Where is the Line?

Massacre and Rape in Nanjing Part 2: The Rape of Nanking

In part 2 of Massacre and Rape in Nanjing, we will explore the graphic rape, creative torture, and eventual murder of thousands upon thousands of Chinese non-combatants in Nanking.  We will cover the cover-up, and talk about the affect that research on this topic had on one very talented young author.  Much of what you are about to hear may sound made-up or unlikely. However, fantastic as it seems, the horrors outlined herein were actually visited upon the people of Nanking.  This. Happened....

Massacre and Rape in Nanjing Part 1: A Brutal Invasion

The Rape of Nanking (Nanjing is the modern spelling) is an incident with no historic parallels and one that might represent the most horrific fortnight ever suffered by a human population. Over the course of this at least 2-part episode, we’ll hear stories of unborn children being cut from the wombs of expectant mothers… Of men buried to their waists before being eaten alive by hungry dogs… We’ll hear tales of forced incest, and violent gang rape.  And we’ll be talking about all of this occu...

The Audacity of Shawn Parcells

In 2009 a Kansas man named Shawn Parcells proudly began a forensic autopsy group that would eventually come to be known as National Autopsy Services.  Since then, Parcells has performed thousands of autopsies on bodies for which the cause of death was called into question.  In doing so, he’s provided countless heartbroken families with whatever peace can be found in finally discovering the truth of their loved ones' passings.  Shawn Parcells has testified in numerous court cases relating to...

Genital Modification in Prison or: Penal Penile Implant Practitioners and Their Patients

In the absence of resources, ingenuity tends to thrive.  There are few places where a person might find themselves more poorly resourced than in prison.  In a previous episode, the one with writer and former inmate Ryan Martin, we learned of homemade masturbatory devices that prisoners make from latex gloves and tobacco canisters.  This bold sort of indigent inventiveness will play a large role in today’s story. One of the most endearing things about our new forensic autopsy specialist coh...

Meet Holly, Forensic Autopsy Technician and WITL’s Newest Cohost

Have you ever ripped apart a deceased infant with your own two hands?  Have you ever stored a human brain next to the frozen broccoli in your refrigerator?  Can you differentiate between the smell of common road kill and the pungent and unique odor of a decomposing human body?  Have you ever removed maggots from human remains, covered them in acrylic paint, and then allowed those universally reviled larvae to crawl about a canvas unknowingly and unwittingly creating something that could be ...

The Corpse Wranglers of West Alabama

Everyone who listens to this episode of Where is the Line? will die. Your final demise will probably not happen anytime soon and will most certainly have nothing to do with having listened to this episode.  Still, you are all going die.  The fortunate among you may slide into the ether as you sleep, leaving behind a corpse that your friends and family will describe as looking “peaceful”.  Others may find themselves spattered onto a tree.  Regardless, assuming that you exit this horrible pla...

A Very Disgusting Lady

This is the story of a woman with a disfigured body and an irreparably corrupted mind. It is also a story about our own vanity and how it is reflected back at us every time we encounter someone who looks vastly different from what we consider acceptable. This episode's subject was a physical monstrosity from birth. Was her mind equally malformed from the outset? Or, was her degeneracy and depraved behavior something that was carved into her by the cruelty of those who surrounded her? Visit ...

Redeeming Robert Liston or: The One with Rachel from Hollywood Crime Scene

As a consumer of macabre and grotesque media, you the listener may believe yourself to be already acquainted with the story of Robert Liston.  Thousands of websites, podcasts, and even peer reviewed academic journals and publications have recounted the fantastic story of an operation performed by Robert Liston which resulted in the deaths of not only his patient, but also of his surgical assistant and a bystander.  The story goes that in his efforts to expedite as much as possible the proces...

Subutai Vs. The Khwarazmian Shah

Everyone makes mistakes. For most of us though, the consequences of our actions fall to ourselves and sometimes to those with whom we associate, but seldom extends beyond.  The residue of our missteps tend to erode away with time, until they are eventually forgotten.  Scars can remain, but over time, we tend to forget how we got them. Occasionally though a mistake can change the course of history and even distort the face of the earth.  When the Khwarazmian Shaw humiliated and killed a coup...

Subutai

  Late in the 12th century a young nomadic tribeswoman goes into labor under on the Mongolian Steppe.  Some claim that this woman’s child came into our world gripping in his fist a ball of coagulated blood, foreshadowing the millions of deaths that would soon follow.  Upon his birth, the child was given the name, Timujin.  If that name seems unfamiliar to you, it is probably because this child would eventually come to have a different name, a name rivaled maybe only by Jesus of Nazareth in ...

Do Not Pull a Gun on Mike: Our Favorite 911 Call and the Man Behind it

On this episode, we will talk with a man who has been held up at gunpoint on two different occasions.  Both times, he was able to disarm the would-be robbers after repeatedly punching them in the face.  During one of these incidents, Mike dialed 911 moments before striking his assailant with the phone he used to make the call.  On the recording, tones and beeps can be heard over and over as Mike slams the receiver into the face of the criminal.  Hear Mike recount the incident as we listen to...

Feet or: The One Where Kevin Gets His Toe Sucked

We'd like to give a huge thanks to our new friend Wild Yam for providing the art for this episode.  Check out more of Wild Yam's work on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/_wild.yam_/   https://whereistheline.net/ https://www.patreon.com/whereistheline https://www.facebook.com/whereisthelinepodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/whereisthelinepodcast/  

The 83 Day Death of Hisashi Ouchi Part2

The 2nd and final part of our 2 parter on what might be the most painful human death ever recorded. https://whereistheline.net/ https://www.patreon.com/whereistheline https://www.facebook.com/whereisthelinepodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/whereisthelinepodcast/

The 83 Day Death of Hisashi Ouchi Part 1

On September 30th, 1999 a 35 year old man named Hisashi Ouchi was working at the JCO Tokaimura Plant in Tokaimura, Japan.  On this day, he’d been asked to forgo his normal daily responsibilities and assist with a project being conducted at a nearby experimental nuclear reactor.  Shortly after work began a coworker screamed, “Run for your lives!”.  Ouchi darted from the room and found himself inside a changing area.  There, he began vomiting and soon lost consciousness.  Over the following mo...

The 83 Day Death of Hisashi Ouchi

On Spetember 30th, 1999 a 35 year old man named Hisashi Ouchi was working at the JCO Tokaimura Plant in Tokaimura, Japan.  On this day, he’d been asked to forgoe his normal daily responsibilities and assist with a project being conducted at nearby experimental nuclear reactor.  Shortly after work began a man was heard to scream, “Run for your lives!”.  Ouchi darted from the room and found himself inside a changing area.  There, he began vomiting and soon lost consciousness.  Over the followi...

The Black Vomit Part 3

The third and final part of our series on the Yellow Fever outbreak that devastated Philadelphia, PA in 1793. https://whereistheline.net/ https://www.patreon.com/whereistheline https://www.facebook.com/whereisthelinepodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/whereisthelinepodcast/  

The Black Vomit Part 2

Part 2 of Where is the Line's? possibly never ending series on the Yellow Fever outbreak that devastated Philadelphia, PA in 1793.    https://whereistheline.net/ https://www.patreon.com/whereistheline https://www.facebook.com/whereisthelinepodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/whereisthelinepodcast/    

The Black Vomit Part 1

In 1793 a disease ravaged Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. America's most preeminent doctor at the time also ravaged Philadelphia, Pennsylvania though his contribution to the death and suffering was largely accidental. There is a lot about this page in America's history that mirrors our time's own battle against a spreading plague. One might think that we'd have learned from the mistakes of our racist, bloated with wealth founding fathers. We have not. https://whereistheline.net/ https://www.pa...

The Black Vomit pt. 1

In 1793 a disease ravaged Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. America's most preeminent doctor at the time also ravaged Philadelphia, Pennsylvania though his contribution to the death and suffering was largely accidental. There is a lot about this page in America's history that mirrors our time's own battle against a spreading plague. One might think that we'd have learned from the mistakes of our racist, bloated with wealth founding fathers. We have not. https://whereistheline.net/ https://www.pa...

The End of the Line?

An Unexpected Trip: The Incident at Pont-Saint-Esprit

  In southern France, on the West Bank of the Rhone river, sits the picturesque village of Pont-Saint-Esprit. The village itself looks exactly like what you might expect; Stone buildings with colorful shutters covering their windows sit beneath the clock tower of 15th century church.  The village looks sleepy today, it probably is, and it probably has been throughout the majority of its history. In August 1951 though, over 250 residents of Pont-Saint-Esprit unexpectedly started tripping bal...

Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hippie - Folk Hero or Murderer?

In February 2013 a Youtube video went viral, and for a short time a young drifter named Caleb Lawrence McGillvary was a star. In an interview with a local news station, Caleb who prefers to be known as "Kai" described how he had "suh-mashed!" in the head with a hatchet a man from whom he had recently hitched a ride. The driver who stopped to pick up Kai was mentally unstable which would become apparent after he drove his car into a group of utility workers, and then wrapped a passerby in a b...

Molly - Sexual Domination and Male Chastity

Femdom, pegging, male chastity, public sex, dildos… Happy Valentines Day! On this episode, Kevin and guest co-host Ashley speak with a woman who knows exactly what she wants when it comes to fucking. Our guest, Molly, likes to keep her “boy” naked and subservient. Molly’s “boy” regularly serves a role not too dissimilar from that of a 1950’s housewife. Molly receives breakfast in bed on most mornings, and housecleaning is an exclusively male job in their household. Once’s Molly’s needs are m...

John Jones - Trapped in Nutty Putty

The demise of this episode's subject wasn’t one that played out with expedience.  In November 2009 a 26-year-old spelunker named John Jones was exploring the Nutty Putty Cave system in Utah, when he got stuck.  For 28 hours, rescuers attempted to free a still conscious John Jones, but they were unsuccessful in doing so.  Jones was wedged so tightly in the crevice in which he found himself that even after his death, rescuers were still unable to retrieve his remains.  In fact, John Jones is s...

Glenn Summerford - Jesus and Snakes in the American South

In Appalachia and in the American South there are some Christians who take literally passages of the bible that other adherents to the faith might consider to be metaphor. These followers of Christ's teachings put to the test the biblical notion that true believers can take up venomous snakes without suffering injury. On this episode of Where is the Line? we'll be talking about a snake handling preacher from Alabama named Glenn Summerford. Summerford found himself in the national spotlight i...

Sh*t Show! - Ask a Mortician

On this episode of Where is the Line? we'll speak with a very forthcoming mortician who will educate us on the details of what really happens to our bodies in the intervening time between our deaths and when we're buried or cremated. We'll also learn a few mortician jokes, and we'll hear about some of the most gruesome cases ever worked by "Ramone" the mortician. Additionally amid this episode, Kevin and Samantha will share their plans for their own post-mortem remains.

Xmas Special - Bruce Pardo

On Christmas day 2008, children all over the world were waking up early to see what Santa had left for them under their Christmas trees. The parents of these hideous, greedy, and totally dependent children most likely watched television as their spawn violently ripped wrapping paper to uncover new toys and electronic devices that they would undoubtedly break or lose within the week. Parents in California were met with news reports of a massacre that had taken place in the town of Covina, CA....

Sh*t Show: Things Nurses Don't Talk About

A nurse sits down with Kevin and Samantha to discuss some of the more disturbing things she's seen while working in the healthcare field. We'll hear about what it's like to watch a faceless man eat spaghetti, and about the frustrations of working with a patient who compulsively eats her own toes. We'll even get into what nurses are trained to do when faced with a spontaneous erection.

Jack Wayne Rogers aka Buggerbutt

In 2002 the FBI made 89 arrests as part of a child pornography investigation known as "Operation Candyman." Among the people who found themselves on the wrong end of this inquest was Jack Wayne Rogers. When his home and business were raided, authorities found much more than they had expected. In addition to thousands of explicit photographs of children, they found evidence that Rogers had removed and eaten the genitals of several men and trans women who believed Rogers to be a cost-effective...

Sh*t Show: The Bat Bomb!

In 1942, a dentist named Dr. Lytle Adams invented a weapon which he hoped would help end World War II. The idea was this: A bomb casing would be filled with hibernating bats. Each bat would wear a miniature suicide vest filled with Napalm. Any populace unfortunate enough to have this weapon unleashed upon them would face not only the nightmarish scenario of having thousands of bats flitting about their city, but they would also find their infrastructure engulfed in flames once these flying m...

Bodies Mistaken for Halloween Decorations

Every Halloween, someone will inevitably make the local news by going a little too far with their decorations. Police will often arrive at what some citizen believed to be the genuine scene of a horrible crime only to find that the dismembered bodies on display are dummies, and the blood covering them is ketchup. Occasionally though, an opposite scenario plays out. October is the one month of the year that people might walk past a mangled body lying on their neighbor's lawn and think nothing...

Sh*t Show: Mike and Lazarus - Headless Chickens

In our first ever Sh*t Show, we'll discuss two chickens who refused to die. Both Mike and Lazarus survived for an amazingly extended period after losing their heads. Mike's story even became so popular that the town of Fruita, Colorado continues to celebrate Mike's will to live with their annual Mike the Headless Chicken Festival. In addition to bringing you the stories of these two incredible foul, we'll also reach out to the organizer of the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival to learn more...

Anatoly Moskvin's Human Doll Collection

In 2011 Russian police raided the home of a highly intelligent and generally well-regarded historian and linguist named Anatoly Moskvin. They discovered almost 30 life sized dolls, many of which were clothed in frilly dresses and ornate head scarves. The idea of a 45-year-old man keeping a huge collection of life-sized dolls in his parents’ house, which is where Moskvin was living, is plenty creepy in its own right. These were not typical dolls though. They were actually the mummified and gu...

Pam Babcock - Fused to the Toilet

In 2006, Pam Babcock entered the bathroom in Kory McFarren's yellow and white single-wide trailer. Should would not leave for two years. When authorities were finally contacted, they found Pam Babcock sitting on McFarren's toilet. She had spent a full month atop the shitter, her legs had atrophied, and she had become fused to the seat.  Learn the disturbing particulars of how this happened on this episode of Where is the Line?  Also, Samantha finally shares with Kevin the name of the preggo ...

Sergio Canavero - The Face of Human Head Transplants

In this episode, we'll discuss the history of head transplantation and recent medical advancements that might soon make the procedure a reality.  Dr. Sergio Canavero is a very controversial figure within the scientific community.  He's a cartoonishly boisterous neurosurgeon with 22 years of experience.  Despite his extensive resume, many of his peers feel that his research is without merit, that human head transplantation is impossible, and that Canavero's ambitions have made him reckless.  ...

Issei Sagawa - Annoying Cannibal

In June 1981 a tiny annoying man finally gained the recognition he'd always wanted but that his hideous personality had prevented him from acquiring.  After murdering, mutilating, and eating a young college student in Paris, Issei Sagawa became a B-list celebrity. His parents' wealth and a bit of luck led to Issei Sagawa walking free only a few years after committing his crime. For decades after, Issei enjoyed the attention that was bestowed upon him by those who were curious about the canni...

Ryan Martin - Blood, Violence, and Prison Essays

We recently received some electronic fan mail.  This particular email's author related that he enjoys our theme song, he rates our podcast 5 stars, he hopes we continue making the show, and he was once cellmates with a man who cooked and ate his wife. That last nugget of information seemed worthy of a followup.  So, we got in touch the man who sent us that email and recorded our conversation with him.  Ryan Martin has 4 felonies and 13 misdemeanors.  He's done time with a couple of high prof...

Serial Killer Groupies and How I Catfished Richard Ramirez

Long enough ago to have certainly past the statute of limitations, I misrepresented myself to serial killers. Pretending to be a woman, I filled pink envelopes with letters hand-written with feminine looping script and mailed them off to some of the most heinous criminals alive in America at the time.  One of these criminals replied. The letter I received was from "The Night Stalker," Richard Ramirez. In this episode, we'll discuss my catfishing of The Night Stalker and answer the questionn...

Elmer McCurdy - The Corpse in the Funhouse

In 1976 a Television crew was preparing for an on-location shoot at a Long Beach California funhouse. During the preparation, a crew member accidentally knocked the arm off of what they had previously believed to be a papier-mâché mannequin. To their surprise, this mannequin's newly dismembered arm had a bone inside. Upon closer inspection it was learned that the mannequin was also anatomically correct, complete with a wisp of pubic hair.  In this episode, we'll cover Elmer McCurdy's bumblin...

Shannon Larratt - Extreme Body Modification

Shannon Larratt was the founder of a website that became notorious as being one of the most unsettling destinations on the web. Contributors to the site routinely posted photos of their own body modifications which often included such invasive procedures as voluntary and medically unnecessary amputations. Shannon himself was one of the first people to have his eyeball tattooed. This website was however much more than a shock site for it's regular contributors. To them, it was a community wit...

Xmas Special - Santa Gets Lynched

In 1927, just a few days before Christmas, Santa Claus held up a bank in Cisco, Texas. After several shootouts with police as well as with hundreds of Texas citizens with poor aim, the largest manhunt in Texas history took place. Within a week, Santa and his accomplices were tracked down. Before the legal system managed to dispense justice though, over 1000 Texans took matters into their own hands.

Michael Taylor - Worst Exorcism Ever pt2

In part 2 we discuss the gruesome killing that Michael Taylor committed shortly after his 7 hour exorcism.  We speak again with Phil who was, in 1974, dating the daughter of the couple that performed Michael's exorcism.  We'll cover Michael Taylor's trial, and we'll also find out whether or not we ourselves are susceptible to demonic influence by way of taking "The Demon Test."   

Michael Taylor - Worst Exorcism Ever Pt 1

Nine months after the release of the film The Exorcist an Ossett West Yorkshire man named Michael Taylor underwent a 7 hour exorcism.  The following morning Michael killed and mutilated his wife along with their family dog.  In part 1 of "The Worst Exorcism Ever," we discuss the release of the The Exorcist and the impact that the movie had on its mid-1970s audience.  We also speak with a new friend and genuine Englishman who was very close to some key players in this story and who shared wit...

Forthman Murff - Accidental Chainsaw Decapitation

A 74 year old Mississippi lumberjack had an especially gruesome accident in the Summer of 1984.  Forthman Murff was cutting down trees alone as he'd done for decades when one of these trees struck several others on its way down.  This led to a shower of heavy branches one of which landed on Murff and left him momentarily unconscious.  When he came to he found that his left leg was broken, and his left foot was crushed.  More troubling than that though was that he had landed on his chainsaw a...

Thick Smoke and Loud Music - Announcement Trailer

We're taking a short break from blood and depravity to work on something new.  We'll be back soon though with the first Where is the Line? road trip where we found the resting place of a man who once had a unique accident with his chainsaw. About Thick Smoke and Loud Music:   One of the scariest looking dive bars in Alabama closed its doors recently.  Join the regulars of Egan's as they recount their favorite poop stories, relive long nights of raunchy sex and eardrum busting music, and l...

Mr. Hands - Bestiality Fatality

In July 2005, a 45 year old man named Kenneth Pinyan aka “Mr. Hands” died from internal injuries that he obtained by receiving anal sex from an Arabian Stallion.  Shortly thereafter, a video supposedly depicting the incident circulated widely around the Internet becoming one of the most famous shock videos available online.  Pinyan’s death brought unwanted attention to a secretive but surprisingly large network of zoophiles in the U.S.  In this episode, we’ll cover the circumstances surround...

Katherine Knight - Skinned Her Lover

In 2001 a 45 year old woman named Katherine Mary Knight became the first female in Australia to ever be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.  On February 29th, 2000, Katherine murdered her lover, John Price, by stabbing him at least 37 times.  It was what she did with Price's corpse though that makes this story particularly gruesome.  Once he was dead, she expertly skinned his body in such a way that she created an almost complete one-piece pelt of his skin. She the...

Charla Nash - Chimp Attack

On February 16th, 2009, a Stamford Connecticut woman named Charla Nash had both of her hands and her face torn off by a friend's pet chimpanzee.  The chimp, Travis, was well known and generally liked in the community and had even appeared in several national TV commercials.  The injuries that Charla received were so horrific that counseling services would need to be provided to almost everyone, including medical professionals, who encountered her in the days following the attack.  In this ep...