# MFM Minisode 494

An episode of [My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1074507850), 29 Jun 2026, 26 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/bdde8bb3-169d-43b1-91d3-b24c0047969c/a8647df3-6e59-40ee-94a2-b47501137ab3/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=f450d41f-16bc-4ecd-8f6c-b24c004796e2

This week’s hometowns include Petaluma owls and a Matthew Shepard tribute. For our sources, please visit https://www.myfavoritemurder.com/episodes. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3UFCn1g. Head to social media to share your favorite moments from this episode. Instagram: instagram.com/myfavoritemurder Facebook: facebook.com/myfavoritemurder TikTok: tiktok.com/@my_favorite_murder Send your hometown stories to myfavoritemurder@gmail.com. Join the Fan Cult to access ad-free episodes of My Favorite Murder. Members also receive merch store discounts, exclusive audio and video content and more! Visit www.fancult.supercast.com to join. Shop for My Favorite Murder and other Exactly Right merchandise here: www.exactlyrightstore.com. Rate, review and follow My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to listen. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:16] Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to my favorite murder, the Miniso.
[0:21] Speaker 2: That's right, you got it. It's the Miniso. The day
[0:23] Speaker 2: before our vacation starts. So we are fucking faruh as shit.
[0:28] Speaker 1: We're about to say the hottest takes in content Land.
[0:32] Speaker 2: Can I go first? I love this one?
[0:34] Speaker 1: Please do?
[0:34] Speaker 2: Okay? Oh, I'm trying not to disappoint you or scare
[0:39] Speaker 2: you or so loud that I upset people. Oh, this
[0:44] Speaker 2: one's called Matthew Shepherd, Romayne Patterson, a fucking badass bitch. Hi,
[0:50] Speaker 2: Karen Georgia and the entire adjacent animal Kingdom. First of all,
[0:54] Speaker 2: I was at the Portland Live Show recently. You guys
[0:56] Speaker 2: killed it. It's been so fun listening to recent episodes
[0:59] Speaker 2: and catching the little stregs from that night. Don't remember
[1:02] Speaker 2: a single thing we said.
[1:03] Speaker 1: What are the Easter eggs like? Are they filled with? You?
[1:06] Speaker 1: Tell us candy egg Calby. We hid fifty thousand dollars cash.
[1:13] Speaker 2: In that theater.
[1:13] Speaker 1: In the theater.
[1:15] Speaker 2: I'm writing because of your recent episode on Matthew Shepherd.
[1:17] Speaker 2: You did such a beautiful, respectful job with it. But
[1:20] Speaker 2: there is a total badass in the story that I
[1:22] Speaker 2: need to make sure is on your radar. Matthew's close
[1:25] Speaker 2: friend Romayne Patterson. When the absolute garbage fire that is
[1:29] Speaker 2: the Westboro Baptist's Church showed up to pick it Matthew's
[1:32] Speaker 2: funeral with horrific signs, Romayne said, absolutely not. She mobilized
[1:37] Speaker 2: the squad of people dressed in massive ten foot tall
[1:41] Speaker 2: white angel costumes with giant wings. Oh she's crying already.
[1:47] Speaker 1: No, it's the most brilliant. Yeah, it's the most brilliant
[1:50] Speaker 1: way to fight. Just block it, yeah, yeah, block it
[1:52] Speaker 1: with with angels totally.
[1:55] Speaker 2: They stood in a line right in front of the protesters,
[1:58] Speaker 2: silently blocking the hate with their wings.
[2:01] Speaker 1: Oh.
[2:01] Speaker 2: It must have enraged them so much because it's also
[2:04] Speaker 2: like angels. Yeah, that's exactly what would happen. It was
[2:09] Speaker 2: a brilliant, peaceful, visually stunning middle finger called Angel action,
[2:13] Speaker 2: and there's photos of it. Look at that they made these.
[2:16] Speaker 2: So they're these angel wings that have these like tent
[2:18] Speaker 2: pole things sticking out of the shoulder, so that the
[2:21] Speaker 2: wings are really high and large and blocking the hate.
[2:25] Speaker 1: It's like five foot expanse on either side, so you
[2:28] Speaker 1: just cannot see their terrible signs and their horrible faces.
[2:31] Speaker 2: It's such a brilliant, quiet, peaceful way to protest monsters.
[2:40] Speaker 2: Romayne wrote an incredible memoir about it called The Whole
[2:43] Speaker 2: World Was Watching, and her activism and those giant angels
[2:46] Speaker 2: became a huge part of the play The Laramie Project
[2:49] Speaker 2: by Moyses Kaufman. She now hosts a podcast with her
[2:53] Speaker 2: close friend and it's hilarious. It's called Derek and Romayne Amazing.
[2:57] Speaker 2: This is where it gets personal for me. I actually
[2:59] Speaker 2: got a b Romaine in The Laramie Project when I
[3:01] Speaker 2: was in high school. Being a part of that play,
[3:04] Speaker 2: feeling the weight of the story and seeing Romayne's fierce
[3:07] Speaker 2: love for her friend was the exact catalyst that gave
[3:09] Speaker 2: me the courage to come out as a pan woman.
[3:12] Speaker 2: My high school theater teacher even had her sign a
[3:14] Speaker 2: copy of her novel for me when I graduated high school.
[3:17] Speaker 2: It is my most fond memory of high school. Now,
[3:20] Speaker 2: I am a teacher in a tiny rural town in
[3:23] Speaker 2: southern Oregon, so stories about young people standing up to
[3:26] Speaker 2: hate and changing the world through creative resistance mean everything
[3:29] Speaker 2: to me. Romayne is an absolute legend, and her legacy
[3:32] Speaker 2: literally changed the trajectory of my life. Happy Pride, month,
[3:36] Speaker 2: stay sexy and keep fighting the bigots. Carolyne MacArthur she her, Wow,
[3:42] Speaker 2: I'm so glad she wrote that, because I definitely saw
[3:45] Speaker 2: that when I was doing my research, and I for
[3:47] Speaker 2: time had to.
[3:48] Speaker 1: Just say, your Kate can'ts talk about it all.
[3:50] Speaker 2: That's it's on story in itself.
[3:51] Speaker 1: And it's beautiful because it's like people know the importance
[3:55] Speaker 1: of romaine in that story, and so it's like, yeah,
[3:58] Speaker 1: you can't tell it all.
[4:00] Speaker 2: But it's an integral part of the story. And I'm
[4:02] Speaker 2: so glad that email got it.
[4:03] Speaker 1: Also, I love like that the desperation level to have
[4:08] Speaker 1: to figure out a creative solution to that horrible protesting
[4:11] Speaker 1: and that the horrible church. Yeah, and then what has
[4:14] Speaker 1: evolved since that time?
[4:16] Speaker 2: Yeah?
[4:16] Speaker 1: Where have you seen the ones where it's just like
[4:18] Speaker 1: they'll be that those types of horrible protesters and then
[4:22] Speaker 1: someone will just hold a sign next to them that's
[4:25] Speaker 1: this guys.
[4:25] Speaker 2: These guys are idiots or something like that, or like.
[4:28] Speaker 1: Someone just look like there's it's so funny. They're all
[4:31] Speaker 1: they all say all different things, or sometimes they just
[4:33] Speaker 1: put them up in front and it just says something random. Yeah,
[4:36] Speaker 1: and it's so funny. And it makes me think, like
[4:38] Speaker 1: with stuff like this, and I know this seems like
[4:41] Speaker 1: off topic, but it that's why it's really important for
[4:45] Speaker 1: people to go into the arts, to know how to write,
[4:47] Speaker 1: to know how to act, to know how to sing
[4:49] Speaker 1: or dance or play an instrument, to see the beauty
[4:52] Speaker 1: and that and that the Laramie project can get made
[4:55] Speaker 1: by the people who want to make it because they're like,
[4:58] Speaker 1: this can't be happening right more, and we're gonna do
[5:00] Speaker 1: We're gonna not just let it sit as a news story, yeah,
[5:03] Speaker 1: but then tell that story again and again in other ways.
[5:06] Speaker 2: So incredible.
[5:07] Speaker 1: And it's like if anybody's like, oh AI is going
[5:09] Speaker 1: to take over that, it's no, no, no, it can't
[5:11] Speaker 1: speak for people.
[5:12] Speaker 2: The humanity in it is something that cannot be turned
[5:16] Speaker 2: into AI. That's right.
[5:18] Speaker 1: And on that same note, let me reach you my
[5:22] Speaker 1: first email.
[5:23] Speaker 2: Okay.
[5:24] Speaker 1: The subject line of this is big news from Petaluma.
[5:26] Speaker 2: Oh.
[5:27] Speaker 1: It says, Hey, they're Karen and Georgia. Day one listener
[5:30] Speaker 1: writing in with hometown news to share with Karen and Georgia.
[5:34] Speaker 1: For the past few months, there's been a great horned
[5:36] Speaker 1: owl that has taken residence on the face of the
[5:38] Speaker 1: circa eighteen eighty five building in downtown Pedaluma.
[5:41] Speaker 2: Oh my god, I.
[5:42] Speaker 1: Heard nothing of this. My sister's in the like the
[5:45] Speaker 1: last week of kindergarten before they go on summer break,
[5:49] Speaker 1: so she's not paying attention. Yeah, I have no one
[5:51] Speaker 1: on the ground.
[5:51] Speaker 2: Okay, tell me everything. I love this.
[5:53] Speaker 1: She is attracting visitors from near and far who are
[5:56] Speaker 1: all concerned for her fledgling chicks. Last week of the
[6:00] Speaker 1: chicks attempted flight, and since she's literally in the middle
[6:02] Speaker 1: of downtown and there are no large tree branches near
[6:05] Speaker 1: the nest, she glided to the sidewalk below see photo attached.
[6:12] Speaker 2: Oh my god, God, wait, if you give me one second,
[6:17] Speaker 2: I can figure out where the yah.
[6:21] Speaker 1: That's how well I know I have you know what
[6:23] Speaker 1: it is. It's it used to be a weird shoe store.
[6:25] Speaker 2: Uh huh.
[6:26] Speaker 1: But I'm pretty sure that's just at the corner of
[6:28] Speaker 1: Western Pard It's like a la boo boo. I love it.
[6:31] Speaker 1: I mean she looks like over it.
[6:35] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[6:36] Speaker 1: She was taken to the local Wildlife Rescue for rehabilitation
[6:39] Speaker 1: and flight training, and the folks of downtown have been
[6:42] Speaker 1: banding together to create a safe environment for the other
[6:45] Speaker 1: baby to make her first trip out of the nest.
[6:48] Speaker 1: And it says so pedalomma, which it is, yeah, or
[6:51] Speaker 1: a town built on chickens, so we respect birds of
[6:55] Speaker 1: all types. My sister and I own a small salon
[6:57] Speaker 1: in the building that the owls have nested on, and
[7:00] Speaker 1: it has been such a pleasure to have such majestic roommates.
[7:03] Speaker 1: Even if I am terrified at birds, We've really enjoyed
[7:06] Speaker 1: meeting folks from our town and remembering that community and
[7:09] Speaker 1: joy is the most important thing in this fucked up world.
[7:12] Speaker 1: Next time you're downtown, give us a wave. We're the
[7:14] Speaker 1: ones with the groovy wallpaper. Stay sexy and talk to
[7:17] Speaker 1: your neighbors. Maria and she works at Honeybee Color Collective
[7:22] Speaker 1: in Pudloma.
[7:23] Speaker 2: I want to live in a small town. I mean,
[7:24] Speaker 2: I guess my neighborhoods kind of small town ish, but
[7:26] Speaker 2: like surrounded by Los Angeles, right, I want to live
[7:29] Speaker 2: in a town like that.
[7:30] Speaker 1: Well, I had no idea how the level of privilege
[7:35] Speaker 1: of just like you know, the person that works in
[7:37] Speaker 1: that store you were going. I told you the story
[7:40] Speaker 1: of one time Nora was getting math tutoring and she
[7:44] Speaker 1: heard math tutor who's like, it's him and his wife
[7:47] Speaker 1: that run the place, and she was done with all
[7:51] Speaker 1: her tests and she did really good. So he's like, oh,
[7:54] Speaker 1: if you want to walk down, I'll go get you
[7:55] Speaker 1: in ice cream. So the two of them are walking
[7:57] Speaker 1: down pelam With Boulevard. She's probably a lot or twelve.
[8:01] Speaker 1: My sister said she got no less than ten phone
[8:03] Speaker 1: calls from all the different people.
[8:05] Speaker 2: You're like, child is with a random not random, but
[8:07] Speaker 2: a man.
[8:08] Speaker 1: To them, it was random. Yeah, They're like, I just
[8:10] Speaker 1: Laura just saw North. It was the funniest or just
[8:13] Speaker 1: like yeah, that's really sweet. Nice. Oh wait, there's a
[8:15] Speaker 1: PS two. Okay, it says PS. I was a model
[8:19] Speaker 1: for the Biobottoms catalog in the early nineties. That's where
[8:22] Speaker 1: I worked. It was the baby clothing catalog. Yeah, and
[8:27] Speaker 1: that polyclass's mom was my manager. Oh remember that? God? Yes,
[8:32] Speaker 1: that was like I flunked out of Sack State, I
[8:34] Speaker 1: moved home, got the job at Biobottoms, had to get
[8:36] Speaker 1: be there at five point thirty every morning, and then
[8:39] Speaker 1: I was off at one.
[8:40] Speaker 2: Oh my god.
[8:41] Speaker 1: And that was this weird life I lived before I
[8:43] Speaker 1: moved into the city. This person was a Biobottoms baby model.
[8:47] Speaker 2: Oh my god.
[8:50] Speaker 1: That's who we got the email from. That's Maria.
[8:52] Speaker 2: Look at little Maria in the seaside shorts sop cotton Jersey.
[8:56] Speaker 1: Oh my, hold on, Maria says I, I wonder if
[9:00] Speaker 1: that was the time you worked for them as well,
[9:02] Speaker 1: early nineties. It was, And then it says many of
[9:05] Speaker 1: not all of us, were the children that the people
[9:07] Speaker 1: who worked there. And my dad was a contractor for
[9:09] Speaker 1: the offices at the time. Right.
[9:11] Speaker 2: Oh, how cute?
[9:12] Speaker 1: I mean Maria, that was like she just gave me
[9:15] Speaker 1: a little Are you homesick?
[9:17] Speaker 2: And oh that's so cute.
[9:19] Speaker 1: Yeah, if you want to give me like weekly pedal updates,
[9:23] Speaker 1: do not be afraid to write it.
[9:24] Speaker 2: We're going to say haircuts. But that's good. Pedal of
[9:28] Speaker 2: my haircuts? What's a pedal in my haircut?
[9:29] Speaker 1: Loo was real high in the back and in the
[9:32] Speaker 1: front some streaks.
[9:33] Speaker 2: Yeap, okay. This one's called another fake illness resulting in
[9:39] Speaker 2: a hospital visit with a twist. Oh dearest ladies. I
[9:43] Speaker 2: was recently listening to Minniesode four twenty three, where someone
[9:46] Speaker 2: shared their story of how they faked blindness and had
[9:48] Speaker 2: to go to the hospital when they were thirteen, and
[9:51] Speaker 2: it brought back a memory of my own similar story
[9:53] Speaker 2: where I took a fake illness way too far. I
[9:56] Speaker 2: used to fake sick all the time to get out
[9:59] Speaker 2: of school when I was a kid. I did it
[10:00] Speaker 2: when I forgot to do my homework, had to give
[10:02] Speaker 2: a presentation at school, had detention, or generally didn't feel
[10:05] Speaker 2: like going same Looking back, this was probably a symptom
[10:09] Speaker 2: of the anxiety that now runs my life as an adult.
[10:12] Speaker 2: And then shrug emoji. There was one day when I
[10:15] Speaker 2: was a young middle schooler that I knew I needed
[10:18] Speaker 2: to really sell it. I had already faked being sick
[10:20] Speaker 2: a couple times that week, and I knew my mom
[10:22] Speaker 2: wasn't going to fall for at this time. So I
[10:25] Speaker 2: had the idea to crush up some cheerios and drop
[10:29] Speaker 2: some food coloring into the toilet to make it look
[10:31] Speaker 2: like I had thrown up. Genius stay right. Thinking it
[10:37] Speaker 2: looked perfect, I went out told my mom I had
[10:39] Speaker 2: thrown up and showed her the evidence, thinking there was
[10:41] Speaker 2: no way she could deny me my day off. My
[10:44] Speaker 2: mom took one look at it and immediately put me
[10:46] Speaker 2: in the car to go to the hospital because the
[10:48] Speaker 2: food coloring made it look like I had thrown up blood.
[10:51] Speaker 1: Oh the instinct to grab the little red dropper, right,
[10:58] Speaker 1: little yellow be that good at getting out of school?
[11:01] Speaker 2: And it says, well, shit. Also, I wonder if her
[11:04] Speaker 2: mom was like, I know this is food coming. Let's
[11:06] Speaker 2: see how first she'll take this, Like, at what point
[11:08] Speaker 2: is she gonna.
[11:09] Speaker 1: Let's scare the shit out of her? Yeah? Nothing?
[11:11] Speaker 2: Not good? Okay, well shit. At the hospital, the doctors
[11:15] Speaker 2: decided to X ray my esophagus with one of those
[11:18] Speaker 2: tube things that they put on your throat by way
[11:20] Speaker 2: of your mouth. The anxious kid I was. And then
[11:24] Speaker 2: it says, am I said not a word to anyone
[11:27] Speaker 2: that I was totally faking the entire time, and went
[11:30] Speaker 2: through with it. They had to put me under for
[11:35] Speaker 2: this procedure and I still said nothing. Oh my god,
[11:40] Speaker 2: So my luck they found something. It turned out that
[11:43] Speaker 2: I did have a tear in my esophagus. I remember,
[11:47] Speaker 2: it was nothing major. I just had to take a
[11:49] Speaker 2: very nasty tasting medicine the texture of thick milk. Mom
[11:53] Speaker 2: in emoji, but if that was my punishment for getting
[11:55] Speaker 2: away with lying, so be it.
[11:58] Speaker 1: But she wasn't lying, or they weren't lying because there
[12:02] Speaker 1: was something wrong. That's why she didn't want to go
[12:04] Speaker 1: to school. Maybe she knew something there and just the
[12:07] Speaker 1: messaging wasn't accurate. You're very generous, just saying sometimes we
[12:12] Speaker 1: have anxiety for your body always just like, oh, it's crazy.
[12:16] Speaker 1: I have this reaction and say, yeah, your body knows stuff.
[12:19] Speaker 2: You have anxiety and tearing your esophagus.
[12:22] Speaker 1: Your brain is trying to go something's wrong downstairs. And
[12:25] Speaker 1: then you're just like, I'm so crazy.
[12:27] Speaker 2: It's like the adults are supposed to catch it, but
[12:29] Speaker 2: they really don't give a shit most of the time.
[12:31] Speaker 1: How does one tear the one?
[12:33] Speaker 2: I think coughing really hard? Maybe everyone let us know.
[12:36] Speaker 2: How do you esophagus? Doctors? How do you tear an esophagus? Anyway?
[12:42] Speaker 2: Over ACDC song Over two decades later, I have never
[12:45] Speaker 2: told this story to anyone, but now that I know
[12:48] Speaker 2: I'm not alone in this kind of stupidity, it feels
[12:50] Speaker 2: like a good time to get it off my chest.
[12:52] Speaker 2: You didn't tell your mom.
[12:53] Speaker 1: I think that the fact that we're the first people
[12:57] Speaker 1: that they've told, we should send them.
[12:59] Speaker 2: Like a sweatshirt.
[13:00] Speaker 1: Yeah, because that's huge to admit something that you were like,
[13:03] Speaker 1: you fucked up, you had surgery.
[13:05] Speaker 2: Her name is be just the letter b B. I
[13:08] Speaker 2: love you, ladies, dearly, stay sexy and stick to your story.
[13:11] Speaker 2: You might just get away with it. B.
[13:13] Speaker 1: How did you get away with it? You went under
[13:16] Speaker 1: you had surgery?
[13:18] Speaker 2: Just she kept yes, ending her own fucking like mistake.
[13:22] Speaker 1: She's like, no matter what, as long as I'm not
[13:25] Speaker 1: in school, right, it's fine. And yeah I could be
[13:28] Speaker 1: having major surgery. Hey, I'd rather do that than be
[13:31] Speaker 1: in school.
[13:31] Speaker 2: Send us your years later confessions. I fucking love those.
[13:35] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's genius at my favorite murder at Gmail years
[13:38] Speaker 1: later confessions. Also because Bee's mom can't be mad because
[13:43] Speaker 1: there was something to wear.
[13:44] Speaker 2: Something wrong, and you're right, maybe it was like yes,
[13:48] Speaker 2: six instincts, there was no ghost in he esophagus.
[13:51] Speaker 1: It was she had a haunted throat. Okay, this one,
[13:56] Speaker 1: the subject line is can't find a goth find a
[13:59] Speaker 1: cost employee. Okay, Hey, hey, hey, I'm starting to write
[14:03] Speaker 1: this as my sixth grade students are doing a short
[14:06] Speaker 1: written response after watching a video about Hazel ying Lee.
[14:10] Speaker 1: First heard on MFM episode five point thirty one. I
[14:13] Speaker 1: live in Hood River, about forty five minutes outside of Portland.
[14:16] Speaker 2: Wow.
[14:16] Speaker 1: Awesome local hero. When I was about sixteen years old,
[14:20] Speaker 1: I was in Costco with my mom and friend. While
[14:22] Speaker 1: working our way around the store, I felt that two
[14:25] Speaker 1: men were very consistently behind us. I didn't give it
[14:28] Speaker 1: much of a second thought because it was there's a
[14:31] Speaker 1: certain flow to Costco, and maybe we started our journey
[14:34] Speaker 1: at the same time. In place you're like, no one's
[14:38] Speaker 1: no one needs a TV.
[14:39] Speaker 2: Everyone go yeah, it's like a it's really slow, Like, oh,
[14:43] Speaker 2: it's like a what are those lap lazy river? It's
[14:45] Speaker 2: a lazy river.
[14:47] Speaker 1: It's a shopping lazy river.
[14:49] Speaker 2: Feels so good?
[14:50] Speaker 1: Do you need a sweat your weekend? Amble over this way?
[14:52] Speaker 2: This way?
[14:53] Speaker 1: So mindless and nice. Okay, it's really nice. There's one
[14:56] Speaker 1: very close to her, is there? Okay? However, my mom
[15:01] Speaker 1: was an og murderino. I grew up watching and in parentheses,
[15:04] Speaker 1: I grew up watching forty eight hours, Dateline, Snapped, et cetera.
[15:08] Speaker 1: She and Brian Williams taught me how to determine if
[15:10] Speaker 1: you're being followed after circling back, weaving through the baby clothes,
[15:14] Speaker 1: granola bars and flowers, they were still behind me. I
[15:17] Speaker 1: caught back up with my friend, who immediately grabbed my
[15:20] Speaker 1: arm and said, those guys were looking for you, saying
[15:23] Speaker 1: she's wearing a blue pokea dot dress. I indeed was
[15:26] Speaker 1: wearing a blue poked dot dress. After a short meeting
[15:28] Speaker 1: of the minds, now including my mom, Gina, Gina, Yes, Gina,
[15:34] Speaker 1: is Gina allowed to have her own cigarette and Costco
[15:36] Speaker 1: just because she's that special.
[15:38] Speaker 2: Only she's a charredy.
[15:39] Speaker 1: She's just like it's me, Jan's. I got a shop,
[15:43] Speaker 1: I gotta get some stuff done.
[15:44] Speaker 2: I got a smoke.
[15:45] Speaker 1: I'm not putting this thing out. We decided we needed
[15:48] Speaker 1: to keep them in our eyesight to ensure we weren't
[15:51] Speaker 1: in theirs. Once we saw them go to the checkout,
[15:53] Speaker 1: we were in the clear, or so we THEO. We
[15:58] Speaker 1: got into the line, and as it is our turn,
[15:59] Speaker 1: we see them waiting on the other side near the
[16:01] Speaker 1: tire center, staring. I was creeped the fuck out, not
[16:05] Speaker 1: wanting to be forced towards them, I informed the Costco
[16:08] Speaker 1: employee scanning my items. He, understanding the assignment, casually looked
[16:12] Speaker 1: over and said, whoa, that is so creepy. He did
[16:16] Speaker 1: this a few more times, mentioning, Wow, they're just staring
[16:20] Speaker 1: you down. He ultimately said he would walk us to
[16:23] Speaker 1: our car. Then he said, I have a better idea,
[16:26] Speaker 1: and then he came back with the single largest man
[16:29] Speaker 1: I have ever seen in my life. I a giant.
[16:33] Speaker 1: A giant at Costco. Have I died and gone to heaven?
[16:38] Speaker 1: I mean he could have been the mountain in the
[16:39] Speaker 1: Game of Thrones. He was now our designated escort to
[16:43] Speaker 1: the car. The original cashier went over to the men
[16:45] Speaker 1: to distract them, talk with them, and he ended up
[16:48] Speaker 1: walking them to their car while our gentle giant walked
[16:51] Speaker 1: us to ours. He hit our license plate from view,
[16:55] Speaker 1: packed all of our things into our cars, all while
[16:57] Speaker 1: keeping one eye on those men again and repeatedly calling
[17:01] Speaker 1: them creeps and instructing us to take back roads home
[17:04] Speaker 1: and if it looks like we're being followed, called nine
[17:06] Speaker 1: one one immediately and do not go home, just keep driving.
[17:09] Speaker 2: Oh my god.
[17:10] Speaker 1: And then separate line. Just another reason to add Costco
[17:14] Speaker 1: as a safe space. And then it says, my true
[17:17] Speaker 1: crime loving mom sadly passed away. Oh, Gina is gone. Gina,
[17:21] Speaker 1: she sadly passed away in twenty eighteen from a rare
[17:24] Speaker 1: autoimmune disease called sclarederma. She was a trusted adult for
[17:28] Speaker 1: all of our friends, the sweetest lady who everyone loved,
[17:32] Speaker 1: and she had the best timed that's what she said.
[17:35] Speaker 2: Oh a, mom, that's what she said. Are you kidding me?
[17:39] Speaker 2: That's the only person who can do it and not
[17:41] Speaker 2: with her cigarette?
[17:42] Speaker 1: Set me up?
[17:43] Speaker 2: Hey that calm down, you're going too deep. That's what she.
[17:49] Speaker 1: Said, Gina, Sorry, I wasn't ready to do it again.
[17:54] Speaker 1: Got you just do it, that's what she said, because
[17:59] Speaker 1: I think she'd be a little smart. Uh yeah, and
[18:01] Speaker 1: that's what she said. That's what she said. Okay, she
[18:04] Speaker 1: was my best friend. I miss her constantly. Stay sexy
[18:07] Speaker 1: and find a costco worker if you can't find a goth. Sammy,
[18:12] Speaker 1: so good, Sammy, amazing job.
[18:14] Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay, here's my last one. Okay, July fourth fishing pole.
[18:20] Speaker 1: It's called Is it about to be the fourth fund?
[18:22] Speaker 2: When this comes out, it's about to be the fourth
[18:24] Speaker 2: fucking cry No Hi MFM team. My parents, Mark and
[18:30] Speaker 2: Joy Christians live out in the country on a big
[18:34] Speaker 2: plot of land with a beautiful pond. The pond is
[18:37] Speaker 2: often a hive of activity with family friends and neighbors
[18:40] Speaker 2: frequently dropping by to swim and fish. One evening, their
[18:44] Speaker 2: neighbor Brian, was fishing at the pond with his grandson.
[18:47] Speaker 2: Brian was using his late grandfather's pole, which obviously had
[18:50] Speaker 2: a great deal of sentimental value. Brian briefly set down
[18:53] Speaker 2: his own pole to help his grandson, and it was
[18:56] Speaker 2: at that moment that a huge catfish grabbed Brian's hook,
[19:00] Speaker 2: dragging the pole off the dock and into the water,
[19:02] Speaker 2: where it quickly disappeared into the murky depths. The pole
[19:06] Speaker 2: was gone. Several people took turns diving to the bottom
[19:09] Speaker 2: of the pond to try to locate it, but to
[19:11] Speaker 2: no avail. Brian was devastated. Two years past, but the
[19:15] Speaker 2: pole is never found despite regular attempts. It's crazy to
[19:19] Speaker 2: have a pole mean something to you. I get it.
[19:22] Speaker 1: It's also just it's painting such a vivid picture of
[19:25] Speaker 1: like people down at the pond, crashing and stuff. It's
[19:29] Speaker 1: like it's an email from Mayberry. I love it. I
[19:32] Speaker 1: want to hear all about did this catfish drag a
[19:36] Speaker 1: pole around? For twenty five years?
[19:38] Speaker 2: Twenty five years, twenty five years.
[19:39] Speaker 1: I've been dragging this pool.
[19:41] Speaker 2: It gets better. My catfish just smoking. Last year, my
[19:47] Speaker 2: parents hosted a huge Independence Day party. More than two
[19:51] Speaker 2: hundred people gathered at their home for a weekend of camping, grilling, games,
[19:54] Speaker 2: and fireworks.
[19:55] Speaker 1: That sounds amazing, it's because they have pond money. They're Christians.
[20:00] Speaker 2: Ryan took this opportunity to offer one hundred dollars reward
[20:03] Speaker 2: to anyone who could find his pole.
[20:05] Speaker 1: Oh.
[20:06] Speaker 2: This resulted in dozens of people spending hours searching over
[20:09] Speaker 2: the course of the weekend.
[20:11] Speaker 1: Can I say, I bet it was dozens of high
[20:13] Speaker 1: school boys. Yeah, who's going to fucking get into a
[20:15] Speaker 1: pond and be like diving down?
[20:17] Speaker 2: Well, my dad even fashioned a dredging tool out of
[20:20] Speaker 2: a metal rake. He tied the rake to a rope
[20:23] Speaker 2: so you could throw the rake out into the pond
[20:26] Speaker 2: and pull it back in by the rope, dragging the
[20:28] Speaker 2: prongs along the bottom and hopes they would snag the pole.
[20:32] Speaker 1: Smart.
[20:32] Speaker 2: Yeah, still no luck. The pole was well and truly gone.
[20:35] Speaker 2: The weekend after the party, my husband Jared and I
[20:37] Speaker 2: were visiting my parents. We'd missed the party because we
[20:40] Speaker 2: had COVID. We were standing on the pool's dock when
[20:42] Speaker 2: my dad explained this whole saga and showed off his
[20:45] Speaker 2: rake slash rope combo. Jared took the rake and half
[20:49] Speaker 2: heartedly tossed it into the pond. My dad turned and
[20:52] Speaker 2: started walking back to the house when he heard Jared say, uh,
[20:55] Speaker 2: is this it? That's right? With just one attempt, my
[20:59] Speaker 2: husband had found the long lost pole. Incredibly, one of
[21:03] Speaker 2: the prongs of the rake had snagged in one of
[21:05] Speaker 2: the tiny islets that run along the pole to hold
[21:08] Speaker 2: the line in place. Jared returned the poll to Brian,
[21:11] Speaker 2: who was speechless emotional and happily handed over the one
[21:15] Speaker 2: hundred dollars reward. Stay sexy and try just one more time,
[21:20] Speaker 2: Try try one more time.
[21:23] Speaker 1: That's Jenny, Jenny, Jenny and Jared, Jenny and Jared solving
[21:27] Speaker 1: problems at the pond.
[21:29] Speaker 2: Christ does their lord, it's you.
[21:31] Speaker 1: Know what, it's the old grandfather grandfather whoever passed that
[21:35] Speaker 1: fisherman's pull down.
[21:36] Speaker 2: Or the catfish's grandfather or.
[21:37] Speaker 1: The cash's grandfather's in there. I've seen worse poles than that.
[21:42] Speaker 1: Send it back. Well, here's my last one. I won't
[21:46] Speaker 1: read to the subject line. Please don't stop it, It says,
[21:50] Speaker 1: hey'all on your most recent episode, you ask for stories
[21:53] Speaker 1: about winning contests. Well, this isn't my winning story, but
[21:57] Speaker 1: I feel like it's wild enough that it needs to
[21:59] Speaker 1: be shared. Back in the eighties and nineties, one of
[22:02] Speaker 1: the local radio stations in my hometown had a radio
[22:05] Speaker 1: contest giving away a free cemetery plot. Well, my father,
[22:11] Speaker 1: who never wins anything one.
[22:12] Speaker 2: I repeat, like bad luck, No.
[22:16] Speaker 1: I repeat, My father won a burial plot from a
[22:19] Speaker 1: radio station contest. He waited until my grandmother passed away
[22:23] Speaker 1: a few years ago when I was in my mid
[22:25] Speaker 1: thirties to tell me about this contest and showed me
[22:28] Speaker 1: the deed for his plot.
[22:29] Speaker 2: Oh my god.
[22:30] Speaker 1: I reached out to the cemetery and verified its validity,
[22:33] Speaker 1: and sure enough, it's holy shit. Through a radio station
[22:37] Speaker 1: tensive too, right about ten grand a minimum?
[22:40] Speaker 2: Oh my god?
[22:41] Speaker 1: All that shit is so fucking expensive?
[22:43] Speaker 2: And may they make money off of people's worst experiences?
[22:47] Speaker 1: Yes, exactly to be like, no, grandmother must go in
[22:49] Speaker 1: her blue suit right into this silk limed casket, right.
[22:52] Speaker 2: And what I mean, you're not going to have flowers?
[22:54] Speaker 2: There has to be crazy.
[22:56] Speaker 1: I'll never forget my mom's like, oh no, I need
[22:58] Speaker 1: to get what's the other one? Remate it. Yeah, He's like,
[23:01] Speaker 1: uh uh, creamy and me immediately don't don't where I
[23:04] Speaker 1: was like, oh, okay, so my father will be buried
[23:08] Speaker 1: in a plot that he won off the radio.
[23:09] Speaker 2: Love it.
[23:10] Speaker 1: I hope this shocks you just like it did me.
[23:12] Speaker 1: And as a reminder to all make your final wishes known. Yes,
[23:16] Speaker 1: it's weird and hard, but it's harder on your loved
[23:18] Speaker 1: ones when they don't know if they're doing what you'd
[23:21] Speaker 1: really want. And that is an email from Crystal.
[23:25] Speaker 2: Crystal.
[23:26] Speaker 1: Crystal fucking wrote in They've been waiting for Crystal to
[23:29] Speaker 1: write in hah fucking who's the last part? Oh?
[23:33] Speaker 2: My best friends? Is his name? Crystal?
[23:34] Speaker 1: I was about to say, last time you met a Crystal?
[23:38] Speaker 1: And fucking Georgia's closest friend is named Crystal.
[23:41] Speaker 2: Crystal thinks that her mom wanted them to be strippers
[23:44] Speaker 2: or something, because her sister's name is also really unique.
[23:49] Speaker 2: What is it, Phedra.
[23:52] Speaker 1: Oh that's a very cool name.
[23:55] Speaker 2: It's so like the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.
[23:58] Speaker 2: Yes it is.
[23:58] Speaker 1: What's funny to me is Crystal in my town or
[24:01] Speaker 1: a certain way and your Crystal is not that way.
[24:04] Speaker 1: So she's it's funny because she's very herself, so it
[24:08] Speaker 1: makes sense she makes it her name. Yeah, but it's
[24:11] Speaker 1: not like.
[24:12] Speaker 2: It's not like the Crystal.
[24:13] Speaker 1: It's not this right, just no, what if after all
[24:18] Speaker 1: of that, it's your Crystal at home? Like it's fucking me.
[24:23] Speaker 1: I've told you this story before.
[24:24] Speaker 2: Oh what did she did? That'd be cute? All right?
[24:28] Speaker 2: Sending your stories please about anything you want at any
[24:31] Speaker 2: time of your life.
[24:32] Speaker 1: Share in a human way, connections you have made in
[24:37] Speaker 1: the past. Yeah, whether it's at a pond with someone
[24:40] Speaker 1: named Crystal, or.
[24:41] Speaker 2: A catfish, a smoking catfish.
[24:44] Speaker 1: Or smoking cabbish. And until you do, stay sexy and
[24:48] Speaker 1: don't get murdered.
[24:49] Speaker 2: Goodbye, Elvis, Do you want a cookie?
[25:00] Speaker 1: This has been an exactly right production.
[25:02] Speaker 2: Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer
[25:04] Speaker 2: is Tessa Hughes.
[25:05] Speaker 1: Our editor is Aristotle Ascevedo.
[25:07] Speaker 2: This episode was mixed by Leona Squalacci.
[25:09] Speaker 1: Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
[25:12] Speaker 2: Follow the show on Instagram at My Favorite Murder.
[25:14] Speaker 1: Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
[25:18] Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.
[25:19] Speaker 2: And now you can watch my favorite murder on Netflix.
[25:22] Speaker 1: And when you're there, hit the double thumbs up and
[25:24] Speaker 1: the remind me buttons. That's the best way you can
[25:26] Speaker 1: support our show. Goodbye,

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