The Candy Woman

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Today we're going to betalking about the Candy Woman legend,
and we're not just going totalk about the lore itself.
We're also going to dig intothe facts within the lore to see
if there's any truth behind it.
Hi.
Welcome to True Creeps, wherethe stories are true and the creeps
are real.
We'll cover stories fromgrotesque gore to the possibly plausible

(00:21):
paranormal to horrifying history.
To tense and terrible truecrime and.
Everything else that goes bumpin the night.
We're your hosts, Amanda, andI'm Lindsay.
And we want you to join uswhile we creep.
We cover mature topics.
Listener discretion is advised.
Hey, everybody.
Today we're going to betalking about an urban legend, and

(00:43):
it's the Candy Woman or theCandy Lady.
I've seen her described asboth, but we're going to call her
the Candy Woman.
Sounds good.
Yeah.
I feel like the Candy lady just.
It has a different vibe to it.
Yeah.
I don't know why.
I don't think I like it as much.
But this is another one wherewe've actually had it on our list
for quite a while.
And for the amount of researchthat we've done, I feel like this

(01:06):
is gonna be a shorter episode,but I do think it's very interesting.
So we're just gonna get rightinto the Candy Woman legend.
So legend has it that ClaraCrane, who was born in 1871 in Terrell,
Texas, graduated from highschool, and then she married an older
man named Leonard Gilbert Crane.
So some sources say that hewas at least 20 years older than

(01:26):
her.
He was a farmer when they met,and they had a farm together, and
that's where they worked and lived.
They had a daughter namedMarcella who was born in 1893.
And as all parents should be,Clara was all about her daughter.
Marcella was the light of her life.
So one day, Clara leftMarcella with Leonard while she went
into town, as you should beable to do.

(01:47):
Leonard was working on thefarm and kind of keeping, like, an
eye out on Marcella.
He was aware of what she wasdoing, but he was doing work.
Yeah, but that's doing.
He was also drinking from hisflask throughout the day.
And so as he drank more, hegot more and more inebriated, and
he kind of just lost track ofMarcela and what she was doing.
So during this time, Marcelaends up falling down a hill, and

(02:10):
she died as a result of theinjuries from that fall, and she
was just five years old.
That's so sad.
It's so sad.
It's so sad.
And quite reasonably, Claraimmediately blamed Leonard for Marcela's
death because not only was hein charge and watching her, but.
But he was drunk.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Fair.
He wasn't watching his kid.
She's outside playing on a farm.

(02:30):
She could easily get hurt witha number of items, not even including,
like, the terrain itself.
Yeah, that's fair.
Especially where they livedand, like, for old school Texas,
too.
I just feel like in that sortof climate and land, like you, you
would have to keep an eye onthe children.
Yeah.
I mean, really anywhere but,like, Texas, you know, very open.

(02:51):
Yeah.
Especially, like 1800s farm.
It's full of sharp objects and rust.
Like, that's just.
It's like a rust farm.
That's what they grow is sharpobjects and rust, obviously.
Clearly.
Yeah.
So obviously, like, horrific,tragic accident happened.
He had been drinking.
And of course, Clara's prettypissed off.
Like, rightfully so.

(03:11):
She left the father in charge.
You would think it would be okay.
Well, two years afterMarcella's death, Clara murders Leonard.
Interesting note about Leonard.
His favorite candy was caramels.
So she made him some caramelsand added some kind of poison to
them, and then he died aftereating them.
Interesting thinking about howshe got her name here.

(03:31):
Right.
So accounts don't say how longit was after or what symptoms he
had before his death, justthat he died of some kind of poison.
Yeah.
Which I think is interestingbecause I feel like a lot of things
from that time period.
It's like arsenic.
It's like the first thing you hear.
So I thought it wasinteresting that we didn't see a
lot of that in our research.

(03:51):
Was that like, specificallycalling out arsenic or saying how
they decided it was poison?
Right.
Or everlasting.
Faint.
Well, that's an old one.
It is.
So the day after Claramurdered Leonard, their neighbor
noticed that Clara was actingvery strangely.
Specifically, they noted thatshe was acting, quote, shaken and

(04:12):
in a frenzied state, which.
Okay.
Like, now you've lost two ofyour family members.
I mean, you're kind of toblame for the last one, but, like,
still, I get it now.
They called the countysheriff, Fred Springer.
And when Fred got to the Cranefarm, Klara was aggressive to the
sheriff.
So then she was arrested.

(04:32):
And from here, it gets even alittle bit more murky.
It's unclear how lawenforcement found out what happened
to Leonard.
When was his body found?
Did Clara confess something else?
We don't know.
But we do know that per thelegend, she was charged with first
degree murder and as aninteresting note, some sources say
that she was tried in Elliscounty, but Terrell is in Kaufman

(04:55):
County, Texas.
Interesting.
Interesting.
Reports differ on Clara'saccount of the time of the murder.
Some say that she confessed tothe murder itself while she was in
custody.
Other sources say that sheclaims that she was unconscious.
I don't know what the that means.
If I said, what were you doingat the time of the murder?
And you responded, I wasunconscious, I feel like I would

(05:19):
have more questions.
I would have follow.
I was unconscious.
I was unconscious.
Like, were you also drugged?
Are you bizarre?
And that's how you describe sleep.
Others like other options.
I'm going to go be unconscious now.
Yeah, that's why I'm text youwhen I go to bed.
Yeah.
When you're waking up.
Rather than, like,dissociating, I'm just gonna go full
unconscious.
Like, I just.
I just need a little bit ofthis unconscious time.

(05:42):
I need that all the time.
Anyway.
Clara was unconscious,apparently, when she made the caramels
with poison and fed them toher husband.
Can that be a sticker?
Just two Benadryls and justfoot unconscious.
It says it's my unconscious time.
Goodbye.
I'm gonna listen to yourcreeps and go unconscious scene.

(06:04):
The horrors persist.
But I'm unconscious and it'sjust a bottle of Benadryl.
Okay.
So I wrote this in theoutline, and I was just very, like,
tickled with myself.
And I added, there's a clip ofa newspaper article with dubious
origins floating around.
When you search this urbanlegend, it does not look like it's
from the 1800s.
Let's start there.
I feel like the oldest.

(06:25):
This could be Max old.
Okay.
Max old is 1900s.
Like 1990.
There's no way this is olderthan 1990.
Yeah.
Unless someone is, like,really good at fixing old articles.
Perhaps.
But it's on really smoothpaper, which sounds really strange,

(06:46):
but it looks typed.
Like, it looks.
They photoshopped the oldarticle to make it look newer.
Yeah, clearly that's whatpeople do with all their time.
Also, it's a typewriter font,and I just feel like that's a more
modern thing maybe.
Yeah, it just.
It looks too nice.
Yes, yes.
Because there's some articlesfrom, like, 1970 that look shittier

(07:07):
than that, you know?
Yes, agreed, Agreed.
It also just doesn't feelsound like it's from the 1800s.
I don't know what I think thatthat would sound like, but I just.
The vibe doesn't.
It didn't say she had aneverlasting faint.
It did not.
Right, so it's titled wifepoisoned husband with Candy.
Clara Crane, 28 years old, wasarraigned in the Haddock county street

(07:28):
courthouse Wednesday morning.
Mrs. Crane is suspected byEllis county sheriffs of murdering
her husband, Leonard GilbertCrane, 41 years old, by poisoning.
On Friday, the sheriffsalleged that the Crane woman possessed
poisoned caramels that werethen consumed by her husband.
The day after his death, aneighbor had come by the Crane house
and found Mrs. Craneattempting to build a large fire

(07:49):
next to their house in a,quote, shaken and frenzied state.
Okay, Chad Daybell.
Yeah, Chad, it is.
Chad Day.
Ball Vibes.
Right.
When sheriff Deputy FredSpringer arrived at the residence,
Mrs. Kane became physicallyaggressive and was restrained and
taken into custody.
The sheriff's department wouldnot comment on the possibility that
Mrs. Crane might have had theintention of burning down the residence.

(08:11):
The Cranes have resided fornine years in Flint Crossing, a small
farming community of westEllis County.
Two years ago they sufferedthe death of their only daughter,
five year old Marcella Crane.
The incident was deemed anaccident by investigators with no
suspicions of either of theCranes involvement.
Mrs. Crane faces charges ofmurder in the first degree.
She's facing a life sentence.

(08:32):
Though some close to theinvestigation have alleged that she
might be suffering from mania.
The possibility could meanleniency in sentencing or commitment
to an asylum.
Mrs. Crane will be kept at theEllis county prison facility while
she awaits trial, which willlikely be scheduled for July.
So we've got a lot of facts inthere, right?
A lot of facts is we got a lotof places.
Yeah.
Some things that were in thisthat were not included anywhere else

(08:54):
were Clara and Leonard's ages specifically?
Yes.
The fact that she was tried atthe Haddock street courthouse in
Ellis County.
The fact that there was a firethat was there at the house and that
she was being kept at theEllis county prison facility.
Yeah, yeah.
It seems legit because it hasdates, full names, ages and places

(09:15):
and it's typed.
So people are like, it's a fact.
Yeah, yeah.
Like it's.
I think that the thing thatmakes it the least convincing to
me is that it's not spacedlike a news article.
Right.
Like think about like whenyou're looking at like an old timey
newspaper.
The letters are thicker.
Yeah.
And they vary kind of likebecause of the printing and the way
that they print.
Yes.
It's not that precise and it's.

(09:37):
Everything's tighter becausethey're trying to fit as much as
possible.
This is like 1.5 spaced.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it doesn't.
I mean, it's a clipping, soyou don't see, like, the date and
all of that fun stuff attachedto it.
But still, like, usuallythere's something else.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So after this article and someother sources, they say that rather

(09:57):
than facing life in prison,Clara was committed to the North
Texas Lunatic Asylum, which isnow known as the Terrell State Hospital.
Some retellings of Clara'sstory say that while she was at the
asylum, she made a doll out ofbedding and named it after her daughter,
Marcella, and that she wouldoften talk or sing to it.
That's so sad.
It's so sad.
But it also does soundterrifying to see someone, like,

(10:18):
singing to a doll.
Any doll.
Any doll.
Any doll.
Any point.
Agreed.
Agreed.
So some sources have a letterthat was purportedly from Clara to
her sister Aggie that said,quote, I am so sorry.
A very intense tangent that Ineed to tell you right now.
Okay.
I am in possession of Mary,the cat's mother.

(10:39):
I saw that.
Who?
I have named Aggie.
Oh, I love it.
Agatha Long, Aggie Short.
Very relevant to this moment.
Yes, absolutely.
And you can see her on ourInstagram that was posted, what,
last week?
Yeah, she's on TikTok, too, now.
She is?
She's a TikTok girl.
She's famous.
Okay, so Clara supposedlywrote this letter to her sister Aggie.

(11:01):
Dearest Aggie, I am elated.
I've been informed by Dr.Matthews that Marcy and I will be
returning home in less thanthree weeks.
As you can imagine, Marcie canbarely contain her excitement.
Yikes.
If you heard a dog sigh.
There's dogs behind me.
No, it was Marcella.
Marcella the doll, Unable tocontain her excitement and heavy
breathing.

(11:22):
Yeah, yeah.
And, yeah, Marcy, short for Marcella.
Every night she asks, istomorrow the day when we go home,
Mother?
Very soon I will be able totell her yes.
Our stay here has beensomewhat of a trial, though I have
been grateful to the gooddoctor and his staff and their dedication
to our treatment and recovery.
Leonard's death has put us insuch a severe state of melancholy

(11:42):
that I feared we would neverescape it.
These past years have beenmore difficult than any in my life.
And my dear Marcella, afterall that she has had to endure, has
become my strength, my flameof hope.
I must be honest with you, Sister.
Upon our arrival here, Icarried a hatred in my heart for
Justice Saunders and Counselor McCarty.

(12:03):
But I have come to realizethat perhaps they were Ben.
Through whom The Lord's handhad been at work in placing us where
we could grow beyond thistragedy, though I did not know it
at the time, those days beingdark in my memory.
Even as my pen writes thesewords, I can almost smell the cedars
in our yard waiting for us to return.
And Basil, no doubt wagginghis tail and jumping up when we enter

(12:25):
the house.
Makes me wonder what happenedto Basil.
A dog named Basil.
That is the cutest thing ever.
I know.
Okay, so back to our letter.
There are tangents in the back somewhere.
Though I would be lying if I.
Were to say that I have no.
Trepidation about living onceagain in our house without Leonard.
It will feel strange for uswithout his presence, but I cannot
think about that at this point.

(12:46):
Marcela needs me to be strongnow, as Leonard, in my life, was
strong for us both.
And now, with the strength ofour friends and our prayers, I know
we can return home and beginto rebuild after our tribulation.
I expect to be busy in thecoming weeks preparing for our departure
from here, so if you do notreceive any writing, know that I
will write you as soon as weget back home.

(13:07):
Thank you for the undyingsupport and strength that you have
been so generous with sinceour arrival.
Love always, your sister, Clara.
Legend has it that Clara wasreleased in 1899 because of overcrowding
in the asylum.
Then, just four years later,in 1903, children began finding candy
left on their windowsills.
After the children had beenreceiving this candy on their windowsill,

(13:31):
they started to find noteswritten on candy labels that were
signed candy lady.
Some versions of the storyinclude that the candy lady lured
children to her home.
All I think of is hocus pocus.
Mm.
I feel like that's what she did.
Also, if you're listeningduring spooky season and you're new
to us, we do have a hocuspocus episode.
We do.

(13:51):
We do.
Other versions say that thecandy wrappers included notes saying
things like, come outside andplay, which is not horrifying at
all.
The children didn't tell theirparents about the candy or the notes
because they didn't want theirparents to keep them from eating
the candy, which I feel, like, accurate.
Like, kids will hide candy.
Yeah.
Like that tracks.
Yeah.

(14:11):
Yeah.
But anywho, let's keep goingwith our legend.
So between 1903 and 1913,eight children disappeared.
Some accounts are much morevague about the details and just
include that some unspecifiednumber of children went missing within
a few years of 1903.
It's an old Timey story.
Okay, so once everyone foundout about the candy being left on

(14:31):
window sills and childrengoing missing, people automatically
connected Clara with candysince she murdered her husband with
caramels.
It just seems weird that,like, she would murder children given
that she was so grief strickenover the loss of her child.
That she murdered someone.
It just doesn't seem to track.
Yeah.
Or that she was taken children.
That one I could see morebecause, like, she wants a child,

(14:55):
but if she was aware.
I don't know.
It just doesn't.
Don't track.
It doesn't track, though.
Yeah.
Like, it doesn't seem like shehad, like, a hatred for children.
Yeah.
Or anything.
Like, it seemed like shereally cared.
About or she was, like, goingto steal them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, I could see that maybe,like, you know, like, that's kind
of a movie trope.
Oh, I lost my kids, so I wantsomeone else's.
And I will take yours.

(15:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't think she would killthem, though.
Yeah.
Maybe she'd be responsible fortheir disappearances, but I don't
know.
But anyway, so some otherweird starts happening around this
time.
First off, a farmer finds tinyteeth in his field.
And apparently they were sosmall that they could only have belonged
to children.
Right.
Animals do not have small teeth.
Yeah, animals don't have small teeth.

(15:35):
Everyone knows that onlychildren have small teeth.
Now, what's a little bitstranger is that some sources include
some other details about thesetiny field teeth.
Like that they were rotted orthat they had been in a candy wrapper.
Field teeth.
Amanda just lost it over tinyfield teeth.
And, like, the thing is, isbefore I said it, I knew it was going

(15:56):
to get her.
The tiny field teeth arealways going to get you.
I just feel like in my head, Ijust think of someone, like, plowing
their, like, field.
Oh.
Like, I imagine, like, tinyteeth, like, dancing in a field.
Like field mice, but field teeth.
No, I just feel like afarmer's like, oh, there's so many
damn teeth in this field.
God damn it.
There's tiny, tiny field teeth.
Like, they're weeds kind of.

(16:17):
But like, instead of like,plowing for whatever they plow for,
like, it's just tiny teeth.
That's a crop.
They have a tiny teeth crop.
Yeah, yeah, obviously.
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Lindsay.
Gosh.
Okay, well, okay, so we've gotour tiny field teeth.
That feels pretty fucking weird.
But then a local sheriff whowas investigating the disappearance

(16:37):
of the children was found dead.
And he was found a ditch andthere were forks in Both his eyes
and his pockets were stuffedwith candy.
Who would waste candy or forks?
So, I mean, she could bedropping them off at kids houses.

(16:58):
Why would she stuff hispockets with candy?
Yeah.
So years later, after all thishappens and they don't catch anybody,
other children came forwardand were like, oh, yeah, we also
got candy.
We just never went outsidebecause we thought that was a bad
idea.
And it's unclear whether it'strue that they never went outside
to play to, like, see who havesent the note or if they were just

(17:19):
not taken, if you will, or ifit didn't happen, you know.
So quite reasonably, they'relike, we think that Clara Crane is
taking children.
So they went and searched theCrane farm and they didn't find anyone
there, including Clara.
And no tiny field teeth on her property.
There was no tiny field teeth.
So we had a lot of questionsbecause we have so many facts and

(17:43):
so many of these things aresearchable and find outable.
So we were like, let's see ifwe can separate fact from fiction
in this legend, much like wedid with our Bunnyman episode a long
time ago.
Yeah.
So we're gonna talk about some things.
We'Re gonna question a few things.
Yeah.
And we're gonna start with themost important question, obviously.
So was candy sold in wrappersin 1903?

(18:06):
The hard hitting questionsTrue Creeps is asking them.
Yeah, yeah.
This is important because how.
How is she leaving these notes?
And also I think of like astupid, like that shitty candy that
people give out sometimes.
Oh, I think of like a TootsieRoll, like how tiny it is.
And her trying to wax, youknow, like get outside.
And like in my head, she's gota quill.
You know what I mean?

(18:26):
And I'm like, isn't itsmearing on the wax paper?
Yes.
Yeah, Yeah, I had a lot of questions.
Yeah.
But my immediate thought waslike, well, did candy wrappers exist
then?
Because I knew that the waythat we have individually wrapped
candy today is.
Is different than it was oncein time.
So obviously we looked into it.
So we were looking at.
Yeah.
The differences between candyback then and candy like today.

(18:48):
Right.
As far as wrappers go.
And in 1903, this is rightaround the time that manufacturers
began to wrap candy in paperfor sale.
Prior to this, candy wasbought in bulk and it was packaged
in glass containers, boxes, orwrapped in wax paper.
Interesting.
So again, like, hard to writeon, but depending on what candy they
were finding, I feel like Ineed more specifics.

(19:09):
What kind of candy were you Getting.
Yeah.
Was it melting in your windowsill?
Okay.
So we explored the idea ofcandy being in wrappers at this time.
Now let's explore if theasylum where she supposedly was kept,
was that a real place?
And the answer is yes.
The hospital was opened in1885 and followed the Kirkbride plan.

(19:30):
We talked about this in ourAppalachia episode.
And historically, mentally illpeople were not treated in a manner
that was humane.
And patients were also kept injails, in almshouses.
Sometimes they would bechained walls, and it had long wings
that were staggered, but they connected.
And their formation allows forlots of sunlight and fresh air.

(19:51):
So, yeah, it was.
It was spaced out.
People weren't piled on one another.
The facilities also offeredthe ability for patients to engage
in mentally and physicallystimulating activities.
And There are about 300 otherfacilities that were designed with
the Kirkbride's theories.
However, these buildings wereexpensive to maintain, and the idea
of these buildings being morecurative was discredited.

(20:14):
Many of them were demolishedor abandoned.
And for this particularfacility, when it was originally
opened, it was expected tohouse 300 to 400 people.
There were 330 patientsadmitted in the first year it was
open.
And in 1888, the hospital wasrenamed to North Texas Hospital for
the Insane.
The facility's name waschanged to Terrell State Hospital

(20:34):
in 1920.
Okay, so a real place.
Real place, but the time framedoesn't really match.
Yeah.
Also, the fact that we hadearlier was that Clara was released
for overcrowding issues.
And this would have been justfour years after it was opened.
And it did get bigger over time.

(20:56):
That's all well and good.
It's possible that there waslots of patients.
But we were able to find alisting off all of the annual reports
of when Clara would have beenin the facility.
We did not see any record ofpeople having been released for overcrowding,
although it was clearly aconcern because there were more annexes
built over the years.
But there was such detailedrecords that it really.

(21:17):
You would have been able tosee it had there been an overcrowding
issue.
Because in the annual reportfrom each year, it would have like,
oh, we need to build an annexfor this particular purpose.
Oh, we need to build a spacefor children who are born on the
premises.
Oh, we need this, we need that.
So should there have been manypeople being released because of
overcrowding, it would havebeen present.

(21:39):
We also looked to see whetherthere was a record of Dr. Matthews,
who was Clara's doctor, perthat letter to her sister.
Several doctors and physicianswere named throughout the historical
website for the facility.
And in those annual reports,they even noted when they hired doctors.
There's also photos, too, butno Dr. Matthews.
I'm shocked.
I know, right?

(21:59):
So we were like, okay, candyis in wrappers at this point.
The hospital that she was intheoretically existed.
No one was released for overcrowding.
And There wasn't a Dr.Matthews, though.
So we looked to see if wecould find some other notable facts
about the legend inpublications from that time.
And so generally.
Right.
I feel like we could allassume that missing children, poison

(22:20):
caramel, field teeth.
Field teeth, stabbing peoplein the eyes.
These would all be covered ina newspaper.
They would be covered a lot ina newspaper if this was going on.
Yeah.
And there are many articlesavailable on notable news stories
from both Ellis and Kaufmancounty, because, again, it seems

(22:41):
like the legend kind ofconflates the two counties over time.
So we looked in both just tobe thorough, and we got a good cross
section of news reporting fromthe major newspapers at that time.
So it would have been bizarre.
If we search for these thingsand if it was just in one source,
one place.
Right.
Like, it would have been published.
Everybody would have beentalking about the field teeth.
Right, everybody.

(23:01):
So let's walk through thosequestions that we looked for.
Are there historical recordsabout Clara's case or missing children?
So either the murder ofLeonard or missing children.
When researching, we lookedover newspaper articles from 1890
to 1915, so that we were like,maybe it was a little earlier or
a little bit later.
And we searched for Clara'sname, Leonard's name, poisoned caramels,

(23:25):
poison candy.
We even looked at murderedhusband or poisoned husband.
Yeah.
We didn't find anything.
We also looked up missing kid,missing kids, missing child, missing
children, missing girl,missing boy.
And there were no relevantarticles in either Ellis or Kaufman
counties at that time.
Interesting.
And you would think that thatwould have been talked about at least

(23:46):
once.
Yes.
And they talked about othermissing children instances.
So it's not as though that wasjust like something that wasn't covered
at the time.
There just wasn't any kidsthat were related to this story.
Yeah, yeah.
And now, what about the courtthat we mentioned earlier?
Haddock street courthouse inEllis County.
The Ellis county courthouse isstunning, by the way, but not located
on Haddock Street.

(24:06):
The streets that aresurrounding the courthouse, though,
are Franklin College and SouthRogers Street.
We actually couldn't find aHaddock street in Ellis County.
Interesting.
Now, things can be renamed,but you would think, historically,
it would at Least come up once.
And those are already kind ofold timey names.
Right.
Like Franklin.
The old Kaufman CountyCourthouse is also gorgeous, but

(24:29):
also does not appear to havebeen on Haddock street either.
So, per the legend, SheriffFred Springer arrested Clara.
Now, did he exist?
The Ellis County Sheriff'sOffice has a list of sheriffs from
1851 onward.
I thought that was interesting.
Yeah, I mean, that's helpfulfor this, especially for legends.
Yes.
Yeah.
But unfortunately, there is nosheriff with that last name of Springer

(24:52):
that has worked in Ellis County.
And that's like.
I wouldn't say that that's asuper uncommon last name either.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it not coming up at all is interesting.
Yeah.
And we were like, Fred couldbe short for a different name.
It could be a middle name.
You never know why someone'sfirst name might show a certain way.
Which is why we looked at anyand all Springers.
Yeah.

(25:12):
And there were none.
Zero.
Now, Kaufman doesn't have alist like this, but when we were
searching, generally, we couldnot find evidence of Sheriff Springer
being there either.
And another search that we did was.
Was a sheriff found dead in aditch with his eyes having been stabbed
in his pockets full of candy.
Again, we searched Ellis andKaufman records to determine whether
there were any mentions of,you know, sheriffs being murdered,

(25:35):
anyone's eyes being stabbed generally.
And not surprisingly, we couldnot find evidence of any of that.
We also looked at any articlesof murders involving caramels.
Surprise to everyone.
That didn't come up either.
Okay, but, like, what about Leonard?
Was he a real person?
We searched genealogy recordsto determine whether we could find

(25:55):
anyone matching this name andage in Texas.
When researching genealogy, wesearched multiple spellings of the
last name Crane, too, becausewe know that can change over time
as well.
Yeah.
Specifically, we looked atsomeone born between 1845 and 1865
named Leonard, who died inTexas between 1885 and 1905, but

(26:16):
we couldn't find any matches.
We also looked for records ofMarcella, and again, we searched
genealogy records from thelate 1800s and couldn't find anything
on Marcella, which, again,would have been kind of a common
name, I would think.
Yeah.
But surely there should besome record of Claire Crane.
Right.
Because there was that newsarticle that was real.

(26:36):
Right.
Yeah, we looked for her.
We looked for multiplespellings of Crane.
Again, it came up with nothing.
What was Terrell, Texas, areal place at that time?
Even so, that's a littletricky of a question.
Only because Terrell, Texas,from what Google has told me, was
founded in 1873.
But it began as a depot townalong the Texas and Pacific Railroad

(26:57):
Companies transcontinental line.
So I assume that perhapspeople lived there.
But it didn't like officiallyget founded until 1873.
Interesting, interesting.
So we've got a lot of lore, alot of facts and a lot of things
pointing to maybe this isn'tso real.
Yeah.
So we're going to talk aboutour thoughts in a moment.
But before we do that, we'regoing to talk about some candy woman,

(27:18):
Candy lady media that exists.
There is a movie coming outcalled Candy Lady.
Right now it's just a trailer.
It looks interesting.
They have like the urbanlegend on their site too.
I was very curious at first asto whether this was a Blair Witch
situation where the lore waskind of embedded into stuff beforehand.

(27:39):
But it seems like a lot oflike the websites that were published
came out years before thisfilm was like even a thing.
There's also a video game fromCoven Games.
You know what's funny is Ifeel like I've seen gameplay of this.
Yeah, the game looks familiar.
We'll include a link in ourshow notes.
But per their website, eviltoys are stalking you in an old black

(28:01):
and white film.
Witchkin is a first personsingle player PC horror game where
you play as a child trapped ina Texas farmhouse filled with terrifying
toys in the 1920s.
Your goal is to search all thelevels of the house from the basement
to the attic to find yourmissing sister and to stay alive.
The game is based on the Texaslegend of the candy lady.

(28:22):
Now first off, 10 out of 10.
But let me just tell you about.
She has her forever childrenand they are also hunting you.
And we.
I just need to tell you aboutthese toys that are hunting you.
The first one is Trappy.
He appears to be a teddy bearwith some sick mods.
First off, he's got a beartrap on his head.
He's got Wolverine style metalclaws and then he's got wheels instead

(28:43):
of legs.
He's coming at you.
It's like a Toy Story one, right?
Like that.
Yeah, yeah, he absolutely does.
Next you got hooks.
He just looks like a DIY toy.
Like he's like several things altogether.
His body is a bucket.
His head is an indeterminateanimal skull with a clown hat on
top of it.
His arms look like collapsibletubing that have hooks on the end.

(29:06):
And then he has metal legsthat look like they're probably from
some type of tool, but I can'ttell what that is.
And then lastly There'sMarcie, and she's a doll with a fork
for her hand and half of herhair cut off.
Yeah, she has.
The other half is just likesticking straight up, though, you
know, doll hair, once it's cut.
Yeah, yeah.
I love that.
It has the story of Clarafirst, and then it talks about the

(29:30):
myth of all the farmer kidsbeing missing.
Yes.
And it looks like the premise,two siblings from a local farm went
missing.
This was unheard of in a safeenclave of their small community.
So people assume the childrenwere abducted by a drifter while
at play.
However, over the years,approximately eight children disappeared
out of fear.
Children in town told theirparents about the candy that had

(29:51):
been left on their sills fromsomeone called the candy lady.
Fascinating.
What.
What a time.
What a time.
They also say her name isinvoked as the boogey woman lures
children to her home with candy.
Then they are never heard from again.
Boogeyman, a scary guy.
Boogey woman, a lady dancing.
That's where my brain goes.

(30:11):
She's boogieing.
Oh, my gosh.
It reminds me of the cryptid.
The cryptid that's dancing.
Oh, yeah.
Reminds me of Jeanette's cryptid.
Yes.
It likes to give corndelicacies to people.
Yes, absolutely.
Now for the story.
For such an infamous urbanlegend, there's surprisingly very
little out there that doesn'tappear to all.

(30:32):
All be from the same source.
Interesting.
Many articles cite the dubiousarticle that we mentioned earlier
that Lindsay read.
So we want to know, what doyou think?
Do you think anything of thisis real?
Do you think maybe their nameswere changed in the legend, perhaps?
Do you think this happened?
Maybe it happened somewhere else.
Maybe it did sometimes that.

(30:54):
I don't think it did, though.
I don't think it did.
I feel like it would have comeup when we were like, you know, candy
and missing children and stuff.
Yeah.
But I wonder, you know, howfacts change occasionally.
Like, instead of it beingcandy left out there, maybe it was
something else, you know?
Or like, what, though?
I don't know.
Bread.
Bread.
The bread lady just doesn'thave the same ring.

(31:14):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I think of, like, whenwe talked about.
Not that these are any morerealistic, but when we talked about
Christmas and where a lot of,like, the Christmas legends come
from and, like, why they docertain things today, whereas, like,
before, they didn't do it thatspecific way.
So maybe it's like a mix of acouple things together to make it
scary.

(31:35):
Yeah, that's fair.
I just.
We really.
There was so little on poisonCaramel specifically.
Yeah.
It just feels very strange.
I don't think any of it's real.
I think it's all fiction.
It sounds like somebody toldtheir kids a story.
I mean, all coming from thesame article.
Yeah, that doesn't look real.
Yeah.
I think that it may have beena local legend that somebody eventually

(31:56):
put on the Internet, but Ithink that it probably boils down
to, like, the don't take candyfrom strangers kind of lore, and
it's more about that than itis about this.
Or like, hey, like, don't goout after dark.
Don't eat random candy.
You find.
Yeah.
That is a common thing thatyou have to teach your kids when
they're little.
Little candy monsters.
To what, not eat candy thatthey find.

(32:17):
Oh, I mean, that's fair.
Yeah.
And that.
That's the way to do it, guys.
Parenting done.
A plus.
Done and done.
Scare them.
Terrify them into not doing it.
I mean, that's what Christmasis, right?
Of least date a police stateSanta and his elves.

(32:38):
Anyways, we.
We want to know what you thinkof this legend.
Also, have you heard of anycool legends that you want to share
with us?
Any, like, especiallylocalized, like, from where you are?
There's a lot of those whenpeople be like, oh, do you know about
this?
And I'm like, what the hellare you talking about?
Yeah, I want to know yourweirdly specific regional.
Local lore and regional.

(32:58):
I even mean, like, yourneighborhood lore.
Yes, yes.
Or like, honestly, you knowwhat I want?
I want some spooky gossip, too.
Oh, I'd like some spooky gossip.
Yeah.
So if you do have a story,whether it be about a weird local
legend or anything spooky,send it our way.
For our listener episodethat's coming out in October.
So it's first week of October,so it's coming up.

(33:21):
So head to our website.
There's a place where you cansubmit your story and we would love
to hear it.
And we'll have a speciallittle sticker we send out to people
who submit a story that youcan only get the sticker if you do
that.
Yes.
And it is quite cute.
It is also, if you lovestickers and you have a second to
leave us a review on anyplatform, we would love to send you

(33:42):
a sticker as a thank you.
Just screenshot your review.
And it can be on manyplatforms too.
So Apple podcasts, Facebooklets you leave reviews, and Audible
allows you to leave reviews.
Please take a screenshot, sendit to us.
We'll send you a cute stickeras a thank you.
Yeah.
And with that, have a great weekend.
Thanks for creeping with us.

(34:04):
Thanks for listening and asalways, a special thank you to our
patrons who subscribe.
Support us via Patreon.
Please see the link in ourshow notes to learn more about how
you yes, you can begin tohaunt the dump guard vortexes or
even become a scorching sasquatch.
Also in our show notes you canfind the link to our website, more
information on our sources,our social media handles, and our

(34:25):
merch store.
We'd love for you to keepcreeping with us.
So if you like this episode,please subscribe, rate, review and
share the show with yourfellow creeps and or ghosts.
I beg of you, if you weregonna eat candy off of a windowsill
and it wasn't individuallywrapped like, or it was like wrapped

(34:47):
like in an old timey way, whatwould you be most tempted to eat?
Do I live here in hell whereit would be like boiling?
No, you live in a place whereany candy could exist on a windowsill.
Not in Arizona, where it'slike you either have a melted chocolate
puddle or no chocolate.
Like, chocolate's on the table.
Mm.
Okay.
I mean, I always lovechocolate, but like, is it like 1903
candy or is it like candy today?

(35:08):
Both.
Both.
Let's give both answers.
Yes, like, you could have aReese's Pumpkin.
Like a Reese's pumpkin couldbe an option for you.
Absolutely.
I will always choose a Reese'sPumpkin or the caramel.
Reese's cup is also a favorite.
I haven't had that yet.
Life changing.
I do like the miniature darkReese's cups.
Those are good.
Okay.
Just take the edge off.

(35:30):
You know, I like I'm lookingat 1903 candy because I feel like
all in my head.
The one I see is taffy.
All I'm thinking is, like,hard candy.
It's like cinnamon.
1903 candy.
What is this thing?
This thing looks cool.
Valo milk candy cup.
It looks like a old schoolReese's Valo milks.
The gooey candy classic.
You didn't know you needed.
Do I need this?

(35:50):
Why am I just getting like,Candy crush?
I don't know.
What'd you write?
1903 candy.
What'd you write?
I wrote candy in 1903.
Okay.
Okay.
Candy in 19.
Oh, they had Hershey's.
Hershey's chocolate was there.
That's cool.
I'll do that.
Yeah.
It seems like there's a lot of taffy.
There's caramels.
Oh, I see these glass littlecontainers that are cute, actually.

(36:13):
That's adorable.
Like, think of, like, the oldtimey candy shop.
Mm.
And then whatever this valomilk thing.
I'm still trying to think.
Oh, that looks like it's marshmallow.
It's a marshmallow.
Yeah, that's what I wasthinking it was.
Yeah, that sounds good.
Hell, yeah.
Oh, I see a thing ofWerther's, which.
I always have nice coldWerther's in my fridge because I'm
9,000 years old.
Werther.
All right, Grandma.
Black L black licoriceDuchies, Wrigley's Nips.

(36:34):
Yeah, I want whatever thisvalo milk thing is.
Candy cup, which featurescreamy marshmallow center enrobed
in chocolate.
Okay.
I mean, I don't know if I wantthings in robe, but lifesavers were
a thing then.
Interesting.
You know what really me up?
Amanda, look at me.
Deep in my soul.
Do you like starbursts?
Sometimes.
They're taffy.
What?

(36:54):
Really think about it.
What else would it be?
Yeah, I guess they're taffy.
I like the little itty bitty ones.
I love those itty bitty ones.
They're amazing.
It's like, a problem.
And then I can get some from him.
They're my road trip snack.
Also, Val milk were not madeuntil 1931, so I don't know if that
counts, but I want it.
No, it doesn't.

(37:15):
I don't want taffy.
I like a peppermint.
But, like, let's say ifthere's nothing that you can think
of from 1903, just hit mewith, like, top two candies that
you're gonna like.
You're going to risk the poison.
Oh, okay.
Well, like, I love chocolate.
Nothing that's chocolate.
So, yeah, Hershey's was out then.
It looks like.
Yeah, Hershey's was introducedin 1900, so I would take Hershey's.

(37:36):
I'm looking at a retro timeline.
Did you know the first candybar was invented in 1847?
Oh, like, candy bar then.
What was Hershey's in 1900s?
It was probably just, like,candy bar in that.
Like, it's a chocolate coatingwith things inside versus a Hershey
bar, which is just chocolatein a bar form.
In my chocolate, usually.
Bitch, you like Reese's.
I know, but, like, it's peanut butter.

(37:57):
Same thing with, like, my ice cream.
I don't want anything, like,crunchy or different.
You like flavored ice cream?
Not ice cream with, like, atextural element.
I like ribbons of, like,peanut butter or chocolate, but I
don't want, like, to bite into something.
Like, I don't want, like, achocolate chip or something like
that.
I actively seek that out.
It's another question for our list.

(38:23):
Do you like crunchy bits inyour ice cream?
No.
Ew.
I don't like crunchy, like,candy bars or anything either.
Interesting.
Anything that can get stuck inmy teeth.
I generally do not likeconversation hearts were from 1902.
I hate those things.
They're gross.
Okay.
Anyway, though, what would100% get me would be, are you ready
for my bougie candy?
Oh, God.

(38:43):
What?
A dark chocolate covered dried apricot.
Like, I'm like, here's how topoison me effectively.
How specific.
I know, but it's good and fibrous.
Okay, grandma.
I know.
You know, I'm 8,000 years old now.
I just want candy, though.
That's not helpful for anyone.

(39:03):
I just want a Reese's.
I want a pumpkin Reese's.
It's time.
It is time.
I was having, like, very badallergies a few weeks ago, and I
texted Ben and I was like, Itook two Benadryls and then I said,
goodbye.
Yeah, goodbye, man.
I die.
I don't know if I wake up fromtwo Benadryls.
It took a lot.
It was a weekend, obviously,but I was like, I couldn't sleep.

(39:27):
Yeah.
I was unconscious.
So I think what we've learnedis that that means you took two Benadryl.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Equivalent.
I think so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I had to give potato after his procedures.
Two Benadryls.
That dog was out.
Yeah.
Moo gets two Benadryls a day.
So I also saw a woman onTikTok who was like, she had a handful
of Benadryl and she had it inher hand, and she was about to put

(39:50):
it in, like, a pill organizerfor her dog, and she had been eating,
like, some type of candythat's in little pieces where, you
know, you just kind of, like,put a handful in your mouth.
She's like, I just ingested ahandful of Benadryl.
She's like, goodbye.
It's just like, she probablyhad the best nap and woke up the
most angry.
Do you get angry when you take Benadryl?

(40:11):
I would wake up, like, threedays later.
I just.
Yeah, I'm not good at napping.
Like, if I take a nap, I'malready angry.
Yeah, that's fair.
Yeah.
Like, I'm just not a good napper.
It's not for me.
I wish I could be.
You're not a good sleeper.
I Think.
I think you're just not a goodsleeper generally.
Yeah, I'm great at it.
I'm super great at it.
I excel at sleeping.

(40:32):
But anyway, so I know.
What a treat.
Also, just because we saiddolls from our doll chat episode.
You know how many offers andweird stuff ebay has sent me about
dolls now?
Like, it's ruined my.
It's.
Oh, it's like, do you justwant to bargain?
Is it.
Is it.
Is it that?
Is it that, like, you don'twant it or are you just cheap?

(40:53):
That's what it's saying.
Ebay was like, are you tryingto get it on a haunted dollar?
What?
Yeah, yeah, it was like, youwant this?
And like, all these, like,random haunted objects.
It's like, you may like.
And I'm like, no, where's myold feed?
It's like, are you down to owna haunted object?
Instead of like, just like acreepy like.
Like, you don't.
You down to fuck.
No.
It's.
Are you down to own a haunted object?
That's the random messages you get.
Now I'm gonna start getting,like, text messages from ebay now.

(41:15):
Yeah, you up.
Come buy this haunted doll.
The picture of that dollarpeeking around.
Good morning.
That one, yeah.
Oh, see if it had text youthat one.
Morning.
Yeah, good morning.

(41:36):
Anyways, I love it.
Dolls.
That's all I think of now.
Okay.
Yeah.
First name Basil.
Last name Saurus.
Basil Saurus.
Sorry.
Though I would be lying if Iwere to say that I have no trepidation
about living once again in ourhouse with Leonard, her fuck.
I was like, oh.

(41:59):
It'S that situation in Keywest where she just, like, kept them
in there.
Also, just as a note, it'sgoing to make sense.
When the movie the Titaniccame out, did you see it in theaters?
No.
Okay.
I saw it in theaters twice.
Why?
I don't know.
I was a child.
I was taken there.
Yeah.
But I went.
One of the times I went waswith my grandfather on my mom's side.

(42:21):
And there's that.
That moment when guy, like,falls and hits the propeller.
My grandfather and I arehysterically laughing, but Jack falls
into the water.
If this is flying for you, getthe fuck over it.
You know what I mean?
Like, it's been out for like,3 million years, but, like, so Jack's
dying and he, like, slips offis what I vaguely remember.
Yeah.
And my grandfather went, I'llbe back, baby.

(42:42):
I'll be a whale.
And then he's going, oh, Imake a whale sounds.
People are.
People are crying.
And he's like, o whale.
Sounds amazing.
My favorite memory of him.
Rightly so.
I have found a candy drawer inOliver's room full of wrappers and

(43:03):
hidden candy that he hasstolen to put in there.
Didn't he used to have a shamecorner of the couch where he would
hide snacks?
But it's like, you have nevershamed him for food or anything like
that.
And, like, so it's bizarre whyhe came up with this, like, little
rat method of hiding his candy.

(43:24):
Like, I say rat because a ratwill, like, leave its, like, waste
in its.
In its nest so that no one canfind them.
So he is doing.
He is quite literally leavingit in his nest.
Oh, yeah.
Like, another fun thing thatLindsay and her husband sent him
when he got his braces off wasthis giant bucket of gum.

(43:45):
Yeah, you're welcome.
And guess what kind of rappersI'm finding in there, too.
I mean, perfect.
You're welcome.
He was so happy, though.
He was.
Well, I mean, I'm sure he waslike, his teeth were, like, free,
so he's like, I can enjoyanything now.
I never had braces, so I don'tknow what that's like, but, like.
But I.
You know, he.
Yeah, he loves gum.
And so he.
He, like, his eyes, like,bugged out of his head when he saw

(44:06):
how big the bucket of gum was.
I'm a chewy candy person, so Ifeel like I would be very sad if
that was, like, not the typeof sweet I could enjoy.
That's fair.
The tiny field tea, they'realways going to get you.

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