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Hey weirdos, I'm Elena. And I'm Ash. And this is a mini-morbid.
Ash-centric. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini morbid.
Mini morbid, mini morbid, mini morbid. It's Ash-centric, guys.
What's good? It's a really bummer one, but it's Ash-centric.
Huge bummer. You're welcome. Yeah, just get ready.
Drop into your seatbelt. Put that car in drive and try not to cry.
And no one yell at us because we will probably laugh.
But not at the case. This is just part of the podcast.
It's just what it is. We're in the comedy section.
We are. You perhaps stumbled into the wrong section, but just so you know, this is the comedy section.
And if you want to go to a comedy show, kinda, whoa.
Honey, that's Segway. That's Segway. I'm like a mall cop.
That was great. That was like an anchor Segway.
Paul Blart, mall cop. Ashkel, mall cop. If you would like to go to a comedy show that is also true crime related...
Why don't you come to one of our shows? You're cordially invited.
And you know what? The first one is sold out.
So you can't come to that one anymore. So if you guys want to see us at AS220 main stage in Providence, Rhode Island, you can do that still.
It's for November 19th, 2019. And there are still tickets available.
You should do it. Go get them right now.
And you know where you can go get them? You can go to Eventbrite.com and you can search Morbid, a true crime podcast, live!
Or you can go to our Instagram page, and I have put the link to the tickets in our bio to make it easy for you.
And then when you're done with that, go over to another Instagram called Murder Apparel.
Who are they? They sound interesting. So Murder Apparel is this really cool brand company people.
Brand company people? I love those kind of people.
That's the term. That everybody uses these days.
Yes. You go over to their Instagram at Murder Apparel.
Click the link in their bio. Shop around their shirts.
Find the morbid ones because they're the coolest.
It's true. They got two shirts for us guys.
They do. And you should buy them and you should get 25% off by using our code MORBID at checkout.
M-O-R-B-I-D for 25% off today. And there's also other cool shirts, I'm not gonna lie.
Oh, yeah, no, they're all cool. And they just recently started having sweatshirts.
Of all the designs. So I'm going to tell a quick story called I saw that and I dead ass dropped my phone in excitement.
I love it. I dropped my phone. Because as we know, we're recording this on August 31st, which means tomorrow is pre-October, which means...
It's fall. So fuck a sweatshirt season. Get your pumpkin spice.
I'm not a fan of it. Put your sweatshirt on.
Get a chai latte. do it um like fall in some leaves slam dunk a pumpkin yes do it I can never say that.
Slam dunk. Just do that. Just do it. Get with fall, guys.
Do it. And I think that's really all the business that we have to talk about right now, because this is a mini morbid.
It was a fun introduction. It was. It was great.
Everybody loved it. I know it. I'm going to take you down about five pegs.
Cool. Because tonight I thought that I would dive into an infamous case of the Mondays for you.
Oh. And I think you know where I'm headed.
I know exactly where you're headed. All right, guys.
On January 29th, 1979... After shooting into an elementary school across from her home, 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer was asked why she had committed such an act.
And I don't love her answer. She left everyone with the haunting reply, I just don't like Mondays.
And then she added, it just livens up the day.
I mean, none of us like Mondays. You know what?
I fucking actually love Mondays. Well, I love them now because I get to hang out with you.
All those sweets. I have Mondays off so I actually hate Tuesdays.
Well there you go. But if you don't love a day...
Just go get like a latte. Just slam dunk a pumpkin.
Slam dunk a pumpkin. Do anything but what Brenda did.
Yeah, don't do what Brenda did. So a few hours before giving that interview which was given over the phone and I'll get into that later.
Brenda had asked her dad if she could stay home from school that morning because she wasn't feeling well.
Typical. Yeah, right, Brenda. He said, yeah, sure, whatever.
And he left for work around 7am. Brenda claims that she was suicidal under the influence of pot, alcohol, and other downers at the time.
That's a morning. Yeah. And you're like, girl, it's 7 a.m.
Yeah, you're like, dude, it's very early.
And around 8.30 a.m., the kids were starting to arrive for school at the Cleveland Elementary.
And we're lining up to go inside. These are like babies.
And how it worked is there was like a gate and the... principal would come outside and undo the like unlock the gate and all the kids would like start to roll into class okay So they were starting to do this and directly across the street,
Brenda was loading a .22 caliber rifle and began shooting into the crowd of the kids.
I can't imagine what kind of mindset you have to have to do that.
I will never be able to wrap my head around this case because it's a fucking conundrum.
Well, it makes me think of Newtown. It does.
And that, still to this day, my brain doesn't.
It doesn't. I just can't. That any human being could do that.
I don't understand. It's like you're like...
These are babies. I don't get it at all.
Innocent little babies just going to school.
So the principal of the school heard all the gunshots like happening.
Probably had no idea where it was coming from.
No, didn't realize where it was coming from and just ran outside trying to protect the kids.
Like he was like literally like... Shielding.
Shielding the children. And he ended up getting shot, I believe, in the chest.
And he unfortunately died. Oh, he did? He died, yep.
And then the custodian of the school named... uh michael suchar i believe is how you say the last name he was known as mr mike to the kids and he also ran out to help because he saw I'm pretty sure he saw the principal go down yeah ran out to help the kids and was also shot and killed oh my god Brenda managed to shoot and injure eight children.
Luckily, none of the children were killed.
Oh, thank goodness. But seriously, the fact that those two dudes... like protecting kids like a custodian and a principal not law enforcement officers like exactly just threw themselves in front of kids it's like oh it's so sad it just hurts my soul And so then obviously police start coming on the scene and it's like, what the fuck is happening here?
And she shot one of the responding officers in the neck.
Oh, my God. Yeah. And he lived perfectly.
Brenda. Yeah. Fucking crazy. So finally, a police officer was able to drive actually a trash truck in front of Brenda's home to put an end to this. the shooting it was like a barricade yeah she all in all fired 36 rounds holy shit all in all that's Oh, my God.
It's literally like a rifle. It wasn't...
Wasn't she just like sitting on her couch like aiming out the window?
Yeah, she was aiming right outside the window.
Yeah, I felt like I remembered seeing like a documentary a long time ago about this.
Oh. And it just seems so casual. She was just like hanging out.
And when she finally does come out, just like what she's wearing is like...
It's just like a casual outfit, but it's also like a scary outfit.
I don't know if that makes sense to anybody.
Yeah, because it's just like... It's so casual.
It's scary. And I'm so sorry to say this, but she is one of the most terrifying.
Actually, I'm not sorry to say it. She's one of the most terrifying people I've ever seen in my life.
Yeah. Like photos of her are horrifying.
She. there's like video footage of her being taken away and then there's like some I watched like some trials and stuff like that And her eyes are just so empty.
I've never seen emptier eyes. She literally has dead eyes.
It's crazy. So after firing 36 rounds into the school, she locked all the doors and windows in her house and barricaded herself inside.
So obviously SWAT teams were called. Yeah.
And they were given the okay to kill her like if need be.
Good. Like they were given the green light on that.
So Officer Paul Olson was the primary negotiator in this whole case, and he had to speak on the phone with Brenda for like hours.
Hours and hours. Negotiators fascinate me.
I don't understand how they negotiate at Mindhunter.
Right? You have to be a specific kind of brain.
I can't imagine. Especially in a case like this.
Like, they were negotiating with her for over six hours.
Oh, my God. This started at obviously like right around 830 and didn't end until close to like three o'clock. or like a little after three o'clock.
That's crazy. How do you hang on to your sanity to do that?
I have no idea. Well, he apparently offered her a Burger King Whopper if she were to come outside.
That'll do it. I read that in one of the articles and I was like, fun fact.
I really hate that. I liked Whoppers. I used to like Whoppers.
I used to love Whoppers. I hate them now.
Yeah. She told him all kinds of things while she was on the phone with him.
Because remember, she's like... apparently like on drugs and like drunk or whatever well and he's probably a good negotiator and good negotiators can get you to talk people to do that right So she told him all kinds of things.
She said that this is horrible. Trigger warning.
She said the victims looked like a herd of cows for gathering around those that she'd already shot and it made them easy pickings.
Oh my God. Meaning like the ones that would fall down that she would shoot, they'd all gather around them and they were like, cool. was like cool I can shoot more yeah and she there was like I don't know the exact quote I didn't write it down but she was like it was fun to watch them like run around like especially the ones in the red and the blue coats because they were like easier targets.
I want to ring this girl's neck with my bare hands.
Yeah, I literally want to punch her in the face over and over.
I literally want to ring her neck. It's so messed up.
So like I said, after close to six and a half hours of negotiating, Brenda surrendered herself and was immediately taken into custody.
Bye Brenda. Bye bitch. When police searched the home, it got dark. darker, if possible.
I was gonna say, it got dark. They found tons of empty bottles of liquor spread on the floor around the mattress that Brenda slept on with her father.
Oh no. Yeah. Oh no. Along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
So just kind of like to go into Brenda's background a little bit and like her home life.
Yeah, I'm gonna need that. Yeah. Brenda's mother didn't really seem to be super involved with her life, and her father actually... ignored advice from psychological professionals who recommended that Brenda spend time in a psychiatric ward.
I'm shocked. They told him that her behavior at school showed serious suicidal tendencies.
Her classmates remember that she was really introverted, like she did not talk to anybody.
And one kid said that she was kind of crummy looking.
Kind of crummy looking? Kind of crummy looking.
What a way to describe someone. Well, this was like in the 70s. so it's like you're just looking crummy i mean she was crummy looking you're looking crummy bro i don't know you look like shit brenda pretty quote on She just like apparently didn't talk to anybody, like didn't interact with people.
Yeah. And she just looked like a bummer.
Oh, yeah. In the pictures, you were like, I'm bummed out just looking at you.
Because you looked miserable. Yeah. She like teachers would be like, hello, Brenda, are you awake?
Like, oh, so she was just like in another totally and like another fucked up universe.
Totally zoned out. Yeah. That same year that they told him like, you know, dude, like she's got suicidal tendencies, like she's just there's something going on here and she needs help.
She burglarized that school that she shot into and also shot out some of the windows with a BB gun because she didn't have a gun yet.
That's probably fine, though. Yeah, it's not like a red flag or anything.
That's normal kid stuff, right? Burglarizing. a school and then shooting out windows with any gun you can find it's totally normal yeah that's fine they did that growing up all the time escalation probably won't happen yeah No, definitely not.
Don't take care of it. So he still said no to her getting help.
And then for some reason, also thought it was a good idea to give her a rifle for Christmas.
I can totally see why. So the rifle that she used to shoot into an elementary school was given to her by her father...
For Christmas. For Christmas. And if that's not bad enough already, she just asked for a radio.
Like, dude. She asked for a radio for Christmas and instead got a rifle.
Give her a radio. Like, give her a radio, sir.
What? And when asked about that later, this is actually really sad and fucked up.
Brenda said that maybe it was so that she could kill herself and get on with it.
Wow. Yeah. So she felt like that was like a message because it had been a little while of her kind of Being in this place where like people like teachers and like school psychiatrists were concerned, but her dad wasn't.
So he was like, maybe that's what he was doing.
Like, maybe he was just being like, get on with it.
Like, just do it. Oh, that's weirdly sad.
And this case is weirdly sad. This is like, ugh.
This is clearly a nurture situation. A hundred percent.
And actually I'll tell you at the end, I watched a documentary and the whole thing was like super sad.
But it's really good because it's like you get the inside scoop.
Yeah, you get the whole picture because sometimes you need the whole. pictures it's super old though so it's like funny not funny to watch but you know what i mean yeah like just silly yeah Brenda has many claims as to what happened in her life in general and also as to what happened the morning of the shooting.
So one claim she made was that she was watching TV and she began hallucinating.
She said that she'd been drinking heavily...
Damn. Damn. took pills and said that she had smoked weed that was laced with PCP.
I have to wonder, especially with the whiskey and alcohol and stuff, it's like...
How were you able to even function enough to do that?
I mean, again, I don't shoot guns, so I don't know, like...
I don't either. I just feel like it would impair you.
I did watch in this documentary that I actually talked about It's like one of the easiest guns to shoot Is the one that she had It has barely any kickback Oh, okay.
Which I don't know much about guns, but that's just, like, I think when you pull the trigger.
Yeah. Because I have, like, shot a gun before, and, like, it will, like, kick back into your shoulder.
Yeah. forcefully so this guy actually in the documentary shows like he shoots the gun and shows you and it barely moves back at all and it's like very like light weight It's kind of like the one from A Christmas Story, probably.
Probably. Like, and I'm not trying to be funny.
I really mean like that little... Like easy to shoot rifle?
Yeah. Okay. Like it looked very, very easy.
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But, so, yeah, she said that she was drinking whiskey, took pills, and was smoking PCP-laced weed, which, like, one of those things alone would make you, like...
Like drinking whiskey at 8.30 in the morning.
Yeah, that's a lot. Like something's going on.
That's a lot. And then to... take pills and then to smoke weed but also have it be laced with yeah bcp like what is happening jesus And so in this one version of events, she said that she looked out the window and saw combat outside, and that's when she began shooting.
Yeah, I don't believe her. I don't believe her.
I think that's a bunch of bullshit to try to get her out of this.
Yeah. Especially when she makes comments later that is like, I liked watching the little ones run around.
It's like, oh really? The combat? Yeah. Is that what you're talking about?
Well, so that... She said that that day.
Like, on the phone. While she was on the phone for six hours.
But after that, she... Like any time after she was interviewed, she said that she like didn't have any recollection.
And that's why it makes so clear. convenient and that's why it makes more sense that she's a bullshitter because on the phone she's sitting there being like yeah it's fun to pick these little kids off it's funny And then when she gets caught and is put somewhere, she's like, I don't remember guys.
I saw combat outside. It's like, no, you little bitch.
When you were under the influence, you told the truth.
You saw little kids. Yeah. Well, that's the thing.
You didn't say anything about. No, you didn't say anything.
If somebody was having like PTSD or something like that and God forbid something like this happened and there was a call, that's what they would be saying.
Exactly, because she would be still under the influence of it.
So she'd be still in that zone of like, I see combat.
That's why I'm shooting. And that's just like fucked up.
No, she's a bullshitter. Also, in 2001, this is really fucked up and super, super sad.
Brenda claimed that her father had been sexually molesting her.
Oh, I was worried about that. Especially when you mentioned the mattress.
The mattress. Yeah. And she was so depressed and suicidal in the morning of the shooting that in her mind...
This is what I think is actually the truth.
The shooting would lead to the police eventually shooting her and putting an end to her life.
Yeah. I think that she wanted to do something like super fucked up because she was mad at society.
And go down in like a blaze of fire yeah you know exactly like I think her end goal was to get shot and die but when she Oh, there's so many dark moments in this.
Yeah, this case is brutal. Because you're just like, fuck you, Brenda.
You're a fucking monster. And then you hear that stuff and you're like, God.
You're still a monster, but like you were created that way.
I don't know. It's too much. It's awful.
I feel too many things. Although her father denies any claims of sexual abuse toward Brenda, it is interesting to note that he did go on to marry and have a child with a woman.
Who looked so much like Brenda that the detective called her lawyer and was like, how is Brenda out of jail?
Like, why is Brenda walking? Like, what the fuck is going on?
Oh yeah, that's not okay. And if that's not bad enough, he married this woman within a year of Brenda going to jail.
And he knew her because she was Brenda's former cellmate.
No, no, I definitely believe Brenda on that situation.
I'm not going to lie. She was also a year younger than Brenda.
Okay. Yeah. I would say that all signs are pointing to Brenda's telling the truth about that, unfortunately.
Yeah. So they had a child together, and eventually this woman left Wallace Spencer, but left her child with him, too.
So that's Brenda's half-sister. And her stepmom is younger than she is.
What the actual fuck? And Brenda's mother said that she had suspicions about sexual abuse, but never acted on them because she couldn't afford an attorney. oh bitch please yeah she was a very absentee mother what an absolute piece of garbage yeah And Brenda said that they're estranged.
They haven't talked in forever. Yeah, she's a garbage person.
You suspect somebody is literally is sexually molesting your child.
And you're like, well, I don't have the money for an attorney, so I'm not going to do anything.
Yeah. Are you kidding me? And Brenda said like her because she had two older siblings.
That's all I know. That's all there is to know.
But they would go over there like after school, Verna said, and it seemed like her mom just like didn't really care that they were there.
That's awful. That makes me so sad. Yeah.
This, like, home, like, and the way she was brought up seems to be, like, very sad.
And just lacking in so much. And then, like... over and it just bums me like honestly like neglect bums me out just as much as like abuse it's sad Well, and in this case, there's neglect and abuse.
Yeah, and it's like, I just... Well, you just think of, like...
How do you neglect a kid? I don't understand that.
I really don't. Especially a kid that you decided to bring into the world.
Like I don't understand that. All a kid wants from you is just you to take care of them.
Right. That's it. And that's what you brought them here for.
Yeah, like, why did you do... You don't have to do this.
You don't have to have kids. No one told you to.
Nobody has to. I promise you, you don't.
It still fucks me up, though, that he...
Fucking went on to marry her former cellmate who looked just like her to the point where someone was like, why is brenda out of jail like how did this happen yeah that that is a big red flag yeah Oh, and also, he still lived in the house after the shooting.
He didn't leave the house. That does not shock me at all.
Like... What? Because there's like so much wrong.
There's so much wrong. There's just a giant pile of nope.
All over this and he claims that they shared a bedroom but had separate beds but like in the police things like everything I read said that there was a single mattress in the living room.
Like it wasn't even a bedroom. It was like a living room.
And obviously there was something fucking going on where there was like empty bottles of liquor everywhere.
Yeah, exactly. She didn't drink all of those that day.
No. And it's like so you're living in filth.
Yeah. No, there's just too much here that isn't clear.
So unclear. But just any thoughts that you can give it, you're like, hate it, hate it.
Yeah, it just takes you down a really bad path.
Yeah. So during her time in prison, Brenda has undergone psychological testing. which did reveal an injury to her temporal lobe, which could actually explain why she's epileptic and she has to take medicine to avoid having seizures.
Oh, so she is epileptic. She is. And apparently epilepsy is two to four times more common among violent offenders than it is among the public.
That makes sense. So I went into like this deep dive of like what your temporal lobe does.
I went Elena on the game. You went Elena on this.
And it's all like... Because there's like separate sides, obviously.
And like one side is all about like... understanding wrong from right and like and then one side is logic rational thinking It's crazy.
And then the other side is like talking and like movement and like cohesive like understanding of everything.
Yeah. And if there was in fact, and there was, it was proven that there was something wrong with her temporal lobe.
That's interesting. It's like... That can lead to it.
Oh, for sure. It's like when when, you know, people have damage to their frontal lobes.
Right. That can affect their reasoning and knowing right from wrong and all that good stuff.
Yeah. That's interesting. I wonder how she got a... She apparently fell off her bike and hit her head.
Oh, okay. Wasn't wearing a helmet. Wear helmets guys.
Well actually no it was probably the 70s because she was only 16 when this happened.
I keep forgetting that she was only 16. Yeah, because it seems like she should be, like, 40.
Literally. Or just, like, it should be all a nightmare.
I was going to say, or it should just not exist at all as a case.
Also, this is... Not like funny, but it's interesting to me.
She got a tattoo in prison that was brought up at one of her parole hearings.
So it's like... It's just weird that it was brought up at her parole hearing.
Huh. involved with someone in jail and when it went badly she got a chat a tattoo on her chest that some people think says pride and courage And everyone was like, why did you get pride and courage tattooed on your chest?
Like, you piece of shit. Like neither one of those things ever applied to you or ever will apply to you in your existence.
No. And then this is really sad if this is true because when the parole commissioner asked her about it, she told him that it was written in runes, I think is what she said.
Okay. So and she thinks it was done wrong, but what it was supposed to say was unforgiven and alone.
Wow. Yeah. I feel like when she said that, like I got like chills.
Like it was this... It's just, like, sad.
Like, this case is so sad in so many different ways.
Because obviously what she did is fucking horrible.
And, like, there's no excuse for that. But also she was, like, a neglected child and was clearly... going through some serious mental health shit that no one would help her with it's so I'm so conflicted in so many ways me too on so many levels don't get me wrong I am not fucking excusing what this girl did at all Like in any way, shape or form.
Sometimes I'm like, yeah, I believe what she's saying.
And then sometimes I'm like, I think you're a bullshitter.
Yeah. Like things like that when she's like it was written wrong and it was supposed to say that I'm like, I don't know.
I think you're a bullshitter. I think you're trying to make people feel bad for you.
I definitely can see that. And like, I see that side, but also just like seeing her say it, she does seem, and those people are so fucking good at manipulating, but she does seem very, very sincere yeah and she could be and yeah it's just you don't know i don't know if she just i don't know yeah so all of brenda's parole attempts have been unsuccessful But she actually has another one this year, 2019.
Yeah. Stay in there, Brenda. Seriously. The victims of the shooting who lived and the family members of those who did not have been outspoken and don't want her paroled, obviously.
That's so crazy. I like forgot that those kids are now adults.
Yeah. I'm going to talk about them a little bit.
Because that's crazy. So, first I want to talk about the deceased family members.
Oh, yeah. So, Wilfred... Suchar, who's Michael Suchar's son.
He was the custodian. He once asked, my question is, will there ever be another boring Monday for her?
Ooh. Which is like, I just got chills saying it again.
I was just going to say, I was like, ooh.
It's like, let her out and like, will she have another boring Monday?
It's true. She hates Mondays. There's a Monday every week.
Yeah, we can't let her out. No. What are we going to do?
Get rid of fucking Monday? exactly like you don't know what like and it sounds like it's sounds like oh like you know she hates mondays that sucks and it's like but for real she used that that was her excuse yeah there's mondays every week you can't chance that and she's suddenly gonna be like you know what this monday sucks Right, and it's just like that statement in and of itself is so haunting because it's so callous.
Yeah, so cold, so callous, so evil. Ugh.
And it's just like I shot all those kids because I don't like this day of the week.
Yeah. I shot babies because I was bored.
And killed two grown men. Yeah. Trying to save them.
Trying to save babies. And shot a police officer in the neck and ruined his career.
He like couldn't. Of course not. Recover.
Yeah. Wow, that's a great way of putting that point out there.
And it's just so simple, but so not simple. people all at the same time whoa like will there ever be another boring monday for her i was like like hope not like that's why you can't take that chance yeah um principal burton wag's daughter said people have told me that i look like him act like him and my kids are the spinning image of him When the kids hear this, they can't possibly relate to such sentiments because they never met their grandfather.
And they know that they never will because I've told them over and over again that he's dead, that he was murdered by Brenda Spencer.
Oh, wow. Yeah. That's like... And he was murdered protecting his students.
That, like, really gives me... Like, the feels.
I know. Because it's like, that's... Because you... It's so weird to think of it this way, but it's like, you would hope... that your kids are in school with people who would... Who would do that for them.
Do that, but, like, you would never... expect someone to no always think like i hope that you know i mean like i hope these people love these kids so much and to know that is like ugh when a time like that happens it's like you don't know how someone's gonna like that's not your Fight or flight.
That's not your kid at the end of the day.
No. Like that guy acted like all of those kids were like his flesh and blood.
Yeah. Like that is like, that's heavy. It really is.
Crystal Hardy is one of the kids that was shot.
And then obviously now she's a fucking adult.
And she said to this day, she still fears that someone is pointing a gun at her when she's just walking around.
Yeah. She's like, I don't like I didn't know that that was going to happen to me.
I literally arrived at the school. And when her boyfriend invited her to the shooting range, she went because she was like, oh, I think it's been long enough.
Like, I think I'll be okay. Oh, the sound.
Oh, my God. I don't know how she did it.
She broke down uncontrollably and was, like, sobbing and they had to get out of there right away.
Oh, that's so sad. And she realized... It had not been long enough.
No, it never will be, I don't think. Cam Miller... went to a prison hearing and remembered Brenda glaring at him as he walked in.
And he said, the look Brenda gave me was enough to scare any young child to death.
Fuck you, Brenda. Yeah. And dude, she's like very scary looking.
Yeah. And it's like, really? You're going to glare at the people that you shot?
Like, fuck you. Yeah. Rat in prison. So Brenda is still serving her 25 to life sentence in the California Women's Institution and will be up, like I said, for parole again at some point this year.
She better stay in there, man. And in case you didn't know, the song I Don't Like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats, it was written by...
Bob Geldof was inspired by Brenda. Oh, damn.
And you know what's even crazy? I feel like I've heard that before.
Um, I, I didn't realize that I had, but they play it in the beginning of the documentary that I watched and I was like, oh shit.
And you're like, oh, no. But one of the survivors, Crystal Hardy... in the end of this documentary that I watched she is like explaining that she used to work like a Like an afternoon job and they always would play it.
It was like super popular on the radio when it came out.
Oh. And she was like, I always heard it.
And I was expecting her to be like, and it haunted me forever.
And she was like, I think it's a pretty song.
I like it. Oh, my God. So like she found like some kind of like solace.
Because she's I mean, yeah, I guess I guess you can look at it.
You have to look at it that way or the other way.
There's no in between. Right. No gray area.
All the survivors in this case and the family of the people that unfortunately died and were killed by Brenda, the way that they look at this is...
Just, like, amazing. Yeah. I don't know how you go along from that.
It's insane. And the documentary that I watched, if you guys want to go watch it, is Killer Woman.
Brenda Spencer documentary I Don't Like Mondays.
You can literally just watch it on YouTube.
Yes. I literally just typed in YouTube killer woman Brenda Spencer and it's like the first 47 minute clip that pops up.
It's a wicked good documentary. I watched something a long time ago on this, but it was a long time ago and I don't even remember.
So I didn't know any of these details. Mm-hmm.
Just, like, even, like, the little details of, like, her dad, like, married her cellmate.
Yeah. And then her tattoo were just things that I hadn't heard of before.
Yeah, I had never heard that. Wow. Wow.
Yeah. And that, and it makes it, it like adds that tattoo thing, like added to the complexity of it.
Cause you're like, there's two very different ways of looking at it.
Or are you really this, like, sad, damaged... I mean, obviously she's damaged, but, like...
Are you just a bullshitter or are you evil?
I'm going to say that... I believed she meant to tattoo the unforgiven and alone.
Yeah. And I really think that if she had had psychiatric help, like, maybe this wouldn't have happened.
I do believe that. if if this you know if this went the way that it's all saying it went that like all these people were warning her father telling her father she needs help I agree that if she had gone and he had like been a father and actually like nourished her and tried to be like,
Let's help you. Let's fix this. That I think this would have been avoided.
I definitely do believe 100 percent. I really do.
Because she was, like, yes, she was introverted, but by all accounts, she did well in school.
Like, she wasn't mean to her classmates.
She wasn't aggressive any way before this other than that. time where she shut the fucking windows out which was terrifying well and it's like she was saying she was like drinking heavily for like a week before this and it's like nobody noticed Clearly no one... If her father or parents or one parent, any guardian... Anybody.
Was... Putting any eyes on her at any time.
There were warning signs. This could have been stopped.
Cause it's like, why would she be able to drink that heavily for a week before this?
She's 16. Right. Exactly. Like something should have been stopped way before this happened.
And just, oh, my God. Like I said earlier, the pictures of her coming out of the house.
Oh, she's wearing almost like... like khaki sort of ish yes i remember they're like they're like boot cut And she has the big glasses.
She has big avian glasses that she's worn literally forever.
And a beanie, like a black beanie, and she has this long, stringy red hair.
And the deadest eyes I have ever seen in my entire experience.
She does. Her face is truly just dead. She gave an interview in 1993.
You can find the clips on... On YouTube, it's honestly, the interview is kind of boring, but she has a mullet and she still has those huge ass glasses and you're just like, whoa.
And you're like, wow, Brenda, that was a choice.
There's a lot that's happened to you. A lot of choices happening.
Yeah. And the look. So yeah, that was the bummer fucking case of Brenda Ann Spencer.
What a bummer that was. Many, many, many more.
And now I need to go eat a dessert calzone.
Yeah, we need to cleanse the palate. Like literally.
Like with a dessert. Literally. Because John doesn't want to give palate cleansers.
He doesn't. I thought he was going to respond.
Now he knows because we trapped him in the last episode.
He's on to us. We said you won't give palate cleansers and it's a bummer.
I don't know any. We'll give you time. Maybe next episode.
We're going to get them to do it, guys. Well, in the meantime, you can follow us on Instagram at Morbid Podcast.
Find us on the Twitter. a morbid podcast join that fucking facebook group morbid colon a true crime podcast it is where everything is happening and it's amazing Guys, I wrote in the Facebook group today that I loved you guys so much and I don't want anyone to think that I was like... like super happy or something when I wrote that, like drunk or something.
Like I genuinely mean that. Cause you know, when like white girls just be like, I love everybody.
Like a drunk girl in a bathroom. It was like seven o'clock and I was like, yeah, no, I love the Facebook. she was literally here like it was genuine stone sober was just like I love them so much I love them so much we really do i love you all yeah i just scroll through that and i'm filled with happiness me too it fills me with joy yeah Anyways, also you can send us an email, maybe send us a listener story because we're putting another one together.
Because I think we're going to be able to do listener stories like way more often.
More than I thought we would because after last episode, we got an awesome influx of them.
So we're going to be doing another one of those really soon because that was really fun. send them to morbidpodcast at gmail.com.
You can also check out the website that Elena designed.
I did it. And donate to the Patreon if you're feeling so inclined.
Patreon.com slash Morbid Podcast. We have a bonus episode coming for you soon and we just ordered some new goodies that you should be getting.
In a few weeks. Yeah, I'd say in a few weeks just because it's going to take a little bit to get them together.
Because a bee. What with, you know, being on the brink of bringing a new life into the world.
We appreciate your patience. Patience. We appreciate your patience.
We appreciate your pressure and patience.
We hope that you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird.
And I'm not going to do one for this case because my Uber just got here.
Yeah, it's not lighthearted. Not at all.
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