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Christian McPhate

Christian McPhate is an award-winning journalist who specializes in investigative reporting. He covers crime, the environment, business, government and social justice. His work has appeared in several publications, including the Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the Miami Herald, San Antonio Express News and The Washington Times.

@writerontheedge

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Documentary About Mineola Swingers Club Case Tracks How a Fantastic Crime Was Likely a Fantasy

By Christian McPhate
May 25, 2023

Chickens were sacrificed. Spells were cast. Wearing witches' outfits, adults allowed one of their students to fly around on a broomstick at a swingers club in Mineola, Texas. Ages 4 through 7, the four children didn’t know about the “sex kindergarten in a trailer park” in the early 2000s when...
What's Listed in Larry McMurtry’s Estate Sale? Typewriters, Pistols and His Duct-Taped Boots

By Christian McPhate
Mar 28, 2023

Larry McMurtry, right, was a Pulitzer and Oscar winner and iconic Texas author. Before Chip and Joanna cover his former bookstore in burlap, you can buy some of his personal belongings.
Hemp Farmers and Marijuana Advocates Face a Burning Question: What Exactly Is Legal in Texas?

By Christian McPhate
Dec 14, 2022

Tristan Taylor always thought he’d be a preacher. He liked to talk, so he’d been told growing up that he’d be either behind the pulpit or in front of the camera as a politician spewing promises he wouldn’t keep. Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 360 pounds, Taylor dreamed of playing in the...
Dallas Poet Laureate Builds House of Poems, Responds to Residency Questions

By Christian McPhate
Apr 21, 2022

When Joaquín Zihuatanejo was a child, his uncle, Tío Silastino asked, “Mijo, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
Jim Schutze's Seminal Book The Accommodation Is Set for Republishing

By Christian McPhate
Jul 30, 2021

Some considered it the most dangerous book in Dallas, a moniker coined by D Magazine years after it was published. The Accommodation: the politics of race in an American City, traces race relations and politics in Dallas from slavery to the early '80s. It argues slavery was crueler in North Texas...
The Old Grey Wolf Retires: The Ticket’s Mike Rhyner Signs Off

By Christian McPhate
Jan 7, 2020

Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll was a hard ass. He transformed his team from an NFL punchline into a powerhouse. He was known to chew out players after terrible games and inspired the kind of respect that would lead his team to four Super Bowl wins, two of them...
Demon in Denton Seeks Funds for Toy Walk

By Christian McPhate
Dec 5, 2019

On the night before St. Nick’s Day, on Thursday, a 7-foot-tall demonic Santa Claus will appear on the streets near downtown Denton, not to wreak havoc but to give toys to children who appear in his path on the Krampus Walk. Two days later, he’ll be at Wit’s End in...
Texas Department of Public Safety Warns of a Potential Mass Shooting During Joker Film Premiere

By Christian McPhate
Sep 27, 2019

Todd Phillips’ new Joker movie has been generating buzz in the weeks leading up to its Oct. 4 release. But now the U.S. Army is warning that they have “discovered disturbing and very specific chatter (about a potential mass shooting) on the dark web regarding the targeting of an unknown...
DISH Network Wants to Pay One Lucky Horror Fan $1,300 to Watch 13 Stephen King Movies

By Christian McPhate
Sep 25, 2019

A friendless teenage girl with superpowers and an aversion to pig’s blood. A group of sociopathic children with an addiction to corn. A vampire who chills in a crate only to crawl out at night to spread a rare disease. A killer clown from outer space lingering like a pedophile...
A Dallas Boutique Hotel Asks Guests to Untag Them in Photos. Does It Have the Right?

By Christian McPhate
Aug 21, 2019

DFW music promoter Callie Dee was trying to be body positive when she booked a room at the Lorenzo Hotel and brought a professional photographer friend for a photo shoot. It was Valentine’s Day 2018, and Dee had just lost weight, mostly due to stress, and was seeking to love...
Denton Hosted its First Lucha Libre Event This Past Weekend

By Christian McPhate
Aug 20, 2019

The Red Panther stands on the green ropes in the corner of the ring with his right hand raised as if he were challenging the sun to a wrestling match. He wears black tights and, similar to the other luchadores, a mask, black with a red panther face. On this...
Denton Artist Andrea Christensen Turns Death into Art

By Christian McPhate
Jul 26, 2019

At a distance, he looks like an old homeless man with a cyborg’s eye and in desperate need of a cane. His spine protrudes down his back like Godzilla’s back spikes. His antlers cast shadows on the ground. Hunched over, he forever reaches for something that only he can see...
Dallas Theater Pioneer Katherine Owens Dies

By Christian McPhate
Jul 24, 2019

For 35 years, theater visionary Katherine Owens created expressive art in a basement in Deep Ellum, taking audiences to far away places and fairy tale lands created by legendary playwrights such as Samuel Beckett and David Rabe. As co-founder and co-director of the Undermain Theatre troupe, Owens established North Texas...
Tammi True, Texas Burlesque Queen, Died Tuesday, Leaving Behind a Legacy Tied to History

By Christian McPhate
Jul 12, 2019

They called her Miss Excitement. Her real name was Nancy Bolen, then Powell, then Myers. But she was better known as Tammi True. With blonde, big hair like Marilyn Monroe’s, True looked like a movie starlet. She thought she resembled Kim Novak, who was best known for Alfred Hitchcok's Vertigo...
Glenn Beck Says He’s Committing ‘Political Suicide’ With New Slavery Exhibition

By Christian McPhate
Jun 28, 2019

Life-sized photographs of the bodies of four African American people dangled from nooses on Barney’s tree in Glenn Beck’s studio on Wednesday evening in Dallas. Beck didn’t kill them, but some white man did. They were images of slaves who had been hanged in the past for real and then...
Local Artists Come Together to Depict Immigrant Stories

By Christian McPhate
Nov 9, 2017

The latest project of Kavita Khandekar, the deputy director of the nonprofit Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, began as a fever dream. She and her coworkers at the small agency wanted to host a large-scale fundraiser, but they didn't want to do a big gala or luncheon like other...
In the Heart of Texas, Leatherface Lives On, and the BBQ Is Damn Good

By Christian McPhate
Oct 24, 2017

We Slaughter Barbecue isn’t easy to find. On the outskirts of Bastrop about 30 miles east of Austin, it sits off the side of state Highway 304 in what was once known as the Last Chance Gas Station. It was the only full-service gas station for miles around, and it had the...
Ink Master Clint Cummings Slinging Ink in the Afterlife

By Christian McPhate
Dec 25, 2016

Clint Cummings was known as an award-winning tattoo artist who’d been slinging ink for nearly a decade in the Fort Worth area. His skill with a tattoo gun landed him a spot on the second season of Ink Master, a tattoo competition judged by Miami Ink cast member Chris Núñez...
Best Tattoo Artists in Dallas: Terry Mayo

By Christian McPhate
Oct 23, 2015

Terry Mayo’s tattoo gun slings only large-scale art pieces these days — bio-organic, blackwork, black and gray, or color tattoos. The 25-year ink veteran specializes in illustrative images but prefers to tattoo traditional Japanese art. He has tattooed masterpieces using both styles at Cat Tattoo in Addison. Mayo says he...
Best Tattoo Artists in Dallas: Clint Cummings

By Christian McPhate
Aug 18, 2015

Every tattoo is different. This art form is permanent and personal, especially for the people who create it. On a mission to ink our own skin, we researched and tracked down some of the best tattoo artists in Dallas for an ongoing series. Clint Cummings doesn't need the title of...
Best Tattoo Artists in Dallas: Liz Cook

By Christian McPhate
Aug 4, 2015

Liz Cook is a tattoo artist. But not in the traditional sense. She doesn't tattoo tribal designs or Old English lettering. A dagger driven through the heart or “Born to Ride” emblazoned on a banner is not the kind of ink she's slinging at Rebel Muse, a small tattoo studio...
13 Best Tattoo Shops in DFW, 2015 Edition

By Christian McPhate
May 28, 2015

Tattooing has come a long way since the early days of a needle, thread and a vial of Indian ink. Back then, the only Americans showcasing body art were outlaw bikers, inmates and sailors. They were the days when getting a tattoo was a right of passage, and you were...