WEBVTT - MFM Minisode 489 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:21.200 Hello, and welcome to my favorite murder, the many So, 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:26.280 where we read your emails, your stories and emails. 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.080 Emails and stories and anything in between. 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:31.120 Friends and neighbors. I think you're first. 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:35.760 Yeah, yeah, okay. The subject line of this email is 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:40.159 my younger sister did the illegal part. Hello Karen and Georgia. 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:42.760 You guys are the best and seeing you in Chicago 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:47.599 was a highlight of twenty twenty five. You absolutely crushed it. 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:51.240 My story firmly falls into the oldest sister puppeteering younger 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:55.240 sister category. We love those. The year was two thousand 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.440 and nine and it was a summer afternoon in the 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.600 South Side of Chicago. I am the eldest of five kids. 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:04.200 At the time, I was nineteen, My twin sisters were eighteen, 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:09.720 and my twin brothers were thirteen. Jesus, this lineup has 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:13.360 probably tipped Cairen off to our Irish catholic ness and 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:17.240 Georgia growing up. I had the ideas and my sister 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.800 Bridget did the doing. She is deeply funny and gave 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:25.200 little fucks, making her the perfect puppet. On this particular afternoon, 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.720 we found ourselves sitting around plotting how we could get 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.360 alcohol for later that night. We had exhausted our rolodex 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:33.960 of older cousins and we were not feeling brave enough 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.160 to get a run. Did everyone call it this when 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:39.320 you sit outside a liquor store and ask a cool 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:40.760 looking adult to buy you beer? 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:42.240 Done it so many times? 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:45.680 My cousin Eileen, I remember she called it tapping shoulder. 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:47.480 That's so good. 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.360 I think they made that up. Anyways, we had no 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.920 options left when an idea occurred to me, old people 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.760 don't get carted. My plan took little convincing. Bridget was 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:02.880 immediately in. I spent the next missus doubtfire style, transforming 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:07.280 her from sunburned teenager into the most convincing grandmother our 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:08.480 resources could manage. 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:09.760 Oh my, I. 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.720 Would have never crossed my mind because I can't act too. 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:15.200 I would have been laughing or crying the whole time. 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:18.080 Or just being like a scared Oh my god. We 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.200 used an old Halloween wig, an obscene amount of makeup 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:25.120 we relate, and the oldest looking clothes we could find 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:28.480 in my mom's closet. Bridget practiced her old lady walk 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:31.520 and satisfied with the results, we were off. 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.959 If this works, then I'll believe in, God. 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.480 Here we go. We loaded into our hand me down 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:40.760 nineteen ninety nine silver Grandmarquis. 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:41.480 Amazing. 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.280 That's an old lady car. Ye never more grateful for 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:47.600 this geriatric monstrosity of a car than in that moment. 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.480 Surely any liquor store employee seeing someone exit this vehicle 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.760 would assume she's at least sixty five. We parked and 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.480 Bridget shuffled in. We held our breath and watched from 0:02:57.520 --> 0:02:59.480 the car as she made her way to the back 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:01.920 of the store. She paused in front of the bier, 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:05.000 then grabbed a case of twisted teas. 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:08.840 Oh my god, so grandma you know? Yeah, well Grandma's dring. 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:11.960 Old people love twisted teas. She later said that she 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.320 panicked and could not decide what a grandmother would be 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.120 buying at noon on a Tuesday. As she hobbled up 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:19.640 to the counter, she suddenly realized that she had forgotten 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:24.760 about her chipped black nail polish. Jesus, the attendant did 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:27.600 not seem to notice. He smiled and asked, ah, fun 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.000 party night. She put on her best fake granny voice 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:35.920 and replied, er yes. He handed her the change, completely 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:38.520 unaware that she was a high school senior and told 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.240 her to have a good day. We started cheering as 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.280 she walked out, She looked at us, jumped straight into 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.480 the air and I shit, knew you not clicked her 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:48.840 heels together before sprinting back. 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:49.160 To the car. 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:50.040 Worked. 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:54.160 It fucking worked. The afternoon ended. There's a picture. 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:55.320 Okay, Oh my god? 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:57.480 Uh huh. The afternoon ended with us driving to the 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.640 bar where we knew my grandpa Charlie and his Jimmy 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.680 we're at. Bridget cruised in and sat down next to them, 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.880 still fully in character. She tried to talk to them 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.400 for five minutes, but they wanted absolutely nothing to do 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:12.280 with this random old woman. Finally, she ripped off the 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:16.280 wig and yelled, Papa, it's me. The entire bar erupted. 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:20.120 My grandpa was a little horrified, but mostly amused. We 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.560 decided not to push our luck and never dusted off 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:25.760 that old lady wig again. Despite none of us liking 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:28.800 twisted teas, you better believe that we forced our way 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:29.680 through them that night. 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:30.159 Yeah. 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.159 I'm attaching pictures of Grandma Bridget for your viewing and 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.480 sharing pleasure, as I believe the statue of limitations has 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:41.800 expired on this stay sexy and don't underestimate a bad wig. Maggie. 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.680 I can't wait to see this. Yeah, i'd totally buy 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.479 it one hundred percent. Look at that outfit. 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:48.840 It's fucking brilliant. 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:50.000 It's so good. 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.919 It's like not too over the top, it's not, but 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.479 it's enough. The teeth give it away because she's got 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:56.560 perfect teeth. 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:58.280 Right, she should have yellowed those up a little bit. 0:04:58.640 --> 0:04:59.640 The glasses are perfect. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:01.920 Lush is perfect fucking blazer. 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:04.720 I think this scarfer around the head tied under the 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:09.600 chin is an overplay, yes, but it's still gish. Yeah, 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.320 it gives. And as long as she was kind of 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:15.360 crouched over and talking in the old lady voice. 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:19.360 Eyed purse, Oh my god, Like I hate that we 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:25.360 just gave a bunch of teenagers a fucking there's. 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:23.960 A great phone over. 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:26.240 There's one on her across the top of the fucking 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.560 Grand Marquee closing like a pin up. 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:29.960 Girl. Will put them on our Instagram. 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.440 That second picture is absolutely joy Also, I think the 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.320 Grand Marquee was fifty percent of that. Yes journey. 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:39.440 It's a giant silver like cop car. 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:41.120 It's a total Grandma car. 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.119 I want it, Okay, I want bridges to have become 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.240 an actress, and I want her sister who wrote it. 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.760 In to be a makeup artist. Oh my god, that's 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:48.680 what happened in the end. 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.520 What if it's Maggie Gillenhall and. 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:55.640 Her sister Bridget Bridge agil at all, Bridgie Chilly, you know. 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:58.120 The infamous Bridget Chillan. 0:05:58.200 --> 0:05:58.440 Wow. 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:01.200 That was That was one for the Ages, so epics, 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:01.599 so good? 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:03.960 All right, wow, okay, Well I'll have to follow that 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:10.040 one with uh tornado story. Oh yes, dear Karen and Georgia, 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:13.560 let's jump right in. In April of nineteen seventy nine, 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.640 my mom, Vicki was sixteen, a junior in high school 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.760 in her Wichita Falls, Texas, and dealing with a breakup. 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:21.679 On the dresser in her bedroom. 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.480 She had her class ring, her mom's class ring, and 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.920 her recent excess class ring. The ex mark had come 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.039 by asking for the ringback, but my mom refused and 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.240 simply told him that she'd give it back later. 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:35.119 Sure she wasn't ready. 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.000 No nobody could have known how much later that would be. 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:42.159 On April tenth, nineteen seventy nine, a massive tornado ripped 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:45.400 through town in an event now known as Terrible Tuesday. 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:47.080 Oh you love tornado, I do. 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.680 The tornado touchdown at five fifty five pm, traveled eight 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:54.560 miles through the city, killing forty two people and destroying 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.640 more than one hundred commercial businesses, two schools, and more 0:06:57.680 --> 0:06:59.159 than three thousand homes. 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:00.040 Oh my god. 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:02.440 On that evening, my mom, her parents, and her brother, 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.400 who had come by the house for dinner, were getting 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.360 ready to eat when the tornado warning hit. My granddad 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:09.680 ordered everyone into the car to drive out of town. 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:13.000 My mom argued because even at sixteen, she knew that 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.760 being in a car during a tornado is a famously 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:19.160 bad idea. But Dad said get in. And when the 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.760 Texas Dad says that you get in. The only one 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.280 not required to leave was her brother, who stayed behind. 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:27.000 I guess he was over eighteen, so he's. 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.280 Like, fuck you, I'm just going to hang out here. 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:30.160 In the tornado house. 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:33.640 They drove out of town a bit, but then couldn't 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.280 go anymore as there was too much traffic with cars 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:37.840 pulled over as everyone was. 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:38.520 Trying to leave. 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:39.760 That's so scary. 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:41.440 That's like why you don't get in your car and 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:42.440 trying to drive somewhere. 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:45.600 Also, that's when the LA fires were happening and I 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.120 had fires literally in a ring around my neighborhood. Yeah, 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:51.680 I left my house because I was like saying, I 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:53.880 can't get out while everyone else is trying to get out. 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:58.239 Exactly. That's exactly why I left, like before I needed to. Yeah, 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:00.360 that's and my cousin was one of the ones got 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:03.240 stuck in the palisades, like driving out and her car 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:04.120 got fucking burned. 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.280 For really, she run. Yeah. So later that day I 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:07.880 was like, I'm not. 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:12.200 Doing this nod terrifying. Yeah. So my mom watched the 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.880 tornado as it barreled through town. It was over a 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.360 mile wide and looked like a massive black wall. When 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:21.000 it passed, they drove back toward their house and realized 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:22.960 at the end of their block that all of the 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.640 houses were leveled. It went from a normal neighborhood and 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:31.120 houses to nothing. Her brother, who had stayed behind, survived 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.160 by sheltering in a closet under the stairway, and when 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.840 he emerged, the entire second story of their house was gone. 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:40.439 So I can show you a photo of the houses 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:44.800 before and after of the house beautiful, oh seventies looking 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:49.600 normal house. Oh, then that like if her brother hadn't there, 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.400 he would have died, right, he was hiding like there 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.240 somewhere there isn't it? Fucking but like that's an uninhabitable 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.920 tear down, yes, and so random, Yeah, we'll show it 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.760 on her Instagram, Okay. And so the entire second story 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.520 was gone, which meant my mom's room and the class 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:09.120 rings were gone as well. Remember that my mom really 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.440 only cared about the class rings and even searched in 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.200 the ditch behind the house. She never found them. In 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.760 the end, my grandparents decided to sell the lot rather 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:20.320 than rebuild, and the rings were presumed lost. Fast forward 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:24.040 ten years to nineteen eighty seven. Vicki and Mark exchange 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:28.080 different rings. What so they get back together and get 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.560 married and then emoji with a heart's in its eyes. 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:34.920 Fast forwards sixteen more years to two thousand and three. 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.040 I'm thirteen years old, the middle of Mark and Vickie's 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.720 three daughters. The family who rebuilt the old lot is 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:44.280 still living there. Their nineteen year old son is in 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:47.800 the backyard when their dogs dig something up, and what 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.960 do they find? A writer high school class of nineteen 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.280 seventy nine ring with the initials M l oh. 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:55.600 The photo of it too. 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.280 This is from Molly. You fucking kill this email. Mollys, 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:01.040 look at that vintage classics. 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:02.120 Unbelievable. 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.839 They borrow a yearbook, realized the former resident is now 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:06.960 married to a guy named Mark, and call my mom. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.520 My mom brought my sisters and me in on the news, 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:11.599 and one night we played a game of asking my 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.280 dad if he could remember what his class ring looked like. 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.720 He ended up describing me at all wrong classic and 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.560 then my mom said did it look like this and 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.680 held out the ring to him. He was shocked and amazed. 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.679 Of course, stay sexy and give your ex his class 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.840 ringback so it's not lost in a tornado. Or maybe 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:31.400 don't Mollie. 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:36.360 Oh my god, I know that is when you start like, 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:38.920 when it started going that direction, I was like, they 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.439 found the ring, Like, how is that possible? 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.240 And just in the backyard sitting there. That's why you 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.400 need to always bring a name metal to Texas and 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:49.560 bring it with you everywhere you go. That's literally what 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:49.960 I want to. 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:56.599 Say from house to house. Okay, I'm not going to 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:59.040 read you the subject line. It says, hey folks, my 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.320 maternal great friend father or Papa Pete as my family 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:05.960 called him was a character. He was a raging alcoholic who, 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.600 to me sounds like a total piece of shit, but 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.440 at his core cared for his children, my grandmother and 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:15.800 her siblings. The closest fictional character I can compare them 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:17.760 to is Frank Gallagher from Shameless. 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:20.120 Oh fuck, that's rough. 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.960 He frequently went on drinking and gambling binges where his 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:27.040 family wouldn't hear from him for weeks. He gave classic 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:30.240 drunk advice, my favorite of which being if you have 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:32.760 nowhere to sleep, sleep on a grave because no one 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:37.120 will bother you. And then it says classy, but that's 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:38.960 really true. I kept thinking about that, where I'm like, 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.920 that's really true. Yeah, you go into a graveyard at night, 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.880 you're alone pretty much, Yeah, kind of, Well, some drinking teenagers, 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.280 but they're scared of you and ghosts and ghosts, but 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.679 they're also scared of you. So, without further ado, it's 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:55.040 the late sixties in the small town of Watumpka, Alabama, 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:59.240 population of about four thousand people at the time. My 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.800 great grandmother big Mama no I'm not kidding, gets a 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.000 phone call from a sheriff in Texas. Ma'am, are you 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:10.440 the wife of Pete Brooks, Yes, ma'am, your husband is dead. 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.600 He'd drunk himself to death. You're gonna have to come 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:17.320 to Texas to collect his body. Big Mama, who's only 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.400 about thirty at the time, while holding this charming nickname, 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.400 by the way, is devastated. She takes her two young 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.440 teenage daughters on a road trip to Texas to bring 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.400 the body of their father home to Alabama to be buried. 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.240 They enter the police station, they explained that they are 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.280 there to collect mister Rook's remains. The young mother and 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:38.079 her daughters are brought around the corner to the cells, 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:42.120 only to find Pete Rooks drunk off his ass and 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:46.480 slurring his helloes to his wife and daughters. What Pete 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:49.080 had gone on a bender so grandiose that it carried 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:53.400 him three states away. Upon being arrested for god knows what, 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.160 the sheriff must have asked him who he could call 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.800 to come pick him up from the station. Pete knew 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:00.800 no one would come pick him up up in Texas, 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.439 all the way from Alabama now, and he was out 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.560 of money, so, being the genius he was, he told 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.760 the shareff to call his wife and tell her that 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:09.600 he had died. 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:13.120 Okay, the sheriff is so complicit and it's so not okay, 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:14.800 and it was your job to not do that. 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:19.120 This is this is a real bros before host situation. 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:21.200 That is like, and that's the. 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.640 Diastation that they went through the whole time before knowing that, 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:26.520 just because you were like, come pick me up. 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:28.320 Yeah, and the share was like, let's do it. 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:33.839 Boys club. Wow, that's why the girls clubs must we 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.680 must get serious about the girls club. Yes, because the 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:38.719 boys have been boys club and for far too long. 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:40.160 You've had your fucking day. 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:46.439 Can you imagine how furious you would be? Okay, he 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:48.320 knew that the only way his wife would come pick 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.320 his dumb ass up in a whole other state after 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.520 no contact, no apology, and no money to fund the 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:58.480 trip was over his dead body. I can't even imagine 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:02.000 that twelve hour car ride of shame home. And that's 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.400 my crazy great grandparents' story. JS. 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:09.360 Shit, you got one of those stories, email them to us. 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.040 Please fucked up things someone's ever done to you? 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:15.280 Also, if you feel shamed, yeah, maybe not that bad. 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:17.439 If you have a story that where you feel like 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:21.280 you're supposed to feel shame or that somebody's bad, they're 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.000 not right. Write it in. Let's let us decide. 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:25.640 Yeah, we'll tell you the truth. 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.000 Um, okay, we'll tell you the truth. 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:30.320 Let's see. Okay. 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.160 Oh and this is it's a Memorial Day when this 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:35.240 comes out, So this is kind of a Memorial Day story. 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:39.680 Hello ladies and Emotional Support animals. I was born and 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.800 raised in Buffalo, New York. My family traveled from Italy 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:46.040 sometime around eighteen ninety and decided to make the city 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.360 of Good Neighbors their home. In nineteen ninety six, my 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.720 grandfather embarked on a dedicated search to locate his missing uncle, Bartholomew, 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.280 who had served in World War Two. Initially, the family 0:14:57.320 --> 0:14:59.480 had been informed that he was missing an action, but 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.600 later but the military communicated that he had been killed 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.160 in battle, with no remains discovered. Due to the onset 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.520 of Alzheimer's disease, my grandfather's pursuit was tragically interrupted. However, 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.000 in twenty nineteen, my father took it upon himself to 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:16.440 continue the search. He began reaching out to distant relatives 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.200 he had never met and joining Facebook groups dedicated to 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:23.160 the families of missing veterans. After years of tireless research, 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:27.200 my father discovered a cemetery in Luxembourg that still contained 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:31.600 approximately one hundred unmarked graves. Given that Bartholomew's last known 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.000 location was in this area and he had been missing 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.520 for seventy five years, it seemed to be the most 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:40.040 likely place to find him. In a remarkable turn of events, 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:44.120 several family members submitted DNA samples, which ultimately allowed us 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:48.640 to confirm Botholomew's identity among the unmarked graves. WHOA I 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:50.640 know after all that time? 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.440 So I wonder if the army or whatever it was 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:56.360 has some sort of procedure to keep something so they 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:57.560 contest totally. 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.080 And then his remains were repatriated to Buffalo for a 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.440 proper military burial, just in time for would have been 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.840 his one hundred and fourth birthday. On Memorial Day WOW 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:11.680 on Saturday, June first, twenty twenty four. Bartholomew received full 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.200 military honors and was laid to rest with his family. 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.960 Bring enclosure to a story that has resonated in our 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.480 family for generations. Is a profound and moving moment. To 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:23.160 know that after so many years, he will finally rest 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:26.440 with those who loved him. My Papa, who passed away 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:30.040 on October fourteenth, twenty twenty four, has now been reunited 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:36.600 with his beloved uncle SSDGM K. Wow, that's a powerful story. 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:39.840 Yeah for Memorial Day, totally. 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:41.440 Wow. 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.840 Well, if you're enlisted, if you're in any part of 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.080 the military in this country, thank you for your service. 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:48.840 Yes, thank you. 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:53.359 And thank you to World War Two veterans for fighting Nazis. 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:55.240 Yeah, literal Nazi. 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.160 Very important to fight Nazis. 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:02.160 Let's do it. Okay. 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.560 My last email, the subject line is a fun train 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:10.440 derailment question mark. Hello murder pals. I know you're awesome. 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.080 You know you're awesome. We don't need to discuss it. 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.720 Some random Wednesday in two thousand and seven, my grandfather 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.440 picked me up from school, just like any other day. 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:22.960 We made some small talk on the way home, and 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:24.679 when we walked in the door, he told me that 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:27.359 he had a gift for me. While I waited, my 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.280 grandmother showed me a brand new diamond ring he had 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:33.440 just given her. This was weird since my grandparents weren't 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.600 exactly well off. My gift was a brand new laptop. 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:39.800 Since our household computer was of the nineties and it 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.280 was on its last leg. I was eager to get 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.960 on MySpace in less than a fifteen minute wait time. 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.520 So I stopped wondering if my grandfather had pulled a 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:49.840 bank job, and I went on to my room right, 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.720 and I don't ask questions questions, just log on. Fast 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.439 forward to a few hours when the nightly news came on. 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:58.720 Being a teenager, I didn't watch the news, but I 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:00.960 happened to walk through the living room at just the 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:04.399 right time to see my grandfather on the screen talking 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:08.520 about how something felt like an earthquake. Super Confused, I 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.040 stopped to listen. That afternoon, he had stopped at a 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.200 convenience store. It was one of those stores you wouldn't 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:17.760 know was a store if unless you were a local, 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.639 just a boring, tiny building on the side of the road. 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.080 There's nothing unusual about him stopping there. But what he 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:27.040 conveniently didn't mention at all that day was that while 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.680 he was there, a fucking train ran through the store. 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.000 Well, I forgot about the train completely right. 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.480 According to the News, a train engineer ignored a stop 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:40.440 signal when he was backing up on an offloading track, 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.399 which caused three train cars to roll through a dirt 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.439 barrier and hit the store thirty feet from where the 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:49.880 track ends. The owner managed to get everyone out safely, 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.280 including having to pull out a customer who went into 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:55.960 shock and had to be sent to the hospital. My 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:59.240 grandfather had only a tiny cut on his nose, probably 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.960 from his glasses being pushed into his face from the 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:06.760 impact duda of a train train. I don't remember the 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:10.239 store ever reopening, and eventually it was demolished. But as 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:12.679 far as I know, trains have run without incident in 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:16.040 my hometown ever since. Oh yeah, in the gifts, he 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.040 stopped there to buy a lottery ticket. The ticket won 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:21.400 him one hundred thousand dollars. 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:22.800 Sorry, what the fuck? 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:25.120 I was like he stole the money when like everyone 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:26.320 had evacuated. 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:30.119 He says, yeah, not only did he survive a freak 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.360 trained derailment, but he won more than my salary from 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.400 the ticket he bought immediately before it happened. 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:38.000 What the fuck? 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:42.320 Stay sexy and avoid stores near train tracks, Brits or don't. 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:46.720 And then our producer Kate Shallenbach looked the incident up 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:49.760 and she says there was indeed a trained derailment near 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.720 in Lancaster, South Carolina, in two thousand and seven. The 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.920 train ran into a by Right convenience store, and Kate 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.879 found a print interview quoting a witness who had stopped 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.480