Good Nightmare

13. Dregs

March 28, 2019December 3, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Since August 20, 2007 there have been several detached feet washing up on the sore of the Salish Sea in British Columbia, Canada and Washington, US. Thankfully, not all at once.

To date, there have been at least 18 reported cases of bodiless feet, still in their shoes washing up on the coast. Funnily enough, foul play is not often suspected. Usually the feet come from victims of alleged suicides or accidental deaths.

This isn’t a new occurrence, either. In Vancouver, 1887, a foot washed up on the shore, leading to the place it landed to be called “Leg-In-Boot Square”. Not very original, but probably much nicer than “Dismembered-Body-Parts-Beach” or the like. In 1914 there was a report in the Vancouver Sun that a leg in a high boot had washed ashore. The leg was assumed to have belonged to a man who had drowned in the river the previous summer.

Although, given the frequency with which this occurs, it’s completely unnecessary to try to trick people into believing they’ve discovered one of these feet, there have been several hoaxes. One of these “fake feet” was discovered on June 18, 2008 and was found to be an animal paw, put into a sock and shoe and stuffed with seaweed. No arrest has been made as yet, but the perpetrator could be charged with public mischief. In 2011, there were a number of shoes apparently washing up on shore, stuffed with raw meat.

One of the reasons this washing up of single feet seems so strange, other than the obvious, is that no other body parts tend to wash up and the feet often show up one at a time. A possible explanation for this is that when people have drowned in rivers or oceans, whether by accident or other causes, their body will naturally break apart in the water – either by natural processes or with the help of sea animals. The feet tend to be found in running shoes, which help to prevent decay and also act as a flotation device, carrying the feet on waves until they reach the shore.

It’s near impossible to determine the origins of the feet, in terms of who they belonged to, or where they originated, as they may be carried as far as 1000 miles (1600 km) on the water and are also often covered in a soap-like substance that the body naturally produces when decaying, made from body fat. A human body can actually remain intact in water for up to three decades, given the right conditions, so it’s also difficult to tell when the foot’s owner met their end.

Solving the cases of washed up feet is not impossible, however. One foot has been identified as having belonged to a man who was known to be depressed. It’s assumed that he committed suicide and his body ended up in the water. Another two feet were identified as belonging to a woman who committed suicide by jumping from the Pattullo Bridge in New Westminster, British Columbia. This is a rare case. Finding two feet at once is considered an anomaly with a one in a million chance of happening. The first case of a foot washing up was strange. By four, it was curious. Now, at 18 cases? Who knows what to call it?

These cases of the two alleged suicides support the theory that most of the feel belong to victims of suicide or accidents. As far as I can tell, none of the feet have been determined as belonging to victims of crime. Though, with only one foot as evidence, how would we ever know?

These strange cases have been reported around the world, from Australia, South Africa, Canada and the USA. David Lettermen actually asked two of his Canadian audience members about the phenomenon during a show.

If you’re interested in further reading, the novel Dregs by Jorn Lier Horst is inspired by these events. Horst is a Norwegian police officer who gives a new explanation for these disowned body parts.

The Restless Dead by Simon Beckett uses the discovery of feet as a backstory when protagonist Dr David Hunter discovers a severed foot in a river.

Both sound like excellent reads for a day at the beach.

Source

12. Cecil Hotel

March 21, 2019December 3, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 12. Cecil Hotel

Gary Leonard

The Cecil Hotel is infamous for its link to many deaths, serial killers and mysteries. In today’s episode we’re going to look at the rise and fall of the Cecil Hotel and some of its more notorious occupants.

Cecil Hotel resides on Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles and was opened in 1927. The hotel boasts 600 guest rooms, some of which are currently being renovated to be used as residential units. I’m not sure who would be inclined to stay there for a longer period of time given its history of sketchy guests.

The Cecil Hotel’s original purpose was to be a destination for business-people and tourists. It was constructed in 1924 by William Banks Hanner and was designed by Loy Lester Smith. The project cost $1M to and the hotel lobby was complete with marble floors, stained glass windows and potted plants.

Unfortunately, within five years of the hotel opening, the Great Depression hit America. This was a time of economic crisis, leading to devastating social consequences such as suicides and homelessness.

The hotel made somewhat of a comeback in the 1940s when it was considered quite a fashionable travel destination, however over time as the area known as Skid Row declined, so did the hotel.

By the 1950s the hotel was known to house transients, there were approximately 10,000 homeless people living within a four-mile radius of the hotel.

During the decline of the area and the hotel, suicides and violent deaths on the premises became frequent. The first documented suicide in the hotel took place when a man named W K Norton ingested poison pills in 1931.

Multiple suicides were recorded throughout the 1940s and 50s which led the hotel to be known locally as The Suicide.

The hotel is also known for its ties to violent crimes and murder.

It’s rumoured that aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, also known as the Black Dahlia after her brutal murder, was seen drinking at the hotel bar in 1947.

A retired telephone operator well known at the hotel named ”Pigeon Goldie” Osgood was found murdered in her room. She had been raped, stabbed and beaten. While a man had been charged with her murder, he was later cleared, leaving her murder unsolved.

If you listen to a lot of true crime podcasts, then the next two cases or residents are the ones you’re probably a little familiar with.

Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, was rumoured to have stayed at the Cecil Hotel for a few weeks. He may have actually committed some of his crimes while he was residing at the hotel. This may have inspired serial killer Jack Unterweger to stay at the hotel in 1991 as a possible homage to Ramirez. While Unterweger was residing at the hotel, he strangled at least three prostitutes to death. He was convicted in his home country of Austria and hanged himself after his conviction.

The most recent of deaths in the hotel occurred in 2013 when Canadian student Elisa Lam was found dead in the water supply tank on the roof. Her behaviour leading up to her death was quite unusual and there is a lot of speculation as to how she ended up in the tank.

As of 2017, the Los Angeles City Council voted to deem the Cecil Hotel a historic-cultural monument as it is a representative of early 1920s American hotels and in respect to its architectures work.

Source

11. Lizzie Halliday

March 14, 2019December 3, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 11. Lizzie Halliday

Newspaper portrait of Lizzie Halliday

Today’s episode was recommended by Kate, the host of Ignorance Was Bliss.

Eliza Margaret McNelly, commonly known as Lizzie Halliday, was the first woman to be sentenced to execution by electric chair in 1894, being found responsible for the deaths of at least four people.

Lizzie Halliday was born in 1859 in County Antrim, Ireland. She and her family emigrated to the US when she was still a child, the exact date remains unconfirmed.

At 20, Lizzie met and married her first husband, Charles Hopkins, also known as Ketspool Brown in history books. The couple had their first son who allegedly ended up being institutionalized later in life. In a stream of what seemed like bad luck, Lizzie’s husband Charles died in 1881. She remarried the same year to Artemus Brewer, but unfortunately he died less than a year on. It is said that Brewer would often be subjected to hair pulling and beating by his Lizzie before his untimely death.

Starting to form a pattern, Lizzie then married Hiram Parkinson who ended up leaving her in the first year of marriage, perhaps having some insight into who Lizzie truly was.

Not one to give up, Halliday went on to marry a war veteran by the name of George Smith. Halliday allegedly made failed attempt to poison George by adding arsenic to his tea. Following this, she stole items from his home and fled to Bellows Falls, Vermont, where she later married Charles Playstel but she would vanish two weeks later.

There was no word of Lizzie until the winter of 1888 when she showed up at a saloon, going by the name Maggie Hopkins. She set up a shop for herself but was convicted of when she later burned it down in order to collect insurance money. She was sentenced to two years in Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary.

Upon release in 1889 and now going by the name Lizzie Brown, she found employment as a housekeeper for Paul Halliday, a 70 year old man, twice widowed and living in Sullivan County, New York with his sons. Naturally, Lizzie and Halliday married shortly after, Lizzie was 30 years younger than her new husband. The relationship was troublesome from the beginning. Halliday reported to his sons that Lizzie was prone to “spells of insanity” that would come and go. Within the next two years of their marriage, their house and barn would burn down. Given Lizzie’s history, she was immediately suspected of setting the fire.

Following this, Lizzie employed a neighbour to help her sell horses that she had stolen from the property. Lizzie was acquitted of this crime on the grounds of insanity.

As mentioned, Paul and Lizzie lived with Paul’s sons. John Halliday was of these sons who is reported to have been mentally disabled. Lizzie was known for openly taking a disliking to John and when the Halliday mill and residence was burned down in 1893, killing John Halliday who was inside the building, only 4 years after the previous fires, Lizzie was arrested and sent to an asylum. Soon after, she was declared to have been cured – of what, I’m not entirely sure – and was sent home to Paul Halliday.

It may not come as a surprise to you that shortly after Lizzie’s return, Paul Halliday disappeared. Lizzie claimed that he was visiting a nearby town to take care of some masonry work. The neighbours were, naturally, suspicious and a search warrant was obtained on September 4, 1893. During the search, the bodies of two women who had been shot to death were found in the barn. The women were identified as two residents that Lizzie had stayed with previously in Philladelphia, Sarah and Margaret McQuillan. During questioning, Lizzie tore at her clothes and spoke incoherently. Lizzie was kept in custody and some believed that she was faking her behaviour to gain a reprieve.

Having discovered two bodies on the property, the search continued. Only days after the bodies of the women were found, the mutilated body of Paul Halliday was discovered under the floorboards of his own house. He had been shot at least twice.

The body of a local peddler was also found on the property – Lizzie was also the prime suspect in this murder, given her direct ties to the other three.

Lizzie was charged with the murders with trial taking place at the Sullivan County Jail in New York. In her first weeks of imprisonment, Lizzie refused to eat, attacked the Sheriff’s wife, set fire to her bed, cut her own throat with broken glass and said, “I thought I would cut myself to see if I would bleed.”

Because of her erratic and dangerous behaviours, she was chained to the floor for the remaining months of her incarceration.

While Lizzie was only convicted of four murders, it is widely speculated that she was also responsible for the deaths of her unfortunate earlier husbands.

Lizzie was convicted on June 21, 1984 and was the first woman to be sentenced to die by electrocution. Governor Roswell P Flower commuted her sentence to life in a mental institution after she was declared insane. She spent the remainder of her life in the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, unfortunately not peacefully. In 1906, Lizzie stabbed a nurse, Nelly Wickes, 200 times with a pair of scissors, killing her.

While Lizzie was incarcerated, the press caught wind of her story and he legend grew. She came to be known as the Wolf Woman of Sullivan Country and was also titled a Gypsy Queen, a leader of a group that roamed the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys.

There were claims that the shootings were done in a fashion of ritual, a circle shot through Paul’s body, the five shots surrounding his heart. Naturally, these claims are unfounded and can be attributed to the hysteria and imagination of the press and public. We all know how stories grow over time.

After a life of violence and torment, Lizzie Halliday passed away quietly on June 28, 1918 at 59 years old.

Be sure to let me know about your favourite female figures, be they good or bad or a little unusual.

10. Myrtles Plantation

March 7, 2019December 3, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 10. Myrtle’s Plantation.

Bogdan Oporowski

Myrtles Plantation was a topic recommended to me by my dear friend Abbie. You can find her on Twitter.

Built in 1796 in Francisville, Louisiana by General David Bradford, Myrtles Plantation is known as one of America’s most haunted homes.

Bradford born in 1972 was a rebel, a lawyer and deputy attorney-general and a fugitive at different points in his life. He built the first house on South Main Street, Washington, Pennsylvania in 1788 and later went on to build Myrtles Plantation in 1794, which was then known as Laurel Cove. He was living alone at Myrtles Plantation as he had been on the run from the government for being associated with the Whiskey Rebellion. He was later pardoned and returned to his original home in Pennsylvania to live with his wife and five children.

While Bradford did move away from the plantation, he didn’t abandon it. When he passed away in 1808, the plantation was left to his wife, Elizabeth, who ran it until 1817 before passing it’s management to Clarke Woodruff, a former law student of Bradford’s and his wife, Elizabeth and Bradford’s daughter, Sarah Mathilda.

The couple would have three children, however Sarah and two of her babies perished due to yellow fever.

Elizabeth Bradford passed in 1831. Clarke and his only remaining daughter moved away and left a caretaker to look after the plantation. In 1834 the plantation was sold, including the slaves and land. Stirling and his wife Mary would be the new owners. They undertook a renovation of the house, doubling its size and importing European furniture to fill the new space. They changed the name to The Myrtles after the trees that grew around it. Stirling passed away in 1854 leaving the plantation to his wife, Mary.

Mary hired William Drew Winter to assist in managing the plantation. Winter married Stirling’s daughter, Sarah, and they had six children together, one of whom passed away at home from typhoid at three years old.

The family lost their fortune after the war and were forced to sell the plantation in 1868, though they bought it back two years later.

William Drew Winter was murdered on the porch of the house by alleged suspect E. S. Webber. Mary later died in 1880, leaving the plantation to her son who sold it on in 1889. From here, the home goes from hand to hand, being sold and altered, and accumulating stories of strange occurrences and possible haunting.

In what would seem like a classic horror story-line, the plantation is rumoured to have been built on an ancient Tunica Indian burial ground. It is apparently home to at least twelve ghosts and while there are reports of at least 10 murders at the house, there is only the murder of William Drew Winter on the porch that has been confirmed.

Winter, as mentioned, was shot by a stranger while on the porch. He then staggered inside the home and attempted to climb the stairs for help or safety. It was on the 17th stair that he perished. Visitors and employees at the now Bed and Breakfast claim to be able to hear his footsteps as he eternally staggers upstairs for help. Others claim that they have seen his ghost, staggering and crawling up the stairs and collapsing on the 17th step.

It is claimed that a young girl who died in 1868 in the plantation home still haunts the room in which she died, and often practices voodoo on sleeping people.

During the Civil War, the house was ransacked. This is confirmed. However the idea that three people were killed in the house during this event, is not. There is apparently a bloodstain in a doorway, the size of a human body that cannot be cleaned or removed.

And there is one very detailed story and haunting though it is one of the most contested. I’ll let you decide what you believe.

Chloe was a slave owned by Clark and Sara Woodruff during their ownership of the plantation. It is said that Clark had forced Chloe into becoming his mistress. Chloe would listen at keyholes, apparently, to learn the news of the business and family and when caught one day, either by Sara or Clark, they had one of her ears cut off as punishment. Since that day, she would wear a green turban to hide her scars.

Chloe apparently baked a cake containing an extract from extremely poisonous oleander leaves. Her motive is unconfirmed, though some believe it was to rid the home of other maids or to poison and then nurse Clark and Sara to regain their favour. Either way, her plan didn’t work. Sara and her two daughters ate the cake and subsequently died of the poisoning. It is said that Chloe was then hanged by other slaves and her body thrown into the Mississippi river.

The strangest thing about this tale is that no one knows where it came from. The Woodruffs are not recorded to have been slave owners and while there is a claim that Sara and her two daughters were killed, Mary, a supposed victim, actually lived a long life. Sara and her family actually died from yellow fever. Regardless of these unconfirmed rumours, visitors still claim to see a woman in a green turban walking the plantation. In addition, it is rumoured that Sara and her children’s spirits were trapped in a mirror in the house when it was not covered after their deaths. It’s claimed that their hand prints appear on the glass.

Source

9. Little Red Riding Hood

February 28, 2019December 3, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 9. Little Red Riding Hood.

Little Red Riding Hood (1881) by Carl Larsson

The tale of Little Red Riding hood has stranger and darker ideas than you may think.

This isn’t necessarily due to the Grimm’s retelling the tale to scare adults with stories of mayhem, blood and violence but simply because of the sinister situation Red finds herself in. A young girl facing a predator on her own is something most of us have feared for ourselves or our loved ones at some point in our lives.

According to research, the story dates back to well before the 17th century, with some tales identified as being told as far back as the 10th century and has appeared in French, Italian and East Asian Lore.

In the story we are all used to hearing, Little Red takes a basket of bread and goodies to her grandmother’s house to share. To get there she has to walk along a winding path through a dark forest. When she arrives at her grandmother’s house, she sees that her grandmother is sick in bed and looks quite different than she should. Her eyes are too big, her teeth too sharp. As Little Red points these out to the grandmother, her grandmother becomes increasingly fierce at last claiming her sharp teeth were “all the better to eat you with!”

The story ends with Little Red Riding Hood attempting to escape the wolf, which she does with the help of a woodsman who hears her distress. He kills the wolf, cuts the true grandmother from its belly, and saves the day.

Many of these elements are maintained from the original recorded tales. The story was told among many European peoples, it was shared in France in the early 10th century, for example and also in Italy where it was known as La Finta Nonna, or The False Grandmother.

In the earlier versions, Little Red doesn’t always come up against a wolf. She may be attacked or frightened by an ogre or a vampire and her grandmother may be either captured or dead and eaten. Her escape definitely isn’t always the same. We’ll get to that shortly, and I’ll leave it to you to guess my favourite version.

The figure of the wolf has been linked to the werewolf trials which are similar to the witch trials of Salem. Both of which I definitely want to cover in a future episode. In most tellings, the wolf kills the grandmother and cooks her flesh for Little Red to eat, so that she will unknowingly cannibalise her own Nanna.

On a disturbing note, in some versions, the wolf who is almost always presented as male, has been known to ask Little Red to strip down naked and throw her clothing in the fire before getting in bed with him.

In one escape version, while Little Red is in bed with the wolf, she claims that she needs to defecate and doesn’t want to do it in the bed. So, the wolf agrees to let her use the bathroom, but first he ties a string to her that he keeps hold of so that she cannot escape. Being a clever young girl, she takes the string and ties it to another object in the bathroom so that it feels as though she is still connected. She then makes her escape and runs away with no saviour but herself.

In other versions, she would run away and the wolf would give chase. She would then be saved by maids who were nearby and who would help her and drown the wolf, tangling him up in the sheets they were washing in the river. In Hansel and Gretel style, there is also a version where she would push the wolf into the open fire where her grandmother is being cooked.

Not very Disney or child friendly, at all.

The woodsman, or huntsman didn’t exist in the early tales. He was dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm, who included him as the hero in the first part of their story. Apparently even then, it was believed that a woman needed a man to save her. The woodsman would save Little Red and her grandmother from the wolf with the help of his axe. Surprisingly, not quite as violent or sinister as the original tales of cannibalism and “stranger danger”, to put it mildly.

Like most young fairy-tale figures, over time Little Red has been adapted, recreated and even sexualised. Red is a colour usually associated with passion. Red lips, red clothing, and Little Red doesn’t escape this. There are allusions in the original tales and modern interpretations to sexual assault and manipulation. Personally, that is what makes me feel so uneasy about this story, more so than the cannibalism. People eating people, sure, but a wolf, an older male, preying on a child? Disturbing.

As for where Disney would take this story, who knows. As far as I’m aware they have never made a feature length film based on just this tale. There was a short 1922 cartoon that was released as part of the Laugh-O-Gram Series and it is one of the first ever Disney cartoons. She was also featured in Into the Woods.

I wouldn’t mind seeing this revisited and perhaps seeing an ending where Little Red saves herself. It’s such an untouched story in popular media and there is so much that could be done with the story.

Movie makers, and novel writers, please note: She didn’t need a prince centuries ago and she doesn’t need one now.

If you’re interested in further reading Charles Perault and the Grimm Brothers have both written their own versions and if you don’t mind some YA sci-fi, I highly recommend reading The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer which features classic fairy tale characters including Little Red.

Source

Project Gutenberg

8. The Axeman of New Orleans

February 21, 2019December 3, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 8. The Axeman of New Orleans.

A map of the crime scenes, March 1999.

If, like me, you’re a fan of American Horror Story, then you’re likely familiar with the Axeman of New Orleans. Perhaps, like me, this is also where you first heard of this serial killer who was active from May 1918 to October 1919 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Axeman has never been identified, though there a couple of suspects who seemed to fit the bill. Two of these suspects died within 2 years of the murders, and it’s not likely we’ll ever have answers.

The Axeman’s namesake is as obvious as it sounds. His weapon of choice was usually an axe that he would find in the residents home, though he was also known to use a straight razor. He would use a chisel to break out a panel of the back door of his victim’s home and would use this door as his entry point. He would then attack one or all of the residents in the home. The majority of the crimes were committed against Italian immigrants which has led some to believe that the murders were ethnically motivated. Collin and Damon Wilson, criminologists, suggest that murders were sexually motivated and that male victims may only have been killed so the murderer could get to the women. In some cases, the men in the homes were left alive which could support this point, though there’s no way to know for sure.

New Orleans is known for it’s music and culture and the Axeman played on this in his murders. One of the most notorious facts from the case is that he threatened the people of New Orleans with brutal murder if they did not play Jazz music in their homes.

The letter he sent as warning reads:

Hell, March 13, 1919

Esteemed Mortal of New Orleans:

They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman.

When I see fit, I shall come and claim other victims. I alone know whom they shall be. I shall leave no clue except my bloody axe, besmeared with blood and brains of he whom I have sent below to keep me company.

If you wish you may tell the police to be careful not to rile me. Of course, I am a reasonable spirit. I take no offense at the way they have conducted their investigations in the past. In fact, they have been so utterly stupid as to not only amuse me, but His Satanic Majesty, Francis Josef, etc. But tell them to beware. Let them not try to discover what I am, for it were better that they were never born than to incur the wrath of the Axeman. I don’t think there is any need of such a warning, for I feel sure the police will always dodge me, as they have in the past. They are wise and know how to keep away from all harm.

Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a most horrible murderer, which I am, but I could be much worse if I wanted to. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night. At will I could slay thousands of your best citizens (and the worst), for I am in close relationship with the Angel of Death.

Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is:

I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it out on that specific Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.

Well, as I am cold and crave the warmth of my native Tartarus, and it is about time I leave your earthly home, I will cease my discourse. Hoping that thou wilt publish this, that it may go well with thee, I have been, am and will be the worst spirit that ever existed either in fact or realm of fancy.

–The Axeman

While many did adhere to the rules or attempt to keep themselves safe, there were others that invited the Axeman into their home, armed against him, telling him they would leave a window open so he wouldn’t damage the door to get in.

By the end of the killing spree, there would be 12 victims.

On May 22, 1918, Joseph Maggio and his wife Catherine were murdered in their homes with the use of a straight razor and an axe.

June 27, 1918 would see Louis Besumer and Harriet Lowe attacked with a hatchet belonging to Besumer.

Mrs. Schneider was 8-months pregnant when she was killed on August 5, 1918. Her husband discovered her when he arrived home late from work. Mrs. Schneider survived, remembering nothing of the attack, and gave birth to a healthy baby girl two days later.

Joseph Romano was attacked on August 10, 1918, but the attacker fled the scene upon being discovered by Mr. Romano’s nieces who he was living with at the time. The young women described the intruder as a heavy-set, dark skinned man.

Charles Cortimilglia was attacked on March 10, 1919, in the home he shared with his wife and daughter who had also been attacked. Unfortunately their daughter did not survive.

Steve Boca was attacked while he slept on August 10, 1919. He was attacked after the Axeman letter was released. He survived but had no recollection of the attack.

Sarah Laumann was attacked on September 13, 1919. She was 19 years old. Her neighbours came to investigate when they heard her screams and she was found missing several teeth and with a severe head injury. She survived but like other victims, couldn’t remember any details.

The last known murder by the Axeman of New Orleans was of Mike Pepitone on October 27, 1919. His wife awoke during the attack to see the axe wielding intruder fleeing the scene. Her husband had been hit in the head and blood was spattered over the walls and a painting of the Virgin Mary. He left six children behind.

Overall, there were to be six murders and no convictions.

Though one description of a heavy-set man was given, it is likely that the killer may have been quite slight as he was able to fit through a door panel to gain entry into the homes. This may also explain why he attacked his victims when they were at their most vulnerable.

The tragic events have been referenced in pop culture many times, including in songs, film and television.

Let me know if you have a favourite representation or theory based on the Axe Man of New Orleans.

Source

7. The Exorcist

February 14, 2019December 3, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 7. The Exorcist.

Movie still from The Exorcist, 1973

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the novel or the film The Exorcist but if you’re like me, you probably weren’t aware of the case it was based on. I had always assumed that the story came from somewhere but I never really looked into it until recently and so I wanted to share it with you.

The victim of these ongoing exorcisms was an anonymous 14-year-old boy who was given the name Roland Doe or Robbie Mannheim. He was allegedly possessed by demons. Events of the exorcisms were recorded by the priest in attendance, Raymond Bishop, and it is some of these events which inspired the 1971 novel and it’s later film adaption, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. I’m yet to see the film, I know, shocking, but I highly recommend the novel.

Roland was born into a German Lutheran family and had only adults for friend. It was his Aunt Harriet who would play with him the most and it was she who introduced Roland to the Ouija board.

It was after Aunt Harriet’s death that the family started to experience tell-tale signs of a haunting. According to Thomas B. Allen, they would experience furniture moving on its own, objects flying or levitating whenever the young Roland was nearby. The family spoke to their pastor for help, Luther Miles Schulze, and he arranged for Roland to spend a night at his own house so he could be witness to any strange occurrences. He claimed to have witnessed the same things that the family had reported. When J. B. Rhine, a parapsychologist, heard of these claims he thought that perhaps Schulze had ‘unconsciously exaggerated’ some of the facts. Relying on their pastor for help, the family agreed when they were advised by Schulze to see a Catholic priest.

Roland underwent several exorcisms to free him from his alleged demonic possession. During one exorcism it is reported that Roland slipped his hands out of his restrains, pulled a bed spring from the mattress he was on and used to as a weapon, managing to cut the priest’s arm.

The young boy’s witnesses claimed to have seen a shaking bed, flying objects, Roland speaking in a deep, guttural voice, and having an aversion to anything sacred.

During a second exorcism, witnesses claimed that the words “evil” and “hell” along with other markings appeared on Roland’s body. Roland managed to break on of the people present’s nose during the exorcism. After this event, it was claimed that the boy went on to lead ‘a rather ordinary life’. I’m unsure what normal was for Robbie in this case, given his early experience of such severe abuse.

There is speculation of course over whether these events took place as they were said to. Some question whether the exorcisms ever took place at all as there were no written records.

The claims of the possession and related exorcisms can be traced back to 1949 when newspapers printed anonymous articles of a possession and exorcism. One article claimed that there were 48 witnesses to one of the events.

An author, Thomas B. Allen, who has researched the case says that there is no definitive proof that the boy was ever possessed. He suggests that the boy may have suffered from mental illness, physical or sexual abuse or that the entire story may have been fabricated. Of course, mental illness or trauma is the belief held by most psychologists today.

From a religious perspective, not to be dismissed, academics Terry D. Cooper and Cindy K. Epperson state that exorcisms are few and far between but are indeed very real and that ‘genuine possession cannot be explained by psychiatry.’

The novel, The Exorcist, as I mentioned earlier is based off this case.

It follows the possession of twelve-year-old Regan MacNeil and her subsequent exorcisms. Regan is first suspected to be suffering from trauma related to her parents’ divorce, but as her behaviour becomes stranger and more destructive, a priest is called in to rid her of her apparent demons. If you’re open to a good scare, and read The Exorcist with a suspension of disbelief, I think you’ll find it both creepy and enjoyable.

I’m going to have to put watching the film down on my to-do list. I think it would make a perfect date-night movie, so long has no one has pea soup for dinner.

I would love for you to let me know what exorcism stories spark your interest especially!

Source

6. Bloody Mary

February 7, 2019December 3, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 6. Bloody Mary.

Portrait by François Clouet, c. 1558–1560

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the childhood game Bloody Mary. You stand in front of a mirror and call for Bloody Mary three times and she is said to appear, either as a malevolent spirit, a vision, or to tell you your future love. I’ve personally never played because I’m disturbed enough by violent nightmares and waking hallucinations without calling a tormented spirit into my home, though Bloody Mary has always been a favourite legend of mine.

If you’ve ever had a sleep over or been on a school camp trip, it’s likely that either you or someone you know has attempted to call Bloody Mary forth from the mirror but after hearing the story of the woman who inspired the legend, you may find yourself less inclined to play.

Bloody Mary was a name given to Mary, Queen of England. A woman known for her violent, bloody reign, and her tragic life.

Mary was born to Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon and was the only child of Henry’s to survive to adulthood. With Henry as her father and also being born female, you would be right to assume she may have been doomed to tragedy from the very beginning. She was not exactly “wanted” by her father who required a male child to be his heir. A female child was not worthy of his throne.

Henry would get his wish much later in life, with his son, Mary’s half brother, Edward VI who would succeed their father at 9 years old in 1547, preventing Mary from taking the throne.

At least for a while.

As a child, Mary was precocious, or gifted. At age four and a half, she entertained a visiting French delegation with a performance on the virginals. By nine years old, she was able to read and write Latin. She would study French, Spanish, music and dance. Most would have considered her an ideal child. Well behaved, kind, smart, but that wouldn’t be enough to save her from or fate or to save others from her reign.

In the beginning of her life, her father, Henry, loved her greatly. Though he was bitterly disappointed that his marriage had not resulted in the birth of any sons. He attempted to annul his marriage to Catherine but his request was refused, so instead, Catherine was sent to live away from court and away from her daughter.

Mary was prohibited from seeing her mother which affected her greatly. Mary was often sick, suffering depression and irregular menstruation though the cause of either was unclear, some put the depression at least down to a strained relationship with her father and having no contact with the mother she loved so dearly.

King Henry would go on to marry Anne, his previous marriage to Catherine would then be void, making Mary illegitimate and dissolving her household. Because of this affront, Mary refused to acknowledge Anne as the Queen of England or her daughter Elizabeth as the princess. Henry was enraged by this disobedience. He and his daughter would not speak for three years and in this time, she would be told of her mother’s death. Mary was inconsolable.

Mary eventually reconciled with her father, though not on her own terms, and resumed her place in court. During this time, historical records show that she was privy to spending on beautiful clothing and gambling at cards. She was intensely religious and involved in the Catholic faith. This would only further complicate her life and the life of those she would rule over.

King Henry VIII, upon his deathbed in 1553 attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession. He was opposed to her strict and intense Catholicism. No matter how he tried, he would be unsuccessful and upon his own and later his son Edward’s death, Mary took the throne. Mary would come to be the first queen regnant of England. She would reign for five years.

Her first act upon becoming queen was to release the Roman Catholic Duke of Norfolk and Stephen Gardiner from their imprisonment in the Tower of London. They were both backers of her severe Catholicism. During her short term, she would have over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake, which led Protestants to denounce her as “Bloody Mary”.

Now that most of the violence in her life is spoken for, let’s focus in on her personal life. Something that also plays into the folklore or the game of Bloody Mary.

Mary would marry at 37 and would experience a false pregnancy. A false pregnancy is the term used when a person experiences all the clinical or sub clinical signs of pregnancy without actually being pregnant. This false pregnancy was apparently likely to be due to her strong desire to have a child of her own. Later, in 1557, Mary thought she may be pregnant again with a baby due in March 1558 but when the time came, there was no child to be born.

In 1558, weak and ill and in pain, possibly from uterine cancer and ovarian cysts, Mary passed away at the age of 42. Mary’s final wish was to be buried by her mother but she was denied this reunion even in death. She was instead buried in a tomb that she would come to share with Elizabeth. The woman she had refused to acknowledge during her life. The inscription on their shared tomb translates from Latin to read, “Consorts in realm and tomb, we, sisters Elizabeth and Mary, here lie down to sleep in hope of resurrection.”

The folklore or game of Bloody Mary stems from the tragic and violent life of this Queen.

The ritual originally consisted of young women walking backwards up a flight of stairs, holding a candle and mirror in a dark house. While looking into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to see their future husband’s face. However, if they were to see the face of a skull, they were doomed to die before they could marry.

The ritual today consists of individuals or groups chanting Mary’s name in a mirror placed in a dim or candle-lit room. Bloody Mary would then appear as a corpse or a ghost, she can be kind or malevolent, clean or bloody. There is a modern addition of taunting Mary about her lost babies.

Lore states that people have endured being screamed at, strangled or having their eyes scratched out by the bloody apparition.

If you’re a skeptic, or a non-believer, you may prefer the scientific explanation for the phenomenon. Staring into a mirror in dim lighting can cause hallucinations. You may see faces shifting shapes, melting or appearing. Giovanni-Caputo calls this the “Strange-Face” illusion, which may be caused by a kind of dissociative identity effect. I’ve experienced this before, because what’s more fun at night than freaking yourself out by staring into a mirror in a dark room trying to see ghosts? It’s not like I’m getting any sleep anyway.

Let me know if you’ve ever played Bloody Mary or perhaps a similar game such as Candy Man.

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5. Cinderella

January 31, 2019December 3, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 4. Cinderella.

Cinderella, from a book of Germany fairytales c. 1919. Courtesy Wikimedia/Creative Commons

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the tale of Cinderella, the Disney version or it’s many other adaptions. It’s a tale of rags to riches, loneliness to love, dreams to reality.

In the popularised Disney version of Cinderella, we first meet our Princess in the dank basement of a mansion. Cinderella, having lost her father, is living with her step-mother and two step-sisters. I won’t go too in depth on this version of the story as I’m sure it’s been beaten into all of us over the years. Cinderella finds friendship and solace in the animals that share her home and property and in the guidance of a magical fairy Godmother who can grant her every wish, with conditions of course. It is with the help of these creatures and people that she is able to attend the royal ball to meet her Prince Charming. Like any fairy tale, it isn’t all smooth sailing, but it does come with a happy ending. This time.

Cinderella must leave the ball by midnight, lest her dress turn to rags and her coach turn back to a pumpkin. As she is rushing out of the door and down those tricky steps, she loses a shoe: a glass slipper.

The prince, not remembering Cinderella’s face, apparently, trawls the village to find the woman who the shoe fits. The step-sisters try it, of course, but their feet are too large. It isn’t until he slides the slipper onto Cinderella’s foot that he knows he has met his princess. They go on to live happily ever after, usually with the step-family facing mild consequences.

All in all, a nice story that wraps up quite neatly.

All of these bits and pieces of the popular Disney tale come from different sources. The earliest version of Cinderella is the ancient Greek story of Rhodopis, written around 7 BC. It tells of a Greek courtesan who was bathing when an eagle snatched a sandal from her maid and carried it to Memphis. While the King was administering justice, the eagle dropped the sandal into his lap. He was stirred by the beautiful shape of the sandal and went on a quest to find the woman who wore it. When she was found, she was brought to Memphis and became the King’s wife.

It was in a French retelling in Cenrillion by Perrault in 1697 that the glass slipper, the pumpkin and the fairy-godmother were introduced. This story is most similar to that of the Disney version we most often see.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Good Nightmare story if the tale and its ending were all roses, no thorns. That’s why today we will look at the Brothers Grimm version of the much loved fairy-tale.

The story begins in a town that is ravaged by a plague. The moment we meet Cinderella, she is sitting by her mother’s death bed. Her mother tells Cinderella that if she is to remain good and kind, God will protect her, before she passes away. Cinderella visits her mother’s grave every day until one year later, her father marries another woman.

Cinderella’s new step-mother brings with her two step-daughters, both fair of face but dark of heart. They take away Cinderella’s gowns and force her to wear a grey bed gown and banish her to the kitchen where she is forced to work from dawn ’til dusk. They create messes for Cinderella in order to make her work more difficult, pouring lentils into the ash of the fireplace being one of their favourite tricks. They would make Cinderella spend hours upon hours sorting the lentils from the ash before she would be allowed to do anything else. They mock and tease her and through it all, Cinderella remains good and kind. She continues to visit her mother’s grave every day and prays to God that she will see her life improve.

One day, her father visits a fair. He has promised his three daughters gifts. The two step-daughters request luxurious items but Cinderella only asks for the first branch to knock his hat off on the way. He brings back a twig of hazel for her as promised which she plants at her mother’s grave. She goes on to visit the grave and to pray there three times a day and waters the hazel twig with her tears. It grows into a large, glowing hazel tree where a white bird comes to visit her each day.

Cinderella tells her wishes to the bird, and the bird throws down to her whatever she wishes for.

The King, deciding it is time for his son, the Prince, to choose a wife, holds a festival that will last three days. He invites all of the beautiful maidens in the own for the Prince to meet, including the step-sisters. Cinderella begs to be allowed to attend the festival but her step-mother denies her wish, saying she does not have beautiful shoes or a gown to wear. Cinderella insists despite this and her step-mother relents, in a way. She throws a pot of lentils into ashes and tells Cinderella she may attend if she can clean this mess in two hours. An impossible task for one young woman.

Cinderella sings while she cleans and a flock of doves are drawn to her to help her. She cleans the mess in less than the two hours given. Her step-mother only redoubles her efforts and throws a larger dish of lentils to the ground. Again, Cinderella manages to quickly clean the mess but the step-mother whisks away her daughters and husband regardless and leaves Cinderella behind.

Alone, she visits her mother’s grave and asks the bird who grants her wishes to give her a beautiful gown and to clothe her in silver and gold. The bird drops down a silver dress and silk shoes. She heads to the festival and dances with the prince. When sunset comes, she leaves and the prince escorts her home. She escapes him and hides inside the pigeon coop. When the prince requests her father to chop it down so he may find her, he sees she has already escaped.

The following day, she again visits the festival in grander clothing and dances with the prince. This time, when he takes her home she climbs a pear tree to escape him. Her father is asked to chop down the tree to find her but when the tree comes down, she is already gone.

On the third day, she appears at the festival in gold slippers. The prince is determined to keep her. He has the staircase smeared in pitch so that she cannot escape. She loses track of time and runs down the stairs and back home. One of her shoes is stuck in the pitch and this is where the prince picks it up and proclaims that he will marry the maiden whose foot fits the golden slipper.

The prince visits Cinderella’s house the next day and tries the slipper on the eldest step-sister. Her mother had advised her to cut off her toes to fit her foot into the slipper. While riding with her, shoe safely on her foot, two doves from Heaven come down to tell the prince that the woman’s foot is bleeding. He returns to the house and tries the shoe on the other sister. However, she shoe only fits because she has cut away a part of her heel. Again, he is fooled and again he is advised by the doves that she is bleeding.

He returns to the house once more and asks if there are any other maidens residing there. Cinderella’s father mentions a kitchen-maid, not adding that this young lady is also his daughter. Cinderella cleans herself up and tries on the slipper and it is then that the prince realises that she is the woman he had fallen in love with.

The two marry, as in most fairy-tales. Though when walking down the aisle with her step-sisters as her bridesmaids, the doves from heaven fly down and peck the left eye of one and the right eye of the other for trying to fool the prince. At the end of the wedding, Cinderella and the prince leave together and the doves fly down again, striking the sisters’ remaining eyes and blinding them as punishment.

Not exactly the happy and polished ending we have come to expect.

The father in this story is no less evil than the step-sisters and mother for allowing the abuse to go on. It is considered in some theories that he is dominated by his new wife and is too meek to stand up to her. In other theories and tellings of the story, he is actively a part of the abuse himself.

I would definitley recommend reading the Grimm’s version of Cinderella, and would like to recommend the film Ever After, starring Drew Barrymore. It’s one of my favourite representations. Let me know your favourite Cinderella story, below!

4. Marie Laveau

January 24, 2019December 3, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 4. Marie Laveau.

Portrait by Frank Schneider, based on a painting by George Catlin (Louisiana State Museum)

New Orleans, known for its Louisiana Voodoo, was the home to Marie Laveau and her daughter, Marie Laveau II.

Voodoo is a religion originating in Africa. It’s believed that in the Americas and the Carribean is is a combination of African, Native American and Catholic traditions. Like many religions, it varies among regions and among Voodooists. It relies on the individuals experience, intention and knowledge and is not a dark magic as it often is portrayed to be. There is a lot of misunderstanding about Voodoo – it’s often portrayed as evil, black magic or associated purely with evil curses and of course Voodoo dolls used for torture, this kind of framing is heavily affected by the blatant racism of the time of its introduction to the Americas.

What Voodoo is, from my research, and please correct me if I’m wrong, is an understanding that there are two worlds. The world we live in and an invisible world where spirits of people who have passed on exist. Death is simply a passage to the next world and contact is able to be made with those who reside in the spiritual plane. They are close and they are accessible and are able to provide guidance in our world when called upon.

It’s not surprising to anyone, or shouldn’t be, that Voodoo’s bad reputation is clouded with racism, having been introduced to the Americas by Carribean peoples who were taken as slaves. They were feared and ridiculed for their practices. That idea has carried on to this day. It’s important to deconstruct where these ideas come from and to educate ourselves on unspoken or hidden histories.

Today, we’re going to look at Marie Laveau and her daughter, often represented in popular culture and one of the first names many people think of when they hear the word Voodoo.

According to historical documents, Marie Laveau was born free in the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1801. There’s not much known or confirmed about her personal life as there is little to no documentation. We do know that she married a man named Jaques in 1819, a French immigrant who fled the Haitian massacre as a refugee. Jaques’ death was recorded in 1820. They had two daughters together, Felicite and Angele, who both disappeared from historical records in 1820. Marie went on to have two more daughters who were recorded to have lived into adulthood. One of these daughters was Marie Euchariste Eloise Laveau who could come to be known as Queen Marie II.

Though Marie Laveau I was renowned for her Voodoo among her community, it was Marie Laveau II who was said to draw crowds and practice publicly.

Marie Laveau I had quite a positive reputation. She was said to do good for the sake of doing good. She would nurse others through illness, and counsel men condemned to death before their execution. She was known as a matchmaker for wealthy white men and was a hairdresser to the “white elite”. It is rumoured that her accurate divination and readings may have come from a network of informants that she had built among the servants of the elite. According to people’s accounts at the time, she is said to have instilled fear in the servants or taken information as payment for curing their ailments with her Voodoo. She would then use the information she learned to provide her services to the elite.

It is difficult to separate the histories of Marie Laveau and her daughter of the same name, but it is considered that Marie I would practice in private and was strongly dedicated to Voodoo, whereas her daughter would hold public events, performing for crowds. She was said to have walked the streets as though she owned them, and judging by her popularity, she may as well have.

According to the text In Motion: African American Migration Experience, “In 1874 as many as twelve thousand spectators, both black and white, swarmed to the shores … to catch a glimpse of Marie Laveau II performing her legendary rites …”.

Marie Laveau I lived into her late 70s and was said to have passed away at home with a smile on her face of natural causes. Members of the community claim to have seen her walking the streets after her death. Though it has been considered that this may have been her daughter that they saw, it would make sense that her spirit could be seen given the proximity of the invisible or spiritual world to our own.

The legend of Marie Laveau did not die with her.

Many people visit her grave, or where she is believed to be buried. Her tomb is covered in Xs in accordance with a rumour that if you wanted her to grant you a wish, you would have to draw an X, turn around three times, knock on the tomb, and yell out the wish. If you were lucky enough to have it granted, you would have to return with an offering and draw another X.

People also claim to see Marie Laveau wandering through the cemetery where she is buried, whispering curses to herself.

Her tomb is no longer accessible by the public and entry to the cemetery can only be made with a tour guide because of the amount of vandalism and destruction that has occurred over the years. There is a rumour that in 1982, New Jersey punk band The Misfits were arrested and accused of trying to exhume Marie Laveau from her grave after a concert.

Lastly, and importantly, though popular culture often references Marie Laveau as a witch, she is in fact a Voodoo Queen. Witchcraft and Voodoo do share some similarities in terms of practices, but are not the same. And as with Voodoo, witchcraft is not an evil practice. That might be something worth revisiting.

Marie, and her daughter, was not a person of darkness, or evil, but a woman who provided for those around her and practiced her religion freely, as should be.

Be sure to let me know your favourite stories or representations of the Marie Laveaus.

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