Hitched 2 Homicide

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692: Witch Hunts, Executions, and Salem's Haunted History

In 1692, the devil supposedly came to Salem, Massachusetts. But the real evil wasn't supernatural. It was the fear, suspicion, and religious hysteria that turned ordinary neighbors into accused witches—and sent 20 innocent people to their deaths.
The Salem Witch Trials remain one of the most disturbing cases of mass hysteria, false accusations, and judicial injustice in American history.

It began when two young girls in Salem Village exhibited strange behavior that frightened their families. Soon, accusations of witchcraft spread like wildfire. Enslaved woman Tituba, impoverished Sarah Good, and elderly Sarah Osborne became the first targets of a terrifying investigation.

Before it was over, more than 150 people had been imprisoned. Nineteen men and women were hanged, and 81-year-old Giles Corey was crushed to death beneath heavy stones after refusing to enter a plea.

In this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, we take a deep dive into the true crime history behind the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, exploring the role of Puritan religious beliefs, the mysterious behavior of the afflicted girls, the devastating testimony of Ann Putnam Jr., and the use of spectral evidence that made defending yourself nearly impossible.

We'll uncover the heartbreaking stories of Rebecca Nurse, John and Elizabeth Proctor, George Burroughs, and Giles Corey. We'll examine how the courts allowed fear to replace facts and why it took centuries for some victims to receive justice.

And because Salem's story didn't end with the executions, we'll explore the city's haunted reputation, including the ghost of Giles Corey, the legends surrounding the Witch House, the historic cemeteries, and the actual execution site at Proctor's Ledge.

Were the Salem Witch Trials simply the result of religious extremism and mass hysteria? Did personal grudges help fuel the accusations? And why, more than 300 years later, does Salem remain one of America's most famous haunted destinations?

Join us for a chilling journey into colonial America's darkest witch hunt—where being accused could be a death sentence, innocence offered little protection, and the truth was buried beneath fear.

The witches weren't the danger. The witch hunt was.

Listen to Hitched 2 Homicide as we investigate the history, victims, executions, and haunting legacy of the Salem Witch Trials.

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#SalemWitchTrials #TrueCrimePodcast #Hitched2Homicide
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The Villisca Axe Murders of 1912: Eight Victims, One Axe, and a Killer Who Was Never Caught

On a quiet Sunday evening in June 1912, the Moore family attended a children's church program in the small, close-knit community of Villisca, Iowa. Afterward, Josiah and Sarah Moore returned home with their four children and two young sisters, Lena and Ina Stillinger, who had been invited for a sleepover.

It should have been an ordinary summer night.

Instead, it would become one of the most horrifying chapters in American true crime history.

Sometime during the night of June 9 and the early morning hours of June 10, an unknown killer entered the Moore home and brutally murdered all eight people with an axe. Six of the victims were children, the youngest just five years old.

When the bodies were discovered the following morning, the scene was almost beyond comprehension. Mirrors had been covered, the murder weapon was left inside the house, and the investigation quickly became a spectacle. Curious townspeople flooded the property, potential evidence was compromised, and accusations began flying.

Was the killer a traveling stranger? A respected local businessman with a grudge? Or a minister whose suspicious behavior would place him at the center of one of Iowa's most sensational murder trials?

Despite multiple suspects, investigations, and courtroom battles, nobody was ever convicted.

More than 114 years later, the Villisca Axe Murder House still stands, attracting historians, paranormal investigators, and true crime enthusiasts. But behind the ghost stories and chilling legends is the very real tragedy of eight innocent lives stolen in their sleep.

In this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, we examine the victims, the crime scene, the suspects, the investigation, and the enduring mystery of the 1912 Villisca Axe Murders.

Who entered that house in the darkness? And how did a killer responsible for eight deaths escape justice?

Listen as we revisit one of America's most infamous unsolved mass murders.

0:00 Opening

5:45 The Rise of Josiah Moore

13:29 The Children's Day Program

16:15 The Intruder Enters

25:29 The Discovery of the Bodies

31:26 The Prime Suspects

35:46 The Peculiar Preacher

54:38 The Haunted Legacy

1:01:22 Bless Your Heart

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#VilliscaAxeMurders #TrueCrimePodcast #UnsolvedMurders #IowaTrueCrime #HistoricalTrueCrime #Hitched2Homicide
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They believed Nelson Rehmeyer had cursed them. Their solution was murder.

In November 1928, the Hex Hollow murder turned a quiet corner of York County, Pennsylvania, into the center of a sensational true-crime story. Rehmeyer, a farmer and practitioner of Pennsylvania Dutch powwow—a traditional form of folk healing—became the target of John Blymire’s conviction that he had been hexed.
Blymire and his accomplices, John Curry and Wilbert Hess, sought Rehmeyer’s copy of The Long Lost Friend or a lock of his hair, believing these could help break the alleged curse. Their quest ended in a fatal attack and an attempt to burn the evidence.

In this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, Kris and Rob explore Nelson Rehmeyer’s murder, the beliefs behind the crime, and the trials that brought national attention to Pennsylvania’s powwow tradition. We examine how a healing practice became entangled with accusations of witchcraft—and how one man paid for those accusations with his life.

Listen to the story behind Hex Hollow, where the fear of a curse became a reason to kill.

Timestamps:

00:00-05:19 Welcome

05:19-08:20 the Rehmeyer Family

08:20-17:43 Pennsylvania Dutch Powwow Explained

17:43-21:12 Who Was Nelson Rehmeyer?

21:12-30:37 Accomplices and planning John Blymire, John Curry, Wilbert Hess, and the Plan

30:37-37:30 The Murder of Nelson Rehmeyer

37:30-40:56 The Crime Scene and Investigation

40:56-51:27 The Hex Murder Trials and Verdicts

51:27-53:24 The Legacy of Hex Hollow

53:24-59:50 Bless Your Heart

#HexHollow #NelsonRehmeyer #Hitched2Homicide #SpookyTrueCrime #Powwow

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DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY

All information contained in this audio podcast or video presentation is provided for entertainment purposes only. The authors leave any and all conclusions to individual members of the audience. The author offers no statements of fact beyond those available through diligent private research or through information freely available in the public record. To the extent that pending or settled criminal matters or crime or possible crimes, are discussed in this audio podcast or video presentation, all parties or defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. To the extent that any pending or settled civil matters are discussed in this video presentation, all parties or defendants are presumed not liable unless proven liable in a court of law. Copyright for material incorporated and presented under Fair Use is retained by the original author or copyright holder where applicable. Our cases are researched using open source and archive materials, and the subjects are real crimes and people. We strive to produce each episode with respect to the victims, their families and loved ones. At Hitched 2 Homicide we are committed to always discussing how victims lived, and not just how they died. All podcast information is gleaned from sources given. All opinions in the podcast are solely of Hitched 2 Homicide and are for entertainment purposes only. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Copyright & Ownership

This podcast episode, including all audio, video, and written content, is the property of Hitched 2 Homicide and its creators, 2026 Kris Calvert & Rob Pottorf of RP Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

Do not copy, reproduce, or distribute any part of this content without express written permission.For licensing, press inquiries, or collaboration requests, contact: kris@hitched2homicide.comFor more true crime episodes, visit: www.Hitched2Homicide.com Thanks for listening and remember… Southern charm won’t save you from true crime.

THIS PODCAST IS FILMED AT RP STUDIOS, INC. 2025 RP MUSIC, INC. FOR HITCHED 2 HOMICIDE

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The Greenbrier Ghost is the name given to Elva Zona Heaster Shue, a young bride murdered in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, in January 1897.

After only a few months of marriage to blacksmith Edward “Trout” Shue, Zona was found dead in their home. A local doctor called it heart disease. She was buried the next day at what is now Soule Chapel Methodist Cemetery near Smoot. Her husband had dressed the body, packed her neck in a high collar and scarf, and discouraged a full examination.

Zona’s mother, Mary Jane Heaster, refused that story. She later testified that her daughter’s spirit came to her bedside four nights in a row and described how Trout Shue had flown into a rage and broken her neck. Mary Jane took that account to the prosecutor. Zona was exhumed. The autopsy found the neck dislocated between the first and second vertebrae, the windpipe crushed, and finger marks on the throat.

Edward Shue was tried in Lewisburg in the summer of 1897. The jury convicted him of first-degree murder. He was sent to the West Virginia Penitentiary at Moundsville and died there in 1900. A state historic marker still stands near I-64: the only widely cited American case in which a spirit’s reported words helped open a murder investigation that ended in a conviction.

On this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, Kris and Rob go through the marriage, the scene, the inquest, the courtroom, and the folklore that grew up around it — without losing Zona Heaster Shue inside the ghost story.

Content note: intimate partner homicide and historical autopsy detail.

CHAPTERS

0:00 The Greenbrier Ghost

1:02 Welcome to Hitched 2 Homicide

1:46 Housekeeping & sources

4:34 Greenbrier County

9:05 Zona Heaster

10:04 Appalachian folklore

16:43 The Heaster family

17:50 George Wooldridge

19:08 Trout Shue

20:41 Allie Cutlip

21:49 Lucy Ann Tritt

23:25 Greenbrier

24:19 Marriage and illness

25:37 Aunt Martha and Andy

27:44 Zona is found

28:21 The collar and the “everlasting faint”

30:00 Wake and burial

31:06 Mary Jane Heaster

33:24 Four nights

35:21 The prosecutor

37:11 Exhumation and autopsy

40:03 Arrest

40:39 Lewisburg trial

44:31 Verdict and Moundsville

50:04 Did Zona come back?

52:29 Bless Your Heart

58:52 Close

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In March 1954, 25-year-old Constance Fisher was living with her husband, Carl, and their three young children in Waterville, Maine. In part one of this case, we look into Constance's struggle with severe mental illness following childbirth. Following a voice she believed was God's, she drowned her three children–Richard, 6, Daniel, 4, and baby Deborah in the family home before attempting to take her own life. She was committed to Augusta State Hospital, where doctors treated her for serious psychiatric illness.

Five years later, Constance was released and returned to her husband. The couple rebuilt their life and had more children. Then, on June 30, 1966, history repeated itself.

Constance again drowned her three children: six-year-old Kathleen, four-year-old Michael Jon, and nine-month-old Natalie Rose.

She was sent back to the Augusta State Mental Hospital to live out the rest of her life. But in 1973, with no hope of ever leaving the hospital, Constance wandered off the grounds of the hospital and into the Kennebec River where she drowned herself.

Her husband, Carl, never remarried and buried his wife next to the bodies of their six children.

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This episode of Hitched to Homicide discusses suicide, postpartum depression, severe mental illness, and the deaths of children. Some listeners may find these topics distressing. Please take care of yourself and consider skipping this episode if you are feeling vulnerable.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger or may act on thoughts of self-harm, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. In the United States, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day. For pregnancy and postpartum mental-health support, call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-TLC-MAMA—that’s 1-833-852-6262—for free, confidential support.

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