S1 E04: Blown Wide Open

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Hey everybody, big news before we jump into the show. How I Died is now releasing a new episode every week. No more bi-weekly, that means brand new main content episodes every Wednesday. And it's because of the amazing reception from the community that we decided to switch it up. So if you could do me a favor, pause this episode right now.

Text the link to somebody who you think would enjoy this show. I'm talking friends, family, that random new pathologist who showed up in town. Pause this episode real quick. Take 10 seconds. Send it out to somebody. Tell them to listen. We really appreciate it. And as always, stick around afterwards for some commentary on the episode. Enjoy the show. Hey Will, hold on one second. For what it's worth.

I realized I could see Ghost as a kid, too. In kind of a pretty similar situation, actually, so... It's worth a shot. Thanks, Doc.

Hey, Crowley. Get your ass to the ER. We've got bodies incoming. Mass casualties. I'll be there in five. Will, did you hear that? Code orange. ER-7. Code orange. ER7. Will? All available physician staff. What in the world? Please report to the emergency room immediately. Ah, shit, I gotta go. Audio... Media presents How I Died Hold that elevator. Hurry up! Sorry. They need me in the ER. Yeah, they fucking need me too. Come on. Alert number two. Code orange. ER7. All available physician staff...

Please report to the emergency room immediately. Do you know what's going on? I got a call for over a dozen injured or dead coming in. Mid-lunch break, too. Jeez, must be something bad to need everybody up there. It kinda helps if the head of the ER is in the ER during something like this. Oh, I wasn't trying to imply anything, I just meant- What's your name, Doctor? Nevermind. Time to rock. Yeah, we're right behind you. John!

John, over here. Crowley. Fill me in. We've got an unknown bomber. Couple miles up the road. At least three dead on the scene. Twelve more with serious injuries on their way in. Okay. Any suspect yet? I just said unknown. Almost everyone from the lobby was hurt or killed from the blast. We've got a few tellers behind the glass who might have seen something, but... Yeah, just get me a body. I can tell you approximate distance to the blast based on the injuries. Good. Do it.

Right now, we aren't sure if there was a suicide bomber or a remote detonation. Call me with as much info as you can. I'll be fielding anyone who is alive enough to talk. Got it. Give me as many open beds as possible. I need any of the deceased carded out of your ASAP. That's me. I've got another couple bodies over here. What's going on? Where am I? What's happening? There was a disaster. You're both dead. I need you to keep it down. I'll explain in a minute.

What about us? All right. I'm just going to cart these bodies down to the pathology lab, right to the elevator. I'll be back in just a minute. So you can see us? Yeah, I can see you. I knew it. Obviously, I can't act like I can in front of everybody else. So, we're dead? Yeah. You're all dead, unfortunately. When your body dies, you become a ghost. This is just part of the process, I guess. I was on the ground. It took so long. Then I was here.

God! Does anybody remember anything? Anything you can tell me at all? I remember being hit. Everything was buzzing and my stomach hurt so bad. I'm sorry. It's a shitty situation, but we're trying to figure out what happened. Alright, here we are. I'm gonna put both of these bodies next to the table here.

Not to sound insensitive, but all of that needs to wait. I'm... I'm gonna have to take the sheet off of this body. I need whoever it is to let me know. Okay. Let's... That's me! I can't look at this! Please! It's okay. It's alright. You don't have to look. Just wait over there. In fact, none of you guys need to look. We're gonna get this figured out, I promise. What are you looking for?

I'm going to be examining your wounds to figure out the amount of force behind each one of the impacts and the directionality of the blast. That way I can figure an approximate distance for where the bomb was. Okay, here we go. Noticing some lacerations on the right front of the victim. Seems like a lot of these penetrated the skin quickly. Looks to be about an inch or two wide.

Let me see if I can find some shrapnel in here. There we go. Okay. I've got some pieces of what appear to be... I don't know. That's... This is scraps of metal and shards from... What is that? Okay, let's open you up. I'm seeing a punctured lung with some sort of metal fragment in there. It ripped a hole right through. That is not a clean cut by any means. I see it. It's... Oh my god. It's a quarter. Nails and quarters? No wonder the skin was so destroyed.

What the hell kind of bomb was this? Okay. From how deep some of these wounds are, I'd imagine you were closer to the blast. Do you remember anyone around you? Sir. Sir, I need you to pay attention. Do you remember anyone around you? No, I was looking at my phone. I remember you. I was behind you in the teller line. Whose body is this? Which one of you two?

I'm not either of them. I'm right here. Okay, so it looks like you were behind this guy in the line. Let's see. Okay, your injuries look like they were blocked a bit. If I had to guess, you were in front of him at about 11 o'clock, making the blast approximately one or two in that direction. Maybe ten feet away or so?

Do any of you remember anything out of the ordinary in that direction? What was the layout? Something that just didn't seem right? Anything? No. It was an open lobby. Nothing but people and lines. No objects? A poll or a package on a table. Anything. There was definitely someone in that direction. A couple of people, maybe. Dammit. So we're most likely looking for a person, then. And you.

Your body's not here. What's your name? Sean. Fine. There's supposed to be more victims coming in. You follow me, we'll head back up, okay? Let's go. Quickly. The Warning Woods has haunting horror stories that are sure to linger with you long after listening. I'm Miles Tridel, writer and narrator of The Warning Woods.

Each week, I write an original scary story and share it with you. If you're into scary stories, you need to check out The Warning Woods. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search. for the Warning Woods, and click play at your own risk. I don't have much time. I am being transported by the Ecclesiade vessel Markava to stand trial for heresy of the highest order.

But I will not renounce my work, and to my last breath I will speak the truth of this plague-ridden world, that ours is not a loving God, and we are not its favored children.

Now available throughout the known world. Do you remember anyone standing there? Where? In the area those three were standing. To the right of them, like I said. I'm sorry. I don't. You gotta remember. Were you in the lobby? Where did Crowley go? This guy's coding. Get me the defib now. Hello? Is that me? No. Please, you've got to save me. Seems like you're dying, friend. I can't be dying. Am I...

What a ghost? This is nuts! I can't believe this exists! I was right! You're kind of crazy, huh? Maybe you're the bomber. Clear! Shit! Please! Doctor, you can see me. Tell them they have to save me. I don't want to die. I've got a couple more bodies I need to take down. Crowley! Crowley! John, got another one for you. That's my body. That's my body. I figured. A woman just died. I'm dead? Oh, Jesus. Oh, no. Welcome, friend. You're dead like the rest of us. Have you found anything so far? Yeah.

I figured out that the blast was center to the lobby, up to the right towards the teller line. We got that from the scene. Anything else? It's looking like a local bomber instead of a remote detonation. You're sure? I'm not certain- Hey, I know you. You don't remember me. Yeah. I said hi to you at the bank. You didn't look at me. Oh, did you? John, anything else? I saw the explosion come from your direction. You were the bomber.

Weren't you? What? John! Gotta be kidding me. Did you find a body near the blast zone that I described? There were a lot of people, John. I need you to be more specific. A short guy. Black hair, green eyes. I'm guessing he was wearing some sort of gray hoodie. We didn't. Why? I think that's the bomber. He's dead.

A suicide bomber Sean something? And how in the world could you possibly know that? Ding, ding, ding, right-o, Dr. Spacer. You... You did this? Oh, God. It's not enough that I'm bleeding out. But now I've been greeted to the afterlife by the killer? I've been talking to the victims in the ER. A few of them remember a guy who looked like that and was in that general direction, but we don't have a body for the person matching that description. You did what?

I had just spoken to them in passing while I was walking down. It didn't... And I found unknown black hair follicles inside of one of the victims. Nice lie, Doc. Got any more? Do not ever question people again. You look at the bodies. I talked to the witnesses. You got it? Yeah, I got it. It won't happen again. But who cares how I got this information as long as we have it now? Damn it. We'll talk about this later. I'm glad I did it. You all deserved to die.

Get back to looking at the bodies and let me know if you find any actual evidence. I have actual evidence. Oh, God. Why does my chest hurt? It hurts. What? Where am I?

Where am I going? I've got a pulse. That's impossible. He's alive? You bet he's alive. No one else is dying on my watch. Oh, goody. He's coming back to life. Maybe he'll remember almost dying. He was just dead though. Technically, for a few minutes. Yeah, sorry, you don't get another one yet. Sir, you're in the ER. You've been in an accident. I know you. We spoke briefly before you had a cardiac episode. Not you. Him. He's talking to you, Doc. Me.

No, I need to get back to the lab. Running away? We were just starting to have some fun. I'm still here, Doc. Don't ignore me. What did you find out? He did it, didn't he? Samuel Powers. Carry Bishop. Ralph Lohan, and who knows how many more people upstairs are going to die because of you. So I want to know why. Why the fuck did you do it, Sean? Why? I don't give a shit about these dead assholes. I wanted them.

to suffer. I hope you rot in hell. You son of a bitch! My wife and kids are all alone now! Quiet. You can't do anything to him. He's a ghost like the rest of you. Yes! Bingo! People die all the time, they say, but they never think about it happening to them. If you're going to kill yourself, just fucking kill yourself. Don't take other people with you. They're just collateral damage.

It's all freak accidents or a fucking curse. Well, guess what? Not anymore. Now I'm the fucking curse. Yeah, well, guess what, Sean? Nobody needs to worry about you anymore. You're already dead. And in a place like this, nobody is going to give a shit about you in 24 hours. You're not even going to be an afterthought. You don't get it. No one did.

And that's why I did it. It's not about killing people. It's not even about killing myself. It's about instilling fear. They're going to be too busy worrying about all of these people, missing them. trying to move on with their lives, they're not going to think about you for a goddamn second. They're going to be sad, and you're going to be forgotten. I'm not the only threat to worry about here, Doc. You son of a bitch. You tell me.

Who else is involved right now? You should have taken your own advice. You can't hit me. Who? I worked alone. But I have on good authority. I'm not the only fucked up person in this town. You'll see when more people start to die. So piss off then. Go look at your goddamn handiwork upstairs. I have work to do.

Hey everybody, this is Vince Dijani, creator of the show and voice of Dr. John Spacer. I know I mentioned it in the beginning, but How I Died is now doing weekly releases, which is great news for us and hopefully great news for you guys too. If you haven't yet, please text someone the link to this show and tell them to listen. It means a lot to us and it really helps spread the word about our debut.

And I really hope you enjoyed this episode. Episode four was probably the hardest episode to put together. There were a lot of characters in this episode. There was a lot of action that had to be portrayed through only sound. And it was a huge turning point for John.

If you haven't picked up on exactly why this is such a big deal, re-listen to this episode, because it becomes a vital point for the show going forward. I can't wait for you guys to listen to episode 5, 6, and all the way through the end of the season.

The introduction of some of the plot twists in episode four are my absolute favorite. It really amps up the intensity and kind of propels the show forward through the main arc of season one. This is it, guys. It all starts here. We'll see you in the next episode. Now let's get into the credits. How I Died is an Audio Media Original Production, co-starring Vince Dijani as John Spacer and Shana Waring as Sheriff Fran Crowley.

This episode featured guest performances by Victoria Cericetti as Amelia, Andrew Cratchwell as Sean, and David Dixon as Curtis, with additional performances by Jeremy Robichaud, Derb LaClue, and Jeremy Fury. Audio editing and sound design was done by Vince Dijani with mastering by Alexander Mark. Sound effects and Foley provided by freesound.org are created in-house at Audio Media. The How I Died theme song was created by Mike Lynch at silentmikemusic.com.

and special thanks to all of our patreon supporters without you guys we wouldn't be able to continue making this awesome show and providing the additional content that we have so we really appreciate not only your listens but also your support Thank you to Amanda Friedlander, Amy Smith, Andrew Cratchwell, Austin Faust, Curtis Montalbano, Marcus Smith, Marsha Maggie, Michael Lynch, Nathan Boyce, Ray Snoke, Ro Thorne, and Teresa Waring.

Thank you again for listening, and until next episode, try not to die. Alright girls, this is the place. We'll get everything loaded over to the boat and we'll lock up the truck. Don't leave anything behind. Wait, is that it? That's where we're going? Yeah, that's it. Seal Skin Rock. Wow. Return to the mysteries in Don't Mind, Seal Skin Rock. Subscribe now to catch the premiere, and we'll see you on The Rock.

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