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We will be back with FRESH content Aug. 7th!  Thank you for your continued support and understanding!

Join us as we uncover the dark history of New Orleans' first vice district, Gallatin Street, a dangerous and lawless area that predated the more well-known Storyville red-light district. Listen as we explore the deplorable living conditions, corruption, and violent crime that defined this notorious street during the 19th century.

• Location of present-day French Market was once the most dangerous area in New Orleans
• Residents lived in squalid conditions, often sharing rooms with livestock and rotting produce
• Corrupt and understaffed police force allowed criminals to operate with impunity
• Prostitution was New Orleans' second most profitable industry with most sex workers dying within four years
• Nearly half a million immigrants entered through the Port of New Orleans between 1841-1860
• Teenage criminals Mary Jane "Bricktop" Jackson and Delia Swift (Bridget Fury) formed America's first all-female street gang
• The Live Oak Gang earned their name from the oak clubs they carried and their meeting place
• By late 1890s, the city established Storyville to contain and regulate prostitution
• Gallatin Street was officially renamed French Marketplace in 1935
• The expansion of the French Market in 1926 erased all physical traces of Gallatin Street's dark past

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and all interwebs. If you have a case you'd like to hear, or a ghost story or piece of southern folklore, please email us at [email protected].

Sources:

Marinello, Nick, Brothels of Antebellum New Orleans, June 23, 2009, Tulane University News, www.news.tulane.edu/news/brothels-antebellum-new-Orleans , accessed Feb. 15, 2025

Ghost City Tours, www.ghostcitytours.com/new-orleans/haunted-places/haunted-gallatin-street/ , accessed Feb 16, 2025

Karst, James, Gallatin Street, once, New Orleans' most dangerous with 'crime and depravity in every inch', Nola.com/The Times Picayune, www.nola.com/entertainment_life/vintage/gallatin-street-once-new-orleans-most-dangerous-with-crime-and-depravity-in-every-inch/article , accessed Feb 16, 2025

https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/vintage/gallatin-street-once-new-orleans-most-dangerous-with-crime-and-depravity-in-every-inch/article_3140df02-0c46-5f4b-8893-b33b5bf0aec8.html

Photo Credit:

View of Gallatin Street in the 1930s, shortly before demolition, public domain, photo from WPA, retrieved Feb 21. 2025

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We will be back with FRESH content Aug. 7th!  Thank you for your continued support and understanding!

A raging fire through the city swept. The witch's promise was surely kept.

The legend of the Yazoo Witch stands as one of Mississippi's most spine-tingling tales, woven into the fabric of local folklore for generations. When a mysterious, reclusive woman living near the Yazoo River was accused of luring and poisoning fishermen, the town's hatred for her grew to mythic proportions. After being discovered by a young boy named Joe Bob performing dark rituals over dead bodies, she fled only to become trapped in quicksand.

With her final breaths, she unleashed a chilling curse: "I shall return. Everyone has always hated me. I will break out of my grave and burn down the whole town. It will be on the morning of May 25th, 1904." Though the townsfolk buried her with thirty links of heavy chain wrapped around her grave, they would soon discover the futility of their precautions.

Twenty years later, to the exact day of her prophecy, a mysterious fire erupted in Yazoo City. Fed by unusual, powerful winds, the flames devoured nearly every business and countless homes. When the smoke cleared and residents examined the witch's grave, they discovered her chains broken – her supernatural promise fulfilled.

Celebrated Mississippi author Willie Morris immortalized this haunting tale in his book "Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood," and now lies buried just fifty feet from the witch's grave in Glenwood Cemetery. The broken chains remain unrepaired, a silent testament to powers beyond understanding and a warning to those who would dismiss local legends too quickly.

Visit our website at holdmysweetea.com to see photos of the infamous grave and explore more of the South's most captivating stories. While you're there, check out our new merch line with Hold My Sweet Tea coffee mugs, stickers, and t-shirts!

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Nestled in the woods of Aiken County, South Carolina, Shaw Creek holds dark secrets beneath its serene surface. Between 1987 and 1993, the remains of four Black women were discovered along these waterways, their bodies stripped of clothing, possessions, and ultimately, their identities. This is the haunting story of a forgotten serial killer who has never faced justice.

The pattern began when hunters stumbled upon skeletal remains in November 1987. The woman had been deliberately positioned—face down, arms outstretched, legs crossed. She stood tall at 5'8" to 5'10" and had distinctive facial features indicating possible Caribbean heritage. Her hair tested positive for cocaine, but decades later, she remains known only as the "1987 Aiken Jane Doe."

As more bodies emerged from the wilderness—Jacqueline "Jackie" Council, a mother of four; an unidentified woman whose remains were burned to destroy evidence; and Ristine Durden, found 15 miles from the others but under strikingly similar circumstances—a chilling pattern emerged. The killer targeted Black women in their mid-20s to early 30s, methodically removing anything that could identify them before leaving them in isolated areas along Shaw Creek.

We examine multiple suspects, including Joseph Patrick Washington, who terrorized similar victims in nearby Augusta before dying in prison in 1999; John Wayne Boyer, the "Long Haul Trucker Killer"; and several other violent offenders with ties to the area. Yet the case remains frustratingly unsolved, the killer potentially still walking free.

The Shaw Creek murders raise disturbing questions about how certain victims—particularly women of color with possible connections to drugs or sex work—become forgotten in our criminal justice system. Two women still have no names, their humanity erased first by their killer and then by time. Join us as we give voice to these women and the relentless search for a predator who believed he could strip his victims of their identities forever.

Have information about these cases? Contact the Aiken County Sheriff's Office. Share this episode and help us ensure these women are not forgotten.

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Between 1978 and 2001, at least 65 women disappeared from Vancouver's downtown east side before Robert Pickton was finally arrested and charged with some of their murders. The case exposed systemic discrimination against Indigenous women and sex workers, becoming the largest crime scene investigation in Canadian history.

• Robert "Willie" Pickton operated a pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, where he targeted vulnerable women
• Pickton and his brother ran "Piggy's Palace Good Times Society," hosting parties that attracted people from Vancouver's downtown east side
• Despite a survivor escaping his farm with handcuffs in 1997, charges were dropped because she wasn't considered a "competent witness" due to drug addiction
• Multiple tips about bodies and women's belongings at the farm were ignored for years before a 2002 weapons search finally uncovered evidence
• Police collected 200,000 DNA samples and sifted through 383,000 cubic yards of soil in the $70 million investigation
• Though Pickton claimed to have killed 49 women, he was convicted of 6 murders and sentenced to life in prison
• In May 2024, Pickton died after being stabbed by another inmate with a broomstick shank at Port Cartier Institution

Share our links to help us grow! Subscribe to our YouTube channel, even if you're just listening to the podcast elsewhere. You can also email us at [email protected] or support us on Buy Me a Coffee at Hold my Sweet Tea podcast.

Source Material:

The Associated Press, June 1, 2024, Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton, who brought victims to pig farm, is dead after prison assault, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/canadian-serial-killer-robert-pickton-brought-victims-pig-farm-dead-pr-rcna155020

Butts, Edward, Mcintosh, Andrew, June 2024,  Robert Pickton Case, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/robert-pickton-case

Slack, Terry and House, Tina, May 31, 2024, Serial killer Robert Pinkton dead, https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/serial-killer-robert-pickton-dead-quebec-prison/

Proctor, Jason, October 11, 2024, 'Tell all Book' found after death of serial killer Robert Pickton, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/robert-pickton-serial-killer-book-1.7349138

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What drives a quiet, hard-working farm woman to become one of Alabama's most notorious killers? The story of Viola Hyatt reveals the darkest corners of human endurance and revenge.

Born into grinding poverty in White Plains, Alabama, Viola's childhood was marked by ridicule, isolation, and a mother who openly told her she was "ugly as hell." Growing up on a hog farm with the stench so strong you could taste it, young Viola developed an unsettling interest in death, particularly in the slaughtering of the family's pigs—a skill she would later perfect with chilling efficiency.

When two construction workers, the Harper brothers, began boarding on the family property, Viola's already difficult life descended into horror. For months, she endured sexual and verbal abuse from both men, who treated her with contempt while telling her she should be grateful for their attention. Her father's attempt to intervene only resulted in his own assault, leaving Viola to suffer in silence.

The breaking point came on June 27, 1959. After being refused the use of their car for groceries following another night of abuse, Viola took her father's shotgun and killed both brothers. What followed—the methodical dismemberment of their bodies and the scattering of remains across three counties—shocked even seasoned investigators. For seventeen days, Alabama was gripped by fear as body parts were discovered by horrified residents.

Though Viola ultimately confessed and accepted a life sentence, she never revealed her complete motive, only stating she had "the best reason in the world." A mysterious grave on the property where she was seen speaking after the murders remains unexplained. After serving eleven years and receiving a pardon, she lived in isolation until her death in 1992, taking her secrets to the grave.

Was Viola a monster born of circumstance? A victim pushed beyond human endurance? Her story forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about justice, trauma, and the human capacity for both suffering and violence. Listen now and decide for yourself what makes a victim become the villain.

https://www.al.com/news/2016/02/after_57_years_reporter_return.html

https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/lib_ac_findaid/22/


Kelly Kazek | [email protected] June 26, 2025
https://www.al.com/life/2025/06/these-alabama-women-went-on-killing-sprees-in-the-1950s-i-guess-i-loved-them-to-death.html

William Thornton Apr. 07, 2015, 3:55 p.m.
https://www.al.com/news/anniston-gadsden/2015/04/remembering_viola_hyatt_play_a.html

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The quiet Queensland community of Gin-Gin became the center of a horrifying murder investigation when 17-year-old Phoebe Bishop vanished on what should have been a joyful journey to visit her boyfriend. Her excitement about the trip made her disappearance all the more alarming when she never boarded her flight.

What began as a missing person case quickly spiraled into something far more sinister. Phoebe had been living with two adults—Tanika Bromley (33) and James Wood (34)—after moving out of her family home due to strained relationships. While initially claiming they'd dropped the teenager at the airport, surveillance never captured Phoebe's arrival. Instead, their car was spotted on back roads near the airfield, and their story began to unravel under police questioning.

The investigation led authorities to a property later dubbed a "house of horrors"—a dilapidated home with dead animals strewn across the yard, garbage piled everywhere, and a stench so overwhelming that neighbors kept windows closed even during the Australian heat. The only clean area was Phoebe's room, packed for a trip she'd never complete, with a suspiciously damaged doorframe suggesting a violent entry.

Particularly haunting are Phoebe's social media posts before her death, revealing a young woman desperate to escape her circumstances: "When I die, get my dad to lower my coffin so he can let me down one last time," she wrote, capturing her feelings of familial abandonment. To her aunt, she described her living situation as a "hell house" she couldn't wait to leave behind.

Just weeks after her disappearance, police arrested Bromley and Wood, charging them with murder and interfering with a corpse—suggesting they'd moved her body multiple times. A third suspect, Kieran Middlehauser, faces charges as an accessory after the fact. Human remains confirmed to be Phoebe's were discovered near Good Night Scrub National Park.

As court proceedings scheduled for August 2025 approach, the question remains: what motivated these individuals to murder a vulnerable teenager who simply wanted to start fresh? Join us as we explore this heartbreaking case that continues to unfold.

Source Material:

Christian Harrison, Bray Jonica, Smith Karley, June 12, 2025, Phoebe Bishop alleged murder: Details emerge about “dead dogs” outside Gin Gin Home, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14804443/Pheobe-Bishop-James-Wood-dead-dogs.html

Bahr, Jessica, June 8, 2025, ‘This is ripping e apart’ The tragic timeline of Phoebe Bishop’s disappearance,https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/the-tragic-timeline-of-pheobe-bishops-disappearance/krxvotwe2

ABC NEWS, July 1, 2026, Third person charged in relation to alleged murder of Queensland teenager Phoebe Bishop, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-02/qld-pheobe-bishop-third-peson-charged-accessory-to-murder/105484616

NDTV news desk, May 29,2025, 17 year old teenager posted about "finding herself" before she went missing, https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/phoebe-bishop-17-year-old-australian-posted-about-finding-herself-before-she-went-missing-8528581

Jackson, Blair, June 15, 2025, Tragedy that separated Phoebe Bishop from her boyfriend before her alleged murder,

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The shadowy corners of American true crime history hold stories that still have the power to shock us decades later. Among these, few are as disturbing as the case of Dean Corll—a name that deserves to be as infamous as Bundy or Gacy, yet somehow faded from our collective memory.

In the early 1970s, Houston's Heights neighborhood was terrorized by a predator hiding behind the most disarming façade imaginable. Dean Corll, who earned the nickname "The Candy Man" from his work at his mother's candy shop near an elementary school, methodically lured, tortured, and murdered at least 28 young boys between the ages of 13 and 19. His reign of terror went undiscovered not because he was particularly clever, but because society failed these children—dismissing them as "runaways" when they disappeared without a trace.

What makes this case particularly haunting is how Corll manipulated not just his victims, but teenage accomplices Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. and David Brooks, who he paid to bring him fresh victims. The psychological manipulation was so complete that it took years before Henley finally snapped, shooting Corll dead in August 1973 and revealing the horrifying truth to authorities. The discovery of mass graves at a boat shed and various beaches around Houston shocked the nation, though the story was quickly overshadowed by other high-profile crime cases of the era.

Perhaps most disturbing is the revelation that Corll's crimes weren't isolated incidents, but potentially connected to John Wayne Gacy and a nationwide pedophile ring operated by John David Norman—a chilling reminder that even in the pre-internet age, predators found ways to network and share their depravity.

Join us as we examine this forgotten chapter in American crime history, paying respect to "The Lost Boys of Houston" whose stories deserve to be remembered, and whose tragic fates remind us of the vital importance of taking missing children's cases seriously, regardless of assumptions about them being "runaways."

https://archive.org/details/DeanCorllAutopsyReports

Sources:

Ep. 1: “The Candyman” – The inside story of Dean Corll from The Clown and the Candyman on Amazon Music.
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/

By Emma Henderson Vaughan
08-07-2023
https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2023/candy-man-victim


Aayush Sharma
Tue, December 12, 2023
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/candy-man-killer-dean-corll-085614977.html


By William DeLong | Edited By Jaclyn Anglis
Published January 17, 2022
Updated December 27, 2022
https://allthatsinteresting.com/dean-corll-candy-man-killer

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It was a case that paralyzed Louisiana with fear. For years, women across Baton Rouge and surrounding communities lived in terror as a predator methodically stalked and killed successful, independent women in their own homes. What made Derrick Todd Lee's reign of terror all the more chilling was how easily he gained his victims' trust – a simple knock on the door, a question about fictional neighbors, or a request to use the phone was all it took.

This episode delves deep into the twisted case of the Baton Rouge Serial Killer, revealing how a catastrophic profiling error led authorities to search for a white suspect while Lee, an African American man with a long history of peeping Tom arrests and domestic violence, continued his killing spree undetected. We explore the heartbreaking stories of Charlotte Murray Pace, stabbed 81 times in her townhome; Gina Wilson Green, found strangled just three doors away; and other victims whose lives were cut tragically short by a monster hiding in plain sight.

Perhaps most disturbing is how close Lee came to being caught years earlier. Former Zachary investigator David McDavid had suspected him in connection with earlier crimes, but lack of communication between law enforcement agencies meant these crucial insights never reached the Baton Rouge task force until it was too late. Only after new DNA technology revealed the killer's race did the investigation finally shift in the right direction.

The survivors and victims' families paint a devastating portrait of loss and the endless struggle for justice. Charlotte Murray Pace's mother described being unable to sleep in darkness after her daughter's death, while survivor Diane Alexander's brave testimony helped create the sketch that should have identified Lee years before his capture. Though Lee was eventually convicted and sentenced to death for Pace's murder, his death from cardiac problems in 2016 denied many families the closure of seeing him answer for all his crimes.

Listen now to understand how this predator operated for so long under the radar, and why this case stands as a stark reminder of the deadly consequences when crucial evidence is overlooked.

Source Material:

Dupuy, Kevin, January 21, 2016, Timeline of Events: Serial killer Derrick Todd Lee, https://www.wbrz.com/news/timeline-of-events-serial-killer-derrick-todd-lee/

Gast, Phil, January, 22, 2016, Convicted serial killer on Louisiana death row dies at hospital, https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/us/louisiana-serial-killer-dies

Gremillion, Nick, Jan 22, 2016, Acadiana woman recalls surviving attack by Derrick Todd Lee to KLFY in 2014, https://www.klfy.com/local/acadiana-woman-recalls-surviving-attack-by-derrick-todd-lee-to-klfy-in-2014/

CNN, May 29, 2003, Serial Killings suspect described as charming, https://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/28/serial.suspect/index.html

Court documents, Jan 16, 2008, https://law.justia.com/cases/louisiana/supreme-court/2008/05ka2098-opn-1.html

Appeal court documents May 16, 2007, https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/la-court-of-appeal/1316459.html

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What happens when a man is convicted of murdering someone who isn't even dead? In 1925, the quiet mining town of Coxton, Kentucky became the setting for one of America's most bizarre miscarriages of justice.

Condy Dabney was an unremarkable family man who moved from Tennessee to work in the coal mines before starting a small taxi business. When 14-year-old Mary Vickery disappeared after a day of apple picking with friends, suspicion eventually fell on Dabney, the taxi driver who may have given her a ride. After the discovery of a decomposed body in an abandoned mine shaft, the case seemed tragically clear.

The prosecution's star witness was Marie Jackson, a woman scorned by Dabney's rejection of her romantic advances. Her dramatic testimony—claiming she witnessed Dabney murder Mary—sealed his fate despite glaring inconsistencies and contradicting evidence. A jury sentenced him to life imprisonment with hard labor.

But nearly a year later, a chance encounter revealed an astonishing truth: Mary Vickery was alive. She had simply run away from home with $5 and a basket of apples to escape her troubled relationship with her stepmother. Dabney received an immediate pardon, while Marie Jackson served five years for false testimony.

This remarkable story challenges us to examine how easily justice can be derailed when revenge, assumption, and false testimony outweigh evidence and truth. It forces us to question: how many other innocent people throughout history have faced similar fates without the miraculous twist that saved Condi Dabney?

Listen to this captivating episode that underscores the devastating power of lies and the fragility of justice in small-town America. Have you ever wondered what happens to those wrongfully convicted when the truth finally comes to light? Share your thoughts with us and subscribe for more true crime stories that defy belief.

Sources:

Convicting the Innocent: Error of Criminal Justice (1932)
by Edwin M Borchard; Case #9
http://vots.altervista.org/CTI/09Dabney.html

Pardoned After a Year in Prison-The Wrongful Conviction of Condy Dabney
by Steve Gilly
March 23, 2025
https://storiesofappalachia.com/?p=3482

https://www.victimsofthestate.org/KY/

She Rose from the Dead
by Robert A Waters
September 10, 2020;'
http://kidnappingmurderandmayhem.blogspot.com/2020/09/she-rose-from-dead.html

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The chilling story of Derrick Todd Lee shatters our expectations of what a serial killer looks like. Known as the Baton Rouge Serial Killer, Lee eluded capture for years while law enforcement hunted for a white man in a white truck—the complete opposite of who they should have been seeking.

Born in 1968 to a teenage mother and a father with severe mental health issues, Lee's childhood was marked by warning signs that went unheeded. By age 11, he was caught peeping into windows of homes where young girls lived. At 13, he was arrested for burglary. By 16, he pulled a knife during a fight, resulting in an attempted second-degree murder charge. Despite recurring brushes with the law for voyeurism and other offenses, he never served significant time—a pattern that would continue into adulthood.

What makes this case particularly fascinating is how Lee defied the FBI profilers' expectations. Based on crime scenes and witness reports, investigators spent years searching for a white man between 25-35 with financial struggles and awkward social skills. This massive misdirection allowed Lee to continue his killing spree undetected. Only when DNA analysis revealed the killer's ethnicity did the investigation pivot, eventually connecting Lee to seven murders spanning from 1998 to 2003.

Perhaps most disturbing was Lee's chameleon-like ability to blend in. After fleeing to Atlanta with his family when asked for a DNA sample, neighbors described him as charming and gentle—he even started a Bible study at the motel where they stayed. This stark contrast between his public persona and the brutality of his crimes highlights how predators hide in plain sight, appearing harmless while harboring deadly intentions.

The ripple effects of Lee's crimes continue to impact not just the victims' families but his own, demonstrating how violence creates generations of trauma. Listen now to understand how this case changed law enforcement approaches to serial killer investigations and shattered perceptions about who these predators really are.

Source Material:

KATC news, Nov 28, 2018, Son of Baton Rouge Serial Killer Derrick Todd Lee arrested in fatal shooting, https://www.katc.com/news/covering-louisiana/2018/11/28/son-of-baton-rouge-serial-killer-derrick-todd-lee-arrested-in-fatal-shooting/

Dupuy, Kevin, January 21, 2016, Timeline of Events: Serial killer Derrick Todd Lee, https://www.wbrz.com/news/timeline-of-events-serial-killer-derrick-todd-lee/

Gast, Phil, January, 22, 2016, Convicted serial killer on Louisiana death row dies at hospital,https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/us/louisiana-serial-killer-dies

Gremillion, Nick, Jan 22, 2016, Acadiana woman recalls surviving attack by Derrick Todd Lee to KLFY in 2014, https://www.klfy.com/local/acadiana-woman-recalls-surviving-attack-by-derrick-todd-lee-to-klfy-in-2014/

CNN, May 29, 2003, Serial Killings suspect described as charming, https://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/28/serial.suspect/index.html