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Ash Kelley & Alaina Urquhart

It’s a lighthearted nightmare in here, weirdos! Morbid is a true crime, creepy history and all things spooky podcast hosted by an autopsy technician and a hairstylist. Join us for a heavy dose of research with a dash of comedy thrown in for flavor.

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Morbid

On February 4, 1941, Bronx police officers were called to the home of John and Catherine Pappas for a report of a homicide. Based on the evidence, detectives theorized that someone had been invited into the Pappas apartment while Catherine was home alone and that same someone had strangled her to death, then ransacked the apartment looking for valuables. To investigators the scene resembled a fairly straightforward robbery-homicide; however, to detective Ed Burns, there were elements of the crime scene that bore a striking similarity to another assault and robbery case he’d been assigned to just two weeks earlier in another part of the Bronx. 

What followed was an investigation that exploded in size from a single robbery-gone-wrong that resulted in a murder to a sprawling serial sexual assault case that would eventually involve more than eighty victims in eight states, all victimized by the same man. The hunt for the Aspirin Bandit is among the more remarkable cases in New York criminal history, not only because of the number of victims, but also because of the tremendous effort and coordination put forth to catch the killer—effort and coordination that, in 1941, was virtually unheard of.

Thank you to the Amazing Dave White (of BRING ME THE AXE PODCAST) for research and writing assistance!
References
Brooklyn Eagle. 1941. "Papas slayer, faced by victims, confesses." Brooklyn Eagle, March 4: 1.

Connor, Christine, and Elise Greven. 2017. "Gentleman Killer." A Crime to Remember. Janaury 3.

Dillon, Edward, and Howard Whitman. 1941. "Cigarets, aspirin clues to woman's strangler." Daily News (New York, NY), February 6: 4.

New York Times. 1941. "Alarm for burglar sent in Pappas case." New York Times, February 8: 32.

—. 1941. "Cvek found guilty of Pappas murder." New York Times, May 20: 46.

—. 1941. "Cvek tells court he killed in anger." New York Times, May 16: 24.

—. 1941. "Mystery cloaks woman's murder." New York Times, February 6: 15.

—. 1941. "Pappas strangler admits 15 crimes." New York Times, March 5: 1.

—. 1941. "Slayer of woman 'rebukes' press." New York Times, March 8: 34.

—. 1941. "Sun lamp halts trial." New York Times, April 22: 23.

Rice, William. 1941. "Cvek a killer? No surprise to his relatives." 

Daily News (New York, NY)

, March 5: 4.

 
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The Horrific Crimes of the Aspirin Bandit

Weirdos, REJOICE! It’s that time that's brought to you, BY you, FOR you, FROM you and ALLLLL about you! This week, Ash & Alaina enter their villain era, and focus on tales from the early oughts! We’ve got haunted plants! We’ve got stories about a break in! We’ve got ghostly babysitters! So sit down, grab a cup of ambrosia and join us as we say farewell to September!

LISTEN to this (nearly)Nicholas-free version on all podcast platforms OR WATCH the Nicholas version on Youtube on 9/25/2025!

If you’ve got a listener tale please send it on over to Morbidpodcast@gmail.com with “Listener Tales” somewhere in the subject line- and if you share pictures- please let us know if we can share them with fellow weirdos! :)

 
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Listener Tales 102: Villains!

Weirdos! This week, we’re diving headfirst into the haunted and the unexplainable with none other than Sam & Colby! They’ve shared their passion for seeking the paranormal, taunting the unknown, and occasionally screaming at shadows in abandoned places. Sam & Colby talk about some of their most terrifying (and hilarious) experiences on the road, as well as answer questions we can confidently say they’ve never been asked!

Want to watch their ghost hunts? Check out their YouTube Channel HERE!

Interested in doing a ghost hunt at the haunted school they purchased? Book your experience HERE!

Check out their Escape Room: Room 1952 Asylum? Book it HERE!

Purchase their NEW Hunt A Killer Game: The Haunting of Wicker Ridge HERE!

 
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Dialing the Dead: A Séance with Sam & Colby

In the early morning hours of July 9, 1993, police in Sedona, Arizona received a dispatch call from 911 regarding a domestic violence related shooting at a home on Coffee Pot Drive. When they arrived at the home, officers found thirty-one-year-old Russell Peterson performing CPR on his longtime girlfriend, Stephanie Wasilishin, who was lying on the floor of the couple’s bedroom with a large hole in her neck from a .44 caliber bullet. Also present in the bedroom was the couple’s four-year-old daughter.

At first, Peterson told investigators that Stephanie had fired the gun at him in the living room, then retreated to the bedroom, where the two struggled over the gun, during which Stephanie was shot. Later, however, Peterson changed his story, telling detectives he couldn’t remember what happened, but he thought Stephanie shot herself. Further complicating matters was the couple’s daughter, who told detectives “Papa killed her.”

For decades, the Wasilishin family has sought justice for Stephanie, but that justice and the answers to their questions have remained elusive. With the passage of time, is it possible for investigators to close the case on Stephanie Wasilishin’s death, or has too much time passed for a resolution to present itself?

Looking to sign the petition? Click here!

Want LISTEN to Nikki’s Podcast “PAPI KILLED MOMMY” Listen here!

Follow Nikki on TikTok Click here!

Thank you to the Amazing Dave White (of BRING ME THE AXE PODCAST) for research and writing assistance!
References
Brooks, Scott. 1993. Miscellaneous offense report, Peterson/Wasilishin. Incident Report, Sedona, Arizona: Sedona Police Department.

Eland, Ron. 2020. Sedona Police Department adds more pieces to puzzle in 1993 death. July 27. Accessed August 5, 2025. https://www.redrocknews.com/2020/07/27/sedona-police-department-adds-more-pieces-to-puzzle-of-1993-death/.

—. 2020. Sedona Police Department returns to 1993 case. July 16. Accessed August 5, 2025. https://www.redrocknews.com/2020/07/16/sedona-police-department-returns-to-1993-case/.

Irish, Robert. 1993. Sedona Police Department Supplementary Report, case #93-4944. Supplementary Report, Sewdoa, Arizona: Sedona Police Department.

Keen, Dr. Philip. 1993. Report of Autopsy, Stephanie Wasilishin. Autopsy, Phoenix, Arizona: Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner.

Spokes, Walter. 1993. Russell Peters interview, 10-21-93. Interview transcript, Sedona, Arizona: Sedona Police Department.

Spokes, Walter. 1993. 

Supplementary Report, case # 93-4944.

 Incident report, Sedona, Arizona: Sedona Police Department.

 
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The Unsolved Death Stephanie Wasilishin

In the summer of 1977, single mother Margaret Hodgson called the police to her council estate apartment in Enfield, London to report that she and her two daughters, Janet and Peggy, had seen furniture move in the apartment and were hearing strange noises coming from within the walls. That simple albeit unusual call set in motion a chain of events that would thrust the unassuming Hodgson family into the center of a debate about the existence of the supernatural and forever associate them with one of England’s most notorious paranormal cases, the Enfield poltergeist.

Over the course of roughly eighteen months, the family claimed they were subjected to a variety of supernatural harassment that ranged from moving furniture and knocking in the walls to disembodied voices and even involuntary levitation. Soon after the report was made to the police, the story attracted a variety of news outlets and paranormal investigators, all determined to either prove the case a genuine poltergeist or a hoax perpetrated by two adolescent attention-seeking girls.

Nearly fifty years later, the case remains controversial among skeptics and believers, all of whom want to know what exactly did happen in the Hodgson's apartment and who—or what—is to blame for the disturbances.

Thank you to the Amazing Dave White (of BRING ME THE AXE PODCAST) for research and writing assistance!

 

References

Amin, Meghna. 2022. "Man behind photos of the Enfield poltergeist ‘still can’t believe’ what he saw." The Metro, October 28.

Brimmer, Ryan. 1978. "Ghost Story." Daily Mirror, March 30: 20.

Cambridge Evening News. 1978. "Pitfalls facing psychic investigator." Cambridge Evening News, March 31: 18.

Couttie, Bob. 1988. Forbidden Knowledge: The Paranormal Paradox. Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth.

French, Chris. 2016. Five reasons why London’s most famous poltergeist case is a hoax. June 17. Accessed October 7, 2023. https://www.timeout.com/london/blog/five-reasons-why-londons-most-famous-poltergeist-case-is-a-hoax-061616.

Grosse, Maurice. 1977. "Poltergeist in Enfield." The Observer, November 20: 16.

Hyde, Deborah. 2015. "The Enfield 'poltergeist:' a sceptic speaks." The Guardian, May 1.

Nickell, Joe. 2012. "Enfield Poltergeist." Skeptical Inquirer 36 (4): 12-14.

Playfair, Guy Lyon. 1980. This House is Haunted. New York, NY: Stein and Day.

 

 
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The Enfield Poltergeist

Happy Friday, weirdos! We are SO EXCITED to spend our FIRST MONTHLY BONUS EPISODE digging into the shocking Netflix Documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish! MAJOR spoilers ahead, so if you haven't watched it yet, press 'pause' and get thee to Netflix IMMEDIATELY!

Want to watch the documentary? Find it on Netflix here! Unknown Number: The High School Catfish

Looking for the article we mentioned? Find it on THECUT Here! Who Was Cyberbullying Kendra Licari's Teen Daughter?

 
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September Bonus Episode: Unknown Number: The High School Catfish

Just after 8:00 pm on the evening of February 19, 1994, thirty-one-year-old Gloria Ramirez was admitted to Riverside General Hospital with what Emergency Room staff believed were symptoms of a heart attack. When Ramirez failed to respond to the medications and emergency treatments, medical staff began preparations for defibrillation; however, when they removed the woman’s shirt, they were surprised to find her skin covered in an oily sheen and her body seemed to be emitting an odd fruity odor. Stranger still, when a nurse took a blood sample from the woman’s arm, the blood smelled of ammonia and appeared to have slightly yellow particles floating in it. The nurse turned to leave the room, intending to take the sample for immediate analysis, but she didn’t even make it to the door before she lost consciousness and was caught by a coworker before her limp body hit the floor. Less than an hour after she was admitted to the Riverside General Emergency Room, Gloria Ramirez was pronounced dead, but her story was far from over.

Within hours of Ramirez’s visit to the ER, medical personnel who attended her that evening became sick with symptoms typically associated with insecticide poisoning (tremors, apnea, burning skin), and several required hospitalization. In the days and weeks that followed, the doctors and nurses who’d come into direct contact with Ramirez continued to experience bizarre symptoms that seemed to defy logical explanation and left everyone wondering, how had a seemingly ordinary woman’s body been transformed into Trojan horse of toxicity most associated with chemical warfare?

Thank you to the Amazing Dave White (of BRING ME THE AXE PODCAST) for research and writing assistance!

References

Ayers, B. Drummon. 1994. "Elaborate precautions taken for autopsy in mystery fumes case." New York Times, February 25: A17.

Ayers, B. Drummond. 1994. "After airtight autopsy, mystery lingers in case of hospital fumes." New York Times, February 26: 10.

Boodman, Sandra G. 1994. "Was it a case of mass hysteria or poisoning by toxic chemical?" Washington Post, September 13.

Gorman, Tom. 1994. "Victims of fumes still ill, and still seeking answers." Los Angeles Times, April 14: 1.

King, Peter H. 1994. "Another funeral of note." Los Angeles Times, April 27: 3.

Kolata, Gina. 1994. "Fumes at hospital baffle officials." New York Times, February 22: A12.

New York Times. 1994. "Doctor faults state report on faintings." New York Times, September 4.

—. 1994. "Doctor files lawsuit over mystery fumes in emergency room." New York Times, August 10: A14.

—. 1994. "Kidney failure killed woman in fumes case." New York Times, May 1.

Stone, Richard. 1995. "Analysis of a Toxic Death." Discover Magazine, April 1.

 
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The Tragic Death of Gloria Ramirez

When nineteen-year-old Patty Hearst was kidnapped from her apartment in February 1974, everyone assumed the heiress had been abducted for the purposes of ransom. However, in the days that followed, Hearst’s kidnappers, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), made themselves known when they sent a letter demanding the Hearst family provide food to every needy family in California. 

For nearly two months, the SLA held Patty Hearts captive, or so it seemed to the public. But when the group’s demands were met and Hearst was given the opportunity to leave, the teenager shocked the world when, rather than flee her captors, she joined their ranks in support of their cause. Hearst’s decision set in motion a chain of events that resulted in several acts of explosive violence and forever changed the way we think about victims of kidnapping. Yet in all the analysis of the case over the last fifty years, one question remains unanswered, and possibly unanswerable: Was Patty Hearst a willing accomplice to the SLA or was she a brainwashed victim trying to survive a traumatic ordeal?

Thank you to the Amazing Dave White (of BRING ME THE AXE PODCAST) for research and writing assistance!

 
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The Kidnapping Of Patty Hearst (Part 4)

The Kidnapping Of Patty Hearst (Part 3)

When nineteen-year-old Patty Hearst was kidnapped from her apartment in February 1974, everyone assumed the heiress had been abducted for the purposes of ransom. However, in the days that followed, Hearst’s kidnappers, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), made themselves known when they sent a letter demanding the Hearst family provide food to every needy family in California. 

For nearly two months, the SLA held Patty Hearts captive, or so it seemed to the public. But when the group’s demands were met and Hearst was given the opportunity to leave, the teenager shocked the world when, rather than flee her captors, she joined their ranks in support of their cause. Hearst’s decision set in motion a chain of events that resulted in several acts of explosive violence and forever changed the way we think about victims of kidnapping. Yet in all the analysis of the case over the last fifty years, one question remains unanswered, and possibly unanswerable: Was Patty Hearst a willing accomplice to the SLA or was she a brainwashed victim trying to survive a traumatic ordeal?

Thank you to the Amazing Dave White (of BRING ME THE AXE PODCAST) for research and writing assistance!

References

Associated Press. 1974. "SLA commandos rob bank, shoot 2." Los Angeles Times, April 15: 1.

Caldwell, Earl. 1974. "Miss Hearst says she joins terrorists." New York Times, April 4: 1.

Conant, Jane Eshleman. 1974. "Guns point at 'Tania' in bank." San Francisco Examiner, April 16: 1.

Cook, Stephen. 1976. "Doctor: I wasn't harsh with Patty." San Francisco Examiner, January 15 : 1.

—. 1975. "Patty falling apart and must leave jail, her lawyer says." San Francisco Examiner, September 29: 1.

Curtain, Andrew. 1974. "New offer to Patty's captors." San Francisco Examiner, February 23: 1.

Fosburgh, Lacey. 1974. "Miss Hearst: an unlikely revolutionary." New York Times, April 7: 1.

Hager, Philip, and Daryl Lembke. 1974. "Kidnappers may offer 'deal' for Hearst girl." Los Angeles Times, February 9: 1.

Hager, Philip, and Dick Main. 1974. "$2 million for food pledged by Hearst." San Francisco Examiner, February 19: 1.

Hearst, Patricia. 1974. "Transcript of Patricia Hearst's diatribe on 'SLA expropriation'." San Francisco Examiner, April 25: 4.

Kendall, John. 1974. "'Never afraid of death,' defiant Miss Hearst declares on tape." Los Angeles Times, June 8: 1.

Linder, Douglas. n.d. The Patty Hearst Tapes. Accessed June 22, 2025. https://www.famous-trials.com/pattyhearst/2209-tapes.

Martinez, Al, and Robert Kistler. 1974. "Suspected SLA hideout stormed, 5 die." Los Angeles Times, May 18: 1.

Nordheimer, Jon. 1974. "Miss Hearst is now Tania, but how and why?" New York Times, May 26: 160.

San Francisco Examiner. 1974. "Father agree--it's Patty's voice." San Francisco Examiner, February 12: 18.

—. 1974. "Her voice: 'Mom, Dad, I'm ok'." San Francisco Examiner, February 12: 1.

—. 1974. "'It's terrible, vicious,' father says." San Francisco Examiner, April 16: 1.

—. 1975. "Patty asked to join the SLA, Rolling Stone article says." San Francisco Examiner, September 29: 2.

—. 1974. "'People in Need' opens with chaos, violence." San Francisco Examiner, February 23: 1.

—. 1974. "The public's reaction to the kidnapping." San Francisco Examiner, February 17: 20.

—. 1974. "5 victims in shootout at suspected SLA hideout." San Francisco Exminer, May 18: 1.

2020. The Crimes That Changed Us. Performed by Sebastian Smith.

Symbionese Liberation Army. n.d. "SLA Communique." UMKC Famous Trials. Accessed June 19, 2025. https://www.famous-trials.com/pattyhearst/2328-sla-communique.

Toobin, Jeffrey. 2017. American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst. New York, NY : Anchor Books.

Turner, Wallace. 1974. "Graddaughter of Hearst abducted by 3." New York Times, February 6: 1.

—. 1974. "Note says terrorists hold Miss Hearst." New York Times, February 8: 1.

United Press International. 1976. "Jury acquits Steve Soliah." Daily Breeze (Torrence, CA), April 28: 6.

Waugh, Dexter. 1974. "Key groups offer help to free Patty." San Francisco Examiner, February 14: 1.

Waugh, Dexter, and Don West. 1979. "'Nothing wrong with being Patty Hearst'." San Francisco Examiner, February 1: 1.

Enjoy new episodes of Morbid ad-free. Learn more about your SiriusXM Podcasts+ subscription by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Morbid ad-free. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

 
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The Kidnapping of Patty Hearst (Part 2)

It's an Alaina Mini Morbid, which means it is longer than an average full length episode. Trust us, it is worth it because this case is a truly horrific but endlessly fascinating look into the mind of a secretly troubled young boy who fooled absolutely everyone in his life. Unfortunately, it was young, precious, vivacious Maddie Clifton was on the receiving end of his break from reality. 

TRIGGER WARNING

This case involves the death of a child and it is hard to hear. We warn ahead of time when it will be discussed, so you can skip accordingly if you feel like you need to! 

Sources:

Kids who Kill: Joshua Phillips: True Crime Press Series 1, Book 1 by Kathryn McMaster

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20170810/19-years-later-narrative-behind-maddie-cliftons-demise-gets-even-worse

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5573932/joshua-phillips-children-who-kill-maddie-clifton/
 
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The Murder of Maddie Clifton "Mini" Morbid

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