Morbid

Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it “all in their head?” The series examines the outbreak in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In his search for answers, Dan Taber...

When Peter Smart failed to show up for work on the morning of January 6, 1958, officers in Lanarkshire, Scotland were dispatched to Smart’s home to conduct a well-being check. When no one came to the door, the officers forced their way inside, where they found Smart, his wife, and their eleven-year-old son all dead from gunshot wounds to the head.  A week later, Peter Manuel was arrested and charged with the murders o...

With a violent criminal history going back to his early teen years, Peter Manuel turned out to be one of Scotland’s worst serial killers. His tumultuous early teenage years were peppered with break-ins and destruction of property, but quickly escalated to horrific acts of brutality.

Thank you to the incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research!

References

Birmingham Post and Gazette. 1958. "3 shot d...

In early March 1879, fifty-five-year-old widow Julia Martha Thomas disappeared from her home in southwest London. Julia often travelled by herself on moment’s notice, so neighbors thought nothing of her absence; however, when several female body parts were discovered in the Thames, police uncovered a gruesome crime that not only involved theft and impersonation, but also the ghastly murder of Julia Martha Thomas.

Thomas’s m...

On the morning of October 25, 1943, the body of twenty-two-year-old Lion Brewery heiress, Patricia Lonergan, was discovered in a locked room in the New York apartment she shared with her infant son. Patrica was nude and had been bludgeoned with a candelabra. Suspicion quickly fell on her estranged husband, Wayne Lonergan, who had fled the country to Canada, where he was serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Wayne Lon...

On the morning of August 1, 1966, twenty-five-year-old Charles Whitman arrived at the University of Texas Austin campus a little before noon, carrying with him several rifles, pistols, and a shotgun contained within a military footlocker. After talking his way past a guard, Whitman climbed to the twenty eighth floor of the campus clocktower and walked out onto the observation deck, then began firing at the people on the gr...

On Thanksgiving Day 1934, police in Tulsa, Oklahoma found the dead body of John Gorrell Jr., a Kansas City dental student, slumped behind the wheel of his car, which had come to a stop at a downtown intersection. Gorrell had been shot in the head twice with his own gun and his wallet and other valuables were missing, leading police to conclude he had been killed in a botched robbery. Just one day later, the residents of Tu...

From about 1910 to 1912, an alarming number of axe murders were occurring across the American South and Southwest. Though many would speculate as to the identity of perpetrator, including the theory that a single individual was responsible, many of these murders would remain unsolved and contribute to macabre urban legends that endure to this day. In New Orleans, however, the brutal axe murders of at least five Black famil...

Well- DAMN SAM! It’s Listener Tales 87! This week’s episode is brought to you by WORST ROOMMATES EVER! Inspired by the show coming back to Netflix on 6/26 for SEASON TWO-We pull stories about creepy cohabitators that are brought to you, BY you, For you, FROM you, and ALLLLL about you! This week we hear about ex-roommate parting curses, previous spectral owners who HATE the updated decor tastes, a roomie who whispers sinist...

On the afternoon of March 28, 1937, Easter Sunday, Joseph Gedeon and his daughter, Ethel, arrived at the home of Gedeon’s wife, Mary, for a planned Easter dinner. The Gedeon’s had been separated for some time but had agreed to have dinner together as a family, which included their other daughter, Veronica, a moderately successful pulp magazine model. When they entered the apartment, it appeared as though no one was home; h...

On the afternoon of March 28, 1937, Easter Sunday, Joseph Gedeon and his daughter, Ethel, arrived at the home of Gedeon’s wife, Mary, for a planned Easter dinner. The Gedeon’s had been separated for some time but had agreed to have dinner together as a family, which included their other daughter, Veronica, a moderately successful pulp magazine model. When they entered the apartment, it appeared as though no one was home; h...

A massive interstate search was launched to find Marion’s killer and within a few days, police arrested nineteen-year-old William Edward Hickman, a former co-worker of Perry Parker. During his interrogation, Hickman confessed to kidnapping and murdering Marion, claiming that a god he referred to as “Providence” had instructed him to do it. That confession prompted Hickman’s attorneys to take advantage of the state’s new la...

On the afternoon of December 15, 1927, twelve-year-old Marion Parker was checked out of her Los Angeles junior high school by a man claiming to be an employee of her father, Perry Parker, an employee at a bank in the city. The man claimed Parker had been in an accident and he was to bring the girl to see her father, but this was just a ruse to abduct the girl. The following day, Marion’s parents received several cryptic ra...

On the afternoon of June 22, 1954, Agnes Ritchie was preparing ice cream for two customers in her shop when two teenage girls, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, burst through the front door, screaming for help and saying one of their mothers had been killed. Agnes and her husband followed the girls into the nearby wooded area, where they found the badly beaten and obviously dead body of Honorah Parker. The couple wasn’t abl...

On the evening of May 22, 1992, Betty Wilson returned home from an AA meeting to find her husband, Dr. Jack Wilson, had been beaten and stabbed to death in what she assumed was a burglary gone wrong. Betty ran to a neighbor’s house to call 911, and police arrived at the Wilson’s house a short time later to secure the scene.

At first, investigators agreed with Betty’s theory that Jack had surprised a burglar and was then kil...

Weirdos!! It’s a SPECIAL BONUS EPISODE brought to YOU by our friends at Audible! Today we’re joined by Sheena Melwani to chat about the Audible original, “Desperate Deadly Widows”! Join the “Weirdos’ Audiobook Club’ AND the conversation as we talk about our favorite characters, themes, and scenes! Haven’t listened yet? Don’t worry about it, friend! Go to Audible.com/weirdos for YOUR free trial! And don’t forget t...

It’s Listener Tales 86 This week’s episode is brought to you by... Dads, coffee cups, and whoppers! We hear about an encounter with big foot, an EVP from a ghost hunt at a cemetery, dreams haunted by a pregnant woman, and the underlying story of the crime that lead to hauntings at the Field farm!

If you’ve got a listener tale please send it on over to Morbidpodcast@gmail.com with “Listener Tales” somewhere in the subject li...

Part four focuses on Fred & Rose West's final crimes, and the events leading up to their arrest. Their subsequent trials would become the focus of the nation as people learned of the atrocities performed at their home.

Thank you to the wondrous Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for Research!

References

Amis, Martin. 2000. When darkness met light. May 11. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/theguard...