Weirdest Interviewee?

[SageSlowdive]

Can anyone name some people interviewed on the show that was, how you say, weird or didn't seem to be quite all there? (please don't count the guilty liars i.e. Paul Pollis, that Gibson scumbag who murdered his kid and lied about it.)

I'll start it off:

1. Old lady who saw Craig Reinhard on a train.

[MegtheEgg86]

Good thread idea. Both of my nominees come from the Kurt McFall segment:

- The SCA woman who was interviewed in period costume, whose first name I believe was Hillary (it's been a while since I've seen the segment). Perhaps I'm being close-minded, but I don't really see how giving an interview on national television (the main feature of which is your assertion that your association is not connected to a youth's death) while in a knight get-up is going to lend to your credibility.

- Gabriel "Carrhotic" Carillo. Certainly not because of his paganism, but his mere demeanor. I don't think he was responsible in any fashion. I think he's something of a Hugh Harlan--"weird but not a weirdo."

Blair Adams' mother deserves an honorable mention I think.

[RobinW]

Jule Caylor. He may be a guilty liar, but regardless of whether he's guilty or innocent of murder, there's no denying that he is one WEIRD dude. No matter what they've done, I don't imagine Paul Pollis, Larry Gibson or Chad Noe would write eight-page letters to Wendy about their salad-making abilities .

There definitely seemed to be someone off about Bonnie Haim's father. It just seemed utterly bizarre to me that everyone else in the world (including Michael Haim's own family!) believed his son-in-law was responsible for Bonnie's disappearance, but this guy would be the one jumping to his defense! I always wondered if he had serious issues with his daughter or if he was one of those guys who believed that wife-beating was justified.

I'd also say that all the victims of the Mystery Hum seemed kinda weird (especially that interviewee whom I initially had trouble determining if they were a man or a woman!), though I'm sure having to deal with that all the time probably had a serious psychological effect on them.

[Gelatinous Goo]

Jule hands down. That would have been my first pick, as well as that of many others.

Adam Hecht's brother and mother take the cake for weird, however. Runner-up would be the toupeed father of the one young man who demonstrated what position his son was laying on the very bed on which he was shot (sorry, was it Digman?).

For the past couple of weeks I have wished that UM had profiled the Alvin Ridley case (Ringgold, GA). Bill Kurtis did a splendid job with this one. It begs to ask how much better the case would have been if RS narrated it. Then again, it wasn't really an unsolved mystery.

[TracyLynnS]

Oh yeah, good ole Jule Caylor and how much better his life is now that he's rid of his wife, moved out of state, and got a new job.

All the other suspicious husbands like Paul "I like a clean house" Pollis, Mark Nichol and his macabre amusement at the fact that the locals were checking the dump for his wife's dismembered body, Chad Noe and, among other things, his fling with a teen right there in the hospital where his wife was suffering from a debilitating illness.

Franklin Delano Floyd with his comments about it being no one's business where his missing "son" Michael is (presumed murdered by Floyd).

Cynthia Anderson's dad came across as weird. He seemed happy or smug or something... IMO, making inappropriate comments considering the horrifying fact that his daughter had been missing without a trace for about 8 years at the time of his interview.

That Carrotic guy that was mentioned. Not the right thread to discuss this, but I'm actually wondering if he was involved with Kurt romantically (or wanted to be) and the kid wanted to break off the relationship. The abandoned car scene seemed staged.... I think there were beer bottles strewn around but no bottle caps and no alcohol was found in Kurt's system? Kurt was 17, had been to a lot of sleepovers at (30 something year old) Carrotic's house, and on the day he died, announced that he was restless at 3 am so was going for a walk. Carrotic's demeanor in the interview reminded me a lot of the others who have that same "I got away with murder" attitude. I'm sure you've seen the type. Their egos are so huge, they usually act as their own lawyer when they have to go to trial because they think they're so much smarter than the judge and attorneys.

Tony Alamo. Been a while since I've seen that segment but what a creep! Cult leader, child abuser, stole his wife's body from her grave, etc. Weird, crazy, criminal, evil, everything seems wrong with that guy.

"Gabby", who agreed only to be interviewed incognito, regarding the murdered body found in a footlocker he'd left behind with a friend. Conveniently couldn't remember what state or decade he'd gained possession of the foot locker. Side stepped questions and said stuff like "I didn't do that guy" meaning he knew that this poor unidentified person had been murdered, but denied involvement. (And how did he know the victim was male? Only bones were found and the coroner had to determine the gender). He was way too defensive, evasive, and flippant about the fact that he'd been in possession of a murdered body for years.

All of the overzealous prosecutors (Patti Stallings case, etc) who still stuck by their assertations of the defendant's guilt when it was obvious they were innocent. And all the gov't spokesmen who were thrown in front of the camera to unconvincingly deny whenever the gov't was accused of being involved in something suspicious such as the Vittorio Peak missing gold treasure. Their interviews are so pathetic they would probably have been better off refusing to participate in the show.

[crystaldawn]

I kind of got the impression that the woman who claims to have spotted Keri Lynn Nixon well after she was murdered was a little off.

[RobinW]

Ooh, I can't believe I forgot to mention both the mothers in the Paul and Charlotte Pollis case .

When Charlotte's mother claimed she liked to call her daughter 10-14 times a day, she nearly did the impossible and actually made me feel some sympathy for Paul since I'm sure having her as a mother-in-law was a nightmare!

Paul's mother may be a perfectly normal woman most of the time, but her contived, melodramatic reaction to the accusations that she helped her son cover up a murder seriously creeped me out!

[sdb4884]

Franklin Delano Floyd was a sicko.

Jule I agree he was an oddball to say the least, can't believe he said that things are pretty good now that my wife has disappeared

[unsolved88]

Doreen Marfeo's sister Lorna Dobson. She had kind of a half-smile on her face the whole time as if trying not to laugh, and just seemed somewhat ditzy.

Blair Adams' mother seemed a little odd, but her weird enunciation of some of her words sounded as though she could have been hearing impaired and therefore couldn't help how she sounded.

[Zlatko]

Bob Bean comes to mind. He seemed like an odd ball with a strange smile to boot. Something seemed off about him.

[unsolved88]

Andre Jones' girlfriend Tanisha Love. She said the word "truck" multiple times in the first sentences she spoke in her interview and from what I could see of her, she didn't look like she really went out of her way to get dressed up for said interview.

[Apostapler]

Jackie Littlejohn- the Albuquerque psychic interviewed for the St. James Hotel segment. Cool lady but man was she out there.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

Good thread idea. Both of my nominees come from the Kurt McFall segment:

- The SCA woman who was interviewed in period costume, whose first name I believe was Hillary (it's been a while since I've seen the segment). Perhaps I'm being close-minded, but I don't really see how giving an interview on national television (the main feature of which is your assertion that your association is not connected to a youth's death) while in a knight get-up is going to lend to your credibility.

Interesting side story I once read about this...allegedly UM taped a lengthy interview with Hilary Powers at her office, without all the crazy attire, but chose not to air any of it. Instead, they opted to show the interview with her from the parking lot of her in costume because it seemed more "demonic". I know the SCA was peeved for a long time because of this and Stack's narration implying that their group was related to Satanism.

If you listen closely, he doesn't out and out say that either group in this segment is Satanic, but I guess it was close enough or inferred and that ruffled some feathers.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by justins5256

Interesting side story I once read about this...allegedly UM taped a lengthy interview with Hilary Powers at her office, without all the crazy attire, but chose not to air any of it. Instead, they opted to show the interview with her from the parking lot of her in costume because it seemed more "demonic". I know the SCA was peeved for a long time because of this and Stack's narration implying that their group was related to Satanism.

If you listen closely, he doesn't out and out say that either group in this segment is Satanic, but I guess it was close enough or inferred and that ruffled some feathers.

Oh, wow, I had no idea. So it seems UM made a deliberate decision to attempt to undercut her credibility. Nice one.

Kind of OT, but isn't the SCA just a group of people who are really, really into roleplaying, Renaissance/fantasy kind of stuff? Like they dress up and have fairs and whatnot? How that can be readily construed as "Satanism" I have no idea. I could maybe see how ignorant people could misunderstand Carrillo's group, but the SCA? Please.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

Oh, wow, I had no idea. So it seems UM made a deliberate decision to attempt to undercut her credibility. Nice one.

Kind of OT, but isn't the SCA just a group of people who are really, really into roleplaying, Renaissance/fantasy kind of stuff? Like they dress up and have fairs and whatnot? How that can be readily construed as "Satanism" I have no idea. I could maybe see how ignorant people could misunderstand Carrillo's group, but the SCA? Please.

To be fair, I should point out that I don't know if the story I relayed about Hilary Powers is actually true. However, assuming it is (I don't think it's a stretch to believe it), I thought that was a classless move by UM. The producers probably figured it would make good TV. Unfortunately, the need for "good TV" and sensationalism is paramount, even on UM.

Truthfully, I don't know much about the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) aside from the segment and the few things I've read while researching the McFall case, but I think what you described sounds about right.

That being said, I could understand the SCA being pissed. I mean, **I** didn't see a connection to Satanism (I didn't believe Carradoc's group was Satanic either), but I've seen the segment probably 50 times over the years and thought about it a lot, done outside research etc. The casual viewer who catches it once or twice (especially back in early 1988 at the height of "Satanic Panic") could probably make that connection more readily. Stack even says from the beginning that it was believed that McFall was involved with a "Satanic cult" - a statement he doesn't directly relate to either group shown on the program, but the statement will undoubtedly resonate in the viewer's mind throughout the segment. Basically, I think the dots are clearly there.