Dawn of Mantis: True Crime, Mysteries and More

Send us Fan Mail In the third part of our Phantom Killer series, we introduce perhaps the most colorful character in this story- Texas Ranger "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas- who was sent to reinvigorate the investigation. We also cover the Phantom's final known attacks- the murder of a local farmer named Virgil Starks, and the attempted murder of his wife, Katy. Unlike his previous victims,...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we cover the Phantom's first known murder victims- Richard Griffin and Polly Ann Moore. In the early morning hours of March 24th, 1946, the couple parked on a lover's lane just outside Texarkana, and soon after the Phantom emerged from the darkness and shot both lovers to death. We also cover his second attack, which occurred three weeks later on another...

Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Send us Fan Mail On the night of February 22nd, 1946, a young couple parked on a "lover's lane" just outside Texarkana, Texas, was attacked and brutally beaten by a masked gunman. The victims, Jimmy Hollis and Mary Jeanne Larey, both lived, but were unable to provide a good description of their assailant. Police became convinced that the couple knew their attacker, but were covering...

Send us Fan Mail Linda Edwards was a mother of three who lived in Hot Springs and worked as a Sheriff's deputy in Garland County, Arkansas. She was pregnant with her 4th child when she vanished in the summer of 1976, and her remains were found several months later. The investigation into her disappearance and murder revealed a secret part of Linda's life, a corrupt police officer and an...

Send us Fan Mail In April of 1971, Pauline Storment, a 27 year old college Sophomore attending the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, was brutally stabbed to death just off campus. There were several people who saw her killer moments before the attack, but he was never positively identified and her case remains unsolved to this day. (Subject Matter Begins @ 9:50) Redbeard Sound RedBeard Sound...

Send us Fan Mail On the night of Thursday, December 1st. 1994, a 19 year old college student named Melissa Witt disappeared from Fort Smith, Arkansas. After a 6 week search, her body was finally discovered off a remote logging road in the Ozark National Forest, 60 miles away. Few clues were left behind, and her case remains unsolved to this day.  Redbeard Sound RedBeard Sound specializes in live s...

Send us Fan Mail William Willard Langston was a Private First Class in the Marine Corps who was killed in action on March 7th, 1945, while fighting on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in WWII- or at least that's what was reported by the USMC. Then ten months later, a man limped into Langston's home town of Newport, Arkansas, claiming to be the supposedly dead Marine. The man knew everyone...

Send us Fan Mail We begin this episode with a couple "Intelligence For Your Life" style bits of knowledge, and eventually cover the life, presidency and assassination of the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley. McKinley is one of the lesser known of our four assassinated presidents, but did accomplished quite a lot in the one term he got to serve before being killed by...

Send us Fan Mail In our second and final episode on James A. Garfield, we cover the shooting of the President by disgruntled Stalwart Charles Guiteau, Garfield's agonizing decline and death, as well as the trial and execution of Guiteau.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Everyone knows about Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, but there were also two other American Presidents who have been assassinated- James A. Garfield and William McKinley. In this episode, we cover the early life, military career and rise to political fame experienced by James Garfield throughout the 1860s to the early 1880s. In Part two, we will cover his assassination and ho...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we had the privilege of speaking with Mr.  Steven Coppinger about the first Arkansas State Trooper to ever be killed in the line of duty- Algin Sidney Pavatt. Steven is a retired Arkansas State Police Captain who also served at the Attorney General's Office in Little Rock and provided security for Arkansas Governors Jim Guy Tucker and Mike Huckabee. After reti...

Send us Fan Mail In the conclusion of our 2 part series, we finish covering the twisted life of Robert Irwin as well as his fate after being found guilty of murder.  Redbeard Sound RedBeard Sound specializes in live sound engineering, recording, music production & audio editing. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss the murders of Mary and Veronica Gedeon, as well as Frank Byrnes. In part one of this two parter, we cover the lives and deaths of the Gedeon Family and their tenant, Byrnes. We also discuss a few suspects, along with the number one suspect, Robert Irwin. (Subject Matter Begins @ 3:15) Redbeard Sound RedBeard Sound specializes in live sound engineering,...

Send us Fan Mail In this second episode of our two part series, we cover the aftermath of the murders, as well as the trials and ultimate fates of Carl Isaacs and his gang.  (Subject Matter Begins @ 6:41) Support the show

Send us Fan Mail After another captivating "bidet mate" segment, we cover the 1973 murders of several members of the Alday family. They ran a farm in rural Georgia, but through a strange series of events had their home invaded by a group of killers from Maryland.  (Subject Matter Begins @ 10:00) Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we look at several cases of alleged plagiarism in music. Some you've heard of, others you haven't... some went to court, some didn't bother. We approach each case as if we were in court (The People's Court, to be precise) and decide whether or not the allegations of plagiarism were warranted.  Redbeard Sound RedBeard Sound specializes in live s...

Send us Fan Mail In our third and final episode on Dyatlov Pass, we cover the search effort, the recovery of the bodies, and the mysterious injuries revealed in their autopsies. We also cover several of the many theories as to what possibly could have happened to the group.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In the second episode of this series, we cover the daunting trip the group had to make before they could even begin their expedition. It involved over 450 miles of travel by train, by truck, by bus and on foot to the official starting point. Along the way, they were accosted by a drunk, shut out in the cold at a train station and left stranded at a bus stop.  One member was even t...

Send us Fan Mail In early February of 1959, nine hikers embarked on an ambitious trek along Russia's Ural Mountain range. They were all experienced and well prepared, but within just a few days of beginning their journey, they were all dead. When their bodies were finally discovered, their locations and manner of deaths created a mystery that still persists to this day. In part one of a three...

Send us Fan Mail Due to circumstances beyond our control, not all three of us were available to be in Redbeard Sound Studio this week to bring you a fresh baked episode. So instead, we reached way in the back of the fridge between the liquified bag of lettuce and the Tupperware full of moldy meatloaf and found a classic episode that is still within it's "best by" date. We present to...

Send us Fan Mail The Crozier's were a typical mid 19th century family. George, his wife Fanny and their grown son Frank lived in a small town in New York state and were well respected within their church and community. But in 1875 Fanny grew sick, and within days was dead. Rumors began to fly that George had been engaged in a secret affair, and that Fanny's death may not have been by nat...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we did something a little different- we used chat gpt to generate song lyrics prompted by random song titles and artists/music styles that we suggested.  We then plugged those lyrics into actual songs and sang them on the episode.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Elizabeth Brownrigg portrayed herself as a kind hearted lady to the outside world, but behind closed doors she was an absolute monster. Throughout the mid 1800s, she took in several young girls as apprentices in mid-wifery, but instead treated them as servants, and subjected them to unspeakable abuse. After one of them died from her injuries, Brownrigg was charged with murder and...

Send us Fan Mail In our second cutting room floor clip, the boys riff on everything from Pee Wee Herman, to "Dunston Checks In" to how Jenny was damn lucky Forrest didn't really know what love was... Redbeard Sound RedBeard Sound specializes in live sound engineering, recording, music production & audio editing. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purch...