Speaker 1: You're about to embark on a journey that will lead
you through the fog drenched streets of a little town
tucked away in the corner of North Carolina. This town, Joyceville,
is quiet. It's so quiet that it's easy to forget
secrets are hiding within its very soil. But be warned.
This isn't just another quaint story of small town life.
It's a tale of deception, manipulation, and the hidden hands
that pull the strings. Behind the scenes, you see the
events you are about to witness unfold long before the
chaos we know from Excuse Us Season one, and even
further before the tragic revelations set to come in season two.
And while we are diligently at work on the next
chapter of Excuse Us, we couldn't shake the urge to
tell you this particular story. This is fog bound deceit.
You'll find yourself walking down darkened alleys of history, questioning
everything you thought you knew about Joyceville. The stakes are
set in motion, and the threads of this twisted web
stretch far beyond the edges of this quaint little town.
Uncover the deepest lore and watch as the smallest pieces
begin to fit together. What you see before you is
only a piece of the larger puzzle, a glimpse into
the underbelly of a town that seems peaceful on the surface,
but underneath it's a ticking clock, one that's about to
explode in ways no one could ever predict. This episode
and the ones that follow, serve as a prelude, a
segue in time, leading us closer to the dark heart
of Joyceville, where corporate influence and blind corpse secretive operations
have been quietly shaping the fate of its people. So
sit back, relax, and enjoy this little detour through time
as we peel back the veil on Joyceville's quiet little secrets.
Speaker 2: In the heart of Joyceville, under a blanket of fog
that pressed against every window and door, old man McDonald
sat in his old rocking chair. The room was dim
save for the faint glow of a lamp and the
distant hum of an old radio. Outside. The night seemed
to breathe thick with the fog that rolled in off
the river. Inside, though all was still until it wasn't.
A noise faint at first broke the quiet, a subtle scrape,
as if something or someone had disturbed the calm.
Speaker 3: Hmmm, what a peculiar and murderous sound that was. I
better ignore it and blame it on the catt or
some of the house guests, a person of my old
age might have, like a fish or something.
Speaker 2: He leans back in his chair, but then the noise
comes again, louder this time. His eyes snap open.
Speaker 3: Hm. Well, that's kind of hard to ignore. Now the
same loud noise happens twice. That's too too many times.
Papa always said something poignant and relevant about coincidences that
I just so happened to not be able to recall.
At this very pivotal.
Speaker 2: Moment, he stands, his old joints creaking as he begins
to move toward the source of the sound.
Speaker 3: Old joint, you go and narrate everything I'm doing in
such a judge of way?
Speaker 2: Is it? It's an audio medium, old man. I have too,
but I can try to be nicer to you.
Speaker 3: I'd appreciate that old sport. Well, I suppose I have
to see about that strange and murderous sound, don't I.
Speaker 2: Yes. The handsome old man slowly walks toward the hallway,
moving with surprising agility, for his age, almost as if
defying the years, leaving one to wonder how someone so
old can move so swiftly. He peers into the darkness,
the kind of darkness that haunts his soul, the kind
that keeps him awake at night, questioning whether he's been
too much of a failure, too much of a miserable person,
now left alone with nothing but his foolish collection of spoons.
The house groans too, as if it too is straining
to listen.
Speaker 3: Ah, I'm on a fence on whether I like you
or not, But you speak the truth, young buck. Anyway,
could beat a wind, could beat a damn mice, but
could also be.
Speaker 2: The noise stops suddenly. The silence presses down, thick as
a curtain.
Speaker 3: Oh shit, now.
Speaker 2: That's clever, isn't it. A second later, the noise returns closer,
this time a scrape against the floor than a shuffle.
Something or someone moving in the dark.
Speaker 3: All right, all right, now that's something, not the cat,
not the wind, And no rats, been that loud? No, No,
I've heard that before.
Speaker 2: He stops at the door to the study, eyes narrowing.
Speaker 3: All right, all right, you can't keep me on edge
like this. Just a figment of my imagination.
Speaker 2: He opens the door to the study. The room is darker, quieter,
The silence feels wrong. Another rustle closer. Now he steps
further in.
Speaker 3: All right, come on out, whoever you are. I'm not afraid. Okay,
I'm a little afraid. Oh my, it appears I have
soiled myself. It's inconsequential. I was planting as zale as
this morning. Never mind, I'll get the broom or the
fish something.
Speaker 2: The silence grows more oppressive. The scraping stops.
Speaker 3: Not a sound now, eh, bitch, just typical. All that
noise and now not even a squeak.
Speaker 2: He steps deeper into the room, squinting at the dark corner.
There's nothing there, but something feels wrong. His hand hovers
near a shelf where a strange wooden spoon rests, an
odd relic from days long past.
Speaker 3: I'm not losing my mind, am I the spoon?
Speaker 2: He walks further into the room, the sound of his
footsteps now the only thing breaking the silence. Then a
sudden shift in the shadows. A figure moves too quickly,
too quietly, in the farthest corner.
Speaker 3: Oh it's you, the least obvious, but at the same
time the person I thought of all along.
Speaker 2: The figure steps into clearer view, never fully revealing the details,
leaving the identity of the intruder shrouded in mystery. After all,
what kind of murder mystery would this be if we
revealed that the was the killer within the first five minutes? Oh? Snap, Giblets,
can we censor that in post? Yeah? Great?
Speaker 4: Woof?
Speaker 2: Almost messed that up. Old Man McDonald realizing that there
was there to murder him now, with a hint of
disbelief in his voice, Oh shit, I did it again,
didn't I? God, damn it. Get it together, Neil, get
it together?
Speaker 5: What do you?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: No, I I'm being murdered. I'm being murdered.
Speaker 5: It hard.
Speaker 2: A muffled noise follows a door gently closing somewhere in
the house. The rest is silence, the room suddenly cold
as the air stills.
Speaker 5: Hard.
Speaker 2: The morning after old Man Donald's hard, murderous death, Joyceville
seemed to hold its breath. The fog, still thick from
the night before, lingered in the streets like a shroud.
By the time Detective Lake and Detective Pool arrived at
the scene, the town was already buzzing with rumors. But
little did they know that the true horror had barely
begun to unravel. The house where MacDonald had met his
untimely end stood still, just as dad the day before,
a quiet, unassuming place that would now be forever marked
by death. The air was still too still. My spoon
is also made of steel. The detective stepped through the door,
and as they do, the sound of a distant clock
ticking breaks the silence.
Speaker 6: A lot of people would pass right by this place,
quiet clean, not much to see here, or so they'd think.
Speaker 4: Well, I wouldn't want to pass by. The place looks
like a killer's wet dream, nice and isolated.
Speaker 2: A heavy, uneasy atmosphere hangs in the room. Detective Lake
glances at the room, her eyes drawn to the faint
marks on the floor, A trace of something disturbed.
Speaker 6: Something's off here.
Speaker 4: Oop, sorry, let me turn on the lights.
Speaker 6: Thank you, this room, It wasn't just some random act.
Speaker 2: Detective Pool leans closer, his gaze flitting across the cluttered desk,
the overturned chair, the strange spoon in the corner. He smirks,
but there's a nervous edge to his voice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, looks like somebody went a little too hard with
the home makeover. And what's with the spoon?
Speaker 2: Slow zooming penned with eerie music playing in the background
as the camera zooms into the Red Herring Spoon.
Speaker 6: Don't know oh yet, but these marks aren't accidental. Something
or someone was moved here.
Speaker 2: A soft creak of the floor behind them catches their attention.
The door they entered through is now slightly a jar.
The air grows colder as the atmosphere thickens.
Speaker 4: Did you hear that?
Speaker 6: Yeah, something's not right here the way the door. It's
like someone's been in and out of this place.
Speaker 2: They continue searching the room, but the quiet is almost oppressive.
The air feels heavy with the weight of what has
just happened. Then a sudden sound, a loud creak, like
something moving in another room, makes both detectives freeze.
Speaker 4: What was that the killer?
Speaker 6: I don't know, but it's not the wind, but for
sure the killer.
Speaker 4: Why would the killer hang out here after merding this
man so hard?
Speaker 6: Good observation. Maybe this spoon labeled the Red Herring Spoon
of misleading is the reason.
Speaker 4: Why worth noting it in our journals. Scribble Scribble scribble.
So you think this guy just died in his sleep.
Speaker 6: He wasn't just killed in his sleep. No, this was deliberate.
The signs, the way he was moved, the placement of
the body. Everything's too controlled. Even that note clearly labeled
the killer's note.
Speaker 4: A lot of people would just assume it was a
random act, right, maybe even a robbery gone wrong. But
there's no sign of that here.
Speaker 2: Detective Pool steps forward, tracing the faint outline of a
note half hidden beneath the desk. He picks it up
cautiously and reads, aloud.
Speaker 4: I murdered this person. It was not an accident on
his part. He did not, in fact, mean to stab
himself thirteen times in the chest, signed murderer.
Speaker 6: Well that clears it up, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: The detective's exchange their suspicions confirmed. A muffled noise follows
a door gently closing somewhere in the house. The rest
is silence, the room suddenly cold, as the air.
Speaker 4: Stills under his breath. This whole place gives me the creeps.
Speaker 2: Forensic analyst Steve enters, almost out of breath, as if
he's been rushing around. He stumbles over his words as
he starts speaking.
Speaker 4: It has the murderer's signature.
Speaker 6: What do you make of this crime scene?
Speaker 4: Could use more exposition?
Speaker 5: Ah gee oh, Detective Lake, you've sold more murderers murderers
in the past year and a half than the entire
Christmas choir has shung Christmas carols. Whoo oh gee oh
in Detective Pool, you're also here. Oh maya, I know
your partners bt ah two for one here. Your track
record for being the most abstitute, observationalist detective on this
side of the globe is nothing short of remarkable.
Speaker 6: Is that enough exposition?
Speaker 4: Jesus oooh Jesus Christ.
Speaker 5: Yeah, He's a figure who has influenced s means millennia sean.
People think he's not real, some people do, whose teachings
have shapes, similarizations, sparkle, revolutions, inspire countless works of Sorry.
Speaker 6: Yes, that's us, respectably in Jesus, I guess yeah.
Speaker 5: Don't don't keep going. I can. I can't keep going.
I know a lot about Jesus, but I'm an atheist.
Speaker 4: That's why that's enough for me.
Speaker 5: Ah yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes yes. So I'm
the one who found the body. Me MOI me it's
uh it's well dead.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Uh so quite a mess in here, isn't it. I
mean there's stuff all over the place. I mean it's
not what it looks like, and what it looks like
it's a murder. And then it is exactly what it
looks like. Of course, you see this little things happens
all the time. I mean not all the time. It doesn't.
People are not getting murdered all the time. But well,
there is a you know, a dead guy.
Speaker 6: Relax, Steve, we'll get to the details. Just tell us
what you found.
Speaker 5: Right right, right right, So McDonald donald, Well, his body,
I mean, is dead and he wasn't you know. And
it wasn't just stabbed. He had some defensive wounden stew
and you might see some signs of struggle or thritis too.
And there's a note right The notes important, yes, very important,
very very important, the most important, so, I might say,
makes it clear this wasn't it an accident.
Speaker 6: I don't think he meant to do that, get murdered
hard right, That would ruin my evening.
Speaker 4: Indubitably, this is no accident.
Speaker 6: I don't think he meant to stab himself thirteen times
in the chest.
Speaker 5: So the victim's name is old man McDonald. I already
said it, but okay, yeah, oh amazing, indeed amazing. She's
so amazings.
Speaker 6: I learned how to read when I was young.
Speaker 2: Detective Lake shows a bunch of male addressed to the victim.
Speaker 5: Clever, thanks, well done, detective Wow Wow case closed?
Speaker 4: Uh not yet Lake?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 5: So the are her for in six little term at
the vic.
Speaker 6: Age range twenty five to eighty male, likely Cassian American,
somewhere in his mid forties, give or take a few years.
Heights a bit of a challenge to estimate, but we're
looking at somewhere between three and ten feet tall based
on the general proportions and well some of the items
I found near by. Definitely not the average height of
your typical victim, though that would require further scrutiny. He
also has a mild but noticeable affinity for mystical and
rare spoons. One could surmise a possible collection if the
residue of that odd carving tool over there is anything
to go by, not to mention the sheer amount of
tea spoons he had stashed in his desk drawer. Not
your usual drawer contents. I'd say, could be a hobby,
one of those rare obsessions that, when combined with his
apparent fondness for large oak furniture and a very specific
kind of tea kettle, suggests a deeper personality and perhaps
just maybe an unfortunate misstep in his pursuit of well,
whatever it was that kept him collecting those spoons. For
the looks of it though, Okay, let's just say he's
definitely got more quirks than your average dead guy.
Speaker 4: What is a Detective Lake?
Speaker 6: He's also a pants wearing.
Speaker 4: Type, classic old man.
Speaker 6: What do you make of it? Pool?
Speaker 4: He's dead, of course from all the stabbing.
Speaker 6: How could I miss that?
Speaker 4: Not old age? The stabbing? Did it? Stabby? Stabby?
Speaker 5: Ah, that's brilliant, so brilliant.
Speaker 6: Anyway, let's blow this popsicle stand ase and grab some
ice cream.
Speaker 4: No one grabs ice cream, Lake, You eat it with
a spoon.
Speaker 6: Yes, of course, the spoon.
Speaker 5: You guys are so good at this.
Speaker 2: As the investigation into old man McDonald's untimely death drags on,
Detective Lake and Detective Pool find themselves at crossroads. Their
leads have taken them to strange places, and they begin
to realize that things may not be as straightforward as
they once thought. The sun hangs low in the sky,
casting long shadows over Joyceville. As the detectives arrive at
the local police station. The fog outside seems to linger
in the streets, creeping up like a curtain that hides
more than it reveals. They know they're close to something.
What that something is, They're not yet sure. The door
to the office creaks open inside. Forensic analyst Steve is
busy sifting through papers, muttering to himself in an attempt
to make sense of the mounting evidence. Detective Lake and
Detective Pool enter, exchanging a look before approaching Steve.
Speaker 6: I've been down this road before, murder, secrets, lies. This
town's got all three in spades, but this one. It
had the feel of something deeper, something hidden behind the
closed doors, like that fog outside that never seemed to leave.
As we walked into the station, I could already tell
we were close to something close, but not there yet.
The sun hung low over Joyceville, long shadows, half light,
almost as if the town itself was holding its breath.
Steve's in there, going through the files, doing what he
does best, rambling about things, we'd already passed over, but
there was something different this time. I could feel it.
We weren't just chasing down a murderer. We were chasing
a ghost, and that ghost had its hand in everything. Steve,
what have we got?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 5: Where do I begin? Well, you know it is a
bit of a puzzle, isn't it? A real mysteries? I've
been looking through all these evidence, and well, we've got
some strange things. I'm pakia.
Speaker 4: I'd heard Steve's ramblings before, but today felt like a
new kind of strange. Major Simone, the nun, the neighbor,
a woman obsessed with spoons. Yeah, the list was looking
real solid, solid as wet paper. But that's Steve for you.
If it doesn't add up, he just keeps slapping things
together until it looks like a picture or a painting
or whatever it is he's trying to make sense of.
Speaker 5: Okay, first of all, First of all, first of all,
let's lack than Major Simone. Now, Simona not well, she
is involved in a case, of course, that you could
know from the first clans. You know, if you look
at it, maybe three or four times, Major Somemona. You see,
she's not the kind of person you immediately think to be,
you know, involved in something like this. It's just that
it's not all right who we think would really obvious,
you know. But here's the thing I dog a little deeper. Well,
she's a friend of McDonald's, apparently, at least that's what everyone.
Speaker 4: Says, you know, major Simone.
Speaker 5: Everyone said so, well, so.
Speaker 4: Ain't that convenient? The last thing I need is another clean, cut,
upstanding citizen to toss on the pile. Steve's got the
hots for the big names, and that's fine, but we're
supposed to be solving murders, not making a list of
town favorites.
Speaker 5: I mean, she's been around for a while, you know.
She said she has some businesses Dylan's with McDonald's, nothing
too serious, but that we're seen in the same places
at the same time, large crowded places. Places were the
obvious for a lot of people to be at the
same time. The super awesome dinner, so sorry, super awesome diner. Yeah,
they've been, They've been known to congregate there often, and
they're both there on the day of the murder, which
I thought was very curious, very curious. Yeah, but I
don't have anything solid linking her to the crime. Of course,
everything's just here say.
Speaker 6: It was too clean, too perfect, and Steve was piecing
together a story, but something didn't fit. Major Simone was involved.
Somehow I could feel it.
Speaker 7: People like her, always in the right places at the
right time, always too good to be true. They're dangerous
and if we weren't careful, she'd slip through our fingers.
Speaker 5: Ah, and well we have, Vinta. I'm gonna I'm gonna
wait for the queue of this there.
Speaker 6: Then, no, no, Steve. We are quite done with those.
We have done plenty and we are done. No more?
Speaker 5: Why not?
Speaker 6: No more? Steve? What stop?
Speaker 1: Steve?
Speaker 5: How come you guys get a background music voice over?
And I don't. I've been talking for a minute. It's
enough that okay, Steve, rude, that's messed up. That's messed up.
Speaker 6: Enough.
Speaker 5: G Well, this one, this one's interesting. Vinta g is
the lady who had a slight issue with McDonald one
time when he sneezed and her direction. You know this story, right,
She blessed him and he didn't say thank you. Now,
I wouldn't say she held a grudge, but she followed
up with this particular threat which I have to admit
it was a bit strange, you know. Yeah, well she
did say she was going to come in the middle
of the night into his house and murder him. Yeah,
that's a real classic, a murderer's rampage. Threatened to kill
someone over a sneeze.
Speaker 4: I've heard it all now. It's like every nutcase in
town wanted a piece of the action, but this one
a spoon obsessed old lady with a vendetta over a sneeze.
I don't know, Lake, something doesn't feel right.
Speaker 5: Well, what Wilward is messer? Of course, because who doesn't
want to murder somebody that's say thank you have three
u s niece, or you hold the door. You know,
I mean, no one really takes someone seriously who makes
those kinds of threats like that? Right, Well, you know,
just in case, we'll put her. We'll put her on
the pinboard, put her on the pepper I already got
the yard. We'll put her on the pin boy.
Speaker 6: More absurd leads, But we still need to keep digging.
Every piece of the puzzle counts, even the ones that
seem ridiculous. If we're going to catch this guy, we
need to follow every lead, even the ones involving spoons.
Speaker 5: I'm telling you this could be something. We cannot leave
any stone unturned.
Speaker 6: All right, Steve, we'll take it from here, But just
so we're clear, any more eccentric suggestions, keep them to
a minimum.
Speaker 5: All right, I'll be right here. You know, if you
need anything else, you know, maybe a water, a pizza,
anyone Thumber pizza, or if you need some details on
this sponge less spooned, or or any other subjects. Maybe
the spoons, specific of the spoons. I've been looking at
these spoons. I'm telling you there's something about the spoons.
Speaker 6: Well, we've got our list, and we've got our suspects,
but something doesn't feel right. A couple of pieces don't fit.
And there's a shadow hanging over this case that I
can't quite shake.
Speaker 4: We're going in circles lake. The more we dig, the
messier it gets. Major Simone Anne with a vendetta, a
woman threatened by spoon labels. It's enough to make a
guy want to take up knitting. But hey, the night's
still young. Let's see if our little town's got more
secrets to spill.
Speaker 6: Something's wing and enjoy spill. You can feel it in
the air. The fall isn't just outside, it's creeping inside too.
Speaker 2: Lake.
Speaker 4: You see that.
Speaker 6: I saw it, and I think I just found the
answer we were looking for, or maybe it found us.
Either way, we're about to uncover something that makes this
whole case feel like it's just the tip of the iceberg.
Speaker 4: Bow w The fuck was that you hear? That doesn't
sound like a friendly conversation?
Speaker 2: Lake.
Speaker 4: This thing's about to explode. We're diving deep and who knows.
Speaker 6: What we'll pull up and next time Joyceville will show
us its real face. We're not in the clear yet,
far from it.
Speaker 2: Join us next time on the mysterious death of old
Man McDonald, where nothing is as it seems and everyone
has a secret to hide. You won't want to miss
what happens when the truth finally comes out. Music fades
out with an eerie echo. End of episode.
Speaker 8: This episode is made possible by listeners like you. Visit
our website at lifdesign dot net. Forward Slash Excuse Us.
Speaker 1: For support or additional information, please visit our website or
Patreon page at Patreon dot com. Forward Slash rat Pulart.
Speaker 8: Tonight's production of Excuse Us, a mystery drama with delightful
undertones of humor and Eldrich horror.
Speaker 1: What's produced by Rebecca Lakepool and Rodrigo Pool. Written and
directed and performed by Rodrigo Pool in association with R
and R Side Audio Theater.
Speaker 8: Music and sound effects by Epidemic Sound some other sound
effects who are recorded live on set voice modulation by
eleven Laps. If you're enjoying this production, please make sure
to review or subscribe to our show wherever you listen
to your.
Speaker 1: Podcast, check out our Patreon page for bonus content.
Speaker 8: Until next time, this is
Speaker 1: Rodrigo Pool say thank you very much for listening