Strange and Dreadful Things

John Brassard Jr

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Strange and Dreadful Stories of True Crime, Dark History, and the Paranormal that your grandma didn’t want you to hear.

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121 episodes

Carol Eberle: Death by Wedding Dress?

Carol Eberle was getting married, and she was overjoyed. But no one else really was. Something had happened just a few weeks before that had soured several people toward Carol in their small North Dakota town. She didn't care one bit what they thought, but sometimes karma has a way of catching up with people.

14m
Mar 18, 2024
Swift Runner: Murderer and Cannibal

Swift Runner and his family journeyed into the Canadian wilderness in 1878 for the winter. Only Swift Runner emerged the following spring. He said that his entire family starved to death, but there was something off about his story. When police investigated, one of the most infamous tales of murder and cannibalism in Canadian history was revealed.

23m
Mar 03, 2024
Why Did the Farmer Try to Shoot the Deputy?

Henry Kuehl was just trying to do his job. On a warm January night, he rode out to a rural Iowa farm to help settle a dispute between the farmer and his landlord. The night started off normal enough, but soon degeneratedinto an evening that Kuehl would never forget.

6m
Feb 10, 2024
The Chicken Thief's Ghost

Sam Smith was a desperate man. He couldn't find a job, and he had a family to feed. Out of desperation he turned to stealing. But when he died suddenly, did his ghost return to watch over his family?

11m
Jan 15, 2024
Julia Buccola: The Ghostly Italian Bride of Chicago

Imagine driving near Chicago's Mount Carmel Cemetery and seeing a woman wearing a white wedding dress walking along the road. It's rainy and muddy, and yet she seems untouched by all of it. You would be seeing the Italian Bride, one of Chicago's most famous ghosts. But who was she, and why does her ghost still haunt the area? This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

13m
Dec 30, 2023
Omaima Nelson: Killing in Self-Defense or Murder in Cold Blood?

William Nelson was a private pilot who had just married the beautiful Onaima Nelson, a woman 23 years younger than himself. Then, just after Thanksgiving 1991, he disapeared. He was found in early December, murdered and dismembered by his new bride. But had she killed him out of self-defense, or had she murdered him in cold blood? This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

18m
Dec 10, 2023
Charles Albright: The Texas Eyeball Killer

In late 1990, the body of Mary Lou Pratt was found in a quiet Dallas, Texas neighborhood. She had been severely beaten and then shot to death. If that wasn't bad enough, it was soon discovered that her killer had expertly removed both her eyes. Mary Lou had just become the unwitting victim of one of the strangest and brutal serial killers in Texas history. This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

27m
Nov 23, 2023
Backyard Ghosts: My Local Legends

Every Halloween, every village, town, and city dredge up their favorite spooky stories. Where I live is no different. Come and hear some of the legends and stories that I grew up with as I tell you about cursed statues, wailing spirits, and haunted houses. This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

15m
Nov 01, 2023
The Murder of Marie Whynack

When Johann Whynack married his Marie, he hoped that they would spend the rest of their lives happily ever after. But Marie loved another man, and saw no reason to stop seeing him even after she was married. As the marriage continued, the love triangle quickly took a toll on their lives as it spiraled into physical abuse and murder. This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

24m
Oct 06, 2023
The Icebox Murders

In 1965, two police officers knocked on the door of a small house in Houston, Texas. They were there to check on Fred and Edwina Rogers, an elderly couple who hadn't contacted their family for a week. Going inside the house, they found no one. On an impulse, they opened the refriderator and discovered one of the most gruesome crimes to ever occur in Texas history. This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

12m
Sep 11, 2023
Dark Day at the Fair: The Murder of Bobie and Marilyn Blewer

In 1996, Bobie and Marilyn Blewer, professional food vendors from Missouri, set up their trailer at the Iowa State Fair. It was - and is - one of the biggest fairs in the country, and had been a regular stop for the Blewers for twenty years. Then, one sunny afternoon, as thousands of people enjoyed the rides and entertainment, word began travelling amongst the other vendors that something had happened to the Blewers. The word was that they had been murdered. What had happened, and who had done it? This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

33m
Aug 26, 2023
Fire, Murder, and Spirits: The Last Days of the Claypool Hotel

When it was built in 1903, the Claypool Hotel was designed to be the best and brightest of Indianapolis' hotels. And, for forty years, it was. Then, starting in 1943, a serious of tragic events that included two murders and a fire led to the Claypool's dramatic destruction in the 1960's. But does something of the grand old hotel still linger on the site it formerly occupied in downtown Indianapolis? This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

22m
Aug 06, 2023
The Murder of Dorothy Poore: The Girl in the Drawer

In 1954, two maids found a horrible odor coming from a dresser in one of the rooms at the Claypool Hotel. When the dresser was searched, hotel staff found the badly decomposed body of a woman in the bottom drawer. Her name was Dorothy Poore, an 18-year-old trying to build a future in Indianapolis. What had happened to her, and who had put her body in the drawer? This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

29m
Jul 21, 2023
The Murder of Maoma Ridings

Maoma Ridings had joined the United States Army during World War II to aid the war effort. A professional nurse turned physiotherapist; she was a young woman who enjoyed a good time. On August 30, 1943, she was found murdered in an Indianapolis hotel room. Who had ended the life of the well-liked nurse from Georgia? This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

19m
Jun 18, 2023
Arizona Patrolman Checks on Semi; Finds Nude Woman Handcuffed Wearing Horse Bridle

In 1990, a highway patrolman in Arizona stopped to check on a semi pulled off to the side of the road. Inside he found a woman who was naked, handcuffed, and wearing a horse bridle. While the driver, Robert Ben Rhodes, said that everything was consensual. The patrolman suspected otherwise. The investigation would turn into a nationwide investigation leading to one of the most evil killers to ever prowl America’s roadways. This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4092315/advertisement

35m
May 31, 2023
Delivery Driver Has Premonition of Terrible Accident; Proven Right By Flaming Car and Bodies on Ground

In January of 1926, Ed Rinebold was driving his normal newspaper deliver route in western Illinois when he had a strange feeling. The car at the railroad crossing had just been in an accident. He hadn’t heard or seen anything, but just knew that’s what happened. When he went back, the flaming ruins of the car and the bodies on the ground told him he was right. What had happened, and how did Ed know?

15m
May 12, 2023
What Caused the Great Corning, Iowa Fire of 1896?

On the night of October 9, 1896, the town of Corning, Iowa was awakened by an alarm bell. A fire had broken out near the railroad tracks on the south side of town. As firemen and citizens fought the blaze, little did they know that an even bigger disaster was about to happen right behind them.

14m
Apr 23, 2023
Percy Smith: A "...Cold, Calculated, Premediated Murder."

No one had seen Percy Smith since he had gone to buy cattle from a man near Council Bluffs, Iowa. When police were called, their search led to Corliss Bruntlett, a man with a hidden past. They soon discovered that he was concealing an even darker secret that would shock their community.

27m
Mar 20, 2023
Andreas Bichel: A Fortune Told in Blood

Christine Leidel thought the fortune teller seemed nice enough, but you couldn’t be too careful in 1808 Bavaria. When he offered to look into her future, she decided to trust him. Christine Leidel had just made an appointment with one of the most infamous murderers in European history.

16m
Mar 02, 2023
Donald Studey: The Monster of Green Hollow?

In 2007, a woman contacted the press with a startling revelation: her father, Donald Studey, was a serial killer responsible for the deaths of as many as 70 young women at his home in Green Hollow, Iowa. As the story began to make headlines across the nation, the case began to make many twists and turns that made people question what was true and what wasn't.

26m
Feb 18, 2023
The Murder of Fay Lewis

Swede and Fay Lewis had always been a stormy one, and Fay was finally tired of it. When she finally decided to end it and filed for divorce, Swede was enraged. To what depths would he descend when he didn’t get his way?

11m
Feb 05, 2023
Beyond Recognition: What Started the St. Elizabeth's Fire?

In this, the second part of the tragic story of the St. Elizabeth's Mental Hospital Fire of 1950, people across America were shocked by the disaster that had claimed the lives of 41 people. Fire and police investigators were eager to find out what had caused the blaze. When they did, the truth was almost too shocking and bizarre to believe.

32m
Jan 21, 2023
Plain Hell: The St. Elizabeth's Hospital Fire of 1950

in the early hours of January 7, 1950, flames illuminated the night sky around Mercy Hosptial. An orderly was one of the first to see a mental hospital on the grounds engulfed in fire, but he would be far from the last. By the next morning, it would become one of the worst hospital fires in United States History.

26m
Jan 10, 2023
Haunted Christmas: The Death of Earl Albert Nead

Earl Albert Nead was born on November 13, 1937. By Christmas Day, he was dead, the victim of a horrible accident. But as police looked into things, the more it appeared that Earl’s death was deliberate. What had happened in that small Wisconsin apartment that Christmas?

24m
Dec 28, 2022
Twisted to Death

Line shaft technology may have revolutionized industry, but they posed a very real danger to the workers who toiled around them. In 1922, nine-year-old Frank Nead found that out in a tragic and horrific accident.

7m
Dec 21, 2022
Fit of Rage: A Kitchen Table Historian Short Story

Jesse Stanbridge was just another railroad cop doing his job in 1909 when he had an argument with a local farmer. That disagreement set into motion a chain of events that would change both their lives forever.

7m
Dec 08, 2022
Depths of Despair: A Murder/Suicide Plot in Iowa

Mary Stewart had died too young, and her husband, William, couldn't stand the grief. Buying a gun, he set into motion plans of murder and suicide. But after telling a neighbor, nothing went the way he expected, resulting in an unbelievable conclusion.

19m
Nov 29, 2022
Experiences With the Beyond: The Halloween 2022 Episode

Happy Halloween, everyone! For our Halloween episode this year, I'll be telling you some personal stories of the paranormal, as well as some from my family and friends. Come with me as we finish out the spooky season and experience the beyond.

30m
Nov 01, 2022
Is This Former Iowa Mortuary Now a Haunted Radio Station?

The Rock and Roll Mansion in Davenport, Iowa, is a former mortuary that's been converted into the current home of many popular local radio stations. Employees over the years swear they have experienced everything from phantom footsteps to full apparitions. Do some spirits remain after their funeral was held in the building?

19m
Oct 13, 2022
Did Dr. William Stoecks Keep His Routine After His Death?

Dr. William Stoecks was a dedicated physician and surgeon, treating countless people throughout his career. He died in 1961. But did he stay in his former home and interact with the college fraternity who bought it?

24m
Sep 24, 2022