My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 223

Episode Date: April 19, 2021

This week’s hometowns include a John Wayne Gacy connection and an exploding film story.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is exactly right. We at Wondery live, breathe, and downright obsess over true crime. And now we're launching the ultimate true crime fan experience, Exhibit C. Join now by following Wondery, Exhibit C, on Facebook and listen to true crime on Wondery and Amazon Music. Exhibit C, it's truly criminal. Hello and welcome to my favorite murder, the mini-soad. It's mini.

That's it. You want to go first this week? Or you want... Oh, go ahead. Well, I was just going to say, this is the show where we read you your hometowns back to you that you've written to us at myfavoritmurder at gmail.com. Amen. And, yes, I'll go first.

Okay. I'm not going to read you the title, Getting Right, and it says, Hi Karen, Georgia, Getting Right to It. My mom was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago and was one of six kids in an Irish Catholic family. Hey, Karen. My mom told me the story about my grandma, and it's too good not to share. Back when my mom was a kid, she said my grandma would take her and all of my aunts and uncles

to a local movie theater fairly often in the summer to pass the time. I love that so much. Just hang out because there's AC and it starts. What are we going to do today? At some point, my grandma started to notice that an older man around her age would regularly frequent this movie theater too and sit in the back row of children's movies by himself. She never had a child with him, nor did he appear to be with anyone. My grandma noticed he wasn't really paying attention to the film, but rather the little

children in the theater. Totally creeped out. My grandma tried to complain, but the staff said he was so nice and gave her the whole he comes in here all the time. He's harmless bullshit. So after seeing this man a few times, my grandma stopped taking my aunts and uncles to the theater because she couldn't get past how weird it was. Now, I'm not sure how much time passed, but one evening my mom said that my grandma was

watching the news when the whole John Wayne Gacy boys in the crawl space thing broke. My grandma yelled at the TV, that's that creepy bastard from the movie theater. John Wayne Gacy? So yeah, the creepy man in the theater had to be looking at little boys because it was John Wayne fucking Gacy. My grandma has amazing intuition. It's kind of crazy to think that he could have been eyeing my uncles at the time. Who knows what would have happened if my grandma didn't trust her gut.

Also crazy that my mom's family literally saw him in the flesh. I loved my grandmother, Joan. She was such a badass. She was the sweetest woman who could hold her own if she had to and taught me never to care what other people think. She died back in 2008, but still remains so close to my heart. And I'm thankful I have so many memories of her, including this one. Thank you for the amazing podcast.

You ladies are badass motherfuckers, SSDGM, Abby W. Abby Epic. And her grandma, Joan. Epic for knowing that this man was troubled no matter how polite he was. Well, that's the thing is, first of all, it's not fair that teens at a movie theater are have to manage sometimes like sex pests. And also that's the whole move, obviously is engracing yourself to people and pretending that you're super low key and no big deal.

What was he going to be a big fucking asshole to everyone? Yeah. Right? Like, hey, I'm a big old perv. What's up? I'm I'm I'm here by myself as a middle-aged man, and I'm also very finicky. Let's see how long this relationship works out. No.

One person complains about me. I'm out of here. Let's try this. Let's roll these dice. I'm not going to read you. Well, whatever. I'm a mob boss to asshole landlord that starts to whom it may concern. I heard you guys were taking mob stories now, so here's mine.

One summer I worked in a court aid service in Massachusetts. We mostly helped fill out paperwork and explained how the court system worked for litigants. One day a gruff old man with a walker came in to the center and said his landlord was trying to evict him and he needed help with the paperwork to file an answer. The packet to file an answer is long and tedious, so he complained to me about his landlord while I filled everything out. Everyone who came through the center complained, understandably, about a landlord, ex-spouse, the government, attorneys, me, etc.

So I didn't think much of this man's particular complaints. Mostly people just need a sort of therapist to listen to them. So I say something like, your landlord sounds like an asshole to which he replied, sweetheart, you have no idea. I eventually finished the paperwork and brought it to my supervisor. He took one look at the landlord's name and asked, the landlord's name is Howard Winter. I replied, yeah, do you know him? To which my supervisor said, yeah, if this is the Howard Winter I'm thinking of, then

this is Howie Winter. He once led the Winter Hill Gang. This gruff old man's landlord was one of the notorious leaders of Boston's Will Hill Gang, the top Irish mob on the East Coast in the 60s and 70s. No comment. Uh-huh. After winter went to prison for fixing horse races, Whitey Bulger took over as the leader of the Winter Hill Gang.

Whoa. So his landlord was above Whitey Bulger. My supervisor did some Googling while I went back to the man and explained how the rest of the court proceedings would go. I also told him that he needed to serve the answer on his landlord. And I asked if he was able to get the paperwork to his landlord. He had to serve this guy, basically. He said, yeah, he's on house arrest, so he's easy to find.

I had no idea how to reply, so I just go, okay, great, good luck. Meanwhile, my supervisor found Winter's entry in the all-knowing Wikipedia. Lo and behold, the quote later in Life Section said that after Winter got out of prison, he became a property manager. It also said he was arrested and released on bail for extortion charges in 2012. I don't know what happened to the old man, but I like to think he served his answer to Howie Winter as a big F.U. and got to keep his home. Stay sexy and background check your landlords, Nora.

I don't think I would serve Whitey Bulger's under- or overling. The fact that the complainant, if that's a word, is the person who has to go serve is not so. Absolutely. That's endangerous. That old man, yeah, that's like, we need to rethink that system, I think. That's like sending someone to the gallows. I mean, best case scenario, it's just an asshole landlord.

But in this case, in this very specific instance, it was a person who's not unfamiliar with gunplay. No. And the tenant knew that, but I feel like old men are like, fuck that shit, I don't care. Good for him. Jesus. That's intense.

That's some intense, um, civil work. Litigation. Yes. The subject line of this one is, my sister thought she killed me. Okay, y'all. I grew up in Arkansas right outside of Little Rock. The town was very small, and back then there was hardly any development, which meant our double-wide trailer sat on a piece of land surrounded almost completely by the woods.

There were six of us girls, and we had nothing to do most of the time, so we created our own entertainment. Wow. What a life. Of course you did. Six girls. Oh, God. Yeah.

Oh. One summer, when I was six, my sister's created a new and dangerous game where one of us would get into the knitted hammock in our yard, wrap the sides around us like a cocoon. No, I know. I know this. And swing around in a complete 360. It was like a fair ride in our yard. When my stepsisters were gone one week, me and my sister were playing with a neighborhood

boy attempting the hammock ride. We were showing off how fun it was, and my sister used me as the example of how to do it. This is where my memory loss starts. Oh, my God. I woke in my sister's arms as she was carrying me across the yard, crying and screaming, Mom, Mom, I killed Carrie, I killed Carrie. Fun, right?

The next thing I remember was being on the couch as my mom and sister helicoptered over me to make sure I was alive. After being examined by my family, accused of faking it, cries for my grandma, question mark. In a trip to the hospital, I was finally diagnosed with a concussion and sent home. Turns out as my sister was spinning me around, it wouldn't happen anymore. Just wouldn't. No, it shouldn't.

It shouldn't have happened. It shouldn't have ever happened to her or me. Turns out as my sister was spinning me around, the side of the hammock where my head was snapped and I landed fully on my head with a thud knocking me out cold. The boy we were playing with immediately hopped on his four wheeler and ditched me and my sister. What a dick. They wrote in parentheses asshole.

And when my sister checked on me, she said my lips were blue and she was fully convinced I was dead. She had no choice but to scoop me up while sobbing and carrying me into the house in a complete panic. Another thing I remembered was the next morning I woke up thinking, hell yeah, I don't have to go to school today because I went to the hospital last night and my mom completely shattered that thought by replying, oh no, honey, it's Sunday and the doctor said you can go to school tomorrow.

Oh my God. Anyway, stay sexy and teach your goddamn kids never to trust a hammock. Bye, Carrie. Wow. Well, I think a group of six sisters is called, we wanted a son at some point or but also like six sisters is equivalent to like 15 lady friends like sisters makes it double time. You know what I mean?

Yes. Entirely. The amount of like grabbing things and snapping and emotion and stealing stuff and being mean for no reason. Yeah. That's time six is and then that's your favorite order and so you defend that one and you hate that one from that one and this one does this and that one was your best friend and she will be again tomorrow but this is how pride and prejudice got written for these experiences.

Okay. That was great. This is called spontaneous combustion causes 180 deaths. Hey, y'all just listened to episode 269 and after hearing about all those spontaneous combustion deaths, I was inspired to write in an 1897 at a film at a film festival in Paris, a projector carrying nitrate film caught fire and caused the deaths of 180 people. Nitrate film was a popular film stock in the early 20th century. This film is extremely flammable and produces its own oxygen supply as it burns.

Because of this, it's very hard to put out and then can eat and can even burn underwater. No way. Remember the fire that was at the silent movie theater that that that's why it happened is all the old film. It only takes a few decades for the film to start deteriorating. As it deteriorates, it emits large quantities of poisonous flammable gas and under the right conditions has been known to spontaneously combust. In 1937, a 20th century Fox silent movie film archive spontaneously combusted due to poor

ventilation, extreme heat and a buildup of poisonous gases from the nitrate film. It took 150 firefighters to put out the fire. Only one person died and a few were injured. But it was deviating in terms of silent film history. More than 40,000 reels of negatives and film prints were destroyed. 57 truckloads of film were hauled from the site. This fire destroyed 75 percent of Fox's silent movies from before 1932. Which I'm so glad they wrote this in because I've heard this before and there's a reason

so few silent movies exist. It's because of this kind of film and they so they all fucking exploded and shit. This email is a PSA to anyone who finds film from the before the 1950s. There's a good chance it's nitrate film, even if it doesn't say so, as not all of them were labeled. This film is extremely dangerous and should be dealt with properly. Always handle it with gloves and store in a cold place. Thank you so much for making this podcast.

I've been back work. I'm not working in person at my job since last June. I work in a government archive and apparently I can't take the documents home because they are quote confidential and important. So I have to come to work. Your podcast has kept me sane and laughing throughout this crazy time. Stay sexy and keep away from combustible materials. Natasha, she, her love that PSA.

I mean, it's that kind of thing where like then now everybody go check your attic and or basement and or garage because if there's like, oh, these were my grandma's. Yeah. Home movies. Is that what she's saying? I think, I don't know. But also like I go to a state sales and it's like, oh, look at this old timey thing that will look great on my shelf or whatever.

And it's like, no, don't buy that. Looking for a better cooking routine with meal planning, shopping and prepping handled. Hello, fresh has you covered. Hello, fresh makes home cooking easy and affordable so you can stay on track and on budget in the new year. Hello, fresh meals are convenient, seasonal and delicious. Stay cozy all winter long with classic comfort foods available weekly. While I stop with just dinner, now you can enjoy Hello, fresh's expanded menu of quick

lunch solutions, weekend brunch, simple side dishes and amazing desserts. Karen January is going to be my month for Hello, fresh. I am so sick of takeout. I miss cooking so much I haven't lifted a knife or a pan since like early fall. So I can't wait to get back in the kitchen and Hello, fresh makes it so easy and also makes it so that my food tastes good, which is hard to do on my own. It gives you everything, everything you need. So get up to 20 free meals with purchase plus free shipping on your first box at hellofresh.ca

slash murder 20 with code murder 20. That's up to 20 free meals plus free shipping on your first box when you go to hellofresh.ca slash murder 20 and use code murder 20. Goodbye. Hey, I'm Aresha and I'm Brooke and we're the hosts of Wanderer's podcast, Even The Rich, where we bring you absolutely true and absolutely shocking stories about the most famous families and biggest celebrities the world has ever seen. Our newest series is all about the incomparable diva, Whitney Houston, Whitney's voice

defined a generation and even after her death, her talent remains unmatched, but her incredible success hit a deeply private pain. In our series, Whitney Houston, Destiny of a Diva will tell you how she hid her true self to make everyone around her happy and how the pressure to be all things to all people led her down a dark path. Follow Even The Rich wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. The subject line is, can I out and bear this vibrator girl?

Oh, and then the first line is, can I out and bear this vibrator girl? Possibly. As the oldest child in my family, me going off to college in 2001 was a very emotional affair. My parents bought me a webcam so we could have video visits and I heard my dad cry for the first time after he said goodnight to me for the last time in the house I grew up in. For all you middle parters, webcams in the early aughts came with their very own quote unquote website.

You turn on your webcam, a weird little ball you'd mount on top of your CRT monitor and it would be live at its specific site, which had like 150 unique characters so people couldn't stumble across it. We had a handful of video visits in the very first weeks in my very first weeks of college, especially because it was September of 2001. But as my absence normalized and my younger siblings extracurricular high school schedules picked up, our visits became difficult to schedule and extremely rare. So late one January night, I was chatting with my webcam on with an on again off again

boyfriend while sipping some apple pucker. Oh jeez I know where this is going. Things got flirty and consensual and consensually with the sexual confidence only borne by a tipsy college freshman, I took off my shirt and was chatting in my bra. He really wanted me to take off my bra but our sexy chat was interrupted by the phone ringing before I answered I knew it was my dad and then this is in all caps put some goddamn clothes on. For some reason late that night, he and my mom had missed me and went to my webcam site

thinking that they'd get to see my face by chance for a minute before they went to bed. They saw much more. My ultra Christian mom was crying and my dad was absolutely furious. I tried to explain that I was just chilling out in my door but they didn't buy it I love that idea. So this is me in college I just like to sit around in my bra. I don't know one woman who ever who's done that or does that sits in her bra. Yeah, no.

You take those out the moment you walk through a door. It's all or nothing. They also didn't know I drank alcohol so that little charade came crashing to a halt. It was the most awkward phone call of my entire life. I am now 37 years old and the story comes up every once in a while and I still haven't admitted to my parents that I was chatting with a guy even though all caps they know and all caps I know they know and all caps they know that I know that they know. I feel like it's too late now.

My husband says I'm nuts but that's my midwestern family dynamic. I guess I know my husband this is a married woman stay sexy and just be honest with your family it's not worth 20 years of lies L that is I mean yeah that sucks I feel like the drinking part would be worse than the shirt part because at least or the bra part because at least she wasn't completely top topless like by the grace of her mom's God she fucking had those nips covered but miraculously because of her mom's God that no one's looking for silver linings they're only they're only seeing like the devil is trying to bargain with bad bad things you know think about it this way great tits and now her mom was proud

of her great tits what if she was making money yeah all right I have one more and it's an embarrassing one too perfect this is TSA trauma light-hearted question mark which I think are always the best light-hearted ones is you judge ladies a few minisodes ago you told a story about Georgia's TSA trauma and I have my own story I thought I'd share totally forgot about that please don't but I want but we already did you can go listen to it but this person is clearly so far behind they're just like oh no it's so long ago we're so far behind on reading emails it was she sent it like six weeks ago true well yeah there's people who have a four-year complaint that's okay I've traveled for work my entire adult

life and so not only do I have pre-screen I have a system for all my required liquids remember when we used to travel I do pre-screen before I fly I refill all my travel size bottles put them in a one-liter see-through bag and tuck them into my carry on before packing because I have the pre-screen status I don't usually have to take liquids out on my carry on right after one particularly hellish work trip I had a personal trip plan with my husband a sexy trip to make up for all my time away from home it was a quick turnaround so when I got home I refilled my liquids tossed them at the bottom of my bag and packed my sun-dresses and bathing suits on top at the last minute I tossed in a bottle of lube into my carry

on and then she said as Karen says traveling is dehydrating and I rushed back out to the airport I didn't think much about the security screening process until a large loud TSA employee said to be ma'am please come open your suitcase again I didn't think much of it because I go through screening all the time without issues I'm a professional remember only this time I have the bottle of lube that he wants to discuss with me loudly and this time I'm traveling with not only my husband but 18 of our closest friends and family members no to a destination wedding no 18 is definitely in all caps needless to say the trip felt deeply unsexy pretty quickly my TSA guy had no chill and gave me a loud lecture on the

importance of understanding that quote lube is a gel and gels are liquid and we wouldn't be having the discussion if I followed the rules I think I nearly died of embarrassment no TSA guy has chill because this is what they live for yeah you know well the moral of the story is that lube is a liquid and it cannot just be tossed into a carry on or as the TSA employee loudly shouted lube is a liquid ma'am ssdgm v that I think that that TSA employee was passive aggressive at the very least he was a troll at the worst and just but like what's why would you first of all just don't raise your voice in public but why not why can't everybody be like that yeah if you want to talk about anything any

liquid you you still have to whisper and have somebody come over separate you know why would you be yelling anything across an area you know it might be his trigger is dehydrated women that could be like really what gets gets him going he gets he gets really agitated and this is all kind of it he's trying to protect and defend yeah yeah yeah drink some water please ma'am please amazing that's it good job guys send in your stories whatever they may be have fun with it you know and if you're in the fan cult you can come and listen to the two bonus hometowns that we're going to do for you guys that's right we're about to do and check it out at my it's called murder dot com the many what's it called mini

mini so it's called the mini mini so yay thanks for listening stay sexy and don't get murdered goodbye Elvis do you want to cookie