Capture and Execution in Canada

Listen, there's a lot of scary stuff covered on this podcast. But going back to school isn't one of them At Southern New Hampshire University, you can choose from over two hundred online programs that fit your goals No set class times means no Sunday scaries ever. And the cost, that's not a nightmare either SNHU has some of the lowest online tuition in the US feeleeling brave Apply for free in minutes. Snhu d. edu slash time sucks. In a country that never stops moving, reliable energy is essential. People need oil, and natural gas for heating, transportation, and everyday items like clothing, cell phones, and contact lenses Behind the scenes, one of America's largest pipeline operators, Eergy Transfer works all day, every day, to transport the energy that our communities depend on. Energy Transfer invests in modern infrastructure as technologies like AI drive greater need for reliable natural gas. Learn more at energyransfer dot com dot OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, ONDeck loans up to four hundred thousand dollars help make it happen fast. Rated A plus by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five star trust pilot reviews, ONDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at OndDeck dot comot Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by ODeck or Celtic Bank. OndDeck does not lend in North Dakota, All loans and an amount subject to lender approval There is something special about the California Bay Area There are a lot of things that are special about it, actually. It's long go one of my favorite parts to the US But the thing I'm going to share today is maybe not you're thinking. It's not the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. It's not the breathtaking natural beauty that many don't realize still exists there. when they only think of a big densely populated city It's not the world renowned universities, including Stanford and UC Berkeley It's not even Rice to Rononey the San Francisco Treat, which was at least in the running to be my favorite side dish back when I was a kid and had just learned how to make boxed food meals for myself It's not the long history of amazing music or the area being the epicenter of America's late nineteen sixties counter culture revolution or all the cults that either got their start in that area or at least first really gained momentum there. It's how many fucking serial killers have come from the Bay Area Holy shit. If the Bay Area was its own state, it would be tied with Michigan and New Jersey for twelfth place in the Wh has had the Most known sererial killers American State competition. California overall would still be in first place by the way, even without the Bay Area numbers. To be fair, California is also America's most populous state with almost eight million more people than Texas and almost twice as many people as Florida, which has the third most Still,, there does seem to be something about the West Coast that has long attracted serial killers, especially sexually motivated ones. aybe it's the we beaches All those beautiful California girl The Bay Area has been home to at least twenty four known serial killers, with the three most infamous being former Sck subjects Richard the Nightstalker Ramirez, the still unknown Zodiac killer, and Joseph James Golden State killer D'Aangelo Today I will be introducing you to a Bay Area serial killer whose known victim count is actually higher than all three of those other much more currently infamous killers He was a rapist and necrophile who killed at least twenty women across multiple U.S. states and another woman and a girl in Canada Earl Nelson gorriilla man The guerrilla killer Dark St strangler on another true crime, serial killing in since he killed quite a while back Historical edition. Time suck This is Michael McDonald and you're listening to Time Suck Happy Monday. Wlcome and welcome back to the Cult of the Curious. I'm Dan Cumms. Sometimes sweet sucker, but don't fuckking tell anybody Internal affairs detective currently investigating a lot possible serious crimes committed by NYPD Sergeant John Tuff on Cck Rock and you are listening to time suck Just real quick before we get going huge thanks to so many of you, truly from the bottom of my heart. For all the kind and personal messages regarding last week's episode on the Stonewall Rs I love you loving fuckers straight, gay, trans and more prepare myself I prepared passents, prepare myself for hateful feedback And I'm guessing it will come or is already out there where I haven't seen it reggarding that episode, but that's just the way of the world. But damn The amount of love We came back from such a wide variety of people From straight Christians, from people who've admittedly struggled with being hateful in the past, from queer people all over the world. Cught me off guard in the best way, just just overwhelming a moments So just makes me feel hopeful for my friends, for my chosen family, for my daughter Big hell N rod, Hellzphena Uh and now let's uh Oh I don't actually I didn't I didn't do the rest of them. Hail also to praise Mojangles and Glorbida to triple them. Oh my goodness blew it for this episode Abereri, thank you so much And yeah, we'll have some interesting updates this week and and I'm sure next week is definitely next week as well There's just so many came in. And now let's get fucking dark and weird. You weirdos nineteen twenty six in San Francisco. The city is quickly growing two decades out from the devastation of the major nineteen oh six earthquake There was a whopping five hundred six thousand six hundred and seventy six people living inside San Francisco's borders in the nineteen twenty censes And there will be six hundred thirty four thousand three hundred and ninety four. people living inside San Francco by the end of the decade. The city has been averaging nearly thirty percent growth per decade for six consecutive decades And before that, the growth was even more explosive. Back when it was the local shipping epicenter and then shipping and railroad epicenter for a number of gold boom towns in the area and waves of West Coast immigrants. The city has been quickly growing and evolving as it literally always has since before it was incorporated in eighteen fifty. More and more sand dunes are being cleared for neighborhoods. More and bigger buildings are being built downtown Sveral of them hundreds of feet tall now. Cars are starting to take over the trolleys when it comes to being the primary mode of transportation for the city streets brand new man made stille framed rock cliffs side that San Francisco's city government ordered for Sutro Heights built to stabilize the bluff after a road widening project cut into the natural rock face has been completed In May of that year, the worst cable car accident to date in the city occurred on a rainy day when a cable car on the California street line Slid out of control on the slick track Horrified onlookers watched as the California streetline car hurled down the street toward another cable car and truck Those around had to leap for safety crash made the front page of the San Francisco bulletin. The article describes incident by saying, quote which was carrying meat into a shower of flesh and bone, adding even more chaos to the scene Three people were killed and another seventy five were injured in the carnage And while the citizens of San Francisco were focused on that cable car crash the gorillaan. Dark strangler Someone I'm guessing most of you even dedicated true crime fans have never heard of already killed his first two victims How is it that a serial killer with monikers like the Gorilla man and the Dark Strangler Someone who has more confirmed victims than the Zodiac killerers five, the Night Stalkers thirteen, but really fifteen, or the Golden State killer thirteen is not one of America's most infamous true crime cases 's extra puzzling, considering Nelson is referred to by many sources as the first known serial sex murderer. of the twentieth centur So who was the grilla man Very quick overview Diving deep into so many strange details Earl Leonard Nelson was linked to twenty two murders that took place in a very short amount of time between february twentieth, nineteen twenty six and june tenth, nineteen twenty seven These murders took place over a large area. During that short span of time across multiple U. S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba Nelson could move and kill quickly then lead before the police even knew he was there and do it again Nelson is also suspected of murdering an additional seven women in the US between august twenty fifth, nineteen twenty five through august eighteenth, nineteen twenty six There just wasn't enough physical evidence left at those crime scenes. that could conclusively link Nelson to them. and he would never admit to any of those murders She would never admit to any murderers. And now Now let's dive deep into the Earl Nelson story. It is so crazy because he was so crazy, like literally We'll begin by talking about what we know of Nelson's childhood and life before nineteen twenty five. We'll go over the known details of the confirmed murders that will take us up to the final trial and go over some, you know a few details of the unconfmed murders. We'll cover his brief last incarceration. and the violent end of Nelson's turbulent, violent life We'll hop out, talk just a little bit about what mental health care looked like in the early nineteen twenties when he was in asylums. And then we'll wrap it up Let's get going Trap on those boots, soldier We're marching down a time suck timeline Earl Nelson was born as Earl Leonard Farrell, may twelfth, eighteen ninety seven in San Francisco, California Earl was the only child born to James Carlos Farrell and Francis Fanny Ferrell. whose maiden name was Nelson And yes, he is related to actor and sketch comedian Will Ferrell Have you really really looked That Will Ferrell's ey If you have, if you paid attention to the rage in a lot of his characters ' probably come to the same conclusion I have. that the man could kill If he hasn't already. I will punch you in the face. If you don't get off the shed. Now get off the shed. Get off the shed. Get off the damn shed. I don't actually think they're related. They just have a last name that is pronounced the same, but it's spelled differently and they're both from California And that's probably where the similarity ends there In eighteen ninety five, just two years before Earl was born A seventeen year old Fanny had married nineteen year old James in Portland, Oregon James grew up in Portland where his father John worked as a steam engineer, and his mother Eliza raised him along with his two sisters, Elizabeth and. Fanny Not Fanny his wife, Fanny, his sister. Somehow there are two Fannies already in the story So you know going to be good. A little else is known about the little Ferrell family. att the time of Earl's birth. The Fanny Nelson family included Lars, a shipwright, AKA carpenter, skilled in ship construction and repair And his wife Mary, Mary stayed home, raising Fanny along with her three brothers Frank, Willis, who went by Will and Leonard and sister Lillily Actually Lillian, who went by Lillily. They were all originally from San Francisco, but had temporarily relocated to Portland before returning to San Francisco On march ninth, eighteen ninety eight, just ten months after Earl was born, Fanny Nelson would die from untreated syphilis the age of only twenty Syphilis at that point in time usually took at least a decade to kill you if not several possible that Fanny contracted a syphilis from her mother during childbirth which would have been a very unlucky way to start her life, obviously Another devastating blow to the family happened on october twenty fourth, eighteen ninety eight when now James passed away. att the young age of just twenty two His parents told newspaper that James had died of cancer of the brain The local Portland newspaper, the Oregonian covered James passing, noting, quote, The death of the young man was peculiarly distressing Some time ago, he went to San Francisco and was employed on a steamer running between San Francisco and San Blaz when he was stricken with a Panama fever And that's an island down there in Panama, off the coast. The fever settled in his eyes and the site of both was destroyed. Several weeks ago, he reached home in a very feeble condition and after suffering intensely Death came to his relief He was twenty two years of age and respected by all who knew him It doesn't sound like he probably died of cancer But to be fair, they knew a lot less about cancer back then The newspaper did not mention his dead wife's surviving son Orsyphilis which is actually what he likely died of as well Despite what the newspaper stated, the assertion that James died of syphilis comes from Lillian, Earl's aunt, who stated that James C. Farrell's sister told her that a doctor at the hospital where James had died stated that James had also died of syphilis My parents died of syphilis Not something you hear about a lot anymore And I know that it's this isn't funny, but when I But when I jump to it would be similar In twenty twenty six, for some reason my mind went to herpes. which I do know is not fatal. But imagine someone saying that they lost both of their parents to herpes just made me laugh so much fucking harder that it probably should have After the early death of both of his parents, after they both were taken too soon by hererpes before he was even eighteen months old Uh How do you lose your parents? The herp Baby Earl was taken back to San Francisco inate nineteen ninety eight to be raised by his maternal grandparents who officially changed his last name from Ferreold to Nelson. Fortunately, neither of his grandparents seem to have had herpes. I mean, syphilis So maybe his mom didn't get it during her birth after all. Maybe she got it very young, tragically young and then gave it to her husband, maybe He got it gave it to her. I don't know. Maybe the fucking both got it from their parents. They' just nothing but fucking' her piece. No wit Actually they both could have got it from their parents because because his grandparents didn't have it Maybe I don't know, maybe he just picked up and gave it to her. Maybe it's a very aggressive strain someome crazy Panamedanian string. I took them both real quick. I don't know Granda Arz Nelson was born in Denmark in eighteen thirty six. He immigrated to the US in eighteen sixty one, married to I got married to Mary Jenny Hopkins from Bangor, Maine een sixty two Laars and Jenny had lived in Wisconsin and Iowa before settling in California Laurs and Jenny were both devout Pentecostals who are described as having an extremely puritanical, very rigid attitude towards sex and sin G good attitude to have, I guess, if you really, really don't want to get syphilis terrible attitude to have generally speaking in any era if you want to raise sex positive, psychologically, you know, well balanced kids the rest of the Nelson children Aunts and uncles. still living in their parents house hundred San Francisco census listed Laars and Jenny is living in two six, nine, six, folsome street of fuck bro. along with her eldest son, Frank, a Tinor Approaching forty years of age, but still single and living with his parents who had maybe broken his will with all their hell fire and Brimstone talk. Uh Then there was Willis, AKA Will, a butcher He was approaching thirty years of age and also still single and living with his parents. sensing a pattern here That shit was somewhat common back then for female children who had much fewer job opportunities and needed to get married to leave the house oftent times, very uncommon then in a booming city. enty of job opportunities and cheap rent That would allow a grown man to pretty easily head out on his own married or not It wasn't like it is now when so many people in America just cannot sadly afford to strike out on their own very easily, you know, getting getting a first home starter home or just even just paying rent fucking brutal in too many markets right now But that was not the case in San Francisco in nineteen hundred That city was exploding jobs and homes. The construction of so many homes manyany of them affordable to almost anyone with a job. So two boys one almost thirty. The other almost forty. Have jobs have remained singled up and still live at home with strict hardcore fundamentalist parents That'ound not like the start of a Texas chainsaw masker type mov And a third grown man child Also doing the same shit, Leonard, a Packer, twenty seven years of age, also still single G Also still living with his parents These people are the unfuckables U thenen there was Lian, AKA Lillily, eighteen years old, also single Also still at home And that was actually pretty old for a young woman back then to at least not be engaged Why wouldn't anyone fuck these people pure Tchannical religion, some other reason Earl moved in with these people before he turned to when he was also single Can you imagine that? Earl, also single, two years old also live at a home jumping ahead to the fall of nineteen oh four Little Earl started his very short formal schooling career at the age of seven. He attended the Agassy Primary schoolool near his home But then got expelled for bad behavior sometime that same year Around the time he was expelled, maybe an emotional reaction to this is what led to his expulsion. Uh his grandpa Lars but really the only dad he had ever known died december thirteenth, nineteen oh four, when Earl Just seven Fuck parents and Grandpa slash New dan Dead by the time he's seven and that same year Earl would get very, very ill with the measles and nearly die himself. As as everyone is aware, Jenny and all the children continue to live in the family home after Lar's death. for at least the next two years. Everyone's single now. No one's married notot even remotely normal for that place in time. makes me think again that these people were, you know suuper odd social lepers March sixth, nineteen oh six Lillian, Lillily moves out at the age of twenty five as she marries Luther, Clark, Fabian. She did it She got that pzsy fuck finally Her brother Leonard also moved out at the age of thirty three. He did it He got that fucking dick some No, he didn't actually do it Now he no wait. Now he moved out of his mom's house and straight into his little sister's house, which seems sadder Nelson Family's entire world was rocked the following month When on april eighteenth, nineteen oh six, the mayor came to their house and said, no one will ever fuck you here ever. Please leave. No, april eighteenth, nineteen oh six, one of the most destructive recorded earthquakes in American history struck. at almost precisely five twelve AM local time beforefore shock occurred And in that foreshock alone, strong enough that it was felt widely throughout the bay. Then less than thirty seconds later the greatreat earthquake began. the epicenter of the seven point nine magnitude earthquake near the city of San Francisco was near the city. and violent shocks punctuated strong shaking, which lasted between forty five and sixty seconds The earthquake was felt as far north as Southern Oregon, as far south as Los Angeles And as far east as central Nevada destroyed over four square miles of San Francisco, more than twenty eight thousand buildings The earthquake triggered a massive fire, fueled by collapsing structures and exacerbated by the failure of the water system for three days following the quake flames ravaged the city And while it has been estimated that around three thousand people die, the true death toll might even be higher. property loss amounted to an estimated staggering a F five hundred twenty four million and nineteen oh six dollars equivalent to nearly twenty billion dollars today Probably even more than that. the way kind of inflation calculators don't really target likeike, you know, certain, uh certain cities. they're kind of broad spectrum you know, in San Fancisco, the money spends. Even even less now Anyway, we have a little insight into how young Earl Nelson fared in the aftermath of the fire In a brief interview, given to the local Winnipeg press, following his final arrest, he said, Ohh, and another thing I remember back to the fire an earthquake in San Francisco. I was nine years old. I remember crying that morning I got a crying spell and couldn't get stopped It was at our home on twentieth Street. I was living with my uncle Will. I remember being out on the street in front of the house They told us the town was on fire And the earthquake had done an awful lot of damage We went over to the grocery store to get some things to eat and then moved out to Ingleside. The soldiers came along and told us we would have to move as the town was burning down Little Earl could stop cry Yeah, but not That shit had to been incredibly traumatic and he hadd already suffered so much trauma There's a bunch of firsth accounts of how others reacted out there to this earthquake and the fire. I'll share one more just to give us a little bit more additional context. Mrs. Eleanor Watkins wife of a San Francisco surgeon to family on the east cooast in the days just after the qu quote After the earthquake, the streets were instantly full of throngs of people Many in their nightclothes The effects of the earthquake were in spots, not universal. We saw whole fronts of office buildings and of assembly halls fallen outward Sometimes the asphalt payment had heaved up in a hillic where gas had exploded She also added The very poor could pack their possessions at a trunk and drag it with a rope along the pavement for miles I shall never forget that sound of dragging trunks all night long. Some of the rich people save their houses For this one fourth of the city, which still stands was one of the richest sections Fucking sucks for peopleople are already struggling And the universe like, hey, struggle some more fuckers It would appear from various photos available of the destruction' Nelson familyily house, which is at the corner of twentieth in San Carlos was spared, but it stood right on the border of destruction So it might have taken at least some serious damage Uh you know, at the very least, their neighbors got fuck The Nelsons still lucky though comparatively as some two hundred twenty five thousand people were made homeless Even though their house survived and Nelson's likely had to stay for at least a while in one of the refugee camps while the damage was assessed Earl's two uncle brothers were still live with him, it seems stillill single I still live with mom in the aftermath, the earthquake which is really extra tragic. E with all the women left widowed and homeless. Following that earthquake Those two mother fuckers couldn't get a date The hits kept coming is sometime after the earthquake, Earl became very sick again this time. He was sick with diphtheria. hit him harder than the measles did As did a lot of people in the days back before what are those things called again of vaccinations, vaccines T turns out they're pretty important Earl ended up feeling delirious for around five days. Doctor gave him the antitoxin, but he was already so sick by the time they did that the next morning he became so ill they didn't expect him to live stillill is a Hil Mary. He was given a second dose of antioxin And then Earl miraculously just barely pulled through Diphtheria' disease is a disease that has been largely eradicated in the US. thanks to a routine childhood vaccination, but it can and will come back if enough truthers stop vaccinating their kids because that's how herard immunity works It is a highly contagious bacterial infection that remains a major public health issue in developing countries and areas with low immunation rates twelve hundred kids died of diphtheria last year in the world Over sixty percent of them from Nigeria where vaccination rates are incredibly low Bpacterium affects the upper respiratory tract, and less often the skin also produces the toxin that damages the heart and the nerves. The diptertheria toxin causes damage to the respiratory tract and can spread throughout the body Common symptoms include fever, sore throat, swelling of the neck glands kills primarily through suffocation and severe organ damage would sound super not fun The antioxin introduces prem antibodies into the body to bind with and neutralize circulating diphtheria toxins, preventing them from entering and destroying healthy cells. Sometimes the antitoxin not enough Luckily for Earl It was in his case, unluckily for a lot of women. in the coming decades Despite Lil Earl, sadly actually surviving, all things considered on june thirtieth, nineteen oh seven, shortly after Earl's tenth birthday Grab a Jenn Really his mom dies at the age of sixty eight My go His parents both die. Before he's two He's adopted by his grandparents and then they both die. By the time iss ten He was fucking cursed Also in nineteen oh seven, Earl was badly hurt when he was struck by a fucking street car It's unknown if it occurred before or after Gramm as Jenny's passing, but right around the same time We know about this incident as his aunt sister, Lillian would testify about it years later during Earl's Winnipeg trial. Lillian said Earl made a bicycle and went out on the street and he was hit by a streetcar which caused a large hole to be knocked about his temple. Yeah. And he was brought home unconscious and we had the doctor for him. And he had concussion of the brain and was out of his head for five or six days. which kept him out of school He was not allowed to go to school because we had to watch him constantly, so he wouldn't jump as a little child would jump From then on, he always had dreadful headaches and pain in his head He had had that all his life, which seemed to be getting worse all the time, and he was always complaining of dizziness from it getting worse as he grew older And he would have to go to bed Dude's parents die His fervently rigid anti sex grandparents take him in to raise him. Then after they die, he gets a massive traumatic brain injury, like so many other sexually statistic serial killers like former sex subjects like Richard Ramirez, Arthur Shroross, John Wayne Gyad during their childhoods You know, just fucks up their impulse control, potentially decision making, morality. This is all making his future actions less and less surprising That blo of the head seemed to have really scrambled his noodle posossibly gave him some serious brain damag as you will see Also, did his sister aunt aunt say that he made a bicycle You don't hear about kids making fucking bicycles anym I don't Sounds sounds like something some some shitty drunk dad. say the movie Dad can have a bike? C can't remember by you won swamp so bad You make your own bike U next year nineteen oh eight, Uncle Brother Wills Willis Wills. Willis. Will who' now thirty six finally got someone else to touch his Dick. He married a twenty nine year old school teacher named Amy from Santa Maria, California. good for him They took over the family home, so Will never actually had to move out. And Earl stayed with them kind of as they now started their own family for a little while, maybe here and there Parental unit number three, but actually really four now parental units for Earl. He would also spend time occasionally with his aunt Lillian's family mostostly though he was living on his own now U which is I guess, you know, around ten years old He's living on his own on the streets, just fucking running around doing God knows what So what was Earl like as a child after being orphaned twice, surviving two major illnesses, liivving to the great earthquake, being fucking knocked silly by a streetcar Well, let's check in with the A Lily for that info We'll jump ahead and then jump back in time to get it Seven years later, nineteen fifteen, Luther Fabian initiated divorce proceedings against Lillian for habitual intemperance which was really code back then for She was drunk all the time. And his divorce request was granted the next year in nineteen sixteen However, some kind of reconciliation subsequently took place and Luther and Lillian were remarried about a year later Interestingly, Lilian was also said to be very religious, Pentecostal like her parents in addition to maybe drinking way too much So she might have been nuts The the remarriage of Luther and Lilian did not last long and this next time it was Lilian. who sued for divorce A newspaper report about this event in April of nineteen twenty states misses Lillian V. Fabian was granted a divorce by superior George James M. Trout Yesterday from Luther Luther C Fabian Club Stewward on the ground of cruelty She said he struck her stayed away from home at nights and added to her worries by insisting that he was going to take their twelve year old son up in an airplane When she asked him to explain his absences from home at nights He at first refused to do so, she said, but finally told her he was in love with another woman She was granted custody of their two children and seventy five dollars a month alimony Okay All that made sense to me except the airplane part That was random He's a womanizer, he's abusive and another thing He keeps wanting to take our set upp in airplane Life in Lily's home sounded pretty tumultuous Lily would describe young Earl by saying he was always quiet and of a morbid and sad disposition He never cared to play with other children He always played around the house by himself He didn't care for associates He was a great boy to always put on a lot of colors and flashy things like a cowboy hat. Okay. He came home one day with big yellow pants on and a very red sweater and coat And these in these brreeches. and then he had leather leggings He wouldress oddly You put on big black glasses and then he looked like a college boy. Why are you saying this This is odd. Okay so he's weird Lillily would also say he never cared for boy companions or girl companions and I have never known him to go with a girl. even as he grew up He used to always say, I am not good for anything. I will never be good for anything. I will be better off out of this world I said, you must not feel that way because you are just a young boy and you have got your whole life to live for And he would say, noobbody wants me What's some sad shit for anyone to think about themselves, right? little little kid U I will say though that the world would have been better off without him Like who he became, the world definitely would have been better off. So maybe he knew something Backking up a bit now Earl's trouble with the law began at a very young age in nineteen eleven. four years after grandma died and he was nearly killed by the street car at least two newspapers, the Oakland Tribune and the Alameda Eing Times Star reported on the crimes of now fourteen year old Earl The Tim star reported in July of that year Each armed with revolvers, black jacks and knives, wearing masks and with a complete set of burglar tools in their possession Earl Nelson, fourteen years old and Frank Weiss, twelve years old, were arrested late last night after they'd attempted to rob the grocery store of Andrew Jacobson of twenty five hundred Folsom Street. In the arrest of the two youngsters, the police have in custody the persons responsible for a dozen or more robberies in the Mission and suunset districts committed in the last month The boys have confessed to several burglaries, giving dates, but they were unable to furnish a list of the places entered They were taken to the city prison and searched with the following result My God, this fucking crazy. This is what they had another person Four revolvers Two black jacks, two heavy buoy knives Dozens of keys to Jimmiess Augers and bits, a small saw Two hammers What kind of fuckking shit were they wearing? Electric flashlights, black masks, two pairs of creeping socks, and oil cans. This is like a cartoon. twow pieces of rope, a screwdriver and about twenty dime novels. A considerable sum of money in jewelry consisting of watches, rings, earrings, stick pins and bracelets were also found on the Aryan youngsters. They must have had big backpacks, some kind of big sacks they were carrying. Explaining their scheme, the boy said they included to excuse me, they intended to obtain money enough to leave the city and embark on the train hold up end of the highway business The boys said they purchased their guns and other parapheralia with money obtained from robberies they committed They said the reading of Dime novels suggested their crime career Man by the time of this arrest, El Seems like he had been committing serious crimes for quite some time had all kinds of tools Weapons Also, anotherith nineteen ten or nineteen eleven, Earl dropped out of school before finishing the eighth grade No records that indicate Earl's education ever went beyond this. I highly doubt it did Only little more info is known about teenage Earl Nelson Mostly from the notes of Dr. W. F. Pritcher of the NapA Insane Asylum as it was known then, now known as the Napa State Hospital. This guy would interview Earl a few years later. Before I share what he had to say, time for today's first of two Mid Show sponsor breaks. If you don't want to hear these ads, please sign up to be a spaceliter on Patreon, help us make monthly contributions, get the catalog ad free episodes three days early and more Support for Time Suck with Dan Cummins comes from talkaboutpD. com Let's talk about a condition many people haven't heard of And it turns out it's more common than you'd think. Pe Roni's disease or PD for short PD can happen when scar tissue builds up under the skin of the penis. This can cause a curve with the bump during an erection, and for some men, lead to pain during intimacy and may impact mental health It may also lead to anger and frustration deression, lowered self esteem, and even withdrawal from sexual activity and physical intimacy Because of this, some men could feel embarrassed or reluctant to talk about PD The actual cause of PD isn't always known. In some cases, it may be linked to a minor injury or repeated injuries during sex or other physical activity Good news is PD is treatable. If you notice a curve with a bump, a trusted urology specialist can help diagnose it and walk you through your options, including non surgical treatment To learn more about Pe Roni's disease visit Talk about PD This show is sponsored by Better Help For a long time, I was very averse to therapy due to the stigma that surrounds it. On one side of my family, it is associated with being, quote, crazy But as I've gotten older and involved and surrounded myself with more pro therapy people, I think not seeking out help is quote. Crazy. Therapy has made me a better dad, better husband, and a better friend kindinder person to myself Fes pretty sane to me But still, even in twenty twenty six, there can be stigma for getting support for your mental health Maybe you have avoided taking the first step yourself because you're worried what others would think What matters to you more? Happiness and inner peace or the opinions of people who don't want to give you permission to go seek it Therapy with Better Health can be a space to slow down and talk things out and make great strides towards finding that happiness and peace Better Health therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the U.S. They're waiting to talk to you Are you waiting for? Don't let stigma stand in the way of support. Start therapy with better helpelp Sign up and get ten percent off at betterhelp d. com slash time suuck That's better H ELP d. com slash time suck You're more than just one thing, and your vehicle should have more too More connectivity when you're the boss. Hey, Google, when's my next meeting More space when you're the ringleer And we're good And when you're the mom Everyone in? The all new Maazda CX five. M to move every side of you. Learn more at mazdausA d. comot Google is a trademark of Google LLC, sequences shhortened and simulated When it comes to what you wear in the summer, do you lean toward stuff that just feels easy Me too It's the season for feeling comfortable for feeling free For go anywhere pieces they make getting dressed, nice and simple And that's what makes Quints such a great fit for the season. They focus on well made essentials that you'll actually comfortably live in and gravitate towards all summer long Quintince's one hundred percent European linen pants and shirts are breathable, easy to throw on, and the summer upgrade your rotation needs And their tees are soft enough to live in all day, and the lightweight cotton sweaters are exactly what you want when summer nights cool down I'm wearing the gray one hundred percent Pima Cotton Luxe touch tea I got from Quint a few months back right now So light, so comfortable, hides my sweat when I do sweat, which isn't often in this shirt because it does breathe. And its neutral color goes with just about every pair of shorts I own Simple, classic, timeless, and easy Make your summer wardrobe easier quins d. com slash TimeSuck for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's QuInCE dot com slash time suck for free shipping and three hundred and sixty five day returns Qintince dot com slash time sucks Thanks listen to our sponsors. Now let's hear that extrafo About the teenage Earl Nelson About this time, Dr. Pritchard noted From the ages of fourteen to eighteen, he masturbated several times a day. So fucking what That weird What? Oh, that'seviant Okay guess I was also a weird deviant, a regular male sex pervert B back to Dr. Priner now just had comic because I felt personally attack When Earl was sixteen, he had a shanker lesion in the peranal region Oh. Well that doesn't prove that Earl got syphilis from somebody anly penetrating him. It does indicate that he likely got syphilis that way ten to ninety days before he was examined We do know from previous episodes that it was sadly not uncommon for institutionalized teenage boys to be anly raped by either other inmates slash patients, or by adult supervisors around this time in America sadly, don't know that that happened to him But I would say that it seems very possible, if not probable that either that did or that he willingly received anal sex from somebody somebody who happened to have been infected with syphilis Not so much syphilis. Dr. Prchard also wrote received one Salversan injection denies further sexual perversions He has used tobacco excessively and has gone on alcoholic sprees at irregular intervals of a week to a year ever since puberty Salerson, by the way, the first modern and antimicrobial Oh my God, anti microbial used to treat syphilis So much stifflness in this suck After his brush with the law in nineteen eleven, Earl dropped off the radar for a little while his aunt Lillian later told authorities He left school early and wandered to many places, Th did not hold his interest for long As a common laboreor, he would wander from job to job. He could not make friends apparently, although he was a good conversationalist Earl disappeared shortly after the death of his grandmother and we heard no more of him for several years Then he came back, remained for a short time and disappeared again R right, Be before jump ahead several years, a few more notes about his childhood. He would allegedly have spells following his head injury when his brain would kind of short circuit And he would do things like talk to invisible people Apocalyptic biblical patches about the G Beast was also caught at least once. peeking in on his cousin Rachel while she was undressed I hear like going on lot going on with him. none of it's good. Finally, while we don't have any case files where this was explicitly stated, it was assumed by at least one of his psychiatrs, it seems that he frequented brothels early in his teenage years when he was running wild in those streets Earl Nelson pops back up. the records again in nineteen fifteen when he was convicted of his first crime as an adult right after he turned eighteen. Nelsa was in Plumis County, which in the early nineteen hundreds was a sparsely populated area in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, about two hundred miles northeast of San Francisco A local newspaper, the Feather River Bulletin. reported that Earl Nelson and Jay Newton had allegedly broken into a railway section house and when a nearby resident attempted to arrest them, they beat him into insensibility then stole his purse, which contained a small amount of money They were later found down the track by a night track walker and eventually arrested. Both young men plleed guilty, were sentenced to two years in San Quentin State prrison back in the Bay Area just north of San Francisco When Nelson began his sentence july twenty eighth, nineteen fifteen. He was paroled september twenty eighth, nineteen sixteen after serving fourteen months The fact that he was parooled that early suggests his behavior was probably very good while he was incarcerated, so he knew how to behave himself is unclear exactly where Nelson went orr what he did right after he was released? basased on the records of Dr. W F. Prard Nelson enlisted as a private in the US Army, as early as a few months later sometime in early nineteen seventeen That same year, U. S. President Woodrow Wilson asked a special joint session of Congress for a decclaration of war. It was passed in the Senate on april second And then buy the house four days later And after three years of neutrality, the United States was officially involved in World War one Nelson, however not sent into war with the army as he deserted after just six weeks, because he had been assigned guard duty in the snow and he didn't want to do that, okay Once again, no one is sure where Nelson went immediately after this desertion The desertion did not end his military career, though As on june eighth, nineteen seventeen, Earl Leonard Farrell enlisted in the US Navy now apprentice seamen at aavy recruited station in Sal Lake City, Utah Here the twenty year old Ferrell signed up for a four year st in the Navy, guuests in the Army had no idea that that had happened not like they had digital records anyone anybody anybody could access back then way easier to hide from your mistakes. including crimes back then than it is now. so much easier to commit crimes and get away with them or to to be a deserter Earl's pay in the Navy was to be seventeen dollars sixty cents per month went a lot farther back then Nelson was all fingerprinting when heoin the Navy in Salt Lake City A decade later, those prints matched with the prince of Earlelson when was arrested Winipe On his second day in the Navy, Nelson was transferred from Salt Lake City back to San Francisco to the Naval training station on Goat Island, AKA Yuba Buena Island in the Bay Dude just keepsing up back in the bay. His second attempt at military service went about as well as a first Nelson was quote, granted liberty to expire at eight fifteen PM july twenty second, nineteen seventeen He had failed to return from his leave on that date and after ten days passed, he was again declared to be a deserter He only lasted roughly six weeks Dr. Pritcher later noted that after six weeks, he deserted because two mornings he felt a burning about the anus. polypes polypes. and was bothered by his stricture God, he hadit a lot of butt problems thoseose anal syphilosaurs really just kind of fucking them up. This year continues to be absolutely crazy for Earl Nelson as he gets his second mark in his criminal record when he is sentenced to six months in the countounty jail in Stock, California now. St stocks only about eighty miles from San Francisco. onn october ninth for the petty theft of a bicycle So went AWall twice. A Bunch of syphilis ass problems. and got put back into a jail cell His prison number in socton was five, two, six. He went under the alias there of Luther Clark which is the name of his aunt Lillian's twice divorced husband. Unclear why he used that name. mayaybe just wanted to fuck that guy. Nelson did not serve that six month sentence was paroled way early after less than two months After getting out on december first of his own free will, Nelson reappeared at the Navy training station at Goate Island, wearing his full uniform He had been away without leave for four months and nine days. It seems as if he just hoped they wouldn't notice that he had deserted He was wrong On december twenty first, nineteen seventeen, that's so fucking funny me before I go forward. Just showing back up and be like, hey man, how come you guys haven't called for me Did How come I How come I haven't no one's asked me to like sign anything for a while. I was just kind of hanging out over there for the last four months, just you know, just past those trees J's kind of doing stuff, cleaning stuff U On december twenty first, nineteen seventeen, Nelson was transferred under guard now from the training station to the Navy Yard, Mare Island for trial by General Court martial H eventful year continued U Earl L. Ferrell found guilty of assertion january eighth, nineteen eighteen, sentenced to two years in prison and thereafter to be dishonorably discharged. He was confined to the Naval prison at Mor Island for about four months, but then was transferred to the Naval hospital On the same island on april twenty fourth The explanation for this being sent to the Naval Hospital was given as follows This man deserted from the Navy because he didn't like it Actually didn't have that. he didn't like it in quotes This man deserved it from the Navy because he didn't like it. He now refuses for religious reasons to work He speent all his time reading this Testament or gazing blankly into space He responds slowly to questions and gives the general picture of one who is mentally deviated He takes no interest in what is going on about him shows some mental deterioration Due to refusing to work, he was put in a coke oven for two days, but still would not work. But on advice of the leader of his cult in prison. Okay, he's in a prison cult now He said he would not return to work. His reason for not working is that he did not want to serve the adversaries of the Lord He believes the beast spoken of in Revelation as being six six six is either the pope For the Kaiser All right Now the story's really getting good He's so fucking nut. Uh have you ever met somebody certain that so and so is the great beast from the book of Revelation, who was not nuts I've not one time Also, how many popes? How many accused of being in the Antichrist by now How many people throughout history have been like I would bet my life Dude is the anntichrist And they have all been wrong Except for all the people who think the current pope is Antichrist, but they will be proven wrong once he iss dead. Just so amusing that no matter how many times people are convinced it is Armageddon o'clock, it doesn't seem to deter future zealouss and drinking the same kool aate and thinking the same shit with the same intensity when those people are wrong It's an interesting way to spend one's days. I prefer hanging out with good friends, good family, watching good movies and TV shows, listening to good music, reading good books, sometimes doing some good drugs as opposed to stewing in apocalyptic anger. But you know, I guess you do you Less than a month after being transferred to the Naval Hospital A hospital, a naval medical board consisting of three doctors declared that Earl Fharollh was in a quote, Constitutional psychopathic state. unfit for service They recommended on may third, that quote, he be transferred under proper guard to the NapA Insane asylum for further treatment and that the unexpired portion of his sence be remitted Transferred to the NapA and Sen Asylum took place may twenty first, nineteen eighteen He was admitted by Dr. Ogden Earl is now twenty one years old, Nap a state hospital, now California's oldest currently operating hospital Uh they uh, they dropped the whole insane asylum name back in nineteen twenty four facility completed in eighteen seventy five beds for five hundred patients when it opened. The original price tag was one point five million do And todayoday, that total would be approximately forty four point two million according to inflation calculators, but I'm sure it would be far more than that. The facility was built in a gothic style, which caused it seven towers to give the illusion of a castle. Creepy It's fucking creep The first few years of the Napppa State Hospital was described at length in the eighteen eighty one book, The History of NAapppa and Lake Counties by Lymon Palmer Palmer wrote The building faces west and consists of a center building with wings extending on each side, which are exactly alike Bide model. The division for the sexes being equal. The center of the building consists of the office, library, superintendent's private office, public sitting room, and officers' apartments In the rear of which are the amusement hall, drrugstore, trunk room for the storage of patients steamer trunks and luggage din rooms, kitchen and store room The asylum also had an underground cog railroad located in the full basement of the building, which is now probably haunted' fuck provided quick transport of meals and laundry between the outstretched wings of the asylum. N is twelve different wards back and had N is twelve different wards, excuse me back before it was, you know, chock full of ghosts The asylum quickly became self sufficient The facility had a prize winning dairy herd. enormous vegetable gardens, fruit orchards, and even a big bakery Off ground just to the northeast, the Naapa State Hospital farm was established in order to raise cattle to provide beef for state run facilities spepecifically the asylum, the Veterans homeome and San Quentin Prison Nelson happy about being transferred to this place He told Dr. JB. Rogers, the psychiatrist in charge of his care that he did not suffer from depression, delusions, or hallucinations. He just needed people to fuckking wake up and realize that the pope is the devil And soon an apocalyptic battle will begin An anyway r Rogers, no relation to Mr. Rogers, as far as I'm aware of h His records note that Farreh was in good physical shape quote, remarkably even teeth but that the Washerman test for syphilis in the blood proved positive. Well, we knew that. Luckily for Earl, the Wasserman test for syphilis in the spinal fluid proved negative, indicating that Nelson did not have neurosyphilis So the disease wasn't affecting his brain at least at this time. Uh, not that I couldn't have later red to his bra I think maybe did Dr. Rogers asked Nelson, if he experienced peculiar thoughts. And Nelson replied quote Well, not exactly Not any more than a first class intelligent person would I feel like that answer confirmms that he it did in fact experience peculiar thoughts I would argue that that was a peculiar thing to say Someone please start working versions of that answer in the conversations today just you know, you're at a bar, Bart turn's like can I get you anything to drink Well, not exactly Not any more than a first class intelligent person would Please do it. Records of what Nelson listed for family and self history state that one uncle had epilepsy from alcoholism this uncle drinks to excess Patient Nelson is addicted to liquor said he had syphis four years ago, also gonorrhea life and childhood pleasant. has had a grammar school education Masturbated from thirteen to eighteen years of age, but not since then. has been in the jewelry and furniture business, has drank occasionally, the last time about seven months ago, no history of trauma or previous mental attacks. He has so much trauma and a couple more things before moving forward Why were they so obsessed with jerking off back then Why when it came to mental health? wereere they so worried about whacking it And also, no fucking way he just stopped jerking off when he turned eighteen. No way. You don't turn that switch off. when you've been cranking it three is times a day previous to that and you're still single That's to how that works Wh didn didt you feel like you needed to hide that U actually they did link masturbation to insanity sometimes which is fucking wild It is unclear if Nelson did not consider being orphaned twice, surviving the earthquake. two major illnesses, a street car accident and serving time in prison withth mentioning or traamatic or if he was just ling hiding that Only twenty two days after arriving at Aaaple State Hospital, Nelson escaped june thirteenth, nineteen eighteen He was out for five days before being captured and returned to the hospital. He stated he did not like the treatments they were giving him for syphilis He found them to be quote severe And they escaped again two months later, august twenty fifth Nelson left Napa entirely after his second escape He headed towardsunt Lillian's house in San Francisco, some fifty miles south of the facility he made it there. Aunt Lillily and Earl's later trial in Winnipeg would talk about Earl showing up unexpected at her house after that second escape Scaring the fucking shit out of her She was in the process of moving to a different house in the city at the time. Her son, Evan was ten, her daughter Doris was four. She said quote He escaped from that asylum I knew he was up at Napa, and it was the night before I was moving I've been down to my new home getting it ready came in, my husband hadn't come home with me. and just as I put my hand up to the light, the electric light He had his face right up against the glass door with a horribly crazy hat on And I let out one terrible scream on me because he looks so awfully insane because he looks so awfully insane His eyes were just black glaring glaring in at me And the children rushed up to me, and of course I opened the door because he was my own flesh and kin and I loved him and I do love him. And I opened the door and he came in and he acted so queer in the house. and I was scared to death because of the condition he was in His legs were all bleeding with no stockings on at all, and old ragged shoes that he must have picked up on the ground when he tried to escape there. And I heard they gave him a suit of my husband's clothes and a cap and stockings. And I had him clean himself up and I said, For goodness sake, Earl, get out of here as quick as you can scared to death of him. And I gave him some lunch to take him some money. I said, getet away from here and don't come back because my husband wasn't home that night. I was alone and the minute he got out, I went down and shut the door and I rang up the Napa State Asylum and told them who I was and that Earl was there and that I was scared two pieces of him They said they would look for him and Earl went away and I didn't see Earl for many months They wouldn't find him His whereabouts are unknown until Nelson was arrested again two months later down in Los Angeles in late October Uh his life was pure chaos A Los Angeles newspaper the time the Los Angeles Eing Express ran a story, october twenty eighth, nineteen eighteen They wrote quote Carl L. Ferrell Alleged to be a deserter from Gat Island, was arrested today after a chase in the downtown district by Detective ED. Brown The arrest was made on a complaint of E.J. Horton who claims he shared his apartment with Farrell whom he charges with stealing a suitcase, two suits of clothes, and overcoat a shotgun, revolver, and other articles Naval authorities were notified of the arrest, while on the way out of the police station, where he had reported his loss, Horton saw Ferrell in an automobile When he stepped to the running board, Farrell leaped out, leaving the suitcase and other effects According to Brown, Ferrell admitted that he is a deserter from Goat Island and that he had sold the shotgun and some clothing for fifteen dollars. the time of his arrest Nelson was wearing his navy uniform, which which is odd He was remanded back to the Navy. prompt who promptly sent him back to the Naval Hospital on Mayor Island november thirtieth, nineteen eighteen. And then the naval hospital was like, we can't fucking deal with this guy. And they transferred him right back to the Napa and Sane asylum, december third And the very next day Dcember fourth That motherfucker escaped from that asylum for the third time And they would not bring him back to finished treatment. Seems like security was pretty lax there Farrell was now officially discharged by the asylum in in absentia may seventeenth, nineteen nineteen, when he was diagnosed as improved on date of last escape Yeah, bullshit. They werere just like, fuckking whatever Sick of dude. We don't want to de with him anymore He' too much trouble. Yeah, yeah, he's great. sure, sure. He's improved. whatever we have to say to keep him from coming back shhortly after he escaped But before the asylum officially discharged him in absentia, in february of nineteen nineteen, Nelson enlisted as a cook in the Coast Guard So after two very abysmal showings in the military, he goes for a third branch Andregine Choice immediately after enlisting Nelson returned home he get his clothes and then never ever reported for duty Why would he even whyy would he do that wait, right. Oh because he's legitate saye In early nineteen nineteen Nelson returned to his Aunt Lillian's h She would later testify that when he came around this time He changed He didn't make her scream in terror first moment she saw him That's good. That's improvement. But he was a He was far from normal Not exactly a delight to have around She said that he now became fixated with quote, reading the Bible talalking about sexual matters Plain childlike with her children And he would not communicate with any visitors who would come to the house, but would rather stare in the space Well That's a very interesting combination of behaviors Hey Earl, how's your dayab been? Oh Good, good, good, good. goodood good. I read the book of Obayah, front to back and back to front. Also, question. If you have a sex sore on your butth hole and you doudge it with your finger and then use your finger to touch your wiener, can your wiener get a sore as well? I don't know. was looking at the teaching of the prophet Obdayah for that answer. can't even to find it. N mind, gotta run, have a tea party to attend with the other children. his odd behavior. not limited to all that shit. Celson will also sometimes get up and walk on his hands just out of fucking nowhere Or better yet pick up very big chairs with his teeth Lillian said, quote, He would hold them up straight in his teeth in front of company all the time without being asked I love that she added without being asked She wanted to make it clear the people weren't just coming over to her house ins saye stuff like, Hey Earl I bet you can't pick up that heavy chair with just your teeth Oh yeah, Wash me then in August of nineteen nineteen. without any warning or even telling his family that he had seen anybody Earl married Mary Teresa Martin It should be noted that Earl got married uses a fictitious name though He called himself Evan Fuller The strangeness continues and deepens This dude's instability was on par with another California killer from not that far away. Richard Chase, the vampire of Sacramento, if you remember that fucking episode from years back Earl was twenty two at this point in his life, probably deal with a lot of brain damage Definitely dealing a lot of family trauma Very much syphilitic and insane And Mary Martin, his new bride was a forty nine year old Irish immigrant from County Antram who had no idea who she was marrying truly She had met Nelson while they were both working in the San Frcisco Hospital Mary was the headad of the Linen department Evan Fuller. worked in the kitchen department as a wait. How is this guy a waiter How is he bringing people food Is this fucking insane At work, Evan Fuller presented as an affable, deeply religious and pious man That's the character he was channeling Nelson told Mary and and other coworkers, he was quote, Evan Louis Fuller who lived at seventeen thirty six Page Street He was English, aged thirty seven was born in Lansing, Michigan and previously was a bookkeeper in the building contracting industry He listed his father's name is James Fuller from Wisconsin and he gave his mother's name as Fanny Fuller. out of his fucking mind. The couple was married, august fifth, nineteen nineteen at the St. Agnes Roman Catholic Retory at ten twenty five Masonic Avenue in San Francisco A journalist from the Winnipeg Tribune who would interview Mary years later, wrote the following After the ceremony, he took his wife to the residence of his aunt on Masonic Avenue. San Francco Well, Lil, meet my wife, he said It was then that his wife learned the real facts She had always thought I peculiar She told his aunt The knowledge came too late and she decided to make the best of it. She lived with him for six months. directly after her wedding, this poor forty nine year old woman learned that her husband was not named Evan Fuller, was not forty seven, but was twenty two, was not from Lancy, Michigan, but was from the area had not been a bookkeeper in the building contracting industry, but primarily only worked menial labor jobs He was a guy who had deserted from the Army, Navy and kind of the Coast Guard as well, a guy who had then been committed to an insane asylum and escaped three times. A dude who had been to prison, been arrested multiple times and guessing he didn't mention the syphilis he had to her either. The relationship between Mary and Nelson unsurprisingly quickly deterorated In addition to not being who he said he was, Nelson would not hold down a job for the first few months were together, and he continued his nomadic wanderings As they could not afford rent, they moved in with Lillian for a short while before moving to Palo Alto for both Mary and Evan. Got a job with the All Girls private Castilea school there Yeah, Castleaya school. I found it in nineteen oh seven. it is still there. an affordable sixty two thousand four hundred dollars in annual tuition For it's four hundred and twenty six girls and girls in grades six to twelve now Grace Slick The lead singer of Jefferson airplane Jefferson Starship, and Starship The lady who wrote and sang one of my favorite songs of all time, White Rabbit probably their most famous alumni Nelson was hired on as a quote pantry man to do odd jobs and work as a waiter. again, that was this fucking guy working his way. Mary was hired as a waitress, but eventually she was put in charge of a group of kindergartners The odd couple lived on the campus in staff housing. And while there, Nelson started to show signs of extreme jealousy about Mary He picked fights with other staff and any man who so much as smiled at Marry. wildly paranoid. In January of nineteen twenty, Nelson told Mary that people were conniving against him particularly one man outside in the pan partarticularly one man outside in the pantry. I love that Well that motherfucker outside in the pantry Won't stop conniving against me, Mary. you've seen him. he told her, quote, I am tired of this place, pack up your bag and get out didn't want to get out And she would not She was afraid of him. And Nelson ended up leaving without her He would attempt to return several times, but Mary would refuse to take him back each time. Then Nelson started to threaten Mary's life. Ultimately, the headmistress had to have Nelson arrested for harassing her In later testimony, Mary described this time by saying quote Earl went around the country here and there and I saw him from time to time I might tell you during all his wanderings and all his strange conduct that people advise me Well, why don't you get a divorce But owing to me being a Roman Catholic and earl himself a Protestant, the marriage service in our Roman Catholic ritual is no mere idle story I being an Irish womoman of the old type I must stay with him in sickness and in health. And I considered he was mentally sick Just the worst kind of sickness he could have On another occasion, I consulted with my spiritual advisor He told me that very often Kindness cures insanity. and to bear with it Time would tell And we could never tell So he advised me to be kind in that sort of thing Of course spiritual adviser raid her priest. told her that kindness cures insanity fucking wild that anyone has ever consulted priests, unwed, not supposed to be having sexual or romantic relations with any kind of person priests. for marital advice ever in the history of the priesthood. Getting marital advice from a priest, to me, is like getting auto repair advice from an ammish person It just doesn't make any sense at all It is shortly after this time in Palo Alto Earl Nelson suspected and then proven murders began Before we get into those, I want to share more of what Mary had to say about her interactions with her husband Earl My God, what that woman put up with? Remember that he had presented himself before their marriage as a deeply religious and pious man, but then after they got married She said that Nelson would regularly walk out of whatever church service they attended literally never sitting through to the end of any service She testified at his winnpeig trial that quote He used to quote the Bible quite often to me, translate or rather quote it So that's a, you know, fun combo doing that, but not being able to will, you know, being able to listen to a sermon He also bought a pair of rosary beads. then sold them to a second handand shop a few days later And on another occasion, he saw a picture of Jesus in a store and told her that, you know people often said that he looked like Christ And then you told to a really funny story aboutb some house hunting they did in Oakland She said, quote, Well, we had a hope of having a home sometime And Evan suggested, I love that she calls him Evan. And Evan suggested this day that we go over to Oakland and look at a house for us. And I of course naturally thought that he had some money with which to buy a house And we went out there And when he went out there about several houses outside of Oakland The real estate agent asked him, off course, And he had only two dollars in his pocket to place down on a deposit on the house He knew I had no money to put down on it, off course the agent laughed at that. That's amazing I know houses were a lot cheaper back then but weren't two dollars cheap The average between five thousand and seven thousand dollars in Oakland back then. That's such a funny visual Okay, yeah, I'm ready to buy a house Let's fucking go. Let's do it. I got I got the money in my pocket Player Give it a house. G it to me All right, well how muchoney do you have in your pocket? Oh two dollars. Boom, Motherfucker. giveive it a house. giveive it to me U Mary also said that when they lived on Masonic andII, her brother came over for a visit once And Nelson completely ignored him to a fucking insane degree He was so jealous that her brother was visiting her. He literally refused to acknowledge him, would not say a word to him. Instead, he sat staring silently at a wall angry that his wife was talking to another man who was her brother And as he did that, she said his eyes took on a strange look with pupils so dilated, you could only see the whites immagine coming to meet your brother in law for the very first time. You've had zero interactions with him of any sort And he literally will not say a single word to you And then on top of that justust like a fucking psycho stares blankly towards the wall Oh my Godd. I would so w want to be like, Hey, sis, can we talkking to the room And then once we're in the other room, it's like, you fucking have to you know, leave with me right now And and then you know, I have to figure out how to come back here and put this guy down. I have to kill him I have to Dude was so paranoid and jealous. Mary also said that he stole a photo that she had stored in her trunk The photograph was of Mr John Dylan, a member of the British House of Commons, who was just some random friend of her uncle She had zero personal relationship with this guy, had never had one, and she noticed that the photo was missing and then discovered it crumpled up in one of his pants pockets Batch it Now one more story, this is the best one yet by far At some stage in their relationship, while Mary was living at that all girls school Nelson thought that building a house might induce her to return to live with him So he did place a deposit on some undeveloped land in Saint Mary Park in San Francisco. and then he did start to build a house But then he stopped Once its house was somehow literally one foot in height A single foot Apparently after it was a foot tall He laid down his tools and walked away and never returned to it And she said, I suppose it is still standing there. And having some money paid on it, he never went back to it or seen the agent or anything else He had written me a description or rather he had mioned explain to me the building What he was going to do in this house And of course, I knew very well that there was nothing to it because he could not possibly do it on the means he had My God, I wish I had a picture of what he built I mean, what did you fucking build? It was a foot high Maybe some floorine. I can't picture him pourn a concrete foundation, you know I bet he just, you know built out some some type of flooring or a very crude foundation like a Like stacked field stone. people did that back then. unreinforced brick masonry, maybe wood piers set on some dirt that probably wasn't even packed but way funnier I hope it was some kind of spinal tap Stonehenge situation, if you know that reference Like I hope we build a little dollhouse in the middle of the lot And then it was like, hh Sound doesn't feel right I know I follow the blueprint exactly Wait a minute Wait a minute All right, wait, are those numbers feet Are you sure They're not inches Not inch my feet A shit So that doorway is supposed to be a seven foot tall doorway not seven inches. God dang it All right, I'm going to walk away, regroup before I get back to this, kindind of freaking out right now to be honest feet not inches. that changes the building costs a lot While refusing to divorce Earl due to her Catholic convictions, Mary would die many years later, still carrying his last name, but not really I still carrying the fake name of Fuller Because when they got married, he gave her that nonsense. She kept a fake fucking name the rest of her life. That's so odd Mary would also refuse to ever live with Earl. She would reject any and all of his future attempts to romantically reconcile and cohabitate with him Maybe part of his later fury Perhaps even the primary motivation for his rage directed at the older women he would mostly kill for the remainder of his life had a lot to do with this or maybe chose marri. in the first place because He already had some sort of mommy issues that really grandmommy issues due to spending a decent part of his childhood being raised primarily by his devout straight grandmother I So wish we knew more about her Okay, let's now move into the dark part of this episode when Earl Nelson wasn't only doing insane super weird shit but when he began to commit violent and terrifying acts Right after today's second two mid showow sponsor breaks. ONDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OndDeck loans up to four hundred thousand dollars make it happen fast. Rated A plus by the Better Business Bureau, and earning thousands of five star trrust pilot reviews, OndDeck delivers funding you can count on. Applying minutes at onndeck dot com d Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OndDeck or Celtic Bank, OndDeck does not lend to North Dakota all loans and amounts subject to lender approval. One sunny day, a honeybee was merrily buzzing through an orchard when she stopped to collect nectar from a mystery apple blossom. She passed that pollen along to a honey crrisp tree, and months later, the sugar bee apple was born, naturally sweet with layered notes of caramel, honey, molasses, and the perfect crunch The world has embraced the SugarBe apple, a pure delight for snacking and baking. Download our new free recipe book and find a store near you at hellosugarbee dot comot SugarBepples from B toU. The days are longer, the calendar is filling up. And I want to feel as good as this beautiful summer weather. That's why I've been loving Groons. It's one daily pack of gummies that covers my greens, vitamins, minerals, and even has six grams of prebiotic fiber So I don't need touckle a complicated wellness routine on top of everything else. They taste amazing. They're easy toss in my bag on the go. Plus, they're vegan, gluten free, and HSAFSA eligible for reimbursement. Save up to fifty two percent off with code podcast at gros dot comot That's code podcast at grunns dot Coot I'm Hannah. I've lost seventy five pounds in twenty months with GOP ones Plus diet and exercise. On Row, I've gone from struggling to run a mile to running farther every day. You can access FD approved GOP ones online. Get the support you need to reach your weight loss goals. Go to row d. co slash weaight to see if you qualify. I'm a paid Rowe partner. twenty percent average weight loss in one year in non diabetics with obesity or overweight with a weight related medical condition versus three point one percent in placebo arm. R that's only. to stay informed about serious side effects go to row dotco slash safety Thanks for listing sponsors. H hope you heard some deals that you like and used our landing pages and codes to some discounts and also let sponsors know that we sent you there which helps state moder So now let's move into the dark part of this episode Several months after Earl Nelson was arrested Manitoba detective Leahy of the New York Police Department, not from the trailer park boys, not mr. Ley wrote to the Winnipeg police requesting the Winnipeg authorities to ask Nelson whether he had been in New York seven years earlier, specifically in February of nineteen twenty When seventeen year old Ren Hoxy was left home alone to show prospective renters the furnished room that the family, her family, had advertised for rent. This may have been Earl's first murder Mary had just refused to leave that schoolboarding situation with him weeks before, you know, she did not know where he went when he took off after that big rejection It is possible that he hopped on a train traveled across the country. As detective Leahy stated on february second, nineteen twenty, a young girl who was alone in her parents' apartment was beaten over the head with a blunt instrument and then an indecent assault was committed upon her She was dead when found We believe that the perpetrator came to the house in answer to an advertisement and was shown the room. And finding the girl alone attacked her Her young age, again only seventeen, not Earl's preference. But sexual assault apparently was committed upon her after death. What's his preference Dude had so much shame over sex, he didn't even want the person he was penetrating alive know what he doing or something The assailant had almost certainly responded to a room for rent advertisement or house for sale sign, which would become Nelson's modus operandi for gaining access to his victims. hitting females over the head, strangling them especially strengthen him, also his style Furthermore, a description of the potential suspect in New York featred prominently the swarthy or very dark complexion of the man did accurately describe Earl There was another murder case in this early period where attempts were subsequently made to link Earl Nelson to it after he was finally arrested in Winnipeg opinion of Fred here, Chief for the Piedmont pololice Pied Montot toown just northeast of Oakland back in the Bay area Nelson was the killer And this was the case of Ula Carlson A nineteen year old domestic servant from Sweden who was murdered in an exclusive area of Piedmont as she was walking back from accompanying a friend to the streetcar. Her body was found the morning of march fourteenth. All the initial reports stated that she had not been sexually attacked then later the reports that the perpetrator had indeed been a degenerate. deduced from stains found on her coat G guessing it appeared as if he had ejaculated on her coat If this was Earl's work, That is especially weird because he was only into necrophilia with victims it seems Era sts he would pull out. When having sex with a corpse. But I guess if you are somebody who fucks a corpse, if you if you're insane You know, trying to apply logic to this behavior doesn't really work. Maybe maybe he pulled out so he didn't end up with a fucking zombie baby a race or something I know this is fucking inappropriate. But it does really make me laugh to think about a necroiliaac who forgets to pull out And then is super stressed Super worried you now might have to raise a zombie baby. Oh, o fuck. Oh shit. No, God, please. do not let her be pregnant. I am not a good place right now I am not ready to be a zombie daddy. Uh at this point in time, Uncle Will had moved to Berkeley And it was living at two hundredzer five Russell Street Not very far north of the Piedmont location where the girl died, was Nelson in the area visiting his aunt and uncle of the railway line One other detail leads to some suspicion. As the following report, a man who later proved to be a former soldier and a gardener was picked up by the police last night, loitering around the scene of the crime The man, however supplied a satisfactory alibi Explain his presence at the spot where he was arrested was prompted by idle curiosity Was it Had Erla come to see the shows that followed his murder Okay, now let's take a look at the first violent crime we know with certainty, with a fair amount of certainty he committed. Earl Nelson, who had just turned twenty four years old, knocked at the door of the home at fifteen nineteen Pacific Avenue in San Francisco on may nineteenth, nineteen twenty one. twenty four year old Charles Sners or Summer, excuse me, answer the door Nelson told him he was a plumber and there to fix a leaking gas line Nelson was allowed to enter the house, was shown to the basement while there He noticed twelve year old Mary Sumers, Charles' little sister playing with some dolls And then he just spontaneously impulsively just attacked her punched her with a closed fist fininentally threw her to the ground and then started to choke her Fortunately, Mary would be safved from being killed by her brother, who heard her screams, rushed into the basement and beat Nelson off. He fought him off. It sounds actually poor pooor choice of words which I actually did not intend. He ran in there and he fucking beat him off. And then once he came, he was relaxed. And he's like, okay, now you can go, right? Feel better Yeahah, you actually feel better. Okay, get it out of here. Nelson managed to escape but neighbors had heard all the commotion and called the police traraffic police officer Elmer. Aspirants. then saw Nelson board a poke street car. He chased him down on his motorcycle. Fuck yah. He's able to catch him, tackle him and arrest him Hail offfficer Esperanz. Once captured, Nelson, whose face was scratched up pretty badly from this fight with Charles and Mary Uh and admitted to the police that he had deserted twice from the US and excuse me, had twice deserted from the U.S military that he recently escaped from the state and insane asylum at NapA also where N Naval authorities had sent him did not deny that he'd attacked the girl, said he had spells when he simply lost control of himself Mary was taken to Central Emergency hospital. She had bruis on her throat, but survived with no lasting physical damage Nelson arrested, charged, placed in a straight jacket. taken to the detention hospital to have his sanity evaluated the very next day May twentieth, nineteen twenty one, Earl Nelson's wife Mary Fuller hired a lawyer for Nelson seeking to have him committed to a mental hospital rather than be sent to jail. Mary also publicly framed the incident as if Nelson was really the victim of a misunderstanding She described it as, you know, he just accidentally startled Mary suummer suummer. who screamed out of instinct, and then Charles attacks Nelson after misreading the entire situation. Uh hu So how does that explain young Mary having bruises on her throat bruises consistent with strangulation What fuck was wrong with Mary Fuller? Why would she have such a soft spot for a dude who she herself was afraid of somebody who conned her into marrying them somebody she refused to live with So strange Dror F. Justin McCarthy signed an affidavit declaring that Earl Nelson was indeed insane June tenth Judge John J. van Nostrnd then issued a warrant of arrest against Nelson so that the state could hold him to be observed until a hearing could be held to decide on his alleged insanity. The hearing occurred three days later, june thirteh, nineteen twenty one two medical examiners, Dr. D D. Lustig and Dr. Arthur Bardsley also concluded Nelson Not saying Very much insane. No surprise there They also agreed that he was a danger to himself and to others Thether notes say patient apathetic difficult to elicit information, hears voices of spirits and sees them, auditory and visual hallucinations threatened to suicide People about him say that he is crazy will not associate with him some claim of his also claims to have lapses of memory Yeah, guy guy who was definitely not of a sound mind Judge Van Nostren ordered Earl Nelson to be confined to the Napa State Hospital to the place he'd escaped from three times already until doctors there determined him to be safe to be released back out into the public if that determination was ever made So Earl Nelson transferred to the NapA insane Asylum which I believe is now called Napa State Hospital for the inssane the next day, june fourteenth Once admitted on june sixteenth, Dr. Pritchard interviewed Earl yet again His notes would say in nineteen nineteen, Nelson married a woman whom he regards as his soulmate Okay She is now working as a maid in Miss Harker's school in Palo Alto Excessive intercourse since marriage occasional periods of excessive masturbations for the past few years. After dissipations, he sometimes sees snakes Holy shit, I am pretty sure the word dissipation is being used here place of ejaculation No wonder Mary refused to shack up with him again In addition to his problems with money, intense jealousy, paranoid delusions, problems just comprehending basic reality he was also excessively fucking her. and then seen snakes after he came What a strange nightmare. How much was deemed excessive by the way, twwice a day, three times four? Too much, I guess, whatever was T too much. You know, she wasn the spring chicken She was old enough. she might have, you know, been having some problems with natural lubrication. backack in the days before a lady. buy some sweet sweet lube at a grocery store Uh Earl was wearing that pussy out and then complaining about all the snakes. instead of engaging any postcoidal cuddling interesting husband Dr. Pritard also wrote In his conversations, the patient uses the lingos of various cults and isms and says he has studied phrenonology, psychology, anatomy upholstery cultism Christian science. Ple and solid geometry Thus, he puts as a quote, you feel that cranial depression, that may be a brain lesion under that The poor guy was desperately trying to figure out why he was so office fucking rocker. In the days before medication for various mental illnesses, you know, we have now existed Finally, Dr. Prchard again noted that Nelson tested double positive for syphilis. So much syphilis. He was fucking riddled with syphilis O on july fifth, Nelson denied, quote The accusation that he had attacked a little girl He was still diagnosed as a Constitutional psychopath with outbreaks. Constitutional psychopathic inferiority was a catch allall phrase. Doctors used for a general mixture of violent and antisocial characteristics found in irredeemable criminals appeared to lack a conscience back then, by the way. So ye place just nine days later. This fucking psychopath. Escape from the asylum again. the fourth time Luckily, he was caught and returned the same day. Dude had apparently been attempting to escape from the asylum the entire time he'd been there. Dr. Rogers noted upon his return, Nelson was restless, violent, dangerous, excited and depressed threaten to take life of wife, also to suicide had auditory and visual hallinations Hearss voices of spirits and sees them claims to have laapsed his memorory. so more of that stuff. So because they couldn't figure out a cur they They truly should have just locked him up in a cell or a padded room around twenty three hours a day guarded him close to that other hour I actually do feel bad for him, but you have to think about you know, people, somebody like him will hurt. If you don't lock them up tightly. What is the best solution here for everyone's safety in this situation? In this case, it was essentially to lock this motherfucker up and throw away the key They did to be fair, though restrain Nelson via quote yard restraints whenever he was outdoors and no longer in a locked area, basasically they treated him like a dog that just keeps trying to run away and they would put a leash on him. that they would tie to a tree or a stake in the ground mightight have also had him in a straight jacket Justree months later, in October, Nelson caught with a piece of wire fashioned to work as a screwdriver. He was involved in a plot with five other patients, to, of course, escape Now he was placed in some sort of restraint most of the time while he was inside as well posossibly a straight jacket some of that time The following month, prorogress notes say that Nelson had been responding well to treatment Interesting His wife Mary had also been visiting him regularly Three months later, in February of nineteen twenty two, Nelson continued to respond well to treatment and had been behaving well in the ward. so his ward restraints were lifted That is, he was able to now move freely about whileall indoors. Two months later in April, his yard restraints also lifted. Now he's able to move freely about outdoors as well P not On june first, a note in Nelson's chart said This is the final note as patient will have been in hospital one year on june fourteenth The patient is well behaved and appears to be cooperating in every way in what is done for him Physical condition is good Nelson was now expecting to be released. I mean, it ssound like they were thinking about it Uh, Nope. N really We don't have any more notes on Ol Earl for about a year Not until april second, nineteen twenty three. they say restless says he will try to escape again soon. So now he's not happy again. Then on july first, nineteen twenty three, more notes written about him have been uncovered They say, Patient has been dissatisfied for the last couple of months, has been asking for front yard privilege and several other favors, has threatened to stop working on the ward ' not granted more consideration refuses to take any more six hundred six treatments, stating all as well. Has a bad reputation, has been in prison, escaped from this hospital four times, is a very good worker at presence, no delusions manifested at presence Physical condition at present, very good, sleeps little, restless at times, appetite good. Four months later on november second, nineteen twenty three After two years and four months in the asylum He does escape again for the fifth and final time and he will never return. The Napa State Hospital for the insane closed its file on Ferrell by recording that he was now discharged as improved On march tenth, nineteen twenty four. That is the same shit they did back when they didn't want to deal with him, you know, the last time he'd stay in the hospital Just more of that whatever Fucking yeah, he's okay. yeah, he's improved. He's awesome. He's the most sane person who's ever lived Whatever we have to say J just don't bring him back Earl never was legally released For the next two years, we don't know where that guy was or what he did. He might have strangled a seventeen year old a seventy two year old woman, Elizabeth Jones in San Francisco, august twenty second, nineteen twenty five, mightight have also strangled a forty five year old woman, Daisy Anderson in San Francisco, september fifth of that year October fifteenth. Alla McCoy, age unknown, was strangled in Philadelphia. mightight have been his dark handiwor November sixth, thirty seven year old Marie also strangled in Philadelphia. and so was thirty three year old Lenna Weiner on november tenth of that year. Some thought Earl might have been maybe was behind all those murders. But the first murder that investigators were pretty damn sure Earl committed once he was finally arrested in Canada occurred in nineteen twenty six when he was twenty eight years old On february twentieth of that year, sixty year old Clara Newman was looking for a new lodger for her rooming house at twenty thirty seven Pier Street in San Francisco Back in the twenties, a rooming house was a low cost multi tenant dwelling house where residents rented individual furnish rooms, just like just bedrooms But shared communal spaces like bathrooms and hallways, you know were for everybody. Unlike boarding houses, which provided meals and laundry, rooming houses typically only offered shelter requiring tenants to buy their own food or to eat out. It was for people who needed a place to stay for more than a few nights, but also either could not afford their own house or were not going to be staying in the area long enough for a house to make sense Or just for somebody who, you know, needed to play for one night didn't have the money for a proper hotel They're kind of similar to a hosto A good way for widows back then, largely to generate income after their husbands and died, widows who didn't want to get married again or couldn't find a new husband, you know, back when not that many jobs were available to women Clara had a sign in a front window advertising a vacancy A aroundround one thirty PM, a man around thirty years old and five foot seven inches tall wearing an army shirt with civilian pants and carrying a Bible ed on the door and asked about rooms Clara told her that she had three rooms available The man said his name was Roger Wilson, asked to see the attic apartment. And this Roger Wilson will later be determined to have been, of course, Earl Nelson. Clara's nephew Martin Newman, was working on the furnace downstairs this time, saw his aunt, lead the man up to the attic, heard them talk, got a really good look at him Merton noted that this this Roger Wilson was soft spoken Al also noted Wilson's huge hands with special attention Merton later recalled, The balls of his thumbs were very broad and square with swollen joints and nails at least a half inch long. Yeah, Nelson did have huge hands Remember how we used to walk on them in front of company? un askked at his aunt sister's Big hands in a naturally stocky muscular build build in addition to his swarthy features, his dark skin, thick, dark hair, what led to the monier of the Gorilla Man U Merton said that Nelson and his aunt Claire were upstairs for a few minutes, maybe more, before Nelson came back downstairs alone He stopped and told Burton, Tell the lady he'll be back in about an hour to rent the room. Mertin did not tell her that He instead left the house without going upstairs. importantportant to note, he did not live there or work for his aunt full time So we went on to deal with other things He did not return to his aunt's rooming house for four days, not until february twenty fourth. He returned to follow up with his aunt about the furnace Bound out that none of the tenants had seen her for days. so he searched the house found his aunt's lifeless body in the third floor bathroom. Claire was nude Cour had been wrapped tightly around her neck. And after being choked to death, her body had been violently beaten and sexually assaulted Had he strangled her when he had initially walked her upstairs uh then come back for some necrophilia Had he returned later to kill and rape and beat on her corpse We don't know. How had no one contacted somebody earlier if the third floor bathroom had been locked for four days Were there no tenants? So many questions I don't have answers to. includluding, did he impregnate her Was she carrying a zombie demon child I know that's fucked up, but hear me out This happened a hundred years ago So even her kids would now be dead. Any grandkids alive when this happened, alsoso dead now. So no one should be personally hurt by that comment Time plus traragedy equals comedy. Maybe Maybe even the heinous zombie baby shit, I've been saying. U Six days later, Earl struck again. sixty three year old Laura Bealle, ownwner of the deeer Park apartments in San Jose, California, less than fifty miles sou of San Francisco visited by the same Roger Wilson Motherfucker, who is again carrying the Bible and inquiring about open rooms That evening, Laura's husband discovered his wife's body in one of the empty apartments She was on a bed, had been strangled with a silk belt from the dress she was wearing She had been again sexually assaulted post mortem The silen cord that be used to strangle Beal had reportedly been wound so tightly around her neck it had embedded in her flesh Her killer was enraged Jumping ahead three months now. Lillian St. Mary, also sixty three years old at the previous victim, was advertising in an open room at her boarding house on Dolores Street in San Francisco Nelson, we don't know if he presented as Roger Wilson this time appeared asking to see a room And like the others, Lillian was strangled to death. Her naked body, again sexually assaulted after she was dead, shoved under a bed in a vacant room. The police sus the police suspected, excuse me, that the killings were all done by the same man because all three of the landladies were around the same age. And now the press starts to write stories about a sexually motivated serial killer in the Bay arerea Back before that was the you know, a kind of dude everyverybody knew existed I cannot imagine how much terror a bunch women of a certain age felt wondering if they were going be next The newspapers dubbed the man the Dark Strangler and the Gerriilla killer due to his method of killing and appearance, as I went over earlier Speaking of appearance Aarent apppparently, in addition to large hands, Earl also had a A typically long arms for a guy who is five five and about one hundred and sixty five pounds. Not a real big guy, not at all actually, but lean muscular Big hands Long arms It was a memorable look Just six days after Lilian, Staint Mary's murder P.A. Ford of thirteen seventy two Clay Street, Age Unknown was looking to fill a room in her rooming house. She lived on the fifth floor Nelson came to the door of Ford's fifth floor apartment asking to see a room on the third floor. Mrs. Ford called her husband to show the apartment Nelson then immediately left. Suddenly saying he not interested wantces the husband entered the chat. Mrs. Ford would tell a reporter The man was stocky and well built with shifty eyes, strange blue eyes, and the hands of a giant I always f got some big hands Everyone's talking about his hands. Nelson did not leave the building, but rather went down to the fourth floor there he knocked the door and when a woman named Mrs. Stigger answered again, age unknown, he said that he was there to fix her telephone With a lot of women being on high alert after the three recent murders and subsequent press coverage, mr. Stiger was highly suspicious and because of that, Nelson quickly left So that press coverage likely save your life Nelson didn't travel far after he left. Dude was dying to strangle somebody again. He decided to try his luck at the apartment house next door There, misses Gladys Dunn, the landlady, I just started showing Nelson an apartment when a janitor happened to come in and likely saved her life Nelson now immediately left Again, we do not know Gladys's age The very next day, mr. Flint Hufford of Albany, California, just a bit north of Oakland, went to bed filled with nightmares. of the gorilla Fiend who had been in all the papers During the night, she dreamed the strangler had climbed through her window and had started to choke her When it seemed like he was about to win and kill her, she reached under her pillow, pulled out the revolver. She had started to keep there for protection. Thinking she was firing directly into his face, she instead awakened to find that she had shot herself in the hand shows how terrified some people were over these killings june twenty fourth. exxactly two weeks after his last known murder, moreore than three hundred and twenty five miles from San Francisco, fifty three year old Ollie Russell advertised a room for rent in her boarding house in Santa Barbara California She was found strangled with a curtain court It had been pulled so tightly, the blood gushed from her neck An autopsy revealed unsurprisingly that Olly had been sexually assaulted after death The similarities to the San Francisco crimes led police, of course, to believe this was the work of the same killer An LA. police bulletin described the strangled murderer Probably Greek, rather high cheek bones, dark skin and a thin face Holy Greek A there were a lot of Greek immigrants at that time that people wanted to fucking blame crimes on or something? What that's strange Earl was not Greek. He did not have any Greek ancestry. His mother was Danish and Irish, his dad was Jewish and Spanish, according to what I was able to find out. Less than a month later on august sixteenth, Nelson was back at it in the Bay Area He visited Mrs. Mary Nesbet, listed as being fifty two years old in some sources and has been sixty three in others. about an opening in her Oakland department building. Nelson alleged to have strangled her with a towel and then left Mary's body in a pool of blood in the bathroom of the vacant apartment. blood from him strangling her so violently he broke the skin and also possibly it's not real clear in sources that he bashed her over the head with something. He continued his necrophilia pattern raping Mary's corpse after death My God, this guy should have been electroros shock to death back at the asylum. if they would have had electros shock back then for the bottomice, if they would have had the bottomies back then to the point that they just killed him. I'm disgusted, of course by him, but but also feel bad for him because he was so out of his mind. Clearly, his sexual preference was now freshly dead bodies Imagine that being your kink. What a fucking curse Imagine not being able to feel really turned on unless you had just killed someone You know, if you just had like Chicatilo syndrome, why's a big deal? Why kink shame me Why Why yuckking my y Why are distressed over zombie baby. Why add more to plate Nelson drops completely off the radar for a few months following this murder. Joe's back up on october nineteenth in Portland, Oregon. Remember that his dad, James Carlos Ferrell, grew up there. Likely Earl still had family there, but we're not sure And so we don't know if he did, if he visited them U But he did visit some other people, unfortunately, be at to Withers wasas a landlady with a vacancy in Portland She was quite a bit younger than most of Nelson's victims at thirty five poor fifteen year old son came home to find his mother's dead body crammed into a steamer trunk, hidden underneath clothing and on top of stacks of her own saved love letters. She had, like the others been strangled, and then her body was sexually assaulted Earl. if this was in fact Earl invvestigators strongly believed it was Very quick to strike again. The very next day, fifty five year old Virginia Grant showed Nelson a vacant property. She had on east twenty second street in Portland guess you know exactly what happened next He strangled her, then sexually assaulted her corpse then hid her body behind the furnace in the basement The next day would be Earl Nelson's last in Portland he would kill again Three women in three days. On october twenty first, nineteen twenty six, he visited the home of another landlady, thirty seven year old Mabel Fluke. Another woman decades younger than his typical victim She was again, a woman with rooms to rent and his method would be the same. And Nelson either took her to the attic or talked her into visiting the attic with him Once there, he strangled her with a scarf then raped her dead body and left it there before returning to the Bay Area Nelson back in San Francisco By november eighteent That day, he visited the boarding house of fifty six year old Anna Edmonds and yet again strangled her before sexually assaulting her body did not variate from his MO then hid her nude corpse under a bed before he left Initially police were hesitant to attribute her killing to the Dark Strangler for reasons unknown However, several days after her murder, a friend of Edmunds told police that she had stopped by Anna's home on the day of her murder and found Edmunds talking to a strange man in her parlor about a business deal that involved selling her house The woman's description of this unknown man matched those of the Dark Strangler AKA, the fucking Gerilla manan The day after Anna's murder on november nineteenth, in nearby Berling Game, California, less than twenty miles south of San Francisco, an unnamed twenty eight year old pregnant woman. while showing her home to a man posing as a potential buyer She would survive the attack and describe the man as being around five foot eight inches tall. Ela just over five five without shoes U said he was well dressed, well spoken The Boman later told reporters that though she hadn't felt threatened initially, she realized in retrospect that peculiarly, the man had commented on the home's intricate details, particularly the ceiling a lot Qote, I realizeed now that he was trying to get me to look up towards the ceiling so that he could get behind me and grab my throat press now ran more articles about the serial killers still being active and women in the Bay Area, especially middle aged landladies more terrified than ever They didn't have to worry though Nelson had left the area again and this time it'll be for good He will now be other cities's problems. He first traveled north to Seattle, a mere five days after his most recent killing. On november twenty third, he visited the home of sixty five year old wealthy widow, Florence Monks asking, of course about a room And he strangled her raped her corpse ransacked her house and quickly fled the city Six days later, november twenty ninth, nineteen twenty six, Nelson back in Portland for his final confirmed murder there He visited the home of forty eight year old Blanche Myers asking again about a room And again strrangled her Dr Corpse Sime in the following days or weeks She gave birth to that dreaded zombie baby And that baby wanted to find his daddy And zombie babies grow very fast He was full grown in three days. And now the gorilla man had another reason to keep on running. Baby boy was coming for him He wanted to hold Daddy down and fuck his syphilitic butthole because then Earl would become a zombie And he would live forever Wh fucking kiddy Am suucking camy. Okay Mes, Yeah, that's probably a little bit too crazy. U no, sometime in the following days or weeks Earl fled the Pacific Northwest and headed west h excuse me, headed east, the opposite of West. He fled the Pacific Northwest and just started fucking swimming across the Pacific. No one would stop him from making it to Japan. U No, not having any idea exactly where or even who he was. And in hopes of preventing further murders, law enforcement in both California and Oregon issuedublic safety announcements to to citizens in the San Francisco Bay Area. women described as elderly in a press release were advised to take precautions while renting rooms and inviting strangers into their homes Meanwhile, the Portland Police Bureau issued the followingatement to the public Do not show your houses or rooms for rent while alone. If necessary, call a policeman to accompany you Crimes such as Z should be prevented and could have been prevented if women had been more careful I do not wish to unduly alarm the people of Portland But there is no denying the situation is grave Dude has women in multiple West coast cities terrified Now he's a long ways away. Byate December, Nelson was in Iowa. And on december twenty third, just two days before Christmas, this fucking ghoul was in Council bluffs, where he attacked, then strangled to death with her own shirt then of course sexually assaulted the fresh corpse of forty one year old Almira Berard in her own home Initially, a lo local police presumed her death to be a suicide, but Berard had because Berard had recently been discharged from a psychiatric facility That was dismissed though, after it was discovered she had been raped post mortem Just four days later, Nelson made to Kansas City, Missouri, where he attacked a much younger victim He used some of the victims' clothing strangle twenty three year old Bonnie Pace Bonnie living in a rooming house with her husband that Nelson happened to stop in Nelson killed her while her husband was at work, then sexually assaulted her body after her death husband discovered what had happened when he came home. on a real fucking rampage Nelson attacked again in Kansas City the very next day, the twenty eighth, just three days after Christmas now. He visited the home of twenty eight year old Jermania Harpin was advertised in a room for rent ania home alone with her eight month old baby boy, Robert while her husband, like with previous with a previous victim, was at work And this time, Nelson, even more debauchrouous He strangled both Treummania and baby Robert who was only eight months old which Iess I just mentioned. Nelson then raped Germania, but not the baby it seems after death Uh Mia Harpin A French war veteran discovered the dead bodies of his wife and child when he got home from work. Harpon told the police he found the two dead amid the scene of a terrific struggle My go How does something like that not just break you after these two additional brutal murders Nelson completely disappeared for a few months He popped back up into historical records further east april twenty seventh, nineteen twenty seven, the the psychotic gorilla showed up at the Philadelphia home of fifty three year old Mary McConnell Mary and her husband had been trying to sell her home and had a sale sign hung in the window Nelson knocked on the door pretending to a Bible salesman to form. He then strangled Mary and once she was dead, sexually assaulted her corpse Have we ever covered someone? Who has had sex with this many corpses of murder victims before? I don't think so A month later. Nelson popped up in Buffalo New York where he rented a room from fifty three year old Jenny Randolph under the name of Charles Harrison now Jenny had recently lost her son She had begun working at the YMCA, renting out rooms in her house to make extra income brother Gideyon Gleet. The first to meet Charles Harrison when he arrived. short time later once Giddy was out of the house and Nelson had had Jenny alone He predictably strangled her, raped her dead body then hid her corpse under a bed Then that creepy motherfucker quickly fled the city. Uh Nelson was already in Detroit, Michigan two days later, june first where he visited another boarding house. This one managed by fifty three year old Fanny May, our third Fanny in this fourth, I think. If you count the fake mom, Earl made up when he got married That has to be record. So much fanny, so much syphilis, so much necrophilia What a tale This will be another double homicide The first involving two women After Nelson entered the house. He murdered Fannie Mae and a twenty nine year old tenant of hers named Maureen Oswald, A Torthi. The two women both strangled in the same with the same electrical cord. if you'd cut loose from a lamp Both women sexually assault after death, my go Like he had on occasion done before, Nelson ransacked the house before fleeing and he again not only fled the scene, but the whole state two women's bodies found by the building owner Leonard Sink who had arrived to collect rent funds for May Two days later June third, dude was moving Nelson al in Chicago where he will commit his last known confirmed murder in the US That double kill and double active Nicrophilia just, I guess didn't satisfy him for very long On the third, Nelson visited the home of twenty nine year old Mary Sitma in her home seat sma, seat sma. When her husband returned home that evening, he found Mary's body on the floor with another electrical cord in this instance wrapped around her neck Nelson also stole several articles of men's clothing from the Sitss of home, then fled north hitchhiking and hopping trains and riding the rails The last known sighting in the U.S. of Earl Nelson occurred five days later June eighth roughly eight AM He was in a little fifteen hundred ish person town of Warren, Minnesota, when a man named William Chandler picked him up on the side of the road Ch and there was a train home to win apeg Canada from a trip to Detroit with his wife and twelve old son Nelson was wearing a blue suit, a distinctive red sweater, a gray hat, light tan sandals and holding the Bible when Chandler spotted him Nelson Roe with Chandler for about sixty miles. said next to nothing neverever looked him in the eye but did offer him a cigarette When Chandler went to light his pipe When they arrived at the border just before Chandler pulled into the area for customs, Nelson asked them to stop as quote, this is about a far this was about far enough for him When Chandler stopped, Nelson hopped off the car after mumbling a brief word of thanks Then he walked off in the direction of the railroad We have no evidence as to whether he checked in at the border crossing and what he said to officials there. But obviously the more likely scenario is that he just walked over the line or jumped on a train or you know at some stage without going you know through customs. As far as we know This was the first time he'd ever been outside the U.S. Nelson was picked up in the Canadian side of the border by John and Harriet Hannah, a married couple at eleven AM And they gave him a ride to Winnipeg roughly thirty four miles away. accccording to their later testimony They had virtually no conversation with the stranger in the back seat on the trip Now Mrs. Hannna tried to engage with him He stated that he lived in Winnipeg When asked what street he lived on, he gave the name of the street that she had never heard of because it did not exist A couple then dropped Nelson off at the Corden. Teminna interchange which was known at the time apparently as one of Winnipeg's more infamous, quote, confusion corners was, maybe still is a five street junction with major street arteries going off in odd directions Nelson walked about a mile and a half to two eighteen Main Street where he then visited Mr. Garber's second store There he negotiated a trade of clothing sorts that ended with Garber buying from Nelson everything he was wearing. This again was the fancy sweater, the sandals, a cap, a blue suit. S that did not fit in very well because he'd stolen it from the Seeds Mah home after murdering and raping the wife of the man the clothes belonged to Garber ended up selling to Nelson a herringbone blue jacket coat with one button missing, a pair of black boots, a cheap pair of gray cotton aade pants, a belt and a grreay felt hat Garor bought Nelson's clothes for four dollars. sold him the other clothes for three dollars Uh, So then he then handed Nson the difference which was a single dollar bill Nelson signed the receipt log as John Kavanaugh eighty seven Plainsfield, Winnipeg. Age thirty two, height five feet, five and a half inches Beard none, dress blue Nelson began walking after this when he came across a house advertising a room for rent at approximately six PM He knocked the door of one hundred and thirty three Smith Street, where the Hills ran a rooming house. Catherine Hill, is just a few days sh.ter seventy first birthday. She was a large woman with with arthritis Nelson introduced himself to her as Mr. Woodcoats He's really, you know, he's got some some some interesting aliases now just's really kind of burning through them U Katherine offered Woodcoats a room for three dollars a week, he agreed, then gave her that dollar he had just gotten as a deposit and took the room He said he'd give her the other two dollars once he got paid from a job he did not have He lied again, said he was working at a building in Stain. Boniface Mrs. Hill said, Now mind, I don't allow my roumors to bring any girls or liquor to their rooms And Woodcoach allegedly replied, Oh no, I wouldn't think of anything like that. I'm a religious man I'm a Roman Catholic. Or according to another newspaper, Woodcoach said, quote, No fucking way, grandma, you know, liquor or do girls. When you got that cock rock with doesn't thrive DFT Derma fusion technology, baby zombie pull out batches. E not thriving' diane No. I didn't say that He said, goodood quiet surroundings where I can reflect A man with Christ in his heart. Ne worry about nothing else. h mrses Hill claimed to have then sat on the edge of the bed in the room for about an hour and a half talking to a woodcoats or sorry, half an hour, not hour and half L different. Before going downstairs, she would not see him again until the next day We don't know what Nelson did after this on his first night in Winnipeg We do know what he did the next night. notot good thirteen year old Lola Cohen. lived about six blocks west of this Smith Street rorooming house. She was spending the day going door to door in the neighborhood selling paper flowers she had made Not just cute, but necessary. Lola's father, John had recently suffered from am appendicitis, had been hospitalized for a few weeks with him not being able to work her family desperately needed money, Lola doing her best to contribute When she arrived at the rooming house, sometime afterine nine fifteen PM that night, she did not get the help she sought She tragically met a very violent end even though she was so young Nelson, alone with her apparently could not pass up the opportunity to strangle well, a girl in this instance, a girl not even close to being a woman And after she was dead, he sexually assaulted her body, then shoved her corpse under his bed. to sleep. Uh that fucking psychopath. Yeahah made the bed cleaned up Well, he did leave for a little bit, but then came back and went to sleep Lola finished up to fifth grade when she died She described as a pleasant girl big for her age, popular with classmates and with her teacher and an accomplished student After school, she often played baseball with a group of friends at the playground of the school before heading home William Fillingham, a private investigator was living nearby at four hundred five Broadway, about three blocks away from Smith Street He claimed that he was writing in his drawing room at about nine fifteen PM when he heard a knock on his door said he opened the door to find a girl selling what appared to him to be four bunches of artificial sweet peas contained in a little tin box Fillingham, question the gir She told him her age and name and that she was selling flowers to support her sick father He allegedly told her, quote Owing to her young age and late time of night, he would not purchase these flowers and advised her to go home. saying that she wouldn't sell many flowers at this time of night to other people at such late hour I should have only listen The anxious father of Lola, John Cohen, went to Mulvy School, where Lola was a student the morning of Friday, june tenth, nineteen twenty seven to find out if any of Lola's friends could explain why she hadn't come home. When no explanation was forthcoming, he contacted the city pololice and filed a missing persons report poor bastard Meanwhile, misss. Hill went to Woodcoat's room at one hundred thirty three Smith Street that morning. The room was tidy, the bed was made, the towel undisturbed from where she had left it the day before She ded dusted around it a little, D didn't look under the bed and thus did not find the body and alert authorities Meanwhile, Nelson out walked in the streets of Winnipeg that Friday morning Some people later reported that he was knocking door to door, saying he was selling powdered soap Yeah, fucking why not whatever allowed him to talk to women who might, you know, be home alone, let him in At some point, we don't know when He arrived at the Patterson House at one hundred Riverton Avenue, wearing the clothes he had purchased from Garbers the day before He was invited into the home by twenty seven year old Emily Patterson Shortly thereafter, Nelson strangled and assaulted Emily with a fucking claw haammer After bludging her to death this time, a much messier way to kill somebody, he still raped her corpse. then stuffed her body under her bed after stealing her plain gold wedding ring Nelson then began to search the house. He stole several items, including quote, three piece brown whip cord suits Vest and pants. bracets attached to the pants, a fountain pen slash pencil stub A cigarette case with Mr. Patterson's initials on it, a little maple leaf stick pinned inside the cigarette case family Bible someome pictures and correspondence and the family's life savings in the form of seventy dollars in crisp ten dollars bills Nelson then changed into the stolen suit Before he left to Patterson home following another brutal murder Nelson headed into a second handand store at six hundred twenty nine Main Street, ran by Mr. Sam Waldman bought a completely new outfit using the money he'd just taken the Pattersons. This guy's a fucking' maniac Nelson purchased underwear, a top shirt, a necktie, a light gray overcoat, a light gray summer two piece suit, a fond colored V neck sweater, a white scarf, a cream colored cap with the name of Waldom on the label blue and white stripe and brown bulldog style shoes, whatever the hell that style is I spent thirty dollars of the stolen seventy dollars on all that shit Nelson then left Mr. Patterson's clothes with a fountain pen Pencil stubs and cigarette case in the pockets at Waldam Store saying He called back later to pick him up. They had have been like Okay That's weird these don't take it with you, but all right Nelson also hid the Pattererson's Bible and some photos on a shelf in the store before he walked out And then over to a barber across the street and got himself a shave After that, he walked past a place called Chevriers', a men's clothing store, where he saw another fancy cream colored hat with the store's name on the brand or excuse me on the band displayed in the window, hadad to have it. Even though he had just bought a similar hat Dude doesn't give even fuck clearly that he' just killed so many people, doesn't appear to be upset in the slightest J happy to have some extra money. So he goes in and buys that hat for four dollars fifty cents After Nelson left the story, he ran into a hutwite couple, John Hoffer and his wife on a streetcar H to write a communal Christian sect of antiaptists or Anabaptist, rather, excuse me, sharing roots with the Amish and the Mennonites Nelson helped them make change the ride Such a sweet heart I then chatted him up for a bit Poffers wanted to go into a store to buy some candy So, Nelson went with him and he bought himself a Coca Cola Any paid for Mr. Hoer's lemon drink What a peach melb of a guy Very generous Wh they drank their drinks, Nelson told the couple as they would tell investigators later. I am sometimes drinking too much And I'm coming out here to have a rest. That I could not stop it Satan had too much power over an educated man. I wish I could not be educated Well, that's a fun and normal thing to say. That's a mentally sound thing to say Once they were done Nelson decided to hitchhike And then he invited Mr. and Mrs. Hofer to go get in a car with him to stop for him. And for reasons I do not understand, they they fucking did. In the car, Nelson then gave the hofers a box containing his new fancy hut The first fancy fancy had actually hed purchased back at Waldams Waldman, Mrs. Hofer opened the box and after some discussion about the fact that Mr. Hofer could not wear that sort of hat due to his religious beliefs They politely decided that they would still accept a gift Of the cap They would just find somebody else who might use it Well, that's lovely. We have a real meeting of the minds here Then the hopfers got out of the car and hitchhiked toward Regina, and then they parted ways. And yes, there was a city in Canada that is pronounced exactly like vagina but with an R A About six thirty PM that evening, poor Mr. William Patterson, husband of Nelson's most recent victim, his wife Emily, returned home to find his wife missing Patters had just moved to Canada from Ireland the year before. if the Pattersons had left the violence of Ireland hoping for peace in Canada, Well, their hopes were dashed that day basased on information provided by the now defunct Winnipeg Tribune newspaper We're told that William Patterson arrived in Winnipeg first in May of nineteen twenty six quickly secured a position as an entry level clerk in the dispatch department of the T. Eaton C compompany He then sent for his wife and boys who arrived in August that year after crossing the Atlantic on a big o old ship They first lived at a number of places on Ross Avenue and Elgon Avenue before renting the house at one hundred Riverton may fifteenth, nineteen twenty seven n't even been in that home for a month It was a small, sparsely furnished bungalow with five rooms Apparently, the Pattersons had no relatives in the city But they were already both very active at the St. Andrews Church, where Mrs. Patterson took part in the ladies' Aid Society, and Mr. Patterson sang in the choir When mr. Patterson arrived home at about six thirty in the evening, as I mentioned, and did not find his wife and children at home. or I think I mentioned that. He was not anxious at first thinking that his wife had gone to visit friends before the lady next door, Mr. Stanger. brought the kids over at seven thirty Patterson later said the lady brought them in from next door and told me that my wife had left them there. that she was going out. I then asked the kitties had they had tea? and they said no, so I made them supper Mrter Patterson put the two boys to bed around nine o'clock, put the youngest boy to sleep in the parental bedroom and the older one to sleep in kids bedroom att half past ten He became very anxious because his wife had never been out later than that Not having a phone in the house. He went to the lady next door's house, rang up the police station, asking if any lady had met with an accident He was told that no lady had an accident, so he went back to his house At around eleven PM, he grew more worried when he discovered that a suitcase belonging to him had been tampered with the right lock had been sprg open He got the keys to the suitcase, opened it up, discovered that their savings fifty do to seventy dollars. He wasn't exactly sure the amount had been stolen As had a Bible letters and photographs and a cigarette case with a stick pin inside Even more upsetting, a claw hammer had been put inside the suitcase. A hammer that did belong to Mr. Patterson but one that had previously not been in the suitcase And now he felt sick As would I Then at around eleven forty five, now very, very worried. He went into the bedroom, he shared with his wife knelt beside the bed to pray for guidance in finding her. As Patterson put it, he prayed, quote, that God would direct me to where my wife was and enlighten me as to the events I had discovered hisis youngest a three year old boy was asleep on the bed. As he arose from his knees, his hand, quote, accidentally or providentially, touched something under the bed pulled this thing out turned out to be the sleeve of his wife's coat Then he looked under the bed saw the bloody abused body of his wife Poor Bastard then barely managed to reach neighbor's house to tell them of this terrible discovery so they could then call the police before he collapsed and was temporarily inconsolable. Good God The police would arrive around midnight I was able to find a crime scene photo of Mrs. Patterson when they took her out from under the bed and yeah, pretty P prettyty fucking terrible She'd been beaten along the top of her head with the hammer savagely. a lot of blood forty five year old Chief Detective George Smith spoke with the corner hours later and was told Emily had definitely also been strangled and raped post mortem. In addition to being bludgeoned He supposedly said, boys, this is the work of the strangler referring to the American serial killer from the West Coast, news of which had traveled to Manitoba This guy not well known at all today, but he was very well known then, the Ted Bundy of the nineteen twenties minus the charm, wit and good looks that evil fuck had We don't know exactly what ellse Earl Nelson did that Friday night But the next day On Saturday, june eleventh, nineteen twenty seven around three PM. We know that Earl was far from Winnipeg. becausecause that was when he knocked on the door of Mrs. Mary Roe Age Unknown at eighteen fifty two Lawn Street in Regina He is now three hundred and fifty miles approximately from the scenes of his most recent violent crimes. Before he left Winnipeig that morning Fred England, a local jeweler in Winipeg. had unknowingly purchased Patterson's wedd ring from Nelson for three dollars and fifty cents, as he would later testify The rooming house Nelson now found himself in was in the heart of downtown Regina, close to Victoria Park Nelson gave the name Harry Harcourt to marry asked her for rent to rent a room for week does not attack her. The next day, Sunday, june twelfth By pure chance, Captain Duncan Matheson of the San Francisco Police Department is passing through Winnipe on his way from a police chief's convention in Windsor, Ontario a fucking crazy coincidence He meets with the Canadian police And if Chief Detective George Smith had not actually connected Emily's murder to the Dark Dark Strangler' crimes before he did now Then at about six thirty PM that day at the Hill Room boarding House on Spring Street, a new tenant named Mr. Mortenson discovered naked dead body of a young girl under his bed in the same room that had been rented to woodcoats It was, of course, the body of thirteen year old Lola Cohen. extra sad this Sunday The day her body was found was Lola's fourteenth birthday Some sources say that unlike that of his other victims, Her body had been mutilated in a manner quote, reminiscent of the victims of Jack the Ripper Her clothing and belongings were missing. It was evidence that the bed had been slept in, leading police to determine that Nelson had spent the night sleeping with her corpse beneath the bed dude getting more and more depraved, which is generally how it goes. Shortly after this, while thousands of Winnipeg citizens are listening to the evening church service on the radio They hear the service interrupted by an emergency police bulletin, announcing the discovery of this second murder The bulletin said Be on the watch for a man considered to be between twenty six and thirty years of age, about five foot, six or seven inches tall, and weighing about one hundred and fifty pounds Lge dark eyes, full face sallow complexion. clean shaven, Jewish or Italian appearance, but might be any nationality He speaks good English. He was seen and identified wearing a light gray suit, neatly dressed shortly after the murder of Mrs. Patterson Friday News of the murders being connected to the guerriilla strrangler make headlines all across Canada, causing Nelson to flee from Reina On Tuesday, june fourteenth, nineteen twenty seven, he hit the road, took a job with a dude named Isidore Silveran A junk dealer who was traveveling around Canada collecting pieces of lead boxing them up, putting them in his car, then periodically taking them to a train station and shipping them off Yeahes, totally norm I can see why you offered early a job. How perfect? that is already so brain damaged dude is now working with lead Nelson will stay with Silverman on the road for two days. Oh, the conversations those two must have had During that time, a fif thousand five hundred dollars reward for Earl Earl Nelson's capture is made public then while he's out finding pieces of lead, I guess. On Wednesday, june fourteenth, Nelson decided he wanted to head back down into the U. S and attempted he attempted to buy a train ticket at the Kill Arney train station in Ontario. There he is recognized by locals, thanks to all the media coverage. and an angry mob forms chases him down holds and probably beats him at least a little while And he's arreed He gives law enforce the name now of Virgil Wilson So many names. and Wilson is now placed in the very small local jail. This town had less than four people in it And this fucking maniac is smart enough to find a metal file that just happen to be lay around the whole ne area Why was that there And that night, that very night, he managed to file his way through a prison bar and escape Canadian law enforcement, once again, is looking pretty cartoonishly terrible Luckily because Nelson was an imbecile, despite being very good at escaping from places His crazy ass goes right back to the same fucking train station where the mob had formed And the mob forms another mob forms. The next morning, june sixteenth Seriously, Of course they do. They immediately recognize him again. They chase him down again, hold him down again, he's arrested again But this time the traine he's trying to catch is transporting members of the Winnipeg Police Force who are coming to track him down So now he is not put back in that tiny easy to escape from a jail cell He gets trained right after all. He is taken guarded by over a dozen officers to the Rupert Street pololice station in Winnipeg, where he will be charged, fingerprinted and put through lineups for witness identification There will be more than four thousand Ly Ls waiting to see him brought to justice when he arrives that train station Though he maintained that his identity was that of Virgil Wilson Fingerprints forwarded to Winnipeg, the San Francisco Police Department from his earlier arrests confirm his identity as Earl Nelson Nelson's fingprints matched those left behind at several of the crime scenes and his teeth matched marks found on some of the victims. Yeah apparently he liked to bite a number of them while raping their bodies after death. gu they fucking finally got this guy. They got this guy for killing and raping his victims hors corps. Initially, Nelson admitted to his crimes, bluntly telling reporters, I only do my lady killings on Saturday nights But then he would later retract his admission and claim he was innocent. During an interview with the Manitoba Free Press shortly after his arrest, he said, I'm charged with two murders But I'm not the one who done it When asked about the various persons in the U.S. and Canada who had positively identified him as the strangler He simply responded All of them are wrong. Despite attempts on part of both US and Canadian law enforcement agencies tolicit confessions, Nelson refused to admit to any of the murders in which he was suspected or accused He was now held to be tried in Manitoba Court for the murders of both Cowen and Patterson. Nels Earl Nelson's trial began in Winnipeg for these two murders less than five months later Earl's Aunt Lillily and his wife Mary Fuller still loving that she kept that fake surname They both came to Canada to testify that he should not be executed because he was too insane be held fully responsible for his crimes His lawyer had chosen to not argue Earl's innocence, but rather that he could not be found completely culpable as he was not mentally competent over the course of only four days tririals, even big murder trials so much faster back then The court heard from various witnesses about Earl Nelson's history and actions since arriving in Canada and from all over the US as well Over sixty individuals from both Canada and US. testified, many placing Nels at the scenes of various crimes or linking him to property stolen from victims homes Also, a jail guard who oversaw Nelson throughout his trial noted that he spent most of his time now obsessively reading the Bible Nice try, dude Nowot going to get you out of this one We've already heard a lot of the testony over the course of this episode in the form of quotes about Earl from a sister aunt and from his wife, so I won't share anym The jury headed into deliberations at eleven sixteen AM november fifth, nineteen twenty seven They return with a decision less than an hour later att eleven fifty eleven fifty AM. The clerk asked gentlemen, have you agreed upon your verdict? If so, who speaks for you? Do you find the prisoner guilty or not guilty? George P. Bond, a sixty year old farmer, who is the foreman of the jury h quietly announced the verdict of guuilty, my Lord Oh my Lord. I like that So medvil guuilty, my lord the rest of the jury agreed that the verdict had been unanimous giving Nelson the sense, the judge said, You've been found guilty of a very cruel murder by the jury after as fair a trial as we have been able to give you I won't add anything to your present situation by any remarks upon the terrible crime The sentence of the court is that you be taken to the place from once you came And that you be there conf find until Friday, the thirteenth day of january nineteen twenty eight and upon that day between the hours of six o'clock in the forenoon and eight o'clock in the foreoon You be taken from the place of confinement to the place of execution and that you be then and there, hanged by the neck until you are dead And may God have mercy on your soul. Nels was asked by the judge If you'd like to make a statement And he responded And I love this because it is so on brand. in a nonchalant tone, he apparently said, Mm no, not that I know of Not that I know of Oh you was so bad shit You have been sentenced to death Would you like to say anything U Uh, do you know what I'm you be having for dinner tonight No Oh Bummer Im hoping it' spghti Do you have anything else you'd like to say? Nhing no of Nels has been the next two months on death row. trying to convince the courts to grant him clemen He said he would totally devote his life to religion. shouldhould he be given another chance efinitely not strangle anymore women or girls killing babies or bite and ra your bodies, not even one single time. His trial lawyer submitted a document to the court asking for an appeal on the grounds that Nelson was insane and that his personal history had been unfairly presented to the jury via the press The courts were not swayed. Yeah, he was obviously very insane But he also needed to be executed before he escaped again and went on another murder preree and viciously took more lives, which he one hundred percent would have definitely done Soon it was Friday, january thirteh, nineteen twenty eight The day was warmer than a typical Winnipeg day in mid January would be and a warm spring like thaw had started several days earlier Much of this sn had been meled A group of about fifty people gathered at the Vagh Street jail in Winnepeg to bear witness to the execution of Earl Nelson Several witnesses were issued tickets to attend by the sheriff, and they crowded around the actual gallows. At seven thirty AM, Earl Leonard Nelson was brought out by two guards. They were accompanied by two priests as well Nelson gave his last words Uh, you know what I'm You know have for dinner tonight Home S spaghett Wow. Whatever. if it was not, then you know, I guess anything else to say I say that I know of Uh no, he said, u I declare innocence before God and before man I forgive those who have harmed me. And I ask forgiveness of those whom I have harmed, mayay God have mercy on my soul Again, he was nuts. Dude just said he was innocent then said he forgave those who harmed him then admitted he had harmed people then asked for his soul to be receive mercy. He would have never been safe to have just be out in society Earl Nelson died by Hanging was pronounced at seven fifty two AM He was only thirty years old He had been positively connected to at least twenty two murder victims, but there are seven more he was strongly suspected of committing with such little information remaining regarding those crimes, you know It'll likely never be proven conclusively that he committed those murders. And that brings us to the end of today's time suck timeline. Good job, soldier. You've made it back Barely It's pretty clear that Earl Nelson had some serious mental health issues. Let's talk about that for a bit before wrapping up. or talk around it, I guess. Before his murders rampaged, Nelson was institutionalized multiple times, often had notes that said he was responding well to treatment, but What do that even mean What was treatment like in the nineteen twenties in the US. Just a few decades before Earl Nelson was born, the US. turned towards large state run mental health asylums or hospitals by eighteen ninety. Every state had at least one such institution operating Historian Eli Ztsky has explained a little of what the landscape of mental health looked like in the nineteen twenties, mental health care. in an artle for Psychology todayoday, Zaretssky says through the nineteen twenties, psychoanalysis in America quote, was caught up in a process that emphasized personal empowerment, self regulation, and individual charisma The field's purpose was reorienting towards productivity and improvement, which I guess is still kind of is, but not totally More about self actualization now I guess American psychoanalysis rode the wave of professionalization, scientism, and the growth of a mass culture characteristic of the Second Industrial Revolution, as medical doctors desired to put amateurs practicing in quasi psychological techniques like mesmerism homeopathy and various other mind cures out of business for good Man, if only quackax could ever truly be eliminated. It feels like there there's been a rise of quackery the past several years, doesn't it? All these online truthers? Oh, just so much koolid in their eyes Ry they got weekend certifications from fucking diploma mills if they have any formal education in their field hll Which I guess that wouldn even qualify as formal meducation. It just spouted all kinds of silly, often dangerous bullshit. Anyway, what that meant in practice back in the nineteen twenties was that institutions were trying new forms of therapies that were not always beneficial for patients A few prevalent treatments done at Napistate included hydrotherapy, sterilization, and malaria fever therapy. Malaria fever therapy is interesting posossibly something that Earl experienced as it was commonly used to treat syphilis. Generally only used to treat late stage neurosyphilis, but not always From the nineteen twenties until the nineteen fifties, prior to the introduction of penicillin malaria induced fevers were used as a treatment for primarily neurosyphilis becausecause the spiking fevers associated with malaria killed the bacteria that caused a syph syphilitic infection This treatment killed an estimated tencent to fifteen percent of the patients who received it it was that was seen as an acceptable risk becausecause syphilis would kill them if it didn't work In addition to the tencent to fifteen percent of people who died, an untold amount of patients would suffer some form of brain damage from the insanely high fevers they were getting from this. Bottomies We were not given out yet. so we didn't get one of those probably would have been better for his victims if he had received one Early crude versions of electros shhock therapy didn't quite yet exist either. So that did not happen to him There also were not yet any medications to treat depression or other specific mental disorders. During the nineteen twenties, practically the only drugs used as sedatives and hypnotics were barbituates After nineteen fifteen, the hypnotic properties of some barbituates were rapidly applied to the treatment of psychotic patients thanks to the induction of a state of deep and prolonged sleep Based on some other notes from Nelson's stays of the Asylum And he likely had a mix of most of these therapies None of it would have helped him. Some of it might have made it worse. He also might have truly been untreatable due to significant brain damage. In summary If it was even theoretically possible to help Earl Nelson uh, you know, u, not become the monster he became wasn't possible back then you know, or it wasn't possible to Fix the monster he became. So glad Canada finally gave him the only treatment that was going to really cure his insanity, that type of insanity he had back then, which was death You can't treat a rabbid dog and make them not bite cannot rehabilitate certain motherfuckers like Earl Nelson and make them, you know, not well Bite as well, I guess I still think the most merciful thing for everyone in certain situations like these state sanctioned Euthan Asia Now let's wrap up this deep dive. On the man labeled by many is the first known serial sex murderr of the twentieth century with today's top five takeaways. Time shuck, top five takeaways Number one, Earl Nelson born Earl Ferrell made an orphan before he was two years old lost both parents to untreated syphilis. Earl himself would test positive for syphilis at least twice during his involuntary commitments. Number two, Nelson had a major head injury when he was just ten years old. He was struck by a streetcar while riding a bicycle that maybe he made He was concussed and, quote, out of his head for five or six days afterwards Nelson would allegedly have spells of dizziness and headaches for the rest of his life While correlation does not you prove causation, one twenty twenty five study indicated that quote, eighty percent of the most high profile serial killers have had significant brain injuries Number three Earl Nelson lived to the nineteen oh six San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire To this day, the disaster remains one of the worst American disasters, natural or man madeade. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California history. The Nelson family home was not completely destroyed, but the family still had to live where eighty percent of the city was completely destroyed and more than three thousand people had died Number four. Earl Nelson had the kind of modus Uperandy you might see on an especially dark episode of laaw and Order He primarily went after middle aged women who were advertising rooms for rent in their homes or apartment buildings, womomen who were of similar age to his much older wife Also worth noting that his wife was similar in age to his aunt Lillian to help praise Earl and to his grandma Cel phrase him I mean, not like, I mean, the graam was a little older, but closer to her age and to his age Once he had a victim, he typically would strangle them and sexually assault their corpse, which sometimes included biting them Number five, new info. While the story of Earl Nelson has mostly flown under the true crime radar these days, it was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock film nineteen forty three's Shadow of a Doubt, starring Tereressa Wright and Joseph Cottter. Film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story Shadow of a doubt was preserved in the US S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in nineteen ninety one as it was deemed culturally, historically or aesthetically significant Hitchhock himself or hitch Hitchhock. Hitchcock himself once said Shadow of doubt was his personal favorite of his own films. This project began when the head of David Selsniick's story department, Margaret McDonald, who oversaw one of the most powerful and rigorously managed script development engines in Hollywood history, responsible for scouting literary properties and drafting screenplays for legendary films like Gone With the Wind and Rebecca, told Hitchcock. that her husband Gordon had an interesting idea for a novel. that she thought would make a good movie His idea called Uncle Charlie was based on the true story of Earl Nelson The film deviates quite a bit from the original idea for the story, Follows a teenage girl named Charie Who discovers her visiting uncle Charlie is actually the Merry Widow murderer, a notorious serial killer played by Joseph Cotton Here's a quick monologue of cottons from the movie, which makes it clear how little he values women At least some women not much more than Nelson did bs whove spent their lives making fortunes, working and working then they die and leave their money to their wives They're silly wives What do the wives do these useless women You see them in the hotels, the best hotels every day by the thousands Drinking the money, eating the money Losing the money at Bridge, playing all day and all night. Smelling of money Proud of their jewelry, but of nothing else Fated fat greedy women They're alive, they're human beings. Aary Are they human beings? Are they Time Suck, T f They are human beings. The Dark Strangler, serial killer Earl Nelson has been sucked. Thank you to the Bad Magic Productions team for helping making time suck. Thanks to Queen of Bad Magic, Lindseay Cumins. Thanks also to Logan Keith, helping to publish his episode in and designing merge for the store as well. Over there at badmagicroductions. com. Thank you to Heather Rylander for her initial research and thanks to the Allseene eyes. moderating the culturally Curious private Facebook page, which has been Just extra lovely lately The Mod squad, making sure disiscord keeps running smooth and everybody over on the time sucks sububreddit and bad magic subredit And now let's head over to a pretty special littleittle set of time sucker updates Updates. Get your time sucker updates. First up, a kick ass law enforcement sucker Send in an email to Bojangles at Timesock podcast d. com with a subject line of a police officer's takeaway from the Stonewall rightits They' Dan, Lindsey and everyone else at bad magic, they write. Excuse me. I just finished the suck on the Stonewall Rits and I have a message I'd like to share I'm a police officer in Redacted When I became a SWarN officer and and actually they wrote all these things. I just tryed to be really careful about keeping his anonymity. When I became a SIarn officer five years ago, I understood that I would see uncomfortable things, but nothing prepares you for the violence you will encounter. My first suicide call stays with me always A call came in that a family member had found their daughter dead in the basement. It said it looked like she had shot herself I responded and got there within minutes. I even grabbed my gunshot wound kit in hopes of helping I got inside the house and went downstairs There I found a mother and sister crying. They directed me to the bedroom where their daughter was As I went in I could tell my gunshot wound kit be no help I told him to go upstairs wait for me. I did the normal procedure and had medical personnel come into the room to confirm that she was dead Once they did, I started to investigate The first thing I noticed was the Pide flag on the wall There was a note I read it It was obviously written by someone hurting. Someone struggling with their mental health But the thing that stood up the most was the fear of society The fear of chang is that could affect her and her community I went upstairs to speak to her family. When I got there, they asked if she was okay It hit me then that they were still holding on to hope that their daughter was okay that the first responders had come and done what people expect and had saved a life I had to tell them no There was nothing we could do That was my first death notification I learned that there had been an I learned that they had been an extremely supportive family It wasn't their fault and they just wanted their daughter back The point of telling this is, I want folks to understand suicide is not the answer. There is someone who will miss you. someomeone who will wish you had not done that. stay here. The second part of this message also relates to the Stonewall rights. There are people in society that will tell you violence towards the LGBTQ community, excuse me, is not real anymore I can tell you firsthand, I've seen it Racted, I responded to assist with a redacted shooting I saw the destruction one person could do to a group of people he hated. There's a bright sight though As you probably know, the shooter was not killed that night. The folks that redacted made it easy and beat the shit out of him before the police got there Afterwards, I was a guard duty at the hospital. My job was not only making sure the shooter did not escape, but making sure no one could to him get to him to finish the job Every nurse at the hospital wore a rainbow flag of some sort when they came into that room could not have been more happy about it. Going to this shooting reminded me of why I became an officer to help people that need help peopleeople that need protecting No matter your race, gender, sexual orientation or even citizen status, call and I will come running. There are so many other officers like me Don't believe the narrative cops are right wing MGa meatheads. Some of us are just meatheads with big hearts Sorry if his email is long, when I first wrote, it was almost three pages long. Thanks for keeping me going during long shifts, anonymous. PS Lindsey in August last year after bad magic summer camp. I saw aost on Facebook in the summer camp group It was of fuck pig, stay wet. And I saw that you made a comment in support of it I sent you a message that may have come across his Rue, but please let me explain. I just been through an officer involved shooting where a guy had shot at me before other officers shot him I was going through it mentally, trying to wrap my brain around the whole incident I don't know if you ever saw the message, but if you did, I'm sorry if it came off his re Uh Uh, thank you again, Dan for continuing to do this podcast. I've been a listener since day one, H have listened to your comedy since I was in high school. Sorry if the email doesn't read well I may have had some adult drinks. Well write in this. Well, anonymous. I just wanted to share this or include that part because I wanted to tell you that the fuck pig stay wet comment had everything to do with how much literal bacon was eaten at camp and nothing to do with disrespecting officers. Like absolutely trly. wantanted to make sure you knew that, just a goofy joke about a chant that we started because we literally collectively ate more bacon wayay more than any other group of campers had ever eaten who had stayed there for the same amount of time And I'm pretty sure we then broke that record by a lot the following year And I plan on eating a fuckload of bacon this year Also, thank you for the reminder that there are so many great people everywhere, so many great officers out there who do care so much about so many different kinds of people, including people in the Pride community. There are a lot of great meatheads out there. I'm a meathead. I fucking love lifting weights. The most consistent hobby I've had since college And thank you for sharing the painful shit that you have seen that is so unnecessary I just love getting your perspective Thanks for your service so much, truly, please stay safe out there and please keep help helping others stay safe And now for another unexpected perspective from a Christian Sack, James Dowon I think I'm saying your last name right, James. I hope so. cururrent ally, former enemy, someone rightfully proud of their evolution, their personal evolution Howd he suck Master Supreme? Ruler of all things Cious. James wrote. I just finished a filmal episode and learned new things I hadn't known And it got me thinking about myself. A few years ago, I absolutely would have been one of the cops arresting people just because they were queer I spent a long time with a very Qote, fuck the government lee me alone and let me live, mindset. But then I got caught up in politics I ended up in an echo ch chamber of far right ideology. I started doing the head nods, the yeah, that's right agreements Started posting more political content on my TikTok page, The typical homophobic transphobic, fuck the left drible. See, I argued that my hate for homosexual people was because of having been violently raped by a man as a child while in foster care multiple times That hate for him festered for years into a hate for all That hate was fueled by an echo chamber and became far right anger I'm ashamed of it. But alas, there is hope for even the furthest right or furthest left extremist idealist make no mistake, there are extremist radicals from all sides Yes, there are I found my faith in God again, this time as an adult with a better understanding of the world This time after years of therapy and counseling and self reflection, and it finally took, I finally learned how to open my mind, how to understand the teachings of Jesus I don't have to agree with how you live your life. I can love you person, as an individual, as a human fucking being Are you gay, lesbian, trans, somewhere else in there? Cool, who cares? It doesn't affect me. I couldn't care less. Over the past year or so, my views have shifted exponentially Actually, that's not fair to say. My views began to shift with you before that. It was always just eh, we'll agree or disagree any boy Th then they mostly shifted when my daughter was born in November of twenty twenty four I realized how mistaken I was on so many things, and that's when the far right ideals started to crumble The final nail on the political side