DRUNK ABOUT SOMETHING RECAP THE LAWSON FAMILY AND SOME OLDIES!

A quiet holiday night, a clink of ice in a glass, and then a hard turn into two cases that still haunt the true crime canon. We start with the 1929 Lawson family murders, a Christmas story no one wants but everyone struggles to understand. Charles Lawson dressed his family in new clothes for a portrait, sent his oldest son to town on Christmas morning, and then killed his wife and children before taking his own life. What explains the unthinkable: a head injury, a suspected pregnancy involving daughter Marie, or something else we can’t fully prove because the record is so thin? We examine the timeline, the small-town lore that followed, and the strange afterlife of the home as a tourist stop where the family’s untouched cake sat in a glass case, raisins picked off by visitors like grim souvenirs.

From there, we step into the McMartin Preschool trial, where the 1980s satanic panic met flawed interview techniques and exploded a single allegation into nationwide hysteria. Tunnels, robes, children flushed through toilets—claims that drove excavations, media frenzies, and court battles, while physical evidence failed to keep pace. We unpack how suggestion shaped children’s statements, why a photo lineup once ended with “Chuck Norris,” and what happens to families and institutions when fear outruns facts. These stories don’t sit side by side by accident; together, they reveal how communities try to make meaning from shock, and how narrative can either clarify or consume.

Along the way, we share the sources that helped us navigate the gaps—Disgraceland’s connective tissue, the hard-to-find White Christmas, Bloody Christmas, and the scattered archives that keep these histories alive. We also keep it human: a few sips of “conversational bourbon,” New Year schedule notes, and space for your case requests and music features. If you appreciate careful research, clear-eyed storytelling, and a little warmth around difficult topics, you’re in the right place. Hit play, subscribe, share with a friend who loves true crime without the sensational spin, and tell us: which theory makes the most sense to you—and why?

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!!

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AS ALWAYS D-A-S