Mysterious Deaths, Classic Novels, Ghosts, and Cults
Episode Review for January 2025
Hi everyone!
January was another busy month, but at the same time its a relief. The holiday season is busy for many of us, but January gives us a bit of a relief from all the holiday cheer. It also means we are one step closer to spring, so YAY! We had some very interesting shows both for our fan club members, and in our regular shows. But first, lets talk about our New Year’s Day episode about the mysterious death of Joshua Maddox.
The story of what happened with Joshua was shocking to me when I first heard it. Imagine how it would be for his family: he went out for a walk, and never came back. Then seven years later, his remains are discovered about a mile from his home stuffed into a chimney of an abandoned cabin. There has been multiple theories about this strange case for years, and I can’t help but lean towards it wasn’t an accident. After investigating all sides of this, it is possible that Joshua could have had mental health issues or suffered from hypothermia. With that said, all the other circumstantial evidence is pointing to something darker. I have a feeling that this case will be one that we may never get answers for.
Our next episode was the story behind the childhood classic “Alice in Wonderland”. I heard about this several years ago, and lets be honest…Lewis Carroll’s behaviour is pretty shady. It is possible that he was just a kind man, who related better with children than with adults. It is also possible that those inappropriate photos he took were just part of the “innocent” look of the times, but it is usually these cases that eventually turn out to be something different all together. I can’t help but believe that something very inappropriate was happening. Why would he destroy all his journal entries about his time with Alice? Why would Alice’s parents and Lewis become estranged? Why did her sister speak to an author, and claimed something inappropriate did happen? It all points to one sinister conclusion.
The next episode we did was about the city of Savannah, Georgia in the United States. This city has a very long history, and not all of that history is good. This resulted in Savannah being considered to be one of the more haunted cities in America. This place is on my travel list. It is physically beautiful, full of history, and if you believe the legends…full of ghosts. What more can a spooky girl like me ask for?
On January 2nd; we released our next episode which was about the Heaven’s Gate cult. To me, this is not a tale only about a cult. It is the tale of a closeted man, whose religious history drove him to have clear mental health issues. He then met a woman who also had issues, and together they fostered those thoughts. This resulted in thirty nine people dying. I see Marshall Applewhite’s followers as people who just wanted to belong, and Marshall used that to his advantage. He also used this to create a deadly situation. I hope that all of his victims found peace, and I seriously doubt that it was on a space ship following a comet.
Our last case was about the Papin sisters, who murdered their employers one evening. This case was bizarre from the get go. These girls had no chance at all in having a normal life due to their parents. If there were two people who should have never married and had children - it was the Papin’s. The abuse that these girls suffered drastically affected their mental state, and being thrown into an orphanage known for its abuse didn’t help. Add on top of it that their horrible mother used her girls as cash cows, and their employers physically abused them…it is a recipe for disaster. But what came afterwards can only be explained by one thing. They clearly had serious mental health issues. I think the saddest thing for me was after Lea got out of jail, she went right back to support her evil mother.
Now if you are fan club members; you would have gotten an additional five episodes to listen to ad free. These episodes were also quite interesting. I told the tales of several different Canadian locations that are said to be haunted. This included old courthouses in London, and Picton, Ontario, Boston Square in Victoria, British Columbia, a lighthouse on Lake Heron, and the hauntings of the very beautiful small town of Tobermory, Ontario. I think my favourite of these is one of the stories we told from Tobermory. I stayed there several times, and would often walk by or visit the sites we spoke about in the episode. The one place that would always give me the chills was the local graveyard. Each time I was there, I got the strong feeling of being watched. But even worse, I felt like I was being followed…not just in the cemetery - but all the way back to our B&B. Lets just say…it is pretty creepy to feel watched by unseen eyes, but to be followed back home is another level.
If you missed any of these spooky episodes, be sure to check them out by following Horrifying History in your favourite podcast provider. Another way to listen is by going to our webpage:
https://horrifying-history-shop.fourthwall.com
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…and until next time…