Episodes

Call Me Korgia

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Fangirl Alert! Listen to “CALL ME KORGIA” on iTunes, Spotify, Overcast, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts!
lighted happy birthday candles
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Before we get into the details of today’s episode, Call Me Korgia, let’s say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR VERY BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL KYM!! TODAY is Kym’s birthday and we wish her all the best!

So! Happy Birthday and Happy Tuesday!! Today’s episode is allllllll about the serious, hardcore fangirling over and paying an homage to Kym and Kris’ most favorite podcast, My Favorite Murder. Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, hosts of the epically popular podcast, are the ladies who inspired us to get into podcasting. When we started we had no delusions we could do anything at the level of these two amazing women, but we knew we wanted to podcast  anyway. And so we did with coffee mugs in one hand, mics in the other, and a whooooole lot of opinions, stories, and laughter. And we have loved every minute of it from day one.

As a birthday kickoff for Kym, we went to the January 11, 2019, My Favorite Murder podcast live show at the Civic Theater in San Diego, CA. After the show, we met Karen and Georgia where we were able to thank them (profusely) for inspiring us. In today’s episode we recount the mega highs and the very few (only one actually) annoying lows of the night. Oh, and there’s Kym’s especially slick maneuver at the meet and greet. That’s our girl, Kym.

Kym and Kris in San Diego MFM Show
Waiting for Georgia and Karen in San Diego Civic Theater January 11, 2019, My Favorite Murder.
Karen and Georgia MFM On Stage
Karen and Georgia sit down to talk murder, San Diego Civic Theater, January 11, 2019, My Favorite Murder
Fangirl Moment
The moment we got our act together and got to thank Karen and Georgia for inspiring us to start podcasting.

The second half of the episode segues into a very MFM-tributesque recounting of two stories from our travels: The “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Bathory of Slovakia, and the underground area of Edinburgh, Scotland called “Mary King’s Close“, where people spent generations living, working, and dying in darkness.

Kym talks about how Elizabeth Bathory and her husband reigned bloody supreme (literally) as sado-masochists in their castle (now in ruins) on a hill in Slovakia. But it wasn’t until after the death of her husband that Elizabeth’s unbridled vanity and penchant for fatal torture earned her the reputation as being history’s most prolific female serial killer. Elizabeth believed the blood of virgins would keep her young (sound like any bloodsucker you’ve heard of?), so she took advantage of her social standing to get as many into her clutches as possible. Spoiler alert: she was caught, but she is proof that the rich and powerful could (and still can to this day) literally get away with murder because although Elizabeth’s servants – who were forced to do her disgusting dirty work – were put to death for their participation in her schemes, Elizabeth was merely sentenced to live out the rest of her days in her own home. Did we mention she lived in a castle? Tsk. Poor, poor, bloody Elizabeth.

elizabeth_bathory_portrait
Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the first female serial killer in history. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia, artist and copyright unknown.

 

Čachtice Castle, Slovakia
Ruins of Elizabeth Bathory’s castle. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

While there’s no murder and intrigue in Kris’ story, there is definitely creepiness and death as she talks about the history of Mary King’s Close, and how part of the current city of Edinburgh was built right over the top of existing streets, businesses and homes, some still intact. Despite the lack of sunshine and fresh air, life continued underground for many of the poorest folk for generations, even when the plague devastated almost half the population of Edingurgh in the 1600s. In fact, underground was where the plague victims were quarantined (albeit provided for), until the devastating disease ran its course. One of the plague’s most famous victims, little Annie, still receives gifts to this day as visitors try to help alleviate her sorrow of being abandoned by her parents as she died a slow and pitiful death in the darkness of Mary King’s Close.

marykingsclose_wikipedia_thecontinnuumgroup
The actual Mary King’s Close, with props to recreate what life was like in the underground “city”. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia, photo by The Continnuum Group
Mary King's Close Model
Model of Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Kristen Core.
Mary King's Close Plaque
Plaque describing the model of Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Kristen Core.
A Scottish Close
What a typical close looks like, open to the fresh sky. Photo courtesy WordPress Free Library, by Pixabay

Oh…and the city mentioned by Kris as being the home of the “Cathedral of Bones” near Budapest is called Kutná Hora and the “Church of Bones” is named Sedlec Ossuary. Here’s a look at some of the eerie, beautiful craftsmanship inside the church. Yep. Those are human bones.

Sedlec Ossuary Kutná Hora
Photo of the Bone Church, Sedlec Ossuary in Kutná Hora Hungary, Photo courtesy of Wikipedia, by Pudelek (Marcin Szala)

Check out our CALL ME KORGIA episode on  iTunes/Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOvercast, Libsyn, Pocket CastStitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Then all you need to do is 1) subscribe 2) download and 3) listen! AND!!! 4) If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review (pretty please?). The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.

And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

© The Mugly Truth 2018 and © The Mugly Truth Podcast 2018. All rights reserved.
Intro and outro music, “Clever as a Fox”  by Espresso Music through premiumbeats.com
Episodes

Haunted Orange

Old Timey Kym and Kris
Kym and Kris looking all old-timey in Old Town Orange.

HAPPY OCTOBER!

Kym and Kris dish on their experiences while walking through haunted Old Town Orange with their wonderful HauntedOrangeCounty.com tour guide Charles! Right off the bat Kris and Charles agreed the Howe-Waffle House in Santa Ana is INTERESTING. VERY VERY INTERESTING. It was an auspicious start to the evening. (Note to Kris: Buy thesaurus).

Kym_Kris_Charles
Kris and Kym with their HauntedOrangeCounty.com ghost walk tour guide Charles.

This episode covers some of the more gruesome details of the rich history of Orange, CA, brought to life through Charles’ entertaining storytelling. You’ll not only hear our stories, but we have some excerpts of the tour itself. Listen as our group winds its way through the lovely, Victorian era streets of Old Orange, navigate groups of college students and restaurant patrons, and occasionally strain to hear over the loud mufflers, buses…and occasional drunk guys. One especially. Jeesh. There’s always That Guy in the crowd. But it all ends up ok. The cops were called and Drunk Guy teetered off into the shadows.

We learn about the Royer Mansion, which at one point was a morgue and now houses offices with more than a little of unsettling paranormal activity. We move up the street to the Elks Lodge building with that one empty storefront that just can’t seem to keep businesses around. Must be all those pesky entities pushing people down the stairs.

Moving on to that one old furniture store which doubled as an undertaker back in the day – there’s lots of eerie activity in the building that the apartment residents on the top floors find out about right around the time they sign their lease agreements. (Tip: if you’re visiting your friends who live there and happen to see a woman all dolled up 1940’s-style…do NOT follow her into the elevator. Just sayin’).

Don’t even get us started on old motorcycle gang hooligans, fiery buildings, haunted nurseries, pictures floating off walls, a hotel nested inside another building, horse ghosts (yes, you read that. Horses get to be ghosts too), and more than a few restaurant specters. There doesn’t seem to be a place in the stunning historic area surrounding the circle – um, sorry hipsters and ancient ones, THE PLAZA (#eyeroll) – where you can’t miss walking in the footsteps of creepiness.

We round off the chit-chat with a rousing game of “One-Up Our Orange Connections” with a tie.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

On a scale of 1-10 should you take one of the haunted town walks (Orange, Santa Ana,  Blackstar Canyon, and a new secret, soon-to-be-disclosed, location), we give it a solid 15. DO IT.

And in other news, Kym is doing GREAT and Kris’s sectional is in upheaval as she waits for a new couch. Oh, and those damned iGens went with GenZ instead. Seriously.

STORY UPDATE: There is no bull statue on top of the Sonlight building. Nope. It’s some sort of freaky bull-looking equipment. But one can be excused for wondering about a bull statue on top of a building when it’s 1) dark out and 2) in a major college town. We think #2 is our biggest case for thinking anything is possible!

Before you judge too harshly, take a look (click on the image to enlarge):

So, there you go. This is no bull.

BAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Ahem.

To hear our HAUNTED ORANGE episode, go to iTunes/Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOvercast, Libsyn, Pocket CastsStitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and then subscribe, download and listen! If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review! The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.

And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

© The Mugly Truth 2018 and © The Mugly Truth Podcast 2018. All rights reserved.
Intro and outro music, “Clever as a Fox”  by Espresso Music through premiumbeats.com
Location photo by Kimberly Sickel, @riverdeer at 500px