TwistedPhilly

Episode 45 – Originally Published January 2018 Content warning – discussions about racism and bigotry If you’re not from Philadelphia, or the tri-state area, the word mummer may hold little connection for you.  But here in the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection, there is an event every new year’s day for which some Philadelphians prepare all year long.  The annual...

Episode 44 – Originally Published 2017 Content Warning: This episode contains adult subject matter, including discussions about domestic violence and descriptions of murder which may be upsetting to some listeners.  Listener discretion is advised. The residents of Georgetown Street settled in for a cold winter’s night on December 24, 2014,in Paradise, Pennsylvania.  Stephanie Kilhefner,...

Episode 43 – Originally Published 2017 Content warning: This episode contains adult subject matter, including the story of missing persons and descriptions of murder, which may be upsetting to some listeners.  Listener discretion is advised. On July 11, 1972, 17 year old Dolores DellaPenna disappeared from her Tacony, Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood.  It was midnight, and she was me...

Episode 42 – Originally Published 2017 Content warning: This episode contains adult subject matter, including violence, prisoner abuse and death, which may be upsetting to some listeners.  Listener discretion is advised. Holmesburg Prison in Northeast Philadelphia closed in 1995 after operating for almost 100 years, leaving behind a legacy of pain, torture and despair. In 1938 Holmesburg was...

Episode 41 – Originally Published 2017 Content warning: This episode contains adult subject matter, including violence, prisoner abuse and death, which may be upsetting to some listeners.  Listener discretion is advised. Holmesburg Prison in Northeast Philadelphia closed in 1995 after operating for almost 100 years, leaving behind a legacy of pain, torture and despair. In 1938 Holmesburg was...

Episode 40 – Originally Published 2017 In the late 1700s, the Philadelphia Prison Society had dreams of creating the gold standard for prisons based on the philosophy that a truly penitent man could gain redemption of his soul, and rehabilitation, through thoughtful isolation.  Thus began a 40 year journey among the prison society,  corrections inspectors, and Pennsylvania legislature to cre...

Episode 39 – Originally Published 2017 Trigger warning – discussions about sexual abuse of minors This episode about one of the biggest scandals in the city of Philadelphia in the last 50 years.  It’s the story of Fast Eddie, also known as Uncle Eddie, Uncle Ed, and Eddie Savitz – valedictorian of West Philadelphia High School class of 1960, voted most likely to succeed, one of th...

Episode 38 – Originally Published in 2017 Over the summer I had the opportunity to attend an opera preview of We Shall Not Be Moved, an Opera Philadelphia production featured in this season’s Opera with a Twist.  A friend sent me information about this event and he said “it’s an opera about MOVE.”  As in the organization that was under siege from the city of Philadelphia back in 19...

Episode 37 – Originally Published in 2017 Trigger warning – discussions about missing persons and suspected murder Barbara Miller disappeared in June, 1989, after attending a friend’s wedding in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania.  There are allegations and theories about what happened in this 30 year old cold case but by 2017 there are still no answers. Investigators feel they’re close to...

Episode 36 – Originally Published 2018 Trigger warning – discussion about murder and domestic violence In July, 2018, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court released an updated ruling on the case of Jordan Anthony Brown, who in 2009 at 11 years old was tried as an adult for the alleged murder of his father’s girlfriend. With this ruling, Jordan’s life changes again, as do the...

Episode 35 – Originally Published in 2017 New Castle, Pennsylvania, sits in Lawrence County about an hour north of Pittsburgh.  The city is almost 220 years old.  Over 10 years ago New Castle found itself thrust into the public eye when an eleven year old boy named Jordan Anthony Brown allegedly shot his dad’s fiancé’, Kenzie Marie Houk in February 2009.  Kenzie was over...

Episode 34 – Originally Published 2017 with Special Guest Cohost Jeremy Collins from Podcasts We Listen To In this episode I’m joined by Jeremy Collins, host of the Podcasts We Listen To podcast and founder of the Facebook group Podcasts We Listen To. Jeremy and I are both fans of ghost stories.  Jeremy is from New Orleans, one of the most haunted cities in the country.  I knew he&#821...

Episode 33 – Originally Published 2017 When it opened in 1839, Laurel Hill Cemetery was one of only two rural cemeteries in the country.  It solved a significant problem in Philadelphia: overcrowded cemeteries in within the city, some so overcrowded it was nearly impossible to find the final resting places of loved ones.  Laurel Hill is one of the most tranquil, picturesque and historical la...

Episode 32 – Originally Published 2017 This week I have the pleasure of speaking with retired Supervisory Special Agent, Criminal Profiler and Forensic Linguist, James Fitzgerald.  Perhaps I should start calling him Jim, or Fitz, as he mentioned I could. Jim was so gracious when we met and he offered to be a guest on TwistedPhilly podcast, because as you may have heard me mention before...

Episode 31 – Originally Published 2017 Trigger warning – discussions about racism, police brutality, and death, including death of children This episode is part two of They Let it Burn, the story of an activist organization called  MOVE, lead by a man named John Africa who wanted to live by what he considered  natural  law.  In part one we talked about Vincent Leapart, a man gr...

Episode 30 – Originally Published 2017 Trigger warning – discussions about racism, police brutality, and death, including death of children Philadelphia has a moment that defined us. It was a window of opportunity where the city made a choice, and that choice was viewed on television screens across the country.  It was the moment the city of Philadelphia dropped a bomb on a residential street...

Episode 29 – Originally Published 2017 Trigger warning – discussions about murder No one expected one of the most ruthless and notorious crime gangs in America was amassing amid the fields and rows of corn swaying in a summer breeze.  And when it came time to take this gang down, no one expected that Pennsylvania would show up as the example of what it means to be in law enforcement, what it...

Episode 28 – Originally Published in 2017 Trigger warning – discussion about substance abuse, mental health issues, suicide, domestic violence and murder Suburban Philadelphia native Nancy Spungen was a daughter, a sister, a genius, a rebel and a desperately tortured soul from the time of her birth almost every day until the day she died.  Nancy predicted her own death; she struggled with sui...

Episode 27 – Originally Published in 2017 Trigger warning – discussion about substance abuse, mental health issues, suicide, domestic violence and murder Suburban Philadelphia native Nancy Spungen was a daughter, a sister, a genius, a rebel and a desperately tortured soul from the time of her birth almost every day until the day she died.  Nancy predicted her own death; she struggled with suicidal...

Episode 26 – Originally Published 2017 This week I had the opportunity to meet a delightful man who owns Philadelphia’s oldest continuous operating ale house in the city – McGillin’s Olde Ale House.  If you’re not familiar with McGillin’s , it’s on Drury Lane between Juniper and 13 th Streets. There’s an enormous old fashioned neon sign on the front of the building and it ...

Episode 25 – Originally Published 2017 Trigger warning – discussions about domestic violence and murder The first “earth week” was held in Philadelphia in 1970. A group of students and professors from University of Pennsylvania Design School first conceptualized the idea of earth week: activities dedicated to focusing on our planet and how we can improve and preserve the earth.  One of...

Episode 24 – Originally Published 2017 Not far from the Pennsylvania/Maryland border, south of York, is a house with a dark history – the Hex House. It was once owned by Nelson Rehmeyer, a Pennsylvania Dutch medicine man who was savagely beaten and murdered by local townsmen in 1928. In an attempt to hide their crimes, these men attempted to set the house on fire, but it wouldn’t...

Episode 23 – Originally Published in 2017 Philadelphia’s City Hall was destined to be the largest building in the world when it was constructed, but we never quite got there. City Hall cost $25 million to build in 1901, over $7 billion in today’s economy.  And it would have cost just as much to tear it down, which is exactly what the city wanted to do over 50 years ago becau...

Episode 22 – Originally Published in 2017 Trigger warning – discussions about abduction, sexual assault, torture and murder Gary Heidnik was one of the most notorious serial rapists, torturers and murderers in the United States in the late 80s, and the boogey man of Philadelphia.   On March 24, 1987, Philadelphia police received a call from a hysterical woman telling a wild, unbelievab...

Episode 21 – Originally Published in 2017 Trigger warning – discussions about murder Doctor Lois Farquharson was a psychiatrist at Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry in 1971 when her girlfriend, Gloria Burnette, murdered their neighbor, Dr. Leon Weingrad who was also a colleague of Lois’. Weingrad made life difficult for Lois and Gloria, in part because of his disdain for their rel...