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The Tale of The West Memphis Three

🕑 Added 2023-11-29 14:16:36 +0000 UTC

Comments

Jacob Cantlin

Fantastic video! I particularly enjoyed the tone of Stidham’s perspective of towards the end. I could’ve done without the use of the r slur though

Matt Orchard

Haha, no 4 perp or “man hole”theory either - gotta put a cutoff point somewhere!

Jayden Nolan

Appreciate the restraint in not mentioning the Mr Bojangles thing

James Higgins

Fuck I legit love your work Matt. Thanks for another pearler.

Kailee C

Oh hi :)

TRLesleigh

This case is one of those that haunts me. The biggest tragedy of all is that the state and LE went on such a witch hunt for Damien and company that the real murderer got away. Those boys families will probably never get true justice, and whoever killed them could very well have gone on to kill again. The details of the violence committed against them is horrendous and it breaks my heart that they endured it, watching each other be killed and being helpless to do anything. Poor babies.

PAUL

Amazing video Matt, this case was new to me and so full of twists and turns it seems impossible to say beyond reasonable doubt who did it.

Matt Orchard

Thanks Colleen! I guess it’s been long enough since Chandler for that too not be too same/same so maybe

Sylvia Black

Jason’s decision to save Damien has always been the pinnacle of this case for me. It feels like a moment a very ignorant boy from West Memphis, now a man, makes the decision his own justice system was too cowardly to do, and admit Damien’s life shouldn’t be used as a pawn in the narrative you want to construct.

Payton

This was really well done, thank you Matt. I find these more open ended ones the most interesting to learn about. The chapters were structured beautifully, and I think you did the perfect amount of bringing in wider social context e.g. the talk shows and satanic panic stuff. Sitting down with a hot beverage and watching your content scratches an itch nothing else does for me!

Sylvia Black

I definitely did the Leonardo DiCaprio point meme when it played.

Maree K

Another fantastic video. I was rewatching your Chandler Halderdson video today. Have you considered doing a video on Joel Guy Jnr? You’d nail that one too.

Schmeeko

I would tend to agree with you, though I love that Matt is willing to step into the water and remind us that evidence doesn't pick a side. A jury decides (or the state, in this case) but sometimes we are left to wonder whether we are 100% sure justice was done.

YESwayTED 024

I can’t even talk about THAT case! Now, how is it that Matt is the only one to throw out the Holtzclaw could be innocent idea?! Seriously… 😐 that case is so weak, it has me favoring a possible rapist.

Afterglow Express

Honestly, this is one of your best! It reminds me of what you did in The Scott Peterson/Jon Benet videos, where you make each perspective/potential solution look valid only to undercut it by the end. I love that feeling of objectivity, especially in cases without easy answers. Ultimately, the feeling of tension and longing for justice persists. We can't find an answer that satisfies every question. Sometimes that's unsatisfying, but that's all we have many times.

Matt Orchard

Thanks so much Steven - Excellent English, wouldn’t have guessed you weren’t a native speaker!

TendieL

Absolutely incredible as always Matt. I always appreciate the sprinkling of jokes throughout these videos as a small piece of levity amongst a gut-wrenching topic is always welcome. That being said this is about as depressing a case as can be found. I really hope someday there's at least an answer!

Steven Wohlrab

Matt orchard does it again, There is no one in youtube who produces this high quality content, everything is perfect. Everytime someone mentions true crime youtuber i always say Matt orchard if you really want high quality videos, he does not post often but thats becuse he really puts in the work. Unlike other true crime youtubers who posts 1-3hours videos several in a week with just interrogation footage and some comments and ofcourse body language. These youtubers does not even have a baseline for the person to comment about body language and even if they did it is not science and everyone reacts differently. i love all your videos Matt, and i hope you keep it up, just top tier content. 10/10 Sorry if i misspelled things, english is not my first language.

Laura Ann

this one was ROUGH. just felt sick at the end. amazing work, this was for sure the best one so far

Matthew (Zei)

Imagine losing the rest of your life purely because you associated with some complete retard that can’t keep his mouth shut.

John Mckay

That was a wild ride! As others have said this is Netflix quality work, well done.

Matthew (Zei)

Wow Matt you’re doing something very special here. This is top quality work. Better than the almighty JCS by far. Great work.

Kenneth Wilkins II

Another great video. This is probably your best narrating yet! Bravo!

Matt Orchard

Glad you liked that - it was definitely an experimental approach

gillygull

Your narration of Dan Stidham’s no good, very bad day was a MUCH needed reprieve from how heavy this case sits. 10/10 as always!

d3L7r0n

I love this particular style of videos that you do where you cover the facts, then play devil's advocate, and finally come out of left field with a crazy twist. Your videos always leave me with more questions than answers, and it sends me down a research rabbit hole. Thank you!!!

Matt Orchard

Thanks so much Kayleigh!

Kayleigh Moreno

This was… so. damn. good. Better than any of true crime docs on Netflix or Hulu. The last part has me questioning everything I’ve ever thought. Seriously, well done Matt Orchard! I’m going to have to put on some South Park to wash that down and be able to sleep 😂😉

Matt Orchard

I suspect it won’t be the nons I get the most guff from, but we’ll see

Matt Orchard

Doesn't it work well? I saw him live a month or so ago, must have been a sign.

Amanda Boo Berry

Now I'll have that Bright Eyes song stuck in my head for days!

Matt Orchard

The urine thing is very controversial, so prepare yourself to get even more frustrated! One thing I personally thought was funny was candle wax on the book but no candle in the trailer…where did the candle go 🤔

Wally

I absolutely agree. The case is definitely far more nebulous than the producers of PL would have you believe. I, too, struggle with reaching the threshold for the WM3 being guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I'll likely be up for hours scouring Reddit for every detail I can find. The most damning thing pointing towards their guilt (or Damien's anyway) is that when first questioned, Echols apparently intimated offhand that the boys' mouths possibly may have been urinated into. (This was before any testing had occurred.) And apparently, urine was indeed found in the stomachs of two of the boys. That feels quite specific to me. Honestly, the more I read, I think I lean towards them being guilty. But again, not sure if I had been on that jury if I could have convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.

Matt Orchard

It sort of is and isn't - There's no extended interrogation or court footage (only shorter clips) so it's significantly longer than usual in terms of actual original content.

Matthew B.

It might just be me. I’m wearing headphones and it sounded a bit echoey in the beginning, but decreasing my volume helped it.

Matt Orchard

Like in the whole thing or is there a particular place?

Matthew B.

Is it just me or does the audio sound distorted?

Yen Le

Wow, great video. I immediately replayed the video to hear all the details again after finishing it the first time.

Dustin

Your best production yet. Pat yourself on the back man.. Why isn’t Netflix calling?!

YESwayTED 024

CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY!! Thank you for the gift!!!

Wally

Thank you!

Miranda Stone

I’m not all the way through, but already I feel it in the pit of my stomach.

Miranda Stone

Schmeeko

This feels like a mirror-image version of the Holtzclaw video, to me. I've always appreciated your willingness to introduce firm doubt into some of the most culturally-cemented true crime stories.

Yonder

John Mark's teeth bit with the film crew was baller

corvdb1992 .

Man... this is a toughie alright. It certainly looks really really really bad for The Three, but is it BEYOND reasonable doubt? Mr. Misskelly is clearly a suboptimal witness for many reasons and for both sides, but he does appear to know stuff he shouldn't if he were not involved.

Wally

So excited to watch! I know this is probably longer than your average running time, but for some reason I thought this would be longer. (And if that sounds like I'm complaining, it's bc I want as much MO content as possible 🙏)

HawKNLoaD

Great job, dude. I still think the Nons are gonna come after you though, speaking from experience. Tbf, my interpretation was biased and I didn't stray away from it, but my ultimate goal was to defend metal heads more than Echols.

Matt Orchard

I generally try to stay away from the term, but "retarded" is sort of firmly wedged into the lexicon of this particular case. Sort of a long story, but it had to be that word :)

Elisabeth Villoutreix

Wow, I don’t think I knew this case! Fascinating.

William Sheen

Great vid as always. Just a note on the use of the term "retarded", it would be better to use the current standard term of a learning disability, which an IQ of 72 would qualify as.