Family Plot

In this, the last spooky season episode for the year, we go into the mind of HP Lovecraft and the shared universe he created.  A man touched by his family's brushes with both greatness and madness, he was never a huge success in his lifetime and held horrible, racist views that he supported with pseudoscience like eugenics.  But as troubled and troubling as he was and is, the Mythos is one of the...

Man this was a fun and intense spooky season episode.  First, we are joined by CJ from the Rainbow Crimes podcast and then Arthur covers a few things ranging from recent mental health struggles and to his gaming addiction to Dandy's World.  All four of us dig into the case of Herb Baumeister.  Herb is a possibly (and likely) gay man himself who hunted other gay men whom he brought back to his home...

Well, this episode is a doozy, we cover the history of the Whaley House Haunted Museum, covering it's time as a public gallows for San Diego, to it's purchase by Thomas Whaley and how it became part theater, part courthouse, part general store and part home.  The family suffered fires, deaths and public humiliations among other setbacks as they continued to live in this home.  We cover it's delapi...

This episode is a doozy.  For spooky season we dig into the life and crimes of the infamous duo, William Burke and William Hare.  During a time when resurrectionists ran rampant, Burke and Hare cchanged the game.  Instead of digging up fresh corpses for the medical establishment to practice upon, they killed people (through a method called burking) and sold their bodies as fresh corpses.  We cover...

Well, we cram a whole lotta information into not so much time this epsiode.  This episode takes us to New York City to visit The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral and to Boston to visit the Old North Church.  We cover the history of these Crypts, find out when they were built, why they were built and what led to their underground storage spaces for the dearly departed.  We cover their haunti...

TW:  We do at one point briefly discuss suicide, so if this is a problem for you, feel free to skip the part about the spooklight's origins, which is where the discussion happens.  This week, Arthur talks school ande grandma, Laura talks her recent birthday (other Virgos holla!) and then we talk the Hornet Spooklight.  Seen over E 50 Road better known as spooklight road to the locals.  The area is...

In this episode, we jump to our second campaign, a Call of Cthulhu based campaign called Lore for the Pages.  In this episode, our heroes inherit both a bookstore and a home from KH Hillman, a bookseller who for years has been selling Cthulhu Mythos and occult books and objets d'arts by mail to unscrupulous buyers.  Now, our heroes have to reclaim these lost objects before they are used to cause m...

This week, we head back to the 1800's to meet the man who would become known as  Billy the Kid!  Born Henry McCarty in New York City, he eventually went west with his Mother and brother with stops in Indiana and Wichita before landing in Silver City New Mexico.  His mom died when he was just 14 and his stepdad abandoned him to head to California to start mining.  Henry's first criminal act was to...

We have such an episode for you today!  We are staying true to both our Missouri and nerdy roots to bring you the life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known as Mark Twain, America's Favorite Humorist.  We learn of his many jobs including Riverboat Pilot, Prospector, Newspaper man, journalist, printer's devil, and of course, writer extraordinaire!  We talk his rivalry with Bret Harte and the flo...

This is an episode of our new TTRPG podcast Family Role. Each week we will alternate between D&D adventures and Call of Cthulhu adventures.  Hopefully, we will be joined by cool guests along the way.  This week features 8 year old Alexandria 'Lexi' Boese as Grelda the Mighty, a Fey Hexblade Warlock; Arthur Williams portraying Albion Bonze a Tiefling Monk and Laura Williams as Noelle 'Dutch' Bu...

There is so much going on in this episode, I almost don't know where to begin.  In his corner, Arthur discusses his new school year, art and Undertales.  Then we settle in to learn about Matilda Joslyn Gage.  Raised in a home that was a stop for the Underground Railroad, she learned lessons early about equality and doing the right thing and translated those messages into a voice for the right of w...

Man what an episode!! In Arthur's Corner, he discusses his online school and the tragedy of needing a new kitten.  Then we dig into the murders in Keddie California.  We study the history of the area, what made it popular and what made it begin to fail.  We talk about it's engineering marvel, the Keddie Wye.  We also look into Glenna 'Sue' Sharp's past, what led to her moving from Massachussetts t...

We talk about so much in this episode.  Arthur takes us to his corner to discuss his new school and a new OC he's literally creating while he talks.  Plus we talk Gavin Newsom's hilarious tweets, and the Garfield commercial about fat cats.  Then we settle in to discuss this week's topic, the US Ghost Army.  Officially they were the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops trained in what was then called C...

This episode is so chock full of content, you might accidentally learn something in the first ten minutes.  In Arthur's Corner, among other things, he talks about a recent visit to Children's Mercy Hospital and Dean brings up Josh Gates as Arthur talks his 'hear me out's.  We discuss Horrifying History and the fact they posted a snippet of one of Laura's stories,and we talk Octoberpod and of cours...

Well this was as fun an episode to do as (we hope) it is for you to listen to.  In Arthur's Corner he talks Dandy's World, getting over illness and his return to school as well as his recent popularity as a young transman on Threads.  The rest of the Laura suggested show we discuss Clara Barton, her life as a young, possibly neurodivergent woman, how she grew up with only one close friend and the...

There is so much going on in this episode, we almost needed a playbook.  First, we visit Arthur's Corner to find out he's feeling sick and he recently lost his kitten.  After that we dig in the Death of Ricky C. McCormick, a man one psychiatrist diagnosed with having "a brick wall in his mind",  We cover his mother, his potential father (we have no real idea who that might be) his unsuccessful att...

This week we head to Carthage Missouri to attend the birth of a Wild West :Legend, the Bandit Queen Belle Starr,  We discuss her birth, her family, her brothers who all came to bad ends, including one who disappeared mysteriously.  We discuss her family's ties to the South as the Civil War came and went and her family's move to Scylene, Texas where she drove one of the wagons.  She idolized the Ja...

TRIGGER WARNING - This Episode contains mentions of accidental shootings and murder-suicide.  If these are too much for you, please, feel free to skip the episode.  You Matter! Well, Friends and Neighbors, pull up a chair and sit a spell as we go back to the birth of Kansas City to talk a little about the early days of Kansas City and a figure that came out of it named Sands. W. Hopkins.  A child...

This week on Family Plot, we’re joined by our youngest plotter—8-year-old Lexi Boese—who asked us to tell the story of Autherine Juanita Lucy, the first Black student admitted to the University of Alabama. Her brave enrollment in 1956 was court-ordered and historic… and it ignited the largest anti-integration riot in American history. What followed was a shameful twist: Lucy was expelled “for her...

In this episode we are joined by Kelsey Black, of the Book Burrow Bookstore in Pflugerville Texas as we discuss the history of Bookstores as Resistance Centers.  We discuss David Ruggles and the first Black-owned bookstore in the United States and how he was a figurative and literal stop on the Underground Railroad, selling books about feminism and the abolitionist movement.  We talk the FBI's ill...

This is such an episode, so full of information that you will not believe it!  This week, our second of 2 PRIDE episodes this month, we discuss the life and times of Harvey Milk.  We will look into the history of this young gay man who will grow up in the fifties and sixties before becoming a popular merchant and politician in the Castro Street area of San Francisco.  We cover his political career...

Arthur couldn't be with us as we recorded the episode, so he recorded his parts early and danged if it don't sound like he was there with us!  Arthur was starting on his first shift at McDonald's and was happy with his first day of work.  He mentions it in his corner.  Meanwhile Dad, Mom and Brenda discuss Delphine LaLaurie, her life and strangeness and how cruel she was to her slaves.  We also di...

It's time to watch To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar! and get ready for PRIDE!  Put on your most rainbow-y outfit and catch this, the first of two special PRIDE episodes this month!  Today's episode we introduce Alice B. Toklas.  Lover, confidant and essentially spouse to writer Gertrude Stein, she also was a writer in her own right and one of her books The Alice B. Toklas contained...

Like a good candy bar, this episode is chock full of nutty goodness!  In Arthur's corner he discusses (among other things) a concert he recently attended featuring Staind and Breaking Benjamin, among others.  Dean suggests that it was a butt rock concert, promptimg stares from Laura and Arthur.  Plus we go back to episode 18 to discuss famed Independence fugitive Sharon Kinne, discussing her life...

Our very special 250th Episode begins with a word of congratulations from the one and only Ed October from OctoberpodAM.  The show itself is full of goodness about the life of Eliza, not Alexander Hamilton.  We cover this sutprising and interesting woman in our special episode of the Family Plot Podcast.  This week's subject was chosen by Laura so we lead off with her and learn so much about this...