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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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The sale ends 831. Don't miss it. Hey weirdos, I'm Ash.
And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid. It sure is.
Here we are. And we're feeling better. I was going to say, can you tell because I'm singing and being annoying that I feel 10 times better?
I'm like... just feeling better like because i got it after ash because yeah i waited until everybody was okay and then i decided to fall into it really really did like you said it was like that mom thing yeah just I my body kept it away till everyone was on the up and up and then it was like crash it was like Oh no.
So I had two days of being like pretty ill.
But today I'm feeling better and so is Ash.
So yay. We're on the other side. Dude, Andrew still hasn't got it.
I'm like, I feel like you're not gonna get it.
I feel like he's not going to either and I'm proud of him.
He's a weird anomaly. I'm really proud of him.
I guess he's health. But he's health. I think he's health.
You know? what though I keep saying it to John and he actually got mad last night because he was like what are you trying to say because I was like He was like, you're going to have a few more days of feeling crappy.
This is what happened to me. And I was like, no, I think I'm going to be fine tomorrow.
And then I was like, I go, you hang on to things a lot longer than I do.
And he was like, what is that supposed to mean?
I was like... I don't know. You just keep things longer than I, like I throw them off faster.
I don't know. Guys, let's be real. A man cold is a real thing.
That's what she's trying to say. I'm trying to be nice here, but I don't know.
You just keep it longer. My immune system's just like real quick.
A man cold is a totally different story.
It really is. It really is. He was like, shut up.
Like, I'm glad that Drew didn't get it because, like, I mean, he did a wonderful job taking care of me, but I was like, I don't really want to return the favor.
Like, you know, I'm tired from being sick.
John got a pretty gnarly version of it. Yeah.
But, you know, that's our family update.
I'm out of it. So that's good, everybody.
I might sound slightly stuffed up, so I apologize for that.
But, you know. We do what we can do. We just have our sexy Phoebe voices on.
Phoebe Buffay. Which apparently you always have.
Yeah. Guys, I want to talk about that every single time we talk.
Like, here we are. We're sitting down again.
I have never in my life heard this comparison that I sound like Lisa Kudrow.
I've never heard it in my life. I don't know.
Until we had a podcast. Even when I closed my eyes I can't hear it but there's a lot of things I didn't find out about myself until we started a podcast I know so exactly but it's just it's wild to me but that's not why we're here why we're here Is to talk about crime.
True crime. And weird stuff. Weird stuff.
Crime. So I think I posted a photo on my Instagram the other day and everybody was like, oh my God, I don't know if I want this episode or I don't want this episode.
It's not this episode. Oh, I was like, I thought that it wasn't that episode.
It's not. But I just wanted to like update on that.
So I bought this book. called Buried Alive, and I've been doing crazy research on premature burials and fear of being buried alive.
Great, I'm so excited. So that's going to be an episode for next week because it's just become so intense that...
I want to make sure I do it right. So I pushed it to next week, but it's coming.
So I decided to do a fun old-timey murder.
Yeah, you know, fun. Nothing's fun. Nothing's fun here, but you know what I mean.
Old timey, kinda. So this one was the murderer's name is Marion Stembridge.
It is a man. Okay. Because Marion was like a very big man's name back in the day.
Yeah. I think John Wayne's real name was like Marion.
I'm pretty sure. I didn't even know that.
Yeah. But so I found a lot of information in this book called Georgia Tales Stories of Georgia and Georgians by Ray Chandler and it has a lot of cool like crazy tales from Georgia.
Love it. I don't know if you can tell that.
But it's a really good one and they did a whole thing on Marion Stembridge and I was like, fascinated by it so marion stembridge this obviously takes place in georgia He was born August 28th, 1892 in Baldwin, Georgia.
He grew up in a pretty prominent family. according to an ancestry search that I actually signed up for ancestry.com to go look into his family tree for this because it was kind of hard to find information on him wow thank you to the person who actually did a search on him and like set up his family tree because that was awesome.
That's a lot. His parents were John Wesley Stembridge and his mother was Mary Leverett.
He was one of at least five children that I could find.
He had a brother, Roger, who was an older brother, and he had three sisters. mildred martha and ellen mildred i love that mildred martha and ellen mildred his father passed away in 1925 i'm not sure what of because again there's not tons of like detailed information about this?
Probably prohibition. Probably died of prohibition.
That's probably what happened. I would have.
Just, you know, getting too roaring with it.
So he was very close to his mother. And even as he got older, she would financially help him a lot of times.
He was that kind of person. A little trust fund baby.
He was that kid. And basically she would go to bat for him even though when she like probably shouldn't.
Because he was always kind of a dick. okay just from the get-go you know what i'm getting i'm getting dandy vibes Oh, my God.
That's literally what I was thinking the entire time I was I love when we're on the same wavelength.
I almost put a dandy reference in here. I love that you did that.
That's so funny. In my head, I kept picturing... like Finn as Dandy immediately.
As soon as you started saying like his mom.
Would always help him out and like vouch for him when he shouldn't.
I was like, oh, like Dandy. Give him money.
Like I started picturing that. like it's just all he's a murderer like it's just all there that's Yeah, he's dandy.
And everyone in the area said that the Stembridge family were very nice people.
Really, the only one who was difficult and, quite frankly, a real asshole was Marion.
Okay. He was the only one that everybody was like, what the fuck is wrong with you?
Can we call him Dandian? A dandian. So dandy.
So not a ton is known about his childhood, but people who knew the family said they were good people.
He wasn't abused. He wasn't mistreated. None of the kids were, by all accounts.
But by the age of 19, his older brother, like something must have gone down.
Because his older brother and one of his sisters tried to have him committed to a mental health facility in Milledgeville, Georgia.
Oh, dang. Dang. So obviously, I mean, like we said, he was always an asshole.
And I think he was becoming a little more aggressive and...
A little unpredictable, so they were trying to get him committed.
It didn't end up happening because he wouldn't agree to it and he was 19 years old.
And his mother also stepped in and said it was not necessary.
Ruh roh. But as these things often this really created an issue between the siblings, obviously, because now he's not in the mental health facility, but... but he knows you tried to put him in there.
Yeah. So there's a problem. So Marion wanted... nothing to do with his older brother Roger anymore and the sister who I couldn't figure out which sister it was who did it but He completely cut them out.
Okay. Didn't want anything to do with them ever again. like that was it um and I mean I guess I'd be pretty mad too He was pretty mad, for sure, but he would only talk to his mother and his two remaining sisters.
Those are the only people he would have contact with.
He did go into the army for a spell, but he was medically discharged at one point.
There was a point when he did check himself into a mental health facility, but I wasn't able to find... any information about what that was for and what happened or how long.
And his family wouldn't talk about it. Well, and maybe they had it, like, expunged or something like that.
Yeah, I think it was just one of those things that, like...
It just wasn't talked about. He did graduate from the University of Georgia School of Law.
Wow. But he never applied for the bar, so he never actually became a lawyer.
Craig. But he was Craig Conover's at you.
Hashtag Southern Charm. Craig. Craig. Craig, are you there?
Are your pillows there? But he did eventually.
Yeah, he did. Right? There you go. Do you guys watch Bravo?
Did he? I don't know. I think he did. I'm pretty sure he did.
Craig? Hey, bravo. Bravo heads. Craig Conover, are you listening?
You did, right? But yeah, so people actually described him as intimidatingly smart.
He was brilliant. Okay. Like, very, very smart.
But brilliant in the bad way. He used it...
To be cunning, conniving, manipulating. His siblings and their spouses all described Marion as super entitled... hashtag dandy literally and just an asshole in general they all just fucking hated him And his sister-in-law, who was married to his older brother Roger, said, quote, he thought he was the crown prince of the family.
Oh my God, that's literally so weird. It's so him.
That's so funny. I wonder if American Horror Story actually knew this story.
Maybe. Maybe. So after he graduated from law school, apparently for no reason, He started his own business and it was like a mail order business and it was apparently very financially rewarding for him. at first.
From this, he did do a ton of other random things to make money.
And this eventually led him to acquiring a grocery store, so he became a grocer. which is now called Ryle's Bakery, and it's in the area still.
Oh, wow. So if you're in the area and you know what that is, that's cool.
Mm-hmm. He also had a lumber yard and he dabbled in real estate.
So he was putting his in all different areas now.
A Marian of all trades. He's a dandy of all trades.
And he was successful at all these things, but he was successful because he was an asshole and because he was intimidating people.
And he was like using force to get his way.
Okay. Now... Clearly nothing is on the up and up here.
It kind of looks like it is, but it's not.
I'm just picturing him like walking into like an open house with like potential buyers and being like, you need to buy this fucking house.
Buy this fucking house. Ten bay windows.
You fucking need it. I boiled. Cinnamon sticks on the fucking stove.
You know what that's called? Potpourri, baby.
You know what I did? I set this shit up.
I staged it for you, okay? I took time out of my day.
I pictured your dumb ass family living in this house and I put shit in here that I knew you would like.
I staged the place. That's what he did.
He's using force. That's what he did. But yeah, he's... And everybody who was around town... you know, was just like, OK, he's just he's a dick that just does good business.
He's just a business dick. That's all he is.
And they were all just like, whatever. But...
He soon opened another business, and it was in the back of one of his... like existing stores.
Well, that's already shady. Whatever's in the back of a store. feel shady.
Oh, that's in the back building. That's in the back building.
And it was the Stembridge Banking Company.
And it was touted as like a private bank.
Yeah, I bet. So already you're like, oh no.
Honey, that's not a credit union. In reality, it was just a total facade for bad shit.
He was dabbling in like loan sharking and you know, like, Just any bad money thing you can think of laundering.
He was going ahead and dabbling in that all of the above.
He was also fucking with like poor and like black communities because he was giving them high interest loans to that he could later come after them very aggressively for. he would also take advantage of non-educated or illiterate communities by purposely putting like language and contracts that he knew they couldn't understand.
What the fuck? fucking ass forcing them like intimidating them into signing these contracts Jesus, what the fuck?
It's also like you're already rich, bro.
Yeah, but he's getting rich off the backs of lower income families and like, people that are being already marginalized in the community, which is fucked.
But your mom is going to give you money anyway, so why do you need to do that, you jackhole?
Because he's a dick. Yeah. That's just, he liked being an asshole.
Yeah, I'm just mad about it. Now, according to that ancestry search that I did, it did say, and I couldn't find this in any other sources, so I was like, ooh.
Look at me finding it on Ancestry. He did marry a woman named Lois Deneuve Marchand in 1927.
Lois. It also claims they had a daughter named Evelyn but That's never mentioned again.
And he marries again. Okay. So this little marriage with the daughter is never mentioned. mentioned interest well back then too but it's in his damn family tree okay it's in there In a prominent family, though, like divorce.
Yeah. Back then. uh-uh that's what mama dandy said she said yeah She probably did, to be honest.
She may have. I think she might have. She choked on her brandy and went, oh, that's not working.
Well, yeah, so apparently that wasn't working for them.
But as his widowed mother, because remember, she's widowed now.
As she's getting older, she obviously needed a little more care.
So she moved in with Roger, the older brother.
She moved into his house with him and his wife and she lived there with him.
He took care of her like all was good. And now I said, Marian was close to his mother.
Right. And he still was. And he would visit her a lot.
He would go to Roger's home, but remember he's not speaking to Roger.
So when he would visit, he refused to go inside the house.
And he wouldn't speak to Roger. So he would have full blown visits with his mother through a window.
Meet me at my window. He would stay outside and she would be sitting in the fucking window.
Because he was that petty. He was like, mom, you could use a hero right now and I could use someone to save.
I had to. I love it. That's a lot. His elderly mother who can't come outside to sit with you.
She's like, sit at the window seat, biatch.
Sit at the cold ass window, ma. Let's open this window so you can talk to me while I stand here like an idiot.
Also, can't you just walk in the house and not say much?
Honestly, I would think it would be pettier to walk into the house, not speak to Roger I would rather.
And just visit with your mother in his house and leave. without saying anything.
That's some Gemini type shit that I would absolutely do.
I think that's pretty next level. And I think like Dandy slash Marion really missed out on an opportunity.
I think so, too. But maybe Roger was the kind of guy where you couldn't come in his house without speaking to him.
Yeah, I mean, personally... Personally, if my sibling, who I wasn't talking to, walked in my house to have a visit with my mom, they'd be like kicked so far down the street.
Yeah, I would personally. They would split in two, but like, I don't know.
You got to try it, I guess. shoot your shot dandy shoot your shot but he didn't he would just make his mom talk to him outside the window Again, Marion was always known around the area even since he was younger. because he was the only asshole in that otherwise normal family.
But now that he was an adult, he was really becoming kind of a... like shady figure in the community.
Many people thought of him kind of as just someone who is weird or Kind of eccentric.
He was cold. He was distant. He was definitely not like inviting conversation.
Like he would just kind of walk through and you just.
Don't even maybe tip your hat to them. I don't know what they did back then.
Just tip their hats. Literally. But someone who didn't like, he was definitely someone who didn't like to chat.
He didn't like small talk, which, like, I feel him on that.
He wasn't looking to make tons of friends.
He just went about his business... Polite but quiet.
But they also said that he only ate cheese and canned goods.
What? Why? What? My lactose intolerant ass just literally had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom.
I'm like, hold on, actually. The thought of only eating cheese and canned goods with my IBS over here, I'm shook.
I'm literally shook right now. Like you're just eating cheese, beans and soup, sir.
That's not on the pyramid. It is on the pyramid, but you have to complete each step of the pyramid. sound like one part of the pyramid sir no like are canned goods even on the pyramid No.
And he was very particular about his canned goods.
He would only pull a canned good from the back.
Of the shelf. Oh. Because he had this weird thing where... Which, I'm gonna be real.
Like, I know it's neurotic, but, like...
It's kind of true that they push the ones they want to sell to the front.
No, it's true. Actually, one of my really good friends always picks the second thing, which like... well when i read this i was like oh no yeah and ever since she told me that back one I usually pick like the second or third one.
She told me that. And she was like, yeah.
And now I'm like, yeah. And now I'm like, yeah, canned goods.
Now we're all like, yeah. So, you know, here we are.
We're like, yeah. Like the milk? Ever since I was younger, if Ma sent me to get milk, I'd always take the back one.
Always, always. Because they put it there first.
Just look at the dates, guys. The closest date is always sitting there staring you right in the face in the front row.
If you pull from the back, you're like, oh, okay, I'll have this milk for a full-ass month. yeah thank you literally zoom your hand to the back you better drink that in 48 hours or you're gonna be chewing it do you ever buy milk and it's literally like like i always pull from the back but in the past there's been circumstances where like maybe drew goes there's been moments you slip up and it's like the due date is literally like two days from now I'm like what do you think I'm gonna do with this milk in 48 hours do you think I'm just gonna like bathe in it like this gallon of whole ass milk which like it's never in my house but what chug that what Yeah.
It doesn't make sense. A lot of questions for the lactose industry.
Marion... Felt the same way. I think it was only weird, though, because he only ate canned goods and cheese.
Yeah. That made any other kind of neurotic behavior with that canned gooder cheese a little weirder and more exciting.
Maybe he was like scared of, maybe he had like, I don't know.
He was scared of a lot of things. He was very paranoid.
I wonder if he had like a here I am armchair diagnosing.
But I wonder if he had some kind of OCD or something.
I mean, he definitely... I think he was just a paranoid man.
Because I think... He did a lot of bad things.
He knew he fucked over a lot of people. He fucked over a lot of families.
He was always like, we'll get into it, that he was always worried about being poisoned.
Like a king, he was always worried about being poisoned.
So maybe that's why he only ate canned goods, because you need to can open them.
Exactly. That's what I was thinking is like, it's, it's a little more tamper proof. and then I guess cheese I guess it's like cheese is mold so it's like you might as well just go with it Yeah.
Who's gonna poison cheese. Wow, I can't imagine his shitting life.
Like, dead ass. Gross, but dead ass. Dead ass.
His ass maze. I need to know about your GI tract, man.
I do. I'm so interested. interested but you know again everybody knew him as cold distant just quiet nothing really like crazy But if you were doing business with them, it was a different Marion.
People who dealt with him in business said he was ruthless.
Like ruthless. He would get super aggressive and intimidating wherever money was on the table.
If we were dealing with money, he's going to fuck you up.
He's like a mob boss. He's gonna fuck you up.
He's going to fuck you up. Man. Um, In fact, he was known to always carry at least three guns with him at all times.
He would have a German Army-issued 9mm, and it's like a Walther P38 semi-automatic. it's like that I read it in that book Gun people, you can tell me if that's crazy.
Because actually somewhere I read that it was weird because he kept it in his coat pocket somewhere.
And somewhere I read like, that's a weird gun to have in your coat pocket.
I think it's, I'm imagining it's not one of those like little ones that Maybe it could go off easily or something.
And I imagine it's probably cumbersome. It's probably not one of those little like pocket ones.
But we don't know what kind of jacket he was repping.
I don't know. But then he would also carry a leather briefcase with two guns in it. okay at all times everywhere he went see that seems like the teeth that seems like it would be more difficult because you have to open your briefcase to get access.
You do, but maybe it's because he has that one.
So he's ready to go like pow pow. And then while you're like, whoa. he's like opening his briefcase yeah pow pow whoa see i I picture him with like one in his pocket.
Like he's an asshole. So he needs a shoulder hoster.
It would honestly, it would be like, like, cause this is what, like the fifties or whatever, like the, you know, he's, he's like out of the twenties and shit.
Yeah. And like, I feel like he should have those suspenders and like the shoulder holster.
Yeah, me too. Make it look cool at least.
But no, he's just walking around with a briefcase.
Yeah. Like a turd. Right. That doesn't seem real.
But yeah, that's what he did. I don't know.
But so he was paranoid. I mean, that shows you how paranoid he was.
He always felt like he had to be armed to the teeth.
And at some point he must have left his first wife.
But I can't find when that happened. Okay.
Either way, in 1947, he got remarried. Okay.
This time he married Sarah Jordan Terry.
She was an English teacher at the Women's College of Georgia.
And according to multiple sources, she was described as, quote, big and mean as sin.
I mean, she does have three names. Which, like... wow if somebody described me as big and mean as sin i'd be like you damn skippy you you Damn straight I am.
Damn Skippy. So, I mean, wow. Okay. Like. good for him.
Yeah, that's a yikes. So 1948 was when his first real legal trouble hit.
Like, He got into a couple little scripts and scraps there.
Squabbles. But this is when shit got like, whoa. like he means business bull baby so a man named johnny or richard i've seen it twice Like several sources, some people call him Johnny, some people call him Richard.
This is also a time where I see that people will have a name like Steven, as we'll see later, and people called him Pete. yeah so like none of it makes sense so maybe his name was Richard and they were like hey Johnny come here well maybe it was like a middle name type situation and sometimes it just It just wasn't.
And they just called him a different name.
Yeah. Sometimes his name was Steven and they were like, Pete.
The 40s. So, you know, it happens. Either way, his last name was Cooper.
Okay. I'm going to call him Johnny because that's just fun.
Johnny Coops. And I married a Johnny, so I'm just going to go with it.
He had been in debt with Marion for a while.
He was one of those lower income customers who Marion really took advantage of with his high interest rates.
He had loaned him $800 plus a ton of money for insurance, like through him, to get a 1941 Chevy car.
That's what he was doing. He would loan for car loans and house loans, mortgages.
He added a ton of extra fees onto this, and he was ruthless with collecting that money.
And Cooper had had his brother and his mother, Emma Jonakin, be his co-signers for this loan.
So they were also on the hook for the money as well.
Okay. after getting the car, he was in an accident and he went to Marion for help using that insurance that he had purchased to fix it.
But when he got there, he discovered that Marion had charged him for the insurance and but he had never actually got the insurance for him oh my god so when he needed it fixed, it would just be more money.
He was like, now you just have to pay for the whole thing.
Now, there are two small little deviations of the story here.
But it all goes to the same place. It's just, I'll tell you.
So one was that he one of the story says that Cooper dropped the Chevy off in front of Marion's store while with a note that said, you can have this pile of steel for my note.
The note meaning like the loan. Sure. And this pissed Marion off, obviously.
Mm-hmm. story says that he just stopped making payments on the car after this insurance bullshit and this pissed mary enough i like the first one because it's more petty I feel like the first one happened, because I feel like that's weird to make that up, and it's a lot of drama.
Either way, Marian was pissed and it was over money in that loan.
So he ended up going to Cooper's home to deal with this.
Aye. And he brought along his business associate named Stan.
Sam Terry with him. You mean business associate?
Air bunnies, air bunnies. His plan was actually to beat the shit out of Cooper with he brought brass knuckles he was like ready to like mob boss this shit damn but when he got there he wasn't there Okay, his aunt and his mother was there.
He decided since his mother was actually a cosigner on the loan, That she was the second best one to go after and he did.
He told her he would get his money one way or another and he would do it by any means possible.
So he was like, you better give me that money.
Oh, man. Of course. Never cosign a loan.
No, just don't. And of course, there was some kind of disagreement that ensued, and Marian pulled out a gun, because remember, He is always carrying at least three on his person at any given time.
And he started shooting wildly at Cooper's mother emma oh my god he shot her four times and his aunt once are you kidding me yep Nope.
Of course, police were called. And when people heard this commotion, they immediately started like running towards this place because it's the 50s and they're like, let's go help someone.
So Officer Eugene Ellis arrives on the scene.
He's going to be a big player in this whole story.
Officer Eugene Ellis. He literally stated that when he arrived, he watched Marion... hand the gun to his associate, Sam Terry, and Terry just took it.
And he said he later asked him why the fuck he just took the gun without hesitation.
And he said, with Marion, what would you have done?
Yeah, bitch, I'm taking whatever she gives me.
Which tells you, damn, are you kidding me?
So Cooper's mother, Emma, died from her wounds and his aunt survived.
So he's a murderer now. He's officially a murderer.
And he attempted to murder both of them.
Both Marion and Sam Terry were indicted on those murder charges.
So Officer Ellis had to go to Marion's office and serve him the warrant for his arrest. in the book Georgia Tales, Stories of Georgia and Georgians by Ray Chandler, Ellis said that he got there and he just stood in front of Marion, who was sitting at his desk, and Marion just stared at him.
He said, quote, he had crazy eyes that could stare right through you. but I could always stare him down.
I told him, Mr. Stembridge, I've got a warrant for your arrest.
And he said, can I see the warrant? And when I showed it to him, he pulled a gun out of his desk. fuck yes i'd be like either way you're under arrest and you're gonna be even more under arrest if you shoot me I'd be like, you're going to be in so much more trouble now.
Put that away. What are you doing? Stop it.
Well, Eugene Ellis, who is like this crazy badass at this moment, had to wrestle Stembridge down on the ground and get the gun away from him to arrest him.
But he did. Oh my goodness. He said, quote, he was raising hell the whole time saying how his rights were being violated.
And he said the state solicitor, whose name was Shep Baldwin, he'll be mentioned later too.
Shep, I love it. Shep Baldwin. fucking charm all over the place why is this so much southern charm because georgia because georgia But he said Shep Baldwin later told me the biggest mistake I ever made was not killing him right then and there when he pulled that gun.
Yeah. Yeah, because I bet he's going to kill some more people, I feel.
I bet he's going to do some things. I feel.
So he was released on Bond. For why, though?
Because... I forgot to mention that Cooper, his mother and aunt, were black.
So I just want to put that out there. Take that from that what you will.
But he was released on bond and his trial was in July and we'll see that that I play more into this a little bit.
That's really fucked up. I'm not saying either way.
I'm just saying look at the facts here. So the judge for the trial was Judge George Carpenter, and the defense attorney was another guy named Marion, Marion Ennis. who is actually Marion's... Now this is going to be crazy.
Hold on. So Marion Ennis is now the lawyer.
Yes, absolutely. And he was actually Stembridge's...
Brother Rogers' wife's cousin. Okay. That's a lot.
That's a fucking lot, but I followed. Yeah, I wanted to say it slow so you could just try to follow that.
So Marion is Marion's... Brother's wife's cousin.
I got it. Hey. He was put on the case because his brother Roger was not a shitty person, and he actually tried to help his brother, even though...
Was he a shitty person? Well, I mean, he was a shitty person, but you know what I mean?
He wasn't a shitty brother. He was trying to help him out. even though he was yeah exactly he wasn't a shitty brother that's what it is so he ended up being convicted because good hello Cause murder.
Cause literally, like, hello. Cause like, how do you, like, he was literally standing over a dead body and a wounded person.
Holding a smoking gun that he then handed to his associate.
Right. He was sentenced to three years in prison for a whole ass murder.
Murder and a whole lot of attempted murder.
Attempted manslaughter. That's what they were calling it.
Wow. That's cute of them. That's why I'm saying like things.
Things were weird back then. Things were racist back then.
Things were real racist over here. But it's important to note that Marion Stembridge took this loss as his lawyer's fault.
As Marion Ennis's fault. Yikes. And not the fact that he was found with a gun in his hand at the scene of the murder standing over the dead body.
He didn't think that was the fault. Why would that be his fault, Alina?
It was Marian Ennis' fault for not taking that and turning it into an innocent story.
When life gives you lemons. You know? So he blamed Marian Ennis for this whole thing.
That's going to go well. Weirdly, Sam Terry, his accomplice, just vanished before his trial date and was never seen again.
Makes sense. I don't know. Crazy. So out of the blue.
Whoa. So while out on bond during the appeals phase of his trials...
He moved into the top floor of the Baldwin Motel, or hotel, excuse me.
I was like, he was not a motel guy. He was a hotel guy.
Hotels don't have top floors. They don't.
And he just completely left and abandoned his wife, Sarah.
Just was like... Bye. They've been married for like two years at this point.
She's like, you know what? Better off. So according to the Georgia Tales book, while there, quote, he had dozens of locks and bolts put on the door of his room and would not allow the maids to clean the room unless he was there.
He kept a large refrigerator in the room padlocked.
Rumors spread, likely originating from the maids, that he had put sheets of glass on the floor to guard against someone trying to electrocute him. and that he had put sheets of lead between the mattresses of his bed because he feared someone would try to kill him with x-rays.
What? He was really just trying to hedge his bets.
Wait, what? He was afraid someone was going to kill him via x-ray?
Yeah. Okay. Obviously. Alrighty. Yeah. Obviously.
Or someone was going to electrocute him.
Those are two very common methods for murdering people.
Wow. Electrocution through the floor. An x-ray.
Electrocute you through the floor. Like, can they not electrocute you any way else?
What the fuck? The amount of cases we've covered where people have been electrocuted or exposed to radiation through x-rays.
It's crazy. What happened to this man? He's having a real moment.
His appeals were rejected, which is shocking, but he was actually freed on a weird twist of events.
He fired Marion Ennis as his lawyer, and his new lawyers argued that he was convicted on a testimony that was actually perjury.
So they just let him go. All right. So he murdered someone.
They just let him go. Later, they looked into this and they realized he likely just bought his way out of that conviction.
Yeah, I'm sure. but they were going to use some kind of like weird little loophole.
Now a Around this time, and I'm sure they regret it later, so around this time, he was also sued by a former customer of his bank because he loaned this guy 50 bucks.
And he ended up having this guy pay like 550 bucks on a $50 loan.
So one of Marian Ennis's associates named Eva Sloan actually had this man. sue Stembridge in small claims court, and the man won and Stembridge had to pay the full amount back.
So he blamed this loss on Marian Ennis as well because it was his junior associate that sued him. basically okay um it was her name was eva sloan she'll come back later too Do you know Sloan is one of my favorite names?
Eva Sloan. I'm just saying Sloan is one of my favorite names.
Oh, I thought you said Diva. I thought you said Dina Sloan is one of your favorites.
I was like, that's very... I said, did you know?
No, I didn't know that. Now you know. Well, so Marian Ennis is now a target for his hatred.
Of course. And now Eva Sloan. is now not his favorite person either.
Okay. So we're not racking up some good points here.
No. I need to also know what's in that padlocked refrigerator.
I know. I gotta know. Well, Sarah divorced him finally, or started the whole process.
Big me, Sarah. And she claimed that he was like cruel, abusive, just a terrible person.
She said he slept with a gun under his pillow and that he basically did that whole king thing where he would have... When she would make dinner... he would either switch the plates or make her eat some of his food to make sure that she didn't poison him.
Like imagine John doing that too. You're like, here's Dan.
And he's like, I want your plate. I'd be like, dude, make your own food.
The fuck? I'm going to make my own food.
You make your own food. None of us will be poisoned.
So a couple of years later, at the end of 1952, he was in trouble with the IRS.
Yeah, the IRS won't get you. And you didn't think this guy was going to get away from the IRS.
There's no way he was paying taxes. No.
Like that's not a thing that was happening.
No. So he was not paying taxes at all for like decades.
How do people think that? they're going to get away with that.
I know. And he was also bullshitting on his taxes that he did pay.
So apparently when the agents showed up to be like, Hey, we're going to charge you with tax evasion.
He said, you know what? I'll pay you $10,000 to make this go away.
That's it? Oh, well, back then. Back then.
And they said, okay, maybe. Most people can be bomb.
And they were like, we're going to mull this over.
We're going to see what's happening. So they left and they come back on January 6th, 1953.
So like a few weeks later and they said, sure.
We'll take that $10,000 and we'll forget that you just failed to pay taxes for years.
And he was like, cool. And they were like, actually make that $10,000 each.
So they were like, I want $10,000. Per person at the IRS?
No, like the two people. Oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
They were like, I want $10,000 and he wants $10,000.
I was like, that's a lot of thousands. He was pissed, but he was like, fine.
What else are you going to do? He goes, he gets $20,000 that he just had.
I was going to say, exactly. He's so mad.
And he just comes in, he hands it over, and then they announced that they were wearing wires and he was under arrest. for tax evasion and attempted bribery i love it apparently everybody cannot i love it He went to trial in April, and April 27th, he was convicted of all charges.
The judge told him to get all his shit together and that he was going to come back on May 4th for sentencing.
Sure. So they were like, you're going to go away. for a while doubt he's coming back on may 4th for sentencing because this was on april 27th so it's only a couple days away yeah only a few days away that he has to come back Judge George Carpenter, who presided over both of his trials, got a ton of death threats over over the next couple of days over the phone, and he said he knew they were marrying, who was 61 years old by now, by the way.
Now, after this, he just went radio silent for a few days.
Like, no one heard from him, no one knew what he was doing.
And then May 1st came. And on this day, he randomly mailed two big suitcases to one of his sisters who lived in Washington, DC.
Both of them were had like locks on them.
I cannot find what was in these suitcases.
Do you think it was just money? I don't know.
I imagine, maybe. Probably. Because they were his sisters that he cared about.
Yeah. But I'm also like, what? Maybe there's like evidence and shit in there.
Maybe there's like more shit he did in there.
Maybe he like liquidated all his assets somehow, like Erika Jayne style.
Maybe, but like... I want to know. Maybe he just wanted to make sure they were taken care of before he disappeared.
I'm just, I'm shook. Well, also apparently on that day, May 1st, which this was a Friday.
He went to Marian Ennis's office a few times, his lawyer, who he blames for everything.
He wasn't there all day. Good. But he kept coming back and looking for him.
And people in the office were like... what's happening what they were just kind of like oh like why does he need to talk to him like no one was thinking anything of it So, May 2nd, like the next day, that was a Saturday, and it was a big day for several reasons.
One, this was the day Marion Stembridge finally snapped, and we're going to get to that in a minute.
Two, it was the town's kickoff... sesquicentennial celebrations.
What? Yes. I'm going to set the scene real quick.
It was the 150th birthday of the town of Milledgeville, founded in 1880.
1803. On that Saturday, May 2nd, there was a parade planned and a huge ball and pageant to crown the queen of the sesquicentennial bitch yes send me there no thank you don't give me any of that But according to the Atlanta Constitution newspaper on May 4th, 1953,
Quote, more than 2000 people, their hearts warm with pride and hands warmed with applause. gathered at Davenport Stadium on the Georgia Military Campus for the presentation of what a narrator called a home folks story enacted by home folks.
500 Baldwin County citizens of all ages and collection of rolling stock which included everyone from an early settler's jackass to carriages, tandem bicycles, and something else paraded across the field to present the story which began with the Native Americans and ended in the president.
And the president, the present. So basically it's like, woo, we're going to watch this whole reenactment of the town being born.
Everyone's psyched about it. We got donkeys over here.
We got fucking tandem bicycles. We got horse-drawn carriages. everyone's having a ball wow okay the streets were all decorated with red white and blue shit and there was all kinds of shit about the town's history it's i know what you did last summer it literally is what i was thinking oh my god i love that we're on the same way like literally thinking about the croaker queen yes that's what i was thinking of yes i was like oh my god we are one i know i love it Oh, a lot of people dressed up like the 1800s, like gear and shit.
Get it. They carried around fake muskets that just shot fireworks out, which sounds not safer than real muskets. sounds real danger like maybe just carry around real muskets at that point because you could literally kill someone with fireworks but okay And again, reenactments, parades, presentations, pageants, parties, picnics, food, dancing, just lots of fun shit.
The governor was going to come, obviously.
Big deal this birthday. Big deal. It sounds like the 4th of July for this small town.
And it was gonna go on all week. They had shit. planned all week, but this was like the kickoff celebration.
Remember when things used to be fun? I mean, I don't, but.
Yeah, I mean, this was, I imagine it was like, this pageant sounds horrifying, but like, that's just me.
Why? Because I am who I am. So while this is all happening and about to kick off in the afternoon with the parade, In the morning, Marion Stembridge is plotting some shit. yeah after a bit he drove his car to the home of Shep Baldwin the state solicitor He was the one who had chosen initially to prosecute him on that murder.
Now Shep was in his home that morning and he watched Marion drive up in his car through the window And he said he just sat there for a while and then he just left without doing anything.
And so later he realized that Marion likely saw that there was no car in the driveway and assumed he wasn't home.
And that's why he left. In reality, Shep's wife... Shep's wife... had had that car and was using it that morning, and that's why it wasn't in the driveway.
Thank goodness. And it definitely saved his life.
Because later we find out that he was on his list to kill that morning.
Oh my god, he has a list? Yeah. So he went back into town and he creeped outside of Judge George Carpenter's office. for a while, and witnesses said he was just staring in the windows and shit, but the judge wasn't there that morning.
I love that nobody's there that morning.
Nobody's there. It's not working out for him.
He then walked into the office of JC Cooper. who was the clerk for the Superior Court, and he just stood in front of him while he sat at his desk.
And the clerk was just like, hello, Mr. Stembridge, like just said it.
And he just stared at him and then left. uh-huh and he was like what the fuck does and he said he like propped the door open before he left So he was like, what?
What the fuck? And later what they think he was like.
He was definitely on his list, the clerk, but he was lower on his list.
And I think what we're going to find out later is he needed to do this quickly.
What he was planning. And so he was going after the bigger targets first.
And then he was... But he was checking to make sure... where these other people were and he was making sure he had an easy access to get them quick.
He could just walk by and shoot them through the door.
So he was propping open that door to be like I'll be right back.
Yikes. Yes. So then around 10 a.m., he went straight to Marian Ennis's office.
And as you can imagine, Marian Ennis is probably number one on that list. his office was above the campus theater, which showed movies and shows and all that stuff.
It's like this old-timey, cool-looking theater.
Like the Stars Hall? Yes, that's exactly right.
Yeah. Red and white. It's like the red and red and white.
It's not the diner. I think it's the red and white movie theater.
Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, whatever.
Come on, girls. You love it. We love it.
We all love it. So the campus theater was like that.
And they'd had lines around the block that day because everybody was out that day.
Stembridge walked right by this whole crowd of people.
Marion Ennis's associate, the attorney I talked about before, Eva Sloan, was also in the office.
And again, she had worked on that case to sue Sembridge for that man who was made to pay like 550 bucks for 50 bucks.
Right. She was there, and she was definitely on the list, but she had just left Marian Ennis's office and was in another office talking to another attorney.
Oh, my goodness. I love how the stars are aligning for everybody so far.
And that other lawyer said... Sloane's back was to the door and he was watching like he just happened to see over her shoulder that Stembridge walked right by the door.
And he was like, what the fuck is going on?
And he walked right down the hall towards Mary and Ennis's office.
Then suddenly... the people at Sloan and that other attorney heard loud pops.
Now Stembridge suddenly ran across the hall and out the front door.
Aww. Stembridge had shot him once in the shoulder, once in the stomach, which would have killed him the coroner later said.
But then when he collapsed on the floor, he stood over him and shot him in the back.
Oh my goodness. Now Sloane later recalled that blood literally gushed from his mouth as he tried to talk to her.
And that he grasped onto her arm for support as he breathed his last breath.
Oh yeah. She said he literally like died in her arms.
Oh my goodness. I can't imagine how heavy. that must be.
Oh my God. And like they work together. Like that's like crazy.
So someone from the law office actually yelled out the window and to the crowds below that somebody had shot an attorney and chaos just went nuts.
Oh, God. So this is happening, and Stembridge walked quickly out of that law office and into another office building called the Sanford Building on the other side of the theater people in line said he walked by them and tipped his hat to them This is a movie.
Right? And he walked up the stairs past the offices and down the hall to the office of Stephen or what people knew him as Pete, Bivens. was on the list because he had represented someone who sued Stembridge in a false mortgage foreclosure kind of thing.
And he had also represented Sarah Stembridge in her divorce against Marion.
So several people actually told him during that whole thing, go easy on Marion, because they were like, he's scary.
He's terrifying. He said that he wasn't worried at all because people were like, He literally murdered someone like we all know he did and he tried to murder another person like chill.
And he was like, no, I'm not worried about it.
He was 27 years old. Invincible. He's invincible.
And he was like, you know what? He's like, he's 61 years old.
What is he going to do to me? Yeah. And then he was like, I also carry a Colt 45 on me at all times.
And two zigzags. So whatever, exactly. So he was like, I'll protect myself.
Well, that morning after shooting Marian Ennis to death over his beefs with him, he walks right into the office of Bivens and just stands there.
And he's just breathing heavily and looking wild in the eyes.
It was even weirder because he barged into a closed office while Bivens was like dictating something to his secretary.
Uh-huh. So his secretary is just standing next to him, like taking notes.
And Stembridge, I think the secretary's name was Jean Stockham, I believe it was.
Stemridge just barges in, just stands there like a fucking wild animal.
And then his secretary looked him right in the eyes and she said later that Bivens just kind of just said, Good morning, Mr. Stembridge.
What can I do for you? Uh-huh. Like, what the fuck?
There was a pause and Stembridge just raised his gun and shot.
And he shot until his gun clicked and no ammunition was left.
He ended up shooting Bivens four times in the chest as he was sitting at his desk with his secretary standing right next to him.
And the secretary was just standing there.
Yep. And I guess Bivens did raise his own gun, try to raise it, but he didn't have the strength to like... pull the trigger, so he just dropped it.
But what is crazy As Bivens didn't die right away, even with four shots directly to the chest, he got all his strength, stood up while being shot, like in the middle of being shot, and started charging at Stembridge.
Whoa. As this is happening, his secretary, Jean Stockham, is screaming, trying to hide.
But screaming for help at the same time, Stembridge is trying to put another magazine into his gun.
Girl, grab Bevins' gun. To shoot Bevins.
Bivens is apparently the Hulk, so he's like, I have to keep shooting this guy.
Before he can do that, Bivens tackles his ass down and manages to grab Stembridge's gun from him.
He then, Bivens, takes off down the hall with the gun, but collapses halfway down the hall onto the gun.
Oh my! So he's literally got halfway down the hallway with this guy's gun, fell onto it, and he died.
Oh, no. Yeah. I really thought he was going to live.
I know. It's so sad. And I was trying to figure out which one, either Marian or Bivens here.
One of them, like Marian Ennis. One of them left behind a wife and two young children.
Both of them were very young, so it's really sad.
Now, a chiropractor in the office, I think his name was Dr. Brown, actually.
He was in the same office building, but he had like a different office in there.
He had to hide one of his patients under his desk and he was the one who called police.
And he watched Stembridge like run out of the building.
So the police were already coming. Imagine you just getting fucking adjusted and this shit happens.
How terrifying would this be? And you have to hide under this guy's desk.
You don't know what's going on. It's the 50s.
You're like, what the fuck's happened? You're halfway through an adjustment, and you're like, I'm really uncomfortable and now I'm crouching under a desk.
I feel very fucked up right now. This is not helpful at all.
Three appointments next week. This is not cool.
Thank you so much for this. Can I have this comped?
So the police are already coming. And sirens are going everywhere.
People are all over the place outside. People are screaming.
People are telling them to stop clogging the streets because everyone's crowding around this area now.
It's... absolute mayhem because people are already out for these celebrations.
So they're in celebratory mode and now all of a sudden sirens are coming flying Like what the fuck?
Someone yells out a window, somebody's been shot, like what the fuck?
So it turns out Stembridge ran into another part of the Samford building where one George Edwin Sibley had an office.
Okay. When Officer Eugene Ellis, like once again, and Sheriff Dennis Cox came on the scene, they walked up the stairs to where the second murder had occurred, and they heard a shot.
So when they get up there, they find Marion Stembridge on his stomach on the floor outside of the judge's office.
There was blood pooling around his head.
He apparently had heard the cops approaching and put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Oh, wow. Now in that Georgia Tales book by Ray Chandler, it says that the state solicitor, Shep Baldwin, who Marion Stembridge had visited that morning and definitely planned to kill, he just showed up next to them at the crime scene.
In the book, Eugene Ellis says, quote, to this day, I don't know how he got there.
I don't remember hearing him walk up on me.
But when I looked around, he just said, it's over now, ain't it, boy?
So I'm like, what the fuck? That seems shady.
Yeah. Like, what's going on there? I'm sorry, excuse me, what?
It's, I was like, whoa. It's over now. ain't it boy ain't it boy i just yeah like that makes sense like that's how the movie ends it's over now ate a boy and then it fade to black like boom whoa kind of love it but it didn't Can I make my sight softer?
Can I make my sight firmer? Can we sleep cooler?
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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, and magic.
Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mayor exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery+.
Start your free trial in Apple Podcasts Spotify or the Wondery app. so when they know they could do that trick thing where the credits roll and then oh no oh no no we're back So when they searched Marion Stembridge's hotel room at the Baldwin Hotel, they found out just how scary and bizarre he really is.
I think they already knew. There was guns, bullets, other weapons literally in every corner of the room, all over the floors.
When they later went to his office, they found a suicide note.
It was dated for May 1, 1953, and it said, it was handwritten, and it said, to whom it may concern.
I just do not care to be sentenced for another crime I did not commit in this connection.
I will not be able to do or yeah, in this connection, I will not be able to do my full duty.
I can only do the best that I can. Marion W. Stembridge.
I was convicted by tampering with the jury.
So they took this duty, he speaks of, to kill as many people he saw as enemies before the police were called.
Yeah that's what I think. And he would then shoot himself in the mouth obviously.
That's why he says he won't be able to fulfill his full duty. but he'll do his best because he knows he won't be able to hit them all, but he's going to hit as many as he can.
Yeah. So when they checked the weapons on his person at the time of his death, he had eight extra magazines with him prepared to kill a ton of other people.
They also deduced that he was planning it on that Friday because he dated the note for Friday.
And he also tried to show up to Ennis's office, but he wasn't there.
Right. On this list, they knew other than the two he actually killed, Marian Ennis and Stephen Biven, Or Pete Biven.
He was going to kill Shep Baldwin, Eva Sloan, who only didn't die because she happened to leave Marionette. his office just before he came in and he didn't have time to look for her because he had to get out of there.
Mm-hmm. Judge Carpenter, JC Cooper, the clerk.
His ex-wife, Sarah. He was going to kill Sarah?
Yep. And probably, and they think that Eugene Ennis was also on that list.
Yeah. Now, a kid who was in town that day in the book, he was like 10 years old.
And I just wanted to put this in because it's like such a...
He was at a corner store. Again, it's a movie.
Living his life as a 10-year-old. And he said he was there throughout the whole thing.
And he said, quote, I remember seeing him bring Ennis's and Bivens bodies out.
They were covered in sheets, but the sheets looked like somebody had dumped a bucket of blood over them.
Those were the first murdered people I ever saw.
Wow. And I was like, damn, you were 10. That's like some standby me shit.
Now the celebrations went on. By the way.
That's wrong. They canceled the parade for that afternoon, but the ball and pageant went on as planned and the celebrations panned out for the rest of the week went out too.
Like, would it feel the same to be crowned Miss Georgia in that moment?
Probably not. But Bivens and Ennis apparently had both taken. were big in planning the celebrations.
And so I think it was their families who were like, they would have wanted this to go on and people to be happy and have a fun time with this whole thing.
And I think they did like honor them at, you know, they met.
Yeah, of course. But they did make it a big deal to go on with these celebrations like nothing happened.
Yeah, that's troublesome. The birthday is important.
Wait until I read you part of the newspaper article that sent me to the moon because I can't.
To the moon, Alice. So it's really crazy.
So a story in the Atlantic Constitution on May 5th, 1953 is the most wild thing I've ever heard.
Maybe it's just me. But it was about this sesquicentennial.
And then suddenly it makes this insane comparison.
Now it says this. No mother, saddened by tragic death in the family in the midst of preparations for a beloved child's birthday party, ever rallied more bravely than did the old town of Milledgeville. as it hid its grief over the Saturday slaying of two of the leading citizens. and put its best foot forward to receive the first of 10,000 visitors to attend the week-long sesquicentennial celebration. priorities.
No mother, saddened by the death of somebody beloved while planning their beloved child's birthday party has ever rallied Who writes this shit?
Like Milledgeville. Who writes this shit?
For this fucking party we made up. Like, are you kidding me?
It's a lot. That's a response to a drama.
The newspaper is like really concerned with proving that the residents of Milledgeville are like stoic as fuck and able just to forget an actual murder. to rampage that is so like so of the time though it truly is Because then the next thing it says in there is the deaths of attorneys Marian Ennis and Stephen Bivens before the blazing gun of banker-grocer Marion Stembridge Saturday was still uppermost in many minds.
But as soon as the second funeral that was Bivens was over at 4 p.m., The town turned resolutely to staging the finest 150th birthday party for the finest town in the US of A. Dude, they straight up pre-gamed this party with a funeral.
And then there was an asterisk and it says rights for Stembridge who killed himself after the double murder will be held privately Tuesday.
So go to those if you're in the need for an after-party question mark.
I love that it's like, everyone was so grief-stricken over these brutal murders.
Then they were like, fuck it. It's our town's 150th birthday.
And we're the best town in the damn US of A. You know what?
I feel like Stars Hollow would do that shit.
Whoa, yeah, I think so too. Lots of connections here.
That was a lot. So that newspaper kind of blew my goddamn mind.
And I have it still up here because what was the... I have to find the other part that it's like...
They just go, so they're going right, right from like, you know, the double murderer killed himself.
And if you want to go to that, that's fun.
That's happening privately on Tuesday. And the next thing is blue-eyed, fair-haired Betty McMillan, 21, winner of the countywide competition for the title of queen of the sesquicentennial. was introduced to her subjects in a gigantic parade through downtown streets at 4.30 p.m.,
So that same fucking day. They crowned their queen.
They paraded this bitch down the streets at 430.
The same streets that Stembridge had just murdered people on.
There's still blood on those streets. Like, what the fuck?
It's happening. Wow. Priorities, man. Priorities.
Really blew my damn mind. So stoic. That's a lot.
That's a lot to unpack. Somehow this gets slightly weirder.
How? Investigators went to Stembridge's store to clean up the mess and and start like you know going through the will and all that uh maybe find some more evidence of him being a shitty person and they found five lock Uh-huh.
So immediately they're like, what what could be in there so they open them they have somebody come in and open them What do you think?
Canned goods. Canned goods. Kind of close, I guess.
Should have been. Jars of his own urine.
What? Yep. They were all labeled with his name and the dates that they were collected.
And they had notes saying that when he died, they were to be tested so he could prove that he was poisoned.
They also found rusty nails in some of the safes and guns.
What? Yeah. I mean, things you keep in safe.
Imagine you're there all definitely talking about it before they open these up.
And they're like, are there body parts? Yeah.
Is there going to be some crazy paperwork that leads us to this movie?
Not so investigation, just jars of piss.
Ew. Ew. And then imagine being the person to clean that up.
And then it's in his will that they need to be tested.
Yeah, and then it's just like there that they need to be tested.
I'd be like, no. So then they have to. Or not.
Legalities. Well, also in his will, he left Sarah one dollar.
What a fucking asshole. And that was literally required by law because they weren't legally divorced yet. course wow what a fucking asshole I would take all of that piss I'd be like technically that's mine too and I would pour it over his grave for better or for worse motherfucker oh marion but he left the rest to his two sisters that he talked about what about his child yeah I don't know what happened to Evelyn I don't know where she ever went But in 19, what's crazy is Eugene Ellis, the like main guy here.
He later became chief of police there, and he bought Marion Stembridge's desk when it went to auction.
That's a choice. Isn't that a real choice?
He used it for a long time. He also kept the handwritten suicide note. that's you know it's a moment i mean he was a big part of this case yeah And the desk, I guess, was the one that when he came to arrest him, like he like tackled him over.
So I guess it's like. okay so yeah okay that i get the desk i get like the hit the suicide note i don't know i don't know Yeah.
I mean, he was a big part of the case. Okay, sure.
There's like one of the police chiefs and like the lady in the Dunes case like had her skull in the thing as a reminder.
Yeah, but that was like a reminder. her to like find her but people keep like odd things i suppose they do But I thought that was interesting, and I kind of get the desk, because I'm like, I wouldn't want it, because I feel like it has, like, bad vibes on it.
But, like... I guess get it. I would just keep the urine.
I would keep one jar of that urine. I would, I would put it in like a case and I'd be like, you know whose urine that is?
I said you keep the urine. Not all of it.
I wonder if the urine is around or if they just got rid of it right away.
They must have had to test it. So maybe there's no way that you're still around.
They didn't test that shit. There's no way they were listening to that.
So in 1989, there was a book written called Paris Trout.
And it was written by Peter Dexter. And it was loosely based on this rampage, in case you want to... read it.
But I guess the town of Milledgeville was very upset about this because...
Again, it was loosely based. He never claimed it was the actual story.
But they don't like this being brought up because it's kind of a black splotch. on the community.
They don't like it being brought up because they're fucking having some regrets on celebrating post-murder.
And there was a movie made in 1991 called Parastroke.
Oh, I want to watch it. Yeah, and I guess I haven't seen it.
I've never heard of it. Let's watch it. We should watch it.
And the home he once shared with Sarah, it was like a boarding house, it burned down in 2019.
Oh, no. But before that, it was said to be haunted by Marion, who would stomp through the hallways.
I believe that. And now people say that the campus theater is haunted by him.
Oh, I bet. Because he died like right upstairs in like an office thing.
I mean, that's a fun movie. And the rampage happened right up there.
Yeah, I want to go there. Also, I just had an idea.
We should watch that movie and then do a Patreon episode on it.
Oh, we should. Hi, patrons. We'll watch... What is it?
Peristrout. We're going to do it. Yay. So that's the...
The tale of Marion Stembridge. That was wild.
Where did you end up finding that? Somebody recommended it.
I randomly had it in a list. I don't think I came up with it myself.
Maybe I did, but I think it was a list of ones that I had taken from people.
Like Twitter and stuff. Yeah, so whoever suggested that.
You fucking rock, because that was really interesting to look up.
That was very interesting to listen to, so thank you.
You know I love an old timey murder and you gave me a good one.
I know. Sorry, I just punched my microphone.
That's okay. We do it all the time. But thank you so much for if that was a suggestion, which I believe it was.
Thank you so much. And you guys rock at suggestions. yeah feel free to always like tweet at us suggestions fucking message them to the email because I didn't know about this one so I never would have found it yeah exactly I love it You guys rule.
Oh, we also have a forum for fucking suggesting cases.
We do. Talk until I can find it. We have a form.
Forms are fun to have for these things because they keep them all in one area and that way you can suggest cases and we will actually see them and they won't get lost in the abyss.
Because I don't know if I've said this, but like, I don't look at the email anymore, so I won't see them.
Ash will have to like pass them along to me.
But I did ask on Twitter the other day and I got so many good ones.
So you guys rule and I love you so much.
And this is a lot of fun to do. Okay. Here's the form.
Thank you. I'm going to end up posting this on Instagram or somewhere.
But if you're an old and you don't. do that, then it is HTTPS dot fucking not dot.
Hold on. No. It's HTTPS dot colon, backwards slash times two, forms.g...
I'm going to have to post this because I'm not reading all of those letters.
We'll just post it in the show notes too if you want.
We'll put it in the show notes. Yeah, in the show notes.
It's going to be all over the place. You get those by going to listen wherever you listen.
If you click on the episode, there should be an episode description.
That's the show notes. just because we've had a couple people that were like what the fuck is a show it's confusing and i feel that because before i did a podcast i'd be like what the fuck is a show note so We get it.
So that's where that is. Thank you. This book, because this book is really interesting and has a really a lot of Georgia stories in it.
And Ray Chandler's did a good job. telling this story.
I can, I wonder if I should put, I can try to post the link to the ancestry tree, but you might have to shoot.
Sign up for an account. A lot of people have accounts though.
But yeah. And this was fun. We love you and we hope you keep listening.
And we hope you keep it. weird but it's over there you go on a killing rampage and then you're like oh you know what i'm done with my killing rampage i'm the town should just celebrate hbd town yay And not so weird that urine in your safe.
Jars of urine. Everywhere. 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.
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