430 - Here's Your Reward | My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

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Hello. And welcome to My Favorite Murder. That's Georgia Hartstark. That's Karen Kilgariff.

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And we're about to podcast for you. It's happening. You're in it. We're in it. We're

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in it together. Are you nervous at all, Georgia? Me always. A little sweat, a little sweaty.

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Yeah. Just a standing anxiety. Oh, yeah. Before we went on stage once, you said to me, anxiety and excitement feel the same.

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And it kind of is the same. So whenever that happens now, when I get what I think is like nervous, it's like this pretend

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it's excitement. Yeah. Instead. And it works. It works. Yeah. That's an old trick someone taught me.

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But that also is like, if only it was that easy all the time. Like the other day I was having a bad day, quote unquote.

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and I got home and I was like, man, and I was kind of like, should I put everything down and

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sit on the couch and cry like a weirdo? Should I do this? Should I do that? And then I was like,

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when's the last time I ate protein? And then again, again, it's always protein. It's either

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protein or you're tired. Yeah. But it's like, if there's, there was someone, and I'm sure it was

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like probably my therapist or someone where it's like, there's a couple little emergency steps that

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you should have if you're in one of those pockets where you're like, there are steps you can take

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that because you're just always assuming, well, everything's normal. And yet I'm being so weird.

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And it's like, no, what if everything's not normal? What if you, what if you didn't eat

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breakfast or lunch and now you think the world is ending? Well, it's called, there's an acronym

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and everyone's yelling at who's listening right now. It's like, you know, dads, like, did you eat?

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And what about sleep? I'm making this one up, but like, it's one of those things where it's like

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food, rest, sad. Are you sad? Are you just sad? Or are you sad? Did your dad abandon you?

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Is your dad an asshole? It's dads. Dads. Yay. Speaking of therapy, since we're already on the

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subject, I have, I'm listening to a book as I fall asleep at night lately. Cause it's really

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calming. My sister recommended it. It's called the power of now by Eckhart Tolle. It's like a

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famous classic self-help book. I'm really trying to use it in my everyday life. It's essentially

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like be here now and right now is the only thing that actually exists. So everything else that

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you're manifesting or remembering or worrying about doesn't exist. And you have to, and you

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have now, that's it. You know what I mean? Like essentially, right? Like, yes, it's a long book.

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So it's more than that, but, but I'm trying to do it. Be here now. And are you listening to it? Can you hear him talking? Cause he has a great voice for relaxation.

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Beautiful, relaxing voice. I'm falling asleep to it. So the stuff that I do hear resonates. The stuff that I don't hear is hopefully still getting into those juicy.

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It's way in there. Gray matter. The juiciest part of your brain. And I say juicy because.

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Right, because you love the sweatpants. Yes, that's me. My therapist, we have laughed from the beginning about how she uses the word juicy to describe like good feelings as good juicy feelings, you know, and I just think it's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard.

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and I told her so anyways today I was talking to her in therapy and she just said this one thing

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to me that I was like oh I have to write that down it was you don't need to borrow worry from

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the future like that hit me so hard I know it like saying but the way she said it was so casual yeah like it still gonna be there and you can have you have it right now You don need more You don need to take it from then because it be there when you need it

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Don't go looking for, it's when my sister said, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yes.

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Which is, I think a Polish saying or it's a cultural saying, but I can't remember who said it.

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But that one's a great one. That's a great one. You can't always, you just have to put it down sometimes.

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That one, how about put out the fire instead of chasing the arsonist or something like that.

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Oh, yeah. You know, that's a good one. That's not right. But it's like something like that, where it's like, why are you chasing the arsonist while

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your house is burning down? Yeah. I don't really get that right now. But yeah, it resonates with someone, you know?

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Absolutely. No, no. I think it makes sense. I think all of anything that somebody came up with in good faith, because, you know,

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the first step was they were trying to do something for their own personal, like insanity.

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and so it often makes sense because you're like oh it's usually coming from a person that's like

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hey i've been there dark night of the soul like apparently eckhart tolle whatever his name is

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sat on a public bench for like three years like he just dipped from society and was like i am

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now going to have this trip out thing of actually practicing i think it's like radical presence or

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something that makes sense yeah and it goes along too with the thing I have trouble with which is

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feeling my feelings the worst so like yeah it sucks it's like can I intellectualize them away

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I'd rather fucking do that but yes feeling feelings is disgusting it is it's hard and it's

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stupid and it feels bad and it's like dangerous for some people in certain circumstances or it

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feels dangerous you know feels dangerous feels dangerous so yeah but that's if I feel them now

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then I don't have to deal with their fucking aftermath later. Right. And usually it's like, this is definitely a TikTok I saw where it's like the average feeling,

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it lasts 90 seconds. So if you literally just sit there and wait it out, you just don't give it any more or less,

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but you just kind of go, yeah, look, we'll let it be here and not do anything about it.

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It won't go on for more than like two minutes. Mine lasts 15 years, like minimum.

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Oh shit. I'm sorry. You have a different kind. No, I mean like I hold them. real change don't let it out for 15 fucking years and then it's like oh it's you going like

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i don't cry i don't cry i don't cry all right well i got new lip liner so that's my

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ilia is now making a crayon large size lip liner which is my favorite love those right yeah extreme

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accuracy with those fucking things yeah like i need to be able to put on lipstick in the car

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so can you please not give me an old-fashioned tube of lipstick but something that I'm gonna

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be able to put in the right spot I don't own a lipstick that I can't put on blind you know what

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I mean like yeah because then I'll look ridiculous yeah I can't do two-step stuff anymore I just

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picture my mom after like we're at a nice restaurant and she takes out her compact and

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takes out her lips you know it's just it's such a Janet Nordstrom beauty section in the 80s

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mom move of the at the table which is fine I don't care but it's like putting on her stick

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perfectly triggers me can't do it I mean for sure this reminds me of some of our earliest

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conversations where it's like moms and lipstick for if you had moms of a certain age yeah lipstick

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was as important as like health insurance to a lot of those people it's just like

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Like, put on a little lipstick. You should put on some lipstick, sweetheart. You look like a gloss.

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You look dead. I have a show and that's it. What do you have? Let's hear it. Okay.

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I bet you've watched it or you're going to say, I'm about to watch it. It's called Bodkin on Netflix.

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I started it. Yeah. It's really good. I just, we finished it last night. You liked the whole thing?

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It ended in a way that was clear they were making room for season two. So it didn't answer some things, which kind of annoyed me.

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but it stars Will Forte and then Siobhan Cullen, Robin Cara, and then David Wilmot,

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who's like the redheaded Irish guy you've seen in anything, everything ever. Who's like,

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looks so fucking great with a beard, I must say. But it's a, he's a true, Will Forte is a true crime

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podcaster. Oh my God. Who goes to Ireland, a small town in Ireland to like try to solve this

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disappearance. That's essentially what it's about, but it's fucking cool. Oh, good. Will Forte is truly one of my favorite performers just in general, like an acting, a very compelling actor, but of course, truly one of the funniest people. And in real life, happy to tell you, one of the kindest. I don't know him well, but every time I've ever been somewhere, he's like completely been like, hi, how are you? What's going on? Like the real deal type of guy.

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Yeah. Vince made a joke about that. He should have done the whole show as MacGruber and that would have just like sent it to a different fucking level.

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It's just MacGruber meets it. It does remind me of bad sisters, like the dark humor, solving a murder.

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Fast forward or, you know, past issues. Who done it kind of a thing, which was such a great show.

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So, yeah, it's good. It's really good. OK, I'm definitely going to watch it. My Aunt Mary, the nun actually recommended Bodkin.

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There is Irish nuns in it, right? She loves anything that reflects her world. She liked it.

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Oh, yeah. They were bad guys. They were the nuns are bad guys. in it though. Yeah. I think she's aware of that. She's aware of that reality. Okay, cool. Yeah.

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Lip liner. That's my only rec. That's your recommendation. Ilya lip liner, but don't buy

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too many so that I can't have them because they're all going to go out of stock now. Oh my God.

00:11:47

You such an influencer Okay Let influence people to listen to all the other shows on our network What do you think Yeah We have some fun stuff coming up you guys that we going to tease and tell you about and then not totally tell you about That right I mean for example

00:12:05

on this podcast will kill you this week, Erin and Erin are doing an episode all about maggots

00:12:10

and their role in medicine. So you might want to listen to that if that's the kind of thing

00:12:15

you can stomach. I absolutely want to listen to it. I get so much joy hearing what they're

00:12:21

talking about every week because it's like, yes, I didn't know I fucking wanted to hear about that.

00:12:26

Right. Amazing. And this week, comedian Johnny Pemberton, oh my God, he's so funny,

00:12:30

joins Bridger on I Said No Gifts. Curly Velasquez is Roz's guest on Ghosted. And there's a ladies

00:12:36

only episode of Lady to Lady. Meeting in the ladies. You can't sing, Karen. Okay. Are you

00:12:42

following My Favorite Murder on Instagram and TikTok? Please do so because we've started making

00:12:47

videos, we think you're going to like them. If you like our show, you might like them. For example,

00:12:53

every Saturday, you'll either get an episode of Sinkhole Saturdays with me or get ready with

00:12:59

Cookie in Georgia, where Georgia's dog picks out outfits with her. I feel like we picked,

00:13:06

like they were like, you guys have to do more. And we're like, okay, fine. We'll do more,

00:13:09

but it has to be things we're into. And then it's like, okay, fine. How about sinkholes and

00:13:12

vintage clothing. You're like, okay. Fine. Fine. Fine. It's really, I'm really happy with the way

00:13:19

our things turned out. So I'm really happy. Although my niece, Nora retweeted one of my

00:13:25

own sinkhole Saturdays into my feed. And so I was in my little fantasy world of TikTok. And all of

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a sudden I was looking at myself making a sinkhole Saturday. I was like, what is happening?

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It's like putting on a, it's like accidentally turning the camera on and it's on selfie mode.

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Yes, exactly. And in episode 422, back in April, we had a conversation about tote bags,

00:13:47

which inspired our newest line of March. Remember we were like, we're tote bag people,

00:13:51

Martyrinos are tote bag people. So now there's a t-shirt, tank top and tote bag that reads

00:13:56

my favorite murder in the style of the traditional thank you bags you get with takeout. So go to

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exactlyrightstore.com because I think this is my like favorite new March we have up.

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It's really cool. It was such a good idea. Was it Erin Brown's idea? Cause she. Probably.

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Man, she's good. But yeah, that's, it's a real, you'll see it. You'll recognize the design when

00:14:18

you see it. Yeah, you know. It's a good one. Oh, last thing for the loyal listeners, would you please go over to Apple

00:14:24

Podcast and give us a review? I know we've asked you before, but if you've never thought to do it,

00:14:29

it's right there in your podcast app. It's near you right now. You just look down and hit

00:14:34

as many stars as you think this incredibly compelling first 15 minutes was for you.

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Default terms at mintmobile.com. Oh, you go first this week. Okay, I'm first, as you just said.

00:17:18

with a fucking pretty wild story, especially one of those that you're like, how have I never heard that?

00:17:25

Can I really quick ask you a question before you start? Yeah. Are you wearing a scarf?

00:17:30

I'm wearing a scarf and glasses that don't work. I got a lot of injections today.

00:17:37

I'm so sorry. I was just like, I'm so hot right now. And I'm like, is she wearing a scarf?

00:17:43

Yeah, I got some injections in my face today and I'm trying to be, So I'm dressing like Carmen Sandiego to try to hide my,

00:17:51

my all the things. Look at this. Look at my eyes. I so sorry I have I somehow have this sense of what exactly not to ask about I just was like is that a scarf What going on I don mind that question I was so scared when you were like slowing down Like you know I don have any secrets

00:18:06

And then you're like, can I ask you a question? Like, oh no, no. How about this one that you don't realize you have that I know about?

00:18:11

I just got injections in my face and you can leave that all in because transparency.

00:18:17

And we'll call this the confrontation episode. The no gatekeeping episode. Hashtag influencer.

00:18:24

Hashtag scarf and glasses. I look stupid. I look worse with the glasses and scarf on than I would with just the.

00:18:31

No, you don't. It's cute. But when we join each other to do this week after week for eight years, scarf and glasses

00:18:37

has never come into it. I'm taking the glasses off now. Crazy ass fucking story.

00:18:44

It's super wild. It involves the underworld, a crooked lawyer and a deathbed confession.

00:18:50

it's one of the most notorious crimes in Florida's history often referred to as Florida's crime of

00:18:56

the century but last century this is the story of the 1955 murders of judge Curtis Chillingworth

00:19:03

and his wife Marjorie oh this sounds familiar I think I know this yeah I mean it's super twisty

00:19:09

turny and the main source I used for this story is a very in-depth podcast series called Chillingworth

00:19:14

about the entire case it was made by two filmmakers who grew up in the community this murder happened

00:19:19

in. Their parents knew the victims. They interview a ton of people involved in the case, which is

00:19:25

crazy since it happened in 1955. They use old like newsreel footage. It's a great podcast,

00:19:30

Chillingworth. And the rest of the sources can be found in the show notes. So it's eight in the morning on Wednesday, June 15th, 1955. A contractor named Frank Ebersole

00:19:40

is walking up to the beach house of some of his regular clients, Judge Curtis Chillingworth

00:19:45

and his wife, Marjorie Chillingworth. Judge Chillingworth is the senior judge of Florida's 15th Judicial District,

00:19:53

which is Palm Beach County. And at the time, this is like small town, Southern, you know, old timey era.

00:20:01

So he's one of like, I think it's three or four judges. It's not like a huge district.

00:20:06

It's kind of small, it's small towny for sure. And so the contractor, Frank, built the judge's beach house in Manalapan, Florida,

00:20:14

which is like a little beach town. And he is back to fix a broken window. Totally normal day.

00:20:20

But when Frank gets to the house, he can tell something's wrong. No one answers the front door.

00:20:25

It's 8 a.m. The judge should be almost like up and at work at this point, as usual. The floodlight

00:20:30

on the porch is broken. The door is unlocked. So Frank lets himself in and neither the judge

00:20:35

nor Marjorie are in the house. Their beds, it's two twin beds because it's the 1950s,

00:20:42

are empty and have been slept in, but not made, which again is, you know, rare. So Frank calls

00:20:49

the judge's chambers, but his secretary says he's not there. And ordinarily, the judge would already

00:20:54

be working. He has a 9 a.m. hearing scheduled for that day. So it is immediately weird that he's not

00:20:59

at home or at the office. Judge Chillingworth is known for being a stickler for the rules and

00:21:04

ruthlessly punctual, but fair and sympathetic. He's known for his integrity and for often ruling

00:21:10

in favor of women in divorces. He's just a very fair, honest, straightforward, not corrupt judge.

00:21:18

One of the good guys. One of the good guys. He's also known for treating black defendants fairly,

00:21:23

which is no small thing in 1955 Florida. Right. And both of these factors mean that there are

00:21:28

people in Palm Beach County who don't like him. But the general public opinion is very respectful

00:21:35

towards him. And he's an older man. He's in his 50s. He's, you know, getting towards retirement.

00:21:40

So let me tell you about him. Curtis Eugene Chillingworth is born in 1896 in the newly

00:21:46

incorporated city of West Palm Beach, Florida. The Chillingworth family has deep roots in the

00:21:51

Palm Beach area. His grandfather is the first mayor of West Palm Beach and his father is a

00:21:56

successful lawyer. Judge Chillingworth goes to the University of Florida, studies law, graduates

00:22:01

early. And by the time he's 24, he's elected circuit court judge, the youngest judge in

00:22:06

Florida history. Wow. 24. Remember what we were doing when we were 24? Yeah. Jack shit. Not good.

00:22:14

No. Judge Chillingworth and Marjorie, who is two years younger, get married. They have three

00:22:20

daughters. From what it seems, they have a beautiful, happy, normal life. In the 1950s,

00:22:27

Florida experiences a population boom. And this is because of a few factors. It's after the war,

00:22:32

and there's a general population boom everywhere. Veterans who had been stationed in Florida

00:22:37

move their families back there for the nice weather and beautiful nature. And crucially, air conditioning becomes more mainstream.

00:22:46

It makes all the difference. It's just, it's so fascinating. Like before air conditioning,

00:22:51

everyone was like, I'm not moving there. And then it happened and you're like, great.

00:22:54

I wonder the impact, like if they've studied the impact of air conditioning on like the population of Florida.

00:23:01

Florida and Arizona. Yeah. Yeah. It's wild. So this population boom comes with a boom in organized crime,

00:23:09

your favorite kind of. Oh. Which as you'd expect, Judge Chillingworth has zero tolerance for.

00:23:15

So in June of 1955, Judge Chillingworth is planning to retire in a few months. And he

00:23:20

and his wife Marjorie have tickets on a around the world cruise in 1955. Can you imagine?

00:23:27

Yeah. Good stuff. In the meantime, the couple is about to host their three daughters and their son-in-law and their grandchildren at the beach house in Manalpan.

00:23:35

Manalpan is a small town. It's just this little barrier island just south of Palm Beach.

00:23:40

It's a little reclusive. What's the word? Is that right? Kind of sits on its own.

00:23:45

It's got like, you know. Isolated? Isolated. Thank you so much. And it's home to a lot of lavish mansions that the Chillingworth place is more like a simple beach cottage where they like to go.

00:23:54

Yeah. So after Frank, the contractor, calls Judge Chillingworth's chambers, things move.

00:24:00

move quickly. About 100 police officers and sheriff deputies descend on the beach house,

00:24:05

which you think about it is an enormous amount. Insane. Yeah. And he's a judge. It's like obvious

00:24:12

that that's what's going on, but that's too many people. They cordon off the place and they're

00:24:18

really good with forensics and make sure no one touches anything. Just kidding. They fucking

00:24:22

trample over everything. What year is it now? 55. Yeah. But I think even for that period,

00:24:29

it's like egregious. There's like newsreel footage of them panning through the living room

00:24:33

at the time. And there's a cop sitting in their dining room, drinking a soda, like a bottle of

00:24:40

soda, like on the day it happened. So it's just like, you know, smoking their cigarettes. Like

00:24:45

it's just crazy. Yeah. So Marjorie's purse is found containing $40. It rules out robbery.

00:24:53

There are small drops of blood on the steps that lead down to the beach and on some wooden beams in

00:24:58

the ground, which serves as a path through the sea oats growing on the dunes between the beach

00:25:03

and the house. So it looks like someone was bleeding while they were walking towards the

00:25:07

beach from the beach house. There's blood on the sand too. Two partially used rolls of duct tape

00:25:12

are recovered from the porch, but there's pretty much no system put in place to preserve evidence.

00:25:17

People, as I said, stomp all over the house, all over the deck, all over the stairs, down to the

00:25:21

beach, all over the sand. So no footprints can be recognized. No additional evidence is found.

00:25:29

And a $15,250 reward is offered for information that leads to an arrest. That's a very specific number.

00:25:38

That's a lot of money. I think, let's just say it's 15 grand. In today's money, that would be...

00:25:45

Would it be $15,000 in the 50s? $300,000? $1780,000. Does that make sense? $178,000. Oh, my God.

00:26:03

Well, that's still for information or for, yeah, that's a ton of money for that.

00:26:08

And I think it shows like the panic and how terrifying this was, because if this well-respected professional judge goes missing and his wife, like there's something bigger going on.

00:26:22

It's probably not, you know, just a robbery or that they were randomly selected.

00:26:27

Like some shit is going on, you know? And I think it made the whole community and the whole, you know, law enforcement and judicial community really fucking scared that they were next.

00:26:39

Yeah. And it did become like international news pretty quickly, which didn't happen a lot in the 50s.

00:26:44

So despite the lack of evidence, people who keep a close eye on the Palm Beach County justice system are pretty quickly suspicious of a man named Judge Joe Peel.

00:26:56

Joe Peel, this is our guy, is a lawyer. He's in private practice as well as the Palm Beach County magistrate, which is an elected

00:27:05

judge in charge of hearing certain types of municipal cases. So he's kind of this good looking like man about town.

00:27:13

He and his wife are often seen out and about together. You know, he's kind of a big shot.

00:27:18

You know what I mean? And in 1955, when the Chillingworths go missing, he's 31 years old and he makes it no secret

00:27:25

that he has political ambitions, his ultimate goal is to become governor of Florida.

00:27:30

So in Joe's work as an attorney, he winds up specializing in areas that affect the bar and hospitality industry,

00:27:37

like liquor licenses, which he's not like Judge Schillingworth. It gives him an opportunity

00:27:42

to make a little extra money on the side, you know, and work with some unscrupulous people.

00:27:48

This leads to him having a lot of underworld contacts since obviously restaurants and bars

00:27:53

are so closely linked with organized crime, racketeering, bookmaking, and illegal gambling,

00:27:58

which was huge in this area at the time. The other thing about Joe is that he seems to have a lot of money

00:28:05

for an independent lawyer and part-time city employee. Like he does divorce cases, but he seems very wealthy.

00:28:13

He lives in a big house. He has two cars, one of which has air conditioning, which is big shot time.

00:28:19

It's rumored that he has a deal with the illegal gambling rings. And people are pretty sure that racketeers pay him to tip them off because he, as the magistrate, is in charge of signing search warrants before police raids.

00:28:34

Oh, wow. Yeah. So he signs them, calls them, says, guess what I just signed? Guess what I just did.

00:28:42

Yeah. So he's making a lot of money. And Joe's life intersects with our very moral Judge Chillingworth's a lot.

00:28:52

But they're both judges in the same community, of course. But two years earlier, in 1953, Joe had to appear before Judge Chillingworth for an ethical

00:29:01

violation. Our corrupt lawyer, Joe, had represented both the husband and wife in a divorce case, he

00:29:08

was arguing, which like, I'm not a lawyer. You're not a lawyer. We know you shouldn't.

00:29:13

That's just you can't do that. It seems inappropriate to me. Yeah. So like right off the bat, it's just like he makes really dumb decisions.

00:29:21

and then retaliates. Sorry, is he a lawyer? He's also a judge or he's just a lawyer?

00:29:27

He's a lawyer, lawyer as his career. He's an elected official, which means he has some judge like duties.

00:29:34

Yeah. Got it. Okay. But he's not like, he wouldn't like sit in and be a judge on your trial

00:29:40

or anything like that. You know what I mean? Okay, got it. Yeah. So his main job is he's still a lawyer.

00:29:44

Yeah. So Judge Chillingworth, he goes before Judge Chillingworth and Judge Chillingworth reprimands him,

00:29:49

But citing Joe relative youth and inexperience he issues a two suspension from practicing law So he kind of gives him just a little slap on the wrist It a very lenient sentence for this Joe could have been disbarred for this but Judge Chillingworth does say don let me see you in here again Like next time I not going to be so lenient with you

00:30:09

But in 1955, before the Chillingworths go missing, Joe gets caught up in another professional

00:30:15

misconduct issue. He had forgotten to finalize a client's divorce. So she had remarried,

00:30:22

unwittingly committing bigamy. Oh no. Yeah. So it's unlikely that Joe did this on purpose. It was

00:30:29

just another dumb decision he made. It sounds like he wasn't taking his job too seriously.

00:30:34

It's more likely that he was too distracted by all his racketeering to remember to file the

00:30:38

paperwork, you know? Sure. So Joe's case once again is assigned to Judge Chillingworth and he knows

00:30:45

this time he won't get any more chances. So in the wake of Judge Chillingworth's disappearance,

00:30:50

Joe's case is reassigned and Joe gets what he wanted, another short suspension instead of

00:30:57

disbarment. It worked. Whatever happened, worked. But the damage to his reputation is done. And even

00:31:03

though he could continue with this warrant scheme he was doing, he actually resigns as a county

00:31:09

magistrate not long after because a popular opinion was turned against him. He continues

00:31:14

to represent clients, but not at a pace that explains his lifestyle. And he's no longer a

00:31:19

magistrate, he's unable to collect bribes in return for warnings about raids. And so he starts

00:31:24

a side gig as a booker with the help of a former client named Floyd Holtzepfel, who has a lot of

00:31:32

connections in organized crime. So he teams up with a criminal he had represented before,

00:31:36

and that's his like sidekick now. That's his new, his life as a retiree. Yeah. So that's Joe and Floyd. But there's no direct evidence linking Joe Peel directly to the disappearance or anyone else to the disappearance of the judge and his wife until more than a year later.

00:31:56

And all this crazy shit happens and they talk about on the podcast Chillingworth. It's some really fascinating stuff. So a year later, he's charged as an accessory in an attempted murder.

00:32:05

So what happened was in December 1956, Joe is arrested along with Floyd, his sidekick, following an altercation at a club called the Chi Chi Club in Florida in the 50s.

00:32:17

Can you fucking picture it? The club's claim to fame is a dancer who would do her entire act as a mermaid submerged in a tank.

00:32:26

Great. Yeah. So what happens is Joe brought a legal associate named Harold Gray to the club with him when it was closed.

00:32:35

Harold Gray is just a normal guy. He's a lawyer. He's not involved in all the underworld stuff.

00:32:41

But Floyd is waiting inside the club and Floyd attempts to bludgeon Harold to death with a

00:32:46

leather mace. But shockingly, Harold survives and as a bloodied mess runs out into the street.

00:32:54

And at this point, Joe, who was standing idly by while Harold was being hit, an attempted murder

00:33:01

was happening. Joe runs after him and tries to get him in a cab. He's like, oh, I'm so sorry.

00:33:06

I don't know what happened. And he, and he takes him to the hospital. So what had really happened

00:33:11

was that Joe had taken out a hundred thousand dollar life insurance policy on his, on this guy,

00:33:18

Harold Gray, on his like coworker. Wow. A hundred thousand dollar life insurance policy by forging

00:33:24

his name. And it also had like a double indemnity clause that if he was murdered, he got like more

00:33:30

our money, which like, how is that? Who thought of that? I don't know, but it's a great movie.

00:33:35

Have you ever seen Double Indemnity? It's really good. And it like all takes place on Sunset

00:33:40

Boulevard. It's like one of my favorite, like, oh, I know where that, hey, look, Moose on Franks.

00:33:45

It's great. So in today's money, a hundred thousand dollars life insurance policy is equal to.

00:33:52

Well, if it was 15 before that got us up to 178, then a hundred thousand dollars.

00:34:00

Do you think I could do this? $500,000? No. Close to a million. Oh, shit. So imagine taking on a million dollar life insurance policy on an associate.

00:34:11

Like, what the fuck, right? But they did it. He makes really dumb moves. Yeah. I wonder if it was like, did the guy not have a family?

00:34:19

Was he like, they thought he would be easy to knock off? I mean. I don't know. But they tried, Joe tried to get him killed twice.

00:34:27

And this guy survived both of them. Oh, my God. He's got a lot of luck on his side.

00:34:31

Floyd and Joe are both charged, but they are acquitted of the attack after a mob connected witness lies in the stand about having been present at the time of the attempted murder.

00:34:41

So Floyd says that the reason he beat up Harold. Yes, I beat up Harold, but it was because he insulted my wife.

00:34:47

So that was like the story. They got away with it. Then in 1958, the body of another man involved in organized crime is found in a canal near an area called 20 Mile Bend.

00:34:58

And this man is known to be connected to Floyd and authorities quickly latch on to him, to Floyd as a suspect.

00:35:05

So with Joe and Floyd continually turning up like bad pennies in cases involving the West Palm Beach underworld,

00:35:12

state attorney Philip O'Connell, who had been suspicious from the beginning, decides to look into the possibility of them having been involved in the disappearance of Judge Curtis and Marjorie Chillingworth.

00:35:22

But the problem here is that the bodies of the Chillingworth have never been recovered.

00:35:27

And in Florida, at least at the time, without a body, you can't prove that a murder has taken place unless two eyewitnesses attest to it.

00:35:36

So they don't need a body, but they need at least two people who say that a murder took place.

00:35:41

So the state attorney, Philip O'Connell, leads an investigation with the intention of turning Floyd and Joe against each other.

00:35:47

So he makes a deal with the guy who was the crooked insurance agent from this plot of the life insurance policy against Harold Gray The agent name is James Yenzer And James agrees to go undercover to get Floyd to admit his role in the murders of the Chilling Worth They also recruit a bail bondsman named

00:36:07

Jim Wilber, who was another associate of Floyd and Joe's. So it turns out to be very easy to

00:36:12

turn Floyd against Joe because Joe is already plotting to have Floyd killed. Oh.

00:36:19

And the authorities were able to prove that to him. They're feuding about money from a

00:36:24

different racket. This guy, James Yenzer, learns about it, relays it to the investigators, or like

00:36:29

you can use this, you know, to get information. But Floyd had already skipped bail on a different

00:36:36

charge and fled to Brazil. He calls Floyd in Brazil and tells him that he's seen Joe out with

00:36:45

Floyd's wife, which immediately gets Floyd to fly back to Florida. That was like the trick.

00:36:50

oh i know in september of 1960 jim and james meet up with floyd in a motel in melbourne florida

00:36:58

melbourne florida probably the room is bugged law enforcement officers are next door recording

00:37:04

their conversation on reel-to-reel tapes and there's some of this reel-to-reel footage in

00:37:09

the podcast as well it's bananas yeah the three men proceed to get totally shit-faced and floyd

00:37:16

begins to talk and tell the story, not knowing the room is bugged, about old times. And Floyd

00:37:22

proceeds to talk about the plot he helped Joe Peel to hatch to kill Judge Curtis and Marjorie

00:37:29

Chillingworth. So he just admits the whole thing. He laughs about it as he describes what happened.

00:37:34

It's so chilling. Oh, man. So here's what happened. As outsiders suspected, Joe Peel was worried that

00:37:39

Judge Chillingworth was going to have him disbarred. He decided the only way to remain the county

00:37:44

magistrate and realize his political objectives was to have him killed. Like, so he fucked up and

00:37:49

then he is going to have someone killed to make his problems go away. I fucking hate these stories

00:37:54

so much. It's that classic sociopath move of like, well, this is my world. I just need to remove

00:38:00

barriers and boundaries and get what I need. And yeah. It's that, how do I get other people to

00:38:07

solve the problems that I've made? Yeah. You know what I mean? I fucking hate that. Or how do I

00:38:11

remove people to solve those problems or like damage people. It's yeah. Yeah. Damage control

00:38:18

using other people. You get it. So he hires Floyd and then this other man named Bobby Lincoln to do

00:38:26

the killing for him. Bobby is a racketeer, but up until this point, he's entirely nonviolent.

00:38:33

Bobby's family is fairly prominent in the black community in nearby Riviera Beach. And a lot of

00:38:38

the racketeering that they were getting money from was in the black community. And so Bobby

00:38:42

Lincoln was kind of their go-to in between these two worlds. So he had worked with them before.

00:38:47

He's generally thought of as a criminal, but also a nice guy. He is not happy about the idea of

00:38:54

killing the Chilling's Worth, but he kind of feels like he has no choice because now he knows they're

00:39:00

trying to kill this judge. He's the only other one who knows about it. Also, if Joe Peel is

00:39:06

disbarred, his entire operation is fucked too. But so he's convinced he has no other choice but to go

00:39:11

through with it or be killed himself because he's now a witness. So Joe will pay the men $2,500,

00:39:17

which in today's money would be more than $29,000. Oh my God. Yeah, it's crazy. On the night it happened, June 14th, 1955, Floyd and Bobby take a small boat south from nearby

00:39:29

Riviera Beach to Menelpan. And at about midnight, they beach the boat behind the chillings where

00:39:36

Schillingworth's beachfront house. They get out of the boat and Bobby waits below the

00:39:41

Schillingworth stairs from the beach while Floyd goes up to the house. So Floyd rings the doorbell.

00:39:46

The judge answers the door in his pajamas. He had gotten out of bed. He was asleep.

00:39:50

And Floyd's wearing a sea captain's hat. And he says that his boat has broken down offshore

00:39:54

and that there are still passengers aboard. You know, can I use the phone to call the Coast Guard?

00:39:59

And as soon as Judge Schillingworth lets him into the house to use the phone, Floyd pulls out a gun and tells him it's a robbery.

00:40:07

Judge Chillingworth says his wife is in the house, you know, and Floyd tells him to call

00:40:12

her in there and thinking it's just a robbery. She comes out of the bedroom as well.

00:40:17

And when Marjorie comes out, Floyd whistles down to Bobby. He comes up to the house.

00:40:21

The two men gag the Chillingworths with tape and then tie rope around each of their necks

00:40:26

and run that rope down their backs and tie their wrists together. And then they start to walk them down to the beach in their pajamas.

00:40:32

It's so sad and it must have been so terrifying because I think them saying this is a robbery is meant to disarm them a little.

00:40:42

It's almost like let them do what they need to do and they'll leave. Right. But I think pretty quickly they realize it's not what it's about.

00:40:51

So once outside, Marjorie's gag comes loose. And so she screams and Floyd pistol whips her with the 38 he's holding.

00:40:58

and she bleeds on the steps and the path over the sea oats. So that's the blood drops they had found.

00:41:05

They make their way out in the boat into the water. When they're about three miles offshore,

00:41:11

Floyd cuts the engine and Floyd and Bobby put weighted belts around the Chillingworth's waist.

00:41:18

Judge Chillingworth turns to his wife of like 30 years and says, quote, honey, remember I love you.

00:41:25

Oh, it's horrible. And she says, quote, I love you, too. Like, they kind of knew they were going to die at this point.

00:41:32

Then Floyd says, quote, ladies first and throws her overboard. And she sinks immediately.

00:41:40

The judge doesn't wait to be thrown in. He jumps in after her. But even with his weighted belt and with his hands tied, he's able to tread water.

00:41:49

So Floyd hits him over the head with a shotgun and then wraps a spare anchor around his neck.

00:41:54

And he sinks Jesus I know So back to current day the investigators now have their tape confession from that drunken conversation in the hotel room

00:42:06

And by this point, Bobby, who was one of the murderers, has already been convicted of moonshining.

00:42:12

He's serving a three-year sentence. And so he makes a deal and testifies that he participated in the killings after being

00:42:18

hired by Joe. And so he's granted immunity from the killings. Hmm. The tapes from the motel are actually inadmissible, but Floyd makes an official full confession and he pleads guilty to murder. Now the state has the two eyewitnesses it needs to charge Joe in the absence of a body, which is just kind of crazy if you think of it. The two murderers are the witnesses against Joe, you know?

00:42:44

I mean, it makes sense. It makes sense, but it just sounds so like a deal with the devil, you know?

00:42:50

Yeah, that's what it all is. It is. Right. There's no I mean, this is as this is as dirty business as it possibly could be.

00:42:58

So dirty. And that idea of like, if there's a double murder, you know, chances are the only

00:43:04

people that would have witnessed it that are still alive are the murderers or the murderer.

00:43:08

Absolutely. At least they can get them on that. Right. So Florida's trial of the century begins

00:43:13

in March of 1961, almost six years after the murders. So Bobby is the star witness and he's

00:43:20

brought twice from prison in Tallahassee to testify. Joe takes the stand on his own defense

00:43:25

and admits to plotting to have Floyd killed, but insists he had nothing to do with the

00:43:29

Chillingsworth murder. And his alibi was that he was at home that night watching the brand new TV

00:43:36

show, The $64,000 Question. That was the first night it was on. So he was like, here's what

00:43:41

happened in that. And it couldn't have been me because I wouldn't have known these details about

00:43:45

the TV show. But he's found guilty of being an accessory to murder and is given two life sentences.

00:43:52

Floyd is sentenced to death row, but his sentence is ultimately commuted and he dies in prison.

00:43:59

Joe maintains his innocence the entire time he's in prison and is paroled in 1982 due to illness.

00:44:06

Then he makes a deathbed confession, not to a loved one, but to the Miami Herald.

00:44:11

he says quote I'm guilty of not using my influence to stop what was going to happen

00:44:17

and I could end quote and it's crazy because the the reason they killed this couple this innocent

00:44:24

couple is so that Joe Peel could stay a magistrate and continue their racket with the warrants and

00:44:30

immediately he had to quit that position because of like he had to quit it anyways he would have

00:44:35

either way he was fucked but this way he fucking took two innocent people yeah and killed them

00:44:40

And also that deathbed confession sucks. It's just not, it's like, oh, I should have told them not to. It's like you hired them to do it and it was your plan.

00:44:51

Yeah. So he's essentially saying like, I should have done something, but I didn't. And in reality, it's like, it was all you.

00:44:58

Yeah. These two guys just murder a very specific, prominent couple that totally benefits you. And you're just saying, oh, I wish I had done something more to keep them from doing it.

00:45:09

Yeah, right. He dies nine days later at the age of 58, the same age Judge Chillingworth was when he and his wife were murdered. And that is the story of the murder of Judge Curtis Chillingworth and his beloved wife, Marjorie Chillingworth.

00:45:25

what a of all the terrible terrible stories we've told each other yeah what a sad yeah moment for

00:45:33

that couple basically knowing they're being killed and knowing the their loved one is being killed and

00:45:39

yeah just it's just the worst and their three daughters who had to live with that knowledge

00:45:46

for the rest like i just can't even imagine yeah and this fucking creep who like who orchestrated

00:45:51

the whole thing. I mean, he's slime. He's terrible. It's tragic. It's tragic. Well,

00:45:59

good job. Thank you. I, yeah, I've already said, listen to Chillingworth podcast, but there's so

00:46:06

many little details in it and it's such a time and a place. It's just so fascinating. Right.

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00:47:46

see full terms at mintmobile.com this is also a terrible story but different okay and it includes

00:47:56

a little list of things that that i definitely like i think You like some of these things.

00:48:01

It starts back in 1986 when Bob and Pauline Walker, who are a couple that live in England,

00:48:09

hear that the Antiques Roadshow is coming to town. Do you like the Antiques Roadshow?

00:48:14

I love it personally. I love the Antiques Roadshow. You know, my mom and John went to one of their tapings once.

00:48:21

Did they bring anything? They brought something, but I didn't get, you know. Yeah.

00:48:25

It wasn't a big deal. It's such a good idea. It's such, I mean, British television, that is to me, one of the great examples of like, British television feels like it's always trying to get something done.

00:48:36

Yeah. You're not just going to be entertained. You're also going to learn how to bake or you're going to this.

00:48:41

Right. Right. And that one is like, there's so many things that are, that are so satisfying.

00:48:46

You learn about art and artistic stuff. And history. And antiques. Yeah. But then you're also like money, money, money.

00:48:53

Yeah. It's, it's a good one. It's a slow burn, but it's a great payoff. Yeah. So if you don't know what we're talking about, basically, just to let you know,

00:49:03

the show Antiques Roadshow travels to different towns all around England. This is when it started.

00:49:09

Now they do it in America, perhaps other countries. So basically people kind of show up at a local

00:49:14

like convention center or town meeting hall or whatever with all different kinds of art that

00:49:19

they have in their family, whether it's been handed down or they bought it for $2 at the

00:49:23

goodwill or whatever. So at the Antiques Roadshow, they have some of the foremost experts on all of

00:49:30

these different, so it'll be like on woodwork, on Chinese etchings from the, you know, this or that

00:49:37

period. Tiffany lamps and jewelry. Yes. And so it's people that when the items are brought to

00:49:44

these people, they know what it is like when they see it. So they're excited. There's a lot of great

00:49:50

tension and excitement where people are explaining either I've never seen anything like this before

00:49:56

and they're pointing at things with a little what looks like a little chopstick that's my favorite

00:50:01

when they're like if you look at this over here you look at this over here or they say this is a

00:50:06

reproduction and you feel the all of the energy just run out of the scene so how much did you pay

00:50:12

for this because it's fucking worthless it's worthless yeah two dollars was too much yeah

00:50:18

So when the walkers hear the Antiques Roadshows coming to town, they remember they have this old painting that's been sitting

00:50:24

basically in one of those cardboard tubes up in the attic. It had been passed down for two generations in the family.

00:50:31

And it shows a group of men sitting around a desert campfire at night. The moon is visible through a break in the clouds.

00:50:38

There's horses nearby. It's clearly the work of a talented artist, but the walkers have never known what to do with it.

00:50:44

It's not really their style. They appreciate its artistry. They don't know anything about its backstory.

00:50:50

No one in the family has ever really talked about it. So it just currently sits out of sight upstairs.

00:50:55

Treasure. Until this day where they're like, Antiques Roadshow's here. So the shooting location is actually set up along the path where they walk their dog.

00:51:04

So they go, well, if we're going to walk the dog anyway, let's grab that tube, walk it down there and see what they say.

00:51:11

So to the couple's shock, they not only get onto the show, but an expert tells them that

00:51:16

this painting is from 1845 and it's called The Halt in the Desert. And it is in fact, quote, an international treasure, a lost picture.

00:51:26

So it's the best case scenario for Antiques Roadshow is that you actually have a true

00:51:31

treasure that the experts think is a treasure. but the background of this artwork and the artist who made it involves illness murder

00:51:41

indisputable artistic genius mental illness and all set against the backdrop of victorian england

00:51:48

wow great start that was yay chef's kiss right i'm in i was like when i think this was maren's

00:51:56

pitch i don't know whoever pitched this was like karen likes this this and this and now we've we

00:52:01

just found this story. It's very, very compelling. So there's a book called The Symbolism of Richard

00:52:06

Dad by Peter Ogwin Jones. There's also a book called The Late Richard Dad, 1817 to 1886 by

00:52:13

Patricia Aldridge. And there's also a 2015 Guardian article by Jonathan Jones called

00:52:19

Artist Richard Dad was Set Free by Fairies. And the rest of the sources are in our show notes.

00:52:25

so richard dad is born in 1817 in chatham england around 30 miles from london he's the fourth of

00:52:33

seven children in what is obviously a bustling household of course this is an era like early

00:52:40

1800s where people are destitute but the dads are actually doing well uh robert dad who is richard's

00:52:49

father is a well-known and well-liked pharmacist in the community. So the dad children are well-fed,

00:52:56

they are cultured, they're well-educated, and it's while Richard is off at school that he learns his

00:53:02

love for painting. So in 1837, the father, Robert, decides to sell his pharmacy and move the family

00:53:10

to London, and historian Patricia Aldridge thinks this might have been motivated by Richard's obvious

00:53:16

artistic talents. But either way, it's a great move for Richard. He's now in his late teens,

00:53:22

and he gets to go to the prestigious Royal Academy in London. Pretty cool. So Richard's advanced

00:53:29

artistic skill set and great personality quickly make him a popular student. One of his peers

00:53:34

describes him this way, quote, Dad was my superior in all respects. He drew infinitely better than I

00:53:41

did, I can truly say from a thorough knowledge of dad's character that a nobler being and one more

00:53:47

free from the common failings of humanity never breathed. Wow. So he's a person who's adored.

00:53:53

Yeah Before long he winning all sorts of awards He starts getting commissions to create paintings and illustrations for various clients And then in 1842 Richard who now 25

00:54:06

gets the opportunity of a lifetime. A very rich lawyer and politician named Sir Thomas Phillips

00:54:12

is looking to hire an artist to accompany him as he travels through Europe to Egypt to sketch the

00:54:19

various cities and towns they stop in along the way. Because obviously portable cameras aren't a

00:54:24

thing yet. So basically he wants to hire an artist who will create vacation pictures for him.

00:54:31

Holy shit. Right? Richie Rich. So Richard wants this job. He loves the idea of seeing the world,

00:54:38

making art at the same time. It is like a dream come true. And in this era, a trip to Egypt is

00:54:44

a hot ticket, as you probably remember. Because of Napoleon's military expeditions to Egypt in the

00:54:50

late 1700s and early 1800s and the subsequent cracking of the mystery of the Rosetta Stone,

00:54:57

which helped historians decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, a surge of interest in Egypt or

00:55:05

Egyptomania sweeps Western Europe. So Georgia talked about this in episode 351, High Five

00:55:12

Halloween. If you want to go back. I was just thinking about that. I did mummies, right? Yes,

00:55:19

the mummy trade. The mummy trade. Oh my God. It's so funny. This Egyptomania got so bad,

00:55:25

ladies and gentlemen, and listeners of all types that they started eating the mummy's bodies.

00:55:30

It's total insanity. So, but it pops up everywhere, especially in England, particularly in literature

00:55:37

design. And of course in art, the British museum had lots of stolen artifacts. Do they still have

00:55:44

them today, I believe they still do have them today. Egypt also becomes a popular destination

00:55:50

for rich travelers like Sir Thomas Phillips, as well as artists and writers in search of adventure

00:55:55

and inspiration. Richard is offered this gig. He eagerly accepts it. He gets the job of his lifetime.

00:56:02

And my sister's friend, Adrian's son actually went and husband went to Egypt like a year or two ago.

00:56:11

and I was like, please send me pictures. I really would love to go there and I'd really love to see it.

00:56:16

And I was thinking about this because of the way this story ends up going. It is such an unbelievable thing,

00:56:24

like those temples and the pyramids and everything, the places that they go to that are like the King's Row.

00:56:31

That's not what it's called. It's like a Pharaoh's. Yeah, yeah. Pharaoh's alley.

00:56:35

I don't know. I just made that up, but they're huge. It's like you're walking in a thing that's like 50 feet high,

00:56:40

but it has etchings on the ceiling and on the... It's so ancient. So ancient, such an exposure to like a whole new different world.

00:56:49

And it's right there. Yeah. So the influence, I would imagine that it would have incredible influence at that time

00:56:56

on people who like the furthest they ever went was London or, you know. Yeah, for sure.

00:57:01

And Richard is writing letters back home as he and Sir Thomas Phillips travel across Western Europe

00:57:07

into Greece, through Turkey, then Syria, finally into Egypt. And he's talking about his experiences

00:57:13

in these letters all along the way. He describes the music he hears that the street musicians play,

00:57:20

describes the animals and trees that he's seeing that are so different than the ones back home.

00:57:24

And he talks about the dazzling dresses that local women wear. And the lack of air conditioning that's not been invented yet.

00:57:31

And he's like, bitch, it's hot. Wow. That sounds incredible. But as writer Peter Ogwin-Jones points out in the book The Symbolism of Richard Dad, these letters that he writes home also suggest that Richard is struggling with his mental health.

00:57:46

He starts writing about his, quote, nervous depression and, quote, miserable days.

00:57:51

In one letter, Richard says, quote, the excitement of these scenes has been enough to turn the brain. And often I've lain down at night

00:57:59

with my imagination so full of wild vagaries that I have really and truly doubted my own sanity.

00:58:05

I'm very tired of the world and I've seen so much disgusting selfishness since leaving England

00:58:10

that I have become half a misanthrope. End quote. So he sees some reality of what's going on

00:58:17

and how much bigger it all is. And he's overwhelmed and disappointed in humanity.

00:58:25

Yeah. And also he's mentally ill. So the lens through which he is looking at humanity is off.

00:58:33

It's like, it's one thing if you are the artist that's going along with the rich guy and you're,

00:58:38

you know, you're getting depressed or whatever, I'm sure it's like that's expected. But then his

00:58:42

behavior begins to change drastically. As the pair travel up the Nile River, the normally mild

00:58:49

mannered artist is erratic and delusional. Richard develops an obsession with the Egyptian gods,

00:58:55

especially Osiris, the king of the dead and the ruler of the afterlife. And he begins to believe

00:59:01

that he is under Osiris's control. So it's now current day thought Richard was probably

00:59:09

experiencing psychosis brought on by schizophrenia. But at the time, of course, no one understands

00:59:15

what's happening to him. At first, they actually think he has sunstroke, but then his behavior gets

00:59:20

stranger and more hostile on the return trip back to England. And by the time they get to Paris,

00:59:26

Sir Thomas Phillips is like done with Richard. Richard also stopped doing his job, you know,

00:59:33

is not drawing pictures for him anymore. He seems completely unmotivated. Instead of turning in

00:59:38

travel sketches, Richard's either making just half-hearted drawings that aren't even as good

00:59:44

as how good he is, or it's just like whatever, or he's handing in very intricate, detailed work

00:59:50

of Sir Thomas Phillips as an evil person Oh God what did he see What did he see Right And it not like you know I just have seen enough like whether it Agatha Christie or it like you know I just think that whole the pyramids and all that stuff is so compelling and fascinating

01:00:10

But it also makes sense where it's just like, this is a world where everybody believed in all these gods, and they were a part of every day, and you had to do this, and you had to do that.

01:00:21

I'm literally describing modern life. Culture shock. It sounds like you kind of had.

01:00:26

Right. One sketch that he draws actually shows Phillips, quote, playing cards with the captain of a steamer for the captain's soul.

01:00:35

So he's literally it's like Phillips is the devil. Yeah. So when Sir Thomas Phillips urges Richard to see a doctor, Richard decides he will part ways with Phillips and just go back to London by himself.

01:00:49

And when he gets there, all the people who know him are shocked because Richard would never abandon a job. It's not like him at all, especially one that he was so excited to get. And Richard's social circle is even more confused when they interact with him. Here's a quote from Patricia Aldridge. She says, quote,

01:01:08

his actions became unpredictable and occasionally violent, and he seemed to believe that he was

01:01:12

being watched. Once he rushed away alone while a friend prepared to accompany him home, another

01:01:18

time he shut himself in his room and waved a knife under the door at visitors. He is said to have cut

01:01:23

a birthmark from his forehead saying it was planted there by the devil. He obviously saw and heard

01:01:29

things which did not exist. And though he did not speak much of this, he let slip to a close friend

01:01:34

that he was haunted by evil spirits and he himself was searching for the devil. He began to believe in his own mission to rid the whole world of the devil

01:01:45

and intertwined amongst many vague and confused ideas, there was a strong element of Egyptian mythology.

01:01:54

So people begin to withdraw from Richard's life, but his father, Robert, actually notices what's going on.

01:02:02

He understands his son needs help. probably because Richard is not the only member of the dad family who struggles with his mental

01:02:09

health. Three of Richard's siblings will be treated for mental illness in their lives. And

01:02:15

one of his brothers was actually admitted to an asylum the year that Richard left on the trip

01:02:20

with Sir Thomas Phillips, which is so tragic. And that poor father who was like,

01:02:26

what is going on? Trying to help his children. And it's so sad. So Robert obviously wants to

01:02:33

help his son. So he meets with doctors at London area hospitals and asylums to figure out what

01:02:38

Richard needs and try to get him that help. But these efforts don't really seem to go anywhere.

01:02:44

And meanwhile, Richard settles into a rented room in London and basically just becomes a recluse.

01:02:50

And while he is there, according to Ogwin Jones, Richard lives on a quote, diet of beer and raw

01:02:57

eggs and his wardrobe was filled with bowls of eggs. So Richard, of course, increasingly,

01:03:06

he's just completely isolated. And Robert is there trying to watch over his son for a while.

01:03:12

They seem to maintain a good relationship. But then Richard learns that his dad is trying to

01:03:17

get him hospitalized. So Richard invites his dad on a trip to the small village of Cobham.

01:03:24

and the father, Robert, thinking nothing of it, agrees to go. And once they're there, they book a room at the Crown Inn.

01:03:32

They have a nice dinner at a nearby restaurant and then they head out for an evening walk.

01:03:37

No one knows exactly what happened on that walk, but the next morning, a passerby finds Robert's dead body lying in a field.

01:03:45

He's been stabbed to death and there's a bloody knife in the grass close by and Richard is nowhere to be found.

01:03:52

Oh my God. So by the time his father's body is being examined by a coroner and suspicions are swirling that Richard is the murder suspect, Richard has fled the country and has gone to France.

01:04:04

Then they find out that Richard planned all of that travel before heading to Cobham.

01:04:10

He secured his passport. He planned his routes. He bought his train tickets all in advance.

01:04:16

so that idea of like that he is in full psychosis or completely schizophrenic is like well he's

01:04:23

actually aware enough to make that plan premeditation yeah yeah so richard hops on a train to marseille

01:04:31

and from there he decides he's going to head back down to toward the middle east so that he can

01:04:38

basically fall off the grid entirely but because he's going through an intense mental health crisis

01:04:44

while he's on the train, he attacks the man sleeping in the seat next to him with a razor.

01:04:50

The other passengers jump in, pull Richard back as he slashes the stranger, and they restrain

01:04:56

Richard. The conductor stops the train. Richard is placed under arrest. Sorry, the conductor doesn't stop the train. He's not. The engineer would stop the train. Sorry.

01:05:07

Someone stops the fucking train. When the word of this attack travels to the conductor,

01:05:12

the train stops, Richard's placed under arrest. He reportedly offers all the money he has.

01:05:19

Like he basically, they say he kind of comes to, realizes what he's done, and then just says,

01:05:24

here, you can have all the money that I have. He's taken off the train and escorted to the

01:05:29

nearest magistrate's office. When he's in the courtroom, he doesn't hold back. The judge is

01:05:34

reportedly taken aback by Richard's, quote, perfectly calm and collected manner as he admits

01:05:39

to murdering his father and attacking the train passenger. Yeah. But Richard's motive causes the most surprise because he claims that it wasn't his father

01:05:48

he killed, he had actually murdered a demon that was disguised as his father because God

01:05:53

told him to He also admits to thinking about killing many times before saying that while traveling through Italy with Sir Thomas Phillips he had thought about murdering the Pope but he abandoned that plan after seeing how tight security was at the Vatican

01:06:07

Wow. He also claims that while on a train in France, he had come up with the plan to murder the emperor of Austria.

01:06:15

When he was asked about the razor attack on the train, Richard says that from the moment he sat down in his seat, he started hearing voices that he needed to kill that person.

01:06:25

He says that he felt tormented by these instructions that he didn't want to kill the stranger, but that, quote, weary with the struggle, he resolved to leave the question to kill or not to kill to the stars, one of which, seen from the window, he knew to be Osiris.

01:06:41

So basically he told himself that if Osiris's star moved across the sky farther away from its neighboring star, then that would mean Osiris was telling him to leave the man alone.

01:06:54

But if the star moved in the other direction, then Osiris was telling him to murder.

01:07:00

Oh my God. And obviously the stars moved closer together. Yeah. So as English authorities put together an extradition order, Richard's confined to the Claremont Asylum in France, where his doctor, who just as a sidebar would go on to invent the iron lung.

01:07:17

His doctor treats him with some questionable of the day methods like ice cold showers.

01:07:24

You know, there's the early mental health treatments were basically torture. I mean, like, yeah, horrible, horrible things.

01:07:32

It takes about a year until July of 1844, and then Richard is finally extradited back to England.

01:07:41

He again winds up in front of the magistrate. His mental health has continued to deteriorate.

01:07:46

His court appearance is a disaster. He reportedly enters the room laughing. Then when witnesses address the court, he repeatedly interrupts them as they testify,

01:07:57

screaming that they're liars and screaming that he did not kill his father. But then when a doctor takes the stand and notes that Robert was stabbed twice, Richard yells, quote, what does he say that the body was stabbed in two places? I only stabbed him once.

01:08:11

Well, so, yeah, an employee from the Crown Inn then testifies that a towel had been taken from the room and was never found.

01:08:19

And then the prosecution suggests that Richard might have used it to clean himself up after the murder.

01:08:24

and again Richard yells out to the court that he stole the towel and disposed of it because it was

01:08:30

soaked with his father's blood. So in August of 1844 the trial comes to an end. Richard is found

01:08:38

not guilty by reason of insanity and he is sent to what's called the criminal lunatic department

01:08:44

at Bethlehem Hospital which is known by its nickname Bedlam. At the time of Richard's sentencing

01:08:52

the criminal wing at Bedlam is all dark. It has almost no windows. It's very overcrowded.

01:08:59

Tons of patients with nothing to do. It's not like they have activities or anything. They're just

01:09:04

standing around screaming and moaning. So it is basically the epitome of chaos and confusion.

01:09:11

And we don't really know the ins and outs of Richard's stay at this hospital. And we don't

01:09:16

know if his treatment was humane there. We do know that Richard's doctor, Thomas Monroe,

01:09:21

recognizes Richard's artistic talent and encourages him to keep painting. So Richard

01:09:27

pulls from his own imagination and begins to create complex ethereal scenes, which are the

01:09:34

complete opposite of the dark, small, sterile world that he has been confined to. So during his stay at

01:09:41

Bedlam, Richard produces some of his most famous work, including the Fairy Feller's Masterstroke,

01:09:47

which is considered to be his masterpiece, even though it is unfinished. It is a painting full

01:09:54

of details. There's no space wasted on the canvas. It shows a group of fairies in muted yellows,

01:10:00

browns, and reds, watching as the Fairy Feller wields an axe to split a huge chestnut. And

01:10:07

And Richard spends between six and nine years working on this painting. And that's also when he creates The Halt in the Desert, which is the painting that the

01:10:19

walkers bring to the Antiques Roadshow and have identified. And that painting actually features Sir Thomas and Dad himself, among others.

01:10:28

They're the ones that are sitting around that campfire. So that's one of the reasons why it's so priceless and considered lost painting because

01:10:36

Richard Dodd has actually painted himself into it. Wow. After 20 long years of confinement at Bedlam, Richard is transferred to another psychiatric

01:10:46

facility, which is Broadmoor. We've talked about that place too. Sure. And it's at Broadmoor that he completes his now famous sketches to illustrate the Passion

01:10:55

series in which he uses characters from Shakespeare plays to illustrate the different human emotions.

01:11:01

He also creates a beautiful portrait of one of his doctors, Dr. Alexander Morrison, and that is now on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

01:11:12

And then in January of 1886, at the age of 68, Richard Dadd dies of tuberculosis at Broadmoor.

01:11:20

He is buried on facility grounds. Because he killed his father, obviously, Richard's reputation in the art world was ruined.

01:11:29

while he was still alive of Victorian magazine called Art Union actually referred to him as,

01:11:34

the late Richard Dad. And that article said, quote, although the grave has not actually

01:11:41

closed over him, he must be classed among the dead. Damn. Yeah. So basically, once he was

01:11:49

convicted for his father's murder and for that attack, he himself and his artwork completely

01:11:55

fade into obscurity. But then in the 1960s and 70s, a series of exhibitions reintroduce Richard Dodd's work to a new generation of admirers,

01:12:05

which is like, how many things like that are there in history where it's just something that

01:12:10

has been wildly misunderstood? So now in the 60s and 70s, people are told the full story of,

01:12:16

this is a person that had schizophrenia that was in a full psychotic break. And so they basically

01:12:22

can contextualize and sympathize with his mental health issues and, you know, the background.

01:12:29

So Richard Dudd is now recognized as one of Britain's great Victorian artists, and his sketches and paintings are currently on display in renowned institutions like the Tate Gallery and the British Museum.

01:12:41

Just as a kind of a full circle moment, the Walker family, who were on Antiques Roadshow with the Halt of the Desert, they were told that Halt in the Desert was worth around 100 to 125,000 pounds.

01:12:58

Wow. And that's exactly what the British Museum paid them for it. There are more missing Richard Dadd pieces that are out there because he drew and painted so much at the asylums.

01:13:11

So there could be more that people come forward with in the future. Richard Dadd's life has inspired countless essays, radio dramas, album covers, fictional characters, and popular novels.

01:13:24

There was actually a Queen song called The Fairy Fellers Master Stroke, named after that painting.

01:13:32

Jonathan Jones writes for The Guardian, quote, Richard, Dad's art is beauty born from anguish.

01:13:38

The artist's illness is unquestionable, and so I think is his particular genius.

01:13:43

Yet it is no proof that creativity and mental illness are connected. This is just one extraordinary case.

01:13:50

One thing doesn't always lead to another. Dad life was desolate The art he made from it in flight from it is a joy And that got me right at the end And that the story of Victorian artist Richard Dadd

01:14:05

Wow. Fuck. If your life is desolate, make art that enables you to flee from it. Yeah. Or to feel the rest of what there is to feel those feelings of life.

01:14:17

Yeah, that's right. Full circle. Feel your feelings. Feel your feelings is the point.

01:14:23

Feel your feelings. They're only 90 seconds long. Eat breakfast. Definitely eat breakfast.

01:14:28

And don't mess around with the mafia. It isn't worth it that you think you're going to get a bunch of money easy.

01:14:33

The interest is overwhelmingly unpayable. It is. Should we do? What are you even doing right now where you tell us what you're even doing while you're

01:14:43

listening to My Favorite Murder? Yeah. Everybody's been writing in and telling us what they do while they listen to this podcast.

01:14:50

We appreciate it. Which we love so much. So much. This is from Instagram and the person who wrote it in, their handle is I'm a disco spider.

01:15:01

Cute. I can see that because you know how spiders just sometimes stand with one leg up?

01:15:07

I totally see it. And a mirror ball above their head. That's right. They always do that.

01:15:13

Okay, I'm a disco spider says to us, what are you even doing right now? I am at work as an engineer for a space exploration company in Colorado.

01:15:22

We build space equipment contracts and are affiliated with NASA and Raytheon Intelligence

01:15:29

in Space. Oh my God. I listen to your lovely voices while I watch testing and also on my one hour commute.

01:15:35

I've loved the podcast since the beginning. Well, around episode four. Love you guys.

01:15:40

Oh my God. Wow. Smarty Smart Pants listens to us. A smarty smart pants listens to this bullshit.

01:15:49

Successful smarty smart pants Yeah Yeah And they a disco spider That how successful they are Thank you for introducing that image into my brain I fucking love it there

01:16:00

Okay, mine just shows what a small world the Murderino community is because last episode when I covered the Oakville blobs,

01:16:08

we posted a photo on our Instagram of a sign that said, welcome to Oakville, a picture of like the sign of it, right?

01:16:17

Sure. So this person, Alex on the gram from Instagram writes, oh, shit. This is a great time to tell you what I'm even doing right now.

01:16:27

I work for Frito-Lay and listen to MFM and other Exactly Right pods. Shout out Dinar.

01:16:32

Hey. While keeping convenience stores in my area stocked Cheetos, Doritos, etc. Nice.

01:16:39

And it says as a former stoner, I see it truly as God's work. then it says the 76 picture in that picture of oakville so in the background of the oakville sign

01:16:49

is a 76 is one of the stores i work love you guys wild that's fun that would freak me out

01:16:58

because i never really think about that for other people but like anytime i like petaluma is in a lot

01:17:03

of movies and tv shows because it's right very kind of old looking or whatever and it is the fun

01:17:08

I'm like, that's at the street for my piano teacher. Like it's always the most exciting thing.

01:17:14

It is. I love it. That's so crazy. I love it. I love it. We love you. You guys listen.

01:17:19

We appreciate you. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Please. If you've gotten to this part, then please go write a quick review on Apple podcasts.

01:17:27

Rate, review, subscribe. Yeah. If you've gotten to this part, here's your reward.

01:17:30

Go do us a favor. Do us a big favor. Do us a favor. And also stay sexy. And don't get murdered.

01:17:37

Good. Elvis, do you want a cookie? This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

01:17:54

Our managing producer is Hannah Kyle Creighton. Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

01:17:58

This episode was mixed by Liana Squalache. Our researchers are Maren McClashen and Allie Elkin.

01:18:04

Email your hometowns to MyFavoriteMurder at gmail.com. Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at MyFavoriteMurder and Twitter at MyFaveMurder.

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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgi

430 - Here's Your Reward

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