My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - 450 - Only Judgments

Episode Date: October 17, 2024

This week, Karen and Georgia cover the 1969 Altamont Free Concert. For our sources and show notes, visit www.myfavoritemurder.com/episodes. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3UFCn1g. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hello! And welcome. To my favorite murder. That's Georgia Heartstark. That's Karen Kilg- what? Who? That's Karen Kilgariff with the good blowout. That's what I was going to say. That's Karen Kil- go on. Go on with your blowout. I can't stop looking at your blowout, your shiny, beautiful bob. However, right behind you are the most, two of the most beautiful looking cannolis I've

ever seen in my fucking life. Why are they there? Because they're so beautiful. They're so beautiful. They're so beautiful. They're so beautiful. They're so beautiful. They're so beautiful. They're so beautiful. They're so beautiful. They're so beautiful. blowout, your shiny, beautiful Bob. However, right behind you are the most, two of the most beautiful looking cannolis I've ever seen in my fucking life. Why are they there?

Those are brought to me. Why did you do that to me? Those are brought to me and those are, that's kind of like a carrot on a stick for you. Oh. Where it's like, keep going, keep going and at the end of this I'll give you one of these. I can have a bite of one? You can have a whole one and you can pick which one you want. Okay, that just works for me.

I want to say Nick Venoroso, who works here at Exactly Right with us, brought them to me, has brought me a couple, because he goes to fucking Pinocchio's in Burbank. Oh, I don't know that one. Oh, you would love that place. It's an Italian restaurant that I feel like has been there since 1942. That sounds familiar. Okay.

And they have amazing gelato, classic Italian whatever you want, pizza, lasagna. I want it. All of it. Booths. Amazing. Yes, everything. And a whole Italian grocery store. Oh my God.

A grocery store and a restaurant is like my passion. Right? Like, yes, please. Cracker Barrel, I'm in. Whatever, any combination of shopping and eating. Yes. Yes, for sure. Those are two of my faves. So those, when I walked into my office today, and the light was off, so when I walked in

I thought that I had left a half-eaten burrito on my desk, And I was like, that's gross. And ants. Like, what am I doing? And when I flipped the light on, it was those beauties. And I walked two offices down. And I was like, hey, cannoli delivery. And he was like, I went to Pinocchio's. I thought you'd like it. — Is it because, let's transition right into like, you're going to fucking Italy? — It might be. It might be because he's that was his send-off to me. That's a great send-off. I'm so excited. It's so exciting to get to go on vacation. But also it is so like to be planning as a person like me who I don't even understand how my brain works.

I have been packing for a week and a half. That's smart. Laying stuff out on the table and being like, that's there, I need that. Like editing it throughout the week. That's actually really smart because I'm the night before, overpack, like I don't know who I'm packing for, but it's not me. It's like not, it's the girl I want to be. Yeah, it's dreaming you in a different city.

Yeah. Right. Right. But I think I have gone on enough trips where I try to pretend like I'm the girl that doesn't really care. Uh-huh. Right? It's the same reason, like, the patch of hair that's kind of never brushed.

Yeah. But I do care. Of course you care. I just can't manage my time correctly. Mm-hmm. I can't conceptualize time. I think I really have been convinced by TikTok that I have ADHD. I think you and I have different flavors of ADHD. Yeah. I mean, I've definitely been convinced by TikTok that I have ADHD. I think you and I have different flavors of ADHD.

Yeah. I mean, I've definitely been diagnosed. We're not throwing this fucking thing around, but there's different variants and there's different, it's a spectrum. And you and I have completely opposite ones. But I do think that there's some time management things that would be explained in that way for both of us on our extremes. Well, and just to, not to be defensive, but just to say for myself,

the thing that I really identify with is that when they talk about like, it's not time management. I don't understand, like time doesn't work in my brain the same way. So if I sit somewhere and it's like 15 minutes pass and then I have to be somewhere, I absolutely have to hire someone to come in and go, you have to go. It's now. Because if I'm left to my own devices, I'll be like, there's no way 15 minutes have passed. It's like three hours. That's so interesting.

I'll sit there and I won't be able to do anything else because I'm waiting for those 15 minutes to go because that's all I can concentrate on. And then I'll leave three minutes early just to make sure that I'm there on time. Wow. Like it's just obsessive I won't plan a day if I have something at one o'clock because I have to wait until that moment to like that's all I can Think about that's not a good combination for you and I I Mean it explains so many things. I just think about like our first year on the road Oh my god. Oh shit.

Prevents. Even post-vents. Remember that time we were in Oslo and he had to come to my room and I was like, had just stepped out of the shower and he's like, we're going on stage in 15 minutes. I was like, what's this you say? Like I think that's the night I went on stage in my pajamas. Okay, we went on stage in our pajamas because our luggage got lost. Oh god, thank god. Thank god. I was remembering as like I blew it so badly. That was not you.

Okay. Okay, great. Thank you. Yeah. Good to know. That wasn't that. And actually that was so fun. It was so fun. That was like we did a show in Oslo. Yeah.

And it was like we were in this beautiful, it was like there was a lot of velvet curtains and it was like carpeted walls. So it was like, it was very comforting and like we were in utero. The reason we went to Oslo is so dumb. It's because I like this song by this super obscure band called Oslo in the Summertime and we were going to Sweden and I was like, let's go to Oslo too so I can say I've been to Oslo. In the Summertime? In the Sum the summertime. The band is of Montreal. They're fucking incredible if you ever need a band but that's just a weird reason to get on a plane and go somewhere. Well look, if we can sell tickets. Sure.

We'll show up. And we did. And we did. And then we met a bunch of amazing Norwegian murderinos who spoke English better than us. And a lot of expats that were badass. Yes. Which was fun. And our Italians who came to see us. We should know their names. Why would we know the Italians' names?

I could describe their glasses. Go find them when you're in Italy. Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah. I'm excited for you. That's a really amazing trip. Oh my God. I'm excited for you. That's a really amazing trip. Oh my god. I'm so excited. I'm so excited that I'm doing a thing where I go onto Netflix

and I enter Sicily into the search bar just to see if there's any TV shows I can watch to see people walking around different parts of Sicily. Is there a somebody feed fill episode? Oh, I don't know. I didn't even think about it. That's my favorite. Yeah, you love that. I really do. That is to say that this is an episode where only Karen's telling a story.

We've had a couple of those. This is the last one. So we have content while we're out of town, but also can go out of town. That's right. No one begrudges us a vacation. We're giving them a story. And we saved like meaty ones for these for solos. So like...

There should be no complaints. Why am I that? Why am I defending myself? Who am I yelling at? I have a book to recommend and then we can get started. It's like a good vacation book that I can't put down. What if I have a book to recommend? Right. Then we can both recommend books. I thought the way you said it was and then we can get started. I just mean like you don't okay yeah you know what you're right I did kind of. I don't have a book. I can't read. This book's called Olga Dies Dreaming by Zoshiel Gonzalez. And it's about this like interesting

badass woman who grew up in Brooklyn and the Puerto Rican neighborhood of Brooklyn. She's like a badass wedding planner now, but she's super complicated. And it's also about her family and what they've gone through. And it's so fucking good. I can't put it down. Like, this chick is so inspiring, but also so messy that you love her so much. And you're like rooting for her to find herself. And I'm hoping she does by the end, because I'll cry if she doesn't.

I mean, I feel like this, in the modern day, we've come to understand that we want to hear stories and talk about people who are messy, real, human. Everything else is so fucking boring. It is. And untrue. Right. Dishonest. Dishonest. Yeah. That's right. Totally.

Messy time. What's your book? Just make one up. I have a book. It's called Our Town. It's a wonderful play by Thornton Wilder? Alondra? Please say it. Alondra, you went to college. Please say it.

Thornton Wilder? Fuck yeah. Did you see that? You got that? That was amazing. Didn't you hear me say it? I did. Like I, that was great.

Yeah. I wouldn't have. I couldn't have. I shouldn't have. And you never will. And I mustn't. Okay. We have a podcast network and we like to tell you things about it, you know, to keep you up to date because maybe you listen to this podcast, we've got a bunch of great ones. Handpicked by none other than Karen and myself. Yeah.

So like you probably like them too. That's right. If you go to exactlyrightmedia.com, you can see them all. If you put in Exactly Right, wherever you listen to podcasts, the network should come up and all our podcasts are there. So many. And please rate, review, and subscribe. Everyone appreciates it.

Also, we have brand new You're an Occult Call Your Dad merch designed by illustrator Jess Rodder, who makes the coolest rock and roll inspired artwork. I'm obsessed with this design. There's a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a tote bag that you can get online at MyFavoriteMurder.com. It looks like a poster that would be at the Fillmore in 1968. Classic. It's such beautiful, cool artwork. You can also follow Exactly Right on social media and learn more about what's happening

this week on your favorite podcast, those ones we were generalizing about at the top of this announcement. For example, I Saw What You Did, that's our movie podcast, Bananas, the Weird News podcast, there's so many. So many. And then episode 15 of Rewind with Karen and Georgia is available now. It features crimes from the year 2000. I was listening to an episode of Rewind last night just for like, you know, quality control.

Sure. And it was weird to hear myself back then all bubbly and like a little bourboned up. Sure. You know? Yeah, yeah. That girl was drinking whiskey straight at the time. Also imagine that you're listening to a podcast of yourself recapping a podcast of yourself. Inception.

I mean. It's fucking inception. Narcissism inception. No. I'm just trying to make sure the product we're giving people. No, I'm not. Inception. I mean. It's fucking inception. Narcissism inception. No, I'm just trying to make sure the product we're giving people. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. No judgments.

Not all judgments. Only judgments. If you love My Favorite Murder, that's what we're doing right now. Please go rate review and follow the show wherever you get your podcasts. It's a simple thing you can do that helps any podcast out, when you like them do that.

All the ones you like, touch those stars, even say some nice stuff about it. Sure. It helps. It does. And if you don't like a podcast, just ignore it. Move on. There's other ones.

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She is, Marin McClashen is my researcher. Ali Elkin is Georgia's researcher. We're so lucky to have such talented researchers. And so this story, Marin and I talked about, and the reason I wanted to do it is because it took place in 1969. And in 1969, my mom was a psychiatric nurse at a hospital in San Francisco called Langley Porter that was up on the hill above Coal Valley. Do you remember that, like, hospital or that spot? in San Francisco called Langley Porter that was up on the hill above Coal Valley.

Do you remember that like hospital or that spot? Is it abandoned now? That's the barracks that used to be over in like North? No. No. No. They're just going to go now. I don't think it's abandoned but I'm not sure. But I don't think so. But she told me this unbelievable story about the

night that this happened. So she worked in the psychiatric unit at this hospital, but it was 1969. So at the time, a lot of parents were sending their kids who they caught smoking pot to mental hospitals as a kind of like, we don't know what to do with you and this is crazy. It was truly like the cultural revolution of the late 60s was truly blowing a lot of people's minds, not just the ones that are taking drugs. So there were a lot of true mental patients

and people with mental disorders that were getting treatment on this ward. And then there was just teenagers that got sent there. So on the night of this, these teenagers and some of the patients on this ward found out this concert was taking place and they snuck out. And when they came back, they were not the same. So, the story takes place December 6, 1969.

It's the Altamont free concert. Oh, no. Yes. And your mom was like, witnessed the people coming and then going? These poor kids coming back, because they were, she was like, you know, they were sneaking out but she's like, oh, they're just going to go. And what it was supposed to be was a free concert in Golden Gate Park, which is truly a couple blocks away. Yeah.

And Altamont was like kind of far away, right? Livermore. Outside of town, completely. More than a half an hour outside of town. So it was supposed to be this one day's festival featuring some of the biggest names in music, and it was free. The superstar lineup includes Crosby, Stills, and Nash, the Flying Burrito brothers, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, the Grateful Dead, and the top of the bill is the Rolling Stones, who have just wrapped

a very successful U.S. tour. So it's supposed to be the West Coast Woodstock. Woodstock had just happened in August of 1969 in New York State, so now it's supposed to be California's turn. And the excitement around this thing is enormous. Everyone's talking about it. But what ended up happening, and we know what happened at Woodstock where, you know, it was like not really well planned and it went on and on, but it was this like free love,

good vibes. Success. Yeah. It worked out. Yes. Altamont is the exact opposite. It will go down in history as some call it the anti-Woodstock. Others will say it marks the death of the 60s hippie dream.

Mick Jagger himself will say, quote, if Jesus has been at Altamont, he would have been crucified. This is the story of one of the darkest moments in rock and roll history, the 1969 Altamont free concert. Wow. Yeah. So the main sources Marin used in today's story are the book Just a Shot Away by Saul Osterlitz, the book Altamont by Joel Selvin, and the reporting of Jeff Edgers, which is featured in the Washington Post's podcast All Told, which Marin

said was great and highly recommended. Yeah. It's a good podcast. Yeah. And the rest of the sources are in our show notes. So, first we're going to talk about an 18-year-old black man named Meredith Hunter who goes by the name Murdoch. He lives in Berkeley, California.

And he is a music fanatic. As many were of the time, but he really was. Murdoch's childhood was very difficult. His father leaves the family when he's young and his mother, Altha, raises Murdoch and his siblings, not only as a single parent, but while she struggles with schizophrenia. Writer Saul Osterlitz says, quote, if you were black and schizophrenic, there was little hope of fruitful treatment. And because of this, Alta struggles to hold down a job. The children sometimes go hungry.

When Murdoch is just 11 years old, he starts getting into trouble with the law as one would expect. No support, no services. What else are you supposed to do? Through his teens, Murdoch hangs out with a rough crowd. Then he gets into drugs. He's in and out of juvenile detention for various nonviolent and for petty crimes. But he is also a beloved member of this family. When his sister's widowed, he becomes a very important part of her children's lives. Also, Murdoch has a very distinctive charm about him. His then 17-year-old girlfriend, Patty Breithoft, will later say,

Murdoch didn't walk, he kind of floated. He had this walk where he was super cool, always in a suit. When he picked me, it made me feel special. Plus, he was very sweet. We just really had a connection. So, at 6'2", Murdoch exudes personality and confidence. He's always dressed to the nines. His style sets him apart. But his never-ending appetite for seeing excellent live music is something he has common with so many other kids in his

generation. And earlier in the year, he went to the Monterey Jazz Festival, had an amazing time. He's still bummed he didn't get to go to Woodstock. You know, he's one of those people. He wants to be at every big music event. So when word starts to spread that there's going to be this free West Coast version of Woodstock, Murdoch's all in. He has no way of knowing that behind the scenes, Altamont is shaping up to be a serious disaster. So the idea behind the Altamont free concert is lovely. A free concert in San Francisco

makes a ton of sense. At the time, San Francisco is the epicenter of the music-obsessed hippie movement and free concerts are a well-known part of the culture. Bands like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane have already hosted free shows at Golden Gate Park to great success. Have you been to shows in Golden Gate Park? I went to a festival there when I lived there, but I don't remember anything about it.

I mean, it's just that, because that park is so beautiful, it's so sprawling. And I can't even remember what show I was at, because I'm sure I was very drunk. But I just remember the setting, like the size and the setting was so, like it was really this kind of, this is an event and I'm a part of something. It was very cool. So, the Rolling Stones like the idea of being a part of a free concert for a few reasons. They want to thank their American audiences who have been so supportive of this tour that they just did. It also, they're hoping it might silence the critics who accuse the band of charging too much for tickets on this tour.

Plus, the band is currently filming a documentary of that tour with the Maisel brothers, Albert and David, They're the filmmaking duo behind the legendary documentary, Great Gardens, and a bunch of others, and obviously what is soon to be the documentary they're gonna make about the Rolling Stones. Yeah, we watched that a while back. Yeah, fucked up. It's tough. So, the Stones know there's real cinematic value in capturing a

well-attended concert, you know, like headlining Golden Gate Park. Yeah, totally. It would be an undeniably iconic ending to this film. But in true anti-authority hippie fashion, the plan for this concert moves forward with no central structure or leadership, just dozens of people acting as pseudo-organizers operating under no singular chain of command. When I read that sentence, I began to sweat.

Yeah. You can't do that. So stressful and just a recipe for disaster, no matter what you're doing. So it's just this chaotic group of musicians and managers and promoters. And they, so kind of together, they decide to set a date that's only a couple weeks away. December 6, 1969. And then Mick Jagger is giving an interview on November 26, which is relatively right before. And so he confirms the rumors of an upcoming free concert in Golden Gate Park.

Oh my God. And he does this before anyone has locked down Golden Gate Park as the venue, as the location, really. So the very hippie-vibe kind of planning about this, no one has considered the bureaucracy that's involved when you want to access a place like the city park. Permits and shit. Exactly. So while Bay Area bands like the Grateful Dead have connections with the city of San Francisco and the people that work there, the Rolling Stones, they're a much bigger band with a notorious reputation,

and they do not. So less than a week before the announced date of September 6th, San Francisco city officials decide that they're not going to grant permits for a free concert in Golden Gate Park. So suddenly that's all off the table. And incredibly, because there's no central leadership in this group, they don't get together and plan a different, you know, hey, we could do it later on, a different date, same place, whatever. Instead they just start looking for other venues with just days to spare. Shit. One of those venues is Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, California. Oh, your friend? Merely 10 minutes away from Petaluma, possibly 15.

Damn. If you want to go to Sacramento, you kind of drive by Sears Point Raceway. Did you go there? One of the ways to go. As a to Sacramento, you kind of drive by Sears Point Raceway. Did you go there? One of the ways to go. As a kid and stuff? We never went to Sears Point. It's like an adult car racing place.

Exactly. Because that's what Altamont was, right? It's not like a, I'm thinking of little kids driving it. Oh, no, no. It's not go-karts. Yeah. No, no. Sears Point is real.

It's like NASCAR. I don't know if it's officially NASCAR, but it was very loud. You could hear it. Oh my God, I bet. You could hear it sometimes in Petaluma if the weather was correct. Because there's probably no regulations on what you could put on your engine and shit. And it was just like... Back then, I'm sure there was it.

That's so crazy. Yeah. And it's still there and it's still a real place. It's like a serious place. Nice. We're very proud of Sears Point. Also it's that kind of thing where I've been hearing all my childhood of like things on the radio being announced where it's like, this week on a Sears Point raceway.

Oh my God, I love it. So, this seems like the best option. It's 30 miles from San Francisco, but then negotiations fall apart three days before the scheduled concert date. After the venue owners find out that the Rolling Stones want to film there and they demand $100,000 for rights to filming. That's a lot of money. Guess how much it is in today's money. Okay, inflation's fucking huge.

It's 1969. And it's 650, 650? $800,000. Almost a million dollars. That's just almost like saying, we don't want it here. Here's a fucking made up number. We know you're going to say, no, go fuck yourself. Yes, because I think the people at Sears Point were like,

we saw what happened at Woodstock. All those hippies on drugs, taking weird baths in a pond. The insurance alone would cost half of that fucking fee. Probably. You know what I mean? Yes. No. Yeah, alone would cost half of that fucking fee. Probably. You know what I mean? Yes. No. Yeah.

And they're going to fuck the whole thing up and like it'll be dirty and you have to clean it up and everything. Yeah. So it's kind of smart because then if they got the money then hey. Sure. So for this Rolling Stones, this is an immediate deal breaker. You know that price at like the idea of doing it without being able to film it, that ain't happening because this is like basically the crucial ending for their documentary.

So it seems like the whole idea is ready to collapse, but not everyone's ready to give up. I don't think people like give enough credit to fucking cutting your losses and moving on. For real. Like that's a big thing of mine, like when I would be like, this relationship is over. Yes. I'm done. Be done. It's okay.

It's okay. Things end all the time. Yeah. Because things could be worse then. You cut your losses, meaning you're not going to gain more losses. Correct. That's right. Okay.

Well said. So Rolling Stone magazine reports that, quote, Jagger kept saying, well, man, we'll play the streets if we have to. It's kind of cool. Yeah. He was almost prepared to pick a street corner in downtown San Francisco and play there, end quote. So with just two days to go, me with a taut stomach as I'm like going into this document,

the organizers find a dusty remote racetrack in the city of Livermore, 60 miles east of San Francisco. This is the Altamont Speedway. This time the owner of the racetrack doesn't ask for much aside from the promotional boost that will come with being associated with this concert. But the location is not ideal. What's funny is driving from Petaluma to LA, I would drive by Altamont. That's how you get from the 580 to the 5 south.

You basically go by it. I mean, I don't think you can see anything from the freeway, not that I know of, but it's right there, basically. So, the speedway is far away from the city. The atmosphere is nowhere as nice, of course, as Golden Gate Park or Sears Point Raceway. And the largest crowd that Altamont has ever hosted is 6,000 people. This concert is expected to draw 100,000 people. Wow. I was even going to guess like 25. No.

No. Big time. No. On top of everything else, the organizers have less than 48 hours to now pull this entire thing together. Just talk about, let's just think about like a festival day, what's involved, what people have to organize to put something like that together. Seriously.

At this point, the Grateful Dead's frontman, Jerry Garcia, thinks the whole thing should be called off. But because the Rolling Stones are still on board and they're huge, that's all it takes for the Motley Crue of organizers to basically fall in line. They start recruiting volunteers from around the Bay Area to help build the stage for bands to perform on and to haul in the sound equipment. Volunteers building a concert stage? Yeah, no, you don't know how to build a the sound equipment. Volunteers building a concert stage. Yeah, no, you don't know how to build a fucking concert stage. You gotta get your guys that, like, wear those tool belts all the time.

You gotta get your union guys. Contractors who know how, like, gravity works and shit. And people that have done it and done it and done it and done it. You mean, like, own a leveler. You know what I mean? At the very least. At the very least. You mean like own a leveler. You know what I mean? At the very least. At the very least. You have to have a mustache or a beard, please.

So they think that's parts taken care of. Now they move on to the very important task of hiring security. Enter the Hells Angels. I wonder what it would have been like if this part hadn't been there. It would have been a mess, but it wouldn't have been. Right. As bad. It wouldn't have gone down in history, I feel like. Well, it's interesting you say that. We'll get to that point.

It's interesting I say that, and I don't know the whole story, so keep going. Well, but that's the fun part of these kinds of conversations, because you don't know, and what you're citing is interesting and it will come up. So if you're a millennial or older, then you know the Hells Angels. If you don't, if you're young or you're uncool, old and uncool, the Hells Angels are an infamous motorcycle gang, notorious around California. They were California based and they had become a household name because of their outlaw image and their serious crimes that they committed constantly. They were in the news a lot.

It was scary. Even in the late 70s when I kind of became conscious of that, that kind of motorcycle gang energy, there were definitely tons of like Hells Angel type people who absolutely were not like that. And that were just like, you know, Harley guys or whatever. But this particular motorcycle gang was at the time not, it wasn't good. It was like a true gang. Yeah, they were notorious for sure. So, it sounds like a bizarre choice for security for an event like this, but like the youth culture of the time, the Hells Angels' typified anti-authority rebellion, the Gangs Bay area

chapter already has a relationship with the local music scene. Grace Slick, who is one of the lead singers of Jefferson Airplane, talks about it on the All Told podcast saying, quote, police didn't like people with long hair. They knew we smoked dope, so they'd try and catch us doing that. We, in turn, didn't want them around. The Hells Angels are not going to take us to jail, but they can be tough like a cop. We'd done a number of concerts in Golden Gate Park, and the Hells Angels had been there to make sure everything went OK. They never messed with anybody. They were always OK.

And when somebody would get on stage, when they're not supposed to be, they'd just go over and tell them not to. So we said we could get the Hells Angels to be security at Altamont." End quote. So the Hells Angels aren't interested in acting like cops, and they don't want to be policing the event.

That's not their style. But they do agree to guard the stage and the equipment on very short notice and for a very cheap price, $500 worth of beer. Which is so much beer at the time. At the time is how much beer? At the time is $4,000 worth of beer. And probably cheap beer. Shitty cheap beer for sure.

So we're kind of setting that stage of like the expectations and hey this has worked before and hey my dad's got a barn and we can go over to Altamont and we'll just throw this thing together for Mick Jagger and for everybody trying to have a fun free show. Yeah. Meanwhile, back in Berkeley, Murdoch Hunter is preparing to go to this concert and he is excited. But not everyone in Murdoch's life feels great about his plan to go to Altamont. His sister Dixie warns him that he might not be safe as a black man going out where this

concert's being held. She points out, because Murdoch's girlfriend, Patty, is white, that something could happen to them as an interracial couple. This is basically as far out of San Francisco as you can get, and at that time, it says less urban on the page. It was not urban at all. It's like rural. It's completely country.

And it goes country really fast out there because there's so much farming, livestock, all that kind of stuff that it goes city to country real quick. Years later, Dixie tells the All Told podcast, quote, I said, that's not a good place for you. My husband owns some trucks. He would go collect iron and stuff out there. And he would take me. I have seen Ku Klux Klan crosses that have been burnt

in those fields. Wow. Yeah. So the truth is Murdoch is determined to go. It's that he's 18. Yeah. He's got the world on a string. And like maybe one of the most like the legendary concerts

that will happen. Yeah. And that he's gonna miss it and it's in his like neighborhood basically. Right. Of course he's gonna go. Of course he's gonna go. So on the morning of December 6th,

he puts on a black silk shirt, a lime green suit, and a wide brimmed black hat. Then he takes his mother's boyfriend's champagne colored 1965 Mustang. Oh my God, stop it right now. Right? And he goes and picks up Patty, and he heads out to Livermore. And Patty will later say, quote, nobody knew exactly what it was gonna be like out there, peace and love and hippies and all that.

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So as the couple approaches Altamont, they come upon a massive traffic jam. This is because the event organizers have made no real plan for parking. have made no real plan for parking. Saul Osterlitz writes, quote, the new 580 freeway leading from just north of San Francisco to the eastern reaches of Alameda County still not fully open to the public. Which is, I read that, it was like, what? Nobody fucking notified? Anybody? It was a fresh freeway. Yeah. And it wasn't open yet. Still not fully open to the public, became a massive parking lot with parked cars filling each of its four lanes four miles. Holy shit.

I'm pretty sure this is now a five or six lane highway. I bet. It's gigantic. Yeah. But so the idea that people were just kind of turning down it and going then just parking on it is wild. Yeah. When he says four miles, he means eight miles. And that's because organizers anticipated a hundred thousand people coming, but in fact,

300,000 people show up. It's a one-day thing, right? Not like a woodstock where you can come throughout the weekend. It's a one-day thing. And maybe that's why there are no concession stands. No. There's no food or water available for a day-long concert. No. And they've only gotten 100 portable toilets.

Oh my God. For 300,000 people. Oh my God. Terrifying. And then there's the stage. So we'll go back to the stage. How'd that go? Assembled by volunteers.

Out of that turnout. Here, you tell me. It's cobbled together overnight and it stands at a mighty three feet tall. For comparison, the stage at Woodstock was 15 feet high. And it took weeks to build. Plus the location of the stage is not great. They set it at the bottom of a hill. So the concert goers basically kind of tower over

it. And because it's just a few feet tall and there's no real barricade or fence around the stage, audience members can easily just walk onto it. What they did do was put up a piece of string. And just, it's so insane. One guy was like, maybe we need a barrier. And another guy was like, how about string? And then they ended the conversation.

Yeah, it was like, and the guy that suggested string pours concrete, and he's like, this will work, because no one ever crosses these strings when we pour concrete. Either that or they were both on acid and they were like, look how amazingly strong this string is. The string is like the universe. It's so strong. So basically, a piece of string goes around the perimeter of the stage and that is the only boundary between the stage and the crowd. And it gets ripped down

immediately, of course. So the concert is off to a bad start. Then you throw in a ton of alcohol and of course the bad acid that inevitably gets circulated among the audience and a powder keg situation is starting to build. And as you can imagine, a chaotic environment lacking basic infrastructure and resources, people getting super intoxicated, things immediately get tense. Yeah. Rolling Stone magazine reports, quote, as Santana was setting up, a chick toward the

front of the stage was telling her old man, it's weird. They consulted astrologers before setting the dates for Woodstock, but they couldn't have consulted an astrologer about today. Anyone can see that with the moon in Scorpio, today is an awful day to do this concert. There's a strong possibility of violence and chaos and any astrologer would have told them so. Oh well, maybe the stones know something I don't know." Girl, believe in yourself. Believe in yourself and also like, sure they could have consulted an astrologer. It didn't sound like they were

consulting fucking anybody. They could have consulted literally a child and been like, sure, they could have consulted an astrologer. It didn't sound like they were consulting fucking anybody. They could have consulted literally a child and been like, is this a great idea? And the kid would have been like, no. The string won't stay up. At my school, string doesn't stay up. Oh my God. So unfortunately, the Rolling Stones are not sitting on any special insider information. They, like everyone else involved, are in for a very rude awakening.

Band member Mick Taylor will later say, quote, about five minutes after we arrived, I was with Mick Jagger. I was with Mick, and then it says Jagger in parentheses. And there were a couple security guards with us, and a guy broke through and punched Mick in the face. What? You can't do that. I mean, yes, you can.

At Altamont, you can. You just can. The last thing he says in that quote is, that put me off a bit. End quote. This chaotic, violent atmosphere sets in on this continually expanding crowd. There's a particularly notorious attendee who is almost always, unfortunately, referred to as, quote, the naked fat guy. Cultural critic Griel Marcus, who at the time is a 24-year-old writer for Rolling Stone magazine,

remembers, quote, and this is about the naked fat guy. He got up when Santana started to play and started dancing. It looked like he was just being free and all that, and he took his clothes off, but he wasn't. I was close enough to see that he was using his dancing as an excuse to stomp people. He was actually moving all around and stomping on people. It was really ugly and awful." Oh my God. End quote. And here's what's weird. No one's ever figured out who that man is. Even the

Washington Post- Shut the fuck. Will not track down his name or any identifying information about him. I never heard of that before. That is fucking wild. I know. I have neither. So that's the vibe, right?

People are expecting Woodstock and they're showing up and being like, huh? What? I really am getting heart palpitations a little bit. Okay, great. On top of all this, all the bad vibes, or maybe at the heart of it is the presence of the Hells Angels. They ride their motorcycles through the middle of the densely packed crowd right up to the front of the stage, and then they line up in this very obvious show of force.

Much like the concert goers around them, the Hells Angels are downing drugs and imbibing alcohol and are actively and often violently engaging with the crowd. If someone gets too close to the stage or one of their bikes, they're immediately punched or whacked with a sawed-off pool cue filled with lead. That's their weapon of choice. And the Hells Angels have created a makeshift jail where they corral guests that they see as making problems. As you would guess, they show them no mercy in this jail.

The naked fat guy ends up being held there and his face and chest are covered in blood and his front teeth get knocked out. Holy shit. Oh, sorry. It says his teeth have been knocked out. Holy shit. Oh, sorry. It says his teeth have been knocked out. So it could be a bunch of his teeth, not just the front ones. Even Marty Ballin, who was the founding member of Jefferson Airplane and the co-lead singer with Grace Slick, is attacked by a member of the Hells Angels.

It happens when Ballin jumps off stage mid-performance to intervene when he sees the gang members attacking another concertgoer, Balin mouths off to an angel, I'm sure because they were like, hey, we recommended you. Like, you can't be doing this. He's promptly knocked unconscious. When he comes to a few minutes later, he starts telling that Hell's Angel off again and is knocked out for a second time. Yeah. The Hells Angels' drunken, drug-fueled violence seems to have no limits.

During Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's set, they team up on the young hippies in front of the stage as the band plays behind them. It gets so bad that Steven Stills, while he's playing, is actually injured by one Hell's Angel who's just sitting on the stage poking him in the leg with a sharpened bicycle spoke. What the fuck? Yeah. Oh my God.

Yeah. I want to go home. And I think that's that thing. There are so many elements of performance that people don't understand that are it's psychological crowd control. That is why stages are up high. performance that people don't understand that are its psychological crowd control. That is why stages are up high. It's basically saying, we're up here, you're not allowed to touch us.

You're down there and you watch what we're doing and you're in the dark down there and we do our thing and then we go away. When you put everybody on the same level, and I mean ask any stand-up comic who's done like a show in like a restaurant or whatever. That's when you get heckled. That's when people are like, oh, you're just me. I'm part of this. I'm part of the show. Exactly.

And you're just another me standing there and you're making me feel uncomfortable because you're kind of vulnerable. I got to do something about it. It's that vibe. So the stage thing, I personally think is a huge element to this where it's like, oh, we can all just do whatever we want. Yeah. Oh, also acid.

Oh, right. That'll do it. That'll do it too. So Stephen Stills has slashed so many times, he bleeds through his pant leg on stage. Like, he can't tell this guy to stop, because all of his fucking bros are there. And also because he's like, been doing four-part harmony in the middle of a song, getting his leg fucking, it's so crazy.

So the band ends their set a half an hour after they start and immediately just go back into the city. Years later, David Crosby tells the All Told podcast, quote, I was terrified. We thought get out of here as fast as you can before somebody gets killed in front of you before you get killed." Wow. Yeah. End quote. So, members of the Grateful Dead who are slated to play right before the Rolling Stones are so unnerved by this out of control violence from both

the audience and the Hells Angels that they just bail. Yeah. Which I love. Yeah. I felt so much relief when I was like, fuck yes, get out of there. You're done. So at this point Murdoch Hunter and his girlfriend, Patty are taking a break back in their car

with a couple other friends. Patty wants to leave. She's over this whole thing. Some sources say that the couple were seen being harassed during this concert. As Saul Osterlitz writes, quote, glancing around the concert venue, Hunter may have silently taken note of how few other black men were present that day. This was overwhelmingly a white affair, and at least some of the African Americans in

the crowd seemed to be targeted by the Hells Angels. A long-haired biker threw one young man to the ground for no apparent reason, then proceeded to mouth obscenities at the fallen concertgoer. This was undoubtedly a familiar feeling for anyone like Hunter, who had spent time at the parties and celebrations of the overwhelmingly white counterculture." End quote. So the problem is Murdoch is not ready to leave. Patty later says, quote, I didn't really want to go back again, but he persuaded me, end

quote. But before they go, Murdoch opens the trunk of his car and pulls out a gun. Patty remembers asking, quote, what do you need that for? And he says, just for protection, which he's right. Yeah. But it's like at that point, maybe if that's the situation, what, I mean, the Rolling Stones are an amazing band. And you kind of get to see them like right there, you're right there.

Yeah. But if you need that to go back to the concert to feel safe, then it's like, then that's not a safe place to be. No. So, I'm going to just say all of this right here. All of this has been happening during the day. The sun hasn't gone down yet. Since the Grateful Dead have left.

And because the Rolling Stones bassist, Bill Wyman, isn't there yet. And because the band and the Maisles brothers have always envisioned that performance to be a nighttime performance, the Rolling Stones don't go on stage for two hours. You have hundreds of thousands of worn out, hungry, thirsty, strung out, unruly concert goers and Hell's Angels. So at this point, the vibes are absolutely terrible at Alchemont. So there's just nobody playing for two hours.

Just sitting there and people are just stewing in the shit. And also don't forget it's no small part that bad acid. There's a- What's that? Who's that from? Like what's the, like acid can be bad and still be good. Like, what's the deal? It's, no, not quality-wise. It's same thing happened at Woodstock.

Like, don't eat the brown acid, I think, is what they said, where it's like, it's giving people terrible trips. Like, no one is... It's dosed with something else? Yeah. It's badly made. Got it, got it, got it. So, people are, instead of kind of going up and away to good times, they're...

Yeah, they're like, on PCP to good times, they're immediately freaking out. So they actually have to set up what's called a bummer tent, which they also had to do at Woodstock, where people on psychedelics who need help can get it. But there, things are reaching a fever pitch of horror. Joel Sullivan reports, quote, volunteers and staff were overwhelmed and moans and screams can be heard coming from within. By the end of the day, the four psychiatrists working the tent would treat more than 200 patients by themselves. The tension was so great that somebody witnessed two doctors getting into a fistfight over an argument about treatment protocols.

I want to hear from them. So the astrology can't be argued with at this point. It's like everybody is, it's all bad. And in the midst of this Murdoch Hunter is angling to get up close to the stage. I bet you, and my guess is, it's like, let's make all this worth it. Totally. And really be right there. Totally. For a band at the height of their fame, I think.

Well, not really, because they're still performing. Yeah. So, not the height, but truly an amazing time. Yeah. Pinnacle? Um, opening? What's the opening? Starting line.

The, no, I can't think of any. The starting line of their fame. Just like the coolest, starting line? The, no, I can't think of any, the starting line of their fate. Just like the coolest, you know. Sure. It's too bad I can't think of words anymore, being that I do this job for a living. I mean, try having not been able to do that for eight and a half years. It's rough. It's something.

I don't know what. It really feels like something. Something else. It's a bad trip. It's bad vibes. Okay, so somehow Murdoch and Patty actually do manage to get through this enormous crowd and they get very close to the stage, which means they're right by those Hells Angels that are standing in front of it, holding the line, battering people with lead-filled

pool cues. So when the Rolling Stones finally do take the stage, the crowd surges. Murdoch and Patty try to hold their own, but when a song starts, like basically they get separated. And that's, we've all been at concerts like that where, and it's no surprise it happened here, where it's like people don't just stand there like, oh cool, I'm so happy now. It's like, urgh. Totally. And they're right there on your level. They're like...

Right. It's like... But you can't control your movements too when you're in that big of a crowd where you get pushed forward. It's not like you're wanting to go forward. It's just the rest of the crowd is being moved. They're moving. They're high, drunk. They want to be there, they want to punch Mick

Jagger in the face. I mean, so insane. So every time the band starts a new song, there's a new crush toward the stage and the couple gets separated. Before long, it's clear that the typically powerful, captivating Rolling Stones have completely lost control. The Hells Angels have all the power in the situation and they know it. Gang members are flagrantly

walking across the stage as the band members who are skinny little British rock stars, much smaller than many of these motorcycle gang members, look increasingly unsettled and scared. At one point, the usually smooth as silk Mick Jagger bumps into a mic stand and knocks it over. But the show goes on, although the band stops several times either to check in on audience members who don't look good or to implore the out-of-control crowd to settle down. At one point, Mick Jagger repeatedly begs people to cool out. Keith Richards calls out the Hells Angels directly. He says, quote, Listen, man, either these cats cool it or we don't play.

But as Griel Marcus puts it, quote, the stones couldn't stop because they were surrounded by Hells Angels who were telling them to play or else. At one point, an angel came up to Keith Richards, grabbed him and said, play fucker, you're going to play. They had no idea that they would not be beaten or killed themselves if they didn't play. Yeah. They didn't give a shit about this fucking... No. No.

No. It's like play brown sugar. I want to hear it right now. Bitch, yeah. So they had... Sorry, we're still on the quote, so they had to play, they didn't have the option of leaving, end quote. Meanwhile, Jerry Garcia's whistling on the fucking 580, thank God. Truly like a perfect example of what you're saying of quit if you need to quit. Plus the sheer size of the audience, then the low positioning of that stage makes it impossible for the band to do anything

But perform because where would they even go? And how would this rowdy audience react if the Rolling Stones were like we're done by right years later The Stones tour manager Sam Cutler will mull this over He says quote it could have resulted in maybe the deaths of the Rolling Stones Who knows? You've got to realize we were on a stage that was knee high. The height of your knees above the ground in the middle of 300,000 people. How would the Rolling Stones escape from that if they hadn't played?

Impossible. I bet there's no green room. I bet there's no backstage if they fucking built that overnight. No. There's nowhere to go. I would, now I really want to watch Jimmy Shelter and see exactly what it looked like because all of those elements are, it's like the reason over time things like that, like high stages and this is a big thing in stand-up comedy, nobody ever wants to do outside shows

because sometimes people are like, yeah, just outside and you can just talk. And it's like, no, no, no, it has to be, you have to have nice, loud mics and you have to have, like, you have to have walls and a ceiling because when energy dissipates, then you're just like shouting into a barrel. It's like pointless. The comic never feels like they're doing good. You can't, there's no monitor, blah, blah, blah. Like there's a lot of ways for things to go wrong.

And you have to kind of like, the way you control an audience is by being amazing. But like this audience, it didn't matter how amazing the Rolling Stones were, they were right down on everyone else's level. So the band continues their set. But what happens next, what's remembered as the breaking point of this nightmarish event, is still unclear to this day. Most sources agree that Murdoch, who has been fighting his way toward the stage, climbs up onto a speaker box as the stones play under my thumb. Presumably he wants a better view of the band, but Murdoch is pulled off by a member of the Hells Angels.

The two men have some sort of hostile exchange, and the Hells Angel punches Murdock in the face. Patty misses the first few moments of this fight, but she sees her boyfriend as he's knocked to the ground by a team of two or three Hells Angels. And then she sees Murdock hop back up onto his feet. He rushes back into the crowd as those gang members chase him. Oh, my God. And he winds up back at Patty's side.

Then he pulls out the gun and aims it in front of him. There's no other way to put it. This is a terrible, dangerous decision he makes. But as Saul Osterlitz writes, quote, Hunter was not just another concert goer. He was a black man amid a sea of white faces. And perhaps his reckless calculation was predicated on the knowledge that he had already been singled out for punishment by a group of white men known to target black people.

Yeah, I don't think it would have gone well for him even if he didn't have had a gun on him. Correct. Yes. Before Murdoch can even fire that gun, even if he was planning on firing the gun, no one will ever know, one of the Hell's Angels stabs him with a hunting knife. He falls to the ground and the crowd around him scatters except for Patty, who was standing there horrified. The Rolling Stones are only about 20 feet away, but they don't know what's happening down in the audience. Murdock is

injured but he's still alive at this point. He's not holding the gun anymore, and he's literally on the ground. In any other scenario, he would have been hauled off site by security, maybe arrested on a gun charge. Instead, the Hells Angels stab Murdoch several more times, including in the neck. They kick him in the face. They throw a garbage can at his head. Murdoch Hunter is murdered by the Hell's Angels to the sound of the rolling stones.

Patty says, quote, I remember screaming and trying to get him and people pulling me back, trying to protect me. And then I remember this one Hell's Angel turning around and grabbing me and telling me why are you crying over him? He's not worth it." End quote. Oh my God. 18-year-old Meredith Murdoch Hunter is pronounced dead at 6.30 p.m., halfway through the Rolling Stones set. His body is moved to an office on site until transportation can be arranged. Someone gives Patty a sedative to help her cope with the shock.

So much has been said and written and debated about Murdoch's decision to brandish that gun that night. Some have painted him unsurprisingly as an aggressive, intoxicated gunman whose decision could have resulted in many more deaths and put the band at risk. Others, including Patty, insist he was only trying to defend himself after being singled out and that his murder was not justified. A jury will eventually acquit the gang member who fatally stabbed Murdoch after that Hells Angel claims self-defense. But as Griel Marcus once wrote, quote, a young black man murdered in the

midst of a white crowd by white thugs as white men played their version of black music. It was too much to kiss off as a mere unpleasantness. Wow. End quote. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And that framework, that framing is so important and I've never thought about it that way before. No. Wow. No.

Wow. Yeah. So, eventually, the Rolling Stones finish their set. They leave the stage. They run to a helicopter that's waiting to take them back to San Francisco. Their assistant at the time, a woman named Georgia Bergman, tells the All Told Podcast, quote, there's this rush of people on this helicopter. I can't remember how many people it should have held,

but maybe seven or eight, something like that. There's 15 to 18 people trying to get on and we take off. Fat. It's quiet. People are quiet. I'm thinking, well, nevermind the Hell's Angels if we crash. We're flying at a very unhealthy angle.

And when we land, it's a pretty abrupt landing and we're all really thankful. I don't think I ever wanted to get on a helicopter again." End quote. Fuck. I mean, you know, part of it is like, thank God that helicopter was there. But who planned the helicopter? Because someone was fucking smart enough to plan for a helicopter, which means you could have fucking planned for other shit too. It was a Rolling Stones party, I bet.

Of course. I don't think it was like anyone planning the festival. But what a shitty I got mine kind of like, I don't know. But at the same time, it's like the vibe was, let's all just get together and have this fun cool thing. Now hundreds of thousands of people at Altamont, many of them intoxicated, walk back along the brand new highway to their cars in the dark of night. So like, I'm imagining there weren't even like the freeway lights.

It was an unopened freeway. It's so weird, anybody that's driven on the 580, picturing it as a brand new freeway lights. Totally. It was an unopened freeway. It's so weird, anybody that's driven on the 580, picturing it as a brand new freeway that hasn't been open yet and like is so mind-blowing. Yeah. So weird. I'm just going to keep saying that throughout the rest of this podcast. So these people also leave behind a mess that takes three months to clean up, and it has spread over the surrounding roadways and fields all used as impromptu garbage cans and bathrooms all day long. In addition to the murder of Murdoch Hunter, three other Altamont attendees are killed that night. Really?

Nineteen-year-old Leonard Krejjak is pulled under by the current in a nearby irrigation canal and drowned. Oh, God. And both 22-year-old Richard Salove and 19-year-old Mark Fieger are killed outside of the venue in a hit-and-run accident that remains unsolved to this day. Holy shit. But, of course, it's believed the driver was intoxicated. Sure, yeah.

And there's no fucking lights anywhere. Right. It's just... Wor there's no fucking lights anywhere. Right. Worst case scenario. Immediately after the story of the Altamont nightmare breaks, the public looks for someone to blame, of course. It's a question people still wrestle with today. But as Joel Sullivan points out, quote, the organization and structure of the event was so shadowy,

the chain of command so circuitous, and the work so improvised, nobody could ever tell who was in charge. When there is nobody in charge, nobody is at fault." In the weeks after Altamont, Griel Marcus visits Murdoch Hunter's mother while he's working on a piece about the concert for Rolling Stone magazine. He learns that no one associated with Altamont, including the Rolling Stones, have reached out to her. So her son is murdered at this concert

and everyone's just moving it along. Marcus goes on to describe Altamont as quote, the worst day of my life. I don't care if I never hear another rock and roll record again." Wow. Yeah. And this is a young man who works at Rolling Stone. Yeah. It's his life. Yeah. One year after the concert in early December of 1970, the Maisels finally release the Rolling Stones documentary, Give Me Shelter. Its climax is the moment when Murdoch Hunter is fatally stabbed,

which has been captured by the documentary crew's cameras in real time. This film divides critics. Some describe it as a masterpiece that captures the brutal end of the idealistic but tumultuous 1960s. Others see it as exploitative and criticize the mazals for using Murdoch's killing as the emotional crux of the film. Meredith Murdoch, Hunter's name, is forever associated with this chaotic event, but for many years, his story and the nuances of who he was get lost in all the noise. This has changed recently with the release of Saul

Osterlitz's book, Just a Shot Away, which is heavily focused on Murdoch and the role that systemic racism played in his death. Joel Sullivan, who like Osterlitz is a prominent writer and expert on this event, sums up the tragedy and legacy of Altamont very well. He writes, quote, At the height of rock's golden year, 1969, the Stones did reign as the world's greatest rock and roll band. An open air free concert in Golden Gate Park might have made a picturesque victory lap, but the innocent hippie dream was not to be. Instead, the band blindly willfully stumbled into

catastrophe. If Woodstock had been the rock's promised land, Altamont was its hell. The killing of Murdoch Hunter so flagrantly flew in the face of the Woodstock myth. All men do not live like brothers. And that's the story of the death of Murdoch Hunter and the disastrous 1969 free concert at Altamont. Holy shit. And here's my mom in her nurse's whites. Oh, my God. Watching these kids walk back onto the ward with their eyes like they've all been traumatized. Yeah.

Like she was like, they didn't, I didn't even want to get them in trouble because they'd already. Yeah. They'd already gotten in trouble. They got themselves in trouble. I wonder like what their stories were. Did they change their lives? Did, you know, like what did that change in your life when you were that kid and you saw

such horrible things? Right. And also anyone else that was there, anybody, all the people that were showing up thinking, yay, we get Woodstock. Yeah. Or even what about some of those Hells Angels? Like what happened after that? It's like, you just stab a person to death?

Yeah. And then it's like, what? Move on, yeah. I don't know. That's so fucked up. The whole thing is just so like, oh, oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, we can't do acid and drink $4,000 with a beer and then everybody makes great decisions.

Or that idea of like, peace and love, peace and love just doesn't work when there's fucking greedy motherfuckers who are just in it for themselves. Also peace and love is like, peace and love is situational and it's also, you got to plan for it. You got to make sure that people don't get stressed to their limits as a crowd It's almost like the crowd follows the crowd. Yeah as we all know Let's fucking do some what are you doing right now? I know I want to keep on talking about why it's the worst fucking thing in the world

Let's end this the day before a vacation Fucking high-ass no good idea. Let's take some the day before vacation on a fucking high ass note. Please. Let's take some good acid to fucking repair that bad acid trip. Let's take the good acid of what are you even doing right now, the hashtag. That's right. Okay, we end our episode, we always end our episode, or most of the time end our episode with you telling us in the comments on social media, in your email, wherever, what you are doing while you're listening to My Favorite Murder so we know where you are

and we can keep an eye on you now so we can have some fun. So we can watch you in your private life. Okay, this is from Instagram from Kenzie underscore Alina. What are you even doing right now? I'm on my way to my first ever night working at a haunted house as a scare actor. I've wanted to do this since I was in middle school. And finally at 31, I'm taking the plunge. Happy spooky season.

Pumpkin emoji. Scare actor, also known as an actor. I love it. Oh, so funny. Okay, well, this one, these are like a perfect hand-in-hand combo. This is from Instagram, from srosan6620, and it says, what are you even doing right now? I'm driving through McDonald's while listening to Karen in episode 428.

Tell me about the Monopoly scam. I'm 19 weeks pregnant and there's currently nothing more refreshing listening to Karen in episode 428, tell me about the Monopoly scam. I'm 19 weeks pregnant and there's currently nothing more refreshing than a McDonald's Diet Coke. SSDGM, Sarah. Damn. Sarah, I can't agree with you about a McDonald's Diet Coke more. There is something strangely perfect and delicious.

Like, well, of course, everything else about fast food is so addictive. But that's the kind of thing. Bill and I were driving somewhere one time. I can't remember where. Our CFO and I were driving somewhere. And I was like, oh, wait, can we go to this drive-through real quick? I need to get Diet Coke. It's confounding to me to go through a drive-through to get a drink. Like, I... Just to get a drink. Because I don't take care of myself like that. You know what I mean?

Well, Bill was also confounded. He goes, we have Diet Coke at the office. I'm like, it's not the same. I want it. Do it. I love that. Recently, Vince and I got the wrong order of McDonald's, but it came with like one of the Sundays, old school Sundays.

And I fucking like ate it and cried. And it was just like, I'm so glad about this mess up. Yes. It was perfect. You know what's funny? The last time I had a mess up and I was like, don't order Taco Bell through Postmates then, idiot. Like what are you doing?

But it was like the worst order where it was like everything. Who did this? It was like something with no, like quesadilla with no cheese or something where I'm like what are you doing the weirdest drink the drink was green everything was like didn't have a thing on it where I'm like just don't get fast food then you don't want fast food no but I get to eat those cannolis now thank you very much oh it is cannoli time oh my god I'm so excited yeah there's a chocolate choose one? Yeah. There's a chocolate covered one. The shell's chocolate covered.

But I think I'm gonna go classic. Oh good, because I want that chocolate one. Fuck yes. Yay. Spinoquios, thank you. What's up? Doo-doo-doo. Doo-doo-doo.

Happy vacation. Oh my god. What a way to celebrate. So perfect. Last show before vacation. Yay. Boom. Cheers.

Cheers to you. Stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck. Our managing producer is Hannah Kyle Creighton. Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo. This episode was mixed by Liana Squillace. Our researchers are Maren McClashen and Ali Elkin. Email your hometowns to MyFavorItMurder at gmail.com. Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook

at MyFavorItMurder and Twitter at MyFaveMurder. Goodbye. Mm. Oh my god. Goodbye!