Curator 135

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In January 1909, two men entered a small Methodist church in rural St. Clair County, Michigan, and discovered a scene of unimaginable violence. Blood covered the floor, furniture lay overturned, and inside the church stove were the charred remains of a human body.

The church's minister, Reverend John Haviland Carmichael, had vanished. At first, authorities believed he was the victim. But as investigators began uncovering evidence, the case took an extraordinary turn.

What followed was a nationwide manhunt, a shocking confession, and a murder motive so bizarre that even investigators...

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An elderly couple sits for a photograph. Behind them, a mysterious young woman appears. Her face is faint, her clothing ghostly, and according to the photographer, she isn't among the living.

But is this photographic evidence of life after death, or something far more sinister?

In this edition of Down the Wiki Rabbit Hole, one peculiar image from Wikimedia Commons leads us into the strange world of William Hope, Britain's notorious spirit photographer. As grieving families desperately sought contact with loved ones lost during World War I, Hope offered...

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Los Angeles, 1936. After a night out, retired organist Samuel Whittaker and his wife, Ethel, returned home to find an armed stranger waiting inside their apartment.

Shots rang out. Ethel lay dead. The mysterious gunman escaped with bullets in his body.

At first, Samuel Whittaker looked like a grieving husband who had bravely fought back against his wife’s killer.

Then police found 23-year-old drifter James Fagan Culver bleeding nearby.

And Culver had a very different story to tell.

What followed was one of th...

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When we left sixteen-year-old John Paul Getty III, he had been struck in the head, bound, blindfolded, and driven away from the streets of Rome.

Now the kidnapping begins.

Paul awakens in the hands of masked men who have taken him south to Calabria, where they believe the grandson of the richest man in the world must be worth a fortune.

There's just one problem.

His family isn't convinced he's actually been kidnapped.

As Paul is moved between remote hideouts, chained, threatened, and...

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In 1973, sixteen-year-old John Paul Getty III had one of the most recognizable surnames on Earth.

His grandfather, J. Paul Getty, was known as the richest man in the world—an oil billionaire famous not only for his staggering fortune, but for his eccentricity, complicated family relationships, and legendary reluctance to part with his money.

But being a Getty didn't necessarily mean having money.

Living in Rome, Paul was rebellious, restless, frequently broke, and already notorious enough that the Italian press had nicknamed him “The Golden Hippie.” He'd been e...

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Lake Lanier is one of the most popular lakes in America. It is also one of the most feared.

Beneath its waters lie old roads, foundations, forgotten pieces of communities, and a history far darker than the ghost stories suggest.

In Episode 109, we travel back long before the lake existed. We explore the Native American history of the land, the forced removal of the Cherokee, and the racial violence that drove more than a thousand Black residents from Georgia's Forsyth County in 1912. Then, decades later, the federal government arrived...

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What if a single footprint could reveal where someone had been, what they were carrying, and where they were headed?

In this episode of Curator 135, we explore the remarkable story of the Shadow Wolves—an elite Native American tracking unit composed primarily of members of the Tohono O'odham Nation. For more than five decades, these extraordinary trackers have used skills passed down through generations to pursue drug traffickers, dismantle criminal organizations, and protect one of the most challenging stretches of the U.S.–Mexico border.

Drawing from historical newspaper arch...

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Most horror movies begin as fiction. But sometimes the truth is even more terrifying.

In April 1990, Marilynn DePue, a respected Michigan high school guidance counselor and mother of three, vanished after an encounter with her ex-husband, Dennis DePue. What followed was a shocking murder investigation, a terrifying eyewitness account involving a body dumped behind an abandoned schoolhouse, and a desperate cross-country manhunt that captivated the nation.

Along the way, we'll explore the chilling encounter experienced by Ray and Marie Thornton, the role that Unsolved Mysteries and legendary host Robert...

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For eleven weeks, I had the opportunity to step inside the world of the Livonia Police Department through the 2026 Livonia Citizen Police Academy — and this episode documents the entire experience.

From SWAT demonstrations and accident reconstruction to crisis negotiations, K9 training, ride-alongs, use-of-force policy, crime scene investigations, active shooter response, and virtual reality scenario training, this program offered an unfiltered look at the realities of modern policing and the people behind the badge.

In this episode, I share:

What I learned during all eleven weeks of the ac...

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What if the end of the world wouldn’t begin with a decision… but with a misunderstanding?

In Drawn to the Stars, a single moment of uncertainty triggers a chain reaction that leads to nuclear war. It’s fiction—but it may be closer to reality than we’d like to admit.

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union came dangerously close to nuclear conflict more than once. Not always because of aggression—but because of fear, miscommunication, and systems that weren’t as reliable as they seemed...

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What happens when you leave Earth—and take the human mind somewhere it was never meant to go?

After diving back into space while writing Drawn to the Stars: Book One – The Exchange (now available on Amazon), I found myself drawn not just to the missions we all know… but to the moments we don’t talk about as often. The strange ones. The quiet ones. The ones astronauts themselves struggled to explain.

In this episode, we explore real accounts from spaceflight that blur the line between science and percepti...

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What makes science fiction so powerful? And why do these stories stay with us long after we’ve finished them?

In Episode 103, we explore the minds that helped shape the genre. From early works like New Atlantis and Somnium to the groundbreaking stories of H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Philip K. Dick, this episode dives into the ideas, predictions, and strange realities that define science fiction.

Then, for the first time, I share my own journey into the genre—what inspired me, how the story deve...

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In May of 1922, a young Michigan farmer named Romie “Doc” Hodell was found hanging in a barn outside White Cloud. At first glance, it looked like suicide.

But his feet were touching the ground.

Within days, doctors ruled it murder. And what followed would become one of the strangest and most divisive criminal cases in Michigan history.

Three months earlier, Romie’s father had died suddenly after drinking coffee at the same farmhouse. His death had been ruled a stroke. But when his body was exhumed, state chemis...

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Las Vegas wasn’t built by saints.

It was built by gamblers.

In this episode, we dive deep into the life of Benny Binion — the Texas-born gambling boss who fled murder rumors and federal heat, arrived in the Nevada desert, and helped shape modern Las Vegas.

Born in rural Pilot Grove, Texas, Binion left school early and learned odds at livestock auctions instead of in classrooms. By the 1930s, he was running powerful illegal gambling operations in Dallas, shadowed by allegations of violence and gangland-style rivalries.

...

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In the summer of 1967, Detroit was already burning when a far quieter tragedy unfolded behind the doors of the Algiers Motel. As the city reeled from six days of unrest, three young Black men—Carl Cooper, Auburey Pollard, and Fred Temple—were detained, terrorized, and killed during a police raid that would later become one of the most disturbing chapters of the Detroit Uprising.

In this milestone 100th episode of Curator135, we explore what led Detroit to the brink, how the uprising began, and what happened inside the Algiers Motel that nigh...

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What started as a quiet investigation into a vandalized mausoleum at Mount Moriah Cemetery quickly spiraled into something much darker.

In this episode, we explore the recent arrest of Jonathan Christian Gerlach — accused of stealing human remains from Philadelphia’s historic cemeteries — and the eerie digital trail he left behind. From curated Instagram posts to disturbing discoveries in his home, police uncovered a scene that felt more like a horror film than real life.

But this isn’t just about one man. It’s about a culture. A curiosity. And a line...

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In the mid-1850s, America was expanding westward — fast, hungry, and ruthless. The ink was barely dry on the Gadsden Purchase when settlers began pouring into the unforgiving deserts of what would one day become southern Arizona. The land was harsh, lawless, and already inhabited by Native nations like the Apache, who fiercely resisted encroachment.

This episode begins in that volatile moment — where empires shifted, cultures clashed, and ordinary people stepped into extraordinary danger.

At the heart of this story is Larcena Pennington Page, a young woman who journeyed west...

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Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, the United States has executed over 1,500 people — but only 17 of them have been women. In this episode, we walk cell-by-cell through their stories. The crimes. The trials. The years spent on death row. And, ultimately, the moments the state said it was time to die.

From Velma Barfield to Lisa Montgomery, we examine not just what they did — but who they were. And we ask: Does gender change the way we see justice? Or does justice demand that we don’t look away?

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She wasn’t a monster in the shadows — she was a nurse at your bedside.

In this chilling episode, we uncover the twisted life of Jane Toppan, the 19th-century caregiver who confessed to murdering at least 31 people — not out of hatred, but for pleasure. A seemingly cheerful and devoted nurse, “Jolly Jane” used her position to experiment with fatal doses of morphine and atropine, holding patients as they died… and enjoying every second.

Before Charles Cullen or Beverley Allitt, there was Toppan — America’s first documented female serial killer of the medical k...

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This Halloween, we dig deep — literally — into one of the most disturbing true crime tales in medical history.

Step into 1820s Edinburgh, where cobblestone streets echoed with the footsteps of scholars by day… and the shovels of grave robbers by night. This episode uncovers the chilling story of William Burke and William Hare, two men who didn’t just rob graves — they skipped the digging and began murdering for fresh corpses, selling the dead to fuel the booming anatomy lectures of Dr. Robert Knox.

From the shadowy world of the Resurr...

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Between June of 1911 and June of 1912, America’s heartland lived in fear. From Oregon to Iowa, entire families were slaughtered in their beds — curtains drawn, lamps dimmed, the blunt edge of an axe left behind. The trail of terror ran through Ardenwald, Rainier, Colorado Springs, Monmouth, Ellsworth, and Paola, before ending with the infamous Villisca murders.

Was it the work of one shadowy figure riding the rails, or a series of eerie coincidences? Detectives of the day struggled with poor science, conflicting rumors, and too many suspects — men like Henry Lee Moore...

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He was the sheriff with a big stick and an even bigger legend. Buford Pusser fought crime on the Tennessee-Mississippi border with his fists, a badge, and a whole lot of vengeance. His story inspired Walking Tall, a string of sequels, ballads, and generations of folk-hero worship. 

But behind the headlines, beneath the scars, there’s a different story. 

In this episode of the Curator135 Podcast, we dive deep into the life, myth, and legacy of Buford Pusser—from his early days as a wrestler, to bloody shootouts with the St...

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In the late 1800s, Nellie Titus had a dream about a missing girl. A dream so precise, so disturbingly accurate, that it drew the attention of scholars, spiritualists, and skeptics alike — including America’s most famous psychologist, William James.

In this episode, we step back in time to a snow-covered mill town, where a woman who’d had visions all her life claimed to see what no one else could. 

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In 1878, a quiet town in Nova Scotia became the stage for one of Canada’s strangest hauntings. Esther Cox, an ordinary young woman, was suddenly surrounded by raps in the walls, flying objects, and ghostly messages carved into plaster. Neighbors, doctors, ministers — even a touring actor — all claimed to witness the terror firsthand. Was it the work of restless spirits, the echoes of trauma, or a mystery no one will ever solve? Join me as we travel back to Amherst, where a haunting once gripped the Maritimes and left behind one unforgettable name: Esther...

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An up-and-coming NBA star who had it all. The talent, the money, the fame, the women... but then he just walked away. And soon, he would vanish altogether. Learn about Brian Williams, who, after changing his name to Bison Dele, found that the NBA lifestyle was no longer for him. He bought a boat, reconnected with an old flame, and then reconnected with his brother. The last move may have cost him his life. 

A lost at sea mystery. 

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Episode 89 of the podcast highlights the criminal careers of Dennis Lincoln and John Wolfenbarger and goes into correspondence between the defendants and myself back in 2014. This is chapters 24, 25, and 26 of the book, A Wolf in Suburbia - The Pesce Family Murders.

Some of the language used in this podcast is not intended for younger listeners. Parental discretion is advised; bad language is beeped out. The voices used for Lincoln and Wolfenbarger are AI-generated. 

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Episode 88 of the podcast covers days 12, 13, 14, the verdict and sentencing portions of the Pesce Family Murder Trial and chapters 20, 21, 22, & 23 of the book, A Wolf in Suburbia - The Pesce Family Murders.

The trial hears from some key witnesses for the prosecution and the defense and is ultimately deliberated on for less than four hours before a verdict was reached. 

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Episode 87 of the podcast covers days 8, 9, 10, & 11 of the Pesce Family Murder Trial and chapters 17, 18, & 19 of the book, A Wolf in Suburbia - The Pesce Family Murders.

Some important witnesses are called to the stand, and health issues delay the trial by nearly one month.  

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In Part 5 of the series, we cover days 6 and 7 of the trial and chapters 15 and 16 of the book, A Wolf in Suburbia: The Pesce Family Murders. 

These two days were important ones in the trial as attorneys finished up with Betty Faye Smith before moving on to a Copa Lounge bartender and the Letts family. Finally, at the end of day 7, Diane Pesce is called to the stand. 

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Episode 85 covers chapters 12, 13, and 14 of the book, "A Wolf in Suburbia: The Pesce Family Murders.

The trial commences with the presentation of some key witnesses, including Doreen Beauchamp (Wolfenbarger's Girlfriend) and Betty Faye Smith (Wolfenbarger's Mother). 

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Part 3 dives into chapters 8, 9, 10, & 11 of the book "A Wolf in Suburbia: The Pesce Family Murders". 

The arrests of John Wolfenbarger and Dennis Lincoln, the Pesce family funeral, the community response, and the beginning of a long trial. 

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Part two of the story continues with chapters 5, 6, and 7 of the book, "A Wolf in Suburbia: The Pesce Family Murders."

These chapters discuss the actions of Wolfenbarger and Lincoln before and after the murders and we meet William "Billy Wadd" Smith, notorious West Side Boss of the Devil's Diciples and uncle to John Wolfenbarger. 

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In 2002 John Wolfenbarger and Dennis Lincoln committed one of the worst crimes in Michigan's history. Five were dead, including three children, just four days before Christmas. 

It was, for the most part, an open-and-shut case but when you add in a dangerous biker gang, a drug-addicted mother, and a questionable parole policy, things can get a little murkier. 

Back in 2014-2015, Nathan began a nearly five-year journey of compiling information on this case for a true crime book. After countless interviews and thousands of documents, he finished the book. On...

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In Episode 81 of the podcast, we take a look at the three-year racially motivated killing spree that covered at least 11 different states. From 1977 to 1980, Joseph Paul Franklin killed an estimated twenty-one people while injuring scores of others and creating an unease that spread throughout the country. What fueled his hatred towards blacks and Jews and how was he finally brought to justice?

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In this spine-chilling episode, we unravel the mysterious and eerie story of the Greenbrier Ghost, one of the most unique cases in American legal history. Discover how the spirit of Elva Zona Heaster allegedly returned from the grave to reveal the truth behind her untimely death, leading to a landmark court case in 1897. Join us as we explore the chilling details of this haunting tale and the fascinating intersection of folklore and justice.

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In the early 1900s, young men sometimes wanted to get out of their boring hometowns and out from under their parents' thumbs. The flashy lights, roar of the animals and the big top tents often seemed to call to them offering a more exciting life. Countless teens ran off and joined the circus, some made a career out of it, some came crawling back home to their parents never wanting to leave again. Others, like the two boys discussed in this episode had their lives changed forever. 

Learn about Sheridan Justus a...

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In this chilling dive into the history of psychiatry, we uncover the controversial legacy of Dr. Henry Cotton, the medical director of the New Jersey State Hospital for the Insane in the early 20th century. Driven by a misguided obsession with infection as the root cause of mental illness, Cotton’s radical treatments, including tooth and organ removal, left a trail of suffering and death in their wake. From his meteoric rise to his shocking methods and eventual downfall, we explore the man, his madness, and the dark chapters he wrote in the hi...

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In the rugged hills of post-Civil War Missouri, a group of masked men set out to restore order in a lawless land. Led by the towering and enigmatic Nat Kinney, the Bald Knobbers began as vigilantes seeking justice in the absence of reliable law enforcement. But as their power grew, so did their reputation for brutality, leading to deadly feuds, splintered loyalties, and a fall from public favor.

In this episode, we dive deep into the rise and fall of the Bald Knobbers, exploring the turbulent world of Taney County in...

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They say that each of us has a doppelganger somewhere in the world. Someone who looks just like us... maybe acts just like us... or maybe, is us. 

Do you believe in doppelgangers? Do you believe in the idea of bilocation? 

These people from history certainly do. Learn about how various dignitaries, politicians, and artists from history and their run-ins with their very own doppelgangers. 

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Find out what Halloween was like during the Great Depression. 1929 to 1939 was a tough decade for folks throughout the United States. Halloween offered a chance to come together and help children have an enjoyable evening with their friends. It also served as a time for older kids to rebel and cut loose, causing the night before Halloween to be named 'Mischief Night', and eventually 'Devil's Night'. 

So how did people celebrate and what legends spawned from that era that are still discussed today? 

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