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The Escape Pod Traumedy
A traumedy about the trials and tribulations of people in their journeys of “escape”.
Escape what, you ask? ALL the things!
From trauma, crime, and unhealthy family cycles, to traffic and good deeds not going unpunished.
Like we said—all the things!
(Just tune in…you’ll understand.)
Co-hosted by Charity Doyle and Karabeth Borresen --The Escape Pod aims to connect, educate, entertain, and humanize through the lens of lived experience.
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Charity
If there’s a challenge to tackle or a heart to lift, Charity Doyle is usually in the thick of it with an idea (or five) ready to roll. Engineer by degree, leader by nature, Charity’s career has been a whirlwind tour from building water systems to building up people. She didn’t just help create OneHeart—she project-managed it into existence, then turned around and became its first CEO, steering the mission with equal parts grit and grace.
When she’s not dreaming up new ways to make communities stronger, Charity is busy founding startups like FOQUS, designed to help employers and jobseekers alike cut through the hiring noise—because everyone deserves a shot at meaningful employment. Her resume reads like a playlist of “let’s make things better,” from tutoring youth detainees to serving on executive boards in the health, professional student life, and entertainment industries.
You’ll find her in the EscapePod studio, too—mixing big laughs with big ideas, and making even the heaviest topics a little lighter. Whether she’s wrangling chaos or building a better world one human at a time, Charity brings the heart, the hustle, and a healthy dose of “let’s do this.” Buckle up: when Charity’s around, ordinary is never on the agenda.
KB
Karabeth "KB" joins the EscapePod studio alongside Charity on Season 2 to navigate the weird, wild, and often wounded stories of life with heart, humor, and a healthy dose of awkwardness.
KB wears many hats (and sometimes a headset): she’s the Brand & Marketing Director for OneHeart and its family of mission-driven ventures—including this podcast, HomeBrew Coffee Shop, and FOQUS, a smarter hiring platform. She’s been with OneHeart since day one, helping to shape its voice, share its impact, and spotlight the resilience of the humans it serves.
Known for her thoughtful creativity, overflowing optimism, and knack for finding the funny—even in the messy stuff—Karabeth is a natural storyteller and a relentless cheerleader for the underdog. She believes laughter really is medicine (second only to coffee), and she’s here to ask the questions, make you smile, and maybe even cry-laugh along the way.
Episodes
Friday Dec 13, 2024
Friday Dec 13, 2024
Summary of Episode
“Phrogging” (sounds like “frogging”) refers to the act of living in someone’s home without their knowledge or permission. It is not the same as squatting, and – in many ways – phrogging is much, much creepier. In the first of a two-part series on the subject, the Escape Pod co-hosts discuss a handful of phreaky phrogging incidents that might have you checking your closets. Twice.
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains content some listeners might find disturbing.
Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:
Topic #1 :53 Escaping persistent and, at times, very sophisticated scam artists.
Topic #2 8:47 Intro to topic.
Topic #3 15:50 NC college student experiences paranormal-like activity.
Topic #5 22:23 Woman finds an addict in her attic.
Topic #6 32:04 Phrogging from a phrogger’s POV.
Topic #7 40:18 Escapism, co-host-style.
Resources & Links
08/29/2023. Austin Harvey. https://allthatsinteresting.com/phrogging
08/31/2023. Michael Tsai. https://spectrumlocalnews.com/hi/hawaii/news/2023/08/31/-phrogger--sentenced-to-40-years-for-burglary--prison-killing
https://www.reddit.com/r/ForensicFanatics/comments/10h3lo3/has_anyone_ever_heard_of_or_experienced_a_real/
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https://www.escapepod.live
Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?
General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live
Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live
Friday Dec 06, 2024
Friday Dec 06, 2024
Involuntarily celibate. It could be fodder for a standup comedian, but these days, self-proclaimed “InCels” and the InCel Movement are no joke – even landing on Secret Service threat lists. Join co-hosts Julie and Charity back in The Escape Pod to wrap up a two-part series on extreme misogyny and an online community that poses a clear and present danger to the women they hate.
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains violence and other content listeners might find extremely disturbing.
Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:
Topic #1 :59 Escaping expensive habits
Topic #2 9:45 Intro to the InCel Movement
Topic #3 14:14 The young man who inspired the movement
Topic #5 30:00 Center for Countering Digital Hate’s analyses of online posts
Topic #6 38:37 OneHeart “Woohoos of the Week”!
Resources & Links
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43892189
8/13/21. Jonathan Griffin. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-44053828
3/1/24. Phil Helsel. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-incel-plotted-kill-women-college-sentenced-6-years-prison-rcna141473
9/23/22. Taylor Lorenz. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/22/incels-rape-murder-study/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Bianca_Devins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_Rodger
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56269095
https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/plymouth-shooting-jake-davidson-inqquest-b2263774.html
12/12/2022. Tim Stelloh. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-incel-plotted-slaughter-women-pleads-guilty-attempted-hate-crime-rcna51812
Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.
https://www.escapepod.live
Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?
General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live
Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live
Friday Nov 29, 2024
Friday Nov 29, 2024
Ten years before the word “Columbine” became synonymous with school shootings in America, a young man in Canada carried out a massacre at a college in Montreal. His motive? An extreme hatred for women, whom he thought were “stealing men’s jobs.” This tale of true crime happened in 1989, but the perpetrator’s attitude toward the female sex – unfortunately – is alive and well in some male circles today. This trip into The Escape Pod is the first in a two-part series on extreme misogyny and a little-known but highly dangerous online community of women-hating men, known as “InCels.”
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains violence and other content listeners might find extremely disturbing.
Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:
Topic #1 2:51 When misogyny reaches a whole new level.
Topic #2 8:38 The perpetrator’s background.
Topic #3 17:24 The day of the massacre.
Topic #5 32:00 Escapism, co-host-style!
Resources & Links
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/04/mass-shooting-1989-montreal-14-women-killed
https://theconversation.com/the-montreal-massacre-is-finally-recognized-as-an-anti-feminist-attack-128450
12/07/2019. James Morgan. https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/40106/20191207/three-decades-since-the-cole-polytechnique-mass-shooting-in-montr-al
https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/Marc_L%C3%A9pine
By unknown - http://www.philo5.com/Textes-references/LepineMarc_TexteIntegralDeSaLettre_891206.htm, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16837530
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https://www.escapepod.live
Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?
General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live
Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live
Friday Nov 22, 2024
Friday Nov 22, 2024
We are feasting on family dysfunction in The Escape Pod this week, as true crime takes on a holiday twist. (Special thanks to Reddit for giving generously content-wise, coming through BIG for the co-hosts when one asked the other, “Do you think you could find some good stories about holiday dinners gone wrong?” Indeed, she did!)
Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:
Topic #1 :52 Escaping arthritis, a wonky earlobe, and a wrong-way driver.
Topic #2 19:29 Intro to true crime, Thanksgiving-style!
Topic #3 33:04 Hostess requests reimbursement.
Topic #4 47:53 Holiday-inspired headlines!
Topic #5 58:35 Escaping the real world for rock concerts.
Resources & Links
https://aezoutbailbonds.com/10-of-the-wildest-thanksgiving-day-crimes-that-ever-took-place/
Ross Yoder. 11/23/23. https://www.buzzfeed.com/rossyoder/thanksgiving-horror-stories
https://www.ranker.com/list/people-recall-awkward-thanksgiving_dinners/samantha-dillinger
Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.
https://www.escapepod.live
Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?
General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live
Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live
Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday Nov 15, 2024
A female runner stops for a bathroom break and gets attacked from behind. Little did the predator know that he did not choose easy prey. Kelly Herron said, “Not today, mother f@#!er!” and she meant it, fighting back successfully in that moment and then starting a whole movement around her now-famous line. Join the co-hosts in The Escape Pod this week for an episode featuring true crime, a truly incredible escape artist, and tips from self-defense experts who want to give you a fighting chance, too.
Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:
Topic #1 :49 Co-host escapes a stinky situation.
Topic #2 8:57 Intro to Kelly’s story of escape.
Topic #3 23:31 Tips Kelly learned in self-defense class that saved her.
Topic #4 40:26 Advocate for following one’s intuition offers tactics to stay safe.
Topic #5 51:41 Escapism, co-host-style!
Resources & Links
https://www.girlswhofight.co/post/the-survival-signals-that-indicate-danger-the-gift-of-fear-by-gavin-de-becker
Jan 6, 2020. Caitlyn Pilkington. https://www.womensrunning.com/culture/assault-survivor-kelly-herron-story/
April 14, 2019. Maggie Ryan. https://hellogiggles.com/self-defense-moves-escape-attacker/
https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/kelly-herron-sexual-assault-story-45966885
https://www.crime-safety-security.com/Self-Defense.html
https://www.girlswhofight.co/post/ten-self-defense-strategies-women-need-to-know To sign up for Girls Who Fight Back Newsletter
Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.
https://www.escapepod.live
Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?
General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live
Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live
Friday Nov 08, 2024
Friday Nov 08, 2024
A woman is brutally attacked and murdered in her Ohio home in 1998. The only witness? Her 6-year-old granddaughter, whose eye-witness account helps to convict her “Uncle Clarence.” But Clarence’s wife is certain he didn’t commit the crime, and she makes it her mission to prove it.
Join co-hosts Julie and Charity in the Escape Pod this week, where a wife’s amateur sleuth skills help an innocent man escape a life sentence.
Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:
Topic #1 :35 Escaping bad backs, bladders, and bedtime habits.
Topic #2 9:19 Escaping prison – but not in the way you think!
Topic #3 24:47 The mind playing tricks with memories.
Topic #4 30:19 Our OneHeart “Woohoo of the Week!”
Resources & Links
https://video.hipstr.tv/feature/conviction-true-story-clarence-elkins
https://innocenceproject.org/cases/clarence-elkins/#:~:text=On%20December%2015%2C%202005%2C%20a,crime%20he%20did%20not%20commit
https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2015/06/02/wrongfully-convicted-man-challenges-ohio/23718232007/
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3202#:~:text=Early%20on%20the%20morning%20of,raped%20and%20left%20for%20dead
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3202
Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.
https://www.escapepod.live
Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?
General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live
Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live
Friday Nov 01, 2024
Friday Nov 01, 2024
Good kid, model student, high achiever – just a few of the descriptors bestowed on Sidney Powell during her high school years in Ohio. But college proved much more challenging, and some theorize that – rather than face her academic failures – Sidney turned on one of the people who loved her most. Is she a stone-cold murderer, or a young woman who suffered a mental break? On this episode of the Escape Pod, the co-hosts dive into a deep discussion about the desire to be perfect, and how that very mindset can be perfectly dangerous.
Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:
Topic #1 2:00 Trying to escape our own negative thoughts
Topic #2 14:46 Introduction to Sidney Powell
Topic #3 26:45 A blood-curdling phone call
Topic #4 32:28 A father speaks out
Topic #5 42:45 Escapism, co-host-style!
Resources & Links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff3spm-V-8Q Law & Crime Network “Killer Daughter Beat, Stabbed Mom to Death to Cover Up College Failures”
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/woman-who-beat-her-mom-with-skillet-stabbed-her-in-neck-nearly-30-times-to-conceal-suspension-from-college-is-sentenced-for-murder/
https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2023/10/19/sydney-powell-convicted-stabbing-death-mother-brenda-powell-akron-ohio-insanity-plea/71238220007/
https://people.com/sydney-powell-ohio-college-student-killed-mom-7972815
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goreXfyTaqY Crime Salad “The Murder of Brenda Powell”
Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.
https://www.escapepod.live
Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?
General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live
Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live
Friday Oct 25, 2024
Friday Oct 25, 2024
Hop in for a Halloween-inspired edition of the Escape Pod! This week, we turn up the volume on unexplained (and very eerie) encounters with people or things seemingly from “the beyond.” A deep-breathing, bodiless man? A spirit hell-bent on having clean hands? A ghost cat? Who knows?! But if you’re up for a (mostly) mild scare with a good dose of traumedy, then this episode is for you!
Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:
Topic #1 1:13 Co-host goes on ghost tour.
Topic #2 13:27 Meditating ghost gets caught on tape.
Topic #3 17:36 Strange encounter following fatal crash has lasting impact.
Topic #4 34:27 Child gets the last laugh.
Topic #5 39:50 Ghost cat haunts a coffee shop? Maybe!
Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.
https://www.escapepod.live
Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?
General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live
Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live
EscapePod
Join co-hosts Charity and KB, along with occasional guests, as they laugh (and cry) their way through past traumas and give tips to getting through tough times.
Life is full of ups and downs and it takes you to crazy places and we need each other to make it through.
Are you an escape artist? Consider becoming a patron and supporting the show!
Your support will help our small 3-person podcast team offset the costs associated with writing, producing, and promoting the show. Any amount is sincerely appreciated. What's more, your support will help us do what we do best: help others escape and break unhealthy cycles on their way to better lives.
Choose from the options below:
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This patron level is for supporters who are all-in!
~Get a special shout-out on the show.
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~Gain access to gated patron-only bonus content and ad-free episodes.
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I LOVE Escape Pod!
$5per month
This patron level is for supporters who are willing to give the monetary equivalent of a cup of coffee each month to support the costs associated with producing the show.
~Get a special shout-out on the show.
~Receive a hand-written thank you from the hosts with a special Escape Pod sticker.
~Gain access to gated patron-only bonus content and ad-free episodes.
~Participate in our patrons-only Facebook page.
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This patron level is in honor of people struggling in the crisis of poverty and who feel moved to support the show and our mission to help people just like them.
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Disclaimer
The EscapePod podcast and content posted is presented solely for general information, educational, and entertainment purposes.