About this episode

This episode explores the consequences of poor decisions made by criminals and thrill-seekers, featuring a powerlifting grandmother and a reckless tourist on Mount Vesuvius.

What happens when criminals and thrill-seekers make spectacularly bad decisions? In this classic episode of The Shallow End, an 82-year-old grandmother in Rochester, New York, proves that appearances can be dangerously misleading when a late-night home invader discovers she's an award-winning champion powerlifter. Armed with whatever she can get her hands on, Willie Murphy delivers a lesson he'll never forget. Then, we head to Italy, where a tourist ignores warning signs, climbs a restricted trail on Mount Vesuvius, drops his phone into the crater... and decides it's worth risking his life to get it back. The result is a rescue operation, an arrest, and another reminder that social media isn't always worth the photo. Along the way, JG and Lindsay talk about Pompeii, the terrifying power of Vesuvius, selfie-related accidents, earthquake myths, and why making good decisions is harder than it should be. In this episode: Willie Murphy's incredible home invasion story The champion bodybuilder grandmother who fought back A Mount Vesuvius selfie gone horribly wrong The destruction of Pompeii and the volcano's ongoing danger Selfie accidents and the risks people take for social media…

People in this episode

Hosts: JG, Lindsay

Topics covered

• home invasion
• powerlifting
• Mount Vesuvius
• selfie accidents
• Pompeii
• poor decision making

Keywords

• home invasion
• powerlifter
• Mount Vesuvius
• selfie
• Pompeii
• earthquake myths
• poor choices

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Rochester, New York, Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii

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• 222: Six Days in a Twenty-Three-Year-Old Jeep · August 19, 2026 · 26 min
• 221: Scratch-Off Rip-Off · August 11, 2026 · 26 min
• 220: She Couldn't Wait 20 Minutes for a Beer · August 5, 2026 · 34 min

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