Episode 556: The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders

After an intense manhunt that lasted several days, investigators arrested Richard Speck, a twenty-four-year-old unemployed drifter with a criminal history. There was a strong amount of evidence that linked Speck directly to the murders, including his own confession, so when he went to trial, his lawyer tried unsuccessfully to argue Speck was not legally sane at the time of the murders. Unfortunately, the truth was something far worse: Speck killed eight women for no reason whatsoever.

In the early morning hours of July 14, 1966, Chicago police responded to a call about a woman screaming for help at a townhouse in Chicago’s Jeffery Manor neighborhood. When they arrived, they found student nurse Cora Amurao outside the home she shared with eight other student nurses, all of whom had been strangled or stabbed that night by an unknown intruder, while Cora hid underneath her bed.

When Phil and Clara Dandy first saw the house on McMahon Road in Hinsdale, NY, in the spring of 1970, they thought they’d found the home they could spend the rest of their lives in. Since the mid-1960s, the Phil, Clara, and their four children had been vacationing in rural western New York, and the house represented everything they loved about the tranquil region of the state. Within the span of a few months, they’d bought the house and that summer, they began their new life in the country. Unfortunately for the Dandys, their new slower pace of life didn’t last long. Within a few months of moving into what would become known as The Hinsdale House, the family was besieged by disembodied voices, inexplicable sounds, and the presence of ghostly apparitions. In time, what began as bizarre occurrences and disturbing encounters became a daily battle for the health and safety of Phil, Clara, and their children.

ITS HALLOWEEN and we are reaching into our candy bowl to give you a spooooooky episode that's brought to you BY you, FOR you, FROM you and ALLLLL about you! Debdeb has gathered a batch of terrifying tales that will get you in the mood for the most wonderful time of the year!

When newlyweds Tony and Deb Pickman moved into their new home in Atchison, Kansas in March 1993, they were excited to have found what they believed was the perfect home for their new family. But that summer, when Deb gave birth to their son, Taylor, things in the Pickman’s new house went from perfect to terrifying in a matter of months.