S1 E05: Devil in the Details

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No active cases today. Thank God. After the other day, I could really use some downtime. I can't stop thinking about that guy from the ER. Anyway. Maybe I can finally look over some past case files. Or get settled in and finally set my office up. Maybe I could have used the fire extinguisher to smash the glass. Oh, hello. Uh, who are you?

No, no, it was too thick. If we'd only left earlier and didn't work as late. Hello? You. Guy standing at my desk. What are you doing in here? Oh, uh, hey kid. Are you a ghost too?

Welcome. Me? No. You're a ghost? Yes. Yes, of course. You must not know yet. It's not that unusual that I get visitors in here. That's kind of why I took myself away. Let's... So I'm not interrupted. But anyway, short version is you're dead. You're a ghost now. And you died kind of recently. Maybe you don't remember. I'm a ghost too, obviously.

And there's other people haunting the hospital here. No, you don't understand. I know, I know. It's probably overwhelming, but you can just actually walk through that door or the walls if you like. There's a few others who might be a bit more helpful with this stuff than me. Right that way. Stop. Seriously. I'm not dead. I'm not even a ghost. Preposterous. No, it's true. I can just... Well, I can see ghosts, but...

I'm very much alive. Wait, are you sure about that? This isn't some kind of weird existential crisis or Schrodinger's cat kind of situation, is it? No, it's not. Yeah, I'm sure. Oh, he's really planning on going over some old case files alone today. You and me both. Yeah, well, you're the one in my office. Oh, so you're the new pathologist, huh? Kind of young.

You only look a few years older than me. Well, yes, obviously, but I've been dead for over 30 years. Jeez. And you're still here? I've been poring over a case of my own. I mean, sort of. I can't... necessarily interact with the physical plane so I haven't looked at the actual file but I've thought about it enough and I remember every detail in my head let me guess you want me to help you or pass on some sort of message to a loved one

Oh, actually, can I lie on your case file so that you can feel better about how you died? How about that? What are you on about? I don't want anything from you. You're the one who came in here, remember? Oh, well, that's perfect then. How about we just agree to let each other work in peace and we can share the office for today? That sounds like a plan, man. I can see the generation gap coming out. What did you say, guy? Oh, nothing.

Say, do you mind if I take the desk? Since, you know, you'd phase right through it. Nope. By all means, be my guest. My file's in a cabinet here somewhere, I don't know. But I always feel better when I'm near it. Just... you know, helps me think more clearly. Do your thing.

Let's see. Case number 0477. Wendy Mullen. The report notes that she had water in her lungs, but it doesn't appear to have been water from any known source around here. Now, where was I? The victim was 34 years old. First responders noted that her skin was slightly yellow, obviously jaundiced. There's no medical examiner's signature on this chart. I'm not even sure who examined her or declared cause of death. When was that case from, exactly? What? Uh, 2013. May. Oh.

Yes, of course. We didn't have an examiner from, I don't know, 2012 till about 2015. Three years? That's insane. Oh, man. I miss it. I was living the good life then. I had the office all to myself. Funny. Without an examiner, I wonder if they even tested how much of the fluid was actual water. Hmm. She's got a lot of hospital visits on her record.

Mostly for trouble swallowing. They called 911 earlier in the year when she woke up and felt like she was drowning. What in the hell? Multiple organ failure. She was bedridden. Maybe she drowned while drinking a glass of water. Did you say something? No, no, I was talking about my files. What, I can't think too? Wait, that's it? All of those signs?

This is obvious. This is clearly some sort of pulmonary edema. No one even seemed to check for it. But if the fluid was classified as water, that means someone forced her to drink. Even after she was having some sort of buildup. Wait, seriously? Yeah. Although this is highly unusual. If she had a fatal organ problem, she may have died anyway.

But the fact that whoever was taking care of her forced her to drink instead of taking her to the hospital. So what you're saying is that she was murdered. It's more like manslaughter or neglect, but definitely not natural causes. Or even a mystery, really. Why did they mark it as unsolved? Wow, kid. Do another. What? What do you mean? Another case, obviously. I want to help you.

I don't even know who you are. You can't look at patient files. Okay. My name is Ray Melba. I'm an amateur inventor. Nice to meet you. Well, I mean, I was before the whole... You still can't- Oh, come on. I've been here for 30 years. I've heard my share of confidential information. And besides, who am I going to tell? Fine. But no backseat diagnosing.

I heard that whole drown while drinking thing. Yeah, and you're welcome. It turns out I was right, right? Your awful idea just helped me put the details together. See? Doctoring isn't really that hard. You can admit that I was helpful. Let's do another case. Come on. Come on. I will be looking at another case. Whatever you do, well, I can't really stop you seeing as you're ethereal now, can I?

there you go guy that's the spirit let's see man's stomach lining ruptured any blood internally boring you can't just say boring to a person's death oh buddy You've got a lot to learn about this town. So I've noticed. Was this place always this weird? No, I don't think so. It was cool in the 80s. The place was really thriving. It was happening. We could have been the next big city. Well, what happened?

Well, the accident. Oh, the accident. How mysterious. Thanks. Okay, fine. I worked for a big corporation called Springfield Corp. Maybe you've heard of it. Clever. Okay. I say worked, but that's kind of a loose term that I'm using. I was a contractor on a small project. Is this pertinent? Yes. Relax. I was getting to it, okay? Anyway, there was an explosion.

And power went out to the entire county for a couple of days, actually. Man, I don't really know. There were a bunch of environmentalists protesting the big corporation that used to fund the town. Anyway, I died. And then it seems like things got progressively weirder and weirder after that. I must have been the catalyst. Oh, is that so? Listen, you should have seen some of the cases down here. I've seen some really crazy stuff, but that's...

why I started hiding out. I have a 2014 file. Young boy died mysteriously in his bed. Four-year-old Josh Crowley? Oh. Oh, yeah. Oh, God. Yeah, the Crowley kid. That was super sad. As in Sheriff Fran Crowley. Yeah, yeah. You must work with her a bunch. Let's figure out how her son died. What the hell? No, we can't. I can't. Sure you can. He's long gone. You saw him? Yeah, yeah, of course. I've been down here long enough. Again, 30 years.

You sort of get tired of explaining it to everybody who dies, so I kind of hid in the office for a bit. But, I mean, yeah, I talked to him back then. It's a real shame. Did he happen to say anything about what happened? Probing for information, huh? I thought somebody didn't want to know. I don't. Let's just look at another file. Ready to launch your business?

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My name is Troy LaValle and I'm the host of the Glass Cannon Podcast. This is a podcast where my friends and I sit around and play role-playing games and record it. Through improvisation, using comedy and drama, we take the rules of whatever game we're playing and we turn it into a podcast.

It truly is infectious fun. We travel the whole country playing rock clubs, turning games like this into a spectator sport. So please, check it out, the Glass Cannon Podcast, if you want some joy in your life.

Give it a listen. Interesting. This is from 2014 as well. Case number 1017. Jake Drazer. 25 years old. Jesus Christ. Look at this photo. Cool. Wow. His entire body is purple. And bloated. His skin is incredibly stretched out. That's disgusting, Doc. There are a ton of photos on this case. What did they determine cause of death to be?

Internal hemorrhage? That would be a lot of internal bleeding. Drazer originally presented with minor internal bleeding, causing ecchymosis on the arm. Alright, Doc, slow down for a second. I know a lot of big words, but that is not one of them. It means bruising caused by blood under the skin. The patient was sent home with a blood clotting agent only to be found in his car a few miles away.

Um, car accident maybe? No, look here. The car's fine. It's just parked on the side of the road. And this photo, you can see where they laid him on the medical table. Huh. What am I looking at here? It's a close-up picture of his torso, I believe. Wait, what? It just looks like a big, fat thing to me. Wow. Look at that. See, when someone dies, their blood can pool in their extremities, causing a purple hue called liver mortis or lividity. Yeah, right. It's blood. You said that. No, well, yeah.

It is blood, but usually we only get a small amount of blood pulling when someone's stuck in a position for a long time. Like if a person dies in bed, you can see bruising on their back. Right. Like a bedsore. Yeah, sort of. Anyway, this victim's body is almost completely purple. Okay. So that means blood was under every area of his skin, even though he was sitting up when he died. Gravity should have pulled all the blood into his legs or his feet.

Huh. Why is that significant? Because it means that there was so much blood under his skin that it filled up his entire body. Nothing stayed inside his veins. Gross. Cool. Okay. Okay. So what does that mean? I have no idea. Man. So all that and no conclusion. Wait, where are you going? I need to examine the body. Okay, well, I'm coming with you.

This is one of the strangest cases I've ever heard of. Even though this case file is old from a couple of years ago, these are some top-of-the-line cold drawers. I know for a fact that we've kept older cases on file if the body wasn't claimed, so... Let's see. Case number 1017 is drawer 23. Here. What the? What happened? His body isn't here. Whose body? Oh, shit, you scared me. Aren't you jumpy? Ah, an uninvited guest. At least she's attractive, huh, Doc? How long have you been here?

Pleasure to finally meet you, too. I'm Dr. Amelia Gatz. Please don't sneak up on me. Yeah, calm it down. I was going to apologize for being a little blunt with you in the ER the other day. But maybe it's not worth my time. Sorry, I didn't mean... I'm just kind of distracted by this case right now. And you were talking to me. Something interesting? It's just an unsolved one from a few years ago. A guy named Jake Drazer.

Oh, um, why did you pick that case? Because I asked him to. It just stuck out to me. The guy presented with subdermal bleeding, and a few hours later he's found with all of his blood outside of his veins. That's crazy. Yeah, I actually remember that one. You do? Yeah, I treated him during the first visit. He came in talking crazy. Seems like he was doing some drugs or something. Talking crazy? No one noted any drugs in his system.

There's a reason we suck with your pathologist so quickly. This place can be intense. What can I say? You're not kidding. This is even more deaths than Baltimore. From what I heard, you're doing a pretty damn good job. Man, now I remember why I hate being around living people. Shut up. Do you know what's going on around here? People keep saying Springfield is weird and I'm starting to believe it, but why?

Oh, uh, it's a long story and I don't really have time right now. Maybe we could talk sometime and I could fill you in. Oh no, it's okay. No worries. I won't keep you.

Doc, I thought she was flirting with you, you dumbass. Anyways, you have another guest who'd like to speak with you, if you have a minute. Wait, she can see me? You can see him? What? No, he's outside in the hall. He asked to see you. Bummer. Oh, yeah. Who is it? I'll go get him. He's been in my hair for days, bugging me with tons of questions. Yeah. I get it. I saved you. I'm awesome. Get over your hero complex, right? He's your problem now. Go on it. Don't touch anything.

Dr. Spacer, remember me? it's a promo for a podcast great exactly what you want to hear when you're settling down to listen to the podcast you actually want to listen to well give me just a few seconds and then you can go listen to whatever it is you're listening to your true crime podcast hosted by former child actors or reality star whatever it is my name is Troy LaValle and I'm the host of the glass cannon podcast

This is a podcast where my friends and I sit around and play role playing games and record it through improvisation using comedy and drama. We take the rules of whatever game we're playing. and we turn it into appointment television. That's the best way I can explain it. It truly is infectious fun. We travel the whole country playing rock clubs, turning games like this into a spectator sport. So please, check it out, the Glass Cannon Podcast.

If you want some joy in your life, give it a listen. All right, 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. Return to the mysteries in Don't Mind, Sealskin Rock. Subscribe now to catch the premiere, and we'll see you on The Rock.