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Highway to Hell

Monte Mader

Welcome to Highway to Hell, the unique crossroads where wanderlust meets mystery. Every episode, I take you on a journey to breathtaking destinations around the globe, unveiling not just the beauty of travel but the shadows that lurk behind the postcard-perfect views. From unsolved mysteries to infamous crimes, I explore the darker tales hidden within the world's most enchanting locales. So pack your curiosity, keep your wits about you, and join us as we dive deep into the thrilling intersection of travel and true crime. Your adventure into the unknown starts now.

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  • June 23 · 1 hr 21 min

    53. Real Life Horror: The Case of Junko Furuto

    TRIGGER WARNING: We typically don't have trigger warnings since it is a crime podcast, but this episode is ESPECIALLY graphic in topics of kidnapping, torture, and sexual assault. Not appropriate for young listeners. NEW: Fireside behind the scenes fireside chats available now at patreon.com/highwaytohell podcast with EVERY episode. Get ad free episodes 5 days early and then bonus chats on release day. In November 1988, 17-year-old Junko Furuta, a high school student in Misato, Saitama, Japan, was abducted by a group of teenage boys led by Hiroshi Miyano, a youth with yakuza connections. She was held captive for roughly 40 days in a house in the Adachi ward of Tokyo in the home of one of her captors, whose own parents were living in the same building and reportedly did not intervene. During her captivity, Junko was subjected to relentless and brutal abuse by four primary perpetrators and others who came and went. She died in January 1989 from her injuries. Her body was concealed in a concrete-filled drum and abandoned, which gave the crime its common name in Japan: the "concrete-encased high school girl murder case." The legal fallout drew lasting outrage. Because all four main offenders were minors under Japanese law, their identities were initially protected and they were shielded by the juvenile justice system, which prioritized rehabilitation over punishment. The sentences struck many as shockingly lenient given the severity of the crime. Ringleader Hiroshi Miyano received the harshest term at around 20 years, while the others received far shorter sentences... roughly five to ten years, five to nine years, and five to seven years respectively. Prosecutors and the public viewed the outcomes as wholly inadequate, and all four were eventually released back into society. The aftermath deepened public anger. At least one offender reoffended, including a conviction tied to a violent attack years after his release. Some married and built ordinary lives, reportedly disclosing their pasts to their spouses; one died in 2021 after years of illness and isolation. The case became a touchstone in Japanese debates over juvenile sentencing, victims' rights, and whether protections afforded to young offenders can fail to deliver justice for catastrophic crimes. Decades later, Junko Furuta's name remains a symbol of those unresolved tensions, and her case is still cited whenever Japan revisits how it treats minors who commit grave offenses. Sources: Murder of Junko Furuta — Wikipedia Junko Furuta: Examining the Light Sentences of Her Killers — HowStuffWorks Where Are Junko Furuta's Killers Now? — ComingSoon The Junko Furuta Murder Case: Justice Revisited — Tokyo Weekender Junko Furuta Killer Again on Trial — Tokyo Reporter The UK's Grooming Gangs and the Lessons Never Learned — Al Jazeera Rotherham Grooming Gang Scandal — Al Jazeera Brock Turner Sentence — CNN Ethan Couch Sentencing — BBC Heisei Yakuza: Burst Bubble — ResearchGate Street Youths, Bosozoku and Yakuza — Office of Justice Programs Japanese Juvenile Law — Wikipedia Criminal Majority in Japan — European Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies Tokyo Ghost Hunting — Metropolis Japan Haunted Places in Japan — TripXL 7-Day Tokyo Itinerary — Rakuten Travel

  • June 16 · 1 hr 48 min

    52. Bring Me The Beauties

    In the early 1980s, Hoyt Richards was on track to become the world's first male supermodel. He worked campaigns for Ralph Lauren, Versace, Cartier, Burberry, and Valentino all while being part of a cult that would consume 2 decades of his life. On a Nantucket beach in 1978, 16-year-old Richards met Frederick von Mierers: older, charismatic, and full of Eastern philosophy, astrology, and talk of the universe's hidden architecture. Von Mierers victims would later say he could make you feel special, seen... and he pulled attractive, vulnerable people into his orbit. His cult was called Eternal Values, and von Mierers claimed he was an alien "walk-in" spirit, reincarnated from the giant star Arcturus, sent to Earth to prepare a chosen few for the apocalypse he predicted would arrive in 1999. Those who followed him completely, he promised, would be saved by a UFO. The rules were strict: restrictive vegetarian diets, mandatory tanning sessions, total celibacy, and absolute financial surrender. Members slept on futons on the floor, communally, regardless of what they earned outside. Anyone who challenged him faced "slamming sessions" which were group rituals where von Mierers and loyal members screamed insults and tore the dissenter apart psychologically until they submitted. He sold gems, readings, and stole his followers salaries. Von Mierers died on February 4, 1990, from AIDS-related complications, at his North Carolina compound. He was 43. His followers didn't know he had the disease until after his autopsy a final betrayal for a man who preached celibacy. A Vanity Fair exposé on his gem fraud appeared the same month he died, too late to prosecute him. Biographical and Background Reporting (2026) "Who Was Frederick von Mierers? All About the 'Bring Me the Beauties' Cult Leader." Biography.com, 2026. "'Bring Me The Beauties': New Docuseries Explores 'Eternal Values' Cult." Rolling Stone, 2026. "'Bring Me the Beauties': Inside the Alien Sex Cult HBO Documentary." Variety, 2026. "The Untold Saga Behind an Infamous Male Supermodel Cult." The Hollywood Reporter, 2026. "The True Story Behind 'Bring Me the Beauties' and the Eternal Values Cult." Time, June 1, 2026. "Who Was Eternal Values Founder Frederick von Mierers?" A&E, 2026. "Who Was Frederick von Mierers? How Did He Die?" The Cinemaholic, 2026. "What Was Eternal Values Leader Frederick von Mierers' Cause of Death?" Distractify, 2026. Hoyt Richards — Wikipedia. "How Did Male Model Hoyt Richards Escape the Cult?" Primetimer, 2026. "Where Is Hoyt Richards Now?" MEAWW, 2026. Living Cult Free — Hoyt Richards biography. "Fabio Helped Me Escape From a Cult." MEL Magazine / Medium. "Hoyt Richards: Model Behavior." Nantucket Magazine. "Why An 'Alien Walk-In' Cult Leader Convinced Elite '80s Models To Flee The Apocalypse." International Business Times UK, 2026. Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult — Wikipedia. Series overview, crew, and episode structure. Ruth Montgomery — Wikipedia. Background on the "walk-in" concept and Aliens Among Us (1985). New Age — Wikipedia. History, belief structure, and cultural penetration of the New Age movement. HIV/AIDS in New York City — Wikipedia. Statistical and historical context. "The AIDS Epidemic in the United States, 1981–Early 1990s." CDC Museum Online. Billy Baldwin (decorator) — Wikipedia. Out on a Limb — Wikipedia. Shirley MacLaine (1983) and the mainstreaming of New Age belief. "Supermodel." Encyclopædia Britannica. Cultural and commercial context of the 1980s modeling industry. Robert Jay Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. W. W. Norton, 1961. The foundational academic framework for understanding cultic control systems. Steven Hassan, Combating Cult Mind Control. Park Street Press, 1988. The BITE model (Behavior, Information, Thought, Emotional control) referenced in Chapter Three.

  • June 9 · 1 hr 31 min

    51. The Haunting of Anneleise Michel

    In 1952, a devout Catholic girl was born in a small Bavarian town. By 1976, she was dead at 23, weighing 66 pounds, after 67 exorcism sessions conducted by two Catholic priests while a medical diagnosis went untreated. Her name was Anneliese Michel. You probably know her as Emily Rose. At 16, Anneliese began experiencing seizures and was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy and depression. She was hospitalized multiple times. But the psychiatric medications weren't working, or she believed they weren't, and she began to experience visions of demonic faces during her prayers. She grew convinced she was possessed. Her deeply Catholic family agreed. In 1975, Bishop Josef Stangl of Würzburg granted permission for a formal exorcism under the Roman Ritual. Father Arnold Renz and Father Ernst Alt began conducting sessions at the Michel family home in Klingenberg am Main. One to two sessions per week, each lasting up to four hours. They recorded everything on cassette tape. Forty-three tapes survive. On them you can hear Anneliese screaming, growling, barking like a dog, and speaking in voices that identified themselves as Lucifer, Cain, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Adolf Hitler, who argued in Bavarian dialect, and a disgraced 16th-century priest named Fleischmann. Her parents stopped consulting doctors at her request. On July 1, 1976, Anneliese Michel died of malnutrition and dehydration. The priests and her parents were tried and convicted of negligent homicide in 1978 and sentenced to six months suspended. The court was clear: she was mentally ill, not possessed. Her grave in Klingenberg am Main has become a Catholic pilgrimage site. Buses come from across Europe. People leave notes requesting her intercession. She was 23 years old. SOURCES — Anneliese Michel Wikipedia — Anneliese Michel — comprehensive overview with primary source citations All That's Interesting — The Real Story Behind Emily Rose — detailed narrative account Goodman, Felicitas D. — The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel (Doubleday, 1981) — the only full-length scholarly book on the case; Goodman was an anthropologist who analyzed the tapes Fortea, Fr. José Antonio — Catholic theological perspective on the case Find a Grave — Anneliese Michel Memorial — grave location and documentation The Local Germany — "Fire Resurrects Devil Talk in Exorcism Town" — reporting from Klingenberg am Main Medium / History Retold — "The 67 Exorcisms of Anneliese Michel" — detailed timeline of sessions EBSCO Research Starters — Anneliese Michel — academic summary Transcript of Exorcism Sessions — partial transcripts available via Scribd (translated from German) German court records — Landgericht Aschaffenburg, Case No. 1 Ks 4/77, verdict April 21, 1978 — conviction of Josef Michel, Anna Michel, Fr. Arnold Renz, and Fr. Ernst Alt for negligent homicide RTD — "How a Girl Believed to Be Possessed Underwent 67 Exorcisms" — biographical detail Dark Holme Publishing — The Exorcism That Ended in Death — medical and legal analysis

  • June 2 · 1 hr 14 min

    50. The I -5 Killer

    Title: The I -5 Killer The I-5 Killer Randall Brent Woodfield seemed, on the surface, like everything America admired. A gifted athlete from Oregon, he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1974 — only to be cut before the season and later arrested multiple times for indecent exposure, a pattern the NFL had quietly noted. Despite early warning signs, Woodfield drifted in and out of trouble throughout the late 1970s, until the winter of 1980–81, when a killing spree erupted along the Interstate 5 corridor from California through Oregon and Washington. Over roughly four months, Woodfield committed a string of robberies, sexual assaults, and murders targeting women — often at fast food restaurants and rest stops along I-5. His victims were shot execution-style. Investigators eventually connected him to at least 14 murders, though some estimates run as high as 44. The break came when a survivor identified Woodfield by his distinctive physique — he often wore tape over his face — and investigators matched him through handwriting, physical evidence, and witness testimony. Woodfield was arrested in March 1981. In 1981 he was convicted of the murder of Shari Hull and sentenced to life plus 165 years in the Oregon State Penitentiary. He was subsequently convicted on additional charges, adding decades more to his sentence. DNA evidence later linked him to several cold cases he was never charged with. He remains incarcerated today, his parole denied repeatedly. Ann Rule's definitive account of his crimes, The I-5 Killer, remains one of the most cited true crime books written about him. Sources for Reference: 1 The I-5 Killer by Ann Rule (Amazon) (https://www.amazon.com/I-5-Killer-Ann-Rule/dp/0593441370) — the primary book-length account of Woodfield's life and crimes 2 The I-5 Killer — Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239848.The_I_5_Killer) 3 Randall Woodfield: The 1-5 Serial Killer by Blake Simpson (Amazon Kindle) (https://www.amazon.com/Randall-Woodfield-1-5-Serial-Killer-ebook/dp/B0D5BWH841) 4 Randall Woodfield — Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Woodfield) 5 The I-5 Killer — Wakefield Books (https://wakefieldbooks.com/book/9780593441374) 6 The I-5 Killer — Bellingham Public Library (https://bellingham.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S150C585053) 7 The I-5 Killer — Chicago Public Library (https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S126C2398317) 8 The I-5 Killer — Glenview Public Library (https://glenviewpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S202C215696) 9 Randall Woodfield: The 1-5 Serial Killer — Apple Books (https://books.apple.com/us/book/randall-woodfield-the-1-5-serial-killer/id6503261153) 10 The I-5 Killer Revised Edition (Amazon) (https://www.amazon.com/I-5-Killer-Revised-Ann-Rule/dp/0451165594) 11 Oregon Department of Corrections — Inmate Records (https://doc.oregon.gov/) 12 FBI Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) — Cold Case DNA Matching (https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/vicap) 13 Oregon State Archives — Court Records, State of Oregon v. Woodfield (https://sos.oregon.gov/archives)

  • May 27 · 1 hr 31 min

    49. "No Humans Involved"- Green River Killer

    Apologies this episode is late! We had a major tech issue that showed our podcast no longer existed on our dashboard but all is well and recovered! Thanks for your patience Thank you to our supporters on patreon.com/highwaytohell Between 1982 and 1998, Gary Leon Ridgway murdered at least 49 women in and around Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. Most of his victims were young women, many of them sex workers or runaways, whom he picked up along the Pacific Highway South corridor. He strangled them, dumped their bodies in wooded areas, and for nearly two decades, walked free. The investigation was hampered from the start by institutional indifference. Law enforcement operated under an unofficial but widely understood attitude known as NHI — "No Humans Involved" — a designation applied to cases involving sex workers, homeless individuals, or drug users. Victims in these categories were deprioritized, their cases worked less aggressively, their families given fewer resources. Detectives who did push for more attention were often met with bureaucratic resistance. The assumption that these women had placed themselves in danger, that their deaths were somehow less urgent , allowed Ridgway to keep killing for sixteen years. He was finally arrested in 2001 after DNA technology linked him to several victims. In 2003, Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 murders in a deal that spared him the death penalty in exchange for helping locate the remains of still-missing victims. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Sources: Sources: Green River Killer Research Rule, Ann. Green River, Running Red. Free Press, 2004. Smith, Carlton & Guillen, Tomas. The Search for the Green River Killer. Penguin, 1991. Prothero, Mark & Smith, Carlton. Defending Gary. Union Square Press, 2006. King County Superior Court, Case No. 03-1-00175-9. Guilty Plea & Sentencing Documents, 2003. King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Statement of Defendant on Plea of Guilty, 2003. Washington State Attorney General's Office. Green River Task Force Investigative Records. Washington State Archives. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Gary Ridgway Case Files. FBI Vault, vault.fbi.gov. King County Medical Examiner's Office. Victim Autopsy & Identification Records. King County Public Records. The Seattle Times. Green River Killer Archive, 1982–2003. seattletimes.com. The Tacoma News Tribune. Green River Killer Coverage Archive. Seattle Weekly. "The List" Investigative Series on NHI Classification and Victim Deprioritization. FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. Serial Murder: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators. U.S. Department of Justice, 2008. Criminology & Public Policy Journal. "Policing Sex Work." Various authors. Violence Against Women Journal. "Vulnerability and Victimization: Street Sex Workers and Violence." Various authors. Green River Killer: Mind of a Monster. Investigation Discovery, 2019.

  • May 19 · 1 hr 32 min

    48. Rehabilitation Imitation- Jack Unterweger

    Thank you so much for all of the kind comments, likes and shares. It truly means so much to us! If you'd like ad free episodes, travel itineraries and first dibs on merch please join us as a HELLION at patreon.com/highwaytohellpodcast He was born in 1950 in a small Austrian town called Judenburg, the son of a waitress turned occasional prostitute and an American GI he would never meet. Raised by a violent, alcoholic grandfather, Jack Unterweger learned early that the world was cruel. By twenty-three he had a record running through theft, pimping, and rape. In December of 1974 he lured an eighteen-year-old named Margret Schäfer into a Bavarian forest, beat her, and strangled her with her own bra knotted in an elaborate ligature beneath her chin. Austria sentenced him to life. Inside prison, he taught himself to write. Poems came first, then a memoir, Purgatory, that became a literary sensation. Elfriede Jelinek and Günter Grass championed his release as proof that art could save a soul. In 1990, after fifteen years, he walked free. He became a celebrity. He wore white suits, drove a Mustang, and hosted a TV show on Austrian state television. He was even commissioned to write about a string of unsolved murders of sex workers across Austria — murders he himself was committing. In June 1991 he flew to Los Angeles to study American policing of prostitution. Three women died there in a single week, strangled with their own bras in the same unmistakable knot. A retired detective from his 1974 case recognized the signature. Fibers, receipts, hotel records, and a ligature found nowhere else in any criminal database closed around him. He fled to Miami, where the FBI arrested him in February 1992. At his 1994 trial in Graz he was convicted of nine murders across Austria, the Czech Republic, and California. That night, alone in his cell, he braided his shoelaces and tracksuit drawstrings into the same ligature he had used on his victims, and hanged himself from the bars. He was forty-three. Because Austrian law treats a conviction as final only after appeal, he died, in legal terms, a man presumed innocent. Sources Leake, John. Entering Hades: The Double Life of a Serial Killer. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. The definitive English-language account. Leake had unprecedented access to the Austrian investigation files and interviewed key figures including Ernst Geiger. Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Checkmark Books, 2000. Well-sourced entry on Unterweger with citation of primary Austrian records. Documentary: Devil and the Angel Documentary: Lustmord (ORF/BBC) Austrian public broadcaster documentary. Der Standard / Die Presse Archives (Austria) — Austrian national newspapers digital archives covered the investigation and trial exhaustively.. derstandard.at / diepresse.com FBI: Serial Murder — Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives — Serial offender behavioral analysis relevant to the Unterweger case study. Haller, Reinhard. Forensic psychiatric testimony, Graz trial, 1994. Published accounts of Haller's analysis appear in Entering Hades and Austrian legal literature. Geberth, Vernon J. Practical Homicide Investigation, 4th ed. CRC Press. Reference for the signature analysis and ligature-knot methodology used in the cross-continental identification. YouTube Archive Search: "Jack Unterweger" used for documentary clips and news segments Unterweger, Jack. Fegefeuer (Purgatory). Jugend und Volk, 1983. His autobiographical novel.

  • May 12 · 1 hr 52 min

    47. Metal AF: Music, Satanic Panic, Hype & Hauntings

    Between roughly 1980 and 1995, the United States experienced one of the largest collective delusions in its modern history. A significant share of the public, along with police departments, prosecutors, social workers, and clergy, came to believe that an organized network of Satanic cults was ritually abusing children, sacrificing infants, and operating in plain sight through churches, daycares, and rock-and-roll records. No credible evidence for such a network has ever been found. The trials, convictions, and shattered lives, however, were entirely real. The era was shaped by the lingering shadow of the Manson Family and the Jonestown massacre, the rapid expansion of televangelism, the political ascent of the Christian Right, and an unprecedented entry of mothers into the workforce that placed millions of American children, for the first time, into institutional daycare. Into this anxious moment came the therapeutic vogue of recovered memory, Geraldo Rivera's 1988 NBC special Devil Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground, and a daytime talk-show ecosystem that elevated occult conspiracy to the status of public health crisis. We then turn to the role of popular music. Heavy metal became the panic's most visible scapegoat. Ozzy Osbourne was sued over the lyrics of "Suicide Solution." Judas Priest was tried in a Reno courtroom over allegations of subliminal backmasking. The acronym "Knights in Satan's Service" was retroactively imposed on KISS. In 1985, the Parents Music Resource Center, co-founded by Tipper Gore, led Senate hearings that produced the Parental Advisory label still in use today. We trace the panic's intellectual foundation to three books. Michelle Remembers (1980), co-authored by psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his patient and future wife Michelle Smith, introduced the template of recovered Satanic ritual abuse and has since been thoroughly discredited. Satan's Underground by Lauren Stratford was exposed as fabrication by the evangelical magazine Cornerstone in 1989. Mike Warnke's The Satan Seller, marketed for nearly two decades as the testimony of a former Satanic high priest, was similarly debunked. Each was promoted by churches, sold through Christian bookstores, and circulated to law enforcement as reference material. Finally, we examine the cases. The McMartin Preschool trial, which ran from 1984 to 1990, remains the longest and most expensive criminal trial in American history and produced no convictions. Kern County, Fells Acres, Little Rascals, Wenatchee, and the 1994 conviction of the West Memphis Three followed similar patterns: coached child testimony, suggestive interview techniques, and prosecutions driven by belief rather than evidence. Witch trials anyone? Further Reading & Sources Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972) Lawrence Wright, Remembering Satan (1994) — the Paul Ingram case Debbie Nathan & Michael Snedeker, Satan's Silence (1995) Richard Beck, We Believe the Children: A Moral Panic in the 1980s (2015) Richard Ofshe & Ethan Watters, Making Monsters (1994) Jon Trott & Mike Hertenstein, "Selling Satan," Cornerstone (1992) Mara Leveritt, Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three (2002) Damien Echols, Life After Death (2012) Jack & Janet Smurl with Robert Curran, The Haunting (1988) Indianapolis Star, "The Exorcisms of Latoya Ammons" (2014) — official DCS records Noreen Gosch, Why Johnny Can't Come Home (2000) David Frankfurter, Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History (2006) Timothy Leary, The Politics of Ecstasy (1968) Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (1970) Jimmy McDonough, Shakey: Neil Young's Biography (2002) — Altamont context Howard Sounes, 27: A History of the 27 Club (2013) Martin Wall, Aleister Crowley: The Beast in Berlin (2016) — Page/Crowley connection Peter Biskind, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (1998) — counterculture context

  • May 6 · 1 hr 45 min

    46. Above All Obey- Warren Jeffs Part 2.

    Apologies for the delay! Monte recently moved and had no internet due to delayed set up. I’m back! In Part 2, we pick up right where the FBI did. Warren Jeffs made the Ten Most Wanted List in 2006 and was arrested that August. A Utah conviction followed in 2007, but was overturned on a technicality. Texas proved far less forgiving. In 2011, prosecutors presented DNA evidence proving Jeffs had fathered a child with a 15 year old, and played audio recordings of him assaulting a 12 year old in open court. Jeffs dismissed his legal team, represented himself, and argued the proceedings were a violation of his religious freedom. The jury was not persuaded. They deliberated for just 30 minutes before returning a sentence of life in prison plus an additional 20 years. He has remained at a Texas prison ever since, with no release date and parole eligibility not until 2038. His incarceration has included a suicide attempt, force feeding, and a medically induced coma following a prolonged fast. And yet his influence never fully disappeared. At various points he was receiving over 1,000 letters a day from devoted followers. He reportedly issued a directive banning the entire community from marrying or having children while he remained imprisoned, and they complied. His son Roy left the church in 2014 and went public with allegations of childhood sexual abuse at his father’s hands. Roy passed away in 2019. His daughter Rachel later alleged that Jeffs was still directing the FLDS from his cell, with followers viewing him as a martyr absorbing suffering on their behalf. The void he left behind did not remain empty for long. By 2019, a man named Samuel Bateman had declared himself the new prophet and taken at least 20 wives, 10 of them minors, with some victims as young as nine years old. He was ultimately brought down by a researcher who went undercover, gathered evidence, and turned it over to the FBI. In December 2024, Bateman was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison. Jeffs is now 70 years old and still regarded as a prophet by those who remain loyal to the FLDS.

  • April 28 · 1 hr 40 min

    45. Above All Obey- Warren Jeffs Part 1

    Warren Jeffs was the self-declared prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the FLDS) a polygamist offshoot of mainstream Mormonism. He inherited leadership from his father Rulon Jeffs in 2002, even marrying some of his father's wives after his passing. At its peak, Jeffs controlled an estimated ten thousand followers, primarily concentrated in the twin border towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona. Local law enforcement, local government, local businesses answered to Jeffs, not the federal authorities. People who left, or were expelled, often lost everything: their homes, their families, their entire social world, overnight. The crimes Jeffs committed and enabled were extensive, systemic, and in many cases, as so many cults do, perpetrated against children. Jeffs arranged and performed marriages between adult men and underage girls, some as young as twelve and thirteen years old. He taught his followers that these arrangements were divine commandments, that questioning them was questioning God. Women and girls within the sect had no autonomy. They were assigned husbands by Jeffs himself, reassigned when he saw fit, and had children taken from them as punishment. He also wielded excommunication as a weapon. Men who challenged him or fell out of favor were cast out, stripped of their families, their property, and their standing, in a practice followers called "reassignment," in which their wives and children were simply handed to other men in the community. When the kingdom began to crumble Warren Jeffs was put on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List in 2006 but was able to elude capture until a fateful traffic stop in Nevada Sources State of Utah v. Warren Steed Jeffs (2007) — rape as accomplice conviction Utah Supreme Court appeal — reversal on jury instruction grounds (2010) Texas v. Warren Jeffs (2011) — sexual assault of a child; aggravated sexual assault of a child Texas v. Merril Jessop et al. (2009–2011) — related FLDS prosecutions Texas Supreme Court, In re: Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (2008) — ruling on mass child removal U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division v. Town of Colorado City, Arizona et al. (2012–2016) — law enforcement capture case; 2016 consent decree Utah court receivership of the United Effort Plan (UEP) trust (2005 onward) Warren Jeffs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives file (May 6, 2006) Nevada state trooper arrest report, Clark County, August 28, 2006 Utah Attorney General's Office, Safety Net Committee Reports (2004–2012) Arizona Attorney General's FLDS investigation records Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, YFZ Ranch operational reports (2008) Elissa Wall with Lisa Pulitzer — Stolen Innocence (2008, William Morrow) Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer — Escape (2007, Broadway Books) Flora Jessop with Paul T. Brown — Church of Lies (2009, Jossey-Bass) Rebecca Musser with M. Bridget Cook — The Witness Wore Red (2013, Grand Central Publishing) Jon Krakauer — Under the Banner of Heaven (2003, Doubleday) Benjamin Bistline — The Polygamists: A History of Colorado City, Arizona (2004) Andrea Moore-Emmett — God's Brothel (2004) Rachel Dretzin (director) — Keep Sweet, Pray and Obey, Netflix (2022) Salt Lake Tribune — sustained FLDS coverage 2000–2024; reporters Ben Winslow, Brooke Adams, Lindsay Whitehurst (fasting directive reporting, Lost Boys documentation, UEP trust coverage) Arizona Republic — FLDS investigation series (2005–2011) San Angelo Standard-Times — Deb McCullough's YFZ Ranch reporting (2004–2011), earliest press coverage of the compound The New Yorker — Lawrence Wright, "Lives of the Saints" (2005) Associated Press wire reporting on arrest, trial, and sentencing Laurie Allen — "Lost Boys" field research, St. George, Utah (2004) Eric Nichols (lead Texas prosecutor) — post-verdict remarks, reported in San Angelo Standard-Times (August 2011)

  • April 21 · 1 hr 41 min

    44. Don't Whistle After Dark: Appalachia Hauntings

    Thank you to our Hellions for your voted in topic! Subscribe for ad free episodes, voting topics and upcoming bonus episodes at patreon.com/highwaytohellpodcast. The Appalachian Mountains are the oldest range on Earth, and something has been living in them since before this country had a name. In this episode, we trace the full history of one of America's most distinct and haunted regions. Walking with the Cherokee nation and their complex spiritual world, to the Scots-Irish settlers who arrived with their own ghosts, to the coal wars, the Trail of Tears, and the grinding isolation that forged a culture unlike anything else on the continent. Before we get to the monsters, we get to the rules. And if you’ve ever met someone from Appalachia you know some of the rules. Don't whistle after sundown. Don't answer your name if something calls it from the trees. Don't let a stranger through the door after dark. We walk through the full system of folk protections that generations of Appalachian families. Then the legends. A haunting that killed a man and sent a future president running. A ghost who testified at her own murder trial and won. A creature that sounds like a woman screaming and has been documented in these mountains for three centuries. And a 1952 mass encounter with something no one has ever been able to explain, backed by physical evidence, medical records, and witnesses who never changed their story once. This one stays with you. First-hand encounter accounts that are not diary entries are illustrative narratives written in the tradition of submitted testimony; they reflect the type, language, and content of genuine regional accounts but are original compositions for this project. Sources: Ingram, M.V. — An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch of Tennessee (1894). Mooney, James — Myths of the Cherokee (1900, Bureau of American Ethnology). Gainer, Patrick — Witches, Ghosts and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians (1975). Eller, Ronald D. — Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South (1982). Williams, John Alexander — Appalachia: A History (2002, UNC Press). Dunaway, Wilma — The First American Frontier: Transition to Capitalism in Southern Appalachia (1996). Perdue, Theda & Green, Michael D. — The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears (2007). Mankiller, Wilma — Mankiller: A Chief and Her People (1993). Finger, John R. — The Eastern Band of Cherokees: 1819–1900 (1984, UT Press). The Greenbrier Ghost — documented in West Virginia state historical records; the historical marker text is publicly archived by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Feschino, Frank C. Jr. — Shoot Them Down: The Flying Saucer Air Wars of 1952 (2007). The most thorough investigation of the Flatwoods Monster incident Wigginton, Eliot (ed.) — The Foxfire Book series (1972–present, Anchor Books). Randolph, Vance — Ozark Superstitions (1947, Columbia UP). Milnes, Gerald C. — Signs, Cures & Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore (2007, UT Press). Appalachian Journal (Appalachian State University) Appalachian Studies Association research archives Western Carolina University's Hunter Library Special Collections — Appalachian Collection East Tennessee State University Archives of Appalachia

  • April 14 · 1 hr 11 min

    43. La Llorona - Haunted Costa Rica

    Few legends cut as deep as La Llorona, the Weeping Woman. This week we're trading the highway for the rainforest as we trace one of Latin America's most enduring and chilling folk stories into the heart of Costa Rica. We break down the origins of La Llorona, the grieving mother condemned to wander waterways for eternity searching for the children she lost, and how her story evolved differently across Costa Rica than in Mexico or the American Southwest. Local variations are darker, more specific, and tied to real rivers and real grief — and we talk to locals who swear they've heard her cry on the banks of the Río Tárcoles at dusk. From there, we take you on a tour of Costa Rica's most haunted locations — places where the legend bleeds into something that feels less like folklore and more like a warning. We visit the ruins of Ujarrás, a 17th-century church where restless spirits are said to keep residents awake, and the old colonial cemeteries of Cartago, where La Llorona sightings cluster around All Souls' Day. We also dig into the Orosi Valley, where locals describe a particular kind of dread that settles over the water after dark — and where more than one traveler has reported a woman in white standing just beyond the treeline. We close the episode the way we always do — with a reason to go. If this episode has you ready to book a flight to San José, we've put together a seven-day travel itinerary that balances the eerie with the extraordinary. You'll move through Cartago's haunted churches, down into the Orosi Valley, along the Pacific coast near Tárcoles, and end in the Osa Peninsula — one of the most biodiverse and genuinely remote places on earth, where the jungle has legends of its own. Every stop is real, bookable, and worth it — even in the daylight. Sources La Nación. (n.d.). News archives and crime reporting. Costa Rica. Tico Times. (n.d.). News reporting and cultural coverage in Costa Rica. Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ). (n.d.). Official crime reports and investigative data. Costa Rica. InSight Crime. (n.d.). Organized crime analysis in Latin America. Lyra, C. (n.d.). Costa Rican Folk Tales. Leyendas Costarricenses. (n.d.). Traditional folklore compilation. Atlas Obscura. (n.d.). Unusual and haunted locations in Costa Rica. Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT). (n.d.). Official tourism information. Lonely Planet. (n.d.). Lonely Planet Costa Rica. Baker, C. P. (n.d.). Moon Costa Rica. Fodor’s Travel. (n.d.). Costa Rica Travel Guide. Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (SINAC). (n.d.). Protected areas and national parks of Costa Rica. National Geographic. (n.d.). Costa Rica travel and ecology features. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. (n.d.). World Heritage Sites in Costa Rica. Rainforest Alliance. (n.d.). Sustainability and biodiversity in Costa Rica. Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE). (n.d.). Coffee production and research. World Coffee Research. (n.d.). Costa Rica coffee reports. Eater. (n.d.). Dining and restaurant guides in Costa Rica. Food & Wine. (n.d.). Culinary travel coverage of Costa Rica. U.S. Department of State. (n.d.). Costa Rica Travel Advisory. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (n.d.). Costa Rica health guidance. World Health Organization (WHO). (n.d.). Regional health data: Costa Rica. U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica. (n.d.). Traveler information and safety resources. Biesanz, R. (n.d.). The Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica. Ras, B. (Ed.). (n.d.). Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Literary Companion. Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). The World Factbook: Costa Rica. BBC News. (n.d.). Costa Rica country profile.

  • April 7 · 1 hr 15 min

    42. The Chicken Coop Murders

    Gordon Northcott and a trip to Canada. In the late 1920s, one of California’s most disturbing child murder cases unfolded on a remote ranch in Wineville—a place so stained by violence that it would later change its name in an attempt to escape the legacy. At the center of the case was Gordon Stewart Northcott, a sadistic rancher whose crimes against children shocked the country and exposed serious failures in early policing. Northcott operated a chicken ranch where he lured young boys with promises of work or safety. Instead, they were subjected to abuse, imprisonment, and, in multiple cases, murder. The truth began to surface through the testimony of his nephew, Sanford Clark, who had been brought from Canada and forced to participate in and witness the atrocities. Clark’s eventual escape and confession to authorities broke open the case. Investigators uncovered evidence that multiple boys had been killed on the property, their remains disposed of in shallow graves or burned. Among the most infamous victims was Walter Collins, whose disappearance became a national scandal—not only because of his likely murder, but because the Los Angeles Police Department falsely claimed to have found him and returned an unrelated child to his mother. The mishandling of the case exposed systemic issues in law enforcement, including coercion and public image protection over truth. Northcott fled to Canada as suspicion mounted but was captured and extradited back to California. During his trial, he gave inconsistent confessions—at times admitting guilt, at other times denying it—and attempted to shield his mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, from blame. She was ultimately convicted but spared execution. In 1930, Northcott was executed at San Quentin State Prison. The scale and brutality of the crimes, along with the failures surrounding the investigation, left a permanent mark on American criminal justice history. The town of Wineville later renamed itself Mira Loma to distance from the case. The Chicken Coop Murders remain one of the earliest high-profile serial child murder cases in the United States—one that reshaped public awareness around missing children and forced accountability in law enforcement practices. Sources: Los Angeles Times archives (1926–1930 coverage of Wineville Chicken Coop murders) San Bernardino County historical archives on Wineville/Mira Loma Riverside County historical society records State of California v. Gordon Stewart Northcott (trial transcripts, 1928–1930) Sanford Clark testimony (court records and archived statements) National Archives (U.S.) records on early serial murder cases Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) historical summaries on serial killers Fox, James Alan & Levin, Jack. Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder Schechter, Harold. The Serial Killer Files Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers Gado, Mark. CrimeLibrary archives on Gordon Northcott Murderpedia.org entry on Gordon Stewart Northcott Ramsland, Katherine. forensic psychology writings on early serial killers Find a Grave memorial records for victims and Northcott California Department of Corrections historical execution records (San Quentin) The film Changeling (2008) directed by Clint Eastwood (historical dramatization and research notes)

  • March 31 · 1 hr 22 min

    41. "We need to come inside"- Black Eyed Kids

    Don't let them in! Black-Eyed Kids (BEK) is one of the most unsettling modern urban legends to emerge from late 20th-century folklore. Described as pale children with completely black eyes, no sclera, no iris. They are most often reported appearing at night, knocking on doors or approaching cars, and asking for permission to enter. And its not just their appearance thats disturbing, its the sense of dread that comes with it. The earliest account comes from 1996, when Texas journalist Brian Bethel shared his experience online. Bethel described being approached by two children while sitting in his car outside a movie theater in Abilene, Texas. The boys asked for a ride home, speaking in an oddly formal and insistent manner. It wasn’t until Bethel noticed their entirely black eyes that panic set in, and he refused them entry. The boys became more aggressive, repeating that they “could not enter unless invited.” Similar stories began surfacing across the United States and internationally. Common elements include: children appearing between ages 6–16, outdated or nondescript clothing, monotone or rehearsed speech patterns, requests for entry into homes, cars, or buildings, strong psychological pressure or compulsion to comply, witnesses reporting nausea, fear, or disorientation The “invitation” motif has immediately reminded people of vampire folklore, where supernatural entities require permission to enter a private space. Others have linked BEK to demonic entities, extraterrestrials, or interdimensional beings. From a folkloric perspective, Black-Eyed Kids fit into a long tradition of “stranger at the door” narratives. Stories designed to reinforce caution, especially regarding children or vulnerable individuals. These narratives often evolve with cultural anxieties; in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, fears around home invasion, child safety, and the unknown. Psychologically, some researchers suggest that BEK encounters may be explained through sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations, or heightened suggestibility influenced by prior exposure to the stories. The uniformity of descriptions—particularly the black eyes may be the result of narrative reinforcement through internet forums, creepypasta communities, and paranormal media. This episode explores the origins of the legend, the psychology behind reported encounters, and the cultural forces that transformed a single story into a global phenomenon. Sources Brian Bethel, “The Black Eyed Kids,” original account archived online (1996, reposted multiple platforms) Nick Redfern, The Real Men in Black, New Page Books, 2011 David Weatherly, Black Eyed Children, Eerie Lights Publishing, 2014 Sharon A. Hill, Scientifical Americans: The Culture of Amateur Paranormal Researchers, McFarland, 2017 Bill Ellis, Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live, University Press of Mississippi, 2001 Jan Harold Brunvand, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings, W.W. Norton & Company, 1981 Jeffrey Sconce, “Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television,” Duke University Press, 2000 Folklore Society archives on contemporary legend transmission and digital folklore Joe Nickell, “Black-Eyed Children: A Case of Urban Legend,” Skeptical Inquirer, Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Benjamin Radford, “Black-Eyed Kids: Real or Myth?” Live Science, 2013 David J. Hufford, The Terror That Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982 American Folklore Society publications on contemporary legend development Linda Dégh, Legend and Belief: Dialectics of a Folklore Genre, Indiana University Press, 2001 Trevor J. Blank (ed.), Folk Culture in the Digital Age: The Emergent Dynamics of Human Interaction, Utah State University Press, 2009

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