Spooky Sconnie Podcast

spookysconnie

A podcast that covers everything about Wisconsin, from true crime, from the paranormal to cryptids and wonderfully weird history. We‘ve got it all here hey, doncha know?

  1. An Interview with Josh Armstrong

    05/18/2021

    An Interview with Josh Armstrong

    Grayson shares updates and interviews filmmaker Josh Armstrong. Visit spookysconnie.podbean.com for links and more!

    52 min

  2. 11/03/2020

    Lake View Sanitorium

    Image source Check out This Podcast Will Kill You's TB episode Script Tuberculosis is a chronic bacterial infection, that passes through the air, and attacks the lungs (sometimes, it will attack other internal organs, as well). Patients with an "active" form of tuberculosis, may feel: weak, loss of appetite, fever, chest pains, night sweats, a persistent cough and may even cough up blood. It is possible to be a carrier for the bacteria without displaying symptoms (asymptomatic carrier).   TB in WI   By the late 1870s, concerns that cases of tuberculosis, often referred to as consumption, were increasing in Wisconsin were expressed.  Physicians identified the need to gather information about the number of cases, their locations, patient ages, and fatalities, in order to better understand the effects of the disease in Wisconsin.  The information could then be used to help determine how to reduce the spread of infection and to develop viable treatments.   The cause of tuberculosis was unknown until 1882, and speculation regarding the possible causes of the disease was widespread.  Reports were intermixed with discussions of supposed sources including “soil moisture,” “climate change” and “insufficient clothing.”  A large component of health professionals strongly believed the origin to be genetic. In 1882, when Robert Koch discovered that the cause of tuberculosis was a bacteria called tubercle bacillus, the medical community could finally begin to address controlling the spread of the disease based on limiting exposure to contamination.  However, not everyone was convinced by Koch’s work, and even those who endorsed it included individuals who felt it unwise to accept the bacteria as the only source of the disease.  Also, no treatment was known.  Therefore, movements to develop appropriate treatments based on the bacterial nature of the disease were not pursued in earnest immediately. The Wisconsin State Board of Health continued to support treatment through “purity of air and removal from all special causes of irritation to the lungs... and the general upbuilding of the system by nutritious diet, with relief from overwork and from depressing anxieties...”   The first statistical report on the prevalence of tuberculosis in Wisconsin was presented in 1894 stating: For the year ending September 30, 1893, according to the reports received from 593 localities in the state 622 deaths occurred from Consumption; and for the year ending September 30, 1894, from 648 localities 903 deaths are reported.  It is impossible to estimate the exact number of death that occur from this disease in the state at the present time.  Statistics in relation to these are of the most vital importance as it is now recognized that this is one of the preventable diseases with which we have to contend.   Collection of additional statistics, as well as intense advocacy efforts made by individuals and organizations, eventually led, in 1902, to the Wisconsin State Board of Health recommending the establishment of a state sanatorium for the care and treatment of patients with tuberculosis.7  In 1904, the Milwaukee county committee on tuberculosis was organized to “...address the question of the establishment of sanatoria for the treatment of consumption...” and to organize a campaign for the education of the public regarding the contagiousness of the disease and of the curability of consumption in the early stages.   Reports were

    56 min

  3. 06/10/2020

    Tony Robinson

    Photo source Content note: murder, police brutality With everything going on, I wanted to cover a murder-by-cop from 2015 that happened here in Madison. Tony Robinson was murdered by Madison PD Officer Matt Kenny - who murdered once before and is still on the force. I lose my voice a little towards the end of this episode because it's a long one (that and I used my slightly-deeper-from-testosterone voice). Please listen with an open mind and without judgment going in. There are resources below about racism, police brutality, and more. If you want to sign the petition to get Matt Kenny fired, you can do so here. Episode sources https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/13/tony-terrell-robinson-madison-wisconsin-police-shooting-how-it-happened https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/us/man-shot-dead-by-police-after-scuffle-in-wisconsin.html https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime/more-than-three-years-after-tony-robinson-shooting-wheels-of-police-reform-turn-slowly/article_c9da662d-cd05-58ba-aab6-9fda64cd6c04.html https://isthmus.com/opinion/opinion/another-tragic-police-shooting/ https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime-and-courts/madison-police-chief-mike-koval-announces-immediate-retirement/article_87d97d61-c030-579f-8175-550c6b86b515.html  https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime-and-courts/madison-mayor-eyes-mental-health-ambulance-condemns-police-response-to/article_29286e59-c57c-5cc1-96a2-918bcad88578.html https://wkow.com/2020/06/07/madison-police-chief-responds-to-emails-about-8-cant-wait-campaign/ https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2017/02/23/family-tony-robinson-man-shot-madison-police-receive-335-million-lawyers-say/98292352/ https://isthmus.com/news/news/tony-robinson-attorneys-release-lawsuit-documents/ https://isthmus.com/news/news/for-tony-robinsons-mom-life-and-grief-endure/ https://isthmus.com/news/news/tony-robinsons-mother-is-moving-to-california/ https://isthmus.com/news/news/this-is-not-a-riot/ https://isthmus.com/news/news/wake-up-madison/ PS: right after I posted this, our mayor a href='https:/

    1h 48m

  4. 05/03/2020

    Florence Peters

    Check out the following pods and spooky series Buzzfeed Unsolved (find on YouTube, Buzzfeed app, Amazon Prime) Mirths and Monsters Nothing Rhymes with Murder Straight-Up Enigmas Octoberpod Haunted Happenstance 3 Spooked Girls Unsolved, Unexplained Horrifying History Two Scared Siblings Florence Peters   Photo source   So, today's episode is close to home for me - literally. While I've spent nearly all my lockdown time at my partner's apartment in Middleton, our story is set in Westport - a tiny town between the north side of Madison and Waunakee. The apartment I'm in the middle of moving out of just so happens to be there on Westport Road.    Florence Peters and her husband John farmed together in the late 1930s. Their marriage wasn't in great shape. While John hadn't cheated, Florence had engaged in multiple affairs. So, when 23-year-old farmhand Edward Harvey came along in 1938, it didn't take long for the 38-year-old Florence to fall for him.    By July of that year, Florence had also grown tired of John. He was oblivious to the affair, but was cramping the couple's style. She sent Harvey out to the barn to grab some arsenic, something they had around for pest control. He was excited and ready to have Florence all to himself, and picked up the poison without saying a word.   While John was out milking the cows, Florence mixed him a drink. He fell ill that night and was confined to the bed. Meanwhile, Florence tried to play concerned wife. She was there to nurse him back to health, helping him with whatever he needed. One day, he asked her to fix him up a drink to help him feel better. She couldn't help but mix some more arsenic into milk. He got sicker and there were concerns from the townsfolk, especially the police.   See, as much as John hadn't noticed the affair, neither Florence nor Harvey were being discrete at all about their feelings for each other. Police brought Henry in for questioning, but he wasn't cooperative at all. He was released, despite being charged with resisting arrest, if he left the state.   Meanwhile, John had gotten so sick that he was moved to a hospital in Madison. Florence and her children moved to an apartment at 1335 Rutledge Street in Madison to be closer to John. That's only two blocks in from Lake Monona in what is now a pretty on-demand neighborhood. Harvey moved in with them secretly... or not so secretly.   By the end of September, the home was raided and both Florence & Harvey were arrested for committing 'lewd and lascivious' behavior for living together. Harvey explained that the two were engaged to be married once Florence divorced John. Nonetheless, the two were being held in jail.   In the meantime, John's family recalled a similar illness of someone in the community just a few years before. Henry Kessenich fell ill in 1930 in a similar manner. John's family asked the police to revisit the investigation and they performed an exhumation. The state toxicologist at the time, Dr. F.L. Kozelka, indeed found arsenic in the victim's hair roots and tissues.   Henry's wife had apparently wanted a divorce as she had fallen in love with a younger farmhand, but Henry had refused. As fall came on, the wife had gotten poison from the barn and put a small amount in Henry's tea. Within two days, he fell incredibly ill and began vomiting. Henry died quickly thereafter, and his death was attributed to pneumonia. Doctors were interested in doing an autopsy, but the widow didn't want it so they passed. While people in the community clearly were suspicious, there was no further investigation. The wife collected $1000 in life insurance, which would be just over $15k today.   In case you hadn't guessed, this was clearly Florence. Three years after his death, she married John Peters. Betw

    33 min

  5. 04/13/2020

    Peter Kurten

    Content note: abuse, incest, animal torture, bestiality, sexual assault, murder Photo source Rough transcript (will upload full one later this week) Hello spooky friends! I apologize for the long delay in new episodes. Life has been intense between moving, divorce stuff, and hockey. That's right - ya boy started playing hockey! I've continued the strong Wisconsin tradition of learning how to do a tough sport on a slippery surface. Today's episode The subject for this episode is one Peter Kurten. To those of you who think you recognize this name, you may be wondering why I'm covering him here. After all, this guy is a German serial killer. I won't spoil this yet, but there is a major Wisconsin connection at the end of the story. Peter's Life Peter Kurten was born in Mülheim am Rhein in Germany on May 26, 1883. He was the third of 13 children, although two of his siblings would die early on. His family lived in a one-bedroom apartment and his father routinely beat everyone in the family. Even worse, Peter's dad would often force the children to watch him and his wife have sex when he was drunk. In 1894, the father would be found guilty of committing incest with his oldest daughter, aged 13 at the time. Peter's mother was able to use this as a basis for separation and moved to Düsseldorf. Throughout his childhood, Kurten would endure a number of hardships - and begin on the path to becoming a serial killer. Because of his fathers' abuse, Peter's academic performance suffered. Additionally, he would run away frequently or try to stay at school as long as possible, avoiding returning home. He learned how to commit some petty crimes in order to keep himself fed while living on the streets. At the age of 9, Peter claims to have committed his first murder. He pushed a school friend into the water, knowing this kid couldn't swim. Another kid jumped in to try to save the first and Peter claims he held both of their heads underwater, drowning them. Police wrote these off as accidental.    At the age of 13, Peter had a girlfriend. They were sexually active but she would not allow them to have PiV sex. Instead of just jerking it like the rest of us would do, Peter resorted to bestiality. Soon, he found he could not orgasm without stabbing these animals during the act. He swore that he stopped this after being discovered doing this with a pig. Of course, this followed a time when he befriended a local dog catcher who let him sidekick it up during work. Together, they would abuse the animals they caught. Around this time, he also tried to rape the sister who had already suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their father.   An FBI profile of Kürten's criminal behavior later concluded his compulsion to abuse and torture animals and to commit arson were a manifestation of his need to feel a sense of control in response to his chronically abusive upbringing.   The arrests begin   In total, Kürten would serve 17 separate sentences of imprisonment between 1899 and his arrest, the combined total of which equals 27 years of his life. Let's dig into why...   He was arrested in 1899 after stealing money from his boss and skipping town, serving a month. In November of that year, he claims to have committed his first adult murder. He stated that he picked up an 18-year-old girl and persuaded her to accompany him. He claimed to have engaged in sex with the her before strangling her to death with his bare hands. In 1900, he would be arrested again for fraud and attempted murder by gun of a young girl. He served four years in Derendorf, a borough of Düsseldorf.   Upon being released, he was drafted into the 98th Infantry Regiment of the German army. He quickly defected and began committing acts of arson. He was arrested on New Year's Eve, admitting to 24 counts of arson. He also stated t

    52 min

  6. 07/09/2019

    The Disappearance of Georgia Jean Weckler

    Content note: murder, sexual assault Photo source Everyone and their BFFs confessed to the abduction and murder of Georgia Jean, but her disappearance remains unsolved over 70 years later. If that wasn't enough to bring out the feels, I'm in the middle of a surprise divorce! Also! The True Crime Podcast festival is this Saturday, July 13, at the Marriott Downtown, right on the magnificent mile. There are over 80 true crime podcasters coming - including True Crime Obsessed and even me! This is a full-day event, and gives you a chance to meet your favourite podcasters in a large-scale meet-and-greet, with several panel discussions and live episodes too. Come hang out! To find out more and join the almost 400 people who have bought tickets, head to tcpf2019.com or look for it on social media. I can't wait to see you there!! Resources Family weebly site WTMJ4 story from 2017 2013 story Charley project page Missing children from Wisconsin Missing children nationally Transcript Please note this is a rough transcript due to time limitations. I'll come back and fix it! Welcome to the most belated episode of the Spooky Sconnie podcast thus far. This is the podcast that seeks to dive into everything from Wisconsin, from the true crime and paranormal stuff to cryptids and just wonderfully weird Wisconsin history. And I'm your host, Kirsten Schultz. ----more---- It's been a minute, a couple minutes, several weeks. Um, I owe y'all an explanation. If you don't already follow the social media channels for the podcast, then you probably haven't heard because I'm shit at posting on the Pod Bean, a app on its own, like updates. Um, but I am in the middle of getting a divorce and it's not necessarily a hundred percent amicable on my side, but it's kind of a surprise divorce for me at least. So it's been a rough couple of weeks and I needed to take some space, stepped back from a couple of things to take care of myself and, um, you know, dive in with all of my energy to finding a new place, which I have found one. Um, I signed the lease today and I move in, um, in about two weeks, a little less. Um, and my goal is hopefully by the beginning of August to be fully moved into that new place and, um, hopefully be putting out some more regular episodes, between now and then. It might be a little funky. Yeah. Not sure schedule wise, what's going to work. so far I've gotten basically almost everything that I own in our apartment up into our loft space, which was like my office anyway. Um, and I'm sleeping on a Futon, which is not great for my chronic illnesses and my back and so many things. Um, but you know, have to do what we can do till we can do better I guess. Um, yeah, so like I said, episodes will probably be infrequent until, mm, Probably middle of August or something like that. Um, so this will be the kind of the last episode for a couple of weeks again, but, uh, I'm hoping to kind of like plunge into late summer slash fall, um, deeply and really be able to have more time set aside to doing research too. Um, you know, finding new things to talk about and

    45 min

  7. 05/11/2019

    The Beast of Bray Road

    Content note: animal mutilations with details   Pic source   This week, I'm covering the Beast of Bray Road - just like Em from And That's Why We Drink did during one of their live shows here in Madison this week. I'd totally planned it already, so the coincidences are the best. What do you expect from the two coolest theybes?   Resources Wikipedia Did Legend Hunter just solve the mystery of the Beast of Bray Road and add new theories on Dogman and Chupacabra legends? 14 Facts About the Beast Prairie Ghosts Historic Mysteries Linda Godfrey's site PBS video Isthmus article The Bray Road Beast on Amazon Prime Script transcript Transcript   Welcome to episode nine of the Spooky Sconnie podcast, the podcast that covers everything fun from Wisconsin, from the criminal and the paranormal to the just plain weird. I'm your host, Kirsten Schultz. And on this edition we're covering a story I got to see live this week actually, um, this week, the wonderful podcast And That's Why We Drink was here in town. And I went and saw them both nights. They were performing at comedy on state, on state street here in Madison, and it was a really great time. Um, I love Em and Christine, the two of them are just hilarious, and it's always fun when I get to see them and say hi. So I really enjoyed that and they covered some cool stuff that I'll be bringing up soon. Um, although I guess, you know, really they covered two stories I've already done too, which is kind of cool. ----more---- Um, and that's probably my husband's fault, but I won't get into that. But, uh, no, I, I love And That's Why We Drink. I love Em and Christine and, and it was great fun to be able to see them this week. Um, and one of the stories that Em covered actually was the beast of Bray Road. So I was already planning on doing it for this week's episode and it just pushed me to do it even more. Em did a really great job and I'm not going to be able to live up to the amazing, amazing humor that they injected into the story. But I'll try. Before I get started, just another reminder that the um, true crime podcast festival in Chicago is coming up on July 13th. That is a Saturday. It is a one day deal and yours truly, we'll be there. I will have some goodies for sale, and you might even just be able to win some of them. So, you know, come the tickets aren't that pricey. Come hang out. There's a lot of other great podcasts that will be there too. Um, and it'll be a great time. I know, I'm really excited to see True Crime Obsessed the night before - they have a show which the tickets are already sold out. I'm so sorry for bringing it up, but, um, I'm really excited to be able to go listen to them, cover a story and enjoy them in person to the true crime and paranormal podca

    1h 14m

  8. 04/28/2019

    The Witches of Whitewater and the Morris Pratt Institute

    Content note: mention of suicide, anti-semitism In this week's belated episode, I talk about the witches of Whitewater, the Morris Pratt Institute, and how traditional views of what's 'weird' shift throughout time. Don't forget to check out the True Crime Podcast Festival in Chicago. Look, I know it's not until July, but it was SNOWING today and I need something to look forward to in my new older age. Photo of the Morris Pratt Institute from Wisconsin Historical Images Resources Second Salem Whitewater college paper on hauntings Spine-tingling tales from a weird site Roots of Whitewater's witch lore Whitewater Historical Society on the Morris Pratt Institute WPR piece on the MPI MPI site In Frightening Times, Witchcraft Rediscovers Its Political Roots You can’t control the government—but you can hex it Why millennials are ditching religion for witchcraft and astrology Intimate photos of modern-day witches across America 9 Myths About Witchcraft That Modern-Day Witches Like Me Are Tired of Hearing Anti-Semitic Legends Why Do Witches Wear Pointy Hats? Transcript Welcome to another edition of the Spooky Sconnie Podcast, the podcast that talks about everything, wonderfully creepy, spooky, criminal, and weird in the state of Wisconsin. I'm your host, Kirsten Schultz. And before we dive in to today's very interesting topic, I do just want to remind everybody that I will be at the true crime podcast festival in Chicago that's coming up in July on the 13th. It's a Saturday, it's just the one day, but it's like all day. We did get some more details that um, there's going to be a meet and greet portion of the event with a kind of a relaxed atmosphere and that podcasters are going to be around in the main hall, um, so that you can come meet with us and hang out. So you know, come hang out. The website for that is tcpf2019.com and you can get your tickets and see all the cool stuff going on. I apologize for this episode being late. Um, yesterday was my birthday and I chose to go get drunk and eat a hamburger instead of recording my podcast. But also I have just started a new full time job and my schedule's been a lot busier because of that and because of some of the other volunteer stuff I'm doing. So I just didn't have time to record. I mean I probably did, let's be honest, but I didn't really. ----more---- So, um, for today's episode we're going to be talking abo

    44 min
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About

A podcast that covers everything about Wisconsin, from true crime, from the paranormal to cryptids and wonderfully weird history. We‘ve got it all here hey, doncha know?

Information

  • Creator
    spookysconnie
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2021
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © spookysconnie
  • Show Website
    Spooky Sconnie Podcast