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EP48 - Minnesota Mysteries & Crazy Stories · Oh And One More Thing

0:34
Hey, I'm Brian, welcome to one one more thing.
0:37
Well, hey, Brian, I'm Rob. I know you are, Rob.
0:39
I know, right? You know, this is the only show
0:42
where lakes are cold, the accents are strong, and the
0:45
mysteries are well, well, they're aggressively Midwestern.
0:47
Yeah, they are. So we're coming to you.
0:49
Live. Well, OK, maybe not live, but we
0:52
are alive. We're dead.
0:54
I mean from the land of 10,000 lakes.
0:57
Well, technically more like 11,800 and 42, but who's
1:00
counting besides that one guy in the DNR?
1:02
Right, and that's his job. So, you know, I was thinking the
1:06
other day, because you know, a lot of times they come on here,
1:08
we ask how was your day, what was going on?
1:09
We talked blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
1:11
We talked about dinners and I remember a couple weeks ago,
1:13
Cinco de Mayo. What did you have for Cinco de
1:15
Mayo? Oh, we had tacos.
1:17
Nice. We had Taco pizza, OK, and I
1:19
thought, OK, so we do that and Saint Patty's Day, we have
1:22
something Irish. OK, right.
1:24
Corned beef and cabbage, right? Exactly.
1:25
But why isn't there ever like, a middle-aged dad day?
1:28
There is. What is it?
1:29
It's Father's Day. No, it's not Because look,
1:31
there's Mother's Day. And when we do a Mother's Day,
1:33
we buy flowers, we make him breakfast in bed, we treat them.
1:37
We treat like the Queens they are because they're moms, right?
1:39
Grill. No, that's Father's Day where we
1:41
grill. We spend all day with the kids.
1:44
And also I want to do is sit in the wall, sit on the couch and
1:46
watch U.S. Open golf.
1:47
But no. OK, I think you have a warped
1:49
sense of what Father's Day it really is.
1:51
What do you do? No, I'm kidding.
1:52
What? Do you do on Father's Day?
1:54
Oh, we just sit around, we play games.
1:55
OK, well that's I grill. OK, it's you.
1:57
We. Eat.
1:58
Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah.
1:59
Usually we're at the cabin, so it's whatever's happening at the
2:02
cabin at the time. Sure, I'm just going with at
2:04
this point 'cause there's no major holidays in August, I'm
2:06
just calling in August. Let's go 12th as middle-aged Dad
2:09
Day. August 12th middle-aged dad day.
2:12
No, we should look that up. This random date.
2:14
Let's look it up right now, all right?
2:22
OK, what'd you find? OK so I've just looked it up and
2:24
there isn't actually a middle-aged dad's day.
2:27
It's it just refers to Father's Day on 3rd Sunday of June.
2:32
So I think we can go with what did you say, August 12th, August
2:34
12th, August 12th. Middle-aged dad's.
2:36
Day we're in. We're in.
2:37
I'm doing it. I'm.
2:38
In it's on my calendar. I'm just watching sports all
2:40
day. There you go.
2:40
Love it. Hey, what's a ghost's favorite?
2:44
Dessert. I don't know what ice cream.
2:47
I love that. I'd always say ice cream, you
2:49
know? What you know we can do on
2:50
August 12th, we can do a whole episode of nothing but dad
2:52
jokes. No, wait, we already did that.
2:53
We did that. Dad joke #2?
2:55
There you go. Yeah, 'cause there's more dad
2:57
jokes and, you know, that's funny to us.
2:59
I think it is. Yeah, dad jokes dosekis.
3:03
With the dosekis, yes, I like that.
3:06
In I'd love it. So have you ever seen a ghost?
3:08
Yeah, once, I said. UFTA, you did not.
3:11
Listen, if a spirit of fears in your ice fishing shack, you're
3:14
allowed at least one UFTA that's in the Minnesota Constitution
3:17
Ocean. God, that's fake.
3:19
You made that. Up.
3:20
No. Maybe.
3:20
That you don't ice fish? No, I'm pretty sure that's not
3:23
in the Minnesota Constitution either.
3:25
No, and I don't ice fish definitely you know but I but
3:28
it's I I think it is in there. I mean right between hot dishes
3:30
of personality and you must wave Thank you when someone lets you
3:33
merge do. You do that.
3:34
Thank you. Bye.
3:36
Oh. I do totally, yeah, Thank you.
3:37
And and then usually people don't give me the your number
3:39
one sign. Yeah, you are #1 and Speaking of
3:44
things that are deeply Minnesotan and mildly
3:47
unsettling, today we're going to talk about Minnesota mysteries.
3:52
The weird ones, the spooky ones, and the.
3:56
Wait, what do you mean that just disappeared?
3:59
One, I like that. That's right.
4:00
We're going to dig into the unexplained mysteries and
4:03
stories of Minnesota, from haunted forests where even the
4:06
mosquitoes seem judgmental to small towns where everyone
4:09
swears something strange happened.
4:12
Because nothing says this terrifying paranormal encounter
4:15
like, Oh yeah, there's a glowing figure in the woods.
4:18
But you know, we don't want to bother anyone about it.
4:21
It's probably just passing through.
4:22
That's it's fine, fine and. That's the thing.
4:26
You'd think Minnesota Mysteries would be even more dramatic, but
4:28
no. Even our gulfs are like, oh
4:30
gosh, sorry to haunt you. Didn't mean to startle you
4:33
there. I'll just rattle these chains.
4:35
It'd be a little quieter. You betcha, right?
4:39
But but dramatic they are. And just a quick disclaimer, we
4:46
are not experts. Oh, not even a little.
4:48
Not even a little. We're just two middle-aged dads
4:51
with microphones and questionable amount of coffee.
4:53
Lots of coffee. And a deep respect for stories
4:56
that start with. OK so this is going to sound
4:59
weird but. Which, by the way, is how every
5:01
good Minnesota mystery begins right right after so my cousin's
5:05
neighbour's uncle. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
5:08
All right, So you ready? I'm ready.
5:10
Let's go. Here we go.
5:10
Bring it. Known for our 10,000 lakes.
5:13
You mean 11,840? Two Well, exactly.
5:16
Our brutal winters and Minnesota?
5:18
Nice. Our northern state heights?
5:20
A surprisingly dark and mysterious undercurrent.
5:24
I'm intrigued. Beneath the frozen rivers and
5:27
the quiet forests are tales of unexplained artifacts, chilling
5:32
murders, phantom ships and historical riddles that still
5:37
spark debate. Dum dum, dum dum.
5:40
We really need that sound effect.
5:41
Yeah, see, I didn't pick the sound effect bill this year,
5:43
right? What I know exactly, our first
5:47
mystery is the Kensington Runestone, a Viking hoax.
5:51
Or proof. Oh, I've never heard of this
5:53
one. You haven't heard of?
5:54
This not no this. Is the big deal OK?
5:58
It's in Alexandria. Well, tell to tell.
6:00
So in 1898, a Swedish immigrant, Olaf Ullman, of course.
6:04
Now that's his name. I'm not making this up.
6:06
Of course it's Olaf. Why wouldn't it be?
6:07
Right near Alexandria, Minnesota, unearthed a 200 LB
6:11
slab of stone etched with runic inscriptions.
6:14
OK. The artifact, known as the
6:16
Kensington Runestone, appeared to describe a group of
6:20
Scandinavian explorers traveling through the region in 1362.
6:24
Oh, that's early. More than a century before
6:26
Columbus reached the Americas. Yeah, History class coming back
6:28
to me. That's yeah, that's way early.
6:30
If authentic, it would rewrite North American history.
6:33
So scholars quickly called it a hoax, arguing that linguistic
6:37
inconsistencies and modern phrasing suggests fabrication.
6:42
Others insist weathering patterns and rune style indicate
6:46
authenticity. To this day, the debate rages
6:48
between believers and skeptics. So was it an elaborate immigrant
6:53
era prank or evidence of Vikings travel deep in the American
6:55
Midwest? No consensus has ever been
6:58
reached, really. Regardless, it has become a
7:00
significant cultural artifact in Minnesota, inspiring local pride
7:04
and affecting regional tourism, including influencing the name
7:08
of the Minnesota Vikings football team.
7:09
Really. Oh, I like that so.
7:12
That's in Alexandria, MN, and I've seen it.
7:17
We go, we've go. Of course, I go there all the
7:18
time with a cabin there, right? So let me get this straight back
7:21
in 1362 is when they think that that's when it came from and all
7:25
that. So I'm guessing they had a fine
7:26
like that so-called land bridge back up in Alaska and meander
7:29
down to Minnesota at that point. They would have had to somehow.
7:32
I don't know how the unless you came through the Great Lakes
7:34
right and then started on foot. I don't.
7:36
Know, I guess I I don't know my history well enough to go back
7:40
to 1362, but I mean, they had ships back then, right?
7:43
Yes, they had ships back. Then I mean in Game of Thrones
7:46
they had ships back then, so I. Even had ships in the early one
7:50
hundreds. Oh, really?
7:51
But enough to cross the ocean though, I mean.
7:53
OK, that, yeah, maybe not, but yeah, OK.
7:56
But yeah, they were doing lots of exploring.
7:58
Yeah, well. That that's kind of, I did not
8:00
know that. That's great.
8:06
Hey Brian, I was just outside trying to enjoy the yard and the
8:09
mosquitoes are driving me nuts. Oh, you got to call Spring Green
8:11
for that. Rob Spring Green I thought they
8:13
just did my fertilizer and weed control.
8:15
Oh, they do that and our lawn looks amazing because of it, but
8:18
their mosquito control is a game changer.
8:21
We can actually use our patio. You know how bad the state bird
8:24
gets in Minnesota? I'm.
8:26
Pretty sure that's the loon, but point taken.
8:28
So they do lawns and mosquitoes. And total home pest control.
8:31
My house is completely mouse free.
8:33
They even do liquid aerations and lawn insect control.
8:36
Wow, I'm only using them for half of what I could be.
8:38
You should fix that. Go to springdashgreen.com and
8:41
get a personalized quote today. That's spring dashgreen.com.
8:45
And tell them. Oh, and one more thing, Sanchea.
8:49
OK up next on our spooky journey, the Grey Cloud Island
8:53
murders. What?
8:54
I know, never heard of this one either.
8:55
No. So on a quiet stretch of land in
8:57
the Mississippi River lies a grey cloud island.
9:00
OK, this is located near Hastings, MN.
9:02
OK, so when I was looking this up, I originally first thought
9:05
it was like way up north. OK, come to think, it's right
9:08
over there by Hastings. Which is really close to.
9:10
Us. It's not very far away.
9:11
Not at all. So it's very scenic.
9:13
And though it is scenic and sparsely populated, it gained a
9:15
dark notoriety due to a string of unsolved disappearances and
9:19
violent crimes over the decades. It's isolation, dense woods, and
9:24
limited access routes have fueled speculation.
9:27
Locals have whispered about cult activity, serial predators, and
9:31
organized crime connections. Though none have ever
9:34
conclusively been proven, the island's eerie quiet and lack of
9:38
closure in several cases have cemented its reputation as one
9:40
of the state's most unsettling. So the incident Edward Phelan
9:45
and John Hayes were settlers living on Greg Hod Island
9:49
following a dispute. Hayes went missing and evidence
9:53
of a violent struggle was found near their home cover up.
9:57
Phelan claimed he ferried Hayes across the river and suggested
10:02
Native Americans or someone else killed him, but witnesses saw
10:06
Phelan alone in his canoe. OK, so this is I'm so I'm
10:10
assuming this somewhere in the 1800s, right?
10:12
Yes, if you read down further, OK.
10:15
That would that would take effort on my part, but OK, so
10:17
that makes sense. So that's probably a A at the
10:19
time, a probable conclusion. Could have happened to the
10:23
shore, OK. I'm with you.
10:24
All right, So what did they find out?
10:26
So based on witness testimony and forensic evidence, that's
10:29
blood and the hair that they found authorities believe Phelan
10:32
committed. The murder?
10:33
Oh, Phelan, bad boy. Phelan was jailed in Prairie du
10:37
Chain du Chain du Chen du Chen in late 1839.
10:41
He later returned was elected a Delegate of Minnesota
10:45
Territorial Convention in 1848. Of course, right.
10:49
I mean, why wouldn't? He Why wouldn't he?
10:51
But fled to California in 1850 after being indicted for
10:55
perjury, where he was murdered by his own companions.
10:59
I guess. I guess full circle.
11:02
I guess karma. Karma's coming to get you,
11:04
buddy. Wow.
11:06
That's just a weird yeah story. That's that's yeah, I guess I
11:11
don't. Even know what to think.
11:11
About it I know where I guess most murderers aren't exactly
11:14
happy go lucky kind of stories, but.
11:16
Right you are. You are just like, hey, guess
11:19
what? I murdered somebody, right?
11:21
No, that's not happening. But you know, it's funny.
11:22
The lie gets deeper and deeper and deeper.
11:24
Yes, that seems to be consistent.
11:26
So always tell the truth, people, right?
11:28
Next up, you take it. OK, the :) killings and the
11:31
Mississippi River. Oh, there's a lot of river.
11:33
Yeah. Wow.
11:34
Now it's crazy. I remember the Smiley case :)
11:38
killings. Hmm.
11:39
Well, let me read a little bit, maybe it'll pop back into my
11:41
memory, because I don't. Well, you know how young.
11:43
You are, yeah. There's I almost.
11:47
You almost had me. That was that was good.
11:50
That was good. All right.
11:52
So the five :) killing. So throughout the nineteen 1990s
11:56
and 2000s, a disturbing pattern emerged in cities along the
11:59
Mississippi River, including the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and
12:02
Saint Paul. Young college aged men vanished
12:05
after nights out drinking. Their bodies were later found in
12:08
rivers. I do remember this.
12:10
Do you? I do.
12:10
It is coming back to me now. Yeah.
12:12
Some investigators linked the cases to what became known as
12:14
the :) murder theory, noting graffiti smiley faces near
12:18
recovery sites. Law enforcement largely
12:20
dismissed the theory, attributing deaths to accidental
12:23
drownings. Yet families and independent
12:25
investigators argue the similarities are too strong to
12:28
ignore, such as similar victim profiles, late night
12:32
disappearances, minimal signs of struggle, and bodies found in
12:36
the water. No coordinated conspiracy has
12:38
ever been proven, but the clustering of deaths continues
12:41
to spark debate, right? It seems like it's ATV show,
12:45
doesn't it? It's totally on CSI Crimes or
12:48
whatever those shows are. It's totally like that.
12:51
Yeah, absolutely. So the the the key aspects of
12:53
the theory is the victims targeted individuals were young,
12:57
white, athletic and academically successful males often found in
13:02
rivers and and lakes after vanishing after nights out.
13:06
A significant number of deaths occurred in the Midwest,
13:08
specifically mentioning Lacrosse, Wisconsin and
13:11
locations along the Mississippi River, according to the
13:14
Milwaukee Magazine and Oxygen. That I guess there was some big
13:17
documentary about this on the Oxygen channel.
13:20
OK, that's that sounds like something they would.
13:21
Yeah, it's totally what? They would air.
13:23
Yeah. The evidence is Detectives Kevin
13:25
Gannon and Anthony Duart found graffiti and smiley faces,
13:29
sometimes with horns, near some, but not all of the drowning
13:33
sites. They also allege the presence of
13:35
GHB, which is a date rape drug in some victims.
13:38
The :) killings link. The detectives believe there
13:41
are. These are not accidents, but
13:42
cases of victims being abducted, murdered and later dropped into
13:46
the water. Oh chilling right, so the FBI
13:50
position on this is they stated there is no evidence to support
13:54
that these tragic deaths are linked or caused by a single
13:58
serial killer or group of killers.
14:01
Most cases have been determined to be accidental drownings
14:04
linked to binge drinking and proximity to dangerous
14:07
waterways. Many of the incidents are still
14:09
considered part of an urban legend, although the theory has
14:13
been explained in media such as the :) killer, A hunt for
14:17
justice on the Oxygen network. Like I just said, yeah.
14:20
This is interesting to me because I find it very odd that
14:23
all of the same type of murders happen.
14:26
They all have the same mark left behind and they can't link
14:30
anything together. That seems just odd to me.
14:32
Doesn't it seem odd if they, if they was that sort of a link
14:35
that you could visually see, Right.
14:37
I mean, we've watched enough crime shows on TV to say these
14:39
are always linked. Oh, of course, of course, right.
14:43
They always work out at the end and the detective always figures
14:45
it out, right? What's going on here?
14:47
How does? That work out Now, there's
14:49
obviously some cases in the world that don't get figured
14:51
out. Cold cases, right?
14:52
Yeah. And this is obviously one of
14:54
them. That's interesting.
14:55
Yeah. And, and especially, especially
14:56
the marks. I mean, even even if it wasn't
14:58
the same person, but the fact that there's maybe copycats like
15:01
leaving the same mark, I mean, I can't imagine all these guys got
15:05
so wasted they just fell into the river and died.
15:07
But it happened to be a :) by them.
15:09
That's so coincidental. That's that's weird, but.
15:12
You know, there are so many of those copycat things out there,
15:15
the wide media attention on this that, you know, somebody saw,
15:18
hey :) somebody died. I'm going to go paint a picture
15:21
over. There.
15:21
Yeah, that's weird, man. It is crazy you.
15:23
Know it also reminds me of I watch a documentary recently and
15:25
then Hulu I if you remember the the reporter in Iowa in Mason
15:29
City that Jody who's in truth. So I know of the story, but at
15:33
the time, no, I don't remember happening.
15:35
Not really. The same, the same, but
15:37
different. I mean, she just disappeared on
15:38
her way to work one morning. She was a morning reporter and
15:40
got called in and just never showed up, right?
15:42
And for the longest time, there's just just dead ends.
15:45
Dead ends that ends well in the last couple years, according to
15:48
this documentary a couple years ago I watched that there's more
15:51
conclusive evidence that something have happened.
15:53
And they actually wound up going to a site pretty close to us out
15:56
here just West of us, I think out in Waverly.
15:58
OK, well, they dug up in somebody'd farms.
16:00
They thought they had enough evidence to find basically her
16:03
buried there and they they never did find anything.
16:06
But as the time's gone on, there's been more and more leads
16:08
to find your result results of the case, which is right.
16:10
It's kind of interesting. So it just those kind of
16:12
documentaries like I'm not big into like like the whole murder
16:14
podcast are a huge thing right now and and murder document.
16:17
I'm not really into those, but that those kind of stories are
16:19
very intriguing to me. Like that just how that process
16:22
works, right? You know, to me, that's very
16:24
interesting. I should have been a detective
16:26
in a previous life or? You still can.
16:28
I still can. Yeah, at my age, I can
16:29
definitely change. You could do anything you want
16:31
at your age. Absolutely I can, yeah.
16:33
All. Right, let's go to the next one.
16:34
All right, so the next one is the Phantom Ship of Lake
16:37
Superior. I like ship stories.
16:39
Have you ever heard of this? I have not.
16:41
In the icy waters near Duluth, sailors and locals have long
16:45
told stories of ghost ships appearing in the heavy fog.
16:49
So like the Edmund Fitzgerald. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
16:52
But let's, let's find out, shall we?
16:53
Yes. One frequent sighted vessel is
16:56
the William A Irving, now a museum ship.
16:59
Have you ever been there? I have not.
17:00
I've. I've been there.
17:01
But we've didn't go in because the family didn't want to go
17:05
inside the ship. But it's pretty eerie.
17:07
The legends often blur facts and fiction.
17:10
Sightings usually involve phantom lights gliding across
17:14
Lake Superior before vanishing into the mist.
17:17
This is spooky. Yeah, right.
17:19
Yeah. Lake Superior itself has a grim
17:21
maritime history, swallowing ships without warning.
17:25
The freezing waters preserve the wrecks and, some say, spirits.
17:32
Whether atmospheric illusion or something stranger, the Ghost
17:36
Ship stories persist. So one such legend of the sea,
17:39
the s s Bannockburn, known as the Flying Dutchman of the
17:43
Inland Seas, the Bannockburn disappeared on November 21st,
17:46
1902 during its voyage from Fort William to Georgian Bay.
17:49
Sailors have reported seeing an apparition of a freighter
17:52
sailing through storms, often with no crew or after its
17:56
official sinking. Despite being sturdy steel held
17:59
freighter, the ship vanished without a trace.
18:02
Leave an only a ghost story behind.
18:05
Interesting, right? Right now.
18:07
How? How can there?
18:08
How can there be no trace? I mean somebody like stole it
18:11
and repainted it and called it good.
18:13
No, just probably saying to the deepest portion of Lake Superior
18:16
because it is the deepest lake. It is.
18:17
It is very. Deep.
18:18
So doing a little bit more reading on this and what they
18:21
say is some of those illusions can be explained because of the
18:25
mist and the fog plays a little reflection off of the water and
18:30
casts it the reflection up into the mist.
18:33
This is what the the link I was reading about said.
18:37
Yeah. So I don't know the truth behind
18:39
that. There's a lot of physics in that
18:41
scenario and where the lighting has to be just perfect and
18:44
everything. And so you can see those
18:46
reflections up in the mist and it looks like a ship.
18:49
OK, I get that. That's what I've.
18:50
Heard that's how you make sense of all of this, I think.
18:52
Right? Right.
18:53
OK, I get it, Especially back in the early 1900s.
18:56
Right. You couldn't explain it then,
18:57
right? Right.
18:58
So. Have you ever heard of the
18:59
Glensheen Mansion murders? Absolutely have.
19:01
OK, so I've heard of them as well, but I don't know a lot of
19:03
detail so this intrigues me. OK, My my daughter went to
19:06
school up in Duluth, University of Minnesota Duluth UMD go
19:09
Bulldogs and they did lots of tours there.
19:11
Yeah. Did you tour the Glensheen?
19:12
I did not. But she did.
19:13
You didn't. I did not.
19:15
Oh. I've toured the Glensheen.
19:16
I should do that sometime. I love it about the mergers.
19:18
Love Duluth? That's a great time.
19:19
Yeah, it is. Yeah.
19:20
Anyway, the Grand Glensheen mansion overlooks Lake Superior
19:23
with stately elegance, but inside its walls occurred one of
19:26
the most infamous crimes in Minnesota State history.
19:28
Yes, sorry, back to my daughter really quick because she
19:31
actually, so she lived, there's a whole bunch of mansions up in
19:35
the the high part of Duluth. Yeah, and she lived one street
19:38
over from all the mansions. She lived in one of the houses
19:40
where a lot of the servants lived.
19:41
Oh, cool. So that for, for her last year,
19:43
senior year in college. So, OK, that was really cool to
19:45
kind of see 'cause that dilapidated homes, but they're
19:48
just, you know, not as well taken care of is literally one
19:50
block over all these gorgeous huge mansions.
19:52
Right along the the shore. Yeah, it's just very, it's
19:56
interesting to see the the different lifestyles sure come
19:59
back from 100 plus years ago. OK, back to the story.
20:01
In 19771977, heiress Elizabeth Congdon and her nurse were
20:07
brutally murdered. The case involved family
20:10
inheritance battles, suspicious alibis, overturned convictions
20:14
and allegations of corruption. What that sounds like ATV show.
20:18
Right. Even today.
20:20
Even today, visitors whisper about cold spots and unexplained
20:23
sensations in the mansion's upper floors.
20:26
True crime fans consider it one of the Midwest's most chilling
20:29
murder cases. Oh, all right, now, I never felt
20:32
any cold spots when I was there. OK, breathe there.
20:35
But. We didn't get to go to the third
20:36
floor. That was closed.
20:37
OK. They did, however, open the
20:39
third floor. Some of the tours did get to see
20:42
it. We never saw it.
20:43
What did you go during the summer?
20:44
Or the winter summer. Maybe that's why there were no
20:46
cold cold drills. It's cold up in Duluth.
20:50
Duluth. It does get cold up there, all
20:52
right. Anyway, so the details go
20:54
something like this. Elizabeth Congdon, 83, heir to
20:57
the mining fortune, was smothered.
20:59
And her night nurse, Velma Pettilia that.
21:03
Sounds good. Was beaten with a Candlestick.
21:07
This is it's a game of clues. From the game of Clue, a crime
21:10
driven by greed involving Congdon's adopted daughter
21:12
Marjorie Caldwell and her husband Roger Caldwell in the
21:15
library. In the library with the
21:18
Candlestick. With the Candlestick.
21:19
So Marjorie Caldwell was believed to have planned the
21:22
murder to receive her inheritance early, though she
21:26
was later acquitted of conspiracy and.
21:27
You see impatient people never, they never, never pans out.
21:30
Roger Caldwell was sentenced to life but later released after a
21:34
plea deal, while Marjorie was never convicted of the murders
21:38
but was later convicted on other charges.
21:40
The 39 room mansion is now a popular museum that generally
21:43
avoids focusing on the murders during two.
21:45
OK, wouldn't that be the draw? You'd think, you'd think that's
21:49
the draw, but it's not always the draw.
21:51
And it's probably protecting the family, yeah.
21:53
This is not a lot of 39 room mansions in Minnesota to begin
21:56
with, so right. Yeah, and it's pretty glitzy.
21:58
Yeah. Is it?
21:58
Yeah, yeah, I know. They do it up for like
22:00
Christmas. I've heard it's pretty nice.
22:01
I've not been there for Christmas.
22:03
Yeah, police initially suspected a robbery gone wrong as the
22:05
house was found in disarray, but the key piece of evidence was
22:09
the immense financial pressures on the Caldwells combined with a
22:12
hefty inheritance waiting for Marjorie.
22:14
So Roger Caldwell received two life sentences in 1978, but his
22:18
conviction was overturned before he later pleaded guilty to a
22:22
lesser charge and was released. The Glensheen Mansion today does
22:26
not focus on the murders, as Rob said.
22:28
Instead, it focuses on the 1908 architecture and the history of
22:31
the mansion and the grounds. And I think that is part of the,
22:34
the university bought it, I believe, didn't they the.
22:36
University of Minnesota owns it. Yeah, and the tours.
22:38
And it makes money to sustain the building and then the rest
22:41
goes to the school. OK, so we need to add that to
22:43
our list. So we're gonna have a long
22:44
weekend coming up. We're gonna go tour the Spam
22:46
Museum in Austin, MN. Those are way too far.
22:48
Away, which is South of us by like an hour and a half.
22:51
Yeah. And then we'll drive 5 hours N
22:52
to the Duluth, go to Glensheen Mansion.
22:54
That's too much to one day. Or maybe.
22:55
We should stay overnight somewhere.
22:56
One weekend, One week. Stay overnight.
22:58
Let's do it a couple months, we'll make we'll.
23:00
Make it a road trip party in the state.
23:02
We'll just go around the whole state.
23:04
I would love that. You could go see the runestone
23:07
in Alexandria totally. Could we could drive all the way
23:09
down to Worthington and check out what's what's in
23:11
Worthington? What is in Worthington?
23:13
No idea. I hopefully we have listeners in
23:15
Worthington, but I don't know. I love.
23:16
It we can drive up to up to up to Morehead.
23:18
If any listeners in Worthington want to e-mail us at
23:20
oonemorethingpot@gmail.com, that'd be great.
23:23
Right. What has ever seen in your cute
23:24
little town through many a time? All right, let's go to the next
23:27
one, OK. The witches of Loon Lake.
23:30
What? All right, those witches
23:31
there's. Lots of loons here, so that's
23:33
exciting. So, Larry, first to a popular
23:35
Minnesota ghost story centered on Mary Jane to to Williger, a
23:38
woman allegedly beheaded in 1881 by townspeople in Petersburg,
23:42
Minnesota, which is near the Iowa, Minnesota border.
23:44
OK, Iowans are involved not make sense now.
23:47
No, it's only near Iowa. Yeah, so Iowans are involved and
23:50
buried in the Loon Lake Cemetery.
23:53
The legend, often called the Loon Lake Curse, claims 3
23:56
suspected witches are buried there and anyone walking over
24:00
their unmarked graves will die. OK, so when I when I was
24:05
researching this and writing this, I went to look for the
24:08
Loon Lake Cemetery and look for Petersburg, Minnesota.
24:11
OK Petersburg, Minnesota is an actual small space.
24:14
It's more like a Township. I think it just has a crossroad,
24:17
you know, that's it. So.
24:18
That means it has a bar. Maybe.
24:20
And I could not find the Loon Lake Cemetery, so I don't know.
24:23
So it's saying that it's unmarked.
24:25
OK, So if you walk over the top of it, Dun Dun, Dun Dun.
24:28
OK, so we're going to add that to our Minnesota road trip
24:30
travels. Find the Loon Lake Cemetery.
24:32
That's right. That's on our list.
24:33
See if we're going to die the next day.
24:35
That's what did you ever see the movie The ring and they get the
24:39
the call in seven days, right. And that means you're going to
24:43
die in seven days. Anyway, back to our story.
24:48
So Mary Jane was an 18 year old girl accused of witchcraft,
24:51
executed by or with the help of local townspeople.
24:56
It is believed that if you walk over Mary Jane's unmarked crave,
25:00
you'll die within 72 hours. You got 3.
25:03
Days. So if we make a weekend out of
25:04
it, we'll see what happens on Monday, yes.
25:06
If I'm going to work or not, right?
25:08
That's a good excuse to not call in to not show up for work on
25:10
Monday. Yeah, I'm going.
25:12
To die. Sorry I walked down the grave.
25:13
I'm dead. The site is historic Loon Lake
25:17
Cemetery, which by the way, I can't find, located on the hill
25:20
near Lakefield in Jackson County, OK, they tell.
25:23
You right where it's at. I know it it doesn't show up on
25:26
the map. Oh, you need a better.
25:27
Map I I was looking, well Google come on, tells me everything.
25:30
Well maybe need like an old school paper map.
25:32
Maybe I, maybe I needed a map from back then.
25:34
There you go, there you go. Oh, and I got some more digging
25:36
to do. There you go.
25:37
The legend has inspired local folklore for over 70 years and a
25:41
2019 horror film titled Loon Lake.
25:46
It is considered a significant paranormal hotspot in the
25:49
region. OK, a quick IMDb search brings
25:52
it up. Loon Lake, OH.
25:53
It's a 4.5 out of 10 stars. Oh.
25:56
Well, it's probably not that great.
25:57
And it stars nobody I've ever heard of but.
26:02
What's the description? So the description is Eager to
26:04
escape the grief and nightmares of the city, Louis Olson travels
26:08
to southwest Minnesota seeking the peace of the rural
26:10
countryside when he accidentally disturbs the grave of a of a
26:13
supposed local witch. Marriage in this they call it.
26:16
They call it marriage in Terlinden in here.
26:19
OK, so it's. Different, right?
26:21
They took a little bit of license.
26:22
With that, what began as a peaceful reprieve unravels into
26:25
the haunting nightmare from which the the which Lewis cannot
26:27
escape. But is it all just in his head?
26:30
Wow. 4.5 out of 10. Yeah.
26:34
So now we're going to watch that on our road trip around
26:36
Minnesota. I'm sure I have some sports to
26:38
watch. That's Yeah, you do all right.
26:41
Have you ever heard of the Devil's Kettle?
26:42
I have not. What's that?
26:44
You haven't heard that? No.
26:45
Well, the Devil's Kettle is a puzzling waterfall on
26:48
Minnesota's Brule River in Judge Sierra Magny State Park, where
26:53
the river splits one side falls 50 feet while the other vanishes
26:57
into a deep pothole. Vanishes, yeah.
27:00
Oh, long believed to be an underground mystery, research
27:04
suggests the water likely reemerges downstream with a
27:07
powerful turbulent pothole trapping debris.
27:11
So dumb question, but could you do like what you did when you
27:13
were a kid and it rained? You take a popsicle stick, you
27:15
put it in the gutter and watch it go.
27:16
Go down the street and it goes down into the drain and you see
27:19
what comes out the other end. You can.
27:20
Can't you do the same thing here?
27:21
And so they did that. Oh, they did OK, do tell.
27:24
And the with the balls or whatever they put in there
27:27
didn't come out. And that's why they think that
27:30
it sucks in some debris and gets stuck somewhere beneath earth.
27:36
So it's situated on the Brule River about a mile and a half
27:38
inland from Lake Superior. So the phenomenon is the river
27:42
splits by a rhyolite rock formation.
27:44
The eastern side continues normally, while the western side
27:47
plunges into a deep hole and disappears.
27:50
For decades, visitors speculated that the water flowed into a
27:53
vast, uncharted underground tunnel, potentially leading
27:57
directly to Lake Superior or even the Mississippi River.
28:00
Minnesota DNR scientists conducted a low measurement in
28:03
2017. Oh, that's exactly what I was
28:05
asking about. OK, here we are OK finding that
28:07
the volume of water above the fall matched the volume below.
28:11
OK, the water does not vanish forever.
28:14
Instead, it reenters the river system just below the falls.
28:17
Oh, OK, so kind of one of those wives tales kind of thing.
28:20
Yeah, if you if you can see a picture of it looks really kind
28:22
of creepy. Like where's the water?
28:24
Going right, right. Objects tossed in the hole, such
28:26
as trackers or balls or popsicle sticks or popsicle sticks like
28:30
Rob wants to do, likely get trapped or destroyed by the
28:33
immense pressure and turbulent recirculating current at the
28:36
bottom of the. Kettle OK well that makes sense
28:37
then well, that was interesting OK, so before we close out this
28:40
topic, we want to pay homage to a few other notable haunted
28:43
sites in Minnesota, including Palmer House Hotel and Sauk
28:47
Center, known as one of the most haunted places in the state.
28:50
Guests often report shadowy figures, phantom footsteps and
28:54
electrical issues, with the basement being a particularly
28:56
active area. So on our.
28:58
Road trip Rd. Let's stay there.
29:01
Right. We are.
29:02
Wouldn't that be creepy? That would be creepy.
29:04
I I mean I don't sleep outside of my own bed anyway, so then
29:07
I'll be awake all night and. Early up on this podcast, when I
29:10
asked you if you ever saw a ghost, then you could say you
29:12
did see a ghost. There you go.
29:14
Right? That'll make that come true.
29:15
I like it. So then we have the Wabasha St.
29:18
Caves in Saint Paul, a former 1920s Speakeasy.
29:22
These caves are said to be haunted by gangsters and
29:26
bootleggers, with many apparitions reported by
29:29
employees and guests. 1st Ave. Minneapolis like y'all don't
29:33
know what 1st Ave. is. Right.
29:35
Go Prince. The famous music venue was once
29:37
a Greyhound bus depot. Now that I didn't know.
29:39
We didn't know that. Yeah.
29:40
No, I didn't. Know for the longest time, yeah.
29:42
Staff and artists have reported reported ghostly apparitions and
29:44
strange activity, particularly in the restrooms and the main
29:47
venue space. Creepy The Mound Theater in
29:51
Saint Paul. Known for being highly active,
29:54
This theater has reported ghosts from the silent movie era,
29:58
including a poltergeist known for moving tools.
30:01
Freaky, right? 4 Paws restaurant in Saint Paul.
30:05
There's restaurant is said to be haunted by the ghost of a former
30:07
maid named Molly who reportedly hung herself in the building.
30:11
Oh, Molly. Then there's the Edgar Tower in
30:16
Duluth, A national landmark. It is said to be haunted by a
30:20
man who fell from the tower's top in 1948, with visitors
30:24
reporting a mysterious figure in the windows.
30:28
The Anoka State Hospital in Anoka, known for its grim
30:31
history. The former Asylum cemetery on
30:33
tunnels are often cited as haunted locations.
30:36
OK. Anytime there's a cemetery in
30:37
asylum, all this stuff going on, of course it's haunted courses.
30:40
And Anoka is the Halloween capital of the world.
30:43
Right. They they really played up.
30:45
Yeah. So that makes sense.
30:46
And the last one, Staples Mill Antique Mall in Stillwater.
30:50
I've been there, but I didn't see anything.
30:53
Reports include ghostly activities such as items being
30:56
moved, doors opening and apparitions walking around.
31:01
Freaky. Right.
31:03
I really want to see one of these.
31:04
I'm going to. I'll probably crap my pants, but
31:06
I really want to see one. OK, so why do Minnesota
31:11
mysteries endure? Minnesota Extreme weather, vast
31:14
wilderness and cold deep waters create perfect conditions for
31:18
preserved shipwrecks, delayed recoveries, isolation.
31:23
And folklore growth. That's right.
31:26
Add in long winters and a tight knit communities and stories can
31:31
linger for generations. Who?
31:32
Doesn't love a good ghost story around the campfire?
31:34
That's right, I love it. Everyone, as always, please
31:37
follow us on the Soldiers That Oh, and One More thing Pod on
31:39
Facebook and Instagram for highlights and news on our
31:41
upcoming shows. And if you have a show idea for
31:44
us or just want to give us some feedback, send us an e-mail at
31:46
01 More Thing pod@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you.
31:49
Plus, we do have merchandise, T-shirts and caps if you're
31:51
interested to shoot us an e-mail.
31:53
Yeah, let's hear them. Oh, and one more thing,
31:56
Minnesota, the land of 10,000, I mean 11,842 lakes.
32:00
Get it right, Sparky. Where the winters are brutal,
32:03
the people are nice, and apparently the ghosts, murders,
32:06
Vikings, and possibly cursed witches are all just part of the
32:11
neighborhood. From phantom ships drifting
32:14
across Lake Superior to mystery runestones, Erie islands, and
32:18
waterfalls that literally disappear, this state has a lot
32:22
more going on beneath the surface than hot dish and
32:24
hockey. Whether it's coincidence,
32:26
imagine, or something a little more unsettling, one thing is
32:29
clear Minnesota's mysteries run deep.
32:32
So next time you're out by a quiet lake or passing a dark
32:35
stretch of woods, maybe don't ask too many questions.
32:38
Minnesota is a place where the mysteries are deep, the lakes
32:41
are deeper, and the sound effects are.
32:47
Love it. Bye everybody.
32:49
Hey up. Ghosts like Donuts, right?
32:51
They absolutely do.