This episode contains graphic or explicit content that may be disturbing, violent, or
sexual in nature. Listener discretion is advised. You're in the place where mysteries
and the missing meet. We're conspiracies lurk around every corner. Welcome to the
deep dark Truth. Welcome back to the deep dark Truth. I'm Mikey,
I'm I'm Chip. And that went surprisingly well for somebody recording that isn't me
fantastic rude. It always goes exactly as planned when I do it. I'm
going to be covering something today that I don't think either of you have heard
much about or anything about. But I think everyone has heard about Jeffrey Epstein
accused being sex trafficking on girls, and I'm mysterious. I've been probably pause
a future most get a cut back to just Jeffrey Epstein. Uh, well,
we all we knew is that it was called Fox Island. So both
me and Chip has assumed that the island is just named Fox Island, where
there's very cute foxes all over this island. Maybe it's a cryptid fox.
Maybe there it's a whole bunch of fox murderers that if you come on their
island they eat you did not was not mentally prepared to talk about. So
let me just readjust my expectations really quick. And we're breathing in. This
is so much more disappointment, and we're breathing out some pictures of foxes to
look at while we record. I think that'll make it more upseting. So,
you know, trafficking young girls, mysterious private island, Little James Island.
Yeah, you know, we've all at least been exposed to that in
some degree. But pity you haven't probably heard as a connection to some Internet
detectives to a very similar island with an uncanny familiar story right here in our
home state MO in Michigan. Yeah, so today we'll be diving into the
deep dark truth about Fox Island in Lake Michigan. Fox Islands are uninhabited and
consists of North and South Fox Island, approximately seventeen miles northwest of Cathead Point
near the peninsula, and ten miles southwest of Beaver Island. Give me nowhere
on the hand the leland. A peninsula is like when we went to Sleeping
Bear right above, like where we're saying traverse, there's a peninsula that goes
out. It's kind of where we went to Marty's vineyard. Yeah, can
these three little islands form a little archipelago? But for this podcast, we're
going to be discussing North Fox Island, which is only two miles wide and
only one mile long. It is currently owned by the State of Michigan and
is part of the Beaver Island State Wildlife Research Area. Now, let's go
back in time to the nineteen seventies to see what was secretly going on North
Fox Island. Don Epstein and we're in the seven. It's just a comparison
because of the similarities. That's why I was bringing up Epstein because it's very
similar in that he had a private island that he owned. The similarities on
canny. North Fox Island was purchased by a millionaire in former Michigan Air National
Guard airman named Francis D. Sheldon in nineteen sixty when he outbid the State
of Michigan. According to the Detroit Free Press, the state offered three thousand,
five hundred dollars to an elderly widow who owned the island. He would
pay her twenty thousand dollars, claiming that he wanted isolation. I bet he
did well. He got it, and the first thing that he would build
on this island was an airstrip. There's not enough room for more than just
an airstrip. You've taken up the whole island. It is pretty big.
Let me just give you a picture of this airstrip. It doesn't even run
a third of this island. And the airstrip obviously has to be pretty decently
long. So this is the island, and the airstrip is built for like
normal aircraft landing, not like probably commercial or anything like that. But a
little background. Sheldon was a descendant of Russell Alger, a lumber baron in
Michigan, a governor of Michigan, a secretary of War. He would be
described in nineteen seventy five, so the Detroit Free Press would describe as having
a hefty trust fund, a Yale degree, and a master's from Wayne State
University. He would be interviewed and would speak about the hard work that would
into Fox Island and how you learn what silence means. He also stated that
when it came to tax season, he knew that he would be crucified for
the private island. Yeah. Launching officially in nineteen seventy five, Brother Paul's
Nature Camp was established. It would be a charitable program that brought children to
the island and summer to experience true Michigan nature, as well as counseling,
tutoring, temporary lodging, boarding, retreats, and emergency care for runaways.
Before we get to what happens, this is just a PSA for every single
well parent that listens to our show. Do not send your kids anywhere.
Do not send your kids to a boot camp. Do not send them to
anywhere were they're going to stay and live there for more than three weeks.
You do not know who has access to your children. And there are so
many tales of abuse coming out of different camps and religious organization camps. Stop
I second this. Yeah, I could read my report, but we all
know it's bullshit. It would eventually be discovered that this was not the only
thing happening on this island or had anything to do with this island. So
let's meet another. Gerald Richards was a Catholic school gym teacher aspiring politician who
performed as a magician on the side. I don't think Catholicism allows for that.
I didn't write this I didn't make this up, sir. I do
actually think that sleight of hand magic does not count as like witchcraft magic.
But where did he get that cart wasn't there a minute ago? Slight of
hand? There is a actual thing that the magicians are doing versus trying to
manifest something and quote unquote calling another deity year blah blah blah. You're not
invoking anything else, if that makes sense this. Gerald Richards was basically tasked
with luring children to Fox Island, including his own students, promise of hiking,
swimming, learning about nature. He would later plead guilty to charge as
the first degree criminal sexual conduct, and would testify about his involvement in Michigan's
pedophile community and also that Brothers Paul was just a front for victimizing children as
well as evasion of taxes. Before his arrest in July of nineteen seventy six,
police records would reel that he contacted and Ward Sheldon, who promptly disappeared,
was sentenced to twenty years. I just wanted to hear about Foxes.
I live here, I go to Travers all the time. I go to
the Leland Alpenisla all the time. I did not think that this episode would
be this. I didn't know any of this, and I'm a confused as
to why I have not heard about it. There's more, and after this
episode you're going to be asking even more questions. But they weren't the only
two men in on this ring shucking dire Grossman was a wealthy science teacher at
Harvey School, and Adam Starchild, which was a convicted fraudster alias. He
was an offshore accounts expert as well as a former Boy Scout Assistant Scout Master,
but his real name was Malcolm McConaughey. He was also accused of helping
Sheldon and in this case he was to create shell companies including the Phony Church
of New Revelation and the Ocean Living Institute offshore. You know, shell companies
to basically evade taxes and treat all this all as if it's nonprofit and community
and helping community. Jay Ruben Appleman wrote a book called The kill Jar.
It is a product of ten years of investigation to the Oakland Company child killings.
Have you guys heard of those before? Apps? Absolutely well, we'll
cover the Oakland County child killer at some point on this podcast. And this
is a great segue into peaking our listeners into that. So in his book
he covers North Fox Island and their connection between the two, and it is
widely accepted by a good majority now that the two are directly linked together.
According to him, North Fox Island operated as a subscription service centered on the
production of child pornographers and sexual abuse on boys seven years old to sixteen year
old in exchange for contributions to the Brothers Paul nonprofit. The camp. Sponsors
could receive pornography shot on the island, or even visit the island themselves if
they were particularly wealthy or well connected. A Michigan State Police report would reveal
an underage victim who claimed Sheldon himself tried to molest him multiple times and reported
fighting him off those times as well. Further, after his arrest, Richards
would reveal all and in a Traverse City Record Eagle reported that in nineteen seventy
seven, three hundred sponsors donated to Sheldon's charity and received child pornography for their
tax deductible contributions. I hope every single one of those three hundred people were
prosecuted, but I somehow doubt it. I doubt it as well, but
I do not know the answer. Also in that year, they discovered that
Sheldon was also a sponsor for the Boys Farm in Winchester, Tennessee, which
was run by Claudia's Vermile, an episcopal priest and also known as Father Bud.
He was also charged with molestation in possession of underage pornography. Furthermore,
and even more disgusting the record, Eadle would uncover a letter from Grossman,
who was his offshore account's expert, basically to Sheldon, outlining how a person
could set up lucrative organizations similar to the Brothers Paul in their respective states.
Boys Farm as a name just sense a little too am, doesn't it.
And Father Bud was the nickname of the priest that was in charge of this
boy's farm. Nobody thought anything of this, They wouldn't do. You want
to know why giving yourself a nickname makes you very relatable to people, and
they're less likely to suspect you Father Bud showing up and talking to your kid,
having conversations with your kids in front of you that make them seem like
they're a mentor figure and they're just Father Bud or Father Nick or father,
whatever the fuck nothing, it's very rude. It's a very casual relationship.
Instead of raising a red flag, it kind of does the opposite, like,
oh, they're really getting down on my kid's level and trying to relate
to them and bring them to God. Yeah, yeah, he's not doesn't
have a stick up his ass. Oh So, without getting too much into
the Oakland Comedy child killings, which occurred in nineteen seventy six nineteen seventy seven,
a lot of people will say, well, there's not really connection because
this was after Sheldon was already had run and disappeared and fled from Michigan.
The connection that they made was with Chris Bush, a very well connected and
well off son of ah Lee Bush, a financial director for GM over four
decades in Europe and in US, very very well off, and he is
leave to be the Oakland County child killer, right and hear more about him
on our episode on the Oakland County Child Killer coming eventually. Yeah, when
we cover that, we can also cover into more about how they're much more
connected. But in this concept, I just want to kind of paint a
picture that this was a large, lucrative operation with a community involved in on
it. You sure have You have six to think that it didn't go past
just Fox Island and just that one city in Michigan and that one city in
Tennessee is crazy. And I'm sure that some of them that may have gotten
started through this ring or operated extensively or inextensively or whatever, may still be
around to this day. And that's a scary thought. That's a very scary
thought. I would bet money out yet a text credit. So Sheldon was
never arrested. He fled to France in nineteen seventy six. He would marry
right away to Ailien Gobie in order to obtain French citizenship, and he would
then move to Amsterdam to live out his life unhindered by the US or any
police involvement or anything like that. He would die in nineteen ninety six from
unknown causes. Wait, so we do we know that he actually even died
then? And they never found room said that Amsterdam police investigated and searched and
did say that he died from unknown causes, But where his remains is not
known today, not known publicly. I was gonna say, so this might
be a situation where he no longer had family or anything in Amsterdam or personally
personally did not want anyone to know where his body would rest at. Yeah,
but I feel like Amsterdam police another government agency questioned it, they would
just tell that it said that they investigated. I don't know if it was
investigating into his cause of death or like things attached to this, which probably
not attached to this, probably just cause of death, to be honest,
they probably didn't even know. Actually in the year at one we're talking about
there, they're setting something up before the age of the Internet. So they
have figured out a way how to distribute child pornography before the internet exists,
to the sharing of interagency information across countries. When they didn't know where he
went, they just never would have known, Like those agencies never would have
spoken until eventually somebuddy finds out where he was living, where he went,
etc. And just the chances of that happening really were not good before the
age of the Internet, and like central databases in the way that we have
them now. It's just the unknown cause of death that is really sticking in
my teeth. What do you mean they investigated and decided on unknown You know,
you're always saying I'm bringing the show down, but then Mikey keeps coming
in with these like punches to the jaw. Mikey normally isn't like this,
though, but you are. So I have done zero pedophile episodes. I
found something that Mo didn't know about that I know she'd be like, what,
Yeah, I can't believe that. I've never heard about the link to
like the Oakland County child killer. Yeah, so that's Fox Island and not
cute foxes. What to say? So what eventually happened to this island now
the state of Michigan and it's a research see is it? I don't know.
Did you say how they were discovered to tattled It was a series of
events that went, oh, I'm pleaning to France. Now. The guy
who gave him a heads up, right, they were investigating him, Jim
Jim Teacher, right right right. I didn't also mention this, but the
guy MO was talking about, Anne Sheldon, was a big brother. That's
also how he funneled boys over in there. And there's also documentation of him
just taking boys all over the world with him, not just Fox Island.
Already got a private island for your evil Why why elsewhere? So the island
was purchased by a real estate investor named David Johnson in nineteen ninety four for
two point two million. It was bought for one play three million, and
then by time they sold whose wasn't until nineteen ninety four. I'm going to
guess it was his because it wasn't uncovered until what nineteen ninety six, So
I'm gonna guess he had possession of the island, he sold the island when
before he fleed, I'm going to guess. Let me. Let me try
and get some property records. All I know is all three hundred of those
sponsors should have been prosecuted. And we should know about this, mall as
children who were up here, we should know about this. We don't.
That's said. I do think that when we were kids, like I think,
I was probably a thirteen or so before I knew about the Oakland County
child killer. Also, I was about twelve when I found out. So
there is a local case where a mother killed all of her children. My
dad not only went to school with those children, but my dad was at
the scene of the crime. He was a paperboy and he delivered a paper
most likely minutes after these kids were killed when he was a little kid.
I didn't know about that either until I was about twelve. So I think
a lot of these things my parents. They taught me stranger danger, but
they didn't go too hard, like you're gonna get murdered anytime you walk out
of the door. I did get the talks about various things. But also
my parents probably didn't even know about this, to be honest, because I've
always been interested in true crime and things like that, but my parents weren't.
Mostly my mom also watched unsolved mysteries, but she wasn't interested in the
same way that I was following cases, and she wouldn't start a true crime
podcast right exactly. She cared because they were children, But if it wasn't
highly publicized in on like the regular six o'clock news, especially before the age
of our twenty four hour news cycle, prior to the O. J.
Simpson case, I don't think she would have known about it. Everyone knew
about the Oakland County child killer, but it was just a different level as
on every newspaper in the Tri County area. So I'm trying to get the
property ownership records, but I don't have parcel numbers, So it's just not
giving me when I would like a weird Other layer to this is that Fox
Island, Beaver Island, a lot of the islands in the Great Lay they
have indigenous names, have rich indigenous culture that is linked to them and how
they got their names, like Sleeping Bear Dunes, the story of Dead Bears.
Like there's all of these like rich histories that are associated and for some
rich person to just come in and basically buy an island and then turn it
into camp pedophile. I know that that's not the most important aspect of the
story, but it's such a perversion of that cultural history. It's a real
microcosm macrocosm thing. Yeah, this man was invested. He bought in nineteen
sixty. He put like ten to fifteen years of his own like hard labor
developing this island. Yeah, like it was something that he had obviously thought
out, obsessed over. How do I do this, how do I make
this, and how can I profit from it? How do I be a
sick fuck and also profit from that? Yeah, And like he was in
the public eye, so it seems like he most likely before he was caught
or could be caught sold it off, sold it to this real estate mogul,
who then sells it back to the State of Michigan. That could be
incorrect, but it seems like through various documents that we could find through Leland,
Ol County, etc. Etc. That that was most likely the events
because of the timeline of when it was purchased by this real estate mogul.
So he's probably trying to get money. Marada currently owns most of this island.
There are bits of it that are a State of Michigan, creating the
exact same thing that Mike he was reading about the State of Michigan buying it
back from this mogul. I think the State of Michigan reserves some places and
then sold off. They'll sell off their assets of various things that they aren't
going to turn into like state parts, so I think that they probably then
sold pieces of it. State of Michigan owns the coast and which does make
sense because there's a lot of islands that they own the entirety, but they
also own coastlines. They turn those into public access so you can launch boats
and get to and front places or ferries will come, especially these islands that
are in the middle like boy Blanc or Mackinaw Island. That are islands that
people have to access them. People live on them, so there needs to
be some amount of public access and the state usually owns those public access points.
Well, thank you for the depression on top of my seasonal depression.
I didn't think that this is what this was going to be, but I
am glad to know about it. Later, when we talk about the Oakland
County child killer, have this as a point to refer back to. How
do you stop a episode so depressing? We don't know until next time.
I'm Mouth, I'm Trip, and I'm Mikey. I am not the most
depressing person on this podcast by far. You just listened to the Deep Dark
Truth podcast. See you next time, and remember your local cryptids want to
meet you.