WEBVTT - Season 07 Episode 13: Squaring the Circle

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<v Speaker 1>Early one chilly morning in March of nineteen seventy seven,

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<v Speaker 1>the sun was just starting to rise over the town

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<v Speaker 1>of Circleville, Ohio. Most windows were still dark, the suburban

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<v Speaker 1>streets empty of traffic. But despite the early hour, Mary

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<v Speaker 1>Gillespie was wide awake. She was used to getting up

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<v Speaker 1>before dawn. She'd been doing it for years, ever since

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<v Speaker 1>she started working as a school bus driver, and had

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<v Speaker 1>grown to appreciate the time she had to herself first

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<v Speaker 1>thing in the morning, before anybody else was awake. That morning,

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<v Speaker 1>she closed the front door quietly behind her as she

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<v Speaker 1>left the house, not wanting to wake her family. As

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<v Speaker 1>she headed down the driveway towards her part car, she

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<v Speaker 1>took a sudden detour to check the mailbox. Inside was

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<v Speaker 1>one single envelope and addressed to Mary. Curious, she picked

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<v Speaker 1>it up and briskly tore it open, finding a single

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<v Speaker 1>sheet of lined paper inside. She pulled it out and

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<v Speaker 1>unfolded it and immediately felt unnerved. It was a note

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<v Speaker 1>written to her in large menacing block capitals, the letters

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<v Speaker 1>so tall and narrow they looked distorted. It read stay

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<v Speaker 1>away from Gordon Massey, don't lie when questioned about meeting him.

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<v Speaker 1>I know where you live. Mary stared down at the letter,

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<v Speaker 1>the blocky writing swimming before her eyes. Gordon had been

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<v Speaker 1>her colleague for years. He was the superintendent at the

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<v Speaker 1>school whose she drove, and just like her to the

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<v Speaker 1>outside world, at least, he was happily married. And yet

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<v Speaker 1>whoever had written this letter was clearly accusing Mary of adultery.

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<v Speaker 1>And it didn't stop there. The letter went on, I've

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<v Speaker 1>been observing your house and I know you have children.

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<v Speaker 1>This is no joke. Please take it serious. Everyone concerned

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<v Speaker 1>has been notified. It will be over soon. Mary felt

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<v Speaker 1>a chill run down her back. She glanced up and

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<v Speaker 1>looked furtively about, but the street was empty and silent.

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<v Speaker 1>She blinked, half expecting the scene to fade away like

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<v Speaker 1>a bad dream. But the cold breeze against her face,

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<v Speaker 1>the rustling of the paper in her hands told her otherwise.

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<v Speaker 1>Mary read the letter back one more time, then she

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<v Speaker 1>folded it up, put it in her pocket, and continued

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<v Speaker 1>on to her car. You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm

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<v Speaker 1>Richard mclin smith. Circleville is the definition of an all

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<v Speaker 1>American small town. It's in the heart of the Midwest,

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<v Speaker 1>surrounded by farmland on all sides, but just a short

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<v Speaker 1>drive from the major city of Columbus. Its biggest claim

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<v Speaker 1>to fame is its annual pumpkin show, which draws thousands

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<v Speaker 1>of tourists every year. It's a quaint, sleepy kind of place,

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<v Speaker 1>a safe place to raise a family. Mary and Ron

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<v Speaker 1>Gillespie were high school sweethearts, and after getting married and

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<v Speaker 1>having two children, they settled in Circleville. For years, they

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<v Speaker 1>led a peaceful and happy life there. They were well

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<v Speaker 1>liked in the community, friendly with their neighbors, and as

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<v Speaker 1>the school bus driver, Mary was on first name terms

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<v Speaker 1>with many of the local kids. They had no enemies,

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<v Speaker 1>or so they thought, But the arrival of that shocking

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<v Speaker 1>poison pen letter made it clear that somebody had a

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<v Speaker 1>grudge against Mary, and that letter was just the beginning.

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<v Speaker 1>Over the next few months, the letters kept coming, the

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<v Speaker 1>subject never changed. The writer seemingly fixated on a supposed

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<v Speaker 1>love affair between Mary and Gordon Massey, the local school superintendent,

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<v Speaker 1>and with each letter the tone grew ever more menacing. Lady,

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<v Speaker 1>They wrote, this is your last chance to report him.

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<v Speaker 1>I know you're a pig and will prove it and

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<v Speaker 1>shame you out of Ohio before the author began writing

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<v Speaker 1>to Mary's husband Ron as well, mister Gillespie, your wife

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<v Speaker 1>is seeing Gordon Massey read one especially vicious letter. You

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<v Speaker 1>should catch them together and kill them both. He doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>deserve to live. Then one morning, as she drove her

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<v Speaker 1>usual bus route, Mary noticed a sign on the side

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<v Speaker 1>of the road with mounting horror she recognized her own

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<v Speaker 1>name written on it. It was an obscene message, calling

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<v Speaker 1>her a word she would never dream of saying out loud.

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<v Speaker 1>When she told Ron about it, he got straight into

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<v Speaker 1>his car and troed the local roads on a grim

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<v Speaker 1>scavenger hunt, searching for any more signs. Much to his horror,

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<v Speaker 1>there were others which he promptly tore down, but it

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<v Speaker 1>was too late. The damage was already done. Mary and

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<v Speaker 1>Ron hadn't told anybody about the letters. They were too

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<v Speaker 1>embarrassed for one thing, and they also hoped that if

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<v Speaker 1>they ignored them for long enough, whoever was responsible would

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<v Speaker 1>get bored. Not only did they not stop, but with

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<v Speaker 1>the addition of the signs propping up all over the town,

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<v Speaker 1>the cat was well and truly out of the bag.

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<v Speaker 1>Word travels fast in a place like Circleville and by

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<v Speaker 1>that evening, half of the town knew what Mary was

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<v Speaker 1>being accused of. Humiliated and scared, the Gillespies knew they

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<v Speaker 1>couldn't bury their heads in the sand any longer. They

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<v Speaker 1>gathered up the stack of letters they'd reluctantly held onto

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<v Speaker 1>and went straight to the sheriff's office. The police promptly

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<v Speaker 1>launched an investigation to determine at least where the letters

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<v Speaker 1>had come from. All had been postmarked in Columbus, about

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<v Speaker 1>thirty miles north of Circleville, but given the size of

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<v Speaker 1>the city, that wasn't much to go on. Both Ron

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<v Speaker 1>and Mary, as well as a number of their friends

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<v Speaker 1>and neighbors, were interviewed in the hope of trying to

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<v Speaker 1>narrow down who on earth would want to publicly hound

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<v Speaker 1>them like this. They tapped phones, surveiled houses, and worked

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<v Speaker 1>with the postal service to try and track down the sender,

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<v Speaker 1>all to no avail, and through it all, the letters

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<v Speaker 1>just kept on coming. By the summer of nineteen seventy seven,

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<v Speaker 1>Mary was at breaking point. She needed a break from

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<v Speaker 1>the relentless abuse, the stairs, from neighbors, the whispers at

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<v Speaker 1>the grocery store. So when her sister in law Karen

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<v Speaker 1>Sue suggested they'd take a road trip to Florida. She didn't.

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<v Speaker 1>Despite the hurtful accusation, Ron stood by his wife and

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<v Speaker 1>supposedly believed her when she insisted that there was nothing

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<v Speaker 1>to the rumor about her and Gordon Massey. On the

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<v Speaker 1>morning she left for Florida, the couple asserted their love

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<v Speaker 1>for each other and kissed each other goodbye. That evening,

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<v Speaker 1>in the family home, alone with his children, Ron got

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<v Speaker 1>a mysterious phone call. He told his children he was

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<v Speaker 1>going out and left the house. A couple of days

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<v Speaker 1>into their trip, on August nineteenth, Mary received an urgent

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<v Speaker 1>call from the Circleville Sheriff's office. She picked up the

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<v Speaker 1>receiver eagerly. Surely they wouldn't be calling her unless they'd

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<v Speaker 1>finally cracked the case, she thought, But the Sheriff's voice

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<v Speaker 1>was solemn. He asked Mary if she was sitting down,

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<v Speaker 1>and then he told her that her husband, Ron was dead.

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<v Speaker 1>Doctor Ray Carroll was no stranger to grisly sights. He'd

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<v Speaker 1>been the Pickaway County coroner for long enough that not

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<v Speaker 1>much phazed him. But as he pulled up to the

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<v Speaker 1>scene just off Route three that evening, he had to

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<v Speaker 1>take a moment to steal himself. The pickup truck was

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<v Speaker 1>almost unrecognizable, twisted and warped and upside down, its remnants

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<v Speaker 1>wrapped around a tree on the side of the freeway.

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<v Speaker 1>He could just barely make out the silhouette of the driver,

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<v Speaker 1>crumpled on the ground a few feet from the truck.

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<v Speaker 1>He'd been ejected through the windshield as the vehicle flipped over,

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<v Speaker 1>and the ground surrounding him was covered in shattered glass.

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<v Speaker 1>The paramedics at the scene had done all they could.

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<v Speaker 1>Everybody there knew it was a lost cause, but it

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<v Speaker 1>was doctor Carroll's job to confirm the ugly truth. It

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<v Speaker 1>didn't take him long. After checking for a heartbeat, respiration,

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<v Speaker 1>and corneal reflex, he pronounced Ron Gillespie, husband and father

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<v Speaker 1>of two, dead at the age of thirty five. During

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<v Speaker 1>the full autopsy, doctor Carroll established that Ron had suffered

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<v Speaker 1>massive internal injuries in the crash, so severe that he'd

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<v Speaker 1>likely died within minutes. He also found that Ron's blood

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<v Speaker 1>alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit. So there

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<v Speaker 1>was the explanation he thought tragic, entirely preventable, but easy

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<v Speaker 1>to understand. When he filled out his official report, doctor

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<v Speaker 1>Carroll marked the cause of death as an accident caused

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<v Speaker 1>by driving under the influence. As far as the authorities

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<v Speaker 1>were concerned, that was the end of it. Perhaps Ron

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<v Speaker 1>didn't believe his wife after all when she said there

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<v Speaker 1>was no truth to the rumors of her affair and

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<v Speaker 1>it had all been too much for him. To Ron's

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<v Speaker 1>loved ones, however, this version of events made no sense whatsoever.

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<v Speaker 1>In the aftermath of Ron's death, Mary leaned on her

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<v Speaker 1>in laws for support. Karen Sue, Ron's sister, had been

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<v Speaker 1>with her in Florida when the terrible news came in. Meanwhile,

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<v Speaker 1>Karen Sue's husband, Paul fresh Hour, was becoming increasingly suspicious

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<v Speaker 1>about the official narrative. The two couples socialized often, and

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<v Speaker 1>Paul knew that Ron was not a heavy drinker. Getting

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<v Speaker 1>behind the wheel of a truck intoxicated. It just didn't

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<v Speaker 1>add up, and that wasn't the only thing driving Paul's doubts.

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<v Speaker 1>At the scene of Ron Gillespie's crash, underneath his body,

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<v Speaker 1>police found a point twenty two caliber revolver. Analysis later

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<v Speaker 1>showed that the gun had been fired. To Paul. This

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<v Speaker 1>was a literal smoking gun. He was adamant that Ron's

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<v Speaker 1>death was no accident and that it was somehow related

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<v Speaker 1>to the vicious letter campaign. He went to the sheriff

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<v Speaker 1>and begged him to re examine the case, insisting that

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<v Speaker 1>he knew what had really happened. Clearly, Ron had fired

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<v Speaker 1>that revolver in a last desperate attempt to defend himself

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<v Speaker 1>seconds before he was murdered. Though the Pickaway County sheriff

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<v Speaker 1>had been investigating the poison pen letters for months, he

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<v Speaker 1>saw no connection between that mystery and Ron's tragic death.

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<v Speaker 1>He certainly didn't buy the idea that he'd been murdered.

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<v Speaker 1>To him, Paul fresh Hour seemed like a loon, but

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<v Speaker 1>he did feel terrible for poor Mary Gillespie, who'd been

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<v Speaker 1>through more trauma in a year than anyone should suffer

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<v Speaker 1>in a lifetime. And it wasn't over yet. Despite Ron's death,

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<v Speaker 1>the letters kept on coming. Clearly the author didn't care

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<v Speaker 1>that they were tormenting a newly widowed mother of two.

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<v Speaker 1>As far as they were concerned, Mary was an adulterer

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<v Speaker 1>and deserved to be punished. And there was only one

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<v Speaker 1>person alive who really understood what Mary was going through.

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<v Speaker 1>Local school superintendent Gordon Massey. Although Gordon hadn't received any

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<v Speaker 1>letters himself, he'd been openly named as Mary's alleged lover,

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<v Speaker 1>and just like Mary, he'd had to deal with the

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<v Speaker 1>relentless small town gossip the way conversations seemed to mysteriously

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<v Speaker 1>stop as soon as he walked into a room, not

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<v Speaker 1>to mention having to explain himself to his own partner.

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<v Speaker 1>Up to that point, both Mary and Gordon always denied

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<v Speaker 1>that they'd ever had an affair. It'll never be known

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<v Speaker 1>if that was true, but what is known is that

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<v Speaker 1>after Mary's husband, Ron's death, things changed. The Circleville letters

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<v Speaker 1>had seemingly become a self fulfilling prophecy, as Mary and

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<v Speaker 1>Gordon did then start to see each other. Unsurprisingly, this

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<v Speaker 1>only added fuel to the fire. When this salacious revelation

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<v Speaker 1>started doing the rounds, more and more venomous letters were

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<v Speaker 1>sent to Mary's friends and family, to local businesses, even

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<v Speaker 1>to her children's school. Some letters even included direct threats

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<v Speaker 1>to Mary's children. It's your daughter's turn to pay for

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<v Speaker 1>what you've done, said one, while in another the writer

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<v Speaker 1>openly threatened to put a bullet in the child's head.

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<v Speaker 1>The police investigation into the letters had petered out by

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<v Speaker 1>this point with no solid leads at all, so Mary

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<v Speaker 1>had little option but to do her best to ignore

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<v Speaker 1>them and try and get on with her life. But

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<v Speaker 1>as it soon turned out, the author of the letters

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<v Speaker 1>didn't take kindly to being ignored. By February of nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>eighty three were looking up for Mary. It had been

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<v Speaker 1>almost six years since the first of what would come

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<v Speaker 1>to be known as the Circleville letters were sent to her,

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<v Speaker 1>and five and a half since she'd lost ron Through

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<v Speaker 1>it all, she'd somehow managed to remain sane now. Whenever

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<v Speaker 1>an envelope showed up in her mailbox with that familiar

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<v Speaker 1>blocky scrawl, she didn't entertain it at all. She simply

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<v Speaker 1>threw it away without reading its contents, and over time

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<v Speaker 1>their power over her dwindled. She could go entire days

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<v Speaker 1>without thinking about the letters at all, and so it

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<v Speaker 1>was when in the afternoon of February seventh, Mary climbed

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<v Speaker 1>into her empty school bus and set out to do

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<v Speaker 1>her usual afternoon pickups. She'd been serving the same local

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<v Speaker 1>schools for so many years now that she could probably

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<v Speaker 1>drive this route blindfolded. But just as she was approaching

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<v Speaker 1>a left turn, something caught her eye, a flash of

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<v Speaker 1>white in her peripheral vision, an object that shouldn't be there.

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<v Speaker 1>A cold knot of dread formed in her stomach as

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<v Speaker 1>her body reacted fiscerally to a sickeningly familiar sight. It

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<v Speaker 1>was another sign written in that unmistakable aggressive handwriting, pinned

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<v Speaker 1>onto a nearby fence. The message was obscene, violent, and

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<v Speaker 1>this time it wasn't about Mary. It was about her

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<v Speaker 1>thirteen year old daughter. Gripping the steering wheel hard to

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<v Speaker 1>keep her hands from shaking, Mary pulled the bus over

0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.440
<v Speaker 1>to the side of the road and switched off the engine.

0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:54.520
<v Speaker 1>She clambered out onto the sidewalk, looking nervously about to

0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.679
<v Speaker 1>see if anyone else was there. As her mind raised,

0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.479
<v Speaker 1>she walked brit over to the sign and was just

0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.560
<v Speaker 1>about to wrench it down when she felt the weight

0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:11.080
<v Speaker 1>of something solid behind it. After a confused moment, she

0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:14.520
<v Speaker 1>realized that there was a wooden box behind the sign,

0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:19.000
<v Speaker 1>attached to it with twine. When she finally got the

0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:22.240
<v Speaker 1>contraption off the fence, she tried to pry it open,

0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:26.320
<v Speaker 1>but the twine was heavy duty and wound too tightly

0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:30.720
<v Speaker 1>around the box. As Mary wrestled with it, she heard

0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.760
<v Speaker 1>the sound of a car approaching. Terrified at the thought

0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.240
<v Speaker 1>of being seen next to the sign, she quickly hid

0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:43.159
<v Speaker 1>the box under her coat and hurried back into the bus.

0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.480
<v Speaker 1>When Mary made it home later that evening, she was

0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:58.600
<v Speaker 1>finally able to get into the mysterious box. With her

0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:02.200
<v Speaker 1>heart pounding, she grabbed a pair of scissors and cut

0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:07.240
<v Speaker 1>through the twine, then yanked open the lid. Looking down,

0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.959
<v Speaker 1>her eyes widened in terror at the sight of a

0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:16.400
<v Speaker 1>loaded pistol primed to go off. There was no denying

0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:19.480
<v Speaker 1>what she was looking at. The box was a booby

0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:24.280
<v Speaker 1>trap designed to kill her. When she took the box

0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:28.919
<v Speaker 1>to the Sheriff's office, the officers there confirmed it. The

0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.200
<v Speaker 1>gun had been clumsily rigged up to a spring mechanism

0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:35.679
<v Speaker 1>seemingly designed to make it fire as soon as the

0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:40.480
<v Speaker 1>sign was pulled down from the fence. Fortunately for Mary,

0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:46.199
<v Speaker 1>the trap had failed. Though the Circleville Letter's investigation had

0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:50.359
<v Speaker 1>lain dormant for years, this dramatic new piece of evidence

0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:55.359
<v Speaker 1>revived it instantly. The sheriff sent the trap to Ohio's

0:19:55.640 --> 0:20:01.399
<v Speaker 1>Bureau of Criminal Investigation for expert analysis. The serial number

0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:05.040
<v Speaker 1>on the gun had been partially filed off to prevent

0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:08.320
<v Speaker 1>it from being traced, but it was a shoddy job,

0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:12.919
<v Speaker 1>so investigators were able to restore it, and when they

0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.879
<v Speaker 1>ran it through their system, the name of the owner

0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:21.040
<v Speaker 1>came up right away. The gun belonged to none other

0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:26.040
<v Speaker 1>than Mary's beloved brother in law, Paul fresh Hour, husband

0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:33.880
<v Speaker 1>to Karen Sue. Mary was flabbergasted at first when police

0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.000
<v Speaker 1>told her the gun belonged to Paul. She refused to

0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.639
<v Speaker 1>believe it. There must have been a mistake. She insisted.

0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:45.920
<v Speaker 1>Paul and his wife, Karen Sue, had been her rocks

0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:50.639
<v Speaker 1>after she'd lost Ron, karen Sue's brother, and though she

0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:53.960
<v Speaker 1>hadn't seen as much of them lately, she still considered

0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:58.440
<v Speaker 1>them family. The idea that he could have set such

0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.400
<v Speaker 1>a cruel trap for her, never mind that he might

0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:05.959
<v Speaker 1>have been behind the letters all along, was unthinkable, but

0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:09.200
<v Speaker 1>the authorities confirmed it with the seller of the gun,

0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:15.720
<v Speaker 1>Paul fresh Hour was undoubtedly its owner. As it turned out,

0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:18.959
<v Speaker 1>the fresh Hours were in the middle of an acrimonious

0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:22.080
<v Speaker 1>divorce at the time. This was a stroke of luck

0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:26.680
<v Speaker 1>for the police investigation. If the couple did have something

0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:29.960
<v Speaker 1>to hide, maybe they'd be more inclined to turn on

0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:34.280
<v Speaker 1>each other now that their marriage was over, and when

0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:38.080
<v Speaker 1>the police went to interview Karen Sue, she was more

0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:48.800
<v Speaker 1>than willing to talk. According to Karen Sue, she and

0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:51.800
<v Speaker 1>Paul had been very close with the Gillespies when they

0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:56.320
<v Speaker 1>were first married, but back in nineteen seventy seven, Paul

0:21:56.440 --> 0:21:59.960
<v Speaker 1>became convinced that Mary was having an affair with Goaudon

0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:04.919
<v Speaker 1>and Massey and was furious at her for it. Incredibly,

0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.600
<v Speaker 1>according to Karen Sue, Paul had been the writer of

0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:13.080
<v Speaker 1>the letters all along. She told investigators that she first

0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:16.120
<v Speaker 1>knew it was him after finding one of the letters

0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:20.120
<v Speaker 1>torn up in their bathroom. Soon after that, she said,

0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:24.040
<v Speaker 1>she searched the house and found two more letters among

0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:30.000
<v Speaker 1>Paul's things. But when investigators spoke to Paul, he denied

0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:34.560
<v Speaker 1>any wrongdoing. Yes, the gun was his, he said, but

0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:38.800
<v Speaker 1>according to him, it had been stolen weeks before Mary

0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:42.200
<v Speaker 1>found it. He had nothing to do with the letters,

0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:46.080
<v Speaker 1>he insisted, and would never dream of trying to harm Mary.

0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:51.159
<v Speaker 1>Paul allowed the police to conduct a thorough search of

0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:54.399
<v Speaker 1>his house and his car, and gave them samples of

0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:57.760
<v Speaker 1>its handwriting to prove that he hadn't written the letters.

0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:03.280
<v Speaker 1>He also agreed to take a polygraph test, but he failed.

0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:08.600
<v Speaker 1>Though such tests have been widely discredited as a means

0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:12.320
<v Speaker 1>of establishing guilt. On top of owning the gun and

0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:16.760
<v Speaker 1>Karen Sue's testimony, this proved to be the final nail

0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:21.200
<v Speaker 1>in his coffin for the police. Shortly after he failed

0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:25.199
<v Speaker 1>the polygraph test, Paul fresh Hour was arrested for the

0:23:25.240 --> 0:23:36.399
<v Speaker 1>attempted murder of Mary Gillespie. Although Paul fresh Hour was

0:23:36.480 --> 0:23:40.240
<v Speaker 1>never charged with writing any of the Circleville letters, they

0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:44.680
<v Speaker 1>played a central role in his trial. The prosecution clearly

0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:47.800
<v Speaker 1>figured that in order to convince a jury that Paul

0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:51.200
<v Speaker 1>had tried to kill Mary, they first had to establish

0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:54.399
<v Speaker 1>that he was the one who'd been tormenting her for years.

0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:58.919
<v Speaker 1>Paul's lawyers tried to exclude the letters from the trial,

0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:03.399
<v Speaker 1>arguing that because they didn't contain any explicit threats to

0:24:03.480 --> 0:24:07.119
<v Speaker 1>Mary's life, they were irrelevant to the charge at hand.

0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:11.760
<v Speaker 1>The judge agreed in part, but still allowed more than

0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:15.919
<v Speaker 1>thirty of the letters to be admitted as evidence. A

0:24:16.000 --> 0:24:21.200
<v Speaker 1>handwriting expert for the prosecution testified about three different pieces

0:24:21.200 --> 0:24:25.520
<v Speaker 1>of evidence the letters, the sign attached to the booby

0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:30.480
<v Speaker 1>trap and a sample of Paul's handwriting. He stated that

0:24:30.520 --> 0:24:34.760
<v Speaker 1>there were significant similarities between them all and that in

0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:41.600
<v Speaker 1>his expert opinion, Paul was the sole writer. Paul's fingerprints

0:24:41.680 --> 0:24:44.919
<v Speaker 1>weren't found anywhere on the gun or the box, and

0:24:45.000 --> 0:24:47.600
<v Speaker 1>he had a decent alibi for most of the day

0:24:47.680 --> 0:24:51.000
<v Speaker 1>that Mary had found the trap. But in the end,

0:24:51.600 --> 0:24:57.240
<v Speaker 1>these glaring holes in the prosecution's case weren't enough. The

0:24:57.320 --> 0:25:00.639
<v Speaker 1>jury found him guilty of attempted murder, and he was

0:25:00.720 --> 0:25:04.439
<v Speaker 1>given the maximum sentence of seven to twenty five years

0:25:04.480 --> 0:25:09.960
<v Speaker 1>behind bars. Mary testified against Paul at the trial, and

0:25:10.080 --> 0:25:13.280
<v Speaker 1>as painful as the whole process had been, she no

0:25:13.400 --> 0:25:16.199
<v Speaker 1>doubt felt a sense of relief when the verdict was

0:25:16.240 --> 0:25:21.920
<v Speaker 1>read out. At last, She thought the nightmare was finally over.

0:25:22.840 --> 0:25:26.880
<v Speaker 1>But after Paul went to prison, the letters didn't stop,

0:25:27.680 --> 0:25:32.119
<v Speaker 1>not even close. In fact, during the decade that Paul

0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:37.960
<v Speaker 1>spent behind bars, hundreds more anonymous creeds were sent. Journalists

0:25:38.000 --> 0:25:44.879
<v Speaker 1>who'd covered Paul's trial received letters, as did Paul. Fresh hour, Now,

0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:47.800
<v Speaker 1>when are you going to believe you aren't getting out

0:25:47.840 --> 0:25:52.280
<v Speaker 1>of there? The taunting letter read, no one wants you out.

0:25:52.920 --> 0:25:57.399
<v Speaker 1>The joke is on you. Some have suggested that Paul

0:25:57.680 --> 0:26:00.320
<v Speaker 1>could have simply sent a letter to himself as a

0:26:00.359 --> 0:26:04.160
<v Speaker 1>way to cover his tracks, but according to the prison warden,

0:26:04.640 --> 0:26:07.720
<v Speaker 1>it would have been physically impossible for him to send

0:26:07.840 --> 0:26:12.800
<v Speaker 1>any letters from prison. All of his communications were closely monitored,

0:26:13.119 --> 0:26:17.080
<v Speaker 1>and he had no access to pens or paper. Some

0:26:17.160 --> 0:26:20.960
<v Speaker 1>reports indicate that he was even kept in isolation for

0:26:21.080 --> 0:26:26.920
<v Speaker 1>large stretches of his sentence. So there are three logical possibilities.

0:26:27.480 --> 0:26:30.920
<v Speaker 1>Either Paul was the writer of the letters and somehow

0:26:31.000 --> 0:26:34.320
<v Speaker 1>found a way to post them from prison, or somebody

0:26:34.359 --> 0:26:37.160
<v Speaker 1>else to cup the mantle after he was sent away,

0:26:38.280 --> 0:26:51.840
<v Speaker 1>or he was entirely innocent. Incredibly, since the Circleville letters

0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:55.440
<v Speaker 1>were not part of Paul's conviction, the fact that they

0:26:55.480 --> 0:26:58.960
<v Speaker 1>continued after his arrest had no bearing on his case.

0:27:00.080 --> 0:27:02.879
<v Speaker 1>After serving ten and a half years in prison for

0:27:02.960 --> 0:27:07.000
<v Speaker 1>attempted murder, he was finally released in nineteen ninety four.

0:27:08.200 --> 0:27:12.119
<v Speaker 1>In one final bizarre twist, the letters abruptly stopped for

0:27:12.200 --> 0:27:16.720
<v Speaker 1>good as soon as Paul was free. For his part,

0:27:17.080 --> 0:27:21.800
<v Speaker 1>Paul maintained his innocence and accused Karen Sue of framing him.

0:27:22.960 --> 0:27:26.280
<v Speaker 1>His defense lawyer even raised this possibility at the trial

0:27:26.840 --> 0:27:30.040
<v Speaker 1>arguing that she was the only person who had something

0:27:30.080 --> 0:27:33.720
<v Speaker 1>to gain by Paul going to prison, but she was

0:27:33.800 --> 0:27:38.560
<v Speaker 1>never considered an official suspect. Paul spent the rest of

0:27:38.600 --> 0:27:42.400
<v Speaker 1>his life trying in vain to clear his name, writing

0:27:42.520 --> 0:27:47.760
<v Speaker 1>multiple times to the FBI about his conviction, the letters,

0:27:47.800 --> 0:27:53.760
<v Speaker 1>and the mysterious circumstances of Bron Gillespie's death in twenty

0:27:53.840 --> 0:27:58.720
<v Speaker 1>twelve at the age of seventy, he died, taking with

0:27:58.880 --> 0:28:03.120
<v Speaker 1>him any hope of a genuine, concrete answer to the mystery.

0:28:04.880 --> 0:28:09.440
<v Speaker 1>As compelling evidence both for and against Paul. The fact

0:28:09.480 --> 0:28:12.720
<v Speaker 1>that the letters continued while he was in prison strongly

0:28:12.760 --> 0:28:16.160
<v Speaker 1>suggests to many that he couldn't possibly have been the author.

0:28:17.200 --> 0:28:23.159
<v Speaker 1>But recently, the American CBS program forty eight Hours conducted

0:28:23.200 --> 0:28:29.080
<v Speaker 1>a new independent analysis of the letters. Forensic document expert

0:28:29.320 --> 0:28:34.119
<v Speaker 1>Beverly East examined forty nine of them alongside samples of

0:28:34.200 --> 0:28:38.640
<v Speaker 1>Paul's handwriting, looking for distinctive traits that they had in common.

0:28:39.960 --> 0:28:43.680
<v Speaker 1>She concluded that he was beyond any shadow of a

0:28:43.720 --> 0:28:48.440
<v Speaker 1>doubt the writer of the letters, but to this day,

0:28:48.920 --> 0:28:53.920
<v Speaker 1>the true culprit behind them has never been conclusively identify it.

0:29:01.040 --> 0:29:04.920
<v Speaker 1>This episode was written by Emma Dibden and produced by

0:29:05.000 --> 0:29:10.240
<v Speaker 1>Richard mc clain Smith. Unexplained is an AV Club Productions

0:29:10.280 --> 0:29:14.800
<v Speaker 1>podcast created by Richard mc lain Smith. All other elements

0:29:14.800 --> 0:29:18.200
<v Speaker 1>of the podcast, including the music, are also produced by

0:29:18.240 --> 0:29:22.680
<v Speaker 1>me Richard mc clan smith. Unexplained. The book and audiobook,

0:29:22.920 --> 0:29:26.000
<v Speaker 1>with stories never before featured on the show, is now

0:29:26.040 --> 0:29:29.840
<v Speaker 1>available to buy world wide. You can purchase from Amazon,

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0:29:40.600 --> 0:29:44.400
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0:29:44.400 --> 0:29:46.880
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