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Speaker 1: You know, it's a profound and often really unsettling realization

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that certain places in America seem to hold onto secrets.

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Speaker 2: Almost like they refuse to let them go exactly.

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Speaker 1: We're talking about those files that just never close, the

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cases where history, you know, stops writing the final chapter

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and myth eagerly steps right in to take its place.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to thrilling Threads. Today, we are undertaking a massive exploration.

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We've compiled a huge stack of source material detailing twenty

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four of the most persistent, most haunting, unsolved cases from

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right across the United States.

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Speaker 1: And these aren't just local curiosities.

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Speaker 2: Not at all. These are national enigmas. They span four centuries,

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and they cover well everything from quiet prairie roads and

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remote wilderness disappearances to heavily guarded desert bases and some

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of the most terrifying cold case murders imaginable.

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Speaker 1: Our mission today is to go far beyond the surface

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facts you might read in a headline. We really want

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to unpack these chronic question.

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Speaker 2: Marks, find those memorable details, right.

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Speaker 1: Yes, the surprising taw moments that are kind of hidden

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inside the investigative files, and the crucial lingering questions that

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keep these stories alive, actively defying explanation decades or even

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centuries later.

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Speaker 2: And the scope here really demands depth. You're moving all

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across the continental US, across different historical eras, looking at

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cryptids and covert government operations, right alongside classic missing persons

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and mass murders.

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Speaker 1: These are the narratives that remain stubbornly open, unexplained, or

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just shrouded in controversy and suspicion. Okay, let's unpack this.

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And I think we have to start at the very beginning,

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the birth of really American failure and mystery.

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Speaker 2: We have to begin with the lost colony of Roanoke

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in North Carolina, established in fifteen eighty seven by over

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one hundred English settlers.

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Speaker 1: And the core fact here, the thing you can't get

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past is that crushing three year gap.

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Speaker 2: It's everything. The settlement's leader, John White, he sails back

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to England for supplies, but then the Spanish Armada happens, right.

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Speaker 1: The war diverts all the ship available shit, so.

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Speaker 2: He's prevented from returning until fifteen ninety, three years later.

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Speaker 1: And three years isn't just time for a brand new,

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fledgling colony. It's an extinction event, absolutely.

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Speaker 2: So when White finally gets back, he finds the fort

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completely utterly deserted, nothing.

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Speaker 1: No signs of a struggle, no bodies, no graves, no

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battle scars, no.

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Speaker 2: Records, nothing to say where they went or why they

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went there, just gone except for one thing, the one thing.

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The only piece of information left behind was the word

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croaton carved into a post and then the letter cro

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carved into a tree nearby.

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Speaker 1: So what did White make of that? I mean, that

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had to mean something specific.

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Speaker 2: He took it as a clear sign Croatoan Island was nearby,

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and it was the home of a friendly Native American tribe.

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They had actually pre arranged a signal, a signal. Yes,

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they agreed that if they were forced to leave under duress,

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you know, if they were attacked, they would carve across.

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Speaker 1: And that cross was notably absent.

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Speaker 2: It was, and that detail is critical. White interpreted the

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lack of a cross as meaning the migration was planned,

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it was safe.

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Speaker 1: So this changes our whole perspective on their state of mind,

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doesn't it completely?

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Speaker 2: It suggests, as our sources highlight, that the colonists didn't

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think of themselves as lost.

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Speaker 1: They weren't waiting around for rescue.

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Speaker 2: No, they were sending a message, this is where we've gone.

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They fully expected that resupply ship to come back, find

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the message and follow them.

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Speaker 1: And have modern archaeologists found anything that backs that up.

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Speaker 2: Well, there have been some interesting finds. Digs miles away

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inland suggests they might have broken up into smaller groups

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and moved on, maybe assimilated with local tribes because of famine,

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or even conflict with other less friendly tribes.

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Speaker 1: But no definitive proof.

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Speaker 2: No smoking guns, so to speak. Yeah, it remains elusive.

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Speaker 1: It's just astonishing to me that the very first attempt

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at a permanent English settlement in North America is preceded

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by this story of total complete erasure.

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Speaker 2: Really sets a precedent, doesn't it. America is a place

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where people, even whole communities, can simply disappear.

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Speaker 1: It marks the birth of America. Yeah, but it's also

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a story of failure. It's this persistent historical trauma that's

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just etched into.

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Speaker 2: The coastline, and the fact that it's still a mystery

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ensures ronokes stays relevant. It's the ultimate cautionary tale.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so let's move forward a few centuries. We see

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a very different kind of vanishing act, much more calculated,

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from the world of high society and politics.

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Speaker 2: The disappearance of New York Supreme Court Justice Joseph Forst

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Crator in nineteen thirty.

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Speaker 1: And this man was the absolute definition of a New

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York celebrity.

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Speaker 2: Oh a major figure. He wasn't just known by judges

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and powerful politicians. He was known by figures in the

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shady Broadway world, cops on the street.

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Speaker 1: And the rumors were swirling that he was on the

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shortlist for an FDR nomination to the US Supreme Court.

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Speaker 2: Right and then on August sixth, nineteen thirty, he leads

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a restaurant near Times Square, gets into a taxi and

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has never seen a.

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Speaker 1: His vanishing just immediately became this national circus. It was

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steeped in all these rumors of corruption mistress's political scandal.

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Speaker 2: But the thing that sets it apart is that this

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was not impulsive. The evidence shows it was clearly methodically planned.

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Speaker 1: Exactly what did the investigation find?

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Speaker 2: A flurry of preparatory actions. He had withdrawn over five

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thousand dollars in cash of fortune at the time, he

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liquidated investments, and crucially he emptied his safe deposit box

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and all of his files. Just days before he disappeared,

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he was systematically erasing his own paper trail.

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Speaker 1: And his wife, Stella. She immediately suspected a political cover up.

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Speaker 2: She did. She started calling these powerful men who she

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believed were either concealing his whereabouts or even worse, were

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involved in his forced absence.

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Speaker 1: The idea that someone so public, so well known, could

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be so intentionally and cleanly erased, it's terrifying.

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Speaker 2: And what does it say about our relationship with unresolved

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crime that a tragedy like creators could immediately become slang.

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Speaker 1: To pull a Crater right.

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Speaker 2: It entered the American lexicon as the definitive way to

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disappear without a trace. It's just the sort of cultural

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acceptance that will some things just go unresolved off because

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of powerful forces.

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Speaker 1: And the case just refused to die. Decades later, there

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was another twist.

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Speaker 2: That's right. In nineteen fifty four, this woman named Kraus

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claimed that she and Crater had buried ninety thousand dollars

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in her vacation homes backyard back in early nineteen thirty, which.

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Speaker 1: Led to a Life magazine funded excavation. I mean that

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shows you the public subsession.

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Speaker 2: It does, and police confirm there was a connection between

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Kraus and Creator through some checks, which lent creens to

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the theory that maybe Creator was killed over hidden.

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Speaker 1: Money, but the excavation found nothing, the.

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Speaker 2: Official trail went cold again. The theory now really leans

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toward Crater having been murdered by organized crime figures connected

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to his political and Broadway dealings.

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Speaker 1: So if Crater represents this calculated political vanishing, the case

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of Patricia Mia offers the terrifying counterpoint.

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Speaker 2: A person erased by instantaneous is accidental trauma.

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Speaker 1: A devastating story out of Montana. April twentieth, nineteen eighty nine,

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thirty seven year old Patricia Miann collides head on with

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another vehicle on Montana Highway two hundred, and.

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Speaker 2: That crash was the trigger. Immediate aftermath is what's so haunting.

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Speaker 1: She stepped out of the car, dazed and just stared

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stared silently at the wreckage. An observer noted she stood like.

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Speaker 2: A spectator, as if it hadn't even happened to her.

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Speaker 1: Exactly a total dissociation. And then she just walked off

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into the vast open prairie, never seen again.

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Speaker 2: Investigators theorized she was suffering from severe head trauma or

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just profound emotional distress, a dissociated fugue state.

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Speaker 1: The fear that she had hurt or killed someone in

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the other car might have just broken her reality.

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Speaker 2: And she simply wandered away. But the key factor here

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is the landscape that prairie, just vast and unforgiving. It

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just swallowed her without a trace.

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Speaker 1: Her family's enduring fears twofold.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: There's the worry, is she succumbed to the elements out there?

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Speaker 2: And then there's the other terrifying possibility that someone stopped

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and offered her a ride.

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Speaker 1: And her fate now rests with a complete stranger. The

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silence of those open planes where she was last seen

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is just it's deafening.

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Speaker 2: Moving to Oregon, we find the heartbreaking case of Chiron Horman.

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Speaker 1: Vanished from Skyline Elementary School in Portland June fourth, twenty ten.

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He was seven years old.

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Speaker 2: He was at a science fair with his stepmother, Terry Horman.

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He was seen walking toward his classroom, but he never.

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Speaker 1: Arrived, and the search that followed was just unprecedented.

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Speaker 2: It was the largest criminal investigation in Oregon's history. It

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pulled in over a thousand volunteers multiple.

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Speaker 1: Agencies, and yet that massive search yielded virtually no physical

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evidence of where he went.

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Speaker 2: That lack of physical evidence despite all those resources is

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sort of a signature of these modern high profile disappearances.

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Suspicion almost immediately focused on Terry Horman. Why her specifically,

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there were inconsistencies in her narrative, her subsequent polygraphic exams,

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and just her community cation with investigators. But she has

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never been charged with a crime.

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Speaker 1: So the legal scrutiny on her, combined with the devastating

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lack of a body, has created a perpetual state of

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limbo for the whole family.

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Speaker 2: It has and the persistence of his mother, Cain Horman,

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is really what keeps this case alive.

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Speaker 1: It goes back every year, every.

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Speaker 2: Year she visits the Portland area, maintains pressure, works with

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law enforcement. She ensures this case does not become a

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forgotten piece of history. And the sources really highlight that

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the emotional cost of that constant, active fight is immense

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but necessary.

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Speaker 1: Finally, in this section, let's look at two cases where

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the American wilderness itself seems to be the confounding factor.

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We can start with the Bennington Triangle in Vermont.

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Speaker 2: Right This remote area saw this cluster of bizarre disappearances

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in the nineteen forties and fifties.

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Speaker 1: The most cited victim is Paula Jean Weldon, a nineteen

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year old Bennington College student who vanished while hiking the

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Long Trail on December first, nineteen forty six.

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Speaker 2: A routine hike. She told her roommate she was just

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going for a short walk and never came back.

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Speaker 1: And this wasn't an isolated incident. That's what created the

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lore of the Bennington Triangle.

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Speaker 2: Exactly. At least four other people disappeared in that same

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specific area between nineteen forty five and nineteen fifty. But

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the strangest case might be James Tedford, a veteran who

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vanished from a public.

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Speaker 1: Bus from a moving bus, from a.

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Speaker 2: Moving bus in nineteen forty nine. He's running a bus

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is on the highway near the Bennington area. Witnesses confirmed

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seeing him asleep on the bus at the very last

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stop before Bennington.

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Speaker 1: And when the driver reached the town.

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Speaker 2: Tedford's belongings were still on his seat, but he was

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gone and the bus was moving the entire time, no

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one saw him leave.

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Speaker 1: It's that total lack of a rational explanation for Tedford's

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vanishing that just cements the Bennington mystery. A disappearance from

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inside a moving, contained vehicle.

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Speaker 2: You can trast that with the silence of the wyoming wilderness.

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In the case of Amy roebecktil in nineteen ninety seven.

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Speaker 1: A record breaking distance runner, an aspiring Olympian, vanished while

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mapping a ten k race route near her home and Lander.

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Speaker 2: And the puzzle here is her vehicle. Her unlocked white

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Toyota Turcell was found abandoned along Loop Road in.

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Speaker 1: The wind River Range, no sign of a struggle, nothing, And.

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Speaker 2: For a dedicated athlete like her, who likely ran long

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distances daily, there were so many possibilities.

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Speaker 1: The context here is what matters so much. Lander is

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a small, closely knit community, very low crime rate.

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Speaker 2: So for a high profile, dedicated runner to vanish without

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leaving a single trace, no footprints leading off the road,

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no clothing, no sign of a struggle, it left investigators

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with nothing, just the empty landscape. It's one of those

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cases where a person vanishes not into the chaos of

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a city, but into the baffling silence of the frontier.

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Speaker 1: So we're transitioning now from the emptiness of absence to

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the fullness of a really frightening presence. When the facts

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fail us, we often feel that vacuum with legends.

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Speaker 2: And we have to begin with perhaps the most famous

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harbinger of calamity, the Mothman of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

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Speaker 1: Frame is so intensely focused here.

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Speaker 2: It is November nineteen sixty six to December nineteen sixty seven.

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Over that single year, residents of Point Pleasant reported sightings

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of a large, bizarre, winged humanoid.

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Speaker 1: The descriptions were consistent, right, a six foot wingspan, moving

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extremely fast.

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Speaker 2: And possessing large, glowing red eyes.

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Speaker 1: The specific origin point for these sightings is fascinating too.

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It was near the old TNT.

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Speaker 2: Plant, right, a decommissioned industrial site that already lends this eerie,

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abandoned quality to the landscape. Two couples first reported the creature,

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and they explicitly said it was fast enough to keep

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up with their fifty seven Chevy.

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Speaker 1: Which would have been moving at a pretty significant highway speed.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, But what transforms Mothman from just another cryptid

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sighting into a foundational American legend is the tragedy.

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Speaker 1: That followed the sightings just stopped.

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Speaker 2: They ceased abruptly when the Silver Bridge collapsed in December

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nineteen sixty seven, killing forty six people. The official cause

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of failure was a microscopic crack and a single fractured eyebar.

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Speaker 1: But for the locals, the narrative solidified instantly. Mothman wasn't

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the cause of the disaster.

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Speaker 2: He was an omen a, premonition, or a supernatural warning

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that they failed to heed.

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Speaker 1: And the sources show that while scientists often dismissed these accounts,

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you know, saying it's a misidentified barn owl or a

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large crane, which.

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Speaker 2: Is hardly satisfying when witnesses are describing as six foot

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vertical man.

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Speaker 1: Right, The story persists because it offers a narrative explanation

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for an otherwise inexplicable tragedy. It fills that cultural void

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created by the bridge failure.

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Speaker 2: And now it's a permanent fixture. It spawned festivals, books,

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and that giant metallic statue you can visit today.

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Speaker 1: From a flying harbinger to a reptilian icon, the lizard

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man of scape or swamp in South Carolina, this is.

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Speaker 2: A purely modern mythology, but it's embraced with just as

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much fervor.

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Speaker 1: This phenomenon just exploded in the summer of nineteen eighty

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eight near Bishopville, South Carolina.

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Speaker 2: The main witness was a seventeen year old Christopher Davis.

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He claimed he was driving at two am that classic

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horror movie timing when his tire blew.

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Speaker 1: Out, and the encounter he described as just chilling.

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Speaker 2: A seven foot, powerfully built, red eyed reptilian preacher allegedly

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lunged at his car, and crucially, he reported that it

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left deep claw marks in the metal of the vehicle.

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Speaker 1: Which suggests immense physical strength, and it provided this tiny

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piece of physical evidence.

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Speaker 2: The media frenzy was instantaneous. Other sightings followed. Reports of

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strange animal attacks compounded the.

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Speaker 1: Fear, and the sheriff's deputies even photographed large three toed

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footprints and yes, damaged cars.

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Speaker 2: Right though verifiable evidence was never found. The local response

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is the real takeaway here.

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Speaker 1: They didn't run from the story at all.

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Speaker 2: They embraced it absolutely. The lizard Man is now the

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icon of Lee County. Our sources highlight this local pride.

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It's a powerful example of a community adopting a cryptid

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as its cultural brand, turning local fear into tourism and identity.

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Speaker 1: Smack in the middle of these sightings is the Beast

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of Bray Road in Walworth County, Wisconsin. This was mostly

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in the nineteen eighties and nineties.

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Speaker 2: Witnesses there described a all hairy, distinctly wolf like creature,

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but one that's sometimes walked upright, making it humanoid, and

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sometimes on all fours.

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Speaker 1: And it was always characterized by glowing eyes and this

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palpable menacing presence.

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Speaker 2: The specific anecdotes are really vivid. There are claims of

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the creature stalking through corn fields, jumping onto the roofs

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of cars, leaving scratch.

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Speaker 1: Marks much like the lizard Man.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and one specific report described the creature simply trucking

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down the road toward a surprise driver.

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Speaker 1: It's this tension between total skepticism, you know, misidentified animals

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or just hoaxes, and the enduring culp following that really

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fuels cryptid culture.

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Speaker 2: The sheer consistency of that wolf humanoid description across different

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witnesses over decades and sure as it remains a significant

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and unresolved piece of American folklore.

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Speaker 1: Okay, shifting from cryptids to the distinctly historical and supernatural,

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we have to talk about the legendary Bell Witch of Tennessee.

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Speaker 2: This is a deep historical case. It's centered on the

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Bell family of Adams, Tennessee. Between eighteen seventeen and eighteen

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twenty one, the farmer John Bell and specifically his daughter Betsy,

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claimed they were relentlessly tormented by a violent and intelligent.

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Speaker 1: Spirit and the activity was far from subtle.

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Speaker 2: Not at all. It included disembodied voices that allegedly spoke eloquently,

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moved objects, pulled hair, and delivered physical strikes to family members,

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especially Betsy.

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Speaker 1: And what's crucial here is that the entire community of

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Adams allegedly witnessed these strange events. It lends it a

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credibility beyond just a single family's paranoia.

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Speaker 2: The entity even provided multiple identities for itself, claimed to

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be the spirit an Indian or a woman named Kate,

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and it famously stated its sole purpose was to torment

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John Bell until his death.

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Speaker 1: And the terror culminated in John Bell's mysterious death.

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Speaker 2: In eighteen twenty which the spirit was later blamed for

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allegedly placing him with some dark unidentified liquid.

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Speaker 1: The legend ballooned so large that it even drew the

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interest of national figures, famously Andrew Jackson.

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Speaker 2: Yes, The story persists that Andrew jacks And visited the

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Bell Home with his entourage to verify the phenomenon. According

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to the legend, Jackson was either frightened away or was

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prevented by the entity from even entering the house.

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Speaker 1: Leading him to declare, I would rather face the whole

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British Army than face the bell Witch right now.

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Speaker 2: While historians haven't found documentary proof of this visit, the

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fact that the legend incorporated such a historical heavyweight just

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shows how profound the impact was. It refuses to become

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mere history.

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Speaker 1: And people say the haunting continues even today.

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Speaker 2: According to local reports, Yes, visitors and staff at the

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bell Witch Cave and the Farm Gift Shop have reported

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tapping footsteps when no one is there and books scattered

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across the floor. It's a mystery that is actively maintained

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by current activity.

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Speaker 1: Our final enigma in this section is architectural. It's one

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that challenges the entire timeline of American discovery.

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Speaker 2: The origins of the Newport Tower in Rhode.

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Speaker 1: Island it's the oldest building in Rhode Island, a circular

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stone structure masonry fieldstone with eight arches. His style is

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just highly unusual.

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Speaker 2: Especially given the traditional early colonial architecture in the state

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was uniformly wood and rectangular.

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Speaker 1: So the conventional accepted view is that it was just

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the seventeenth century windmill.

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Speaker 2: Credited to Governor Bennedict Arnold, who referenced as Stone Windmill

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in his sixteen seventy seven will, But.

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Speaker 1: The structure's design has long fueled these alternative pre Columbian theories.

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Speaker 2: Theories that claimed the tower was built by everyone from

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Norse explorers and knights templar to Chinese sailors, suggesting contact

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with the Americas long before Columbus or the English.

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Speaker 1: And this is where we move beyond just historical speculation

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into forensic architecture. The astronomical angle.

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Speaker 2: The late nineteen nineties brought intense analysis focusing on the

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tower's potential function as an astronomical time piece a horologium,

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meaning through the precise placement of windows, arches, and alignment points.

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It's been suggested the structure tracks the North Star, the solstices,

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and the equinoxes.

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Speaker 1: And crucially, it seems to track the eighteen point six

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to six year lunar minor cycle. Now, for a listener

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who isn't steeped in astronomy, what exactly is the significance

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of that number? Why it is tracking it? Suggest advanced knowledge?

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Speaker 2: Well, the eighteen point sixty six year lunar minor cycle

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is the time it takes for the Moon's orbital plane

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to complete one full procession, basically the Moon's wobble. Okay,

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this knowledge was essential for highly accurate navigation and for

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calindrical observation. If this tower truly tracks this complex cycle,

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it means the builders had an astronomical sophistication far beyond

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what Governor Arnold would have needed to build a simple

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flour mill.

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Speaker 1: It forces us to ask, if it was a windmill,

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why was it also a highly precise astronomical calendar.

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Speaker 2: Exactly so the structure itself just stands there as this

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silent challenge to American historical certainty, forcing us to continuously

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question who built what and when.

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Speaker 1: We turn now to cases of violent crime, where definitive

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justice remains elusive despite decades of investigation. These are the

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00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:01,440
darkest thread in the American narrative.

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Speaker 2: And we start in New Mexico with the terrifying Ols

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Cruse's Bowling Alley massacre.

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Speaker 1: This happened on the morning of February tenth, nineteen ninety

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two armed men entered the Lost Crucis Bowl as the

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staff were preparing to open.

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Speaker 2: They gathered seven people, three adults and four children and

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forced them into an.

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Speaker 1: Office, and the crime was marked by this extreme brutality,

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but for minimal gain.

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Speaker 2: Right they stole a relatively small amount of cash, somewhere

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between four and five thousand dollars, and then they proceeded

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to shoot all seven victims execution style, point blank range,

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before setting papers on fire to try and destroy evidence.

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Speaker 1: Five people ultimately died from their injuries, including all three children.

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Speaker 2: And tragically, the manager, Stephanie Sanak. She survived initially, but

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died nine years later in nineteen ninety nine from complications

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related to the gunshot wounds she sustained.

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Speaker 1: And despite composite sketches from survivor testimony, including from Senak's

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own daughter, the gunmen have never been identified.

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Speaker 2: The lack of a clear high value motive and just

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the sheer violence of it just a level of depravity

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that has consistently baffled investigators. The case remains open. It's

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an active wound in that community with a standing twenty

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five thousand dollars reward.

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Speaker 1: And the sources emphasized that the low monetary gain compared

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to the high human cost is what makes the crime

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so confounding it does.

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Speaker 2: Now, moving to Texas, we had the legendary and fear

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inducing texor Cana moonlight murders committed by the unidentified phantom

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killer in nineteen forty six.

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Speaker 1: This spreed terrorized the twin cities of Texarkana in the

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spring of forty six. The killer stalked young couples parked

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on remote roads the lover's lanes.

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Speaker 2: And over just ten weeks, the phantom murdered five people

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and severely wounded three others.

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Speaker 1: The specific mo is so unnerving. Survivors described him wearing

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a white sack with eye holes cut out, attacking mostly

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with a point three to two caliber pistol.

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Speaker 2: The fear in that town was paralyzing.

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Speaker 1: I can't even imagine.

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Speaker 2: The sources describe a palpable shift in the city's atmosphere.

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Curfews were imposed. Police advise families to put chair in

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front of their doors. The entire town went dark after sundown, and.

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Speaker 1: It drew national attention.

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Speaker 2: Front page coverage in Life magazine. It brought in hordes

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of Texas rangers and state police, and yet the perpetrator vanished.

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Speaker 1: There was a primary suspect, right, a man named Eule Swinney, Yes.

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Speaker 2: A known car thief. He was widely suspected, but the

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issue was he was already imprisoned for auto theft, which

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complicated the.

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Speaker 1: Timeline, so they could never definitively link him.

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Speaker 2: Police had strong circumstantial suspicion, but they could never conclusively

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link him to the murder weapons or provide definitive physical evidence,

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and that ambiguity allowed the mystery to endure, fueling speculation

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that the real killer was never even targeted.

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Speaker 1: And the case has an incredibly chilling PostScript.

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Speaker 2: The anonymous phone calls.

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Speaker 1: Tell us about those.

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Speaker 2: Years after the spree, relatives of the victims reportedly received

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anonymous phone calls from a middle aged woman apologizing for

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what her father had done.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: It suggests that the not knowledge of the phantom's true

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identity may be hidden actively protected within a family unit

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to this day.

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Speaker 1: Now, let's consider another series of unsolved Lover's Lane attacks.

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The Colonial Parkway murders in Virginia.

472
00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:15,039
Speaker 2: Between nineteen eighty six and nineteen eighty nine, at least

473
00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,359
eight people, four young couples, were murdered along or near

474
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,400
Virginia's scenic Colonial Parkway, a route connecting historical sites like.

475
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:25,599
Speaker 1: Jamestown, and the physical scene was confounding. Victims were found

476
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,680
in or near their cars, often showing signs of restraint,

477
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:29,640
but there was.

478
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:33,440
Speaker 2: Little evidence of robbery or sexual assault. This suggests a

479
00:23:33,519 --> 00:23:38,240
highly specific, maybe even ritualistic, motive that prioritized control and

480
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:40,319
murder over other criminal aims.

481
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:41,519
Speaker 1: So what were the theories?

482
00:23:41,839 --> 00:23:44,920
Speaker 2: Initial theories focused on a single serial killer, but the

483
00:23:45,039 --> 00:23:48,319
variation in the crime scenes later led some investigators to

484
00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:50,519
suggest multiple offenders.

485
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:51,599
Speaker 1: Or, most chillingly, a.

486
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,359
Speaker 2: Rogue law enforcement impersonator, someone who could use the isolation

487
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,920
of the parkway and the illusion of authority to lure victims.

488
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 1: But the families received measure of peace just recently in

489
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:05,200
early twenty twenty four, which is extremely rare for a

490
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:05,720
case this.

491
00:24:05,759 --> 00:24:09,279
Speaker 2: Cold, Virginia State Police identified a man named Alan Wilmer

492
00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,559
Senior as a suspect in two related cases within the

493
00:24:12,599 --> 00:24:13,359
Broader series.

494
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:15,319
Speaker 1: Thanks to forensic advancement.

495
00:24:15,039 --> 00:24:18,960
Speaker 2: Exactly, specifically the deaths of Lori em Powell, Anna Maria Phelps,

496
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,559
Robin Edwards, and David Nobling.

497
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,160
Speaker 1: But this is where the nuance of justice comes in.

498
00:24:23,279 --> 00:24:27,359
Does that identification mean the entire Colonial Parkway series is solved?

499
00:24:27,759 --> 00:24:31,559
Speaker 2: No, and that's the key point. The broader series, encompassing

500
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:36,480
all eight victims, officially remains unsolved. So while Wilmer Senior's

501
00:24:36,519 --> 00:24:40,640
identification provides answers and accountability for some families, others are

502
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:44,480
still waiting. It just illustrates the fragmented nature of resolution

503
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:46,200
in these serial cold cases.

504
00:24:46,519 --> 00:24:49,480
Speaker 1: Moving to Oklahoma, we have to examine the tragic and

505
00:24:49,559 --> 00:24:52,519
legally complicated Girl Scout murders from Camp Scott in nineteen

506
00:24:52,559 --> 00:24:53,200
seventy seven.

507
00:24:53,319 --> 00:24:56,880
Speaker 2: On June thirteenth, nineteen seventy seven, the bodies of Lorii Farmer,

508
00:24:57,039 --> 00:24:59,839
Denise Milner, and Michelle Goose were found on a trail

509
00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:01,640
to just one hundred and fifty yards from their tent.

510
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:02,880
They had been assaulted and.

511
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:05,680
Speaker 1: Murdered, and crucially, evidence including blood was found on the

512
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,599
mattresses and floor inside the tent.

513
00:25:07,519 --> 00:25:10,359
Speaker 2: Right suggesting Laurie and Michelle were killed there before their

514
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:11,160
bodies were moved.

515
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,559
Speaker 1: The immediate focus fell on Jean Loihart, a convicted sex

516
00:25:14,559 --> 00:25:17,440
offender who had escaped prison four years prior. He was

517
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:18,400
the prime suspect.

518
00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 2: He was captured after an intense manhunt and brought to

519
00:25:21,279 --> 00:25:24,720
trial in nineteen seventy nine, but despite the circumstantial evidence

520
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:26,880
in his background, he was equated.

521
00:25:26,599 --> 00:25:29,200
Speaker 1: A massive blow to the investigation and the community.

522
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,079
Speaker 2: Huge and he died in custody just months later from

523
00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:32,720
a heart attack.

524
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,559
Speaker 1: But the narrative shifted dramatically decades later with modern technology.

525
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:41,759
Speaker 2: In twenty seventeen, DNA retesting strongly suggested Heart's involvement. They

526
00:25:41,759 --> 00:25:44,559
compared DNA found at the scene with his profile and

527
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:46,599
found a very high likelihood of a match.

528
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,680
Speaker 1: So if the sources clearly suggest Heart's involvement through modern DNA,

529
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,119
why does the OSBI refuse to officially close the case?

530
00:25:54,279 --> 00:25:55,519
What's the legal barrier?

531
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:58,759
Speaker 2: Well, the legal barrier is that the DNA, while compelling,

532
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,079
doesn't meet the next series standard for conclusive legal result

533
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:05,880
that overturns a prior acquittal, Especially since the subject.

534
00:26:05,519 --> 00:26:08,519
Speaker 1: Is deceased and the DNA was degraded exactly, it.

535
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 2: Was insufficient to eliminate all other possibilities definitively. Therefore, the

536
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:16,759
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation officially considers the case unsolved,

537
00:26:17,079 --> 00:26:19,920
even though they professionally believe Hard committed the murders. It

538
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:22,920
really tells you a lot about the limitations of retroactive

539
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,319
DNA analysis against the rights and realities of the legal system.

540
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,440
Speaker 1: We turned now to a case that was finally given

541
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,119
a name after nearly seven decades of being known only

542
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:32,680
as the Boy in the Box.

543
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,960
Speaker 2: Pennsylvania, February nineteen fifty seven, the body of a young

544
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,720
boy is found wrapped in a blanket inside a cardboard

545
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,200
box in Philadelphia's Fox Chase neighborhood. He had died from

546
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:44,400
blunt force trauma.

547
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:47,759
Speaker 1: And investigators chased thousands of dead ends for decades. He

548
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,359
remained unidentified for sixty five years.

549
00:26:50,519 --> 00:26:54,079
Speaker 2: The breakthrough came through the relentless advance of forensic genealogy,

550
00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:57,599
which is just rapidly redefining cold case investigation.

551
00:26:57,839 --> 00:27:01,319
Speaker 1: DNA was collected back in ninety eight but yielded no match.

552
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,599
Speaker 2: In twenty nineteen, new samples were extracted and run through

553
00:27:04,599 --> 00:27:08,920
these forensic genealogy databases, and this painstaking process allowed detectives

554
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,200
to build a family tree that eventually led to a

555
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,640
relative and finally to his birth parents.

556
00:27:13,799 --> 00:27:16,680
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two, he was formally identified as Joseph

557
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,160
Augustus Soirelli, born in nineteen fifty three.

558
00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,640
Speaker 2: Restoring his identity was a huge moment, a measure of

559
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,079
dignity restored to a child forgotten by history.

560
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,160
Speaker 1: But the profound sadness remains because while his name was restored,

561
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,119
the perpetrator has not been publicly identified or charged.

562
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:35,680
Speaker 2: And that's the lingering tragedy. We know who Joseph was,

563
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:38,880
we know his parents, but the exact context of his

564
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,359
death and the identity of the person who inflicted that

565
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:45,480
fatal blunt force trauma are still hidden. The identity was taken,

566
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,400
and now even with the name back, the truth of

567
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:50,119
his final moments is still elusive.

568
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,759
Speaker 1: Let's examine the perplexing case of Stephen Hataja, a math

569
00:27:53,799 --> 00:27:57,240
professor in Nebraska whose death remains officially undetermined.

570
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:01,119
Speaker 2: Steven Nataja was a Chadrin Skate college man professor who

571
00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:04,440
vanished from that small Nebraska college town in December two

572
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,039
thousand and six. He was known as kind and quiet,

573
00:28:07,319 --> 00:28:11,440
but he was privately struggling with significant personal and professional pressures, and.

574
00:28:11,319 --> 00:28:13,680
Speaker 1: The discovery of months later in a ravine south of

575
00:28:13,759 --> 00:28:18,720
campus was gruesome and baffling. Searchers found his burned remains.

576
00:28:18,839 --> 00:28:21,359
Speaker 2: The cause of death was ruled as smoke inhalation combined

577
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,759
with thermal injuries, meaning he tragically burned to death. But

578
00:28:24,839 --> 00:28:28,680
the bizarre aspect that fundamentally confused investigators were the bindings.

579
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,480
Bindings he had wrappings around his ankles and torso connecting

580
00:28:32,519 --> 00:28:33,680
him to a nearby tree.

581
00:28:33,839 --> 00:28:37,279
Speaker 1: The scene itself presents a stark conflict. The burning and

582
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:42,160
his internal struggles could suggest a severe, tragic self harm incident, but.

583
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:47,319
Speaker 2: The bindings scream of external foul play of someone ensuring

584
00:28:47,359 --> 00:28:48,480
he couldn't escape the.

585
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: Fire, and that combination is precisely why the official manner

586
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:56,039
of death was left as undetermined. The binding suggested the

587
00:28:56,079 --> 00:28:59,880
crime was intensely personal, likely not a random stranger attack,

588
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,200
but the evidence wasn't strong enough to exclude the possibility

589
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,079
of a stage scene or an assisted suicide, complicated by

590
00:29:07,079 --> 00:29:10,200
the remote location and the physical destruction caused by the fire.

591
00:29:10,519 --> 00:29:13,839
Speaker 2: The complexity of this case, illustrating the limits of forensics

592
00:29:13,839 --> 00:29:18,079
when motive is ambiguous, actually inspired Poe Balantine's memoir Love

593
00:29:18,119 --> 00:29:20,079
and Terror on the howling planes of Nowhere.

594
00:29:20,319 --> 00:29:23,400
Speaker 1: Finally we turned to two quiet tragedies in the Dakotas,

595
00:29:23,799 --> 00:29:27,480
starting with fifteen year old Barbara Barb Cotton in North Dakota.

596
00:29:27,559 --> 00:29:30,839
Speaker 2: Barb Cotton vadished on April eleventh, nineteen eighty one, during

597
00:29:30,839 --> 00:29:33,400
the short walk home in Williston after having dinner with friends,

598
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,359
and the tragedy here is really rooted in the initial

599
00:29:36,359 --> 00:29:37,359
investigative error.

600
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,519
Speaker 1: The case was initially classified as a possible runaway scenario

601
00:29:40,559 --> 00:29:41,839
for a long time, for.

602
00:29:41,799 --> 00:29:44,279
Speaker 2: Far too long before it was correctly labeled as a

603
00:29:44,319 --> 00:29:47,920
missing person case. Precious time and resources were lost in

604
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:49,559
those critical early hours.

605
00:29:49,319 --> 00:29:52,359
Speaker 1: And days, and the consequence of that early misclassification is

606
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:54,240
the family's decades of agony.

607
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:58,799
Speaker 2: Our sources detail that persistent, painful hope, the daily rituals

608
00:29:58,799 --> 00:30:01,200
of thinking they see her in a store or answering

609
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:04,160
the phone expecting it to be heard. More than forty

610
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,720
years later, it remains one of North Dakota's oldest active cases,

611
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,720
defined by the failure of early investigative protocol.

612
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:14,359
Speaker 1: And in South Dakota, the deaths of Arnold Archimbau and

613
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:18,200
Ruby Bruges offer a paradox of the missing body and

614
00:30:18,279 --> 00:30:19,119
the failed search.

615
00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:22,839
Speaker 2: In December nineteen ninety two, the couple members of the

616
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:26,440
Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation, crouched their car near Lake Andy's.

617
00:30:27,039 --> 00:30:30,200
When responders arrived, only their cousin, Tracy Dan was left

618
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:34,319
at the scene, disoriented but alive. Arnold and Ruby were gone.

619
00:30:34,559 --> 00:30:37,119
Speaker 1: The mine bending twist is that three months later, their

620
00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:40,799
partially decomposed bodies were found in the exact same roadside

621
00:30:40,839 --> 00:30:42,160
ditch within.

622
00:30:42,039 --> 00:30:44,799
Speaker 2: Yards of the crash site, despite earlier searches coming up

623
00:30:44,839 --> 00:30:45,640
completely empty.

624
00:30:45,839 --> 00:30:49,599
Speaker 1: The coroner determined hypothermia due to exposure, but the manner

625
00:30:49,599 --> 00:30:52,039
of death was officially undetermined.

626
00:30:51,559 --> 00:30:55,359
Speaker 2: Because investigators couldn't explain the paradox how did two bodies

627
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:57,559
end up back at the scene and how were they

628
00:30:57,559 --> 00:31:02,079
missed in the first place? In consistency deeply fueled suspicions

629
00:31:02,079 --> 00:31:05,680
of foul play and raised serious questions about the diligence

630
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:07,039
of the initial surch of that ditch.

631
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,039
Speaker 1: We're going to delve now into mysteries driven not by

632
00:31:10,119 --> 00:31:14,759
nature or personal tragedy, but by institutional secrecy and modern threats.

633
00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:17,759
And we have to begin with the absolute gold standard

634
00:31:17,759 --> 00:31:20,640
of conspiracy. Area fifty one in Nevada.

635
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,519
Speaker 2: Area fifty one is a US Air Force testing ground

636
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,599
hidden deep in the Nevada Desert. For decades, the US

637
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:29,160
government officially denied its existence.

638
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 1: Which created the perfect environment for the growth of myth

639
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:32,519
in conspiracy.

640
00:31:32,599 --> 00:31:36,039
Speaker 2: Absolutely, the official denial served a very real purpose during

641
00:31:36,039 --> 00:31:39,319
the Cold War. It is where they tested advanced clandestine

642
00:31:39,319 --> 00:31:42,559
aircraft like the U two spyplane and A twelve oxcard.

643
00:31:42,599 --> 00:31:45,960
Speaker 1: The CIA finally acknowledged its existence in twenty thirteen through

644
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:47,519
a Freedom of Information.

645
00:31:47,119 --> 00:31:50,599
Speaker 2: Act Release Right, confirming its existence in detailing those Cold

646
00:31:50,599 --> 00:31:54,160
War test programs. But by twenty thirteen the truth was

647
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:55,200
almost irrelevant.

648
00:31:55,519 --> 00:31:59,240
Speaker 1: Decades of ironclad denial had already allowed the public imagination

649
00:31:59,359 --> 00:32:03,720
to fill that with aliens, flying saucers reverse engineered technology.

650
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,440
Speaker 2: The myth had become far more potent than the reality.

651
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,039
Speaker 1: So what made Area fifty one the epicenter of extraterrestrial

652
00:32:10,079 --> 00:32:12,680
speculation distinct from other secret bases.

653
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,640
Speaker 2: It was a perfect storm of elements. The remote location,

654
00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:20,640
the massive visible security perimeter, and the enticing specific.

655
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,359
Speaker 1: Rumors, specifically figures like Bob Blazar exactly.

656
00:32:23,599 --> 00:32:25,559
Speaker 2: He claimed in the late nineteen eighties to have worked

657
00:32:25,559 --> 00:32:28,480
on alien technology, reverse engineered at a site called S

658
00:32:28,559 --> 00:32:30,599
four just south of Very fifty one, and.

659
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:35,039
Speaker 1: Lazar's detailed, though unverified testimony created a foundational narrative for

660
00:32:35,119 --> 00:32:38,599
the alien theory that the government's twenty thirteen partial admission

661
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,559
oh it was just spyplanes could never fully erase, not

662
00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:42,039
at all.

663
00:32:42,519 --> 00:32:46,319
Speaker 2: The combination of official silence and persistent specific rumors about

664
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,799
unmarked planes flying workers in and out daily transformed it.

665
00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:53,279
Area fifty one remains the gold standard for mystery and

666
00:32:53,359 --> 00:32:56,759
myth because the government's attempt to control the narrative ultimately

667
00:32:56,799 --> 00:32:58,640
amplify the speculation.

668
00:32:58,319 --> 00:33:01,799
Speaker 1: From government secrecy to the most audacious unsolved caper in

669
00:33:01,839 --> 00:33:05,920
American history, the disappearance of D. B. Cooper in Washington State.

670
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:10,400
Speaker 2: On Thanksgiving Eve, November twenty fourth, nineteen seventy one, a

671
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:14,039
man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked Northwest Orient flight three

672
00:33:14,119 --> 00:33:15,880
oh five, claiming to have a bond.

673
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,119
Speaker 1: He successfully extorted two hundred thousand dollars in ransom and

674
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:22,640
four parachutes, released the passengers in Seattle, and then, after

675
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,039
ordering the plane to fly toward Mexico, he made his

676
00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:26,319
unprecedented escape.

677
00:33:26,359 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 2: He parachuted from the rear stairs of the Boeing seven

678
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:31,720
to twenty seven, known as the airstair into stormy skies

679
00:33:31,759 --> 00:33:33,079
over southwest Washington.

680
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,920
Speaker 1: This sheer boldness of the act, leaping from ten thousand

681
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,880
feet going two hundred miles per hour in freezing rain,

682
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:40,119
it's astounding.

683
00:33:40,319 --> 00:33:43,599
Speaker 2: The FBI mounted an extensive, years long hunt, but neither

684
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:46,359
Cooper nor definitive evidence of his fate, whether he even

685
00:33:46,359 --> 00:33:49,000
survived the jump, has ever been found.

686
00:33:48,559 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 1: And the incident was so impactful it led the FAA

687
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,759
to mandate a simple, specific technological change on all subsequent

688
00:33:56,839 --> 00:33:58,279
seven to twenty sevens.

689
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:00,960
Speaker 2: The Cooper vane, the device that since the airstare from

690
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:02,599
being lowered while the plane is in flight.

691
00:34:02,839 --> 00:34:06,160
Speaker 1: There have been tantalizing clues though. A partial stash of

692
00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,320
the ransom money, identifiable by its serial numbers, was found

693
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,519
near Vancouver in nineteen eighty.

694
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,119
Speaker 2: By an eight year old boy named Brian.

695
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,639
Speaker 1: Ingram, and more recently there was the highly technical analysis

696
00:34:16,679 --> 00:34:19,719
of his clip on necktie which Cooper left on the plane.

697
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,039
Speaker 2: A trace of metal, an incredibly tiny fragment was pulled

698
00:34:23,039 --> 00:34:25,440
from it and analyzed by the dB Cooper Project.

699
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:26,920
Speaker 1: And what did that analysis reveal?

700
00:34:27,159 --> 00:34:30,199
Speaker 2: It showed it was composed of rare earth elements, titanium

701
00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:34,599
and other alloys, suggesting Cooper was likely an engineer, a manager,

702
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:35,079
or a.

703
00:34:35,039 --> 00:34:37,760
Speaker 1: Metal argist, someone working in the aerospace industry or maybe

704
00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:39,199
even the military exactly.

705
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:43,000
Speaker 2: These details narrow the field of potential suspects, yet they

706
00:34:43,039 --> 00:34:46,280
do not solve the caper, which remains in a perpetual stalemate.

707
00:34:46,599 --> 00:34:50,039
Speaker 1: Let's move to a profoundly modern form of psychological terror,

708
00:34:50,639 --> 00:34:52,519
the Watcher of Westfield in New Jersey.

709
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,280
Speaker 2: This is a scenario of total domestic nightmare. Derek and

710
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,400
Maria broad Us bought their dream home at six hundred

711
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:01,599
and fifty seven Boulevard in Westfield, New.

712
00:35:01,559 --> 00:35:03,880
Speaker 1: Jersey, but before they could even move in, they began

713
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:08,360
receiving these deeply disturbing anonymous letters signed the Watcher.

714
00:35:09,039 --> 00:35:13,159
Speaker 2: The notes were specific and terrifying. They described the couple's children,

715
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,639
the homes layout, and chillingly claimed the author's family had

716
00:35:16,679 --> 00:35:18,960
watched the house for generations.

717
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:21,559
Speaker 1: And the language was threatening, asking if the couple needed

718
00:35:21,599 --> 00:35:24,400
the young blood and referring to the home as a sanctuary.

719
00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:28,519
Speaker 2: The psychological toll was severe. The family became a depressed wreck.

720
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,800
They had to hire experts, including an FBI profiler and

721
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:36,159
private investigator. Police exhausted every local, led neighbors, postal records,

722
00:35:36,159 --> 00:35:38,760
handwriting analysis but came up empty.

723
00:35:38,519 --> 00:35:41,280
Speaker 1: And DNA testing on one envelope was inconclusive.

724
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:45,880
Speaker 2: Inconclusive. The tragic outcome really highlights the power of modern paranoia.

725
00:35:46,039 --> 00:35:48,480
The family never lived in the house. They eventually sold

726
00:35:48,519 --> 00:35:51,599
it in twenty nineteen at a staggering four hundred thousand

727
00:35:51,639 --> 00:35:52,280
dollars loss.

728
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:56,039
Speaker 1: Their lives entirely destroyed by an anonymous, unresolved threat.

729
00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:59,440
Speaker 2: It's a compelling look at how, even with all our technology,

730
00:36:00,039 --> 00:36:04,360
nanimity can be weaponized with devastating effect, transforming a suburban

731
00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:07,920
dream into a continuous financial and emotional nightmare.

732
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,880
Speaker 1: Finally, let's discuss the Circleville Letters in Ohio, a strange

733
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:13,880
case of a prisoner's pen that kept writing.

734
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:18,239
Speaker 2: Starting in nineteen seventy six, residents of Circleville, Ohio received

735
00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:23,559
these anonymous poison pen letters exposing alleged affairs and local corruption.

736
00:36:23,639 --> 00:36:27,280
Speaker 1: And the campaign turned sinister when Mary Gillespie's husband, Ron

737
00:36:27,559 --> 00:36:30,519
died in nineteen seventy seven in a suspicious car crash

738
00:36:30,559 --> 00:36:33,559
that was ruled an accident but was widely disputed by locals.

739
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:36,280
Speaker 2: The focus of suspicion eventually fell on a bus driver

740
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:39,159
named Paul fresh Hour, partly because the letters had accused

741
00:36:39,199 --> 00:36:40,239
his exister in law of.

742
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:43,039
Speaker 1: An affair, and fresh Hour was later convicted of attempted

743
00:36:43,079 --> 00:36:46,000
murder after a booby trapped gun linked to him was

744
00:36:46,039 --> 00:36:48,159
discovered in a mailbox belonging to the woman.

745
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,239
Speaker 2: However, the twist is what elevates this case to true

746
00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:55,039
enigma status. Even while fresh Hour was imprisoned, the anonymous

747
00:36:55,119 --> 00:36:55,840
letters kept.

748
00:36:55,679 --> 00:36:58,039
Speaker 1: Coming, postmarked from Circleville exactly.

749
00:36:58,119 --> 00:37:03,719
Speaker 2: It's genuinely unsettling. It raises three immediate critical possibilities. A

750
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,559
fresh Hour was innocent and the true author was still free.

751
00:37:07,079 --> 00:37:10,400
B he had a partner working outside who continued the campaign.

752
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:12,880
Or C a copycat took.

753
00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:16,880
Speaker 1: Over, and the mystery persisted for decades, long after fresh

754
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:20,639
Hour was released and maintained his innocence. The letters continued

755
00:37:20,679 --> 00:37:23,960
sporadically into the nineteen nineties, and then as.

756
00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:27,280
Speaker 2: Suddenly as they began, they stopped. It leaves this unsettling

757
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:30,639
PostScript on the town's history, permanently casting doubt on the

758
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:31,960
entire legal process.

759
00:37:32,079 --> 00:37:35,000
Speaker 1: We're dedicating this final analytical segment to a case that

760
00:37:35,079 --> 00:37:39,440
beautifully illustrates the nature of partial resolution. The bear Brook murders,

761
00:37:39,519 --> 00:37:41,960
also known as the Allenstown Four in New Hampshire.

762
00:37:42,159 --> 00:37:45,800
Speaker 2: This case saw forensic genealogy bring justice, but not necessarily

763
00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:46,639
a complete story.

764
00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:49,199
Speaker 1: The case began tragically in the mid nineteen eighties when

765
00:37:49,199 --> 00:37:51,760
a hunter in bear Brook State Park found a fifty

766
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:52,840
five gallon drum.

767
00:37:53,199 --> 00:37:55,320
Speaker 2: Inside were the remains of an adult woman and a

768
00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:58,719
young girl. Fifteen years later, in two thousand, a second

769
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:01,239
barrel was found nearby with two more children inside.

770
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,360
Speaker 1: For decades, the identities of all four victims and their

771
00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:08,039
killer were unknown. They were simply the Allenstown Four.

772
00:38:08,639 --> 00:38:11,920
Speaker 2: This case became a landmark example of how forensic genealogy

773
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:16,119
can crack the oldest, coldest cases when traditional methods fail.

774
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:18,880
The breakthrough came when the murders were tied to his

775
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,159
serial offender named Terry Peter Rasmussen.

776
00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:24,440
Speaker 1: Who used multiple aliases, including Bob Evans right.

777
00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,599
Speaker 2: Forensic genealogy helped trace his lineage and connect him to

778
00:38:27,599 --> 00:38:32,599
the victims. The identification process, though, was gradual. By twenty nineteen,

779
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:36,440
three victims have been identified, Marlsa Elizabeth Honeychurch and her

780
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:40,280
two daughters, Marie Elizabeth Vaughan and Sarah Lynn McWaters.

781
00:38:40,199 --> 00:38:43,199
Speaker 1: And remarkably, just in twenty twenty four, the final piece

782
00:38:43,199 --> 00:38:43,920
fell into place.

783
00:38:44,039 --> 00:38:46,800
Speaker 2: The fourth victim, one of the children, was identified as

784
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:50,960
Rasmussen's biological daughter. All the players had finally been named

785
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:51,639
and accounted for.

786
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:54,559
Speaker 1: But this is where the limit of closure becomes painfully clear.

787
00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:56,840
We have the who the killer and who the victims,

788
00:38:57,119 --> 00:38:58,480
but what remains unsolved.

789
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,000
Speaker 2: Questions still remain about the precise timeline and critically, the

790
00:39:02,039 --> 00:39:05,719
full motive for the killings. Terry Rasmussen is deceased, he

791
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:07,679
took the narrative context with him.

792
00:39:07,519 --> 00:39:09,719
Speaker 1: So we know he murdered them, but we don't know

793
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:13,599
the exact order of events, the specific catalyst for the violence,

794
00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:16,480
or the full extent of his movements and actions during

795
00:39:16,519 --> 00:39:17,079
that period.

796
00:39:17,199 --> 00:39:20,760
Speaker 2: It shows that forensic science can restore identity, but it

797
00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:24,639
can't always restore the story. The ultimate why the core

798
00:39:24,679 --> 00:39:28,400
of the motive often dies with the perpetrator. You know,

799
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:30,719
if we connect this to the bigger picture. The sheer

800
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:33,719
variety of these mysteries, from the political cover up of

801
00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,719
Judge Crater to the persistent regional myth of the Lizardman,

802
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:40,199
it all serves to illustrate the fundamental limits of human

803
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:41,280
knowledge and control.

804
00:39:41,599 --> 00:39:45,639
Speaker 1: These cases show how deeply certain traumas, both national and personal,

805
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:49,440
can etch themselves into the geography of America. Being well

806
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,480
informed means appreciating not just the facts of the crime,

807
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:56,639
but the folklore, the fear, and the tireless decades long

808
00:39:56,679 --> 00:39:58,320
pursuit of answers they inspire.

809
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:01,559
Speaker 2: And the true takeaway here, I think, is recognizing the

810
00:40:01,599 --> 00:40:04,719
pattern in how these cases endure. The deepest mysteries are

811
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:08,239
those where the information exists, the bodies, the letters, the

812
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:10,159
highly analyzed nicktie trace.

813
00:40:10,039 --> 00:40:12,639
Speaker 1: But the crucial integrating context is obscured.

814
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:16,719
Speaker 2: It's obscured, and that obscurity is caused either by human intention,

815
00:40:17,039 --> 00:40:19,639
like the government denial in Area fifty one or the

816
00:40:19,679 --> 00:40:21,440
cover up around Judge Crater, or.

817
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:24,039
Speaker 1: By the simple brutal passage of time, as we see

818
00:40:24,079 --> 00:40:27,719
with Roanoke, or the way the landscape seems to intentionally

819
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:30,800
erase figures like Patrician Mian and Amy roe Bechdel.

820
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:34,559
Speaker 2: That theme the unexplained human vanishing is perhaps the most visceral.

821
00:40:35,039 --> 00:40:38,280
The victim simply disappears into the landscape or the ether,

822
00:40:38,559 --> 00:40:41,519
leaving behind an empty car or an unclosed door, and

823
00:40:41,559 --> 00:40:43,239
an internal question mark.

824
00:40:43,119 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 1: We've really explored three distinct categories today, the unexplained human

825
00:40:47,079 --> 00:40:51,159
vanishing like Mion and Weldon, the documented historical conspiracy like

826
00:40:51,199 --> 00:40:55,000
Area fifty one or Crater, and the persistent regional legend

827
00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:58,000
like Mothman or the Belwitch, and each one refuses to

828
00:40:58,079 --> 00:40:59,599
let the American imagination rest.

829
00:40:59,639 --> 00:41:03,719
Speaker 2: For so, we ask you directly, which type of mystery,

830
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:07,079
the unexplained human vanishing, the documented historical conspiracy, or the

831
00:41:07,079 --> 00:41:10,880
persistent regional legend do you find the most profoundly unsettling?

832
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:13,840
And why do you think these specific stories refuse to

833
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:15,480
let the American imagination rest