Southern Discomfort

Spanish engineer Ignacio Daza designed Castillo de San Marcos as a hollow square with diamond-shaped bastions at each of its four corners. Named St. Pedro, St. Carlos, St. Augustine, and St. Pablo, the bastions connect by thick walls that provided soldiers with a good overview of the area, particularly the sea, from which the Spanish expected most of the attacks to come. From the bastions they could also shoot at the enemy from multiple directions, creating a crossfire effect. The walls, built from more than 400,000 blocks of coquina stone, with thickness ranging from 14 to 19 feet at the base and tapering to nine feet at the top, afforded the necessary protection from enemy fire. Castillo de San Marcos stands today as a monument to the Spanish empire’s 300-year occupation of Florida and to the interaction and clashes of cultural groups that built the unified nation that is the United States today. Constructed to protect Spain’s settlement in St. Augustine from pirate raids, hostile American Indian tribes, and neighboring imperial powers, the fortification is a symbol of the cultural and imperial struggles that shaped early North America. Never captured in battle, Castillo de San Marcos is both architecturally impressive as the oldest surviving masonry fortress in the United States and culturally significant because its stone walls are a testament to the endurance of this nation’s Latino heritage and to the other cultural groups that have played a role in its story.   Drink DuJour: It’s 2 oz of St. Augustine Florida Cane Sugar Vodka and 2 oz Mule Mix which is 4 parts lime juice, 2 parts simple syrup and 1 part ginger. Mix it in a Copper Mug with crushed ice. Top with club soda and garnish with fresh mint.   Sources : https://wanderwisdom.com/travel-destinations/Twenty-facts-about-St-Augustine-FL https://www.legendsofamerica.com/fl-staugustineghosts/ https://ghostcitytours.com/st-augustine/haunted-places/castillo-de-san-marcos/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_de_San_Marcos https://www.nps.gov/people/osceola https://www.staugustine.com/story/news/local/2010/03/21/fort-undergoing-major-repairs/16089958007/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uchee_Billy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Florida https://www.visitstaugustine.com/history/motor-age/castillo-menendez.php https://www.staugustinedistillery.com/blog/st-augustine-distillery-story

The Crescent Hotel was built in 1886 as a resort for the rich and famous, but quickly became unmanageable and fell into disrepair. In 1908, it was reopened as the Crescent College and Conservatory for Young Women. This institution closed down in 1924, and then opened again in 1930 as a junior college. After the college closed in 1934, the Crescent was leased as a summer hotel.   In 1937, it got a new owner, Norman G. Baker, who turned the place into a hospital and health resort. Baker, a millionaire inventor and radio personality, styled himself as a doctor, despite having had no medical training. He claimed to have discovered a number of "cures" for various ailments, including cancer, and launched frequent attacks on organized medicine, which he accused of being corrupt and profit-driven.   Having been run out of Iowa for practicing medicine without a license, Baker moved his cancer patients to Arkansas and advertised his new health resort at the Crescent. His "cure" consisted primarily of drinking the area's natural spring water. In 1940, federal charges were filed against Baker for mail fraud and he spent four years in prison. The Crescent Hotel was left ownerless until 1946. In the spring of 1946, the Crescent Hotel was purchased by John R. Constantine, Herbert E. Shutter, Herbert Byfield, and Dwight Nichols. On March 15, 1967, the hotel was nearly burned to the ground. The only living owner at this time was Dwight Nichols.   In 1997, Marty and Elise Roenigk purchased the Crescent Hotel for $1.3 million. They oversaw a six-year restoration and renovation of the hotel rooms. Marty Roenigk died in a car crash in 2009; Elise Roenigk remains the hotel's current owner. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.   Theodora's Spicy Secret Ghost Pepper Vodka Midori Watermelon Lemonade https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ar-crescenthotel/ http://www.americasmosthauntedhotel.com/ https://crescent-hotel.com/blog/unexplained-happenings-at-americas-most-haunted-hotel/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_Hotel_(Eureka_Springs,_Arkansas)  

Southern Serial Killers This episode April and Christi are joined with return guest host Kristen to discuss Southern Serial Killers: Donald Lee Evans, Aileen Wuornos, and The Storyville Slayer.   Drink du jour: Mississippi Fire AntSouthern Prohibition BrewingHattiesburg, MS Red Ale Imperial 8% ABV Roasted and toasted caramel notes layered between spicy, fruity and herbal hops Storyville Slayer Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StoryvilleSlayer State v. Elwood - https://caselaw.findlaw.com/la-court-of-appeal/1294530.html https://murderpedia.org/male.E/e/ellwood-russell.htm https://973thedawg.com/serial-killer-calls-howard-stern-clay-the-serial-killer-russell-ellwood/ https://murdermurder.news/news/the-storyville-slayer-part-ii Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Ciller (1993) Nick Broomfield oxygen.com Aileen Wuornos Timeline: “How She Became the Damsel of Death”, Crime News https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1997-05-28-9705271294-story.html   https://the-line-up.com/the-rest-area-killer-donald-leroy-evans   https://murderpedia.org/male.E/e/evans-donald-leroy.htm/   https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ms-supreme-court/1046084.html#:~:text=%C2%B6%201.,he%20confessed%20to%20murdering%20Beatrice/   https://www.deseret.com/1991/8/17/18936395/charges-filed-in-slaying-of-10-year-old-girl/

They say that the Wampus cat used to be a beautiful Indian woman. The men of her tribe were always going on hunting trips, but the women had to stay home. The Indian woman secretly followed her husband one day when he went hunting with the other men. She hid behind a rock, clutching the hide of a mountain cat around her, and spied on the men as they sat around their campfires telling sacred stories and doing magic. https://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/08/the_wampus_cat.html Amongst the most feared entities of all time, the black-eyed kids (or BEKs) are described as kids aged from 9 to 16, with otherwise normal physique and behavior, but completely out-of-the-world eyes. Their eyes, without any distinguishable pupil, iris, or sclera, are pitch-black, something like the evil entities from Grudge- the movie. They appear in either normal or a bit old-fashioned clothes and are said to speak in a tone too mature for their age. https://www.historicmysteries.com/brian-bethel-black-eyed-kids/ Drink du jour: Batsquatch  Rogue Ales Newport, OR Hazy India Pale Ale 6.7% ABV Wampuscat Black-eyed kids  

Angola: Alcatraz of the South. The largest maximum-security prison in the U. S.Part 2 Drink du jourDrive-Thru: Tiger BloodParish Brewing Broussard, LASour - Fruited Kettle Sour