December 18, 2024 • 9 mins
Introducing; Silkwood
Silkwood is a multi-part podcast that intricately examines the life of whistleblower Karen Silkwood, the nuclear behemoth she sought to expose, the government’s role in potential wrong-doings, and asks the question: What actually happened on that cold and windy November night 50 years ago? Did Karen fall asleep at the wheel and die as the result of a true single-car crash? Did she die for what she knew and what she was on her way to expose? Was it an accident…or something far more sinister? Find Silkwood wherever you listen to podcasts. For more information, including sources, please visit GoneCold.com/Silkwood
Silkwood is a multi-part podcast that intricately examines the life of whistleblower Karen Silkwood, the nuclear behemoth she sought to expose, the government’s role in potential wrong-doings, and asks the question: What actually happened on that cold and windy November night 50 years ago? Did Karen fall asleep at the wheel and die as the result of a true single-car crash? Did she die for what she knew and what she was on her way to expose? Was it an accident…or something far more sinister? Find Silkwood wherever you listen to podcasts. For more information, including sources, please visit GoneCold.com/Silkwood
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, listeners, this is Mike Morphord, producer Beyond Bizarre True Crime.
I'd like to invite you to listen to this special
preview of Silkwood. In November nineteen seventy four, twenty eight
year old Karen Silkwood was on her way to Oklahoma
City from Crescent to meet a New York Times reporter
her mission to blow the whistle on a billion dollar
(00:21):
nuclear industry company. As Karen drove down a dark and
delolit highway, important documents about safety concerns at the facility
where she worked beside her, her car veered from the
road and smashed into the wall of a concrete culvert.
Before anyone found her, Karen died at the scene of
the single car crash. Silkwood is a multi part podcast
(00:42):
that intricately examined the life of Karen Silkwood, the nuclear
behemoth that she sought to expose, the government's role and
potential wrongdoings, and asked the question what actually happened on
that cold and winning November nine fifty years ago. Did
Karen fall asleep at the wheel? Did she die for
what she knew and she was on our way to expose?
(01:03):
Was it an accident or something far more sinister. I'm
about to play a clip from the podcast Silkwood while
you're listening. Subscribe to Silkwood wherever you're listening now, or
on your preferred podcast app. Here's the clip.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
On Wednesday, November thirteenth, nineteen seventy four, a breeze rumbled
off James Mullins's red flatbed truck as he made his
way up Highway seventy four, traveling north from Oklahoma City,
a town where oil companies extract crude from pools deep
beneath the earth. The wind carried red clay dust that
blanketed the road and powdered the truck's windows. This vivid
(01:42):
red clay, a product of Oklahoma's iron rich soil that
covers over one million acres of the state, is a
defining feature of the landscape. Ahead of Mullins lay the
tiny town of Crescent, home of the Crescent Tigers, the
Hub Cafe, the ted seabring Ford Dealership, and the Kerr
McGee plutonium Plant, a billion dollar titan of nuclear energy.
(02:06):
This scene was familiar to Mullins, who had been navigating
Highway seventy four daily for the past few weeks, he
was intimately acquainted with the landscape that stretched between Oklahoma
City and Crescent, pump jacks dotting his eye line, the
rolling pastures, endless wire fencing, the dense woodland, hardwoods, and
towering pines. Mullins's teenage brother in law, Dalton Irvin, was
(02:30):
asleep next to him in the cab. Mullins's boss, John Trindle,
was a quarter mile ahead in his pickup truck. About
thirty five miles north of Oklahoma City, they passed the
Kermagee Factory, the lights of which caused the trees that
obscured it to glow slightly in the night sky. Approximately
one mile beyond the facility and roughly seven miles south
(02:52):
of Crescent, Mullins sped across a concrete culvert. As he did,
his headlights pierced the darkness, revealing a reflection in the
ditch to the left of the road. As a former
record driver, Mullins instinctively sensed that something wasn't quite right.
His extensive experience on remote and desolate highways had attuned
(03:12):
him to the potential for trouble. Mullins glanced in his
rear view mirror, confirming the road was clear before pressing
his air brakes and gently guided his rig onto the
shoulder next to a small drop off. With a quick
flash of his headlights, he signaled to John Trindle that
he was pulling over, then carefully backed his rig toward
the ditch. As the flatbed's beams illuminated the gully and
(03:36):
adjacent pasture, a partially obscured white Honda Civic came into view.
The car was precariously tipped onto its left side at
the mouth of a concrete culvert. He was lucky he
saw it, Mullins thought to himself. He stepped out beside
the culvert, his gaze drawn to the ground, where scattered
papers fluttered in the breeze. A sudden gust of winds
(03:59):
snatched the papers from the ground, curling them into a
swirling vortex that skipped across the mud and water until
they once again settled. Mullen's boss, John Trindle, had made
his way back, but he didn't stick around long. Upon
the realization there'd been a car crash, Trindle raced in
his pickup truck to a gas station payphone a mile
away and called the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Irvin Mullins's brother
(04:24):
in law crawled out of the cab and walked over
to the edge of the culvert. He called out into
the darkness, but no one answered. Grabbing a flashlight, he
carefully navigated down the steep bank. The crumpled front left
side of the white car caught Mullins's attention. Just a
few feet in front of the vehicle, an abandoned woman's
(04:45):
purse lay against a concrete retaining wall. A delicate arm
extended from the window of the wrecked Honda Civic, moving
back and forth as if motioning for help. Irvin approached.
He saw a shoulder, neck, and but the woman made
no response to his shouts. He soon realized her lifeless
arm had been swaying in the breeze. The other arm
(05:08):
was draped over the woman's face, her head rolled to
one side. The sole occupant lay motionless and broken in
the black seat, blood already dried on her still features.
They were too late. She was gone. From the creators
(05:36):
of Gone Cold, Texas True crime. This is Silkwood, a
story about corporate greed, government cover ups, and a woman's
mission to expose the deadly secrets inside a nuclear industry titan.
I'm your host Erica. Soon after John Trindle left to
(06:00):
call the authorities, ker Macgee employees Fred Sullivan and law
Godwin arrived and began investigating. Godwin was a supervisor in
the quality controlled department of the plutonium facility, and Fred
Sullivan a document control manager. Both men carefully descended the
bank into the ditch to examine the vehicle. Godwin shone
(06:22):
his flashlight into the car and discovered the same grim
sight that Irvin had found, a woman slumped motionless in
the driver's seat, seemingly trapped by the steering wheel pressing
against her. Her face bloodied. Like Irvin, Godwin could detect
no signs of life. He said he believed the woman
might be a Kermagee employee. Unaware someone had gone for help,
(06:46):
Law Godwin instructed Fred Sullivan to go summon the police.
Sullivan raced to a nearby farmhouse to alert the Guthrie police,
while Godwin remained at the scene. When James Collins's boss,
John Trindle, returned at eight fifteen, he found Oklahoma Highway
Patrol Trooper Rick Fagan, an ambulance from the Guthrie Fire Department,
(07:09):
and Guthrie Police officer William Clay already there. Together, Trindle,
Trooper Fagan, and the paramedics worked to lift the one thousand,
six hundred thirty eight pound Honda upright. Using a power
tool from his truck, Trindle was able to cut open
the car door. The police officers watched as the ambulance
crew carefully extricated the woman from her wrecked vehicle. They
(07:32):
then rushed her battered body to Logan County Hospital a
few miles up the road. She was declared dead on
arrival at the hospital. A search of her pockets revealed
a collection of items eight dollars and sixty nine cents
in bills and coins, a blank check, a business card
for doctor Charles Sternhagen, a few pills, a Mickey Mouse
(07:53):
pocket watch, used tissues, and a kermcgee employee badge bearing
the name Karen's Silkwood. Back at the scene of the wreck,
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Rick Fagan surveyed the crash scene.
Fagin was wet behind the ears. The rookie had only
handled fewer than fifty accident investigations in his five months
(08:16):
on the job. Trooper Fagin looked inside the smashed Honda Civic.
The glove compartment contained a plastic flask, the car's title,
and an estimate of prior damages. In the back seat,
a plastic bag held used sanitary pads and a couple
thin stacks of Kermigie, Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers Union
(08:36):
bargaining papers. He also found a hat, raincoat, spare, tire
jack and wrenches in the rear hatchback Trooper Fagin gathered
the scattered, wet and muddy documents from the ground around
the car and tossed them onto the front seat. Trooper
Fagin then picked up the purse, which had flung from
(08:57):
the vehicle in the wreck. He handed the wallet inside
to go Guthrie police officer William Clay, who claimed to
know the victim. Officer Clay advised Trooper Fagin to contact
Kermagee's personnel director, Roy King to notify Karen's next of kin.
Rummaging further, Trooper Fagan discovered a small notebook the final
(09:18):
entry read tried to reach a contract by November twenty sixth,
meeting again Thursday, November twenty first. Also in the handbag
were two rolled cigarettes that resembled joints, a pill and
half a tablet, all of which he planned to have
analyzed at the State Crime Lab.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I hope you enjoyed that previous silkwood. Remember search for
silkwood wherever you listen to podcast and hit the subscribe
button out
Hey, listeners, this is Mike Morphord, producer Beyond Bizarre True Crime.
I'd like to invite you to listen to this special
preview of Silkwood. In November nineteen seventy four, twenty eight
year old Karen Silkwood was on her way to Oklahoma
City from Crescent to meet a New York Times reporter
her mission to blow the whistle on a billion dollar
(00:21):
nuclear industry company. As Karen drove down a dark and
delolit highway, important documents about safety concerns at the facility
where she worked beside her, her car veered from the
road and smashed into the wall of a concrete culvert.
Before anyone found her, Karen died at the scene of
the single car crash. Silkwood is a multi part podcast
(00:42):
that intricately examined the life of Karen Silkwood, the nuclear
behemoth that she sought to expose, the government's role and
potential wrongdoings, and asked the question what actually happened on
that cold and winning November nine fifty years ago. Did
Karen fall asleep at the wheel? Did she die for
what she knew and she was on our way to expose?
(01:03):
Was it an accident or something far more sinister. I'm
about to play a clip from the podcast Silkwood while
you're listening. Subscribe to Silkwood wherever you're listening now, or
on your preferred podcast app. Here's the clip.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
On Wednesday, November thirteenth, nineteen seventy four, a breeze rumbled
off James Mullins's red flatbed truck as he made his
way up Highway seventy four, traveling north from Oklahoma City,
a town where oil companies extract crude from pools deep
beneath the earth. The wind carried red clay dust that
blanketed the road and powdered the truck's windows. This vivid
(01:42):
red clay, a product of Oklahoma's iron rich soil that
covers over one million acres of the state, is a
defining feature of the landscape. Ahead of Mullins lay the
tiny town of Crescent, home of the Crescent Tigers, the
Hub Cafe, the ted seabring Ford Dealership, and the Kerr
McGee plutonium Plant, a billion dollar titan of nuclear energy.
(02:06):
This scene was familiar to Mullins, who had been navigating
Highway seventy four daily for the past few weeks, he
was intimately acquainted with the landscape that stretched between Oklahoma
City and Crescent, pump jacks dotting his eye line, the
rolling pastures, endless wire fencing, the dense woodland, hardwoods, and
towering pines. Mullins's teenage brother in law, Dalton Irvin, was
(02:30):
asleep next to him in the cab. Mullins's boss, John Trindle,
was a quarter mile ahead in his pickup truck. About
thirty five miles north of Oklahoma City, they passed the
Kermagee Factory, the lights of which caused the trees that
obscured it to glow slightly in the night sky. Approximately
one mile beyond the facility and roughly seven miles south
(02:52):
of Crescent, Mullins sped across a concrete culvert. As he did,
his headlights pierced the darkness, revealing a reflection in the
ditch to the left of the road. As a former
record driver, Mullins instinctively sensed that something wasn't quite right.
His extensive experience on remote and desolate highways had attuned
(03:12):
him to the potential for trouble. Mullins glanced in his
rear view mirror, confirming the road was clear before pressing
his air brakes and gently guided his rig onto the
shoulder next to a small drop off. With a quick
flash of his headlights, he signaled to John Trindle that
he was pulling over, then carefully backed his rig toward
the ditch. As the flatbed's beams illuminated the gully and
(03:36):
adjacent pasture, a partially obscured white Honda Civic came into view.
The car was precariously tipped onto its left side at
the mouth of a concrete culvert. He was lucky he
saw it, Mullins thought to himself. He stepped out beside
the culvert, his gaze drawn to the ground, where scattered
papers fluttered in the breeze. A sudden gust of winds
(03:59):
snatched the papers from the ground, curling them into a
swirling vortex that skipped across the mud and water until
they once again settled. Mullen's boss, John Trindle, had made
his way back, but he didn't stick around long. Upon
the realization there'd been a car crash, Trindle raced in
his pickup truck to a gas station payphone a mile
away and called the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Irvin Mullins's brother
(04:24):
in law crawled out of the cab and walked over
to the edge of the culvert. He called out into
the darkness, but no one answered. Grabbing a flashlight, he
carefully navigated down the steep bank. The crumpled front left
side of the white car caught Mullins's attention. Just a
few feet in front of the vehicle, an abandoned woman's
(04:45):
purse lay against a concrete retaining wall. A delicate arm
extended from the window of the wrecked Honda Civic, moving
back and forth as if motioning for help. Irvin approached.
He saw a shoulder, neck, and but the woman made
no response to his shouts. He soon realized her lifeless
arm had been swaying in the breeze. The other arm
(05:08):
was draped over the woman's face, her head rolled to
one side. The sole occupant lay motionless and broken in
the black seat, blood already dried on her still features.
They were too late. She was gone. From the creators
(05:36):
of Gone Cold, Texas True crime. This is Silkwood, a
story about corporate greed, government cover ups, and a woman's
mission to expose the deadly secrets inside a nuclear industry titan.
I'm your host Erica. Soon after John Trindle left to
(06:00):
call the authorities, ker Macgee employees Fred Sullivan and law
Godwin arrived and began investigating. Godwin was a supervisor in
the quality controlled department of the plutonium facility, and Fred
Sullivan a document control manager. Both men carefully descended the
bank into the ditch to examine the vehicle. Godwin shone
(06:22):
his flashlight into the car and discovered the same grim
sight that Irvin had found, a woman slumped motionless in
the driver's seat, seemingly trapped by the steering wheel pressing
against her. Her face bloodied. Like Irvin, Godwin could detect
no signs of life. He said he believed the woman
might be a Kermagee employee. Unaware someone had gone for help,
(06:46):
Law Godwin instructed Fred Sullivan to go summon the police.
Sullivan raced to a nearby farmhouse to alert the Guthrie police,
while Godwin remained at the scene. When James Collins's boss,
John Trindle, returned at eight fifteen, he found Oklahoma Highway
Patrol Trooper Rick Fagan, an ambulance from the Guthrie Fire Department,
(07:09):
and Guthrie Police officer William Clay already there. Together, Trindle,
Trooper Fagan, and the paramedics worked to lift the one thousand,
six hundred thirty eight pound Honda upright. Using a power
tool from his truck, Trindle was able to cut open
the car door. The police officers watched as the ambulance
crew carefully extricated the woman from her wrecked vehicle. They
(07:32):
then rushed her battered body to Logan County Hospital a
few miles up the road. She was declared dead on
arrival at the hospital. A search of her pockets revealed
a collection of items eight dollars and sixty nine cents
in bills and coins, a blank check, a business card
for doctor Charles Sternhagen, a few pills, a Mickey Mouse
(07:53):
pocket watch, used tissues, and a kermcgee employee badge bearing
the name Karen's Silkwood. Back at the scene of the wreck,
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Rick Fagan surveyed the crash scene.
Fagin was wet behind the ears. The rookie had only
handled fewer than fifty accident investigations in his five months
(08:16):
on the job. Trooper Fagin looked inside the smashed Honda Civic.
The glove compartment contained a plastic flask, the car's title,
and an estimate of prior damages. In the back seat,
a plastic bag held used sanitary pads and a couple
thin stacks of Kermigie, Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers Union
(08:36):
bargaining papers. He also found a hat, raincoat, spare, tire
jack and wrenches in the rear hatchback Trooper Fagin gathered
the scattered, wet and muddy documents from the ground around
the car and tossed them onto the front seat. Trooper
Fagin then picked up the purse, which had flung from
(08:57):
the vehicle in the wreck. He handed the wallet inside
to go Guthrie police officer William Clay, who claimed to
know the victim. Officer Clay advised Trooper Fagin to contact
Kermagee's personnel director, Roy King to notify Karen's next of kin.
Rummaging further, Trooper Fagan discovered a small notebook the final
(09:18):
entry read tried to reach a contract by November twenty sixth,
meeting again Thursday, November twenty first. Also in the handbag
were two rolled cigarettes that resembled joints, a pill and
half a tablet, all of which he planned to have
analyzed at the State Crime Lab.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I hope you enjoyed that previous silkwood. Remember search for
silkwood wherever you listen to podcast and hit the subscribe
button out
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