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MFM Minisode 472

January 26, 2026 /

This episode of My Favorite Murder features listener stories about abandoned buildings, scams, and quirky pets. The hosts, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, read and discuss various submissions from fans.

One story recounts a college maintenance worker's experience at an abandoned dormitory at Oregon State University, where they discovered a "Ninja Cafe" on the roof while unknowingly being followed by someone inside the building.

Another listener shares a tale of being scammed as a teenager working at a Hallmark store, resulting in a significant cash shortage at the end of their shift, but ultimately receiving understanding from their boss.

A humorous story about a cat named Bo Diddles reveals his penchant for stealing household items and culminates in a funny Christmas morning surprise for the listener's grandmother.

The episode also includes a listener's account of a wild night at a live show, highlighting the challenges of managing personal struggles while maintaining friendships.

TLDR

Listeners share wild stories about abandoned buildings, scams, and quirky pets on this minisode of My Favorite Murder.

Episode

20:18
00:00:00
This is exactly right. of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Wireless plan
00:00:33
as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit BoostMobile.com. Hello and welcome to My Favorite Murder,
00:00:56
The Minisode, where we read you your stories. It's email time. You want to start?
00:01:01
Sure. Okay. One of our fakest intros so far. I don't know what it was. Yeah. We're just trying to get it done.
00:01:09
We are and we will. And we have. Okay, I'm not going to read you the title. Hi, all.
00:01:14
My sister introduced me to your podcast just after I'd had a baby who is now a whole second
00:01:19
grader. Oh, shit. So thank you for keeping me entertained through endless stroller walks.
00:01:23
I usually listen with headphones, of course. I didn't want her first word to be murder.
00:01:26
I recently heard the hometown story about the girl who worked at a spirit Halloween and found a squatter's apartment in the building.
00:01:34
Remember that? No, it's like, let's get it back. Holy shit. And it reminded me that I actually have my own story to share.
00:01:41
One summer during college, I worked in the dorms at Oregon State University doing maintenance, cleaning, small repairs, and linen changes for conference groups using the dorms as hotels.
00:01:51
There was an old dorm just off campus called the College Inn, built in 1966 and closed in 2002.
00:01:58
This story takes place in 2003. They planned to tear it down and build new apartments, but in the meantime, it was abandoned.
00:02:04
Our maintenance crew was told to go inside to retrieve trash cans, because obviously that was more important than our safety.
00:02:10
So, like, it's abandoned, it's dilapidated, it's getting torn down, and they're like, go in there.
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We need those old rubber trash cans. Right. They're expensive. The building was deteriorating, creepy, and fascinating all at once.
00:02:23
The big 60s-style lobby was full of leaves and broken glass, and most of the rooms had been trashed by squatters.
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I fucking love abandonment porn. It's my favorite. Some had graffiti or strange stories written on the walls.
00:02:35
Others still had belongings left behind, like a sleeping bag and a letter from someone in prison.
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In one lounge, we found almost all the building's furniture stacked together and sprayed with a fire extinguisher.
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It hadn't been on fire. Apparently, someone was just having a chaotic good time.
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As we explored, I started noticing small black stars drawn on the walls. I followed them, realizing they formed a trail like breadcrumbs.
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Eventually, the stars ended, and when I turned around, I realized I was standing across from the roof access door.
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So naturally, I went up to the roof. It was a seven-story building, so the view was amazing.
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When I turned back toward the door, I noticed writing on it. It said, Welcome to the Ninja Cafe.
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Underneath, there was a list of rules, mostly things like don't tell anyone about the cafe,
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don't throw things off the roof, and donate tea and coffee. That's when it hit me.
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All the furniture we'd found in the lounge had probably been part of a rooftop hangout,
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a squatter cafe. We finished grabbing the trash cans and were back out at our van when the supervisor got
00:03:37
a call from her boss. She was warning us not to go in the building. But my supervisor was confused and said we had already finished.
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We could hear her boss yelling through the phone. There is someone in the building.
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And my supervisor's face went white. Turns out someone was in the building with us the whole time.
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A passerby had reported seeing a flashlight moving around in the basement before we got there.
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But the warning didn't reach us in time. Nightmare fuel. SSTGM and don't talk about the Ninja Cafe, Chantal.
00:04:07
Oh, shit. I just love abandoned building stories so much. And there was someone in there following them around the whole time.
00:04:15
So there was like a rear window view that some neighbor had of like, the kids are here trying to find garbage cans and there's the bad guy.
00:04:24
Okay, here's my first one. I'm not going to read you the subject line. It says, hi, Karen Georgia and the stellar MFM team.
00:04:31
I'm currently listening to episode 475. And then in parentheses, it says, yes, I know I'm behind, but I'm embracing being the day one listener who started late and is still catching up.
00:04:40
You were talking about working the till and having it come up incorrect at the end of the night, and I just had to write in.
00:04:47
My first job, many years ago, was at the local Hallmark store. Think Beanie Baby fights and precious moments and Willow Tree Angel collectibles madness.
00:04:56
One night, I got scammed by a quick change artist and thought for sure I was going to lose my job.
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Did this ever happen to you? Yeah, for sure. A man came in and made a purchase which he paid for with a $100 bill.
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I used our fancy marker that detects counterfeit bills How a marker does that I have no idea The bill was legit but he asked for specific bills as change And then he asked for different bills And then wait never mind bills instead of
00:05:20
And my poor little 15-year-old brain just kept making change, not even registering that he wasn't exchanging all of it as we traded bills.
00:05:29
That happened to me. I watched it happen to people. That happens for any, like, teenager or, like, early 20s if you have a till job.
00:05:36
Yeah. Because you get scammed because you're so naive looking and you don't know.
00:05:39
And those people are slick as hell. They are. You just do not. They're so nice to you.
00:05:44
Yeah. Like, they scam you so good. Yeah. You don't know anything happened. Okay, so cut to the end of the night.
00:05:49
As we were closing up, the till was short somewhere in the neighborhood of $250.
00:05:54
Holy shit. I was going to say, like, $20? Because, like, really, you can only get $20 out.
00:05:59
Oh, my gosh. But if you keep doing it, you just kept doing it. Oh, no. Well, not much money for a Hallmark at the time.
00:06:05
$250 in the year 2000 is what in today's money? Karen, Georgia? Don't tell me. $250 in the year 2000 in today's money is $600.
00:06:17
Close, $500. Oh. Very close. I thought, this is it. I'm screwed. I'm fired from my first job at the age of 15.
00:06:23
I will never work again. Thankfully, my boss had also been working that night and was very understanding.
00:06:28
I worked there for another year or so, and I was very diligent about making change from that day forward.
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Yeah, it never happens to you twice. Yes. Well, because it's so obvious. Like, you feel so stupid.
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Thankfully, it hasn't impacted any career moves. Like, I was convinced it was going to.
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Stay sexy and count the change, Melissa. Oh. Yeah. Keep your eye peeled for those, can you break this?
00:06:53
Hold on, wait. It's them, they start changing their mind. Give me, you know, give me back that five and give me five ones.
00:06:59
Yeah. And then I'll give you this. Yeah. Fuck you. No questions. Yeah. That's the rule.
00:07:04
No questions. No questions. Okay. Klepto cats have feelings too. Hi, new listener here.
00:07:13
And I wish I discovered you long ago. The minisodes give me life. After the first one I listened to, I knew I had just the story for you.
00:07:21
Anywho, when I was younger, my family had a cat named Bo Diddles. He was the best cat who didn't really know how to cat.
00:07:28
He had a bunch of extra toes, so it looked like he always wore mittens. It was his lifelong dream to one day climb a tree, but he just couldn't figure it out.
00:07:36
He would make it about four feet up the tree and then freeze, not knowing how to proceed or abort.
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He would just look at my dad as if to say, a little help here? And my dad would have to go detach him from the tree trunk and place him back on the ground.
00:07:49
This was a repeat occurrence. He was also afraid of birds. If the birds were eating from his food dish, he would sit next to the dish and cry until the birds had their fill and left, and then he would proceed to eat whatever they were gracious enough to leave behind.
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Where's this cat from? Mars, where they're all from. Bo Diddles did have a secret talent, though, stealing.
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He would steal anything that he could carry away in his mouth. Stolen items included writing utensils, my dad's small shop tools, my mom's wedding ring, and the little plastic caps that covered the screws at the bottom of the toilet.
00:08:21
Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's perfect. This thievery went on for years. One Christmas, my grandparents came to visit for a few days.
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My grandma did like animals, but she preferred to like them from afar. She never wanted to touch them and definitely didn't want them sitting or laying on her.
00:08:36
This distant attitude towards cats just didn't jive with Bowdiddles. On the early morning of Christmas Eve, my grandma awoke on her back to find
00:08:44
everything Bowdiddles had ever stolen over the years piled on top of her chest. All caps, everything.
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sitting calmly on my grandma's belly and looking straight into her eyes was bow diddles staring as
00:08:57
if to say we good it was a peace offering we think in the end we got back everything that
00:09:04
was ever stolen and my mom thankfully got her wedding ring back we never did find out where
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he had been hiding his loot so this shit had been gone forever like he had it squirreled away
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somewhere and he finally was like you know what grandma tonight's the night i'm gonna give it back
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Spent the entire night back and forth leaving the cat. Like, I would be so honored.
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But, of course, it wouldn't happen to me because I'd be like, I love you. She'd be like, hey, what's going on?
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Oh, where was it hidden? And why her? What was it about her? Does she have a scent?
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What do we got to do? I was just going to say that. She must have smelled real good.
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Yeah. Cod liver oil. Something like that. That remains a mystery to this day. Bo Diddle's was one of a kind and just the sweetest little thieving punk one could ask for.
00:09:43
Hope you enjoyed the story. Don't get murdered and all that. Franny. Franny, what type of cat did you picture Bo Diddle's to be?
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Oh, black and white. I did a gray and black tiger stripey ones. Oh, a tabby. Is that a tabby?
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That's what Bo is, yeah. Yes, exactly. Because I feel like those guys love to carry stuff in their mouth.
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Yeah. Black and white cats are famously stupid, though, in a really great way. I feel like that could be the, like, I see a large black and white cat.
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But smart enough to get a real good height and space. Yes, totally. Yeah, you're right.
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Okay. I would have loved to seen that pile. Yeah. Just a pile on her chest. So good.
00:10:22
Okay It says family treasure Hi Karen in Georgia I hope you well I a long listener second writer hoping now we opened the floor to stories you get asked to tell or similar that this story can now be a viable submission
00:10:38
So we opened the floor to stories you get asked to tell. Yeah. I feel like that sounds familiar, where it's like when you get to the party, if you're like, tell them the story about the da-da-da.
00:10:47
Yeah, that's it. I have those that people ask me and I'm like, I can't tell it. Vince has to tell it.
00:10:51
It's better from him. You know? He knows how to set it all up. Yeah. Yeah. So I got engaged on Boxing Day 2023.
00:10:59
Very exciting. And I was thrilled with my ring. My now husband laughed and said, I hope so.
00:11:05
Because apparently it was one of the many links I'd sent him. Oh, I did that. I did that on Ambien and sent to Vince.
00:11:10
Yeah. You know, if you're thinking about stuff like this. It says, when you know, you know.
00:11:15
And I wanted a ring I'd actually like. Yeah. Fast forward to summer 2024. I'm having lunch with my parents-in-law and we're chatting about wedding plans when they casually ask, now, did you want to use the family gold for your wedding bands?
00:11:28
Now, I didn't know there was family gold, so I was immediately picturing treasure chests, heirlooms, maybe a little pirate fantasy moment. Obviously, I said yes.
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A couple of weeks later, my fiancé comes home with a very old, very heavy matchbox.
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He opens it up, and inside is a strange, bubbly lump of gold. Sort of looks like a moon rock.
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When I asked where it came from, he tells me the truth. His parents were dentists for over 40 years.
00:11:55
No. Yes. I was thinking, like, there couldn't be anything that would make me say no to that.
00:12:00
And that is it. And you just fucking hit it. Apparently, back in the day, when people had their gold fillings replaced, they'd be offered the old bit back.
00:12:10
Most people said no, so the dentists kept it. No, you can't have like a rubber band ball of people's fucking mouth jewelry.
00:12:18
Old mouth jewelry. Replaced mouth jewelry. The family gold was decades worth of old fillings.
00:12:24
And yes, we absolutely used it. My fucking, yeah. I would have been like, Jan, tell the story about your rings.
00:12:31
You have to do it. Our wedding bands are made from tooth gold as it's now affectionately known.
00:12:37
See photo the inside of the bands. Is it creepy? A bit. Do we love it? Completely.
00:12:42
So stay sexy and maybe check where the family gold came from before you get too excited about your family treasure.
00:12:48
Best jewels. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. They engraved a tiny tooth on the inside of the band.
00:12:56
I love how much they just like embraced the fucking weirdness of it. Yeah. I love this story so much. Right. Yeah. Dentist family. That is so fucking hilarious. Be who you are, even if it's gross. The lump of fucking tooth gold. Do you want this tooth gold? That's disgusting. I'm keeping it then. Okay. It's like, and that's how it melted down. But then it's like, but made beautiful bands. Yeah, yeah. Of course. It looks like a piece of chewing gum beforehand, but it still can turn into fucking rings. I love that. That is. That's a classic. That's a classic. What's the story of like a thing when people go, oh, I like your thing. And you go, thank you.
00:13:31
thinks it's a and then just freak them out yeah thinks it's my cat's whiskers that i got turned
00:13:35
into a necklace or it's my the ashes of my gerbil from when i was a child yeah i want those stories
00:13:41
yeah that would be good too or tooth gold or chase gold okay ready i am the live show puker corrections corner
00:13:53
okay just for clarity there have been many so i can't wait to hear okay hello ladies esteemed
00:14:01
colleagues and fine furry friends. I am the live show puker. Not my finest moment in life, but also
00:14:07
not my worst. Hey. In a recent episode, y'all were discussing in what city did this incident
00:14:13
take place, and I would like to clarify, it was the Egyptian room in Indianapolis 2017. Sounds
00:14:19
right. Sure. The story. My friend Emily and I had secured VIP tickets for the show. Emily and I
00:14:25
hopped in the car for the three and a half hour drive from Columbus to Indy. I were the fifth of
00:14:30
Esplanade Silver Tequila to keep me company for the ride. You see, I was also going through a
00:14:37
pretty shitty breakup at the time, had not spent years in therapy yet, and only knew how to cope
00:14:42
with my feelings by drowning them in copious amounts of drugs and alcohol. Sure. Been there.
00:14:48
By the time we made it to Indianapolis, I had crushed that bottle. Oh my God. A fifth of tequila.
00:14:53
A fifth of tequila. We then went to our hotel bar where I had a double vodka soda.
00:14:59
We then went to the Egyptian room where I had two more doubles while waiting for the show to start.
00:15:04
At this point, Emily was getting a little, okay, a lot frustrated with me because I had crossed over.
00:15:11
The lights went down, the music came on, the crowd cheered and applauded. Then I vomited all over myself, the chair and the floor next to me.
00:15:20
I then proceeded to basically army crawl out of the theater with a little help from my friend who at that time was highly considering not being my friend anymore.
00:15:29
She threw me into an Uber, gave the driver $20 in cash to take me to my room. I completely missed the show and Emily missed half I felt horrible and not just because I was extremely hungover the next day Luckily Emily forgave me I will say though buying her a VIP ticket for the Ann Arbor live
00:15:46
show and promising not to drink didn't hurt in obtaining that forgiveness. Classy. Nice move.
00:15:52
I am now happy to report I'm living in Los Angeles, working as a chef, have met the love of my life.
00:15:57
We have the best rescue pup ever, have been in therapy for three years, and have found a healthy relationship with alcohol.
00:16:03
Nice. Oh, and Emily is still one of my best friends. And honestly, I am not sure what I would do without her in my life.
00:16:09
Thanks for talking about this incident on your show and making me kind of a legend.
00:16:13
Question mark, question mark. Katie, they, them. P.S. I'm the chef at Bub and Grandma's.
00:16:21
If you ever pop in, say hello. I'll send you all the treats. One of the best fucking bread bakeries in L.A.
00:16:27
That all the restaurants get their bread from there. But there's also a cafe in Glassell Park.
00:16:31
Oh, shit. With the best sandwiches and pastries. We got to pop in. We got to pop in and see Katie with a C.
00:16:36
We're here for Katie with a C. Hi, is Katie with a C here? Give us everything. They owe us a glad bag snap out.
00:16:42
Well, here's the thing, because they weren't there and their friend Emily wasn't there for the glad bag snap out.
00:16:46
Right. Which could have been a different show because people have thrown up a lot at our shows, Katie.
00:16:51
You're not alone, Katie. Do not worry. Give us pastries. You literally talk to the city of Portland about every single person who's thrown up at our show because there have been many.
00:17:00
You're not the only, but you're maybe the first and the army crawler. And we love you for it.
00:17:05
And we've all been there. It's OK. I like that you just snuck in give us pastries while I'm making a different point.
00:17:10
Give us pastries. And give us pastries. That thing with the black sesame on top of the toast is like the best thing I've ever had.
00:17:15
I have seen ads for that place on TikTok lately. Yeah. They're like. Like people are going crazy and lining up for it.
00:17:22
It's like the best bread. They have pies. Like all the good things. Yes. Hey, pukers, write in.
00:17:27
Do you think you're the one with the snap out trash bag? I guess that person wouldn't know because they threw up and left.
00:17:33
Yeah. Okay. My last one is, I was the prankster teacher. So it says, hi, Karen in Georgia.
00:17:41
The prankster teacher in Minnesota 459 really had me crying in the shower. Sorry if it's weird that I listen in the shower, but as a former prankster teacher, I had to write in.
00:17:50
I started teaching high school English when I was 22, which meant my students were only eight years younger than me.
00:17:56
Oh, my God. I knew I couldn't scare them into submission, so I led with honesty, pop culture references, and some pranks.
00:18:03
I blew an air horn during the death scene of Romeo and Juliet. I gave fake pop quizzes on the wrong story, but my personal favorite was the long-running rumor of my supposed hand-modeling career.
00:18:15
So good. I was in another teacher's classroom giving her my subplans for my upcoming absence, and a student asked why I was going to be out.
00:18:23
My co-worker immediately said, she has a photo shoot. She's a famous model. The students didn't believe her at first, but she insisted and said that the only reason they couldn't recognize me was because I only modeled hands.
00:18:35
Oh, my God. And that they believed, and the rumor spread. And there sealed a lie that I was somehow sucked into for the next four years.
00:18:44
Watches, nail polish, food, every absence I had to come up with another fake campaign that I was jet-setting around the world to shoot.
00:18:52
Freshmen would come into my class so excited that they got the hand model as their English teacher.
00:18:58
Other teachers got into it, not letting me lift anything heavy or touch anything dirty in their presence to preserve the art.
00:19:05
When I decided to leave teaching, so many students asked if it was to pursue my hand modeling full time.
00:19:11
I know I should have come clean then, but I just couldn't help myself. I admitted that I was finally making enough from my hand modeling to leave the classroom.
00:19:19
Holy shit. The next year, a teacher reached out to let me know that the students wanted to know how Miss B's hand modeling career was going.
00:19:25
And that, my friends, is how teachers live forever. Maybe this wasn't a prank so much as a flat out lie, but God, teenagers are so gullible.
00:19:33
And sometimes it was just fun to fuck with them. I love and miss them all every day in the grown up corporate model-less world.
00:19:40
But if they're hearing this, I'm not sorry. Stay sexy and prank those kids. Sam, a.k.a. Miss B.
00:19:47
Oh, my God. There has to be someone listening. I would love that. If you're listening and Miss B.
00:19:53
Was your teacher or you've heard that rumor. Samantha B. was your teacher. And you knew that she was a hand model that left because she was such a successful hand model.
00:20:03
Like, I just, someone has done that, though. Someone's made a career out of hand modeling.
00:20:08
Why shouldn't it be your fucking teacher? So good. It's so good. It's so funny. Send us your stories at myfavoritemurder at Gmail.
00:20:15
And stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? This has been an Exactly Right production.
00:20:30
Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer is Tessa Hughes. Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.
00:20:36
This episode was mixed by Liana Squalachi. Email your hometowns to myfavoritemurder at gmail.com.
00:20:41
Follow the show on Instagram at myfavoritemurder. Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:20:48
Goodbye!

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Funniest
  • 75
    Most unserious (in a good way)
  • 70
    Most heartwarming
  • 70
    Best performance

Episode Highlights

  • Abandoned Building Adventure
    A maintenance crew explores an abandoned dorm, only to discover they weren't alone.
    “Turns out someone was in the building with us the whole time.”
    @ 03m 55s
    January 26, 2026
  • The Family Gold
    A listener shares a hilarious story about wedding bands made from old dental gold.
    “Our wedding bands are made from tooth gold as it's now affectionately known.”
    @ 12m 37s
    January 26, 2026
  • The Prankster Teacher
    A teacher shares her hilarious experiences of pranking her students with a fake modeling career.
    “God, teenagers are so gullible.”
    @ 19m 33s
    January 26, 2026

Episode Quotes

  • Holy shit.
    MFM Minisode 472
  • Nightmare fuel.
    MFM Minisode 472
  • I love this story so much. Right. Yeah.
    MFM Minisode 472
  • Stay sexy and prank those kids.
    MFM Minisode 472
  • And don't get murdered.
    MFM Minisode 472
  • Goodbye.
    MFM Minisode 472

Key Moments

  • Email Time00:59
  • Abandonment Story01:26
  • Tooth Gold Revelation12:24
  • Prankster Teacher17:41
  • Goodbye20:18

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown