Morbid - The Death of Ken McElroy, The Town Bully

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

On July 10,1981, forty-seven-year-old Ken McElroy was sitting in his truck in Skidmore, Missouri with his wife, Trina, when the vehicle was struck by a hail of gunfire that seemed to come from all directions. Although there were nearly fifty witnesses to the shooting, they all claimed not to have seen the shooters, and none of them called an ambulance. Later, when asked why no one did anything to help McElroy or cooperate with investigators, the people of Skidmore all agreed, Ken McElroy got what he deserved.The story of Ken McElroy’s death captured the nation’s attention, primarily because it amounted to a modern-day lynching. However, while no one denies that McElroy’s death was murder, few people in and around Skidmore were interested in holding anyone accountable for the shooting. In fact, many seemed pleased to hear of McElroy’s death, which raised the question, how could someone become so hated by their neighbors that they’d be willing to overlook one of the most heinous crimes?Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesAssociated Press. 1981. "FBI enters Missouri shooting case." New York Times, July 18: 6.—. 1981. "Little chance of trial in 'town bully' shooting." St. Joseph News-Press, October 26: 1.Graham, O.E. 1968. "What is justice?" St. Joseph News-Press, July 19: 9.Hansen, Rose. 2018. Skidmore revisited. February 6. Accessed April 9, 2025. https://missourilife.com/skidmore-revisited-part-1-death-ken-mcelroy-2/.Loh, Jules. 1981. "Brute of Nordaway County: chilling rembeberances ." Kansas City Star, August 2: 1.MacLean, Harry. 1988. In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri. New York, NY: Harper Collins.McGuire, Donna. 2001. "Two decades after bully's death, Skidmore still guards its secrets." Kansas City Star, July 10: 1.St. Joseph News-Press. 1968. "Dismissals to 2 more defendants in beating case." St. Joseph News-Press, July 11: 9.—. 1968. "Four now charged in beating of man, attack on woman." St. Joseph News-Press, June 14: 7.—. 1973. "Three charges against man." St. Joseph News-Press, September 22: 5.—. 1968. "Victim of assault testifies four men struck, kicked him." St. Joseph News-Press, July 4: 1.Stewart, Paul. 1981. "Grand jury disappoints lawyer." St. Joseph News-Press, September 26: 1.  Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is spooky morbid. It's spooky morbid because it's spooky season. It's always spooky season, but it's like specifically spooky season right now because it's pre-October. It sure is. And it's starting to get like slightly chilly. Oh, bitch, it was a slight chill.

55 this morning. It's slight chill in the air. I'm down for it. And it's hoodie season. It's sweater season. It's boot season. It's haunted house season. It's what? Patent season. It's spooky season. It's here. It's almost. I have pumpkins on my steps. Let's go. Oh, hell yeah. Hell yeah. Actually, I have pumpkins on my steps before you have pumpkins on your steps this year. I know because it's going to be like 80-something degrees on Sunday and I was worried it was going to.

It was going to melt them into a puddle of goo. No, mine are gooey. Well, it hasn't been 80 yet. No, I mean, it's going to be 80. But it has been already. Oh, since you've found them. They're fine. They're fine. They're not even gooey. Don't worry about it. They're probably really gross on the end. inside, but I feel like as long as you don't cut them, like carve them, you're good. Oh yeah, they last much longer when you don't carve them. Yeah.

So I'm ready. I'm ready to cover my entire porch with pumpkins. Do! And before we get into this, we're doing spooky forests today, spooky woods. Before I get into it, I just want to say again that you guys are fucking awesome about the book. It's a great fucking book. There is an Instagram page called A Morbid Book Club. go, I was going to say, I didn't want to get it wrong.

Amorbid Book Club. Literally the sweetest human that has ever existed on planet Earth. Love them with every bit of my soul. And they've just been tagging me in all these beautiful videos of people reading the book and opening the book and saying cool things about the book. And it's like literally lit up my week. It should. So I just, they're amazing.

They share like all the books that we share. They share other books. They're phenomenal. Amorbid Book Club on Instagram. go follow them because they fucking rule. I can't thank them enough for doing such sweet things and just being a kind and wonderful human. Yeah, I commented the other day. They just have like the most immaculate vibes.

Oh my God, yes. Right? Like beautiful vibes. Yeah. Beautiful human. Beautiful everything. Beautiful hair. Oh, beautiful hair.

I want your freaking hair. Beautiful hair. God damn. I'm just, I had to show you out because you are just a wonderful human being and you've really like, you've like really made me feel good this week. So thank you for that. And you deserve it. And you deserve it. Oh, I was saying you deserve it and they deserve it too. Thank you. They deserve it too. So do you. Everybody just deserves it. Everybody just deserves it. Everyone deserves kindness, except for assholes. Yeah. So. And even sometimes they do, that's why they're being an asshole.

I was going to say sometimes they need it and that's why they're being a dick. But then sometimes there's just like straight up assholes. Yeah, exactly. Like we don't have to talk about that right now. Well, and I think we, these like, I don't know when this episode is releasing because we're batch recording a bunch of episodes. So who knows when they're coming out at any given time. But I think we talked about another episode, how fucking amazing the, the ghost ritual was the other

night. So much fun. But I fair, I thought it was, it bared repeating. I mean, duh. I might talk about it every single episode that we go forward. Talk about your book and the ghost ritual every single episode. No, I won't do that because I promise. But again, we're coming up to Monday the, what do we?

19th. The 19th. I was just looking at our little calendar and it said ghost on the 12th. And I was like, huh? And then I was like, oh, that was the show. The 19th, yeah. The 19th, Tobias Forge is going to be on the show. I cannot stop thinking about it.

So I'm just going to keep yelling about it to everybody who will listen. It's going to be so much fun. It's going to be so much fun. I can't wait to ask the questions that we have to ask because they're really weird. I have like high apple pie in the sky hopes. Oh, such high hopes. I'm very excited to hear the answers to some of these questions because they're funny. They're strange.

So I'm very. I'm like, they're funny. They're like, they're strange. They're strange and funny. And unusual. And your questions are going to be answered. We're going to be, we sent him a big list. and he is handpicking them the ones that he's going to answer.

So if you're, again, if your question gets answered, just no, he handpicked that question. So that's pretty cool. I know. That is really fucking cool, actually. Give yourself a pat on the back because that's like a pretty good flex. I would say. But yeah, let's get into the spooky woods of it all. Let's do it, partner.

Let's go. I'm going to start us off. Okay. With a bang. Don't you always? I'm going to start us off with Robinson Woods in Illinois. Illinois. And Illinois.

Oh, man. I'm just kidding. The whole world would light a blaze if you said that for real. No, I would never. No, it's Illinois. We know that. Don't worry. But this is a wild one.

It's one that I did not know about. And it's got like a really gnarly triple homicide attached to it. Oh. That I had never heard of. Okay. Yeah. It's pretty intense. So Robinson Woods is an 80-acre nature preserve on East Road in Chickaming Township, about 30 minutes outside of Chicago.

Okay. It's a lot of dense forest. There's, like, park areas, but it also contains a lot of wetlands and streams, and it's teeming with wildlife. It actually has a lot of really rare flora and fauna because of its diverse habitat. Listen to you, flora and fauna. You know, flora, fauna. We love it. It has an interesting history, too, especially where it gets its name from, Robinson Woods.

The land has always been an agricultural, like, gold mine. And it was a place way long time ago, like, way long time ago. It was a place used to grow. Like, they had apple orchards there and peaches, corn. It's gone. It's gone. I can't really sing that right now. And it had other row crops for, like, centuries.

It was used for this. And then when those were abandoned before World War I, it grew into the densely forested wonder it is now. Mm-hmm. So that's fun. So Robinson Woods, actually, the name comes from Alexander Robinson. Do you know him? No. No.

He, I didn't either. He was, it said that's actually the English name used by Pottawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa Nation, Native American chief, Chi Chi Pinkwe. Mm-hmm. I think that's a way better name than. Alexander Robinson. Yeah, so much better. But when he was in his younger days in the early 1700s, like, or in the late 1700s, early 1800s, he was making a living as a fur trader on the banks of the Chicago River. Okay. Then comes the world, wow. The world war. The war. Not the world war. It wasn't even the world war. No, no, it was just the war. My mouth just desperately

wanted to say world, and I'm not really sure. Has anyone ever had that happen because that was a little scary. No, absolutely. I just felt possessed for a second. Like, my mouth was like, you will say world. Sometimes our mouths just, like, do what they want. It's just, like, not what we say. Sometimes that's just what happens. I mean, am I wrong?

You're not wrong. Yeah, what I meant to say was the war of 1812. The war. Not the World War. So then comes the war of 1812, and the Battle of Fort Dearborn raged. Now, we know it more as the Fort Dearborn Massacre because it was a fucking terrible thing. But Alexander Robinson and a fellow Potawatomi fur trader, Billy Caldwell, which a lot of people like historians and people who like history, that might sound familiar. That actually sounds familiar to me.

Right? They protected, together, they protected their neighbors who some of them, most of them were white settlers during the battle. Oh, wow. And then aided in evacuating them to St. Joseph, Michigan by canoe. Now, after being so selfless in battle and just like, you know, protecting their neighbors and like keeping everybody safe, they also were instrumental in peacekeeping between the Pottawatomi and the wait settlers as the war cooled down. All right. So basically, um, basically Alexander Robinson and his family and his tribe were like very peaceful. And that's

like they were very instrumental in keeping that peace. That's wonderful. Yeah. So in an 1829 treaty, Robinson was seated 1,600 acres of land for his help. Okay. This land was west of Chicago along the, is it the Des Plains liver or the de Plains? I think that it's, I feel like I want to say both and they both feel wrong. I got to look it out. I should know this because like my Manz's family is literally from Chicago. Your Man's is.

I'm going to look it up because every time. time I go to say this word. I say it wrong both ways. I want to say desplains, but like, I don't know. In English in the U.S. It is safe. I love his voice. Desplanes. Desplanes. Displains. The last one was French. Thank you for that. The plan. I do love the French, but it's Desplanes. Okay, I thought so. And I really wanted to say that, but then my brain said, no, bitch, you're wrong. No, bitch. It's true, because when you look at it, you think it's supposed to be de planes. but it's the plains. Des Plains.

Yeah, yeah. So it's the Des Plains River. Now, part of this land is Robinson Woods, named after Alexander Robinson. It's so annoying. Can I just say that they were like, yeah, we can't say your name, so we're going to give you an English one. Exactly. How fucked is that? And the fact that they were like, yoink, we're going to take this land.

Then they raged a war on it. And he was like, wow, I'm going to save all these people because I'm a selfless person. And we are selfless people. And then they were like, you know, what we're going to do for your trouble? we're going to gift you this land. And it's like, honey. Thank you so much. Honey, that was his. Wow. Thank you. That was already theirs. But thank you. Yeah, thank you so much for that gift of my own land. They were altruistic. You just love that word. It's my word. It's my word. It's my word. It's my word. It's my word. I own it. No, I'm doing this new thing. Sorry to interrupt you in like the whole last middle of your story. I'm doing this new thing where like I find a new word and it's my word until I can use it a little bit.

It's true. I love it. And I've only used altruistic twice, and I found it like two weeks ago. It's a great word. I like it. Feels right. It feels right in your mouth. Yeah. Yeah. It has good mouth feel. Yeah, it does. Altruistic. Right. Just whew. And that means selfless. In case you were wondering. Well, they were altruistic, but they were given a gift of their own then anyway. So now, Robinson lived in the reservation until 1872 when he died at the age of 100. 10 years old. Fuck the fuck yeah. You know what that's on being peaceful.

Yeah, it is being peaceful. You know what that's on, vibing. Not being a dick. Yeah. Now, his family and their descendants continued to call it home for decades, this like tract of land, and only left after a fire in 1955. Wow. Which burnt down the original homestead.

And the forest preserve bought the land. And now it's like a park. You can go in there. But Robinson and his family are buried there. Oh shit. And there's a big stone mark to mark the graves. Okay, God, I thought you were going to tell me in like unmarked graves. No, it's definitely marked, but like still like, whoa.

Yeah. They're just buried there. It's kind of crazy. It's like where they should be buried though. Like it's their fucking land. It's just like, whoa, you can just like go in there. Now there's that. So there's that whole thing that this land not only has an actual Native American burial ground on it,

but there was a war waged on this land. And really a massacre. It is called the Fort Dearborn massacre. A lot of tragedy, a lot of terrible shit, a lot of atrocities happened on this land. The land remembers. We heard, you know, we know it from the Bridgewater Triangle and the King Phillips War. Like, we got a lot of shit happening from that. So it's energy, dude.

The energy is bad and the energy is still there. So there's that. And now let's talk about the murders that happened only months after. this fire in 195, the same year, only months later. Yeah, isn't that weird? Yeah. This was October 16th, 1955. A tragic triple homicide happened near here. So the victims were 13-year-old John Schusler, no, 11-year-old Anton Schusler, and 14-year-old Robert Peterson. The boys, the boys were friends, and John and Anton were brothers. They had gone downtown for the day to see a movie, and they just never came back home.

When they didn't return home that night, their parents called police, like, frantically and a search commenced immediately. There was no signs of them. Nothing. The only signs of them were before they went missing. It was like you could follow their trail. They went to the movie. Then they had gone bowling in, like, a random bowling alley because one of them was, like,

a big bowling fan. Oh. And then after that, they just seemingly disappeared. Oh, I hate that so much. Yeah. So they searched for days. And it was actually two full days of searching and they didn't find anything. Then after the two days on October 18th, they were finally found. And it is not a happy ending. The bodies were found in a ditch that lay near a parking area in Robinson Woods. All three of the boys were found naked and it was debated whether they had been sexually assaulted. But later it was declared that they likely had. A newspaper article about the case from the Toledo Blaze reported that they had been held captive, likely in some filthy place. All the boys had been bound and gagged with tape. They had all been bludgeoned in their heads with a gun or a tire iron or both, and they had all been strangled.

Jesus. Robert Peterson, the 14-year-old, his head had been lacerated by some sharp instrument 14 times. Oh, my God. What fucking monster did this? They were all brutalized. but for some reason Robert Peterson got it the worst. But he was the youngest? He was the oldest, actually.

He was the 14-year-old. There was a 14, 13, and 11. I wonder if he was like trying to protect the younger too. I wonder if he was. Now, there were no leads, and everyone in the area was in complete shock. This just didn't happen at the time in this area. And Anton Sr., who is Anton and John's father, he apparently passed away a month after this of a heart attack.

Oh, I believe. And they said he was like brokenhearted. Of course. He lost his only two children this way. His only two. They were his only two children. And even if they weren't, like, that's still horrific. Even if they weren't, it's the worst thing you can possibly imagine.

That that's how he had. To have them both taken in this way. That's horrific. I can't even imagine. Now, Detective James A. Jack was a 26-year-old rookie on this case. And he, like, I was just like amazed at this story because he tirelessly worked for justice for these boys until it finally came decades later. Took that long. Yeah. He was actually quoted in an article as saying, I thought of it every year.

I went to the graves on the anniversary. The last time was the 50th anniversary. My God. I placed a rose on each of the graves. These were wonderful boys. John wanted to be a priest and little Anton was talking seriously at the time about becoming a veterinarian. But they never got to grow up like any other children. They never got to go to high school. or go to prom night or graduate. And it wasn't until 1995. Oh, my God. That the killer was finally found.

That's only like 25 years ago. It's crazy. It was 61-year-old Kenneth Hanson, who was actually 22 years old at the time of the murders. What? Yeah. He was a stable hand who picked the boys up while they hitchhiked that day.

He had worked for a millionaire at the time named Silas Jane, who was this like powerhouse and horse stealing circles at the time and was known as kind of a tough guy in that world. Like he was like cracking skulls kind of tough guy. That makes me kind of nervous. And actually he later killed and was convicted of killing his half-brother, this guy. That's probably why I felt kind of nervous.

So there's bad people here. Now Kenneth Hansen told John Anson, said that he basically picked John Anton and Robert up while they were hitchhiking and he told them that he was going to show them a prize-winning horse. And he said this prize-winning horse is Silas's horse, and people knew him. It was like literally a big deal. So I was like, holy shit, we're going to see Silas Jane's prize-winning horse. Right. So he brought them to idle hour stables on Higgins Road, which was owned by Silas Jane.

And he tried to sexually assault them. When they fought back, which I believe probably Robert Peterson, the 14-year-old really fought and tried to help. Right. He murdered them one by one. Oh, my God. Yeah. Now, Kenneth was bragging about this, like talking to people immediately. And it took that long to get him caught?

Well, in Silas, what happened was Silas Jane found out, the owner of the stables and his boss. And he set those stables on fire to get rid of the evidence and later filed an insurance claim, a fraudulent one. What the fuck is Silas Jane's problem? And then the boys were dumped in the ditch in Robinson Woods. So he helped cover this up. And he didn't face any charge. for doing that? No, he ended up finally facing charges for murdering his half-brother. Yeah, but like, how about the other stuff? Yeah. Now, according to Prairie ghosts, it's a website,

during the 1995 trial of Kenneth Hanson, former victims of his came forward who survived, and they said Hansen had sexually assaulted or harmed them and would tell them to stay quiet or they would end up like the Peterson boy. Oh my God. Yeah. He's like a really fucked up individual. And he was 22 when this happened. 22 years old. He was sentenced to 200 years in prison. Good. Not enough.

But great. In 2002, though, he got a new trial because they said basically they were saying that the jury shouldn't have been allowed to hear his prior, like, incidents with other boys. Which I never understand. I'm like, come on. It's like that speaks to your character. Exactly. And very much so since you've murdered three little boys. And it was like pertinent because.

you brought them up. Exactly. Now, luckily, he was found guilty again. Good. And he died in 2007 in jail. Bye. So obviously with all of this shit, paranormal activity seems like it would be a given here. And it is. Now, everyone says they feel watched in these woods and feel a very heavy presence. People say, like, the second you walk in there, you're going to feel like the weight of the world on you. Well, think of how people were killed. Yeah. And it's the most common reported thing, this heavy, like, really just intense feeling. I feel like I just wouldn't want to go there. And if you happen to take something from these woods, you should not do that. Like something you find on the ground or anything like that, they say that you will feel that heavy presence until you bring it back. Yeah, don't steal.

So don't do that. Now, there was investigations in 1974 and 1975 by two paranormal researchers, and these investigations revealed something very interesting. They were able to capture an audio recording, and the audio sounds like what seems to be drums in the distance. Oh, cool. And it's really near the Robinson family graves, so you can hear this. And the sound is one that tons of people hear. Even today, people will say, I hear drums when I go in there.

And they say that they feel like they're coming closer, and closer and they're very like, they're very on rhythm kind of drums, like war drums, basically. And it's very clear, very ominous. That's when, sometimes that's when the heavy feeling will come about. Ooh, I feel like, I feel a heavy feeling right now. I know, it gives me, like, the chills. But that's another thing in the Bridgewater triangle. Yeah.

People hear drumming near, like, where the King Phillips War happened. It makes sense because they used to, like, do that while they were coming in. Exactly. Now, another sound often reported is someone's, snapping or cutting down a tree with an axe. But there's no one around and no tree falls physically. And would the settlers probably do that to like build shelters? Probably.

Yeah. And like they probably all would. And it's like, but it's, that must be so weird to hear somebody chopping down a tree with an axe and then there isn't one. That's like a residual haunting. Yeah. They just keep, imagine if that's your residual haunt. You would be so jacked. Just keep cutting down a tree.

Your arms would be so sexy. You would be very. you would be very jacked. You would be able to do those TikToks where people just chop wood. Have you ever seen those? I always get people duetting those and they're really funny because there are always people that are like, why am I watching this? I love that.

I thought you were going to say you were going to be able to do one of those TikToks where like the people like can lift the other people and those like weird yoga moves. I don't get those either. Oh, interesting. Weird. We have very different. We do a very different view pages. But you could do those TikToks, I suppose.

But those are weird. You could do either TikTok. You could do either one. But it's very weird. Like it's just to hear somebody chopping down a tree and then nothing happens. But of course, these are kind of fairly innocuous by themselves. Like, you know, nothing really crazy. But people also report hearing screams and screeches.

No, thank you. And people think these may be flesh pedestrians or rakes. I'm leaving. So that, oh, I just got to chill. I just got a full body chill. Do you ever? Do you ever get a chill that gets stuck? Yes.

I have a chill that's stuck. It's a stuck chill. Oh. It's like it's buffering. It's a chill that's buffering. I'm feeling freaked out. Yeah. It's a lot.

Now, besides sounds, people have seen full-body apparitions of Native Americans, of settlers. People have said that they've seen little kids. No. They've also said that they specifically see Alexander Robinson and his family. they see like... How would make me feel okay because they were peaceful? They feel like a rad group of people. Yeah, they were just like vibes. Yeah. And apparently, and he doesn't come off as very, as like aggressive or any, like none of these are very scary.

But apparently a lot of activity happens on the left side of the Robinson family monument, which is strange. And there's no explanation. No, it's just like that's where it's really reported. Huh. And people report seeing a lot of strange lights in the middle of this place. Oh. And they see them in the middle. of the night when the park is closed because you're not allowed to be in this place.

It's only open from sunrise to sunset. So in the dark, they'll see, like, torch lights walking through the forest and on the paths. And some people have taken video. I saw a few videos of people taking them from the roadway. And they're like, what are those fucking lights? And you can see it moving in the woods. That freaks me the fuck out. Yeah.

But what they think it might be is that Alexander Robinson and his family, they all would use the, they would go down to the Des Plains River to get water. And they would trek up those paths back to where they were. Like lanterns? With torches. Torches, excuse me, yeah. So they think this might be like people walking back from the river. Or it could be anything.

But it's like that, that's like a, I guess a nice thought. Yeah. But that's a crazy one. And that's one that tons of people see have documented. It's like reported all over the place. That is cool. That's the thing with this one that was interesting to me is that a lot of the things that I found about it, lots of people reported them. Like these are very highly reported things.

So it's not like, oh, this one person saw this or this one person saw that. People over and over and over again document and report these actual sightings and like sounds and all that. Now we've talked about seeing things. we've talked about hearing things, you also smell things in here. Oh. Now, people will smell a very strong smell of violets or lavender near the burial sites. Oh, I love the smell of lavender. And they'll smell this, even in the dead of winter, when no flower is around.

And people claim it is strong and that it feels like it's sitting very close to the ground. Lavender is supposed to be like a calming scent, so that's interesting. And it's near the Robinson burial ground. I spray my pillow with lavender before I go to sleep. I love a good lavender smell to chill me out. Yeah, yeah. But that's a funny one. It's just like, wow, I wonder what that's about.

Maybe it's just like a calming vibe. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. I also read reports of animals acting strange in this park. Sometimes people will see a group of deer, and actually there are videos of this too, that will all just walk toward the person instead of running away. Are they not deers?

Or they'll just stay. I know I was thinking that too, are they not dears? Or they'll just stay still and stare at them. But there's also reports and videos, again, of groups of deer literally following people out of, like, walking them out of the woods. Oh, it's like they're, like, protecting them. Like, staying with them, like, guards. That is really cool.

And there's videos of it where, like, somebody's walking out of the woods and they're literally taking video of these animals around them. And there's, like, several deer walking with them down the path. Like, they're on the outside. skirts, but they're walking with them. And it's like they're just like leading people out of the woods. I don't know like a lot about it, but I do know that like animals are very important in Native American culture. Yeah. So it's like maybe they're just like maybe it's just part of the whole thing. Exactly. And it's like some I don't know. It doesn't it's like it's had a lot of bad shit

happen and it's got bad. But it seems like yeah, it seems like there's some like heavy energy there for sure. Like people have felt like very heavy energy and are like, like, I didn't like it. Yeah. But then there's other stuff that feels like it's like not, you know, it's like very. I kind of wonder if it depends what you bring in there. You know, like what kind of energy you go in with. I know. I wonder that too. Because usually you get that energy, like you get the energy you give. Yeah, because it's like some of it feels malevolent, but I wonder what that's in like this stuff is so benign that it feels like, if you're just going in there, like maybe open and like respectful. Right.

Maybe. But then I saw a news report where they had, they had a medium. And he was claiming that the spirits in that area just wanted people to get off their land. Okay. Yeah. And that like this was their land and they wanted them off them. I'm saying that's one medium. But like.

Yeah, of course. He made it more of a like a malevolent thing. But I don't know. Maybe again, maybe that's what. it's what you bring in that you get out. Well, and you also have to think, like, how many people came forward to him? Like, that's not representative of everybody there. No, it's definitely not.

But you can visit there if you want. You can do that. It's open from sunrise to sunset. Don't be trespassing. Apparently, it's also a very nice place to take a nature walk. It's, like, very lovely. Again, deer will just, like, hang out around you. Like, they're very not scared of people there.

That is, like, really cool. I literally just want to go to hang out. with some deer. Just saying, oh, dear. But just like, you know, be careful when you go out there and don't take shit. Be respectful, exactly. Be very respectful of the burial grounds. And, you know, I think it sounds like kind of a cool place. It does. But also terrifying. I mean, that's right up her alley. It's had some really big atrocities happen there. I mean, that that triple murder was normally. That's just like really, really tragic, really sad. Yeah. And if you look up the story of that murder. It really, because of course, back then, they would just splash crime scene photos across

up front of a newspaper. So just be a little careful when you're looking for it because it will shock you. But it also reminded me that the photos reminded me very much of the West Memphis three. Yeah. Photos. And like the crime scene, it was like a little, I got like taken aback by it. I was like, oh. Yeah. You were telling you that earlier. Yeah, very similar. And geez, like it will just pop right up on Google. So be warned about that. That's not something that you're ready to see, which most people probably aren't. Yeah, if you type in their names and you're looking for like news reports, if you hit Google Images, you will, one pops up that's very graphic. So just be aware of that because it's kids.

Yeah, that's why I feel like sometimes I'm like, can like somebody work on that? Google Images, can you chill out? You know? Yeah. Just a little bit. Yeah, just a little bit. But that is Robinson Woods in Illinois. Huh.

I wonder if Drew's dad knows about that place or like any. his family. I know, I wonder, because a lot of people said that it's a place where people heard about when they were little when they're there. It's like a local thing. I'll text Drew's dad later to see that's a little late right now, but I'll text him maybe tomorrow and update you next time. Yeah, and see if he knows about that murder case because... Yeah. Sorry, what year was that again? 1950s. Yeah, so he probably would have, I don't think he was born yet. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm bad at math. I'm actually not even bad at math. I just like, don't know it right now.

I just just just just not right in this moment. I don't know math. It is 9.18 p.m. so I'm done math. Yeah, it's late. All right. Well, that was like really interesting. So thank you for that.

You're welcome. No, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. No, just kidding. All right. So my spooky forest for this episode is kind of not a forest, but it is a little bit at the same time. Okay.

It is a is La Dillas Munekas or the island of the doll. Oh, I would say that's like foresty. Yeah, it is. You know? It is. We don't do spooky islands yet. Maybe that's like a thing that could happen. Oh, spooky islands.

I love it. I kind of love that. It's just like, you know, tropical. Yeah. All right. So again, technically not a forest. It's actually more of a floating garden. Ooh.

These little areas are floating gardens. This island has trees and they're creepy, so it counts. There you go. You know? You just qualified it right there. Boom. That's my argument. Creepy trees there.

Done. So Isla de Las Muneca. is just outside of Mexico City and it is located on Lake Teshul, I believe is how you say it. And by all accounts, it was actually never meant to become a tourist attraction like it is today. But the events that led it to becoming one are actually really tragic. Way back during the Mexican Revolution, the rebels actually burned down most of this island and the bodies that were burned during the revolution of people who had run there for safety were simply tossed in the nearby water.

And it's like canals. It's very labyrinthian, like you would say. Ooh. Very labyrinthian and just like tossing people into the water. Oh, that is. That's bleak. So the natives to these islands think that, and I agree with them, a lot of bad energy on the island comes from that time

and could be why it is supposedly still cursed to this day. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. But there is a whole other curse that we have to talk about, and it all starts with a man named on Julian Santana Barrera and he became the caretaker of the island in the early 50s. So he was born in Sochi Milko in 1921. Not a ton is known about Don Julian's early life, but it is known that he was a very religious man.

He really enjoyed going around to different towns in the area and, you know, spreading the good word. But because he wasn't a priest, the people that he was preaching to were just like not fond of his teachings at all. because back then around the 50s, technically only priests were supposed to be spreading the gospel and like nobody else you had to be a priest.

To spread the good word, you gotta be a priest. To spread the good word. So people looked down on him for doing so and actually some people even used physical violence against him. It said that he went through his fair share of beatings while he was doing this. Oh, that's sad. Which is what partially led him to living alone

on what would become the island of the dolls. and then something that like irritated me in my research when I actually found the truth, a lot of sources say that he abandoned his wife and children, but that doesn't seem to be true because I don't think he had children. Don Julian's nephew said that he and his wife actually lived on the island, and because it was so cursed, they actually were not able to have children while they were living there. So it doesn't sound like he left his wife.

Yeah, because I remember I've heard that. Because I've only heard. Like, I've only heard. Like, I've heard very tiny bits and pieces of all this. Yeah. And that's always part of it. It's in almost every source. And then I found this article.

It was a New York Post article with his actual, like, great, great grandnephew who now runs the island with his wife actually. And he was like, no, he didn't abandon anybody and he didn't have children. Oh, wow. Isn't that so fucked? It's just like a game of telephone, you know? Yeah. And it's like it's told so many times that people believe it.

Yeah, it sucks. So it's unclear whether his wife died on the island or if she left for some reason, but either he didn't leave her. So nobody is quite certain if the origin story of how the island became the island of the dolls is true or not. A lot of people think that the years he spent alone on the island kind of made Don Hulian go a little bit cuckoo. Yeah. And they don't believe his account of what happened, but I personally do believe him.

Yeah. So according to him, he was around the water in the fishing in the area, and he saw the body of a young girl floating. He wasn't sure if she was alive or dead, so he jumped into the water and, like, rescued her. And he did everything he possibly could to save her and bring her back to life. But it was too late. She had died. She had drowned in the water. Now, it said that he either saw that this girl was holding onto a doll or that a few days later, a doll appeared in that same spot, kind of like washed up on the water. Yeah. But either way, he hung that doll up. And again, Another thing that kind of gets wrong in the storytelling,

most sources say that he hung the doll up on a nearby tree and it all started like that, but that's not true. Don Julien's nephew actually said that the doll was hung up in his small cabin on the island, which makes sense because I actually saw a clip of the original doll, and it's in that cabin that still exists today. Oh, okay. So Don Julien did this as a way not only to honor this little girl's memory who had lost her life, but also to keep evil spirits at bay because it's believed that this.

This particular area is like very heavy with spirits. Yeah. People that have died there. I mean, there was a lot of death there. A lot of death. So this marked the start of more dolls being hung up over the course of the next 50 years. And Don Julian felt compelled to hang the dolls over the island because he was actually being haunted by the spirit of the young girl that he had found.

He believed he was being haunted. That is so spooky. He would wake up in the middle of the night yelling out for her or about her because every time he went to sleep, he would have nightmares about finding her. Oh. Same nightmare on repeat. And he felt, he was like, I don't know, like, if there's just more I should be doing to honor her memory.

And he said he was also trying to keep her spirit comfortable because he felt like she was trapped on the island and couldn't find her way to the afterlife. But she liked the dolls. So he wanted her to be comfortable while she was there. Oh, man. But eventually he also felt like he needed to protect himself from her. So, and his nephew said it was because, quote, the spirit of the living girl was living, excuse me, the spirit of the girl was living in sorrow.

In the mornings, Julian started seeing ghosts and one day woke up and found all his crops had died. He tried many things to improve his crops, but he couldn't because the spirit damaged it. He became more and more scared. And so, again, to protect himself, he keeps hanging up these dolls trying to just appease this spirit. Yeah. So this was when he started actually going around to nearby towns. he would search through bins of discarded items, and he would take any doll that he found back with him.

And actually, sometimes he would find them just discarded in the nearby water, and he would collect them to bring back to the island. And after some time of doing that, he actually even started selling the produce that he grew on the island in exchange for more dolls. Oh, wow. So before long, almost the entire part of his island was filled, and words started spreading in the area.

So people started coming to the island. island asking for tours and Don Julien would take them around the island for a small fee or for more dolls to hang. Oh, geez. No, he didn't understand the people that felt like the island was creepy or scary though because in his mind it was like he was creating this beautiful sanctuary for this spirit. And he said it just served as protection and it served to like make this little girl happy. Oh my god. That's like heartbreaking. It is. So his operation went on for 50 years until 2001. one when he passed away. Now, he was said to have been found in the exact same spot where he found that little girl all those years ago. Some say that he drowned, but his nephew said he had a heart

attack actually and then was dragged into the water by the spirit of the girl. Wow. Which I got chill bumps. I was just going to say my entire body just went warm. So people who visit the island now obviously feel like a little bit creeped out by the dolls and just the place. has this, like you were kind of saying with your set of woods, like, just because of everything that's happened there, like, it gets that kind of energy. Yeah, like super heavy. Yeah, but there are actual paranormal accounts from people who have visited. People say that they hear weird noises and that they've seen the dolls move on their own and not just like they're like swaying in the wind or something, but like their arm or leg or like their whole ass head will turn around to look at you.

Oh, so creepy. Oh, no. And there's like an actual like phobia. of dolls. Yeah, and you know who has it actually? Who? Zach Bagan's has it. Oh, really? Is it pagans? I have no idea. I feel like I hear it said differently all the time. So like, Zach, if you're listening, let us know. Let us know if you're listening. If you're listening to us. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. He, I was watching clips of his show, Ghost Adventures, and he went to the island and he was like, I'm hoping I can overcome my fear. Oh, damn. And it like, it seemed like it was really creepy. That's intense exposure therapy. Oh, yeah. Phobia. Yeah. There was like a doll that used to have batteries, but like obviously it's very old, so it didn't. Like the batteries wouldn't work anymore. It's exposed. And it was still talking. Like it had spoken in the past, but like the batteries were dead. What? It was creepy as fuck. Holy shit. So creepy. People also say that they hear the dolls whispering to one another. Oh my God.

Now legend has it that all of the dolls on the island are haunted by the spirit of the little girl. girl or perhaps like other children who have passed over the years and been attracted to the island because of all these dolls. Ah. Now even people traveling nearby like sailors heading to a certain destination say that they feel weirdly compelled to stop and visit the island instead of going in the direction where they're headed. Oh.

Which I hate. Yeah. That freaks me out. It's like a siren song. It is. And to this date, there are more than 15. hundred dolls hanging from the trees and within that little cabin and a lot of them are like even creepier than they once were which is saying a lot because don't really would hang them in whatever state

he found them in like missing eyes or not missing limbs or not yeah but because it's been so long and on top of that they're even dirtier and more messed up than they once were so they're like very very creepy they're very like sid from toy story yes kind of toys yeah and they like some of them have been there so long that like there's cobwebs that just like overtook their faces. Oh, I saw a picture of one of those and it ruined me. The original doll is still there in the cabin. What? The original doll. Oh, I want to see that. It had, like, it used to have arms and legs obviously and they're all, like, frayed. So they're just kind of like these like weird like appendages. Oh. And the, the face is just like super dirty. I swear I'm going to have nightmares about it tonight. Oh, man.

It's so creepy. I'm looking up the original doll right now. So if you do want to go to the island and see it, you can. It is in the canals again of Sochi Milko, which is south of Mexico City by about 45 minutes. And it's still run by Don Julian's family. His nephew says that he still sometimes see shadows on the island and the moonlight. But other than that, he said he hasn't had many bad experiences on the island, but he will not stay there. Like he does not live on that island. He lives on another island nearby. Yeah, I can't imagine living on that island. No, but if you do want to go, the boat ride to the island takes about two hours. So, like, just know that ahead of time. You have two hours to sit there and wonder what you're going to see. You have two hours to make a decision to turn around and go back. But, like, good luck with that because I don't know how you're going to turn around and go back. That's so creepy.

That is, I want to go. I want to see it so bad, but I feel like. the vibes would be so intense. Oh, the vibes are so heavy there anyway, just because of everything that happened with like the revolution and all of that. Oh, yeah. It's so intense. When you think of how heavy, like going into Abby Borden's room in the Lizzie Borden house,

I've never felt something like that before where it was just like, ooh, like all of a sudden it was just this really heavy, like hard feeling. Like I didn't feel good and I was dizzy and I just felt like I was like, we should not be here. I remember, like, you know that feeling when, like, you've walked your knees, so you're going to faint and your tongue starts to get, like, I don't know how to describe it, but like, do you know the feeling of, like, how your mouth feels we were going to faint? Yes.

When we were in there, that's what I felt like. Yeah, you feel like you're going to pass out. Yeah, it was weird. And I remember we both looked at each other and we were like, we got to get out of here. Yeah, I was like, I want to get the fuck out of here. But imagine you're on this fucking island and you can't get off? Like, you just got, you have to wait for your boat to come back. No.

And then you have to, like, row away from that place. That's a lot for me. I would need to be airlifted out there. Yeah, that's a lot for me. But I don't think any plane could land. No, and both of those options sound terrible to me. Yeah, you're not a fire. I'm not a, I'm a driver in a car.

Which is funny because that's more dangerous. I know. I pick the most dangerous of all the transportation. And I'm like, I feel more comfortable than this. Thank you. I love it. But, wow, that's terrifying. And also heartbreaking.

I know. In, like, several ways. I know. Like the story of the little girl. Drowning. And him like finding the doll. And then like. And then just dedicating his whole life to like appeasing her spirit.

Well, that's the thing. And he like feels like he wanted to make it this like haven for her while she was waiting to go into the afterlife. I keep getting chills. I don't know what's happening right now. But I'm freaking out. And like, you know, him trying to like protect himself from her at the same time as making this her like paradise.

I don't know why you just freaked me out so bad. I keep getting. chills. I'm like, it's a little freaking me out. I don't like this. Do you know what? I actually do feel like we need to sage in here and like we'll get the ethical sage. Don't worry. Yeah. I have that one. You do. I do. But I feel like because sometimes like we talk about energy so much, we talk about really heavy things in this room. Yeah. And sometimes I do feel like we need to clear the energy. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. It's getting a little heavy in here. Just getting a little heavy in here. I think it's time to get out of here. Yeah, I think it's time to wrap this up. Guys,

That was spooky woods. Spooky woods in an island. And like, you know, there's woods on that island. Yeah, there's trees. It's an island. It's this trees. That's all I was looking for here was trees. Yeah, that's what qualifies a forest.

Does it have trees? Yeah, cool, it's forest. Let's go. Like, the end. Well, so we hope that you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that your voice sounds like this. I love you so much.

Bye. Please send in your spooky woods and spooky other things to Morbid Podcast at email.com because we will love it. Yeah. Spend. Yeah. Spend in some spooky fucking islands. Yeah, all your spooky shit.

Goodbye.