Highway to Hell

Monte Mader
  • 4.9 (202)
  • True Crime
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to Highway to Hell, the unique crossroads where wanderlust meets mystery. Every episode, I take you on a journey to breathtaking destinations around the globe, unveiling not just the beauty of travel but the shadows that lurk behind the postcard-perfect views. From unsolved mysteries to infamous crimes, I explore the darker tales hidden within the world's most enchanting locales. So pack your curiosity, keep your wits about you, and join us as we dive deep into the thrilling intersection of travel and true crime. Your adventure into the unknown starts now.

  1. 2d ago

    69. The Worlds Most Haunted Hotels

    Support the show and get bonus content at patreon.com/highwaytohellpodcast On the top floor of a hotel in Sydney, on ground that was a convict hospital in 1788, two women on two different nights woke up to a sailor standing at the foot of the bed, looking at them. In a castle on the coast of Northern Ireland, a receptionist sent up the tower stair to sweep up a broken glass was shoved from behind on the top step and went down the whole flight. In Room 217 of the Stanley Hotel, a man hid under the covers at three in the morning while his wife whispered that something was bent over the bed with its mouth at her ear, and that she could still feel its breath. In a ground-floor suite in the Ozarks that used to be a cancer quack's office, four friends propped a vodka bottle against the inside of their door, came back at eleven, and found a row of cards laid out on the carpet in front of it with the two jokers turned face up. On a ship in Long Beach, a mother woke to a man made of darkness sitting on the other twin bed, and he sat there until dawn. Today we're counting down the ten most haunted hotels in the world, from number ten to number one. We're going from Sydney to the Scottish Highlands, the Antrim coast, London, the Canadian Rockies, the French Quarter, a California beach, a Cunard liner, an Arkansas mountaintop, and Estes Park, Colorado. Sources: 24 Hours in Sydney. "Room 8 in the Russell Hotel… Sleep There If You Dare." 24hoursinsydney.com.au. Abandoned NI. "The Haunted Ballygally Castle Hotel." abandonedni.com. Archer, Bella. "Haunted Tulloch Castle in Dingwall: Castles, Ghost Stories and Scottish Mornings." Buckle Up, Boo!, buckleupboo.com. Atteberry, Todd. "Ballygally Castle Hotel: The Knock at the Door Isn't Room Service." Witchery Art / Gothic Horror Stories, February 19, 2024. gothichorrorstories.com. Avenue Calgary. "The Ghosts of Fairmont Banff Springs." avenuecalgary.com. Ballygally Castle Hotel. "Ballygally Castle Hotel and Its Ghost Room" and "The History of Ballygally Castle." ballygallycastlehotel.com. Bauer, Ellen. "A Ghostly Maid on the Queen Mary." Ghostvillage.com. Encounter dated June 1, 1973. Brody, Mike. "Confessions of a Novice Ghost Investigator: Surviving the Stanley Hotel." Ghostvillage.com, January 2010. Cappy. "The Beautiful Lady in White." Your Ghost Stories, April 1, 2020. yourghoststories.com, story 27186. Crescent Hotel and Spa. "Haunting Ghost Experiences Revealed." crescent-hotel.com. Crescenta Valley Weekly. "The Legend of B340." crescentavalleyweekly.com. Cricket Australia. "Boo! Ghosts Have England Jumping." cricket.com.au, July 2014. Cushman, Paige, and Kristen Belue. "'This Isn't a Horror Film': A Night at Arkansas' Haunted 1886 Crescent Hotel." KATV, Little Rock, October 2020. Deccan Chronicle. "Haunted London Hotel Frightens England Cricketers." July 21, 2014. East Durham Paranormal Research Group. "Tulloch Castle: Ghost Sightings." eastdurhamparanormalrg.co.uk. Fiorito, Teddy. "My Wife and I Stayed at the Stanley Hotel and Experienced Something Out of This Realm." Thought Catalog, September 2015. Ghost City Tours. "The Ghosts of Haunted Hotel Monteleone." ghostcitytours.com. Ghost5034. "What an Experience – Ghost Included!" Review of Tulloch Castle Hotel, Dingwall. TripAdvisor, June 2009. Graham, Seanín. "'There's a Darkness to That Place': A Night in Northern Ireland's Most Haunted Castle." The Irish Times, October 31, 2025. Haunted Hotels UK. "The Langham – Haunted Hotel in London," including guest review by Deborah Newton, November 6, 2023. hauntedhotels.uk. Haunted India. "Ghosts of the Langham Hotel, London, Haunting English Cricketers." hauntedindia.blogspot.com, July 2014. Haunted Rooms. "The Langham Hotel – London." hauntedrooms.co.uk. Haunt Jaunts. "Researching London's Most Haunted Hotel Room." hauntjaunts.net.

  2. Oct 7

    68. Dangerous Delusions, Surgical Precision: The Ant Hill Kids Cult

    In 1977, a charismatic former Seventh-day Adventist named Roch Thériault led a small group of followers into the woods of Quebec’s Gaspé region to await the end of the world. He renamed himself Moïse, after Moses, and told his followers God would end the world in February of 1979. When the apocalypse never came, he kept them anyway. The group lived in handmade cabins, cut off from their families, working so relentlessly that outsiders called them the Ant Hill Kids. Thériault took nearly all of the women as his wives and fathered more than twenty children with them. In 1984, after a brief prison stint, he moved the commune to a remote property near Burnt River, Ontario, where almost no one was watching. What happened there over the next five years is among the most horrific abuse ever documented in a Canadian cult. Thériault drank heavily and ruled through torture, forcing members to break their own limbs, pull out their own teeth, and sit naked in the snow. He performed brutal “surgeries” with kitchen tools. In 1988 one of his wives, Solange Boilard, died after he cut open her abdomen. The end came in 1989, when another follower, Gabrielle Lavallée, had her arm hacked off with a cleaver after years of mutilation. She escaped, walked into a hospital, and told police everything. Thériault pleaded guilty to murder and received a life sentence. In 2011 he was killed by his cellmate in a New Brunswick prison. Sources: Here's the bibliography, alphabetized, no headers, ready to paste. It's also saved as [Ant_Hill_Kids_Bibliography.txt](Ant_Hill_Kids_Bibliography.txt) in your home folder, and the script's Sources section at **https://claude.ai/artifact/DMtQSJp2AhK117SuJRjqkZ** and in the PDF now matches it. Adventist News Network. "J. Wayne McFarland" (obituary). March 24, 2011. Beeby, Dean. "Flowers and Pastels: Notorious Cult Killer's Artwork, Poetry for Sale." Canadian Press / Globe and Mail, March 10, 2008. Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée nationale du Québec. "Union des électeurs, 1939–1948." Cameron, Daphné. "Roch Thériault assassiné." La Presse, February 27, 2011. Canadian Encyclopedia. "Asbestos Strike of 1949"; "Quiet Revolution." CBC News. Reports of July 11, 2002; April 6, 2009; February 27, 2011; May 6, 2011; March 5, 2012. Cloutier family genealogy. Entry for Solange Boilard. Dimmock, Gary. "Inside the Prison Killing of Roch Thériault." Ottawa Citizen, November 14, 2011. Fenelon Falls Gazette. December 12, 1984. Ferron, Madeleine, and Robert Cliche. Les Beaucerons, ces insoumis. Montreal, 1974. Fortin, Denis. "Above and Beyond: Adventism in Québec." Adventist Review, April 28, 2005. Gagné, Gilles. "Le spectre de Moïse." Le Nouvelliste, October 5, 2018. Gagnon, Karine. "Trois femmes suivent toujours leur maître." Le Journal de Québec, 2002. Gélinas, Geneviève. "Sectes: la responsabilité partagée." Le Soleil, October 5, 2018. Geneanet. Raymond Dallaire family tree (Thériault–Tremblay marriage, 1943). Global News / Canadian Press. February 28, 2011; May 13, 2011. Hassan, Steven. Combating Cult Mind Control. Park Street Press, 1988. Kaihla, Paul, and Ross Laver. "The Ant Hill Kids." Maclean's, February 8, 1993. Kaihla, Paul, and Ross Laver. Savage Messiah: The Shocking Story of Cult Leader Rock Thériault and the Women Who Loved Him. Doubleday Canada, 1993. Kaihla, Paul, and Ross Laver. "Under the Spell of a Madman." Maclean's, September 27, 1993. Kropveld, Mike, and Marie-Andrée Pelland. "Le groupe de Roch 'Moïse' Thériault." Info-Secte / Info-Cult, Montreal, 2003. Laflamme, Francine. Roch Thériault dit Moïse. Stanké, 1997. Lalich, Janja. Bounded Choice. University of California Press, 2004. Lavallée, Gabrielle. L'alliance de la brebis: Rescapée de la secte de Moïse. Éditions JCL, 1993; revised 2009; 2023. Le Journal de Québec. Archives feature on the Thériault case. October 13, 2019.

  3. Sep 29

    67. Carl Tanzler and His Corpse Bride

    Support the show, get ad free and bonus content patreon.com/highwaytohellpodcast Carl Tanzler was a German-born radiology technician who emigrated to the United States and by 1927 was working at the Marine Hospital in Key West, Florida. He claimed that as a young man he had been visited by the spirit of an ancestor who showed him the face of his destined true love, and in 1930 he became convinced he had found her in Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, a 21-year-old Cuban-American patient dying of tuberculosis. Tanzler showered her with gifts and attempted to treat her with homemade tonics and X-ray equipment, but she died in 1931. He paid for an elaborate mausoleum, visited it nightly, and in 1933 removed her body and brought it home. Over the next seven years he reconstructed her decaying corpse with wire, plaster, wax, glass eyes, and her own hair fashioned into a wig, dressed it in a wedding gown, and kept it in his bed while dousing it in perfume to mask the odor. In 1940 Elena's sister heard rumors, confronted him, and found the body, leading to his arrest for grave robbing. The charge was dropped because the statute of limitations had expired, and much of the public, swept up by the press coverage, viewed him as a tragic romantic rather than a criminal. Elena was reburied in an unmarked grave, and Tanzler died in 1952, reportedly with a life-sized effigy of her by his side. ICK Sources Harrison, Ben. Undying Love: The True Story of a Passion That Defied Death. Key West, 1997; expanded edition 2001. Swicegood, Tom. Von Cosel. iUniverse, 2003. Source of the body-switch theory. Sloan, David L. Ghosts of Key West. Phantom Press, 1998. Sloan also discussed the 1982 Michelfelder article on the NightMerica podcast, February 3, 2021. Peričić, Marija. Exquisite Corpse. Ultimo Press, 2023. Novel; ABC News (Australia) profile of the book and the Trial Bay internment, November 18, 2023. Tanzler von Cosel, Karl. "The Secret of Elena's Tomb." Fantastic Adventures, vol. 9 no. 5, September 1947, Ziff-Davis, Chicago. Full scan at archive.org (Fantastic_Adventures_v09n05_Ziff-Davis_Sep_1947). Von Cosel's journal, final entry ("Human jealousy has robbed me of the body of my Elena"), as quoted in Harrison and in later retellings. Miami Herald, October 1940. Source of Nana Medina's statements: "She never loved him… She looked upon von Cosel as a grandfather" and the "wedding… or a funeral" warning. Key West Citizen, October 1940. Hearing coverage before Justice of the Peace Enrique Esquinaldo, October 8–9, 1940; $1,000 bond; charge wording. The Tennessean (Nashville), October 1940. Cousin's statement that Elena "finally died hating her rescuer." Death certificate of Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, October 25, 1931, as reported by Michelfelder (below); no autopsy performed. DePoo, Dr. Julio, and Dr. Foraker. Recollection of the 1940 examination, first stated 1972; DePoo interviewed on HBO's Autopsy series, 1999 ("I found a tube wide enough to permit sexual intercourse…"). Perez, Bienvenido (Key West chief of police, 1940). Statement to Men True Adventure magazine, undated ("I'll kill her, if necessary, to fulfil my destiny"). Michelfelder, William. Article in Detective Cases, 1982. Source of the unverified "wolfsbane… aconite" note and the "dormant epilepsy" death-certificate wording. Wikipedia, "Carl Tanzler" (with its cited sources: Harrison, Swicegood, Sloan, HBO Autopsy). Dates of birth, marriage, emigration (Rotterdam, February 6, 1926), Hoyos family dates, hearing, viewing, citizenship 1950, death July 3, 1952. WLRN, "A Love That Would Not Die: Key West Tells Its Most Macabre Legend," February 11, 2018. HistoryHub.info, "Twists in a Twisted Tale: The Exploitation, Defilement and Murder of Elena Hoyos."

  4. Sep 22

    66. Family Business- The Hillside Stranglers

    Support the show at patreon.com/highwaytohellpodcast Does evil run in the family? Cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono Jr. murdered at least 10 women and girls in the Los Angeles area between October 1977 and February 1978. They would use the "cop ruse" posing as plainclothes police officers, pull women over or approach them on the street, and take them to Buono's upholstery shop in Glendale. There they raped, tortured, and strangled their victims, then dumped the bodies on hillsides around the city. Their victims ranged in age from 12 to 28. Bianchi would eventually be arrested in washington after two more kills, tried to fake multiple personality disorder to escape before agreeing to plead guilty and testify against Buono. Buono's trial was one of the longest criminal trials in American history, running from 1981 to 1983. He was convicted of nine of the ten LA murders and sentenced to life without parole. He died in prison in 2002. Bianchi is still alive and incarcerated in Washington State. Sources: - full list on patreon ABC News. (2021). ‘City of Angels, City of Death’: Inside the hunt for Los Angeles’ string of serial killers. https://abcnews.com/US/city-angels-city-death-inside-hunt-los-angeles/story?id=81231947 Balagtas, T. (2026, July 16). All about Hillside Stranglers Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, and the victim they spared because of her famous father. A&E. https://www.aetv.com/articles/all-about-the-hillside-stranglers-angelo-buono-kenneth-bianchi-victim-they-spared-because-of-her-famous-father Bardsley, M. (2015). Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, the Hillside Stranglers [19-chapter feature]. Crime Library, TruTV. Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/2015/http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/stranglers/rampage_1.html Barnes, M. (Producer & Director). (1984). The mind of a murderer, Parts I and II [Television documentary transcript]. Frontline, WGBH/PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/transcripts/206.html Board denies parole for Hillside Strangler. (2010, August 18). Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/08/hillside-strangler-denied-parole.html Boren, R. W. (2000). The Hillside Strangler trial. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, 33(2), 707–725. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr/vol33/iss2/ Chavez, S., & Gorman, A. (2002, September 22). ‘Hillside Strangler’ dies at 67. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-22-me-hillside22-story.html Chavez, S., & Gorman, A. (2002, September 23). Angelo Buono Jr. dies at 67. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2002/09/23/angelo-buono-jr-dies-at-67/5e2b4952-bb96-47a2-af4f-9cc744ffb281/ Convicted ‘Hillside Strangler’ serial killer is denied parole, will be eligible in a decade. (2025, July 10). Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-07-10/hillside-strangler-a-convicted-serial-killer-gets-denied-parole-will-be-eligible-in-a-decade Crabtree, M. (2026, July 4). The disturbing story of Angelo Buono, the ‘Hillside Strangler’ who tormented 1970s Los Angeles. All That’s Interesting. https://allthatsinteresting.com/angelo-buono Dismissal of Buono murder counts asked. (1981, July 14). Los Angeles Times, p. 1. Edwards, M. (2025, July). ‘Hillside Strangler’ Kenneth Bianchi, convicted in 1970s serial killings, is denied parole. CBS News Los Angeles. https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/hillside-strangler-kenneth-bianchi-denied-parole/ Farr, B. (1981, July 26). Prosecution memos list holes in Strangler case. Los Angeles Times, pp. 1, 3, 24–25. Find a Grave. (n.d.). Memorial pages for Dolores Ann “Dolly” Cepeda, Cindy Lee Hudspeth, Sonja Marie Johnson, Elissa Teresa “Lissa” Kastin, Evelyn Jane King, Kimberley Dianne “Kim” Martin, Judith Lynn “Judy” Miller, Beulah Mae Stofer, Lauren Rae Wagner, and Kristina Weckler. https://www.findagrave.com

  5. Sep 14

    65. The Theology of Submission and the Death of a Pastors Wife

    TW: Suicide First ever true crossover episode! Flippers meet the Hellions, Hellions meet the Flippers. This case included so much of our mutual subject matter we decided to post it on both shows. Mica Francis Miller, 30, died on April 27, 2024, at Lumber River State Park in North Carolina, roughly an hour from her home in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She had bought a handgun that afternoon and called 911 minutes before shooting herself; the Robeson County Sheriff's Office and North Carolina medical examiners ruled her death a suicide. Days earlier she had filed for divorce from her husband, John-Paul Miller, pastor of Solid Rock Church in Market Common, and police records show she contacted law enforcement at least 14 times between February and mid-April 2024.Court filings and family statements alleged years of abuse, surveillance, financial control, and nonconsensual distribution of intimate images; a December 2024 filing added strangulation allegations. Miller denied wrongdoing. On December 17, 2025, a federal grand jury in South Carolina indicted Miller on two counts, cyberstalking and making false statements to investigators, alleging he used tracking devices and unwanted communications to harass Mica from November 2022 until her death. Netflix's documentary series "Death of a Pastor's Wife" premiered August 27, 2026, renewing attention on the case and on South Carolina's protective-order law. Sources: Full list on patreon ABC News 4 (WCIV). (2026, January 12). JP Miller pleads not guilty to federal charges of cyberstalking, false statements. ⁠https://abcnews4.com/news/local/dozens-show-up-outside-florence-federal-courthouse-for-arraignment-of-jp-miller-mica-cyberstalking-lying-authorities-fbi-solid-rock-church-pastor⁠ Burroughs Funeral Home & Cremation Services. (2024). Obituary for Mica Acacia Miller. ⁠https://www.burroughsfh.com/obituary/Mica-Miller⁠ Christianity Today. (2022, September). What happens when you ask thousands of evangelical women about sex. ⁠https://www.christianitytoday.com/2022/09/sheila-gregoire-great-sex-rescue-survey-evangelical-women/⁠ Condo-World. (n.d.). History of the Sea Captain's House Myrtle Beach. ⁠https://blog.condo-world.com/history-of-the-sea-captains-house/⁠ Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. (1987). The Danvers Statement. Creepy Catalog. (2026). Death of the Pastor's Wife: John-Paul Miller's first wife says Mica's account matched her own. ⁠https://creepycatalog.com/death-of-the-pastors-wife-john-paul-millers-first-wife-says-micas-account-matched-her-own/⁠ Crime and Cask News Network. (2026, August). Father of former Solid Rock pastor John Paul Miller pleads guilty. ⁠https://crimeandcask.com/father-of-pastor-john-paul-miller-pleads-guilty/⁠ FITSNews. (2024, December 20). Mica Miller saga: Police reports fill in blanks, raise more questions. ⁠https://www.fitsnews.com/2024/12/20/mica-miller-saga-police-reports-fill-in-blanks-raise-more-questions/⁠ FITSNews. (2025, June 2). Embattled South Carolina pastor John-Paul Miller marries girlfriend. ⁠https://www.fitsnews.com/2025/06/02/embattled-south-carolina-pastor-john-paul-miller-marries-girlfriend/⁠ Gregoire, S. W. (2023, September). 10 things to know about obligation sex. Bare Marriage. ⁠https://baremarriage.com/2023/09/10-things-obligation-sex/⁠ Gregoire, S. W., Lindenbach, R. G., & Sawatsky, J. (2021). The great sex rescue: The lies you've been taught and how to recover what God intended. Baker Books. Guidepost Solutions. (2022, May 15). Report of the independent investigation: The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee's response to sexual abuse allegations and an audit of the procedures and actions of the Credentials Committee. Jane Doe v. John-Paul Miller, Reginald Wayne Miller, et al. (2025). Complaint, Horry County Court of Common Pleas. ⁠https://www.wbtw.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2025/03/JP-lawsuit-2.pdf⁠

  6. Sep 8

    64. Crime of the Summer- the Lindsay Clancy Case

    Andy and I have bombshells about the timeline in our fireside chat on patreon.com/highwaytohellpodcast (we also tease the new studio and halloween merch) Clarify some points: **This is by no means all of the data from the trial, only what we could fit into the evidence, we talk more about things on the fireside **The timeline discrepancy comes from Patrick testifying he left at 5:15 but an email being sent from his account at 5:24 **Since this recording, a mistrial has been declared due to a hold out jury refusing to follow the law on reasonable doubt On January 24, 2023, Lindsay Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital for nine years, allegedly strangled her three children in the basement of the family's home at 47 Summer Street in Duxbury, Massachusetts, while her husband was out picking up takeout and a prescription she had asked him to get. Cora was 5, Dawson was 3, Callan was 8 months old. Clancy then allegedly took pills, strangled herself with a belt, cut her wrists and neck, and went out a second-story window, severing her spinal cord. In the four months before that night, at least six providers had prescribed her thirteen different psychiatric medications across more than thirty prescriptions; she was turned away by two crisis hotlines in four days, told her psychiatrist she was having intrusive thoughts of harming her children. A status hearing on whether the Commonwealth will retry her is set for September 29. Sources- full list on patreon AAMC. "Why we know so little about women's health." aamc.org/news/why-we-know-so-little-about-women-s-health ABC News. "'She was begging for help': former mother-in-law testifies." Aug 2026. abcnews.com/GMA/News/begging-lindsay-clancys-former-mother-law-testifies/story?id=135739178 ABC News. "Mistrial declared. What happens next?" 4 Sep 2026. abcnews.com/GMA/News/lindsay-clancy-jury-deadlocked/story?id=136153308 Boston Globe. "Prescribed 13 different medications." 27 Jul 2026. bostonglobe.com/2026/07/27/metro/lindsay-clancy-timeline-medications-13/ Boston Globe. "Timeline of activities on Jan. 24." 4 Aug 2026. bostonglobe.com/2026/08/04/metro/timeline-lindsay-clancy-cell-phone-records/ Boston Globe. "Surgeon, investigators testify on her injuries." 4 Aug 2026. bostonglobe.com/2026/08/04/metro/lindsay-clancy-trial-testimony-tuesday/ Boston Globe. "Mechanics of the insanity defense." 12 Aug 2026. bostonglobe.com/2026/08/12/metro/clancy-trial-structure-insanity-defense/ Boston Globe. "Googled psychosis symptoms and hallucinations." 13 Aug 2026. bostonglobe.com/2026/08/13/metro/lindsay-clancy-trial-live-updates/ Boston Globe. "Said 'Go to God' as she strangled each child." 21 Aug 2026. bostonglobe.com/2026/08/21/metro/lindsay-clancy-trial-mack-resnick/ Boston Globe. "Dueling assessments of psychosis." 21 Aug 2026. bostonglobe.com/2026/08/21/metro/lindsay-clancy-trial-live-updates/ Boston Globe. "Kevin Reddington, 'girl dad' energy." 24 Aug 2026. bostonglobe.com/2026/08/24/lifestyle/lindsay-clancy-murder-trial-kevin-reddington-insanity/ Boston.com. "What prosecutors say happened Jan. 24." 17 Feb 2023. boston.com/news/crime/2023/02/17/lindsay-clancy-timeline-january-24-duxbury-mother-children/ Brown University. "32 years of U.S. filicide arrests." 2014. archive2.news.brown.edu/2007-2015/articles/2014/02/filicide.html CBS Boston. "Case ends in mistrial after jury deadlock." 4 Sep 2026. cbsnews.com/boston/live-updates/lindsay-clancy-murder-trial-hung-jury-mistrial-verdict-watch-live-updates/ CBS Boston. "Karen Read sues Mass. State Police, Canton Police." cbsnews.com/boston/news/karen-read-lawsuit-massachusetts-state-police-canton-police/ CBS News. "Key moments from the Clancy trial." Aug 2026. cbsnews.com/news/lindsay-clancy-trial-key-moments-jury-weighs-case/ CNN. "Opening statements to begin." 26 Jul 2026. cnn.com/2026/07/26/us/lindsay-clancy-trial-opening-statements

  7. Sep 1

    63. Extreme Premeditation: The Life and Crimes of Israel Keyes

    We're so used to serial killers having a compulsion, a need, an insatiable craving that often makes them sloppy and leads to an arrest. Israel Keyes did not suffer from that reckless compulsion and may be the most calculated killer we have ever covered. On unrelated trips Israel Keyes would get a five gallon bucket and fill it with a gun, rope, plastic sheeting, anything he needed for a kill trip and would bury that bucket YEARS in advance. When he decided it was time to kill he would fly to a major airport, rent a car and drive sometimes a thousand miles, pick up his kill kit, and hunt for a random person he never met. The victim was never connected to him and neither was the location, until Keyes on a drunken night hunted too close to home. Sources ABC News. (2012, December). Alaska serial killer committed suicide with hidden razor and bedding. abcnews.com Adirondack Daily Enterprise. (2013, November). FBI thinks Keyes buried a body near Tupper Lake. adirondackdailyenterprise.com Alaska Public Media. (2012, April 19). U.S. Attorney's Office files charges against Keyes in Koenig case. alaskapublic.org Alaska Public Media. (2012, May 24). Israel Keyes attempts to flee courtroom. alaskapublic.org Alaska Public Media / KTOO. (2012, December 3–5). Keyes autopsy underway, investigations continue. alaskapublic.org Anchorage Daily News. (2012, May 24). Courtroom erupts as defendant tries to flee Alaska barista trial. adn.com Anchorage Daily News. (2012, May 26). In a more subdued hearing, Israel Keyes gets a March trial date. adn.com Anchorage Daily News. (2012, December 2). Israel Keyes dead in apparent suicide; suspected in Lower 48 deaths. adn.com Anchorage Daily News. (2012, December 3). Vermont authorities point to suspected serial killer Israel Keyes in 2011 double murder. adn.com Anchorage Daily News. (2013, November 13). FBI looks for clues linking confessed serial killer Israel Keyes to missing New Jersey woman. adn.com Anchorage Daily News. (2014, July 15). The untold story behind Israel Keyes' jailhouse suicide. adn.com Anchorage Daily News. (2018, May 18). Unsealed interviews detail two lives of Alaska serial killer Israel Keyes. adn.com Callahan, M. (2019). American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century. Viking. Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI Records: The Vault — Israel Keyes (Parts 1–8). vault.fbi.gov/israel-keyes Federal Bureau of Investigation. Israel Keyes interview recordings, video repository, including the session of May 24, 2012. fbi.gov/video-repository/ Federal Bureau of Investigation. Seeking information regarding serial killer case [video], and the Israel Keyes travel timeline. fbi.gov Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2013). New information released in serial killer case. fbi.gov/news/stories/new-information-released-in-serial-killer-case Federal Bureau of Investigation, Anchorage Field Office. (2012, April 18). Anchorage man indicted for kidnapping and killing Samantha Koenig. archives.fbi.gov/archives/anchorage/press-releases/2012/ Federal Bureau of Investigation, Portland Field Office. (2013). FBI requests the public's assistance in case of serial killer Israel Keyes. archives.fbi.gov/archives/portland/press-releases/2013/ Miller, T. C. (2015, July 30). The FBI built a database that can catch rapists — almost nobody uses it. ProPublica. propublica.org Murder Accountability Project. Unsolved homicide data and clearance rates. murderdata.org NBC News. (2012, May). Alleged barista killer tries to escape court. nbcnews.com Rosay, A. B. (2011). 2010 Alaska Victimization Survey: Report to the Alaska State Legislature. University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center. scholarworks.alaska.edu/handle/11122/7227 Southern Poverty Law Center. Extremist files: Aryan Nations; Christian Identity; Richard Butler. splcenter.org United States v. Keyes, No. 3:12-cr-00041 (D. Alaska 2012). courtlistener.com/docket/6823228/united-states-v-keyes/

  8. Aug 25

    62. The Jersey Devil

    How prejudice, misogyny and a kangaroo in bat wings created a monster. Support the show by becoming a hellion at patreon.com/highwaytohellpodcast The legend is rooted in the Pine Barrens, the million-acre stretch of sandy pine forest across southern New Jersey. The legend begins in 1735 when a woman remembered only as Mother Leeds went into labor with her thirteenth child. Exhausted and cursing her fertility, she cried, "Let this one be the devil." The child was born normally, then twisted before the midwife's eyes into something with a horse's head, leathery bat wings, cloven hooves, and a forked tail. It shrieked, beat its way up the chimney, and vanished into the pines. Historically this woman was likely Deborah Leeds wife of Japhet Leeds, who records show had 12 children. But the creature was likely born from politics, not a woman crying out in pain and frustration, exhausted by pregnancy and birth. Daniel Leeds, a colonial almanac publisher, broke with his Quaker neighbors and printed astrology and occult lore. They branded him "Satan's Harbinger."(great metal band name) His son Titan (also great name) continued the feud and was mocked by Benjamin Franklin, who jokingly predicted Titan's death, then insisted his ghost lingered on. The Leeds family crest bore a wyvern a winged, clawed dragon. A hated family, a devilish reputation, and a monster on the coat of arms fused over generations into the "Leeds Devil," renamed the Jersey Devil only in the twentieth century. Its most famous week came in January 1909, when hundreds of sightings and mysterious hoofprints swept New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Schools and factories closed, armed posses combed the woods, and a Philadelphia showman, Norman Jefferies, cashed in by exhibiting a painted kangaroo fitted with fake wings. The Jersey Devil was born from a colonial grudge, regional prejudice, and a curse on a woman who would DARE to not want to have more kids. SOURCES (full sources on Patreon) Brian Regal and Frank J. Esposito, The Secret History of the Jersey Devil: How Quakers, Hucksters, and Benjamin Franklin Created a Monster (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018) — the foundational scholarly work, and the source for the Daniel Leeds / Titan Leeds / wyvern / Franklin argument.Brian Regal, “The Jersey Devil: The Real Story,” Skeptical Inquirer, November 2013.W. F. Mayer, “In the Pines,” The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. III, May 1859 — first known print appearance of the “Leeds Devil.”Caleb Pusey, Satan’s Harbinger Encountered, 1700.Daniel Leeds, An Almanack for the Year of Christian Account 1687; The Temple of Wisdom for the Little World, 1688; The Trumpet Sounded Out of the Wilderness of America, 1699.Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1733–1738 editions — the Titan Leeds death prediction and the “ghost of Titan Leeds” sequence.Japhet Leeds will, 1736, Burlington County records — twelve named children.Encounter 1 (Nelson Evans, 1909): Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and allied Philadelphia press, January 19–20, 1909, Geoff Tibballs, The World’s Greatest Hoaxes (2006) — Norman Jefferies, Jacob Hope, and the Arch Street Dime Museum kangaroo.Robert E. Bartholomew on the 1909 flap as mass hysteria seeded by regional legend.Jeff Brunner, Humane Society of New Jersey — the sandhill crane hypothesis.Henry H. Goddard, The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness (1912); Elizabeth Kite, “The Pineys” (1913); Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man (1981), on the retouched photographs.John McPhee, The Pine Barrens (1968).Weird NJ magazine, Jersey Devil reader files — three decades of submitted first-hand accounts.

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About

Welcome to Highway to Hell, the unique crossroads where wanderlust meets mystery. Every episode, I take you on a journey to breathtaking destinations around the globe, unveiling not just the beauty of travel but the shadows that lurk behind the postcard-perfect views. From unsolved mysteries to infamous crimes, I explore the darker tales hidden within the world's most enchanting locales. So pack your curiosity, keep your wits about you, and join us as we dive deep into the thrilling intersection of travel and true crime. Your adventure into the unknown starts now.

Information

  • Creator
    Monte Mader
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    69
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Monte Mader
  • Show Website
    Highway to Hell

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