MFM Minisode 416

This week’s hometowns include a childhood hobby and a petty solution to a problem.

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.

• 0:06Speaker 01

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• 0:34Speaker 02

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• 1:20Karen Kilgariff?

  Hello. Hello. And welcome to My Favorite Murder. This is a minisode. It's your fucking stories and we fucking love them. Look, you're making us do this. We have no choice. You will not stop filling up our email box with these stories. That we love, that we love. Okay. The subject line of this one is "Marshmallow Explosion." Great. And then it just says "Sort of hometown." And it starts "Salutations, etc." So this is being written by a spider named Charlotte. Ready? Just listened to the recent-ish episode about the Sun Valley Mall disaster and it jogged a memory of what I guess can be called my non-murder hometown, also from the 80s.

• 2:05Karen Kilgariff?

  I kind of love that idea.

• 2:07Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 2:07Karen Kilgariff?

  Do you have a story of some crazy shit that happened in your hometown?

• 2:10Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, it's like the balloon, um, what's it called, release? Like, what is a fucked up thing that they're like, "This will be a great idea."

• 2:17Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 2:18Georgia Hardstark?

  In our small town.

• 2:19Karen Kilgariff?

  You don't have to have even witnessed it, you can just say, "This is the crazy thing that happened in my hometown."

• 2:24Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes, that's exactly what we want.

• 2:26Karen Kilgariff?

  Do you have the world's biggest ball of twine? You better write in. Okay. In May 1988, in Las Vegas, a residentially-based chemical plant called the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada exploded multiple times, killing two people and causing a hundred million dollars in damages. In today's money, wanna guess it?

• 2:48Georgia Hardstark?

  Hundred million in the, in when?

• 2:50Karen Kilgariff?

  1988.

• 2:51Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh my god, that's gotta be... Eight hundred million?

• 2:55Karen Kilgariff?

  Two hundred and twenty-two million.

• 2:57Georgia Hardstark?

  That's a lot still.

• 2:58Karen Kilgariff?

  It's so much.

• 2:59Georgia Hardstark?

  I went for it.

• 3:00Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay. There are disagreements over exactly how the fire that led to the explosion started, as well as what exactly caused the explosions themselves, but it seems to have been some combination of a natural gas leak, spark welding, and a highly volatile rocket fuel component stored at the site.

• 3:18Georgia Hardstark?

  Hmm.

• 3:20Karen Kilgariff?

  Let's get that rocket fuel separate. And it over in that separate area.

• 3:24Georgia Hardstark?

  In the desert.

• 3:26Karen Kilgariff?

  The explosions also triggered an explosion at the next door Marshmallow Factory, which, given I was five years old when this took place, is pretty much the only thing I remember.

• 3:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 3:39Karen Kilgariff?

  I texted my mom Nancy about the disaster, and since she didn't have a squishy child's brain when we lived in Vegas in 85, she had a bit more to say. The rocket factory was in Henderson, in a neighborhood. No one knew it was there until it exploded.

• 3:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, that's, you gotta tell people. You gotta let them know who their neighbor is.

• 3:59Karen Kilgariff?

  Just a real low-key, like it said, David's bridles on the outside, put inside their mattress firm.

• 4:08Karen Kilgariff?

  That's unfair. And then it says, "Right next to it was a marshmallow factory. We went up and looked at it the day after and there were puffs of marshmallow all over the cacti and men in white suits looking for radiation."

• 4:21Georgia Hardstark?

  That smelled so good.

• 4:22Karen Kilgariff?

  Smelled so good, but Nancy's pulling her child right up to, right up to the curb, being like, "Let's get in here and see marshmallows and radiation."

• 4:30Georgia Hardstark?

  Smell the radiation.

• 4:31Karen Kilgariff?

  "When it happened, you were with your father at the post office and the two of you felt the explosion and the post office window waved back and forth."

• 4:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Whoa.

• 4:40Karen Kilgariff?

  I love this. Your mom reminding you of what happened. "I was teaching. The force of the explosion knocked plants off the top of the lockers in my classroom and it felt like I'd been kicked in the back." Crazy. "I was the one who was responsible for going outside and making sure all the kids got in because we knew something was coming our way, but we didn't know how bad it was going to be. As teachers, we were making preparations for keeping the children overnight until we got word that it wasn't anything lethal and the buses would be coming for the children." Not only, "Nothing lethal," that what's coming is the children's greatest dream.

• 5:16Georgia Hardstark?

  Splatting marshmallow.

• 5:17Karen Kilgariff?

  A 10-foot wave of marshmallow fluff. So yeah.

• 5:21Georgia Hardstark?

  It's got a little radiation, but don't worry about that.

• 5:23Karen Kilgariff?

  It's kind of just a bit of spice.

• 5:25Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, seasoning.

• 5:27Karen Kilgariff?

  So yeah, "Stay sexy and don't store volatile chemicals next to marshmallow factories, Jen."

• 5:32Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah. If you're going to keep that a secret from the town, then you have to double pinky swear that you won't explode the fucking place.

• 5:39Karen Kilgariff?

  It can't be in a neighborhood.

• 5:41Georgia Hardstark?

  No.

• 5:42Karen Kilgariff?

  Secretly.

• 5:43Georgia Hardstark?

  Can't.

• 5:44Karen Kilgariff?

  And then you're like, "We had rocket fuel, welding sparks, and we had five-year-olds lighting matches. That was in one room."

• 5:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 5:53Karen Kilgariff?

  And then over here, it's like, "Please."

• 5:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Well, no one said we couldn't do it because we didn't tell anyone that we were doing it.

• 5:59Karen Kilgariff?

  We're innovators.

• 6:00Georgia Hardstark?

  It's kind of on you guys.

• 6:01Karen Kilgariff?

  We're rocket fuel disruptors.

• 6:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, this one's called "An Internet Predator Story." "Hey, hey, hey. My name is Chloe and boy, do I have a story for you. When I was about 11 years old AOL Messenger and Yahoo Messenger were very popular.

• 6:21Georgia Hardstark?

  My dad very graciously and soon after this story happened, probably regrettably, allowed me to use Yahoo Messenger to talk to my friends. There were rules, however, to make sure that I was safe, thank God." And she was 11. "Weekly, my dad would review my friends list to make sure that he knew everyone and he also limited my time to about an hour a day. Most days, if I got a new message from someone, I showed my dad and got approval. But on one fall day, my dad had run out for something and left me alone briefly on Messenger.

• 6:52Georgia Hardstark?

  A message of 'Hi' popped up from someone I didn't know and I still remember his screen name, which was my zip code in Wisconsin at the time. So it was a name and then a zip code. Due to this, I asked the person, 'Hi, do I know you?' To which he replied, 'No, I just found your profile on Yahoo Profiles, something or other, and thought to send a message.'"

• 7:11Karen Kilgariff?

  Did you have AIM or like, did you have this service?

• 7:14Georgia Hardstark?

  I had AIM, yeah.

• 7:15Karen Kilgariff?

  Could they know who you were or how old you were, anything like that? I didn't have any of this. It was like, I was drunk in a gutter at this point in my life.

• 7:22Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, um, yeah, they could tell, because you had like a profile, you know? And it'd be like, and you tell all about yourself and everything. And then you'd also be in like chat rooms that kind of gave away your age a little bit.

• 7:33Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay.

• 7:34Georgia Hardstark?

  And that sort of thing. So yeah, I was pretty, like, not a ton of info, but enough info that they knew that you were a child.

• 7:40Karen Kilgariff?

  Enough info that I have a stomach ache right now. Okay.

• 7:43Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, that like, this was the Wild West.

• 7:45Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 7:46Georgia Hardstark?

  And then it says, "I didn't have a profile anywhere." And then I asked, "Okay, how old are you?" To which he replied, "I'm 26. For a reminder, I'm 11."

• 7:57Georgia Hardstark?

  I immediately stopped communicating, making a note to let my dad know when he came home and signed off for the night. Smart kid. A few days later, when my dad did his weekly messenger check, he asked me about the screen name he saw, and I told him what had happened. I said frantically, "I swear I didn't do anything bad, and I meant to tell you, and I forgot." To which he laughed and said, "It's okay, I did the right thing to stop the conversation." But my dad used this as a learning opportunity. He sat down and told me, "Men on the internet aren't to be trusted, especially older men," and proceeded to message the guy, acting as if he was me.

• 8:31Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh shit.

• 8:32Georgia Hardstark?

  Fucking dad is ready to fight.

• 8:34Karen Kilgariff?

  Dad's like, "Let's teach some people some lessons here."

• 8:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah. Within 15 minutes, the man was asking for photos and then coaching, quote, "me," how to sneak out of the house and meet him nearly 15 blocks away at a local Taco Bell at 11:00 PM.

• 8:49Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, fuck.

• 8:51Georgia Hardstark?

  Even describing his dark blue truck and license plate number. My dad immediately called the police, who met the man at Taco Bell and arrested him.

• 9:00Karen Kilgariff?

  Hell, I mean, Jesus Christ.

• 9:02Georgia Hardstark?

  I know. Like, this was a predator. This was not a fucking mistake.

• 9:06Karen Kilgariff?

  Right.

• 9:07Georgia Hardstark?

  You know?

• 9:08Karen Kilgariff?

  The predator had his eyes all the way open. It wasn't like, "Oh, she catfished me, I thought she was 25."

• 9:13Georgia Hardstark?

  Right, right. A few days later, the police came to the house to let us know that the man had been released, because sadly, at that time, there weren't laws to protect children being solicited via the internet. And he hadn't done anything, quote, "legally wrong." The cop apologized over and over, but said, "We did the right thing." So I'm sure he's on the radar by now.

• 9:35Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 9:36Georgia Hardstark?

  By then, at least. I am forever grateful to my dad for teaching me that internet safety lesson, because had I been like most of my friends with parents who didn't understand the interwebs, I likely could have been abducted.

• 9:47Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 9:48Georgia Hardstark?

  "I hope you enjoyed my story, but I have to get myself back to painting. Stay sexy and don't talk to creeps on the internet. Chloe."

• 9:55Karen Kilgariff?

  Chloe, I don't know if the word "enjoyed" would be the one I would use for having heard that story, because it was a bit of a nail biter. But God bless your dad and your very adult 11-year-old brain that's like, "Okay, I need to let people know."

• 10:12Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 10:13Karen Kilgariff?

  Like, really, a perfect 11-year-old for the early 80s days.

• 10:17Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally.

• 10:19Georgia Hardstark?

  The holidays are coming, which means we'll all be spending more time away from home.

• 10:23Karen Kilgariff?

  Whether you're visiting family or doing something actually fun, you want to know your home is protected while you're away.

• 10:29Georgia Hardstark?

  That's why now is a good time to think about home security with SimpliSafe.

• 10:32Karen Kilgariff?

  Unlike traditional security systems that alert you after a break-in starts, SimpliSafe is designed to help stop intruders before they get inside. These days, you're worried about your house, you're out of town, and then something comes up and you get to look on your phone and SimpliSafe is going to show you not only the video of like, it's a raccoon at your front door, but also that they have staff that's sitting there, they already know, and if it was something different or worse, they would have already been on it.

• 10:58Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, I really think that's invaluable peace of mind that just like relying on your neighbors, paying attention is not going to give you. We've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer our listeners their biggest savings of the year, 70% off your new system with professional monitoring when you visit simplisafe.com/mfm.

• 11:15Karen Kilgariff?

  That's simplisafe.com/mfm, and when you order, write in MFM at checkout and it tells them we sent you, and it really helps the show.

• 11:23Georgia Hardstark?

  SimpliSafe, ahead of crime in real time. Goodbye.

• 11:27Karen Kilgariff?

  Nothing makes you take a good, hard look at your furniture like inviting people over for the holidays.

• 11:32Georgia Hardstark?

  So give your home a little holiday upgrade with Article.

• 11:35Karen Kilgariff?

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• 11:39Georgia Hardstark?

  They take great care in curating their collection, focusing on pieces that stand the test of time. There's no filler, every item is chosen for its craftsmanship, design, and lasting value.

• 11:49Karen Kilgariff?

  And with Article's 30-day satisfaction guarantee, you can shop with confidence, knowing that if you're not completely in love with your new furniture, you can easily return it.

• 11:57Georgia Hardstark?

  Plus, Article's customer care team is available seven days a week. I know we're getting into fall and winter, but we live in Los Angeles, so my outdoor furniture is just like the perfect focal point for the pool parties we still end up having. Sorry, everyone, when it's like sunny and gorgeous year round. I sit on my Article patio furniture every morning and have my coffee and watch Cookie lay in the sun, and the whole thing is just so peaceful and pretty. Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more.

• 12:27Karen Kilgariff?

  To claim, visit article.com. com/murder and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

• 12:32Georgia Hardstark?

  That's article.com/murder for $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more.

• 12:37Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye. Cozy season is nearly upon us.

• 12:40Georgia Hardstark?

  That means crisp weather and soft layers.

• 12:43Karen Kilgariff?

  Prepare accordingly with fall staples from Bombas.

• 12:46Georgia Hardstark?

  Bombas has your favorite footwear for fall, including new suede moccasins with cushy soles, shearling lining, and water-resistant suede, plus soft slippers, slides, and booties.

• 12:56Karen Kilgariff?

  There's a Bombas sock for pretty much any fall occasion, from warm merino wool blends to sweat-wicking sports socks and dressier options for weddings.

• 13:04Georgia Hardstark?

  And for every Bombas item purchased, they donated an essential clothing item to someone facing housing insecurity with more than 200 million items donated so far. Okay, so when fall comes around, I have a pair of the Bombas booties pretty much in every room, so I can grab them when my feet inevitably become freezing, which they are constantly. And they're so comfy, you can wear them around the house. I wear them to bed and they just make everything feel a little cozier.

• 13:31Karen Kilgariff?

  Head over to Bombas.com/mfm and use code MFM for 20% off your first purchase.

• 13:36Georgia Hardstark?

  That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash MFM, code MFM at checkout.

• 13:42Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 13:45Karen Kilgariff?

  The subject line of this email is "My Childhood Balloon Hobby." It says, "Hello to the beautiful team of MFM and Exactly Right. I love everything you do. You guys have been a huge part of my weekly routine since I was 16 years old."

• 13:59Georgia Hardstark?

  Aww.

• 14:00Karen Kilgariff?

  And then in parentheses, it says, "I was the teenager you guys were yelling at for being a younger listener." Hey.

• 14:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Hi.

• 14:07Karen Kilgariff?

  We cater to every demographic.

• 14:09Georgia Hardstark?

  Can you hear Mimi purring loudly into the microphone?

• 14:12Karen Kilgariff?

  No, I can just, but I'm watching her, when you stop petting her, slap you with her paw.

• 14:18Georgia Hardstark?

  Full claws, full claws out. Like, I just don't want to like.

• 14:22Karen Kilgariff?

  She's like, get back on here.

• 14:23Georgia Hardstark?

  I want to protect her. She's full claws and she'll bite if I don't do it. Okay.

• 14:26Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah. She's like, "We are doing something. I don't care about your podcast."

• 14:32Karen Kilgariff?

  Anyways, I was listening to episode 451 and was reminded of my own balloon endeavors as a child and had to write in. I have always been the type of person to pick up a random, oh, I guess episode 451 was lawn chair Larry, the man who flew and his weather balloons flew in a lawn chair.

• 14:50Georgia Hardstark?

  Definitely.

• 14:51Karen Kilgariff?

  And survived and lived to tell the tale.

• 14:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Epic.

• 14:54Karen Kilgariff?

  It's a good one. I've always been the type of person to pick up a random hobby every summer because of undiagnosed ADHD.

• 15:00Georgia Hardstark?

  Aye, me too.

• 15:03Karen Kilgariff?

  And did so like clockwork as a kid. My mom was a teacher and my dad worked full-time, so picking up a new hobby kept us kids busy during the summer and out of my mom's hair. Until I was around nine and I decided to pick up the hobby of making balloon animals.

• 15:17Georgia Hardstark?

  I love that.

• 15:19Karen Kilgariff?

  Right?

• 15:20Georgia Hardstark?

  I didn't even like think of that as a thing you could learn, but yeah.

• 15:23Karen Kilgariff?

  I know, they were, this is a crafty person that thought this up. They were like, I'm not doing the usual hook rugs or whatever. Hook rugs, that's the most 70s thing I've ever said in my life. While searching our craft closet, what?

• 15:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, sign me up for that. Why don't I have that now?

• 15:41Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, I'm so furious right now for, on behalf of my inner nine-year-old. While searching, while searching our craft closet, I came across, our version of a fucking craft closet was like me looking through old photo albums of my parents, just being like, I wonder who these people are. Just nothing interesting.

• 16:03Georgia Hardstark?

  There was nothing. There was a couple of board games with tons of missing pieces.

• 16:08Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 16:09Georgia Hardstark?

  And dust bunnies and that was it.

• 16:11Karen Kilgariff?

  And a big F you. Okay, so sorry. Back to the email. While searching our craft closet, I came across a bag of those skinny balloons, a hand pump, an instruction book on how to make balloon animals.

• 16:25Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes.

• 16:26Karen Kilgariff?

  I've no idea where the book or supplies came from, but I made it my mom's problem all summer long.

• 16:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Aww.

• 16:32Karen Kilgariff?

  Imagine trying to enjoy your summer evening and all you hear in the distance is the high pitched sound of balloons squeaking together for hours on end with the occasional pop.

• 16:42Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh. Oh my God.

• 16:45Karen Kilgariff?

  The hand pump did end up going missing one day and I was unable to find it, thus ending my early beginnings to being a child clown. I'm pretty sure my mom hid it, but only after I had already made 40 balloon animals that summer.

• 16:58Georgia Hardstark?

  Holy shit.

• 17:01Karen Kilgariff?

  What do you like? Do you like rhinoceruses?

• 17:03Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 17:03Karen Kilgariff?

  Is your...

• 17:04Georgia Hardstark?

  What are you doing?

• 17:04Karen Kilgariff?

  Want a snake?

• 17:05Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay.

• 17:07Karen Kilgariff?

  Thank you for everything you do and being there when things got tough. You guys have been with me through two graduations, the pandemic and the strike, as I was a fresh film grad when it all went down. Stay sexy and don't let your kids pick up clown hobbies. Brooksy. She there.

• 17:24Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow, that's cool. Yeah, let us know your weird childhood hobbies. But you know what I was thinking?

• 17:29Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 17:30Georgia Hardstark?

  I wonder if Brooke's mom or parents put just random hobby things in their craft closet and was like, I know this kid likes to pick up random shit. If I say, you know, you should try, they're gonna tell me to fuck off.

• 17:43Karen Kilgariff?

  Right.

• 17:44Georgia Hardstark?

  So here are 10 different options. Someday she's gonna look through it, go find it. Right?

• 17:49Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, exactly. Well, yeah, because I wonder if it's like they're strategizing behind the scenes.

• 17:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 17:57Karen Kilgariff?

  That's what you're saying.

• 17:58Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, like have something ready for them.

• 18:00Karen Kilgariff?

  Something interesting, but that they can kind of discover.

• 18:03Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 18:04Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, God, that'd be amazing parenting.

• 18:07Georgia Hardstark?

  That really would be. Oh, that was sweet. Tell us what your weird childhood hobbies were. My friend had the largest collection of Snoopy memorabilia.

• 18:18Karen Kilgariff?

  Really? I got really into collecting Mrs. Grossman stickers, which were those like heart teddy bear bow. I really got into them and then I tried to sell them at school and people were like, we don't need this, we already have our own. Where I was like...

• 18:35Georgia Hardstark?

  Sticky stickers.

• 18:36Karen Kilgariff?

  You can buy, I got like a box for Christmas and I was like, you can buy them through me. And people were like, we don't know what you're talking about.

• 18:42Georgia Hardstark?

  See, Karen, you were in the March from a very early age. You just didn't know it.

• 18:48Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, that's right. It's in our, it's in our blood.

• 18:50Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, this one's called, oh, this one's called, "Of Course You Can: A Petty Solution." "Hi Karen, Georgia, and the whole MFM crew. I came across your podcast a few months ago at the best time, as I had already watched every true crime series, documentary, and movie on all the streaming platforms."

• 19:10Karen Kilgariff?

  Mm-hmm.

• 19:10Georgia Hardstark?

  So naturally, I've been binge-listening to your podcasts at an alarming rate. I love everything you do and all your content. Please never stop being your amazing selves."

• 19:19Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay.

• 19:20Georgia Hardstark?

  "I was listening to one of the mini-sodes where a woman mentioned she would go door-to-door for surveys, and one man played dead in his car, so he didn't have to talk to her."

• 19:32Karen Kilgariff?

  I forgot that one.

• 19:34Georgia Hardstark?

  I do, too.

• 19:35Karen Kilgariff?

  So good.

• 19:36Georgia Hardstark?

  "It reminded me of the many things my dad has done over the years to get rid of unwanted visitors and callers. Aside from the time he cussed out the Jehovah's Witnesses that showed up at our house on Christmas, this story is one of my favorites." That's a bad idea. It's like, you're celebrating Christmas, the most lovely day, with your children and all these things, and they're like, "Hey, you know what you shouldn't do anymore?"

• 19:59Karen Kilgariff?

  I think that, don't you think they're in there trying to pick off the lonely people, or the people who are having a bad Christmas somehow?

• 20:06Georgia Hardstark?

  There you go.

• 20:07Karen Kilgariff?

  Extra cynical, in my opinion.

• 20:10Georgia Hardstark?

  That is good. Okay, this is one of my favorites. "Back when I was a kid, before the internet was widespread, the best way to look at businesses was the phone book." Great resource. Unless someone accidentally submits the wrong phone number in their little ad. This happened with our home phone number. A doctor's office had our number listed as theirs, and we would constantly get calls from patients. My dad reached out to the Yellow Pages to report the issue, but only the doctor's office could call to resolve this." So my dad located their office and informed them of the mistake. They claimed there wasn't an issue and the number was correct. Someone fucking doubled down and was like, no, you're wrong.

• 20:50Karen Kilgariff?

  I love those people. You mean factually provable, but you're still gonna, you're gonna go ahead and deny it.

• 20:57Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, I'm the front office manager and I refuse to admit that that's not the right number. Cause I did it.

• 21:04Karen Kilgariff?

  I'm the front office manager and I had a very difficult childhood with very critical parents. And so at this point, one more mistake would feel like it would break me into. Therefore, that number is correct that you see that is not correct on paper.

• 21:19Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, God.

• 21:20Karen Kilgariff?

  Incredible.

• 21:21Georgia Hardstark?

  How frustrating for the dad, like, I promise I'm not just making this up. Like, what are you talking about?

• 21:27Karen Kilgariff?

  It's literally the, the new post-truth world we live in now. Where people are just like, that didn't happen. And you're just like, well, okay, I guess, I guess it's whatever you say.

• 21:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 21:38Karen Kilgariff?

  What the fuck?

• 21:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my God. So cue several more weeks of back and forth of my dad trying to fix this issue to no avail. Finally fed up, he decided to make this a bigger issue for the doctor and started, quote, scheduling patients for next day appointments.

• 21:55Karen Kilgariff?

  Yep.

• 21:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Whenever they would call.

• 21:59Georgia Hardstark?

  It wasn't long after that that the calls stopped. Once your office got full of people insisting that they had appointments, next day appointments, and getting fucking pissed off that they, that they didn't.

• 22:10Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 22:10Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, looks like I did make a mistake.

• 22:12Karen Kilgariff?

  My collarbone is broken and you said I could come in as soon as possible.

• 22:17Georgia Hardstark?

  I like to sit and think about the absolute chaos and angry patients my dad unleashed on that doctor's office just to get some peace and quiet for himself. Stay sexy and don't piss off tired dads, Ally.

• 22:30Karen Kilgariff?

  You're so right, Ally, and your dad was so right.

• 22:33Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, it's pretty diabolical and I love it.

• 22:35Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, it's a real solve. Sometimes the solve is not in fighting, but in agreeing. It's like, fine.

• 22:42Karen Kilgariff?

  Fine, I work for your doctor's office and I'm the worst employee of all time.

• 22:46Georgia Hardstark?

  The holidays are coming, which means we'll all be spending more time away from home.

• 22:50Karen Kilgariff?

  Whether you're visiting family or doing something actually fun, you want to know your home is protected while you're away.

• 22:56Georgia Hardstark?

  That's why now is a good time to think about home security with SimpliSafe.

• 22:59Karen Kilgariff?

  Unlike traditional security systems that alert you after a break-in starts, SimpliSafe is designed to help stop intruders before they get inside. These days, you're worried about your house, you're out of town, and then something comes up and you get to look on your phone and SimpliSafe is going to show you not only the video of like, it's a raccoon at your front door, but also that they have staff that's sitting there, they already know. And if it was something different or worse, they would have already been on it.

• 23:25Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, I really think that's invaluable peace of mind that just like relying on your neighbors, paying attention is not going to give you. We've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer our listeners their biggest savings of the year. 70% off your new system with professional monitoring when you visit simplisafe.com/mfm.

• 23:42Karen Kilgariff?

  That's simplisafe.com/mfm. And when you order, write in MFM at checkout and it tells them we sent you and it really helps the show.

• 23:50Georgia Hardstark?

  SimpliSafe, ahead of crime in real time.

• 23:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye. Cozy season is nearly upon us.

• 23:56Georgia Hardstark?

  That means crisp weather and soft layers.

• 23:59Karen Kilgariff?

  Prepare accordingly with fall staples from Bombas.

• 24:01Georgia Hardstark?

  Bombas has your favorite footwear for fall, including new suede moccasins with cushy soles, shearling lining, and water-resistant suede, plus soft slippers, slides, and booties.

• 24:11Karen Kilgariff?

  There's a Bombas sock for pretty much any fall occasion, from warm merino wool blends to sweat-wicking sport socks and dressier options for weddings.

• 24:20Georgia Hardstark?

  And for every Bombas item purchased, they donated an essential clothing item to someone facing housing insecurity, with more than 200 million items donated so far. Okay, so when fall comes around, I have a pair of the Bombas booties pretty much in every room, so I can grab them when my feet inevitably become freezing, which they are constantly. And they're so comfy, you can wear them around the house, I wear them to bed, and they just make everything feel a little cozier.

• 24:46Karen Kilgariff?

  Head over to bombas.com/mfm and use code MFM for 20% off your first purchase.

• 24:52Georgia Hardstark?

  That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash MFM.

• 24:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Code MFM at checkout.

• 24:57Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye. You know a favorite M-word? Magnesium.

• 25:01Georgia Hardstark?

  Like the kind that's in Dr. Teal's magnesium spray?

• 25:04Karen Kilgariff?

  Made from a proprietary blend of topical minerals powered by pure Epsom salt and natural Dead Sea salt, it's designed to help you relax and get in the right state of mind for a good night's rest.

• 25:14Georgia Hardstark?

  If you need a reset after a crazy day, make Dr. Teal's magnesium spray part of your nighttime routine. It's an effortless way to get a boost of topical magnesium that can help you relax your body and mind before bedtime.

• 25:25Karen Kilgariff?

  Dr. Teal's magnesium spray comes in a lightweight, fast drying formula.

• 25:29Georgia Hardstark?

  Just shake it up and generously spritz onto the soles of your feet and massage until absorbed.

• 25:34Karen Kilgariff?

  I was kind of blown away the first time I used this spray because I do have problems sleeping. And when there's something this simple, you just sprayed on your feet and suddenly you're asleep and the next morning you're like, wait, what happened? Did my problem just get solved? Like, it actually is that easy.

• 25:49Georgia Hardstark?

  And your stinky feet now smell like lavender. Like, what more do you want?

• 25:52Karen Kilgariff?

  How dare you call my feet stinky?

• 25:54Georgia Hardstark?

  For wellness, you can feel fine. Dr. Teal's magnesium spray, online or in your local bath aisle.

• 26:00Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 26:02Karen Kilgariff?

  The subject line of this email is Albert Einstein was my third man?

• 26:05Georgia Hardstark?

  Hmm.

• 26:06Karen Kilgariff?

  Hello, longtime listener, longtime emailer, just waiting for my big break.

• 26:11Georgia Hardstark?

  Heck.

• 26:12Karen Kilgariff?

  It's happening. You all recently did an episode about third man syndrome, something I'd never heard of but definitely experienced in my youth. And then it says in parentheses, "a long time ago." Sigh. When I was in high school, I would occasionally get to spend the weekend with my cool older sister at her college a couple hours away. She'd let me drink all the Boone's Farm wine my 15-year-old body could handle.

• 26:38Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, God.

• 26:39Karen Kilgariff?

  Which was not a lot.

• 26:42Karen Kilgariff?

  I felt so cool hanging out with her and her roommates in their ratty college apartment. Despite being a bit of a party animal, she was incredibly studious and was one of the few women in her chemistry program.

• 26:52Georgia Hardstark?

  My God.

• 26:54Karen Kilgariff?

  Did you ever take chemistry?

• 26:55Georgia Hardstark?

  Fuck, no.

• 26:56Karen Kilgariff?

  Dude, I fucking attempted because I had this idea of myself of like, I should be like more of an honor student. In junior year, I tried to take chemistry. And literally, it took me like three weeks. And I like, I think the first semester, I got an F. And then I was just like, okay, I'm dropping this class. I don't-

• 27:13Georgia Hardstark?

  I never even qualified to be able to sign up for it. So, no.

• 27:18Karen Kilgariff?

  Above her bed, she had a huge poster of Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out. You know, the one. After a long night of underage drinking, I passed out in her bed and had the most vivid dream of my life. I was sitting in a classroom as Albert Einstein stood at a chalkboard, repeating the phrase, "The answer is always neutral." In a thick German accent. I attributed the dream to seeing her poster as I fell into a deep drunk sleep. Later that day, me, my sister and her boyfriend began the 90-mile drive back to my hometown. She drove, he rode shotgun, I sat quietly in the back, fighting the urge to puke. About halfway through our drive on a busy highway, my sister's face and body began to contort.

• 28:01Karen Kilgariff?

  She was having a grand mal seizure. Her boyfriend immediately began to panic, shouting, "What do I do?" In that moment, Einstein's words rang out so clearly in my head, it was as if he was sitting right next to me. With zero driving experience or car knowledge, I calmly said, "Neutral, put it in neutral."

• 28:20Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my fucking god.

• 28:24Karen Kilgariff?

  He frantically grabbed the gear shift and put the car in neutral, allowing us to gradually slow down and drift to the shoulder before pulling the emergency brake.

• 28:32Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my fucking god.

• 28:34Karen Kilgariff?

  Incredible. I waited a long time to tell her about my dream, as this experience was incredibly traumatic for her.

• 28:41Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes, yes, it is.

• 28:43Karen Kilgariff?

  She struggled with epilepsy for most of her young life, but has now been seizure-free for 10 years.

• 28:47Georgia Hardstark?

  Yay.

• 28:48Karen Kilgariff?

  She completed her degree and now works as a chemist in the top of her field. Yay, women in STEM. I can't help but think that good old Albert was looking out for a fellow scientist, like some kind of nerd guardian angel.

• 29:03Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, I love it.

• 29:05Karen Kilgariff?

  Stay sexy and skip the bones, Emily.

• 29:10Georgia Hardstark?

  That's like Third Man/Matrix glitch.

• 29:13Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 29:14Georgia Hardstark?

  Ish. Or like, I don't know, what would you call that?

• 29:16Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, it feels like all of those, like, what's just an incredible, unbelievable story that happened to you?

• 29:23Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, like a crazy coincidence.

• 29:25Karen Kilgariff?

  It's like, there's a Reddit thread of like, what's something that happened to you that no one would believe?

• 29:29Georgia Hardstark?

  Right. Okay, send those to myfavoritemurder@gmail, please, we want to hear all of them.

• 29:34Karen Kilgariff?

  And also post them to Reddit, because they started it.

• 29:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Right, sorry, and give Reddit all the credit. Okay. My last one's called, "Elementary School Beanie Baby Ring."

• 29:45Georgia Hardstark?

  Hey, it was the 90s and the height of the Beanie Baby craze, remember?

• 29:50Karen Kilgariff?

  Mm-hmm.

• 29:51Georgia Hardstark?

  I was around 10 and my brother was eight and we were avid collectors of those stupid toys. Anyway, my greedy ass needed more money for Beanie Babies and at 10, didn't have a good way to get money. Teachers at my school were also collecting and would mention what Beanie Babies they wanted. And then it says, why was this something they talked about during class? And I saw my opportunity. I made an inventory of my brother's Beanie Babies and took it to school to share with the teachers.

• 30:19Georgia Hardstark?

  With enough interest, I started slowly sneaking and stealing his Beanie Babies to sell to teachers at school.

• 30:26Karen Kilgariff?

  Genius.

• 30:27Georgia Hardstark?

  Entrepreneur. One day, my brother noticed his favorite, a generic-looking hound dog named Bones, was missing. After interrogation by my mom, I finally fessed up. I was grounded and forced to buy him replacements, which cost about four times as much as I was selling them for at school. I wonder why they didn't go to the teachers and were like, you need to give those back, you know? Please don't buy things from children.

• 30:50Karen Kilgariff?

  Don't buy, don't let children sell you stuff as a favor to the administration.

• 30:57Georgia Hardstark?

  And it says, I think that dumb Bones one cost me like $25 to buy. Lesson learned.

• 31:04Georgia Hardstark?

  Love y'all and the pod. When I started listening, I was a stressed-out internal medicine resident and single parent, and now am a bona fide physician with a supportive husband and mother to three amazing daughters, 16, 3, and 1.

• 31:19Karen Kilgariff?

  Jesus, H.

• 31:21Georgia Hardstark?

  So amazing. I so admire your altruism, advocacy, and vulnerability.

• 31:27Karen Kilgariff?

  We admire you too, for your accomplishments, your child-rearing range, and the third thing.

• 31:34Georgia Hardstark?

  Entrepreneurial spirit. There it is. Stay sexy and don't be a greedy-ass motherfucker or an adult who buys contraband from kids. H, B, she, her. I think that I like that. I feel like that's one of the points that you learn on this podcast is it's always the adult's fault. If there's an adult-child issue.

• 31:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes.

• 31:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Like, don't buy shit from children, person.

• 31:56Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes. There's a lot of adults writing in to go, hey, when I was a kid, listen, this fucked fucked up stupid thing that an adult did, where it's like, great, good, yes.

• 32:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes.

• 32:06Karen Kilgariff?

  The children must know. All right. We've done it.

• 32:10Georgia Hardstark?

  All right. Send us your stories, guys.

• 32:12Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes. Thank you for all your wonderful and delightful stories. And stay sexy.

• 32:16Georgia Hardstark?

  And don't get murdered.

• 32:18Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie?

• 32:29Karen Kilgariff?

  This has been an Exactly Right Production.

• 32:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

• 32:33Karen Kilgariff?

  Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

• 32:36Georgia Hardstark?

  This episode was mixed by Leana Scolacci.

• 32:38Karen Kilgariff?

  Email your hometowns to [email protected].

• 32:41Georgia Hardstark?

  And follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at MyFavoriteMurder.

• 32:45Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 32:52Speaker 01

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• 33:19Karen Kilgariff?

  Calling all amateur detectives and podcast obsessives.

• 33:23Georgia Hardstark?

  Virgin Voyages' second true crime voyage sets sail March 20, 2027, for a five-night escape to Grand Turk and the Beach Club at Bimini.

• 33:32Karen Kilgariff?

  As part of the On Air at Sea collection, this immersive sailing brings together fan favorite podcasts, including Disgrace Land. Buried Bones and Wisecrack for live recordings, behind the scenes access, exclusive meet and greets, and crime themed programming that you won't find anywhere else.

• 33:48Georgia Hardstark?

  All aboard our award winning, kid free ships.

• 33:51Karen Kilgariff?

  Head over to virginvoyages.com/truecrime to secure your spot.

• 33:55Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 33:56Speaker 02

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