Middle-Aged and Mediocre

The Joel & Cole Express is back with another episode and this time it's just two dudes talking about the solar eclipse, the worst ways to die, the most fun ways to die, and the most likely way they'll each die.

Cash & Joel also delve into some true crime and discuss the horrific and awful acts carried out during the eclipse by Danielle Johnson, aka, "astrology influencer" Ayoka.

Cash and Joel review both nights of this weekend's WrestleMania 40 event and place their bets on each match. We also review the prop bets for the show, including how much interference there will be in Roman vs Cody, how many chops Gunther will deliver to Sami Zayn, if Stone Cold will get in the ring, and more!

There's another big wrestling announcement at the end of the show that you won't want to miss!

The main story begins at 15:39 for those who want to skip the opening banter

Natalia Grace Barnett is a Ukrainian-born American with dwarfism, who, in 2010, was adopted by an American family but abandoned by them two years later. Barnett's adoptive parents claimed that Barnett was a legal adult, and, in 2012, they successfully sought a court order legally changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989.

MAX now features two seasons of the ID channel's series on Natalia's case featuring interviews with Natalia, her adoptive father Michael Barnett, her new adoptive parents, "legal experts", and various characters who encountered Natalia during this turmoil. Almost everyone involved is pretty awful and Michael easily takes the top prize for most unhinged human being to ever appear on television.

Cash and Joel review both seasons of the docuseries and raise questions over the validity of its content. Both hosts had different perspectives while watching as Joel went into it not knowing anything about it while Cash had some forewarning about how the two seasons play out, so it's interesting to see how their opinions differ and align.

Chase Massner was an Iraq War veteran who returned home and faced difficulties adjusting back into civilian life while battling PTSD and bipolar disorder. His marriage issues caused him to turn to a friend named Brad Clement for support but then he mysteriously vanished. For three years, no one knew what had happened to Chase. No one except for one person that is.

Join us to hear about the disappearance of Chase Massner and the web of lies that affected so many lives.

The main story for this episode begins at 21 minutes and 24 seconds in if you want to skip right to it.

It's the biggest event of the year and we've got you covered on all the information you could ever need before the big game! We've got stats, betting props, parlays, and our picks. There's also a lot of Home Improvement talk in this episode because Joel dreams of JTT.

If you're betting on the game or want to sound smart by throwing out some stats at your Super Bowl party, this is the episode for you!

We've also got two parlays for you with very high hit ratios. One has odds of +217 and the other one is a big ol' +8448 3-leg parlay with each leg hitting in 100% of the last 3 games.

Cash & Joel take a look at the case that currently making national headlines everywhere. The bodies of three men were found dead and frozen in the backyard of their friend's home two days after joining their friend to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers. The surviving friend states that he had no idea his friends were dead in his backyard. A fifth man has now come forward and has made statements that conflict with what the homeowner is saying.

So what exactly happened? The case is still underway as authorities await toxicology and autopsy reports to come back but we'll at what information is known at this time and discuss the rumors that are swirling around this story.

We also take a look at the upcoming AFC & NFC Conference Championship games and the WWE Royal Rumble.

Cash & Joel are back to preview the NFL's Divisional Round of Playoff games. The Texans take on the Ravens, the Packers face off against the 49ers, the Bucs travel to Detroit to battle the Lions, and the Kansas City Chiefs go into Buffalo to square off once again with the Bills.

It's going to be a big NFL weekend and we've got the full preview for you. Plus our game picks, Cash's best bets, and some NFL coaching carousel talk.

Also, Joel teaches Cash about a very unique "storage" method...

The NFL Playoffs are here and we've got you covered on this weekend's SUPER Wild Card Weekend slate of games. We make our picks for each of these games, check out what the public is betting their money on, and check out the favorites for the NFL's year-end awards as well as pick who we each think will be winning the Super Bowl this year.

If you're a football fan, you don't want to miss this episode!

Susan Monica had a pig farm and a lot of property in the middle of nowhere that could hide many secrets. Her secrets stayed hidden until a drifter's family came looking after not hearing from him for months. A missing person's report and fraudulent EBT card transactions would eventually lead to a search warrant for the property and the discovery of human remains. During the interrogation, Susan's odd personality was on full display as the investigators dug deeper and deeper into her murderous pigpen.

In part one, Mark Twitchell attempted to kill his first victim but ultimately failed. Now, with a second chance, Mark once again uses a fake dating profile to lure a man into his deadly garage where he lies in wait to become the serial killer he fantasizes about himself being. Will this second attempt be more successful than the first? Check out part two of our Mark Twitchell story now to find out!

Mark Twitchell had big ambitions. One of those ambitions was to become a popular filmmaker. Mark's other ambition was to become a serial killer but I'm not sure exactly how known he wanted to be for that one. This story is filled with lies, confessions, failures, and unfortunately, some successes. In part one, we'll talk about Mark's background, his marriages, and his plans to become a real-life Dexter Morgan.

If you want to skip straight to the story it begins at about the 27:00 minute mark but if you hang out for the full episode, we talk about what a Middle-Aged and Mediocre road trip to Vegas would look like and share some of our favorite Christmas memories.

Israel Keyes was an American serial killer, bank robber, burglar, arsonist, kidnapper, and sex offender who murdered at least three victims and committed dozens of felonies including armed robbery, arson, rape, and burglary across the United States from July 2001 to February 2012.

But was Israel Keyes' responsible for possibly dozens of more victims? Unfortunately, most of what we know about the crimes Keyes committed comes from Keyes himself and he only offered up vague bits of information over hours and hours of interviews with authorities.

It's possible that Israel Keyes is one of the most prolific serial killers in American history but it also seems entirely possible that Keyes built himself up to be more than what he truly was. Either way, Israel Keyes was a horrific monster and ended the life of 18-year-old Samantha Koenig before going on to commit a sick act of extortion that was truly disgusting.

We have finally reached the end of our exploration of JimboSeth's Unsolved Mysteries Iceberg! We have some mind-bending theories, murders, and a very special lost film that we cover in this final part of the series.

It also seems like we haven't completely cleaned up the audio issues but we'll have them fixed before the next episode. Thanks for listening to our five-part series and thank you for supporting the show!

Cryptid episode! (Mostly)

We've got the Flatwoods Monster, Mantis Man, a giant shrimp, a talking mongoose, and more! Enjoy part 4 of our exploration of JimboSeth's Unsolved Mysteries Iceberg!

Part 3 of our exploration of JimboSeth's Unsolved Mysteries Iceberg. This episode includes: The Mysterious Death of Christopher Case, The Evilstick, The Falcon Lake Incident, The Unknown Serial Killer Who Called Into the Howard Stern Show, The Setagaya Family Murders, Ricky McCormick's Encrypted Notes, Shirtwood Forest, The Murder of Lindsay Buziak, Bashir Kouchacji's Life of Torment, and The Recovering Patient in the Hospital Ceiling.

Enjoy!!!

Back with part two of our dive into the best of the Unsolved Mysteries Iceberg that was created by JimboSeth (link to the full iceberg down below) and in part two, we're looking at zombies, an unsolved death, cartoon sex tapes, a con man, a man who was possessed by a water demon, and serial poopers! It's a wild one!

Special thanks to the Banned Camp podcast for their support! Check out their show! https://www.bannedcamppodcast.com/

JimboSeth's Unsolved Mysteries Iceberg: https://icebergcharts.com/i/Unsolved_Mystery

This is Part 1 of our five-part series where we'll tackle 50 of the best unsolved mysteries from the Unsolved Mysteries Iceberg that was created by JimboSeth (full Iceberg in the link below). In our first episode, we check out killer clowns, disappearances, unidentified people, and a mystery soda machine. We hope you enjoy exploring these unsolved mysteries and we'll be back soon with part two!

Also, thanks to Travis Graham from the band Triceratops for our new show intro music! Check out his band's Facebook page in the link below!

JimboSeth's Unsolved Mysteries Iceberg: https://icebergcharts.com/i/Unsolved_Mystery

Triceratops band Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Triceratops740

This week's story is about a disturbed woman named Taylor "Schabusiness" Coronado and the night she decapitated her lover, Shad Thyrion. The gruesome details of her actions and what she did to Shad's body afterward are pure nightmare fuel. Enjoy.

Five men are headed back home after a road trip when they go missing. After four of the five men are found, only more questions arise out of a case filled with mystery and unexplainable circumstances.

Plus, Cash & Joel have some fun with a job interview and talk about the cool kids.

Joel got rear-ended on his way over to record the podcast and might have been concussed for the episode... so who knows what he'll say!

It's the classic story of good vs evil... right vs wrong... law vs crime... but with a twist! For good to conquer evil this time, the man on the right side of the law must undergo a magical medical procedure that will swap his face with the face of the evil crime committer... and not just his face but his body too... and voice... and absolutely nothing could go wrong here, right?

ANYWHOOZLE, IT'S A REEL CRIME! ENJOY!

We're back!

In the vast landscape of popular culture, few franchises have captured the hearts and imaginations of fans across multiple generations quite like Masters of the Universe. What began as a line of action figures in the early 1980s blossomed into a multimedia empire that included an animated show and a live-action film. This epic saga, with its rich mythology, iconic characters, and enduring legacy, has become an integral part of the collective nostalgia and pop culture lexicon.

A hulking warrior with the haircut of a small Dutch boy wages a never-ending battle with a skeleton man set in a hybrid world of sword and sorcery and technological sci-fi... it's a tale as old as time but one we're here to tell once again. This is Middle-Aged and Mediocre... and by the power of Grayskull, we have the power! So raise your swords high, find a big cat to saddle up and ride, and let's get into the world of Masters of the Universe!

The 1980s was a remarkable era for cinema, leaving an indelible mark on popular culture that still resonates today. It was a time when big hair, neon colors, and shoulder pads were in vogue, and the silver screen transported audiences to worlds both familiar and fantastical. From heartwarming tales that tugged at our heartstrings to pulse-pounding adventures that kept us on the edge of our seats, the '80s had it all.

From action-packed blockbusters like "Indiana Jones" and "Die Hard" to comedic gems like "Ghostbusters" and "Back to the Future," the '80s gifted us with unforgettable characters, quotable lines, and imaginative worlds that captured our imagination.

Beyond the compelling stories, the '80s introduced us to a new wave of visionary directors who pushed the boundaries of filmmaking. From Steven Spielberg's mastery of spectacle and fantasy to John Hughes' ability to capture the essence of teenage angst, these creators left an indelible imprint on the cinematic landscape.

So, dust off your VHS tapes, cue up your favorite '80s soundtrack, and join us as we celebrate the magic of a decade that continues to enchant audiences of all ages.

In Part One, we covered Joel's Top 5 Films from the 80s – License To Drive, Stand By Me, Back to the Future, Batman, and Robocop. In Part Two, we'll look at my Top 5 80s Films. As we said in Part One, these are the movies we loved IN the 80s... not necessarily the 80s movies that we watched later in life and now love.

This is Middle-Aged and Mediocre.... and this is Our Top 10 80s Movies: Part Two!

The eighties... supposedly Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush were all presidents of the united states but the only President we acknowledged was WWF President, Jack Tunney. It was the decade of glam rock, hair metal, acid-washed jeans, Hulk Hogan, the Nintendo Entertainment System, DeLoreans, and Bird vs Magic in the NBA.

Family sitcoms, Saturday morning cartoons, MTV, video games, comic books... more so than anything else from the 80s, it was the films of the 1980s that shaped so many of us.

With that nostalgia in mind, we will be looking back at our Top 10 favorite movies from the 80s. Joel has made his list of 5 and I've picked 5 of mine. We based our choices off of films that we enjoyed at the time... leaving behind the movies from the 80s that we watched later in life and became fans of. We'll cover Joel's 5 picks in part 1 and Cash's 5 in part 2. We hope you'll enjoy revisiting the 80s with us and make sure you let us know what your favorite movies were when you were living life in the 80s.

Chicago native, James Keehan, known later in life as Count Dante, was a martial artist who considered himself a master of the violent fighting style known as "Dim Mak" and once challenged Muhammad Ali to a duel. Count Dante was a character before his time who had a vision for karate tournaments that would be harder-hitting, more violent, and much bloodier than what his fellow practitioners of combat were accustomed to. The "Crown Prince of Death" added flair and style to his persona and had big dreams but unfortunately, life seemed to always crane kick him in the face before he could accomplish those dreams. Check out our latest episode to hear about the ridiculous life of THE DEADLIEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED!

The Klan arrived in South Bend, Indiana in 1924 with plans to hold a rally and parade down main street but the students from the University of Notre Dame stood together and ensured that those plans would never come to fruition.

This episode was a very special request from Joel's daughter, Lilly, and we felt like it would be really fun to do an episode that was PG so anyone who wanted to could listen to it could do so with their kids. We dive into the worlds of Coraline Jones and discuss her journey between reality and the "other" world where things might seem perfect at first but the vibes turn weird & creepy pretty quickly. This is a really fun episode so thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy it!

Texas had a real problem with its banks being robbed in the 1920s. The problem was bad enough that the Texas Bank Association offered a $5,000 reward to anyone who shot a bank robber during the crime. A group of outlaws, led by Marshall Ratliff, devised a plan that they thought would protect them from law enforcement and reward-seeking vigilantes. Christmas was only a few days away so they figured having "Santa" with them while they robbed the First National Bank in Cisco, Texas would be their ticket to fortune. Marshall Ratliff, donning a stolen Santa suit, and his three accomplices entered the bank and proceeded to rob it on the morning of December 23, 1927. Within minutes, all hell broke loose and a gunfight broke out. The Santa Claus bandits would shoot their way out of the bank and make their getaway but they wouldn't find much Yuletide cheer in their future.

We cannot tell a lie... President George Washington's death was an absolute nightmare and a bloody clusterfuck!

Picking up where we left off, James Lewis and his wife, LeAnn, have assumed new identities once again but James has continued to sit and stew on the injustice he felt that his wife's former boss, Fred McCahey, had levied against him by not having the funds to pay his wife's last paycheck. With revenge in mind, Lewis sat and waited for his opportunity to strike... and then seven people in Chicago dropped dead after taking Tylenol. Looking to capitalize on the tragedy, Lewis got to work on ruining McCahey's life only to find himself at the center of the investigation into the deaths. Oops!

If you haven't been following, Ronnie is losing his mind trying to deal with Francis, the nephew of his longtime producer, Fred. Francis returns this week as Fred is still MIA. Can Ronnie hold it together while delivering his World Famous 6-Pack of solid country gold??? Tune in to Rooster Crow Radio now to find out!

Featuring: John Anderson, Juice Newton, Keith Whitley, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Razzy Bailey, and Joe Stampley

Cash & Joel discuss the life of a man who went by many names but was born Theodore Wilson, Jr. before a troubled childhood led him to be renamed James William Lewis by his adoptive parents. James Lewis grew up to be a lot of things; a husband, a father, a tax man, a scam artist, an extortionist, and a suspected murderer.

Also in this episode, the boys have decided to partner with AI to bring you "Middle-Aged and Mediocre Theatre" featuring an argument about pants, a debate on who would win between Jason Voorhees and a squirrel, and detectives Cash and Joel investigating The Muppet Massacre. Enjoy!

In 1848, gold was found in them thar hills of San Francisco! One of the largest mass migrations in American history shortly followed. Along with the increased population came a shortage of resources and a demand for eggs. While chicken eggs were almost impossible to supply to the new San Fran population, a bird known as the Murre produced a bountiful supply of eggs just 26 miles west on the Farallon Islands, aka “The Devil's Teeth Islands” and "The Islands of the Dead". As an alternative protein source, these eggs demanded a high price in San Francisco and lined the pockets of those who could transport them from the island with lots and lots of money. What ensued was capitalism at its finest; corporate greed, the decimation of nature, and war... oh, and egg pirates!

Join us for a tale from American history and listen as you can almost hear Cash's eye begin to twitch as he does his best not to go into full-on rant mode. EVERYTHING'S FINE!

No new episode this week but we wanted to give you an update on the show and let you know what we have going on in our lives.  Thank you all for the support and we'll be back with a new episode next week!

YOUR CRAWDADDY, RONNIE CRAWDAD, IS BACK WITH ANOTHER 6-PACK OF SOLID, COUNTRY GOLD BUT THIS WEEK, OL' RONNIE MAY HAVE MET HIS MATCH AS HE'S JOINED BY HIS PRODUCER, FRED'S, 20-YEAR-OLD NEPHEW, FRANCIS IN THE STUDIO; WHO IS FILLING IN FOR FRED IN THE PRODUCER'S CHAIR.

CAN THE OL' CRAWDADDY KEEP IT TOGETHER WHILE DEALING WITH FRANCIS OR WILL FRANCIS DRIVE RONNIE OUT OF TOWN?  YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO EPISODE 3 TO FIND OUT!

THIS WEEK'S SHOW FEATURES MUSIC FROM THE BAND ATLANTA, JOHNNY LEE, ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL, GLEN CAMPBELL, MICKEY GILLEY/CHARLY MCCLAIN, AND RED SIMPSON (HE'S A TRUCK)

Jeffrey Lundgren had grown up in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS) but had been excommunicated for stealing funds from the Kirtland Temple and defrocked as a lay minister for teachings counter to the RLDS.  When he left, he took several church members with him and started his own offshoot branch of the church, leading his followers to believe he was receiving messages directly from God.  One of those messages would, unfortunately, lead to the murder of the Avery family, who were members of Lundgren's community themselves.  

Natalie Bollinger was a 19-year-old whose life tragically ended execution-style on the side of the road. All fingers pointed towards 42-year-old Shawn Schwartz as the trigger man. Natalie had known him for two years, told friends and family that she was terrified of him, and had been granted a restraining order because she feared that he was stalking her. Shawn relentlessly proclaimed his innocence on social media while also claiming that Natalie was evil and that her family should be in prison. Ultimately, it would come down to a Craigslist ad to unravel this mystery and shine a light on who had killed Natalie Bollinger. 

We've got three bizarre unsolved mysteries for you today including the death of British intelligence agent, Gareth Williams, who was found dead in a padlocked duffel bag with almost zero evidence left behind. Theories ranged from a BDSM game gone bad to Gareth being taken out by his own agency because he knew too much to the Russian KGB snuffing him out because he wouldn't turn double agent for them. In the end, Gareth's death remained unsolved and will likely remain that way unless all information is declassified and provided to authorities. 

Also in this episode, a two-year-old girl goes missing in France only to be possibly discovered and reunited with her parents a short time later. Then a body was found matching the description of the little girl who went missing. So who was who and who did the severed adult-male head found nearby the body of the little girl belong to? This strange tale has remained a mystery since 1922 and will likely never be sorted out properly.

Lastly, do you believe in reincarnation? The sudden, tragic death of two sisters led their family and others to believe in reincarnation when their mother gave birth to identical twins just a year later who not only displayed some eerily similar birthmarks to those of their deceased sisters but also seemed to have knowledge and memories that only their sisters would have.

YOUR CRAWDADDY IS BACK WITH ANOTHER RONNIE'S 6-PACK FOR YA, BABAYYYY!

SO SHUT UP AND LISTEN WHILE RONNIE CRAWDAD BRINGS YOU SOME SOLID COUNTRY GOLD FROM MEL MCDANIEL, ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL, PATTI PAGE, SHELLY WEST, JERRY REED, AND MEL TILLIS!

We are back with the conclusion of our H.H. Holmes two-parter plus the guys talk about Joel's recent comedy show and Cash is seeing ghosts! 

YOUR CRAWDADDY IS HERE!!! 

That's right, the Crawdaddy himself, Ronnie Crawdad, is on Rooster Crow Radio to crack open Ronnie's 6-Pack and kick back to a tune with you.

So shut up and listen as ol' Ronnie serves you up some solid country gold!

Featuring John Anderson, The Oak Ridge Boys, Joe Stampley, Eddie Rabbitt, Dr. Hook, and George Hamilton IV!

***In this version, I have replaced the songs with some radio tuning sound effects so it is available everywhere***

Welcome to The Cosmic Whiskey Hour presented by Ray Gun Radio with one-half of Middle-Aged and Mediocre! Cash has got his very own Spotify-exclusive show where he's enjoying some bourbon (Wild Turkey 101), playing y'all some tunes, and talking about his career in professional wrestling.  

In the debut episode, Cash remembers Jay Briscoe, talks about the bloodiest match in Remix Pro Wrestling's history, and recalls how he first got started in professional wrestling.  We hope y'all enjoy the show and let us know what you thought about it in the comments below!

Tracklist for this episode: "Gimme Back My Bullets" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Scream It Until You're Coughing Up Blood" by Against Me!, "The Wolf" by Whiskey Myers, and "Drunkin' Ramblins' of a Hopeless Romantic" by Zach Welch.

Enjoy!

It took us a while but we finally got around to talking about the original Triple H, H.H. Holmes!  This guy was a dastardly sonofabitch who used the World's Fair to draw both guests and victims into his custom-built "Murder Castle" that featured secret passages, various kill rooms, and everything else you would expect to see a mad scientist utilizing to kill off multiple characters in an old-school horror movie.  Holmes was said to have been a graverobber, an insurance fraudster, a snake oil salesman, and above all, a horrific murderer.  While he definitely was most or all of those things, separating fact from fiction is a big part of the H.H. Holmes story, as many allegations would be slung his way once he was arrested and executed for his crimes.

In part one of our H.H. Holmes episodes, we look at his early life and the beginnings of his reign of terror that labeled him "America's First Serial Killer".

Enjoy!

We've got a terrifying story about someone living inside the walls of a family's home, an Australian family who goes on a bizarre road trip, and a doctor who takes loving someone to death a bit too far. 

And is there a Middle-Aged and Mediocre movie in the works? Check out the episode now to find out!

Welcome to The Cosmic Whiskey Hour presented by Ray Gun Radio with one-half of Middle-Aged and Mediocre! Cash has got his very own Spotify-exclusive show where he's enjoying some bourbon (Wild Turkey 101), playing y'all some tunes, and talking about his career in professional wrestling.  In the debut episode, Cash remembers Jay Briscoe, talks about the bloodiest match in Remix Pro Wrestling's history, and recalls how he first got started in professional wrestling.  We hope y'all enjoy the show and let us know what you thought about it in the comments below! 

Tracklist for this episode: "Gimme Back My Bullets" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Scream It Until You're Coughing Up Blood" by Against Me!, "The Wolf" by Whiskey Myers, and "Drunkin' Ramblins' of a Hopeless Romantic" by Zach Welch.

With these Spotify-exclusive episodes, you can listen to the show whether you have Spotify Premium or not but if you don't, you will only hear 30 seconds of each song.  If you do have Spotify Premium, you'll hear the songs in their entirety. 

Enjoy!

DEA Agent, Brady Wilson, tracks down the source of the abrupt rise in the sale of fentanyl and meth in his small hometown of St. George, Utah, which had a devastating impact on the community after overdose deaths were on becoming more and more frequent. It was a similar story in the rest of the United States, and Wilson, along with the rest of the DEA, were on the lookout for the main operators of the Mexico/America drug trafficking pipeline. Wilson himself found a man named Ángel Rubio Quintana at the center of the drug problem in St. George. It would turn out that Rubio wasn't just another cog in the drug cartel machine but rather a local businessman who had been using his connections to the Sinaloan cartel to begin building his own drug empire right in the middle of Mormon country.

Cash and Joel also look at how the cartels in Mexico take advantage of locals who have no other source of income to churn out massive amounts of fentanyl and meth daily, and how the drugs make their way into America. 

Also in this episode, an update on the Moscow, Idaho murders where a suspect has been taken into custody, and Cash has some significant doubts about the innocence of one person in particular that is involved in the story.

Joel found two stories from each month of 2022 and he's here to tell us all about them in our year-in-review episode! We've got people getting out of prison after being proven innocent, people going into prison that are guilty as hell, fun animal stories, and so much more! This is a fun, laid-back episode that we know you'll enjoy, so give it a listen!

Huge thanks to our sponsor for this episode, Square 1 Fitness. If you want to get happier and healthier in 2023, reach out to Square 1 Fitness for personalized diet and exercise plans. Contact them on Facebook or email them at contactsquare1fitness@gmail.com and tell them you heard about them on our podcast and your initial consultation is 100% FREE! Don't wait! Be a healthier you now!

We start the episode off with two stories that would make great mystery/criminal mastermind/heist-style movies. We're thinking you bring in Rian Johnson and let him tell the story of Juan Carlos Guzmán, a young man who literally fell out of the sky and began a life of crime at 13 years old only to be caught years later by accident when he reached for the same apple that a Scotland Yard detective who had been hunting him down was reaching for in a supermarket. Our other story in the first half of this episode is all about the Eagle Diamond, which first surfaced in Eagle, Wisconsin way back in 1876, and saw its way through a con man ripping off miners searching for more diamonds in Wisconsin by selling them land at hiked-up prices, as well popping up years later when it was stolen by a gang of surfer thieves! We've basically got There Will Be Blood mixed with Point Break here and we'd love to see this story given the Netflix series treatment it deserves. 

Those two stories are just appetizers for the main course because our last story is one of the craziest true crime stories we've ever featured on this podcast. There was a home invasion in Vallejo, California in 2015 that resulted in a kidnapping. A seemingly well-executed, well-prepared, professional kidnapping. What followed was a series of events that will have you guessing whodunnit the entire time and unless you already know the story, you're never going to guess the ending to this true crime story that goes from kidnapping to hoax to not a hoax and then back to a hoax but maybe not a hoax and okay yeah, definitely a hoax but we don't know who is hoaxing who and then oh damn, it wasn't a hoax after all but maybe it was and OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING!?

A couple of episodes ago, we briefly looked at the case in Moscow, Idaho where 4 college students were murdered in their sleep on November 13, 2022. After more information has come out, we decided to take a closer look at everything that is known about the unsolved murders in this episode. 

Sticking with the unsolved murder theme, we also take a look at 5 cases that have remained unsolved and try to see if we can't come up with our own theories about what took place. 

Thank you to Monsters Horde: Records, Retro Toys & More in Marietta, Ohio for supporting this week's episode!