May 31, 2024 • 33 mins
Can ghosts ignite fires? Explore this spine-tingling mystery with us on Paranormal Peeps as we unravel a listener's chilling tale of a haunted house. This eerie abode, with its basement stairs perilously close to the bedroom door and attic stairs in the bathroom, sets the stage for some genuinely unsettling experiences. You'll hear how the listener's parents separately encountered paranormal activity and only later shared their spine-chilling realizations. With a medium’s help, we meet three distinct entities: the sorrowful Mary, the playful David, and the sinister Keith. Brace yourself for multiple sightings and eerie conversations that will make you question the reality of the paranormal.
Next, we venture into the perplexing case of the Wiley Farm fires of 1948, where over 200 unexplained blazes broke out in one summer, culminating in the farm’s complete destruction. Could emotional turbulence or supernatural forces be the cause? Finally, we ponder the existence of dark wizards and their possible link to these mysterious events. Tune in for an episode packed with hair-raising stories, tantalizing theories, and a touch of the unknown. Don’t miss our gratitude for your support and a nod to the darker side of life; join me, Steph, as we explore true tales of cults, crimes, and urban legends in Sinister Story Hour.
Promo: Sinister Story Hour Show Link
Thank you for listening to the Paranormal Peeps Podcast. Check us out on Twitter @CPRParanormal on Facebook Paranormal Peeps Podcast or Coldspot Paranormal Research and on Instagram coldspot_paranormal_research
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Josh (00:00):
You're listening to the Paranormal Peeps on the Dark
Cast Network.
Come to the dark side of indiepodcasts with the Dark Cast
Network.
Jamey (00:07):
We have cookies Between the realm of the dead and the
journeys of the living.
Join Josh, jamie and Elisa asthey delve into the vast world
of the paranormal and breathelife back into the history of
the departed.
Josh (00:20):
Hey everybody, Welcome back to the Paranormal Peeps
podcast.
I'm Josh.
Jamey (00:26):
I'm Jamie and I'm Elisa.
Josh (00:27):
Hey, she's back for a second one in a row.
Jamey (00:29):
Woo, it's a record.
Josh (00:32):
It's a Christmas miracle.
Jamey (00:35):
And it's not even Christmas.
We have got today a story thatwas sent in from a listener see,
I wish more of our listenerswould send in stories like if
they have them right and ifthey're willing to share.
But I love it when someonesends us something and lets us
(00:58):
share it.
Personal stories are so muchbetter.
They're the best.
Josh (01:02):
They're absolutely the best yeah, yeah, they are, and
this is a good one.
Jamey (01:06):
Oh, I'm excited to hear it.
Josh (01:07):
Okay, I'm going to read this verbatim and just
understand that the first partis going to talk about a floor
plan.
I'm actually going to put thatup on our social media when I
post this episode, so you guyscan check it out on Instagram,
twitter or Facebook.
Jamey (01:24):
All of the above.
Josh (01:24):
All of the above.
Below is a floor plan of ourold haunted farmhouse.
To help make sense of thethings I will tell you.
The basement stairs entrance isnear my bedroom door.
Attic stairs entrance isactually in the bathroom.
The joining closet is a veryimportant part of the story
between my parents' room and mybrother's room.
(01:45):
My parents bought this housewhen I was a baby and we moved
in.
My parents were not aware ofany paranormal activity at the
time they bought the house.
It did not take long for myparents to realize it, but they
were realizing it separately.
My dad worked midnights, fournights a week.
My mom worked days.
(02:06):
They were often home alonebesides the kids.
They were both havingexperiences.
They could not explain, but itactually took a while for them
to say something to each otherbecause they didn't want the
other to think they were crazy.
Kind of common, isn't?
Aleca (02:23):
it, I get that.
Jamey (02:24):
Yeah, I get that.
Josh (02:27):
So they both learned.
They were each havingexperiences and it did not make
them want to move out.
It chose to live with it.
In the beginning the activitywas playful and harmless.
When I'm two, my youngerbrother is born in the house.
The paranormal activity grewover the years.
It was not always playful.
At times it was dark, scary andseemed evil.
(02:50):
So my, my parents understood itwas probably more than one
spirit.
They invited a medium slash,sensitive, and to see if they
could learn anything.
She picked up on three primaryentities with the house.
The one entity of a soul thatwas never born that lives in the
(03:10):
attic we call that meaning likea demon we call that a type
three yep of the three primaryentities she said one was a
pregnant woman by the name ofmary, a young boy by the name of
Mary, a young boy by the nameof David, about kindergarten age
and what she could onlydescribe as an evil black entity
(03:33):
by the name Keith.
So that would be the one thatthat's the attic.
Jamey (03:41):
Dude Yep, our thing.
Josh (03:44):
He says it was unclear whether keith murdered mary and
david, but the sensitive statedthat what was clear was that
keith was keeping mary and davidheld prisoner in that house and
not allowing them to pass over,which I think we've heard
before where type threes willhold entities in a spot and, and
(04:04):
I think it's more like I mean,I don't know how this works,
obviously, but in my mind itwould be more out of fear and
manipulation than saying likeyou physically cannot leave this
place Right.
Yeah, some type of deep sense offear.
Yeah, some type of deep senseof fear.
Jamey (04:23):
Well, and we had that instance here where there was a
woman and a little girl and theywanted to cross over and they
came here to our home seekinghelp and Elisa helped us with
that.
But there was another Was it atype three or was it a type two?
I thought it was a two and hewas not allowing that.
(04:48):
He was trying to prevent themto leave.
Aleca (04:51):
And what was interesting is there was two of like me and
someone else picked up on yeahName.
Jamey (04:58):
Yeah, that's crazy.
Josh (05:02):
He says.
I was probably around four orfive years old when I first
started seeing David.
I found him sitting by a treein the front yard and we played
for a little bit.
Every time I went outside toplay I would look for him, but
only found him outside a coupleof times.
One time I found him hidingunder our living room couch
(05:28):
looking afraid and I couldn'ttalk him out from under there.
I told my mom, but when we gotback to the couch he was gone.
I saw him and played with him afew other times in the house.
David was the only entity I everpersonally saw.
My dad also saw David just once.
He looked a lot like my brother.
My dad had a rule that mybrother had to wake him up when
he got home from kindergarten.
(05:49):
My dad woke up one day hearingcartoons and gets up to see my
brother on the couch watchingcartoons.
My dad scolds him John, youknow you're supposed to wake me
up when you get home.
My dad goes to the bathroom,comes back the TV's off and he
can't find my brother and thensees the clock and realizes my
brother isn't due home foranother hour.
Jamey (06:12):
Ooh, creep factor Right.
Aleca (06:15):
Try going back to sleep after that.
Josh (06:17):
No thanks, guess he didn't .
My mother only saw Mary and sheonly saw her once, and she was
the only one to ever see her Momwoke up in the middle of the
night One time to a pregnantwoman standing at the foot of
her bed.
My mom sat up and yelled getout of, get the hell out of my
(06:38):
house.
And the woman disappearedbefore my mother's eyes.
My mother would often just talkout loud to Mary sometimes,
didn't usually get a response,but Mary seemed to like her too.
Me and my brother went outsideto play and left the TV on, and
my mom said aloud I wish thosekids would turn off the TV when
(06:58):
they're done.
And then the TV got turned offby an invisible force.
Jamey (07:03):
Aw, mary was probably helping out, right.
Josh (07:06):
Helping take care of the house.
That's sweet.
My brother probably had itworse than any of us.
He was tormented by Keith theevil spirit multiple nights a
week.
My brother could only describeit as the monster in the closet.
Screams of terror coming frommy brother's room in the middle
of the night were very common.
My parents tried everything,including monster spray.
Aleca (07:31):
Oh yep.
Jamey (07:34):
Just to like make the kid , yeah, just to make the kid
feel.
Josh (07:41):
My dad even told my brother one time that he killed
the monster and now it's gone.
Nothing stopped it.
My dad even told my brother onetime that he killed the monster
and now it's gone.
Nothing stopped it.
My dad got tired of it.
My dad got tired of it.
Just walled up the closet doorand my brother didn't have a
closet anymore.
But it worked.
My brother found peace, but mydad did not.
After sealing off my brother'sside, my dad started seeing it
(08:05):
on his side of the closet.
He told me it was about sixfeet tall solid black mass, no
facial features or structure,and a very uneasy feeling when
you see it.
My dad said he didn't know whatwas worse laying facing it and
having to see it or turning awayand feeling it.
(08:28):
Look at you.
Aleca (08:31):
No, thank you.
Enter my teenage years.
Jamey (08:36):
No thanks, I couldn't even imagine that.
Josh (08:38):
Right.
Jamey (08:39):
Either way, you're just, that's not.
That's a gross feeling, I'msure.
Josh (08:43):
My dad quickly became a believer in the monster in the
closet.
But that's not the worst my dadever experienced.
He was scared out of the houseone day, while home alone and
every door in the house wasopening and slamming shut
violently, my dad left in ahurry and went to my mom's work,
parked next to her car andslept in his car.
Aleca (09:05):
What about the kids?
Josh (09:06):
I was just thinking that.
Aleca (09:08):
Where are the kids?
Oh wait, if he worked nightsand she worked during the day,
so the kids were at school.
The kids are at school.
Yeah, there you go.
That would be so freaky.
Jamey (09:22):
The door thing I can attest is scary, although I
didn't see the doors opening andslamming, but I heard them and
felt them downstairs.
Josh (09:33):
When my mom got off she asked him what he's doing.
He explained to her whathappened and said he's not going
back home alone.
Mary was a very playfulprankster.
Mary loved guests.
She would play with them almostevery time we would have guests
over and she would love to playwith the lights and tap people
(09:53):
on the shoulder.
When she would play with thelights and guests would look
scared, my mom would say, allright, mary, that's enough and
they would stop.
My parents would hire ababysitter to watch us kids when
they wanted to go out.
We almost never had the samebabysitter.
None of them ever wanted tocome back to the house a second
(10:15):
time.
Aleca (10:16):
Reward Disclaimer Our place is haunted Right.
Jamey (10:20):
We'll give you more money here.
Sign this Sign this NDA.
Josh (10:26):
We had a chain lock on the basement door Neither me or my
brother could reach, so my dadknew it wasn't us kids.
He liked to keep it locked.
He often found it unlocked.
He said it was almost became agame to see how many times he
would have to lock it just in asingle day.
Other items began moving around.
(10:47):
Our place was very common aswell, among footsteps and random
chatter.
Aleca (10:52):
This is a lot.
Josh (10:54):
It's a lot.
My brother and I heard whisperscoming from one of the vents.
One time we could tell what itwas saying.
We reported to my mom.
My mom seemed unimpressed andjust said well then, stay away
from that vent.
Aleca (11:10):
Me and my brothers used to do that.
We used to talk to each otherthrough the bed, so that's
awesome.
Josh (11:18):
This is the part that I lose a lot of people on, but I'm
reporting it the same way.
My mother reported it to me Onenight after me and my brother
are in bed, my dad is at workand my mom is the only one up.
This is one of the nights shejust randomly was talking out
loud to Mary and she tells MaryMary, I know that you and your
(11:39):
son are being kept here againstyour will.
I want you to do whatever youhave to to free yourself from
this house.
Just don't take anybody elsewith you.
12 hours later, house caughtfire and was deemed a total loss
.
Me and my brother were atschool when it started, my mom
at work and my dad home asleep.
(11:59):
A lot of people suspected mydad in the cause of the fire,
since it was reported that hewas sleeping on the dining room
floor.
I understand that it seemsweird, but it was normal for my
dad.
My parents had a water bed.
My dad had severe had a severeback injury.
Sleeping on a firm surface likethe floor was better on his
(12:20):
back.
He slept on the floor often andhe still has serious back
problems to this day and hasbeen on disability for years.
We tore their house down andfilled in the old foundation.
My parents built a new house inthe backyard of the old house
in 1994.
There was never any paranormalactivity in the new house.
(12:41):
All of the entities were gone.
I really wish I knew more aboutMary and Davidid.
I wish I knew more about theirlives, but I don't think I ever
will.
I still have nightmares aboutthat house, occasionally in the
evil spirit, occasionally wow,wow do whatever it takes, and so
(13:04):
she burns the house down yeah
Jamey (13:07):
wow, yeah.
His mom telling mary and davidto do what you have to do to get
away from this house and don'ttake anybody with you.
And then keith is so mad heburns the house down yeah dang,
just like when the dad sealed uphis older brother's closet
(13:30):
keith was mad.
Aleca (13:30):
So then he's like, okay, fine, it could go either way
yeah, like it could be thatkeith got so mad that he burned
the house down.
Yeah, or that that was the onlyway for her to get out to get
away.
So she's the one who did it.
Jamey (13:45):
Yeah to get away To get away.
It could go either way.
Josh (13:48):
Yeah.
Jamey (13:50):
Yeah, wow.
Josh (13:52):
I know it's a crazy story.
Aleca (13:54):
Man, that's intense.
Jamey (13:56):
That is very intense, I mean, if you just get like a
visual and put yourself.
Josh (14:02):
I feel bad for his brother the most.
Jamey (14:05):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, it sounds like he wastortured quite a bit from the
dark entity.
Aleca (14:11):
I'm surprised they didn't believe him, for all the stuff
that they were dealing with inthe house yeah, I think they
believed him.
Josh (14:18):
I think what they were trying to do is just comfort him
enough so that he would justthey didn't want to add fuel to
the fire.
Jamey (14:28):
Like you know, parents do .
They downplay it.
Aleca (14:32):
You know, here I'll do this and it'll like like move
the kid's room somewhere else,like pair him up with another
kid or, yeah I don't know, havehim sleep in your room.
If it's that scary, I mean,yeah, I don't know he has to see
the tough situation.
Josh (14:51):
I think there wasn't any.
There wasn't any place to gookay, so yeah, they were limited
it was a.
Jamey (14:58):
It was a tiny well, I'm really glad, yeah, that when
they built the new one, that itall, then it all stopped yes,
yeah um, that's a relief,because a lot of times you hear
about these things, um, and theyjust continue on continue,
especially when you're buildingsomething on the same lot or
around the people, the propertyor the home yep oh yeah, so it
(15:23):
wasn't.
Aleca (15:23):
It's not a big house makes total sense why they had
to stay there.
Josh (15:28):
But yeah, so scary I know, but that got me.
This story got me thinking.
It's like well, if a ghostburned down this house, what's
the chances of a ghost burningdown another house Like, are
there any other cases out thereof spirits burning down houses?
Jamey (15:51):
I'm sure you can find quite a few where they've
started fires, and I found one.
Well okay, but before thatweren't there fires that broke
out in the Sally house, like itnever burnt it down, but but
fires started.
But fires started.
And they don't know how.
I have no idea.
Josh (16:14):
I'm trying to think, I don't know how I have no idea.
Jamey (16:16):
I'm trying to think, I don't know.
Yeah, I thought I could bewrong, but there was some.
There was one story that I hadread where, in fact, I've seen
multiple over the years wherethey claim that, uh, the
paranormal has started fires inhomes, like little fires that
broke out.
They may not have burnt downthe house, but they definitely
(16:38):
started fires.
Josh (16:39):
Yeah, so I got one more to go over.
Okay, and this one isn't onefire, it's multiple, it's 200
fires.
Jamey (16:48):
What, what.
Josh (16:50):
Yeah.
Jamey (16:51):
Who's counting?
Josh (16:53):
This poor family, I guess.
Jamey (16:54):
You got like one of those clickers one.
Josh (16:59):
So we're going to this.
One is about the Wiley Farm.
Jamey (17:03):
Okay.
Josh (17:04):
So in August 14th 1948, a barn burned to the ground on the
farm of Charles Wiley, wholived outside of Malcolm,
illinois.
Such an event would not seem tobe much cause for alarm, except
for the fact that the source ofthe fire has never truly been
explained.
Plus, it was just one ofhundreds of fires that broke out
on his property in the summerof 1948.
Jamey (17:26):
So this all happened in one year, like all 200 fires.
Josh (17:31):
In one summer.
Jamey (17:33):
Oh my, that's nuts.
Josh (17:36):
The only person connected to each of these fires seems to
be his niece, a teenager, ateenager named when at, who may
have been starting the fireswith her mind.
Jamey (17:47):
Hi, bro, scary, that's like Carrie Do Barrymore and
fire starter.
Josh (17:53):
I never seen that movie.
Jamey (17:54):
I haven't either, but I've heard of it and I know it's
about a little girl who canstart fires with her mind.
Aleca (17:59):
Or Sissy Spacek and Carrie.
Josh (18:02):
Yeah, I was thinking Carrie.
Yeah, burns a whole town down.
Jamey (18:04):
I haven't seen that one either.
Oh, you haven't.
Aleca (18:06):
I have not.
Oh man, you got to watch it.
Josh (18:10):
Honestly they deserve it for what they did to her.
But yeah, it's a good read thebook.
Watch the movie for sure.
Following her parents' bitterdivorce, wynette and her father
moved to the Wiley farm.
Wynette was unhappy anddisturbed, and emotions were
running high that summer, whichmay have been the reason for the
mysterious fires they began onAugust 7th.
(18:32):
At the time, the residents ofthe farm included Wiley, his
wife, his brother-in-law andWynette's father, arthur McNeil,
and McNeil's two children,arthur Jr, 8, and Wynette, who
had just turned 13.
The first fire began not as ablaze, but as a small brown spot
that appeared on the wallpaperin the living room of the Wiley
(18:54):
farmhouse.
There's a small brown spot thatappeared on the wallpaper in
the living room of the Wileyfarmhouse.
The first spot was followed byanother and then another.
The spots would appear andspread out several inches as
they were smoldering, and then,when they became hot enough, the
spots burst into flames.
The brown spots occurred dayafter day, leaving the family
confused and befuddled.
Wiley called on several of hisneighbors to investigate, but
(19:17):
they were all mystified as hewas.
However, many of them stayed onthe property, crowding into the
house, even sleeping on thefloor, in an attempt to help
watch over the situation, pansand buckets were filled with
water, placed all over the house, and each time one of these
small fires broke out, it wasquickly doused.
Jamey (19:38):
I mean, that's awfully neighborly of all of them to do
that.
That's kind of cool.
Josh (19:42):
That is really neat.
Regardless, the fires keptpopping up in front of the
startled witnesses.
As word spread, friends andneighbors came to help but could
find no cause for them.
Malcolm's fire chiefred wilsonwas just as confused as everyone
else.
In the days that followed,fires also appeared outside of
(20:02):
the house, on the front porch.
Curtains were ignited inseveral of the rooms oh my word.
An ironing board board burstinto flames.
A cloth that was lying on thebed burned so hot it turned into
ash, but not the bed.
Aleca (20:17):
That's interesting.
Josh (20:18):
Chief Wilson had never seen anything like it before.
Charles Wiley contacted hisinsurance company and the
investigators were just asconfused.
Deputy State Fire Marshal JohnBugard, also contacted by Chief
Wilson, and he too came to theWiley farm.
Something got everybody outthere.
He was also confused by thestrange events.
(20:40):
Nobody has ever heard ofanything like this, he announced
to the press, but I saw it withmy own eyes.
In the week that followed, morethan 200 fires broke out at the
house, on average 20 a day.
Whoa, that is nuts, absolutelynuts.
(21:00):
Finally, on saturday, august14th, one of the blades blazes
raged out of control and beforethe malcolm fire department
could be summoned with trucks,the entire wiley farmhouse was
consumed.
Aleca (21:11):
charles at that point you just kind of let it go right I
mean just let it happen?
Jamey (21:15):
yeah, because who can?
Who can keep up with that manyfires a day around the clock?
Josh (21:21):
yeah that'd drive you crazy so charles wiley did what
he could do best right is tokeep his family safe or at least
sheltered.
So he drove, posted in theground and made a tent shelter
for he and his wife while McNeiland children moved into the
garage.
The next day, while the Wiley'swere milking cows in the
barnyard, the barn burst intoflames and destroyed the
(21:43):
building.
Two days later, on Tuesday,several fires broke out on the
walls of the milk house, whichwas being used as a kitchen and
dining room for the family.
On Thursday morning, there weretwo more fires and a box that
was filled with newspapers wasfound burning in the chicken
house.
A few minutes later, Mrs Wileyopened a cupboard in the milk
(22:05):
house and discovered morenewspapers smoldering on the
shelf inside.
There had been no one else inthe building and the cabinet had
not been opened.
There was no logical reason forthe newspapers to have caught
fire.
Later that day, at about 6 pm,the farm's second barn caught
fire.
The blaze burned so hot thatthe entire building was
(22:28):
destroyed in less than a half anhour.
Jamey (22:31):
Whoa, that's nuts.
Josh (22:32):
The firefighters who arrived on the scene were unable
to get close to the inferno.
Jamey (22:37):
Well, yeah, when it's that dang hot.
Josh (22:39):
Yeah, it's just gone.
Jamey (22:41):
Yeah.
Josh (22:42):
Only six small outhouses remained on the farm, so the
family escaped to a nearbyvacant house.
Regardless, the fires continued.
Aleca (22:53):
Did they continue at the house that they went to?
Josh (22:55):
Yeah, the US Air Force even got involved in the mystery
.
Oh jeez, they suggested thefires could be caused by some
sort of direct radiation,presumably from the Russians.
Oh jeez, they offered nofurther assistance.
Oh, the Russians, they'regetting us now.
I mean, and why would you pickthat house of all places, like a
(23:18):
farm, a farmhouse in the middleof?
Jamey (23:20):
just at random yeah.
Josh (23:23):
By the end of the following week, the farm was
swarming with spectators,curiosity seekers, official and
self-appointed investigators andreporters.
Over 1000 people came to thefarm on August 22nd alone.
Theorists and curiosity seekersposed their own theories and
explanations.
(23:43):
They ran the gamut from flyspray, which I don't know how
chemicals flammable to radiowaves, underground gas pockets,
flying saucers and more Flyingsaucers.
Jamey (23:57):
Yep Laser beams.
Josh (24:00):
It's sharks with laser beams.
Aleca (24:04):
It can go through cupboards, space sharks.
Josh (24:07):
The authorities had a more down-to-earth explanation in
mind.
They suspected arson.
They realized that they couldnot solve the riddle as to how
the fires could appear beforethe eyes of reliable witnesses.
But things were getting out ofhand on the wiley farm.
An explanation needed to bediscovered, and quickly on
august 30th, so we haven't evengone a month, by the way, if you
(24:28):
figured this out wait, whatyear is this?
1948.
Okay, so this has all happenedwithin the month of August so
far.
Jamey (24:37):
That's nuts.
Josh (24:39):
The mystery was publicly announced solved.
The arsonist, according to theofficials, was one at McNeil,
the slight red-haired niece ofCharles Wiley.
They claimed that she wasstarting the fires with kitchen
matches when no one was looking.
They claim that she wasstarting the fires with kitchen
matches when no one was looking,ignoring the witness reports of
fires that sprang up fromnowhere, including on the
(25:00):
ceiling.
Jamey (25:02):
Where she couldn't even reach.
She couldn't even reach.
Apparently, this little girlpossessed some pretty amazing
skills, along with an amazinglyendless supply of matches.
Josh (25:18):
She had to have what you figure figure over 200 matches
on her right and she was neverwitnessed holding a match.
After hours of intensequestioning, she allegedly
confessed.
She stated that she was unhappy, didn't like the farm, wanted
to see her mother and, mosttelling, she didn't have any
pretty clothes.
The mystery was solved.
This was in spite of the factthat witnesses to the fire had
(25:39):
seen them appear on walls,floors, furniture all when
Wynette was not even in the room.
But this explanation pleasedthe authorities.
But not all of the reporterswho were present seemed
convinced.
Hundreds of paranormalinvestigators who had examined
the case over the years have notbeen reassured either.
(26:00):
One columnist from the Peorianewspaper, who had covered the
case from the beginning, statedquite frankly that he did not
believe the so-called confession.
Neither did noted researcher ofthe unexplained, vincent Gattis
, who wrote about the case.
He was convinced that the casewas a perfect example of
poltergeist phenomenon.
Aleca (26:23):
Phenomena.
Jamey (26:25):
Phenomena.
Josh (26:29):
So what really happened at the farm?
Who knows right?
Aleca (26:33):
I'm going with UFO.
Josh (26:38):
I'm going with sharks, with laser beams.
I'm going russians.
We're divided, yes, we aredivided.
Uh, we'll probably never know,because the story just went away
after that when it was taken tochicago for examination at the
illinois juvenile hospital butwas found to be mentally normal
that poor.
Thing she's a nice little kidcaught in the middle of a broken
(26:59):
home, dr sophie schroederreported.
She was later turned over toher grandmother and spent the
rest of her teenage yearsuntroubled by mysterious brown
spots that appeared, spread andburst into flames.
The insurance company paidwiley for the damage done to his
home and the farm, and the farmhouse was later rebuilt.
Arthur McNeil and his son movedback with the Wiley's for a
(27:22):
time before eventually movingout of state.
Fire officials abandoned thecase after the confession
cleared up the mystery for them,but privately, many of those
involved continued to questionwhat really occurred at the farm
.
The fire chief, fred wilson,talked about the case for quite
some time, later retired fromhis position, convinced that
(27:43):
something unexplained had takenplace.
The reporters who descended onthe wiley farm all received
closure for their stories,whether they believed the
conclusion or not, and thegeneral public was given a
solution that cannot havepossibly been the truth.
Not surprisingly, the case isstill listed as unexplained
today.
Jamey (28:03):
Wow.
Josh (28:04):
So one thing about the brown spots right.
One thing that would obviouslycause those types of things to
occur would be bad electricalwiring.
Jamey (28:14):
Of course.
Josh (28:15):
The house had none, had no electricity.
Aleca (28:17):
Oh well, rule that out, see, and I was thinking, like
when you were first talking.
I was like, oh well, it's inthe middle of the summer, or
like the peak of summer.
Maybe it was the sun goingthrough the window, yeah, like a
magnifying glass.
Magnifying glass and creatingthese spots Like as the sun is
moving.
It's like doing different spotson the house.
Josh (28:37):
Right.
Aleca (28:38):
But then if it's happening outside, and then it's
happening at the barn, and thenit's happening inside a
cupboard, it makes no sense, itdoesn't fit.
Josh (28:46):
Well, how about a piece of cloth on a bed?
Jamey (28:50):
Just the cloth.
Josh (28:51):
Yeah, just the cloth burns , it turns to ash.
Just the cloth.
Yeah, just the cloth burns.
Aleca (28:58):
And it turns to ash.
Jamey (29:07):
Or like the ironing board .
I'd be like, okay, well, if theiron's left on, but if there's
no electricity, then they hadGot nothing Right, isn't that?
Josh (29:11):
That's just a weird case.
It's very odd.
Jamey (29:20):
And it happened in 30 days and a lot of people saw it.
Yeah, many, many people saw it,people witnessed it.
Josh (29:23):
I mean, you had the fire chief, the deputy fire marshal
of the of the area inspectorsfrom insurance air force the air
force, they're all scratchingtheir heads well, the air, the
Air Force, gave the reasonableexplanation of microwaves from
Russia.
Jamey (29:40):
I mean back then I'm sure some people really bought that.
But why would they target somelittle podunk farm?
Josh (29:49):
I don't know.
Aleca (29:50):
That was their test area.
Jamey (29:52):
Well, they did a lot of testing then.
Josh (29:56):
It was the government, it was the Air Force themselves.
They wanted the land.
Jamey (30:01):
I wouldn't doubt it.
Josh (30:06):
It's such a strange story it is.
Jamey (30:09):
I mean it's intriguing because I mean you sit there and
you kind of go over differentscenarios in your head and
you're like no, this is why thisdon't work and this is why that
don't work, and you're leftwith what Not much, not much.
Yeah.
Josh (30:23):
I mean, could she have been doing it with her mind?
Could she have been startingthe fire?
Jamey (30:30):
Here's the thing, though when they asked her, and they
said she confessed to doing it.
Josh (30:34):
Yeah.
Jamey (30:35):
Would she not have mentioned?
I mean, would they not havequestioned like how, how and why
nobody in over 200 firesstarted within a month, how
nobody saw her when neighborswere sleeping on the floor with
buckets of water all over, withbuckets of water all over and so
(30:58):
many witnesses just seen ithappen just out of the blue,
when she was nowhere near thatarea.
Would they not question that?
And then, in questioning that,would she not have said well, I,
I just I do it in my head, Iyou know.
Would she not have saidsomething?
Or they just sweeping that partout of rug?
Aleca (31:13):
They just wanted to find an explanation and they're going
with the easiest oh yeah, andmost vulnerable target A little
girl, yeah.
Josh (31:22):
Who's unhappy because her parents got divorced, which
obviously you're going to beunhappy at 13.
Aleca (31:27):
Of course, yeah, but are you really going to sit there
with Maybe she's a magicianMatches out of thin air and just
flick it and light it up?
Josh (31:40):
When she's not even in the room.
Aleca (31:41):
When she's not even in the room.
See, she's a magician, that'sit.
I figured it out.
That's got to be it Solved youknow what?
Josh (31:48):
It's probably just dark wizards.
Oh my Strange.
If in doubt, blame dark wizards, oh my.
Strange If in doubt blame darkwizards, strange, strange
strange.
It is very, very strange.
Jamey (32:12):
So we just want to say thank you everybody for hanging
out and listening to these twovery interesting fire stories.
Josh (32:15):
Fire, fire fire, fire and, as always, stay ghosty my peeps
.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Are you drawn to the dark?
Do you find yourself enticed inthe forbidden and ominous?
Join me, steph, as I exploreall things menacing and
malevolent in my podcastsinister story hour.
I discuss true stories of cultsand crimes with the occasional
urban legend.
I also dedicate episodes tomissing persons in the United
(32:44):
States, and you could be themissing link to provide
information and clues that willhelp to bring them home.
Join me every week for a newstory.
Come on in, sit down and getready because it's story time.
Aleca (33:09):
Thanks for watching.
You're listening to the Paranormal Peeps on the Dark
Cast Network.
Come to the dark side of indiepodcasts with the Dark Cast
Network.
Jamey (00:07):
We have cookies Between the realm of the dead and the
journeys of the living.
Join Josh, jamie and Elisa asthey delve into the vast world
of the paranormal and breathelife back into the history of
the departed.
Josh (00:20):
Hey everybody, Welcome back to the Paranormal Peeps
podcast.
I'm Josh.
Jamey (00:26):
I'm Jamie and I'm Elisa.
Josh (00:27):
Hey, she's back for a second one in a row.
Jamey (00:29):
Woo, it's a record.
Josh (00:32):
It's a Christmas miracle.
Jamey (00:35):
And it's not even Christmas.
We have got today a story thatwas sent in from a listener see,
I wish more of our listenerswould send in stories like if
they have them right and ifthey're willing to share.
But I love it when someonesends us something and lets us
(00:58):
share it.
Personal stories are so muchbetter.
They're the best.
Josh (01:02):
They're absolutely the best yeah, yeah, they are, and
this is a good one.
Jamey (01:06):
Oh, I'm excited to hear it.
Josh (01:07):
Okay, I'm going to read this verbatim and just
understand that the first partis going to talk about a floor
plan.
I'm actually going to put thatup on our social media when I
post this episode, so you guyscan check it out on Instagram,
twitter or Facebook.
Jamey (01:24):
All of the above.
Josh (01:24):
All of the above.
Below is a floor plan of ourold haunted farmhouse.
To help make sense of thethings I will tell you.
The basement stairs entrance isnear my bedroom door.
Attic stairs entrance isactually in the bathroom.
The joining closet is a veryimportant part of the story
between my parents' room and mybrother's room.
(01:45):
My parents bought this housewhen I was a baby and we moved
in.
My parents were not aware ofany paranormal activity at the
time they bought the house.
It did not take long for myparents to realize it, but they
were realizing it separately.
My dad worked midnights, fournights a week.
My mom worked days.
(02:06):
They were often home alonebesides the kids.
They were both havingexperiences.
They could not explain, but itactually took a while for them
to say something to each otherbecause they didn't want the
other to think they were crazy.
Kind of common, isn't?
Aleca (02:23):
it, I get that.
Jamey (02:24):
Yeah, I get that.
Josh (02:27):
So they both learned.
They were each havingexperiences and it did not make
them want to move out.
It chose to live with it.
In the beginning the activitywas playful and harmless.
When I'm two, my youngerbrother is born in the house.
The paranormal activity grewover the years.
It was not always playful.
At times it was dark, scary andseemed evil.
(02:50):
So my, my parents understood itwas probably more than one
spirit.
They invited a medium slash,sensitive, and to see if they
could learn anything.
She picked up on three primaryentities with the house.
The one entity of a soul thatwas never born that lives in the
(03:10):
attic we call that meaning likea demon we call that a type
three yep of the three primaryentities she said one was a
pregnant woman by the name ofmary, a young boy by the name of
Mary, a young boy by the nameof David, about kindergarten age
and what she could onlydescribe as an evil black entity
(03:33):
by the name Keith.
So that would be the one thatthat's the attic.
Jamey (03:41):
Dude Yep, our thing.
Josh (03:44):
He says it was unclear whether keith murdered mary and
david, but the sensitive statedthat what was clear was that
keith was keeping mary and davidheld prisoner in that house and
not allowing them to pass over,which I think we've heard
before where type threes willhold entities in a spot and, and
(04:04):
I think it's more like I mean,I don't know how this works,
obviously, but in my mind itwould be more out of fear and
manipulation than saying likeyou physically cannot leave this
place Right.
Yeah, some type of deep sense offear.
Yeah, some type of deep senseof fear.
Jamey (04:23):
Well, and we had that instance here where there was a
woman and a little girl and theywanted to cross over and they
came here to our home seekinghelp and Elisa helped us with
that.
But there was another Was it atype three or was it a type two?
I thought it was a two and hewas not allowing that.
(04:48):
He was trying to prevent themto leave.
Aleca (04:51):
And what was interesting is there was two of like me and
someone else picked up on yeahName.
Jamey (04:58):
Yeah, that's crazy.
Josh (05:02):
He says.
I was probably around four orfive years old when I first
started seeing David.
I found him sitting by a treein the front yard and we played
for a little bit.
Every time I went outside toplay I would look for him, but
only found him outside a coupleof times.
One time I found him hidingunder our living room couch
(05:28):
looking afraid and I couldn'ttalk him out from under there.
I told my mom, but when we gotback to the couch he was gone.
I saw him and played with him afew other times in the house.
David was the only entity I everpersonally saw.
My dad also saw David just once.
He looked a lot like my brother.
My dad had a rule that mybrother had to wake him up when
he got home from kindergarten.
(05:49):
My dad woke up one day hearingcartoons and gets up to see my
brother on the couch watchingcartoons.
My dad scolds him John, youknow you're supposed to wake me
up when you get home.
My dad goes to the bathroom,comes back the TV's off and he
can't find my brother and thensees the clock and realizes my
brother isn't due home foranother hour.
Jamey (06:12):
Ooh, creep factor Right.
Aleca (06:15):
Try going back to sleep after that.
Josh (06:17):
No thanks, guess he didn't .
My mother only saw Mary and sheonly saw her once, and she was
the only one to ever see her Momwoke up in the middle of the
night One time to a pregnantwoman standing at the foot of
her bed.
My mom sat up and yelled getout of, get the hell out of my
(06:38):
house.
And the woman disappearedbefore my mother's eyes.
My mother would often just talkout loud to Mary sometimes,
didn't usually get a response,but Mary seemed to like her too.
Me and my brother went outsideto play and left the TV on, and
my mom said aloud I wish thosekids would turn off the TV when
(06:58):
they're done.
And then the TV got turned offby an invisible force.
Jamey (07:03):
Aw, mary was probably helping out, right.
Josh (07:06):
Helping take care of the house.
That's sweet.
My brother probably had itworse than any of us.
He was tormented by Keith theevil spirit multiple nights a
week.
My brother could only describeit as the monster in the closet.
Screams of terror coming frommy brother's room in the middle
of the night were very common.
My parents tried everything,including monster spray.
Aleca (07:31):
Oh yep.
Jamey (07:34):
Just to like make the kid , yeah, just to make the kid
feel.
Josh (07:41):
My dad even told my brother one time that he killed
the monster and now it's gone.
Nothing stopped it.
My dad even told my brother onetime that he killed the monster
and now it's gone.
Nothing stopped it.
My dad got tired of it.
My dad got tired of it.
Just walled up the closet doorand my brother didn't have a
closet anymore.
But it worked.
My brother found peace, but mydad did not.
After sealing off my brother'sside, my dad started seeing it
(08:05):
on his side of the closet.
He told me it was about sixfeet tall solid black mass, no
facial features or structure,and a very uneasy feeling when
you see it.
My dad said he didn't know whatwas worse laying facing it and
having to see it or turning awayand feeling it.
(08:28):
Look at you.
Aleca (08:31):
No, thank you.
Enter my teenage years.
Jamey (08:36):
No thanks, I couldn't even imagine that.
Josh (08:38):
Right.
Jamey (08:39):
Either way, you're just, that's not.
That's a gross feeling, I'msure.
Josh (08:43):
My dad quickly became a believer in the monster in the
closet.
But that's not the worst my dadever experienced.
He was scared out of the houseone day, while home alone and
every door in the house wasopening and slamming shut
violently, my dad left in ahurry and went to my mom's work,
parked next to her car andslept in his car.
Aleca (09:05):
What about the kids?
Josh (09:06):
I was just thinking that.
Aleca (09:08):
Where are the kids?
Oh wait, if he worked nightsand she worked during the day,
so the kids were at school.
The kids are at school.
Yeah, there you go.
That would be so freaky.
Jamey (09:22):
The door thing I can attest is scary, although I
didn't see the doors opening andslamming, but I heard them and
felt them downstairs.
Josh (09:33):
When my mom got off she asked him what he's doing.
He explained to her whathappened and said he's not going
back home alone.
Mary was a very playfulprankster.
Mary loved guests.
She would play with them almostevery time we would have guests
over and she would love to playwith the lights and tap people
(09:53):
on the shoulder.
When she would play with thelights and guests would look
scared, my mom would say, allright, mary, that's enough and
they would stop.
My parents would hire ababysitter to watch us kids when
they wanted to go out.
We almost never had the samebabysitter.
None of them ever wanted tocome back to the house a second
(10:15):
time.
Aleca (10:16):
Reward Disclaimer Our place is haunted Right.
Jamey (10:20):
We'll give you more money here.
Sign this Sign this NDA.
Josh (10:26):
We had a chain lock on the basement door Neither me or my
brother could reach, so my dadknew it wasn't us kids.
He liked to keep it locked.
He often found it unlocked.
He said it was almost became agame to see how many times he
would have to lock it just in asingle day.
Other items began moving around.
(10:47):
Our place was very common aswell, among footsteps and random
chatter.
Aleca (10:52):
This is a lot.
Josh (10:54):
It's a lot.
My brother and I heard whisperscoming from one of the vents.
One time we could tell what itwas saying.
We reported to my mom.
My mom seemed unimpressed andjust said well then, stay away
from that vent.
Aleca (11:10):
Me and my brothers used to do that.
We used to talk to each otherthrough the bed, so that's
awesome.
Josh (11:18):
This is the part that I lose a lot of people on, but I'm
reporting it the same way.
My mother reported it to me Onenight after me and my brother
are in bed, my dad is at workand my mom is the only one up.
This is one of the nights shejust randomly was talking out
loud to Mary and she tells MaryMary, I know that you and your
(11:39):
son are being kept here againstyour will.
I want you to do whatever youhave to to free yourself from
this house.
Just don't take anybody elsewith you.
12 hours later, house caughtfire and was deemed a total loss
.
Me and my brother were atschool when it started, my mom
at work and my dad home asleep.
(11:59):
A lot of people suspected mydad in the cause of the fire,
since it was reported that hewas sleeping on the dining room
floor.
I understand that it seemsweird, but it was normal for my
dad.
My parents had a water bed.
My dad had severe had a severeback injury.
Sleeping on a firm surface likethe floor was better on his
(12:20):
back.
He slept on the floor often andhe still has serious back
problems to this day and hasbeen on disability for years.
We tore their house down andfilled in the old foundation.
My parents built a new house inthe backyard of the old house
in 1994.
There was never any paranormalactivity in the new house.
(12:41):
All of the entities were gone.
I really wish I knew more aboutMary and Davidid.
I wish I knew more about theirlives, but I don't think I ever
will.
I still have nightmares aboutthat house, occasionally in the
evil spirit, occasionally wow,wow do whatever it takes, and so
(13:04):
she burns the house down yeah
Jamey (13:07):
wow, yeah.
His mom telling mary and davidto do what you have to do to get
away from this house and don'ttake anybody with you.
And then keith is so mad heburns the house down yeah dang,
just like when the dad sealed uphis older brother's closet
(13:30):
keith was mad.
Aleca (13:30):
So then he's like, okay, fine, it could go either way
yeah, like it could be thatkeith got so mad that he burned
the house down.
Yeah, or that that was the onlyway for her to get out to get
away.
So she's the one who did it.
Jamey (13:45):
Yeah to get away To get away.
It could go either way.
Josh (13:48):
Yeah.
Jamey (13:50):
Yeah, wow.
Josh (13:52):
I know it's a crazy story.
Aleca (13:54):
Man, that's intense.
Jamey (13:56):
That is very intense, I mean, if you just get like a
visual and put yourself.
Josh (14:02):
I feel bad for his brother the most.
Jamey (14:05):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, it sounds like he wastortured quite a bit from the
dark entity.
Aleca (14:11):
I'm surprised they didn't believe him, for all the stuff
that they were dealing with inthe house yeah, I think they
believed him.
Josh (14:18):
I think what they were trying to do is just comfort him
enough so that he would justthey didn't want to add fuel to
the fire.
Jamey (14:28):
Like you know, parents do .
They downplay it.
Aleca (14:32):
You know, here I'll do this and it'll like like move
the kid's room somewhere else,like pair him up with another
kid or, yeah I don't know, havehim sleep in your room.
If it's that scary, I mean,yeah, I don't know he has to see
the tough situation.
Josh (14:51):
I think there wasn't any.
There wasn't any place to gookay, so yeah, they were limited
it was a.
Jamey (14:58):
It was a tiny well, I'm really glad, yeah, that when
they built the new one, that itall, then it all stopped yes,
yeah um, that's a relief,because a lot of times you hear
about these things, um, and theyjust continue on continue,
especially when you're buildingsomething on the same lot or
around the people, the propertyor the home yep oh yeah, so it
(15:23):
wasn't.
Aleca (15:23):
It's not a big house makes total sense why they had
to stay there.
Josh (15:28):
But yeah, so scary I know, but that got me.
This story got me thinking.
It's like well, if a ghostburned down this house, what's
the chances of a ghost burningdown another house Like, are
there any other cases out thereof spirits burning down houses?
Jamey (15:51):
I'm sure you can find quite a few where they've
started fires, and I found one.
Well okay, but before thatweren't there fires that broke
out in the Sally house, like itnever burnt it down, but but
fires started.
But fires started.
And they don't know how.
I have no idea.
Josh (16:14):
I'm trying to think, I don't know how I have no idea.
Jamey (16:16):
I'm trying to think, I don't know.
Yeah, I thought I could bewrong, but there was some.
There was one story that I hadread where, in fact, I've seen
multiple over the years wherethey claim that, uh, the
paranormal has started fires inhomes, like little fires that
broke out.
They may not have burnt downthe house, but they definitely
(16:38):
started fires.
Josh (16:39):
Yeah, so I got one more to go over.
Okay, and this one isn't onefire, it's multiple, it's 200
fires.
Jamey (16:48):
What, what.
Josh (16:50):
Yeah.
Jamey (16:51):
Who's counting?
Josh (16:53):
This poor family, I guess.
Jamey (16:54):
You got like one of those clickers one.
Josh (16:59):
So we're going to this.
One is about the Wiley Farm.
Jamey (17:03):
Okay.
Josh (17:04):
So in August 14th 1948, a barn burned to the ground on the
farm of Charles Wiley, wholived outside of Malcolm,
illinois.
Such an event would not seem tobe much cause for alarm, except
for the fact that the source ofthe fire has never truly been
explained.
Plus, it was just one ofhundreds of fires that broke out
on his property in the summerof 1948.
Jamey (17:26):
So this all happened in one year, like all 200 fires.
Josh (17:31):
In one summer.
Jamey (17:33):
Oh my, that's nuts.
Josh (17:36):
The only person connected to each of these fires seems to
be his niece, a teenager, ateenager named when at, who may
have been starting the fireswith her mind.
Jamey (17:47):
Hi, bro, scary, that's like Carrie Do Barrymore and
fire starter.
Josh (17:53):
I never seen that movie.
Jamey (17:54):
I haven't either, but I've heard of it and I know it's
about a little girl who canstart fires with her mind.
Aleca (17:59):
Or Sissy Spacek and Carrie.
Josh (18:02):
Yeah, I was thinking Carrie.
Yeah, burns a whole town down.
Jamey (18:04):
I haven't seen that one either.
Oh, you haven't.
Aleca (18:06):
I have not.
Oh man, you got to watch it.
Josh (18:10):
Honestly they deserve it for what they did to her.
But yeah, it's a good read thebook.
Watch the movie for sure.
Following her parents' bitterdivorce, wynette and her father
moved to the Wiley farm.
Wynette was unhappy anddisturbed, and emotions were
running high that summer, whichmay have been the reason for the
mysterious fires they began onAugust 7th.
(18:32):
At the time, the residents ofthe farm included Wiley, his
wife, his brother-in-law andWynette's father, arthur McNeil,
and McNeil's two children,arthur Jr, 8, and Wynette, who
had just turned 13.
The first fire began not as ablaze, but as a small brown spot
that appeared on the wallpaperin the living room of the Wiley
(18:54):
farmhouse.
There's a small brown spot thatappeared on the wallpaper in
the living room of the Wileyfarmhouse.
The first spot was followed byanother and then another.
The spots would appear andspread out several inches as
they were smoldering, and then,when they became hot enough, the
spots burst into flames.
The brown spots occurred dayafter day, leaving the family
confused and befuddled.
Wiley called on several of hisneighbors to investigate, but
(19:17):
they were all mystified as hewas.
However, many of them stayed onthe property, crowding into the
house, even sleeping on thefloor, in an attempt to help
watch over the situation, pansand buckets were filled with
water, placed all over the house, and each time one of these
small fires broke out, it wasquickly doused.
Jamey (19:38):
I mean, that's awfully neighborly of all of them to do
that.
That's kind of cool.
Josh (19:42):
That is really neat.
Regardless, the fires keptpopping up in front of the
startled witnesses.
As word spread, friends andneighbors came to help but could
find no cause for them.
Malcolm's fire chiefred wilsonwas just as confused as everyone
else.
In the days that followed,fires also appeared outside of
(20:02):
the house, on the front porch.
Curtains were ignited inseveral of the rooms oh my word.
An ironing board board burstinto flames.
A cloth that was lying on thebed burned so hot it turned into
ash, but not the bed.
Aleca (20:17):
That's interesting.
Josh (20:18):
Chief Wilson had never seen anything like it before.
Charles Wiley contacted hisinsurance company and the
investigators were just asconfused.
Deputy State Fire Marshal JohnBugard, also contacted by Chief
Wilson, and he too came to theWiley farm.
Something got everybody outthere.
He was also confused by thestrange events.
(20:40):
Nobody has ever heard ofanything like this, he announced
to the press, but I saw it withmy own eyes.
In the week that followed, morethan 200 fires broke out at the
house, on average 20 a day.
Whoa, that is nuts, absolutelynuts.
(21:00):
Finally, on saturday, august14th, one of the blades blazes
raged out of control and beforethe malcolm fire department
could be summoned with trucks,the entire wiley farmhouse was
consumed.
Aleca (21:11):
charles at that point you just kind of let it go right I
mean just let it happen?
Jamey (21:15):
yeah, because who can?
Who can keep up with that manyfires a day around the clock?
Josh (21:21):
yeah that'd drive you crazy so charles wiley did what
he could do best right is tokeep his family safe or at least
sheltered.
So he drove, posted in theground and made a tent shelter
for he and his wife while McNeiland children moved into the
garage.
The next day, while the Wiley'swere milking cows in the
barnyard, the barn burst intoflames and destroyed the
(21:43):
building.
Two days later, on Tuesday,several fires broke out on the
walls of the milk house, whichwas being used as a kitchen and
dining room for the family.
On Thursday morning, there weretwo more fires and a box that
was filled with newspapers wasfound burning in the chicken
house.
A few minutes later, Mrs Wileyopened a cupboard in the milk
(22:05):
house and discovered morenewspapers smoldering on the
shelf inside.
There had been no one else inthe building and the cabinet had
not been opened.
There was no logical reason forthe newspapers to have caught
fire.
Later that day, at about 6 pm,the farm's second barn caught
fire.
The blaze burned so hot thatthe entire building was
(22:28):
destroyed in less than a half anhour.
Jamey (22:31):
Whoa, that's nuts.
Josh (22:32):
The firefighters who arrived on the scene were unable
to get close to the inferno.
Jamey (22:37):
Well, yeah, when it's that dang hot.
Josh (22:39):
Yeah, it's just gone.
Jamey (22:41):
Yeah.
Josh (22:42):
Only six small outhouses remained on the farm, so the
family escaped to a nearbyvacant house.
Regardless, the fires continued.
Aleca (22:53):
Did they continue at the house that they went to?
Josh (22:55):
Yeah, the US Air Force even got involved in the mystery
.
Oh jeez, they suggested thefires could be caused by some
sort of direct radiation,presumably from the Russians.
Oh jeez, they offered nofurther assistance.
Oh, the Russians, they'regetting us now.
I mean, and why would you pickthat house of all places, like a
(23:18):
farm, a farmhouse in the middleof?
Jamey (23:20):
just at random yeah.
Josh (23:23):
By the end of the following week, the farm was
swarming with spectators,curiosity seekers, official and
self-appointed investigators andreporters.
Over 1000 people came to thefarm on August 22nd alone.
Theorists and curiosity seekersposed their own theories and
explanations.
(23:43):
They ran the gamut from flyspray, which I don't know how
chemicals flammable to radiowaves, underground gas pockets,
flying saucers and more Flyingsaucers.
Jamey (23:57):
Yep Laser beams.
Josh (24:00):
It's sharks with laser beams.
Aleca (24:04):
It can go through cupboards, space sharks.
Josh (24:07):
The authorities had a more down-to-earth explanation in
mind.
They suspected arson.
They realized that they couldnot solve the riddle as to how
the fires could appear beforethe eyes of reliable witnesses.
But things were getting out ofhand on the wiley farm.
An explanation needed to bediscovered, and quickly on
august 30th, so we haven't evengone a month, by the way, if you
(24:28):
figured this out wait, whatyear is this?
1948.
Okay, so this has all happenedwithin the month of August so
far.
Jamey (24:37):
That's nuts.
Josh (24:39):
The mystery was publicly announced solved.
The arsonist, according to theofficials, was one at McNeil,
the slight red-haired niece ofCharles Wiley.
They claimed that she wasstarting the fires with kitchen
matches when no one was looking.
They claim that she wasstarting the fires with kitchen
matches when no one was looking,ignoring the witness reports of
fires that sprang up fromnowhere, including on the
(25:00):
ceiling.
Jamey (25:02):
Where she couldn't even reach.
She couldn't even reach.
Apparently, this little girlpossessed some pretty amazing
skills, along with an amazinglyendless supply of matches.
Josh (25:18):
She had to have what you figure figure over 200 matches
on her right and she was neverwitnessed holding a match.
After hours of intensequestioning, she allegedly
confessed.
She stated that she was unhappy, didn't like the farm, wanted
to see her mother and, mosttelling, she didn't have any
pretty clothes.
The mystery was solved.
This was in spite of the factthat witnesses to the fire had
(25:39):
seen them appear on walls,floors, furniture all when
Wynette was not even in the room.
But this explanation pleasedthe authorities.
But not all of the reporterswho were present seemed
convinced.
Hundreds of paranormalinvestigators who had examined
the case over the years have notbeen reassured either.
(26:00):
One columnist from the Peorianewspaper, who had covered the
case from the beginning, statedquite frankly that he did not
believe the so-called confession.
Neither did noted researcher ofthe unexplained, vincent Gattis
, who wrote about the case.
He was convinced that the casewas a perfect example of
poltergeist phenomenon.
Aleca (26:23):
Phenomena.
Jamey (26:25):
Phenomena.
Josh (26:29):
So what really happened at the farm?
Who knows right?
Aleca (26:33):
I'm going with UFO.
Josh (26:38):
I'm going with sharks, with laser beams.
I'm going russians.
We're divided, yes, we aredivided.
Uh, we'll probably never know,because the story just went away
after that when it was taken tochicago for examination at the
illinois juvenile hospital butwas found to be mentally normal
that poor.
Thing she's a nice little kidcaught in the middle of a broken
(26:59):
home, dr sophie schroederreported.
She was later turned over toher grandmother and spent the
rest of her teenage yearsuntroubled by mysterious brown
spots that appeared, spread andburst into flames.
The insurance company paidwiley for the damage done to his
home and the farm, and the farmhouse was later rebuilt.
Arthur McNeil and his son movedback with the Wiley's for a
(27:22):
time before eventually movingout of state.
Fire officials abandoned thecase after the confession
cleared up the mystery for them,but privately, many of those
involved continued to questionwhat really occurred at the farm
.
The fire chief, fred wilson,talked about the case for quite
some time, later retired fromhis position, convinced that
(27:43):
something unexplained had takenplace.
The reporters who descended onthe wiley farm all received
closure for their stories,whether they believed the
conclusion or not, and thegeneral public was given a
solution that cannot havepossibly been the truth.
Not surprisingly, the case isstill listed as unexplained
today.
Jamey (28:03):
Wow.
Josh (28:04):
So one thing about the brown spots right.
One thing that would obviouslycause those types of things to
occur would be bad electricalwiring.
Jamey (28:14):
Of course.
Josh (28:15):
The house had none, had no electricity.
Aleca (28:17):
Oh well, rule that out, see, and I was thinking, like
when you were first talking.
I was like, oh well, it's inthe middle of the summer, or
like the peak of summer.
Maybe it was the sun goingthrough the window, yeah, like a
magnifying glass.
Magnifying glass and creatingthese spots Like as the sun is
moving.
It's like doing different spotson the house.
Josh (28:37):
Right.
Aleca (28:38):
But then if it's happening outside, and then it's
happening at the barn, and thenit's happening inside a
cupboard, it makes no sense, itdoesn't fit.
Josh (28:46):
Well, how about a piece of cloth on a bed?
Jamey (28:50):
Just the cloth.
Josh (28:51):
Yeah, just the cloth burns , it turns to ash.
Just the cloth.
Yeah, just the cloth burns.
Aleca (28:58):
And it turns to ash.
Jamey (29:07):
Or like the ironing board .
I'd be like, okay, well, if theiron's left on, but if there's
no electricity, then they hadGot nothing Right, isn't that?
Josh (29:11):
That's just a weird case.
It's very odd.
Jamey (29:20):
And it happened in 30 days and a lot of people saw it.
Yeah, many, many people saw it,people witnessed it.
Josh (29:23):
I mean, you had the fire chief, the deputy fire marshal
of the of the area inspectorsfrom insurance air force the air
force, they're all scratchingtheir heads well, the air, the
Air Force, gave the reasonableexplanation of microwaves from
Russia.
Jamey (29:40):
I mean back then I'm sure some people really bought that.
But why would they target somelittle podunk farm?
Josh (29:49):
I don't know.
Aleca (29:50):
That was their test area.
Jamey (29:52):
Well, they did a lot of testing then.
Josh (29:56):
It was the government, it was the Air Force themselves.
They wanted the land.
Jamey (30:01):
I wouldn't doubt it.
Josh (30:06):
It's such a strange story it is.
Jamey (30:09):
I mean it's intriguing because I mean you sit there and
you kind of go over differentscenarios in your head and
you're like no, this is why thisdon't work and this is why that
don't work, and you're leftwith what Not much, not much.
Yeah.
Josh (30:23):
I mean, could she have been doing it with her mind?
Could she have been startingthe fire?
Jamey (30:30):
Here's the thing, though when they asked her, and they
said she confessed to doing it.
Josh (30:34):
Yeah.
Jamey (30:35):
Would she not have mentioned?
I mean, would they not havequestioned like how, how and why
nobody in over 200 firesstarted within a month, how
nobody saw her when neighborswere sleeping on the floor with
buckets of water all over, withbuckets of water all over and so
(30:58):
many witnesses just seen ithappen just out of the blue,
when she was nowhere near thatarea.
Would they not question that?
And then, in questioning that,would she not have said well, I,
I just I do it in my head, Iyou know.
Would she not have saidsomething?
Or they just sweeping that partout of rug?
Aleca (31:13):
They just wanted to find an explanation and they're going
with the easiest oh yeah, andmost vulnerable target A little
girl, yeah.
Josh (31:22):
Who's unhappy because her parents got divorced, which
obviously you're going to beunhappy at 13.
Aleca (31:27):
Of course, yeah, but are you really going to sit there
with Maybe she's a magicianMatches out of thin air and just
flick it and light it up?
Josh (31:40):
When she's not even in the room.
Aleca (31:41):
When she's not even in the room.
See, she's a magician, that'sit.
I figured it out.
That's got to be it Solved youknow what?
Josh (31:48):
It's probably just dark wizards.
Oh my Strange.
If in doubt, blame dark wizards, oh my.
Strange If in doubt blame darkwizards, strange, strange
strange.
It is very, very strange.
Jamey (32:12):
So we just want to say thank you everybody for hanging
out and listening to these twovery interesting fire stories.
Josh (32:15):
Fire, fire fire, fire and, as always, stay ghosty my peeps
.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Are you drawn to the dark?
Do you find yourself enticed inthe forbidden and ominous?
Join me, steph, as I exploreall things menacing and
malevolent in my podcastsinister story hour.
I discuss true stories of cultsand crimes with the occasional
urban legend.
I also dedicate episodes tomissing persons in the United
(32:44):
States, and you could be themissing link to provide
information and clues that willhelp to bring them home.
Join me every week for a newstory.
Come on in, sit down and getready because it's story time.
Aleca (33:09):
Thanks for watching.
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