Leviathan Presents | How I Died by Vince Dajani

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It's a segment where we highlight one audio fiction creator, have a conversation and then play a full episode of their show right here in our feed. I hope you'll enjoy today's guest and without further ado, let's get into the interview. This is Leviathan Presents. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Leviathan Presents. Today we've got a terrific show that we're so excited to share with you. We are talking today to Vince Dejani of How I Died, which is an award-winning fiction podcast about one coroner's journey into a town and discovering the lives of many of its inhabitants, many of whom are not alive. Vince is an award-winning screenwriter, producer and author specializing in elements of comedy, horror and drama. In 2009, Vince created How I Died where he also stars as the protagonist, Jonathan Spacer. This series has garnered a lot of accolades and attention and has actually led to it being optioned for adaptation into a television series, which is always a high mark of a fiction podcast. And beyond podcasting, Vince has also sold his screenplay, The Snow Thorn, which is slated for movie production and has a diverse portfolio and passion for storytelling and we're so excited to have him here. Vince, thank you for being on Leviathan Presents. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited. I gotta say, before even making my own audio drama, I was a huge fan of Leviathan Chronicles, so it's very exciting to meet you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. I've got to tell you, it has been such a pleasure getting into the world of How I Died. There are so many things that I like about it and am excited to talk about, but our listeners are going to be listening to Chapter 1, Season 1. Give us a synopsis of How I Died and what should listeners expect when they listen to the episode. Sure. So the show follows Dr. Jonathan Spacer, who is a forensic pathologist, which is just like you said, a fancy name for Coroner. As he travels to this weird little town of Springfield, has a huge mortality rate, most of which are either unsolved or strange deaths. And so John's gift that he brings to the town is that he can speak to the dead, but nobody else is aware of it. He tries to keep it to himself, so it's this weird little balance of him solving crimes and knowing information that he shouldn't know from the ghosts. As he tries to present that to the sheriff and a bunch of other people who grow kind of suspicious over the course of the series as to how he's getting this information. It's such a cool premise because you draw on elements of like the sixth sense of Twin Peaks, of Colombo. It's both detective story and horror story and also it's a personal story. It's really great how you're able to meld all those different genres together. It's really fun to also learn the details. The story is very realistic. How did you do all this gory research into being a Coroner because you're quite specific in a lot of the medical descriptions? Was that something you knew personally or was that something that you researched? It was a little bit of both. I'm a huge, huge fan of like medical dramas and hospital shows. And so like I've seen every single one that's out and just like gathered a mass of useless knowledge for a long time. But I also have a close friend of mine who is a forensic tech down in Baltimore City. And so he allowed me to sort of pick his brain and come for a little visit into his world, which is pretty cool. So it gave me a lot of insight into some information, but really such a huge fan of shows like Bones and House and things like that. And so I used all of those kind of basis for jumping off. Now, one of the things I think you do really, really effectively in your story, and it's something that everybody in audio drama has to contend with is the narrator issue. And it feels like you hit such a sweet spot by having a medical examiner or Coroner reading their notes into the taper quarter, which allows the protagonist to essentially set the scene and in some ways function the narrator. Was that something that took a lot of design to just hit that out of the gates? Because I think you did such a brilliant job of solving the exposition problem that a lot of fiction podcasting has. Right. Yeah, I definitely ran into that problem before as well. And so when I was sort of brainstorming the creation of the show, I knew that in order to show quote unquote, the action of some of these things, we had to have a reason that he would be describing, you know, the medical intricacies and taking out of the organs and things like that without it just feeling sort of like a narrator or he was talking to himself. Both of which things can definitely work. I think in audio drama, but for me specifically, I wanted to have the majority of the story feel like you as the listener were just there observing. So when it came to the procedures, I knew that was something I couldn't just do with sound design and one voice actors. So having him, you know, sort of dictate to this little microphone and it's intermittent throughout the series, which is interesting too. I didn't rely on it for every episode. I think there's a couple of instances where he says he forgot his recorder and so there might be a little bit of lack of information in those episodes, which play with the audience too, I think a little bit. I think it's so seamless the way that you do it and you're able to really paint a picture so effectively with him dictating and then you also get to kind of know him more as a character. Now, when you were coming up with the idea of how I died, what was the inspiration that you drew? Was it your first idea for a fiction podcast to do this? What was the process for figuring out how I died was going to look like and sound like? So originally, I approached how I died as sort of like a trial project because I had this audio drama that I really, really wanted to make, but I didn't know much about sound design. I had a background in like creative writing and useless degree in marketing. So, you know, a lot of the stuff that I came in with was just too grandiose for wanting to start the very first project, right? I decided to come up with this basic premise that I thought would work pretty well in audio as we talked about sort of that dictation aspect to it being how I died and did that as a first project. And originally, the character of John Spacer was going to be a mortician. And so he wasn't a pathologist, but he worked dressing people up for funerals. So sort of a similar premise, but not really leaning into that medical mystery side of things. And so we actually put together the very first episode of it. I wasn't John in the first pilot. It was a completely different voice actor, very different premise. He was much older in that original pilot. And so when we put it together, I was like, something is just sort of missing from this. Like, it's interesting to listen to, but it's not engaging. It's not captivating enough to carry a couple of seasons or at least a full season arc at that point when I had imagined it. And so I sort of went back to the drawing board, rewrote everything from scratch and said, you know, my favorite genres are the mysteries and the house MDs and bones and things like that. So let's lean into that and try to come up with something. And I wrote the pilot episode, which has one of my favorite mysteries throughout the whole series. I was just like very excited about coming up with that little mystery. Once I rewrote that, then we recorded it. I listened to it and I was like, okay, I think we actually have something here. And so we went through and rewrote the rest of the first season. The first season ended on a little bit of a cliffhanger and then I didn't expect anything to come from it. I just expected to do this first season and, you know, that was a great trial. We did it. Now we can make something that, you know, requires a little bit more technical prowess. But we were lucky enough to sort of find an audience and find people who really enjoyed the story. And I originally said, like, when I outlined it, you know, I could do this for three seasons or four seasons. And so right now we are in production of season four, which is just crazy. Now you touched on something that I think was really neat. The format of how I died is in most of the episodes, you're dealing with one body, one death, and trying to understand the circumstances behind that death. And so to that extent, your show is a procedural, it's, you know, it's self-containing each episode. But yet there is a larger narrative that is unfolding. Can you speak a little bit about that balance of trying to like give the audience that conclusion? But also as a creator, there's a bigger story that I think you're looking to tell. Yeah, I think I really leaned into, for anyone who's watched the TV show Bones, they always have sort of this antagonist arc that goes over the course of the season, right? And so there's just always this one character who causes problems for the main cast and maybe recurring in a few episodes throughout the season. And then by the end of the season, either something wraps up or they go into another trajectory. And so I sort of wanted to lean into that and just had a really interesting character that I thought would be fun to counterbalance with John in that first season. And without going heavily into spoilers, it is a person who dies, but then speaks to John, but then is resuscitated and comes back to life with the memory of something funny happened when he died. And so that sort of carries us through the first season. Oh, I looked at this second season of potential fun murders and thought about what I could do with the characters that had been built in that first season. And that's really what sort of took me into progressing this overarching narrative. I had a weird town, a bunch of interesting characters, and then I sort of was just like, let's see where this can go, which is really fun because I'm definitely like a plotter, rather than a panster when it comes to, you know, putting a story together. And so having these elements that I didn't know necessarily where it was going was a lot of fun. Now, you mentioned the this kind of spooky town. One of the things I loved about the show was the name of the town, right? You know, Springfield is the every name. So it could be anywhere. It could be in any state. That's the, you know, the Simpson's great joke. Given that you purposely gave the town this kind of anonymity, when you think of the town as the creator, what do you imagine is the soul of the town? Like, how would you describe that to the listeners? Wow. I don't know if I've ever really delved that deep into what I would imagine it looks like, specifically because it's, you know, like an audio medium, really. And so I can tell you about the town in the sense that it was a former cotton processing and mining town. They had someone move in in the early like sixties or so who bought up a bunch of the land and never did anything with it. And then once this corporation called Springfield Corp decided to come in and sort of conduct these experiments, which you find out throughout the course of the show, that's really where, you know, people started leaving the town. It sort of became like a very low population and, you know, a lot of businesses closed down. So it's really like, for lack of a better term, a ghost town with just, you know, a bunch of people that are living there and sort of trying to go about their daily lives in the place where, for some reason, unbeknownst to them, people keep dying. With unsolved mysteries, unsolved death. You've got a terrific cast in the show and it's not a giant cast, but it's a very effective cast in each episode. How do you go about your casting process to get such great performances? I think we really lucked out with a lot of the cast that we were able to get for the first season. Sheena Waring, who plays Sheriff Crowley, she was not a voice actor. She just saw a posting that we had put out there, I think on social media or something like that, or maybe a friend of a friend recommended it to her and she came to us and just had this voice that was perfect for the character. And like I said, she had never acted before. So we bought her a microphone and sent it over to her and we're just like, let's play around in this space. And since I was going to be the main character, she was going to be the sort of co-star of the season. We were able to just get on, you know, a Zoom call and sort of find these characters and play with that space. And so like I said, I think we really lucked out with finding her. And then some of the other casting was just like, you know, online searches of people or recommendations of someone who wanted to get into voice acting. We've leaned very heavily into the sort of like amateur aspiring voice actor search. So a lot of... There's so much great talent out there. There really is. There really is. So a lot of our cast are not professional and we've bought and sent out multiple microphones to people. It's been a lot of fun to sort of get that feedback from actors that are like, it was so cool listening to the episode that I was in, you know, as the first thing that they were in. And since we started in 2019, it being, you know, six years ago now, we've had a lot of the cast go on to do some other incredible things. One of the voice actors that plays officer Eric Mendes as one of the police officers in the show becomes a recurring character, but he just blew up and we caught him like right on the beginning of his uprising. And it's been amazing to see because he's in a ton of video games and anime and all that kind of stuff now. And I can still go back to him and be like, hey, we need a couple of lines, you know, for your character in this little audio drama that we're putting together. And, you know, it's just been really cool. Oh, that's awesome. I love when you get to work with like new voice talent that, you know, like they've got an instrument that they need. And they finally get the chance to do it. One of the things I was thinking about as I was listening to it is, you know, the 800 pound gorilla in podcasting is true crime. And shows like serial have brought so many non podcasting listeners into our universe. You know, your show deals with so many of the same kind of mystery elements of true crime. Was that a conscious decision on your part to kind of align yourself with a genre that's so compelling that has such a deep audience? Was that part of your idea for how you wanted to crop the show? Yeah, I think in order to find the audience that we were able to find, I tried to lean into the aspect of like the cases being very realistic, at least to, you know, a majority of them. Some of them during that first season were based on real crimes. There's been a slew of them that are like tangential to things that have happened, but I didn't pull directly from any specific cases. They were just like weird things that we've heard or, you know, stuff like that. I'm a big fan of true crime myself. And so again, just sort of pulling all the information that I could find from everywhere. One of the other things I was wondering as I'm listening to it is, do you ever run out of ideas for how to kill somebody? You've got so many deaths. I'm like, yeah, I'm thinking about like, God, if a guy drank 800 gallons of milk, would he die? Like, how do you come up with these ideas? Yeah, I have two funny stories that are both pretty quick. The first, when we launched in 2019, we were lucky enough to go to POD Tales, which I think was like a one time event in Boston for a bunch of audio dramas. And it was great to meet a bunch of fellow audio drama creators there. There were also a ton of fans. And so during that first season, like I said, we found a little bit of an audience. And so when we had a booth there, I printed out a bunch of autopsy reports. And so I had a little box and a bunch of pens and I said, like, write down how you would kill somebody. And, you know, we'll do a drawing after this and then we'll credit you as like one of the fun ways that we kill people off in the show. And so we had a couple of great ideas. Yeah, they were cool. We carried some into the show into the season two and three. And so it's been a lot of fun. And the other thing that I sort of pulled from for some of these ideas was particularly one that appears during season three was something stupid that I had done to myself that almost got me killed, not in a sense of like anything really bad happened to me. But like, it was one of those things I looked back and I was like, wow, this was a really unsafe bad decision. Why did I do this? And so because of that, I sort of wrote it in and it's the episode called Murder in season three. And if for anyone listening, you know, you could listen to that episode as a standalone because it's very self contained. And it just gives you, I think, a fun taste of the show. Now, how I died is on its third season. How has your process evolved in terms of being an audio drama creator? Many of our listeners understand that, you know, audio drama is a labor of love. It involves writing technical skills, marketing skills, working with actors. What have you noticed about yourself and your process in terms of how you started initially and how you're approaching episodes now? So when I first started, like I said, I knew absolutely nothing about audio production as a whole. And so it was all YouTube videos and books and as much as I could absorb from everywhere else to try to put something together. And the first full season was sound designed and laid out and mastered completely by me. And so it was just me doing everything on there. And I was like, not super happy with how it turned out, you know, because like, I think there's this taste talent gap where you can recognize that something is great, but you can't make the thing that you're making get there. And so after that first season, it was okay. I was proud of it. I enjoyed it. But then we put it out there and a bunch of people, like I said, were like, oh, this is such a fun listen. I would love to be a part of the show. And we got really lucky with finding a few very talented people who were in different careers. One of them was a pharmacy tech making, you know, like $14 an hour at his job. And he had this unbelievable talent for mastering and mixing audio because he had done it as a fun side project, but never made any money off of it. And so I was like, if you can mix master our episodes, I will be able to pay you for this and you can do this as a job. You know, I'll try to find you a bunch of freelance stuff and we sort of went from there. So he mixed and mastered all of season one again for me and has done season two and three and will do season four. And on the side, I've been able to take the money that we generate from ads and Patreon and pay him so that he can do this as more of a full time career now, which is just crazy because he is one of the most talented people that I've ever met. And he was just sitting there in this part time job being miserable. And I've been lucky enough to transition and learn so much about this industry that I am now a full time podcast producer. And so it's just it's awesome. I hope that answered the question. No, it did. It's great to make that leap. What is the part of creating how I died that you like the least? What's the most tedious part that challenges you? Hmm, I don't like picking out the best takes from everyone, especially myself. I hate listening to myself, but because I'm writing the episodes and then rewriting the episodes and then know everything that happens in them. And then I'm sitting in recordings with people on zoom or in person and then I've got to go in the layout and like chop it up. And I know that like, oh, their second take, they said this and the third take, they said that I'm just like, it's mind numbing for me. I'm just so in it. So like I said, we've been able to find some amazing people and we've hired a producer that is doing the line layout. Someone else is doing the sound design now. So it's been a great experience being able to grow and sort of be like, oh, you enjoy that thing. I don't enjoy that thing. Let's see if we can, you know, make this a job for you. Well, the fact that you're able to bring on, you know, another production partner to do the mixing and be able to pay them is partially because how I died has been so successful engaging with the audiences. And one of the places that they do that best is on your Patreon page, which has been very successful and has a lot of great content for fans of the show. Can you tell us where can people find your Patreon page and what can they look forward to seeing on it? Sure. Yeah. So it's just patreon.com slash how I died. We started off by doing little printed out autopsy reports, like I said, some behind the scenes like crime scene photos that I did in Photoshop and things that were a little fun like that. And then at the end of season one, I put out a poll asking, I think like all 15 or 20 of our followers on there, what they would like to see and a mini series spin off about the sheriff. Was the one that won. And so I put together a single episode spin off for this character who had quickly become like a fan favorite of mine for writing for her. And then when I put together the first episode, I was like, I think there might be some more to explore with this story. So then we did two more and it turned into a three episode mini arc for this character. Now there are 10 episodes following Sheriff Crowley that sort of coincide and run along in tandem with the seasons of how I died for second and third, following the whole story, but from her perspective. And honestly, it has been one of my favorite things that I have ever written because we get inside this character's head and it's a very different format than how I died. But it's super fun. It explores a lot more of the story and I got to be a lot more personal with the character. And so that is one of the most popular things that's on Patreon. You know, you can listen to the first episode of the Crowley mini series for free, I think on our feed. And so I highly recommend people check it out. It's super fun. There's also obviously bonus episodes. We've got one bonus episode per normal episodes. So there's 13 for every season. And then we've got add free stuff on there too and some cool merch if anybody wanted to check it out. That's awesome. That sounds like a great page. And I think I think fans after listening to a few episodes of how I died definitely should check it out because there's a lot there. And I love when you're doing storytelling in different mediums like with the autopsy reports and bonus episodes from other characters and kind of using all these different bits of the narrative to shape a larger tapestry. That's that's so fun. I'm really excited for everybody to listen to episode one of how I died. Before we sign off, is there anything else that you want our listeners to know about the episode and what they have to look forward to in future seasons as they hear this episode? Sure. So the first episode, like I said, was rewritten multiple, multiple times to create this little murder mystery that I hope everybody will enjoy. The season arcs sort of follow John as he uncovers the reason that people have been dying a lot in Springfield. There's a lot of good characters to come, a lot of crazy murders. And as we get into season four, we're just super excited to sort of wrap up this whole story and it's been a wild ride with our fans. And I hope everybody listening enjoys and checks it out. No, that's great. Vince, thank you so much for being on Leviathan Presents. We're very excited to hear the first episode of how I died. And I hope you're going to come back when you have future seasons. Season four of how I died. You'll come back and tell us more about it. I would love to. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks everybody for listening. And now season one, episode one of how I died. Please enjoy. Audio media presents how I died. Stop talking. Stop talking. Leave me alone. Hello. Huh? It's too early for this shit. Oh, hi. Sorry, what did you say? I asked if you were the new doctor here. Yeah, I am. I'm John Spacer. Are you Sheriff Crowley? No. It's just I've been waiting here for almost an hour. On the phone they said get here ASAP. So I figured next time we'll tell the victim to die faster so you don't have to wait as long. I didn't mean it like that. I meant that. Sorry. I'm just here to let you into the pathology lab. Go ahead and share for we bring in the body soon. The hospital cafeteria is open 24-7 in case you need a cup of coffee or anything. Oh, do you know if they have tea? I don't drink coffee. I don't know. I drink coffee. Ah. Off to a great start on your first day. Shoo. This is a pretty big lab for a small town. That's two whole walls of cold drawers. What is that? A sink over there. A sink over there. That's two whole walls of cold drawers. What is that? A sink over there. Two nicely cleaned exam tables right in the center here. Shoo. Shoo. Shit. You might be out of your element here, John. You can do this. You can do this. Fresh start. Dr. Spacer. Oh. Yeah. I'm here. Hey there, Doc. I've got a present for you. Who's the victim? Nice to meet you too. I'm Fran Crowley. Oh, you're the sheriff. Oh. Aren't you a little young to be a coroner? I was not trying to... I'm a forensic pathologist, actually. It's lower on the totem pole. Look, it's late. I'm sure you're tired. I know I am. So let's say we just disregard the sexism for a minute and move on. I'd rather enjoy the short time we have together. Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean? Don't worry. I didn't mean you'll end up like her here. I just mean you'll cycle out eventually. Nobody sicks around long in this job. You said her? The victim is a woman. Do you have a case file? Bare minimum. We just found her. This is essentially blank. Female age 31. There isn't even a name written down. Do we have a wallet or personal effects? Got our purse, but we don't need it. That is Maggie Lane. Did you know her? Because we're both women. What? No, because it's such a small town. Relax, Doc. I'm just messing with you. Ah, you got me. Not used to people joking about murder. Well, after how tense tonight's been, I needed a laugh. What happened to her exactly? Don't know. We've got a missing husband and child. Someone called this in from their house phone. But by the time we arrived, all we found was Maggie. How strange. My deputies are looking for the husband now. My bet is he poisoned her, took the kid and fled. But that's what you're here to confirm, Mr. Coroner. Oh, forensic pathologists, remember? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just confirm for me when I already know. Um, do you hear that? Hear what? Nothing. Just something in the pipes, I guess. Hello? I must be anxious just to get to work. Whatever, Doc. Don't go loopy on us already. Took us long enough to replace the last one. I've really got to scrub up. I'm leaving. I'm leaving. I'll see what you can do. Yeah, let's see what I can do. Hello. All right, let me get my mic set up for dictation. Here we go. What is happening? Don't destroy. Where am I? It's Wednesday morning, 424 AM. Dr. Jonathan Spacer conducting post-mortem analysis. Case number 1328. 31-year-old female, 117 pounds, 5 foot, 3 inches tall. Hey, you. I have a name, you know. Pronounced dead at the scene approximately 3 AM after a 911 call. Calls of death currently unknown. First responders noted no signs of pulsar breathing, but they did note some marks on the neck. Is this... Is this heaven? I'll be examining the body for other notable external markings before beginning surgery. Am I... Am I dead? Yes. You're a ghost. Welcome to the afterlife. Wow. If I would have known, I never... Wait. You're alive. But you can hear me. How? Is that important right now? I... I guess not. So... This is what it's like to die. This... Is not the escape I was promised. Technically, this is what happens after you die. Well, who are you? Where is everyone else? I'm a doctor. My name's John. It's just us in the lab, and it's my job to determine how and why you were killed so that we can put whoever did this behind bars. It's a little late for that. It doesn't really matter who killed us now, does it? Have you done this before? You don't seem freaked out to see me. I... this is a pretty standard post-mortem exam. I've done dozens of these on cadavers, but... But... what? But... the mother... you've never done it on a real case? Holy shit. Calm down. You're not the first ghost I've seen if that's what you're wondering. And I've done autopsies with ghosts around before, just... There's always been someone else with me, so I've never been able to talk to them about the case. I'm kind of figuring out what I need to say to you as we go. You don't need to say anything to me. Just write down that my husband, Mark Lane, poisoned me and Danny. That's unfortunate, but I need some hard evidence. We're dead. There's your evidence. We? Is Danny your daughter? Dammit, you don't know anything. Sheriff Fran should have just done this without you. No, victim does not appear to have any physical markings on her body other than her neck. I'm going to check for signs of sexual assault. You're... you're going to what? Just get someone else in here to do this, kid. Look! You're dead. I'm sorry about that, and I'm sure it is a lot to take in right now. But you need to either get over it quickly or figure out how to deal with it yourself so that I can focus on this case. You're an insensitive ass, you know that? I'm trying to help you, but I can't answer your questions while trying to examine your body. So I suggest you let me do my job before your husband gets away with murder. Gets away with murder? For the record, there are no signs of sexual assault. Whoa, whoa, whoa, you said Mark was going to get away with murder. What does that mean? Hmm. Looking at the victim's wrist, I've noted a slight shadow or some sort of indentation. Did you wear a bracelet here? I... I used to. It was a gift from me, Mama. An old family heirloom. And some large bracelet to make that kind of outline. Hmm. Note. Return to this later. If the wrist still has an indent from the bracelet, it could be a sign of a skin or bruising problem. You think the fact that I've got an indent on my wrist is important? I think every detail could be important. And now what are you doing? I'm drawing blood for a toxicology report. Why are you wasting time? My husband killed us all. That's the important detail? Well, as soon as this report is done, we'll figure out what type of poison it was. That's not what I meant. Another note. There are small tracings. They look like red marks on the upper torso, leading to the victim's neck. No signs of a struggle, though. Maggie. My name is Maggie. There seems to be no damage to the epidermis around the neck. These red bumps are more consistent with an allergic reaction rash. I'll need to check the victim's throat. You're treating me like I don't even exist? What I have to say could help you. You're right. I apologize. Did you know Sheriff Crowley well? What? You called her Fran, and then you got mad at me when I didn't know who Danny was. I'm assuming that you saw the sheriff in here a minute ago. I'm deducing that means you two were on a first name basis. Yeah, Danny. I went to kindergarten with Fran's son, Josh, you know, years ago before. Before what? It's not my place. I'm going to have to cut open your throat to examine the inside. You may want to look away. Fine. Talk to me then. Um, I don't know what to say. What is Danny like? Oh, she was a wonderful little kid. Always so happy about everything. She loved pigs and cows. I'd always catch her at the neighbor's pens after school. She said she wanted to be a farmer when she grew up and now. You'll miss her, I'm sure. Of course I'll miss her. Your kids are the light of your life. We do anything to keep them safe. You think you weren't able to keep Danny safe? No one could have. This world, it's no place to raise kids. She was being bullied in school and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. Mark lost his job and we were going to lose our home too. We had no options. So you don't blame Mark? Of course I do. Mark was a bastard. We had Danny right out of high school when he was cruel from the moment I got pregnant. He took out all his frustrations on me. He beat me and drank all day and night. I tried to keep Danny away from it but I couldn't let her go on in this terrible world. To grow up and be abused by her husband. Have the world shit on her. It's a fucking unavoidable cycle that's not worth living through. Death is the only thing that breaks the cycle. I didn't notice any bruising or indications of past beatings during my initial exam. Are you saying I'm lying? No, no, no. Not at all. But I wasn't looking for the signs. I might have missed something that only an extra could see. Can you tell me what happened tonight before you ended up here? No, you care what I have to say now? You asked me to talk to you. I'm perfectly fine just taking notes as I operate. Fine. I came home and Mark had made dinner for us, which was surprising. You don't seem so sure. Oh, I don't know. Maybe the details are just fuzzy because I'm dead. Did you ever think of that? Maybe. Continue. If you want to. I came home and Mark had dinner on the table. I didn't know at the time what it was, but we ate and we talked like a real family for once. He seemed happy. I was happy. And then I started to have trouble breathing. An allergic reaction? That's what it felt like. It was just like itchy at first. Then it felt like someone was putting their hands around my neck, slowly choking me of air and I panicked and I hit the ground hard. I'm seeing red rashes, tightened muscles and a closed airway on the inside of your throat. It's definitely consistent with anaphylaxis. I will never forget that feeling of just sitting at the table across from him. I was so happy to look at him and watch him eat. And I squeezed Danny's hand as she ate dinner too. And then I saw it. The look of fear in her face. My little baby saw me hit the floor and I tried to just hold on to her as it happened and it had to happen that way. And then I was at peace finally. Damn. I'm sure they'll catch Mark and find Danny safe. I wouldn't worry. What? The police haven't been able to locate them yet. What do you mean? They were in the room with me. Wait. When you died? Yes. We're all deathly allergic to shellfish and they ate the food just like I did. Maybe more. Are you telling me you could taste shellfish in the dish? What? No. I'm just assuming that's what it was. But you're telling me that Danny and Mark are still alive? Actually, now that you mentioned it, I don't know that for sure. Sheriff Crowley said there was a 911 call placed from your home. Your husband's car was missing from the driveway and I guess the police were assuming that they were on the run. Hold on just a moment. They're... oh god, they're alive? My favorite thing was that it's impossible. Where are you going? I'm actually done with the surgery. I think I've found all the information that I can glean from your body other than a stomach pump. But you just told me what I'll find. Shellfish. Or at least something that's cooked with it that won't be detectable. And that sound was the toxicology report finishing up. This was supposed to be our escape. According to this, you've got a ton of codeine painkiller in your system. And trace amounts of clozapine, haloparadol, loracidone? Those medications are antidepressants and an antipsychotic? Interesting. But the amounts show inconsistent or not recent usage. Why would you have that much painkiller in your system, Minless? That's... that's not possible. They shouldn't be alive. I saw their faces. Danny was so afraid she couldn't breathe either. And... and Mark I know is allergic to shellfish. They shouldn't be alive. And I shouldn't be the only one dead. Hi. I'm trying to reach Sheriff Fran Crowley. This is John Spacer. I'm the new forensic pathologist. Yeah, the new coroner. If you could ask her to... Oh, she's still at the hospital. Could you radio for her to come down to the pathology lab? Yes, as soon as possible, please. Thank you. Sheriff Crowley's on her way down. Please tell her that Mark poisoned us. And if they do find him, he did it. I will, if that's really what happened. Of course it's what happened. Why wouldn't it be? What did you have for dinner? What? Why? The devil is in the details. And right now, there are a few that aren't adding up. Screw you. You don't know anything. You thought they were both dead. Screw you. Screw you. You also immediately went to shellfish as the ingredient. How did you know that? They shouldn't be. I shouldn't be dead. Tell me something. The indent on your wrist? That was from wearing a medical alert bracelet, wasn't it? Why did you take it off? What did you find, Doc? I need answers now. There's a shit storm upstairs. Sheriff, here. Come see. Fran? Fran? Mark killed me. He tried to kill all of us, but... What? Why are you making me look at this? She can't hear me, can she? Fran? Fran? Assumed you'd want to know what I found. Not like that. Fuck. Just tell me. The cause of death was anaphylaxis after ingesting something she was allergic to. Shellfish. What? That was my guess. How did you... That's all you have for me? I found that out already. No. No! Wait. How? We found Maggie's husband and her daughter. They're upstairs in the ER right now. You found them? You found Danny? Yeah. I was hoping you had more answers for me. It's not looking good. They are going to die. What happened? Danny pulled up to the ER entrance with her dad in the passenger seat before we even arrived. She drove here? Yeah. At 11 years old. Can you believe it? Apparently she knew her parents were having a reaction and tried to find their api-pens. When she couldn't, Mark hobbled out to his car with her and Maggie... Well, Maggie was already unresponsive. Danny told the intake nurse her dad was having an attack. They gave him some steroids and he's doing fine. Holy crap! This was our chance! Yeah. Problem is, a couple minutes later Danny collapsed. She was having a reaction too. I don't know. Neither did the doctors up there. I was just with her. She's not responding to steroids. It's too late. If she's not responding to steroids, that means... Wait a second. What? If I'm remembering biology correctly, which I am, allergies aren't always passed down genetically. So? So Maggie has a massive amount of codeine in her system. Danny never ate fish before? If she was the one who tried to kill the family, maybe she gave Danny codeine as well as a way to mercifully numb the pain. You're thinking Maggie did it? Oh, what was the extension of the ER again? Ah. Hey, this is Dr. Spacer in the pathology lab. You have a patient, a young girl named Danny Lane, who isn't responding to steroids, right? I'm pretty certain she's suffering from some overdose of codeine and other medications. Run a urine or a blood test to confirm, but she's gonna need her stomach pumped immediately. Yeah. Actually, send the test down and I can run it for you. Thanks. She wasn't supposed to suffer. Neither of us were. But Mark... How the hell can you prove any of this? I... I can't, really. Then how do you know? And how did you know their daughter's name was Danny earlier? Oh, um, it's just something I heard around town. I put two and two together and, you know, I guess word travels fast around here. Rumors aren't going to cut it here. I'm going back upstairs to see if we can question Mark. He's conscious, but at this point it's his word against... against a dead woman. I hope he does get blamed for it. He took this away from all of us! That's it. Sheriff, wait! What now? The purse. What did you say you found in it? I didn't. But we found it in Maggie's car. Still parked at the house. Why? It wasn't in the home. No. We were all supposed to be at peace! Look. Holy shit, are those... Happy pens. Three of them. And I bet they're labeled for prescription too. Yep. Mark Lane, Danny Lane, and Maggie. And a bottle of codeine also prescribed to Maggie. Circumstantial evidence. How do we know she didn't just leave them in there normally? You... forgive me, but it sounds like you don't want her to be guilty. Guilty? Calm it down, new kid. Guilty or innocent isn't for either of us to decide. All I want is enough evidence for a judge. It doesn't matter anymore. Damn. Don't worry, Doc. You might have just saved a little girl tonight. And all before, son-up. That's a pretty good first day. Hey, Sheriff Crowley. Yous... are they all going to be like this? Like what? This ambiguous. I mean, it's my job to find the evidence so that we can put it together, but what if we can't ever know for certain? Kid, I'm not your shrink. I'm not your mentor either. Figure that shit out on your own. But... you shouldn't be surprised around here. Why not? They really didn't tell you when you accepted the job, huh? Tell me what? We've got the nation's highest rate of unsolved deaths. Not for a lack of trying either. It seems everyone here dies in a weird way. And that... well, starts to get to people. And that's why no one wanted this job. Welcome to Springfield, Doc. Enjoy your stay while it lasts. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Why did you do it? We promised salvation. I... I was lied to. You kept saying I should trust you and listen to you, but you lied to me too. You tricked me. The worst part of all of this, this whole exam, this whole back and forth, just to solve an attempted murder by a woman who can't ever be proven guilty? How is that fair? Even if you and I know the truth, the outcome is the only thing that matters here. What are you doing? And what is that box for? Huh. When I was looking through your purse, I saw your license. You had a heart on the back, which meant you're an organ donor. Stay away from my body. If all that codeine damaged Danny's heart or her liver, she'll need a new one. Don't touch me. And even if she's not a match, your death will save someone else. That might be the only positive thing to come out of all of this. I'll haunt you, I swear. Note, victim Maggie Lane shows undeniable evidence to the cause of death being suffocation and anaphylactic shock due to allergic reaction. Thankfully, we'll be able to harvest some usable organs for potential transplant. She may save her own daughter's life. Don't touch me! You can do this, John. No! No! I can do this. No! No! No! No! Hey everyone, thanks so much for listening. All the links to the show you've just heard are in the show notes below. Definitely check them out and subscribe to their feeds if you like what you heard today. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Leviathan Presents, and maybe you've discovered a new show that you'd like to binge. We're looking forward to bringing you some more amazing audio dramas to discover and letting you meet some of the phenomenally talented creators that are driving this renaissance in audio fiction today. Stay subscribed to this feed for more installments of Leviathan Presents, as well as all the full episodes of the Leviathan Chronicles, the Rapscallion Agency, the Inveneos Expedition, and all the other spin-offs we have planned. This is Kristoff, signing off for now. Thanks again for listening. I'll be talking to you all real soon. Bye now. The action-packed adventure will take them across the world, fighting for every clue they can find. It's one heck of a tale, which is good, because this story might be the only thing that can save their lives. Well, if that's all I can just dispose of you. Wait, what? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha What do you think? Is that one of the victims? What do you mean? Reyes? No, cut it out Jacob. Why are you pretending to be Jordan? Redacted is a brand new monster of the weak horror comedy about Jacob Cain, a failing actor who assumes his late brother's life and finds himself in the redacted unit. A covert agency tasked with containing impossible creatures and phenomena known as aberrations. Inspired by late 90s and early 2000s television, featuring incredible guest writers from the world of podcasting, film and games, welcome to the Redacted Unit. If you don't know... Redacted airs Fridays, 9, 8 central. Search Redacted on the podcast player of your choice or visit theredactedunit.com for more info. Hush. Oh, the Regency Era. You might know it as the time when Bridgerton takes place, or the time when Jane Austen wrote her books. But the Regency Era was also an explosive time of social change, sex scandals, and maybe the worst king in British history. And on the Vulgar History Podcast, we're going to be looking at the balls, the gowns, and all the scandal of the Regency Era. Vulgar History is a women's history podcast, and our Regency Era series will be focusing on the most rebellious women of this time. That includes Jane Austen herself, who is maybe more radical than you might have thought. We'll also be talking about queer icons like Anne Lister, scientists like Mary Anning and Ada Lovelace, as well as other scandalous actresses, royal mistresses, rebellious princesses, and other lesser-known figures who made history happen in England in the Regency Era. Listen to Vulgar History wherever you get podcasts.