Episode 454: That Time I Met A Murderer II ft. Bailey Sarian

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I'm Dan Taberski.

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Hey, weirdos.

I'm Alayna.

I'm Ash.

And I'm Bailey Sarian.

And this is Morbid.

It's a special episode, guys.

We have Bailey back on the show.

You remember Bailey.

Yay!

I'm so happy to be here.

We are so happy to have you back.

I'm so excited.

And Bailey's like here.

I'm here.

I'm in your home.

In the flesh.

In the pod lab.

Yes.

This is wild.

It's so cool to meet you guys in person.

I know.

This feels so crazy.

I know.

I feel like we should have like a screen separating us.

I know.

What can I do?

I'm behind this mic.

I can't really see you.

That's true.

We can just peek out every now and again.

I know.

Thank you for inviting me back.

Of course.

You're always welcome.

I love you guys so much.

I love your podcast.

You guys are killing it.

Oh my God, thank you.

Don't ever give up.

Believe in yourselves.

Oh my God.

I'm rooting for you.

Same for you, man.

Thanks.

Tears shed already.

Okay, we're done.

Bye.

And that's it.

See you later.

Thanks for tuning in.

This was our episode.

Morbid, but positivity.

I love that.

You know, it's so weird because I feel like we've already met in person.

I know.

It's a weird feeling of like, well, I know you, right?

Yeah, it does feel that way.

When I was coming over here, I was like, we've met.

Yeah.

You're like, I'm just going over your house.

Yeah.

Of course.

But we haven't.

We haven't.

Here we are.

And I love your home.

Thank you.

Thank you for inviting me into your place.

You are always welcome in my place.

Thanks.

My space.

And your space.

You need to throw a huge Halloween rager here.

Oh, yeah.

It's so spooky, right?

Yes.

It's so spooky.

Oh, yeah.

Across the street from a cemetery.

Hello.

Yeah.

Party.

That's the dream.

That's what sold me on this place.

I was like, well, there's a cemetery.

That's actually very true.

She texted me and was like, there's a cemetery.

I think we should get it.

Do you feel like it's kind of haunted?

It is.

It's super old.

Like, not that.

Well, the house isn't like crazy old.

Not as old.

But it's an old town with like a lot of.

Yeah.

Actually.

Oh, no, I can't tell that statistic because it will give us away.

Exactly.

You know what?

Don't triangulate.

No, no.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm like, yeah, I love the street.

I'm like naming everything.

The street that you are off of.

No, you said cemetery.

You're good.

You literally give us completely away.

I'll tell you after.

Got it.

Got it.

It's a fun one.

No facts.

Yeah.

Noted.

Noted.

But you know what?

Today we're going to do we're going to do something fun.

We're going to do some listener tales.

Yeah.

You know, because listener tales are brought to you by you, for you, from you

and all about you.

Snaps.

Snaps for that.

You always do it right.

I try.

Every time.

Every time.

Because I made it up.

You know, it's easy to remember.

I made it.

You know, I make a lot of things up, though, and I still fuck them up.

That's true.

We had to start this episode like three times because I couldn't get the idea

that there were three of us in the room and not two.

Well, to be fair, it's kind of hard.

It's just you two forever.

It's true.

And now I'm just here like, hey, remember, I'm here.

Hello.

Hi.

Yeah.

So I'm like, you're not.

You know, it's OK.

All right.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

But, you know, we're going to start this off with an intense one.

Yay.

Because this one includes Jerry Brudos.

That's a lot.

Which we haven't covered Jerry Brudos yet.

No, he's like one of those that I've been waiting to cover.

Yeah.

Because you got to be in the right frame of mind to cover that guy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You got to be in the right place.

Remind me, Jerry's the shoe guy.

He's the shoe guy.

Yeah.

Weirdo.

Yeah, he's a real weirdo.

But this one's called OG Listener Tale.

My mom dated a serial killer.

Someone on your future topic agenda.

So they knew.

They knew it's on my future topic agenda.

It says, hey, chicas, where do I start?

You can use my name, which is Meredith.

I love your name.

I was never one of those kids that decided to use my middle name or something.

Attached is a double space 13 point PDF attached for the story I've teased.

It's not super long.

They didn't write Pudufa.

Pudufa.

It's always Pudufa.

Terrible.

I'm sorry.

It's not super long, so I won't apologize for the length.

It comes in around eight minutes of reading time.

That's the new thing that our listeners are doing for us is they're being like,

this is about 14 minutes of reading time.

They're beautiful people.

That's very kind.

So kind.

And they're doing a double space PDF for us because I can't see anything.

That's how I am.

Right. It's pretty great.

Yeah.

So they work with us.

That's so sweet.

They put in the work.

That's nice.

What a great community.

Yeah.

They're a part of these episodes.

They also gave us a pronunciation guide.

Wow.

Which my subscribers are screwing me over.

They want me to mispronounce everything.

I say everything wrong.

99% of the time.

I think that's why we got here.

Exactly.

They were like, you know what?

I'm going to help you out with this.

You're right.

They're like, we feel bad.

Yeah.

You guys can't say.

They just want me to struggle for some reason.

Yeah.

But this one, apparently the town is called Corvallis.

Thank you for that.

To be extra clear, that is a hard Oregon R.

Oregon.

Oregon.

It's Oregon Trail.

It's Oregon Trail.

That's why.

I know.

It's Oregon, but it's Oregon Trail.

Exactly.

Remember when they read me to filth for how I said Oregon before?

Oregon Trail actually read us to filth.

On Twitter.

The actual Oregon Trail game.

It was like, it's Oregon.

And I was like, get out of here, Oregon Trail.

Oh, wait, you really say Oregon?

Yeah.

I see for the place, it's Oregon.

But when I refer to the game, it's Oregon Trail.

How come?

Because I grew up saying Oregon Trail.

Okay, that's fair.

And I think we grew up saying Oregon.

I was going to say, I always said Oregon because my dad used to live in Oregon.

And I was like, my dad moved to Oregon.

He moved to Oregon.

It just sounds like a nice shape.

It does, actually.

Everyone from there is like, it's Oregon.

Yeah.

It's rough.

How funny.

Okay.

I like that, though.

But you know what?

Massachusetts has terrible pronounced names, too.

Yeah.

Say Lemonster.

Say Peabody.

Say Worcester.

So Oregon Trail, the game come after you?

They did.

And the game was like.

So I would screenshot and frame that.

Yeah, no beef with Oregon Trail.

But yeah, they were like, it's no.

It says, my choir teacher in high school came from Boston and had so much disdain

for the Oregon R. We hit that consonant hard.

Hard.

Also, the Oregonian appears in the story.

And Ash, you've gotten it right before.

So I know you got this for your mental health.

Oregonian equals Oregonian.

See, I said it right.

You did.

But also, regional dialects are a real thing.

So you do you.

See, thank you for ending me with that.

Because we're always like, regional dialects, guys.

We say things different.

Oh, my ever-loving whatever.

It has taken me so long to get this out.

Please be gentle.

Lots of feels involved here.

Keep it real, my lovelies.

And they attached a bunch of photos, but we're going to get to the listener, too.

Yay.

It says, dear wonderful weirdos, I've listened to you since your first episode.

And in a long way, I think you've stayed true to your vision.

Thank you.

I'm really glad Ash no longer calls herself a trash person, whether or not

she's drinking questionable Slurpees, but I'm secretly really glad she didn't cut

the cussing like Papa suggested.

You got to keep it real. Am I right?

Condolences on last year's losses and this year's early struggles.

Congratulations on the many, many successes.

You're really sweet.

Oh, thanks.

Specific to Ash and Drew, you're doing the damn thing.

Much love to you.

Thank you.

Melaina, you're an inspiration to wannabe writers everywhere, including me.

I wanted to write from the time I was nine years old, but I was discouraged

because my neurodivergent brain could never decide between first person and

third person narratives.

Didn't you struggle with that?

Yes.

I was just going to say, don't feel bad about that at all, because I struggled

with that, still struggle with that.

I feel like I would, too.

I gave up with it.

It's hard.

It's so hard.

To this day, I don't know why we can't just call it second person and call it a

third person, because that was the late 80s.

I'm an old broad and I was called weird, daydreamer, et cetera.

Those things are not untrue, but I was also struggling with an undiagnosed

learning disability.

So my husband still thinks I should write one of my personal tales into a book,

but the convicted creepo is out and walking around.

So there is possible libel defamation shiz to consider.

That sucks.

You can make it like fictional, though.

Yeah, there you go.

Take some artistic license with it and then you can write it down.

Boom.

I say do it.

I have a few stories to share.

Accidental amputation comedy of errors, stalkers, serial rapist encounters.

See above, the guy who is out and about now.

Oh, no.

Damn.

And I'm not sure how to begin, really, even after years of considering a submittal.

Several of the best stories, this being one, are actually my mom's, but she

passed away almost five years ago.

Sad face.

I'm sorry.

So some details might be a tad inaccurate or fuzzy.

I started writing this the day before what would have been her 80th birthday

in October of 2022.

We didn't know 75 would be her last.

Oh, I'm sorry.

So hug your loved ones, kids, because grief and regret is the shits.

Grief being complicated stuff is why it's taken months on top of

months to get this sent.

But good for you for sending it.

I know.

It's taken me yet another five months to get this sent.

And since I've just finished listening to Harvey Glattman, part one, oof, I

think perhaps the time is at hand.

Hint, you mentioned one of the main characters on that episode.

Oh, yeah, because I brought up.

You did.

This man's.

This man's.

In any case, let's get to the case.

When I was in my mid-twenties, I found out that my mom had dated a serial killer.

Imagine just finding that out.

No.

In your mid-twenties, your mom's like, you know what's funny about my life?

One time I dated a serial killer.

All right.

I'd be so mad.

Right?

Like, yeah.

Why wouldn't you tell me that day one?

Yeah, you got it like right away.

I want to know.

Came out the womb, Molly.

Yeah.

Teaching me my ABCs.

Be like, by the way.

You know that guy who killed all those people?

Yeah.

Put this away.

I was in love with him.

I liked him.

Found it.

It came up one day in casual conversation.

Super cash, right?

I have no idea why she told me that she chose to tell me the day that she did.

Mom was a night owl, always had been.

Growing up, if I called to be picked up from school with a tummy ache, it

typically took a couple calls to get her on the phone because she was reliably

lying down napping.

Relatable.

Years later, treatment for a previously undiagnosed thyroid problem resolved

the majority of the excessive napping.

Always up late, really late, like sunrise late.

I guess this habit started in her youth, probably high school if she could get

away with it.

Grandpa was a stickler for proper behavior.

But for certain as a freshman in college, she told me she would sit up at night

listening to the radio and smoking cigarettes.

Scandalous.

So as a freshman at Oregon State University in Corvallis, she would sit up

late and listen to a local radio station.

And for whatever reason, she called the station late one night and spoke to the

From what I recall, after several late night conversations, he and my mom

decided to meet.

I love that this is like the meet cute in the beginning.

It's like they were chatting on AIM before AIM.

Early AIM.

Given that it was 1960-ish, it was probably a very cute conversation where

this guy bashfully asked mom out on a proper date.

Mom told me Jerry had a kind, gentle, pleasant demeanor and a pleasant voice.

Not Jerry.

Can I just take a minute right here to mention how terrifying it is that this

girl is presented as kind and gentle?

Yeah, you sure can.

Yeah.

Wait, did she say how old she was at this time?

She was a freshman in college.

OK, OK.

So she was young.

Sorry, I'm just trying to get the mental image.

I know because you're like, where was this?

What was this happening?

We got a picture and all.

Freshman in college while she's sitting up late night listening to the radio.

Smoking cigs.

Calling in the radio station.

It's giving me like now and then vibes.

Yeah.

Have you ever seen that movie?

No, but I love the candy.

Oh, there you go.

Yes, I will say.

You'll love the movie.

Yes.

It's such a great movie.

Yeah, you should watch it.

It's a nostalgia fest.

God, I think I've seen it, but it's I can't remember right now.

But yeah.

Yeah.

It's also making me think of an urban legend, Tara Reade, being like the radio

operator, late at night, people calling in and asking really raunchy questions.

I love that movie.

And I love her in that movie.

She's so good in that movie.

I'm going to watch it.

She's underrated in that movie.

Yeah, Tara Reade.

Yeah, she's fucking phenomenal in that.

That was like the height of Tara Reade.

Oh, yeah, big time.

That was like American Pie Tara Reade.

But we digress.

This is where details get really fuzzy.

Mom and Jerry went out at least twice.

I don't know what the order was and what

they did on one of what I believe was only two dates.

But on the date I know about, they drove to the coast together.

They drove to the coast together.

Yikes.

Because Corvallis is only 53 miles of winding rural highway away.

Incidentally, Highway 20 is the longest

highway in the United States, starting in Newport and ending 3,151.3 miles later in Boston.

Whoa, look at that.

But I digress.

I'm only guessing that this is the beach

they ended up at because it was the shortest route to the coast.

The point being that they spent an extended period of time alone in a car

with him as he drove on rural highways.

That is really scary.

Rural highways that to this day have long,

solitary stretches that outside of busy holiday weekends when everyone and their

cousin and their cousin's best friend decide to escape to the coast are relatively

solitary places.

So here's my sweet little mama, all five foot two of her alone on a road trip in a

car with someone who someday will be arrested as a serial killer.

And here I am today to tell you about it

because he evidently hadn't started killing yet.

Oh, that's crazy.

So imagine she, like, realizes it later

and she was like, that might have been, like, working in his mind.

Was he thinking about it on that car ride?

Was he, like, practicing something?

Like, was she an almost victim?

Oh, that's freaky.

That's terrifying.

That would keep me up if I was her mom.

Maybe that's why she's a late night owl.

Oh, yeah, maybe.

Full circle.

Keeping her up because I always think about that with these kind of stories is

like, you must be constantly thinking that every second that you were with that

person, you got away with your life.

It could have been totally different.

Because my thought, too, is, like, these serial killers and stuff,

they don't just randomly one day decide to kill.

It's something that they build up to.

So most likely, like, he was something was marinating up there.