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He-survived-a-DEATH-SENTENCE · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Divine intervention is when a deity, so god or a
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Speaker 1: god becomes actively involved in human affairs here on Earth. Now,
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Speaker 1: of course, we don't know if divine intervention is a
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Speaker 1: real thing, but today's story certainly offers compelling evidence that
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Speaker 1: it might be. But before we get into that story,
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Speaker 1: weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into today's story. Late on
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Speaker 1: the evening of November fifteenth, eighteen eighty four, a twenty
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Speaker 1: year old man named John Lee helped his sister Elizabeth
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Speaker 1: clear the dining room table in the English manner where
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Speaker 1: they both worked. John was a butler at this manner
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Speaker 1: and his sister Elizabeth was a cook. And the manor
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Speaker 1: itself had a name. It was called the Glen, and
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Speaker 1: it was this gorgeous property right on the beach in
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Speaker 1: the Seaside community in England. Now, years ago, the Glen
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Speaker 1: had been much more grand, and in fact the King
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Speaker 1: and Queen of England had at one point came to
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Speaker 1: stay at the Glenn. But recently the Glen and the
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Speaker 1: family who owned it had fallen on hard times. The
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Speaker 1: staff was down to a skeleton crew of just John,
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Speaker 1: his sister Elizabeth and two elderly maids, which meant virtually
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Speaker 1: all the physical labor at this property fell to John
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Speaker 1: to take care of. So on this John was lugging
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Speaker 1: a huge pile of heavy china in his arms to
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Speaker 1: bring out to the kitchen, and as he was doing this,
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Speaker 1: he was trying to talk to his sister, who was
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Speaker 1: also kind of helping clear the table, about an upcoming
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Speaker 1: dinner party they were going to host at the Glen
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Speaker 1: for some very important lawyers and politicians. But as John
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Speaker 1: tried to talk to Elizabeth, Elizabeth just wasn't really reacting.
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Speaker 1: She was kind of staring off into space. And you know,
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Speaker 1: she was only carrying one or maybe two plates off
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Speaker 1: the dining room table, while John is carrying like fifty.
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Speaker 1: And so John was becoming really annoyed with a sister.
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Speaker 1: I mean, she's not really helping and she's ignoring him.
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Speaker 1: And so John was about to complain to his sister
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Speaker 1: about her behavior when suddenly she turned around and she
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Speaker 1: apologized to him and said, you know what, I'm sorry,
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Speaker 1: I'm acting this way. I just don't feel very good
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Speaker 1: and I really think I should go lie down. Now.
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Speaker 1: John was about to be really annoyed at this, but
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Speaker 1: then he noticed his sister had her hands kind of
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Speaker 1: reflexively over her stomach, and John knew his sister was pregnant,
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Speaker 1: and so suddenly he felt like, okay, you know, the
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Speaker 1: reason she's acting this way must be because of her pregnancy,
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Speaker 1: and so he did not press the issue. Now you
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Speaker 1: need to understand that Elizabeth did not tell John that
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Speaker 1: she was pregnant, nor did she tell anybody else in
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Speaker 1: the house. Because the owners of the Glen were very
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Speaker 1: traditional and very religious, and they almost certainly would not
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Speaker 1: approve of Elizabeth's pregnancy because she wasn't married. At the time.
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Speaker 1: In England, it was not okay to have babies out
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Speaker 1: of wedlock. It was viewed as like this totally taboo
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Speaker 1: thing that you should never do. But despite Elizabeth's best
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Speaker 1: efforts to conceal her pregnancy, John and the other two
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Speaker 1: elderly maids very quickly realized what was going on because
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Speaker 1: every morning they would see Elizabeth and vomiting because of
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Speaker 1: morning sickness. And so when they approached her and said, hey,
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Speaker 1: you know, it looks like you're pregnant. You know what's
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Speaker 1: going on here, Elizabeth refused to talk about it. She
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Speaker 1: did not admit to being pregnant. She just kind of said,
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Speaker 1: leave me alone. I mean, John didn't even know who
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Speaker 1: the father was. Like, Elizabeth did not want to talk
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Speaker 1: to anyone about her pregnancy. But despite all that, John
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Speaker 1: and the other two maids really wanted to support Elizabeth
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Speaker 1: and help her get through his pregnancy without being found
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Speaker 1: out and potentially fired because of it. So when Elizabeth
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Speaker 1: said to John that she just wanted to go lie
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Speaker 1: down because she was feeling sick, he didn't press the issue,
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Speaker 1: and he just told her, you know what, I'm fine,
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Speaker 1: I'll finish up. You go lay down. I hope you
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Speaker 1: feel better. By eleven PM, John was nearly done with
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Speaker 1: all of his chores and he was getting ready for
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Speaker 1: bed when one of the elderly maids came into the
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Speaker 1: room and told John it was time for their nightly prayers.
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Speaker 1: And without any hesitation, John put down the silverware that
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Speaker 1: he was polishing and followed the maid into the living room,
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Speaker 1: where one of the owners of the glen was waiting
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Speaker 1: in her night clothes. The owner was a sixty eight
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Speaker 1: year old woman named Emma Case, and at night, she
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Speaker 1: really liked to lead a nightly prayer with her staff.
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Speaker 1: It was something she really enjoyed doing. Now, John was
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Speaker 1: not a very religious person, but he really cared about Emma,
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Speaker 1: and so he agreed to do these nightly prayers really
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Speaker 1: just to make her happy. I mean, after all, Emma
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Speaker 1: had basically saved him on multiple occasions. John had begun
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Speaker 1: working for Emma six years earlier, when he was just
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Speaker 1: fourteen years old. And John, he was kind of like
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Speaker 1: a rough kid and a troublemaker. But Emma, she just
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Speaker 1: had a soft spot for him, and at some point,
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Speaker 1: when John admitted to Emma that he was really interested
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Speaker 1: in traveling the world, someday, Emma would help him get
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Speaker 1: into the British Royal Navy, and for two years, John
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Speaker 1: very happily served in the military and did get to
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Speaker 1: see the world. But at the two year mark, John
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Speaker 1: came down with this terrible case of pneumonia and it
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Speaker 1: forced him to leave the military early. And so when
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Speaker 1: John was medically discharged, he came back home and he
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Speaker 1: had no idea what he was going to do. I mean,
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Speaker 1: he anticipated staying in the Navy for some time, not
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Speaker 1: just two years. But luckily Emma stepped in again and
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Speaker 1: she gave this glowing recommendation of John to one of
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Speaker 1: her very wealthy friends, basically saying, hey, you should hire John.
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Speaker 1: And this wealthy friend of Emma's agreed and hired John,
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Speaker 1: and John was so happy, so relieved. I mean, Emma
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Speaker 1: has totally picked him up again. But after getting hired,
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Speaker 1: John would make a totally stupid mistake. He would steal
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Speaker 1: this really expensive place from this wealthy friend and he
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Speaker 1: would get caught. And this wealthy friend, they didn't just
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Speaker 1: scold John and make him give the plate back. They
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Speaker 1: got the police involved, and ultimately John would be sent
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Speaker 1: to prison for six months for the theft. And when
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Speaker 1: John got out again, he was certain nobody was going
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Speaker 1: to hire him. I mean, he just went to jail
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Speaker 1: for stealing. But that was when Emma, for a third time,
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Speaker 1: stepped in and helped John again. Emma was a big
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Speaker 1: believer in forgiving people and giving them additional chances when
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Speaker 1: they screwed up, and so she said to John, you
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Speaker 1: know what, I understand, you made a mistake. Why don't
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Speaker 1: you come back to the Glen and work for me.
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Speaker 1: You can be our butler. John couldn't believe it. I mean,
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Speaker 1: he knew he did not deserve this chance, especially from
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Speaker 1: Emma who's now been done wrong by him multiple times.
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Speaker 1: But you know, he was so grateful, and he said
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Speaker 1: to Emma, you know, I'll take this, of course, and
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Speaker 1: I will do anything you want. You know, no matter what,
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Speaker 1: I will do the best possible job. I'm not going
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Speaker 1: to screw this up. And so far that was exactly
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Speaker 1: what John had done since coming back to the Glen.
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Speaker 1: He did what ever Emma wanted, and that included nightly prayers.
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Speaker 1: So on this night, after John walked into the dining room,
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Speaker 1: he took a seat next to Emma at the table,
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Speaker 1: and then after Elizabeth and the other two elderly maids
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Speaker 1: took their seats at the table. They all held hands
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Speaker 1: and they bowed their heads, and then Emma began to
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Speaker 1: lead them in prayer. When the service was over, the
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Speaker 1: two maids got up and headed to the kitchen to
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Speaker 1: make a cup of hot cocoa for Emma. Emma typically
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Speaker 1: stayed up really really late, basically later than anybody else
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Speaker 1: in the house, and she liked to drink hot cocoa
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Speaker 1: and just sit by the fire and you know, read
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Speaker 1: and write letters. It was just kind of her time
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Speaker 1: to be alone and to be left alone. And so
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Speaker 1: after the maids had gone, John stood up too, and
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Speaker 1: he said good night to Emma and told her to
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Speaker 1: enjoy the rest of her night. And then he made
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Speaker 1: his way into the kitchen and he went into the pantry,
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Speaker 1: which doubled as his bedroom. And once in the pantry,
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Speaker 1: he pulled out his cot, climbed under the covers, and
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Speaker 1: he fell asleep. A few hours later, at about three
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Speaker 1: point thirty in the morning, John suddenly woke up in
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Speaker 1: the pantry to the sound of somebody screaming outside the door,
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Speaker 1: and so John, you know, he burst out of the
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Speaker 1: pantry door, and right away he's looking in the kitchen
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Speaker 1: and it's just completely covered in smoke. He can barely see,
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Speaker 1: but not far from him in the kitchen was his
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Speaker 1: sister and also one of the maids, and they were
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Speaker 1: the ones screaming, and they were actually screaming at John
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Speaker 1: to wake up and go get everybody. We need to
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Speaker 1: get them out of the house and get some help.
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Speaker 1: And so John, you know, his first instinct is, okay,
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Speaker 1: clearly there's a fire or something, and Emma, you know,
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Speaker 1: she's upstairs and she could be in trouble. And so John,
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Speaker 1: you know, he instinctively ran towards the stairs and began
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Speaker 1: going up to the second floor to save Emma. But
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Speaker 1: as he went up the stairs, the other maid was
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Speaker 1: coming down the stairs looking totally frantic, and she would
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Speaker 1: tell John that she was just in Emma's bedroom and
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Speaker 1: she couldn't see Emma anywhere, and her bed was totally
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Speaker 1: on fire, and so she didn't know if Emma was
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Speaker 1: even in there, but it didn't look good. And so John,
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Speaker 1: at this point he turned and went with that maid
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Speaker 1: back to the kitchen, where they linked up with John's
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Speaker 1: sister and that other maid, and the four of them
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Speaker 1: filled up buckets of water and tried to run back
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Speaker 1: up the stairs to attempt to put out the fire
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Speaker 1: that was in Emma's bedroom. But by the time they
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Speaker 1: got back upstairs, the fire up there had really spread
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Speaker 1: and there was like a wall of fire right in
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Speaker 1: front of EMA's bedroom, so there was no way to
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Speaker 1: really get through it, and their little buckets of water
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Speaker 1: did nothing. And so even though they hated the idea
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Speaker 1: of leaving Emma potentially behind, the four of them knew
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Speaker 1: they couldn't do anything more, and so finally the four
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Speaker 1: of them turned and began running downstairs to evacuate, and
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Speaker 1: as they ran through the dining room on the first floor,
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Speaker 1: they would find Emma. She was laying on the ground,
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Speaker 1: sprawled out, and it was obvious to all four of
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Speaker 1: them that she was clearly dead. However, it was also
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Speaker 1: obvious that the fire had not killed her. She had
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Speaker 1: clearly been hacked to death. She had all these horrible
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Speaker 1: wounds on her head that looked like somebody had taken
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Speaker 1: an axe basically to her head, and her neck was
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Speaker 1: so deeply cut. It was almost like someone tried to
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Speaker 1: remove her head. John and Elizabeth and the two maids
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Speaker 1: just stood there staring in shock at Emma, not even
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Speaker 1: sure what to do, and then one of the maids
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Speaker 1: just started screaming, and then all four of them just
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Speaker 1: turned and ran out of the house. Eventually, some neighbors,
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Speaker 1: some local fishermen, and members of the Coastguard were able
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Speaker 1: to put out the fire at the glen. But this
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Speaker 1: was not just a fire, this was a murder, and
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Speaker 1: so when police came to investigate, suspicion immediately fell on John.
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Speaker 1: This was back in the day, well before forensic science
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Speaker 1: was used in investigations, and so at the time, the
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Speaker 1: way police kind of figured out who done it is
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Speaker 1: by intuition and gut feeling and assumptions. I mean, it
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Speaker 1: was basically like pseudoscience, but at the time that's how
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Speaker 1: it was. And quickly the police determined that whoever had
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Speaker 1: killed Emma and inflicted these horrible injuries on her, they
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Speaker 1: had to be really strong, and so the assumption was,
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Speaker 1: you know, John is the only man in the house
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Speaker 1: and so very likely the strongest person in the house,
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Speaker 1: and so he must have been the one to do this,
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Speaker 1: because it didn't look like anybody else had the strength
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Speaker 1: to do this. Also, the investigators found these blood trails
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Speaker 1: underneath the rubble from the fire that showed Emma had
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Speaker 1: not actually been murdered where she was found on the
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Speaker 1: ground in the dining room. Instead, she had actually been
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Speaker 1: killed in the hallway near the stairs, which was not
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Speaker 1: far from the pantry where John slept. And basically right
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Speaker 1: outside of John's pantry door was a bloody hatchet and
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Speaker 1: a bloody knife. And on top of all of that,
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Speaker 1: investigators also determined that the fire had been set intentionally,
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Speaker 1: and the person who said it had used this particular
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Speaker 1: type of oil that was very flammable and they had
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Speaker 1: doused it all over the house and ignited it. And
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Speaker 1: it turned out the only place where this oil was
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Speaker 1: located inside of the glen was inside of the pantry
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Speaker 1: where John slept. So on the same day this whole
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Speaker 1: fire breaks out and they find Emma Dad John was
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Speaker 1: arrested for Emma's murder. Hey, everybody, if you've not heard
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Speaker 1: back to the stories. The next day, John was in
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Speaker 1: his jail cell and a guard came down the hall
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Speaker 1: and wrapped on the bars and told John he had
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Speaker 1: a visitor. His lawyer was here to talk to him.
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Speaker 1: But John was confused because he didn't have a lawyer,
13:42
Speaker 1: so he had no idea who this was. But regardless,
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Speaker 1: the guard opened up the cell and he led John
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Speaker 1: down the hallway to this room. And when John walked in,
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Speaker 1: he saw there was this man who was very well
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Speaker 1: dressed and very handsome. He was sitting at this table
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Speaker 1: and clearly he was waiting for John. And John, you know,
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Speaker 1: at first he didn't really know who this guy was,
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Speaker 1: but then it dawned on him that he knows who
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Speaker 1: this guy is, and it made no sense that he
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Speaker 1: was here to defend John. The man's name was Reginald Templar,
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Speaker 1: and he was a very successful lawyer, highly respected in
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Speaker 1: the area, and he also happened to be one of
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Speaker 1: Emma's absolute closest friends. So Reginald templar Emma's close friend,
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Speaker 1: the woman who's been murdered, is here to defend the
14:23
Speaker 1: person who's accused of killing Emma. It just didn't make
14:26
Speaker 1: any sense. But eventually Reginald gestured for John to come
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Speaker 1: in the room and sit down, and so John just
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Speaker 1: kind of made his way in and he sat down,
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Speaker 1: and Reginald immediately said, John, I know you did not
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Speaker 1: kill Emma. That's why I'm here. John was so relieved,
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Speaker 1: and before long he was pouring out all the information
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Speaker 1: he could about everything he could recall about the night
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Speaker 1: of the fire and the murder. And as he did,
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Speaker 1: Reginald took all these notes and he began creating a
14:52
Speaker 1: framework for John's defense. And so by the time John
14:55
Speaker 1: was back in his jail cell, he couldn't help but
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Speaker 1: feel kind of optimistic that may, with Reginald's help, he
15:01
Speaker 1: could actually beat this thing and prove he didn't do this.
15:04
Speaker 1: But John's relief would be short lived. His first court
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Speaker 1: appearance went extremely well. Reginald showed up in a fancy
15:12
Speaker 1: suit and he was just completely on his game and
15:15
Speaker 1: just ripped the prosecution apart and basically said their entire
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Speaker 1: case was just circumstantial, and he rattled off all these
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Speaker 1: legal precedents which John didn't really understand, but he looked
15:24
Speaker 1: up and saw the judge definitely knew these precedents and
15:27
Speaker 1: was impressed with what Reginald was doing. And then also
15:30
Speaker 1: Reginald would say that the police did a terrible job investigating.
15:34
Speaker 1: They basically didn't investigate and just jumped to conclusions that
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Speaker 1: it was John, and so as Reginald is basically destroying
15:42
Speaker 1: the prosecution, Reginald looked over at the prosecutor and he
15:45
Speaker 1: could tell the prosecutor looked really nervous, and so John
15:49
Speaker 1: was really starting to feel confident that Reginald was exactly
15:52
Speaker 1: what he needed. But on the day of the second
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Speaker 1: court appearance, Reginald just didn't show up with no explanation.
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Speaker 1: He didn't contact anybody, and so John just sat there
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Speaker 1: waiting to see what was going to happen. The judge
16:04
Speaker 1: delayed for as long as he could, but eventually, when
16:07
Speaker 1: you know, Reginald still didn't show up, the judge looked
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Speaker 1: to John and said, I'm sorry, but you're gonna have
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Speaker 1: to defend yourself, which of course John did not know
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Speaker 1: how to do. I mean, he barely had even gone
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Speaker 1: to school, let alone studied law. And from there things
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Speaker 1: only got worse for John. Reginald continued to miss court
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Speaker 1: dates with no explanation, and then on other times he
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Speaker 1: would show up to court, but instead of being this fantastic,
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Speaker 1: you know, very sharp lawyer, he kind of acted like
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Speaker 1: a maniac. He would start all these unnecessary fights with
16:36
Speaker 1: the judge over totally irrelevant matters like how to pronounce
16:40
Speaker 1: a particular word, and then when he had witnesses on
16:42
Speaker 1: the stand, his line of questioning didn't make any sense.
16:46
Speaker 1: He would ask things like well, what did you have
16:47
Speaker 1: for breakfast today? And what's your favorite color? And then finally,
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Speaker 1: Reginald just withdrew altogether from the case, leaving John with
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Speaker 1: no lawyer at all, which admittedly might have actually been
16:58
Speaker 1: an improvement for John. After Gerald withdrew, another lawyer found
17:02
Speaker 1: out about it and took pity on John and volunteered
17:05
Speaker 1: to take on the case. But it was on very
17:07
Speaker 1: short notice, and this other lawyer had good intentions, but
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Speaker 1: was not nearly as skilled as Reginald was when he
17:14
Speaker 1: was kind of on his game on that first day,
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Speaker 1: and so really quickly. This lawyer kind of fumbled the case,
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Speaker 1: and then when it went to the jury to decide
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Speaker 1: whether or not John was guilty, it took them less
17:24
Speaker 1: than an hour to come back and say, Oh, yeah,
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Speaker 1: he's guilty. He killed Emma. And so John was sentenced
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Speaker 1: to death by hanging. For the next three months, John
17:32
Speaker 1: sat in his jail cell waiting for his execution, and
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Speaker 1: as he waited, he continually insisted that he really was
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Speaker 1: innocent and that ultimately God would protect him. Finally, February
17:43
Speaker 1: twenty third, eighteen eighty five rolled around. This was the
17:46
Speaker 1: day of John's execution. Except something very weird happened on
17:50
Speaker 1: this day. When John was led from the jail to
17:52
Speaker 1: the gallows where he was going to be executed, the
17:55
Speaker 1: hangman could not get the gallows to work. The trap
17:59
Speaker 1: door in the gallows where the condemned stands where it's
18:01
Speaker 1: supposed to open up and they fall down and the
18:04
Speaker 1: noose breaks their neck. Yeah, that trap door, it would
18:07
Speaker 1: not function whenever John was standing on it. Now, when
18:10
Speaker 1: John was moved off the trap door, it functioned perfectly fine.
18:14
Speaker 1: It was only when he was on that trap door
18:16
Speaker 1: that it would not work. And so think about this,
18:18
Speaker 1: pretend you're John. Three different times, the hangman led him
18:22
Speaker 1: onto that trapdoor, they put the noose around his neck,
18:25
Speaker 1: put a bag over his head, asked him for his
18:27
Speaker 1: last words, and they threw that lever. And each time
18:30
Speaker 1: John is expecting to die and it's not working. Finally,
18:34
Speaker 1: after the third failure, the hangman just called off the execution.
18:38
Speaker 1: And then actually a judge would weigh in and say,
18:40
Speaker 1: you know what, we cannot possibly attempt for a fourth
18:43
Speaker 1: time to execute John. This constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
18:47
Speaker 1: And so they swapped his sentence from a death sentence
18:51
Speaker 1: to twenty two years in prison. And none of this
18:53
Speaker 1: would make any sense until one day, six years after
18:57
Speaker 1: Emma's murder, when John, by this point was just sitting
19:00
Speaker 1: in a jail cell and everybody had forgotten about him.
19:03
Speaker 1: On that day in eighteen ninety, a group of very
19:05
Speaker 1: high society type people, you know, politicians and lawyers and
19:09
Speaker 1: rich people. They all gathered in this misty cemetery not
19:12
Speaker 1: far from the Glen. The group was in the cemetery
19:15
Speaker 1: for the burial of a very important and well respected
19:18
Speaker 1: man who had died after slowly going insane, and as
19:21
Speaker 1: the priest finished his final blessing. The mourners began chucking
19:25
Speaker 1: handfuls of dirt into the grave, and as they did,
19:28
Speaker 1: one of them said, quietly but out loud, today we
19:31
Speaker 1: have buried a murderer. Here's what many people believe really
19:35
Speaker 1: happened on the night of November fifteenth, eighteen eighty four,
19:39
Speaker 1: when Emma was killed. At the time of Emma's murder,
19:41
Speaker 1: Elizabeth's pregnancy was very scandalous, but not just for Elizabeth.
19:46
Speaker 1: It was also scandalous for the father of the baby,
19:49
Speaker 1: the father who nobody knew except for Elizabeth. And it
19:52
Speaker 1: was scandalous for his father because, like Elizabeth, he was
19:55
Speaker 1: worried what society would think if they found out he
19:58
Speaker 1: was having a baby out of wedlock, especially with Elizabeth, who, basically,
20:02
Speaker 1: from a societal standpoint, was kind of below his station.
20:05
Speaker 1: But despite all that, the father of the baby did
20:08
Speaker 1: not attempt to distance himself from Elizabeth. Instead, on the
20:12
Speaker 1: night of the murder, the father of the baby actually
20:14
Speaker 1: decided to sneak into the glen to see Elizabeth. But
20:18
Speaker 1: Emma was still awake. She was up late drinking her
20:21
Speaker 1: hot cocoa, writing and reading, and she heard the sound
20:24
Speaker 1: of the father coming into her home, and so she
20:26
Speaker 1: got up to go investigate, and she would eventually find
20:29
Speaker 1: the father up in the hallway right outside of Elizabeth's bedroom.
20:33
Speaker 1: And remember, Emma is very traditional, she's very conservative and religious,
20:38
Speaker 1: and she's seeing this strange man in her house, clearly
20:41
Speaker 1: going into or coming out of Elizabeth's room, and she
20:44
Speaker 1: was so offended and angry, and so Emma just began
20:48
Speaker 1: screaming at the sky to get out of her house
20:51
Speaker 1: and if he didn't, she was going to tell the
20:52
Speaker 1: whole world about this illicit relationship. And then Emma walked
20:56
Speaker 1: up and hit this guy right in the face. And
20:59
Speaker 1: at this point, the father just snapped and he flew
21:02
Speaker 1: into this rage and he began screaming back at Emma,
21:05
Speaker 1: and then he grabbed a hatchet that was on the
21:07
Speaker 1: wall right near the pantry. He pulled it off and
21:10
Speaker 1: he brought it down right on top of Emma's head,
21:13
Speaker 1: and Emma crumpled to the ground. And the man, you know,
21:15
Speaker 1: he's looking down at Emma and he's realizing he's inflicted
21:18
Speaker 1: this horrific injury on Emma and if she doesn't die,
21:22
Speaker 1: she's gonna tell someone. And then this father is going
21:25
Speaker 1: to go to jail if not worse. So, in a
21:28
Speaker 1: moment of panic, this father runs into the kitchen, gets
21:31
Speaker 1: a kitchen knife, comes back, and he finished Emma off.
21:35
Speaker 1: Once she was deceased, he dragged her back to the
21:37
Speaker 1: dining room where she normally did her reading and writing,
21:40
Speaker 1: and then he doused her and the whole house in
21:42
Speaker 1: that weird oil that he found in the pantry where
21:45
Speaker 1: John was sleeping, and after getting the whole house covered
21:48
Speaker 1: in it, he ignited it and then he ran out
21:50
Speaker 1: of the house. But over the next six years, Emma's
21:53
Speaker 1: killer felt so bad about what he had done both
21:56
Speaker 1: to Emma and then nearly killing Elizabeth and his unborn child,
21:59
Speaker 1: that he went completely insane, and this caused his physical
22:02
Speaker 1: health to totally fail and he died. But right before
22:07
Speaker 1: he died, as he's laying in his deathbed, he began
22:10
Speaker 1: ranting and raving about all the things he regretted in
22:12
Speaker 1: his life, including murdering a woman at a big, beautiful
22:16
Speaker 1: seaside estate. Basically, he was admitting to killing Emma, and
22:20
Speaker 1: he did it in the company of all the people
22:22
Speaker 1: who would then be at his burial, And so that's
22:25
Speaker 1: why as they're throwing the dirt onto his casket. They're saying,
22:27
Speaker 1: today we buried a murderer. The killer's identity was none
22:30
Speaker 1: other than Reginald Templar, John's lawyer. Now, nobody knows if
22:35
Speaker 1: Reginald took John's case because he felt guilty and wanted
22:38
Speaker 1: to prevent an innocent man from going to jail, or
22:41
Speaker 1: if he just wanted to sabotage John's case to ensure
22:44
Speaker 1: he did go to jail to protect himself. Like, we
22:47
Speaker 1: don't know either way, though, it was during the course
22:49
Speaker 1: of this trial that Reginald began his descent into madness,
22:53
Speaker 1: which would ultimately lead to his death. Some people believe
22:56
Speaker 1: the reason the gallows malfunctioned every time John stood on
23:00
Speaker 1: that trap door and it wouldn't open was because of
23:02
Speaker 1: divine intervention. That God or a god or some deity
23:07
Speaker 1: came to earth and literally interfered with the execution to
23:11
Speaker 1: spare John's life. And the reason people think that is
23:14
Speaker 1: because you know, John really was an innocent man and
23:16
Speaker 1: he did not deserve to die. John would serve all
23:19
Speaker 1: twenty two years of his sentence, and then when he
23:21
Speaker 1: got out, he became famous for being the man who
23:24
Speaker 1: could not be hanged. John would eventually get married and
23:27
Speaker 1: he would move to America, where he would live a
23:29
Speaker 1: very happy and quiet life until he died at the
23:32
Speaker 1: age of eighty one. Hey, everybody, as mentioned earlier, right
23:38
Speaker 1: now you can listen to over one hundred news stories
23:42
Speaker 1: on the Mister ball In podcast. Wherever you listen to podcasts,
23:45
Speaker 1: it's available on all of them. And so right now
23:47
Speaker 1: I'm going to play you a clip from an episode
23:50
Speaker 1: of the Mister ball In podcast. It's called Rendezvous in Capistrano. Enjoy.
23:56
Speaker 1: At ten pm that night, Deputy Tony Castillo of the
23:59
Speaker 1: Orange Care the County Sheriff's Department, was in his cruiser
24:02
Speaker 1: out on his usual rounds. Deputy Castillo eased off the
24:05
Speaker 1: gas when he noticed a silver Dodge Stratus car pulled
24:08
Speaker 1: over in the breakdown lane on a rural highway outside
24:11
Speaker 1: of San Juan, Capistrano. It was pitch black and there
24:14
Speaker 1: wasn't much traffic. Castillo figured there wasn't a reason for
24:18
Speaker 1: anyone to stop right there unless they were having car trouble,
24:21
Speaker 1: so he decided he would walk over and see if
24:23
Speaker 1: they needed any help. Castillo pulled his cruiser in behind
24:27
Speaker 1: the car. He could see that the car's engine was
24:29
Speaker 1: still running and the high beam lights were on, and
24:32
Speaker 1: the passenger side door was wide open. Just ahead of
24:35
Speaker 1: the car, on the side of the road, Castillo saw
24:37
Speaker 1: a pole with an emergency phone box attached to it.
24:41
Speaker 1: He thought, maybe the passenger in this car had jumped
24:43
Speaker 1: out of the car after it pulled over to go
24:46
Speaker 1: use that call box to call for help, because maybe
24:48
Speaker 1: their car had broken down. But then Castillo noticed a
24:51
Speaker 1: woman's bare foot sticking out of that open passenger door,
24:55
Speaker 1: and he knew right then something had to be wrong
25:00
Speaker 1: to let dispatch know what he'd found, and that he
25:02
Speaker 1: was now going to go investigate. Then Castillo got out
25:06
Speaker 1: of the cruiser, put his right hand on his fullster,
25:08
Speaker 1: and began walking towards the back of the dodge. Castio's
25:11
Speaker 1: footsteps on the gravel were the only sound. Castillo saw
25:15
Speaker 1: what looked like a smear of blood on the back
25:17
Speaker 1: passenger side door, but he went around to the driver's
25:20
Speaker 1: side and he saw right away the front window was smashed,
25:24
Speaker 1: and Castillo saw a scene of pure horror. Inside the car,
25:28
Speaker 1: a man was slumped over in the driver's seat, still
25:31
Speaker 1: wearing a seat belt, and a woman who had been
25:33
Speaker 1: in the passenger seat was sprawled across the front seat,
25:35
Speaker 1: basically on the driver, with her head on the man's lap.
25:40
Speaker 1: Both of them had been shot multiple times and they
25:42
Speaker 1: were drenched in blood, and when Castillo checked both of
25:45
Speaker 1: them for a pulse, he found they had none. They
25:48
Speaker 1: were both dead. Castillo rushed back to his cruiser and
25:52
Speaker 1: he radio dispatched to tell them that he had just
25:55
Speaker 1: walked up on two apparent homicide victims out on Ortega
25:58
Speaker 1: Highway n Castillo ran the plates on the Dodge Stratus
26:02
Speaker 1: and the vehicle came back as being registered to Ken
26:05
Speaker 1: and Carolyn Stall, And while he couldn't know for sure
26:08
Speaker 1: quite yet, Castillo was reasonably certain that those were the
26:12
Speaker 1: two victims. If you like that trailer and you want
26:16
Speaker 1: to hear the whole story, just go ahead and look
26:18
Speaker 1: up the Mister Ballin podcast on any podcast platform. It's free,
26:22
Speaker 1: and then once you find it on Apple, Spotify, wherever,
26:26
Speaker 1: just give the show a follow and then start your
26:28
Speaker 1: binch or you can listen early and ad free on
26:31
Speaker 1: Amazon Music. But again, the Mister Ballin podcast is available
26:35
Speaker 1: on all podcast platforms. Go follow, go listen, So that's
26:40
Speaker 1: going to do it if you want more strange, dark,
26:42
Speaker 1: and mysterious stories. Then you need to check out all
26:45
Speaker 1: the ballin Studios podcasts. You can find all of those
26:48
Speaker 1: podcasts simply by searching for ballin Studios on any podcast platform. Okay,
26:53
Speaker 1: that's going to do it until next time. See you wait,
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Speaker 1: don't go anywhere. If you're looking for more strange, dark
26:58
Speaker 1: and mysterious videos, click here,