Shortly before Christmas 1946, 35-year-old Bessie Moore trip to bake cookies with a friend ended in tragedy. The events of that December day still echo 75-years later. Sources Conduct Search for Slayer Here. La Crosse Tribune, 12/18/1946, p.1 Love Theory Enters Murder of Waitress in La Crosse. The Journal Times, 12/19/1946 Still Seeking […]
Episode 61: Does Bessie Moore Haunt Wepp’s Tavern After Her Murder? Read More »
Bessie smiled to herself as she carefully wrapped her cookie dough in a large piece of wax paper. The paper made a thick crinkling sound as she manipulated it around, taking care to preserve the star shapes that she had already cut out. The afternoon light filtered through the windows of her small apartment, washing
Does Bessie Moore Haunt Wepp’s Tavern After Her Murder? Read More »
Mary Schlais was murdered on a cold February morning in 1974, just as a man named Randy was making his way to Wisconsin. Was this soft-spoken monster responsible for her death? Olson, Aaron. DNA Analysis could solve cold case mystery. The Chippewa Herald, 2/4/2009 (updated 2/4/2011) Collin, Liz. Could a Serial Killer And Former
Episode 59: ‘Call Me Randy:’ The Soft-Spoken Killer Read More »
When the residents of Dunn County, Wisconsin woke up on the morning of February 15, 1974, none of them expected to hear about a murder in their area, but they did. About mid-morning, police were notified that a body had been found in a ditch along a dead-end road. When they arrived, authorities found
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Mary Schlais was a beautiful young artist with her entire life ahead of her. A veteran hitchhiker, one bad ride in 1974 changed her life forever. Sources Stromberg, Joseph. The forgotten art of hitchhiking – and why it disappeared. http://www.vox.com, Jun 10, 2015 Ganzel, Bill. Wessels Living History Farm. http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org, 2003
Episode 58: One Bad Ride: The Murder of Mary Schlais Read More »
The young woman walked slowly along the shoulder of the road, loose gravel crunching under her feet. Her oversized green jacket, a gift from her brother last Christmas, was a little warm for the weather. She tried not to let it bother her, but as the day got more humid, it became harder and harder
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In 1927, William Coffey was a middle-aged newlywed on top of the world. His wife’s family began to suspect that something wasn’t quite right with him when they hadn’t heard from her. While they thought he was a con man, they had no idea about the frozen secrets he was keeping. Sources
Episode 35: Frozen Secrets Read More »
January is a cold month in the Midwest, especially in Wisconsin. The temperatures routinely hover around the freezing point, and often dip much further below that for days on end. Snow often falls thick, covering the landscape in an unending blanket of white. Still, people adapt. While they inevitably complain about the weather, they acclimate
The desecration of human remains and burial sites are regarded as taboo by our society. Regardless, it still happens, and more often than you think. What kind of person would commit such acts? Come and see. Sources ‘Man Held; Graveyard Vandalism.’ Quad City Times, 6/24/1977 ‘Grave Robbers Hit Davenport Crypt.’ Quad City Times, 4/25/1997
Episode 29: Defiling the Dead Read More »
In 2002, a friend of mine and I took a trip to Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, about twenty miles outside of Chicago. An enormous Catholic cemetery, it had one major draw for us at that time: gangster graves. Although it might seem a bit strange to some, grave tourism is a popular pastime
