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139: Terror in Eastern Tennessee · Common Mystics

• 0:01
  Speaker A: Hey, guys, it's Jill. Jen and I wanted to give you a heads up about the content on today's episode. It may be triggering for more sensitive audiences. Refer to the show notes for more.
• 0:10
  Speaker B: Specifics and take care while you listen.
• 0:22
  Speaker A: On this episode of Common Mystics, we discuss a horrific series of brutal crimes that that plagued eastern Tennessee in the early 1920s. I'm Jennifer James.
• 0:36
  Speaker B: I'm Jill Stanley.
• 0:37
  Speaker A: We're psychics, we're sisters. We are common mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. And today's story takes us to Maryville, Tennessee.
• 0:50
  Speaker B: Lord, Jennifer Lotus, sakes alive. This is the last story from our road trip around the Tennessee area for our niece's wedding. And I know everyone's sick of hearing us say this, but this is the very last story from.
• 1:05
  Speaker A: You know, that's so funny that you say everyone's so sick of hearing us say this. You know, you don't have to say that every time, right?
• 1:11
  Speaker B: You know what? I have to set up where we were and why we were there. You don't.
• 1:16
  Speaker A: I don't think people care.
• 1:17
  Speaker B: I don't think they do. I think they do.
• 1:19
  Speaker A: Well, I. I'm sick of hearing it, personally.
• 1:22
  Speaker B: I'm sick of saying it, to be honest with you. But nevertheless.
• 1:26
  Speaker A: Nevertheless, here we are.
• 1:29
  Speaker B: Okay, so we are on the road. We are leaving our hotel and we are driving around asking spirits for what? Jennifer, what are we asking spirits for?
• 1:42
  Speaker A: To lead us to a verifiable story previously unknown to us that allows us to give voice to the voiceless.
• 1:49
  Speaker B: That's right. Thank you. So well done.
• 1:51
  Speaker A: Oh, thank you so much.
• 1:53
  Speaker B: My goodness. Why are you being so silly?
• 1:57
  Speaker A: I don't know. I'm trying not to cough. I'm still sick and I have to mute myself and cough. Hold on.
• 2:04
  Speaker B: Jennifer, cough break. Jennifer, cough break. Jennifer, cough. She's still going.
• 2:08
  Speaker A: All right. More things you don't need to say. God, do you have no feelings are doing.
• 2:13
  Speaker B: Hold on. Wait a second, you guys. She was literally telling me to talk. She was like, come on. She was coughing and egging me on.
• 2:21
  Speaker A: With her other hand into the story. Not about me coughing.
• 2:26
  Speaker B: Well, I didn't know what you wanted me to say. You were just waving at me. I was like, she's coughing again.
• 2:31
  Speaker A: Again.
• 2:31
  Speaker B: She's coughing.
• 2:32
  Speaker A: It's like we've never done a podcast before.
• 2:34
  Speaker B: Okay, it feels like this has been a minute, actually.
• 2:37
  Speaker A: Let's go. Let's go. Maryville, Tennessee.
• 2:41
  Speaker B: That's right.
• 2:43
  Speaker A: We were driving around and. And. Would you like me to tell everybody About Maryville, Tennessee.
• 2:50
  Speaker B: I. I'm hoping you do.
• 2:52
  Speaker A: Okay, well, first of all, I'm going to say, I don't really know if you say Maryville or Maryville.
• 2:59
  Speaker B: She's doing it again.
• 3:03
  Speaker A: So if we say it wrong, just go with it. Go get notes. You see both sides. Maryville, Tennessee. Nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Maryville has a story that stretches back to the late 18th century. In 1785, settlers established Fort Craig along Pistol Creek, a sturdy defense for those carving out new lives on the frontier. Just a year later, a small log church was built, marking the beginning of what would become a tightly knit community. And by July 11, 1795, just 10 years later, the town was formally established by the territorial legislature and named in honor of Mary Granger Blount, the wife of governor William Blount, whose name also graces the county itself. The abundance of fresh springs in the area made it an ideal, ideal site for settlement.
• 4:01
  Speaker B: Sounds beautiful. I enjoyed it there. It was actually a really cute community.
• 4:05
  Speaker A: It was. And as the town grew, it quickly became a place of both education and principle. In 1819, a theological seminary opened its doors. Two decades later, it would become Maryville College, an institution that still stands as one of the oldest color colleges in the region. The town also developed a reputation for its abolitionist sentiment. As early as 1822, Quakers and other residents formed an anti slavery society. And when Tennessee faced its fateful vote in 1861, Maryville and Blount county overwhelmingly chose loyalty to the Union.
• 4:48
  Speaker B: That's very progressive of them.
• 4:50
  Speaker A: Well, it's significant because Tennessee was a southern state and the whole of Tennessee chose to secede from the Union. In fact, it was the last of the states to secede. Did you know that? I didn't, and I think we talked about this before, but the western side of Tennessee and the middle part of Tennessee was mostly confederate minded. They were pro south, et cetera. But it was communities in eastern Tennessee like Maryville and Blount county that had the unionist south sentiment. It just goes as a nice reminder that things weren't all black and white. Not today and not then. You know, it was, it was very.
• 5:32
  Speaker B: Complicated and it must have been hard to be in the middle of the south in Tennessee and to have these anti slavery views. Right, because it's like your whole community around you is very much right.
• 5:46
  Speaker A: The larger community your state is. Yeah, that would suck, actually.
• 5:51
  Speaker B: Suck hard.
• 5:54
  Speaker A: So the civil war left its scars on Maryville with fires and artillery damage. Yet the spirit of the town endured now over time, Maryville grew as a regional hub, and its downtown developed a collection of sturdy brick buildings. Some remain today, and by the 20th century, the city was a mix of small industry, commerce, and education, with the addition of landmarks such as bicentennial Greenbelt Park, a renewal project that transformed a polluted industrial stretch into a centerpiece of community life in the 1970s. And today, Maryville is super cute. It blends its rich history with the amenities of modern Life. Located just 15 miles south of Knoxville, it serves as both the county seat of Blount county and as a king gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Its downtown offers a balance of historic character and new development, while a network of parks and trails, including the Maryville Alcoa Greenway, links the community to its streams and green spaces.
• 7:00
  Speaker B: I really liked it there. It had the historic vibe to it, and it was. It was cute.
• 7:05
  Speaker A: It.
• 7:05
  Speaker B: That was where the Capitol Theater was.
• 7:08
  Speaker A: I know. I remember I looked back and prepared for this before we started recording. So. Yeah, I remember.
• 7:15
  Speaker B: Yeah, that's a dig again at Jill. Do you ever think that people listen to our podcast and be like, wow, Jen's really mean to Jill all the time.
• 7:24
  Speaker A: I think they're probably wondering, gee, I wonder why Jill always comes unprepared.
• 7:28
  Speaker B: Hey, I wrote this shit, man.
• 7:31
  Speaker A: Huh? And yet you don't know what's going on.
• 7:34
  Speaker B: It's been a month.
• 7:37
  Speaker A: Anyway, anyway, let's talk about our hits. When we were driving around the Maryville.
• 7:42
  Speaker B: Area, I was feeling a Halloween vibe. I didn't understand what it meant until I was putting this together about a month ago.
• 7:51
  Speaker A: So when you say Halloween vibe, do you mean, like, general Halloween, trick or treat? Or do you mean the movie, as.
• 7:59
  Speaker B: It turns out, and you're skipping ahead. It was the movie, but I didn't realize that until I did the research.
• 8:06
  Speaker A: I see. Yes. Yes. So what about Halloween?
• 8:10
  Speaker B: So, like I said, I wasn't sure exactly the context in which I was feeling those vibes, but spoiler alert, it does have to do with the movie, not the holiday.
• 8:20
  Speaker A: Yeah, tell me more. What else were you feeling?
• 8:25
  Speaker B: We were being pulled to what we now know as the Maryville campus. Jennifer.
• 8:30
  Speaker A: Yes, it was really cute. It was a cute campus. We walked around a lot. The buildings were historic. It had a cool cemetery. And when we were walking around the old cemetery, there was a lot of faculty. And I said that somehow the faculty would be involved in this story, Right?
• 8:49
  Speaker B: And I was like, yes, this college does definitely have a connection to our story.
• 8:57
  Speaker A: I was feeling that there were unanswered questions still lingering. Damn, I'm good.
• 9:05
  Speaker B: Cliffhanger. Yes, you are.
• 9:07
  Speaker A: What else, Jill?
• 9:08
  Speaker B: I was feeling that there was a ghost of a woman trying to get our attention, and it felt like she was with us walking around the campus.
• 9:17
  Speaker A: I remember you saying that. Yeah. I'm looking at the outline. This next one is crazy.
• 9:26
  Speaker B: Literally, it's like we've never done this before. Like, I. Like we are, like, on.
• 9:33
  Speaker A: Off the hook. I know, I know, but your s. Your. Your commentary isn't helping us keep on track.
• 9:39
  Speaker B: Okay, so it felt like people were sneaking into homes, and they were being. Like they. People didn't know it. Like they were unseen people sneaking into homes.
• 9:49
  Speaker A: Damn, you psychic.
• 9:50
  Speaker B: I'm psychic af, bro. Who's psychic now? Who's psychic now?
• 9:57
  Speaker A: It felt like a big tease, like you want something to happen and you're not satisfied with the outcome.
• 10:03
  Speaker B: It reminds me of when Jason said that Unsolved Mysteries was like a tease. That's what that comment like. It's like you don't have any resolution.
• 10:16
  Speaker A: Yes. And also, we stopped at New Providence Cemetery.
• 10:22
  Speaker B: Yes. And.
• 10:23
  Speaker A: And I was pulled to the grave site of a man named William Ben Bennett Scott. And that, I think, Jill, was a big clue to what this whole story is about.
• 10:37
  Speaker B: Jennifer.
• 10:38
  Speaker A: Yes?
• 10:39
  Speaker B: Will you take us to the incident?
• 10:43
  Speaker A: I will. The incident. On the warm Tennessee night of August 30, 1919, in the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, two cousins, Birdie Lindsay and Alma center, lay asleep in a modest house on 8th Avenue. Jill, were they sleeping in the same bed?
• 11:09
  Speaker B: I hope so.
• 11:12
  Speaker A: No, there's. That's not any shade, because you and I often sleep in the same bed when we're on the road 100.
• 11:18
  Speaker B: I didn't mean any shade by that. I was genuinely saying, I hope so.
• 11:23
  Speaker A: Bertie Lindsay and Alba Senter, cousins, lay asleep in the modest house on 8th Avenue. The home belonged to Mrs. Center's family, and Birdie, a young white woman, was visiting from out of town. The world outside was unsettled. Knoxville was an industrial hub growing rapidly, and racial and political tensions simmered beneath the surface. That evening, sometime after midnight, the peace of the household was broken when a man slipped inside. The intruder startled the two women awake, and he threatened them at gunpoint. In confusion and terror, Bertie Lindsay tried to escape the room, but in that instant, the assailant fired, and the shot struck her, killing her instantly. Alma center, left alive, described the attacker to the police. She insisted he was a black man. Within hours, police had arrested a man named Morris Mays. Morris was a Biracial, man of color, and a political figure in the city of Knoxville, known for his prominence in the African American community and for his controversial relationships across color lines. The accusation that he had entered the house and shot Lindsay was thin, based primarily on Alma's identification. And there was no conclusive physical evidence that tied Maze to the crime. Still, the city erupted. Jill.
• 13:10
  Speaker B: Yes, ma'.
• 13:10
  Speaker A: Am. I did a little research on Maurice Maze.
• 13:14
  Speaker B: I like it when you do additional research.
• 13:17
  Speaker A: Yeah. I have some more information to share with you about this man. Do you mind?
• 13:21
  Speaker B: I would love to hear it.
• 13:23
  Speaker A: Well, the biggest thing about Maurice Mays was that he was rumored to be the illegitimate son of John E. McMillan, who, at the time of this occurrence, was the mayor of Knoxville. Did you know that?
• 13:40
  Speaker B: I did not know that.
• 13:41
  Speaker A: Now, the mayor was known as a ladies man. He was a man about town. Near. Near, yeah. And people took notice that the mayor had been helping Maurice Mays in different ways. Like, the mayor was giving him money, and the May was helping him get jobs and buying him clothes. And people at the time thought this was really suspicious, especially because Maurice Mays didn't look like the average black man on the streets of Knoxville. He was very light skinned, he was very well dressed, and he was also very socially confident.
• 14:30
  Speaker B: Damn, he sounds hot.
• 14:33
  Speaker A: Right? And people gossiped about that. And it was like this well known rumor that he must be the son of the mayor. Now, the mayor was white, but. Right. And so, in fact, when police arrested Maurice Mays, they were particularly hostile with him and called him mayor's boy. Mayor's boy, huh? Wow. Wow, huh? Yeah. So there was a lot going on with the targeting of Maurice Mays. I can see that now. The city erupted at this. Jill. The killing of a white woman, coupled with the arrest of a black suspect ignited what became known as the Knoxville race riot of 1919. Jill. Nobody likes a race riot.
• 15:25
  Speaker B: No one likes any kind of riot.
• 15:27
  Speaker A: That's true. Nobody likes a mob. Mobs are assholes.
• 15:31
  Speaker B: Mobs are annoying, too. Like, take yourself more seriously.
• 15:36
  Speaker A: White mobs stormed through the city, breaking into jails, dragging out the prisoners, and lynching or attempting to lynch black residents.
• 15:45
  Speaker B: Oh, my God.
• 15:46
  Speaker A: Are you serious? It's unsettling how many times we have to report this in our. In our episodes. Like, this happens so often. So often in the south and the North.
• 15:57
  Speaker B: No, and it's, you know, I. I wonder, like, if people listening, like, think that we have some kind of agenda, but we literally don't. Like, this is the Spirit led stories, and it just Keeps coming up again like, ugh.
• 16:11
  Speaker A: For days, violence gripped the city of Knoxville. And this attack spiraled outward, funneling into one of the deadliest outbreaks of racial violence in Tennessee's history.
• 16:23
  Speaker B: I never heard of it. Have you ever heard of the Knoxville race riots?
• 16:26
  Speaker A: Nope. Maurice Mays was swiftly convicted of Lindsay's murder, and his trial was marked by hurried proceedings and racially charged rhetoric. Despite his claims of innocence and despite appeals filed on his behalf, the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld his conviction. And in 1922, he was executed via the state electric chair.
• 16:52
  Speaker B: That's horrible.
• 16:53
  Speaker A: And then he was buried in Odd Fellow Cemetery in an unmarked grave. So Jill story ends there.
• 17:05
  Speaker B: But the story didn't end there.
• 17:07
  Speaker A: Jennifer. No, just kidding. Attacks followed the same pattern after Maurice Mayes death, after his conviction, after his execution. But the story did not end there. Jill. Attacks following the same dark patterns kept happening, continuing across Knoxville and later Maryville and Alcoa. Jill, these attacks occurred before, during, and after May's imprisonment.
• 17:38
  Speaker B: His imprisonment. He's already in jail and they still have him, and they still execute him. That's messed up.
• 17:45
  Speaker A: Yup. Historians and later investigators would point out this chilling fact. If Maes was the Night Marauderer, how could the Night Marauder still be active while he sat behind bars?
• 18:00
  Speaker B: Jennifer, you just said Night Marauder.
• 18:04
  Speaker A: I think I said it twice now.
• 18:07
  Speaker B: What's that? Who's that? Because it wasn't Maze, I'll tell you that much.
• 18:14
  Speaker A: Well, starting with bertie's murder in 1919, communities in East Tennessee, especially Knoxville, Maryville and Alcoa, were terrorized by a mysterious assailant whom local newspapers dubbed, quote, the Night Marauder.
• 18:32
  Speaker B: Thank you for saying that name because I literally could not read that.
• 18:36
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to pronounce. And not very catchy either. I think that the local newspapers could have dubbed a catchier name for this guy, but whatever. It just doesn't flow off the tongue. Yeah, I do. So the area was in a transitional moment, Jill. There are many rural homes that lacked electricity and infrastructure, such as lighting, locks, policing. And it was more limited than in later decades. So, like, people had electricity, but it wasn't everywhere. You know what I mean?
• 19:10
  Speaker B: Yeah. It's like when they got the first TVs, you know what I mean?
• 19:14
  Speaker A: Like, it takes a while.
• 19:15
  Speaker B: Yeah. To be accessible to the populations.
• 19:18
  Speaker A: Yeah. And the Marauder crimes grew widespread attention. Newspapers as far away as Atlanta and Wisconsin ran stories about Maryville and Alcoa folk and tremble while murderer goes unapprehended.
• 19:33
  Speaker B: While someone is killed for the crime. Yeah, yeah.
• 19:37
  Speaker A: And they don't care.
• 19:38
  Speaker B: And they don't care.
• 19:40
  Speaker A: So the modus operandi, you might ask.
• 19:44
  Speaker B: I was just going to ask you.
• 19:45
  Speaker A: Please do.
• 19:46
  Speaker B: What was his. What was his modus operandi?
• 19:49
  Speaker A: Here's how the killer operated. He tended to break into modest homes, especially those that lacked electricity.
• 19:57
  Speaker B: This is all coming back to me now.
• 19:59
  Speaker A: Oh. Oh, I'm so glad.
• 20:01
  Speaker B: So just know that I. I am prepared.
• 20:04
  Speaker A: So you're.
• 20:05
  Speaker B: Oh, I'm up to date. Okay. I know what's gonna happen.
• 20:08
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 20:09
  Speaker B: All coming back.
• 20:10
  Speaker A: We're not gonna argue about this now. So the first thing he would do is remove the matches next to the lanterns and other lighting sources.
• 20:20
  Speaker B: That is the scariest thing imaginable. Imagine you're sleeping at night and like, you hear a noise and you go like, grab where, you know, your cell phone is or a flashlight is, or like the light switch to your house and like, you cannot get the light on. That would be the scariest thing for me, that's the first thing I do when I'm scared at night, is turn on the light. And knowing that like someone took the mattress, like, you know, you left the mattress there because that's where you leave the mattress, that's really frightening to me.
• 20:52
  Speaker A: Me, for sure. And then he would enter the bedroom quietly, often where a woman slept with one or more like a spouse, siblings or acquaintances.
• 21:08
  Speaker B: Thank you for clearing that up because it sounded unsavory.
• 21:12
  Speaker A: Well, I, I finished that sentence and now it's more savory. Then using a flashlight, he would blind or disorient his target by shining it right into their eyes. So they're waking up to a bright light shining in their eyes and they're. They're scrambling to get out of bed and turn the lights on or like light their lantern and they can't.
• 21:34
  Speaker B: Oh, gosh.
• 21:36
  Speaker A: And he would also brandish a pistol and demand compliance. So then he would start barking orders. If there was a man in the room who tried to intervene, he would shoot that person and then proceed to assault or attempt to assault the woman. In some attacks, the women who resisted him were shot. The night Marauder was tied to over 45 break ins across the region and at least eight killings in addition to multiple assaults on women.
• 22:15
  Speaker B: It's frightening.
• 22:18
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 22:19
  Speaker B: Okay. Are there any notable events that you want to highlight from the series of crimes?
• 22:27
  Speaker A: Yes. One notable incident occurred in the Wells home on December 10, 1923. At approximately 1:30am newlyweds Luther and Ada Wells lay asleep in Their home on Morgantown Road, just outside Maryville, Tennessee. Luther was an aspiring engineer, and Ada worked at the Maryville hosiery mill. Earlier that evening, they had hosted a dinner party, and afterwards, Luther stayed up late studying before retiring to bed with his wife.
• 23:04
  Speaker B: I like this couple.
• 23:06
  Speaker A: I know. Me too. Deep in slumber, they were unaware of the shadow moving in their house until Ada felt a hand on her ankle.
• 23:16
  Speaker B: No.
• 23:17
  Speaker A: She awakened and cried out. And there was a man standing near their bed holding a flashlight in one hand and a nickel plated pistol in the other. Startled, Luther rose to challenge the intruder, telling him he would find no cash in the house if that's what he wanted. The stranger responded, issuing unspeakable demands and ordering Luther to step away from the bed, leaving Ada vulnerable. Oh, gosh. When Luther refused, the intruder opened fire on him. Luther was struck three times, twice in the head and once in the arm. He collapsed, unconscious. As he fell, the intruder turned his focus back to Ada, whispering threats to be quiet and warning that he would shoot her if she screamed or made any noise. Ada resisted despite the situation. She struggled, she screamed aloud. And afterwards she fled outside, chasing her attacker as he left. And there she collapsed on the porch, struck by bullets. She too was shot twice in the abdomen, one of the bullets lodging in her liver. It's horrific, Jill.
• 24:47
  Speaker B: It's terrible. It's so terrible.
• 24:51
  Speaker A: Neighbors responded quickly, but the assailant had disappeared into the darkness. The sheriff himself made a comment how the marauder seemed to possess an uncanny ability to just vanish into thin air. At the hospital in Alcoa, Dr. McMahon attended to both victims, and reports said that both drifted in and out of consciousness in the hours after surgery. Their survival was uncertain. The Wells incident drew local headlines and community sympathy. The Maryville Enterprise and other papers began fundraising efforts for the couple's mounting hospital bills.
• 25:33
  Speaker B: Oh, it's like the first GoFundMe.
• 25:36
  Speaker A: In the days that followed, law enforcement questioned Ada intensely. At first, she claimed she could not identify the attacker. Later, however, she asserted that she had glimpsed his face as he had fled and believed that she could recognize his voice. The detective on the case, Detective o', Connor, a private detective contracted in the case, briefly entertained a suspect whom he described as an insane Negro man. Even though Luther and Ada both said that the intruder appeared white. That is effed up. That's effed up. Luther and Ada are like, he's a white guy. And this detective is like, but I have this insane Negro here. I.
• 26:22
  Speaker B: First of all, I. There's so many horrible things happening around this area during this time. I don't even know where to start, but this is like, wow. First of all, screw you, Detective o'. Connor. Because honestly, like, the victims that you're intensely interviewing are saying, no, no, he's white. And he's like, but wait a second.
• 26:47
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 26:49
  Speaker B: Why did it have to be a black person? Like, they're just wanted it so bad to be a black person and they already killed poor Maze.
• 26:57
  Speaker A: Maurice. Ma. Yeah. Detective O' Connor also considered Charlie Reed, an ex suitor of ADAs who had threatened the couple previously. But Reed was quickly released due to an alibi.
• 27:10
  Speaker B: He was probably white, too.
• 27:11
  Speaker A: Of course he was white. The sheriff later reported that on the same night, the attacker had attempted break ins at two other homes. In one of them, Mrs. Phelps saw a man with a flashlight over her daughter's bed.
• 27:25
  Speaker B: Oh, God.
• 27:26
  Speaker A: My God. In another, someone attempted to pry off a screen, but was frightened off by screams. Among the only traces of the intruder were footprints in size 7 shoes.
• 27:43
  Speaker B: There's a little guy.
• 27:45
  Speaker A: It was a little guy. But for Luther Wells, the wounds proved fatal, although not immediately. He never fully recovered. On December 20, 1924, nearly 10 months later, he succumbed to complications from his injury. The Journal and Tribune in Knoxville published the headline, marauder's shot is finally fatal. The cause, cracked skull, lingering trauma, bone fragments pressing on his brain, and later, infection and meningitis.
• 28:18
  Speaker B: Oh, God.
• 28:20
  Speaker A: Ada survived, though. Her life was forever changed.
• 28:24
  Speaker B: I don't know how you bounce back from that. That's horrible. Poor, poor Wells.
• 28:30
  Speaker A: Yeah, Poor Luther. Poor Ada.
• 28:32
  Speaker B: Poor Ada.
• 28:34
  Speaker A: So should we go through another horrific example before we do this? You did this.
• 28:41
  Speaker B: Tell me something funny first before we do. Give me some. Something light. Okay, she's thinking.
• 28:52
  Speaker A: I'm not quite in the mood for something light, Jill. Light and froggy.
• 28:56
  Speaker B: I'm just saying. The Wells. The Wells murder and rape is bringing me down. So if we want to proceed, I want to be lifted up a little bit.
• 29:07
  Speaker A: I mean, it's making me rethink my whole, like, window lock situation.
• 29:13
  Speaker B: You do keep looking over at the windows. What is it about your windows that makes.
• 29:17
  Speaker A: Well, they said that he tried to get through somebody's screen. And I have these windows that are pretty close to the ground, you know, that have, like, the regular window locks, but I can't open them because my dogs will, like, jump right through. Do you know what I'm talking about?
• 29:32
  Speaker B: I know exactly what you're talking about. And you have the best dogs in.
• 29:35
  Speaker A: The whole world who will literally jump through my Screens at rabbits. If a rabbit is in my front yard.
• 29:42
  Speaker B: That's fair. That's what doggies do.
• 29:45
  Speaker A: I'm just thinking I could use more secure windows. That's. I don't know how light that is, but this story's giving me the heebie jeebies.
• 29:55
  Speaker B: It's. Yeah, it's. It's a tough one. I just want to say, I would lose my poop if someone was standing over my child in the middle of the night with a. Like, I think I would charge. I would be like, what are you doing? You know what I mean?
• 30:08
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. They're so lucky. They are incred. The Phelpses are incredibly lucky because in that case, he could have just shot the mother and continued what he was there to do, but he didn't, for whatever reason. I don't know.
• 30:26
  Speaker B: Tell me about the pose.
• 30:28
  Speaker A: All right. The pose. In the small hours of Monday, December 1, 1924, Clyde Poe, 21, and his young wife, often recorded as Laura, but sometimes Flora, because newspapers didn't really get. He didn't really care.
• 30:45
  Speaker B: It was like the Facebook of our time. Like, did not care.
• 30:47
  Speaker A: No. There was no fact checking. Well, Clyde and his young wife Flora Laura, were both asleep in their home near Duncan Station with their four month old baby nearby. Oh, Jill, why you gotta put this one in there?
• 31:02
  Speaker B: I did not do this.
• 31:04
  Speaker A: You. Jill, you didn't do this. You didn't.
• 31:07
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 31:07
  Speaker A: You didn't do this outline.
• 31:09
  Speaker B: I did this outline.
• 31:10
  Speaker A: You don't remember doing it, but you did it?
• 31:13
  Speaker B: I did the outline, but I. I put in these cases because they were important cases to the story, the ongoing story. I'm not doing this just to be salacious and like, terrible. Like, it's. This is bad. This is rough. This is probably one of the darkest ones.
• 31:32
  Speaker A: Clyde and Flora are sleeping in their home with their four month old baby nearby. And a man slipped into the darkened room, blinded Flora with a flashlight and made unspeakable demands to her. And when she screamed and Clyde lunged to defend her, the intruder shot Clyde, the bullet entering his shoulder and lodging near his spine, partially paralyzing him.
• 32:01
  Speaker B: Oh, my God.
• 32:02
  Speaker A: As the assailant assaulted Flora on the floor under threats of death, Clyde managed to drag himself to the bed, retrieve a shotgun and fire, interrupting the attack.
• 32:16
  Speaker B: Good on you, Clyde. Damn.
• 32:18
  Speaker A: Damn. He's partially paralyzed and he drags himself and grabs a shotgun. Yeah, double damn. And good on you for having a shotgun next to the bed.
• 32:31
  Speaker B: It's not the safest thing.
• 32:32
  Speaker A: Well, this is something. This is a story. My Husband would stand behind. He be like, see, that's why we need guns in the house.
• 32:39
  Speaker B: I can think of reasons why we don't need guns in the house.
• 32:46
  Speaker A: Clyde managed to drag himself to the bed, retrieve a shotgun and fire. A struggle followed. The intruder rested away the shotgun and fled, leaving it propped outside the house. When Flora tried to light a lamp, she discovered every box of matches in the home had been removed. A hallmark detail echoed in other Night Marauder cases. She fanned the embers in the fireplace to raise light, and then ran with the baby to a neighbor for help. Clyde was rushed to McMahon Hospital in grave condition. At first, doctors hoped he might survive, but the cold he caught while lying wounded on the floor progressed to pneumonia. And on December 17, 1924, surgeons attempted to remove the bullet. But Clyde died during the operation. In the early statements, the pose told the sheriff that the attacker resembled Wright Saffle, a local teenager who had once pursued Flora. Saffle produced an alibi, though, and after a preliminary hearing in grand jury review in April 1925, he was released, and attention swung back to the broader Night Marauderer investigation. Jill, do we have any suspects? What the hell?
• 34:09
  Speaker B: I was just gonna ask you if there was any viable suspects to. To. To suspect.
• 34:17
  Speaker A: There was one. A suspect to suspect. And his name was William D. Sheffy. Would you like to know about him?
• 34:25
  Speaker B: What if I said no? What if I just said I'm good? Yeah, and check us out at Common Mystics. No, tell me about.
• 34:34
  Speaker A: For my class. Okay.
• 34:37
  Speaker B: There's another one in January. She's getting rave reviews.
• 34:41
  Speaker A: William D. Sheffy had a reputation and criminal history. In 1915, years before the Night Marauder attacks began, Sheffey was tried in Sevier county for the murder of a young woman named Dora Davis. The case was weak, and he was ultimately acquitted, but the trial placed him on the public's radar as a man capable of violence against women. This early brush with the law meant that when a wave of similar attacks struck East Tennessee, Sheffey's name was already familiar to police and prosecutors.
• 35:21
  Speaker B: Tell me his social and geographical proximity to these locations. Is it practical that he could have been the person? Just because he was a pervert doesn't mean that he was the person.
• 35:32
  Speaker A: Well, and a murderer. Right?
• 35:35
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 35:35
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So Sheffey lived and work in Blount county during the 1920s. That's where Maryville is located, Jill.
• 35:44
  Speaker B: I knew that.
• 35:45
  Speaker A: And many of the attacks attributed to the Night Marauder happened in Maryville and Alcoa, the very communities where Sheffey was known. So yes, Jill. His social and geographic proximity put him close to many of the events.
• 36:01
  Speaker B: I was just going to ask. I was just gonna ask you, since these are his stomping grounds. Did he know anybody, like, in.
• 36:10
  Speaker A: Yeah. In fact, he had social connections to some of the families involved or to people in their circles, which gave investigators reason to think that he might have been familiar with the homes that he targeted.
• 36:23
  Speaker B: Okay. Wells imposed this horrific attack on these families.
• 36:28
  Speaker A: Yeah, the. Well, the December 1923 attack on Luther and Ada Wells and the December 24th attack on Clyde and Flora Poe became central to the investigation for sure.
• 36:39
  Speaker B: And that's why I put them in the outline, not because I wanted to bring everyone down.
• 36:45
  Speaker A: Okay. Both cases followed the Marauder's distinct pattern. A late night break in the use of a flashlight and a pistol rock, removal of matches from the house. The husband shot when defending his wife, and the wife left, threatened or assaulted. And survivors, particularly Ada Wells, later told authorities she believed she recognized the attacker's voice and possibly his appearance. And she pointed suspicion towards Sheffy.
• 37:14
  Speaker B: Shut up.
• 37:15
  Speaker A: She sure did.
• 37:17
  Speaker B: So not in a, quote, the insane black person, but like, she actually is. Like. No, it's like she had a name for the guy. That's crazy.
• 37:29
  Speaker A: So by 1925, Sheffey had become the main focus of Blount County's sheriff's office and local investigators. A private detective hired to assist in the case also placed Sheffey under watch, believing his movements and circumstances matched those of the Marauder. Public gossip and fear in Maryville and Alcoa made him a natural suspect. He fit the description, had a troubling past, and was in the right place at the right time. Jill, I have to know. Was he black or was he white?
• 38:05
  Speaker B: I don't. I don't know.
• 38:14
  Speaker A: Honestly.
• 38:14
  Speaker B: I think he's white.
• 38:15
  Speaker A: I think he's white, too, because it didn't mention he was black.
• 38:19
  Speaker B: And believe me, they would have mentioned if he was black.
• 38:23
  Speaker A: You are ridiculous. So this is why you need to come prepared. I can't believe you.
• 38:31
  Speaker B: I don't understand you. Why couldn't you ask me this 30 minutes ago before we started recording? And then we could have talked it out, but you save it for the airwaves.
• 38:43
  Speaker A: You see? You see, listeners, this is what I have to deal with. Okay?
• 38:48
  Speaker B: You're welcome. And you're welcome.
• 38:50
  Speaker A: So there were formal charges. Formal charges brought by 1925, 1926. Prosecutors charged William D. Sheffey in multiple Maryville cases based on these threads of suspicion. Sheffey was indicted on five counts. The murder Of Luther Wells, the murder of Clyde Powell, the assault on ada Wells and Flora Poe, and one additional count of housebreaking.
• 39:20
  Speaker B: Just gotta throw that one additional count in there. So who is William Sheffey? Give me the deets of this man's life because I want to see for myself whether or not, like, he could be the guy.
• 39:33
  Speaker A: Well, we can only guess that he was white because. Because the history doesn't stop state otherwise. But he was.
• 39:42
  Speaker B: I will tell you. I will honestly tell you. If the man was black, it would.
• 39:46
  Speaker A: Be all over the place.
• 39:48
  Speaker B: So he was.
• 39:50
  Speaker A: Okay, so he was born in east tennessee in the late 19th century and had deep local roots. He married a woman named Carol Sykes and they had a son. But Carol died in 1921 and he married again to a woman named Eliza Viva, and they too had a son together.
• 40:09
  Speaker B: Eliza viva is a fun name.
• 40:10
  Speaker A: Eliza Viva.
• 40:12
  Speaker B: Eliza viva.
• 40:14
  Speaker A: He served in the u. S. Army during World War I and returned home to try to re establish himself in Blount county, where family and friends still lived. At the time of his indictment for the night marauderer tax, he was employed as a storekeeper for the u. S. Aluminum company, which was a good gig at the time.
• 40:35
  Speaker B: All right, nothing in that makes me suspicious, but his earlier crimes against women does. Okay, what did happen in the courtroom? Bring me there.
• 40:47
  Speaker A: Well, I'll give you a little summary of what's known because the original court record is lost and researchers have had to rely on contemporary newspaper coverage and project reconstructions over time. And you know how the newspapers are. They really didn't care.
• 41:05
  Speaker B: They don't know if her name's flora Laura.
• 41:07
  Speaker A: No, they don't. They don't. But here's what we do know in terms of the key evidence and testimony. Dr. McMahon was called early in the trial, and remember, he treated Luther and ada wells right after the attack. And he testified to the wounds and the medical condition of those two victims. And also there was a neighbor, a neighbor of sheffi's sister, sister Josephine Irwin, who testified that he saw sheffy's car back out of the driveway around 11pm on the night in question. Because he was awake with his own sick child, and he saw the reflections of the headlights, and he was like, hm, I wonder why Sheffy's leaving his.
• 41:53
  Speaker B: Sister'S house at 11 at night.
• 41:57
  Speaker A: Yeah. So. But the primary witness. The primary witness was ada Wells herself.
• 42:04
  Speaker B: Oh, wow.
• 42:06
  Speaker A: ADA Was called. And let's just like, give her a second because how hard would this have.
• 42:11
  Speaker B: Been snaps for ada to sit in.
• 42:14
  Speaker A: This chair looking at this man.
• 42:20
  Speaker B: That destroyed her life, that murdered her husband.
• 42:23
  Speaker A: Murdered her husband, assaulted her, and changed her life forever. So Ada Wells was called to the stand to describe the night of the home invasion. And her testimony was critical.
• 42:36
  Speaker B: I mean, not just reliving that night on the stand, but to have to look at his face doing it. Yes.
• 42:42
  Speaker A: Yes. Ada Wells recounted how the intruder entered their bedroom with both a flashlight and a pistol. Used the flashlight to blind her while holding a gun so the that she couldn't see the weapon clearly. She testified that when the intruder told Luther to step aside, Luther refused. The intruder then shot him in the head.
• 43:03
  Speaker B: Oh, God.
• 43:05
  Speaker A: Her account, he said, I'm going to shoot you anyhow, just for the look in your eye. Ada also claimed to have followed the intruder outside screaming, and observed him running away. Importantly, she positively identified Sheffy in the courtroom as the man who attacked her and. And her husband.
• 43:25
  Speaker B: Yeah, she did. Good for her.
• 43:28
  Speaker A: Now, the defense attempted to suppress or discredit her identification, and they argued that she was under hallucination. She had been in the hospital. Do you know what I mean? Like, all just trying to, like, say she didn't know what she was talking about. But the judge allowed it to stand and ruled her identification of him as competent. So, yay, Judge Sheffy's defense. On August 25, 1925, Sheffy testified in his own defense. And he confirmed, yes, I am. Sheffy. Employed as a storekeeper at the U.S. aluminum Company and residing in Blount county for many years. He claimed that on the night of the attack, he was at his sister's house. Right, we knew that. And stayed there all night. He said he never left.
• 44:24
  Speaker B: Liar.
• 44:24
  Speaker A: Huh? And he then when he was asked about the car, he drew a map of his sister's neighborhood and explained how cars pulling in and out of her driveway could cast headlights around the near about houses. So he kind of was like, yeah, it wasn't my car. I was there all night. But if you drive this way, he would have seen someone else's lights.
• 44:44
  Speaker B: I just feel like by his testimony, he's guilty.
• 44:47
  Speaker A: Yeah, no kidding. Oh, and he had a wound on his arm that they thought was suspicious, but he's like, yeah, I don't know when that happened. And they just let it go.
• 45:02
  Speaker B: Okay. Yeah, keep going. Because I feel like this is our guy. What do you think?
• 45:09
  Speaker A: Oh, I don't. I. I do think it's him. Yeah, I do think it's him. Yeah.
• 45:13
  Speaker B: 100%.
• 45:15
  Speaker A: Okay. So do you want to know the outcome and the verdict?
• 45:17
  Speaker B: It Better be satisfying.
• 45:20
  Speaker A: Well, the first trial ended in a mistrial when the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. And because it was a mistrial, the state wasn't able to secure a conviction on the Wells murder in this first attempt. Afterwards, prosecutors later retried him a second and third time, but ultimately, Jill Sheffe was acquitted.
• 45:46
  Speaker B: No.
• 45:47
  Speaker A: Yes. He was acquitted. After all that time? Three trials and he was acquitted. Charges were dropped.
• 45:58
  Speaker B: I'm stunned. Poor Ada Wells.
• 46:02
  Speaker A: The state dropped all remaining indictments, including the murder of Clyde Poe, the assaults on Ada Wells and Flora Poe, and the additional burglary count. Almost immediately after the acquittal, Sheffey left Maryville in Blount County.
• 46:21
  Speaker B: How many times do you think poor ADA Walls had to live through that nightmare on the stand? Again and again and again. Geez. Oh, Pete.
• 46:29
  Speaker A: Now, contemporary sources, looking back, note that when Sheffy went west, when he left Blount county and moved west seeking distance from the community, that there were no more crimes of that nature happening.
• 46:49
  Speaker B: Well, look at that.
• 46:51
  Speaker A: Sheffy settled in California, where he lived under his own name, and he built a new life there, working and integrating into the community without the infamy that dogged him in Tennessee.
• 47:03
  Speaker B: Was he ever implicated in any more crimes?
• 47:08
  Speaker A: He was not. Sheffey lived out his later years in California outside the public eye, and he died on November 26, 1964, of natural causes.
• 47:21
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 47:22
  Speaker A: But his moving out of Tennessee is the end of the Night Marauder era. The phantom attacks stopped as soon as he was gone. And he remains in local history the leading suspect, the man most likely to have been the Night Marauder, even though the law never convicted him.
• 47:41
  Speaker B: Dude, he's so guilty.
• 47:44
  Speaker A: Yeah, it was totally him.
• 47:46
  Speaker B: And I almost wonder if we do research into, like, where he was living in California, if similar crimes there were happening. Yeah, that's something to look into in my free time. Okay, so what are your thoughts?
• 47:59
  Speaker A: He totally did it.
• 48:00
  Speaker B: I agree with you. 100.
• 48:02
  Speaker A: All right, let's go through our hits because I've got some questions. Tell me about Halloween stalking.
• 48:12
  Speaker B: He was, like, the stalker at night.
• 48:16
  Speaker A: Okay. Because Halloween, the movie, was actually the first stalker movie. Did you know that? Shut up. I did not know. Yeah, it invented the genre.
• 48:26
  Speaker B: It really lives up today. I really like that movie.
• 48:29
  Speaker A: And a guy, like, in the Darkness sneaking into the houses, you know, and targeting women. And targeting women.
• 48:37
  Speaker B: Mm.
• 48:38
  Speaker A: Okay, what else?
• 48:41
  Speaker B: We were being pulled to the Maryville campus, and some faculty. Remember you were saying?
• 48:48
  Speaker A: Yeah, I thought that the. Yeah, that the story had something to do with the Maryville Faculty. Jill, can you explain that?
• 48:54
  Speaker B: I think you're super duper psychic. That is my explanation, because there is a Dr. Nancy Lachlan Sofer who's writing a book on the case, and it's gonna be released in 2026, so it's current.
• 49:10
  Speaker A: Shut up right now. Wait, she's faculty at the Maryville campus?
• 49:14
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 49:15
  Speaker A: No way.
• 49:15
  Speaker B: She's a psychic phase.
• 49:17
  Speaker A: She is. I cannot. I cannot believe that. That's insane.
• 49:20
  Speaker B: And it's so relevant to, like, today, like, she's doing it, like, right now. Wow.
• 49:26
  Speaker A: Wow. So, Jill, the college connection with this story is obviously this. Dr. Nancy's faculty. Is there another connection?
• 49:34
  Speaker B: There is.
• 49:36
  Speaker A: Tell.
• 49:36
  Speaker B: Faculty testified in the trials of Williams. Also, William Sheffey lived on College Hill, adjacent to the college campus.
• 49:47
  Speaker A: No way. We were all around there. We were walking around that campus.
• 49:51
  Speaker B: Yes, ma'.
• 49:52
  Speaker A: Am. That's crazy. That's crazy. Well, it totally makes sense that I was picking up on unanswered questions and the lingering controversy so, surrounding this mystery.
• 50:08
  Speaker B: What about the women trying to get our attention?
• 50:11
  Speaker A: Tell me about that, Jill.
• 50:13
  Speaker B: It feels like. I mean, if I were ADA Wells, I feel like I would want my story told again. I mean, the tragedy, the horrific events surrounding her husband's death, but then the travesty of her having to testify again and again to no avail to not getting that satisfaction of putting him away. Oh, girl, yeah.
• 50:35
  Speaker A: Yeah. So you think it might have been ADA leading us around?
• 50:39
  Speaker B: I do.
• 50:40
  Speaker A: But you were also seeing people sneaking into people's homes unseen.
• 50:46
  Speaker B: I. Oh, my God. I just. I keep thinking that, like, someone's there. You know what I mean? Like, that was. That was the. The. The feeling I got. Like, so someone's there in the dark that I can't see.
• 51:01
  Speaker A: So, Jill, before we talk about the last few hits, I want to ask you about the voiceless. Like, who do you think we were meant to talk about? Do you think it was ADA because you felt like she was leading us around, or do you think it's someone else that we're meant to give voice to and highlight here?
• 51:22
  Speaker B: I know who I think who. Do you want me to say it?
• 51:27
  Speaker A: Yeah, I just asked you.
• 51:30
  Speaker B: Okay, so obviously the victims need a voice. I mean, seriously, this story. Horrific. And I do believe ADA Wells was still following us around and trying to get justice for the murderer of her husband. But.
• 51:45
  Speaker A: Yes, just like she did in life, she tried so hard to get justice and.
• 51:50
  Speaker B: And was talking to us.
• 51:52
  Speaker A: Right. The same way she was talking to the court, to the jury. Yes.
• 51:56
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 51:57
  Speaker A: Oh, I just Got chills.
• 51:58
  Speaker B: But. But there's another person who we have to remember in this story.
• 52:04
  Speaker A: Who is it? Luther. Can we talk about Luther?
• 52:08
  Speaker B: Where is Luther?
• 52:09
  Speaker A: Well, Jill, do you remember in the notes where the night before I had a nightmare that I was shot in the jaw?
• 52:19
  Speaker B: That's true.
• 52:20
  Speaker A: I was watching someone, and it wasn't me, but I was watching a man get shot in the jaw. And when I read that Luther was shot twice in the head, I bet I was picking up on Luther. He was showing me gunshot to his head.
• 52:36
  Speaker B: That's insane.
• 52:37
  Speaker A: I know. So Luther Wells, he did everything he could to protect his wife. He did everything he could. And I just want to shout out to Luther because I think he showed me in my dream the night before we were on the road. I think that he. He showed me that. That he was shot in the head.
• 52:55
  Speaker B: I do remember that dream now because you were asking me to interpret it. Remember? At breakfast? Oh, yeah. And I'm like, hell if I know.
• 53:03
  Speaker A: You crazy.
• 53:04
  Speaker B: I was like, you just crazy. It's like. That's all that means to me. You ate right in the head, yo.
• 53:10
  Speaker A: Okay. All right, so the last voiceless tell me.
• 53:15
  Speaker B: Oh, dude.
• 53:17
  Speaker A: Morris Mays.
• 53:19
  Speaker B: Morris Franklin Mays.
• 53:20
  Speaker A: Morris Franklin Mays. Remind us who he was.
• 53:23
  Speaker B: Just the. He's a victim of this circumstance. He was that black man that was tried, arrested, and executed in the electric chair for these crimes that continued to happen long since his incarceration and death.
• 53:41
  Speaker A: Absolutely. Absolutely. And if you recall, he was a convenient target for the police because they had resentment. The white officers resented a man of color receiving special favoritism, special support from the mayor of the town. Yes, and not only that, Jill, the political enemies of the mayor were motivated to find May's response responsible for this crime.
• 54:10
  Speaker B: Oh, my God.
• 54:11
  Speaker A: Because then the crime would reflect badly on the mayor because this man, Morris Mays, had ties to the mayor.
• 54:18
  Speaker B: Oh, my God.
• 54:19
  Speaker A: And lastly, the rumor that he was the mayor's son made it politically dangerous for the mayor to protect him. Because think about it. If the mayor's office supported him, it almost would have been seen as confirmation that he was his son, which would have hurt his political career.
• 54:37
  Speaker B: Right?
• 54:38
  Speaker A: So no one, not anyone in the mayor's office was going to touch him, was going to put their political capital at risk by supporting poor Morris Mays.
• 54:48
  Speaker B: Poor Morris Mays.
• 54:49
  Speaker A: He had no powerful supporters, and he was a scapegoat in this situation, caught between racial prejudice, political rivalry, and social resentment. So, yeah, Morris Mays deserves a voice here.
• 55:05
  Speaker B: Tell me about The William Bennett Scott gravesite.
• 55:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, because that day when we were at the New Providence Cemetery in Maryville, right? Jill, why do you do this to me? I. I believe it's Maryville. We were at the New Providence cemetery on the day that we were researching Maryville College. I bet you're gonna show up prepared next time.
• 55:33
  Speaker B: I am actually getting a coot and a holler out of this. Maybe not.
• 55:37
  Speaker A: His gravestone says the following. William Bennett Scott Sr. Respected black journalist, businessman, and mayor of Maryville, 1879-1881. Mayor. This man, now, he's not the same, obviously, as Morris Mays. Morris Mays was never mayor. But.
• 56:06
  Speaker B: But the connection.
• 56:07
  Speaker A: The fact that I was drawn to a black mayor of Maryville, a man with connection to the mayor's office. And here you have Maurice Mays, a man with connection to the mayor's office. Holy. That's all I gotta say.
• 56:24
  Speaker B: Holy poop. Holy poop.
• 56:25
  Speaker A: Holy. Holy poopies. Batman.
• 56:29
  Speaker B: Holy poopies. Batman. And that's a great way to end this horrible episode.
• 56:35
  Speaker A: Seriously. Yeah.
• 56:37
  Speaker B: No, this is a travesty on so many.
• 56:41
  Speaker A: We're gonna have to. Look, we're gonna have to buy that book when it comes out in 2026. Oh, Jill. Reach out to her. Reach out to Dr. Nancy.
• 56:48
  Speaker B: I knew you were gonna say it. I knew you were gonna say it.
• 56:50
  Speaker A: Because I'm shy and you're not. You. You're bold when it comes to this kind of stuff. Did you already email her?
• 56:56
  Speaker B: I have already emailed. I handled rejection really well.
• 56:59
  Speaker A: Is she ignoring us? Cause we're.
• 57:02
  Speaker B: I mean, I will not be ignored. I will follow up with her.
• 57:07
  Speaker A: Okay. Oh, my God, that's so funny. Most. And by the way, you guys, we're used to this. Most. Jill's used to this. Most. People that we try to contact about our stories won't get back to us.
• 57:17
  Speaker B: And if they do, I get a good talking to about the. About how this just takes money from people and whatever. And I'm like, uh huh. But can you give me the historical perspective on. All right, Jennifer. To wrap up this episode, we have two new reviews to read.
• 57:34
  Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, you guys, we asked you to please give us reviews. And you are. You are following through and coming through for us.
• 57:48
  Speaker B: Giving us life. Really.
• 57:49
  Speaker A: We are two hundred and six. Two hundred and six. We are trying to get to 210. So if you love us or even like us a little and haven't given us a review yet, please. We usually go on Apple to find our reviews. Please Leave us a review, but I've got some new ones to read. Oh my gosh. This is so awesome. This one's from October 30th, 2025. Oh my gosh. This person says their Patreon experience is unbelievably mind blowing. Our tier four was able to correctly remote view after one of Jen's magical meditations. Awesome. Our small group is learning so much from these truly kind and lovely ladies. Oh, my goodness.
• 58:41
  Speaker B: Stop it.
• 58:41
  Speaker A: Zooms are a hoot and it's like being with family. I took one of Jen's classes and learned so much. She's going to create a course just for my liking. Once I get a group together, I want to work on talking to animals. Why not? Lol. I couldn't ask for a more comforting introduction to the spirit realm. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say these sisters changed the trajectory of my life in so many positive ways.
• 59:05
  Speaker B: I.
• 59:05
  Speaker A: Come join the fun so these untold stories can keep having a voice. Oh, my God.
• 59:10
  Speaker B: I'm gonna cry.
• 59:11
  Speaker A: I'm too. Oh, my goodness.
• 59:14
  Speaker B: Stop it.
• 59:15
  Speaker A: Obviously, we know she's looking for five stars.
• 59:19
  Speaker B: Look what you've done.
• 59:20
  Speaker A: Tell Italy thank you. We love you and we love seeing you. Well, I'm not gonna read. Oh, should I read the. That was the. That was the one. The part of the review that she just did. The. The rest is older.
• 59:35
  Speaker B: Oh, I didn't know that.
• 59:37
  Speaker A: Yeah. Amazing psychic abilities paired with incredible research skills and a great sense of humor. A fantastic podcast where two Chicago born Midwest living sisters let spirit guide them to some really messed up stories that absolutely must be told. I love listening to Jennifer and Jill talk about their experiences with spirit and even how that works. Growing up in a Catholic family, I've learned so much. Sweet. Love you. Thank you teletelly. Thank you.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker B: Thank you. We know who you are and you're so.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker A: You're the best. You are.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker B: Thank you so much.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker A: We love you and love seeing you on our zooms. And then we have Another one from November 1, 2025 from Boston Irish eyes. Aw. Jill and Jen are vibrant, clever, and fun storytellers. They weave the historical components into the complex history of past lives while sharing compassion for the voices they give to the voiceless. They are fun, spiritual creators that lift me up in wanting to learn more. Love their individuality and duality. Well done, ladies. Aw. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, my gosh. Please keep the reviews coming. We're trying to get to 210. Leave us a written review and we will read it. On our pod. Jill, what else should we tell our.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker B: Listeners that you guys have been reaching out for for readings? Thank you so much. It really, really does help us out a lot to be able to share and to work with you and giving you readings. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. But also my sister Jennifer.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker A: Me?
• 1:01:06
  Speaker B: Yes, you. You are a fabulous educator.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker A: Stop.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker B: Your ability to understand how people learn and the complexities in which they grasp information is. I've never seen anything like it before. Truly. And the reviews you're getting from people that are working with you either one on one in mentorships or in the in the class experience is like reading the emails that come through. Make me so happy and so proud of you and just make me. Make me not want to be mad at you when you make fun of me all the time.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker A: Should I read the letter from one of my recent clients?
• 1:01:51
  Speaker B: I would love that.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker A: So I just finished a five session coaching class. It's not a real. It's a one on one coaching session with this person, sue, and she. She wrote me this. So I'm going to share it. Is that okay?
• 1:02:06
  Speaker B: Yeah, I want you to.
• 1:02:07
  Speaker A: Oh. Oh. It's a real. Feel good. I was recently fortunate enough to have book sessions with Jen for medium, mystic and psychic development. Although I have been a student of metaphysics for the past nine years, I learned new information, gained insight on familiar topics, and thoroughly enjoyed exercises and meditations led by Jen. That's the beauty of studying with Jen. She is able to hone in on what you need as an individual. Basically, she's able to tailor a program that is suitable to your specific needs. Jen is pleasant, fun, reliable, and a wealth of knowledge. She encouraged me to be consistent in my meditation practice and journaling and helped me to believe in myself. I recommend her if you are someone looking to move forward in your spiritual practice.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker B: I know. Didn't she say something about me in there?
• 1:03:00
  Speaker A: No, she didn't. Sorry. But you didn't work with her either.
• 1:03:05
  Speaker B: No, but I thought that you said that someone listened to.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker A: She told me.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker B: Oh.
• 1:03:09
  Speaker A: She told me to thank you for talking me up on Nicole Bigley's podcast because that's how she found me.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker B: But I'm not even talking you up. It's just like for real what you do.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker A: Stop. All right. We've taken much too much time talking about this, so I have to.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker B: I have to address something. You guys. I love you so much. Thank you for reaching out to us atcommon mystics gmail.com for readings because our website is under construction and we need to update it. We need to figure out how to do that. So thank you so much. Please email us for readings and mentorship courses with my family. Fabulous.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker A: Sister Jennifer and I'll be doing another group class starting in late January. Dates will be coming out soon, but if you are interested in joining a group class situation, please email me atcommonmystics gmail.com.
• 1:03:56
  Speaker B: You guys are the best. You guys keep going.
• 1:03:58
  Speaker A: Best. Thank you so much. We love you. Love you. Bye bye. Join our Patreon.
• 1:04:06
  Speaker B: This has been a Common Mystics Media Production Editing done by Yokai Audio, Kalamazoo, Michigan.