WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:10.279 More than a century ago, in the quiet foothills of 2 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:14.400 Alberta's Rocky Mountains, two brothers built a small life together 3 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:17.879 along the banks of the Bow River. What began as 4 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:21.719 a simple frontier story of imagination, hard work, and opportunity 5 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:26.440 would eventually take a dark and violent turn. One spring 6 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:29.559 in nineteen oh four, that quiet stretch of land became 7 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.439 the scene of a brutal murder that shocked the small 8 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:37.079 community of Canmore. Now, the place where it all happened 9 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.520 still carries the memory of that crime in its name. 10 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:43.880 Today we discussed that story and the place that is 11 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:46.799 simply called dead Man's Flats. 12 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:51.920 My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked 13 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:55.359 and Grim, a true crime podcast. 14 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:29.599 The following podcast, audience, listener, take a good drink of that. 15 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:32.400 This is my favorite one, actually is that? 16 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:34.760 Well I don't okay, you guys didn't hear it, but 17 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:37.680 Nicole had a massive coughing fit right when I'm trying 18 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:40.799 to record the intro. So make sure you're good. Make 19 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:41.920 sure your voice is all right. 20 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:45.879 Okay, do you Sometimes when I'm doing like newborn sessions 21 00:01:45.879 --> 00:01:48.000 and stuff, I'll be completely fine, like. 22 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:49.959 All photographing them just clarity. 23 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:52.799 Yes, sorry, I'm a photographer, as my other jumb right 24 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:56.159 into the lingo. And do you know when you like 25 00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:00.319 aren't allowed or shouldn't cough even though you're completely fine, 26 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:02.480 Like you've been completely fine all day, but then you're 27 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:06.319 in a situation and your body just like has this 28 00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:07.200 need to cough. 29 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:10.680 Oh definitely, Okay, I can demonstrate that exact thing right now. 30 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:15.400 I literally can. Okay, you ready, Okay, you're itchy right 31 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:18.199 now somewhere Oh yeah, I already was, I know, but 32 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:20.400 like right now, someone right now is thinking just think 33 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:22.840 about you're itchy. There's gonna be somewhe where you're itching. 34 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:25.159 It's probably like your back or your knee or your elbow. 35 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:28.120 Something is gonna itch and you're gonna be cursing my 36 00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:30.080 name right now because I said it. It's the same 37 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:32.039 thing with coughing or murphy. 38 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:35.080 Is think about breathing, yeah. 39 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:38.759 Or blinking, or where your mouth has your tongue sitting 40 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:40.560 inside of it? Where does your tongue sit? 41 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:44.400 How many people are like fuck off right now, probably 42 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:45.960 just getting just irate with us. 43 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:49.439 My bad, sorry, but it proves exactly what you're saying. Like, 44 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:51.919 it's that Murphy's law, like when you shouldn't be doing something. 45 00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:53.199 That's when it's like, well, now. 46 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:55.120 You're like yeah, because when you're reading the intro there, 47 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:57.639 like I have to be really quiet and then and 48 00:02:57.719 --> 00:02:59.800 I was fine, but then all of a sudden, this 49 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:02.520 tickle and it just like progressively got worse and I 50 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.960 was trying to hold it in and I just couldn't anymore. Well, 51 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:08.120 but anyway, I do that a lot at newborn sessions, 52 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.639 do being like I don't want parents to think I'm 53 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:13.000 sick and I'm not sick, but then my body's like 54 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:16.400 a you're gonna call screw. 55 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:20.479 You anyways being sick and where your tongue should sit 56 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:23.479 inside your mouth if you're itchy? 're not all set aside? 57 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:27.319 Have an interesting Canadian case for you today. Yeah, Now, 58 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:30.879 I will say, there is not a lot of detail 59 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:32.919 surrounding this case, so I did the best I could 60 00:03:33.159 --> 00:03:34.759 because of the lack of detail. This might be a 61 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.080 little bit of a shorter episode, but I think it 62 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:40.240 did pretty good. Okay, it's a bit of a well, 63 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:42.039 it's a true crime case mixed with a bit of 64 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:42.919 history in there too. 65 00:03:43.159 --> 00:03:45.680 Right on, these are both places that I want to well, 66 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:48.759 can more I've never been to and it's like right 67 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:50.919 by a bamf. It's another place I want to go to. 68 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:53.439 How have I not been to these places? 69 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:56.759 I've only driven through because I have gone to Calgary 70 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:59.080 Comic and Entertainment Expo many times because I'm a bit 71 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:01.759 of a nerd and you're not. So I've driven through 72 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:03.960 there on my way to Calgary many times without you. 73 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:08.120 So I've been through these places and I know exactly 74 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:11.360 where this is. Haven't been to the place, but I've 75 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:12.000 been through it. 76 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:13.919 Okay, Well, let's hear about this. 77 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:16.920 So if you step back in time more than a century, 78 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:19.959 the Rocky Mountains would feel very different than they are today. 79 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:23.879 Long before highways cut through the valleys and travelers passed through. 80 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:28.120 By the thousands, the mountains were a lot quieter, The 81 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:30.800 forests were thicker, the towns were smaller, and much of 82 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:34.560 the land between them while they remained wide open and untouched, 83 00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:39.279 very vast and untamed. Now. In those days, people came 84 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:43.839 west chasing opportunity. Some arrived with dreams, you know, striking 85 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:46.759 it rich in the mines. Others hoped to carve out 86 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:49.639 a much more simple life on the land, raising animals, 87 00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:53.279 farming what they could and building homes whenever the valleys 88 00:04:53.319 --> 00:04:56.399 allowed it. Now, life in the mountains could be peaceful 89 00:04:56.439 --> 00:05:01.399 and beautiful, but it was also very isolated, stood miles apart, 90 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:04.920 and news traveled extremely slow, and when something happened in 91 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:08.160 those remote places, it often unfolded far from the eyes 92 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:12.399 of the outside world. Most days would pass very quietly, 93 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:17.079 but every so often something would happen that people simply 94 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:20.800 couldn't forget. It may be a single random moment, or 95 00:05:20.839 --> 00:05:24.439 maybe a violent act, even a story whispered between neighbors 96 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:27.759 until the land itself began to carry the memory of it. 97 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:33.000 And sometimes those stories linger long enough that the place 98 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:36.480 where they happened eventually makes you know what its way 99 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:42.480 into history, even potentially its name of the land itself. Now. 100 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:45.160 Long before this place became a rest stop along the 101 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:49.079 Trans Canada Highway, the Bow Valley area in Alberta, Canada 102 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:52.920 was already an important route through the Rocky Mountains. For 103 00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:57.680 thousands of years, Indigenous groups, including the Stony Nakota, used 104 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:01.319 the valley as a natural corridor through the rugged life landscape. 105 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:06.040 Later came explorers, furd traders, and settlers, all following the 106 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:08.879 same path. Carved by the Bow River as it wound 107 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:12.720 through the mountains, and by the late eighteen hundreds the 108 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:16.519 region was beginning to change. The arrival of the Canadian 109 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:20.519 Pacific Railway in eighteen eighty three opened the valley to 110 00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:24.480 large numbers of newcomers. Coal was soon discovered in the 111 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:28.279 surrounding mountains, and the small settlement of Canmore quickly grew 112 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:32.519 into a busy mining town. Workers arrived from across Canada 113 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:35.240 and even Europe, drawn by the promise of a steady 114 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:38.199 job in the mines and the chance to build a 115 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:42.920 new life on the frontier. But despite the growing industry nearby, 116 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:47.360 much of the surrounding land remained quiet and isolated. Now 117 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:51.160 just southeast of Canmore, the Bow River flattened out as 118 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:55.439 it flowed past the base of Pigeon Mountain. Here the 119 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:59.480 river spilled across a stretch of low, open ground, an 120 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:03.439 area locals simply referred to as the flats in the 121 00:07:03.480 --> 00:07:07.600 early nineteen hundreds. It was very peaceful, dotted with small 122 00:07:07.639 --> 00:07:10.759 homesteads and farms that were far removed from the noise 123 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:13.879 of the mines. It was on this quiet stretch of 124 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:16.240 land along the banks of the Bow River that a 125 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:20.000 small dairy farm once stood, and it was here, in 126 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:23.079 the spring of nineteen o four, that a violent crime 127 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:26.959 would take place and give the landscape the ominous name 128 00:07:27.639 --> 00:07:31.920 of dead Man's Flats. But long before the story of 129 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:35.360 dead Man's Flats unfolded in the Canadian Rockies, it began 130 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:40.639 thousands of kilometers away in rural France. The Marrat family 131 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:45.000 lived in the Overne region, a rugged area of mountains 132 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.839 and farmlands in central France. Their parents, Pierre and Anne Marat, 133 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:53.639 were cattle farmers, raising their children in a modest rural 134 00:07:53.639 --> 00:07:56.839 life built around hard work and survival off the land. 135 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:00.759 Now Pierre and Anne had a total of six children, 136 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:04.199 though two of them unfortunately died young, which was not 137 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:08.160 the most uncommon for the time. The four surviving siblings 138 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:15.240 were Jean Louis, Francois, and their younger sister Eugenie. Like 139 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:18.079 many young men in the area of France, the brothers 140 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:21.079 spent time in the military. Several of them served in 141 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:24.839 the French Army, gain experience that would later shape their 142 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:28.519 lives in rather unexpected ways, but Francois in particular had 143 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:32.519 a difficult military history. At some point during his service, 144 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:35.799 he was discharged from the army, though the exact reasons 145 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:39.720 are not entirely clear in any sort of surviving records, 146 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:44.799 but that might highlight some things later on. Now. Life 147 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:47.279 in rural France at the end of the nineteenth century 148 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:51.279 could be difficult. Opportunities were limited, and many young men 149 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:55.480 dreamed of leaving for a place where fortunes could be made. 150 00:08:55.799 --> 00:09:00.240 News of opportunity overseas, especially in North America, so bread 151 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:04.519 quickly through villages and farming communities. For the Marrit brothers, 152 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:08.600 that promise of opportunity eventually became too strong for them 153 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:12.519 to ignore, and by the late eighteen nineties, two of 154 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:15.679 the brothers made a decision that would set the entire 155 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:20.159 story into motion. They would leave France behind and try 156 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:24.519 their luck in Canada. It was in eighteen ninety eight 157 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:27.879 when the two brothers, Jean and Louis, left France and 158 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:31.600 set out for North America. Like thousands of other immigrants 159 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:34.159 at the time, they arrived with very little money in 160 00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:37.000 their pockets, but with the hope that Canada offered a 161 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.840 chance at a much better life. Their journey eventually brought 162 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:44.240 them to the Beau Valley area in Alberta, a remote 163 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:48.240 but rapidly developing place in the Rocky Mountains. The small 164 00:09:48.279 --> 00:09:50.519 mining town of Canmore had begun to grow after the 165 00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:53.399 coal was discovered in the surrounding mountains, and the Canadian 166 00:09:53.399 --> 00:09:56.440 Pacific Railway made it easier for everyone in supplies to 167 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:00.360 reach the region. Now. When John first arrived in canon More, 168 00:10:00.759 --> 00:10:03.240 he found work as a night guard at the dynamite 169 00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:06.639 storage area used in the local coal mines. It wasn't 170 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:09.559 glamorous work, but it was steady, and it gave him 171 00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:14.159 the chance to get established in the new region and country. Then, 172 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:18.879 over time, John began building something of his own. It 173 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:21.759 was along the Bow River flats, not far from the 174 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:25.320 base of Pigeon Mountain. There he started operating a small 175 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:29.200 dairy farm. The land there was relatively open compared to 176 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:31.639 the surrounding mountains, and the nearby river made it very 177 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:35.919 suitable for farming. Life here on the flats was quiet. 178 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:39.559 The nearest town was Cammore, which was several kilometers away, 179 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:41.960 and the dairy farm sat in a stretch of valley 180 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:45.159 where the river widened and slowed as it passed through 181 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:46.039 on the low ground. 182 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:47.799 That kind of sounds like heaven. 183 00:10:48.120 --> 00:10:49.320 It does sound like heaven. 184 00:10:49.399 --> 00:10:51.879 Having a little farm in the middle of nowhere. 185 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:55.080 I think a lot of people nowadays kind of dream 186 00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:56.960 of having something like that, right. 187 00:10:56.759 --> 00:10:59.120 Well, yeah, because it so I'm picturing like this piece 188 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:02.519 of land it like overlooked the river and had like 189 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:04.600 just like a picturesque kind of view. 190 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:05.360 Right yeah. 191 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:08.679 Basically oh and then they yeah, had cows like oh. 192 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:11.320 Man, Yeah, Now the flats is like it is very flat, 193 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:13.759 so like he's probably not too high above the river. 194 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:15.440 It's like very big banks or anything. 195 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:18.200 Okay, like picture if even more pretty? 196 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:21.720 Really oh definitely, Yeah, the picture like that river rising 197 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:23.799 would soon like engulf the land if there's like a 198 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:25.960 major flood or something like that. Right. I don't think 199 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:29.000 that was exactly common, but just an idea on how 200 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:31.919 flat it was. So you have to think, like, Okay, 201 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:34.200 this area was it was shaped by the river, and 202 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:37.200 eventually it kind of flattened out, carving its way through 203 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:40.720 the mountains, and then slowly it became a smaller stream 204 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:44.919 of water over the years, the decades, the centuries, right. 205 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:48.360 Okay, because yeah, honestly, living by water like that could 206 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:50.919 be a little bit freaky. We have some areas in 207 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:53.519 our town that are pretty close to the river and 208 00:11:53.559 --> 00:11:56.960 they flood like every few years. Yeah, it's occasional, and 209 00:11:57.000 --> 00:11:59.240 I'm like that must kind of be stressful and kind 210 00:11:59.240 --> 00:11:59.759 of sok. 211 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.399 Seing the water is so good for the soul though, 212 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:05.200 Like you just you sit there on a riverbank and 213 00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:08.879 you hear the flowing water or the lapping waves of 214 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:11.919 the ocean or a lake, even just the pond, a 215 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:14.320 little splash off the shore or a fish jump. It 216 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:15.720 just it's so nice. 217 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:17.279 It just fills your cup. 218 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:20.639 It does. Now. Jean worked hard to build a stable 219 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:24.279 life here, and eventually his brother Louis joined him. He 220 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:26.480 was helping on the farm while also working in the 221 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:30.080 coal mines nearby. Like many men in the valley, they 222 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:33.320 took whatever they could find for work. The brothers had 223 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:35.679 come to Canada chasing an opportunity, and for a time 224 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:38.600 seemed like they might have found it. But in the 225 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:42.039 early nineteen hundreds, another member of the Marritt family would 226 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:45.879 arrive in Beow Valley two. It was by nineteen oh 227 00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:48.759 two that word of the Marrett brothers new life in 228 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:52.000 Canada had made its way back to France, and soon 229 00:12:52.039 --> 00:12:55.720 after that their younger brother, Francois decided to follow them 230 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:59.080 across the Atlantic. When he arrived in the Bow Valley, 231 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.679 he joined Jehan on the small dairy farm on the 232 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:06.840 flats where Pigeon Creek meant the Bow River. At first, 233 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:09.159 he helped with all the work around the farm and 234 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:11.919 running a dairy operation in the rugged foothills of the Rockies. 235 00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:15.399 It wasn't exactly easy. There were long days of work 236 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:17.919 that was constant, and whether it was milking cows or 237 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:20.200 tending to the land or anything else that needed to 238 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:23.480 be up kept on the small operation, it had to 239 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:27.279 be done and they were working at it. However, Francois 240 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:30.120 didn't seem to enjoy the life of a farm hand. 241 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:32.679 After about fifteen months of working with his brother, he 242 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:35.879 drifted away from the dairy operation and began taking odd 243 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:37.440 jobs around the region instead. 244 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.399 That is fair, okay, we have ten chickens and I 245 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:43.000 feel like there are a lot of work. 246 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:44.440 That's only I. 247 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:48.399 Couldn't imagine how many cows they have. But also he 248 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:51.559 would have kind of known what this work was like, right, 249 00:13:51.960 --> 00:13:55.039 he would have had to help. I imagine their farm 250 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:55.600 in France. 251 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:57.600 Yeah, his parents had a bit of a farm as well, 252 00:13:57.679 --> 00:13:59.960 so he should have known. It's not like, you know 253 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:02.159 what working on a farm is any fucking news to him. 254 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:03.799 He should know the labor it takes. 255 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.360 Yeah, well, maybe he didn't. Like I guess it would 256 00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:10.200 be different though, working for your brother versus like your parents. 257 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:11.519 Per se too well, and. 258 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:13.759 I think part of it might have been, you know what, 259 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:16.200 he left the farm life for something better and he 260 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:17.879 goes to farm. 261 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:19.519 Life to the same thing basically. 262 00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:22.159 Yeah, so maybe it was just that swap. It wasn't 263 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:25.600 what he's expecting. Yeah, and then a lure of well, 264 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:29.519 what's to come of these industries that are progressing? Bigger money? 265 00:14:29.639 --> 00:14:30.840 Right right? Yeah? 266 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.600 I mean next I have written here, Like many men 267 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:35.679 in the Bow Valley area at the time, he eventually 268 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:38.440 found work in the coal mines near Canmore. So the 269 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:40.879 coal mines probably paid a lot better. I mean it's 270 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:43.559 a lot more hard work, it's a lot more dangerous, 271 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:49.600 but it's the basically the best paying job in the area. Now. Meanwhile, 272 00:14:49.639 --> 00:14:52.639 the third brother, Louis, he had his sight set on 273 00:14:52.679 --> 00:14:57.200 something else entirely, the Klondike gold Rush. It was a 274 00:14:57.320 --> 00:15:00.399 drawing thing for prospectors in the North and it was 275 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.519 pulling them in by the thousands, and Louis soon left 276 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:06.559 the Beau Valley area behind to try his luck in 277 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:11.039 the Yukon. Now, that left Jean and Francois in the 278 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:14.639 valley together. Now, by most accounts, the two brothers were 279 00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:18.840 very different people. Jean was seen as responsible and hard working, 280 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.440 the kind of man who built something for himself through 281 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.960 persistence and discipline. But Francois, on the other hand, well, 282 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:28.559 he was quieter and a lot more unpredictable. Some people 283 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:31.440 described him even as withdrawn and even a little strange. 284 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:35.559 At first, these differences may have seemed harmless, but as 285 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:39.120 time passed in Beau Valley, the behavior of Francois began 286 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:44.639 to grow increasingly strange. According to later testimony, Francois started 287 00:15:44.679 --> 00:15:47.879 to hear things that no one else could hear. He 288 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:53.080 claimed voices spoke to him, ones that he said belonged 289 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:54.240 to his dead parents. 290 00:15:54.919 --> 00:15:57.559 Oh shit, here, I just thought he was having trouble 291 00:15:57.559 --> 00:15:58.919 adjusting to a new country. 292 00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:01.519 But that's a little bit more, a little bit more intense. 293 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:04.279 So he said they were coming to him and speaking 294 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:07.000 to him from beyond the grave. And along with the 295 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:11.000 voices also came a constant buzzing sound in his head 296 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:13.559 that he said he could never escape it. It was 297 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:18.200 always there. Now. As time passed, these experiences began to 298 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.279 shape how he saw the world around him in dark 299 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:25.519 and very strange ways. In fact, Francois became convinced that 300 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:30.960 his brother Jean was plotting to kill him. In his mind, 301 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:36.159 Jean had built some kind of invisible electrical machine that 302 00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:40.480 he hid somewhere in the nearby forest. Francois said he 303 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:44.080 could hear this strange device whirling at times, even though 304 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:48.120 he admitted he had never actually seen it. Now, whether 305 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:50.720 he had seen it in his own eye or not, 306 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:54.159 though it didn't matter, because to him, this machine was real, 307 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:58.159 and the voices in his head reinforced this belief too. 308 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:01.440 According to Francois, the voice of his parents warned him 309 00:17:01.799 --> 00:17:04.759 that Jean was dangerous and that he needed to defend 310 00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:08.480 himself against Jean before it was too late. 311 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:12.440 Oo. Okay, this is not good now. 312 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:15.759 Whether the cause of this mental illness in Francois was 313 00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:19.640 trauma from his early military service or something else entirely, 314 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:24.559 the paranoia continued to grow. Doctors who would later examine 315 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:28.680 him believed he was suffering from severe hallucinations tied to 316 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:31.680 a deep mental disorder that they couldn't really figure out. 317 00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:35.480 Some experts even suggested the condition may have been linked 318 00:17:35.480 --> 00:17:38.400 to his time serving in the French Foreign Legion in Africa, 319 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.559 where harsh conditions and years of extreme hardship could leave 320 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:47.240 lasting psychological damage. But in the quiet isolation of beau 321 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:49.960 Valley in the early nineteen hundreds, well, there were few 322 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:53.160 ways for someone struggling with mental illness to receive any help. 323 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:56.400 And my likely guess is probably the only way was 324 00:17:56.519 --> 00:17:57.960 I bet at the bottom of a bottle. 325 00:17:58.599 --> 00:18:02.799 Yeah. Well, I mean even today it's still it's come 326 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:07.440 ridiculously far, but it's sometimes still somewhat misunderstood for sure. 327 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:10.599 Back then it's like you kind of almost hooped. 328 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:12.039 You're on your own basically. 329 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:13.079 Yeah. 330 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:16.720 Now, as francois fears deepened, the line between reality and 331 00:18:16.759 --> 00:18:20.000 imagination began to blur more and more, and by the 332 00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:22.960 spring of nineteen oh four, the situation had reached a 333 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:27.079 dangerous point. Francois had become convinced that his brother was 334 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:32.759 an enemy who needed to be stopped. Then tensions in 335 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:37.720 inside France was mind reached a crescendo. The voices he 336 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:40.119 claimed to hear, the buzzing sounds, and his belief that 337 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:42.680 his brother was trying to kill him. Had all become 338 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:45.559 part of his everyday thinking, and on May tenth, nineteen 339 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:50.119 oh four, something happened. Francois borrowed an axe from a 340 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:55.519 woman named Ella may Lauder. Now, borrowing tools between neighbors, 341 00:18:55.559 --> 00:18:59.480 of course, wasn't unusual in small frontier communities like Beau Valley, 342 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.960 and at the time there was nothing about the request 343 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:05.720 that seemed suspicious. But in hindsight, the moment carried a 344 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:09.319 much darker meaning, because that very axe would become the 345 00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:14.640 weapon he used in the brutal act that followed. Now, 346 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:17.920 whether Francois had already decided what he was going to 347 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.920 do or whether the plan formed some time later that 348 00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:25.200 night isn't entirely clear, but what is known is that 349 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:29.720 the act stayed with him after he borrowed it. As 350 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:33.039 night fell over the quiet flats along Bow River, the 351 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:37.119 Merritt brothers returned to their usual routine. Their small cabin 352 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:39.880 sat in the isolated stretch of land where Pigeon Creek 353 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:44.640 met Bow River, surrounded by forest and open valley. To 354 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:47.440 anyone passing by, it would have looked just like another 355 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:51.599 peaceful evening in the mountains. But inside that cabin, however, 356 00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:55.599 darkness had crept inside. It was in the early morning 357 00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:59.920 of May eleventh, nineteen o four. The Quiet Dairy Farm 358 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:03.799 long Bow River was still wrapped in darkness, and around 359 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:08.519 five thirty a m. Francois Marette got out of bed 360 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:11.559 and retrieved the axe he had borrowed that day before, 361 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:18.000 while his brother Jean was still sleeping. Jean Marette was 362 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:21.440 thirty two years old at the time. He was hard working. 363 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:23.519 He was a dairy farmer who had gone to bed 364 00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:26.240 expecting to wake up and begin another day of work 365 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:31.519 on the farm, but he never got that chance. Francois 366 00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:34.720 loomed over his brother, clutching the axe in his hands, 367 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:42.119 staring down as his brother slept, and then he attacked 368 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:47.240 him in his bed. The murder was sudden and brutal, 369 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:50.240 and it was carried out before Jean had any opportunity 370 00:20:50.279 --> 00:20:54.359 to defend himself, and once the attack was over, Francois 371 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:57.720 was left alone in the cabin with the blood and 372 00:20:57.759 --> 00:20:59.559 his brother's lifeless body. 373 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:06.039 That is some savage ass shit, Yes, using an axe 374 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:08.200 as a weapon. I just don't think that I could 375 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:12.720 ever be okay with that, because that I don't know. 376 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:13.839 It's visceral. 377 00:21:13.960 --> 00:21:17.480 Yeah, the visual of anyone killing someone with an axe 378 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.960 just seems ridiculously brutal. 379 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:22.519 Yeah, you want to talk about getting personal in an attack, 380 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:25.319 I think I think hammers and axes are the two 381 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:29.319 that like scream personal because it's going to be savage, 382 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:31.680 it's going to be bloody, it's going to be brutal, 383 00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:32.720 and it's gonna hurt. 384 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:37.079 Yeah. And this brother, he was just sleeping. He caind 385 00:21:37.799 --> 00:21:40.200 wonder though if he had, well, he would never probably 386 00:21:40.200 --> 00:21:42.680 thought his brother would do something like this, But he 387 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:44.640 would have had to have noticed some sort of change 388 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:45.279 in his brothers. 389 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:47.720 I'm sure he did notice there was some change, but 390 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:49.559 I don't think. Yeah, like you say, he would never 391 00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:51.880 have thought his brother was capable of killing him. 392 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:52.519 No. 393 00:21:53.559 --> 00:21:59.240 Now, sometimes after afterward, he carried John's body outside and 394 00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:02.599 brought it down to the nearby Bow river, and there 395 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:05.440 he disposed of his brother by throwing his body into 396 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:05.839 the water. 397 00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:06.720 Wow. 398 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:09.599 Now the river flowed past the low, open stretch of 399 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:12.720 land with a shallow area where the current slowed and 400 00:22:12.839 --> 00:22:17.559 spread across the valley floor, so he wouldn't be taken 401 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:20.960