エピソード

  • The Ledger on the Shingle: How Harrowgate's Admissions Hid Murder

    The Ledger on the Shingle: How Harrowgate's Admissions Hid Murder
    2026/09/10
    The Ledger on the Shingle: How Harrowgate's Admissions Hid Murder

    A leather-bound patient admissions ledger washed up intact on Caldwell Bluff on November 14, 1911 - eighteen inches above the waterline, with HARROWGATE SANATORIUM stamped on the cover. Its final sixteen pages had been torn out; the last complete entry names Lori Perry on October 2, 1911. Who removed those pages, and why was a hospital registry left on a shingle?

    In this episode, we follow Sharon Griffin’s morning discovery, Donna Jensen’s arrival by the eleven o’clock rail, and the trail from a clean gap on the sanatorium records shelf to a burlap-wrapped set of blackened electrode leads in the coal bin. What the missing ledger pages hid about Lori Perry’s death and Dr. Scott Carlson’s sudden resignation drives the questions we try to answer.

    Person: Sharon Griffin
    Person: Donna Jensen
    Person: Lori Perry
    Date: November 14, 1911
    Location: Caldwell Bluff, Heron’s Mouth

    - Sharon Griffin found the HARROWGATE SANATORIUM admissions ledger at 7:14 a.m, on November 14, 1911, eighteen inches above the retreating waterline.
    - The ledger’s cover read HARROWGATE SANATORIUM - PATIENT ADMISSIONS 1910 to 1911 and the final complete entry was dated October 2, 1911.
    - Lori Perry arrived at Harrowgate in late September 1911 and began an unsent letter to her sister on September 28, 1911, saying she was frightened and did not know how to leave.
    - Lori Perry died on November 1, 1911; the facility superintendent Dr. William Foss recorded the cause as cardiac arrest.
    - Dr. Scott Carlson resigned two days after Perry’s death, gave a Connecticut address that did not exist, and had written both Perry’s admissions form and intimate correspondence with her.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • The Syringe in Her Shoe: Murder Hidden as Heatstroke

    The Syringe in Her Shoe: Murder Hidden as Heatstroke
    2026/09/09
    The Syringe in Her Shoe: Murder Hidden as Heatstroke

    Clicking through a camp ledger and a misrouted telegram, this episode confronts a loaded glass syringe found standing upright inside Heather Dixon’s shoe on October 4, 1936 - yet her death certificate, signed that morning, recorded hyperthermia even though overnight temperatures fell to 51°F. How did a single crossed-out notation and a deputy’s assumption nearly erase the one object that could have changed everything?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events and documents that surround Heather Dixon’s death and the delayed inquiry that followed, tracing volunteers’ schedules, supply logs, and a late-arriving investigator’s records to ask whether procedure or cover-up shaped the official verdict.

    Person: Heather Dixon
    Date: October 4, 1936
    Location: Kern County labor camp
    Age: 28
    Investigator: Eric Keller, age 34

    - A fourteen-year-old delivery boy found Heather Dixon on the morning of October 4, 1936.
    - The death certificate signed before noon listed cause of death as acute hyperthermia despite overnight temperature dropping to 51°F.
    - A loaded glass syringe was found standing upright inside one of her shoes on the cot.
    - Heather volunteered at the camp’s first-aid tent every Wednesday for fourteen months without missing a shift.
    - The first-aid supply log showed a ten-cubic-centimeter glass syringe and one sealed vial checked out on the evening of October 1 under nurse Doris Claypool’s authorization code.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    23 分
  • The Cameo on the Wrist: How a Ledger Named a Killer

    The Cameo on the Wrist: How a Ledger Named a Killer
    2026/09/08
    The Cameo on the Wrist: How a Ledger Named a Killer

    A severed left hand, pinned with a rust-free cameo brooch, was found two miles east of Odell Crossing - and no body, no name, no missing persons report. Who fastened that brooch and why did a single ledger entry point to a killer three years after a woman had last been seen alive?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery at the embankment, the missing woman whose meticulous ledgers flagged a discrepancy, and the station log that revealed a single unexplained absence - could a few words in a book and one three-hour gap solve a murder?

    Person: Jessica Kowalski
    Age: 54
    Date of last ledger entry: July 21, 1893
    Location found: two miles east of Odell Crossing
    Discrepancy amount: $14

    - The severed left hand was found pinned at the wrist with a shell cameo brooch, the pin clean and rust-free.
    - Jessica Kowalski wrote “Discrepancy - F.N, - to resolve.” in her ledger on July 21, 1893.
    - Kowalski wrote to her son Martin on July 28, 1893 mentioning a client discrepancy but naming no client.
    - Frank Novak, Odell Crossing day shift operator, had an otherwise uninterrupted four-year shift log except for August 3, 1893 from 11:30 a.m, to 3:15 p.m.
    - The flagged ledger line tied Kowalski directly to the telegraph station at Odell Crossing, one of her four clients.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    18 分
  • The Desert Rose Key: Why a Stranger's Number Seven Cost a Life

    The Desert Rose Key: Why a Stranger's Number Seven Cost a Life
    2026/09/07
    The Desert Rose Key: Why a Stranger's Number Seven Cost a Life

    A brass key stamped with the number seven and an orange diamond-shaped fob was found wedged between the driver's seat and the transmission hump of a dusty 1949 Ford on a dry Nevada lakebed - the car of a 22-year-old man who had never been to Mira Linda. Records showed the car's fuel gauge read empty despite a tank that should have carried it at least 300 miles, and a motel register later confirmed a Room 7 entry under "D. Edwards"; how did that key and that room connect to a dead man in a trunk?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries and documents that link a single key to an unaccounted detour and a short, fatal journey. You will hear how a records clerk's arithmetic and a motel proprietor's reply opened a new line of inquiry: did Duane Edwards stop at the Desert Rose Motor Court on August 9, 1953, and who else might have been involved?

    Person: Duane Edwards
    Date: August 9-11, 1953
    Location: Painted Rock County dry lakebed, Nevada
    Age: 22
    Vehicle: 1949 Ford sedan (green)

    - The brass key was stamped with the number 7 and attached to a diamond-shaped orange fob labeled DESERT ROSE MOTOR COURT, MIRA LINDA, NV.
    - Duane Edwards left Provo, Utah on the morning of August 9, 1953, headed toward Barstow, California.
    - The Ford was found on August 11, 1953, with Edwards' body in the trunk and the body estimated to have been there approximately 48 hours.
    - The car's fuel gauge read empty though a 1949 Ford sedan typically carried enough fuel for roughly 300 miles; the lakebed was approximately 290 miles from Provo.
    - Motel proprietor Agnes Tully replied within four days confirming Room 7 had been rented on the evening of August 9, 1953, with the register entry reading "D. Edwards."

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    22 分
  • blunt instrument used to render Philip unconscious (per confession)

    blunt instrument used to render Philip unconscious (per confession)
    2026/09/06
    blunt instrument used to render Philip unconscious (per confession)

    The idea that a single boot print in spilled flour could overturn an official suicide ruling is chilling: a glass plate photographed two days after Philip Rice's body was removed shows a clean boot print pointing toward the open door, and it would take eighteen years for that smudge to be fully explained. Who left that print, why was a forged payoff letter sent on Crossing letterhead, and how did routine trust hide calculated theft and possibly murder?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events around Philip Rice's death in July 1913 and the documentary evidence that complicated the coroner's quick ruling. You will hear how a traveling photographer's eight-by-ten plate, a forged letter, and missing payments converge to ask whether Rice died alone or at someone else's hands.

    Person: Philip Rice
    Date: July 8-9, 1913
    Location: grain elevator near Pottridge Crossing, Nebraska
    Event: photograph plate showing boot print in spilled flour
    Person: Edward Underwood

    - Philip Rice was 38 years old and farmed a quarter-section with twelve hens.
    - Philip received a forged letter on July 5, 1913, claiming his loan was fully paid.
    - Kenneth Long found Philip suspended in the elevator just before 6:00 AM on July 9, 1913.
    - Coroner Herbert Quill ruled the death apparent self-suspension and released the body the same afternoon.
    - Photographer Arthur Deane made an eight-by-ten glass negative two days later that shows a single boot print in the lower left quadrant pointing toward the door.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    22 分
  • preserved in county evidence archive. Remains there

    preserved in county evidence archive. Remains there
    2026/09/05
    preserved in county evidence archive. Remains there

    Curiosity and dread meet in a county ledger wrapped in oilcloth and tucked behind a gas meter after three days of June rain-bone-dry despite the mud, tied with a butcher's knot, and marked with a single mysterious letter. Who wrapped a stolen government ledger to keep it safe, why was it hidden behind a dead man's meter box, and how does that ledger connect to a locked office murder?

    In this episode, we follow the chain of discoveries from the man who found the ledger to the deputy who catalogued its return and the retired teacher who matched the handwriting, tracing what the ledger’s entries reveal and why a single bent window hook becomes crucial to the case. Will the annotated H in a stolen evidence ledger point to an inside hand-and to a murderer?

    Person: Jeffrey Petersen
    Date: June 14, 1927 (ledger found) / estimated death since approximately June 7, 1927
    Location: Dunmore Falls, Harlan County (feed supply office; gas meter behind Petersen property)
    Case: Stolen Harlan County enforcement ledger (reported stolen July 1926) and Petersen homicide
    Person: Deputy Sheriff Lisa Stroud
    Person: Holly Sheridan

    - The ledger was wrapped in oilcloth and tied with butcher's twine and found behind a gas meter after three days of rain.
    - Jeffrey Petersen, age 62, was found dead in his locked feed supply office from a single blow to the base of his skull.
    - The ledger was a register of Harlan County enforcement accounts for 1926 that had been reported stolen from the department evidence room in July 1926.
    - The name "Tolliver Back" appears eleven times in the ledger with payments between $40 and $60 a month split across two installments.
    - Handwriting analysis by retired teacher Agnes Polk on June 26 matched the annotated "H" entries to Holly Sheridan, the 31-year-old department bookkeeper.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • The Smoldering Lamp and the Ash Box: How Janet Was Trapped

    The Smoldering Lamp and the Ash Box: How Janet Was Trapped
    2026/09/04
    The Smoldering Lamp and the Ash Box: How Janet Was Trapped

    Fear tightens: a nearly consumed oil lamp burned all night in a kitchen where lamps were forbidden, a pair of women's gloves and an open correspondence case sat beside it, and a single brass collar stud pressed flat against the table would lead investigators to a man who once charged six matching studs on credit. How did a woman who kept meticulous routines end up strangled in a dry creek bed 1.5 miles away, and what did the ash tell them that the lamp first could not?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from a smoldering lamp on May 9, 1905 to the discovery of Janet Marshall's body on May 11, 1905. We trace the tangible clues - the lamp, gloves, correspondence case, and the stamped collar stud - and consider the unanswered question that connects them.

    Person: Janet Marshall
    Date: May 11, 1905 (body found); May 9, 1905 (lamp found)
    Location: Pelham Boarding House kitchen on Garfield Terrace; body at Horner's Run, 1.5 miles northeast
    Occupation: Copyist at the Calloway Land and Abstract Office
    Suspect: Stanley Sawyer

    - Janet Marshall was 26 years old and had lived in Calloway for fourteen months, earning $7 a week and paying $4 in rent.
    - The Pelham boardinghouse kitchen was locked at 9 PM every night; Agnes Pelham reported no memory of the night before the lamp was found.
    - Roy Morris discovered the nearly extinguished oil lamp, a pair of women's gloves, and an open correspondence case on the worktable at 6:30 AM on May 9, 1905.
    - Dr. Albert Pruett estimated Janet's death occurred the night of May 8, 1905, from strangulation, and her body was found in a dry creek bed (Horner's Run) about 1.5 miles from the Pelham house.
    - Dunbar's haberdashery ledger showed Stanley Sawyer charged six matching collar studs in February 1905; one stud from that set was missing when investigated.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • The Upright Shoe: Why Heather McCarthy Didn't Fall Naturally

    The Upright Shoe: Why Heather McCarthy Didn't Fall Naturally
    2026/09/03
    The Upright Shoe: Why Heather McCarthy Didn't Fall Naturally

    A single shoe standing upright in mud - lace tied, size six-and-a-half brown oxford - contradicted the official story that Heather McCarthy was struck by a vehicle. A county records clerk wrote four words that unraveled a different timeline: shoe did not fall off. How did Heather end up three feet inside a culvert, her right shoe still on, when she was last seen walking home along Fenwick Road at 9:15 p.m.?

    In this episode, we lay out the facts found in reports and witness statements: Heather’s daily routines, her formal complaint at Kellard Precision Works, the shoe discovery at Drover Falls, and the truck log that didn’t fit the first theory. What sequence of events can explain the upright shoe and Heather’s coat smeared with ridge-specific red clay?

    Person: Heather McCarthy
    Date: April 9, 1943 (body found)
    Location: mouth of a drainage culvert on Pellham Ridge / three and a half miles from Fenwick Road
    Age: 48
    Case: missing person turned death initially attributed to vehicle strike

    - Shoe: left shoe standing upright in mud, lace tied, size six-and-a-half brown oxford
    - Body position: found on her back three feet inside the culvert with right shoe still on
    - Prior complaint: Heather filed a written complaint in February 1943 alleging Dean Weaver altered a safety report
    - Last seen: visible at Fenwick and Ash around 6:40 a.m. for eleven years; last person to see her alive was Loretta Marsh at ~9:15 p.m. April 7
    - Truck log: Dean Weaver signed out company pickup #7 at 9:45 p.m. April 7 and returned at 1:18 a.m. April 8 (3 hours 33 minutes logged; normal errand time ~40 minutes)

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分