MFM Minisode 454

This week’s hometowns include a sorority stalker and unhinged team-building questions. For our sources, please visit https://www.myfavoritemurder.com/episodes. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3UFCn1g. Head to social media to share your favorite moments from this episode. Instagram: instagram.com/myfavoritemurder http://instagram.com/myfavoritemurder Facebook: facebook.com/myfavoritemurder http://facebook.com/myfavoritemurder TikTok: tiktok.com/@my_favorite_murder http://tiktok.com/@my_favorite_murder Watch full episodes of My Favorite Murder on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my_favorite_murder Send your hometown stories to [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. Join the Fan Cult to access ad-free episodes of My Favorite Murder. Members also receive merch store discounts, exclusive audio and video content and more! Visit www.fancult.supercast.com http://www.fancult.supercast.com/ to join. Shop for My Favorite Murder and other Exactly Right merchandise here: www.exactlyrightstore.com http://www.exactlyrightstore.com/. Rate, review and follow My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to listen. 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.

• 0:01Karen Kilgariff?

  This is exactly right.

• 0:06Speaker 01

  In New Orleans, truckers kept getting sideswiped the exact same way. When a man is found murdered under questionable circumstances related to these accidents, the rubber hits the road. And what the feds uncover is a complex scheme of staged wrecks, financial fraud, and a pair of conspiring lovers behind it. This is a story about fake accidents that led to real consequences. Listen to Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

• 0:42Speaker 02

  Do you ever feel like your computer is tracking you? Well, it's not. It's your browser following you. But not if you come back to Firefox. Firefox blocks the trackers automatically, doesn't follow you from site to site, and supports the ad blockers other browsers dropped. Plus, you can switch AI on or off when its intelligence is acting too artificial. And switching? Totally painless. Your bookmarks, passwords, and browsing history come right with you. Come back to Firefox. Visit Firefox.com.

• 1:13Georgia Hardstark?

  The Hulu original series Phony is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. Sonny's life is pretty great until he wakes up from a car accident to a world that looks exactly like his, with one exception: his mom.

• 1:25Karen Kilgariff?

  Starring five-time Emmy nominee Connie Britton and Sam Nivola, this small town is hiding the mother of all mysteries just beneath the surface.

• 1:32Georgia Hardstark?

  Watch the Hulu original series, Phony.

• 1:34Karen Kilgariff?

  Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

• 1:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 1:57Georgia Hardstark?

  Hello. And welcome. To my favorite murder. The minisode. We read you your stories. Are you ready? Begin. Should I go first? Sure. This is called Rural Wisconsin Shenanigans: Alcoholism and a Fire. Perfect. Pleasantries, pleasantries. I love MFM and listening to your banter. Thank you for being a part of my life for the past eight years. Let's dive in because it's long but worth it. My family is very Wisconsin, like very Wisconsin, where beer runs in our veins, our favorite hobby is fishing, and our kids grow up next to hunting rifles. I heard the story after a couple of heavily poured margaritas at a family gathering. My grandfather, who I nicknamed Bapa when I was little, began the story by explaining

• 2:42Georgia Hardstark?

  the morning ritual, a shot of Jägermeister. Oh, wow. What a start. The harsh shots were taken at dawn in a forgotten cabin on a rough road before Bapa, his 13-year-old son, AKA my Uncle Gary. My great-uncle Bobby, Charlie, and my cousin Parker set off with loaded rifles into the forest. What they were hunting has been lost to history. Sorry, they were doing Jäger shots before they go hunting? That's serious. Ugh. Yeah, I mean, what a start. It's like swallowing your toothpaste spit and then going to kill animals. Look, no judgments. Well, a couple judgments. A lot of people like it, but... That's what we're here for. It's not for me. At this point in telling the story, my Bapa needed a margarita refill, so my now adult Uncle Gary took over.

• 3:27Georgia Hardstark?

  Uncle Gary explained that the day ended with the adults handing his 13-year-old self a six-pack of beer and telling him to entertain himself and his cousin on the porch. A six-pack to a 13-year-old? It's a good way to babysit kids. Yeah, right. Like, go be drunk. Go be drunk on the porch. With an incredulous laugh, my adult Uncle Gary continued to say that they finished the six-pack, but the sun hadn't set yet, so he stumbled into the wooden structure to ask what to do next. Like an old 80s cliche, he was handed another six-pack and told to return when he finished it. Oh, shit. It's unclear the amount of the next pack that he drank, but he remembers suddenly being inside the cabin and hearing a dreamy knock on the front door. Neighbors?

• 4:10Georgia Hardstark?

  My Uncle Gary boozily opened the door to find a middle-aged man sweating and frantically waving his hands. The man at the door stated that his house was across the street and on fire. With no thoughts in his brain, my uncle blinked and then closed the door on the poor panicked man. The shitfaced 13-year-old answers the door. And then, take care of it yourself. Can't. The man continued to knock intensely on the door until one of the now plastered adults finally noticed the disturbance. Uncle Bobby and Charlie heard that the house across the street was on fire and fueled by alcohol, ran into the burning building to check for animals and turn off the gas line. I'm sorry, check for animals on the weekend where they go to kill animals? Pets are different, don't you know? Vicious.

• 4:55Georgia Hardstark?

  I know, that's true. We don't want any animals to die. Wait, what have you been doing all day? In real time at the margarita bar, my Uncle Gary turns to my bapa, who sheepishly returned to the conversation, refill drink in hand. My bapa sighs but continues telling the increasingly ridiculous story. My theater-inclined bapa grabbed the neighbor by the shoulders and began to sing the first song that popped into his head at the time. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. So shitfaced. I mean. Imagine a strong tenor voice carrying across the street, staring at a burning house while praising the light. A roaring siren interrupts the poorly chosen ballad as the fire truck appears down the road but stops short. That's when everyone realizes something is blocking the road.

• 5:36Georgia Hardstark?

  My 13-year-old Uncle Gary was lying drunkenly passed out in front of the fire truck. Jesus Christ. He doesn't know how he got there or anything else about that night, but he was moved, the house was put out, and no one got tickets. Or killed. Or CPS called on them. Right. Somehow, all family members involved turn out to be okay human beings and productive members of society. Hey! I love them all to death and will never trade their recklessness for anything. Wisconsin may be rough and tough, but the beauty of Wisconsin's nature is unparalleled. Bring a gun into it. I mean. Stay sexy and don't give your 13-year-old a couple of six-packs. See?

• 6:14Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, it is true that like, if you're going away for a hunting weekend and that's what you're doing. Yeah. And you're in nature, there's a safety to it. Yeah. You're just kind of out and about, but intense. Yeah. Well, this is a bit of a left turn because this is more serious. Okay. Uh, the subject line of this email is sorority stalker. Hmm. And it says, "Hi Karen in Georgia and pets. I spent my freshman and sophomore years of college at a state university in upstate New York. I thought my whole life I was already living in upstate New York, apparently living two hours north of NYC does not count as upstate." (laughing). I would've thought it, that it would. But then I found myself an hour away from the Canadian border in a small college town that perpetually smelled of cow shit. Oh dear. That's how I grew up.

• 6:58Karen Kilgariff?

  Anyway, Greek life was a huge part of the culture there, so practically everyone was either in a frat or a sorority, or knew someone who was. Being such a small school, word started to travel fast my sophomore year that there was an anonymous stalker on campus who was terrorizing one group of sorority girls in particular. About a dozen girls in the Sigma Kappa sorority had been receiving ominous warnings and threatening text messages from an unknown number saying things like, "It's not safe out there tonight, Kappas," and "I'm not the threat, but harm is coming." At one point, he even texted one of the girls saying, "I'm in the house." Oh my god. Yeah. At the time, no one could figure out who this person was, or how they had found the

• 7:42Karen Kilgariff?

  girls' numbers, but it was pretty apparent that the anonymous texter somehow knew the sorority's social calendar as well. At one point, Sigma Kappa had planned a wedding with their brother frat, which as far as I can remember, was just a party where the girls wore all white and got fake married to a guy from the brother frat. Before the wedding, one of the girls got a message from the anonymous number saying, "I'm excited for the wedding. Hope you don't wear anything that can stain. Please don't cancel again. I want to have fun this time." Creepy. So creepy. Later, he went on to say that he wanted to cause as much harm as possible, even if that resulted in death. Oh my god. And that he was willing to die by the police. Needless to say, everyone on campus was pretty freaked out by this point.

• 8:25Karen Kilgariff?

  Parties were canceled, vague emails from the university administration were sent to students to alert them to a possible threat, and the university police got involved. They tried to trace the number, but found it was actually registered to a fake number generator online.

• 8:41Karen Kilgariff?

  Some students tried calling it and eventually one person got through, but whoever picked up on the other line was using a voice changing app. So they couldn't tell if the voice was someone they knew or not. From what a news article says, the conversation was pretty bizarre with the anonymous creep saying that he knew he was unstable, his parents were divorced, and that he was also on Xanax. I remember some of my roommate sorority sisters trying to add the number on Snapchat to see if the person had their snap location on. I don't remember if that worked, but my guess was it didn't because the harassment stayed anonymous and it also got worse. Jesus. Pretty soon after the text started, some of the girls started receiving random phone calls from around five dozen men who were trying to solicit them for sex. Oh, no.

• 9:24Karen Kilgariff?

  Turns out the anonymous texter had posted their phone numbers to a website advertising for sex workers. After a while, the harassment started to narrow down to one sorority girl in particular. She received an anonymous package in the mail containing a book entitled, "I'm Watching You." And she even started to receive drugs like cocaine and meth in the mail, which the anonymous stalker notified the school about in an email in an attempt to get her arrested. Holy shit. The crazy part is at that time I was working in the university mailroom and I didn't even know that. I vaguely remember the other student workers around that time talking about the police coming in to confiscate someone's package because it had drugs in it, but I had just assumed some dumbass had mailed themselves weed or something like that.

• 10:08Karen Kilgariff?

  Our boss, who was not a student, had a habit of smelling suspicious packages and then calling the police if it smelled even vaguely like weed. She was lame as hell. Long story short, the FBI got involved and tracked the creep to Long Island. He ended up being one of the girls controlling ex-boyfriends, who just could not get over the breakup and obviously had some serious mental health issues. Wow. When they arrested him, they also found an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which he owned legally, of course. It actually was really terrifying to think about what this guy might have been capable of if he wasn't caught in time. And all I can say is I'm glad I transferred shortly after that, not only because that school was the target of a crazy stalker potential murderer,

• 10:53Karen Kilgariff?

  but as it turns out, it was also absolutely chock full of asbestos, too. Holy shit. Stay sexy and don't terrorize an entire group of people just because you can't handle rejection, Abby.

• 11:05Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh my god.

• 11:06Karen Kilgariff?

  And then Abby left a note, the story got picked up by Page Six. It was so bad.

• 11:12Georgia Hardstark?

  That is, before it got like really kind of personal, I thought it was just gonna be one of the girl, other girls in the sorority. You know what I mean? Just like sending threatening texts.

• 11:21Karen Kilgariff?

  Just like being an asshole to somebody?

• 11:22Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, but that is fucking scary.

• 11:25Karen Kilgariff?

  It's also like, to do it to an entire sorority is so Ted Bundy coded, if I may use that language.

• 11:33Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, it's like, if I'm against one woman, I'm against all women.

• 11:36Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 11:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Kind of a thing.

• 11:38Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 11:39Georgia Hardstark?

  It's fucked up.

• 11:40Karen Kilgariff?

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• 12:21Karen Kilgariff?

  And when you're ready to launch, use offer code MURDER to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Goodbye. Vacation planning should feel like a breeze, not a deep dive into countless travel sites searching for the best deal.

• 12:34Georgia Hardstark?

  With CheapCaribbean's Budget Beach Finder, you can search every destination and every date, all in one search.

• 12:40Karen Kilgariff?

  You'll save time and money with the Budget Beach Finder.

• 12:42Georgia Hardstark?

  Say goodbye to endless scrolling and tab hopping, and hello to Budget Beach Bliss at your fingertips.

• 12:47Karen Kilgariff?

  Go to CheapCaribbean.com to try out the Budget Beach Finder and see just how stress-free vacation planning should be.

• 12:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye. Goodbye. The Hulu original series Phony is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+

• 12:59Karen Kilgariff?

  Sunny's life is pretty great until he wakes up from a car accident to a world that looks exactly like his with one exception, his mom.

• 13:07Georgia Hardstark?

  To everyone else, she's the same Ellen they've known their whole lives, but for Sunny, he knows something is off.

• 13:13Karen Kilgariff?

  As his relationship with his mother begins to crack in unsettling ways, he's forced to question what happens when the perfect mom becomes a perfect stranger.

• 13:21Georgia Hardstark?

  Is this all in his head or is there really an imposter in his house?

• 13:24Karen Kilgariff?

  Starring five-time Emmy nominee Connie Britton and Sam Nivola, this small town is hiding the mother of all mysteries just beneath the surface.

• 13:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Watch the Hulu original series Phony.

• 13:34Karen Kilgariff?

  Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

• 13:38Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 13:41Georgia Hardstark?

  This one's called Trash Mom? Question mark? Hi all, can't think of anything witty, so I'll just jump in. Back when I was seven or eight, so 94 or 95, I had been out all day with my mom and on the way home, we stopped at the Safeway to grab me a Lunchable and snacks. I had a field trip the next day and we had to bring our own bag of lunch. Fuck yeah, Lunchables.

• 14:01Karen Kilgariff?

  Lunchables were banned at my sister's school because there's not one ounce of protein or vitamins or anything in them. They're like, it's literally like just eating something bad.

• 14:11Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, I love it on a road trip. We shopped and checked out, but on our return to the car, my mother realized that she had locked the keys inside in the ignition.

• 14:20Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh.

• 14:21Georgia Hardstark?

  Remember when you used to, I did that before for sure. This was before cell phones were a big thing, so she summoned help from people in the parking lot. Hey, everyone, gather around.

• 14:30Karen Kilgariff?

  Gather around, I really need you.

• 14:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Help me. They tried to jimmy the door, but were unsuccessful. So what did my mom do? Send me with the courtesy driver that was outside of the store asking people if they needed rides. Is that a thing?

• 14:43Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, I guess.

• 14:44Georgia Hardstark?

  That just sounds like a stranger offering people rides.

• 14:47Karen Kilgariff?

  A weird stranger in a car who's like, I'll be the courtesy driver at the grocery store.

• 14:51Georgia Hardstark?

  What is a courtesy driver?

• 14:52Karen Kilgariff?

  Is that like a small town thing, maybe?

• 14:54Georgia Hardstark?

  It must be.

• 14:55Karen Kilgariff?

  Like older people that might need, if they can't drive?

• 14:57Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah. Says, that's right. She sent me with a stranger to go home and get her spare keys from my grandmother, Peggy.

• 15:07Karen Kilgariff?

  Peggy.

• 15:08Georgia Hardstark?

  Luckily, I'm able to tell this story, so I didn't get kidnapped or murdered, but how crazy is that? I don't understand why we both didn't ride with him.

• 15:16Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes.

• 15:17Georgia Hardstark?

  Since I had to bring the key back, maybe she thought someone would break in and steal the car since the keys were in there? But better your daughter than the car.

• 15:25Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, I don't know how you deal with that.

• 15:28Georgia Hardstark?

  The thinking. And this person's seven or eight years old, by the way. This isn't a teenager.

• 15:33Karen Kilgariff?

  It's a second grader.

• 15:34Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah. Wow. Who knows? Stay sexy and don't send your daughter with a strange man. Basic parenting 101. J, she, her.

• 15:44Karen Kilgariff?

  There's so many layers. It's so many layers of questions.

• 15:47Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, but most importantly, what the hell is a courtesy driver? And can you, and do you have stories about that as well? I think the older person thing is, sounds right.

• 15:55Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 15:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Or like, people who got drunk at the Safeway and need like a designated driver?

• 16:00Karen Kilgariff?

  There's all these people who just go to the liquor aisle.

• 16:03Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 16:03Karen Kilgariff?

  And just start cracking beers.

• 16:04Georgia Hardstark?

  Lugging.

• 16:05Karen Kilgariff?

  Also, you know, there's that like, thought puzzle of, there's a guy and he's got a fox and a chicken and a bag of grain and he has to get them all across the river on his raft. And how do you do it so that the fox doesn't eat the chicken and the chicken doesn't eat the grain? Combinations. That's like that with a seven, a seven-year-old and a courtesy driver and a mom and some keys.

• 16:27Georgia Hardstark?

  And the keys in the ignition.

• 16:28Karen Kilgariff?

  Don't eat those keys. The subject line of this email is, "My grandma faked her death hometown."

• 16:34Georgia Hardstark?

  What?

• 16:35Karen Kilgariff?

  And then it starts, "Okay, so maybe she didn't create some elaborate scheme for insurance fraud, but she definitely faked her death and it's my favorite story. My abuelita Frances was born in 1929 and grew up in rural northern Colorado. When she was about 12 years old, she used to get picked on by a group of older girls while walking home from school. These girls would call her names, kick her shins, pull her hair, push her, tease her, et cetera. They were always really mean to her. One day, my abuelita decided she'd had enough. After school one afternoon, she ran ahead of everyone and laid down in a ditch and waited. She took her braids out and messed up her hair. She even went as far as to pick the scabs on her shins

• 17:16Karen Kilgariff?

  and smeared the blood all over her arms and legs. Gross, but smart for a 12-year-old."

• 17:21Georgia Hardstark?

  What?

• 17:22Karen Kilgariff?

  "She closed her eyes and lay in wait as she waited for the mean girls to walk past the shallow ditch, knowing that she would be within eyesight of the girls. Sure enough, the group of girls walked by and saw her quote-unquote, 'lifeless body.' They screamed and panicked until my abuelita sat up, laughing at them hysterically. Those girls never bothered her again."

• 17:43Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, my god. She's capable of anything.

• 17:48Karen Kilgariff?

  Maya Belita always said they probably thought she was crazy after that, but she didn't care because they stopped picking on her.

• 17:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 17:54Karen Kilgariff?

  I have plenty of other grandma stories from her, but this one is my favorite. She was my best friend and I miss her dearly. She was never afraid to speak what was on her mind, and she was definitely down for a prank or two. She was feisty but kind, my favorite person. Thanks for the best podcast ever and for being wonderful humans. Stay sexy and don't pick your scabs. You might need them to fake your own death. Rachel.

• 18:18Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my God. I can like feel that for some reason, like the scab picky things.

• 18:22Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes.

• 18:25Karen Kilgariff?

  Vacation planning should feel like a breeze, not a deep dive into countless travel sites searching for the best deal.

• 18:30Georgia Hardstark?

  With Cheap Caribbean's Budget Beach Finder, you can search every destination and every date all in one search.

• 18:36Karen Kilgariff?

  You'll save time and money with the Budget Beach Finder.

• 18:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Say goodbye to endless scrolling and tab hopping and hello to Budget Beach Bliss at your fingertips.

• 18:44Karen Kilgariff?

  Go to cheapcaribbean.com to try out the Budget Beach Finder and see just how stress-free vacation planning should be.

• 18:50Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye. The Hulu original series Phony is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

• 18:56Karen Kilgariff?

  Sonny's life is pretty great, until he wakes up from a car accident to a world that looks exactly like his with one exception, his mom.

• 19:04Georgia Hardstark?

  To everyone else, she's the same Ellen they've known their whole lives, but for Sonny, he knows something is off.

• 19:09Karen Kilgariff?

  As his relationship with his mother begins to crack in unsettling ways, he's forced to question what happens when the perfect mom becomes a perfect stranger.

• 19:17Georgia Hardstark?

  Is this all in his head or is there really an imposter in his house?

• 19:20Karen Kilgariff?

  Starring five-time Emmy nominee Connie Britton and Sam Nivola, this small town is hiding the mother of all mysteries just beneath the surface.

• 19:28Georgia Hardstark?

  Watch the Hulu original series, Phony.

• 19:30Karen Kilgariff?

  Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

• 19:35Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 19:36Speaker 02

  Do you ever feel like your computer is tracking you? Well, it's not. It's your browser following you. But not if you come back to Firefox. Firefox blocks the trackers automatically, doesn't follow you from site to site and supports the ad blockers other browsers dropped. Plus, you can switch AI on or off when its intelligence is acting too artificial. And switching? Totally painless. Your bookmarks, passwords, and browsing history come right with you. Come back to Firefox. Visit firefox.com.

• 20:08Georgia Hardstark?

  Unhinged team building questions. Hey, hello and hi. Like the good lesbian I am, I've spent most of my life playing and coaching softball.

• 20:17Karen Kilgariff?

  Nice.

• 20:18Georgia Hardstark?

  Yep. Getting a group of 18-year-old girls to work together on and off the field has always been a challenge, but post-COVID, rough. It felt like they had completely forgotten how to connect with each other, even on a surface level. So I started doing a question of the day during stretch circles in practice. It began innocently enough. What's your dream vacation spot? If you could have any superpower, what would it be? You're on a road trip and stop at a gas station. What are you grabbing? But after a month of this, my inner murderino slash unhinged self took the wheel, and that's when things got fun. Some favorites. What's your personal version of hell? Top answers included having to turn around and high-five people after bowling. Like, new fear unlocked. I get it.

• 21:01Karen Kilgariff?

  Do you know that the first time I went bowling, I was very stoned? I went to walk up-

• 21:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Did you bowl as a kid?

• 21:07Karen Kilgariff?

  No.

• 21:07Georgia Hardstark?

  The first time you went bowling, you were old enough to be stoned?

• 21:09Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, it was in college.

• 21:10Georgia Hardstark?

  I don't know why, I'm floored by that.

• 21:12Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, we never did it. And we had a wonderful bowling alley, but we just never did it.

• 21:16Georgia Hardstark?

  There's a lot of activities I did a lot of as a kid because my parents were divorced, so my dad had to find things to do with us on the days that he had us.

• 21:22Karen Kilgariff?

  So bowling was one of-

• 21:23Georgia Hardstark?

  Bowling and miniature golf, I did a lot of, yeah.

• 21:26Karen Kilgariff?

  Point being, just that when I went to stand up to go bowl, it looked like there was a spotlight, because you know how it's all dark here and then there's light up there?

• 21:35Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, God.

• 21:35Karen Kilgariff?

  And then, and I didn't know how to do it. So I was like, I can't do it. My friends were like, shut up, Karen. It was like-

• 21:40Georgia Hardstark?

  Like center stage.

• 21:41Karen Kilgariff?

  You clearly have no problem with showing off and being in the spotlight. But it, like, all became too much pressure and, like, so crazy. It was hilariously weird.

• 21:50Georgia Hardstark?

  I just, I'm, that's-

• 21:52Karen Kilgariff?

  Delayed bowling experience.

• 21:54Georgia Hardstark?

  And then, and being stuck on a never-ending Zoom call where no one hangs up and you're forced to small talk until the end of time.

• 22:00Karen Kilgariff?

  God, I agree.

• 22:00Georgia Hardstark?

  Absolutely chilling.

• 22:01Karen Kilgariff?

  So true.

• 22:02Georgia Hardstark?

  But my all-time favorite was this question. Hypothetically, if you became a serial killer and ended up with a documentary about your life, what's the one thing you did as a kid that your family would say was the first sign?

• 22:14Karen Kilgariff?

  Ah.

• 22:15Georgia Hardstark?

  My answer, when I was five years old, I stripped my cat's tail with wire strippers. What the actual fuck? My dad worked for Kenwood at the time, and these were very common around the house. I swear, I'm okay, and so was the cat.

• 22:28Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 22:29Georgia Hardstark?

  One of my players said she used to collect roly-polies, build them little families, and keep them as friends. She would bring them to bed, name them, feed them, the whole nine yards.

• 22:40Karen Kilgariff?

  That's so gross.

• 22:41Georgia Hardstark?

  The first sign. That's something's not right.

• 22:43Karen Kilgariff?

  Yep.

• 22:44Georgia Hardstark?

  These daily questions became something we all looked forward to, and it helped those girls bond in the weirdest, most beautiful way. Some of them are still close friends to this day. My wife and I are beyond excited to see you in Seattle for both shows.

• 22:54Karen Kilgariff?

  Hey, thank you.

• 22:55Georgia Hardstark?

  Thank you.

• 22:56Karen Kilgariff?

  That's nice.

• 22:57Georgia Hardstark?

  That is nice. They're gonna be different stories, I swear. If you hadn't had one already, you have to try a Seattle dog while you visit. A delicious blend of cream cheese, onions, and hot dog. Don't knock it until you try it.

• 23:10Karen Kilgariff?

  Blend, so are they saying the hot dog itself is blended up in a bun?

• 23:13Georgia Hardstark?

  No, it can't be. No, no.

• 23:15Karen Kilgariff?

  Like-

• 23:16Georgia Hardstark?

  Chop, chop, chop, chop, hot dogs?

• 23:18Karen Kilgariff?

  Like creamed with cream cheese.

• 23:20Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, like a salad.

• 23:21Karen Kilgariff?

  So it's like light, cream cheese.

• 23:22Georgia Hardstark?

  It's like a hot dog salad, like a ham salad.

• 23:25Karen Kilgariff?

  I need a picture of this.

• 23:26Georgia Hardstark?

  SSDGM Amanda.

• 23:28Karen Kilgariff?

  Amanda, amazing job. And also, I think when you're little, sometimes you, like, I remember, I got a kitten, and I washed it, because I, like, gave it a bath.

• 23:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 23:40Karen Kilgariff?

  Washed it. And it freaked out, hated it, and then the next day it ran away. And it was really little. And I felt guilty about it for years and years. And then it was just like, yeah, you were just trying to get, it had fleas on it.

• 23:52Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 23:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Like, you were just trying to-

• 23:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 23:55Karen Kilgariff?

  But that's how you learn to treat animals nicely, is you see the results of what you do.

• 24:00Georgia Hardstark?

  Whiskers, I covered whiskers in barrettes once. My childhood cat.

• 24:04Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 24:05Georgia Hardstark?

  My mom's, she remembers standing in the kitchen and seeing whiskers run by, covered in barrettes.

• 24:11Karen Kilgariff?

  This is how we know. Yeah. Okay. My last email is, "I married an urban legend." So it says, "Hello, my favorite ladies. I was a kid growing up in the 80s in Connecticut. My three siblings and I had the kind of childhood that was of 80s legend. Riding bikes until dark, roller skating around the cul-de-sac, catching snapping turtles in the local pond." Wow. "And running around past sunset with no supervision. You know, classic 80s chaos. As a kid, I always remembered my mom telling us a story of her high school friend's son, who was my age. One day, he was jumping from bed to bed, and he fell and landed on a pair of scissors, which punctured his lungs and nicked his heart. This accident nearly killed him, but thankfully, he recovered after months in the hospital.

• 24:55Karen Kilgariff?

  My mom used this tale as a constant warning. Don't jump on the bed, don't leave scissors out. Even our babysitter told the same story to other kids. It was practically a local folk tale. Cut to 15 years later. I had moved from Connecticut to Oregon, and I was working as a barista while attending community college and generally trying to figure my life out. That's literally what figuring your life out in the 20s looks like." Yeah, I've seen it. "I started working with an amazing woman, and we instantly connected. We became fast friends, and she introduced me to her family, who made me feel like I was back home. They were warm and loud and wonderful. We quickly found out why we were so connected. My mom and her mom grew up together in Connecticut." Holy shit. "They even double-dated at senior prom

• 25:39Karen Kilgariff?

  when my mom was dating my dad." Wow. Crazy. Yeah. "After high school, her mom moved to California and eventually Oregon, which brings us to when I met them. After about a year of meeting her and her family, I met her brother. He had recently moved home after serving as a Marine. At first, we were both dating other people, but there was something between us. Our paths kept crossing, and eventually, we started seeing each other. There was something about this guy. He was kind, generous, and funny as hell. One day, we were lying around swapping childhood stories, and he started telling me about this accident he had when he was a kid. He and his sisters were playing carnival and were cutting up tickets. They had left a pair of those huge steel scissors on his bed. Later, he was jumping from bed to bed, and he fell."

• 26:24Karen Kilgariff?

  And then this is written as him talking. "They punctured my lung and nicked my heart," he said casually. "Wait, what?" "He lifted his shirt and showed me the two scars. After the accident, he somehow managed to walk into the kitchen, looked at his mom and said, 'Hey, Mom,' before collapsing. His mom threw him and his sisters into the station wagon and hauled ass to the hospital. He arrived near death and spent six months in the ICU."

• 26:50Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my God.

• 26:51Karen Kilgariff?

  "We were dating for a little over a year before I brought him back home to Connecticut to meet my family. I told my siblings the story of the scissors and my brother exclaimed, 'You're dating an urban legend.'" "We've been together 25 years."

• 27:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my God.

• 27:07Karen Kilgariff?

  "Have two amazing daughters and we're celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this month." Says, "I love you, Billy Brown."

• 27:13Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, no. That's why she wrote it in? It's their 20th anniversary.

• 27:19Karen Kilgariff?

  "I love you, Billy Brown, and I'm so glad you survived your injuries 40-something years ago. Stay sexy and don't let your kids play with scissors, LB." And it says, "P.S. I grew up going to Action Park every summer and definitely have a few more near-death experiences to share. Stay tuned."

• 27:36Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my God.

• 27:37Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes, LB.

• 27:38Georgia Hardstark?

  That is so cute.

• 27:39Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, I love you, Billy Brown.

• 27:40Georgia Hardstark?

  I love you, Billy Brown.

• 27:41Karen Kilgariff?

  That's the cutest thing of all time.

• 27:43Georgia Hardstark?

  Tell us your urban legend town stories. But also, I think it's really important. MyFavoriteMurder at Gmail. Tell us the one thing that you did as a kid that they would say is the first time something is wrong with you.

• 27:54Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes. And also, it should probably be something you still feel bad about to this day, which is the proof that you're not a serial killer.

• 28:01Georgia Hardstark?

  Feel bad about or embarrassed about? I like embarrassed or like, wow, who was that? Or, hey, tell us the story about your kid and what they do, too.

• 28:09Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 28:10Georgia Hardstark?

  MyFavoriteMurder at Gmail.

• 28:11Karen Kilgariff?

  Narco and your children here on this podcast.

• 28:13Georgia Hardstark?

  Could be anonymous, it's fine.

• 28:15Karen Kilgariff?

  That's true. Was that it?

• 28:16Georgia Hardstark?

  That's it, I think.

• 28:17Karen Kilgariff?

  That was fast.

• 28:17Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 28:18Karen Kilgariff?

  Well, you know, we've got all kinds of categories for you to write in and tell us your personal stories.

• 28:23Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes, please do. We appreciate it so much.

• 28:26Karen Kilgariff?

  And, you know, if you just love Billy Brown and you want to write in about it, we'd love to hear about that, too.

• 28:30Georgia Hardstark?

  Sure, why not?

• 28:31Karen Kilgariff?

  Stay sexy.

• 28:32Georgia Hardstark?

  And don't get murdered.

• 28:33Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 28:34Georgia Hardstark?

  Elvis, do you want a cookie?

• 28:43Karen Kilgariff?

  This has been an Exactly Right production.

• 28:45Georgia Hardstark?

  Our senior producers are Alejandra Keck and Molly Smith.

• 28:48Karen Kilgariff?

  Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

• 28:50Georgia Hardstark?

  This episode was mixed by Leona Scolacci.

• 28:52Karen Kilgariff?

  Email your hometowns to [email protected].

• 28:55Georgia Hardstark?

  And follow the show on Instagram at MyFavoriteMurder.

• 28:57Karen Kilgariff?

  Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 29:02Georgia Hardstark?

  And now you can watch us on Exactly Right's YouTube page. And while you're there, please like and subscribe.

• 29:07Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 29:14Karen Kilgariff?

  Vacation planning should feel like a breeze, not a deep dive into countless travel sites searching for the best deal.

• 29:19Georgia Hardstark?

  With CheapCaribbean's Budget Beach Finder, you can search every destination and every date, all in one search.

• 29:25Karen Kilgariff?

  You'll save time and money with the Budget Beach Finder.

• 29:28Georgia Hardstark?

  Say goodbye to endless scrolling and tab hopping and hello to budget beach bliss at your fingertips.

• 29:33Karen Kilgariff?

  Go to cheapcaribbean.com to try out the Budget Beach Finder and see just how stress-free vacation planning should be.

• 29:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 29:41Speaker 04

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