1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, and we are coming 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:11,560 Speaker 1: to you from inside your house. 4 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 2: That's right. No, we're not trigger warning on this one. 5 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 3: By the way, there's some pretty violent content, including speak 6 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 3: of sexual assault at some point. 7 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:23,759 Speaker 1: Yeah, this takes a real hard left all of a sudden. 8 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 2: It really does. 9 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 3: And we're talking about the sort of trope of the 10 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 3: call is coming from inside the house. And as a trope, 11 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 3: we want to thank TV tropes, dot Com, Tropedia and 12 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 3: a really good article from Chrissy Stockton on Thought Catalog. 13 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: Plus also Sean van Horn on Collider and the good 14 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: folks on the Straight Dope message Board. 15 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 2: That's right, and principal Seymour Skinner. 16 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: That's right. So the call is coming from inside the house. 17 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: Is also often called the babysitter and the man upstairs. Yeah, 18 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: and just the quick sketch of it. This is an 19 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: urban legend that probably back to the sixties and essentially 20 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: says that there is a usually a young teen tween 21 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: girl alone at home, or more often that she is 22 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,759 Speaker 1: alone babysitting some kids who are younger than her, and 23 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: she keeps getting calls from some mysterious stranger who asks 24 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: her have you checked on the kids who are osensibly 25 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 1: asleep upstairs, and she just then you know, hangs up. 26 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: She thinks it's a prank call. And as time goes on, 27 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: these calls get more and more sinister. 28 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely more sinister because the you know, it's been 29 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 3: in quite a few movies. We're going to talk about 30 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 3: in different iterations, but the babysitter would usually like, I 31 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 3: don't know, put them off or not believe it or whatever. 32 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 2: Say you know, is this Johnny? 33 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:46,680 Speaker 4: Is this my boyfriend? 34 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 2: Then hang up. 35 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 3: Then the caller calls back, The caller calls back again. 36 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 3: It's usually a few times, and eventually the babysitter is 37 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 3: going to call the police. They're gonna say, oh man, 38 00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 3: we're going to put a trace on the call. She's 39 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 3: gonna say, you don't have to call me. I'm thirteen 40 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 3: years old, and they say, well, that's just how we 41 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 3: say things. And then the stranger calls the police trace 42 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,239 Speaker 3: the call and then call back and say you've got 43 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 3: to get out of there. The call is coming from 44 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 3: inside the house. 45 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 2: I know. 46 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 3: It's genuinely scary to think about, obviously, and then once 47 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 3: she is out, the cops show up and the prowler 48 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 3: has murdered those kids upstairs already. 49 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: Yep. And one of the things that makes it so 50 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: creepy too, is that when this, you know, was passed around, 51 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: this urban legend like that, you couldn't really call your 52 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: own phone number. Yeah, and if you had two lines 53 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: in the house, maybe only the richest of your friends 54 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,360 Speaker 1: had two lines in their house. There's a whole urban 55 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: legend surrounding how you could call your own line if 56 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: you did certain things. That's neither here nor there, it 57 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: turns out. But the fact that it's coming from inside 58 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: the house means that it's the last place you'd expect 59 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: somebody to be calling from, which made it even scarier 60 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: for the viewer who had no idea or the listener, 61 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: I guess, for the urban legend who had no idea 62 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:12,359 Speaker 1: what was coming. 63 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know what, I remember hearing these stories 64 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:18,679 Speaker 3: like around the campfire kind of thing, and it terrified me. 65 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 3: And it never dawned on me that that was a 66 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 3: near impossibility. 67 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, did you have that the little legends that it 68 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: was like you could you could do something, you know, 69 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: like tap thing tap, like the receiver or whatever to 70 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: call your own line or was it just like you 71 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: just can't do that. 72 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 3: I don't remember hearing any of those, but I do 73 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 3: know they existed because you sent them to me, right. 74 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: But yeah, So that the fact that it was coming 75 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: from inside the house when you were it's really not 76 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: supposed to have been able to happen, just made it 77 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: that much scarier. And it makes it a little harder 78 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: to understand or grasp in the age of cell phones, 79 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: where you can call somebody from inside the house, like 80 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: it's entirely possible to call was coming from inside the house. 81 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, And and it's uh, it goes along with some 82 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 3: of the great scary legends of the day, like the hook. 83 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 3: The Vanishing Hitchhiker was another one I remember. Drip Drop Maniac. 84 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 3: Do you remember that one? 85 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: No? Did he say we cause holes and teeth? 86 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:23,920 Speaker 3: No? Drip Drop Maniac was some version of a thing 87 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 3: where there's a like a German shepherd that that sleeps 88 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 3: under the bed that you know the kid was scared, 89 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 3: and the reason and and the way they would not 90 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 3: be scared is they would put their hand down and 91 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 3: the German shepherd would lick their hand and. 92 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:39,799 Speaker 2: So I'm sure you see what's coming. 93 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 3: Uh. It turns out the German shepherd they hear drip, drip, drip, 94 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 3: and the German shepherd is like killed and dripping blood 95 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 3: on the floor, and the and the person there was 96 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,360 Speaker 3: a dude under the bed licking the person's hand. 97 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: Oh crazy, that was a good one. 98 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, maniac. Yeah, terrifying. 99 00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: Uh you want to take a break so I can 100 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: kind of recollect myself after that terrifying story. 101 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 2: You're never gonna hang your head hand off the side 102 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 2: of the bed again, are you? 103 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: Oh I don't already. 104 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 4: Okay, Yeah, we'll be right back. I'm still laughing, by 105 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 4: the way, that are you? 106 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 3: You got to be under the sheets and stuff still, Yeah, 107 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 3: I got over that at some point. I used to 108 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 3: be like that, like well into even my thirties. I 109 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 3: think I was probably in my thirties or forties when 110 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:53,599 Speaker 3: I was finally like, you know what, I'm a hot sleeper. 111 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 3: I'm just gonna brave whatever's out there and sleep on 112 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 3: top of the sheet. You. 113 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, I've gotten better in my older But if I'm 114 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: watching like a particularly a good ghost. 115 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 2: Movie, horror movie, oh sure, yes, at. 116 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: Night and you me and MoMA have already gone to bed. 117 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: When I have to turn out all the lights, I 118 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: will basically run down the hall to the bedroom like yeah, yeah, 119 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: and try not to and I just can't not. 120 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 4: No, I'm with you. 121 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 3: If it's something like that and I'm truly scared by 122 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 3: a movie and I'm up late by myself, the getting 123 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 3: back to the bed scene is truly ridiculous for a 124 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 3: fifty four year old man. 125 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: I'm also one of those people who if you jump 126 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: out and scare them, I go up like both feet 127 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: off of the ground, yeah, and make like ooh sound 128 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: kind of thing, like you can really get me if you. 129 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 3: Yeah. I used to scare people like that on occasion, 130 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 3: and I finally learned that, like, that's just not cool 131 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 3: to do. 132 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 1: Oh, I think it's great after like about thirty seconds. Afterward, 133 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: I think it's hilarious and wonderful. But it takes me 134 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:56,280 Speaker 1: a second. 135 00:06:56,839 --> 00:06:59,359 Speaker 2: Oh, oh gosh, do we have time? Yes, very quickly. 136 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 3: In college, after we saw the movie Misery, my roommates 137 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 3: and I at the Dollar Theater the Alps Theater in Athens, Georgia. 138 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: Oh yeah. 139 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 3: We had ridden separately and my one roommate and I 140 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,840 Speaker 3: Chris raced home and he was a real sick twist 141 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 3: and he was like, let's scare Eddie. You know Eddie 142 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 3: because Eddie was right behind us. And Chris went home 143 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 3: and unscrewed all the light bulbs in the main room 144 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 3: and we hid in the closet and Eddie. 145 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 2: Eddie came in turned on the lights. No lights came on, 146 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 2: and he was like. 147 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, you guys are pretty funny, and smartly turned on 148 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 3: the television to provide some light. And you know how 149 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 3: when you're like hiding in a closet and it's just 150 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 3: barely cracked, you see people kind of looking in at you, 151 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 3: but they're not focused on you because I can't see you. 152 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 4: That was Eddie. 153 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 3: He was coming closer and closer, and we jumped out 154 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 3: of the closet and got him pretty good. 155 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 2: I think he knocked a frame picture off the wall 156 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 2: and broke it. 157 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: You had frame pictures on your wall in college? Oh, 158 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 1: you know that's impressive. Yeah. Have I ever told you 159 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: my being scared from the closet story? 160 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 4: No. 161 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: I was just sitting there in my room. I was 162 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,119 Speaker 1: probably like fourteen or something. I was just reading in bed, 163 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: and I noticed that the closet door was crackediced a 164 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: little bit, which was unusual. I didn't usually do that. 165 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: And I even made like a little joke to myself, like, oh, 166 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: it's probably something in the closet, right, And I looked 167 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: over a minute or two later, and the door was 168 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:27,480 Speaker 1: open further than it happened, and I just immediately jumped 169 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: up and started running for the door, like I didn't 170 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: go to look. I didn't say like, oh, that's weird. 171 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 1: I immediately jumped up right, I would totally survive a 172 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: horror movie. And my dad came barreling out of the 173 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,440 Speaker 1: closet like rah, and I just basically flipped on my 174 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 1: back like a turtle and started screaming. Even after he 175 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: was like standing over me like are you okay? I 176 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 1: was just looking at him. I couldn't stop screaming. My 177 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: mom had time to make it upstairs and into my 178 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 1: room and say what'd you do to him? And I'm 179 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,839 Speaker 1: looking at them like talking, screaming, still on my back 180 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,439 Speaker 1: like he got me that good, Like, oh God, definitely 181 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: shortened my life. 182 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 2: Poor guy. I feel so bad for you. 183 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 3: That is not certainly not something adached to to their Yeah, exactly, 184 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,559 Speaker 3: all right, So we're back and we're going to tell 185 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 3: that the possibly what inspired this real story. I got 186 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,719 Speaker 3: this particular version from Chrissy Stockton that I mentioned from 187 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 3: Thought Catalog, but I looked it up and it was 188 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 3: in plenty of other places. 189 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: So this is where it turns pretty dark. 190 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:30,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, it goes very dark. 191 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 3: So if you have kids listening, they may want to 192 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 3: tune out. In the nineteen fifties, in fact, March of 193 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 3: nineteen fifty, there was a young thirteen year old named 194 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:41,560 Speaker 3: Janet Chrisman hired a babysit a three year old for 195 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 3: the Romax mister Gregory Romack and his wife, I, you know, 196 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 3: just like with her live show. I couldn't find his 197 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,079 Speaker 3: wife's name because they didn't print stuff like that back then. 198 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 3: But she decided babysit rather than go to a school party. 199 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 3: At seven thirty, she got to their house. This is 200 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 3: in Columbia, Missouri, and before they left for the night, 201 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 3: mister Romac said, hey, by the way, see the shotgun. 202 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,559 Speaker 3: I've got this shotgun and it's loaded and here's how 203 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:12,520 Speaker 3: you shoot it. 204 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, thirteen year old girl in Missouri. 205 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess I mean nineteen fifty is going to nineteen. 206 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:21,560 Speaker 1: Fifty nineteen fifty Missouri. I could see that being pretty 207 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: standard procedure. Yeah. He also very wisely said do not 208 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: open this door until you at least turned on the 209 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:31,679 Speaker 1: porch light to see who it is knocking on the door, 210 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: right right, So you would think that little Janet was 211 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: probably going to be just fine. I mean, there was 212 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:41,080 Speaker 1: probably going to be an uneventful night anyway, but she 213 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: had also been equipped with a shotgun by the people 214 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: she was babysitting for. The thing that gets me is 215 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: that she had chosen to babysit rather than go to 216 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: a school party because she had recently bought a dress 217 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: on installment and needed the money She's to pay for 218 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: a dress. It's like a responsible little thirteen year old. Yeah, 219 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: so shouldn't have even been there. I think at some 220 00:11:05,559 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 1: point around ten thirty, the police in her town got 221 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: a call from a girl just shouting come quick, and 222 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:15,680 Speaker 1: then the line suddenly was cut off. The police didn't 223 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: have anything like tracing calls or anything like that at 224 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 1: the time. This is nineteen fifty in Missouri, and they 225 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: had no idea who it was. But it turned out 226 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:25,280 Speaker 1: it was Janet. 227 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 2: Sadly, that's right. 228 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 3: The Romax called the house about thirty minutes later, but 229 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,719 Speaker 3: no one answered, And I guess they didn't sweat it 230 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:36,600 Speaker 3: because they didn't show up until one point thirty in 231 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,120 Speaker 3: the morning. They weren't like we should rush home. They 232 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,600 Speaker 3: opened the front door to find a pretty nasty, grizzly 233 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 3: murder scene. Janet was dead there in a pool of blood. 234 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:50,320 Speaker 3: She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death, and 235 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 3: it appears that she had struggled with her attacker. There 236 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:58,080 Speaker 3: was no shotgunning, obviously, but that porch light was on, 237 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 3: which makes it even sadder. 238 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yes, And the reason why that porch light seems 239 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:09,440 Speaker 1: to be important is that the Romax and Janet's family 240 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: believed that a man that was known to her was 241 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,680 Speaker 1: the person who murdered her. A guy named Robert Mueller. Yeah, 242 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 1: he was a friend of Ed Romax, and he also 243 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 1: knew Janet because Janet had babysat for Robert Muller's children before, 244 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: and he had actually asked her to babysit that night 245 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 1: and she said I can't. I'm I'm babysitting for the 246 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:32,600 Speaker 1: Romax already. And he was an odd duck to say 247 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:36,520 Speaker 1: the least, and enough of a creep. Essentially from how 248 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: the Romax and Janet's family put it, that he was 249 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:41,600 Speaker 1: always suspected by them. 250 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. 251 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 3: The other detail I didn't mention was that the phone 252 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,199 Speaker 3: had been ripped from the wall, so that would explain 253 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:50,400 Speaker 3: when she shouted come quick and the line went dead. 254 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 3: It seems, as you know, that was when the phone 255 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 3: was ripped away from the wall, possibly by Robert Mueller. 256 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,719 Speaker 3: Although nobody was ever tied to her death officially, no 257 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 3: one was ever arrested as far as I know. 258 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: No, but there were some reasons why they suspected, and 259 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 1: one he apparently had groped missus Romack just a few 260 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:11,960 Speaker 1: days before the murder. Mister Romack was like, I'm not 261 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:13,240 Speaker 1: really down with that guy. 262 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:14,079 Speaker 2: Sure. 263 00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 1: He also had told mister Romac that he liked Janet, 264 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 1: and later on after the murder, he had told mister 265 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 1: Romack that he could have murdered Janet and then just 266 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 1: forgotten about it. So it was some weird stuff and 267 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 1: like they Yeah, he died in two thousand and six. 268 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:37,560 Speaker 1: Will never know. Yeah, Janet's murder has never been solved 269 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:39,320 Speaker 1: and probably never will at this point. 270 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:44,920 Speaker 3: No, but supposedly that is the story that inspired the 271 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 3: calls coming in from the house, or at the very 272 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 3: least inspired. When a Stranger Calls was probably the most 273 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,200 Speaker 3: famous use of the calls coming from inside the house 274 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 3: from nineteen seventy nine, also Black Christmas, a great great 275 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:02,559 Speaker 3: horror movie, Halloween in nineteen seventy eight, and I'll even 276 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:06,079 Speaker 3: throw scream and had a sort of version of this 277 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 3: with Drew Barrymore, but not exactly coming from inside the house. 278 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:09,959 Speaker 4: No. 279 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 1: I saw the first instance of it on film though, 280 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: was a nineteen seventy three movie called The Severed Arm. 281 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:18,440 Speaker 1: But it wasn't like a plot driver. It was just 282 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: one of the ways the person was murdered. The call 283 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: was coming from inside, like I think the studio they 284 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 1: were working in. 285 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, and now cell phones have kind of screwed this 286 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 2: whole thing up. 287 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 1: For sure. For sure. One other thing, real quick though, 288 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: When a Stranger Calls Back, the sequel to When a 289 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: Stranger Calls is one of the finest rift tracks you 290 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: can see. So you're looking for riff tracks to start with, 291 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:45,320 Speaker 1: start with, I'll check it out. That's it, I guess 292 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 1: for the trope of the call coming from inside the house, right, 293 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: that's right. 294 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 2: I think it means short Stuff is out. 295 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:55,280 Speaker 1: First rip Janet Christman for sure. Now short Stuff is that. 296 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 2: Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio. 297 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 4: For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 298 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 4: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.