Morbid - Episode 323: The Case of Virginia Rappe

Episode Date: June 6, 2022

Ash, doing an Old Hollywood case? Groundbreaking. This one will have you spiraling through a whole slew of different emotions. It’s the case of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Virginia Rappe. Back in the 20’s Roscoe Arbuckle, known as “Fatty” in his movies, was one of the most beloved actors. He and three of his friends decided to throw a Labor day prohibition party at a hotel in San Francisco. It was supposed to celebrate one of Roscoe’s latest roles and be a great time with all kinds of young and happenin’ celebrities but by the end of the night one party-goer, a rising star Virginia Rappe, would end up incredibly ill and would later die in the hospital from something that may or may not have happened to her at this party. As always, thank you to our sponsors:Peloton: The Peloton Bike+ is now $500 less, its best price yet! Including FREE delivery and setup. Visitonepeloton.com to learn moreStamps: Just go to Stamps.com, click the microphone at the top of the page, and enter codeMORBIDCurology:Get started with Curology just like I did with a free 30 day trial at Curology.com/MORBID Just pay $5 for shipping and handlingAudible: New members can try it free for 30 days. Visit Audible.com/morbid or text morbid to 500500Prose: Take your FREE in depth hair consultation and get 15% off your first order today! Go to Prose.com/MORBIDSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to morbid, early, and ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today. You're listening to a morbid network podcast. Whether you're running errands on your daily commute, or even at home, you can enjoy all your audio entertainment in one app, the Audible app. As an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog. This includes the latest bestsellers and new releases. Plus get full access to a growing selection of included audiobooks, audible originals,

and more. If you've been wanting to form good habits, break bad ones, and improve motivation, atomic habits written and narrated by James Clear is a great lesson. It'll reshape your mindset on progress and success by helping you develop strategies to transform your habits. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash wondery pod or text wondery pod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days.

That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wondery pod or text wondery pod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. The Angie's List you know and trust is now Angie, and we're so much more than just a list. We still connect you with top local pros and show you ratings and reviews, but now we also let you compare up front prices on hundreds of projects and book a service instantly. We can even handle the rest of your project from start to finish. So remember, Angie's List is now Angie, And we're here to get your job done right. Get started at Angie.com.

That's ANGI, or download the app today. Hey weirdos, I'm Alina. I'm Ash. And this is morbid! I'm done. See? It is a morning. It is a morning. It is a morning.

It is a morning. It is a morning. It is a morning. It is a morning. It is a morning. It is a morning. It's a morning morbid. Morning in the mor- I'm done. See, it is morning. It is morning. Yeah, I have like about half left in my coffee,

so morning in the morbid. There you go, in the morbid pod lab. That's what it is. Morning in the morbid pod lab. Oh, quarch. I did it. Morbid in the morbid pod lab. And you know what, this week is fun

because Caleb is in Massachusetts. We say this all the time, but Caleb is genuinely just a shot in the arm. He really is. A human form of a shot in the arm. He is. He just makes you're just like, ah, all right. Like, I feel boosted. Everything's fine.

I feel immune. Yeah, you really get like, you just make you feel good. I feel lively. I feel happy. You should all have a Caleb. It's, it's really, it's great. Everyone needs a Caleb. He's also 10 out of 10 recommend.

The chillest human to host. He is. I'm like, we have to go record shit. And I'm like, I'm really sorry. Like, there's snacks in the cabinet. And he's like, dude, I'm just chilling. Dude, I'm like, I love you so much. I feel like both of us at this point

just consider Caleb a brother. Oh, 100%. He's literally in my wedding party, so. Yeah, and we're going to record an episode of Scream while we're here together in the flesh, which is always fun. I think we're also planning on having him in one of the episodes. I think that will be coming out next week. I think so.

We're still getting used to this whole being scheduled thing. Yeah, and you know what? Like, good. We're glad. It's a very good thing. It's just you know what, like good, we're glad. It's a very good thing. It's just where we're trying to figure it out. We want to make sure that we are on that schedule, like to the tee.

Yeah, we just want to be on our bullshit. We just want to be on our bullshit, you know, like it's time. And we hope that you guys, we hope you guys are liking the extra episode. I know it hasn't been like, it's been like a minute and a half, but like, it's going to keep going. But we're excited because we've been able to kind of like really mess around with that third episode every week. Like, it's kind

of like, go into things that we didn't know if we had time to put into the week before. You know, like we have the two episodes, we were like, okay, we'll see their two true crime cases or like, maybe we'll throw an elicitor tail every now and then we were like, okay, we'll see there are two true crime cases or maybe we'll throw an O listener tale every now and then we were trying to be really rigid about it. But now it's like, we can reach out into different things with this other one. And it's been a lot of fun. And it's a lot of fun to research and a lot of fun to record.

So we're excited. We're excited and we're working on some really cool shit that I think you guys are gonna like. Also, I just wanted to point out, I don't know if we've said anything on on area, but our new website that um, oh yeah, the March website. Yeah, sorry, I don't know why I just stopped talking. Again, she just stopped. She's, she's not kicked in, but no, so our new Wondery shop is up. We have a ton of cool shit. We have like t-shirts, there's coasters, there's sweatpants. We've got you some sweatpants,

and we're already working on more stuff to come. I've seen a lot of people asking if this is it, is this just the morbid merch? It's not. No, no, no. It's not. It's stuff that you have requested. Yes.

We have written, trust me, you're requesting something. We've written it down a little document every time we see it. It is in a Google doc. We have a long list of things that we've seen people ask for, especially if it's like a lot of people we see asking for the same thing. Like people are asking for like pop sockets and like a backpacks stuff like that so we've written that down. But just to point out the URL to the shop if you'd like to go, that's important. That'd be good. It's wonderyshop.com slash collections slash morbid.

And you go in there, man. It's really cool. And I think something that's really fun about this merch line is that it's really expressive. Is that word? Yeah, it is. Cool. About both of our tastes.

Like, I feel like you can see both of us within the collection, which I really like. We had a huge hand in these ones now, and we got to, like, wonder he's been so amazing, like, collaborating with us on it, and really taking who we are into consideration. Yeah. And we, like, doing tweaks and things that were important to us, and they, you know, they wanted to know a lot about, like, our listeners, and, like, who are you guys? Who do you, you know, they wanted to know a lot about like our listeners and like, who are you guys? Who do you like, you know, like it was really cool that we were able to like think of what,

of you guys. Yeah, we were just, you know what I mean, like it was like a big bubbling cauldron and we were like, they like this and they like this and we like this and we know that they like this and then it came together and then poofed the morbid, wundery shop is up. Because again, you guys are the reason we get to keep doing this. You're the reason for the season. You're... I was gonna say that though.

I knew it. Yeah. But like, we wanna make you guys happy. That's the goal at all times. That's literally all we ever wanna do. Whenever we can check that off at the end of the day, like we made, you know, it's never we made everyone happy.

Like that's not realistic because that's not life. But if we can make you guys happy, the majority, you've been listening to, feeling like the ones that can be made happy, I feel like, which is 99.9% of everybody. But when we feel like we have checked it off, that we've made you happy, we made you feel like you're listening to,

that's really important to us. And we give you cool shit, that's all we want to do. Like literally every day I wake up and I'm like, I just want to make cool shit. Yeah. That's all I want to do my whole life, it's just make cool shit. I mean, that's what you are doing. You're making a lot of cool shit.

So congratulations on achieving your goals. I feel like when I put my episodes together, I'm like, I really hope they like this one man. Yeah, it's just like you want, like it's very much like a, we just want to make you happy. So, hopefully this is a really great thing in you guys like the merch shop.

It seems like you guys are digging it. So that's been like really cool. And remember, there's more to come. There's more to come and there's more content coming and we have some things. Guys, I'm like, we have some things coming up that like, we can't tell you, my God, we have a really big thing coming up. There's one in particular.

Are we thinking about this? It would be hilarious. We're definitely thinking of this. It's like, yeah, yeah, I would just melt the dead to it. Yeah, but you can't see that because this is a podcast. Yeah, you guys are gonna shit your dick so when you hear about this. Truly, truly.

So I am losing it, but you'll know. I am. I'm losing it. But you'll know soon. Oh yeah. There's like that one thing we're being so cryptid right now. We're being so cryptid right now. We're gonna be doing your cryptid episode guys.

We are. So, you know what, that was a little 40-in-slip there. Cryptids are wild. They're wild. But we have that one that we were just talking about that you can't hear about, and then we have one that's floating off into the atmosphere that I'm just like,

I have no idea what you're talking about for that one. It's a big one. You can mouth it. I don't know what that is. Oh, yep, yep, yep. Okay. Yeah. Reading lips is hard.

And so it's totally good for you guys with just your ears. They're like, what the fuck? Can you stop that? But I'm telling you, there's two very big things that I'm just like waiting to really be able to tell you guys about it. I think you're gonna lose your mind.

I'm very excited about it. But you know what, that's that. We just figured today we were gonna talk to you about all the cool shit that was happening. And yeah, sometimes we just need a minute to talk to you. Just a chat with you. Hey, not about any news or anything terrible

that's going on in the world because you have the news for that. Yeah, and honestly, we can't keep up with it because there's terrible shit happening, literally daily at this point. Every second. And sometimes we got't keep up with it because there's terrible shit happening, literally daily at this point. Every second. And sometimes we got to step away from it and just talk about Caleb.

You know, okay, but I know that we're seven minutes in, but like, you remember who we were as people in the beginning, and bring it back. Can I just, can you quickly touch upon that TikTok that you showed me with the mummies? Oh yeah. Okay, let me bring up her name

because you guys should follow her. She is truly a good follow. Oh yeah. Okay, let me bring up her name because you guys should follow her. She is truly a good fall. Oh my god. We're running up that hill. Elena's like the way stranger things is fucking rad and so is a cake bush. It is a cake bush. Guys, if you, oh, I want to talk to you guys about stranger things. This season is so fucking good. I know Elena's made me convert. I was like, I don't know because I've never seen stranger things, but I think I'm talk to you guys about Stranger Things. This season is so fucking good. I know Arlenas made me convert. I was like, I don't know, because I've never seen Stranger Things, but I think I'm gonna go home and watch that tonight.

I showed Ash one scene and she was like, okay. I'm in. I am in. It was like the SpongeBob mean, I was like, I'm a head out. I'm a head out. Back to my house. But either way, sorry about that.

I opened TikTok and that was playing. But, don't be sorry, that's a great song. So there is a creator on TikTok. Her name is horror goth mommy. Tell us. Tell us. For. In her at there is Jamie J.A.M.I.E.

13, the number 13 horror. Okay, so follow her because she does really good videos on all kinds of spooky shit. And I believe she has a podcast as well. And I will link it. I was gonna say if you go to her actual page, it might be in her like a link tree or something. Yeah, it could be.

I'm gonna link it. I don't know, I'll link it on the chart. And then we'll say it on the podcast like next episode, just in case you missed the show notes. I'm like sure to give her her due because she's already read. I'm gonna be honest, but she did a video where apparently, and this is like just wild, a bunch. So 250 Egyptian sarcophagi have been dug up.

Yeah. Hundreds of bronze statues were found with them. Like relics. Relics, just artifacts, they found two statues of the goddesses, Isis and Neftus, which were like put at the head and feet of the sarcophagi and they are protected. They're protected. Which like, oof, don't remove those guys. There was also a role of Papyrus found that was like 32 feet long.

And according to Jamie there being like, it's being like studying in a lab right now, but it could have parts of the book of the dead in it, which is like not good. And like, let's not fuck with things like that. She was saying how, you know, in Egypt, that is like grave robbing and disturbing the dead. And especially a Pharaoh, she said.

Exactly, it's one of the worst things you can do in one of the only things that could be punishable by death, she was saying. So this is like real bad. And like, I don't know why we keep doing this. I understand that we wanna learn about shit. Like I get it. Trust me, I'm experienced.

There's a way of going about it that is not this. That's the thing. It's just, you don't need to disturb grapes. Yeah, it's, I understand history and I understand we have to learn about history. I understand it's fascinating to learn about cultures from like thousands and thousands of you because these are like 2000, 3000 years old. Yeah, but it's like, 2,000, 3,000 years old. Yeah. But it's like, eek. And it's like, especially when this particular culture

has made it pretty known how they feel about grave robbing. And now that we're, I don't know. Grave robbing. Yeah. And it's like, either way, disturbing the dead. You know, like some cultures didn't think that that was too, that big of a deal. Like when you die, you die.

And that's fine. Like, stir up the grave, take a peek. Like, and that's something that I think that that was too that big of a deal. Like when you die, you die. And that's fine. Like stir up the grave, take a peek. Like, and that's something that I think that. But the one is like very clear. Clear. Like there's feelings about it. That's when it gets hairy. But yeah, that was just like a wild thing.

And I was like, oh no, this is why everything sucks. Because like curses are probably being just like flooded into the world. Like watch the mummy. There's, well how many, isn't there like, there's a few? There's a lot of it. Is there like three movies about this? All I know is that I saw the mummy way too young and I only saw one of them because that

movie fucked me right up. I only saw the first one because the first one was great. I never saw the other ones. The first one was really, really great. Yeah, scary if you're like seven or eight though. Yeah, yeah, I could buy that. But like, but like cool. But like, really great. Yeah, scary if you're like seven or eight though. Yeah, I could buy that. But like, cool. But like, very cool.

Yeah. But yeah, so we have that to look forward to. That's about as true cry me news, as I'm going to get this week. But yeah, and I think, you know, we're 12 minutes in, because you got to get started. But it was great catching up with you guys. Yeah, you know, every once in a while we got to just catch up. We got to do it.

We got to chat chat. You know? Listen, I know there's 24 hours in a day, but where do they go? I feel like I don't have them. I never have them. They go away in like the blink of an eye. And I definitely have trouble finding time to work out and just try to eat healthy and stay healthy, all that good stuff.

But you know what has helped me? You know what is invaluable in this journey? My Peloton. I found Bradley Rose and I never looked back. I'm telling you, get on there, find Bradley Rose. He's British, he's lovely and he'll have you on that bike every single day. Just a just a new talk. He just tells you stories and stuff. He's great. But I'm telling you, I

love my Peloton. I've told you this a million times. This is one thing that I'm like so so passionately wanting to tell you all about because I love it and it has truly changed the way I work out. Because Peloton has a team of world class instructors ready to motivate you 24-7 And I think we could all use that. I need motivation to work out. If you don't tell me to work out, I'm not gonna do it. And I know it's super, super important. But the Peloton instructors are highly trained fitness pros

who motivate you through every single workout. Whether you're regular at the gym, which is not me, or someone who is kind of new or getting back into working out, which is like both me. I'm like new at cycling, but I'm getting back into like the whole workout thing because I used to work out like a little bit. But whatever your fitness level, Peloton instructors don't just teach, they motivate and you need it. And another thing, if it's not fun, why would you even do it? Because you're more likely to stick with something like a routine if you enjoy it.

So Peloton makes every single class fun. It just feels like you're hanging out with friends. Me and Bradley are friends. I'm holding on to that. He doesn't know it yet, but we are. Nothing gets you moving like the perfect song to, and every Peloton class is set to the best playlist. That's my favorite part is searching out a good playlist so listen to and they kill it. You're in the mood for a ride full of club

bangers? Ash? Of course you are. I love club bangers. You are. And eat a club and two. An EDM run? Yeah. Yeah. Where is what's up? A yoga flow class with soul music? I want you. Whatever you're into. You'll find the perfect soundtrack for your workout on Peloton. I found a bowie class it changed my life class with soul music? I want you. Whatever you're into, you'll find the perfect soundtrack for your workout on Peloton. I found a Bowie class it changed my life, guys. So right now is the perfect time to try out Peloton. The Peloton Bike Plus is now $500 less.

It's best price yet, everybody, including free delivery and setup. And there are more game-changing prices available on the original Peloton bike and Peloton tread. Visit onepeloton.com to learn more. [♪ BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL BELL RINGING BELL BELL RINGING BELL BELL RINGING BELL BELL BELL RINGING BELL RINGING BELL R V BELL RINGING V

V BELL RINGING V BELL RINGING V BELL RINGING BELL RINGING V BELL RINGING BELL RINGING V BELL RINGING V BELL RINGING

V V BELL R V BELL R V V BELL R V or buckle. Yeah, we are. And Virginia Rapay. I do want to give a little warning about this episode. It is going to be talking about possible rape. Okay. And it gets pretty intense. So if that's not something that you're comfortable listening to, I completely understand. And we'll see you for a spooky episode later on. The day after tomorrow.

Exactly. And also just another note. A lot of times I feel like any case that I've listened to, or any episode that I've listened to about this, it's like he's called Fadi, but he didn't like being called Fadi. Oh, really? And he was acquitted for this crime.

I don't know if he did it either way, but I don't wanna call somebody Fadi that didn't wanna be called Fadi. Okay, so interchangably, I'm gonna say Roscoe and Arbuckle, depending on what I wrote in that paragraph. I love that. Just so everybody knows, and you're not confused. Thank you for setting it up.

So Roscoe, Arbuckle, was born on March 24th, 1887, in a small, Kansas town. His parents were Molly and William Goodrich, and they were of Scottish descent. And by the time they had him, they already had eight other kids. Okay. Many, many children. He was the youngest.

And when he was born, it was like kind of a scandal. Oh. Because he was born, depending on the source, weighing between 13 and 16 pounds. Damn. You've given birth. So please just imagine that for a second. No. I won't. 13 to, like, either with 13 and 16 are essentially like please just imagine that for a second. I won't.

13 to, like, either with 13 and 16 are essentially like the same to me in a baby. I mean, that actually, if it was 16, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. That's like, I don't know, I don't know, it's 16 pounds. My biggest baby was eight pounds. Yokey. Yeah. But the thing was, both of his parents had like a slim build. Oh. And so did all of the other children up into this point, and there was eight of them. So they were like, OK. So his father, William, was absolutely convinced that Molly had stepped out on him.

Oh, no. And that the baby with somebody else's. In fact, that's actually how Rolfsko got his name. His father was so pissed and angry over the possibility that this kid wasn't his, and to him it wasn't even a possibility. He was like, no, you're not my kid. So he, instead of like taking it on the chin, he decided to take his anger out on this newborn baby and name him after a Republican senator that he absolutely despised called

Roscoe Concling. Are you kidding me? Yeah. So, um, Roscoe Arbuckle, his middle name was Concling, just like this guy. Are you, what? How do you take it out on the kid? What is wrong with you? That's the thing, like weird coping, sir. Ridiculous.

Now, Molly had a really hard time after Roscoe's birth, too, because again, this is the 1800s, and she just gave birth to a like 13 to 16-pound baby. Yeah. That's gonna take a toll on your physical health. Yeah, I would say so. So incredibly traumatic birth, and for the rest of her life, she struggled with health complications.

Oh, I believe it. Pretty much, I would say because of this, and she died 12 years later. Oh. And at that point, William, the father, cut Roscoe off immediately. Oh my God, he's 12 years old. 12 years old and he was like,

cool, make your own way in life. Oh my God. So since he had to support himself now, Roscoe got a job at a local hotel and he was kind of just doing like maintenance jobs. Anything they really had for him to do, he was like, I'm 12, I'll do it. So he loved to sing while he was working.

So the patrons of the hotel would always hear him, I don't know, maybe they'd give him like a dime or something. And maybe that was too expensive on the truck. He really got to know what a dime was back then. Who knows? But one day, there was actually a professional singer staying at the hotel, and they heard Roscoe singing, and they were so impressed with his skills,

like so impressed that they invited him to sing at this local talent show. Now Roscoe, he went along and he did a little singin, he did a little dancing. And that didn't really do the trick for the audience. They weren't really feeling it. So he kind of started to act out the song a little bit, kind of like a clown and a clown man.

Yeah, I can goofy with it. The audience wasn't impressed with that either. And now this was the kind of show where if the audience booed or heckled or just like made no noise, the person on stage would be pulled off with like with a cane with a little boat people. Oh my God.

I guess the real name is a shepherd's crook. But I wanted to paint a picture for you. Yeah. Since the audience is booing and heckling, heckling, excuse me, Roscoe saw the crook coming from the corner of his eye. And instead of letting it pull him off stage, he was like, fuck that.

He, I don't know why, but decided to do a summer salt off the stage, lands in the orchestra pit, and the crowd goes fucking wild. Who doesn't love physical comedy? They do, and apparently that was like his thing. He was like, because he was a bigger dude. He was like a very big stature, but he was so nimble and graceful.

He would do these summer salts and land on his feet. They're like, I love it. Fall down, but in a weird graceful way, it was weird. So as he tumbled offstage, they lost it. They were doubling over with laughter. And they actually voted him to win the competition. Oh my God. Yeah.

Because of his summer salt. Because that's summer salt, man. So that night pretty much started his career in Vodville. Now, we've talked about Vodville before, but maybe your first time listener, welcome. We love a Vodville. And if you're unfamiliar with the term, Vodville originated in France pretty much right after

the start of the 20th century. And it was this type of theater where the actors would sing. They'd dance, they'd do comedy acts, they were really like lighthearted acts. Yeah, like very physical comedy acts, right? Yes, very much so. They were always lighthearted, they were always comedy centered,

which makes sense because Vodville originates from the French word, and I'm really trying here, but I'm new, so. I'm new to French. I'm new to French, not really. I've been working on it for a while, but it's hard. You're giving it a try. Vodvir, I believe, and that means satirical songs.

Oh, there you go. So the first songs of that kind of nature, they were written actually in the 15th century by a man named Oliver Baselin, and he lived in the Valley of Fire. So when anybody would refer to the songs, they were called songs of the Valley of Fire, but then eventually shortened to Baudvier.

Oh, okay. Just for a little history moment. I like that. I like that a lot. I did too. The dudes from Wizard of Oz, like all my dudes were in Baudvillians. Oh shit, really?

Like, you know, all the, the lion, the tin man. Yeah. Are docasticids? A docastic, all the, the lion, the tin man. Yeah, they're all the, our dot, chest to kids, our dot, test to our dot kids, a dot kids. Yes. No hot, no hot. Oh, so sad. So, Ross, I wonder if they met probably not,

because I don't think that timeline matches up probably not, but you know, I wonder, anyways, Ross goes first part in a Vodville show was with the Webster Brown stock company. And from then until about 1913, when he turned 26, he was doing all kinds of stage acting. He would do acrobatics, he'd act as a clown, of course he would sing for the audience. But his really first, like, good paying job came when he was 17 years old. And he was hired by a man named Sid Gromman to sing at the unique theater in San Jose, California.

And for this, he would get about 18 bucks a week. Today, that would be like 580 bucks a week. And I can promise you that I wasn't making that at 17 years old. No, definitely not. So I'd say that's a pretty good gig. Oh yeah. Now, the last time that he appeared on stage though was 1913 in Japan.

In that part he played the role of Mikado or the Emperor of Japan. Okay. Now after that he goes back to Hollywood, he gets a job at Maxson, its Keystone Film Studio, and then that was a huge upgrade because now he was making about 40 bucks a week. Which today would be like making 1200 bucks a week. Yeah. pretty nice. Yeah. Now, strangely enough, for like the first like three and a half years there, he didn't

get any leading roles or features. He would just kind of be in the background, like as an uncredited actor. And he would always play the role of a policeman. I think they just were like, you make a look about him. You make a great cop. But so the thing was it was like, that was kind of like a weird point in his career because he wasn't like the leading man,

but it would kind of allow him to meet some of the biggest names in Hollywood at the time. I don't know if you've heard of Charlie Chaplin. No, never heard of him. No, no, well, our buckle did. Oh, well that's good. Charlie. Charlie.

He much alley on side, much alley. And he also met Mabel Norman and Ford Sterling. And I guess his films with Mabel always did the best. She was God's. So it's Mabel, you know? They were just some fan faves. Now, not only was, uh, our buckle a good actor on camera, he also was pretty good behind the camera.

And throughout his career, he would work with like big name directors a lot. And he actually worked with this with like big name directors a lot. And he actually worked with this guy named Henry Lerman a lot to the point where he only did two movies where Henry wasn't the director. Wow. He really loved him. So Henry started teaching Roscoe all about what went into making a movie. And over time Roscoe started learning more and more about getting involved in the behind the scenes kind of stuff. And then the films that he was appearing in, he was also doing director stuff as well.

So he was in both parts. Look at him. And in 1914, he started directing his own movies. Get it. And like I said in the beginning, one thing that he absolutely hated was the nickname that he was given by Hollywood. They always called him Fadi, like constantly. And that was the name listed whenever he got a film credit, it was Fadi Ar like constantly. And that was the name listed,

whenever he got a film credit, it was Fadi Arbuckle. Oh, that was so cool. Which is shitty. You'll like that, you know? Right. But anywhere else, like if somebody yelled after him on set and they were like, Fadi, he wouldn't turn around and answer. Wow. Like it was Roscoe or that nothing. I know, it's sad. Yeah, because you just assumed that that was something he played into or liked or... Right. He played into it, but he had to. Well, the thing is, he did, but he didn't,

because he never wanted his size to be the butt of a joke. So all the physical comedy that he did, like I said in the beginning, it was more like doing summer solts or falling down in a silly way, but it was never something like being stuck in a space because he was too big for it. Yeah. Or anything like that. And like I said, a lot of people would comment on how agile he was,

like, very graceful guy. Yeah, look at that. Now, once 1917 came around, he started working with a very big name producer. This guy was Joseph M. Shank. Okay. And he was the husband of Norma Talmauge. And they decided to create a company together called Komiq. Ooh, like Komiqal. Ooh, I like it. But Komiq. Now, the company not only made him richer than he'd ever been, but also allowed him to be involved in every single one of his roles from start to finish the entire film.

And it was at that point that he started working with, I don't know if you've heard of this guy either, Buster Keaton. No. None of these names are ringing about. I know it's the craziest thing. No, everybody. If you are like into like this time,

you totally know that he was huge. So since Komik was doing really well, even more of the big name producers in Hollywood, we're starting to hear more about this our buckle character, and they're interested in working with him. So among some of those big name producers in Hollywood were starting to hear more about this our buckle character and they're interested in working with him. So among some of those big name producers were Paramount Pictures. They approached him and they were like, hey, would you ever want to do some long movies instead of like the two real shorts that you're doing right now? Because those were more just kind of like short films. Yeah. You want to do some

of those long movies? Those long reels and he was like, I do. And the first feature film that he did with them was The Roundup. It premiered in 1920, and audiences were obsessed. They were in love with this guy. Wow. It was just like, he must have had some kind of just like star quality, like people were really just, they gravitated to him. He had charisma. He did. Charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent. There you go. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO So, why are you still taking the time out of your day to go to the post office when you could be using stamps.com instead? Stamps.com makes mailing and shipping easy, quick, and cost-effective. It saves you time, money, and stress. And now, for more than 20 years, stamps.com has been indispensable for over a million businesses.

Stamps.com gives you access to all of the post office and UPS shipping services you need right from your computer. And get discounts you can't find anywhere else like up to 30% off USPS rates and 86% off UPS. We love stamps dot com over here. And we really think that you're going to love it because they work seamlessly with Shopify, Amazon, Etsy, eBay and more. You're up and running within minutes printing official postage for any letter, any package, anywhere you want to send.

So whether you're in office sending invoices, and Etsy shop sending your products or a warehouse shipping out orders, stamps.com is your mailing and shipping solution. Stop wasting time and start saving money when you use stamps.com to mail and ship. Sign up with promo code morbid for a special offer that includes a four week trial plus free postage and a digital scale. No long term no long term commitments or contracts. Just go to stamps.com, click the microphone

at the top of the page and enter code morbid. So Paramount's opening offer for this contract that he signed with them was a thousand dollars a day. Whoa. At that time. And on top of that, he would get 25% of all the royalties from every movie he did. Holy shit. That was the starting deal. But then they saw how well he was doing and how well received these movies were. Now you get some leverage.

You get some leverage. They bumped his salary up to $3 million for three years and 18 more movies. Holy shit. And that's crazy now, but for back then, you want to know what that would be like today. I love a conversion. So $3 million back then would have been like making $43 million today. Wow. $43 million dollars today. Wow. 43 million buckaroo.

And we think of like what, like things cost back then and everything. Oh yeah, like that, that's wise. He was richer than everybody. And he was one of the most beloved actors of his time. Until September of 1921 when a dog came crashing down. I was waiting for the downfall here. There's always a downfall. I don't know anything about this.

Neither did I. So this is brand new to me. Neither did I, but I love an old Hollywood case. And this is the old Hollywood case, to be honest. Yeah, it's wild. So it's really devastatingly sad. So it's Labor Day Weekend. And one of Roska, or excuse me, Roska and two of his friends, Fred Fishbach

and Lowell Sherman, who were two very CD-disgusting characters, unfortunately. And I think it might be one of those things where it's like, the company you keep reflects really badly on you are. Or could be that like, you are who you hang out with, and you're also a great peak. I haven't made a complete decision on what I think here.

Okay. But I'm sure you're listening, you will, and let me know what you think. Yeah. So these three guys, they decide to go head out to San Fran for a long weekend. And they're planning on throwing an absolute banger to celebrate the success of Roscoe's new movie,

Crazy to Mary. So they check into the St. Francis Hotel and they grab three rooms. They grab 1219, 1220 and 1221. One would be used to party hardy and the other would kind of be like bedrooms to crash in. Okay, now remember, these were still prohibition times so they had to sneak in a shit ton of booze

because they were gonna be planning on having a wild party. And how did they hide those booths? Roscoe had this fancy, schmancy car that had a hidden bar inside. Oh my God, stop. Like the prohibition of it all. You pressed a button and like a fucking bar pop. Yeah.

You want, like, I want my card. Why doesn't my card have a hidden bar? That's wild. I feel remiss. I mean, I do think that's like probably very illegal. It's because I can tell you a few reasons why you, I do think that's like probably very illegal. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's got sun right in your eyes. I did. It wiped my mind clear for a second. It was like the bed in black. I was just going to say that.

No, it's funny, though, that you said, great Gatsby, because all I could picture, especially this part of them driving up to the party was them driving to the party in the great Gatsby, where it's madeable. Yeah, and it's funny, because there's a mabel in this. Hey, look at that. Wild, but anyway It's giving me those vibes so

At this party there was going to be some of the biggest stars and starlets of all time including one Virginia Rapé Virginia Rapé was a model and actress and a fashion designer. Oh, it's not Mabel. It's Mertel. Oh Mertel. That's why I was I was confused because I was like wait. No, it's not Mabel You know, it's so funny. I was like is there a Mabel because I heard M That's why I was confused because I was like, wait, no, it's not maple. You know, it's not funny. I was like, is there a maple? Because I heard maple when you mentioned her before and I was like, oh, yeah, it's maple. It's my herald, sorry.

M-nadens are hard there. Yeah. So Virginia, that's not an M-name. That's easier to remember. She was a model and actress, a fashion designer. She had been born in Chicago. Oh my God, and was raised by her mother, Mabel. Whoa.

Until she was about 11. But unfortunately, that was how young she was when her mom passed away. Oh, it's really young. It's so young. But she was sent to live with her grandma. But she wasn't really too keen on staying in Chicago for the rest of her life,

just like all of these cases that I cover. She knew she was different. She knows she has star quality. She's also fucking gorgeous. Google a picture. Yeah, so when she's just, what's her name, Virginia? Virginia Rapay, it's R-A-P-P-P-E.

And fun fact, she actually added the extra P-N-E onto the end of her name, because she thought it was fancier. I think when she was born, it was just rap, but she wanted a rapay. I love that. So she's 14 years old now, she's like, I gotta get out of Chicago, I gotta make it big.

So she starts posing for fashion designers and any artists who might need a muse. Now, it was good practice for her eventual plan of heading out to California to be discovered, which she would set up to do when she turned 18. But before making her way out to Hollywood, she decided to trans, excuse me, try out San Francisco for a while.

And when she was there, she met up with a designer named Robert Moskovitz. He would be her first fiance, and he would teach her a ton about fashion. But the engagement was short lived because he was actually killed in a car accident. Oh, so sad. It was like whirlwind.

I was just gonna say that's like, woo. I know when it's sad, because it's like she makes it out there, she makes this guy, she starts getting into fashion, they fall in love, they're gonna get married, and then it's like,

it all comes crashing, yeah, then it's just all over. So at that point, she's like, no, like, I'm not gonna let this ruin me. She decides to move once again, and finally ends up where she's planned on settling all along.

Hollywood. Hollywood? Hollywood? Hollywood? Now, you know I said this girl was gorge, so it was she was, I just looked her up. She's the epitome of beauty as far as anybody is concerned, but specifically during this time in Hollywood, she was like the poster child of beauty.

Yeah. So it was not hard for her to find work. She had like these intense blue eyes, this like beautiful dark hair impeccable style, because remember she's a fucking fashion designer. Of course. And she looked young enough to pass for 25, when really she was 30. You get it.

But she would always tell people. Get those younger roles. She would tell them she was 25. Now throughout her career, she would end up being featured in 13 movies. And in some of those movies, you're going to love this. She starred alongside Rudolf Valentino. Oh. I, there's a photo of them together.

Love Rudolf Valentino. As do I, but you. One of my first research papers ever in school, I did the most intense research paper on Rudolf Valentino. I know everything there is to know about that man. I love that so much. He was a beautiful man. A beautiful, beautiful man. I love that so much. He was a beautiful man. A beautiful, beautiful man.

Yeah, just so great. So you're probably really jealous of that. I am a little bit in that. So you're not. She's starting. I'm looking them up right now and I'm like, oh, it's a picture of them and a card together. All the pictures from this time are so cool.

Oh, get it girl. Now, other than Rudolf Valentino, she also actually did a wedding with Arbuckle, and this was called his wedding night. Now, he apparently really took a liking to her, according to some people, during the filming of this. And I guess while they were filming this movie, and this is, here say, so we don't know if this is true or not. But I guess while they were filming, he wanted to, quote unquote, play a prank on her. Uh-oh. And he asked the security guard

for the key to her room. But luckily the security guard like wouldn't give the key to the room. He was like, no, I can't do that. No. But when you find out what happens later, I think a lot of people were like, do that have ulterior motives? Which I can see. Now, before we got there, we just, we need to know that Virginia became known as the best dressed girl in pictures. And she was also known as entrepreneurial, idealistic, and outspoken, like for women's rights. So she was a bad bitch.

I was just gonna say, so a bad bitch is what you're saying. She was the first person to speak up about any causes close to her heart. And they were nine out of ten times women's rights causes. For her. A bad being. Absolutely. So she arrives at this party and I just am going to tell you right here, this is where things start to get yucky. And again, if you don't want to listen to that, now is the time that I would really advise you to stop listening.

Well, for you. Yeah. So she arrives at the party with her manager, Al, who's actually a really good friend of Roscoe's to Al Semnacker. And her friend, Bambina, Mod Delmont. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes Bambina, Mod Delmont wanted to be called Bambina, Mod Delmont. But she also had like other names and shit.

She was a shady bitch. Oh, man. I mean, I would always want to be called Bambina,aud Delmont, but she also had like other names and shit. She was a shady bitch. Oh, man. I mean, I would always want to be called Bina Maud Delmont. Delmont. Oh, Delmont, excuse me. I would, she might have known as Bina Maud Delmont as well. But I would be like always refer to me as that. Yeah.

Never has just Bina. Give me the full. Also, I didn't realize this until now, but like three names. I'm just saying. You know what we say about the three names. What we say? She turns out to be quite truly something. Oh no.

So the trio, they get to the hotel around 10, 30 that morning, and by all accounts, they got to partying real quick, which like fucking all the power to them. Yeah, you might get caught. It's a revision time. You got to partying when you can. And it's a summer party. Like let's go. Honestly, if they got caught, it would've been probably fine, because they're all rich or poor. I always get full, full's probably a vision time. You got a party when you can. And it's a summer party. Like let's go.

Honestly, if they got caught, it would have been probably fine, because they're all rich or powerful. I always get full of stuff. Full of rich and powerful stuff. It doesn't really matter, but whatever. Whatever. So at some point during the party, I guess Virginia started complaining that she couldn't breathe and that she wasn't feeling well.

Oh, get her home. Get her home exactly. Get her home, thank you. My friend says that I'm like, all right, let's go home, girl. All right, cool. Let's go. Or like we'll get another room here. We'll get a fancy suite for you to sleep in, a comfy bed. Let's do it. You want to all right, let's go home girl. All right, cool. Let's go. Or like we'll get another room here. We'll get a fancy suite for you to sleep in a comfy bed.

Let's do it. But I'd be like, you want to go home, let's go home. I'll take you home. I'll take you home, I'll watch some reality TV with you. Yeah, back in 1912. Yeah, I wonder what that would have been. Absolutely. I'm just like trying to think of what I'd do to make it.

Let's watch the latest Valentino film. Let's sit down. Let's have a night of it. And Virginia is like, I'm in that one. It's weird. And I feel like it's fine. I'll go to sleep. I'll go to sleep. I'll go to sleep. So she's saying she can't breathe. And Virginia's like, I'm in that one, it's weird. And I feel like it's fine. I don't know if I can do it anyway. I don't sleep.

So she's saying she can't breathe, she's pulling out her clothing and she starts kind of like ripping her clothes. Like she wants to rip them off. Oh jeez. And this point forward, from this point forward, there's like three different versions of events. There's actually really like 305,

but for the sake of the story, I'll say three. This person's story, that person's story and the truth. There is Roscoe Arbuckle's side of things. Mod Del Moins point of view, and then somewhere in the middle of those two accounts, there is the truth, which is still hotly debated. We know each other really well. God damn, we know each other really well.

It's becoming so much more. Really, lately, lately. And I keep saying things that the, it's not only that we're saying things at the same time, like that's one thing. We save them in the exact same inflection. And I just want to punch you and be like, yeah, out of my head. It's true.

And I'm sure you feel the same. We're in each other's souls at this point. You were one of my souls at this point. One of your old souls. No, you're not old. That's me. I thought you said that's me. And I was like, put you setting.

No, not me at all. Are you in there? I'm in there. Okay, so one way or another, Virginia ends up in one of the adjoining rooms with Roscoe and potentially a few other people at some point. Now thinking that she just had too much to drink, I guess they placed her in a cold tub, but at that point it really seemed like she was only riding around in pain even more. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, they think she like she was only riding around in pain even more.

Yeah, I guys like, yeah, they think she's drunk. She's definitely more than drunk. She starts vomiting. Oh. And at that point, she was brought into the bed, and they proper up, and she's clutching her stomach and she's screaming in pain until somebody calls the hotel's doctor. Did she have like appendicitis or something? No.

This is going on. I'll tell you. Oh, you know, so. I'm worried for her. I just want to be like, help. Yeah, that's the thing. Now, like, I just told you, she's screaming in pain, and watching her stomach, like moving her whole body around in pain.

The hotel doctor thought that she was just drunk and moved her into one of the other rooms. After giving her some morphine to sleep it off. Oh, okay. Oh my, wait. Do some morphine to sleep it off. Oh, okay. Oh my, wait. Do some morphine about it. You think she's drunk? Like, she's way too drunk in your opinion.

So you're gonna give her morphine to top that off? I think you drunk her on top of it, like Jesus. Yikes, guys. Eek. So she would spend the next three days in that hotel room, but each day she only got worse. And finally, after those three days, somebody calls another doctor. It ends up being believed that it was Mod Delmont, who calls this

actual doctor, and not that the hotel doctor was not, but just a different one. Yeah. And Virginia was rushed to the hospital. Now, when she first got there, those doctors thought that it was possibly a case of alcohol poisoning, because from they've heard she's been partying, she's, you know. Yeah, I get that. But they start evaluating her more and more and they find that she's actually suffering from something called peritonitis. Oh. Did I say that correctly?

Peritonitis? Google says you are correct. It's peritonitis. It looks way more intimidating than this. It does. I was going to say there's like an extra T in there or something. There is. It's like very weird. So peritonitis. says you are correct, it's very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,

very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, your like whole ass organ. No, it it protects your organ. I was gonna say it protects all of your internal organs like everything. Layer like that membrane. Yes. Now in Virginia's case, her bladder had ruptured and that's what caused that infection that then led to the intense inflammation. Oh my goodness. So just the thought of that a little. Oh, like, because that membrane is called the peritonium

That's why it's peritonitis because you said you saw that a lot right? Yeah, we would see it a lot in outopsies Oh, man It's like it wasn't like I wasn't shouldn't say it's like a very common thing, but I would see it common enough that you've seen it Oh, I can't even imagine that's gnarly. Yeah, in the fact that she just showed up at a party and was struck by it. Oh, right. And that's the thing. And it's like, did she show up at the party and she was struck by it? Or did something happen at the party that caused it?

Interesting. But either way, unfortunately, by the time they realized what was causing her so much pain, it was too late. Oh, that kind of infection. And especially way back then, they just gave her morphine about it. Yeah. She died in the hospital on September 9th, 1921. Man, I know.

Virginia seemed like such a cool lady. She did. Now some sources suggest that she was 26 when she died, but other people said that she did fib about her age. So she was probably more like 30 or 31, but okay. Either way, incredibly young. Yeah. And at the peak of her career. That's the thing. She was only going up, you know. No, and she just seemed rad. She did. She really did.

You just want to hang with her. I very much do. Now immediately, the rumor mill went absolutely bonkers. Yeah. And at the hospital, a distraught friend wanted to talk to the police, who were already trying to make sense of how this whole night had turned into what it did. It's very strange. Now that friend was Mod Delmont. She ends up calling the police and she's telling them that they need to talk to a man that she named as Fadi Arbuckle. Oh! Her words no mine. She said that he was the one responsible for Virginia's death. So you see, the version of events where Roscoe and Virginia ended up in the same room went a little differently through Mod's point of view and a few other people's point of view

and we'll get to that when we get to some other stuff. Mod told the police that she had seen Roscoe and Virginia chatting and they, when she watched as they had about three mixed drinks together. Now at some point during their chat, mod heard Roscoe tell Virginia, I've waited for you for five years, and now I've got you. And as he said that, he was pulling her into one of the nearby rooms and then shut and locked the door.

Oh, and so mod doesn't think much of this until she starts hearing screams coming from the room and she knows that this is her friend. So she starts banging on the door at that point and it's locked and she's like banging on the door, kicking out the door, he won't open it according to her. There's a one version where somebody had to come up and open the door and then there's another version

where he finally does open the door. But this next part is what's told consistently. He opens the door, he's wearing pajama bottoms, and a robe, and Virginia's hat propped on his head at a quote unquote, comical angle. Like everybody said he was wearing her hat at a comical angle. Like off to the side. Yeah, exactly. There's a lot of like artist-renders. Now she reported that he had a quote unquote foolish, screen smile smeared across his face. And when she looked behind him,

she claimed that she saw Virginia partially nude on the bed and clutching at her stomach. And she was calling out to mod. I'm dying. I'm dying. He did it. Arbuckle did it. What?

Now, when asked what exactly Roscoe Arbuckle had done to Virginia, Maud claimed that he had raped her, and that the force of his much bigger body on top of Virginia's smaller frame had ruptured her bladder and eventually killed her. Oh my God. Yeah. I had no idea that this was the K-holy shit. Yes. Oh my God, Yeah. I had no idea that this was the K holy shit. Yes.

Oh my God, if that is true, what an actual, like a horrific way to die. A horrific way. And the fact that it was not just immediate, like if that's how that happened, she was raped and then she suffered and was like screaming, either way she suffered, but then to add the potential rape on top of that.

The potential trauma of even more rape on top of that. The potential trauma of even more trauma on top of it. Oh my goodness. That is so horrific. That's an awful thing to think about. Now, Al Semnacher, again, one of Rosco's good friends and Virginia's manager claimed that this was true. And he actually took the claim one step further. And I just want to let you guys know this is really rough, so I would skip forward about 35 seconds, 45 seconds. He claimed that Roscoe had raped Virginia, and also then used a piece of ice to rape her,

and he was joking about it the next day with some men who had been at the party before, and Al Semnacher was among them. What the fuck? Yeah. Oh my God. What the fuck? Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah, this is horrific. It's really, really bleak.

So the newspapers, they get this information, they get like a tidbit of it, and they go fucking bonkers. Like it's like the magazines of today. There were all kinds of salacious rumors spread and stories written because most of these newspapers that were spreading this information, they were more like gossip magazines and a man named William Randolph Hurst, he actually owned like a solid chunk of these publications, like pretty much all of them.

We knew that name. And they were more like gossip columns than any kind of news paper. And he said that this whole scandal sold more papers than the sinking of the Lucetania. Okay, yeah, that's great. Wow, that's one of the largest ships that was ever built by the way, like during that time and it had sunk back in 1915. Really comparing two equally tragic but entirely different occurrences here, my dude.

Yeah, that's comparing apples to zebra's. Definitely is. You're dumb. Wow. I remember listening to podcasts way back before we even had one. And I would hear all about the mosaic that was koreology. And you know what, I'm going to be honest with you. Like, I'm nothing if I'm not honest. I had my doubts guys. I've tried so many different skincare routines. I've put a lot of random shit on my face that just didn't

work. I've never seen too much of a result until I gave curology a chance myself. To add like a little bit of context in case you're not sure what curology is, let me tell you about it. Curology is game changing custom skincare. It's made for you by a dermatology provider. They create a custom prescription cream for your specific goals, whether that's tackling acne, clogged pores, maybe you've got dark spots or fine lines, you want to make your skin texture a little better. Anything else that you've got going on with your skin. You're going to take a short online quiz and you're going to upload some picks of yourself, take a little selfie.

And if it's a good fit, they're going to ship your formula right to your door. Also, it even has your name on the bottle and that just makes me feel special. I love when products do that. Personally, I have started getting my shipments actually every three months now. I just don't really need them as often. And it's actually almost been two years since I started using curology. And I'm going to be honest with you. Again, I'm nothing if I'm not honest. I would never go back. When I started noticing my fine lines are on my forehead and my eyes, I was like, I am too young to be the crypt keeper. I'm too young for this.

But I really have seen such a significant change after almost a whole year. Spots that I had on my face before are just not noticeable. And my fine lines, they're not either. A lot of you lately have been telling me that I'm glowing. And thank you. I have no idea that the process was going to be so easy. And just the fact that like making a couple simple changes and introducing a new routine, which by the way, it's so easy to introduce this into your routine. It's like, it seamlessly fits.

And I feel so much more confident that is priceless. You can start your curology journey just like I did be like your girl, Ash with a free 30 day trial at curology.com slash morbid. If prescribed, just pay $5 for shipping and handling that is CUROLOGUY.com slash morbid to unlock your free 30-day trial. Cancel anytime, go get that glow with my schedule and how I'm like always go go go go go go go go.

I really don't have a ton of time to do the things that I really do want to do like reading. When I was younger, I used to finish a book a night. I've always been an avid reader, but I fell out of it. But now I can fall back into it because of Audible. Audible offers an incredible selection of audiobooks across every genre. From best sellers and new releases to celebrity memoirs, mysteries and thrillers, motivation, wellness, business, anything you like, it's on there. You're going to discover exclusive exclusive audible originals from top celebrities, renowned experts, and new exciting voices in audio. For some reason, I just love listening to somebody read a book to me, and I don't know like the hiring process or anything how this works, but I always listen and I'm like,

that's how I picture this character sounding, so like you guys do a great job. And as an audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from their entire catalog, including the latest bestsellers and new releases. All audible members get access to a growing selection of audiobooks, audible originals, and podcasts that are included with membership. You can listen to all you want, and more get added every single month. I like exclusively listen to books at this point. I've listened to so many good ones over the time that I've been books at this point. I've listened to so many good ones over the time that I've been an audible member and I've actually started listening to my

podcast there too because it's like one stop shop. It's super easy. You just download the app. It's literally right there. I'm driving to Target. I'm listening to a book. I'm getting, um, I don't know, coffee. I'm listening to a book. I'm just constantly listening to these books and I love that I can do that now. Let Audible help you discover new ways to laugh, be inspired, or be entertained. New members can try it free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash morbid or text morbid to 500-500. That's audible.com slash morbid or text morbid to 500-500 to try audible free for 30 days.

audible.com slash morbid. [♪ music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background, Audible freeing music playing in background out of the ordinary for her. They refer to her as an amateur call girl who quote unquote would get drunk at parties and tear her clothes off. Oh my God. It's like, well, she's dead. So like maybe. And potentially was essentially murdered. So.

Oh my God. But other stories started getting darker and taking those little rumors and blowing them up. And again, I would skip forward. If you don't want to hear this, I'm going to give you like 45 seconds. This rumor that he had taken a piece of ice eventually just grew into this wildly different rumor

that claimed to Coca-Cola can or a whiner champagne bottle had been used. Oh my God. Like absolutely horrific. Holy shit. Now whatever happened, the police knew that they were going to need to pay

Roscoe Arbuckle of his it, and they did. He was arrested on September 10th. Now some sources claim that he actually turned himself in and others say that he was just arrested. So the second his mug shot was available to the public, it was on the cover of every single one of these publications, whether it was a gossip column or not, it was everywhere.

I actually found a few old ones. Everybody started turning on him. They were thinking that he was a violent rapist. They're thinking he's responsible for this woman's death. But at the same time, he still had supporters, like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. They both gave interviews and they tried to clear his name. They said that Mod Delmont was a known liar

and that she had been involved in her fair share of scandals, which were scandals designed to take men down, take rich men down. Okay. So it did make sense to some people that that may have been the case here. But at the end of the day, it was messy as fuck. Oh, and it only gets messier. Oh, boy. So at the end of the day, as we know, it's the police and the jury who are, he's gonna have to convince. Yeah. So he has a very different story to tell the police

than the one that they've gotten from mod and different party goers. He, and he, the problem here too, is that he tells multiple stories throughout the course of this entire investigation and trial, and multiple trials. Hmm. He first told them that he noticed Virginia at the party,

and he said that she was acting hysterical. And he knew that she had a few drinks, so he chalked it up to just being drunk when he saw her start pulling her clothes and take them off. He said that he'd actually never been alone with her, and that he and some of the other party goers carried her into one of the neighboring rooms. They placed her in that chilled tub. And then when nothing worked, they called the doctor. Now he made it a point to emphasize that he had never been alone in a room with her. But the police were not convinced. And six days later, he was placed under arrest.

And that's the September arrest. Yeah. So later on in the legal process, the charge was actually the charge of murder was reduced to man slaughter Because they didn't think they were gonna have enough physical evidence because they really didn't yeah to make the legal team's Confident that they'd reach the verdict they wanted to in a murder trial and if they want to get them at all Exactly for that lower one just to get them now this sucks because it changes a few key pieces of his fate And the time he's going to serve. Because number one, now he could get out on bail.

Whereas before, at this time, if you were facing murder charges, there was no bail. So he did get out on bail once the charges were reduced. Now, secondly, instead of facing an absolute mandatory sentence of death at this time, like, you would have an murder case since it was reduced to manslaughter, he would be facing if convicted 10 years maximum. Wow. Like for killing a woman. For her brutal death.

Rape and murder. Wow. So the first of three trials ended on December 4th with the jury unable to come up with any agreement. 10 of them believed that he was innocent, but two could not decide. So a Miss Trial was declared, and the next jury heard the evidence all over again.

Strangely enough, the second trial ended up being completely different than the first, with nine jurors convinced that Roscoe had been responsible for Virginia's death, and three this time convinced of his innocence. So it had a weird flip. Now the third trial started in March and it went very differently than the first two.

This time he went with a completely different stories, a completely different story, excuse me. And he also let his lawyers really kind of go into Virginia and you know, painter is not a responsible party goer to put it lightly. But that's always the cheapest way to go about a defense. It is. You know, I mean, like when you have to turn the other person,

who's not there to defend themselves? Which into something else, it's like, it's so complicated because I feel like it shouldn't be admissible. Like she's not here to say it for herself. It's hard. It's so many complexities to this kind of stuff, but that always rubs me. It's just such a gray area, you know. It's just when they're, again, when they're not here to defend themselves, it's like a really hard path to take there. And to me,

it just feels yucky. It does. And I do feel like a lot of times it does sway the jury because the person isn't there to say yes or no to that. And it's human, we are humans. Yeah. Everybody's fought. Juries are flawed. Judges are flawed. The whole system is flawed. Justice teams are flawed. It's like anything that morbid has taught us is that the system, all the systems are flawed. So there's always human emotion in everything.

We're not less of, when you're not supposed to have it, it's there. Exactly. So he lets them lay into her and paint her completely terribly, to be honest. So in this version of events, and again, he has that new story, he tells the jury this time that he finds Virginia laying on the bathroom floor, moaning, vomiting, and calling out in

pain. Now he said, again, that she's clinging at her stomach. So he grabs her glass of water and then carries her on the bed to make her more comfortable. Then he said, as he was getting her onto the bed, Mod just like came into the room, like burst in and starts accosting him, telling him to get away from Virginia, leave her alone, and he testified that he told her to shut up or he would throw her out the window. Wow. Okay. So he did say that. He admits that. Now it's interesting that he would bring that like specific quote up because originally, Modaud told the police that he had threatened to throw Virginia out the window.

And actually, multiple other witnesses agreed that they heard the same thing where it was at Virginia's expense. Oh, so much he said she said. There it is. It's such a confusing case because I don't know. I want you guys to let me know like if you had a hard time deciding.

Yeah. What you think here. Because right now I'm like, what the hell is going on? Totally. I just don't even know. Is he now claiming he was alone with her for some period of time? Yes.

Okay, so he changed that completely. To me when it changes like that, I'm like, that's guilt. That's guilt, right? To me. Or, yeah. It's hard to get away from that. It is. It's a change of story.

And he changes it twice. So the witnesses were brought forward to corroborate this new version of Roscoe's story. And multiple said that the ice mentioned in the story did not have that dark story put behind it that so many of the newspapers had published. And instead they said that mod was just rubbing ice across Virginia's stomach to see if it would alleviate any pain. Okay. Now, the medical examiner, Dr. Shelby

Strange was also called to testify. Also, Shelby Strange, are you kidding me? You are a medical examiner. No other choice but to be a medical examiner. Great name. Incredible. So, called to testify about their findings and said that Virginia most likely had a chronic bladder inflammation. Dr. Strange also testified that there were, quote, no signs that the girl had been attacked in any way. But with that being said, they also testified that there was bruising to Virginia's legs and to her upper arms. In fact, the bruising to her upper arm looked like it had been made from, quote, the deep impression of fingers. Yeah, I just, I looked up, still autopsy.

And I saw those autopsy photos and my first thought when I saw those was those look like finger grips. And like, I don't know what I was saying but I was ripping her arms. I don't know what else they would be because that's exactly what they look like to me. Unless they are claiming that that could have happened

when they were moving her into the tub, out of the tub, into the, you know what I mean? Like that would be what they'd be claiming. Like that it's not a violent one, and maybe it was just people gripping her to. And it could have been, again, she's of smaller stature. These are like bigger dudes like to wrap, you know, no,

but interesting. This doctor needs to pick a lane because it's like, you say that she looks like she hasn't been attacked, but then you say it looks like she has deep impressions in her arms, which means like somebody probably would have been holding her down. But maybe that's what he's claiming. It's like it doesn't look to me like she was attacked. She looks like the...

Like the... ...are carry marks. True. Like he's probably saying, I don't see an attack. Right. I see when she was being moved. Right, right. That's probably what he was meaning at least. True, that makes sense. And then actually think of it that way.

Yeah. So thank you. You're welcome. No, Dr. Strange though, because everybody felt like he was mean, at least. True, that makes sense. I didn't actually think of it that way. Yeah, so thank you. You're welcome. Now, Dr. Strange, though, because everybody felt like he had given it conflicting testimony. Yeah. But he was not the only person to give a conflicting testimony because a forensic expert in the trial, Edward Heinrich, stated to the jury that he'd seen both Virginia and Roscoe's fingerprints on the door handle of the hotel that in that specific room. And he testified that it looked as though

Roscoe's hand was placed over Virginia's on the knob, which then led him to believe it was like she tried to grasp it during an escape and he had stopped her with his much bigger hand leaving both prints behind. Do you get that picture? Yeah, I definitely get that. I'm just like, how the hell could you tell that?

Yeah. Like who are that? So it was in the original trial that he testified that in the first two. In the third trial, retracted his original testimony and said, I think those might have been faked. Those fingerprints. And by the way, a made testified that she had cleaned that door handle anyway,

so there wouldn't have been fingerprints on her. All right. So that might have just been like, he, so there wouldn't have been fingerprints on her. All right. So that might have just been like, he said she said. Yeah. Kind of seems it. Oh, the 1920s. Oh my. Now then, almost every witness who had testified against Roscoe

in the first or second trial, saying that Virginia told them he'd hurt her or raped her, they just disappeared off the grid in the third trial. Huh. Nobody could track them down in the ones who were tracked, retracted their original statements. So it was- Then you wonder if there's some like,

many, many people thought that they were either intimidated or paid off. Exactly, that's exactly what I was gonna be like. Ah, that's a third trial. I'm sure he's getting, he's rounding up some people to be like, he's getting desperate. But care of people here.

Yes, absolutely. But at the same time, it was then discovered that four of the prosecution's witnesses had some secrets of their own. One of them who was supposed to be testifying about Virginia's character turned out to be a very close friend of Roscoe's, so their testimony about Virginia was voided.

Oh my God, what is going on here? Another woman who testified negatively about Virginia was voided. Oh my God, what is going on here? Another woman who testified negatively about Virginia like in her supposed party girlways, as she said that Virginia came to her hotel quite frequently and had a habit of getting drunk and ripping her clothes off. Turns out there was literally no record of Virginia ever being at that hotel. Huh.

What so ever? Now on the same token, there were witnesses on the prosecution, and I think I actually flipped out. I was gonna say, so that was defense. Sorry, yes, that was defense. On the same token, there were witnesses that the prosecution used in the first trial and second trial, who came out in the third trial

and said that they had been forced by the prosecution to give false testimony. This whole thing is fucked. Yeah, that's like really complex. And I like them like, what the fuck? Because everybody just seems to be lying. Knowing the defense witnesses are lying about like her being shitty.

That to me is more dire. I agree. The prosecution's lying that she's not shitty. Like it's like, you know what I mean? Me is more dire than the prosecutions lying that she's not shitty. You know what I mean? Like if you have to make people lie to make her bad, that's worse to me. Yeah, but it's all bad.

It's all just really bad. But yeah, realistically all three of these trials were absolute shit shows in their own way. This is a circus. And they really did nothing other than smear Virginia Rapids name right alongside with a man who was literally on trial. Like he's the one on trial.

Why are we searing her name? Yeah, exactly. We're turning her into a villain here. You're right. She's not here right now. So let's not. Now, the biggest win for the defense was when they uncovered what they probably considered

a fucking gold mine of information against someone who had originally been considered their star witness. No, the prosecution star witness, mod del Mont. I knew it. Of course, her name's mod del Mont. Of course you're gonna find some shit on her. Some shady shit's going on.

Bambina mod del Mont, are you kidding me? She apparently had a bit of a secret life that coincided with her alter ego, Madame Black. Uh-oh. Madame Black would go out and find young attractive women to take to parties that were always being thrown by these annoying ass rich dudes. Yeah.

So they'd go, they enjoyed their party, but then they would later on make claims that they'd been raped at the party, even if they had not been. Now, the goal of the entire operation was to blackmail these men into paying huge sums of money just to make the problem go away.

Holy shit. So it's like a scam. Damn. Now, on top of that, she had also been reported for extortion and fraud in the past. Oh, damn. And it was also found out

that she was in a bigamous marriage. And when I heard that, I said a big marriage. A big marriage. A big marriage. A lot of you may have. She's got a loving marriage. Yeah. Actually, what that means is that she married one man without divorcing from her last husband. So technically, she had two husbands. And that was a big no-no back though. Oh, yeah. So both of these discoveries absolutely tore her character apart. And then another point was made to really drive the point home of how far she was willing to go to destroy Amanda's life. It turns out that she had sent notes to two of her friends right before Virginia died,

like as she was actively dying. Apparently they were sent about two days before on September 7th, and mod wrote to these people, we have Rosco Arbuckle in a hole here to make some money out of him. Oh, yep. Oh, that's bad. So like, safe to say, she actually wasn't asked back

to testify after her original testimony, and the prosecutors then had her name omitted from any witness list involved in these trials, and all three of them. Oh, man. Yeah. Because I also was, I was like, you know, because this one's hard.

It's so hard. Oh, thank you. Because I was like, am I like, am I, I don't even know? Oh. Because I also was wondering, I'm like the whole time that she was like screaming and crying out and like people were around her, was she, she never said again, like that someone did this. So she did, she said to a couple people that he hurt her.

Yeah, I thought she only said it to mod. She said it to mod and then she said to one nurse, but he had hurt her and she also said to the nurse, she didn't use his name. She, she did use his name, but she didn't say he had raped her. She just said he hurt her. And she also said to the nurse because she had a fiance during this time. And she said to the nurse that it was imperative that her fiance not find out about any of this.

Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. And again, only like adds a little more. It adds a little more layers to that. Oh. It does. This is why. It's so complicated.

But then that nurse like eventually retracted that statement. I don't know. And that's the problem. Like I would find somebody's statement and then they'd retract it. And then I'd be like, okay, well, I don't know what I think. And like, is that real or is it not? Yeah. So finally, on April 12th, 1922,

it was time for this third jury to deliver their verdict in this manslaughter case. They only took five minutes to deliberate. And when they came back and read their verdict, they had found Roscoe Arbuckle, not guilty on charges of manslaughter, and actually went as far as issuing him a public apology.

What? They said, a quiddle is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done to him. There was not the slightest bit of proof, a d-a-du-st. Adu-st? Adu-st? Adu-st.

To connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. He was manly throughout the case and told- He was manly. Like, okay. And told a straightforward story. No, he didn't, which we all believe. We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgment of 14 men and women that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame. Okay. The American people did not feel the same way that the jury felt. I was going to be like, all right, let's see how that shaped up for us. Yeah. Um, the American people did not feel the same way that the jury felt.

I was going to be like, all right, let's see how that's shaped up for me. Yeah. Honestly, if he was truly innocent, then what happened to him in his career in the wake of these trials is just another fucking tragedy. Yeah. But if he's not, then like cool, he deserved it. We have no idea. We don't know.

Damn. There were still people out there, like a good amount of people, it seems like the majority, who believed that he was responsible for Virginia's death in some way and that he'd gotten away with murder. Yeah, I mean, that's tough. For a long, long time, nobody wanted to work with him and he was actually barred from working on any set for eight months after he was acquitted.

He couldn't find acting work and even when they lifted that ban after eight months, he'd like nobody would get the work. Of course, yeah. Yeah. ["The Price of Pros"] Guys, most of you have probably heard me sing the praises of prose, the world's most personalized haircare.

And if you haven't, welcome, I would love to tell you about the incredible results that I'm seeing since using my customized pros products. When I started using pros, I literally don't even want to admit how bad my hair texture was. It felt like there was just a pile of hay on top of my head. And then I took the quiz. And I said, hello, hello pros. I have damaged hair. I have overbleached hair. I have over processed hair. It's essentially falling out. What can you do for me? And ever since I got my products, my hair has been shinier, stronger. I'm not kidding you. You got to try this stuff because the thing is pros knows that there's more to you than just your hair type. And they've given over one million consultations with their in-depth hair quiz, which is exactly how I got started. You know, I told them, hey, it's really damaged, but I also told them things about where I

lived, my zip code, you know, because all of that has an effect on your hair, like where you live, the air quality, it could be really crappy, you know, you might not have the best eating habits or your hair might just be over processed and all of those things pros is going to take into consideration. And then by analyzing over 85 personal factors, pros determines a unique blend of ingredients to treat your exact concerns. One of my favorite things about pros is that they also have a review and refine feature because if you know me, you know that my hair is changing constantly. And that review and refine feature lets me tweak by formula for like any reason. Maybe I've changed my address. I've definitely changed my hair color or my diet. I actually just became a pescatarian and I told them that. That's the thing. They're gonna change

so many different things like if you change your address, the air quality might change and maybe you need a different formula and they're gonna send that right to you. And then as a carbon neutral certified B-Corp, pros is an industry leader in clean and responsible beauty. All their ingredients are sustainably sourced, ethically gathered, and cruelty free. And they are also the first custom beauty brand to go carbon neutral. If you're not a 100% positive that pros is the best hair care you've had, they will take the products back, no questions asked. Pros is the healthy hair regimen with your name all over it.

Take your free, end up hair consultation and get 15% off your first order today. Go to pros.com slash morbid. That's pros.com slash morbid for your free, end up hair consultation and 15% off. So since he couldn't get acting work, he started looking again more into directing, because like I said, he liked that too. And he started directing under the name William Goodrich. Now he, somebody he had mentored at it again, one of these big stars that maybe you've heard of, Buster Keaton. Oh yeah, that guy.

We mentioned him before. We did. That's where the name William Goodrich came from. Buster Keaton had suggested, like, while Roscoe was still recovering from this blow to his career, that he used a name will be good. Like will the name be period and then good for the last name? Wow. So he was like, I think it's not a time to joke.

And instead I'll do William Goodrich. Just to make it like a real name. Yeah. I was like, I think it's not a time to joke, and instead I'll do William Goodrich. Just to make it like a real name. Yeah, I was like, okay. So yeah, that's how that evolved. Now in 1932, 11 years after Virginia's death, Roscoe finally got an opportunity to be back on the big screen. Samuel Alsax, who was working with Warner Brothers,

actually signed Roscoe onto up here in a short film called Hey Pop. Now it was the first movie that Samuel Lossax had done that he used Sound in, and it was a huge hit because people are stoked that they can hear these movies now. Yeah, you know? Sound. Now after that, so he's in that.

After that, he actually acted in six more shorts, excuse me, and everybody seemed to be responding pretty well to them. It's like, it really is one of those things, and it's so horrific that this happens. But I think it's one of those things where the news just like over the years goes away because other things happen that people become more invested in.

And then like Virginia Rapese has forgotten. Yeah. And this guy just gets to, if he did kill her. Yeah, that's the hard thing. Right. If he did do this, this is fucked. This is fucked, fucking foul. Right.

It was just allowed to be moved on. This isn't like, you know, he made a mistake. This is, he took somebody's life in a very horrific way. Potentially. Whether he intentionally did it or not, you got to be held responsible for it. And it's like, but if he didn't do it, it's like, ugh, look at this.

Exactly, so hard. Right, so we start acting in these shots. People are happy to see him on camera again. And over time, it was kind of like nothing had changed. He was still the quote unquote, fatty arbuckle that people loved and remembered. So the success of those films that he did, like when he started coming back,

actually led Warner Bros. to write up a contract for a million dollars, which would be $13 million today. So he signed that real quick, obviously, because he was like, I don't need my career to be in jeopardy again. And he goes out to celebrate with his friends. I said he signed it on June 28th. I don't know if he said that. He did.

He goes out and hangs with his friends after that. He apparently told them, this is the best night of my life. And that night he died in his sleep at just 46 years old of a heart attack. This is the bleakest story. Holy shit. Of ever.

Not of ever, but it's really fucking bleak. But that's really bleak. Yeah. Cause if he didn't do it? Holy shit, he went through so much and finally got that contract and then died and if he did do it You're like whoa that's some universe shit right there. Okay, that's what that's kind of what I was thinking Cuz I don't know if you listen to the show But if you do then you know that I'm really into the show if you have for a while You know that like I'm really into like karma and the you listen to the show, like if you have for a while, you know that I'm really into, like, karma and the universe.

And when I read that, that he signed this contract, said, who knows if he really said that's the best night of my life, I feel like that was kind of added in over the years. I'm sure he said it at some point. But then he dies the next day, or that night. That's really karma. That's the thing.

To me, that screams, like, oh, big karma. karma. That's right. That's a karma, like dad punching you in the face. A karma dad punching you in the face. That's what that is. I don't know. Damn. You know what I mean? Yeah, I do. Weirdly enough. That's some real shit. That's really intense. So that is the case of Virginia Rapé and in Roscoe Fadiar buckle. Damn, I had no idea. Neither did I. I've heard the name, of course.

But I've heard Fadiar buckle. I didn't even know his name was Roscoe. Yeah, but neither did I. Because I've only heard him. That was like I'm sure his name is not Fadi, but yeah, but like what's he? When you find out, like, just like, just so much tragedy throughout this, like sadness from beginning to end.

Yeah, and I had no idea it was just so like brutal. It's incredibly brutal. Wow. Thanks for that. You're welcome. So I think we're gonna follow this one up with a spooky case like Slikely. We'll see.

We'll see. Maybe not, maybe we'll just do a whole last other case. We'll just keep going. You can wait and see. And we hope that you keep listening. And we hope you. Keep it. We're here. But that's a way that you go out with your friends

who are a bunch of heathens. And then you, on your way, you're getting hearty to party and you have the drinks and everything. And then you go to the party and then you lie about what you did at the party and somebody end up there. And maybe you killed them, maybe you didn't. Don't keep us aware that your mod delmot's giving man

because you can't be doing that, you know, oh my God. Bye. But watch the great cats, it's a good movie. Hand stranger things, I'm excited to start watching that. Yeah. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash

survey. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wondries Podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash Scandal, a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers, and often for committing only minor

offenses. The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full picture emerged, it made national headlines. The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme, one that would shatter the lives of countless children, and force a heated debate about punishment, an America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder App.