Too Close to Home Podcast

It was the night that changed everything. A devastating fire in a rural home in Tennessee resulted in the death of the children's grandparents, but there was no trace of Chloie or Christopher's remains. The event which sparked the longest running Amber alert in Tennessee history continues to draw questions, and TBI is no closer to solving the mystery of their disappearance. Did they run off into the woods, was kidnapping or foul play involved, or did the fire destroy the children's remains? We take a look at the prevailing theories and question what outcomes seem most likely based on anecdotal and forensic evidence.

We are continuing our trek through the Hawaiian islands by discussing a major part of their folklore... the Menehune! The Menehune are diminutive beings that were, and are still, believed to inhabit Hawaii, even predating the Polynesian migration to the islands. Nocturnal by nature, the Menehune are renowned for their feats of engineering and their mischievous nature, and structures purported to be built by them, such as the Kikiaola Ditch and the Alekoko Fishpond, still survive to this day. Are they firmly rooted in folklore, or are they a very real race of pygmy humans? 

The hit song "Stairway To Heaven" isn't the only thing with that name to be forbidden; take for example the Haiku Stairs, or Stairway To Heaven, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Once the home of secret United States Navy communication facilities, the Haiku Stairs used to be a popular hiking trail until its permanent closure in 1987; however, this didn't stop 18 year old Daylenn Pua from attempting the illegal hike in 2015. What follows next is a mysterious missing persons case that still remains unsolved to this day. What was the cause of Daylenn's disappearance? Was it due to a fatal fall from the stairs, or was it something more supernatural in nature? 

We open this closing chapter on the murder of Emmitt Till with the quick indictment of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, the individuals responsible for his brutal murder, and what David Halberstam called "the first great media event of the civil rights movement". Their subsequent acquittal and admittance of guilt in Look magazine caused tremendous outcry, led to Mamie's career in education, and influenced the actions of notable civil rights individuals such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. We then see the karmic justice of the perpetrators and other involved individuals, and discuss reparations and the legacy that Emmitt Till left behind; a legacy that is still felt in the United States today. 

We pick up Emmett Till's story with his journey from Chicago to Mississippi, where he learns very quickly that life is quite different, and the sharecropping life is not for him. In a time of kids being kids, a fateful decision to visit Bryant's Grocery would lead to a sequence of events which are still discussed and debated on today. We try to find the truth as we cover Emmett's last days and the murder which sparked the flames of the Civil Rights movement.