Roots & Riddles

Roots & Riddles

Unearthing forgotten chapters from Fillmore County, Minnesota, Roots and Riddles shares true tales that shaped the county—from vanished towns and courtroom mysteries to old letters and lost voices. Hosts Preston and Lenora dive into the stories your grandparents heard once… but never wrote down.

Episodes

July 30, 2025 23 mins

In the dead of night, a small-town bank explodes—literally. The culprits vanish with a modest sum, but the mystery they left behind still echoes through Wykoff’s history. Lenora and Preston revisit the crime and the clues that kept the legend alive.

📰 Sources:

  • Fillmore County Historical Society — Richard J. Bottorff article, January 4, 2021

  • Rochester Daily Post and Record, Monday, October 27, 1924

  • Levang’s Weekly, Thursda...

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In November 1974, 69-year-old Mabel Torgerud was found murdered in her quiet farmhouse near Peterson, Minnesota. Her home had been ransacked. She’d been shot four times. And nearly fifty years later, no one has been held accountable.

In this episode, Lenora and Preston retrace the final days of Mabel’s life, explore the crime scene details, and examine the limitations of rural law enforcement in the 1970s. They reflect on what it me...

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In the summer of 1892, the village of Canton, Minnesota became a place of pilgrimage and mystery. It began with a young girl who claimed to see the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus in the steeple window of the Church of the Assumption. Soon, hundreds of visitors—some traveling over 400 miles by wagon or horseback—flocked to Canton, seeking divine encounters and healing. Reported cures followed. The faithful prayed. The curious ...

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In the late 1870s and early 1880s, Fillmore County became the unexpected center of a flurry of archaeological discoveries—giant skeletons, copper tools, ancient mounds, and a mysterious clay image that left even university scientists stunned. Local newspapers buzzed with theories, from lost civilizations to tribal wars buried in legend. But after 1880, the stories faded from public memory.

In this debut episode of Roots & Riddle...

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