On the afternoon of March 26, 1997, the San Diego County Sherrif’s Department received an anonymous call through 911 reporting a mass suicide at an address in Rancho Santa Fe, California. A single sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to the address and knocked on the front door, but got no response. Finding a side door to the home unlocked, the deputy entered the house and was horrified to discover nearly forty bodies of adults, all of whom appeared to have taken their own lives in what appeared to be some kind of ritual.Not since the terrible mass deaths at Jonestown decades earlier had Americans seen such a bizarre and ultimately tragic occurrence and few were able to understand how such a thing could have happened in the modern age. What could have caused so many people to willingly give up their lives, and who was he enigmatic man who’d convinced them to do it?ReferencesAyers, B. Drummon. 1997. "Families learning of 39 cultists who died willingly." New York Times, March 29.CNN. 1997. Applewhite sought cure for his homosexual urges. March 29. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/US/9703/29/applewhite/.Lamotte, Greg. 1997. Heaven's Gate 911 call eerily calm. April 18. Accessed January 5, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/US/9704/18/cult.911/index.html.Locke, Michelle. 1997. "Comet cult's stairway led to downfall." Record Searchlight (Redding, CA), March 31: 1.Miller, Craig. 1997. "Web page business supported sect's life." North Country Times (Oceanside, CA), March 28: 1.Perry, Tony. 1997. "Cult left no survivors, police say." Los Angeles Times, April 1: 3.Perry, Tony, Michael Granberry, and Anne-Marie O'Connor. 1997. "39 dead in apparent suicide." Los Angeles Times, March 27: 1.Purdum, Todd. 1997. "Videotapes left by 39 who died described cult's suicide goal." New York Times, March 28.Steinberg, Jacques. 1997. "From religious childhood to reins of a U.F.O. cult." New York Times, March 29.Weinraub, Claire, Christina Ng, Acacia Nunes, and Haley Yamada. 2022. Surviving member of Heaven's Gate cult reflects on mass suicide 25 years ago: 'It meant everything'. March 14. Accessed January 7, 2026. https://abc7.com/post/cult-next-door-diane-sawyer-special-heavens-gate-2020/11642749/.Wilkens, John. 2017. "Cilt sought to 'exit' via spaceship." Los Angeles Times, March 20: B2.Zeller, Benjamin. 2014. Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion. New York, NY: New York University Press.—. 2014. "Anatomy of a mass suicide: The dark, twsited story behind a UFO death cult." Salon, November 15. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the early hours of March 13, 1964, twenty-eight-year-old Kitty Genovese returned home from work and parked her car in a lot near her Queens apartment, completely unaware that someone was following her. As she approached the door to her apartment building, Kitty’s stalker ran up behind her and stabbed her in the back twice before being scared off by a neighbor who yelled from his window. Wounded, Kitty managed to get to the back of the building, but her attacker soon returned and brutally assaulted her. By the time an ambulance arrived an hour later, it was too late; Kitty Genovese died before she reached the hospital.Kitty’s murder and the arrest of her killer, Winston Moseley, were quickly overshadowed by what were believed to be the facts of the attack, primarily the widely held belief that at least thirty-eight neighbors had seen the assault or heard Kitty’s cries for help and did nothing. Despite there having been no evidence to support that belief, the narrative quickly became about urban apathy, with the death of a Queens bartender merely a footnote. The murder of Kitty Genovese is one of the most notorious violent crimes in modern American history—not because of the details or circumstances of the crime, but because of the legend and mythology that has built up around it.ReferencesCook, Kevin. 2014. Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.Gallo, Marcia M. 2014. "The Parable of Kitty Genovese, the New York Times, and the Erasure of Lesbianism." Journal of the Hisotry of Sexuality 273.Gansberg, Martin. 1964. "37 who saw murder didn't call the police." New York Times, March 27: 1.New York Times. 1964. "Queens man seized in death of 2 women." New York Times, March 20: 21.Pearlman, Jeff. 2004. "'64 murder lives in heart of woman's 'friend'." Chicago Tribune, March 12: 4.Peltz, Jennifer. 2015. Kitty Genovese Killer Denied Parole in Notorious 1964 Case . November 17. Accessed January 9, 2026. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/kitty-genovese-killer-denied-parole-notorious-1964-stabbing-new-york-city/1274332/.Roberts, Sam. 2020. "Sophia Farrar dies at 92; belied indifference to Kitty Genovese." New York Times, September 10.Rosenthal, Abe. 1964. "Apathy is puzzle in queens killing." New York Times, March 28: 21. —. 1964. "Study of the Sickness called apathy." New York Times, May 3: 24.Simon, Scott. 2016. The Witness' Tells A Different Story About The Kitty Genovese Murder. May 28. Accessed January 9, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2016/05/28/479824705/-the-witness-tells-a-different-story-about-the-kitty-genovese-murder. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the early summer of 1984, seventeen-year-old Gary Lauwers was murdered by his friend Richard “Ricky” Kasso in the small Long Island suburb of Northport, New York. Lauwers was stabbed more than thirty times in the attack and his body showed signs of what appeared to be torture. The death itself was shocking to the tiny community of Northport, but the details that emerged in the wake of Kasso’s arrest would shock the entire nation.ReferencesBreskin, Davkd. 1984. "Kids in the Dark." Rolling Stone, November 22.Cassidy, Jerry. 1984. "Cops say 2 teens sought corpses for satanic rites." Daily News, April 26: 352.Gruson, Lindsey. 1985. "L.I. jury acquits defendant in killing of youth in woods." New York Times, April 26: B2.—. 1985. "L.I. murder trial opens; confession is described." New York Times, April 5: B2.Maier, Thomas J., and Rex Smith. 1984. "2 teens arraigned in murder." Newsday (Suffolk edition), July 7: 3.McFadden, Robert. 1984. "Youth found hanged in L.I. cell after his arrest in ritual killing." New York Times, July 8: 1.Newsday. 1984. "Police reports; Grave robbing." Newsday (Suffolk Edition), April 25: 33.O'Neill, Jim, and Dennis Hevesi. 1984. "2 Northport youths charged in 'Satanic' killing of teen." Newsday (Suffolk edition), July 6: 3.Pollack, Jesse P. 2018. The Acid King.  New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In late 1916, while treating a group of patients at his psychiatric clinic at the University of Vienna, Dr. Constantin von Economo began noticing the appearance of strange symptoms that he could not account for. At the same time, in France, Rene Cruchet began noticing similarly strange and unexpected symptoms in his patients. Though the two men had never met and knew nothing of one another’s patients, they would come to learn they were both witnessing the emergence of a new mysterious disease that would soon affect millions of people around the world.The illnesses documented by von Economo and Cruchet would eventually come to be know as encephalitis lethargica, or sleeping sickness, a strange condition that caused profound lethargy, hypersomnia, and a wide range of other frightening symptoms. Between 1919 and the early 1930s, millions of people all around the world contracted the illness, with nearly half of all cases resulting in death, and many more suffering long-term effects; yet a cause of the illness has never been established and the terrifying epidemic appears to have faded from memory not long after the disease itself ostensibly disappeared. ReferencesBrook, Harry Ellington. 1921. "Care of the body." Los Angeles Times, March 6: 18.Crosby, Molly Caldwell. 2011. Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries. New York, NY: Penguin Publishing Group.Hassler, Dr. William. 1919. "No sleeping sickness in S.F." San Francisco Examiner, March 10: 1.Hoffman, Leslie A., and Joel A. Vilensky. 2017. "Encephalitis lethargica: 100 years after the epidemic." Brain: A Journal of Neurology 2246-2251.Montreal Star. 1920. "Sleeping sickness puzzling doctors." Montreal Star, January 15: 3.New York Times. 1936. "Awakens from sleep continuing 440 days." New York Times, June 14: 13.R.R. Dourmashkin, MD. 1997. "What caused the 1918-30 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica?" Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 515-520.Sacks, Oliver. 1973. Awakenings. New York, NY: Vintage.San Francisco Examiner. 1919. "New sleeping sickness hits S.F. residents." San Francisco Examiner, March 14: 1.—. 1921. "Ten succumb to sleeping sickness." San Francisco Examiner, August 18: 13.Western Morning News. 1919. "Notices." Western Morning News, January 1: 1.Williams, David Bruce. 2020. "Encephalitis Lethargica: The Challenge of Structure and Function in Neuropsychiatry." Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences 255-262.Wright, Oliver. 2002. "His life passed in a trance but his death may solve medical."  The Times, December 14. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Weirdos!! On today's episode Alaina announced the third chapter in the Wren Muller series- The Butcher Legacy . Be sure to visit to PREORDER NOW by visiting butcherlegacy.com . Order NOW to get exclusive signed editions from BN.com  AND the Special Edition from Target!In the winter of 1980, wealthy socialite Martha “Sunny” von Bulow was found unconscious in the bathroom of the mansion she shared with her husband, Claus, in Newport, Rhode Island. An ambulance was called and Sunny was rushed to the nearest emergency room, but paramedics and doctors were unable to revive her and Sunny would remain in a coma until her death in 2008. At first, Sunny’s coma was a mystery to doctors, but soon suspicion fell on her husband, Claus, who appeared indifferent to her condition and was openly carrying on an affair with another woman. The family launched a private investigation and eventually turned up strong evidence they believed implicated Claus in the attempted murder of Sunny, but, as they soon learned, believing it and proving it were two very different things.ReferencesAssociated Press. 1985. "von Bulow stepchildren sue him for $56 million." New York Times, July 20: 30.Burton, Tony, and William Kutik. 1981. "Charge socialite tried to kill wife." Daily News (New York, NY), July 7: 4.Clendinen, Dudley. 1982. "von Bulow trial going to the jury." New York Times, March 11: 20.Friendly, Jonathan. 1985. "von Bulow's mistress told of plea not to tesitfy about their affair." New York Times, June 6: B15.Kutik, William. 1981. "Claus returns to the scene." Daily News (New York, NY), July 9: 4.—. 1981. "In her will, $35M for hubby." Daily News (New York, NY), July 8: 189.Nemy, Enid. 2019. "Claus von Bulow, tarred by scandal in the death of his wife, dies at 92." New York Times, May 31.—. 2008. "Sunny von Bulow, whose near death started a society drama, dies at 76." New York Times, December 7.New York Times. 1982. "von Bulow lover testifies on affair." New York Times, February 19: B14.State of Rhode Island v. Claus von Bulow. 1984. 82-462-CA (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, May 24).The Economist. 2019. "Did he or didn't he?" The Economist, June 15.1997. American Justice.  Performed by Towers Productions. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the afternoon of August 23, 2003, Erie, Pennsylvania pizza delivery driver Brian Wells walked into the local branch of the PNC Bank and handed the teller a note warning that he had a bomb and they had fifteen minutes to hand over $250,000 or it would detonate. Unable to access the vault, the teller gave Wells all the cash on hand and he left as the employees triggered the emergency protocol.Fifteen minutes later, Wells was spotted by police and placed under arrest. However, when they went to put handcuffs on the suspects, the officers discovered that Wells did indeed have an explosive device on him—it was strapped to his neck and rigged to explode. Officers cleared the area, but failed to alert the bomb squad in time and the device eventually exploded, killing Wells just three minutes before the bomb squad arrived.The bizarre death of Brian Wells seemed to bring his brief criminal career to an end; yet as investigators began digging into the background of the delivery driver-turned-bank robber, they discovered the plot to rob the PNC Bank was far more elaborate than anyone had imagined. ReferencesAssociated Press. 2003. "Witness also helped in 1977 slaying." Scranton Times, September 25: 5.—. 2003. "Woman charged in roomate's death." The Sentinel (Carlisle, PA), September 23: 2.Dao, James. 2003. "A childlike pizza deliveryman at the center of a puzzling crime." New York Times, September 5: A12.Fuoco, Linda Wilson. 2003. "Robber, co-worker death query." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 1.Fuoco, Michael. 2007. "Feds say collar bomb victim was part of plot." Pitsburgh Post-Gazette, July 12: 1.Lin, Judy. 2003. "Erie bank robber explodes in police custody." Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, PA), August 31: 5.—. 2003. "Bomb-case probers urge patience." Patriot-News (Harrisburg, PA), September 5: B5.—. 2003. "Man may have been forced to rob Erie bank." The Daily Item (Sunbury, PA), August 31: 3.Mandak, Joe. 2011. "Woman gets life plus 30 in collar-bomb death." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 1: 1.Nephin, Dan. 2003. "Woman acquitted of boyfriend's death 15 years ago charges with killing another." The Morning Call (Allentown, PA), September 23: 14.Schapiro, Rich. 2011. "Collar bomb." Wired, Janaury.Times-Tribune. 2005. "Woman pleads guilty in killing." Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA), January 9: 2.United States of America v. Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong. 2009. 1:07-cr-26-SJM (United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, September 8).United States of America v. Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong. 2012. 11-1601 (United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, September 25).Wire News Service. 2003. "Neighbors say bank robber led quiet life." Patriot-News (Harrisburg, PA), September 4: B3. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When firefighters discovered the body of forty-year-old Terry King inside the charred remains of his Cantonment, Florida home in November 2001, they assumed the man had been asleep when the fire broke out and died as a result. Upon further inspection, investigators found that King hadn’t died as a result of the fire, but from severe blunt force trauma to his head. And even more alarming than that was the fact that King’s two boys, thirteen-year-old Derek and twelve-year-old Alex, were missing.Having occurred immediately in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Terry King’s murder could have easily been one of many tragedies lost in the fog of national trauma and grief; however, when King’s killers were arrested and identified in the days that followed, the story was so shocking, and the motive so heartbreaking, that it managed to break through the wall-to-wall coverage of the attacks. ReferencesAssociated Press. 2002. "Convicted molester denies urging boys to kill dad." Miami Herald , February 1: 33.—. 2002. "Convicted child molester accused of writing love letter to boy in jail." Miami Herald, April 4: 363.—. 2001. "Grandmother: Boys couldn't have killed dad." Miami Herald, November 29: 438.Canedy, Dana. 2002. "Judge throws out brothers' murder conviction." New York Times, October 18.—. 2002. "Reject sympathy, jury is told in boys' trial." New York Times, September 6.CBS News. 2002. Man gets 30 years in killer boys case. November 7. Accessed December 9, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-gets-30-years-in-killer-boys-case/.Clark, Lesley. 2001. "Boys accused of bluedgeoning father, setting home on fire." Miami Herald, December 4: 1.Gomez, Alan. 2002. "Boys take stand against friend." Pensacola News Journal, August 28: 1.—. 2002. "Chavis judge denies request for acquittal." Pensacola News Journal, August 29: 1.Graybiel, Ginny. 2002. "Slaying suspect vows he could hurt no one." Pensacola News Journal, August 4: 1.Kaczor, Bill. 2002. "Sons change story, still to be tried for murder." Miami Herald, August 25: 970.Keith Morrison. 2009. Second chances. September 7. Accessed December 6, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32664652.2003. American Justice: Blood Brothers. Performed by Bill Kurtis.Midico, Kathryn, and Mollye Barrows. 2004. A Perversion of Justice: A Southern Tragedy of Murder, Lies, and Innocence Betrayed. New York, NY: Avon .New York Times. 2002. "Boy, 13, testifies he and brother didn't kill their father." New York Times, September 5.Scandlen, Monica. 2002. "Testimonies quiet, simple." Pensacola News Journal, August 28: 1. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When firefighters discovered the body of forty-year-old Terry King inside the charred remains of his Cantonment, Florida home in November 2001, they assumed the man had been asleep when the fire broke out and died as a result. Upon further inspection, investigators found that King hadn’t died as a result of the fire, but from severe blunt force trauma to his head. And even more alarming than that was the fact that King’s two boys, thirteen-year-old Derek and twelve-year-old Alex, were missing.Having occurred immediately in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Terry King’s murder could have easily been one of many tragedies lost in the fog of national trauma and grief; however, when King’s killers were arrested and identified in the days that followed, the story was so shocking, and the motive so heartbreaking, that it managed to break through the wall-to-wall coverage of the attacks. ReferencesAssociated Press. 2002. "Convicted molester denies urging boys to kill dad." Miami Herald , February 1: 33.—. 2002. "Convicted child molester accused of writing love letter to boy in jail." Miami Herald, April 4: 363.—. 2001. "Grandmother: Boys couldn't have killed dad." Miami Herald, November 29: 438.Canedy, Dana. 2002. "Judge throws out brothers' murder conviction." New York Times, October 18.—. 2002. "Reject sympathy, jury is told in boys' trial." New York Times, September 6.CBS News. 2002. Man gets 30 years in killer boys case. November 7. Accessed December 9, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-gets-30-years-in-killer-boys-case/.Clark, Lesley. 2001. "Boys accused of bluedgeoning father, setting home on fire." Miami Herald, December 4: 1.Gomez, Alan. 2002. "Boys take stand against friend." Pensacola News Journal, August 28: 1.—. 2002. "Chavis judge denies request for acquittal." Pensacola News Journal, August 29: 1.Graybiel, Ginny. 2002. "Slaying suspect vows he could hurt no one." Pensacola News Journal, August 4: 1.Kaczor, Bill. 2002. "Sons change story, still to be tried for murder." Miami Herald, August 25: 970.Keith Morrison. 2009. Second chances. September 7. Accessed December 6, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32664652.2003. American Justice: Blood Brothers. Performed by Bill Kurtis.Midico, Kathryn, and Mollye Barrows. 2004. A Perversion of Justice: A Southern Tragedy of Murder, Lies, and Innocence Betrayed. New York, NY: Avon .New York Times. 2002. "Boy, 13, testifies he and brother didn't kill their father." New York Times, September 5.Scandlen, Monica. 2002. "Testimonies quiet, simple." Pensacola News Journal, August 28: 1. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Happy Holidays Weirdos! For Alaina's Second Episode Revisit, she wanted to choose an episode that introduced us to a true hero!OG Notes:  Guys, this Alaina "Mini" Morbid is a doozy. How did we never know about this harrowing tale of 26 children and their heroic bus driver who survived over 24 hours of terror while being buried alive? Seriously, this one if intense but it has a happy ending that will leave you satisfied....at least somewhat satisfied. Resources:https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/19/us/rewind-chowchilla-school-bus-kidnapping/index.htmlhttps://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/hero-bus-driver-ed-ray-saved-kidnapped-children-1976-dies-91-article-1.1081059https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-the-1976-chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-20190709-htmlstory.htmlhttps://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/ajp.138.1.14?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed& Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

 For Alaina’s first EPISODE REVISIT this week, we are hopping into the way back in time machine and transporting ourselves to 2018! In the first MiniMORBID, Ash & Alaina talk about some of the spooky figures of the holiday season!OG Notes: "It's the holidays, weirdos! Time to get freaky, brutal and murderous. Tonight on our first mini-Morbid episode, we are covering Santa's scary helpers who will beat you, eat you and maybe steal your candles.” Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.