MFM Minisode 441

Summary

My Favorite Murder Minisode 441 Summary

Episode Details:

• Podcast: My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
• Episode: MFM Minisode 441
• Release Date: June 23, 2025
• Network: Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

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1. Introduction to Minisode 441 (00:36 – 01:55) The episode kicks off with a brief, humorous exchange between Karen and Georgia, setting a light-hearted tone for the minisode. They playfully discuss the absence of video content, leading seamlessly into the main storytelling segments.

2. Georgia’s Hometown Ghost Story (02:00 – 07:30) Georgia shares a chilling ghost story from her childhood in the coastal mountains of Oregon. Her family lived in a remote single-wide trailer, accessible only via a nine-mile dirt road. The isolation sets the stage for eerie experiences:

• Initial Haunting: Georgia recalls her two-year-old brother complaining about a mysterious presence walking on him. When their father verifies the phenomenon by sleeping on the floor, he confirms his son’s distress (03:29).

• Ghost Appearance: A few nights later, Georgia’s mother encounters the apparition of an eight-year-old boy holding a red rubber ball. The ghostly figure vanishes upon her blinking, leaving a lasting impression (03:59 – 04:11).

• Historical Context: Upon investigation, the family discovers the tragic story of Raymond West, a boy who drowned in the nearby creek in 1850. This revelation intertwines personal experiences with local history, deepening the ghostly narrative (06:00 – 06:53).

• Supernatural Evidence: Georgia’s sister uncovers an old school primer mentioning Raymond West, solidifying the ghost story's authenticity and its lasting impact on the family (06:53 – 07:16).

Notable Quote:

Georgia Hardstark (04:20): "You're not. Don't touch it with your eyes."

3. Listener Email: How My Parents Helped Give Me Anxiety (15:04 – 17:50) Katie from Peterborough, Ontario, shares her experiences growing up with parents who used fear-based tactics to manage her behavior.

• Threats of Banishment: Katie's father would tell her and her sister that misbehavior would result in them living in the woods, instilling a deep-seated anxiety (16:09 – 17:50).

• Lasting Impact: These childhood experiences led Katie to seek therapy and rely on medication to manage her anxiety, highlighting the long-term effects of parental intimidation (17:50 – 18:07).

Notable Quote:

Georgia Hardstark (16:39): "You cannot threaten your child with the fake fate of another child who's banished."

4. Listener Email: Hot Dog Day Gone Wrong at the Health Department (07:44 – 11:06) An anonymous listener recounts chaotic events during a health department's Hot Dog Day, blending humor with workplace horror.

• Event Mishaps: The day starts with limited hot dog sales, leading to a series of unfortunate incidents including food poisoning, spilled barbecue sauce, and a barefoot employee slipping on the mess (08:19 – 09:47).

• Underlying Message: Despite the humor, the email underscores the importance of supporting local health departments and highlights the vital services they provide (10:53 – 11:06).

Notable Quote:

Karen Kilgariff (08:40): "The answer's no."

5. Listener Email: Beach Combing Treasure – The Frozen Charlotte (26:08 – 30:51) Meg from Prince Edward Island shares her delightful beachcombing find, adding a touch of whimsy to the episode.

• Discovery: While beachcombing, Meg finds a rare Victorian-era ceramic doll known as a "Frozen Charlotte," linking it to a tragic 19th-century poem about a girl who froze to death (26:22 – 29:00).

• Cultural Significance: The story behind the doll serves as a historical reminder for children to heed parental warnings, blending macabre history with personal interest (29:02 – 29:29).

• Emotional Resonance: Meg credits the podcast for helping her cope after losing her father, showcasing the community and support MFM offers its listeners (29:58 – 30:51).

Notable Quote:

Georgia Hardstark (27:11): "They were very inexpensive to buy and were tiny enough to fit into a jewelry box, making them super popular with children at the time."

6. Listener Email: Johnny, Get the Gun (30:51 – 32:38) An email recounts a harrowing incident involving three older sisters who defended their home from intruders.

• Home Invasion: Franny, Dottie, and Johnny, three sisters living together in Downey, California, successfully scare off intruders by threatening with a gun, despite never having owned one (30:51 – 32:21).

• Intruder's Intentions: The police suspect the intruders were part of a premeditated plan to target the sisters, reflecting the sinister nature of such crimes (32:21 – 32:38).

Notable Quote:

Karen Kilgariff (32:17): "And it's in. Down. Down. Yep."

7. Concluding Remarks and Community Engagement (32:43 – 34:06) Karen and Georgia wrap up the episode by encouraging listeners to share their stories and stay connected through social media and other platforms. They emphasize the importance of community and mutual support in overcoming personal and shared challenges.

Notable Quote:

Georgia Hardstark (33:26): "You're gonna die. The dolls were made as a reminder for children to listen to their parents and be obedient."

8. Final Thoughts and Ads Recap (Throughout the Transcript) While the primary focus remains on the storytelling segments, various advertisements intersperse the content, promoting products and services such as American Home Shield, Hyundai Ioniq 9, Squarespace, Article, Groons, and LifeLock. These ads are seamlessly integrated but are excluded from the main summary per user instructions.

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Conclusion: Minisode 441 of My Favorite Murder masterfully blends eerie ghost stories with personal listener experiences, creating an engaging narrative that resonates with both true crime enthusiasts and casual listeners. Through heartfelt anecdotes and spine-chilling tales, Karen and Georgia continue to build a supportive and interactive community, inviting listeners to share their own stories and connect over shared interests.

Stay tuned for more captivating tales and remember: stay sexy and don't play near the creek in winter!

Transcript

[Karen Kilgariff]

This is exactly right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

Goodbye.

[Unknown]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Hello and welcome to my favorite murder, the Minyasode.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Here it is.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Lookit at this.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Lookit at this.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Look at it now. You can't. There's no video on this.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Feast your eyes. You're not. Don't touch it with your eyes.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Feast your eyers. Eyers.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You wanna go first?

[Karen Kilgariff]

No. You have it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You've got it newscaster style right in your hands.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You're excited because this is a spooky hometown ghost story.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hi diddly ho, Murderinos. It starts. Is that the first time that's happened?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I think so.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Aside from when Ned Flanders did it originally.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's classic. In 1979, it just gets into it. My family moved to the coastal mountains of Oregon into a fairly new single wide trailer on a wooded piece of property with a creek running through it at nearly the end of a nine mile dirt road.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Nine miles is too long.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

As someone from the country driving 10.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Minutes just to get to your front door from the street.

[Karen Kilgariff]

What kind of weed are you growing back there?

[Georgia Hardstark]

They lived in that single wide while my dad built the house. I would eventually grow up in. I never lived in the trailer, but all my siblings did. I'm the youngest of four. My two sisters shared a room and then my two year old brother slept on a little bed on the floor in my parents room for several nights. My brother would wake up complaining that someone was walking on him. Finally, my dad grew tired of this ridiculous complaint and took a turn sleeping on the floor to prove my brother was just being an irrational toddler. Uh o the next morning he said he had a terrible night's sleep because someone had been stepping on him.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The dad.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And they're nine miles away just from the road. To get to town, run and get help.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's gonna be two hours.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. If you're a nine year old and you need to run and get help.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Sia, you better put your Adidas on. You're screwed.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Not but a few nights later. Oh, I love the way that's written. Not but a few nights later, my mom awoke suddenly and there standing in front of her was a little boy about 8 years old, holding a medium sized red rubber ball and star staring at her. What? Haunted trailer? I mean that's scary. What?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, just say it's a neighbor boy, please.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's not. My mom does not get spooked easily. So she just calmly stared at him and he simply stared back. When she blinked, he was gone. It's a ghost story.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Roz. Get the Roz hotline. We have a ghosted story for you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

My whole family somehow shrugged this off. I feel like when you're living there and you can't do anything about it, you just have to explain it away in your head so you can just get through the day and night.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes. I love to also talk to that mom about what her childhood was like that she's like, I think I'm just going to go ahead and stare this ghost down. Have you ever heard that as an option of somebody that's like, I think there's a ghost at the end of my bed.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That means the living people were scarier than the idea of a ghost.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's right. Badass mom times 25.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right. So then a few months later, the previous owners arrived at their door. 80s drop by style. Like that. That is so real. That is so real.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Do you know what happened last night?

[Georgia Hardstark]

No.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I'm laying down after we record after I had food poisoning, very tight and about to go to sleep and someone knocked on my door. Why? Right. So I of course freeze the dogs, go insane and no one's there. And so then I Have wait. And I'm like, what am I gonna do? And finally I go, look out the peephole. No one's there. I open it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Ice cream. Is it ice cream?

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's secret ice cream delivery.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You forgot you ordered ice cream.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I've stopped doing that.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That I had to curb. Cause it cost so much money. No, I had been out of town, so I forgot to tell my house sitter to take stuff out of the mailbox. So it was mail with a little post it note that said, please clean out your mailbox. The mailman had to door deliver the mail because the mailbox was absolutely full.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I hate when they ring your doorbell though. Like when you get a package delivered, it's like, I know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, just throw it there.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I see it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay, I'll be out there. But also there's something about the. It's like an 80s knock, but it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Was a thing where you'd like, hey, I grew up here. Can I come in and see the.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes, totally.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's now a ploy. Don't ever believe it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Of course not.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But it totally used to be a thing.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Completely.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Or also just like friends and acquaintances being like, hey, I was in the neighborhood, what's up?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right? So the old people, the previous owners, arrive at the door, 80s drop by style to see how they were getting along in their new house. Completely unprompted, they asked if any of them had seen the ghost of the little boy. Oh, it was then that my mom was finally shook. The story goes there was a town at the turn of the century up Langlois Mountain called Oakeytown, which was a lumber milling town. So spooky already. The old incinerator is just up the road from my parents house. There lived a boy named Raymond west who was playing with his ball when it rolled into the creek. He went after it and drowned. Horrible to be clear. In the summer this creek is safe as could be and rarely more than calf deep. But in the winter and spring it will easily sweep you away. My parents were able to find old news articles of the story in the library and it all checked out. So he ran after the ball that they later saw him with.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And now he's like, hey, hey you guys.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Finally, when we were all living in the house my dad built, my sister was poking around at random books on our massive bookshelf when she found a small old tattered book she didn't recognize. It was an old elementary school primer, Dick and Jane style. And when she opened it, the name Raymond west was written in cursive several times throughout.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, my God.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Thanks for trudging through that lengthy read. The local paper eventually did a story about it, and it's been a tale we tell in my family since I can remember. The trailer is still there and it's still scary as hell to be alone in hell no.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Nine miles up the road.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Love you ladies and your whole crew. Stay sexy and don't play near the creek in winter. Mirabel.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Wow, what a story.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Ghost story for summer. Summer ghost story.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, Summer ghost story.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Can you guys send us more summer ghost stories?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. You do not have to wait for fall. Here's a summer, not ghost story. And it's timely to our main episode from Thursday. And the subject line is, hot dog day gone wrong at the health department. And then it says, three minute read and it just starts, oh, hey, I've been listening to you since 2017, and I love you both. I work for a department of Public health in a large metro area. Our department is a shit show. And we've made local news multiple times in the past year, ranging from a nepotism scandal and false timekeeping to toxic mismanage.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Ouch.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The situation below is just one of the many somewhat unbelievable things that have happened here. And now the rest of this is totally unbelievable. Not to accuse anybody of lying at all, but it is. As I was reading it, I was like, you've gotta be fucking kidding me. Okay, so it was hot dog day. And then in parentheses it says, why our health department had a hot dog day is beyond me.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's the opposite of health.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It starts insane. Yeah, not many people were grabbing hot dogs. So one of my coworkers, feeling bad for the people who organized the event, got a Vegetari hot dog. She came to regret that decision because by that evening, she developed food poisoning.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, no.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Back in our office, a new employee had just started and was setting up her cubicle. I guess our division director at the time thought he would show off by tossing a bottle of barbecue sauce in the air. Well, he hadn't noticed that the cap on the bottle was loose, so it flew off and barbecue sauce went everywhere.

[Georgia Hardstark]

God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

A lot of it landed on the new employee's desk, getting on her new laptop and ruining some of her paperwork. A big glob landed on our carpeted office floor. Around the corner came my co worker who doesn't like to wear shoes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Ew. No, it's. That's a policy in an office. You must wear shoes at the health Department.

[Karen Kilgariff]

At the Health department, it's Absolutely required at the health department.

[Georgia Hardstark]

As a non naked foot person I am. This is the worst. This is my worst nightmare at work.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Sure enough, she slipped in the barbecue sauce with her bare feet. And then that noise you made is the emoji where it looks like kind of barfy. And then it says, let me remind you that the food poisoning, barbecue sauce, and barefoot incidents all took place at a health department. Honestly, kind of embarrassing and kind of the thing that should only happen on tv. But in all seriousness, most of the people I work with are smart, hardworking people who are passionate about improving health outcomes in our community. The attacks on public health at the federal level are scary and disheartening. Some ways to support your local health department are interacting positively with their social media accounts and reporting misinformation in comment sections. Talking with your friends and family about current health issues and utilizing their services. And wearing shoes. How about that? Number one. Let's put that at the top of the list. Shoes required. We're back in the email. A lot of health departments provide immunizations, safer sex supplies, Narcan, primary and dental care, and more, all of which are available to the public. I didn't know any of that.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's incredible. Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And then it says, anyway, stay sexy and don't trust Hot dog day.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hot dog day.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And then this is unsigned. And our producer Molly says this is unsigned. I'm assuming because it doesn't make the company look great.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right? It sounds like an episode of Parks and Rec, though. Can we be honest?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Completely. You can cast that so quickly. Can I just tell you very quickly that along the lines of the guy with the barbecue sauce, when I used to work on the daily talk show that I used to work on, my friend Vick, who was a producer, she and I would meet before work and walk around my neighborhood for an hour to, like, get some exercise in together. We'd both get ready at my house and we'd go to work, which was like three minutes from my house. And one morning we did that, and we were in my car ready to go to work, and I had one of my drinkable yogurts that I love, and we were talking and I started shaking it up, but the cap was off.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So I literally, in the Honda Fit, just shook a drinkable yogurt all over us, and we both just went.

[Georgia Hardstark]

At least it was both of you. I know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It just went everywhere in the car.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Cause you know when you're, like, going to shake something that's kind of thick, you're like oh, I have to kind of really shake.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, you don't hold back. Oh my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It was like I was doing like a champagne spray in the car with drinkable yogurt. And then we first thing in the.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Morning right before work. Oh my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And we just both like look at each other dripping in yogurt and just get back out of the car, go back inside. We have to get ready all over again.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It smells so. Oh my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Insane.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

And that's where Squarespace comes in.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

From consultations to experiences. Showcase your services with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

You'll get paid on time with professional on brand invoices and online payments. Plus streamline your workflow with built in appointment scheduling and email marketing tools and.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Get discovered faster with Squarespace's built in SEO tools. With meta descriptions and auto generated sitemaps, you'll rank higher in search results globally.

[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

That's squarespace.com murder codemurder goodbye goodbye. This is called How My Parents Helped Give Me Anxiety. We all have one.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Let's all read our emails.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Dear Karen, Georgia and the exactly right family. I started listening to mfm@Episode 16 Blood Murder 16 Magic. Okay, and while that episode freaked me out because you talked about Chandra Levy and I was a new graduate living alone in dc, I knew I had stumbled across something. I have relied on hearing your voices to get me through a lot. From simply looking for a laugh or needing a savior. From boredom at my desk job to calming my ever present anxiety, I have listened to the entire catalog four times and it will soon be five with the rewind episodes. Girl wow. Thank you for the numbers.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean you are putting in serious numbers for us. Thank you for my home.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You're the street team.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Thank you for the house I live in.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Then it says thank you for more than I can express. So yeah, great.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Back at ya.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Speaking of that ever present anxiety, I have a story about 90s parents that may indicate why I'm now heavily medicated. Ditto. I don't wanna call them trash parents because they are still my best friends. But when I heard a recent minisode, I finally decided to send this in.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Cannot wait for a trash parent story. Also parents plural? Like it's not just trash dad.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, there's nobody looking out for you. For context, my name is Katie and my sister's name is Jenny. This is important for the story. When I was a child, my dad chose to get us to be behave in an interesting way. The house I grew up in backed into a wooded area. When we would misbehave or complain, my dad would say shh. Do you hear that? That's Sadie. She's your sister. But she misbehaved and now she lives in the Woods.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No. My God.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You cannot threaten your child with the fake fate of another child who's banished. Banished of child. Obviously a terrifying thing to say to your small child. I wasn't sure if I believed it, but why risk it, right? At a young age, I knew I wanted to stay out of the forest. When my little sister got a little older, he would say the same thing.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Shh.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Do you hear that? That's Penny. She's your sister, but she misbehaved and now she lives in the woods. Luckily, little sisters usually have the ability to do what older sisters can't, which is push back on authority figures.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yay. She simply told him it wasn't true, and it became a long lasting family joke. Over the years, if I got frustrated with my parents, I would joke that going to join Sadie in the woods. Or if we heard a weird noise, we'd say, oh, that's Sadie. Or oh, that's Penny. Years later, I had to write a scary story from one of my French college classes. And I based mine on this sweet quote. Childhood memory. Yes, that's actually. That'd be a great story.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's great. It's kind of pet cemetery.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, yeah, but with sisters. Let's just say the professor looked very concerned when she returned my paper. Needless to say, you gotta base it in reality. Base fiction, reality, and it's believable.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Write what you know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Needless to say, in my adult years I have had lot of therapy and I am happily medicated. Stay sexy and maybe find a different way to get kids to behave without giving them trauma. Katie P. S. I made my mom a murderino. Sorry for spilling the beans, mom. Love you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

What if her mom's name was Sadie?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, yeah. Sent her mom to the woods.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, my God, that's so good. I have already told the story of Adrian saying to her kids, be careful, the man is watching. Which is like, if you have more than one child.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Sounds like religion, though.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That literally is. It's Catholicism in a nutshell. But also, like when you're in public and then you. There's three individuals who haven't been here for very long. Yeah, you gotta get them to like, snap to totally. For their own safety and everybody else's like, sanity.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You gotta threaten those kids.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You got to make them insane. All right, this email subject line is. Listen to that little voice. It says, hi, Karen in Georgia. Thanks for keeping me entertained on all my long runs. I'm one of those crazy people who runs marathons for fun. Honey, how and Then it just says. But let's get into my story. A few years ago, I went to a co worker's wedding in Columbia, South Carolina. After the ceremony, the plan was to hit the college bars, since it's a big college town. But first we were supposed to meet the bridal party at the bar in their hotel. My group was staying at a more budget friendly spot, so we grabbed an Uber over. When we got there, we couldn't get in touch with anyone from the bridal party and the front desk informed us that the hotel bar was closed. So we decided to head out on our own and explore the local college bars. Would you go to a college bar now?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Definitely. Absolutely.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes. Good times.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Maybe. Yeah, I would.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, maybe.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm thinking of a dive bar though. Like a sports bar that's really loud and sticky. That actually doesn't sound great, actually. You know. Yeah. You know why? Because they always have quiz night. Every night is quiz night and you walk in and it's so loud.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay. The answer's no.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's a no. There was a bar. Boys I went to high school with went to Columbia. This was like in the late 80s. And there was a dive bar that they used to go to that beers were 25 cents until the first person peed. I've told you this story. No. Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Ah, that would be so hard for me.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So if you were the person that ruined it, like everyone in the whole bar hated you. But then people got so drunk, they were like. People were like beyond shit faced.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You know, Someone had a diaper on for sure too. Right?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right. Somebody who goes to New Year's. Times Square.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay, okay. We ended up in a place packed with 21 year old babies when we noticed two people, a man and a woman who looked closer to our age, standing at the back bar. Naturally, we started chatting. They told us they were siblings, she worked at the college and he was visiting from the military. They suggested we drink at his hotel bar, which sounded sketchy, but we were trying to be polite.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No, don't be polite.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Don't. While we were still chatting, I happened to spot a guy wearing a brewery T shirt from my hometown in Maryland. I got excited and started talking to him. That when things got weird, the woman suddenly stormed up to me, got inches from my face and started yelling at me for, quote, ignoring her brother.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I was stunned. Even worse, the way she positioned herself between me and my drink set off alarm bells. She got so close that I could no longer see my glass. Something in my gut Told me that this wasn't just weird, it was dangerous.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I quickly grabbed my friend Lindsay, left my drink on the bar, and walked out. But as we got to the front door, that little voice in my head spoke up. Turn around. I did. And saw the guy was following me. His quote unquote sister was nowhere in sight. Outside, I spotted a group of guys standing on the sidewalk. I walked straight into their circle and said, I'm with you. Pretend you know me. Without missing a beat. They played along, and the guy walked right past without saying a word. To this day, I don't know for sure what their intentions were, but I'm convinced they tried to drug me and had something sinister planned.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Absolutely.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, it's so weird, so creepy. Also, when you meet people and they're like, we're brother and sister, but you're like, you're not, though.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I wouldn't go to a bar with my brother. What would we do? We wouldn't do that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. What are you doing? No, the kicker. The hotel they were trying to take us to. The one with the bar.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It was the same hotel that actually had no bar. Oh. Like the original bar that they planned to go to.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And then they were like, oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I hadn't put the red flags together in the moment, but thankfully I listened to my gut.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And then it just says, danielle, that's incredible.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I also do love and think everyone should utilize no matter what. The pretend I'm with you to groups of people. If you're alone and you're scared, like, they will follow through with it. Don't worry about being weird or embarrassing. Like, get people gathered around you to help you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes. And like, more than one so that people have a chance. Also, it's like, whether a man or a woman, someone maybe a little larger.

[Georgia Hardstark]

In stature, or like, if you're two people who are alone, get together. Yeah. I just. I'm a really big, really big advocate of that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And I think that people these days, especially because of social media, are just getting hipper and hipper to, like, if somebody came up to you and said that, you would be all over it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Absolutely. Yeah. You know that moment when you're trying to pack the car for a road trip and suddenly it's like a game of emotional Tetris. The cooler won't fit, someone's already cranky, and the dog has to sit on your lap. Lap. Or you can just skip the stress and get the car that has thought of everything. That's the Ioniq 9. It's Hyundai's first all electric SUV with three rows. Finally, space. Even in an EV, the Ioniq 9 gives you class leading interior space with really smart purposeful tech. It includes seven USB C ports. Excessive? How dare you. No batteries dying halfway through the drive and everyone gets their screen time, even the dog. And because it's Hyundai, it comes with standard safety features like highway driving assist too and blind spot collision avoidance assist. So even if your passengers are a little chaotic, your car isn't. The ultra powerful Ioniq 9 rear wheel drive S trim gets an EPA estimated 335 miles on a full charge. Actual range may vary, but that's plenty for your weekly errands, commutes and maybe even an escape or two. And when you need to charge it fast, you can get up to 150 miles in just 15 minutes. When using a 350 kilowatt DC ultra fast charger and CCS adapter, actual charge time may vary. Plus it comes with a 10 year 100,000 mile hybrid electric limited battery warranty. That's real peace of mind. If you've been waiting to go electric but don't want to give up range, space or comfort, the Ioniq 9 is for you. Learn more about the Ioniq 9 at HyundaiUSA.com, call 562-314-4603 for complete details. Goodbye if your idea of spring cleaning means getting rid of every single piece of furniture that you swore was temporary four years ago, Article is here to help Article makes it easy to create a stylish, long lasting home at an unbeatable price. And thanks to their online only model, they have some unbeatable prices too. Article offers a curated range of mid century, modern, coastal and Scandi inspired pieces that not only shine on their own, but also pair seamlessly with other Article products. Products. This thoughtful approach to design makes it incredibly easy to mix and match, helping you create a space that feels cohesive and stylish. Article takes great care in curating its collection, focusing solely on high quality, meaningful pieces that will stand the test of time. There's no filler. Every item is chosen for its craftsmanship, design and lasting value. An Article provides fast and affordable shipping across the US and Canada. You get to choose your delivery time and they'll keep you in the loop with updates along the way. Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit article.commur and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. That's A R T I c l-e.com murder to get $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. Goodbye. All right, here's my last one. And it's kind of how I want my life to be one day. Okay, beach combing treasure. Hi, ladies. First time writer here. My sister told me about your podcast back in 2016, and I started a few episodes in along for the ride ever since.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Wow.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Georgia was talking about mudlarking on Minisode 426 and explained how our brains can pick out unnatural man made shapes in a beach slash rocky setting. That made me think of my favorite beach combing find. And I had to write in.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Ooh, I'm so excited. Whatever this is, I'm gonna love it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's Victorian.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Is it really?

[Georgia Hardstark]

We have been spending summers in Prince Edward island since buying our little seaside cottage in Graham Head P.E.I. in 2020. Okay, let me have that life.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Please give it over.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I need that. And then I go beach combing every day.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, exactly.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our three kids have loved every second spent by the water and playing on the beach. One of our favorite things to do is hunt for sea glass and random little treasures. And she wrote treasures that wash up. We have collected dozens of mason jars of sea glass and other strange finds. Buttons, Lego pieces, marbles, cow teeth, seal bones, et cetera.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Hold on. She went off a cliff there. Cow teeth are horrifying on a beach. Unless I'm thinking of horse teeth.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, horse teeth are terrifying.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, either way, why would cow.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Teeth be on the beach?

[Karen Kilgariff]

What are they doing to those cows?

[Georgia Hardstark]

They jumped overboard on the. And then they.

[Karen Kilgariff]

There's. You know that bridge in England where dogs jump off?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, I don't want to talk about that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Very sad. But what if there's like, on Prince Edward island, there's like. Don't go over there. That's where the cows jump.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, jeez. Cow jumping.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Sorry. Wait. And seal bones.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Dark over the years. And this past summer, I found the coolest thing.

[Karen Kilgariff]

A big dead seal carcass.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It was a whole cow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Dead.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It was so cool.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It was a cow hugging a seal.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I knew you'd love it. My husband and the kids were up ahead getting a head start on finding the good stuff while I dawdled behind. You always got to be the doddler kind of best. Shit. Just as we were about to head back to the cottage, I spotted a little bit white fleck that resembled a teeny person up ahead in the sand and rocks. I immediately went up to it to check it out, and it was this Little white ceramic lady. I picked her up and couldn't believe what a random thing it was to find. Almost like a little. It sounds like a porcelain doll. Almost like a figurine. Unsure of what this was, I posted her on my Instagram and a follower commented that she was a very rare find and gave me the name of what it was. It turns out this little beauty was a rare ceramic doll made in the Victorian era, made between 1850 and, according to Wikipedia, called a frozen Charlotte. Oh, have you heard of that? No, there's too much info about them to include it all in this email, but the gist is that they were made after a poem called A Corpse Going to a Ball by Seba Smith. It was published in 1843 in the newspaper, and it was about a young girl freezing to death in New York in 1840 while on her way to a New Year's Eve ball. She didn't listen to her mother when she told her to bundle up and she froze on the sled next to her date. Charlie. Jesus. Cautionary tale.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Please, please bundle up on your sled.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You're gonna die. The dolls were made as a reminder for children to listen to their parents and be obedient. Oh, it just. It goes back farther than the 90s.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So much further. Yeah, we thought we had it bad.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They were very inexpensive to buy and were tiny enough to fit into a jewelry box, making them super popular with children at the time. I guess some people would also bake them into cakes, kind of like morbid money cakes. According to the Internet, you could also get little caskets for them as well.

[Karen Kilgariff]

What are we talking about?

[Georgia Hardstark]

I mean, Victorians were fucking goth as shit.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They so were. But I just feel like I would have heard about this before. I know. I'm so jealous.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Never. Anyhoo, she may be a little terrifying and quite possibly a lot haunted, but we have her displayed on a shelf at the cottage with all of our other weird and wonderful beach finds. And we love her. Thanks for reading this. You got me through some dark times. After losing my dad in 2018, I picked up a hobby of embroidery and now have been selling it for almost six years.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Hell yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Doing that and listening to you both and your humor has been such a great distraction from everything I was going through. Can't thank you enough. Love you ladies. Stay sexy and check those beaches for creepy little Victorian dolls. Meg. Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. And she's Broidery by Meg Elliot. And also she sent us a photo of the doll.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh my God.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So we'll include it on the Instagram. Yeah, we'll post that up and we'll tag you, Meg.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, my God, I'm so excited. Maybe she should make an embroidery of a frozen Charlotte that we can put on our shelves behind us. It says treasure over the top, but it's like just a dead girl. That's our order.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Can we place a special order?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Can we place a special order that you ship to a Stat? Meg, that's so cool.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

What a feeling where you're like, oh, that's just another little piece of white shell.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And it's like, no, it's a whole fucking statue.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's an entire email to my favorite murder.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Amazing. Okay, this email subject line is, Johnny, get the gun. And it just starts. I've grown up in an Irish Catholic family where my grandma had 16 first cousins, most of whom were badass women who taught me how to fuck politeness from a young age. I had 27 cousins.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Jesus.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So go to hell. Just kidding.

[Georgia Hardstark]

How many do I have more? I have like 12. Ish.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I've met a good percentage of your cousins, I feel.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You have.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. My great grandma Franny, Aunt Dottie, and Aunt Jonny were sisters who decided to live together in their 70s, when their husbands had either passed or left. And then in parentheses, it says for the better. It says they lived in Downey, California, near a big open park. And one night, Frannie woke up to someone trying to break into the house through the window above her head. She woke her sisters, and once they realized what was going on, Dottie screamed, johnny, get the gun. Thankfully scaring off the intruders.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hell, yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

What the men didn't know was that none had ever owned or shot a gun in their life.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That is so smart.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Dottie's quick thinking likely saved their lives because when they tried to call the police, they realized the phone lines had been cut.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's so sinister.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Which is honestly always the scariest part. What were these people planning?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, well.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And also, I'm sorry, but to track it. And I don't know what the timing on this is, but it makes me think that's something the night Stalker did.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And it's in.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Down. Down. Yep. Okay, you're right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Anyway.

[Georgia Hardstark]

100.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay. Anyway, the phone lines have been cut. Once the police finally arrived after using the neighbor's phone, they said the men likely watch their house for days or weeks from the nearby park, choosing a house with three older women who might have money and planned to end their lives or worse.

[Georgia Hardstark]

For sure.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Thank you for creating a community so we're just out of that story now. That's it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

These sisters outsmarted these pieces of shit. Get the gun.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Get the gun.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Suddenly everyone's from the south.

[Georgia Hardstark]

For some reason, everyone's a cartoon fucking Southerner.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And then it just says thank you for creating a community for current and future badass women to come together. I know Franny, Dotty, and Johnny would absolutely love this. Fuck Word Murder Podcast Stay sexy and get yourself an imaginary gun. Amanda, that's so good. Woo Woo. This one's to Franny, Dottie and Johnny.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Thanks guys. Do you have stories like that or anything that like else?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Anything? Operating phone line Cut.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Have you ever been a phone line operator or like a. Were you a 911 operator? Oh, tell us everything.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Good Lord.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You can legally tell us and send it to my favorite murder Gmail.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And stay sexy and don't get murdered.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Goodbye, Elvis. Do you want a cookie?

[Karen Kilgariff]

This has been an exact Right production.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our senior producers are Alejandra Keck and Molly Smith.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This episode was mixed by Liana Squillace.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Email your hometowns to my favorite murdermail.com.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And follow the show on Instagram at my favorite murder.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Listen to my favorite murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And now you can watch us on exactly right's YouTube page. And while you're there, please like and subscribe.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Goodbye.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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