You are now listening to Cryptid Cocktail Party.
Hey, happy Easter, everyone. Welcome back to
another... Oh, I guess it's not going to be out
on Easter. It'll be out... It'll be the day after,
but that's a holiday here in Massachusetts, so...
Oh, well... Happy Patriots Day, motherfuckers.
Jesus Christ. Sorry. Oh, was it... Wait, Patriots
Day. Is that the Boston bombing holiday? Well,
I mean, we try not to associate the bombing with
it, but yes, that's what happened. How could
you not? Anyways, we'll get to that in a second.
Welcome back to another episode. Welcome back
to another episode of Cryptic Cocktail Party,
a show where we have a few drinks, share a few
laughs, take a dive into the unknown. I'm your
host, Dave, joined as always by Sarge, my muse,
my love. Your PTSD -laden co -host. Yeah, we're
recording this on Easter. That's why I got a
little carried away, got a little amped, you
know? Yeah. Who wouldn't celebrate? The only
historical story of a zombie. True. But also,
I mean, Christ died. He was put in a tomb. And
then for three days, he just chilled out. And
then he goes like, JK, LOL. Exactly. And then
bunnies started laying eggs. Yeah, so he didn't
die for our sins. He gave up a long weekend for
our sins. It was a three -day weekend. He's like,
fuck, dude. I need to just chill. I need a break.
Yeah. I do have one question, though. I don't
know shit about the Bible or God or Jesus. I
got your back. I used to be a Sunday school teacher.
So he died. And then three days later, he was
resurrected. And then what? Did he just live
out the rest of his life? Or did he just... No,
no, no. He just fucked off after that. He's like,
I'll be back. To where? And then didn't come
back. He went up to heaven. Yeah, but his physical
body went? Is that a thing? I thought only your
soul went. Yeah. Look, reports vary. Some believe
he became the Holy Spirit. Others believe. What
happened to his physical body? He was dead. His
body was dead, but he came back as a ghost. Oh,
so he wasn't resurrected. He haunted them. Yeah,
basically. But he's like, I'm going to come back
eventually. But then where did his body go? Because
they opened the tomb like, oh, shit. The only
thing here is the Shroud of Turin. And then he
like walked around for a bit and then he fucked
off. But he didn't walk around because. Well,
see, this is where reports vary. OK, so the Mormons
believe that he came to the United States. This
is true. The Jehovah Witnesses believe that he
was crucified on a stick, not a lowercase t.
How would that even work? I don't know, man.
This is all nonsense to me. I just repeated what
I read. So I think the prevailing belief is that
he physically came back to life. Went around
and popped up behind his buddies and was like,
surprise! And he's like, all right, I'm going
to go away and you won't see me again until the
end of the world. Okay. So then his physical
body went to heaven? He extricated himself northward
to the skies. I don't think you can do that.
I guess that's what the rapture is. No, but that's
probably why atheism is becoming more and more
prevalent because everyone was like, wait a minute.
If the Ark didn't get you. and the talking donkey
didn't get you. Yeah. The fact that he came back
to life after being brutally murdered by the
Romans. Yeah. And them. And then... My best friend
is Jewish, and he and I had this whole inside
joke. about all the things that he's got planned
that he won't tell me about because I'm a goyim.
I mean, well, they're always scheming something.
Yeah. You know? I bought him a space laser t
-shirt. It would have been great if you just
ended it before the word t -shirt. Just present
him with this. He's like, I already got one.
Well, I'm glad that we've introduced our audience
to Christianity. The Christian cocktail party
has come full circle. It really has. Welcome
to the team. Yeah. All right, Sarge. Studying
Jesus and other cryptids. So you say that we're
both having a pretty good Easter. I think so.
We're going to skip on all the niceties. We have
a lot to go over this episode, Sarge. This is
a doozy. I mean, now we're going to skip the
niceties. We had like five minutes of lore about
Jesus. Yeah, that's fine. Today we're going to
be covering Mark Richards part two. Do you remember
where we were last episode? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
We went through. This man was like the Forrest
Gump of conspiracy theories. Yeah, he's done
it all. And he was always the hero. Yeah. Right.
Of course. Like you do. Yeah, but like I mentioned
at the end of the last episode, it was all nonsense.
There was no starships, no raptor princes, which
is probably the most upsetting part of the whole
thing, and no Minerva, which is also kind of
upsetting. I think that's why I got so angry,
because I knew it wasn't real, and I was like,
God damn it. I want this so bad. I want a spaceship
that is alive. Yeah. uh and again i still 100
firmly believe that he fucked that ship there's
no way he totally fucked it yeah he put his penis
inside something on that spaceship it was like
uh did you ever watch that episode of uh my strange
addiction with that dude who was in love with
this car who was banging cars yeah it was that
was the first thing that came in my mind when
i I remember him licking the bumper and thinking,
cars are dirty, man. Don't do that. He wasn't
licking it. He was laying fully underneath the
car and kissing the bumper. And I'm pretty sure
he was hard. He was basically just dry humping
the drive shaft of that car. Henry Ford, when
he invented cars, never envisioned what could
happen. Oh, he was probably doing it too, dude.
He's like, I'm going to be so fucking rich and
just... That's true. Henry Ford's a weird fucking
dude. He's got a lot of problems. Don't Google
Henry Ford's feelings on Jewish people. Don't
do that. Yeah. He's a bad guy. He's a bad guy
is what you need to know. That's it. Yeah. But
like you said, the reason why you were probably
getting so upset is because you knew that none
of this was real. It wasn't based in reality.
So today I'm going to tell you the reality of
Captain Mark Richards. I'm so goddamn excited
for this. I'm so ready. Are you? Yeah. I don't
think you are. I'm hard right now. Well, like
mostly. Okay. You went from six to midnight real
quick, didn't you? Well, right now it's like
9 p .m. Gotcha. All right. So in reality, Mark
Richards was living in Marin County, California,
and he was just barely scraping by as a contractor.
He was running a small, struggling home renovation
business and was just. At this point, just trying
to keep himself afloat. But even on the brink
and or already in financial ruin, Richards, the
ever delusional man that he is, and much like
every local band social media, he had big things
coming, all right? Big things are around the
corner. We are opening for Whitesnake. He believed
himself to be a visionary and a man destined
to reshape the world. But before we get into
all that, let's talk about what Richards was
actually doing with his time in the 70s. since
we know that he wasn't fighting space Nazis along
dinosaurs. Richards, in 1977, years before Pendragon
was formed, he tried to start a little place
called Future Castle. Now, what do you think
Future Castle? Time out. Future Castle? Future
Castle, yeah. Did the marketing team just decide
to take a nap and let him name it? That is the
worst name for anything ever. Dude, it was 1977,
man. Back then, this is the height of creativity,
I bet. I guess so. Future castle? So, like, a
house? Dude, you would think that, like, a man
who came up with all of the crazy stories he
came up with would do a better job at naming
something than future castle. You would think.
Yeah, like, it just doesn't make any sense. Well,
future. Why? What is futuristic about this? And
why would you need a castle in the future? Well,
do you want to know why? I do. All right. I desperately
do. Okay. So think of it like a future castles,
like a mashup between like a prep school, a science,
like a sci -fi convention and like a Renaissance
fair. But all of it's kind of wrapped up in the
warm embrace of like a cult. Does that make sense?
Yeah, naturally. Yeah. So this is, this is like
a hillbop situation. Like, Yeah. Hopefully nobody's
wearing Nikes. He pitched the idea of Future
Castle as a quote -unquote academic community
for the coming new renaissance where students
would be trained in military strategy, scientific
theory, political leadership, and pretty much
whatever Mark was scribbling down in his notebook.
And I'm almost certain that his notebook looked
exactly like the notebooks from the movie Seven.
Or Superbad, where it's just a bunch of really
veiny penises. Just a bunch of dicks. It's like
Future Knights jousting with huge cocks. Here's
the thing, though, and probably very unsurprising.
The project had no money, no infrastructure,
no staff, no land, and no real interest outside
of Mark. Naturally. Yeah, it was literally a
kingdom without subjects. The only thing to actually
come from it was a paper trail of absolutely
bonkers proposals and promotional material that
nobody took all that seriously. Right. Well,
I mean, here's the thing. When you think about
it, when you're catering to the Renaissance fair
crowd, offering them the future is kind of the
antithesis of what they're into. You know, I
didn't think about it like that. I mean, I've
never been to a Ren Fair and saw a guy in a Star
Trek uniform. You know what I mean? You haven't?
Because I feel like people do that all the time.
And they usually don't get received very well
by the people at the Renaissance Fair. Yeah,
they don't have a phaser. They just have a club
to hit you on the head with. Set your phaser
to bludgeon. So when this plan spectacularly
failed, Richards, Didn't let it go. He just went
further with it and his Camelot fantasy morphed
into something much darker. So behind closed
doors, he started forming a secret group that
he named Pendragon as an Arthur Pendragon, the
father of King Arthur. So unlike future castle,
I saying it is just awful. Future castle just
sounds so stupid. It sounds like, bro, you probably
could have brought some people in. If you made
this a little bit more like Star Wars. Something,
anything. But anyways, Pendragon wasn't about
education, if you could call what was going to
take place at Future Castle education. Pendragon
was about domination. See, Richards, in his John
Doe notebooks, had laid out detailed plans for
a takeover of Marin County. turning the region
into a feudal kingdom where he, of course, would
rule. He mapped out strategic targets, transportation
choke points, and even weapon placements. This
dude is the biggest fucking nerd on Earth. He
plotted out how to blow up the Golden Gate and
Richmond -San Rafael bridges to cut Mirren off
from outside intervention. And on top of Mount
Tamalpius... Tamalpius? Tamalpius? On top of
Mount Tam... It would be a command post with
mounted energy weapons, which he designed himself
to help repel the National Guard or the Army
from advancing into the city. So, yeah. My guess
is this guy had like a big table in his apartment
and it was just full of like Lego sets that he
put together. And he's like, this is my town.
It's got to be something. Yeah, he's got little
Lego men. He's probably... Oh, man. I know guys
like this. You should probably report them because
what happens next is kind of fucked up. No, I
mean, they just play Warhammer 40K, you know?
That's how they get their future night fix. That's
fair. So at the center of this new kingdom, you
got Mark Richards. ruling as a modern -day King
Arthur. And below him, you have a court of a
couple teenage knights that he recruited from
his family construction crew. Of course. He promised
them titles, land, and power. So, like, literal
nobility. One teacher, one teenager, Cross and
Hoover, would later state that Richards promised
to make him the Duke of Angel Island. Oh, God.
This is so great. No wonder. Now it all makes
sense. He's got an army of teenage boys. Like,
this is literally the start of Warhammer. Yeah.
That's what happened. He started Warhammer 40K.
Yeah. So, Richards, with his grandiose confidence
and his constant, almost to the point of being
insufferable, mythologizing of himself, had brainwashed
and convinced these kids that they were building
something real and doing something noble. Did
he, though? Or were they just like, hey, can
you buy us beer? We'll get to it. So, here's
the catch, though. What's one thing any strong
and respected... kingdom needs sarge a moat close
it's gold and richard yeah yeah richards he was
broke as fuck uh future castle was a complete
failure that renovation business was failing
and his future kingdom wasn't just going to build
itself so richards needed money and he needed
money fast enter into the story richard baldwin
can we just go back to why his renovation business
failed because i think i know what happened what
happened what do we got Every time he showed
up at a job, he's like, you know what you need?
You need a drawbridge. You know what this house
could use? More turrets. I think what we need...
And then if the lady of the house was ever like,
no, we don't need that, he's like, as a witch,
burn her! Speak when spoken to, wench. Get me
a turkey leg. Alright, so... Richard Baldwin
was a 36 -year -old car guy who ran a local vintage
restoration shop. He was well -known, well -liked,
and unfortunately for him, a trusted friend of
Mark Richards. Now, they worked together on various
things. Mark had helped renovate his house. They
would talk shop, hang out, drink a couple beers.
But now to Mark, what with his new kingdom that
needed funding, Baldwin wasn't a friend anymore.
He was a Mark. Pun intended. He was the perfect
solution to the cash problem that stood between
Richards and his medieval wet dream. See, Baldwin
was known to carry large amounts of cash on him
at all time. He also kept a lot of valuables
in his home, and these are all things that Richards
knew from working with and for Baldwin on his
property. So Richards needed funding to launch
his coup, and Baldwin had what he needed, and
he was... Pretty much is going to take it from
him. But Mark wasn't about to get his hands dirty
alone. He called upon his trusty Knights, 17
year old Chris cross and David Hoover, who I
mentioned earlier and a 18 year old Andrew Campbell,
who looking back on it, he kind of got the raw
end of the deal. Like Hoover was promised that
he would be the Duke of angel Island. Whereas
Andrew was just offered land and status, which
I mean, apples and oranges might be like. I'll
give you your horseless carriage. You mean that
the gremlin? Yeah. Or the Pinto. Which one is
mine? Yeah. But anyways, Richard's called a meeting
of the Knights of the kids table and laid out
their mission. Knights of Chuckie cheese. He
laid out their mission. Kill Richard Baldwin,
steal everything and use the money to start Pendragon.
On the night of July 6, 1982, Richards lured
Baldwin to the shop under the pretense of discussing
classic cars. Just casual hang sesh, crack a
couple old cold ones, talking cars. Like, no
reason for Baldwin to be suspicious. Yeah. Now,
while Baldwin was distracted, probably talking
about something car -related, whatever, Richards
gave the signal. He scratched his head, which
is a pretty simple but stupid gesture, but...
What it meant was it's go time. Oh, my God. I
would accidentally do that signal like all the
fucking time. That's why it's so fucking stupid.
I scratched my head more than anyone. Like, I
would walk in and do that. But anyways, so what
that signal meant was that it was go time. So
Hoover crept up behind Baldwin and swung a metal
baseball bat into his skull. Baldwin collapsed
to the floor, either stunned or dying. Hoover
just hit him again and again and again. Then,
with Richards and or Campbell assisting, Baldwin
was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and face
with a knife and a chisel. You'd think they would
have brought swords with them. Honestly, you
would think. Yeah, or like a lance. Like, what
are we doing here? Well, it wasn't the cleanest
or most efficient kill on record, but hey. Well,
that's what happens when you hire teenagers to
help you carry out your weird space renaissance
dream. Yeah, but at least the hard part's over.
That's done. Problem solved. Yeah, so time to
get to work. They went straight to his house
and cleaned it out. Cash, checks, credit cards,
collectibles, anything of value, they took it.
They then returned to the body. wrapped it in
a plastic tarp, tied it with a cord, and dragged
it onto Baldwin's own motorboat. And in the early
hours of July 7th, the three conspirators set
out into the San Pablo Bay and once out far enough,
dumped the body overboard and hoped that the
current would just do the rest. My understanding
of true crime is that the current never does
its job. I feel like that body came right back.
Well, once back on land, Richards got to work
playing innocent. Oh, what? Baldwin's dead? Oh,
my. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, my lucky stars. Is that
a thing? Someone has killed my squire. But behind
closed doors, he started spending his ill -gotten
gains fast and stupidly. The same day that he
dumped the body. He went on a little celebration
shopping spree, and over the course of the following
days, he forged Baldwin's name on checks, used
his credit cards, and because you can't make
this shit up, he bought himself a boat. Of course
he did. He probably also got like a ton of really
nice D20 sets, you know, like the metal ones,
and all the rule books for D &D. 82 was it dnd
i don't know when dnd started oh was it oh yeah
you're right you're right no it was the 80s because
that's when everyone got scared of satan yeah
so 80 yeah i mean it makes it could be i have
no idea but maybe later on in the 80s but either
way this is the guy who like owns all the dnd
books but can't find anyone to play with yeah
he would have fucking loved dnd if he he would
have he would have he would honestly warhammer
naturally I honestly think that if D &D had been
around, this wouldn't have happened. Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely. This guy would still be alive and
detailing classic cars. Yeah. And this other
guy would just be going to rent fairs and, you
know, sexually harassing women. But I mean, I
think it's kind of like the same thing. Like
you hear a lot about how like. like the reason
why we don't have many serial killers, like,
you know what I mean? It's because like the internet,
if people have an outlet for those things, I
mean, there still are. And now we don't have
serial killers, we just have mass shooters, but
it's a lot of, it's kind of like they're weird
fantasies. Like they can see and or role play
it online. I feel like if he had D and D he could,
that was a good outlet for his fucking weird
fantasies. Right. Right. No, no, that I completely
agree. Yeah. I think that. I think that, like,
90 % of the crimes committed by, like, crazy
morons back in the day could have been solved
by just watching, like, Game of Thrones. Something.
Anything. But, yeah, for a minute there, the
plan looked like it had actually worked, and
Pendragon was a fucking go. Unfortunately, though,
the fantasy didn't last forever. The cracks started
to show almost immediately. Hoover, the 17 -year
-old golden boy of Pendragon, he could not keep
his mouth shut. Of course not. He started bragging
to classmates, to friends, to anyone who gave
him five minutes and a handjob. Anyone who even
looked his way. He talked about the murder, about
Pendragon, about how he was going to rule over
Angel Island once the new order took over. Oh,
my God. Yeah, and it didn't take long before
word... got to law enforcement, and right around
this same time, you called it, the body came
back. I knew it! I knew it! Yeah, so on July
20th, 1982, a tugboat operator spotted something
in the waters of San Pablo Bay. It was a tarp,
tangled in cable, bobbing at the surface. Inside
was the decomposing body of Richard Baldwin,
his skull caved in, face and chest punctured
with stab wounds and for law enforcement it wasn't
like a mystery for very long obviously we're
not dealing with like the higher echelon of the
criminal underworld here no absolutely not and
I know I like joked about it but I do feel horrible
for this poor fucking guy like he's just being
friends with the weird dude he's like hey you
know he likes medieval shit no big deal like
what a horrible situation Like, this poor guy
is being friends with somebody who definitely
had no business having friends based on his ridiculous
ideas. This is fair. And his only reward for
being a kind human being was being murdered by
fucking Uther Pendragon over here. Like, what
a horrible situation. True. To be fair, though,
if it was with swords and, like, a broad axe,
like, I think... I'd be an okay way to go. I
wouldn't feel too bad about that. You know, instead
he died with a chisel. Yeah, that's fuck. That's
gnarly. That's got to hurt so bad. Yeah. Holy
shit. Well, technically he was killed. I think
probably by the multiple metal baseball. Yeah,
I think that's it. But anyways, we're getting
taken out by a fucking Rosalyn. Now, when police
began digging into Baldwin circle, all roads.
obviously led back to mark richards and his two
teenage employees like i said there was rumors
whispers strange behavior hoover just fucking
talking shit constantly uh and richard you mean
the brilliant mind behind future castle was unable
to thwart the police in their investigation yeah
and uh the fact that richards was suddenly spending
a bunch of money even though everyone knew he
had a failing business it kind of threw up some
red flags so By August 1982, the fantasy had
fully collapsed. Mark Richards was arrested and
charged with first -degree murder, burglary,
and criminal conspiracy. Cops picked him up,
but, you know, not during some secret meeting
or bunker raid. But while he and his teenage
co -conspirators were allegedly trying to dump
more evidence. Because of course, why wouldn't
it be that? While wearing suits of armor and
crowns. Just the loudest. Yeah. I just picture
the cops pulling up behind them and they're wearing
fully clad in medieval armor and they have to
turn their whole bodies to look and then they
raise their visor and they're like, oh shit,
it's the fuzz. Quick, run! And it's just like,
clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink. Sounds
like a fucking Scooby -Doo chase scene. They
hit one of them with a taser and the metal armor
just arcs off the armor and hits the other ones.
God, I wish it was that so bad, but you know,
it wasn't. It sucks. No, of course not. No, it's
three morons. Well, one moron in two literal
children. Now, from the second that Mark Richards
was in handcuffs, he denied everything. Of course
he did. He claimed he wasn't even present when
Baldwin was killed. Yeah, he was on Mars at the
time. He had no idea what happened. And that
the murder was the result of a rogue act that
he had nothing to do with. But the evidence...
Nothing at all to do with it. ...obviously told
a different story. Richard's fingerprints were
on the murder weapon. His handwriting was on
Baldwin's forged checks. Baldwin's stolen property,
including a ring, credit cards, and collectibles,
were found in Richard's house. The plastic tarp
and electrical cord used to wrap the body matched
items from Richard's own supplies. And then the
biggest crack of all was that Hoover and Campbell
flipped almost immediately. Oh, yeah, of course
they did. Yeah, of course they did. Yeah, faced
with the weight of the evidence and the guilt
of what they'd done, both of them... immediately
confessed and when they did it wasn't just about
the murder they brought the entire Pendragon
plot into the light so fantastic yeah we touched
on what Pendragon like what it was and what they
were planning but here's a little more thorough
breakdown of what it was and what they before
you get into the breakdown just tell me did did
they sign their confessions with like an old
-timey wax seal They had one of those rings where
they had to, like, press it on. Fuck, dude. I
wish. The entire confession is written in old
English. Oh, yeah. They had a fucking quill.
There was an inkwell. Transcribed by monks by
candlelight. The first letter on the pages is
this giant drawing. Just massive. Yeah. So what
they found out was that investigators, while
searching Richard's home, found maps and aerial
photographs of Marin County marked with strategic
targets, including bridges, government buildings,
and power infrastructure. Now, this one is kind
of wild because it's 82. You don't just get those
off of Google Maps. He had to go to a county
clerk's office or something. Yeah, he had to
go to the assessor's office and fill out paperwork.
Yeah. You don't just come across maps and aerial
photographs of an entire County. Like you have
to like request this stuff, which I mean, maybe
not, but I maybe nowadays that would throw up
some major red flags. Maybe an 82 is a little
different. I mean, it is pre nine 11. So, well,
you know, also like it probably, it probably
like raised his suspicions a little bit when
an arrow flew through the window with his request
wrapped around it. Fuck dude. I'm going to choke.
God damn it. Give me your records, wench. Before
he walks into the room, he has one of the other
dudes fucking bust in with a trumpet and announce
him. An awkward teenager with an extremely long
horn. That's what I picture. Hear ye, hear ye.
Alright, sorry. I just, I'm... Oh, God, this
is just amazing. Yeah, they also found hand -drawn
blueprints for homemade laser weapons, plans
for improvised machine guns along with typed
instructions on how to build them from scratch,
notebooks detailing a new form of government
that would be installed post -coup, a neo -feudal
monarchy with Richards obviously at the top of
it. recruitment materials, listing young followers
with assigned titles and land grants, and pages
of political ramblings outlining how Pendragon
would restore just rule after seizing control
of the region. This wasn't just a dude LARPing
with his friends. It could have ended up in a
Waco scenario if it really got down to it. Thank
God he is the most incompetent person alive.
Oh yeah, dude, it's not great. Yeah, so Richards
envisioned pretty much a scenario where bridges
like the Golden Gate in Richmond, San Rafael
would be destroyed, cutting off Marin County
from the outside world. And once isolated, his
forces, quote unquote, teenage knights, and whoever
else he could possibly recruit, would take control
of local government offices, eliminate opposition,
and install Richards as the new sovereign ruler.
And then the final phase included placing a laser
cannon on top of Mount... which is Marin's highest
point to shoot down military aircraft and hold
off the National Guard. The laser cannon. Oh,
my God. Yeah. This is just like the biggest fucking
nerd on Earth. But he's not even a nerd because
nerds are smart. No. Like, I know nerds. Nerds
are smart. They're not fucking... They would
have had, like, a good plan. This guy's a goddamn
dweeb. I was going to say, there's a difference
between, like, a nerd and a dork. This dude's
an absolute dork. He's a total dork. We're just
not going to lie. It's a word that I feel like
we should use more often. I think dork is really
funny. I actually keep thinking of Leonard Lake,
that serial killer who built the bunkers underground
because he couldn't get women to like him, so
he would abduct them. Was it Charles Ng? Yeah,
Leonard Lake and Charles Ng. This guy is like
Leonard Lake, but way worse. In terms of stupidity,
not like crime. I was going to say, because I
think Leonard Lake and Charles Zink were pretty
fucking funny. No, Leonard Lake used to go to
Ren Fairs, though. He actually had a goat that
only grew one horn, and he kept calling it a
unicorn. That's pretty fucking rad. Not going
to lie. But like, bro, it's a goat. It's not
a unicorn. It's just a goat. No, but that's pretty
funny. It is. It wasn't for the fact he was a
terrible monster. Yeah, it would be a little
funny, but I feel like this guy and Leonard Lake
would have been best friends because they were
both active around the same time, too. Well,
no. His best friend was Charles Ng. Charles Ng
made it known that they were best friends. You
have no idea what I bring to this friendship.
You have no idea what I bring to this friendship.
But no, I get what you're saying. Yeah. All right.
But yeah. Oh, and also Richards, like I mentioned
earlier, had titles ready. Hoover was promised
that he'd be the Duke of Angel Island, complete
with territory and power once Pendragon took
control. Other followers were reportedly offered
similar roles. So it was a cult wrapped in medieval
mythology powered by delusion and dripping in
ego. But here's the thing. when I was researching,
they kept saying other followers. He didn't really
have other followers. It was more like he openly
talked about this to a lot of people and people
would probably just go, Oh yeah, cool. Yeah,
no, that sounds pretty rad. And then you just
had a bunch of teenagers who yes, and did him
as he bought them like cases of Milwaukee, you
know, Milwaukee's best. Yeah. So he probably
took that as like a, hell yeah that's another
night for my fucking round table and write that
but really it was just the two dudes so i don't
want the kids are like yeah right my leash just
i need another cult 40 before we get started
yeah i didn't want to like people to think that
like i'm just leaving out the fact that there
was a huge cult following around him there wasn't
it was just the two yeah he he assumed more people
would follow him weird that the guy who came
up with future castle would be so Unable to tell
what people like. Yeah. Now, during the trial
in 1984, all of this was entered into evidence.
The prosecution, led by future DA Edward Barbarian,
cool name, I'm sure. That's a pretty awesome
name, actually. Barbarians at the gate, if you
will. Honestly, it fits so well into the Arthurian.
He used Pendragon to destroy Richard's credibility
and expose his motives. They argued that this
wasn't just about money. It was about control,
power, creating a kingdom, and killing Baldwin
wasn't random. It was step one in the blueprint
for this revolution. Now, you want to know what
Richard's defense was? Can you guess? I'll give
you three guesses. Goddamn. Witchcraft. Like
a real defense. I want you to know, this is like...
Pretend you're his defense attorney. You're faced
with all of this Pendragon shit. What defense
do you come up with for this man? Insanity, temporary
insanity, naturally. Okay, that's not it. The
Twinkie defense, have you heard of this? Have
you heard about this? Have you seen this? Where
a guy who tried to get away with murder by saying
that he was crazy on sugar from Twinkies? No,
it wasn't that. Okay. Self -defense. That would
have been a wild one. Yeah, in self -defense,
I beat him over the head repeatedly with a baseball
bat and then stabbed him, not only with a knife,
but also a chisel in the face and stomach. No,
it's... Sarge. It was just a sci -fi novel that
I was writing. Oh, God. It's just, you know,
I'm just doing research, bro. He claimed that...
He actually claimed that the documents were part
of a work in progress called Imperial Marin.
This guy took Star Wars way too seriously. That's
what happened. Star Wars came out in 77 and he's
like, I'm in. Imperial Marin was just a fun little
dystopian fantasy about local warlords and coup
d 'etats. The maps were just props. The weapon
plans, that's world building, obviously. The
bridge bombings and laser cannons, that's just
creative writing. I had no intention of doing
any of this. That's why I killed a guy. But obviously
that's just like the lamest lie in history. Yeah,
it's the stupidest shit ever. Of course. Yeah,
but because witness after witness, including
Hoover and Campbell, testified that Richards
never once said this was a novel, he held meetings,
showed them the maps, assigned titles, spoken
absolutes. Also committed murder. Also committed
murder. Pendragon wasn't a maybe, it was a someday
kind of thing. Oh, definitely. But after weeks
of testimony, evidence, and like... what -the
-fuck kind of moments in the courtroom, the trial
of Mark Richards came to a close, and the jury
was left with two possible versions of reality.
One, Mark Richards was a cold, manipulative killer
who orchestrated a murder -for -profit using
a fantasy cult as a weapon to control vulnerable
teenagers and finances personal war on reality.
Or two, he was just a misunderstood sci -fi author
writing a book called Imperial Marin, and it's
all just a... big wacky misunderstanding involving
blood maps, weapons, schematics, and a dead guy
in a tarp. And that he was present during a murder
of the guy in the top. No, no, it's no, I don't
know. He's just, no, no, no. Okay. Yeah. No,
you know what, you know what you're doing. You're
thinking about it. Yeah. Don't don't think about
it. Think about it. Yeah. But yeah, it didn't
take long for the jury to decide. They deliberated
for four days, carefully reviewing every. What?
Yeah, I know. It's way longer than it should
be. Yeah, I'm saying like in a situation like
this, if I were the jury foreman, they'd be like,
OK, now the jury is going to deliberate and be
like, you know what? Actually, you guys good?
Yeah. Yeah. He's guilty. Yeah, definitely. They
just walk out and then just circle back around
and come out the other door. You know what they
did? They probably sequestered the jury in a
really nice hotel and everybody just wanted to
get like they had massages scheduled. Oh, yeah.
They were like, bro, listen, I'm taking time
off work and getting paid. This shit's free.
I'm getting room service for they're milking
it. Yeah. You know, either that or they were
just like, this is so stupid that we have to
be missing something. Yeah. But, you know, like
day four when they're just like they have their
mud mask on. Someone's like, you guys going to
like fucking talk about this or what? Like, oh,
shit. Yeah, you're right. Sorry. Guilty. One
guy comes in with a charcuterie board from the
hotel. Yeah. He's guilty. They ran out of olives.
So it was a. But in the end, they returned a
unanimous verdict of guilty. Hopefully, I would
hope so. Easily. I hope one dude isn't like,
well, I don't know. The book sounds kind of cool.
Yeah, that one dude is also wearing a purple
robe. He's carrying a scepter. He's got a scepter.
He said, I can be king of San Francisco. So what
was he convicted of? He was convicted of first
degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder. burglary
and the special circumstances of murder for profit
and solicitation of others to kill. Now it's
these special circumstances that are pretty much
key because once the jury agreed, Richards had
not only committed the murder for gain, but also
had recruited others to carry it out. The sentence
became automatic, which is life in prison without
the possibility of parole. So no appeal, no early
release, just. chilling in a cell for a lifetime.
Now his teenage accomplices were sentenced separately.
So Cross and Hoover, who swung the bat and stabbed
Baldwin, was sentenced to 26 years to life. He
later regretted parole, but the decision was
overturned by then -Governor Jerry Brown, who
said Hoover still posed a threat to society.
And Andrew Campbell, who cooperated and testified,
received a lighter sentence. I don't know what
that sentence was. At the risk of pissing off.
uh, Jellaby offer from the dead Kennedys. I got
to stand behind this decision by Jerry Brown.
Yeah, I think it's a safe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
He made the right call. Now, as for Pendragon,
it never made it past the planning stages, obviously,
because everyone involved is a fucking idiot.
Uh, no bridges were bombed. Obviously no governments
were overthrown. No laser cannons ever made it
to the top of Mount Tam. Uh, all that remained
were some. folders full of fantasy, a dead dude
in a bay in a kingdom built on just bullshit.
I feel like this should be a movie. Yeah, I think
it would be really fun. With the exception of
the murder, this is fucking hilarious. It's pretty
good, but you have to involve... We'll get to
it. Now, you think that would be the end of it,
obviously. Yeah, naturally. Mark Richards wasn't
done. He wasn't going to go out as some... failed
cult leader and convicted murderer, he was going
to rewrite the narrative. And in prison, he found
- And become a failed CIA operative who's been
to space. No. In prison, he found a new battleground.
That is the internet. So after his conviction,
Richards began spinning a new story, one where
he wasn't a killer, but a whistleblower. a secret
space program commander, a man who had been framed
by powerful forces because he quote -unquote
knew too much. Now for years, the only people
paying attention were a handful of fringe conspiracy
types. That is until 2013 when one woman walked
into California State Prison in Vacaville and
changed everything. That woman is Carrie Cassidy,
founder of Project Camelot. Oh God, these fucking
dorks. Now Cassidy was a self -proclaimed truth
seeker, UFO researcher, A walking megaphone for
bullshit. And made Marion cosplayer. After visiting
Richards, she emerged from the prison gates fully
convinced that he wasn't a murderer, but a cosmic
patriot locked away by reptilian -controlled
shadow governments who feared what he knew. I
will never forgive David Icke for inventing reptilians
because this shit is everywhere. Oh, yeah. Now,
from this moment forward, Cassidy became Richard's
mouthpiece, conducting over a dozen interviews,
taking notes during visitations, since recording
wasn't allowed. She had to write everything down
with a pen and pencil, then racing back to her
camera to deliver the gospel according to Mark.
It must have been really hard for her to get
all the calligraphy down. She broadcasts stories
of interstellar wars, alien councils, psychic
warfare, time travel sabotage, Nazi saucers,
sentient ships, raptor royalty, moon bases, and
secret missions that coincidentally matched the
exact same sci -fi plot points Richards used
to lure two teenagers into murder. Crazy, right?
Amazing. Amazing. All those stories that I told
in part one, they all came from Cassidy's videos.
They're not whistleblower testimony. bedtime
stories from a convicted killer who wanted to
make a new identity for himself. Jesus Christ.
And Cassidy lapped it up. Of course. She pushed
the narrative that Mark had been framed by the
Illuminati, imprisoned to silence his interstellar
service record. She claimed he'd been leading
the fight against alien threats since his teens,
that he was a Navy captain, a decorated commander,
a Rhodes scholar, a government advisor. But like
I said, the reality of it is that he never served
in the military. He was attending community college
during the Vietnam War. He has no record at Oxford.
His only verified degree is a bachelor's in history,
and his quote -unquote command experience exists
entirely in his own brain and Cary Cassidy's
YouTube channel. That is so weird that he has
a degree in history yet didn't understand how
it all turned out for the Knights. well maybe
i don't know i mean people fucking still white
supremacists talk about the fourth reich like
that's true okay yeah that's fair yeah and then
hey that's no way to talk about elon musk all
right he's just trying he's trying But that didn't
stop the myth from spreading. To this day, Cassidy
continues to post quote -unquote intel from Richards
via his wife, Joanne, who also runs a nonprofit
called Earth Defense Headquarters. He has a fucking
wife? Yeah. That's a whole other thing. Okay.
She runs a nonprofit called Earth Defense Headquarters,
which is a site dedicated to publishing his writings
and further entrenching the fiction. And somehow
people believe it. They believe that he flew
Minerva, the sentient starship. that he fought
reptilians in Antarctica, that he brokered peace
with bug aliens in Bolivia, that he liberated
Dolce Base, and that he saved the moon. Yeah,
they believe in Captain Mark Richards, but the
state of California knows him by a different
name, which is inmate number B33920. So there
you go. That is the conclusion of the story of
Captain Mark Richards. How are you feeling, buddy?
You look good. You look... This couldn't have
turned out better. Yeah, no, you got it from
beginning to end. I was just enthralled with
this story. Holy shit. Yeah, I love it so much.
The only downside is that I know I know Mark
Rich. I keep wanting to call him Captain Mark
Rich. But the one thing that sucks about this,
and I know he's not directly receiving any sort
of like monetary. whatever but carrie cassidy
has a huge following his wife has that non -profit
whatever but you you know that he's somehow like
making money off this you know what i mean like
you know that somehow yeah there's got to be
money in this commissary coming from like duped
people who just desperately want there to be
like a middle ages version of star trek yeah
like you like in this fucking annoying but yeah
sarge Any thoughts, questions, concerns? Do you
want to? Oh, my God. This couldn't have turned
out better. Just the whole story is just fucking
amazing. I know I was skeptical in the beginning,
but goddamn, this turned out just fantastic.
What an absolute knob. Sarge, listen, you know
I would never string you along without any payoff.
Nope. And that was my fault for getting real
mad about his. many nonsense beliefs but to just
just perfect to your credit though we can only
talk about so many grifters for so long before
it's just like fuck these guys you know well
I think the thing that bothered me about it in
the beginning was just like you can't always
be the hero like you have to like put in a couple
of losses there to make the story believable
you know what I mean Well, the thing about Carrie
Cassidy and Project Camelot is that all the quote
-unquote whistleblowers of the secret space program,
because she's had a bunch of people on, dude,
and they're all fucking awful. It's all Alex
Jones -ian sphere kind of thing. Yeah, yeah.
Carrie Cassidy, I don't want to call her... She's
not... How do I word this? A lot of conspiracy
theories, and especially like... secret space
programs and reptilians. And also it's, it's
all based in some sort of antisemitism or some
sort of racism kind of thing. But the thing is,
I don't think Carrie Cassidy thinks about it
that way. You know what I mean? Like she, she
genuinely believes that there are different races
of aliens. Like the people that come on, they're
telling the story, but it's all like, you know,
The reptilians. It's like a wink and a nod. There's
like a dog whistle. Like, yeah, we're, we're
talking about Jewish people. I think, but like,
I think she's like, she's a true believer. I
think she is a true believer and it's kind of
crazy. So I don't, I don't, I mean, I blame her
for a lot of things, but her believing this,
I, like I a hundred percent. Well, like she's
probably, she's probably dealing with like some
very untreated mental illness. To be fair, she's
also... And Mark is just yes -anding her all
the way. To be fair, she is also a huge QAnon
person, so I don't know. Oh, yeah, well, obviously.
Yeah, she's not great. She's not, like, she's
a big Trump supporter. She believed that when,
like, Biden was in office that Trump was still
the real president working behind the scenes.
Which is weird because everyone voted out Biden
for doing a terrible job, even though... by their
own logic trump was president yeah i don't know
dude um yeah i don't it doesn't it doesn't track
but i actually just saw a picture of her and
that's the face of an insane person i don't think
she's like if you google her face yeah you can
tell just by looking at her That she's fucking
cuckoo banana pants. I follow her on Instagram.
I've been tagging her in every single post I've
made about Mark Richards in hopes that she would
like see. You're going to get people knocking
on your door. Well, I just wanted to see if she'd
see it. That'd be really funny. I forget where
I was going. She's going to say that you're part
of the deep state. I remember where I was going
with this. You were saying how you can't always
have wins. You have to have some sort of loss.
Not on Carrie Cassidy's show. There's no room
for that. Every whistleblower, every person that
comes on as part of the secret space program,
has worked at Dulce, anything like that. They're
all heroes. They're all patriots. They don't
ever lose. I don't know if they talk to one another,
but they all confirm other people's stories.
It's a yes -and thing. Yeah, it's a yes -and
thing. That's how conspiracy theories work. It's
just a big yes -and game, and then anytime somebody
pushes you, you're like, well, that's what they
want you to think. Here's the thing, though.
I don't think this is conspiracy theory. I think
this is just one long grift, and Carrie Gassidy
isn't part of the grift. She's just promoting
the grift, but I don't think she is. You have
to wonder how unskilled are these fucking morons
that the most amount of money they could make
is off of maybe the 10 people that believe this
nonsense. Bro, Carrie Cassidy has a way bigger
following than you think she does. I mean, even
if it's a couple million people, even if her
videos on YouTube are getting like 30 ,000 views,
that's like what? I don't think she's on YouTube
anymore. I think it's mostly Rumble. or whatever
the the right wing thing it's i know that she's
on true social she is still on facebook and she
has the quite the following there um but yeah
i think she's perpetuating a grift like she's
not part of the grift but she'll like promote
people's books and all that stuff like because
people write books which is fucking crazy um
yeah it's just all bad it's all it's all just
right wing grifter shit and like i said the the
the circles Between her, Alex Jones, and all
those, it's kind of... It's like a Venn diagram
that's almost a circle as far as guests and talking
points go. Only hers are more shrouded in space
conspiracy while Alex Jones is just crazy. It's
very, very similar. See, the thing is, I don't
think Alex Jones is crazy. I think he is probably
the sanest out of the group. He just knows if
he keeps perpetuating this nonsense... He's going
to continue to rake. Well, he was going to continue
to rake in money until all of his assets were
sieved. All right. So I just went on Carrie's
Facebook. She has a documentary coming out. Oh,
God, I'm so excited. So I just want to see what's
going on. Carrie Cassidy. her actual Facebook,
she has 5 ,000 followers. So not that big project.
And that's way bigger, but she just posted this
on April 10th, uh, that she's in a documentary
called nexus to disclosure. The truth is classified.
I don't know how they know that. How do they
know the truth? The truth, you know, if you classify
it, it's probably the truth. That's why you're
classifying it, but also, all right, so I'm going
to read you the description that she posted on.
Please do. Uh, and the worst is how she describes
herself. This is the synopsis of this documentary.
This documentary delves into the decades -long
groundbreaking investigations of prominent women
at the forefront of the UFO disclosure movement.
It follows investigative journalist, author,
and documentarian Linda Moulton Howe Regressive
hypnotherapist and author Yvonne Smith. Renowned
speaker and author Laura Eisenhower, the great
-great -granddaughter of former President Eisenhower.
An investigative journalist and author Carrie
Cassidy. God damn it. Host and investigative
journalist Apola. Austria guides viewers through
a comprehensive exploration of their work, connecting
the dots between their findings to reveal a compelling
narrative of government coverups and extraterrestrial
phenomena. The documentary aims to expose the
hidden truth surrounding UFOs and their impact
on humanity, drawing on the collective experience
of these influential women to shed light on one
of history's greatest mysteries. Amazing. We
have to watch this. I wish we could do like a
live watch. There has to be a way. I assume there
is. Yeah, we got to capture our immediate reaction.
Project Camelot's been doing this since 2005?
God damn. Jesus. They have almost 100 ,000 followers
on Instagram. That is bananas, dude. Yeah, but
how many people are following them as a joke?
I don't know, dude. Some of these things are
getting some engagement. There's one Instagram
account that I follow specifically because all
of the comments are people making fun of it.
Is it kind of like that one girl on TikTok who
just tells dad jokes and everyone's like, shit
in my mouth, please. You know what I'm talking
about? That's what I'm talking about. It's not
the exact what I'm talking about, but that's
exactly why I follow this account. Gotcha, gotcha.
Carrie Cassidy smiles like she is currently getting
a root canal. Look at this picture of her. I
don't know if you can see. Yeah, right? Check
out this picture. Oh, yeah, dude. No, she's a
nightmare. That's the smile you make when someone
farts and you're trying to be polite. Oh, goddamn.
All right. But, yeah, that's it. I think that's
all I got to say. I don't got any more on Carrie
Cassidy. Not Carrie Cassidy. Did kind of turn
into that. But, yeah, Captain Mark Richards.
We're done. Mark Richards. That's it. Captain
Mark Richards, bro. Excalibur. Yeah. Maybe I
can fucking find a way to make fun of you. Excelsior.
I don't think we can. Excelsior. We should write
him a letter. Write? Oh, my God, dude. I think
I'm going to write Mark Richards a letter. Yeah,
because we can't get him on the show, but we
could write him a letter. Be like, hey, I started
following your exploits from Carrie Cassidy and
Project Hamlet. What's all this shit about Pendragon?
Or you could take it from another angle and be
like, hey, we met on Mars. Yo, bro, Mark, what's
up, dude? Hey, man. Buddy, I haven't seen you
since when we were on Mount... Ah, shit, I can't
remember the name of that goddamn mountain. Eh,
it's whatever. All right. Yeah, that was fun.
Brilliant. Episode two. I love this. A little
bit more exciting than the first. I mean, it
depends on what you think is exciting. Oh, God,
this is so exciting. This is so much fun. Yeah.
All right. Sarge, with that out of the way, do
you want to, you got anything you want to plug?
You got anything you want to talk about? Yeah.
Coloring book still. Sajasupernormal .com. $9
.99. Get yourself a coloring book. Just buy it.
And don't question it. Don't question it. Not
even for once. Don't even think about it. Exactly.
Spend the $9 .99. The coloring book will make
you happy. Exactly. All right. If you want to
follow us, you can follow us on Instagram, Crypto
Cocktail. Follow us on TikTok, Crypto Cocktail
Party. If you are Demi Lovato, come on the show.
I think that would be awesome. I think that would
be really cool. Demi, I don't know what other
videos he has. And there's a couple without.
without my shirt on and i'm just i'm scared yeah
i took a break today because it's easter i don't
want to annoy her on easter you know yeah that's
fair yeah i'll start i'll continue harassing
her tomorrow um leave us a rating and review
if you could it'd be awesome helps the show obviously
where you can naturally uh i always say five
stars scathing review i think is really funny
i think you could rate it five stars and just
be like this show sucks I'm fine with that. Yeah,
I think we're really funny. I think that's all
I got for that. With that out of the way, Sarge,
you want to say goodbye and I love you to the
audience? Hey, guys, goodbye and I love you.