Episode 122. Oy With the Yacht Scandals Already: The Mysterious Death of Thomas Ince and the Elevator Game

About this episode

This episode explores the mysterious death of Thomas H. Ince and the urban legend of the Elevator Game.

This week on Oy with the Terror , Danielle takes us back to the glamorous — and grim — world of 1920s Hollywood to explore the mysterious death of film producer Thomas H. Ince . Officially, he died of indigestion. Unofficially? He may have been accidentally shot aboard William Randolph Hearst’s private yacht , in a scandal involving Charlie Chaplin , Marion Davies , and a media empire powerful enough to bury the truth. From suspicious cover-ups to silent witnesses and a yacht party that ended in tragedy, this case has all the makings of a classic noir. This topic inspired the campy, mystery film, The Cat’s Meow , where none other than Richard Gilmore (okay, Edward Herrmann) plays Hearst. Was it a medical emergency… or a murder swept under the red carpet? Then, Sandra talks about the Elevator Game. The object of the game is to use an elevator and follow very specific instructions to get transported to a different dimension. This game originated in South Korea and even inspired a movie that was released in 2023 by the same name. After listening to the podcast episode the only question to ask is would you play? Danielle's Sources: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266391/…

People in this episode

Hosts: Danielle, Sandra

Topics covered

• 1920s Hollywood
• mysterious death
• Thomas Ince
• Elevator Game
• media cover-up
• murder mystery
• urban legends

Keywords

• Thomas Ince
• William Randolph Hearst
• Charlie Chaplin
• Elevator Game
• murder mystery
• 1920s Hollywood
• media cover-up
• urban legends

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, TCM, Reddit

Books & works: The Cat’s Meow, The Elevator Game

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