Inspired By a True Crime Case: In 1932, the quiet town of Blackwood was shattered when unemployed miner Bernard Gorski brutally murdered three of his children, leaving behind a lone survivor and a trail of haunting questions,

THE TRUE CRIME CASE THIS STORY IS BASED ON: In July 1932, the quiet coal-mining borough of Lykens, Pennsylvania, was shaken by a horrifying crime. Barney Godleski, a 31‑year‑old unemployed miner, brutally murdered three of his four children—Paul (8), Lillian (6), and Alberta (4)—in the basement of their East Main Street home. Only 10‑year‑old Helen survived, reportedly because she “kept house” for her father and he was “proud” of her. On the morning of July 14, Helen awoke to find her sister missing and bloodstains on her pillow. Following a trail of blood, she found her father with a self‑inflicted throat wound. At his instruction, she fetched local undertaker James Heldt, to whom Barney confessed his crime. Police arrived to find Barney calmly sitting at the kitchen table with the axe and butcher knife he used for the murders. The children’s bodies were discovered in the cellar, one nearly decapitated. Barney confessed fully, stating that after a quarrel at a tavern and brooding over his marital troubles—his wife Lucille had left days earlier to work in Mount Carmel—he decided to kill the children and then himself. He admitted sparing Helen intentionally. Lucille, who had a past history of drug addiction and was working under an alias in Mount Carmel, expressed bitter anger and claimed she had feared Barney would harm the children, though locals described Barney as a devoted father and model citizen. Awaiting trial in Dauphin County Jail, Barney attempted suicide multiple times. On July 22, 1932, just eight days after the murders, he succeeded by hanging himself with his shirt sleeves in his cell. He was buried alongside the children he killed. The tragedy spiraled into further hardship for the family: Lucille was arrested for disorderly conduct the following month, and within two years both of her parents died, as did her brother in a mining accident. The eventual fates of Lucille and Helen remain unknown, with records only hinting that Lucille may have moved to New York by 1934. This grim case left behind unanswered questions about Barney’s mental state, Lucille’s role in the family breakdown, and the lasting impact on the lone surviving child.
ORIGINAL CASE SOURCES…
https://paoddities.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-lykens-triple-axe-murder-of-1932.html
https://www.lykensvalley.org/three-children-killed-in-axe-murder-in-lykens-1932/
https://www.lykensvalley.org/lykens-funeral-for-ax-murder-victims-1932/
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Originally aired: July 31, 2025

NOTE: Some of this content may have been created with assistance from AI tools, but it has been reviewed, edited, narrated, produced, and approved by Darren Marlar, creator and host of Weird Darkness — who, despite popular conspiracy theories, is NOT an AI voice.

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