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Family Secrets Do You Truly Know The Truth Curse Of The Blumenthals From Phyllis Karas · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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Speaker 1: Enjoy your exploration. Hi Philus, how are you doing today?
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Speaker 2: I'm doing fine on a very rainy Foston morning.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, but don't we live for those days as writers,
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Speaker 1: because that's when we trap ourselves in a room and
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Speaker 1: just start letting it freely move through.
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Speaker 2: Us exactly on the doc sky makes you a little
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Speaker 2: bit more excited about writing?
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Speaker 1: How did you get involved in this project? And let
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Speaker 1: me tell you, I'm going to go a little bit
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Speaker 1: deeper than just asking normal questions because the Bloomenthals play
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Speaker 1: a major part of who we are. Down here in Charlotte,
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Speaker 1: we have the Bloomenthal Performing Arts Center, the Bluomenthal. This
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Speaker 1: the Bloomenthal that are we talking about the same Bloomenthals here?
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Speaker 2: I doubt it, but it's exciting to hear that the
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Speaker 2: clan has spread all the way down there.
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Speaker 1: It just blows me away on how we seem like
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Speaker 1: we're miles apart from each other, but yet we're connected
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Speaker 1: by something. And this book right here just opened up
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Speaker 1: my heart going and a reminder of my own community
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Speaker 1: that there is a history. And I just love the
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Speaker 1: idea that you wrote about this. But it's about a curse.
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Speaker 2: Yes, it is a curse. I thought long and hat
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Speaker 2: about whether or not that would be my title, and
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Speaker 2: the thing that there was just no avoiding it. It
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Speaker 2: just came in me.
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Speaker 1: What was the reason behind that? What I mean when
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Speaker 1: you start weighing things out, because you're right, the book
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Speaker 1: cover is the one that either get someone to jump
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Speaker 1: in or it just captures your imagination because that title
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Speaker 1: is so valuable.
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Speaker 2: H Yeah, you know, I hated to make my story
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Speaker 2: a negative story right from the very beginning, but I
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Speaker 2: think the fact that I believe that the curs has
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Speaker 2: ended in allows me to do that.
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Speaker 1: But you introduced us to Ronnie, Poor Ronnie my god,
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Speaker 1: the media was all over Ronnie. In fact, I think
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Speaker 1: Ronnie was doing the Britney Spears before Britney Spears started
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Speaker 1: doing it.
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Speaker 2: I think you are right, and you know I would
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Speaker 2: not write my story until Ronnie died. N actually died
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Speaker 2: down south in Alabama, believe it or not, with his son.
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Speaker 2: But I just I had to wait because Ronnie was
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Speaker 2: such a complex character and meant so much to me
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Speaker 2: for so many years. But his end, as I hope
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Speaker 2: you read, was not a good one, and he ended
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Speaker 2: up dying and being buried in a pauper's grave, which
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Speaker 2: was everything that we would never want a Blumenthal to do.
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Speaker 2: I want to be And what was.
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Speaker 1: The actual, you know, the depth of Ronnie, what happened
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Speaker 1: inside the family for Ronnie to be basically I'm gonna
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Speaker 1: calling out the black sheep of the family.
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Speaker 2: Basically, Yeah, truly, the daka shape that we ever had
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Speaker 2: committed a horrendous crime. And I have to tell you
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Speaker 2: that even to this day, we're not one hundred percent
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Speaker 2: positive that Ronnie committed the crime. He admitted to it,
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Speaker 2: but there were a lot of factors, especially in the investigation,
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Speaker 2: that led us to believe that perhaps he had help.
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Speaker 2: He actually told his son, who was twelve years old
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Speaker 2: at the time, that Grandpa did it. So there was
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Speaker 2: always a possibility that my uncle Bonnie might have contributed
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Speaker 2: to it, or even my vicious aunt Edith. It is possible.
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Speaker 2: I'm not saying it's definite, but the left a lot
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Speaker 2: of or doors open to all of us.
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Speaker 1: I am so glad that you brought that up, because
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Speaker 1: there are many times with these family events that family
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Speaker 1: members will take a hit for another person because in
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Speaker 1: my wife's own family, they won't come clean because they
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Speaker 1: don't want to break the family up even more. And
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Speaker 1: that's exactly what I was thinking about when it came
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Speaker 1: to the Blue Galls.
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Speaker 2: How bizarre. Really, Wow, maybe you need to write a
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Speaker 2: book about now.
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Speaker 1: Wow, that's going to be one of my questions for you,
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Speaker 1: because I mean, you've got this down really well when
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Speaker 1: it comes to read, you know, going in and digging
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Speaker 1: in for dirt on families, and I was going to
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Speaker 1: ask you if you're going to do other families as well.
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Speaker 2: No, I think I'm through with families at this point.
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Speaker 2: I've done a lot of gangster books and crime books,
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Speaker 2: and I wanted to do my own story, but I
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Speaker 2: think that's it as far as families, I honestly do.
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Speaker 2: It was hot renching to discover so many facts that
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Speaker 2: I didn't even know my family, never even knew the
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Speaker 2: driver of the car who kills six of my relatives.
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Speaker 1: See what I'm saying. I mean, it's just I mean,
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Speaker 1: I mean, even as a try a true crime person,
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Speaker 1: a fan of it, I just I can just see
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Speaker 1: all these people being so inspired by the Curse of
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Speaker 1: the Blumenthals in the way that it's like, really, so
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Speaker 1: that's what you think the story is, We're going to
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Speaker 1: dig in deeper.
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Speaker 2: Okay, yes, yes, exactly what I do believe the story is.
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Speaker 2: It's also about secrets, and I guess you know that's
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Speaker 2: your own family. People love to keep secrets, and I
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Speaker 2: also believe that every family has its own story. Someone
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Speaker 2: should have the courage, and it does take courage to
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Speaker 2: write about the foibles of your own family.
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Speaker 1: Phill's let's talk about those secrets in the way that
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Speaker 1: because I'm a daily writer, my journals are dating thirty
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Speaker 1: two years old this year, and that means that somebody
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Speaker 1: beyond me is going to be reading these journals. But
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Speaker 1: the thing is, though, is that I always try to
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Speaker 1: tell people, dear future reader, this is the interpretation of
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Speaker 1: my side of the story. And so how did you
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Speaker 1: deal with that by getting Ronnie's story involved in everybody
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Speaker 1: else involved? But it was also through your eyes.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I made that very clear. And I have cousins
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Speaker 2: who disagree with certain elements of the story, and I
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Speaker 2: wanted that. I needed that. I didn't want to feel
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Speaker 2: that I was the only person telling the story and
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Speaker 2: someone else said something to say they had every right too.
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Speaker 2: But it is exactly as you said, my interpretation, and
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Speaker 2: I didn't want to hurt anyone, and that's why I
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Speaker 2: would not write it until Ronnie was dead. But it
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Speaker 2: was his son Mack who was the one that was
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Speaker 2: my greatest inspiration because he tells the truth. He was
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Speaker 2: the anti Ronnie in every possible way. If Ronnie could
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Speaker 2: have created the opposite of himself, it would have been
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Speaker 2: his son Mock.
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Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Phillis Carrass coming
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Speaker 1: up next the name of her book, Curse of the Blumenthals.
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Speaker 1: We are back with author Phillis Carrass. Do you see
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Speaker 1: how many hearts that you probably freed and opened up
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Speaker 1: because you were the one that took that step day.
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Speaker 1: It's like all most people saying, thank god, we can
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Speaker 1: finally have a conversation here.
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Speaker 2: I think you're right because in all the years that
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Speaker 2: everyone went to visit Ronni, for those thirteen years when
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Speaker 2: he was in prison, and believe me, I have the
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Speaker 2: book of every person that came into the prison to
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Speaker 2: see him, and there wasn't a who did not go.
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Speaker 2: We owe it. No one ever said, so tell me, Ronnie,
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Speaker 2: did you do it? Do you want to talk about it?
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Speaker 2: Not even Flow, who fell in love with him and
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Speaker 2: became engaged to him while he was in prison, feels
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Speaker 2: like she got the right answer. It was just a taboo.
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Speaker 2: We didn't talk about it. There. He is in prison
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Speaker 2: for a murder that he confessed committee, and yet no
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Speaker 2: one would say to him, why don't you want to
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Speaker 2: talk about it? Can we discuss it a little bit?
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Speaker 2: That question never came up, and not even after he
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Speaker 2: was released from prison, it just hung in the ear.
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Speaker 2: It was only when he was telling his twelve year
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Speaker 2: son the story of his life, because he tells he
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Speaker 2: needed to tell him because his son would eventually hear
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Speaker 2: about it. Anyhow did he said those words, I did it?
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Speaker 2: I took the rap for Grandpa.
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Speaker 1: See, I took the rap. Okay, look at who's the
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Speaker 1: optimistic pessimist on this side of the conversation. I took
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Speaker 1: the rap. And I'm sitting here going yeah, okay, well, yeah,
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Speaker 1: I think my brother took the rap too. But did
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Speaker 1: he I don't know. Now. His side of the story
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Speaker 1: hasn't come clean yet.
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Speaker 2: No. I wish she could have written the book. I
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Speaker 2: wish he could have talked about it. But there was
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Speaker 2: no way that I could have ever asked in that question.
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Speaker 2: I was as cowardly as everyone else in might be.
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Speaker 2: We just tried to go on and ignore. It was there.
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Speaker 2: It was the elephant in the room, but we just
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Speaker 2: didn't open it. And I still to this they don't
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Speaker 2: know why I never had the courage to ask him.
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Speaker 2: I visited him so many times in prison and saw
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Speaker 2: him many times afterwards, but never said those words wow. Never. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: The only thing I could get out of my brother
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Speaker 1: in prison was that's where I found Jesus. Well, no, no,
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Speaker 1: tell me more about what's going on inside that prison?
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Speaker 1: What you guys did? I found Jesus, and I'm going,
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Speaker 1: is there is there anything else going on there? And
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Speaker 1: they You're right, they just don't want to talk about it.
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Speaker 2: I know, I know, and you know we didn't want
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Speaker 2: to hurt him anymore than was already heard. I mean,
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Speaker 2: there he is an eighteen year old kid going into
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Speaker 2: prison and spending thirteen years of his life here. You know,
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Speaker 2: God only knows what happened when he left the visiting room,
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Speaker 2: when he went behind it. We did have a cousin
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Speaker 2: and uncle actually on the other side, not a bluemuthal,
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Speaker 2: but on Ronnie's mother's side, who had a great deal
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Speaker 2: of money and a great deal of influence, and we
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Speaker 2: do believe that he may have done things to keep
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Speaker 2: things a little bit easier, if possible, to Lonnie. But
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Speaker 2: we learned the tricks. We learned that when we went
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Speaker 2: to visit Ronnie, we always brought two gifts. One was
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Speaker 2: for Ronnie and one was to the gods. My mother
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Speaker 2: made her famous brisket, there was one for Ronnie and
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Speaker 2: one for the gods. If my aunt made her a struddle,
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Speaker 2: a package was for Ronnie. A package was to the gods.
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Speaker 2: And that was the one little trick that we did learn.
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Speaker 2: But the person that we saw in the visiting room
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Speaker 2: was always dressed beautifully differently than the other prisoners, always
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Speaker 2: had a cashmere sweater over his uniform. He was handsome
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Speaker 2: as can be and kept him He was in better
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Speaker 2: shape what he was in prison physically than when he
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Speaker 2: was out. So I don't know what happened. But he
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Speaker 2: did read a lot while he was there. He did
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Speaker 2: books for the blind. He led a passover satyr at
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Speaker 2: one time. You know, there were good things that happened
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Speaker 2: to him in there that we think happened, but we
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Speaker 2: have no idea what else happened, and none of us
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Speaker 2: had the courage to ask. I wanted to know.
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Speaker 1: Man, I'm kind of jealous of the guards. They got
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Speaker 1: the strudle. I didn't give any strudles. Should I expecting
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Speaker 1: some strudle in the mail today?
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Speaker 2: I mean, come on, want something I will get yourself,
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Speaker 2: just let me have. But I wouldn't say they were
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Speaker 2: friendly to us. They were never friendly to us, but
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Speaker 2: perhaps it would have been less friendly to us. Now.
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Speaker 2: Ronnie fell in love when he was in prison. That
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Speaker 2: was such an amazing thing to happen. But you know,
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Speaker 2: someone that went to visit my sister, who was closer
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Speaker 2: to Ronnie than I was an age brought her college
10:26
Speaker 2: running to visit Ronnie, and they fell in loved and
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Speaker 2: became engaged while he was in prison, but after several
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Speaker 2: rebuffs as far as getting a parole, they finally broke up.
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Speaker 2: Actually in touch with that person, and I find her
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Speaker 2: story amazing because she does not believe that Ronnie committed
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Speaker 2: the murder. So just to add that to the confusion in.
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Speaker 1: My mind, she feel us All the way through this book.
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Speaker 1: I sat there. I don't know how many times I
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Speaker 1: wrote in my notes, she found the needle to the haystack.
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Speaker 1: She's located the needle to the haystack. Because because it
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Speaker 1: seems like the more and more that you walk with this,
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Speaker 1: the more you're understanding the story. And I've always believed
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Speaker 1: that in our past are the reasons why we're doing
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Speaker 1: what we are today. And it's like, what did Phillis
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Speaker 1: discover about herself today because of something that happened back
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Speaker 1: there that was shut down but now it's out in
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Speaker 1: the open again.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm sure that's why I became a writer,
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Speaker 2: because this story was something I never felt I really
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Speaker 2: got the truth on. And so the idea of becoming
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Speaker 2: a journalist and looking for truth and finding that magic.
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Speaker 2: As you said, that key in a haystack is something
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Speaker 2: that I've strived for in all my books and actually
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Speaker 2: in every story that I've ever written, because there are
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Speaker 2: so many question marks in everybody's story. But you know,
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Speaker 2: it was the accident too, that was such a formative thing.
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Speaker 2: Everything in my mother's life was always before the accident
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Speaker 2: or after the accident. That was the key to her
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Speaker 2: driving in the cow with her when her foot was
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Speaker 2: practically on the break when I was driving. Generational trauma
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Speaker 2: is just no Christ.
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Speaker 1: All right, I'm going to ask you a personal question.
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Speaker 1: Is this is writer to writer? Now? Okay, I know
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Speaker 1: that when I write stories, I believe that I am visited.
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Speaker 1: Did Ronnie visit you while you were putting this together?
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Speaker 1: In other words? In spirit? Was he sitting right there
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Speaker 1: with you?
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Speaker 2: Well? I actually spoke to a psychic because I felt
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Speaker 2: as if he was there and I thought it was
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Speaker 2: losing my mind. So I spoke to a psychic and
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Speaker 2: she actually described him perfectly. There's no way she would
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Speaker 2: have known I hadn't written a book. Then she described
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Speaker 2: what he looked like in the prison. She described various
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Speaker 2: details about him, and no one else could have known.
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Speaker 2: So yes, the answer to that question is I do
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Speaker 2: believe that at least spirit, Without sounding like a complete
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Speaker 2: nut job, I do believe that there was some spirit
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Speaker 2: of Ronnie that visited me and made me write the book.
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Speaker 1: I don't know how you edited this book, because there,
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Speaker 1: I bet you there's things that are on the editing
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Speaker 1: floor right now that really do belong in this book.
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Speaker 1: But you had to hit a certain number of words
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Speaker 1: or pages. But I mean because I mean as the writer,
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Speaker 1: I mean you gave us a lot here.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I had wonderful research assistance. I found that
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Speaker 2: the public libraries offer so many research possibilities. I hope
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Speaker 2: everybody knows that. And they would find me documents that
13:17
Speaker 2: were so from nineteen thirty five or nineteen thirty two,
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Speaker 2: and of course after the murder in nineteen forty five,
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Speaker 2: there were so many different documents, and they were so
13:28
Speaker 2: helpful because they gave me information that was true and
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Speaker 2: that no one could really refute. So those I relied
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Speaker 2: on a lot, a lot, you know, stories, family stories,
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Speaker 2: my cousins who always felt that there was so much
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Speaker 2: about it, you know, it was one thing that always
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Speaker 2: brought us all together. The accident and then the murder.
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Speaker 2: You know, that was the Blumenthals. That was us, and
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Speaker 2: that's who defined us. It's funny. My mother had always
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Speaker 2: said that after losing six relatives in the car crash,
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Speaker 2: we're never going to lose another relative. And that's why
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Speaker 2: when Ronnie committed the crime, we didn't lose him. We
14:01
Speaker 2: stayed with him. We went to prison with him, we
14:04
Speaker 2: kept after him after his prison. We included in everything
14:07
Speaker 2: humanly possible. We didn't want to lose him, but we did.
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Speaker 1: What is that going to be like for you, Phyllis
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Speaker 1: that now when people gather, the family gathers at the
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Speaker 1: table and the name Ronnie comes up, people aren't just
14:18
Speaker 1: going to sit there and look at each other and
14:19
Speaker 1: then change the subject. They're really going to start. You
14:22
Speaker 1: are opening up a new can of worms here that
14:24
Speaker 1: really is going to I'm praying that it finally brings
14:27
Speaker 1: some peace and love to your heart.
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Speaker 2: Oh so, I hope you are right in that, because
14:32
Speaker 2: it is a major sort of discussion. And I tried
14:35
Speaker 2: to share as much material as I could with my
14:37
Speaker 2: cousins before I put it in print. I wanted them
14:40
Speaker 2: to see my papa and if they wanted to and
14:42
Speaker 2: I waited so nervously for their responses, whether I called
14:45
Speaker 2: them and they didn't answer right away, or whether I
14:48
Speaker 2: texted or emailed him. I waited so nervously because I
14:51
Speaker 2: so did not want to hurt any of them. But
14:54
Speaker 2: I honestly feeled in the long run, they're with me.
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Speaker 2: They agreed with so much of what I wrote, were
15:00
Speaker 2: so instrumental in making me write it that I'm so
15:03
Speaker 2: grateful to every one of them. Of course, we're all
15:05
Speaker 2: getting old. My cousins are in their eighties now, so
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Speaker 2: it's the next generation that I wanted to talk about it.
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Speaker 2: My cousin's children, my own children, the next generation. And
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Speaker 2: there's no Bloomenthals left because my cousin Ronnie was the
15:20
Speaker 2: last Blumenthal and his son who decided never to have
15:24
Speaker 2: any children as a wonderful, happy marriage, but no children,
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Speaker 2: so we are We're done. That's it for the Bloomenthals. Wow,
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Speaker 2: it's sad.
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Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you, Phyllis,
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Speaker 1: Because you spoke of many books that you've written. I
15:37
Speaker 1: want people to really jump onto your path.
15:41
Speaker 2: You're too kind. Well, my website has always open www.
15:45
Speaker 2: Phylliscaris dot com and anybody can reach me through my website,
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Speaker 2: and I wish they would.
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Speaker 1: Well, please come back to this show anytime in the future, Phyllis,
15:53
Speaker 1: because I would still love to figure out if the
15:55
Speaker 1: Bloomenthals here in Charlotte are somehow some way connected to
15:58
Speaker 1: your family. They're there's got to be a connection.
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Speaker 2: And you know that there is a senate of Blumins
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Speaker 2: all from Connecticut.
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Speaker 1: Okay, see what I'm saying, everybody. I mean because that
16:07
Speaker 1: that is not a normal name and its and for
16:10
Speaker 1: these communities to have Blumenthals in them, there's got to
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Speaker 1: be a connection. There's your next writing project, Phyllis.
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Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I will possibly pursue it. And
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Speaker 2: I never knew what you just told me, so I
16:20
Speaker 2: was much more interested in discovering about it. I couldn't
16:22
Speaker 2: thank you enough.
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Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today? Okay?
16:26
Speaker 2: Okay, you take good care. Wonderful chatting with you.