466 - Parrots Of The Future

Summary

Episode 466 - Parrots Of The Future
Release Date: February 6, 2025

My Favorite Murder hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark delve into a mix of light-hearted banter, creative segments, and gripping true crime narratives in this episode. Below is a detailed summary capturing all key discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode.

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1. Social Media Shenanigans

[00:23 - 06:37]

Karen and Georgia kick off the episode with a humorous discussion about social media, particularly focusing on Karen's accidental removal from TikTok.

• Karen Kilgariff shares her experience:
  “Do you know that I am off of TikTok?” [01:07]

• Georgia Hardstark expresses frustration with TikTok's policies:
  “They’re like, fuck you, and fuck you. Fuck you.” [01:38]

The hosts lament the loss of platforms like Twitter for real-time information sharing and express relief in migrating to Instagram, albeit with their own quirks. Their conversation underscores the broader theme of social media's evolving landscape and its impact on personal connections.

2. Ceramics Celebration

[09:00 - 15:15]

In celebration of their podcast’s ninth anniversary, Karen and Georgia showcase handmade ceramics sent in by listeners, highlighting the creativity within their community.

• Georgia Hardstark introduces the segment:
  “So last week, because we asked you... we wanted to just do a couple more really quickly because apparently you guys freaking loved it.” [09:02]

Notable pieces include:

• Cassandra from Westerwald Pottery:

  • “Hope you enjoy the anniversary croc and the mugs.” [10:05]
  • The hosts admire the vintage floral design and personal touches honoring the podcast.

• Tina Cain from Teapots Pottery:

  • “It’s a pipe shaped like a microphone.” [12:16]
  • This clever design merges functionality with a nod to the podcast’s true crime theme.

• Chris Shima from Shima Ceramics:

  • “I make sculptural mugs by hand... stay out of the forest skull mugs.” [13:08]
  • The skull-themed mugs resonate with their true crime storytelling.

The segment highlights the podcast’s strong community engagement and the personal connections forged through shared creativity.

3. Podcast Network Highlights

[15:15 - 19:20]

Karen and Georgia take a moment to promote other podcasts within the Exactly Right network, showcasing the diversity of content available to listeners.

• Highlights Include:

  • Your Movies, I Love You:
    “Millie and Casey take on the trope of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and discuss the 2004 hit film Garden State.” [15:27]

  • That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast:
    “Kara and Lisa cover an episode from season five entitled Manic.” [16:44]

  • MFM Animated:
    “Sleep German, which is inspired by Minisode 320.” [16:56]

The hosts emphasize the network’s commitment to providing a platform for bold and creative voices across various genres, reinforcing the collaborative spirit of their podcast community.

4. True Crime Focus: Adelaide Oval Abductions

[19:20 - 46:53]

The episode transitions to a deep dive into the harrowing 1973 Adelaide Oval abductions, where two young girls were kidnapped from a sports stadium in Australia.

Case Overview

• Incident Details:

  • Date & Location: August 25, 1973, Adelaide Oval, South Australia.
  • Victims: 11-year-old Joanne Radcliffe and 4-year-old Kirsty Gordon.

• Disappearance Timeline:

  • During the third quarter of an Australian football match, Joanne and Kirsty were taken to the bathroom.
  • Approximately 20 minutes later, they failed to return, triggering a frantic search involving families and police.

• Eyewitness Account:

  • Anthony Kilmartin, a 13-year-old concession worker, witnessed the abduction:
    “...he saw the man bend down and pick up 4-year-old Kirsty and then Joanne.” [30:XX]

Investigation and Suspects

• Police Response:

  • Initial searches yielded no results, prompting widespread media coverage and public alarm.
  • Over 400 tips were submitted, but concrete leads remained elusive.

• Possible Suspects:

  • Bevin Spencer von Einem:

    • Convicted for another child’s murder, his name surfaced due to alleged connections with a pedophile ring known as "the Family."

  • Arthur Stanley Brown:

    • Charged in a separate 1970 abduction case, later dismissed due to age and possible mental incapacity.

  • Stanley Arthur Hart:

    • Identified by an anonymous informant as a potential abductor.
    • Evidence included steel barrels with traces of blood and a hand-drawn map leading to an underground tunnel.

• Connection to Other Cases:

  • The abductions are often linked to the earlier Beaumont children disappearance in 1966 and other unresolved child abduction cases in Australia.

Ongoing Efforts and Public Impact

• Family Advocacy:

  • Susie Wilkinson, Joanne’s sister, founded Leave a Light On to support missing persons and their families.

• Public and Media Attention:

  • Persistent public interest and investigative efforts aim to uncover new evidence.
  • GoFundMe campaigns support further testing of discovered evidence, such as the blood-traced barrels.

• Closing Thoughts:

  • Georgia emphasizes the importance of revisiting cold cases:
    “Maybe when we tell these stories, people will pay more attention and it can happen.” [47:09]

The segment poignantly illustrates the enduring pain of unresolved cases and the relentless pursuit of truth by families and the true crime community.

5. Historical Narrative: Minnie Freeman and the Schoolhouse Blizzard

[48:05 - 76:53]

Shifting from modern true crime, Karen and Georgia recount the heroic tale of Minnie Freeman, a 19-year-old teacher who saved her students during the devastating Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888.

Storm Overview

• Event: The Schoolhouse Blizzard, also known as the Children’s Blizzard, struck on January 12, 1888.
• Location: Central Nebraska, USA.
• Impact:
  • Sudden temperature drop from the 40s to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Extreme snowfall, hail, and hurricane-force winds created life-threatening conditions.

Minnie Freeman’s Heroism

• Initial Situation:

  • Minnie, teaching in a rudimentary sod schoolhouse, decides to keep her 13 students inside during the unexpected storm.

• Storm Escalation:

  • [61:09] The roof is blown away, forcing Minnie to make a quick decision.
  • She leads her students through whiteout conditions, battling freezing temperatures and blinding snow.

• Survival Efforts:

  • [63:14] The storm's intensity makes navigation nearly impossible, with snow engulfing their vision and breathing paths blocked.
  • [63:54] Despite the harrowing journey, Minnie and her students reach safety, though not without suffering severe frostbite and the loss of one student’s foot.

Aftermath and Legacy

• Public Recognition:

  • Minnie is hailed as a hero, receiving widespread acclaim and numerous marriage proposals.
  • A song titled “13 were saved” is composed in her honor.

• Long-term Impact:

  • [75:42] Minnie becomes an active community leader and political figure, breaking barriers for women in her time.
  • [75:58] She is recognized as the first female member of the Republican National Committee to represent Nebraska.

• Legacy of Resilience:

  • The Omaha Evening Bee lauds her courage:
    “The brave young teacher Minnie Freeman... embodied all the love and gratitude within a mother's heart.” [71:45]

• Personal Reflections:

  • Susie Wilkinson, Joanne’s sister, emphasizes the enduring hope and remembrance within the family:
    “...to the very day we left, mom would leave the front light on in the hope one day Joe would come home.” [44:25]

Concluding Remarks

• [77:03] The hosts express profound respect for Minnie’s actions and the broader community of educators who act with bravery in crisis.
• Georgia Hardstark underscores the importance of recognizing unsung heroes:
  “Thank you for being a teacher... we appreciate you.” [77:30]

The historical account serves as a powerful testament to human resilience and the profound impact one individual can have in saving lives during unimaginable circumstances.

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Final Thoughts

Throughout the episode, Karen and Georgia blend humor with serious storytelling, highlighting both contemporary issues and historical events. Their dedication to honoring heroes, whether from true crime cases or historical narratives, reinforces the podcast’s mission to shed light on compelling and often overlooked stories.

Notable Quotes:

• “It’s parrots, which I watch so many videos of them talking to.” — Georgia Hardstark [00:55]
• “Huskies are the parrots of the future.” — Karen Kilgariff [01:03]
• “The dream man won’t get you if we stick together.” — Georgia Hardstark [17:23]
• “So very much like your wingman for the confrontation.” — Georgia Hardstark [34:30]
• “The tragedy is not just the storm, but the stories of survival and heroism that emerged from it.” — Maren McLachlan [76:36]

Conclusion: Episode 466 of My Favorite Murder masterfully intertwines lighthearted conversations with poignant true crime and historical stories, offering listeners a rich and engaging experience. From social media woes to the chilling Adelaide Oval abductions and the inspiring tale of Minnie Freeman, the hosts deliver a multifaceted narrative that both entertains and educates.

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For more episodes and content, follow My Favorite Murder on Instagram and Facebook.

Transcript

[Karen Kilgariff]

This is exactly right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hello, and welcome to my favorite murder. That's a Georgia Heartstring, and that's a Karen Kilgariff.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And this is how you make the.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Have you seen. I don't know how we haven't talked about this yet. The fucking husky who has an Italian accent. Oh, my God. Nothing has brought me more joy in my life than the best.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right?

[Georgia Hardstark]

The best.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I feel like if there's any animal that's about to break over into human speaking, huskies will be first.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They're so close.

[Maren McLachlan]

They're.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They're borderline.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They're like. It's parrots, which I watch so many videos of them talking to.

[Maren McLachlan]

They literally are talking.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And huskies, if you haven't seen it, just Google Italian husky.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Huskies are the parrots of the future. And that's clear to all of us who care about TikTok.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Don't you believe in evolution, everyone?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Sorry, Breaking news. Do you know that I am off of TikTok?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Why? What happened?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Because I accidentally. The day that they said they were quote, unquote, banning it, yeah, I went and deleted the app because I was like, I don't want to stare at that anymore. I don't want to just look at it and not be able to access it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Did you cancel your account? You just can't sign back in?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I deleted it off my phone. 12 hours later, I'm eating dinner with Bridger and he goes home on the reinstated TikTok. And I was like, wait, what? And so then I go to put it back on my phone. Cannot.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You can't.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You can't.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Cause they're like, fuck you, and fuck you. Fuck you. If you, like, ditch them.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's basically the general practice of fuck you if you're American at this point.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Well, yeah, I mean, that's great. Come to Instagram. We're a happy family here. It's less chaotic.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Here's the thing. It's just like, I have to transfer high school's senior year last quarter.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So it's like, hey, guys, are we gonna be friends? No, no, no, no, no, no.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But everyone wants someone new and exciting. We're all bored of each other over there.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay. So I immediately have to post bikini pics because I don't know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay, can I tell you the last thing I posted?

[Karen Kilgariff]

What?

[Georgia Hardstark]

A slow motion reel of Vince taking a chicken pot pie that he made me on Friday night and upending it on a plate and handing it to me. Oh. With some dirty song playing in the background. Like, that's all it is there. We're having fun with a kind of.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Let'S get it on feel.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Pop that, you know, everybody popped up. You know, that one like this, which I want to sing so bad. And as I was walking to the office, I was, like, wanting to sing that song, and I was like, that's actionable. Don't sing that to your co worker.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Even in the parking lot. It's questionable.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Definitely not past the doorway.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Look that song up, too. If you need a. If you need a fucking jam to.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Jog too, can you give me the musician that performs it?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, it's fucking. It's 2 Live Crew.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Like, nothing is better. The song is called Pop that Pussy. That's the fucking name of it. So I'm not.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No, no. You didn't write it. You're just rapping it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I wish I had. Yeah. Hey, speaking of rap, have you watched the Martha Stewart documentary?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Not yet.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I kind of was meh about it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And then I watched it, and then you were not.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And then it was like, very interesting.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes. That's all I've heard is very interesting. Amazing. Like, almost like the story behind talk about Instagram. It's kind of like she's all about pictures and presentation.

[Georgia Hardstark]

The first influencer, they're saying. And it's so true.

[Karen Kilgariff]

She is. I remember being in high school and there used to be an American Express commercial where it was Martha Stewart lining a pool, the bottom of a pool, with American Express cards. Like it was a craft project. And I was like, who's that? My mother was like, oh, God. She's some woman from the East Coast.

[Maren McLachlan]

Like, eye roll, eye roll.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And it was like she was. But. But it was almost like, how to be perfect, how to have a perfect.

[Maren McLachlan]

Life, how to be perfect.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's what the whole thing is about. And it's also, like, a little disturbing because she's clearly like a little bit of an automaton. What is the word?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Robot.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. A little robotic, sure. Little like, I guess sociopathy. Kind of like, because you have to be in that business or to be. To get where she is in this world.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But it's also super impressive because she's a badass and has, like, taken some hits and just got back up, you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Know, she's still growing those tulips seasonally.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's interesting. You should watch it. As a CEO yourself, an entrepreneur, I.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Think there's someone heading to jail for.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Sure for insider trading.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I do think you'll identify with some parts of it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Multiple people have told Me, many women who work very hard in business and who have kind of seen some shit have told me the same thing where.

[Maren McLachlan]

It'S just like, you just gotta see.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Her version of it, which is cool.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There's definitely parts you'll identify with for sure.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What have you got going on?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Mostly the muffin parts. I already told you, I've been kicked off TikTok. So like I feel like I'm forced into like now I'm spiritual or something because I literally sit on the, at the patio table on my back patio in the morning and kind of like stare off, like, well, I guess this is a better way to spend time. Yeah, my sister and I were talking about it. You can tell it's not good for your brain to watch things for 10 to 60 to seconds to maybe three minutes that are this.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Over and over and over again and.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Just flipping, flipping, flipping that it does something to your dopamine. Kind of like your set rate of satisfaction. Absolutely. So I think that's good. But I am so scared about the just absolute loss of information, shared information between Twitter being gone, which it is completely gone, and the Twitter we all knew. And the thing that was important about Twitter was it was started by journalists shorthanding news and like, so everyone else that was there, you know, later stages were all just kind of like hangers on, but it was news based and sourced. We need that kind of access to.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Information on all platforms and from all places so that we can then make a decision for ourselves.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And you're worried about that not being.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Available to everyone and the fact that it is not. It absolutely cuts into people being able to organize people being able to have real time reactions to things like it just as holistically as I kind of skip around on my phone going, well, blue sky. I mean, let's all make the best of blue sky for sure, but God, yeah, Dark.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Well, we're here waiting for you on Instagram with open arms and a chicken pot pie. Slow motion chicken pot pie.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, that alone is a huge. That was one of the most perfect invitations you could offer me.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What else is there?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I just, I guess I was always picturing people like, here's us at the bikini party. Oh, here's. Here's me in my bikini again. Bikini from the back. Like that's what. It always felt like that to me.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I don't get a lot of bikini content. That's not what I follow. And that's not what's offered to me.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And you don't feel pressed to Post bikini?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Are you fucking kidding me?

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's what. It's been in my head the whole time.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No, everything I post is like chicken pot pie adjacent. It's not. It's not. Or like dog and cat, the stuff. Okay, it's not like that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's like, you know when you're in fifth grade and you think the sixth graders are super cool, and then, like, you become an adult and meet one of those sixth graders, you're like, that person was. I don't know where this is going, but we're the fifth.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You want to just talk about fifth grade? Yeah, I'm in.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I don't know entirely. You know what I mean? Like, you. You're like, wow, that's person's so much cooler than me. And then like with Tik Tok, and then you meet them later in life, you're like, why did I put that person on a pedestal? Everything was great here in fifth grade.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I don't.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's all normal. Well, because that's all. It's basically the social media trap, which is want to be a part of things. Think we'd be doing a good job being part of things? Maybe stick your toe in and test that out.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, I did that with TikTok.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. And not for you. No, but you're more of a. I have to be doing it. I was such a lurker on TikTok. I didn't do it. I barely interacted at all.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. It made me feel inadequate. Whereas with Instagram, I'm like, I can talk to the phone in front of my mirror and it's fine. I don't need filters.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I mean, I need filters, but I don't use filters.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, I thought you were gonna do a big take to camera just now. The way you spun around, it's like, yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right, she's doing a bit.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What if it's suddenly year nine, I.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Start doing fucking I don't need filters. And then turn around and blow your nose into camera. Jesus Christ.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What is this?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Who knows? You know what it is? It's a true crime pod. We have news. We have highlights from around the world. Is this where you should come?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hey.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Nope. The answer's no.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Maybe. Should we do some ceramics?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, my God, yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Your face is lit up.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So last week, because we asked you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Guys for ceramics for our ninth anniversary.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. We showcased some on the podcast. It was a huge hit. We have so many more. We're going to do a video, hopefully soon, but in the meantime, we wanted to just, like, do a couple more really quickly because apparently you guys freaking loved it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Everyone's just thrilled.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So everyone loves it. And it's. It's fun to be like, hey, would anyone do this? And then.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

With this listenership, the responses we get are like, hell yeah. And then some. Right? Watch this, watch this.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And like, we bought a fucking electric lazy Susan. We can't. This can't go to waste.

[Karen Kilgariff]

This is show business investment, ladies and gentlemen. And also, if you want to see what we mean by an electric lazy Susan, you better get over to that YouTube page.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, go to the. Exactly right, YouTube and check it out. Okay. I'll read it to you while you do it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yep.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This is from an artist named Cassandra. Her IG handle, Her Instagram handle is Wester Wald Pottery. W E S T E R W A L D. She and her husband run.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's the handle I was going to use. Forget it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

She and her husband run Westworld Pottery, which her dad started in 1975.

[Maren McLachlan]

Whoa.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Second generation pottery pottery.

[Maren McLachlan]

I know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Her dad was a ceramics professor and pottery expert. This is gonna be good. And he passed away in 2022 after a battle with COVID And she says, quote, I hope you enjoy the anniversary croc. And the mugs. I know my dad would be getting an absolute kick out of my favorite murder being stamped onto one of his pots. They have our names.

[Maren McLachlan]

Oh, this is real.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That is ridiculous.

[Maren McLachlan]

The real deal.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This stoneware is hand thrown, decorated, and glazed at 2000, 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Glazes, lead free, microwave and dishwasher safe. Oh, so it's these. It's a beautiful, like, croc, like a jug kind of a thing with this gorgeous, like, what would you call that?

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's very vintage, this floral design.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes, beautiful blue floral design. It's very vintage looking.

[Karen Kilgariff]

If you've ever seen pottery sell on Antiques Roadshow, it's one of these, but a big one usually where they're like, this is one in the corner. My kitchen in forever. Oh, my God.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And then the mugs have our name stamped into them with ssdgm.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I'm sorry. Cause you're supposed to put this on the shelf behind you. I'm taking it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No, that's yours for sure. This is the most. This is my new mug.

[Maren McLachlan]

This is absolutely beautiful.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay, let's put it up.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Kind of like breathtakingly beautiful.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It is.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Cassandra, thank you so much.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Great job. Westerwald Pottery.

[Maren McLachlan]

Westerwald Pottery.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's like so touching. It's Like a family thing.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I know. That's amazing.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Gorgeous.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay, this one's small.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay, I'll start reading this one, and you get ready to do the poll.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay. It's covered up with a cloth. With a silk cloth. And we're gonna rip it off. It's a little phallic shaped under that cloth.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Guess what part of the body this has been shaped after? It's a little phallic thrown after. The artist's name is Tina Cain, AKA Teapots Pottery. Instagram handle Teapots Pottery. And she teaches pottery classes at MCS Clay Studios in Clearwater. Florid. Why don't you rip it? As she says, hope you enjoy your ninth anniversary prize.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's a microphone. Oh, no.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's beautiful.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wait, is it a. Oh, my God. It's a microphone. Pot bong, pipe. Look. Oh, my God. Hold on.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It says, hope you enjoy your ninth anniversary prize. It's one of my favorite pieces. Typed smiley face. Yes. I make all the standard mugs, bowls, et cetera, too. It's a pipe shaped like a microphone.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's so, like, clever.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That is brilliant.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's a microphone and it's a. And you can smoke pot out of it after you record the podcast.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Or legal tobacco in your state, whatever. Or family.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's amazing.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's hilarious. Amazing. Tina Cain. Thank you so much. Wow. Do you want to read this one?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay, I'll read this one.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This is from an artist named Chris Shima. Instagram handle Shima S H I M a Shima Ceramics. Chris says, my company consists of myself and my assistant Jaredin, and we almost exclusively listen to MFM in the studio. And then. Let's do it. It says, I make sculptural mugs by hand, meaning I sculpt an original by hand, make a plaster mold of it, and then cast slip mugs from it. Whoa. I hadn't looked up yet. As an homage to mfm, I made these stay out of the forest skull mugs. Happy 9th anniversary.

[Karen Kilgariff]

These gorgeous skulls, and they're glazed on.

[Georgia Hardstark]

The inside, and they have stay out of the forest etched on the back.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's like, outside is skull bone feeling inside. Beautiful glazed mud.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Karen, I think all the big meetings you take from now on, you need to be casually sipping.

[Maren McLachlan]

Oh, is.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And then I do a lot of.

[Maren McLachlan]

Is that so?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Is that so?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Drinking alcohol, like all the people that.

[Georgia Hardstark]

We fucking dealt with that you need to talk to out of a skull mud.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I'll hold it in the eyes.

[Maren McLachlan]

Is that so?

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's beautiful.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Have you seen Martha Stewart's series?

[Georgia Hardstark]

You could. Chris Shima Shima ceramics.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Incredible work.

[Georgia Hardstark]

She's just incredible. Gorgeous.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And signed.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, wow. Beautiful force. These are beautiful.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, I can't get over the talent.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I can't either.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's real.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Professional. They're professionals.

[Maren McLachlan]

They are.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And they're giving things to us. Cause we demand it. They do.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Because we said please.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Beautiful.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Amazing.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I love those.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I can't wait to do an actual, like, a live stream that we were gonna do and show the rest of them. Oh, yeah, there's still time to send yours in, you guys. If you're like, shit, I didn't finish in time.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Or if you got really mad because you're like, oh, sure, the ceramics people get to do something. But what about me over here with my hook rug abilities?

[Georgia Hardstark]

You want a hook rug?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, I like lots of things.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I like when people put their creativity and brains towards something.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's like a hometown. It's like, can be fucking anything you want at this point. Like, you decide, you choose.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No rules.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Beautiful. Thank you. Alejandra.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Alejandra. Amazing job.

[Georgia Hardstark]

All right, well, before we get to the stories, should we do some highlights?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Let's talk about our vaunted network with all of our wonderful podcasts on it, especially the newest podcast that we have, our brand new film podcast, your movies, I Love youe. They just debuted here on the exactly right network on the second episode is now out. And on this one, Millie and Casey take on the trope of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and discuss the 2004 hit film Garden State.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow. Yeah, I want to know about that because, like, when I was younger, I was like, I have a manic Pixie dream girl. And now that I'm older, I'm like, take your medication.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, what choice did anyone have in their 2000s, though?

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's terrible. It's a terrible trope.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It was a hilarious at the time trope because I remember being, like, in my 20s at that time. You were watching a lot of stuff get Justified that you, as a person who had at least been around the block, like, one and a half times, were just like, this is full bullshit. What are you talking about?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Or like, these character. These female characters that are made to service the male's storyline, you know, in a darling, adorable way that has no thought of its own whatsoever.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And like you were saying before, like, oftentimes those girls were not this wonderful force of nature. They were people who needed medication and. Or that were just trying to live their life and some dude is like, I'm going to project everything I need onto you. And now I'm mad at you for not being that person.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Fucking 500 days a summer. In a nutshell. Anyways, this is not a movie podcast.

[Karen Kilgariff]

This is not that movie podcast or any movie podcast.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And then this week on that's Messed up, an SVU podcast, Kara and Lisa cover an episode from season five entitled Manic. Hey, Dun Dun.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Over on I said no Gifts, comedian Rekha Shankar disobeys Bridger with yet another unwanted present. Will it ever end?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Poor guy. And Nick Terry has done it again with a brand new episode of MFM Animated. It's called Sleep German, which is inspired by Minisode 320. Head over to YouTube.com exactlyrightmedia. Please subscribe while you're there to check it out. And remember, the dream man won't get you if we stick together.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The dream man won't get you if we stick together. Head turned to the side.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So creepy.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Also, just a quick update so you guys know, if you're listener short time, long time, we like to take our MFM logo pin, which is just the classic MFM logo pin, obviously, that we sell in the merch store in black and white, and we dedicate like a period of time to certain charities. The money from the sales of that pin will go to. So the last one was the National Abortion fund. We sold 192 pins with that one. So you guys raised almost $2,000 to donate to the National Abortion Fund, which is amazing.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So this year, we are dedicating the money from the black and white MFM logo pin to World Central Kitchen, of course. Founded in 2010 by Chef Jose Andres, World Central Kitchen is the first to the front lines providing meals in response to humanitarian climate and community crises.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Their relief team has been here in Southern California supporting the first responders and the firemen and the families affected by the fires, providing nourishing meals.

[Georgia Hardstark]

To donate or learn about other ways you can help World Central Kitchen, go to their website, wck.org we're really excited to support them. It's like, you know, such an incredible cause.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. And then if you were just thinking of shopping around, you wanted to get a little pin for your lapel, then the money that you spend goes to a really good and at this point, very, very nice, worthy cause.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right. When you're buying your here's the thing, fuck everyone mug, throw in a black and white pin.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Get a pin going.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hey, put it on your leather jacket. Okay? This is one I'm excited to do. It's a big one and it's really interesting. You know how when we go on tour, we go to a city and on stage before we tell a story, we would like be like Clearwater, Florida. What are you doing? Like admonish them because they have so many murders to choose from.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Well, if we ever go to this place, we're going to admonish them because this takes place in Adelaide, Australia.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, oh.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Is there an Adelaide, Texas?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I think so. Okay. Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Because Australia can go head to head with the US when it comes to terrifying murdered and disappeared children. Unfortunately, there's the Mr. Cruel Abductions and Murder that I covered in episode 124. Of course the Beaumont children, which I'll mention later. And then there's this one. This is a haunting 50 year old unsolved case about two children in Australia who are abducted from a sports stadium. This is the story of the Adelaide Oval abductions, which I hadn't heard of, but I think everyone in Australia knows about.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I haven't heard of it either. Can I ask, is this a cold case?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, but there's a lot of suspects.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay, okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And like a lot of other cold cases that like link them.

[Maren McLachlan]

Okay, Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I originally found this on the Crime Stoppers South Australia website. The main source I use for the story is episode 163 of the Australian true crime podcast that we all know and love. Case file case.

[Maren McLachlan]

First of all, did the Case File.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Host ever come forward and be like, it's me?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Nope, still anonymous, as far as I know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's so Australian. And cool.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So cool. Like I don't want to all the accolades and meanwhile we're like, put us in the magazine.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I've never said those words.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I've never said them either. But there we are. Times Square has seen us a few times and it's like not on us. You know, that's true.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Well, it's a different thing because Case File is essentially as close to basically newspaper reporting as you can possibly get.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's very serious. Definitely. And the rest of the sources can be found in the show notes. So Adelaide is South Australia's capital. It's known by some to be a beautiful coastal cosmopolitan town with a small town feel. And it's also known by other people, including a lot of murderinos who emailed us about this case as the murder capital of Australia or the serial killer capital of Australia. Like lots of dark shit has happened here.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So here we are. It's August 25, 1973, and we're at a sports stadium called the Adelaide Oval for an Australian football match between the North Adelaide Roosters and the Norwood. You want to guess what they're called?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Huckleberries.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No, that's not right. But the Norwood Red Legs would also have been hilarious but true. Oh, the Red Legs.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So we're not going to get into it, but Australian football is also known as footy. It looks similar to rugby slash American football. There's just. Who cares? It's not. This isn't.

[Maren McLachlan]

I care about rugby.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay, fine. Then the rules are different. It's played on an oval shaped field similar to a cricket field, which means nothing to me. It's a smaller stadium. Looks like a college football stadium. So like, you know, not massive scale down. Yeah, exactly.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And it's the 1970s, so most of the space is standing room only, so spectators arrive early and they don't give up their spots like you would at a parade. Like even if you go to the bathroom, you're gonna lose your spot. So they get there early and they stick where they're at.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There's also grandstands on the west side of the stadium where people can sit. And that's where Les and Kathleen Ratcliffe are sitting with their two children, David, who's 13, and Joanne, who is 11. On that August day in 1973. Here we are.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

The family are huge Red Legs fans and they come to nearly every game. There are a lot of regulars in the crowd, and the Ratcliffe soon connect with a woman named Rita Huckleberry, one of their friends who they see often at the games. And that day, Rita has brought her granddaughter along to this game. She's a four year old named Kirsty Gordon, and it's the first time she's ever brought her granddaughter to a game. So the game begins at 2:10. And even though there's an age gap between Joanne, who's 11, and Kirsty, who's 4, they immediately take a liking to each other. Remember when you were like a preteen and a little kid thought you were the coolest and it just made you feel so good and like, you know, like babysitting.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. Then you got to be like the camp counselor and you're like, come over here and we'll have fun?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. I mean, to this day, if a little kid likes me, I feel like special.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You know?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So I think it was kind of that sort of thing. So they spend like most of the game playing together. Australian Football games are played in four quarters and between the two halves there's a longer break. And so Joanne, her parents, she's a very mature 11 year old and she's been to tons of games at the stadium before, so they let her go back and forth to the bathroom on her own, but only during the beginning of the quarters, not during the halftime when there's the big rush. Like they have a sense of, you know, they're 11 year old in a crowd and they're careful.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So during the first quarter, Kirsty needs to go to the bathroom and the Ratcliffe's and Kirsty's grandma Rita agree to let Joanne take her. The bathroom's about 300ft away from their seats in a concourse area under the grandstand. They go to the bathroom, they come back, all goes well, no big deal, and they continue to play while their families watch the game. So then about 3:45 in the third quarter of the game, Kirsty needs to go to the bathroom again and there's still plenty of time before the break to go between quarters, so the families let the two girls go. This time though, after 20 minutes, they're still not back yet. Joanne's father, Les, goes down to the concourse to look for the girls, thinking they're probably playing somewhere between the seats in the bathroom, but he doesn't see them. He asks a woman to go in the ladies room to call for the girls. They're not in there. And about 12,000 people have come to the game that day. But also the stadium always opens the gates during the last quarter, so people from the general public who don't have tickets can enter for free and just watch the end of the game. And because it's a close match, a lot of people show up that day. And the beginning of the fourth quarter sees a huge, like chaotic influx of people in and around the stadium. Like we went to that football game, soccer game in England. It's chaotic.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It was insane.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Like being a little kid and they're just. Yeah. So even though the girls haven't been missing for very long, they're both very responsible and trustworthy. So the adults are already alarmed and springing into action. And this is actually kind of of rare for the 1970s, right?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Like completely.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They'd be like in trouble and angry at them or just not even know that they were gone for that long, 20 minutes and they're worried.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, that's great.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

For 70s numbers.

[Maren McLachlan]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Usually it's like, oh, they must have gone to a neighbor's house. Like it just was not in the consciousness at all.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right.

[Maren McLachlan]

So that's great.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. So frantic. Kathleen, who is 11 year old Joanne's mom, she goes to an office in the stadium and immediately is like, can you make an announcement for the girls to come back to their seat? And the administrator overseeing the match refuses, saying the stadium has a policy against making mid game announcements because it could disrupt the game. Mm. He recommends she talk to the police and sends her off. Although right back in his office hanging out with him is a police officer. He doesn't even bother.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So he sends her out to some other police.

[Maren McLachlan]

Go find the.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Come in here.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Like that's how flippant he was. Go back to your seat. I'm sure they'll show up.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wait there. The Radcliffe's and Grandma Rita spend the rest of the game looking for the girls. When the game ends at about 4:45, they return to the office and ask again that an announcement be made. This time, the administrator makes the announcement. He says over the PA system, quote, joanne Radcliffe in Adelaide Oval, come back to your mother and father. End quote. Like, no details. Not only is this wording of the announcement super unhelpful at this point, everyone is leaving the stadium en masse and so all the noise from that completely drowns out the announcement. There's no emergency to it either. You know what I mean?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right, Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Did you ever get an announcement called at the grocery store on you by your mom?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, no, because my mom never let go of my neck at the grocery store. Literally as we entered.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Could have been your hand as we entered.

[Karen Kilgariff]

As we entered, she would go, what are we gonna get today? And her hand would just very lightly go to my neck. Now was that because I was such a wonderful, responsive and listening child? No. She had to hold me by my neck everywhere I went. Like, where are we gonna go? And then she would kind of very lightly direct me if we were gonna turn and go down this way or whatever.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Brilliant. Brilliant. Yeah. You weren't her first rodeo. She was like, I know how this goes.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I was. Well, I was, you know, I was a real reflection of the times.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Sure.

[Karen Kilgariff]

75.

[Maren McLachlan]

What's up?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, that's right. The family searches the whole stadium and then they call the police. They. The Police are about 10 minutes after the game ends. But at that point, almost all the spectators and potential witnesses have left.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So frustrating and so kind of like, it's just how all of these are. We're knowing what we know today. It's just like gigantic Mistakes at the ear at the earliest time, just all.

[Georgia Hardstark]

The missed opportunities to actually get ahead of this. Yeah. But the police do thankfully take it seriously immediately. They set up roadblocks in the areas surrounding the stadium, you know, but everyone's pretty much left. And they begin an extensive search for the girls. Meanwhile, Rita, the grandmother of Kirsty, now has to call Kirsty's parents who are out of town along with their two year old daughter Catherine and say like your daughter, your 40 year old daughter's missing from me taking her to the game, like how horrible, Horrible. So Kirsty's parents, Greg and Christine Gordon immediately head back to Adelaide, which is about a three hour drive all night. Searchers comb Adelaide and boats pass on the nearby river Torrance with searchlights and they turn up absolutely nothing. The next morning the search continues. Police search the riverbank, divers search the river and the river is even partially drained. Meanwhile, as he aids in the search for his daughter, Joanne's father Les breaks down and passes out from grief and no trace of the girls is found. This story becomes national news. And Les, Joanne's father, he's really big and the whole family is like really big about getting the word out. Public statements, they're just like devastated obviously and like don't ever give up. And the story becomes national news. Descriptions of the girls are widely circulated throughout Australia. Police put out a call for information and that's when a horrible narrative begins to emerge. So a 13 year old boy named Anthony Kilmartin had been working at the stadium on the day the girls were there. He was selling concessions in the crowd at the beginning of the third quarter he saw what he sure was. The girls come down the grandstand steps toward the ground level. Anthony then went into the concourse under the grandstands and saw the girls again on their way to the bathroom. This time he thinks he saw them being followed by a man. Now why would he remember this, you know, ordinary moment? It's because of what happens next. He sees the man bend down and pick up 4 year old Kirsty and then Joanne. 11 year old Joanne immediately reacts badly to this. He says Joanne starts chasing the man, grabbing at his coat and kicking him in the shins, just fighting him. The man calls Joanne a and tells her to go away and they scuffle. And while he's still holding Kirsty, the man's glasses get knocked off and when he bends down to pick them up, he also grabs Joanne by the arm and pulls her along as well. They all exit through the Stadium's southern gate with Joanne still trying to fight this man off. And Anthony. It's 1973. Anthony's 13 years old. He thinks he just saw a father trying to get his daughters to leave when they don't want to. And this is one of the things we talk about all the time is like, don't mind your own business. Now we know. Don't mind your business. Go figure out what's going on. If you're wrong, then you apologize and walk away. If you're not, great.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But as we just talked about in like the last episode, talking about domestic violence and how that is this kind of for so long, especially back then, it's really hard to understand now, but it was so dark ages back then growing up when other people's parents could hit you, other people's parents could slap you in the face if you were at their house and you did something they didn't like, it was so different. And so to see a dad, you know, do kind of whatever, as meanly or violently or crazily as they want, it wasn't this kind of like it wasn't as shocking as it should have been.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No.

[Karen Kilgariff]

For kids at that time, you saw a lot more.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Well, the problem is adults saw them too later.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, that's what immediately infuriated me. It's like a 13 year old boy wouldn't know what to do. What the fuck were those people around thinking for one second?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, I know you feel so awkward like butting into people's business. Especially when there's an angry person in the mix, you know, not you people in general, but like, you'll never regret doing something. You'll only regret not doing something. Right?

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's. Yes, totally. I just, as a person who was raised by the ultimate butt in lady, I don't. I have empathy for people who were raised by people who are like, no, no, no, no, no. Because it's a very, very scary thing. Some people are scared to just be like, hey, I'd like another Diet Coke.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally. Or this isn't what I ordered, sir.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Are you.

[Maren McLachlan]

Do you know this girl?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Like it takes so much, especially for women to do it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Where you're just like, oh, you're going to take on a violent man. Or even question one. It's just like the things, it's almost like get a buddy, get a confrontation buddy, go. Or an employee that's there and go ask a question.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's so funny. I'm a butt in person as well. You're not going to Be surprised. But Janet, my mom, is a butt in person.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes, she is.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But I definitely have made Vince uncomfortable before by being a butt in person. And like, sure, he, you know, that's not how you act. That's not what you do.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right, right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But you never know. You never fucking know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Well, and also I think it's the people who do it, they do it for a reason. They've seen stuff.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right. That's true.

[Karen Kilgariff]

There are people who maybe aren't as inclined because it's easier for them to imagine everything's fine. And I think I was raised by two people who know for a fact nothing is fine a lot of the time.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. When you get told don't get involved, it's like you're already involved.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So see it out to the end. I mean, carry pepper spray everywhere you go.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Just grab a confrontation friend. I really feel like I just made that up, but it actually could work.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Can we have best friends necklaces that say confrontation friend on it? You're my best confrontation friend.

[Maren McLachlan]

You don't have to say anything.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Just stand behind me.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, I just need your backup.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We need bodies here.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You need to be my wingman for the confrontation. Right. So this kid for the rest of his life, you know, has to live.

[Karen Kilgariff]

With knowing he witnessed. Yeah, he was traumatized by what he.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Witnessed, but he didn't know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So he. Yeah, so he believes he had just seen a father whom he describes as a lanky man wearing glasses and a wide brimmed hat, arguing with his two daughters who like maybe just didn't want to leave the game early. And he just goes about his day. He forgets about the whole thing until he hears about the girl's disappearance. And once this kid Anthony reports this to the police, Joanne's family confirms that this is exactly how their 11 year old daughter would react. She is known to be protective of other kids. She once hit another kid with a wooden plank because he was bullying her brother. And they're adamant that she wouldn't have left Kirsty behind if something bad was happening to her. You know, it's just your heart goes out.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's horrible and heartbreaking.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. In addition, Kirsty's parents say that their little girl is exceptionally shy and would never willingly go off with. With some stranger, you know, so it all adds up that this is an abduction. So there's also this story. Another witness, a man named Ken Wooling is at the stadium, is the stadium's assistant curator. He says at the end of the third quarter, at about 4pm he saw two girls he believed to have been Joanne and Kirstie outside the stadium. There's this whole thing about, like, there were these stray kittens and some kids were trying to coax out the kittens and there's this weird guy around them. The timelines don't totally add up. Like, we think Anthony's story is 100% true. This one. Like, if you piece it in time wise, it makes sense, but only if it happened before what Anthony saw. Okay, so it's possible as well. Police put out a composite sketch of this man and of course, asked that he come forward so he can be eliminated. But nobody does. Police put out a call for tips, and more than 400 people come forward. And there's a lot more details in the case file episode about witnesses and possible sightings, but I'm not going to go into all of them. There are some credible tips, including a few people who saw a man with a similar description with two little girls. There's also a ransom call to the family that's believed to be a hoax and is never traced. A $5,000 reward is announced for information leading to the recovery of the girls. In today's dollars, that would be worth about Australia.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I don't know, 5,000 Australian dollars in the 70s. Would it be like 50 grand, 28.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Grand for two missing little girls who have been abducted from a stadium? Potentially, the public is a little like, what the fuck? That's really low over this.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So that's partly because of what I'm gonna tell you next. So there's this brazen daytime kidnapping in a very public place that's obviously terrifying for the public. Right. Which is why it's partly such a big deal. It's like, it's not. It's just so brazen.

[Maren McLachlan]

Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You know, but it's also alarming in the fact that it's not unfamiliar because there's a recent case in the area that still looms large in everyone's mind, and people wonder if there's a connection. About 10 years earlier, on January 26, 1966, three siblings had disappeared from a town celebration in a public park beach area in Glenelg, Australia, which is just outside of Adelaide. Very close. This is the Beaumont children. We never put out an episode about this case, but I'm sure one of us covered it when we were Australia.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Touring and we definitely, probably both read about it in our choices of, like, should we do this one?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Definitely.

[Karen Kilgariff]

As we, like, did research, but I did.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's a big one.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I Remember, not details, obviously, but like, just remember the idea.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. And it comes up a lot. It's come up recently because there's always new leads. Again, it's a cold case. So this happened about 10 years before the girls were kidnapped from the stadium. So the Beaumont children, it was Jane who was 9, Arna who was 7, and Grant Beaumont who was 4. They'd all gone to the beach on their own that day, the three of them, which is Australia Day. So there was a lot of people out celebrating. And witnesses recall seeing three children in the company of a tall man with like light hair and a thin face, suntan, medium build, aged in his mid-30s. And that's a very similar description to the man from the stadium. The children were playing with him and appeared to be relaxed and enjoying themselves, like maybe they knew him and were seen walking away together from the beach. No big deal. But they were never seen again and their disappearance has never been solved. And people have always believed that these two cases are linked. And case file covers the Beaumont children in episode 100 of Case File. Over the years, multiple men, a disturbing amount of whom have been convicted of other crimes against children in the area and Australia in general, have emerged as possible suspects in this case. And a lot are tied to the Beaumont abductions as well. There's a group of men known by the media as the Family, who are thought to be involved in a pedophile ring during the 70s and 80s who are responsible for the kidnapping and sexual abuse of a number of teenage boys and young men. This is a disturbing case. Case file covers it in episode 166. There's so many gruesome details I'm clearly not going to get into. Only one of those men from the pedophile ring has ever been tried and convicted for these crimes or even their name brought up in the media. This man named Bevin Spencer von Einem was sentenced in 1984 for the murder of a 15 year old boy named Richard Kelvin who had been abducted near his home in Adelaide. This man is now considered a suspected serial killer and his name comes up in connection with the Adelaide Oval abductions, mostly because of the testimony against him by an anonymous informant. And this anonymous informant was like part of this ring and still gave this information. So it's not just like, I don't know, it seems more credible because of that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Well, right, yeah, yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And this anonymous informant says that Bevan Spencer von Einem once boasted to him that he had taken the children and dumped the bodies in Bushland south of Adelaide, these allegations have never been sustained, but this dude is pure fucking evil and it's a very disturbing case. Yeah. In 1999, a man named Arthur Stanley Brown is charged in another awful cold case. On 26 August 1970, which is just three years before the abductions in the stadium, sisters Judith, who was 7, and Susan McKay, who was 5, disappeared from a suburb of Townsville, Queensland less than 10 minutes after leaving their home and were later found murdered two days later. This man was not convicted because of a hung jury and was not given a new trial because he was in his 90s by the time he was charged. Remember it happened in 1970 and he wasn't arrested until 1999, so they considered him too senile to stand trial, although some people think he was faking it. Now this occurred in 1970, three years before the abductions of Joanne and Kirstie. These locations aren't close. However, he bears a resemblance to the descriptions of the man in the wide brim hat. And he's also considered a prime suspect for the Beaumont children disappearance. A witness from that day near the stadium identified him much later as the man, which is, you know, not very reliable, but he's a potential suspect. And then Joanne's little sister, Susie Wilkinson, she believes that it was a different third suspect. This is a man named Stanley Arthur Hart and he's known as a pedophile. He lives in the area, he's a devoted supporter of the North Adelaide Football Club, which was one of the two teams playing Adelaide Oval on the day of the abduction. So it's very likely he was there seven years before they were taken. He had been charged with six sex offenses against an 11 year old girl. In 2009, his own grandson gave a written confession saying that he and his grandfather were at Adelaide Oval on the days the girls disappeared. But he was three or four years old on the day of the game at the stadium. And when he wrote this confession in 2009, he was in prison for charges for crimes against children. And so authorities initially dismissed these claims. But private investigators for the Gordon and Ratcliffe families taken take them very seriously. This man, the grandfather, died in 1999. And in the late 2000s, private investigators searched a property in a rural area about two hours north of Adelaide that belonged to the grandfather. Following a hand drawn map that this grandson had provided to them, like he was adamant that this is was his grandfather. This map leads the investigators to an underground tunnel which contains two steel barrels. They call the police in the police return to the site, they determine that the barrels had traces of blood in them. Some reports also claim that the investigators found a scrapbook with newspaper clippings about the abduction as well as children's clothing on the like. It's just all this shit that you're like, test it, test it, test it. It hasn't been tested fully.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It just. It doesn't make any sense.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Well, it's always those things where they. It goes into like investigation and then you don't hear about it unless they solve it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's exactly what it is. And then the other thing is that Anthony Kilmartin, the 13 year old concession worker, he sees a photo of this man, the grandfather and the hat he used to wear, which they also find at his house, and he believes it's an exact match of the man he saw at the game that day, which seems a little more credible to me since. Seems like it burned into his memories. Absolutely. You know what I mean?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Back in 1974, after the disappearance of the girls, both the Ratcliffe's and the Gordons welcome baby girls into their families. So Joanne, her little sister Susie, who they never got to meet, she goes on to be one of the biggest champions for solving this case. And she still is. She continues to push for answers. Today, she's about 50 now, and she is the last living member of Joanne's immediate family. She is determined to see the case solved. The family moved out of Adelaide in the 80s and Susie says, quote, to the very day we left, mom would leave the front light on in the hope one day Joe would come home. My niece now leaves her front light on. It's just something that's carried on through generations, end quote. And Susie actually runs an organization called Leave a Light on and they advocate for missing persons and their loved ones. I know. In a recent Women's Weekly article, Susie said that she thinks about her sister's bravery often. And she says, quote, people forget that she was only 11, she was given the responsibility of looking after Kirsty. And she stuck by that. That even if it meant sacrificing herself.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, God.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I know. Little Kirsty. Four year old Kirsty's parents, they've been generally less public over the years, but they do speak to the press occasionally. Kirsty's mom, Christine said in 2017, quote, what is closure? Do you need to have a body? Do you need to have a funeral? Do you need to bring her home to us? She is home because she is here with us. End quote. And that is the heartbreaking story. Of the Adelaide Oval abductions.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, my God.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I know. But it could. I. I think it could be solved.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It sounds like there's a lot of material there to be processed and tested and looked into.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Definitely. There's actually a GoFundMe being run by an investigative journalist to have those barrels tested more thoroughly.

[Maren McLachlan]

Wow.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That you can go check out. And. Yeah. Police haven't. Haven't thoroughly tested those barrels. It's just wild.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. Wow.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Sorry for another cold case, but.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Well, hopefully they're just getting put on a pile of things to be taken care of.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Maren McLachlan]

I don't know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And also, I think you're right in the way that this.

[Maren McLachlan]

It is really important to talk about.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Them because there is action that could possibly be taken that needs to still be taken.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Definitely. I mean, they're just cold cases are just the stories we tell that haven't gotten their answer yet. It's not that. That's it. It's the end of the story. It's an unsolved mystery. Like, it's just still waiting for the last puzzle piece. And so maybe when we tell these stories, people will pay more attention and it can happen.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. I'm purely speaking for my own frustration and difficulty of. But you're right. That's the important piece.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I mean, I wonder why we have such differing opinions about them. Like, I won't even start a puzzle. Cause I don't care about finishing it. You have to finish a puzzle.

[Karen Kilgariff]

What is wrong?

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'd rather think about the puzzle. Puzzle over the puzzle, and then watch tv. I don't care.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's because. But I think I've explained the piece of the puzzling that works. That is what I'm in it for, which is you stare at something long enough, and after a while, it's like your brain goes, put your hand here and take this and put it here. And suddenly you don't know why. You knew that this was the piece that went there. And if you do that, I find that if I do that long enough, it's this weird. Like, suddenly the momentum of it just building suddenly starts to go. And then it's putting itself together.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's why I want to tell the cold case stories. It's cause I'm like, karen, my friend, you're interested in this too. Like, let's put these pieces together.

[Maren McLachlan]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Let's like, you know, make our eyes all soft and see where the last piece goes. We could do this. I don't know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Just to me, that's what you're Saying to all the people listening, put the pieces together.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I'll accept that.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Thank you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And I will take that. And with that acceptance, I will turn this car around.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Please, God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But it's not any less sad or difficult, but there's a little. A little shiny light in it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And it begins on the morning of January 12, 1888.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Here in America.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

In a sparsely populated part of central Nebraska near the small town of Ord. Do you know what else happened in 1888?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Something I should know? Lincoln. Civil War. This is a civil war. What is it?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Just like, first of all, I will never test you on history. I will never test you on history.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Should I know this?

[Maren McLachlan]

Well, no.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, not particularly, but it's the year the Jack the Ripper killings happened.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's what I. Yep, there we go.

[Maren McLachlan]

All eights.

[Georgia Hardstark]

When did Lincoln get shot?

[Maren McLachlan]

That's none of our business.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We were failed by the American school.

[Maren McLachlan]

System and therefore we don't have to look back.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You're right. That's not my fucking problem.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay, so on this Winter Morn, a 19 year old teacher. 19 year old teacher named Minnie Freeman is walking to her tiny schoolhouse where she teaches 13 of the local homesteaders, children ranging in ages from 6 to 15. The schoolhouse is a one room sod house. And a sod house was the thing they used to do out on the prairie because, you know, they didn't have any and they just kind of had.

[Maren McLachlan]

To do their best.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So that means that a sod house usually definitely the roof and sometimes even the walls are constructed from packed dirt and prairie grass.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Damn. Are you watching that show? That new show with Betty Gilpin?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I did watch it, but.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So the show is American Primeval and.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It'S based on, I think based on.

[Maren McLachlan]

The Mountain Meadows massacre that you covered, which I believe I covered.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You definitely covered. No, no, you covered that on an episode.

[Maren McLachlan]

Right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I remember it on a. Not live episode.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Not live. Yeah.

[Maren McLachlan]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay. So here we are.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So here we are. But it basically is that where it's.

[Maren McLachlan]

People living on the open prairie, settlers.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Homesteaders making what they can. So, like there was some of the. I saw a picture. Alejandra and Maren found a picture of.

[Maren McLachlan]

One of these sod houses. And the one I saw, it was like, the walls were made of like.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Piled up rocks, and then the windows.

[Maren McLachlan]

Were kind of built into the holes where they left.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And then the roof was sod and flat.

[Maren McLachlan]

But then there's also the ones where they build them. This is very Laura Ingalls Wilder where they build them kind of into the ground so that they're, like, protected. There's all kinds of ways they were trying to do that stuff. But what we're saying is there was no, like, Western Warren horse town or anything like that. It was like, there are no supplies here situation. So the sod house is a common structure found on the frontier that settlers can quickly build to live or work in without basically the luxury of their usual building supplies, like, oh, I don't know, wood and nails. So Minnie's sod schoolhouse has a stove in it. We're not sure if it's wood burning or coal burning, but it was like a central stove. It has a couple windows and it has one door, and that's it. So it's not fancy, but of course, it completely serves its purpose as a classroom. And while it's probably drafty, it's of course better than any alternative, which is learning outside. And of course, the warmth is especially important in the winter of 1888, because this one is actually a brutal one. We are at the tail end of what's called, quote, the Little Ice Age, where one of several years long periods where the entire earth is colder than average, and then that leads to more intense winters across much of the U.S. interesting. Yeah. So even though it did snow a few inches the night before, the weather on this day, January 12, 1888, is very mild. So by the time Minnie's walking to school that day, it's gone from snowing the night before to climbed all the way up into the 40s. So that's much, much warmer than a typical mid January day in the 1880s.

[Karen Kilgariff]

For our friends everywhere besides the US.

[Maren McLachlan]

This is all Fahrenheit. And I do apologize because the impact of the weather I'm gonna be announcing right now, there's gonna be a math delay for you. So it's this kind of unseasonably warm weather. That's probably why no one realizes a cold front is about to hit and leave an unsuspecting population in the wake of one of the deadliest winter storms in recorded history. This is the story of the devastating Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888, also known as the Children's Blizzard.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, shit.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's never good when they name it after children.

[Maren McLachlan]

No, no. So the main sources used that Maren used in the research today are the Children's Blizzard, which is a book by author David Laskin, and that book is heavily cited. Also an episode of the Radiotopia podcast, this Day in esoteric political history, and the Episode is called the Children's Blizzard. And then, of course, multiple articles from the Omaha Evening bee newspaper from 1888. Marin goes all the way back. And the rest of the sources are in our show notes. So here's a little scene setting to start this off. Talking about weather back then, of course, as human beings, we've been tracking weather since once basically we understood what was going on around us.

[Georgia Hardstark]

We love it. It's our hobby.

[Maren McLachlan]

We love it, and it's fun to talk about. By the end of the 19th century, when this story takes place, scientists are doing what's of course, compared to today, pretty basic meteorology. The United States has an organized weather service that's been around since 1870. It falls under the purview of the US army because of the Army's reputation for being meticulous and disciplined. So basically, weather forecasting works this way back then. Mondays through Saturdays, at military bases and outposts across the country, US Army Signal Corps officials collect weather data. Temperatures, air pressure, wind speed, et cetera. And then they send it via telegraph to forecasters at a central office in Washington, DC. Those forecasters in DC analyze that data. They make predictions, they send the information back to the signal core, and then. And those forecasts are printed in newspapers.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You lost me at here's how it works.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Here's how it works.

[Maren McLachlan]

The weather goes out. So obviously the telegraph makes all of that sure, fast and possible at the time. But compared to today, this is like one of the slowest ways to get any kind of news or information.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I don't know though. Dallas rains, it's gonna rain tomorrow and it fucking never does. Or it doesn't. Doesn't.

[Maren McLachlan]

A lot of the fun to gesture.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Dallas Rains all.

[Maren McLachlan]

We all love a green screen. And yeah, full props to Dallas Rains always and forever. Still working, I believe.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Still doing it, I think so.

[Maren McLachlan]

Legendary. If you're from somewhere else and you have never heard of the legendary Los Angeles weatherman Dallas Rains, get with it, get on board. He's one of the greats. I used to, in my studio apartment, when things were very dark, I would get nice and high and watch the 11 o'clock news. And I was always positive. Dallas Rains was high along with me. Because the stuff he would say, I'd.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Be like, this is hilarious.

[Maren McLachlan]

Why is this weatherman, like, saying this weird shit and making me laugh so hard?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Probably.

[Maren McLachlan]

Okay, so all this in mind. January 12, 1888. In this same mild morning where Minnie Freeman is heading off to work, army forecasters in D.C. are sending out reports via Telegraph warning of impending severe weather across several states, including Nebraska, of course, which is where Minnie is. Minnesota, Iowa and what's then known as the Dakota Territory. Because this is still before radio in America. The way important news is communicated when it can't wait for the next day's newspaper is Frontier settlements hoist a flag to alert residents of emergency weather situations. Problem is that homesteaders out in a place like central Nebraska live nowhere near each other or a central community. So if people aren't nearby when those emergency flags are hoisted, they just don't know. And it's all kind of word of mouth. So Minnie and her students experience this abrupt and shocking weather change around 3:00, right? Basically when the school day is ending. So the temperature on what was a warm like morning and into the afternoon Suddenly plummets almost 70 degrees.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Holy shit.

[Maren McLachlan]

And goes from the 40s to minus 20 below zero.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No, that's not fair.

[Maren McLachlan]

And then of course, the sky opens up, ice and hail begin to pelt the sod schoolhouse and hurricane level winds kick up.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Dude.

[Maren McLachlan]

So now basically it's a strong wind that just keeps on building. And then ice and hail and last night's snowfall all start getting blown around.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They're all in the pit, moshing.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's right, all together.

[Maren McLachlan]

Nasty trio. So suddenly, across a huge swath of the Midwest, countless people are caught in extreme weather. A schoolboy named H.G. purcell, who lives in the Dakota Territory now, South Dakota, describes the situation like this. We were all out playing in our shirt sleeves without hats or mittens. Suddenly we looked up and saw something come rolling toward us with great fury from the Northwest and making a loud noise. I never thought about that part of it. The storm rolls in and it's like. It rolls in loud?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally.

[Maren McLachlan]

It looked like a long string of big bales of cotton that looked to be about 25ft high. The phenomenon was so unusual that it scared us children. And several of us ran into the schoolhouse and screamed to the teacher to come out quickly and see what was happening. End quote. So it's hard to overstate the shock people experience on this beautiful morning that basically it lured people outside, many to go run errands on foot or tend to their land, or in the case of children, walk to school without their warmest winter coats, some without shoes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh dear.

[Maren McLachlan]

Or at least some in just in basically off season shirts and sleeves, whatever. So then now they're out of nowhere, caught in weather they're completely unprepared for. Author David Laskin reports. Quote, even in a Region known for abrupt and radical meteorological change. The Blizzard of 1888 was unprecedented in its violence and suddenness. One moment it was mild, the sun was shining. The next moment, frozen. Hell had broken loose. So it's the end of the school day, as I said, when the weather suddenly turns. So young Minnie, who's the sole adult in charge, 19, 19 years old, she does not think going outside is a sensible option at this point. Hurricane force wind gusts are now pummeling the tiny schoolhouse and they blast the door right off its hinges. As the younger students go and huddle around the wood burning stove to keep warm, Minnie and a couple of the older students try to prop the door back up. It almost immediately blows back down. So Minnie goes find some nails and she nails the door shut. Okay, so for the time being, that's held in place. But now Minnie has to plan her next steps. She and the students all live at least a quarter of a mile from this schoolhouse. So she's trying to figure out, is it less risky to dismiss the children and hope that they make it back home or keep them inside to wait out the storm in a schoolhouse that isn't exactly structurally sound, has a dwindling amount of fuel for the fire, and basically doesn't have any food?

[Georgia Hardstark]

No. It feels like the place is just gonna melt around them.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You know?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Maren McLachlan]

So teachers across the Midwest go through the same horrible dilemma because like many, they teach in shoddy buildings or soddy buildings that are, of course, not equipped to handle weather this extreme. And many teachers believed that the better option that day was to dismiss their students and send them home in the storm.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Maren McLachlan]

Minnie decides, no, she's gonna hunker down and ride the storm out with her kids in the schoolhouse. But she's just praying the schoolhouse can make it. And as she's doing that, a gust of wind picks up the roof of the schoolhouse and blows it away.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Shit.

[Maren McLachlan]

So now, as the snow and hail and ice are pouring into the schoolhouse, Minnie has to make a new plan fast. With the front door, the only door, nailed shut, she starts wrangling her students and throwing them out the window to get out.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What?

[Maren McLachlan]

So there was a legend that Minnie tied all the kids together with twine, but that detail has actually been disputed by at least one of her actual students who went through it that day. Great visual for, like, the legend of the story.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Maren McLachlan]

And actually very needed once, and I'm sure it probably came up later once people heard the stories of what happened to the kids that did go home by Themselves or even in groups. So Minnie's plan now is to walk her students to her house, which is about a half a mile away. It doesn't sound that far, but in the middle of a blizzard it would have been painfully long. And they're whiteout conditions, so it's hard for them to see any more than like a foot or so in front of them. If any child takes even just a few steps away from the group, they could be blinded by the snow, turned around and then just lost. On top of that, the snowflakes in this storm are extremely fine and icy. So as they land on the children's faces, they're just freezing their eyelids shut.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh man.

[Maren McLachlan]

And minis, minis as well. Also, the sheer amount of these flakes in the air causes the snow to get stuck, stuck in their throats. It makes it hard to breathe. Survivors liken it to breathing in large amounts of flour or sand. And David Laskin notes that experts have compared it to, quote, the smoke and ash rolling through the canyons of lower Manhattan after the towers of the World Trade center collapsed on September 11th.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I never thought about that. Like the snow, you can inhale it. Yeah, I never thought about that.

[Maren McLachlan]

Right. Like completely blinds you, but then also.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Like seals your eyes shut with ice.

[Maren McLachlan]

Like you're just going against, but you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Can'T take a deep breath without the snow coming into your mouth and nose. Jesus.

[Maren McLachlan]

They also make their way through shirt collars, pants, waistbands, even shoes. So the children are drenched, freezing, constantly slipping and falling as they walk. The wind is battering them. It's actually painful. And many will later say, quote, I've never felt such a wind. It blew the snow so hard that the flaking stung your face like arrows. All you could see ahead of you was a blinding blowing sheet of snow.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Dude.

[Maren McLachlan]

So there are several well known and very tragic stories that came out of this storm. For example, across the state in Seward, Nebraska, an 11 year old girl named Lena Vabecki is dismissed from school. And as she walks home in this storm, she becomes disoriented. She will wake up hours later, still outside, frozen to the ground. But Lena heroically musters the strength. She breaks herself free and she manages to crawl back to her own house even though she can't feel her legs.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What the fuck?

[Maren McLachlan]

And in the end, Lena survives. She just loses one of her feet to frostbite.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But she saves herself. Yeah, she's frozen to the grousing and.

[Georgia Hardstark]

She like wakes up still alive.

[Maren McLachlan]

Wakes up and it's a miracle. Yeah, we're doing this, we're getting home. Up in Holt County, Nebraska, there's a 19 year old teacher named Etta Shattuck. She gets caught in the storm while heading home after picking up her paycheck. As the temperature nose dives, she becomes snow blind. She seeks refuge in a haystack and she is forced to shelter there for 78 hours.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No.

[Maren McLachlan]

Before finally being found.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Maren McLachlan]

No food, no water, just hoping, like hoping to live in a haystack that's too long. So she lives then, but then once she's discovered, she has to go into surgery because she develops frostbite on her feet and she actually dies due to complications from the surgery. But survives. Like that time. Up in the northeast corner of the state in Plainview, Nebraska, another young school teacher named Lois Royce gets stranded on the open prairie. She's just run out of fuel at her schoolhouse, so she attempts to make it to the nearest home, which is only 200 yards away with three students, all under the age of 10. But because of the whiteout conditions, Lois and the children can't see where they're going. So they end up walking past the house and then they just keep walking. And the children, of course, are freezing. None of them can go any further. So they just stop in the open prairie mid blizzard and they're just kind of stranded just in not knowing where they are. Speaking generally about the children who get stuck outside that day, David Laskin notes. Quote. It's hard to fathom how children who walk to and from school a half a mile or more every day became exhausted to the point of a collapse while walking 100 yards that afternoon. Hard to fathom until you consider the state of their thin cotton clothing, their eyelashes webbed with ice and frozen shut, the ice plugs that formed inside their noses, the ice masks that hung on their faces. Lois does everything she can to keep her students warm using just her body and her cloak. But the children die as they're pressed against her. And somehow she survives, but she has to have her feet amputated because of frostbite.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Maren McLachlan]

So all of these tragic stories are from Nebraska, which is especially affected by this blizzard. But the storm touches much of the United States. According to the Minnesota Post newspaper, quote. Though upper Midwesterners lost the most, the blizzard was truly a nationwide phenomenon. Ice skating was reported in San Francisco on January 14th, which is, ladies and gentlemen, unheard of.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Maren McLachlan]

Along with frozen water mains In Los Angeles, Fort Elliot, Texas, registered a 7 below zero temperature on the 14th. And for the first time in anyone's memory, parts of the Colorado river in Texas froze over.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Damn.

[Maren McLachlan]

So it was extreme and insane. So back in central Nebraska, Minnie and her students are still out trying to find their way through this blizzard, trying to make it to any kind of shelter. And Minnie's doing everything she can to keep her students moving forward. Elements of her story are spotty. Some are disputed. For example, we don't know exactly how long her trek lasted or how long she and the students hunkered down before the children were reunited with their parents. Even their destination is a bit unclear. Some sources say the group successfully made it to Minnie's house, which was the initial plan. But according to an article that ran in the Omaha Evening Bee just days later, they say that they instead ended up at one of Minnie's students homes, which is a bit closer to the schoolhouse than Minnie's was. Either way, they made it. That's the important thing. It's like the idea that Minnie makes this plan where she's like, fine, we'll just go to my house. And then like somewhere along the way, I bet you some kids like, hey, there's my house.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Jesus. That's how I like to.

[Maren McLachlan]

That's how I'll write it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally.

[Maren McLachlan]

After several hours, once the blizzard finally subsides, Minnie and the children see the full extent of what has happened around them. Not only has the storm destroyed buildings and created massive barn sized snow banks.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh my God.

[Maren McLachlan]

But it's also claimed many lives. For the parents of Minnie's 13 children. Learning that their kids made it would feel like nothing short of a miracle. One that Minnie herself is solely responsible for. The Omaha Evening Bee describes the scene as one of the students is reunited with their parents, reporting, quote, if the eyes of a loving mother filled with tears as she pressed her little one to her heart, they were not dried when she gave the brave young teacher Minnie Friedman an embrace in which was embodied all the love and gratitude within a mother's heart. It is safe to say that the subsequent reception of Ms. Freeman in all the homes whose little ones she had rescued, perhaps from death, was equally as warm.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Maren McLachlan]

So the extent of chaos, death and disruption associated with this blizzard is huge. Across the Midwest, trains are stopped in their tracks. Farmers lose the entirety of their crops and their livestock freezes to death. But then of course there's the loss of human life. Experts say we'll never know the true death count because the population wasn't known as well. David Laskin estimates that There were between 250 and 500 victims of this snowstorm, many of them being children who were either at school, hunkering down or trying to head home after being dismissed. Because of this, the snowstorm is eventually nicknamed the Schoolhouse Blizzard or the Children's Blizzard. More people will die in the days and weeks following the storm from things like pneumonia or frostbite or gangrene from frostbite. As the word of this terrible event spreads beyond the region, an overwhelming sense of grief is felt by the entire country. And that's when this feel good story of the 19 year old teacher in Nebraska who saved her entire class starts getting attention. The Omaha Evening Bee first reports on Minnie Freeman saying, quote, those who have braved the terrors of a Nebraska blizzard need not be told that it required courage to enable a young girl to breast those furies having in her keeping the lives of 13 little ones and the happiness of 13 homes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Shit. Damn.

[Maren McLachlan]

Those who felt and suffered from the effects of Thursday's storm need not be told that the act of that young girl was one from which strong men themselves might quail. Yeah, Mini mi.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Love you, Minnie.

[Maren McLachlan]

Soon more papers start to circulate Minnie's story. Virtually overnight, 19 year old Minnie Freeman becomes a much needed hero. She's lionized, she's celebrated. She's nicknamed Nebraska's fearless maid. Ooh. And then over in Chicago, a music publishing company debuts a song about Minnie called quote, 13 were saved. And it goes a little something like this.

[Georgia Hardstark]

A1 and A2. Hell no.

[Maren McLachlan]

13 were saved. 13 were saved. 13. You always just do it. Hello, baby. The New York Times reports that Minnie receives letters and gifts and more. The Omaha Evening Bee actually describes her this way. They say, quote, minnie Freeman is above medium height, dark hair, gray eyes and a remarkably pretty girl. She is said to be an excellent musician and a possessor of a charming voice. It's believed that Minnie receives nearly 200 marriage proposals from strangers. After the this story, get it girls wide right. They're like, she's brave, she's pretty. Come work on my farm, Come have lots of children. Yep, bear my children and do all that for me.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Maren McLachlan]

Meanwhile, over in D.C. government officials are trying to figure out how to make sure that no American is ever caught off guard by such a huge storm again. This only gets more urgent when just months later, In March of 1888, another historic blizzard hits the northeastern United States, States and Canada. It had strengthened after working hours on a Saturday, which at the time army forecasters didn't work on Sundays, so no one knew this storm was coming. It became the Great Blizzard of 1888, with parts of the Northeast seeing nearly 60 inches of snowfall and 50 foot tall snow drifts. Five story building snowdrifts. This storm claims around 400 lives, including 200 deaths in New York City alone.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Maren McLachlan]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Maren McLachlan]

On the heels of these two blizzards, the federal government decides to restructure the weather Bureau. In 1891, it's moved from the Army's purview over to the Department of Agriculture, which has the reputation of being much more science minded, smart, and they begin tracking weather across the country 24 7. Today, the agency overseeing weather is the National Weather Service, which lives under the national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They still track the weather around the clock and fortunately have the means to spread alerts and advisories to warn us about extreme weather events. What's that look on your face?

[Georgia Hardstark]

They're gonna shut that one down too.

[Maren McLachlan]

They gonna shut that one or who.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Are they gonna put in charge of that one? Fucking Cruella de Vil. Like let's can we please have a government. Could competency be the name of the game?

[Maren McLachlan]

Why are we politicizing weather? These departments are important for this country, necessary even. And the idea that people running them should have experience, knowledge, a clear criminal record, a background, basic step have run have been chosen by the people.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You're asking too many. You're asking for too much, Karen.

[Maren McLachlan]

You're right. Let me just conclude here. As for Minnie Freeman, she stays active in her community for the rest of her life. First in Nebraska. Later, when she moves with her husband to Illinois, she becomes active there. The New York Times notes, quote, she was a political and social activist in Nebraska and Chicago at a time when female public figures were few and far between.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Get it girl.

[Maren McLachlan]

Minnie Freeman becomes the first female member of the Republican National Committee to represent Nebraska. She's part of a group that creates its state seal. She's even appointed as a delegate to different political conferences by two Nebraska governors.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Maren McLachlan]

When asked about her heroic adventure during the Schoolhouse Blizzard in 1888, which earned her so much fame at the time, she matter of factly tells the Omaha Evening Bee that, quote, I feel that too much has already been said of an act of simple duty. Notoriety I do not desire. End quote.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Humble too.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's like case file style.

[Maren McLachlan]

Minnie Freedman passes away in 1943 when she's in her early 70s. And that is the story of Minnie Freeman and the schoolhouse blizzard of 1888 and the survival of her 13 students that day.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow. Wow.

[Maren McLachlan]

They made it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow. Wow. Good job.

[Maren McLachlan]

Thank you. Thanks to Minnie Freeman and all of the teachers of America.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes. Thank you for your service of your.

[Maren McLachlan]

What you believe to be a simple act of duty.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right.

[Maren McLachlan]

But oftentimes, and especially in 2025, America is much, much more. Yeah, we all know that.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And so overlooked. But we appreciate you.

[Maren McLachlan]

We do.

[Georgia Hardstark]

We do.

[Maren McLachlan]

Over here.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hi. Hey. Tell your sister in law and your fucking mom that we appreciate you.

[Maren McLachlan]

Here, call my sister and tell her. Cause she doesn't listen. Oh yeah, that I appreciate her.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Carol Craft.

[Maren McLachlan]

Do you mind calling Laura and telling her she's getting a shout out?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Thank you for being a teacher, Laura.

[Maren McLachlan]

Thank you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

All right. We did it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I guess we did.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What do you think?

[Maren McLachlan]

I love what we did.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. We really did it.

[Maren McLachlan]

And I love what all of our listeners did today.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Thank you for ceramics. We love it forever. Thank you for listening and being a part of this. This craziness. Stay sexy and don't get murdered. Goodbye, Elvis. Do you want a cookie?

[Karen Kilgariff]

This has been an exactly right production.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Our managing producer is Hannah Kyle Creighton.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[Karen Kilgariff]

This episode was mixed by Liana Squillace.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our Researchers are Maren McLachen and Ali Elkin.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Email your hometowns to my favorite murdermail.com.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My favorite murder. Goodbye.