Latest / Weeknight Mysteries Podcast / Ep. 99 | An Appetite For Murder - The Gruesome & Found Footage Fever - The Conspiracy

Transcript

Ep. 99 | An Appetite For Murder - The Gruesome & Found Footage Fever - The Conspiracy · Weeknight Mysteries Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm sure Multivist had a burger from some dodgy-looking van
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: at the side of the road and afterwards you've been
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: left wondering what exactly the meat was in the burger.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: If you lived in Maryland in the 90s and you
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: enjoyed a roadside burger around that time, you might find
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: yourself desperately trying to remember what exactly the owner of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: that burger stand looked like and if that particular burger
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: seller looked anything like Joe Methani, then you'd have every
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: right to be seriously worried. Joseph Roy Methani was born
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: on the 2nd of March, 1955 in Baltimore, Maryland. How
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: his childhood went seems to depend entirely on who was
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: telling the story and this is a theme it will
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: get used to in this case. Talking about it years
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: after the fact Joe Methani insinuated that both he and
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: his five siblings were neglected. According to him, his alcoholic
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: father had died in a car accident in 1961 and
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: he also says that his mother passed away at a
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: later date. These comments must have come as a bit
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: of a shock to Mrs. Methani who, after Joseph's arrest,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: was still very much alive. She said that whilst she
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: did have to work multiple odd jobs to make ends meet,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: there was nothing unusual or particularly hard about his childhood
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: compared to others. She did confirm that his father was
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: indeed a heavy drinker and he had passed on after
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a car accident. She disputed Joe's other comments about his
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: hardship and upbringing. His teachers and his mother both recalled
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: that Joe Methani was a very polite young man and
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: he did well in his classes showing a spark of intellect.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: This politeness and intelligence would follow him throughout his life
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: although it would become warped and jaded over time. His
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: drug addiction began according to him after he joined the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: army at 19 and served at all in Vietnam, there
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: he become reliant on heroin. According to his mother, he
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: did indeed join the army at that age but she
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: recalled him being stationed in Europe. She did confirm that
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: he started taking drugs and his life began to spiral
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: out of control but she was adamant that the Vietnam
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: tale was completely false. It should also be noted that
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the US Army had no active involvement in Vietnam by
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the time that Joe was in the Army. No records
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: existed from being stationed in Southeast Asia or seeing any
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: action there. That's the thing with Joe Medhani, it's hard
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to separate fact from fiction. When he became involved with
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: drug-taking and alcohol abuse, it quickly overtook his life but
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: at the same time he was able to hold down
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a respectable job as a forklift operator. His co-workers described
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: him as being intelligent and well-mannered and kind. By day
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: he moved pallets and stacked them in the warehouse, taking
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: home a pretty good wage. By night he would retreat
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: to a trailer that was parked on the grounds of
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: his workplace or he would head out and spend his
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: night with a group of homeless or drug addicted men
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: drinking and abusing every drug that he could get his
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: hands on. Joe Met Honey was a large man, he
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: described himself in the following words. I'm 48 years old,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I weigh about 450 pounds and it's not all fat.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: That's a weight in excess of 32 stone and at
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the height of 6 foot 1 he was an imposing figure.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: He was affectionately if ironically referred to as Tiny by
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: his friends. Now exactly when Joe Methani started killing is
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: not quite clear. Methani's first confirmed murder came in 1994,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: a woman named Kathy N. Magasina. She was a 39-year-old
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: prostitute that he'd met and taken back to his trailer.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: After sexually assaulting her he took an extension cord and
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: wrapped it around her neck then slowly strangled at her death.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Immediately after the murder he buried her remains in a
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: shallow grave. Later he must have had a change of
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: mind because he dug up her body and hacked off
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: her head before throwing it into the trash. He reburied
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: what was left of her body in a nearby woods.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: The second confirmed murder was a woman named Kimberly Lynn Spicer,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: she was stabbed to death in November of 1996. This
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: was barely a month before Methani was arrested. Kimberly Lynn
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Spicer was another prostitute who was addicted to heroin. Once
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: again she had been lured to Joe's trailer park home
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: before he sexually assaulted her and then stabbed her. There
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: was another attempted murder a month later in December of 1996.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: He brought a woman named Rita Kemper back to his
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: trailer and they shared some drugs together and then when
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: she rebuffed his sexual advances he attacked her. He then
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: threatened to bury her in the woods with the other girl.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Rita Kemper escaped and she reported the attack to the police.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: After Rita Kemper's escape Joe Methani realized that he would
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: probably be under police investigation and so bizarrely he asked
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: a friend to help him move the body of Kimberly
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Lynn Spicer to a more secure burial ground. His friend
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: was clearly very shocked by being asked to do this
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: and instead of helping Methani he went to the authorities
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: and reported that Joe was quickly arrested. Methani was sentenced
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. On the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: 5th of August, 2017 age 62 he died still behind bars.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: No you might be wondering why did I mention the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Burgos in the intro. Where did they fit in? Well
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: according to Joe he also worked at the roadside Burga
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: van and he has suggested that some of his victims
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: may have ended up in the Burgos. The only problem
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: is as we've already established Joseph Methani isn't exactly a
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: reliable source of information. If every one of his claims
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: were to be believed then he has a body count
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: of over 10 people maybe as high as 13. Yet
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: he's only ever been convicted of two murders. He was
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: suspected in a number of other killings though. In 1995
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: the bodies of two homeless men were found under Hanover
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Street Bridge. They'd both been hacked to death with an axe.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Joe Methani claims that he killed these men and he
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: was tried for it but eventually he was acquitted due
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: to lack of evidence. There's also Tony Lynn in Gracia.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: She was a young woman who struggled with drug addiction
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and her body was found in 1994 dumped along the
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: I-95 not far from where Methani worked. She had been
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: strangled and stabbed to death. Joseph Methani was suspected of
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: murdering Tony in Gracia but again there wasn't enough evidence
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: to convict him. And these ones I would describe as
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: his great area victims. People who Joe might have killed
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: and we have the bodies but we just don't know
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: for sure. But there's also many people who Met Honey
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: claimed to have killed where there just isn't any evidence
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: at all. No bodies or murder weapons or any indication
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: that they weren't just figments of his wild imagination. So
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: exactly how many victims Joe Met Honey had is a
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: matter of debates. As is his claims of cooking up
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the remains of his victims. According to him at some
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: point during his killing spray he started to butcher his
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: victims and kept the meat in tuba air in his freezer.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: He would then mix this meat into burgers and sandwiches
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: and sell them to unsuspecting members of the public at
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: a pop-up stand on the roadside. According to Joe these
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: burgers were extremely popular. He described the taste of the
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: burgers as follows and they were very good. The human
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: body taste is very similar to pork. If he mix
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: it together then nobody can tell. Now whether you believe
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: this is up to you. I can't find an answer
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: either way. There doesn't seem to be any evidence that
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: he did this but he did definitely murder two people.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: So it seems that his stories might be a mix
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: of truth and fiction. So there might be some truth
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: in the burger story. It's not entirely outside the realms
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: of possibility. I think it's possibly the appearance of Joe
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Meth and he's such a large character. The idea that
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: he would be serving human meat burgers to people just
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: seems to fit somehow. As I say the claims are
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: unprovable but that also means they're pretty hard to debunk
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: as well. Anyone who lived in Baltimore, Maryland around that
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: time and had a burger from some pop-up stand is
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: always going to be left wondering is there any possibility
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: that they unknowingly eat human meat? So I'll leave you
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: with some final words from the man himself. He says,
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  Speaker 1: well that's my story. Horrible but true. So next time
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: you're riding down the road and you happen to see
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: an open pit beef stand that you've never seen before,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: make sure you think about this story before you take
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: a bite of that sandwich. Sometimes you never know who
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: you may be eating. And there you go, that's the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: story of Joe Meth and he. Thank you very much
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: for watching. I'll see you next time. Goodbye. I've decided
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: to change up the format a bit and only review
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: one movie per episode. I found out the hard way
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: that by reviewing two movies per video it means you
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: get spit roasted with two separate copyright claims at the
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: same time. If I just review one movie it should
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: be easier to fight any claims I get. The movie
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: I'm reviewing today is called The Conspiracy. I'd say it's
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: more of a documentary horror rather than strictly a found
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: footage movie. but as I said in the last video
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: the genre is pretty vague these days and sometimes a
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: movie just feels found footage even if the footage wasn't
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: lost to begin with. The first half of this movie
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: isn't really horror at all. It feels like the sort
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: of documentary you'd see on Netflix or MTV. The movie
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: was made in 2012 and it really has the feeling
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: of that era and it kind of gives it a
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: real era of authenticity. I think the acting in it
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: is so good that if you showed it to someone
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and they didn't know it was a movie they'd believe
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: they were actually watching the proper documentary with real people
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: being interviewed on the street. Parts of this movie remind
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: me of the Blair Witch Project in Canada. Holocaust, but
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: maybe it's just because I reviewed those movies last and
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: I've got them in my head. The Blair Witch influence
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: seems to come from the happy-go-lucky amateur filmmakers slowly becoming
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: embroiled in something horrifying which they never intended. It's even
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: got their shaky cam nighttime forest footage but we'll get
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: to that later. The Cannibal Holocaust influence might be a
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: bit more tenuous but these shots at the beginning are
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: almost exactly the same as shots from the opening scenes
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: of Cannibal Holocaust. Maybe it's a cheeky reference to that
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: movie or I could just be imagining it. So the
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: main plot of the movie is a small team of
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: filmmakers find a guy ranting on the streets about government conspiracies.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: They decide to make a film about him and they
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: get invited back to his house to interview him. His
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: walls are plastered with newspaper clippings and generally it looks
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: like what you'd expect an insane conspiracy theorist home to
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: look like. The filmmakers are naturally pretty skeptical and it
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: almost feels like they're kind of exploiting the guy to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: make their movie. This whole part of the film feels
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: really authentic. The acting is really good and feels very
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: natural and they cut in a lot of talking head
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: interviews with people from both sides of the conspiracy theory
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: arguments and then this splicing real footage from news and
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: the internet recordings. It kind of reminds me of a
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: series of books called the Illuminatus Trilogy where real life
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: and fictional conspiracy elements are combined in a way that
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: leaves you wondering how much of it is actually true.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Eventually the crazy conspiracy guy goes missing. His apartment looks
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: like it's been completely ransacked and there's no sign of
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: him anywhere. The filmmakers decide to bundle up what's left
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: of his newspaper clippings and they take him home with him.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: As they sift through the clippings one of the filmmakers
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: becomes more and more convinced that the guy was actually
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: onto something whilst the other remains skeptical. I really like
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: this part of the movie because I think it offers
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: a good insight into both sides of the conspiracy arguments.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: If you believe in a global conspiracy of elites or
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: not I think you'll identify with one of these characters
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: at this point. The skeptical one sees his friend becoming
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: increasingly paranoid and drawing conclusions from things that don't quite
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: link up but the one who believes in it becomes
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: frustrated that his friend's inability to connect the dots and
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: unwillingness to look at the facts objectively. Eventually their research
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: leads them to a mysterious group called the Tarsus group.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: This seems to be a fictional version of something like
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: the Bilderberg group mixed with the Bohemian Grove club and
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: it's got elements of other secret Masonic style groups sprinkled
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: in there for good measure. It's a fictional club but
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: it's based so closely on real life things that it
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: feels very genuine. And this is the point in the
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: movie where the horror elements start to creep in. The
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: first half of the film is so mild it can
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: allows you into a false sense of security but once
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: they start to investigate the Tarsus group the creepy factor
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: really ramps up. They start being followed by a black
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: SUV with tinted windows and their apartment gets ransacked while
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: they're out. There's an increasing sense of paranoia that really
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: draws you in with them. It's all leading up to
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: the final part of the film in which the filmmakers
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: put on hidden cameras and manage to infiltrate a meeting
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: of the Tarsus group itself. This is where the film
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: really starts to feel like a true found footage movie.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: To be honest this is only about the last 30
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: minutes of the film but really the latter part of
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: the documentary were just there to build atmosphere for these
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: final scenes. As a viewer you go from being skeptical
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: to paranoid along with the filmmakers so when you see
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: them wandering around among the very people they've been investigating
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: it's an extremely tense viewing experience. The first person camera
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: really makes it feel like you're in there with them
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and the feeling that they might get caught at any
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: second is incredibly atmospheric. Unfortunately I can't tell you much
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: about this part of the movie without spoiling it. All
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: I'll say is there's some really cool occult ritual type
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: stuff and there's a few moments in there that genuinely
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: give me the chills. So like I say this hidden
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: camera footage is really where the movie pays off and
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: I recommend you go see it yourself and try not
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: to spoil it ending beforehand and don't skip through the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: documentary parts at the beginning because I think without them
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: the final part won't have the same impact. If you
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: are going to see it I don't recommend watching it
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: on the internet movies. I rented it on the internet
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: and it really doesn't handle the hidden camera scenes well.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Obviously these scenes are lower quality than the first part
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: of the film and that's fine because you expect with
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: a tiny hidden camera it's going to be kind of
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: grainy and low quality but then the internet's compression adds
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: another layer of creepiness on top of it to this
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: point where it makes some parts almost unwatchable. It kind
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: of makes a lot of scenes very blocky and it
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: really took me out of the movie at some but
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: so the internet movies really sucks. They also messed up
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Blair Witch Project so don't rent that on the internet
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: either but yeah I'm not sure what it is with
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the internet. They don't seem to be able to handle
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: their old grainy footage as much as their HD stuff.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: So have you seen this movie? If you have let
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: me know what you thought of it. I know it's
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: not like a super obscure film but it's one that
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: I never hear people talking about when I talk about
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: horror movies like this. Maybe other people just didn't like
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: it as much as I did but I definitely recommend it.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: It's really well made and it feels authentic and it's
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: genuinely very creepy in some places. It's a shame I
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: can't say more about the ending but I feel like
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: it really would spoil it and all I can really
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: say is the documentary parts at the beginning even though
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: it comprises the bulk of the movie. It's all leading
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: up to the hidden camera footage at the end and
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: it really pays off. I think the ending is quite satisfying.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: It'll leave you thinking about things and it leaves quite
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: a few things up in the air. It doesn't explain
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: too much. The film actually borrows a lot from an
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: earlier movie called The Brandon Corey Story. This is another
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: conspiracy-themed documentary with a lot of real-life stuff sprinkled in there.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: It even ends with someone sneaking into a place with
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: a hidden camera. I can see where the inspiration comes
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: from but in my opinion the conspiracy is the better
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: movie but the Brandon Corey story is still kind of
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: cool and it's got David Akin it so it gets
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: bonus points for that but yeah I might cover that
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: in a future video. Until next time goodbye.