MFM Minisode 481

Summary

My Favorite Murder Minisode 481: Easter & Passover Hometown Stories

Release Date: March 30, 2026
Hosts: Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark
Theme: Listener-submitted hometown stories with an Easter and Passover twist—true crime, spooky, and heartwarming tales about holidays, family, pets, and mishaps.

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Episode Overview

This minisode of My Favorite Murder celebrates the overlap of Easter and Passover with listener stories that blend supernatural chills, quirky family traditions, and true crime connections. Karen and Georgia read and react to a variety of stories: haunted houses at Passover, an infamous rabbi murderer, uncanny childhood Easter photos, wild pet escapades, accidental poisonings, and chaotic family Easter egg hunts. The hosts provide their trademark commentary—funny, skeptical, supportive, and occasionally incredulous.

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Key Stories & Insights

1. Haunted House & the Passover Ghost

[03:45–06:21]

• Summary: Emily, a past dog-sitter, recounts creepy experiences at a neighbor’s house: dogs barking at unseen things, a mysteriously opened door, and a toddler years later inexplicably identifying a "dead body" in the exact same spot.
• Host Reactions:
  • Karen: “That literally sounds like it's out of the Conjuring franchise somehow.” (06:21)
  • Georgia: “Dogs and babies. Like, trust them.” (06:37)
• Notable Moments: The dogs’ fixation, the toddler’s ghost/dead body comments at Passover, and the validation of inexplicable chills from a second source.

---

2. Puff, Puff, Passover: The Fred Newlander Seder

[06:43–08:44]

• Summary: A listener shares a Passover Seder story where every mention of "bitter herbs" required a pot hit. Conversation shifts to a temple founder absent from their own history—for having a hitman kill his wife. The hosts had covered the case: Fred Newlander.
• Host Reactions:
  • Georgia jokes about Jewish stereotypes regarding weed and wine.
• Memorable Quote:
  • Listener: “I have to email them about this. They need to know. And now you do.” (08:24)
• Notable Moment: Multiple people at the Seder realize they've listened to the same MFM episode—shared murderino moment.

---

3. Childhood Easter Egg Hunt Reunion

[13:03–15:46]

• Summary: Two partners discover, while sharing childhood albums, that they appeared together as toddlers at the same Seattle Easter egg hunt—decades before they met. Their parents both once evaded Ted Bundy at UW in the 1970s.
• Host Reactions:
  • Karen: “They're in a picture together.” (15:01)
  • Georgia: “I love that. That's the cutest. I can't believe that. And I have to say, I did think that it was going to be… Ted Bundy was in the background.” (15:46–15:56)
• Memorable Quote:
  • Listener: “We started our relationship almost 25 years to the day after that Easter morning. And next Easter, we’ll be married. Sorry, Jesus. It's our holiday now.” (15:09–15:17)
• Notable Moment: The hosts note they’ll share the (real!) photo on Instagram.

---

4. Easter Egg Dye Disaster

[15:46–18:38]

• Summary: Listener Taylor, as a 3-year-old, eats what she thinks is Easter candy—only to find out she devoured the entire box of Easter egg dye pellets. The frantic call to Poison Control (all was OK).
• Host Reactions:
  • Karen explains to Georgia, “They literally look like sweet tarts.” (17:30)
  • Georgia: “Dude, I'm fucking 45 and…that's the first time I've learned that.” (17:45)
• Memorable Quote:
  • “We are exploratory eaters. Stay sexy and don't be shy to get up when your children do.” (18:37)

---

5. Billy the Cockatiel’s Easter Escape

[22:34–27:30]

• Summary: Heather recalls her family’s “mean little cockatiel” Billy—brought home as her mom recovered from surgery. On Easter Sunday, Billy escapes. Dad, Tom (a plumber), goes on a small-town wild bird chase, climbing trees and recruiting locals. After hours, Billy gives up and hops onto Tom’s finger to ride home.
• Host Reactions:
  • Karen: “Exactly. Let that bird go.” (26:52)
  • Georgia: “Billy’s Easter Escape is still a family legend, told at every holiday...” (27:06)
• Notable Quote:
  • “He was a loud, stubborn, weird little guy and we loved him for it.” (27:28)

---

6. The Chaotic Pub-Led Easter Egg Hunt

[27:53–32:11]

• Summary: Charlotte shares the tale of her sprawling, sarcasm-fueled English family taking over a Welsh lodge complex every holiday. One Easter, the men are left in charge of the kids’ egg hunt… after hours at the pub. The result: “the most unhinged Easter egg hunt ever conceived”—dangerous clues, impossible hiding spots, and middle-aged men forced to complete the hunt themselves.
• Host Reactions:
  • Karen: “There was no logical route. There was no mercy.” (30:35)
  • Georgia: “I love that. Just chaotic uncles everywhere. It's just drunk. Chaotic uncles is... such a good vibe.” (32:11)
• Memorable Quote:
  • “Stay sexy and don’t let drunken men plan anything. Or maybe do.” (32:08)
• Notable Moment: The family still returns every year; the pub hunt is now holiday lore.

---

Notable Quotes

• “Dogs and babies. Like, trust them.”
  Georgia, on supernatural instincts — [06:37]

• “I've listened to the My Favorite Murder episode about him!”
  Anonymous Listener, Fred Newlander story — [07:51]

• “Sorry, Jesus. It’s our holiday now.”
  Listener on reclaiming Easter after the egg hunt reunion — [15:17]

• “We are exploratory eaters. Stay sexy and don't be shy to get up when your children do.”
  Taylor, on the dangers of unsupervised kids and food — [18:37]

• “He was a loud, stubborn, weird little guy and we loved him for it.”
  Heather, about Billy the cockatiel — [27:28]

• “Stay sexy and don’t let drunken men plan anything. Or maybe do.”
  Charlotte, reflecting on chaotic family traditions — [32:08]

---

Host Highlights

• Karen and Georgia riff on the power of dogs and babies to detect the supernatural.
• Karen explains Easter egg dye kits to Georgia, who missed that childhood tradition.
• Both hosts delight in small world moments (shared childhood Easter photo, temple/famous murder connection).
• Affection for family lore, animal chaos, and the inevitability of holiday disorder fills every story.

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Haunted House Story: [03:45–06:21]
• Fred Newlander Seder: [06:43–08:44]
• Childhood Easter Egg Hunt Reunion: [13:03–15:46]
• Easter Egg Dye Disaster: [15:46–18:38]
• Billy the Cockatiel Escape: [22:34–27:30]
• Pub-Led Easter Egg Hunt: [27:53–32:11]

---

Closing Notes

• Georgia: “This is going to be a tradition from now on.” [32:26]
• Both hosts encourage listeners to send in more stories—especially interfaith or hybrid Passover/Easter tales.
• Standard sign-off: “Stay sexy and don’t get murdered.”

---

For fans of true-crime, the weirdness of family life, and holiday chaos, this minisode is brimming with classic MFM humor and heart.

Transcript

[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Hello and welcome. Two My favorite murder the Minisode.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This one is Easter and Passover themed. Congratulations.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We've finally gotten to Easter Passover. Finally we made it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Another year everyone. I know. This is the time that everyone likes to reflect.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We build toward it and we land at it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes, yes, here we go. My neighbor's house is haunted. Light hearted, sort of. Dear MFM Famous, When I was in high school I used to dog sit for my neighbors when they went on vacation. Every night, without fail, the two mini poodles would congregate in the front hall in the exact same spot and bark relentlessly for lack of a better description, into the air above them. To be clear, this was not a need to go out. Bark. They were both so focused and clearly looking at something. Fucking dogs man. Don't scare the shit out of you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So scary.

[Georgia Hardstark]

One night the barking was especially bad and I had already taken them out for several walks to try to get them to calm down. I took them out one last time before bed and thought, well, eventually they'll shut up. When we got back inside, I locked the front door and pulled really hard on it several times to make sure it was locked. I remember doing this because I was really nervous about being alone in the house overnight. The dogs resumed their position and barking while I attempted to watch some TV and fall asleep. After a while they calmed down and stopped barking. All of a sudden I felt like it was too quiet. I peeked around the corner into the front hall. The dogs were gone and the front door was wide open. Ooh. I freaked out and immediately ran outside to find them. Luckily, they hadn't gotten too far, but I was sufficiently scared. I've always wondered if the house had a ghost who got tired of their barking and took matters into their own hands. Just let, let them out. Because they were like, would you shut up? Stop. Cut to about seven years later and I'm at my neighbor's house for Passover. One of the guests had a two year old baby who was crawling around all night and providing much entertainment during dinner. He pointed up into the air and said, ghost, Ghost, ghost. Everyone froze and his mom's jaw dropped. She had no idea he knew that word. A little later in the evening, he was crawling on the floor and stopped at the exact same spot the dogs used to bark, pointed to the floor, you ready for this? And said, dead body.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No, this is not true.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He was so matter of fact about it. And once again, the adults were shocked, shocked and creeped out because this kid's normal vocab is, well, that of a two year old. After years of feeling like maybe my experiences in the house had been due to my imagination, I was glad to get confirmation from the little munchkin. Hope you guys enjoy the story, stay sexy, and stay away from dead bodies buried under houses. Emily sent for my iPhone.

[Karen Kilgariff]

God, I mean, that literally sounds like it's out of the Conjuring franchise somehow.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, I would immediately start digging though. I'd fucking rip that floor open that night and be like, prove this kid's right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, I mean, that's just two. There's your two concrete pieces of evidence right there. Dogs and babies.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They know dogs and babies. Like, trust them.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Follow them into the floorboards if necessary.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Look at Frank right now.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Speaking of dogs, look at Frank. He's like, God, so sick of these ghosts. Okay, this is it. In celebration of Passover, I'm gonna read you this email, but I won't read you the subject line. It says, hey, gang, last week I smoked pot at the Seder, where the house rules were, every time bitter herbs are mentioned in the Haggadah, you have to take a hit. Puff, puff, Passover, anyone? Anyway, my friend, name withheld to protect the nice Jewish boys of America, starts getting hassled by one of his roommates to tell the, quote, story about the guy who founded his tem. He finally agrees to and says, okay, so my temple is in a very Jewish town and it's a very prominent temple, but there's this guy who was instrumental in founding it, who used to be a really important rabbi there, who isn't Mentioned at all on the website or in the temple history anywhere. And the reason is he hired a hitman to kill his wife.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Jersey, right?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yep. The Seder table of partially blazed four cups of Manishevitz. In college, kids start losing their fucking minds. He continues. Yeah, look em up. Fred Newlander.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Damn.

[Karen Kilgariff]

From the opposite end of the table, the information enters my brain and with the voice amplifying power of the substances I've consumed that night, I bellow all caps. I've listened to the my favorite murder episode about him. Are you serious? Fred fucking Newlander founded your temple? And he bellows back, yeah. And the girl sitting next to him, who I've never met, yells down the table, I love that podcast. Oh my God. I've listened to that episode. And then she turns back to him. Fred Newlander founded your synagogue. We are in a state of pot fueled recognition ecstasy. I yell back, I have to email them about this. They need to know. And now you do. I smoked pot for the first time at a Passover Seder and I met a fellow murderino, all because a nice Jewish boy bought me weed. Stay Jewish and don't get high, Sally.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's an impossible thing to do by the way, right? Oh my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow. I love that one. I love that. It's like we're not telling you the story, we're just telling you about the story of finding out that the story happened. I just. That was great. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace.

[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

okay, this one is fucking crazy. I'm not going to read you the subject line, but this. I fucking love this one.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hey gang. In April 2016, I left my home in Phoenix to move to Seattle. Because why live in a house with a yard when you can pay the same amount for a basement studio with free spiders? Since I was born here, you could call it a return. But my only memories of the first two years of my life are derived from old photos. I met my partner in March 2018. It was on a dating app that almost goes without saying, right? We clicked immediately after realizing how much we had in common. Friends of friends, the same shows and favorite bars. One of those how have we never met Moments. Fast forward. Then there's just two little arrows. The next time I traveled back to Phoenix, he came with me. I had a whole host of things I was eager to show him. Childhood photo albums at my parents house weren't at the top of my list, but I let our hosts have their moment. We got excited when we saw documentation of my first Easter egg hunt. Not only because of my quintessential 90s baby bright pink tights, but because it was in our Seattle neighborhood. My partner knew the neighborhood since his grandmother lived there and my mom got a kick out of the idea that we might have been at the same Easter egg hunt. Before leaving, I made sure to snap a photo on my phone, you know, in case I ever needed fashion inspiration from my younger self. Once we returned to Seattle, his parents treated us to the same trip down memory lane. I made sure to point out my partner's sweet baby angel bowl cut in his Easter photos. But to be fair, my wispy George Costanza hair wasn't much better and I pulled out my phone to remind him. More shocking than my hairstyle was the little boy grabbing an egg behind me. Not only did he match the photos in front of us, he was in the same exact position just captured from the other side. My cameo wasn't as conspicuous as his, but my bright pink tights were unmistakable in the background.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They're in a picture together.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes. We have the photo. To go to our Instagram to look at it. I'll show you. We started our relationship almost 25 years to the day after that Easter morning. And next Easter, we'll be married. Sorry, Jesus. It's our holiday. Now stay sexy and let your parents show off their dusty photo albums. KS shout out to our badass moms, who both evaded Ted Bundy in the early 70s at the university of Washington. Okay, Molly is going to show you the photo.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay, good.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's fucking. I've studied it. It's fucking real. There's her in the front and then her little tights are up in the, like, upper corner. And then he's in the background, like picking up an egg. It's fucking.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's insane.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Uncanny. It's uncanny. We'll put it on Instagram. I love that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I love that. That's the cutest. I can't believe that. And I have to say, I did think that it was going to be. Ted Bundy was in the background.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Shout out to them. Avoiding Ted Bundy.

[Karen Kilgariff]

In the background, Ted Bundy is hurriedly trying to get to his gold Volkswagen Bug. Okay, well, here's a fun Easter story. Similar, not the same. And I'm not going to read you the subject line. It says hello and welcome. When I was three, I loved candy more than anything. Candy in any form or variety. Candy was my passion. I was also an early ariser, which meant a lot of mornings spent unsupervised until my parents woke. It was the 90s and parenting was mostly just light supervision. Far be it for me to interfere with the lives of my parents. Imagine my joy when I rose on a spring morning, likely before the sun, to see just at my eye level on the kitchen table, a all caps, beautiful, colorful box of candy with Easter eggs and a bunny and beautiful flowers. I managed to get the box open and was delighted to find lots of colorful little tablets. What could be better? Naturally, I ate them all. Oh God, my mom's telling. The story goes like this. I woke up and walked into the living room to find 3 year old Taylor with black drool running out of her mouth telling me how good the candy on the table was. Oh my God, it's the Easter egg dye pellets. She's eaten Easter egg dye pellets.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I don't even know. I don't know what those are.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, shit. That's right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Hello, my Jewish friend. So basically it's a kit you get at the store and they give you pellets of dye. So it's like green, yellow, and it usually comes out kind of like different.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What do the pellets look like? Like pills or something.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They literally look like sweet tarts.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, you put that in the. Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But they're much darker than like a pastel colored candy. Very dark because you put them in hot water with vinegar and something else and that's what you dunk your eggs into to dye them.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Dude, I'm fucking 45 and I. That's the first time I've learned that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I guess we're gonna get you a egg kit this year so you can see the joy we've been.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Living in.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Ate the fucking color. Food coloring pellets.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The pellets. Okay, wait. I'll tell you more because there's more. It says horror and panic ensued after a call with poison control. They determined that this particular brand of Easter egg dye was not toxic and I should be okay. Oh my God, it's so con. It's so dense. It's like you put a big bowl of hot water down and like everybody can dip their egg in the red water all night if you want to. Crazy. Okay. This was not my only foray with poison control and my own child has already built up his own rap sheet. We are exploratory eaters. Stay sexy and don't be shy to get up when your children do. Don't be shy to get up when your children do. Taylor.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, Exploratory eating. And that sign off is fucking incredible.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Just genius. Yeah, that's a real. That's a. You know, around Easter time, I think everybody gets a little crazy too, where it's like people maybe having more fun because it's a little warmer and they're going to parties more. Sleeping in, maybe.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Cute outfits on.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yep. Drinking a gin fizz.

[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]

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[Commercial Announcer 3]

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[Jacob Goldstein]

is Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at O D O o dot com. That's O D O o dot com.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay, my last one is about a cockatiel and it's got. It's very long, but it has peachy vibes. So we have to read it. Hi Karen and Georgia and Steven. RIP I know he's not dead. I just miss him. I just listened to the Hometowns featuring pets and it jogged a memory of one of the funniest stories in my family's history, starring none other than Billy, our mean little cockatiel with the lungs of a demon and the survival skills of a feral raccoon. Billy was technically my mom's bird, but he quickly became the entire family's problem. My dad, Tom, is a plumber and is constantly coming home from jobs with fines, leftover supplies, random tools, once a weird antique toilet. But Billy was by far the strangest thing he ever brought home. Billy was offered to my dad, who thought, sure, why not bring home a cockatiel? We think Billy was around one or two years old at the time. My mom had just had a double bunionectomy. Imagine me reading that the first time going, what?

[Karen Kilgariff]

What the fuck? But I like to picture that her mom was like old fashioned in a hospital bed, both legs up in the air and traction, but just her feet.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally. It's one of those things where it's like, it's a tiny surgery, but it involves like so much recovery that you

[Karen Kilgariff]

need a cockatiel about it that you have to get. A bird that will remember, will not die for 90 years. I feel like bunions were a big thing in the 70s that really haven't. People don't talk about it anymore.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally. And warts, like hand on hands and stuff. There's always getting warts.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Warts were everywhere. They were what? No one talks about warts anymore.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's almost like you should get vaccinated. Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's almost like there's Cover up and a Conspiracy with Jeffrey Epstein.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay, okay. So my dad thought, you know what really help her recovery? A loud, emotionally unstable parrot. So naturally, Billy became part of the family. He lived to be 21. He died when I was 17 or 18, which feels both impressive and like some sort of endurance challenge from the universe. He wasn't particularly sweet. He'd whistle back at you or say hi and then immediately try to bite you. But he did love my mom, and eventually he tolerated me. I was the only person he'd occasionally step onto without drawing blood. And sometimes he'd climb under my chin to cuddle like a tiny, angry neck warmer. I wanted a dog so badly growing up up. But Billy was what I had. So I pretended he was my dog until I was at least 13 and mildly self aware. Now on to the main event, the great Easter Escape. Trademarked our house had an enclosed sun porch with four doors between it and the outside world. Sometimes we'd let Billy stretch his wings and fly around on the sun porch for some solo bird therapy. One fateful Easter Sunday, while Jesus was out here resurrecting, Billy decided to follow suit and rise. My Uncle Chuck came over with my three cousins for Easter, and while trying to juggle the kids and open the sun porch, he left it open for just a second too long and out flew Billy like a feathered banshee shot from a cannon. Our town was tiny, maybe 1500 people, but rural and full of woods, open fields and bad ideas. My dad immediately took off after him, following Billy's panic screeches from tree to tree. Across town. He said Billy just kept flying up, probably because the highest he'd ever been was the curtain rod and the sheer vertical freedom overwhelmed him. My dad climbed trees, sprinted through backyards, and got a variety of small town reactions. One man, bless his chaotic soul, offered to grab a chainsaw and cut down a whole ass tree if it would help reach the bird. Meanwhile, another man yelled at my dad, threatening, if you fall, you'll sue me. I'm calling the cops. To which my dad, mid tree, out of breath, yelled, good, call the cops. I need backup. Hours into the saga, my dad finally found Billy perched in a tree two blocks from our house. Tired and probably emotionally shattered, Billy let my dad yell, billy, come on, let's go home. And I swear to God, he climbed down the tree, hopped onto my dad's finger like he was saying, all right, I guess I'm tired. And rode home on his shoulders like he hadn't just caused absolute chaos. Why? Why Chase after him.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Exactly. Let that bird go.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He'll come back.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Why are you trapping birds in a house?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, all of it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's like me, our horse that we keep in the front room. Leave it alone. It doesn't want to be in there.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Billy's Easter Escape is still a family legend, told at every holiday and probably one of the most dramatic things to ever happen in our little town. He was a loud, stubborn, weird little guy and we loved him for it. Thanks for inspiring this trip down memory lane and for being the badass voices in my ears through life, grief, healing and chaos, including bird related drama SSDGM Forever Warmly Heather.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Heather, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be critical about you and Billie. I know it's such a meaningful relationship and it's forever. I just think it's like if that bird got out and the bird wanted to come back. It's like the old saying, like, let him go, let him go, let him come back.

[Georgia Hardstark]

If they come back, it's meant to be.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Here's your bird forever. If not, you had trapped a bird.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Exactly. How do you feel about that?

[Karen Kilgariff]

How you feel about this high horse? Okay, let's wrap this out. This email starts no subject line, obviously. Dear Karen in Georgia. Hi ladies, longtime listener, first time writer. Please be gentle. I promise this story makes more sense once the pub gets involved. My Name's Charlotte. I'm 26. I come from a family so large it feels like a clerical error. My dad is the youngest of 11 children and every single one of his siblings went on to have at least four kids each because apparently no one in my family has ever heard of hobbies. I'm one of five, the only girl with four brothers, and because God has a sense of humor, I'm also the middle child of triplets. I was raised feral, loud, and extremely skilled at, you guessed it, sarcasm. I added the you guessed it one in. I live in a stereotypical English village. Cobblestones, hedges trimmed within an inch of their lives, and neighbors who would absolutely notice if you moved a garden gnome. It's the kind of place that feels like something terrible should have happened in a Victorian novel, but instead it's just quiet judgment and church fetes that feel vaguely threatening. When my youngest brother was born, the youngest grandchild of this already out of control family, everybody wanted to be there for his first Christmas. He was born in January, so by the time December rolled around, he had somewhat developed a personality which apparently made him extremely exciting. Naturally, this caused arguments who would host, who would attend Et cetera. To avoid the inevitable chaos, my parents made an executive decision. They packed up the seven of us, five kids, two adults, plus our dog, and took us to Wales, specifically to a little lodge complex where to this day, they have no idea how they found. With nothing but country sidewalks, one pub, a community swimming pool, and absolutely no phone service. A bold move. I was only three at the time, so I don't remember that first Christmas. But we must have had a wonderful time, because we went back the next year and the year after that, and then for that summer and then for Easter, and then basically for every available holiday slot. Somewhere along the way, we started inviting extended family and then friends. Before we knew it, we had essentially taken over the place. If you were there during school holidays, odds were you were either related to us or accidentally adopted for the week. Okay, so one Easter, I must have been about seven. The complex had planned an Easter egg hunt for all the kids. It was canceled last minute. Dozens of feral children now on the brink of mutiny. So the women of the family took charge. They marched us all off to the swimming pool. Because nothing calms a group of disappointed children like chlorine and hypothermia, they left the men of the family in charge of creating a quick and easy Easter egg hunt. This was their first mistake. Their second mistake was forgetting that these men had spent most of the day in the pub.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, dear.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Three hours later, we returned, dripping wet, wildly excited, to what can only be described as the most unhinged Easter egg hunt ever conceived. The clues made no sense. When they did make sense, they were clearly written for people over the age of 50. And that was only when the clues actually matched. Eggs had been hidden in places that required upper body strength, adult height, or a complete disregard for child safety. There was no logical route. There was no mercy. My older cousin, who was about 12 at the time, took control. She rounded up all the drunken men in our family and reorganized the whole thing and then made them complete the hunt themselves. Yes, and then it says, she's a teacher now. Obviously it says every clue was rewritten. Every single ridiculous hiding place their beer soaked brains had found. Hilar was included. They had to climb. They had to crawl. They had to boost each other into small gaps. Children were hauled around like assistance equipment. Dignity was lost. Chaos reigned. In the end, the Easter egg hunt was a success, even if it was mostly middle aged men apologizing to their children while actively encouraging them into questionable spaces. And it was the best day ever. This lodge complex itself is nothing special, but it is without question one of the most important places in the world to me. It holds decades of noise, laughter, cha and family mythology. We still all go back at least once a year over Christmas. I've had to explain to past boyfriends that my Welsh Christmas is non negotiable, even though I don't have a single Welsh bone in my body. Stay sexy and don't let drunken men plan anything. Or maybe do Charlotte.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I love that. I love that. Just chaotic uncles everywhere. It's just drunk. Chaotic Uncles is like, like such a good vibe.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, it is.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh my God. That was amazing. We did it. Write yours in for next year, you guys. This is going to be a tradition from now on.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, get ready for it. If we would love to hear from somebody that was raised half Jewish and half Catholic, right?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Tell us about your Seder fucking Easter egg hunt.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, we must know. And until then, stay sexy and don't get murdered.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[Karen Kilgariff]

This has been an exactly right production.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer is Tessa Hughes.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This episode was mixed by Liana Squillacci.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Email your hometowns to my favorite murdermail.com

[Georgia Hardstark]

follow the show on Instagram at My favorite murder.

[Karen Kilgariff]

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

[Georgia Hardstark]

And now you can watch My favorite Murder on Netflix.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And when you're there, hit the double thumbs up and the remind me buttons. That's the best way you can support our show. Goodbye.

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[Commercial Announcer 2]

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[Jacob Goldstein]

This is Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at odoo. Com. That's Odoo. Com.