And That's Why We Drink

Episode 478: Yesterday's Mail and Salad Days

Release Date: April 12, 2026
Hosts: Christine Schiefer & Em Schulz

Overview

This episode is quintessential "And That's Why We Drink": a vibrant mix of quirky personal stories, deep dives into the weird corners of American history, and a sprinkle of haunting and true crime. Christine and Em kick things off discussing creative hobbies, bizarre clothing quests, and family updates before diving into the eerie and opulent history of the Old Washoe Club in Nevada—a place where Gilded Age luxury, mining industry drama, and ghosts merge. The episode closes with Christine’s lighter true crime segment, centered on the bizarre tale of a prolific con artist who posed as a Saudi prince to defraud Miami’s elite, with only a tiny Chihuahua as a true companion. Throughout, they sprinkle personal anecdotes and lively banter, with the trademark blend of humor, curiosity, and self-deprecating candor.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Updates & “Why We Drink” (04:47-22:20)

• Christine’s Week
  • Shares her passion for watercolor painting after a rejuvenating bachelorette party, crediting crafts for helping manage her ADHD and stress (09:00).
• Em’s Updates
  • Celebrates hitting a milestone in ASL class (500 signs!).
  • Describes their first accidental ASL conversation and the joy of learning a new skill (11:52).
• Random Tangents
  • Discuss the transition from toddler to kindergarten parenting milestones, their distaste for kneecaps, and the “kneecap fairy” (07:23).
  • Playful banter about obscure T-shirt collecting – specifically Em’s deep-dive into Knott’s Berry Farm “vegetable shirts”—and the thrill/challenge of manifesting strange desires (14:10; 18:32).
• Notable Quote

  “I feel like we got to do something important… Now what do I manifest, like world fudgeing peace?”
  — Christine (19:19)

2. The Knott’s Berry Farm & Boysenberry Festival Adventure (24:06-27:45)

• Em’s Festival Recap
  • Details the food gauntlet at the Boysenberry Festival—highlights include boysenberry ice cream, sriracha chicken wings, lemonade, and a “brick” of brioche with ice cream.
• Theme & Community
  • Describes the joy of matching the vibe (wearing purple/asparagus shirts) as the festival crowd rallies around all things boysenberry.
• Banter
  • Christine is both impressed and weirded out by “food that looks like other food” (boysenberry sushi).

3. Creativity, Qigong, and Self-Improvement (19:56-22:50)

• Christine’s “Zen but Chaotic” Vibe
  • Links newfound creative hobbies and qigong classes to her relaxed—and slightly unfiltered—demeanor.
  • Describes a hilariously awkward scene with her mom using a velvet “patting stick” in qigong, and her appreciation for joyful neighbors, including a Reiki practitioner named Troy.

4. Deep Dive: The Old Washoe Club, Virginia City, Nevada (32:10–69:46)

Research Theme:
The Washoe Club’s story is a whirlwind of 1870s “salad days,” Gilded Age excess, and paranormal legacy.

Historical Segment

• Founding & Membership
  • Established in 1875, meant as a social escape for silver mining elites: bankers, judges, tycoons, even Mark Twain and Thomas Edison were members (33:56).
  • Nicknamed the “Millionaires Club”; exclusive ($4,500+ membership in today’s money).
  • Lavishly decorated with Italian marble, bronze, and a spiral staircase soon made famous by Ripley’s as the “longest unsupported spiral staircase” (43:16).
• Cycle of Opulence, Disaster, and Rebirth
  • Original club burned in “the great fire”; reborn atop a saloon (Crystal Bar) famous for its speakeasy, secret passages, and colorful clientele.
  • Reading room, music room shaped like a grand piano, and a telegraph for up-to-the-minute (19th-century!) stock market info (44:44).

Paranormal Segment

• Death, Ghosts & Dark Energy (52:08)

  • Served as a temporary morgue (“the crypt”) for nearly 100 bodies—smells of death reportedly linger.
  • Bartender tales: spectral pebbles, physical aggression, and “Randall the Creepy Crawler”:

    “Randall, our creepy crawler, grabbed me by the ankle in there.”
    — Anonymous bartender (55:15)

  • Ghosts include:
    • Scotty: A bartender who died by suicide after mining tragedy; said to be unfriendly to women.
    • Children: Gretchen (hit by carriage; giggles, grabs hands), Pete (yanks on purses), Ella (died in mine explosion; her doll moves on its own).
    • Lena, the Lady in Blue: Possibly murdered mistress or sex worker; shadow figure in hat (the “killer”) also reported.
  • Red Room: intense reports of scratches, sulfur smells, demonic energy, and a reputation as the “most haunted room” (66:17).

• Haunted Bar & Ghostly Rituals

  • Bar is still open, serving themed cocktails (“Blue Lady,” “Flaming Orb”).
  • “Prospector” ghost: steals bourbon shots, knocks stools over, and reportedly protects staff, especially from rude patrons.
  • The piano-shaped music room: site of ragtime music and a rocking porcelain doll (65:45).
  • Frequent paranormal phenomena: footsteps, cigar smoke, moving orbs, objects thrown, and unexplained music.

• Zach Bagans Lore

  • Em’s rabbit-hole research now involves multiple Ghost Adventures episodes filmed at the Washoe Club; Zach’s lore is inescapable ("he has power over you and me," Christine at 30:51).

• Notable Quotes:

  “The mining days of yore, they needed luxury spaces… and finally for once, I’m going to be saying something other than they needed a hotel for these businessmen. Instead they needed a social club for the high elites.”
  — Em (32:40)

  “A spiral staircase. He loves the spiral staircase. People still love it. And I will say, fun facts about the spiral staircase are that apparently it had some second door to it that led to the other side of the street so they could sneakily let ladies of the night come in.” — Em (43:05)

5. True Crime Story: The Fake Sultan - The Prince of Fraud (73:04–109:25)

Topic: The wild saga of Anthony Zinyak, who, under the persona of “Prince Khalid bin Al Saud,” scammed Miami’s rich and famous—armed with fake credentials, a Ferrari, diplomatic plates, and a chihuahua named Foxy.

Main Story Beats:

• High Society Invasion

  • “Prince Khalid” rents a $18,500/month penthouse on Fisher Island—billionaire territory—arriving with security, Gucci fur slippers, and honorifics (“His Highness”) (75:38).
  • Foxy the chihuahua becomes a local icon: Cadillac-shaped dog bed, diamond necklace, pink piano.

• The Long Con

  • Poses as an oil-rich Saudi royal, using forged Bank of Dubai letters as “proof” of $600 million in accessible funds.
  • Offers Miami billionaire Jeff Soffer a $440 million investment; accepts hundreds of thousands in luxury gifts in negotiating (“It’s customary where I’m from to give gifts in business dealings.”—97:14).
  • Red flags: claims devout Islam but loves pork; only rents one unit but claims to own the building.

• History of Fraud

  • Zinyak (real name: Anthony Zinyak, born Jose Moreno in Colombia):
    • Orphaned, adopted by Michigan family.
    • Early survival experience led to obsessive con artistry; first pretended to be a Saudi prince at age 12 (89:07).
    • Notorious for exploiting credit cards, staying in lavish hotels, running up tabs under fake royals’ names (93:32).
    • Multiple arrests; after 15 years in prison, reemerged under slightly new ruses.

• Downfall

  • Soffer’s team wises up after “Prince Khalid” draws too much attention with outrageous stories and tantrums.
  • FBI intercepts Zinyak at JFK; he continues faking Arabic and inventing “spy codes” in interrogation ("He uses codes like Zulu, red, echo, 33 that mean nothing..."—104:40).
  • Soft spot: Foxy (“Your dog Foxy, we have someone who’s going to take a look at her.” Zinyak breaks down—106:30).

• Conviction

  • 2019: Pleads guilty to wire fraud and impersonating a diplomat; sentenced to over 18 years and ordered to pay $7 million in restitution—unlikely to ever be paid.

• Memorable Quotes:

  “It was suggested, it was implied to people that when they address him, they use honorifics like your highness.”
  — Christine (77:03)

  “He just is so self-assured, very con artist… people just believed him without even considering he might be lying.”
  — Christine (84:34)

  “Your dog Foxy, we have someone who’s going to take a look at her.”
  — FBI agent (as recounted by Christine, 106:30)

Notable Moments & Quotes

• On Ghostly Encounters

  “Randall, our creepy crawler, grabbed me by the ankle in there.”
  — Anonymous bartender (55:15)

• On “Manifesting” Weirdness

  “I feel like we got to do something important. No offense again… Now what do I manifest, like world fudgeing peace?”
  — Christine (19:19)

• Summing Up Ghost Investigations

  “Zach Baggins is polluting my normal life.”
  — Em (69:21)

• On the Con Man’s Furry Companion

  “Foxy lived a life of luxury… wore a diamond encrusted necklace that looked like Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry, and slept in a Cadillac-shaped bed.”
  — Christine (80:39)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 04:47 – Learning ASL, parenting tangents, and milestone celebrations
• 09:00 – Christine on crafts as self-care
• 14:10 – Em’s Knott’s Berry Farm vintage T-shirt quest
• 19:56 – Christine’s “Zen” phase and qigong adventure
• 24:06 – Boysenberry Festival food rundown
• 32:10 – The Old Washoe Club history
• 43:16 – Spiral staircase, speakeasy, and extravagant décor
• 52:08 – The ghostly “crypt” and pre-morgue stories
• 55:15 – “Randall the Creepy Crawler” ghost account
• 61:17 – Lady in blue & shadow figure lore
• 66:17 – The sinister “Red Room”
• 73:04 – The Prince of Fraud story introduction
• 75:38 – Life on Fisher Island; Foxy the dog
• 89:07 – Con-artist childhood: first scams at age 12
• 97:14 – Red flags & the unraveling of Zinyak’s identity
• 106:30 – FBI confrontation: the soft spot for Foxy, his dog
• 109:25 – Christine’s closing thoughts

Tone & Language

• Conversational, humorous, and often self-deprecating (“I just bullied your clothes, your shirts, your many shirts…” – Christine, 29:08).
• Freely switching from playful banter to curiosity-driven deep-dives and poignant reflection (“I feel like this is just lifetime trauma, spinning into something and it works and he just runs with it” – Em, 87:38).
• Memorable pop culture references (e.g., “Take a door and realize it”—Jersey Shore callback, 55:30; “Why do you sound like Zach Baggins?” – Christine, 17:24).

Summary

This episode delivers a lively blend of personal anecdotes (crafting, festival adventures, sign language progress), hilarious tangents (T-shirt obsessions, qigong, and “kneecap fairies”), and the podcast’s true core: fascinatingly haunted and criminally bizarre tales. Em’s Washoe Club deep dive uncovers not just Gilded Age decadence and a web of spirits and sorrow, but also a quirky parade of secret doors, haunted dolls, and gambling ghosts. Christine’s enthralling “fake prince” saga flips the true-crime script into a flamboyant, real-life “Catch Me If You Can,” proving just how far con artistry—and the power of a tiny dog—can go in the world’s wealthiest zip codes.

In one sentence:
Yesterday’s mail is haunted, today’s salad days are shady—and in between are crafts, cocktails, ghosts, and the world’s boldest scam artists (and why we drink).