This week on Down the Crooked Path, we are stepping aside from our usual chapter to bring you a special crossover episode from our Thursday segment on the Canadian Creepies Podcast!

Your host Amanda Joy teams up with her frequent partner-in-creepy, Valerie, to wander down a distinctly French-Canadian path. Quebec is legendary for its European charm, cobblestone streets, and stunning landscapes—but beneath that beautiful surface lies a deeply rooted history of dark folklore, tragic history, and terrifying paranormal encounters.

In this special release, Amanda and Valerie unpack the spirits that still refuse to rest in one of Canada's oldest provinces. From the eerie, cobblestone corridors of Old Montreal to the haunting folklore passed down through generations, we are digging into the stories that still linger out of sight. It’s creepy, it’s historic, and it is definitely going to keep you up tonight.

In the winter of 1803, a terrifying specter held a small English village in a state of total mass panic. Long before the Victorian era, witnesses were already reporting chilling encounters with a phantom lurking in the pitch-black lanes, leaping out from behind tombstones, and physically assaulting residents. The paranormal terror grew so intense that armed citizen patrols took to the streets to hunt down the entity. But on January 3, 1804, a tragic case of mistaken identity ended in a brutal, real-world shooting and a sensational courtroom showdown.

But the story doesn't end with a royal pardon. What started as terrifying neighborhood ghost stories about a haunted churchyard ultimately forced the justice system to fundamentally rewrite the rules of self-defense for generations to come.

Join us as we break down the documented facts of the haunting, the frantic race against the execution clock, and the landmark case that changed the law forever..

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📚 Documented Historical Sources

• The 1804 Court Proceedings: The original details of the trial, the jury's attempts to lower the charge, and the forced murder conviction are preserved in the Proceedings of the Old Bailey (Ref: t18040111-79, 11th January 1804) [Old Bailey Online].
• The Murder Act of 1752: The strict penal mandate requiring the dissection of executed murderers is cataloged under the historical statutory records of Great Britain (The Murder Act 1752, 25 Geo. II c. 37).
• The 1984 Appellate Resolution: The formal overturning of the paradox and the creation of the modern "honest belief" standard is archived under R v Williams (Gladstone), available via the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) [UK Court of Appeal].
• The Legal Conundrum: The long-term academic debate regarding ignorantia facti (mistake of fact) originating from the 1804 trial is heavily documented in British common law textbooks, including Glazebrook's Criminal Law Theory.

In Part 2 of our true crime deep dive into the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders, we look past the initial nationwide panic and focus directly on the aftermath, the primary suspects, and the intense manhunt that gripped Illinois. We break down how the newly formed Tylenol Murders Task Force scrambled to track down who was slipping lethal doses of potassium cyanide into Extra-Strength capsules. The trajectory of the investigation completely shifts when an anonymous extortion letter demanding $1 million is sent to Johnson & Johnson, triggering a coordinated FBI search for the writer.

We untangle the web of the key figures who fell into the crosshairs of law enforcement, focusing heavily on the enigmatic James W. Lewis—the man convicted of that extortion plot who spent decades playing a cat-and-mouse game with investigators. We also look into local Chicago dock worker Roger Arnold, whose suspicious behavior made him a prime suspect in the product tampering nightmare. Finally, we explore how this unprecedented act of domestic terrorism targeted vulnerable store shelves and forever altered over-the-counter medicine, forcing McNeil Consumer Products to pioneer tamper-proof triple-seal packaging and inspiring the federal Tylenol Act. Decades later, this case remains one of the most chilling unsolved mysteries in American history.

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"A Bitter Pill" Feature by Joy Bergmann – The definitive investigative deep-dive from the Chicago Reader exploring alternative supply chains, warehouse tracking, and suspect timelines.

• NPR Archival Obituary Report – The historical look-back breaking down the life, extortion conviction, and 2023 death of prime suspect James W. Lewis.WTTW Chicago Stories Special Feature – The comprehensive digital home for the multi-perspective documentary on the local victims, complete with reporter roundtable reflections.
• PBS Video: Inside the Tylenol Murders – Full streaming entry for the seasoned documentary investigating how the laced capsules upended consumer safety.
• CBS News Chicago 40-Year Retrospective Hub – The centralized network hub detail archive capturing the tracking efforts of the Tylenol Murders Task Force.
• CBS News Chicago: Profiles of Suspects & Persons of Interest – Detailed historical breakdowns of Roger Arnold, James Lewis, and other key figures scrutinized by the FBI.James W. Lewis Case Documentation on Wikipedia – Full historical repository outlining his financial crimes, extortion trial background, and decades of legal scrutiny.