E404 A Spider Problem and a Grumpy Toad

Summary

Podcast Summary: And That's Why We Drink - Episode E404: A Spider Problem and a Grumpy Toad

Release Date: November 3, 2024
Hosts: Christine Schiefer & Em Schulz

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Halloween Preparations and Personal Updates

The episode kicks off with Christine and Em diving into their Halloween preparations, sharing personal anecdotes and the challenges of decorating amidst a busy schedule.

• [01:27] Christine Schiefer: "I finally got my Halloween decoration set up. It took me a while this year, but now I'm set."
• [02:21] Em Morales: "Allison really nailed the Halloween decorations this time because we've been traveling so much."

They discuss the transformative effect of Halloween decorations on their new home and how their neighbor Allison has excelled in creating an impressive spooky ambiance.

Old Faithful Inn: Ghost Stories and Legends

Transitioning into the heart of the episode, Christine and Em delve into the eerie tales surrounding the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park, blending history with paranormal lore.

• [27:00] Em Morales: "In this very tall lobby up in the rafters, there is a floating platform near the ceiling called the Crow's Nest. We'll remember this Crow's Nest because it's important later."
• [30:03] Em Morales: "Here are the ghost things, though. First, I'm just going to say they're obviously the usuals in this hotel. Lights turning on and off, doors opening and closing, footsteps running down the hall, but nobody's there."

Key Ghost Stories Discussed:

1. The Inspectress and the Creaky Fire Extinguisher:

   • [31:17] Em Morales: "She saw a fire extinguisher on the wall, lift off of its handle very slowly, turn itself 90 degrees and then turn itself back and hang on the handle."

2. The Little Boy Apparition:

   • A recurring sighting of a little boy asking where his family is, only to vanish mysteriously.

3. Male Apparitions:

   • [32:00] Em Morales: "There's a man in a merchant marine uniform. There's a few male apparitions."
   • Potential identities include the inn’s architect Robert Reamer, Ranger Phillips who died of hemlock poisoning, and L.R. Piper who vanished in 1900—possibly falling into a geyser.

4. Mrs. Culver's Haunting:

   • [35:00] Em Morales: "She was put in these barrels until a good thaw. And she was just someone who randomly died nearby."

5. The Headless Bride of Room 127:

   • [39:24] Em Morales: "The story goes that in 1914, she was a New York socialite who fell in love with a servant her family disapproved of."

Christine and Em explore the tragic history of the headless bride, her untimely death during a tumultuous honeymoon, and her lingering spirit seeking her lost head or her groom.

• [42:35] Christine Schiefer: "She's walking around. Guests and staff alike have claimed to see her."
• [44:37] Christine Schiefer: "George claims that he made up the headless bride story when he worked there."

They discuss the ambiguity surrounding George’s confession and the possibility of the legend being a creation fueled by truth and embellishment.

Main Story: Victoria and Emil Silliers – Attempted Murder

The episode shifts to a gripping, serialized true crime narrative about Victoria Silliers and her abusive husband Emil.

Part One Recap: Victoria survives a parachuting accident only to discover that Emil may have sabotaged her parachutes and caused a gas leak in their home, leading to her hospitalization and eventual suspicion of Emil’s involvement in attempted murder.

Detailed Summary:

1. The Accident:

   • [52:26] Christine Schiefer: "Victoria has survived this tremendous crash from thousands of feet in the air with no parachute."
   • Victoria wakes up in the ER, confused and in excruciating pain, with Emil exhibiting neglectful and abusive behavior.

2. Discovery of Emil's Infidelity and Sabotage:

   • Detectives uncover Emil's numerous affairs and financial troubles.
   • Text messages reveal Emil’s intentions to leave Victoria and their children for his Austrian girlfriend, Stephanie Goler.
   • [72:36] Christine Schiefer: "He left all the... Someone had tampered with the gas piping."

3. Legal Proceedings:

   • [73:54] Christine Schiefer: "He was charged with these two counts of attempted murder."
   • Emil is arrested for attempting to murder Victoria via two methods: sabotaging her parachutes and causing a gas leak.

4. Victoria’s Testimony and Mistrial:

   • [77:11] Em Morales: "We were really hoping you'd come through here on this."
   • Victoria’s conflicted testimony, defending Emil out of denial, leads to a mistrial due to jury indecision.

5. Prosecution’s Strategy for Retrial:

   • The prosecution presents tens of thousands of Emil's text messages revealing his deceit and abusive behavior.
   • [80:20] Christine Schiefer: "He frequented sex clubs, but his behavior was unwelcome. In other words, he started to become banned from sex clubs."

6. Final Verdict and Aftermath:

   • [81:00] Em Morales: "Emile Silliers was found guilty of all three charges against him."
   • Victoria divorces Emil, finding strength to overcome the trauma and continuing her life, including writing a memoir and reclaiming her passion for skydiving.

• [86:04] Christine Schiefer: "She went skydiving one more time... She felt pure joy and freedom."

Epilogue: Reflections and Urging to Vote

Towards the episode's close, Christine and Em share their anxieties about upcoming elections, urging listeners to participate in the democratic process.

• [89:31] Christine Schiefer: "Please, please, we've... Go vote."
• [90:19] Em Morales: "We've been struggling without you. And now that it's your turn, it's."

They emphasize the importance of every single vote, especially from younger generations, to influence the outcome of the elections.

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Notable Quotes:

• Christine Schiefer [14:05]: "Listening can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall well being."
• Em Morales [44:14]: "He was like, oh, you gotta put your name in there."
• Christine Schiefer [74:50]: "How could I. How could this. I can't, like, let this slip past."
• Em Morales [75:08]: "It's like an acme anvil should come from the sky and fall on her."

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Conclusion:

In this episode of "And That's Why We Drink," Christine and Em blend chilling ghost stories with a compelling true crime narrative, all while sharing their personal Halloween experiences. The hosts skillfully interweave historical lore with modern-day horror, keeping listeners engaged with relatable anecdotes and suspenseful storytelling. As always, the episode wraps up with a heartfelt plea for civic participation, urging voters to make their voices heard in the upcoming elections.

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Note: Advertisements and promotional segments for sponsors such as Squarespace, Allstate, and Funlove.com have been excluded from this summary to focus on the core content.

Transcript

[Christine Schiefer]

This episode is brought to you by Google Gemini. With the Gemini app, you can talk live and have a real time conversation with an AI assistant. It's great for all kinds of things like if you want to practice for an upcoming interview, ask for advice on things to do in a new city, or brainstorm creative ideas. And by the way, this script was actually read by Gemini. Download the Gemini app for iOS and Android today. Must be 18 to use Gemini Live. Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. You know, one of the perks about having four kids that you know about is actually getting a direct line. The big man up north. And this year he wants you to know the best gift that you can.

[Em Morales]

Give someone is the gift of Mint.

[Christine Schiefer]

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[Em Morales]

Now you don't even need to wrap it. Give it a [e-mail] switch.

[Christine Schiefer]

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[Em Morales]

Welcome to and that's why we drink, drink, drink, drink. Welcome to yeah, and that. Welcome to and that's why we drink, drink, drink, drink. And then like a, like a drink. Something like that.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, yeah.

[Em Morales]

Also, this is episode 404, which makes me think that there is a constant error issue on my notes.

[Christine Schiefer]

Maybe we just delete it and say, sorry, There was a 404 error. We don't have time for this today.

[Em Morales]

That would have been the most hysterical way to skip a week.

[Christine Schiefer]

Man, I wish we had thought of that sooner. Okay. Well, that stinks.

[Em Morales]

Oh, Christine, how are you? I haven't seen you in like five minutes. It feels like.

[Christine Schiefer]

I know, and it's so hard on my heart. It's wonderful to see you. I. I'm actually drinking tea today, which is a rare thing for me, but the last couple days I've been in a tea mood.

[Em Morales]

Is it T or is it like THC in your tea?

[Christine Schiefer]

I wish. No, I was not quite so bold because it's only. Well, because we have a Halloween live stream tonight that I have to prepare my mind and body and soul for.

[Em Morales]

So I would think that's how you're gonna prepare for it. You're just getting all warmed up, getting all fuzzy from the inside, you know? Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

But then by then I'm like, ready to go to bed and it's like, I gotta save up my energy, you know. But look at my mug. Mothman believes in you is my mug. I Didn't even pick it on purpose. Just every mug in my cabinet has something tangentially to do with our show. So.

[Em Morales]

That's beautiful.

[Christine Schiefer]

It's a Mothman, but so I'm drinking some green tea. Coconut with coconut in it. And I drink because I finally, just now, before we recorded, finally got my Halloween decoration set up.

[Em Morales]

Halloween is in 12 hours.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah. But honestly, I'm so happy they're there because like with trick or treaters tomorrow, I'm like, I was going to be really sad if I didn't finish getting it all set up. So now I'm. Now I'm set. I gotta say, it took me a while this year, but I'm here.

[Em Morales]

Allison really nailed the Halloween decorations this time because we've been traveling so much that.

[Christine Schiefer]

Can you send me pictures later how you did it with your new house?

[Em Morales]

I'll send you pictures. Well, so the inside, it's as decorated as it can be. But we technically, other than our bedroom, our house is just one room. So there's only like there used to be some like decorations over there, decorations.

[Christine Schiefer]

Over here, like stations, stations.

[Em Morales]

And now we've got like a lot of little things that in like just really four walls. So.

[Christine Schiefer]

But I like that because then it's almost more like condensed like, oh, the whole vibe is now spooky.

[Em Morales]

But I agree with you. But we don't have a lot of furniture to sit a lot of stuff on. So it's really. It feels more like you just kind of put. Yeah. You know, like, listen, that's okay.

[Christine Schiefer]

You literally just moved in. I'm shocked that you even had the time or Allison did to get decorations out of boxes. So.

[Em Morales]

Well, she. No, she did it. The outside looks great. She nail the outside.

[Christine Schiefer]

The inside, send me pictures. Definitely don't. Like you said, don't send pictures maybe to the social media, but people can.

[Em Morales]

Imagine for them, they can imagine.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Em Morales]

And also because we live in Burbank, which I have said before, is a very year round, Halloween heavy town because this is where a lot of the movie people like do their prop and, and set shopping. And so there's a lot of year round Halloween stores, but in. Not in our neighborhood like our specific suburb of Burbank, but in the neighborhood of Burbank, everyone takes Halloween really seriously when it comes to decorating outside. And so it was so funny. I was. Alison and I, every year we at least have one night each October where we try to go to as many big houses as possible. They have to register and everything to like beyond this like specific map of places you should go see. And they're like these incredible in them.

[Christine Schiefer]

Or just look at them.

[Em Morales]

Sometimes, like, people literally turn their houses into like jump scare attractions.

[Christine Schiefer]

So kind of like that Modern Family episode.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, yeah. And people have like the 12 foot skeletons and like they build these really elaborate sets and like they even go. It pours over onto like the sidewalk and in the trees there's stuff. And it's.

[Christine Schiefer]

There was one house like that this year. The house had been for sale last year. And it's this gorgeous house. And I would always drive past and be like, oh, I wonder who's going to buy it. Well, somebody. Awesome. Because last week I drove past and went, holy smokes. People were pulling their cars over just to like, take pictures. I mean it. And it was a mill of the day. I was like, oh, on Halloween we have to walk past this house. It is. I was just. And they have like all. It's this really, really beautiful old, like Victorian house and they have all these different balconies and like, everyone has a different, like, you know, creature coming and climbing the wall. It's just.

[Em Morales]

It's crazy.

[Christine Schiefer]

It's beautiful. And I was like, oh, well, I'm glad my new neighbor is apparently on the right track.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, I. We moved to the right neighborhood for sure because we have that going on. And last year too, our friend Delaney, who, you know, she has her own lovely podcast called Self Helpless, please go check it out. But Allison and I went to her house and she hosted like a little Halloween party where the whole point was all of her friends get together so they could just. We could just walk down the neighborhood and just see all the houses. But it. It was like walking through, I imagine downtown Salem on Halloween night. Like, it was like you. We couldn't even be with our own party. We lost each other at some point.

[Christine Schiefer]

And like, God, you had to get like the matching T shirts like you do at Disney with your family.

[Em Morales]

I mean, there were. There were houses that literally like had pir Technic teams come in and like, set like their house. Like, like there was one that like, literally the roof would like catch on fire every 30 seconds. Like, to like, as part of the. Holy shit. Like, they don't fuck around in Burbank. And I'll even like on TikTok. I've been like, finding like my neighbor's houses, like on TikTok, because it's going viral. Yeah. So anyway, that's been very fun. But as I say, our. Our outside looks great. And Allison nailed it. She nailed it for like a normal, for a normie, for a normal neighborhood. Like, we don't have like a display quite like.

[Christine Schiefer]

No, mine's very simple this year too. It's like. And I. Mine's kind of keep trying to. I keep trying to not triangulate myself. It's so hard because I'm like trying to describe the like layout and I'm like, let's not do that. But I will say today I put up these like this giant like multi story spiderweb. And by that I mean I just throw it out the window and then like hook it on the fence. It actually worked really great. But I was around the corner like putting up some bats on the wall and. And this woman walked past and said, you might want to call Orkin, which is like our local exterminator because you've got a spider problem on the property. And I went, are you serious? Well, it's because I just put up all those giant spiders. And she walked around the corner and she was making a joke and I was like, I am so stupid.

[Em Morales]

I went, I also.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh my God, seriously. And I mean, I'm not kidding you. And she had passed me like five minutes earlier when I was doing the spiders and said like, ooh, scary. And walked away, came back, said, you might want to call Orchid. And I said, what? Why? She's like, because of your spider problem. And I went, a spider problem? I mean, I'm like so out of my mind.

[Em Morales]

In hindsight, that's a beautiful. She sounds like someone you should run into again.

[Christine Schiefer]

I was going to say she really like nailed it and I just missed the. I just whiffed it. But I will add also, one of the Halloween related reasons I drink as well is because last year, part of the reason I'm kind of delayed is that a bunch of our stuff was stolen last year and someone stole my skeleton. And I've had him for years and I loved him and I was. He was so important to me and some teenager just fucking took him. Six foot skeleton, just took him right off the porch, walked away.

[Em Morales]

That's awful.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah. So my new one comes today. But it was like I had to get one last minute cause I'd forgotten he disappeared and I was hoping someone would return him, but alas.

[Em Morales]

Alas, that's awful.

[Christine Schiefer]

He's coming. He's coming today. I'll put him up by tomorrow. And I'm gonna put. I've decided I'm gonna put a motion activated thing so that when anyone Tries to come near him and it'll just scream at you so that they don't. Don't steal it. I'll say, I see you teenagers. You're on camera.

[Em Morales]

That'll do it.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah. And they're not on camera, but they don't need to know that.

[Em Morales]

No. And at iss, at my old prop house, the craziest part is that they claimed that there were security cameras everywhere. So, like, they. Because they were like, oh, we don't want you to steal props from a TV show. Which is fair, but half the fucking security cameras were props. They weren't even real security cameras.

[Christine Schiefer]

How do you even know if any of this is real?

[Em Morales]

So they just expected people to just live in fear? Because I would see security cameras all over the place. And then I was like, I don't even know if that's actually real or if they just took one from storage and just kind of stuck it on there. Or a lot of times they would literally just spray paint the top of, like, a Starbucks lid, like, the round ones, and then just, like, glue it to the ceiling. And I'd be like, is that a. Because it kind of, from far away.

[Christine Schiefer]

Looks like, is that my Frappuccino? What's happening?

[Em Morales]

There were so many times where I was like, I can't. Like, this place is, like, so trashy, but also, like, so professional. I can't ever. The line is too fine and too thick all at the same time.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like, how I operate, where you were describing setting the roof on fire, and I was like, I feel like I would do that to make it as exciting as possible, but I wouldn't do it properly. So I'd accidentally, like, set the house on fire. Like, it's, like, very diy, but, like, you're committing to the bit.

[Em Morales]

Like, and it kind of works. Like, some people are like, if it looks. If it looks close enough, nobody's going to test it and steal something, you know?

[Christine Schiefer]

Right.

[Em Morales]

Anyway, so maybe, when in doubt, just, like, spray paint a Starbucks lid black.

[Christine Schiefer]

I mean, I never thought of doing that, but that. That might be the new way to go. So I guess I'll go to Starbucks later and get back to you.

[Em Morales]

Okay. It's like, it's the new Michel's. It's like just going and grabbing some art supplies. Okay, Cristine. Well, you're drinking your tea. I am supposed to be drinking an ld, but I forgot to get it from the fridge. But luckily, the fridge is right here.

[Christine Schiefer]

So you can touch it.

[Em Morales]

So I will probably get that at some point. But until then, I have a story for you. This is the tale of the Old Faithful. Lynn.

[Christine Schiefer]

The Old Faithful. Oh, in. I thought you were talking about the geyser. So I was, like, expecting that word and then you didn't say it.

[Em Morales]

Now, that's interesting that you say that, Christine. That is an interesting thing you're saying about the old.

[Christine Schiefer]

Continue, please. So speak on that.

[Em Morales]

The. Oh, you know what? You know what I have to mention right now to your face. To your.

[Christine Schiefer]

What did I do?

[Em Morales]

Big dumb face. You know what you have started recently?

[Christine Schiefer]

No.

[Em Morales]

You love to say, speak on that.

[Christine Schiefer]

And so funny to me.

[Em Morales]

It has transported into my brain and now I say it, and now it always feels like it's in. You're always here. Get out of my head. You know what I'm saying?

[Christine Schiefer]

Well, I mean, I've always said that. And that's what I took from you is. I've always said that is what you taught me. And I said, that's excellent work. I'm gonna take that as well. Excellent work. And then so it's. We sometimes just trade off, like our little isms.

[Em Morales]

I catch myself all the time now going, speak on that. And I'm like, who the fuck do I think I am?

[Christine Schiefer]

And then it's so good because it sort of, like, invites. It, like, critiques the other person a little bit sometimes without. Without, like, being blatantly, you know, what do you call it? Confrontational. It's sort of like, huh, why don't you elaborate? And, like, you'll hear how stupid you sound. I mean, that's how you usually use it. Like, with, like, this guy, this Trumper guy I met recently. And I just kept being like, oh, really? Speak on that. And he was like, well, I don't. And I was like, see, it's really effective.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, it feels.

[Christine Schiefer]

Sometimes, don't know, it feels like an opportunity.

[Em Morales]

You're saying, like, I'll give you a second try.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yes, yes. Try again. God, I'll wait. It's the same energy as I'll wait. It's like, speak on that. Continue.

[Em Morales]

Well, I plan on speaking on the Old Faithful Inn and your interesting note about the geyser, because this takes place in Yellowstone, which is in. Do you know what the first US national park is?

[Christine Schiefer]

Yellowstone.

[Em Morales]

Yep, that's right. Okay.

[Christine Schiefer]

So, like, I hope so, because I really don't know.

[Em Morales]

And the inn is named after a geyser nearby called Old Faithful. Listening on audible helps your imagination soar. No matter the genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds New possibilities and new ways of thinking.

[Christine Schiefer]

Listening can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall well being. And I would say that I can directly attest to that. Five out of five doctors believe listening to. And that's why we Drink's new audiobook, A Haunted Road Atlas. Next Stop is gonna make your life swell. You know What I mean?

[Em Morales]

5 out of 5 Christine's. 5 out of 5 M's. We definitely think if you, hey, if you're on Audible, why not go check out a haunted atlas? It's pretty. Or a hotter road atlas. Next stop. I mean, you've got multiple options for you.

[Christine Schiefer]

Just perfect for spooky season or any other day of the year.

[Em Morales]

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[Christine Schiefer]

There's more to imagine when you listen. New members can try Audible now free for 30 days with your first audiobook included. Is it audible.com drink or text? Drink to 500? 500. That's audible.com drink or text drink to 500. 500.

[Em Morales]

The geyser is called Old Faithful. Do you know why?

[Christine Schiefer]

Is it because it's timed. Like we know when it's going to go erupt.

[Em Morales]

Should I even do my story?

[Christine Schiefer]

I literally don't know, you guys. This is just off the dome.

[Em Morales]

Are you a geologist?

[Christine Schiefer]

Smart.

[Em Morales]

Off the dome. Okay, so, yes, the geyser is called Old Faithful because unlike some geysers, this one you can predict kind of it's.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like when it will arrive a little bit.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, yeah. It's like a vague timing because it's like between 35 minutes and 120 minutes, but it's like.

[Christine Schiefer]

I see. So it's like. But it'll happen.

[Em Morales]

It's like within two hours it's going to go off.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah, gotcha. Okay.

[Em Morales]

So anyway, it's this inn is nearby that geyser, hence the name Old Faithful Inn.

[Christine Schiefer]

Makes sense.

[Em Morales]

Before the Old Faithful Inn, there was another inn on the same site called the Upper Geyser Basin Hotel. And that just doesn't have the same kind of ring.

[Christine Schiefer]

No, not really. No.

[Em Morales]

That was around from the 1870s to the 1890s. And then in the 1890s, the hotel, I think, caught on fire at some point. It was so damaged that it collapsed and needed to be replaced. So the first structures of the Old Faithful Inn was built on the same lot.

[Christine Schiefer]

That's such a better Name? You can market the Old Faithful Inn. You cannot market the Upper Geyser Base. What? The ubg. The ug.

[Em Morales]

The ugbh. It's just the ugba.

[Christine Schiefer]

The ugba. Are you serious right now?

[Em Morales]

Catch you at the ugba.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah. Not gonna work. I'm gonna set it on fire and make it collapse so that we can have the other one.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, the ofi. The. The Ophi.

[Christine Schiefer]

The Ophi.

[Em Morales]

Catch you at the ophi. Okay, so the Ophi, or the first parts of it at least, were built in 1903. 1904, and this was a very famous hotel in the area. It was a very swanky. Many presidents came, including President Harding, President Coolidge, and both Roosevelts. You know who I always fucking forget? President Harding.

[Christine Schiefer]

Harding is a tough one.

[Em Morales]

I remember Sporkle.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, I love Sporkle. You and I have played Sporkle in recent years.

[Em Morales]

As I recall, whenever I play the US President's version, I get every single one of them. Every single time. Except for Harding. He's always the one that trips me up.

[Christine Schiefer]

Well, I just had a thought. What if we Next time? Because I also always. Well, I always forget most of them. So that's the weird part for me is I only remember, like, five. And I'm like. It's so strange I should know this, but I. What about when you are trying to remember that one that you can remember? You're like, oh, it's really hard to remember this one. And then you're like, oh, Harding.

[Em Morales]

Now that has done another one.

[Christine Schiefer]

Because I heard myself go, oh, Harding's tough. And I'm like, oh, my God. Harding's a hard thing to remember.

[Em Morales]

No, I think you just.

[Christine Schiefer]

I'm gonna be like, president. President difficult. President tough. I forget what word I use.

[Em Morales]

President complex.

[Christine Schiefer]

Complex. Nuanced? Convoluted?

[Em Morales]

No. That's a great idea. Because of you, I will win the trivia game if they ever say name all 46. Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah.

[Em Morales]

Soon to be 47.

[Christine Schiefer]

Sporkle trophy. It's about time someone wins it.

[Em Morales]

Ugh. Wait, is this the last episode we do before we find out the results of the election?

[Christine Schiefer]

I was like, the results of what? The paternity test. My brain immediately went to paternity test. I'm like, okay, so you are really.

[Em Morales]

Good at geology and kind of nothing else. And nothing else.

[Christine Schiefer]

Certainly not. No. And I want to be clear. I'm also not good at geology. I'm just good at guessing sometimes.

[Em Morales]

Man off the dome.

[Christine Schiefer]

Off the dome. And I'm also Good at bringing back phrases nobody wants to bring back. What were you just saying?

[Em Morales]

I think this is the last episode before the election results.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yikes.

[Em Morales]

Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

So depending on what happens, this mood could shift, appropriate or not.

[Em Morales]

So it will shift like the tectonic plates. Am I right, geology expert?

[Christine Schiefer]

It's like. It's like. It's like a fault line is about to. It's like a geyser that's not Old Faithful. It's about to erupt any moment. And we're all hunkering down at the gbhn.

[Em Morales]

You know what terrified me about the election results or the election predictions right now? NPR just came out last night saying that it's a two thirds of a chance that it's Trump my life.

[Christine Schiefer]

I literally went to attribute.

[Em Morales]

How is that possible? How the is that possible?

[Christine Schiefer]

I went to therapy the other day and I was like, hey, hey, I'm. There were all sorts of things I wanted to discuss with you, but I just need to talk about the election. She was like, all right, sit down.

[Em Morales]

She was like, you and everyone else.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah. She's like, okay, another one. And here comes another one. But I was just like, I don't know what to do. So she had me do a brain dump where I just wrote for pages and pages and pages and pages, and then she made me read it out loud. And I was like, and another thing. And I was reading it out loud. But I had that same thought, Em, where I was like, wow, it's way scarier than I had hoped. I'd been avoiding it for.

[Em Morales]

I just don't know, because to just.

[Christine Schiefer]

Wait till the week of. And now it's, like, hitting me. And I feel like I'd drive Leona to school and like, three quarters of the signs are Trump signs. And I'm like, I don't feel good about that.

[Em Morales]

Which, like, I think I just live in a false sense of reality because I live in Los Angeles. And like, yes, it's a bubble.

[Christine Schiefer]

Because remember when I was talking about them therapy, too, when I lived in LA and Trump won, we were so shocked. Like, I remember everyone was like, we were shocked. We were like, there's no way in hell. And I was like, we were in a bubble, like a liberal bubble, which is, you know, great, until suddenly I.

[Em Morales]

I don't know what to expect. And next week will. Obviously, that'll be the reason why we drank, either for something really cool or really just so horrible. Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

So don't take this tone that we have today as any sort of gospel, because we have no clue what's going to happen. But that's.

[Em Morales]

That's. You know what? That's why I drank this week. Because I just don't know the fate of all of our lives.

[Christine Schiefer]

I'm just going to stick with a teenager stole my skeleton decoration.

[Em Morales]

That's a good reason.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah.

[Em Morales]

Okay. Well, you know, we're. Let's, like, send out all the witches. Well, by the time you hear this, Halloween's over. But in what is probably the most powerful night in 24 hours, I hope everyone's doing the right thing and manifesting.

[Christine Schiefer]

Let's hex this shit. Yeah.

[Em Morales]

Yes. Okay. Anyway, where were we? Presidents. President Harding. President Harding has been here. President Coolidge, the Roosevelts, both of them, father and son. Isn't that nice? And over time, the inn was expanded to keep up with the growing amount of tourists going to Yellowstone. And by the way, fun fact, Yellowstone is my favorite national park.

[Christine Schiefer]

Really?

[Em Morales]

Do you want to know why, though? Yes, Yogi Bear.

[Christine Schiefer]

And it's because it's a good aunt. Jelly Stone. That's a good answer.

[Em Morales]

I would love a Yellowstone national park shirt that actually is just Jelly Stone, but looks like it's from the Yellowstone store.

[Christine Schiefer]

I bet they have that. I'll look for it. Don't look for it, everyone. I'm doing it.

[Em Morales]

Okay?

[Christine Schiefer]

I need more Christmas gift ideas.

[Em Morales]

When I was. When I was little, I was obsessed with Boo Boo.

[Christine Schiefer]

Were you? So that's kind of cute. I didn't. I sort of knew that, but I didn't really realize how far the obsession went.

[Em Morales]

Anyway, I. I was a big fan, so actually. Well, okay, I have to stop talking because I must.

[Christine Schiefer]

I must not continue.

[Em Morales]

I really. I could go off on a tangent right now.

[Christine Schiefer]

What's the frog and toad shirt I have and the. My old profile picture, like, we must stop eating, cried Toad as he ate another. Like, that's us talking. Okay, let's stop talking.

[Em Morales]

How about this?

[Christine Schiefer]

As I kept talking.

[Em Morales]

Let me tell you what specifically I'm obsessed about when it comes to Yogi Bear for our after party. Whatever.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, the Yappy Hour. Yes. Great idea.

[Em Morales]

Because she's. It's. It really gets me in the right spots. Okay, so over time, the inn was expanded because there were so many more tourists coming in, and it became a national landmark, and it was put on the National Registry of Historic Places.

[Christine Schiefer]

Makes sense.

[Em Morales]

National Register. I always say registry. Because you love this portion of my stories, I am here to tell you that construction on this inn cost $165,000 at the time, which is around $580,000 today.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, that's not that much. I mean, it's a lot, but like, not for an in like I imagine half a million.

[Em Morales]

Over half a million dollars. I mean, I guess I, I think I just have no frame of reference. But when I think like, oh, four presidents have come here, it must. That must have, right? What's a banana? $10. You know, I have. What's $600,000?

[Christine Schiefer]

That's such an underrated quote. Wow.

[Em Morales]

So when the hotel started up, and this is what construction and furnishings cost, the lobby, one of, one of the things they did in construction is that the lobby was 85ft tall. It had 120 rooms, which in my mind, a hotel being created at the turn of this like 20th century. I'm like, that feels like way too many rooms in my mind. There's not 120 people.

[Christine Schiefer]

I was gonna say it feels like a lot of room. Especially when it's a place like with presidents, it feels like you would have like a very exclusive, like not a hundred normies staying and then like Roosevelt and his son. But I do wonder if, but also, how on earth do you build like 120 room hotel for $500,000 in today's money? Like, I don't know, I'm just, it's just weird to me.

[Em Morales]

But anyway, 580,000 divided by 120. Okay, so each room, it was like $5,000. Like less than $5,000.

[Christine Schiefer]

There's no way.

[Em Morales]

Doesn't even include the dining room, the lobby, the, the.

[Christine Schiefer]

Any plumbing, any.

[Em Morales]

Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

Foundation.

[Em Morales]

Well, I will say also fun fact, because that, that's a great point about the money. Like, how is it, how are we getting away with it at this price? Because this was also one of the first hotels to have electric lighting and heat.

[Christine Schiefer]

See what? Maybe they got some like huge grant or something.

[Em Morales]

You know, I got a friend on a farm.

[Christine Schiefer]

On a farm? It's not on a farm, it's on a national park.

[Em Morales]

I got a friend named Brandy. And that girl knows how to be frugal. And she is nicknamed in our friend group as Bargain Brandy.

[Christine Schiefer]

Maybe they, maybe we should call her Bargain Bin Brandy because that's way funnier. Brandy. She was been found at the bottom of the bargain bin.

[Em Morales]

She was literally the person through high school where she would know every Monday at Target, these are the sales. But every Monday at this place, these are the sales. And every Monday at these place. And she would know every day, every store. And like, I mean, she just went to the Taylor Swift ERAS tour twice. Because she had like, growing up, she had an email for like every month. So at every restaurant she would get 12 free meals a year. Like, because she had 12, she would put one in and have a different birth month for each one of them.

[Christine Schiefer]

This just is exactly. Yeah, that's. That's it. That's the vibe.

[Em Morales]

And for the ERAS tour, she ended up going to Scotland and Paris to see.

[Christine Schiefer]

Sure. The.

[Em Morales]

The. The ERAS tour because she literally had enough emails that she signed up for every country's pre sale and just hoped that she would get one of them. And she ends up getting two of them. Like, she just, like, she thinks it through in a way I wouldn't.

[Christine Schiefer]

So I was gonna say she's like, prepared too.

[Em Morales]

I like to think there's a bargain Brandy on the team creating this place.

[Christine Schiefer]

I think so somebody is like, oh, we could do that. We could DIY this pyrotechnic stuff ourselves.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, it's like 120 rooms. Fancy enough for the. The. Both the Roosevelts and have electric lighting and heat. 5,000. Less than 5,000 per room.

[Christine Schiefer]

Easy peasy. Let me just get a grant from the government and we'll figure it out.

[Em Morales]

Let me go to Target on Monday where this is for sale. Marshalls here.

[Christine Schiefer]

My birthday is actually on Wednesday, so I'll be really busy that day. I have 16 restaurants to go to, but every other day of the week, I'm here. Hey, I have a fun fact about M. I'm gonna put them on spot immediately. M hates to be inconvenienced. Okay. Whether it's driving to the airport, like to LAX rather than Burbank, whether it's just even checking Slack or emails or whatever. M just hates being inconvenienced. It's just. It's just one of the main personality traits I've come to know and love. And if you're an employer, you can add hiring to this list. But now there's Hope, thanks to ZipRecruiter.

[Em Morales]

As somebody who hates being inconvenienced, I'll tell you that ZipRecruiter made our literal jobs so much easier. I mean, I hated having to do anything and I. Not only that, I literally couldn't do it. We didn't have enough time. We didn't have time, resources. We didn't have enough people, and we needed to find someone immediately. We found Eva immediately, and our lives were made better for good.

[Christine Schiefer]

We even asked, like, on ZipRecruiter's platform, asked, like, do you believe in ghosts? As One of our hiring questions and Eva put yes.

[Em Morales]

If you're wondering how fast ZipRecruiter smart technology actually shows your job to qualified candidates, I'm not kidding. It really was within 24 hours that we found Eva. And also ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology works fast to find top talent like EVA so you don't waste time or money.

[Christine Schiefer]

See why 4 out of 5 employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. And if you go to ziprecruiter.com drink right now, you can try it for free. That's the same price as laughing so hard that your sides hurt or getting a compliment from a random stranger. Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com Drink ZipRecruiter the smartest way to hire.

[Em Morales]

In this lobby, because it was. Remember I said it was an 85 foot tall lobby?

[Christine Schiefer]

Yes.

[Em Morales]

In this very tall lobby up in the rafters at about foot 75, there is a floating platform near the ceiling called the Crow's Nest.

[Christine Schiefer]

Okay. Now I'm already very intrigued about this.

[Em Morales]

We'll remember this Crow's Nest because it's important later.

[Christine Schiefer]

I won't forget it. I won't forget it.

[Em Morales]

It's a floating platform that during its heyday, the hotel would have string quartets and other bands perform up there. So they were essentially floating above the lobby guests.

[Christine Schiefer]

Wow.

[Em Morales]

And that was one of its fun little features of like, oh, come see live music right above you.

[Christine Schiefer]

How big is this Crow's nest? Like does it hold a whole band or is it like one person?

[Em Morales]

I guess so. I mean, I didn't see a picture of it, but I imagine it's big enough.

[Christine Schiefer]

Give me the square footage of this bad boy.

[Em Morales]

Well, I told you it's 75ft up in the air. Right.

[Christine Schiefer]

That's all I need to know. Actually, I don't think I need to know anymore. That's pretty cool though.

[Em Morales]

So that was like one of its fun little features. But in 1959, there was a massive earthquake and it created a lot of damage to the inn. And to the this day, the Crow's Nest is closed to the public.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, no. But it's still there though.

[Em Morales]

You can see it. It's just collecting dust.

[Christine Schiefer]

That's super cool.

[Em Morales]

On top of that, visitors cannot go past the balcony on the third floor now. But what was cool about this hotel also is that every floor had like balconies. So you could see all these balconies surrounding you. It was very beautiful. But yeah. So you can't go to the Crow's Nest and you can't go past the floor.

[Christine Schiefer]

You can't, like, use the balcony at all.

[Em Morales]

I don't think you can use the floor at all. I don't. I don't know. I don't. That's the vibe I'm getting here. Since it's opening, it's had several renovations, including this cute little thing called the Bear Pit Lounge. And it was created in 1936 and then again in 1988 when it got moved to somewhere else in the hotel. But the Bear Pit Lounge was built with a bunch of wood panel carvings, quote, of bears in the act of mischief. Well, well, now, I love that.

[Christine Schiefer]

You don't say. That sounds spectacular.

[Em Morales]

Like, what do you think they're doing? I like to think one has, like, their head stuck in a pot of honey, like Winnie the whole time.

[Christine Schiefer]

I mean, it's all Winnie the Pooh. I imagine one's rolling down a hill themed. Yeah, for sure. One's booty is stuck. Like, he's trying to, like, climb into something to get honey and his booty got stuck.

[Em Morales]

Oh, he's doing the blue chair. Scratch the tree. Scratch.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah, just mischief. Oh, someone's trying to, like, pry open a jeep to get the snacks inside. I'm sure. I'm sure that's part of it.

[Em Morales]

For some reason, I thought we just turned this into, like, fucking true crime. Like, oh, now they're also on a murder spree.

[Christine Schiefer]

Now they have knives and they're on cocaine. Wait, that comes later. Mischief is like a vague word, you know, I don't know if it is sticky bears or, like, murderous bears, or.

[Em Morales]

Is it like grand theft auto, grand larceny, grand theft auto. They have. They have a gambling problem. The whole family's in the. In the corner crying, you know, or.

[Christine Schiefer]

Are they just, like, leaving pop prints on the ground? Nobody knows.

[Em Morales]

Who could. Who could say? Not me. Apparently those images were then recreated through glass engravings for when they moved the Bear Pit to another area. So I think. I think they still have the act of mischief. Bears love that. So that's kind of the only real fun facts in history that I was getting out of most of the sources.

[Christine Schiefer]

Those are pretty good, though. Those are good fun facts.

[Em Morales]

Here are the ghost things, though. First, I'm just going to say they're obviously the usuals in this hotel. Lights turning on and off, doors opening and closing, footsteps running down the hall, but nobody's there. Creaky floors for no reason.

[Christine Schiefer]

Do we. Do we have A lady in white.

[Em Morales]

Girl, Please ask yourself again if you need to ask obvious questions.

[Christine Schiefer]

Okay, I just. I. You're right.

[Em Morales]

We are going to get to her at the end because she is the main character today.

[Christine Schiefer]

I thought, like. I just thought, like, when you were saying, oh, we have all the usuals, I was like, oh, I was expecting you to say it there, but then I realized you're right. It probably has more of a story.

[Em Morales]

So. All the usuals.

[Christine Schiefer]

All the usuals.

[Em Morales]

All italicized, underlined.

[Christine Schiefer]

I'm ready.

[Em Morales]

Okay, so lights, doors, footsteps, blah, blah, blah. One time a person. This is super. This is the one that would absolutely have me losing my mind. One person was walking through. Apparently she was inspecting the. Like, she was on doing an inspection of the hotel. They called her an inspectress, which I thought was special. And this inspector.

[Christine Schiefer]

It's like when I tried to be inspector's gadget.

[Em Morales]

It's like when you were a private inspector.

[Christine Schiefer]

Inspectors. It has a good ring to it. I like it.

[Em Morales]

Well, so she was walking around the hotel and she saw a fire extinguisher on the wall, lift off of its handle very slowly, turn itself 90 degrees and then turn itself back and hang on the handle.

[Christine Schiefer]

What?

[Em Morales]

Like, are you kidding me? That would be all like, inspectress. What does this mean, Miss? I'm the inspector and I know how to inspect after. Too soon after inspecting that. Inspect the fucking door and leave.

[Christine Schiefer]

I'm gonna say inspect my car because I'm driving home. Wow, that's pretty weird. And I think I'm with you. That. That would be what did it. Because it's like, were you just showing me that to show me? Like, were you doing. Was it supposed to mean something?

[Em Morales]

Like, did I walk in on a ghost janitor or were you. Was that a show for me?

[Christine Schiefer]

Right. It. Like, that would really freak me out.

[Em Morales]

I feel like if I realize that that was them trying to. And then once it's. If it's on display for me, was that to scare me? Or am I supposed to go like, oh, right.

[Christine Schiefer]

Or are they like, oh, the screw's loose. Somebody fix it? Like, are you trying to tell me something? Is this, like, are you threatening me? Like, I. Like, I don't know what it means.

[Em Morales]

The vibe could be anything. It's. It's an. It could be an act of mischief. It could have been those damn bears.

[Christine Schiefer]

Be a bear.

[Em Morales]

So that's like the creepiest thing for me. But the main thing here is that people see apparitions. A lot of people see a little boy who Will run up to you and ask where his family is. And then he vanishes. Oh, no. There's always got to be a sad one. Then there's several apparitions of men either in the lobby or the halls. One is very short, but he looks very serious, probably because he's so short. And another one is a man in a merchant marine uniform. So there's a few male apparitions. And it could be. We don't know who it is, but there are a few potentials for who these men are. So. Okay, one of the first thoughts is it could be the ends. Architect Robert Reamer. It could be a ranger who was stationed here in the 1920s named Ranger Phillips. And he, when stationed here, he died of hemlock poisoning because he thought he was eating a parsnip and it was hemlock.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, that's like pretty tragic.

[Em Morales]

Kids don't eat your vegetables. They could be poison. It could also be a guy named L.R. piper who was a guy who just vanished in 1900. He just disappeared. No one ever saw him again. And a lot of people think that maybe he fell into the nearby geyser, which, fun fact, mid eruption, it can hit upwards of like 250 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 120 degrees Celsius.

[Christine Schiefer]

Okay.

[Em Morales]

And people think maybe he just fell into a geyser. And the only reason we think it could be him is because one kid reported seeing the apparition of a man who looked like he had severe scalding injuries.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, that's dark.

[Em Morales]

But that's also assuming that he actually did die that way. So we're just putting.

[Christine Schiefer]

He just gave up. It's always the worst timing. Yeah, it's like thumbs up as you're talking about somebody with like third degree burns all over his body.

[Em Morales]

Yeah. And it's. When I'm actively trying to do this, it's not. Not nothing's happening, you know?

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah, it's. It doesn't have room for a negative reaction.

[Em Morales]

So the apparition of a man could also be a random frontiersman who is allegedly buried on the property. Because at some point when they did an addition in like the 1910s, 1920s, they realized that there were unmarked graves under the property. Whoopsie daisies.

[Christine Schiefer]

Cool, cool, cool.

[Em Morales]

And then built on top of it, anyway, so they think that maybe it's one of those people who's buried under the hotel. It could be a random guy who just died from some adventure accident nearby because he's Yellowstone, you know, or maybe it's maybe there's several apparitions of Ben and it is all these people all the time. Porquino los p? Cinco.

[Christine Schiefer]

You know, that's what I always say.

[Em Morales]

And I've always said that there's also the spirit of a woman in room two. Now this one is the second most famous story here. This is when a, a couple went to bed in room two and the woman woke up in the middle of the night and she saw a woman floating over her bed and like, like old school clothing. A lot of the sources say 1890s clothing, but I swear to God, if I ever saw someone in old ass clothing, I would never be able to go, obviously 1890s.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah, the lace had a specific stitching to it. You know, it's like, how on earth would you even know?

[Em Morales]

No, I would barely even notice that they had clothing if someone was standing over my bed. Like I don't know what fucking year it's from. So anyway, the, they, all the websites tried to make this story seem much scarier than it is because they all like really lean into like she was digging her nails into her husband's back cuz she was so scared. And then he woke up and they showed the hotel staff his scratches down his back because she was so scared. I'm like, okay, we're doing a lot of talking about everything and nothing. Like I get it, there was a woman floating over the bed. We could have ended it there.

[Christine Schiefer]

Right? So it, the scratches were from the wife, not from the guys from the wife being scared.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, I, oh, okay, okay, okay.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah. The number of times I've harmed someone because I'm scared, that's not story worthy. You know, I, I, I harm you all the time when I'm scared, like just with my claws.

[Em Morales]

I, I, it felt like a lot of those sources were like trying to hit a word count and they were like, let's talk about the woman and her nails. And I'm like, we said everything already in the beginning. There was a woman floating over her bed.

[Christine Schiefer]

1890, we're all scared. I don't worry, we get it. It's scary.

[Em Morales]

So apparently because of that room too is one of the bigger ones that people request if you want to find a ghost because they think they'll find her. Her people don't know who this woman in 19 in 1890s clothes could be, but they think it might be a woman named Mrs. Culver who died not too far from the area in the 18 in 1889. So 1890s clothing, I guess she died not too far from the area during childbirth. And allegedly, when she died, the grounds were too frozen to bury her right away, and so they buried her instead in. This is multiple pickle barrels.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, my God.

[Em Morales]

What? So, like, at some point, does that mean they, like, dismembered her to put her in multiple barrels?

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah. The fact that it says bear rolls is alarming. Like, I don't know.

[Em Morales]

And they put her in those barrels, basically.

[Christine Schiefer]

Maybe they just put them, like, the ground by side and put her inside them.

[Em Morales]

That's. And then they just roll her down the hill. Yeah. I don't know.

[Christine Schiefer]

Gas. Right. Like, what are you doing with that barrel? Or I don't know. Weird.

[Em Morales]

Who had two empty pickle barrels and was like, I know exactly what I'm.

[Christine Schiefer]

I'm not gonna feel the same way. You probably ate all of them.

[Em Morales]

That's a great point. I actually still remember as a kid, like, having, like, that communal barrel of pickles in the grocery store, and everyone would just stick their bare hands in it. Covid can never, like, I.

[Christine Schiefer]

Their bare hands. It's just bears. Pickles. They just ate all the pickles.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, they actually. The. The wood panel carvings is a collaboration between me and the bears. Causing mischief.

[Christine Schiefer]

You kind of keep showing it up.

[Em Morales]

The second there's a pickle barrel, all of a sudden, this game over.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah.

[Em Morales]

Anyway, so she was put in these barrels until a good thaw. And then they ultimately did bury her in the ground.

[Christine Schiefer]

So she was just like, above ground in these barrels for a while, I'm thinking, so.

[Em Morales]

And it was so cold outside, I guess she was frozen. So it's not like a smell or anything, but. So she ended up. She is just someone who randomly died nearby. And this is the story of how she was buried. And the end of the story is that she does get buried. And now the water that she's buried near is called dead Maiden Spring, by the way. But. So they think that this woman could be the ghost that someone saw in room two. That's.

[Christine Schiefer]

Okay.

[Em Morales]

That's their guess. The most famous room here is room 127, which is the story of the lady in white. Of course, she is known as the headless bride. Oh, that's. So I guess at least she's original compared to the lady in white.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah.

[Em Morales]

But the story goes that in 1914, she was a New York socialite, fell in love with a guy who her family didn't approve of. Apparently. He was like, a servant that worked for their family, so.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh.

[Em Morales]

Below her station, like, drama under the roof.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like, there's, like, no doubt from Abbey Level drama.

[Em Morales]

And so anyway, her family did not approve, obviously. They maybe. I think that in one source I saw that they even tried to, like, set her up in an arranged marriage just to get her away from him. But then that obviously didn't work out, basically. Her father was especially nervous because he thought that the servant in love quote with his daughter was only, quote, in love with her for the family's money. I'm like, oh, I married. Then, you know, then I'm in.

[Christine Schiefer]

I'm in.

[Em Morales]

She apparently was like, I don't give a fuck. I'm marrying him anyway. And the father was like, okay, I'll let you marry him, and I'm gonna give him a handsome dowry. Cause remember, dowry. But if I do this, you are out of the will, and you can never return to New York. Like, he's the fucking king. Okay. There's five boroughs. Find me, bitch.

[Christine Schiefer]

What a dick.

[Em Morales]

In 1914, you could live.

[Christine Schiefer]

Could you say there's five boroughs. Find me, bitch.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, I was like, in 1914. First of all, who are you to tell me where I can. I can't live. Second of all, like, I could live across the street and we just might never see each other, and you would never know.

[Christine Schiefer]

It's called New York.

[Em Morales]

What? You're the mob and you've got eyes everywhere. Okay? So I literally just picture you eating.

[Christine Schiefer]

A pickle out of a barrel. Like, really? You think you can tell me where to go?

[Em Morales]

And I've always said that. So anyway, he was like, you can never come back to New York. And you're out of the will if you marry this guy. And I think his original plan was, like, if he told the guy she's cut out of the will, then he would be uninterested in marrying her because he wouldn't have access to her money.

[Christine Schiefer]

Okay.

[Em Morales]

And then he would go away. And the problem.

[Christine Schiefer]

Right, right, right. He was, like, playing his. Playing his.

[Em Morales]

He was. He was bluffing, in a way.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah. What's his calling is bluff?

[Em Morales]

Yes. The couple got married anyway. They honeymoon in Yellowstone, obviously. They stay at the Ophi, the Old Faithful Inn, of course. And the groom immediately starts spending all the dowry money. Some of the sources say that it was through gambling, something like that. Like them damn bears, I'll tell you. And somehow, I guess they were honeymooning for, like, a month. Maybe that's just what you did in 1914 when it took three months to get there.

[Christine Schiefer]

I think you do honeymoon. You would honeymoon for a while. Because you would take like a seed voyage or like a train voyage somewhere, and it would always take longer.

[Em Morales]

Well, so they were there for at least a month. And in that month, he spent all of the dowry to a point where they couldn't even afford the hotel bill on their honeymoon.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, no.

[Em Morales]

So the hotel staff heard the couple fighting non stop. And some versions of the story say that the daughter even called home for more money but was refused.

[Christine Schiefer]

You know, that didn't go over well with dad.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, dad was like, well, well.

[Christine Schiefer]

Told you so. Told you so.

[Em Morales]

Either way, during one of these fights, the husband storms out of the hotel in the middle of the night and is to never be seen again. The staff don't see the wife for a while, so they're like, okay, we're gonna give her some space. But eventually they're like, it's kind of weird. We haven't seen her. We're gonna go check on her.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah.

[Em Morales]

They find her in the bathtub. Homegirl is decapitated.

[Christine Schiefer]

No.

[Em Morales]

And her head is nowhere to be seen.

[Christine Schiefer]

No.

[Em Morales]

So the staff look everywhere. And a week later, guests start to complain of a smell in the lobby. In the crow's nest. No. And they send someone up there.

[Christine Schiefer]

You're kidding me.

[Em Morales]

Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. That's where her head was. And to this day, the headless bride is said to haunt the Old Faithful Inn. People will see a bride, AKA Woman in white, wandering the halls. Oh, she's often seen by the crow's nest, either looking over its railing down to the lobby or coming down the stairs attached to the crow's nest. But she is best recognized by the fact that she is always seen carrying her own head.

[Christine Schiefer]

Huh. How dark is that?

[Em Morales]

People say when they hear footsteps through the hotel, it must be her wandering the halls, either in search of her head before she found it, or in search of her groom or in search of, I don't know, the money that he stole. I don't know. But she's walking around. Guests and staff alike have claimed to see her. One waitress says that from the corner of her eye, she has seen a woman in a frilly white dress. All this to say, though, I don't know if this guy's just trying to ruin it for everyone. I don't know what the deal is. There's a guy named George. Born man and George. Different sources say different things about him. He was either the former manager, the former assistant manager, the former tour guide, the former bell captain, or the former bellman, which maybe bell captain and bellman are the same thing.

[Christine Schiefer]

Assistant to the general manager.

[Em Morales]

Yeah. Yes. Well, apparently George claims that he made up the headless bride story when he worked there. Now, we don't need. I, I, we don't even know if that's true. I mean, like, once you now that you're claiming something that you're claiming about something that's already claimed, it's like, right. An alleged on an alleged. It's like. And now we don't know for sure.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah. Way to like, muddy the waters, friend.

[Em Morales]

Yeah. You couldn't just let people have a good time.

[Christine Schiefer]

You had to like, no, you gotta.

[Em Morales]

Put your name in there. He apparently, he says that in 1983, he was staying overnight in the hotel. He was totally by himself. Maybe there was one other person there, but he had a weird experience where he actually was hearing footsteps in the halls. Even though nobody should be there, he kept running out to see what was going on. He could have sworn an actual person had gotten into the hotel somehow. And he eventually followed the footsteps to the lobby. And apparently, although all that is true, it made as he walked to the lobby, he looked up into the crow's nest and he, I don't know. He looked up into the crow's nest, and that's the end of the real story. But what he now tells people is that he saw this white, misty figure holding a head walking down the stairs. He really embellished it.

[Christine Schiefer]

And he's saying he made that part up.

[Em Morales]

He's saying he made that part up.

[Christine Schiefer]

I see. Okay.

[Em Morales]

Now timeline gets tricky. It sounds like he had the footsteps thing actually happened to him, and it freaked him out so much, he started researching the hotel, which is where he found out that in 1915, there actually was a murder in the hotel.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh.

[Em Morales]

From that, it inspired the second half of the story. So then when he started telling people a story, all of a sudden it bec much more embellished version.

[Christine Schiefer]

I see. I see. So is he saying like, oh, it just got out of hand?

[Em Morales]

Or like, No, I think he actively made it up because so many. God, so many guests would come over to him and ask, is the hotel haunted? And he got so sick of it that eventually he was like, yeah, it's haunted. I saw a fucking headless bride. Now leave me alone, get over it. Which I kind of don't blame him. I, I mean, I, as the, as a third party, I'm like, ah, fuck this guy. But at the same time, if I worked at a hotel and everyone was asking me a million times over, it's kind of like when I go into lift by myself, sometimes I just make up a story about my life. Right.

[Christine Schiefer]

It's like, I don't even want to have this conversation again.

[Em Morales]

Like, they're like, oh, what are you here for? And I'm like, oh, I am visiting family attendant. Like, I just make a story sometimes. Or if someone says, like, oh, I'm from Kentucky. I'll just steal your life. And I go, oh, I'm from there. I'm from Covington. Like, I just make.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, God. Great. I did not know this. Okay, so next time somebody shows up and it's like, m, it's so great to see you again. I'll be like, oh, well, if it's like.

[Em Morales]

I mean, if it's like, literally a Lyft driver or something, it's someone I'm never gonna see again. Yeah. So I love this.

[Christine Schiefer]

You're just, like, creating a mystery about yourself.

[Em Morales]

I just get bored sometimes. They're like, I don't want to explain what I'm doing there. And it's just easier to just say something else. Or I'll say, like, oh, I'm visiting My a. Go to is usually I'm visiting my brother. He goes to college around here. Like, if I just.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah, I feel like visiting family is the easy one because it's like, nobody really cares. I mean, not that, you know, nobody cares to answer. Ask a bunch of questions about that, but some so.

[Em Morales]

But I feel like this guy's probably like, I work at this fucking hotel. Everyone won't stop asking if it's haunted. Like, let's just make something up just to give them something.

[Christine Schiefer]

Right? Okay.

[Em Morales]

In that way, I'm not too upset. But it does, like you said, muddy up the waters. And we don't know.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah, it's kind of annoying.

[Em Morales]

So we don't know how much of it is true.

[Christine Schiefer]

I only made a part of it. It's like, well, yes. Like, so now confusing.

[Em Morales]

According to him, the footsteps thing did in fact happen, and people do still hear footsteps all the time. So that tracks. But people do actually see a white misty ghost in a white dress coming down the stairs holding a head now. So we don't know if it's like, because he put that in their brains to see. Or is that true when he tried to steal the story?

[Christine Schiefer]

Or did he, like, manifest something that wasn't there?

[Em Morales]

Oh, yeah, that too. Well, so there's no way to know for sure that the woman in white, lady in white is totally true. But people swear they Run into her anyway. And if you would like to, your best bet is room 127, where she died. And last thing I'm gonna say is, before you go, heads up, The End does not have ghost tours and they do not book official ghost hunts. So if you wanted to, George is.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like apps over my dead body.

[Em Morales]

So if you ever wanted to actually go ghost hunting, there, you have to do it in secret.

[Christine Schiefer]

So don't mind if I do.

[Em Morales]

And that is the Old Faithful Inn.

[Christine Schiefer]

That was cool. That was very cool. Thank you for sharing. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace and it really is, because we've actually had our website on Squarespace since the early days before we had a single sponsor.

[Em Morales]

We were on Squarespace the very beginning. I think as soon as we realized we needed a website, the first thing Christina did is, oh, I found Squarespace. So we're okay.

[Christine Schiefer]

I know all about it and it's been going strong ever since. That's because Squarespace is the all in one website platform for entrepreneurs like us to stand out and succeed online. So whether you're just starting out or maybe you're managing a growing brand, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website website, engage with your audience and sell anything from products to content to even your time. And you can do it all in one place on your terms.

[Em Morales]

Give your customers more ways to pay with popular payment methods like Klarna Ach Direct Debit in the United States, Apple Pay Afterpay in the United States and Canada, and Clearpay in the uk.

[Christine Schiefer]

I mean, it's so professional and so stunning to go to a website that's made on Squarespace because it really looks beyond professional. Like you took a lot of time to build it. Build visitor trust while updating content only where you need it, extending your brand's footprint. You can also sync your product product catalog with Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Google. So it's just like very all encompassing and it's easy to use.

[Em Morales]

And you can measure your end to end online performance with powerful websites and seller analytics. And you can get insights on top traffic sources, understand how your reach is growing, track sales metrics and learn where to focus new engagement. So it's all the data you need to scale your brand or business. Fully integrated and clearly displayed too. So head to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to Launch, go to squarespace.com drink to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Christine Schiefer]

I. I didn't know about that. I didn't know that anything by the geyser was haunted. I just assume places like parks are just outdoor places with.

[Em Morales]

No, I feel like national parks are, like, always said to be haunted. And I've heard people say, like, oh, you should do like a. Like, even like, with Appalachia in general or something. They're like, oh, can you do a general?

[Christine Schiefer]

Right.

[Em Morales]

But I hate doing those where it's like, let me just tell you about a location. Like, I would rather focus in on a story because. Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like, I also don't.

[Em Morales]

Selfishly, I don't want to burn through material. Like, if there's, like, 10 different stories, I don't want to do them all in one episode.

[Christine Schiefer]

So if there's, like, a family in Appalachia that has some story, it's like, yeah, more fun to cover. Just that.

[Em Morales]

Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

Interesting. Yeah. Well, where are the night. Where the. The. The Fresno nightcrawler? He's in Fresno. Fresno, yes. What's the national park he was spotted in, though?

[Em Morales]

I thought he was in someone's backyard.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, Yosemite. Yosemite. No, remember, because it was Yosemite. Because they had, like, a trail cam set set up.

[Em Morales]

Yes. Well, that's why I thought backyard, because I thought it was like a ring doorbell or something.

[Christine Schiefer]

But the reason that it, like, was so alarming is because, like, it was an official park.

[Em Morales]

That's weird.

[Christine Schiefer]

Trail camp. Like, it wasn't just somebody's doorbell that they, like, you know, faked. It was like, how did this happen? Okay, well, I. This is gonna be an experiment because I'm doing part two from, like, three.

[Em Morales]

Weeks ago or something.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know if you remember anything at all about the story. Probably not.

[Em Morales]

I remember.

[Christine Schiefer]

I mean, once I remind you, I'm sure you'll know some of it.

[Em Morales]

I remember that the main character, the girl, was in a nasty relationship with a guy who seemed very disinterested, very abusive. She was kind of like a bad bitch who had a lot of, like, license licenses and certificates for skydiving. And then she went he, like, really weirdly, like, pushed her to go skydiving one day. And when she did, her pack and her backup never opened.

[Christine Schiefer]

You nailed it.

[Em Morales]

And. And it's obviously him. I just don't know how.

[Christine Schiefer]

So this is part two. I'm so glad. Thank you for giving me a recap, like, giving all of us the recap so I didn't have to. That was not my intention at first, but as you were doing it, I was like, oh, this is Actually, a lot easier. And you said just about as much as I could. Would have remembered to say so. Thank you. We're getting into part two. I'm sorry, folks, for the Halloween interruption, but, you know, it was necessary. It was the one time a year that things are allowed to get pushed aside for Halloween. So we're on part two. Victoria has survived this tremendous crash from thousands of feet in the air with no parachute, which is just unraveling. Which.

[Em Morales]

How did she survive? Like, what did. What was she. What did she land on?

[Christine Schiefer]

It's, like, shocking. Like, they remember when I was saying last time that the guy who went out as emergency services brought a body bag from the car over because he was like, well, there's no way she's survived this. Or if she did, there's no way she's going to live long, you know? So they were like. It was one of those, you know, miracle situations where you've just plummeted past from 4,000ft past all the other skydivers and somehow survived. I mean, I did. As we talked about, I went skydiving. I barely survived, and I had a perfectly fine pair of shoot. But I just puked my guts out at the bottom. So I don't know how she did it, but she did. So she's in the hospital, and she wakes up in the ER and guess who's there? Her loving husband, Emil.

[Em Morales]

Oh, she had to look at him at this point and go, I'm fucking onto you. Or did she have no idea? Wow.

[Christine Schiefer]

Not yet. I think it was just so shocking of an idea. And, like, I mean, we'll get into it, but it took her a while to really come to terms with it, as you would imagine. Somebody that you, like, trust with your children and your life and trying to tell yourself, like, nope, it's all been a lie, you know, But. So I don't. I think I had mentioned this last time that when they caught. When the skydiving location called him on the phone, he was, like, very weird.

[Em Morales]

He, like, didn't give a shit or something. Or he was like, okay. And then just hung up.

[Christine Schiefer]

He, like, was just, like, almost. Almost upset that she, like. I think looking back, he was upset. She had survived. Like, he was, like, taken aback because he was waiting to get a call about and probably preparing his lines for like, oh, your wife has passed. And then they're like, oh, she's. She's okay. She's not. She's gonna be fine. She's gonna be fine. Over and over. And he was like, okay. I get it. Like, she's gonna be fine. Great. You know? Yuck.

[Em Morales]

Tell me something I don't know.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yuck. Let me get back to feeding the baby. So she wakes up, she's in the er, and Emile is at her side. He's texting on his phone. And when he sees her wake up, the first thing he does, he complains about how long he's had to be there.

[Em Morales]

I'm sorry, that's not funny. That's literally.

[Christine Schiefer]

It's not funny in the most funny way. It's like, you sicko.

[Em Morales]

It's like that episode of Friends when Rachel's having her baby and Ross, like, hits his head and he's like, you have no idea how painful this is.

[Christine Schiefer]

It's like, very similar vibes. Yeah. I'm stuck in this hospital. I'm so bored. I'm out of candy crush lives. Like, are you serious, guy?

[Em Morales]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

So Victoria apologized from her hospital bed, feeling guilty and embarrassed because she was like, I don't think I'm even seriously injured. Like, I don't know why I'm. I've been here for so long. She didn't feel any pain. And Emile did not explain her condition to her at all or, like, what had happened. He basically all he told her is that a. He was there for far too long and he was so bored. And then he told her that April and Ben, the kids, were with his ex. Ex wife, Carly, who sometimes helped with the children. Victoria is very grateful for that, that they were being taken care of. So Emile said that Victoria's father and stepmother would pick up the kids soon. And Victoria was surprised that Emile called them. And when Victoria asked why you would call the parents to. To come and step in, Emile didn't elaborate, like, how severe her injuries had been. Like, she didn't really understand what had happened because she had just woken up after. After this accident and she wasn't sure, like, how badly she was injured. And he wasn't telling her, and he only told her she had a bad fall and, like, that's it. But she heard that and was like, okay, I had a bad fall. Well, I want to get home to my kids. Why did you have to bring the grandparents in? Like, I'll be home soon. I can watch them. Like, she doesn't get it because he's not helping her get it.

[Em Morales]

Also, is she aware of, like, how severe the fall was? Like, did she lose memory or something?

[Christine Schiefer]

He just said, like, oh, it was a bad fall. And she's like, sort of remembers, but she's like, I don't know. She didn't think she was hurt badly or anything. Like, she was just like, why am I.

[Em Morales]

Like, he's not saying, you plummeted from the sky. He. She just said, yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

Saying, like, you can't move and you can't go home. Like, he's just saying, oh, yeah, we've been here forever. And so, of course, with that attitude, especially, yeah.

[Em Morales]

From him not knowing that she's hurt.

[Christine Schiefer]

Such a waste of my time. Why am I in here? Why are you calling my parents? Like, we should just get home and to the kids. So Ben was only a few weeks old, the baby. And so he was still. She was still breastfeeding. And she was like, I want to get home to the baby. Like, I don't want to be here. I want to check out of the hospital. But then a doctor shows up, finally, instead of this email guy, and the doctor explains, oh, well, you're not in any pain and you feel fine because you're on a tremendously high dose of fentanyl on an IV drip. That's why you don't feel any pain, actually. Several vertebrae of your spine are broken. Your pelvis is broken and requires surgery, and several of your ribs are broken. One of her lungs is collapsed. And it's like this guy Emil is just sitting there bitching about, like, oh, God, I had to call a babysitter. It's like, I can't. I can't with this guy.

[Em Morales]

I can't.

[Christine Schiefer]

Did this. He did this.

[Em Morales]

The way that I would look at him, though, and I would go, why are you trying to rush me out if you know all this? Like, you're looking at me and you can see how bad it is. Why?

[Christine Schiefer]

Broken pelvis. Like, seriously. And she just gave birth a few weeks ago, and she's already. Did she get a postpartum? No, I don't. I don't remember, honestly, because I just.

[Em Morales]

Like, imagine the additional trauma to a body that just. I believe that.

[Christine Schiefer]

From what I remember, it was, like, a moderately difficult birth. But I don't know. There weren't all births, right? She's moderately difficult.

[Em Morales]

Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

Anyway, so the doctor tells her this, and she's, like, shocked. The doctor looks at Victoria and said, the brace stabilizing, her pelvis looked too tight. So when he starts loosening the brace on her pelvis, she's just, like, overcome with pain like that. That's when she feels it.

[Em Morales]

Oh, my God.

[Christine Schiefer]

And that's when it, like, hits her. Oh, shit. I'm actually really Hurt like, I can't just get up. Cause she felt okay, you know, and so she thought, oh, I thought I was all right and I could go see my baby. But nope, she's in severe pain. She's not as unscathed as she had once believed and not as unscathed as Emile had tried to make it seem. Team probably because now he doesn't want to get caught.

[Em Morales]

Right.

[Christine Schiefer]

And he's thinking, oh, no, it wasn't a big deal. I just accidentally let you fall from the sky, and it's fine. You're just a little scratched up. The full weight of her injury settled in when the staff needed to move her from the bed in the emergency room to the icu. And Victoria later wrote that when she. When they lifted and rolled her between the beds, she started screaming like a wild animal because it was so painful that, like, she didn't even recognize the sounds coming out of her body. And Emil was on his phone, and he didn't look up from his phone the whole time.

[Em Morales]

Oh, my God.

[Christine Schiefer]

I just imagine, like, healthcare workers who see this kind of thing all the time. Not, not. Not this. Not falling from the sky 4,000ft all the time. But, like, see dysfunctional relationships and, like, partners who are clearly toxic or abusive. It's just. It must be so frustrating to see someone treated that way when you know how in pain they are and how sick they are. Yeah. So props to all of you who have to deal with that every day. So despite the agony Victoria was in, she was embarrassed because the hospital staff was, like, horrified about her husband's behavior. Like, I was just saying, like, they're watching this, and she's, like, trying to say, like, oh, he's just really busy, you know, like, making excuses. And little did she know he had done this to her to begin with, but whatever. So Victoria spent her initial recovery in the ICU on full spinal care to avoid further damage and because they didn't want her to get paralyzed. You know, her spine's already damaged damage. If it gets any further damage, she might become paralyzed. So when she moved from the ICU and began weaning off the IV pain medication, she was hoping Emile would start visiting and encourage her recovery, her physical therapy. But he didn't show. He just didn't. He just stayed home.

[Em Morales]

I could have told you that wasn't going to happen.

[Christine Schiefer]

I know. Like, least surprising fact of this case. Victoria pushed through grueling physical therapy, putting everything she had into getting home to her children because she. She had weeks old baby that she was missing now at home, and she's missing weeks of his life. And they couldn't visit in the hospital with the baby because he was too. He was a teeny, teeny little one. And she's in the icu, you know.

[Em Morales]

Also, like, such a small thing to also pay attention to. But imagine being in that kind of pain also. You're still probably. Your body's still recovering from childbirth. And like, I've never had to experience this, but I mean, she's also like, breastfeeding and not near her baby.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like, imagine like, that's me bitching about. About it.

[Em Morales]

The uncomfort. The discomfort of that. Like, just like.

[Christine Schiefer]

And then you get infections if you don't, like, get it out. So if you're in coma or you're. I mean, that could get infected. Like, it's just. That's. You're right. It's like on top of everything else.

[Em Morales]

It'S just like, also reminds you your.

[Christine Schiefer]

Hormones are like, kicking in to be like, go to your baby. Go to your baby. Your baby needs to eat. And it's like, you can't. And so it's this extra, like, turmoil on top of it.

[Em Morales]

There's just so many levels of discomfort and frustration that like, sorry, I just.

[Christine Schiefer]

Had to throw a towel at Juniper cause he's eating my plant.

[Em Morales]

Oh, I like, you're like the maternal instincts and you're like, let me throw everything I have at my cat.

[Christine Schiefer]

Get away. Okay, it worked. Sorry. I'm so sorry. He's just such a dick sometimes. Anyway. Yes, I'm with you. It's. It's like. It seems minor, but in the moment, I imagine that was also very painful to have on top of all the other pain. So when she was finally, finally cleared to leave the hospital, she called Emile excitedly and he told her he was too busy to talk. Such a dick.

[Em Morales]

I can't imagine. I can't imagine.

[Christine Schiefer]

He says, I'm too busy to talk, but not only that, I'm actually too busy to pick you up. So I'll pick you up in three days. What?

[Em Morales]

I don't know. I mean, does this story end with her actually being the true criminal? Does she murder?

[Christine Schiefer]

Say, you know, part of me wishes, but unfortunately not. So when Victoria did finally get home and her parents left, Emile was very impatient with her recovery. Basically, like, get over it. Victoria felt like a burden. She did her best to stay out of the way while Emile cared for the kids. And one day, interestingly enough, knock on the door. Hey, it's the representatives from the British Parachute association, huh? Welcome to our house.

[Em Morales]

Oh, man. I. And did. Was he there? Did he. Did he open the door to this?

[Christine Schiefer]

You know what? She opened the door. I do not think he was home. I believe he was at work.

[Em Morales]

So I was gonna say, I know he slammed that door in their face, and he ran for the hills.

[Christine Schiefer]

You know, he was not gonna open that fucking door. But. So she opens the door, are, like, totally surprised, and they tell her, oh, we're investigating the incident. And until that moment, Victoria hadn't even considered, like, what could have caused the parachutes. She was just in recovery mode. She hadn't even really thought, like, wait, why did both my parachutes fail? So when they told her there were pieces missing from her main parachute, she was stunned. And she was like, I don't even know how that's possible. They, of course, talked to the parachute club, who was like, we were the ones that spotted this. We have no idea how this happened. Happen. And a few days later, Victoria's friend from the club called to inform her that they had reason to believe her parachute had been deliberately damaged and they were going to report it to the police. And she's just shocked. She's like, why would anyone do that? Like, I don't understand why we need to get police involved. Why would anybody do that? And when she explained this to her husband, Emil, he was like, you know what? We should cooperate with the parachute center. Like, they're just trying to do what's best. So he's just playing along long. He told the truth.

[Em Morales]

You know, he's sweating bullets. You know, he's like, oh, he's. He's saying that while like, picking every cuticle he's ever had in his life.

[Christine Schiefer]

100. He's, like, making his fingernails bleed.

[Em Morales]

We should listen to them.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like, he's like, his hair falling out in front of her very eyes and going gray for sure. So he. He basically plays along cool, cool, calm and collected, and is like, oh, don't worry. If they don't find anything, then we'll all feel reassured and we can move on. So. So he's just banking like, okay, maybe they just won't tie this to me, and we can pretend it never happened. So when a detective arrived at their home to inform Victoria that Emile had been arrested in connection with her accident, she was flabbergasted. She asked to speak to him, but the investigators told her he was being questioned right now, and so she couldn't speak to him. So she called her father and went to the police station. And she insisted on speaking to her husband with no success. So he was released on bail, but he was not allowed to contact Victoria in any way. And this was very, very difficult because she is still recovering from this fall, like, mentally, physically, every other way. And she now has these two kids that Emile was like, doing a lot of the caretaking for, and now he's gone. She doesn't even know why because no one will let her talk to him. And now she has all these injuries that she's still recovering from, you know, even trying to learn how to walk again. And she suddenly has two small kids that she has to take care of solo.

[Em Morales]

I mean, I, I can't imagine her blood pressure also, like the fact that you're in this much pain, you're now a single parent. Well, in this much pain, you have no, no support. And now you have to deal with a potential like, criminal case against the person that you love, despite the fact that they're also incredibly abusive. Like, there's, there's no, there's, there's no corner of your life that isn't at a 10 out of 10 on the stress level.

[Christine Schiefer]

100 agree. It's like there's no safe relaxing space for you anywhere. And like, she would ask like, why have you arrested him? Why can't I talk to him? And they were like, none of your business. So it's sort, so it's sort of like she doesn't even know. Like she doesn't know what's going on. And so they ask her about the kids. They said the police tell her there's nothing they can do to assist with child care. So good luck. And the following months basically became a never ending nightmare as she tried to a come to grips with the idea that the police think her husband tried to murder her. But she's like, very conflicted about that. Then like, dealing with the two kids then recovering from this, like, very traumatic event and all the physical stuff that happened because of it. And so during this time, she has her friends that she's able to at least lean on and family. And her friends and family kind of have like a come to Jesus talk with her where they say, like, listen, this guy, he's a known liar, he's been unfaithful, he's constantly in debt, he's not a good partner to you. And Victoria did accept those things. She was like, you're right. Like, factually, this is not a great guy or a great relationship, but she's like, just because I have a bad husband doesn't mean he tried to murder me. I think she was just like so afraid to even go there, like mentally.

[Em Morales]

I mean, especially if you're already at a 10 out of 10 on the stress level. Like imagine having to accept the fact that your husband tried to kill you like that you're, you're already firing off on all. Yeah, you're running on steam already. Like that's off the rails.

[Christine Schiefer]

You're just like, please don't make this part of the conversation.

[Em Morales]

And also like, I feel like at this point, like she probably also, I'm glad that her friends are finally saying, like, wake up girl. Like, he's a mess. But also, I'm sure the last thing she wants to do is accept any of that. Right? She's probably. I just want to get better. Like, I just don't even want to fucking deal with this.

[Christine Schiefer]

Get through these months of like grueling.

[Em Morales]

Solo, broken back and pelvis.

[Christine Schiefer]

Everything hurts. Yeah, yeah. And she was in a bad place mentally before the accident. So it's not even like, oh, I want to get back to that place. It's like I'm already, I was already in a shitty feeling and shitty place after like postpartum and now it's like just on top of everything else.

[Em Morales]

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[Christine Schiefer]

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[Em Morales]

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[Christine Schiefer]

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[Em Morales]

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[Christine Schiefer]

So Emil was Staying in military accommodations pending the investigation. And he wasn't allowed to contact Victoria. So detectives visited Victoria to tell killer they had gone to Emile's room, and they were like, we feel like we should tell you there's not a. And honestly, if he wasn't the killer, this would be just, like, so rude. But they say, oh, weird. We didn't see a single picture of you in his whole room.

[Em Morales]

You know what's so, like, toxic about me is that would be the thing that hurt me the most.

[Christine Schiefer]

I know. I know it would. I know it would. Which is why it feels so up. But, like, in the context, it's, like, the smallest thing, but it feels so hurtful.

[Em Morales]

It feels so intimately painful.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah, intimately painful. And there wasn't a sign of Victoria or their kids anywhere in the room. And all they did see. Oh, there were photos, though. Don't worry. There were photos of Emile's girlfriend. She was an Austrian woman named Stephanie Goler. And Emil and Stephanie had been dating for a while. He remember how he'd been going on all those business trips? Well, obviously, they were just vacations that he took to see her. They were planning a life together once Emil left Victoria.

[Em Morales]

So, ding, ding, ding.

[Christine Schiefer]

She was just, like, waiting for that to end. So, heartbroken and outraged, Victoria agreed to answer some questions about Emile. Finally, she's like, all right, I'll break my silence if you have questions. So they asked if he had private access to her parachute at any time. And Victoria said, well, he did take it to the bathroom with him with our daughter the day before the jump because they. She had to use the bathroom. He carried it in with him. Detectives asked if anything strange had happened in the days before the jump. And Victoria said, well, there was that gas leak in the kitchen, and do you remember the gas leak I told you about? I, I. I feel like I told you about it way early. But essentially, he had called. She woke up and smelled gas and freaked out, called him, and he said, well, why don't you turn the stove on and see?

[Em Morales]

Oh, I totally forgot about that.

[Christine Schiefer]

Maybe I didn't mention it, but either way, she basically said to the investigator creators, they were like, anything else suspicious? She's like, well, there was that gas leak. And they were like, sorry.

[Em Morales]

He's like, not even trying to, like, it's so dumb. How did nobody call? Like, if. If I smelled gas right now? And Allison went, why don't you turn the stove out? I'd go, you're an. That's the stupidest joke.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like, that's like, it's not funny. Right.

[Em Morales]

It wouldn't even occur to me that, like, I would immediately think, either you're telling me a joke, you're an idiot, or you're a killer. It's one of the three.

[Christine Schiefer]

Or you're trying to hurt me. Yeah. It's like, what else could that mean? Yeah. So basically, he' he essentially what had happened? Just a little spark notes. She had smelled gas in the house. She called him. He's like, oh, I'm sure it's nothing. Turn on the stove to see what happens. Like, basically go explode yourself. Turns out he had left all the. Someone had like, cut the cut Some they could see had been tampered with. Like somebody had tampered with the. The gas piping. And so she told the police about. About that. So I'm sure that, you know, pinged on their radar. And the investigation they did was very thorough. They searched every inch of the Silliers home. That's their last name. Victoria felt that she was being constantly violated, especially because she wasn't getting any answers. She was just, like, in pain and having to do all the work and not knowing what was going on. And she's at the center of this. So I imagine it was very frustrating. And she felt like she had no control over anything that was happening. Her life, her family. Like this, this case, her body. And finally, Emile was charged with two counts of attempted murder. Once for each skydiving incident and once for the gas leak.

[Em Morales]

Oh, hell yeah. Okay.

[Christine Schiefer]

Pretty.

[Em Morales]

I did not. I thought he was gonna get away with that one.

[Christine Schiefer]

No, no, he. He definitely. I. I kind of love that they charge him for both. Even though the gas leak.

[Em Morales]

Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

Hadn't even been on the extra twist of the.

[Em Morales]

The. It is the warranted knife.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yes, yes, yes. So finally, he was. He was charged with these two counts of attempted murder. Investigators. The tool Emil had used to loosen that stove pipe where the gas had been leaking. And so they knew it was him. Like, they were like, we don't have doubt anymore. We have the pipe that he used. He was also charged with reckless endangerment because his toddler and infant children were in the house when he caused this gas leak. So essentially, he was planning for all.

[Em Morales]

Of them to triple homicide or something. Yeah, he was just.

[Christine Schiefer]

Or he just didn't care. You know, he just wanted them out. Or wanted. Wanted her out. Out of the picture matter. What. So if Victoria had checked to see whether the stove was working, which is what he had suggested to her over the phone, probably she and Both of their kids would have been killed.

[Em Morales]

That's. I mean, insane.

[Christine Schiefer]

And that was his plan.

[Em Morales]

So, like, can you imagine, by the way, like, trying to kill someone by just offering that they, like, suggestion to kill themselves.

[Christine Schiefer]

Right.

[Em Morales]

And that. And then it doesn't go well. He's somehow stunned that they're still alive, then does the. The parachute thing where he's, like, guaranteed they'll die, and then she's still alive. You know, he's probably like, what in the do I have to do zombie is?

[Christine Schiefer]

Did I marry?

[Em Morales]

I'm honestly surprised he didn't do something as obvious as, like, just hit her with his car.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like, literally, this feels like an acme. Like an acme anvil should come from the sky and fall on her. You know, like, it's like, what else could you do?

[Em Morales]

I gotta give it to him. Nothing should be as guaranteed as falling from a skydiver 4,000ft out of the sky. So I'm not surprised if he was surprised, but, like, I like the way that he just went from suggesting she turn on a stove to a fucking parachute.

[Christine Schiefer]

He really fall out of the sky.

[Em Morales]

He wanted her gone. So however. However immediately, he just wanted.

[Christine Schiefer]

However he could make it happen. And so when it didn't, he was just embitter and resentful toward her, which is, like, so fucking twisted, you know? Yeah. At this point, though, Victoria still struggle to believe Emile could be capable of something so horrible as risking his own children's lives and, like, not caring if his own kids died. She's like, I'm one thing, but, like, these are our children. And he just doesn't care if they're collateral damage.

[Em Morales]

I hope that woke her up of like, oh, he wants his own kids dead.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like, yeah, I think that was the point where she was like, well, this is a turning point. Like, how could I. How could this. I can't, like, let this slip past, you know?

[Em Morales]

Or it's like, I. I maybe I don't know how to totally be there for myself all the time, but I can definitely, like, be a protective mom, you know? Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

Like, at least, like, that's. I mean, not to say a step too far, like, obviously. But I think maybe in her mind, it was like a different. A different fear, you know?

[Em Morales]

That makes sense.

[Christine Schiefer]

So when Victoria took the stand to testify at Emile's trial, the defense team asked her whether she believed Emile was capable of killing her. And she trusted the justice system to make an impartial decision regardless of her own opinion. So she answered honestly. She said she believed Emile was a wonderful father. She said he would not hurt her even if he wanted to, because he wouldn't do anything that would hurt their children, like, depriving them of a mother. And the prosecution was floored. They were like. Like, we were really hoping.

[Em Morales]

Hoping you'd come through here on this.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah, we were hoping you'd see the big picture and, like, be honest about it. But she basically didn't understand, like, how damning that testimony would be for their case. And she also admitted. Admitted during examination by the defense that she exaggerated how long Emil was in the bathroom with her parachute. So they were like, wasn't he in there for, you know, five to seven minutes or whatever it was? She's like, no, I was exaggerating when they first asked. So was she going back on. On the.

[Em Morales]

Yeah. Did he threaten her or something? Is that what they're.

[Christine Schiefer]

I think she just was still at that point where she was like, I just can't believe my husband would want to hurt me and my children. Like, I just can't wrap my mind around it. I think in denial. Yeah, exactly. So she had just found out about her. His plans to leave her for his Austrian girlfriend. And she was very angry him. But in reality. I know why. But in reality, when it came to, like, the bathroom thing, she wasn't even really sure how long he had been in the bathroom because it was just such a blip in her memory. So, based on a video demonstration created by the defense, which demonstrated how quickly somebody could tamper with a parachute in that particular bathroom, it seemed that Emile actually could have done it even in the very short time period she was now saying on the stand. So even though she said, oh, it was my. Much shorter, the defense was still like, well, we can. We can still. We can still. It still can be done in that time period.

[Em Morales]

Gotcha.

[Christine Schiefer]

Victoria's heartfelt endorsement of Emile as a father, however, as we can probably guess, split the jury because the jury was like, well, she would know, right? Like, if. If this man were trying to kill her, you know, they. They wanted to believe her. And so it. It was a mistrial because the jury was split. This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first. Like, you know, to check the date of the big game first before you accidentally buy tickets on your 20th wedding anniversary and have to spend the next 20 years of your marriage making up for it.

[Em Morales]

Yeah, checking first is smart.

[Christine Schiefer]

So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate Savings. Vary terms apply. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. So the prosecution began to build a case for a retrial. And they were like, okay, this time, we cannot rely on Victoria's testimony. We thought she was going to, like, bring it home, but no, she kind of stood to his defense. So they were like, we got to prove him guilty without. Without relying on Victoria's testimony. That would mean proving that Emil was not the man Victoria thought he was, much less the one he pretended intended to be. So what they did is the prosecution printed out tens of thousands of text messages between Emile and the women he was seeing outside the marriage.

[Em Morales]

Love.

[Christine Schiefer]

Because he had had so many conversations with different women, including his ex wife, Carly, who had met Victoria. And Victoria really liked and respected Carly. Turns out, while Victoria was pregnant, they were sleeping together.

[Em Morales]

This girl can't catch a goddamn break.

[Christine Schiefer]

Catch a break. Even the woman of his exes that she really liked and felt she could trust ended up being another woman outside the marriage. So Emil fell into tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Much of his money went to hiring sex workers. He arranged sex with a woman over text while he was on his way to the ICU to see Victoria. Fun fact. On the way there was planning a rendezvous with a sex worker.

[Em Morales]

Beautiful. Fun fact. Okay.

[Christine Schiefer]

While Victoria was pregnant, he was texting Carly to plan where they would have sex. He frequented sex clubs, but his behavior was unwelcome. In other words, he started to become banned from sex clubs.

[Em Morales]

Is he okay? Like, what the.

[Christine Schiefer]

No.

[Em Morales]

I mean, obviously, no, but, like, what is he. What happened? Like, what happened? I. What's the path? What's. What's the history of this person?

[Christine Schiefer]

I think he's just.

[Em Morales]

Wires are not wiring.

[Christine Schiefer]

I think he's a psychopath is what I think. But wires are not wiring. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. So apparently, at one sex club, he was so aggressive, and he made a woman cry, and they were like, get out. Like, you can't be here. So all along, Victoria continually gave money to Emile to help him with his debt. When she asked him about finances, he would be so defensive that, like, it would be like we talked about last. Last time. It would be turned on its head so that suddenly she was apologizing because, like, she brought up the wrong subject, and then he flew off the handle. And now it's like, oh, now I'm at fault, and I'm sorry for making you so mad. You know, that twisted, abusive thing people do. Finally, perhaps the most damaging communication between Emile and his many affairs was a text he sent to his girlfriend in January of that year, which read, from April onwards, I can do random and spontaneous. So was basically saying, once April comes around, I'll be free as a bird. And he then told her he would do anything to be with her, suggesting in the text some scheme in April that would come to fruition that would give Emile the freedom to move or do whatever he pleased.

[Em Morales]

Wow.

[Christine Schiefer]

And both attempted murders occurred at the beginning of April. So he couldn't even wait until, like, mid April. He was like, april's here.

[Em Morales]

Let's get April first. Let's get it cooking. Yeah. Jesus Christ.

[Christine Schiefer]

In 2018, Emile Silliers was found guilty of all three charges against him. After the jury deliberated for three days, when the trial ended and Victoria could finally speak with Emile, she called him on the phone in prison. But she soon realized, like, pretty quickly that even when she talked to him from this distance, he was still able to manipulate her over the phone with his, like, with her emotions. And so she said, you know what? I gotta just pull the plug. So she decided to divorce him and be finished with him for good.

[Em Morales]

Follow. So I was gonna say that's wild, though, because you would think once he was behind bars and, like, he. There was nothing that he had to keep quiet anymore. You would think he would be. I feel like he would lash out and say, like, all the things that would end them. Like, I feel like he would try to make the move to end things. He's like, you're still fucking alive after all this. I. I'm already busted. Like, I don't have to be honest anymore. Right?

[Christine Schiefer]

Like, that's no use to him. Right. It's more used to him if he has this woman that he's, like, battered and abused, dangling, and also, like, defending him and on his side and providing him money and providing him resources. Like, he wanted to get rid of her when he was bored of her and had a new girlfriend. But now it's like, well, I guess I go back to square one. And in the interviews with police, he had even admitted, like, oh, I'm having an affair, actually, and I don't want to be with Victoria anymore. And they were like, does Victoria know this? He's like, not yet. And it's like, what? And so they tell Victoria, and I think he must have been so good at lying, too, that she was like, wait, what? Like, she was like, I didn't Know that.

[Em Morales]

I wonder if it was like a combination of him being charming to her or if it was like, he. Because there's no way he didn't think she'd find out about those things. Like, he must have really believed in his ability to lie to her. Or like, he must have really thought she was just, like, so emotional, emotionally weak, that he could get away with it and she could know and.

[Christine Schiefer]

Well, I think. And then he was gonna kill her, so it didn't matter anymore.

[Em Morales]

Oh, that's okay. That too. Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

Right. It's like, once she's dead, it's like, who cares anymore? Get rid of the kids and move to Austria. Yeah. So following the trial and sentencing, Victoria spoken news segments and talk shows about her experience of, like, first the abuse from Emil and then the accident. Many media outlets credited Victoria's survival solely to luck because the airfield where she crash landed had been freshly plowed, so it was kind of like softer, more forgiving surface that she landed on. But in reality, it was a combination of luck and skill, which I think we all guessed because Victoria was able to, like, keep her cool as the parachute failed. Um, she used her experience as a parachute instructor to do whatever she could to properly deploy the reserve parachute. And, you know, when that didn't work, she did whatever she could to control, like, how she fell, where she landed, etc. There wasn't much she could do, but she kept a cool head during that, and they think that also contributed to her survival. In an interview, Victoria said that it happened so fast, she didn't even have time to think that she was about to die. She was just in kind of, like, problem solve mode, and her only focus was just correcting the parachute. She's since written a memoir on her experience, and she went skydiving one more time.

[Em Morales]

That's right, girl. Good job.

[Christine Schiefer]

I knew people would be wondering because I was wondering. And she said she just wanted to do one more jump where she was in control. It went well. All her friends were there to support her. Just like a very full circle, you.

[Em Morales]

Know, and also just like to get over your fear that he now created. And, like, I mean, the. The levels of fuckery it is to. It was her only super intense Pat, or one of her only super intense passions. And now you've ruined that for her because now it has a bad memory. So, like, to correct.

[Christine Schiefer]

Yeah, for her to reclaim it and then ruin it. Yeah, reclaim. Claim it. Yes, that's exactly the word. And Victoria said in that vein that she didn't want her parachuting career to end on such a tragic note. So this time when she jumped out of the plane for a tandem dive strapped to her friend.

[Em Morales]

So she if I'm going, you're going, girl.

[Christine Schiefer]

Exactly like that. We're both on the line now.

[Em Morales]

Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

Strapped to her friend as she skydived out of the plane, she felt pure joy and freedom. And that is the story of Victoria Silliers. What a fun journey. Roller coaster.

[Em Morales]

Is she. She's like alive. And is she still skydiving? We just don't have any record of it.

[Christine Schiefer]

I think that was just the one. She was like, I just want to do one more so that my career didn't end on like such a low note. So that it almost just like, like you said, reclaimed it. And then she can, you know, move on.

[Em Morales]

I wish she became like an Olympian skydiver or some where she was like.

[Christine Schiefer]

She already was an Olympian skydiver, you know. But yeah, she has quite a few articles and pieces about her that are pretty interesting. And there's. I think she's on an episode of I Survived, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

[Em Morales]

But wow. I mean, she deserves it for sure.

[Christine Schiefer]

Right.

[Em Morales]

Well, I'm glad that it's over in the sense of like, I've been waiting several weeks to hear the end of that story.

[Christine Schiefer]

I know, I know. And it ended on at least like somewhat of a positive note. Note, you know, like a silver lining out of all of that.

[Em Morales]

Yeah. Oh, Christine. Well, are you doing another two parter to torture us next week?

[Christine Schiefer]

I really don't think so. I feel like. So Sergio was like, I'm so sorry about the two parter. I'm like, I kind of love them.

[Em Morales]

I think people like the two parters. But wow, talk about a real tease to put Halloween in the middle of the episode.

[Christine Schiefer]

No, I know. And that, you know, to be quite honest with you, if I had had any better grasp of timing and the calendar, I would not have done it. Done that.

[Em Morales]

But, well, you know what?

[Christine Schiefer]

It was not thinking ahead.

[Em Morales]

It was a trick. Let's have a treat.

[Christine Schiefer]

It was. And I'm sorry about that. I usually only try to provide treats.

[Em Morales]

Next year I'll be the trick and you be the treat.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, I can only imagine what that might look like.

[Em Morales]

I mean, well, I assume doing a two parter and making Halloween in the middle, I don't know.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, just doing what I did. Yeah.

[Em Morales]

Yeah.

[Christine Schiefer]

I can't wait.

[Em Morales]

We are about to finish up our tour. We've got three legs left. Two Legs. Legs left.

[Christine Schiefer]

And I know it feels crazy. I'm like, looking.

[Em Morales]

By the time this comes out, I think we have two legs left. So we're almost done with our. Our fall tour.

[Christine Schiefer]

Wow.

[Em Morales]

And hopefully spring is right around the corner, folks. So we'll see.

[Christine Schiefer]

Spring is right around the corner. We just. We haven't even hit Halloween yet.

[Em Morales]

We haven't even hit the election yet. Well, when this, maybe when this comes out, well, you know, things are ahead of us. I don't know if they're good or bad or neutral, but things are certainly ahead. And.

[Christine Schiefer]

Wait, what episode is. Is this M?

[Em Morales]

404.

[Christine Schiefer]

Okay, this comes out before the election.

[Em Morales]

Oh, thank God. Okay, we've got another week to panic.

[Christine Schiefer]

Oh, my God, no. So all these poor people are like, wait, what? No, it hasn't even happened yet. Oh, God.

[Em Morales]

Okay, well, they'll figure it out once I get to the end of the episode. Oops. And they'll hear us say it again in the next episode.

[Christine Schiefer]

Hey, by the way, go fucking vote, please, by the way, since this is our last episode, I don't know why. Well, because I thought this comes out after the election, but because it doesn't. Please vote. If it's. It's. It's. It seems confusing and overwhelming. It's not. Just Google it. There's so many websites where you can just put in your address, put in your name, it'll say, go to this place between these hours. You can often vote early in a lot of states. Go fill out your thing.

[Em Morales]

Especially if you're in a red state. Please go get those numbers in there.

[Christine Schiefer]

Or a swing state, actually, if you're in a swing state, because Ohio is looking rough for me. I'm, I'm. I'm 10 minutes away. I can't even vote in Ohio, but my family can, and it's. It's huge. So please, please, please, one vote. I know it seems like nothing, but it's a big deal. Especially the youth vote. We need these young, young ins voting 18 and up. Go vote.

[Em Morales]

I'm really, really rooting on, on the gen Zers. I'm really rooting on you guys because.

[Christine Schiefer]

Please, please, we've.

[Em Morales]

We've been struggling without you. And now that it's your turn, it's.

[Christine Schiefer]

How you're grown ups.

[Em Morales]

Remember the end of Avengers endgame when everyone came together and there were some newbies? Well, now you're the newbies.

[Christine Schiefer]

I know. We need you to save, Save the day, please.

[Em Morales]

So one day when we know the election results, people will be commenting in this from the future going, oh, if only they knew, you know?

[Christine Schiefer]

Don't say that.

[Em Morales]

I mean, it could be the community for either way.

[Christine Schiefer]

I guess so. If only they knew.

[Em Morales]

And that's why we drink.