Sword and Scale - Episode 129

Episode Date: December 17, 2018

All you need, is love.  The lyrics etched on the consciousness of an entire generation.  But what happens when all you need, is lost?  36-year old former child actor Aaron Wulf details nearly thirty years of violent physical and sexual abuse in his nearly 600 page written manifesto entitled, “My Worst Nightmare In History.”  A man who grew up in front of the camera, records his final moments behind the lens after losing his fiance unexpectedly to cancer.  His story begs the question - is every man capable of reaching his breaking point?    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sort and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised Today is April 11th 2016 this is Aaron Wolf here. It's about 315 p.m If you're listening to this now, it means that I'm dead If you're listening to this now, it means that I'm dead. The final episode of the season, episode 129 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. I can't believe we did it. We finally got to the end of the season.

It's been a really crazy chaotic year behind the scenes, but I want to take a minute to thank my staff, which is amazing. Jonathan McMichael, Robert Revelli, Evan Ziegelman, Michael Ajibwe, and Danny Kampur. Without this incredible staff, I could not bring you this many shows this year and next. Thank you guys and now on with the show. Imagine for a moment that you have it all. Fame, fortune, the freedom to travel about the world as you please. Everything you could have ever wanted you have. Now imagine that you're just 5 years old. And standing behind the lens of the next screen test is your controlling abusive father.

Reminding you, with his stern stern gaze that just one small screw up in front of the camera will surely land you another severe beating at home, away from the limelight. It's a story we're all somewhat familiar with, the so-called curse of the child actor. For many early success in acting brings about a rather troublesome, predictable path later in life. Once all the money, fame, recognition, and prospects have all but dried up, the child actor is left with nothing but a somewhat familiar-looking face, the distant memories of success, and

for some, the longing that all the fame and fortune could someday miraculously return. But every child craves something even simpler than that, before and above all else. Love. Aaron Wolf longed for love. He craved it, And eventually in his 30s, he found it. But like his childhood acting career, he only enjoyed the fruits of having it all for a brief fleeting moment in time. And then, it was all gone. They say that love is nothing. And that to be loved is something. But to be loved and to love someone, that is everything. And in his eyes, Aaron Wolf lost just that. Everything. music On April 11, 2016, just a few days before his 36th birthday, Aaron Wolf cowers in the hallway of his parents' luxury vacation home in the gated talent point community in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's the first time he's ventured out of the guest bedroom in more than three months.

He gently whispers into a small digital recorder, but will later become a manifesto of sorts, detailing where it all went wrong. This is Aaron Wolfier. It's about 315 p.m. If you're listening to this now, it means that I'm dead. I am obviously recording this before I died. There's a lot I want to say. There's a lot that needs to be said. I'm not sure how long this is going to be. I'm not sure what I'm even going to say, but

I just want to record some thoughts, some feelings, some things that I have deep inside that I've been trying for 35 years to have someone take seriously. And with my luck, now that I am dead, this will all be taken seriously, and there will finally be justice for Aaron, but again only when I'm dead. I don't know what society could have expected from a man like me who came through what I did and survived probably more trauma and violence and tortured by the age of five and I can guarantee you any man who's 80 years old

would have seen in his lifetime. And then by the age of 10 I saw more violence probably than anyone who lived 200 years by the age of 10, I saw more violence, probably, than anyone who lived 200 years. By the age of 20, I probably saw more violence than men who lived a thousand years combined. And throughout it all, I never lost to love in my heart. I never lost the compassion in my soul. I never lost my desire to make this world a better place,

to see society as good, despite the evil that was done to me by everyone around me. Within the first few moments of his recording, it becomes readily apparent that Aaron has a slight tendency to sensationalize things a bit. And as I go through this last part of my life knowing I'm going to be dead soon, as soon as I finished this letter and the legal cases that have been taking me forever, while I've been physically dying, while I've been grieving, the worst pain you can imagine after losing your soul, my infiance, while in terrible physical health, frail health, and being in the home of the worst predators and violent psychopaths you've ever met.

While Jan and I are literally threatened my life, have been violent towards me, been encouraging me to quit suicide repeatedly over and over as I've been barricaded in the bedroom, literally for 23 and a half hours a day, plus for the last three months. With boxes against the door, I'm able to believe,

for fear that they will try to physically kill me as artists try repeatedly, just since I've been back. So I sit here recording this thinking to myself, what was the point of my life? What was the point of always trying to do right of overcoming impossible odds and an aast of such hell and trauma and despair that never ceased. It never ceased for my entire life for 35 full years because I turned 36 and nine days from now and I'll be dead shortly after that. I was never able to have a day off even since I was a little kid. And I know the violence started before 1985 when I was five, but that's all I remember. I remember going to kindergarten with bruises so bad I couldn't sit down.

And they say it's not uncommon for children to not remember the things they came before that. Aaron lost his partner and soon to be fiance unexpectedly to cancer a few months before this recording. Though family friends and neighbors would eventually describe him as a friendly, confident man who occasionally struggled with bouts of severe mental illness, something seemed to change in him after losing the love of his life. He seemed broken. Broken. For me to end up dying in the end completely alone with no help and no one who would listen

to me. And I know with my death, I'm confident with how my life went as a worst case scenario. I'm confident that my letter will be taken seriously, people will be put in prison, there will be justice for air and fine. I wanted justice when I was alive. I wanted justice when I was alive. I deserved justice when I was alive. Any one of those events that trauma in my letter destroyed someone's life. I had well over a thousand alone just in the house,

which and in our wolf and their kids. And that's the psychopaths that they are. And what they did to me. I survived that. You can look at any photo of me. You can look at my eyes. Photos of me as a kid, photos of me in my 30s.

No one keeps that smile, that loving smile on his face. Through that, you can't fake a loving smile. You can't fake the compassion in my eyes. You can't. And I didn't, because it was genuine and it was true. Or was it? Aaron's child acting career began in 1985 when he was just five years old at the behest of his father, Art, who realized early on that his son's boyish good looks and charm

could translate to national commercial spots and money. Lots and lots of money. You know what, Alcir? Oh, right. And where did we learn that? I learned that in the Boston Journal of Medicine. I hope you learned it in that case, well. This is a seven-year-old Aaron in 1987, reading for the lead role in Jody Foster's Little Man Tate, a story about an eight-year-old boy genius whose mother struggles to care for him and protect him from others

who wish to exploit his powerful intellect. Yeah, he isn't very good. They read the Boston Journal of Medicine in 2nd grade, huh? No, just me. What else do you read? You know, as usual. You will see if Candid go to our call. Go to our call.

There was a real book I've ever read. Tell me Fred, why are you still in regular school? Because TV says that special schools are full of rookie fashers and crime wizards. That the kids are angry and gruff for the bombs. That's just where everything believes rich people intact. Did you use the social worker? Did you use my mother? You think diddy's right?

I mean, are you happy at your school? Yes. Then why do you think he doesn't have an all-story? Because I worry about things. What kind of things? Diddy, throughout East, kickball, expanding universe. And why do you worry about Diddy? Because she's going to take care of me.

Though he never quite made it into a Hollywood blockbuster film, Aaron eventually did find relatively consistent success auditioning for and acting in national commercial spots. His career included brief appearances in national adosh, Wendy's, and General Mills. With every commercial he made and every audition completed, the smiling pre-teen actor hit a much, much darker reality at home away from the lights and cameras. An abusive history wolf was documenting in a lengthy 585 page manifesto. He would issue to local media shortly before reaching his breaking point. And society treated me for all of the evil people in my letter, including every member of the Wolf family that are completely ill, psychopaths,

Jan, Art, Stacey, Seth, and Zachary, and they're adopted, felon, and con artist David. And why no one will listen to me, I don't know. Why the North Park Police could come to the house so many times as a kid, when I'm covered in welts and bruises and chalk marks and blood and I'm begging them for help and they ignore me when they'd already investigated art for child abuse earlier. And why they would ignore a 14 year old boy or a 15 year old boy or a six year old boy and take the side of a parent. I don't know. I was a strong kid but I can assure you at the age of 14 when I'm 4 foot 11 and 95 pounds

is probably hard to take out a man who is 5 foot 980 pounds plus but every time the place for like yep you are the troublemaker and earn. Yeah clearly clearly art will never hit his violence. He will go to his grave whether it's at the age of 75 or 150. However long this man will live because he has never died, even after having eight heart attacks in angioplasties, he threatened the lives of thousands of people with violence, because I personally witnessed hundreds of it. And this man has not stopped doing this for the last 50 years of his life. He has been evil to his core since he was a child, so what his sister said, his violence. But Aaron's claims didn't end with his father alone.

He alludes to earlier abuse at the hands of his mother as well. Same thing with Jan. Yet these people were never stopped. Even when they beat me in public, at the pool, at the sports fields, at the mall, in front of the house, the number of people who witnessed me being violently beaten by this savage, by this mental ill psychopath, the most violent, sadistic man I've ever met. The number of people who witnessed this violence is in the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. And I kid you not because the

proof is undeniable, not a single person ever reported it. Because if they had, he would have been arrested. This would have stopped at the age of five or eight or twelve or even eighteen. And I could have had last eighteen years of my life to get away. And said, I spent the last eighteen years of my life trying to get away from these psychopaths, because they are the absolute textbook definition of what mentally ill, deranged psychopaths are, every single member of their family and their kids. I was the only sane one in this family. Aaron's alleged abuse wasn't limited to his immediate family. He would later recount a chilling

detail in his written manifesto. The alleged repeated sexual abuse by high school English teacher Stuart Snow, and the repeated bullying, abuse and threats of rape by former high school classmate Daniel Halperin. He didn't seem to make sense of any of his earlier childhood traumas until meeting the love of his life. I was an anomaly. I was a miracle. This is what my fiancee in so much that you are a miracle. No one survived this little one with the love in his heart. And the man you are with your integrity in your morals. But what was the point?

In the last three months of my life as I've been tying up my affairs and writing these letters and doing this video and doing these legal cases. I can't tell you the inner torture I felt, knowing that I was going to die just by having looked death in the eyes hundreds and hundreds of times and no matter how many people try to kill me, no matter how many people try to poison me, no matter how many times I was violently beaten or tortured or death or rape threats or could not sleep due to the violent nightmares or was in starvation because of the poverty. No matter what, nothing could kill me. No one could kill me.

And in the end, the only way I'd died was at my own hands because of the pain of losing the only person that I ever loved, that ever loved me and was my best friend of my only family. That was my fiancee and so may. Although we may never know the extent of Aaron's private struggles with mental illness, I never loved me and was my best friend of my only family. It was my fiancee in Somme. Although we may never know the extent of Aaron's private struggles with mental illness, his message begins to take shape. An early life in front of the camera clearly led him to believe that his experiences were

somehow special. The alleged abuse, more than a thousand men, have seen in their lifetimes. His child acting career, the best in history, history of survival, a miracle. And that belief, unfortunately, carried him into an uneventful and mundane existence behind the camera later in life as a freelance photojournalist. Like many child actors before him, he found solace in taking on a more private role behind the lens instead of in front of it.

I never gave up faith. I never gave up hope that my life would get better. And I didn't just sit there praying for rain. I was never naive. I learned new skills. I constantly had healthy habits. I constantly worked on my craft. I feel I did a pretty incredible job I constantly worked on my craft. I feel I

did a pretty incredible job if you see my photos and writing. I did a pretty incredible job of getting as close as you can to really excelling in that. I don't think you have a master photography or writing, but I think I I did an incredible job despite the inner turmoil and hell and complex PTSD and trauma that I live with my entire life. And to have done that, to have created 25 years of work just in the last 10 years alone, and it was all destroyed before I died. 150,000 photographic images from around the world.

And over 50,000 pages of typewriting, including three years of content that was ready to be launched from my site. I didn't wanna leave it behind. I didn't wanna leave it for this world. It just, it wasn't worth it to me. I didn't get to make a living with that. I didn't get to leave it for this world. It just, it wasn't worth it to me. I didn't get to make a living with that. I didn't get to succeed with my fiance who helped me put all this together

in an incredible publishing platform and an environment you helped me build. If I couldn't do it with her, I didn't want to do it with anyone. And so be it. My life went in the exact opposite way it should have, despite the things I did. It seems he did have plenty of future plans in photojournalism. Around the same time he was meticulously detailing all of his grievances with the world, with family, and with complacent bystanders who allegedly did nothing to stop his violent childhood abuse.

He prepared an upbeat teaser of his photojournalism work and uploaded it to his personal Vimeo page. Many of the same lines we just heard are reused here in a much more positive and upbeat tone. It seems we are beginning to see and hear the two faces of a troubled man spiraling deeper into mental illness. You can hear the subtle desperation in his voice, pleading for the listener to pay attention, to heed his every word, and to realize how great and influential a person he could have been. Now I was a pretty cute kid, really well behaved. I took direction very well, I was pretty smart, and I just came to life in front of the camera. From the time when I was a little kid all the way through

adulthood. My smile has always been genuine and always happy and loving. I've always said you can't fake a loving smile and well that's certainly true. And photo journalism was a beautiful and rich and logical progression after my childhood experience in front of the camera. While I definitely came to life in front of it, I really loved being behind the camera as well. The rush I would get from taking a great photograph, when I think about it, those were some of the greatest highs of my life. When I traveled as a photojournalist, I would wake up while overseas with no agenda in mind.

I would just hit the streets with my camera on my hand and see what got my attention. And then I'd photograph that. I never knew what the day would bring, but I could guarantee you it was going to be an adventure and I would sometimes meet hundreds of new people. In the video, Aren has seen smiling and going through the motions in a series of poorly staged action shots of himself taking photographs and a small Indian village. In nearly every single frame, he's surrounded by small children coaxing them to smile in front of his camera. And I was very privileged to make friends very quickly

and very easily while overseas. When I traveled with my late fiance, she couldn't believe that we could get into a town the day before and by the next evening, half the town would know me by name. We couldn't walk that we could get into a town the day before, and by the next evening, half the town would know me by name. We couldn't walk two blocks without ten people happily coming up to me saying hello. She would ask me, when did you meet all these people? And I would say, last night, she would laugh and say, he only slept out for ten minutes, and now nod my head and smile and say, I know. Again, I just always liked people.

I almost always had a smile on my face. I never felt that smiles needed to be rationed. Smiles needed to be shared and as often as possible. And kids always loved me. It's funny, because I never wanted my own. But I always respected and appreciated the struggles they were going through as they tried to get on their feet. I knew how difficult childhood could be. Midway through the video, Aaron begins speaking about himself and his family. appreciated the struggles they were going through as they tried to get on their feet. I knew how difficult childhood could be. Midway through the video, Aaron begins speaking about himself and his fiance in the past tense,

as though he too is already gone. And again, he returns to the children over and over and over again. Their smiles, genuine and trusting, all the while capturing them on camera. Until now, exclusively for his own private collection. And one of the things I've learned in my short, but very long, 35 years, is that we really have so little control over things in life.

We can only control what we do and how we do it, and ideally we do it in the best and most loving manner possible. And throughout my travels and throughout my life, I've always been searching for the elusive answers to life, trying to make sense of this world and the people in it, and how we can all work together in unity to make this a better, safer, and healthier place. He speaks as though foreshadowing his own death to come, appealing to the moral compass inside all of us, reminding us to be kind, and to leave the world a better place than when we entered into it.

But I always felt the need to not play things safe. I know people who live in the same home for 20 years. I don't know what that's like. I've seemingly been on the go-down stop for my whole life, and have never been able to sit still. Because quiet in calm has always scared me. It's so unfamiliar to me. And that's just a consequence of my life. But photo journalism and writing and traveling overseas

has allowed me to see parts of the world most people have never had the chance to explore. I loved being the odd man out because it let me know I was far from home and truly alive. I didn't take fancy trips or luxury vacations never, not even once. Some of the greatest experiences I had overseas involved me just traveling on $15 a day. Even a $2 ethnic meal could light up my face. And the things I saw and the people I met and those stories I was able to capture, those were worth millions of dollars to me in my heart.

The simple things in life always made me smile. But was Aaron Wolf constantly on the go? Or constantly on the run? Do you know what, at the end of the day, I never had a doctor I could trust, and I never had a doctor help me. I had two therapists, actually I will correct that statement. Two men in their 50s, my 20s, who were very kind, calm, strong men.

And I responded very well to those men. You know why? Because I wished my biological father was kind, calm and strong instead of violent and evil and sadistic and a psychopath. But what is the doctor supposed to do with someone like me? Well, they're supposed to invest in that patient the way the patient is investing in that doctor. It's supposed to be mutual exchange of value. I'm giving you money, you're to treat me, you're to take care of me and help me get better. Here's my problem, here are my problems and you tell me how to fix them. And those two men, more or more God, but you know, what happens when you're raised

the way I was? I moved 27 times in the last decade of my life. I moved 27 times in the last decade of my life. I moved 27 times in the last decade of my life. I'm talking full moves. I'm talking you get a you haul and you pack your boxes up and you take them to the next place and then when you're ready to move again, you get the truck again and you do it all over again.

I had a girlfriend who said to me after six months, she said, you haven't unpacked your boxes yet. What are you months, you said, you haven't unpacked your boxes yet, what are you doing? I said, I haven't unpacked in the last eight years. I don't unpack, I live out of boxes. This is how unsettled I was inside. I never felt safe anywhere. I never felt safe anywhere.

I know people who have lived in the same home for 20 years, I don't know what that's like. Those people had calm, quiet lives. Guarantee they didn't have three traumas for 20 years, I don't know what that's like. Those people had come quiet lives. Guarantee they didn't have three traumas in 20 years. Guarantee you they had good biological parents or good parents. They don't call them biological parents. I always refer to Janina as my biological parents. And I always refer to say Seth and Zachary as my biological siblings, because that's all they were. All it was was a mutual bloodline. They never had my back. And if anything be trying to kill me. So to know that certain people are still in the same home. 20 years

later, 30 years later, that is astounding to me. I can't comprehend what that is like. Anytime I go somewhere and I move in, there are times I move into apartment. And I'm like, shit, the neighbor next door is out of control. There's an airport nearby. I needed a quiet. I needed a library quiet in order to sleep or to feel safe. It seems he was constantly on the run, desperately seeking relative quiet, calm, and safety. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs,

a prominent motivational psychology theory depicting the five essential human needs, personal feelings of safety and security are only second to the basic essentials needed for survival, food, water, warmth, and rest. These make up the very foundational needs that we must first meet before we can concentrate on the development of effective interpersonal relationships, growth of our own positive self-esteem, and eventually achieving one's full potential. In the end, all the dreams I had for my life did not come true because I could not get away from Jan and Art Wolf.

Even when I left, they took about a half million dollars worth of tax deductions or my earnings even through the 20 in my 20s. They all went into arts bank account and he had the money disappear. He intercepted checks. He signed my name on checks. He cashed out stocks I didn't know about. My whole life I was never told about these things. I was being bled out at $1,500 a month. You know what my medical bills were? From therapy alone? I never got to have physical therapy.

From the hundreds of violent beatings where I could never touch my toes or squat down. I never got that opportunity. I was in pain every single day of my life. Through my death, from the age of five, till my death. I had phantom pain, a tingling and numbling in my behind. It has never stopped through today. And when I found a doctor and I said to him,

what is this? He said, it's phantom pain. It's the quenching of you losing your arm, but still being able to feel your arm there. Because your brain is so ingrained to feel that pain in your behind as a kid. This is what I live with. Severe pain, I never complained about the pain. I didn't know it wasn't normal until my finances said this is not normal.

This is the result of this violence, of these mentally ill savages who were never stopped. No matter what I tried to do to stop them, they never stopped, they never stopped. They committed through 2012 for closure fraud against me, Jan and Art. They bought a condo in my name, sank it in my name. After forcing me to bankruptcy over $25,000 negotiated debts, even though there was money in my in an account that could have paid for it, that Art had hidden. He intentionally did this to me because he wanted to have a bankruptcy

on my record so we could do a loan modification because they bought this property in Encino with my great credit. And all along we don't have the money earned, it was a $1,400 mortgage. Meanwhile, any flight records and travel itaries can confirm 100% along with their emails in my letter, they were traveling around the globe at $50,000 a year. But for me, to come to crimes against me, that was part of their daily life, just like waking up and eating cereal. One of the potential unintended long-term effects of physical and sexual child abuse that may linger into adulthood is the deterioration of mental health into major depression, anxiety, and even psychosis-related disorders. The abuse of those too small and too young to protect themselves physically and psychologically

from trauma represents for many the early roots of issues with codependence later in life. Some children develop complex post-traumatic stress disorder from the repeated exposure to trauma during their early childhoods and become obsessively fixated on the past traumas and frequently relive them in a variety of unhealthy, retraumatizing ways. What eat your boy, tenor of boy is supposed to endure that and not become crazy. Well, you can hear my voice, I did not. I'm pretty damn pragmatic. I had my problems, I had my issues, but you know what, I handled it better than anyone

in history, because no one would have survived that. And to die in the exact same way as I was as a kid with their torture, there is no justice. I can't possibly see there as a God. I started lifting weights at the age of 14 in order to protect myself. Once I stopped acting as a child actor at the age of 12, because I was no longer losing my teeth

and it was just an ugly period for kids. You know, you just going through the awkward phase was no longer valuable to them. So instead of just beating me out in behind or the legs, then they started choking me to death, trying to choke me to death. Our punch to me in the face twice broke my nose, twice shattered my nose.

And years later, when I had to have a repair because I couldn't breathe, I had to pay for it. This is all documented. So, I had to lift weights in order to save my life. And I did. And I got stronger than you can ever imagine for a kid, whereby the age of 18 I could vent trust more than twice my weight.

While having these permanent injuries where I couldn't touch my toes or squat down, I tried to always avoid violence. I tried to always take the peaceful brunt. I always know pacifists know. I don't believe in pacifism. If someone's trying to kill you, you defend yourself. And that was always my stance. I will never throw the first punch because that was our tool.

You always throw the last. And I always threw the last. The number of times someone came at me. That was the last punch that was thrown. The one that I threw and they were on the ground. I didn't feel the need to hit someone 15 times. It was one time and be done and then walk away or run away. Yet our rule was,

remember, the first punch for a dollar sort of last, but hundreds of times he never once honored that rule. What kind of man tries to kill a five-year-old boy and meet your boy, a 12-year-boy? What kind of man tries to kill even a 30-year-old man? Or a 50-year-old man? This is the psychopathy that just permeates through every DNA cell of every member of the wolf family but me. And when I am dead, I will be

blamed for all of it. They blame me for everything. The extent of Aaron Wolfe's alleged abuse and neglect would eventually expand to include just about every single person he mentions throughout his recorded manifesto. His parents, Art and Jan Wolfe, the worst parents in the history of mankind. The various counselors and therapists trusted with his care over the years. The worst and least trustworthy in the business, period. His siblings, some of the worst lying, cheating, and conniving criminals ever, his hyper-sensational claims of suffering abuse the likes of which men over the thousands of years have never seen Begins to diminish the authenticity those around him associate with his allegations But what if there was some truth to his claims?

No matter how many teachers I told That Daniel Hubbard was threatening to rape and kill me. They did nothing How many coaches more coaches coaches I need to tell? I told Rupert, I told Piper, I told Howie, I told Snow, I told Deans Leonard and Cheechu. How many more people do I need to tell? This is a man who is one of the most mentally ill psychopaths. One of the worst children I've ever seen in my entire life, complete violence psychopath. He was never stopped.

And then he attacks me at the very end of high school, which probably every class in my mind still remembers. In a gym with 400 people with the Northrop police 30 feet away. Northrop police didn't see it. The ironic thing or truthfully worst case scenario, what happens after the bully threatens to rape and kill you for two plus years and finally does it. I beat the shit out of him so badly that the Northrop police would not press charges against him Because his thugs said that I attacked him first, which is the most ironic thing I went to an F. Year is not attacking him biting my tongue

Because that's what art said to do and that's what the coaches told me to ignore it because it wasn't the consequences the consequences We're not done worst case scenario Did a matter of our final police report with North American police? Helper before and they said yeah, we're at the house since that all the time worst case scenario. Did a man or a file police report with North but police helping before? And they said, yeah, we're at the house and since it all the time, we know about his father, Neil. We know they're bad news. We know it's a violent family. They knew that about them.

The same way they knew that about my family. And Jan and Art, they did nothing about it. The North but police make no mistake about it. They're not just the most dangerous local police force. In the country, it was deliberate, cover-up, and corruption. To choose not to take down General Wulf when I begged for help. How many more people did I have to cry to? How many more tears did I have to shed? How many more people had to see the bruises or actually the beings in public?

To neighbors and family friends, 69-year-old Art Wulf was a stern father, who cared for his children but could have a quick temper at times. Aaron covertly recorded an exchange his father art had with a Chase Bank employee on the telephone and included it with his package sent to local media outlets, claiming it was proof that his father was a thin line away from irrational rage at times.

I was just talking to Ali and Supervisor. Get me back to her. Let me see. He meets you. What's the second on that? What's the second on that? Abby. Abby, why?

Let me see if I can connect her. Hold on. How can I help you? You can't help me. I've been dealing with one more on after another that chased back the last 20 minutes. Get me a Supervisor. Get me a supervisor. Get me a supervisor now.

I was just disconnected from a stupid supervisor. Find the supervisor understands English and who can read English. If you have such a person working for kids. Of course I do. It begins one moment, I think. Yeah. In the span of just a few minutes,

art demands to speak to supervisors at higher and higher levels. His requests growing more disrespectful with each passing. I should have answered. I mean, I guess you all might be thinking about it, like I have a conversation with you, and I'm just thinking about the other, but that might not be the time to come to you. I'm not going to have to have to have to have to have to have to. Okay, I don't want to insult you.

Give me the last name of Abby, the last stupid supervisor that I talked to who disconnected me. Okay, you got it there on your screen. Give me a hold on. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment.

I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment.

I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. I don't even have fear of carabins at the moment. First of all, we've all been there. We've all been frustrated trying to get good customer service from our phone provider, from a utility, from our bank. But these Chase bank customer service reps really deserve an award for patience. Art really does start to lose it a shit on this call, but does his behavior really prove that he's capable of violently abusing children? Don't apologize to me. You know how many friggin' apologies I've got from Chase?

I've got hundreds of apologies for new clowns from your incompetent work. Now, you find out for me right now without disconnecting me, why the hell you screwed up on this yet again, and you give me the name of the phone number for your regional manager? Give me the phone number first before you disconnect me. Get it! Get it! You're a supervisor, use your intelligence. Get me the damn number. Arts claims of dealing with incompetent staff begin to take an all-too-familiar hypersensationalized sound. So I'm just telling you to make sure that you don't disconnect me like the moron Abby did.

You want to take a personal that's fine. If you want to recognize the fact that you're dealing with a bunch of people who work through chase who are stupid, is anybody in the Western hemisphere, you can do whatever you want in that information. Sound familiar yet? Is this a simple case of like father like son, or his art wolf's temper indicative of a man capable of engaging in much more destructive and violent behavior of someone capable of reaching his breaking point. who have survived what I did when no one could kill me, but also not to run out like a psychopath, like my brother's angry.

Art and Jan Wolfe raised their five children in the quaint Northern Chicago suburb of Northbrook, Illinois, where the population of just over 30,000, they enjoyed a relatively comfortable lifestyle. Art was a semi-retired attorney and former member of the Northbrook school board, and Jan, a retired speech pathologist and real estate agent. Both were staples in the community and enjoyed travel in their

early retirement years. No one protected me, no one stopped Jan and our wolf. If they had just stopped those two, forget the other predators, they had just stopped those two and stopped them from committing the violence and the torture and the financial crimes to destroy my life where I couldn't get on my feet no matter what. If someone would have stopped them, and I reached out to over a dozen attorneys over the years,

no one would stop them, even when I had all the evidence. The evidence you're seeing in my letter, I've had evidence like that for all of my cases. I've spent hundreds of hours, sometimes prepping legal cases, for attorneys only to have them tell me, it's too complicated or we're full. No one wanted to help me. Medical professionals didn't want to honor their duty to report and attorneys didn't want to do their job and I had a biological father who

is the most the greatest criminal in history he was never stopped. He's 69 still going. I guarantee you he has harmed more people than anyone on the planet more than a warlord. More than a warlord He has harmed more people than anyone on the planet, more than a warlord. More than a warlord. Never stopped. You're listening to this because I'm dead. You're reading my letter because I'm dead. 50,000 pages in my writing that I plan to share, not all of it, wasn't going to share with you all of my journals, but the ironic thing is, as someone who is incredibly private, because of the pain I felt from my past,

as the most revealing thing I ever wrote and it's the most revealing thing anyone in my past combined whatever know about me and it's for all of you to read and why did I do that? So we can get justice for Aaron. It would have been so much better if we got justice for Aaron when I was alive and I begged for help. I could have changed this world. My fiance could have changed this world. The most loving, compassionate, brilliant, elegant, sophisticated, worldly woman. Incredible woman. My entire life was worst case scenario.

Why? Why? I was not a weak man. I was the strongest man in history. I could diffuse a situation just with an intense look overseas when men were eyeing my camera gear. And I'm in an impoverished place and there are four of them or five of them or six of them they knew, don't mess with this man, it's not going to end well for us. I could handle any amount of torture and violence and abuse and threats and sleep deprivation or

starvation. I could function with nothing and still create great work and still keep my optimism. But what was the point? In his nearly 600 page written manifesto, Aaron detailed the alleged extensive and aggressive sexual molestation at the hands of his high school English teacher Stuart Snow. Aaron claims to have revealed his sexual abuse to his therapist, Dr. Jeffrey Specter, just a few years later in 2001, who Aaron later alleged never followed up and poorly reported the abuse to the authorities. Aaron would also claim that after revealing the abuse to his father art, he did nothing and never passed the information along to other school board members to initiate a proper investigation.

This is where things get a little weird. Just a few years earlier, in March of 1998, the Northbrook school board had formally requested Stuart Snow undergo a voluntary psychiatric evaluation conducted by none other than what would become Aaron's future therapist, Dr. Jeff Respector, after receiving an anonymous report from police that Mr. Snow had engaged in inappropriate conduct with a male high school student in his home. Aaron phoned Dr. Respect, 12 years later in 2013, when he was finally ready to file a formal police report detailing the alleged molestation and he wanted answers. Hi, Dr. Spector. this is Aaron Wolf calling.

You treated me in the 1990s. I'm Jan and Art Wolfson. How are you doing? I'm okay. How are you? I'm okay. Did I catch you at a good time? Actually, I'm having a good time. Okay. I'm wondering if I could talk to you about something that we discussed in 2001. I'm sorry, I'm a little nervous here, but it involves the stew snow situation at glimmer North high school when I was molested

Stew snow was a teacher you mentioned you don't you okay? I'm I'm preparing to go to the police about it finally after all this time. He's resurfaced online He's on the University of Notre Dame campus right now. I know he's having access to boys again I just want to do what's right finally. I finally have the strength to do it You know, I've gotten as healthy as I can to do this and I met with you And then you told me that you'd wish I told you earlier because you'd consultant with the school on him And you'd mentioned basically that he was bad news and to get rid of him Do you remember who you talked to with Limerick North and told that to?

The timeline here is confusing at best as it is unclear whether Aaron was already aware of the allegations against Mr. Snow from another student when he initially disclosed his alleged abuse to Dr. Spector, or if he was already aware that Mr. Snow had voluntarily resigned. It's barely resigned. Really? Why are they gone? Because he left? Transition of limitations. So they threw everything out? It is seven years. Oh, geez. Your records are over seven years old, so they're destroyed also. So your files are minor destroyed?

My files, if you have to leave, are going to be destroyed because I haven't seen you over seven years. Correct, yes correct. Oh interesting, okay. Interesting. No, no, no, no, I appreciate it. Do you remember any dealings with two snow? Not at all. Do you understand what I'm saying?

No, no, that's why I'm calling to see if there's like a... I'm not doing anything civilly. I just want to see the guy behind bars and see anyone who has any information that can help me make that happen. For a man who just moments before, remembered absolutely nothing about Stewart Snow and the allegations that arose regarding his inappropriate conduct with students, he suddenly posits a hypothetical scenario to Aaron.

You can just don't quote me, but you can wonder aloud why he left the school. Well, I saw the Northbrook star article where he basically acknowledged the police that he had an inappropriate relationship with the former student So he acknowledged that they just never remember nor just didn't do anything just let him go and gave him his pension So that's why he's still he's not Okay, so it doesn't he's not ignoring right Yeah, but like I said, you know, I'm just trying to do which right I felt the guilt from from that that talk with you I like I said it's never it's not about I mean frankly it's been technology it's been open. You're feeling with college students if I were you I would do myself peace and I'd really go

after it because he never said go ahead. But what you never why? Well he he he he's never really... Why should this guy be walking? I know there were dozens of us. There were dozens of us. He's hurt so many people. It's like now that I'm as strong as I can be.

Like I said, I don't want to do anything stupid. I just want to see the guy behind bars. That's all I want. I was going to be just painful for you without any positive resolution. That's what I fear. Well, that's what I'm concerned about. There were a lot of people who dropped the ball. A lot of people, including my father,

including the Northbrook police. I mean, I know you won't remember because as well, the police were always called in my house and they always blame me when I was covered in blood or well, it's our bruises. So I'm gonna go to the police and I'm gonna see, you know what, are they even gonna do anything with it? And that will tell me a lot. But I guess the I think I'm gonna go to the police and I'm gonna see you know What are they even gonna do anything with it and that will tell me a lot But I guess the only reason I was calling is basically to at least do my due diligence and touch base with you and and see

Like do you remember anything and I understand it's been 12 years. I and I respect that you know No, that's why I would say you for me to remember. No, that's right. I wouldn't say to you in all life, you know, in all life, there are all going to walk away from it. I know, and that's why I'm afraid of. Though Aaron and Dr. Specter were likely not aware of it at the time, another man came forward in 2000, alleging Stewart Snow engaged in an appropriate sexual relationship with him nearly eight years prior in 1992. We will use the name John Doe for the sake of protecting the privacy of the victim, as he has never publicly come forward.

The later John Doe report detailed the following. John Doe was kind of wary if he wanted to file an official report because he was worried about his reputation being damaged. John Doe mentioned that he was 15 or 16 years old when the touching occurred, and that he has sought counseling in order to deal with his feelings on the subject. He never re-contacted the reporting officer.

On 12, 19, 2000, the reporting officer interviewed Stuart Snow at the police department with Detective Dunham present. The reporting officer advised Snow that he was not under arrest and he was free to leave at any time. The following is a summary of Snow's statement and is not verbatim. Snow is 56 years old and has worked at Glenbrook North High School for 15 years as a teacher and coach. Snow had a homosexual relationship while at camp when he was 13, but relates that he is a heterosexual.

He has had three heterosexual relationships in his life, one in high school, one when he started teaching 31 years ago, and a one-night stand about 12 years ago. Over the last 15 years, Snow has had approximately six students over to his house. One of those students, John Doe, was over approximately six times. On two of those occasions, Snow gave John Doe full body massages, and on both occasions, Snow touched John's penis with his hand. Snow related that John Doe became at least semi-arracked during these encounters, but did not ejaculate.

Snow related that he did not view the touching as sexual in nature, but did acknowledge that the relationship was inappropriate. But I was like, Is it all you will do is have a team out of that? I just at least want to do my part knowing that I did what I could. Because like I said, I haven't. I haven't come forward. I haven't.

I haven't. And I just at least do my part to see what I can do to protect other people from getting harm by him. I mean, what was the die? You know, I don't know what you're saying. I just know what the process is, what people calling through it, and that there isn't resolution and there is pain.

I know. And I'd rather spare you, spare yourself the pain. I like I said for peace of mind, I think I'm going to do it. Like I said, they're going to drop the ball because they dropped the ball on me countless times in the past. They did, but I at least need to be able to sleep at night knowing I did it. And I'll accept it. It's not going to be if they take the case great, but like you said, they're probably not and I'm fairly confident with their incompetence They're just not going to the

I'm gonna call the Northbrook police. I'm gonna try and find the name of someone who who basically specializes in basically These kind of I'm gonna try and find at least the one sensitive person at the Northbrook police Well, it's at least listen to me. They most likely won't I know they want because everyone they just don't care about this stuff And it kills me because it caused so many problems for me. So, like I said, and that's... Like I said, I at least want to do my part, at least call you, because I said, I know you see a lot of people, I know it's been a long time since I saw you, but you know, I know it's an ideal. And I know it's probably going to get the results I want, but like I said, this comes down to having clear conscious for me I just want to build sleep at night

Clear conscience in terms of have I done everything that I could do and that's it and once I file this and they say no That's it like I said A question Aaron's therapist would raise time and time again. Is there anything you can do at this juncture? The issues plaguing him at age 35 were not necessarily recent traumas, but the fact he was reliving them nearly every single evening through violent nightmares, nightmares that only magnified after the death of his fiance.

I honestly believe I'll live to be the age of a hundred, with my soulmate. That's what I believed. I said, I have to die first, a week before you, and you can tie things up after me. And she says, why do you have to die first? And she died first. She died before I got to put a ring on her finger. She died before we got to begin the rest of our lives. For what?

Why did I always try to do what was right for this world? For other people and for myself and have these healthy habits. If I never cut the chance to take the first step forward, why didn't no one help me? Why do I reach out to Janet Ferrell? Years ago, begging for help with violent nightmares that were destroying me, and she's dismissive. It's drama that we treated before, and it will resolve itself. This was six months after she had treated me. This woman thought she could heal me in one week of successions. I'm not talking like intense sessions.

It might be an hour and a half to our session for a couple days. It wasn't 10 days, 10 hours of sessions a day. She taught in one week, she could treat all my drama. She tried to, she claimed, excuse me, to treat all of Jan and Arts violence over a thousand events of trauma in 25 minutes, based on the notes and the recordings, the sessions,

because she allowed me to record them. 25 minutes, this woman thought she could handle the things that you read in my letter or you will read in my letter. Who do you know who survived through 10 events of trauma? Who do you know who survived through 100? Who do you know who survived through 500? Who do you know who survived through over 1,000?

I'm well over 1,000, make no mistake about it. This woman thought she could just box Who do you know who survived through a hundred? Who do you know who survived through 500? Who do you know who survived through over a thousand? I'm well over a thousand, make no mistake about it. This woman thought she could just box everything Jan and I ever did over 30 plus years and do it in 25 minutes with her voodoo. She was the worst psychologist in history, but not only that she's the deadliest doctor I ever met. For a man who claims to have exerted total and exhaustive control over everything in his adult life, he cannot seem to control his emotions, or the fact that above all else, he

continues longing for love. The love of his dead fiancé, the love of his parents, art and Jan Wolfe, the love of his classmates, his siblings, his therapists. Nobody was good enough. Nobody did precisely what he hoped they would have done, or he had no control, and there is only one final act of person can fulfill that proves once and for all that they are, in fact, in control. I can immediately assess if someone was a violent threat, and it was almost guaranteed

to be right, but I cannot assess if someone is a violent threat and I was almost guaranteed to be right, but I could not assess if someone is saying they loved me if they genuinely meant it. One of the greatest deficits I ever had throughout my life and that never, ever got filled, was this need to feel loved. And I say in the letter basically, the way a person would need air to breathe, I needed love to feel the holes in my heart. And I would choose the wrong relationships, the wrong girlfriends, or the wrong father figures, or, you know, other friendships thinking, wait, this person cares about me. No, they didn't. I'd, I'd very few people in my entire life who had my best interest at heart in just a general sense. And only one person who truly genuinely loved me. That

was my soulmate. Why would I go on? You can say, well, Erin, you sound like you're doing okay. You sound like you're strong. You sound like you've got a sharp mind. You've got all these plans. You built all these things. You could share this with the world. The pain I have from losing her is the greatest pain of my life because you could combine the other thousand plus traumas and they don't hurt as much as this one. So if you want to talk about what breaks a man this broke me. This broke me in this shadow and I knew I would never recover and that was okay with me because I was not going forward without her. It's a love story as old as time, a modern day Romeo and Juliet, only Juliet dies of cancer, and Romeo loses his

fucking mind. I was planning on releasing with my travel adventures, narrating great things that I was experiencing overseas or afterward. I didn't get to share those things with you. I didn't get to have you put my finer photography on your wall. That was my dream. So I have tens of thousands of people on the globe taking my photos. Every day I could be out there as a photojournalist in a foreign country and come back with winning shots.

I wasn't one of these guys who had a shoot 10,000 images in pick 3. I could shoot 15 images and 9 of them were fantastic. It was not me patting myself in the back. It's the reality I knew how to shoot. And that, he did. When Jan and Art Wolf eventually returned to their Las Vegas vacation home, after their recording was completed, Aaron stayed true to his words by stabbing them both multiple times before shooting them dead in their upstairs bedroom on June 1, 2016. He died just moments after an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Glenbrook High School and local police declined to initiate formal investigations into

his widespread claims of abuse spanning nearly 30 years, indicating that there was no evidence to support his claims. In his final moments, Aaron Wolf, the victim, became Aaron Wolf the aggressor, and the ultimate act of domination and control, committing a gruesome double murder suicide. Aaron's family members have categorically denied his allegations, and described him to media outlets as a man who was clearly, quote, mentally unstable. And perhaps, in the most fitting of final tributes, Aaron's family wrote him out of the Jan and Art obituary altogether, describing how both were proud of their children, Stacey, David, Seth, and Zachary. How many Aaron Wolfe do you suppose are out there right now,

suffering intensely and unrecognizable, invisible, pain, plotting their final acts of control, writing their manifestos. Aaron believed his nearly 600-page manifesto entitled, My Worst Nightmare in History, would surely prove invaluable to society, that psychologists would one day study his words. But in one final act of irony, his actions would quietly fade into obscurity, just as quickly and readily as his child acting career. [♪ Music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, That's going to do it for season five.

Thank you so much for joining us this year. We hope you have a wonderful end of the year, wonderful new year, and very happy holidays. We'll be back again before you know it. But in the meantime, remember that if you need more sword and scale, you can find it at patreon.com slash sword and scale. There's over 40 plus episodes over there plus tons of exclusive content waiting for you for just five bucks a month. Support the shows you love and get tons of content in return. You'll be hearing an announcement about the new secret project we've been

working on coming to you on January 2nd. Until then, stay safe. you