My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 50

Episode Date: December 18, 2017

Karen and Georgia read your hometown stories including the dangers of sleeping naked, another badass grandma, a Civil War horror tale and more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We at Wondery live, breathe and downright obsess over true crime and now we're launching the ultimate true crime fan experience, Exhibit C. Join now by following Wondery, Exhibit C on Facebook and listen to true crime on Wondery and Amazon Music, Exhibit C. It's truly criminal. Welcome. Welcome. Hi. It's the mini-soad of my favorite murder. The mini-soad version of my favorite murder. It's this version of my favorite murder that's shorter than the others with the longer introduction. Yes. That's Karen Kilgariff. And that's Georgia Hardstar. Karen Ann Kilgariff. Karen Lynn Kilgariff. Karen Lynn Kilgariff. My sister's Ann. That's why I did that. And Georgia Marie Hardstar. Miriam. Miriam, I said.

Okay. We read you your stories. Ready? Begin. Congratulations. I'm going to read this. I'm going to read the first one because this is the email and the subject line is, I held up the light up sign in St. Louis. Oh, we were pointing at it. So, in the, this is the best. At the end of our live shows, we tell everybody that we're going to pick somebody to come up and tell us their hometown murder. And in the St. Louis show, we looked up and the very last row in the balcony. Like, high, high, high up. Somebody held up a huge Christmas lights light up sign that said, I was almost murdered. And it was so hilarious. And we really only picked people from the first,

like, 10 rows because it's just, it'll take too long for them to get to the front row. Yeah. Get to the stage. So. It's more for convenience. Yeah. The whole thing, people wish we wouldn't do it all. So, it's like, that's the way we do it is we keep it quick. But let's keep it moving. But there, it was so hilarious to see a light up sign fly up into the air from the furthest of possible way. Well, listen, now we get to learn that story. Tell me everything. Well, guess what? Georgia and Karen, my friends and I were at the show in St. Louis and made that awesome light up sign. We figured you might be interested in how our intern almost got murdered after seeing it.

Well, you are right about that. I'm a, I'm a school social worker in St. Louis city. And this year have an intern who I will refer to as Sarah. A few weeks ago, we were talking about the podcast and she nonchalantly says, I told you about how I almost got murdered, right? Obviously, I made her tell me everything. After college, Sarah moved to New Hampshire to work with teenagers with emotional and behavioral issues. The facility used a co-living model. So she was paired with a young woman and lived with her. Oh my God. At some point, they had to take the girl to the hospital for a suicide assessment. But she was declared to not be a danger to herself.

Sarah's supervisor said she was good to take her client back to the facility on her own. A few miles from the facility, the client opens the passenger side door, looks to her left and says, goodbye, Sarah. Being a quick thinker, being the quick thinker she is, Sarah grabbed her arm and got the car pulled over. The girl gets out of the car in an attempt to get away. Sarah attempted to restrain the client, but is 110 pounds soaking wet and her client was much bigger. So obviously she didn't win this one. The client's able to get her hands around Sarah's neck and she passes out. She comes to a few minutes later and this chick is dragging Sarah by her feet to a nearby lake. No. Holy shit. No. Hold on. I just had four waves of chills go across me.

Oh, no, no. When she wakes up, she asked the chick what the hell she's doing. She responds that she was dragging Sarah down to the lake to drown her and then kill herself because she thought that Sarah would leave her after all this shit she just pulled. At this point, I was so in shock about this story that I forget what happened next. But naturally, Sarah had some PTSD and moved back to Missouri shortly after this incident. She's now in grad school and is one kick-ass intern. Oh, honey. In other news, I also do a lot of work with families who have lost a loved one and there's a growing movement in the grief world to change some of the language around suicide. Historically, the phrase that has been used is commit suicide. But as you are all well

aware, mental health issues typically play a role in suicide. And as you also know, committed is typically a word associated with crime and more specifically murder. So now in the grief world, we use the language completed suicide or died by suicide. And this language helps remove a little of the stigma as well as it decriminalizes the act itself. I thought you might be interested in that tidbit since mental health is something that you talk about. We also reach a lot of people with this. Oh, you also reach a lot of people at this podcast and so thought others might also be interested in knowing that. That is interesting. I love that. Sorry, luck didn't swing your way at the casino. But if it makes you feel better, it rarely goes well for me either. Thanks for the

great show in St. Louis. Glad you made it out to see us in the Midwest, SSDGM Christine. That's so interesting. Isn't it so funny that little things like that, that word commit changes people's lives that you will never understand because we would never pinpoint it. Right. Until someone points it out to you, even like the term sex worker, like we wouldn't think about it until someone pointed out to you that the word prostitute is demeaning. Right. Until someone tells you that. Yeah. And just says, Hey, we're just trying to make this change. Can you help out? Like, that's what I don't understand about people who are so adamant against like, when people go, oh, this is the language we like to use. It's like, I get to say whatever I want. It's like,

yes, you do get to say whatever you want. But you don't have to. You could actually make us the tiniest effort, which is to change a word. We're changing. You're just trying to change the conversation to benefit the people who you're talking about. And you have a fucking problem changing that language, even though it has nothing to do with you. And it's what other people are requesting. Yeah. Fuck you. It's just odd. It's the same thing with like, it's just good to look at things through other people's filters and then go, Oh, yeah, I see how you wouldn't, you wouldn't want us to be saying that. Basic critical thinking, you know, and just kind of an empathy for your fellow man. Just the slightest fucking empathy that makes it sound like we're

all like, it's us. But we are, it is. Yeah, it's true. It's that is true. It's all us. Okay. This is this one hits home hard. This says it's the subject is don't sleep naked. Oh, I'm fucking sorry. No, I don't sleep naked. But but you like you like your nudism. So, you know, some of my underwear and sometimes I'll think, what if there's an earthquake right now? You just keep those pajama bottoms right at the end of the bed. They're close by. But then I'm naked from the top up. Well, keep some other clothes on the other side. But you know what? Problem solver Karen Kilgara. Right. I mean, I'm always coming out the doorbell rings at my house all day. It seems like all day there's people ringing my doorbell because you live in a house and people want to sell people

shit at a house. That's right. Deliver stuff all the time. Deliver stuff, sell things. Sometimes they'll just be neighbor like, Hey, did you know that your thing is that right? So I can't. Hey, did you know that your thing is that just a kind of vague where I live in a urban place and it's like, don't look at anyone in the eye. It's the best. Like, don't if I like I'm leaving the house and I hear someone in the hallway, I like wait behind the door until I you know, it's like polite. Yes. Exactly. Don't want to you don't want to get involved and you know other people don't want to get involved. No, I'm I have the place where and I think I told you this, but like there'll be people that knock on my door and they'll be like, yeah, I work for a like a house

painting company. You need to paint your house. They'll be like, well, I know. I'll call you when I need you. Yeah, don't come here and get ring my door to guilt me. Totally. I'm trying to tell you what's wrong with your fucking life. I'm trying to watch the fucking Norwegian series monster. Is that the new one? Okay. That's the one I'm in love with. Okay. Oh, also a quick tip that I read about earthquakes is to always keep an old pair of tennis shoes under your bed, like right by where you sleep. In case you ever need to get up in the middle of the night and make a run for and there's fucking broken glass everywhere, everywhere. That's right. Keep tennis shoes, old pair tennis shoes under your bed and in the trunk of your car. Oh, good. Also, I oh, I have

flashlights under every like bed couch. Keep flashlights all around your house. If you live in LA, you're better than you know what else I read about. And this is a little bit anxiety written times, but old cell phones, you, you don't have a, you know, service on them anymore, but you can still call 911 from them. Oh, so if you plug them in and someone said this after reading or hearing Jennifer Morey's survivor story about how she called from the bathroom, 911. Yeah. Plug them in in like weird rooms in your house. So you always have a cell phone in there in case you ever need to like get trapped somewhere and need to call 911. That's a great idea. Right? Yeah. Tennis shoes and cell phones. That's very good. Just constantly worry is the

point I'm making. Well, but you, you won't, it's just good to be prepared. Preparedness. It's preparedness. It's like, you don't, don't term it anything negative or any reason to beat yourself up. Hey, you're going to be the one stuck with glass everywhere. It's like, don't be, it's like, it's not cool to have glass in your feet. No, don't call invasion robbery and earthquakes or things that happen. What might, just like simple preparations for them. It's just a possibility. It's also a possibility someone's going to bring your doorbell and be like, look, I made you a cake. Also be prepared for that. I'm sorry. I gestured right into Elvis's face. I need to not appreciate it because he liked, he liked that. Um, he did. He agrees with you. He loves cake.

He says, listen, can you make her slap? Stop sleeping naked, please. That's all he wants. Just a night count. Jesus Christ. She's just always. Okay. Hi, Karen, Georgia and all those cute animals. And that must include Steven. Um, I'm a new listener and I can't turn this podcast off. Thanks for sharing my obsession with murder. My hometown murder story didn't happen in my hometown or in my lifetime. However, since I was a little child, it's been a huge story in my family. Before my mom and dad married, my mom lived in South Carolina and my dad lived about an hour away. He'd spent a few nights a week, uh, with her in a first floor studio apartment red. One night, my mom, who was sleeping naked, woke up to a man holding a knife to her neck.

Uh, she was told to get up and give him her car keys, money and credit cards. She found and gave him all of that. He backed her into the kitchen. She's backed up against the door in a fight or flight panic. She pissed on his feet. Yes. That distracted him enough for her to run out of the kitchen door. Yes. My mom had her run to the neighbors, an older married couple, the man answered the door to my mom. She's naked and panicked and scared. They gave her a robe and called 911. Oh, shit. Oh my God. This should be called, she peed on his feet. Yeah. Well, then the, but then we're given all, all the way. We wouldn't have had that beautiful moment. All right. Let's start over. Um, the guy took her car and fled a few days later. Her car was found totaled a

couple of miles away. He ended up being arrested for a string of break-ins. The last break-in ended in murder. Turns out he stalked his victims before breaking in. He knew my dad wouldn't be there that night and my mom would be alone. So stay sexy and don't sleep naked. You never know what will wake you up in the night, Mary. However, Mary may argue that if she hadn't been naked, peeing on his fucking shoes wouldn't have made such an impact. It could be argued that strong unfiltered fucking string of piss on her shoes is what distracted him. Not a, like a, you know, underwear trickle. Also, you know, you're right. Because that would have been, it would have been quieter and it would have been like, what's this now? A warm trickle. And it would have been almost

probably funnier if she had pants on. It would have affected her more than it affected him. But a naked lady freaking out. And then I liked a picture that in that moment, in the flight or fight moment, as opposed to acting scared while she was peeing, all of a sudden all of a sudden she acted like crazy. I contact about being peeing, like stuck her tongue out and then just peed on her shoes. Yeah, bitch. Yeah, like fuck you. Here's the last thing I have to fight you. And it worked. And it worked. Honey. Just pee. Thanks, Mary's mom. Also, don't forget you can also project album it. Ooh. Always vomit on people if you, if you're a puke or like myself. I don't think I can, I can't do it on command without at least some,

um, you know, but do it. Okay. I mean, like if you can. Sure. No, I mean right now. Okay. Let's see the subject line of this is badass ER nurse grandmother saves hospital from shooter. Oh fuck. Fuck. Howdy Karen and Georgia and Steven and kitties. Let's get right to it. So I come from a long line of nurses and medical professionals, but I went into the arts. Sorry, mom. Uh, so my house has never been lacking in bizarre stories. When I heard this one over Thanksgiving, however, I just knew I had to write in my grandmother's kind of infamous in our smallish Southern town for being a badass ER nurse that always went above and beyond the call of duty. This particular incident stands out from the rest. And I can't believe I hadn't

heard it until now. It's around three AM in the midst of an already hectic night shift. And my grandmother is walking down the hallway of the hospital with a security guard. We'll call him Terry just shooting the breeze. They're walking along when the elevator door starts to open in front of them and they stopped to let the person get off. One guy off gets off gets one lone guy who stands there for a moment faces them and then pulls a gun right aimed right at my grandmother. They stand they all stand there frozen for a second until Terry scared shitless turns around and makes a beeline down the corridor. And my grandmother yells in the most Southern man voice imaginable. Terry, don't you dare leave me here. Oh my God. That's that's how I pictured Karen. That

was amazing. I needed that. But Terry's long gone. Terry. So it's just grandma and the shooter. She stands there for a second with a gun pointed at her. Then she puts her hands on her hips, points her finger at him and says, young man, you better put that away or you're about to get in trouble. And he does. Grandma. Oh my God. I love her. He stands there for a second, really confused, puts the gun away, gets back in the elevator and walks out of the hospital. What the fuck. And that's the story of how my grandmother saved an entire hospital from some jerk with a gun. She's passed. She passed away when I was young, but I've always felt this connection with her that has strengthened every time I hear a new story of her life. The way this one correlated

with my love of true crime really gave her a whole new dimension I didn't expect. I bet this quiet, charming southern lady would have been very grateful for people to hear about her bravery. I also bet she gave Terry one hell of an earful. Thanks for all you do and keep up the amazing work. Much love, Micah. Oh, that's fucking bad. Grandma. You badass. I mean, I want to end on that. So good. It's so good. I mean, there's many more. Looking for a better cooking routine? With meal planning, shopping and prepping handled, Hello Fresh has you covered. Hello Fresh makes home cooking easy and affordable so you can stay on track and on budget in the new year. Hello Fresh meals are convenient, seasonal and delicious. Stay cozy all winter long with

classic comfort foods available weekly. Why stop with just dinner? Now you can enjoy Hello Fresh's expanded menu of quick lunch solutions, weekend brunch, simple side dishes and amazing desserts. Karen, January is going to be my month for Hello Fresh. I am so sick of takeout. I miss cooking so much. I haven't lifted a knife or a pan since like early fall. So I can't wait to get back in the kitchen and Hello Fresh makes it so easy and also makes it so that my food tastes good, which is hard to do on my own. It gives you everything, everything you need. So get up to 20 free meals with purchase plus free shipping on your first box at hellofresh.ca slash murder20 with code murder20. That's up to 20 free meals plus free shipping on your first box when you go

to hellofresh.ca slash murder20 and use code murder20. Goodbye. Hey, I'm Arisha. And I'm Brooke. And we're the hosts of Wanderer's podcast, Even the Rich, where we bring you absolutely true and absolutely shocking stories about the most famous families and biggest celebrities the world has ever seen. Our newest series is all about the incomparable diva, Whitney Houston. Whitney's voice defined a generation and even after her death, her talent remains unmatched. But her incredible success hit a deeply private pain. In our series, Whitney Houston, Destiny of a Diva, we'll tell you how she hid her true self to make everyone around her happy and how the pressure to be all things to all people led her down a dark path. Follow

Even the Rich wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. Okay, here's one called Yikes in the Yard, Retirement Homegrown Poison. Uh-oh. Hi, ladies. Love the podcast and the outlet you provide, which I used to calm down while studying for final semester exams. Yes, murder calms me down over exams. Anyway, let's jump into it. This happened last week in my hometown. So you may have heard in Montpelier, Vermont, a woman named Betty age 70 was arrested for testing her homegrown ricin murder on her fellow retirement home residents. She had been fucking growing castor beans to create the poison in the retirement homes property. And wow, started feeding it to other residents. Uh-oh. No one was

killed. Only one case of poisoning found by the health department and FBI, but good old Betty confessed she was trying out the poisons on others so she could eventually hurt herself. Oh, no. She was testing it on everyone else because she didn't want to test it on herself. Oh, but then ultimately was for her. Yeah, Betty, just jump off a fucking bridge. Betty. Betty. Sad sketchy. And also, what the fuck, Betty? Have you been binge reading Mrs. Marple and thought, yep, let's make this shit real. What's Mrs. Marple? Mrs. Marple. Mrs. Marple is an agatha Christy character. There you go. Most interesting thing to happen in Montpelier probably since 1800. Thanks for reading and can't wait to hear more, Maggie. Shit. Grandma, like, enough. No, that's

crazy. Yeah. Yeah, that's a, she was trying to do more than just take her own life. Yeah. I mean, that's, she was, she was losing it. Yes or no. She sounds kind of fun, but... I mean, fun in the way where she just clearly doesn't give a shit about anything. She's like, I'll just do what the fuck I want. Yeah. That is fun. Yeah. I do love people like that. How about this subject line? Great grandfather buried alive in the Civil War. Ready? Hi, I'm FM Fam. My name is Emily, and this is my go-to cool life story and something my family is half proud, half ashamed of. So good. My mother's side of the family has been in the, had, has been in the Iowa, Alabama area since the early 1800s. She's spelled it Iowa and fought on the Confederate side

of the Civil War parentheses, something we are greatly ashamed of if you get my drift. Yeah, we do. My great, great, great, great grandfather was named Augustus Hatcher Jackson and was a private in the Confederate army from Cahaba, Alabama. During a battle in Tennessee, he was shot in the leg and instead of being left on the field to die, his best friend dragged him to a local house near the battlefield and left him overnight to go fetch a doctor. The family agreed to care for him until he returned the next morning. When Augustus's friend returned with the doctor, the family told them that he had died in the middle of the night and they buried him under a tree in their backyard. Upset and confused, his friend demanded that they dig him up so he could

take him back to his family. When they dug up his makeshift coffin, they found him dead from asphyxiation, curled in a corner with bloody fingers and scratches in the lid. The family had been union sympathizers and after his friend left, they drugged him, dug a shallow grave, and threw him in a small crate they had in their barn. Held at gunpoint, his friend and the doctor forced the family to extricate him and load him onto the doctor's wagon. They took him back to my family and buried him in the local cemetery. My mother still has the original copy of his will and our line is survived by a daughter he had before going off to war. Thanks for reading, stay sexy, don't get murdered, Emily.

Well, that sounds like Confederate propaganda, I've never heard it. But that is intense and crazy. It makes me think, did you watch the movie The Beguiled? It was Sophia Coppola. I don't know if she wrote it, but she directed it. And it starts with Nicole Kidman and Kristen Dunst. It's really good. It's really good. I just got a screener of it, but I think- Oh, it's like noonie? Yeah, noonie-nooners. It's basically a Civil War drama. Can I just say that someday in my life I'm going to get screeners and I'm going to be real proud of myself.

How are you going to do that? I don't know. You have to join some kind of a Union or- Army. I'm going to join the Union Army. But would you please go and fight? Fight against this? Conveterate soldiers so I can get DVD copies of movies that have come out that I don't want to go and buy red vines and sit next to strangers for. It's always too cold and too loud. I have to pee half the time. Send your hometown murders to my favorite murder Gmail

and tell us about your shit. Nowadays, we're accepting any first responder nurse ER stories. We are accepting buried alive stories. We're accepting things you found in the walls of a house or a remodel story. Or above and below your house or in the yard stories. Yeah. Just dug something weird up in the yard. We want to hear about it. Yeah. Found stuff is great. Found. And is there anything else? There's so much ghost stories.

We love a good ghost story. And then of course just a classic, the murder that happened that you heard about when you were a child that changed you forever. Yeah. That's all we want. That's all we're asking. Simple things. That and we want you to stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Okay. Bye. Elvis. More cookie? Okay. Well, is that okay?