As John Torrio was dividing up Chicago into territories so that the gangs could fairly supply the city with bootleg liquor, Al Capone was coming into his own in the Windy City...

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There were few faces as recognizable to anyone with an interest in the occult as his was in the twentieth century. His clean-shaven head and piercing eyes got the attention of everyone from would-be disciples in the 1920s to rock stars in the 1960s.

Musicians like the Beatles put him on the cover of their Sgt. Pepper album and Ozzy Osborne used his name as the title of one of his songs. Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin was an ardent collector of his books, relics, and artifacts and he even bought the man’s home on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland – yes, that Loch Ness, where the monster lives.

But the former owner of that home was a monster of another kind. His name was Aleister Crowley, and he not only was a man closely linked to the Devil and the occult, but he also helped to shape the rabid interest in the occult that exploded in America decades after his death.

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A family is slaughtered in their beds. No forced entry. No warning. The only timeline comes from what three children ate for dinner.

David Hendricks said he left town. Police said the clock told a different story.

Convicted. Overturned. Acquitted.

Four victims. No answers.

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American pop culture in the 1920s and 1930s was on the verge of a new sort of entertainment. Cultural shifts and breakthroughs in technology had led to a steady stream of new kinds of books, comics, music, and magazines, but it would be film that transformed popular culture forever. The ghostly images watched with strangers in the dark proved to be powerful enough to incite as well as to entertain. 

Soon after films gained popularity, Americans began to use them to frame their history and their identity, as well as to literally project their fears and anxieties. 

And among those fears were the fears of the Devil. 

When the Devil first began to appear in early American movies, his story was part of a heavily Christianized moral lesson. The same couldn’t be said for Europe – where filmmakers were using satanic lore to create fantastic and uncanny imagery, but American films were much tamer and much more puritanical. They steered mostly clear of explicitly supernatural subjects and used theaters as fire and brimstone pulpits instead.

At first anyway… because as the imagery onscreen eventually began to reflect satanic themes, audiences responded and darker days for the cinema were soon on the way.

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American pop culture in the 1920s and 1930s was on the verge of a new sort of entertainment. Cultural shifts and breakthroughs in technology had led to a steady stream of new kinds of books, comics, music, and magazines, but it would be film that transformed popular culture forever. The ghostly images watched with strangers in the dark proved to be powerful enough to incite as well as to entertain.

Soon after films gained popularity, Americans began to use them to frame their history and their identity, as well as to literally project their fears and anxieties.

And among those fears were the fears of the Devil.

When the Devil first began to appear in early American movies, his story was part of a heavily Christianized moral lesson. The same couldn’t be said for Europe – where filmmakers were using satanic lore to create fantastic and uncanny imagery, but American films were much tamer and much more puritanical. They steered mostly clear of explicitly supernatural subjects and used theaters as fire and brimstone pulpits instead.

At first anyway… because as the imagery onscreen eventually began to reflect satanic themes, audiences responded and darker days for the cinema were soon on the way. 

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John Torrio was finally exactly where he wanted to be. 

With his uncle, Big Jim Colosimo out of the way, his business expanding across the South Side of the city and into the suburbs, and his trustworthy young right-hand man, Al Capone, at his side, he was ready to start dividing up the Chicago into territories. With all the various gangs that already existed in the city eager to jump into the liquor business, Torrio knew that it would be impossible to keep the peace without a plan...

Check out our new American Hauntings Podcast Network for even more spooky shows.

Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859

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Follow us on Twitter @AmerHauntsPod, @TroyTaylor13, @CodyBeckSTL

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This episode was written by Troy Taylor

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A mother. A bathtub. A death ruled suspicious.

In 2012, Lisa Cutler was found drowned in her Mount Zion, Illinois home while her children slept upstairs.

At first, it looked like an accident.

But more than 20 bruises… a failing marriage… and over a million dollars in life insurance told a different story.

Was it a tragic fall— or something far more deliberate?

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Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859

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American pop culture in the 1920s and 1930s was on the verge of a new sort of entertainment. Cultural shifts and breakthroughs in technology had led to a steady stream of new kinds of books, comics, music, and magazines, but it would be film that transformed popular culture forever. The ghostly images watched with strangers in the dark proved powerful enough to incite as well as to entertain. Soon after films gained popularity, Americans began to use them to frame their history and their identity, as well as to literally project their fears and anxieties.

And among those fears were the fears of the Devil.

When the Devil first began to appear in early American movies, his story was part of a heavily Christianized moral lesson. European filmmakers tended to take a far less religious approach to the Devil, using satanic lore as material for fantastic and uncanny imagery, but in America, silent films tended to avoid explicitly supernatural subjects, preferring to use the theater as a fire and brimstone pulpit – at first anyway.

But darker days for the cinema were on the way. 

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John Torrio was ready when the new Prohibition law went into effect, but he seemed to be the only one. He was waiting impatiently for everyone else to catch up. He’d been predicting Prohibition to his friends and business associates for months and knew it would be how organized crime could amass untold amounts of wealth. To take something that had always been legal, and make it illegal, especially a vice like alcohol, and then expect Americans to adhere to the letter of the law was incredibly naïve. Torrio knew that by taking advantage of Prohibition, it was a way for people like himself to become millionaires. 

Check out our new American Hauntings Podcast Network for even more spooky shows.

Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859

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Check out our updated website and sign up for our newsletter at AmericanHauntingsPodcast.com

Want an episode every week, plus other awesome perks and discounts? Check out our Patreon page

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Follow us on Twitter @AmerHauntsPod, @TroyTaylor13, @CodyBeckSTL

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This episode was written by Troy Taylor

Produced and edited by Cody Beck

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The strange and sometimes sinister world of America’s homegrown religions, faith movements, and cults is filled with bizarre characters. There are many that most listeners have undoubtedly heard of, but what about the cult leader who actually became a king?

In 1847, the only man ever crowned king within the continental United States began his rule from a secluded island in Lake Michigan. James Jesse Strang was a religious leader, politician, attorney, teacher, writer, and newspaper editor, who attracted more than 2,500 followers to a place that he ruled with an iron hand.

After being ejected from the Mormon Church, he created his own sect, for which he served as prophet, seer, and revelator and built an organization that he hoped would rival the church of Brigham Young in Utah.

But his strange adventures as a church leader and king would eventually lead to his assassination and the fall of the only kingdom that’s ever existed within the United States.

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