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Botched Crimes
20 Plays1 month ago
Nylene navigates us through some crimes that didn't go according to plan.
Enter the Nightmare for show notes, sources, transcripts and more!
Music by Nine Inch Nails
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Nightmare Cottage'
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome to Nim and Nyleen's Nightmare Cottage, where we explore history, mysteries, and other tales of the macabre. I'm Nim. And I'm Nyleen. Let the nightmare begin.
Conspiracy Theories and Mysterious Deaths
00:00:48
Speaker
Oh gosh, did you hear that guy Ancient Aliens? if you dare
00:00:56
Speaker
gosh did you hear that guy from ancient aliens David, David Wilcock. He died? No, he died a few days ago. Okay, so I've been seeing all of this stuff online about the scientist that died and then all of this conspiracy theory stuff about all of these scientists that have... Oh yeah, the scientist thing. yeah I've really wanted to look into
Challenges in Historical Research
00:01:16
Speaker
that, by the way. I haven't started because I was in the middle of this other story, which is complete nonsense and you'll see what I mean.
00:01:22
Speaker
The thing with the scientist, though... I don't know, though. Like, is it... I haven't had time to read any of it. I've just been seeing headlines. know, but everything, there's so much stuff that's like AI and bullshit. And it's just like, guys, it's gotten so out of control. And that was one of the things that I was kind of struggling with when I was looking at the stuff for my stories today. Because it's like, there's that line between like,
00:01:48
Speaker
Stuff being so old, records being lost, which we learned when we went to Galveston. like you know it's just Things are lost for various reasons. And from some of the cases that I started
Folklore and Urban Legends
00:01:59
Speaker
looking at, like they were just from the 2000s. And like some of them, like the cases were purged because they were allowed to. like It was under you know a certain guideline or whatever.
00:02:11
Speaker
and so there's just like a not a lot of information left on these things. And so it's hard to figure out what is real and what isn't. What's like a real story? And then at the same time, you have to think of it like,
00:02:27
Speaker
mean, these are all campfire stories in some way or another, aren't they? Yeah, no kidding. I mean, that's definitely, you know, it becomes urban legend to some you know to some degree at that point. The definition of folklore and urban legend, they evolve over time. They just have to. So and that's just the nature of what they are. And that's kind of cool and wild to witness that happening. But also it's very frustrating when you're trying to research it. I agree. Yeah. But I i do think that's like something that I caution people to. Like, I honestly, i'm not saying I would believe everything that I ran across, but if it was from like a credible source, I would be like, oh, yeah, it's fine.
00:03:05
Speaker
And I would take a headline or the first few paragraphs at face value.
Skepticism Towards Recent Articles
00:03:11
Speaker
But, you know, as we've like been doing this podcast and I've been like starting to really research stuff more and it's just like, oh, wow, like,
00:03:18
Speaker
Some of these like I think you and I have talked about this where like I've written like a whole story. I've got like half a story, half going. And then I like do some more research even more. And I find this one source that was like, hey, all of that was bullshit. And yeah this is why. And this is credible. And you're like, well, good.
00:03:41
Speaker
Great. Love this for me. Right. Yeah. But, you know, i think there's even some merit to to that expose of the story itself. But i I find myself, if it is an article that was written like after 2022,
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah. i I really look hard at the source and what it is. and And I don't know, I get real skeptical. And that's why I like doing historical shit, because all of that information is old. Yeah. And you can find the yeah the newspaper stuff, too, is very interesting.
Summer Reading Program Excitement
00:04:11
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, when I find books that are written on things that are like written in the 80s or, you know, like it's old stuff. And, you know, it's not necessarily 100 percent more credible or anything, but it's supposedly.
00:04:22
Speaker
I mean, we could all be in a simulation. I don't want to.
00:04:27
Speaker
You want to talk about nightmares? No, thank you. AI is just us becoming self-aware. No. Oh, why?
00:04:36
Speaker
um So anyways, now that I've ah now completely destroyed your life. Getting existential in here. What you been up to. Who cares? Nothing matters. um Shit. I don't know. we're We're creeping up on summertime now. Yeah.
00:04:53
Speaker
And know. For me, that's that's work stuff. But it's like cool, fun work stuff. Mm-hmm. I work in a cool, fun place that does cool, fun stuff for summer. i think we've talked about before how I get to read everybody's submission for our reading, our summer reading program. And so that's like it has nothing to do with what my company does. But we do this reading program and it just makes me so happy. So I get to read. Yeah, you got to like see this like kids reception of things, you know, though, especially the ones that try. But here's the thing, though. It's it's all ages. Right. So I get I get children and adults and whatever anybody can submit.
00:05:27
Speaker
i try real hard not to be judgy. I try real hard not to get disappointed when I see the same things popping up over and over and over. Like the same books. Yeah. Yeah. So I get really excited, though, when I do see something unique. So I don't know. I'm looking forward to that. And I'm actually, now that I have a child in my life that is getting near being able to participate in that himself.
00:05:45
Speaker
Yes. You know, I'll i'll but get to see what what kids his age are reading. and so Yeah. So getting ready for summer. You've been doing the... Just getting ready for the book club stuff, getting ready for just the summer activities that we're going to be doing. so Planning events and thinking, you summer fun time and getting, you know, hoping and people are wanting to find something, an oasis in the bullshit, something nice to do amidst all of the bullshit. There is a place where you can go and not deal with that. And then we're just going to try to make it as fun. And what about you?
00:06:18
Speaker
I know you've got...
Barnyard Swallows and Their Benefits
00:06:20
Speaker
An adventurous summer plan. Yeah. I've decided to take Bash out of daycare for the summer because he's about a transition to like a new school. So I've decided to like keep him all summer. and I'm just scared of what that looks like, like having him all day with like no way to take a break.
00:06:38
Speaker
So I'm just trying to find lots of activities for him that are just there. So I don't have to like keep setting stuff up for him. And he's not just like mindlessly watching TV because he gets so much energy. And then him and Fern just bounce off each other literally, like literally and and figuratively. They are all over each other. And then one of them always gets hurt.
00:07:00
Speaker
I bet you can't guess which one.
00:07:04
Speaker
We actually have had, um i don't know if I mentioned this before. i know I mentioned it last year, but we had these birds come back. So yeah, we've had these barnyard swallows that have been forming a nest on my patio. And like I thought about keeping them from doing it, but I felt really bad because like apparently they're not like endangered, but like they're losing a lot of their habitat in the area. So they're seeing less of them in the area, which means more insects.
00:07:31
Speaker
They're very beneficial. So i was like, fine. So they're like making a little nest. But the problem is these are like the birds that they make a nest out of like mud and grass. And it's like all like compacted together. Looks like a wasp nest. Yes. yeah It's really, yeah, a big one.
00:07:50
Speaker
And I was like, well, that's great because there's just quite a mess underneath because, you know, they don't always, it doesn't always stick. Right. But they're doing their best and I'm trying to take this as a good, like, learning opportunity for Bash and, like, teaching him about animals.
00:08:04
Speaker
little baby birds and blah, blah, blah, and whatever. And so that's been great. But like, honestly, I'm already like reaping the benefits because I was sitting back there reading yesterday I kind of like heard something like a bug. I figured it was just a fly because we get flies. We're near like a lot of farms.
00:08:22
Speaker
And i look up and there's a wasp like not too far in front of my face. And I shit you not, This bird comes out of nowhere and just grabs it from right in front of my face and then just goes up there and eats it. And I was like, all right, cool. You can stay. Yes. love that. It has been really cool. So that that part's been good. I do feel like there's still a lot of flies, but there's less wasps, which have been a huge issue for me in the past. So I'm really excited about that.
00:08:52
Speaker
And then a bad part of it, i wasn't really having a poop problem with them. But then all of a sudden, like I had the fan on out there because it was hot the other day. it was really muggy. And I had the fan on and they got really upset because they like to like perch on the fan, one of them while the other one's building the nest.
00:09:11
Speaker
And so they were flying around the patio squawking at me and pooping on like different like they pooped on like a girl cover they pooped and I'm like okay all right sorry turn it off turn it off they were so upset You take the good with the bad. Yeah.
00:09:31
Speaker
Now, I will say Aldi, they are not obviously sponsoring us, but Aldi had some really great deals on these little like there's like this little outdoor table um and like a little like gardening like for kids, like a couple of them They're like 20 something dollars.
00:09:50
Speaker
And so I went ahead and bought them and I'm going to have Ace put them together and just like water seal them. And yeah, was like, that's awesome because that'll keep him busy forever. If I fill one with dirt and the other one with water, he'll just. Oh, yeah. There's no limit. limit. You do with that. Exactly.
00:10:06
Speaker
excited about that. Dirt potions. Did you ever do that when you were a kid? I didn't do potions. I did. and We would like do the pies, literally. Yes, yes, we did that And the snowballs with the sand, throw them at each other.
00:10:21
Speaker
But then some people started putting acorns in them. I know. And then we got in trouble and then nobody was allowed to throw them anymore. I hadn't thought about that in forever. I don't know where that memory came from. That was a deep one. Deep cut.
00:10:35
Speaker
If ah you ever created um shrapnel sandballs, please let us know. Nightmare Cottage at gmail.com.
Botched Crime Stories Series
00:10:50
Speaker
Story time. So I decided this week I wanted to kind of do it on like an anthology thing. I've really been digging like I have so many of these like little small stories that are just great.
00:11:05
Speaker
They're not enough for like a whole thing, but like they're fantastic. No, I totally get that. i I frequently leave things on the cutting room floor because like I can't I can't do a whole thing. Yeah. But yeah, no, that's great.
00:11:16
Speaker
So I'm trying to lump these as best as I can. So bear with me Most of these are botched crimes in some kind of way. So we do have a theme of some kind here. and So stupid criminals. Got it. Well, not necessarily stupid.
00:11:30
Speaker
I wouldn't say that. So unfortunate criminals, I guess. I would just say unlucky. of Bad planning. Bad planning. That's two different things entirely, but but fair enough. I'm just saying it could be any of them. Gotcha, gotcha. All right. So.
00:11:50
Speaker
Our very first one begins in early 2024, a recent one. Okay. Four people are under investigation for what seemed to be car insurance fraud involving purported bear attacks in California.
00:12:03
Speaker
The investigation began when the group submitted a claim to their car insurer stating that a bear had entered their 2010 Rolls Royce ghost while they were in the Lake Arrowhead area. This is not an inexpensive car. They're like $250,000 new. And I looked and that's like legit like a lake area. So like unless you're driving a Rolls Royce to like get on a boat.
00:12:29
Speaker
Why are you taking a Rolls Royce to like a forest? Yes, because if you have a Rolls Royce, you likely have other cars that are more appropriate for camping.
00:12:41
Speaker
If that's what you're doing. Correct. You know, well, mean, if you're in a forest, that's just, you know, whatever for that environment. Exactly. But with this claim, they included photos of the damage to the car as well as video footage of the attack.
00:12:56
Speaker
I'll include the footage in the show notes, but i sent it to you. Yes. It very clearly looks like a person in a bear suit rummaging around a car like I don't know. To me, it did. I think what they were counting on is the fact that those cameras, the resolution is not the greatest, right? So I think that they thought they were very convincing.
00:13:16
Speaker
the The thing that foiled their plan, I think, was the light. Oh, the light that kept the motion sensor? No. Or the light in the car? The light in the car because they opened the door. yeah Didn't break the window to get in. No. They opened the door. they Yeah. Used their hand to open it. I mean, it might get lucky.
00:13:30
Speaker
Sure. a bear at all three times? Mm-hmm. Oh, we're getting there. Sorry. Yeah, continue. It very clearly looks like a person in a bear suit rummaging around. And the damage with the bear, you would assume deep slashes. Instead, it was just like really shallow marks. Like little pinpricks. Yeah.
00:13:47
Speaker
So realizing something was off, the insurance company referred to a California Fish and Wildlife Specialist to confirm their suspicions. Not only did they confirm that the creature in the video was moving in a way that no bear really could,
00:14:00
Speaker
But that there hadn't been a brown bear or grizzly sighting in California since 1920. You think that would have been good research to do before you like. And this happened recently. It's not like Google searches were not available. No. Oh, my God. Well, the investigation was turned over to the state of California where it was dubbed Operation Bearclaw.
00:14:22
Speaker
In their investigations, authorities discovered that the group had submitted two more insurance claims with different insurance companies for two additional vehicles, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350.
00:14:36
Speaker
These included the same report of being mauled by a bear with the same clear footage of a person in a bear suit clawing up their car. Unfortunately, two of the companies, Bristol West and Progressive, had already approved the loss and paid out a total of $140,000 for the replacement of the interiors between the two claims. Wow. So why not try it again? Yeah. Well, they submitted them all at the same time.
00:15:04
Speaker
And two of the insurers just... Approved it and went through with it. That's crazy. Yeah. so State Farm was actually the one that flagged this as fraud and opened it up for the state to investigate. And when they did, in November of 2024, search and arrest warrant was issued for all four of the defendants for insurance fraud.
00:15:22
Speaker
When they searched the house, they found a full bear suit with fake claws and meat shredders that were used as the claws in the incident. Did you notice how on one of them there was like six? And they were like perfect lines. They were perfect lines. Yes. They were perfectly symmetrical yeah lines every single time. Exactly the same. Yes. It was horrible.
00:15:43
Speaker
They were charged with multiple felonies, included aggravated white collar crime. presenting a false insurance claim and destroying insured property. In April of 2026, three of the four were sentenced 180 days in jail and supervised probation.
00:16:00
Speaker
Just figured I'd start off with a light one for us before we inevitably get darker. So I will put a link to the bear suit. Actually, I might be able to send this put this picture on, but I will at least put a link to it. But like did you notice that like one of the bear claws is like broken? One of the ahhu the things that they use to scratch it up? I actually didn't notice that before.
00:16:25
Speaker
and that's great, too, because now I see why there's six on one on one of them. yeah They were like, wait a minute. So our next one is from
Wendy's Chili Finger Incident
00:16:34
Speaker
2005. Now, I kind of remember this one, but I was a teenager when this one happened.
00:16:41
Speaker
So I just like heard about it and just filed it away in my mind and never really saw the end to it. I don't know if you how much you know about this one.
00:16:52
Speaker
So in 2005, Analia claimed that she found a partially cooked severed finger in her bowl of chili that she ordered from a Wendy's in San Jose, California. I had vaguely heard of this story.
00:17:05
Speaker
I do remember that turning me off their chili. And for some reason, their baked potato, too. i was just like, i'm I'm done. And I used to get their baked potato a lot because their baked potato was delicious. Yeah, I would get their baked potato with the chili. And that would be, yeah.
00:17:20
Speaker
Did you keep doing it even after they found the finger? No. You didn't want finger chili? I mean, it was, I mean.
00:17:31
Speaker
Well, like I said, this is about as far as I thought the story went in my youth, but there's more to it. So here we go. March 22nd, 2005, Anna Alaya is sitting in a Wendy's in San Jose, California.
00:17:44
Speaker
She's eating her chili when she takes a bite and finds there to be a human finger in her mouth. Obviously, Anna and the restaurant employees are pretty concerned about this, so they call the police and the finger is taken into evidence.
00:17:58
Speaker
Santa Clara County investigators confirm that the object they collected is, in fact, a finger. Quote, well manicured, inch and a half long, with a nicely groomed nail. Ew.
00:18:14
Speaker
It's just like the worst description. I was actually, i was picturing like a gnarly man finger, but this is somehow much worse. So something about this must not have sat right with the investigators because two weeks later, they decided to search Anna's house as part of the investigation.
00:18:34
Speaker
They leave with their phones and their phone records in an empty plastic bag, a blue cooler, and a pay stub for someone who used to live with her but moved away. And Anna, of course, lawyers up.
00:18:47
Speaker
Wendy's, as a company, isn't recovering well from this. They're completing their own internal investigations on their end, coming up short. Well, and you say this is 2005. The internet is just peak chaos this time. ah It is just.
00:19:04
Speaker
It's the wild, wild west. Was that around the time we were doing? i don't know if we had a lot of. Actually, I'm not going to pretend I know I was 15.
00:19:15
Speaker
We were towards the end of the MySpace age. Facebook was in its beginnings. Yeah. That's about the time we're looking at. Not great. So they checked every process down the line and they couldn't find anyone with a missing finger or any point where a single whole finger would make it past inspections.
00:19:35
Speaker
Meanwhile, their sales are tanking because, frankly, no one really wants to find surprises in their food. And the company said they lost an average of 35 to 50 percent of their expected sales due the allegations.
00:19:51
Speaker
So the company and investigators decided to look into Anna a little bit more. And as it turns out, Anna had a habit of finding reasons to file lawsuits. Ah, one of them. this claim in 2005, she had been involved in at least 13 different cases.
00:20:10
Speaker
In 1996, she sued Santa Clara County. This is a county in California. Over what? We aren't sure. The case was dismissed and the records were destroyed in a routine disposal of court records.
00:20:24
Speaker
Like I said, oh my god they just disappear. In 1997, Anna's boyfriend at the time and three of his relatives, as well as Anna, sued a woman over an auto accident. Again, the case was resolved and the records were destroyed.
00:20:40
Speaker
In 1999, Anna and the same boyfriend were sued by a dealership for writing a bad check for $1,900 to buy a car. So even though the judge ordered them to pay the debt,
00:20:53
Speaker
They never did. So instead, Anna countersued the dealership, stating that a wheel fell off the car. They sold her and caused an accident. So the case was just dismissed after that.
00:21:05
Speaker
Was there any evidence of an accident or any of that happening? It was dismissed. So they kind of just. Yeah. And it was 1999. again, records shoddy.
00:21:18
Speaker
Right before the suit that we're talking about, Anna was involved in a suit with a Las Vegas restaurant where she had claimed her daughter had gotten sick after eating there, as well as another active suit where it seems she's alleged to have sold her ex-boyfriend's mobile home and pocketed the cash. Oh, my God.
00:21:36
Speaker
do we see a trend forming? Baby, don't get close to this person and let her in your anywhere near your stuff. So over the years, Anna has had many other suits filed against her and the other way around to casting a wide net and seeing what sticks is kind of what it feels like she's been doing.
00:21:56
Speaker
Well, Wendy's PR and legal team decided to turn this over to the public. They put out a reward for $50,000 for the first person who could provide information on whose finger this is and where it came from. You know, Wendy's has always been great at PR. They really have.
00:22:14
Speaker
Unfortunately for Anna, this call to action from Wendy's... prompts Anna's attorneys to release a statement saying that Anna will no longer be pursuing legal action against Wendy's and that he will be withdrawing as her legal representative.
00:22:29
Speaker
So he said, we will not be doing this and I quit. Yeah. Well, Wendy's responds to this by increasing the reward to $100,000 for anyone who can give them verifiable information on this case.
00:22:45
Speaker
Somebody's got a missing finger and they can prove it. Well, just a few days later, Wendy's completes their internal investigation and they determine that the finger did in fact not come from them. And Anna is arrested in Las Vegas on the charge of attempted grand theft in connection with attempting to defraud the company.
00:23:06
Speaker
Well, as part of this investigation into Fingergate, everyone wanted to know where did this finger come from? Right. One quote from a New York Times article written by Matt Richell states, according to the criminal F. David filed against Ms. Ayala, an initial test by the Santa Clara County's coroner's office concluded the finger was not consistent with an object that had been cooked in chili 170 degrees policy.
00:23:33
Speaker
for three hours as is wendy's policy You know, that's a good point because if it's got a fake nail on it. o and that's it was a real nail. It's a real finger. It's a real finger. i just thought it had like a press on nail. No. on it but All right.
00:23:49
Speaker
But still, you would think that that would break down in that over time. Yeah. as I don't know. I don't know. That is actually not something I have Googled yet. So I don't I feel like it would be like.
00:24:01
Speaker
Like a hot dog, it would just kind of deglove a little bit. you know, degloving looks like. Yeah. So it was confirmed in May of 2005 that the finger belonged to Brian Paul Rossiter.
Origins of the Finger in the Chili
00:24:17
Speaker
And luckily, Brian was completely fine beyond missing his finger. Brian was a co-worker of Anna's husband, and he had lost his finger in a workplace accident involving a mechanical lift truck in December of 2004.
00:24:31
Speaker
He sold the finger to Anna's husband to settle a $50 debt to Anna's husband and claims that he didn't know what they wanted the finger for. i mean.
00:24:43
Speaker
Side story. The guy was remaining anonymous and working with the police internally regarding his finger. Like once they realized it was him. So he was helping the cops and he was like, just keep keep me out of the media.
00:24:56
Speaker
Well, his mom oh no goes on record and just starts telling his business to all of the reporters. Yes, so that was really funny to read. In one San Francisco Chronicle article written after the arrest, she's quoted as saying, my son is a happy-go-lucky guy. He thought it was cute to show.
00:25:15
Speaker
It's like a man thing. If a woman had her finger severed, she would never show it to anyone, but he would show it to the girls in the office if they asked him for it.
00:25:26
Speaker
All right, mom. ah So Anna Ayala pled guilty to the charges in September of 2005 and was sentenced in January of 2006 to nine years in state prison.
00:25:38
Speaker
And she, along with her co-conspirator, were forced to pay $21 million dollars in restitution, which let's be honest. No, like, where are they going to get that kind of money?
00:25:49
Speaker
Anna did appeal her sentence and won with five years being removed. But she was released in April of 2009 on parole. So you would think this would be the end of our adventures with Anna.
00:26:03
Speaker
But in October of 2012, Anna's son, Guadalupe, accidentally shot himself in the foot. The problem with that Like literally shot himself in the Literally shot himself in the foot. Wow.
00:26:14
Speaker
The problem with that is Guadalupe was out on parole, which means he wasn't actually allowed to be in possession of a firearm. I'm not sure if you know this, but if you go to the hospital to get a gunshot wound taken care of, the police are generally called. Right. Yeah, it makes sense.
00:26:31
Speaker
So they decided to fabricate a story that her son was shot in the ankle by two men. Well, her son quickly cracked under questioning, like immediately. So Ana ended up being charged in 2013 for being an accessory to a felony, filing a false police report and being a felon in possession of a firearm. She served two years for that one. Wow.
00:26:51
Speaker
I don't know how much of that you... i didn't know. i knew um i knew that she had put the finger in herself, but I didn't know the surroundings. Yeah, the surroundings. Yeah, or like where the finger came from. Right, exactly. Like there were so many questions and like just like carrying around your finger. What would you do if you had an amputated finger...
00:27:18
Speaker
would you i would Would you put it in a Jarvis solution to save it? Or like would you sell it to somebody for 50 bucks? I would never sell it. You do not sell your body parts. Yeah, there's there's yeah there's a lot to that.
00:27:30
Speaker
Your blood, your hair. Yep, there's a lot. Yeah.
00:27:36
Speaker
So our next one, little short one.
Chanel Gaskin's Bank Heist
00:27:41
Speaker
um And this was one of those that I was telling you about like not find anything about like the after parts of this case.
00:27:50
Speaker
So this one takes place in Atlanta, Georgia in January of 2008. Okay. Chanel Monet Gaskin walks into Wachovia Bank shortly after 1 p.m. and she demands money.
00:28:02
Speaker
She didn't present a weapon, but she was still handed a bag of cash and ran to a nearby Quiznos where the dye bomb inside the bag explodes. Okay. So Chanel and the money were now covered in bright orange ink. So she runs out of the Quiznos and into a Publix bathroom.
00:28:19
Speaker
There she ditched her stained clothes and money. I'm assuming she just had extra clothes on her. Maybe she got it from the Publix because it's a grocery store. Right. Or maybe she, i mean, had the foresight to think of that part. Maybe. Had a stash clothes. Yeah.
00:28:35
Speaker
So she leaves the grocery store and she goes and sits at the bus stop behind the grocery store waiting for the bus. And this is where police find her. The worst part, when they ask her why she would use the bus as a getaway vehicle, she admits she had robbed another Wachovia bank a few weeks earlier in a nearby county and had used the bus to get away with no problem.
00:28:58
Speaker
So they charged her with two robberies instead of one. Why would you stop? Why would you incriminate yourself? You have the right to remain silent, my girl. It is so real. It is such a real right. Sometimes just use it.
00:29:16
Speaker
our last one takes place in Auckland, New
Body Worlds Exhibit Toe Theft
00:29:21
Speaker
Zealand. Okay. In a body world exhibit. Oh, yeah. For those of you that haven't been there, explain.
00:29:30
Speaker
So it's really fucking rad. Uh-huh. Oh, yeah. So, okay. So all of their exhibits are real human bodies that have been... um chopped, sliced, preserved, and plasticized is the word they use. Yes. And displayed in various educational ways, like it to display either just an artistic vision or to show like muscle movements or the body in different stages of decay or movement or whatever. Right. Yeah. So it's these people volunteered their bodies to this. So
00:30:07
Speaker
Supposedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. There's been some. Is there? There's been some controversy. Is there? Oh, no. Just a little bit. But, yeah. I didn't know that, but there's no ethical consumption.
00:30:21
Speaker
Well, knowing that that's happened in the Body World exhibit, I guess, I think you can guess what may have happened here. So in May of 2018, 28-year-old Joshua Williams was visiting the Body Worlds Vital Exhibition in Auckland, New Zealand.
00:30:40
Speaker
And upon entering one of the exhibits where two acrobats are performing and a man's holding up a woman by the arm, they're just like fully supported with their arms, They're completely skinless, so you can see all of their muscles, blood vessels contracted.
00:30:55
Speaker
It's a freestanding area where you can go around them, and it's not covered by plexiglass. Well, he decided to reach out and touch the toes of the cadaver in the air, which, fair enough, he let the intrusive thoughts win. Sure.
00:31:11
Speaker
But he says that when he touched the toes, they kind of gave and flipped back, so he just removed them. and pocketed the index and middle toes of the cadaver, and then left the museum.
00:31:24
Speaker
Oh, baby, you need to go and hand those to somebody. Well, after leaving the museum, he goes on Instagram. Oh, honey. And he posts a picture of the toes, along with a caption detailing that he just took these toes and ended the post with a LOL, for good measure. Bless his heart.
00:31:45
Speaker
Yeah. Well, Joshua Williams was brought up on charges of interfering with a human body. And the toes were valued at $5,500 each.
00:31:59
Speaker
So that's $11,000 toes. In his court hearing, the judge cited a previous Supreme Court case where human body does not constitute property and therefore cannot be considered stolen property.
00:32:14
Speaker
It didn't mention what the case was in my research, but I looked it up and I found an 1882 English common law case, Williams versus Williams, where it was ruled that a dead body cannot be property and therefore is not an object to be given in a will.
00:32:30
Speaker
While it is the executor's duty to do what the will asks of them, they cannot legally own, sell, or bequeath a body. i just, I wonder why we're looking at it as a body and not as a museum object.
00:32:45
Speaker
Because they were trying to charge him with... and So they didn't have to. They just wanted to... They did it that way so they could charge him harder? that's That's just what the pro the charge of the prosecutors came up with.
00:32:59
Speaker
Yeah. so he's like, you can't charge him with that because it's not property. So therefore he can't steal it. And they're saying, additionally, if the plastination process leaves little human to the cadavers as advertised, then...
00:33:15
Speaker
can't actually be charged with interfering with a body. In one Radio New Zealand video from 2018, the judge is cited as saying, quote, it could certainly be argued that the improper interference with the dead body took place well before they arrived in New Zealand, when they were turned into plastic objects and put on display for a paying audience.
00:33:35
Speaker
What you did pales in comparison. The judge was also concerned with the conviction of interfering with a dead human body, and he was concerned how it would look on Joshua's record.
00:33:47
Speaker
He's quoted as saying, it conjures up an image of a grave robber digging up graves in a cemetery at night. What you actually did was pluck two toes from a placinated body posed and intended to be the object of visitors' attention.
00:34:01
Speaker
End quote. The judge felt that the prosecutors were going too hard on Joshua and just decided to dismiss his case altogether. He states that a simple charge of intentional damage should have been placed since the toes were returned to the police and able to be fastened.
00:34:16
Speaker
Intentional damage sounds way more fair. The thing is, the judge also gave him the option to be like, OK, do you want to charge him with theft or do you want to charge him with attempt to harm a human body? You have to choose one because is it a body or is it an item?
00:34:30
Speaker
and they're like the human body thing because. Right. I don't know. Because that that seems like they'd they'd be able to pull on that. Yeah. And then the judge was like, yeah, no, that's not going to work because it's not a human body. so no.
00:34:43
Speaker
um He was also kind of worried about how it looked on his record. I don't know what you thought about that rolling or in general that whole. No, I think that the judge made the right call there. i don't know. to dismiss it altogether.
00:34:55
Speaker
I still have charged him with something because you shouldn't have taken those. Yeah. you Yeah. But you he was ruling on the charge in front of him right then. Like you can't rule on a charge that's not in front of you. That's true. That wasn't the case.
00:35:08
Speaker
But guys, you should know better. You should know better. Don't you look with your eyes, not with your hands. Don't take what's not yours. And when you're in a museum, no touchy unless they tell you to.
00:35:21
Speaker
Some might say that if there's not barriers, they're telling. you to Oh my gosh. You're one of them. I'm not. I'm not. You're one of them. I am terrified to touch anything, even if it's in, the you know, exhibits where it's encouraged. I'm like, I'm never going to the dinosaur exhibits with you.
00:35:40
Speaker
You've already gone to dinosaur exhibits. How many dinosaurs have you stolen? My house is very small. dinosaurs Is that what Bob is made of? Dinosaur bone? Bob's a skeleton.
00:35:53
Speaker
She has a massive skeleton in her backyard. He's 12 feet headless currently. He is currently headless. That's correct. It's getting his head's in the shop. It's getting repaired. a storm took him out.
00:36:06
Speaker
Well, thank you for joining me for these lovely stories. I'm sorry they were short ones this time, but. No, I love it. That was fun. felt like something light and fun was, but kind of. because ew yeah definitely more light-hearted we aren't i wonder what they feel like like do they feel like rubber or like silicone are you talking about the toes yeah well i mean they're plasticized right yeah so i imagine i feel like they'd feel like a like resin like i feel like oh like resin yeah like hard yeah like kind of crunchy no like the like um
00:36:40
Speaker
You know, like the acrylic key chains and stuff? Yeah. Yeah, like like that kind of, like that you pour read like a clear epoxy resin. I don't know anything. No, no, no, But like, you know, that is what I imagine.
Book Recommendation: 'Trad Wife'
00:36:55
Speaker
Do you have any nightmare feel? I do So i read this book. Shocking. You read a book. I'm am proud of you. I know. I never do that.
00:37:08
Speaker
okay so listen, this is a book I didn't actually like I wanted to read it and I didn't want to read it because of the premise. But then I did again and then I ended up reading it and I started hating it and then I loved it in the end. So the book is called. Oh, what a rollercoaster. I know it was. The whole thing was a rollercoaster. It was actually just a really excellent reading experience. I had a blast the whole time. It's called Trad Wife.
00:37:30
Speaker
It's about what you can imagine. It's about an influencer who has put herself into this situation where she has everything she wants because she gets to get all the nice, perfect things and put it on Instagram. She can't have a baby. She's having a hard time having a baby. So there might be demons involved or a demon or something. Whoa. ah Yeah. And anyways, it's like this whole thing.
00:37:51
Speaker
It's horror, of course. Anyways, it's her whole ride of being this trad wife and her evolutionary journey of many things. and The author is Sarah Toga Schaefer.
00:38:03
Speaker
I really had low expectations. i was blown away. was super fun. So I recommend it I mean, it's dark as fuck. So I say super fun. It's not like, It's got some humor to it. But um yeah, Trad Wife from Sarah Toda Schaefer.
00:38:16
Speaker
Awesome. Oh, and I forgot. So on the last one we were both just so into our conversation that I didn't realize the name of the Nightmare Fuel. it was the last one. Yeah, so the way I i meant to to present that, and and and I realize it definitely, especially if you are a fan of the series, you know I fucked this up. I meant to say it as in the Lemony Snicket's books as in the books by Lemony Snicket's, the author.
00:38:41
Speaker
But I didn't say it that way. So the book series is called a Series of Unfortunate Events. She read the first one, which has its own title. No, it's called A Bad Beginning. Oh, A Bad Beginning. Yeah. And that's I mean, it's on the Nightmare Hill page. So um you can check that out there. But yeah, sorry. I don't.
00:38:58
Speaker
I didn't even notice until I was listening to it the second time. And I was like, oh, yeah. Well, like I knew what I meant. and I knew I meant it correctly, but i we cannot. I understand how fans of things are. And i sometimes you have to print a retraction. Yes, that is correct.
00:39:16
Speaker
You sent me this article about a girl who like got injured and was like in a coma or like passed out or knocked out for like a short amount of time. And when she came to, she like had lived this whole fucking life. Was that real, though? i didn't look into it So here's the thing. There's several cases of this. There's people who have claimed this all over the place.
00:39:42
Speaker
Now, there is no scientific way to to prove shit. so No, and there's so many chemicals that get released in our body during crisis times of crisis. 100%. I'm not saying that like she didn't live this life in her head. like Obviously, she didn't physically live this, but... But I did find, and this there's permission to share this online, so I'm going to share it. If you are chronically on Reddit and have been for years, you may already know this story. But there is a a story that was told on Reddit. It is presented as if this happened to this person, like it's a real story. Okay, so this was... Originally posted a lot of years ago by the Redditor, temp to toss soon.
00:40:27
Speaker
If you've heard of the lampshade story, this story told in this person's point of view. So my last semester of at a certain college, I was assaulted by a football player for walking where he was trying to drive.
00:40:39
Speaker
Note he was 325 pounds and i was While unconscious on the ground, I lived a different life.
Reddit Story: Alternate Life Experience
00:40:46
Speaker
I met a wonderful young lady. She made my heart skip and my face red. I pursued her for months and dispatched a few jerk boyfriends before I finally won her over.
00:40:54
Speaker
And after two years, we got married and almost immediately she bore me a daughter. This is making me sad because I know what you're going to say. I had a great job and my wife didn't have to work outside of the house. When my when my daughter was two, my wife bore me a son.
00:41:10
Speaker
My son was the joy of my life. I would walk into his room every morning before I left for work and doted on him and my daughter. One day, while sitting on the couch, I noticed that the perspective of the lamp was odd, like inverted.
00:41:23
Speaker
It was still in 3D, but just wrong. It was a square lamp base with gold trim on it with four legs and a white square shade. I was transfixed. I couldn't look away from it.
00:41:35
Speaker
I stayed up all night staring at it. The next morning I didn't go to work. Something was just not right about the lamp. I stopped eating. I left the couch only to use the bathroom at first. Soon I stopped that too. I wasn't eating or drinking.
00:41:48
Speaker
I stared at the fucking lamp for three days before my wife got really worried. ah She had someone come and try to talk to me. By this time, my cognizance was breaking up and my wife was freaking out. She took the kids to her mother's house just before I had my epiphany.
00:42:02
Speaker
The lamp was not real. My house was not real. My wife, my kids. None of it was real. The last ten years of my life were not fucking real. The lamp started to grow wider and deeper. It was still inverted dimensions. It took up my entire perspective and all I could see was red.
00:42:19
Speaker
I heard voices, screams, all kinds of weird noises and I became aware of pain. A fucking shit ton of pain. The first word I said were, i'm missing teeth and I opened my eyes.
00:42:31
Speaker
I was laying on my back on the sidewalk surrounded by people that I didn't know. Lots were freaking out and I was completely confused. Oh, so he wasn't even the hospital. He was just out for that second. He had just gotten knocked out. At some point, a cop scooped me up, dragged me, walked me to the sidewalk and and grass and threw me face down in the back of the cop car. I was still confused.
00:42:52
Speaker
I was taken to the hospital by the cop. Seems he didn't want to wait for the ambulance to arrive. And I got CT scans and shit. I went through about three years of horrid depression. and was grieving the loss of my wife and children and dealing with the knowledge that they never existed. I was scared that I was going insane and then I would cry myself to sleep, hoping I would see them in my dream.
00:43:11
Speaker
I never have. But sometimes I see my son, usually just a glimpse out of my peripheral vision. He is perpetually five years old and I can never hear what he says. That's so sad. Yeah.
00:43:24
Speaker
Horrible. But there's a handful of stories like that that you can find across the internet. True or not, I don't know, but it's pretty heart-wrenching. Crazy.
00:43:35
Speaker
So um not exactly a happy way to end, but, you know, it's the nightmare cottage. Well, thanks for joining.
00:43:47
Speaker
Till next time. Sweet dreams. Night. If you have topic requests, book or movie recommendations, or just want to say hi, email us at nightmarecottage at gmail.com or visit our website at nightmarecottage.com. Sweet dreams.
00:44:19
Speaker
and Bye bye!