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144: Unfinished Business at the Grand Hotel in Stoughton, WI · Common Mystics

• 0:10
  Speaker A: On this episode of Common Mystics, we go back to 1925 to a small midwestern town and a downtown hotel where a fall from a third floor became a story the town never quite finished telling. Jennifer. I'm Jennifer James.
• 0:28
  Speaker B: I'm Jill Stanley.
• 0:30
  Speaker A: We're psychics. We're sisters. We are common mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. And today's story comes to you from Stoughton, Wisconsin.
• 0:44
  Speaker B: Hi, Jennifer.
• 0:46
  Speaker A: Hi, Jill.
• 0:47
  Speaker B: I'm excited.
• 0:49
  Speaker A: Are you?
• 0:49
  Speaker B: Yes. We had a Jenny Bee with us on this trip.
• 0:53
  Speaker A: We did. This is December.
• 0:55
  Speaker B: This is December. We had a couple days to roam around the Midwest and we went to pick up Jenny B. And then we were like, we're headed towards Minnesota because we don't have any Minnesota stories yet. So we set our intention in the car.
• 1:13
  Speaker A: We did.
• 1:14
  Speaker B: What was our intention?
• 1:15
  Speaker A: Our intention was, as it always is, to ask the spirits to lead us to a verifiable story previously unknown to us that allowed us to give voice to the voiceless.
• 1:29
  Speaker B: That's right. So let's get into our hits because you and Jenny are amazing.
• 1:34
  Speaker A: Are you serious?
• 1:35
  Speaker B: I swear to God, you guys had the best hits.
• 1:38
  Speaker A: Well, the first thing I remember seeing were three X's in a row.
• 1:44
  Speaker B: Xxx I cannot. I'm so excited. Yes, you did. Yes, you did.
• 1:49
  Speaker A: And it didn't make any sense.
• 1:50
  Speaker B: It didn't make any sense. And then Jenny, she was seeing small or farms surrounding a small city. So like mom and pop farms going into the city, that kind of thing.
• 2:06
  Speaker A: I was feeling murder and murders related to different states in the Midwest.
• 2:13
  Speaker B: That's right.
• 2:14
  Speaker A: Also I was feeling mob vibes. Like mafia mob. Like you know what?
• 2:20
  Speaker B: Organized black.
• 2:21
  Speaker A: Yes. Black market enterprises, Organized crime. Yes, all that.
• 2:27
  Speaker B: So we end up in Stoughton.
• 2:30
  Speaker A: Stoughton.
• 2:31
  Speaker B: Stoughton. We end up at Stoughton.
• 2:34
  Speaker A: I. We had a debate about how to pronounce this town and I ended up calling the local library and the recorded message told me everything I needed to know. It is stone. Stoughton.
• 2:44
  Speaker B: I like it. Stoughton. So we end up in Stoughton, Wisconsin. And the thing is, we were pulled to the east side of town and we knew we were driving around the east side of town and we were like, place is haunted. This haunted.
• 2:59
  Speaker A: True.
• 3:00
  Speaker B: And then we ended up at the Lutheran east cemetery. And you had an interesting impression there. What did you notice?
• 3:10
  Speaker A: There are a lot of old Norse names. And I knew that the connection to our voiceless was through like an old fashioned Norse name and that our voice. Yeah, our voiceless would have, in other words, a Norse name.
• 3:28
  Speaker B: So tell me a little bit about the town.
• 3:30
  Speaker A: Well, I would just love to. So Stoughton, Wisconsin sits in Dane county in south central Wisconsin, balanced almost perfectly between Janesville to the southwest and Madison to the northeast.
• 3:47
  Speaker B: So is it a suburb of Madison?
• 3:50
  Speaker A: Stoughton is generally considered a southern suburb or exurb. What's an exurb?
• 4:00
  Speaker B: It's like Naperville. Okay. Like it's a town in its own right.
• 4:07
  Speaker A: In its own right. Yeah. So it's. Yeah. So yes and no. It's considered a southern suburb. Excerpt of MADISON. But it has always kept its own very strong small town identity.
• 4:22
  Speaker B: Very nice. Thank you for that.
• 4:24
  Speaker A: When surveyors passed through in 1833, they. They found a landscape gently stitched together by burr white and yellow oak trees separating wide open prairie along the river. And that river shaped everything. When a man named Luke Stoughton arrived From Janesville in 1847, he immediately saw what others might have missed. That flowing through the settlement was the Catfish river, which was renamed the yahara river in 1855. Its natural drop perfectly suited for powering sawmills and gristmills. Some people see beauty, Some people see dollar signs.
• 5:18
  Speaker B: Who would you be? Would you be beauty or dollar?
• 5:21
  Speaker A: I am so bad.
• 5:22
  Speaker B: I know we're the worst.
• 5:24
  Speaker A: We are the absolute worst.
• 5:27
  Speaker B: But we're getting better. We're following the direction of our patrons. They're like honeys. You guys need to really recharging more money.
• 5:35
  Speaker A: Yeah. I don't see something and think, oh, how could I make money off of that? But Luke Stoughton did. And not only that, not only did the river provide power for sawmills and gristmills, but it also acted as a natural highway linking Madison to the all important Mississippi river, making the movement of goods steady and efficient. So Luke Stoughton moved quickly. He planted a village there. He built a sawmill. He hired a miller to construct and operate the grist mill. And he actively recruited people that the town would need to survive. People like teachers. Who else, Jill?
• 6:17
  Speaker B: Doctors, blacksmiths, merchants. Mm.
• 6:20
  Speaker A: To secure the city's future, he even convinced the railroad to reroute through Stoughton by donating the land for the tracks and the depot.
• 6:30
  Speaker B: This man had money. He must have come from money. I just have to say, like, how did he do all that?
• 6:35
  Speaker A: That's really smart to donate the land to the railroad. That's an investment. Because then the railroad comes through, brings a butt ton of people, and every small town wants a butt ton of people.
• 6:49
  Speaker B: You always want to describe something as a butt ton. I don't know exactly the actual net of a butt ton, but I like it.
• 6:58
  Speaker A: I don't know the value of a butt ton, but it's a lot.
• 7:00
  Speaker B: It's a lot. It's a butt ton. It's a butt ton.
• 7:05
  Speaker A: Yeah. So surrounding farms soon filled with wheat, and their harvests for flowed into the town for grinding, fueling Stoughton's early economy. But when the wheat started to fail across the state, Stoughton adapted once again. I believe it was by the 1870s, the wheat market started to fall. And it was probably a combination of different things, including, like, the soil getting tired.
• 7:33
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 7:35
  Speaker A: And also competing wheat industry. Anyway, they had to pivot. Who doesn't have to pivot at one point?
• 7:42
  Speaker B: You always need a pivot plan. You need to pivot a contingency plan. That's what I always say. Go to plan B.
• 7:48
  Speaker A: And their plan B was tobacco.
• 7:52
  Speaker B: Tobacky.
• 7:53
  Speaker A: Tobacky. Wacky tobacco. Not the wacky.
• 7:56
  Speaker B: Not the wacky. Not the wacky.
• 7:58
  Speaker A: Not the wacky kind.
• 7:59
  Speaker B: Not the wacky.
• 8:00
  Speaker A: Sorry. Sorry. The regular kind. So farmers turned to tobacco, a labor intensive crop. Crop that reshaped the town almost overnight. Jill. Almost overnight. Thanks to all them chewers and smokers, large warehouses and sorting houses rose across the city, bringing steady work to a growing population of Norwegian immigrants.
• 8:24
  Speaker B: Interesting.
• 8:25
  Speaker A: Men worked in factories and shops, and women labored in the tobacco warehouses. Now the women. You know how women multitask all the time? Like we can't. We take care of everything in our.
• 8:40
  Speaker B: Lives all day and day?
• 8:42
  Speaker A: Yeah. So the women are working in the warehouses, but guess what? They still have to do the laundry. They still have to run the errands. So they would have to step away from their work at the warehouses at, you know, at the. Their. Their jobs to continue their housework. Their housework. And so that became the tradition of the coffee break because, of course, they would have some coffee while they stepped away from work. And Stoughton proudly has the title the birthplace of the coffee break.
• 9:16
  Speaker B: I love it. Who knew?
• 9:18
  Speaker A: Who knew? I love coffee.
• 9:21
  Speaker B: I'm a fan of coffee. I love breaks.
• 9:23
  Speaker A: I'm a d. Addicted to coffee. Kind of.
• 9:26
  Speaker B: This is not a coffee anonymous meeting.
• 9:29
  Speaker A: Okay. All right. Just wondering.
• 9:32
  Speaker B: But I'm with you.
• 9:33
  Speaker A: And you're not alone. Okay. Today, Stoughton is best known for honoring its deep Norwegian heritage, celebrated each May with the Norway's Independence Day.
• 9:50
  Speaker B: The reason why I'm laughing is because neither one of us can read what that Is it's S Y T T E N D E space. M A I.
• 10:03
  Speaker A: So if I had to take a crack at it, I would call it Sai Tendi mae. I know that's wrong. That's Norwegian's. Norway's Independence Day. And it's a living tradition that connects the town's industrious past to its present day sense of identity, pride, and place.
• 10:21
  Speaker B: Okay, so here's the thing. A lot of my intuition in this story came in the research. And so intuitively, I was looking based on your mob hit for around, like, when the mob was big. So, like Prohibition time.
• 10:35
  Speaker A: So that makes sense.
• 10:36
  Speaker B: Yeah. Right. So that gave us, like, a timeframe of where our story would take place. So I know we've talked about Prohibition, but not in depth. So. So I want you to go. I want you to reach in to find the courage to talk about these dark days of American history.
• 10:55
  Speaker A: During the Prohibition. Jill. Oh, my goodness.
• 11:00
  Speaker B: I feel like bagpipes should be playing.
• 11:02
  Speaker A: Why bagpipes?
• 11:04
  Speaker B: Because it's sad.
• 11:07
  Speaker A: I thought violins were sad instruments. Are they not?
• 11:10
  Speaker B: Don't you think that bagpipes are sad instruments?
• 11:13
  Speaker A: They do sound like they're crying, don't they? You know what, to be honest, they sound like they're screeching like you. You're killing a small animal, and that is terrible. I will never. Have you heard them recently? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:30
  Speaker B: I like them.
• 11:30
  Speaker A: They're. They're an acquired sound. I would say, like, you get used to them, but they are a little screechy. Anyway, enough dissing on bagpipes. Prohibition. Shall we talk about it?
• 11:42
  Speaker B: I would love it.
• 11:43
  Speaker A: Okay, so you might ask, what was Prohibition in the United States, Jill?
• 11:50
  Speaker B: I might and I will. What was Prohibition in the United States, Jennifer?
• 11:55
  Speaker A: Jill, I'm so glad you asked. Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide ban on the manufacturer, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages that lasted from 1920 to 1933. So pretty much all of the twenties.
• 12:16
  Speaker B: All right, give me the basics.
• 12:18
  Speaker A: Okay. So it was established when they passed the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1919, but went into effect the following year, and it was enforced through the Volstead Act. Now, I looked up the Volstead Act.
• 12:36
  Speaker B: I knew you would. I did. I was like, you know what? I'm going to leave this purposely vague to get her something to dig her teeth into.
• 12:44
  Speaker A: Yeah. So the Volstead act outlined what exactly would it be illegal to do? And here. Here is the answer. The Volstead act made it illegal to make liquor. So if you were making Liquor. That's a crime. It made it illegal to sell liquor. Whether you made it or acquired it by some other means. It was illegal to sell. Was also illegal to barter it. So you couldn't get around it by saying, oh, we just traded. No, no, no, no. It was illegal to barter and it was illegal to transport, to move it from one place to another. You know what? It wasn't illegal to do?
• 13:26
  Speaker B: Gift it.
• 13:27
  Speaker A: Drink it. Oh, it wasn't illegal to drink it.
• 13:31
  Speaker B: Well, nice.
• 13:33
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 13:33
  Speaker B: I'm seeing a loophole in this.
• 13:35
  Speaker A: Although you would have to transport it, like, from your cup to your mouth. I wonder if that was a crime.
• 13:40
  Speaker B: No, that is not what they mean by transport. Oh, my goodness.
• 13:46
  Speaker A: Isn't that interesting, though? They never made it illegal to drink.
• 13:50
  Speaker B: I like that.
• 13:52
  Speaker A: Okay. Anyway, leave it to Jill to find a loophole in the liquor laws. It officially began January 17, 1920, and it finally ended 13 years later with the 21st Amendment, the only amendment that was ever passed to repeal another amendment of the Constitution.
• 14:12
  Speaker B: I mean, if there was going to be an amendment of amendments, let's do this one. You know what I mean?
• 14:17
  Speaker A: Yeah. That's kind of like a big I made a mistake gesture by the federal government, right? Yeah, absolutely. Like, let's undo that.
• 14:28
  Speaker B: Yeah. Everyone was happier when we were all.
• 14:30
  Speaker A: Drinking, when we were all drunk and couldn't remember our problems.
• 14:36
  Speaker B: So why did Prohibition happen?
• 14:39
  Speaker A: Okay, I have to tell you, supporters were mostly women, and they believed that by banning alcohol, you would reduce crime and domestic violence. Because what was happening was men would be drinking a lot and then they would. They would beat up their wives to. Quite literally. Or they wouldn't be home and they would be abandoning their family. And this was a big problem.
• 15:03
  Speaker B: They were spending all their money at the bar. That's another big problem.
• 15:07
  Speaker A: Yes. Also, they believed that by banning alcohol, it would improve public health and morality. Because, of course, drinking alcohol is not good for one's health and morality. That to me, is like one of the weakest arguments here, that it's wrong. It's wrong to drink liquor. Come on.
• 15:29
  Speaker B: I mean, Jesus made liquor. Can you imagine if Jesus were here during prohibition? It would all be legal. I'd be like, jesus gave it to me.
• 15:40
  Speaker A: That would probably be a better loophole than the right. Yeah, you could drink it. Like, it doesn't say that Christ couldn't make it for you.
• 15:46
  Speaker B: Exactly. Like, Christ just showed up, gave me this wine, and here we are.
• 15:51
  Speaker A: Do you think that churches served wine during Prohibition?
• 15:56
  Speaker B: What a great question.
• 15:58
  Speaker A: Now, I Need to know the answer.
• 15:59
  Speaker B: I'm writing it down for detours.
• 16:01
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 16:02
  Speaker B: We have such a fun detours ahead. Do we?
• 16:04
  Speaker A: Okay, we have to start with that. Okay. Anyway. Also. Also, supporters of prohibition believed that worker productivity would increase if liquor wasn't available, if it was banned, and therefore. Because if a drunk worker isn't a good worker, and a hungover worker is also pretty, pretty worthless.
• 16:28
  Speaker B: But a drunk worker could be fun.
• 16:33
  Speaker A: Can you imagine how many accidents. How many accidents happened because people were drunk?
• 16:38
  Speaker B: I mean, honestly, how annoying would it be to have a drunk coworker? I would be like, get your shit together, bro. Like, honestly.
• 16:47
  Speaker A: Okay, what do you have for me?
• 16:50
  Speaker B: Well, Jennifer, what actually happened? What was the. I know what the intent was, but what was the unintended consequences to prohibition?
• 17:00
  Speaker A: What? Well, Jill, that's exactly what we had. Because all in all, it sounds pretty good, right? Reduce crime, reduce domestic violence, get the men back in their homes and not at the bars. I want to go improve the health of the public. Like, that sounds. That sounds like good things, right? Improving health, increasing worker productivity. All good things, right? I'm not gonna touch the morality.
• 17:20
  Speaker B: I honestly think that you're, like, really, like, overdoing it. I like it. This was not a good idea.
• 17:27
  Speaker A: Triggering.
• 17:27
  Speaker B: Yeah, like, this is not. I want to open up a bottle of wine right now. This was not a good idea.
• 17:31
  Speaker A: O. So. However, instead of creating a sober utopia where nobody drank, where nobody acquired liquor, where nobody bought or made it, Prohibition led to speakeasies, bootlegging, organized crime, and corruption. So. So let's. Let's talk about these, shall we?
• 17:53
  Speaker B: I want you to tell me what speakeasies are just in case people around the the world don't know.
• 17:59
  Speaker A: A speakeasy was basically an illegal bar at a time when it was illegal to sell alcohol. Like I just said.
• 18:06
  Speaker B: And it would pop up anywhere.
• 18:08
  Speaker A: They would pop up anywhere and everywhere. And they were super quiet. Like they didn't publicize. You had to know, like, how to find it, how to get in. Do you know what I mean?
• 18:18
  Speaker B: Yeah. They were like a low key, private spirit of Halloween store that was illegal. They would pop up everywhere and anywhere.
• 18:28
  Speaker A: That sounds funny. Except for the illegal part. Like pop ups. So cute. Bootlegging, girl. Bootlegging and rum running were big time operations because people were running the illegal booze transporting was illegal act.
• 18:48
  Speaker B: Did you know what the illegal rum running of booze created? What? Nascar.
• 18:57
  Speaker A: No way.
• 18:58
  Speaker B: Swear to God. You didn't know that?
• 18:59
  Speaker A: I did not know that.
• 19:00
  Speaker B: Souped up their cars to outrun the police so that they could transfer the alcohol. And that's the beginning of nascar.
• 19:09
  Speaker A: And so enterprising young criminals created a whole syndicate of organized crime. It was bigger than a syndicate. It was. It was a huge. You know this. Our listeners know this.
• 19:21
  Speaker B: They know this.
• 19:23
  Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Illegal activity became highly organized under figures such as maybe one of the most famous. Al Capone. Right.
• 19:31
  Speaker B: Chicago's finest.
• 19:33
  Speaker A: And then you had corruption among police and politicians because they were fighting a losing battle. And it's easier to be a part of the corruption and get nice, you know, Cutbacks and kickbacks. What are they called? Bribes.
• 19:50
  Speaker B: My God.
• 19:50
  Speaker A: Cutbacks, kickbacks, Crime. Yes. So they would basically take bribes. And. And here's one really sad thing. Apparently it's. It can be kind of dangerous to try to make your own alcohol. Apparently.
• 20:06
  Speaker B: Who knew? Who knew?
• 20:09
  Speaker A: Apparently it's a very difficult recipe to master, and it can be lethal. I. I can see that.
• 20:18
  Speaker B: I totally can. My clumsy ass.
• 20:20
  Speaker A: I'll be like, what is this? Bleach? It tastes good. Ironically, alcohol consumption did drop at first with the start of prohibition, but then it rebounded. It just went underground and unregulated.
• 20:37
  Speaker B: Okay, so obviously it ended, but it ended officially. Why did it end?
• 20:43
  Speaker A: So by the 1930s, pretty much everybody in every sector was like, prohibition is. Is being widely ignored. Like, there is no way to enforce this. Number one, people gonna drink. Number two. And the thing that pissed off the government probably most of all is all these people are making money. And we can't tax any of it because it's all illegal. So let's put it back on the books. Let's make it on the up and up and tax all these MFers. And then public opinion, just because of the way things were going. And, like, what an ultimate failure this was. Public opinion had swung against Prohibition. Clearly that was not the way to improve public health, keep domestic violence from happening, keep war, because people were all still drinking. Like, all those things were still happening, only now it was underground, more dangerous, and the government wasn't making any money on it.
• 21:39
  Speaker B: Okay, so now here's the thing. So I had the time frame 1919 through 1933, and then I googled mob activity in the area. Intuitively, I was feeling like something was shady happening in Stoughton. So there was no well documented evidence that a major mob or crime syndicate was in the area. Things like, like the Chicago outfit, Dillon Durd. They weren't there.
• 22:08
  Speaker A: Nothing like that in Stoughton.
• 22:10
  Speaker B: Nothing like that.
• 22:11
  Speaker A: Okay. I mean, it's a smaller town, so that's not surprising.
• 22:14
  Speaker B: Right, right. And there were places in, like, northern Wisconsin or near Chicago that did have that type of activity that was, like, notable that people wrote about a lot. But most historical records and organized crime history focuses on larger hubs and rural hideouts.
• 22:30
  Speaker A: Sure. That makes a lot of sense.
• 22:31
  Speaker B: They're not looking at little baby towns in the Midwest.
• 22:34
  Speaker A: So at this point, Jill, how did you keep going? Because it sounds like you hit a dead end.
• 22:39
  Speaker B: I didn't, because intuitively I knew that there was something. I was like, I'm going to research and try to find some link to organized crime in Stoughton.
• 22:52
  Speaker A: And what did you find?
• 22:54
  Speaker B: I sure did find it. Okay. Although not well documented, I did find old newspapers surrounding organized crime in the area. Oh, do you want to take it?
• 23:07
  Speaker A: Yes. So I see an excerpt here from the Stoughton Courier out of Stoughton, Wisconsin, dated January 7, 1926. Page two. It says, Stoughton has its bootlegger problem and its outlaw class. Although it's on a smaller scale than Madison. We have local bootleggers in our midst who have a smug disrespect for the law, a contempt for all order, and a disregard and indifference toward the police.
• 23:43
  Speaker B: Okay, wow.
• 23:45
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 23:46
  Speaker B: There was another reference that I came across.
• 23:49
  Speaker A: So. So there were bootleggers in Stoughton. In little Stoughton. Damn. Okay, I'm saying.
• 23:56
  Speaker B: I'm saying there was another reference that I came across.
• 24:00
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 24:00
  Speaker B: So other than the local papers, I also found a book called Stoughton, Wisconsin, the Grand Hotel Legacy. A ghost story. Or. I'm sorry, a story of ghosts and spirits within these walls.
• 24:14
  Speaker A: Shut up right now.
• 24:17
  Speaker B: The Grand Hotel was known for a brothel and being the kingpin of bootlegging in the town.
• 24:24
  Speaker A: Okay, stop right there. The Grand Hotel is or was a major hotel in the downtown area of Stoughton. Is that right?
• 24:32
  Speaker B: That's correct.
• 24:33
  Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
• 24:36
  Speaker B: Not only that, but one of the spirits that is still claimed to be haunting the Grand Hotel was. Was said to be a police chief who was thought to commit suicide at the hotel during Prohibition. Huh, girl?
• 24:55
  Speaker A: Huh?
• 24:56
  Speaker B: Take it from here.
• 24:59
  Speaker A: By the time Stoughton slipped into the 1920s, the Grand Hotel had a reputation that traveled faster than a whisper. People called it a hotel, but everyone knew it was something else, too. A place where rules softened at the edges, where the night had its own economy, and where bootlegging wasn't just a rumor. It was the rhythm. Get the beach of the rhythm of the night Dancing to the morning light. Okay.
• 25:32
  Speaker B: Love it.
• 25:34
  Speaker A: And When a building becomes a crossroads of desire, desperation, money, and secrecy, it starts to collect more than footprints. I see that. They say the grand was a brothel and the kingpin of bootlegging in Stoughton. The kind of place where doors click shut behind you, where laughter could turn sharp in an instant, and where a uniform might need protection or pressure. Which is why the story of the police chief still lands like a pebble dropped into a quiet room. According to the legend, the man tasked with keeping order didn't simply walk away from the chaos. He died there at the Grand Hotel. In a moment so final, it stamped itself into the building's memory. Now, they say he died by suicide from one of the top windows. And afterward, the hotel never again felt empty.
• 26:35
  Speaker B: So, naturally, of course, I researched the actual account of what happened at the Grand Hotel.
• 26:41
  Speaker A: Yes. I am loving this.
• 26:43
  Speaker B: Are you? I'm so excited for you. Okay, Jen, take us to the night of the incident.
• 26:49
  Speaker A: Okay. So here's what really happened, according to research.
• 26:52
  Speaker B: According to my excellent research skills.
• 26:55
  Speaker A: Okay. All right. So. On a crisp, late November day in 1925, the streets of Stoughton were shaken by news that would linger long after the leaves had fallen.
• 27:10
  Speaker B: Yes, ma'. Am.
• 27:12
  Speaker A: Sachs Hoverson Sr. A respected local figure who served as justice of the peace, met with a tragic and sudden end on Thursday, Nov. 26, 1925, in a fall that stopped stunned the community. Sachs Hoverson had been staying at the Grand Hotel. It was a familiar place of business and social interaction for many townspeople. And on that Thursday morning, he fell from a third story window of the hotel. In circumstances that would leave neighbors and friends grappling for answers. The descent was swift and catastrophic. Those nearby who witnessed the aftermath rushed to his side. But by the time help arrived, Sachs laid unconscious and gravely injured. Despite immediate efforts to aid him, Hoverson never regained consciousness. Here's the thing. The severity of his injuries were such that he passed away later that day, casting a pall over Stoughton and prompting shock among those who knew him both personally and through his civic work. The details of the Courier Hub article conveyed not only the physical reality of the fall, but also the abruptness with which a familiar life was cut short. In other words, it seemed very unexpected that this person would throw himself out of a window in this fashion on this day.
• 28:45
  Speaker B: That's right.
• 28:46
  Speaker A: And in the. In the days that followed, mourning unfolded more quietly in homes and at funeral services. Relatives traveled from afar to pay their respects. The gathering underscored the deep personal connections Hoverson had fostered over the years, even as the community continued to reflect on the suddenness of his passing. And the official cause of death was listed as apparent suicide from falling from. From the third floor of the Grand Hotel.
• 29:13
  Speaker B: Okay, so naturally, this left me questions. Right.
• 29:21
  Speaker A: Well, the first question is the legend says he was a police officer, but you never said that he was a police officer.
• 29:29
  Speaker B: No, I said he was a justice of the peace.
• 29:31
  Speaker A: Okay, so what is the difference? That's not the same.
• 29:34
  Speaker B: Okay, it's not the same. So a police officer in 1925 was an enforcement arm, not a judicial one.
• 29:41
  Speaker A: Well, that's still the same thing. Right, Right. Still today.
• 29:44
  Speaker B: Just saying. Just saying.
• 29:45
  Speaker A: Yeah. So 1925 and 20. 25. 26. What year are we in?
• 29:50
  Speaker B: We were 26.
• 29:51
  Speaker A: All right, thank you. Thank you.
• 29:52
  Speaker B: So they patrolled the streets. The cops would. The police officer would. They responded to disturbances. They made arrests, they investigated crimes. They enforced local and state laws. Okay, what they did not do.
• 30:08
  Speaker A: All right, what didn't they do?
• 30:10
  Speaker B: Judge cases, issue legal rulings or decide guilt or innocence. Okay. Very different.
• 30:19
  Speaker A: So very different.
• 30:20
  Speaker B: The key is, in plain English, is that the justice of the peace is like a local judge, whereas a cop or a law enforcement official is just that, a law enforcement official. Right.
• 30:32
  Speaker A: When I hear justice of the peace, I think judge even today. Yeah, yeah. Justice of the peace. Okay. Very good. So was Sachs Hoverson a chief of police or was he a policeman? Was he a cop, like, ever? Yeah, like, not that I didn't find.
• 30:51
  Speaker B: So in the earliest census of 1880, he was living on his father's family farm. And then in the 1900 census, his occupation was listed as a livery business. Oh, tell me what that is. Because.
• 31:05
  Speaker A: Well, in. In the year 1900, a livery stable was a place of business that served as kind of like a hotel for horses or a parking garage for horses or carriages or wagons. And livery stables allowed people to rent horses if they needed them or rent buggies, but they also would board privately owned horses for visitors, and they often sold, trained or bred horses, essentially. Livery stables provided transportation and boarding services in an era before cars. Okay, so that's interesting. So he was.
• 31:43
  Speaker B: Interesting.
• 31:44
  Speaker A: He was a farmer, and then he was a livery stable business owner.
• 31:50
  Speaker B: I don't know if he was owner or if he would just work there.
• 31:53
  Speaker A: Okay, got it.
• 31:55
  Speaker B: Okay, here's the thing. This is what I find interesting. In the 1910 census, just 10 years later, Sachs was listed as having his own income that he was raising his family on and not listing any occupation.
• 32:12
  Speaker A: Oh, wouldn't that Be nice. So he's like independently wealthy at this point, or at least not declaring the money that he.
• 32:20
  Speaker B: Ten years later, after being a worker or an owner of a livery stable, he's all like, I'm independently wealthy now.
• 32:28
  Speaker A: So basically he needs to do a masterclass for us because I would sign up to hear his secret.
• 32:37
  Speaker B: Okay, so then in 1920, he listed his occupation on the census as a night watchman at a local warehouse.
• 32:44
  Speaker A: Okay, so a night watchman could be similar to a cop. I can see how legend would be like, oh, he was a police officer. He. Do you know what I mean? Yes, yes, because those are similar.
• 32:57
  Speaker B: However, in his 1925 obit, they described Sachs as the justice of the peace. Now, in 1925, in America, the position of justice of the peace was not a full time job, typically part time. So he could work as a justice of the peace and at the warehouse at the same time.
• 33:17
  Speaker A: Okay, so it could have been both. But he was not a police officer.
• 33:21
  Speaker B: Definitely not a police officer.
• 33:22
  Speaker A: Okay, well, thank you for clearing that up.
• 33:24
  Speaker B: I thought that was interesting because there's a lot of discrepancies in the stories. The legend versus what the actual records show.
• 33:34
  Speaker A: Okay, so is Sax are voiceless?
• 33:39
  Speaker B: I think so.
• 33:40
  Speaker A: Jennifer, tell me about that. Why? Why is Sax coming out?
• 33:44
  Speaker B: I don't know.
• 33:45
  Speaker A: Well, not. Not coming out. Why. Why is he reaching out to. Oh, maybe Jill? Is sex coming out? Let's establish that first.
• 33:51
  Speaker B: I'm coming out, so you better get this party started. He's not coming out of the closet or anything like that, but he is reaching out to us in spirit.
• 34:01
  Speaker A: Tell us more. Why?
• 34:02
  Speaker B: I don't. I don't think he killed himself, John.
• 34:05
  Speaker A: Okay, so you are making a case for homicide. Correct.
• 34:10
  Speaker B: All right, the scene of the crime.
• 34:13
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 34:14
  Speaker B: Was at the hotel that was a hotbed of activity, criminal activity, such as we discussed.
• 34:20
  Speaker A: It was a brothel. So you have prostitution. And also it was a hub for bootleggers.
• 34:26
  Speaker B: Correct.
• 34:27
  Speaker A: And what are bootleggers again?
• 34:29
  Speaker B: Bootleggers are people that transported alcohol during prohibition.
• 34:34
  Speaker A: Interesting.
• 34:36
  Speaker B: That. Or made it well.
• 34:39
  Speaker A: And we know that he had access to a livery stable with horses and carriages, so that he's basically in the transportation business.
• 34:48
  Speaker B: And he also has access to a warehouse.
• 34:51
  Speaker A: Right. And he was also making a lot of money in 1920, 1910.
• 34:58
  Speaker B: He was dependently wealthy and he had a lot of kids. So to be independently wealthy and have like a whole brood of. Of children, that was saying a lot.
• 35:08
  Speaker A: That's interesting. Although prohibition didn't start until the 1920s.
• 35:12
  Speaker B: But let me tell you. So 1925, he goes to this hotel, right?
• 35:16
  Speaker A: Right.
• 35:16
  Speaker B: The Grand Hotel.
• 35:17
  Speaker A: Hot bed.
• 35:18
  Speaker B: We know everything going on there.
• 35:20
  Speaker A: Legal activity. It's all happening.
• 35:22
  Speaker B: He lives at a location that is only three minutes away. Via walking.
• 35:32
  Speaker A: He lives three minutes away from the hotel?
• 35:34
  Speaker B: Yes. That he's spending.
• 35:36
  Speaker A: Did he have a room at the hotel?
• 35:38
  Speaker B: He did. He checked.
• 35:39
  Speaker A: Spending the night at a hotel?
• 35:41
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 35:41
  Speaker A: When he lived. Three minute. A three minute walk away.
• 35:45
  Speaker B: Correct.
• 35:45
  Speaker A: Shut up. How do.
• 35:46
  Speaker B: What according. Yes, I know.
• 35:50
  Speaker A: That's fishy. Af.
• 35:52
  Speaker B: Okay, now again, according to his obit, Sachs went to the hotel on November 24, 1925, and asked for a room.
• 36:01
  Speaker A: Okay. That's the day before he died.
• 36:03
  Speaker B: Two days before he died.
• 36:04
  Speaker A: Okay, continue.
• 36:06
  Speaker B: The paper noted that he seemed anxious and exhausted, in condition, and Sachs explained that he was very tired from writing. Now, what Writing?
• 36:16
  Speaker A: Oh, like riding a horse, not riding a book.
• 36:19
  Speaker B: Right.
• 36:19
  Speaker A: Riding a. Okay.
• 36:21
  Speaker B: Yes. Okay, now again, dude lives three minutes away.
• 36:24
  Speaker A: Right.
• 36:24
  Speaker B: Where was he writing from? What was he doing?
• 36:28
  Speaker A: Right. And why not go home if you're really tired, why go to a strange room? Interesting.
• 36:35
  Speaker B: What was he doing at the hotel? Was it sexy time? Was he having a meeting with someone? Was he delivering something? What was he doing there?
• 36:44
  Speaker A: Okay, because at this point, prohibition is in full force, and moving alcohol would have been a crime, and the criminal underbelly, this organized crime machine would have been well into place at this point in 1925.
• 37:05
  Speaker B: Exactly.
• 37:06
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 37:07
  Speaker B: Okay, again, according to the paper, Sachs rented the room that night, and the cleaning woman came the next morning, Wednesday morning, to the room, and the door was locked. So she was like, I'll give the man some time to gather his stuff. Sure.
• 37:21
  Speaker A: I like when they do that. That's better than just coming in. It's always awkward.
• 37:26
  Speaker B: You know, they never came in on me before.
• 37:28
  Speaker A: I wonder if they had those little signs. I wonder if you put a do not disturb sign on the doorknob.
• 37:34
  Speaker B: Well, they came back that same day, and this time in the afternoon, and it was still locked.
• 37:40
  Speaker A: Hmm.
• 37:41
  Speaker B: So again, the maid was like, you know what? I know this guy. I'm just gonna let him be, like, we'll charge him later. Whatevs. But then at 3am Thursday morning, another boarder reported being disturbed by an unusual commotion coming from the.
• 37:56
  Speaker A: From Sachs's room at 3am that's in the middle of the night.
• 38:01
  Speaker B: Mm.
• 38:03
  Speaker A: And then.
• 38:03
  Speaker B: And then again, another strange commotion at 6am huh? The border was bothered, but the noise at 6am was less of a noise. Less of a commotion. So he just like, let it go.
• 38:18
  Speaker A: And then 8am that same day, Sachs's body was found lying on the cement outside the hotel. Two hours before someone reported a disturbance.
• 38:28
  Speaker B: That's right. Not only that, but the injuries that were sustained during the so called fall were set extensive.
• 38:37
  Speaker A: Meaning?
• 38:38
  Speaker B: Meaning, okay, of course. Okay. He had a fractured skull, which could happen. From the.
• 38:42
  Speaker A: Okay, that could happen. Yeah, absolutely.
• 38:44
  Speaker B: Two broken ankles.
• 38:46
  Speaker A: Okay, that could happen.
• 38:48
  Speaker B: Six crushed ribs on his left side.
• 38:51
  Speaker A: Huh.
• 38:52
  Speaker B: His left lung was punctured, I'm assuming by a rib. And his right wrist was broken.
• 39:01
  Speaker A: From a third floor window.
• 39:02
  Speaker B: From a third floor window.
• 39:06
  Speaker A: Hmm. That does seem to be an awful lot of injuries.
• 39:09
  Speaker B: Agreed.
• 39:11
  Speaker A: I'm also thinking about commotion. The commotion that was heard at 3am and again at 6am on the same day that he would be found dead outside on the concrete at 8am Suicide doesn't cause a commotion.
• 39:27
  Speaker B: Another thing that is suspicious to me is why would the cleaning lady let him slide in this room for so long? He had the room for the night. This is all of Wednesday. He didn't check out. And that wasn't cause for alarm. It wasn't until they found his body Thursday morning that they were like, oh, I should have unlocked that door. Right. That seems weird to me because he must have had a really tight relationship with the hotel.
• 39:55
  Speaker A: He must have, yeah. He must have known the people there. This must have been a regular occurrence for him. I imagine it had to be. He had a relationship with the people who work there, is what it seems like. And not only that, why do you think? Because you already alluded to this. Why do you think he did need a room? Why do you think he checked a room when he literally lived a couple doors down?
• 40:20
  Speaker B: I intuitively feel like he was delivering something to the hotel.
• 40:27
  Speaker A: He was delivering something. Do you think he was supposed to be meeting people to deliver something?
• 40:31
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 40:33
  Speaker A: I do, too. I do, too. I think that the hotel, being a hub for criminal activity, was his meeting point for dropping off what he was delivering, which I believe to be illegal. You know, a liquor, which was illegal.
• 40:52
  Speaker B: And the reports of his condition when checking in was that he was exhausted from writing. So he was writing from a long way. So he was trans. He was transporting something, if not just himself. There was a reason for him to be exhausted from writing.
• 41:07
  Speaker A: But not only exhausted, they also said nervous.
• 41:10
  Speaker B: Yes, they did.
• 41:11
  Speaker A: So for some reason, he was nervous about meeting whomever he was meeting.
• 41:16
  Speaker B: Mm.
• 41:17
  Speaker A: Now, why would a person be nervous? Let's say that you are an illegal rum runner and you have been writing all day or whatever with this illegal stuff, and you get to the meeting point. Why would you be nervous if the stuff.
• 41:36
  Speaker B: If the stuff wasn't of par. Quality?
• 41:39
  Speaker A: Okay. That's one reason.
• 41:41
  Speaker B: If there was less stuff that I brought, that was than expected.
• 41:45
  Speaker A: Okay. All right. That makes sense.
• 41:49
  Speaker B: So, like, if they paid for a certain amount and I only had, like, three fourths of it.
• 41:54
  Speaker A: Okay. All right. And if you're the Mafia, that would be a big deal.
• 42:00
  Speaker B: You don't play that.
• 42:01
  Speaker A: Yeah, that would be a big deal.
• 42:03
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 42:05
  Speaker A: Huh. Yeah. Just one more thing. I also feel like this probably wasn't the first time.
• 42:12
  Speaker B: Oh, a hundred percent.
• 42:13
  Speaker A: You know what I mean? Like, you don't. Not even the mob kills people after one transgression.
• 42:18
  Speaker B: Oh.
• 42:19
  Speaker A: Do you know what I mean? Like, I think this was an ongoing situation, maybe where he had been given a warning in the past. Because the Mafia wants people who are doing this work, even if they're being cheated. You know what I'm saying? Like, the first time they get cheated, they don't kill you. No, they send a warning.
• 42:37
  Speaker B: Right. I. You know, I am not familiar with the 1925 happenings in the mob, but I do, I do, I do think that you're onto something. I do think this was not the first time he ran the alcohol. I do. I think that he has a longstanding reputation for running the alcohol. And I do think he has a long standing relationship with the Grand Hotel. Why do you think, with all the information that was in the paper that I was able to get, did they still call this a suicide as opposed to a homicide?
• 43:14
  Speaker A: Well, when the coroner investigated, it was clear, at least from the evidence, that the room had been locked from the inside, meaning nobody could get in. And also, there was no signs of a struggle anywhere in the room. So those were the two indicators that he must have done it himself.
• 43:37
  Speaker B: That and it clears up a lot of questions. Right, sure. He killed himself. He had a rough day, jumped off. Who cares? You know what I mean? It's like everything else is answered at that point, right?
• 43:49
  Speaker A: No more work to do. No more paperwork. No more investigating. No more looking into criminals.
• 43:56
  Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Right, Exactly.
• 43:59
  Speaker A: At a time when police were. And investigators were often bribed, as we said before.
• 44:05
  Speaker B: Right.
• 44:07
  Speaker A: Okay, Jill, so put a button on it for us. Now. Why do you think Sachs is asking for a voice?
• 44:15
  Speaker B: He was murdered and this killing didn't go investigated. They just were like, ah, he killed himself.
• 44:23
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 44:25
  Speaker B: There are so many inconsistencies with the story. That's still being told today about his death and his life, that he's, like, ringing the bell. Like, none of this is true, folks. I was never a cop. I did not kill myself.
• 44:39
  Speaker A: Okay? Wow. So do you think that the story about the cop, the legend about the police officer who killed himself, that scene, you think Sachs. That's the legend. Okay. That legend got twisted away from the truth?
• 45:00
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 45:01
  Speaker A: And he's saying, that's not what happened. That's not how I wanna be remembered.
• 45:05
  Speaker B: And I do think he's still haunting the Grand Hotel.
• 45:08
  Speaker A: That was my next question. Do you?
• 45:10
  Speaker B: I do. Do you?
• 45:11
  Speaker A: I do. I really do. I really, really do.
• 45:14
  Speaker B: It felt haunted driving around that town. Yes.
• 45:16
  Speaker A: Yes, it did. Yes, it did. Can we go over the hits?
• 45:19
  Speaker B: Oh, my God. I'm so excited about your hits.
• 45:22
  Speaker A: Yeah, I'm a little confused. Can you describe what the X's meant? The three X's? I have no idea. How is that a hit here?
• 45:30
  Speaker B: Oh, my God. Jennifer, in any cartoon ever, if you wanted to display liquor or alcohol in a cartoon, you have a bottle with three X's on it.
• 45:44
  Speaker A: That's insane. You're right. I didn't even think of that.
• 45:47
  Speaker B: I thought of it as soon as I found the story.
• 45:50
  Speaker A: You know what is so funny? Because it's like, nondescript liquor in a bottle.
• 45:55
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 45:55
  Speaker A: Which is what they were drinking. Yes, yes. It was whatever they could make. Oh, my God. That is insane. What a great hit from Spirit. Like, that's really clever.
• 46:07
  Speaker B: That is super clever.
• 46:09
  Speaker A: It would have been better if they put it on a bottle for me, so I would have had some context. But seriously, good on you, though.
• 46:15
  Speaker B: That's amazing.
• 46:16
  Speaker A: I can't believe that. Okay. Jenny was feeling farms surrounding a small city.
• 46:21
  Speaker B: Literally, the town is surrounded by small, privately owned farms.
• 46:25
  Speaker A: Okay, good point. Murder. Obviously, we have a murder here, but what's interesting is the fact that I was picking up on a murder before I even knew the story of the suicide.
• 46:35
  Speaker B: Exactly.
• 46:37
  Speaker A: So I can see how that's significant.
• 46:39
  Speaker B: That and there are murders happening all around the area because of bootlegging, which is another hit that you picked up on, not just here, but in the Midwest. Right?
• 46:49
  Speaker A: In the other states.
• 46:50
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 46:51
  Speaker A: Yeah. Interesting. Mob vibes. I think we described that already. The organized crime in Stoughton and in other places, the east side of town, having haunted vibes. Tell me about that girl.
• 47:03
  Speaker B: That's where the. The hotel is. Is on the east side of town. On Main Street.
• 47:07
  Speaker A: No, that's where it was. Because it's not there anymore. Right.
• 47:10
  Speaker B: The Building's there, but it's not the Grand Hotel.
• 47:12
  Speaker A: Okay, very good. And where did Sachs live?
• 47:15
  Speaker B: That's what I believe. I believe the building's still there. You can still see it, like, in the street, but you don't know that it was the Grand Hotel.
• 47:22
  Speaker A: And the location where Saks lived is just still three minutes away.
• 47:25
  Speaker B: Right. Jennifer.
• 47:27
  Speaker A: What?
• 47:27
  Speaker B: Jennifer. James, shut up right now. Okay, so his last census, the 1920 census, I put in his address into Google Maps. His address doesn't really exist anymore, as far as I can tell. But you know where it did take me? Where? To the East Lutheran Church. The east side Lutheran Church?
• 47:49
  Speaker A: Are you kidding me?
• 47:50
  Speaker B: No. And we were at the east side Lutheran Cemetery.
• 47:54
  Speaker A: Are you kidding me? Okay, so you got his address from your research, you put it in our modern Google Maps, and it took you to the Lutheran East Church.
• 48:05
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 48:06
  Speaker A: And that's basically where we were, at the cemetery next to the Lutheran East Church.
• 48:10
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 48:11
  Speaker A: Holy crap. Holy crap. And old Norse name is Sax Hoverson. A Norse name. Jill.
• 48:18
  Speaker B: Yes, it is, as a matter of fact. Wow.
• 48:22
  Speaker A: Wow. Crazy. Both his parents were born in Norway. Shut up right now.
• 48:27
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 48:28
  Speaker A: I bet he was hot.
• 48:30
  Speaker B: Sounds hot. That's a cool name.
• 48:32
  Speaker A: That is a cool name. That is a cool name.
• 48:35
  Speaker B: All right.
• 48:36
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 48:38
  Speaker B: So, Jennifer, our listeners are probably asking, like, why is this story relevant today? Hook it up. Why is it relative today?
• 48:48
  Speaker A: It's relevant today. Shut up. Because Sachs. If Sachs didn't kill himself, but he was murdered, it reframes the story entirely. It's really not a personal tragedy, as it's remembered, but more of, like, systematic silence. And that still has weight today. Suicide stories, especially in the 1920s, were wrapped in silence and quiet blame and euphemisms. And families were discouraged from asking questions. And newspapers softened the language of what happened, and the community just moved on. But murder and a murder tied to the illegal activity of bootlegging, that's something different entirely. There was power. Power operating in the shadows. And the law enforce enforcement, they weren't just enforcing laws. They were colliding with organized crime a lot of times. So the truth just may have been intentionally buried, Jill. Or intentionally overlooked, if not buried. And if Sachs was killed, then what we inherited wasn't closure. It was essentially a cover story.
• 49:54
  Speaker B: That's right. And this is something else. It exposes how respectable towns that aren't looked at as, like, Cubs of crime and criminal activity could say, like, that would never happen here. Like Stoughton. Like Stoughton. Mm.
• 50:15
  Speaker A: Don't we see that again? And Again and again, a lot of the places that we go to, they don't really want to look. And this is. I'm not saying this about Stoughton, but a lot of the places that we go to, people don't want to acknowledge what really happened there, if it was unpleasant or ugly. Do you know what I mean?
• 50:30
  Speaker B: I know exactly what you mean.
• 50:32
  Speaker A: It's so much easier just to not look at it. But you know what, Jill? The spirits brought us there. The spirits are uncovering this, not us.
• 50:39
  Speaker B: Right? And I think that there is real power in exposing without shame just the factual things that were happening in that town and around the country at the time. Like, it's not a shame on them. It's just what was happening. It's just what was.
• 50:59
  Speaker A: Own it, learn from it, Move on.
• 51:01
  Speaker B: Correct. Love it. Okay, let's get to the quiet truth.
• 51:08
  Speaker A: Okay. This isn't about proving murder. We don't have proof of that, Jill.
• 51:14
  Speaker B: No, no, We're. We're psychics, not documentarians.
• 51:17
  Speaker A: That is correct.
• 51:18
  Speaker B: Although I am impressive.
• 51:21
  Speaker A: Right? It's about asking who benefited from the version that we were given, who was harmed by it? And why does this story still have energy today, girl? And honestly, that's exactly the kind of question that keeps spirits and stories from fading away.
• 51:45
  Speaker B: That's right.
• 51:48
  Speaker A: Keep them coming, spirits. Keep them coming.
• 51:52
  Speaker B: Guess what, you guys. We have 215. We have two. Two very special reviews to share with you. Jennifer, hook it up.
• 52:04
  Speaker A: We now have 215 reviews on Apple Organic reviews.
• 52:10
  Speaker B: Like, real reviews from real listeners. Like, oh, my God.
• 52:14
  Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you. Our next threshold, our next next benchmark that we're trying to make is 220. So keep them coming. If you listen, if you love us. But let me read about our Latest written reviews. 1 month ago. 3 weeks ago. Sorry, we have one from dear friend from our Patreon group, Lena. Aw, I'm gonna read Lena. It would be an understatement to say that Jennifer and Jill of Common Mystics are a staple podcast in my life. The stories are a beautiful rabbit hole of history. Personal stories of the voiceless and hilarious banter between Jen and Jill. My soul is delighted with every podcast release. Being a four patron member is well worth the small investment to keep their stories coming. Cheers to another year of Common Mystics.
• 53:11
  Speaker B: Lena A. Lena, thank you so much.
• 53:15
  Speaker A: For those kind words.
• 53:17
  Speaker B: We'll talk to you tomorrow and we'll tell you how much we appreciate you.
• 53:21
  Speaker A: Yes, Lena's talking about Tier 4. Come and join us. For all of the extras. And then we have another one from an unknown reviewer. PM2218 fave podcast. I've been listening for a few years now and this is a favorite podcast. I a little woo, a little history, a lot entertaining. The sisters are so fun and the stories are always interesting. Thank you so, so much. You guys really don't understand how much this warms our heart and keeps us going every day. Thank you.
• 53:55
  Speaker B: Literally, literally. Thank you guys so, so much.
• 53:58
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 53:58
  Speaker B: Okay, more community announcements. As always, I am giving readings, so please email us@common mysticsmail.com so you can schedule your reading today, whether it be tarot or mediumship. I would get to meet you and to read for you. Also, my sister, the incredible Jennifer James is in. Yes, you are incredible. Is in the middle of one of her, I guess like fourth, fifth, sixth class sessions.
• 54:27
  Speaker A: I think it's our fifth. My fifth psychic development class is currently happening right now and the next one will be offered in spring. You can email us. Email me at commonmysticsmail.com to learn all about it. I'm so happy to share.
• 54:45
  Speaker B: If you don't want to wait for spring and you need some one on one mentorship, that's Jennifer's J Jam. She is so good at understanding the way you learn specifically through the assessments that she specifically created for developing your psychic ability. So please reach out to us. Whether it be for readings, mentorship or for class information. We are so excited to service you in this way. Not dirty.
• 55:10
  Speaker A: Not dirty. Not dirty. It sounds dirty, but it's not. That's not what we do.
• 55:14
  Speaker B: That's not what I meant.
• 55:15
  Speaker A: No, this is not on the theme.
• 55:17
  Speaker B: Of instead of service, I'll provide these services for you. There we go.
• 55:21
  Speaker A: That's better.
• 55:22
  Speaker B: There you go.
• 55:23
  Speaker A: Dirty. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Jill, for that. Yeah.
• 55:26
  Speaker B: All right. Also, Jen, you and I have been kicking around the idea of doing a worldwide group meditation session.
• 55:37
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 55:37
  Speaker B: And so what we wanna do is there's so much stuff happening in the world from Minnesota to Iran to the Ukraine situation still. And we are feeling vulnerable and helpless and we wanna participate in creating a better, safer, more peaceful world. So we are gonna set an intention and then one night we are going to get together and post a link for whoever wants to join us to meditate on the intention of peace and raising the world's vibration to get together and to do that for about 10 minutes. Stay tuned. I'll be posting on our, our socials when that's gonna happen. I'm thinking, and I didn't talk to Jennifer about this, but I'm hoping for Sunday the 8th at 7pm oh, wow.
• 56:26
  Speaker A: That's coming right up, isn't it?
• 56:28
  Speaker B: It's coming right up, and that's what I'm hoping for.
• 56:30
  Speaker A: All right, That'll be good.
• 56:32
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 56:32
  Speaker A: To join us.
• 56:33
  Speaker B: Yeah. It's a workday for us, so we can get together and join us and let's see if we can put an end to some of this hurting around the world.
• 56:41
  Speaker A: Aw. Love it. All right, I'll be there.
• 56:44
  Speaker B: Love you guys so much.
• 56:46
  Speaker A: All right. Love you, Jill.
• 56:47
  Speaker B: Love you, Jen. Bye. This has been a common Mystics Media Production editing done by Yokai Audio, Kalamazoo, Michigan.