unsolved – Good Nightmare

32. Borley Rectory

August 8, 2019December 10, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

The east face of the rectory in 1892

A rectory, alternatively known as a priory, is housing provided by a church organization for a minister, priest or rector to live in. Rectories are often located close to or alongside churches, such as in this case.

When Borley Rectory was built in 1862 by Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis, there was no inkling that it would one day become known as the most haunted house in England. The rectory was located in the village of Borley, in Essex, England, and was investigated and dubbed most haunted by Harry Price, a British psychic author and researcher. Price was renowned for exposing fraudsters but it appeared he whole-heartedly believed in the strange occurrences at Borley Rectory. In fact, he would write two books on the case, which he would become most famously known for.

The Rectory itself would come to fame upon Price’s 1929 visit and the account subsequently published by the Daily Mirror. Price’s rival organisation, The Society for Psychical Research, claims to have discredited Price’s findings, however the case remains popular to this day in spite of doubts of the haunting being genuine.

The Borley Rectory was built to replace a previous structure that had been destroyed by fire in 1841. Reverend Bull would move into the Rectory himself in the year following its completion. He would have an addition made the rectory that would act as a home for him and his fourteen children.

The town of Borley came with a particularly disturbing legend, which some believed may have explained the haunting in the area, and especially at the Rectory. Though, there has been no historical basis for the legend, like a lot of lore, it continues to be told.

The legend goes that there was once a nun and a monk living in the area. They fell in love, a love that was forbidden and began an affair. When the two were discovered, they were punished in a brutal manner. The monk was executed and the nun? She was taken to the Rectory, and bricked into it’s walls, alive, where she was left to die.

The first reported signs of a haunting occurred at the Rectory in 1863 when locals claimed to have heard unexplained footsteps. From there, the haunting intensified and the witnesses would experience much of the same events.

In 1890, July 28, four of the Bull daughters living at the Rectory believed they had seen an apparition of a nun only metres away. They tried to approach the figure and attempted to engage it by talking to it but they reported that the nun disappeared as they got closer. The children became so acquainted with the nun’s presence that they would welcome her presence and would go searching for her when she did no appear otherwise.

The organist at the rectory reported that the family were “very convinced they had seen an apparition on several occasions”, though they didn’t claim to have seen anything themselves. This owed to the idea that the haunting either only affected the family, or it was some kind of group hysteria, or, not real at all.

The nun was reported to have been seen by gusts of all ages, all walks of life, believers and non-believers in the paranormal.

In W. H. Gregson’s article, Borley Rectory: The Most Haunted House in England, he describes the experience as follows:

[The nun] used to gaze through a window in the gloomy dining room. Cheery, hospitable parties around the dining-table may have jarred upon her poor, agony-strained feelings. Suddenly, a strange chill would creep through the room. . . . a sudden silence fall, and one or other of those jovial diners would glance toward the window, would see there the pale, sad face, coiffed in grey.

Those manifestations became so frequent that it was decided to end them by bricking up the window, and this was done.

Since 1890, there were various accounts of witnesses seeing a phantom coach driven by headless horsemen. This account immediately reminded me of the tale of Sleepy Hollow, which features a headless horseman who rides through town, disturbing the people. Sleepy Hollow was published in English in 1820, and so had been available for 70 years prior to these sightings. It is possible that these experiences, if untrue, were inspired by the tale.

Reverend Bull, the original and at this time the only owner of the Rectory passed away in 1892. His son, Reverend Henry “Harry” Bull took over the running of the rectory until his passing in 1928, leaving the Rectory vacant for some time. Young Reverend Bull died in 1928 leaving the Rectory vacant.

In 1929 Reverend Guy Eric Smith and his wife moved into Borley Rectory. While cleaning the home, Smith’s wife came across an unusual package. Upon opening it, she discovered the skull of what was thought to be a young woman. There was no mention of the body’s location, or who it may have belonged to. Mrs Smith would also report hearing the ringing of servant’s bells which had been disconnected, unexplained footsteps and lights shining in windows. She also reported that she saw the phantom horse-drawn carriage that the Bell daughters had seen.

After unrelenting haunting events, the Smiths asked to be put in touch with Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1929. At this point, Harry Price was working with the SPR and was sent to investigate Borley Rectory, arriving on June 12.

Harry Price was a paranormal investigator of sorts. He was known for exposing fraudulent cases of séances and haunting and may have expected to do the same at the Borley Rectory, however, this case would become much more than he could have expected.

Upon Price’s arrival, there were reports of new events. The throwing of stones, spirit messages tapped out on mirror frames in code, as well as apparitions, lights flashing and unexplained footsteps. It appeared the spirit’s presence was becoming more intense over time. However, when Price left the home, having completed his initial investigation, Reverend Smith’s wife claimed she suspected Price had faked some of the events, for example, throwing the stones and pebbles about himself.

The Smith’s inhabitance of the home lasted less than a year, with the family vacating the property on July 14, 1929, though the property would not stay vacant for long.

In 1930, Lionel Foster, his wife Marianne, and their adopted daughter Adelaide would move in. The family was immediately affected by the haunting. Lionel Foster began to keep a log of strange events which spanned the years 1930 to 1935. He noted the strange ringing of the disconnected bells, stones being thrown, writing on the walls that read “get help, Marianne”. There was even an account of his daughter, Adelaide, being locked in a room with no key and being attacked by “something horrible”. Marianne reported that in addition to the writings on the wall, she had also once been thrown from her own bed. Foyster decided to contact Harry Price to assist in the case.

There were two exorcisms conducted on the home by Foyster, both without success. During the first exorcism, Foyster was struck on the shoulder with a large stone, about the size of a fist. Researchers who later reviewed the case believed that the events may have been triggered unknowingly or knowingly by Marianne. Marianne, however, believed it was her husband who had been working with psychic researchers to fraudulently create some of the events.

Marianne may have had some motive to cause these events, perhaps to distract from what she had been doing behind closed doors. Marianne admitted that she had been having a sexual affair with a lodger, Frank Pearless, while living in Borley Rectory, and it is possible that the haunting was simply a cover.

The Foysters left the Borley Rectory in October 1935.

Price wished to continue his investigation and so he took out a rental agreement on the property for a year and on May 25, 1397 he ran an ad in the Times looking for researchers to live at the Rectory and record any supernatural events.

The advertisement was as follows:

“HAUNTED HOUSE: Responsible persons of leisure and intelligence, intrepid, critical, and unbiased, are invited to join rota of observers in a years night and day investigation of alleged haunted house in Home counties. Printed Instructions supplied. Scientific training or ability to operate simple instruments an advantage. House situated in lonely hamlet, so own car is essential. Write Box H.989, The Times, E.C.4”

As a result of this ad, he was able to engage 48 observers, mostly students, who would spend time at the now empty rectory. He printed the first ever handbook on how to undertake a paranormal investigation and handed one to each of the participants. Some investigators brought their own equipment to the scene, others worked strictly by the handbook, and over the next few years, there would be some notable events.

In 1938, Helen Glanville, conducted a séance in Streetham, South London in order to contact spirits and shed light on the case. Price claimed that Helen made contact with two spirits. One of the spirits was a nun name Marie Lairre. Marie communicated that she was a French nun who had left her convent and traveled to England. Her life would come to an abrupt and tragic end, however, when she was murdered and her body was either buried in the walls of a well, or thrown into a disused well. This tale was very similar to the lore about the nun bricked into the Rectory walls that was common in the town.

Second spirit Helen was able to contact, called himself Sunex Amures and he warned that he would set fire to the Borley Rectory on March 27, 1938 in order to reveal the bones of a murder victim resting beneath the structure. The fire did not take place that particular night, but it did occur the following year, and later on, in 1943, there would be a gruesome discovery, but not before some other suspicious events would take place.

27 Feb 1939, new owner Captain W. H. Gregson who had taken ownership of the home was unpacking when he knocked over an oil lamp causing a fire to spread through and damage the Rectory.

In his own words, from the article Borley Rectory “The Most Haunted House in England”, he describes his experience:

I bought the Rectory (which I then re-named Priory, in commemoration of its traditional origin) in full knowledge of its Ghostly reputation, and in complete skepticism.

I have since found ample cause to admit that there are influences existing, and active, in and around the place, which are outside the limits of what we are accustomed to consider the normal.

The disastrous fire at the Rectory may have had some disturbing influence because, during the night of the fire, several people report having seen me, accompanied by two “Strangers,” one, a “Lady, dressed in a grey cloak,” the other, “A gentleman with a sort of bald head, dressed in a long black gown.”

Already, the fate of my two spaniels has been published and broadcast far and wide. How, first, wise old “Peter” (a five-year-old black Cocker) and afterwards “Joe” (six-month-old Cocker) showed their dread of the gloomy Courtyard; how, even during daylight, they could scarcely be persuaded to enter it, and how each in turn went mad with terror at something which they sensed beyond the threshold of the Courtyard, and died mad.

The insurance company that investigated the fire ultimately ruled it arson which implies heavily that a lot of his testimony of the hauntings should be taken with a grain, or perhaps a handful, of salt.

Years later, in 1943, Harry Price conducted a dig in the cellars of the Rectory and discovered the bones of a young woman. The bones were given a Christian burial, though the parish of Borley refused to hold the ceremony, being of the opinion that the bones were not that of a young woman, but those of a pig.

A report by the Society for Psychical Research, by this time Price’s rival organisation, found that many of the phenomena that occurred at the Rectory had indeed been faked by Price. Charles Sutton claimed that in 1929 he had found Price to have pockets filled with pebbles of all sizes during his investigation, which explained the reports of rocks being thrown. Many other events were put down to natural occurrences, such as rats causing strange sounds in the house that may have accounted for the footsteps. The writing on the wall directed to Marianne, may have been done by Marianne, herself. In fact, later in life, Marianne Foyster claimed she had not really seen any apparitions and believed the strange noises were just the wind, friends in the home, or admitted that she herself had taken to playing pranks on her husband.

Many of Bull’s 14 children, the original owners of the Rectory, claimed to have been surprised that the house was considered haunted, having not experienced anything for themselves, including not having heard of the nun from their own siblings.

Robert Hasting’s attempted to defend Price against fraud accusations but were unable to do so effectively given the thorough investigation by the Society of Psychical Research.

Unfortunately, the house was ultimately demolished in 1944 so we may never be able to investigate for ourselves. Though, surely, if there were spirits attached to the area, they may still linger on.

If you’ve visited the site, or something similar, I would love to hear from you.

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29. The Voynich Manuscript

July 18, 2019December 4, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 29. The Voynich Manuscript.

A floral illustration on page 32, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,
Yale University

If you’re a fan of unsolved mysteries, you’ve likely heard of the Voynich Manuscript. I hadn’t, until I started going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole late one night.

The Voynich Manuscript is a hand written and illustrated binding that has been carbon dated to the early 15th century. It’s named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish book dealer who purchased the manuscript in 1912.

There was a cover letter retrieved from the text in 1912, when Voynich purchased it. The letter was dated in the year 1665, and read:

Reverend and Distinguished Sir, Father in Christ:

This book, bequeathed to me by an intimate friend, I destined for you, my very dear Athanasius, as soon as it came into my possession, for I was convinced that it could be read by no one except yourself.

The former owner of this book asked your opinion by letter, copying and sending you a portion of the book from which he believed you would be able to read the remainder, but he at that time refused to send the book itself. To its deciphering he devoted unflagging toil, as is apparent from attempts of his which I send you herewith, and he relinquished hope only with his life. But his toil was in vain, for such Sphinxes as these obey no one but their master, Kircher. Accept now this token, such as it is and long overdue though it be, of my affection for you, and burst through its bars, if there are any, with your wonted success.

Dr. Raphael, a tutor in the Bohemian language to Ferdinand III, then King of Bohemia, told me the said book belonged to the Emperor Rudolph and that he presented to the bearer who brought him the book 600 ducats. He believed the author was Roger Bacon, the Englishman. On this point I suspend judgement; it is your place to define for us what view we should take thereon, to whose favor and kindness I unreservedly commit myself and remain

At the command of your Reverence,

Joannes Marcus Marci of Cronland

Prague, 19th August, 1665

It’s place of origin is considered to be Northern Italy, and it’s language is unknown. Some scholars, code breakers, or fans, claim to have identified some of the language as either Latin or High German. Medieval scholars, however, have their doubts. It is suspected to have been previously owned by Roman Emperor Rudolph II, and has changed hands multiple times. It now resides with Yale.

The manuscript itself contains only 240 out of the original 272 pages. It includes sections devoted to herbalism, astrology, biology, cosmology, pharmacology and various recipes.

The manuscript is bound in goats skin, apparently not original to it. Most pages include drawings and diagrams, with colour for these thought to have been added in the 1600s. A work of ages.

Given the nature of the drawings, diagrams and recipes, it has been suggested that the manuscript was originally used as a pharmacopoeia, addressing medieval and early modern medicine, likely for women’s health.

There are notes included in the text, written in Latin and High German, though it hasn’t been confirmed whether these were part of the original text or if the annotations were added at a later date.

The code of the manuscript has been studied for years, but the text has not yet been decoded or translated. Substitution codes have been ruled out as the repetition of certain characters does not occur as it would in any known language. There is no obvious punctuation throughout the text. Though, 20-25 unique characters have been identified which would be enough to make up the average alphabet.

Some believe that the code is a short-hand, possibly stemming from Latin. Others believe that it may be a vowel-less alphabet, again, written in shorthand. There have been attempts as recent as 2018 to decode the manuscript, where it was thought to be Hebrew, written in an abnormal format. Medieval scholars, however, are skeptical of this translation and believe that the manuscript will never be deciphered. That is, if it was ever meant to be. There is always the chance that at the time of its creation, it was nothing but a hoax.

Reprinted, high quality copies of the manuscript are available, complete with artwork. I’ve been considering buying one for myself from Booktopia. Though there’s obviously no chance I’ll be the one to crack the secret, it sounds like an inspiring object to own.

The manuscript itself has inspired films, novels and symphonies.

Source

27. Reincarnation: Ryan Hammond & The Pollock Sisters

July 4, 2019December 4, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 27. Reincarnation: Ryan Hammond & The Pollock Sisters

The Pollock sisters.

Reincarnation is the theory that an aspect of a living being begins a new life in another body after experiencing a biological death. Reincarnation may occur when a person has unfinished business or has a balance they need to settle from their previous life. Children, who are considered to be more spiritually available to the “other side”, so to speak, are often the ones who exhibit signs that they may contain reincarnated souls. They may express memories, fears, dreams or desires for a life that has passed, or they may behave in the same way as a loved one they have never met.

In today’s episode we will look at the stories of the Pollock sisters and Ryan Hammond, three children said to be reincarnations of former living beings.

In Hexam, England in 1957, sisters Joanna (11) and Jacqueline (6) were walking to church with a friend when they were struck and killed by a car.

The girls’ parents, John and Florence, were naturally distraught over the loss of their daughters. Though the couple were Catholic, and Florence was skeptical, John was adamant that they would have another set of girls and that they would be their children, reborn into new life. He began speaking to others of his belief, though no one took much notice until Florence fell pregnant. With twins.

Florence gave birth to two healthy young girls who she and her husband named Jennifer and Gillian. Jennifer was born with a mark on her forehead, in the same place as a wound sustained by Jacqueline in the accident. She also had a birth mark on her waist that was said to be identical to Jacqueline’s. Her parents were convinced that the twins were reincarnations of their lost daughters. The affirmations would only continue.

Florence, John and their daughters moved to Whitney Bay when the girls were around three months old. They were not familiar with their older sisters lives or surroundings. At two years old, Jennifer and Gillian started asking their parents for toys that they didn’t own. Toys that had belonged to their older sisters.

The family moved back to Hexam when the twins were four. The twins would recognise and name landmarks that would have been frequented by their older sisters, including the school the older girls had attended. They could call their older sisters’ dolls by their original names. They’d have recurring nightmares and wake in distress, having dreamt of being hit by a car, and when a car would pass them slowly on the street, the girls would explain that the car was coming to get them.

With no explanation, the memories and signs of reincarnation stopped abruptly when the girls turned five. They never mentioned their previous life again.

Skeptics might conclude that the girls had been told the story of their sisters enough to be able to speak about them, that they had heard about how their sisters were killed and that’s what brought on the nightmares, after all, that is a traumatic event to learn of.

This next case, however, even the most rational mind may struggle with.

In 2009, four-year-old Ryan Hammond began experiencing distressing nightmares.

He would wake, calling for his mother, crying that his heart had exploded. He would tell her that he missed his old life, that the conditions he was living in weren’t up to par with what he was used to when he lived in Hollywood – well, perhaps not in so many words. Ryan had never lived in Hollywood. Nor had he had three children, lived on a street with Rock in the name, or had a friend named “Senator Fives”. Though, these were all memories that he distinctly recalled.

It wasn’t until the day Cindi was looking through old Hollywood photographs that Ryan was able to identify himself. He pointed to a picture of two men, “that’s George!”, he said, “and that’s me!”. The man he claimed to have been was Martin Martyn, a Hollywood agent who had died in 1964.

A reporter who was investigating the case got in contact with Martyn’s daughter, who confirmed that her father did in fact have a friend named George, and that he had another named Senator Ives. Cyndi took Ryan to meet Martyn’s daughter, however, when Ryan saw her he claimed that she was different. Cyndi had moved on from her loss. Ryan was described as standoffish and disinterested, as though he suddenly had no desire to be there with Martyn’s daughter.

One psychiatrist explained this sudden change of heart as Martyn, or Ryan, having found closure. Apparently, when a reincarnated soul is able to see someone from their past life, and see that they have moved on, they are able to find peace, or closure, and therefore pass on to the other side, to whatever else may be waiting for them.

What are your thoughts on reincarnation? It’s something I like to wonder about, personally. Whether it’s real or not, it’s nice to think that the possibility is there, that our souls are recycled. Perhaps that’s why we sometimes feel so immediately bonded to others when we first meet them, or why we experience déjà vu. Are there any cases that stand out to you?

I plan to cover the case of Dorothy Eady, in future, so keep an eye out for that one!

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26. The Chase Family Vault

June 27, 2019December 4, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 26. The Chase Family Vault.

The Chase family vault.

Today’s blog is a listener suggestion from the lovely Casey. This is a story I was vaguely aware of but had never really taken time to investigate or look into. I’m glad that I did, and I think you will enjoy this one as much as I did.

This is the story of the Chase family vault, and it takes place in Barbados, an area in the Lesser Antilles in the Southern Caribbean Sea. Supernatural activity at this site has been recorded as far back as 1802, when this story begins.

The Chase family vault was originally constructed in 1724 for James Elliot. It was built on a hill overlooking the Christ Church Parish Cemetery and was half sunk into the ground. The vault could be accessed by stairs and was sealed with a heavy blue marble slab. The Chase family purchased the vault in 1808 to be used as a family tomb. At the time of the purchase, there was already one occupant – Thomasina Goddard. Thomasina had been buried in the vault in a wooden coffin where the family allowed her to remain, undisturbed.

Coincidentally, the purchase of the vault resulted in its immediate use.

In 1808, Thomas Chase’s infant child died under mysterious circumstances. The child was buried in a heavy lead casket that took several men to carry.

In 1812, Dorcas Chase, Thomas’s daughter, also died under mysterious circumstances. It was rumoured that she had starved herself to death as an escape from the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, though both the abuse and the cause of death were not confirmed in any records I could find.

One month after Dorcas Chase’s death, Thomas himself died of an alleged suicide. Along with his children, he too was buried in a heavy metal casket that took several men to maneuver and was laid to rest in his tomb.

It was while burying Thomas Chase that the first supernatural occurrence was discovered. The coffin of Dorcas Chase had been moved and was stood upright against a wall of the vault, as had the infants coffin. The bodies themselves remained undisturbed, however, there was nothing stolen, nothing removed. It was put down to a case of vandalism, and once the caskets where returned to their original positions, the vault was again sealed.

The vault remained sealed until 1816, when 11 year old Charles Brewster as to be buried. Upon opening the vault, it was found that the coffins again had been thrown into disarray. Just to reiterate, the vault was sealed by a marble slab that itself would take several people to move. The caskets themselves were said to require six to eight men to maneuver. The state that the caskets where found in was as though they had simply been picked up and tossed about the room.

Again, the vault was put back into order and resealed.

By this time, however, rumours of haunting, black magic and curses were beginning to surface. If animal death makes you uncomfortable, please skip the next 15 seconds or so as there is a brief mention. The accuracy of this claim is not proven, however, so may not have been any more than a story.

A woman claimed that while passing the tomb on horseback, her horse had gone into a frenzy and had thrown her off. It was bucking, wild, and frothing at the mouth. Others in the area reported that their horses had been overtaken by the same wildness – they escaped their stables and fields and ran into a nearby river, where they subsequently drowned.

1816 and 1819 brought the burials of Samuel Brewster and Thomasina Clark. Again, upon opening the vault, the iron and heavy metal caskets were found in disarray. The wooden coffin containing Thomasina Goddard, however, was again left undisturbed.

It was decided that the vault would be examined, to determine how these events could possible occur, let alone occur repeatedly. Was it vandalism or something more? The vault was examined and it was determined that there was no other point of entry besides the descending stairs. A fine white sand was laid across the floor within the vault and it was then sealed with a mortar marked by a signet ring. It was closed and let be for eight months before being checked for signs of tampering. When reopened, there was no sign that the marble seal had been removed, and there wasn’t so much as a single footstep in the fine white sand. The caskets, however, were again, tossed about the room. Thomas Chase’s casket had been pushed up against the entrance, as though in an attempt to block entry, or perhaps in attempt to escape.

Nathan Lucas, a member of the Barbados House of Assembly, and an eye-witness to the disarray, ordered that the coffins would each be removed from the vault and buried separately around the cemetery. There has been no activity since the bodies were separated.

This definitely begs the question, who was Thomasina Goddard? For her coffin, the only one light enough to be affected by flood or lifted by fewer than six men, was always left undisturbed. Was this the makings of a restless spirit, desiring to be left alone in her afterlife? Was it vandals, or, perhaps, was it all a lie?

There has been no explanation given in the 200 years since the haunting details were reported. It is, however, considered by some to simply be no more than a tall-tale. Similar stories of disturbed vaults and graves have been told among the Freemasons, who claimed that the casket of the deceased founder of the Freemasons was often found tossed about in it’s vault. Even if it is simply a tale, you have to wonder why this was the particular family chosen for this rumour, and how so many people claim to have experienced it for themselves.

Surely they can’t all be lying?

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25. The Villisca Axe Murders

June 20, 2019December 4, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 25. The Villisca Axe Murders.

An article in The Day Book, Chicago, 14 June 1912, depicting five of the victims and the house.

Today’s blog is particularly violent and involves the murder of children and a mention of assault against a child. If this is a topic that you are not comfortable with, I advise you skip this post or read with caution. As with all Good Nightmare blogs, I try to keep the gruesome details to a minimum, except where they are necessary to the detailing of a crime.

The Villisca axe murders took place on June 9, 1912, in Iowa.

The Moore family included Josiah and Sarah Moore, parents to Herman Montgomery (11), Mary Katherine (10), Arthur Boyd (7) and Paul Vernon (5). They were an affluent and well-known family, well liked by their community and involved in the local church. The weekend of the murders, the family was hosting guests Ina May (8) and Lena Gertrude Stillinger (12).

Sarah and the children visited the Presbyterian Church the night of the 9th. The children attended the Children’s Day Program which Sarah presided over. The program ended at 9.30pm, and with a short walk home, the family returned to their house by 10pm. There were no reports of any disturbance or unusual behaviour on this night.

The following morning, on June 10 at 7am, neighbour, Mary Peckman, was concerned to see that the usually punctual family had not appeared around the house for their morning chores. Mary approached the home and knocked on the door. When there was no answer, she tried the handle but it was locked. There was nothing she could do at this point to rouse the family from their apparent sleep, so she let out their chickens and called Josiah’s brother, Ross, for assistance.

Noting Mary’s concern, Roy arrived at the house shortly after. He tried knocking and turning the door handle to no avail, so used his spare key to enter the house. What he would find was unfathomable.

Ina and Lena’s bodies were discovered in the guest bedroom in a gruesome scene.

Roy more immediately sent Mary Peckman to call for the town peace officer, Hank Horton.

The search continued upon Hank’s arrival and the rest of the family was discovered. Each family member had been bludgeoned to death with an axe belonging to Josiah himself. The axe had been left in the guest room by the bodies of the two young guests.

Given the family’s recorded arrival at their home around 10pm and their inability to be called forth from the home around 7am, it was determined that the murders took place somewhere between midnight and 5am.

Officers found two smoked cigarettes in the attic, which lead them to believe that whomever had murdered the family and their guests, had waited inside the house for them to arrive home. It was determined that Sarah and Josiah had been killed first, while sleeping. Sarah and the other victims had all been bludgeoned with the blunt side of the axe, whereas Josiah had been attacked with the blade. He was attacked so severely that his eyes were missing, having been destroyed. This lends to the idea that either Josiah was considered enough of a threat to the killer to put a stop to the murders, that he needed to be taken out so to speak, or that this attack was specifically targeted towards the destruction of Josiah and his family, consequently.

The Moore’s children were attacked next, and lastly, the two guests.

All residents of the home were determined to have been asleep at the time of the attacks, except for Lena. Lena had a defensive wound on her arm that suggested she woke up during the attack or may have tried to fight back. Her nightgown was found pushed up and her underwear was missing when her body was found, suggesting an attempted assault.

While there was minimal evidence, there was an abundance of suspects.

Reverend George Kelly, Frank F Jones, William Mansfield, Loving Mitchell, Henry Lee Moore (of no relation) and Andy Sawyer were all investigated as suspects in the murder. I’ll let you decide which suspect you feel most fits the crime, and if you have other theories, please be sure to share them in the Facebook group.

Reverend George Kelly was a travelling minister who was in town at the time of the murders. He was known for being peculiar and mentally unwell and was a suspected peeping Tom. Kelly was in attendance at the church on June 8, as he had come to teach at the Children’s Day Service and so could be connected to the Moore’s in this way. Kelly left town around 5am, June 10, the morning after the Moore murders. Kelly actually confessed to the crime but he was not believed. He showed a remarkable interest in the case and stayed in contact with investigating officers, claiming to have been at least a witness.

In 1914, Kelly was arrested for sending obscene images via mail to a secretary he was had been consistently sexually harassing. He was subsequently sent to St Elizabeth’s Mental Hospital for treatment and detainment. In 1917, Kelly was arrested for the axe murders of the Moore family. He confessed to the crime but recanted shortly thereafter and was acquitted at his second trial.

Frank F Jones was a local resident. He was also a previous employee of Josiah’s and it was rumoured that he had been involved in a sexual affair with one of Moore’s family members. This, combined with bad business experiences between the two led to the rumour that there was bad blood between the pair. The rumours, however, were unfounded.

William Mansfield was a suspected serial killer. Two years after the Villisca axe murders, Mansfield murdered his own wife, infant child and in-laws. He was also a suspect believed to have committed the 1912 Paola, Kansas axe murders. The crime scenes were both accessible by train, and it was suggested that this is how he had moved around to commit various crimes. These axe murders were also said to have been linked to the New Orleans axe murders. Mansfield was released from custody having given a solid alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the murders.

Henry Lee Moore, of no relation to the victims, was also a suspected serial killer. He murdered his own mother and grandmother just months after the Villisca axe murders, and as with Mansfield, was suspected in a slew of axe murders that had taken place around the same time.

Andrew Sawyer was a transient. He traveled from place to place and stopped for work as he went. At 6am, the day the bodies were discovered, Sawyer approached a foreman looking for work. He was wet and muddy, and noted as being very interested in the murders. He would read articles about the murders alone on breaks and would mention them to other workers. Sawyer was said to be anxious about being alone and he would often sleep with an axe. Afraid of being considered a suspect, Sawyer attempted to leave Villisca. Though he seemed to have information about the crime, including how the murderer may have escaped the scene and skipped town, he was released from custody. He had a solid alibi. He’d been arrested for vagrancy the night of the murders and had been sent out of town at about 11pm, about an hour before the murders were said to have taken place.

Cases could be made for any of these suspects, or at least for most of them.

The case remains unsolved to this day.

Bill James and Rachel McCarthy, in their novel, The Man From the Train, look at a series of axe murders that took place over 10 years, including the Villisca axe murders. They conclude that Paul Mueller was the perpetrator of each murder. However the pair admit that they only had about 500 words of information about the man’s skills, appearance and family. Regardless of who you believe is the killer, this novel would be an interesting read if you’re keen for mass consumption of detailed axe murders. I may have to keep an eye out for it myself.

Who do you think the killer is?

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22. The Bell Witch

May 30, 2019December 4, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 22. The Bell Witch

William Porter Attempts to Burn the Witch (Illus. 1894)

If you’re a fan of horror, you’ve definitely heard of or watched The Blair Witch Project. Today’s blog looks at a legend that inspired this and many other films: the case of the Bell Witch. Stay tuned until the end where I’ll also include some interesting trivia about the film.

The Bell Witch Haunting is a notable legend originating in Southern America in the 1800s.

John Bell Sr and his family claimed to have been haunted by a terrifying and very active entity between 1817 and 1821. Note quite a poltergeist, not quite a ghost, this entity could speak, shape shift and affect the environment around it. It was also said to possess super human speed, allowing it to travel long distances in a very short time. An example of which you’ll hear later on in the story.

The first reports of the haunting were from 1817, where John Bell Sr claimed to have witnessed an entity that resembled a large dog. Not an unusual sighting, one would think, except that when Bell attempted to shoot at the dog, it simply disappeared. John wasn’t the only one to witness this disappearing dog. An enslaved servant of the Bell family, Dean, also reported that he had seen this unusual dog on multiple occasions when he would travel to visit his wife. Normally, you wouldn’t find a dog to be much of an odd sighting, so we can only assume that there was something strange or ominous about this particular being. Black dogs, in lore, are said to represent a demonic entity. Often they are said to be shape shifters, in league with the devil, they may be described as ghosts or even hell hounds. Their appearance is often an omen of death.

Bell’s son, Drew, also claimed to have seen an extraordinary and large bird perched on a fence which flew away upon being approached. Birds are generally associated with endurance, freedom, talismans for weary travelers or even messengers to the gods. The opposite end of the spectrum to the black dog.

It seems that the haunting began on the outskirts of the property before moving toward and inside the house, and it certainly wasn’t limited to just one person. The haunting became more intense over time as the entity gained strength and energy.

The Bell family often reported hearing the sounds of fighting dogs, chains being dragged along the floors and knocking on the walls of the home throughout the night. Bed sheets would be pulled away from Bell’s sleeping children and the children themselves would be dragged from their beds. Betsey, Bell’s daughter, was especially targeted by the entity. She would be pinched, scratched and slapped as well as being stuck with pins.

After dealing with these occurrences within the family for some time, John Bell confided in his friend James Johnston. Johnston came to stay in the home, to experience the haunting for himself. Upon spending the night, Johnston exclaimed to Bell that the home was haunted by a spirit, like those of the Bible. It was confirmed that this was indeed an evil and mischievous entity.

The spirit was willing to communicate with the family, giving several reasons for its presence and several stories of its origin. It claimed to be a spirit that had been at rest but that had since been disturbed. The spirit appeared to be clairvoyant, able to glean and report information about families from surrounding homes back to the Bell’s. John Bell doubted the spirits abilities, however, and asked it to tell him something no one outside of his family would know. He asked what his grandmother would say to the slaves when they had done something wrong. Not only did the spirit answer correctly, it responded in the same Dutch accent that Bell’s grandmother had. This solidified his belief.

The Bell Witch, as it came to be known, was capable of great and disturbing feats. It was once reported to have recited two sermons that were taking place simultaneously, 13 miles away and seemed to enjoy religious discussions. This theme of religion being a focus in haunting cases is not uncommon. It shows up again and again in cases of demonic possession and sinister haunting.

One skeptic visited the Bell home but soon changed their mind about what they had thought to be a ruse.

While in the Bell house, the spirit relayed messages of the man’s family, speaking in an English accent. He later heard from said family, who were living in England at the time, that they had been visited by the spirit on the same night, again giving credit to the theory that this spirit could either travel at speed or could be in two places at once.

In an attempt to reason with the spirit, the family once asked what would make it leave. The spirit claimed that if Betsey, John’s daughter, who was heavily affected by the haunting, were to marry a man named Joshua Gardner, the spirit would leave. There were rumours, of course, that Betsey could be the one behind all of this. It was even suggested that she had learned ventriloquism, and was attempting to encourage Joshua to marry her through the will of the spirit. Whether or not this is true, it didn’t work. The two were not to be wed and the spirit died away shortly after this was decided.

If you’re like me, you’ll be finding it hard to believe that this was anything more than a disturbing prank or a kind of shared hysteria among the family. Though I do believe in ghosts, or spirits, a lot of this tale is a little too convenient. Many others are also skeptical and have been throughout the centuries, though often skeptics find themselves at the mercy of the spirit.

A troop of soldiers, for example, had been visiting the cave on the property which is now a popular tourist spot. One of the soldiers sat down to rest on a rock outside the cave, and exclaimed that they did not believe the haunting was real. It was at that moment that he felt phantom arms wrap around his chest and pull him backwards.

To this day, people still visit the area, in hopes of experiencing the haunting for themselves, or perhaps just out of curiosity. The tale of the Bell Witch has inspired five films since 1999 when The Blair Witch Project was aired.

While The Blair Witch Project is similar to the Bell Witch tale, the legend behind the movie was entirely fiction. The cast, however, were not aware of that at the time of filming, they were led to believe that the legend of a haunting and mysterious deaths in the area they were exploring in were real.

A lot of the film’s audience also believed the legend and film to be real. Heather Donahue’s mother actually received sympathy cards from strangers who believed that her daughter had died during filming. Ironically, when taking on the role, Heather had asked the director if he had intended to make a snuff film. If you’re unsure what a snuff film is, it’s a film in which a victims death or murder is actually recorded for entertainment and these films are then sold on the black market or the dark web. There may be room for an episode about these somewhere on Good Nightmare. As a note on what a strange and disturbing experience the filming of this movie was, Heather actually brought a knife to sleep with, to keep herself safe when sharing a tent with the two men in the movie. Honestly, I think I would have done the same.

To make the found footage film more believable, and to add tension, the actors were given less and less food to eat each day over the eight days of filming, making them more irritable and less energetic. They stayed in character even while not filming, only breaking character all together and never alone, using their safe word, taco. The filming and constant anxiety was so intense that Heather claims to have been crying and hyperventilating long after her final scene was complete.

It took me a long time to get around to watching this movie, as when it came out, I was one of those people who believed that it was real, that the actors had gone missing, and that the Blair Witch truly did exist. Though, I also took years to watch The Ring because of that whole “seven days” thing. Call me superstitious but I’m not going to be taken out by a haunted film or a haunted anything.

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21. Oak Grove Jane Doe

May 23, 2019December 4, 2018 Good NightmareLeave a comment

Episode 21. Oak Grove Jane Doe.

Clothes found related to the Oak Grove Jane Doe.

The Wisdom Light Murder is a particularly brutal case that took place in 1946 and that remains unsolved to this day. Please note that this episode involves dismemberment which may be uncomfortable for some listeners.

The victim has never been identified, with only vague identifying features available such as height range, sex, and weight. She has been dubbed Jane Doe, in the absence of a known identity.

Jane Doe was found one piece at a time in the Willamette River, south of Portland, Oregon over several months. The first discovery made was that of her torso, wrapped in burlap on April 12, 1946. Three people had been walking along the bank of the river when they noticed a burlap sack floating just offshore. They investigated the strange sighting, thinking that they may have found a sack of kittens and unraveled the burlap to find the torso of a white woman, along with several items of clothing.

On April 13, Jane Doe’s right thigh and both arms were discovered, almost 10km from her torso, when two fishermen reported their finding. The men noted that they had actually seen the burlap package around 30 days before reporting it, but at first they hadn’t thought it to be anything suspicious. It wasn’t until they read of the discovery of the torso that they reported their finding. They had been wrapped with telephone wire and sash weights from a curtain. The hands and foot had been severed from the limbs and could not be located.

In July the same year, the left thigh was discovered under the Oregon City Bridge, and on July 29 it was reported that bundle’s of women’s clothing had also been discovered in the Clackamas river, leading police to believe that the woman’s body had been dumped in both rivers.

September brought the discovery of “fragments of a human scalp”, and in October, the woman’s severed head was located near where her torso had been found, stumbled upon by a married couple.

The woman’s hands and feet have never been found.

In the initial investigation, Ray Rilance, county coroner, estimated that Jane Doe was in her teens to early twenties, weighing around 50kg. He is quoted as saying the perpertator had done “rather a neat job – at least he knew where the joints were”.

A pathologist from the University of Oregon, Warren Hunter, reported that the torso looked to belong to a woman of around 50, differing majorly from the initial findings. He believed that the woman was petite, with light brown hair. There were burn marks on the lower portion of the torso that also led him to believe that the woman had been tortured before her death.

Upon discovery of the woman’s skull, it was determined that cause of death was likely blunt force trauma. The woman was dismembered post-mortem. While there were investigations into who the victim may have been, which involved looking into missing persons cases, ultimately no identification was made.

As for suspects:

On April 14, 1946, after the discovery of the torso, a man called in from Milwaukee to claim that he knew the woman’s identity and the location at which she had been dismembered. Police ultimately ruled this to be a false call.

In July, 1951, the FBI interviewed Roy Moore, convicted murderer, who recounted in detail the murder and dismemberment of a woman who he claims he disposed of in the Molalla River but did not give any information linking him to the Oak Grove Jane Doe.

As with any case with no new leads, and little evidence, the trail went cold.

In 2004, the case was reopened by the Clackamas County Police Department, however in an interview in 2017, the Portland Police Bureau confirmed that evidence pertaining to the case had been lost. Evidence including the woman’s jaw bone, clothing, dentures and other remains. It’s believed that this evidence was lost some time in the 1950s.

John Krummenacker, who was investigating the cold case in 2017, is quoted: “The end result is this – there’s a middle aged woman that was brutally murdered with a blunt force trauma blow to her head. Then [she] was sawn up, cut up, dismembered and thrown into the river like a piece of garbage”. There have been no new leads and it is likely the case will never be solved due to the loss of witnesses, evidence and documentation.

It’s difficult to believe that a police department could lose such vital evidence for such a brutal case, though as with Bella and the Wych Elm, we know that this is not necessarily uncommon. There have been cases in the past of missing skulls, missing organs, often in cases that remain unsolved. I’m sure the conspiracy theorist in all of us pricks it’s ears whenever it hears something like this, especially when the evidence missing is so crucial or the actually body, or parts, of a victim.

As for the possible identity of the victim, as mentioned, several missing persons cases were investigated for possible leads, though none seem to have come to fruition.

In 1946, a notice was posted in the Altoona Mirror, looking for a Mrs. Marle N. Nastos, who had been missing since August 24, 1945. The notice describes her as follows:

Aged 47… 5 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds with brown eyes and hair.

A description that matched that of the Oak Grove Jane Doe, though I couldn’t find details as to why, it appears that Nastos was ruled out as a match.

Crime writers JD Chandler and Joshua Fisher theorise that the murdered woman was Anna Schrader. Schrader had allegedly had an affair with a man named William Breunning, a married police lieutenant. During a heated argument in 1929, a gun was fired and Breunning broke several of Schrader’s ribs following, when he tackled her.

Schrader had allegedly told friends in the weeks leading up to the discovery of the body, that she had been planning to move to Minnesota. Around the time the body was discovered, there was a notice in The Oregonian seeking Anna Schader, who was then considered missing. As of 2017, no public records of Anna’s life or death are known. Jane Doe’s physical description is said to have matched that of Anna Schrader.

While Anna Shrader seems like a match for this unidentified woman, there were plenty of other missing woman who matched the description of Jane Doe at this time. It’s impossible to determine whether this theory holds water, especially given there is little to no remaining evidence for the case.

The first tragedy occurred at the time of the murder.

The second, at the callous dismemberment and disposal of the body.

The third, at the loss of the evidence.

And the final tragedy, is that the life and identity of this woman remains unknown, she will never be put to rest and her murderer will never be brought to justice.

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