April 7, 2025 • 21 mins
This week’s hometowns are pet-themed ahead of National Pet Day! They include a hero calico cat and a dog with a big appetite for butter.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hello and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
That's my favorite murder.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
That's Georgia Hardstar.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
That's Karen Kilgareff.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And this is the miniso.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh and so it's almost National Pet Day.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Happy National Pet Day.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Happy National Pet Day to everyone who celebrates, and even
those who don't yet you know you're still part of
the clan.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, you have to be.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
We're forcing you.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Get in here with us.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Go adopt a pet.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Look around, you'll find a cat.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Go to the shelter, adopt an animal.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Look in a tree. That's where we found my cat,
Rudy back in the nineties. Well, the kickoff National Pet Day,
we're going to tell some hero pet stories. I won't
read you the subject line. It says, high lovelies, Karen.
This one's for you and your Irish family. So I'm
writing after listening to the countless minisodes about crazy family
stories and now this recent episode four sixty three talking
(01:03):
about peg Plunket's large Irish Catholic family. This is where
the inspiration finally struck. My dad was born one of
the youngest in a Baker's dozen. Growing up, his mom
was a nurse and his dad worked for the newspaper.
You can imagine the chaos the kids got into with
two hard working very The youngest of thirteen insame, that's
a schoolhouse.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Ye.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Anyway, onto the hero pet segment. When my dad was
maybe eleven ish, they had moved recently from a medium
sized city to a farm town. There, they had a
small farm, some chickens, and a German shepherd named Edith.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Et it, I love it. It's a great name for
a large dogs.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So good. One day, my dad and his older brother
were playing in the grass near the house when Edith
began to growl hackles raised at some movement nearby. The
boys didn't think much of it and continued to play.
Not much later, the familiar rattling sound made my dad
and his brother freezing terror as they looked up and
were face to face with a rattlesnake.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I don't know what happened in the following moments, except
that the snake lunged at my dad and out of nowhere,
Edith jumped in front of him, getting bit in the process. No,
the boys called for help, and a neighbor came out
and assisted in killing the snake. Oh. Edith was rushed
to the vet and given an anti venom. Poor girl
was so lethargic from the incident they had to pick
(02:22):
up her head to sit in the water bowl for
her to drink. Thankfully, our beautiful hero lived a long
life thereafter. Oh my God, Edith, she pulled through. I
swear one of the main reasons my dad won't get
a pet again as from that traumatic experience. Oh. In
another note, the neighbor who killed the snake took it
(02:42):
and stuffed it, and it is now sitting on the
upstairs with my parents. What. I'm so sorry. I did
not see that coming at all.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
That's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
In parentheses it says, I swear that's the only redneck
thing they own in their perfect suburban home. I love that.
That's really quite a memory. Yeah, like quite a keepsake. Yeah, Okay,
this is long enough. Thank you so much for everything
you do. I've listened to you through all my major
life milestones, from graduating college, getting married, having two kids
with a third on the way, get into Baker's Desn't,
(03:15):
and struggling with the mental health roller coaster. You've been
a guiding light to so many, and I can't imagine
where all of us would be without the amazing guidance
of you. You love you, ladies. If I wrote all this,
just added it, cut and paste, very lovely, keep kicking
ass and taking names with warmest regards, SSDGM Rachel and
(03:35):
then its ps. In case you were wondering, those thirteen
kids had forty kids my first cousins, and an ongoing
count of around seventy to eighty ish second cousins.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Holy it wo wow, it's a lot of people to
borrow money from. Yeah wow.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Editha good girl.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Okay, mine is a cat hero. Okay, that may concern
You're the wind beneath my wings, my eternal flame, and
even my candle in the wind, but none of that
is why we are here.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Incredible openings A good one.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
My parents have an orange, thirteen year old main coon
named Jack Love, a main coon who loves people more
than any cat I've ever known, and just might think
he is a human.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
A main coon that loves people must be the most fun, just.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
A giant, lovable teddy bear that comes to lay. I
love that. He's fun and noisy and part of the family.
And in May of twenty twenty, he saved my dad's
life at the time, my dad, Arthur was getting up
early to exercise, and my mom Julie, would typically be
in bedstill the day after her Mother's Day. It was
no different until Jack went into their bedroom and began
(04:45):
bothering my mom that's the cat, not the dad, by
jumping on her, hitting her with his paws, and not
leaving when she tried to swat him away. Finally, my
mom got up and found my dad at the bottom
of the stairs, gasping in what we now know is
the death rattle. She was able to call nine one
one and perform CPR, and he was eventually airlifted to
(05:06):
a bigger hospital. Until discovering he had suffered a massive stroke,
we were told to say oah, goodbye's because he had
a very small possibility of surviving. But after a month's
therapy and intervention, he is still here today.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Great, not exactly the same, but still my dad. And
it's all because of a hero cat who wouldn't give up.
Thank you for all you bring to the world. Amanda, Amanda,
that's such a good cat.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
That cat saved her father's thing.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I know, because if that mom hadn't woken up, he
would have stayed down at the bottom of the stairs
for even longer, losing oxygen who knows what.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Yeah, And also Amanda, I understand that's a traumatic thing
to go through, but we all change all the time anyway,
so it's like, that's what's going to happen eventually, and
to have him there to be with you is is
really a gift. So I'm glad that's the way that
story turned out. My God hero, I know the heroes
are all around us. The subject line of this email
(06:02):
is the time my pet bird saved me from being abducted. Hello.
When I was about eight years old, my sister's best
friend was looking to rehome a pet parrot. The friend
said that the parrot a peach faced love bird named Peachee. Oh,
and then in parentheses it says, yeah, I know, real
creative was too aggressive toward her and her siblings. We
(06:22):
found out later that the siblings were abusive toward little
Peachee and that he was just acting in self defense. Peechee, Yeah,
but the parents wanted him out of the house, regardless
my sister being only fourteen at the time, with no
prior experience caring for birds, and without asking our mission
from our parents.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
A bird a surprise bird is not cool, Peachee. Sudden, Peachey,
peache here's your pet Peechee for the next fifty years.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Or whatever, fifty plus. Oh my god, that's so funny.
Fortunately my parents weren't too mad about this. Peachee was
a bitter little bird who hated everyone on principle. Oh,
peache was a bitter little bird who hated everyone on principle,
and especially my sister for some reason. At first, Peachy
rejected me just as violently as he did everyone else.
(07:11):
But once my mom explained to me that I had
to be gentle and patient with him as he was
still scared and unsure, I changed my whole approach. After that,
Peachey and I were practically inseparable.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yes, let them come to you.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
He especially liked to tuck up against my neck and
take naps while hiding under my long hair. When he
was positioned like this, he was often hidden from view. Yeah,
Peachey just needed to feel safe, good peach. Fast forward
to a late swimmer evening when I was forty seven
years old.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
What no.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Fast forward to a late summer evening during my tenth year.
I was quietly playing with some toys in the front
yard of my house and Peachey in his customary position
dozing under my hair. When a car pulled up in
front of my house. There was an adult woman inside
that I didn't recognize. She said that she was lost
and that she was looking for the house of one
of my names, and if I wouldn't mind helping her.
(08:02):
I remember being a little nervous about the whole situation
from the get go, but I recognized the surname of
the family she said she was looking for, so I
thought it was a pretty legitimate request. You're ten years old.
She then asked if I would be willing to take
a ride with her and show her the way step
by step.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Okay, no adult who is trustworthy would ask a child
to get in their car a child a child like
it's just so creepy.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And also, no sane adult would get involved in something
like that or just like that wouldn't be the solution
of your problem. That would be you having a whole
new settee problems with the police.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I was trying to politely decline and indicate that I
needed to go when she took hold of my arms,
still trying to act nice but insistent now that I
go with her. Oh my god, big mistake. Peach for
some reason, remember, Peachey was a bitter little bird. Peache,
for some reason, had remained quiet during this whole exchange.
But as soon as the lady grabbed my arm, he
lashed out at the one and then bit her hands
(09:01):
so hard that as she drew back, he stayed attached
to her by his beak, his little wings beating frantically
to keep balance as she tried to shake him off.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Luckily he let go before the lady's flailing could seriously
hurt him, and he seemed none the worse for wear
after crash landing to the ground, though he was giving
off alarm screams. I didn't know what the woman did
after that, as I was too focused on getting Peachy
in myself back inside my house as quickly as possible,
though I'm sure the commotion caused her to leave quickly.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah, I still think of peache as a hero who
very well could have saved my life that day.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
He did absolutely you know what, I bet Peachey's sitting
on her neck there was like felt her adrenaline go
up and like just could tell something was wrong.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yes, right, absolutely, Her little heart starts raising. She's like,
I don't I feel weird. She's like, oh, He's like,
you feel weird? I feel weird.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I'm gonna attack this fucking lady. I've been waiting my
whole life for this.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Finally it's justified.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I'm gonna cry. Okay, go on.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
And also just that idea that like if those other
kids were abusive, it's like you can imagine kids grabbing
a bird or something like that, where he didn't like
those kinds of moves anyway.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
And then he does it to a hers person and
he's like, fuck this shit. Fuck.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Peachee goes full metal to metal. It's been ten years
since Peachee passed away, but I still love him with
all my heart, and I know he loved me in
return just as much, if not more. Stay sexy and
know that pets will always remember and appreciate all the
love you give them.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Lee.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Oh my god, Lee, you got Georgia, You got her,
You really got me, You got her? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
By a bird like a bird doesn't have to love you.
Cats they love people, Dogs they love people, But a.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Bird, a bird's like do you have any sunflower seeds? Yeah,
we're done.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I kind of don't care. Yeah, But then it's like
when a bird loves you, you're a really special person.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
A bird with a peach colored face, get over here, peachy.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Okay, have a hero kalico. Just imagine it's Dottie. She
looks exactly like day. Okay, Oh hey there. Not sure
if this is the type of animal hero stories you're
looking for, but here goes. When I was five years old,
my mom got us, her, my brother, and I some
kittens from my great aunt's farm. Feisty little fucks, but
they were all very sweet once we brought them home.
(11:16):
Farm cats, man, don't fuck with them. Yeah. One cat
in particular, it was named Maddie, and she was a
calico who loved everybody. When I was six years old,
she had this weird habit and would rub up against
the back of my head aggressively and wouldn't stop even
when I pushed her away, and never did this to
anyone else. We love these fucking stories. She would climb
up on the back of the couch and push so
(11:37):
hard against my head she almost pushed me off the
couch a couple times, and says I was a small child.
Around the same time, I was constantly sick with dizziness, vomiting,
and ringing in my ears, And it says side note,
I didn't know how to describe ringing in my ears
to my mom, so I would say, the cats are
in my ears and won't stop me owing. That's so smart.
(11:57):
Fast forward one year, my mom decided to take me
in to get some tests done because I was so
sick all the time and nothing had helped. Turns out
I had a goddamn brain tumor.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That cat knew she had a brain tumor.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Long story short, I had surgery and everything is fine
now when I had lost a fucking long story short exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Thank you for the very needed synopsis.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Appreciate you. When I got home from the hospital, the
first thing Mattie did was jump up onto the back
of the couch where I was sitting. She walked back
and forth a couple of times and sniffed my head.
My mother just stared, not saying anything. Mattie jumped down
and walked away without pushing or rubbing on my head.
My mom's eyes got wide and said, oh my God,
out loud. We just stared at each other, while Mattie
(12:39):
sat next to me and licked her paws like nothing
had ever happened. For the rest of her life, she
never pushed my head the way she had before, And
from then on, my mother and I decided that she
knew something was wrong with me and was trying to
warn us. Although Maddie wasn't the reason I went to
the doctor, I still consider her my hero cat and
she was my best friend for seventeen years. Sexy and
(13:00):
trust those bitchy little calicoes best Jennifer. And here's a picture,
couple of pictures of Maddie and then and then Jennifer
got a tattoo of Mattie's paw prints with her name
written on it. It's so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Also, that cat is so cute.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
So sweet. I have a two bitchy little calicoes in there,
just the best.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
They're so cute, little comic book caps.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
The subject line of this email is butterdog. Hi everyone.
I told myself I could write in when I finally
got caught up on episodes, and seven years later, here
we are.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
How many more people are waiting, like, send your emails now, please?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
That's the old saying send your emails while you can. Today,
I want to tell you about Trevor. Trevor was not
a hero dog, Nora a villain dog. He is better
described as a butter dog. We got Trevor on Craigslist
on my first day of eighth grade, all the way
back in twenty eleven. The family's dog accidentally had a
litter of puppies, and Trevor got returned because he was
(13:59):
too crazy for the person who picked him.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
He yikes.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
They asked for twenty five dollars in a good home.
My dad brought two twenties. They couldn't find change for,
but Trevor was worth far more than forty dollars. Trevor
had the biggest pause and the sassiest attitude and destroyed
everything that he could. He was some type of big
black lab mix with a white tea on his forehead.
He was lovingly called tea bone by my father. Cute,
(14:27):
Trevor was also a bit of a misogynist and adamantly
refused to listen to me or my mother. That's funny.
Imagine it's twenty twelve or so. I was probably wearing
a neon or peplum and I definitely had a mustache
drawn on my finger. Remember how huge that was? Yeah,
the tattoos. Yeah. I was home alone, not sure why,
(14:47):
when I heard a little weird coughing sound coming from
the kitchen. It sounded somewhere between a cough and barfing,
and thirteen year old me went to investigate. I walked
into the kitchen to see Trevor hacking up small yellow
blobs on the hardwood floor. I wasn't sure what was
going on, but I pried his mouth open to find
an entire stick of cold butter lodged in the back
(15:08):
of his throat. The whole thing. He was choking on it,
coughing up bits as it melted. Seemingly fearless, I acted.
I took my thirteen year old hand and reached it
down his throat, extracting this semi melted but mostly cold
stick of butter.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
My father, Kevin is the youngest of six in an
Irish Catholic military family. Shout out to Irish Catholics. Am
I right, Karen, It's in parentheses. Kevin eats butter at
an aggressive rate. Her father Kevin, Oh my god. Every
day a fresh stick got put out on the butter dish. Kevin, however,
rarely remembers to put the cover back on the butter
dish Kevin. It seems that Trevor put his big paws
(15:45):
up on the counter and scarfed down the entire stick. Yeah,
this story became lower within my family That Christmas Eve,
when all the family gathered, my father declared it was
time for me to tell the butter story. Me, now fourteen,
was telling the story slowly and deliberately, really building up
the mystery. Part Way through the story, I hear a
weird sound coming from the kitchen, a half barf, half
(16:06):
cough type of souf no, and then it says there
was all caps, no period, fucking period, way period. I
stopped my story to rush into the kitchen and find
Trevor barfing up little blobs of butter. Yet again, knowing
the routine, I stick my hand down his throat and
pull out the stick, to both the amusement and horror
of my aunt's uncles and cousins. Oh my god, Trevor
(16:26):
was the best boy and worst boy he gave me.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
I love that he.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Gave us twelve amazing years, and he will live on
forever as our best buttered dog, Stay sexy and cherish
your butter dogs while you can kendall.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
She her, I love it. I love a bad dog.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
George Lopez was a butter Yeah for sure. She took
a whole butter dish outside and buried. She ate the
butter and then buried the dish in need it for
her next stick of butter when she gets her own apartment.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Finally, Okay, my last one isn't a dog and it's
it's not a cat, and it's not a bird. It's
a horse. A horse named Hero who eventually lived out
to his name. Hello, murder ladies. I used to work
in the town on West Coast near the beach as
a cashier at a little gas station. It was a
pretty popular spot for people traveling to Mexico to stop
(17:17):
for refreshments and bathroom breaks before hitting the border, but
also had a lot of locals who liked to hang
around all day. One such local was a young girl
around thirty we'll call her Cleo, who rode her beautiful
black Mustang horse named Hero to the store every day
in order to buy a pack of beer or a
stick of beef. Jerky Cleo panhandled for tips at the
gas station from travelers as she performed tricks on her
(17:40):
horse or let people pet him.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
The gas station wasn't in a rural area, so she
attracted a lot of attention from passerbys. That's so cool.
I would totally like immediately be lining for the horse
if you.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Were in a city and all of a sudden there's
a horse standing.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Like a giant, beautiful, big black horse. Yes. Yes, she
probably made more money than I did working at the job.
I worked the late ship when Fred night and got
off work around one am. As I was locking up
to leave, I noticed a tall, thin man across the
street looking into the windows of one of the apartments.
I instantly felt a pit in my stomach and decided
to exit out at the back door and head to
(18:13):
my car that was parked about five blocks away. It
says ugh beach Town parking. Am I right? I walked
quickly to my car. I peered over my shoulder, and unfortunately,
not to my surprise, the man was now crossing the
street diagonally right in my direction. He closed the gap
quickly and called out to me, Hey, do you have
a phone I can use? I said nothing, because fuck
(18:33):
politeness and began to jog down the street to my car,
which was now in my sight. I heard his footsteps
right behind me and glanced to see him reaching out
his hand. I screamed and began to run. Suddenly, from
around the corner in front of me, I heard a
familiar voice and the fast galloping hoofs of a horse.
Good There in front of me, charging up the street,
(18:54):
rode Cleo on her horse Hero. Cleo was shouting profanities
at the top of her lungs and swinging a beer
bottle over her head. The nan turned and ran back
towards the apartment while I heard him say, is that
a horse? Fucker? Cleo flew past me and chased the man,
tossing her bottle at him as he ducked around a corner.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
This is like, it's like a movie.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You know.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
That's the best thing of all time, I know.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I stood in shock as Cleo disappeared after him, and
tried to figure out what had just happened. Was just
standing there. I had no idea where she came from
or what the hell she was doing riding a horse
at one am, but I was sure happy to see her.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Soon after, Hero came trotting around the corner with Cleo
a top of him, a beaming smile from ear to
ear on her face. She came up to me while
saying I've always wanted to do that. She walked me
to my car and then turned and disappeared in the
direction of the man she fucking was going back for him. Yeah.
Needless to say, I never worked the night shift again
and paid for Cleo's beer the next time I saw
(19:50):
her and told Hero he really was a hero for
me that night. Thank you both for being a safe
space to talk about tough things and reminding us all
the care about our mental health.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Sarah Sarah that I love that story so much. Fucking Hero,
I kind of like forgot, Like the whole setup at
the beginning made me forget what was happening. And then
suddenly it's like, yeah, Hero is going to come back
into this.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
We all have, we all need Hero once in a while.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
But also Cleo, I think we do need more horses
in urban areas.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
They're so magical. Let's do it. Let's start a campaign.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Let's be the chain we want to see in the world,
in the horse world or whatever.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Just just let a bunch of wild horses loose.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Do you have stories about amazing pets? You can still
write them into My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
Horse stories, crazy stories, everything.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Whatever best story you have about any pet or I
like the idea of Also, they don't have to be heroes. No,
we like bad pets for bad pets are great, average
pets that you just really liked. Yeah, doever you want,
We love you, stay sexy and.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Don't get murdered. Good Anye, Elvis, do you want a cookie?
Speaker 1 (21:03):
This has been an exactly right production.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Our senior producers are Alahundra Keck and Molly Smith.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Our editor is Aristotle las Veda.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
This episode was mixed by Leona Scolacci.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
And follow the show on Instagram at my Favorite Murder.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
And now you can watch us on exactly Rights YouTube page.
And while you're there, please like and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yy Bye bye
Hello and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
That's my favorite murder.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
That's Georgia Hardstar.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
That's Karen Kilgareff.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And this is the miniso.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh and so it's almost National Pet Day.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Happy National Pet Day.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Happy National Pet Day to everyone who celebrates, and even
those who don't yet you know you're still part of
the clan.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, you have to be.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
We're forcing you.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Get in here with us.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Go adopt a pet.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Look around, you'll find a cat.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Go to the shelter, adopt an animal.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Look in a tree. That's where we found my cat,
Rudy back in the nineties. Well, the kickoff National Pet Day,
we're going to tell some hero pet stories. I won't
read you the subject line. It says, high lovelies, Karen.
This one's for you and your Irish family. So I'm
writing after listening to the countless minisodes about crazy family
stories and now this recent episode four sixty three talking
(01:03):
about peg Plunket's large Irish Catholic family. This is where
the inspiration finally struck. My dad was born one of
the youngest in a Baker's dozen. Growing up, his mom
was a nurse and his dad worked for the newspaper.
You can imagine the chaos the kids got into with
two hard working very The youngest of thirteen insame, that's
a schoolhouse.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Ye.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Anyway, onto the hero pet segment. When my dad was
maybe eleven ish, they had moved recently from a medium
sized city to a farm town. There, they had a
small farm, some chickens, and a German shepherd named Edith.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Et it, I love it. It's a great name for
a large dogs.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So good. One day, my dad and his older brother
were playing in the grass near the house when Edith
began to growl hackles raised at some movement nearby. The
boys didn't think much of it and continued to play.
Not much later, the familiar rattling sound made my dad
and his brother freezing terror as they looked up and
were face to face with a rattlesnake.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I don't know what happened in the following moments, except
that the snake lunged at my dad and out of nowhere,
Edith jumped in front of him, getting bit in the process. No,
the boys called for help, and a neighbor came out
and assisted in killing the snake. Oh. Edith was rushed
to the vet and given an anti venom. Poor girl
was so lethargic from the incident they had to pick
(02:22):
up her head to sit in the water bowl for
her to drink. Thankfully, our beautiful hero lived a long
life thereafter. Oh my God, Edith, she pulled through. I
swear one of the main reasons my dad won't get
a pet again as from that traumatic experience. Oh. In
another note, the neighbor who killed the snake took it
(02:42):
and stuffed it, and it is now sitting on the
upstairs with my parents. What. I'm so sorry. I did
not see that coming at all.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
That's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
In parentheses it says, I swear that's the only redneck
thing they own in their perfect suburban home. I love that.
That's really quite a memory. Yeah, like quite a keepsake. Yeah, Okay,
this is long enough. Thank you so much for everything
you do. I've listened to you through all my major
life milestones, from graduating college, getting married, having two kids
with a third on the way, get into Baker's Desn't,
(03:15):
and struggling with the mental health roller coaster. You've been
a guiding light to so many, and I can't imagine
where all of us would be without the amazing guidance
of you. You love you, ladies. If I wrote all this,
just added it, cut and paste, very lovely, keep kicking
ass and taking names with warmest regards, SSDGM Rachel and
(03:35):
then its ps. In case you were wondering, those thirteen
kids had forty kids my first cousins, and an ongoing
count of around seventy to eighty ish second cousins.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Holy it wo wow, it's a lot of people to
borrow money from. Yeah wow.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Editha good girl.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Okay, mine is a cat hero. Okay, that may concern
You're the wind beneath my wings, my eternal flame, and
even my candle in the wind, but none of that
is why we are here.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Incredible openings A good one.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
My parents have an orange, thirteen year old main coon
named Jack Love, a main coon who loves people more
than any cat I've ever known, and just might think
he is a human.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
A main coon that loves people must be the most fun, just.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
A giant, lovable teddy bear that comes to lay. I
love that. He's fun and noisy and part of the family.
And in May of twenty twenty, he saved my dad's
life at the time, my dad, Arthur was getting up
early to exercise, and my mom Julie, would typically be
in bedstill the day after her Mother's Day. It was
no different until Jack went into their bedroom and began
(04:45):
bothering my mom that's the cat, not the dad, by
jumping on her, hitting her with his paws, and not
leaving when she tried to swat him away. Finally, my
mom got up and found my dad at the bottom
of the stairs, gasping in what we now know is
the death rattle. She was able to call nine one
one and perform CPR, and he was eventually airlifted to
(05:06):
a bigger hospital. Until discovering he had suffered a massive stroke,
we were told to say oah, goodbye's because he had
a very small possibility of surviving. But after a month's
therapy and intervention, he is still here today.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Great, not exactly the same, but still my dad. And
it's all because of a hero cat who wouldn't give up.
Thank you for all you bring to the world. Amanda, Amanda,
that's such a good cat.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
That cat saved her father's thing.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I know, because if that mom hadn't woken up, he
would have stayed down at the bottom of the stairs
for even longer, losing oxygen who knows what.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Yeah, And also Amanda, I understand that's a traumatic thing
to go through, but we all change all the time anyway,
so it's like, that's what's going to happen eventually, and
to have him there to be with you is is
really a gift. So I'm glad that's the way that
story turned out. My God hero, I know the heroes
are all around us. The subject line of this email
(06:02):
is the time my pet bird saved me from being abducted. Hello.
When I was about eight years old, my sister's best
friend was looking to rehome a pet parrot. The friend
said that the parrot a peach faced love bird named Peachee. Oh,
and then in parentheses it says, yeah, I know, real
creative was too aggressive toward her and her siblings. We
(06:22):
found out later that the siblings were abusive toward little
Peachee and that he was just acting in self defense. Peechee, Yeah,
but the parents wanted him out of the house, regardless
my sister being only fourteen at the time, with no
prior experience caring for birds, and without asking our mission
from our parents.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
A bird a surprise bird is not cool, Peachee. Sudden, Peachey,
peache here's your pet Peechee for the next fifty years.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Or whatever, fifty plus. Oh my god, that's so funny.
Fortunately my parents weren't too mad about this. Peachee was
a bitter little bird who hated everyone on principle. Oh,
peache was a bitter little bird who hated everyone on principle,
and especially my sister for some reason. At first, Peachy
rejected me just as violently as he did everyone else.
(07:11):
But once my mom explained to me that I had
to be gentle and patient with him as he was
still scared and unsure, I changed my whole approach. After that,
Peachey and I were practically inseparable.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yes, let them come to you.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
He especially liked to tuck up against my neck and
take naps while hiding under my long hair. When he
was positioned like this, he was often hidden from view. Yeah,
Peachey just needed to feel safe, good peach. Fast forward
to a late swimmer evening when I was forty seven
years old.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
What no.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Fast forward to a late summer evening during my tenth year.
I was quietly playing with some toys in the front
yard of my house and Peachey in his customary position
dozing under my hair. When a car pulled up in
front of my house. There was an adult woman inside
that I didn't recognize. She said that she was lost
and that she was looking for the house of one
of my names, and if I wouldn't mind helping her.
(08:02):
I remember being a little nervous about the whole situation
from the get go, but I recognized the surname of
the family she said she was looking for, so I
thought it was a pretty legitimate request. You're ten years old.
She then asked if I would be willing to take
a ride with her and show her the way step
by step.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Okay, no adult who is trustworthy would ask a child
to get in their car a child a child like
it's just so creepy.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And also, no sane adult would get involved in something
like that or just like that wouldn't be the solution
of your problem. That would be you having a whole
new settee problems with the police.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I was trying to politely decline and indicate that I
needed to go when she took hold of my arms,
still trying to act nice but insistent now that I
go with her. Oh my god, big mistake. Peach for
some reason, remember, Peachey was a bitter little bird. Peache,
for some reason, had remained quiet during this whole exchange.
But as soon as the lady grabbed my arm, he
lashed out at the one and then bit her hands
(09:01):
so hard that as she drew back, he stayed attached
to her by his beak, his little wings beating frantically
to keep balance as she tried to shake him off.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Luckily he let go before the lady's flailing could seriously
hurt him, and he seemed none the worse for wear
after crash landing to the ground, though he was giving
off alarm screams. I didn't know what the woman did
after that, as I was too focused on getting Peachy
in myself back inside my house as quickly as possible,
though I'm sure the commotion caused her to leave quickly.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah, I still think of peache as a hero who
very well could have saved my life that day.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
He did absolutely you know what, I bet Peachey's sitting
on her neck there was like felt her adrenaline go
up and like just could tell something was wrong.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yes, right, absolutely, Her little heart starts raising. She's like,
I don't I feel weird. She's like, oh, He's like,
you feel weird? I feel weird.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I'm gonna attack this fucking lady. I've been waiting my
whole life for this.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Finally it's justified.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I'm gonna cry. Okay, go on.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
And also just that idea that like if those other
kids were abusive, it's like you can imagine kids grabbing
a bird or something like that, where he didn't like
those kinds of moves anyway.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
And then he does it to a hers person and
he's like, fuck this shit. Fuck.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Peachee goes full metal to metal. It's been ten years
since Peachee passed away, but I still love him with
all my heart, and I know he loved me in
return just as much, if not more. Stay sexy and
know that pets will always remember and appreciate all the
love you give them.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Lee.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Oh my god, Lee, you got Georgia, You got her,
You really got me, You got her? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
By a bird like a bird doesn't have to love you.
Cats they love people, Dogs they love people, But a.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Bird, a bird's like do you have any sunflower seeds? Yeah,
we're done.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I kind of don't care. Yeah, But then it's like
when a bird loves you, you're a really special person.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
A bird with a peach colored face, get over here, peachy.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Okay, have a hero kalico. Just imagine it's Dottie. She
looks exactly like day. Okay, Oh hey there. Not sure
if this is the type of animal hero stories you're
looking for, but here goes. When I was five years old,
my mom got us, her, my brother, and I some
kittens from my great aunt's farm. Feisty little fucks, but
they were all very sweet once we brought them home.
(11:16):
Farm cats, man, don't fuck with them. Yeah. One cat
in particular, it was named Maddie, and she was a
calico who loved everybody. When I was six years old,
she had this weird habit and would rub up against
the back of my head aggressively and wouldn't stop even
when I pushed her away, and never did this to
anyone else. We love these fucking stories. She would climb
up on the back of the couch and push so
(11:37):
hard against my head she almost pushed me off the
couch a couple times, and says I was a small child.
Around the same time, I was constantly sick with dizziness, vomiting,
and ringing in my ears, And it says side note,
I didn't know how to describe ringing in my ears
to my mom, so I would say, the cats are
in my ears and won't stop me owing. That's so smart.
(11:57):
Fast forward one year, my mom decided to take me
in to get some tests done because I was so
sick all the time and nothing had helped. Turns out
I had a goddamn brain tumor.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That cat knew she had a brain tumor.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Long story short, I had surgery and everything is fine
now when I had lost a fucking long story short exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Thank you for the very needed synopsis.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Appreciate you. When I got home from the hospital, the
first thing Mattie did was jump up onto the back
of the couch where I was sitting. She walked back
and forth a couple of times and sniffed my head.
My mother just stared, not saying anything. Mattie jumped down
and walked away without pushing or rubbing on my head.
My mom's eyes got wide and said, oh my God,
out loud. We just stared at each other, while Mattie
(12:39):
sat next to me and licked her paws like nothing
had ever happened. For the rest of her life, she
never pushed my head the way she had before, And
from then on, my mother and I decided that she
knew something was wrong with me and was trying to
warn us. Although Maddie wasn't the reason I went to
the doctor, I still consider her my hero cat and
she was my best friend for seventeen years. Sexy and
(13:00):
trust those bitchy little calicoes best Jennifer. And here's a picture,
couple of pictures of Maddie and then and then Jennifer
got a tattoo of Mattie's paw prints with her name
written on it. It's so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Also, that cat is so cute.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
So sweet. I have a two bitchy little calicoes in there,
just the best.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
They're so cute, little comic book caps.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
The subject line of this email is butterdog. Hi everyone.
I told myself I could write in when I finally
got caught up on episodes, and seven years later, here
we are.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
How many more people are waiting, like, send your emails now, please?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
That's the old saying send your emails while you can. Today,
I want to tell you about Trevor. Trevor was not
a hero dog, Nora a villain dog. He is better
described as a butter dog. We got Trevor on Craigslist
on my first day of eighth grade, all the way
back in twenty eleven. The family's dog accidentally had a
litter of puppies, and Trevor got returned because he was
(13:59):
too crazy for the person who picked him.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
He yikes.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
They asked for twenty five dollars in a good home.
My dad brought two twenties. They couldn't find change for,
but Trevor was worth far more than forty dollars. Trevor
had the biggest pause and the sassiest attitude and destroyed
everything that he could. He was some type of big
black lab mix with a white tea on his forehead.
He was lovingly called tea bone by my father. Cute,
(14:27):
Trevor was also a bit of a misogynist and adamantly
refused to listen to me or my mother. That's funny.
Imagine it's twenty twelve or so. I was probably wearing
a neon or peplum and I definitely had a mustache
drawn on my finger. Remember how huge that was? Yeah,
the tattoos. Yeah. I was home alone, not sure why,
(14:47):
when I heard a little weird coughing sound coming from
the kitchen. It sounded somewhere between a cough and barfing,
and thirteen year old me went to investigate. I walked
into the kitchen to see Trevor hacking up small yellow
blobs on the hardwood floor. I wasn't sure what was
going on, but I pried his mouth open to find
an entire stick of cold butter lodged in the back
(15:08):
of his throat. The whole thing. He was choking on it,
coughing up bits as it melted. Seemingly fearless, I acted.
I took my thirteen year old hand and reached it
down his throat, extracting this semi melted but mostly cold
stick of butter.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
My father, Kevin is the youngest of six in an
Irish Catholic military family. Shout out to Irish Catholics. Am
I right, Karen, It's in parentheses. Kevin eats butter at
an aggressive rate. Her father Kevin, Oh my god. Every
day a fresh stick got put out on the butter dish. Kevin, however,
rarely remembers to put the cover back on the butter
dish Kevin. It seems that Trevor put his big paws
(15:45):
up on the counter and scarfed down the entire stick. Yeah,
this story became lower within my family That Christmas Eve,
when all the family gathered, my father declared it was
time for me to tell the butter story. Me, now fourteen,
was telling the story slowly and deliberately, really building up
the mystery. Part Way through the story, I hear a
weird sound coming from the kitchen, a half barf, half
(16:06):
cough type of souf no, and then it says there
was all caps, no period, fucking period, way period. I
stopped my story to rush into the kitchen and find
Trevor barfing up little blobs of butter. Yet again, knowing
the routine, I stick my hand down his throat and
pull out the stick, to both the amusement and horror
of my aunt's uncles and cousins. Oh my god, Trevor
(16:26):
was the best boy and worst boy he gave me.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
I love that he.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Gave us twelve amazing years, and he will live on
forever as our best buttered dog, Stay sexy and cherish
your butter dogs while you can kendall.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
She her, I love it. I love a bad dog.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
George Lopez was a butter Yeah for sure. She took
a whole butter dish outside and buried. She ate the
butter and then buried the dish in need it for
her next stick of butter when she gets her own apartment.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Finally, Okay, my last one isn't a dog and it's
it's not a cat, and it's not a bird. It's
a horse. A horse named Hero who eventually lived out
to his name. Hello, murder ladies. I used to work
in the town on West Coast near the beach as
a cashier at a little gas station. It was a
pretty popular spot for people traveling to Mexico to stop
(17:17):
for refreshments and bathroom breaks before hitting the border, but
also had a lot of locals who liked to hang
around all day. One such local was a young girl
around thirty we'll call her Cleo, who rode her beautiful
black Mustang horse named Hero to the store every day
in order to buy a pack of beer or a
stick of beef. Jerky Cleo panhandled for tips at the
gas station from travelers as she performed tricks on her
(17:40):
horse or let people pet him.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
The gas station wasn't in a rural area, so she
attracted a lot of attention from passerbys. That's so cool.
I would totally like immediately be lining for the horse
if you.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Were in a city and all of a sudden there's
a horse standing.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Like a giant, beautiful, big black horse. Yes. Yes, she
probably made more money than I did working at the job.
I worked the late ship when Fred night and got
off work around one am. As I was locking up
to leave, I noticed a tall, thin man across the
street looking into the windows of one of the apartments.
I instantly felt a pit in my stomach and decided
to exit out at the back door and head to
(18:13):
my car that was parked about five blocks away. It
says ugh beach Town parking. Am I right? I walked
quickly to my car. I peered over my shoulder, and unfortunately,
not to my surprise, the man was now crossing the
street diagonally right in my direction. He closed the gap
quickly and called out to me, Hey, do you have
a phone I can use? I said nothing, because fuck
(18:33):
politeness and began to jog down the street to my car,
which was now in my sight. I heard his footsteps
right behind me and glanced to see him reaching out
his hand. I screamed and began to run. Suddenly, from
around the corner in front of me, I heard a
familiar voice and the fast galloping hoofs of a horse.
Good There in front of me, charging up the street,
(18:54):
rode Cleo on her horse Hero. Cleo was shouting profanities
at the top of her lungs and swinging a beer
bottle over her head. The nan turned and ran back
towards the apartment while I heard him say, is that
a horse? Fucker? Cleo flew past me and chased the man,
tossing her bottle at him as he ducked around a corner.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
This is like, it's like a movie.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You know.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
That's the best thing of all time, I know.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I stood in shock as Cleo disappeared after him, and
tried to figure out what had just happened. Was just
standing there. I had no idea where she came from
or what the hell she was doing riding a horse
at one am, but I was sure happy to see her.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Soon after, Hero came trotting around the corner with Cleo
a top of him, a beaming smile from ear to
ear on her face. She came up to me while
saying I've always wanted to do that. She walked me
to my car and then turned and disappeared in the
direction of the man she fucking was going back for him. Yeah.
Needless to say, I never worked the night shift again
and paid for Cleo's beer the next time I saw
(19:50):
her and told Hero he really was a hero for
me that night. Thank you both for being a safe
space to talk about tough things and reminding us all
the care about our mental health.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Sarah Sarah that I love that story so much. Fucking Hero,
I kind of like forgot, Like the whole setup at
the beginning made me forget what was happening. And then
suddenly it's like, yeah, Hero is going to come back
into this.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
We all have, we all need Hero once in a while.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
But also Cleo, I think we do need more horses
in urban areas.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
They're so magical. Let's do it. Let's start a campaign.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Let's be the chain we want to see in the world,
in the horse world or whatever.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Just just let a bunch of wild horses loose.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Do you have stories about amazing pets? You can still
write them into My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
Horse stories, crazy stories, everything.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Whatever best story you have about any pet or I
like the idea of Also, they don't have to be heroes. No,
we like bad pets for bad pets are great, average
pets that you just really liked. Yeah, doever you want,
We love you, stay sexy and.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Don't get murdered. Good Anye, Elvis, do you want a cookie?
Speaker 1 (21:03):
This has been an exactly right production.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Our senior producers are Alahundra Keck and Molly Smith.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Our editor is Aristotle las Veda.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
This episode was mixed by Leona Scolacci.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
And follow the show on Instagram at my Favorite Murder.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
And now you can watch us on exactly Rights YouTube page.
And while you're there, please like and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yy Bye bye
Hosts And Creators
Georgia Hardstark
Karen Kilgariff
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