Crisis & Consequences

Open the “Can’t Make It Up” file, please! The Escape Pod takes a turn toward the lighthearted this week, as special guest (and Charity’s husband) Lt. Tim returns to the pod to share tales of true crime that will “crack” you up – in more ways than one!    Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:  Topic #1       2:27 Escaping the responsibilities of parenthood and computer pop-ups.  Topic #2       9...

One definition of historical trauma is “the cumulative and collective psychological and emotional injury that a group of people experiences over generations.” But it’s more than just a trendy phrase used to explain away some of the world’s biggest problems; science has shown it impacts descendants’ DNA, and in the case of Indigenous peoples in the United States, there are many hard truths behind t...

The county’s top prosecutor returns to the Escape Pod this week with true tales from the courtroom that rival anything you’d see on a TV drama! Plus, the co-hosts ask for insight on a case out of Wisconsin, where a woman is behind bars for killing the man she said trafficked her for years.    WARNING: This episode includes content involving physical and sexual violence.    Bullet Points of Key Top...

A California couple begins a whirlwind romance in 2014. When it ends, the woman sends a bizarre and threatening email to her ex. After he moves on and marries another woman a short time later, his new wife starts receiving threatening messages in her inbox as well. But the bad behavior doesn’t stop with threats. At one point, the wife reports being attacked in her own home, and law enforcement bel...

A 13-year-old is abducted in Texas and driven hundreds of miles from home; a 17-year-old is kidnapped in Florida and abused for 26 hours; a 15-year-old is taken in South Carolina by a man later identified as a serial killer. Rarely do such horrific crimes result in even a smidge of a happy ending, but these actually do! In fact, all three cases and others included in this episode put the spotlight...

Toddlers have tantrums. Children talk back. Teens push boundaries. It’s all part of “growing up,” but more serious acts of aggression committed by kids can be signs of much bigger problems.  Your Escape Pod co-hosts explore the topic this week and share true tales of times they encountered not-so-sweet children and – spoiler alert! - weren’t so sweet themselves. (Eight-year-old co-host drawing blo...

A 17-year-old boy in Louisiana calls dispatch saying he shot his father. As investigators begin to work the case, they note the teen, Anthony Templet, seems confused about his arrest and oddly calm during questioning. He says he’s endured abuse at the hands of his father, but there’s no record of any abuse in the home, and law enforcement officials doubt his story. But several people come to Antho...

Hop into The Escape Pod this week for an episode with just a little bit of trauma and a whole lot of laughs! An Escape Pod listener scolds one of our co-hosts for her recent handling of an odd-looking arachnid, which leads to more tales of escape from creepy crawlers and “bad juju” in general.    Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:    Topic #1  0:43 Listener scolds Charity for killing a weird...

Fight. Flight. Freeze. Fawn. In the 21st century, most of us know these as very real responses to trauma and fear, but sometimes the laws of the land don’t recognize them as such. In cases of sexual assault, for example, victims often freeze because their brain doesn’t allow them to fight back, even if they want to.  For years in the state of South Dakota, prosecuting such cases was a futile effor...

Ever respond to someone or something in a way that you recognized later as being completely irrational and over-the-top? Maybe your amygdala was hijacked! Yep – that pesky and primal part of the brain that makes us back away from a hot flame so we don’t get burned can also play a role in impulsive decisions and bad behaviors. Want to escape the effects of amygdala hijack, often referred to on the...

On this episode we take the Escape Pod across the pond and back in time to England in the 1800s, when being an unwed mother was frowned upon, but women in this situation had limited options to give their babies a better life. “Baby farmers” were like early versions of adoption agencies, but one such “farmer” was both greedy and mentally disturbed – a dangerous combination for the children entruste...

In June 2003, police in the UK respond to a report of a stabbing in an alleyway. The victim is a 14-year-old boy, the reporting person is his 16-year-old friend, and the perpetrator is described as a man in a hoodie, but video evidence later proves no such man exists.  The events leading up to this true crime are more bizarre than most soap opera story lines – with tales from a teen chatroom that...

Kids say the darnedest things? So do people coming out of crisis mode! Back by popular demand, podcast guest and OneHeart Transformation Director Chad Ratigan returns to the Escape Pod to share several true – and truly hilarious – comments he and his team have heard that came right out of left field.   DISCLAIMER: Content and language in this episode intended for a mature audience only. Also, thes...

In 2023, 92% of people responding to a survey on road rage said they had witnessed at least one act of road rage during the previous year. Some of these incidents end without consequence; others have fatal results.    On this episode of The Escape Pod, co-hosts Charity and Julie try to keep their cool as they take on a topic that gets almost every driver revved up at one point in time or another! ...

A child plays dead to escape his mother’s abusive grip; a woman plays dead and likely escapes a serial killer; a student plays dead to escape a gunman in her classroom. Conscious decision or simply the body’s primitive response to danger? On this episode of The Escape Pod, the co-hosts discuss true stories of people who “played possum” - pretending to be dead – to escape horrific situations and ho...

A teenager confesses to shooting a man outside a nightclub. A woman confesses to stabbing her elderly landlord to death. A man confesses to killing his father, even though he can’t remember doing it. Different situations, different cities, different years – all with one thing in common: in every case, the confession was coerced. Call it “crisis brain” in full force!  So ... how did these suspects...

Roughly 30 years ago, escape artist Teri and her husband were thrilled to become the new owners of a “really cute” house in central California when they successfully bid on a foreclosed property. Little did they know they already had house guests – the unwelcome kind known in legal terms as “squatters.”  In this episode of The Escape Pod, Teri offers up a hilarious account of their escape from the...

A 12-year-old escape artist knocks on a neighbor’s door and politely requests that the man take him to a police station. Soon, the boy’s mom and her friend/therapist/business partner are arrested and charged with multiple counts of felony child abuse. But just a few years prior, this same mom was gaining notoriety (and 2.5 MILLION followers) on YouTube, in part, for her parenting style.  What happ...

After many misdiagnoses, a teenage girl in Australia learns she has a rare type of cancerous tumor. She begins her search for anything that might help her escape it, including a regimented diet promoted by a social media influencer. The influencer, a beautiful young woman named Belle, says she beat cancer and numerous other ailments by detoxifying her body and strengthening her immune system, and...

Girl in the Picture. Suzanne Sevakis. The mystery of a missing person spans 40 years, taking more twists and turns than even the Escape Pod cohosts can count!  As a teenage girl in the mid-1980s, this wannabe escape artist was known as a smart girl and good friend with big dreams, but – time and time again – one person kept preventing her from reaching her full potential. In the end, he couldn’t e...

A Swedish man joins a Pentecostal church in 1989 and soon becomes a pastor. But he has a unique way of fighting off the devil: with sex – and sex with women who aren’t his wife. (Spoiler alert: she’s a pastor, too, and claims to be the “bride of Christ.”) In time, their love triangle starts to look more like a love hexagon, and the body count begins to grow.  Plus, co-host Charity shares her own s...

FR-Odd But True – Ep. 17  Summary of Episode  If you’ve ever asked the question, “What is wrong with people?” then this episode is for you!  Join co-hosts Julie and Charity in the Escape Pod for three very odd but true stories of people who failed to escape from their very bad ideas – including a case of insurance fraud that led to severe (and severed?) consequences.  CORRECTION: In “The Office” e...

Escape Pod Show Notes – Episode 16: THE AGREEMENT (KAMARIE’S STORY)    Date: 5/17/2024  Episode Title and Number: THE AGREEMENT: Kamarie’s Story – Ep. 16    Summary of Episode  A little girl goes missing in Georgia just days before Christmas. It doesn’t take investigators long to find the body of Kamarie Holland or the person suspected of killing her. As they dig into the case, investigators not o...

He could be in prison; instead, he’s in the Escape Pod, sharing his story of escaping cycles of addiction and criminal activity.    Michael will be the first to tell you he didn’t have a “hard knocked” life. He grew up in a loving, two-parent home. He went to college, got good grades, and earned a degree. But he also had a curiosity for drugs at a very young age, and that curiosity led to harder d...

Her trauma was extensive, but it was no match for her faith and resilience. "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." From testifying against her father at age 5, to dealing with toxic relationships and addiction as an adult, escape artist Linda is brutally honest about the “crappy hand” life dealt her. But she’s also brutally honest about her faith in God, her love for her children, and her ne...