National Park After Dark - The Beast-Man: Olympic National Park

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

John Tornow left the societal world to live a reclusive life within the forests of what today is Olympic National Park. When he is accused of murder, he flees into the thick brush of the PNW evading capture for months. But is he a villain? or a victim?Antarctica InfoFor the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!IQBAR: Text PARK to 64000 to get 20% off all IQBAR products and free shipping.Beam: Use our link and code NPAD for up to 40% off.  What Makes A Killer: New episodes for Season 5 drop every Thursday. Listen wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The history of innocent until proven guilty is the dicey one. Common law systems say the presumption of innocence is a legal right to the accused in a criminal trial. However, the 1787 Constitution of the United States. states does not explicitly cite the presumption of innocence against the accused, but it does attempt to uphold this through the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment. The idea behind this is that every person who is accused of a crime has the right to tell their side of the story and to argue their innocence. When warranted, the accused will face a jury of their peers who will pass the final judgment. This has been how we do things for generations. The first jury trial dates

all the way back to 1630 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, when a colonist was accused of murdering an acquaintance of the Mayflower. But what happens when there is no trial, when there is not even an arrest, when the world has decided someone is guilty without giving the accused a chance to rebuttal? Well, then the people become the judge, jury, and executioners. And stories like the one of John Tornow, the wild man of the Winoche, become our history. Welcome to National Park After Dark. So we're getting involved in some vigilante justice.

Yes, we are. This has been a highly requested story and we're going to Olympic National Park, which we haven't visited in a really long time, so I'm excited for it. Lovely. And I know that you're just, before we get to the story, you are chomping at the bit to tell everyone just the good news,

to spread the good word. if you will. Spread the good Lord. The good Lord's work. What? Okay. Yes, I am. I am.

I am. I have been saying for months and months now that I really, really have wanted to get an Antarctica trip going. And if you're on social media, if you were on Patreon, you've already seen this. But we have officially convinced Trova trip to allow us to take you all to Antarctica. And we are launching the trip. We have the link in our show description. so go click on it now so you can follow along and look at the itinerary. But it's really exciting.

We're going to be launching this to be open to book on September 8th at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. So it's not available to book yet, but you can look at it. This is, I will say, is the most expensive trip we have ever launched. And we understand that it might not be doable for everybody. But we wanted to give everyone a huge head start to be able to plan and pay for this over a long time because you can do payment plans with this. So this trip actually isn't going to launch until March, March 9th of 2025. Yeah, that's when we're going. It's when we're going. Yeah. Yeah. So huge heads up time as far as preparing if this is a trip that you sign up for. But also, we just wanted to give a couple weeks head time because we've learned

over the last handful of trips that we have launched, it seems to be a mad rush. And and it's like we announce it and then they go on sale like you know a day or two later and people are just kind of caught off guard and it's just it's crazy you guys are nuts um so you want to give you a few weeks to think about it i don't know did i say how much it costs already no you just said it i'm avoiding it okay it's 12,600 dollars oof everyone go ow with me i know it's expensive but this is the trip of a lifetime and i'm talking about this isn't our typical camping trip, hiking trip, whatever, we're going to be taking a luxury cruise ship from Yushuaya, South, South America, which you'll also have a day to explore the most southern national

park in the world, which is just insane in itself. And then we're going to be hopping on a luxury cruise ship to Antarctica where we're going to get the chance to see some amazing wildlife. And not only that, but we're going to be on a cruise ship with biologists who are studying the area. And we're going to be able to have the chance to attend lectures from these biologists. And they have a citizen scientist program where we can actually help collect data while we're down there for them. So we're going to be fully integrated. This isn't a typical travel experience. This is defined as a full on expedition, which I cannot tell you how excited I am for this because Antarctica just feels so unreachable to me. So the fact that this is real life and we can help you all get there,

because for me, I'm like, I'm never going to go to Antarctica. That's crazy. How am I going to get there? It's like, actually, we're going to take you on a really nice boat where they have yoga and really good food and science lectures and comfy beds. There's a library. There's a library. Bookworms, fellow bookworms. It's kind of just like not only is it a trip of a lifetime bucketless destination worthy. It's also a really nice blend of travel styles. and experiences. A lot of our trips seem to be, you know, just by nature, it's like you're going on a hiking, camping trip, period. We are hiking and camping and staying intense. This is the least intensive for physical activity of any trip we've ever launched because there's little to none required if you don't want. Right. There's opportunities for it, but you don't have to. And there's also, you know, a lot of our trips. Some of our trips were focused more like Egypt of more like history-based

and going to museums and this and that. And this trip is just a blend of everything. Like Cassie said, there's lecture opportunities, data collection opportunities. There's opportunities to just chill on a luxury. There's penguins. There's penguins. There's penguins.

There are penguins. Book now. There are penguins, like real ones. And there's obviously opportunities to get off the boat. You can camp on the ice if you want. There's snowshoeing. Weather depending. Photography.

opportunities, there's snowshoeing. There's, I mean, obviously, the itinerary will spell it all out for you. It's the longest trip we've ever done, as well as the most, the coolest, I would say. I mean, it's the most unreachable destination, I think we've chosen, and we're getting there. So we have a couple things for you to check into. So number one, of course, the Trova trip page that has our day-by-day itinerary broken and down, just kind of a snapshot of what to expect for that particular day, different activities, things like that. But we're also going to post on our link tree through our Instagram, which

will also link in the show description of this episode. We have a, how long is it? I think it's like 35 pages. Yeah. A PDF file that details everything for you. So you can see exactly what you're paying for. Yep. So it's 35 pages worth of not only itinerary breakdown, but also information about the boat, pictures about of your accommodations, information on the citizen science program that Cassie spoke about. Also, the different efforts as far as operating responsible travel. While in Antarctica, a lot of people have questions about that, especially being on a bigger ship. So there's just 35 pages worth of information. If this is a trip that you would like to join us on, please, please look at both of those things. There's tons of information on it. And there is a very, so this

is like the grandest trip we've ever done, but it also has the least amount of spots. Yes. So we don't know how it's going to go for how many people this is going to be doable for. So we just are recommending if you are interested, be there on the dot to book it because, I mean, we could get all the spots sold out in a couple of minutes like we have before. Or it might take a little bit longer because it's more expensive. We're not sure. But I also do want to note that when we're going down there, it's whale season. So we're definitely going to see whales. there, which might entice people a little bit more to want to come. So just be prepared. We're going to be posting on our socials more about all the information and hyping up the trip over the next

few weeks. But just so everyone knows, it's coming up September 8th, 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, you will be able to book. All right. Now let's go to Olympic because it is one of my favorite national parks. Yeah. Everyone's here for the story. So let's go into it. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more.

Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Today, I will be telling the story of John Tornau, a man who, who lived within the forests of what is today Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest. He lived off the land, hunting his own food, building his own shelters, and he was a bit of a hermit. He was avoiding people to the best of his abilities. His odd reclusive behavior coupled with his history of being committed to a mental institution,

and also he had a bit of a temper on him, made him a spectacle for all types of rumors in the Olympic Peninsula. People were telling stories of him being over seven feet tall, which was not. true. He was like 6-3, which is still very tall, but people are saying he's a giant. He's over seven feet tall. He's swinging from trees. He smelled of wild animals so no hunting dogs could ever track him. He spoke to animals. He's like this mystical creature, basically, is what was going around in the Olympic Peninsula. And he was also labeled as, quote, a demented outlaw who hid inside the dense forest waiting for someone to enter his territory so he could kill them. He was publicly demonized as the wild man of the Winochi after the Winochi River on the Olympic Peninsula,

or he was also known as the Beast Man. Some speculate that John Tornow's story also inspired Edgar Rice to write the story of Tarzan in 1912, which kind of goes inside with swinging from trees speaking to animals, seven feet tall wild man. Interesting, interesting. So this is 1800s, I'm guessing. Yes, this was the 1800s, early 1800s. And for John Tornow, he eventually became the main suspect and accused murderer of his two nephews.

For this one, there was no arrest, there was no trial, and he was ultimately brought to justice by a manhunt. So for this story today, I'm going to tell his story. And I want you to decide for yourself if you believe that he was this wild dangerous man he was said to be, or if maybe he was just innocent and misunderstood. And I do want to say I did find most of my research from the book Beast Man. a historical account of John Tornow accused murderer of six men by Michael Fredson. And it's very interesting. It is, if you're looking into the book, to buy it. I will say that there are a lot of pictures of him dead in it. And the front cover of this book is John Tornow dead with people posing with his body. So it is kind of a... Graphic. Yeah, it's a graphic. It's a very graphic book. That's a good word.

Going into John Tornow's story, he was one of six children and he was born on September 4th, 1880. Oh, so late 1800s, early 1900s, I meant to say. He was born in Iowa to two parents who had immigrated from Germany. And two years later, in 1882, the family headed west in search of land and work for the family. And they also traveled with a friend who was also from Germany and his name was Henry Bauer. They followed the building of the Pacific Railroad until they arrived in the Puget Sound, which was not yet designated as part of the state of Washington. Washington was designated as a state years later. And it was here that both the Tornow's and Henry Bauer purchased land along the Sats Stop River, which is a river that is within Olympic National Forest and stops just before reaching Olympic National Park. And obviously it wasn't these things back in this time, but today, to give you a reference of where it is.

And they actually went there with the idea to start their own timber company. And they did. And they named it the Tornow Brothers Logging Company. I think it's very interesting to note that they were there to create this logging company. And also where Olympic National Park is today, it was established because of the amount of logging that was going on here. After years of companies decimating the old growth forests and temperate rainforest, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the area national park status on June 29, 1938. Today, it protects nearly 1 million acres of landscape in the northwestern part of Washington state, protecting 7,000,000. several distinctly different landscapes. Within the park, you'll find glacier cap mountains,

old growth, temperate rainforests, and over 70 miles or 112 kilometers of coastline. It also protects a lot of species of animals that were being significantly hunted, including bald eagles, mountain lions, mountain goats, and black bears. The first time I ever went to Olympic was actually with you and Ian. Oh, real. Oh, yeah. When you and Al. When we went to the whole rainforest. Oh, yeah. And then we played on the beach with Chaska. Oh, well, and blue. And blue. Yeah.

Yeah. It was so too. Blue is definitely there. Yeah. I have a video of that, I think, of you, like, tossing the ball for Chaska. Oh, yeah. On one of the beaches. I don't know which one.

But, yeah, I love Olympic. It's just so, it has it all, like you just described, just so varied. And I think that's what I love. Like, when people ask, what are my favorite parks other than Yellowstone because of sentimental and wildlife value, the other ones that come to mind. come to mind because of the differing. I like things that have pack a lot of punch and a lot of variant, you know. Like you can do a lot of things there and see a lot of landscapes in one.

Right. Exactly. And Olympic has it all. Yeah. Every time I've been to Olympic, it's been raining. So one day I hope to make it there in the sunshine. It's very on brand though. Yeah.

One day I hope to see it all, though, because it's usually covered in clouds and I can't see all the mountains, but it's very pretty and I like it there a lot. And the whole rainforest was like top of my list for years. I was like, I have to go here. I have to see it. So when I actually got to go there with you and Ian and Al, I was like, oh my God, I'm here. I made it. I made it. I did it. But anyway, going back into John Tornau's life and information about his family, I want to kind of give a backstory to his family because it's going to be important going into his story. In 1884, Henry Bauer, the family friend, took John Tornau's sister, Anna Marie, whose nickname, who's nickname, was Minnie, who was 13 years old at the time as his child bride. Gross. Two years later, Minnie gave birth to a daughter. Six years later, she had two twin boys, William and John, on July 6, 1892, and shortly after, she gave birth to another daughter. The Bower and Tornow family remained very close, working and living alongside each other. When John was able, his father would take him out to the woods to explore and taught him how to hunt. He taught him about logging and

also surviving in the outdoors. From a very early age, John was an excellent shot with a gun, and he was considered to be an excellent woodsman. He just thrived out here, and it was noted throughout his family that he was this excellent woodsman. It was also noted that he was a little bit odd. He was always a little shy, and mostly just spent his time in the outdoors. However, when John was just 10 years old, he contracted German measles, which is also known as Rubela and is a viral infection that is spread from person to person and causes a rash that spreads on the face and the rest of the body. And this disease can range from mild to severe, but for John, it was very severe. This disease can cause swollen lymph nodes, fever, sore throat, fatigue,

inflammation of nerves, and in severe cases, it can affect the heart and brain. Because of the severity that John had, this case of measles, the doctors for hours didn't think he was going to survive. After he did survive the illness, doctors said that his life was very narrowly saved and that, quote, no human frame can withstand what he withstood and be the same. The doctor then went on to say that he will be deficient in body or in mind. And this happened to him when he was a child? When he was just 10 years old. Okay. After this, it was reported that he was given special attention and protective treatment from both his mother and his older sister, Minnie. He spent a lot of his time with Minnie's twin boys who were 10 years younger than him. While many reports say they're unsure if he

was affected intellectually, it was noted that his skill set in the outdoors only improved afterwards. He became one of the best shooters and hunters and his entire family. He went on to learn how to build his own shelters. He could skin his own kills. And he was basically like he was the person to go to to be able to do anything in the outdoors. But after the disease, he was reported more shy than ever. So some people said, you know, maybe the measles did do something to his brain. He doesn't talk to anyone. He's really reclusive. He just wants to be outdoors. He keeps to himself. It's a little odd. But he was a kid growing up and people didn't pay too much mind to it. But it was noted that he did take to Minnie's twins, William and John. He took them under his wing. He was teaching them how to

hunt. He taught them how to be in the outdoors. And from all accounts, William and John were his only actual like quote unquote friends. Besides that, he didn't talk to anyone. The only people he talked to was Minnie, his sister, and then her two twins, William and John. Okay. For a while, John and his father worked as hunting guides, bringing guests onto their ranch and out to find their own kills. And part of John's job was to make sure that each guest came back with their own hunt. And for this, it was kind of cheating, which we see a lot in different hunting ranches now, that he would take them out and let them shoot at whatever game it was. And if they missed, John would kill them.

And it would still count as their own. They'd be like, yep, you got it. As I said before, John was an exceptional shot. His father had given him a Winchester rifle as a teenager that had no front sight. And John actually mastered firing from his hip and never raising it or aiming with his eyes. And he was also reported to almost never miss. So he's literally just picking up this gun, like shooting it, putting it up against his hip. It just reminds me of like, this town ain't big enough for the two of us and you just like have your little guns in your hip.

Like an old Western movie. Yeah. Like an old Western, old Western outlaw. Well, that's how John was. He could just shoot and hit whatever he was, whatever he was aiming for. Along with him getting along with the three people I already stated, he always had his favorite hunting dog with him as well. And this dog happened to be the Scraglius, most unkempt of the family's hunting dogs. and it was a mut named cougar.

In one story, John led a hunting party to shoot a deer from a long range. All three members of the party missed, but John raised a semi-automatic rifle and rapidly fired five times, killing the deer. Later, they discovered all five bullets had pierced the deer through its heart. What? Yeah. And that might just be a rumor. There's a lot of rumors that are going on about John, which we'll get into.

So it could just be one of the rumors, but he was a good shot. was one of the things that was said about him. For the most part, John would spend his days out in the woods alone, only accompanied by Cougar. The two of them would head off into the woods for days at a time when John was a kid, but as he got older, by 17 or 18 years old, they would spend sometimes months out in the woods alone. Occasionally John would hunt beaver, deer, cougar, and elk with some others in the area, but for the most part, he just stuck to himself. By the 1890s, the Tornouse Farm and Logging Company, cutting big timber in the area had become extremely successful. John would work guiding hunting trips, but he also spent a lot of his time within the family

logging company. Living off very little means, John saved almost all of the money that he made, splurging only on ammunition for hunting, and this essentially made him one of the richest members of his family. By May 4th, 1905, John's parents had paid off the mortgage of their ranch they had bought on the Olympic Peninsula and their company continued to thrive. However, both of his parents were now a lot older and they weren't in great health. This caused John's sister, Minnie, to move back into the ranch to care for their mother and father. Her children and husband also moved with her and having her home meant that John was now able to spend more time with her twin boys. He would take them on

overnight hunting trips and John took them under his wing to teach them everything he knew about the wilderness. Minnie's husband Henry, who would have normally taught his son, these things was too busy in the logging companies and wasn't home very often. And some speculated that this might have made him a bit jealous of John and upset that he was the one teaching his kids these skills instead of him. And it was kind of known that John and Henry didn't get along very well. As their parents' health declined, tensions also began to rise within the family dynamics because people were now debating on who would take over the successful business and the properties that they owned. At the same time that this was happening, the first time that this was happening,

family was getting more concerned about John because John was making himself more isolated than he ever had before. He was spending these extended links in the woods alone with his dog and he seemed overall very uninterested in the family matters. He was avoiding most of the family. He was avoiding the business and some people reported that his behavior was starting to get very odd. In August of 1909, a family friend stumbled across John in the woods in one of his shelters he built actively hauling pails of water to his shelter from a nearby creek. But what made this odd was at the time, it was pouring rain out and he had buckets set up to catch water drainage from the roof, which was collecting the water for him. So this was very odd to them. They're like, why are you

going to the river collecting water when you have tons of water right here and it's pouring rain out right now? So reports of these odd behaviors started making their way back to the family and they started worrying about his mental health. Collectively, the Family decided to commit John to a mental institution. And not only that, they decided that they would use his savings to pay for it without his knowledge. Oof, yeah, not a good way to keep the peace among family members. Yeah, it's like, okay, you're being a little weird. So we're going to make you go to this hospital and surprise you're paying for it.

Years after this happened, his older brother was quoted in an interview saying, and I got this from the book that I researched most of this from, he was quoted saying, it was in that act that the family made the one mistake which possibly led to John's taking up the life he finally did. It was decided he should go to a sanitarium. They took that money of his to take him to the sanitarium and to pay his expenses. When John found it out, he was very angry and told them that they had no business to touch his money. He told them he would live his own life as he pleased and he would have no more. to do with them. And hereafter, they were to leave him and his dog absolutely alone. I mean,

I got it without knowing any more to the story, maybe my opinion will change. But so far, I completely understand his decision as far as cutting off ties with this. That's a big deal. You don't just commit someone to a mental health institution, have them pay for it, and like just send him off for being wanting to be by themselves. Like at this point he's not hurting anyone. He's not doing anything. He's literally just. He hasn't done anything.

Being self-secluded, which isn't a crime. Yeah, he's like, I don't really like people and I'm a little shy. And they're like, we're going to take all your money and put you in a mental hospital. Right. Yeah. See, that's not right. Yeah. And I do want to, I always have to put a warning for this. There is a little bit of violence towards animals and dogs that pops up.

but I promise it's a very short. It's very short and there's way more to the story. This is a very long story and I apologize that this happened, but I had to put it in the story. Don't even tell me it's Cougar. I can't stop. Find another topic to research. I can't listen. Like, the episode is over.

There are some speculations on why the family forcibly committed John. Some say it was out of concern for his well-being and the fact that he was becoming a burden on the family. While others speculate, it could have been most. motivated by money and business. Around this time that John's parents passed away, they left the state to him and his family. And John was being very reclusive and not associating with the family that much. And he refused to sign paperwork handing over his portion of the company and allowing logging to continue. So he was actually costing their logging company money and he wasn't signing over important documents within the company. Some speculated that the family also wasn't comfortable with the

amount of money that John had and what he could do with it. In the spring that following year, John was released after being declared, quote unquote, cured and returned home and he was obviously very angry. One of his first stops was to buy ammunition for hunting. And in this interaction, he told the store clerk that he would get revenge on his brothers for stealing his money and committing him. And he also said that he would never step foot inside his family's house again. Unfortunately, when John returned to pick up his loyal companion cougar, he found out that while he was away, a family member had shot and killed him. He was told that they shot him because he was too old to keep up on their hunting trips and they were tired of waiting for the dog. Oh, my God.

I know you said it's a small part, but that's rough to imagine. And the next part's not great either. Oh, I thought it was over. Okay. John was obviously heartbroken. This was his companion who he spent all of his time. with and in immediate retaliation, he shot and killed the family's best hunting dog. And he told them, I'm never leaving the woods alive again. And then he took off and retreated into the woods.

What's the saying? An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. From then on, John lived in various shelters. He had previously built out in the woods and he began hunting and trapping his own food. He had minimal contact with anyone in the family and he was even hostile to the people. He was even hostile to who did enter into the woods. In one instance, some of his cousins came to visit and ask him about family matters and financial documents that they wanted him to sign. And not only did he refuse to sign them, but he stated that if anyone came onto his property and disturbed him again, he would kill them.

It wasn't long before rumors about him flew around town. People labeled him as, quote unquote, demented and a man who lived in the woods that was to be absolutely feared. There were embellishments of his character. that spread like wildfire. He was rumored to be, as I said before, seven feet tall. People said that he was mostly naked. He swung from branches. He spoke to animals and he was this lonely hermit in the woods. And overall, the people in the surrounding areas started to become afraid of John. And there became somewhat of a folklore in the region. Occasionally, there were people who did have

run-ins with John. And in one instance, some surveyors who were on the land in regard to the logging companies came face to face with him. And he wasn't friendly. He demanded to know who they were, why they were there. But once they had proven that they were surveyors, he allowed them to go about their business without any incident. The only person that John did visit occasionally was his sister Minnie and her twin boys. He would occasionally go to their home to pick up spices and meats that she would have waiting for him. And for the most part, John was left alone until September of 1911. It was on September 3rd, 1911 when Minnie's twin boys went off to the woods to hunt a black bear that had killed one of their livestock. The ground they were hunting on had previously been cut down by the Turnow Brothers Logging

Company and was around the same area that John was now living in. That night, neither of the boys returned home. Hank Bauer, their father, assembled a search team after 6 p.m. that same day. That night, they still found no sign of the boys. The following day, the team resumed their search and around noon, they came across a female bear who had been shot, and not far away was the remnants of warm ashes of a campfire and sticks used to smoke beef. With this, the team returned home to get clothing from each of the boys to help their hounds track their scent. The dogs brought them deeper into the forest, over a ridge, and towards a gully. Here they found one of the boys' hats, which actually proved to be a very ominous sign because at this time, no one traveled in the

woods without their hat. So this seemed like a very alarming sign. Not far from there was one of John Turner's shelters that had evidence of him being there recently, but he was nowhere to be found. The dogs continued to follow the scent of the boys leading them across the sat stop river until the dog started acting strangely and refused to move forward. The sheriff leading the scene didn't see anything and called off the search for the evening. That afternoon, the sheriff issued a warrant for the arrest, of John Turnow on the assumption that he had kidnapped the boys. The following day, the dogs led the sheriff and team to the same point they had the day before, stopping and refusing to move.

But this time, the dog started digging at a pile leaves and loose dirt. When the team started digging, they found a shallow grave with one of the twins. He had a visible gunshot wound through the heart. Moments later, the dogs found another scent and followed it, to where they uncovered the other sibling in another shallow grave with a gunshot wound. to the abdomen and a second one through his heart. Immediately, speculations went to John Tornow. Investigators believed it was possible that while the boys were out hunting the bear

and because of the proximity to John's camp that the dead bear was, it was possible that the boys missed and shots could have barreled overhead into John's camp. They theorized that John believed the boys were firing at him and from a long distance away and known as a great shot, shot and killed them both and buried their bodies nearby. Besides their suspicions that John had done it, the only other clue of the murder was a six-inch class knife that was left behind in the area that did not belong to the boys. Now, Minnie, John's sister, adamantly denied that John would have had anything to do with their deaths. She told investigators that he would never do that.

He had grown up with them and her twin boys were the only friends that John had ever had. She told them how close they were, but her words didn't sway the investigators at all. and they believed wholeheartedly that John was the killer. The afternoon of the funeral, the sheriff in town initiated a full-on manhunt for John Ternow with heavily armed posseys and bloodhounds. They organized two groups of six men each who, knowing John Ternow had the ability to hide out for weeks, outfitted themselves for up to a three-week manhunt. In their group, they had sheriffs and professional trackers.

Many of the people had experience hunting for outlaws in the woods because of past incidents of people breaking hunting game laws and being arrested in the Olympic Peninsula. The first days out, starting September 11th, showed no sign of John, and it was clear to them that he had fled. Each camp of his they arrived to showed no sign of him being there at all in the recent days. Meanwhile, the story of the demented hermit living in the woods had made headlines in all of the newspapers, and it wasn't long until people started reporting that they had seen him. On September 14th, the Daily World reported that two loggers who were working along the Wisca River near Aberdeen, Washington, saw a man fitting John's description. They described him carrying a gun and wearing an overcoat with pockets that were bulging from both sides, which they believed were filled with ammunition, but didn't actually see inside the pockets for themselves.

When they saw the man, he disappeared into some brush in the forest. On September 18th, the Aberdeen Herald reported that a man who matched John's description was begging for food at a logging camp at the upper Sat Stop River, but when the sheriffs arrived, he was nowhere to be found. Then, on September 19th, the Washingtonian reported an interaction two men had with John at their campsite. They had sat around a fire and fed him. They were about six miles from where the twins were murdered.

They reported that John had told them, quote, he had seen the posse and that he had a damn big notion to take a shot at them. He saw them from the day they started out. They also said that John never let his gun leave his side. I have a quick question. So are those verified sightings of him and interactions with him? Because it just seems odd that he would be begging for food or going up to random people asking for food if he's so self-sufficient and has been living on his own and hunting

and getting his own food for however long. Totally. Oh, these aren't verified. These are just these reports that are coming through and people being like, I think I saw him. I definitely saw him. I had an interaction with him. And none of them are verified,

but they're kind of building up this hysteria that's going on in town. Like, he's here. The murderer is here. I saw him here. And it's all over the newspapers. Okay. And once this article came out

that there was a full interaction, they believed that based on where the location happened, that John was heading further into the wilderness, and they sent off a manhunt to scour the area of Mount Olympus, which is the tallest and most prominent mountain in all of what is Olympic National Park today. It stands at 7,980 feet, which is 2,432 meters, which doesn't sound like a lot, but Olympic also starts at sea level, so when you're going from sea level to almost 8,000 feet, that's a significant change, and it's a huge mountain with varying weather, and snow and we talked about their snow cap mountains.

This is definitely one of them. That whole area kind of looks like a little Switzerland. Yeah, definitely. You're like in the Alps of Washington. Yeah. Well, the crews that were sent out here hiked over the mountain, descended steep cliffs, and had to endure large amounts of snow. One of the sheriffs even slid almost 1,500 feet down a snowy cliffside but was thankfully

uninjured. Their efforts, though, showed no sign of John at all. And later, they found out that the whole story of interacting with John was a lie. These people had just made it up to contribute to the hysteria that was going on. Oh, God, I knew it. I knew it. Shortly after this happened, they wanted to up the incentive to people to actually give them information that was going to lead to John's arrest. So they began offering a $500 reward for information leading to his capture, which today would be equivalent to just under $16,000.

$1,000. Months went by and the story of John was still running rampant in the media. There were various sightings of him and the manhunt of finding him was still going on but was yielding no clues. These so-called sightings had them searching a 10,000 square mile area. His sister, Mary and her husband sold the portion of their land and ranch in November of that year and they moved to California and never came back. And whether that was because of the loss of their children or a business venture might have been both, but they just kind of a couple months after this happened up and left. From then forward, any mishap that happened in the Olympic mountains was blamed on John. In one instance, a group of trappers woke up to their hunting shack

in flames. With no evidence or seeing John at all, they immediately assumed that it was John who had lit it on fire in the middle of the night. And that became a running thing. Anything that went wrong if you were in the Olympic Peninsula in the mountains. It was John. John was out there messing with everyone. He was going about everyone's business. He didn't want anyone there. He was trying to scare everyone. No one wanted to go into the mountains because they thought John was going to be there and try and harm them. So search parties continued through the winter for John. And everyone knew that he was likely surviving just fine. No one was like, hey, it's winter. No way he's going to survive this. Conditions are horrible. Everyone was like, he's out there. We know he's out there. But there was no signs of him at all. Like nothing. It wasn't until that falling March, six months after the manhunt had begun, that the crew finally found their first sign of John. Two trappers who were also sheriffs, McKenzie and Elmer, who had been on the search parties as well, were working in OXpo, an area right at the borders of Olympic National Forest. When they spotted a thin swirl of smoke coming from the trees. The pair was so excited for this. They loved.

locked their bloodhound in a vacant shack, and without waiting for reinforcements to come with them, packed out ammunition and headed through the thick underbrush and massive fur hemlock and spruce trees in hopes of being the ones to capture John Tornow. Four days after the pair entered the woods, they were reported missing. Concerns really arose after their dog had been found, had gnawed its way out of the shack and ran off into the woods to find his owners, only to return a couple hours later. While the two men were experienced in the outdoors, basically everyone was unmatched to John, and it was clear that he wanted to remain hidden in the woods.

So knowing that they had gone out after him was very concerning. When others who had previously known John heard of their disappearance and the two's journey to try and apprehend them, they stated that if they wanted to capture and arrest John, they needed to make sure he was, quote, dead first because he would stop at nothing to be free. A new search party was sent out in search of them and for John. A recent snowfall hindered their journey, and when bloodhounds took off on what seemed to be John's trail, they weren't able to follow. Shortly afterwards, they heard gunshots ring out in the woods, and when the dog didn't

return right away, they assumed that John had killed it. However, the following morning, the dog returned. After that, they headed out again, in hot pursuit of John. And this time, they found his shelter. The dogs had sniffed out an elk carcass, and close by was his shelter. which was a lean-toam made of wooden poles, branches, moss, and leaves. Inside, they found pants, shoes, gloves, and a bed that John had been sleeping on. It was made out of rotting wood and ferns.

Also, they found John had abandoned about 50 pounds of elk meat that was already smoked. And now they felt like they were right on his tail. This just reminds me of an episode of Survivor. Like, he's sitting on ferns and his beds made of leaves. Yeah, and he's smoking his latest kill. Yeah. Yeah. Like this is, I've seen this before on alone. And now we're at alone. Yeah. It's like I know how to do this too from my excessive binge

watching of alone. Right. Yeah. It's like I could also do this easily. Easily. My toxic trait. My toxic trait is thinking that I could survive in the Olympic Peninsula, Peninsula wilderness, like John Turner. Someone making a meme. Have you ever watched like those shows and you're watching? they're surviving in the wilderness doing these crazy skills and you're just sitting there like eating a bag of chips or whatever and it's like idiot or they like shoot to miss they like miss their shot on like a squirrel or something and you're like oh come on come on meanwhile you picked your chicken up at the store earlier that day or sitting on a couch with a heater meanwhile i've never

shot a bow and arrow after you know like yMCA camp when i was 10 like you know i mean We all do it, I feel like. Me too. Well, only a couple days later, on March 16th in 1912 at 11.30 a.m., one of the sheriff deputies found the bodies at the two trappers who had gone out alone looking for John. They were found in a shallow trench filled with Devils Club, which if you were on our Alaska trips, you know exactly what that is. It's a plant that if you touch it in sunlight, it like, causes this crazy rash on you

and then is also really good for medicinal purposes. I'm pretty sure everybody got some sort of devil's club solve or tincture or lotion or potion or potion, you know, after learning that on our hikes. Yeah, I got to solve. Well, they found them buried in a shallow grave and they were in the shape of a tea. And the way in which they were buried resembled the same way that the twins had been found. They had each died of gunshot wounds and one of them had died with their face frozen in terror. In their recovery, they found that John had stolen some of their clothing, their guns, and ammunition. along with a compass, waterproof trousers, boots, a hat, and their watches.

Allegedly. Allegedly, because we don't know if it's John. But it's looking kind of favorable to be John. It's not looking good for John. Let's just say that. Yeah, it's not looking good. The following day, they initiated the recovery effort for their bodies. And to give you an idea of how far into the back country they were looking for John,

they covered over 100 miles on horseback to bring these bodies back to the nearest town. And to do this, they had taken the two men's bodies, slung them face down on pack horses, and brought them out. This story was published throughout all the newspapers in the area and declared the two men the, quote, victims of a devil in the woods. And in memory of the slain trapper deputies, a plaque at the courthouse was put up commemorating their heroic deaths in pursuit of the dangerous John Tornow. From then forward, it was decided it was too dangerous for anyone to travel alone or in pairs in attempts to apprehend John. They instilled a rule that there needed to be a minimum of four people to pursue him for their own safety. Their hunt continued now with two possees,

one of six men and one of 15, and the reward for his capture and conviction was up to $4,000. While the newspapers were heavily covering John and depicting him in a very dark light, they also began to report on another narrative. Some papers speculated that John was unfairly deemed guilty and that the sheriffs were out to get him, with no evidence he had actually committed a crime. Some speculated that it could even be someone else who committed the two murders in the woods, especially since they were so far apart in time. Some scrutinized the handling of the full-on manhunt and stated that they believed that maybe John was just running in fear of his own life and that he just wanted to be left alone.

A lot of people were saying that if the sheriff stopped pursuing John, there wouldn't be any issues anymore. The only reason they were seeing violence from John was because he was actively being hunted. But if they stopped, then there would be no more issues. Still though, with the way of possibly killing two sheriff deputies, people were very fearful of him and he managed to stay elusive and hidden from the public eye. It was also becoming abundantly clear at just how skilled John was in the woods. Teams were frequently picking up traces of him and following his tracks

to later find evidence that John had actually been in the woods stalking them the whole time. With all the attention in the media, John's sister came forward and told her account of John. She said, John Tornow, who is my brother, left home in the spring of 1910 because of trouble over a blind dog killed.

He was not dressed well, wearing overalls, a flannel shirt, and a fair pair of shoes. We never heard of him until the following fall when he came to our home. Then he was pretty well dressed, wearing a good flannel shirt, good trousers, and good shoes.

His hair was long and hair. hanging well down to his back, and I cut it for him. He did not need shaving, and when I asked him how he shaved himself, he said that he had an outfit up in the hills. While at our home, he showed me a small bottle containing grains of gold, and later a purse containing $25 or $30. And when I asked him where he had gotten the money in gold, he told me up in the mountains.

She then went on to say she thought her brother was the one committing the murders, but she was adamant that she believed that if John did kill her sons, he had no idea it was them when he did so, because he would never have any reason to have harmed them. Over the next year, he still remained hidden in the Olympic forests, with the various sightings in teams of sheriffs on his trail, but never caught. The lore and legend of John Tornow swept the newspapers and continued to spread fear among the people. Rumors of who he was and how he survived outside were exaggerated. The rumors continued about him swinging from trees, speaking to animals,

and hunters found evidence of lean-toes, bark shelters, large stumps he hit out in, and underground dugout hideouts. They found various carcasses of mostly elk that he was cooking and remnants of them being smoked. And with all of this evidence of him clearly still being out in the woods, they up the reward to $12,000. Okay, so this is, am I getting this right when I've never seen them, but Ian was a fan of the movies, the John Wick movies? Isn't it all about this? guy who goes on a killing grand page because someone killed his dog. It is. But I think he's in a city.

Okay. I'm just saying it's this. But still, he's giving John Wick vibes. You know what, though? You know, don't touch my dog. Touch my dog. All bets are off. Anything goes.

John Turnow is the original John Wick, apparently. Maybe he's an inspiration behind Tarzan and John Wick. Right. That is it, right? John Wick. Yeah, it is. Okay, yeah. With Keanu Reeves.

That is so funny. It's not funny, but it's just the similar parallels. The irony. Meanwhile, all this is happening, John was also severely impacting the logging businesses in the area. Logging companies were estimating that the timber and Olympic forests were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, which in today's money would be upwards of $10 million. But people were afraid to log there and petitions of companies to begin to, their logging were denied because of the dangers of the woods. On top of this, elections were happening

and there was a lot of pressure on local politicians in regards to John. People were very angry that the search for him was costing so much money and they wanted the pursuit of John to end. While others wanted them to find him because they had spent so much money. So there were these two sides. People were like, okay, you spent too much. You're not going to find him. He's not doing anything. Like leave him alone. And the others are like, okay, you've put so much money into this. please just find him and get this over with. In both regards between the political climate and the logging companies, there was a lot of pressure to resolve the situation with him.

And now he had been hiding in the woods for just under two years. He's out there for like 18 months at this point. However, that was all about to come to an end. On the evening of April 15th, 1913, three deputies, Quimby, Lansthrop, and Blair were patrolling the woods for John and found an imprint of his boot on the ground. Not far ahead was a number. another one of his camps. There was no sign of John, but because it was getting late,

they retreated to their own camp for the night. That night, Lanthrop and Blair argued that because there was no sign of John, they wanted to go back to his camp in the morning and check it out more and not wait for reinforcements. Quimby tried to remind them that there was a rule in place, that there needed to be at least four deputies to pursue John, but they didn't want to hear it. The following morning, they headed back to his camp, and Quimby agreed to come with them and be their eyes and be on the lookout for John. His camp was set up on a lake in the middle of the forest, with lots of giant down logs around. As they headed closer, Quimby suggested that they got a view of the camp from farther away before they entered the actual camp. In case John was actually there

and was actually watching them, because as we've seen before, they found a lot of instances where they found evidence that John was actually stalking them the whole time they were at camp and he was always kind of a step ahead of them. But again, the two other guys insisted that the camp looked abandoned and they continued walking in. Quimby was really nervous and he was cautious and he maneuvered around the trees behind them while the other two sheriffs walked right up to the cabin. In an instant, a shot rang out and Blair was shot. He crumbled to the ground. Instantly falling was another shot and Lathrop fell to the ground as well. Quimby saw John's face peek up over a large down log and he fired back at him. Quimby shot seven or eight times but he was mostly hidden

behind the log and brush. Then Quimby saw him again and shot at him more times. This time, he seemed to slump down in a way that he hadn't done prior and he had a feeling he might have shot him. He waited for several minutes for him to fire back, but there was nothing. While he thought he may have hit him, he also feared that John might actually just was taking time to move to a different angle and then he would be shot as well. The deputies that he had came with were clearly dead and he knew in that moment he needed to get out of their ASAP, and he did. They were so far out in the back country that took him three and a half hours to get back to their main camp. And when he was there, he was able to alert everyone of the two deputies' deaths. He also warned that it was very

possible that he could have killed John. And when they returned, they may find him dead. At this point, John had now killed six people. They assembled a 22-man team and sped their way back to John's camp. They were there by 9 a.m. the following morning. When they arrived, Wimby pointed out where he had last seen John and cautiously and heavily armed, they all approached. Behind the log, they found him, slumped in a sitting position, behind the log with a gunshot wound to the neck, and he was dead. It was very clear from his appearance he had been in the woods for a long time. His clothes were ripped and ragged. His hair was long, matted, and filled with bugs.

His face was almost black from dirt. They also noted that he was wearing a brand new pair of boots that they recognized from the sheriff he had killed. and next to him were the two guns he had stolen from them. John died at 34 years old after a 19-month manhunt, living in the forests of the Olympic Peninsula. News of his death was widespread and over 200 people headed into the woods to the camp to view John's dead body. People posed for pictures with him and the photos of him went out to newspapers around

the region. It took several days to transport John's body out of the forest. He arrived to the funeral home on April 19th and there were crowds of people waiting to see him. People offered money to see his bodies and to take photos with him. And the people handling John's body took the bribes. Hundreds of people got their photos taken with John's body. Before his autopsy was performed, they opened the doors for public viewing. Over 650 people arrived to get the chance to see his body. And reportedly, one third of them were women and children. Does imagine like that's your family outing for the day? Like, let's go see. It was the talk.

You're like, I would do it. I'm like, is it a wrong person? I know that hard to imagine. I just put it in like the context of today. Like if something like that was to happen today, which obviously there's a lot of reasons why it probably wouldn't. But just imagine for a second, it was a socially acceptable thing. People wouldn't cancel you if you were like, hey, I want to go see the nightstocker's body or whatever. You know what I mean?

Yeah. If people, if there was a serious. killer targeting your neighborhood or your state and they were apprehended and you had the opportunity to go and view their body. You're telling me that you think that would be not popular. To bring your children. To bring your children. All right. Well, that's maybe a little. It's like, all right, sweetie. Yeah. First grade starts tomorrow, but today we're going to go see this dead body. Yeah, that's a little bit iffy. That part is a little bit. Yeah. But I mean, Morbid curiosity has been a thing that has gripped the human mind since the beginning of time.

I mean, that's why we're here, I guess. Yeah, I don't see it ending anytime soon. So I am personally not surprised about that. But I do, yeah, the whole children thing is a little questionable. But, I mean, there's a thing to do. And, I mean, it's like this huge event. You just said for a year, almost two years, over two years. 19 months.

Okay, 19 months. This guy was evading law enforcement, killing people, living off the land, evading capture. Like, that is a big deal. So for the opportunity to see him is one that I don't think a lot of people wanted to pass up. So I understand why over 600 people went to see. To go see his body. Yeah, it's just, I don't know. I don't think I would do it for me personally. Like, I just have no interest in seeing something like that. I don't know. I've seen the pictures in the book. And I'm like, I've looked at it too much, I think, but I do see, I do see what you're saying for sure, especially because he was such a folklore in the region. Right.

It's like this big myth in the flesh now. Like all of these stories you've heard for years and now you have the opportunity to actually see it in real life is enticing. But yeah, it is kind of like you do have a point. It's like, okay, so now what? It's like, have you seen those TikToks of like the audio? It's like you've been waiting your whole life to go see this thing. And you get there and you look at it for like five seconds.

You're like, okay, let's go. I mean, we're seeing that. No, I haven't. It's like seeing the Mona Lisa or the Eiffel Tower or whatever. It's like all built up and you've seen it your whole life of like in magazines and on TV and, you know, everyone's travels. And then you get there and you just kind of look at it for a couple minutes. You're like, okay, now what? So I feel like it's kind of like that.

It's like all this buildup, you see it, and what do you do with that information? Like, okay, let's get out of here. Well, I will say in this particular instance, people weren't just trying to look at John's body. They actually had to employ 30 sheriffs to protect his body because people were trying to steal pieces of his clothing and were trying to cut off locks of his matted hair to take home with them. Again, I'm not surprised. You're like, I also wouldn't do a lock of hair. I will say Victorian hair art is very fascinating, but that's completely different. It's like a funeral, funerary type of practice, not taking it from a killer's body.

But I feel like I'm, yeah, again, not shocked. Yeah. Okay. It's hard to shock you, noted. Well, later, the autopsy was performed, and they did allow an audience of several people, including attorneys, prominent physicians, and journalists. It took them about half an hour just to remove his clothing. They found that he was wearing six shirts, two pairs of underwear, and three trousers.

They also found that he had created slits in his pants to make going to the bathroom easier. A man of practicality. Yeah, he knew what he was doing out there. And he needed to carry everything he owned. Now you have to pay like $100 for pants like that. Oh, wait, Ashley. Ashley, if you're listening. We're talking to you.

Remind me what those pants are called. Ashley was on a couple of our trips, and she had these great pants that you put on and there's a zipper that goes across your crotch and all the way to the back so you can just like go to the bathroom without taking your pants off. Yeah, it was like a women's style hiking pants. You're expensive now. You just slit a hole in there and wear three of them and you're good. John, pioneering the industry. Innovations from the 1990s. Is it 191919 now?

No, it's 1913. Oh, okay. He was buried on April 20th at the Matlock Cemetery in Grace Harbor next to his other family members, including his nephews, he was accused of murdering. After his death, it was found that John had a savings of $17,000, equivalent to about $525,000 today. He also owned significant shares in his family's timber company, along with several lots of land in Aberdeen, Washington. In total, he was worth over $32,000, which is equivalent to just under $1 million. dollars. His surviving siblings split his worth between them. Today, John still serves as a legend in the area, with many debating his innocence. Some say, no justice, no trial. Others believed he deserved

what happened. And many believe that John was actually the victim here, and much of this situation was inspired by greed. John was the owner of a lot of land to be logged, and when he disappeared into the woods, there wasn't anyone to sign the papers to make that happen. And I'm just curious on what your thoughts are, do you think that he was like a mentally ill person in the woods murdering people, or do you think that he was a victim? I think that I think two things can be true at once, right? So I think I aligned pretty, was it Minnie who said it that her gut feeling was that if John did kill the twins, it was a case of mistaken identity at first. And then, of course, he did murder.

the four others. Like I think for sure he definitely, obviously, there's a confirmed too. Did all of those things. Yeah. I think for sure he did do all of those things. At first, in the very beginning, I thought maybe he took the blame for somebody else as far as killing the twin boys, but I changed my mind. I think he did really kill six people for sure. But how it all unfolded and what his true intentions behind that were. I think it's something that was maybe a big mistake that got out of hand and out of control. And he was just committed to it now. Like, like he said before, he's not coming out of the woods alive. So maybe he made a really awful mistake and then just really leaned into it. You know what I mean? And I think that before that,

before the initial murders of the twins that he was really unfairly treated and misunderstood and maybe had even if he didn't have, or which, how should I say this? He was just misunderstood whether it be just a lifestyle choice or if it was a true mental illness. Either way, it was misunderstood. And I think he paid a really big price for that. And it was just really unfortunate what happened in the aftermath of that. I agree with you. I kind of have a feeling. I think he did kill all six of the people. I think he was unfairly treated.

And I think that it's possible that mental illness could have contributed to things. But I'm also kind of on the side of all the people who said, like, if you all leave him alone, he's not going to bother you. I mean, people had come across him before. And they had no issue. He was just like, hey, who are you? Okay. You're allowed to be here.

Cool. See you later. Right. But there's also like playing devil's advocate to that. It's like, well, he did kill two people. You can't just now leave that alone and just be like, yeah, well, I mean, it was a mistake. Maybe. Who knows we don't really understand. But. Yeah, of course. You know, so you can't just kill two people and then just live off in the woods. Right. Exactly. So, and I think it's very telling also that his own, was it his sister, Minnie? Right. The sister. Yeah. His own sister, the mother of two murder victims, was an advocate for him. Yeah. She's like, I know he wouldn't do this on purpose. Yeah.

And she kind of stood behind him, yeah. And who knows? Maybe he did have some sort of something happened and he did kill them intentionally. But I don't know. It's just, it's obviously a big gray area. But that's my stance on it. And obviously we'll never know. But Washington really went off with the taking justice into their own hands.

They sure did. Yikes. I mean, I guess if you're in a shootout. out. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? He didn't really leave them with much of a choice either to arrest him. But he did say, like you said, he's not coming out alive. So, and he, he did not. Right. Wow. What a cool story. You've had that one in your back's pocket for a while. I've had this book on my bookshelf for at least a year. I know. Because I remember when you first got it, you're like, look at the cover of this. It's so intense. And that was a long time ago. So I'm glad you

finally covered it because it was requested a few times. Yeah, it was time to go back to Olympic to the Olympic Peninsula. I feel like we haven't done like a PNW story in a while, so it was time. Yeah, cool. All right, well, there's not really a way to end that on a high note other than everyone should consider Antarctica. And remember to go check out that stuff. Yeah, we're going to Antarctica, hopefully. That's your homework assignment.

Go check out the two resources that we described to you. and we'll obviously give follow-up information as needed. You have time to think about it. But yeah, that's all for now. Yeah, so in the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch you're back. Bye, everyone. Bye.

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