On a sunny May morning in 1947, a doctor from San Antonio ambushed Willard York and his family near New Braunfels, Texas. The doctor's plan to kill the entire family failed when 13-year-old Ann York escaped. Investigators found that both the shooter and Mr. York faced financial troubles, raising questions about whether the attack stemmed from revenge or a mental breakdown, as the doctor claimed he could not remember the incident.

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Episode Sources

• Fort Worth Star-Telegram: San Antonio Broker’s Hearing Here April 17, April 11, 1947
• Shamokin News-Dispatch: Girl Identifies Texas Physician as Slayer of Four, May 25,1947
• Valley Morning Star: Arraignment of Dr. Ross In Killing of W. York Postponed. May 27, 1947
• Corpus Christi Caller-Times: SEC Drops Action Against Broker Willard H. York, June 24, 1947
• The Tribune: Venue Change Given in York Murder Trial, September 13, 1947
• Corsicana Daily Sun: Girl Survivor of Shooting Says Dr. Ross Slayer of 4, October 16, 1947
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram: State Rests Its Case at Ross Trial, October 17, 1947
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Ross ‘Scared’ Her, Patient Tells Court, October 18, 1947
• The Tyler Courier-Times: Ross’ Claim Money Taken is Revealed, Oct 19, 1947
• Corsicana Semi-Weekly Light: Other Doctors Tell Jury Ross “Insane” on Shooting Date, Oct 21, 1947
• Lubbock Morning Avalanche: Ross is Given Death Penalty for Slaying, October 24, 1947
• The Salem News: Rule Doctor in Murder is Insane, June 17, 1949
• The Brownsville Herald: Court Affirms Damages to York Family, June 19, 1950
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Doctor Denied Writ of Error, October 5, 1950
• Lubbock Morning Avalanche: Board Allows Death Sentence to Stand for Dr. Lloyd Ross, August 7, 1957
• Case Text: Ross v. York, 233 S.W.2d 347 (Tex. Civ. App. 1950)
• Daily News: JUSTICE STORY: Betrayal at the hands of Dr. Death, March 21, 2020
• History.com: SEC: Securities and Exchange Commission
• FindAGrave.com: Dr. Lloyd I. Ross
• FindAGrave.com: Gertrude Ann York

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

One of the strangest cases in all their years of police work. Those were the words of seasoned detectives in Louisville, Kentucky, who worked on the Torture House case. A century ago, this case made national headlines when Richard Heaton was murdered by William Gates, who had been kidnapped and held in a home on 34th Street in Louisville.

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Episode Sources

• New York Times: Shackled to Bed, Man Gets Free Kills Captor, March 9, 1924
• New York Times: Slayer of Heaton Cleare; Coroner's Jury Finds Killing Justifiable to Escape Mutilation, March 15,1924
• Paducah News-Democrat: Gates freed of murder charge, March 16, 1924
• Florence Morning News: Gates admit visit with Heaton to Lake City, March 16,1924
• The Winchester Sun: Gates arrested after freedom on new warrant, March 17, 1924
• The Owensboro Messenger: Gates is held on fugitive charge, March 18, 1924
• The Frankfort State Journal: Gates Tells of Trips to Texas and South, April 9, 1924
• The Louisiana Herald: Lake City Expecting William Gates, April 24, 1924
• The Lousiville Courier-Journal: Gates Bares Torture Plot Details; Hidden Pistol Saved Victim From Heaton;, March 10, 1924
• The Louisville Courier-Journal: Frank Cordell on Trial, April 9, 1924
• Historical Crime Detective: The Torture House 1924
• FindAGrave.com: Richard Hartwell Heaton
• FindAGrave.com: Mary Leahy Wiesen Heaton

Episode Music Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

Over 80 years ago, a coal mining town in Tennessee was rocked by the murders of two wealthy sisters and their 16-year-old houseworker. Who had the motive to kill the sisters, and why would someone harm the teenager who worked for them? In 2001, a former police chief claimed to have solved the case and named several suspects, but it remains shrouded in mystery.

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Episode Sources

• The Commercial Appeal: Mystery Surrounds Tennessee Murders, Feb 6, 1940
• Knoxville Sentinel-Times: Hint Murder Tale Not Yet Told, Feb 7, 1940
• Knoxville Sentinel-Times: Oliver Springs Divided Over Theories of Sisters’ Slayings, Feb 8, 1940
• The Knoxville Journal: Sheriff Offers Slaying Case Reward, Feb 8, 1940
• The Knoxville Journal: Jurors reject Murder-Suicide Theory, Feb 14, 1940
• The Knoxville Journal: Slain Sisters Cousin was Mysteriously Killed, Feb 18, 1940
• Oliver Springs Historical Society: Historical Timeline of Oliver Springs
• Oliver Springs Historical Society Newsletter: The Richards Sisters Murders
• The Tennessean: Clearing of suspect deepens 60 year old mystery, January 27, 2001
• Seattle PI: The cousin did it, investigator says, November 15, 2001
• WBIR 10 News: Appalachian Unsolved: Murder in the mansion, May 22, 2023

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

On Christmas Day in 1929, the community of Germanton, North Carolina, was forever changed by the tragic murders of seven members of the Lawson family. One fact remains indisputable: Charlie Lawson was responsible for the deaths of his family. However, the question that has lingered for nearly a century is: why did he commit such a heinous act?

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Episode Sources

• Greensboro Daily News: Stokes Farmer Murders Family, Dec 26, 1929
• Greensboro Daily News: Victims to be Buried in Single Grave, Dec 27, 1929
• Statesville Record and Landmark: Only One Member of Family of 9 Left, Dec 30, 1929
• The Sentinel: No Report on Brain of Charlie Lawson, Jan 7, 1930
• Statesville Record: Commercializing the Lawson Home, Feb 3, 1930
• PlanetSlade: So hard to die: Murder of the Lawson Family
• Murderpedia: Charles Davis Lawson
• CLEWS: Christmas Murders and the Lawson Family Massacre, December 2006
• M. Bruce Jones with Trudy Smith: White Christmas, Bloody Christmas, 1990.
• Trudy Smith: The Meaning of Our Tears

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

On a sweltering day in August 1925, Mary Vickery vanished from Coxton, Kentucky. Several months later, her remains were found in an abandoned mine located just outside the town. A local taxi driver was apprehended, tried, and sentenced to life in prison for the teenager's murder. In the spring of 1927, a young woman appeared in Harlan County with information that could clear his name.

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Episode Sources

• The Lexington Herald: Coxton Child Still Missing, August 30, 1925
• The Harlan Daily Enterprise: Vickery Girl Still Missing, September 18, 1925
• The Harlan Daily Enterprise: Dabney Caught: Now in Jail, March 5, 1926
• The Harlan Daily Enterprise: Dabney Given Life for Slaying of Vickery Girl, April 2, 1926
• The Atlanta Constitution: When Justice Triumphed, September 4, 1932.
• Kidnapping, Murder and Mayhem: “She Rose from the Dead”, September 10, 2020.
• The Messenger: Marie Jackson fails to know Mary Vickery, March 22, 1927
• The Park City Daily News: A Woman Scorned, March 22, 1927
• The Lexington Herald: Senate Bill Asks $5,000 to Repay Harlan Man for Erroneous Imprisonment, February 15, 1928
• The Voice: An Act of Revenge, August 17, 1935
• National Register of Exonerations: Condy Dabney
• Edwin Borchard: Convicting the Innocent: Errors of Criminal Justice (1932)
• FindaGrave: Condy Ulysses Dabney, 1895-1966

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

Anna Hauptrief was the first known female serial killer in Texas. Her 1924 case was known as one of the most sensational and unexplainable in Texas court history.

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Episode Sources

• The Houston Post: Suspect Mother of Poisoning Five. July 24, 1924.
• The Houston Post: Bodies Taken From Graves. July 31, 1924.
• Belleville Daily Advocate: Woman Held for Death of Five Persons. September 9, 1924.
• The Houston Post: Hauptreif, Although Crippled, By Wife’s Poison, Loves Her. October 14, 1924.
• The Austin American: Anna Hauptreif Hangs Herself in Jail. November 1, 1924
• The Waco News: Mrs. Hauptreif’s Burial Place is Changed By Her Father’s Demand. November 3, 1924.
• The Austin American: Hauptreif Goes to Grave. November 3, 1924.
• Unknown Gender History: Annie Hauptreif, Texas Black Widow Serial Killer – August 11, 2011.
• FindAGrave.com: William Louis Hauptreif
• San Marcos Daily Record: A San Marcos Serial Killer. October 31, 2019.

Episode Music

• Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

The Koreshan State Historic Site in Estero, Florida is one of the most peculiar historic sites in the American South. This state park showcases the life of Dr. Cyrus Teed, the founder of Koreshanity. Those who joined this religious and scientific movement sought immortality through celibacy and believed the entire universe existed within a giant, hollow sphere. The Koreshan Unity has been dubbed “one of the most bizarre” communal utopian societies organized in the 19th century. They were forced to relocate several times until they found a permanent home in the swamplands of southwest Florida.

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• The Allure of Immortality: An American Cult, a Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet by Lyn Millner
• Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage by Jeff Guinn

Episode Sources

• WGCU Gulf Coast Life: The connection between Cyrus Teed and the Koreshans and David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. March 14, 2023.
• The Koreshnans: Archives of former holdings of the Koreshan State Historic Site.
• Florida State Parks: Koreshan State Historic Site
• World Religious and Spirituality Project: Koreshans by Lyn Millner
• WGCU: Florida History: Koreshan Unity: A Quest for Utopia | Untold Stories | Florida History
• US Department of the Interior: Preserving America’s Utopian Dream, 2001. “Dr. Cyrus Teed and the Koreshan Unity Movement” by Catherine Anthony Ohnemus.
• Florida Rambler: Koreshan State Park is Florida’s strangest historic site. August 3, 2024.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In May 1904, the residents of Yazoo City, Mississippi witnessed a devastating fire that destroyed half of their town. This fire was believed to be the result of a curse spoken by a woman known as the Witch of Yazoo, just before her death two decades earlier. Willie Morris, a writer and native of Mississippi, shared the legend in his book, "Good Old Boy." Following his passing in 1999, he was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Yazoo City, 13 paces due south of the Witch of Yazoo's grave. Many mysteries surround this tale: Was the witch a historical figure, a character inspired by a resident, or a legend passed down through generations? Who rests beneath the marker commemorating one of the South's most famous witches?

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Episode Sources

• The Times-Democrat: Mississippi Matters, Yazoo City Fire. May 27, 1904
• Jackson Daily-News: Committees are active today for the Yazoo City Fire Sufferers. May 27, 1904.
• The Yazoo Herald: Chained Grave Holds Jealous Wife, Says Longtime Yazoo City Resident. July 5, 1978.
• Yazoo Herald: Letters to The Editor, Vay McGraw. November 23, 1991.
• Yazoo Herald: It’s Time To Bury The Witch of Yazoo for Good. April 4, 1998
• Yazoo Herald: Letters to the Editor, Willie Morris, April 11, 1998.
• The Clarion-Ledger: Willie Morris to be buried near witches grave. August 5, 1999.
• The Delta Statement: Into the Fire, March 2, 2022.
• Yazoo County Convention and Visitors Bureau: Witch of Yazoo
• Clarion Ledger: The Witch of Yazoo still haunts the town she burned. October 28, 2014.
• National Park Service: Nehemiah “Skip” James, October 2017.
• McElreath, Leisa & Lindsley, Ashley. (2018). 1904 DESTRUCTION OF YAZOO CITY: A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNITY RESILANCE. 10.13140/RG.2.2.13079.68002.
• City of Yazoo: The History of Yazoo City,
• Visit Yazoo: 10 Can’t Miss Spots
• Independent Order of Oddfellows: History of American Odd Fellows
• Yazoo Herald: Vay Gregory McGraw. May 9, 2023.
• The ParaInvestigator YouTube: According to Local Legend: The Mystery of the Yazoo Witch. January 5, 2024

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.