We Would Be Dead

Based on a Fictional Story (Goosebumps Inspired True Tales)

Time for some fun fiends! This week we telling you true tales that we were inspired to find by Goosebumps novels! These are not the stories RL Stein based his work on but they are similar and the exercise took us on quite the wild ride. Leslie takes on "Piano Lessons Can Be Murder" with the mysterious and multilayered case of the murder of Darlene Sitler. Holly was inspired by "Say Cheese and Die" to share with us a true ghost story from the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francis Louisiana. Holly can never choose just one story so she was also inspired but "Night of the Living Dummy" to tell us about a famously haunted ventriloquist's dummy named Mr. Fritz.  And, it wouldn't be an episode about WWBD without s few little extras along the way, so look for a fun little bio on RL Stein, A random exploration of the Whiskey rebellion and a game! Cheers to nostalgia!
 
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Click here to purchase Night of the Living Dummy
 
Click here to purchase Say Cheese and Die
 
Click here to purchase Piano Lessons Can Be Murder
 
 
 
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Less Than 1,000 Days (The Life and Death of Kurt Cobain, Part 2)

It's our 100th episode and you picked this absolute beast of a topic! Kurt Cobain, the iconic and ephemeral alternative rock deity meant and continues to mean a great deal to a great many people. As the front man of ground breaking nineties  band Nirvana, Kurt changed the landscape of music. We have done our best to tell the emotionally complicated story of his misunderstood childhood, meteoric rise to fame and tragic death. Someone killed Kurt, whether that person existed within his own head or outside of it is what the grieving multitudes want to know. We think the only way to make a fair assessment is to know as much about the man himself as humanly possible. 
This week we look at Fame, Family and Kurt's final days, AND you'll get an in depth look at some of Nirvana's music, the grunge era, and why not all journalism can be trusted. We hope we've honored Kurt's memory with truth and candor, and that you, our dear fiends will listen to a little Nirvana and meditate on everything we learned on this long and winding journey. 
"What else could I write? I don't have the rightWhat else should I be?All apologies"
click here to learn more
*Affialated Links
*Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain
 
*Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana
 
*Journals
 
My Time With Kurt Cobain, Article in the New Yorker by Michael Azerrad
 
 
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Peace Love, Empathology (The Life and Death of Kurt Cobain, Part 1)

It's our 100th episode and you picked this absolute beast of a topic! Kurt Cobain, the iconic and ephemeral alternative rock deity meant and continues to mean a great deal to a great many people. As the front man of ground breaking nineties  band Nirvana, Kurt changed the landscape of music. We have done our best to tell the emotionally complicated story of his misunderstood childhood, meteoric rise to fame and tragic death. Someone killed Kurt, whether that person existed within his own head or outside of it is what the grieving multitudes want to know. We think the only way to make a fair assessment is to know as much about the man himself as humanly possible. Stay tuned next week for part 2!
"What else could I write?I don't have the rightWhat else should I be?All apologies"
click here to learn more
*Affialated Links
*Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain
 
*Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana
 
*Journals
 
My Time With Kurt Cobain, Article in the New Yorker by Michael Azerrad
 
 
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Burning Bridges (The Murder of Sarah Lee Stern)

It's a Leslie Episode!
In the early morning hours of December 3rd, 2016, police found an abandoned car with the keys left in the ignition on the Route 35 bridge, crossing the Shark River in Belmar, NJ. The car belonged to 19-year-old Sarah Stern, but she was no where to be found. Sarah Stern was a local, who was attending college nearby and planning to move to Canada to pursue an education and career in the arts. Unfortunately, with not much to go on, investigators feared that Sarah may have jumped off the bridge into the freezing waters where her body would have been pulled out to the Atlantic Ocean. But after talking to friends and family, the investigators were left with more questions than answers. Especially once they learned that Sarah had found a large sum of money that only a select few knew about, not including her father. Could this money have more to do with Sarah's disappearance? Did she run away to start a new life? was this life to much for her? or did something much more sinister happen to her? This is a tale of friendship, betrayal, and karma. 
 
Click to learn more
Dateline's Episode on Sarah Sternhttps://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-betrayal-of-sarah-stern-s-27-ep-33/id1244348213?i=1000439125577
20/20's Episode on Sarah Sternhttps://abc.com/shows/2020/episode-guide/2019-03/01-with-friends-like-these
Liam McAtasney Confession Videohttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1859252/Video-Murder-suspect-Liam-McAtasneys-secretly-recorded-confession.html
 
 
 
 
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Happily Never After (Armin Meiwes, The Consensual Cannibal)

Once upon a time, there was a boy who lived in the rolling hills of Germany's Black Forest. For a time he had a charmed life, he lived in a huge manor house, he had many friends, a doting father and brothers who he looked up to and loved. Then one day, everything vanished, everything except the boy and the manor house, and the boy began to change. It seemed that everyone he loved wanted to leave him, and this frightened the boy, which would not do. The boy thought and thought and thought,  and in the end it seemed that the only way he could keep someone forever.... would be to eat them. 
This week we take a deep dive into the graphic and startling case of Armin Meiwes, the German internet cannibal who killed, butchered and ate a willing victim. We're walking a strange moral tightrope this week fiends, so try to keep your balance.
 
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This Week's main source "Interview With a Cannibal: The Secret Life of the Monster of Rotenburg" By Gunter Stampf
 
 
 
 
 
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”Perfectly Unkept Hope” (The Disappearance of Brian Shaffer)

R E Q U E S T! (we hope you sung that in your head to the tune of Respect by Aretha Franklin) You asked, we listened, this week we cover our first true missing persons case, the frustrating and yet unsolved disappearances of Brian Shaffer. 
On March 31, 2006 second year medical student at Ohio State University, Brian Shaffer, went out to celebrate the beginning of spring break with a few friends and was never seen again. In the span of just 4 minutes Brian seems to have evaporated into thin air, to this day no evidence has been found and no theories can be confirmed. 
Anyone with information about this case can call the Columbus Division of Police at 614-645-2358
*Quotation in the title is from the song "Off He Goes" by Pearl Jam.
 
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FBI listing for Brian
 
 
 
 
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Party At My House (Tyler Hadley)

On July 16th, 2011, a troubled 17 year old named Tyler Hadley managed to throw the house party of the year and every high school / college aged kid in Port St. Lucie Florida was talking about it. At this party, anything went. No rules, no restrictions, no parents, it was a teenage paradise, but one question remained, where were Tyler's parents? Tyler told anyone who asked that they had gone out of town, knowing full well that in reality, his parents had never left the house, and that nearly a hundred people had been unknowingly dancing on their grave.
Tyler Hadley's case may sound like the story of another run of the mill angry young man, but it's much more than that. It poses terrifying question, how well do any of us know our own kids? 
 
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Tyler Hadley's Killer Party by Nathaniel Rich
Link to purchase 1000 Fireflies by Ryan Hadley and Dan Yearick
 
 
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Snovid Bonus (Best of What The Fridays part one)

Well fiends the Snowvid got us.  To thank you for your patience while Leslie heals and we dig out from under the winter wonderland in our driveways, Holly put together this special bonus episode. Enjoy some of the best true crime shorts from "What the Friday". 
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Scary Ghost Stories Vol. 2 (Victorian Christmas Tales)

Gather 'round the fire fiends and let's bring back a time honored tradition...again! Christmastime ghost stories. Another episode perfect for a chilly and festive evening. Merry Christmas, fiends!
 
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Believe (The origins of Santa Claus)

We’re back once again to ruin Christmas! This year we’ll explore the dark and fascinating origins of everyone favorite jolly gift giver, Santa Claus. We’ll explore where our modern Santa came from and meet his merry gang of elves, reindeer, monsters and ham babies. So mind your manners and be sure to watch out, Santa Claus is coming to town!
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Helpful hints for holiday family stress
 
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