Bonus Episode: Are Rockstars Part of the UFO Disclosure Theory? Plus Psychopedia’s Brooke Slater on Slayer and Ed Gein

On the heels of the release of the excellent new documentary The Age of Disclosure, and our own recent mini and full episodes on Merle Haggard’s UFO obsession, we discuss the likelihood that rockstars from John Lennon to Tom DeLonge are part of the UAP disclosure theory. We also talk to Psychopedia’s Brooke Slater about Slayer and Jake’s Ed Gein heebie jeebies. For more great Disgraceland episodes, dive into our extensive archive, including such episodes as: Episode 133 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jimi-hendrix-tear-gas-a-kidnapping-heroin-hostages/id1275172907?i=1000616783195- Jimi Hendrix Episode 63 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chet-baker-heroin-romance-missing-teeth-and-the/id1275172907?i=1000492900496 - Chet Baker Episode 212 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/elvis-presley-and-johnny-ace-a-deadly-christmas-story/id1275172907?i=1000679837487 - Elvis Presley and Johnny Ace Episode 71 https://podcasts.apple.com/is/podcast/david-bowie-the-occult-cocaine-orgies-arrests/id1275172907?i=1000722020023 - David Bowie To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This is exactly right.

• 0:13Speaker 01

  Cash Flow Crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 0:44Speaker 02

  Hi, I'm Steph and I work at United Healthcare. When I think about United Healthcare's members, I think of my own family. My niece was diagnosed with an ultra-rare genetic disorder. I know how hard it is for families. At United Healthcare, we can make it easier.

• 0:58Speaker 00

  I'm Brian. I care because I know what it's like to not speak the language. It's not easy. Health insurance is complicated. I would say our job is to make everything easy for our UFC members. I work for United Healthcare. I'm committed to care.

• 1:14Jake Brennan?

  I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wines since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 1:46Jake Brennan?

  Hey, Discos. Need a little more DisgraceLand in your life? Just a touch to get you through? Yeah, me too. This is the podcast that comes after the podcast. Welcome to DisgraceLand: The Afterparty.

• 2:13Jake Brennan?

  Welcome to the Disgrace Land bonus episode, a little thing we like to call the after-party. This is the show after the show, the party after the party, the bridge to get you from one full episode of Disgrace Land to the other, the backyard to dig into the dirt. Our mission to uncover the truth, to confront the myth, to reclaim the story. On this bonus episode, we are discussing this week's new full episode, our part two story on Merle Haggard. Merle's UFO obsession has us rewinding back to our Blink 182 story and previewing next week's new episode on Phil Spector and the madness behind his incredible Christmas album. We got a special interview today with Cyclopedias Brooke Slater about Slayer and Ed Gein, and we get into your emails, comments, DMs, and as always, a whole lot of rosy. This is the podcast for the musically obsessed, the outsiders, the independent thinkers

• 2:58Jake Brennan?

  who know that the best history is the history that gets buried. Disgrace Land is where I tell the stories they didn't want told, the kind you'll end up telling to somebody else. All right, discos, let's get into it.

• 3:19Jake Brennan?

  Murderers, aliens, country singers, and haunting heavy metal songs. My head is swimming with thoughts of all of them this week. So first up murderers and heavy metal songs. There's been an ongoing battle in our house this last month or so about whether or not my wife and I are going to watch Monster, the Ed Gein story on Netflix. And I'm just so repelled by the images in the series that I turned to my friend Brooke Slater from the Cyclopedia podcast, a bit of an Ed Gein expert, to help me work through this true crime story via a heavy metal song that haunted me as a kid. And that conversation is coming up later in this after-party, and you're not going to want to miss it. It's fascinating, and I can't wait for you to hear it.

• 4:04Jake Brennan?

  But now on to country singers and aliens. In our continuation of the Merle Haggard story in this week's new full episode, we reveal in Merle Part Two that Merle almost collaborated with spaceman David Bowie, if you can believe that. And we tease out Merle's UFO experience and fully dive into Merle's UFO obsession in this week's mini episode. Now, Merle Haggard's UFO experience claim is not unique to rock stars. Many musicians have made similar claims to seeing unexplainable events in the sky and elsewhere. In addition to Merle Haggard, we mentioned David Bowie, who claimed to see something

• 4:44Jake Brennan?

  above the town of Beckenham as a young man, an event that obviously had a sizable impact on Bowie's art. We detail Tom DeLonge from Blink 182's desert experience in this week's rewind episode coming up right after this after party. Next week's new episode is on Phil Spector and John Lennon, who is heavily involved in Phil's story and part of next week's rewind schedule, claimed to see a craft hovering over Manhattan and referenced it in his song "Nobody Told Me," singing, "There's UFOs over New York and I ain't too surprised." Elvis Costello, Sammy Hagar, Cat Stevens, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, all claimed to have experiences or sightings.

• 5:29Jake Brennan?

  For some of these artists claiming to see the unexplainable up in the sky, aliens, spacecraft, UFOs, it's totally on brand. David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, hell, even Elvis Presley and John Lennon, but Elvis Costello, Cat Stevens, Sammy Hagar, Merle Haggard? Now, claiming this kind of thing is wildly discrediting, or at least it used to be. More and more, the UFO, or as it's becoming known, UAP, unidentified aerial phenomenon, more and more of this discussion is becoming more mainstream and more acceptable. And I don't believe that that's an accident. Forty percent of Americans say that they've had similar experiences.

• 6:14Jake Brennan?

  Forty percent. Think about that. For the Americans in the audience, that's four out of every 10 people that you encounter. That means four out of every 10 rock stars, doesn't it? I don't know. Is that how statistics works? I don't, I don't really know, but I do know that 40% is a huge number. Merle Haggard does not strike me as the type of guy who would be so loosey goosey with his reputation and credibility. In the upcoming Blink 182 Rewind episode, we discuss whether or not Blink guitarist Tom DeLonge is part of a larger, secret plan by the government to disclose to the

• 6:53Jake Brennan?

  public the truth about extraterrestrial or ultra-terrestrial life. What if Tom DeLonge isn't the first rock star? I can see some of you guys rolling your eyes right now. I get it, aliens, UFOs. Without going out on any sort of Fox Mulder limb that I can't walk myself back from, I will say that ever since diving into this subject and researching Blink 182, it's become clear to me that something that looks an awful lot like controlled disclosure is happening in our culture. And this all seems to have landed on our heads with a massive, holy shit, can you believe

• 7:34Jake Brennan?

  it, thud, right now, in the past week, with the release of the documentary The Age of Disclosure by Dan Farah. Now, this documentary is not some obscure YouTube doc by a dude with a tinfoil hat and dog-eared copy of Project Blue Book. This is an Amazon-distributed, theatrically-released, highly-produced film featuring numerous high-level government officials, politicians, and career servicemen and women from both sides of the political spectrum: Marco Rubio, Kirsten Gillibrand, James Clapper, and many, many, many others, on record, stating unequivocally that we are not alone in the universe.

• 8:18Jake Brennan?

  And say what you will about the proof, the proof is in the pudding. They are risking their reputations in doing this.

• 8:26Jake Brennan?

  Everyone interviewed in the film claims direct knowledge of UAP as a result of their work in the US government and what they discuss is truly revelatory and the reason for their disclosure is truly chilling. They're afraid, afraid that whatever is out there, whatever Merle Haggard, Tom DeLonge, John Lennon, whatever others have claimed to have seen, whatever alien technology that causes unidentified aerial crafts to go 40,000 miles per hour, stop on a dime, turn and transmediate between air, water and space, unexplainable technology captured on video by our military personnel, that whatever that is, that it's

• 9:11Jake Brennan?

  going to be harnessed by our foreign adversaries and used against us if we do not wake up and admit that there's something else out there and find ways to work with it and use it for the good of mankind. Anyway, that's not me saying all that, that's the film, that's the point of the film. And my summary here is only scratching the surface of what the film reveals, but those are the stakes anyway. And with those stakes, if true, it means that we all need to find ways to wrap our heads around this UAP concept, this thing that Merle Haggard and John Lennon and Tom DeLonge and many other rock stars for years

• 9:55Jake Brennan?

  have been trying to draw our attention to, the idea that we are not alone. It seems to me that we as a species are going to slowly learn more and more about this topic until it's completely mainstreamed and that this learning, this disclosure, this is just my opinion, it seems to me that it's been going on for decades and that yes, willingly or unknowingly, whatever it is, some of our favorite rock stars have been part of this disclosure and hell, maybe you and I are part of this disclosure as well and we just don't even know it. My advice?

• 10:29Jake Brennan?

  Listen or re-listen to our Blink 182 episode after this. And I'm laughing because I'm shamelessly pimping Disgraceland right now. But it's not without merit. Much of what I detail in that Blink 182 story is reinforced and expanded upon in this documentary that I'm talking about. So, listen to Blink in Disgraceland and then watch The Age of Disclosure and call me after that, 617-906-6638. And let me know what you think about this topic. Okay, are we alone, as Tom DeLonge insists we're not? Is the truth being disclosed? Are there UFOs over New York, as John Lennon warned us? Or are we all just high as fuck like Merle Haggard? All right? I want to know.

• 11:13Jake Brennan?

  Call me, 617-906-6638. Let me know your thoughts. I'll be back after this with your calls, texts, and emails. And Ed Gein and Brooke Slater from Psychopedia.

• 11:35Speaker 01

  Cash Flow Crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 12:05Jake Brennan?

  I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 12:37Speaker 04

  Hello, hello. I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of Smart Talks with IBM. Imagine your business depends on a system you didn't build and don't fully control. For years, it works perfectly. It's fast, reliable, affordable. So over time, more and more of your operations rely on it. Then one day, the terms change. What once felt flexible now feels difficult to leave. Moving to another provider or bringing those capabilities back under your own control could take years, cost millions, and disrupt the business in the process. That's the challenge of digital sovereignty. Businesses today rely on all sorts of third-party systems: cloud platforms, data pipelines,

• 13:21Speaker 04

  AI models, software tools. Most days, these systems operate quietly in the background. But when something changes, like costs go up or rules shift, organizations are forced to confront how much control and flexibility they actually have. So to understand the challenge up close, I traveled to Paris to speak with IBM's Annapola Assis and Axe's CIO, Giovanni Daniele, two people who think about these questions every day. Hear the full conversation at ibm.com/smarttalks or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 14:12Jake Brennan?

  All right, welcome back. The John Lennon UFO sighting that I mentioned earlier, that might sound like bunk, that might sound like witty John Lennon taking the piss out of us, having a laugh, taking the piss out of us. I never know how to say that. I'm not even gonna try to say it. That's an English thing, taking the piss. You know what I mean. But- John Lennon was dead serious about what he saw. And to prove that to you, Zeph and I are gonna tell you exactly what we mean in the exclusive section of this after-party coming up shortly. Go to disgracelandpod.com to become a disgraceland all-access member so that you can hear this exclusive content and get ad-free listening on all episodes. All right, that's later. Now, let's hear what you guys have to say. Last week was Thanksgiving.

• 14:55Jake Brennan?

  I hope you all had a great holiday with your families. Thanksgiving means, of course, that we're talking about the greatest Thanksgiving concert film, hell, the greatest concert film of all time in my eyes, The Last Waltz. We asked, what is the greatest concert film in your opinion? And some of you got back to us. Here's Ken in the 818.

• 15:17Speaker 05

  Hey Jake, it's Ken in the 818. I'm gonna cheat on my answer about the concert film. I am trying to break your heart, but a film about Wilco, but Sam Jones, not really a concert movie, but there's a lot of concert footage. Probably the best movie about a band ever. But in terms of concert film, the LCD Sound System, shut up and play the hits. It'd be even better if they hadn't actually gotten back together. But yeah, that one would probably be in terms of concert footage. That's my number one. All right, man. Take care. Thank you.

• 15:51Jake Brennan?

  Ken, my man. Man, I saw that Wilco movie when it came out in the theaters in Davis Square, the Somerville Theater. Incredible. And you know, I loved it. I really, truly loved it. And I never went back and watched it again. And you're reminding me, I need to go back and watch this. You know, recently I had YouTube on and I just was doing something else and it just kept playing and it pulled up the Jay Bennett from Wilco documentary that was actually pretty good as well. And I recommend that if you haven't seen it. LCD Sound System, shut up and play the hits. Great concert film. And you're absolutely right. Would have been better had they stayed broken up. But I think, you know, what do breakups even mean anymore? Why break up? It doesn't make any sense.

• 16:37Jake Brennan?

  It really makes zero sense to break up. We don't live in a, we don't live in a world and a culture, I should say anymore, where, you know, old people, supposedly old people can't play rock and roll. You just keep going. And obviously that's what LCD is going to do. All right, let's, uh, let's move the conversation over to the greatest country singer of all time in light of our episode, our new part two episode on Merle Haggard. Let's check out the 770.

• 17:07Speaker 06

  Mr. Jake, name is Aiden from 770. That's Northwest Georgia. Love the show. I've been binging it back and really enjoying it. Question was favorite country singer. I might go with kind of current and right now. Number one for, well, I got two. I'm gonna say Colton Wall. If you know him, if you don't, I'd say go check out, uh, Nothing. It's a cover of Tom Van Zant songs. It's really good. And Motorcycle. I'm gonna go Colton Wall. And I'm gonna go Chris Stapleton too. Um, huge superstar. And I think he's already kind of established himself as a legend in the game. And he still has a lot of time left.

• 17:49Speaker 06

  And if you didn't know, he's a, uh, he also was a, the lead singer of a bluegrass band called The Steel Drivers before he established himself solo. So, um, The Steel Drivers, Reckless, and the South Title album, those are both fantastic. Uh, anyway, love the show. Hope you're doing well and have a happy holiday from 770.

• 18:10Jake Brennan?

  You know, I like Chris Stapleton. I do. I don't listen to him on purpose, uh, which is to say I don't listen to him enough. But is this one of these guys, every time I hear anything, I kind of turn my head and go, what's this? This is pretty good. Uh, Colton Wall, I'm gonna, I'm gonna check out on your recommendation. I'm gonna check out that Towns Van Zant cover first and foremost. Appreciate the call. 770-617-906-6638. If you guys want to get in touch, you guys want to leave me a message about anything, really. But, you know, more importantly, our UFO conversation, I'm digging that.

• 18:43Jake Brennan?

  What do you think? Watch Age of Disclosure, call me 617-906-6638 after your mind has been fully blown, and let me know what you think. And let me know what you think about this concept of disclosure. And if you think our cultural icons are involved, our musicians, our rock stars, if they're part of the plan unwittingly or otherwise. 617-906-6638. Voicemail and text, 724. Texting, getting ahead of the question this week because I'll be playing catch-up with podcasts. The voice that captivates me from country music would be, for men, Marty Robbins, and for females, Reba McEntire. Both are just incredibly quintessential and have a large catalog of varying material

• 19:28Jake Brennan?

  you can find anything in and stretch their range. Good health to you and yours in later days. Jake, 724. Devil Woman by Marty Robbins, great, great country song. Highly recommend it. Reba? I don't know much about Reba. She's the one who's on television all the time, right? I probably need a Reba. She's the, what's the, what's the Reba corn dog thing? What's that all about? I see that on Instagram, there's a meme. I don't know. Hit me up, 724. School me. All right, and talking about great music films, we got this message from the 416 that I want to read here. Great episode on, on music movies. Okay, so it's not a music film per se, but a documentary that I consider one of the greatest ever documentaries. Let's Get Lost: The Chet Baker Story by Bruce Weber.

• 20:12Jake Brennan?

  It contains what I consider the most affecting male jazz vocal performance ever recorded, which is the time-blasted Chet Baker singing Almost Blue by Elvis Costello. The review on the Wikipedia page captures the essence of the film. Terrence Rafferty, in his review for the New York Times, wrote, and this is the quote from Rafferty in the Times, quote, "The enduring fascination of Let's Get Lost, the reason it remains powerful even now, when every value it represents is gone, is that it's among the few movies that deal with the mysterious, complicated, emotional transactions involved in the creation of pop culture and with the ambiguous process by which performers generate desire."

• 20:53Jake Brennan?

  Interesting. I wonder how Rafferty intended us to interpret the word desire by which performers generate desire. Does he mean performers generating desire in their, from their audience? Or does he mean performers generating desire as in their desire and their will to create? Fascinating. Either way, yes, you're right. 416. Incredible quote. And Let's Get Lost is an incredible movie. Shout out to Flea, by the way, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Um, you're right on that performance. It is incredible. It is absolutely incredible.

• 21:34Jake Brennan?

  No one ever sang like Chet Baker. And there was a thing when we were researching Chet Baker that I came upon, uh, when we were putting together our episode on Chet about how when he sang, he was on the edge of, of, I think it was edge of tonality. I think that's how it was described. Where he, he just really feels like he's, he's about to, he's pushing it so far, but he's singing so subtly, but he feels like he's going to fall out of tune. And, um, man, that's just, I don't know who else does that or did that. It made it compelling.

• 22:17Jake Brennan?

  And just Chet Baker was overall a very compelling guy with a very criminal past. Super criminal. Check that episode out. One of my faves. Thanks for the text. 416. Appreciate you. 425 writes in, Hey Jake, Jules from Sea Town. One of my secret wishes every Thanksgiving is to take a time machine back to 1976 to see The Last Waltz live. Greatest concert of the 20th century. Thanks for the story. Love the show. You got it, Jules. Thanks for hitting us up and thanks to everybody who's, uh, chimed in on the voicemail, on the text, on the DMs, on the emails. Appreciate you guys. Wishing you and all of yours great holiday season. Jasmine Hughes writes in, emails us.

• 23:00Jake Brennan?

  Subject: New forensic evidence could rewrite the story of Kurt Cobain's death. Hi Jake and Disgrace and the team. I'm reaching out because I believe I've uncovered something that fits squarely in Disgraceland's wheelhouse: music history, mystery, and real investigative gravity. A recently published, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary forensic report has emerged that calls into question the accepted narratives surrounding the death of Kurt Cobain. The report was prepared by forensic specialist Brian Burnett and Dr. Gabrielle Ritter, and includes ballistic forensic reconstruction and investigative findings that were unavailable in 1994. This isn't hearsay or unfounded rumor. It's a scientifically grounded, methodically sound, and peer-reviewed evidence that raises

• 23:44Jake Brennan?

  serious concerns about inconsistencies in evidentiary oversights in the original investigation, given Disgraceland's legacy of digging into the darker or more complex truths behind the music world. Dot, dot, dot. Her music, her email cuts off there. This is interesting. I can't verify the veracity of this 54-page document that the listener sent me here in the email. So-called "peer-reviewed forensic ballistic reconstruction in Kurt Cobain's death." But I will look into it. It is interesting. Man, the people who don't believe Kurt Cobain, oft himself, are legion.

• 24:29Jake Brennan?

  Guess will not give up. And you know, maybe there's something there. I don't know. What do I know? You know, as far as everything I've looked at, I believe the man was seriously, seriously doomed, and that he took his own life. That's, that's just based on all the research I've done, and I know many of you disagree with me. But I'm going to look into this doc, and I appreciate you sending it. So, thanks. Mike Black emails us. Jericho by the band. Excellent recommendation. You've got great taste, dude. Have a good one. Regards, Mike. Mike, appreciate you. Yeah, that was, that was one of the recommendations from last week. You guys want to email me, hit me up disgrace on pod at gmail.com. Hit me on the cell 617 906 6638 voicemail or text.

• 25:15Jake Brennan?

  Talk about recommendations. This week, I'm obviously recommending for a documentary, The Age of Disclosure, new doc that's out. You can find that on Amazon if you can't find it in your local theaters. I'm also recommending the album, Christmas album called Christmas Card by The Temptations, which is just fantastic. Check that out. You're gonna love it if you don't love it already. And for my book recommendation for the week, I just finished The Violent Bared Away by Flannery O'Connor. And not an easy read, but not a long read. And in a lot of ways, an incredible read, especially if you're someone who likes to read about faith and reason,

• 25:59Jake Brennan?

  themes that, you know, humanity struggles with constantly and has since the beginning of time. Flannery O'Connor has an amazing way of contextualizing it all in 20th century American culture. And The Violent Bared Away is a great example of that. Check that out if you are at all interested in those things. And you can always hit me up with your recommendations as well. You know how to get in touch. Speaking of recommendations, send me some recommendations on Christmas movies, your favorite Christmas movies and New Year's movies, holiday movies, you know, Christmas, New Year's. Zeth and I are gonna be, we're planning something special in the Hollywoodland feed, and we'd like you guys to get involved. So hit us up. All right.

• 26:40Jake Brennan?

  Favorite Christmas movies, favorite New Year's movies, and you'll know why in a couple of days. I'll be back in a flash with my conversation with Brooks Slater from Psychopedia on Slayer and Ed Gein. You're not gonna want to miss this. Crank up Dead Skin Mask. Here we go.

• 27:04Speaker 07

  Cash Flow Crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 27:34Jake Brennan?

  I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 28:05Speaker 04

  I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of Smart Talks with IBM. I spoke with Dr. Laura Jayhai of Cleveland Clinic about how advanced computing is helping shorten the path from medical discovery to treatment.

• 28:18Speaker 08

  The moment that there is a compound that someone in a lab thinks it would be effective to treat a certain disease, it takes about 10 to 13 years from that moment to when that drug is on a shelf for a patient. A big part of that gap could be computationally solved. Better simulation of compounds, designing drug trials that are more efficient, that would finish faster. That was the motivation to bring computational tools and technology closer to biomedical researchers.

• 28:53Speaker 04

  Learn more about how Cleveland Clinic and IBM are using AI and quantum computing to revolutionize biomedical research at ibm.com/smarttalks.

• 29:13Jake Brennan?

  All right, guys, welcome back. I was talking earlier about my wife and I, you know, are we gonna watch this Ed Gein thing or not? And we watched some of it, a little bit, a little taste, and I was, I was repulsed, I'm not gonna lie. This story, now I can handle a lot of stuff. I could not handle this story. And it all stems back, all goes back for me, all goes back to a song I heard when I was 16 years old by a band I spent a lot of time with as a kid, not personally, just, you know, in my headphones and in my speakers, a band called Slayer. I get into this, I get into this story, the Ed Gein story, and trace it back to my history with Slayer with, I guess you could call her

• 29:53Jake Brennan?

  an Ed Gein expert. She's absolutely a true crime expert. This is Brooke Slater from Psychopedia in our conversation. All right, I wanted to talk to my next guest here, Brooke Slater, from the podcast Psychopedia for some time, about different true crimes represented throughout music history. Now, Brooke, you are a true crime expert, you are an actual criminal investigator, and you've covered Ed Gein in depth. Now, Ed Gein is the subject of this newish Netflix series, Monster, that's been quite a topic of debate around the house here. I've wanted to watch it, my wife wants no part of it. I watched some of it, I was disgusted pretty quickly, even though I knew the story.

• 30:38Speaker 09

  Normal reaction. Usually it's opposite. Usually it's the wife who really, really wants to get into the true crime, and it's the husband who's like, I'm good.

• 30:45Jake Brennan?

  Yeah, yeah, you, you would know, you've covered this, this story on the heels of the Netflix series in depth in Psychopedia. You've done, I believe, two episodes on, on the subject.

• 30:56Speaker 09

  Yeah, it was a two-parter.

• 30:56Jake Brennan?

  Two-parter, because, I mean, honestly, this could have been a 22-parter. The story is, is so massive, and it is so intense, and it is just, it is the definition of insanity, I think. My interest, though, in Ed Gein doesn't originate from the Netflix series.

• 31:14Jake Brennan?

  But rather from a song by a band called Slayer, a band that I loved as a kid. And they had a song back in the day called Dead Skin Mask. And that's how I first heard of this Ed Gein story. I was probably, I think I was 16 years old when that song came out. And since I started Disgrace Land, which, you know, I wasn't a huge true crime podcast fan before I started the show. I certainly was, but I wasn't like one of these, like my wife, huge true crime podcast. Yeah, I was interested in it. And then I realized, God, I've been interested in true crime my whole life. So I've sort of, but without knowing it. So in the process of the podcast, I've sort of looked back at my formative years and my child and been like, what, what got me into true crime?

• 31:58Jake Brennan?

  And I realized that this Slayer song and this specifically this story about Ed Gein, which was very pre podcast mythical story of, of horror story, right? Like this is something we, we passed around the hallways at school, we, the bus stop, et cetera. It was just like, you couldn't believe that it was true. Some people believed it, some people didn't. So anyways, this is what, one of the things that got me first interested in true crime. I want to know what first got you interested in true crime.

• 32:28Speaker 09

  Oh my goodness. Well, it started way, way, way back. I mean, I can't remember a time when I wasn't into true crime, honestly. My grandmother used to read me true crime stories and fiction, horror and detective stories before bed. Like that was my bedtime story. Everybody else was getting-

• 32:46Jake Brennan?

  Go grandma.

• 32:46Speaker 09

  Yeah, their Mother Goose stuff. And I'm getting, you know, Ed Gein, for example. But I, and I have a twin sister, so she and I would be tucked in together and she would be hiding under the blankets with a pillow over her head, like grandma, please stop. And I would be foaming at the mouth, like please grandma more. So I've always been into true crime. I went to school for criminal justice and criminology. I sort of always knew I wanted to wind up doing something in the field and there, there's so much to do, right? Like you kind of just spoke about it a little bit in terms of Ed Gein. There's so many layers. There's the psychology, there's, you know, the, the criminology, obviously there's the, the gruesomeness of it, which is actually not what I'm all about.

• 33:29Speaker 09

  I'm all about highlighting the victims to the extent that I can and understanding the mind behind the perpetrator, you know, sort of one of the big premises of psychopedia or what I try to convey in every episode is- I try and steer people away from referring to perpetrators as monsters because they feel like when you do that, you're categorizing them into this like other area and they're not. They're human beings and you need to understand them so that we can crack the code and prevent it from happening again. So we can understand that everybody comes with a history and circumstances and if we can dive into that and understand it, then maybe we could prevent future crimes from happening. So this is always where I've lived.

• 34:11Speaker 09

  This has always been my headspace. I've always been, you know, a creepy kind of girl. There's never been a point when I haven't loved true crime and now I get to do it for a living.

• 34:20Jake Brennan?

  Right, right. I wonder how many Ed Geins we've prevented from happening. So this, this story, talk about creepy. I mean, you're joking about yourself being a creepy kind of girl. This is the creepiest. I know, I know you just said you don't want us to call these, these people monsters. That's literally the name of the series about this guy.

• 34:36Speaker 09

  It is.

• 34:37Jake Brennan?

  And I don't want to go against what you just said.

• 34:41Speaker 09

  That's okay. Go against.

• 34:42Jake Brennan?

  I don't know how to categorize this guy. This is, this is next level and it's interesting because the song, the Slayer song, this is, you know, the music is, the music history of it all is my side of the fence. And the song, when you read the lyrics, they're not that creepy. They're, they're a little bit more figurative than they are literal, suggestive. When you hear the song, however, and you hear the lyrics on song with the music, it's creepy as all hell. It just, it goes right up my spine. And I think it just reminds me of that. There's something, like you said, you know, when you're talking about your grandmother and you and your sister being under the covers and hearing these stories. I think there's,

• 35:25Jake Brennan?

  there's, things are more fearful in adulthood when we can root them to our formative years in some ways.

• 35:31Speaker 09

  Yes.

• 35:31Jake Brennan?

  And that's what this song does for me. So.

• 35:36Jake Brennan?

  I thought it might be interesting if, because you're a true crime expert, you're certainly way more knowledgeable with Ed Gein than I am. I thought it might be interesting if we tell the story of Ed Gein through the Slayer lyrics here.

• 35:50Speaker 09

  I love it.

• 35:51Jake Brennan?

  I just kind of want to do some association here and I hate to put you on the spot, but I want to, I want to read you the lyrics essentially, passages from the lyrics, and have you relate them to the Ed Gein story. And we'll sort of piece together the narrative here as we go.

• 36:07Speaker 09

  Let's do it. I love it. I listened to the song Driving Over Here, but I was busy like jamming to it and I wasn't really so heavy into the lyrics. So this will be fun to dive into it.

• 36:17Jake Brennan?

  Okay, great. I'm going to start at the top here. So here we go. Now, I just want to give people a tiny bit of context to make this perhaps a little bit creepier. For those who don't know anything about Ed Gein, this is 1950s Wisconsin, is that right?

• 36:32Speaker 09

  That's correct.

• 36:32Jake Brennan?

  It's this guy who lives with his mother and his sister, I believe.

• 36:38Speaker 09

  Brother.

• 36:38Jake Brennan?

  Brother, excuse me. The dad is gone, right? The dad's out of the house.

• 36:42Speaker 09

  He was there for a little while. He initially was Ed, his brother and his two parents. And they were just one fucked up little family, living in isolated rural Wisconsin.

• 36:54Jake Brennan?

  Right, okay.

• 36:55Speaker 09

  Totally, totally off the grid. Not, not in a sense that, you know, they, they didn't mingle with society. But they were on the fringes for sure. And his mother is really the one who wore, not want to say wore the pants. That's first of all horrible. I hate that expression. But she basically had everybody in a psychological chokehold. So when his father ultimately died, it sort of didn't even shift the dynamic in the household, because his mother was always the one in charge, always the one calling the shots. So nothing really changed when he died. Everything, however, changed when she died.

• 37:31Jake Brennan?

  Right, right. Okay, so we're 1950s, we're rural America, Wisconsin, rural society for this family anyways, domineering mother. And just so those of you, you movie fans out there, Ed Gein was the loose inspiration for Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, also loose inspiration for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre story. Not a literal adaptation, but that's, that's what we're dealing with. That's at the core here. So let's, let's get into the Slayer lyrics here.

• 38:04Speaker 09

  Yeah, there's actually a third movie loosely based on him as well, or a character, I should say, and that's Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. So he's had, you know, I was gonna mention this earlier, even if you think you don't know who Ed Gein is, chances are, you do, because you've seen one of those movies.

• 38:21Jake Brennan?

  Right, right. And if you're a true crime fan, you absolutely know who Ed Gein is, but you might not know who, you know, who Slayer is and what the Slayer song is. And, and here we go, it's absolutely based on Ed Gein. They've said it explicitly. Here, here are the lyrics, the beginning lyrics. So Brooke, I want to know what part of the story you think this relates to. Lyrics go, "How I've waited for you to come, I've been here all alone. Now that you've arrived, please stay awhile. And I promise, I won't keep you long. I'll keep you forever, forever, forever, forever."

• 38:53Speaker 09

  And that he did, or that he tried to do. So here's my take on it. As we mentioned, he was, you know, in this psychological chokehold from his mother. He thought of his mother as the one woman he loved in his entire life. He, he really did not know how to exist when she died. So the lyric, honestly, it's a very literal translation, but "How I've waited for you to come," I think is, "How I've waited for you to come back." So she died in 1945, 18 months later is when he unearthed his first corpse.

• 39:26Jake Brennan?

  Okay, hold on, hold on. Explain.

• 39:30Speaker 09

  I know.

• 39:30Jake Brennan?

  We need details here. Unearthing the first corpse. "How I've waited for you to come," so says Slayer.

• 39:35Speaker 09

  Pillow talk for me. So yeah, definitely have me pump the brakes. So Augusta, his mother, died, as I said, in 1945. And he was lost. He was like a ship without an anchor. He really was. He did not know how to think for himself. He didn't know how to live in the world without her. She had taught him everything he knew and didn't know, because she kept him, rather, so isolated and shielded. When she died, he closed off her bedroom. He closed off the living room. He made like this macabre museum out of their shared home, and he wouldn't touch anything that belonged to her. As time went on, and I think the walls started to close in on him, and he started to just psychologically unravel,

• 40:18Speaker 09

  he was needing his mother. He was needing her in a very literal sense. So he had the idea to literally recreate her, using the flesh of dead women who resembled her. So he would go through the obituaries, and he would find freshly deceased women who mimicked his mother, typically physically, but also, a lot of times, in personality as well. So he would unearth their corpses, dig them up, take them back to his home, and then go to town on literally picking them apart and making items that he could hold on to forever, which is, you know, "I've been here all alone," is the lyric. Since she died for 18 months, he was there all alone.

• 41:03Speaker 09

  "Now that you've arrived," meaning now that I've basically unearthed what symbolically represents you, "please stay a while. I'm gonna make you into a nipple belt. I'm gonna make you into a chair. I'm gonna use women's skulls and eat my soup out of them in the kitchen." He kept nine vulvas in a box underneath his bed, which, by the way, he painted silver and salted, I think probably to preserve. I don't think he was actually eating anything. Um, yeah, I know this is, this is a lot.

• 41:36Jake Brennan?

  I don't even know what to say to that, except nine vulvas might have been the B side to Dead Skin Mask. Sorry. Not trying to, not trying to joke, but I am. Okay. So he's, I don't even know where to go. I mean, this is, this is in part, I don't know this story like you know it clearly. And I had a real hard time with getting into the TV show. And, you know, I've seen stuff. I've seen the images of the nipple belt. I've seen these things that are just completely psychotic. And it's really interesting to me because the Slayer song comes out in 1990 and Slayer was like, they weren't a band that was me. I mean, they were about as mainstream

• 42:17Jake Brennan?

  as a thrash metal band could get, but they weren't as mainstream as Metallica, or even Anthrax, MTV headbangers, Ball would play them, but they got no radio play, no mainstream video play because their lyrics were considered to be extreme. And as we're going through this story, it's clear to me that the reality here is far more extreme than what they put in the song. And I can actually, I would bet, you know, you know, whatever, whatever you want to bet that they made a choice and they had to pull back on, on being explicit in the lyrics for fear of just, you know, not getting any airplay and not, you know, who knows what,

• 42:58Jake Brennan?

  like how, how the censorship would have been applied because the reality here, everything, the details you just listed are completely fucked up. And it's, it's, it's a little bit strange to me that here we are in 2025 and it's mainstreamed in not only a podcast like, like yours or mine, but in, or other true crime podcasts, but on a Netflix series. And it's huge. And this is the stuff we're talking about. I'm going to go to the next lyric here. Graze the skin with my fingertips, the brush of dead cold flesh appease the means. Provoking images, delicate features so smooth, a pleasant.

• 43:35Jake Brennan?

  I can't even get it out. A pleasant fragrance in the light of the moon. What is Mr. Ed Gein up to in this verse?

• 43:43Speaker 09

  Well Slayer, I think, took some creative liberties, which is absolutely their right to do. So no judgment on that. Well, yes, so he definitely, obviously, would finesse the skin. He he made masks out of real human faces. He used special oils and he peeled off the faces. He preserved it and he made actual masks. He also made what was referred to as a mammary vest, which was he essentially skinned the torso of a deceased woman, breasts still intact, and then he would wear the skin suit. So, yes, he would graze his the skin with his fingertips and he would do a lot fucking more than that. The brush of dead cold flesh appeased the means. Pretty self-explanatory. Here's where he took, I believe Slayer took two creative liberties.

• 44:27Speaker 09

  Provoking images, delicate features so smooth. His mother was a very severe-looking woman. She was of German descent. And the women that he dug up and actually killed, he did kill two women, were very sort of big-boned, severe-looking women. There was sort of, I wouldn't use the word delicate to to describe their features.

• 44:48Jake Brennan?

  OK.

• 44:49Speaker 09

  And their features at this point would not have been smooth because they were decomposed. OK, that's fine Slayer. The next line, a pleasant fragrance in the light of the moon. So here's a big sticking point. Ed Gein did not enjoy the scent of decomposing flesh. In fact, the reason he provides for countering anybody who claims that he was a cannibal or a necrophiliac is that he could not stand the stench of flesh. So he didn't eat it and he didn't have sex with it. A lot of sources will say he's a necrophiliac. There's actually different types of necrophiles. There are those who do get off on decomposing flesh, so they will have sex with dead bodies. And then there's necrophiles who just get off on the fact that the body is dead

• 45:33Speaker 09

  and they have ultimate control to do with that body, whatever they want.

• 45:37Jake Brennan?

  Aye, aye, aye.

• 45:38Speaker 09

  So, um, he, the, a pleasant fragrance, not according to Ed Gein.

• 45:43Jake Brennan?

  I get that completely. It's interesting, though, that the smell of death is a real, is obviously a real thing. We covered it in our Norwegian black metal episode where there was this, the singer in this Norwegian band who just became, I mean, his name was, was, was dead.

• 46:00Speaker 09

  Mayhem.

• 46:00Jake Brennan?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 46:01Speaker 09

  I did an episode on them, so I actually, yeah.

• 46:04Jake Brennan?

  And, and you, so you know that he was, he was actually obs- obsessed with the smell of death and he would carry around dead birds so he could huff on them and, and it's so, it's, I can't even, I can't, I literally can't understand it. I can't, if you've ever smelled anything dead, like you got an animal, I've had, we lived in an old New England house and we would get animals trapped in the walls and it's just, it's absolutely disgusting. I, I can't understand how somebody's brain makes this switch and that becomes something that they're into. And apparently, uh, it was a bridge too far for Ed Gein.

• 46:43Speaker 09

  Apparently so. Exactly. Yeah, I mean, I think, I think that's just it. You just touched on a really important point. You know what I mean? It's just the psychology. It's the, you know, perpetrators on this level or, you know, in the case of dead, for example, they're so complex, you know? And again, if you label them monsters and you kind of put them in their own category and you say like, well, you know, they're just not like us. And so it is what it is. You're never gonna learn about them and you're never gonna figure out what makes them the way they are. And if you can't figure that out, you can't protect the future, basically. Not to get too heavy with this. He is a human being. He came from somewhere, Ed Gein.

• 47:23Speaker 09

  He came from a really difficult background, psychologically speaking, and it took its toll and it manifested in a very fucked up way.

• 47:32Jake Brennan?

  Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. Okay, let's, let's take it here to the, uh, the next set of lyrics. Dance with the dead, speaking of dead, dance with the dead in my dreams. Listen to their hallowed screams, the dead have taken my soul. I know where this is going. Temptations lost all control.

• 47:53Speaker 09

  Okay. Dance with the dead in my dreams. Ed Gein did struggle with hallucinations.

• 47:58Jake Brennan?

  Really?

• 47:59Speaker 09

  Yeah, he felt that he could hear his mother's voice after she died. He felt that he could see faces in the leaves, for example, and he felt that he could always smell rot. What's interesting is he had that sort of olfactory hallucination before he was unearthing corpses. Initially, when I was researching this, I felt like, well, you're smelling rot because you're digging up dead bodies. But this actually happened before that.

• 48:25Jake Brennan?

  Yeah.

• 48:25Speaker 09

  But yeah, he was having auditory hallucinations. He was having visual hallucinations. And I think ultimately, it was all of that that ended up pushing him over the edge in such a way that made him end up taking two lives and then unearthing all of these corpses. Listen to their hallowed screams. He didn't kill the women. He did sadly kill two women, Mary Hogan and Bernice Warden. But he killed them very quickly. Neither one of them knew what was happening. He shot them both in the head, unfortunately. So there were no screams. So listen to their hallowed screams, I think is just a creative liberty. The dead have taken my soul, I think is symbolic of his mother taking his soul when she died and taking everything that she created

• 49:09Speaker 09

  that he did not know how to run with. When she died, the wheels came off. So I think that lyric has to do with that. And then Temptations' "Lost All Control" is like, fuck it, I'm just gonna go all in at this point. And I'm gonna wear female breasts and genitals, which he did.

• 49:27Jake Brennan?

  Simple smiles elude psychotic eyes. Lose all mind control. Rationale declines. Empty eyes enslave the creations of placid faces and lifeless pageants.

• 49:42Speaker 09

  So the psychotic eyes part is what's interesting to me. Interestingly, not every expert is on the same page as to whether or not Ed Gein was psychotic.

• 49:53Jake Brennan?

  Really?

• 49:54Speaker 09

  Yeah. So, and keep in mind-

• 49:56Jake Brennan?

  What's the alternative if he's not psychotic?

• 49:59Speaker 09

  A personality disorder. So in a legal sense, they're very different things. You sort of have to understand whether or not a perpetrator has psychosis or they're dealing with mental health issues and what kind of mental health issues, because it helps you to determine the sentencing for that perpetrator. So- A finding of psychosis means that the individual lacked the capacity to understand right from wrong when they were committing the crime in question.

• 50:25Jake Brennan?

  Okay.

• 50:25Speaker 09

  So when it comes to sentencing, you're not going to lock that person up in a prison. You're going to send that individual to, you know, a psychiatric institution for treatment. They may not ever see mainstream society again. That's not what I'm saying. They're not given a pass, but they are not given prison. So at the time, Ed Gein was deemed psychotic and he was sent to live out the rest of his days in a psychiatric institution. But there are experts today who feel that since our understanding of mental health has shifted so much since the 1950s.

• 50:58Jake Brennan?

  Right.

• 50:59Speaker 09

  That it's not really 100%, you know, the case that he would be looked at as legally insane today. So the question is, did he know what he was doing was wrong and he did it anyway?

• 51:13Jake Brennan?

  Right.

• 51:14Speaker 09

  Or did he not even realize that what he was doing was wrong? And that is the crux of the criminal justice system, really.

• 51:20Jake Brennan?

  Right, right. What do you think?

• 51:23Speaker 09

  Great question. I, I kind of... When you're looking at whether or not somebody knew what they were doing was wrong and that they did it anyway, you want to look at things like premeditation.

• 51:34Jake Brennan?

  Mm-hmm.

• 51:35Speaker 09

  Now, people think that premeditation means that you're sitting and you're plotting and you have every single detail calculated. That's not necessarily what premeditation is. So premeditation is also, were there steps taken to cover up the crime? Was there any thought put into committing the crime where you're covering your tracks? Where there's this sort of mental awareness that what you're doing is wrong enough that you could get in trouble? And if you see those elements in a crime, then that can constitute as premeditation.

• 52:06Jake Brennan?

  Right.

• 52:07Speaker 09

  You saw that with Ed Gein. He only dug up the bodies under the pale moonlight, right? So he waited until it was pitch black and the world was asleep. To me, that suggests premeditation. When he was ultimately put in the back of a squad car, when he was ultimately picked up, the first thing out of his mouth was, "I was framed." Which was very silly. If you listen to the coverage of it, I'm like, you dumb fuck. Like, you don't even know why you're in the back of that police car.

• 52:35Jake Brennan?

  Right.

• 52:35Speaker 09

  Already confessing to something. But basically, he had the wherewithal to know, oh shit, I'm getting caught for something that I've done here. I'm going to say I was framed.

• 52:45Jake Brennan?

  Yeah.

• 52:45Speaker 09

  So those two things kind of put up a red flag that there was premeditation. However, all of that said, I think that he was suffering from psychosis.

• 52:54Jake Brennan?

  Really? Wow. Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. All right, let's keep going here. In the depths of a mind insane, fantasy and reality are the same. Right?

• 53:09Speaker 09

  Mm hmm.

• 53:10Jake Brennan?

  I mean, that that goes to what you were just saying.

• 53:12Speaker 09

  Exactly. Exactly right. Like, if you can't tell that what you're doing is wrong, if you just, you've lost all sense of, you know, exactly what's right and wrong, what's reality, what's fantasy, then, you know, in their lyrics, is your mind insane? Which, obviously, the definition of insanity, you know, in a legal sense is different from the definition of, you know, somebody who's insanity in a mental health sense. But in the end, Ed Gein was not, you know, was deemed criminally insane. So that was at the time what he was considered.

• 53:48Jake Brennan?

  This last lyric, incised members, I'm skipping the chorus again. Incised members, ornaments on my being, adulating the skin before me.

• 53:59Speaker 09

  Yeah, can you guess? Can you guess what that means, Jake? Can you give us your best shot?

• 54:04Jake Brennan?

  I can't. I mean, that's the thing that turns me off with the series is the dancing around, the wearing of the dead body parts. You know, the ornaments on my being, quote unquote. I just, it's hard to imagine, never mind to watch the visual, the dramatization of it.

• 54:21Speaker 09

  Yeah.

• 54:21Jake Brennan?

  Really, and I know my listeners are probably gonna be like, what are you fucking talking about? You've depicted the goriest shit possible. I don't know. There's just, there's something about this story that that just strikes me. It's like the Dahmer story is very similar. It skeeves me out in a way that that most stories don't for some, for some reason. I mean, I've done cannibalism. I mean, I've covered cannibalism in the past.

• 54:44Speaker 09

  Nice.

• 54:45Jake Brennan?

  Numerous times, Big Lurch, we talked about Mayhem. But I don't know, man, there's, there's just something about, I guess, the wearing of flesh that is just.

• 54:55Speaker 09

  It gets you. I mean, listen, good for you, man. I, I, I don't have that. I wish I did. I have lost all ability to-

• 55:03Jake Brennan?

  There's no more line for you?

• 55:04Speaker 09

  There's no more line. I, I have not lost my empathy at all for the victim. So, you know, in that sense, I'm still 100% feeling constantly, which is my cross to bear, being a true crime podcaster. But, um, no, I, I can't, I can't get past my fascination with this stuff. I think enough to like feel the gruesomeness of it, if that makes sense. Um, it's all so symbolic to me that I'm almost looking past the act itself.

• 55:33Jake Brennan?

  Yeah, you're looking for the reason behind the act. So you can objectify the act and the horror of it is, is a separate thing. And you do it masterfully. Your, your show is incredible.

• 55:44Speaker 09

  Thank you.

• 55:44Jake Brennan?

  Um, I'm glad we got to meet. I'm a fan. I love that we've been able to, to talk a little bit about this and you've been, you've been super curious about the music side of it, which is awesome. I know my listeners are gonna love your show. Everybody, tell everybody, tell discos where Psychopedia is available, when, when the episodes hit and where else they can find you.

• 56:02Speaker 09

  Yes. And thank you, Jake, by the way. Also, huge fan of yours. I have been for a long time. I've been wanting this to happen for so, so long. So thank you. Thank you for this moment.

• 56:11Jake Brennan?

  Of course.

• 56:12Speaker 09

  Um, Psychopedia drops every single Wednesday. It's available wherever you get your podcasts. Also on Instagram and TikTok, I actually, you would just follow at Investigator Slater versus Psychopedia. That's kind of where I post everything relating to what I do. And yeah, I have patreon.com/psychopedia pod as well for extra true crime content, behind the scenes stuff, opportunity to guest co-hosts with me over there. Um, but yeah, otherwise the main feed, I would love to have you on the main feed, everybody. And that's anywhere you listen to podcasts.

• 56:43Jake Brennan?

  Nice. And what's, um, you just did the two episodes on Ed Gein. What else do you have coming up? What's coming up next?

• 56:49Speaker 09

  Uh, the next one I have coming up is, oh, it's another, it's another doozy. Um, yeah, it's, it's about, this is wild, a teenage boy who murdered his parents and then hid their remains in his bedroom and threw a massive house party. So I'm gonna go to town on the psychology there, cause that's fucking wild.

• 57:11Jake Brennan?

  That's, that reminds me of the disgracing episode we did on Club Kid from New York, Michael Alleg, who- Ended up, very similarly, he, he killed his friend, who was this drug dealer, chopped him up into little pieces, put him in a box, and then had, had, just started partying. And then multiple parties with this, his, the friend is like rotting in a box in this like luxury, high-rise apartment in New York City. There's like flies, everyone's like, what's in the box, dude? He's like, oh, nothing. And he actually jokes to him. He's like, oh, that's Angel. That's where Angel is.

• 57:44Speaker 09

  Where's this guy gonna get his drugs now? You don't bite the hand that feeds you.

• 57:48Jake Brennan?

  Exactly. That dude called me. That dude called me when he got out of prison. That was fucked up.

• 57:52Speaker 09

  No shit.

• 57:53Jake Brennan?

  Yeah, that was, I had, I actually released it. It was nuts. All right, I'm going off, I'm going off topic here.

• 57:58Speaker 09

  I love it.

• 57:59Jake Brennan?

  This is great. Thank you so much, Brooke. Appreciate you. I hope all the Disgrace Land listeners get to listen to Psychopedia. And I don't know, we get into more true crime and music overlap, be awesome to have you back.

• 58:11Speaker 09

  Love to. Anytime. Thank you so much, Jake.

• 58:31Jake Brennan?

  All right, guys. Hope you dug that interview with myself and Brooke, sort of tracing back my, it would be an overuse of the word trauma, but sort of, you know, my, my Ed Gein kinda heebie-jeebies back, back, back to, it all goes back to Slayer. Doesn't everything go back to heavy metal? I don't know. Kind of does for me. Anyhow, check out Brooke. She's obviously very informed, intelligent, way up on true crime. If you're a true crime head, like I know most of you are, check out her show, Psychopedia. It's fantastic. You're gonna dig it. 617-906-6638. Voicemail, text. Hit me up with your Christmas and New Year's movie recommendations, because Zeth and I are planning something special and we want

• 59:14Jake Brennan?

  to involve you guys. All right, hit us up. We talked earlier about John Lennon and his UFO sighting and the veracity of that sighting, whether or not John Lennon was, was pulling the wool over all of our eyes. I know it's hard to believe, but we're gonna get into this and we're gonna try and lay, and we're gonna try and lend some credibility to John's claims in this exclusive section that's coming up. To hear this episode, you're gonna be an All-Access member of Disgrace Land. Really easy to sign up, just five bucks a month. That is going up. That price is going up. Next week, next week, people. So if you don't want to be paying $5.99, if you only want to be paying $5 and you want to get in on some hot discount action that we're going to be offering, get over to disgracelandpod.com

• 59:56Jake Brennan?

  and sign up to become an All-Access member. You're not only going to be able to hear exclusive content like the conversation I'm about to have with Zeth, you're also going to get ad-free listening. You're going to get mini-episodes every week that go deeper into our stories. And you're going to get access, if you sign up through Patreon, to Zeth and I in the Patreon chat and the discussion we're having with with all the other Discos. Your support is very much appreciated. Super grateful for you guys. Your support helps us create all this content. Couldn't do it without you. disgracelandpod.com to sign up. All right, guys. Thanks for riding with me on another bonus episode of Disgraceland. This week, we talked about Chet Baker, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Sammy Hagar from Van Halen. We have episodes on all these guys. And Matt is going to leave a trail of breadcrumbs

• 1:00:39Jake Brennan?

  for you to find these episodes in the show notes, so that you have no problem sifting through our 255-plus stories. And don't sleep on that Chet Baker episode. It's incredible, if I do say so myself. Great story. All right, let's recap, shall we? Number one, this week's new episode on Merle Haggard, our Part II story on Merle Haggard, is available for you right now. Number two, new mini-episode for All-Access members on Merle and his UFO sighting and infatuation. Number three, rewind episode on Blink 182 and Tom DeLonge. We get in more fully to the UAP thing there as well. That's coming up for you right after this. Next week comes our new story on Phil Spector and his insanity that may have started way back before the incredible Christmas album that he made.

• 1:01:22Jake Brennan?

  Number five, Zeth's going to give you those Hollywoodland and crime vibes in Hollywoodland, so make sure you are subscribed. Get us your favorite holiday movies, Christmas and New Year's as well. 617-906-6638. Your voice keeps us digging into the dark corners of music history, so keep calling, texting with your answers to this week's question of the week, or with whatever else you want to talk about. Don't forget, Discos, this isn't just content, it's a community, a community of the obsessed. No one cares about music, books, records, and the crime and grime. It ties them all together like you do, and well, that's a disgrace. All right, way back in November in 1973, Merle Haggard took a break from his houseboat and from watching UFOs, and released his excellent Christmas album, Merle Haggard's Christmas Present. Here's what America was listening to on that day, according to the Billboard charts.

• 1:02:08Jake Brennan?

  Number one, Keep On Truckin', Part One. Eddie Kendricks. Last Week, three. Weeks on Chur, 12. Peak Position, one. Number two, Midnight Train to Georgia. Gladys Knight and the Pips. Last Week, two. Weeks on Chur, nine. Peak Position, two. Number three, Angie, The Rolling Stones. Last Week, one. Weeks on Chur, eight. Peak Position, one. Number four, Half Breeze. Sure. Last Week, four. Weeks on Chur, 13. Peak Position, two. Number five, Ramblin' Man. The Allman Brothers Man. Last Week, five.

• 1:02:52Jake Brennan?

  Weeks on Chur, six.

• 1:03:04Jake Brennan?

  Quit talking and start mixing. Cut it. Hey, guys. Time to dust off your detective skills while unwinding in the Caribbean on Virgin Voyages' second true crime voyages. Back by popular demand, this five-night, adults-only escape sets sail March 20, 2027, to Grand Turk in the Beach Club at Bimini. The difference between this year and last will be that I will be on the cruise this year, along with Zeth, and he and I will be taping a live version of Disgrace Land, along with podcast hosts from Exactly Right's Buried Bones, Podcast of the Year Award winners, Wisecrack, and other fan favorites. Get on this cruise with us, guys, and enjoy live podcast recordings, behind-the-scenes

• 1:03:47Jake Brennan?

  storytelling, exclusive meet-and-greets, and immersive true crime programming throughout this one-of-a-kind voyage. Head over to www.virginvoyages.com/trucrime to secure your spot. I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 1:04:30Speaker 07

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