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In the rugged hills of post-Civil War Missouri, a group of masked men set out to restore order in a lawless land. Led by the towering and enigmatic Nat Kinney, the Bald Knobbers began as vigilantes seeking justice in the absence of reliable law enforcement. But as their power grew, so did their reputation for brutality, leading to deadly feuds, splintered loyalties, and a fall from public favor.

In this episode, we dive deep into the rise and fall of the Bald Knobbers, exploring the turbulent world of Taney County in the 1880s, the dark turn from protectors to villains, and the sensational trials that marked their end. Along the way, we’ll also look at why vigilante groups emerge, other famous examples in American history, and how the spirit of vigilante justice persists even today.

Join us as we untangle the thin line between justice and vengeance in this gripping tale of power, morality, and the consequences of taking the law into your own hands.

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They say that each of us has a doppelganger somewhere in the world. Someone who looks just like us... maybe acts just like us... or maybe, is us. 

Do you believe in doppelgangers? Do you believe in the idea of bilocation? 

These people from history certainly do. Learn about how various dignitaries, politicians, and artists from history and their run-ins with their very own doppelgangers. 

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Find out what Halloween was like during the Great Depression. 1929 to 1939 was a tough decade for folks throughout the United States. Halloween offered a chance to come together and help children have an enjoyable evening with their friends. It also served as a time for older kids to rebel and cut loose, causing the night before Halloween to be named 'Mischief Night', and eventually 'Devil's Night'. 

So how did people celebrate and what legends spawned from that era that are still discussed today? 

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I have created a new podcast section for YouTube and Curator135.com called "Down the Wiki Rabbit Hole" where I look up a search term on Wikimedia Commons. From there I find a photo related to the search term and then research the photo to find as much information as possible.

The search term for this episode was "Crime Scene".

In the 1940s someone was killing women and children in Chicago. The police were feeling the heat as lead after lead fell through. When they encountered a young burglar, arrested for the third time, they decided he was their man. Did he do it? Maybe... but there was no doubt in the police or the public's eyes that 17-year-old William Heirens was guilty. He spent 65 years in prison and died there for crimes he says he didn't commit.

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The Hope Diamond, The Busby Chair,  The Hands Resist Him, the Crying Boy paintings and the Dybbuk Box are five of the most cursed items in our history. 

Learn how these curses grew over time and the factors behind believing something is cursed. 

Is it all in our head or is there some truth to the fears? 

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In the early 1890's Samuel Minshall left Chicago in search of a better opportunity in Pentwater, Michigan. Pentwater was a small, up and coming village in Western Michigan along the shores of Lake Michigan. 

There he met William Sands who promised him enough work to support his family. That promise was broken and it drove Minshall mad. He couldn't stand to see the rich get richer while his family struggled to make ends meet.

So he took action. Horrible, murderous action. 

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In 1964 three elderly siblings were brutally beaten, robbed and left in a closet to die. Learn about the Parsons; William, Hilda and Lenore, their lives and what led up to the unsolved murders that are still on the Livonia Police Department's Cold Case list sixty years later.  

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In 1982 Kimberly Louiselle disappeared from Livonia and was found deceased weeks later in a wooded area of state-owned land miles away.  The following year, one day shy of exactly a year, Christina Castiglione went missing while in Livonia. She was also found deceased later on in a remote area near Howell. 

From the start, police knew that the two cases were likely the work of the same man. It took 40 years and a group of college kids from Michigan State University to make it official. 

Listen to Episode 71 to learn about these two cases that took over the news in Southeastern Michigan in the early eighties. It's the beginning of the 'Suburban Crime' series on Curator135.  

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The crew of the Essex left Nantucket on a whaling expedition in August of 1819. They knew that they might be at sea for as long as three years but they had no idea what they were about to encounter.

Find out how 20 men survived a whale attack that sunk their ship only to be forced into three small boats in the middle of the ocean. 

What happens when starvation hits? When your fresh water supply is drained? Or when madness sets in? 

This is a reading of Owen Chase's book Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. 

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In the early 1940s, a well-liked man was brutally murdered in his home while his wife recovered from hip surgery in a nearby hospital. There were no signs of forced entry, plenty of cash around the home, and every door and window was locked from the inside. So who did it? And more importantly, where did the assailant go after the murder? 

The house quickly gained the reputation of being haunted as neighbors noticed lights going on and off and the silhouette of a man being seen numerous times. 

It would take Denver, Colorado detectives nearly 10 months to get to the bottom of it and when they did, they wished they hadn't. 

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