Hey weirdos, Elena here. If you're looking to kick back and relax with Morbid, Wondery Plus is the way to go. it's like having a cozy seat in our haunted mansion no ads just you and early access to new episodes You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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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.
I love all the Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen.
Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. visit audible.com slash morbid.
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Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid.
And that is an imposter. Who are you? It's a secret.
It's a secret? Today we have a special secret guest on the podcast.
My man's... My boyfriend. My boyfriend.
Drew. Hey, weirdos. So yeah, Alina is stuck at the hospital today and was like panicking and was like, oh my god, like I don't think I'm going to be home in time to record. like it's crazy in here with the pandemic going on there's so many cases that she has to Let's not really get into what exactly she's doing, but, you know, she's got to be there. do the damn thing.
So I said, don't worry, sister. I know just the guy.
And here he is. Yeah, I wasn't busy. So no, we probably would.
Well, I would have been recording and you probably would have just been like fending off the cats while we recorded.
But yeah. The cats are eating, Drew is here, I'm here, and we're ready to do some listener tales.
Woo! Woo! have you ever you've never done like a listener episode right i did a listener tale i sat in on a listener tales I feel like you've sat in on like a lot of listeners.
Yeah. But I've never actually been like fully a part of one.
Well, it's your time to shine, buddy. Aye.
All right, so do you want to do it like I'll read them to you and you can react?
You want to be the funny guy? Yeah, I think that's best.
Okay, cool. All right. So I'll start off because really there's no business.
And like, who am I to do business without my sister?
So here we go. Listener tales. This one is called You Are Not Welcome and Double Knotted Plastic Bags.
Oh. Yeah, so I don't really know what we're getting into, except I do.
Can I guess what it's about first? Yeah.
I used to be a bagger at a grocery store and people would always ask me to double knot their bags.
So does it have to do with a grocery store?
No. Oh. That's a good story though. All right. hi weirdos i wanted to take a moment and share my listener tale with you badass bitches even you guys reading this tale is honor enough for me, but if you use it, you can absolutely use my name.
I have attached the PDF of it double spaced.
I know that makes it easier on you. Thank you for being a light to me in 2020.
Enjoy. What a sweetie for doing this double-spaced because... Yeah.
She knew what's up. She did. I think I have like a stigmatism, even though I don't really, I think that's just like when you can't focus.
Yeah. Are you thinking of dyslexia? No, I don't have that.
Sometimes I like wonder if I do, but I don't.
I just can't read in general. Yeah, sometimes I can't either.
But you know what? That's not about us. Let's get into it.
So it says... Hey, weirdos, I'm Rikki. And then she offers a pronunciation for us because it's R-Y-K-I.
R-Y-C-K-I. She says, it's pronounced like Ricky, not Reiki.
While rye bread is delicious, it's not a part of my name.
Most people think it is, to which I rudely ask, does that sound like a name to you?
Although just to be clear, I am a girl. Yeah, I know Ricky is more commonly a boy's name, but here I am rocking the Ricky and loving it.
I digress, but let me start by saying like everyone else does because we are thoroughly obsessed with you.
You two lovely ladies are a light to us all.
You are not only hilarious tenacious and brutally honest you create a safe space for all walks of life with no judgment.
Except hairy tongue, tiny dick, tapeworm infested shit stains who commit the fucked up crimes.
We don't include those in a compliment. Well, thank you.
That was really nice. I'll accept that on behalf of both Alina and I. Anyways, these stories, there's two. are about a black apparition and a haunted children's book.
So, no, not a grocery store. Wow. I'm sure this is not as big of a deal to some listeners, but these two spoopy experiences were two more than I ever wanted to experience in my lifetime.
Alright, here we go. I apologize for the length, but I wanted to include every detail.
When I was growing up in the land of beer and cheese, we lived in a spacious two-story White House perched on a hill.
Nothing, not anything substantial, but enough to catch a bit more of the piercing frigid winds than I would have preferred.
You guessed it. I'm talking about Wisconsin.
To be honest, when you said like the land of beer and cheese, I was just like.
Like I was just picturing in my mind like a stadium of Green Bay Packers fans.
Yeah. I immediately knew it was Wisconsin because when I would go to Chicago, we would fly into Wisconsin for some reason.
Weird. Yeah. And driving through, there are a lot of cheese-themed buildings.
I love that. I love that this entire episode is just going to be a palate cleanser with you.
We would drive into Chicago a lot. Okay.
I was raised in a Christian household attended Christian school and went to church every Sunday does that sound familiar to you very much To me, ghost hauntings, aliens, and anything else on that matter was a fantasy conjured to merely cause unnecessary anxiety... anxiety for said thrills and chills.
Obviously, my young thought process was painfully ignorant.
The stairs leading up to the second floor were somewhat like a zigzag.
You walked up the first flight, turned right onto the landing, and then climbed up the second flight to reach the upper level where the balcony overlooked the living area. it sounds beautiful yeah my room was essentially in full view of the beginning of the stairs i hate that for you On the first landing, there was a large window that often allowed the moonlight to grace the threshold of the stairs and would illuminate the upper level at night.
I cannot quite recall my exact age but I believe I was eight or nine years old.
I usually wake up in the I usually would wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom because I am fully convinced I have an anatomically small bladder.
Yeah. But something was different that night.
I noticed a deep sense of dread. The moon must have been full that night, or perhaps an uncharacteristically clear sky. but I could easily make out the contents of my room.
It was so bright. I tried to shrug off my feelings and open the door to relieve my ever-pestering ladder.
When I looked up, there on the threshold of the stairs was a black shrouded figure that resembled the Grim Reaper.
That's terrifying. No, thank you. I could not see its face, just a hood that seemed to emanate. a personal fog.
I thought I was imagining it, but I could see the moonlight framing its black figure.
I was utterly frozen with fear. It didn't move except for its fog.
It didn't speak. Finally, remembering my Christian upbringings, I managed to stutter, You are not welcome here.
I am a child of God. I love that. Attempting to be brave.
I gotta remember that one. I know, huh?
Attempting to be brave, I turned the corner to my left and walked into the bathroom.
I love that she was just like, well, I still have to pee, so let's go.
Yeah. That's brave. Why I turned my back to this thing, I don't know, because for all I know, it could have run up behind me and taken my soul.
Who knows? Once I sat down, I mustered up every ounce of bravery left in my body and turned toward the stairs.
The figure was gone and never returned, but my memory will never fade.
Isn't that scary? That is scary. Skip forward a few more years. and it was finally the day of the Scholastic Book Fair.
Do you remember those? shit. Okay, you and I definitely have very different memories of The Scholastic Book Fair.
I have books on this bookshelf that are from the Scholastic Book Fair.
Your girl, your lady doesn't have a single fucking scholastic book because my mom was too poor to give me money and probably didn't care to either.
I also had a poster of a cat, like, hanging from a tree or something that said, hang in there.
Didn't you? That's really cute. Yeah. I'm such a bitch.
No, I remember like dreading the Scholastic Book Fair and like.
I remember like even sometimes being like, maybe I could like steal a book, which I never did, but.
I would steal books from the library. Just straight up steal them.
Oh my god. Because I had no... That's so badass of you.
I didn't want to go talk to people. Nothing much has changed.
Same vibes. So yes, we do remember those.
It was always a day of excitement. No, it wasn't. curiosity and the enticing smell of a new book you know that smell so don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about I do know that smell I was 14 and I decided I would purchase a book labeled as mystery, thinking I would...
Thinking I would be titillated with the suspense.
Is that how you say that? Titillated? Titillated?
Titillated. Titillated. I cannot recall the name of the book exactly, and I tried to look it up, but to no avail.
I'm sorry. All I can remember was that it ended up being a ghost story about a haunted doll.
And despite my gut saying no i read the book anyway with its tail creating full body chills with each page Once I was done, I placed it in my bookshelf on the bottom shelf toward the middle.
Skip ahead. My dad used to sometimes sleep in the guest room where I kept my books because of his work.
He would frequently be called in the middle of the night and didn't want to wake my mom.
This was back before he turned out to be a piece of shit and was nice.
I'm sorry about that. One morning he mentioned how cold it was in the guest room despite the heat being on.
It was winter in Wisconsin, and if you don't know, it gets cold as the Arctic's asshole up in here.
The next day, he mentioned again how cold it was and something odd had occurred.
My dad noted being woken up to our yellow loud Our yellow lab Lucy, that's adorable, standing on a lounge chair, hair raised down the length of her spine and barking at the corner of the ceiling.
What the actual fuck? The next day I had off from school and I was determined to figure out what was going on in that room.
You're a bad bitch. I would not. Yeah. I sat outside of the guest room and felt warm and comfortable.
I walked in the guest room and I felt as if I had willingly leapt into that Arctic asshole.
No, the windows were not open. I immediately was like, nope, no thank you, and walked out.
I sat at the entrance and my attention was drawn to that damn book.
No way I thought. I probably sat there for 10 minutes pondering my ludicrous idea that the book was haunted. or had something attached to it.
I ended up going downstairs and grabbed some Walmart plastic bags.
I'm not sure why I thought a plastic bag would protect me from the diamond that lived in that book, but you know, it's what I had.
You really think I'd throw away a nice purse or sports backpack for that thing?
I proceeded to wrap the book in several plastic bags and double-knotted the handles.
Again, I have no clue why I thought a double knot would protect me, but it seemed logical at the time.
I launched the parcel to the end of the driveway and went about my day.
When I went back to the guest room later in the afternoon, warm as a summer's day and nothing else has ever happened.
Holy shitballs. And that's all, folks. Thanks for being amazing kick-ass bitches.
I seriously adore the both of you and wait with anticipation for each new episode.
Oh, sorry. The frat boys are like doing something upstairs.
Yeah. They suck. I seriously adore you both and wait for anticipation for each new episode since I binged all the others.
Thank you for reading my listener tale. Keep it weird.
That was so good. Thanks, Ricky. Yeah, I liked that one.
I like that you thought it was going to be about a grocery store and then it was not.
A lot of things, Ash will tell you a lot of things I relate back to my grocery store I worked at.
Yes, definitely. I feel like you'll be like, you know that the cakes that they have at the grocery store?
Yeah, if you want to never see a grocery store the same again, I... Date Drew.
Yeah. All right. Do you want to guess what the next one is about after I tell you the headline?
Yeah, I do. Listener tales. A fucking omen or an angel? what do we think is going to happen here an omen what's an omen uh like a bad luck like a like a sign of bad luck Okay.
I mean, I don't know. I have no idea. I've never, like, had a...
I hope it's more of the angel. I think it is.
Okay, so we'll read it. So this one says, I want to start out by saying that I'm obsessed with your podcast and it really helped me get through the loneliness of lockdown. because i've been out of work since march of 2020 and i've been very bored that sucks and i'm really sorry yeah And I'm happy that we got to keep you company because we're best friends.
My name is Katie and I'm a 21 year old super weirdo from Northern Ireland.
Yes! We love Ireland. Feel free to use my name.
Also, sorry this is long. It's okay. I'd also like to say that I am not a very spiritual person or very interested in the paranormal. as I am a big old science bitch.
Too bad Elena's not here. But this alignment of events has caused me to be very conflicted.
The story begins when I was around 8 to 10 years old and I started having nightmares.
This is due to spicy childhood trauma as I come from an incredibly abusive family.
I'm sorry one night while I was drifting off to sleep I was awoke to the sound of gentle scratching at my bedroom door I thought maybe that it was the family cat, so I ignored it, but the door opened and I watched as the light from the hallway poured into my room, revealing the shadow.
You know what that reminds me of? What? My aunt and uncle's house growing up was crazy haunted.
Yeah. And my cousin told me that she would, like...
She would like think of turning off a light, like see a light on and think of like, oh, I need to go turn that off.
And it would just turn off. That's crazy.
That's like some Matilda type shit. Yeah.
Well, this says, I shit you not as clear as fucking day.
I saw a beautiful gray wolf standing in the doorway. and his eyes were fixed on me, but he didn't seem to be angry, just stared at me.
I tried to scream and move, but I couldn't.
The only thing I could do was close my eyes and when I opened them, he was gone.
When I woke up, it was just a normal ass day.
Until the night after, my father gets a phone call from his brother explaining that one of my baby cousins had sadly passed away. during the night due to health complications.
This was a very sad time for my family and I'll never forget how much we all cried.
A few years later, I had moved into another home with my mother and continued to have nightmares occasionally, but didn't see the wolf until one night.
I was lying in bed and just like before, the wolf scratches at the door, growls softly and stares deep into my soul.
I try to keep my eyes fixated on the wolf this time and try screaming.
This experience is just like dream paralysis.
I can't scream or move. I close my eyes and the wolf is gone.
I wake up in a panic and my mom was in the next room, so like a little pissy baby, I ran into her and asked if I could sleep next to her.
Before she could even reply, I jumped into her bed and fell asleep almost instantly."
You. Yeah. I did that way too much. The next day my mother informs me that one of my baby cousins has passed away during the night due to complications after birth.
That's really sad. I'm sorry you lost so many cousins.
I went to the funeral. and again my family and I were devastated, but heaven gained another beautiful little angel.
I was so confused and never told anyone about the wolf because I was convincing myself it was just a coincidence until St.
Patrick's Day of 2017. I was out getting fucked up at a friend's house party because I'm from Ireland and Alcoholism is running through my veins, therefore it's okay to get stinky drunk and do regretful things on St.
Paddy's. You just spoke to my inner being.
We're from Boston, so it's basically the same.
Yeah. And I'm like mostly Irish, so we get real fucked up around here.
So I fall asleep at about 5 a.m. with my boyfriend of five years on my friend's uncomfortable mattress and the room is spinning.
That's the worst. When I finally get to sleep, I am awoke by the fucking wolf.
So she's not even in her own house and this is happening.
I'm having a panic attack because I know what's going to happen.
I wake up crying to my boyfriend, but I can't tell him because he'll think I'm insane.
So I just told him I had a bad dream and he comforted me as we fell asleep. i completely forgot about the incident the night before until i'm home and sitting in my room watching tv and I hear the unholy sounds of my mother screaming, Katie, get the fuck downstairs now.
And I just knew... Someone had passed away or someone was in the hospital.
So I got dressed and ran to her. but she was gone.
She was running across the street to where my grandmother and grandpa lived.
So I quickly followed her. Turns out my grandmother had just gotten home from work to find my grandpa had unfortunately passed away. in his chair from a massive heart attack.
This destroyed me as I was very close with my grandpa, And he was kind of like a substitute father for me after mine had abandoned me.
And I know Ash can relate to the parental abandonment slash neglect.
Yes I can. And this reminded me of my grandpa because I love him so much.
This is the last time I've seen the wolf and I dread the next time I see him.
But I was wondering if maybe anyone had any explanation for these occurrences.
I've had a few friends sadly pass away over the years, but I didn't see the wolf before any of these deaths.
So maybe it's just a family thing. I don't know.
Anyway, thank you for keeping it weird with me and for your company because quarantine. has been very lonely, but your quirky personalities and sweet voices has made me feel like we're lifelong friends. that will probably never meet.
Keep it weird, but not so weird that you have creepy premonitions about family members' deaths.
You know what that's like? Practical magic with the beetle.
Oh my god, that's exactly what that's like.
How they hear the beetle before their husband is going to die.
Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. That's really, really wild.
So maybe your family, like maybe you're a witch and that's like the curse or something that was put on your family.
Or maybe it's kind of like a guardian angel thing where like you're just you're gaining a guardian angel and the wolf is symbolic somehow in your family.
Yeah. I don't know. Guys, give Katie some answers if you know.
Okay, this one got me because of the subject line.
It's called hide and seek time to yeet. And anybody that like lives with me or is around me knows how much I fucking love the word yeet.
I say yeet about everything. all right what do you what do you think it's about um I mean, definitely hide and seek.
Yes. Correct. Probably. Probably seeing something.
You don't want to see or like hiding somewhere and like something else is in there with you.
Okay, like that was a pretty good guess.
So, hey weirdos, my name is Jade. You can share my name.
I don't care. And I'm from Buffalo, New York.
Hi, Jade. I sent this story in months ago and it never got told, so I'm trying one more time because I believe it needs to be shared.
I absolutely love your podcast and you guys remind me a lot of me and My sister.
I love that. And thanks for sending it again because this subject line, I'm telling you, it got me.
Now let's just dive right in. I've experienced paranormal phenomenon for as long as I can remember, but the tale I have for you today is is one that happened inside my house.
To give you some background, my house is built on top of the world I keep wanting to say world, but it literally just says work.
On top of the War of 1812 Battlegrounds.
So obviously some shit is bound to happen sometime.
Can I do a little... I grew up... but right by the concord and lexington battlefields oh yeah you did so i feel like i'm gonna relate to this a lot My house I grew up in was an old mill house.
Why did I not know that until right now?
There's a mill in my hometown and it's like 200 years old.
Yeah, I've been there. Yeah. That's crazy.
Yeah. Okay. My family and I moved into this house when I was seven years old and it has always rubbed me the wrong way.
I never got bad vibes at your house. I like always felt someone there or like something.
Yeah, I feel like they liked us, so they just never bothered us.
Yeah. So, I've had objects fly across the room, heard footsteps walking through the house when no one else was home. doors opening and closing by themselves.
The first floor of the house has two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, kitchen, and dining room. upstairs is supposed to be an attic but my parents turned it into a bedroom since upstairs is built for storage there are many holes in the walls that are covered by pieces of fabric I hate upstairs that's where I have never felt safe when I was 16 years old my best friend at the time we'll call her Moe came over after school to hang out.
We were bored and wanted to get our mind off the day and decided to play hide and seek.
Now, activity in the house had been silent for months, which is why we decided to give it a whirl.
Mo knows my house is haunted. Now my house is the type of house, no matter where you are, you can always hear where someone is walking.
It's nearly impossible to not know where someone went, even if you're a few rooms away. which is why we decided the seeker will count in the garage, which is attached to the house because it would muffle the sound of the person hiding.
To muffle the sound of hiding even more, We turned on the TV and the radio and set them at a decent volume.
Now it was time to play. We took turns counting in the garage and finding each other.
Neither of us the first few rounds hit upstairs.
The first few rounds were normal and we were having a corny good time.
The last round, which we didn't know was going to be the last round, everything changed.
It was my turn to seek. I went into the garage and started to count.
One, two, All sounds start straining from the garage.
Three, four, the sound of the radio and TV fade away.
What? five, six. I can't hear mohide. I can't hear anything at all.
And when I mean anything, I mean anything.
I can't hear the everyday life outside. I can't even hear the soft buzz of silence when everything goes quiet.
I can't hear anything. That's terrifying.
If you've ever seen the movie Dead Silence, you know the scene where all the sound is drained out in the room?
No. That's what it was like. Seven, eight.
My heart is in my stomach. I know she went upstairs.
Nine, ten, it's time to buck up and find Moe because I am no longer the only seeker.
That gives me chills. I hate that. I open the garage door and walk into the kitchen.
My heart is pounding and I'm dreading having to go upstairs.
I walk into the living room and the TV is still on as well as the radio, but no sound is coming from it.
When I checked the volume, it still said it was set to 26, so no, Moe did not turn down the volume to mess with me.
I searched the bottom of the house twice.
I could not bring myself to walk upstairs.
After, I don't know what happened. After putting off the inevitable.
Oh, my God. Slowly with every step, my heart pounded further and further into my stomach.
Something was not right. You know those photos sitting in your phone, the ones that make you smile every time you scroll past them?
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I made it to the second last step from the top and hesitantly said, mo mo burst from one of the holes in the wall covered by a curtain crying and ran out of the house the moment she burst from her hiding spot all sound came back.
The TV and the radio sound blasted. I could hear birds chirping and cars driving by.
I even had that slight buzz soundtrack or I even had that slight buzz sound back.
I ran after Mo and asked her what happened.
She said that the moment she started to go upstairs, this is going to fuck you up.
Oh, I'm not ready. The moment she decided to go upstairs, she could no longer hear me count.
She couldn't hear the TV or the radio. She couldn't even hear me looking for her. as I was calling out her name a lot downstairs everything went dead silent When she hid in the hole, she started to get an uneasy feeling She looked into the dark and saw a pair of red eyes staring at her Holy shit.
When she saw the eye, she was ready to yeet on out of there.
But then there were footsteps pacing back and forth in front of the curtain that was concealing Oh my god. and another entity pacing back and forth at the other.
Right before I called out her name, when I got the courage to go upstairs, she said a hand grasped the curtain and started to pull it back.
Once I called her name, the hand dropped the curtain and she ran out of her hiding spot.
Holy shit. Needless to say, we yeeted on after that and then went to her house instead.
We never played hide and seek again. Anyway, I hope that's my story.
Hope you like it. And guess what? What?
There's a bonus story. Oh, God. Bonus story.
Does it have to do with Einstein? No. Why?
Did you want to play after? Well, I used to love hide and seek.
You know I used to play hide and seek with my friends in an abandoned building.
Yeah, that's wild. I love that you survived that.
But I'm very happy about that. All right, bonus story.
She says, you don't have to read if you don't want to, but it's still a good story.
And it's short, so I'm going to... This also happened when I was 16.
I was home alone and chilling in the room.
I had a loft bed at the time, desk underneath, bed on the top, which I want that now.
I was laying in bed chilling on my phone when my door opened by itself.
I heard footsteps start walking around in my room, heading to the ladder that leads to my bed. not wanting to deal with it i laid down faced the wall and closed my eyes if that happened i would literally run out of the room like i wouldn't like I can't imagine laying down and like face the wall, like with my back all exposed.
I'd be so freaked out. Oh, my God. Then, in the deepest man voice I have ever heard, it said, Never mind.
It jumped back down. It jumped down. I heard footsteps run out of my room and my door slammed shut.
I got up and left the house for the day because I do not have time for that.
And yeah, that's my bonus story. Hopefully you guys like this.
I look forward to your podcast every week.
Stay weird. So he was just looking for someone else, probably.
Or maybe, you know what I was thinking? Cause my grandma always, cause my house is like super fucking haunted.
Like weird shit would happen all the time.
As you know. but I my grandma always says like like people that lived there before are still kind of existing like they lived there in the past.
So maybe he like thought that it was his bunk bed or something and was like, and then like realized that it wasn't like realized you were in there.
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It was like really freaky.
It's like doors used to open at my house.
Just like. Oh yeah, my bedroom door, and actually before I moved into my grandparents, it was Elena's room. the door would just open all the time.
And it happened, especially after like our family dog died.
That was like, like Elena's dog basically, like her whole family, but she was the one that like lived with it the most, lived with him the most.
And he would always come in her room at night.
And after he died, you could see the door would open a little bit, almost like a dog was coming through.
That's sad. I know. He's buried in the backyard.
So he's like still there. Okay, this is the next listener story.
Why I was never allowed to play outside as a kid.
The story of Leslie. Renee Keckler. So don't guess what this is because I feel like that would be rude.
Yeah. Hey, Ash. Hey, Alayna. Yeah. i'm a huge fan of you guys but i'll get to the point i wanted to share a story about my amazing cousin and her murder I've never seen her story covered by anyone, probably because it's a closed case, although it does have a super suspicious unanswered part to it.
I guarantee it would have been much worse if some badass bitch didn't come forward. and an excellent detective wasn't on the case.
So gather around and I'll share with you the story my mom told me when I was six and wanted to play outside by myself without adult supervision.
Leslie Renee Keckler was a beautiful girl. who had just started school at Bowling Green College in 1989.
She was dating her long-term boyfriend and overall loving life.
She was looking for a job around town and decided to apply for a few open positions.
She got a call back for a restaurant supply sales position at Bob Evans. and was asked to meet with the interviewer, Jeff Bennett, at a Holiday Inn so they could first interview and then drive the sales route she would be covering afterward.
She was excited about this opportunity and let her mom and boyfriend know she would be gone for about three hours on September 26th.
Yeah, 26th. She was never seen again. The next morning, her boyfriend called her mom and let her know that Leslie had not returned home than returned home the night before, and he was worried.
It was highly out of character for her. They filed a missing persons report that day and interviews were conducted.
Interviewer John Helm recognized a similar incident that occurred in May, five months earlier of that year, regarding another woman who had gone on a job interview with a, you guessed it, Jeff Bennett. for a waitressing position that had her meet the interviewer at the same Holiday Inn.
This previous victim got into the car with him for his business route and he started getting real creepy with her.
He had began commenting on her skirt length, saying it was too long, driving back down sketchy roads, you know, the normal skeevy things.
She got creeped out and thought about jumping out of the moving car, but she didn't.
He ended up taking her back to the Holiday Inn.
This girl recognized the hoax and finally jumped out of the stopped car after he asked her if she would do other things for him or what she would do if somebody pulled a knife a fucking knife out on her The fuck?
Right? This chick was awesome. She ended up getting away and filed a police report complete with a composite sketch of Jeff.
Because of the investigator's quick timing, the sketch was completed the day after Leslie went missing. and was broadcasted via local media.
Bravo, John Helm, bravo. Unfortunately, despite this quick action, Leslie was already gone.
Four days later, on September 30th, Leslie's body was found in a ditch on the side of the a back road by two local boys with multiple stab wounds and ligature strangulation.
It turns out Jeff was actually a man named Richard Fox, a piece of human trash and a line cook at Bob Evans, where Leslie had applied to. now are you ready this is insane god fox had swiped her application from his manager's desk and made the call and subsequent action that our family has still been healing from to this day.
So he saw her application, like took it for himself.
Yeah. Like probably saw her drop off her application.
What a fucking creep. Leslie met him at the Holiday Inn and ended up going on the fake sales route with him.
According to his confession reports, when Fox tried to put his slimy ass gravy covered fingers on her, She fought back and tried to run away.
She called him an asshole, which apparently his fragile ass ego couldn't take.
Fox told detectives, quote, no one calls me an asshole.
Like. Okay, grow up. Fox pulled her back into his car and stabbed her in the back, strangled her, which sickeningly enough... he said was just to make sure that she was dead.
The autopsy report said Leslie had died. as a result of asphyxia from ligature strangulation and multiple stab wounds.
She had been stabbed six times in the back.
Three stab wounds had penetrated her lungs.
Her right wrist had a deep defensive wound gash, and her face had bruises on her left eye, upper lip, and nose consistent with blunt force injury. so he like went nuts on her that's horrific yeah fox was a monster like to say the least yeah I say because Leslie's mom fought hard to ensure Fox would never do this to another woman again.
Her and Leslie's brothers were certain Fox would do this to another woman if he were to get out.
He definitely would. Fox was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1990.
However, as I'm sure you all know After sentencing someone to death, there are a billion and one appeals that occur.
During these lengthy battles, Leslie's mom, Linda, would pass away in 1995.
On her deathbed, she begged family members to keep fighting for Leslie.
They did, and Fox was put to death on February 12, 2003.
So back to that super suspicious unanswered part I told you about.
Fox's daughter, who was only six when Fox killed Leslie, made a plea to the court before his death that she would be left an orphan if Fox were to be executed.
That's really sad. Yeah. What's interesting about this is that her mother had filed for divorce from Fox and shortly before their final divorce hearing, Kim Swinehart Fox was found dead, with her arms and head over the side of a bathtub in her apartment, an apparent suicide.
Her wrists had been slit and blood was found in the bathtub, but the coroner determined she died. from asphyxiation as a result of neck compression not blood loss you can't tell me that's a coincidence yeah 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.
Anyways, that's a brief overview of Leslie's case.
Even if you don't share, I'm glad I could share with you the story of Leslie to keep her name alive.
I attached some pictures so you could put some faces to names.
Keep it weird. She was so pretty and he is so yucky.
That's just disgusting. She wrote human shit stains in the little thing.
He absolutely is. That's horrible. I'm sorry for your family.
Yeah. Okay. This one is hilarious, but also like terrifying.
Oh God. Called that one time I was probably going to get axe-burnered by my neighbor who lived in a hole in the ground.
What? So what do you think that's about?
I think the neighbor had their house. but also probably like a man-made like tunnel or hole that they did shit in.
Okay. It says, ladies, I'm not sure if you're still doing listener tales.
We are. As I just found you recently, I think.
What year is it even? And I'm only on episode 91.
You have been my quarantine catharsis. I love hearing that.
I want to tell you the tale of what is actually one of my very earliest and most vivid memories.
It didn't mess me up. Probably. Maybe. Okay.
A little. But it's fine. I'm fine. It's fine.
For background, I grew up in rural, it's so hard to say that, Montana in the woods, like all the way.
You cannot see another house from the house I grew up in.
At this time, it was just me and my mom, who at the time was a badass recent widow living on her own, raising a kid on her homestead that she built her himself, but we were in the dark alone miles from anyone else and had no phones or running water.
But that's a different story. I'm about two and a half or three years old.
I remember my mom scooping me out of our bed in the middle of the night and telling me to be very, very quiet. so she gives me a shut the fuck up look with her eyes I can remember how scary that face was and I am sure it made me keep quiet.
We all know that face. Yeah. Oh yeah. She then throws open the door and sprints to her truck as I cling on.
She starts the car and we tear out of the driveway and down our road.
She's driving like a maniac and I am so scared.
We drive all the way into town and stay at my aunt's house, which I was actually really excited by this because she out of waterbed and I loved it.
And I calm down and I fall asleep. The event was never mentioned again and eventually we went back to our home.
I would think about it from time to time over the years, but wasn't sure where to place this memory.
So finally, one night when I was in my late 20s, I asked my mom if this was a real memory or something I made up.
She went as white as a ghost. Oh no. Apparently on this particular cold winter night, she got up to stoke the wood stove and she thought she saw movement outside.
She checked the windows and saw nothing, but she couldn't shake the creepy feeling she had.
Trust your gut. So she grabbed her gun and a flashlight and went outside to investigate.
Boss bitch. And she shined her flashlight into the trees.
She says she saw movement at the edge of...
Yikes. That's terrifying. Yeah. Yeah. No, thank you.
One time I thought I was home alone and thought it had just snowed.
I forget where my parents were, but... I thought someone was shoveling my driveway, so I called my mom and told her I thought someone was shoveling our driveway, and she's like, so?
She's like, why are you going to stop them?
Also, like, what? Number one, I guess that would be creepy if you were home alone.
Was it at night? Yeah, it was at night and I could hear shoveling.
And I thought it was our driveway. And like, instead of like looking out the window and like seeing that it was probably just a neighbor.
I called my mom and said, I think someone's shoveling our driveway.
And she's like, all right, then let them do it.
She's like, cool. You don't have to do it then.
But then was your driveway shoveled? No.
So it was a neighbor. It was a neighbor.
Love that for you. All right. Well, this says she saw a man dodging behind a tree.
That was enough. Fuck that. So she grabbed me and we ran.
She says she called the cops later that night and the next day she went with them to inspect the property.
They found large tracks in the snow all around our house and a cinder block had been moved from the garden. to under one of the high windows that's really terrifying yeah she was so freaked out she said the cops were useless They basically were acting like she was a hysterical woman, fucking 1980s.
But she insisted they check the other buildings on the farm, which were a shed and a barn down a bit from the down a hill a bit from the house.
At the barn, they found more footprints that did not belong and a fucking axe that was not ours.
An axe that was not ours. No, thank you.
Just leaned up against the barn, just like chilling there.
Damn. Still, probably nothing, right? My mom says we stayed away a while longer, but you have to go home eventually, right?
Wrong. I hear Florida is nice. She now thinks it may have been our weird neighbor, a creepy guy named Sanford.
No last name, probably not even his real first name.
Also, I am using the term neighbor very loosely here, as he actually lived in a hole that he had dug in the side of a hill on some public land down the road he would be there and then would suddenly disappear sometimes for years at a time i think And one time we came home to find him stealing mine and my mom's underwear off the clothesline.
And the kicker as kids, we were allowed to run wild all over our side of the mountain.
But we did have one rule. If we saw Sanford, we were to run and hide, never talk to him and never go near his hidey hole.
Good rule, mom. So yeah, if this was inside out, you could file that.
One time I was probably going to be axe murdered by my neighbor who lived in a hole in the ground as a core memory.
Don't keep it Sanford weird. You love that movie.
That's such a good movie. I love it. I tried to watch it one time and I was like, this is ridiculously sad.
Me and my friends. Like we all assigned each other emotions.
Can you guess which one I got? Sadness? No.
What? Anger. anger yeah i don't really see that at the time i was very angry person oh okay All right.
Well, this next one is called The Man Who Ruined My Non-Existent Future in Modeling.
What do you think that's about? What do you think happens?
A man that ruined her non-existing future in modeling.
It's a lot of dead air. Sorry. I'm not used to this.
Sorry. I mean, you got me at the non-existent part because so is she not a model?
But I don't know you're supposed to guess.
I'm trying to like piece it together. I think this man...
Did something to her. To make her not model.
Yeah. Okay. Jesus. You're like, I want to guess.
And then you're like, 26. I have a very slow thought process.
I love you. Hi, Alina and Ash. I have to say you guys are my favorite podcast that I listen to.
I listen to them anywhere at the gym, on my way to school and even pulling into the parking lot at my childcare job.
All I know is I have finally found a podcast that does not make me feel like I'm a fucking weirdo for being fascinated with true crime.
I guess it's not normal to discuss how Jeffrey Dahmer tried to make human sex zombies on first dates.
Anyway, I adore your relationship. What?
I don't know much about Jeffrey Dahmer. Yeah, he like wanted to make like a sex zombie.
And I guess she talked about that with somebody on a first date, which sounds like something probably Elena would do.
Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I adore your relationship and get so excited every time I see a new post.
Any Hoosers. I love that. I wanted to tell you about how I have the worst luck when it comes to scary situations of being alone.
For someone with anxiety, I have a lot of panic inducing things happening to me.
This is the story of the reason I will never model.
As I said, I'm a super anxious person. usually I don't like doing things alone same yeah This happened in August of this year when I started school.
I wanted to save money, so I decided I would take the light rail and walk the rest of the way to my school.
I go to Sacramento State in California. I was nervous to take the light rail alone.
Fuck. But I took the morning before to hype myself up.
Oh, wow. But I took the morning before to hype myself up in the mirror, telling myself I was a boss ass bitch who could take the light rail alone.
I've never heard it called light rail, so I keep like... What's a light rail?
I'm assuming it's like a train, but I've never heard it before, so I keep saying it weird, I feel like.
Yeah. A little did I know I would be in for an experience.
It was 830 when I got to the station and I got on the first car and found a seat by myself.
Oh, no one was on the train yet. So it's a train.
Then a big ass man came and sat down across from me and just stared at me.
So, here we go. He had all black clothes and his hood on his head.
It's August in California. It's already 80 degrees out.
Bye. Bye. Mm-hmm. So obviously, my stranger danger senses began tingling, and I responded with, oh no, I'm not interested, but thank you, and put my earbud back in.
He continued to stare at me and talk to me even though he saw I couldn't hear him.
He tapped me again. I would be so fucking mad if a stranger on the of a stranger on the train like I'd be like if this was the tea I'd be like whipping over it open that like middle door to like go to the other car literally i'd be like pissed or i'd just be like stop fucking touching me He tapped again and I, being the dumbass bitch that I am, looked up at him one more time.
He continued on with his conversation about me modeling, and I just did the laugh where you blow air through your nose.
Then the light rail started to pull away from the station and this man says, are you ready?
He smelled her. What the f- I smelled you as you walked past me.
Yeah, no. a very Boston experience. Yeah, I'm very Boston.
I'm surprised I didn't experience this. I'm literally, like, picturing myself, like, in Alewife.
Like on the red line. No, if this was going to happen on any line, what line would it happen on?
One, two, three. Three, orange. No, red line is sketchy.
I used to take the red line every single day into work.
Or no, no, that... super weird line. Was it the blue line?
No, I think the blue line is nice. What's the one that like goes...
By the aquarium. I don't know. I hated that line.
I honestly hate most of them. When I worked at the aquarium for a hot second.
My favorite, oh yeah, TBT. My favorite line was always the red line, to be honest.
Well, the red line's the longest, so you got to sit there and just space out.
Yeah. And then you get to like you pass the water at one point.
And I was always like, oh, it's going to be a good day because I'm going to look at the water.
Anyways, this isn't about me. So he smelled her as he walked past her and had to follow.
When I say I shit my pants at that point in time, you better fucking believe it.
I automatically started seeing my face on the, have you seen this person segment of the six o'clock news.
It was me, by myself, and Creeper Model Scout Bob.
Not his name. I love that she was like, that's not his name.
I was sweating my ass off and trying to think of ways I could pretend that this wasn't happening to me.
Also during this time, my dramatic ass was texting my family goodbye because I was sure I was going to be found in a ditch.
Then my savior walked toward the front of the car.
It was a security guard. I love that there's security guards on this train because my ass never saw one on any train I've been on.
Yeah, the tea has like those like emergency buttons that like literally don't work.
Yeah, no, they're like very run down. I don't think I have ever screamed so loud with my eyes at someone and thank God he saw it.
He stood in between me and this man and they began arguing because Creeper didn't even have a ticket. after what seemed like a fucking lifetime only two minutes we got to the next station and he got kicked off As he was leaving, he looked at me and smiled, which sent chills down my spine.
Fast forward to now, I was looking through a crime watch page for my area.
And guess whose fucking face showed up? Mr. Model Scout was actually a registered sex offender. who has been following and harassing women in the area.
Once again, my heart dropped out of my ass.
I never saw him again. but probably because I decided to get on the light rail at another station.
Also, I never forget my pepper spray anymore when I'm by myself, and I never take my earbuds out for anyone.
I learned it's better to be a rude bitch than a dead bitch.
Anyways, that's my story and I hope you enjoyed it.
I seriously love you guys so much and please come visit California.
I will travel anywhere to see you guys live.
Oh my goodness, that was crazy. Yeah, definitely going to California.
Oh, 100%. I can't wait to go. I also like the expression, it's better to be a rude bitch than a dead bitch.
Oh, I love that. I want to put that on a shirt, so thanks for that.
All right. I think we have time for one more.
What do you think? Do you have another one? i do and this one is from a gen z and you know how i love the gen z's Are we Gen Zs?
I think we're millennials. Yeah. I think Gen Zs are born in like...
Like, I think we're the last of the millennials.
I'm the last of the millennials. I think, like, 97 starts Gen Z. Oh.
So, like, my little sister is a Gen Z, if that makes sense to you.
That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense.
Hey, Lauren. hey lulu all right so this one says my listener tale of a crusty dusty old dude who tried to steal me Hey, y'all weirdos.
I'm don't use my name. Call me Queen Idiot.
Okay. let me start this off with I'm a huge fan of y'all and I've been binging so much I've listened to 100 something episodes in like two weeks.
Holy shit. Yes, I'm a speedy rat. Also, this is the fourth time I've sent this in because I felt it wasn't amazing enough for y'all.
Huge number out of 10 podcasts. I love you.
Okay. I was also really adorable as a child.
I love her. So I was about 10 or 11, three to four years ago.
Yes, I'm young, pure Gen Z right here. Sunglasses emoji blowing smoke out of face emoji. i love that this makes me feel old like if elena was here she'd be like holy fuck i'm ancient but like the fact that i feel old really says something yeah I'm like having, I'm like, I have to focus harder to like pay attention to this.
I'm like, maybe I should go get an icy hot for this, like for my back.
I was playing some basketball in my driveway that was more cracked than some old lady's heel. thinking I was doing amazing.
In reality, I was absolute trash. And she wrote it in, like, musical notes.
While balling worse than a three year old with a 65 pound ball, some crusty, dusty old man pulls up in his red Honda Civic.
5,000 points for my memory being better than my mom's when recalling some sin I committed 12 years ago.
I love her. So this nasty wrinkled old toe of a man is like, so helpless, innocent 11 year old.
Do you know where this non-existent house is?
Okay, he didn't say that, but I bet that's what he was thinking.
So I was like, uh, no, but I can look it up. whipping up my top notch iPhone 5 that had 40,000 pictures on it and didn't work as a phone, but rather as an iPod.
I googled the house. Wow, what a surprise.
The house didn't exist. Putting my phone back in my way too long boys basketball shorts from Walmart.
I was a very hardcore tomboy. Still am, but less hardcore.
I told him the house didn't show up. He was like, what?
No way. Bye. Bye. Bye. At that moment, my friend's mom, who I'll call life saving badass, speeds out the front door and is like, Queen Idiot, come here.
While probably thinking I was the stupidest child to ever breathe.
She walks out. to the car with her flaming red hair adding to her terrifyingness and ask the man what he wants He asked her about the house and she looked it up but didn't find it either.
He seemed kind of annoyed now that I think about it.
Probably because he wanted my thick 11-year-old bootay.
Yeah. I love you. The dude drove away and I'm assuming life-saving badass cursed him out like a drill sergeant. i continue playing basketball trying to impress the ancient people who walked by with their dogs but they probably could barely see half a lemon in front of them So my efforts were a waste.
Oh, guess what? About 30 minutes later, crusty worm sniffing dude has the audacity to pull up again.
I guess I really was thick. Anyway, I love that she's taking this moment as like a self.
Is she spelling it with CK or two Cs? You have to spell thick with two Cs and she knows that.
I guess I really was thick. I love that this is like a self-validating moment. for her too because I like that resonates with me anyway he calls me over again and being the genius I was I walked over.
By the way, this dude had disgusting hands.
They were all gray and his nails were longer than a 12 foot snake. and just overall disgusting.
Anyways, lifesaving badass zoomed out of the house faster than my mom driving when she doesn't see the cops around.
She asked the child stealing man what he wanted.
And he asked about the fake house again.
Bitch, please. You knee sucking moist sock.
Just wanted my 11 year old. thick basketball playing ass anyways life-saving badass got the man to leave me and told me to come inside.
So that's my story of how a crusty, dusty, elbow slurping old dude tried to steal me, but life-saving badass saved me.
I have many more stories of people knocking on my windows, neighbors shooting in the middle of the night, people talking right outside my windows.
3am knocks on the door, and much more, but those are for another time.
Sorry if this was long. If you got to edit it, go for it.
If you read this or if it makes it on the podcast.
Whoa, no way. That's so cool. Hell yeah.
Woo. But if not, me writing this four times was a waste.
Oh well, sucks to be me. Anyway, keep it weird, but not so weird you almost get kidnapped by a warm sniffing son of a nutcracker old dude with gross hands so your friend's mom has to come save your 11-year-old bootay.
Hold on to your butts so that crusty old man doesn't try to steal it.
Adios, y'all. Queen idiot. Wow. that was awesome she made my year that was great that was incredible Now I'm thinking about all the weird almost kidnapping moments I had that weren't actual.
I was like very cautious of people when I was a kid.
One time our neighbor tried to give me and my brother Play-Doh and we ran inside screaming.
Well, that just means that your mom taught you well.
I'm going to teach our kids to do that. Yeah, and then my mom went outside and talked to him.
He gave her the Play-Doh. She told us, and we made him things.
From the Play-Doh. You want to know what I made him?
I'm dying to know. A snowman. You were like, do you want to have the snowman?
You're so weird. Well, thank you for filling in, you little schmuck. shit stain no problem i have this new thing where i keep calling drew a shit stain in like a loving way and he hates it but i think it's really funny yeah Yeah.
So thank shit stain. I guess people now know that I'm just like one giant palate cleanser.
Yeah, you're literally a walking palate cleanser.
When I did that, like, question thing on my Instagram the other day, people were like, are those real?
And I'm like... No, I just made them up.
Are the palate cleansers real? Yeah. People like asked me if they were like true.
Move that bus. That's my favorite one. Yeah.
All right. Well, yes. Thank you for coming on.
And fuck, how do we end this? I forgot how we end these things.
OK, but if you want to send us a listener tale, you can do so at morbidpodcast at gmail.com.
And then if you want to follow us on Instagram, you can follow us at Morbid Podcast.
If you want to send us a tweet, you can do so at amorbidpodcast.
We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it. that felt really weird to do without Elena but not so weird that a crusty dusty old dude wants your 11 year old bootay not so weird that you have to double knot the plastic bags to keep all the ghosts away.
Not so weird that like a, I want you to keep it so weird that a wolf comes into your room because I think that's like a good thing for you.
Like, I think it's your family. And but definitely don't keep it so weird that your house is so haunted that you can't play hide and seek because everything turns off because that would really suck.
Like even like your brain turns off and you can't hear anything and that would suck a lot. not so weird that you get axe murdered by your neighbor that lives in a hole and not so weird that a man stares at you on the light rail and ruins your non-existent future and nautilating.
Bye. I think you got it all. I think I did.
Alright guys, love you. Bye. Thank you.
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