Stay sexy, don’t get murdered.
Sound advice, wouldn’t you say? It’s also the catchphrase of Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, two Californian gals who have shot to the top of the iTunes comedy charts with their podcast about the most hilarious topic of all – murder.
Huh? What’s that? Yeah, I guess you’re right. Murder just ain’t funny. Yet somehow, Kilgariff and Hardstark’s is. Each week, the two friends and true crime fans come together armed with the grim details of a murder that has left them shocked, sickened, but also fascinated.
Of course, the subject matter isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but Kilgariff and Hardstark’s genuine rapport and dark wit is uniting “Murderinos” all over the world.
The My Favorite Murder Facebook group – closed so you don’t have to explain your shady interest to outsiders – has almost 60,000 members. On Twitter, @MyFavMurder is about to reach 20K.
Source: The Feed
For Kilgariff and Hardstark, their interest boils down to anxiety. They believe the more they know, the better equipped they will be to ward off evil and dodge their greatest fear.
“My secret hope is to not get murdered,” explains Hardstark in Episode 1. Or was that Kilgariff? Who knows? It takes approximately 23 episodes to tell their voices apart.
My Favorite Murder covers the old and the new, the clear-cut and the unsolved, the infamous and the arcane. Although content is predominantly American, Australia bags more than one honorable mention.
“Australia, you got some fucked up shit going on over there,” notes Hardstark in Episode 36 as she introduces her murderer of choice for the week, Adelaide’s very own Mark Errin Rust. Hardstark had previously taken a deep, dark look into the stories of accused murderer Gable Tostee and mass murderer Martin Bryant.
“Australia, you got some fucked up shit going on over there”
Kilgariff and Hardstark happily admit to ripping most of their information from Wikipedia, Reddit and the like. Their facts and figures aren’t always on target, sometimes because they’re reciting incorrect information, other times because they’re just casually filling in the gaps with guestimates. It’s all part of the charm.
On an entirely irregular basis, the podcast also takes a look at ‘hometown murders’, usually by way of reading listeners’ emails on the subject. What’s yours?
If you’re a true crime fan, the niche interest doesn’t require an explanation. You get it, and you’re either already listening to My Favorite Murder or soon will be. If you’re not a fan, you’re probably not reading this story anymore. But if you have survived to this point, please be warned, the endnotes get a little icky.
“Elvis, you wanna cookie?”
“Meeeeeeoooooow.”*
Source: The Feed
Brenda Spencer was 16 when she fired shots at a nearby primary school, killing two. Her post-murder quote inspired the Boomtown Rats song ‘I don’t like Mondays’.
Lonnie David Franklin Jr was sentenced to death in June for the murder of nine women and one teenage girl. He was dubbed the Grim Sleeper because of the apparent break from his crimes between 1988 and 2002.
Graham Young, dubbed The Tea Cup Murderer, killed three and poisoned scores more, often by lacing cups of coffee and tea.
Vince Li claimed he believed he was chosen by God to save people from an alien attack when he beheaded and cannibalised a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus.
British serial killer Dennis Nilsen murdered at least 12 men over a five-year period until 1983. He confessed to boiling the heads of his victims, among other things.
Patrick Kearney was charged with 21 counts of murder but is believed to have killed as many as 43. He disposed of his victims’ bodies in industrial trash bags.
Andrei Chikatilo, also known as The Red Ripper and The Rostov Ripper, killed at least 52 women and children between 1978 and 1990. He was executed in 1994.
Known as the Queen of Tejano music, pop star Selena Quintanilla was shot and killed by crazed fan, Yolanda Saldivar, in 1995. Selena’s last words identified her killer.
