Burden of Proof

Explicit content warning

09/26/23 • 46 min

Tommy Cotter worked as a soundman for network television show COPS. For one year, Cotter experienced several forms of crime alongside officers in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Fort Wayne, Texas. He captured sound of prostitution stings, robberies, and domestic disputes. Ten years after leaving the job, Cotter reveals how this experience transformed him.

****** **** is a photographer who spent time as a crime scene specialist in a southwestern state. He recounts the elaborate hiring process which included a lie detector test, a mock crime scene, and a trip to the morgue. Photographing evidence, suspects, and autopsies, the experience began affecting his subconscious. Memories forgotten resurfaced, and the elements of a crime scene even began appearing in his personal photography.

Produced by Garrett Crowe, Mike Martinez, and Tyler Wray.

Music by William Cody Watson.

Transcript are available at everythingisstories.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Produced by Garrett Crowe, Mike Martinez, and Tyler Wray.

Music by William Cody Watson.

Transcript are available at everythingisstories.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Trailer - Their Understanding of Themselves

Created and produced by Mike Martinez and Tyler Wray, Everything is Stories is an ongoing survey of personal histories. Each episode is a first person narrative from someone who has lived through consequential changes to their notion of self and the world.

Harry Crews said it best: “Nothing is allowed to die in a society of story telling people. It is all–the good and the bad–carted up and brought along from one generation to the next And everything that is brought along is colored and shaped by those who bring it.” If that is so, is what they bring with them true? I’m convinced that it is.”

We don’t record to defend or demonstrate an idea. Rather, we create a document of what was seen and felt during their transformative experiences. Take a listen. Start anywhere. You may find a new definition of reality’s highs and lows.

Know of a story or storyteller? Send us your tales of genuine characters and unfamiliar places for consideration to: [email protected]. No story too troubled, no atmosphere too strange, no realm too foreign.

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Next Episode

Other Worlds

Diego Palma is a healer. Kush is a shaman. Both are located in Peru.Their methods for spiritual discovery include medicine songs, mantras, icaros, tobacco smoke, and ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is a brew made from the caapi vine and the chacruna shrub. Amazonas have used ayahuasca for centuries. When ingested, it opens the mind to cosmic possibilities.

Peter Gersten is a retired lawyer. In 1987, he sued the United States Government for UFO information. Years later, Gersten began following visions and signs which led him to Sedona, Arizona. He began to believe reality was a simulation that could be manipulated by action. On December 21, 2012, Gersten traveled to the top of Bell Rock, a butte with an elevation of 600 ft. There, he believed a portal would open that could take him to the center of the universe, but only if he jumped into it.

Produced by Garrett Crowe, Mike Martinez, and Tyler Wray.

Music by Kwaidan and William Cody Watson.

Transcripts are available at everythingisstories.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices