow. But the important thing is Treb Henning knows balloons. Brandy, the man can inflate and tie more than a thousand balloons in an hour. Jesus. I know.

You look disgusted. Is he used in a machine? He's not blowing those up with his lungs. I mean, I think he is. No, he can't be, right? Wait, no. They've got to be helium balloons because they're releasing. Well, no.

You know what? The article didn't say, but I'm just – because there are a lot of articles about this man. Yeah. Because he got caught going around – To slots. Dropping balloons off. So when you're planning the world's biggest simultaneous balloon release, who you gonna call? Travannik!

Wow, this is a lot of songs. And that's what they did. For six months, the Cleveland United Way worked with the city to organize the balloon release to end all balloon releases. How many are they going to release? You think I'm not going to cover that? That would be hilarious. Oh, gee, I don't know. But I want to know now.

If you don't stop interrupting me, you know what I'm going to do? What? I'm going to take out a balloon that I've filled with my own lungs, and I'm going to pop it right in front of you. Oh, that'd be terrible. Just get all over me. Yeah, you would hate it. I sure would. So you think about that the next time you're going to rudely interrupt me. I won't interrupt you anymore.

They called it Balloon Fest 86. They decided that for their Balloon Fest, they'd knock Disneyland out of the water. Suck it, Mickey. Eat a dick, Pluto. They'd release... You can't say eat a dick, Pluto. No.

They'd release 2 million balloons. I knew it. They'd do it twice as big. How do you do that, though, Brandi? What do you think? I don't know. I mean, logistically. That's what I was going to say.

Logistically. How do you release 2 million balloons at once? Seems pretty difficult, huh? Yeah. You get 2 million people. Each person holds one balloon. No, you get one million people. Each person holds two balloons.

I instantly improved my plan. I mean, but how many people do you think want to participate in this, though, right? A million easy. There are people there that are sad they don't get to release a bullet. They'll be like, I heard it was going to be two million and everybody just had one bullet. Then at the last minute,

they changed it so they began brainstorming I'm sure they started off with Brandy's idea but they did move it along a bit they ultimately decided that in order to bring in a lot of people and really make this an event to remember, they'd hold the Balloon Fest in Cleveland's Public Square. They'd have thousands of volunteers, mostly students, come to fill the balloons. Okay.

They'd work for hours filling those balloons. And they'd do it all in an enclosed outdoor area so that when they filled a balloon, it would float up into a net that was tethered overhead. The gigantic net would hang in the sky, collecting all the balloons. That's a terrible idea. What's wrong? The net's gonna get loose. That's the bad thing? The net will get loose and release balloons? The balloons are still trapped,

but the net's swinging from side to side. Let me tell you something about this net. It can withstand winds up to 90 miles per hour. That's a strong-ass wind. Okay. And it's as big as a city block, because it has to be.

Yeah. And you know what? They made it happen, Captain. People really came together for this event. A million people wanted to come easy, but it turned out they only needed like, you know, like 100,000. needed like you know like like a hundred thousand it was a huge

PR stunt you think I'm overestimating people how much people like I think you're way overestimating I think you're way overestimating. A million easy. Oh, my God. I'm getting so high.

So this was a massive fundraiser for the United Way of Cleveland. On the morning of September 27th, 1986, 2,500 volunteers spent all morning spent all morning filling up balloons with helium and releasing them into the gigantic net in the sky. Incredible that there were only 2,500 volunteers but more than a hundred thousand people showed up to watch.

We'll see. Mm-hmm. They don't even get to hold a bullet. They're just watching. They're just watching. So to clarify, your position is that a million, maybe millions, would show up to hold a balloon and release a balloon.

But if it's just a watch, fuck off. That's right. Eat a dick, Pluto. That's right. Local media covered the shit out of this event. How is the net secured? eat a dick Pluto that's right local media covered the shit out of this event how is the net secured

um they've got four little men on either in retrospect they should have used big men Now what I'm understanding is like This was like a big structure So it was like gated around

And like you know And the men were strapped down Real tight And they were scared But it was for a good cause down real tight. And they were scared, but it was for a good cause. It was a Guinness Book of World Records. They're for very anti-Disney men.

They were the original people who were like, fuck Disney adults. Local media covered the shit out of this event. It was a sight to be seen. They didn't quite reach their goal of two million balloons, but that was okay. They got to almost one and a half million balloons, which was more than enough to set the world record. What? They missed their goal by half a million?

Well, you set a stretch goal, and then once you realize how many, do you know what 1.5 million is? No, I can't even imagine what one million balloons, I was shocked as shit when that's how much Disney let off. But now you're outraged. Well, yeah, you can't be like, we're going to do it. Twice as good. We'll get two million balloons and then pull up half a mil short. Turns out we're only 1.37 times as good as Disney.

Once I show you some pictures of this thing, you're just going to... I have no doubt that that is a lot of balloons. Yeah. None. But, okay, I assume they bought two million balloons. Well, yeah, probably. What did they do with the other 600,000, let's say? I think Treb is still using them to this day, going around to different salons all over the country.

That's what I've heard anyway. What have you heard? Nothing. I should probably pause here because these days I think we all know that balloon releases are really bad for the environment. It's interesting to read what people thought was going to happen to all these balloons. What did they think? They thought they were going to go to space? Did people think the balloons were going to go to space?

One source said that everyone thought that the balloons would float and float and float, and then they get to a certain point and they just disintegrate. What? Magically. Another source said that people thought that the balloons would float and float and float, and at some point they'd just deflate and come back down to Earth. Okay. The bottom line is that everyone was really focused on how cool this was going to be

and not focused at all on how things might go wrong. Mm-hmm. Speaking of things going wrong, the weather in Cleveland on September 27, 1986, was not great. There was a storm headed for the city, and there were going to be really strong winds. Like, really strong winds. But the net can withstand up to 90 mile per hour winds. So we're all set. Right.

There's no problems. There'd also be quite a bit of rain. That's that's going to be a problem. So the organizers decided that they would launch the balloons 14 minutes early to avoid the bad weather. That'll do it. Crisis. Crisis. It's a classic case of the six Ps. The six Ps?

Prior proper planning prevents poor performance, Brandy. Oh! Prior proper planning prevents poor performance, Brandy. Oh! That day, the public square was abuzz with energy. There were balloons everywhere. Volunteers had bandages on the tips of all their fingers from tying so many balloons. That's not an exaggeration.

They really did. Really? Well, yeah. I mean, they're tied and tied. I assume they were doing those little thingies that you just pop on the end. No. I'm sure that's pretty expensive. It probably is. Yeah.

They've got 1.5 million of these fuckers. Well, they shouldn't have bought so many balloons that they were going to crap out at 1.5 million. Wow. Never tell Brandy your stretch goal. Thought you were going to Harvard. Now you're going to Penn State? Idiot. Hundreds of thousands of brightly colored balloons filled the big net in the sky.

It was incredible. It was like a gigantic upside-down ball pit. There's a ton of great footage from this event because so many local news outlets came out to cover it. I'm sure we're all familiar with the show Big Chuck and Lil Jon. It's my favorite program. Yep. It ran on a Cleveland TV station from 1963 to 2008. Wow.

Yep. Big Chuck and Lil Jon? Yep. And they did an excellent job covering this event. They were there, on the scene, covering it live for any loser who couldn't be there in person. Lil Jon, in particular,

appreciated the gravity of the event. He was like, okay! He said, ladies and gentlemen, live from downtown Cleveland, it's Big Chuck and Lil Jon in front of the biggest happening around. Ooh, he is excited. I mean, he did a great job. At one point, Little John and Big Chuck were interviewing our boy Treb.

And it seems to me that throughout this interview, Treb seems a little distracted. He's worried about the conditions. Oh, I don't know. I'm just going to give you the transcript. You tell me, okay? Okay, great. Treb, it's something that's been in the planning stages since March of this year. So a lot of technical research and research through the city permits, it's endless. It's absolutely astonishing to try and get something like this off, let alone waiting for good weather.

He looks, I mean, if he's doing that glancing thing that you're doing, I think he looks real worried. Lil Jon. So this is a big plus for Cleveland. Did he say, don't let the name fool you? In real life, I'm very big. I am so impressed by your ability to do two different Lil Jon jokes in the span of two minutes. Well done.

Trep. Oh, it's something that, you know, they predicted 70 percent chance of showers today. And I think this is a prime example of what United Way is trying to do in terms of saying, Cleveland, it's your time. It's time to say yes. It's time to say this is a happening city. We are on the move. It's no longer the butt of jokes or anything. I've been in this city for six months and I absolutely love it. My wife and I have even talked of moving here. And our friends in L.A. think we're nuts.

But it's a wonderful place. If I had money to invest, this is where I'd be investing it. In the city of Cleveland? Yeah, bullshit. Blow it out your ass, Treb. I hate this condescending bullshit. My friends in L.A. think we're nuts because your town's so shitty. But I've been here for six months and you know what?

I love it. Yeah, let me know when you come back. Yeah, all right. But yeah, you've been paid to be here for six months. My friends in L.A. can't believe that I've been in this shithole for six months. Big Chuck and Lil Jon thanked Treb, and someone, it sounded like Treb, said, Now we were just talking. But then he gets cut off by the crowd shouting,

Crowd shouting, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Woo! And with that, the netting came loose. Without Treb? Well, they did it 14 minutes early, so I think maybe people weren't totally prepared. Well, I think Treb should be prepared. Shouldn't Treb be being the one who says go? Treb?

Well, no, Treb's just the guy, the expert. You know, they probably had, like, the mayor do it or the United Way person. Okay. Yeah, they might do, like, the ceremonial go, but, like, somebody behind the logistics has to be the one who says go. The official go. Oh, come on. How hard can it be to tell one of those little guys, okay, untie that knot around your pants? So the netting comes loose. And what's the plan with the netting?

Where does it go? comes loose. And what's the plan with the netting? Where does it go? What's your concern about the netting? Is it going to fall on people? I don't know. Are they going to get trapped under it? I don't know. Okay. This is how Treb

got trapped in Cleveland. Yeah. The balloons. 1.5 million of them, but not 2 million, were set free. It was wild. The balloons came out of the netting and rose in the air, almost like a creature. They engulfed the terminal tower. The crowd went nuts. Little John shouted into his microphone,

The Guinness Book of World Records has just been broken in Cleveland! Over 1,500,000 balloons going up in the air at this very, very moment! Look at the giant billows! We did it! Oh, look at that! I want to sing up, up, and away! It is awesome, ladies and gentlemen, to actually be down here and see the multicolors

that are going up in the air at this very moment! Ladies and gentlemen, there is no mistake on the lake anymore! Cleveland has now broken the Guinness Book of World Records! As the balloons rose, the crowd shouted, Cleveland! Cleveland! Cleveland! Amazing. But all that joy was short-lived.

What happened? Because the netting fell down. Are you fucking with me right now? All those kids stopped complaining about the band-aids on their sinkies because they were trapped under that net. Stop it. It's amazing no one's heard of this story. They were like, in retrospect, it's a good thing it wasn't a million people all holding two balloons. That's right. It started to rain.

And a cold front came in. Okay. Don't look up anything right now. I'm just going to show you some photos of the balloon release. Yeah, show me. So you can see how incredible. Show me. I'm just going to show you some photos of the balloon release. Yeah, show me. So you can see how incredible. Show me. I want to see. The meaning of being lonely.

Okay. Show me the balloons. It's fucking cool. Yeah. It almost looks like an explosion. It does. Like a balloon explosion. Balloons, balloons, balloons. That's cool. Seeoons, balloons, balloons.

That's cool. See the big netting thing? Yeah. See those four guys on either side? No. There's no four guys there. And she was lying about the four guys. Yeah.

I just checked it out. So, you've seen how cool it is. Yeah, what happened to that? Can you describe it? Yeah, I mean, it looks like a balloon explosion. It is. It's coming up and billowing out. It looks like a big balloon cloud.

Yeah, it's cool as shit. Super cool. Don't worry about the environment. It's cool. But all that joy was short-lived. What happened? It started to rain. And a cold front came in.

Did I already say that part? Yeah. I was like, what? And so the one and a half million balloons descended while they were still inflated. There were balloons everywhere. The balloons were very distracting to drivers. Yeah. And so people got into car accidents.

Burke Lakefront Airport had to shut down due to balloons on the runway. Oh my gosh! The balloons floated and floated and floated, not too far off the ground. A bunch of them floated over to Medina County, Ohio, and they landed on Linda Nowakowski's pasture, where they scared the shit out of her very fancy Arabian horses. The horses freaked out and injured themselves. Wow. Yeah.

But it gets worse. Oh, okay, great. Because most of the balloons landed on Lake Erie. Here's why that was bad. The day before Balloon Fest 86, Raymond Broderick and Bernard Sulzer went out fishing on Lake Erie, and they didn't come home. So their families reported them missing, and of course the Coast Guard went out to look for them, and that morning the Coast Guard discovered the men's fishing boat. But not the men? Right. There were life jackets inside the boat, a hat, some fishing gear, but Raymond and Bernard were nowhere to be found.

Where'd they go? Well, I mean Where'd they go? Well, I mean... Did they drown? They fall overboard? Yeah, so the hope is that they're still alive out there. Okay. So they got a helicopter going to look for the men and they... Oh my God, now there's balloons everywhere.

They can't search for them. They can't even fly the helicopter. Not yet. There aren't balloons yet. Okay, wait. All right, I'm getting ahead of myself. Sorry. I know how much balloons excite you.

I get very excited at balloons. That's why you invited Trev in. That's right. To the salon. And you said. Stop it. You said, I need you to tell Jenny some weird story. Hey, can you send me the link to that photo?

Stop it. So they got a helicopter going to look for the men, and they got in their little coasty boats to look for the men. And who knows? They might have found them. But then Balloon Fest happened. All those balloons made it impossible to fly the helicopter, so they had to land it. And perhaps even worse, a ton of balloons landed on the water.

It's estimated that 60% of the balloons landed on the lake. Oh my gosh. And that made it damn near impossible to look for the men. Because rescue workers are used to looking out on the water trying to see someone's head or maybe someone's orange life jacket. Yeah, now they got balloons fucking everywhere. And from a distance, and not even a very far distance, balloons just look like heads and life jackets. Yeah. I mean, the footage from that is wild.

One of the Coast Guard guys out there was like, this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Finally, on September 29th, two days after Balloon Fest, the Coast Guard had to suspend their search. And later that day, both men's bodies washed ashore. The wife of one of the men sued the United Way of Cleveland and Balloon Fest's organizers for $3.2 million. They settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Great. Love to hear that. Linda Nowakowski.

Linda Nowakowski. Linda Nowakowski. Linda Nowakowski. Linda Noakowski. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. There you go. Patty, please leave in all of my attempts. Who owned those fancy horses also sued United Way for $100,000.

And that lawsuit was also settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. And I don't know about you, but I'm sick of court stuff at this point. That's it, yeah. Woo! Woo! You had all the court stuff I can handle. So this event was a giant, well-intentioned fuck-up. Yeah.

And it was so bad that after Balloon Fest of 86, the Guinness Book of World Records stopped recording simultaneous balloon launches. Well, yeah. It was truly the Balloon Fest to end all Balloon Fests. By the way, if you're wondering if this event damaged Treb Henning's reputation, the answer is no. I found an article on him from 2011, and according to that piece, he's done the balloons for 16 Super Bowls and every Republican national convention since 1988. He wants you to know that he did not participate in the disastrous 2004 ceremony where John Kerry accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president and the balloons just like stayed up in the ceiling. Everybody heard about that. I mean, I'm sure that was a real scandal in the balloon world.

But in 2011 to be like, I've done this, this, but hey. Was not involved in any way. You know where I wasn't in the balloon disaster of 2004. Now, Balloon Fest 86. Yeah, that was me. I was your guy, okay? Had to sell that condo in Cleveland afterwards. Also, you know, on New Year's Eve in Times Square, the ball drops and confetti just boom everywhere?

Apparently that's the work of our boy Treb. Treb Henning does that too? Yeah. I found that out from a press release that looks like it was put out by himself. So. Yeah, I think that tracks. I was going to shit on that more. But when we first started this podcast and we got a hundred reviews.

Oh, yeah. I wrote a press release for us. That no one picked up. Must have gotten lost in the spam folder yes uh-huh so brandy as you know i'm a big fan of local reporting and i think that the local reporting on this event is really special because unlike some of the bigger national publications as a local journalist you're more likely to dunk on your own city or on people oh I'm sorry I'm totally reading this wrong start it over 1986 as a journalist you're much less likely to dunk on your own city or on people who might need a source. Or on people who you might need as a source in the future.

So last year, Suzanne Stratford. Oh, no, I scrolled too far in my script. Suzanne, for the local Fox affiliate, did a piece about Balloon Fest's 35th year anniversary. Sorry. I don't know why I paused. I don't think you had to put year in there. Yeah, I think that's what threw me off. It's either the 35th year anniversary or the 35th anniversary. There you go.

Thank you very much. You're welcome. She covered what a disaster it had been, but she ended on a positive note. And that's how I'd like to end this story, too, my dear. Here's what she wrote. Over the years, there have been many documentaries on the subject and concerns over the environmental impact of the event. But some of those who witnessed it try to remember the positive aspects, too. David Moss said, one thing you can say about Cleveland, they are always creative. Doesn't

always work out, but it's a creative city. Okay, David Moss. And that's the story of Balloon Fest 86. Oh, I loved it. I loved it so much. Oh, I'm sorry. I know that was probably not really the case for this podcast, but I love Balloon Fest. Yes. I love well-intentioned stuff. I thought it was going to be like a hot air balloon thing when you said Balloon Fest. Oh.

You got any of those lined up? I don't have any lined up. would you go on a hot air balloon ride um i would the thing is like norman would never so i'm like who would i go with you want to have a romantic hot air balloon ride with me yeah you know the other thing I'm thinking is, like, it's probably super expensive to go just as a couple. Yeah, I think it is. So it'd probably be one of those things where it's like you're in a group. Yeah.

But then it's always super awkward because you want to have, like, a romantic moment up there. Yeah. With your long-term friend. But then, like, Laverne and Shirley are in the other corner of the balloon fest thing. It's a basket. Basket. The other corner of the basket.

Anyway. Also, I wonder about like what kind of numiversity do you have to go to to learn how to – I don't know. No. No university like, you know, to operate one of those things. Seems like it could go real wrong real fast oh I think it can and I think it does

am I sensing a theme for next week's episode balloons balloons balloons what should we do now Kristen I think we ought to head on over into the discord and see what questionies are. God, I hate that I said that. Questionies.

I hate that. No, from Chef Boyardee. Anyway, I'm. It's like SpaghettiOs, but they're just questions. What? Anyway, let's all forget I said that. You know, you can get even more of us by signing up for our Patreon. And at the $5 level, you get all of our bonus episodes. Plus, you get into the Discord. At the higher levels of our Patreon, you get all that.

Plus, you get a monthly Zoom call. You get a sticker. You get our autographs. You get inducted onto this podcast. Yep. And if you're really, yeah, you've checked out mentally. That's fine. They know it.

I know it. We all know it. I was reading the questions in the Discord. I'm not finished. At the $10 level, that's the Bob Moss level, you get all that stuff I already talked about. Plus, you get your episodes a day early. You get them ad-free. And you get 10% off on merch.

Mm, mm, mm, mm. You said it so well, I didn't need to say anything. Ooh, I feel like this is controversial. Hmm. Hoodies and Flippies asks, when putting dishes in the dishwasher, silverware up or silverware down? Spoons up, everything else down. Oh, why spoons up? Because then it doesn't get as clean.

You know. You know. Yeah, it's in the interest of getting everything cleaned and no one gets their fingies poked. Yeah, but then you have to touch the spoon part to get it out of the dishwasher. If you're doing it wrong, sure. Oh, excuse me. Can't you just like go in a little deeper? I don't know.

Can you? I sure can. Come with me on a balloon ride. What about you? Clearly you don't know how to do it. You know, okay. I go. David does all the dishes.

He does. Wow. He does. I go – David does all the dishes. He does. Wow. He does. But when I do load, I go down.

All of them. It's yell and timber. Yeah. All right. That's right. Frozen Like a Grape wants to know, how calm and cool will you be when you meet Patrick and Jillian at Obsessed Fest? We will not be calm. We will not be cool. We will not be cool.

We will... I'll probably just die inside. I mean, I can see myself just being like, hello, oh, it's so nice to meet you. Yeah. And then, like, if we shake hands, my hands will just be fully wet.

Comrade Kristen wants to know, did you guys ever choreograph a dance with each other as kids? No. What was the song? No, what? So many. Yeah, both of you to assume it was just one song.

And we also wrote our own songs. I bet you didn't know we are artists. We had a whole singing group. Uh-huh. And we invented. Yeah. When we were done impersonating the Spice Girls, which, I mean, it took a while for us to get past that. We also created our own group that tragically never really took off.

And it should surprise no one, and it's so on brand, that we were called the doo-doos. All of our songs were hilarious, and they all involved fart humor. Yes. Exactly right. It is really funny that here we are all these years later. We have not matured. We have not. Ooh, Dilemmas for emma wants to know brandy what's the best and worst parenting advice you've ever gotten i want to

hear the worst oh gosh is the worst parenting advice i'm sure that i've gotten some terrible parenting advice yeah but i think i just let that just slide low no the best parenting advice I've gotten is actually less about the child and more about like as a parent. Like, sure. Yeah. Be kind to yourself. And like, you're not going to get it right every single time, but you're not doing as bad as you tell yourself you're doing. I mean, I feel like you need to extrapolate that for like everything you've got going on. that for like everything you've got going on.

I haven't even heard of this. Peanut Butter on Top asks, have y'all started watching Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO? Oh, yeah. It's not porn, I swear. It's a series written by Mindy Kaling. It's feminist as fuck and super adorable. Yeah. Have you watched it? Yes.

Brandy, I don't have a kid, so I've watched everything six months before you've even heard of it. I'm watching. I'm going to watch this. I haven't heard of it. It sounds wonderful. I love Mindy Kaling.

Yeah. Ooh. NatLikesCats wants to know, why hello? Brandy, have your views on the death penalty changed since the beginning

of the podcast? I've been listening to old episodes and you seem to be more for it than you are now. No judgment either way. I'm personally against it, but I'm interested in hearing your thoughts. Yes. I, yeah, I would say I was never for the death penalty. I was much more undecided than I am now. I am anti-death penalty now. I think over the course of this podcast, you and I have both moved further left. Yes. But we just started at different places.

Yeah, and it's hard to know, like, how much of that is just the political climate, because I think that's a big factor. It is a big part of it. Yeah, it absolutely is. And how much of it is just, like, learning more and more about the criminal justice system. Yeah. Dun-dun. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I think a lot of it can be attributed to learning more about the criminal justice system and how fucking flawed it is. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Now I'm thinking of all the terrible things

that have happened in this world since we started this podcast. I know. Ugh. The world has changed a lot since we started this podcast. You know, I think it's like more stuff has come out.

Like, I never would have thought Donald Trump would be president. And then, like, I think Black Lives Matter really brought a lot of stuff to the forefront that as a white person, I was just like, holy shit, didn't know about this stuff. Yeah, it's just like stuff has come out and yeah but yeah things have changed things have changed yeah I am have now burned all my bras and Brandy

when she's feeling spicy watches a little MSNBC. I'm still very pro Pete. Just for the record. Pro what? Pete. My boy Pete Buttigieg. Oh God, he's so boring.

I love Pete. You and your thin white guys with their button downs. Oh my god. Nothing that I like about Pete has anything to do with his appearance. Okay. Every politician you love all looks the same though. Oh, they do. Yeah, so you tell

me that the appearance doesn't matter, but they're all brown-haired white guys who kind of talk like this. And they're just, they look like they're for the people and they talk common sense. But you dig a little deeper and they're a little bit conservative-er and dupshity-per than I would like. And those are all words. And those are all words. Oh, my gosh.

Someone asked what our karaoke song would be at Obsessed Fest because that's a thing that's happening there. And Tiffany says, I'm hoping to hear a little Christmas Shoes. That's 100% what we should see. Oh, no. No. Brandy, no. I might have to tie you to the bed. Ooh, SealedWithAQueef asks, can you sleep in socks?

I feel like you sleep in socks all the time. I only sleep in socks, yeah. You're naked except for your socks? Oh, that is how that sounded. No, absolutely not. I just, like, I always have socks on. I occasionally will go to sleep with socks on, but I inevitably remove them in the night at some point. And they're just wadded up at the foot of my bed. Interesting.

And you said David likes the look of your feet. Do you think he's doing weird feet stuff to me when I'm sleeping? That's enough. Ooh. MasterBaitin2 Survivor wants to know, Brandy, do you know a dupe for the Clairol Professional iThrive Keratin Rescue Line? Oh my God, that sounds like the coolest thing ever.

No, I've never even heard of that. What if they made it up? Do you know of a dupe for this thing I just made up? No, I mean, I've got a couple of keratin products I like. It's a 10, has a good keratin line. Oh, you're really not as thrilled about this. I worry when people use keratin products. I'm going to be real honest.

You can over-protein your hair. And the symptoms of over-proteined hair are the same as under-proteined hair. And so people don't know they're doing it. So most people, when they're putting that protein on their hair, which carrots and is protein, really just need to be putting moisture in their hair. Use the protein sparingly. This has been my PSA. I had no idea. Yeah.

Okay. I'll quit bulking up my hair with protein. Circle Drive asks, maybe too morbid, but I know people have strong opinions and I want to hear yours. What do you want to happen to your body after you die? after you die. I personally want to be turned into a tree or eaten by wildlife sky burial style because traditional embalming and burial is A, gross,

and B, likely untenable in the long run. Yeah, I love the idea of being turned into a tree. Yeah, I'm into cremation. Yeah. Yeah. I am not into cremation because I saw the movie Scrooged when I was a small child

and a man is being cremated in there and he's still alive and that has traumatized me. Okay. Since I have not seen that movie, I am fine with cremation. Although I assume cremation is probably involved in the turning into a tree. Yeah, I was going to say, how do you think that happens? You just naturally turn into a tree. Or, okay, I get cremated and I get turned into an hourglass and I can be the timer at family game night.

Gross. But, yes, that is, yeah. Honestly, that is very fitting. Uh-huh. Yep. That's a wonderful idea. Yes. I'll never miss a family game night.

Yeah. Because, I mean, you hate to be left out of anything. That's right. Exactly. I've got the worst case of FOMO ever. That's perfect. We've got the perfect thing. Okay.

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. What? Pumpkin Spice, Pump Kim Spice, asks, Would you rather have to get naked every time you poop, no matter where you are? I'm looking at you, Bed Bath & Beyond bag. Or never be able to take your pants off in time and constantly poop your pants? Oh, well, that's the easiest question ever.

I'd get totally naked. Really? Are you serious't yeah i think i would yeah you'd poop i can't believe you're even thinking about this you would poop your pants every time well no oh yeah you're right it would be every time no so no i'm i did make it. You have such a weird thing about getting naked. I'm a never nude. Kristen, I am a never nude. Here's my problem. Immediately, I was like, I have to get nude? Nope, that's not for me.

I'm pooping my pants. Here's the thing. I genuinely thought this whole time we were talking about you being a never nude, I thought it was just a joke. I only recently learned that you're being for real. Yeah, I'm very rarely naked. So, like, when you get out of the shower, how quickly do you grab that towel? Immediately. Like, how close is the towel?

Okay. It is so close that I stack my towels on the toilet before I get in the shower. Hold on. Hold on. Do you pull back the shower curtain or do you reach beyond the shower curtain? I pull back the shower curtain. I grab – I use two towels. Okay.

Okay. Grab the first towel. Wipe my face off because I hate my face being wet. Wrap my hair up with that one and then put the other one around my body. Before I exit the shower. Yeah. You're a strange bird, Brandy. Do you ever just walk around your house naked no i've literally never done that in your life never not even like on a really hot day no no what about sleep naked

i mean obviously the answer is no. Why do I? No. Yeah, huh. All right. You are a never nude. All right, you passed the test. Holden Demankle says, can you guys share your worst rejection stories?

Okay, I've got one for you. You do? Yeah. One time I spent three years writing a book. Ah! And I got an agent, right? Uh-huh.

But then every single publisher was like, this is good. I don't love it. That's my rejection story. You want to know mine? Yeah. One time I was married for 11 years. And then

what happened? You know, I'm going to blame that one on him, though. You're kind of supposed to reject at the beginning. Hold in dim ankle, says Brandy, for the love of all that is holy. I'm begging, please recommend me an anti-dandruff shampoo that is color safe. I can't go without the shampoo but it strips all my color right out please help a colorful hair girl out okay holden demankles is asking

all the good questions um okay oh did we already take a question yeah well do it i mean this is the lurds work yes okay so my first thought is that are you sure you really have dandruff or do you just have dry scalp most people think they have dandruff or do you just have dry scalp most people think they have dandruff and they really just have dry scalp because dandruff isn't actually that common so my recommendation would be to try paul mitchell tea tree shampoo it is color safe and will likely clear up whatever you have going on with your scalp also are you sure you have dandruff or are you just thirsty think on that for a minute that's right fancy scunches i have to agree with brandy that judy blue jeans are the best i have like 30 pairs there's an online boutique called freckled poppy

that's where i get mine okay i'm gonna have to get some oh my these ones are new i just got these ones yesterday. Everyone, she's kicking her legs out so that I can confirm she is indeed wearing pants today. I'm very excited about my jumpsuit. I am super excited about your jumpsuit. Mm-hmm. Because you got one of them long torsos. Yeah.

And you found one in a tall. Found it in a tall online. I don't really like to online shop, though, from, like, places that. I just don't know what size I am. But, you know, I didn't want a camel toe. I knew that. That is a given. So this might be too snug in the hips, but it won't be too snug in the crotch.

Am I right? That's right. Oh, my gosh. Miss E says, listening to an old bonus episode of Norman and Brandy are discussing dissecting their snack foods. I have a theory. This is a Gemini trait. Both my husband and sister are Gemini's and skin chicken nuggets, peel apart wafers. Why are Gemini's like this?

That's exactly how I eat that stuff. You skin chicken nuggets? Oh, yeah. Oh, gross. Not all chicken nuggets. What do you mean not all chicken nuggets? Okay, some of them you can't do that very easily. But like McDonald's chicken nuggets? Yeah, you eat the crispy outside first and then you eat the meat in the inside.

That is nasty. Whatever. That is nasty. Jedi Knight 2010 asks, Brandi, how long have you and Kristen been friends? I've been friends with my best friend for 32 years. We have been friends since we were 11. Yeah. So we have been friends for 12 years.

25 years this year. My gosh. Oh, my gosh. That is so weird. Oh, we're so old. Oh, God. That is crazy. That is crazy. We should have like a 25-year anniversary.

Why am I stumbling over that? A 25-friendiversary party. There we go. Let's do it. We'll get in a balloon, a hot air balloon. Let's do like a friend photo shoot. With like a big 25 balloon. You know what I'm talking about?

I do, but what I would rather do is an engagement shoot. I want you on one side of a tree and me on the other side of a tree. Can we reenact the engagement shoot from Masterminds? Yes. But only if I get to fart into your butt.

Oh, these questions were so good. So good. What do you think? Should we end it there? Yeah. Let's move on to Supreme Court

Inductions. Inductions. This week, we are continuing to read your names and your favorite cookies. I am not where I need to be at all.

So if you could stall, would you sing a song for the people? What you could do is you could get your life in order, okay? You need to think positive thoughts. Get yourself in a power pose. I notice right now you're just kind of hunched over. Power pose it up. You know, we all have the same 24 hours. Everyone, I'm power posing at Brandi right now, and she is intimidated.

Oh, look at you go. See, you do feel different now, don't you? I mean, my arms are kind of tired. What episode is this? Aren't we on 2-11? Yeah, that's what I said. Cassie. My homemade vegan chocolate chip cookies.

Alicia. White chocolate macadamia. Heather Zoltak. White chocolate macadamia. Alexis. Raspberry white chocolate macadamia. I know. It's something in the water.

Kelly Reeves. Oreos. Alison Ernst. Chewy molasses spice cookies. That's a gift to you, Allison. I hope you know you can't return it.

Cinda Allen. Chocolate crinkles. Anna Prindergast. Chocolate chip. Leah. Farmhouse thin and crispy toffee milk chocolate. You'd wanted more. You wanted more after that? I did.

Sasha Atkinson. Hold on, let me say that again. Farmhouse thin and crispy toffee milk chocolate. Sasha Atkinson. Three dog bakery lick and crunch sandwich cookies. Those are for dogs. Sasha, lower the cookie. Bakery Lickin' Crunch Sandwich Cookies. Those are for dogs. Sasha. Lower the cookie.

Those are for dogs. Mandy B. Homemade Oreos with Cream Cheese Frosting. Who's making homemade Oreos? I don't know, but you know. You can buy those at the store. Mandy, did you know that? Christina Alexander.

Cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookie. Not this again. I think it's so good. Allison Richter. Cake mix snickerdoodles. Siobhan Snore-Do-Tier. Leb Guchen. Leb Guchen. Lebkuchen.

Honey gingerbread cookies. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Abby Lord. Ooh, I live dangerously, so raw cookie dough for me. David, don't listen to that. Yeah, David's not going to approve of that at all.

Oh, look at this. Fun. Raw chocolate chip cookie dough. People like it raw. Nope. Kristen. Emma. Black and white cookies.

Deedee. My husband's chocolate chip walnut cookies. But without the chocolate chips. Well, now. That's just a walnut cookie. Deedee, that's just a walnut cookie you got there. All right, Deedee. And you know what we say about Dee Dees on this podcast.

Prime example. Welcome to the Supreme Court. Thank you, everyone, for all of your support. We appreciate it so much. If you're looking for other ways to support us, please find us on social media. We're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Patreon. Please remember to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen and then head on

over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a five star rating and review. Then be sure to join us next week when we'll be experts on two whole new topics. Podcast adjourned! And now for a note about our process. I read a bunch of stuff, then regurgitate it all back up in my very limited vocabulary.

And I copy and paste from the best sources on the web and sometimes Wikipedia. So we owe a huge thank you to the real experts. I got my info from the short film Balloon Fest, as well as reporting from Fox 8 and UltimateClassicRock.com. I got my info from an article from Medium by Kim L. Pasqualini. ChillingCrimes.com, True Crime Daily, and Courthouse News. For a full list of our sources, visit LGTCPodcast.com. Any errors are, of course, ours, but please don't take our word for it. Go. Read their stuff.

Yeah.