Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - The Hook Man

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

The Hook Man is an urban legend dating back to the 1950s. The terrifying story tells of a killer with a hook for a hand who preys on young couples parked in lovers’ lanes. The legend found new life in the 1997 slasher film, I Know What You Did Last Summer, which is being rebooted in 2025. But this story is more than just campfire fuel. The legend was possibly inspired by the Texarkana Moonlight Murders of 1946 – a string of unsolved attacks by a masked assailant known only as The Phantom Killer. Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's hopelessly romantic. A moonlit night, a perfect view, a ballad on the radio. Your skirt switches as you cuddle closer to the love of your life. Then it's punctured. A bulletin on the radio. A killer on the loose. Maybe we should go home, you suggest. You don't want to ruin the evening, but it is frightening.

He reassures you, you'll head home right now. He puts the car in reverse, turns his head to back up. Then a hook burst through the driver's side window. Welcome to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. Every Monday we bring you the true crime stories that stand out. I'm Janice Morgan. We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Instagram at Serial Killers podcast and share your thoughts on this week's episode. Or if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and leave a comment. This episode includes discussions of sexual assault, violence, murder, and suicide. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen.

To get help on mental health and suicide, visit Spotify.com slash resources. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer, the hunt can be exhausting.

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edition perfume mist collection only at Sephora. On November 8, 1960, Abigail Van Buren printed a rather strange letter in her advice column, Dear Abby. Dear Abby, if you are interested in teenagers, you will print this story. I don't know whether it's true or not, but it doesn't matter because it served its purpose for me. A fellow in his date pulled into their favorite lover's lane to listen to the radio and do a little necking. The music was interrupted by an announcer who said there was an escaped convict in the area

who had served time for rape and robbery. He was described as having a hook instead of a right hand. The couple became frightened and drove away. When the boy took his girl home, he went around to open the car door for her. Then he saw a hook in the door handle. I don't think I will ever park to make out as long as I live. I hope this does the same for other kids. Jeanette.

It's a version of an urban legend that likely has its origins in the 1950s, according to folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand. The story takes different shapes. Sometimes, as in the case of the Dear Abbey letter, the couple gets away from the hookman. In others, the boyfriend is decapitated. Whatever the version, the hookman legend keeps its place at the top of the narrative food chain for a reason.

It has everything you could want in a scary story. sex, romantic tension, and blood, not to mention a terrifying villain, an escaped convict with a hook for a hand. And that's why it has staying power. The legend partially inspired the 1997 film, I Know What You Did Last Summer, a slasher in which four teens are hunted by a vicious, hook-handed serial killer. The franchise was rebooted in summer 2025, bringing the villain back to the silver screen. In the opening scene of the original movie, four friends recount different versions of the hookman legend.

When one character Julie claims the legend is just a ghost story intended to scare teens from premarital sex, her friend Ray insists it's true. He says every legend is based on real life. In a way, they're both right. Jan Harold Brundt-Van says that many of the urban legends from the 50s, when the Hookman originated, were designed to have a moral message. The Hookman and others like it were spread to discourage teens from parking on lover's lanes. But sometimes there's a true story behind the tale. And while there are no known serial killers who used a hook to murder their victims,

there have been a few who stalk lovers' lanes. In fact, just a few years before the legend spread its way through teenagers across the country, a killer known only as the Phantom terrorized the teens of a small city in Texas. It's 1946, and 19-year-old Mary Jean Larry is separated from her husband and ready for a fresh start. So when Jimmy Hollis asks her on a date, she eagerly agrees. On February 22nd, the pair go out in the town of Texarkana, Texas. The four see a movie, followed by soft drinks at a late-night cafe. Around 10 p.m., Jimmy drives Bob and Virginia home.

Then he and Mary Jean head to a quiet dirt road. known for being a lover's lane. The two chat for a while, still getting to know one another. At one point, Jimmy gets out of the car to look at the stars, only to discover that he and Mary Jean are not alone.

A beam of light flashes Jimmy in the eyes. When he adjusts, he sees a man approaching him, carrying a flashlight and a gun. The man orders Jimmy to drop his pants. At first, Jimmy thinks it's some kind of twisted prank. He tries to laugh it off, but when the man yells at him again, he realizes it's no joke, so he obeys. At the same time, the figure runs forward and hits him on the head with a heavy object. Mary Jean runs out of the car and tries to give the attacker Jim's wallet to leave them alone,

but instead he turns his fury onto her. In one swift moment, the assailant hits her in the head. She falls to the ground, dazed, but still conscious. When she tries to stand, the man tells her chillingly to run. Mary Jean stumbles away toward the road. She starts running, but hears footsteps approaching from behind. The man catches up with her quickly. He strikes Mary Jean on the head again and she falls to the ground. Then he attempts to sexually assault her

before he's scared off by headlights and vanishes into the night. Mary Jean runs to the nearby houses and bangs on their doors, calling out desperately for help. Eventually someone answers and calls the police who send an ambulance looking for Jim. The paramedics find him alive but barely. He spends the next two weeks in critical condition but eventually recovers.

Police question Mary Jean first while Jimmy is still in a coma. She says she didn't recognize the attacker but he was tall and stocky. He wore a mask and she believes he may have been a black man. Authorities don't believe that Mary Jean didn't recognize the assailant. They think it was a targeted attack.

That belief strengthens when they learn Mary Jean and Jimmy were both separated, but not yet divorced from their spouses. Maybe the attack was an act of revenge, and Mary Jean is protecting someone. Police hope Jimmy's testimony will help, but when he finally wakes up, his version of events only adds to the confusion. Jimmy agrees. The assailant was tall and stocky, but thinks that it was a white man who was not not wearing a mask.

The conflicting witness statements puzzle law enforcement, but there's a possible explanation for the two different narratives. Both Jimmy and Mary Jean had suffered head trauma, and it's possible their injuries impacted their memories. Plus, the assailant shined his flashlight directly in Jimmy's eyes, making it hard for him to see clearly. But for some reason, the differing accounts solidify one thing in the minds of the investigators. Mary Jean is lying.

The authorities decide that the attacker must have been an enemy of Mary Jeans. They still assume the assault was personal even after they clear her ex-husband and they're left with no other suspects. After they reach this conclusion, the investigation loses all sense of urgency. Police don't think whoever attacked the couple is a threat to the general public. With no evidence and few leads, the case quickly grows cold. And Texarkana has other things that need attention. World War II ended a few months prior to the attack, so veterans are coming home,

reuniting with their families and looking for work. Plus, crime is pretty common in the town at this time. The police department has their hands full investigating several robberies, assaults, and even murders. Mary Jean and Jimmy's case gets lost in all of the chaos. The community accepts the police's theory about the attack, even with the crime, around town, they still view Texarkana as safe. Kids play outside until dark. Teens go out to movie

theaters and lovers lanes. Parents tell their children that as long as they stay out of trouble, trouble won't find them. But Mary Jean and Jimmy don't forget. The incident scares them enough that they both separately move out of state. They insist the man who attacked them will strike again. And unfortunately, they're right. He's just a judge. He's just a lot. He's just. just getting started. Want to support your gut health? Take Activia's gut health challenge by enjoying two Activia yogurt today

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They're not there long before a man approaches the car with a gun. The attacker approaches the couple and forces Richard to drop his pants. He shoots Richard in the back of the head, then drags Polly out of the car before he turns the gun on her and kills her. Strangely, he moves Polly's body back to the car and places her in one of the seats, this may have been a half-hearted attempt to clean the scene. Then, he takes off into the night,

leaving no physical evidence behind. A motorist discovers the horrific scene the next morning and calls the police. But with the authorities comes a crowd of curious onlookers. Word spreads quickly in Texarkana, and it seems that everyone in town wants to get a glimpse of the double homicide. Unfortunately, the police fail to close the crime scene to the public, People trample over any footprints and even help push the car toward the road once it's ready to be towed,

smudging any fingerprints left behind by the killer. But that isn't the only botched part of the investigation. Authorities allow Polly to be embalmed and buried before an autopsy is conducted. According to an FBI memo, that means she wasn't officially tested for sexual assault. To add to the confusion, a physician claimed the body was examined and Polly was not raped, while rumors swirl around Texarkana that she was. In many ways, the murders of Polly and Richard parallel the assault on Mary Jean and Jimmy. Both men were forced to pull down their pants, the assailant used a gun,

and the lover's lanes were only about a mile from each other. But crucially, law enforcement doesn't make the same connection. Still, a double homicide is a serious enough crime to involve the state's police department, the Texas Rangers, and the FBI. experts determined that the killer had likely used a 32 automatic cult pistol to kill Polly and Richard. And while this was a helpful development, it was nowhere near enough information to catch their guy. In a matter of days, the authorities questioned more than 50 people and follow hundreds of leads. They're desperate for more clues, but they find nothing.

Eventually, investigators determined that the murder was likely another isolated incident, and again, was not a random attack. And just like the first time, the vast majority of Texarkana residents believe that, contrary to all evidence, their town is safe. But there's one person who knows the true danger ahead. Mary Jean Larry Up in her new Oklahoma home, Mary Jean catches wind of the recent double murder. As she pours over the stories in the newspaper, she recognizes the signs of her own attacker.

She still hears his snarl. voice in her nightmares. Determined to put a stop to the criminal who ruined her life, Mary Jean travels to text Arcana to tell authorities it was the same man. But when she arrives, the police refused to hear her out. Within weeks, they'll wish they'd listened. On April 13th, high schooler Betty Joe Booker has an exciting evening planned. She plays saxophone in a local band called The Rhythmairs,

and they have a gig that night at a dance hall. Afterward, she'll head to a slumber party with some friends. A little after 1 a.m., Betty Jo's friend Paul Martin picks her up to take her to the party. But first, they had to Spring Lake Park, a lover's lane popular amongst local teens. Paul and Betty Joe park the car and get comfortable, enjoying what they think is a moment alone. Little do they know someone is watching them. Around six the next morning, Paul's body. is discovered near a road about a mile from where he and Betty Joe parked.

He'd been shot four times. Meanwhile, Betty Joe's mother realizes she still hasn't come home from the slumber party. More worrisome, she never dropped off her saxophone after her gig, which she always did. Concerned, she starts calling around and learns that Betty Joe never made it to the slumber party. As news of her disappearance races down phone lines, Betty Joe's friends and family Highland their cars and drive around looking for her. Around noon, Betty Jo's body is discovered about a mile from where Paul's had been found. She'd been shot twice.

Police theorized she may have been killed more than two hours after Paul. At this point, the killer's ammo is rapidly evolving. He killed his victim separately, miles from where he'd found them. He also stopped cleaning up after himself, which could suggest he was growing more confident in his ability to evade the police. Once again, there were conflicting reports on whether or not Betty Joe had been raped. While the Texarkana sheriff

swore that the teen wasn't sexually assaulted, the FBI's examination found that she was. Ballistics testing showed the killer used a 32 automatic pistol. It's the same type of gun that was used in the attack on Richard and Polly. Investigators now have no doubts that the same man committed both murders.

They're chasing, one person. Now that it's clear a serial killer is targeting the lover's lanes of Texarkana, local journalists decide they need to give him a name. Calvin Sutton, an editor for the Texarkana Gazette, says the murderer is elusive, like a phantom. On the morning of Betty Joe and Paul's funerals, a headline on the front page of the Gazette reads,

Phantom Slayer still at large as probe continues. Though the details of the information, investigation are murky, the impact on the community is clear. Not only do the people of Tax Arcana feel that they aren't safe, in fact, they're being hunted. Within three days of Betty Joe and Paul's deaths, one hardware warehouse is sold out of handguns and rifles. Soon, much of the town implements a curfew, and nobody even considers sneaking away for some privacy. Law enforcement started setting traps to catch the Phantom.

In one attempt, a Texas Ranger brought a female mannequin with him in his patrol car. He'd drive down to a lover's lane, hoping to lure the phantom into believing he'd found the next couple to target. The town is tense, waiting for the next double homicide, and they have a good guess at when it might come. The Phantom murdered Richard and Polly on March 23rd. Then Paul Martin and Betty Joe Booker were killed on April 13th, exactly three weeks later. If the phantom stuck to this schedule, the next attack would come on May 4th.

The police increased patrols around Lover's Lanes, hoping to catch the phantom before he strikes again. On the evening of May 3, 1946, Virgil Stark sits in his favorite armchair in his living room, reading the paper and listening to the radio. His wife Katie is already in bed. As Virgil flips through the pages of his newspaper, a figure creeps onto the front porch and watches him through the window. After a few moments, the man raises a gun and fires it into the back of Virgil's head, killing him. Katie hears the commotion and hurries to the living room to investigate.

At the sight of her husband's body, Katie screams and runs for the phone. But before she can get there, the phantom takes aim and fires, hitting her twice. Still, Katie manages to sprint out the front door. She runs to a neighbor's house and calls the police. Right away, authorities believe that this is the work of the Phantom, even though the crime hasn't taken place on the back roads of some lover's lane. He also used a different gun, leaving some to speculate that this was a copycat. It's hard to say why the Phantom might have changed his MO,

but perhaps it's because there were no couples daring enough to break curfew, or maybe he caught wind of the police setting traps on lover's lanes. He might have known the police are looking for a killer with a 32-caliber pistol, so he switched out his weapon. The aftermath of his attack is chaotic. Police try to isolate the crime scene in the Stark's farmhouse, but too many officers respond to the scene and trample over potential evidence. Although there is a track of footprints outside,

they can't be sure the prince didn't belong to their own officers. But in his rush to escape, the phantom got sloppy. Finally, he'd left two clues behind, bloody footprints in the living room, and a red flashlight left outside. The police dust the flashlight for fingerprints but find nothing. The phantom had been careful. Still, there was a chance someone in Texarkana knew who the flashlight belonged to.

The Texarkana Gazette runs a photo of the flashlight on the front page. It's the first time a color of the color. photo has appeared in an American newspaper. But despite all this effort and hope, nobody comes forward with information about the flashlight. The Texas Rangers and Texarkana Police Department look into over 1,300 potential suspects. They work through the night, then show up the next day in the same clothes, eyes bleary from lack of sleep. As the search stretches on, one officer decides to get creative. Arkansas State Police Officer Max Tackett spends days going through all the arrests and reports made when the Phantom was in town, trying to find a link between petty crime and the attacks.

He discovers a pattern while going through stolen car reports. On the nights the Phantom attacked in Texarkana, a vehicle that had been reported missing earlier would reappear somewhere in town, then another car would go missing. Even though auto theft is common in Texarkana, Max has a theory that the phantom is behind these particular incidents. He believes that before the killer struck again, he would steal a new car and abandon the one he stole after his previous attack. But the correlation is too loose to follow up. Max can't prove the person who abandoned the stolen cars also took the new one,

nor can he prove that this person is the phantom. Still, the suspicion sticks with him. He can't shake the theory, but with no way to prove it, he has to move on and look at other possibilities. Besides, he needs to focus. Following the pattern, he expects the Phantom to attack in late May, three weeks after the break-in at the Stark's home. As the end of the month approaches, the authorities increase their patrols.

But to everyone's surprise and relief, June arrives without an attack. And then weeks go by with no murders. It feels like the threat to their community is finally over. and for whatever reason it was. The phantom never struck the town of Texarkana again. Still, it would be months before the residents truly felt safe. After sundown, people still stayed indoors and shops closed up early. Nobody could forget the fear that had made their community feel like a ghost town.

Even a half a century later, the people of Texarkana still wonder who was responsible for reigning terror on their community. criminologists, authors, and psychologists have all tried to uncover the murderer's identity to no avail. And while there still is no definitive answer, the investigators who chased the phantom for years uncovered some suspects who still face scrutiny today. In one instance, there was even a confession.

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In November 1948, two years after the phantom disappeared from Texarkand, an 18-year-old student named Henry Booker Tennyson dies by suicide in his University of Arkansas dorm room. Henry, better known as H.B., leaves behind a letter, confessing to the murders of Betty Joe Booker and Paul Martin and the attack against Virgil and Katie Starks. The note comes as a shock to both the police and the general public. Not only does a confession come out of nowhere,

but HB. was only 16 at the time of the Phantom's killing spree. authorities couldn't find anything in H.B.'s background to suggest he may have been violent. Reportedly, he was shy and had few friends, but that's not enough to label him a serial killer. There are, however, some strange connections between H.B. and some of the victims, says John T. Tennyson, H.B.'s first cousin once removed. He's a forensic psychiatrist who has studied the phantom killer for much of his career. In high school, H.B. worked as an usher at Texarkana's movie theater. Jimmy Hollis, Mary Jean Larry, Richard Griffin, Polly Ann Moore, and Paul Martin had all gone to see films at the theater the night they were attacked. HB was also in marching band with Betty Joe Booker in high school.

Ultimately, all of this is circumstantial. There's no hard evidence tying the teen to the murders. Fingerprints taken at one of the Phantom Killers' crime scenes did not match HB's. Plus, he had an alibi on the night the Starks were attacked. after seeing the confession in the paper, HB's friend James came forward to claim the two were together that evening. Lastly, HB didn't even learn to drive until a year after the Phantom disappeared. Eventually, HB has ruled out as a suspect.

Investigators chalk up the confession to HB's mental health at the time of his death. And besides, by this time, Texarkana police are convinced they already know who the real Phantom is. And it's not H.B. Tennyson. Back in June of 1946, more than a month after the Phantom's final attack, Officer Max Tackett received a call from a farmer about a tenant who had fled without paying rent. The man's name is Ewell Swinney. He drove a light-green Plymouth sedan, and the farmer had written down the license plate. When Tackett dug into Yule's history, he found more than just parking tickets.

He discovered that the Plymouth had been stolen in Texarkana on March 24, 1946. That was the same weekend the phantom killed Richard Griffin and Polly Ann Moore. Careful to not get too ahead of himself, he questioned Ewell's family. Ewell's relatives also hadn't seen him in a while, but one family member remembered a parking lot where Ewell often left his car, so Officer Tackett staked it out, waiting for his suspect to show his face. On June 28, the police finally caught a break. Someone approached the sedan and got in.

But it wasn't Ewell. It was a young woman. Her name was Peggy Swinney, and she had just married Ewell earlier that day. Since Peggy had gotten into a stolen car, the police arrested her and held her in a cell in the Miller County Jail. They hoped Ewell would learn of his wife's arrest

and show up to bail her out. But as the days stretched into weeks, Ewell never came. With no other way of locating him, the cops just had to bide their time until he slipped up. Thankfully, that didn't take too long. long. On July 15th, Ewell attempted to sell a stolen car to a dealer just outside of Tax Arcana. Suspicious, the man reported the incident to police. Noticing that the description of the man

matched Ewell, Officer Tackett went undercover and began a desperate search through the town. A few hours after Ewell had tried to sell the stolen car, Tackett spotted him in an Arkansas bus station. The officer chased him down and arrested him. But that's when Swinney said something strange. He said that he knew he was wanted for more than just stealing cars. On the way to the station, Ewell asks officers if he'll get the death penalty. The punishment for auto theft was only five to ten years, but Ewell seemed to think he'd be lucky if he got a life sentence. Investigators pulled Ewell's criminal record, which told a long and troubled story. He was born in Arkansas in 1917 and was one of five children. His mother was a housewife and his father was a Baptist minister.

Though on the outside, the Swinney seemed like an idyllic American family, the reality of life in their home was darker. Ull's father struggled with alcohol and had to be sobered up before his Sunday sermons. Neither parent gave him much attention at all. As a result, Ull was mostly raised by his older siblings. It didn't take long for Uel to start misbehaving. When he was 12, Yule made headlines after he convinced a crew of boys to help him sell stolen property to a junk shop. Yule spent part of his teenage years in and out of reform schools and penitentiaries.

In his 20s, he transitioned from petty theft to more serious felonies. In 1941, he was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for auto theft. He was released early, but spent the next few years in and out of jail for parole violations, robbery, and assault. He got out of prison in late 1945,

just two months before the phantom first struck in Texarkana. A few weeks after his release, Ewell found himself back in the jail. But this time he was in the lobby, trying to bail out his then-girlfriend. While waiting, he struck up a conversation with another woman behind bars. It was Peggy.

She was locked up for public intoxication, and the two got to talking and hid it off. And thus began an intense whirlwind romance. However, their passionate affair was far from healthy. From the start, their relationship was extremely volatile. Ewell was in complete control, determining where they went, what they did, and when they did it, and anything could set him off. On one occasion, Peggy told Ewell that a man had tried to sleep with her.

Furious, Ewell kidnapped the man and dragged him into the Oklahoma woods. He forced the man to his knees, then made Peggy whip him with a chain. On June 28, 1946, just a few months after meeting, Peggy and Ewell got married. And later that day, Peggy was arrested for car theft. To the police, it seemed like awfully convenient timing. In Texas, a person can't be forced to testify against their spouse. They thought that maybe Ewell married Peggy for this security, then sent her to pick up the car just in case the cops were waiting for him.

The more information Texarkana police gathered on Ewell, the more suspicious they became. He wasn't in his cell for more than a couple hours before the officers started to whisper amongst themselves. Was it possible this car thief was connected to the phantom murders? While behind bars, you will confess to stealing cars and taking them across borders, a federal crime, but he remained tight-lipped about the phantom murders.

Peggy, on the other hand, wasn't as reticent. Within days of her husband's incarceration, a lawyer told her he was being held on murder charges. Peggy gasped and asked how they found out. To the police's surprise, Peggy decided to make a statement, walking officers through her and Ewell's activities on the night of the Phantom attacks. She told them that on February 21, 1946, the couple had stayed with Ewell's sister and Texarkana.

But at some point that weekend, Ewell became upset with Peggy. He didn't stay with her the night of the 22nd when the Phantom attacked Jim Hark. Hollis and Mary Jean Larry. For the next attack against Richard Griffin on March 23rd, Peggy said they were staying with his mother in Texarkana. Though he was home for most of the night, Ewell had disappeared for a couple of hours. As for the final May 3rd attacks against the Starks, Ewell had apparently gotten into a heated argument with Peggy's sister about paying rent.

He stormed out, claiming he was headed for Texarkana. But it was Peggy's retelling of the night of April 13th, 1946 that was the most damning. That was the night Betty Joe Booker and Paul Martin were killed near Spring Lake Park. According to Peggy, the couple were drinking all night before they drove to the park. When they arrived, they passed by Paul's car. Ewell pointed at it and told Peggy they were going to rob the couple inside. Ewell and Peggy got out of their own vehicle and approached Paul and Betty Joe, armed with a gun. They forced them out of the car, and Ewell held them at gunpoint and ordered Peggy to search through their belongings.

Peggy refused, and Ewell grew increasingly angry. He pointed the gun at Paul and fired twice. Peggy and Betty Joe screamed. That's when Ewell turned the gun on them and ordered them to be quiet or he'd kill them. Peggy claimed that Ewell placed Paul's body in the backseat of their own car and forced Betty Joe into the front seat. He told Peggy that he killed Betty Joe after she refused to have sex with him.

then he disposed of both bodies. The police were shocked. For months, they had struggled to find a single shred of useful evidence. Now they had an eyewitness to the phantom's crimes. Peggy even told them how you will disposed of the evidence. Of course, the detectives couldn't just take Peggy at her word. To confirm her story, they drove Peggy to Spring Lake Park, asking her to point out where Betty Jo and Paul had been killed.

Her answers aligned almost purport. perfectly with how police found the crime scene. It seemed like they had finally nailed the phantom. But there was a catch. Even with Peggy's help, there was still no hard evidence. All they had was her testimony. And as Ewell's spouse, she couldn't be forced to testify against him. She held all the cards.

And when the time came, she declared that she wouldn't testify against her husband. After coming so close, police were unable to convict Ewell for the murders. but it wasn't completely hopeless. Using Texas' habitual criminal act, prosecutors argued that auto theft charges and Ewell's extensive record proved he was beyond rehabilitation and deserved a life sentence.

In February of 1947, Ewell was found guilty of felony theft and sentenced to life in prison. He served 26 years before being released on appeal in 1973. Ewell moved to Marshall, Texas, just 70 miles south of Texarkand. He visited the city often and once even walked into the Texarkana Gazette's building and asked reporters if anyone was interested in writing a book about his wrongful imprisonment.

Whatever credibility Ewell did have only diminished in 1975, just two years after his release when he was arrested and imprisoned for counterfeiting. Ewell spent the rest of his life in and out of jail. He denied being the phantom killer until the day he died in 1994, at 77 years old. To this day, we don't know if Uel Swinney was telling the truth. Perhaps he was the man responsible for Texarkana's moonlight murders, or maybe H.B. Tennyson really was the infamous killer.

Then again, what if it was someone else entirely, someone who escaped detection and continued to wreak havoc elsewhere? The people of Texarkana will never know for certain who turn their community inside out for those four months in 1946. Some of the scars left on the town by the Phantom Killer will never fade, and the story is cemented in legend and lore. Thank you for listening to Serial Killers. We're here with an episode every Wednesday.

Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers podcast, and if you're tuning in on Spotify, swipe up and give us your thoughts. For more information on the Phantom Killer, amongst the many sources we used, we found The Phantom Killer, unlocking the mystery of the Texarkana Serial Mur. murders, the story of a town and terror by James Presley, extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there. This episode was written by Kit Fitzgerald and Chelsea Wood, edited by Chelsea Wood, researched by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood, fact-checked by Anya Bayerley and Lori Siegel,

and sound designed by Alex Button. I'm your host, Janice Morgan. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Do you want to hear something spooky?

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