Episodios
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This is Season 6's Halloween Special.
We are LIVE recording from Ancaster, Ontario's infamous and reportedly haunted Mafia Tunnel.
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Anneliese Michel was born in Germany on September 21, 1952. She grew up in a devoutly, somewhat extreme, Catholic family. Pictures of her taken in her childhood show a vibrant, pretty girl on her way to becoming a gorgeous woman. She had shining black hair, an open, honest face and a stunning smile. By the time she was 23-years-old, she was emaciated, heavily bruised, scarred and deranged. She was supposedly taken over by demons and fought for nearly eight years before finally losing her battle with evil. Later, her death was labeled negligent homicide, but was there anything anyone could have done for Anneliese Michel? Were those who were with Anneliese really fighting Satan?
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On Friday, April 13, 1951, Troy Powell and Ernest Walrath were executed at the Idaho State Penitentiary for the crime of murder in the 1st degree, a crime both young men confessed and plead guilty to. The execution took place outside the walls of the prison in #2 yard, away from other inmates. It serves as Idaho's only double execution to date, as well as the youngest men to be sent to the gallows in Idaho's history. This bonus episode explores the crime and the perspectives of a former retired Idaho supreme court justice, the daughter of Walrath and Powell's attorney, and the current historic sites administrator at the Old Idaho Penitentiary.
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season 6 Episode 15, The Old Idaho Penitentiary Part III
In the 1940s and 1950s the Idaho Penitentiary again was suffering from overcrowding and a new cell house was constructed. Cell Block #5 held the worst of the worst with maximum security cells, a death row, its very own indoor gallows and drop house.
This housing unit is rumoured to be the most haunted of all the buildings on the property, even though, only one official hanging took place within. It was also that last State sanctioned execution in Idaho taking the life of Prisoner # 9509 Raymond Allen Snowden in the most unethical way.
On the evening of September 23rd, 1956 Cora Lucille Dean drove to the Hi-Ho Club in Garden City, where she intended to have a few drinks and play the slot machines. Here she met a young man named Raymond Snowden who she found no only attractive, but fun to be around. When the two had a few drinks, Snowden wanted to take things a bit further and pressured Cora. When his advances were denied he threatened Cora in a frightening manner asking her to choose between rape and death. Cora obviously taken aback chose neither and that made Snowden angry who produced a pocket knife and stabbed Cora 29 times.
The body, which was found the next morning by a paper boy, was viciously and sadistically cut and mutilated. An autopsy surgeon testified the voice box had been cut, and that this would have prevented the victim from making any intelligible outcry. There were other wounds inflicted while she was still alive — one in her neck, one in her abdomen, two in the face, and two on the back of the neck. The second neck wound severed the spinal cord and caused death. There were other wounds all over her body, and her clothing had been cut away. The nipple of the right breast was missing. There was no evidence of a sexual attack on the victim; however, some of the lacerations were around the breasts and vagina of the deceased.
Snowden took the dead woman's wallet hailed a passing motorist and rode back to Boise. There he went to a bowling alley and changed clothes. He dropped his knife into a sewer at a Cigar Shop and threw the wallet away. Then he went to his hotel and cleaned up again. He put the clothes he had worn that evening into a trash barrel outside the hotel.
Police narrowed in on Snowden almost immediately as eye-witnesses pointed out that Snowden had left with Cora that evening from the Hi-Ho Club. Police also, remember Snowden from a previous encounter as to which he boasted he was going to sever the spinal cord of his then girlfriend because she was irritating him.
They found the weapon, the same one they remember him previously threatening with, still covered in blood in a sewer grate near Hannifin's Cigar Shop. Another eye-witness placed Snowden there and that was enough for an arrest to be made.
During the trial it was brought to the attention of the media that Snowden had boasted of two other murders, but they were never confirmed. A detective magazine at the time dubbed Snowden, "Idaho's Jack the Ripper" in view of the viciousness of the crime.
Snowden was found guilty and sentenced to death. He took up residence in Death Row with his door in view of the indoor gallows to which he would make his way to on October 18th, 1957.
At 12:05 he was brought into the gallows room and met with the Chaplain. The noose was placed around his neck and the witnesses in the viewing room got their first look at Snowden. The door sprung just 45 seconds later. Down went Snowden and the crowd gasped. It seems the Warden and those responsible for carrying out the deed did not measure Snowden's height or weight, and s such the counter-weight was not calculated correctly. Snowden fell, but he did not break his neck instantly. Instead, in the catch room, he struggled and swung about for 15 minutes until he finally died. Some say it was an oversight, while others believed the authorities did this on purpose to make Snowden's death one of suffering.
Snowden's hanging was the last of a total of ten men to occur at the prison and his body was buried in an unmarked grave on prison property. Some believe that Snowden haunts his Cell, Cell Block #5 and the hanging room. But Snowden may not be the only soul still doing time at the Pen. There are a total of 129 recorded deaths within the walls.
Due to overcrowding and the treatment of prisoners serious riots occurred in 1952 and again in 1971. The 1973 riots proved to be the end of the Old Idaho Penitentiary as riots burned down several buildings and damaged others beyond repair. The 416 resident inmates were moved to the new Idaho State Correctional Institution south of Boise and the Old Idaho Penitentiary was closed on December 3, 1973, never to see another living soul imprisoned behind its stone walls.
If you are interested in the Old Idaho State Penitentiary you can visit them daily where tours are conducted by volunteer staff. Special events around Halloween turn the prison into one goulish haunted attraction. More recently, the Pen has been giving Paranormal Investigation Tours.
Special thanks to all those volunteering to keep such a historic gem alive. Thank you to the Idaho State Historical Society for their excellent resources and dedication. We will attach a bonus episode that was produced by the staff of the Idaho State Pen with funding from the Idaho State Historical Society.
It focuses in on the prison's only double hanging. If you like what you hear, head over to their youtube page to see additional videos.
We will leave you now with the words and memories of prisoners and staff from the Old Idaho State Penitentiary.
Until Next Time.....Be good.
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season 6 Episode 14 The Old Idaho Penitentiary Part II.
In 1932, Joseph F. Hook, a well-known author of pulp fiction stories, and his wife, Edna, moved to 4312 N 37th Street with their three children: Clyde, 21, Mildred, 19, and Vincent, 18.
Carl C. Van Vlack, a bottler at the Columbia Brewery, his wife, Edna, and their son, Douglas, 28, lived around the corner on the same block at 3621 N Stevens Street in Tacoma. Mildred Hook met Douglas F. Van Vlack in the spring of 1933 while searching for the Hook family dog, “Buster.” and soon they began seeing each other.
The couple was privately married in Shelton on July 28, 1933, and kept it secret for five months before telling their parents, who weren’t especially pleased. In December 1933, they moved to an apartment at 801 North I (Eye) Street in Tacoma. But living together proved difficult from the beginning. Mildred was gregarious and Douglas was misanthropic. Mildred had a good job with the Washington Gas and Electric Company as a cashier and Douglas, sullen and argumentative, was unemployed and had difficulty holding jobs. He was drinking heavily and started to physically abuse her. Mildred filed her first divorce action on November 29, 1934, but the couple got back together when Douglas got a steady job driving a truck for the Delicious Ice Cream Company. But he proved unreliable and irresponsible and several months later was discharged. In early 1935, he was employed by Meadowsweet Dairies as a milk-truck driver, but was soon fired for insubordination.
In September 1935, during an argument over money at the Van Vlack home, Douglas shoved Mildred down a flight of stairs and locked her out of the house. After cutting her hand on broken glass while trying to regain entrance, Mildred retreated to her parents home, bruised and bloody. The following day, she filed for divorce, charging “burdensome home life and spousal abuse,” and was granted a restraining order prohibiting Douglas from having any contact. Douglas retaliated by stealing all her clothes and jewelry from their apartment and burying them in the ground. Mildred and her attorney responded by a filing theft complaint. Douglas was arrested on September 15, 1935, but the complaint was later dismissed on plaintiff’s motion when items were returned, even though dirt and mold had ruined Mildred’s clothes.
Meanwhile, both Mildred and Douglas moved home to live with their respective parents. On October 11, 1935, Mildred obtained an interlocutory degree of divorce, and was granted the right to assume her maiden name. Mildred resumed a normal life and went to work every day, while Douglas became morose and isolated himself. He became obsessed with getting Mildred back and began stalking her and watching the Hook home for male visitors. On Sunday, October 18, Mildred went to a physician for treatment after being tied up and raped by Van Vlack.
On Thursday, November 14, Douglas forced Mildred to accompany him on an afternoon automobile ride, then bound her wrists and again physically attacked her. The following day, Mildred and her attorney went to Pierce County Deputy District Attorney Stewart Elliott to file a complaint against Douglas for criminal assault. But when she learned the penalty was 20 years in prison, she decided to drop the charge. Instead, she wanted Elliott to talk to Van Vlack and enforce the restraining order.
However on Monday morning, November 18, Joseph F. Hook and his attorney, Idaho State Senator Wesley Lloyd, demanded Elliott charge Douglas Van Vlack with violation of the new Washington state kidnapping law. Elliott said it didn’t meet the criteria for kidnapping, since there was no request for ransom, but agreed to charge Van Vlack with abduction and assault.
Sometime during the week, Van Vlack stole a .38-caliber Remington Model 51 semi-automatic pistol and shoulder holster from Morley Barnard, a casual friend, who was living at the YMCA. Earlier Van Vlack told Barnard he planed to take Mildred to Mexico and if anyone interfered, he would kill her. Barnard didn’t realize his gun was missing until days later.
At 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 23, 1935, Mildred Hook was on her way home from work with her close friend, Doris Clark, age 20, a student nurse. The two women had just stepped off a downtown streetcar and were walking north on Mason Avenue toward the Hook residence when Douglas Van Vlack drove his car over the sidewalk, blocking their path. He got out of the car, brandishing a pistol and smelling of liquor. The couple quarreled for 15 minutes, then he told Mildred she had 30 seconds to get into the car or he would shoot her and commit suicide. When Clark tried to intervene, Van Vlack pointed the gun at Mildred, and shoved her, crying, into the car. Before driving away, he told Clark to tell Mildred’s father he would kill her if anyone set the police on their trail or tried to interfere in any way.
When Joseph Hook learned of his daughter’s abduction, he immediately contacted Deputy District Attorney Elliott who obtained a bench warrant for Van Vlack’s arrest. The Tacoma Police Department alerted law enforcement up and down the West Coast to be on the lookout for the couple traveling in Van Vlack’s slate-gray 1931 Ford Model A coupe bearing Washington license plates.
With Mildred as hostage, Van Vlack sped down the Pacific Highway (US Highway 99) toward California and the United States-Mexican border. At 10:45 p.m., she telephoned her uncle, Frank Michel, in Portland, Oregon, telling him she was all right but was being forcibly detained and Van Vlack had threatened to kill her if anyone notified the police. At Salem, Van Vlack headed east across central Oregon to Boise, Idaho. They had been driving for 24 hours straight and arrived in Boise about 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 24. The couple stayed overnight in a Boise hotel and departed late Monday morning for Salt Lake City. While in Boise, a telegram was sent to Mildred’s parents, under her name, purporting she was safe and would be returning to Tacoma soon. Van Vlack also sent a telegram to his parents: “Sorry I had to do this. Everything all right. Letter follows. Douglas” But a letter never came.
At 2:00 p.m. on Monday, November 25, 1935, Idaho State Patrolman Fontaine Cooper, age 34, and Twin Falls Deputy Sheriff Henry C. Givens, age 45, spotted Van Vlack’s 1931 Ford coupe on Highway 30, a half-mile east of Buhl. The officers pulled Van Vlack over to the side of the road, then got out on foot and approached the vehicle. Cooper ordered Van Vlack to step out of the car and when he didn’t respond, opened the driver’s door. Van Vlack pulled his pistol from the left pocket of his topcoat and shot Cooper through the left eye, killing him instantly. When Givens went for his gun, Van Vlack shot him three times: in the throat, in the left arm, shattering the bone, and through the left hand. With both officers down, Van Vlack calmly drove down the highway toward Twin Falls.
Clifford Hammond, a farmer from Buhl, was an eyewitness to the shootings. He was passing in his truck and watched the event unfold in his rear view mirror. As soon as Van Vlack left, Hammond went to the scene, found Cooper dead and Givens critically wounded. Hammond put Givens in his truck and rushed to the Twin Falls County Hospital. Then he telephoned the news to Twin Falls County Sheriff Edwin F. Prater, who immediately ordered a countywide dragnet for Van Vlack’s automobile. Sheriff’s posses set up roadblocks on all roads and highways leading out of the county and guarded all bridges and service stations. Radio stations broadcast descriptions of the couple and asked the public for assistance in locating Van Vlack’s car. It was the biggest manhunt in south central Idaho’s history with hundreds of posse-men, armed with weapons from the Idaho National Guard armory and scores of radio-equipped cars, searching for the killer.
For the rest of the day, Van Vlack played a game of cat and mouse with sheriff’s patrols and roadblocks. He hid the car in the sagebrush on the Salmon Tract until nightfall and removed his license plates, hoping for the opportunity to steal another set off an Idaho car. Van Vlack wanted to head south into Nevada, but roadblocks on the highway forced him to stay on unmarked backroads, which seemingly led nowhere. Eventually Van Vlack, low on gasoline, ditched his car in a dry irrigation canal near the small farming community of Berger and the couple set out on foot.
The night was clear and the temperature dropped into the 20s. The couple was lightly clad, having left Tacoma with no winter clothing. Van Vlack wore a topcoat and street clothes, and Hook wore a suede coat over a woolen dress and high-heeled pumps. Mildred had gloves, but neither wore a hat. They set out on foot, walking through sagebrush, across fields and along the banks of irrigation canals to avoid being seen. They periodically took shelter inside haystacks and culverts to get out of the biting wind.
At dawn on Tuesday morning, November 26, 1935, two spotter planes left Twin Falls to assist the sheriff’s posses searching for the couple. At 8:15 a.m. a posse found Van Vlack, cold and exhausted, huddled in a roadside ditch along Highway 93 approximately two miles north of Hollister. Carl Groth, a Linotype operator for the Twin Falls Idaho Evening Times, disarmed Van Vlack, who claimed his name was Jack Burke, and held him at gun point until Sheriff Prater arrived. The prisoner was taken to Twin Falls and lodged in the jail atop the county courthouse. That afternoon, a search party found Van Vlack’s Ford coupe in a dry irrigation ditch on the Salmon Tract, a mile and a half southeast of Berger and about three miles from where he was arrested.
Although Van Vlack admitted shooting the two police officers, he insisted Mildred was uninjured and was likely making her way back to Tacoma. He told Sheriff Prater they parted company in the middle of the night because he would have a much better chance of escaping alone. But when Prater found blood and long black hairs stuck to the butt of Van Vlack’s pistol, he worried Hook had been bludgeoned on the head and was lying unconscious somewhere in the freezing cold.
On Wednesday, November 27, Twin Falls District Attorney Edward C. Babcock filed a complaint against Van Vlack in probate court before Judge Guy L. Kinney. Van Vlack, who appeared without counsel, waived a preliminary hearing and was bound over for trial. Judge Kinney ordered him to be held without bond in the county jail until the next term of district court, scheduled for January 1937.
Scores of volunteers, led by Twin Falls Police Chief Samuel B. Elrod, renewed their efforts to find the missing victim. Search parties picked up the couple’s tracks at the site of Van Vlack’s abandoned car and slowly and methodically began following the footprints. One set led to the top of an irrigation canal, then seemed to disappear. On Thursday, November 28, 1935, in the off-chance that Hook had drowned, water was shut off in the Twin Falls Canal Company irrigation system, allowing 12 hours to search the tract canals for Hook’s body.
Chief Elrod and his search team discovered two sets of footprints leading to the Union Pacific Railway tracks and followed. Finally, at 8:45 a.m. on Friday morning, November 29, they found the frozen body of Mildred Hook lodged in a 16-inch galvanized steel culvert underneath the track bed, approximately one-and-a-quarter miles northwest of Berger. The ends of the culvert had been plugged with sagebrush to hide the body. Mildred Hook appeared to have died from a massive head wound and when Chief Elrod removed the body, he found a bullet inside the culvert and an empty .380-caliber cartridge casing on the ground nearby. A single set of male footprints led away from the culvert, down the railroad tracks toward Hollister.
Twin Falls County Coroner Harwood L. Stowe was called to the scene of the murder and ordered that Mildred Hook’s body be taken immediately to the White Mortuary in Twin Falls for an autopsy. At the coroner’s inquest, held on Saturday morning, the jury determined that Hook’s death was caused by Douglas Van Vlack, who fractured her skull with a blow to the head and shot her through the left eye. After the inquest, Clyde and Vincent Hook, Mildred’s brothers, arranged to ship her body by train to Tacoma for burial.
The body of Idaho Patrolman Fontaine Cooper lay in state for two days at the White Mortuary in Twin Falls, then was taken to his home town of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, for burial in the community cemetery. A poignant funeral service was held on Friday afternoon, November 29, attended by Idaho Governor Charles Ben Ross and scores of police officers from Idaho and the surrounding states. He had been an Idaho patrolman for 12 years, and left behind a wife and one child.
Meanwhile, Van Vlack seemed to be willing to admit his crimes to whomever would listen. On the day of his capture, he gave Prosecutor Babcock a 17-page statement, confessing to shooting the two police officers, but refused to sign it. He said “Kidnapping is a capitol offense in Washington and I thought I might as well burn them up” Van Vlack steadfastly denied harming his ex-wife until Sheriff Prater confronted him with photographs of her body. Then he admitted shooting her.
Van Vlack also confessed to Buhl Police Chief Arthur C. Parker, and gave a two-hour interview to Associated Press reporter Walter A. Beasley, during which he admitted hitting Mildred on the head and shooting her as she emerged from the culvert. He claimed his motive was revenge against the Hook family for breaking up his marriage. “If Mildred’s father had kept his nose out of our affairs, all this would not have happened,” he declared. Joseph Hook, however, believed that Mildred knew too much and, in addition to witnessing Cooper’s murder, could link him to other crimes in the Tacoma area.
The funeral for Mildred Hook was held at the Buckley-King Funeral Church, 201 S Tacoma Avenue, on Tuesday afternoon, December 2, 1936. The elaborate service, conducted by the Order of the Eastern Star, a large fraternal organization, was attended by family and hundreds of friends, after which her body was entombed in a crypt at the Tacoma Mausoleum.
Although Henry Givens appeared to be slowly recovering, his throat wound became infected and he developed pneumonia. He died at the Twin Falls County Hospital at 9:25 p.m. on Sunday, December 8, leaving behind a wife and six children. Givens had been a Twin Falls deputy sheriff for three years.
On Tuesday, December 10, District Attorney Babcock filed an information in Idaho District Court, charging Van Vlack with first-degree murder, but only in the death of Fontaine Cooper. The prosecution needed only prove one premeditated death to qualify the defendant for the death penalty. Babcock decided to hold the additional murder charges in abeyance, pending the outcome of the first trial, then file if necessary.
The funeral for Henry C. Givens was held on Wednesday afternoon, December 11, in the First Presbyterian Church and he was buried in the Twin Falls Cemetery. The service, conducted by six ministers of the Church of the Nazarene, was attended by hundreds of police officers and friends.
Van Vlack pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Idaho District Court on Monday, December 16. He was represented by Embert V. Larson, a former Twin Fall District Attorney, and Leo Teats, an attorney from Tacoma. Judge Adam B. Barclay set the trial date for Monday, January 20, 1936, and ordered Van Vlack held without bail in the Twin Falls County Jail.
On Wednesday, January 15, the charge against Van Vlack for the premeditated murder of Fontaine Cooper was dismissed on motion of the prosecution and replaced with the premeditated murder of Mildred Hook. Van Vlack maintained his plea of not guilty.
Trial began on schedule in the Twin Falls County Courthouse before Judge Barclay but was slowed by jury selection. In addition to District Attorney Babcock, the prosecution team now included Idaho Attorney General Bert H. Miller and his senior assistant, J. W. Taylor. Questioning of the prospective jurors revolved around their impressions of the crime gained from the news media and their views about an insanity defense and the death penalty. After four days of questioning, a jury of 14 men, including two alternates, was selected.
Opening statements and testimony commenced on Friday morning, January 24, 1936. The prosecution stated simply that the defendant killed his ex-wife for reasons of jealousy and revenge. He had declared his murderous intentions to Joseph Hook and others, stolen a firearm for the purpose, killed Mildred and then confessed his crime to several witnesses. The defense maintained that Van Vlack had been temporarily insane when he killed Mildred Hook. He had borrowed the gun to protect a large amount of money he was carrying on his person, had abducted Mildred to save his marriage, had only meant to wound the two Idaho police officers, claimed she was alive when they parted company, and had no memory of her death.
The trial testimony lasted two weeks. The prosecution rested its case after three days of direct testimony. The defense called Carl and Edna Van Vlack and Mrs. Ethel Bennett, Edna’s sister, who testified about the family’s alleged history of hereditary insanity and Douglas’s troubled childhood. Douglas Van Vlack took the stand and laid all the blame for the murders on Joseph Hook, who hated him because he was not good enough for his daughter, turned Mildred against him, and wrecked his marriage. He also claimed his confessions had been fabricated by the police. Three expert witnesses, one psychiatrist and two medical doctors with psychiatric training, testified that Douglas suffered from manic depression (now called bipolar disorder). He had been temporarily insane at the time of the killing and therefore was not responsible for his actions.
Closing arguments began on Thursday afternoon, February 6. Idaho Attorney General Miller addressed the jury for four hours, outlining the state’s evidence and concluding with a request for a first-degree murder verdict and the death penalty. The defense argued that a series of events, caused mostly by Joseph Hook, combined to unbalance Van Vlack, making him incapable of premeditated murder. Further, the state’s evidence against the defendant for the murdering of Mildred Hook was weak and circumstantial, and his alleged confessions contrived.
The trial concluded on Friday night, February 7, and the case went to the jury. At 2:20 p.m. the following day, Judge Barclay reconvened the court and the jury delivered its verdict. Van Vlack was found guilty of first-degree murder and the jury voted to impose the death penalty. Although sequestered for 17 hours, the jury had deliberated for seven hours and 30 minutes.
On Tuesday afternoon, February 11, Judge Barclay sentenced Van Vlack “to be hanged by the neck until dead,” set the execution date for Saturday, April 3, 1936, at the Idaho State Penitentiary in Boise and signed the commitment order. On Friday, February 14, Sheriff Prater, accompanied by three deputies, shackled Van Vlack and loaded him into the back seat of a patrol car for the two-and-a-half hour trip from Twin Falls to Boise. Although it would prove be his last ride, Van Vlack appeared happy. It was the first time he had been out of the county courthouse in three months.
Van Vlack’s execution date was stayed on March 12, when his attorneys filed notice of intention to appeal the conviction to the Idaho State Supreme Court. His case was argued before the tribunal on November 9 and Van Vlack appeared before the justices asking that his death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment. On December 10, the supreme court upheld his conviction in district court and, on February 9, 1937, affirmed the sentence of death. Van Vlack’s attorneys made two more appeals to the state supreme court for a commutation of his death sentence, but the petitions were denied. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the case. On October 29, Twin Falls District Court Judge James Porter scheduled Van Vlack’s hanging for December 10, 1937.
In a last-ditch effort, Van Vlack’s chief counsel, Robert Ailshie Jr., appealed his death sentence to the Idaho board of pardons. A commutation hearing was held on Monday, December 6 to consider documents submitted by Ailshie alleging jury prejudice and misconduct, and affidavits from a psychiatrist stating Van Vlack was hopelessly and incurably insane. The pardons board turned down Van Vlack’s commutation appeal by a vote of two to one and Idaho Governor Barzilla W. Clark chose not to interfere with the execution.
Meanwhile, a gallows was constructed in the elevator shaft of the former shirt factory, which operated between 1923 and 1933, at the Idaho State Penitentiary. The previous person to die on the gallows was John Jerko, on July 9, 1926, who was also convicted of murder in Twin Falls. This time, instead of a state executioner, the trapdoor would be sprung electronically by one of four red buttons pushed by Warden William H. Gess and three prison officials. The warden scheduled the execution for 12:10 a.m. on Friday morning so that “things could be cleared up before the inmates at the institution awoke the next morning” (Boise Capital News).
At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 9, Reverend Frank A. Rhea, from Saint Marks Episcopal Church in Boise, visited Van Vlack in his cell to administer the last sacraments. A short time later, his parents, Carl and Edna Van Vlack, arrived to visit Douglas at the open door of his cell, under the watchful eye of prison guard Al Baker.
At 7:12 p.m., as the Van Vlacks left the cell block, Douglas broke away from Baker, jumped onto a nearby table and scrambled up three tiers of cells into the rafters. He walked on a beam to the opposite side of the cell block, then stayed there, looking at the concrete floor some 30 feet below. Warden Gess ordered him to come down, then sent guards to fetch a fire net. Prison chaplain Reverend Arvid C. Ohrnell and attorney Ailshie begged Van Vlack to come down, but he did not respond.
Jumping to His Death
At 7:42 p.m., just as the guards returned with a fire net, Van Vlack shouted “I have a right to choose the way I die” (Boise Capital News). Then he plunged forward and hit the floor on his head and left shoulder. Dr. George H. Wahle, the prison physician, determined Van Vlack was still alive, rolled him onto a mattress and covered him with a blanket. There was some discussion whether Van Vlack should be hanged if he was still alive at execution time. When Dr. Wahle determined the prisoner’s death was only a matter of time, Warden Gess called off the execution.
Van Vlack was pronounced dead at 12:32 a.m., Friday, December 10, having never regained consciousness. “Death was caused by a broken neck, possibly a fractured skull, internal hemorrhages and other injuries,” Dr. Wahle said (Tacoma New Tribune).
At 1:30 a.m., an ambulance took Van Vlack’s body to the McBratney Funeral Parlors where Ada County Corner James T. McCann discovered the broken half of a razor blade concealed under his upper lip; the other half was found in his cell. Prison officials surmised he was determined to commit suicide one way or another, but had no idea where the pieces of razor blade came from. Later that morning Van Vlack’s parents made arrangements to ship Douglas’s body by train to Tacoma for burial.
On Saturday December 11, the state prison board convened to open an official investigation into the suicide. Idaho Attorney General J. W. Taylor said the suicide was either colossal stupidity or collusion on the part of the warden and state prison officials. Governor Clark said: “Van Vlack is dead. I presume we should let him remain dead. The affair is closed as far as I’m concerned” (Boise Capital News). But after a week-long political battle with the prison board, Warden Gess was discharged for incompetence. Sheriff Prater was offered the position but declined for financial reasons. Gess was replaced in early February 1938 by Pearl C. Meredith, a real-estate developer from Buel, Idaho.
Several visitors and museum staff believe they have felt the presence of Van Vlack from sudden drops in temperatures, hearing his voice call out, being touched by a ghostly hand or seeing his spirit manifest on the roof of cell block #4 and grounds alike.
Please Join Us for Part III as we cover more of the Old Idaho State Penitentiary on Unsolved Mysteries of the World.
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season Six, Episode 13, The Haunted Old Idaho Penitentiary
This is a Three Part Episode with bonus material added for those interested in taking a deep dive into one of the most active haunted prisons in the world.
There is no other word to describe The Old Idaho Penitentiary, other than misery. It is a stark reminder of the brutal, cruel and insanely inhumane life of a prisoner in Idaho's early prison system. And some may argue that Idaho has just reasoning for such conditions with inmates such as the State's first female serial killer to the United State's Jack the Ripper – the Old Idaho Penitentiary in Boise, Idaho saw the worst of humanity.
Over 13,000 souls passed through The Old Idaho Penitentiary since the doors opened in 1872 and some say, not all of them left. In fact, there is so much activity within these old walls that occurrences are a daily event.
The complex was first constructed in 1870, a full 20 years before Idaho became a state. The Territorial Prison, as it was then known, was first built as a single cell house near the city of Boise with the very walls and building built by the prisoner's themselves. The single cell house was only to be used to house about 20 individuals, but soon, they had nearly 60 individuals imprisoned and needed to expand the grounds.
In 1890, the prison was expanded and included a new cell house that housed 42 individual steel-door caged cells. However, even with this new expansion, the prison was still taking in criminals. The individual-sized cells were holding two to three individuals making for very difficult living conditions.
The cells did not have washrooms and only a honey-pot was used. Each cell had one honey-pot, or basically a bowl to urinate and defecate in. The honey-pot lay on the ground in the cell and was only cleaned out once per day, in the morning just before breakfast.
Now in the sweltering desert heat of summer, the honey-pots made the air thickly sick. In the winter, the urine and feces would freeze making the cleaning even more difficult. Often times, because the cells were so crowded, the honey-pot would be kicked over, or stepped into. Cells were only cleaned once per month.
Prisoner's sent to the Idaho Penn, knew that they would suffer through extremely hot conditions in the summer and brutally cold conditions in the winter. The cells had very little ventilation and only one radiator producing heat on the main floor by the guards on duty.
The new cell house was divided into three classes. The first floor held the more favorable prisoners, while the second held those more violent or those with longer sentences. The third was reserved for those doing life, or condemned to death. These particular cells had a clear view of the beautiful rose garden.
The rose garden also was where the large wooden gallows stood.
Without knowing this history, and it not being on the tour, many visitors wondering through this area suddenly find that they have developed a headache, or a neckache. They feel sudden gusts of cold wind and the feeling as if being watched. One particular witness claimed they saw an apparition of a man in striped prison clothing tending to the blooming roses. Others have seen the same man walking about and thinking he is a museum staff member dressed up, they ask to have a photo taken or to ask a question, only to find the man vanishes before their very eyes.
The Warden and guards were absolute power-hungry and kept prisoner's in line by exacting beatings that left prisoner's just shy of death.
Officials looked to more ways of influencing prisoner's to behave and keep in line and in 1926 they erected a small, low brick building that prisoner's knick-named Siberia – the end of the earth, the loneliest place on earth. It was solitary confinement, an often unbearable punishment for those who crossed the guards.
Prisoner's were placed in unlit rooms with no beds that measured 3 feet by 8 feet. Prisoner would be let out once, per week, for one hour, usually for a quick shower and then placed back in, the large steel doors closing behind them. There were three meals provided each day. Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal, lunch was a bowl of oatmeal and supper, you guest it – a bowl of oatmeal.
Inside, prisoner's usually went mad. Some prisoner's just screamed and yelled all day and night.
For those prisoner's who kept in line a multipurpose building was constructed which operated many different operations including a shirt factory, a licence plate shop, a laundry, a bakery, and a shoe factory. In the rear of the building larger showers were made for the prisoner's but these were communal and often the location of unsavoury events. In one reported incident, a prisoner was gang raped to death in the shower area.
During these early years there were a few female inmates scattered about the yard, but many became pregnant and it is not certain if the women were willing participants, raped by the male inamtes or if the guards themselves were assaulting the women.
In 1920 a separate cell block was constructed with a separate wall just outside the main prison walls to house the females separate from the male inmates. The cell block was a lot more comfortable than the men's but that did not mean that the females were any less dangerous. In fact, one of the United State's first female serial killers was housed in the women's cell block.
In 1912 Lyda Southard, aged 21, married Robert C. Dooley and moved to a farm in Twin Falls, Idaho. Together they lived with their infant daughter and Robert's brother, Ed Dooley. In 1915, Ed mysteriously died right after taking out a life insurance policy which would be payed to Robert and Lyda. Just a few short months later, Robert died as well. A few months after that her daughter, Lorraine (only two years old), also died. Lyda collected the life insurance money of each person in her family.
Two years later, Lyda married William McHaffie and together they moved to Hardin, Montana. William as soon as he settled into his new home died under similar mysterious circumstances. A year after that, Lyda married another man, Harlan Lewis, who died two months later. Lyda collected the insurance money on both husbands before leaving Montana and returning to Twin Falls, Idaho.
In Twin Falls, Lyda got a job at a cafe where she met her next husband, Ed Meyer. Ed fell extremely ill and never recovered just months after meeting his new love. His death was the one that prompted suspicion among the community. Nobody could wrap their minds around how a strong and healthy man like Ed would suddenly get sick and die. The exhumation of his body was ordered for further inspection, which ultimately led to the discovery of arsenic in his body.
The sheriff assigned to the case, Virgil Ormsby, began tracing Lyda's past whereabouts and ordered the exhumation of the other three husbands' bodies. They all contained traces of arsenic poisoning. Law enforcement immediately began their search for Lyda, who fled Twin Falls when suspicions about her began to arise.
Lyda fled to Hawaii where she met another man. But authorities caught up to her and brought her back to Boise, Idaho. Lyda's trial got national recognition and she had now gained the moniker of Lady Bluebeard. She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years to life in the Idaho Pen.
During her time spent in the Women's Ward at the penitentiary, she befriended a fellow prisoner named David Minton while gardening. When Minton was released from prison, he helped Lyda escape on May 4, 1931. The two made their way to Denver, Colorado before splitting up.
In Denver, Lyda married another man, Harry Whitlock, and continued to live there until she was eventually recaptured by authorities one year later. Lyda was brought back to the Idaho Pen and remained in prison until she was paroled in 1941. Once out of prison, she married yet again. This man disappeared from records but his disappearance was never proven to be linked to Lyda.
Lyda finally settled down in Salt Lake City, Utah, but died of a heart attack in the 1950s. Ironically, her body was brought back to Idaho and buried near her dead husbands, her child and the officer who arrested her.
In the 1930s, with the prison population still exploding, the solitary confinement rooms, the ones that were just 3X8, now housed up to six prisoners. Cell house #4 became operational during this time. It was the largest of the cell houses and had large steel doors housing hundreds of prisoners. In front of cell house #4 a reminder to prisoners to keep in line lay on the ground. Huge steel doors revealed a very tiny cage below ground. Those unruly prisoners were thrown into the hole, the doors shut.
Cell House #4 is closed to the public, but it appears as if the ghostly remains of one of the prisoner's still makes it out to startle and scare visitors and museum staff alike.
Please Join Us in Part II of this episode topic where we showcase the crime, capture, conviction and ultimate slow-death of one Carl C. Van Vlack, notorious murderer.
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season Six Episode 12 Japan Airlines Flight 1608.
It was November 17, 1986 and a huge Japanese Boeing 747-200F cargo aircraft was en route from Paris France to Narita International Airport near Tokyo Japan.
It was an uneventful flight until the aircraft was above Alaska, near Anchorage. At 17:11 hours crew noted specifically that they observed two strange objects coming up to the left side of their aircraft. They rose from below and proceeded to maintain a similar speed and appeared to be escorting the cargo jet.
All three crew members: Captain Kenju Terauchi an ex-fighter pilot with more than 10,000 hours flight experience,in the cockpit's left-hand seat; co-pilot Takanori Tamefuji n the right-hand seat; and flight engineer Yoshio Tsukuba all witnessed the objects approach and flight.
As the objects got closer they noted each had two rectangular arrays of what appeared to be glowing nozzles or thrusters, though their main frames remained obscured by darkness.
The Captain believed they were some sort of military aircraft and were simply identifying the flight, but their maneuverability was mind boggling.
"The thing was flying as if there was no such thing as gravity. It sped up, then stopped, then flew at our speed, in our direction, so that to us it [appeared to be] standing still. The next instant it changed course. ... In other words, the flying object had overcome gravity." recalls the Captain.
Then, suddenly, the two objects came closer and illuminated the entire cabin and produced and intense heat.
Air traffic control was notified at this point, who could not confirm any traffic in the indicated position. After three to five minutes the objects assumed a side-to-side configuration, which they maintained for another 10 minutes.
Each object had a square shape, consisting of two rectangular arrays of what appeared to be glowing nozzles or thrusters, separated by a dark central section. Captain Terauchi speculated in his drawings, that the objects would appear cylindrical if viewed from another angle, and that the observed movement of the nozzles could be ascribed to the cylinders' rotation.
Then the two craft then departed as quickly as they had come, but then the crew noticed something even more strange. A much larger craft was no tailing them. This time, they could identify its shape and each of the crew detailed a disc shaped flying craft was behind them.
Captain Terauchi now noticed a pale band of light that mirrored their altitude, speed and direction. Setting their onboard radar scope to a 25 nautical miles (46km) range, he confirmed an object in the expected 10 o'clock direction at about 7.5nmi (13.9km) distance, and informed ATC of its presence.
Anchorage found nothing on their radar, but Elmendorf's NORAD Regional Operations Control Center (ROCC), directly in his flight path, reported a "surge primary return" after some minutes.
As the city lights of Fairbanks began to illuminate the object, captain Terauchi believed to perceive the outline of a gigantic spaceship on his port side that was "twice the size of an aircraft carrier". The object followed "in formation", or in the same relative position throughout the 45 degree turn, a descent from 35,000 to 31,000ft, and a 360 degree turn. The short-range radar at Fairbanks airport failed, however, to register the object.
Anchorage ATC offered military intervention, which was declined by the pilot, due to his knowledge of the Mantell incident. The object was not noted by any of two planes which approached JAL 1628 to confirm its presence, by which time JAL 1628 had also lost sight of it.
Captain Terauchi cited in the official Federal Aviation Administration report that the object was a UFO.
In December 1986, Terauchi gave an interview to two Kyodo News journalists. Japan Airlines soon grounded him for talking to the press, and moved him to a desk job. He was only reinstated as a pilot years afterwards, and retired eventually in north Kanto, Japan.
Kyodo News contacted Paul Steucke, the FAA public information officer in Anchorage on December 24, and received confirmation of the incident.
The FAA's Alaskan Region consulted John Callahan, the FAA Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations branch, as they wanted to know what to tell the media about the UFO.
John Callahan was unaware of any such incident, considering it a likely early flight of a stealth bomber, then in development. He asked the Alaskan Region to forward the relevant data to their technical center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he and his superior played back the radar data and tied it in with the voice tapes by videotaping the concurrent playbacks.
A day later at FAA headquarters they briefed Vice Admiral Donald D. Engen, who watched the whole video of over half an hour, and asked them not to talk to anybody until they were given the OK, and to prepare an encompassing presentation of the data for a group of government officials the next day.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the FBI, CIA and President Reagan’s Scientific Study Team, among others. Upon completion of the presentation, all present were told that the incident was secret and that their meeting "never took place".
According to Callahan, the officials considered the data to represent the first instance of recorded radar data on a UFO, and they took possession of all the presented data.
John Callahan however managed to retain the original video, the pilot's report and the FAA's first report in his office. The forgotten target print-outs of the computer data were also rediscovered, from which all targets can be reproduced that were in the sky at the time.
After a three-month investigation, the FAA formally released their results at a press conference held on March 5, 1987. Here Paul Steucke retracted earlier FAA suggestions that their controllers confirmed a UFO, and ascribed it to a "split radar image" which appeared with unfortunate timing. He clarified that "the FAA [did] not have enough material to confirm that something was there", and though they were "accepting the descriptions by the crew" they were "unable to support what they saw".
The sighting received special attention from the media, as a supposed instance of the tracking of UFOs on both ground and airborne radar, while being observed by experienced airline pilots, with subsequent confirmation by an FAA Division Chief.
It would have been the end of the UFO story but for an extraordinary observation by a military aircraft just a short time after the Japan Airlines incident.
On January 30, 1987, a US Air Force KC-135 was flying from Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska, to Eielson AFB near Fairbanks.
The crew of the KC-135 reported a large, silent, disc-shaped UFO at about 20,000 feet altitude. At this time, Anchorage radar control showed nothing unusual.
In a moment, radar control asked the pilot of the plane if they still had the unknown object in sight. The frightened pilot replied yes, and added that the UFO was only 40 feet from the plane.
The cockpit recording referenced the JAL - 1628 incident, which had occurred only a month earlier.
The pilots of the military aircraft were startled as they observed what they believed was a similar shaped object, flying in the same manner and maneuvering just the same as the one previously reported by the Japanese Airlines flight.
About 30 minutes later, Anchorage Control Tower relayed a message from the FAA, informing the pilot to contact them upon landing. The FAA wanted a full report on the UFO seen by the crew.
The very next day, on January 31, another similar sighting occurred over Alaskan skies. Alaska Airline's Flight 53 reported enormous, disc-like objects flying near their aircraft.
These UFOs, according to the pilot's report, were "tracking" Flight 53. The Control Tower operator related to the pilot that they did not show anything unusual on their radar.
The pilot of Flight 53 was very concerned, stating that the UFO was moving at a mile/per/second, which would be about 3,600 m/p/h.
The pilot also stated that the UFO had almost immediately disappeared after flying under Flight 53.
Neither of the these two encounters were adequately explained by any conventional flying objects, or atmospheric anomalies, and remain a mystery. The reports requested never surfaced.
In 2006 John Callahan gave his eye-witness testimony about his official investigation into the Japanese Airline Incident:
So what can we make out of these sightings made by credible witnesses including air force pilots, flight engineers, experienced pilots, air traffic controllers and aviation investigators? It is obvious that something was witnessed, independently verified over the course of three separate encounters by both aircraft and ground crews – but what was it? And more importantly – why was it seemingly tracking and observing these three aircraft? Is it the occupants on the aircraft that held interest? Or the cargo they were carrying?
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The Haunted Dumas Brothel, Butte Montana
In 1888 French Canadian brothers Joseph and Arthur Nadeau invested in developing a large brick hotel on Butte Montana's East Mercury St. – the booming mining town's entertainment district. The investment would pay off as the hotel was a glamorous front for housing women of ill repute.
In the 1870's ladies would sell sexual services on the main thoroughfare through town and eventually would erect tents and false front buildings to ply there trade. As Butte grew, so did other businesses and eventually the ladies of Park Street, as they have become known, transferred their work to the south side of town. Butte was notoriously dangerously wild and gambling houses, saloons and brothels sprung up to serve the thousands of miners working nearly 18 hours a day in the copper, silver and gold mines.
The Dumas Brother's purchased a plot of land on one of the busiest streets that entertained the miners, but their goal was to attract not only the hard working miners, but also the bourgeoisie of Butte and so a red brick hotel, with all modern fixings was erected on East Galena Street, among the hundreds of other Brothel's that made up what locals called “The Twilight Zone”
Joseph Dumas named the business after his wife, Delia Dumas and registered the hotel with city officials as The Dumas Hotel. And with a wink, the hotel madam, Delia Dumas, was noted as madam. The following month they purchased hand made furniture and fixings for the hotel. The Dumas' frequented other dancing halls in the Montana territory and brought in a number of working girls.
In 1890, the Dumas Brothel, err umm, hotel, was officially opened for business. The opening night was a success and guests marvelled at the grand design and architecture noting its two story level, with large skylights and wooden spiral staircase. Drinks flowed freely and music played as guests were entertained by a number of high-class and unique looking ladies including one black prostitute who, at the time, was a rarity in Montana.
The Dumas Hotel was connected to other businesses via underground tunnels so that high-end clientele, such as city officials, lawyers, reverends and those about to commit adultery (a crime punishable for up to 2 years in prison) could visit the high-end brothel without notice.
But the hand carved furniture, the amazing architecture and well-paying clients could not hide the fact that the hotel held much misery. The girls, often as young as 15, would work in shifts serving sexual favors of all deviant kinds to dirty miners and sadistic city officials alike. The average pay for the girls was less than a living wage, and part of their pay was room and board. Many girls did not have enough for a stage coach or train ride out of town, if they wanted to leave. They were, once in the business, trapped.
Drug and alcohol addiction was prevalent as was disease. Girls would works hours upon hours turning tricks every eight minutes. They would finish with one, wash their privates in the low hanging sinks in the room and invite another guest in – hour after hour.
Pregnancy was also an issue, as no, or very little birth control would have been used. Girls that did discovery they were pregnant were ordered to have an abortion with the procedure usually performed by another experienced prostitute or madam. The cruel and unusual methods of abortion usually resulted in a lot of harm done to the mother, not only physically, but mentally as well. The unborn babies were dumped into shallow graves or mining pits just outside of town. Due to the barbaric procedures, many women who became pregnant bled out and died days later.
In these working conditions it is no doubt that many suicides also took place as the women felt it was their only escape.
It is not known what happened to the Dumas brothers, but it appears they sold the venture to another owner ten years later or perhaps they were simply silent partners. Some speculate they were ran out of town by other brothel owners, including one that would later be a State Senator.
In 1900, the Dumas Hotel was ran by Madam Grace McGinnis who had a servant and four full-time prostitutes occupying the cribs or rooms in the hotel. Other prostitutes could rent out rooms on a as-needed basis. The cost for a deluxe poke was 0.50 with the prostitute making a mere .20 as the Madam would take the majority of the money. In today's money, that is about $7 for the working girl.
As the mining operations increased and as patrons were typically miners this low fare was attractive and the Dumas Hotel needed to expand to accommodate its clientele. The basement, that was used mainly for storage was now retrofitted with a number of small cribs or rooms. In these rooms were the lower-priced girls, those less desirable, and those that would take abuse from the men that frequented the establishment. The Dumas basically had a class system, with the lower class in the basement, the and the high-end girls working high-class men on the upper floor.
The low-end offering were popular by the low paid miners and in 1912 the Dumas was expanded again to serve this vary clientele. A back addition was added that would allow easy passage from what was known as Venus Alley, were street prostitutes offered sexual services. The main floor that was a large parlour was divided up into cribs to serve middle-class men. Again, the Dumas invited these working girls to use the new addition, the basement and the ease of access to attract and serve clients.
The Dumas's business and those like it were criticized by a number of people who sought to reform the red light district. Reverend William Biederwolf condemned Butte as "the lowest sinkhole of vice in the west," and that he saw "enough legitimate vice in Butte to damn the souls of every young man and young woman in it."
Biederwolf held revival services for residents which attracted "rounders, gamblers and habitués of the red light district".
However, the local business benefited and even depended on the support of the sex workers at the Dumas and other establishments like it. The prostitutes would buy their dresses at local clothiers, frequent the city's dry cleaners and would patronize Chinese herbalists, looking for birth control potions and venereal disease remedies. To ensure that their operations were unhampered, the girls at the Dumas would pay the city's police and governance five dollar "fines".
Instead of the closing or relocating the red light district, the mayor and police of Butte ordered that the women wear longer skirts and high-necked blouses and that they "refrain from any indecent exposures." After these ordinances were put in place, the Butte Miner reported that "nothing was seen in the district except long dresses and long faces. What the women say about the matter is not fit for publication." By 1910 the people were petitioning Mayor Charles Nevin to shut down the district; with the district contributing two thousand dollars to the city's coffers every month, the efforts eventually died. Many of the city officials, including mayors, police chiefs and law makers were also clients.
World War I and the Prohibition impelled local lawmakers to initiate a crackdown on Butte's red light district and by 1917 the district was effectively closed.
Signs saying "Men Under 21 Keep Out" were commonplace and in the next census, prostitution had completely disappeared as a declared profession in Butte.
The Dumas, however, remained in operation. In 1925 Anne Vallet began overseeing the Dumas for the Nadeau family, and in the 1930s, operations had passed to Madam Rose Davis. In 1940 Lillian Walden and her husband Dick began running the brothel,raising the price of sex at the brothel to $2.
Federal law makers ordered all brothels shut down during WW2 to help prevent death and disease to young soldiers about to fight. The Dumas remained opened, however, changing its business listing as a boarding house. Two large steel doors were added with a sliding peep hole so that no one would gain entry without being identified first. It was now a semi-private club.
In the 1950s rates went up to a staggering $5 with a series of madams in charge. The Nadeau Brothers finally sold the operation at this time and Elinore Knott became owner and Madam.
But her time at the Dumas was short. Her husband had died of a heart attack and with a history of depression, she overdosed on a host of drugs and committed suicide in the basement leaving the Dumas vacant. Police at the time took this as an easy way of finally shutting down the business and they worked on raiding The Windsor, Hotel Victoria and the Dumas. Girls would be fined and Madams and owners jailed. The raids were irrelevant as girls were tipped off by police and payoffs were made. It was all theatre and a way to put a little more money into corrupt officials hands.
Ruby Garret, a local resident of Butte for some thirty years, had purchased the Dumas. Ruby was not only a local celebrity, but she was known federally as well. In 1959, she walked into a Butte Bar with a handgun, pointed it at her husband and shot him five times as he gambled killing him instantly. But those in attendance did not who was pulling the trigger, as Ruby was so badly beaten by her common law husband they could not recognize her.
Garrett faced a first-degree murder charge but the jury convicted her of manslaughter. She was sentenced to four years, but served only nine months.
Yet people familiar with the case say Garrett was the victim of severe spousal abuse and that pent-up frustration had reached a boiling point.
Garret would pay local police officers and officials $200 to $300 a month in return for their silence about the Dumas's activities. Under Garrett, the cost of a prostitute was $20 but she would come upon financial difficulties and had not paid taxes in several years. She was charged with tax evasion in 1981 and in 1982 the Dumas Brothel was finally closed.
In 1982 Ruby Garrett, the last madam of the Dumas, was convicted of federal tax evasion and served six months in prison. The brothel was closed soon after, but not before a robbery took place there.
When it closed, it was the longest operating brothel in the United States, having operated for 92 years, long after prostitution was outlawed.
The Dumas was then sold to antique dealers and then to a couple who wanted to open a museum. The museum opened but the owners were operating it with great difficulties having using the premises as a hoarding operation.
Stories about the Dumas Brothel began circulating as these owners heard disembodied voices, saw furniture move on its own accord, felt cold spots and apparitions throughout the three floors. Soon paranormal celebrities and ghost hunters started flocking to the derelict building.
During the years that followed, many visitors to the museum also witnessed paranormal activity, from cold spots to hearing ghostly voices from the cribs.
The previous owners had, like previous operators failed to pay taxes on the property and city officials were demanding payment. One of the owners had a criminal past involving drugs and was clearly suffering from mental health issues and drug abuse or a combination of both. On the Ghost Adventure show this particular individual was noted by viewers tweeking out on drugs, but of course, Zak Baggans does not acknowledge this – but instead blames the ghosts for these strange interactions.
Sadly, Michael Piche died in 2018 leaving his business partner to hand over the building to city officials who put the building and its contents up for auction.
You can visit the Historic Dumas Brothel in Butte Montana both day and night and take an indepth tour with the new owners who are currently cleaning up, repairing and maintaining the building. And it appears it is in good hands as they are focusing in on making the building historically accurate.
On our tour in the upstairs left bedroom I heard a distinctive female voice say “Can I help you?” There is a great deal of emotion, sadness, contempt, and wonder one feels when walking through these old hallways and peering into the cribs. It was both exciting and horrifying for those who once lived and visited the Dumas Brothel and clearly, both those emotions are felt by visitors today.
The Museum is located at 45 E Mercury St. In Butte, Montana and tours are available for those interested in the historical or paranormal aspect of the old building. Tours range from $5 to $10 and last between 45 minutes to over and hour.
Because the Dumas Brother has changed hands much of the contact information, web sites and social media pages are outdated and have been abandoned. Please use the current information below to retrieve information and schedule tours.
Website: www.dumas-brothel.com
Phone: 1-406-351-9922
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Historic houses are a common sight in the English county of Dorset. One in particular situated near the picturesque town of Dorchester is among the best preserved medieval houses in all of England, and reportedly the most haunted.
House is a perfect example of an English manor house built in the early Tudor architectural style. Its construction was begun by Sir William Martyn in 1485. Pieces of the original medieval furniture can still be seen in the interior today - Elizabethan carved panels, ornate ceilings, and impressive artwork decorate the rooms, as in Tudor times.
In 1891, Alfred Cart de Lafontaine purchased and restored the manor house. However, he is most remembered for creating the beautiful gardens around the house, influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement of the time.
Throughout the years the house has had many hands and in 1957 the manor house was purchased by Robert Victor Cooke and today it is in the ownership of his grandson.
Athelhampton House was said to be haunted as far back as the 1850s and is considered among the most haunted houses in England. People have reported seeing a ghost of a woman nicknamed the Grey Lady, a dark silhouette of what is believed to be the ghost of a monk, and the most famous ghost: a pet ape. There are dozens of reported sightings of each of these ghosts as well as many other strange phenomenon.
One report that stands out at this location is the pair of duelists in the Great Chamber. One day a woman was trying to relax and read a book in the Great Hall when two unknown men burst into the chamber in the middle of a sword fight. The woman continually pulled on the bell rope for the servants but nobody arrived. She turned to her side and carried on reading while the fight continued until one of the men were cut on the arm and left the room.
Later that day the woman reported the incident to the owner and he replied puzzled at the whole thing. He stated, “I can’t understand who the men were you had seen, as all the guests of the hotel were here at tea, so you would have seen them”. Still to this day the two men have never been identified, although the house is believed to have had connections to the Royalists during the Civil War.
The wine cellar adjoins the Great Hall and is said to experience tapping from a ghost known as ‘Cooper’. There is not much known about this particular entity or why Cooper is haunting this particular location.
Various owners, staff and guests of Athelhampton House have all seen what can only be described as a Grey Lady. The current owner of Athelhampton Mr Robert Cooke, has reported seeing her in the early hours passing through the walls in the bedrooms.
A dark apparition that looked like a monk was seen by one of the housemaids in broad daylight. The woman became aware of footsteps behind her in one of the corridors. She quickly turned to see the monk standing outside the bathroom door. It is believed that this person was the Catholic priest to the Martyn family. Other witnesses have seen this monk-like apparition on the property and in the garden.
But the most talked about ghost of this old manor is that of the pet ape that is said to have been entombed, accidentally within the walls of the building. Today, witnesses claim to hear the pet ape scratching and clawing his way to try to escape.
But headlines in the Sunday papers have runaway with the story. One of the Sun's headlines reads: The ghost of a masturbating ape haunts the hallways of a grand country estate in Dorset
The article continues to say The ghost of a randy monkey haunts the halls of a grand English country estate – where romantic spook-hunters flock to tie the knot.
Titillated tourists can often hear the saucy spectre laughing while masturbating in Athelhampton Hall in Dorset, near Dorchester.
One tourist, dad-of-three John Morrison, 41 from Derby, who took his entire family to the estate, spoke excitedly about the spanking spook
He said "We heard that Martyn the monkey who haunts the house loves to scratch his privates while swinging around.
"We didn't see him, which is a shame, because it would have been a real sight.
"Apparently he's not terrifying - quite friendly is what we heard.
According to the local legend, the unconventional Martyn family did have a pet ape which was free to wander the halls.
And when one of the Martyn daughters had an unhappy love affair and decided to kill herself, the compassionate monkey began following her around.
When she climbed a set of hidden stairs to a secret room, the ape trailed behind, and watched as she took her own life with the door bolted.
By the time the family's search of the house and grounds eventually located the room, the ape had starved to death next to her body.
Now its ghost haunts the hall, often scratching at the panelling of the secret room and staircase in an eternal, frantic attempt to escape.
Athelhampton reputation as a haunted house date back centuries and the curious have ventured into the house to seek the spirits there. In 2002, the show Most Haunted featured the manor in one of their earliest investigations – their first season and their first taped episode. This was at a time when there was less drama, less screaming and less fakery. But keep in mind as you listen that Darek Acorah, the supposed psychic, is in this episode grunting like a great ape. To our relief he does not masturbate.
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A short bonus episode where your host visited Buffalo Jump Station Alberta.
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World, Season Six Episode Nine Sweden's Top Five Haunted Locations
As the largest country in Northern Europe the Scandinavian Nation of Sweden is home to thousands of coastal islands and inland lakes, covered in boreal forests and glaciated mountains as well as ancient sites and historical events. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats (Swedish Götar) and Swedes (Svear) and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen.
There is a deep history of Vikings, of Kingdoms and Empires and of course, with such a history brings about legends and lore and ghosts and hauntings. In this episode we will go over Sweden's most haunted locations.
#1 The Royal Palace
Stockholm’s Royal Palace attracts numerous visitors each year, and it has served as a royal residence and symbol of the monarchy for centuries. With over 1400 rooms, it’s also one of the world’s largest palaces and notably one of the most haunted. Even the current Queen of Sweden says her residence is haunted by many ghosts.
Besides the usual phantom footsteps, cold spots and banging of doors, one ghost in particular seems to resonate through space and time.
Vita Frun, the White Lady appears in connection with the death of a member of the royal family. King Oscar wrote that she is tall, wears a white dress, a long white veil, and dark gloves clutching a ring of keys.
In 1971, Princess Eugenie saw her three days before Queen Louise’s death. More than 50 years before, she appeared as Princess Margaret lay dying. The princess wasn’t dead yet, but the flag at the palace was lowered to half mast and a guard allegedly saw her on the roof. Two hours later, Margaret was dead.
But is the White Lady truly a ghost, or is it some sort of other paranormal manifestation? The White Lady is a myth that appears all over the world and the story often say that before she died, she underwent some form of trauma One common theme is that she has lost or been betrayed by her husband or lover.
Several legends say that White Lady haunts castles in several European royal houses. The oldest known descriptions of this form of White Lady originates from the 17th century, but the greatest spread of these stories took place during the 19th century.
So is this White Lady a ghost or is she a paranormal entity – a harbinger of death?
#2 Gamla Stan
The Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520 is one of the most gruesome events in Swedish history. When Danish King Kristian II successfully invaded Sweden, 92 members of the Swedish nobility who opposed the Dane were beheaded or hanged in Stortorget, the main square in Old Town – the Gmla Stan. Some say that people can see their blood flowing across the square’s cobblestones in early November. It is said should one of the 92 white stones in the red building near where the nobles were murdered—which represent the slain men—be removed, the ghost of the person represented will rise from the dead and haunt the streets of Stockholm for all of eternity. To this day, nobody has removed any of the bricks.
#3 Scheffler Palace
Possibly Stockholm’s most notorious-haunted building, reports of ghosts at the Palace of Scheffler (known as Spökslottet or ‘the ghost castle’) date from the 18th century. Witnesses have reported seeing mirrors and windows shattering for no reason as well as music and songs filling the air from seemingly out of nowhere.
The palace has been the site of a number of murders and disappearances with one former owner (an alleged worshipper of Satan), Jacob von Balthasar Knigge, last seen entering a black carriage being pulled by a coachman with horns and a tail.
Meanwhile, a priest who came to exorcise the building was allegedly thrown from an upper window, a famous opera singer committed suicide here, and a young couple was murdered and bricked up behind a wall in the basement. The palace is now owned by Stockholm University, who uses it mostly as a storage space. Caretakers still tell of strange goings on within the walls of the old Palace.
#4 The Ghost Station
If you're standing at one of Stockholm's metro stops and a silver-coloured train slowly grinds past – don't get on. It is called the Silver Arrow ('Silverpilen') and is heading to an abandoned station in the middle of the forest and is carrying the souls of the dead. Those who get on never return.
The creepy part is there is actually a ghost station in the forest. The station was built in the 1970s but was never completed and is a popular abandened venue for urban explorers. Meanwhile, the Silver Arrow was a prototype train in aluminium that was used in the Stockholm underground from 1966-1996. Most of its carriages were later scrapped, but a couple remain in museums.
So is this just an urban legend? A good campfire ghost story?
#5 Borgvattnet Vicarage
Built in 1876, the humble house for holy men started getting its first reported hauntings in 1927 when the resident vicar reported strange happenings including his laundry being torn from the line. Tales of supernatural events continued in the ensuing decades with almost every new vicar or their family or guests claiming to experience ghostly antics. Things have moved, screams have been heard, shadow people have been seen, and the old rocking chair keeps on rocking. The legends surrounding the origins of the haunting tell of abused maids and even of babies buried in the backyard although it is now also said that the old vicars themselves haunt the house.
In the early 1980’s the renowned site caught the attentions of an outsider priest named Tore Forslund, the ghost priest. This devoted enemy of the occult came to the town promising to rid it of the apparitions that the citizens had already begun capitalizing on. Unfortunately his exorcism’s seem to have met with little to no success and he left the area within a year.
Today the vicarage is run as a small bed and breakfast for those curious enough to stay the night, with the option to rent the whole house. Anyone who makes it through the night will receive a diploma to mark their honor.
Sweden is a beautiful country full of energy and history. It is the home of many mysteries and many more haunted locations. If you plan a visit, make sure you are aware of your surroundings – there are many phantoms and creatures about in Sweden.
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season Six Episode Eight The Mission is Off
Justin Burgwinkel joined the U.S. Army in the summer of 1990 in hopes of making it into the 75th Ranger Regiment – the Army Rangers, an elite force of the Special Operations Command. He scored high on his army tests and immersed himself in language training with a specialty in the Korean language.
While stationed in Fort Ord in Monterey, California, he met Iolanda, a computer science student at Santa Clara University, while on a weekend pass. The two immediately hit it off and started seeing each other quiet often, Justin making the 80 mile drive just to have lunch.
Iolanda started noticing something strange about Justin, however, and she thought he may be leading a double life. Justin would stop in the middle of a conversation or intimate moment and look at his watch and say he had to go and that he needed to meet someone about something. He told her the people were in Monteray, but he said he could not tell her anything more and told her it was a secret.
After three years at Ford Ord, Justin was transferred to Fort Lewis in Washington State. Justin was heartbroken but promised to visit Iolanda when he could and it was nearly two months later that he received his first weekend pass.
Justin drove down to meet with Iolonda but she noticed he was acting even more peculiar than ever. Justin was carrying around a briefcase with him, and told her he could not reveal its contents because it was part of the secret and the meetings he had with the people previous. In one odd encounter, Justin was seen ripping up papers from the briefcase into tiny little pieces.
Iolonda did not question it but then she found Justin sitting on the floor of her living room sobbing uncontrollably. He did not want to talk about what was bugging him, wiped his tears and told her they should go out for dinner.
The next day Iolonda received a strange phone call. It was short and made no sense to her and she assumed it was intended for Justin.
“The Mission is off” - but when Iolanda asked who it was the person on the other end simply said, “Tell him the mission is off.”
The phone call ended. Iolonda relayed the message to Justin but he reacted badly. He raised his arms in the air and shouted “Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” over and over again. When Iolonda tried to ask him what this was all about he said, “You don't want to know.”
On route back to Fort Lewis he stopped and purchased two handguns and a large quantity of ammunition. He then turned around and went back to Iolonda's apartment and there remained AWOL – or absent without leave – a huge black mark on his Army career. This would most certainly disqualify him for entering the Army Rangers.
Iolonda convinced Justin to call his parents who told him he should in the very least call the base. After ending the call with his parents, Justin called Fort Lewis and told them he would return. Iolanda was very concerned with Justin's behaviour and she pressed him as she had never done so before to get answers from him.
He told her to watch a movie called White Sands and that would explain a lot. He would not say any more about the matter explaining he did not want to get her in trouble. The movie White Sands is a suspense movie centering around international gun smuggling and the CIA.
The next day, Justin did not go back to Fort Lewis but instead walked out of her apartment. He did not say where he was going or what he was doing. It was the last time Iolonda or anyone reported seeing him.
Three months passed by and finally police found Justin's vehicle in an isolated beach front motel's parking lot. The motel did not remember Justin registering for a room. The car was searched but the two handguns and the ammunition was missing. In the trunk was the briefcase Justin carried around, but it was empty. His wallet and dog tags were on the passenger seat. The doors unlocked.
Iolonda remembers a conversation she had with Justin months previous in which he said if she ever found his dog tags and not his body, she should presume he is dead.
Justin was never seen again and his body, if dead, was never recovered.
His family does not know he was part of some international gun smuggling ring and don't know if things turned sour on Justin. Iolanda speculates that maybe he was suffering from some mental breakdown and believed he was part of some Hollywood movie plot.
Further research suggests that Justin Burgwinkle perhaps was passed over for the Army Rangers due to a shoplifting charge he acquired earlier and combined with his AWOL infraction his dreams of becoming a Ranger were squashed. He could not have liked that is entire Army career up to this point reached its pinnacle – he was simply a line cook in the Army. The pressure of knowing your life long dreams are dead perhaps caused Justin to react strangely and some believe he committed suicide and his body has yet been recovered.
Justin Burgwinkel was 21 years old when he went missing in 1993. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed approximately 175 pounds around the time he went missing. He has brown hair and brown eyes. If you have any information about the whereabouts of Justin Burgwinkel, contact the Monterey Police Department at 831-646-3830.
We will post photos of Justin Bergwinkel on our Facebook page.
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Please remember to visit our show sponsor: What The Riff? Podcast
Our journey started when we found we were continually getting in trouble with our wives in Sunday School. It seemed that each week one of us would answer a question with a song lyric from Pink Floyd, The Who, Rush, or some other Rock band. This would spur another of us to pick up the strand, and before long the entire class had been sucked into a rabbit hole of Rock lyrics. Clearly we had a problem. While we could have just become more disciplined and acted like adults, we took a different path. Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there's still time to change the road you're on.
That second path was to unleash our enjoyment of song lyrics and rock music on the world via the internet. That seemed like a lot more fun than acting our age, so we decided to give it a try. Our goal is to bring you a month and year in rock music each week. We'll highlight an album selection and play some songs from it, discussing the group, the time, and whatever else comes to mind. We'll also pull out some songs that were popular to us around that time. We hope that this will bring back some memories and introduce you to some music you might not have heard. So welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends! We're so glad you could attend.
Unsolved Mysteries Triple Play: Poltergeists, Sickle Weasels and a Ghostly Possession
Here are Three Unsolved Mysteries that are sure to entertain, have you scratching your head or hiding under the covers.
#1 Butler Street Poltergeist
For several weeks in January of 1959, 80 year old Mrs. Charles Papineau and her 13 year old grandson, Wayne, reported a strange occurrence. Several times for no apparent reason their windows in the home would shatter into pieces and smash all over the inside of the home on Butler Street in Springfield, Massachusetts
Both Mrs. Papineau and Wayne claimed to have heard odd thumping sounds just before windows were smashed to pieces. In a week, 39 windows were broken.
The glazier who installed replacement panes told a reporter that the glass had all fallen inside the house, as if a violent force had struck them in the center from the outside of the home. During the times the windows smashed both witnesses are said to be inside the home.
Upon replacing windows with a thicker variety, the glazier was called again to replace them as each window replaced were smashed about again.
Despite a police investigation, no culprits or evidence of a crime were found. None of the neighbors reported any unusual activity.
After the police investigation petered out, John C. Parker, an architect and part-time paranormal investigator took over. He said that he was "pretty sure poltergeists are to blame." and set up a recording thermometer near the bathroom window where three panes had been broken to prove that sudden drops in temperature showed evidence of ghosts.
He also planned to install a strong plastic window in that room to prevent any further breakages.
Apart from frightening the nervous Mrs. Papineau, who suffered windows exploding right in front of her, the most affected victim appeared to be the insurance agent asked to process her claim for $93 in replacement glass. Without a cause other than poltergeist to list on the damage claim form, he had to call his head office for instructions.
The window breakages ended a little less than a week after they began. The responsible party was never positively identified. Speculation continues among students of psychic phenomenon, but it’s worth noting Mrs. Papineau herself didn’t believe in ghosts. John C. Parker tried to convince her that a poltergeist was at work, but Mrs. Papineau would have nothing more to do with investigating this possibility.
She called the police once more to see if they had any solid leads and they agreed to meet her at the house to follow up. In their follow up they interviewed 13 year old Wayne once more and found out that he had been playing with a Christmas gift – a chemistry set. Upon watching Wayne play with the set they concluded it could have only caused the damage if he had taken the entire play set and threw it through the windows.
Then one day the knocking stopped, the glass never broke again and the house according to Mrs. Papinau had a calm about it. The Poltergeist it appears had moved on.
#2 The Sickle Weasel of Japan
In 1894, unreal events began taking place in Japan, mainly in the area of Kamakura, Yamanouchi Ken.
While authorities at the time attempted to explain the phenomenon, local villagers were convinced the cause was due to an ghost monster.
Men walking in fields, at home, or in the open would suddenly feel a strong wind and be knocked over.
When they stood, the victims found wounds in their legs. The injuries were narrow slits approximately 1”-1½” long and about an inch deep, and had no apparent cause. At first painless and bloodless, after about a half hour the wounds began to bleed and the pain intensified and after days and weeks the wounds would not heal. Months would pass and finally, after much care, the wounds slowly healed.
Scientists studying the events theorized the men’s wounds were caused by an inexplicable loss of atmospheric pressure creating a temporary vacuum. However, the stricken men and other locals believed the wounds were the work of a legendary yokai called kamaitachi, or the “sickle weasel”—a supernatural creature with sharp, sickle-like claws who traveled in a whirlwind and attacked humans so quickly, they couldn’t be detected with the naked eye.
The kamaitachi was said to use a medicine on the inflicted wounds to temporarily halt bleeding and pain.
The Kamaitachi are said to travel in threes, striking out at people from thin air. The first kamaitachi slices at its victim’s legs, knocking him to the ground. The second one uses its fore and hind legs to slice up the prone victim with thousands of dreadful cuts. The third one then applies a magical salve which heals up the majority of the wounds instantly, so that none of them proves fatal. It is said that the Kamaitachi strikes with such precision that it can carve out entire chunks of flesh from its victims without causing even a drop of blood to be spilled. The attack and the healing happen so fast that the victim cannot perceive them; from his perspective he merely trips and gets up with a bit of pain and a few scratches here and there.
The rash of attacks eventually ceased that year and authorities had no explanation as to how the phenomenon had occurred or why.
# 3 The Possession of Maria Talarico
On February 13, 1936, the body of local resident Giuseppe “Pepe” Veraldi was found under the Morandi bridge in the city of Catanzaro, Italy.
The body was in mangled and bloody and had obviously fallen from the bridge above and the cause of death was determined to be severe damage to the head. Due to the injuries and the lack of any evidence of foul play, the police decided it was a suicide and stopped any further investigation. Pepe’s family protested that there was no reason for him to have killed himself, but the police did not listen and closed the case.
It wasn’t until three years later that Pepe’s death would be on the tongues of all gossipers.
On January 3 of 1939, Maria Talarico, a teenaged girl, was walking across the same bridge that Pepe was said have jumped over. About halfway across she suddenly stopped, walked over to the side from which Pepe had allegedly jumped, and mysteriously fainted. Several people were nearby and promptly arranged for Maria to be carted home.
Once in her own home, she awakened and initially seemed to be herself until she spoke. Instead of her usual voice, she spoke in a rasping male voice and told those present that she was Pepe Veraldi, and demanded to speak to his mother. After the shock had worn off somewhat, one of the neighbors ran off to fetch Mrs. Veraldi.
During this time, “Pepe” asked for wine and cigarettes and playing cards — proposing that he and some of the men have a game until his mother arrived. Needless to say, this was not in any way similar to Maria’s normal behavior. Maria didn't smoke and did not know card games, but strangely she did both without doubt.
Eventually Pepe’s mother showed up and he quickly told her that he had been murdered but did not name the culprit. As this information began to sink in with those gathered at the Talarico home, Maria quickly got up and ran outside to the exact place under the bridge where Pepe’s corpse had fallen.
Those from Maria’s household followed her, and when Pepe’s mother arrived she ordered her son’s spirit to leave Maria. Apparently it did, as Maria instantly “woke up” but remembered nothing of the past since she had initially fainted on the bridge.
Pepe’s mother went to the police with this information, but without names, there was nothing they could do and they found the story a little hard to believe.
The story would have ended there had it not been for a letter Pepe’s mother received nine years after Maria’s apparent possession. The letter was from one of Pepe’s former friends who was living in Argentina. He confessed to killing Pepe in an argument over a woman. Three other men helped him commit the crime, he said, and he named them in the letter.
Pepe’s mother now had something concrete to prove that her son had not committed suicide and she took the
letter to the police. One of the accomplices had died, but the other two were investigated, arrested and found guilty of the crime.
Maria had no further paranormal encounters and it seems that Pepe's spirit was at peace knowing that justice was served.
Take a journey through time and rock n roll with What the Riff?
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When mother-daughter duo Jan Black and Laura Owens first conceptualized their two-generational talk show, nobody told them they’d snag the title of #1 self-help podcast for months on end! But that’s exactly what they’ve done, delving into topics as far-flung as network building, the importance of failure, finding hope after being kidnapped, and how the principles of brain surgery can help us work through everyday problems. Featuring interviews with extraordinary individuals, Nobody Told Me! shines light on the shared human experiences that bring us together, and the challenges that serve as catalysts for our greatest growth.
Nobody Told Me! combines Jan’s impressive broadcast journalism background with Laura’s unique, millennial perspective. Driven by a genuine desire to educate and empower, their pioneering platform gives insight into the strategies and secrets of people in all walks of life. Equal parts information and inspiration, Nobody Told Me! brings a personal touch to the interview process. Together, Jan and Laura are asking the questions that help their listeners get through life’s toughest times.
Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season Six Episode Six - What Happened to Charles Horvath?
Charles KJ Horvath was an adventurous young man who was visiting Canada, making his way from Ontario, where he met with his father and godfather and then travelling solo by hitchhiking highway One all the way across the prairies, into Alberta and finally into British Columbia.
He was in Swift Current, Sask. in March 1989 and cashed a check at the Royal Bank.
In April he had moved on to Banff, Alberta working at The Rimrock Hotel.
He arrived on May 3rd 1989 in Kelowna and set up camp in a campground across from a prospective employer – the small tourist theme park then known as Bedrock City – a 70s era tourist trap.
Charles registered for work at several student employment agencies to help him along on his backpacking and hitchhiking adventure.
On May 26th of 1989, Charles cashed a small check at a Royal Bank. He was to make arrangements with his mother to meet up in Hong Kong via Vancouver to celebrate his 21st and her 40th birthday. But he would never make it to Hong Kong and the grainy security footage at the bank was all that remained of Charles Horvath. He simply vanished into thin air.
Denise Horvath-Allan, Charles' mother, telephoned the Kelowna Detachment of the RCMP asking for their help in locating her son as she was anxious as she had not received an expected call from him in May 1989. The RCMP were reluctant to file a missing persons case as Charles was an adult and at the time did not suspect foul play.
Denise phoned the RCMP several more time, getting anxious with each proceeding call.
It wasn't until August 10th 1989 that an official missing persons report was taken, over two months later.
A year later, in July of 1990 the RCMP launched a search of the area inside the campsite where Charles had been staying. It appears that after Charles had gone missing several other residents took advantage of his property and stole valuables and used his equipment and gear.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched a search of the area inside the campsite in July 1990, after Denise advised them that she learned Charles had been camping at the campground. The RCMP retrieved some of Charles' clothing and a shaving bag from a 1989 Tiny Town resident.
During her many, many visits to Canada in search of her son, Denise met up with the campground caretaker and was given items belonging to Charles – a a rosary, a tiny red paper Bible and a leather strap from Charles' boot which had been kept in the shed for more than a year.
The manager said that Charles' tent, other belongings, personal photographs and his ID had been thrown away in the Spring of 1990.
Constable Kris Clark then said "There's obviously concern after so many years of not being in contact with somebody, whether it's a recovery at this point or not."
But upon retrieving the clothing and shaving bag they are said to have told Denise they believe Charles is deceased and most likely from foul play. No further details were provided. However, in an official RCMP statement they indicated that the statement was unfortunate and that the sediments were most likely simply a personal opinion and not one that the RCMP held at the time.
On a trip to Canada in March 1992, Denise received two anonymous letters delivered by taxi whilst staying at The Pandosy Inn Motel, detailing how her son had been partying at Tiny Tent Town with locals and had gotten into a fight where he was subsequently killed. His body was then dumped into Lake Okanagan.
This led local volunteer divers to go into Lake Okanagan and search for three days. Vancouver based 'International Sea Search' (ISS) aided with a submersible camera and its volunteer team to search beneath the old Floating Bridge for a further three days.
The RCMP joined the search on day five of the six day search.
On Friday 3 April 1992 while the RCMP Divers were not present, ISS located a male body and the police were called. The RCMP attended the scene later and their divers went into the lake, recovered the body and brought it to the surface. It was believed to be that of an elderly gentleman who had committed suicide at the lake seven years earlier and not Charles.
Police have dismissed the notes as some sort of practical joke, according to the CBC.
Denise believes her son died in May of 1989. "How and by what means I don't know but something terrible happened to him that prevented him from calling home," she said. "I want to know where his remains are. I want him to be laid to rest with his beloved Nana in Cambridge, England.”
In September of 1995, the police found a decomposed body in the logging country around Kelowna. Horvath-Allan's family waited for six weeks to be told that the body found was not of their son. At that time, the police hadn't contacted Mrs. Allan or any family member about the find of the dead body; the family were informed via friends and relatives who had seen reports in the local press.
Denise has made frequent trips to Kelowna to search for her son Charles, meet with police, hand out posters, talk with employers and residents in the city and across Canada. She sold her hair and beauty salon to finance the ongoing search and air fares to Canada and in 2010, she rented billboard space with posters appealing for information. Since Charles' disappearance, his father, godfathers and grandparents have died and each year, Denise feels time slipping away.
Denise was doing her own investigating as she felt there was no movement with the police on the file.
In 2013 Denise met with police and pleaded with them to assign the case to a cold case unit. They did not provide an official answer and Denise created a petition as she believes it is the only way the case will be resolved.
In 2015, the RCMP officially claimed that Charles was deceased. But they were no closer to finding where his remains are, what had happened to him, or who did what to him.
In 2018, Denise, along side RCMP presented a press conference in reference to Charles's disappearance.
“It was a struggle to get back here for me but things have changed and I’ll be back. A few people have given me the courage and adrenaline to not stop coming back so I will until the day I die,” Denise told reporters.
Seven years ago police told her that there were six areas in which they would be looking for Charles, but she learned that police had not fulfilled their promise. They had not even investigated one of the six. But during her trip in 2018 a new case worker told Denise that these would be followed up on and it is unclear if they have. Police asked Denise to stop her own investigating and to let them handle it from here on out.
A reminder: it is going on past 30 years...
Because this is an open investigation, there is very little details the police have provided besides what was presented here. We do know that Charles attended a late night party that evening at the campground and eye-witnesses place him there. They also state that in the morning, they found he was no longer at the campground, but left all his belongings including his personal items and valuables.
The campground has been known to attract a criminal element and the dregs of society with drug addiction very prevalent. It is speculated that Charles may have gotten into a fight with someone or he was misled by someone that ended his life.
The mysterious note that was provided anonymously, which the police dismiss, is interesting, however. How did this scribe know that Charles was at this campground, that there was perhaps a fight and he was knocked out. Did the assailants mention they were going to toss his body in the lake, but then changed their mind and buried him in the forested area?
Without a body, we will never know.
If you know anything about what happened to Charles Horvath, call Sgt. Paul Gosling of the Kelowna Serious Crime Unit at (250) 762-3300.
If you want to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, or leave an online tip at www.crimestoppers.net
You can also visit our Facebook Page for photos and information. Denise also runs a Facebook page specifically for finding Charles and we will provide that link in the show notes.
If you know anything at all, send in an anonymous tip and let's end the nightmare for this mom.
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season Six Episode Five The Hume Hotel, Nelson, British Columbia
Sometimes you look for them in dark crypts and abandoned cemeteries. Other times you happen upon them in homes and in old battlefields. And sometimes you are drawn to them and they drawn to you. Here is the true tale of one night at the Historic Hume Hotel in Nelson, British Columbia.
The Nelson area has a rich history of exploration and mining. Explorers and adventurers employed by the North West Trading Company and the Hudson Bay Company were the first to enter the Kootenay and Columbia River valleys while searching for fur trade routes. David Thompson travelled the Kootenay River as well as the full length of the Columbia River between the years 1807 and 1811. In September 1876, gold was discovered at Forty-nine Creek, nine miles west of Nelson, resulting in a minor rush of prospectors from the United States.
The mining industry helped to create the foundation for a community and on March 18, 1897 the City of Nelson was born when the Letters of Patent were issued. The first mayor of Nelson was John "Truth" Houston. Once incorporated, Nelson became a hub of activity for the West Kootenay region. Sternwheelers plied the waters of Kootenay Lake and the West Arm, and development of the new city, including the construction of the Hume Hotel, proceeded quickly.
On March 17, 1898, the Hume Hotel opened with a grand celebration the likes of which had seldom been seen in Nelson. The fan-fair that accompanied the occasion underscored the sense of pride felt not only by J. Fred and Lydia Hume, original owners and one of Nelson's pioneer families, but also the local community in general. No consideration was left unchecked and the opening was a celebration of the skill, determination, and hard work that went in to the hotel's construction.
It also heralded a new era for Nelson, which had been incorporated the year before, and provided a sense of hope and optimism for residents of the new city as they forged ahead into the 20th century. Work on the Hume Hotel began on Saturday, June 12, 1897.
At that time, Nelson's landscape was considerably different from today. A deep ravine, created by Ward Creek, essentially divided the city in two, with the dirt roads of Vernon and Baker Streets passable only by way of wood frame bridges.
The Hume Hotel, which sat on the corner of Ward and Vernon, was an impressive figure within this scene.The hotel was designed by Alexander Charles Ewart, who carefully considered all the architectural details, from piazza views to bay windows to inset balconies. With much thought also given to ornate detailing and state-of-the-art amenities like electric lights and steam radiators, all for a total cost of $60,000, the hotel was indeed a marvel to behold.
After nine years of successful operation, on March 11, 1907, J. Fred sold the Hume Hotel to Wilmer C. Wells, a political man who served as commissioner of lands and works for two terms under Premiers James Dunsmuir and E.G. Prior respectively. Wells brought in his two sons, George and James, to run the hotel, and fully intended to construct additions in response to the growing demand in Nelson for first-class accommodations. Wells, however, never did fulfill his commitment, and on October 14, 1912 he sold the hotel to George Benwell, an hotelier of considerable repute, for a sum of $85,000. Benwell's tenure irrevocably changed the Hume Hotel. Following the revolutionary architectural standards of Frank Lloyd Wright, in May 1929 a massive interior and exterior renovation was completed.
The Hume Hotel was so different in appearance that it was, as described in the Daily News, "hardly recognizable." The magnificent cupola, which towered over Vernon and Ward Streets, was removed; the balconies were extended outward flush with the exterior walls; the entrance was moved to its present location; and many other changes were made. Benwell, following in Hume's footsteps, also considered modern amenities and state-of-the-art technology a necessity. He installed a telephone exchange and phone in every room, a dumb waiter, a French steel range, steam tables and electric dishwasher in the kitchen, and an icemaker capable of producing 600 pounds of ice daily. The level of service, sophistication, and general hospitality excellence, which were hallmarks of the Hume era, were also the hallmarks of the Benwell era.
By 1979, the Hume Hotel was in a serious state of deterioration. Benwell had sold the hotel in the 1940s, and after a series of owners failed to keep up the standards established by Hume and Benwell, the Hume Hotel was nearly condemned. Bills were left unpaid, the power was disconnected, and it sat empty for several months. Ernie Rushworth, who at that time carried the first mortgage on the property, called on Dave Martin, who had helped Rushworth successfully revitalize a run-down hotel in the Yukon.
He asked Dave if he would be interested in the purchasing the Hume. After careful consideration, the purchase was completed and an exhaustive heritage restoration project began. Nelson was undergoing a similar initiative in the same period so the timing was excellent. In December of 1980, the Hume Hotel was reborn as the Heritage Inn, and once-again became a proud symbol for the people of Nelson. The restoration project took one million dollars to complete, twice the original budget, and was carefully undertaken by designer David Thompson. The massive renovations were wrought with pitfalls—the interior was completely gutted and the hotel's electrical and plumbing systems redone. A number of hidden treasures were revealed during this time, many of which have been carefully restored and are now part of the Heritage Inn ambiance.
In the Library Lounge, for example, you can see the original old brick fireplace, which had been hidden from view by a plaster wall.
Adding to the success of the project, many local residents provided antiques, photos and artifacts to decorate the interior, and local trades people recreated many of the original embellishments, sometimes working from old photographs. The opening ceremony, on December 8, 1980 was an auspicious occasion, with many local dignitaries in attendance.
The highlight of the night was the presence of three generations of Hume descendants: Freeda Hume Bolton (the 80 year old daughter of J. Fred and Lydia), her daughter Dawn, and her grandson Jay Fred Bolton. Freeda presided over the ribbon cutting ceremony and 'knighted' Dave Martin Sir Lancelot. In 2005, major changes to the hotel’s exterior façade were completed which included an outdoor patio for the General Store Restaurant as well as the hotel’s signature rooftop ‘crown’.
For twenty-five years as the Heritage Inn, the Martins continued the tradition of hospitality excellence started in 1898 by J. Fred and Lydia Hume. At the completion of the exterior renovation, the hotel went back to its roots to be renamed as the original proprietor once titled it, the Hume Hotel, paying homage to a local legend and a storied history on the corner of Vernon and Ward Street.
Members of the Hume family were again on-hand for the festive grand re-opening as they were exactly twenty-five years ago.
And now that we have the history taken care of let's take a quick break and when we return to the podcast, I will share my own investigation into the haunted Hume Hotel.
The Investigation Begins
As always, I begin my investigations with no knowledge of the history or the haunt. I come in fresh and with an open mind. I owe it to the listener and more importantly to myself to see what truth comes out. I arrived at the Hume Hotel in late afternoon on a very hot and smoke-filled summer day.
The BC forest fires raged in the interior and tourism was low. I pulled in Nelson noting all the historical structures and the beauty of the city itself. Pulling into the Hume I felt a distinct welcoming feeling, a calling if you wish. I entered the front entrance and immediately I felt eyes on me. I was being watched. This same feeling overpowered my wife as she entered as well and on several occasions she mentioned it. The eyes that were watching us were piercing and they emanated from a portrait of Lydia June Hume which hung on the staircase.
I also got the feeling that something was not right and my attention was brought to an elevator. The elevator was installed sometime later and the shaft blocked the magnificent view of the grand staircase. Checking in, I got to choose my room save for one that was pre-booked. I chose the 2nd floor.
Room 221. Room 221 was actually historic Room #4 and #5. You see, during the early days, hotel rooms were not that large and most did not contain a washroom at all. The redeveloped room was a combination of two historic rooms. The room was very comfortable and offered a fantastic view of the Provincial Court House incidentally the same view people paid top dollar for to see a public hanging in the front yard.
The room above- 335, was the prize room for the viewing. The Hume held a lottery to see who would get the room and the best view. This room was the one that was previously booked. I guess the view is still the best. I toured around Nelson and came back to conduct an investigation. It didn’t take too long to meet the ghosts of the Hume face to face. Firstly, I found myself wondering the hall ways and staircases. At each level I felt as if someone was following me. A female.= “Mrs. Hume?” I asked. But did not get a response. Mrs. Hume, who I assumed was following me stopped at the 3rd floor and did not continue further. Coming back down I spotted a poem on the 2nd floor.
It’s title? The Ghosts of the Hume Hotel. Interesting I thought. They know this place is haunted. I got the immediate feeling of suicides, murder and thievery.
I continued on to the other rooms and into the bar and restaurant and found nothing other than the distinct feeling of being watched and followed. I returned to my room and lay on the bed when suddenly an apparition appeared.
A man in a strikingly dark suit and fedora. He sat in a lone, empty chair smiling as he puffed on a cigar. He knew I saw him because he smiled when I squinted my eyes and strained to see the illusion.
The man tipped his head as to say, “Hello” and then melted away. I had the feeling this man had a secret. His secret I knew by the smile on his face. Without a spoken word more, I knew his secret. I waited, patiently and did not see him again. I shuffled in the bed and turned on all my recording devices. The night was peaceful for me and I had one of the best sleeps I could ask for. My wife, on the other hand, did not. She, too, saw an apparition. She saw a male pacing in the room back and forth and then sitting on the bed itself. She believed it to be me, but then saw me fast asleep beside her. Startled and scared she was going to wake me when the vision vanished.
That morning, in the shower, wondering what I had picked up on EVP, I heard a sentence spoken to me as if a person stood next to me. “You’ll have a safe trip lad.” When I returned to my home I checked for any recordings and found none.
My photos, also, proved to hold no ghostly images. Now, at home, it was time to do my research.
In 2005, The Nelson Paranormal League, a group of Paranormal Enthusiasts filmed their documentary Haunt at the Hume along with Thea Trussler a psychic who conducted a reading on the structure.
At the end of this podcast, we'll provide a clip from their documentary and we'll have links to their information in our shownotes.
Over the course of the last 75 plus years there have been recordings of strange happenings at the Hume Hotel. Many guests and employees believe the ghost to be that of Fred Hume himself. Room 335 of the Hume Hotel has become synonymous with paranormal activities.
Stories from guests include the full physical manifestation of a man in a top hat raising his brandy snifter in a cheer to an incoming guest. One guest asked to be moved to a different room, stating she had never experienced such a phenomena, and while she felt no malicious intent from the figure, she was certainly uncomfortable knowing she would be sharing the room. Staff have experienced numerous occurrences of paranormal activity including the television set turning on and off of its own accord, the tap beginning to drip as they are doing their cleaning duties and despite the best efforts of repairs, it continues to do so without measurable reasons. Temperature fluctuations are also a regular occurrence, often times attributed to paranormal activity.
The room has its own history, as conveyed in the film, The Haunt at the Hume. It is believed there was a prospector who favoured that room as his meeting place for an illicit affair. His love of the room may explain the appearance of the man in the top hat. Room 335 also has a darker past.
The only hanging to occur in Nelson stirred much attention and the entertainment factor of a hanging seemed to inspire the hotel to capitalize on the morbid event. The hotel sold lottery tickets to gain the best viewing rooms of the hanging that was to occur in the yard in front of the courthouse. The readings Thea conducted on the room had her experience the excitement of the day and then the sheer horror of a man being killed.
The shock that reverberated through the winning lottery ticket party was palpable in the very walls of the room. Why was room 335 denied on my investigation? Was Lydia Hume following me as I enjoyed my time investigating the Hume and who was the man in room 221? Was he the same as witnessed in 335 or simply a different spirit altogether?
The Hume is there, waiting. Waiting to be discovered and the secrets revealed.
NPL
Phone:
250-505-5016
Email [email protected]
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World, Season 6 Episode 4, Polybius
In the early 1980s, arcades were popular among all age groups and in 1981 a cabinet game was shipped to Portland, Oregon's most popular arcades. The game cabinet was black and the title was unusual. The game featured the usual, 25 cent slot for one life and it was tucked into the corner of the arcade room, an odd placement for a new game.
Unlike Pacman or Donkey Kong or other games released at the time, Polybius seemed to only be available in the Portland area. Yet, despite this localization, it was a very popular game with witnesses claiming that there would be lines forming to play it, fights would break out, for who was actually next in line and the arcade owner would smile as the tank holding the quarters had to be emptied quite regularly.
About a month after it was introduced, the arcade machines all vanished and traces of their existence hidden. For some it was a relief, as the game it said held the player captivated, almost hypnotized. Players reported strange side effects such as amnesia, insomnia, night terrors and hallucinations. There was even rumour of several suicide attempts after playing the game.
Arcade owners reported that the machines were visited each day by men in suits, who claimed to be employees of the developer. What is strange is that these men unlocked the cabinet and were transferring information from the game to a portable computer.
The men claimed to work for a game developer called Sinneslöschen, and odd and exotic name that most arcade owners could not pronounce. The name, however, also has a strange meaning. The meaning roughly translates to "sense delete" or "sensory deprivation". These meanings are derived from Sinne, "senses" and löschen, "to extinguish" or "to delete".
The odd developer, the game cabinet and the employees were never seen or heard from again. Skeptics argue that the whole story is simply an urban legend born in the very arcades Polybius was said to be played in. Others argue that the game was real and part of an experiment conducted by government employees involved with the Mkulta program, which today, we know is very real.
In the early 2000s several video game writers and magazines discussed the game and could not conclusively say the game was real or simply an urban legend. The web site snopes reported almost immediately and without investigation, the game was fake and did not exist.
However, several credible witnesses came forward to say they know for certain the game was real because they played it and remember it fondly.
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World, Season six episode 3, where is Asha Degree?
Nine year old Asha Degree went to be at around 10pm on the evening of February 3rd, 2000. Rain clouds had darkened the neighbourhood in Shelby, North Carolina and the weather report indicated more rain was to come, heavier rain, throughout the evening and into the next day, Valentines Day.
At around 2:30 in the morning, Asha's older brother was stirred awake by what he described as Asha either tossing and turning or getting off of her bed. The bed creaked and O'Bryant Degree sighed as he thought his little sister, with whom he shared a room with, was going to continue on interrupting his sleep throughout the night.
But Asha was not simply rolling over or having trouble sleeping. She was trying her best to be quiet, and it seemed to work. O'Bryant turned over and placed his pillow on his head covering up any further sounds. Asha got dressed and packed a small backpack with clothes and other items. She left the house quietly and unnoticed. He family has never seen or heard from her since.
A motorist, driving down the highway in the rainswept city noticed a little girl matching Asha's description walking down the highway. Curious and alarmed that a little girl, alone at 4am was walking down the highway in a rain storm, the motorist turned around to offer help.
When Asha saw the motorist approach she ran off in the woods. The motorist called for her, but she disappeared into the dark woods.
The next morning Asha's bed was found empty and her parents called authorities immediately and and extensive search was undertaken. The motorist came forward with their details of the evening and the woods were searched.
In the woods they found candy wrappers, pencils, markers, and a Mickey Mouse hair bow that Degree's parents identified as Asha's.
A year later, and more ominous the police found Asha's backpack 18 miles from her house along Highway 18. The backpack was found buried and wrapped in plastic garbage bags in an attempt to hide it.
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season 6 Episode 2: The Abduction of Herbert Schirmer
It was a cold night on December 3rd, 1967 and it was especially cold at 2:20AM in Ashland Nebraska.
Herbert Schirmer was a young, 22 year-old patrolman making the usual rounds. The streets were pretty much empty, the local businesses were all closed. Everyone was tucked in beds covered in blankets. He passed by the only open business this late at night, a gas station on highway 6. There were, as usual, no customers.
He then noticed something odd in the distance. It looked like red lights flashing upon a large truck. Was it an ambulance? A tow truck? What had happened? He drove down highway 63 until he came upon the scene with his headlights now flicked on to high beam. It was definitely not a truck.
The red lights he had seen flashing were coming from oval-shaped portholes cut into what appeared to be a metallic, oval-shaped object that was hovering about eight feet above the road's surface.
Patrolman Schirmer noted that the object appeared to be made of aluminum, had a small walkway around it, and below, some sort of landing gear. Getting ready to call in the incident, the object rose up with flames shooting out the bottom end and then it suddenly swooshed right over his patrol car.
He looked out his window and in his mirrors but noted that the object was so fast, he did not know where it went. Deciding not to call it in, but because of what he saw, he returned to the police station.
He drove back and within minutes arrived at the station to make his report. He glanced at the station clock to note the time. It was 3AM and he was baffled that it took him, what he believed to be mere minutes to arrive back at the station, yet, all the clocks indicated time had passed.
In his report, he indicated he saw what he believed to be a flying saucer. After his brief report was written up he noted that there was a red welt on his neck, he developed a severe headache and was feeling ill.
He decided that he would not return back to duty until the next day.
Months passed and word got to the US Airforce that a patrolman had seen a flying saucer and that his eye-witness testimony was valid. The Condon Commission at the University of Colorado, who was tasked at the time to investigate and mostly discredit UFO reports asked him to come to Boulder Colorado to retell his UFO encounter.
On February 13, 1968, after being interrogated by several officials, the patrolman was asked to undergo hypnosis under the guidance of Wyoming University psychologist Leo Sprinkle.eo Sprinkle of the University of Wyoming.
Under hypnosis, Schirmer recalled that, after he stopped his car near the object, the engine died and his radio went silent. A white object emerged from the craft and seemed to communicate mentally with him, preventing him from drawing his gun as he attempting to do.
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Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World, Season 6 Episode 1, The Bald Mountain
The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus' forming the basis of Ukrainian identity.
Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, but its territory was eventually split between Poland and the Russian Empire, and finally merged fully into the Russian-dominated Soviet Union in the late 1940s as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In 1991, Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union in the aftermath of its dissolution at the end of the Cold War.
Today, Ukraine is a developing country trying to emerge out of years of corruption and war, but history always seems to stranglehold the land. Today, the Crimean Crisis is still bringing the past horrors into a new era.
But this is nothing new to Ukraine. The past always seems to come forward, especially around old castles, cursed lands, dark forests and strange mountains.
The Bald Mountain, is a very mystical place known not only in Kiev but across Ukraine. Currently recognized as a park, in ancient times it was a place where pagans and magicians performed their rituals. Many locals still prefer to bypass this terrain for a couple of reasons.
First of all, in different historical periods, it featured a fortification system, a garrison prison and a military headquarters and the site of many battles.
Secondly, it was the place of execution of state criminals with one of the mountain glades still showing signs where the gallows had been.
Thirdly, people say that area negatively affects the human psyche and people often feel ill and many suicides have taken place within the park.
All of this has caused many to believe that the park is haunted by the past – from knights, soldiers, to the criminally insane to the more modern suicide victims. There have been several witnesses to seeing apparitions within the forest late at night and hearing the cries of those wrongfully convicted.
There are three main parts in the park – The first one is called Rusalka ravine, since it is located by the lake where mermaids are said to have lived. The second one is the ravine of the Witches, where ancient sabbaths took place. The third and the biggest part of the mountain is called the Dead Men grove, where many ancient burial grounds were discovered.
Prior to the introduction of Christianity the pagan religion was popular in this area, and the Bald Mountain was the place of worship for the followers. Pagan priests carved out dungeons in the mountain, where they stored books, sacred artifacts, and treasures. After paganism was officially banned, the priests moved into those dungeons, in hopes to create a new gospel, which would combine the old Slavic and Christian beliefs to accommodate the populace who were believers in both religions. Their gospel was passed down by word of mouth, and is reflected in many Slavic myths and fairy tales. Even now, stone plates with inscriptions are still being discovered around the place.
Over the centuries, the writers left the dungeons and sealed the underground passages. After them, the Christian monks started visiting the mount to perform penance and prayer, and to build their own underground monastery.
During the time of Peter I, it was decided that a defensive fort was best build on top of the mountain to protect the city. A fortress was construction with underground reservoirs to store water from the river as well as many secret underground passages and dungeons. In case of defeat, the fortress could be flooded with the help of the reservoirs trapping those inside.
Besides that, the reservoirs were also the place to drown the disobeying peasants – about 3000 human remains were found there.
In the first half of the 19th century, the area was populated by monks, who peacefully cultivated fruit, vegetables, and engaged in bee-keeping. In 1897 the fortress on top of the mount became a warehouse, where gun-cotton, a highly flammable explosive, was stored.
In 1918, the gun cotton storage area exploded leaving the warehouses and area destroyed. The government at this time decided to seal up any underground entrances to prevent injury.
In the beginning of the 20th century, the fortress served as a prison, and the area around it as the execution grounds. More than 200 criminals were executed by hanging on the large mount.
During WW2 the mount was by German forces and a staging area for an armoured division of Tiger Tanks. Tank Crew, including commanders noted in their reports several phenomena that they described as paranormal. Special Nazi investigators even went to the forest to document the cases.
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Today, the area around Bald Mountain still attracts paranormal enthusiasts with anunderground world still unexplored and artifacts to be discovered. During excavations archaeologists found a pit with burned books, decapitated chicken skeletons, plaques with inscriptions and human remains. They also noted a strange feeling about the place that they attribute to the magical past of the lands.
You can visit the park both in the day and at night. You will note several cave entrances, tunnels and underground structures. There are also several pagan symbols still visible throughout the area and if you do visit in May you may come face to face with a ritual as Pagan's, satanists and self-proclaimed warlocks converge on the location to celebrate a holiday in which sacrifices are made to an ancient god.
Ironically, shortly after this celebration is when police are notified of suicide victims hanging from the trees.
Locals will warn you, however, that perhaps it is best to avoid this area altogether, no matter the month, or hour.
To see photos and videos about this fantastic place please visit our facebook page.
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In Season Two Episode Four, we brought you the mystery that surrounded the disappearance of Brandon Lawson.
Brandon Lawson went missing shortly after he made one of the most cryptic 9-11 calls ever placed. No one has been able to interpret the 911 call fully and today it remains a mysterious piece of a tragic puzzle. Brandon Lawson has never been seen or heard from since and today his case remains a mystery with many speculating what actually happened that fateful night.
But new information has come forward to help put the pieces to this mystery into perspective. For those unfamiliar with the disappearance we urge you to go back to Season Two, Episode Four to fully understand the circumstances about this case.
On this episode we will provide new information and new insight into Brandon Lawson's disappearance.
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