00:00:00
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00:00:10
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00:02:03
Hello! Hello! Hi! And welcome to My Favorite Murder, the mini-sode! It's mini and cute!
00:02:11
It's so pocket-sized, you wouldn't believe how transportable it is. Tiny. Is that a real word?
00:02:19
Transportable? Is it transportable? Okay, this is where we redo your stuff. Do you want to go first, Karen?
00:02:25
Sure. The subject line of this first one is the Cowee Tunnel Disaster. Hey, y'all.
00:02:32
I'm going to go to school in the Great Smoky Mountains at West Carolina University.
00:02:36
There are hundreds of ghost stories due to our rich Appalachian history, but the Cowee Tunnel Disaster is one of the most notable in our area
00:02:43
and is shared often throughout our student body. I was going to do this when we were in North Carolina.
00:02:53
I think this was one of the stories that came up for the area. And it's rough. In 1883, a group of prisoners set out on the Tukasegi River to begin their day's work, which was often in grueling conditions.
00:03:08
It's not mentioned here, but just for everyone's information, it's 19 prisoners.
00:03:13
All of them were black. It was common in this time to lay miles and miles of railroad track through the treacherous mountains of western North Carolina as punishment for their crimes.
00:03:23
Thirty men stayed chained together day and night, working, eating and sleeping with shackles on their ankles.
00:03:30
On the morning of December 30th, icy slush had accumulated in the bottom of the men's boat that was used to get across the river to the work site.
00:03:38
But the guards forced them forward anyway. However, everyone on board quickly began to panic as the slush melted and sloshed around, forcing the men to one side of the boat.
00:03:49
Only 10 feet from the riverbank, the boat capsized and the first man went overboard.
00:03:54
But because they were shackled together, 19 men were pulled into the water one by one after the man who went before him.
00:04:03
None stood a chance against the raging icy waters and 19 men perished. The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad now runs from Dillsborough, North Carolina to Bryson City, North Carolina, and goes through the Cowie Tunnel where the men had been laying down track.
00:04:19
Tourists often take the train as a sightseeing trip when visiting the area. When going through the infamous Cowie Tunnel, the conductors say, ladies and gentlemen, there are 19 prisoners buried on top of this tunnel, and the moisture you see coming down the walls are the tears of those poor men.
00:04:36
SSD GM and you bet your ass that tunnel is haunted as fuck, Kendall. So I remembered this story and I just I went and read an article really quick to double check from what I remember.
00:04:50
And because this detail that Kendall may not have known this. And so this is from the Smoky Mountain News.
00:04:56
It's an article written by a writer named Garrett Woodward. First of all, one of those inmates who died one of the 19 was a 15 year old boy named Charles Eason who had been sent to jail for stealing something very small.
00:05:11
He was on a chain gang with like with grown men. So this is a portion of that article from the Smoky Mountain News.
00:05:20
It said in a February 1963 article by the Asheville Citizen Times, well-known silver writer John Paris spoke of the legendary heroics of convict Anderson Drake, who climbed out of the river only to dive back in and rescue prison guard Fleet Foster.
00:05:36
So, quote, Drake helped Foster up the steep bank, knelt a moment by the gasping guard, and then stood up and turned to look back at the foaming river.
00:05:45
There was no sign of the other 19 convicts. They called Drake a hero They said he would surely go free but Drake didn go free Back in his quarters following the incident Foster found his wallet and pistol missing and upon ordering a search of the prison camp the wallet containing was found in Drake belongings
00:06:06
That night, instead of thanking Drake and giving him a feast, the camp foreman ordered him into the yard,
00:06:12
bared his back and gave a dose of cat of nine tails, a multi-tailed whip. after the lashings Paris reported that Drake was sentenced to 30 years hard labor and immediately
00:06:23
put back to work on the Cowie Tunnel wow and I question the idea that that guy who was drowning
00:06:32
in a river he saved saved this guard then robbed him of his wallet and gun right it makes no sense
00:06:39
and smuggled it back to the prison back into prison where he couldn't have spent it right
00:06:46
it's it it's so basically it's like he did this thing and everyone thought oh yeah he'll get freed
00:06:53
he'll finally be free and instead he went in for 30 more years i thought that was an important
00:06:59
detail that we should add in because that was when i was reading this story for one of the live shows
00:07:04
yeah it was awful and it just it's just like that and then it's like and then it's this haunted
00:07:10
tunnel where people hear all kinds of horrible sounds and the walls drip with moisture all year
00:07:15
long and you know all that kind of stuff yeah um this one's called my great-grandfather's body
00:07:22
was stolen from his grave whoa um this dear karen in georgia i love you guys and your voices have
00:07:30
accompanied me through many hours of various boring jobs many car rides and many late night
00:07:35
insomnia struggles they're with you thanks for late yeah thanks for everything you do anyway
00:07:41
Let's jump in. In October 1989, the body of a 22 year old named Jeffers Kimbrell was found in a
00:07:48
field in Columbia County, Florida. He was the victim of a stabbing. But here's the problem.
00:07:53
This was the second time his body had been found. He had already been buried and someone had dug him
00:07:58
up and left him in a field. Oh, my God. Then two months later, in December 1989, a 20 year old named
00:08:05
Stephen Morgan took his own life in the same North Florida County. Shortly after he was buried,
00:08:11
it was discovered that his body was missing from his grave. Here's where I come in. My great
00:08:15
grandfather died of a heart attack in November 1989 and was buried in neighboring Union County.
00:08:21
Several months later, the ground appeared to be caving in around his grave. So county officials
00:08:25
obtained an order to exhume his body, you know, just to make sure everything was cool.
00:08:30
It was not cool. They soon discovered that his casket was empty and had been broken into
00:08:35
and opened in exactly the same way as the two others in Columbia County had been.
00:08:41
I found all of this out from an article that I found while doing some genealogy research.
00:08:45
That's a fucking big surprise to find, probably. Just kind of scrolling one night all by yourself.
00:08:52
I wasn't born until 1998, so I never knew my great-grandfather. And all my dad said about it when I asked him is that the body was never recovered
00:09:00
and the whole thing was very upsetting. But here's the best part. The article that I read says that five men who were, quote, fanatics of the fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons had been arrested in nearby Lake City for body snatching.
00:09:16
No. As far as I can figure, that's where the trail stops, both in the media and for my family.
00:09:22
But being able to say my great grandfather's body was stolen from his grave in North Florida, most likely by some guys playing D&D, makes me really fun to have at parties.
00:09:31
stay sexy and find grandpa max body ellie what okay that's crazy that it's guys that play dungeons
00:09:39
and dragons because most of the people that i know that are super into dungeons and dragons
00:09:43
wouldn't are nothing like in a realm of that no even slightly that doesn't add up i feel like
00:09:50
there's more to this story and i bet someone listening has like the other half of this story
00:09:56
please and so please if you've got the dungeons and dragons half of that story we want to hear it
00:10:02
put five um small alarm um emojis up in the subject line and let us know for sure okay
00:10:10
i'm not going to read you the subject line of this okay hello friends i've been binging the
00:10:16
podcast since june just caught up it is june oh wow june of last year it's been a busy month i
00:10:24
I think for you. Yeah, really. You're both wonderful. And I love knowing that I'm not alone in my obsession with true crime.
00:10:30
Quite the opposite. You're nowhere near alone. Okay, enough of that. Let's do this.
00:10:36
In the mid 1960s, my uncle Bob was a paper boy and was out one summer afternoon collecting money from the people on his paper route.
00:10:44
He was jumped by some older boys who robbed him. And when he put up a fight, they stabbed him several times.
00:10:50
they took off and my uncle who had been stabbed in the back and sides proceeded to walk this seven
00:10:57
blocks to my great-grandparents house oh my god yeah he stumbled up the front steps knocked on
00:11:03
the door and my great-grandmother answered and upon seeing that he was dripping blood told him
00:11:08
walk around the back to the kitchen i'll never get this carpet clean if you bleed on it
00:11:12
the past why is the past so terrible it's it was tough and people were fucking tough
00:11:18
This poor man had walked several blocks in the summer heat only to be told to walk a little more
00:11:24
My great-grandparents were very old at this point and didn't drive anymore So they called my grandfather to get Bob and drive him to the hospital
00:11:31
My grandfather got there, put Bob in the back seat And according to my father and uncle, Grandpa religiously followed all the rules of the road
00:11:40
No speeding, no running traffic lights They eventually got to the hospital where the doctors told my grandparents that Bob wasn't too far from bleeding
00:11:48
out and they made it just in time. Thank God there wasn one more red light or Bob would have been done for Everything turned out okay Bob made a full recovery My favorite part of the story though is that my dad who was several years younger than my uncle was in the front seat while they were taking Bob to the hospital The family was supposed to leave for vacation the
00:12:08
next day, and that obviously wasn't going to happen now. My six or seven-year-old father
00:12:12
turned to Bob in the back seat and started to cry and told his brother, who could have died,
00:12:17
you ruin everything, because they wouldn't be able to go on their trip. Dad and Bob were close
00:12:22
once they grew up and died only a couple months apart in 2006. They're missed, but this story and
00:12:28
dozens of others keep them close. Stay sexy. And for God's sake, if someone is bleeding out,
00:12:33
don't worry about the damn carpet, Rachel. That's all. That's just to prove how bad the
00:12:38
past was and that siblings are just, there's no, there's no sympathy with siblings.
00:12:46
The damage that siblings do to each other as children is, should be studied. Perhaps it is.
00:12:51
I know. I have like one friend who's an only child who's like, I wish I had siblings all the time.
00:12:55
And it's like, psychologically, I am fucked. And I love them. And I'm still. I love my sister. I still want to sue her every time I ski her.
00:13:05
She still owes me for therapy. Why is it always chaos when we link up? Because nobody plans anything, bro.
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I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. This is called Grandma Ghost, but still lighthearted.
00:15:21
Hi, everyone. I love you all. Here we go. In the world? Probably. That's nice. I think that's good.
00:15:28
I don't remember this, but my mom has told me the story many, many times. And this sounds like a story that I swear like every mom probably has.
00:15:35
when I was around four years old I was swinging on a rickety swing set in our backyard while my
00:15:40
mother watched me from the kitchen window I was kicking my little legs and getting some air but
00:15:45
at the top of the arc I leaned back too far and my hand slipped off the chains my mother bolted
00:15:50
from the kitchen and ran across the yard expecting the worst however when she got near she saw that
00:15:55
I was just standing beside the swing unharmed this happened in the spring and there was a mud puddle
00:16:01
under the swing set, but I didn't have a drop of water or dirt on me. My mother frantically
00:16:06
checked me over and asked me if I was hurt anywhere. I'm okay. I said, Loretta caught me.
00:16:12
Loretta's the perfect ghost name, right? Yeah, it really is. Loretta is the name of my dad's
00:16:18
mother who died of cancer when I was just six months old. My mom said I was very calm and
00:16:24
matter of fact about it and insisted it happen when she asked me again. Nothing like that ever
00:16:29
happened again that I remember. So maybe she knew that I only needed her that one time.
00:16:33
Or she's been around this whole time catching me more often than I know. Either way, it's really comforting to me. Thank you for everything you do. Things can feel really
00:16:41
dark these days. And your podcast is always something I look forward to. Stay sexy and
00:16:46
stay off swings. C. P.S. Georgia, you said that you wanted psychic stories. I went to one while
00:16:52
on vacay in Florida, and he told me I'd meet someone in 30 days. Exactly 30 days later,
00:16:58
back home in Canada, a guy on the bus asked for my number. We just celebrated two years. No!
00:17:04
Yes. That's a psychic Oh, I was, and that's not really a coincidence. That's more of a, that's psychic
00:17:10
fateful. Yeah. Wow. That's amazing. Cute, cute, cute. I love that, who, C is tapped into a different plane.
00:17:18
Yeah. There's something going on. That may have been the work of Loretta, speaking through the psychic, again
00:17:24
showing up. I love that so much. I bet you can't find a not badass Loretta in the fucking world.
00:17:31
For real. Let's bring that name back for people. Enough of the Madison's and the McKenzie's.
00:17:36
Brooklyn. No more Brooklyn. Brooklyn. It's fine. It's been done. Yeah. You know what that made me think of too is one time I was with Nora across the street
00:17:44
when she was two because she started walking when she was really little and she used to
00:17:48
love to go to the playground that's nearby my sister's house. and we were standing there and she was walking across this funny little kind of bridge She was like showing me that she could walk across this bridge on the play structure And as she went to walk
00:18:05
she picked her foot up really high and then just started falling backwards. But I had already gone
00:18:10
to the other side of this bridge so that I would be there because I thought she'd be falling forward
00:18:14
if any direction. Yeah. And so she was falling backwards off of probably a five foot drop.
00:18:20
and I moved from one side of the one side of that play structure over to where she was.
00:18:27
I don't know how I did it, but I got over there and caught her by the head and then just tipped
00:18:32
her back up. And then she just kept walking. Like for her, nothing happened. You're just like for
00:18:36
her. It was like on head. Yep. I just kind of like I caught her and then bounced her back up.
00:18:41
And then she just kept going in that toddler way where like it's all kind of random and magic.
00:18:47
but I honestly in terms of how many steps it took and how quickly I moved which I rarely do
00:18:54
it was like I don't know how I did it and it it still like chills me to this day because
00:18:59
it was all on me in that one moment and then somehow I got there in time I have a similar
00:19:05
story with my nephew when he was two but I didn't save him some dad who had dad instincts at the
00:19:11
bottom of a big kid slide that I guess I didn't know was a big kid slide what do I fucking know
00:19:16
from Big and Little Kids Slide. Sure. Catches my nephew one handed as he's like flying off the
00:19:23
slide and about and everyone all the parents turned and looked at me and I just went I'm the aunt.
00:19:29
I know I just fucked and then you fucking laughed. I took off. That's right. You can never go back
00:19:35
there. That's so perfect. That's so perfect. It was so close. It was so close. Well okay you know
00:19:44
on the same on the same plane pattern. Yeah, thank you of of these beautiful and inspiring stories.
00:19:52
We've got this one. The drive by flasher lighthearted. Yeah. Hello, guys, gals and non
00:20:00
binary pals. Love it. Well done. So catchy. I moved to Cleveland to get my master's in school
00:20:10
counseling in 2017, but spent the first 22 years of my life in St. Louis, Missouri, which is filled
00:20:15
with a lot of bummer crimes, to say the least. While searching for a lighthearted story to send
00:20:20
in, I found an article that was very similar to the shitty papers that I used to write in high
00:20:25
school, which were filled with useless adjectives in order to set a minimum word count. Oh, I've
00:20:30
been there. I've been there. Yep, we've all done it. Once in October 2012, and another time in
00:20:36
January 2013, 34-year-old Joseph Huff of St. Louis drove into a Target parking lot, pulled up next to a woman, opened his car door, exposed himself, and then sped away.
00:20:47
While the story itself is kind of gross, it's the words used to describe Huff that made it so memorable.
00:20:53
The article states, quote, Now the authorities believe they've found this frequent flasher, this schlong showman, curvy Peter presenter, double drive by Dick Dangler.
00:21:03
If that isn't quality journalism, I don't know what is. The article continued with, quote, in case you weren't sure how a female might react to a strange man pulling out his twig and berries in a parking lot.
00:21:16
The probable cause statement contains the sentence, quote, both female victims were alarmed by the defendant's conduct.
00:21:24
And on the next line of the article, the reporter just wrote, well, yes. Huff was eventually caught and charged with two misdemeanor accounts of sexual misconduct.
00:21:34
And I hope that reporter got a Pulitzer Prize for journalism. I've been listening to the podcast since the beginning.
00:21:40
And although my life has been pretty lonely in the last few years, I've never felt truly
00:21:44
alone because I know I can always turn on my favorite murder and have it feel like I'm
00:21:48
with my two best friends. Stay sexy and get a job where you can get paid to call someone a schlong showman.
00:21:54
Sabrina. Sabrina. Great job. I know, like five levels to that, you know. Yeah, it was beautifully done.
00:22:02
It was a pervert, a hometown flasher, but also about the, it was great. It was, we had everything.
00:22:09
Okay, this one is called, Hey, Buddy, Got a Light? Hello, Stephen Ray Morrison Associates.
00:22:15
Oh, inflammatory. Inflammatory. I'm firing myself. Thank you. That's right. Emptive firing.
00:22:24
Good call, Stephen. Good call. This is a funny story that doesn't involve a murder, at least as far as I know, but it does have a dead body.
00:22:32
This was back in the 50s or 60s. My dad worked at GE in Philadelphia. When he got to work one Monday morning, a co-worker came in with his leg in a cast.
00:22:41
Of course, my dad being a concerned co-worker or more likely being nosy, my dad asked him what happened.
00:22:47
He told my dad that his son, who was an undertaker, asked him to help him transport a body.
00:22:52
It involved driving overnight to Western Pennsylvania. The son drove first while his dad slept.
00:22:58
At one point, the son pulled over to pick up a hitchhiker because stuff like this was totally normal back then,
00:23:03
pre-stranger danger, especially while driving through rural Pennsylvania in the middle of the night.
00:23:08
And then it says, I roll. There was no room up front, but the son told the hitchhiker he could sit in the back with the casket.
00:23:15
Later, the dad woke up to drive while his son slept. And then it says, you may see where this is going.
00:23:20
Of course, the son failed to mention, all caps, that there was a hitchhiker in the back.
00:23:26
And then it says, your dad spent all that money and effort to raise you, and this is how you repay him?
00:23:31
Dad is driving. Everything is going normally, considering it's probably 3 a.m. and they haven't seen another car in 100 miles until suddenly dad gets a tap on the shoulder from the back of the car.
00:23:42
Hey, buddy, got a light? You can guess the rest. He drove into a ditch and hence the broken leg.
00:23:49
how amazing is that i love your podcast i've always loved true crime and crime fiction even
00:23:55
before it was cool and my murderino daughter introduced me to you all oh stay safe
00:24:00
And make sure to let others know when there's a live person sitting in the back of the corpse so that they don't freak out and think a dead person is asking for a light.
00:24:07
Susan of North Carolina. Susan. Yay, Susan. Susan. Tell your daughter. OG Murderino.
00:24:15
That's right. Nice. That's amazing. Yeah. Wow. Nice. Nice batch. Yeah, guys. Good job.
00:24:23
Really good job. Please send your stories to My Favorite Murder at Gmail, or you can do it on the website, myfavoritemurder.com.
00:24:30
You can do it in the fan cult. There's a whole fan cult forum where people share their stories with each other.
00:24:35
Just fucking send us anything at this point, right? Do it. We're into all of it.
00:24:39
You know a good story when you hear one. That's right. Just let us know. That's right.
00:24:42
Can you do better? And in the meantime, beat that. Beat that batch is what we always say.
00:24:47
And in the meantime, stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie?
00:24:54
why is it always chaos when we link up because nobody plans anything bro good thing the rogue's
00:24:59
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Vital Farms, good eggs, no shortcuts. Goodbye. Bye. Hey, everyone. It's Cal Penn.
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