Listener Tales 32 | Morbid

Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret.

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I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.

She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.

And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk and I am absolutely loving it.

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See store for details. Hey weirdos, I'm Ash.

And I'm Alayna. And this is Pre-October Morbid.

Yes! Happy pre-motherfucking October. It is spooky season.

Officially. Officially. Do you know who says that?

Who? Detox. I was just going to say, that sounds familiar.

I love that. It's the best. But yeah, welcome, and welcome to the first Listener Tales episode. of pre-October.

Yes, bitch. And in case you're new here, pre-October is just September.

In case you couldn't put those together.

But you know, we don't really like to call it September because. boring.

Everything is really just in reference to October, which is the greatest month of the year.

Everything is all relative to October. And I know that, you know, sometimes you feel like, oh, my God, it's fall.

Everybody's obsessed with fall. And it's like, but it just has there's something in the air.

It's a magic. It makes me feel warm inside.

Because I like winter too. It's like the start.

Yeah. you know what it is fall is the start of like all the like holidays that you spend with like your fam um feeling cozy it's cozy and the best food i can wear a sweater so i can eat all the extra food like guys I've already made two pumpkin loaves with a maple butter frosting.

Yeah, and step back for a second. Sit down.

Sit down, because that is the best shit I've ever eaten in my life.

I had a piece for breakfast today. It's so good for breakfast with coffee.

You know what? And I'll post the recipe because it's a recipe I found online.

So good. I'll repost it because that person who made it, whoo.

Sorry if you hate this word, but it is the moistest fucking word.

It is. Because I hate that word too, but like, bitch.

It is. It's great. I'll post the recipe for sure i'll put it on my social and then i'll put it in the show notes even because You know what?

Let's give that person a bunch of traffic to their cooking blog because they're badass.

And I use their recipe every single day. year it's so good my grandma loves it we we dropped she does yeah i made her a loaf and i also made pumpkin pasta And that was really good too.

Was that like a sage butter sauce? Where did you get that recipe?

I got that one on Half Baked Harvest. I thought.

Which is so good. If everybody's looking for some really good meals and easy, like I know this is not a cooking podcast, it's fall it's fall it's a listener tales episode and also it's it's the time to cook delicious things if you want to half-baked harvest i think her name is tegan tegan yeah she's amazing i have all her cooked books and her stuff you there's like one pot meals there's quick stuff there's vegetarian stuff everyone And it's like all different cool shit that you would know, like pumpkin pasta.

So good. you know sweet you know sweet potato gnocchi and like all this delicious stuff so go check it out Hell, I'll link that too.

Why not? Yeah, I'll post her. I'm going to give you all the food stuff in this episode.

I'll post her Insta on my Insta. It's so good.

And I have all her cooking books. And every time she posts something on Instagram, I write down the recipe.

Oh, yeah. Because a lot of people, like I'll mention cooking things are Ashwell and people will be like, oh, can you post the recipe?

And I forget a lot of times. I know. So I'll definitely post it. this for you guys because it's the time to cook delicious things if you are able to and want to yeah so do it Now that we've talked about fall food.

Should we listen to Tail It Up? I think we should listen to Tail It Up.

Are you going first or am I going first?

I will go first. Okay, love it. Mine is called, which is worse, creepy nudity or a shirt tie-dyed in blood?

I would go with shirt tied in blood, probably.

I would say... Shirt tied in blood, I said.

Honestly, I'd say it's... It's kind of a toss up depending on the situation.

Yeah, because nudity is like, okay, nude, but like creepy nudity takes it to a different place.

Exactly. Let's find out. It says, hey guys, just like everyone, I want to start out by saying how much I adore listening to you two.

You two are so funny and relatable. Thank you.

I love the goofy banter. Thank you because we just gave a perfect example.

You're welcome. Thank you. It makes me feel like I'm hanging out with friends rather than having a couple of boring stiffs talk at me.

Yeah, that sucks. We never want it to feel like that.

It's my favorite compliment. We just want to vibe with y'all. ever want to do a live show at a historic 200 seat theater in a town of less than 1500 people in one of the most inaccessible rural places in the lower 48, let me know.

I'll hook you up. Hi, this is me letting you know.

Honey, we're going to talk after this. Hello, this is me letting you know.

I'm not even kidding, we're talking after this, so thank you.

Below you will find a 100% true story that happened to my husband and myself.

It starts out bad, has what seems like a happy ending, then blindsides you with a roundhouse to the testicles just giving you fair warning i love it Both hubs and I are kind of.

You said testicles, but it said chesticles.

I thought I said chesticles. Maybe I misheard you.

I don't know. Either way, it's going to roundhouse kick you.

It's going to either roundhouse you in the chesticles or the testicles.

Depends on who you are. Both Hubs and I are kind of professionals now.

Bah, ha, ha, ha. Gasp, gasp, snort, giggle.

You don't know how ridiculous that is for us, but true.

And also don't really know what happened to the main character in any real sense.

So please don't use names. I didn't put any names in the story, so it probably shouldn't be too hard.

That's iconic that you did that. Because sometimes like your brain just my brain reads too fast.

Like that's why I fuck up on my words. Yeah.

And then I'm like, oh, and I said the name and then it's like, oh, fuck.

That's what happens to me. I always end up like, whoops, I said the name and then I feel terrible and then I, it's just a lot.

It's a fuck up. So I really appreciate you not putting the names in if you don't want me to read them.

Also, this is really long, but the details really make the story in my opinion.

Get on your boots, put your rig in full real drive, and away we go.

I have a rig now? You do. I live in the northern Rockies and have spent a ton of time exploring all the legit middle of nowhere that can be found in Montana, Idaho, Washington.

Oregon, Wyoming, et cetera. I was just talking about Montana.

One thing Hubs and I always seek out are natural hot springs for soaking.

I love that that's the thing you do. Why is that your vibe?

Like, That's very relaxing. I love that.

Why can't that be my vibe? Right? As you can imagine, you meet a lot of characters at these places.

I would think. I've talked with my fair share of trust fund hippies, in quotes, transients, off the gridders, crunchy spiritualists, witches, kooks and weirdos.

Unfortunately, many like to bathe nude and you can see a lot of wrinkly tits and bits. that you'd be very, very much rather not seeing.

This story occurs at one such hot spring.

It was towards the end of a two week road slash camping trip and we're planning on spending one last night at a pretty remote hot spring a few hours from home.

When we got there, it was late morning and decided we would go up and have a soak before we set up our tent and stuff.

We arrived at the gravel parking area at the trailhead.

There were already two rigs there. a newer Subaru Outback, and a pickup that was straight out of a 70s horror flick.

Already, I love it. Now, I myself happen to have my very own 1973 four miles to the gallon indestructible rust bucket with gun racks, 45 years of unwashed mud and dust, and unidentifiable smells, stains, and sounds.

Amazing. So we actually were lightly mocking the new Subaru owner.

Oh, Brody, where am I going to get my almond milk latte out here?

And completely ignored the murder machine.

We completely ignored the murder machine.

I love that. As you walk up the trail to the hot spring, there are several undeveloped camp spots. flat areas with rock rings for fires, no toilets, no tables.

There was one with a bunch of nice new gear.

Brody, I forgot the organic free-range eggs for breakfast, including a variety of expensive high-tech women's clothes hanging around.

Coolers, firewood, and food strung up in the trees in fancy bear-proof containers.

At the very next spot, there was an old torn up and duct taped back together single person pup tent.

It looks like someone pulled it out of the dumpster behind the army surplus store 20 years ago and used it daily ever since.

The front flap was open and the only thing inside was a single ratty stained blanket.

There was nothing else at the site, no evidence of a fire, no clothes, nothing.

At this point, Hubs and I were lamenting how annoying it is when someone camps right next to you at an empty campground, but still didn't think much of it.

That would be me doing that because I'd be like, we are camping right next to the only other people here.

We are friends. like this is happening we continue up the hill to the hot spring first let me describe this hot spring oh thank you for doing that do it Imagine a hot tub made out of rocks that someone stapled to the side of a cliff.

Okay, now make that the prettiest thing you've ever seen.

The trill. Ends directly at three narrow steps that go into the pool.

This sounds beautiful. It does. It is the only access point in and out.

One side is a really steep waterfall of hot water.

The other sides are like an infinity pool water runs off the edges down a hill that is basically a 90 degree cliff that falls 200 feet into a white water section of the river.

It is beyond stunning. It sounds like it.

Picturing that I'm literally feeling calm.

Yeah, right? Was that Reiki? I loved that.

Thank you for this, right? I'm feeling it.

Now as we approach, I can see a man sitting on the steps, effectively blocking the entire way in and out of the pool.

As we walk up to his back, as we walk up, his back is to us.

He was rail thin and filthy with matted looking shaggy gray hair.

He was definitely naked. Put your bits away, sir.

Soaking naked is just a thing at Hot Springs.

You get used to it. Personally, I get a sunburn and moonlight, so I always have on swim shorts and long sleeve rash guard because sunscreen is expensive, y'all.

I feel this so hard. Yes. So hard. I got a long sleeve bathing suit this year because sunscreen is expensive and I also have the world's most sensitive skin. skin.

That's literally and when you said I get sunburn in moonlight.

Me too. There's not one part of me that doesn't feel that.

Literally. We're so Irish and Scottish. I can be next to a lamp in my house and I'll get a sunburn.

I put my arm out the window and I literally am burned within three seconds.

Oh, yeah. I have more freckles on like my right arm. than my left because it's like near the window a lot.

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Now, however, he was sitting one step down and hella manspreading, so he was definitely waggling the bait and bobbers at eye level for anyone in the pool.

Ick, ick, ick. She wrote that, but I felt it. waterfall I described it masked the sound of our approach as we continue to walk up I can see two pretty young women probably in their very early 20s, in sporty bikinis sitting across the pool from the guy.

They look like animals caught in a snare.

They are wide-eyed, fidgety, tense, and clearly very, very uncomfortable.

Oh, that makes me angry. I know. They see us approaching before the guy hears us.

They look up and see our librarian who married Sasquatch act coming up into the house. coming to view up the hill and you can just see them tear up with a relief.

Oh my goodness. That hurts my heart. Librarian who married Sasquatch Act.

I love that. I love that that is who you guys are. at this point the guy notices their attention behind him and whips around he gives us this look that froze my fucking bones I've never before and never since had seen such malice and anger on someone's face.

He almost immediately goes completely blank though.

Like someone pushed a button and turned him off.

He turns back towards the girls without saying a word.

At this point, I see he's got a gnarly pack with a rifle and a pistol sitting on top.

Oh, okay. Of course, this is grizzly country, so both Hubs and I were also carrying weapons and bear spray.

So not an immediate... Not an immediate red flag that he had guns with him.

But it did ratchet up risk level of the situation and the girls clearly had nothing of the sort.

Also on top of his pile of clothes was a grungy tie-dyed shirt.

It was clearly tie dyed because it had the iconic swirl pattern.

Hell yeah. But wasn't bright psychedelic colors.

It was a symphony of pale tans, dirt browns and a rusty color that looked like dried blood.

I actually made the joke as we walked back down the hill later that it looked like he tie dyed it in shit and blood.

Yeah, that is not. That's not it, sir. We set down our stuff close to the edge, within reach at all times if we enter the pool and sit near the steps.

We then stand by the stairs and I brightly chirp, excuse me, sir, can we get in?

Doing my best oblivious blonde routine. Yes, queen.

Me at all times. The man stands up. and leans a little over to one side, clearly expecting us to squeeze past him and go further into the pool.

Now, my hubs is a big dude. He's tall, he's muscular, and he's chubby.

He also is one hairy mofo and he owns that shit with majestic chest back carpets.

Majestic chest and back. He's also one hairy mofo.

And he owns that shit with majestic chest slash back carpets. an enormous beard, and after two weeks camping, some serious Doc Brown hair.

I'm picturing your husband. Good for you.

I'm picturing Khal Drogo. He looks amazing, sweetie.

I love it. Like, good for you. I love. Not exactly someone who looks easy to push around, but does look like someone I'd want to jump.

Please, roar. Oh my god, I love that you roared.

I love that you roar. Remember when we would send that to people on fucking AOL?

I love this. And you'd be like, roar. Roar.

That was so sassy. I love you so much. I love when people are just like unabashedly in love with their spouse it just gave me like such I was like I love that you're like oh I don't want to jump him you know what's sad is that it's like rare now.

I was just going to say, how sad is it that we're like, oh my god, this is so cute that you still want to jump your husband.

Yeah, right? I want everyone to feel that way about their significant other.

I aspire to have that love for years to come.

Hell yeah. You should always want to jump your person.

I'm going to say rawr to Drew when I get home later.

So always want to roar at your person. Roar.

I love that. So there was no way Hubs was going to be able to get past the guy without spooning him, getting to Elisa. second base and pitching them both into the water.

Also, no fucking way were we going to let him block the entrance to the pool with us in there.

So Hubs pulls out the Jolly Green Giant routine and chuckles and pats his beer belly and makes self-depreciating marks about how the guy will have to move further into the pool because hubs won't be able to get past him.

The guy just kind of stands there and stares at us.

Hubs' face slowly starts to shift from cheerful... to kind of menacing himself.

I love this for your husband. Of course, anyone who knows him knows he's the sweetest, squishiest, gentlest butterball of a man you can find.

I love your love. Like, I love your- Rawr back at both of you.

Rawr. However, he will go from teddy bear to Wolverine in five seconds if he feels he's got to defend somebody, and those girls were definitely seeming like they needed defending.

I'm literally obsessed with your husband.

I love that he was like going in there. He just was like, I will help you.

Ready to brawl. So while he was being all ho, ho, ho, young Santa with a belly like a bowl full of jelly...

There was a clear, don't try me, buddy, in his eyes too.

Meanwhile, I'm just standing there pretending to be an oblivious ditz, all goofy smiles, hoping he decides to back down.

Also, remember, this guy's wearing nothing but his birthday suit and grime.

Oh, I forgot about that actually. So I'm trying to avoid eye contact with either the upstairs or downstairs set of balls.

Ew. The guy eventually grumbled and sighed but moved across the pool to sit close enough to one of the girls that their thighs were touching what the fuck at that point the girl leapt up and swam over to me and made some asinine exclamations about my clothes, but was really just trying to get away.

I fucking hate this for them. Her friend also came over and we made high-pitched chatty small talk while Hubs clearly positioned himself between the three of us and the dude.

Hubs, hoping to calm the situation, tries to make small talk with the guy, but can't get him to give even more than one word. vague as fuck answers to anything, until he asks about the model of the guy's rifle.

The guy then begins to talk in a fever pitch about all the things he shot with that gun.

Hubs is a hunter, so he tried to carry the conversation along safe lines.

You prefer whitetail or... Muleys? Muleys?

Is that it? I don't know. I think it's muleys.

Do you prefer whitetail or muleys? Yeah, I pulled a moose tag last year, but never saw one all season.

But the guy just wanted to talk about the thrill of taking down a predator and all the stuff he poached with like okay fucking most dangerous that's it's like calm down with a healthy dose of quote, goddamn fucking government can't tell me what I can and can't kill.

Now while this is extra creepy in context, you actually come across the occasional, and unfortunately not so occasional, asswipe with these opinions in the area we are from.

So it wasn't a super huge red flag at the time, just, oh shit, one of those clowns. that he's like i'm just gonna kill whatever i want yeah those red flags are starting to add up though I was going to say, all of these together?

Yes, Getty. After about a half hour of this, the girls exit the pool talking about how they're going to go make lunch.

As they get out, the man's eyes never leave them.

As they get about 10 yards down the trail, the guy starts to mutter, Fucking self-righteous whores.

Look at those slut outfits. I bet those filthy cunts are... are a very horrible term.

Derogatory term for a lesbian. Yeah. I know it.

Fuck off, sir. Yeah. And he said, I know it.

Slut outfits, like my bathing suit. Bathing suit and you're naked. literally like you're a slut you are naked sir uh and she says we of course are horrified But before I can launch into a tongue lashing that would paint a gigantic bullseye in the middle of my forehead for this bastard,

Hubs kind of awkwardly chuckles and babbles something to the effect of, not really any of our business, is it?

Doesn't impact me who other people love.

If I was a woman, I'd be a lesbian too. Ha ha ha.

Iconic. Iconic. Just trying to be like. I don't want this guy to kill me, but I gotta make sure he knows that that's fucked up.

Yeah, exactly. The guy ignores him and then looks directly at me and says, women are the root of all evil.

Eve led Adam into the original sin. I'd be like, you need to get the fuck away from me before I hit you.

I gotta leave. Now, I've had a beat to let my brain catch up to my mouth for the most part.

And recognize starting an argument here probably isn't the wisest thing.

I think you are being smart. But I'm also an irredeemable fucking smartass.

Hell yeah. I feel that on such a high level.

So I responded with, well, what the fuck do you expect from a rib? described it's true that's a great way to expect from a rib it's true And she said, which has been my all time favorite response in so many situations. ever since I heard a kid say to a nun in fucking Sunday school,

Wow, what an iconic child. Well, that flummoxed him and conversation petered out entirely.

There you go. That's all it needs to be.

It just ends the conversation. Bye. Hubs and I did our best to ignore him while we soaked for another 20 minutes or so.

We then gathered up our stuff and headed down the trail to start getting camp set up.

This is when I made the bloody tie dye joke.

Still not really taking this guy seriously.

As we came up to the girls' camp, they were not, in fact, making lunch, as they said, but instead were frantically packing up their shit.

When they heard us coming, they both looked up in sheer terror and panic. but sagged in relief when they saw it was us.

Oh, I feel so bad for them. They waved us over and told us their story.

They had been camping there a few nights and generally enjoying themselves.

The night previous, they had stayed up pretty late having a fire and some drinks and generally just having a good time, having the place to themselves.

One of them woke up around dawn, only a few hours after they turned in and had to pee.

When she exited the tent bleary-eyed and half drunk, she was faced with the guy's tent that had not been there when she went to bed.

Ooh, fuck that. I just want to pause here and highlight this.

Sometime between 3 and 6 a.m., this guy arrived. parked, walked up the trail and pitched his tent less than 15 feet away from these girls' tent. so quietly and with such little light that he did not wake them up.

Yeah, he's a hunter. He was close enough that if he made any real noise or even used a flashlight, it would have woken them up, even a bit drunk.

100%. He's a hunter. He knows what he's doing.

And he arrived at 3 a.m., somewhere between 3 to 6 a.m.

The girl said she was a bit creeped by it but went into the woods to pee, not thinking much of it.

But when she came back, he was sitting at his fire ring, no fire, eating a cold fucking hot dog, no bun. filthy bare hands and staring at their tent no what the fuck she said he was eating it like corn on the cob Ew, what the fuck is wrong with this man?

And she wrote, clearly this detail stuck with her and just added to the weirdness, which I understand that would have stuck with her. imagine seeing a man eating a fucking hot dog like a piece of corn eating a raw hot dog like corn on the cob like that's Fucked.

She said he smiled and then turned to face the other way.

She kind of just ignored him and went back to bed, chalking it up to, there are so many fucking weirdos at Hot Springs, they are generally harmless.

I don't know, this guy's got a weird... Something bad here.

They eventually got up, made breakfast, et cetera.

No sign of the guy. They then walked up to the hot spring and within minutes the guy showed up too.

They said they were sure he had to have been listening to them or watching them waiting for them to go up.

Oh, my God. He then began to ask a lot of personal questions about age, where they lived, if they had boyfriends, etc.

He got angry and weird when they gave him short, vague answers and began to grill them aggressively about if they were lesbians.

I don't know if they were or weren't. I didn't ask because it was irrelevant to my life. yeah like it doesn't fucking matter that's a perfect way of putting it it is completely irrelevant to my life I would just say yes even if I wasn't.

I'd be like, yeah, you good with it? Bye. but they did say they denied it adamantly because it was a clear that this was a danger zone I was just gonna say that when you said that like this guy looks like he's a scary person like I wouldn't even like I wouldn't even talk to him well that's the thing which it sounds like they were trying not to yeah But he was blocking them in.

So it's like, what are you going to do? But I would say literally nothing that I thought would even slightly set him off.

That's so scary. It's just... Which is ridiculous.

Why are you mad that I'm a lesbian? But he refused to believe them.

At this point, he started to vaguely preach at them off and on with long periods of awkward and creepy silence. they were lesbians so he's preaching at them like literally go fuck yourself into oblivion They said at one point, one of them asked him to move so she could go pee.

And he told her, no, just pee in the hot spring.

What the fuck? No. No, like I can't. Yeah.

At first they thought he was joking, but he clearly wasn't moving.

I guess they kind of dropped it because they were afraid to hear his answer if they pressed the issue.

Thank God you and your husband showed up.

I know. Imagine if you hadn't. But she said this seems like it's going to have a happy ending. like roundhouse kicks you in the chesticles.

So I'm a little nervous. I actually just got hopeful.

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The sale ends 831. Don't miss it. We showed up maybe a half hour after that.

The girls were like, fuck this, fuck that guy.

We had planned to stay another night, but we are noping the fuck out of here.

We were all pretty nervous about what might happen if he came down and saw them packing up, so we offered to help them with their gear.

I love you guys. You're so pure. As the four of us were packing up, we started to hear gunshots from up the hill.

The guy was clearly firing off rounds from both his weapons for no avail. apparent reason.

Literally just trying to scare you. It wasn't just a couple either.

It was a shot every few seconds for probably five plus minutes straight.

Definitely more shots than would have fit in the clips.

So he had to have ammo in his pack. What the fuck?

At this point, we all kicked it into super high gear and got our asses out of there ASAP.

We had originally planned on staying there, but obviously left and ended up just driving home. getting back super late and crashing in our own perfect bed.

One of the best parts of camping is that first night clean and in your own bed.

We thought that was the end of it and didn't really think much about it after that.

Until. Oh, God. A little over a year later, I was bored and scrolling way back on a hot springing Facebook group.

Uh-oh. It said that police were looking for any information about a suspect.

They said a man assaulted a young woman who had been traveling alone.

He shot her dog, sob, raped her and beat her into unconsciousness.

He also slashed the tires of her rig before leaving.

This places at least a 45 minute drive from cell reception. let alone civilization, so walking to safety is a no-go.

She was found almost a day later by a group of campers that arrived.

Police were looking for a man in his late 60s driving a late model 70s pickup. up tall, thin with gray hair.

I am very stressed. The assault that happened was the day after we had been there.

Wow. There is zero doubt in my mind. I just got an entire, like, wave of... I'm so...

Oh, there's zero doubt in my mind it was the same guy.

Absolutely. I called the police department there and they told me that he had been caught a couple months later.

Someone had called the cops on him as he was trashing a family's campsite at a hot spring a few hours away from the one we were at.

They didn't give me any information about what caused that incident.

His truck matched the victim's description, and he apparently had some other warrants out as well.

When his truck was searched, it apparently held evidence that linked him to that assault and several other crimes.

Whoa. He was incarcerated at the time, but I didn't get any information about for how long or what a list of charges were or anything.

I shudder to think about what evidence was in there when we walked by that truck so nonchalantly.

Seriously, like you literally walked by a murder vehicle.

Yeah. I know we protected those girls that day, but it makes me so sick to think about how by leaving rather than staying like we originally planned, we maybe missed the opportunity to prevent the assault that did happen.

Oh, I hate that you like feel that. No, but don't. no you did everything because honestly it could have been you like this guy it was scary absolutely Then again, if we had stayed, who knows what might have happened to us.

Right. Exactly. And you saved those girls.

You did. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, friends, that's my story of why I no longer assume weirdos at hot springs are harmless, even though most of them I'm sure still are.

Maybe next time I'll send in the story about how Hubs' best friend from middle school, to be clear, they hadn't really spoken since the ninth grade over 20 years ago. grew up to murder his ex-girlfriend, then dragged their third friend into it, forced that person to dismember her, and helped dump the body on the road my mother-in-law lives in.

Whoa. Yeah, you can send that one in. Definitely send that story in.

Keep it weird and happy start of spooky season.

Boo, Summer, you suck. Your favorite redneck hippie librarian weirdo. and her lovable Sasquatch, even though he won't listen to a podcast that runs longer than 30 minutes.

He has to listen to this part, though. So you can't listen to any of my episodes.

Listen to nothing. I love you guys so much.

That was a wild story. I can't believe that you literally saved someone.

You did. So please know that and please feel good about that.

And I know... It's so hard in those kind of situations because no matter what, you're going to feel like, what if I had done this?

What if I had done that? Always. I mean, everyone feels that.

It's so scary. But you did everything you could.

You did the smart thing. You gotta think of yourselves too here.

You helped two other people get out of their fasts. you like in the beginning I was like oh my gosh I want to go to a hot spring sounds so beautiful and then I'm like well fuck the fuck out of that no way no thanks damn That was wild.

Thank you. And just knowing that that happened the day after you left and that you were sitting there talking to that guy.

Yikes. The biggest yikes. So much. Alright.

My next one is picture it, murder, a hamburger, and a storied crime family in the middle of the country.

We love that. All right, so it says, hey, Ash and Alina.

I recently started listening to the pod from the wreck of my cousin B.

Our parents are twins and raised us both to the sweet, soothing sounds of Dateline blaring at all times of the day.

I was raised that way except with forensic files.

There you go. The story I wrote today is one that is genuinely horrifying and captivating. but we have never had covered on one of our many crime podcasts that we listen to. attached as a puttafa with the story of Nico Jenkins.

Enjoy. I had no idea how to sign this off.

Sorry. PS, I double spaced it. Also, I like SARS.

I'm going to incorporate that into my vocab.

All right. Hey, weirdos. Welcome to my puttafa.

The story I am telling happened in my hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.

Yes. Nebraska. Nebraska. I was pretty sure.

When I was 14 years old and thoroughly... freaked me out, but also I could not stop following it.

It is a doozy so get ready we have murder self-mutilation and a crime family plus just straight up horror so let's jump into it this sounds like a lot It certainly does.

In 2013, the star of our story Niko Jenkins committed four murders in the span of a month.

Holy. Oh, that is literally one a week. He had just been released from prison the month prior and came from a family, quote, known for being notoriously violent criminals dating back generations.

Hashtag humble brag, I guess. Jesus. His first known criminal act was bringing a gun to school at the age of seven. and culminated with a carjacking and assault at the age of 15 that sent him to prison until the summer of 2013.

Two weeks after his release, a police officer was patrolling an area and saw an area.

An area. Who the fuck am I? an area park in southeastern Omaha when he noticed a white truck sitting in the parking lot near a city pool.

It was 5 a.m., So it was a little sus because no one is that excited to swim at the city pool.

That is very true. No, no, no. Oh, my gosh.

Juan Arrube Pina and... I think it might be Jorge.

Yeah, I think so. Jorge C. Cajiga Ruiz. had been lured to the park under the impression that they would be able to hook up with two women.

Instead, they were brutally murdered and robbed by Nico Jenkins.

Jeez. Jesus Christ. Eight days later, Curtis Bradford was found inside of a garage in northeastern Omaha by a man returning from his night shift at the convenience store.

Bradford had been shot in the back twice the day before Bradford and Jenkins had posted a picture together on Facebook what You wonder if Jenkins was already planning it.

Chills. Curtis Bradford had met Nico Jenkins while in prison and was the only victim that Jenkins knew.

I can't believe he posed for a photo with him.

Like the day before. Knowing full well that he's going to kill him.

My God. Finally, on August 21, 2013, Omaha police responded to a shots fired call.

Andrea Kruger was found lying in the middle of the road in southwest Omaha.

Andrea had finished her bartending shift and had stopped to grab dinner from McDonald's on the way home.

She was driving down Fort Street when a car carrying Nico Jenkins pulled in front of her car. and forced her to stop.

That's horrifying. Jenkins then killed her with police finding multiple wounds from a 12 gauge shotgun to her face, neck, and shoulder.

What? That's insane. Jenkins then removed her from her car, finished her half-eaten hamburger.

What? Like, what the fuck, dude? And drove away in her car.

Holy shit. On August 30th, Jenkins was arrested for unrelated terroristic threats charge because this guy apparently liked a diversified criminal profile.

However, police had gathered enough evidence to charge him with four completely randomized murders that had been committed over the span of 10 days. days yeah because it's like there's no there's nothing that connects these nothing nothing And I thought they were over the course of a month.

They were over the course of 10 days. That's wild.

Jenkins confessed to the murders, telling police that he had done them as, quote, a sacrifice to the Egyptian deity Apophis.

Yeah. Wow. To protect his kingdom with quote, animalistic savage brutality. his own words from a letter written to the local paper wow i also wonder if he's one of those like like the night stalker who's just trying to do it for shock value.

Yeah, exactly. And like, do you even care about that actually?

Now buckle up your seatbelts and hold onto your hats.

The trial for the murders is where the story really gets creepy, as if the brutal murders weren't enough.

By the way, creepy is a massive. I was going to say, how do they get worse?

And also, if you hear somebody mowing their lawn, I'm sorry.

Me too. In February of 2014, before his trial began, Jenkins tried to sue the state of Nebraska for $24.5 million.

Why? Sir... Like, kindly fuck yourself.

Like, why though? Why, you must be asking?

I am. Because they wrongfully released him from jail in the first place.

Which I kind of agree with, but it is neither here nor there.

I was going to say, weirdly, I'm like... yeah and it's also like you released me from jail so you owe me money you owe me money now yeah we fucked up by accident we're not paying you for that yeah no thanks though He went on to blame the correction officers for the four killings.

He said he was struggling with his mental health while in prison. but the correction officers ignored his schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and OCD.

Well, that is fucked, but it does not give you the right to kill four people.

Except look at the next line. The judge had Jenkins evaluated, and it was determined that while he had antisocial personality disorder, he was faking psychotic symptoms and did not have schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or OCD.

Good try. Wow, makes you like 10 times of more asshole to lie about that.

When people actually suffer from those. Like, wow.

Awesome. Awesome. Wow, I'm really angry.

Nico Jenkins was declared competent to stand trial and the judge ruled that he could represent himself in court.

Never a good sign. No. He bundied it. Yep.

Throughout the trial, Jenkins continued to tell the story of his devotion and sacrifice to Apophis.

He spoke in tongues, howled and laughed as the prosecutors detailed the murders of Juan Arrube Pena.

Jorge C., Kahiga Ruiz, Curtis Bradford, and Andrea Kruger.

He was found guilty of all four murders on April 16, 2014.

I've never heard of that. heard of this neither have i we're gonna have to cover this yeah it's entirety Now, not to keep this horrible story going, but there's more.

Nebraska had legalized the death penalty within the span of Jenkins' case.

Okay. The psychiatrist who had previously declared him competent to stand trial approached the judge with concerns that Jenkins was unable to understand the death penalty proceedings against him.

What? That's like a real thing. But if he's competent to stand trial.

You could be competent to stand trial, but not necessarily understand that.

Yeah, that makes sense. That happened in another pretty prolific case.

Yeah, I was going to say. That sounds familiar.

I forget what it was, but it was like you couldn't get the death penalty because you didn't understand the repercussions.

Okay. I think it might have been in a crime countdown that we covered oh maybe anyway He once again underwent a competency evaluation and the judge ruled that Jenkins was not competent to proceed with the death penalty trial.

All right. Wow. This is getting wild. It is.

Jenkins himself rebuked the claim saying, quote, I am competent to proceed.

I am not going to participate in any more evaluations.

It would be a waste of time. He was then declared competent to stand sentencing, and the date is set for July 7, 2015.

That's crazy. Oh wow, it's only going to get crazier.

In the months leading up to the death penalty hearing, Jenkins engaged in several acts of self-mutilation.

Mutilation. Yep, I don't know why. Mutilization.

Mutilation. Mutilation. First, he carved 666 on his forehead.

Except he did it while looking in a mirror, so it was backwards.

Fucking idiot. Wow. Oh, I hate this next one, and you are going to hate it too, everyone.

He then sliced his tongue. To make it look more serpent-like?

And carved the phrase Satan on his face.

No problems with the mirror stitch this time.

You know, he learned the first time. Finally, he mutilated his penis twice and had a total of 65 stitches on his face and genitalia. a delightful guy wow in may of 26 also how was he able to mutilate himself that many times it's That's the other thing.

Can we pay attention here? Is anyone watching him?

Yeah. What is going on? The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.

But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn.

The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.

His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.

Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.

I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.

Mr Mayor. As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all.

Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption, Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mare exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus. start your free trial in apple podcasts spotify or the wondery app In May of 2017, five years after the murders, Jenkins was sentenced to death.

His trial, he tried to appeal his case to the Supreme Court in 2020, but it was denied because obvs.

Yeah. I know this has been a long and twisted tale, but I needed to share this story that had my hometown in its clutches for five years.

Thank you. There is so much more to the story, but it would turn this pitiful into a novel.

His mom, sister, wife, and uncle... were all convicted of their involvement in the case.

They helped him carry out the murders. We are covering this.

Oh my goodness. Stay weird, but not so weird that you make human sacrifices to an Egyptian deity, murder someone and finish their dinner, and carve 666 onto your forehead backwards.

Wow. That was... I cannot believe neither of us have heard of that before.

I've never ever heard of that. That's like...

Seriously wild. Seriously. My goodness. That's absolutely wild.

Wow. Thank you for that. Seriously. All right, let's see.

What do I have next? Nana Jan, you slippery bitch is a really good one.

I have Nana Jan, you slippery bitch. Yes.

All right, let's see. I got to make it bigger because I don't have my glasses.

Hey weirdos, I'm Laurel. Go ahead and say it.

It's cool. Thank you, Laurel. Hi, Laurel.

I said it like, uh, should I say? I'm like.

Go ahead and say it. It's cool. I shared this listener tale back around Halloween after having a kick ass spoopy up.

October party where we had a tarot reader, a medium bloodbath punch, a mini booze filled pinata, which we broke up with a broomstick and so much more.

Why weren't we invited? I was just going to say how dare you not invite us.

How dare you. My original email, when I put it in the nice, my original email, when I put it in this nice double spaced pitifer, was over 14 pages long, so yeah.

At Elena. Yeah, I can see why you didn't get to it, huh?

I'm tightening this shit up with hopes that you'll read it.

You'll read my tale because you guys are the tits and I would be honored.

Oh, so glad we found it. This is just your wholesome family member murder tale, washed down with a dose of psychic affirmation And later followed up with a mother's wisdom.

I love all of this. This is a really good one.

Let me start by saying that my entire life growing up, I was told that my grandpa Bill was killed by my Nana Jan.

Now, I have no blood relation to this Jan person.

She was just the piece of shit that my grandpa married after he and my grandma got divorced.

Well, she killed him. That's the story. The way they told it to us kids, or at least as I remember it, is as follows.

A little more detail. It was the middle of the night, and the phone rang at my parents' house.

My mom got up to answer it, and it was Nana Jan.

She said very quickly and abruptly, Bill is dead.

He had a heart attack, but I'll take care of it.

Then she hung up. Like, but I'll take care of it.

Hey, just calling to let you know, Bill's dead, but I'm going to take care of it.

It's like, what does that mean? You're going to take care of it.

My mom just stood there like, uh, what? See, this was not... her evil stepmother but my dad's oh my god that's even worse i know you get the phone call and it's your like in-laws And then you have to go tell your husband.

And your step-in-laws being like, hey, you're... actual in-laws dead go tell his son like what the fuck yikes and don't worry i'll take care of it yeah She was about to say something along the lines of, don't you want to tell Mark, my dad, yourself?

When the bitch just hung up as if it was a casual midnight conversation.

Well, I'll take care of it is kind of a weird response, don't you think?

I do. Yes, I do. Followed by the fact that this broad swiftly left the country.

She took care of it. All right. Seriously.

She took all of my grandfather's money to Australia.

Poof. WTF? What the fuck? Well, when the autopsy came back, it was stated that he died from blunt force trauma to the head.

That's crazy. Not of a heart attack. Also, did you not think, Janie girl, that no one was going to look into that?

Did you not think autopsies are a thing that happened?

That a forensic pathologist was going to look at blunt force trauma to the head and go, Heart attack.

Probably a myocardial infarction, I would say.

I love that. Can you say it again? Myocardial infarction.

I love it. Do you really think that they were like, let's ignore that?

Let's ignore the fact that his skull is Let's ignore that my entire job is to tell what this is.

Right. It's clearly not it. So that's the initial story.

I always thought this was fishy. Like, why wouldn't my dad have pressed charges?

Or at least have the detective look into it more.

I've just thought about this situation so much growing up, especially now that I'm a true crime obsessed weirdo.

That's probably why you are. Exactly. One recent weekend when my sister and I were hanging out, we got into a great conversation about my grandpa and what had happened to We were talking about the family murder and we were a little skeptical because why wouldn't anything have come from this?

I was kind of wondering. wondering as well.

Why wouldn't there have been an open case if it were murder?

We agreed that before our older family members, i.e. parents, uncles, etc., I feel this, that we needed to talk with them more about this and get to the bottom of it.

We both felt that when we were kids, maybe they were leaving parts out of the story to protect us or something.

That's probably a good assumption. Yeah.

Fast forward to the Halloween party. We started the day with a group reading from the medium.

I just want to go to this Halloween party.

I know, this Halloween party sounds amazing.

Nobody had really... prepared any questions, not sure what we thought was gonna happen, but we kind of sat there looking like statues for a minute.

Did we think she was just going to walk into the party and summon angels and demons from the skies?

Yes. Finally, her sister asked a question about work.

Pretty vanilla, but we work with kids on the autism spectrum. and sometimes mediums can connect with them as they live a bit outside their heads. awesome i love that i did not know that i had no idea that makes me want to cry that's wonderful Then, wham, I got the idea to ask about my grandpa's murder.

Yes, this is what I needed. Also, can I say that you're an amazing person for working with kids on the spectrum?

Yeah, you really are. That takes a lot. What an awesome person.

When it was my turn, I said to her, I have this weird murder story in my family.

It was my grandpa Bill. There have always been family conversations about him being murdered by my Nana Jan, but it doesn't make sense because there was never an open case or anything.

She said he had a heart attack, so I just want to know if you can get a hold of him and ask him what happened."

In hindsight, that was probably too much to tell the medium.

When I read that, me too. Honey, you got to stop.

Don't give names. Don't give situation. You just go, I have a family situation.

What happened to my grandpa? Yeah. boom I love that she like realized but I love that you're like next time I got this hindsight is 2020 okay I understand I get that I probably could have let her draw some of her own conclusions, but hey, it was my first time trying to summon spirits.

I get it. It's hard. The medium nodded and closed her eyes.

Pretty quickly, she started chuckling to herself.

Then she nodded, still with her eyes closed.

Then she giggled again and opened her eyes with a smile on her face.

She said... I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh.

It's just that he came to me so quickly, like he stepped right forward and then said, that bitch killed me.

We all laughed and I sort of sat there shocked to think my grandpa Bill was talking to the medium right in front of me.

That must be... I know, I've never experienced that.

I've never experienced a medium. I've always wanted to.

Me too. But it's like to know, like to hear that your loved one is standing there talking to them while you're sitting there must be like a really...

Strange feeling. Like an out of body experience, I would think.

I just sat there listening. Like, go on.

So the medium closed her eyes again and continued to tell me that he was showing her how it happened with images.

They had gotten in a fight, but he had left the room and thought it was over with, that He was sitting in a chair at his desk and she came up behind him and hit him over the head with a small but very hard object.

After she hit him, he just sat there for a while.

He didn't die right away. He said that he actually had a brain bleed that caused him to slowly die over a little bit of time.

Nope, not instantly. So that's awful and really sad. but also crazy that my grandpa is showing this medium what happened through visions that she is then describing to the whole group.

Then he told her that he didn't understand why she never got caught.

He was shocked she got away with it. It was so cool to have this confirmation about his murder after all these years and from the source himself.

I can imagine. I learned so much from this medium about so many tent things.

It was truly an amazing afternoon. This medium was amazing and I believed every word she said.

I was skeptical going into it, but detail after detail about people that my friends and I had lost were so spot on.

And the things that she was able to tell us about the other side were so incredible.

I'm no longer a skeptic and can't wait to have this party again next year.

New October tradition for sure. Well, sorry, I'm not done yet.

I'll get there, I promise. You don't have to worry.

This is awesome. But before I finish, I have to tell you about what happened when I told my mom about this party and this experience with Grandpa Bill.

My mom was skeptical about the medium, but super interested.

I asked her to a few things about my grandpa's death because they still didn't make sense to me about why this never would have been investigated.

I'm so glad I finally had the nerve to ask her about it because it cleared up so much.

First, my mom said that Jan and Bill had vicious fights often.

I don't know if they were physical or just verbal, but she would often call my parents in the middle of the night like 3 a.m., and say things to my mom like, do you hear this?

I want you to hear the way he treats me.

That's horrific. My mom said they were both drunks and basically just got together because they were drinking buddies.

Oh, that's sad. So for the medium to say that they had a fight that night would not have been abnormal at all.

My mom went on. The night that he died, the coroner actually did come out and he found Bill dead. and Jan said he must have had a heart attack, so the coroner wrote that he died of congestive heart failure, and then Jan hustled off to have him cremated.

Well, my dad and his brother heard about this and they drove four hours to stop the cremation and demanded an autopsy.

That made it just in time. When the autopsy was completed, there was zero evidence of congestive heart failure, and it showed that he died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Zero? Like, no, he didn't just fall and hit his head after having a heart attack?

It wasn't even possible. That's crazy that they made it just in time.

It's also wild to me that like... And I guess maybe the coroner who came out was like, maybe he fell after having, but to just take.

Take her word for that. Nana Jam's word.

He must have had a heart attack, and he's just like, I better write it down.

Yeah, right? Are you, like, you're just taking random Nana's, like, medical thoughts?

I wonder if it was like a small town or something and they like knew each other and Jan was like so trusting.

Or she was just like, I know, idiot. I don't know.

So my dad calls up this Jan Biatch, and it's just going to be like, hey, what gives? but he can't get a hold of her.

He tried calling a few more times but no answer.

Finally, he calls Jan's 90-year-old mother who is still alive, and he asks where Jan was.

She replied, Oh, Jan's in Australia visiting Candy like she does after all of her husbands die.

I love that her mom was just like, I'm out you.

Yeah, like after all her husband's died.

All her husband's died. She goes to Australia for it.

Turns out this real life black widow had five husbands and my grandpappy was her fifth to die on her.

Dude, she killed all of them. She's like fucking Nanny Doss there.

She is. So she had collected his insurance money first and got on a plane, went to Australia where her daughter Candy lived and then deposited all of the money in an account over there.

She ended up coming back eventually and lived out the rest of her life in Wisconsin.

That's where we're all from. The place where 99% of people I know would take cheese over oral sex.

This is a fun fact we found out while playing a drinking game at said Halloween party.

Ha! I do love cheese. Who doesn't? Anyway, I asked my mom, why didn't Jan ever get charged?

Five husbands dead seems like maybe she's the common denominator. here for real and what's up with that coroner why didn't he get charged thank you i'm saying we're all glad that got pointed out because i'm like i'm very concerned about this coroner He just took this drunk lady's word when she said that he died of a heart attack.

Thank you. I haven't read this. Yeah, it's fine.

Sure. Well, turns out the coroner and nasty Nana Jan were drinking buddies.

I knew it. I knew something. great pals there was no way I didn't want to question too hard but I was like yeah Why the fuck did that coroner just take this random Nana's word?

He must have died of a heart attack. Sure.

Because they love to go to the pub together.

Sure, sure. He didn't want to lose his drinking bud.

So like to tip back a few pints together on the regular.

He signed the paperwork saying it was a heart attack without any evidence but her word.

What the hell? Who is this guy? Thank you.

He never even got questioned. Apparently, the cops did look into the case after my dad and his brothers demanded it.

But they decided that both parties were drunk and he probably just slipped and fell and hit his head during an argument. so oh well.

And like that doesn't come from blunt force trauma.

Case closed. So like what the fuck? Like did he fall into like a fucking banister?

They saw two like older and we're like, I'm not even going to deal with this.

Yeah, 100%. No worries about 500s. No worries about five husbands and the life insurance policy, which she had taken out in all of Bill's sons' names and had put solely into her name.

That's so fucked. His kids didn't get anything.

Then took to an offshore account. No worries about that.

It's fine. Come on, Wisconsin. So anyway, thanks for hanging in there.

And I'm sorry, not sorry that this was so long.

You don't have to be sorry. I also have a ghost story about living in the old Coors family mansion up in the mountains of Colorado.

If you'd like to hear that one, just let me know. letting you know right now i want to know you guys are the best and i love all of your different podcasts.

But Listener Tales really is one of my favorites.

So I hope you like this. I loved it. And don't forget to keep it weird, but not so weird that you kill five guys and take all of their money to an offshore account and never get in any trouble for it, okay?

Thanks. Bye. Love, Laurel. And Laurel attached a picture of Grandpa Bill, and he's a stunner.

Yes, let me see this. A stunner. Is he holding a cigar?

Fucking yes, Bill. Oh, my God. Look at that handsome man.

Oh, my God. He's holding like an old timey cigarette.

Oh, and he's got like a cool either like watch or something. bracelet on like bill is vibing and he's got oh i love it i love a man with glasses a married one so I plan to yes hey I wow Laurel that was like I'm first of all Amazing storytelling.

And second of all, good for you for like getting to the bottom of it and like asking questions because a lot of people would have just let it go.

And three, I'm so sorry that that happened to your grandpa, Bill.

I know. I'm like really sorry that that happened.

That sucks. I hate it a lot. And that sucks for him.

Nobody should ever live the rest of their life with some asshole who they just fight with all the time who eventually murders them.

Yeah, nobody deserves that at all. No. Wow.

So thanks, Laurel. All right. My next one also features a Nana.

I feel like Nana's are becoming a theme here.

I love that. Nana's murder house. My Nana was not the murderer.

Just clarifying that up front. Good to know.

Hello there, mistresses of mayhem, babes of badassery.

I love your podcast. I love that. I love that so much.

I also love that you said mayhem. Whatever.

It's fine. I also love that I can listen to two ladies that also live in New England.

And get excited when I hear a reference to a place I know.

Hell yeah. Not in a creepy way, I promise.

It's great because you can actually pronounce the names of things correctly.

I love that you think that because nobody else does.

I was like that is the first time I've ever heard somebody say that to us but so thank you for that I love it You never realize your invisibility more than when you're screaming at a podcast or how to pronounce something and they can't hear a darn thing you say.

Oh, yeah, it happens to me all the time.

Yeah. Anyway, I live in Rhode Island, but I grew up in Mass, and my family is from North Attleboro.

Hey. My dad used to live there. I didn't grow up there.

Westport, next door to Lizzie Borden River.

And actually, there is a theory that Andrew Borden's illegitimate... illegitimate son committed the murders and he lived in westport but that's for another kind of listener tale oh that's i want to look into that actually literally didn't even wait a second this is a listener tale see what i did there Oh, she said, but that's for another kind of listener mail.

Oh, there you go. This is a listener tale.

See what I did there? Now I do. I've been listening to your podcast for a while now and thought you'd like the story, but questioned whether I should send it.

You'll see why. But today after listening to Listener Tales 21, I thought, fuck it.

This is a great story. Yes. It is. So here's my story.

It involves paranormal cheap grandparents and an adorable pup named Layla.

Amazing. Like I said, I didn't grow up in Attleboro, but I did live there for about two years in my Nana and Grandpa's house.

My Nana passed away in 1969. in 1996 and my grandpa went into a nursing home in 2012 I'm sorry I moved there to take care of his house or this house while he was in the nursing home. and also pay the expenses, et cetera.

I was living there alone. Mind you, this is not the first time I'd slept there.

I used to sleep there all the time as a kid and spent many happy times there.

I love that. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about the house, except that I always had a feeling of dread walking down the hallway from the kitchen to the den. and there were these curious slit-like holes in the closet doors in the den. that I used to be fascinated by as a kid yikes I'd love that no hate it The closet doors were those hollow wood doors on runners that squeal when you open and close them.

Wow. Just like perfect. I can hear it. I literally heard it.

About eight inches or so from the bottom were holes that looked like they'd been made by a flat, sharp object, you know, like a knife.

Every time I would be playing on the floor near those doors, my Nana would freak out and tell me to get away from there.

Weird, but not enough to alarm me. I love it.

I love the things that people all over are just like, yeah, I love it.

I love it. Then we look back in hindsight and are like, weird I ignored that.

Yeah, right? It wasn't until right before I moved into the house alone that my dad thought it would be a good idea to tell me Yes, these holes had been made by a knife.

There it is. Why? Because a woman had been brutally stabbed to death in the house. by a budding serial killer named Thomas Knott.

My dad told me the whole story as if he remembered it.

But I'm quoting from a news story here because I feel they can explain it better than I can.

The following is taken by a column by Mike Kirby that appeared in The Sun Chronicle on March 24th, 2013.

50 years after the murders occurred. Great job citing your source.

I know that was wonderful. Thank you. On January 25th, 1963, 15 year old Elaine Martin returned to her blank lane home after classes at Attleboro High School.

Her home was ransacked and covered with blood.

She had never seen such a violent act. Seven kitchen knives were used in the assault.

Five were severely bent. Signs of a struggle were found in four rooms of the house. medical examiner dr james shamey counted at least 31 stab wounds on the victim wow that's insane He told the Attleboro Sun a predecessor...

Did I say that right? Predecessor? Yeah.

To this newspaper that this was, quote, the most vicious and heinous act I have ever seen.

No rational person could have done such a thing.

A young man was seen leaving the property earlier that day in a car with Rhode Island license plates.

A little more than 24 hours after Edith Martin's body was discovered, Pawtucket police arrested then 17 year old Thomas Knott Jr. of that city.

Not a track star who finished seventh in the 100-yard dash at the New England Inventionalists and Co-Captain.

Invitationalists. Yeah, that. Inventionalist.

I was like, I don't know. He's inventing things while he's running.

He's like, by God, I've cracked the code.

Invitationals. Clearly I wasn't invited to those.

I wasn't. And co-captain elect of the Tolman High School football team had been questioned less than a year earlier about the murder of 19 year old Nancy Ann Frenier of Pawtucket whose mutilated body was found in a pond three months after she was reported missing.

I know that name? Nancy Ann Frenier. I know it sounds familiar.

This time, after hours of questioning, not confessed to both murders.

Police said he did not know either victim.

In the Frenier case, I hope I'm saying that right, Knott told police he was in a Pawtucket parking lot when he spotted Frenier leaving a store.

In what police described as an impulsive act, he forced his way into her car, drove her to the pond where he viciously stabbed or to death and dumped her body in the water.

The Martin police, the Martin murder police said was a similar irrational impulsive act by a troubled young man.

He just had an urge to kill, one investigator said.

So a little more on the case. Those knife marks in the closet door from the murder.

I knew it. As soon as he said, like, slits, I was like, that's okay.

I was like, yikes. And he had been able to get into the house to murder Edith because she had left her keys in the house. the door he had used seven of her own kitchen knives to stab her and He chased her throughout the house.

That's a nightmarish. That's so scary. Yes.

To the hall in the den where she succumbed to her attack.

That's why it feels so like feeling that sense of dread going into that hallway.

That's so scary. This made me so freaked out that I never slept without the light on when I was there alone.

I also got a sweet little rescue Shih Tzu that I named Layla.

I love Shih Tzus. Her name was actually gorgeous.

Seriously. When I got her. That's awesome.

She's like, I changed her name. Anyway. Layla was no help to decreasing my fear as she perpetually barked her face off at the attic door at night.

Layla was not a barker otherwise, but she seriously constantly tried to get up the stairs and go into the attic.

No way was I about to go in there myself, especially since Layla only seemed to be interested in whatever terrifying ghost demon animal was in the attic. after dark at one point when i had a friend visiting we went up to inspect but of course there was nothing and leila of course her sassy ass being a wimp when it came down to it, refused to pass through the attic doorway, but just stood at the stairs barking her cute little face off.

I met my boyfriend while I lived here and he used to sleep over at the house sometimes, as you do.

He always insisted he heard footsteps overhead in the attic.

Not only do I sleep like a rock, but I always slept with earbuds in despite the discomfort. because i didn't want to hear anything like that oh my god i don't blame you good thing i did or i'd be writing this on an adaptive device by blinking my eyes or something but because I'd be recovering from a stroke.

Honestly. Seriously. Apart from that, I always left my keys in the door when I lived there by accident.

Weird. That's crazy. Wow. Because that's how he was able.

I was gonna say it's like the same kind of scenario just replaying itself in a different timeline.

Yeah, it's crazy. creepy also that literally happened to me the other day before I even read this listener tale and I lost my keys for like 20 minutes and I was like somebody stole them out of the door drew like oh my god and he was like actually i put them under my he's like please calm down he was like i put my hat over them i'm really sorry Back to the story.

I'd also like to note that the column I quoted here was written...

While I was living in the house, no one told me.

Also weird. I moved out in 2014 after my grandpa passed away and we had to sell the house.

I now live in an older but much less haunted house in Rhode Island with that same boyfriend.

A cat named Ganset and a pup named Fitzy.

I love that. More about Layla below. I suppose you might be asking, why the hell didn't my Nana and Grandpa replace those closet doors?

I was wondering that. That's where the cheap ass part comes in.

They knew what happened in the house when they bought it.

And that's why they bought it. Oh, yeah.

There you go. Not because they're super cool weirdos who love that sort of shit.

No, my Nana was oddly superstitious, actually.

Rather, they bought the house because it was super cheap and because they were economic badasses who cared not about a brutal murder that had taken place there.

They also didn't feel the need to spend the money replacing a closet with knife holes made by a deranged killer. whilst he brutally stabbed his victim in the same room where my Nana would later watch All My Children and The Golden Girls.

That is a wild scenario that just played out in my head.

Truly wild. That said, I still have many wonderful memories in that house. and living there brought me my sweet little fur baby, Layla.

She and my dad became best friends to the point that they began to look alike.

Sadly, both she and my father passed away this year as 2020 has been a heartbreaking hellscape of epic proportions.

I'm so sorry. I choke up while even writing this lighthearted romp into murderousness.

Actually, another quick tale that just happened while I was writing this.

My boyfriend and I spent last night at my parents, now just my mom's I guess.

I sat by my dad's urn and asked him to give me a sign.

There have been many instances where both my mom and I have felt his presence, but for some reason I wanted something tangible.

I was also a couple of gin martinis in at that point.

I told him I needed a real glaring sign from him. so I knew he was there.

My dad was always a witty person who liked to make wisecracks at my expense.

Well, next morning, we woke up to a literal sign with nothing but a heart on it stuck in the front yard.

Shut the fuck up. Apparently, my dad's friend had brought it early in the morning.

But seriously, that's so my dad. Jesus, what else could you possibly need for me to appear in an angel suit?

I can imagine him saying. Sounds awesome. so that's my never-ending story i would also gush more about the podcast but i feel like this is long enough you can use my first name if you read it on the show which may also give me a stroke, just like the footsteps could.

I imagine. attached pictures of my dad Layla and the sign as well as a link from the Sun Chronicle article for your reference.

You are amazing. Wow. Wow, what a story.

That was so good. And wait, I need to scroll and see the heart.

Oh my God, the heart sign. And now they call it my dad's sign.

I love that. Oh my God, I love that. And it was they put it in the truck in the backyard where his truck used to be.

Oh my god, and your dad is a precious, precious man.

Literally. I'm so sorry that you lost him and Layla.

I love Layla. And you know what? He looks like a fisherman.

He does. Doesn't he? He just looks like... And he was also my hero.

She wrote, I love this. He also... has like the most Massachusetts vibe.

He does. He just gives off that vibe. You always know a fellow Massachusetts.

You do. You always do. That's what we call them here.

Also, you're adorable. And I love you with Layla.

Literally. Oh, I love you all. I just love you all.

That was a crazy tip. I just, the fact that they were living, imagine walking by that door every day and there's just knife holes in the door and you know what happened.

No. No, like that's a lot. Seriously. That's a lot.

I'd be like, if I had known that, I'd be like, grandma and grandpa, like I'm going to Lowe's.

I got you. I gotta go. Like, we're going to get a new door for y'all.

Yeah, we gotta go. You need to watch Golden Girls in peace, not with this looming... scary scary thing yeah All right, let's see.

What should we end on here? I think we should end on...

A listener tale consisting of a chiropractor, a floating torso, and a possible taco stand.

Yeah, I'm not sure either. I'm sure. I'm sure that I want to read this right now.

I'm very sure. All right. Greetings to my favorite fellow weirdos.

Greetings. My name is Lexi and I'm a 22 year old from Iowa.

I just started listening to you two back in January when I started my new job at a Harley Davidson dealership.

What a badass you are. just gonna say badass alert.

My drive to work is around 35 minutes one way and the podcast really helps the agonizing drive go by faster.

I'm glad. On top of that, your guys' awesome storytelling and hilarious banter never fails to make my stressful, busy days that much better.

It always feels like I'm hanging with friends around a bonfire while we drink booze and tell scary stories, which is literally my favorite thing to do.

Mine too. The best. This sounds amazing.

Anyway, this is probably going to be a shorter listener tale since it happened before I was born.

But if you stick around long enough, you'll see that my family is technically connected to it.

You may also use my name. Thank you, because I did.

I have absolutely nothing to hide. Yet.

Yet. Moving on. This story blew my mind when I had to do an assignment on it in my business law class in college.

It occurred in Davenport, Iowa, which is about a 20-minute drive from where I grew up.

Back in 1983, a chiropractor by the name of Jim Clint was in the middle of divorcing his wife, Joyce.

When she mysteriously disappeared. I bet it wasn't so mysterious.

Yeah. her disappearance, a woman's torso was spotted floating on the shore on the Mississippi River by a few fishermen.

The torso was identified as hers and what is shocking to me is that the torso was the only part of her that they ever found.

I hate when that happens because it's horrifying and so heartbreaking for a family.

Yeah, because that's all you have. And then also like, where is everything else?

Like that's a person. It's like everything that makes a person a person, they've taken away.

It's like an extra degree of evil. Yeah.

Since her murder happened right in the middle of their messy divorce, Clint became the prime suspect pretty quickly.

He was arrested and charged for second degree murder, which didn't make any sense to me at all, and you'll see why in a moment.

In a 1992 interview, almost 10 years after the incident, Clint finally came up with some sob story, where he claimed his wife ran at him with a gun, so he hit her over the head with a billiard ball to knock her out.

He then proceeded to tie her to a tree, and he cut off all of her limbs with a chainsaw.

Oh. Yep, you read those capital letters words right.

This psycho used a chainsaw like Leatherface or some shit. to cut off all of her limbs.

Oh my god. Another crazy fucked up part to this, that chainsaw was never found either.

So there's probably some rusty old chainsaw and the rest of this poor woman's body at the bottom of a river somewhere.

I wish we could find it. That's what kills me when you know that that's just somewhere like there.

It's out there. And on top of that, Clint only served 20 years.

20 fucking years for brutally dismembering his own wife.

I read somewhere that due to the old Iowa sentencing guidelines, Clint's sentence was cut in half because of good behavior.

That's such bullshit. You literally chopped a human being up.

He used to tutor other people. prisoners to read, and he also participated in a program where he would train dogs for blind people.

And hear me out. If this man hadn't become a murderer, I'd be all for it.

I would be like, you go, dude, or some shit, which I agree.

It's like Melissa Loveless. yes Melinda Loveless Melinda Loveless it's like she's literally like training dogs like it's like service animals and it's like you want it you sit there and you're like that is what prison is for, is to rehabilitate you into a better person.

Because that... But it's like, you know what it is?

I don't know it's really hard because it's like if there's no good person in there at all it's not going to do anything right and I'm sorry but if you can like chop somebody up with a chainsaw or light somebody on fire.

I personally, and like go ahead and roast me for it, I don't think there's any.

No. No, I mean, yeah, there's no, but it's like, when you, I can see what this, what, is it Lexi, sorry.

Lexi. what Lexi is saying, like, that if you're, like, you want to be, like, good for you, like, that's what prison's for.

Yeah, no, you do. Is to rehabilitate and like you're supposed to be doing good things in there, not just sitting around like pumping iron and getting.

Of course. tough to come out right like you should be doing things that are benefiting society which that is benefiting society so it's like that's all you can take out of it.

That's really all you can take out of that?

Like, I understand why she's like, ugh. I would be like, you go, dude, but he's a dick.

Yeah. It's just, it's really hard. Like the whole, like having an opinion about it.

It's not black and white at all. It's like the death penalty.

Like some things are just not black and white.

They're not. And it's like, so this especially, because it's like everyone looks at prison like it's supposed to be. what it's supposed to be, is rehabilitation, but it's hard to wrap your brain around that.

I think it depends on the severity of the crime.

It does. It's just it's a case by case thing, but I get it.

But she says, but the fact that he committed one of the most heinous crimes in the city to date makes me uncomfortable at the fact that they would let that psycho be around. animals.

I agree. Anyways, I asked my mom about this case and she would have been 13 around the time that this occurred.

And she actually remembers my grandma talking about the case a lot.

Apparently, my grandma went to school with Clint and they were acquaintances to some extent.

Thank God. I can't help but think if she actually ended up with that man.

Jesus. And what if she married him and ended up like that poor woman?

Hell nah, man. I'm sure my grandma will always be thankful for the day she turned down Jim Clint.

I would hold that fondly in my memories.

Clint was released after serving 20 years and he got out in 2004.

That's bullshit. He was in and out of jail a lot after this, basically just for drug charges and misdemeanor charges.

There was actually a short period of time in 2006 where he ran a taco stand.

Uh, no. He apparently learned how to cook while in prison so he opened up his own business.

Would you like to know what he named it?

Would ya? No. The fucker named it Eats and Sweets.

Now, I love myself some good tacos, but you ain't ever going to catch me at fucking eats and sweets.

No. eating food that was made by the same hands he used to murder someone did not only murder them but dismember them Well, the taco stand didn't last very long because Mr. Jim Clint has unfortunately passed away.

Oh no, whatever will we do without him and his wonderful tacos?

Please tell me you sense the sarcasm. I sensed it.

Ah, yes. 2010, Clint passed away at a hospital in Davenport after what the media claims was a bad fall.

The doctors said Clint was, quote, Code blue and unresponsive when he was transported.

He was 62 years old. Wow. Well, that's about it for that crazy story.

All I can say is I hope Joyce Clint is up there resting easy.

And Jim Clint is down in the pits of hell getting the shit beaten out of him by Satan himself.

Hell yes. In conclusion, I hope you guys have a wonderful day.

Also, always remember to keep it weird. take it away ash oh gosh not so weird that you do any of that Just literally don't keep it that weird.

None of that at all. Wow. That was a wild, wild story.

And the fact that it took him that long to like come clean.

With it? And then he eventually admitted to it?

That's crazy. I just, that one was like really sad.

Man. I couldn't even take it away with that.

Yeah. These were, these were. wild yeah these are like really intense we didn't even have like I don't think we had any like actually haunted things No, we had all brutal murders.

Yeah. I think next time we'll have to do a haunted listener.

Yeah. Well, definitely. For spooky season.

For October. Exactly. So thank you guys for sending these in and continue to send them in, please.

We love them. I mean, we're going to try to get to... literally as many as humanly possible in the span of the next million years so yeah probably continue sending them in because they're so much fun so crazy and we love them yeah and we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird but that's where you go to hot springs and there's a really creepy guy there but like keep it so weird that you have to become a hero in that moment because it's amazing Definitely don't keep it so weird that you murder somebody and then eat the rest of their McDonald's meal because that's just a whole fucking story in and of itself.

Don't keep it so weird that you're Nana Jan and you just run off to Australia after you murder your husband and tell everybody like, I'll take care of it.

It was a heart attack. I don't know what to tell you.

And don't keep it so weird that They're, you know, don't keep it so weird that you're that gym guy because I really fucking hate that guy and definitely. don't keep it so weird that you buy a murder house and you don't like fix the doors where the murder happened Yeah.

Fix the doors. Yeah. And don't let people message you in the middle of recording.

Yeah, fuck that. Come on. I mean, at least they waited for the end.

Thank you. All right. Love you guys. Bye.

Bye. Thank you. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.

Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

[Pre-October Morbid: Listener Tales and Chilling True Crime]-[Listener Tales 32]

📋 Summary

Pre-October Morbid: A Collection of Listener Tales

The Encounter at the Hot Springs: A Brush with Danger

The Horrors of Nico Jenkins

Nana Jan: The Black Widow of Wisconsin

The Haunted Murder House in Attleboro

Conclusion

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript