The Devil and Union County - The Unsolved Murder of Jeannette DePalma | Ritual Rewind Podcast

In September of 1972, a dalmatian trotted out of the New Jersey woods carrying a human arm in its jaws — and with it, unleashed one of the most disturbing true crime mysteries in American history. When police followed the trail into the overgrown quarry known as Devil’s Teeth, they found the decomposed body of 17-year-old Jeannette DePalma, surrounded by what looked like ritual symbols: twig crosses, rock formations, and a coffin-shaped outline in branches.

Whispers spread fast through Union County: witches, cults, Satanic sacrifice, and a coven believed to be operating in the Watchung Reservation. But Jeannette’s case was only one part of something far darker. Within a few square miles, five young women were murdered or vanished — including Columbia doctoral student Joan Kramer, hitchhiking victim Carol Anne Farino, and the brutal double homicide of teenagers Mary Ann Pryor and Lorraine Kelly.

Was Union County gripped by occult terror… or was a hidden killer stalking New Jersey’s suburbs? From rumors of ritual altars to the violent past of Otto Nilson — a man linked to multiple strangulation murders and a green Buick that keeps appearing like a ghost — this episode retraces a string of crimes long buried under local legend, police missteps, and the early rumblings of the Satanic Panic.

The Devil and Union County pulls you deep into a world where faith, fear, and folklore collide — and where the truth is as unsettling as the myths that tried to explain it.

🎙️ Ritual Rewind explores the crimes, conspiracies, and occult anxieties that shaped the 1970s and 80s — when cassette culture met cult culture, and paranoia became a national pastime.

👉 Subscribe for more investigations into dark history and forgotten true crime 📲 Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook: @theritualrewind

SOURCES -

Death on Devils Teeth by Jesse Pollack

https://a.co/d/iD7qaow

#TheRitualRewind #TrueCrimePodcast #JeannetteDePalma #UnionCountyMurders #NewJerseyTrueCrime #SatanicPanic #DevilsTeeth #OccultCrimes #DarkHistory #JoanKramer #OttoNilson #WatchungReservation #ColdCase #RitualRewindPodcast

The Devil and the Three Girls | Ritual Rewind Podcast

On a warm June night in 2000, in the quiet mountain town of Chiavenna, Italy, a nun received a desperate call for help. Hours later, Sister Maria Laura Mainetti was found brutally murdered — stabbed 19 times, her hands still clutching the hair of her attackers. When police discovered who was responsible, the truth stunned the nation: three teenage girls — her former students — had lured her into a trap, claiming to offer her as a sacrifice to Satan.

What drove three ordinary girls from middle-class families to commit a crime so monstrous it shocked the Vatican? Was it rebellion, mental illness… or something darker hiding in the cracks of a modern Europe still haunted by the Satanic Panic?

This is the story of The Devil and the Three Girls — a crime that blurred the line between faith, fear, and obsession, and the nun whose final words were an act of forgiveness.

🎙️ Ritual Rewind resurrects the forgotten horrors and cultural hysteria of the late 20th century — when cassette culture met cult culture and moral panic turned to madness.

👉 Subscribe for more deep dives into the occult, crime, and cultural paranoia that defined a generation. 📲 Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook @theritualrewind

#TheRitualRewind #TrueCrimePodcast #SatanicPanic #OccultCrimes #DarkHistory #CatholicChurch #TrueCrimeItaly #SisterMariaLauraMainetti #RitualMurder #Cults #OccultHistory #1980s #FaithAndFear #TheDevilAndTheThreeGirls

In 1980, on the eve of Easter, Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was found murdered inside the chapel of Mercy Hospital in Toledo, Ohio. The brutality of the crime shocked even seasoned investigators — her body arranged in what appeared to be a desecrated ritual, an inverted cross carved into her flesh.

At the center of the mystery stood a quiet hospital chaplain: Father Gerald Robinson. For decades, whispers of ritual abuse, satanic ceremonies, and a secret Catholic cabal haunted Toledo. But when new witnesses came forward — nuns who claimed to have survived ritualistic torture at the hands of priests — the old case cracked open once more.

This is the chilling story of The Devil and the Heretic — a murder buried by the Church, a cover-up protected by power, and the question that still divides believers and skeptics: was this the work of a madman, or a ritual sacrifice hidden behind holy walls?

The Ritual Rewind resurrects the dark heart of the 1980s — where cassette culture met cult culture, and the line between faith and fear was forever blurred.

Subscribe for more true crime and occult history. 📲 Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook @theritualrewind

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Sources:

The Clermont Sun

https://www.clermontsun.com/2024/03/20/the-1980-killing-of-sister-margaret-ann-pahl

The Toledo Blade

https://www.toledoblade.com/

Bishop Accountability

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2004_01_06/2004_05_02_Erb_AFamily.htm

Sin, Shame & Secrets: A True Story of the Murder of a Nun, the Conviction of a Priest, and the Cover-up in the Catholic Church by David Yonke

https://a.co/d/5pyPrty

In the quiet farmlands of Ohio, 1985, the devil was said to walk among them. Sheriff James Telb believed he had uncovered a vast Satanic network — one that stretched across churches, daycares, and police stations. He spoke of hundreds of cultists, blood rituals, and children taken in the night. Television cameras descended. Paranoia ignited. Neighbors turned on neighbors.

But when the sheriff ordered his men to dig — no bodies were found. No cult. No proof. Just a trail of ruined lives, false confessions, and a town swallowed whole by hysteria. This is the story of how fear became evidence, how moral panic replaced truth, and how the Satanic Panic spread like wildfire through America’s heartland.

From the false prophets to the believers, this episode unravels the machinery of madness that powered a generation’s darkest obsession.

Ritual Rewind explores the haunted corners of the 1980s — where true crime, cults, and the occult collide.

Subscribe for more deep dives into the Satanic Panic, ritual crimes, and forgotten dark history.

Follow: @theritualrewind on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook Listen to full episodes wherever you get your podcasts

Sources:

-- Digging Up Devils: The Search for a Satanic Murder Cult in Rural Ohio

https://a.co/d/bTZr1r3

-- The Toledo Blade

https://www.toledoblade.com/

Spring Break 1989. Thousands of college students flood the Mexican border town of Matamoros for nights of partying and cheap drinks. Among them is Mark Kilroy, a 21-year-old pre-med student from Texas. But by morning… Mark has vanished without a trace.

What begins as a missing person case soon unravels into one of the most shocking true crime stories of the 1980s — a narco-satanist cult, ritual human sacrifice, and a manhunt that would end in bloodshed in Mexico City.

In this episode of The Ritual Rewind, we uncover:

🔸 Mark Kilroy’s abduction during spring break

🔸 The twisted rituals at Rancho Santa Elena

🔸 The cult led by Adolfo Constanzo and Sara Aldrete

🔸 The discovery of 13 bodies and the terrifying truth behind the nganga

🔸 The violent standoff that ended Constanzo’s reign of terror

This is the story that blurred the line between cartel crime and black magic—and shocked the world.

👉 Follow us on TikTok, Instagram & Facebook @theritualrewind

🔔 Subscribe for more true crime & occult history.

Sources

Cauldron of Blood by Jim Schutze

https://a.co/d/1hwuFj7

Sacrifice by Jim Kilroy & Bob Stewart

https://a.co/d/6S207N6

The Work of the Devil by Gary Cartwright for Texas Monthly

https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/the-work-of-the-devil/

The Narco Satanists

https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0G68X4LST5U8S6G097Z7J9LPDX/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

Before the world knew his name, Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo was initiated beneath a sacred Ceiba tree—crowned with leaves to lure spirits into his mind. He would rise from this ritual to become El Padrino, the Godfather of a deadly cult that mixed Palo Mayombe, drug trafficking, and ritual human sacrifice on the Mexican border.

Constanzo and his high priestess Sara Aldrete built a following that believed they were untouchable—until a horrific spring break kidnapping shattered their illusion of power.

🎧 In this episode of The Ritual Rewind, we uncover:

🔸 The dark roots of Palo Mayombe

🔸 Constanzo’s rise as a cult leader and cartel sorcerer

🔸 Sara Aldrete’s initiation and the Matamoros murders

🔸 The rituals that fed their nganga — and their delusions of invincibility

Step inside a story where true crime meets black magic.

👉 Follow us on TikTok, Instagram & Facebook @theritualrewind

🔔 Subscribe for more true crime and occult history.

Sources

Cauldron of Blood by Jim Schutze

https://a.co/d/1hwuFj7

Sacrifice by Jim Kilroy & Bob Stewart

https://a.co/d/6S207N6

The Work of the Devil by Gary Cartwright for Texas Monthly

https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/the-work-of-the-devil/

The Narco Satanists

https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0G68X4LST5U8S6G097Z7J9LPDX/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

Before NASA reached the stars, one man tried to summon demons. 🚀🔥 Jack Parsons — rocket engineer, co-founder of JPL, and devoted occultist — lived a double life of science and sorcery. From building the foundations of American space exploration to invoking Aleister Crowley’s Thelema and sex magic rituals, Parsons’ story is stranger than fiction.

On June 17, 1952, an explosion ripped through his Pasadena home, ending his life in mystery and fire. Was it an accident, sabotage, or something darker?

In this episode of The Ritual Rewind, we dive into:

🔹 Jack Parsons’ role in founding NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

🔹 His ties to Aleister Crowley, Thelema, and the occult 🔹 L. Ron Hubbard’s bizarre connection to Parsons’ downfall

🔹 The explosive death that sealed his legend Step inside the shadowy overlap of rockets, ritual, and the rise of the space age.

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👉 If you enjoy dark history, occult true crime, and retro nightmares, subscribe now so you never miss an episode.

📲 Follow us for more: TikTok | Instagram | Facebook → @theritualrewind #JackParsons

Sources:

Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons by George Pendel

https://a.co/d/f81iebq

Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons by John Carter

https://a.co/d/6iZLS3t

In this episode of The Ritual Rewind, we revisit one of the darkest chapters in New England crime history: The Fall River Murders. Between 1979 and 1980, three young women—Doreen Levesque, Barbara Raposa, and Karen Marsden—were brutally killed in what police believed were satanic ritual murders tied to cult activity in Fall River, Massachusetts.

We explore the chilling stories of Carl Drew, a violent pimp branded as “Satan’s Avenger,” and Robin Murphy, whose shocking testimony led to Drew’s life sentence—but was later recanted. Were these truly the acts of a satanic cult, or the result of manipulation, fear, and flawed investigations during the height of the satanic panic?

From the haunted backdrop of the Bridgewater Triangle to courtroom battles that still spark debate, this case remains one of America’s most disturbing—and controversial—true crime stories. If you’re fascinated by true crime, cults, satanic panic, and unsolved mysteries, this episode is for you.

🔮 Don’t forget to subscribe for more deep dives into occult crimes and forgotten stories from the past.

📱 Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook → @theritualrewind

LINKS Mortal Remains: A True Story of Ritual Murder by Henry Scammel

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/797778.Mortal_Remains

The Herald News https://www.heraldnews.com/

10WJAR

https://turnto10.com

Justia

https://law.justia.com/cases/massachusetts/supreme-court/volumes/386/386mass345.html

In the summer of 1984, Ricky Kasso—known as The Acid King—led three friends into the Aztakea Woods of Northport, Long Island. By the end of the night, one teenager, Gary Lauwers, would be brutally murdered in what many believed was a ritual sacrifice to Satan.

This chilling case sparked headlines across the nation, fueled the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, and cemented Ricky Kasso as a dark legend in true crime history. But was this truly the work of a devil-worshipping cult—or just a drug-fueled act of violence twisted by fear, media, and myth?

Join us as we rewind the VHS tape of history and revisit the story of The Acid King.

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Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook @theritualrewind for more eerie stories and visit our website at: https://rss.com/podcasts/the-ritual-rewind/

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Sources & References:

The Acid King by Jesse Pollack

https://a.co/d/gG4CZDm

“Kids in the Dark” by David Breskin (Rolling Stone)

https://davidbreskin.com/magazinespdf/kidsinthedark.pdf

In the late 1980s, Omaha, Nebraska was rocked by one of the most disturbing scandals in American history: the Franklin child sex ring. At the center was Larry King Jr., a rising Republican star, who allegedly ran a nationwide network of child exploitation, trafficking children across state lines and involving some of the most powerful figures in politics, business, and law enforcement.

This episode of Ritual Rewind explores the horrifying testimonies of survivors, the failed investigations, and mysterious deaths of key figures, the alleged connections to high-profile politicians, and ritual abuse.

Was this a real satanic conspiracy at the highest levels of power—or a case of corruption, media hysteria, and mismanaged investigations? We dive deep into the evidence, witness accounts, and chilling claims that shook the nation.

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Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook @theritualrewind for clips, updates, and behind-the-scenes content.

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Resources:

The Franklin Cover Up by John De Camp.

https://a.co/d/ix2nTlg

The Franklin Scandal by Nick Bryant

https://a.co/d/1i40Wr7

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