The Corpse Wranglers of West Alabama

Where is the Line?

Everyone who listens to this episode of Where is the Line? will die. Your final demise will probably not happen anytime soon and will most certainly have nothing to do with having listened to this episode. Still, you are all going die. The fortunate among you may slide into the ether as you sleep, leaving behind a corpse that your friends and family will describe as looking “peaceful”. Others may find themselves spattered onto a tree. Regardless, assuming that you exit this horrible plane of existence in some way that does not disintegrate your physical form, the chances are pretty good that you are going to leave a mess. A mess that someone will have to clean up.

Since I started this podcast, I’ve been trying to speak with someone who works in mortuary services; A person who has seen the worst of what we can do to ourselves and to each other. As it turns out, and as is the case with a great many things, I should have just asked my mother. It happens that she knows people in this gruesome line of work.

This might qualify as our first “live show”. For this episode I travelled deep into the forests of Alabama... to my mother’s house. On her back porch overlooking the Black Warrior river, I spoke with a pair who have worked in one of the most unsettling occupations in existence. As we talked, a small group of family friends and neighbors joined us on the porch, and much like my interviewees and also myself, they were hammered. I mention this not only to set a scene, but also to explain the background chatter, strange wildlife sounds, and the occasional heckle that can be heard herein.

Explanations for the unusual audio artifacts concluded, I’d like to introduce you to Rachel and John Raymond, The Corpse Wranglers of West Alabama.