Ep. 58: Mystery and Murderous Women

Ever wondered what pizza has to do with spooky tales? Well, our special guest this week agreed to join us for a slice and stayed for a night filled with eerie exchanges and chilling lore. Hannah, Courtney, and our pizza-loving companion share laughs and spooky insights from our days as backyard wedding DJs, before we dive into the macabre world of infamous female serial killers. We thumb through Hannah's latest book haul, spotlighting titles like "Elizabeth Bathory: The Life and Legacy of History's Most Prolific Serial Killer" to "The Devil's Rooming House," each page turning up more chilling tales of historical figures who've kept us on the edge of our seats.

As the pages keep turning, our discussion ventures into a literary wonderland of mystery and horror. With books such as "Until Proven Safe," "The Honeys," and the classic Stephen King's "Cujo," we explore the balance of terror and intrigue these stories offer. We find ourselves wrapped in the haunting allure of "Children of the Night" and "Ghost Camera," with their spine-tingling plots and cover art that beckon readers into a world of darkness. Local legends come alive in "Spooky Massachusetts" and "Ghost Written," weaving stories that remind us of the power of a well-told ghost story.

We close with a whirlwind of recommendations and whimsical plans for the future. From musings on Irish-American gangsters inspired by "Paddywhack" to a nostalgic nod to "Charlie the Unicorn," our conversation mixes fun with future podcast ideas. Engaging our community of 'wanderers,' we brainstorm ways to involve listeners more deeply, explore potential guest appearances, and plan local tours. With humor and heartfelt thanks, we anticipate what's next and express our gratitude for your support, promising more tales that entertain and chill.

Transcript

Wicked Wanderings

Speaker 1 0:06

Damn, she's like a multi-tool. She's like a wedding multi-tool, like backyard weddings.

Speaker 2 0:13

People have asked me to DJ before. Rob's actually was a DJ, and then I came on board and he's like you're better than I am. Make the playlist and I'll play them Honestly.

Speaker 3 0:25

Honestly Makes sense. Yeah, with all the gear. Yeah.

Speaker 2 0:30

And now I'm in the vibe. I got this.

Speaker 1 0:32

All righty folks, Thanks for bearing with.

Speaker 3 0:35

All right, action, rob. No, we don't work like that, we don't do that here.

Speaker 1 0:39

So we got to say hello, we've got to introduce a special guest. Special guest, who am I? You're the pizza man.

Speaker 3 0:48

I mean, I know, I am a little special, so Okay.

Speaker 2 1:03

Hi, I'm Hannah and I'm Courtney. Join us as we delve into true crime, paranormal encounters and all things spooky Grab your flashlight and get ready to wander into the darkness with us.

Speaker 1 1:15

This is.

Speaker 2 1:16

Wicked Wanderings.

Speaker 1 1:33

Hi Hannah, Hi Courtney, we have a special guest here today. We found him outside, we did. He was delivering our pizza actually.

Speaker 2 1:40

Wandering around. He was hungry, he wanted a slice and we're like well for a slice. You can come in and be on the podcast. Use that pre-mec principle First, then, yeah, you're going to say hello. I didn't know one piece was going to turn into 20,.

Speaker 1 1:54

but you know, so be it.

Speaker 3 1:57

So be it.

Speaker 1 1:59

We've got a newbie today, so I'm sure by the end of the podcast he'll be chatting us all up. So I'm staring at a pile of books actually on the floor that's almost taller than I am, yep, standing at about 5'5", and this stack of books looks pretty incredible For a backstory that the Wanderers don't know. I, hannah, got a little old tipsy last weekend and one of the many affectionate things that came out of her mouth was that she got mad at Rob and she purchased a fuck ton I think is what she used of books. So I think is what she used of books. Yeah, so I assume this is the loot of books that you were talking about.

Speaker 2 2:34

That is the pile.

Speaker 1 2:35

Yes, okay, shall you walk us through what we've got here, because this is.

Speaker 3 2:40

Hold on. Quick question for us. Were these already in your cart, or were they saved?

Speaker 2 2:45

to be in your cart, or did you just scroll through and find them? So or?

Speaker 3 2:47

did you just scroll through and find them?

Speaker 2 2:48

So they were in my wish list.

Speaker 3 2:50

Okay, so you already had these pre-picked out.

Speaker 2 2:52

And I was trying to find, because I don't know how much you know about Amazon. But when you have your wish list it also tells you which ones are on sale or the price is lowered. I did start in there.

Speaker 1 3:02

Okay, okay, so it looks like just looking at a few of them there might be some themes in here, but I'm going to pick them up is how we're going to do this, and you're going to tell me what about it compelled you to buy the book. How about that? So we've got Elizabeth Bathory, the life and legacy of history's most prolific serial killer.

Speaker 2 3:18

Yeah, so I'm very fascinated by Bathory because there's this whole mystical story about how she killed these young women to bathe in their blood to make her younger. Wow, yes, this is a very small book. It's near like Transylvania, like it's very old. Apparently it's all fake and made up, but I want to know more.

Speaker 1 3:40

Did you know that the book was made in North Haven, Connecticut?

Speaker 2 3:45

No, I don't think that's a thing, because some of my books are stamped that way out of Amazon.

Speaker 1 3:52

And it says September 27th 2024.

Speaker 2 3:55

I'm like what is that? So some of my books are like that.

Speaker 1 3:58

Yeah, interesting Okay. But you are going to notice a theme with these books, because I've had this weird fascination with female killers lately You're going to shit a brick, but I have a special piece of our episode episode actually that has a lot to do with lady killers. More on that later. Let's get back to this hall of books. Okay, if you don't have a drink, wanders, it'd probably be a good time to pause. Um, get one, because we're probably gonna be here for a while. Yeah, probably, okay, that's pretty big book two.

Speaker 1 4:28

Book two is the devil's rooming house, which actually is on my TBR.

Speaker 2 4:34

Yes, and I believe that that female serial killer is local.

Book Selection and Discussion With Friends

Speaker 1 4:38

Yeah To New England definitely. To New England yep, so another, we got two for two. Two for two Female serial killers and both nonfiction people.

Speaker 2 4:47

I'm like you know.

Speaker 1 4:48

Book three oh, everyone who knows me knows how much I'm gonna love this. It has plastic on it. You hear that, guys. There's plastic on it until proven safe.

Speaker 2 4:59

The history and future of quarantine and I thought maybe it's too soon to talk about quarantine.

Speaker 1 5:06

But it might always feel too yeah, yeah 2020.

Speaker 2 5:10

So it's going all the way back to, like, the black plague and stuff, so like the history of what I love that there's a plague doctor.

Speaker 1 5:15

I mean, the cover of this book is beautiful isn't it with red writing and it has a plague doctor in the background. Um, this one I'm definitely curious about. I would flip through it, but again I know that's why I haven't flipped through it. Still, it's still in its book.

Speaker 3 5:28

Condom Book four I mean technically, that book in itself is quarantined because of that, Technically yeah, I wonder if they do that ironically. They might.

Speaker 1 5:39

That's a good point. Did all of these come in book condoms no.

Speaker 3 5:43

Oh, maybe we got to order two just to find out. Yeah, for science.

Speaker 1 5:47

Did you hear that? Pizza man? You're very smart. We gotta order some books.

Speaker 3 5:50

One to open between the both of you, and then one to keep. Wrapped up.

Speaker 1 5:57

This one is fascinating. Is it an eyeball Beholder?

Speaker 3 6:02

Is that a spider? Yeah, it is it is.

Speaker 1 6:04

It's an eyeball on the back and on the front it has the spider over the top.

Speaker 2 6:09

So this author, author. The reason I picked it up, uh, is because I read another book called the honeys by them. Um, it's right on their cover actually I listened to it on audible. It was fucking fantastic. It's it's horror, but it is amazing, amazing. I recommend the audible if you're going to do it, so I had to buy that one, that one I mean, and the cover of this is absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 1 6:35

Everyone knows by now that I'm a cover kind of girl, but and I will say for the honeys.

Speaker 2 6:38

I never, thought I'd be scared of bees, but uh just for one.

Speaker 3 6:48

I'm always afraid of bees.

Speaker 1 6:50

Ha, ha, ha, ha ha. I don't know. This pizza man thinks he's funny, I know.

Speaker 2 6:53

His jokes are kind of dry.

Speaker 1 6:55

The next one, the.

Speaker 2 6:57

God of the Woods. I heard good things. This just came out too Ooh.

Speaker 1 7:02

And it looks like it's stationed someplace. I mean, it looks like fiction.

Speaker 2 7:06

Yes, that one's a fiction From the Adirondacks.

Speaker 1 7:08

New York. You could be right. I'm just here, everybody, taking photos of all the covers of these books, just trying to be a Hannah wannabe, not even hiding it.

Speaker 2 7:22

So the theme really is here, just spooky odd weird things which I don't think anybody expected to be different.

Speaker 1 7:25

What did I even say? Were we on book five, one, two, four five, even say, were we on book five one, two, four, five. Yep, this is the sixth one, kujo, of course I need you have to have a stephen king. Kujo um kujo is not spelled the way that I would have thought it was. I have to say that my first impression were you thinking it was with a k? Yeah, I really so.

Speaker 2 7:43

Fun fact this book stephen king wrote while he was freaking high as a kite. That makes sense. He was on drawing what I know about this book that that makes sense he was on drugs.

Speaker 1 7:51

Knowing what I know about this book, that makes sense. You would have to be on drugs to do that.

Speaker 2 7:55

No disrespect to Stephen King. So I'm going to read it with that in mind and just try to get in that mindset.

Speaker 1 8:00

It's a good thing you don't do drugs, because I would be concerned and I don't think it's weed. Is there a couple?

Speaker 2 8:04

movies about that.

Speaker 1 8:12

Oh yeah is yeah, yeah, but um, it wasn't weed, it was like tripping. Oh yeah, it would have had to have been some kind of hallucination, definitely um.

Speaker 2 8:15

You know it was a 70s, a classic.

Speaker 1 8:16

So number six is a classic, right, stephen king, the og himself. Um, okay, okay, this one. That one caught my eye right up my alley. The cover of this looks like an abandoned building. So, um, I'm I'm distracted because adhd and I'm taking a photo of the cover, but children of the night, and it says, um, it's written by dan simmons and someone stephen king actually had, that simmons writes like a hot, rotting angel, whatever that means I don't know, but if stephen king says it's good, I buy it.

Speaker 1 8:48

I mean, he didn't explicitly say good, but I'm assuming that's what that I'm assuming writes like a hot-rotting angel does mean something good.

Speaker 3 8:57

Maybe the angels put in big blocks in. It has to do with a desolate orphanage in Romania.

Speaker 1 9:02

Just as a small teaser, for what book number seven this was? I lost count. Pizza man, can you start handing me those books, Because I actually can't reach them little arms.

Speaker 3 9:13

I have little arms, I'm like a t-rex.

Speaker 1 9:16

Um, oh okay, this one caught my eye too.

Speaker 2 9:19

Ghost camera yes, again, cover, cover, and darcy coats is a very good author, very good author it's.

Speaker 1 9:28

They've got like a little polaroid situation going on on the front. Well, it makes sense because the back cover starts with when she finds an abandoned Polaroid camera. So if you're into cameras, number eight might be for you, moving on over Spooky.

Speaker 2 9:47

Another nonfiction Number nine Spooky, Massachusetts I mean because why not Look, I need another one.

Speaker 1 9:57

Because it's spooky and we're in Massachusetts. I mean, okay, self-explanatory Ghost Written.

Speaker 2 10:05

What was I thinking with that one? Oh, because, yeah, it's four novellas. So I thought that would be fun because that's four different stories, four in one.

Speaker 1 10:13

More bang for your buck.

Speaker 2 10:15

Because there's something to be said with a solid short story. That's true.

Speaker 1 10:20

That you're not left wondering or wanting for more.

Speaker 2 10:22

Yeah, like the lottery Classic, the yellow wallpaper Classic and those things are not long at all.

Speaker 1 10:28

There's not a lot of meat to them, right, but I? Will still have images of those in my head well, let's just hope that ghost written you know, lives up to that. I do think it's creepy that there's like a little man down here that I saw but I didn't see the mask on him until I was really looking oh, he's got a mask on. Yeah, like a clown mask kind of take a look, piece man yeah, he does all right, what was this next book number?

Speaker 1 10:53

book number hannah ordered too many when she was intoxicated. Uh, ghost mother. Again a really interesting cover um psychological ghost story. What were we thinking about with this one?

Speaker 2 11:07

I have no freaking clue. I had ghost in it at some point.

Speaker 1 11:11

It seems like hannah's mind was just like october. I'm drunk. I'm really mad at rob books, books, creepy covers. I'm in she obviously doesn't have enough books. I'm sitting in a room that must house hundreds of books, but these are all very important because how many do you need to be a library?

Speaker 2 11:28

a thousand?

Speaker 1 11:29

well, if we combine collections, we're easily there. They never said it couldn't be duplicates, too shy. They never said it couldn't be duplicates wait, there's an actual limit yes, to be to be classified as a library, there is a minimum number of books you must have available. Okay, and I do think that you have to do.

Speaker 1 11:45

You have to loan them out right to classify as a library I I don't separate with my books very well, because I feel like I would be a collector but maybe not a library I mean, you could loan them out to friends and they're gonna bring it back.

Speaker 3 11:58

That's kind of like a library one friend I would do.

Speaker 2 12:00

I would lend my books out to there was two, it was you and my mom, but lately my mom's not been returning my books.

Speaker 1 12:07

Oh, and end yep, return the books. Yep from springfield. Um. The next book is that one is mad woman I. I'm immediately intrigued but turned off because it's a hardcover you've held a couple of. A couple of these are already hardcover I think only one of them was a hardcover no, you're not normally a hardcover girl either. But that's how Book of the Month does. I'm glad you just said that, because I've been considering Book of the Month and I could never, if every book was going to come in in hardcover.

Speaker 3 12:43

Yeah, this is another Book of the Month. You can tell Book of the Month Very observant pizza man.

Speaker 1 12:50

That kind of bothers me, that it's like on the book it's printed in.

Speaker 3 12:53

Yeah, it's not even like a sticker you can pick off book of the month.

Speaker 1 12:56

I hannah is a fan. I am, courtney is not phantasma, okay. So stalking jack the ripper, yeah, that was really a weird impulse so I have to say I will preface it by saying that I also fell into the barnes and noble. You can get this book for five dollars when you're buying a coffee thing.

Speaker 1 13:21

Um, I don't hate it, it's just I'm a mood reader. However, this should fit my mood no matter what, and and I started reading it when I brought it home. But when I'm like I want to read, at the end of my day, I don't pick it up. Does that make sense?

Speaker 2 13:37

Yep, like I want to read something, but it's not this Yep, yep, because I bought another one that was like a $5. And I'm like but will I ever read it?

Speaker 1 13:53

I mean it and I'm like, but will I ever read it?

Speaker 2 13:55

I mean, it's not bad. I just didn't realize it was a young adult book, the only one that I bought that was excited about. They had a stephen king like body the body, yeah, which okay I bought that one too for five dollars.

Speaker 1 14:04

Yeah that, I'm also not impressed by that one. Have you read that one? No, I started it and, um, I dnf'd it. I mean, okay, steven, let's let. I'm just gonna address you for a second in case you're listening. Oh gosh, I hope you're listening. Oh, my god, could you imagine I did not dnf it permanently, I dnf'd it because I couldn't in that moment read it. I just have a really hard time with young adult books, and I don't know why, because I used to, not even a couple years ago I didn't have an issue with it, but there's something about even stalking jack the rapper that just feels a little childish. I want it to be more grotesque and I'm like I'm seeing where the story could have 100 benton adult novel. Yeah, and it just again. I haven't finished, so I'll update everybody once I have I'm probably only like 110 pages in so there's, still a lot of time, but, um, the cover is what got me on this one.

Book Recommendations and Dreams

Speaker 1 15:00

It's a beautiful cover and it mentioned jack, yeah, so how could I not like jack the ripper? Right. Exactly who doesn't love a good jack the Ripper. Awesome Moving on. Let us know if you have finished stalking Jack the Ripper To text us. I know we're always begging Clingy Girlfriend's here. Text us. Link is in the show notes below.

Speaker 2 15:21

Oh, by the way, thank you, Cousin Mark, for texting us.

Speaker 1 15:25

Yes, cousin Mark makes our whole time. He does, because he's the only one who texts us. Yes, we think you get cousin mark. Come on, sarah, I know you have a burning question, sarah, sarah, okay, the next one.

Speaker 2 15:38

I'm very confused by it's sci-fi so that was recommended by one of the people on tiktok I follow okay and it sounded interesting. Her review was really great. It is sci-fi, yeah, um yeah, so I'm excited, for I didn't realize how small it was.

Speaker 1 15:55

Yeah, it looks like it's only I'm sorry a hundred pizza man 59 pages there's, that's what she said joke hiding in here somewhere.

Speaker 2 16:07

Go ahead the elephant in the room.

Speaker 3 16:09

It's already passed.

Speaker 1 16:13

Okay, you're totally right about the books, though this one also has the same thing in the back about North Haven and the same date.

Speaker 2 16:18

They must do that they must mass print these Something, or I thought that they were all on a shelf and then they just stamped them when they're on their way out.

Speaker 1 16:31

That could be it too.

Speaker 3 16:34

But it almost looks printed.

Speaker 2 16:36

It looks printed, so that was just printed for me.

Speaker 1 16:41

That's weird, I mean you just killed a lot of trees and these were all printed. Alright, guys, there's four left, we're getting there.

Speaker 2 16:55

Bury your gaze. I love the cover of this. Okay, so that was recommended by my neighbor joe next door. He said it is a horror and he says it's fantabulous, and so I had to order it I love that the so underneath the title it says you can make a killing in hollywood and I just it's a tacky sign, but I love it, it's a great cover, though.

Speaker 1 17:13

It really is a great cover. It's so pretty, but it also has the gore piece to it too. I'm very excited.

Speaker 2 17:20

Like that's my upcoming one.

Speaker 1 17:21

I'm very interested in hearing how this one is, because I think that this one's going to be really good. Even though it's hardcover All right, I'm trying not to drop this stack of books. We might have to take a brief intermission to move this.

Speaker 3 17:35

Stack up to this. Ooh Knick-knack.

Speaker 2 17:37

Paddywhack.

Speaker 1 17:37

Paddywhack, the Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster. Do I sense an episode? I think you do, I do, I do feel it, so I just have to tell you. Wonders? There's some I do feel, so I just have to tell you this would be a really good episode. But if you know Hannah, if you know, you know, this book is about 500 pages long, so expect a five part podcast. Um, she is gonna wrap up also she, she is gonna finish up ted bundy I am folks, I was.

Speaker 2 18:09

It was gonna be a five-parter, but you know, not everyone loves bundy like I do, so just hannah and paula. I mean, he's got arrested right, so let's just get through the trials um, and I feel like I saved the last for least.

Speaker 3 18:22

Oh well, you know, you skipped over this. It tells you everyone who it's featuring. It's featuring Whitey Bolger, jack Legs, diamond Dino Bannon Bannon, george Bugs Moran. Like you know, you got. This one's based off a true story.

Speaker 1 18:38

Over. My Dead Body has actually been on my TBR for quite a while. I think I saw it on a friend's Instagram I think that's how I found out about it, and it caught my eye because of the Peace Belt Cemeteries.

Speaker 2 18:49

Yes, I follow Morbidly.

Speaker 1 18:51

Curious Book Club. You know what? That's where they have an Instagram, don't they? They do. That's 100% where I found that.

Speaker 2 18:58

With patches.

Speaker 1 18:59

Yep, yep, that's 100% where I saw it. I'm like it was on a.

Speaker 2 19:03

I mean, why would you think Patches is our friend?

Speaker 1 19:05

I don't know how many friends I think I have that read books and post them on Instagram. It's just Hannah's bookcase.

Speaker 2 19:12

Yeah, which I haven't posted in a while.

Speaker 1 19:14

Link to Hannah's bookcase Instagram in the show notes below Shame, shame, shun shun, the non-believer Charlie.

Speaker 3 19:22

Shun.

Speaker 1 19:23

Shun Hold on have you never seen that. You've never seen, seen what Charlie the Unicorn. What the fuck is Charlie the Unicorn?

Speaker 3 19:33

Sean no way, you've never been to Candy Mountain, charlie.

Speaker 1 19:37

Let's go to Candy Mountain, Charlie.

Speaker 2 19:40

My God, what kind of fucking cult is that? Ow my babies, my toes, my toes Of? Of course, it's like the one hard cover that fell hard that's what you get you bitch.

Speaker 1 19:52

You don't like me. I laughed at her for never seeing. I don't even know what I was saying.

Speaker 3 19:59

My first, I'm actually a little curious now as to how many people haven't actually watched that now probably quite a few.

Speaker 1 20:07

I only know it because my cousin made me watch it when I was a little curious now as to how many people haven't actually watched that now, probably quite a few. I only know it because my cousin made me watch it when I was a kid. We actually did a reenactment of Cookie Mountain.

Speaker 2 20:15

Yeah, what kind of weird crap is this?

Speaker 3 20:19

It's the funniest thing ever. It is pretty funny.

Speaker 1 20:22

Yeah, we'll show it to you when we're done. Okay, we'll show it to you when we're done. So this was a really fun trip down down book lane here with hannah. Um, I would love to say, moral of the story is don't drink so much that you buy a billion books, but I feel like she only benefited from this purchase. I, yeah, I I'm failing to see where there's a negative to purchasing all these books, except the fact that you can't quit your day job to stay home and read them all.

Speaker 2 20:48

Yeah, I've tried um, it doesn't work. They frown on you taking that many days off. Yeah, um, if anyone has a way around that, I mean, let me know. Yeah, yeah, I, I know that. Oh, all right, I just had to see it okay, that makes me shy, but I think I tried taking that out of my brain. Oh sorry, With all the fucked up things I watch and read that, yeah, that's weird.

Speaker 1 21:15

I was going to say, yeah, you read about murders. Okay, so I do.

Speaker 1 21:19

Murder Hannah you're really big about dreams, right, huge. So for everyone who listens to all of our episodes, I did an episode a couple weeks ago about Tony Costa and the murders in Provincetown, and so I'm going to be doing an update on that. So I was reading some literature on it, and last night I was reading it before bed, and I normally can stomach just about anything before bed. I'm like whatever it doesn't give me nightmares, and I won't say I had a nightmare, but I will say that I kept waking up as part of my dream where somebody was like come on, come on, you have to do the thing. And I couldn't figure out what it was, and then only to find out it was that I had to sever bodies into separate bags, and I do have to say that Tony Costa is 100% the reason why that happened. Holy hell, woman.

Speaker 1 22:01

I woke up this morning and I was like what the fuck is wrong with me? And then I was like no, that's what you read before bed. That makes 100 sense. So let's just hope that me talking about it again now doesn't make it someone. I sleep tonight, I know I also dream about putting bodies in bags, in pieces holy moly woman. That's intense, yeah he went for heads.

Speaker 3 22:27

Those are still there too.

Speaker 1 22:31

But I'm really excited to kind of do an update on him because I do feel like I'm excited for you to update I loved the first book, but the second book was just. It gave me the details that I think I really was looking for.

Lady Killers

Speaker 1 22:43

And it had a little bit more clarification on certain things. And what was the name of that book? The second one, I actually can't remember the name of it off the top of my head, but that's fine, because I plan to do a whole episode on it. So, spoiler alert if you're interested in that or you heard the first episode, look for that. Probably after Hannah does her last Bundy, because we got to wrap up Bundy. I know we got to finish Bundy. Now that it's gone over a whole month, I, it's gone over a whole month. I know hannah will never be done with bundy, but he fascinates me for at least a short amount of time. We will have to be okay.

Speaker 1 23:14

So I did promise you that there would be talk of lady serial killers today, um, which is actually what I had planned before I went on a you know one hour trip of the books that hannah had purchased. Um it no, it hasn't been that long. Um, so I, a couple episodes ago, it might have been a bonus episode actually, now that I'm thinking about it, probably. Um, so if you're not a subscriber, you should be, because we do some pretty cool, some pretty cool bonus episodes. Um, but we found this totally terrifying true crime trivia book that hannah and I will read back and forth and even though we're true crime junkies, we find that we really don't know as much as we do. Um, but they have an entire section on lady killers. So I thought it would be fun, because we have a special guest who is pizza man. It would be kind of interesting to get some perspective on these. So I am going to read the first one and then we can rotate, okay.

Speaker 1 24:09

So the first one Women in a Hungarian village in World War I poisoned their unwanted men, oh geez. So during World War I, the town of Nagyarev, hungary, became the site of a POW camp, with most of the men away fighting. The women were free to take up with many of the enemy soldiers. When the newly emboldened women's husbands returned from war, they could no longer live as they pleased. Those who were abused or bored by their husbands consulted julia fezeska's, the town midwife. She offered them a solution in the form of arsenic she made by boiling flypaper and skimming poison off the top. Oh jeez, somewhere between 50 and 300 men were killed indirectly by her before the Hungarian government stepped in and arrested 26 women, including her.

Speaker 2 25:01

Holy cow that was some operation.

Speaker 1 25:06

So imagine coming back from war and your wife's, like you know, haven't really had to worry about you. I've been kind of able to do my thing and she just goes to go paper and kills you goes to go see the midwife, which is a I mean, and think about it. You have a lot of access to a midwife because women go to a midwife all the time and nobody thinks about it, and then she just casually comes back with some arsenic.

Speaker 3 25:34

I mean it kind of sounds like the Salem witch trials, just on the different end.

Speaker 1 25:39

How so.

Speaker 3 25:40

Well, you know how many you could just be like. Oh look, you know my wife's over here, she's a witch, yeah. Next look, you know my wife's over here, she's a witch, yeah. Next thing, you know, she's burning on the cross cross. You never have to deal with her again. Then, boom, you go back out with the next one. It sounds exactly like what they were doing in hungary.

Speaker 1 25:58

Just I mean I never interpreted that that's what was happening with witches. I would be more comfortable saying that this is like what happened with mental asylums when they first started out, where men would be like I'm kind of bored. My wife's nuts, by the way, yeah, she has hysteria, oh hysteria what does that? Even mean, she cries sometimes during her monthly cycle I see anyone who uh goes out with you should be cautious of that red flag we got going on.

Speaker 3 26:30

Oh, look at me, I'm dating a witch.

Speaker 1 26:35

Wanda Holloway was killing to get her daughter onto the cheerleading squad? Can you imagine being a Karen who kills to get your child onto a cheerleading squad?

Speaker 3 26:44

This one does not sound like it's that old.

Speaker 1 26:46

Wanda Holloway. You'd be surprised. Actually, wanda Holloway was so desperate for her daughter, shanna Harper, to make the cheerleading squad of her Houston high school in 1991 that she handed out pencils labeled with the kid's name. Doing so disqualified Shanna. So Holloway took more drastic measures. She murdered her neighbor, whose daughter, amber, she theorized would be too distraught to attend cheerleading trials. Oh good Lord, that would open up a spot for Shanna. When she asked her brother-in-law to find her a hitman, he went to the authorities who outfitted him with a wire so he could gather evidence to prove Holloway's guilt when they went next. Shanna never did make the team, by the way, oh my God. Team, by the way, oh my god. So she? She murdered a person to get her child onto a high school cheerleading team, and her daughter never even. So she got caught and her daughter never even made the team parents will do weird shit for their kids.

Speaker 3 27:40

Yeah, I was gonna say that's like chair moms, that's a whole that's like dance moms.

Speaker 1 27:44

They've got a whole show about their drama. That's just I mean. So far, what I'm seeing is lady killers are complicated yeah, Like I feel like male killers are a little bit more straightforward. Power money, Sex yeah yeah. Women, Mm-hmm. Sex yeah yeah. Women like this is just like freedom and pom-poms.

Speaker 1 28:14

So I've got freedom and and pom-poms. Um, I'll read one more and then I will let let hannah read a few. Um, I won't take all the fun myself. Diane downs killed her children because she thought that was what her boyfriend wanted, okay? Um, in may 1983, diane downs was driving with her three children near springfield, oregon, when, during what don downs claimed was an attempted carjacking, a man shot and killed downs daughter and paralyzed her other two children. Oh geez, forensic and blood splatter evidence proved Downs was lying. Court testimony from the surviving daughter revealed that Downs pulled the trigger. She'd aimed to execute them so that she could carry on an affair with a married man who didn't like children. Oh my God, I wonder if he doesn't like children and she? You know she did away with that problem. How does he feel about murderers?

Speaker 2 29:10

I know right, you know like.

Speaker 1 29:11

I'd rather deal with the kids. Like is that a deal breaker for men? Like if you didn't want children, would it be children or murderer? Which one would you be more tolerant of?

Speaker 3 29:20

Like if I didn't want children, yeah, to have someone kill children.

Speaker 1 29:24

Yeah.

Speaker 3 29:28

Would you rather be dating a woman who was?

Speaker 1 29:29

a murderer or who had children, children For a minute.

Speaker 3 29:32

He had me alarmed, I was like, ah no, because like you'd be concerned, Like hey, you know what if I snore in bed, what's she going to do?

Speaker 1 29:42

Just stab me Kill, ya Well apparently she shoots. Ya, that's what Diane Downs does.

Speaker 2 29:49

Okay, belle Gunness made a fortune killing and collecting insurance. Okay, that's kind of boring, that's kind of vague, I don't, it was very boring. In 1902, norwegian immigrant Belle Gunness married a butcher in Chicago. Just one week after they married, his baby daughter died while in Gunness' care. Unsurprisingly, she had taken out an insurance policy on the infant. Within the year the butcher also died, but Gunness was found not guilty. He had died on the exact day that his two life insurance policies overlapped. So Gunness made a good profit. She then placed an ad for a new husband in Midwestern newspapers offering to join fortunes. Gunness killed four men who came to her home responding to the ad. She stole their money and buried their bodies around the property and somehow avoided capture. She ran off before police could find her and, despite having killed up to 40 people in similar schemes, she was never found or prosecuted.

Speaker 1 30:41

Wow. So how do they know she did it if she was never found or prosecuted? Wow, death by confession.

Speaker 2 30:46

Well, no, because Wow, a deathbed confession.

Speaker 3 30:48

Oh no. Well, no, because if that's a deathbed confession, that means she was found.

Speaker 1 30:54

Yeah but, on her deathbed, they wouldn't arrest her. Isn't there some kind of sacredy to a deathbed confession?

Speaker 2 31:03

Oh, by the yeah, by a priest, yeah.

Speaker 1 31:07

I think in religion I believe that a deathbed confession is not to be like held against you. I did start reading. Well, it's an audiobook, but it's about asylum confessions and it talks about this guy who works in an asylum and it's all deathbed confessions of patients, of his. Oh jeez, it's very gruesome.

Speaker 2 31:27

Serial killer Aileen warnos was captured after she crashed a victim's car. Aileen warnos was found guilty of the death of six men in 1989 1990. All those men were killed in self-defense. Warnos argued oh wow, I did not read that in proper english, there was a comma there. All those men were killed in self-defense, warnos argued, as they had tried to assault her when she was working as a prostitute. She went after a seventh male victim, but when she stole his car and got into an accident with it, police discovered the vehicle was stolen and took Warnas into custody so she was really so.

Speaker 1 32:00

She was a prostitute and she was killing men, many six men, and she was claiming that they were all self-defense Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 32:11

Did it give a year on that? Yeah, 1989, 1990.

Speaker 3 32:16

Yeah, recent Was prostitution illegal, then I'm pretty sure it was yeah.

Speaker 1 32:20

I didn't know when they put that into effect, because I'm wondering, like the way it makes it sound to me, I'm imagining it like she's getting caught, so to speak, killing them because she's. If it's self-defense, you're not going to leave, right? If you kill someone in self-defense, you're like, well, shit, I'm going to be here until the police come and I'm going to explain what happened. But I feel like the second time wouldn't you be like what is it you do for work? How, how do you keep getting into these situations with six different men?

Speaker 2 32:51

what I will say like prostitution. I thought this is kind of going off in a little tangent here, but if it's between two consenting adults, like who cares if the woman or male is getting paid- for it.

Speaker 1 33:01

You know, I never really understood that either. I always thought that it was because the legal line of like can someone turn around and say like, oh, because they wouldn't do a certain thing, that they were assaulted. You know what I'm saying. But I guess that could happen in any relationship.

Speaker 3 33:15

I mean it could. Well, maybe she wasn't willing to have sex with these guys and she was just like I'm just gonna kill them and save self-defense. Take the money around.

Speaker 1 33:24

Like Grand Theft.

Speaker 1 33:25

Auto when you just back over the hooker, take their money and leave yeah maybe I mean or I mean, and then there are some situations right where sex trafficking, where women are sold to people who, who pimp them out, I mean, I guess maybe that's why it's so frowned upon is that it's not like you saying, hey, you know what, I want an extra 20 bucks, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take myself out to the corner and earn 20 bucks. That's very different. That's a consenting adult who isn't traumatized, who's making this conscious choice, someone who's kidnapped and brought into sex trafficking at 14, they might tell themselves what they want, but you and I know from working with kids and trauma and everything that's just no, they can't make.

Speaker 1 34:05

no, there's no way that you could actually consent psychologically to that.

Speaker 2 34:10

I'll read one more. Yeah, okay, an american woman served only a few hours for murder a few hours hours. Laurie ann rogers was a victim of serial physical abuse by her husband, but what made her snap in 2004 was discovering that her husband had raped and impregnated her teenage daughter from her previous marriage and videotaped the act.

Speaker 1 34:30

Oh my god.

Speaker 2 34:31

She shot him while he slept and tried to make it look like suicide. When her story didn't hold, she played guilty to manslaughter. Judge Paul A Hackner sympathized. He suspended the sentence, giving credit for time served, and released her that day. That's awesome.

Speaker 1 34:44

That is a girl's girl right there.

Speaker 2 34:46

That was awesome.

Speaker 1 34:47

You know what, though? I feel like situations like that. You just don't read about those, you don't read that people see what they were doing, because there were many crimes in that. I mean, she was being abused by him and then she was, you know, her daughter was raped by him and he video like what kind of sick bastard rapes his wife's child, rapes a child and videot. Unfortunately, lots of people everyone listening is probably like yeah, that's not that uncommon. We hear about that all the time. It's uh, I guess women lady killers is.

Speaker 2 35:22

They're very complex, that's what I've gotten so far on this like that one.

Speaker 1 35:26

I hardly even consider her a killer for that. All right, our favorite part of the episode actually it's the part where we get a little sad Whenever we have a guest. We always let our guest pick our unresolved case. So pick a card, any card, pizza man, and then you can read it for our audience.

Speaker 2 35:50

And don't forget to say what card it is.

Speaker 3 35:52

Yes, this is the seven of aces. Okay, seven of spades. I Seven of Spades. I can't believe you. Just allowed me to continue on like that All right. So this one here we got. You want to take a guess of what unsolved mystery it is?

Speaker 1 36:11

Oh, no, no, there's too many unsolved mysteries. Is it one we would know? No, but it actually. He's like do you want to take a guess? No, you would never know.

Speaker 3 36:21

Well, I mean to be fair, it's in the state of Massachusetts and it was recent. It was recent, yeah, within the past 20 years. Oh my God, you want me to narrow it down.

Speaker 1 36:32

No, we want you to read the card Past 12 years.

Speaker 3 36:33

We want you to read the card Past 12 years.

Speaker 1 36:35

We would like you to read the card.

Speaker 3 36:38

It's an unsolved homicide Richard Pig Pignone, On September 20th 2012,. The victim was shot at his home in his kitchen at 52 Rose Street in Revere.

Speaker 2 36:51

You can read the bottom part too.

Podcast Planning and Shenanigans

Speaker 3 36:53

Oh, if you have any info about this case, please call 1-855-MA-SOLVE. Again, that's 1-855-MA-SOLVE S-O-L-V-E.

Speaker 2 37:09

Thank you, Pizza man.

Speaker 1 37:10

I feel like he's mocking me, even though he doesn't listen, so he doesn't know that. When I read my first card as a guest, I said mass and Rob jumped in immediately. He's like MA, we don't want people calling mass. I'll love Rob, I'll love.

Speaker 3 37:26

Yeah, no, I wasn't mocking you.

Speaker 1 37:28

These cards are always so sad because, as much as it's.

Speaker 3 37:32

So wait, you just keep that card out now.

Speaker 1 37:34

Yeah, so we have, you know, 52 um and we read one every time we do a full episode, so we don't do one when we do a special episode, right? Um? So any subscriber gets access to our bonus content. We don't read them on our bonus content. We believe that getting the message out is the most important part of this, so we only do those for the public episodes. Um, just in case. I mean, sometimes you never know who's going to know information about something, and maybe somebody. If we can even help one small tip get to one of these lines, that's um, that's kind of our way of giving back and that's just mess.

Speaker 3 38:08

Once you finish that stack, you get a lot.

Speaker 1 38:10

You got a whole nother 49 we could also pick, uh, rhode island or new hampshire. Maybe we'll let the wanderers pick. Right, I love that. I love that idea, something. It's something um wanderers. After hannah finishes, ted bundy, who should she do next? Or what should she talk about next? Well, oh, maybe she's not actually gonna.

Speaker 2 38:34

Let me do a poll I had to have one in my head that I'm probably gonna do. Springfield um blanking oh my god, I'm tired.

Speaker 1 38:43

Springfield um italian mob oh, that one would be good too. That one would be really good. There's a whole book on it I have. I do feel like we should also ask your aunt to take us on a cemetery tour and we should record while we're on a cemetery tour dude.

Speaker 2 38:57

Well, she has information on the springfield town. You mob, so is my mom. Can we bring them in absolutely?

Speaker 1 39:01

I already told them. I want them on the podcast for it. Perfect, we love guests. Also, if we have wanderers who are local to us and they have something that they want to do, we are more than welcome to ideas and you can come on and have your own episode and you don't have to come to my house, because that's a little creepy if I don't meet you someplace or we can do mobile. We have the capabilities you don't even have to look at us, yep yeah, someone calling we could.

Speaker 1 39:26

We could. We had your aunt calling for our last episode.

Speaker 1 39:29

We do she didn't know, she just ended up on our episodes I do have one wanderer who said that they would do a podcast with us here, on the only condition that Rob did not videotape them. It's not me. Stop looking at me like it's not me. I was thinking in my head of who could be. It's a wanderer who would love to come on, and I don't know if she would want to do her own episode, but she would love to come on in you know bullshit with us about stuff.

Speaker 1 40:01

Maybe we should do it on a night that rob is busy so we don't have to battle him with the camera. I figured if it was a guest he wouldn't put the camera on them. If it's me, he'll put the camera on me. He will suck it up. Let it cut. Suck it up, but I'm about to come with masks.

Speaker 3 40:12

Have, yeah, I was gonna say have a wear just like a big sheet of black paper.

Speaker 1 40:17

It sucks that Rob's our editor, because it would be really funny if one time we just got a bunch of paper cutouts of Rob's face and we just put them all on. So on the video it's just a bunch of Rob's talking to each other. God, I love that. Oh, you know what?

Speaker 3 40:30

you should do, I do have a connection.

Speaker 1 40:31

who can print those?

Speaker 3 40:32

Get them printed on glasses. So then that way, when he goes to put them on, you just be like hold on, I gotta put my reading glasses on, and then you slip those on, and then he'd have no other choice but to probably let the rest of the episode go like that.

Speaker 1 40:44

I mean except the fact that he's our editor and we don't know how to delete any of this, except when he looks at it.

Speaker 2 40:49

I mean, we could've stopped hitting record Men in black stick.

Speaker 1 40:53

Rob Rob, you forgot all of this. Anyways, thanks for another fun random night wanderers of listening to us bullshit, total bullshit. Sometimes we're composed, sometimes we're not.

Speaker 2 41:10

Yeah, life is messy Life is messy and Kenzie says goodnight.

Speaker 1 41:13

Kenzie says goodnight. I say goodnight. The pizza man is yawning it's a wrap, goodnight. Kenzie says goodnight. I say goodnight. The pizza man is yawning. Goodnight, it's a wrap, goodnight. We miss you, rob. Maybe you'll be back next time.

Speaker 2 41:32

Bye. Music by Sasha M. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to leave a rating and review and be sure to follow on all socials. You can find the links down in the show notes. If you're looking for some really cozy t-shirts or hoodies, head over to the merch store. Thank you for being a part of the Wicked Wanderings community. We appreciate every one of you. Stay curious, keep exploring and always remember to keep on wandering.