Latest / Crime and Horror / They were TRAPPED in these cursed mountains - MrBallen

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They were TRAPPED in these cursed mountains - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today's stories are about real people who try to control fate,
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Speaker 1: and what they end up doing is just causing historic
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Speaker 1: levels of destruction. But before we get into today's stories,
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Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious
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Speaker 1: don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get
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Speaker 1: into today's stories. On the morning of June 26, 1826,
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Speaker 1: 38-year-old Samuel Willie Jr. stepped out of his house in
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Speaker 1: a remote area of New Hampshire's White Mountain Range called
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Speaker 1: The Notch. His wife, Polly, was at his side, and
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Speaker 1: together they looked around in shock because the land surrounding
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Speaker 1: their home was almost completely destroyed. There had been a
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Speaker 1: huge storm the previous night, and so Sam and Polly
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Speaker 1: had been expecting some damage. But What they were seeing
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Speaker 1: now was far worse than they had imagined. The heavy
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Speaker 1: rain had caused the river in front of their home
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Speaker 1: to completely overflow, so half of their property was now
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Speaker 1: completely submerged in water. The deluge had also triggered a
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Speaker 1: rock slide from one side of the mountain slopes behind them,
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Speaker 1: so there were also rocks and mud and entire trees
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Speaker 1: that were now kind of littering their yard and adjacent fields.
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Speaker 1: Sam saw, luckily, the slide had missed their house and
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Speaker 1: the barn where they kept their livestock. but only barely.
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Speaker 1: And there was damage to those structures from the storm
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Speaker 1: itself that he would have to repair. So Sam began
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Speaker 1: calculating how much time and money it was going to
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Speaker 1: take to clean all this up. And next to him,
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Speaker 1: he heard Polly kind of mumble to herself that this
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Speaker 1: had all been a really bad idea. Sam sighed because
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Speaker 1: he knew that Polly was referring to their decision to
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Speaker 1: move to the Notch in the first place. And right now,
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Speaker 1: staring at all this awful destruction right in front of him,
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Speaker 1: he had to agree with her. This might have been
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Speaker 1: a terrible idea. So up until about a year ago,
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Speaker 1: Sam and Polly and their five kids had lived on
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Speaker 1: a farm about 20 miles away from where they were
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Speaker 1: right now. And it had been a very quiet, cozy life.
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Speaker 1: But Sam had always had this feeling that he wanted
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Speaker 1: to do something more exciting than just be a regular
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Speaker 1: old farmer. And with this house in the notch, he'd
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Speaker 1: seen an opportunity for adventure. and also an opportunity to
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Speaker 1: make some money. So in this part of the White
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Speaker 1: Mountain Range, there was a 12 mile long road that
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Speaker 1: cut through the range from one side to the other.
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Speaker 1: And the notch house was right in the middle of
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Speaker 1: that road. But since this was the year 1826, this
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Speaker 1: road was more like a glorified trail. It was mountainous
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Speaker 1: and rocky and neither horses nor wagons could make it
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Speaker 1: all the way through. So as a result, travelers were
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Speaker 1: typically on foot and there was literally nowhere to stop
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Speaker 1: on this whole 12 mile road except for the Willys'
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Speaker 1: notch house. So Sam had realized how valuable this notch
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Speaker 1: house could be if he converted it into an inn.
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Speaker 1: But he also had bigger aspirations for the place, like
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Speaker 1: beyond it just being a pit stop, he wanted to
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Speaker 1: turn it into a destination. After all, the White Mountains
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Speaker 1: were incredibly beautiful, and where the Willys lived in the
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Speaker 1: notch was no exception. Their house was right on a
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Speaker 1: riverbank in a mountain valley, surrounded on all sides by
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Speaker 1: the woods and towering mist-covered peaks. It was all honestly breathtaking.
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Speaker 1: And as soon as Sam had seen it, he knew
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Speaker 1: that it could be a famous destination for poets and
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Speaker 1: authors and artists because it was the kind of place
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Speaker 1: people would write songs and books about. I mean, it
3:58
Speaker 1: was perfect. But so far, his dream, you know, of
4:01
Speaker 1: coming out here to the Notch House had been a
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Speaker 1: lot of work. The house was large, but really old.
4:08
Speaker 1: And it had been abandoned for a while before he
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Speaker 1: and his family got there. So it was in really
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Speaker 1: bad shape and quite dilapidated. Sam had hired two men
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Speaker 1: to live on the property and help him fix it up,
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Speaker 1: and they'd already done some work to expand the house
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Speaker 1: and the barn to accommodate more travelers. But Sam knew
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Speaker 1: he still had a lot to do before the notch
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Speaker 1: house became some kind of artist's retreat. And now, with
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Speaker 1: this extensive damage from the most recent storm, he had
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Speaker 1: even more things to fix, which he also had to
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Speaker 1: admit was actually the least of his problems. Because as
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Speaker 1: he and his wife Polly looked around at the aftermath
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Speaker 1: of the storm... He knew, really, he was lucky that
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Speaker 1: their house was even still standing, and that he and
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Speaker 1: his family were even still alive. I mean, that storm
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Speaker 1: was catastrophic. And as Sam thought about how close they'd
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Speaker 1: come to death, his heart began to race. I mean,
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Speaker 1: he wondered if Polly was right, and they should really,
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Speaker 1: at this point, just pack the family up and go
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Speaker 1: back to simple farming, because it was safer. But leaving
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Speaker 1: meant sort of admitting failure. His big dream would be over.
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Speaker 1: There would be no artist's retreat, no tourist mecca anymore.
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Speaker 1: You know, he would not be some creative benefactor. He'd
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Speaker 1: just be a farmer. So he took a deep breath
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Speaker 1: and then he asked his wife to please give this
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Speaker 1: place one more chance. He promised he would do everything
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Speaker 1: he possibly could to not just repair the property, but
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Speaker 1: also make it safe and secure so it could withstand
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Speaker 1: whatever the mountain threw at them. And Polly hesitated, but
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Speaker 1: ultimately she believed in her husband and she nodded in agreement.
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Speaker 1: For the next two months, Sam and his two hired
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Speaker 1: workers worked practically around the clock repairing the damage from
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Speaker 1: the storm. They fixed up windows and shingles and cleared
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Speaker 1: away all the debris, which took forever. And then once
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Speaker 1: all the repairs were done, Sam continued working, but now
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Speaker 1: he focused on improving the property. As the weeks passed by,
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Speaker 1: he worked very hard to build his family a very
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Speaker 1: secure home so they'd be much safer against future storms.
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Speaker 1: He reinforced walls and built a a whole new roof,
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Speaker 1: and mapped out disaster scenarios so that he and his
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Speaker 1: family would always be prepared. One disaster scenario that he
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Speaker 1: was especially concerned about was the large boulder that was
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Speaker 1: right behind their house. He was worried that if there
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Speaker 1: was another big rock slide, that boulder might just topple
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Speaker 1: onto them and crush them. And he and his workers
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Speaker 1: soon realized that they couldn't actually move the boulder. It
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Speaker 1: was just way too big. But in the end, they
6:28
Speaker 1: found a very creative way to make sure it would
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Speaker 1: not be dangerous. And while Sam did all this work,
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Speaker 1: he started to feel a lot better about everything. Each
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Speaker 1: security measure he put in place was proof that he
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Speaker 1: didn't have to sacrifice his ambitions for his family's safety.
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Speaker 1: He could have both. A few weeks later, on the
6:45
Speaker 1: night of August 28th, Sam Willie stood by a downstairs
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Speaker 1: window watching another wild storm rage outside. Heavy rain pummeled
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Speaker 1: the glass and Sam could hear powerful wind battering the
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Speaker 1: sides of the house. It was pitch black out, but
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Speaker 1: every now and then there was a burst of lightning
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Speaker 1: that that would light the whole valley up for a
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Speaker 1: few seconds before it went dark again. Each time this happened,
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Speaker 1: a crash of thunder would follow that was so loud,
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Speaker 1: it shook the house down to its foundation. Behind Sam, Polly,
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Speaker 1: along with their five kids and the two men that
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Speaker 1: were working on the property, were all sitting at the
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Speaker 1: kitchen table. And Polly and the kids in particular were
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Speaker 1: very scared, and the whole group were reading Bible verses,
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Speaker 1: you know, in these kind of frantic, hushed tones, like
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Speaker 1: they were trying to, you know, will the storm to
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Speaker 1: be over and to cling on to their faith to
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Speaker 1: pray that they'd be okay. Sam could hear the fear
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Speaker 1: in his wife's voice and he really couldn't blame her
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Speaker 1: because this was quite possibly the strongest storm that either
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Speaker 1: of them had ever seen out here. It was even
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Speaker 1: bigger than that one that completely destroyed their property over
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Speaker 1: the summer. The rain seemed impossibly powerful, coming down so
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Speaker 1: hard and so fast that that the river had already overflowed.
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Speaker 1: And each time there was a burst of lightning, Sam
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Speaker 1: could see the water levels were getting higher and higher
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Speaker 1: almost by the second. And so Sam was admittedly quite
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Speaker 1: scared himself. He tried to keep that in, but his
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Speaker 1: heart was racing and he was really anxious. But he
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Speaker 1: told himself that this was the moment he'd prepared for
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Speaker 1: all summer long. I mean, this was it. He had
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Speaker 1: done so much work to make sure this was a
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Speaker 1: safe place during storms. And he felt like they'd be okay.
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Speaker 1: But at the same time, the deafening sounds outside and
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Speaker 1: the terrified voices of Pauly and his kids were making
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Speaker 1: it really hard to believe that was actually true, that
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Speaker 1: they were really okay here. So for a little while,
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Speaker 1: Sam just kept looking out the window, listening to his
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Speaker 1: family behind him. But then eventually he turned around and
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Speaker 1: as calm as he could, he told them all to
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Speaker 1: go to bed. It was going to be fine. He
8:41
Speaker 1: would stay up and keep watch. Pauly, who was visibly
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Speaker 1: still very scared, nodded and got up and went off
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Speaker 1: with the kids. And for the next few hours, Sam
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Speaker 1: stayed at his post by the window and watched the storm.
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Speaker 1: And for the most part, there wasn't a whole lot
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Speaker 1: of drama. I mean, it was very loud and windy.
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Speaker 1: It was obvious the river was flooding. I mean, there
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Speaker 1: was going to be damage tomorrow, but Sam was thinking that,
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Speaker 1: you know, maybe we're going to get through this thing.
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Speaker 1: But a little after midnight, Sam heard this sudden, extremely
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Speaker 1: loud banging sound outside and he froze because he knew
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Speaker 1: it was not thunder. It sounded more like an explosion.
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Speaker 1: Almost immediately, Sam knew what it had to have been.
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Speaker 1: The barn must have collapsed. And thinking that this storm
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Speaker 1: had just taken out an entire building that he had
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Speaker 1: reinforced for a storm turned Sam's worry into outright panic.
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Speaker 1: And so Sam screams for his wife and the workers
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Speaker 1: and his kids to wake up, that it's not safe.
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Speaker 1: Get away from the windows. We have to find cover.
9:41
Speaker 1: And so for the next few seconds, the family and
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Speaker 1: the workers, everyone's frantically scrambling around trying to find a
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Speaker 1: safe spot, but they don't know where it is. But
9:49
Speaker 1: as they're sort of navigating, trying to find the right
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Speaker 1: place to go to weather the storm, Sam heard an
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Speaker 1: even louder bang. And then there were screams all around him.
9:59
Speaker 1: And then he felt himself. go airborne as a heavy
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Speaker 1: object slammed into his back. The following evening, an exhausted
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Speaker 1: traveler named John Barker walk down that road in the
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Speaker 1: direction of the notch house where the Willys lived. So
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Speaker 1: John was a merchant and he was passing through the
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Speaker 1: White Mountains on his way home after a business trip.
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Speaker 1: And he had made this trip many times before. He
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Speaker 1: knew the road, but the road currently was flooded and
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Speaker 1: there was rock slides and damage everywhere. So it was
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Speaker 1: quite slow going and pretty miserable. But he knew at
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Speaker 1: the halfway point was this house, the notch house, where
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Speaker 1: Sam Willie and his family lived. And they were looking
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Speaker 1: to convert their house into an inn for travelers and
10:49
Speaker 1: Even though it wasn't fully established yet, John knew he
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Speaker 1: could very likely get into that house, have a hot meal,
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Speaker 1: rest a little bit before he made the rest of
10:57
Speaker 1: his journey. But when he finally rounded the corner into
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Speaker 1: the valley where the house was, he just froze because
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Speaker 1: the area was a complete disaster. The river had clearly
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Speaker 1: completely flooded and now half the land in front of
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Speaker 1: him was just underwater. There had also been clearly a
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Speaker 1: huge rock slide. The barn was only half standing, and
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Speaker 1: the field in front of the Willys was completely buried
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Speaker 1: in rocks and mountain debris. But the truly astonishing thing
11:25
Speaker 1: was that in the middle of all this destruction and ruin,
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Speaker 1: the Willys' house was still standing. And as John maneuvered
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Speaker 1: his way closer to it, he realized it was more
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Speaker 1: than just intact. The house was pristine. There wasn't a
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Speaker 1: single thing broken or out of place, not even a window.
11:43
Speaker 1: Relieved and a little amazed, John hurried right up to
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Speaker 1: the entrance and knocked, but no one answered. So eventually
11:51
Speaker 1: he just opened the door and poked his head in
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Speaker 1: and called out to Sam. But he didn't hear anything.
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Speaker 1: No sound of a reply and nobody moving around inside.
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Speaker 1: So John tentatively stepped all the way into the house
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Speaker 1: and just kept calling out to the family as he
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Speaker 1: walked from room to room. But he quickly realized the
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Speaker 1: house was completely empty. It was also a mess. There
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Speaker 1: were clothes scattered all over the floor and beds and
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Speaker 1: Sheets had been yanked around and were messy, and the
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Speaker 1: Bible was wide open on the kitchen table. John stood
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Speaker 1: in the middle of the home trying to work out
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Speaker 1: what could have happened here. The mess suggested that, you know,
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Speaker 1: clearly the family had been here somewhat recently, but had
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Speaker 1: left in a hurry. So John guessed they must have
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Speaker 1: gone down the mountain to wait out the storm somewhere else,
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Speaker 1: either at a neighbor's or the tavern miles away at
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Speaker 1: the end of the road. And since the Willys were
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Speaker 1: not here to allow him to stay, John needed to
12:42
Speaker 1: figure out what he was going to do. I mean,
12:44
Speaker 1: he didn't really like the idea of still sleeping in
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Speaker 1: the home without them here. But he really had nowhere
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Speaker 1: else to go. And it was almost nighttime, and he
12:52
Speaker 1: could barely manage the ruined road during the daylight, let
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Speaker 1: alone during the dark. So even though he felt kind
12:57
Speaker 1: of bad about it, he picked a bed and tried
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Speaker 1: to get some rest. But just as he began to
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Speaker 1: drift off, he heard a deep, guttural moaning sound coming
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Speaker 1: from somewhere outside the house. John immediately woke up and
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Speaker 1: rushed over to a window. but he couldn't see anything.
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Speaker 1: Night came really fast in the White Mountains, and it
13:16
Speaker 1: was almost completely dark outside. He waited to see if
13:18
Speaker 1: he would hear anything else, but he didn't. So he
13:22
Speaker 1: decided he must have imagined the sound and turned to
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Speaker 1: go back to bed. But as he did, the moaning
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Speaker 1: started again, and this time it was louder. John gasped
13:31
Speaker 1: as a terrible thought occurred to him. He wondered if
13:34
Speaker 1: maybe the sound was one of the willies, and that
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Speaker 1: they hadn't actually left the property, but were maybe outside, injured,
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Speaker 1: or in trouble because of the storm. So John sprinted outside,
13:44
Speaker 1: but again, it was pitch black outside and he didn't
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Speaker 1: have any kind of light to help guide his way.
13:48
Speaker 1: And so once he was out there, he just began
13:50
Speaker 1: shouting out, you know, calling out to whoever it was,
13:53
Speaker 1: asking if they needed help. And eventually the horrible moaning
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Speaker 1: answered him. But the moaning kind of echoed all over
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Speaker 1: the valley. So John couldn't pinpoint where it was actually
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Speaker 1: coming from, other than it clearly being outside somewhere. After
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Speaker 1: frantically looking around and not finding whoever it was, John
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Speaker 1: realized that finding the injured person was going to be
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Speaker 1: impossible right now. It was just too dark, and he
14:17
Speaker 1: would unfortunately have to wait until the morning. So, very reluctantly,
14:21
Speaker 1: John went back inside the house, and for hours he
14:24
Speaker 1: just sat in bed and listened to the moaning continue outside. Finally,
14:29
Speaker 1: in the morning, when the first bit of sun peeked
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Speaker 1: over the mountain ridge, John hurried right outside to look around.
14:35
Speaker 1: And this time, he quickly found the source of that
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Speaker 1: moaning sound. It was one of the willies' oxen, moaning
14:40
Speaker 1: in pain, from being trapped under some debris near the
14:43
Speaker 1: ruins of their barn. John immediately rushed forward and began
14:46
Speaker 1: hauling the wooden planks and rocks off the ox. And
14:50
Speaker 1: after he had freed the animal, it amazingly staggered to
14:52
Speaker 1: its feet and hobbled away into the woods. It was
14:55
Speaker 1: basically okay. But after it was gone, John felt this
14:58
Speaker 1: sort of sick uneasiness, even though the sound had been
15:01
Speaker 1: from an ox and he had saved it. He just
15:03
Speaker 1: felt like there was something wrong here. And so he
15:06
Speaker 1: decided that he had to go and see the willies
15:08
Speaker 1: with his own eyes. just to make sure they really
15:11
Speaker 1: were okay. So even though it was really early and
15:14
Speaker 1: John was still very tired, he immediately gathered up his
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Speaker 1: things and set off down the road. Hours later, around
15:21
Speaker 1: noon that same day, John Barker finally staggered out of
15:24
Speaker 1: the mostly destroyed pass and made his way towards the
15:27
Speaker 1: tavern at the bottom of the road. When John stepped inside,
15:31
Speaker 1: he was exhausted, he was drenched, you know, from this
15:34
Speaker 1: awful journey he had just taken again on this road.
15:37
Speaker 1: But more than that, he was really worried about the Willys.
15:41
Speaker 1: Because as he made that trip down the road, he
15:44
Speaker 1: saw neighbor's homes along the way and kind of expected
15:46
Speaker 1: to see the Willys in one of them. But no,
15:49
Speaker 1: the Willys were not in any of the neighbor's homes.
15:51
Speaker 1: And in fact, basically none of the neighbors were in
15:54
Speaker 1: their houses either. They were all basically in this tavern.
15:57
Speaker 1: It was like everybody who lived on this road had
16:00
Speaker 1: come to this tavern because of the storm. But when
16:03
Speaker 1: John looked around the tavern, he could tell the Willys
16:05
Speaker 1: were not in there either. And this made John's stomach drop.
16:09
Speaker 1: Because if they weren't at their house, and they weren't
16:11
Speaker 1: in any of the neighbors' homes, and now they were
16:13
Speaker 1: not in this tavern with the rest of their neighbors,
16:16
Speaker 1: that had to mean something was wrong. And so John
16:19
Speaker 1: actually called out to the entire room and asked if
16:22
Speaker 1: anyone had seen the Willys since the storm. And the
16:24
Speaker 1: tavern got really quiet as its occupants all began looking
16:28
Speaker 1: around at each other, seeing if anybody had, but eventually
16:32
Speaker 1: everyone just shook their head and said, no, we don't
16:34
Speaker 1: know where they are. And that's when John said to
16:36
Speaker 1: the crowd that, well, the Willys are missing. A few
16:41
Speaker 1: hours later, a 12-man search party left that tavern and
16:45
Speaker 1: headed right back up the road towards the Notch. They
16:47
Speaker 1: were led by one of the Willys' neighbors, a man
16:49
Speaker 1: named Edward Melcher, who lived at the base of the
16:52
Speaker 1: mountain on a farm with his family. The recent storm
16:54
Speaker 1: had done quite a bit of damage to Edward's property.
16:57
Speaker 1: And so he and his family, like most other people
16:59
Speaker 1: that lived in this area, had gone to the tavern
17:02
Speaker 1: to seek shelter. Edward and his family, much like the Willys,
17:05
Speaker 1: were good people who were just trying to carve out
17:07
Speaker 1: a living in this part of the world. And there
17:09
Speaker 1: were not a lot of people doing that. I mean,
17:11
Speaker 1: this was a very small community. And so they always
17:14
Speaker 1: helped each other out whenever they could. And so this
17:16
Speaker 1: was no exception. But as desperately as Edward and the
17:19
Speaker 1: rest of the search party wanted to get to the
17:22
Speaker 1: Willys' property and find these people, it took so long to...
17:26
Speaker 1: navigate the road that by the time they actually got
17:29
Speaker 1: to the property, it was after midnight and really too
17:31
Speaker 1: dark to look for anything. So they just went right
17:34
Speaker 1: into the Willie's house to wait until morning. Once he
17:36
Speaker 1: was inside, Edward could see, you know, the home really
17:39
Speaker 1: was just as John described. You know, it was sort
17:41
Speaker 1: of a mess, but there was absolutely no damage to
17:44
Speaker 1: it from the storm. Edward had heard that Sam was
17:48
Speaker 1: really freaked out about a storm that they had had
17:50
Speaker 1: earlier that summer. And because of that storm and because
17:53
Speaker 1: of the damage it had done, He had gone way
17:56
Speaker 1: out of his way to really develop his property to
17:59
Speaker 1: prepare it for the next storm. And it seemed like
18:02
Speaker 1: all his preparations and reinforcements on his land had paid
18:06
Speaker 1: off because here his house was standing tall. But that
18:09
Speaker 1: was also kind of confusing. It's like, if you prepared
18:12
Speaker 1: this house for a storm, and clearly it was able
18:14
Speaker 1: to withstand the storm, why did the Willys leave? As
18:18
Speaker 1: Edward continued to walk around the house, he saw that
18:21
Speaker 1: the Willys' Bible was still lying on the kitchen table
18:24
Speaker 1: wide open. And when he leaned over and read the
18:26
Speaker 1: passage that was on the page, he couldn't help but,
18:30
Speaker 1: you know, kind of shiver when he saw what it said.
18:34
Speaker 1: It said, Hours later, when the sun finally began to
18:41
Speaker 1: come up, Edward and the others went outside and began
18:44
Speaker 1: searching the property for signs of the Willys. And over
18:47
Speaker 1: the next few hours, the original party of 12 grew...
18:50
Speaker 1: as more and more people showed up to assist in
18:53
Speaker 1: the search. By this point, word had spread pretty far
18:56
Speaker 1: about the family's disappearance, and so residents from all over
18:59
Speaker 1: the White Mountains had come here to help. And eventually,
19:02
Speaker 1: hundreds of people were combing the mountainside to find the Willys,
19:06
Speaker 1: or at least to find a clue about where they
19:08
Speaker 1: might have gone. At around noon, when still there had
19:10
Speaker 1: been nothing found, Edward decided he would go search closer
19:14
Speaker 1: to the river, since by this point, the water levels
19:16
Speaker 1: had gone down some. And when he got to the
19:19
Speaker 1: water's edge... he began to hear this strange buzzing sound.
19:22
Speaker 1: And so he followed it. And eventually he saw something
19:26
Speaker 1: poking out from behind some debris. And when he saw
19:29
Speaker 1: what it was, Edward began to scream for help. So
19:32
Speaker 1: the thing that Sam Willie was most afraid of happening
19:35
Speaker 1: in a large storm was a rock slide, especially with
19:39
Speaker 1: that huge boulder positioned right behind his house. But when
19:42
Speaker 1: Sam realized it was going to be impossible to move
19:46
Speaker 1: said boulder or otherwise shield his family from falling mountain rocks,
19:51
Speaker 1: he came up with a pretty creative solution. He built
19:53
Speaker 1: a whole second shelter that he and his family could
19:57
Speaker 1: run to if there was a bad storm. And when
20:00
Speaker 1: that second storm hit, you know, the one that had
20:02
Speaker 1: caused all this damage and had led to the Well,
20:06
Speaker 1: during that storm, Sam's screaming for his family to, you know,
20:10
Speaker 1: take cover, get away from the windows. You know, he's
20:12
Speaker 1: heard this crashing sound outside that he is convinced is
20:15
Speaker 1: the sound of his barn collapsing. And, you know, his
20:17
Speaker 1: house is next. He's yelling for them to take cover. Well,
20:21
Speaker 1: the family listened to him and together they did seek cover.
20:25
Speaker 1: They left the main house. and went into that second
20:29
Speaker 1: shelter that they believed was better protected from a potential
20:34
Speaker 1: rock slide. But unfortunately, this would be a catastrophic mistake
20:38
Speaker 1: because that humongous boulder right behind the house was not
20:42
Speaker 1: actually a safety risk. In many ways, it was like
20:45
Speaker 1: a protective barrier. When there was an actual rock slide
20:49
Speaker 1: during this horrible storm, Well, the rubble actually piled up
20:53
Speaker 1: on the backside of that boulder and did not strike
20:56
Speaker 1: the house at all. And so in essence, this boulder
20:59
Speaker 1: basically made the Willys' original home the single safest place
21:03
Speaker 1: to be on the whole property. But unfortunately, Sam and
21:06
Speaker 1: his family did not stay there long enough to realize that.
21:09
Speaker 1: They ran out of the main house as a big group.
21:12
Speaker 1: And as soon as they were outside, they were overtaken
21:15
Speaker 1: by the rock slide and killed. Eventually, the residents of
21:18
Speaker 1: the White Mountains would find the family. The buzzing that
21:21
Speaker 1: Edward heard was actually a group of flies gathered around
21:25
Speaker 1: a single human hand reached out from underneath the rubble. Ultimately,
21:29
Speaker 1: because of this tragedy, the area became a famous tourist destination,
21:34
Speaker 1: just like the Willys had hoped it would. People from
21:36
Speaker 1: all over the country heard about the family and what happened,
21:39
Speaker 1: and before long, artists and authors were coming to the
21:42
Speaker 1: White Mountains in droves to see the site of the tragedy,
21:46
Speaker 1: and some even wrote books about it. And so, in
21:49
Speaker 1: a sort of cruel twist of fate, Sam's dream did
21:52
Speaker 1: come true, just not in the way he hoped. On
22:13
Speaker 1: one of the last nights in December of 1678, Marie
22:17
Speaker 1: Boss sat at a large table at a friend's dinner
22:20
Speaker 1: party in the city of Paris, France. The table was
22:22
Speaker 1: crowded with other party guests, and they were all listening
22:25
Speaker 1: to Marie as she told story after story about her
22:28
Speaker 1: life and her career. So Marie was a fortune teller,
22:32
Speaker 1: which meant, at least according to her, that she could
22:34
Speaker 1: read people's futures, usually by reading their palms or using crystals.
22:39
Speaker 1: And Marie was actually quite good at doing this, in
22:42
Speaker 1: the sense that Whenever she told someone what their future
22:44
Speaker 1: was going to be, she typically was right. Which was why,
22:48
Speaker 1: out of the 400-something fortune tellers in Paris at the time,
22:51
Speaker 1: she had some of the best and most important clients
22:54
Speaker 1: in the whole city. People like royalty and wives of
22:57
Speaker 1: very high-up government members and other very wealthy people of
23:00
Speaker 1: high society. And it was a big deal for Marie
23:03
Speaker 1: to even be in the same room as some of
23:04
Speaker 1: these kinds of people, because she did not come for money. Actually,
23:08
Speaker 1: there was a time where she almost had to live
23:11
Speaker 1: out on the streets. Because years ago, when her husband died,
23:14
Speaker 1: she was left alone with her three kids and really
23:17
Speaker 1: no way to provide for them. But she'd worked very
23:19
Speaker 1: hard and actually ended up thriving. Her kids had grown
23:23
Speaker 1: up and she turned her fortune-telling talents into a real business.
23:27
Speaker 1: She'd been so successful that she really was maybe about
23:30
Speaker 1: three clients away from being able to retire. And Murray
23:33
Speaker 1: was not one to just sit back and let those
23:35
Speaker 1: clients magically find her. She was a self-made woman. and
23:39
Speaker 1: knew it was very important to go out and find
23:42
Speaker 1: those clients herself. And so that's why she was at
23:44
Speaker 1: this party now. It was being hosted by a friend
23:47
Speaker 1: of hers who was also in the fortune-telling scene, and
23:50
Speaker 1: so many of the guests at this table were new
23:52
Speaker 1: potential clients that Marie really hoped to impress. So that's
23:57
Speaker 1: what Marie was trying to do now, to try to
23:59
Speaker 1: be very impressive. She was telling the other guests all
24:02
Speaker 1: these incredible tales about working with the rich and the famous.
24:05
Speaker 1: But the problem was, in addition to these these fabulous
24:09
Speaker 1: stories she was telling, what was also coming through very
24:12
Speaker 1: clearly to the audience was that Marie was very drunk.
24:16
Speaker 1: So Marie was loud and talkative in general, and that
24:19
Speaker 1: extroverted attitude really helped her get clients typically. But when
24:23
Speaker 1: she got drunk, she was even more talkative than normal.
24:27
Speaker 1: And sometimes it also made her a bit inappropriate. Right
24:30
Speaker 1: now though, she felt like she was on a roll.
24:32
Speaker 1: Because her stories were drawing gasps and laughs, and the
24:36
Speaker 1: guests were pushing her to tell them more and more.
24:39
Speaker 1: But there was at least one person in the crowd
24:41
Speaker 1: that seemed bothered by what Marie was saying. The hostess
24:44
Speaker 1: of the party. The hostess kept silently glaring at Marie
24:48
Speaker 1: from the other end of the table. It was like
24:50
Speaker 1: she was silently trying to tell her to shut up.
24:53
Speaker 1: But Marie figured she knew why she was acting that way.
24:56
Speaker 1: I mean, the hostess was also a fortune teller. And
24:59
Speaker 1: so she must just be jealous. You know, Marie is
25:01
Speaker 1: getting all this attention and potential new clients. And this
25:05
Speaker 1: wasn't even her party. Like, she just got to be jealous.
25:07
Speaker 1: So Marie ignored the glares and just kept on talking
25:11
Speaker 1: until dinner was over. And then after that, the party
25:13
Speaker 1: ended and Marie staggered off to bed. When Marie woke
25:18
Speaker 1: up the next day, her head was absolutely pounding and
25:21
Speaker 1: her stomach was in knots. I mean, she was severely
25:24
Speaker 1: hungover from drinking the night before. She didn't remember a
25:27
Speaker 1: whole lot about what had happened the night before. But
25:29
Speaker 1: she did remember telling a lot of stories. And she
25:32
Speaker 1: remembered that while she was telling these stories, the hostess
25:35
Speaker 1: was angrily glaring at her the whole time. And now
25:38
Speaker 1: that she was sober, a terrible thought popped into her head.
25:42
Speaker 1: She wondered if she'd said or done something that was embarrassing.
25:45
Speaker 1: You know, what if the table wasn't laughing with her?
25:48
Speaker 1: What if they were laughing at her? And what if,
25:50
Speaker 1: you know, the hostess glaring at her was some sort
25:52
Speaker 1: of signal to stop because she was hurting herself? And
25:55
Speaker 1: so this thought that, you know, somehow she had done
25:57
Speaker 1: real damage to her her reputation, her career, you know,
26:01
Speaker 1: from being too drunk, continued to weigh on her throughout
26:04
Speaker 1: the entire day and into the following evening until that
26:08
Speaker 1: night when she was in her kitchen making some dinner
26:10
Speaker 1: with her adult daughter and there was a knock at
26:13
Speaker 1: her door. Marie hurried to open it up and when
26:15
Speaker 1: she did, she found a young woman standing on her
26:17
Speaker 1: front steps. The woman seemed incredibly nervous and kept fidgeting
26:21
Speaker 1: and smoothing her hair and she told Marie that she
26:24
Speaker 1: had gotten her name from someone Marie had met at
26:26
Speaker 1: that dinner party and and was hoping that Marie could
26:29
Speaker 1: help her. And when she heard this, Marie smiled and
26:32
Speaker 1: exhaled out all the tension she'd been holding up over
26:35
Speaker 1: the last day. You know, this was a huge relief
26:38
Speaker 1: to Marie. It was proof that the dinner party had
26:40
Speaker 1: not been a total embarrassment, you know, despite the hostess
26:44
Speaker 1: glaring at her the whole time, that clearly, you know,
26:47
Speaker 1: here she is getting a new client. She must have
26:50
Speaker 1: impressed at least this woman, and maybe there were more,
26:52
Speaker 1: like it had been a success. So very excitedly, she
26:55
Speaker 1: invited the young woman inside and led her to the
26:58
Speaker 1: area of her home where Marie conducted her business and
27:00
Speaker 1: read people's fortunes. This room had lots of strange objects
27:04
Speaker 1: placed all around it, like jars and crystals and bottles
27:07
Speaker 1: of potions and decks of cards, to make the area
27:10
Speaker 1: feel mystical and authentic. The two of them eventually sat
27:13
Speaker 1: down at Marie's small table in the middle of this room,
27:16
Speaker 1: and once they were sitting, the woman told Marie that
27:19
Speaker 1: she did want her fortune told because she had a
27:21
Speaker 1: terribly abusive husband. and she wanted to know how much
27:25
Speaker 1: longer she would have to put up with this cruelty.
27:27
Speaker 1: This didn't surprise Marie. She'd seen a lot of nervous,
27:30
Speaker 1: frail women like this one who were completely trapped in
27:33
Speaker 1: their marriages. In France at this time, divorce wasn't even legal,
27:37
Speaker 1: which meant you were stuck with your partner even if
27:40
Speaker 1: they were abusive. And so a lot of these women
27:42
Speaker 1: that were in this position turned to Marie, desperate to
27:45
Speaker 1: be told what the rest of their lives looked like
27:48
Speaker 1: and if their lives would continue to be terrible and
27:50
Speaker 1: hard because of their partner. Marie knew that really what
27:53
Speaker 1: these women were looking for was control. They hoped that
27:57
Speaker 1: if they just knew what their future looked like, even
27:59
Speaker 1: if it was bad, they could somehow do something to
28:02
Speaker 1: change it. And so Marie, she reached out and she
28:05
Speaker 1: grabbed this woman's hand and she turned it around and
28:07
Speaker 1: she began to study her palm. Marie was trying to
28:10
Speaker 1: get a sense of what the future held for this
28:13
Speaker 1: woman by reading her palm. And pretty soon, Marie got
28:16
Speaker 1: this feeling in her gut. She felt sure that this
28:19
Speaker 1: woman actually was going to be okay. And Marie told
28:22
Speaker 1: the woman that her husband's abuse would end soon. Then
28:26
Speaker 1: she gave her some tips on what to do in
28:28
Speaker 1: the meantime. The woman was visibly relieved and thanked Marie profusely.
28:32
Speaker 1: And then when she was gone, Marie smiled. Not just
28:35
Speaker 1: because she had helped this woman, but also because, after
28:39
Speaker 1: this job, Marie would only need two more clients before
28:42
Speaker 1: she had enough money to retire. A few days later,
28:46
Speaker 1: on January 4th, Marie woke up to somebody banging on
28:49
Speaker 1: her door. She figured it must be a very desperate client,
28:52
Speaker 1: so she rolled out of bed and started walking to
28:55
Speaker 1: go answer it. But before she could get there, the
28:58
Speaker 1: door flew open and the Parisian police poured inside. Marie
29:02
Speaker 1: staggered back and just stared at them in complete shock.
29:05
Speaker 1: She had no idea what they were doing there, but
29:08
Speaker 1: they immediately just grabbed her and said she was under arrest.
29:11
Speaker 1: Marie screamed in protest and said there had to be
29:14
Speaker 1: some mistake here. She hadn't done anything wrong, and when
29:16
Speaker 1: they didn't listen to her, she got furious and demanded
29:20
Speaker 1: to be released. She told them that she was Marie Boss,
29:23
Speaker 1: and she had friends in high places like Parliament and
29:26
Speaker 1: noble circles. They could vouch for her and say that
29:29
Speaker 1: she was an honest person who just worked hard and
29:32
Speaker 1: was good for her clients and good for the city.
29:34
Speaker 1: But as she was ranting and raving, one of the
29:37
Speaker 1: officers stepped in front of her and without reacting to
29:39
Speaker 1: what she was saying, they just showed her an object
29:42
Speaker 1: that Marie instantly recognized as having come from her fortune
29:46
Speaker 1: telling room. And at this, her heart sank and she
29:50
Speaker 1: stopped struggling because Marie knew that she was now in very,
29:54
Speaker 1: very big trouble. And if she was in trouble, then
29:57
Speaker 1: so were many, many other people in Paris. After Marie
30:02
Speaker 1: was arrested, she was brought to a prison in Paris
30:04
Speaker 1: called the Bastille, where she was interrogated by torture. And
30:08
Speaker 1: since Marie was already a talker, she quickly told the
30:10
Speaker 1: police everything they wanted to know. And after Marie did that,
30:14
Speaker 1: all hell broke loose. Hordes of police officers fanned out
30:18
Speaker 1: through the whole city, charging into homes and businesses all
30:21
Speaker 1: around Paris, arresting civilians, business owners, and housewives. Then they
30:26
Speaker 1: flooded the hall of the city's government and demanded high-ranking
30:29
Speaker 1: officials in Parliament surrender their wives to authorities, throwing the
30:33
Speaker 1: Parisian government into absolute chaos. And even after all of that,
30:38
Speaker 1: the authorities still weren't finished. They left the city and
30:41
Speaker 1: began forcing the French nobility out of their castles to
30:45
Speaker 1: go face charges in the city. Months turned into years,
30:48
Speaker 1: and the arrests continued to pile up, and each one
30:51
Speaker 1: was more shocking than the last, until the investigation led
30:54
Speaker 1: authorities to the actual royal palace in Paris and to
30:58
Speaker 1: the king's favorite mistress. By the time the police finished
31:01
Speaker 1: their investigation, hundreds of people all across France, ranging from
31:05
Speaker 1: commoners to literal royalty, were either facing charges or or
31:10
Speaker 1: sitting in jail cells. And screams filled the halls of
31:13
Speaker 1: these prisons as the arrested were tortured for whatever information
31:17
Speaker 1: they might have. Scores of people fled the country. And
31:20
Speaker 1: then eventually, all around Paris, these enormous pyres were built
31:25
Speaker 1: in the public squares. And one by one, dozens and
31:29
Speaker 1: dozens of people were led out to these pyres, strapped
31:32
Speaker 1: to the poles in the middle of them, and then
31:35
Speaker 1: burned to death in front of thousands of Parisian spectators.
31:40
Speaker 1: And it was all because of Marie. So Marie Boss
31:44
Speaker 1: was not just a fortune teller. She made her real
31:46
Speaker 1: money by making and selling poison. And it would turn
31:50
Speaker 1: out that she was not the only one. In fact,
31:53
Speaker 1: at the time, you could say Paris basically ran on poison.
31:56
Speaker 1: Since the late 1660s, according to one estimate, around half
32:00
Speaker 1: of the people who lived in that city, from housewives
32:03
Speaker 1: to literal royalty, had poisoned someone. or been poisoned by someone.
32:09
Speaker 1: It had become absurdly common for people, especially rich people,
32:13
Speaker 1: to buy poison from Marie and the network of 400
32:16
Speaker 1: or so other poisoners around the city, and use it
32:20
Speaker 1: to quietly commit murder so that the victim's deaths looked natural.
32:24
Speaker 1: But poison was not just used to kill people. It
32:28
Speaker 1: was sort of used like a solution for many kinds
32:31
Speaker 1: of problems, like people who wanted their romantic interests to
32:35
Speaker 1: be easier to seduce, well, they'd buy poison and poison them.
32:38
Speaker 1: Or people that had abusive or unappealing partners, they would
32:42
Speaker 1: use poison to make them sick and bedridden. Because remember,
32:45
Speaker 1: they can't get divorced. So if you're stuck with somebody
32:48
Speaker 1: and you don't like them, well, just poison them. It
32:50
Speaker 1: was also alleged that King Louis XIV himself was poisoned
32:54
Speaker 1: in non-fatal doses by his mistress. who wanted to make
32:57
Speaker 1: him easier to manipulate. Poison was even used for entertainment.
33:01
Speaker 1: One duo of poisoners baked deadly substances into cakes and
33:05
Speaker 1: handed them out to unsuspecting patients at a local hospital
33:09
Speaker 1: just to see what would happen. The Poison Affair, as
33:12
Speaker 1: it came to be called, was without a doubt at
33:14
Speaker 1: the time Paris' biggest and best-kept secret. Until Marie went
33:19
Speaker 1: to that dinner party, got really drunk... and let it slip.
33:23
Speaker 1: That night, Marie told stories of poisoning people, and people
33:27
Speaker 1: thought they were so funny because they didn't believe they
33:30
Speaker 1: were true. But one of the guests saw that the
33:33
Speaker 1: hostess of the party looked furious at Marie the whole
33:37
Speaker 1: time Marie was telling these stories. And so he wondered
33:40
Speaker 1: if maybe what Marie was talking about might actually be
33:43
Speaker 1: real and And the hostess is kind of trying to
33:46
Speaker 1: signal her to stop talking about it. But Marie was
33:49
Speaker 1: not taking the hint. So the following day, that dinner
33:52
Speaker 1: guest went to the police. And the police sent a
33:55
Speaker 1: woman to Marie's house to act as an undercover spy
33:58
Speaker 1: to see if maybe she could get proof that the
34:00
Speaker 1: poisonings were real. And lo and behold, when this woman
34:03
Speaker 1: told Marie that her husband was abusive and she just
34:06
Speaker 1: wanted to know how long this was going to go
34:08
Speaker 1: on for, Marie, you know, read her palm and read
34:11
Speaker 1: her future. but then also gave her some tips about
34:15
Speaker 1: what to do in the meantime, which included handing her
34:17
Speaker 1: a vial of poison and saying, just go ahead and
34:20
Speaker 1: kill your husband, poison him. The object that that officer
34:23
Speaker 1: had shown Marie when she was arrested was that poison.
34:26
Speaker 1: The investigation into the poison affair lasted for three years,
34:31
Speaker 1: and during that time, there were over 300 people who
34:34
Speaker 1: got arrested, from commoners to royalty. 23 of those people
34:37
Speaker 1: were banished, and 34 people were executed, including Marie Boss.
34:42
Speaker 1: She was actually the first person to be burned alive
34:45
Speaker 1: on one of those pyres. Thank you so much for
34:52
Speaker 1: watching today's episode. Let me know what you thought of
34:55
Speaker 1: it in the comments below. And remember, we have a
34:57
Speaker 1: whole playlist of Places You Can't Go episodes ready for
35:01
Speaker 1: you to binge right now. So go ahead and click
35:04
Speaker 1: here and give them a watch. Alright, until next time,
35:07
Speaker 1: see ya.