Alright gang, buckle up—because this case gets weird.

In January 1897, a young bride named Zona Heaster Shue was found dead in her rural West Virginia home. The local doctor took one look and said "heart trouble." Her husband Erasmus—who went by "Trout," which should've been everyone's first red flag—played the grieving widower perfectly. Case closed, right?

Not so fast.

Zona's mother, Mary Jane Heaster, wasn't buying it. Something about her new son-in-law just didn't sit right. So she did what any determined mother would do: she prayed for answers. For four straight weeks. And then, according to her actual sworn testimony in an actual courtroom, her daughter's ghost showed up. Four nights in a row. With receipts.

The spirit allegedly revealed that Trout had flown into a rage because dinner didn't include meat—and snapped her neck over it.

Now here's where it gets really interesting. Mary Jane took these ghostly details to prosecutor John Alfred Preston, and somehow convinced him to dig deeper. Literally. When they exhumed Zona's body, the autopsy found exactly what the ghost described: broken neck, crushed windpipe, finger marks on the throat.

Trout Shue was arrested, and what followed was one of the most bizarre trials in American legal history—the only known murder case where spectral testimony helped secure a conviction.

Jinkies.

Sources & Further Reading:

West Virginia Encyclopedia - Greenbrier Ghost

Greenbrier County Tourism - The Greenbrier Ghost

Historical Marker Database - Greenbrier Ghost

The Case of the Vanishing Paralyzed Dude

Like, this one's gonna give you the creeps—and there's not even a guy in a rubber mask at the end!

Picture it: June 1763, a spooky little English town called Shepton Mallet. There's this old timer named Owen Parfitt just chillin' in a chair outside his sister's cottage. And here's the thing—the dude couldn't walk. Like, at all. Hadn't moved those legs in years!

Farm workers were right there in the field, practically close enough to wave. Travelers on the road. Witnesses everywhere!

His sister Mary goes upstairs to change some sheets. Fifteen minutes, tops.

She comes back down and—the chair's still there. His coat's still there. But Owen?

Poof. Gone, baby, gone.

No footprints. No screaming. No nothing!

The whole town searched through a gnarly thunderstorm—woods, ditches, ponds, wells. Everywhere.

They found absolutely zilch.

Now here's where it gets really weird. Mary—his own sister—went to her grave saying Owen got "carried off by the Devil." And the neighbors agreed! See, rumor had it old Owen spent his wild years as a soldier, sailor, pirate, and maybe even dabbled in black magic down in the West Indies.

Fifty years later, some lawyer tried to crack the case. Interviewed witnesses. Nobody could get their stories straight, and the last person to see Owen alive gave super suspicious testimony.

Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle called it "one of the most piquant mysteries" in British history.

So what happened? Murder? Kidnapping? Actual demons?

Like... we may never know, man.

📬 Send us a postcard!

The Haunted Bunker

PO Box 690

Wabash, IN 46992

We'd love to hear your thoughts on Owen Parfitt's vanishing—or share your own mysterious encounter with The Bunker.

In the Bay of Bengal lies an island where no outsider has ever returned alive after setting foot on its forbidden shores...

North Sentinel Island may be only the size of Manhattan, but it holds one of the world's most enduring mysteries. For thousands of years, the Sentinelese tribe has lived in complete isolation, untouched by modern civilization, hostile to any contact, and protected by Indian law that makes approaching the island a criminal offense. Their language remains unknown. Their customs are a mystery. And their response to outsiders? Deadly.

The island's dark history includes the 1800s kidnapping of tribal members by British colonizers—an act that may have sparked generations of hostility. In 2006, two fishermen who accidentally drifted too close were killed and buried on the beach. And in November 2018, American missionary John Allen Chau made three attempts to reach the tribe he believed occupied "Satan's last stronghold on Earth." His first approach was met with drawn bows. His second visit saw an arrow pierce his waterproof Bible. On his third and final visit, he was killed—his body dragged across the sand and buried where it remains to this day.

What We Explore:

• The haunting 1800s encounter that may have triggered the tribe's violent isolation
• Why the Sentinelese use metal arrowheads despite living a Stone Age existence
• The 2018 missionary incident and the diary entries Chau left behind
• India's "hands off, eyes on" policy and why the island remains forbidden
• The ethical debate: Should uncontacted peoples be left alone forever?
• Shane and Josh's believer/skeptic takes on respecting indigenous isolation

Sources & Further Reading:

• Wikipedia: North Sentinel Island — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sentinel_Island
• Wikipedia: John Allen Chau — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Allen_Chau
• National Geographic Documentary: "The Mission" (2023) — https://films.nationalgeographic.com/the-mission
• Outside Magazine: "The Last Days of John Allen Chau" — https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/john-allen-chau-life-death-north-sentinel/

Mail us a Postcard!

The Bunker, PO Box 690, Wabash, IN 46992