Morbid - Episode 517: The Black Sisters and the Murder of Ocey Snead

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

When East Orange, New Jersey police were called to the home of Virginia Wardlaw in late November 1909, they knew only that there had been an accident involving Virginia’s niece, Ocey Snead. Once they’d arrived, however, officers discovered Ocey’s body in an upstairs bathtub, dead from what appeared to be suicide by drowning.After just a few weeks of investigation, it became clear that Ocey’s death was no accident. Suspicion quickly fell on Virginia and her two sisters, who were soon charged with Ocey’s murder, which investigators believed was committed in order to collect on a large insurancepolicy.The murder of Ocey Snead was an undeniable tragedy, but her death was only the beginning of what would become one of the early twentieth century’s most captivating crime stories. As detectives and the press dug deeper into the background of the three women accused of starving and drowning their niece, a bizarre story emerged that sounded as though it had been pulled directly from the pages of a classic southern gothic horror novel. And like any good gothic horror story, the trial of Virginia Wardlaw and her sisters was full of unbelievable twists and culminated in a shocking conclusion.Thank you to the Wondrous Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for Research!ReferencesNew York Times. 1910. "Alienists declare Mrs. Martin insane." New York Times, September 21: 6.—. 1909. "Bathtub mystery no murder, she says." New York Times, December 2: 2.—. 1909. "Bathtub principals are twice indicted ." New York Times, December 23: 4.—. 1910. "Miss Wardlaw dies; starved herself." New York Times, August 12: 1.—. 1911. "Mrs. Martin pleads to manslaughter ." New York Times, January 10: 2.—. 1910. "Mrs. Martin's cries halt lunacy trial." New York Times, November 8: 7.—. 1909. "Mrs. Snead's family full of fatalities." New York Times, December 9: 20.—. 1910. "Ocey Snead was drugged ." New York Times, January 21: 1.—. 1910. "Say Miss Wardlaw is dying." New York Times, August 11: 4.—. 1909. "The Snead msytery." New York Times, December 18: 12.Rife, Luanne. 2016. "The Black Sisters." Roanoke Times, December 1: 116.Roanoke Times. 1909. "Christiansburg woman is held." Roanoke Times, December 3: 1.West, Mike. 2009. "Fearless Confederate died mysteriously in NYC." Murfreesboro Post, February 15: 8.—. 2009. "'Sisters in Black' sour Ocey's domestic bliss." Murfreesboro Post, February 22: 8.Zierold, Norman. 1968. Three Sisters in Black. New York, NY: Little, Brown.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening to a Moorbed Network podcast. Hey, Weirdo's I'm Ash. And I'm Alaina. And this is Moorbed. This is morbid and oh boy is it a doozy that I have for you today. You always get this certain look in your eyes when you're about to really fuck me up. In this story just, I have... Even Mikey is making a face. He's like, oh, it's, I mean, Dave, what we were talking about it was like, why is this not

its own like movie series, like, it's a wild tale. Oh, no. There's so much to it. I'm nervous. And like a lot of mystery, but it's just really, really intense. So, okay. You know, I think you need to buckle up for it, but hold on to your butts. Hold on to those butts, but before we get into it, I just want to say we got to go on stage with Pod Meat Swirls. It was the coolest thing I think we've ever gotten to do. We got to hang out with Topanga, Eric, and Sean from Remedysworld, Harley, and fucking Harley-Kiner. And they are just the nicest people.

I'm telling you, you know that whole thing, we say it all the time, we're like, oh, you always get scared, you're like, don't meet your heroes. Don't do it, because they can disappoint you and they're like, meet your heroes. I'm just always scared, because I'm like, I just really hope this doesn't like, you know,

just like blow up in our face. I'm telling you guys, it's a Daniel Fischel Wilfredell, Ryder Strong and Danny McNulty as Harley-Kiner. And I'm telling you, they were the sweetest people. Truly. I like, I'm 37 years old. You guys know how many times I referenced like Sabrina the T.H. which appointments were. It's always those two. I, like, I'm 37 years old. You guys know how many times I reference, like,

Sabrina, the TN Twitch, and Voyments. It's always those two. Yeah, it's always those that just, like, I go right back to, because they were literally my adolescence. And walking into a room and seeing just the squad, Sean Hunter, Topanga, and Eric, just sitting there. You acted cool. Thank you for saying that because inside of my body was a fucking, a fright.

See, I know that because I know you, but like if you didn't know you, I don't think you could tell. I have no, they all give a really good handshake. They do, they give a strong handshake. And they look you in the eye. Yes, but they always taught me you give a strong handshake because nobody likes little fish. nobody likes a little fish. Nobody likes a little sloppy fish.

I was so impressed by all their handshakes. Yeah. They're just really kind to people. They're hilarious. So funny. Very welcoming. It was a lot of fun. Sitting on a couch next to Eric, I was like, I don't.

Just unreal. What the fuck happened here? So, I was like, I did us to ice cream. He did. I'm still not over any of this. And we're going. And we're going. And oh, well, if you're walking Sammy,

oh, hey, hey, and also hating your wife, Sue, because she was awesome. She was so sweet. But Sue was swag too. I loved her outfit. Yeah, they were great. And it's like, and so this is all also to say, like the only reason we are able to do this stuff

is because you guys listen to the show, which is still wild. Thanks for that. Thank you a lot. Because that was a really cool experience. We're just making dream come true. And I only had it because you guys so appreciate and appreciate it. Should we tell them how it made us feel on stage? It made us feel some type of way.

It made us feel like maybe we wanted to do a show. Like a hometown show. A hometown show, not a tour. Yeah. A whole new city. We will not tour. I'm about to be a wedded woman. And you have like 70 kids.

I have three. But it's similar. Honestly, it feels like three kids and two dogs equates to 70 children. You know what? Correct. It does. Yes, you were right the first time. Trust me, I've been here. But yeah, I think we want to do a hometown show.

We got the bug. Next year. So we'll keep you guys updated on that. Yeah, definitely next year. It's a point. It was just really fun to have Disney to go out there. I wanted to warn you. I appreciate that.

I have to sneeze. Yeah, it was just really fun. But thanks to PodMeets Worlds, thanks to all of them and thanks to you guys. And that was an awesome experience. And again, you guys are the best. So now I'm gonna ruin your life with this story. So I'm sorry that I'm taking you here.

You should get a shirt that says that. I'm gonna ruin your life with this story. So I'm sorry, because the amount of times you said that to me in my life, so I'm taking you here. You should get a shirt that says that. I'm gonna ruin your life with this story, so I'm sorry, because the amount of times you've said that to me in my life, even about things that we don't talk about on the show, you're like, I got a story that's gonna ruin your life. Or I'm like, I have a fact that's gonna,

enough I have to know what you have to know it now. Like I do that to John Daly. Did I ever tell you guys about the time that Elena looked at me and she goes, the sun could have exploded eight minutes ago and we wouldn't know. Yeah. If the sun explodes, we won't know exploded eight minutes ago and we wouldn't know. Yeah. If the sun explodes, we won't know for eight minutes.

Yeah. And I'm not going to be alone in knowing that. No, now you all know that. Love you. Love you. And you're also going to have to know about the horrific case of Oseesneed. OK.

This is an older one, but I promise you, it's not lacking in drama. Okay. So the death of Oceisneed in East Orange, New Jersey, what's up, New Jersey. It was an undeniable tragedy, but her death was really only the beginning of what would become one of the early 20th centuries truly most captivating crime stories. Oh man. Like, it's pulled directly out of the pages

of some kind of like classic Southern Gothic horror novel. Got a lot of elements. And like any good Gothic horror story, the trial that followed was also full of unbelievable twists and ended up culminating in a pretty shocking conclusion. Really? Yeah. I feel like we've had a few cases where there's been like, gnarly trials. Yeah.

Usually, a lot of times the older cases have some wily trials. Yeah, because I feel like different things were admissible back then and like they tried to get away with different kinds of fuck shit. Exactly, and they had to change laws and shit. Yeah, yeah. All right, so let's first begin with OC. Who is OC's need?

Tell me. Now, like many aspects of this story, OC's date of birth and several other, you know, details about her are kind of shrouded in a little bit of mystery. The 1900s of it all. Yeah, she was born in New York, New York York in September of 1885. I don't know exactly what data was. We can find one. Exactly. We couldn't find one that we felt comfortable being like this is definitely her birthday. Her name was Oceana Wardlaw Martin. That's

really pretty name. I know Oceana. Yeah. That's gorgeous. She was the daughter of Caroline Wardlaw and Colonel Robert Maxwell Martin, who was a very celebrated Confederate veteran of the American Civil War. Now, from the perspective of his Confederate peers, gotta be clear about that. Let's be clear. Robert Martin was a war hero.

Again, remember, perspective is everything. He served in many key battles in the war. He was severely wounded while saving the life of General John Hunt Morgan, but managed to survive and went on to lead the Confederate plot to burn New York City. Oh, fun. When they're attempt to burn New York City ultimately failed. Yeah, it didn't work. Because I don't know if you guys know it, but a New York City is still there. Still standing. He led an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap vice president Andrew Johnson. Wow.

He for that was eventually captured and imprisoned. And he was released from prison when the war ended and moved back to the South, where he made and lost a fortune in the tobacco industry. Hey. Real interesting fellow. This one, I guess so. Now, it was during this post-war period that he met and married Caroline Wardlaw. Now, Robert still had a fortune, like he ended up, he was never in dire straits here. And Robert supervised the construction of a large mansion

in Wilder Park, Kentucky. In the early 1880s, tragedy struck because the family mansion burned to the ground under suspicious circumstances. That's ironic. Yeah, I know. The couple lived for a short amount of time in a much smaller house on the grounds of the mansion,

but that quickly became a little unsustainable following the birth of the couple's first child. So Robert relocated the family to New York City and Caroline gave birth to OC, OCANA, in the fall of 1885. What a weird thing to like go live in the city that you plan to burn down. Yeah, it's a little strange.

Yeah, that is a little strange. There was a brief period of success in calm for the family until about 1900, when tragedy struck again. Oh, no. That's when Robert's son died from brain fever in Sepilitis. Oh, that's what they used to call in Sepilitis. He died after, so he had in Sepilitis

and that's what he died from, but it was after a particularly bad fall down the stairs in their home in New York. Do you think that could have had something to do with it? People don't know what happened there. Okay. Can you also remind me what encephalitis is, please? It's like inflammation of the brain.

Oh, okay. So that's why they call it brain fever. Gotcha, gotcha. Like the fire that destroyed the family home in Kentucky before, the circumstances under which, you know, the Robert Sun died were somewhat suspicious. Okay. I'm catching up to a theme here, if you will. What's more suspicious was the speed at which his father collected a payout from the $22,000 life insurance policy. Damn.

And that's $20,000 back to you. It was also when they could use money. They could have used money. They could have used money. They could have came in interesting timing. Yeah. Which, it seems like insurance policies in this story come at, man, they just come at the right time.

Dude, insurance policies, that they're always on time. You freak me out. Now, that $22,000 life insurance policy now would be $700,000. Holy shit. Sizeable. Yeah. I mean, even just $22,000. Well, yeah.

But like $700,000. That's on another level, baby. And it's like, so there's a lot there. Now, despite this, and it all just went to plan, despite this, the insurance payout allowed the family to move to a much nicer home. On Fifth Avenue, actually. Imagine that Ooth Fifth Avenue.

Silver linings, I guess. Yeah. Unfortunately, the excitement of the new home wouldn't last long. Before tragedy struck again, because only a few months after moving in, neighbors heard a commotion coming from the Martin House, and they ran over to see what was happening,

and found Robert had suffered a paralytic stroke, and was being attended by a rather stern-looking Caroline, his wife. Okay. Who immediately told her historical daughter, OC, not to speak. Okay, so was that like a stroke, her historical daughter, OC, not to speak. Okay, so was that like a stroke or was that something else? You can't see me, but I'm shrugging. Is she the shrug emoji?

I don't know. Robert did hold on for a little while and ended up living for a short period of time in very bad health and then finally ended up succumbing and dying on January 12, 1901. It's just weird that she told her daughter not to say anything because like, what would she have to say if he was just having a stroke?

What would she have to say? I wonder. And these are the... Now, following Robert's death, Caroline packed up her daughter and moved them both back to her hometown of Murphreysboro, Tennessee. Okay. That's where Caroline's sister Virginia

was actually in charge of the Murphreesboro soul female college, where Caroline's other sister, she had two sisters, Mary, was a member of the faculty. Cool. So Virginia is the president of the school. Mary is part of the faculty. Caroline hadn't let them know that she was coming, but they took her in right away

and they found her job as the school's new bookkeeper. So they're all working at this school together. Now it seems by all accounts that Virginia and Mary's existence at the school before this were fairly normal. School female college was touted as providing, quote, a traditional Southern education for women and cultural

studies and social grace. Oh, social grace. Now, Virginia was named president of the school in 1892. And the school really thrived under her leadership and became very highly acclaimed. She was well respected. She ran the program with discipline, with honor. According to all who knew her at the time, she was brought into this position because of her the respect people had for her.

Wow. Now Virginia had spent her adult life as what people called a spencer. And focused on her responsibilities at the school. That was what she, she really focused on. A.K. a boss bitch. Yeah. For now.

For now. I don't know anything else. I don't know what happens. Yeah, okay. I get now. I don't know anything. I don't know what happens. Yeah, okay. I get it. I get it. And Mary had raised two sons. And when they had grown and married,

she joined the faculty at school. So everybody seemed like they had taken a good path. Okay. Again, seemed to be killing it. Then Caroline arrives. Okay. Caroline seems to be the issue here. The arrival of Caroline was like a weird reset button.

And no one really understood why. Like again, everything seemed to be going pretty chill. People said the sisters like Mary and Virginia could be like, I just said Virginia. You did? I didn't mean to say that. Virginia. Virginia.

They seemed, they were like a little strange, but like, but relative, you know, they were like a little strange, but like, but relatively, you know, they were like problematic or anything, you know, like they're just living in an existing. Okay. But Mary and Virginia completely changed when Court Caroline showed up.

The three sisters began dressing in all black together. What? And wearing heavy black veils all the time. What the fuck? Just out of nowhere. Just like all of a sudden we're like, yep, covered. Like, you know what happened? They were just like boom.

Literally like Aisha's covering with straight up the fuck. And people were curious about this. One might be. More curious though, was the very marked change in their behavior. Once they were once known to keep very ordinary schedules, they were a president of a female college and a part of the faculty after all. It's not like they were doing these crazy things.

But the sisters now had a habit of going out very late at night in the middle of the night. And more disturbingly began entering students' homes or rooms as they slept to just stand and stare at them. No, shut the fuck up. Why? I'm not kidding. This is not real. This is real.

What the fuck? They would literally break into students' rooms while they were sleeping and stand and stare at them. For why? I do not know. What the fuck? There's some weird cult thing happening here. Something's going on. I'm scared at them. For why? I do not know. What the fuck? There's some weird cult thing happening here. Something's going on.

Because they also hired a driver to drop them off at Evergreen Cemetery every evening, where they were said to carry on with strange rituals and chanting. Honestly, fucking metal is fuck if you take the B&E out of it. Yeah, exactly. That's what I said. I was like, up to this point, like, take the B&E out of it. I'm like, go off what I said. I was like, up to this point, like take a B&E out of it. And I'm like, go off, Queens. Like, this is cool, but the man do they take it somewhere.

Oh, God. And people saw them dancing around graves and all men are of odd behavior. And just like, they would later you'll see like the behavior gets even stranger. They would like move people out of classrooms and into other classrooms and move them back. And like, they were just being weird.

Like, it's never explained why they did this. No. What? Well, and the thing is, in 1904, the obvious and very dramatic and strange change in Marion Virginia's behavior was very unsettling to the students of Soul Female College who had known them forever.

Right, as like pretty normal and very disciplined and respectful people. Yeah. And one account said, frightened students started to leave the school. And it wasn't long before the school was in chaos and the black sisters, as they were known to be called, were asked to leave. Do you struggle to save money every month?

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Zbiotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to zbiotics.com slash morbid and use the code morbid at checkout for 15% off. Thank you, Zbiotics, for sponsoring this episode and our good times. Oh, I mean, yeah, I do understand why they lost money. The school is losing money left and right. Students were literally leaving the school because of their behavior.

They're waking up in the middle of the night to the streets. Yeah, not ladies at the foot of their bed. They're being be in need by the supreme witch in her covered in the middle of the night. Like that's a lot to handle. There were also rumors that Caroline was maybe pocketing some money from the school allegedly.

Unfortunately, no, she is not. Now, fortunately, the sister's great aunt, Oceana Polock, who the B.A. is doing after needed help at Montgomery female college in Virginia. Okay. So she looked at this whole like them leaving and disgrace thing is like, ah, it's fine. Ah! So she invited the wall to join her. She's like, you're just cool.

It's just cool. Yeah, it's okay. They're so perfect. I love how she key word. Now, when Virginia came to run the program, it was like she fell back into her old ways. Her old ways of teaching, her old ways of running things. Everything was great.

Virginia was back. She was like, oh, I know, I'm kooky, but I'm back. Okay. And it felt like, okay, the school was a boarding school. And one program described it as the remarkable purity and healthfulness of the atmosphere. Render the location peculiarly eligible for a seat of learning.

Hot. So I guess that's a great place to learn. Sounds great. But Mary came after Virginia. She joined the faculty and everything was still okay. They seem to fall back into their old things like Caroline's the common denominator here. Then Caroline joins. Sorry, all I can think of is the outcast song. Caroline. Caroline.

And literally like she joins and it's like, oh, shit, like fuck. And the thing is Caroline joined with OC, her daughter. Okay. And things fucked up again. What power did this woman have over her sisters? I don't know. She is the supreme. I think she might be because apparently Caroline

was in charge of administration. She was put right in charge of administration. That's a thought. And she messed with the curriculum immediately. And this is when she began the strange behavior of like moving students from classroom to classroom like during the day. For no reason. Just ripping them out of a classroom,

putting them in another, then moving them back. Like she was just a weird stuff. And she would put like several padlocks on random doors. What? So it made people like very unnerved and like unsettled because they're like, what the fuck's behind that door and like, why are there three padlocks on it? What the fuck?

And then they were doing the same peekaboo routine with the sisters and the residents halls. They're breaking in. Yeah, like, doing the same like, woo, I'm just looking at on you. What the fuck, ladies? What the fuck, I hate it. So everybody just fell back into the old, like,

strange shit. I need an answer. You won't go. I need, I know. I'm the liar one. I need an answer. You won't get one. I need, I require one. I also kind of required one, but I wasn't given one. Like why the fuck did like history well not give me an answer?

God damn. Caroline is Ocee's mom, Marien Virginia sister, she's the problem. Gotcha, it's her. She's the problem of the story. She's the problem of the story. So Caroline ended up visiting Mary's son, John Sneed. Okay.

Who was her nephew? Oh, though looking your eye tells me we in danger. Oh, God, I'm so upset. You're weird face right now. I'm so nervous. The fourth say she quote unquote caused trouble and quote unquote interfered in John's marriage. That just means that she didn't like his wife and she said, get out of here, right? Totally. Nothing else

happened, right? What happened here? I don't know. What does it mean? What does it mean? What does it mean? There are even reports that John told the neighbors and I quote that he wouldn't let her wreck his home. Okay. I don't know if you've ever heard of the term home wrecker. I sure have. I'm sorry. What? Oh, no. There's a lot of when you read about this particular time in this in this story, nothing's outwardly said, but it's all said. Well, because they don't say shit like that back there. It's it's she was there. So was she trying to wreck the home and he wouldn't let her?

So while she was she was interfering and you know while she was interfering and not wrecking her nephew's home. Grace. Yep. Um, she was trying to convince him to come teach at Montgomery Female College in Virginia with all of them and leave his wife. Uh-huh. And he refused at first. She was like, no, yeah, I'm not going to run away with my aunt. Stop. I don't like not going to do that. But she returned a couple of weeks later and interfered again. And this time her interference convinced him to leave his fucking wife, Anna.

She was a Cosmo article. Come with her. And he did. He came with her and left Anna just abandoned her. You know what, Anna was better off. Yeah, apparently Anna had struggled though, I guess. Like she had some, she really didn't know her. She really stood up too, if my man's left me for some shit. Yeah, I really didn't know too much.

If my man's left me for his aunt. Yeah, it really did a number. So curiously though, John became seriously injured on the way back to Virginia. Oh, no. He fell or was pushed. That's strange. From the train as it approached Roanoke.

Oh, Roanoke. He survived. But weeks later, he was found almost drowned in a sister on the school's campus by his aunt Virginia. And his aunt Virginia was like, Oh, don't worry, he was checking the water supply for the school.

Oops, don't worry that he fell in there and the lid went over and I'm the one who found him. Yeah, don't worry about that. He managed to survive that. How does Mary feel about all this? Isn't that her kid? I don't think any of them are mother of the year. Okay, I would say.

But he managed to survive that. And then one week later, he was found on fire in his bed. What the fuck is happening here? This man was on fire in his bed. He was doused with caracene. Oh my God. But they claimed it was an accident. And who found him?

Who found him? Caroline, of course. Was his aunts, of course. How do you accidentally douse someone in caracene? You don't. Yeah. Where are we? Where are we?

Where are we? Where are we? Where are we? Correct. I don't know. I've quite literally never heard a tale such as this. This is for reals. This is for reals. This is for reals.

No, the newspapers to back this up, this trial to back this up. I would also like to put this out here. I had never heard of this case. And then a one mickey. You found this one. Was the one to bring this up. And I said, holy shit. Yeah, where the fuck did you find this?

In the depths of hell. I was gonna say he said in hell. In hell. In Hades. And what the fuck? It is a tale that just keeps you guessing. So the very end. But I won't answer it.

I need concrete answers. And unfortunately in the beginning, it's like wild and kooky and like it starts getting really dark and then it gets dark at the end. So it's like in the beginning, you're like, what is happening? And then at the end, you're like, what the fuck happened? Like you're just like, oh, God. Keep going. So, yeah, so keep going.

Keep going. So his aunts are the one who called that in. Now remember, he fell from a trained approaching Roanoke that Caroline was on. Weird. He almost drowned in a sister and on campus where Virginia found him. Quincidence.

And then he was lit on fire with Kerosene and his bed. And Caroline found him. And Caroline found him. Like Virginia and Caroline. Interesting that Mary's never around. Mary's just like, whoopsie. Now following his death, the sisters, all three of them, collected an insurance payout.

Those which is love insurance. Which they had taken out. So strange. Now in 1906, around the time of John Sneed's unexpected and very tragic death, because he died after the fire obviously. He did. Caroline paid a visit to his brother,

Fletcher, her other nephew. Stop, I love the name Fletcher. He was still living in Tennessee. He should get there. This is Mary's other son, her other nephew. Caroline explained that there would be some family property near Chattanooga that needed looking after and asked whether Fletcher would be willing to pay a visit to the property. Okay. But Fletcher's wife was like, I heard about you. Well, she was like, okay, but she was like, you can go,

but like, I want to make sure we're in constant contact. Yeah. Because I heard about this girl. Because I heard about what's happened in here. So, she attempted to contact him on the phone a few weeks later and Caroline answered. And told her, no, he can't come to the phone right now. And she was like, what the fuck do you mean he can't come to the phone right now? And she was like, he's sick. And he was, she was like, well, I want to talk to him.

And he was like, too sick to talk. And she was like, was like, well, I want to talk to him. And he was like too sick to talk. And he was like, the fuck do you mean too sick to talk? And she was like, I don't know, bitch. And then she hung up the phone. Direct. That's quote, literally like the transcript. So she was like, I don't know about that. So she contacts again.

And she's like, how's he doing? Can I talk to him? And she's like, nah, still can't talk to him. Still too sick. And then she's like, you know what? He'll, I'll send him home in a few weeks when he's better. A few weeks. So in a few weeks had come and gone with no word.

From Pledgeh. Call the police. Pledgeh's wife set out for Chattanooga. And she's like, I'm coming. I'm coming, I'm coming for you, baby. Oh my God. Now, when she arrived at the boarding house that he had supposedly been staying at, the woman there was told her that Fletcher had indeed been there.

But then he had been moved to another house by Caroline. Caroline loves moving people places. moved her to another house, to another house. So Fletcher's wife follows. She fucking Sherlock Holmes it. Good for this girlie. She detective Aberlines this. So Fletcher's wife follows, she fucking Sherlock Holmes it. Good for this girlie. She detective abro lines this.

Love it. Like she follows Caroline's trail. Always a few steps behind, but following her, she's like, I'm gonna find my husband. But eventually she ran out of leads. No. And she couldn't find him without any information regarding her husband's whereabouts,

about since seemingly no fucking way to find him and he didn't exist anymore, she was granted a divorce because she was like, in the end of the month. She didn't involve the police. I guess she was like, there's nothing to really,

because she was just like, I guess Caroline later was just like, yeah, he just left. What? And it's like, no, he didn't. What? No, he did not. Why is Caroline like this?

I do not know. But she couldn't find him because he was already on his way to rejoin the sisters in Virginia with Caroline. He fell in love with Auntie. I don't know. I don't know what's happening there. How did she deeply upset by this? But she was convinced and I'm not.

Once there, Caroline began encouraging a romance between Fletcher and OC cousins. Her daughter, they are first cousins. Oh, that's heinous. That's illegal in many, many sources. So let me just back, back, back it up. She goes after interfering in her first nephew's marriage, convincing him, been busling him into following her.

That booze leaves. She tries to kill him twice. And then eventually they succeed and light him on fire in his bed. Collect that insurance payment. She goes to the other nephew, Mary's other son. Mary's just letting this all happen. That's the thing. I'm like, Mary, how many sons you got?

Glistua, other son, convinces him to come back to the Virginia with her. Yeah. Then, ISIS out his wife pretends that Fletcher just up and was sick, first of all, too sick to talk, and then just abandoned her, and who knows where he went. And instead, she takes Fletcher back to the school in Virginia with her and then encourages OC and Fletcher to get married, first cousins. And it seems as though there was already

something romantic happening between Caroline and Fletcher. There's something weird happening there. What? I don't know what, I don't know why wasn't there. This is real life. You know when Bluey, when they go, for real life. For real life. You know when Bluey, when they go, for real life. For real life.

That's what I felt that the entire time I read this story, I said, for real life, every five seconds. And it is for real life. For real life. Like we need the Bluey clip that says for real life. Do your kids have a toy that says it? It's like, for real life. For real life.

That's, so that's happening. So now she's encouraging OC and Fletcher to get married. She's like, first cousins, I never heard of them. So before the, so then before long, the two Fletcher and OC were married in a secret ceremony because they had to make it secret. They were in Christianburg, Virginia. They had to make it secret because they are first cousins. Is there even anywhere that you can marry

your first cousin? Not sure, but I don't want to go. I'm not going to. Wherever it is. Remember that true life? Yes. Oh my God. Anyways.

It's very upsetting. No. No. People were already suspicious of this trio of wild women. This trio of ancestors. Oh, wild women. Wily. Wily women.

And so when this happened, they had to do it in secret because it was just really gonna, and I'm like, what was your endgame here? But when they first arrived at the Montgomery female college, things at the school, like I said, it seemed stable and well-managed. Yeah, they were fine. But just as it had been at school family college,

it didn't take long for Caroline's influence to cause even more problems there. Well, because they're still going into the rooms and like doing the weird shots. Still doing all the things. Had locking the doors. Not long after they arrived, rumors began spreading around town about like their weird behavior, about them holding midnight rituals and the cemeteries around. I mean, there were even, there were like rumors about like a quote unquote illegitimate baby

that was born at the school that disappeared. And they believed like something might have happened. That those are rumors. But like these are the things people were talking about. This is one of those things where it's like all the rumors are true. It's really scary. Oh my God. Within two years of their arriving there and all this crazy strange behavior, the sisters

again had started to frighten students. Yeah, I would be frightened. Students were dropping out again. Yeah. Because they were like, I'm not going to the street, like this is too out for me. Like, fuck the school. By 1908, the school had to close.

They had to close? They had to close. Why did anybody intervene before that? I do not know. Damn. But having once again found themselves in dire financial straits, the sisters. yeah, the sisters, well first they tried to sell off the school's minor assets. Okay.

Like five pianos, a church organ, rosewood wardrobes, and the school itself. Here's the thing. There's no evidence to indicate that they had any older ship. Oh, the fuck! Oh, the brown funny! Yes, just saw it. They're like, do you have the deed? They're like, fuck that.

They're like, hey, what's this building? Oh, my God. Who are these women? Who raised these women? Are these Lucifer's children? I think it's like a confidence thing. If you just lock up to a building, and you're like, hey, you want this?

Look, they hired a real estate agent and everything. It comes time to sign the paperwork. They're like, what paperwork? To like watch the fuck the building. Give us the money. Give me the check, take the building. That's like weird Tommy Havinford's life. It's so straight.

But they sold the school. No! Oh, man. Name Sidney Sheltsman, who was so confused. Sidney was so confused. He's like, you own this place. They're like, nah, you do. Oh, man, it's wild.

When the school was abandoned, because it was abandoned at the time, even when he bought it, it became a popular spot for vandals and older boys on marauding expeditions. Now, they tore through the halls and classrooms, took everything out of there, like the whole place had been destroyed. In the meantime, the sisters were like, what can we do next?

We can woo some older men into marriage. That's true. And get some money. They weren't gaining any traction on that front because they didn't have the lures. They're all strange. I feel like they're... Guys, guys. They're like, guys.

They're like, guys. They're like, guys. They're like, guys. Guys, level a little bit. You know what I'm saying? That I feel like maybe they were approaching it the wrong way. They were too. Can I look them up and like see what they look up at?

Yeah, I think so. And you can, I think a lot of like the rumors that were swirling about them were keeping people's distance away from them. Well, in the fact that you know, like any man in a five foot radius of them, like weirdly got kerosene down, so I'mene down. Yeah, exactly. Probably didn't help. So they had creditors growing impatient, not being paid, and they were going to be taking legal action against them at this point.

So the sisters in Fletcher and Osea began leaving town anytime something like this would happen. Okay. So they went off in the direction of New York and they didn't all go at once. They went one after the other. So not to arouse suspicion. Alrighty. Now they were trying to put some space, so Fletcher and OC were trying to put space between themselves and their own thoughts and her mother. So they settled in East Orange, New Jersey, in 1908. And by some accounts, they were happy. I don't wanna know about that. I know, I know.

I know. I know. I don't know what has happening. It's upsetting. It's like, oh my God, this rendition of Carolinas. No. No. It's just sent me.

Stop it. That's why they were having luck with the men's baby. Oh my God. Oh my God. That's so terrifying. Oh my God. Oh my God. There's a lot to unpack. I'm so upset. So, for you to survive. Up until this point, we've had some tragedies. Yeah, for just five. Up until this point, we've had some tragedies. We've had some deaths that have been very sad and very scary. Correct.

But it's about to get real dark. Okay, let me just... So we got, this is all wacky crazy, but then it gets like, oh. Like all of a sudden you're just gonna go, oh. Okay, so it gets like real. So OC and Fletcher are living in orange, New Jersey. And the answers are still in the South.

Yes, they're making their way to New York because they're trying to get away from the creditors that I know after them. Okay, okay. But they're doing it like one after the other. Yeah, okay, got it. And again, this is all up into this point. This would just be a wacky kooky,

at times tragic story. It's definitely. But then now it's just like, oh, it's about to go down. And it's still wacky. Like they are wacky humans. Yeah, you can't take that out of it. But you can't take the wacky out of them. But unfortunately, so again, Fletcher and OC are first cousins.

You don't have to talk through time. I'm going to keep reminding you that. You don't have to tell me. I'm going to keep reminding you that. You don't have to. A few months later, O.C. gave birth to a baby girl. That's so good. They named Mary after Fletcher's mom. And her aunt. Yep.

But the child unfortunately died shortly after she was born. That's really sad. I'm sure there was some complications. And things only got worse when Virginia Mary and Caroline showed up at O.C OC and Fletcher's doorstep in early 1909. I would say we don't have anything for you. They were out of money and they said, hi, we're here.

Their arrival reminded Fletcher of the last time the sisters had found themselves in financial trouble. I don't know if you can remember that time. It all coincided with the mysterious and very brutal death of his brother, John. Yes. And an insurance payout came after that very conveniently. Yeah.

The sisters and you know what? It solved all their problems at the time. Sure did. Yeah. So Fletcher saw this and said, oh, hi. I'm getting out of here. On cheese. And mom.

And said, fuck this. And he fled the country to Canada. No, he didn't. In March 1909. What did he leave OC? He left OC. That's your wife cousin. It was all, that's your wife cousin.

She don't just abandon your wife cousin. That's your wife cousin. You don't do that. Well, and what's sad is that OC had not had a chance to tell him that she was pregnant again. Oh, God. Now, she's abandoned by her husband. Yeah. At this point.

cousin. cousin. And left in the care of three people who had always treated her like shit. Oh, they weren't nice to her. Because they were never nice to her. They said, a lot of people thought that they were jealous of her. Well, she's like her mother and her aunts were jealous of her.

I bet they were. They had always kind of treated her like shit. So her mental health began to decline in the spring. Point she's pregnant. And her physical needs are increasing because of pregnancy, which makes it even worse. And to make it even worse, the sisters had taken OC out of the comfort of her home

that she had with Fletcher and brought her back to Brooklyn to live with them in some sparsely furnished building. Oh, and they had like created their own space. Yeah, and aware that they, you know, luckily they were aware that they locked to elect any knowledge of or resources to provide any basic level of care for a pregnant woman or really anyone else for that matter, because they're wilds. The sisters did call a doctor, Dr. William Pettit, who started treating OC that spring. Okay, well that's good.

Now, OC does die, obviously, at the end of this. We've talked about that in the beginning. I literally forgot that. So after her death later, Dr. Pettit would recall the incredibly strange experience of arriving at the Sneed House that one. So after her death later, Dr. Pettit would recall the incredibly strange experience of arriving at the Sneed House that spring. Oh, no.

Now at the time, only Virginia and Mary were living in the house with OC, not her mother Caroline. Sus. But he said, at the time, a third woman who he believed to be OC's mother would occasionally stop by and check on her. Yeah. He said all these women must have slept on the floor for the only caught in the house on the second floor

was occupied by the ailing niece. Okay. And he said, aside from meager furnishings in Osea's room, the house was pretty much empty of anything else, which only made everything even stranger. Right. And you're like, he's like, you're bringing a baby into the sauce. Yeah, like what the fuck?

What are we gonna do with the baby? And Dr. Pettit also found the three sisters behavior really strange and off-putting. Like what were they doing? After he initially evaluated OC, who appeared very frail and very depressed. Pettit diagnosed her as suffering from general weakness, the result of lack of nutrition and proper care.

And that's not good because she's... No. If she's milnerish and the baby is. So what he had prescribed for her was fresh air, a restorative diet and medicine. Okay. He was like, this will improve her. But upon a follow-up visit,

he found that the women had made no effort to provide even one of those things, Tara. Oh, no. When he asked why they hadn't made even the slightest effort to do any of his recommendations, one of the women, he said later, he believed it was Virginia, told the doctor they couldn't afford the medicine due to all their money going to the high premiums

they were paying in insurance. What? That doesn't even make any sense. So during this period, O.C. was dealing with the emotional pain of losing her husband and also losing a daughter. Yeah. And the physical pain of a very difficult pregnancy of which she is malnourished and sick. Oh, man.

And also living with three women who are jealous of her and have been her whole life and have treated her like shit. That's a thing. And it's for all of these reasons, all those stressors that she's under, that she probably, this is why she probably didn't have any idea that after Fletcher left, the sisters had taken out three life insurance policies

on OC with equitable life insurance society, each in the amount of $7,500. How are they gonna, how did they get three out on her? No idea. No idea. Double checked it, damn. I have no idea, but it's wild. Now, a few months later in late spring, Dr. Pettit became concerned about O.C.'s declining health

and her ability to even give birth to a baby successfully. Yeah, because she's so weak at this point. Yeah, so Pettit was on hand to guide O.C. through the process of giving birth to her baby in the home. And it was on August 1st, 1909. She gave birth to a baby boy who she named David Poloxneed. Okay. Unfortunately, the labor process was very difficult and the baby was born, quote, unquote, sickly. And when Pettit told the two aunts that OC actually might need a very risky postnatal operation that could prove fatal for her, he said he was very surprised and very disgusted

with how the women reacted. He said they were fairly jumped at the idea. Because they wanted her to pass that. They wanted to cash in. Now, despite David, the little baby's poor health at the time of his birth, Dr. Pettit and OC were both confident that with the right diet, right care, he would survive and eventually thrive. That's great.

But that would require the sisters to provide anything, any support that they clearly were not capable of, including spending money on the baby's care. And instead, over the objections of Pettit and OC, they quote, fed the baby condensed milk and other foods and variants with those Dr. Pettit specified. Weeks later, David was still in poor health and was taken to St. Christopher's hospital

by Virginia and Mary, who returned home a short time later to inform OC that the baby had died. Oh. Though it would later be learned, that was a lie. They just got mad. And they had simply left David at St. Christopher's. Honestly, in a horrible way, that was probably the best thing for that baby.

But so horrible, the Fudo Osea. That's like, you just kidnapped her baby. Yeah, and then told her she did died. Like, wow. Now in the wake of what she believed was another child's death. Yeah. She's going to lose it.

She declined mentally, physically. And at his insistence, the sisters allowed Pettit to perform the postnatal surgery on OC. But when he attempted to return, you know, a little time later to remove the stitches and do some aftercare, because she managed to get through it. Wow. The sisters refused to let him inside the house,

but they did allow periodic visits from a nurse. Okay. And just a week or so later, Pettit returned to the house when he learned that Virginia had dismissed the nurse, wouldn't allow her back. And his attempts to reach the women went unanswered. My God.

And it's like, he, I'm like, can you involve the police? Well, yeah. Don't worry, he does. Okay, good. Now, because from the moment he had been summoned to treat her, the first place, he was very uncomfortable with those three women.

Yeah. And he said they made him feel very unwelcome. Each visit, he went to that house, he was more and more unwelcome, more unnerved. And he said it wasn't just like bad attitudes and like weird behavior, which they had. That troubled him. But he said the fact that the women were intentionally treating OC poorly and seemed to care very little whether she lived or died.

And on one particular visit, Pettit recalled Virginia showing him OC's will. That's strange. And in it, Ose had left the majority of her stuff to her grandmother, leaving aside $1,000 to pay Pettit for his services. So she had put in her will, I want him paid for what he's done for me. Like just in case. Now, the doctor was like, oh, that's far too much for what I've provided. Like, you don't need to give me that much. Like, and also she's alive.

But more importantly, he was like, this is weird and suspicious that you're showing me this. Why do you have her will? What are you doing? I don't get it. So he reported the treatment of OC and this whole thing to the police. Good.

And later, he recalled that officer's quote, made a routine inquiry and it led nowhere. And this is also the police failed on an epic level here. Now, it was his suspicions that led the doctor to take extreme measures upon his last visit to the house. So after knocking and ringing the bell several times and not getting an answer, Dr. Pettit became concerned

for all these safety. And he went into the house through an open front window. I love this man. I love this doctor. Just man's for the wind. So he reached the girl's bedroom, and he said he was shocked to find her quote, nearly starved with no food in the house.

Despite her serious condition, he said that OC was so happy to see him and said she wanted to talk to him about something important. Oh. But before she could say anything, one of the sisters came in the room and forced Pettit out of the room.

I wish he could have rescued her and taken him with me. They said they were willing to play Kate him by being like, fine, we'll have food delivered to the house for. Wow. Like what the fuck were you like? You need to leave now and like, don't come back or we're calling the police. So he knew he was like, oh, he's in danger.

Like, she's gonna die. So he felt, I'm gonna report it again. So he reported to the police again. I was like, you needed to fucking do something about this. Seriously. And he was like, so the police went, Brooklyn police, checked on the women, found no evidence of anyone having committed a crime.

So they said, there's nothing we can do. What? Yeah. Failures. You like failure. Shame. Truly. Yeah, failures. My failure, shame. Truly, like they should be ashamed of themselves. This show is sponsored by Better Help. It is the holiday season, and I am so overwhelmed with the amount of people that I have to buy presents for

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By fall of 1909, the sisters found themselves again, needing money. Their regular position in life. With creditors beginning to call on them regularly. And in late October, the sisters were no longer able to hold these creditors off. So they resorted to their typical strategy, you know, picking up and moving before the creditors could find them and get what they needed.

Yeah. Now when the doctor learned that the Brooklyn police had been unable to do anything, Dr. Pettit returned to the home again himself. Hell yeah. To check on OC, because he was gonna go in there and he was like, I don't know what I was gonna do, but I was going back myself,

because no one was doing anything. He found it completely abandoned. Oh no. So he didn't know where she went. That was incredible. And he was probably so, so worried. Now on November 29th, 1909, only the next month, police in East Orange, New Jersey received a call from,

quote, an elderly woman with a southern accent explaining that an accident had occurred at 89 North 14th Street and they needed a coroner. The assistant county physician, Dr. Herbert Simmons, went three blocks to the address and he was greeted at the door by Virginia, who was dressed in the typical black attire with the black veil. They're so weird. And she let him through the house, and Simmons noted that the building seemed to have no heat

or furniture, and appeared as though no one had lived there in a long time. Okay. They reached the bathroom, and Virginia just points at the bathtub where he sees the nude, emaciated body of OC, laying beneath just a few inches of water. Oh God. Now Simmons, now this is the county physician, Simmons, Dr. Simmons,

he scanned the scene for any information that might be useful and found a pile of clothing with what appeared to be a very neatly written suicide note attached to it. The note said, last year my little daughter died. Others near and dear have gone before. I've been prostrated with illness for a long time. When you read this, I will have committed suicide. Do not grieve me. Rejoice with me that death brings a blessed relief from pain and suffering greater than I can bear.

O-W-M's need. Doubt it. Now Virginia explained to the doctor that OC had lost her daughter the previous year, and her son had been placed in the hospital four months earlier. And then she said she had also become a widow, seven months prior. Hmm. What you're doing, that? Right.

Right? No. Nothing we know of. So Virginia told the man that she shared the house on 14th street with her niece, giving the impression that it was just Virginia and OC. Yeah. And that they had recently moved in. Now, as an agent of the coroner's office, Dr. Simmons had seen a lot of dead bodies,

and he had seen a lot of scenes. And he said, something's not right here. Well, the fact that she's amaciated is one thing. For one thing, OC had been dead in the bathroom in the only bathroom in this place for at least 24 hours. So immediately that's us. Virginia saying she just discovered the body. She just had an accident.

That's the only bathroom. For 24 hours there's been a dead body in the bathroom and you didn't know. And there was also the house itself. She's saying that they moved in weeks earlier, but the house was virtually empty. It appeared like no one had been living there for years. So he was very suspicious of Virginia and he was like, something's up here.

So Simmons stopped at the nearest phone he could find in place to call to Sergeant William O'Neill of the East Orange Police and explained everything that he found all his thoughts and noted all his suspicions to them. Now, knowing that Simmons was definitely not the type of man to jump to conclusions, he was a trustworthy guy, he'd been to a lot of these scenes, he wouldn't be bringing them out if he didn't need to. Sargin O'Neill took this very seriously and immediately went to the house.

Good. Now, Sargin O'Neill arrived at the house around 6 p.m. and Virginia opened the door and she demanded immediately to know what business he had there. And O'Neill explained that he had been ordered to inspect the premises. So Virginia reluctantly let him inside

and brought him to the bathroom. And she's like, there she is. She is. She's just this. Now, after reading the note, O'Neill asked Virginia to show him the rest of the house starting with the attic. So going room by room, he was struck by how empty this house felt.

And he said, not just empty in the sense, he's like, it was empty. There was nothing in there. But he was like, it felt empty. Oh, like there was no love. There was no happiness. There was a palpable feeling to this house. And in fact, he said the only sign that anyone actually lived there was found in what he assumed to be O.C.'s former bedroom on a small table next to a cot was a locket bearing the photo

of a baby on one side and a lock of hair on the other. Beside it was a small strip of paper that read lock of David's needs first hair, August 18th, 09. That's the saddest thing ever. Now Virginia followed O'Neill quietly from room to room. And she was using like a gas lamp like you can just picture that. She's so scary wearing her full attire with the black

veil. He was probably like where the fuck is my this is a house of horse. Now there were a few pieces of broken furniture or what maybe could have been personalized I'm scattered about, but it looked more like it was like long ago, somebody had lived there. And when they'd finished going through the whole thing, O'Neill began to question Virginia

about why they'd moved to East Orange and why she'd only noticed her niece was dead a few hours earlier when it's the only bathroom in the fucking house. So the woman was short with the sergeant and gave him very simple, very direct answers, but also making it very clear that his presence was not fucking wanted in that house. Now, if Virginia thought she could simply call the corner,

be like, hey, sorry, I have a dead body here, can you go ahead and grab that? And thought she was just going to be done with the whole thing after that. Which she definitely did. She must have been pretty surprised when Sarge and O'Neal explained that she was going to have to come with him to the station to answer. Oh, I know. Virginia went, she grabbed a small bag, some belongings and went out of the house. Now at the East Orange Police Department, she went through a whole interview,

and this time she was interviewed by police chief James Bell. Now to Bell, the entire, this was all fucked. This was all suspicious. She sat in there in her fucking black veil. He said that Virginia seemed to have an answer for everything. Yeah. Get a quick answer for everything, but it still didn't explain what happened in the house. She was, because she was like, she herself was very poised, very polished, but O'Neal had described them living in squalor. Right. It just didn't match up. And there was also the manner of the whole thing.

Like if they're claiming this is suicide, how could Osea have managed to hold herself underwater long enough to drown herself, especially in such a frail and fragile state? And again, your body is gonna want to take yourself and sit up. Yeah, and she's not strong enough to keep herself underwater. So these are all unanswered questions and they're nagging him. So Bell booked Virginia as a material witness that evening, and she was taken to Essex County jail. Rot-ro. a material witness that evening and she was taken to Essex County Jail. Rod row. Now the following day, November 30th, an autopsy was performed on OC and it confirmed that the cause of death was drowning, but it also raised a few more questions.

The medical examiner noted that OC was emaciated to the last degree, like that of a person suffering from starvation and she only weighed 80 pounds up a time of her death. Well, it's such a haunting picture to think of her being discovered in the bathtub in that state. Yeah. And in that state, investigators wondered whether she, again, would have had the strength to do this

but also had the strength to write a clear and concise suicide note with a steady hand. Yeah. It was very steady. There was no shaking hands. That That's there's no way. No, while the corner examined the body, investigators with the East Orange Police started tracing the two women's movements from the moment they arrived in the city a few weeks earlier. Right. They managed to track down a cab driver who'd taken them from the train station to the house, but also took Virginia to see a local doctor by the name of Charles

Teter. When the interview Dr. Teter, he said Virginia had shown up at his house at a late hour on the evening of November 3rd, 24th. Okay. Not long ago. And asked that he accompany her back to the house to provide a health certificate for OC. A health certificate? Now, although he initially protested, it was clear she wasn't gonna take no for an answer, so he agreed to go with her. Now, at the house, the doctor examined OC and noted that she was incredibly frail and appeared to have brum kindness,

but otherwise, he was like, okay, that's really all I have to say about her. To Bell and O'Neill, the request for the health certificate for OC only made Virginia seem more suspicious. And what is that? I can't believe it. For insurance reasons. Okay.

It's just like almost like a physical kind of? Yeah. Now, in just a few days, their investigation had turned up several people who interacted with Virginia in an aroundy storage and always in the context of her asking questions about medical treatment and local doctors, which seemed in keeping with the situation at the house.

But when they checked the registers of local hotels in New York City, they were surprised to find that Virginia was staying in several of the city's fanciest hotels in recent months. It had been dining at high-end restaurants. So there's like, wait a second. This woman is living in expensive hotels and leaving this emaciated sick frail niece alone in an emptied place. What the fuck?

Shut up, cold, broken house in New Jersey. And how is she even living in these expensive hotels with no money? Because she was using the insurance money that she got before. She's, I'm sure she's scamming some shit. and how is she even living in these expensive hotels with no money? Because she was using the insurance money that she got before. She's, I'm sure she scam in some shit. There's tons of fraud charges that come up.

Wow. Eventually, Belan O'Neill's search led them to a house in Brooklyn that the neighbors had taken to calling the house of mystery. So, I think we got it. They call that every reminds me of that TikTok. Yes. And they're like the ball of mysteries.

Yes. My God. They called this house the house of mystery because the three women in black who occupied it were very strange, and a lot of strange behavior. According to the neighbors on both sides of this house, they'd often heard strange noises and banging coming from the house all hours of the night. What are they doing? The windows had been blacked out. Stop, stop it. And the yard was so overgrown that nobody could see inside. Like, are they witches?

They're bad witches. Yeah, I was going to tell you. Some shit is going down there. Well, I'm excited, which is. Dorks, not, not, Sinisterbite. Like, white magic. Yeah, like, Sinister vibe. Oh my God.

Now, once the investigators had located the janitor responsible for managing the home, because they used to have like certain, you know, like a super almost. Yeah, yeah. They got inside of it and they found that this place was as bleak and empty as the one in East Orange. And they were about to leave,

but then they were approached by a reporter from the New York world who'd been put on the story by one of his New Jersey peers was like, heard all about this. Because you knew this was gonna get reported on. The reporter is like, wait a second, why are you guys leaving? Don't you notice those small spots

of like what looks like blood on the floor by the door? I love the point there. And the point there was like, hey guys, hey investigators, did you notice that? So they follow the faint trail through the hall I'll let you know. And it's going through. I'll let you know. And it's going through. Hey guys. Hey investigators. Did you notice that? So they follow the faint trail through the hall and up the stairs into one of the bedrooms, but it just let nowhere.

What? Meanwhile, the reporter on the first floor opened the oven in the kitchen and discovered a massive yellow hair wrapped up in its center were two irregularly shaped bones. One resembled a femur and the other resembled a skull and they were small. What? You could see they said you could see nose bones in the socket of an eye. And like, and like this is like a child's skull. It appeared to be. What the fuck? And obviously this is an OC because we have our body. Now what the fuck is going on?

So they asked the janitor, they're like, what the fuck has been going on in this? Like what's going on? And the janitor explained that OC and her husband had moved into that house about a year and a half earlier and then were joined, remember? Yeah. By the two older women always dressed in black and a few months later a third older women, always dressed in black.

And a few months later, a third woman who was also dressed in black came to live with them, Caroline. Caroline. The janitor didn't know much else, but he did mention that Ocee's husband eventually left. And the women were constantly behind on the rent. So when Fletcher left, when they showed up, it was like, no, I'm not dying. He left for Canada.

They moved into that house and turned it into whatever fucking coal bullshit while O.C. living there, they turned it into that. Okay. And then they ripped O.C. out of the house, made her live in that abandoned place while they kept living in that house. Oh, so they didn't live in the house with O.C. and they were just keeping her in a house by herself ailing and sick and unable to move and starving her and that that was the whole time the choose pregnant. Yep. And they said they and reports had said they had been starving OC essentially since she was born.

Like that that girl had never been adequately taking care of what the fuck. Yeah. that girl had never been adequately taken care of. What the fuck? Yeah. Yep. And so the janitor says when Ocee's husband eventually left, the women were always behind on the rent. And then they would suddenly come into a large sum of money right before they were about to be evicted.

So they were doing some horseshit. Yeah, they were. And who the fuck is the skull in the oven? Well, the house in Brooklyn and the information given by the janitor eventually led them to Dr. Pettit, my guy who filled in a lot of the gaps here. Pettit explained that he had been on hand when OC gave birth to her second child and from that point forward, he said, I just couldn't stop thinking about her. I was so worried for her safety. My concern grew and grew. And he said, at no time was I able to find out from Mrs.

Sneed anything about herself, meaning OC. He had never found anything about OC out from herself. Well, because they were always lingering. He said, every time I asked a question, one of the older women was always ready to give up an answer. Mrs. Sneed seemed afraid to talk. And he said he tried to follow up several times until one day he arrived at the house in Brooklyn and it was abandoned, which he was presumably when they moved OCD storage. Now Dr. Pettits' nurse, Elizabeth Mogue, told a similar story. She said she'd been assigned to care for OCD after the baby was born and

the surgical procedure had been performed. But she said it was so difficult to take care of her because the sisters were constantly hovering over her. She said, whenever I went, wherever I went, one of them kept tagging after me, I was not alone with Mrs. Need for a single moment. Mrs. Need seemed afraid of someone or something. Oh, that's... And just the air of like her being afraid

being followed by these women, and then you add on their appearance to it, and they're terrifying. Like black veils and all all the time. And just silently following you. Oh, I hate it. Now, Bell and O'Neill explain that what they'd found at the house in Brooklyn. And we're like, what the fuck is, do you have any idea what that could be?

And asked, you know, for a pet it to come with him to look at it. Pet it agreed. And it didn't take long before, you know, for a penit to come with him to look at it, penit agreed and it didn't take long before, you know, they figured out what was happened, what happened there. Or not what happened there, but what that was. Now, according to Dr. Pettit, the stains in the hall, he said he didn't think they were blood. Okay. He thought they were tobacco juice.

He said probably left by a careless worker. Oh, okay. He's like, that's why there's no like end with a careless worker. Oh, okay. And he's like, that's why there's no end with a crime scene. Yeah, yeah. The bones in the oven were bizarre, but he said he didn't believe they were human. Okay. He thought they were animal bones,

but he said, still don't know why they're in the oven. Yeah. And there's also like a massive hair that he was like, I don't know what that is. Do you think it was human hair? He couldn't tell. He was like, I don't know. But he's like, I think some of these are animals, so I'm assuming they what that is. Do you think it was human error? He couldn't tell. He was like, I don't know. But he's like, I think some of these are animals.

I'm assuming they're animal bones. But so Dr. Pettit tried to clear up some mysteries and did a couple, but it didn't stop the New York World News publishing a ton of sensational stories about this. I mean, how do you not in this fucking years? They called the Brooklyn House a baby farm, which, you know, they didn't really have a lot to go stories about this. I mean, how do you not in this fucking years? They called the Brooklyn House a baby farm, which, you know, they didn't really have a lot to go on on that. They did mention the occult overtones of the whole thing. And thanks to the information provided by neighbors in Brooklyn,

and especially that of Dr. Pettit and his nurse, a picture was beginning to emerge for the detectives. Uh-huh. It was clear that three women had been abusing OC and by all accounts she seemed terrified of them. But what they couldn't kind of figure out was why they had done this. Right.

Like, they were like, this is like a long process and it didn't take them long to figure on a motive. During an interview with William Fee, a Brooklyn attorney, it was revealed that the lawyer had been recommended to Virginia by someone she'd met at church, and she'd summon him to the house just a few months before O.C.'s death. I can't believe Virginia was at church. Yeah. Now, according to Fee, Virginia had wanted him to help O.C. write a new will. This was before O.C. died. Virginia produced the old will, completed by O completed by OC just a few months earlier,

and explained they wanted to write a new one because the previous version didn't make any provisions for OC's baby. Now OC's only like, I think she was only 20, I want to say she was between 23 and 26. Yeah, and she also was sure that her baby died, which like that is well. No. Well, Fee thought that the explanation was like whatever. He's like, okay, that sure. Yeah. But he did think it was strange that the details of the new will were all being dictated by Virginia. Right. Not OC. Yeah. Now according to Phi on that day, Virginia was in the company of Caroline,

OC's mother. The girl appeared to be very on the verge of death at the time. And Fee was really moved by the sad story that the sisters were spinning to him. So he agreed to write the new will because he thought that she's dying. This is what he said. This is her mother and her aunts. Right. Now, in the new will, OC apparently declared that all her deaths should be paid out of

her state and that her son should be and should inherit $500. Okay. That the rest was to be left to her grandmother, Martha. That was her original thing. Yeah. With new evidence in hand, Chief Bell paid a visit to Virginia in her cell at Essex County jail and interrogated her about the will. Virginia flatly denied the accusations of neglect and

any insinuation that she would conspired to kill her niece for any inheritance. I mean, but and bell hope that the woman would crack when presented with the evidence, but he had underestimated how how much she would he had underestimated her will. Yeah, I will say and you will find out what I mean by that in a minute. He was just about to give up when O'Neill entered his office and presented him with documented evidence and witness testimony confirming medical neglect and all evidence of mal treatment, mal treatment and malnourishment of Ose. Yeah. So all the evidence was there.

He didn't need the confession. And he said, Bell said, at first, I believe Mrs. Need attempted to take a bath, was discovered in the tub by her murderer and held underwater until drowned. Makes sense. But after careful examination of the evidence, which directly contradicted Virginia's story, he believed OC had never intended to take a bath, but had instead been placed in the evidence, which directly contradicted Virginia's story, he believed OC had never intended

to take a bath, but had instead been placed in the tub, was too weak to fight back and was held under a few inches of water by Virginia. She's, until she drowned. So she literally carried her, it like dragged her into the bath and drowned her. This is one of the most darkest. Yeah. Based on the information collected at this point, Bell made the decision to charge Virginia with the murder of Oceesneed. Yeah, right, Philly, so it sounds. So the news of Virginia's arrest made readers go crazy all over these coasts.

They had been following all the sensational stories coming out of here. And honestly, the news of her behavior and the way she dressed only made it even more macabre. Of course. And law enforcement were talking also about how strange and uncooperative Virginia was being. Police commissioner Sharp set an statement to the press.

I tried to question her, but she bluntly told me that she saw no reason why she should answer my questions. And in his assessment of Virginia, Sharp described her as cool, calm, and resourceful and cunning. Ooh. Now, in an attempt to get back at the negative portrayals of Virginia, Mary's need, the other idiot here, granted an interview with several reporters saying family pride should be laid aside,

and the public should learn the truth about the sisters in black. And tell us. Mary said, in the hope of lightening the burden of an innocent woman, speaking of Virginia, I will tell all I know. But hardly, she told, said nothing. She told nothing. In fact, she flat out refused to address any questions regarding the family's financial history. And the fact that Virginia had not only taken three life insurance policies out on OC just before her death,

but it also had her will changed. She wouldn't talk about any of that. Instead, Mary told some stupid sob story of family tragedy and misfortune that more or less upheld the lies the women had told OC, including that her husband was almost certainly dead. Fletcher.

Which he's not. He's just showing that he's married. Yeah. As for OC's death, Mary insisted that it was suicide, motivated by profound loss and, you know, her declining health. No, no, no, about that. Now, as news of the story spread, people in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Tennessee came forward to tell their tales of the sisters.

A former student at the Nashville female school where Mary was once employed, described her as being, quote, regarded by all pupils as being queer. Now, queer meaning strange back then. Yeah. And in Christianburg, Virginia, one resident described the sisters as, quote,

crazy, eccentric and exceedingly smart. Oh, exceedingly smart. And ties all of that as horrible. Now, reporters followed every lead in the story and they began reporting on all the mysterious aspects of the women's lives, including all the things we had talked about before, the weird standing over people's beds. The B&E's, the cemetery things, having one driver to bring them to the cemetery all the time.

I forgot that they had a fucking driver to bring them to the cemetery. Yeah. And so they started piecing together a story that included a large amount of fraud, very disturbing behavior, and a few suspicious deaths and a lot of insurance shit. Mm-hmm. There was the tragic death of Caroline's first child after falling down a flight of stairs. Yep. The unexpected early death of Robert Martin, her husband.

John's needs multiple brushes with death before dying by being lit on fire in his bed. I know. Did the police ever investigate that? No, they said, in fact, they could smell kerosene. And nobody thought it was suspicious. What the hell? They said it was an accident.

And then finally, O.C. is drowning. All of these things were followed by large insurance payouts that were received just in the nick of time to avoid financial ruin. Right. What would you do if you thought you had met the love of your life? But as things began to slowly unravel, it went beyond your capacity to help, ending with his untimely death. What would you do? I'm Wittnessel Dine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast that brings you

extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them. And I'm excited to share that we have hit 300 episodes. In honor of this, we've decided to revisit the first ever episode of the show, entitled What If Your Boyfriend, Lit Himself on Fire. It's been about 12 years since I started the show with this interview. And both the storyteller and the show have evolved so much in that time. Our 300th episode is a deeper dive into the story and everything that has happened since them. To hear this story and so many more, follow this is actually happening on the Wonder

App or wherever you get your podcasts. And you can listen to this is actually happening Add Free on Wonder E+. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wonder's podcast American scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history, presidential lies, corruption and sports, corporate fraud. Our newest season looks at Aaron Hernandez, a rising pro football star who shocked the sports world when he was arrested for a brutal murder in 2013. Fans, media, and Hernandez's own family couldn't understand how a beloved and respected player

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early and ad-free, right now on Wonder RePlus. Franklin Fort presented the press with two unmailed letters that Virginia supposedly had written to family members. In each letter, Virginia is expressing her deepest sympathies for the recent losses. There were statements like, what a flood tide of loving sympathy slows to you this beautiful Sabbath afternoon. And I would love to hold you dear head on my lap and run my fingers through your hair. And so charm away, brainworry. Brainworry.

People talk so wild back then. It was just like feeding her. That was always that. Fort's intention was to demonstrate that Virginia was far from this bizarre spinster. She had been portrayed as the press. Oh, I don't know. And that no woman who writes such letters would commit murder. Totally. Totally. Now, despite, you know, what seemed like a rock solid way to influence the press,

the public perception of Virginia, for it simply couldn't hold back the constant sensational news coverage because she was weird. Wild. More over, the more the press learned about the family through their investigations and the police. The more began to look as though Virginia was not the only one involved in all this. Yeah, I'm also like, where the fuck is Caroline? Because Mary's out here talking to the press. Where's Caroline about her only child now dying?

So as the new year rolls over, the prosecutor's office had begun to put together a theory as to the events leading up to and resulting in OC's death. They believe that all four women had been living in the house in Brooklyn when they concocted a scheme to kill OC and collect on the insurance money. Yeah. Now, according to the prosecutor, one-old woman hired the unfurnished house in East Orange. Another took the poor girl there and a third planned her murder.

They rented that house in East Orange, brought OC there and left her there, let her starve there for a while, and planned her entire murder. And then told the police, we are living here together, even though they're not. Now by dividing up the tasks, because one of them hired the house, one of them brought her there, one of them planned the murder. By dividing up those tasks, the women had hoped to avoid suspicion. And I don't know why they would have gone through all the lengths when they could like to bring her to East Orange when they could have just committed this crime in New York. Yeah. I don't know. I wonder if they thought maybe like her traveling in such

a frail state would just end up with her death. Maybe. You know, but it's like even then it's like that would have been great for them. Oh yeah, actually. Yeah. You know, like that either way. So it's like it just doesn't make it like like why wouldn't you just like do it? Yeah. Like why'd you bring her somewhere else and like evolve another place and like, even though that's what I meant by that. Oh, you meant going from Brooklyn to East or sorry,

I did, I was thinking the other way around. No, that's okay. You are correct. That is also a good point, but even investigators now that like I still don't get why they didn't just like, because you didn't really need anything to happen. You would already done the starvation and the poor treatment

and the withholding medical treatment from her. At this point, it's like, it looks like what they did was they just dragged her to a bathtub and drowned her. They could have done that. They could have done that all along, but maybe the financial thing was like heating up at that point. Maybe they were like, okay, like she's not gonna die soon

enough from starvation, so we need to speed this a lot. But that's what I mean. They could have just drowned her in the house that they already had. Yeah. Like it doesn't make sense. I know. But what's also unknown to investigators at this point

was the whereabouts of, like you were asking. Caroline. Yeah, like where is she? They believe she was obviously an active participant in her own daughter's death. I mean, yeah. Now, despite her absence or perhaps because of it, the press was able to paint a picture of Caroline as a kind of ringleader among the sisters. It sounds like she is because again, they were, quote, unquote, normal before.

Until her arrival, the sister's lives seemed pretty functional, odd a little bit, but functional. Yeah, I mean, she was the president of the school, the other one worked there like. But once Caroline entered the picture, her manipulation and overbearing personality completely changed for Jinyan Mary. According to Luan Rife, the newspapers described Caroline

as an intelligent and highly emotional woman, perhaps with mental illness, who manipulated her family. She was a hoarder, she clung on to everything she owned rather than sell them, even when she was financially desperate. And most importantly, she lacked any real human connection, even with the closest members of her family, her husband, her son and her daughter. She had no connection to them. It sounds like she has more of a connection to her sisters. Yeah. And this was a strange little thing. By mid-December, Caroline had been located in New York City

and she was registered at a hotel as Mrs. Mabrick. Mrs. Mabrick. Now, remember the case of Florence Mabrick? Yeah. James Mabrick. Yeah. Who some people believe Florence Maybrick? Yeah. James Maybrick? Yeah. Who some people believe to be Jack the Ripper, he's not. Get this.

Florence Maybrick's daughter was named Caroline. Wait, what? So Caroline, our bad Caroline, is living in New York City in a hotel under the name Mrs. Mabrick. Florence Mabrick was married to James Mabrick and was accused of poisoning him. Uh-huh. Her daughter's name was Caroline. Okay. I don't know what the connection is there, but Mrs. Mabrick is a strange name to pick. Yeah. And the fact that the Caroline is going under Mrs. Maybrick and the real Mrs. Maybrick has a daughter named Caroline

is a little strange. That is. And it was like, it was heavily reported. Even in this. Oh, yeah. Like, people thought he was Jack the Ripper. Right. What the fuck? And it was like a big deal

because they thought that Florence had murdered him. Right. Sorry, was that in the States? No, because they thought he was Jack the Ripper. Yeah, that was in Europe. And it was reported over here because, okay. Yeah. Sorry, that was like a log.

What? Yeah. Like, it's just a weird. I was like, what is this? And I tried to find any other kind of connections there, but I was like, I couldn't find. And then what's weird too is, I think it was a big deal, the Florence Maverick stuff

because Florence Maverick was from Alabama. Oh, and there, so she's from the South. And it's like, so that was definitely reported over here because it was like an American woman, right? Yeah. But yeah, like that's. Fuck. And it's a weird interconnection here

that I can't quite put my finger on, but weird can very like coincidental. Yeah, and it's also if she did do that on purpose, which to me it kind of sounds like she did. That's a weird fucking thing to do on purpose because people are gonna want to like you're trying to float below the radar, but you're picking not as a cover name. Yeah. I don't know. What? It's very strange. Do you think she just thought it was like funny? Yeah. Like a like she just did it to be like I don't know like because they love that spooky persona. They've got their, maybe it was just like,

their black dress with the black veil. Right. So maybe it's just part of the whole way. It sounds very mental in this. Very strange. You know, like, it sounds like she was, there's definitely something there. When I saw Mrs. Mayberg, I was like,

Mrs. Mayberg, and I was like, oh, Florence Mayberg, James Mayberg, and I started thinking about it. And then I was like, huh. And I was like, wait, Florence was from the United States. I was like, wait, Florence Mayberg, James Mayberg. And I started thinking about it. And then I was like, huh. And I was like, wait, Florence was from the United States. I was like, wait, choose from the South. Yeah. And I started looking into it again, like just being like refreshing.

And then I was like, holy shit, her daughter's name was Caroline. That's too, I feel like that's too weird to be a coincidence. Right? I would, I think. Too many connections there, but anyway. So I was sad. Like Florence ended up getting out of jail eventually Right? I would, I think. Too many connections there, but anyway. She was my little sad track.

Like Florence ended up getting out of jail eventually and then moving back to the States, right? Yeah. She ended up living like, you know, like a quaint life. A pretty quiet life. Yeah. Interesting. Now, Caroline was under surveillance by New Jersey authorities until they had justification

to arrest her. We love a surveillance moment, right? That evidence finally came in the form of several letters written by Caroline that Chief Bell believed bore a remarkable resemblance to the handwriting in OC Suicide. She wrote her daughter's suicide. Her oldest child Suicide. Finally, by the end of December, Mary's need and Caroline were taken into custody by New York authorities and held for the murder of OC.

Wow. On December 22nd, a grand jury indicted all three women for first-degree murder. At this time, prosecutor Wilbur Maught began drawing up the papers to have Mary and Caroline extra-dited to New Jersey to stand trial. The most compelling piece of evidence presented to the grand jury according to the press was more than 50 quote unquote suicide notes discovered in Caroline Martin's New York hotel room. So she kept writing them over and over and over again.

She was practicing. What the fuck? That's her daughter. Her child. I mean, she was already starving. Her slide order. I'm shocked, but still that's her daughter her child. I mean, she was already starving. Her so I don't know. I'm shocked, but still that's fun. Now, while all three women continue to be held in prison pending trial, investigators in East Orange kept turning up evidence in the case that strongly supported the theory that Ocee's death

was a murder. In addition to the insurance policies taken out on her life and other evidence of conspiracy when when he first searched the house, Sargeon O'Neill had found a glass by the bathtub that contained a small amount of liquid. When the autopsy was conducted, a small amount of that same liquid was discovered in OC's stomach. Now, it took a long time for the analysis to be completed, but in mid-January, the results came back and found that that liquid was morphine.

The discovery of the morphine answered the nagging question of how OC had managed to drown in such a shallow amount of water, especially since the body would instinctively fight to stay alive with this new so they had sedated her. That's easy. And that was probably how they even got her into the bath in the first place. Now, with this new evidence, the prosecutor announced their belief that the women had been administering the morphine

for several days. And that when she was put in the bathtub, OC was unconscious of what was occurring, occurring, which I guess is the only blessing here that she didn't know what was happening. Now, they built their case against the three sisters, and the prosecutor announced the trial would begin April 1910, but things started to fall apart.

Because a ton of things delayed the trial. First, the sisters elderly mother died, followed by the unfortunate death of Osea Sun David at St Christopher's Hospital. Then in the spring, it became clear to authorities that Virginia's health had started to take a turn for the worse. And she's in custody. Yeah, okay. They discovered she was starving herself. That is so like, just dark. Macomb. Yep. In August, the prosecutor announced it is feared Virginia ward law may not live to be brought to trial.

Wow. By the summer she had been removed from the House of Corrections and taken to a hospital. She was frequently unconscious, required oxygen, and a few days later on August 12th, she had died from starvation. She had starved herself to death in custody. That is wild, because that takes a long time. Yeah. Now prison officials had tried to give her enough food. Like they were serving her food. She just won a date. They said she had intentionally killed herself

and they said, quote, having starved herself to avoid being placed on trial. Wow. Now, things became even more complicated a month later in late September when Franklin Ford produced a document signed by two psychiatrists that declared Caroline Martin insane.

I mean, we knew that. He said, the defense argued, this is a case of whether a woman should be confined in a jail or in an asylum. We have carefully considered all the details of the case and with the relatives of Mrs. Martin, and with the relatives of Mrs. Martin, believe that she is not now in her right mind.

The request for a new hearing on Caroline's sanity conflicted with the schedule for the acting judge, so the case was transferred to another judge, Judge J. Tenak, and a schedule for early August. Now, when it finally went underway, Caroline's behavior, whether real or an act to bolster this claim, as people do believe it was, did little to contradict the ways in which she'd been portrayed in the press.

At one point, while former representative from Ward Law College was testifying about how Caroline had negatively affected the school and its finances. Caroline jumped out of her seat and shouted, I never said a thing he is telling. And then was ordered to sit down by the courtroom. Caroline would continue to have outbursts over and over. She would challenge any and all testimony given. And when Caroline's brother Reverend Albert Ward Law was called to the stand, he testified that Caroline had always been controlling manipulative and strange.

We heard that. He said she directed both my school and daily life in New York. He said of his earlier experience with his sister that he told the court that around 1890 or 1891, he noticed a marked change in his sister's behavior. She was a rational, bizarre, and very quick to anger. And at one point, she said to him that she was, quote, equal to her creator and called herself Salvador. What?

Albert Ward-Luz testimony was interrupted, again, by Caroline Outbursting and the judge had to call a recess. Now, throughout the trial, Caroline was seen to lift her veil a lot because she was wearing her veil. And basically, she would like lift her veil subtly during one of her outbursts to kind of evaluate the judges reaction, gauging how far she could carry it

or to act out. Like this is very clear that she's doing it on purpose. Like she would look at him and be like, and like see how far she could take it. And after multiple outbursts in the courtroom, the sanity hearing finally concluded in late November. And the judge concluded Mrs. Martin is sane within the meaning of the statute, competent to advise counsel and assist within the meaning of the statute, competent to have advised counsel and assist in the preparation of defense. That's the thing, like, if you could sit there and jump up and outburst to everything

and be like looking to see how far you can take it, then hello. So without a formal declaration of insanity to shield her, Caroline's lawyers encouraged her to plead guilty to a lesser charge. Smart. And on November 9th, 1911, she pleaded no contest to a charge of manslaughter.

But when the plea agreement for manslaughter was read in court, she interrupted the prosecutor and said, involuntary manslaughter, please, sir. You can't just change the charge that you're pleading to. And the prosecutor raised his voice and said, mans, slaughter, madam. So the exchange brought on another aggressive outburst from Caroline, but the judge had had fucking enough of this.

It was like, we're gonna get delayed again. So he literally yelled at Caroline. This is not the time for you to talk. And she just slinked back in her chair. Oh, man. Now, Caroline Martin was sentenced to seven years in the state penitentiary for women and began serving her term February 8, 1911.

Seven years after a little more than a year in prison, officials noted that Caroline was doing very poorly and her mental health had declined considerably. So in May 1912, she was declared insane and transferred to the New Jersey State Hospital for the insane to finish out her sentence. On June 10, 1913, only in the next year, Caroline Martin died from heart disease at the age of 67. Wow.

Now, because the law didn't allow for co-conspirators to manslaughter, right? The joint indictment of Caroline and Mary had to be severed. As a result, the prosecutor had to drop the accessory charge against Mary's need, and she was free to go. She's walked. With her husband and one of her sons dead, and Fletcher living in Canada, Mary's only option was to move to Colorado where she went to live with a third son that no one knew about. What the fuck? Mary resurfaced in 1930 when a number of diamonds were discovered in an unclaimed bank vault

in Murphy's Grill, built Tennessee. This would be the way that this fucking thing goes. Now, according to Mary, quote, mis Virginia ward law, Virginia. Yeah, her, Mr. Virginia ward laws diamonds were lost or stolen from school college. And she believed them to be the same diamonds found in the vault. No. As the only living sister, Mary claimed herself the heir to her sister's estate. And attempted to claim the diamonds. No, baby. No. It's unclear whether she was successful. Really?

At the time she was known to be, quote, a church worker living in Oakland, California. Mary Snead died in 1937. Wow, 1937, that's the end of the story. What the fucking fuck, dude? That is, first of all, one of the darkest tales that you've ever told, and I shouldn't say tales because it's true. And secondly, what the fucking fuck?

What the fucking fuck is right? Holy shit, that's one of the strangest. The fact that OC was wrapped up in this? I know, because it sounds like he was so sad, girl. And she just wanted like a happy normal life. It pisses me off that flutcher was like, oh, I'm not gonna die. Like let me get out of here.

Yeah, it's like fuck you, flutcher. Take her with you. Yeah, like Jesus, like she, God damn. Like you got, yeah, you had to get married. You agreed to get married. Yeah, you must have loved her. And also, first cousin, get her out of there. Like Jesus, if you're worried about these women

and what they did to your brother, you should be worried about what's gonna happen to your family member. Exactly. You know? Wow. He just runs up to Canada. I'm like, nice, Fletcher.

That's the thing. It's like, take her to Canada with you, Jesus Christ. That feels very much like a Fletcher thing to do, though. I know you like that name, but it feels like a Fletcher thing to do. You're not wrong. You know? I think that's the guy's name and like something borrowed who like cheats on his woman.

I think you might be right. Yeah, I'm not gonna name my kid Fletcher. Sorry, Delph. Sorry to all the Fletcher. It's a cool name. It is not a lie. But I don't know, something about it. Fletcher.

Yeah. Wow. So that is the story of Holy Beninus. The quote-unquote black sisters, because that's what they were called. Right. The murder of Ocee's need. That, I just can't even stop saying how wild that was.

I've never heard of anything like that. Took me out, my friend. For real, Mikey just like found that. Yeah, Mikey just found it was like, you should look at this story and I was like, are you fucking kidding me? Yeah, how did this come from? How did I miss it?

I was like, I've never came across this. That's wild. Crazy. I had a driver to fuck you. You want to do that when we're old? Let's hire a driver. You drive us to the graveyard? We won't dance around.

Just like headstone, so that's fucked up. Now it's kind of disrespectful. That's super disrespectful. He can drive us somewhere else. I do love a graveyard. The one I want to walk around a graveyard. Let's dress in all black when we're older, not murder anybody.

Just get a fall for four at least. A fall for four. I know you're gonna back. There's a lot of souls happening today. I had a weird accent on my fall. Yeah, fall. Earlier I said insanity. She did. I don't know. I don't know. Well, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it. We're but not so really higher driver to bring you to the cemetery in the middle of the night. And you dance around graves and then you like wake up in the middle of the night and you dance around graves and then you wake up in the middle of the night to people standing over your bed and not so rare that you kill your own daughter or my starvation and then write all the suicide notes for her because wow that's like super fucked up. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music.

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