Terrifying & True | Ronald Gene Simmons - A Blood Red Christmas

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The holiday season is a time of
togetherness, of celebration, of joy,

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of being with the ones you love, and being thankful for the things and

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people that you have. But one
man decided to use the holidays as a

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backdrop for his evil plan to execute
everyone in his family. What you were

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about to pit is buriity to you. Based on witness accounts, testimonies,

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and public record, this is terrifying
and true. True. In the history

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of humankind, there are many tragic
stories of patriarchs of the family killing those

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closest to them for a number of
reasons, often economic stressors or mental illness.

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But this case is truly another level
of heinous. This is the story

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of Ronald Gene Simmons, a name
I honestly wish we could all forget.

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A man who not only was a
heinous human being who committed many atrocities against

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those who he loved and loved him, but when he decided to commit the

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ultimate crime against them, he did
so at Christmas time. We'll be telling

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that story tonight on Terrifying and True
after these quick words from our sponsors.

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The Christmas season is a time most
think of as one for hope, the

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pinnacle of the human spirit and a
time one spends with their family regardless of

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any headaches that may come about.
But the holiday season is also known to

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produce darker memories than the ones found
on a hallmark Christmas card. While it

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is usually robbery, personal larceny,
and road related crimes that fill the news

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come the holidays, murder has also
filled the headlines. In nineteen eighty seven,

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one such instance of Mary murder entered
the headlines. Only this one had

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a build up to it that included
a constantly moving childhood, a decorated military

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career, fleeing from the authorities when
investigated for sexually abusing their own child,

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and a string of low paying jobs
that appeared to slowly chip away at their

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sanity. Eventually, that sanity broke
and the individuals started a day's long spree

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of murder and mayhem. This is
the story of a Christmas gone chaotic and

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how a family was slaughtered by its
patriarch, how perhaps a demented mind was

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slowly distorted, even more so by
circumstance of how the red that makes up

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the color scheme of the holidays can
drip with blood. This is the story

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of Robert Gene Simmons. During the
lead up to the Christmas season of nineteen

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eighty seven, forty seven year old
Ronald Gene Simmons decided that he would kill

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all the members of his family.
After years of low paying jobs, living

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in less than desirable conditions, and
dealing with the repercussions of allegations of fathering

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a child with his own seventeen year
old daughter, he was simply pushed into

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the direction of killing all of those
around him. Thus, on the morning

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of December twenty second, he began
a new job as an executioner. First

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was his wife, Rebecca and his
eldest son Jean. He killed them by

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bludgeoning them with a crowbar and then
shooting them with a twenty two caliber pistol.

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Next was his three year old granddaughter, Barbara, who he killed by

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strangulation. To dispose of the bodies, Simmons dumped the three victims into cesspits

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previously made by his children due to
the lack of indoor plumbing in their converted

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mobile home. With the three victims
dealt with, Simmons waited for the remaining

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children to return home from school for
their Christmas break. Once they arrived,

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he told them he had a surprise
for them, but wanted to deliver them

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to the children one at a time. The first in this batch of victims

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was seventeen year old Loretta, another
one of his daughters. He killed her

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by strangling her and held her head
down in a rain filled barrel. After

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that, one by one, Simmons
came killed the remaining three children, Eddie,

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Mary Anne, and Becky in the
same fashion. When all four of

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the children were dead, Simmons dumped
their bodies into the cesspit where the previous

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victims were. Four days later,
on December twenty sixth, Simmons waited for

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the remaining family members he'd invited over
for the holidays to come to start off

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his newest spree of executions. Simmons
first killed his son Billy and his wife

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Nada, both shot dead. Simmons
then moved on to their twenty month old

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son Trey, by strangling and drowning
him. Next was his eldest daughter,

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Sheila, with whom he'd had a
sexually abusive relationship, and her husband Dennis

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McNulty, by shooting them both.
Simmons next murdered his child, conceived by

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his abuse of Sheila, seven year
old Sylvia by strangling her. Finally,

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Simmons finished his familicide by killing his
twenty one month old grandson, Michael.

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Now that all of his family was
slain, Simmons placed his victim's bodies in

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the lounge of their home in neat
rows. He covered their bodies with coats,

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except for that of Sheila, who
was covered by Rebecca simmons best tablecloth.

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The bodies of Tray and Michael were
wrapped in plastic sheeting and left in

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abandoned cars at the end of the
lane. After the murders, Simmons drove

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to a seer's store in Russellville,
where he retrieved Christmas lights that he had

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previously ordered for his family. That
night, he went for a drink at

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a local bar before returning to the
home, where he spent the rest of

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the evening and the following day drinking
beer and watching television. However, even

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with his entire family now dead,
the darkness in Simmons was not at peace.

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So then came the next phase of
his violent plan. On December twenty

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eighth, Simmons drove out to a
wal mart in Russellville, where he bought

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another gun to use for his net
attack. From there, he traveled to

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a law firm where he had previously
met the twenty four year old secretary Kathy

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Cribbins Kendrick. Simmons had an infatuation
with Kendrick and had asked her out previously,

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with her rejecting him. Once at
the law office, Simmons walked in,

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found Kendrick, and shot her dead. Next on the tour of murder

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was the office of an oil company. It was there that Simmons was intending

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to find and kill Russell Taylor,
the owner of the company. Taylor was

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also the owner of the Sinclair Mini
Mart, where Simmons had resigned just before

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his killing spree. He was able
to find and shoot Taylor, but was

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unsuccessful in killing him. Simmons then
turned his attention to thirty three year old

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James David, whom he successfully shot
and killed. Chaffin would be the only

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victim that Simmons did not know.
Before leaving the building, Simmons fired at

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another stranger, but luckily for that
stranger, the bullet had missed. After

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completing his work at the oil company, Simmons drove out to the Sinclair Mini

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Mart, where he shot and wounded
two more people. His final target was

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the office of the Woodline Motor Freight
Company, where he shot his former supervisor

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twice, wounding her. When done
attacking his former supervisor, Simmons aimed at

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an employee and told them to call
the police, holding that employee at gunpoint

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until the cops arrived. Once they
did, Simmons handed over his firearm and

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surrendered without any resistance. His rampage
lasted forty minutes. After he was arrested,

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Simmons underwent typical psychiatric testing to determine
whether or not he was fit to

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stand trial. He was deemed fit
and went on trial on May twelfth,

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nineteen eighty eight, for the murders
of Kathleen Kendrick and James David Chaffin.

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Simmons was found guilty and sentenced to
death. While under oath, Simmons made

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a statement supporting the court's decision to
execute him, saying, quote, I,

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Ronald Gen. Simmons, Senor want
it to be known that it is

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my wish and my desire that absolutely
no action by anybody be taken to appeal

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or in any way change this sentence. It is further respectfully requested that this

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sentence be carried out expeditiously. Next, Simmons went on trial for the murder

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of his fourteen family members. On
February tenth, nineteen eighty nine, he

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was once more found guilty and again
sentenced to death. During the trial,

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Simmons had to be removed from the
courtroom for punching the prosecutor, John Bynum

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and trying to grab a deputy's handgun
after Bynum had introduced a letter between Simmons

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and his daughter, Sheila, in
which Simmons expressed anger that Sheila had rever

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that he was the father of her
child and that he would see her in

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hell. As for his motive,
a family friend told investigators that simmons wife,

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Rebecca, had been saving up money
to divorce him when the killings happened.

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Once again, Simmons did not appeal
his sentence and stated to those who

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opposed the death penalty in my particular
case, anything short of death would be

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cruel and unusual punishment. Because of
his acceptance and lack of desire to contest

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his death sentences, the trial court
held a hearing concerning his competency in regards

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to his opinion to waive all further
proceedings By the end of the hearing,

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the court concluded that Simmons's decision was
knowing and intelligent. However, it was

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his acceptance that raised some issues with
Simmons and his fellow death row inmates.

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He had to be separated from other
prisoners as his life was threatened constantly.

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This was because he refused to appeal
his death sentence. The other prisoners believed

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Simmons was damaging their chances of beating
their own death sentences. Simmons even became

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the subject of the United States Supreme
Court case Whitmer versus Arkansas, when another

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death row inmate, Jonas Whitmore,
attempted unsuccessfully to force an appeal of simmons

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case. On May thirty first,
nineteen ninety, then Arkansas Governor and later

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President Bill Clinton signed the execution warrant
for Simmons. He selected lethal injection as

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his means of execution and died on
June twenty fifth in the Cummins unit.

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Because none of his remaining relatives would
claim his body, Simmons was buried in

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a potter's field in Lincoln County,
Arkansas, and so ends the Holiday horror

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tale of Ronald Gene Simmons. The
man who became the state of Arkansas's most

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prolific mass murderer, and whose acceptance
of and his refusal to appeal his sentence

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resulted in a Supreme Court case.
While a motive was partially established, nobody

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may ever know what fully triggered Simmons
to go on the rampage that he did.

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Was it vengeance? Was it to
try to cover up a dark,

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dirty family secret. Why was he
so accepting of his sentence. The truth

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might never be fully revealed, but
perhaps that is for the best in matters

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such as this. All we know
for sure, though, is that Ronald

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Gene Simmons committed a week long holiday
rampage that still has people talking to this

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day, almost as if it was
another Christmas story to tell come the season.

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Hey, my spookies, I gotta
say something dead serious. This story

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is truly devastating. It's about a
man who harmed his family for a long

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time and then one day decided to
just kill them and at the holidays.

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This is the kind of brutal reality
that makes true crime so fascinating and also

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so heartbreaking at the same time.
I wanted to tell this story because obviously

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it's seasonal, and it's morbid and
it's twisted. But I also have to

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admit that doing Terrifying and True can
be kind of hard on my spirit sometimes

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reading these true stories of very very
heinous crime. So that being said,

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for the rest of the holiday season, I'm taking a break from Terrifying and

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True. I want to stick to
the mayhem and carnage that's of the fictional

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variety, and we have plenty of
it, lots of bonus shows to come

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this holiday season. As you've probably
already noticed, we've been publishing pretty much

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every day since the start of December. So next Monday, I hope you'll

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enjoy tuning in for a little something
extra Under the Tree, a holiday themed

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horror story of the fictional variety.
I figured you'd understand. Merry Christmas.

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Terrifying and True is narrated by Enrique
Kuto. This episode is written by Morgan

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Moore. It's executive produced by Rob
Fields, produced by Daniel Wilder, with

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original theme music by Ray Maddis.
If you have a story you'd like us

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to cover on the program, send
us an email at Weekly Spooky at gmail

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one dollar a month, you can
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Spooky rolling and rolling and rolling.
And I want to say a big thank

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you to our Patreon podcast booster folks
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hear their names at the end of
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Johnny Nix, bobotopia dot Com,
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mccollus, Steve King, Karen we
met, Jack Kerr and Craig Cohen.

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Thank you all so much and we'll
see you next time right here on Weekly

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Spooky and Terrifying and True