Latest / PNW Haunts & Homicides / When Darkness Calls Part Two

Transcript

When Darkness Calls Part Two · PNW Haunts & Homicides

0:00
We continue our journey through the woods deeper into the darkness.
0:06
We still hear its soft and ticing, an unmistakable voice calling to us.
0:11
We keep walking as we ponder how to respond.
0:15
We can hear the sound of something moving in the bushes.
0:18
We cannot see what it is.
0:20
We quicken our pace, eager to reach the clearing where the final six podcast hosts are waiting.
0:27
We finally reach the clearing and we see them gathered around a campfire.
0:32
They are the ones who alleed us into those darkest corners of the human psyche and the
0:37
supernatural realm.
0:39
So gather round, dear listener, as the forest darkens around us.
0:46
Sandy from Twisted Travel and True Crime is who we see first.
0:50
She specializes in unsolved murders.
0:53
A host whose voice is a chilling breeze on a moonless night.
0:58
Her stories will take us down dark and twisted paths where we will learn about the dark side
1:04
of human nature.
1:08
Rebecca Gay loved the spooky season.
1:10
Her home in Mount Pleasant, Trailer Park in Michigan stood out among the sea of tiny
1:14
homes because it was covered in scarecrow.
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With 13 of them adorning her mobile home in tiny yard, Rebecca was excited to take
1:23
her three-year-old conway, trick-or-treating for the first time.
1:27
It was a season of first for her, as she had recently acquired her own home, a place she
1:32
could decorate to her heart's content.
1:35
And for Rebecca, scarecrow's were a must have for all Hallows eve.
1:40
Her journey hadn't been easy, but at age 24 things were looking up for her.
1:45
She and her fiance, Erin, were finally going to move into their very own home.
1:51
Rebecca and her son Conway bid farewell to the comfort of Erin's parents' house in August.
1:57
With the help of her extended family, they moved into the mobile home she was renting.
2:02
The move brought her closer to her workplace and to her mother's home, which was a blessing
2:07
for both of them.
2:09
Erin planned to join them once he found a job closer to Rebecca.
2:14
Although she lunged for Erin's presence, Rebecca knew she had to be patient.
2:19
She relied on her side of the family for support, and they were always there for her.
2:24
They attended Christ community fellowship church together, where Rebecca's mother was
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engaged to John White, the pastor.
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John became involved in Rebecca's life babysitting Conway and assisting both Rebecca and her
2:37
mother whenever he could.
2:39
He even helped Rebecca set up her new trailer.
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They teased her about her spooky decorations and listened to her excitedly talk about Conway's
2:47
Halloween costume and their plans for the holiday.
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Rebecca had arranged to work the earliest shift on Halloween day.
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That way she would have plenty of time to pick up Conway and get him ready for trick or
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treating.
3:00
However, when Rebecca didn't show up for work that morning, her co-workers grew concerned.
3:07
She was always punctual, so her absence was unusual.
3:11
They chide calling her cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail.
3:16
When she was afraid, they decided to check on her at her house.
3:19
Her car wasn't in the driveway, but they saw it across the street, backed into some brush
3:24
behind a local bar.
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The bar was locked, as was Rebecca's home.
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Growing increasingly worried, her co-workers contacted her landlord who came to unlock the
3:35
door.
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Rebecca was nowhere to be found, but her purse sat on the kitchen table.
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It was one of her prized possessions, and she wouldn't go anywhere without it.
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Her cell phone and keys were missing.
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As they searched the house, they noticed the living room carpet was mad at down, except for
3:53
one small area, and there were small red stains on it.
3:58
Alarmed, they called the police and informed Rebecca's family and friends, who immediately
4:02
joined in the search.
4:04
Thankfully, they discovered that Conway was safe and with his biological father.
4:11
The police interviewed Rebecca's family and friends, starting with Aaron, who had last spoken
4:15
to her the night before her disappearance.
4:19
He mentioned that they had a pleasant conversation, but when he texted her on Halloween morning,
4:24
she didn't reply.
4:26
It seemed as though the message hadn't gone through at all.
4:30
This was unusual as they hadn't been fighting, and Rebecca typically charged her phone,
4:35
and was responsive.
4:37
The police believed Aaron's genuine concern, and cleared him of suspicion.
4:42
Next, they turned their attention to Chad, Rebecca's ex and Conway's father.
4:48
He cooperated with the police, stating that he and Rebecca had been co-parenting well
4:52
without any major issues.
4:54
He grew frustrated with the constant questioning, as he wanted to join the search for the
4:58
person who had taken Rebecca.
5:01
The police tended to believe him, too, leaving them puzzled.
5:05
There were no signs of forced entry at Rebecca's home, so the police concluded that Rebecca
5:10
had likely been abducted by someone she knew and trusted.
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As they built a timeline for her disappearance, they discovered that Rebecca was supposed
5:19
to meet Chad at a Myers department store parking lot to exchange custody of Conway.
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However, John, her soon to be father-in-law, had dropped off Conway instead, without Rebecca
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informing Chad about the change in plans.
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The investigators turned their eyes towards John, who had been actively involved in the search
5:40
efforts for Rebecca, and had willingly cooperated with the police.
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They discovered that he was the pastor at the local church, and that he had reached out
5:49
to his congregation that morning, urging them to assist in the search for Rebecca, and
5:54
pray for her safe return.
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He said that he had gone to Rebecca's trailer to Baby Sit Conway that morning.
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He arrived at 630 and heard Rebecca getting ready for work.
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He fell asleep on the couch and was later woken by Conway, and Rebecca had gone.
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Given that John was the last person known to have been in Rebecca's presence, the police
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requested that he take a polygraph test.
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Initially hesitant, John eventually agreed to undergo the test.
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Since the police department in Mount Pleasant, Michigan didn't have its own polygraph machine,
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they planned to take John to the nearest one, in Lansing, approximately an hour away.
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During the drive, the officer who was accompanying him, engaged in small talk, hoping to ease
6:38
his nervousness.
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The officer asked John about his background in personal life, eventually broaching the
6:45
topic of his concerns about the polygraph.
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John admitted he was worried because he had a criminal passed, revealing that he had been
6:53
involved in an attempted murder case that was ultimately dismissed.
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It resulted in a two-year prison sentence.
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The thing was, John wasn't telling everything about his past.
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Unlike the scarecrows that decorated Rebecca's house, this officer had a brain.
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He pulled up John's criminal record, and to his astonishment he discovered the man who
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presented himself as a devoted preacher, had a far from saintly passed.
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In 1980, when John was just 22 years old and living with his family in Battle Creek, Michigan,
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he invited his 17-year-old neighbor, Teresa Atherton, to his basement, under the pretense
7:33
of showing her his racetrack.
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Teresa, being a kindhearted girl, likely fained interest out of plightness.
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However, as she turned to face the racetrack, John viciously stabbed her under the right
7:46
shoulder blade.
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With a chilling smile on his face, he continued to stab her a total of 14 times, before choking
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her, and callously uttering the words, "You're going to go now."
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Miraculously, Teresa survived this brutal attack, and John White was arrested.
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He did go to jail, and he did only serve two years.
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Passed forward to 1994, John was still married to his first wife, despite his troubled past.
8:21
Yes, I can't explain that one.
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His wife was pregnant with their third child, when John started an affair with a co-worker
8:29
named Vicki Wall.
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When Vicki suddenly disappeared, suspicion immediately fell on John.
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He initially denied any involvement in her disappearance, claiming he had no knowledge
8:40
of what happened to her.
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However, when he was confronted with surveillance footage showing Vicki getting into a large
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pickup truck with a bearded man in the Meyer parking lot he admitted to meeting her, but
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insisted he was alive when he left her.
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As the detectives continued their investigation, Vicki's relatives looked for her body, convinced
8:59
she was buried nearby.
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Their worst fears were confirmed six weeks later, when a resident stumbled upon a gruesome
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scene.
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Her body was decomposed and partially covered by a shirt and bra around her neck.
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Thoughtopsy couldn't determine the cause of death, but the pathologist believed it was a homicide.
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John was charged with murder, however, due to the lack of conclusive evidence and the difficulty
9:26
in determining the cause of death, he ultimately pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
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Police believed that John's motive for killing Vicki was that she was pressuring him about
9:36
their affair and maybe she threatened to tell his wife.
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The judge recognized John's dangerous nature and sentenced him to the maximum term of eight
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to fifteen years in prison.
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After serving nearly thirteen years he was released and relocated to Mount Pleasant, where
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he took on the persona of Pastor White, fiancee to Sally, and all around good guy, except
10:00
he wasn't.
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If there was good in John, it was that he would eventually admit to police what he had
10:05
done to Rebecca that Halloween morning.
10:09
Behind closed doors he had scoured the darkest corners of the internet, immersing himself into
10:14
poverty and feeding his dark desires.
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The screen flickered with images that fascinated and repulsed him, murder and necrophilia,
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or consistently on his mind.
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That night as Rebecca checked her son into bed and kissed him good night, she had no idea
10:31
that it would be for the last time.
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At two in the morning she was sleeping peacefully when she was startled awake by a chilling
10:38
sound in a sense of panic.
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She walked out of her room, her heart pounding in her chest, worried that her son was up,
10:46
or something worse.
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In a horrifying instant John pounced on her, his face contorted with the mixture of madness
10:53
and sadistic pleasure.
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He held a rubber mallet in his hand and with brutal force he struck her repeatedly.
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Her cries for help were drowned out by the sickening thud of the mallet as it connected
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with her head.
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Rebecca in the midst of the brutal attack recognized her assailant.
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She managed to utter the words "I know you" before John tightened a zip tie around her neck,
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strangling her.
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Then he had his way with her.
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John's true nature came to the surface in the early hours of Halloween morning, leaving
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Sally Rebecca's mother in a state of profound shock.
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Not only had she lost her beloved daughter, but she found out that she had fallen in love
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with the murder.
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In the courtroom as the judge pronounced the sentence, John gazed around the room with
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an unsettling detachment, seeming unaffected by the pain he had inflicted on Rebecca and
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her loved ones.
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The judge handed down a severe sentence, condemning him to between 56 and 85 years in prison.
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You are safe from John Douglas White this Halloween, but be aware of all the other ghosts,
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ghouls, and things that go bump in the night.
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If you'd like to hear more details about this case, I'd like to invite you to listen to
12:07
the extended version called The Devil Disguise, the murder of Rebecca Gay.
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Thanks for listening to Twisted Travel on True Crime and for all the good things you do
12:16
to support these podcasts.
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I wish you all fair winds following seas in the safest of Halloween nights.
12:23
Niki and Mariah, the hosts of Body to Vereal, speak each week to experts who have seen and
12:32
heard things that will make our blood run cold.
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Their tails are like a pair of haunting eyes, ever watching in the darkness, ready to reveal
12:42
the truth behind the unexplained incrims, in death, and in what might happen after.
12:52
Last week's episode, I think you're just going to be so excited about it.
12:58
I feel like it speaks to your soul and I'm really excited for you to hear it and participate.
13:06
We have two gentlemen joining us today, which I guess is actually another Body to Vereal
13:12
first for us.
13:13
We have a duo.
13:16
We have Matthew.
13:18
Matthew is a Chicago Fire Department firefighter.
13:22
We have David who is a Chicago police officer.
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I'm sure you're wondering why do we have a firefighter and a police officer?
13:32
Why am I so stressed about that?
13:34
Yeah, right.
13:35
Right.
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Well, the dynamic duo of Matt and David, they also have a little side hustle, which you know
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I love.
13:43
Uh-huh.
13:44
Hair and normal investigators.
13:46
I love that.
13:47
You know I love that.
13:49
Yeah.
13:50
What?
13:51
Mary, all the fun stuff.
13:53
All I want to do right now is sing the Ghost Busters.
13:55
The fun, but I won't do that for listeners, but it's literally on loop in my brain right
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now.
14:02
Oh my God.
14:03
No, that is really a different side hustle than what their normal job is.
14:07
That's incredible.
14:08
Right.
14:09
Actually, yes.
14:10
So, super pumped.
14:11
Oh, you know I love ghost stuff.
14:12
Okay.
14:13
Yeah, I'm excited.
14:14
Well, let me go grab them.
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Oh, okay.
14:17
Hello, Matthew, David.
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Can you hear us?
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This is Dave.
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Can you hear me?
14:25
Yay.
14:26
Yes.
14:27
Hello.
14:28
Hi.
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And I'm on to.
14:30
Yay.
14:31
Hi Matt.
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Thank you both for taking the time to talk to us.
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I appreciate you indulging in our request to have you guys.
14:34
Nikki is obsessed with paranormal shows.
14:38
Yeah.
14:39
All the shows.
14:40
And so this is really exciting for her to have you guys.
14:43
Yeah.
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I really am.
14:45
Awesome.
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I think the first question we have to get out of the way is how did this come about?
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I call it a side hustle, but how did you guys go from being firefighter, police officer to
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deciding to investigate paranormal activities?
15:02
How do you even get into that?
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What sparks the idea?
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Well, Matt, do you want to start?
15:07
Yeah, sure.
15:08
So me and Dave met Dave had already been investigating and I was actually out on the street
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with the fire truck.
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And I was acting for Make a Wish, you know, Shake the Bood, collect the money for kids and
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stuff like that.
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And David rolled up in the what we call Misty, which is our command center.
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I saw his police shirt.
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Now you know, like what kind of special, I thought it was like a special unit with the Chicago
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police department.
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So I'm like, Oh, what's going on here?
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Who are you?
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And he goes, I'm not sure if you believe it or not, but I'm a paranormal investigator.
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And I'm like, get out of here.
15:37
You know, we had like two, like maybe 30 seconds to a minute to actually converse because
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it was like the light had turned green.
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He was off to his, one of his other jobs.
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I went back to collecting and I thought about it later.
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I sent Dave an email.
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I looked them up.
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I looked up all his evidence and I had been interested in the paranormal.
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Never really did any investigations.
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So I looked up his stuff and looked them up, sent them an email, say, Hey, I'd love to join
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you.
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You know, check out an investigation.
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And I think maybe a month or two something came up and yeah, so it's been, I don't even
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know how long that's been maybe eight years.
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Dave.
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It's right.
16:13
Yeah, last track, but something like that.
16:14
So then how did you, I know, it's going to sound like what is that six cents like I see dead
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people, but like, how did you even get into that like where you could know how to do it?
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All that stuff.
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I've become, we've kept, I'm still skeptical of course, because that's what I have to be.
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You know, I got to be even even I am at times.
16:37
You can't be all in paranormal.
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You got to look at both angles.
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But I have to see it to believe it.
16:42
And then one of the first full body apparition that we captured on camera was like, it put my
16:46
mind.
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I like it.
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I couldn't believe it because I was like, yeah, like I was there.
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I knew what was going on.
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I mean, we didn't see it physically with our eyes.
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Actually, I wasn't even in the room when it happened, but David took it to take a series
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of pictures with full spectrum camera and later on through evidence review, he finds
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this like full body shadow.
17:06
No.
17:07
Yeah, it almost looked like a civil war soldier or somebody in a jumpsuit.
17:12
It was an old, it was a building that used to be used.
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And that's right.
17:16
Yeah, the, the, the angle would alarm office.
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Yeah.
17:20
That is so interesting to me.
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Do people call you and say, Hey, I think my house is haunted or you just kind of go to different,
17:27
kind of known both.
17:29
I've been in a lot of, a lot of emails all the time from Facebook messages to the website,
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emails, word of mouth.
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And you know, when I first started this, I used to try to go to all of them, but it just can't
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do it because with Matt, myself and some of the other members, you know, sometimes we've
17:48
got to take off work.
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It's costing money, you know, using a vacation day or we can do it.
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So we try to pick and choose which ones are important or which ones we would really like
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to go to.
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And then after doing an investigation, it takes days, weeks to go through everything and
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match everything up.
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So we try to pick and choose the ones that need help, you know, the good ones.
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So because I had, I, I told Mariah this a really long time ago, but I had an apartment.
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I moved out of it two months early because I swear I was haunted and then one of my, it
18:20
really was, I swear.
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And then one of my friends from work, she was telling me to like, sage the place and then
18:26
she was telling me to tell it to go to the light.
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So I turned on the TV as loud as I could because I was afraid it was going to tell me
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no.
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And so I did that and nothing happened, but I got, I got a dog and after I got my dog, things
18:45
kind of settled down a little bit, but I still moved out early.
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And then when you guys like say you went to my apartment and you're like, yeah, there's
18:52
a creeper in here.
18:54
What would you do to get them to try and go away?
18:57
Well, you know, depending on what your beliefs are, there's different things you can do,
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but when it comes to like apartments, you might have to do a daily, weekly, monthly, you
19:05
had to see what works, but usually when we cleanse our self, our equipment and stuff after
19:10
an investigation, we use white sage, we use polisanto, holy wood.
19:15
And then I have what is called dragons blood is basically sage, but it's, it's like a, has
19:19
a reddish tint to it and it's a little, little more kick to it.
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Okay.
19:24
I'll use anything.
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I'll use it all.
19:26
It doesn't.
19:27
I also have a frankincense and mirth that that's what a lot of the churches use, you know,
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especially when it comes to like a, you know, a funeral in a body pass.
19:37
And if you see like the priest of the pastor with the incense going around the body and
19:43
it can't, most of the time that's like frankincense and mirth.
19:47
So sometimes I'll use that maybe for a spirit to go into the light to go to the next step.
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Have you ever encountered evil, I guess, because they're probably just like, you know, grandma
19:58
that passed and she likes her house and she's hanging out or, you know, but then there's also
20:03
the dangerous see type ones, I guess.
20:06
Yeah.
20:07
A few, in two I experienced it myself and like just met pretty much the same way, correct,
20:11
until we experience their self, you know, I'll keep an open mind, but sometimes I'll
20:15
be like, oh, that's full of beep, you know, I don't.
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But once I experienced it or it comes something close to it then I'm like, oh my God, there's
20:23
something to that.
20:24
Yeah.
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Yeah, there's a few cases that open my eyes that there's, looks like there's evil out there.
20:31
And from my experiences dealing with different psychic mediums that I trust and stuff, you know,
20:37
whatever the reason is, there's, you got earthbound spirits and then you got more sinister
20:41
or evil stuff if that's what, you know, that's what you believe.
20:45
That's what I'm telling you to believe now.
20:46
Okay.
20:47
But earthbound is just for whatever reason, the spirits did not move on to the next step.
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Whatever you decide that next step is they just stayed earthbound and then they say if you
20:58
haven't moved on to the next step, you know, in your earthbound, you're going to be that
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same person you were when you were living.
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So if you were a crevio old man or only in your house, they might be treating you the
21:08
same way, you know?
21:10
Yeah.
21:11
So I do get a lot of getouts, get out of here, get out.
21:14
So that's probably the old man thinking I'm trespassing.
21:17
How is that?
21:18
Oh, yeah, like where you can hear, like where you can hear something that says like get
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out.
21:23
Yes, they get that a lot.
21:24
No, that has helped me and a lot of getouts.
21:27
And when you hear, like weeks later, when you do your finish the investigation, that's when
21:32
you're listening to the getouts, or can you hear it right then and there?
21:36
You know, there is times.
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It's not often, but there's times, especially if you're a little more sensitive, like
21:41
sometimes it seems like I'm able to tune in a little more than some of the other people
21:46
where I could hear my own ears, but there's times you get to hear stuff with your own ears,
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disembodied voices that comes through strong where you don't need the frequencies of the
21:56
voice recorders or, you know, the mics picking it up sometimes were able to hear it, but
22:00
there's something out there.
22:01
You know, I think it's spirits, but if not, maybe it's another dimension of some type
22:04
or we're tapping into something, but there's definitely, you know, I say you would agree
22:10
Matt, there's intelligent spirits or whatever you want to call it out there that can
22:14
you communicate back and there's a trapped energy residual energy that no matter if you
22:19
there are not, it's going to make that same noise, same footsteps, same door open.
22:24
Is this for some reason some energy is being trapped in that area or that house or whatever
22:29
one I call it that room?
22:31
And you think that's they've already gone.
22:34
Let's just say to the light or like beyond, but their energy a little bit of their energies
22:39
there.
22:40
So I'll give you an example of on a case that we handled.
22:45
I don't think you were at that one, Matt, but there was a house in Wisconsin where this lady
22:50
was complaining about a male spirit, the wheeling against the fireplace from the fireplace
22:55
that would go down the hallway to her room, stand over her and then back to the fireplace.
23:00
That's the route it would take.
23:01
And she could see him.
23:03
Yes.
23:04
I guess the physical thing.
23:05
Yes.
23:06
Okay.
23:07
So she had the same spirit at the house you lived in before.
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So she moved to this new house.
23:12
She was our six months still experiencing that spirit among other stuff that I could get
23:17
into later.
23:18
But, but anyway, when we were there were investigating somehow we linked this fireplace.
23:24
It was a fake fireplace and she was an artist.
23:27
So she saw it on the curbside at her old place and didn't know really the history on it.
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She said, oh, this is a nice piece of art, you know, and she fixed it up and from that place
23:38
brought it to her in her place and had this male spirit.
23:40
So we linked that this male spirit was attached to this piece, you know, the fireplace.
23:46
Oh, yeah.
23:47
So that night she had a skit rid of it and from that point on she never saw it again.
23:52
But we found out later interviewing old neighbors that the guy who made this piece committed
23:57
suicide and this was his favorite piece.
24:00
And then when he once he died, you know, they removed all his belongings and put them on
24:04
the curb and earns whatever and that's when she picked it up.
24:07
But so that that male spirit who committed suicide was attached to this favorite piece.
24:13
This is a favorite piece.
24:14
Yeah.
24:15
Does that happen a lot?
24:16
Because I've heard of that too.
24:18
That's why my husband's like never get anything from a flea market.
24:22
Yeah, I'm cautious myself when it comes to that.
24:26
But they say some of the mediums that we deal with and, you know, I can't say works 100%
24:31
they preach that if you get it by anything you use any antics, aggride sales, have a bottle
24:38
filled with water and sea salt, a spray bottle and spray the item before putting it in your
24:43
car and they kind of compare it to like if you're cooking with a tough land pan, how
24:48
nothing sticks to it.
24:50
So when you coat it with the sea salt and water, that energy is supposed to slide.
24:54
Yeah.
24:55
That's because that just reminded me of what I was going to ask you before was can anything
24:59
come home with you like get attached to you.
25:02
Yes.
25:03
I wasn't a believer in that.
25:05
I thought that was full of crap.
25:06
Excuse my expression.
25:07
But until I experienced it myself, at least a handful of times and it took that to get
25:14
me into staging and protecting myself, family, you know, all their team members with, you
25:20
know, staging after an investigation because it's been a handful of times.
25:24
I think I had nothing bad, you know, even one time I had a family over from out of state
25:29
and they experienced it too and never had a problem in my house until I, you know, started
25:33
this and it's just something like my very first investigation where I had something follow
25:39
me.
25:40
I think it's something that I knew they knew I saw it or heard it and just wanted to continue
25:45
to communicate.
25:46
So it's tugging me, tugging my shirt.
25:49
This is all new to me.
25:50
I've been like a little baby to my wife.
25:54
You know, I remember I was in the kitchen and we just had the basement already done with
25:59
a nice family room and stuff put down there and I'm in the kitchen.
26:04
I think I was cooking dinner and I get like three or four tugs on my shirt.
26:09
I mean, really hard where it's pulling them like and I jump and I look, you know, and
26:13
I look and there's no one around and there's nothing I could have got hooked on and I
26:17
was like a Scooby-Doo, you know, running down and this is just having a meeting, you know,
26:24
and you know, you're only human until you start experiencing it, but I was in the shower
26:29
and I hear a male voice whispering in my ear and this was from the same investigation.
26:35
But I jumped out like a little kid.
26:37
I hate to admit, but I turned down the shower curtains and I was just stunned.
26:41
I'm like, what the hell is going on here?
26:44
So, yeah, it took that for me to start learning, you know, through the help of the psychic mediums
26:51
we deal with how to protect myself, you know, the house, my wife, daughter.
26:56
Yeah, the last thing I want to do is bring something home and then have them, you know, being
27:00
bothered with stuff.
27:01
So, you know, it's a matter of telling them, okay, I know you're here.
27:06
You're not welcome.
27:07
It's time for you to leave.
27:08
You know, very respectful because you know, it could be someone's mother, father, grandfather,
27:13
whatever.
27:14
And also, talk to you like you and I are talking and just, you know, sometimes you have to give
27:19
it demands and then go through the process of the staging every room, every corner of the
27:24
room and, you know, there's certain ways of doing things and, you know, tell it to leave
27:29
and it was no problem.
27:31
I never experienced it again.
27:32
Does it usually leave?
27:34
Like, well, is that normal?
27:36
Like for it to go with doing all those steps?
27:39
Yeah, it depends.
27:40
They say, and like I said, I can't prove this, but this is what I've been told, you know,
27:47
for people in that field, the psychic mediums that go to cleansing, you know, cleansing
27:51
homes and stuff, they say you can't force an unwilling earthbound spirit to leave.
27:57
Either things you could do to decrease its energy with staging.
28:01
You might maybe force it out of the house, but it could possibly come back.
28:05
This is why you got to continue.
28:08
Melissa and Daniel from Tildeth, DOS Partt podcast, study the murders, myths and legends of the
28:15
world.
28:16
They bring revealing tales of restless spirits that drift through the darkness, like this
28:21
one, yearning to find their way home.
28:26
Hello, and welcome to Tildeth, DOS Partt.
28:31
I am Daniel.
28:32
And I'm his lovely wife, Melissa.
28:35
Yes, she is.
28:36
Now I usually tell Daniel and our 11 listeners true crime cases involving couples whose
28:42
love story eventually turned into murder.
28:47
But today I'm going to share with all of you a haunting, the haunting of the Banff Springs
28:54
Hotel, which is now known as the Fairmont Banff Springs.
28:59
Banff.
29:00
Say that without spitting.
29:03
Banffa.
29:04
I want to go.
29:06
Is that expensive?
29:07
Yeah.
29:08
Nope, I don't want to go anymore.
29:09
This majestic hotel is located in Canada's Rocky Mountains in the heart of Banff National
29:16
Park in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
29:20
How many more times are you going to say Banffa?
29:22
Hopefully no more because I can hardly say it.
29:25
Oh my gosh.
29:26
It was opened in 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railway as a retreat for traveling businessmen.
29:34
The original structure was a five-story wood frame and was able to accommodate 280 guests.
29:42
The hotel drew its water from the nearby natural springs.
29:46
The pipe system filled the hotel's pool with thermal spring water.
29:51
Oh, that's kind of awesome.
29:53
That sounds lovely.
29:54
A luxurious oasis for only $3.50 a night.
30:00
Deal.
30:01
What is it $120 a day to stay there?
30:06
It is not.
30:07
I just looked it up.
30:08
It's about $500 to $600 a night.
30:10
What?
30:11
But it is Halloween.
30:12
It is October.
30:13
Yeah.
30:14
But in 1926, there was a devastating fire that burned the wooden structure to the ground.
30:21
A new steel structure was built in its place using limestone rock from nearby Mount Rundle.
30:29
The Banff Springs Hotel was built by the workmanship of hundreds of Italian stone cutters and Scottish
30:37
stone masons.
30:38
So it's quite a structure now.
30:40
It's gorgeous.
30:41
Yeah, like it's not going to blow away.
30:43
No.
30:44
And this has helped to give the hotel its nickname of the castle in the Rockies.
30:50
Nice.
30:51
It very much looks like a castle.
30:53
In the last few decades, the hotel has given way to a few ghost tales.
30:59
And I'm about to tell you those.
31:01
That's good because I believe in ghosts.
31:02
No, you don't.
31:03
No.
31:04
Don't lie to these good people that are listening right now.
31:07
That's fine.
31:08
He does not believe in the paranormal or anything of that nature.
31:13
No, so I would gladly stay in a haunted hotel because it's not going to be haunted and
31:17
it's probably going to be my best night's sleep ever.
31:19
Well, first we have the ghost bride.
31:23
She's been seen dancing in the ballroom or walking up one of the marble staircases.
31:29
Her face shrouded behind a white veil.
31:32
It is said that this spectre is the ghost of a young woman who is due to be married on
31:37
the hotel grounds in the early 1930s.
31:41
When, as she was walking down the staircase to the waiting arms of her soon to be husband,
31:47
her gown caught on fire by one of the many candles that adorn the stairwell.
31:52
The bride stepped on the hem of her dress, causing her to lose her footing and fall forward
31:58
to the bottom of the marble staircase.
32:02
The bride snapped her neck in the process and died.
32:06
The ghost bride has never left the grand hotel and she spends her night searching for her
32:13
lost love.
32:14
Okay, so she not only catches fire but she trips, falls and breaks her neck while her
32:20
dress is on fire.
32:21
It's like a triple threat.
32:23
Holy crap.
32:24
I already forgot, but when did the thing burn to the ground?
32:27
1927.
32:28
Okay, so this was after.
32:31
This was after.
32:32
This was in the 1930s.
32:36
The bride's haunting is so well known that in 2014, a collector coin and stamp were distributed
32:43
to commemorate her story, but she doesn't have a name, so that's interesting.
32:48
Their resident ghost is known by his Christian name, a Mr. Samuel McColley, a Scotsman.
32:56
Mr. McColley was the lead Belman at the hotel in the 1960s up through the 1970s.
33:04
He loved the hotel so much that on his deathbed in 1975, Sam said that he would return to the
33:10
Banff Springs after his death to Haunt its halls.
33:24
Please don't.
33:26
Guests of the hotel have encountered this helpful and friendly bellhop, wearing an out-of-date
33:31
bellhop's uniform with a strong Scottish brogue.
33:36
But when offered a tip, he just vanishes.
33:39
One of the most famous tales was that of two women who had locked themselves out of their
33:43
hotel room.
33:45
They headed down to the front desk and waited for the bellhop on duty for 15 minutes.
33:51
The women decided to walk back up to their room.
33:54
Once they were back at their door, a man in an older-looking bellhop uniform approached
33:59
them and unlocked their hotel room door.
34:03
They thanked the man and he happily walked away.
34:06
I have a serious question.
34:09
What's that?
34:10
Okay.
34:11
I come out in an old bellhop uniform, walk around the house.
34:15
What do you think?
34:16
Is that work for you or no?
34:18
I'm not giving you a tip for that.
34:20
Really?
34:21
Maybe.
34:23
All right.
34:24
Okay, but it kind of is scary that he can just get into any room, right?
34:28
Yeah, because there's no privacy.
34:30
No, there's no privacy at this hotel now.
34:34
One is also seen in his old office on the mezzanine floor, which has been converted into an
34:39
actual guest room.
34:42
But the saddest tale of all is that of room 873.
34:46
I also read that it was room 875.
34:48
Well, they're next door to each other.
34:51
I think so.
34:52
A young family was staying in the room and one night the husband and wife began arguing.
34:58
The husband went down to the hotel bar and became intoxicated.
35:02
He grabbed a large knife from the kitchen and stabbed his wife and daughter to death in
35:07
room 873 or 875 and then turned the knife on himself.
35:14
Guests of the room have complained of hearing disembodied screams and shrieks in the middle
35:20
of the night.
35:21
If they dared turn on the light, they would see bloody handprints on the bathroom mirror
35:27
that could not be washed away.
35:29
Due to the paranormal activity within those four walls, management made the decision to
35:35
brick up the entrance to the room.
35:38
Recent guests who are permitted on the eighth floor have said that there is no room 873 or
35:45
875, even though the baseboard is cut where a door used to be.
35:50
There is a light hanging over an empty space on the wall where a door should be.
35:56
It is also said that if you knock on an area of the wall, you hear a hollow sound.
36:01
A few guests have even reported seeing a young girl standing outside of a room, looking
36:07
as if she is lost.
36:09
Okay, so if you had a hotel, and allegedly there were a couple of rooms that were haunted,
36:15
wouldn't you leave those open?
36:16
And then the word would get out that those are haunted rooms?
36:20
Yeah, I'd charge more.
36:21
You would get a line of people wanting to stay in those, I would.
36:24
Yeah, I'd totally keep it open.
36:27
I did go down the Reddit hole and came across something very interesting.
36:32
Okay.
36:33
Reddit user TJ Smudger92 said that he used to work at the Banff Springs Hotel.
36:41
TJ claims that all the ghost stories and paranormal activity are made up by the previous
36:47
staff.
36:48
There it is.
36:49
The versions of the ghost bride were told to TJ by the hotel's former vice president.
36:55
In 1986, a group of the hotel's colleagues set out to see who could come up with the best
37:00
ghost story and one of them came up with the story of the bride.
37:05
And it is still told today.
37:08
Sam The Bellman is based on a real former bellhop who worked in the hotel for 20 years.
37:14
The ghost was made up by the old head of the bell desk.
37:18
It became a sort of joke.
37:20
If a bag ended up in the wrong room, it would be blamed on Sam The Ghost.
37:27
The haunted room, 873 or 875 cannot be found on the 8th floor any longer because the room
37:34
next to it was expanded.
37:36
I was totally going to say that.
37:38
And compassing the room.
37:40
Yeah, why don't they just expand the room next door into a bigger room and then if they
37:44
wanted to, someone wanted a bigger room, they didn't have it available.
37:47
Because I had read that on the 8th floor, the rooms are tiny.
37:50
Yeah.
37:51
So they wanted to have bigger rooms so they were expanding these rooms.
37:55
If you happen to stay in the expanded room, you will be awakened all night by people
38:00
knocking on the wall where the door used to be.
38:03
Oh, no, that I could believe.
38:05
That's annoying.
38:06
Because I at 100% would do that.
38:08
You would knock on the wall?
38:11
No.
38:13
So is the Banff Springs Hotel haunted or not?
38:17
Yes.
38:18
No one knows for sure, but it sounds fun.
38:21
All right, we hope you enjoyed a little snippet of us.
38:26
Check out our podcast that till death do us part and be careful.
38:32
For marriage is life's sense.
38:34
And divorce is always the better option.
38:37
It is.
38:38
Bye.
38:39
Bye, bye.
38:40
We turn our attention next to two of the three hosts from unethical podcast.
38:46
It's a lest and Christy specializing in a study of fear and the human psyche, but in ways
38:52
that will have you laughing maniacally as you do so.
38:57
Their stories tell of the evil entities lurking in the Inquisitos, our mouths curve up at the
39:03
humor until we realize that the darkness they speak of still surrounds us.
39:11
I'm Sarah Dinges and I'm from unethical podcast.
39:15
And Celeste is here with me today.
39:17
Hi, I'm also from unethical podcast.
39:20
And today I have a spooky little story coming from Tennessee in 1804.
39:27
John and Lucy Bell started a farm near the Red River in Robertson County, Tennessee,
39:32
which is right outside of Nashville.
39:34
They had nine children at the time.
39:36
Oh, it's a lot.
39:38
Right?
39:39
Years after they had moved to this property in 1817, they began experiencing some
39:45
strange things and it all happened after John Bell shot at a dog like creature and it disappeared
39:53
after he fired the shot.
39:55
But then the children began seeing more strange creatures and hearing and explain noises
40:00
in the house such as knocking on doors and windows, wings flapping on the ceiling, sounds
40:06
of choking and strangling heavy objects moving around, chains hitting and dragging on the
40:13
floor.
40:14
And these people have ever seen a dog before because the wings and the chains, none of that sounds
40:19
like a dog to me.
40:21
No, I like the best description we have as dog like.
40:24
So like maybe it was some demonic looking thing, but like it could have been a coyote who
40:29
the fuck knows.
40:30
Okay.
40:31
All right, Bat Yodi, the wild chained Bat Yodi, their native to Nashville, Tennessee.
40:37
They escaped the caves.
40:40
All right.
40:43
Continue.
40:44
And sometimes these sounds were deafening the family members that they were so loud.
40:49
And originally they just referred to this as the spirit and eventually it became known
40:56
as the bellwitch.
40:58
And the bellwitch would even speak to the family in a disembodied voice and eventually it
41:03
became violent and it started beating and pinching and pulling hair, especially aimed at John
41:11
Bell and his daughter, Betsy.
41:14
They were the two that the bellwitch absolutely hated.
41:18
Yeah.
41:19
This sounds like sibling rivalry.
41:23
Mom, a job pulled my hair.
41:25
No, I didn't.
41:26
It was the bellwitch, Mama.
41:27
It wouldn't mean it does sound like some shit that kids would have like stuck just to
41:33
like get out of it with the out of things.
41:35
Sounds like they they broke Paws favorite smoking pipe and they were like, one thus
41:41
got got thing bellwitch again.
41:47
But Lucy Bell, wife of John Bell was least affected by the spirit.
41:52
And the spirit even proclaimed her to be the most perfect woman living.
41:57
After nine kids, that's no slow.
41:59
Right?
42:00
And I guess if you're going to have a spirit in your house, at least have it, think you're
42:04
a bad bitch.
42:05
You know?
42:06
Right?
42:07
Where are my complimentary spirits at?
42:10
And apparently the bellwitch would even sing to her when she was sick and just hang out
42:17
and care for her, which I don't know how much a spirit can care for someone, but hope
42:23
she doesn't ghost her.
42:28
But I'm sorry.
42:30
However, Betsy Bell endured the most torment from the witch.
42:34
For years, the bellwitch tormented her and she wouldn't find relief from the spirit until
42:39
she married her former school teacher and moved to Mississippi in 1820.
42:45
Quick question.
42:46
The mom is being like, caressed and having sweet nothings whispered in her ear and fed
42:53
soup when she's ill by this spirit.
42:56
But her daughter is getting like her hair pulled and being called a fat bitch and all
43:01
that other stuff.
43:02
And the mom is just like, she's taken a second to be like, which, how come you're torturing
43:08
my daughter?
43:09
I have no idea.
43:10
And so Betsy was previously engaged to another man, but the bellwitch hated that man.
43:18
And so that's how she ended up with her former school teacher and marrying him and moving
43:23
to Mississippi.
43:24
And when she moved to Mississippi is when finally the torment stopped for her.
43:28
That would have been a much better time to use ghosting as a pun for breaking up with someone.
43:33
She ghosted her first lover, move John to her teacher, fired a dollar.
43:40
The bellwitch referred to John Bell as old Jack.
43:44
He wouldn't be so lucky to be able to escape this.
43:48
And after years of physical violence and threats, John was bedridden on December 19, 1820.
43:56
And his son, John Jr. was caring for him and went to get medicine bottles out of the cabinet
44:03
to help his father.
44:04
And when he opened the cabinet, he only found one vial of a mysterious liquid.
44:11
And the bellwitch told him it's useless to relieve old Jack.
44:14
I've got him this time.
44:17
And upon hearing that, John Jr. threw the bottle into a fire and it burst in blue flame.
44:23
And John Bell died December 20, 1820.
44:27
And supposedly the bellwitch crashed his funeral service by obnoxiously singing drinking
44:31
songs.
44:32
Okay, this is the husband of the one that the bellwitch loved.
44:39
Yes.
44:40
Okay.
44:41
Okay.
44:42
So was she trying to smash or like, did she was her husband just not a nice man?
44:48
No explanation.
44:50
Oh, wow.
44:52
Just the bellwitch hated John.
44:54
Loved Lucy.
44:57
Had a problem with a couple of the kids.
44:59
Okay.
45:00
So the bellwitch poisoned him to death.
45:03
Yes.
45:04
And then took all the medicine away so he couldn't be fixed.
45:07
Yeah.
45:08
And was basically telling John Jr.
45:10
Hey, don't even try to save your father because he's going to die.
45:13
Like I got him this time.
45:14
I don't know, man.
45:15
I don't know.
45:17
Seems a little suspicious.
45:19
I feel like I've heard this excuse before.
45:23
Wasn't me a witch did it?
45:25
That leads me to the next point.
45:27
So it was as best as it could have been in 1820, somewhat investigated and went court.
45:36
And this is where Tennessee became the first date to contribute the death of an individual
45:40
to the supernatural because even the court was like, yep, bellwitch.
45:45
Ghost did it.
45:47
Ghost did it.
45:48
First or only.
45:51
I think first and only.
45:53
All right.
45:54
Well, I would have expected more from Tennessee.
45:58
So that's surprising.
46:01
So that's it.
46:02
Open and shut.
46:03
Pretty cruel as far as state of Tennessee was concerned.
46:05
Yeah.
46:06
Bang the gavel judge.
46:07
Ghost did it.
46:09
Everybody go home.
46:12
Did they try hanging her?
46:14
But they set up like invisible wire and they just like, whoo.
46:17
Like the real fire like we're just going to burn the witch.
46:22
Well, the bellwitch in the spring of 1821 told the family that it would be back in seven
46:29
years, which Lucy and two of her children reported that it did come back in much of the
46:36
same way that it had before as far as strange noises and all of that.
46:41
But shortly after it returned, it left again claiming that it would haunt the bell family
46:46
descendants again in 1935.
46:50
And while some people report strange happenings still on the family land, it's never
46:56
been to the same severity as what the original bells reported in the 1800s.
47:02
Today you can tour a replica of their cabin.
47:06
And you can also tour the caves.
47:11
And the caves is where people believe the bellwitch may have retreated to during the times
47:16
that it said it was leaving and it would be back or whatever.
47:19
And so you can tour the bellwitch caves that are on the old bell property.
47:25
Right.
47:26
Because the life cycle of course was that and then bat yoddy and then which.
47:31
So she was returning home to her birthplace, the caves where the bats are born.
47:36
I assume.
47:37
Right.
47:38
Right.
47:39
That all checks out.
47:40
I have no questions.
47:41
Yeah.
47:42
She came.
47:43
She murdered a man.
47:44
She left.
47:46
As one does.
47:48
Thank you guys for listening and happy Halloween.
47:50
Happy Halloween.
47:51
Thanks guys.
47:54
Cassie and Caitlyn, the host of PNW Haunts and Homicides, descended deep into the unknown
48:01
to bring tales of murder, the ghastly and the otherworldly.
48:07
Their stories will reveal hidden horrors of the past and show us how the darkness waits
48:12
to ensnare the curious wanderer.
48:15
They'll also have you questioning every rustle in the leaves and every creek from the forest.
48:22
Hi Cassie.
48:24
Hi Caitlyn.
48:25
Hi creepy people.
48:26
Hello.
48:27
Hello.
48:28
This is PNW Haunts and Homicides.
48:32
Can you imagine what it would be like if the frivolity of your youth, presuming that you
48:38
were permitted any was cut short by a horrific event?
48:44
For more than one family, that sentiment is all too real.
48:49
Emanuel Fair was imprisoned in King County, Washington for nearly a decade for a crime
48:55
that he says he did not commit.
48:58
He told the Seattle Times about being incarcerated for so long without a conviction.
49:04
I always knew I was going to get out.
49:07
I just didn't think it would take as long as it took.
49:10
10 years you said?
49:12
He was imprisoned, yes.
49:15
At the Valley View Apartments near Lake Samamish, #NeverBundey.
49:21
Ooh, if you know, you know, Ikea, can all that.
49:26
Emanuel was one of dozens of people, both other residents of the complex, as well as their
49:32
guests that were in and out of one of several apartment units during the Halloween party
49:38
that took place nearly 15 years ago.
49:41
Okay, can I just say that sounds like a lot of fun?
49:45
Yeah.
49:46
Like a whole apartment building party.
49:48
Yeah.
49:49
That sounds great.
49:50
I think it sounds fantastic.
49:51
Reminds me like a dorm kind of situation.
49:54
I think it very much had that kind of a vibe because it seems like there were a lot of people
49:59
that were in their, you know, early to mid-20s.
50:03
So maybe recent college grads or, you know, people kind of getting their lives started
50:08
up.
50:09
So great.
50:10
No.
50:12
The gravity of the situation didn't really hit until later though, when a young woman's
50:17
body was discovered in her very own bedroom.
50:21
Arpana Jinaga was a 24-year-old immigrant who worked as a software engineer at a company called
50:27
EMC in Bellevue.
50:30
And though she lived less than a dozen miles from her workplace, she had been born nearly
50:35
a world away from the state of Washington in Hedira, bad, India.
50:41
That's a whole world away?
50:43
I mean, yeah, basically.
50:46
I feel like it's in the same world.
50:48
Yeah.
50:49
I know what you're saying though.
50:51
It's probably a whole different world.
50:53
Definitely.
50:54
And most of her family was still there.
50:57
She was an alum of Rutgers University, but her accolades didn't stop there because I'm
51:03
pretty sure just getting into Rutgers is an accomplishment in and of itself.
51:09
She had won an International Software Award and was a rising star in her Bellevue workplace.
51:15
Oh, yeah.
51:16
Oh, yeah.
51:18
She was an active and friendly outgoing young woman, but she also had an eye for promising
51:25
volunteer opportunities, such as those that she took on both at an animal shelter, as
51:32
well as with the local fire department.
51:34
Oh, well, isn't she the sweetest?
51:37
I know.
51:38
She'd lived in the area for less than a year and signed up to volunteer her time to both
51:43
in the Redmond area.
51:44
Oh, I know that area.
51:47
Yeah.
51:48
Nearly two years later in October 2010, Emmanuel was placed in a Seattle holding cell for
51:56
the 2008 sexual assault and murder of Arpana Jinaga.
52:04
At the time, they were continuing to gather evidence against him.
52:08
For reference, DNA found at the scene of the crime would be linked to three men in total,
52:15
but only one would ultimately be charged in connection with her death.
52:20
Whoa.
52:22
So they ran a test on the DNA and it matched three different people?
52:26
There were a number of samples taken from various items in the apartment and that were discovered
52:35
in another area, and we're going to talk about that in a second.
52:40
Some of the samples matched one guy, some of the samples matched another.
52:45
There may have been some co-mingling of samples.
52:49
Well, yeah.
52:50
We don't like co-mingling of samples.
52:52
Don't love that.
52:53
It's not a good time.
52:55
No.
52:56
The evidence used against him was collected from a dumpster on the complex property.
53:02
According to prosecutors, Emmanuel's DNA was discovered on multiple items that they believed
53:07
the killer touched, including tape in the apartment, mixed with Arpana's blood stains
53:13
on a red robe found in a dumpster.
53:16
Oh.
53:17
Also, on a swab taken from Arpana's neck.
53:22
Oh, okay.
53:24
Yeah.
53:25
We've got some different places where it's being found, but we're going to come back.
53:31
Put a pin in the DNA evidence for our full-length episode in the PNW Haunts and Homicides Podcast
53:38
feed, because we're going to get to her.
53:40
I'll be there.
53:41
Okay.
53:43
When Arpana's body was found in her apartment back in 2008, a few specific sensory details
53:51
stood out to those working the case.
53:55
The smell of bleach for one, but also how her bedroom seemed to be completely saturated
54:02
with an oily substance, which was later determined to be motor oil.
54:07
Oh, ew.
54:09
Yeah.
54:10
Okay.
54:11
I imagine that's very smelly bleach and motor oil.
54:15
And what the fuck is going on with motor oil?
54:19
I had a lot of questions.
54:21
Maybe.
54:22
They think it was flammable and they wanted to like, push the plate.
54:24
Well, that's the place.
54:25
Well, that's the place.
54:26
Which would also later explain the burn marks on her bedroom carpet, as well as the satin
54:32
sheets pulled from the garbage dumpster.
54:35
Absolutely horrifying.
54:37
They were burned, like, not chemical burns, like fire burns.
54:42
That's my understanding.
54:43
Ooh.
54:44
Yeah, because they say burn marks, the way that it's phrased in the source material, yeah,
54:50
does sound like fire burns, not like a, like, ooh,ouch, that's going to blister in a weird
54:57
chemical way.
54:58
But I guess they probably wouldn't say chemical burn if it wasn't on a person.
55:03
I would assume.
55:05
Neighboring tenants would also say that they heard what they described as muffled moaning,
55:11
but didn't indicate that they had any reason to be particularly concerned about the noise
55:16
at least on that night.
55:19
It does sound like a party house, so I'm sure noise is common.
55:25
Yeah, I mean, it's a Halloween party.
55:27
Right.
55:28
I feel like enough said, you know what I mean?
55:31
Except maybe not.
55:32
However, it wouldn't take long for serious concern to develop.
55:37
By November 2nd, our Arpana's family had not spoken to her for a couple of days.
55:42
This was extremely unusual, as they typically spoke to her every day. Daily.
55:49
granting her father to ask a family friend that lived in the area to check in on her.
55:53
Whether they expected anything was truly wrong or just wanted to check on her in an abundance
55:58
of caution, the scene that the family friend, along with one of our Arpana's neighbors,
56:03
walked into, was the absolute worst case scenario imaginable.
56:10
Unimaginable, but...
56:12
And you said her family isn't local, right?
56:15
Right.
56:16
Oh, gosh.
56:18
They found Arpana at the foot of her bed.
56:21
Her autopsy would later show that she died of esphyxia by ligature strangulation.
56:28
No.
56:30
Ligature strangulation occurs when an external object is placed around the neck and provides
56:36
compression.
56:37
Oh, God.
56:40
The compression is usually applied to the neck by using the deceitant's own body weight
56:45
in what would generally be described as either a partial or complete hanging.
56:51
Oh, my God.
56:52
That sounds violent.
56:54
Yes.
56:56
Her manner of death was obviously brutal, but within the report, it was also noted that
57:02
she had sustained multiple blunt force injuries.
57:07
Prior to leaving the scene, the killer or killers had used bleach, blue toilet bowl cleaner,
57:14
a common household type of soap, and motor oil to strip away forensic evidence linking
57:22
them to the crime.
57:24
Man.
57:26
Traces of the various cleansers were found on Arpana's body, the carpet, her comforter,
57:35
the bathtub, as well as the bathroom counter and her mattress from which the comforter had
57:41
been removed.
57:43
Now it's important to note that depending on who you ask, Arpana's killer was already
57:48
imprisoned, but has since been released.
57:52
Others believe that one of the other persons of interest is the likely killer, or even
57:58
that a combination of multiple killers is most likely.
58:04
Some have even speculated about other high-profile, violent maniacs such as Israel keys, and he's
58:12
not the only one.
58:14
Oh, usually that's a theory that could be easily dismissed, especially if we're not sure
58:19
that it's coming from an entirely reliable source.
58:23
However, in this case, it does seem that Israel keys was in fact in the Seattle area between
58:31
October 31 and November 2.
58:35
Oh, that makes me really uncomfortable.
58:41
Because it should.
58:42
So while it may be far-fetched, it's possible that you may not want to roll that one out entirely.
58:49
Okay.
58:51
Emanuel Fairs' trial would begin in February of 2017, more than six years after he had
58:59
originally been charged, and more than eight years after our Panna was murdered.
59:06
After the rest of the story and this episode's tarot reading, you'll have to join us on our
59:11
regular feed.
59:12
Well, I'm not really that interested in hearing the rest of the details, but I'm really interested
59:18
in the tarot.
59:19
Yeah.
59:20
That's what I'm here for.
59:22
I know.
59:23
I know.
59:24
To everyone listening.
59:25
Have a creepy ass Halloween!
59:27
Finally, we turn to Jamie and John from True Crime Cast.
59:33
As we huddle close to the fire.
59:36
They share tales of both visible and invisible terrors, of voices that invade your very soul
59:44
that lead us into the heart of terror.
59:47
Listen closely, and your heart will race with each whispered word.
59:54
Hey, True Crime Cast fans.
59:58
Jamie and John here are super excited to be a part of this Halloween collaboration.
1:00:04
In darkness falls, we were excited to be contacted by Allison from Coffee and Cases, and we've
1:00:09
got our own spooky little tale to tell here today.
1:00:12
So get us rolling, John.
1:00:13
We are going to be talking about Teresita Baza, who was born in 1929 in the Philippines,
1:00:20
and was the only child to her parents who were well off and very wealthy.
1:00:24
She went to college there and then moved to the United States in 1960 to earn her master's
1:00:30
degree in music.
1:00:32
However, she would become a respiratory therapist at Edgewater Hospital located just outside of
1:00:38
Chicago.
1:00:39
Fun fact, this was the same hospital that was the birthplace of both John Wayne Gacy and
1:00:45
Hillary Clinton.
1:00:46
What a club.
1:00:47
Teresita was a kind, hard working lady and lived a simple life in which she kept to herself.
1:00:52
She wasn't the type of person to make enemies or make anybody angry.
1:00:56
On February 21st, Teresita worked a normal day, and then at 7 in the evening she got
1:01:01
a phone call from a friend who was a doctor at Edgewater Hospital.
1:01:06
They spoke about concert tickets and trying to sell some.
1:01:09
They were on the phone until about 7.20 and she said a friend arrived and she had to go.
1:01:15
She got another call at 7.30.
1:01:16
This was from Ruth Moib, who also worked at the hospital.
1:01:20
They talked for about 20 minutes, and Teresita stated that she had to run because somebody
1:01:25
was there to fix her television.
1:01:28
At 8.40 pm, neighbors and their apartments smelled smoke in their units and they opened
1:01:34
the doors and saw smoke coming from Teresita's apartment.
1:01:38
When firefighters got there, they found the source of the flames was a mattress that had
1:01:42
caught on fire.
1:01:44
When they had put out the fire, they found Teresita's body under the mattress, laying down
1:01:49
with her hands over her head.
1:01:51
She was in just a horrible situation and it very much seemed as if foul play was involved.
1:01:58
Was Teresita lived alone?
1:02:00
Please weren't able to find out if anything was missing from the home.
1:02:04
Was this a burglary?
1:02:05
Was this personal?
1:02:06
Was this a sexual assault later on?
1:02:08
We would find out that there was no sexual assault.
1:02:11
But so many questions.
1:02:12
Police did find a note that said get tickets for AS, AS being initials.
1:02:19
Police didn't know who had come to repair the TV because Teresita hadn't told anybody
1:02:23
a name or a company of anybody that was supposed to be coming to the house.
1:02:28
So all police know is we have this note, we have these phone calls and we have somebody
1:02:32
fixing her TV and that's all they got.
1:02:35
This case would basically go nowhere for months.
1:02:38
However, in August of 1977, six months after the murder, police would receive a fairly
1:02:45
strange tip.
1:02:46
Another department around Chicago, Evans Town, called the CPD to ask if they had looked
1:02:52
into a man named Alan Schahery, who also worked at Edgewater Hospital.
1:02:58
The police department had not looked into this man and of course they wanted to know why
1:03:03
they were even asking.
1:03:05
In Evansville, police department gave them the name of Dr. Jose Schau as someone that
1:03:10
they could call and speak with and that's when the story gets really spooky.
1:03:14
Yeah, Dr. Schau's wife, whose name was Remy, also worked at the Edgewater Hospital.
1:03:20
Dr. Schau worked elsewhere.
1:03:22
So detectives went to their home to learn why they would even ask about Alan Schahery
1:03:27
and what connection they had to Teresita.
1:03:32
They seemed shy or kind of ashamed almost at first, didn't really want to talk, but during
1:03:37
the home visit, Dr. Schau asked one of the detectives if he believed in the occult and
1:03:42
demonic forces.
1:03:44
That's got to be a question as a police officer.
1:03:46
You're there to get a report and get some facts.
1:03:49
That's got to put you on your heels, I would think.
1:03:51
Dr. Schau said that he's a physician, but he had seen some things in his life that science
1:03:57
just would not explain.
1:03:59
He went on to say that he didn't know Teresita or even know about her murder until one night
1:04:06
when his wife, Remy, had become possessed by the spirit of Teresita, Bassa.
1:04:14
Dr. Schau said that the first time he saw this was in their home, Remy had got up from
1:04:19
the couch, walked into her bedroom, and was just sitting there on the bed, staring with
1:04:23
a blank face.
1:04:25
He asked her if she was okay, and she began speaking in a foreign language.
1:04:30
This language was tagalog, and her voice was not his wife's.
1:04:35
Now tagalog was a national language of the Philippines where Teresita and Remy are
1:04:41
from.
1:04:42
Obviously Dr. Schau was concerned for his wife, and just like a doctor, he wanted to
1:04:46
make sure that she was oriented.
1:04:49
So he asked her if she knew who she was, and the voice said, "I am Teresita, Bassa."
1:04:56
The voice told him that she needed help solving her murder, and that the man who murdered
1:05:02
her was Alan Shawery.
1:05:04
The voice explained that Alan showed up to work on the TV, but instead she was stabbed
1:05:10
by Alan.
1:05:12
After Schau then said that once the voice left, Remy was back and had no memory of this
1:05:18
experience.
1:05:19
When Dr. Schau asked Remy if she knew Teresita, she said that they may have met once during
1:05:24
orientation at work, but they worked different shifts and really didn't know each other.
1:05:28
They certainly weren't friends.
1:05:31
He stated that another time it happened in the middle of the night while Remy was asleep.
1:05:36
The voice woke her up and asked why he hadn't gone to the police yet.
1:05:42
Dr. Schau said, "I am a scientist.
1:05:44
I need proof of this before I go to police."
1:05:47
The voice then described two pieces of jewelry that had been stolen from Teresita's house
1:05:52
by Alan the night of her murder.
1:05:55
He went on to give those to his girlfriend.
1:05:58
The voice also told Dr. Schau the names of relatives of Teresita who could identify
1:06:03
the jewelry as hers.
1:06:05
Remy told the police that sometimes in the hospital locker room she would look around
1:06:10
and see visions of Teresita with Alan's face behind her.
1:06:15
All kinds of supernatural imagery and claims of voices, not our typical leads.
1:06:24
They asked some of his co-workers about Alan and Teresita and one of them had mentioned
1:06:28
that he remembered Alan saying that he was going to work on her TV at some point with
1:06:34
this and the note from her home about having tickets to give to AS.
1:06:40
Police paid him a visit as well as his girlfriend.
1:06:44
At first he said he didn't know her.
1:06:46
But when confronted with the testimony about working on her TV, his story began to change.
1:06:52
He stated that he had went there for just a short time but didn't have the right tool
1:06:57
that he needed to fix the TV so he left fairly quickly.
1:07:01
They asked his girlfriend if she had been given any jewelry and she showed them two pieces
1:07:07
that were a perfect match to the ones that were described from the ghost and she stated
1:07:12
that he had given them to her in January as a late Christmas gift.
1:07:17
Police showed these pieces of jewelry to Teresita's family and they confirmed that they
1:07:23
were indeed Teresita's.
1:07:25
You mentioned you got chills when you quoted the quote unquote ghost earlier.
1:07:30
I just got chills that the jewelry claim was right.
1:07:34
How on earth could Remy have known about this other than this being possessed as she claimed
1:07:41
to be?
1:07:42
Eventually Alan would confess when he was confronted with all this evidence.
1:07:46
He said he got there that night and he killed her looking for money.
1:07:49
He only found $30 and he took two pieces of jewelry so that's what her life was worth
1:07:55
to him.
1:07:56
He was charged with murder and this trial in the public was nicknamed The Voice From the
1:08:02
Grave.
1:08:03
Four weeks later there was a hung jury because of the ghost witness.
1:08:08
A lot of the jurors while they thought he probably did this were so hung up on the unlikely
1:08:15
hood of Remy knowing this from a ghost that they couldn't commit to a guilty verdict.
1:08:21
Before there could be another trial, Alan pled guilty for a shorter sentence of 14 years
1:08:27
for murder.
1:08:28
After everything was said and done, he only ended up serving four years before he was released.
1:08:34
That's the most insane part of this story and I know that I just said a ghost told somebody
1:08:40
who murdered her but the fact that he only got four years for this is mind blowing to
1:08:45
me.
1:08:46
It is.
1:08:47
Yeah.
1:08:48
They have this information I can't think of a logical scenario where she knew this unless
1:08:54
somebody around the hospital was talking about it.
1:08:56
I guess that's possible.
1:08:58
But I think that's the story you go to police with.
1:09:00
Not the story of she was possessed by a ghost of a dead person that woke me up in the middle
1:09:05
of the night.
1:09:06
They were reliable witnesses.
1:09:07
Everything they said proved to be true though so it is what it is.
1:09:11
Yeah.
1:09:12
I legitimately think that the ghost of Tarrasita helps solve her own murder and that we
1:09:17
as society and the justice system were the ones that dropped the ball.
1:09:21
Again, we're thrilled to be a part of this Wind Darkness Falls collaboration.
1:09:25
You can find true crime cast anywhere you find your favorite podcast with new episodes
1:09:30
every Tuesday and Friday.
1:09:33
Until next crime, this has been true crime cast.
1:09:36
And happy Halloween.
1:09:40
We look at each other and we know what we must do.
1:09:44
We must listen to their stories.
1:09:46
We must learn about the darkness that lurks in the world both inside and out because that
1:09:53
is the only way to escape it.
1:09:57
Be sure to subscribe to all 13 participating podcasts listed in our show notes so you
1:10:04
don't miss a single episode or tale of terror.
1:10:09
And again, listen.
1:10:11
Remember.
1:10:13
Wind Darkness calls.
1:10:15
Answer at your own payroll.
1:10:16
[MUSIC]