Villisca is a sleepy town in southwest Iowa. While there’s not much there now, it’s still full of the reminders of a much more prosperous and prestigious past. There are many beautiful and well-kept Victorian and Queen Anne houses, and the town square, the heart of the town, is comprised of turn of the century …
When you wander around the dark by yourself for hours at a time, sooner or later you start to wonder what might be out there in the dark with you. During my senior year at Iowa State University, I worked as a campus security officer. While I was keeping an eye out for people doing …
In this short story that your grandma didn’t want you to hear, a campus security officer has a brush with the supernatural at a midwestern university. What happened to them on that long ago night?
In 1947, a woman’s mutilated body was found on Credit Island, near Davenport, Iowa. Little did investigators know, the case was going to be one of the most brutal crimes in the history of the region. Sources “Margaret Beatrice Treese” – Iowa Cold Cases – Margaret Treese “The Tattooed Lady: …
Episode 71: The Body on the Island: The Final Days of Margaret Treese Read More »
George Whitbeck pointed to the patch of grass where he had found the body that morning. The photographer for one of the local papers had asked him to pose for a picture, indicating the place where it had been. He did his best, standing still, feet together, pointing. When he had driven onto Credit Island …
The Body on the Island: The Final Days of Margaret Treese Read More »
Courthouses were a big boost for the economies of frontier towns, and they were willing to do nearly anything to get them. When a long-running courthouse feud started again in Clinton County, Iowa, in the mid-1800’s, a group of local citizens decided to not take these insults lying down.
Courthouses are, without a doubt, iconic structures within our civilized societies. However, many people would probably be shocked to discover the lengths – both legal and illegal – that pioneers would go to in order to get one To many people, courthouses represent justice. They promise us law and order, that we will be judged …
The Missing Bell – The Clinton County, Iowa Courthouse War Read More »
John David owed Arvid Helloian a debt. Arvid was content to wait to be paid back, until a family crisis back in Armenia forced him to ask for immediate repayment. When John David refused, Helloian snapped, leading to one of the most shocking crimes of 1921.
It was cold that early February morning as the men set out for work. Many of them were originally from Armenia, a small county in Eastern Europe. Like so many had before them, these men were either running from something bad in the old county, looking to capture a piece of the prosperity and …
When Olive Funk was killed, nearly everyone saw it happen. While shocking, it would reveal a series of tangled secrets and lies buried beneath the idyllic façade of a small Iowa town.
