1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: Hey, listeners, I'm Kate Winkler Dawson, host of tenfold More 2 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: Wicked and Buried Bones. Let me tell you about my 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: new project. It's an audiobook original called The Ghost Club. 4 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: The Ghost Club is about an exclusive dinner club started 5 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: in the late eighteen hundreds. Some of the world's most 6 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 1: important people gathered to tell real life ghost stories. We're 7 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: talking about Charles Dickens, William Yates, Arthur Conan Doyle, and 8 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: Harry Houdini. They investigated spiritual encounters, life after death, and 9 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: fraudulent mediums. The chairman of the Ghost Club was Harry Price, 10 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:37,480 Speaker 1: the world's most successful ghost hunter. His most well known 11 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: case was the Harrowing year he spent living in England's 12 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: Borly Rectory. Did Harry Price uncover real ghosts or did 13 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: he fake evidence of spirits or both? Listen as I 14 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: tell you about the legends of the Ghost Club and 15 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: the Borly Rectory, as well as my own experiences as 16 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: a kid. The Ghost Club is available now wherever you 17 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: get your audio books. This story contains adult content and language. 18 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. Despite my better judgment, my twelve 19 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:33,839 Speaker 1: year old daughter joined me on this trip to New Orleans. 20 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: I say that because she's not as interested in crime 21 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: history as I am. She scares really easily. She doesn't 22 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: like creepy things, and like my other kid, New Orleans 23 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: might not be the place for her, but we'll see. 24 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: We're on one of New orleans famous streetcars, writing the 25 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: Saint Charles streetcar line. It's just a few blocks from 26 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: Annie Crawford's former home on Chestnut Street. She rode the 27 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: streetcar back and forth to work in nineteen ten. This 28 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: seems like a fantastic way to travel, even if it's 29 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: a little slow moving. But historian Terrence Fitzmorris says that 30 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: when Annie Crawford wrote this line, streetcars were even more 31 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:25,519 Speaker 1: inefficient and very troublesome. 32 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 2: Streetcars are iconic in New Orleans today, but in nineteen ten, 33 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,919 Speaker 2: they were real pain. They weren't as pretty, they weren't 34 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,079 Speaker 2: as well connected, and there were too many of them. 35 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 2: There is gas and electricity and telephone to have been 36 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 2: around for a long time in New Orleans. The average 37 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 2: citizen is seeing a good deal of progress, and they've 38 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 2: been introduced to a novelty that's coming in shortly and 39 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 2: to further make New Orleans more congested, and that is 40 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 2: the automobile. The streets are always congested. They were never 41 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 2: made for automobiles, and it's a serious concern for the 42 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 2: citizens of New Orleans. 43 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: It sounds like walking was the most efficient way to 44 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: travel throughout New Orleans in the early nineteen hundreds. The 45 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: Crawfords used some form of transportation to get to work, 46 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: the various methods available, but their church was just a 47 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: few blocks away, so they walked and Sunday Mass was 48 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 1: a highlight of their week. Saint Stephen's Catholic Church is incredible. 49 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: It was designed in a German Gothic style, complete with 50 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: imported stained glass. It's the second largest Catholic church in 51 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: the city. Its six sided spire is more than two 52 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: hundred feet high, and you could spot it from miles away. 53 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: Saint Stephen's is on Napoleon Avenue, less than two blocks 54 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: from Chestnut Street, where the Crawfords were, and for the family, 55 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: there were few things more important than mass. I asked 56 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: Terrence Fitzmorris about the Irish population in New Orleans at 57 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: the turn of the century. I wanted to get a 58 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: sense of the Crawford's community. How many Irish people are 59 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: we talking about in nineteen ten nineteen eleven in New Orleans. 60 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 2: Oh well, the number of Irish actually from Ireland is 61 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 2: roughly about seventy five hundred, down from thirty thousand in 62 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 2: eighteen sixty, but their descendants Irish Americans are numerous. Of course, 63 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:30,480 Speaker 2: the United States Census doesn't categorize you as an Irish American, right, 64 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 2: just that if you're Irish, or you're German or Italian 65 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 2: or Polish or Danish. 66 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: Women in Irish American families were encouraged to marry early. 67 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: If they weren't married, they remained with their parents, like 68 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: Annie Crawford and her sisters did. Some might marry into 69 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: their late teens or early twenties, but once a woman 70 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: passed her late twenties, the families might fear that she 71 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,159 Speaker 1: would never find a husband. It would have been normal 72 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: in an Irish American family if the girls had been unmarried, 73 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,799 Speaker 1: like Annie Crawford, to stay living in the house. 74 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 2: I assume yes, indeed it would have. 75 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: Yes, it would have been expected expected. Author Alan Gotro 76 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: says that Annie didn't seem preoccupied with marrying, even though 77 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: she had been labeled a certain derogatory term at age 78 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,599 Speaker 1: twenty eight spinster. I hate that word, and I hate 79 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 1: old maid too. They were labels meant to shame women 80 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: who chose not to marry or chose not to settle. 81 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: It was also a sort of veiled threat. No man 82 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,359 Speaker 1: wanted a middle aged woman, they would say. Many Irish 83 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:37,719 Speaker 1: American families pressured their teenage daughters to find husbands, but 84 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: the Crawfords didn't seem to do that, at least not 85 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 1: with Annie. 86 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 3: She did not have any gentleman callers, but I don't 87 00:05:45,279 --> 00:05:46,720 Speaker 3: think she was concerned with that. 88 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:50,600 Speaker 1: And yet Annie's sisters complained that she criticized their suitors 89 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: when they came knocking on the door. Maybe it was 90 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,559 Speaker 1: out of jealousy because she had none of her own, 91 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: but I doubt it. I've been working to understand the 92 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: arc of her life for this story by examining her 93 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: actions throughout her whole life. I think she simply craved control, 94 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 1: and it wasn't easy to control three young women and 95 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: two parents. This push and pull created a lot of 96 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: tension in the family. Annie wanted to regulate everyone. 97 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 2: She determined what her sisters and her aunt and everyone 98 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 2: else should do, and whether her sister should date or whatever. 99 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 2: So it was a very dysfunctional family. 100 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: Annie's niece in law, Cecil Leo, agrees. Even fifty years later, 101 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:37,039 Speaker 1: Annie Crawford was still trying to manage everyone in her family. 102 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: When she lived with Cecil and Patrick, Annie focused only 103 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 1: on her nephew, not his sisters, and certainly not his wife. 104 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 4: She never looked at me, but she'd stare at Pat. 105 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 4: Didn't take her eyes off of him. And it was 106 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,280 Speaker 4: like Mary and Kitty weren't even there either. It was 107 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 4: just like Pat was the only one there, and she 108 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 4: just stared at Pat. He certainly wasn't comfortable. 109 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:04,719 Speaker 1: Annie Crawford always seemed to be in her own world, 110 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: and it made many people uncomfortable. Cecil simply tolerated her. 111 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 4: I don't think I was avoiding her, but I just 112 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 4: felt more comfortable, I think just being with Pat, and 113 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 4: she didn't. She didn't seem to mind being by herself 114 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 4: and everything. I remember one time I did ask her. 115 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 4: I said, Nanny, I said, do you ever get lonesome 116 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 4: being here all by yourself, you know, all day long, 117 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 4: because I'd go meet Pat and everything. And she said no, 118 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 4: that was all. She didn't get lonesome, no, no, no, 119 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 4: never went anywhere. 120 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: And Annie's defense. She was in her eighties by the 121 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: time she lived with Cecil and Patrick. It might have 122 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 1: been difficult for her to go places, But if Cecil 123 00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: had known what Annie Crawford was accused of, she might 124 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: have been more wary and much more careful. It was 125 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: June twenty fifth of nineteen ten, and Chestnut Street in 126 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: Uptown New Orleans was quiet in the waning sunset. The 127 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: street lamps glowed as the city's iconic live oaks created 128 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: creepy shadows on the siding of the old Victorian houses. 129 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:29,560 Speaker 1: Lights flickered in the windows of the neighbors houses. Inside 130 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: the Crawford home, a soft light from a nearby electric 131 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:37,080 Speaker 1: lamp hummed while Mary Agnes Crawford slept. The Crawfords had 132 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,920 Speaker 1: stored their gas lamps several years ago. As the daylight 133 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: disappeared and the night crept in the family, physician doctor H. B. 134 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:50,439 Speaker 1: Gessner squinted at Mary Agnes in the light. Despite the 135 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: lamp's radiance, it still wasn't easy to see anything in detail. 136 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: Doctor Gessner had reviewed the thirty year old symptoms earlier 137 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: in the day. She had come plained of a sensitivity 138 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: to the light, her head ached, she was running a fever, 139 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: She felt sick to her stomach, her neck was stiff 140 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: and sore, and all of this came on very quickly. 141 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 1: Mary Agnes had been fine yesterday at her job with 142 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:19,959 Speaker 1: the railway. It was Saturday, and Mary Agnes wasn't expected 143 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: at work. Even though many people did go to their 144 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: jobs on Saturdays, most folks in New Orleans had Sundays 145 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: off to attend church services, but at the turn of 146 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: the century, Saturdays were still considered part of the work week. 147 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: Annie thought about her old job at the sanitarium. Her 148 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: sisters had wondered if she would look for a similar 149 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: position at another hospital. That job had been a lot 150 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: of responsibility. It would have been trying for anyone, but 151 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: it didn't seem to bother Annie. From the time she 152 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: started five years earlier, she had been praised for her 153 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 1: work ethic, but when she was caught stealing narcotics, she 154 00:09:55,880 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: was fired. Immediately Before the sanitarium, Annie had briefly been 155 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: a telephone operator for the city for twelve dollars a month, 156 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: but when she earned her job at the hospital as 157 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: a clerk, she rose there quickly, earning fifty dollars a 158 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: month before she was fired. Annie was reliable, something the 159 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: hospital demanded of its employees, because the patients there really 160 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 1: required patients. Her supervisor once called her one of his 161 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: most trusted employees and a young woman committed to her 162 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: work at the sanitarium. Some sanitariums were health spas for 163 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: the rich who needed a mental break. Annie's place of 164 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:40,280 Speaker 1: work was a sanitarium and a teaching hospital that treated 165 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:44,079 Speaker 1: long term physical illnesses, so the patients were likely treated 166 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:48,320 Speaker 1: with care. But I've always associated sanitariums with draconian mental 167 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: health facilities in the early nineteen hundreds. Those facilities often 168 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: used archaic methods to treat patients, water torture, deadly procedures. 169 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: They sounded like insaneess on Terence Fitzmorris talks about the 170 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: types of women who were admitted or taken involuntarily. Many 171 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 1: of them were no different from Annie. They would have 172 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,679 Speaker 1: come from a similar socioeconomic background. 173 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,720 Speaker 2: So for women like Annie, her grandparents were born in Ireland. 174 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 2: Her mother and father were both born in New Walleans. 175 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 2: Her mother of French descent her father of Irish descent. 176 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 2: There would have been little access for her to seek 177 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 2: out mental health issues. She would really have to have 178 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 2: been truly insane. Someone close to you would have to 179 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,000 Speaker 2: say that you were so incompetent you could unhandle your 180 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 2: own personal duties and responsibilities to yourself. 181 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: And you'd have to go through a court proceeding. 182 00:11:45,679 --> 00:11:48,960 Speaker 2: And the judge would determine whether you were capable of 183 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:52,440 Speaker 2: handling your own problems, and if you were not, then 184 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 2: he would sign you to an insane asylum where you 185 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:57,240 Speaker 2: would supposedly be treated. 186 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:00,160 Speaker 1: I know that a lot of the justifications used were 187 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: actually excuses. 188 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 2: There are advertisements in the newspapers about, you know, women 189 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 2: being overly emotional and that they needed serious care. The 190 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 2: advertisements that I've seen in the paper deal primarily with women, 191 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 2: whether it's change of life, or it's childbirth, or any 192 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:24,080 Speaker 2: of these afflictions that women were prone to. The newspapers 193 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:27,440 Speaker 2: are complete with that. The men are considered, you know, 194 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:30,560 Speaker 2: if they are not manly enough, then their treatments that 195 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,040 Speaker 2: they can give you to make you more manly, you know, 196 00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 2: serums and massages and electrical shocks. 197 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: And there was the belief that women were more prone 198 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:42,320 Speaker 1: to mental illness than men were. 199 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:46,319 Speaker 2: The sane asylum records that the city of New Orleans 200 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:50,239 Speaker 2: has points to a lot of women in those insane asylums. 201 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 2: They were considered with the Freudian notion of being hysterical 202 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 2: and thus the hysterectomy right and to end the hysterical 203 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 2: female per personality. Women considered more emotional, less rational, given 204 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:08,119 Speaker 2: to fits of melancholy and depression. 205 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: I know what asylums were like in eighteen hundreds. They 206 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:15,040 Speaker 1: gave patients bad treatments that many times killed those patients. 207 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,080 Speaker 1: Were there any improvements in the nineteen hundreds. 208 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 2: Well, there was a this is the phrase that was used. 209 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 2: It was the actual words that were used, a lunatic asylum, 210 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 2: and people who had mental illness as opposed to depression 211 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 2: and the light were treated in the same fashion as 212 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:36,000 Speaker 2: they had been treated before. They was considered a moral affliction, 213 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,320 Speaker 2: and so is more like a prison system for mental illness. 214 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 1: What would happen to a woman with mental health issues 215 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: in nineteen ten? 216 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:47,720 Speaker 2: So if she had gone into an asylum, she would 217 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,679 Speaker 2: have been treated just as an alcoholic was treated. Alcoholism 218 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 2: was considered a psychological moral affliction, and that's what she 219 00:13:56,840 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 2: would have been treated with. 220 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: But you had said that the same starium where Annie 221 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:03,840 Speaker 1: worked was different than an asylum right well. 222 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 2: The sanitarium that she worked for was more akin to 223 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 2: a hospital, more like charity hospital than it was insane asylum. 224 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:15,600 Speaker 1: Until recently, Annie Crawford had what appeared to be a 225 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 1: good life. She had a prestigious job at a respected hospital, 226 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: and she came from a large family who all lived 227 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:26,240 Speaker 1: together in a relatively safe, working class area. Annie wasn't married, 228 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: with children, or even dating, but she didn't seem to mind. 229 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: She didn't have friends, but she didn't seem to mind 230 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: that either. She was close to Emma, her older sister, 231 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: so it seemed like she was capable of being close 232 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 1: to people. But Annie kept to herself, and she kept 233 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: a secret from her family. She never revealed why she 234 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:50,760 Speaker 1: was no longer at the sanitarium. She told them that 235 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: she had resigned. She refused to admit that she had 236 00:14:54,280 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: been stealing drugs. The sanitarium was always busy, so no 237 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:04,680 Speaker 1: one seemed to notice when it happened a few months ago. 238 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: Annie would open the medicine cabinet at the dispensary and 239 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 1: she would palm some small white pills in a bottle, 240 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:19,360 Speaker 1: very powerful small white pills, morphine it's an narcotic that 241 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,400 Speaker 1: can be a godsend for someone in agony, or a 242 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: source of addiction for someone in pain, or for a 243 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 1: murderer a weapon. How would Annie Crawford use her supply 244 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: of morphine? I didn't know much about morphine until two 245 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 1: thousand and nine when I got a morphine epidural injection 246 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: when I was giving birth to my twin girls. I 247 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:44,160 Speaker 1: asked author Alan Gotrow about how morphine had been used 248 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 1: in medicine throughout history. 249 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 3: Morphine is named after Morpheus, god of sleep, and well, 250 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 3: it is highly addictive. We see it in other synthetic 251 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 3: forms like demarol, and after the Civil War there was 252 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:00,720 Speaker 3: a high at rate. 253 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:04,760 Speaker 1: We talked about those soldiers earlier Civil War veterans who 254 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 1: suffered from painful wounds for the rest of their lives 255 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: after they returned home, and how they became addicted to 256 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,120 Speaker 1: morphine because it made them feel better for a little while. 257 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: Doctor Neil Bradbury talks a little bit more about that addiction. 258 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:26,120 Speaker 5: Yeah, so morphine is a depressant. Chemically, it depresses the 259 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 5: brain activity. It causes sleepiness in reasonable levels, but in 260 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 5: high levels it depresses the ability of the person to breathe. 261 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: Someone who uses morphine will likely experience a feeling of euphoria, 262 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 1: a warmth throughout their body that is unmatched and very 263 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 1: dangerous if you don't understand the dosage, and if you 264 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: measure incorrectly, the results can be deadly. Too much morphine 265 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:57,840 Speaker 1: can lead to a quiet death, like dozing off and 266 00:16:57,920 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 1: never waking up. 267 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 5: And so person who is given a morphine overdose will 268 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 5: eventually slowly fall asleep and then stop breathing. It is 269 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 5: one of the more or should I say it's one 270 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 5: of the less dramatic ways of dying. 271 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:18,440 Speaker 1: The Civil War gave rise to hypodermic needles in America 272 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: after physicians began using them on injured soldiers, but needles 273 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:26,159 Speaker 1: helped create the opioid epidemic in the late eighteen hundreds. 274 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:29,719 Speaker 1: Injecting the drug directly into your bloodstream brought on that 275 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:34,320 Speaker 1: euphoric feeling much faster than ingesting a pill, quicker results. 276 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:38,959 Speaker 1: Author and poison expert Deborah Blum says that morphine is 277 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: so powerful that an injection can kill anyone very easily. 278 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:46,320 Speaker 1: But the morphine pills that Annie Crawford was stealing took 279 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,679 Speaker 1: longer to work than morphine injected with a hypodermic needle. 280 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 6: It's most effectively injected, right. It's like rhysin is most 281 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 6: effective if you inject it, if you swallow it or 282 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 6: in halo, it's not a poisonous but you can swallow it, right. 283 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:08,159 Speaker 6: But medically you tend to inject it, and it's you know, 284 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 6: a depress and a nervous system depressant basically, so you 285 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 6: feel less pain, but it can also entirely shut down 286 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 6: your nervous system. 287 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:21,359 Speaker 1: And kill you. That's not to say that morphine pills 288 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: weren't deadly. They were. They just took longer to work. 289 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:28,280 Speaker 1: But it would be difficult for a poisoner to secretly 290 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 1: inject someone with morphine, so for most of them, pills 291 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: would have to do. And if those pills were given 292 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,880 Speaker 1: secretly to a victim, they might feel just a little 293 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,200 Speaker 1: bit sleepy at first. Then they might have light sensitivity 294 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: or nausea, or a cracking headache or a sore neck. 295 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 1: Sound familiar. These were all symptoms that Mary Agnes Crawford 296 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:58,320 Speaker 1: was experiencing. But these symptoms are associated with spinal meningitis too. 297 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,120 Speaker 1: That's what she was diagnosed with. If she didn't have 298 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: spinal meningitis? Was Mary Agnes being poisoned, and if so why? 299 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: We know that Annie Crawford had access to morphine at 300 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:17,960 Speaker 1: the sanitarium where she worked, and she had been fired 301 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 1: the month before for stealing morphine pills, though no one 302 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 1: in her family knew that. We also know that Annie 303 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: was sneaky and cold and probably untrustworthy. But as Mary 304 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: Agnes drifted toward a coma, no one suspected Annie of 305 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: doing anything wrong, not even her suspicious aunt Mary, who 306 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 1: lived nearby. Annie seemed just as concerned as everyone else 307 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,480 Speaker 1: about her sister's sudden illness. As she hovered around Mary 308 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:49,920 Speaker 1: Agnes's bedside. Doctor Gessner zipped his medicine bag and asked 309 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: the family to keep him informed. There was little to 310 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 1: be done now. If this had been spinal meningitis, then 311 00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:59,520 Speaker 1: it could have come about in several different ways. It 312 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 1: was likely bacterial, which was life threatening without emergency antibiotic treatment, 313 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: but the trouble was that penicillin wasn't available until nineteen ten. 314 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: It would have been unusual for the meningitis to be 315 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: fungal or parasitic, and so hopefully it was viral, which 316 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,520 Speaker 1: was more common if what Mary Agnes had was viral, 317 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: then she might recover with no treatment. All the Crawfords 318 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:24,960 Speaker 1: could do was pray and keep an eye on her. 319 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,920 Speaker 1: But then, a few days after the doctor's visit, Annie 320 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:32,639 Speaker 1: stopped in to check on Mary Agnes. She was cold, 321 00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:38,160 Speaker 1: her eyes were closed, her body was still. Mary Agnes Crawford, 322 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:45,440 Speaker 1: at age thirty, was dead. Gertrude and Elise and their 323 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: parents seemed to all be in disbelief. One of their 324 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:53,800 Speaker 1: most beloved family members was gone. Doctor Gesner returned to 325 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:58,159 Speaker 1: the house and offered his final diagnosis. Yes, it was 326 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:02,920 Speaker 1: certainly meningitis, slightly bacterial. Up to ninety percent of those 327 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:07,639 Speaker 1: cases were fatal in the early nineteen hundreds. The Crawfords 328 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:11,040 Speaker 1: were devastated over the young woman's death. Emma and Walter 329 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:15,679 Speaker 1: Crawford mourned their daughter. Mary Agnes's sisters, Gertrude, Emma, and 330 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:20,200 Speaker 1: Elise wept. Alise seemed to take it the hardest. Elise 331 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: was heartbroken over Mary Agnes's death. She sobbed. She had 332 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,000 Speaker 1: always seemed just slightly unstable. Alise had been dating a 333 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: local grocer named Edward Zahn, but he never wanted to 334 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: commit fully She had hoped for an engagement at some point, 335 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:39,160 Speaker 1: but it didn't seem likely. Other family members were concerned 336 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 1: about her mental health. They feared at times that she 337 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,560 Speaker 1: might want to take her own life. Elise had kept 338 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:51,080 Speaker 1: secrets from them, secrets she was ashamed of. As Elise wept, 339 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:58,000 Speaker 1: Annie seemed emotionless. She watched Elise. They had never gotten along. Ever. 340 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:02,639 Speaker 1: Was Annie simply a reserved person who had trouble even 341 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: feigning grief, Yes, according to most people who knew her. 342 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:10,719 Speaker 1: But was she a poisoner? Or did Mary Agnes simply 343 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:17,720 Speaker 1: die of natural causes. I've always been interested in poisoners, 344 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: especially nineteen century poisoners. There were many cases when women 345 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,960 Speaker 1: bought arsenic over the counter in the form of rat poison. 346 00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,720 Speaker 1: It was called rough on rats. They used it to 347 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:31,120 Speaker 1: murder their husbands, or their lovers, or their romantic rivals. 348 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,920 Speaker 1: The history of crime is littered with stories of women 349 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:39,360 Speaker 1: using poison to achieve very clear objectives. But their selection 350 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: of weapons was finite because undetectable poisons were limited even 351 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: in the eighteen hundreds. They're even more limited now thanks 352 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,480 Speaker 1: to modern toxicology. Even so, poisoners in the eighteen hundreds 353 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:56,159 Speaker 1: did have some options. Historically, symptoms of arsenic poisoning had 354 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,040 Speaker 1: been difficult for police to spot because they often mimicked 355 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: other gastro intestinal issues like cramping or vomiting. But by 356 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 1: the late nineteenth century, pathologists were catching on and investigators 357 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:11,960 Speaker 1: began watching for signs of arsenic Author Deborah Blum says 358 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 1: that the twentieth century poisoner had options beyond just arsenic, 359 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:19,639 Speaker 1: unlike the nineteenth century poisoner, and these were options that 360 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 1: allowed them to murder with ease. 361 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:25,959 Speaker 6: So I'm a poisoner and I'm going to plan ahead. 362 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:29,119 Speaker 6: I'm going to sound really creepy when I'm walking through this, 363 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 6: I expect. But if you're a poisoner that one of 364 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:35,240 Speaker 6: your primary objectives is to get away with it, you're 365 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,639 Speaker 6: not making a statement killing, right. There are killings that 366 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,720 Speaker 6: happen because people are sending a message. They're not trying 367 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,720 Speaker 6: to make things hard on themselves. Since so the early 368 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:47,919 Speaker 6: twentieth century is a time period where a lot of 369 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 6: really great homicidal poisons are at hand. 370 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:53,879 Speaker 1: So when you're a poisoner, you're actually trying to slip 371 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:56,200 Speaker 1: away and to get away with something. You're not trying 372 00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:58,200 Speaker 1: to send a message with this type of murder. 373 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 6: That's not what you do as a poisoner. You're figuring 374 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 6: out how to eliminate a problem, a person, a threat, 375 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:10,800 Speaker 6: obstacle to your wealth, right, your rival. You're a poisoners, 376 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 6: you know, I have all kinds of grudges that go 377 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,399 Speaker 6: in play when they want to get rid of someone, 378 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:18,199 Speaker 6: or they're afraid. I've seen some of the poisoners that 379 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 6: I've looked at called comfort killers. They kill for their 380 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:26,439 Speaker 6: personal comfort, right, And so you're I want to have 381 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,639 Speaker 6: a cushy life. You have the money, and I don't. 382 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 6: I want to get rid of you, but I don't 383 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 6: want to get caught. I want to enjoy the money. 384 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 2: Right. 385 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,360 Speaker 1: If you were an investigator in nineteen ten and you 386 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: suspected that Annie Crawford were a poisoner, you would look 387 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,119 Speaker 1: for a motive. Did Annie see Mary Agnes as a 388 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: romantic rival? Did she hate her enough to kill her 389 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,080 Speaker 1: for some reason? Was she working with someone else in 390 00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:52,360 Speaker 1: the family who had a grudge against Mary Agnes? These 391 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:55,439 Speaker 1: were all logical questions. Let's take each one of them 392 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: one by one. Mary Agnes didn't appear to be dating anyone, 393 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,359 Speaker 1: so the romantic rival query was a dead one. Annie 394 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,040 Speaker 1: might have disliked many people, but she didn't seem to 395 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:08,640 Speaker 1: hate anyone, including Mary Agnes. And the Copper family might 396 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,720 Speaker 1: have been dysfunctional, but there didn't seem to be any 397 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:16,359 Speaker 1: animosity except between Annie and her aunt Mary, unless there 398 00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:20,400 Speaker 1: were secrets that we still don't know about, and there are. 399 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,800 Speaker 1: According to the doctor, Mary Agnes died of spinal meningitis, 400 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:41,160 Speaker 1: and that was certainly possible. The signs of spinal meningitis 401 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:44,160 Speaker 1: are a headache, a fever, and a stiff neck, all 402 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: symptoms that Mary Agnes had. But these symptoms are also 403 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 1: the same if she had been poisoned. If we eliminate 404 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,439 Speaker 1: all of the motives we mentioned before, what are we 405 00:25:54,560 --> 00:26:02,040 Speaker 1: left with. This is where the story gets complicated. If 406 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:06,400 Speaker 1: Annie Crawford had been guilty of intentionally poisoning Mary Agnes, 407 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:10,160 Speaker 1: there are some other possible motives. Even though these motives 408 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,720 Speaker 1: are unlikely for this case, it's good to at least 409 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:17,440 Speaker 1: talk about them. In criminology, there's a category of killers 410 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 1: called Angel of Mercy offenders. Many times these are people 411 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,440 Speaker 1: in the medical field who intentionally hurt or kill patients. 412 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: But the strange thing is that the reasons they do 413 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:30,919 Speaker 1: it really vary. I asked doctor Neil Bradbury about some 414 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 1: of those motives. 415 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,200 Speaker 5: I think there's also a part of it that some 416 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:40,320 Speaker 5: of the individuals are what would we would refer to 417 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:45,199 Speaker 5: as angels of mercy that see people in pain and 418 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 5: decide that they should be the ones responsible for getting 419 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,280 Speaker 5: rid of the pain. And the only way you can 420 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 5: really do that is by killing the individuals. 421 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,480 Speaker 1: But of course the patient's pain might not really exist. 422 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:02,240 Speaker 1: It could be a illusion created by the angel of mercy. 423 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,840 Speaker 1: Doctor Bradbury says that sometimes these types of killers simply 424 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:07,119 Speaker 1: have a God complex. 425 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,520 Speaker 5: I think part of it is experimentation. You learn about 426 00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:17,439 Speaker 5: drugs and chemicals in your classes, and there's always a 427 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 5: question of I wonder what this would really look like 428 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,280 Speaker 5: if it was used on someone. And there are other 429 00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,080 Speaker 5: people that just feel that they have the power to 430 00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:30,800 Speaker 5: have life and death in their hands and are able 431 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 5: to just dispatch of someone a whim. 432 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 1: Tell me about a case. 433 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:41,880 Speaker 5: One of the individuals that actually led to legislation was 434 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:46,719 Speaker 5: Charles Cullen, who was a nurse in New Jersey and 435 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:52,360 Speaker 5: he went through several hospitals in New Jersey killing people 436 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:53,880 Speaker 5: with dejoxin. 437 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:55,080 Speaker 1: What is that? 438 00:27:56,119 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 5: Dejoxin is a drug that's used extensively for treating heart conditions. 439 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:06,160 Speaker 5: It's a very useful drug, but in the wrong amounts 440 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:08,359 Speaker 5: can lead to heart attack and death. 441 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:10,359 Speaker 1: How was he getting away with that? 442 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,240 Speaker 5: The interesting thing is that no one knew how he 443 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:19,399 Speaker 5: was killing people. And that's because when nurses and doctors 444 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 5: give out drugs in hospitals, there is a machine that 445 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 5: holds all the drugs. The pharmacists will load up the 446 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 5: machine and the machine will be taken round the various 447 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 5: hospital rooms, and then a nurse will type in what 448 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 5: medication they want. Culin seemed to be giving out a 449 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 5: lot of thilanol. 450 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: Why would tailand all be interesting? 451 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 5: Well, the interesting thing is that thilanol is the trade name. 452 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 5: The chemical name is a sea to minifin, and a 453 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,640 Speaker 5: sea to Minifin was exactly in the same draw a 454 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:56,760 Speaker 5: to d that also held the jocks in. He was 455 00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:00,040 Speaker 5: typing in, I want to see to minifin, going in 456 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 5: to the drawer, pulling out de jocks in, injecting it 457 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 5: into people and killing them. 458 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 4: Wow. 459 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 5: There were several opportunities to arrest Charles Cullen, but unfortunately 460 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:16,880 Speaker 5: the hospitals decided that it was better for them just 461 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 5: to pass him on and allow him to resign and 462 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:26,080 Speaker 5: move on to different hospitals. No one wanted to take responsibility. 463 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 5: There was actually a legislation that was called Cullen's Law 464 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 5: that required hospitals to report to the state agencies if 465 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 5: they have any suspicions of nurses that may be doing 466 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 5: harm to their patients. 467 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 1: Later, we'll meet a former nurse who was addicted to 468 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:48,280 Speaker 1: drugs and she stole them from her patients. When her 469 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 1: supervisors began to suspect she was stealing, she wasn't reported. 470 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 1: She was passed around from facility to facility, just like 471 00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:58,960 Speaker 1: Charles Cullen. The supervisor said, just as long as she 472 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 1: doesn't work at my facil I don't care. An angel 473 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,480 Speaker 1: of mercy might kill patients out of a delusional idea 474 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: that it's a mercy killing. Or they might enjoy experimenting 475 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: with the drugs they use and they want to share 476 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,600 Speaker 1: that feeling with others. Or they might just be sadistic 477 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: and relish murdering just for the sake of murdering. The 478 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,880 Speaker 1: sadistic poisoner is the one that might fit our society's 479 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,680 Speaker 1: traditional definition of a serial killer someone who murders at 480 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:30,480 Speaker 1: least three people with a cooling off period in between, 481 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,520 Speaker 1: and they do it for some kind of dysfunctional gratification. 482 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 1: Author Mary Kay McBrayer wrote a book about one of 483 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:41,840 Speaker 1: those sadistic killers, Jane Tappin. Jolly Jane, as she was nicknamed, 484 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: was a nurse in the late eighteen hundreds and early 485 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:48,640 Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds who murdered at least twelve people using poison, 486 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:51,320 Speaker 1: and she confessed to killing at least a dozen more. 487 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 1: She seemed to enjoy torturing them. Mary Jane explains more 488 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: about Jane Tappin's motives for poisoning people and then watching 489 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 1: them die. 490 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 7: My thinking is, and this is also corroborated by her confession, 491 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:08,960 Speaker 7: is that she would dose people with morphine so they'd 492 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 7: be unconscious. And then I think she overdosed someone on 493 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:16,000 Speaker 7: accident and tried to cover it up with atropine and 494 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,320 Speaker 7: did it and then was like, oh no, I can 495 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 7: really do it. And then and we don't have to 496 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:22,840 Speaker 7: go too far into detail on this, but she got 497 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:27,880 Speaker 7: in the bed with people and derived sexual gratification from 498 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 7: doing that to them as they were about to die, 499 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 7: and then bring them back. I think it is just 500 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 7: if no one else can recognize how smart I am, 501 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 7: at least I'm going to prove it to myself like 502 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,360 Speaker 7: I know I can do it. It's a mad scientisty 503 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 7: type of perversion, I think. 504 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:49,280 Speaker 1: So, let's suppose that Mary Agnes Crawford was actually poisoned 505 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:52,000 Speaker 1: and it could be proven. Are we certain that it 506 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 1: was Annie who did it? Alan Gotrow isn't so sure yet. 507 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:01,400 Speaker 3: So maybe she thought there wasn't going to be any consequences. 508 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,080 Speaker 3: Maybe she thought nobody was going to find out. You know, 509 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:07,160 Speaker 3: it falls in line with you know, it's one of 510 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 3: those strange cases in history where we just don't know 511 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 3: a lot about the reasons why. 512 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,680 Speaker 1: If Mary Agnes were poisoned, there was no way to 513 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 1: prove it without physical evidence, which would likely be found 514 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 1: at an autopsy. And because Mary Agnes's doctor wasn't suspicious, 515 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:28,600 Speaker 1: he didn't alert the medical examiner, so there wouldn't be 516 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: an autopsy. It sounds like we need more information, and 517 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:35,800 Speaker 1: perhaps we can learn more by tracking Annie's actions after 518 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:42,520 Speaker 1: her sister's death because they were suspicious. Mary Agnes died 519 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: on a Saturday at the end of June in nineteen ten. 520 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,480 Speaker 1: The Crawford family all dressed in black, which indicated that 521 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 1: they were in mourning. Their neighbors comforted Walter and Emma 522 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:55,480 Speaker 1: Crawford because of the loss of their daughter. Everyone stayed 523 00:32:55,480 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: home on Monday, except for Annie. First thing that morning, 524 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 1: Annie Crawford slipped out of her family's home on Chestnut Street. 525 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: She walked to the Saint Charles street car that would 526 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:13,480 Speaker 1: take her near the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company on South 527 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 1: Carrollton Avenue, about three miles away. She swung open the 528 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:20,760 Speaker 1: door of the one story red brick building and summoned 529 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:25,320 Speaker 1: an agent. As the man took notes, Annie explained her situation. 530 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 1: Her older sister Mary Agnes had just unexpectedly died. It 531 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:33,160 Speaker 1: was a tragedy for her family, and they needed money 532 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,680 Speaker 1: to pay the funeral expenses. Funeral expenses in nineteen ten 533 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 1: varied wildly, just like they do today. Despite having modest incomes, 534 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 1: Each member of the Crawford family agreed to do something 535 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: very practical. They all had life insurance policies. The funds 536 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,640 Speaker 1: would be used in cases just like this one to 537 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:54,600 Speaker 1: help make up the lost income from the dead family member. 538 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: Annie Crawford wanted to know about her sister's policy. How 539 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:02,320 Speaker 1: much was it? She asked the Metropolitan Life insurance agent. 540 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: Mary Agnes had a three hundred dollars life insurance policy. 541 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,400 Speaker 1: Three hundred dollars would be worth about nine thousand dollars today. 542 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,839 Speaker 1: The whole family used a nicola week system, which meant 543 00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 1: that they paid a nicola week, which is why the 544 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:19,840 Speaker 1: policy was quite small. Was three hundred dollars enough money 545 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 1: to help make up Mary Agnes's income for the entire 546 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:27,720 Speaker 1: Crawford family the five people that were left, not for long? 547 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,360 Speaker 1: But would three hundred dollars benefit three people? 548 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:33,280 Speaker 3: Maybe? 549 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:35,680 Speaker 1: And it turns out that Annie Crawford and her two 550 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:41,320 Speaker 1: sisters were the only beneficiaries of Mary Agnes's insurance policy. 551 00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: The agent at the insurance company asked Annie for her 552 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,480 Speaker 1: sister's death certificate, and she handed him a piece of 553 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,560 Speaker 1: paper signed by the coroner that morning. Under cause of 554 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:59,480 Speaker 1: death it read acute meningitis. The agent approved the payout. 555 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,320 Speaker 1: Let's review the evidence. So far, Annie Crawford had access 556 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:07,480 Speaker 1: to some very powerful narcotics. Before she was fired from 557 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,960 Speaker 1: the hospital, she had been stealing morphine in large amounts. 558 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:14,759 Speaker 1: Annie collected the equivalent of almost nine thousand dollars from 559 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,360 Speaker 1: her sister's life insurance policy, but she would need to 560 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: split it with her sisters. Would she really kill Mary 561 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:25,320 Speaker 1: Agnes over a few thousand dollars? But remember each of 562 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:29,160 Speaker 1: the Crawfords had life insurance policies. Each person who died 563 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,839 Speaker 1: left their savings behind and the funds from their own 564 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:38,919 Speaker 1: policy that could really add up. In June of nineteen ten, 565 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:42,400 Speaker 1: Mary Agnes was given a funeral mass at Saint Stephen 566 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:49,080 Speaker 1: Catholic Church. Maintenance workers at Saint Patrick's Cemetery shoveled mounds 567 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,200 Speaker 1: of dirt for Mary Agnes's grave, which was raised a 568 00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:54,960 Speaker 1: few feet above the ground, so that resulted in a 569 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 1: lot of dirt. Annie Crawford and her sisters all wore 570 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:03,600 Speaker 1: black paul bearers carried Mary Agnes's casket across the grass 571 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:07,719 Speaker 1: of Saint Patrick's yard for a sunny graveside ceremony where 572 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:10,920 Speaker 1: the priest recited prayers. At the end of the service, 573 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:15,800 Speaker 1: the mourners recited the Lord's Prayer. Even this modest service 574 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:19,520 Speaker 1: would have come into price. Mary Agnes died just one 575 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,880 Speaker 1: month before her thirty first birthday. She would be the 576 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:26,160 Speaker 1: first Crawford buried at the cemetery on City Park Avenue, 577 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,080 Speaker 1: at least the first in their immediate family, but she 578 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:34,600 Speaker 1: wouldn't be the last Crawford in a very short period 579 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:40,440 Speaker 1: of time. As we said earlier, it was possible that 580 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:45,360 Speaker 1: Mary Agnes Crawford did die of spinal meningitis. If Annie 581 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:48,719 Speaker 1: Crawford were a murderer, it seems obvious to me that 582 00:36:48,760 --> 00:37:08,080 Speaker 1: her motive was to collect the life insurance money. The 583 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,319 Speaker 1: patriarch of the Crawford family, Walter Crawford, had never been 584 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:14,120 Speaker 1: a wealthy man. He was a carpenter for the railway, 585 00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: and his wife Emma ran the home and was there 586 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:22,120 Speaker 1: to greet him every day after work. Walter seemed pleasant enough, 587 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:25,600 Speaker 1: a devout Irish Catholic who had been married for decades. 588 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:34,560 Speaker 1: His daughters often cooked for him, especially Annie. Walter hadn't 589 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:38,120 Speaker 1: been particularly well off, but he was comfortable and generally 590 00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:40,959 Speaker 1: healthy for a fifty eight year old man in nineteen ten. 591 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:44,960 Speaker 1: He never had major health concerns, so a few weeks 592 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,840 Speaker 1: after Mary Agnes's death, when Walter Crawford complained of stomach 593 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:52,000 Speaker 1: cramping and nausea, some of the same symptoms that she 594 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:59,680 Speaker 1: had complained of, it was understandably troubling. Walter's hips were aching. 595 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:03,319 Speaker 1: He was in agony. Walter clutched his stomach as his 596 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:08,160 Speaker 1: wife Emma hovered above him. Annie was nearby too. Walter's 597 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:12,680 Speaker 1: illness was worrisome. Was this another case of spinal meningitis 598 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:23,839 Speaker 1: or something even worse? Do you believe in coincidences? I do, 599 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:29,600 Speaker 1: but maybe not in this story. What did Ian Fleming 600 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:35,160 Speaker 1: write in his novel Goldfinger once is happenstance twice as coincidence, 601 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:43,120 Speaker 1: the third time is enemy action. On the next episode 602 00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:45,520 Speaker 1: of tenfold war wicked on exactly right. 603 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:50,480 Speaker 2: So it was a very dysfunctional family, There's no question 604 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:53,880 Speaker 2: of that. And I found that the men were without 605 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,799 Speaker 2: really any say so in the matter. They took a 606 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:58,040 Speaker 2: back seat to everything. 607 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:01,399 Speaker 8: You know. The received wys was there was no such thing, 608 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:04,520 Speaker 8: as you know, female serial murder, And in doing research 609 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:07,239 Speaker 8: on an earlier book, I realized that there have been many, 610 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:11,359 Speaker 8: many female serial killers. They just tend to commit their 611 00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:13,960 Speaker 8: crimes in different ways from male serial killers. 612 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:18,799 Speaker 3: Dealing with true crime or historical crime. As I'm sure 613 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:22,160 Speaker 3: you are you know, because you're experience dating, I would 614 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:28,399 Speaker 3: have to describe her as sociopathic, psychopathic, addictive, personality and 615 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:33,160 Speaker 3: someone that thought they saw themselves as somewhat maybe deep 616 00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:36,520 Speaker 3: down inside, as an angel of mercy. But there was 617 00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:38,520 Speaker 3: nothing that she did that was merciful. 618 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:45,080 Speaker 1: If you love a good, real ghost story, my new 619 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:48,879 Speaker 1: audiobook Original The Ghost Club is available for pre order 620 00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:52,600 Speaker 1: now wherever audiobooks are sold. I can't wait to tell 621 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:56,360 Speaker 1: you the real story about the world's most famous ghost hunter, 622 00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:00,160 Speaker 1: who was the head of the world's most famous ghost club, 623 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:05,600 Speaker 1: and how he investigated England's most famous haunted house. Please 624 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:08,200 Speaker 1: also check out my new book All That Is Wicked, 625 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,360 Speaker 1: which is based on the first season of Tenfold War Wicked. 626 00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:16,280 Speaker 1: This has been an exactly right tenfold War. Media production 627 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:21,920 Speaker 1: producers Jason Whaling, Alexis Emirosi and Natalie Wrinn, sound designer 628 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:27,320 Speaker 1: Eric Friend, composer Curtis Heath, artwork by Nick Toga. Executive 629 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:32,400 Speaker 1: producers Georgia Hartstark, Karen Kilgarriff and Daniel Kramer. Follow us 630 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:35,719 Speaker 1: on Instagram and Facebook at Tenfold War Wicked and on 631 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,800 Speaker 1: Twitter at Tenfold War And. If you know of a 632 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:42,400 Speaker 1: historical crime that could use some attention, especially if it 633 00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:46,800 Speaker 1: happened in your family, email us at info at Tenfoldwarwicked 634 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:53,120 Speaker 1: dot com