Elmer McCurdy: The Bandit Who Wouldn't Give Up - #213
Shaken and Disturbed
John Thrasher and Daryn Carp
4.6 • 549 Ratings
🗓️ 18 January 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The bizarre true story of Elmer McCurdy begins with a failed outlaw and ends with one of the strangest postmortem journeys in American history. After his death, McCurdy’s embalmed body was mistaken for a prop and passed from carnival to sideshow, displayed and transported across the country for decades. This episode explores how a man became a macabre attraction and how his identity was finally uncovered long after the crowds moved on.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Shake It and Disturb. |
| 0:07.9 | This is our 2026 look. |
| 0:10.4 | We're both in black. |
| 0:11.8 | Black. |
| 0:12.1 | What else is new? |
| 0:13.0 | I've got, |
| 0:13.3 | Winston. |
| 0:14.5 | These are the last few times that we're going to see John Thrasher in his 30s. |
| 0:19.6 | Wow. |
| 0:20.6 | Wow. Really? Really? Really? Really? Jesus. How could you do this to me? Actually, when does this episode come out? Yeah, it comes out the week before my birthday. Wow. Okay. So this is the last time you're going to see him be 39 in his 30s at all. Get it. Soke, people, because this is it for all of us. |
| 0:57.3 | And those malefluous words are from John Thrashor, mother god, I am father god, Darren Karp, and you hear with us unshaken and disturbed. We have another exciting case, case and old case. But yet, happy New Year, everyone. If you haven't listened to our NMR, we just want to say that again because this will probably be your first case back. But, John, let's get right into it, huh? Well, I'm going to try to recover from you throwing me under the bus without any notice whatsoever. I don't listen to people. Since I'm marrying someone in their 40s, I have made a rule not to listen to anyone in their 40s. So is that what it is? |
| 1:11.2 | Good luck because you really had my ear on this podcast for 10 years. |
| 1:16.1 | And now that you're in your 40s, I'm going to be like, what? |
| 1:19.0 | Excuse me. |
| 1:19.8 | I am not in my 40s. |
| 1:21.3 | You are on mute. |
| 1:22.3 | You are on mute. |
| 1:24.9 | Well, yes, this is it. |
| 1:26.5 | Guys, my last episode is a 30-year-old man. Wow, here we go. And that's the crime of the week? It really is. Thank you, everyone. I'm calling the police after that one, actually. But anyway, guys, nice to see, hear you, see you, feel you again here on the show. Feel you again? I don't know know about that let me walk that one back a little bit |
| 1:45.0 | anyway all right let's get into this week's episode so on january first speaking of new years and |
| 1:51.8 | and and new times january first though 1880 yeah does as darren said this is a bit of a throwback |
| 1:59.0 | elmer j mccurdy which sounds like a loony tune but i love that yeah i love that. Elmer J. McCurdy, which sounds like a loony tune. |
... |
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