← Dark History
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- [00:00]
Bailey Sarian
You know what I love more than anything? A good prank. A perfectly timed jump scare that makes someone pee their pants a little bit. I kind of live for it, but not mean pranks. I heard about this crazy prank that happened back in the 50s that was absolutely insane. Basically, on April Fool's Day in 1957, the BBC had this whole segment about how a Swiss town near the Italian border had an exception. Exceptionally good spaghetti crop that year. They showed footage of people literally picking spaghetti noodles off of trees and bushes and then showing a family sitting down to a meal of, quote, real homegrown spaghetti. Apparently at this time, spaghetti wasn't a dish that a lot of British people would have known about. So the BBC did this whole spaghetti harvest segment, and I guess it. It got a lot of heat. Some people didn't realize it was a joke, and they were writing into the station asking, hey, how can I grow my own spaghetti? But others, who knew what spaghetti was, were pissed. They did not appreciate their trusted news channel lying to them. Now, this seems pretty innocent, but I went back and I was looking at some famous pranks throughout history. And I realized a lot of pranks have gone too far. Either because the pranker gets carried away or because there's a completely unexpected reaction from the prankee. And sometimes the pranks just go sideways. They cause freak accidents that no one saw coming. So join me today for the strange, the sad, and the odd dark history of pranks gone wrong. Hi, friends. I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian, and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here we believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic, sometimes it's happy. But either way, it's our dark history. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe, because I'm always here for you, posting new content and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you in the comments section, so let me know down below your favorite food. I'm collecting data. Okay. Pranks gone wrong. Kind of random, but listen, there have been some pranks that have gone horribly, horribly wrong. The first one happened in December of 2012. I remember this one specifically. Cause I was like, this is bizarre. Now, it happened over in England. Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, had just announced that she was pregnant. This was a huge deal because Kate, you know, was married to Prince William, who was first in line for the throne. So her baby was going to be the king or Queen of England someday. So, you know, everyone's Talking about the baby. Pretty soon after her announcement, Kate goes to the hospital. Apparently it's because she's having really bad morning sickness, but it ends up becoming front page news. Now because it's Kate, everyone is freaking out and everyone's thinking and assuming that something must be wrong. Meanwhile, over in Australia, people are talking about Kate as well. You know, it's world news. Even though Australia is not under British rule, Australians still consider the British monarchy to be their king or queen. 2 so there was this morning radio show at the time called Hot 30 Countdown and it was pretty popular in Australia. It was hosted by two DJs named Mel Greg and Mike Christian. Mel was 30 at the time. The year before, she had competed on the first ever season of the Amazing Race Australia. So she was kind of like a star on the rise. Mike, her co host, was 25. He had just joined Hot30 a few weeks ago after working in radio for a couple of years. Now, Mike and Mel, they were known for cracking cheesy jokes, talking about pop culture, and it was just kind of typical morning show stuff, you know. So Mike and Mel get this idea to prank call the hospital that Kate Middleton is at, which is King Edward ii, seventh Hospital in London. Now, they think it would be hilarious to get an audio recording of them pretending to be King Charles and Queen Elizabeth, asking about how their daughter in law is doing. Now, to be fair, they really didn't think like it was gonna work. Okay, so December 4, 2012, Mel and Mike recorded themselves making the call. It's not live on the radio, but they're recording it to play it later. And when they're on the phone, they put on these super exaggerated British posh accents, think like Ms. Doubtfire, like, hello, Hello. You know, it's, it's funny. I mean, listen, even the DJs, they didn't really think that they were going to fool anyone. So the phone rings and at first they get the hospital receptionist. Mel says, quote, oh, hello there, could I please speak to Kate, please, my granddaughter? Like, it was a bad accent. Okay. And to their surprise, the receptionist was like, oh, yes, just hold on, ma'am. Thank you. The DJs are like, what? Okay. So the nurse who answers the phone just transfers them, basically asking no questions. So now these DJs, they're on with Kate Middleton's actual nurse. Now Mike and Mel start hamming it up even more. Mike is like kind of in the back doing an accent, like in the background, saying things like mummy, mummy, or like pretending to be a corgi. Barking mommy.
- [06:08]
Mel Greg
She's sleeping at the moment and she.
- [06:10]
Bailey Sarian
Has, oh, just feed my little corgis. Then very dumb stuff, very immature. And again, just supposed to, like, make people laugh at how dumb they're being. So the nurse picks up the phone and ends up giving them a very brief update on Kate's condition. I don't know, maybe she's thinking to herself, the nurse is thinking to herself, like, maybe this is the queen, and I don't want to disrespect the freaking queen. Like, she doesn't know. But pretty much the update was like, hey, everything's fine. Kate's fine. Like, there was nothing. Groundbreaking revealed. The phone call lasts about two minutes, and that was that. After they hang up the phone, Mike and Mel laugh about what, like, they think is this stupid, harmless prank. Thank you. Bye. Goodbye. Bye. She has given us real information.
- [07:02]
Mike Christian
Mumsy.
- [07:03]
Bailey Sarian
I think that I believed everything that we just said. I am the queen. Bow for me. Bow for me. Bow for you and your terrible accent. After the call, Mike and Mel send the recording to their legal team so they can air it on the show later. And it gets approved. So the call is immediately aired. Mike and Mel were probably expecting to get some, you know, laughs, maybe even a little bit of gratitude for debunking all the crazy rumors about Kate's medical condition being something more serious. But little did they know just how south things were about to go. Now, this prank call would trigger events that led to someone's death.
- [07:47]
Mike Christian
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- [08:19]
Bailey Sarian
Yeah.
- [08:19]
Mike Christian
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- [09:14]
Bailey Sarian
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- [09:16]
Mike Christian
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- [09:38]
Bailey Sarian
Recording with their legal team, DJs Mike and Mel air the prank call to the hospital on their show Hot 30 Countdown. Now, pretty much immediately this begins making headlines not only because it involved the royal family, but also because it was essentially a breach of doctor patient confidentiality.
- [09:58]
Mike Christian
Whoa.
- [09:59]
Bailey Sarian
I mean, it was a bad move. The hospital actually releases a PR statement explaining that yes, the call did happen, that they were upset and very sorry for it. They say they are going to fix their protocols and do better next time. So it was like pretty like basic safe, not throwing anyone under the bus, you know? Okay. The nurse who transferred the call was a 46 year old woman named Jacintha Saldana. After the whole ordeal, she felt extremely guilty. Now apparently the next day on December 5, she sent an email to her her supervisors at the hospital saying, quote, it's all my fault. Please accept my apologies. If there's anything I could do to mend it, I would. It's all my fault. End quote. The hospital does not fire or punish her in any way. Apparently they're supportive and understanding. It was an honest mistake. And it doesn't seem like the Royal family was upset. I mean, they don't even address the incident at all and they just completely ignore it. But even though it was a prank, people are very protective of the royal family. So Mel, Mike and the radio station publicly issue an apology, most likely because of the heat that they were starting to get. A lot of people were like, how can you do that? Why would you do that? Oh my God. Just like everyone was mad, it completely backfired in their face. So they issue a statement saying, quote, we're very sorry if we caused any issues and we're glad to hear that Kate is doing well, end quote. So it seems like, okay, sorry. Sorry about that, you guys. Okay, sorry, everything's fine. Let's move on. But then two days after the prank call on December 6, Jacintha's husband can't reach his wife. He's been trying to call her all day. Jacintha was married and had two kids, but I guess the family didn't live in London. So when she was working multiple shifts in a row, Jacintha would usually stay in a room the hospital had for people to rest in between shifts. So the husband is reaching out to one of her co workers, saying, hey, I can't find Jacyntha. And he's worried. So hospital staff, they go looking for her and they're not sure where she is either. Sadly, the very next day on December 7, Jacintha is found dead in her room. She had slit her wrist and she also hanged herself. The police found three suicide notes, each saying something different. One was about the hospital and her co workers in general. Another was about her funeral arrangements and last wishes kind of thing. And the third one was about her guilt over the prank. Eventually, the media got a hold of the last letter and it was made public. It was addressed to her managers at the Edward VII Hospital, and in it it said, quote, please accept my apologies. I am truly sorry. Thank you for all your support. I hold the radio Australians Mel Gregg and Michael Christian responsible for this act. Please make them pay my mortgage. I am sorry, Jacintha. End quote. Sorry. I kind of giggled there because Please pay my make them pay my mortgage felt so out of place in a suicide note. Right. That part had me feeling, like, a little suspicious and like, listen, I know, like, this is like a deeper conspiracy. I went on when I was researching this, because the way she died, she hanged herself and she slit her wrist. Now, if you know anything about suicide, usually you pick one or the other. I wish I had the statistics all broken down for you, but, like, it's. Usually you don't do both. And then in a suicide letter mentioning, like, have them pay my mortgage, it was just. It's just so bizarre. It just sounds a little weird, right? I'm not saying, like, she obviously was going through some, but. But there's something fishy with it. I've been down a rabbit hole with this one, looking for answers, but that's not the point. The point is, you know, when this news comes out that she had killed herself, the public is shocked. Basically, as soon as Jacintha's death goes public, the entire prank becomes a bigger sensation, even if the specifics are a little strange. Jacintha was a nurse and a mother just trying to do her job, you know, Everyone feels for her and her family. And since her note was so explicit about who to blame, the public did not hold back. Mel, Greg and Mike Christian, they were horrified in their defense. How were they supposed to know, like, this whole thing would snowball and someone would take their own life? I mean, truly, they thought the whole thing was harmless, but it didn't matter. The DJs were being accused of essentially murdering this innocent nurse. Then one day, the DJs get bullets in the mail with their names written on them, and the death threats just keep rolling in. The show Hot 30 Countdown gets suspended and then completely canceled. Mel and Mike are told by the radio company not to make any public statements. Okay? Mel and Mike are basically forced to deactivate their social media accounts, you know, because people are just coming after them hard. So getting rid of their social media presence sucks because, you know, their careers were depending on their public image as DJs. The job was their personality. So it's not like they could just pick up and quietly move to a different company or a different department. I mean, everyone knew their names and what they had done. The radio company puts Mel and Mike into therapy because they were both experiencing, like, PTSD and seriously beginning to believe that they were responsible for the death of Jacintha. And within just a matter of months, the death threats get so bad that both Mel and Mike are essentially forced into hiding Mel. Greg becomes paranoid and thinks people are out trying to kill her. Mel later said, quote, online trolls told me to kill myself every day. No one would employ me. Charities wouldn't even let me stuff envelopes. Behind the scenes, I was a tarnished and broken woman. End quote. Now, eventually, this all leads to Mel having, like, a complete mental breakdown. So bad. Meanwhile, Mike, of course, the guy was able to find a different radio job. And the next year, he even received an award for his work. That kind of says a lot without saying a lot, doesn't it? One question I had was, whatever happened to the second nurse, the one who Jacintha transferred the call to? Because she's the one that willingly gave up all that information. And it didn't seem like she got in trouble, not saying she. Well, you know, you just think they would go after her. People were going after the girl who transferred the call. You know, it was a whole mess. I remember reading about it in the news. It was everywhere. In the end, lives were absolutely destroyed because of this prank. Okay. Except for the guy, of course. Huh? All for what? I don't know. This is a side note. Has nothing to do with anything. But I kind of mentioned it briefly. I truly think there's something much darker going on with the nurse who killed herself because it was like such an odd. It was really odd. It was very strange. I don't know. There's something there. I'm still digging. Okay. I'm still in my rabbit hole. Maybe I'll figure it out. So let me know what you think about that. Was that a prank that went too far, worth someone dying over? No. I don't know. That one is just rough. Our next prank involves something that you may or may not be familiar with. Now, it's a massive phenomenon in the gamer community, even outside of the gamer community. But it's big in the gamer community and it's led to countless wasted police resources, wasted tax dollars, and it's even led to death. I'm talking about swatting.
- [18:22]
Mike Christian
When I travel, I always pack way too much. 3000 underwears. Check. Got it. Jeans, 1800. No, just kidding. But like, I pack a lot. Okay. I overpack. I'll bring 3,000 pairs of underwear, period. Okay. But when it comes to bras, I have one that I love, but like, that's it. Like, I don't want to bring any of them, really. I don't know what to bring because for a long time I hated bras. Okay. They're uncomfortable. They get worn out. The underwire sets off the beepers in the stores. Do you think you're stealing?
- [18:52]
Bailey Sarian
You're like, I'm not.
- [18:53]
Mike Christian
It's my bra. It's my underwire. Anyone else? No? Okay. Thankfully, all of that changed when I found Skims, the sponsor of today's episode. I wear them everywhere, whether I'm running errands, going to work, taking a trip. I love their fits. Everybody scoop Bralette. This one has become my everyday bra.
- [19:12]
Bailey Sarian
Their bras are so light.
- [19:14]
Mike Christian
They fit like a glove, giving me nice support without the being uncomfortable. Plus they come in a variety of colors so I don't have to worry about the, you know, the see throughness of my white tank or whatever. So like I was saying, my go to bra is the fits. Everybody scoop Bralette. I have it in the color sand in sienna.
- [19:34]
Bailey Sarian
Yeah, I like those too.
- [19:35]
Mike Christian
They're cute. The fabric is buttery soft and has nice stretch to it. It's not uncomfortable at all. And with, you know, other bras, they're not comfortable with the fits. Everybody scoop Bralette. I get the best of both worlds. The support of a good bra and the comfort of a bralette.
- [19:51]
Bailey Sarian
It's so much Cuter, you know, shop.
- [19:53]
Mike Christian
Skims, best intimates, including the Fits Everybody collection, and more@sky skims.com and skim stores. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you. We me select podcast in the survey and be sure to select our show Dark History in the dropdown menu that follows.
- [20:16]
Bailey Sarian
Thank you. Okay, bye. So our next prank involves something called swatting. I know. Maybe. If you don't know. What is swatting, Bailey? Well, it's essentially an extremely illegal and elaborate prank prank that came out of gaming culture in the early 2000s. And one of the like, its original masters was a guy named Tyler Raj Barris. This Tyler guy, he was born in November of 1992 in Los Angeles. Tyler's dad died in a car accident when he was very young, and his mom was struggling with addiction issues. So Tyler was mostly raised by his grandmother, Wendy Grand Gregory. Tyler was a smart kid and even got into a middle school for gifted students. And around this time, he gets really into video games like Halo and Call of Duty. But Tyler, you know, takes things up a notch. Around 2015, Tyler starts to call in fake bomb threats all around the country. I don't know. You can say maybe he's not satisfied with violence being contained to a video game screen, or maybe he's doing so much gaming that he forgets that he lives in a real world with consequences. Who knows what the inspiration was about it, but he. This was his new thing. Sometimes these bomb threats would be against middle schools and high schools where fellow gamers went. Obviously it was a prank, but on a very, really extreme level, he usually did this so one of his gaming buddies would get out of school and then they would be free to play game more. Once in 2015, he called in a bomb threat against a local Los Angeles TV station called KABC tv. On the phone, he said his name was Alex and that there were bombs planted in backpacks which would explode within 10 minutes. I know. Imagine getting this phone call at work. I'd be like, what the fuck? I'm getting the fuck outta here. Apparently, Tyler did it because he saw his grandma watching the news on this station, and he told her that he could probably force the station off the air if he wanted to. So he did it. Okay. I don't know. He obviously ain't right. Okay. No bombs were found at KABC tv, but a bomb squad was called in and resources were wasted. Not to mention many people had the bejesus scared out of them. Right. Now, I know what you're thinking, Bailey how is a teenage boy getting away away with all this? Can't the government just track down the phone number, you know who made the bomb threat and arrest him? Well, Tyler was pretty smart, I guess. He figured out how to make these calls from fake numbers. On top of that, Tyler was still living with his grandma Wendy. Now, Wendy was definitely suspicious of what Tyler was getting up to, but she was scared of going to the police. That's because according to her, Tyler was verbally and emotionally abusive towards her. He threatened to beat or even kill her if she exposed him. Poor grandma. But after this TV station threat, Wendy had enough. She secretly goes to a police officer friend and tells him that her grandson is calling. In these threats, the police end up raiding Tyler and Wendy's home and start to gather evidence. They take Tyler's cell phone and find over 40,000 texts proving that he was behind a series of bomb threats around the nation. On October 13, 2015, Tyler is arrested and two days later charged with three felonies, which are the bomb threats. He was also charged with a misdemeanor for convincing a witness not to report a crime, AKA threatening his grandma Wendy with violence if she reported him. Now, Tyler initially pleaded not guilty and he eventually struck a plea deal so there was no trial. He changed his plea to no contest on two felony counts in exchange for the 32 month sentence in the LA County Jail. Now, I wish I could say this was the end of Tyler's story and that he learned his lesson, but nay, nay, this is only the beginning.
- [24:25]
Mike Christian
When I'm out and about, sometimes I run into fans of Dark History and I'm like, oh my God. Yay, love. First of all, love that. Love you guys. And a lot of people ask me the same question, like, how did I turn my love of history into a business? Step one, be curious. I'm a very curious person. That's really what got me here. Step two, I live in rabbit holes. And step three, you got to have a strong online presence. You got to show up, right? And one way to do that is with Squarespace. And lucky for us, this podcast is sponsored by Squarespace.
- [24:56]
Bailey Sarian
I'm trying to be cool and hold.
- [24:57]
Mike Christian
A tiny mic, but I keep yelling. You know, Squarespace, if you don't know, is the all in one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online.
- [25:05]
Bailey Sarian
So whether you're trying to start your.
- [25:06]
Mike Christian
Business or grow it, Squarespace gives you everything you need to claim your domain, create a personal website, grow your brand, and get paid all in one place. Okay? Squarespace I like using Squarespace because of.
- [25:20]
Bailey Sarian
All the features they offer.
- [25:21]
Mike Christian
They have something called Design Intelligence, which uses AI to technology to help you build a website that's beautiful and is personalized to you and your business. There's also Squarespace Payments which helps manage payments all in one place. All you have to do is go through a quick onboarding process and after just a few clicks, you're able to start receiving payments from your sales right away. My personal favorite feature is the analytics tool. Data can be fun. It's the only way to know what's working and what isn't. Squarespace offers powerful website and seller analytics. That way you can get an insight on your website traffic, understand how your website's reach is growing, and pinpoint where to focus new engagement. Head to squarespace.com darkhistory for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use Code Dark history to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Thank you from my garage and I Goodbye now.
- [26:19]
Bailey Sarian
Before Tyler went to jail in February 2016, he heard about something called swatting from another gamer. Swatting involves someone reporting a false violent situation to the police. This way, a SWAT team is sent to a specific location and terrifies an unsuspecting person or like group of people. If you don't know, like, the SWAT team is essentially a group of specially trained police officers. Officers who are sent in to handle extreme situations like hostage takings, drug raids, active shooters, terrorist threats, bomb stuff, high risk search warrants. And SWAT is an acronym. It stands for special weapons and tactics. And because SWAT teams are sent in to handle violent and extreme circumstances, their whole approach can be pretty, pretty aggressive. It's often like what you see on tv. They ambush the location, they take everyone by surprise. There's guns everywhere. They have their little shields, the helmets, the nines. It's very intense, it's very scary. And this aggressive approach is exactly why gamers started using it as a way to prank their enemies. It was brutal. Usually the person doing the swatting will make up a story involving some sort of hostage situation to guarantee that a SWAT team would come in, not just a couple of police officers. Now, gamers would really like to do this because a lot of the times when they're gaming, they would be live streaming. So if they called in some kind of threat in the swat, people showed up. A lot of the times it would be caught on the live stream. I mean, that's why people really liked it, because they would watch the whole thing go down like it was Pretty gross, to be honest. Now, swatting was first publicly cited as a problem by the FBI in 2008. Besides gamers, there are lots of other people who have become targets. Celebrities. Recently, there was one. Who was it? I was just reading about it. I literally was reading about it last night. Someone got swatted, and I can't remember remember who, but lots of celebrities. It's happened to them, too. Okay. In 2017, Tyler is released early from jail. And you think, okay, he's been in jail, he's going to get better? No. Pretty much right after he's out, he breaks into his grandma's house, which was violating a restraining order. So he gets sent right back to jail. This time, when he's re released, he moved into a homeless shelter. Again. You'd think after everything he's been through, he tried to, like, start his life over, hopefully in a more positive way, but no. Instead, he heads down to the public library and goes back to his favorite hobby, calling in bomb threats. Then In December of 2017, Tyler decides to take things up a notch and he starts swatting. Tyler called in a SWAT to a Call of Duty tournament at the Dallas Convention Center. The call forced the tournament to be evacuated twice. But then he moved on to targeting specific individuals. Sometimes it was because Tyler himself had a grudge and, like, wanted to hurt someone. But most of the time, Tyler did it for other people. Around this time, Tyler starts to become a kind of SWAT hitman and starts charging money to call in bomb threats and swatting. The weirdest part about this is he wasn't charging very much. Like, barely anything. Okay. For someone who doesn't have a job, like, he could have made some money off of this, but he was charging anywhere from, like, 10 to 50 bucks. Yeah, that is nothing when you consider that just one fake SWAT call can land you with a felony. Okay. Some people think he was charging these low prices because for the most part, it was teenagers paying him. But I don't think Tyler gave a crap. I think he just truly enjoyed doing it. Okay. Now because of this, Tyler starts to make quite a name for himself in the gaming community. Basically, Tyler would do it like this. He would get a temporary fake phone number and then call a local police department. He would give some fake name. You know, my name is Daniel Bebop. Boop. Sometimes he would say that he had just murdered someone, like a parent or a girlfriend. And then there were other times he would go a step further. He would say that he was about to kill someone at a certain location or that he was about to kill himself. I don't know if that's a step further. I think saying that you murdered someone's pretty far. They're all bad, okay? And he would say all of this while pretending that he was scared or angry. And he would put on a whole show, so because it's the police, they have to take it seriously, you know? And they would send people to whatever address Tyler gave. Once the police had figured out that the situation wasn't real, Tyler would be gone and untraceable. And with every call, Tyler would get more and more cocky, thinking, like, they're never gonna catch me. They're never gonna catch me. And to him, like, these were just some harmless pranks. But what started out as a gaming prank would soon become dangerous.
- [31:36]
Mel Greg
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- [32:38]
Bailey Sarian
So Tyler is on the local library computer, and he's calling in fake SWAT calls for 10 bucks a pop. He's even active on Twitter, where he openly talks about his swatting achievements under the username SWATistic and Torture God. Sometime in mid December 2017, two Call of Duty players, one named Casey Viner and Shane Gaskill, were playing a match. These are live games sometimes. Usually they're live streaming, right? So there's an online audience, and, you know, people take this very seriously. They're here to watch this game. Now, apparently, when they were playing, this guy Shane accidentally killed Casey's character. And because of this, they lost a bet. So Casey is pissed, and they have some kind of fight. And, you know, it's a game, whatever, who cares, right? To you and I, it's a game, who cares, whatever. But this is like some to them, this is very serious. So Casey wants to get back at Shane, so he ends up contacting the Internet's favorite SWAT hitman, Tyler Barris. KC Viner messages Tyler and pays him to swat Shane. So Tyler begins following Shane on Twitter using the Swatistic account, trying to figure out where he lives so that he can swat him. But Shane notices this. He knows all about Tyler and probably assumes that Tyler following him means that someone is planning to swat him. So Shane actually reaches out to Tyler and sends him a message saying, quote, please try some shit. I'll be waiting. He gives out like this full address. Okay? I'll have you in prison for five years, buddy. Casey already gave me all the proof I need. Bahahahahahaha. Hello, pussy bitch. Say something. Not the pussy bitch. Oh, they love to say words like that. Now Tyler is so confident at this point that he doesn't even care about Shane's threat. He's like, go ahead, whatever. And on December 28, 2017, Tyler calls in the SWAT on Shane using the address that he sent him in that Twitter DM. Now it takes Tyler three calls to actually get through to a 911 dispatcher, but finally he gets connected. Once he gets through, Tyler has his whole story ready. He tells the police that his name is Ryan and that he lives at the address Shane gave him. He says that he shot his father in the head because his parents were arguing and it was getting out of control. He said, quote, my mom and my brother are really scared right now, so I'm just pointing a gun at them and holding them in the closet right now. And you know when you're saying this like the 9:1 dispatcher has to respond on the call, I guess. He also said that he was planning on setting the house on fire. Fire and committing suicide. Now, instead of sending in a SWAT team, the police dispatched police officers that were already closest to the address, which is standard operating procedure in most instances. The problem was these police were not trained in hostage negotiation. So they showed up ready to deal with the situation that Tyler described on the phone. But not only was the whole situation fake, but Shane did not even live there. He had given Tyler an old address of his. Now people actually did live at this address. The man who did his name was Andy Finch. He was 28 years old. He had two kids and was completely unrelated to anyone in this story, just minding his own business, doing his thing. It was another day, you know. Now Andy was at home where he lived with his mom Lisa, and his niece Adelina. Adelina was 17 and had been adopted by her grandma Lisa, after her mom died in a car crash. When the police showed up at their house. Cause they show up, Andy comes out to the porch to see, like, what the commotion is all about. So the police are yelling at him to put his hands in the air, you know, and he does, but for a split second, he lowers one of his hands and the police think that he's reaching for a concealed weapon. So one of the police officers named Justin Rapp shoots Andy in the chest, which ends up killing him. Adelina runs out of the house completely freaked out, and has to step over Andy's body and hear his last breath as he dies. I mean, Andy was essentially her father. So I can only imagine how horrific this must have been for her. You know, it's just awful. So the police begin to search the house and start to realize that nothing is adding up. The situation they were told was happening was clearly not taking place. Meanwhile, Tyler calls 911 again because he doesn't know that the police have already arrived at the location. He gives the operator his fake story again, and the 911 operator tells the police the details again. Well, it wouldn't take long for things to get traced back to Tyler. And he was arrested literally the next day. On December 29, 2017, he went on a major YouTube channel and I guess confessed to everything.
- [38:03]
Mike Christian
Of course I was involved. However, I mean, other people were involved. I mean, yeah, the call was made by me, but as far as the whole incident, you could point the finger at numerous people.
- [38:14]
Bailey Sarian
I wouldn't say confess. I would say more like he was bragging. Now, initially he was indicted for manslaughter in Kansas, but the federal government takes over the prosecution in May of 2018. Since this case involved multiple states, Tyler makes a global plea deal with the feds in November of 2018, which resulted in a 20 year sentence sentence. And he is still serving that sentence today. His charges included cyber stalking resulting in death, conspiracy to make false reports, wire fraud, making threats, or death or damage to property by fire, false information and hoaxes, and involuntary manslaughter. So it was a lot of charges. Once law enforcement had access to Tyler's whereabouts, his phone, and knew his methods of swatting, they were able to trace multiple other swats back to him. And it turned out he was connected to a bunch of swatting incidents in over 17 states over the space of three years. Shane, who gave Tyler Andy's address, was also held accountable for his part in the shooting. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Prison and had to pay a fine of $2,500. Even Casey, who was the other Call of Duty player, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release. Andy's family sued the city of Wichita and the wpd, who settled the case. After extensive litigation, they were awarded $5 million for his wrongful death. But the tragedy didn't stop there. Andy's niece, Adelina, who, the one who witnessed his death, sadly entered her own life a year later. Poor thing, she was only 18 years old. Her grandma, Lisa Finch, said that she blames her granddaughter's death on the events that took place on December 28, 2017. She said, quote, she, Adelina has internalized everything. If somebody even mentioned Andy's name, she withdraws and walks out of the room. She has not been able to deal with it. I guess this was the way she was dealing with it. End quote. Apparently, Tyler is expected to be released on January 14, 2035, but then he'll stay under close supervision for an additional five years. In 2019. During his hearing, Tyler Barris told the court, quote, if I could take it back, I would, but there's nothing I can do. Do. I am so sorry for that. This entire ordeal is one of, like, the worst cases of swatting, and the only swatting to result in someone's death. It's hard to imagine why anyone would risk their life to call in a prank at this level. But I guess if you're spending the majority of your life glued to a screen watching people play video games all day, it probably just feels like another game to you because it's not real, you know? According to a Wired article written by our expert Brendan Kerner, one Call of Duty fan said, quote, when you're on the Internet and your actions have little weight in real life, and then suddenly that translates into something as physically heavy as swatting, it makes you realize the weight of your actions. End quote. I feel like for a lot of these youngins, it doesn't though. That's the problem. Problem? Yeah.
- [41:42]
Mike Christian
No.
- [41:42]
Bailey Sarian
The good news is that there have been some laws that have been passed to try and, like, stop all the swatting. In May of 2023, the FBI began to collect a database of known swatters. And as of 2024, nine states have put anti swatting laws in place. Pranks, huh? They're complicated. You really never know. How someone's going to respond. So sometimes it could be something as simple as, like, boo, but then they get really mad at you and you're like, oh, my bad. Like, I. Oops. You know, Seems like there's more responsibility involved in a prank than you might think, and there's just no way of knowing when things will go south or too far. Well, I feel like with common sense, you would think swatting ain't it, but people still freaking do it. I don't personally like pranks. They're not my favorite. I like a good boo, but that's about it. You know, I feel like since with the Internet and, like, there are, like, people on TikTok and YouTube who do, like, whole prank videos, they now have to go to, like, such extremes to get a reaction from people because the simple pranks don't do it for anyone anymore. Right? The Internet's just making it worse. It's over. Everything is over. In my personal, perfect world, I say let's just go back to the simple times. Buy a whoopee cushion and play a prank on someone with a whoopee cushion. It gets em every time, right? A whoopee cushion. Come on. Can we just, like, go back to that? I'm still sitting on the whoopee cushion. It's quite comfortable. All right, friends, please prank responsibly, okay? Make it cute, make it small. Don't be ridiculous and ruin people's lives. All right. I think that's the moral of the story. Well, thank you for joining me today. Now, let me give you a little teaser as to what's coming up on our next episode. We're going to be talking about another political story, but this man, he was never elected into any political office, yet he's more famous than most of the politicians we've talked about on this show. In public, he was a famous actor and celebrity with a loyal following. In private, he was a racist man with a freaking violent streak. He spent his whole life fighting against freeing enslaved people. And ultimately, he became the most famous assassin in history. He was responsible for the ship shocking murder of one of America's favorite presidents, Abraham Lincoln. That's right. Next week, we are diving into the dark history of John Wilkes Booth. By the way, next week we are dark. So there will not be an upload, but we will be right back on April 9th. So I hope to see you there. Well, friends, thank you for hanging out with me today. You can join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup. So don't forget to subscribe. I love to hear you guys reactions to today's story. So make sure to leave a comment below so I can see what you're saying. And maybe in the future one of your your comments might be read here by me. Now let's read a couple of comments. You guys have left me Robin McDonald 7 said Paul in the background of this video looks like Owen Wilson. I can't unsee it. End quote. Robin, I think you're talking about the vampires episode and I have to say I don't see it. How dare you. Paul is clearly Tom Cruise from Interview with a Vampire. Please apologize. He was a handsome vampire. What movie did he look like From Owen Wilson. That's okay. You know I'm not mad at you, but we were going for vampire. Okay, thanks for watching though. Hot Mess Mom1987 left us an episode suggestion saying quote I have been watching Dark History since episode one. Your videos are my favorite. Guilty pleasure. I have an episode suggestion for you. The Dark History of the Library. It's darker than you think. End quote. Hot Mess Mom. Mom Mess. Hot. I am intrigued. I never thought about this. What could be so dark about the library? I love the library. I love how old books smell. Put that in candle, I'll buy it. Thank you for this hot tip. I'll definitely look into this because I'm intrigued. I love this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys for watching and I appreciate you for engaging. Keep commenting because maybe your comment will be featured. And hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an Audioboom original. A special thank you to our expert, Brendan I. Kerner, a contributing editor at Wired who covered the Wichita swatting case and the author of the Skies Belong to Us. And I'm your host, Bailey St. Sarian. I hope you have a good day. You make good choices and I'll be talking to you soon.
- [47:06]
Mike Christian
Goodbye.