My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 382

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

This week’s hometowns include a traumatic roller coaster ride and exploring the bottom of the ocean. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is exactly right. New McCafe Cold Brew has officially dropped, and it's got people feeling smooth. Smooth like... Mmm. New McCafe Cold Brew. Try it with French vanilla or caramel cream. At participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. with French vanilla or caramel cream at participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. That's the sound of unaged whiskey,

transforming into Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Around 1860, nearest green taught Jack Daniel how to filter whiskey through charcoal for a smoother taste, one drop at a time. This is one of many sounds in Tennessee with a story to tell. To hear them in person, plan your trip at TNVacation.com. Tennessee sounds perfect. My favorite murder.

Hello. And welcome. To my favorite murder. The mini-sode. Where we read you your stories about your grandpa. Do you want to go first, grandpa? Sure, grandma. Okay this one's called another mom's brush with death. I sent this in a while ago and now I'm trying again because someone else's similar

story got picked recently and then it says I'm not bitter. It worked. It was December 1977 in Los Angeles and my mom was working for a small company in Echo Park. She was 20 years old and newly living on her own. One night when she was leaving work, she saw two young men just standing around across the street. There was a bar next door, so it wasn't unusual for people to be around, so she ignored them and started walking to her car, which was parked down the street. At the time, the female employees weren't allowed to park in the company's parking lot. She felt like something was off,

so she looked back over her shoulder, and the two men were now walking in the same direction. When she sped up, they matched her pace, and then they started crossing the street towards her. That's when she started running. She could hear them chasing her, and all she could feel was fear, but she focused on getting to her car.

But in her panic, she struggled with her keys to unlock the door. The men were so close now that she was sure they were going to get her. That's when, all of a sudden, a lone car turned the corner onto their empty road. The driver, seeing what was happening and acting quickly, put his foot to the floor and barreled towards the men, chasing them away. Oh shit! When they were gone, put his foot to the floor and barreled towards the men, chasing them away. Oh shit. When they were gone, he went back to check on my mom

and made sure she got in her car. She thanked him and told him what happened, then went home completely shaken from the event. The next day, my mom went back to work because just because you almost got attacked didn't mean you could skip work. That's right. And found out the female employees were now allowed to park in the employee parking lot.

Apparently the man who saved her went to her work and told them what happened. Who was this man? I don't know. Listen to this part. A couple nights after the incident, a body was found in Echo Park, not far from my mom's work. She turned out to be Kimberly Diane Martin, one of the victims of the hillside stranglers. Yeah. Wow. My mom knew about the strangler, but at the time no one knew there were two killers. It wasn't until later when their pictures showed up on the news that she made the connection. They were the same men who had followed her that night. Jesus Christ. I know.

I mean, and the fact that a body was found later in Echo Park, which is in a large area, it just confirms it. Yes. It could have been her, if not for it, like basically fate and that man. It blows my mind how close my mom came to being one of their victims. I can't believe she never told me the story.

And then she told it so casually. What the heck, mom? If it hadn't been for that driver, I probably wouldn't be here now. Unfortunately, she told it so casually. What the heck, mom? If it hadn't been for that driver, I probably wouldn't be here now. Unfortunately, she never saw him again, but I wish I could thank him. Thank you if you read all the way through this. I know it's long. Stay sexy and let women park in the employee parking lot. Ronnie, she, her. I mean, amazing story, Ronnie, but like, sorry, are you saying that only men could park in the employee parking lot?

I think no one could. No one could. There was a known serial killer out and about and they still wouldn't let the females park in the parking lot. Fucking assholes. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, there's no job I've ever had where I've been allowed to park in the parking lot,

like retail and, you know. True, true. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I get it. I wasn't, I was totally thinking of like an office job where it's an employee parking lot. And they, cause like the employee parking lot. Yes, yes. No, I like, you know, when you work at a clothing store,

you have to park down the street where there's not two, in LA, don't get me started. Don't even, but on Melrose, are you kidding me? It's so strange about that too, is after you get off work, when I leave a bar and walk to my car, I'm very aware of what's going on and careful. When I leave work, I'm like at night, where I used to, I'd be like, doot-doot-doot, I'm leaving work, this is part of the work day.

And I didn't pay as much attention, you know? Yeah. I also, what flashed in my head, as we were talking about that, because that was like, Hellside Strinklers was late 70s, early 80s, right? It was like 79 or 80s? This was from 77, so yeah, yeah.

Oh, 77. Yeah. Oh, they got caught maybe in these later years, but what a total, because you go like, how could they have done that? How could they have whatever? Think about what things were like in the 60s, where it was like astronauts and like the Kennedys and you know basically

the American dream shit and then you flip over into the seventies and go into literal hell on earth and especially in Los Angeles in Los Angeles in Seattle. Do you know why? Why there's a theory on this. What was the I listened to this podcast recently about lead poisoning. And in the 1930s, they started using leaded gasoline. And there is a direct correlation between, if you look on a, like a chart, the uptick in lead in the air

and the uptick in violent crime matches because it fucks with your prefrontal cortex. And so the 1970s is when it peaked. And when all the people who had babies in the 30s, 40s, 50s, those babies started becoming older, that's when this violence broke the fuck out. Oh, my God. That's unbelievable.

And also so fucking sinister, because it's like, this is one of yet another example of like, capitalism's killing of yet another example of like capitalism is killing us where, you know, got to fill those cars with gas. Yeah. You know, especially in LA. Well, and also because it was only because there was a pinging noise in the gas tank and the lead got rid of it. And they knew though that it was like toxic. So the podcast is called What a Day, What A Day, and the episode's called How We Got Here, How Lead Poisoning Rewired America.

I mean, holy shit. I know. And they think that's why there's so many serial killers in the 70s and stuff. And it would make sense that there were so many serial killers in Los Angeles because Los Angeles had the most cars, the most polluted air. There were days my mom wasn't allowed to go to elementary school because the air was so bad. Oh shit. Yeah.

It says it's a show. Fox and Friends would sound like if they were hosted by people whose parents read to them as children. That's the fucking funniest thing I've ever seen. Oh my God, I love it. I thought I read it wrong. Oh my God. Oh my God, oh that's so sad. I'm giving read it wrong. Oh my God. Oh, that's so sad.

I'm giving What A Day a listen for sure. All right, love it. Okay, here's my first one. The subject line is I survived a natural disaster plus Norwegian grandma. Hello, podcast royalty. Oh. Hi.

Hi, that's us. You recently did a story about a Norwegian survivor. And in my attempt to get you to read my story, I'm resubmitting this because it has a Norwegian tie in. Did it work? I guess we'll find out. When I was about seven or eight, my sister, hi Kelly, and I were staying at our parents' friend's house for a weekend while they were out of town. They had two daughters, the same age as us. So we were four peas in an early 90s pod. Hours before my parents were due home, a massive monsoon

came rolling through. The four of us, being the Arizona babies we were, gleefully danced barefoot in the rain until the thunder and lightning got a bit too threatening and we were forced inside. At some point, my parents showed up. A babysitter was there too. For a reason I can only imagine means that they were planning on leaving us mere moments after they returned to have some welcome home drinks with their friends.

It's tough. Soon the storm took a turn. Summer monsoons in the nineties were absolutely insane. Windows rattling to the point of shattering, rolling power outages, shingles from roofs were even known to slice into block walls from the near hurricane winds. This was one of those storms. The four of us sat huddled in the middle of the house crying, scared shitless from the

now biblical level storm, while the parents chatted in the kitchen, completely uninterested in our wailing. Suddenly and simultaneously, there was a flash of light so bright we were momentarily blinded, and the house shook so violently from the thunder that it felt like it was going to implode. Yep, we were in the house when it got struck by lightning. We saw, with our very own eyeballs, a ball of light race through the house from the guest bathroom where the lightning initially struck into the kitchen to the landline phone which was in the hand of the babysitter who was at that moment reassuring her mom that she was safe from the

storm. Holy shit. Seeing this as a child. Lightning in your house. Lightning in the house. Watching it go around the house. Everyone froze. What does one do when you're in your house. Lightning in the house, watching it go around the house. Everyone froze. What does one do when you're in a house that is struck by lightning and you physically see the bolt shoot through multiple rooms into the unassuming hand of a 15 year old girl? Oh my God. Fuck if I know. Somehow she was completely unscathed, but her mom probably felt validated for worrying. The house didn't fare as well. There was now a three-foot-wide hole in the roof over the guest bathroom directly above the toilet slash shower, mere feet from where we were. The rain kept the house from catching on fire, but that also meant that the bathroom was quickly becoming flooded. So my dad, his friend, and a

neighbor proceeded to, all caps, get on the roof to cover the hole in a severe thunderstorm. Lightning can't strike twice, right? Thankfully, the sentiment held true. After that, it's a bit of a blur, but the best part was that our friends then got to stay at our house on a school night, best night ever. Where's the Norwegian grandma, Taya and I promised, you ask? It may be a bit of a stretch, but here she is.

My dad's mom, my grandma, Orla, and then it says in parentheses, amazing name, was struck by lightning not once, but twice and lived. She was also once gored by a bull and served during World War II as an accountant and the only woman in her unit. She died from her second bout of cancer on my second birthday, but from these and countless other stories, she certainly was one badass Norwegian lady, much like her countrymen. But maybe she could have refrained from passing down her lightning rod jeans to my sister and me. Stay sexy and don't take a shower

in a thunderstorm, Sarah. I didn't even think about a lightning bolt hitting a house and what would happen. I've never thought about that. My God, I've never thought that was a possibility that it would come into the house. And then bust a hole through too. That's wild. And then go to the landline. Thank God we don't have landlines anymore. I mean, it's giving poltergeists, you know what I mean?

Mm-hmm. There are plenty of reasons to have a home security system, but one of my favorite perks is being able to check who's at the front door. With SimpliSafe's easy to install Video Doorbell Pro and their HD cameras, you'll be able to see any activity at your front door and throughout your home. Using a security system for the first time can be intimidating,

but with practice mode, you can practice arming and disarming without worrying about signaling dispatch. If you need help during setup, the SimpliSafe customer service team is world-class. Newsweek recognized them as the best in the business. And if there's ever a break-in, SimpliSafe's 24-7 professional monitoring means you'll have a trained agent on standby. They can talk to intruders and dispatch emergency responders.

SimpliSafe is an award-winning home security system that costs less than a dollar a day. See why it's a top pick for experts at publications like NerdWallet and CNET. And if you don't love it after 60 days, return your system for a full refund. The anxiety I get at the thought of answering a door without knowing

who is there, confirming with my own eyes who is there before I decide if I want to pretend that I'm home or not, like the anxiety that brings me. I cannot imagine not having a doorbell cam. And you can use it from your phone. So if you're not even in the house, you can still talk to the person at the door and be like, get away or come back later. Find the peace of mind you're searching for. Get 20% off any new SimpliSafe system. When you sign up for Fast Protect monitoring, just visit simplisafe.com slash fave. That's simplisafe.com slash fave.

There's no safe like SimpliSafe. Goodbye. Hey, when was the last time you actually got your photos printed? 2016? 1999? Never. These days, we take more pictures than ever, but we've stopped actually displaying them. This leaves mom no choice but to keep our old awkward photos hanging up around the house. Fortunately, AuraFrames makes it easy to display

the latest and greatest photos. AuraFrames are digital picture frames with Wi-Fi connectivity that allows you to send photos from your phone to the frame for instant sharing. Your mom will appreciate how easy it is for her to add photos to the Aura frame, but she'll really love that other family members and friends can upload photos to her frame too, thanks to the easy to use Aura app. Share photos and memories as soon as they happen and quit pretending you'll print the pictures eventually. Once you get Aura set up, you'll see why WireCoder named them the number one digital frame. Here's the best idea I've ever had just now.

So you know your lady group chat that you have on your phone and you guys text each other all day every day about the littlest things? What if you got them an Aura frame and you guys could all post photos to each other's frames? Some are really embarrassing, some are cute and sweet, some are just weird memes. Like what a great idea. I am so smart. Right now Aura has a great deal for Mother's Day. Listeners can save on this perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com and use code MFM to get $30 off plus free shipping

on their best-selling frame. That's A-U-R-A-frames.com and use code MFM at checkout to save. Terms and conditions apply. Goodbye. Okay, Six Flags Ride Mishap. Dear Karen Georgia and the whole MFM family, thank you for the laughs for all these years and creating a common ground for my sister and I. You asked for Six Flags stories.

Okay. Sure. So here goes nothing. I grew up in Fenton, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis, about 20 minutes away from the nearest Six Flags. I am the oldest of three siblings with a 15-year age gap between me and my youngest sister, Maddie. When I was home from college one summer, I took her to Six Flags when she was about seven. My family isn't particularly blessed in the height department, so at age seven-ish,

Maddie was barely tall enough, or really not even tall enough, to ride the thrill rides. I was tired of spending time in Looney Tune land and wanted to ride something fun, so forcing her to face her fears, I coaxed her onto the park's iconic ride, the Scream Eagle. A 1976-built wooden roller coaster. We waited in line and I told her how much fun the ride would be.

We get onto the ride somewhere in the middle, sit down in our seats and pull down our lap bars. The ride takes off, gets pulled slowly up the hill in a jarring fashion up the old chain. Oh, God, wooden roller coasters, no. Yeah. And we make our way to the first drop. It was on the first drop that I realized that the height restrictions were there for a reason. As we went down the large hill, Maddie slipped out of her lap bar and began screaming in earnest. I immediately grabbed her and held her into the cart

as we proceeded to go up and down the remainder of the hills. Shit. All the while saying to her, "'Whee, isn't this fun?' Trying not to let on that I am shitting myself in terror that my baby sister is going to go flying off the old coaster." It'll be your fault.

If she does, it'll be your fault. The ride finally ended and thankfully, Maddie was still in my arms crying. Needless to say, it took several years for her to get back on any roller coaster. And now I believe the Scream Eagle has seat belts in addition to the lap bars. Good idea. Today, Maddie has grown up to be a fellow murderino and continues to ride roller coasters

despite me traumatizing her earlier in life. Stay sexy and obey height restrictions on thrill rides, Megan and Maddie. What a way to learn that like the sign's there for a reason. I mean, that is what sisters, that's the sisterest story I've ever heard in my life. It is, it's why I have insane levels of trust issues. I can't tell you how many times my sister and my older cousins are like,

come on, just do it, it's not that big of a deal. And like you get weirdly pressured. You're being a baby. And then you're just hanging by a finger somewhere and they're like, we have to go, come on, just do it, it's not that big of a deal. And like, you get weirdly pressured. You're being a baby. And then you're just hanging by a finger somewhere and they're like, we have to go, come on. Stopping such a baby. Okay, the septic line of this one is the deepest murderino. And then in parentheses, it says, you asked for this.

Hello, exactly right, family. On Mini-Sud 338, you asked us to beat the murderino minor. So here I come. And minor ER. So there was a person who is a underground minor that wrote in and we're like, oh my God, a minor. It listens to us. Karen, you asked us to write in if someone had been

to the bottom of the ocean. What? What? I don't remember that. Man, we must have been fucked up. We get so drunk before we record these. And then it says, so you asked us to write in if someone has been to the bottom of the ocean. Well, I have.

And you have certainly been there with me. I'm a biologist, just graduated a month ago. And last year, December, 2023, I had the opportunity to go and explore the deep sea of my country. I'm from Costa Rica and our territory is 92% ocean. I didn't know that. I didn't either, but I bet it's gorgeous. I bet.

Oh yeah. We were 200 kilometers, which is 124 miles in today's money, off the shore for over two weeks in the middle of the ocean exploring the seamounts mostly around 3,000 meters or 9,842 feet under the sea. Whoa. We officially named the first seamounts of the country and found at least four new species of octopus for science. Not to mention we found not one but three whale fossils probably from the Miocene and the super cool microbiome studies from the hot water vents at the bottom where the octopuses lay their eggs. And yes we saw baby octopuses being born. I period love period my period job. I love your job too. I know it's amazing. You've been with me during my

years of studies a semester abroad and now an upcoming internship while applying to master programs to become a molecular biologist advocating for ocean conservation and a neurobiologist. Oh my god smarty pants. I mean jeez-o Pete. Can you imagine having a brain like that? And then listening to this fucking podcast? Good luck. You got to get dumb. You got to get back to normal somehow, right?

It's just like, I'm so sick of my brain working at like optimal. Yeah, I'm sick of being able to move stuff with my thoughts. So it kind of creeps people out. That's like the it's the podcast version of getting high basically. And then she wraps it up by saying, thank you for being you, keep doing what you do, stay sexy and yes, the correct plural form of octopus is octopussies love Valeria.

Valeria, that was amazing. This is our first email I I believe, from Costa Rica, although there was that creepy thing that happened on the beach that also could have been in Costa Rica. But Valeria, what an honor to go to the deep sea with you. Yeah, yeah. Let's get honorary degrees somewhere. At Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater?

My God, I went to Chuck E. Cheese recently with my nephews for the first time since I was a kid. It smelled like feet in there. It smelled like feet. And it turns out that being good at Skee-Ball is hereditary because my fucking nephew. Nailing it? Nailing it. Love it.

I know. I haven't even thought about Skee-Ball since before the pandemic. And now I'm becoming slowly filled with the need to immediately play skee-ball. Okay. In the arts district downtown, the arts district brewery is just wall-to-wall skee-balls. Are you serious? And it's, last I checked, it was free on Monday. So you just go in there and skee-ball your little heart out.

Okay. So this is separate. Okay. I can't record this Monday. I'm really sick. That was good acting, right? I did. I was there. I'm like, me neither. I'm sick too. And then we see each other. We all feel terrible. Yeah. Then we're in there just viciously competing to who can get the most tickets. Wait, what are the prizes?

Oh, the same kinds of, oh, at the, no, there aren't any. Oh, it's just for fun times. It's just for fun. It would be cool if you get like free drinks and stuff, but it's just for fun. I want some nachos. Yeah, maybe they do nacho. Like they should do something.

I'll go down and start complaining immediately. Yeah, let me take care of this. Bring a bunch of erasers and be like, give these to people who do good. I don't know. May is mental Health Awareness Month, which is great because it gives me another reason to talk about therapy. We can all benefit from being able to express ourselves in a judgment-free environment, and that's exactly what therapy is. If you've been wanting to start or

restart therapy, Talkspace is one of the most accessible and affordable options. They handle everything online, and after signing up, you'll receive a personalized match with a therapist or psychologist, typically within 48 hours. You can start by working on big picture things like behavior or relationship patterns, or if you have specific challenges to address, like anxiety or substance abuse,

they have licensed professionals in over 40 specialties. Talkspace is rated the number one online therapy platform by Forbes and is in network with almost all major insurance companies. That's huge. Once you meet your therapy goals or simply want to cancel, Talkspace will provide you with a pro-rated refund

for unused time. That's a great point. I am going to be in therapy for the rest of my life. I know it. I want to work on every little thing. But if you have like this big life decision coming up or you're just not feeling great in your life right now or you don't know how to handle something, I know it. I want to work on every little thing. But if you have like this big life decision coming up, or you're just not feeling great in your life right now,

or you don't know how to handle something, a short-term therapist can be so helpful for that, just so you can get all the information out of your brain and you can get information from that trained person who knows what you're going through and can help you through it. That is huge. To celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month and the power of talking it out in therapy,

Talkspace is offering our listeners $80 off your first month with promo code SPACE80. Go to Talkspace.com slash MFM and use promo code SPACE80. To match the licensed therapist today, go to Talkspace.com slash MFM and enter promo code SPACE80 and get $80 off your first month and show your support for our show. That's talkspace.com slash MFM and enter promo code space 80. Goodbye. Okay, this is a story about a magic comb. This is my last one.

Hi ladies, love you, admire you, et cetera. You asked for stories parents would make up to get their kids to do things and boy, do I have a traumatic one for you. It is really traumatic. So my two older brothers and I grew up with very thick and unruly hair. My mother's solution to this was to make a sit down one at a time on a stool in the bathroom as she went at our bird's nest with a fine tooth comb trying to get the knots out as best she could. Ouch. She was not gentle about it by any means either. She was a mother of three on a mission, you could say.

As determined as she was, this did not stop us from crying and wincing and whining anytime she tugged too hard. Yeah. Yeah, she was fucking pulling your scalp and it hurt really bad. It's painful when you get your hair pulled, turns out. Also, sorry, but I think hopefully most parents

know this now, but you can hold the hair and then brush it on the other side of your hand and it won't hurt the child. Oh my God, I definitely cried a lot getting my hair braided as a kid. Just the fucking. My dad used to have to do our hair for ballet because my mom was at work and he would be the one home.

And it was a disaster. I'm just picturing like rubber bands that came from the newspaper that morning. You know, yes, the ones that actually grip your hair. Yeah. Oh, Jesus. OK. The complaining obviously slowed her down. So she came up with a plan. She introduced, quote, the truthful comb to us. This was a comb that had the magic ability to get us to confess anything we might

have lied about. How, you may ask? Well, any pain from the comb meant the comb sensed bad behavior. Jesus Christ. Anytime she tugged a little too hard or got caught in a knot and we would cry out or complain, my mother in her sweet and soft angelic voice would say, cry out or complain, my mother in her sweet and soft angelic voice would say, uh-oh, the truthful comb knows something. What did you do? In a nice voice? That's so creepy. I know this got us to confess loads of things from sneaking cookies from the pantry to my brothers confessing to when they would pick on me.

The comb knew it all. It was the ultimate snitch. This is like she made up her own religion. That's insane. Yeah, we learned very quickly not to make a single sound or move an inch. When we got our hair combed though, we became perfect little angels. It's called sucking up the pain.

It's not right. It's not the fix. It's not the fix. It's not, it's pretty brilliant, but it's not. It's not. As adults now, we mentioned the. It's not. It's pretty brilliant, but it's not. It's not. As adults now, we mentioned the comb to my mom and she just laughs and says, hey, I thought it was genius. So we still talk to her at least. Yeah, that's good.

As traumatic as the truthful comb was, I loved my mom. And I think back on my childhood fondly. It's called the trauma response. That's right. What choice do you have? She's always been a clever and badass woman. And I love hearing her stories of raising us with my dad from her perspective. Just a woman trying her best, even if that meant resorting to magic sentient combs that could get your kids to fess up on who rode a bike through mom's flower garden. Pretty clever, honestly.

Stay sexy and don't believe in magical combs. You're probably just tender headed, Meg. It's so rough. It's similar, but way less pain was involved. My mom, like almost confiding in me when I was like four years old was like, oh, I always know when you're lying. I can see it in your face. And of course you can't see your own face, right?

I wouldn't be like talking to her in a mirror, anything like that. So I have a very difficult time lying because I think that's still true somewhere in my mind. I'm not a great liar. Where it's just like, oh, oh, oh. They can tell. They can tell. Oh my God. Yeah. Smart. I mean, they had to, you know, they had to make up shit. Yeah, of course.

Back then. Wait a second. What? This is so crazy. I guess this is probably why I said it. I thought this was the master coincidence. Now I'm like, oh no, this is me. I did it.

The subject line of this email is, Money Booth Heartwarming. And it just starts, y'all, I'm so excited about what just happened. I had to write in. I've been listening to MFM for years and I've particularly enjoyed the mini-sode stories about money booths. From that first money booth story, I've been determining what my strategy would be in the

unlikely event that I, a grown ass woman, should wind up in a money booth. Well today was not my big day, but my long planned strategy did pay off for my six year old nephew, Cooper, when he got into the ticket blaster booth at Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of weird, but I guess, yeah. I kind of did it.

I was like, did I say it? No, you said it. Yeah, okay. It was, yeah, it was laid in to the lasagna of emails in my brain. If you haven't been to Chuck E. Cheese before, this was like, what a classy thing to do, to help out people who might not know.

Do you live in England? You may never heard this before. If you haven't been to Chuck E. Cheese before, it's a place where kids can play arcade games, to win tickets, to exchange for prizes, all while eating subpar pizza and watching a giant animatronic mouse and accompanying band perform on stage.

If you haven't been to Chuck E. Cheese recently, you will be relieved to know that they have since removed the animatronic band and replaced it with a large screen with colorful graphics and videos of kids performing approachable dance moves. That's actually great. Mm-hmm. Those animatronic guys though, those were epic. Yeah, but like the clicking and clanking of the machines was louder than the music, which wasn't great. Yeah, but it

was such a, I mean it was such a time and place. It was too sax heavy. Okay, anyway. Today the other kids who are also having birthday parties weren't faring so well in the ticket blaster booth. They were trying to grab what they could, but they were coming out with maybe five tickets. You can't even get a dumb, dumb lollipop these days, courtesy of old Charles Entertainment Cheese. Did you know his middle name's entertainment? Yes, Chuck E. Cheese.

Chuck E. Cheese. When it was time for Cooper to go into the ticket blaster, I knelt down and I grabbed him by the shoulders, like I was Danny freaking Tanner in full house And I said Cooper when you get in there I want you to go like this and then I pulled the bottom of my shirt straight out in front of me He copied me without a word He seemed to understand but the other grown-ups and I were not convinced he would grasp the importance of holding the strategy for the full

30 seconds Well, I am thrilled to report that Koop got in there with his goggles on and held the bottom of his little Minecraft sweatshirt out straight in front of him the entire time. We watched as ticket after ticket flew right up his shirt until hardly any were left in the booth at all. When he came out and shook out his shirt,

tickets fell out in droves. We even had to pat him down to get the ones that were stuck in his sleeves. Y'all, he got 275 tickets. Holy shit, they were not expecting that. No, in all caps it says 275. That's like two tiny toy cars and at least six and a half dum-dums.

It was legitimately one of my proudest moments of my life. Yeah and like the ant points that you got for that like he'll never what is he was six and he'll never forget that. No that is crucial like I believe my job as being Nora's aunt is to bring the almost anti-establishment remembering what it's like to be a kid, not having to worry about schedules or issues or anything, and just being like, hey, did you know if you did this and you can have that? Like that's my job as the guide. Like how to beat the system, how to beat the system.

Entirely, this was such excellent anting. It was legitimately one of my proudest moments of my life. And I will never forget that moment with Cooper or the gigantic smile on his face. Wait, now I'm going to start crying. Oh, I love it. Or the gigantic smile on his face when he saw all those tickets. Like she helped him cheat to win. I love it. That's not cheating. That's strategy.

No, you're right. It's not cheating. It's being excellent at what you do. That's not cheating. That's not cheating. It doesn't count. Thanks for being you and for helping my nephew and I create a core memory together. Oh, we're a part of this. Stay sexy and always hold your shirt out in the money booth, Megan. She cracked it. Megan, congratulations. That is better than if she had gone in herself and gotten like dollar bills for sure.

I think so too because as a kid, first of all, it's so funny, like Chuck E. Cheese, it's like this world of wonder when you go in there and it's like, oh my God, it's perfect. When you go in as an adult, you're like, this is so disgusting and weird. And the pizza is bad, whatever. And everyone, all the adults looked so miserable. Yes. But the kids, it's like truly engineered for kid stuff.

So then it's not only his birthday, he's not only at Chuck E. Cheese, but then he just fucking dominates the ticket booth. Amazing. Amazing. Love it. Congratulations, Cooper, you're number one. Happy birthday. Oh my God.

Right in your fucking story of the best moment of you as an aunt or uncle in your life. Yeah. Or whatever. And anything, truly anything else that you think is worth a read, we love your stories. Thank you for writing them in, everybody from this episode, and stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye.

Elvis, do you want a cookie? This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck. Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo. This episode was mixed by Liana Squalace. Email your hometowns to MyFavoriteMurder at gmail.com. And follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at MyFavoriteMurder and on Twitter at MyFaveMurder. Goodbye.