Bonus Episode: Are Rockstars Part of the UFO Disclosure Theory? Plus Psychopedia’s Brooke Slater on Slayer and Ed Gein

Summary

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DISGRACELAND – Bonus Episode: Are Rockstars Part of the UFO Disclosure Theory? Plus Psychopedia’s Brooke Slater on Slayer and Ed Gein

Release Date: December 4, 2025
Host: Jake Brennan
Guest: Brooke Slater (Psychopedia)

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Episode Overview

This bonus "After Party" episode of DISGRACELAND dives into the overlap between rockstars and UFO disclosure theories, explores the grisly true crime saga of Ed Gein through the lens of Slayer, and features fan interactions and deep cuts into the darker side of music history. Host Jake Brennan reflects on Merle Haggard’s UFO obsession, previews upcoming episodes on Phil Spector and John Lennon, discusses the mainstreaming of UFO (UAP) discourse, and hosts a gruesomely fascinating conversation with criminal investigator and Psychopedia host Brooke Slater about Ed Gein and his influence on music and pop culture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Musicians and UFOs: Cultural Disclosure? (03:11–11:28)

• Recap of Merle Haggard’s UFO obsession: The episode revisits Merle’s claims of UFO sightings and his near-collaboration with David Bowie, tying into the week’s mini-episode and reinforcing the motif of musicians as alien-seers.
• Rockstars with UFO claims: Not just Merle—David Bowie, John Lennon, Tom DeLonge (Blink-182), Sammy Hagar, Cat Stevens, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, and Elvis Presley have all reported UFO encounters.
  • Quote: "For these artists, claiming to see the unexplainable... it’s totally on brand. David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, hell, even Elvis and John Lennon. But Cat Stevens, Sammy Hagar, Merle Haggard, now that’s discrediting—at least it used to be." – Jake Brennan (05:22)
• Mainstreaming of the UFO/UAP Narrative: The documentary Age of Disclosure (Amazon) brings high-level government and political figures on record about UAPs, suggesting a societal shift toward ‘controlled disclosure’ of extraterrestrial reality.
  • Quote: "Everyone interviewed in the film claims direct knowledge of UAP... what they discuss is truly revelatory. And the reason for their disclosure is... truly chilling. They’re afraid." – Jake Brennan (08:17)
• Are Rockstars Part of Disclosure? Jake speculates that—and perhaps unknowingly—musicians have been vehicles for prepping the public on alien contact.
  • Quote: "It seems... some of our favorite rock stars have been part of this disclosure. And hell, maybe you and I are part of this disclosure as well, and we just don’t even know it." (10:27)

2. Listener Interactions: Concert Films, Country Singers & More (13:12–26:05)

• Best concert films: Callers praise I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (Wilco), Shut Up and Play the Hits (LCD Soundsystem), and Let’s Get Lost (Chet Baker), among others.
  • Notable Fan Quote: "It’s not really a concert movie, but there is a lot of concert footage. Probably the best movie about a band ever." – Ken (14:17)
• Best country singers recommendations: Chris Stapleton, Colter Wall, Marty Robbins, Reba McEntire.
• Jazz documentary highlight: Let’s Get Lost features Chet Baker’s haunting vocals.
  • Host Reflection: "No one ever sang like Chet Baker... he was on the edge of tonality, felt like he was about to fall out of tune, just compelling..." – Jake Brennan (18:04)
• Listener Email: Newer evidence on Kurt Cobain’s death: A listener submits details about a multidisciplinary forensic report challenging the accepted narrative on Cobain’s suicide. Jake responds with open-minded skepticism.
  • Quote: "The people who don’t believe Kurt Cobain offed himself are legion. You guys will not give up." – Jake Brennan (21:41)

3. Interview Segment: Slayer, Ed Gein, True Crime and Music (27:42–56:40)

Background:

Jake shares how Slayer's "Dead Skin Mask" first introduced him to the infamous story of Ed Gein, tracing the roots of his true crime fascination.

Brooke Slater on True Crime Origins & Ed Gein (32:49)

• Brooke’s Path: Early exposure to true crime via her grandmother’s bedtime stories fostered her lifelong interest and her studies in criminal justice.
  • Quote: "Grandma used to read me true crime stories... she and I would be tucked in together... she [my sister] would be hiding, and I would be foaming at the mouth, like, please, Grandma, more." – Brooke Slater (31:01)
• On Ed Gein’s Family: Domineering mother, isolated rural existence; Gein’s mother exerted a psychological chokehold on the family.

Deconstructing Slayer’s “Dead Skin Mask” Lyrics and the Gein Case

• Song Lyrics as Narrative: Jake and Brooke walk through the lyrics, connecting each to key details of Gein’s crimes: grave robbing, skinning corpses, constructing macabre artifacts, psychological breakdown after his mother’s death.
  • Example:
    • Lyric: "How I’ve waited for you to come... I’ll keep you forever."
    • Brooke: "He had the idea to literally recreate her using the flesh of dead women who resembled her... he would unearth their corpses, dig them up, take them back to his home and make items to hold onto forever." (37:55)
  • Lyric: "A pleasant fragrance in the light of the moon."
    • Brooke: "Ed Gein did not enjoy the scent of decomposing flesh... he didn’t eat it, and he didn’t have sex with it." (43:18)
  • Lyric: "Dance with the dead in my dreams..."
    • Brooke: "He struggled with hallucinations—felt he could hear his mother’s voice, saw faces in leaves... had auditory and visual hallucinations." (46:23)
• On Monsters vs. Humans: Brooke’s philosophy is to demythologize criminals by understanding their background and psychology to help prevent future crimes.
  • Quote: "If you label them monsters... you’re never going to learn about them, and you can’t protect the future." – Brooke Slater (45:12)
• Psychosis Debate: Discussion of whether Gein was criminally insane or aware of his actions; modern perspectives question the former verdict. Signs of premeditation in his nocturnal grave robbing and initial defensive response to police.

Music & Crime: The Cultural Feedback Loop

• Exploration of Ed Gein’s influence: Inspiration for Psycho’s Norman Bates, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Silence of The Lambs’ Buffalo Bill, and even heavy metal anthems.
• Reflections on how the real horror behind these musical meditations sometimes far surpasses lyrical allusions.
  • Jake: "Reality here is far more extreme than what they put in the song." (41:52)

Closing the Interview

• Jake and Brooke discuss their mutual fascination with true crime, normalization of grotesque events through pop culture, and cross-promotion for Psychopedia.
  • Brooke: "I’ve lost all ability to... I’ve not lost my empathy... but I can’t get past my fascination with this stuff enough to feel the gruesomeness of it." (53:25)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On UFO Disclosure’s Stakes:
  "They’re afraid that whatever is out there… is going to be harnessed by our foreign adversaries and used against us if we do not wake up and admit that there’s something else out there." – Jake Brennan (09:10)

• On Cultural Shifts:
  "It seems to me that we, as a species, are going to slowly learn more and more about this topic until it’s completely mainstreamed… willingly or unknowingly, some of our favorite rockstars have been part of this disclosure." – Jake Brennan (10:18)

• On Gein’s Psychological Collapse:
  "When his mother died, he closed off her bedroom… made this macabre museum… needing his mother in a very literal sense… unearthed corpses, made items to hold onto forever." – Brooke Slater (38:09)

• On Song Reality vs. Lyrics:
  "It’s strange to me… here we are in 2025, and it’s mainstreamed not only in a podcast or Netflix series but huge... the reality is far more extreme than what they put in the song." – Jake Brennan (41:52)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Segment Description | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:11 | Merle Haggard’s UFO experiences and UFOs in rock music | | 08:17 | Overview of Age of Disclosure documentary and cultural ‘controlled disclosure’| | 13:12 | Listener calls: best concert films and country singers | | 18:04 | Listener email on new forensic report about Kurt Cobain’s death | | 27:42 | Interview: Brooke Slater, origins of true crime interest, Netflix’s Monster | | 34:36 | Deconstructing Slayer’s "Dead Skin Mask" and Ed Gein’s crimes | | 43:18 | Smell of death, necrophilia, public fascin­ation with true crime | | 46:23 | Hallucinations, psychosis, legal insanity debate with Gein | | 54:32 | Where to find Psychopedia & upcoming episodes |

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Episode Takeaways

• Music and True Crime: This episode highlights how the crossover between true crime and music continually produces new cultural mythologies, with artists becoming both documentarians and unwitting participants in broader cultural shifts.
• UFOs Moving Mainstream: As both politicians and pop stars increasingly speak openly about UFO and UAP phenomena, society’s attitudes continue to shift from ridicule to curiosity—and perhaps complicity in a slow disclosure process.
• Understanding ‘Monsters’: The importance of deconstructing criminal pathology, as opposed to monster-izing, can yield potential for preventative insights rather than sensationalized fear.

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For Further Exploration

• Listen to DISGRACELAND episodes on Chet Baker, Jimi Hendrix, and Blink 182 referenced throughout the show
• Stream Age of Disclosure (Amazon)
• Find Brooke Slater’s Psychopedia wherever you get podcasts

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Stay Dangerous, Discos!
Join the discussion or recommend your favorite holiday movie at 617-906-6638.

Transcript

[Jake Brennan]

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[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

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Hey discos. Need a little more Disgrace Land in your life? Just a touch to get you through. Yeah, me too. This is the podcast that comes after the podcast. Welcome to Disgraceland. The After.

[Listener/Caller]

Foreign.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Welcome to the Disgraceland bonus episode. A little thing we like to call the After Party. This is the show after the show. The party after the party. The bridge to get you from one full episode of Disgraceland to the other. The backyard to dig into the dirt. Our mission to uncover the truth, to confront the myth, to reclaim the story. On this bonus episode we are discussing this week's new full episode. Our part two story on Merle Haggard. Merle's UFO obsession has us rewinding back to our Blink 182 story and previewing next week's new episod episode on Phil Spector and the madness behind his incredible Christmas album. We got a special interview today with Psychopedia's Brook Slater about Slayer and Ed Gein and we get into your emails, comments, dms, and as always, a whole lot of Rosie. This is the podcast for the musically obsessed, the outsiders, the independent thinkers who know that the best history is the history that gets buried. Disgraceland is where I tell the stories they didn't want told, the kind you'll end up telling to somebody else. All right, discos and let's get into it.

Murderers, aliens, country singers and haunting heavy metal songs. My head is swimming with thoughts of all of them this week. So first up, murderers and heavy metal songs. There's been an ongoing battle in our house this last month or so about whether or not my wife and I are going to watch Monster the Ed Gein Story on Netflix. And I'm just so repelled by the images in the series that I turned to my friend Brook Slater from the Cyclopedia podcast, a bit of an Ed Gein expert, to help me work through this true crime story via a heavy metal song that haunted me as a kid. And that conversation is coming up later in this after party, and you're not going to want to miss it. It's fascinating and I can't wait for you to hear it. But now on to country singers and aliens in our continuation of the Merle Haggard story in this week's new full episode, we reveal in Merle Part 2 that Merle almost collaborated with spaceman David Bowie, if you can believe that. And we tease out Merle's UFO experience and fully dive into Merle's UFO obsession in this week's mini episode. Now, Merle Haggard's UFO experience claim is not unique to rock stars. Many musicians have made similar claims to seeing unexplainable events in the sky and elsewhere. In addition to Merle Haggard, we mentioned David Bowie, who claimed to see something above the town of Beckenham as a young man, an event that obviously had a sizable impact on Bowie's art. We detail Tom DeLonge from Blink 182's Desert Experience in this week's rewind episode coming up right after this after party. Next week's new episode is on Phil Spec and John Lennon, who is heavily involved in Phil's story and part of next week's rewind schedule, claimed to see a craft hovering over Manhattan and referenced it in a song nobody Told me singing There's UFOs over New York and I ain't too surprised. Elvis Costello, Sammy Hagar, Cat Stevens, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley all claimed to have experiences or sightings for some of these artists claiming to see the Unexplainable. Up in the sky, alien spacecraft, UFOs. It's totally on brand. David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, hell, even Elvis Presley and John Lennon. But Elvis Costello, Cat Stevens, Sammy Hagar, Merle Haggard. Now claiming this kind of thing is wildly discrediting, or at least it used to be, more and more the ufo, or as it's becoming known, uap, Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon. More and more, this discussion is becoming more mainstream and more acceptable. And I don't believe that that's an accident. 40% of Americans say that they've had similar experiences. 40%. Think about that. For the Americans in the audience, that's four out of every ten people that you encounter. That means four out of every ten rock stars, doesn't it? I don't know. Is that how statistics works? I don't. I don't really know. But I do know that 40% is a huge number. Merle Haggard does not strike me as the type of guy who would be so loosey goosey with his reputation and credibility. In the upcoming Blink 182 Rewind episode, we discuss whether or not Blink guitarist Tom delong is part of a larger secret plan by the government to disclose to the public the truth about extraterrestrial or ultra terrestrial life. What if Tom DeLonge isn't the first rock star? I can see some of you guys rolling your eyes right now. I get it. Aliens, UFOs. Without going out on any sort of Fox Mulder limb that I can't walk myself back from, I will say that ever since diving into this subject and researching Blink 182, it's become clear to me that something that looks an awful lot like controlled disclosure is happening in our culture. And this all seems to have landed on our heads with a massive Holy shit, can you believe it? Thud. Right now, in the past week with the release of the documentary the Age of Disclosure by Dan Farah. Now, this documentary is not some obscure YouTube doc by a dude with a tinfoil hat and dog eared copy of Project Blue Book. This is an Amazon distributed, theatrically released, highly produced film featuring numerous high level government officials, politicians and career servicemen and women from both sides of the political spectrum. Marco Rubio, Kirsten Gillibrand, James Clapper and many, many, many others on record stating unequivocally that we are not alone in the universe. And say what you will about the proof, the proof is in the pudding. They are risking their reputations in doing this. Everyone interviewed in the film claims direct knowledge of UAP as a result of Their work in the US Government and what they discuss is truly revelatory. And the reason for their disclosure is. Is truly chilling. They're afraid. Afraid that whatever is out there, whatever Merle Haggard, Tom delong, John Lennon, whatever others have claimed to have seen, whatever alien technology that causes unidentified aerial crafts to go 40,000 miles per hour, stop on a dime, turn and transmediate between air, water and space, unexplainable technology captured on video by our military personnel, that whatever that is, that it's going to be harnessed by our foreign adversaries and used against us if we do not wake up and admit that there's something else out there and find ways to work with it and use it for the good of mankind. Anyway, that's not me saying all that. That's the film. That's the point of the film. And my summary here is only scratching the surface of what the film reveals. But those are the stakes anyway. And with those stakes, if true, it means that we all need to find ways to wrap our heads around this UAP concept, this thing that Merle Haggard and John Lennon and Tom DeLonge and many other rock stars for years have been trying to draw our attention to. The idea that we are not alone. It seems to me that we as a species are going to slowly learn more and more about this topic until it's completely mainstreamed. And that this learning, this disclosure, this is my opinion. It seems to me that it's been going on for decades and that yes, willingly or unknowingly, whatever it is, some of our favorite rock stars have been part of this disclosure. And, hell, maybe you and I are part of this disclosure as well, and we just don't even know it. My advice? Listen or re listen to our Blink 182 episode after this. And I'm laughing because shamelessly pimping Disgraceland right now. But it's not without merit. Much of what I detail in that Blink 182 story is reinforced and expanded upon in this documentary that I'm talking about. So listen to Blink in Disgrace Land and then watch the Age of Disclosure and call me after that. 617-906-6638. And let me know what you think about this topic, okay? Are we alone, as Tom DeLonge insists we're not? Is the truth being disclosed? Are there UFOs over New York, as John Lennon warned us? Or are we all just high as fuck like Merle Haggard? All right, I want to know. Call me. 617-90-66638. Let me know your thoughts. I'll be back after this with your calls, texts and emails. And Ed Gein and Brook Slater from Psych.

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[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

All right, welcome back. The John Lennon UFO sighting that I mentioned earlier. That might sound like bunk. That might sound like witty. John Lennon taking the piss out of us. Having a laugh. Taking the piss out of us. I never know how to say that. I'm not even gonna try say it. That's an English thing. Taking the piss. You know what I mean? But John Lennon was dead serious about what he saw. And to prove that to you, Zeth and I are gonna tell you exactly what we mean in the exclusive section of this after party coming up shortly. Go to Disgracelandpod.com to become a and all Access members so that you can hear this exclusive content and get ad free listening on all episodes. All right, that's later. Now let's hear what you guys have to say. Last week was Thanksgiving. I hope you all had a great holiday with your families. Thanksgiving Means, of course, that we're talking about the greatest Thanksgiving concert film. Hell, the greatest concert film of all time. In my eyes, the Last Waltz. We asked, what is the greatest concert film in your opinion? And some of you got back to us. Here's Ken. Ken in the 818.

[Listener/Caller]

Hey, Jake, it's Ken in the 818. I'm gonna cheat on my answer about the concert film. I am trying to break your heart, but a film about Wilco by Sam Jones, not really a concert movie, but there is a lot of concert footage. Probably the best movie about a band ever. But in terms of concert film, the LCD sound system. Shut up and play the hits. It'd be even better if they hadn't actually gotten back together. But yeah, that one would probably be in terms of concert footage. That's my number one. All right, man. Take care. Thank you.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Ken, my man. Man, I saw that Wilco movie when it came out in the theaters in Davis Square, the Somerville Theater. Incredible. And you know, I loved it. I really, truly loved it. And I never went back and watched it again. You're reminding me. I need to go back and watch this. You know, Recently I had YouTube on and I doing something else and. And it just kept playing and it pulled up the Jay Bennett from Wilco documentary. That was actually pretty good as well. And I recommend that if you haven't seen it, LCD sound system, shut up and play the hits. Great concert film. And you're absolutely right. Would have been better had they stayed broken up. But I think, you know, what. What do breakups even mean anymore? Why break up? It doesn't make any sense. It really makes zero sense to break up. We don't live in a. We don't live in a world, in a culture, I should say, anymore, where, you know, old people. Supposedly old people can't play rock and roll. You just keep going. And obviously that's what LCD is going to do. All right, let's. Let's move the conversation over to the greatest country singer of all time. In light of our episode, our new part two episode on Merle Haggard, let's check out the seven seven zero.

[Listener/Caller]

Mr. Jake, name is Aiden from 770. That's northwest Georgia. Love the show. I've been binging it back and really enjoying it. Question was favorite country singer? I'm gonna go with kind of current and right now, number one for. Well, I got two. I'm gonna say Colter Wall, if you know him. If you don't, I'd say go check out nothing It's a cover of Tom Van Zant song. It's really good. And motorcycle. I'm gonna go culture wall. And I'm gonna go. Chris Stapleton, too. Huge superstar, and I think he's already kind of established himself as a legend in the game, and he still has a lot of time left. And if you didn't know, he's a. He also was a the lead singer of a bluegrass band called the Steel Drivers before he established himself solo. So the Steel Drivers, Reckless, and the south title album, those are both fantastic. Anyway, love the show, hope you're doing well, and have a happy holiday from 77 0.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

You know, I. I like Chris Stapleton. I do. I don't listen to him on purpose, which is to say I don't listen to him enough. But is this one of these guys? Every time I hear anything, I kind of turn my head and go, what's this? It's pretty good. Colton Wall. I'm gonna. I'm gonna check out on your recommendation. I'm gonna check out that Townes Van Zant cover. First and foremost, appreciate the call. 770-617-906-6638. If you guys want to get in touch, you guys want to leave me a message about anything, really, but, you know, more importantly, our UFO conversation. I'm digging that. What do you think? Watch Age of disclosure. Call me 617-906-6638 after your mind has been fully blown and let me know what you think and let me know what you think about this concept of disclosure. And if you think our cultural icons are involved, our musicians, our rock stars, if they're part of the plan, unwittingly or otherwise. 617-906-6638. Voicemail and text. 724-text. I'm getting ahead of the question this week because I'll be playing catch up with podcasts. The voice that captivates me from country music would be for men, Marty Robbins, and for females, Reba McEntire. Both are just incredibly quintessential and have a large catalog of varying material. You can find anything in and stretch their range. Good health to you and yours in later days. Jake. 724 Devil Woman by Marty R.O. robbins. Great, great country song. Highly recommend it. Reba. I don't know much about Reba. She's the one who's on television all the time, right? I probably need a Reba. You see the. What's the. What's the Reba Corn dog thing? What's that all about? I see that on Instagram, there's a meme I don't know. Hit me up 724. School me. All right. And talking about great music films, we got this message from the 416 that I want to read here. Great episode on. On music movies. Okay, so it's not a music film per se, but a documentary that I consider one of the greatest ever documentaries. Let's Get Lost, the Chet Baker Story by Bruce Weber. It contains what I consider the most affecting male jazz vocal performance ever recorded, which is the time blasted Chet Baker singing Almost Blue by Elvis Costello. The review on the Wikipedia page captures the essence of the film. Terence Rafferty, in his review for the New York Times, wrote, and this is the quote from Rafferty in the Times. Quote, the enduring fascination of let's Get Lost. The reason it remains powerful even now, when every value it represents is gone, is that it's among the few movies that deal with the mysterious, complicated emotional transactions involved in the creation of pop culture and with the ambiguous process by which performers generate desire. Interesting. I wonder how Rafferty intended us to interpret the word desire by which performers generate desire. Does he mean performers generate generating desire in their. From their audience? Or does he mean performers generating desire as in their desire in their will to create? Fascinating. Either way, yes, you're right. 416. Incredible quote. And let's Get Lost is an incredible movie. Shout out to Flea, by the way, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. You're right on that performance. It is incredible. It is absolutely incredible. No one ever sang like Chet Baker. And there was a thing when we were researching Chet Baker that I came upon when we were putting together our episode on Chet about how when he sang, he was on the edge of. Of. I think it was edge of tonality. I think that's how it was described where he. He just really feels like he's. He's about to. He's pushing it so far, but he's singing so subtly, but he feels like he's going to fall out of tune. And, man, that's just. I don't know who else does that or did that. It made it compelling and just. Chet Baker was overall a very compelling guy with a very criminal past. Super criminal. Check that episode out. One of my faves. Thanks for the text, 416. Appreciate you. 425 writes in. Hey, Jake, Jules from Seatown. One of my secret wishes every Thanksgiving is to take a time machine back to 1976 to see the last Walt Live. Greatest concert of the 20th century. Thanks for the story, love the show. You got it, Jules. Thanks for hitting us up. And thanks to everybody who's chimed in on the voicemail, on the text, on the dms, on the emails. Appreciate you guys. Wishing you and all of yours. Great holiday season. Jasmine Hughes writes in emails Us subject new forensic evidence could rewrite the story of Kurt Cobain's death. Hi Jake and Disgraceland team. I'm reaching out because I believe I've uncovered something that fits squarely in Disgraceland's wheelhouse. Music, history, mystery and real investigative gravity. A recently published peer reviewed multidisciplinary forensic report has emerged that calls into question the accepted narratives surrounding the death of Kurt Cobain. The report was prepared by forensic specialists Brian Burnett and Dr. Gabrielle Ritter and includes ballistic, forensic reconstruction and investigative findings that were unavailable in 1994. This isn't hearsay or unfounded rumor. It's a scientifically grounded, methodically sound and peer reviewed evidence that raises serious concern about inconsistencies and evidentiary oversights in the original investigation. Given disgrace and legacy of digging into the darker or more complex truths behind the music world. Dot, dot dot. Her music. Her email cuts off there. This is interesting. I can't verify the veracity of this 54 page document that the listener sent me here in the email, so called peer reviewed forensic ballistic reconstruction Kurt Cobain's death. But I will look into it. It is interesting, man. The people who don't believe Kurt Cobain offed himself are legion. You guys will not give up. And you know, maybe there's something there, I don't know. What do I know? You know, as far as everything I've looked at, I believe the man was seriously, seriously doomed and that he took his own life. That's, that's just based on all the research I've done. And I know many of you disagree with me, but I'm going to look into this doc and I appreciate you sending it. So thanks. Mike Black emails us Jericho by the band. Excellent recommendation. You got great taste, dude. Have a good one. Regards Mike. Mike, appreciate you. Yeah, that was, that was one of the recommendations from last week. You guys want to email me? Hit me up disgracelandpodgmail.com hit me on the cell. 617-90666 voicemail or text. Talk about recommendations. This week I'm obviously recommending for a documentary the Age of Disclosure new doc that's out. You can find that on Amazon if you can't find it in your local theaters. I'm also recommending the album Christmas album. Called Christmas Card by the Temptations, which is just fantastic. Check that out. You're gonna love it if you don't love it already. And for my book recommendation for the week, I just finished the Violent Beard Away by Flannery o'. Conn. And not an easy read, but not a long read and in a lot of ways an incredible read, especially if you're someone who likes to read about faith and reason, themes that, you know, humanity struggles with constantly and has since the beginning of time. Flannery o' Connor has an amazing way of contextualizing it all in 20th century American culture, and the Violent Bared away is a great example of that. Check that out if you are at all interested in those things. And you can always hit me up with your recommendations as well. You know how to get in touch. Speaking of recommendations, send me some recommendations on Christmas movies, your favorite Christmas movies and New Year's movies. Holiday movies. You know, Christmas, New Year Z and I are going to be we're planning something special in the Hollywoodland feed and we'd like you guys to get involved. So hit us up. All right. Favorite Christmas movies, favorite New Year's movies, and you'll know why in a couple days. I'll be back in a flash with my conversation with Brook Slater from Encyclopedia on Slayer and Ed Gein. You're not going to want to miss this. Crank up. Dead skin mask. Here we go.

[Jake Brennan]

Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

And breathe.

[Jake Brennan]

Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste.

[DSW Advertiser]

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[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

1-800-Contacts.

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Good morning, crust. It's a great day to be a bread brother.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Mornings are not my jam or jelly.

[Commercial Announcer]

Oh, come on, stop loafing around. I just Woke up feeling hollow inside. Just grab one of the new morning uncrustable sandwiches like Bright eyed Berry or up an apple filled with 12 grams of protein and tons of deliciousness crust.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

What are you eating? It's just granola.

[Jake Brennan]

Not even yogurt.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

No crust, no fuss. Uncrust your mornings.

Alright guys, up.

[Commercial Announcer]

What's.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Welcome back. I was talking earlier about my wife and I, you know, are we gonna watch this Ed Gein thing or not? And we watched some of it, a little bit, a little taste. And I was, I was repulsed. I'm not gonna lie. This story now, I can handle a lot of stuff. I could not handle this story. And it all stems back, all goes back for me. All goes back to a song I heard when I was 16 years old by a band I spent a lot of time with as a kid. Not personally, just, you know, in my headphones and in my speakers, a band called Slayer. I get into this, I get into this story, the Ed Gein story, and trace it back to my history with Slayer, with, I guess you could call her an Ed Gein expert. She's absolutely a true crime expert. This is Brooke Slater from Psychopedia in our conversation. All right, I wanted to talk to my next guest here, Brook Slater from the podcast Psychopedia for some time about different true crimes represented throughout music history. Now, Brooke, you are a true crime expert. You are an actual criminal investigator and you've covered Ed Gein in depth. Now, Ed Gein is the subject of this newish Netflix series Monster. That's been quite a topic of debate around the house here. I've wanted to watch it. My wife wants no part of it. I watched some of it. I was disgusted pretty quickly even though I knew the story.

[Jake Brennan]

Normal reaction. Usually it's opposite. Usually it's the wife who really, really wants to get into the true crime and it's the husband who's like, I'm good.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Yeah, yeah, you, you would know. You've covered this, this story on the heels of the Netflix series In Depth Encyclopedia. You've done, I believe, two episodes on, on the subject.

[Jake Brennan]

Yeah, it was a two parter.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Two parter. Because I mean, honestly, this could have been a 22 parter. The story is, is so massive and it is so intense and it is just, it is the definition of insanity. I think My, my interest though in Ed Gein doesn't originate from the Netflix series, but rather from a song by a band called Slayer, a band that I loved as a kid and they had a song back in the day called Dead Skin Mask. And that's how I first heard of this Ed Gein story. I was probably, I think I was 16 years old when that song came out. And since I started Disgraceland, which, you know, I wasn't a huge true crime podcast fan before I started the show. I certainly was, but I wasn't like one of these, like my wife huge true crime podcast. You know, I was interested in it, and then I realized, God, I've been interested in true crime my whole life. So I've sort of. Without knowing it. So in the process of the podcast, I've sort of looked back at my formative years and my child and been like, what. What got me into true crime? And I realized that this Slayer song and this specifically this story about Ed Gein, which was very pre podcast mythical story of horror story, right? Like, this is something we passed around the hallways at school, the bus stop, et cetera. It was just like, you couldn't believe that it was true. Some people believed it, some people didn't. So anyways, this is one of the things that got me first interested in true crime. I want to know what first got you interested in true crime.

[Jake Brennan]

Oh, my goodness. Well, it started way, way, way back. I mean, I can't remember a time when I wasn't into true crime, honestly. My grandmother used to read me true crime stories and fiction, horror and detective stories before bed. Like, that was my bedtime story. Everybody else go, grandma, yeah, their Mother Goose stuff. And I'm getting, you know, Ed Gein, for example. But I. And I have a twin sister, so she and I would be tucked in together and she would be hiding under the blankets with. With a pillow over her head like, grandma, please stop. And I would be foaming at the mouth, like, please, Grandma. More so. I've always been into true crime. I went to school for criminal justice and criminology. I sort of always knew I wanted to wind up doing something in the field. And there's so much to do. Right. Like, you kind of just spoke about it a little bit. In terms of Ed Gein, there's so many layers. There's the psychology, there's the criminology, obviously, there's the gruesomeness of it, which is actually not what I'm all about. I'm all about highlighting the victims to the extent that I can and understanding the mind behind the perpetrator. You know, sort of one of the big premises of Psychopedia, or what I try to convey in every episode is I try and steer people away from referring to perpetrators as monsters. Because I feel like when you do that, you're categorizing them into this, like, other area, and they're not. They're human beings, and you need to understand them so that we can crack the code and prevent it from happening again. So we can understand that everybody comes with a history and circumstances, and if we can dive into that and understand it, then maybe we could prevent future crimes from happening. So this is always where I've lived. This has always been my headspace. I've always been a creepy kind of girl. There's never been a point when I haven't loved true crime, and now I get to do it for a living.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Right, Right. I wonder how many Ed Geins we've prov. Prevented from happening. So this story. Talk about creepy. I mean, you're joking about yourself being a creepy kind of girl. This is the creepiest. I know you just said you don't want us to call these people monsters. That's literally the name of the series about this guy.

[Jake Brennan]

It is.

[Commercial Announcer]

And.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

I don't want to go against what you just said. That's okay.

[Jake Brennan]

Go against.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

I don't know how to categorize this guy. This is next level. And it's interesting because the song, the Slayer song, this is, you know, the music History of It all is My side of the fence. And the song, when you read the lyrics, they're not that creepy. They're a little bit more figurative than they are literal, suggestive. When you hear the song, however, and you hear the lyrics sung with the music, it's creepy as all hell. It just. It goes right up my spine, and I think it just reminds me of that. There's something, like you said, you know, when you're talking about your grandmother and you and your sister being under the covers and hearing these stories, I think there's things are more fearful in adulthood when we can root them to our formative years in some ways. And that's what this song does for me. So I thought it might be interesting because you're a true crime expert, you're certainly way more knowledgeable about Ed Gein than I am. I thought it might be interesting if we tell the story of Ed Gein through the Slayer lyrics here. And to me, I just kind of want to do some association here, and I hate to put you on the spot, but I want to read you the lyrics, essentially passages from the lyrics, and have you relate them to the Ed Gein story, and we'll sort of piece together the narrative here. As we go.

[Jake Brennan]

Let's do it. I love it. I listened to the song driving over here, but I was busy, like, jamming to it. And I wasn't really so heavy into the lyrics. So this will be fun to dive into it.

[Listener/Caller]

It.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Okay, great. I'm going to start at the top here. So here we go. Now, I just want to give people a tiny bit of context to make this perhaps a little bit creepier. For those who don't know anything about Ed gein, this is 1950s Wisconsin, is that right?

[Jake Brennan]

That's correct.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

It's this guy who lives with his mother and his sister, I believe. Brother. Excuse me. The dad is gone. Right. The dad's out of the house.

[Jake Brennan]

He was there for a little while. He initially was Ed, his brother and his two parents. And they were just one fucked up little family living in isolated, rural Wisconsin.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Right, okay.

[Jake Brennan]

Totally, totally off the grid. Not in a sense that, you know, they didn't mingle with society, but they were on the fringes for sure. And his mother is really the one who wore. No, I don't wanna say wore the pants. That's first of all horrible. I hate that expression. But she basically had everybody in a psychological chokehold. So when his father ultimately died, it sort of didn't even shift the dynamic in the household because his mother was always the one in charge, always the one calling the shots. So nothing really changed when he died. Everything, however, changed when she died.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Right, right. Okay. So we're 1950s, we're rural America, Wisconsin, rural society for this family. Anyways, domineering mother. And just so those of you movie fans out there, Ed Gein was the loose inspiration for Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock Psycho, Also loose inspiration for.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre story. Not a literal adaptation, but that's what we're dealing with. That's at the core here. So let's get into the Slayer lyrics here.

[Jake Brennan]

There's actually a third movie loosely based on him as well, or a character, I should say. And that's Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. So he's had. You know, I was going to mention this earlier. Even if you think you don't know who Ed Gein is, chances are you do because you've seen one of those movies.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Right? Right. And if you're a true crime fan, you absolutely know who Ed Gein is. But you might not know who you know who Slayer is and what the Slayer song is. And here we go. It's absolutely based on Ed Gein. They've said it explicitly here. Are the lyrics, the Beginning lyrics. So, Brooke, I want to know what part of the story you think this relates to. Lyrics. Go. How I've waited for you to come I've been here all alone now that you've arrived Please stay a while and I promise I won't keep you long I'll keep you forever Forever, forever, forever.

[Jake Brennan]

And that he did, or that he tried to do. So here's my take on it. As we mentioned, he was, you know, in this psychological chokehold from his mother. He thought of his mother as the one woman he loved in his entire life.

He really did not know how to exist when she died. So the lyric, honestly, it's a very literal translation. But how I've waited for you to come, I think is how I've waited for you to come back. So she died in 1945. Eighteen months later is when he unearthed his first corpse.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Okay, hold on, hold on. Explain.

[Jake Brennan]

I know. I just.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

We need details here. Unearthing the first corpse. How I've waited for you to come. So pillow talk for me.

[Jake Brennan]

So, yeah, definitely have me pump the brakes.

So, Augusta, his mother died, as I said, in 1945, and he was lost. He was like a ship without an anchor. He really was. He did not know how to think for himself. He didn't know how to live in the world without her. She had taught him everything he knew and didn't know because he kept her. She kept him rather so isolated and shielded. When she died, he closed off her bedroom. He closed off the living. He made, like, this macabre museum out of their shared home, and he wouldn't touch anything that belonged to her. As time went on and I think the wall started to close in on him, and he started to just psychologically unravel. He was needing his mother. He was needing her in a very literal sense. So he had the idea to literally recreate her using the flesh of dead women who resembled her. So he would go through the obituaries and he would find freshly deceased women who mimicked his mother, typically physically, but also a lot of times in personality as well. So he would unearth their corpses, dig them up, take them back to his home, and then go to town on literally picking them apart and making items that he could hold onto forever, which is, you know, I've been here all alone is the lyrics. Since she died, for 18 months, he was there all alone. Now that you've arrived meaning now that I've basically unearthed, what symbolically represents you. Please stay a while I'm gonna make you Into a nipple belt. I'm gonna make you into a chair. I'm gonna use women's skulls and eat my soup out of them. In the kitchen. He kept nine vulvas in a box underneath his bed, which by the way, he painted silver and salted. I think probably to preserve. I don't think he was actually eating anything.

Yeah, I know this is a lot.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

I don't even know what to say to that. Except nine vulvas might have been the B side to Dead Skin masks. Sorry. Not trying to joke, but I am. Okay, so he's. I don't even know where to go. I mean, this is in part. I don't know this story. Like, you know, it clearly. And I had a real hard time with getting into the TV show. And, you know, I've seen stuff. I've seen the images of the nipple belt. I've seen these things that are just completely psychotic. And it's really interesting to me because the Slayer song comes out in 1990, and Slayer was like. They weren't a band. That was me. I mean, they were about as mainstream as a thrash metal band could get, but they weren't as mainstream as Metallica or even Anthrax. MTV Headbangers Ball would play them, but they got no radio play, no mainstream video play because their lyrics were considered to be extreme. And as we're going through this story, it's clear to me that the reality here is far more extreme than what they put in the song. And I can actually, I. I would bet, you know, you know, whatever. Whatever you want to bet that they made a choice and they had to pull back on being explicit in the lyrics for fear of just not getting any airplay. Who knows how the censorship would have been applied? Because the reality here, everything, the details you just listed are completely fucked up. And it's a little bit strange to me that here we are in 2025, and it's mainstreamed in not only a podcast like yours or mine or other true crime podcasts, but on a Netflix series, and it's huge. And this is the stuff we're talking about. I'm gonna go to the next lyric here. Graze the skin with my fingertips the brush of dead cold flesh Appease the means Provoking images Delicate features so smooth A pleasant. I can't even get it out. A pleasant fragrance in the light of the moon. What is Mr. Ed Gein up to in this verse?

[Jake Brennan]

Well, Slayer, I think, took some creative liberties, which is. Which is absolutely their right to do so. No judgment on that. Well, yes, so he definitely, obviously would finesse the skin. He made masks out of real human faces. He used special oils and he peeled off the faces, he preserved it and he made actual masks. He also made what was referred to as a mammary vest, which was. He essentially skinned the torso of a deceased woman, breast still intact. And then he would wear the skin suit. So yes, he would graze the skin with his fingertips and he would do a lot fucking more than that. The brush of dead cold flesh appease the means pretty self explanatory. Here's where he took, I believe Slayer took two creative liberties provoking images. Delicate features. So smooth. His mother was a very severe looking woman. She was of German descent. And the women that he dug up and actually killed, he did kill two women, were very sort of big bones, severe looking women. They're was sort of. I wouldn't use the word delicate to describe their features.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Okay.

[Jake Brennan]

And their features at this point would not have been smooth because they were decomposed. Okay, that's fine, Slayer, the next line. A pleasant fragrance in the light of the moon. So here's a big sticking point. Ed Gein did not enjoy the scent of decomposing flesh. In fact, the reason he provides for countering anybody who claims that he was accountable or a necrophiliac is, is that he could not stand the stench of flesh. So he didn't eat it and he didn't have sex with it. A lot of sources will say he's a necrophiliac. There's actually different types of necrophiles. There are those who do get off on decomposing flesh, so they will have sex with dead bodies. And then there's necrophiles who just get off on the fact that the body is dead and they have ultimate control to do with that body whatever they want.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Aye, aye, aye.

[Jake Brennan]

So. So a pleasant fragrance. Not according to Ed Gein.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

I get that completely. It's interesting though. The smell of death is a real. Is obviously a real thing. We covered it in our Norwegian black metal episode where there was this singer in this Norwegian band who just became. I mean, his name was Dead Mayhem. Yeah, exactly.

[Jake Brennan]

I did an episode on them. So I actually. Yeah.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

And so you know that he was actually obsessed with the smell of death and he would carry around around dead birds so he could huff on them. And. And it's so. It's. I can't even. I can't. I literally can't understand it. I can't. If you've ever smelled anything dead like you got an animal. I've had. We lived in an old New England house, and we would get animals trapped in the walls, and it's just. It's absolutely disgusting. I. I can't understand how somebody's brain makes this switch and that becomes something that they're into. And apparently it was a bridge too far for Ed Gein.

[Jake Brennan]

Apparently so. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I think that's just it. You just touched on a really important point. You know what I mean? It's just the psychology. It's the, you know, perpetrators on this level or, you know, in the case of dead, for example, they're so complex, you know? And again, if you label them monsters and you kind of put them in their own category and you say, like, well, you know, they're just not like us. And so it is what it is. You're never gonna learn about them, and you're never gonna figure out what makes them the way they are. And if you can't figure that out, you can't protect the future. Basically. Not to get too heavy with this. He is a human being. He came from somewhere, Ed Gein. He came from a really difficult background, psychologically speaking, and it took its toll and it manifested in a very up way.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, let's. Let's take it here to the. The next set of lyrics. Dance with the dead Speaking of dead. Dance with the dead in my dreams Listen to their hallowed screams the dead have taken my soul I know where this is going Temptations lost all control okay.

[Jake Brennan]

Dance with the dead in my dream Ed Gein did struggle with hallucinations.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Really?

[Jake Brennan]

Yeah. He felt that he could hear his mother's voice after she died. He felt that he could see faces in the leaves, for example, and he felt that he could always smell rot. What's interesting is he had that sort of olfactory hallucination before he was unearthing corpses. Initially, when I was researching this, I felt like, well, you're smelling rot because you're digging up dead bodies. But this actually happened before that. But, yeah, he was having auditory hallucinations. He was having visual hallucinations. And I think ultimately it was all of that that ended up pushing him over the edge in such a way that made him end up taking two lives and then unearthing all of these corpses. Listen to their hallowed screams. He didn't kill the women. He did, sadly, kill two women, Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden. But he killed them very quickly. Neither one of them knew what was happening. He shot them both in the head, unfortunately. So there were no screams. So listen to their hallowed screams. I think is just a creative liberty. The dead have taken my soul. I think is symbolic of his mother taking his soul when she died and taking everything that she created that he did not know how to run with when she died. The wheels came off. So I think that is. That lyric has to do with that. And then temptations Lost all control is like, fuck it. I'm just gonna go all in at this point. Point. And I'm going to wear female breasts and genitals, which he did.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Simple smiles lewd psychotic eyes Lose all mind control Rationale declines Empty eyes enslave the creations of placid faces and lifeless pageants.

[Jake Brennan]

So the psychotic eyes part is what's interesting to me. Interestingly not. Not every expert is on the same page as to whether or not Ed Gein was psychotic.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Really?

[Jake Brennan]

Yeah. So.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

And what's the alternative if he's not psychotic?

[Jake Brennan]

A personality disorder. So in a legal sense, they're very different things. You sort of have to understand whether or not a perpetrator has psychosis or they're dealing with mental health issues. And what kind of mental health issues? Because it helps you to determine the sentencing for the that perpetrator. So a finding of psychosis means that the individual lacked the capacity to understand right from wrong when they were committing the crime in question.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Okay.

[Jake Brennan]

So when it comes to sentencing, you're not going to lock that person up in a prison. You're going to send that individual to, you know, a psychiatric institution for treatment. They may not ever see mainstream society again. That's not what I'm saying. They're not given a pass, but they are not given in prison. So at the time, Ed Gein was deemed psychotic and he was sent to live out the rest of his days in a psychiatric institution. But there are experts today who feel that since our understanding of mental health has shifted so much since the 1950s, that it's not really 100%, you know, the case that he would be looked at as legally insane today. So the question is, did he know what he was doing was wrong and he did it anyway?

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Right.

[Jake Brennan]

Or did he not even realize that what he was doing was wrong? And that is the crux of the criminal justice system, really.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Right. Right. What do you think?

[Jake Brennan]

Great question. I kind of.

When you're looking at whether or not somebody knew what they were doing was wrong and that they did it anyway, you wanna look at things like premeditation. Now, people think that premeditation means that you're sitting and you're plotting and you have every single detail calculated. That's not necessarily what premeditation is. So premeditation is also. Were there steps taken to cover up the crime? Was there any thought put into committing the crime where you're covering your tracks, where there's this sort of mental awareness that what you're doing is wrong enough that you could get in trouble? And if you see those elements in a crime, then that can constitute as premeditation.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Right?

[Jake Brennan]

You saw that with Ed Gein. He only dug up the bodies under the pale moonlight, right? So he waited until it was pitch black and the world was asleep. To me, that suggests premeditation. When he was ultimately put in the back of a squad car, when he was ultimately picked up, the first thing out of his mouth was, I was framed. Which was very silly if you listen to the coverage of it. I'm like, you dumb fuck. Like, you don't even know why you're in the back of that police car and you're already confessing to something. But basically, he had the wherewithal to know, oh, shit, I'm getting caught for something that I've done here. I'm going to say I was framed. So those two things kind of put up a red flag that there was premeditation. However, all of that said, I think that he was suffering. Suffering from psychosis.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Really? Wow. Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. All right, let's keep going here. In the depths of a mind insane, fantasy and reality are the same, right? I mean, that. That goes to what you were just saying.

[Jake Brennan]

Exactly. Exactly. Right. Like if you can't tell that what you're doing is wrong, if you just. You've lost all sense of, you know, exactly what's right and wrong, what's reality, what's fantasy, then, you know, in their lyrics, is your mind insane? Which obviously the definition of insanity, you know, in a legal sense is different from the definition of, you know, somebody who's insanity in a mental health sense. But in the end, Ed Gein was not, you know, was deemed criminally insane. So that was at the time what he was considered.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

This last lyric, incised members. I'm skipping the chorus again. Incised members. Ornaments on my being Adulating the skin before me.

[Jake Brennan]

Yeah. Can you guess? Can you guess what that means, Jake, can you give us your best shot?

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

I can't. I mean, that's the thing in this, that turns me off with the series is the dancing around the wearing of the dead body parts and, you know, the ornaments on my Being quote, unquote. I just. It's hard to imagine, never mind to watch the visual, the dramatization of it. It's really. And I know my listeners are probably going to be like, what are you talking about? You've depicted the goriest shit possible. I don't know. There's just. There's something about this story that. That just strikes me. It's like the Dahmer story is very similar. It skeeves me out in a way that. That most stories don't. For some. For some, I mean, I've done cannibalism. I mean, I've covered cannibalism in the past.

[Jake Brennan]

Nice.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Numerous times. Big lurch. We talked about mayhem. But I don't know, man. There's just something about, I guess, the wearing of flesh that is just. It gets you.

[Jake Brennan]

I mean, listen, good for you, man. I don't have that. I wish I did. I have lost all ability to.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

There's no more line for you.

[Jake Brennan]

There's no more line. I have not lost my empathy at all for the victim. So, you know, in that sense, I. I'm still 100% feeling constantly, which is my cross to bear, being a true crime podcaster. But, no.

I can't get past my fascination with this stuff, I think enough to feel the gruesomeness of it, if that makes sense. It's all so symbolic to me that I'm almost looking past the act itself.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

You're looking for the reason behind the act, so you can objectify the act. And the horror of it is a separate thing. And you do it masterfully. Your show is incredible.

[Jake Brennan]

Thank you.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

I'm glad we got to meet. I'm a fan. I love that we've been able to talk a little bit about this. And you've been super curious about the music side of it, which is awesome. I know my listeners are gonna love your show. Everybody tell. Everybody tell Discos where Cyclopedia is available when the episodes hit and where else they could find you.

[Jake Brennan]

Yes. And thank you, Jake, by the way, also, huge fan of yours. I have been for a long time. I've been wanting this to happen for so long. So thank you. Thank you for this moment.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Of course.

[Jake Brennan]

Cyclopedia drops every single Wednesday. It's available wherever you get your podcasts. Also on Instagram and TikTok. I actually, you would just follow InvestigatorsLater versus Cyclopedia. That's kind of where I post everything relating to what I do. And Yeah, I have patreon.com psychopedia pod as well for extra true crime content, behind the scenes stuff. Opportunity to guest co host with me over there. But yeah, otherwise the main feed. I would love to have you on the main feed, everybody. And that's anywhere you listen to podcasts.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Nice. And what's. You just did the two episodes on Ed Gein. What else do you have coming up? What's coming up next?

[Jake Brennan]

The next one I have coming up is. Oh, it's another doozy. Yeah, it's about. This is wild. A teenage boy who murdered his parents and then hid their remains in his bedroom and threw a massive house party. So I'm gonna go to town on the psychology there. Cause that's wild.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

That reminds me of the Disgraceland episode we did on club kid from New York, Michael Alig, who ended up very similarly. He killed his friend who was his drug dealer, chopped him up into little pieces, put him in a box, and then just started partying and then multiple parties with this. The friend is like rotting in a box in this luxury high rise apartment in New York City. There's like flies. Everyone's like, what's in the box, dude? He's like, oh, nothing. He actually jokes. He's like, oh, that's Angel. That's where angel is.

[Jake Brennan]

Where's this guy gonna get his drugs now? You don't bite the hand that feeds you. Come on.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Exactly. That dude called me. That dude called me when he got out of prison. That was. No, yeah, that was. I had. I actually released it. It was nuts. All right, I'm going off. I'm going off topic here.

[Jake Brennan]

I love it.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

This is great. Thank you so much, Brooke. Appreciate you. I hope all the Disgrace Land listeners get to listen to Cyclopedia. And I don't know, we get into more true crime and music overlap. Be awesome to have you back.

[Jake Brennan]

Love to. Anytime. Thank you so much, Jake.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

All right, guys. Hope you dug that interview with myself in Brooke. Sort of tracing back my. It would be an overuse of the word trauma, but sort of, you know, my. My Ed Gein kind of heebie jeebies back, back, back to all goes back to Slayer. Doesn't everything go back to heavy metal? I don't know. Kind of does for me. Anyhow, check out Brooke. She's obviously very informed, intelligent, way up on true crime. If you're a true crime head like I know most of you are, check out her show Psychopedia. It's f. You're going to dig it. 617-906-6638 voicemail. Text hit me up with your Christmas and New Year's movie recommendations because Zeth and I are planning something special. We want to involve you guys. All right, hit us up. We talked earlier about John Lennon and his UFO sighting and the veracity of that sighting. Whether or not John Lennon was. Was pulling the wool over all of our eyes. I know it's hard to believe, but we're going to get into this and we're going to try and lay and we're gonna try and lend some credibility to John's claims in this exclusive section that's coming up. To hear this episode, you gotta be an All Access member. Disgraceand real easy to sign up. Just five bucks a month that is going up. That price is going up next week. Next week, people. So if you don't want to be paying 5.99, if you only want to be paying five bucks and you want to get in on some hot discount action that we're going to be offering, get over to disgraceandpod.com and sign up to become an all actual Access member. You're not only going to be able to hear exclusive content like the conversation I'm about to have with Zeth, you're also going to get ad free listening. You're going to get mini episodes every week that go deeper into our stories. And you're going to get access if you sign up through Patreon to Zeth and I in the Patreon chat and the discussion we're having with with all the other discos. Your support is very much appreciated. Super grateful for you guys. Your support helps us create all this content. Couldn't do it without value. Disgracelandpod.com to sign up. All right, guys, thanks for riding with me on another bonus episode of Disgraceland. This week. We talked about Chet Baker, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Sammy Hagar from Van Halen. We have episodes on all these guys. And Matt is going to leave a trail of breadcrumbs for you to find these episodes in the show notes so that you have no problem sifting through our 255 plus stories. And don't sleep on that Chet Baker episode episode. It's incredible if I do say so myself. Great story. All right, let's recap, shall we? Number one, this week's new episode on Merle Haggard. Our part two story on Merle Haggard is available for you right now. Number two, new mini episode for All Access members on Merle and his UFO sighting and infatuation. Number three, rewind episode on Blink 182 in Tom DeLong we get in more fully to the UAP thing there as well. That's coming up for you right after this. Next week comes our new story on Phil Spectators, actor in his insanity that may have started way back before the incredible Christmas album that he made. Number five. That's going to give you those Hollywood land and crime vibes in Hollywoodland. So make sure you are subscribed. Get us your favorite holiday movies, Christmas and New Year's as well. 617-906-6638. Your voice keeps us digging into the dark corners of music history. So keep calling texting with your answers to this week's question of the week or with whatever else you want to talk about. Don't forget to subscribe. Discoast. This isn't just content. It's a community. A community of the obsessed. No one cares about music, books, records and the crime and grime. It ties them all together like you do. And, well, that's a disgrace. All right. Way back In November in 1973, Merle Haggard took a break from his houseboat and from watching UFOs and released his excellent Christmas album, Merle Haggard's Christmas Present. Here's what America was listening to on that day, according to the Billboard charts. 1. Keep on Truckin' Part 1. Eddie Kendricks Last Week 3 weeks on Chart 12. Peak Position 1 2. Midnight Train to Georgia Gladys Knight and the Pips Last week two weeks on chart nine. Peak position two Number three. Angie the Rolling Stones Last minute House weeks on chart peak position 1 number 4 number 6 last week four weeks on chart 13. Peak position 6 2. Number 5. Rambling man number 7. The Allman Brothers man.

[Commercial Announcer]

Quit talking and start mixing.

[Jake Brennan (Host of Disgraceland)]

Cut it.