Ep. 65: Haunted Histories and Curious Mysteries

What do a Canadian Colonel, tainted Halloween treats, and unicorns have in common? Join us on "Wicked Wanderings" for a chilling yet curious exploration of these topics and more. We kick things off with some light-hearted breakfast banter and a shout-out to Cousin Marc, our loyal listener, before addressing those pesky tech issues some of you have mentioned. Our guest, Pizza Man, spices things up as we express gratitude for your support with a sneak peek into the quirky world of "Strange History," leaving you hungry for more curious tales.

Step into the shadowy world of true crime as we recount the unsettling case of Colonel David Williams, whose dark deeds left a haunting legacy. We unravel the sinister myth of poisoned Halloween candy, spotlighting the chilling actions of Ronald O'Brien in 1974. Alongside these tales, we ponder urban legends and personal fears that color our everyday lives, like the rumor of needles at gas pumps and other eerie consumer scares. It's a dive into the psyche of crime and the stories that shape our collective paranoia.

But it's not all macabre musings! We lighten the mood with tales of historical quirks, from Marco Polo's unicorn mishap to the curious intersections of history with events like the release of Star Wars and the last guillotine execution in 1977. As we discuss eerie similarities between serial killers and the evolution of forensic science, our conversations range from serious reflections on systemic issues to whimsical what-ifs. With stories that will both chill and charm, this episode promises an enthralling mix of the bizarre, the spooky, and the downright strange.

Transcript

Strange History and Strange Fads

Speaker 1 0:05

Pizza man. What did you have for breakfast?

Speaker 2 0:08

Two bacon McDoubles.

Speaker 1 0:09

From McDonald's Yep.

Speaker 3 0:11

Not a sponsor, but they should be I don't know With all the E coli, I don't know if I want them to be a sponsor right now I was going to say do you want McDonald's to sponsor this podcast?

Speaker 1 0:20

But those nuggets they do have a special right now on the nuggets.

Speaker 4 0:25

They do have a pretty good special $1 for 10.

Speaker 2 0:28

You gotta order through that though. Oh yeah, that's how they get you.

Speaker 4 0:33

Once a week yeah.

Speaker 2 0:35

I think it's once per day, week, oh.

Speaker 3 0:39

Courtney's. Like I checked, I knew what looked.

Speaker 2 0:43

That's why you clicked the other coupon earlier.

Speaker 3 0:46

Mm-hmm, okay, okay hi, I'm hannah and I'm courtney. Join us as we delve into true crime, paranormal encounters and all things spooky grab your flashlight and get ready to wander into the darkness with us.

Speaker 4 1:10

This is wicked wanderings spooky. Grab your flashlight and get ready to wander into the darkness with us.

Speaker 3 1:28

This is Wicked Wanderings. Well, hello Wanderers. And I'm going to say hello to three people that are here, Of course, Courtney, thank you for gracing us with your presence once again. Hello, Rob.

Speaker 1 1:39

Hello.

Speaker 3 1:40

And we have Pizza man back for episode two. Hello, Pizza man.

Speaker 2 1:44

Why hello.

Speaker 3 1:45

Are we ever going to tell them his identity?

Speaker 4 1:47

Maybe we can make it like a if everybody. How many subscribers do we need? Producer? I don't know how many subscribers do we need to release?

Speaker 3 1:54

Probably one, since last time we asked we only got one. I mean from last time, that's okay.

Speaker 4 2:01

I think we might have fan mail also. I don't know if you want to.

Speaker 1 2:04

We do have some fan mail. We have fan mail From Cousin.

Speaker 4 2:06

Mark, I see it Like I'll be like working and it's like Cousin Mark and I'm like, oh, cousin Mark. Rob, do you want to read some of the fan mail?

Speaker 1 2:13

Yeah, I can, I can pull it up, all right. So I got two from November 6th and Cousin Mark says Cousin Mark, here the bonus episode is locked.

Speaker 4 2:24

Oh man, wow, not the bonus episode, rob. What is it that people can do if they find that they're trying to get in and it's locked?

Speaker 1 2:32

You can email support at support at I just repeated myself.

Speaker 4 2:38

Support at.

Speaker 1 2:38

Buzzsprout. Support at support. The support email is support at buzzsproutcom and they can help you out.

Speaker 4 2:46

They're definitely very helpful because I had to do that before I joined Wicked Wanderers as a subscriber and that same thing was happening to me, where it was like locking me out, and they're definitely very helpful because I had to do that before I joined. Wicked Wondering as a subscriber and that same thing was happening to me, where it was like locking me out. Yes or you can text one of us, Cousin Mark, and we'll help you.

Speaker 1 2:58

Yeah, definitely November 6th. Cousin Mark here Fucking Putnams.

Speaker 3 3:03

Fucking Putnams.

Speaker 1 3:05

Listening to last Bundy episode and about the accused people. Lol. Do you know what he's talking about?

Speaker 3 3:13

Nope, I don't know if he's putting two things together.

Speaker 1 3:17

I don't know the accused people. And then on November 22nd, cousin Mark here Fucking Putnams. And then November 22nd, cousin Mark here I always come through. Somehow you do Cousin Mark, we do bring Cousin Mark here, I always come through somehow.

Speaker 3 3:33

Yes, you do Cousin, mark, we do bring up.

Speaker 1 3:34

Cousin Mark a lot, and then also November 22nd Cousin Mark here.

Speaker 4 3:40

And we love you, cousin Mark, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 3 3:43

I also do want to apologize to the Wanderers for not having anything this past week, but it was Thanksgiving week, so hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, if you celebrate.

Speaker 1 3:52

And if you want to see all our fan mail, you can go to our website that's wicked wanderings dot com, and you can click on the fan mail and we usually pin most of the fan mails up there so you can see what other people are saying about this lovely podcast.

Speaker 4 4:08

As long as they're appropriate. We'll preface it by saying that as long as they're appropriate. We'll preface it by saying that as long as they're appropriate.

Speaker 1 4:13

And if you want to reach out to us through fan mail, there's a link down in the show notes it will send us a message through our Buzzsprout app.

Speaker 4 4:20

As long as we're not logged out.

Speaker 1 4:23

And then we can read it live here, all right. So, hannah, what are we doing today?

Speaker 3 4:28

Today, courtney and Pizza man got this great book called Strange History Mysterious Artifacts, macabre Legends, boneheaded Blunders and Mind-Blowing Facts. It doesn't really say who it's by, though. That's the weird part.

Speaker 4 4:43

The beauty of thrift finds is that you don't even know what you're looking for until it's sitting in front of you.

Speaker 3 4:48

Oh, it's by the Bathroom Readers Institute.

Speaker 1 4:51

Oh, it's by the Bathroom Readers Institute. Oh, so it's a book that's supposed to be in the bathroom.

Speaker 4 4:53

Well, we're right next door to the bathroom.

Speaker 3 4:57

They're nice short little like weird stories, so I'm just going to read the first one and we'll see how we feel. Are we ready?

Speaker 2 5:05

We're ready. Do we need a drum roll?

Speaker 3 5:08

No, no, no. Okay, I do not have one on my soundboard I only have.

Speaker 4 5:12

Fucking Putnams. I like the fucking Putnams better.

Speaker 3 5:16

Chi Chi equals Nasty, nasty. That's the title. Oh boy, oh boy is right. This strange Broadway musical, written in 1928 by the legendary duo of Richard Rogers and Lauren's Heart, put an end to their long string of successful shows. Why? It may have been the squirm-inducing plot based on a comic novel called the Son of the Grand Eunuch. In case you don't know, eunuchs were men who had been castrated and employed to guard the women's living areas. Oh okay.

Speaker 4 5:43

Castrated and then employed. Because they were castrated to guard women's living areas. Just making sure we've all got that crystal clear Okay.

Speaker 3 5:51

Rogers and Hart set their story in ancient China. The emperor's grand eunuch, li Pi Cao, tells his son Li Pi Chao that he wants him to take over his job. But Li Pi Chao is in love with a beautiful woman named Qiqi and doesn't want to become a eunuch. So the lovers flee and embark on a series of misadventures in which Chi Chi has to award various thieves and bullies sexual favors in order to get herself and Leapy Chow out of one predicament or another. The musical bombed. The review of Chi Chi and the London Observer was entitled simply Nasty, nasty I don't know what I just read. That feels like one man's pursuit to keep his own penis, that's

Speaker 2 6:27

what it felt like.

Speaker 4 6:27

Pretty much it was like the long, the short version of that story is one man wanted to keep his penis.

Speaker 1 6:33

Yes.

Speaker 4 6:34

The end Interesting. Well, it's definitely strange.

Speaker 3 6:38

Mm-hmm. I'm going to read another one. Three strange fads Goldfish swallowing. On March 3rd 1939, Harvard University student Lothrop Winthington Jr swallowed a live goldfish to win a $10 bet. Days later, not to be outdone, a college student in Pennsylvania downed three goldfish seasoned with salt and pepper. When a fellow classmate upped the ante to six goldfish, the gauntlet had been thrown down and the goldfish-swallowing craze spread like wildfire on campuses across the United States. By the time the fad faded a few months later, thousands of goldfish had met gruesome ends. Hmm, Tooth dyeing. In 16th century Europe, tooth dyeing was popular among upper class women. In Italy, red and green were the most popular colors, while Russian women favored black.

Speaker 2 7:22

Oh, which is funny, because if you think about it now.

Speaker 4 7:30

We really put a high prestige on white Interesting. Black is very very much Looks rotten looks rotten. Yeah, a color that you wouldn't imagine would be associated with status huh, I mean half the time.

Speaker 2 7:38

If you drink a blue drink your teeth blue that's true.

Speaker 4 7:41

That's true. They could have saved themselves a lot of money probably the goldfish swallowing is also very strange yeah, and and like, are they alive? Or the goldfish?

Speaker 2 7:48

oh, yeah, yeah it's got to be alive.

Speaker 4 7:52

So morbidly curious here I just think about okay, you swallow a live goldfish. The fish is still alive inside of your body right Is it the stomach acid that kills the fish.

Speaker 1 8:04

Oh yeah, definitely.

Speaker 4 8:05

How long does that take, though? It's all flopping around in there.

Speaker 1 8:09

Fairly quickly. Once you swallow it and hit the stomach, the acid will kill anything.

Speaker 2 8:13

Oh, God I was going to say I don't think you're going to feel it flop around down in your stomach.

Speaker 4 8:18

No, but psychologically I'm feeling it flopping around. I don't yeah, yeah, Also just poor goldfish. What did they do to deserve?

Speaker 3 8:26

that.

Speaker 2 8:26

They did nothing.

Speaker 4 8:28

We can talk about murder here, but somebody talks about swallowing a goldfish, and now I'm pissed. Yeah, Steve wouldn't like that too much. No, Steve would not like that. But.

Speaker 1 8:35

Steve's not a goldfish.

Speaker 4 8:36

He's a beta, but he's also a stupid beta, because I'm pretty sure he ate one of those blue beta beads and now he's in a hospital tank being treated for dropsy.

Speaker 1 8:47

Wait, what's going on with Steve? He's not at your house.

Speaker 4 8:49

Well, he's in a hospital tank at the house because I think he ate one of those blue orbs that was in there.

Speaker 1 8:55

Oh, so you took him out of the tank.

Speaker 2 8:57

Yeah, we put him in a new tank, we moved the heater over and all that. Wow, oh jeez, is he doing okay?

Speaker 4 9:05

He looked so puffy in the top half he looked like somebody put an orby inside of him how do you fix him? Do you just wait him? Out, there's some kind of medication and then just waiting him out with it. He's in an empty fish bowl with just the stuff that he mentioned the tank heater and stuff. If an orb appears in there, we'll know it came from Steve.

Speaker 2 9:27

Oh jeez, he's doing a lot.

Speaker 4 9:29

Yeah, he wasn't moving. He's moving around a lot more.

Speaker 2 9:32

so, yeah, whatever those give off. We looked in, not good.

Speaker 4 9:36

Either that or he bit into one and it released some kind of chemical because he was like laying on the bottom of the tank and just like really really lethargic. Poor Steve. I know we tried to do something nice for him and look what happened, oh my God. So hopefully Steve's hospital tank stay. I think he likes it. I think he likes looking at the plants that he can see.

Speaker 2 9:56

Or watching TV or watching TV.

Speaker 3 10:00

I feel like it's those kids back in the day I'm talking about way back in the day for a reason because they would get the little hot wheels, because the parents like, oh, they'll love these, and they would like put them in their mouth and they had lead paint and then they got sick. Yeah, I don't know why. My brain immediately went to kids who bite wheels off of things. Okay, I hate too much work.

Speaker 1 10:19

Yeah, it is way heads off of dolls. Yep, so to crotchless tunics crotchless tunics, I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 10:21

What part of a tunic has a crotch anyway? Right, aren't all?

Speaker 1 10:24

tunics crotchless. Well, let's define a tunic first want me to look it up yes, please, I was like you're looking at me oh all right, let's see I thought he was gonna pull it off um, okay, well, my phone took tunic and made it ethnic, so that was interesting.

Speaker 4 10:40

Um, okay, a tunic, according to google, is a loose garment, typically sleeveless and reaching to the wearer's knees.

Speaker 1 10:48

So it's a piece of clothing you put on, okay.

Speaker 2 10:51

So, it's a tube.

Speaker 4 10:53

It's essentially like a smock kind of, or like a dress basically. It lays over and it's very loose.

Speaker 3 10:59

Which makes sense because it's so medieval England right now.

Speaker 4 11:01

I'm so confused about the crotchless piece because I've never heard someone refer to anything as a, so it's like a big hole. It's like a dress.

Speaker 2 11:07

All dresses are crotchless. I was going to say it sounds a lot like you know, like a wizard.

Speaker 4 11:12

Like a wizard's robe.

Speaker 2 11:14

Yeah, something like that, just without the arm holes.

Speaker 4 11:16

I'm going to get a picture. Would that help if I get a picture? Okay, let's get a picture.

Speaker 1 11:19

Well, that won't help our wanderers, yeah, but it will help Hannah. Unless you're driving right now. Please take the time to pause this episode and Google a tunic.

Speaker 4 11:32

Tunic.

Speaker 1 11:34

Okay, it looks like a dress or a skirt or a kilt.

Speaker 4 11:37

It's one piece, so it's like that top piece and then it usually like bunches in around the waist and it's basically like a dress.

Speaker 3 11:44

From my understanding, I mean we really could go into it here and be like, you know, men now not all men, men excluded right here but like some men are like, that'd be like so feminine if I wore a dress, like looking back men wore heels, they wore makeup, they wore wigs, they wore dresses.

Speaker 1 12:01

So, and kilts.

Speaker 4 12:02

That's another episode. And kilts, that's what I was going to say. That's a whole other episode, but anyhow, that's for our other podcast.

Speaker 3 12:09

In medieval england, wealthy gentlemen often wore clothing that left their assets exposed, by way of short-fitting tunics with no pants. If the genitals didn't hang low enough, padded, flesh-coated prosthetics called briquettes would be used.

Speaker 4 12:21

Wait, wait, I'm sorry if the penis didn't protrude long enough. That small dick energy. They put a prosthetic penis. Essentially they stuffed their junk I.

Speaker 2 12:29

I think they're talking about the balls.

Speaker 3 12:32

If the genitals didn't hang low enough, padded, flesh-coated prosthetics called briquettes would be used.

Speaker 1 12:39

It does sound like the balls.

Speaker 3 12:40

Yeah.

Speaker 4 12:41

Wow, In that kind of ensemble I don't think I would want my genitals to hang out the bottom. What year?

Speaker 1 12:47

was this again.

Speaker 3 12:49

It just says medieval England, so probably 1600 maybe.

Speaker 1 12:51

Oh, medieval, okay, 15, 16, okay.

Speaker 4 12:53

How else do you market yourself if you don't plop?

Speaker 3 12:56

the family jewels right on the living room table. Excuse me while.

Speaker 4 12:59

I move this over, and then a prosthetic piece falls out all over the place.

Speaker 3 13:03

Oh, let me go fix this.

Speaker 4 13:04

Well, that's embarrassing, dropped my tissue ball.

Speaker 3 13:07

All right, I'm going to read one more and I'll pass it to you. Sure, Okay, the flea killer, queen Christina ruled Sweden from 1632 to 1654. Oh, penny, whenever she spotted one, she fired the tiny cannon at it and occasionally made a kill shot.

Speaker 4 13:44

Thank God, we have a kill shot, a kill shot for the fleece or a kill shot for the person.

Speaker 3 13:47

Probably both. What was your question?

Speaker 2 13:51

A kill shot for the fleece or a kill shot for the person.

Speaker 3 13:52

No for the fleece.

Speaker 2 13:55

It's like a spit dart it sounds like you're getting shot at by a shotgun shell. That's one inch A little 410.

Speaker 4 14:02

I'm going to do a temporary pause here.

Speaker 2 14:04

All right.

Speaker 4 14:05

So do we want to throw some murder in here?

Speaker 1 14:07

Murder. This is a different book.

Unusual Crime Stories

Speaker 4 14:10

Yes, yeah, I just think that book is good, but it kind of goes away from necessarily what people are subscribing for, like if we throw some of those in with this. So a high-ranking military officer used jogging as a cover for underwear theft and murder.

Speaker 2 14:25

Underwear theft.

Speaker 4 14:26

Underwear theft and murder. There's a lot of crotch talk this episode.

Speaker 3 14:30

Yeah, maybe that's like our theme. I like it Crotch talk I will definitely pick that up.

Speaker 4 14:35

Canadian Armed Forces Colonel David Williams claimed he was going on daily runs in 2007, but he was really breaking into his neighbor's homes and photographing himself wearing the underwear of female residents.

Speaker 1 14:48

Oh, my God.

Speaker 4 14:49

Mind you, that was 2007.

Speaker 2 14:52

Canadians.

Speaker 4 14:54

We love our Canadian listeners. In 2009, he started to assault women before stealing their underwear oh, canadians, we love our Canadian listeners. In 2009,. He started to assault women before stealing their underwear, oh. And then moved up to murder, kidnapping a woman on a highway before killing her and ditching her body in a forest.

Speaker 4 15:07

Wow, what a terror. Police secured a tire print near the victim's home and an officer called out a match on William's car at a checkpoint. After 10 hours of questioning he confessed Can you imagine being a high-ranking military officer and then you've got to sit there and confess that you were breaking into your neighbor's homes and prancing around in their underpants?

Speaker 2 15:26

There's going to be something crazy in that maple syrup. They got up there.

Speaker 4 15:30

This is where, like for me, murder becomes interesting, like psychologically why women's underwear?

Speaker 1 15:38

you know?

Speaker 4 15:39

and at what point did it lose the luster of just breaking in and taking the underwear? And then you're like you know what I should do. Up my game, I should kill women for their dirty and he's like losing the high.

Speaker 2 15:50

Maybe that wasn't the case, maybe it was. They're like what are you doing in my house? He's like, uh, stab that's how quick stabbing happens.

Speaker 3 15:59

But I feel maybe he like is losing the high, like he had this high off of having the underwear on and then, all right, it's losing its luster.

Speaker 4 16:05

I need to up my game well, and so they had said that he started to assault them. I'm wondering if, for him, if he started to question like masculinity is a big thing, if he started to say why am I wearing's underwear? I'm a man and that power piece of I can still be a man, I always go back to mommy issues.

Speaker 4 16:20

I mean, there's certainly. I wonder if the underwear is the same type that his mother wore. Anyways, moving on, it only feels fitting that Halloween is all year round for us and the next one is about Halloween. Only one death has ever been linked to purposefully tainted Halloween candy.

Speaker 1 16:39

Oh.

Speaker 4 16:40

Only one, and that's wild, because my dad used to be like you can't eat your Halloween candy until we've looked. They made it sound like everybody on the block was putting razor blades or fentanyl. They made it sound like every neighborhood had someone.

Speaker 3 16:54

Well, when we went Halloween trick-or-treating it was always in my aunt's little area and we knew all the people that were giving out the candy. It wasn't like we ever went to like a random neighborhood. My mother would never allow that. So my mom be like okay, I know this candy's fine because always there was gonna be razor blades. They're gonna have syringes with blood in it or something I always wondered where that came from.

Speaker 4 17:12

I always figured it was like an early 2000s thing, just based off of like talking to people.

Speaker 1 17:16

No it was like that in the 90s too.

Speaker 4 17:18

Apparently in earlier.

Speaker 1 17:19

But the thing is, if you go and buy drugs, why would you waste it?

Speaker 4 17:24

Why would you waste it? By giving it to kids. What kind of miserable old prick is like. You know what would be great Razorblades and candy Like what You're not even going to like. You're not even going to like. Even if bear with me you were the kind of person who liked to watch people suffer. They're going home to eat the candy. You're not going to get any gain out of it.

Speaker 3 17:41

Would you guys also see the craze? I mean it's going a little off topic, but people would be opening their oranges and they were seeing like blood in them, like people were stabbing it with AIDS blood, what I don't think that was even real, but they were opening the oranges and was filled with blood.

Speaker 4 17:54

Honestly, sometimes the internet makes me nervous because you can look at anything Like. There was a whole thing a little while ago about soda cans and people saying they were finding like mice and rats in the soda cans what?

Speaker 2 18:06

And I know it's not logical. I've seen some of that stuff.

Speaker 4 18:09

Totally freaked me out. For like two months I wouldn't drink out of a can Because the idea that a rat could be in it. I mean, how would a rat fit in a soda?

Speaker 3 18:19

can I mean because they actually put this top on after they put the liquid in right? I guess a mouse could fall in.

Speaker 2 18:25

Yeah, but if you watch some of the canning things, that happens fast it does.

Speaker 3 18:29

It does happen fast. I don't know it. It's a I don't know weird. But also one more thing, because this is also one reason why I don't like to pump gas trauma here, the needles underneath the yes, that was that was actually happening in our area like 10 years ago.

Speaker 4 18:43

Yeah, that was a thing in massachusetts. Yeah, and that's one of the reasons why I don't like to pump gas.

Speaker 4 18:49

That sounds convenient anyways thanks to my best friend thanks to our tainted halloween candy. In 1974, texan ronald o O'Brien handed out pixie sticks laced with cyanide to five children, including his eight-year-old son, timothy. Oh my God what and like okay, I'll keep reading. I'll just. He was in the middle of a custody dispute with his former wife and had intended to harm his son to exact revenge on his estranged spouse. Fuck you, ronald. Wow. Timothy O'Brien died. Ronald O'Brien received the death penalty. The other four kids didn't eat their poisoned candy. How'd he die? What year was this? Again um 1974? So it's probably the electric chair, probably.

Speaker 3 19:33

I mean, we could definitely um google it hold on I have, my, I have my phone somewhere where, where, all right. What was his whole name?

Speaker 4 19:40

ronald ronald o'brien o apostrophe capital b? R-y-a-n oh, r-y yep, they didn't say he was the candy man, I mean, that fits yeah oh, he was executed by lethal injection really it must have been really soon in the lethal injection game.

Speaker 3 20:01

He okay a little more extra info poisoned his son in order to claim life insurance money oh disgusting.

Speaker 4 20:08

He was at a hundred thousand dollars with the debt, so harm his son to exact revenge and make financial gain he even looks like a douche let's see him the old guy he looks so creepy old guy yeah and also friends, I guess. Be careful with pixie sticks.

Speaker 3 20:25

New fear unlocked temporarily but me and rob love pixie sticks well, check it for cyanide, right rob oh okay, this is an interesting potential one.

Speaker 4 20:37

I don't feel like the title gives us really any information, but that makes it more interesting. Witnesses calling for a killer to leave couldn't dissuade him from completing a murder.

Speaker 3 20:46

Dissuade him.

Bystander Effect and Fingerprinting History

Speaker 4 20:47

Mm-hmm. Okay, kitty Genovese returned to her home in Queens, new York, around 3 am on March 13th 1964. Before she could open her door, a man attacked and repeatedly stabbed her. Oh, kitty called out for help in no uncertain terms, yelling he stabbed me, please help me. Several residents awoke, turned on their lights and opened their windows with just one man yelling, leave that girl alone. As if that's going to help. The attacker ran off. But when things quieted down he returned and stabbed kitty again. She called for help. Again the attacker ran away and finally, at 3 50 am, police were summoned, so that you're talking a whole hour of people being like essentially shut up, leave her alone, um, when they could have potentially helped her kitty died before just getting stabbed multiple times.

Speaker 4 21:34

Kitty died before she made it to the hospital. Nearly 40 people had witnessed the assault and nobody intervened. It was an example of diffusion of responsibility. Everyone had assumed somebody else would help or call. And then Genovese syndrome is a term used today to describe why humans become helpless bystanders in urgent situations.

Speaker 3 21:57

They've done like experiments on that.

Speaker 4 21:58

Yeah, I mean, and it I guess, for you have to consider, like, the culture of an area, Like I mean, we're here right, how many times have we been sitting in the living room reading and someone out there is yelling and we're like, shut up?

Speaker 3 22:10

It's true.

Speaker 4 22:10

It's true. I mean honestly. Honestly, I would like to believe I've never been placed in that situation. If somebody were yelling help me, they're stabbing me, that I would call 9-1-1. Yeah, um, but how many times has somebody yelled just like ah, and you're like?

Speaker 3 22:24

well, there's that thing, too, where everyone's oh, someone else will get it, someone else will get it right. So a good story to talk about now is me and rob were on the mass pike and we saw this car pulled over and there was this. She was probably elderly, she must have been in her 60s. Over this man in the grass, just like sitting over him, like something was obviously wrong. And rob was great. He's like I'm gonna call 9-1-1, and of course someone had already called. But it's like we could have been like oh, someone's already gonna call it, but what if we were the only ones that called 911? I'd rather annoy a dispatcher for five seconds than not call at all.

Speaker 4 23:00

Well, the day not last. Yeah, last Christmas Eve, when we were coming home.

Speaker 2 23:04

Oh yep.

Speaker 4 23:06

There was the man who was crashed into the guardrail and of course he was in the road and bleeding, so I got out to provide some kind of medical attention. Oh, yeah, he drove right into that thing he was gushing out of his head. His head went into the windshield.

Speaker 2 23:16

Yeah, he was not wearing a seatbelt or anything. Probably what broke his arm? Oh, definitely His arm was going the wrong way.

Speaker 4 23:22

While he was on with 911, other people. They were saying, oh yep, someone else is calling in, someone else is calling line, and they stayed on with us until the police arrived. Oh, that's good, but like three or four or five people didn't stop. I mean it was at night. I wouldn't have stopped if I was by myself, I would have just called 911. But there was two other people who did stop. One kept. She was like, oh okay, people are with him, I'm going to go home. And then the little old man, because he didn't want me standing by myself near him.

Speaker 4 23:52

I mean, the guy was obviously intoxicated, but it is, it's the same thing. People are like, oh, I'm sure, yeah, there's six people here, but you have to consider that not everybody has the same. Yeah, I don't even want to say morals. I'll say not everyone has the same experience. So some people might see something and go, oh, I'm sure it's fine. And some people might be like the way that Lady's over him in the grass, with the training and experiences I've had, is telling me something is wrong. Something's wrong, yeah, and I would always rather be wrong and be like, hey, sorry to call this in, but maybe he's throwing up because he's been drinking I don't know. He clearly is having some kind of bad time.

Speaker 2 24:25

Yep, yeah, and I had the car parked far enough away too. He was I think about that man a lot.

Speaker 4 24:34

I'm just lucky I haven't received a summons for that man yet, because I definitely had to put a written statement out. Do you want to do one more?

Speaker 2 24:41

Yeah, go for it Absolutely.

Speaker 4 24:42

This one's about fingerprinting, which I think is really interesting. The title is fingerprinting was first used to convict criminals after a 1905 robbery.

Speaker 1 24:52

Interesting.

Speaker 4 24:55

So I mean 1905, robbery interesting, so I mean 19. That's kind of a long I feel like people are like fingerprinting is new and I'm like not really, I mean they've I.

Speaker 3 25:02

I feel like it's evolving. Yeah right, it's like an ever-evolving thing.

Speaker 4 25:06

Well, and they're getting I mean, it goes off of a database, so they're getting access to more and more people for different reasons fingerprints which just initially, when they didn't have a data bank, they were just kind of like, oh great, we have this fingerprint.

Speaker 3 25:17

I'm kind of curious though, like when they started realizing that fingerprints are an individual thing.

Speaker 4 25:23

Just like DNA. Maybe it'll say oh, maybe it will.

Speaker 3 25:26

I'll look it up, just in case.

Speaker 4 25:27

London shopkeeper Thomas Farrow was killed in a stick-up gone awry one morning in March 1905, a crime that also involved two men going into Farrow's attached residence to look for cash and viciously beating Anne I'm assuming, because they don't have the same one, so I'm assuming a wife or a significant other. Police had little evidence beyond a greasy fingerprint on an empty cash box. Fingerprinting was still in its infancy, a novelty in evidence detecting, with neighbors suggesting that the crime was the work of known thieves, alfred and Albert Stratton. Detectives compared the fingerprint on the cash box with one they had on file of Albert. The prints matched and it was entered as evidence in the trial of Alfred Stratton. This was the first time that fingerprints were used as evidence in a criminal trial.

Speaker 4 26:11

Stratton was found guilty of murder. Were used as evidence in a criminal trial. Stratton was found guilty of murder. So I suppose the way that that's written it was the first time it was used in a criminal trial. I'm assuming that they had used it to lead them to more evidence, but they hadn't actually presented it as like. Hannah is guilty. And here's the reason why?

Speaker 3 26:27

Because of this yes, right, right, it was the end of the meeting.

Speaker 4 26:31

What's that say they would start with? Like we're placing her here because we have this Right but this itself is not the evidence.

Speaker 3 26:37

So I guess the scientific understanding of fingerprints to be unique had to do with the work of Sir Francis Galton in the late 19th century, who published his findings in 1892. Establishing that fingerprints are both permanent and an individual to each person. But something interesting about what I think is interesting. So we've all burnt ourselves right from, like picking something up too fast or whatever, but if you burn it enough you actually lose the fingerprint yeah, and you can alter some of where the rigid things are too, or if you like cut your fingers.

Speaker 1 27:09

You know you.

Speaker 4 27:10

Yeah, you permanently alter it right and even though it's just slightly, I'm sure they can still pick up on what they call like a partial, like they can get, but like for jobs.

Speaker 3 27:18

I've had and I'm sure you have had too.

Speaker 4 27:20

I've been fingerprinted.

Speaker 3 27:21

We need to do fingerprints because we work with children. Whenever you're in a school.

Speaker 4 27:26

I worked in a preschool, actual school like where they did education based, not just like the preschool daycare version.

Speaker 3 27:32

So anytime you're education-based, they make you do all the fingerprinting so we go through state federal FBI everything I can't commit any crimes because between my hair shedding and these greasy old fingerprints.

Speaker 2 27:42

Oh my god.

Speaker 4 27:43

I leave fingerprints on everything. My phone right now is a disaster of fingerprints.

Speaker 2 27:46

Yeah, and I cleaned it off. What yesterday?

Speaker 4 27:49

My screen in my car is like all fingerprints. I'm like I hate it.

Speaker 2 27:53

I always have had that and you just got a new car Very distinctive Yep. I'm sorry because.

Speaker 4 27:58

I said one more and then I looked and just got like the quick preview of the title for the next one and it really tied into the episode that we did where Rob's cousin Patrick was here. And we talked about serial killers and their last meals and things.

Speaker 3 28:12

Can I get a refill though real quick before we do that?

Speaker 1 28:13

Yeah, you guys, okay with that. You want to grab me one? Yeah, sure, thank you.

Serial Killer Similarities and Childhood Traumas

Speaker 4 28:16

So I will grab some out of the serial killer section. Okay, do you want to read them or do you want me to? Okay, okay, rodney Alcala defended himself in court. This seems very Ted Bundy of him, right?

Speaker 2 28:29

Very Ted Bundy of him. I shall do this myself.

Speaker 4 28:32

Okay, rodney declined his right to an attorney, even a state-appointed one, when on trial for his various murders in California. Ted Bundy, very Ted Bundy. Sorry, what year is this, does it say? It didn't say, yet he acted as his own lawyer instead and actually interrogated himself on the witness stand. Wow, it gets better, but wait, there's more. Addressing Mr Alcala in a booming voice and then answering himself in his normal voice Okay, I'm sorry, psyche Val is all I'm thinking to myself right now. Plot twist, he was convicted anyway.

Speaker 4 29:08

I am going to look up Rodney because it doesn't give us any date and it doesn't tell us anything about him. And I just I'm a little impressed by him, court, but like psyche Val. Like, wouldn't that like ding ding ding. Oh, okay, so he was born August 23rd 1943. So he was before Bundy. He died of a heart attack in California July 24th 2021.

Speaker 2 29:33

Oh, wow.

Speaker 4 29:34

Recent. Okay, so let's get a little wikipedia situation adam interesting. So rodney james alcala, born rodrigo jacks alcala.

Speaker 4 29:46

Okay, also like bondi, because bondi right, yeah um was an american serial killer, rap and convicted sex offender who was sentenced to death in California for five murders committed between 1977 and 1979. He also pleaded guilty and received a sentence of 25 years to life for two further murders committed in New York. He was also indicted for a murder in Wyoming, although the charges filed there were dropped. Also like Bundy, traveling everywhere. While he has been linked conclusively to eight murders, the true number of victims remains unknown and could be as high as 130.

Speaker 3 30:22

Just like Ted.

Speaker 4 30:22

Bundy, we're not sure how many. Wow the similarities Eight confirmed, 130 possible. Yeah, how does he look? He looks exactly like you would. They did like a early and late. He almost looks a little like Bundy yeah. Very, hmm, very.

Speaker 3 30:41

And how does his?

Speaker 4 30:41

timeline flesh up with Bundy.

Speaker 3 30:44

So he was a little bit older than Bundy, but Maybe Bundy was copying him the whole time. Because Bundy's child was born about the early 80s, so a little older than rob, and that's when everything was going down, my goodness so I just I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 31:03

I was reading and I saw a news article popped up that said um, published november 28th 2024, so two days ago and the title is dating game Game Killer Kept Trophies that Ultimately Led to His Downfall.

Speaker 3 31:17

Wait a minute is that the show, the movie? Yeah, oh my God.

Speaker 1 31:21

Oh no, there's a Netflix show.

Speaker 4 31:23

right, yeah, it started with, while the recent release of a new film has brought the infamous case of a serial killer, rodney Alcala, back into the public eye. Oh my God, back into the public eye Wow. It's a former detective who helped put him behind bars for life, told Fox News Digital about a pair of earrings that led to his ultimate downfall.

Speaker 1 31:40

Does it say what the actress's name was?

Speaker 3 31:43

Yes, it's the one from Pitch Perfect.

Speaker 2 31:45

Oh yeah, Anna Kendrick.

Speaker 4 31:48

Anna Kendrick, woman of the.

Speaker 1 31:49

Hour. Right, she decided not to take any money for the and she donated all of it, yeah see good for her.

Speaker 4 31:56

This article is is very interesting and talk about funny how we're we're reading this out of the book. Yeah, two days ago they posted this article that I never realized. Like, when I read his name, I truthfully had no idea who he was. I didn't, um, I guess he was coined. You know how they always have those serial killer names. He was dubbed the dating game killer.

Speaker 1 32:15

Right.

Speaker 4 32:16

Because he appeared on the television show the Dating Game as a Bachelor number one in 1978.

Speaker 3 32:21

Okay, you were called to read this one Creepy, I don't want to be called by Rodney.

Speaker 4 32:26

There are lots of people I'm okay with being called by. Rodney is not on the list.

Speaker 2 32:29

Now that you're reading more of that and, because of what you said, the movie on Netflix that Anna Kendrick, like it's all making sense, because I remember seeing that and I think I'm told you about it or meant to.

Speaker 4 32:41

It's hard when a lot of the things you consume, whether it's like TikTok or Reels or books you're reading when they're all about the same topic. Sometimes it's hard to keep straight like, okay, who is that person, or is that the one this movie was about? So that's definitely very.

Speaker 2 32:55

Do you want to watch the movie? Kind of.

Speaker 1 32:59

Maybe we'll do that when you guys are at the game. I believe it's a series.

Speaker 4 33:03

Like a docu-series.

Speaker 1 33:04

Yeah.

Speaker 4 33:05

Kind of situation.

Speaker 3 33:06

No, no, but it's not reality. They don't.

Speaker 2 33:11

No, I think it's like the one they did with I think it was Ted Bundy. Yeah, it's a series.

Speaker 3 33:18

Yes, like they did with Zac Efron. Yeah, yep, zac Efron. I know right, how did he?

Speaker 4 33:22

get cast for that part. You know what we won't. No disrespect, I'll just move to the next, if you want or do you want to read a different one?

Speaker 3 33:29

May I? Yes, do you have one, Something a little more lighthearted? Well, I don't know if it's lighthearted but it says unicorns in the title.

Speaker 4 33:34

I see it's going dark. There be unicorns or not, I knew there was going to be a plot twist.

Speaker 3 33:40

Myth Farmed explorer Marco Polo saw unicorns in the 13th century. He described them as ugly brutes. The reality Historians believe that Marco Polo did see a horned animal A rhinoceros.

Speaker 4 33:57

Rhinos are kind of ugly if you think like they're gray. Yeah, they're beautiful in in a life kind of way, but there's not compared to unicorns, I mean do you know what's a scary animal, a hippo?

Speaker 3 34:08

why?

Speaker 2 34:09

they oh, they're vicious.

Speaker 4 34:11

Have you ever watched those videos of them crushing a whole watermelon?

Speaker 3 34:13

they're vicious like don't get them angry, they're so cute.

Speaker 2 34:19

I feel like a rhino would be about the same, unless you're Eastern Jura but they look more intimidating because of their horn.

Speaker 4 34:26

Hippos and rhinoceroses are kind of the same thing someone's got a horn and one doesn't one's a little hornier than the other, I guess so so my mom got me this.

Speaker 3 34:38

I don't know how to say it Rob, help this little like rhino. No, the hippo that moves, what do you call it?

Speaker 1 34:45

What.

Speaker 4 34:45

I'm getting really concerned. Psyche Val.

Speaker 1 34:48

I know, seriously, I have no clue what you're talking about.

Speaker 3 34:50

This hippo toy for me that was electronic, it goes.

Speaker 1 34:53

My mom had this hippo toy for me that was electronic. When was this?

Speaker 3 34:55

When I was little.

Speaker 1 34:56

How would I know?

Speaker 3 34:58

Okay, but I want the word for it. Was it animatronic? Is that how you say it?

Speaker 1 35:02

Sure.

Speaker 4 35:03

A robot you had a hippo robot.

Speaker 1 35:04

Yes.

Speaker 4 35:04

A robotic Okay.

Speaker 3 35:06

It scared the living shit out of me. It sounds terrifying, by the way. Yes, another childhood trauma, my yes, another childhood trauma. My mom still has it. She brought it out not too far away and it scared the living crap out of me.

Speaker 1 35:17

Not too long ago.

Speaker 4 35:18

Yeah, not too long ago. So no cactuses, no hippos. This list of things Hannah has trauma with is getting more bizarre by the year I've known her and also, really frustratingly, not inclusive.

Speaker 1 35:28

What do you mean? So for everyone listening, that is our Dickens Village. From what is it? Studio Department 56. And we have a church that every hour it rings.

Speaker 4 35:42

So sorry, not sorry. We've definitely been here for a whole hour then, guys, because I've heard it chimed twice.

Speaker 3 35:47

What do you mean? Not inclusive?

Speaker 4 35:48

Now I'm confused. Oh just, it's going to be really hard to give you gifts because the things are so complicated. I'm at the store with this list that looks like a Santa's list. It's like you don't make it this and she has a trauma with this.

Speaker 3 35:59

No, cactus, cactus. I don't want to touch batteries. No hippos. I forgot about that. I have this thing with batteries, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 36:07

And she's afraid they're going to explode in her hands, hands like a normal double a okay well, we'll go back to this.

Speaker 2 36:14

Well, hold on. Have you licked a nine volt before?

Speaker 4 36:17

no, tell him that's weird.

Speaker 1 36:19

Tell him that that's weird, that's what child has not licked a nine volt battery? Hasn't you two children are weird right, that's how you know if it's to work.

Speaker 3 36:29

We're also, weren't little boys like you guys, you know what I know.

Speaker 4 36:32

If a battery works, I stick it in something, and if it doesn't turn on I I'm like what's in the battery?

Speaker 2 36:36

My mother was the one who was like lick the 9-volt battery. That's how you know it still works.

Speaker 3 36:41

Oh, so it's that Rhode Island thing.

Speaker 1 36:42

No, because I did it in Western Mass.

Speaker 4 36:56

If you've ever licked a 9-volt battery, go down into the show notes and send us a message.

Speaker 3 36:58

Cousin Mark, cousin, mark, tell them, tell them, it's not normal to lick nine-volt batteries, please Awkward lull while we all text him. All right. Myth Unicorns are mentioned in the Bible nine times the reality. The word seems to have first popped up in the 1611 version of the King James Bible.

Speaker 2 37:11

The.

Speaker 3 37:12

Anarchy of James. I have so much things I could say but I'm not going to. Scholars say it wasn't magic that put unicorns into holy scripture. It was mistranslation and misunderstanding, like so much of the bible. The hebrew word raym, which is translated to english as unicorn, most likely referred to the raimu, a now extinct species of ox interesting.

Speaker 4 37:32

Interesting we can get into.

Speaker 3 37:34

Bible stuff someday. All right, there we go. Myth. The horn of a captured unicorn, when ground into a powder, has medicinal qualities such as the ability to destroy poison and purify water. In the 16th century, an intact unicorn horn was worth 10 times more than gold. They were sold in pharmacies well into the 1700s. The reality is shady merchants got their unicorn horns quote from the narwhal, a type of whale with a protruding tooth that looks like a horn. Those poor narwhals.

Speaker 4 38:04

They were being scalped and they weren't even getting credit for the things that they were being stripped of. Can I?

Speaker 3 38:10

read one more yes.

Speaker 3 38:12

History North Korea style. Oh boy. In november 2012, the government run north korean central news agency announced the scientists there had found the burial site of a unicorn the one that was said to have been ridden by king dong young I'm sorry, I probably butchered that who had founded korea, known as goyeo at the time in 37 BC. The site was located near a temple in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. A rock engraved with unicorn layer marked the grave. Sung Yong Lee, a professor of Korean studies at Tufts University, told Live Science that the report was political propaganda. So why would the government claim that unicorns are real? To support King Jong-un, North Korea's leader? Of course it's symbolically said. North Koreans don't take reports like this literally the way Westerners would.

Unusual Facts and Dark Discussions

Speaker 3 39:03

Another professor said the report was mistranslated. What was found was not a unicorn's lair at all. It was the burial site of a Kireen. What's that? A beast with a dragon's head, a deer's body and the tail of a cow. I don't know if that's worse than a unicorn A beast with a dragon's head, a deer's body and the tail of a cow. But no fantasy's good. No, that's a lot of unicorns, I didn't know. The next one was about unicorns. Just north korea caught my attention.

Speaker 4 39:32

Who would have thought north korea and unicorns would have just made a sandwich.

Speaker 3 39:36

Yeah, hey, rob yeah I think pizza man would like. Uh, that show you watch on YouTube.

Speaker 1 39:43

Which one?

Speaker 3 39:44

Remember he went into North Korea.

Speaker 1 39:47

Oh yes, the Indigo, traveler.

Speaker 3 39:50

Yeah, you would like him.

Speaker 2 39:52

I just looked at a little fun fact for you guys too. Go ahead, pizza man, completely. I mean, I guess it does have to do with murder. So you know, let me get to that first or it'll be second. So you know, let me get to that first or it'll be second. So the release date, so fun fact. The release date for Star Wars came out in May 25th 1977.

Speaker 3 40:19

Right, the last person to be executed.

Speaker 2 40:22

I'm just kidding, sorry, the last person to be executed by guillotine was how many? I'm not even going to try to pronounce the name, but it was on September 10th 1977 in France.

Speaker 3 40:35

They used guillotine for a very long time 1977.

Speaker 2 40:38

Star Wars came out in 1977. So imagine you just walked out of the theater watching Star Wars. Obviously, you know, if they they kept in theaters that long and be like you know what I'm gonna go watch a beheading.

Speaker 3 40:53

That is kind of funny oh boy, thank you pizza man. How did you find that like? Were you like random facts?

Speaker 2 41:01

no, um, I remember watching a thing that I was saying two different compared timelines oh, a lot of things.

Speaker 3 41:07

I was like I'm just gonna look this up real quick because I figured you guys would appreciate that yes yeah, I I think there's more if I actually pull up the whole little little thing, the real so, pizza man, I don't know if you listened to that episode that we did with Rob's cousin, patrick, but we all talked about if we had to die by the way of the government, which one would we choose? And I picked beheading and they all looked at me like I was crazy.

Speaker 2 41:36

I mean it's quick.

Speaker 4 41:36

We also picked what our last meal would be if we were going on death row.

Speaker 3 41:40

Yes, and I wanted all my mommy's food, which was it's fine, my, it's fine. My mom has good cooking. I think rob was a firing squad I think so courtney.

Speaker 4 41:54

Do you remember what yours?

Speaker 2 41:55

I don't think I picked one I mean the beheading is, without a doubt, quick but they said, it wasn't what if it didn't work the first time?

Speaker 3 42:03

I mean, I would sure hope that thing's gonna but I I watched um a ghost adventures because you guys know that, um, you know I have a certain crush on someone, but anyways, so they were at ohio state penitentiary and this guy. That's a good trip. Yes, it looks amazing. I would love to go with you guys yeah, I would love to, but the hanging that they did the guy. It took him 15 minutes to die by hanging.

Speaker 4 42:30

Yeah, I know, I would have never chose hanging, I know for me that's.

Speaker 3 42:34

But like by that time, why did someone just not end his misery?

Speaker 2 42:38

I mean, that's like crucifixion that one actually takes forever to die.

Speaker 4 42:42

Actually I want to say Patrick and I both said lethal injection, Did you? I think we did. Oh man, I can't find it.

Speaker 2 42:49

That one also has its issues.

Speaker 4 42:51

They all have their issues.

Speaker 3 42:52

They're all problematic, because even if you take beheading by sword, I mean by sword. If it's not sharp enough or someone's not strong enough, or drawn and quartered. Do you know drawn and quartered? Does everyone know what drawn and quartered is? No?

Speaker 2 43:11

oh, isn't that the one where you're hooked up to horses?

Speaker 3 43:14

each limb to a horse, and then they kick them, and then they go in each direction. Nope, alright, we ready for our card yes, we are it's a king of clubs. Daryl jenkins jr. On june 4 2014, the victim was shot in front of his residence on kessington avenue in springfield oh witnesses heard multiple shots in the area and a female who was present in the area was also shot but survived. If you have any info about this case, please call 1-855-MA-SOLVE. Daryl Jenkins Jr.

Speaker 4 43:50

I don't know why. When I picked up the cards, I was like we're going to know this card. I'm still really like my mind is still blown that, and Pizza Ben doesn't know this but there's a case from my childhood that my mom always talked about with someone who she knew and I talked about it on like three different episodes. When Hannah asked questions and the last time I pulled a card it was her card and I was like I had goosebumps up both arms. I was like, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 44:14

I'm pretty sure I pulled the card and read it and then your face just dropped.

Speaker 3 44:18

Yeah, daryl Jenkins, that sounds really familiar. But anyways, what? Was the year on, it Did we 2014.

Speaker 4 44:28

Okay, so it was recent, so it's probably something that we consumed in the media. Looking at, Probably. That's because the name did sound really familiar and I have to say, like just shuffling the cards, what I find to be the most sad part of all of it is almost all of the victims at least the ones that are left in our half a deck as I was shuffling are young African-American males. And it is so sad because I would say, out of the cards that are remaining here, three quarters of them are African-American males young all under the age of 25.

Speaker 3 44:56

It also makes you think like okay, do we just not have any information? Or no one even bothered to look?

Speaker 4 45:00

No, and that's exactly what I was going to say it's so hard to overlook, like that's the data, like as I'm shuffling, I'm like, oh, one, two, three, four, like it's sad, it's really sad, it's fucked up, it's very fucked up.

Speaker 1 45:14

Yeah.

Speaker 4 45:15

For whatever reason that's drawn out that way, it certainly doesn't look very good.

Speaker 3 45:21

No, well, I appreciate Pizza man being here, thank you.

Speaker 1 45:24

Yes.

Speaker 3 45:25

All right. Well, goodbye Courtney, goodbye Hannah and goodbye Wanderers.

Speaker 2 45:29

See you next time.

Speaker 3 45:30

Bye.

Speaker 2 45:31

Later.

Speaker 3 45:33

Thanks for listening. Today. Wicked Wanderings is hosted by me Hannah and co-hosted by me Courtney.

Speaker 1 45:39

And it's produced by Rob Fitzpatrick.

Speaker 3 45:41

Music by Sasha M. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to leave a rating and review and be sure to follow on all socials. You can find the links down in the show notes. If you're looking for some really cozy t-shirts or hoodies, head over to the merch store. Thank you for being a part of the Wicked Wanderings community. We appreciate every one of you. Stay curious, keep exploring and always remember to keep on wandering. Thank you.