Morbid - Listener Tales 86

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

It’s Listener Tales 86 This week’s episode is brought to you by... Dads, coffee cups, and whoppers! We hear about an encounter with big foot, an EVP from a ghost hunt at a cemetery, dreams haunted by a pregnant woman, and the underlying story of the crime that lead to hauntings at the Field farm!If you’ve got a listener tale please send it on over to [e-mail] with “Listener Tales” somewhere in the subject line :) Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is morbid. Hello. We're here. It's quite a week. Oh, man. But we're here. You saw our Instagram post or Twitter post. You know that every single one of Elena's home, every single one of Elena's kids are homesick. Yeah, we are nine days into kindergarten. Yeah, going strong. So far. We're killing it, which I'm

I had a feeling because, you know, we have a pandemic baby. Yeah. Our youngest is a pandemic baby. So her immune system has not been exposed to everything that our twins immune systems were exposed to it by two years old. Right. So we had a feeling and our doctor had told us, you know, this is going to be happening with pandemic babies.

So if you have one, like just be aware, especially if you have older siblings there, they might be fine going to school and getting and, you know, picking something. up like RSV, which is a thing that's out there now. It's a respiratory virus. And they'll bring it home. And they might not have any symptoms because their immune system might be good enough to just like chill it out. Right. But they'll pass it to that pandemic baby because that pandemic baby can't handle it. And then that pandemic baby will pass it back to them in a different form if you don't quarantine, teen them away from each other. Yay. Which is what we did. So they brought it home, passed it to pandemic baby. And then pandemic baby gave it right back to them. And now it's just a

out of when they pass it to us. Which I know I'm going to be the last to get it because... You're always the last one. Because I make sure everybody else is good and then my body allows me to get it. Usually I like stick around and I like play the iPad and I like touch the things. Today I'm just like not in a vibe to get sick. So after this recording I might be dipping. Yeah, she's going to get the hell out of here.

I think I'm just going to run out of here because that last illness... With some Lysol spray. Yeah, I'm literally just kind of like spray a trail of Lysol behind me. Yeah. It's kids, I mean, kids, especially when they're going back to school, it's a real, it's a real game of like roulette here. We just don't know what we're going to get on any given day. Fun. Again, it could be so much worse.

So I will take everybody being just having a nasty cold over anything else. So we'll get through it. We have lots of pediolite, lots of popsicles, lots of iPad time, which is something they don't usually get. So they're like, hell yeah. They're living their best life with this iPad time. They're very excited. And yeah, lots of snuggles so that I get nice and sick. But yeah, so that's why we're, I know this first episode of the week is like really late in the week.

It wasn't meant to be that way. It's just wow. No, guys, every time we try to say like, oh my God, we're going to get on a schedule. Life is like, no, you're not. Life just kicks us in the ass. Life's like, so we're just going to maintain that we are definitely going to try. It's just. Yeah, we'll see what that can.

to happen. Tuesdays and Fridays, man. It's going to happen at some point. Because this week was like, nah. I love that this is the first of the week and it's Thursday. We just, we kept you waiting and like anticipating. This is a good one. You're going to enjoy it. So it was worth the wait. And we didn't want to make you wait. So we apologize for that. It just, it really became an issue. So hopefully everybody will be feeling better. Pandemic baby is already feeling better by this time of the week. She's so crazy that I think she just like scared the elderly. I think she did. It was like, I think I'm actually good.

I actually don't want to be in here. But yeah, so I think everybody's going to be good next couple of days. So hopefully, you know, knock on wood, we'll all be on the mend. And I can handle a cold, so. And I can handle it cold. I can handle whatever you throw at me, babies. So. But I think before we get into our case, which I'm excited about, because it's an ash-centric,

spooky case, we just wanted to mention. any, you know, there's not a ton of updates in the Gabby Petito case. It's just one we've been following really closely. Just it kind of touched us personally because people were like sharing this photo that she had posted on Instagram where she had tagged us in it and said she was listening to us and it was a few weeks ago. So I think that just kind of like really. It hit home.

It's stuck with us a little more than usual. Just like, I don't know. I keep thinking about it and I keep thinking about, yeah. It's really like changed a lot of my perspective on a lot of things. But I think the only update that we have right now, because we don't want to, we're not going to cover Gabby right now. We want to let the case kind of. It's not even, we don't even know what the conclusion of this whole thing will be.

Hopefully it'll be a good conclusion in the end that we'll get justice for her. But we don't know. We don't know what's going to happen. So we're not going to cover it right now. We want to let, you know, let it pan out. And I think the only thing that's really been a solid update because we don't want to share any rumors, there are a ton of them. Which is like really frustrating. Yeah.

And I know how it happens. I know people, a lot of people mean well. A lot of people just want to solve. So like, I get it. But you just got to think about, you know, her family. Share confirmed things. If you can make sure you confirm things before you share them, then that's great. Share as much as you can.

But just make sure it's confirmed because we don't want to. spread stuff that's false, you know, like people seeing him and all that. But they haven't found Brian. Hopefully they find him. But they did confirm, unfortunately, that the body that they found was Gabby Petito. And they did confirm that it's on homicide. We don't know anything more than that, but we just, like, our hearts go out to her family and friends. Like, that's horrific. And it really felt like such a gut punch when that came out. I was like, because I had some kind of of hope. Like, I had hope. And, you know, there's like, oh, it just, it bums me out. But if you guys are looking to follow somebody who's, like, on scene at the laundry house 24-7, literally every single

minute, is only reporting facts and is trying to, you know, kind of like squish rumors as they come in. I've been following Brian Enton. He's a correspondent for News Nation now. And if you look on Twitter. He's at Brian Enton and it's B-R-I-A-N-E-N-T-I-N. He's been going live from their house. He made friends with their neighbors. So he's been able to like hang out on the neighbor's lawn and like really follow this whole thing. He's been on the reserve looking for Brian. He's a really good person to follow in my opinion. He just, he's only giving you the facts and that's it. Every single morning that I wake up, I immediately when I look at my phone, go to his Twitter and refresh it to see if there's anything.

Just to see if he's seen anything, heard anything, he'll let you know. He was on scene when, you know, they were taken out of their house and everything, his parents. So if you're looking to, you know, follow it that way, he's a good guy to do it because you're really only getting at facts. And I think that's what everybody needs right now. Yes. So, again, we're like thinking about Gabby's family and make sure you are also, we got to put this energy into like every missing person's case that we come across.

When you see one, if someone's sharing it on Twitter, something, share it out. Take the time to share it. Yeah, share it out. Take the time to look into it. Because as we see, sharing stuff makes a difference. It made a difference in this case. So it's like, we got to try to put, and it's, and you know what? I think we're all learning that right now, that like, that we need to be more, like, proactive with this stuff. So everybody try to get there with us. Yeah. We're all learning together, how to be better. Yeah, exactly. Call in, don't call out. Yeah. But also just, you know, be kind to each other. Yeah. It's just makes everything. It's much easier to be kind than it is to be not kind.

Yeah, it just takes more energy. So everybody just high-five each other virtually because it's still a pandemic. Exactly. Elbow bumps. But yeah, so I just wanted to put that out there before we get into the case. But yeah, very important. Well, I think just because, you know, everything felt so heavy with the search for Gabby and I was following it so intently, I was like, I need to do something that's like true crime-esque, but also a little bit haunted. also a little bit old Hollywood because I am who I am.

And it is, yesterday was the first day of fall. So spooky season is here. Let's get spook it. And of course you're still going to get true crime out of here during spooky season. We just like to, during spooky season, we like to sprinkle it a little more with spooky stuff. Yeah, you know, like sometimes we sprinkle it throughout the year and then it gets a little heavy-handed during the spooky season because it's got to. Like we just throw a dash in in the middle of the year, but now we might just really. You take that little cap off by, like, maybe my accent and maybe my not.

And you just kind of like, boom, there it goes. Yeah, that's all. So here we are. So, Jean Harlow, ever heard of her? No, who's that? Gene was an actress in the late 1920s and early 30s. Yes, she was. And I actually used to have a picture of her hanging in my bathroom, fun fact.

I love that. I loved that photo. It's a good photo. I am going to hang it up in my bathroom again, but it fell down and we had to get a new frame for it. Oh. Yeah. Which, like, kind of weird because it actually fell down recently. Anyways.

Now, her career was super short-lived because she passed away when she was only 26 years old. Man. Isn't that nuts? I didn't realize that. I didn't either. But before we get into how she died and her legacy and everything like that, let's talk about her life. So she was actually born Harleen Harlow Carpenter on March. Really?

Yes. Harleen Harlow? Harleine Harlow Carpenter. Damn. Because her mother's. maiden name is Harlow and her father's last name is Carpenter. Oh, cool. Yeah. And she was born on March 3rd, 1911, two parents Montclair Carpenter and Jean Poe. Hell yeah. And some people have alleged that maybe she's related to Edgar Allan Poe never been confirmed.

Might have been a little bit of a publicity stunt, but worth mentioning. Oh, well, here I go into Ancestry.com to connect those dots. That would be crazy. But she was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Now, the marriage between Jean Senior, which it's confusing because her name is Jean, the woman that we're talking about, and her mother's name is Jean. Oh, yeah. So I think I call her like Mama Jean, Jean, Jean. And then I think I call for like a little bit of this, Jean Jr. and Little Gene. Yeah, there you go. Just follow along, okay? Yeah, you'll get it. You'll be there. You understand us. Yeah. But the marriage between Jean Senior and Montclair was, it was actually an arranged one. Oh. Yeah, because I mean, it was like, I was going to say it was like, what?

It was probably like the late 1800s when they got married. Exactly. And it seemed like it was strictly business, not super lovey-dovey at all. And actually when Jean Jr. was only 11 years old, her mother decided to divorce her father. Wow. And she really didn't let Jean see much of him after that. And it was sad because, like, Jean liked her father, loved her father, and like there was nothing really happened between them. It was just kind of like they got divorced and he did his thing and the mom did her thing.

and Jean Jr. kind of got like the shit end of the stick. Oh, that's a bummer. I know. Now, Jean Sr. on the other hand was like very involved in Jean Jr's life. Some might say like a little bit too much, a little too heavy-handed. Now, she oversaw every last detail of everything. In any interview she did once her little Jean became the Jean Harlow, she said she was always all mine and also told people all the time that Jean owed her everything. Oh. Yeah, it's like, um. That's a toxic relationship, dudea. That is definitely a toxic relationship. Yeah, not healthy connections there at all.

I think she felt like her daughter owed her everything because it had actually been her dream to become an actress. But by the time she moved to Hollywood with Little Jean, they told her that she was too old. And it's like, honey, you can't like, you're supposed to want better for your children. Right. You're supposed to want them to have everything that you didn't have or everything that you had and more. And she did. She definitely wanted Jean to have everything she didn't have. But not guilt them because of it. But it was like she wanted to push Jean into doing everything that she didn't get to do kind of thing. Yeah, it's not living vicariously through your children. Like you got to let them let them live. Like I wanted to do gymnastics when I was little. And, you know, like someday I hope my kids want to do gymnastics. But I'm not going to like try to make them the next Simone Biles. No. And you're not going to like push them into it and then be like you owe me everything because you did that because I didn't get to do this. If you get the gold, that's my gold. Like no. That's psychotic. But anyway, so yeah, they did move out to Hollywood because Jean Sr. was like, I'm going to make a big.

And they were like, no, you're not, girl. Way too old for this. No, you're not. Because back then they wanted you to be like 17. Yeah, of course. And they didn't last long in Hollywood. Little Jean dropped out of school while she was there. She was only 14 years old. And then eventually her grandfather made her and her mother move back to Missouri. He said that if they didn't move back to Missouri, he was going to like write Jean Senior out of his will. Oh, wow. Like she wasn't going to get anything. And they had money. Just wielding the power of that will.

Weald in that willpower. Weield that last will and testament. People do, you know. Yeah. And it's quite a weapon to wield. It's a good tool at us. Come back to Missouri. Or you'll give you money when I die.

Now they did stay in Missouri for a little while, and then they moved close to Illinois for Jean schooling. Now she was 15, and she was going to Ferry Hall School. And it was there that she would actually meet her first husband, and nearby her mother would meet her second. Now, both jeans actually got married in 1926. Wow. Gene Jr. did not go to Gene Sr.'s wedding. Okay. Which I thought was interesting. Huh. Yes. Little Jean married. Little Jean. It's just funny to say. Little Jean married her first husband, a 19-year-old Charles Chuck Fremont McGrew the third. Hell yeah, she did. Yeah. Hell yeah. And she was 16 years old. So she was 16. He was 19. His parents had actually

died when he was young because their boat capsized while they were on their way to vacation on their private island. Oh, okay, Elsa and Anna. Literally Elsa and Anna. Like King Agnar and Queen Iduna. Okay. KK. KK.

Living out your Disney, not fantasy. Wow, that's terrible. But it's super duper terrible, but because of that, when he turned 21, he would be inheriting a lot of money. Today, the value would have been close to $3.1 million. Wow. Yeah. So back then, that was like, mula, mula, mula.

Yeah, that's a chunk of change. But when Chuck got the money, he and Gene decided to move out to Hollywood, live the good life. They bought a home in Beverly Hills, and they both started partying and drinking a lot. And, you know, not ever working. Uh-oh. So it's going to dwindle. Yeah, that doesn't last forever, folks. And Chuck had hoped that putting some distance between mother and daughter duo might be beneficial to his marriage.

He was like, you guys are real fucking close and like it's a little bit unhealthy. So maybe we should head out here and she should stay here and do her thing. And it's like even though you didn't go to her wedding, but okay. Yeah, you know, not cool. But Mama Jean was like, ooh, that's really funny. No. And she came running out to Hollywood to be with her baby. Yeah.

And fun fact, little Jean actually didn't know that her real name was Jean until she was five years old because her parents only referred to her as the baby. The baby. So she literally thought her name was like baby. The baby. Like baby. And then later in life, they all called her baby, like on set and stuff. Oh my God. Everyone called her baby.

That's so funny. She didn't know that her name was Gene until she went to school. And they were like, Gene. And she was like, oh, no, I'm baby. She was like, oh, no, my name's the baby. I'm the baby. I'm the baby. That's so funny.

Because as the youngest in the family, that's what I was called baby. The baby all the time. Did you know your name? But I knew that my name was Elena as well. Because I think they probably said like. They interspersed. Everyone's in a while. Yeah, I guess her family was not intersperson.

That is so funny. Yeah. But anyway, Mama Jean came out to Hollywood with her new husband, Marino Bello, around 1928, because they were really struggling with money, and they figured they could mooch off of Little Jean and Chuck for a while. Yeah. Like, very, just like. Saw those millions, and they were like, all right, let's do this.

Very unhealthy connections here. Now, during this time, like I said, not one of them was working, and they were spending money left and right and life in California is not cheap. And luckily, their luck would change a little bit later that year when Jean gave, so little Jean, gave her friend Rosalie Roy a ride to an audition. Rosalie was like an aspiring actress and the audition was at Fox. And while Rosalie was inside auditioning, Jean was waiting in the car. Okay. So she's just chilling in the car. I don't know. Maybe she's like smoking a cigarette, like painting her nails. I don't know what she's doing. But two. That wasn't there. I don't know. I wasn't there. But two. But.

two Fox execs spotted her, and they thought that she was stunning. It also, like, just must have been really awesome back then because everybody, it seems, was just doing their day-to-day thing. And then they would just get discovered by, like, Fox executives or, like, that's what I keep thinking. Callet Scouts. And I think that's, like, I don't know if it's just because today there's, like, you know. The internet. There's the internet.

And there's, like, a lot more, like, plastic surgery that, like, technology that has happened. so everybody like can kind of like look like. Achieve a certain look. Yeah, get that look. But it's like back then it's like it just was what it was. So it's like if you walked by a Jean Harlow, you were like, oh, oh, shit. You know, like it was like a shocking like, oh, hello. Right.

Like they just stood out a little bit more. I feel like now it's probably in like certain areas, you know, people are looking to be discovered. So I think it's hard to like pick out an old movie star. A Gene Harlow in the crowd. But it is really funny that back then it was like, you would just be like out and about. somebody was like, do you want to be a movie star? Do you want to be a star kid? And that literally happens.

You like might be at like the grocery store or something. Or like Marilyn Monroe was just like fixing planes. Yeah. And they were like, hey, like we're going to take pictures of that. And she was like, cheese. And they were like, oh shit. And they were like, what's your name? And she was like Norma Jean.

No, it's not. No, it's not. It's also funny to me that like Jean Harlow's last name was Carpenter. And Norma Jeans was Baker. Yeah. It's like Carpenter and Baker. Yeah. That's funny.

kind of funny. I just love that that's what that was like the pattern was like, hey, you beautiful. Let's take, let's put you in pictures. They were like, what's your name? My name is Norma. And they were like, no, it's not. No, it's not. She's like, my name's Harleen. They're like, fuck that. No, it's not. Like, okay. Like, cool, cool, cool. But anyway, so they see her, she's just vibe been in her car. And they approach her and they asked her to come in for the audition too. And she was like, lall, no. She was like, I'm good. Lall, no. She just, she wasn't into it. But they were like, all right, well, at least. take these papers. They gave her some casting papers. They were like, look over these and come back

to the next audition because we want you to be a star kid. We want to put you in pictures. We're going to put you on the big screen. We want your name and lights. You don't even have to talk. It's not a speakie. It's not a speaking or a talkie. But so she was like, yeah, cool, cool, I'm going to keep fucking dragging on this. And Rosalie came back to the car and Jean was like, these fucking guys wanted me to come in for that audition. Like, can you be able to? Like, can you leave it. And she, Rosalie was like, no, they didn't. Like, they couldn't, like, why? You wouldn't have said no. And she was like, well, I did. Like, I don't want to go in there. That's a thing that happened. And she was like, well, then you must be too nervous. And she said something along the

lines of, like, betting Jean that she wouldn't go back in. Sounds like a challenge. So she, like, planted a little seed right there. Then Jean got home and she told her mom what happened. And Jean's senior all but fucking waterboarded that seat. She literally was like, oh shit. Whoa, she was like breaking open a damn, like trying to get that seed like to grow. No way. We are growing this garden. She was like, this is a beautiful metaphor. But she pressured Jean for days.

She was like, please, please, please, you have to go back to Fox. Like, this is our dream. And Gene's like, it sounds like it's your dream, but okay. But all right. But finally, Jean was like, all right, what the fuck ever. So she went back into Fox for an audition. They really liked her. And they started casting her.

in like really small parts. A lot of her early role, she was an uncredited extra. Hey, got to start somewhere. Yeah, exactly. She was only making $7 a day. But eventually the work got bigger and bigger. And she ended up signing a contract with one Hal Roach. Do you remember Mr. Potato Head?

I was just going to say, wait a second. Yes. If you haven't listened to the Thelma Todd episode that we did, this man, Hal Roach literally put a potato. clause into Thelma Todd's contract saying that she could not gain more than five pounds or she would be fired on the spot. A potato clause. A potato clause.

Apparently Halroach is a fucking asshole. You don't say. You know, everybody has their moments with potatoes, I guess. Yeah. He just kept it going. Yeah. I mean, once you, you put a potato clause in somebody's shit. Like, what are you doing?

You're done for me. What are you doing? But they could do that back then. Oh, yeah, they could do whatever they wanted back then. Like, blow your nose more than twice, are you fired? Yeah, and it's like, okay. Like, KK. But Gene's contract with Hal was a five-year term, and it was going to earn her $100 a week,

which started off wonderfully. But then her shitty husband, Chuck, became jealous of all the work she was doing and the day she was spending away from him. He just had no respect for her work at all. He never gave her any credit. And she was the one bringing home, like, hard-earned money. Yeah. Like, he wasn't working at all.

He was just, like, drinking his money away. Living off of that money he inherited. living off the money he inherited and Gene's money that he's complaining about. I'm like, but she's like paying the bills. Okay. Okay. Now, in early 1929, Gene actually went to Hal Roach and she was like, my marriage is suffering. Like, what am I supposed to do?

Like, I don't know what to do. And Hal's response was like super loving and charming and he really took Jean under his wing and was going to take care of her. Sike. I was just going to say. I don't know that. Ripped up her contract in front of her and was like, get out. What? He was like, I don't have time for that.

Wow. Like the cold, cold streets, baby. Damn. Isn't that ho-she's like, I don't know what to do how, like, my marriage is suffering. What do I do? And he's like, that reminds me of in like Scream 3, the like Milton, whatever his name is. Oh, my God. And he's talking about how like, this is the way it is.

Like, everybody knows what they're getting into it. It's like, that's literally how it is. Like, that's wild. And that's probably why she didn't want to get into it in the first place. Yeah. Because she was like, I don't. This is a scary. This is a scary business.

It is, apparently. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. Apparently, geez. Yeah, so he was like, fuck you, get out of my office. And then her marriage suffered even more in 1929 when she was shooting the movie Masquerade. She only had like a small part of that movie. But during that time, her career was starting to take off in other areas. Like she was doing other films and she was really starting to get noticed.

Yeah. But it was then that she found out she was pregnant. So she told her mother and her mother gave her two options. This is like a huge trigger warning. I just want to let you know, like it involves losing a baby. So her mother said that she could either have an abortion or that they would find someone to beat her and make her lose the baby. Like her mother said that about like her potential grandbaby was like we can have someone

beat you and take care of that. I'm legitimately like flabbergasted. Because she didn't want it to ruin her dream. Oh my God. Like, I guarantee you Gene would have had the baby and like just been like a mom. Really sad and horrible. But her mom was like, no, it's going to ruin your career. That, just that part of it.

It's like, whoa. It's like, what the fuck? So luckily, Jean just, well, not luckily, but between those two options, she decided on the former and she had an abortion. Yeah. In May of 1929. Now, going forward from that, it was obviously incredibly. difficult for Jean. Like that comes with so much. Yeah. That's a traumatic event in your life,

no matter which way you cut it. For sure. Now, she started drinking more. She and Chuck were fighting more and more. I'm actually not sure if he knew about the abortion or if he just knew that Jean was kind of hiding something from him and it just caused more tension. Yeah. But either way, the marriage hit its breaking point a month later in June. Gene had actually posed for a photographer named Edwin Bauer Hesser. He was known to do like nude photo shoots. He was known to do like nude photo shoots. that are like really artistic in my opinion. I think they're cool. Yeah.

Gene did this shoot with him covered in like silk scarves that they really didn't cover anything. I love that. I love that. Gorgeous. Like I actually want to buy one and hang one in my house. Oh, I'm sure. Like it's just like she's in. I mean, Jean Harlow is like.

That's the picture that's in my bathroom. Yeah. I love every picture of her. I'm just like, oh, God. She's just so old tall. Wait until I tell you what they did to achieve that color for her hair. Because we'll get there. Oh, man.

Holy cow. But the pictures are in like the, I think it's in like Griffith Park or something like that. I didn't write it down. But they're in this like beautiful park and she's like there's nature behind her and the scarves are just kind of like flowing in the wind. I love that. You got to Google it. I'm going to Google it. Picks by Edwin Bauer Hesser. Okay, cool. Now, so I love these prints obviously. But Chuck didn't necessarily feel the same. No. He found the pictures like lying about the house and people speculate that. Gene was just like, you know what, he's going to find those pictures and like, fuck him. I don't care. He like, whatever. He absolutely lost it on her. He was like disgusted by the pictures that she opposed nude. It was inappropriate. He was like he just hated it. He couldn't handle what success she was having and how

beautiful she was. So the fight got so bad that Jean actually left him that night and she moved back in with her mother and immediately filed for divorce. Oh, wow. Now, the divorce was messy and it wasn't finalized until two years later in 1931. And Gene was actually supposed to get alimony and a trust fund, but she turned both of those things down and told the lawyers, I can make it on my own anyway. Get it. Like, bad bitch alert. Like, I don't need your dumb trust fund money. Get out of my face. Yeah, I'll make it on my own. It's fun. I don't care. I don't care. I don't need you. I'm independent. I'm Jean Harlow. I'm Jean Harlow. So after the divorce, Jean found herself another five-year contract. this time with Howard Hughes after she was discovered for his film Hell's Angels.

It was during this filming that she would meet her next husband, Paul Byrne. Now, Hell's Angels was like a huge success for Jean. She later became known as the original blonde bombshell after all this. This really got her notoriety. Now we're going to get into the hair. She was naturally blonde. She had like a not even like dirty blonde. It was like just like an ashy blonde hair color.

But they would bleach. the shit out of her hair, apparently using a mix of ammonia, chlorox bleach, and Lux soap flakes. And they would do this once a week. How did her hair look so shiny? I have no idea. That's so wild because like all her photos, you're like... Probably like hair spray and like...

Kind of shiny. It would like... It would get like teased and stuff. But even when your hair is blonde, it reflects the light. Yeah, that's true. So that's like lighting. more of it, but wow. Like, please do not try that at home.

But, like, yeah, that doesn't sound like it would be great. Chlorox bleach and ammonia and Lux soap flakes, which I had to, like, Google what that was. It's just like these little like soap flakes. Yeah. You just wonder, like, who came up with that? 70, that was off their rocker. Who was like, yeah. And over her career, like her hair started getting shittier and shittier.

Oh, yeah. Because obviously that's going to. Wow. That's wild. she would be like paraded around on these publicity tours and there actually was this contest held where any beautician who was able to replicate her exact shade of blonde would win $10,000. Stop.

Like they had like, are you kidding me? The fucking 1920s and 30s like must it just been an absolute vibe check. Like you're just having, we're just having competitions about like, can you achieve this lady's hair color? This lady's hair color. That's so fun. That we achieved through using. everything under the sink.

Literally like go under your kitchen sink and you'll achieve it where we're not going to tell you that. Yeah. And obviously no hairdresser in their right mind would ever do that. For real. Whoever the fuck did that to her. Wow. But no one won the competition.

And personally, I think that's because I wasn't around at the time. And neither was Redkins' Shades EQ. So that's my comment on that. That's me. That's just me. But after the hair, her success with Hell's Angels. After all that, Paul Byrne was not only starting to fall for her romantically.

But he was also one of the main people who really believed in her acting career. A lot of people actually didn't take her seriously. Like the public really liked Jeans movies and stuff like that. But movie critics were like, she sucks. Yeah. Which happens a lot. I was just going to say that about Marilyn Monroe too. Yeah.

I feel like at the time that was like, that was like almost the norm for these kind of stars. It was like, the public just loved them and fell in love with them. Wanted to eat them up. The critics and all that were like, fuck this. And it's like, but it's selling. But like, isn't that the point? I feel like people are supposed to come and watch the movie and love them? I don't know.

Okay. And then it's like what? I feel like they were just like getting paid to be mean at that point. Yeah, pretty much. Now, because she was contracted with Howard Hughes, Paul Byrne actually had to make an arrangement personally with Hughes to borrow Gene for MGM's movie, The Beast of the City. And I think I mentioned it before, but Paul Byrne was an exec for MGM.

Yes. Now Hughes agreed that, um, he agreed. agreed in that movie, too, gave Jean Harlow huge success. And she actually went on this huge publicity tour for the movie after filming that Paul Byrne arranged. And she was so popular on these tours that they actually added, like, a ton of, like, showings to the tour. Oh, nice. And extended it six weeks. Damn. And I assume that during that tour, Paul Byrne and Gene kind of started their relationship because by 1932, they announced that they were officially together. Now, that same year, Paul convinced the higher-ups at MGM to buy Jean out of her contract and they wanted her to sign with MGM and they were going to

offer her $30,000, which today would have been around like $600,000. So lots of money. Wow. And she found out on her 21st birthday that MGM was signing the deal. So. My 21st birthday. Like for some reason I always think of these old starlets as like much older. Oh yeah. Well they look older too. Like in their 30s. I feel like which is not old. I'm just saying older than like 21. Yeah. I mean 21 is. like a literal baby. And you're achieving all that. That's the thing. I didn't even mention all the movies that she had been. And at this point, like she was in tons and tons. 21 years old. And she was working with like Clark Gable. Yeah, like all the all these big names. The who's who of the day.

Exactly. Now that same year, Jean and Paul Byrne brought a home together at 9 820, 980, 820 Easton Drive and Benedict Canyon. And that summer they actually got married on the front lawn. And tons and tons of elite guests were there. Now, a lot of people were, like, really surprised by their relationship and this whole wedding because Paul Byrne was 22 years older than Gene at this point. And, like... I feel like at the time, though. That was like pretty normal.

But at the same time, Gene was like this really beautiful young woman, and people didn't necessarily think that Paul Byrne was like this beautiful man. He was like a tiny dude and, like, his features are just, like, people didn't like them. Not classically handsome. Not classically handsome. Like, I'm not here to, like, shame Paul Byrne's face. I know. I need to look at what he looks like.

Yeah. People didn't find him attractive, and they were like, what the fuck is she doing, basically? But rumors started spreading that their relationship was, like, super toxic, just as toxic as Jean's previous marriage. And there's this huge rumor that on the night they were married, Paul Byrne let go of a big secret. He was impotent. Oh. So, allegedly, and according to the book, more of Hollywood's Unsolved,

Mysteries by John Austin, Gene was pissed and she felt like she had been, like, tricked into marrying him because she was like, I wouldn't have done that. Why wouldn't you tell me this ahead of time? Right. Like, you kept this huge secret from me. And they had been drinking that night, so things got heated more intensely than they should have. And the night ended with Paul biting Jean to the point where he drew blood from her skin. What the fuck? Yeah, according to this book. Now, whoa. She went to tell the studio what was happening because she was like, what's a fuck? But all the higher-ups, obviously at this point, are more loyal to Paul because he's the one that discovered her in the first place and brought her over. And because he's been working there for years, they were

like, oh, you know, it's probably like not good for your image if you get divorced again. So, you should just stay with him. So just suck it up, Buttercup. Like, let's keep it in the family. Like, MGM forever. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Put up with it. Yeah, it'll be fine. Like, just like, that's fine. Don't let him bite you again, I guess. Don't let him bite you again. Just don't do it. Is he a dog? What the. Is he an alligator? Is he an alligator? The fuck?

Sir. Gator? Like, what is this? You find that out the night you got married? Yeah, that's not awesome. Not cool. And there were way more secrets to Paul's life. And it's unclear if Gene knew about this one before or during their marriage at all, like if she even knew while he was still here.

Now, the entire time that they were dating and while they were married, Paul had a whole ass other wife. I, you know, when you were about to say, I was like, I guarantee you he has a whole ass other, like, just a family situation going on here. A whole ass wife. That's not shocking. He's got two wives. Yeah, just two. Dos wives. One more than most.

Like, at the same time. Like, that's not cool. No, her name was Dorothy Millett. And she was his wife by common law. So it was our common law marriage, meaning they were together for a certain number of years and must have lived together for quite. quite some time. Now, they had lived together in New York when Paul Byrne decided that he wanted to move out to Hollywood and begin his career as a manager. Now, this was like way before the MGM days, but even after that, he never stopped sending her letters or money or recommending hotels for her

to stay out while she was traveling. So he was like very much in contact with this woman. Yeah. And she was very much under the impression that like they were still married. Wow. He allegedly sent her $300 a month. And she actually had to spend time in a nursing home for like mental health issues. And the entire time that she was there, he paid for everything and like was writing her consistently. So this is like just a full on. This is a whole ass other marriage. Correct. That's just so that's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. I never understand these people who do this like like like the shady like keeping a whole other life separate from their other. It's like isn't it just tiring? Well, and also like what are you getting out of that? It's it's, it's, it's, it's. It's. It's. It's.

these dudes who like have to they like one piece of cake is not enough it's like they need the whole damn thing plenty just have one yeah it doesn't make any sense you can have your cake and eat it too with just one wife yeah my the dude i dated before meeting john who had literally an entire life outside of like a whole ass other girlfriend multiple lives like he had like three or four other but there was one that was like oh that's a legitimate other like a whole other relationship that you And when we found out, we got together and we're like, oh, okay. So like you literally, it's the exact same thing. I do love that you like John Tucker must died him kind of.

Yeah, we did. Yeah, we did. An icon, a living, breathing icon. Because you know what, honey, it's not your fault. Not your fault. That's what it is. Get mad at the dude. Don't get mad at the other girls.

Especially if they don't know. Because she thought you were his sister. Yeah. Yeah. You go, yeah. You listening out there? Yeah. I'm coming for you. I'm coming for you one of these days, buddy.

But it always astounds me when you hear these stories because I thought the same thing would happen to me. I was like, isn't that just a lot of work? Like, being in one relationship is enough work? Like, why do you need to add a whole, a whole ass other one? Because, like, obviously relationships are like beautiful and fun, but you're, like, they are, they do take work to keep up with, like in communication and, you know, like, and it's just like, I don't want to do two of them just paying attention to somebody like your your whole focus should be on your relationship that you're in currently yeah and you're dividing it between two at least and you're pretending to be putting full attention on both of these people so it's like and then it's like isn't that exhausting is either of

them even real yeah that's the thing because like for like for you obviously it was like very real but then you're like think of it and you're like was it real yeah like what even was that it's like messed up It's like just a weird, weird thing that people do. It is. It's like not okay. Like, don't cheat on people. Yeah, it's a bummer. Just break up with somebody and move on if you're not feeling the vibe.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, just catch a new vibe. Catch a new vibe. But like, get rid of the old vibe first. How to date with Ashkel. Get rid of the old vibe before catching a new vibe. That's a good. I'm telling you.

Honestly, that's good in most areas of life. Yeah, that's how I live my life. Get rid of the old vibe first. Don't half ask two things when you can whole ass one thing. Don't half ask. two vibes when you can just have one whole ass vibe. There you go. All right. Anyways. So yeah, he was whole, he was half-assing two vibes. Yeah. And some people think that throughout the short marriage that Jean started to become aware of Paul's double life,

which I would assume so. I was going to say, you always do. Very hard to keep up appearances. No one can keep that shit up completely. And some people allege that maybe that's why she might have had something to do with his death. Oh. Oh, okay. Alleged. Alleged. I don't think she did. But I'm just going to like put that right out here. But that's a rumor. A ruma. Now on September 5th, 1932, after just barely two months of marriage, Paul Byrne was found dead in his bedroom at 98, 20 East and Drive. Woof. He had died of a gunshot wound to the head, and he was discovered naked. Wow. Very interesting, huh? Now, this is where it becomes a game of motherfucking clue.

Like, the butcher has the candlestick in there. The secretary has the knife in there. The baker's got it. It's just like, it's insane. Like the, you know, the colonel with the candlestick in the arboretum. Yes. Thank you. That's who it is.

Correct. So, the butler of the home was the one who discovered Paul's body. Now, instead of calling the police, this man's called MGM, studios. Huh. Yeah. Already shady. Do da.

Yeah. Yeah. No. So they didn't call the police first. They called MGM Studios. Yeah, incorrect. You pressed an incorrect key. Now, the head of MGM, Louis B. Mayor, met the police at the home when they were called two hours later.

Weird. And they handed, he handed them what would become known as Paul Byrne's suicide note to his last wife, Gene Harlow. Okay. Now, let me read it to you before I get into my thoughts. Okay. The note said, Dearest dear, unfortunately, this is the only way to make good the frightful wrong I have done you and to wipe out my abject humiliation. I love you, Paul. And then underneath, almost like a post-script, it says, you understand that last night was only a comedy. Hmm. I loved like the silence. Now, for me, that letter could have been for Gene, also could have been for Dorothy.

Because it says my dearest dear. And you have two dear. Like, who's the dearest? You have multiple dears. I don't know. That's the problem with multiple deers. Who's the dearest? Nobody knows later.

Yeah, exactly. So before the death was ruled as a suicide, which it ultimately was. Okay. So this went down in the books as a suicide. But the police, before they could do that, had to talk to the people closest to Paul. Of course. Now, most of the people were people who worked for him. So on the night that Paul died, Gene was actually staying at her mother's house.

Okay. Yep. Some of the agents from MGM were allegedly the ones to tell her that Paul was dead. It's so weird to me that they called his work before calling this one. Correct. It should be. Like, it's so weird to me. Very strange.

Who just called your boss before 9-1-1. They like literally, they like called the publicist first and they were like, how are we going to tell this to the police? I don't know what to say about it. Because that's basically just like, how do we want this reported? Yeah. Also to the police. Like, not only in the headlines, but to the investigators. Yeah.

How do we want to spin this all the way around? And you would think that in and of itself would like maybe raise a red flag to the police. But I don't know. Nah. Yeah, I don't know. So Paul's Butler told the police that even though he and Gene were so happy in their marriage, that Paul often talked about suicide and particularly because he was embarrassed that he was impotent. Now, the gardener told the police the exact opposite.

He said the couple was fucking miserable in their marriage and that he had never heard Paul talk about ending his life. Hmm. Mm-hmm. Those are different. Those are two, like, very different things. Those are, like, real different. Now, the cook or Paul's secretary, depending on which source you read, like, it was like even in both of them. This is so clue.

I love it. They told the police that the night, this is like where it gets like, who. They told the police that the night Paul. Byrne was found, there was a woman at the property who they had never seen before. And that later on, one of them was like clearing dishes outside by the pool. And they found two glasses next to a woman's bathing suit that absolutely did not belong to Jean Harlow. Huh. Now remember, she wasn't home that night.

She was at her mother's house. Intrigue. And they see this woman that doesn't look like her. And then they find a bathing suit that doesn't belong to her. And I mean, Jean Harlow is very, it would be hard to like be like, be like, it didn't look like her. Like you know if it's Jean Harlow. Yeah.

Her hair is literally entering the world before she does. Hmm. Like the Clorox smell that follows her for eternity is right there. Yeah. So people think maybe that woman was Dorothy Millett. His other fucking wife. Maybe. Now after Paul died, letters surfaced that showed him helping Dorothy plan a trip to San Francisco.

He recommended a place for her to stay and he told her, all my love and best wishes always in every life. letter. Now, the letters were being exchanged just months before July of 1932 when he got married to Jean. So clearly he was sending these letters, but still intending to marry Jean. Of course. Now, maybe Dorothy was planning the trip out to California to reunite with her husband. And while she was on her way out there, she realized that he had gone on and married a beautiful young actress. And she got jealous because she herself had done some acting work in Canada. So she would have been pretty pissed that her husband, like, left her but didn't leave her for someone younger,

more up and coming. More up and coming. And then on top of all of that, it would have been a threat to her financial situation. Yeah. Because he's now married to someone else. Is he going to continue to send you this money? It's only been two months. You don't know. Now, when Paul married Jean, he changed his will. And Gene became the beneficiary of every last penny. Oh. Now, it's possible that Dorothy wasn't aware of that last detail. And maybe she thought that by killing Paul, she would be able to get the money from his will. Because why would she be aware of that? Why would she out? Because he's still sending her money. And she's his common law wife.

Right. So you would think that that would be the... Right. And changing her will as a pain on the ass. So maybe she's like, he didn't get around to it. Yeah. So maybe she found that out and came to kill him thinking that she was going to get some of his money. Whoa. But she actually ended up jumping from the Delta a king's steamboat into the Sacramento River to her own death just like two days after Paul had died. Whoa. Yeah. So you could call that guilty. Maybe she couldn't live with the guilt that she had killed him.

Or you could call it just being grief. Or you could just say she was like super sad that her husband died. Huh. Right. So I don't know. Now over the years people also pointed the finger at Jean herself. And there's obviously been no evidence to corroborate. that she killed him. No, there's none. There's no evidence at all. That's just like a rumor other than

like the suicide note. Huh. Which like is that even a suicide note? Yeah, you just don't know. I don't know. But over the years, people have also pointed the finger at Jean. So they say maybe she found out about Dorothy Millette and she was pissed. And then on top of that, she was already mad about this whole other thing that he had lied to her about before they got married. So she had had enough. And was she so angry and worried that like another secret was going to come out? Or maybe she was so miserable in the marriage that she killed Paul and then was like, oh no, I've been at my mom's this whole night. But even with his will aside, she would have been completely fine financially. So it could have been like a heat of the moment type thing. Yeah. Like this one, you don't even have to factor the money into. Yeah.

But the people who support this theory think that since MGM agents got like a head start to the crime scene, they may have found that letter, called it a suicide letter. And then Gene Harlow never made a public comment about Paul Burns death. Never came out to the public and said anything. which some people find strange. But on the other side of that, her agents might have told her not to. Yeah. And I mean, she also isn't owing anybody anything in that sense of the word. Yeah.

I mean, if she doesn't want to say a word about it, she doesn't have to. No matter what you slice it, her husband does. But I can understand that people would find it weird. Right. Because people have come to expect that you have to say something. So it's a, yeah, there's a lot of different. So whether they knew if Paul was killed or not, it definitely looked better for Gene. or excuse me, whether they knew if Paul was killed or not, it looked better for Gene if her husband

had committed suicide versus his like other wife killed him. Yeah, of course. So even if he was killed by someone else, they might have just made it look like suicide regardless of if Gene had anything to do with it. Just because it would have brought up all the messiness. Right, exactly. And it would have made a fool out of her back then. Like when you think about it, it doesn't have at all.

But you know what I mean. Wow. Interesting. So she, no, that never got solved. That's just something that happened. It was just ruled of suicide. It was just ruled a suicide. So I guess it was solved, but like, yeah, it was solved on paper.

Yeah, it's interesting. So then after that, Jean married one more time to a man called Harold Rosson. He also worked at MGM. And their marriage was said to be arranged because she was having an affair with Max Baer, who was a professional boxer, like right after Paul died. And then his wife found out about their relationship. even though they were separated, like him and his wife were separated while he was with Gene.

But she was pissed because she was like, that's Gene Harle. That's Jean Harlow. I'm really pissed about that. And she was like, I'm going to go through it and divorce you, but I'm going to cite Gene as like a co-adulterer because that was a thing back then. Oh, my God. I can't.

So MGM was like, oh, that's like the last thing we need right now. You mind if we like make you marry Harold? And Jean was like, I have Captain. You mind if we like make you marry Harold? Is that cool with you? And she was like, yeah, sure. I, I, I, Captain. So they married each other, but I don't think they were, like, friends.

Yeah, I don't think they were in love with each other. Let's just roll with this. I think it was just, like, cool. And they basically got married to make MGM happy, and then they divorced eight months later, like super quietly. She's Louise. So that's her second. Excuse me.

That's her third. I was just going to say. Now, for the next four years, Jean appeared in a bunch of different big roles, like personal property, Riff Raff, and her last film, Sarah, Now, while filming Saratoga in 1937, it was becoming super clear that 26-year-old gene was not doing very well. Her breath became horrible. Clark Gable actually later said that it smelled like urine. Like while he had to like kiss her on set for certain things, and he was like her breath smells like urine. And bad breath is an indicator of a lot of health issues. She was also complaining of abdominal pain.

She said that she was nauseous. A handful of other sentences. symptoms like she was bloated. Like there was a lot going on. Oh, no, what's going on gastro internally here? Yeah. The doctor on set was like, nah, I think she's fine. And they kept filming. Oh, no.

Because the filming had already been delayed for two months once because Jean had her wisdom teeth taken out. And she got sick from that somehow and got sepsis. Oh, wow. Like before this filming even started. So it already got delayed. So I think they were like, well, you're fine. Like we got to keep doing this, which is not okay.

No. but she was getting worse and worse and she was looking paler and sicker throughout the filming and she was now dating actor William Powell. So they actually called him to the set and they were like you have to take her home, like get her to the doctor like something's going on. So initially

the doctor diagnosed her with the flu and an inflamed gallbladder but said that she would get better with rest and everything would be fine. And her mom called MGM and was like, she's going to be back on Monday which would have been June 7th. And that was not the truth. None of

it. She actually had been misdiagnosed and she was so far along in kidney failure that there was nothing they could do to treat her. I was going to say, because all those other symptoms, I was like, no. That's not the flu. Something really bad intestinally is happening here. Yes. But yeah, oh, kidney failure. Oh, kidney failure. So her body was just shutting down. Literally shutting down. There was nothing they could do. Wow. Now she passed away one day after she fell into a coma at Good Samaritan in L.A. And she passed away on June 7th, 1937. Wow. Which I was like, that's weird that her mom was like, she's coming back on June 7th.

And then she died on June 7th. Oh, that's fucked up. And she was 26 years old. 26 years old dies of kidney failure. Right. And one of the MGM writer said, the day baby died, there wasn't one sound in the commissary for three hours. And they actually ended up having to use a body double to finish Saratoga.

Oh, wow. But a lot of people, there's like a lot of different theories as to why she, would have gone into kidney failure. Some say the sepsis might have had something to do with it. A lot of people think the way that they were bleaching her hair had something to do with it. I mean, I'm sure that was not good, you know? No, like everything you do is being absorbed by your body. Yeah.

And like bleaching your hair is one thing, but bleaching your hair with ammonia, chlorox bleach and lux soap flakes every week. No. That's going to do something to you. And even just not even like putting that on your head, but like inhaling that. Well, that's what I'm thinking, like inhaling that stuff too. It's like, that's not good. And then when she was younger, she had had scarlet fever, so there can be like long-lasting

effects from that that can lead to kidney failure. So none of this was just, it was all just kind of. It all kind of. Honestly, maybe it all worked together to. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. It sounds like a perfect storm of things. It really does. They should have taken care of earlier and they probably, like, the kidney failure thing,

the fact that they were like, it's so far along, we can't do anything. If they had taken care of that earlier, they, could have taken control of that. Oh, 100%. It's so sad because it's like, I mean, it was 1937. Like, they just, yeah, they didn't really know exactly. They hadn't perfected things back. No, they hadn't because, I mean, that especially the breath thing, like smelling like urine, that should have been a tip off to somebody that's the biggest sign. That's the biggest sign of the kidneys. The biggest sign of kidney. And then the bloating. And like, it was fluid retention. And pain in there. Like, it's, you know, I, like, if anybody has had like kidney issues, you know, like, it's, No joke. Like that shit will fuck you up.

Seriously. Oh, and I forgot to mention she also like couldn't go to the bathroom for like weeks. Yeah. See, and that should be, that's, that's not the clue. That's a clear indication that your kidneys are not functioning properly. Right. That's the first thing is like, yeah, you can't pee because you need your kidneys for that. Right.

Because your kidneys are retaining pretty vital. D urine, which is then pretty vital for like building up. Yeah. It's horrific. But I did promise you some haunting. You did. I already gave you. potentially a murder question mark let's get into a

questionable death so it would be another 26 years before jay cbring bought the house where jean and paul had lived together wow no one her where paul had died now if that name sounds familiar that is because jay was one of the people killed the night that charles manson sent susan atkins patricia crenrichle linda casabian and tex watson to sharon tate and roman polanski's home now before Sharon had married Roman Polansky, she and Jay had actually been dating. Oh yeah, I remember that being part of the whole thing. Yeah, like they were like really good friends. And a lot of people actually think that she was planning on divorcing Roman and a lot of people

thought that she would have gone back to Jay had that happened. Because they were so good together. They were really great together. This whole thing is just so tragic. Tragic, yeah. Now, when they were together, it was during the time. time where Jay lived in Gene Harlow's former home, the one where Paul Byrne had died. Now, Sharon Tate spent a good amount of time there. And in later years, she did a few interviews where she basically

said the place was haunted as fuck. And in one of the interviews, she was speaking with Dick Kleiner of Fate Magazine, which is like a very like, um, it's about like ghosts and the paranormal and psychic experiences. Cool. And so she was talking to this man up for that magazine. And she said, she felt like while she was staying there, she had had a premonition of her own death. Ooh. So one night she was in Jay's bedroom trying to sleep and he was away. But she just like couldn't relax in the room. And she just had this feeling that something was off.

She said that she was somewhere in between like a sleeping state and an awake state. Like I kind of know what she means by that. Yeah. I think everybody's been there. You know what I mean? And she described the whole thing as being like a dream. But at some point, she got up to turn on the light because she kept hearing noises and she felt like having the light on would just make her feel better. As soon as she turned on the light, though, she saw what she described as a creepy little man who looked a lot like Paul Burton to her.

And she said that he was moving all about the room, like bumping into shit. Like, he didn't notice that she was there, but he was like rummaging through the room and it was freaking her the fuck out. What? So she put on a robe and slipped into the hallway and like started running. down the stairs. But on her way down, making her way down the stairs, she saw a figure tied to the staircase with its throat slashed open. And she said she couldn't make out exactly who the figure was, but she swore that it was either her or J. Oh my God. Yep. And she, she like explained this in an interview? Yeah, I'll link the magazine where. Holy shit. That is really scary. Really scary. Considering

what happens. I mean, this would be scary no matter what. Oh, it only gets scary. Considering what happens later, this is like wild. It's crazy. She literally, and she said it was like a premonition. Whoa. So she made her way past the figure and then she went down into the room where she was pretty sure that Jay kept the alcohol because she was like, I need a drink. Like, fuck this. Now, it was this kind of like hidden liquor cabinet thing. And she didn't, she knew that this was where he kept the alcohol, but she was like, where is it? Like, and she kept saying like she felt compelled to do certain things or heard a voice telling her to do certain things. So for to reveal this liquor cabinet, she had to pull a book out of a shelf and press a button for the bar to spin out. That's cool shit I've ever heard.

Because the house had the feature because it was built during prohibition. That's so fucking cool. How cool is that? I'm sorry. I want that. I literally need that. So she figured that out. She had a drink and she settled down a bit while she was down there. And also that room was called the playroom, which I just love. Wow. Because it's just like the drink room. The drink room. It's like the bar. But she said she had the drink. She settled down and she was like, am I dreaming? And she was like pinching herself the whole time. She was like, I couldn't feel it. And she remembered something inside of her, though, told her to rip a little piece of wallpaper off the wall before she went back upstairs to bed. So she did. And then she walked right past the figure again, which she said now was gushing blood. She just like walked right by it.

Like God. She walked past the fuck is going on right now. She walked past the creepy little man and she went to sleep. Just walk past the creepy little man in the dead body. She probably had like a drink or three. Yeah. Because like I don't blame her. Like I would have gotten wasted at that moment. Like what are you supposed to do? Shit on the floor.

Yeah. Get out of here. So when she woke up in the morning, Jay like came in and was like, oh, like how was your night? Like, are you okay? Because he was in New York. How's your night? Are you okay?

No. No. He didn't say like, are you okay? I am not. He was like, how's your night? Because he had been in New York the previous night for work. And so she's sitting there in the room. telling him all about this crazy dream that she had, aka Nightmare. And she told him, like,

the little detail about the wallpaper. She told him all of it. So they were done chatting about this terrible experience. And they went downstairs and they realized that there were a few scraps of wallpaper on the floor and the drink cabinet was still out. So in that moment, she realized that the entire thing had actually happened. She was actually down there, like actually ripped that She had actually seen all the things she thought she saw. And she said it was the only, like, psychic experience like that or, like, ghost experience that she'd ever had in her entire life. Wow.

Now, she apparently did this interview just a year before the Manson family broke into the house that she rented with Roman Polanski. Oh, my God. So if you haven't listened to and if you don't know anything about that. this. I'm just going to give you like a quick overview. The Manson family broke into the house, killed Sharon Tate, her unborn baby. She was eight and a half months pregnant. That kills me. They killed Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, who was an heiress to the Folgers. Yeah. Coffee, like, Fortune. Fortune. Thank you. They killed Boychek-Frikowski and Stephen Parent, who was just like a friend of someone living in the guest house. Now, strangely enough, Sharon and Roman's house was also in

Benedict Canyon and it was not very far from the Jean Harlow J.C. Bring home. Wow. It was like not very far at all. So Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski's home was at 10050. Should have looked up how to say that. I think it's CLO Drive. CLO Drive. Yeah. It is. We had to pause already because I was like, I don't know how to say that. I was like, fuck. CLO Drive. So it saw its fair share of occupants before it was destroyed along with the guest house in later years. Rudolf Altebeth who owned the house and he was the one who rented it out to Sharon and Roman, he moved into the house not long after the murders and he said that it felt safe, secure, loved, and beauty. And beauty. And beauty. It felt beauty. It felt beauty. It felt beauty. Yeah. I listen. It's a direct quote.

Now, the last person who lived in the house was Trent Rezner from this band called NIN. Called NIN. Yeah, I think that's what it is. If you have it listened to the listener tales. We love a Trent Rezner. I made an accident with that. Sometimes I made an accident. Sometimes I had an accident with that word. You'll never live down Ninn. Never ever.

So I'm just diving into it. Hell yeah. But he actually lived in that house until he met Sharon Tate's sister. And she said to him, like, do you think you're kind of exploiting my sister's death? And because while he was living there, Nin had actually filmed the music. I'm just going to continue because like I already did. I can't. They actually filmed the music video for Gave Up, which isn't really.

cool music video. Yeah. And they called the recording studio pig or La Pig. Yeah, they were definitely leaning into the the spookiness of that it was a crime scene. Exactly. Now, Trent said it was really the first time that he'd thought about the whole thing. And at first he was like, no, I'm not exploiting her death by living there. But that night, he actually went home and cried, he said. And then he said, when she was talking to me, I realized for the first time, what if that was my sister? Yeah. I thought, fuck Charlie Manson. I don't want to be looked at as a guy who's support serial killer bullshit. Hell yeah.

I went home and I cried that night. It made me see there's another side to things, you know. It's one thing to go around with your dick swinging in the wind, acting like it doesn't matter. But when you understand the repercussions that are felt, that's what sobered me up, realizing that what balances out the appeal of the lawlessness and the lack of morality and that whole thing is the other end of it, the victims who don't deserve that. See?

And sometimes like, you know what? Good for him for admitting, like, I didn't think about it. Like, I was being ignorant to it. And I was thinking about this is spooky and whoa, this is a crime scene and all that. And sometimes it's hard to, you need to be confronted with the real. You definitely do. With the real shit on the other end. And like her sister being like, you think you're explaining that?

Hi, that's literally my sister. Right. And it's like, oh. And like obviously it shouldn't take that for you to realize it. But that does happen. I'm glad that he like, it's big of him to admit that he wasn't thinking about it. I think so too. And that that did change him.

Exactly. Because no matter what, it's even like. Like, because, you know, not we, I always think of, like, victims. And I always, we always try to make sure that we are telling their story more than the killers. And it's like, but just talking to family members of victims, like talking to Molly Bish's sister and talking to Sarah Turney and talking to anybody who has been touched, like, firsthand by it. Yeah, Maddie Clifton sister. Maddie Clifton, like, it will, even if you feel like you are doing the best that you can to like make sure. You could always do better.

When you talk to a victim's family member, it all of a sudden takes you into like, no, I could do better. Like even if you feel like you're doing better, you're like, well, fuck, what else can I do? Exactly. It really does. It changes you. So like, I'm glad that he came out and said that. I thought it was really cool.

And I think it's cool to be able to admit when you fucked up or then be like, yeah, like, and I grew from it. Yeah, exactly. I like that he said, like, it's, you know, you can have your dick swinging in the wind. That's a really funny way to say. It's true, though. He sounds awesome. Yeah.

Now, Alvin Wendtrob had the house demolished actually in 1995, and they built a new home on the property that he decided to name Villa Bella. Oh, I love that, which is nice. And he also got a new address for the place, which I'm not going to say because you can find it. Because the whole point. The whole point is that it's a new address. But Trent actually took the front door to just like have like, he lived there. So you wanted some kind of memory, I guess. And he had it for a while. And then it got sold to, he used it. for like a recording studio in New Orleans. And then when they left that music studio, somebody bought the building and then this random guy from like New Orleans has the door now. Oh, okay. Wow, that's interesting.

That it just like made its way to New Orleans. Yeah, right? I thought so too. Now, as for the Jean Harlow J.C. Bringhouse, some people say that there were two more suicides that happened in the house between the time that Paul Byrne died and when J.C. Brink bought the home. Oh. And that two people drowned in the pool.

Oh, wow. So four more deaths. Now, I couldn't find any names. or dates to substantiate that. So I do kind of wonder if it's like just lore. I was, that's literally what I said, like part of the lore. But people reference it in like almost every source that you find about the house. Interesting.

Now, after Jay was killed, his parents sold the house to a doctor and his wife. And as far as I can tell, they still own the house. I didn't find anything to say that it's been sold since then. But sometimes people obsessed with the Manson family will trespass. One time the owner caught two people who were like, Manson obsessed, he said, in a car in his driveway having sex. Ew. And he was like, yeah, you can get the fuck out of here.

That's fucked up. Don't go to other people's homes and do that shit. Yeah, that's really fucked up. That's somebody interesting. They're living there. It's also just like, what the fuck. But actually, there was a guest house on the property, too, and it was eventually made into its own property.

And in 2013, it sold for $995,000. Oh, interesting. So that is the tale of Jean Harlow. Paul Byrne and their haunted-ass house. Wow, and I had no idea that it would connect back to the Manson family. Neither did I. That's a wild twist. I didn't see coming. Crazy, isn't it? Damn. Yeah. That's crazy. It truly is. Wow, Gene Harlow, who knew? Who knew? But I thought this whole thing, I was like, wow, this was a fucking whirlwind. That's it, it's like Betty Page when you covered that one. All of a sudden, I was like, what? You're like, where's the true crime in that? And I was like,

oh, let me tell you all about it. You shock me each time with these Hollywood ones. I'm like, oh, cool. fun, Hollywood. And then you go through it and I'm like, what? You're like Hollywood and I'm like, Hollywood? How many times I got to tell you my name? We ain't already no more. It's ice. Ice. This is ice. Bye. Guys, go watch Hokas Pocus. Imagine if you were just like, okay, bye, bye, bye. You got to watch Hocus Pocus. It's the season to be spooky. You got to do it. Boo, boo, boo, boo, boo, boo, boo. All right. Well, as always, we are, we, we're just, we all right. Well, as always, we are hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. Not as weird as the Manson family, like literally ever. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No. Don't even go to like the, the boundaries of that weird.

Oh, and not so weird that you have two whole ass wives. Yeah, don't do that. Don't have two whole ass wives or lives. And that you're like sneaking around and doing all that bad stuff. It's fucked up. It's a lot. The end.