My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 385

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

This week’s hometowns include breaking the rules in a museum and a photo of a ghost.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is exactly right. On the 12th season of Tenfold More Wicked, we investigate a series of compelling mysteries from the city of Fall River, Massachusetts, where problems started generations before Lizzie Borden's murders made her a household name. Join me as we cover the misfortunes that have befallen this infamous town for more than 150 years, including the great fire of 1843. Season 12 is out now on Exactly Right.

New episodes on Mondays. Follow Tenfold More Wicked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to my favorite murder. The mini-sode. That's right. Sim. And welcome. To my favorite murder. The mini-sode. That's right. Simultaneously talking. You heard it here first. Are you ready for your own emails? You wanna go first?

Sure. And this is a good way to start because it's entitled, A Classic Hometown. Great. Hey y'all, I'm from a small town in middle Tennessee called McMinnville, sometimes referred to as Meth-min-ville by locals. That is southeast of Nashville and not a whole lot goes on around here.

In the summer of 2015, however, our whole community was rocked by the double murder of business owners, Gayle and Gary Dobson. Gary and Gayle were the owners of a little shop called Gary and Gail's Pit Stop, where you could get some Southern cooking and see familiar faces. That line got me. One morning though, Gary and Gail were not at the pit stop when workers arrived.

Concerned, calls were made to their daughters and a visit was made to their home to check on them. And there a gruesome scene was discovered. The couple had been stabbed to death. As it turns out, their estranged son-in-law had murdered them and fled to Florida in his in-law's Jeep. He was placed on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Most Wanted list and he was soon arrested in a Jacksonville motel after a suspicious hotel employee called the police. He was extradited back to Tennessee where he was tried and convicted of the murders. Gary and Gail were staples of McMinnville and loved by all. And the now closed pit stop is still talked about even today. Thanks for all you do and all the laughter

you bring. Stay sexy, Kendra. Wow, that's so awful. I mean, here's the thing. I feel like this is such a perfect email version of what this show is, which is when these things that happen in the world that are so tragic and so kind of beyond comprehension happen, they affect the people in the community around those people far beyond what the family of those people could kind of understand. Yeah. So it's like what Gail and Gary were bringing to that community

by working so hard to have a restaurant that people could go to and gather at is like a humongous loss more than on the surface you would maybe assume. And it has reverberations for generations. I feel like these stories we hear that it's like the town was never the same. Like, you know, these, it's just so tragic. So sad. Okay. This one's a glitch in the matrix story says, hello, you beautiful bitches. I have been with you since the beginning and I like to think of you as great friends, but then I remembered that you hate loud sneezers and wouldn't really hang out

with me. Just during allergy season. Calm down. Anyway, I have a story that I can't explain, so I hope it confounds and entertains you. When I was a teenager, my best friend, we'll call him Easton because that's his name, gave me a silver ring with a little leaf and flower on it for my birthday.

Two months later, he tragically succumbed to his long-time depression and died by suicide at 17. Oh no. Baby. I was hurt and angry at him for a very long time. I would periodically visit his gravesite over the years that followed and talked to him about what he was missing or just yell at him. I kept that ring for 30 years and then decided that I needed to stop tearing into that old wound. I made my last visit to him where I gave the ring back to him by burying it in the ground at his gravesite. Flash to a year later and I was cleaning out my Jeep. I was doing an unusually good job this time by cleaning out the black hole between the

seats and the center console when I felt a small round object along the seat rail. When I pulled it out, I immediately started shaking and crying. I'm sure you've guessed what I found. It was that silver ring. Holy shit. What the fuck? She buried it. It's just, I have no idea how it got there, but I still have it in my jewelry box

because he clearly didn't want it back. I like to think it was a little payback and perhaps comfort for the years of listening to me yell at him as I worked through my grief. You ladies are my heroes and I'm so impressed with your continued success in the community of amazing people you've built over the years. Stay sexy and don't try to return gifts to ghosts that don't want them. Amy, she, her. That, Amy, is an astounding story. I mean, there's no explanation. Zero.

The only explanation is like someone was watching you do it and then went and did that, which is insane. And Occam's razor style doesn't make sense. Right. Wow. And also I think whatever the explanation, it's separate from the understanding that he gave you that ring and you know he's the kind of person that would basically try to freak you out and give it back to you to be like, no, you keep this ring. Right. This was for you. And like, okay, we can move on past the anger and stuff, but

I still want you to have this token. Yeah. It's beautiful. Tough. I mean, just so sad. It's so sad. Being 17 is fucking hard. I get it. But there's more, there's so much more going on in life. Navigating the world of wellness is like finding your way out of a maze. From the recipes to the routines, it's almost like the experts want us to be confused. But not Vaya, they keep things simple.

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Enhance your day with Viya Hemp. Goodbye. All right, here's an example of the other things going on in life. The title of this email is just stupid museum stories. I'm supposed to be working, it just starts, I'm supposed to be working, but I'm listening to MFM, so I'm gonna send you an email instead.

Cool. I just have to say this and I know we say it all the time. It doesn't matter that I say it. I'm so grateful I don't have to work at the Gap anymore. I'm so grateful to George Hart Stark, to all the people that work at our company. I hated retail. I hated working so much from the day I started, and I really do live in active gratitude that there's not going to be a moment where I have to go clock in at the Gap ever again. Same for me with a desk job.

I am so glad I don't have to answer the phone and ask, can I help you? Again, unless I become the receptionist at exactly right, which I don't think is gonna happen, but. But who knows? Yeah. Okay, so sorry to rub that in this person's face, but it says, I heard you wanted people not following obvious museum rules and it

sparked my favorite memory from college. My freshman year, I was in the honors section of my classes. Part of the requirements were attending weekly field trips and writing reports about what we learned. We went to museums, plays, the opera, et cetera. One of our first field trips was to a small museum in the city. Our class broke out into small groups and explored the different rooms of mummies and other ancient artifacts that had to be worth millions if not billions of dollars. Jesus. I mean, or maybe they're priceless.

Priceless, I think is the answer because no one's going to be like, I'll take that. Can you imagine you're standing around like parts of like ancient Egypt. Just like, I think this is probably three, four million dollars worth of stuff. As we were wrapping up to get back on the bus, the museum director came running out and grabbed our professors. It turns out one of the boys decided to climb on an ancient Chinese statue and pretend to write it. So a true understanding of what these things are worth and how invaluable they are. He might have gotten away with it too, but not everyone in the honors program was particularly bright. He took a picture of himself

writing the statue and posted it on Twitter. And all caps tagged the museum. No, how old are we talking? High school? Freshman year of college. So basically extended high school. So too old to fucking do dumbass shit like that. Definitely too old if you're not five years old to do it. What an idiot. But hold on because there's one more phrase that goes to the end of that.

That's also in all caps. While hold on because there's one more phrase that goes to the end of that that's also in all caps. While we were still there. You stupid fucking idiot. Not even on the bus. Not even on the bus. Don't you know, you're not supposed to tag yourself anywhere while you're still there. You fool.

He was quickly expelled from the program and I'm pretty sure our college was banned from ever returning to that museum ever again Stay sexy and don't assume honors kids are smart Alex she her and then it says PS shout out to Melanie for keeping me sane at my boring desk job. I love you. Oh Work wife. Yeah, Melanie making it happen for Alex. Oh my god I can believe that shit the tagging the tagging is like one, you can't, yeah. Why? What the fuck? Be in this world with us, please, where there are rules and regulations for a reason.

For a reason, because things are worth billions. It's like, can you just picture in the 30s, they're like, first of all, stealing from another culture, but wrapping it all up, doing all the things that it takes to steal massive pieces of shit that go in museums, shipping them to another country, all wrapped up, people wearing white gloves, people treating it and then this fool jumps on the back of a statue. Selfie. Okay, my next one's called outsmarting Chuck E. Cheese. It's cute.

Hello to my two favorite podcasters and the team that keeps me company while I work. Oh. In case you're wondering what I do as I listen to your show, I am thrifting for vintage items I resell in my eBay store. Cool. This is my full-time job.

Yes, I love my job, but this is not why I'm writing to you today. People like their jobs. Some do. I do. Some are lucky. Yeah, I do. In a recent episode, there was a story involving a boy who got himself a ton of tickets at

Chuck E. Cheese. This made me think of a time my son, who was now a chemical engineer, outsmarted the mouse as well. Chemical engineer. It says, let me preface the story by saying that raising a young man with an engineer's brain is quite challenging. You've seen the Big Bang Theory, right?

My son sees the world in black and white. Gray does not exist. There is a right and wrong answer. Maybe that is not an option. But a big upside to a brain like this is rules are very important. Rules must be followed. Not doing so is illogical. I just said that. That was my point. You're an engineer. Hey. Okay. Now

that I've given you a bit of an image of my amazing slightly neurotic brainiac son, let me tell you about a day my mom and I took this then nine year old boy to Chuck E. Cheese. As my mom and I caught up chatting over terrible pizza, my son was happy as could be playing all the games. He had a system to which games gave out the most tickets. He was gonna earn that giant Nerf gun one day and he just knew it. After a bit of time, he came over to me in the cashier as I was refilling my soda.

He asked the employee, if I find tickets on the floor, can I keep them or do I need to return them to you? The cashier smiled and said, you can keep all the tickets you find on the floor. Actually, we would appreciate you picking them up. You get very excited and ran off yelling back, thank you. When I went back to the table, my son was running back and threw down an entire roll of tickets on the table. My mom and I both looked down at mouths agape and said, where did you find that?

He said on the floor beside the machines. That's right. Apparently the machine was getting reloaded with tickets and the rolls never got put in the machine. Instead, they sat on the floor. So the worker who was reloading it just walked away and forgot to put their tickets in the machine. Something happened. They were like, their phone rang. They started fighting with their

girlfriend, whatever. Exactly. Oh, he brought his loot to the counter. And when we told the cashier what happened, she said, well, he did ask and we have to honor that. So what will it be kid? This fucking awesome lady. She also respects rules. Yeah. She's like, it's my last day at this job. I hate this job. Let me give this kid whatever he wants. Yeah. He won. Yeah. Rules. And it says, guess who walked out with that giant Nerf gun that day?

Thanks for letting me share my story on how my son outsmarted the mouse that day. Also, thanks so much for keeping me company as I thrift. Your passion for what you do is something that cannot be faked. Oh. Your show is a comfort to me and so many others. It's Abby She Her from the serial killer capital of the country,

Pacific Northwest, Tacoma, Washington. Wow. Yeah, Tacoma. That is such a victory for all children everywhere. Truly. It's like instead of the thing of don't ask and apologize later or whatever, get them on the technicality of having ask and apologize later or whatever, get them on the technicality of having asked and getting them to agree to your plan. Yeah. Rules can be followed however you want them to be followed as long as they're still technically

followed in certain instances, obviously. Well, and also Chuck E. Cheese has made the value of that gigantic Nerf gun times one million. Yeah. And they're essentially ripping you off so you can play Ski Ball. No one's ever won that before. That was the first time. We can't be expected to remember all the subscriptions we signed up for.

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by going to rocketmoney.com slash murder. That's rocketmoney.com slash murder. Rocketmoney.com slash murder. Rocketmoney.com slash murder. Goodbye. Okay, here's my last one. And it's a sad one. The subject line is the wonderful Matthew Perry. It says, Dear Karen and Georgia and everyone behind the scenes at MFM.

I just heard a mini-sode in which someone wrote in and told a story about being drunk, the correct term for a meter made and Matthew Perry. And I know I had to write in to tell you my Matthew Perry story. About 15 years ago, I was a supporting artist on a film starring Matthew Perry. One day on the set, the director was getting more and more irritated at a fellow supporting artist who couldn't get in the correct position for the shot, or couldn't quite understand what was being asked, or even that it was him the director was shouting at. It was a fairly big crowd scene and we were spread over some distance. It got so bad that the director ended up screaming at the poor guy,

hey you, you, no not you, you, move, no, no, you, tall guy with glasses, etc. Everyone was getting increasingly uncomfortable. It was awkward and weird and I felt so sorry for the guy. It was quite clear that he was new to this. I'm pretty sure we were all roped in at the last minute as we were friends with some of the production staff. And he really wasn't sure what he should do. Matthew Perry, God bless him, was also getting visibly exasperated, but not with the supporting artist, with the director.

So after not an insignificant amount of yelling, Matthew Perry turns to the supporting artist and very calmly, very quietly, and very politely asks his name. Adrian, the man replies. Matthew Perry turns back to the director and very firmly, very authoritatively, and very awesomely says,

his name is Adrian. It was fucking brilliant, a perfect bike drop moment and an act of pure class. The director was suitably told without being told and carried on as nice as pie. I think it was his first time directing. I'm sure it fucking was.

I don't think it matters though. I think it could have been his 20th and he'd still act like that if that was. I mean, if it was his 20th, that would have been celebrated and lauded if he was a certain kind of person. True. Matthew Perry was an utter gentleman. I will never forget this, his manners and his professionalism. I always tell this story when Matthew Perry comes up in conversation as an example of what a brilliant human he was and how lucky I was to have, albeit

briefly, come into his orbit. Lots of love, Joe. Oh my god. It's not nice. I remember being an extra and getting yelled at for not doing the right thing. Dude. I mean, also I feel like in those situations, and Matthew Perry was a child actor. I remember watching him when I was a kid on all kinds of sitcoms. He would come in as like the boy girls like from school and stuff like that. He was very Jason Bateman-y in that way where he was like a young sparkling 12 year old boy. Yes. So he's seen the worst of the worst. He went through it all and he knows exactly how that guy feels. Amazing.

And then he did something about it. Matthew Perry, big ups. Okay, here's my last one. It's a fucking ghost one. I have a photo to show you. Hi, Karen, Georgia and the whole MFM crew. As a long time listener, I was excited to hear you cover a very familiar story in episode 425 of the pod, the London Beer Flood of 1814. I work at the Dominion Theater, which was built on the site of the Horseshoe Brewery, where Eleanor Cooper, the young barmaid crushed to death in the flood, remember the wall fell down on her? Yep.

It's said to be the resident ghost. Ooh. At the Dominion Theater. Although I haven't had any ghostly experiences myself, multiple colleagues have heard a girl's laughter in the empty rooms, and there's often reports of things moving of their own accord. She even seemed to be captured in the background of a selfie taken in 2012 by visitors who claim no one

was sat behind them at the time. So of course I looked the photo up. Do you want to see it? Yes, I do. I don't know if we can post it on our socials, but look up Dominion Theater Ghost and look in between. Oh no. Look in between them. I just did a bad thing for audio,

which is yelled, oh no, into my mic as close as I possibly could. It's a face. It's like, looks somehow old timey, whatever that means. Kind of looks like me, which is troubling a little bit. Well, it's black and white. It's perfectly cropped. Yeah, it's a little girl in black and, and like the people are in white people's flesh color, but the little girl behind them who's looking down is in black and white.

It's like Japanese horror movie vibes for sure. And she's like peaking between their heads. It's so creepy. And they promise no one was back there. I mean, someone was back there, they brought someone weird to that fucking play. Okay, I have heard it said that the reason that Eleanor's spirit lingers on the site

of her tragic death is because no one was ever held accountable for the flood that caused it, as you discussed. Well, I don't know if I believe in ghosts myself, I hope that if Eleanor is still here, then she is at least enjoying the many shows that have been on at the theater over it's almost 100 year life. SSDGM, Abby.

God, the idea that you, as that young woman, just gets randomly killed in a freak accident one day. And you spend eternity haunting a theater, like haunting this spot. You know what I think we should do? Like, I'm sure we have both done this with our sisters, but I think we should do this with the audience, all the murderinos.

Let's all promise each other that we will figure out a way when we're ghosts to like send a sign. Let's get in a selfie if we can, that'd be great. Let's all try, if we all try, at least one of us will succeed, you know? I thought you meant, cause it's like, so we're making a plan to be ghosts. Well, when we are, inevitably.

And then when we're there, we have homework. It's not gonna be like, you don't get to wander around crying and panicking. Don't you do that with your sister? I swear I'll send you a sign. I swear when I'm, if I die, I'll send you a sign. Yeah. As a ghost. So we're agreeing as murder, you know, is to do that. I'm going to lay a tube of Pringles across your pillow and then you'll know it's me. So many crumbs. Thanks for listening to the hometowns, right? Yours in whatever it is. Ghost stories are highly welcome, always. My favorite murder at Gmail. Ghost stories, trash

dad stories, trash dog stories. We love it all. We do. Thanks for sharing your stories with us. Stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Good bye. 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 Squillace. Email your hometowns to MyFavoriteMurder at gmail.com. And follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My FavoriteavoriteMurder and on Twitter at MyFaveMurder

Goodbye!