Episodes

  • The kerosene lantern kept returning - he lost twenty‑eight years searching

    The kerosene lantern kept returning - he lost twenty‑eight years searching
    Oct 20 2026
    A kerosene lantern appears at a dead utility post every new moon for 28 years after a man vanishes in the Ozarks - what did it cost him?

    The kerosene lantern kept returning - he lost twenty‑eight years searching

    In this episode, we follow the slow, precise trail of a vanished man, a blanked church ledger, and a lantern that kept reappearing on moonless nights. The story traces decisions, records, and rituals that tied a small Ozarks community to one unresolved disappearance and asks what the persistence of those traces might mean.

    Person: Howard Phillips
    Date: June 14, 1991 (disappearance); June 3, 2019 (lantern noted)
    Location: Old Mill Road, Harlow Creek, Ozarks
    Event: Kerosene lantern appearing at an unpowered utility post every new moon for 28 years
    Record: Three cashier's checks totalling $34,000 drawn May 29, 1991 with blank payee lines

    - Lori Young, a meter reader, logged the lantern as "anomaly/no service at post" on June 3, 2019 and did not touch it.
    - Holly Wagner, a folklorist, recognized that the lantern had appeared every new moon for twenty-eight years.
    - Dennis Pratt, Harlow Creek constable, recorded a single right-foot lug-sole boot-print near the creek and measured it twice yearly for 28 years, noting he "didn't touch it."
    - Howard Phillips was the Methodist lay treasurer from 1988 to June 1991 and had signing authority over the church account.
    - On May 29, 1991, three cashier's checks totaling $34,000 were drawn against the church treasurer account with all payee lines blank and no corresponding ledger entries.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    24 mins
  • The Nance ground cost Gerald Foss his peace - he died six days after objecting

    The Nance ground cost Gerald Foss his peace - he died six days after objecting
    Oct 19 2026
    A retired selectman objects to a road that skirts an uncultivated field; six days later he’s dead - what did the Nance ground cost him?

    The Nance ground cost Gerald Foss his peace - he died six days after objecting

    In this episode, we follow the tangled records and local memory around a four-point-two-acre parcel called the Nance ground, a formal handwritten objection, and the timing that links them to a sudden death. What questions about ownership, records, and disappearance keep resurfacing in Harkin Hollow?

    Person: Gerald Foss
    Date: May 8, 1981
    Location: Harkin Hollow, Vermont
    Event: handwritten objection to proposed road expansion
    Person: Darlene Williams

    - A parish volunteer found a two-page, signed letter from Gerald Foss dated May 8, 1981, lodged in a 1981 church bulletin.
    - Foss’s objection opposed a road-expansion vote that would have given new access along the boundary of the Nance ground.
    - Foss died six days after writing and signing the objection; his death was recorded as cardiac arrest and not reinvestigated.
    - The Nance ground is a 4.2-acre parcel listed as present but never cultivated across six agricultural surveys from 1921 onward.
    - In late April 1981, waitress Darlene Williams queried the deeds office about who held exemption authority over the Nance ground; she disappeared the next morning.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    24 mins
  • The canvas mail sack returned forty‑three unread letters-and cost him his past

    The canvas mail sack returned forty‑three unread letters-and cost him his past
    Oct 18 2026
    A canvas mail sack washes ashore with forty‑three sealed letters addressed to a man who wasn't born yet - what did it cost him?

    The canvas mail sack returned forty‑three unread letters-and cost him his past

    In this episode, we follow a local historian who uncovers a stack of sealed 1961 letters found in a creek and the ledger entries that kept them hidden. The episode traces the postal records, the postmasters, and a question about undelivered mail that resurfaces the town’s quiet secrets-what consequences will the discovery unleash?

    Person: Carl Romano
    Date: April 14, 2019
    Location: Harwick Crossing, Pennsylvania
    Event: Forty‑three sealed letters found in a canvas mail sack
    Person: Angela Armstrong

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 mins
  • The baptismal register's lone Calla forced a family's silence

    The baptismal register's lone Calla forced a family's silence
    Oct 17 2026
    A farmer hauls a child's nightgown stitched "Calla" from the Osage Fork - what did it cost him?

    The baptismal register's lone Calla forced a family's silence

    In this episode, we follow the discovery of a hand-embroidered nightgown and the archival traces that make a forgotten infant's existence visible. The episode traces how one baptismal entry, absent civil records, reframes decades of local lore and raises the question of what was kept quiet and why.

    Person: Tracy Tucker
    Person: Roger Whitaker
    Person: Grant Hunt
    Date: March 14, 2019
    Location: Harlan's Ford, Calhoun County, Osage Fork

    - Tucker pulled a white cotton nightgown embroidered "C-A-L-L-A" from his trotline at 4:50 a.m., interior dry, exterior soaked.
    - The name Calla matched a local lullaby passed orally since at least the 1950s that referenced the Osage Fork.
    - Whitaker dated the embroidery style to the 1940s and found a single baptismal entry for "Calla" dated March 9, 1941, with no surname.
    - The county clerk searched paper indexes, microfilm, and digitized records and found no birth or death certificate for Calla or any matching Hunt filing.
    - Grant Hunt lived and worked adjacent to a low, seasonally wet corner of his family's land that had never been excavated or publicly accounted for.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 mins
  • The north window's closure cost Everett Marsh a secret kept for decades

    The north window's closure cost Everett Marsh a secret kept for decades
    Oct 16 2026
    When a county surveyor finds a sealed leather satchel in a schoolhouse wall, it points to a vanished teacher-what did it cost him?

    The north window's closure cost Everett Marsh a secret kept for decades

    In this episode, we follow the discovery that reopens a 1899 mystery: a sealed satchel found inside the north wall of the Harlow Creek schoolhouse and the school board minutes that ordered the north window permanently closed three days after teacher Kelly Hunter disappeared. What links the satchel, the closed window, and the man who signed the minutes?

    Person: Kelly Hunter
    Date: February 14, 1899
    Location: Harlow Creek, Caldwell County, western Pennsylvania
    Person: Everett Marsh
    Event: "Resolved: the north window shall be closed permanent." (school board minutes, February 17, 1899)

    - A county surveyor, Ronald Hoffman, measured the 1887 schoolhouse north wall in February 2011 and found it four inches too thick.
    - Tucked dry and upright behind lime mortar on a ledge unreachable since 1899 sat a leather teaching satchel facing the north window.
    - Kelly Hunter, age 28, taught arithmetic and land surveying at the one-room schoolhouse and missed class during a blizzard after February 14, 1899.
    - Kelly wrote weekly letters to her sister Nora; the Feb 8, 1899 letter noted "E.M. has asked me not to use the north room after dark."
    - The school board minutes signed by Everett Marsh on Feb 17, 1899 record only routine items and one terse resolution to permanently close the north window, with no motion or explanation.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 mins
  • The choir folder on the step cost Dennis Watson eleven years of answers

    The choir folder on the step cost Dennis Watson eleven years of answers
    Oct 15 2026
    A choir folder left on a Grange Hall step points to a town dispute over a septic pipe - what did it cost him?

    The choir folder on the step cost Dennis Watson eleven years of answers

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events around Gail Watson’s disappearance in January 1981 and the official record that labeled it a "Weather Incident." The episode covers her complaints about drainage from the Grange Hall septic system, the closed-door town vote the day before she vanished, and the questions her son Dennis pursued afterward: what was recorded, and what was kept out of the minutes?

    Person: Gail Watson
    Person: Dennis Watson
    Date: January 10, 1981
    Location: Drayfield Grange Hall; Hadley Pond (Hadley Reservoir No. 2)
    Event: Closed-session town meeting about drainage on January 7, 1981

    - Gail Watson had attended Thursday choir at Drayfield Grange Methodist every week for eleven years and sang alto.
    - On the morning of January 10, 1981, Sharon Cole found a dry manila choir folder stamped "Drayfield Grange Methodist" on the Grange Hall's south utility step, forty yards from the frozen pond.
    - Watson filed a formal complaint about drainage from an unapproved septic expansion at the Grange that discharged onto the same concrete apron where the folder appeared.
    - The town held a closed-session meeting on January 7, 1981 to vote on her drainage complaint; the official record lists the vote as four to one against her, with the dissenting voter unrecorded.
    - The official cause of the incident was classified as "Weather Incident - Jan. 1981," while Dennis Watson later sought records and found gaps between what documents show and what he suspected.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 mins
  • The letter that bought him silence cost Father Pryce a girl's name and his years

    The letter that bought him silence cost Father Pryce a girl's name and his years
    Oct 14 2026
    A retired postal worker finds a cedar box mortared into a church wall with a name and a date-what did it cost Father Pryce?

    The letter that bought him silence cost Father Pryce a girl's name and his years

    In this episode, we follow the discovery of a cedar box in a decommissioned church and the archival trail that ties a century-old local feast to one unrecorded death. We trace the people, records, and a single December 10, 1894 letter that asked the diocese for silence and wonder what motivated that request.

    Person: Crystal Jensen
    Person: Father Edmund Pryce
    Date: December 8, 1894
    Location: St. Anselm's, Harwick, upstate New York
    Document: Letter dated December 10, 1894, to the Diocese of Albany

    - Craig Sheridan found the cedar box sealed into the east wall during a 2019 photo trip and noted the carved name VELA and the date December 8, 1894.
    - The box contained a lock of dark hair, a folded letter, and a pressed winterberry sprig matching the town's long-standing December offering.
    - Parish registers show Crystal Jensen attended Latin instruction with Father Pryce regularly and record "instruction" up to December 6, 1894, with no entry for December 8.
    - Town records list Crystal Jensen's cause of death on December 9, 1894 as "exposure" and an unmarked grave, with no inquest or further paperwork.
    - Harwick's century-old feast of Saint Vela has no diocesan records or canonization files, while Donna Morgan found a December 10, 1894 parish letter from Pryce requesting silence about "the Jensen girl's death."

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 mins
  • The ledger's yearly "Occupied - R" entry cost him thirty-six Novembers of a life

    The ledger's yearly "Occupied - R" entry cost him thirty-six Novembers of a life
    Oct 13 2026
    A paperboy finds a door ajar at the Harwick Inn and a stack of fresh crackers in a long-sealed room - what did it cost him?

    The ledger's yearly "Occupied - R" entry cost him thirty-six Novembers of a life

    In this episode, we trace the discovery that begins with a fifteen-year-old paperboy and a door left standing open, then follows a retired librarian as he pulls civic records and church registers to map a strange, repeating notation. The episode covers the inn's sealed Room seven, the provisioning receipt, and the town documents that push one question forward: why was the room prepared every November for decades?

    Person: John Novak
    Person: Warren Polk
    Person: Gary Tate
    Event: Donna Romano's death on November 14, 1923
    Record: Guest ledger entries "Occupied - R" annually for 36 years

    - A fifteen-year-old paperboy, John Novak, finds Room seven ajar on the morning of November 9, 2011, with fresh rye crackers on the nightstand.
    - Inn owner Warren Polk explains no guest has rented Room seven since circa 1970 and that his mother, Agnes, entered the room each November before her death in 2009.
    - Retired librarian Gary Tate studies the inn's original guest ledger (1887-1923) and identifies a repeating notation: "Occupied - R" every November for thirty-six years.
    - A 1922 provisioning receipt filed in the ledger lists candles, blankets, a tin of crackers, and a wool-lined coat under the name E. Marsh, linked to church records for Edna Marsh.
    - Local constabulary logs show two disturbance calls involving Frank Romano in the months before schoolteacher Donna Romano died on the Aldene Creek footbridge in November 1923.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    25 mins