The KILLDOZER Rampage | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and it's just the three of us. rampaging away uh in podcast land and. that's stuff you should know in case you. didn't know well before we get started. uh I think we should mention that there. are still tickets available uh for.

Show's coming up very soon in Chicago on. August 7th and Minneapolis on August 8th. yeah it's going to be pretty great we're. going to be at the auditorium in Chicago. and we're going to be at the State. Theater in Minneapolis and there are. tickets left and you can come see us. it's a great show uh we've gotten great. feedback so far only like two people. have been like that sucked everybody. else is like that was pretty great uh. and you can go to Stuy know.com and uh. click on the tour Page tour button and. you can also go to link tree ssk live.

and both of those places will take you. to sites where you can buy legitimate. tickets to come see us yeah and those. are both great cities for us we love. going to Chicago and Minneapolis I know. it's been a little while for Minneapolis. but we' had always had great shows there. yeah and we're not promoting. Indianapolis because Indianapolis sold. out so we'll see them as well but you. can't come in if you haven't already. bought your tickets I'm sorry yeah well. you know it's a uh it's a Midwestern. themed show so sort of Chicago adjacent.

really Indianapolis adjacent so they got. on it they want to hear about their. people that's right so uh yeah come see. us at the beginning of August you guys. all right back to it right good. one oh you think so yeah okay. thanks uh I appreciate you letting us do. this one first uh because like I just. announced to you yeah uh I just watched. the documentary on this topic Trad.

tread uh directed by Paul solette un let. it's sole who knows I'm going silly did. you watch it yes I have actually I've. seen it uh I saw it a few years back I. haven't se I didn't watch it recently. for this for some reason I think we. covered this in like a video or. something like how do I know about this. it was pretty big news and I mean it's. become an internet Legend maybe we did. do like an Internet Roundup on it or. something like that on the 10th. anniversary maybe I don't know yeah that.

feels about right but I guess we should. say what we're talking about eh. sure oh I'll do that then okay so for. those of you who don't know uh we're. talking about an event that took place. in 2004 in a little town called grany. Colorado about 50 miles west of Denver. population 2000ish I think at the time. it's a small town yeah but it wasn't you. know an economically depressed town it's. like 16 Mi away from the entrance to. Rocky Mountain National Park there's.

skiing around there so there's tourists. there's also um rural ranchers that come. in to shop in grany it's fine it's just. a cute qu small mountain town like South. Park. basically that's right and uh it. remained that way until uh June 4th 2004. when a a lot of this town was destroyed. by a man in a bulldozer uh that was that. had ended up being dubbed uh later on is.

the guoer we'll get to that later right. but it was a muffler shop owner a 52y. two-y old guy named Marvin he Marv he MH. and he had beefs with the town he had. beefs with people in the town we're. going to go over all that stuff so he. built uh or modified rather a gigantic. bulldozzer uh into basically a tank yeah. and destroyed the places of the people. he had beefs with and more yeah I left.

all that out of my introduction so I'm. glad you filled it. in um yeah you said it was like a tank. essentially in some ways as we'll see it. was actually Superior to a tank it was. crazy what this guy built and if you. have the time and you're not driving. right now just go look up kildo and get. a load of of this modified bulldozzer. that Marv he created so Chuck I say. let's just dive in that was a pretty. good little setup um let's talk about. Mar ad iring who he was uh he was known.

around town as Marv the muffler man. right that's right because he owned a. muffler shop previous to that he was uh. in the Air Force served in the Air Force. was stationed in Colorado at Lowry Air. Force Bas liked Colorado decided to to. literally set up shop there uh this is. in the early 90s he moved to Grand Lake. uh near grandby and you know pretty soon. he got he he started getting his. feathers rough and ruffling feathers in.

the town kind of right away it seems. like uh starting with having a beef. against the local newspaper the Sky High. news yeah so they uh introduced the um. concept of legalized gambling in Grand. Lake which is pretty near Grand B um and. the the town was very evenly divided on. it the local newspaper the Sky High news. or one of the local newspapers another. one in Grand Lake came out very heavily. against Le I gambling uh Marv was very.

heavily in favor of gambling so much so. that he edited I think two editions of a. newspaper that was created just to Tout. The the benefits of legalized gambling. um and so he lost like that I think they. voted in the area they voted 4 to one. against legalizing gambling and it was a. a bitter defeat I think to Marv he. seemed like the kind of person who did. not accept defeat very well and that it. it just just triggered stewing in him.

yeah that's fair to say I think uh and. that was in 1992 that same year is when. he bought some property that would be. sort of at the center of his next uh. dispute it was a couple of acres in. Western grany he bought it at at public. auction and foreclosure for a little. more than 40 Grand which turned out to. be a great deal the guy had a really. good neck for finding good deals on. stuff yeah what's funny that you. remember the Savings and Loan Scandal. yeah actually bought it from the FDIC.

because it was a failed Savings and Loan. Bank in town yeah including that uh big. bulldozer mhm that he would end up. getting a great deal on so that was a. savings and loan. bulldozer he had a nose for a deal yeah. so he ended up setting up his uh. Mountain View muffler shop there um was. apparently a great welder um stuff that. um he he brought into the air force it. seems like was just really good on. machines and motors and engines and. welding and worked for a muffler shop.

for many years and finally was like I'm. going to open up my own shop um as this. is happening there's another local. family and this is one of the two uh two. main families that he had beefs with the. the do family in particular the. patriarch I guess of that family Cody. doev uh with his wife Susie and their. son Joe had a concrete um Factory and. they were trying to expand this Factory. so they bought up a they they wanted.

this property that Marv had bought they. bought up a bunch of land around it. still needed more uh space and tried to. buy Marv's parcel from him that he paid. $42,000 for and initially they had an. agreement for 250 Grand which would have. been a really nice take on that on that. land deal for Marv it would have um for. sure and apparently the do Chups were at. that that auction that Marv bought it at. and he outbid them so yeah they were. very interested in this parcel of land.

he agreed to that. $250,000 deal later on I think that was. eight years later so that is a pretty. significant um increase in your. investment and then but he changed his. mind he he decided that the land was. worth more than 250 Grand apparently he. kept getting appraisals on it so it's. not like he was just saying like no it's. worth a billion dollars right he. supposedly got appraisals and was like. this land is worth more than 250 Grand. now um so he said he said he backed out.

of the deal I don't know how much how. far the deal had gotten but he. definitely backed out of a an agreement. to sell it for 250 Grand yeah he ended. up asking 400 uh the do chefs came up. with. 350 and he said now I want. 450 again he said because of another. reappraisal I don't I'm not sure about. all that stuff like uh I mean I'm I'm. just basing off kind of what I saw in. the documentary and research.

um I didn't see any appraisals or. anything so I don't know if Marb was. just like jacking this thing up or not. who knows um but while this is is. happening um at least you know one of. the things we have left to kind of piece. this all together is the series of audio. tapes that he made on cassette right. that he mailed to his brother so the. documentary features a lot of those you. know just firsthand accounts from Marv. detailing what's going on and one of the. things he just he didn't like the Dos he. said that Cody do and and I guess this.

was after he had backed out of um I'm. not sure if it was after he backed out. or not but uh Cody doev at one point. basically accosted him in a restaurant. and that was one of their first. exchanges about this and Cody Dov was. known as a real hotthead in town and. Marv you should hear the words that he. calls him on those audio tapes he did. not like this guy right that appraisal. thing that's a really good um example of. the the this the um uh squishiness I.

guess of this story it's really. difficult to pin down because yeah was. he just jacking the price up because he. didn't like the do chfs did he really. think that the land was worth that did. he really get appraisals you don't know. but that kind of thing completely. changes the complexion of it if he was. getting appraisals and he the do chfs. wouldn't pay the appraised value that's. pretty reasonable if he was lying about. the appraisals and he was just jacking. the price up on the do chefs that kind. of makes him look like a jerk and so. that just something that that small can.

make a story like this totally do a 180. and this story is filled with those. little kind of details that have either. gotten overlooked added or blown out of. proportion yeah absolutely so um they uh. the do chfs end up buying some other. land a business park and they said hey. you give us your the land where your. muffler shop is and we'll give you the. prime lot that's right on the highway. this Frontage land where your muffler.

Shop's going to do a lot better get a. lot more attention and he said all right. I'll take that deal but you got to build. this muffler shop for me and that a. really expensive one a really kind of. high-end muffler shop I guess right cuz. that brought it up to about a million. bucks and they said no you know we not. going to pay a lot for that muffler. shop boy how long were you waiting on. that a good 30. seconds uh oh boy I hope most people get. that one at least it doesn't matter as.

long as you got it friend oh I got it so. they said um no deal uh and he said all. right then you basically start a war. with me and I'm gonna um I'm going to do. everything I can to fight the city to. make sure that you're not able to open. up that cement factory that you want to. open up uh and apparently got a lot of. people on his side there was a lot of. opposition in the town that uh backed. Marv against this expansion of the.

cement or concrete Factory yeah so I. what I don't understand is was there. opposition before Marv started this um. kind of Grassroots campaign against it. yes okay yeah so he didn't just drum. that up out of thin air like not. everybody was happy about a concrete. batch creating plant like this is almost. in downtown grany yeah there was. opposition but it seems like he really. fueled the fire against it yeah so now. you have war between essentially what. amounts to two hotheads who are. neighbors and a concrete plan is not.

like a a um a a tidy um quiet neighbor. to be next to right so I'm sure that. every sound and every Clank and every. bit of like dust that blew his way would. just made him less than less happy um. and I guess I don't know also if you. said that they were buying up the land. around him so ultimately his muffler. shop was the only little piece of parcel. left and they were literally building a. concrete plant. around his muffler shop and one of the.

things if you if somebody tells you this. they don't know what they're talking. about and stop listening to them about. this if they tell you that when the do. chfs bought the land up around him that. they cut off access from the road to. Marv's muffler shop basically created an. island legally out of his muffler shop. that's wrong that's not correct he. always had access and everyone always. had access in and out of his muffler. shop that's a really big point that a. lot of people basically say see the guy. had no choice he couldn't he he couldn't.

run a business like that and that's just. not true yeah that is not true but. that's something you see a lot online so. uh thanks for clearing that up sure you. got anything else what else you want me. to clear. up I got a pimple on my shoulder here no. take care of that no why did you say. that oh I don't I don't get pimples um. so Marv is uh he's got another problem. that's also Brewing so you've got this.

this um problem with the do chefs then. you have the second issue with the sewer. line uh in order his his property wasn't. hooked up to a sewer line you've got to. get hooked up to a sewer line uh if. you're going to be in compliance um they. kind of look the other way for many many. years when he didn't because it was you. know small town Western Colorado it was. sort of uh the wild west and people. would just sort of turn a blind eye if. someone was making du on their own which. he was right um but he also didn't have.

a septic tank uh so he started dumping. sewage into his uh concrete mixer a. concrete mixing tank um big. violation uh then when that filled up he. started pumping it into the irrigation. ditch on the. property uh all he had to do was pay a. little bit of money at one point to hook. up to some neighboring sewer lines but. he basically thought that's uh. big government that's the town hold yeah.

that's the town holding me over a barrel. you shouldn't have a resident or a. business have to pay for their own sewer. line which is a public utility okay so I. don't know like the town you overlooked. this for a good decade maybe 12 years. something like that that he was pooping. and peeing I guess into a bucket or. something and dumping it into a cement. mixer even if they had a line up to the. cement mixer yes that's a huge health. code violation right. so when that concrete plant was built.

they ran a sewer line to it right and. that made it way easier and way less. expensive for um Marv heer to connect. his muffler shop to that sewer line. that's now being run from the road to. this concrete plant next door um then it. would to have this the city run it from. the road to just his muffler shop the. problem was this was the dov's sewer. line and it was on their land and for. him to tap into it he needed to pay them.

so they came back with an offer they. said look man if you drop all these. lawsuits and all this campaign against. us we will um we will let you hook we'll. give you an easement a maintenance. easement to connect to our sewer line. from your muffler shop free of charge. that will be your little strip of land. onto our land connecting your muffler. shop to the main line You'll Be in. compliance we won't have this lawsuit. against us anymore and we'll just call. it a day and uh I don't believe Marv. ever made good on that no he he he.

didn't want to do it he was done with. him by that point basically so he was. like screw this I'm not hooking up to. your sewer line I'm not paying the the. maybe as high as 80 grand to run the. 400t to the main sewer line and so uh he. wanted to sell the place he was like I'm. getting out I'm getting out of this. muffler shop and I'm going to move and. the town then said well hey now that we. know about all this you can't even sell.

this thing without a sewer line so all. of a sudden he was uh caught between a. rock and a hard place there with this. sewer connection uh he refuses to do it. he ends up being fine $100 a day uh. because of the sewage issue and other. violations that were going on um like. more than 3,300 bucks when he wrote the. check to the uh town he put in the memo. it's for uh the cowards and Liars. department so this is kind of where. things were this guy is fighting back.

against the town he's fighting against. these people um whether or not you think. it's fair that you have to pay for your. own sewer line or not it's it's the way. it was they weren't singling him out uh. to try and like screw him over anything. that was just how it works I mean I've. had to replace sewer lines and it it. stinks it's it's the worst thing to have. to pay for it stinks literally in. figuratively as a homeowner it wrecks. your yard it or your property it wrecks. uh uh it it just it's it's awful because.

it's not it's just it's expensive um. have you ever had to do it it just no. you hate writing that check let me knock. on wood here okay I've had to do it a. couple of times it's awful in the. meantime we need to introduce another. family because he ended up having two. beefs with two prominent families the. dos and then the Thompson family who. were had been there forever thereby. owned tons and tons of the land in the. town uh a GU named the the Elder dick.

Thompson was uh on the County Board and. then became mayor for a while back when. he was going through all this stuff in. the 90s and then he passed away and he. took up this beef with his two sons. basically saying like you owe me money. because of all this stuff that your dad. and the town board made me go through. right one thing that I couldn't find and. um I I it's one of those things that. could change the complexion of the whole. story is at what point did the sewer. thing that the city overlooked for a. deade or so become a thing you know was.

it connected to the concrete plant I. don't know it's just it's something that. sticks out to me yeah so I guess what he. did ultimately was he he shut down his. muffler shop in 2002 and he held an. auction he auctioned off all of his. equipment he sold his property to a. local trash company for 400,000 which is. I think what the highest he had asked. the Dos for um for it but he said I want. to Leisa this big old metal shed in the. back I got to keep a place to keep my.

bulldozer because it's basically the. only thing that no one bought in the. auction of my stuff so I'm just going to. keep it back here and this will be my. little workshop that's part of the deal. and they shook on it and that's the. setup starting around. 22 yeah and I'm also not sure how he was. able to sell that stuff or sell it given. that he didn't put in the sewer line. because in the documentary they said the. the new owners uh this trash company. like within 48 hours had the sewer line. hooked up I mean I think the city was.

like whoever like this thing can't. change hands without somebody agreeing. that they're going to put a line in. that's what I think you could probably. work that into a legal. document um probably. so should we take a break yeah we'll. take a break and go find out all right. we'll be right back after this with more. on the kild Dozer Rampage. [Music].

all right so um remember Marv he has. gotten out of the muffler Business uh. but he's known around town as a an.

excellent welder I mean just a superior. welder and when he leased that little um. maintenance shed well probably not M. little but um when he leased the big. maintenance shed on the back of the. property that he had sold to the trash. company he used it to modify the. bulldozer that would later become the. kildo Zer to start out with it was a 60. ton KATU d355a bulldozer right and I. mean just as it came out of the package.

it was 60 tons this guy added at least. another 20 tons of reinforcement to it. yeah it was it's not like a a little. front loader that you know your. landscape person has brought over if. you've ever had your yard done or. something like that this is this was a. very very very large. bulldozer uh which you can tell and when. you see footage when there are other. bulldozers trying to stop it and this. kamasu is is clearly clearly larger. right so he buys this thing at auction.

in California has it shipped in July. 2002 and starting at the beginning of. 2003 he and this is one of the craziest. parts of this whole story to me is that. this wasn't a guy that got mad and like. had a plan and it sort of Fizzles out. after a week or two when you're like all. right well you know maybe I'll just. watch the Broncos game and let cooler. heads prevail right like he spent a. year dedicated to this project uh with.

this idea like planning this thing and. equipping this thing he set up a cot and. a blanket and had a fridge he was. basically living in this um shed. basically full-time working on this. thing at night so the people you know. this company that bought it this trash. company they're all around the place. right like an an insurance adjuster came. to inspect the shed because it was on. the property of the trash company he had. it behind a tarp and made up some story. about he was working on some equipment. for like air conditioning for some.

professor and like no one ever looked. behind it it fit by an inch on either. side and he thought this was all God. telling him all these little things that. happened that where he didn't get caught. beforehand he thought was God saying. this is your mission right Marv he Meer. is a great example of why we need. wives right well he had a girlfriend for. a long time uh and she was all over the. documentary it sounded like she was. Australian or from New Zealand maybe but.

um Trisha McDonald yeah that was that. was kind of one of the sadder Parts is. that she seemed like she really liked. him and she was like I kind of had no. idea that he was that angry and it was. going this far yeah I I if I remember. correctly she had a little bit of. self-blame maybe going on or at least. wondering how things could have turned. out. differently well I think their breakup. beforehand might have been one of the. last draws too and so she may have like. felt bad about that oh that's another. one too so in addition to his um his uh.

Muffler shot being completely cut off. from access to the main road he also. caught his fiance in bed with another. man it's another dumb thing you'll find. on the internet from people who don't. know what they're talking about too. usually chocked up to explaining him. snapping oh um one thing I did forget to. mention is that 400 Grand he got he was. I guess Savvy enough to know that they. could come after that money afterward. yeah to to help give people so he uh.

while his father was still alive his dad. died shortly before which was another. last draw apparently but he had given. the money to his father who then gave. the money to his sister and brother so. it was like two people removed and. Untouchable I guess oh wow yeah that is. pretty Savvy yeah so um he's got this. kild Dozer that he's putting together. let's talk a little bit about that like. I said it was a 60 ton bulldozzer just a. big big boy but but on top of that he. took um sheets of Steel and separated.

them by about 12 in and poured concrete. in the um in the space between the two. so he made 12 in on either. side 12 in of Steel with concrete in the. middle plates that he created. essentially a super structure that he. later before his Rampage right before. his. Rampage lowered on top of the kamatsu.

itself yeah sealing him in there uh he. also had gunports he had a 50 cal rifle. which is uh if you just look up what a. 50 caliber round looks like it's it's. very large and destructive uh a 308. semi-automatic and then a 22 uh long. rifle he also had a a 357 um revolver. inside uh and he had five video cameras. mounted on the outside feeding three. monitors on the inside. and these camera lenses were protected.

by. 3-in uh lexan bulletproof plastic. basically uh so the the small little. tiny ports that were even on this thing. were uh because they tried eventually. shooting into these were only like 2x3. in so even these Sharpshooters were. having a hard time getting a bullet in. there and even if they did it wasn't it. was not effective anyway yeah there were. so many layers of this plastic um. Bulletproof. like cladding I guess um that like even.

if they broke some of the layers there. was still more layers to go through it. was nuts but there's something I want. everybody to make note of he put in. those three gun ports like you said it's. really important because one of the. things that a lot of people use to. defend Marv is that he he was all he. wanted was property destruction that's. all he was intent on and there's no way. to explain away those three gun ports. otherwise they don't Jive that Nar at. all and that certainly changes the.

complexion of things too oh absolutely. uh yeah as far as like folk hero who. just wanted to to wreck the business who. wrecked his uh yeah you don't go in. there with a 50 cal no and I mean you. can he didn't even need to defend. himself they couldn't get through this. this the the plating the cladding and. even if he did need to defend himself he. certainly didn't need three guns so. there was basically no reason for those. guns to be there aside from shooting. people yeah absolutely um they would.

later uh obviously he um like I said he. mailed those tapes to his brother uh. right before the attack um they've ended. up finding a list afterward with sort of. like a hit list for the buildings he. wanted to wreck um obviously the the dos. and the Thompsons were on that list uh. as was uh the church in town the. Catholic church that is uh because on. the tapes he was um or at least in this. one part he was very anti- Catholic. called Catholics cowards and the.

Thompsons were catholic and that was one. of his big bees I gotcha so again that. Dozer Manifesto they make amazing use of. his actual tapes to let him just kind of. present himself um and like you said. that he apparently believed that God was. at the very least looking the other way. and kind of tacitly condoning this. Mission if not you know blessing the. mission by all those ways that you had. said said like people overlooking the. Dozer the fact that that the Dozer was.

the one thing that he wasn't able to. sell at auction uh he even said that God. told him to take take the winter off put. this whole thing off for a year. essentially and uh he did he also went. on at length about the um the town that. he was dealing with and gave his side of. the story quite clearly and he said that. they use Mafia type tact tactics against. him and there's this line from his um. tapes that this is like the people who. consider him a folk hero point to it.

said or he said um I was always willing. to be reasonable until I had to be. unreasonable sometimes reasonable men. must do unreasonable things and it's a. just a. sweeping thing to say because it. completely explains away everything he. does after that point and it completely. gives him an alibi up to that point he's. saying I know what I'm doing Wrecking. the town that's an unreasonable thing. but I have every reason to do this I.

have a very reasonable reason to do this. very unreasonable thing it's really it's. a it's a very I don't know I I it's just. nuts how well it encapsulates everything. just kind of lets him off the hook yeah. totally um he had also been hassling the. paper for not covering his his story. like he was like no one's even writing. about my beef with the sewer line and. all this stuff and so they ended up. giving him a free ad they were like oh. geez uh this guy let how about we give. you an ad they came out and photographed.

him uh and gave him a you know an ad for. his muffler shop um which it turns out. wasn't enough to appease him as we'll. see um the end of his lease was coming. up uh he had gone through that break up. his dad had just died and so it was it. was game time basically on June 4th 2004. he uh like we said he sealed himself in. that cockpit um kind of like couldn't. get out basically right and what looks.

like this a bulldozer meets a uh the uh. what were those crawlers called in Star. Wars where the Jawas traded out of it. kind of looked like that yeah I don't. remember what they're called I just. remember it was built it was based on a. brutalist hotel in Morocco that George. Lucas saw exactly and you don't need to. write in everybody we can go look it up. later well you know what it's called. Josh uh at 2 p.m. uh and this was you. know when you see footage of this thing.

or watch the documentary it's this thing. goes four or five miles an hour so it's. a it's a different kind of Rampage it's. a slow motion Rampage going through town. but this thing was Unstoppable was the. the issue yeah that I mean that's a. really great way to describe it like. they as we'll see couldn't come up with. anything to put an end this um I say. before we really get underway with the. Rampage we take our final break and come. back and tell everybody just what. happened what do you think all right.

let's do it. [Music].

[Music]. all right so the Rampage starts. obviously the first people he's going to. go after are the DFS and that uh. concrete plant um when he gets there uh. they they quickly realize what's going. on Cody do is like that's that's Marv. heire in there and cops are like are you. sure how do you know and he's like trust. me it's Marv heer uh he tries to stop it. he tries shooting a. revolver at this thing which is just a.

joke I guess that's just the first sort. of reaction is like shoot it yeah uh and. Western Colorado at least so uh hey no. shade there by the way um but he starts. shooting at this thing uh he's he's. literally getting in his own this is. cody doev getting in his own little. front end loader and driving at it he. gets he Rams a side of it and he's. trying to lift it up off of the ground. because basically they're like we can't. you know they've tried shooting into it.

already they know that's not going to. work so they want to disable those. Treads if you can disable a tank's. Treads then you're in business so they. thought if they could lift it off the. ground that might work uh they thought. if they they Jam this this huge steel. pole into the Treads that that might you. know get stuck or throw something out of. whack none of that works and when Cody. doev Rams this thing and tries to pick. it up his wheels come off the ground he. hits the front windshield and gets. knocked out cold and awakes to Bullet.

Fire coming his way yeah uh that was one. thing that Mar Feer did was he took aim. and shot at Cody Duff's um his front end. loader and there were bullet holes from. the 50 caliber in the bucket of the. front end loader uh astoundingly he. didn't hit Cody doev and um he I guess. left the cement PL at this time and. started moving toward the town and one. of the ways that he got to the town was. bust ing through a concrete road barrier.

a pair of them that I believe some. Highway patrolmen were hiding behind and. they got out of the way just in time. because that kilder went right through. those concrete barriers on its way to. downtown. grany yeah and he didn't have to go that. way so that was another instance where. he he literally turned left and headed. right toward those guys and these are. cops um they're bringing in Forest. Service people uh they're bringing in. larger guns they ended up firing about. 200 shots at this thing but again.

they're just firing it at harden steel. and so nothing is doing any good um Cody. do also tried to climb up on top of it. but Mar and I shouldn't be laughing here. but this is the one part I thought was. kind of funny marf thought of that too. and he greased this thing up with like. axle grease and so Cody Jo joef is. slipping off of this thing um eventually. there is a guy um a deputy named Glenn. trainer. who climbed up on top of a building and.

jumped right on top of the thing and he. rode this thing around town There's. footage of this guy riding this kildo. around town trying to disable it from. above yeah under Sheriff Glenn trainer. is typically referred to as one of the. big heroes of the day just for trying. nobody was successful but a lot of. people tried and he definitely risked. life and limb essentially to try to. disable this thing he found what he. thought was a weak point uh into the. engine and shot into it a bunch of times.

turns out it was a cover for the air. conditioner that Marv had put on to um. the the um bulldozzer uh he also got a. flash brang grenade dropped it down the. exhaust pipe it blew up it did. absolutely nothing and despite yeah it. being greased Glen trainer hung on until. um Marv heer got the koser to the town. hall building and Glen trainer saw quite. clearly he was going to be taken along. with this 13 foot tall 80ton bulldozer.

right into town hall and he would not. fare very well in that circumstance so. he jumped off and rolled uh onto the. grass from that 13 foot height yeah so. he's out of there safely um like you. said he goes after the town hall it has. a local library in there where um who. knows whether he knows this or not but. there were a bunch of kids in there uh. in a reading program uh including the. 11-year-old daughter of the mayor at the. time so they're huddling in the basement.

uh the town has issued a reverse. 911 uh call to basically where they call. every single resident in town at once. and say you know shelter in place or in. this case calling the people at the. library saying get out of there uh he. then turns on the. uh the bank uh the Liberty Bank branch. uh because obviously he had problems. with the banking system there uh he then. turns on the newspaper and. uh the Patrick Brower the editor the guy.

that he'd been you know having his his. newspaper beef with is running out the. back door as he is collapsing this. building you know he gets out in the. nick of time as he's collapsing the. building yeah and frequently in. interviews Patrick Brower points out. that had he tripped and and Fallen he'd. be dead it was that close yeah it does. seem to have been that kind of. experience for people on the ground. during this Rampage somebody would run. in shouting like get out get out and. probably didn't even have time to say. what the heck was coming when the kildo. would come crashing through the front of.

the building not the front door not a. side door it would come right through. the front wall or the side wall and one. of the things that uh people pointed out. who were there was that he would he. would come crashing through the front. wall and it would take out like you know. the front wall but the roof would still. be standing so he'd back up and he'd go. after a corner of the building so like. he was trying to demolish these. buildings he was making a pretty great. attempt at it and toward the end of the. Rampage he got pretty good at taking a.

building out in a couple of swipes no. absolutely um so then you know this is a. small town when he makes a turn toward a. thing they kind of have a pretty good. idea of where he's going because of the. the well-known beef so after he destroys. the newspaper building uh he makes a. turn and everyone's like he's going. after the Thompsons uh he ends up uh. Thelma Thompson 82-year-old uh Widow of. former mayor dick Thompson. um was literally asleep taking a nap 30.

minutes before her house is just gone uh. because they get her out of there he. completely destroys her house uh and. then turns toward their business uh. which is uh the Thompson and Sons. Excavating uh business and services and. starts destroying those buildings yeah. he cost them a good million and a half. dollars I saw to rebuild um again. despite the people he had the beef with. not even being alive any longer that's. how much he hated the Thompson family um.

after that the next thing he did this is. a really really critical thing that he. did that really kind of takes away a lot. of sympathy I had for him he took out uh. he he drove up to the propane company a. local propane company and used this 50. caliber rifle to shoot at propane tanks. first small ones then big ones he tried. to shoot in an electrical Transformer so. that the Sparks ostensibly so the Sparks. would ignite the propane when he shot. propane tank open and the whole thing. would blow up and that would have been.

significant had this propane um company. blown up I saw an estimate that uh. everyone within a half mile radius would. have been in danger uh the blast would. have been that big yeah this is downtown. it was as densely packed as the town of. grany could be so a half a mile radius. is you know that was significant thing. and the the reason why and Patrick. Brower points this out and I tend to. agree with him. he he takes issue with people who are. like these were all just warning shots.

he just wanted to destroy property he. just wanted to blow up the propane um. company so that he could destroy more. property he wasn't trying to kill. anybody um and Patrick rower is like. this is no this is not true the reason. he didn't kill anybody was because the. way that he had mounted the rifles was. so clu that he had almost no chance. whatsoever of shooting anybody those um. bulletproof glass sites that you were. talking about like the 2x3 inch SES or. um they weren't near the the guns the. guns weren't mounted right by them the.

video cameras that he was using to kind. of drive around with they weren't in. line with the guns either so when he was. aiming the gun he had to do some sort of. weird mental topography to kind of. figure out what he was looking at in. relation to the gun and tried to shoot. that way and Patrick brower's point is. that's why no one was shot to death. that's why those propane tanks didn't. blow up that's why the electrical. Transformer didn't blow up because he. missed. not because he was just firing warning. shots CU he missed and if those guns had.

been mounted more um um I guess. efficiently it could have been a totally. different outcome from this whole. event yeah for sure he also uh I mean. most of those bullets didn't even make. it out of his own vehicle because the. way he had the the big 50 cow mounted uh. it ended up hitting his own armor so you. see like shooting toward this propane. thing and immediately these shots are.

just sort of exploding uh cuz I think. they were uh some special kind of round. or something um and they were sort of. exploding at you know into his own tank. I bet that was. frustrating yeah and then who knows if. he even knew what was going on like no. one knows what he could even see inside. that thing good point so the machines. damaged at this point uh all the. antifreeze has dumped out there's white. smoke just pouring from this thing. there's Hy hydraulic fluid leaking all. over the place and it's pretty clear.

that like the last gasp is happening so. he heads down to um gambl of grandby uh. hardware store there was uh a guy on the. um Town board there um related to the. hardware store that approved the. concrete plant and so they were on the. list and you see this thing chugging. along it's onest last legs somehow. remarkably had not failed up into that. point like I can't believe at some point. it didn't those Treads didn't I guess. that's why it's a bulldozer there.

they're you know it's like a tank it's. it's supposed to do that so it was doing. it well uh but what he didn't know was. that there was a basement in that. hardware store and eventually that right. front tread uh slipped down just a. couple of feet just enough into that. basement to where uh the tread had. nothing against it and it was just. spinning so it was finally stopped yeah. people were walking alongside of this. thing for a lot of the time so were. people um within earshot at this point.

and um there suddenly comes a muffled. gunshot from inside the um the P the. kild Dozer and um people were like well. I'm pretty sure that if that's Marv heer. who's in there he's no longer with us. and they were correct um the the next. day they tried to blow the a hole into. the kild doozer and do you remember at. the outset I said that it was probably. Superior to a tank the reason Reas I. said that is because the SWAT team who. was um creating this explosive charge to.

try to breach it they consulted with. some explosive experts who told them. what charge to create to blow a hole in. the side of a tank and it didn't work. yeah the explosive charge that could. blow a hole in a tank did not blow a. hole in the kildo Zer that's how thick. and well- welded the super structure. over the bulldozzer. was so nobody was killed or injured in. this thing which was was remarkable. considering what was happening uh it was.

a little over 2 hours uh up to $7. million in damage uh I think 11 of the. 13 buildings um were occupied at the. time and like you said people were. literally running out the back door for. a lot of these and uh that was it um you. know the the guy ends up you know they. they take this tank apart and um they. didn't want any memory of it in town so. they they take it apart get rid of the. parts I think one of them ended up. staying with the Thompson family like.

one small part yeah a trunion I think. something that connects the bucket to. the rest of the Dozer it had broken off. when he came crashing through their. house yeah but aside from that people. basically wanted to forget about it and. with the help of you know insurance and. everything they ended up rebuilding. everything uh not that it wasn't at at. Great personal cost as well of course. but um Marv was gone and they were. really eager to move on for the most. part as a town yeah Casey frell who.

owned Gamble's hardware store took him. seven years because his store was. insured but it wasn't insured for the. kind of money it takes to rebuild after. a dozer Rampage um yeah but I guess the. Denver Post visited a year after on the. anniversary of it to do a story and they. found that most of the buildings had. either been rebuilt or were in the. process of rebuilding and I I believe. the mayor at the time this I guess this. would have been a year after a guy named. Ted Wang he said that this the whole. Rampage had actually inspired the town.

to become tighter as a community like. more people became involved in local. politics and the town just kind of like. took pride in its own resurrection and. rebuilding itself brick from brick which. is essentially I guess the opposite of. what Marv heer would have wanted from. his Rampage yeah you know probably uh. and you know the narrative that you. hinted at early was um still lives on. for a lot of people a lot of people. think this guy's a folk hero probably. not surprisingly a lot of those people. uh live on the very far right of the.

political Spectrum um and say you know. this was a guy taking down you know his. local government that was being he was a. victim of his local government and he. was taking them out you know doing what. we all want to do on any given day and. uh people still celebrate June 4th is. kildo day in some of those uh circles. yeah and so you know doing research on. this uh I I just got less and less. sympathetic with the guy and really just. came to dislike him uh and then I came.

across that Dozer Manifesto web comic by. Mr V and just reading some of it I was. like well I I'm not exactly sure how I. think about this whole thing and I think. I don't have enough information about. what really went on in that town or. didn't go on to decide one way or. another and I get I don't think that. matters but I I just thought it was. interesting that I had a an about faith. I guess yeah I find it interesting when.

I think of in my. thoughts there was uh no one knows quite. sure who came up with the name kildo in. terms of this case but um there was. obviously the band kild Dozer got a. shout them out from Madison Wisconsin. okay and they may have I think they were. the early 80s were they before or after. the movie cuz wasn't there a movie as. well there's a movie called kildo from. 1974 it was a ABC spense Saturday. suspense TV movie that was based on a.

1944 short story by um fantasy writer. Theodore. sturgeon okay so I bet kildo are the. band named themselves after that would. be my gu I would think but yeah I I. don't understand why it's like well. where did the name come from like kildo. like you would just look at that thing. and be like that's a kildo without ever. hearing that word together it's not like. some great mystery like that's a kildo. Zer that's just what you call that thing. humans have some sort of innate genetic. understanding of seeing that thing and.

knowing that it's a kill Dozer without. ever seeing that word before yeah though. it didn't kill no it didn't that's a. great point so it's a I guess destroy. Dozer is better one yeah or a bulldozer. oh yeah you uh if you want to know more. about kildo there's plenty of stuff to. read and watch on the internet just be. wary hopefully we've armed you with a. little little bit of info to to um. measure against uh and since I said that.

it's time of course for listener. mail yeah and watch uh tread you can. rent it uh I think it's free on tub and. some other stuff but um it is really. well done it's a great. documentary well he does these. Recreations that I guess are CGI but it. it looked to me like I was like man did. they actually build a another kildo. replica to shoot this stuff yeah it was. one of those few documentaries that had. 100 50 million budget I'm not sure but. it looked pretty good uh and it's only.

like 98 minutes long or less than that. 88 Minutes 9 it's a good one it's. definitely worth seeing uh all right uh. listener mail dangers of whistling hey. guys just finished uh that episode and I. thought you were going to mention the. one thing about not whistling in a. theater not 100% sure of the veracity of. the history of this but old theater. Legend has it that early stage hands. were also Sailors Andor Dock Workers who. communicated in whistles and therefore. for if you were a casual bystander. whistling in a theater you could. actually cause an accident through.

miscommunication uh as with some of. other superstitions in the theater this. one is based more on safety than. anything else and I always find it. fascinating uh the concept of bad luck. was apparently effective for early. safety compliance uh thanks for keeping. me entertained on my long LA commutes. and that is from Claudia who is a stage. hand in Los Angeles awesome thanks a lot. Claudia I feel like we talked about that. or came across it in research or. something like that I don't know if it. was related to whistling or what but it.

had to do with um Salty Sea Dogs. Moonlighting as stage hands for the. theater oh I remember that very cool. yeah all right well thanks Claudia for. getting in touch and if you want to be. like Claudia and share something awesome. and interesting with us we love that you. can wrap it up spank it on the bottom. and send it on its way to stuff podcast. at iheartradio.com. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart Radio for more podcasts my heart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple.

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