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48 – The Cape Cod Vampire and the 1917 Halifax Explosion
55 Plays1 month ago
Sam tells the story of the Cape Cod Vampire, Tony Costa, and Jeff tells the story of the 1917 Halifax Explosion — one of the most devastating man-made explosions prior to the atomic bomb.
Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.
Jeff’s sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Christmas_Tree
- https://novascotia.ca/treeforboston/#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%20Nova%20Scotia%20sends,display%20on%20the%20Boston%20Common.
- https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca/what-see-do/halifax-explosion/vincent-coleman-and-halifax-explosion
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion
- https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/evenement-event/halifax-explosion
- https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2017/11/30/great-halifax-explosion/
- https://youtu.be/uavdFSr9oD0?si=ujG-kW00W7ooDXfq
- https://www.hfxfirehistory.ca/people/william-wells
- https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4424454
Sam’s sources:
- https://provincetownhistoryproject.org/PDF/lib_500_003-tony-costa-murders.pdf
- Morbid Podcast – Episode 194/195: Tony Costa, The Cape Cod Vampire
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Launch
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello, Sam. Hi, Jeffrey.
00:00:26
Speaker
The volumes are up. The little green light is working. This means we are recording down the rabbit hole with Jeff and Sam.
00:00:37
Speaker
I'm Jeff. And I'm Sam. Hey, Sam. Hi, Jeff. I didn't see you yesterday. Didn't. Did not see you yesterday at work. I didn't know what to do.
00:00:49
Speaker
Brittany and I were like, how who does she think she is? Listen, you know, with what's going on with the schedule and the government and all that kind of money thing, they ah don't do overtime. So even though they needed staff, when Nora wanted to switch, I switched with her.
00:01:05
Speaker
And so that was the day she took. Okay. All right. It was weird. It was weird. It was very weird. Welcome to the show, folks.
Social Media and Contact Info
00:01:13
Speaker
um You can find this little show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Amazon. If you get your podcast somewhere else, maybe you can find it there.
00:01:23
Speaker
I'm not sure. don't know any other platforms, but I also don't know much. I don't know much about a lot. What else, Samantha? You can reach out to us, downtherabbitholethepod at gmail.com or on Instagram at downtherabbitholethepod.
00:01:40
Speaker
Send us a message. Let us know what you think. Share all your deepest, darkest secrets, and we will anonymously talk about you. Yeah, we'll definitely change the name. Totally. Kayla. Like, how does a fox sound?
00:01:53
Speaker
Ha ha ha.
A Fox Encounter at the Bonfire
00:01:54
Speaker
Okay, so I go over to Sam's house the other night, Friday night. We do a bonfire. Nick, Ashley, and Kayla goes with me. And so we're all over there around the bonfire. In the forest temple. In the forest temple.
00:02:07
Speaker
The Viking forest temple, Nick. Excuse me. And ah we're sitting there and joy in the fire and suddenly a fox screams. If you don't know what a fox sounds like, it sounds like a kid being murdered, I would imagine. Violently. Or a woman being murdered violently.
00:02:26
Speaker
And we all kind of just go on about the conversation because we know what that sound is. We're familiar with it. Kayla, on the other hand, did not know what the sound was. She, her head spun around and her chair.
00:02:41
Speaker
And she, i could tell she didn't know what the sound was. And that she immediately, like she clutched her purse. She was ready to run up the hill.
00:02:53
Speaker
And then I was, so I was watching Kayla at this point, right? Cause I knew. So you and i Nick and Ashley, we go on talking about whatever we were talking about. It did it again. Kayla spun around again.
00:03:04
Speaker
And then the fox screamed for the third time. And Kayla was like, are we going to talk about this?
00:03:11
Speaker
Are we going to talk about this? Something's being murdered down there. Someone is being murdered down there. That was the. But it was like every time it made the noise after that. So even after we explained what it was. For two hours. She still would like, you would watch your whole body tense and be like.
00:03:27
Speaker
Like. like For two hours. And then the whole weekend, I was like, Kayla, how does the fox, how does it sound? And even like at the movie Saturday night, going down the big escalator, was like, Kayla, do the fox sound.
00:03:40
Speaker
And so Kayla would do the fox sound and people in the escalators would look at her like, the fuck is Did hear me doing it in the movie? No, no. I did it once when there was like, i don't know, there was one random part where it was- Can you give us the fox sound right now? I won't.
00:03:54
Speaker
No, i please. You do it. I can't, I can't go that high. Do it. She does it better than me. She does perfectly. going to sit back when I do this so that it's not blaring people's ears. ah See, I sat back, but I have the damn headphones on my ears, so it didn't do anything. I leaned back. I was like, oh, she's going to do it.
00:04:12
Speaker
But Kayla now makes that sound so perfectly. Oh, my God. The best. Kayla gave us a laugh all weekend long because of this. She did. Welcome to Virginia.
00:04:23
Speaker
Welcome to Virginia.
Review and Discussion of 'Centers' Movie
00:04:25
Speaker
Down in Alabama, we have the Bobcats that make that sound. No, thank you. They're horrible. yeah um Speaking of the movie, we went to see the movie centers this weekend.
00:04:34
Speaker
Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. So good. did you So good. It was so twisted. And I mean, there was definitely a lot going on. um So there were parts where I kind of felt like I was um in a whirlwind, um but it was amazing. Amazing.
00:04:52
Speaker
Miles Caton and Michael Jordan were two of the... Excuse me, have to say Michael B. Jordan. Michael B. Jordan were two of the stars and they did such a good... They all did a really good job. Yeah. The music in the movie... Oh.
00:05:06
Speaker
Blues mixed with the Irish... Irish songs. It was so good. everything about it was good. It was. I tell you, but for the first hour, i was like, i don't know what's happening, but I'm enjoying it. Like yeah they got the juke joint vibe, the blues, the music, the dancing.
00:05:23
Speaker
ah didn't know where it was going to go. So I'm like, where is this? ah Where is it going? Well, cause the trailer doesn't really let on like what, ah no which is good. I feel like the trailer gives away a lot. So we knew that something about was going to happen. I mean, the movie's called centers, but ah we didn't know how it was going to unfold. And,
00:05:41
Speaker
It did. It unfolded. fast And then exploded. Yeah. And if you go to see it, if you listen to this and you're going to go see the movie, stay after the credits. Yes. Because it starts it starts with the credits, but the reason they don't turn the lights on is because the movie's not over.
00:05:56
Speaker
Yes. And enjoy the credits. Oh, so good. What else? Um, what else? Oh, the weather. It's finally like hitting that summertime vibe. We're getting in the eighties. It's nice and humid. the trees are sperming all over the place and killing us. My face is watering. Yeah.
00:06:13
Speaker
Literally my eyes, nose. I look like I was crying this morning on the way to work out. No, no surprise. Tears just streaming down my face. Yeah. Not coming out my nose. Yeah.
00:06:27
Speaker
One of those constant cocaine sniffles. Yes. I got a look of pity. a look of pity. Oh, you poor guy. That poor guy is crying. um What else? Oh, oh the bump part was so much fun, though.
00:06:39
Speaker
Oh, and you said... um Bonfire. Yes. if In case yeah I do. I love the bonfire. I love the small like amount of people. It's just my thing. It's relaxing.
00:06:51
Speaker
And Sam said, Jeff, I said, well, maybe I can trade the bonfire off for any kind of ball game. Right. Right. And I have now officially agreed that I will no longer request his presence at any sporting event. And it is going to be written down as a contract because apparently Jeff is really good at that now.
00:07:10
Speaker
um And so I will no longer ask you to join me for any sporting event. And you will accompany me to outdoor fire pit sessions whenever we need to during the summer.
00:07:24
Speaker
Boom. that And so it shall be. And so it shall be. he said it with his fairy wand, so sealed. How else are you supposed to say stuff? You're right. yeah Honestly, I've got my wand with a little pink bow and the sparkly fake diamonds. You and Cammie and Gabby would just be best of buds.
00:07:44
Speaker
Yeah. So no sporting events. However, tomorrow night, we are going to go see Crime Junkie. We are. And tomorrow is the 1st of May. Because anyone was wondering, we are officially there.
00:07:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
Upcoming Crime Junkie Live Show
00:07:56
Speaker
This is tomorrow. This is tomorrow. Oh, word. On podcast time. Today reporting tomorrow's future. tomorrow future Absolutely. So we're going to go see Crime Junkie tomorrow night. They're doing a live show in Fairfax. They are. I cannot wait.
00:08:11
Speaker
It's going to be a blast. Oh, it's going to be so good. Okay. So good.
Blood Orange Italian Soda Experience
00:08:16
Speaker
All right. Anything else? so I don't think so. I bought us some um blood orange flavored Italian soda.
00:08:25
Speaker
Turn upside down. it. It's got a whole lot of stuff in the bottom there. It's good though. Um, you do know that my Italian side, uh, love some good Italian soda. So thank you for delivering. I don't think I've ever had blood orange. Oh, it's so good.
00:08:39
Speaker
don't know. haven't had this brand, but that's one of their like go-tos. Did you tell me to turn this upside down so it explode on me or something? Or was it just simply because there was stuff at the bottom? I think I should find out.
00:08:51
Speaker
Oh no. There we go. I dropped my wand. no.
00:08:58
Speaker
my God, that smells so delish. Very summery.
00:09:04
Speaker
Okay, you ready?
00:09:08
Speaker
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I feel like I make that mm-hmm, mm-hmm every time I pour. I think you do. But we could ask our listeners. No. You don't want know? There'll tell me 17 other things I do wrong. Say wrong.
00:09:23
Speaker
Tell me about the wheel. Silver hammer. Did you watch ah Nick needs to know if you watched the ah the video on YouTube? No, no. I forgot about the video. Okay, I'll send it to me.
00:09:37
Speaker
And you have to watch it afterwards because it is one of my absolute favorite videos ever of all time. And it's so good. Did I not watch this?
00:09:49
Speaker
Well, we talked about it at the bottom. Okay. Cheers, quiz. Cheers, quiz.
Review of 'The Terror' on Netflix
00:09:56
Speaker
Oh, I watched a show called The Terror on Netflix.
00:10:02
Speaker
That's so good. Take a step. Oh, I forgot about that part.
00:10:08
Speaker
So good. I just spit it
00:10:14
Speaker
out. I watched that dribble down your face. You're doing great today. It continues to be a stellar day. Hey, but you know what? You did 14 full minutes on the rower. Oh my God, that was insane.
00:10:27
Speaker
was so hard. i feel like I'm in rhabdo right now. Maybe I am, just a little bit. We'll fix you. ah The Terror. The Terror. Have you seen this? No, i haven't. Oh, no. Stop drooling.
00:10:38
Speaker
um It's a horror. It is really scary. And it's a series? Yeah. So. What's it on? It's on Netflix. And they go. It's like the British Navy in the 1800s.
00:10:52
Speaker
And they go out on a boat somewhere. Yeah. The terror. The terror. And they're trying to make it through this passage in the Antarctic.
00:11:03
Speaker
Oh. Or the Arctic. We know about that one. Yes. And the boat gets stuck where they are stuck for like the winter. And something starts happening to each one of them.
00:11:15
Speaker
Did you ever watch the head? No. Okay. I'll watch the terror. you watch the head. Okay. Is that a horror? Yeah. The terror was so scary. ah Yeah. I was... Like one of those things when the phone rang, I was like right in the middle of a scene and I screamed a little bit.
00:11:31
Speaker
You? little bit. Okay. I dropped my wand and this is most unfortunate. i have to like go get down. your wand. my wand. Oh yeah, i definitely wrapped up. Your eyes just got so wide. Yeah.
00:11:44
Speaker
What did you think? I heard a lot. Okay. So pick you want to pick coin? Yeah. Tell me when. And stop.
00:11:57
Speaker
oh It's the fuck no hell yes coin. okay So you again are positive Patsy will be hell yes. okay And I will be the fuck no. It's very Euro.
00:12:10
Speaker
Of course she didn't catch it. She did not catch it.
00:12:15
Speaker
and She's bending down. She's making weird noises. almost fell of your chair. saw that. Okay. It's on fuck no. Okay. So, ladies and gentlemen, as we have discussed in the past, those books this is my story should not be listened to by the faint of heart.
00:12:34
Speaker
There are all the trigger warnings you can imagine. um if you are on a road trip with your kids, Skip ahead to my story, because my story, kid-friendly.
00:12:48
Speaker
Mine is very much not. Marianne-friendly, Lena-friendly, every one of those people, my story's friendly. Perfect. Mine's not.
The Crimes of Tony Costa
00:12:56
Speaker
Okay. so okay Anthony Charles Costa, aka Tony, was born August Cambridge, Massachusetts.
00:13:08
Speaker
His father was a war here war hero from World War II and died saving another sailor from drowning before he was born. His mother remarried shortly after Tony was born, and she had another son when Tony was only two years old.
00:13:24
Speaker
Tony was a good student with a good school record. m By the age of 13, he was helping keep the books and manage the business for his stepfather. He had an adoring family and friends who liked him.
00:13:38
Speaker
He was reportedly very spoiled, but not in like a horrible way, but never punished for anything. He was of average intelligence with an IQ of 121, but he liked to put on an act of being smarter than everybody else around him.
00:13:52
Speaker
He grew up as a devout Catholic, but in his early teen years, he admittedly began believing less in Catholicism and coming up with his own kind of religion. was never good. Never good. That's called a cult. i don't know where you're going with this show, but that's called a cult.
00:14:09
Speaker
There were some reports of him being, quote, unkind to small animals. In high school, he was a bit odd, never bullied, but just odd. He was a member of the Future Teachers of America group. So just shining star, right?
00:14:25
Speaker
At the age of 17, he had his first documented violent offense. He was charged with burglary and assault in 1961 after breaking into the house and attacking a teenage girl who lived there.
00:14:38
Speaker
He had broken into the same house three days prior and scared that same 14-year-old girl. He was given a one-year suspended sentence and three years probation. He picked up a hobby of taxidermy over the next few years and did the usual roadkill special.
00:14:54
Speaker
So gross. But then cats in the area started to disappear.
00:15:01
Speaker
Just a couple of years later, when he was only 18 years old, he married a very much too young woman, a 14 year old girl. Oh God. Because he had gotten her pregnant.
00:15:13
Speaker
His ex-wife claimed that he only ever wanted a daughter. He was disappointed when their first child was a boy and then wholly depressed when their second child was also a boy. They eventually had a daughter and Tony was thrilled.
00:15:26
Speaker
Unfortunately, by this time, Tony had started using drugs. No surprise. It's the 60s, right? He had his own garden, in quotes, where he grew marijuana and would frequently invite young girls and teens to visit him there.
00:15:40
Speaker
The marriage fell apart and he moved to California. On his trip across country, he offered to drive two young women to Pennsylvania on his way. The two teens, Bonnie Williams and Diane Fedorov, were never seen or heard from again.
00:15:55
Speaker
Not much to share about his time in California because there's not a whole lot known. um There was an emergency room visit that was documented because Tony had a really bad trip while he was high on speed.
00:16:07
Speaker
And then while he was in California, he moved in with his girlfriend, Barbara Spaulding. One day, Barbara dropped off her child at her parents' house and was never seen again. The same day she disappeared, he decided to go back east.
00:16:21
Speaker
So he returned to Massachusetts in 1968. In that May, he was working in a doctor's office in town as a carpenter. He tried to chat up the young receptionist, but she rejected him.
00:16:32
Speaker
He then asked the doctor who the girl was. It was his daughter. Oh, no. Gross, right? Yeah. Shortly after this, $5,000 worth of medical equipment and drugs goes missing from the office.
00:16:45
Speaker
Tony later admitted that, yes, he stole that. At the time, P-Town, Provincetown, Was well known for being home to hippies, Portuguese fishermen, and quote, the shameless happy fags. Oh.
00:17:03
Speaker
Not my words. Oh. Not my words. on it Look, we're going to own it. Okay. We're going to own it. I mean, we are shameless happy fags. Yes, we are. That's a hard one to own. We're going to own it, you know? Okay. Anyway, the town was very popular. said, anyway, moving past it, moving past it, the town, the town was popular.
00:17:27
Speaker
The town was a very popular summer tourist destination. People came from all over during the summer months to gawk at the self-proclaimed, quote, freaks who loved their pot, their speed, and their LSD. Shameless happy fags.
00:17:42
Speaker
Oh, every time. I can't do it. We're going to name this show Shameless Happy Fags.
00:17:51
Speaker
I'm sorry you caught me with that. I did. It caught me. It like shot, it's like an electrical current to me. It didn't like it. huh Okay. Shortly after Tony's return to Massachusetts, he began living with his new girlfriend, 18 year old Sydney Monzen from Easton.
00:18:06
Speaker
She disappeared around Memorial Day. She had been working at the P-Town A&P at the time and left her bike leaning against the store one day. She was never heard from again.
00:18:17
Speaker
Her sister thought she had just up and moved to Europe without so much as a see you later. His divorce from Avis was finalized in August of this year, 68. Although she said he could never commit murder, she did accuse him of cruel and abusive treatment in her divorce filings.
00:18:37
Speaker
He continued working as a carpenter in Provincetown. Shortly after Labor Day that same year, now living with his newest girlfriend, Susan Perry, another local girl, she disappeared. Damn. And her parents, who were divorced, never reported her missing because they thought she had simply moved away.
00:18:57
Speaker
When Tony was questioned, he said she just went to Mexico. Huh. just Oh, she just went to Mexico. Uh-huh. I mean... It's just insane to think about at that time, right?
00:19:12
Speaker
Girls and people going off wandering. It was the hippie era, right? So everyone's just living their best life, wandering around, hitchhiking places. And the number of murders and disappearances, like, it's wild. And then it because it was so hippie and free-spirited, right, people weren't reported missing until long, long later. And then you can't do anything about it right?
00:19:37
Speaker
If they were reported at all. So in October, he gets arrested for driving without a license, and he's held for failure to pay child support. They held him until early November.
00:19:48
Speaker
Upon his release, he becomes a more steady drug user. He begins an almost constant use of sedatives and tranquilizers in addition to his ah LSD, his speed, and his weed.
00:20:00
Speaker
I wonder what sedatives and what tranquilizers he was using. I think in the 60s? Ketamine? probably. Quaaludes. i Oh, yeah. He starts dating a woman named Christine Gallant.
00:20:12
Speaker
By the end of November, Christine was dead. Found in her apartment, the death was ruled a drowning as an effect of an overdose.
00:20:23
Speaker
In late January 1969, Patricia Walsh and Marianne Wysocki were visiting P-Town from Providence, Rhode Island. They drove into town in Patricia's pale blue VW bug and checked into a rooming house where the recently divorced Tony was staying.
00:20:38
Speaker
He was kind and he helped them with their luggage. They vanished within days. Tony moves out of the rooming house the same day they go missing. On February 2nd, Carl Benson was driving with his family when the empty VW was seen near an old cemetery on an unknown road.
00:20:58
Speaker
He thought it was very out of place, so he gets out of the car to check on the driver, but he jumped back into his car because he thought he heard somebody running up the hill, and he felt like he was being watched. He notified the police because he felt something was off.
00:21:10
Speaker
When he and the police chief returned to the clearing, there was now a note on the windshield of the car that said, engine trouble will return. By this time, Patricia's father had filed a missing report, a missing persons report for the girls.
00:21:26
Speaker
They called the rooming house where they had been staying. The woman who owned the home explained that they had been there and that they had been hanging out with her other renter, Tony Costa. The morning the girls checked out, Tony had left a note on their door asking for a ride.
00:21:38
Speaker
She thought it was odd because he had also left but never actually checked out. In his room at the house he was staying in, the owner searched it after he didn't return. She found a ripped up letter and called the police to come search the room as well.
00:21:52
Speaker
They pieced the letter together and it said, and this is the fucking weirdest letter I've ever, it's weird. Greetings people. I've been sitting here stoned on hash and downs, drawing plans for my houseboat for the summer.
00:22:07
Speaker
I really intend to build it soon. I want to share it with one or two people. It will be complete and a complete home on the water. I will show you the plans as soon as I complete them. Three chicks have been staying here.
00:22:18
Speaker
They're super nice, super groovy head. But Christine is still on my mind. I'm making a collage for you all. We'll present it to you soon. I may can ah come up to Hyannis for a couple of days. Okay, Ron?
00:22:31
Speaker
Until then, go in peace always. Anthony of Rome. He drew a picture of a hypodermic needle dripping and a quote under it that said, there's no hope without dope.
00:22:44
Speaker
Hmm. So those police officers are a little sketched out. They're heading back to the station and then they run into the chief who had gone out separately to investigate an abandoned car. They asked him if he had any information about a pale blue VW bug and it clicked for him.
00:23:01
Speaker
He returned to the site where the car had been, but it was gone. They searched the woods around where they had seen it. They found Patricia's registration, a sales slip and proof of insurance ripped up and scattered throughout the woods.
00:23:13
Speaker
They began a bigger search of the area. One of the search and rescue team noticed a swath of olive green cloak poking out of the ground. So we went over to investigate. He pulled out an army duffel bag.
00:23:25
Speaker
It was saturated in blood and smelled terrible. They continued to dig in the spot and found a human foot. Then they found more pieces of human bodies. a The night continued.
00:23:38
Speaker
They found a plastic bag with a severed human head inside. The reports describe it as, quote, The face was shrunken, the skin soft as melting candle wax.
00:23:51
Speaker
Blue discolorations marked a swollen cheek and a sunken chin, as if it had been repeatedly struck by blows, which had also smashed the nose nearly flat. The mouth gaped, fixed in unvoiced protest, revealing four missing top teeth.
00:24:06
Speaker
Sunk in their orbits, the eyes were vacant and colorless, giving the face the empty stare of a ruined doll. Hmm.
00:24:15
Speaker
This is where it gets pretty bad. The torso had been wrapped in a white sheet. The hips and buttocks had been flayed of skin. The chest cavity had been split open with a pair of day of the week underwear shoved inside.
00:24:32
Speaker
There were multiple stab wounds throughout the torso and slash marks on her extremities. Her heart and lungs had been removed. Her breasts had been hacked off. She was also missing her liver.
00:24:43
Speaker
and her diaphragm had been repeatedly slashed. the fuck The pelvis had been emptied of the ovaries and uterus, and her heart had been stuffed into it in place. The body had been dismembered with what appeared to have been an ax.
00:24:57
Speaker
They did note a wedding band on her finger. The original medical examiner, who was 79 years old, decided the body belonged to a female between the ages of 50 and 60.
00:25:10
Speaker
A second medical examiner was brought in. He noted that the body was of a young woman between 17 and 19 years old. She was only five feet tall and approximately 105 pounds.
00:25:21
Speaker
She had endured torture. Patricia Walsh and Mary Ann Wysocki were both described in the missing persons reports. They were each approximately five eight or 5'9 and weighed between 130 to 135 pounds.
00:25:33
Speaker
So it wasn't her or it wasn't them. The amount of decomposition did not match what it would have been fitting for Walsh or Wysocki. So it was determined that this body had been buried for about six months.
00:25:45
Speaker
Even though her hands were badly decomposed, they injected her fingertips with a hydrol tissue builder, which is used by morticians to plump up skin, and they were able to get fingerprints. Although they hadn't found Walsh or Wysocki, they continued to search for more information about Tony Costa because things were getting weirder and weirder.
00:26:02
Speaker
The body had been found near where the abandoned VW belonging to one of the two missing girls um had been, and they had a connection to Tony. Again, Tony had never checked out of his house or out of the room, and he had left with the keys.
00:26:16
Speaker
So when his mother randomly called asking the owner for some of his belongings, namely his hairdryer, the owner said that she could have the things when she got her keys back. The police returned to search the room he had rented.
00:26:29
Speaker
They found a case with a hairdryer in it. It belonged to Marianne. They also found a sweater that belonged to Marianne. They finally got in touch with Tony, who explained those belongings because he basically spent the whole weekend with them and they had left their stuff in his room.
00:26:44
Speaker
He told police the girls had left with a plan to head to Los Angeles to get an abortion for Patricia. They had dropped him off at a construction site and left. According to a friend of Tony's, he then began calling around asking for somebody to paint a VW bug he had.
00:27:01
Speaker
He started getting more attention from the police, so he called them and volunteered to give them more information. They picked him up for questioning and begged him to help because the parents need to know about their kids. They attempted to play on his role as a father, but it didn't work.
00:27:15
Speaker
He claimed he had purchased the car from Marianne and Patricia so they could pay for Patricia's abortion in Montreal, which contradicts what he had previously you said. His stories changed so many times and he confidently retold them.
00:27:29
Speaker
The explanations became convoluted and unbelievable. He began getting agitated when the police questioned his stories. He snapped out at them and said, what do you think I killed them? The police were shocked at this point because they were under under the impression that the girls were simply missing and they just wanted to find them and bring them back to the families.
00:27:46
Speaker
Tony then calmed down and confidently says, well, yeah, you'll never find them. Oh, shit. Unfortunately, they couldn't hold him on anything. They began to suspect that the body they found was that of Sydney Monzen because it matched her description and the timeline, but the fingerprints didn't match.
00:28:07
Speaker
They finally relocated the VW and had crime scene analysis completed. The search for hidden blood, so checking to see if anything's been cleaned, had the car lit up.
00:28:18
Speaker
There was blood covering the steering wheel, the front passenger seat, and then a lot on the back of the passenger seat. There was obvious blood on the handles. And therere are when they searched Tony's room a third time, they found rope with brown female hair, pink lipstick, and blood.
00:28:35
Speaker
They also found his boots that he had left in the room and they were covered in blood as well. He had then been in and out of his mother's home after the disappearances. She admitted that she was afraid of him, but she informed the police that since he had returned, they had began having significant plumbing problems.
00:28:51
Speaker
When the police pumped the tank, they found ripped up pictures of women in all states that had been flushed down the toilet. As they dug into him and his life, they found a teenage girl named Marsha who had been taken to his garden repeatedly a few years earlier.
00:29:04
Speaker
On one of these trips, he brought a bow and arrow to do target practice. As they were leaving, her leading the way, she got shot in the back with an arrow. He claimed that he hadn't been aiming for her, but for the tree next to her just to mess with her.
00:29:19
Speaker
The only reason she didn't die was because her thick jacket protected her. He was known for being a very accomplished archer, so his story didn't add up. The cops had her take them to the garden, and they realized how close it was to the cemetery, the body, and the abandoned VW.
00:29:36
Speaker
They searched the garden and found Patricia's purse and wallet, and the college IDs for both Patricia and Marianne. They found lots of drug paraphernalia, a gold but earring, and a stained red rope wrapped around a tree.
00:29:49
Speaker
Then they found a disturbed patch of earth. They uncovered body parts and a brutalized torso, and then a head that matched what had been done to the previous body. They put out a warrant for Tony Costa.
00:30:01
Speaker
Through their distress, the officers continued to tear through the frozen ground with their bare hands. They found the next body right nearby in another shallow grave. Because of the weather, these two bodies were very well preserved.
00:30:14
Speaker
They continued to dig, and they exposed a smell that didn't match the state of decomposition the girls were in. They found the source of that smell underneath the new bodies. There was a fourth body, right rotting horribly, completely dismembered, but then laid in the grave, reassembled.
00:30:33
Speaker
Through their investigation, the authorities also stumbled upon a missing persons report for Susan Perry. She matched the first body found. Tourists flocked to the area in the off-season when the bodies were discovered in the late winter of 1969. The tourists were referred to as disgusting by the park rangers, police, and firemen because when they arrived, they brought their whole families and their children.
00:30:57
Speaker
They brought picnic sets and shovels because they wanted to help dig for more bodies. People even tried to profit from the crimes. One business in town sold packaged sand from the graves for 50 cents per pound.
00:31:11
Speaker
You could also purchase photos of the bodies or some of the rope that had been used to bind them. Edmund Dennis, the district attorney and assigned to the case, stated, we will not attempt to establish a motive.
00:31:24
Speaker
Who knows why anybody would do such a thing? The bodies had been chopped into many pieces, mutilated, and violated where there were signs of necrophilia. Two of the women had gunshot wounds in their heads.
00:31:35
Speaker
However, there was so much damage, the cause of death couldn't be accurately determined for any of them. The girls had so many wounds that could or would have caused death. The case gained international attention when Dennis incorrectly alluded to cannibalism during his press conference.
00:31:50
Speaker
The history of P-Town does include plenty of witches who had fled from Salem, as well as, quote, questionable foreigners. They're referring to the Portuguese. You know, we're so questionable. Mm
00:32:03
Speaker
The Truro marijuana patch and the area where the bodies were discovered was near an old cemetery and a black dirt crossroad that had been known for hosting the witches' Sabbath ceremonies. The nation and the world became intrigued by the morbid and the mystical.
00:32:17
Speaker
Tony's lawyers complained loudly about the negative publicity that was, quote, fraught with images of sexual perversions, mutilation, diabolical mischief, and suggestions of occultism.
00:32:30
Speaker
Understandably, this is what fueled the intrigue. In a Life magazine publication from July 1969, Kurt Vonnegut, the famous guy, wrote Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, wrote an entire article about this and said, the details are horrible and pitiful and sickening.
00:32:51
Speaker
The article came out because came about because his own daughter, Edith, had known Tony and had been asked to his garden many times, which she had refused.
00:33:05
Speaker
Edith was reportedly shocked when Tony was accused and arrested. She claimed that she always felt safe around him and said, if Tony's a murderer, then anybody could be a murderer. But Vonnegut said that his daughter was a bit young and naive. He said, up to now, she has never suspected that much evil in anybody. Huh.
00:33:24
Speaker
Tony was ruled entirely sane on a psychological evaluation in nineteenth in March 1969. Charlie Zimmerman was called in to perform a polygraph on Tony.
00:33:35
Speaker
Charlie is the same man who had performed all the polygraph exams on the suspects for the Boston Strangler case. He was able to build a rapport with Tony and played him like a fiddle. The polygraph was an obvious fail, so they had to come back for more.
00:33:48
Speaker
So during those two additional polygraph exams, the story changed repeatedly. And he continued to add more and more that caused him to be guilty and show his involvement.
00:34:02
Speaker
On June 12th, 1969, he was arraigned on the charges. In May 1970, he was convicted of only two of the murders and sentenced to life in prison. On May 12th, 1974, he was found dead by apparent suicide by hanging in his cell, but they believe it was murder.
00:34:19
Speaker
Costa wrote an unpublished novel titled Resurrection while he was in prison. He told one of his impressive and loony tales to explain it all. In the book, he blamed his friend Carl, also referred to as Corey during the actual investigation when he was talking to police, who was 17 years old and a little hippie, small drug habit, but no violent history of problems.
00:34:41
Speaker
He claimed that Corey went crazy on LSD, heroin, and Dilaudid and killed them. And then Tony subdued him and simply helped bury the bodies. Yeah. Really? Then he told police he didn't,
00:34:53
Speaker
and Then he told police he did in fact help Carl dismember Patricia and Marianne. He said he knew nothing about Sidney or Susan. He claimed that they were already dead and in a pile at the garden when he arrived to see them.
00:35:08
Speaker
He told investigators that Susan and Sidney had died of overdoses because of drugs that Corey had given them.
00:35:15
Speaker
These claims and the stories were proven to be false. In July 1969, he admitted that he did in fact kill Marianne, but he did it out of the kindness of his heart. She hadn't died when Corey shot her, so he was just putting her out of her misery.
00:35:29
Speaker
He also so admitted to sleeping with Patricia earlier in the night, so he was making excuses for some of the evidence the investigators had found. Although there was plenty of happiness and peace talk during the hippie era, there were also plenty of killers who managed to disappear people simply because nobody thought to look for them.
00:35:46
Speaker
The idea of being a young, wild, and free woman translated to, she's gone, she must have must have moved on to a new place and started a new life. But the reality was that they were lying in a shallow grave somewhere.
00:35:57
Speaker
In the Life article, Vonnegut wrote, Young women in America will continue to look for love and excitement in places that are as dangerous as hell. I salute them for their optimism and their nerve.
00:36:09
Speaker
Damn. Good job. That was a horrible story. Horrible, right? Yeah. He was called the Cape Cod Casanova or the Cape cod Vampire or Tony Chop Chop.
00:36:20
Speaker
Never heard of it. Interesting.
The Halifax Explosion
00:36:24
Speaker
Okay, we're going to turn this ship around. Turn it around. Turn this ship around. This is a story about shameless happy fags. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm getting them kidding. I'm kidding.
00:36:38
Speaker
So i this one is for Francois. Cause Francois has taken a trip at some point to go to Nova Scotia. We do so. Okay. Oh, pause.
00:36:49
Speaker
There is a new serial killer active right now in new England, 10 bodies, two months. I can't wait for the details. Oh God. That was horrible. I'm sorry. is very insensitive. This is how that shows. This is how the show started. Talk like that. No, no, no.
00:37:07
Speaker
It's interesting. okay
00:37:11
Speaker
Okay, so the story that I'm going to tell you is the exact... It's kind of like a... It's a different kind of story. Less horror. Okay? You ready? Okay. Okay. And this is for our Francois, who is taking a trip at some point to Nova Scotia.
00:37:28
Speaker
um The year is 1917. World War I has been going on for about three years. Britain and France were buying tons of stuff from the United States, including weapons and beyond.
00:37:39
Speaker
The stuff was shipped across the Atlantic to our ally countries in Europe. To get goods from the U.S. to Europe, ships would have to stop in the port town of Halifax in Nova Scotia.
00:37:51
Speaker
Because of international laws, this had to happen. So nova Halifax became a very important town during the war. um So ships coming from Europe would have to stop at Halifax and then go on to New York to pick up the goods they had purchased or that we were giving them.
00:38:07
Speaker
Ships from America would have to stop at Halifax and then take goods to Europe. The Canadian government made a huge deal of Halifax being this important city, so Canada spent a lot of money on the city.
00:38:19
Speaker
And now the United Kingdom is using Halifax as their base for stuff to be shipped to Europe. Okay. History lesson. Way to go Canada. Little history lesson. We love Canada. We do love Canada.
00:38:32
Speaker
Because it was such an important town during the war, a heavy military garrison was installed in the city to include anti-submarine nets in the harbor, which were raised at night to prevent attacks.
00:38:43
Speaker
Anti-submarine nets, like, they're basically like, they can't get through because it's just a net that stops them. That's kind of cool. Yeah, right? Who knew? Tons of stuff we don't know. So Halifax is booming because of this. In 1917 alone, 60,000 people moved there.
00:39:00
Speaker
And it's wartime, so tons of ships are going in and out with all kinds of different freight. Now we're going to get to December 6th, 1917. For today's story, there's two main ships that I'm going to tell you about.
00:39:13
Speaker
Remember, they're hard to reverse. This ship is hard to reverse, right? The first one is the Norwegian ship, the SS Imo. And the SS Imo was intended to carry relief supplies to Belgium.
00:39:26
Speaker
The SS Imo had shipped from the Netherlands to Halifax on the 3rd of December for inspection. The next stop for the ship would be New York. Clearance was given to the captain to leave for New York on the 5th of December, but refueling wasn't done. So by the time the ship was ready to go, the anti-submarine nets were raised and at night and in the harbor.
00:39:49
Speaker
So the SS Emo had to wait until the morning of the 6th of December to depart. And we flip it over, reverse it. Look at you. You remember it without me reminding you.
00:40:01
Speaker
I usually print my stories one-sided. now they're two-sided. My world's going to fall apart. You're doing great. Next is the SS Mont Blanc. The ship had arrived in Halifax on the 5th from New York.
00:40:13
Speaker
Okay. One coming in one going out. It was on its way to Europe. The SS Mont Blanc would also have to wait outside the submarine nets to get into Halifax,
00:40:25
Speaker
on the 6th because it was it arrived a little late. Okay. So that one's outside the submarine nuts? Yep. Okay. The Emo is inside. Okay. Mm-hmm. Oh, God. So the cargo on the SS Mont Blanc included 250 tons of TNT, 2.3 tons of picric acid, 246 tons of benzole, 62 tons of gun cotton, all highly explosive. Sounds like it.
00:40:51
Speaker
Yeah. So when you said business was booming. Yeah. Oh, God. Montblanc also had a lot of ammunition for defense guns. Normally ships containing this wouldn't be allowed into ports for obvious safety concerns.
00:41:04
Speaker
However, all is fair in love and war. At 7.30am, the SS EMA was given the all clear to leave the port. Ships in the port were restricted to 5 knots for safety, but on the way out of the port, the SS EMA was going faster because it had to make up for the delay.
00:41:21
Speaker
Oh, sure. All's fair in living war. I mean, there's a war going on in Europe. The ship has to get the hell out of the harbor. This meant that the SS Emo... okay Here we go.
00:41:32
Speaker
On the way out of the port, the SS was going faster to make up for the delay. On the way out of the port, the Emo met two ships kind of going the wrong way. Ships entering the port would have to keep right, but they were not keeping right.
00:41:45
Speaker
This meant that the SS Emo was heading into the other ships. It was avoiding them so far, but not for long. At the mouth of the harbor was the SS Montblanc, and this one is now entering the harbor as the SS Imo is departing.
00:42:02
Speaker
The captain of the Montblanc was following directions and keeping to the right. However, he noticed a ship and on a dangerous course with them. The ship was the SS Imo. Now the captain of the SS Montblanc sent signals to the IMO, but the IMO was not showing any signs of slowing down.
00:42:20
Speaker
The SS Montblanc had the right of way, but the IMO was not budging. So the captain of the Montblanc ordered its engines to be turned off and steered the ship to the right toward the shore.
00:42:31
Speaker
Again, the captain of the Montblanc was trying to signal to the SS IMO for the SS IMO to steer away.
00:42:39
Speaker
Okay, however, because it was going faster than five knots, the momentum was still moving the ship forward right toward the SS Montblanc getting closer and closer. In one last attempt to avoid collision, the captain of the Montblanc turned his ship hard left, crossing into the Emo's bow, bringing the ship's parallel for just a moment.
00:43:00
Speaker
This worked until the Emo sent out a signal that it was reversing the engines. so As soon as the ship's propellers spun in reverse, the entire ship was directed right, right into the hull of the SS Montblanc.
00:43:18
Speaker
ah The collision occurred at 8.45 a.m., and it only caused superficial damage to the Mont Blanc's hull. But the force was just enough that it toppled and ruptured several barrels of benzoyl fuel on the deck, which then spilled over and flowed into the hold area where the explosives were inside the Mont Blanc.
00:43:39
Speaker
Then, as the Emo's ship propellers reversed, the scraping of the hulls of the ship caused, guess what? Sparks. which then ignited the benzoyl fuel, first causing a fire in the waterline that spread up the side of the Mont Blanc.
00:43:56
Speaker
Now the captain of the Mont Blanc, Captain Le Medec, knew exactly what was about to go down. So he started yelling at the crew to abandon the ship. So the crew of the Mont Blanc starts jumping into lifeboats and began rowing away because the ship is a ticking time bomb.
00:44:13
Speaker
By now, other ships had stopped to watch the disaster. Nobody but the people on the Mont Blanc knew you was what was on the ship. No! um People from the Mont Blanc were screaming that the ship was about to blow, but nobody could hear them.
00:44:27
Speaker
Also in Halifax on land, people were starting together on the streets and behind the windows in their homes and shops to watch the burning of the Mont Blanc. Kids were at school.
00:44:38
Speaker
People were at work. There was one tugboat that responded to the fire, but the tugboat was not remotely equipped to handle the fire, so it backed off. So now the fire on the Mont Blanc finally reaches the ship's cargo.
00:44:51
Speaker
There's about to be a chain of catastrophes. The fire department hears about the possible explosion, so they head to the harbor. The firefighter driving the truck was 37-year-old Billy Wells. There are seven other firemen on the truck as well.
00:45:04
Speaker
The fire truck they are in was called the Patricia. um Aww. The Patricia was the first motorized fire truck in Canada equipped with a pump. And this is the only one at the time in Canada.
00:45:18
Speaker
The rest of the ah fire engines were not engines. They were wagon drawn. um As soon as the firemen started in the unloading the hose, that's when the explosion occurred. The Mont Blanc exploded at 9.04 AM m and 34 seconds, about 20 minutes after the initial impact.
00:45:35
Speaker
How do we know the exact time of this? Because seismic records tell us. Let that sink in. The explosion's seismic data captured by the seismometer at Dalhousie University showed a powerful shock rate wave traveling through the soul, granite, and bedrock beneath Halifax at a speed exceeding 6.5 kilometers per second, which is about 23 times the speed of sound.
00:46:03
Speaker
This data, although limited in providing a full picture of the disaster, offered a scientific perspective on the explosion's force and the extent of its impact on the city. All of the cargo on the Mont Blanc exploded at one time.
00:46:18
Speaker
That is when this was the largest explosion ever recorded at the time until the U.S. s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Jesus. The explosion was the equivalent of 2.9 kilotons of TNT.
00:46:34
Speaker
For perspective, the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 kilotons of TNT.
00:46:42
Speaker
And do you remember remember in Beirut ah in 2020, there was an explosion? Yeah. That explosion, big cloud of smoke, that one was 1.9 kilotons of TNT. This Halifax one
00:47:00
Speaker
oh
00:47:03
Speaker
okay The blast quickly radiated outwards and at the center of the explosion, temps reached 5000 degrees Celsius or 9000 degrees Fahrenheit.
00:47:16
Speaker
The sun's surface temperature is 10,000 degrees. A cloud of white smoke went up to two miles in the sky. The water in the harbor was completely displaced, exposing the seabed, carrying many ships onto the shore, and then the water rushed back, causing a tsunami.
00:47:34
Speaker
The Mont Blanc was obliterated. The anchor of the Mont Blanc weighing half a ton was found two miles away from the ship or where the ship blew up. Everything within a mile and a half was completely destroyed.
00:47:49
Speaker
Now shards of metal are raining down on Halifax and the nearby town Dartmouth. Stoves and lamps in the city of Halifax were knocked over, starting fires throughout the city. Factories were turned into rubble.
00:48:02
Speaker
Okay, so there was a train depot with 500 railway cars that were was damaged. In total, 12,000 buildings were destroyed by the blast. Remember, the people who lived in those buildings and worked in those buildings, they were behind the windows watching the fire happen.
00:48:16
Speaker
When the explosion happened, the window shattered and many were blinded by the glass. 5,900 eye injuries were reported in the aftermath. 41 people suffered permanent loss of sight.
00:48:28
Speaker
Workers in factories were crushed. People at the nearby Naval College were badly injured and killed. Firefighter Billy Wells... who was thrown away from the explosion, had his clothes torn from his body.
00:48:41
Speaker
He was then swept up in the tidal wave. It carried him all the way up a nearby hill. And then when the water is sucked back down into the harbor, Billy has pulled back all the way down to where he started.
00:48:53
Speaker
He ended up where he was started, but he was wrapped up in telegraph wire. oh When he comes to a few minutes later, he's holding the Patricia steering wheel still. Oh my. god Billy described the devastation survivors faced. He said, quote, the site was awful with people hanging out of windows dead.
00:49:12
Speaker
Some of their heads missing, some thrown onto overhead telegraph wires. He was the only member of the eight man crew on the fire engine, Patricia to survive. Many people were killed instantly while others were trapped in the collapsed buildings.
00:49:28
Speaker
Some 2000 people died and injuries were widespread. Over 9000 people were injured. Rescue efforts began quickly and relief committees formed by that afternoon. Hospitals and shelters were soon filled.
00:49:43
Speaker
Neighbors and coworkers began digging survivors out. Anyone with a car or truck was pitching in to help and people were coming from all over, including Boston to assist with the recovery efforts.
00:49:55
Speaker
One hospital admitted 1400 people in one single day. ah would die. We, we think it's bad when we get like 200. Yeah. A lot of the people who survived, including the captains of many of the ships, thought that the devastation was actually caused by a bomb and that they were under attack because that would be an obvious explanation, right?
00:50:17
Speaker
Though the fact is there wasn't a bomb that was that strong available. So Oh, good.
00:50:29
Speaker
dropping two feet of snow on the ground stalling the trains with supplies and knocking down telegraph wires searches for survivors had to be postponed the bright side of the snowstorm was that help put out many of the fires oh good The Halifax explosion resulted in an estimated $35 million Canadian dollars in damage at the time of the disaster, which translates to approximately $696 million Canadian million canadian dollars today
00:51:01
Speaker
The Halifax explosion was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions. An extensive comparison of 130 major explosions by Halifax historian Jay White in 1994 concluded that, quote, it remains unchallenged in overall magnitude as long as five criteria are considered together.
00:51:21
Speaker
The number of casualties, the force of the blast, the radius of the devastation, the quantity of explosive material, and the total value of property destroyed. This is a horrible story, no doubt about it, but we're going to end it with kind of a hero or two.
00:51:38
Speaker
Okay. The morning of December 6th, 1917, railway dispatcher Vincent Coleman went to work from his home on Russell Street in the neighborhood of Halifax's North End, known as Richmond.
00:51:51
Speaker
He left his wife, Frances, looking after their two-year-old daughter, Aline, dressed in a cheerful blue dress handmade by Frances. That's what his little girl was wearing. It was a short five blocks to his workplace at the Richmond Railway Station.
Heroes of the Halifax Explosion
00:52:07
Speaker
Working only a few feet from the harbor with busy peers, his job was to control the massive rail traffic generated by the crowded wartime harbor of Halifax. Seems like a very simple job.
00:52:18
Speaker
Oh my God. I would fuck that up so bad. As Coleman relieved the night dispatcher at the tele, at the telegraph, often the distance, there was a muffled crash followed by a a column of black smoke rising above the rows of parked freight cars in front of the station.
00:52:34
Speaker
Coleman started to leave with his boss, William Lovett, the chief, ah the chief clerk at Richmond. But Coleman was especially worried about the passenger train. Number 10, the overnight train from St. John, New Brunswick.
00:52:47
Speaker
It had about 300 people aboard and was due to arrive in Halifax at 8.55 a.m. So the last thing did... so the last thing he did He ran back into the station and he sent a telegraph.
00:52:58
Speaker
And this was the very last thing the man did. But the telegraph said, hold up the train, ammunition ship a fire in the harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message.
00:53:11
Speaker
Goodbye, boys. With that message being sent out, all the stations downwind got the message. Right? Patrick Coleman...
00:53:22
Speaker
Patrick Coleman died right after that, but his message went through and every train bound for Halifax was fucking halted. Patrick Coleman's actions that day saved hundreds of lives.
00:53:34
Speaker
And he was a hero through and through. And as for the fighter, Billy Wells, he spends months in a hospital. He had to wait in the waiting room for two days. He never bitched about it.
00:53:45
Speaker
And when he was out, he was like, they did a great job. Perspective. Perspective. and As for him, he spends the next few months in the hospital. His arms have permanent damage, but he does make a solid recovery.
00:53:59
Speaker
Miss your eyes. Don't you love Mr. Wells and Mr. Coleman? Mr. Wells later becomes a crossing guard at an intersection close to where the blast happened. Mr. Wells was loved by the many children who made their way to and from school every day, and most of them never knew his incredible survival story.
00:54:19
Speaker
Billy was modest about his story and the whole experience. And he once wrote, it blew my toes off, but I wasn't badly hurt. It only took a hunk out of my arm. Billy Wells passed away in 1971 in his nineties.
00:54:33
Speaker
At the time of his death, among his possessions was Patricia Steering Will. Today in Halifax, there's a street named after him and a monument in honor of the heroic firemen who sacrificed their life on that day.
00:54:47
Speaker
Also, if you're ever in Boston during Christmas, know that the Christmas tree in Boston Common is a gift every year from Halifax as a token of thank you to Boston for the help they gave Halifax in 1917.
00:55:01
Speaker
And that is the story of the 1917 Halifax explosion. Holy crap. That was good. Did you like that? Everything went wrong. every Murphy's Law.
00:55:13
Speaker
Murphy's Law. Damn. I...
00:55:19
Speaker
That was a good show. was good. It was good. I mean, I don't know if it's going to come together well because... stopped six times. Oh, Jesus. Good show, though.
00:55:30
Speaker
Alan, you're a fucking magician. You're overqualified, underpaid master publisher extraordinaire, and we're going throw in content creator. ashley Shameless happy fags.
00:55:42
Speaker
And... Kelsey, our incomparable swag comparable swagen merch creator. Together, our first. And forever. Fans. That is. think I want to add Dan to this.
00:55:56
Speaker
Oh, yeah. add him. Dan, thanks. Dan, you're the best. And that's it. Talk to you guys later. Bye.
00:56:36
Speaker
you