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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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Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid.
It's a big morbid. It's my biggest morbid yet.
Not really, because it's just a one-parter, but it's my... I think it... maybe will be my longest one-parter.
Wow. Everybody is telling me about their sense in growth.
They're sensing growth. I try to give the people what they want.
You love growth. You're like a tree. Yeah.
And I love that about you because you provide me with oxygen.
You're welcome. I was just going to say it's because I'm getting thicker.
No, that is not it. Quarantine. Because you provide me with oxygen.
That's why. There's your oxygen. I appreciate it.
Did you all get that? I hope you all got some of that.
Some ash oxygen. There's some extra for you.
So what do we have to talk about this week?
I think we just have a couple things we wanted to mention.
I think one of them is just a little tease.
We just love to tease you. We have a virtual live show. or maybe a few virtual live shows coming up in the near future. that are gonna be spooky ooky.
Spooky season, spooky live shows. Spoon key.
We're hoping we're going to knock your socks right off your feet.
Yeah, mine just fell off just thinking about it.
I hope so. I hope everyone's socks just blew off of their feet.
Speaking of socks, I mean, this doesn't matter at all, but I just went to Target the other day and bought like eight new pairs of wool socks.
So. That's really great. You should do that and then and double your pair so that when we blow your socks off, you have one left.
But I think it might blow both of your socks off, like both pairs.
Well, this information, we will relay more of it in details, you know, when everything's locked down.
Locked down. We will let you know on the pod and on our socials, so don't worry, you're going to know as soon as we have all the details, but get excited.
And there's another thing to get excited about.
What's that? In the next week or so, I think I mentioned before, and I said in the next couple weeks, but now we're saying the next week or so we're going to be adding some new merchandise. yippee to shop.morbidpodcast.com and it's going to be really great And we're really excited about these designs.
Yeah, these are the ones that we were like, These are designs that we need.
We need these designs. So I think you guys are really going to like them. yeah i want to order them like asap rocky oh yeah i want all of them And I think that's it for exciting news.
I think so. I think the only other thing I wanted to quickly say was just...
Everybody loved John's tale. Oh, my God.
Not my John, but like writer John in the listener tales episode that we just posted.
You know that I don't often like listen to Morbid like on my own because I think that's a little bit weird.
I listened to that again this morning because I wanted to hear that song. story because the tale was so good his name is john allen and he's a writer and that's a great writer Right, and everybody was freaking out about it and was like, John, send more.
And he told me that he will be sending his Supernatural story in soon.
And I'm waiting with bated breath. I'm so excited.
You know why? It's going to be on the next Listener Tales.
Oh, yeah. I'm looking out for that one. So I just wanted to let everybody know that we agree.
John's amazing. And I hope John hears this and knows.
We just can't get over it. It was so much fun to read.
It was so much fun to write. It's so much fun to listen to.
So thanks for that. Yeah. Thanks for everybody for their listener tales also.
Yeah, because you guys are all great. You're just not as great as John.
I mean, we're all playing for seconds to John.
All of us, each and every one of us, including us.
But, you know, we're all there together.
And at least we have a leader in John. He is a leader.
So... So I just wanted to shout him out again because that just was, it was just everything.
Just too good. And I think with this weekend being kind of like a bummer weekend with, you know, RBG passing and like... you know, pour one out for RBG.
Bailey's blind. My dog is... straight up blind and we're waiting to get her surgery on Wednesday, which, by the way, thank you so much to everybody who expressed concern for Bailey. i appreciated that it's a morbid podcast dog she's my first baby and she's gonna be okay and wednesday she's getting her surgery and hopefully she you'll be able to see out of one eye and it'll be great.
It'll be awesome. But you know what? I think John's story was like a light in the darkness.
So we appreciated it. This story is gonna be a dark in the darkness.
What story are we talking about? So first things first, I love you all so much and I love learning new things.
French pronunciation is... Even English, really.
Yeah, I'm still working on English pronunciation, so don't at me.
And also don't at me with the French pronunciation because I'm going to try my hardest, but I'm going to be wrong.
It's tough. yeah so it's tough thank you the Paris Morgan episode I did it was it was a tough one I'm just going to say ha-ha after everything.
There you go. And then you're going to tell me that's offensive, so I won't.
I'm just kidding. Except our French listeners will be like, that was funny.
So this week for my. episode, we're going to be talking about the crimes of the Pepin sisters.
Pepin! Pepin sisters. And they are Christine and Leia.
Ooh, Leia. And they're all kinds of fucked up.
They certainly are. And it all started, Elena, with a faulty iron. did it i had no idea as it always does but the worst things in life begin with a faulty iron i mean think about it they do yeah i mean yeah Absolutely.
And this did. But there's way more to it than that.
A wrinkle. A wrinkle in time. Christine and Leah had been working for the Lancelin family.
That's wrong, but I tried. For seven years as housemates.
They lived in the two-story townhouse with former lawyer Renee Lancelin.
Les Salons. Les Salons. His wife, Léoné, and their grown-up daughter.
We in America say Genevieve, but I did... find out that in French they say Geneviève.
Oh, I love that. And that's just like sexual.
Geneviève. Geneviève. Jean-B.M. If your name's Jean-B.M., like, ooh.
That's great. So, yeah, Jean-B.M. That really is like a whole... That's like...
That's like a sexual identity. Yeah, it is.
Jean-Pierre. Today I'm feeling very Jean-Pierre, so watch the fuck out.
I love it. christine which is like a great name but it is it's great not as exciting in fact like shout out to and that's why we drink christine You know what?
I literally this is one of the first episodes that and that's why we drink did.
Oh, right. When I started listening to them, I was like, holy fuck.
Like that's a good story. Good story. So shout out to Em and Christine.
Yes. So Christine in this story was 27 and Leah was 21 and they shared a small room in the attic with one bed. but their room was heated and had a balcony.
And the fact that they had a balcony in a heated room was like a very big deal at the time.
That's bougie. Yeah, because most servants did not have those kind of straight up fucking luxuries.
No. Like, heated room luxuries. balcony what more can you ask i'm saying we're in the servants quarters in my house right now and there's no balcony there's no balcony and there's very modern heat well and we can't even have the heat on when we podcast because it's loud yeah so i mean i'm already doing worse than christine and leah they're doing better than us I also read in one source that at the time and this is around like the 1930s, that insurance was starting to be a thing.
And Renee gave them insurance if they were injured on the job or something.
Wow. And it was like very new. Wow. Not a lot of servants were getting it.
Progressive. Yeah. And I shouldn't say servants.
I meant maids. So, their relationship with the family was strictly business.
They didn't really interact much unless it had to do with the keeping of the house.
In fact, in the entire seven year period that they worked in the home, They had never spoken one word to Renee and he had never spoken one word to them.
Wow. And I'm probably saying his name wrong like I can feel like I am, but it's just what it is.
You know what? To me, that's kind of living the dream. that is living the dream if my boss don't interact with your boss you're like kind of my boss though So I want to talk to you.
Well, and at most times, so they didn't speak to Renee and then their communication with Leone. was written through notes where she would instruct them what needed to be done that day, but like she didn't she wasn't like hey girls like how are you good morning like that was it she was like paper she was like dust every fucking thing in this house.
I'm gonna check it out later. Do all the things.
And honestly, I think it was pretty looked down upon anyways to be like chatting it up with your housemaid, so...
I think that's probably why they weren't all just hanging out with each other all the time.
So Christine and Leah would work 14-hour days.
Gross. Gross. with one half day off on Sundays.
A half day off. Yeah, right. You don't even get the full ass day.
Damn. And, like, I'm pretty sure the Bible is, like, you're not supposed to do anything on Sundays, but...
Yeah, that's supposed to be a day of rest.
Yeah, but not for them. Not for me either, so don't worry.
No, that's like your work day. Yeah, it's literally like a half a day.
Yeah. Well, I read in most sources that they would go to church on Sundays And then any other off time they had after the work day was over, they would spend together in their room.
Other housemaids were, like, you were allowed to go out.
You were, and they like to flirt with boys and go to dances like the other housemaids.
Who doesn't? Well, Christine and Leah didn't.
But like I said, Christine and Leah didn't seem interested.
And I read in a couple sources that the only thing they did other than work in church was occasionally they would go to like this psychic medium lady.
Huh. And this woman told them, now I'd like you to cradle your butt here.
Okay, I'm holding it as we speak. That in a past life, they had been husband and wife.
Yeah, I don't love that. I don't love that at all.
They're sisters. They're more sisters than me and you, TBH.
And that's a lot. Nope. If a psychic told us we were husband and wife in a past life, I'd be like... I'd need to take some time away from you.
I'm never coming to this psychic again. I'd leave a bad Yelp. review yeah I definitely would why are there ridges on Risa's peanut butter cups probably so they never slip from her hands Could you imagine?
I'd lose it. Luckily, Reese has thought about that.
Wonder what else they think about. Probably chocolate and peanut butter.
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.
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.
Leone was supposedly very particular about the way she liked the house to be cleaned.
And she literally did white glove checks to make sure everything was in order.
Gross. So she was like kind of a bitch. bitch.
You didn't hear it here first. You didn't hear it from me.
But, I mean, most of the time she was pretty happy with the girls' work because they did do a good job keeping the house clean. and she actually was like kind of nice.
She found out that the girls had been giving their money to their mother and and she went to their mother.
I don't know if it was like via letter or if she straight up went to her.
And she was like, you need to figure out a way to make your own money because they're not sending you theirs anymore.
Which I thought that was super nice. Damn.
But I feel like she's one of those bosses. that you just never know what you're going to get.
You can either get your best friend and she's going to be like, I'm going to do great things for you and you're the best.
Or you're going to get this, like, demon hellfire bread. piece of shit i've worked for people like that before and you're just like it's like so confusing and you like You'll be in a great mood one day because you had a great day with them before, and then the next day you'll be like, what?
What's up, girlfriend? And she'll be like, literally go fuck yourself.
Exactly. And you're like, okay. And you're like, oh.
I'm going to go clock in. for the whole day guess i will just go fuck myself gonna go cry in the bathroom hate that Well, back to Christine and Leah.
Their mother was a straight-up garbage person, just like my own, and so was their father.
Yeah. oh shit yeah they so they really my dad's nice they hit the lottery yeah They had a really rough go of it from day one.
Their mother was actually even worse than mine.
Wow. Her name was Clements, I think. Clements.
Who gives a shit? She was apparently an asshole.
Yeah, exactly. Fuck her. And their father, Gustav.
Gustav. Which, have you ever seen that movie Ever After?
Yes. I love when Drew Barrymore as a little girl is like, Gustav.
I told you not today. Gustav. I love it.
So Clemence and Gustav met and they fell in love ish.
But then Clebence was the talk of the town and not for a good reason.
Uh-oh. She was young and she was getting it at work. with her boss of all people.
Like she was young and getting it with her boss. and live in her best fucking life damn except not according to everybody else they were like she's kind Ooh.
Yeah, that's what they were saying. That's what they were saying?
They were slut-shaming. Oh, I was going to say, that's so slut-shaming.
Slut-shaming. That was so slut-shaming. If you don't know what I'm saying, they were having a straight up affair.
Oh, okay. Yeah. I was thinking something totally different.
I just want to make sure. I want it to be very clear here.
Yeah. Young and getting it kind of left some like area.
Yeah, I just thought they were like getting the laundry.
Yeah, no. They were getting it. Oh, shit.
That takes it into a different place. And everyone was telling Gustav that she was young and getting it and that he needed to ditch her.
But on October 3rd, 1901, he asked her what day it was and she said, it's October 3rd.
And he was like, yeah, and also let's get married today.
And they did. Oh, shit. So I had to throw that in there.
Gruel. Yes! Gruel! Yes! And then I wrote down, it might have gone a little differently, but whatever.
So they were married, but mostly just because Clements was pregnant.
Oh, hey. Yaya, and she had her first baby, Amelia, and she showed about zero interest in being a mom or a wife.
And then she went out with her boss again and, like, kind of left everybody.
But she would, like, come back. Like, she would...
She would go be young and getting it, and then she'd come back.
Wow. That's so good. And Gustav was... determined to catch Clemence with her boss.
He tried to follow them and would be like, I'm going to find them.
And he was becoming not only obsessed with doing that, but he was also becoming depressed because... clements was out obviously two time in him but he turned to alcohol with his woes so then he became an alcoholic Eventually, he made a plan and told Clemence that they were going to move to a different part of France and she fucking lost it.
She threatened everything from divorce to suicide.
But Ultimi... Ultimi. Ultimi. But ultimately, she complied because she was pregnant again.
Is this the boss's kid or is this Gustav's kid?
Well, so there actually is a lot of people wondered if the first child, if Amelia if she was the boss's kid.
And I don't think that Gustav thought that it was his kid.
Yeah, I don't either, Gustav. No. Not today, Gustav.
I hate to break it to you. So they move, she's pregnant again, and that's when she has Christine. but nothing between them changed and nothing about Clemence's lack of maternal instincts did either. she was just constantly miserable and bitching that she didn't want to take care of both these kids.
And she didn't want to be married to Gustav, which it's like, okay.
Well, then, like, why'd you choose this life?
Like, why do you keep having babies? Yeah.
So, trying to save the marriage, which I'm like, what?
Gustav sent Christine to live with his sister Isabel.
Isabel. I don't know why I said it like that.
I'm trying to have a French accent. You're doing great.
It's not working. It's not working. Isabelle Ha Ha.
Isabelle Ha Ha. So, Isabelle was, by all accounts, a really good caretaker.
But she thought that men were, quote, the human embodiment of evil.
Same. No, I'm totally kidding. So I'm sure like some... I was like, I don't know how to...
You're like, I don't have a reaction for that.
I don't have a retort. No, I think probably.
We love you guys. Isabel. He's so bad. Some psychological damage was probably done to Christine while she was spending some time there.
Yeah, yeah. You can't just constantly tell a kid how bad men are and then be like, out you are into the world now.
Yeah, go be okay. It'll be great. So she lived with Isabel for seven years.
Wow. So seven years of learning what shitbags men are.
Yeah, that's no good. Meanwhile... Yeah.
You okay? Yeah. Meanwhile, back in Shitsville, I wrote, Clements and Gustav were pregnant again.
All right, guys. Because I guess they hadn't come to terms with the fact that this whole, like, procreating situation wasn't really their thing.
But I'm also wondering, I'm like, you know what?
How much sexy time are they having? It's like, are these all the bosses' kids?
Okay, I'm glad you said that because I was going to say something about that, but I'm like... It doesn't sound like they're...
They're in very, I mean, unless they're having like, you know.
Maybe they're having hate sex. I was just going to say like angry.
So who knows? But that's not good. No. No.
No, and you don't want to procreate with angry sex.
No. Like, that's definitely not a good way.
Well, they did, I guess. Many times. Potentially.
Or the boss. I don't know. So this final daughter was named Leah.
So we have Amelia, Christine and Leah. Okay.
Now, this is when shit really hit the fan because right after Leah was born, Clements found out, and this is like a trigger warning for rape and molestation.
Right after Leia was born, Clemence found out that Gustave had molested their oldest daughter, Emilia.
What? Yes. Gustav. Yes. What the fuck? And like I said, there were rumors that it wasn't his biological daughter, But either way, he's like a horrible monster.
Yeah. Because she would have only been 10 years old at the time.
Oh, fuck that guy. 10 years old. Fuck that guy. um now i know what you're thinking like thank god maybe clements will probably go get her shit together and be a mom and like take care of amelia If you thought that you're wrong, you didn't.
So you're right. Yes, I'm always right. She was not only furious with Gustav. but also with her 10 year old daughter.
Are you fucking kidding me? blamed it on the daughter.
Like, she said that she probably seduced her father.
Because as far as Amelia knows, this is her father.
She doesn't know anything else. Come on.
Okay, Clements. feel free to take a long walk off a short pier and hold your breath forever.
I want to take a bat to Clements right now.
We all do. I truly do. We all do. And Gustav.
All of them. Gross. The two of them. The two of them.
And eventually all of them. So Clemence was so upset that she not only walked out on Gustav, good, but she sent Amelia to this, like, super religious orphanage.
Now, like, that's all well and fine about that, but... but it was known to be mercilessly cruel to children, like this specific orphanage had a reputation.
That does not shock me on any level whatsoever.
No, but she knew this and like did it on purpose.
Oh my god. And then she took Christine away from Isabelle. and sent her to the same orphanage.
This woman is straight up evil. Oh yeah, she's horrible.
Holy shit. And then baby Leia. because she has a straight up baby, was sent to live with Clements's uncle.
And then he I think she I'm not exactly sure how long Leah lived with the uncle, but like long enough.
And then when he died, she was sent to live in a different orphanage.
So Christine and Amelia are in the same orphanage, and then Leia's in a different one.
I'm horrified by this. Horrified. So, Amelia and Christine were super, super close growing up in the orphanage together because it's They only had each other.
Yeah. And it's a nightmare situation. So you cling to each other.
You're in a traumatic situation. Exactly.
Exactly. And hopefully it wasn't as bad as the reputation it carried because Amelia actually decided to stay there and become a nun.
Oh, wow. She like joined the convent there.
And Christine had such love for her sister that she wanted to do the same thing.
She really looked up to Amelia and she was like, if Amelia is doing this, I want to do it like it's going to be great.
And you're like, cool, like a sweet, pure ending to this horrible tale, right?
Oh, no. ...wrong because it was too late for Clemence to stop Amelia from joining the convent because she was, like, too old at this point...
But Clements still had say over both Christine and Leia.
And she wanted to get them both to work, which would lead to making her extra money so she didn't have to lift a damn finger.
So how come... this slimy asshole Clemence still has any kind of say over her children that she fucking put in an orphanage.
Because I don't think DCF was a thing at the time.
That's such bullshit. At this point it's like the 1920s.
That's bullshit. I know it was really fucked up.
So she sends them to go work, which is annoying.
She sent Christine to work as a cook and a housemaid for a family.
And Christine worked for a few families before she ended up working at the Lancelot's.
I don't know. Most of the families thought that she was cold and rude, probably because her fucking childhood and dreams had been.
I was just gonna say, I can't really blame her.
Who are we to say? Who are we? I don't know.
I mean, let's not feel too bad because shit hits the fan, like, big time later.
Yeah, sure does. Remember that the iron breaks.
I remember that. Remember the wrinkles. The faulty iron and the wrinkles and the steam setting is far too high.
Yeah. When Leia gets old enough, she comes to work for the Lassilon family too.
And Christine had been asking the family for a long time to hire Leah.
Like, please hire my sister. Really, she didn't know her.
Yeah, you're right. But she probably wanted to make sure she was away from her mom and just take care of her.
The way that she had been taken care of by Amelia.
Yeah. So she was over the moon when they agreed to take her in as a chambermaid.
Christine and Leah, like I said, they got super close, so close that. some people suggested there may have been a little more than just a sister's closeness between them.
I truly detest that. Yeah, me too. Don't like that knowledge at all.
You're really going to hate this knowledge.
Uh-oh. In a few sources I read. Now, it's not in all sources, so part of me wonders if it's just to make the story more juicy.
But then part of me is like, you know, where there's smoke, there's fire.
Leone once walked in on them, quote, making love.
I could have gone my whole life without knowing that bit of information.
You're welcome. That's what you did to me a You tell me a lot of things that I could have gone my whole life without knowing.
Thank you for that. But here's the thing.
I don't know if I believe that. Because I feel like at that point in time, or really any point in time, like incest is grounds for termination.
I mean, I would think that. Personally, if my housemaids, if I had some, were, like, young and getting it, but also related, I'd be like, you gotta go.
Yeah, as soon as people start flowers in the attic-ing, it's time to... Great fucking movie.
It's time to write the resignation paper for them and be like, okay.
You would think, especially back then, because like everyone was super religious and like you would think you wouldn't want like the devil's work happening in your home.
No, no. i don't know i mean i don't want that at all but maybe she just really liked the way that they cleaned her house If they're good, you know, a good maid is a good maid, I guess.
They're hard to come by, I guess. You just slowly shut that door.
And you go... And you walk down the hall.
Yeah. That's what Léoné did. Léoné. So the other day I went to visit my grandparents because you know it's important to visit your family members and we're socially distant so like don't even worry.
And also I had some mail there. And do you know what came in the mail for me at my grandparents' house? i know my hunt a killer box and i about chat myself i was so excited Hunt a Killer reinvents the way we interact with murder mysteries.
You go from being a viewer, safe in the comfort of your own grandparents' home, to an investigator actively involved in solving a case.
It's so much fun, guys. Elena, I'm like waiting for the day that I walk in and she just like throws all the things at me and is like, can't figure it out.
I'm telling you, it takes over my life. It does.
You get really involved. In the best way.
In the best way. Well, and you know, the latest CZN.
I love the CZN. The CZN is the best. Yeah, it's the only subscription box that has seasons.
Yeah, not seasons. It's different. JK. The latest season starts with Julia.
Oh yes. You know Julia. Oh, do I know Julia?
Julia's got a lot going on. She straight up unearthed the corpse of a famous actress from the 30s in her family's theater.
It was a busy day for Julia. Yeah, she got a coffee, she got a manicure, she unearthed a corpse.
Yeah. As one does. And now the board of directors are trying to push Julia out and the theater's reputation is on the line.
And you know who has to fix it? Me. You, right there.
Elena has to fix it. You're going to sit there and you're going to help solve the cold case investigation for it's too late and Julia gets pushed out with each delivery.
You're going to sift through piles of documents, evidence, audio recordings, and case files eliminating suspects until you crack the case.
Who killed the corpse that Julia found? Wasn't me.
I don't know yet. Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
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Literally, as soon as this episode is done, I need to go eliminate more suspects.
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Head on to killer.com slash morbid for 20% off and to show support for our show.
Huntakiller.com slash morbid. So let's get back to where this all started, Elena.
Please do. The iron. The iron. So the family's iron had been broken and sometime in the morning or during the day on February 2nd, 1933.
Leia went out to get it from the electrician who had been fixing it.
Now, when she got it home and she plugged it in to do some ironing, this iron was still fucked up and it blew a fuse in the house and it cut out all the power.
So the entire house just went black and they were like, well, fuck.
Well, fuck Leia. Fuck Leia. Now, they normally would have fixed it, but the entire family was going to be gone that day, so they were like...
I don't really want to. Let's just leave all the power cut.
Right. It's fine. Leone and Genevieve. were going to be out shopping all day.
And then after that, the family was going to have dinner with either a friend or a brother-in-law, depending on the source you're Okay.
So that, like, dad, Leonie, and Genevieve are all gonna be gone.
Cool. So they're like, I'm going to ignore the iron.
We'll figure it out later. And that was a bad plan.
Uh-oh. Because Leonet and Geneviève stopped in the house, maybe to, like, change or, like, drop off shopping bags.
I don't know. and they were greeted by Christine at the door.
And they're like, why is it pitch black in here?
And she explained to them what had happened with the iron.
That's why the power is out. And according to her, Leone was pissed and went to slap her.
Now, she lost it, I guess, because this wasn't the first account of Leone getting physical with one of the girls.
There was one instance where Leah had missed like a scrap of paper on the floor when she was cleaning. and Leone realized it and she apparently pinched Leia so hard to the point where she fell to her knees and, like, grabbed the piece of paper.
Oh, well, that's, I get that. Yeah, totally.
I don't like when paper's on my floor. What the fuck are you doing forgetting that scrap of paper on the floor?
She's like, listen, I let you food your sister in my house.
Make sure all the papers off my fucking floor.
Leone. That's what she said. Leone. No, that's really fucked.
That is fucked. So, but Leah told Christine that if something like that happened again, she would defend herself.
Not exactly foreshadowing, but definitely spooky.
A little spookiness. So when Leone reached out to slap Christine, again allegedly, Christine lunged at her.
Smashed her over the head with a kitchen pewter.
Which is like... Almost... I think like a vase or like what you pour like... water out of.
Oh. It's a thing in the kitchen that's big and hurts.
It's a thing in the kitchen. Yeah. Genevieve who had been on the first floor when this fight broke up, and Leah, who was in the attic, came running to the second floor where all the commotion was going on.
Now, Christine turned then to strike Genevieve and began fighting with her.
And then Leah joined in, apparently following her sister's orders, as she always had in the past anyway, Because Christine, I guess, had become more prone to like fits of rage like this.
And Leia was trying to stay in her good graces. but doing that made her a vicious murderer because the attack got even more horrific when the girls each gouged out the eyes of Genevieve and Léoné.
That is very unique. They gouged their eyes out while they were still alive.
Wow. Alive. That... Like, logistically, that is...
Mania. No, it's just unbelievable to think about, like gouging someone's eyes out when they're alive.
Yes. Because somebody who is alive while you're doing that is going to be fighting like a motherfucker.
Like hell, right. Like that takes a lot of rage and a lot of focus and a lot of like...
Strength. And for the two of them to both have that.
Yeah. Because they both did it. That just takes so much rage.
I know. And you would think that like they're like...
Something must... More would have happened for that to lead to this, but...
According to everybody, it didn't like Christine and Leah later on say they're like, yeah, like we mostly liked working there.
Wow. So that truly is just like snap. Snap.
Yep, they gouged the eyes out of Geneviève and Léoné and they kept striking them over the heads. with the kitchen pewter.
And then at one point, Christine went down into the kitchen to get a knife and a hammer.
And when she came back upstairs, they each took turns with the weapon, just like brutalizing their bodies.
Geez. They slashed up Genevieve's legs and some sources say that they mutilated both women's genitals.
Holy shit. And some other sources say that they spread Genevieve's menstrual blood on her mother's body.
What the fuck? Yeah. That is some, like, poetic...
Fucked up demon shit. That's like some, like, I don't even know.
And they said, like a lot of the articles that I read about this, because Christine was a cook, they were like, it was like she was like basting a turkey and like gonna like throw it in which was marinating the mother yes With her child's menstrual blood.
Oh, yes. Then it's almost some like deep shit.
Like it's symbolic. Like her. reproductive system created this thing, which now I'm spreading their reproductive organs.
I didn't really think of it it would go so deep if they were really trying to be like fucked up Yeah.
You know, I don't even I think they just were fucked up.
I don't think they were trying to be. They definitely weren't trying.
They definitely were innately fucked up.
Yeah. Holy. We're not done yet. No, we're not.
Then they lifted the women's skirts over their heads, pulled down their undergarments. and they cut up the back of their legs and their butts.
And then... In their butts. I know the way I said that.
In their booties. Not funny. And they went to the kitchen to wash their bloody hands.
Oh. Once they were finished. Well, yeah.
I mean, hand hygiene is important. Duh. I mean, come on.
They then climbed the stairs. and they locked the door.
Oh, excuse me. They locked the door first, like the downstairs door.
And then they climbed the stairs to their bedroom and then they locked that door.
And then they got into bed together and they put the hammer right next to the bed.
The bloody ass hammer that they just like beat their faces in with.
I mean, they were probably really tired.
Yeah. So, meanwhile, Renee was sitting and waiting for his wife and daughter to join him at their, like, pre-planned dinner engagement. oh my god and first he was like okay where the fuck are you guys like i sent you shopping a long time ago i'm getting annoyed Also, how old was Genevieve?
Do we know? So I'm not entirely sure, but she was... I know it was a long time ago.
She wasn't a young child. She was like a, it's, they refer to her as their grown daughter.
Like a young woman. Yeah, so in her 20s.
Yeah. Um. I think like mid-20s. Yeah, that makes sense.
I feel like I read somewhere that she was 25, but I'm not positive.
I like it. If I did read that or if I just made it up.
But yeah, Renee was like, where the fuck is everybody at?
And he was getting worried after he was annoyed because it was getting late and there was just no sign of them. yeah and it was um it was like winter time so it was particularly cold that winter So he went home to check and he was feeling like something was wrong when he couldn't get into the house.
Duh. Yeah. All the lights were off other than this glowing light coming from the attic.
That left him feeling very unsettled. Ominous.
Yeah, everything's black except one fucking glowing light in your servant's quarters.
Right. Where your crazy flowers in the attic are.
Yeah. So we thought maybe like a robber or potentially worse had broken into the house.
So he goes to the police who were able to climb a wall in the back of the home and get in.
I think they went in through the kitchen door.
And they walked along the first floor in darkness.
Because remember, none of this happened on the first floor.
And they're not really seeing anything too alarming.
So they're like, I feel like this isn't a robbery.
There's nothing awry here. And then they start walking up the stairs and one of them noticed a small round white object at the top of the stairs.
Was it a marble? Yeah. Nope. And he looks closer because he was like, is that a marble?
Was it about? He said, maybe it is. And then he looked even closer and he shined his flashlight. and he noticed that there was something looking back at him but it didn't belong to a face.
He noticed an eye at the top of the stairs.
Ew. Can you imagine? So he's like, okay, something is really bad here.
He's like, you know... I feel like some shit went down here.
I have a feeling that I'm about to find something horrific.
Weird. There's an eyeball at the top of the stair.
It's like when you shine a light outside in the dark and you catch like an animal's eyes.
Yeah. That are like. But at least that's attached to their faces.
At least as far as we know. Yeah, so the further they got into the scene, the scarier it got because they came across the bodies of the woman. and they were absolutely appalled at what they saw because remember yeah their eyes were gauged out in case you forgot excuse me gouged out they had been like beaten senselessly with like a hammer, a kitchen pewter, a knife. like their skirts are over their heads, which for the time they actually, had to move their skirts back down so that they could photograph the bodies because in that time you A woman couldn't be seen and decent.
Yeah. So they come across the bodies and they're like, holy fuck.
It must have been like the Mary Kelly thing.
Yes. Jack the Ripper. I can't even imagine.
So both women's faces were beaten to the point where no distinguishable distinguishable facial features could be made out.
Leone's skull was completely smashed in on the right side of her face and her eyeballs.
Do you want to know where her eyeballs were?
Where were they? tucked into the scarf that she had worn out that day oh shit tucked into her motherfucking scarf Teeth and bone fragments and blood were literally strewn about the entire room.
But where were the housemaids? Where were they?
So... the police are climbing the stairs to the attic and they're like fully expecting to stumble on like a more gruesome scene because they know they're There's two women that are missing and the housemaids are supposed to be in the house.
So they're like, fuck, like we're going to find two more bodies.
Like, is it going to get worse? So they try to open the door at the top of the stairs, but it's locked, like I said.
So they knock and nobody answers and they end up breaking down the door because they're like, fuck, they're dead in there.
That's why they're not answering. Yeah. Wrong!
There were Christine and Leia snuggling together in bed.
Hate them. Now, in some sources it says that they were naked, and then in other sources it says that they were wearing bathrobes.
Either way. It's still weird. Not cool. And right next to them was the Bloody Hammer.
So they were like, hello. They were like, we did it.
Here's the murder. weapon yeah they were stunned but the sisters confessed right away just like super matter of a factly like they were just like yep They're just like stretching and they're like, oh, hey, so we did that.
Yeah. So she, this is the thing too, like Christine and Leah, they both like talked for a moment And then they they the police saw Christine kind of look at Leia and like give her a look.
And then they asked Leia another question.
She was like, I'm deaf and dumb. Like just being like, fuck you.
I'm not going to answer you anymore. So they're like, cool.
We hate you guys. You're the worst. Yeah.
So they immediately take them into custody where they told the story of their mistresses returning home.
Leone was going to slap Christine, like she said, in the gory rest.
Now, everything that Leah said closely mirrored what Christine was saying. basically like they had planned the whole thing out while they were laying in bed together.
I was gonna say, whenever it's that close, it's too much.
It's choreographed. Right. Now this is a direct quote.
Christine said, quote, I do not have any regrets or in other words, I cannot tell you if I do have any.
I prefer to have the skin of my bosses rather than that they have mine or that of my sister.
I did not premeditate my crime. I have no hatred toward them, but I do not accept the gesture that Madame Lancelot had for me that evening.
Wow. So she's like, I didn't hate them. I just didn't want her to slap me.
So I literally fucking brutally murdered her.
And it's like, honey. Yeah. You could have just grabbed her hand.
Yeah, that would have sufficed. Yeah. But to get your point across, you did a did a whole lot more than that.
Like that's that's rage. that's pure unadulterated rage yeah it's like you don't have any regrets about viciously murdering two people about popping people's eyes out of their skull before they're even dead You don't hate them, but you gouged their eyes out?
Yeah. No. Makes sense. Okay. Like, no, you, just say you hated them.
So this is crazy. The funeral for the Lancelot woman was huge. huge.
People came from all over and there were more than a thousand people attending behind the funeral procession. damn isn't that crazy now leonay's hearse was um led in the front with horses draped in black And Genevieve's was led in with horses draped in white.
And I heard that because she was so young. that's why they draped the horses in white.
But I'm also assuming, yeah, I was assuming it was kind of more of like a virginal thing.
She wasn't like, that young which probably has to do with young with youth you know i mean you associate youth with purity exactly well and it's like how you like wear white on your wedding day You know?
Yeah. I wore off-white on mine. Well, you know, do what you do.
But I thought that was like a cool little tidbit.
So while the funeral was happening, the sisters were in jail, obviously separated.
And I don't know if it was an act because she like wanted to be deemed insane. or if she actually was struggling with mental illness even further, like at this point. but Christine had multiple explosive episodes in her cell.
She said that she was having hallucinations and she was like rolling around on the floor screaming out for Leia.
She also once had to be put in a straitjacket because she tried to gouge her own eyes out.
Yeah, to me it feels like an act is an act, but to me there's some severe...
I think there's mental illness happening here.
You're not going to pretend to gouge your own eyes out.
No. And just knowing her background of how they grew up and the shit that they had to deal with.
And it's like, Well, and their mom sounded mentally ill.
Yeah. And obviously their father was because he molested a 10-year-old that he assumed was So I think that, yeah, I think there's some bad shit happening here for sure.
And there was in the family. Like, the grandfather had gone to, like, a mental institution at one point.
Like, it dated back throughout the entire family.
So that makes sense. Yeah. So at one point while she was in jail, she went to the court magistrate. and told him that the most recent fit she had was just like the one she had the day that she killed Leone and Genevieve.
She said that she committed both murders all herself and that Leah wasn't involved.
That's a lie. That is an absolute lie. There's no way she could do that.
No. And Leia still stuck with her story that she was involved and she... ripped the eyes out and did everything that Christine did.
And Christine's story was just completely changing.
And it was because she was obviously trying to help her sister and, like, get her less time.
For sure. So... So that sentence that they were, you know, they're going to get sentenced, obviously.
And they at the time, it was still up to a jury to decide.
Yeah, so that's cool. So it was September 1933 and the trial was just as big as the funeral.
People from all over France wanted to be in on the moment and there were like tons of differing opinions on this case. because some people felt that the crime was the catalyst to change, like, there was a problem they felt in the way that society was designed with like some people on the top and some people on the bottom.
I was going to say this sounds like a classism kind of thing.
Exactly. And there were arguments regarding whether or not the girls really were suffering mental illness or if they were just pure evil. and then there were people gathered there who were just horrified by the acts and they just wanted to see them go down look and lose so there's just like so many people in on this I would have wanted to be there for this I absolutely would have wanted to be there So the jurors went into deliberation for just 40 minutes after hearing the defense. state a history of mental illness within the family, like I said.
They argued temporary insanity. And they also argued folie a deux.
Oh, I love folie a deux. The madness of two.
So basically they're saying that like. one person goes crazy, but because they're so close and connected, the other person's psyche goes crazy as well. mirroring kind of thing yeah and it's it's real it's like mirror neurons yeah that's a whole nother subject but yeah it's like the same kind of thing It's cool.
And I totally believe in Folly Ado because I've seen it with my own eyes.
And the prosecution argued that the girls were completely sane.
They were just pure evil and sick of being underdogs.
Yeah. So they came back, the jury, with a guilty verdict for each sister.
Christine was sentenced to death by guillotine in the public square.
But her sentence ended up being changed to life in prison because she started having like way worse breakdowns.
Oh. She stopped eating and she eventually died in 1939 of cancer. cachexia, which is basically just like when you starve yourself.
Oh. So she Ian Brady'd it. I literally was gonna say that.
Yeah, she inbredied it. Leah was sentenced to 10 years hard labor.
And so that's like definite. And then I read in some sources. that she was also sentenced to 20 years of exile.
Oh, wow. But that's only in some sources.
These are like the fanciest punishments.
I love the thought of just exile. Just exile.
Get out of here. Get out of here. Like, how are you going to make sure that you left?
But she actually got out of jail in eight years on good behavior.
What? She only served eight years for this fucking murder.
This... I mean, demolishing of a human being.
I feel like the murder is not even like the correct word.
Murder, mutilation, torture. All of the above.
Holy. And she lived a long ass life. Damn.
Like a long ass life. um for some reason she got back in touch with clements which i just think is fucking weird yeah guys stop talking to that bitch and it's like it's your mom she's I mean, I stopped talking on mine.
I was going to say. You can do it. It can happen.
Yeah. And she worked as a chambermaid all over again.
So she was a maid again. Who hired her? Well, this time she changed her name.
She started going by Marie. oh damn it's like we're gonna post a picture and let me just tell you both of these girls have very distinct faces That's all I'm going to say.
That's a nice way to call somebody ugly.
We got two Mara Hindleys. A little worse, in my opinion.
Oh, really? Worse in a different way. Yeah.
They're just very... Fire is a very unique kind of ugly.
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
So she did an interview. What's her face?
Marie now. A.K.A. Leia. And she did an interview with France... Francois? newspaper i think is how you say that or like if you're american france sawyer probably francois it's francois And she told them, and now this is a direct quote, I do what I can to keep my room simple so that my sister... who watches me from above because I'm certain she's in paradise, doesn't laugh at me.
I pray for her. I pray for our mother who lived with me until she died to help me.
And all at once, I didn't pray anymore. Christine watches me.
She is always beautiful and young. She smiles as in the old days, with irony.
I come apart. I shrivel up. I sweat from fear.
I faint. Leia, honey, you okay? No. You okay?
She also told the newspaper that she wanted to become a nun like their oldest sister when she didn't have to work anymore. more i feel like you don't have the qualifications i don't think jesus is gonna be into that one I don't think he's gonna be psyched to be married to you.
He's gonna be like, no, no, sister. No, thank you.
Literally. No, no, definitely not sister.
No, no, not a sister. Now, Leia died in 2001.
Isn't that nutso? I didn't know that. She lived a long ass life.
Holy shit. She rang in the millennium with us.
Literally like 89 or some shit. She was getting her shit ready for fucking Y2K along with the rest of us.
She did probably. Probably. Holy shit. I know.
That's blowing my brain apart. Nuts. Wow.
So. People have been continued to be fascinated with this case for years.
There's like there's actually like a web page that you can go to.
And it's all the different works that people have like used as inspiration. oh i love that it's cool so i'm gonna name a couple and i'm probably gonna like butcher these names So Jean-Pierre Dennis directed a French film based on the case in 2000 called Murderous Maids.
Love it. And then... Jean Genet's play, The Maids, was based on the case.
And so was the play My Sister in This House by Wendy Kesselman.
And that's, like I said, there's a ton more.
That's just to name a few. Oh, cool. So that is the story of the Pepe Sisters.
Damn. Yeah. That is bonkers. They straight up gouged people's eyes out and then...
One of them just went on to be a fucking maid again named Marie.
Folly ado. And she was like, I still see my sister.
I still see my sister to this day. I love that she was like, and I faint.
And I faint. And I shrivel up. She sweats.
She faints. She kept her room clean so that Christine wouldn't laugh at her.
Yeah, I mean. I'm not keeping my room clean so that you don't laugh at me someday.
I'm gonna laugh at you. That's fine. I just think it's so crazy that we were all preparing for the world, all the technology to shut down.
And Marie was like cleaning chamber pots.
AF slash Marie was like, me too. Yeah. Me too.
Same Zs. And then the year later, she was like, I'm out.
And she was like, I'm going to go. To paradise with Christine and then was joined in the fiery, fiery pits of hell.
Exactly. Yeah. where they are getting eyeballs thrown at them.
You have to wonder though, because we're sitting they're saying like there must have been some kind of like mental illness, but then it's She went on to live for so much longer and obviously never did anything like this ever again.
That's the other thing. And it's also like we can sit here and look at it and be like, that sounds like mental illness, but they weren't diagnosed with anything.
So there's a very distinct possibility that they were just evil sons of bitches.
Yeah. And you know what? Actually, it reminds me of the story.
And it's the one it's a mini morbid that I did alone.
The Silent Twins. Yeah, yeah. June and Jennifer Gibbons.
Yes. Because one of them died and then the other went on until and she died like wicked crazy like in a way yeah and then um not in a crazy way she died like regularly but they were like it was crazy because she was so young and she didn't have any complications i remember And then the other one went on to live like a full life and like was became like a writer and did everything she wanted to do.
I kept thinking of that case this whole time.
Yeah, because I think that's another case of folly ado.
Oh, it definitely is a case of folly ado.
The psychosis of two. It's a madness of two.
So cool. That's so crazy. So fascinating.
It's like, I want to say that there was mental illness involved.
And again, we don't know. No one was diagnosed with anything.
But to me... You don't know. That's some evil shit.
I think Christine was probably mentally ill.
And then the whole Folly Ado thing came into play, and Leia was under her care for so long.
Yeah. They were so closely knit. She was all she had, basically.
So I think it affected her somehow. Yeah.
And maybe without Christine. I don't think with...
I think without Christine, she never would have done anything like that.
I agree. That's crazy. Nuts. Wow. Wow. Boom.
Hope everybody's eyeballs are feeling okay.
Geneviève. Geneviève. Isn't that so fun to say?
I love it. So yeah, if you want to see pictures of them, like I said, what did I say?
They're interesting. Yeah, totally. Very distinct.
Distinct face. It's a nice way of saying Hensley face.
Yep. You can go to Instagram and check that out at Morbid Podcast.
Hit us up on Twitter. a morbid podcast, send us a Gmail morbid podcast at gmail.com and shop our new merch at shop.morbidpodcast.com.
Yay. We hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. but not somewhere that you got somebody's eyeballs on.
That's really all I have to say about that.
Oh, I just think about him shining the flashlight at the top of the stairs and it's like peekaboo.
I don't like that. it at all. Thank you.
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