Episodi

  • Daughter Finds Her Mother's Hidden Life: The Sandra Secret

    Daughter Finds Her Mother's Hidden Life: The Sandra Secret
    Oct 13 2026
    Daughter Finds Her Mother's Hidden Life: The Sandra Secret

    The discovery that pulled a neat life apart began with a canola plant in a side yard and a grocery loyalty account showing weekly purchases at a different store for fourteen months. A woman who labeled every appointment and kept exacting notebooks left nine Tuesday entries that read only as a single capital letter - E - so what did that letter hide?

    In this episode, we follow how Rachel Bailey used records she found after her mother’s death to trace an unexplained routine and the single-letter clue that led her to an unexpected door in Dellwood. What was Norma Long Bailey keeping secret, and who did the letter E represent?

    Person: Rachel Bailey
    Person: Norma Long Bailey
    Date: 2019 (discovery)
    Date: approximately 2015 (Norma's death)
    Location: Dellwood

    - Rachel Bailey was fifty-two when she began investigating her mother's records.
    - Norma Long Bailey was born in 1937 and died at approximately seventy-eight following a stroke.
    - Norma kept narrow spiral notebooks and made nine Tuesday entries consisting only of the capital letter "E".
    - For at least fourteen months before her stroke, Norma's Ridgeway loyalty card recorded purchases every Tuesday at the Sutton Road store, four miles east of her usual Clement Avenue location.
    - Rachel discovered the loyalty-account history in summer 2019, four years after Norma's funeral, when notified that accumulated fuel points were expiring.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • The Discharge Paper in the Culvert That Erased a Family's Map

    The Discharge Paper in the Culvert That Erased a Family's Map
    Oct 12 2026
    The Discharge Paper in the Culvert That Erased a Family's Map

    A damp Army separation document found in a drainage culvert named Crestline, Missouri as Harold Eugene Pruitt’s home of record - a town no one in his family had ever heard of. The paper survived 73 years in a waterproof sleeve and set off a chain of documents, a DNA match, and a diner meeting that unraveled what everyone thought they knew; how did a postal worker buried in Indiana end up tied to a Missouri town no one remembers?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery of the July 14, 1946 discharge paper and the small clues that turn into a family mystery, tracing what the document, a deathbed instruction, and a DNA match reveal about Harold’s life before Indiana and the question that reorders one family’s history.

    Person: Harold Eugene Pruitt
    Date: July 14, 1946
    Location: Dunbar Creek, Indiana
    Age: Cynthia Williams 44 in summer 2019
    Event: Dog Pepper found the document on July 9, 2019

    - The discharge paper was found on July 9, 2019 in a drainage culvert by a dog named Pepper.
    - The document is a United States Army separation dated July 14, 1946 and was kept in a waterproof sleeve.
    - The HOME OF RECORD field on the discharge lists Crestline, Missouri, a town unknown to the family.
    - Cynthia Williams uploaded her DNA profile to a commercial genealogy database in 2016 and had two confirmed second cousins.
    - Beverly Cox called Cynthia on July 11, 2019 after seeing the discharge paper and noting the Crestline entry.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 min
  • The Wedding Guest Who Signed Mitchell Hale - Your Brother

    The Wedding Guest Who Signed Mitchell Hale - Your Brother
    Oct 11 2026
    The Wedding Guest Who Signed Mitchell Hale - Your Brother

    The thought that chills: a wedding registry signed by "Mitchell Hale - with love, your brother" turned up inside a sealed, water‑bloated envelope pulled from the Sassafras River; the name matched Frances Simpson's father and a birth record but Frances had always been told she was an only child. How did a supposed sibling, born April 3, 1989, vanish from a life everyone believed they knew?

    In this episode, we follow the paper trail from a Tuesday morning trotline find to county birth records and the stunned discovery Frances made when she inspected the registry she had kept for nearly a year. What does the birth certificate for Mitchell Warren Hale reveal about Frances's family story?

    Person: Frances Simpson
    Date: June 14, 2019
    Event: Envelope recovered from Sassafras River containing wedding registry
    Person: Mitchell Warren Hale
    Date: April 3, 1989

    - The envelope was found by Lauren Fisher on June 14, 2019 while checking trotlines in the lower bottoms of the Sassafras River.
    - The wedding took place in June 2018 at the Clover Crossing VFW hall with forty-one guests listed on the registry.
    - The recovered registry sheet contained forty-one known signatures plus one additional signature reading "Mitchell Hale - with love, your brother."
    - Frances Simpson's father was Warren Alan Hale, who died of a stroke in 2012 when Frances was twenty-two.
    - County birth records returned a single matching entry: Mitchell Warren Hale, born April 3, 1989 at Calloway Regional Hospital to Warren Alan Hale and Nadine Joyce Hale.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Daughter They Buried on Paper: Finding Celia Ann's Grave

    The Daughter They Buried on Paper: Finding Celia Ann's Grave
    Oct 10 2026
    The Daughter They Buried on Paper: Finding Celia Ann's Grave

    A buried secret surfaces in a cemetery deed, a labeled photograph, and a single typed hospital document: a baby named Celia lived for three days and was recorded as an unnamed stillbirth in October 1967. How did a father buy a grave in March 1967, a mother keep a photo inside a white envelope for decades, and an infant's name survive only on the back of a picture?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery process as an executor unpacks estate boxes, reads a two-page letter in her father's block print, and pieces together hospital and cemetery records to answer what happened to the child called Celia and why the family kept her hidden for more than fifty years.

    Person: Nancy Fitzgerald
    Person: Wallace R. Hargrove
    Date: March 3, 1967
    Event: Cemetery plot purchase for $11.50
    Document: Millhaven County General stillbirth record filed October 1967

    - A county surveyor, Robert Patterson, found a headstone inscribed "Celia Ann Hargrove, 1968, Beloved" at Calverton Rest on May 14th.
    - The burial plot deed was purchased on March 3, 1967, one year and eight months before the stone's date.
    - A typed county document from October 1967 listed "unnamed female infant, stillbirth."
    - Nancy Fitzgerald discovered a white envelope containing a black-and-white hospital photograph and two handwritten pages while sorting her parents' estate.
    - Wallace bought the plot in cash for $11.50 after doctors informed him in February 1967 that the pregnancy was high-risk and the infant was unlikely to survive.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 min
  • A septic contractor drops a box, and thirty-six years of silence fall out with it

    A septic contractor drops a box, and thirty-six years of silence fall out with it
    Oct 9 2026
    A septic contractor drops a box, and thirty-six years of silence fall out with it

    The discovery of a cardboard box beside a septic tank shattered decades of ordinary quiet: a 1983 phone bill with 312 calls to one Renner County number and a child's drawing labeled "Nadine, age six, 1961" fell onto the yard. Who was Nadine Weber, and why did Lloyd Vaughn place that box against his house for thirty-six years?

    In this episode, the story follows Christine Weber as she sorts her great-grandfather's estate and uncovers a thread that connects a hundred phone calls, a 1983 marriage record, and a long-hidden family link-what began as routine estate work becomes a search for answers about Nadine and Lloyd.

    Person: Lloyd Vaughn
    Date: April 11, 2019
    Event: Phone bill found with billing period October-December 1983 listing 312 calls
    Person: Christine Weber
    Date: December 2018 (Lloyd's death at age 81)

    - The cardboard box sat next to a septic tank on Pittard Mill Road for 36 years before April 11, 2019.
    - The phone bill found inside covered October through December 1983 and listed 312 calls to a single Renner County number.
    - The calls on the bill began December 3, 1983 and ended December 29, 1983, a span of 26 days.
    - A child's drawing in the box was labeled "Nadine, age six, 1961" and had been kept for 58 years.
    - Christine Weber, age 23, hired genealogical researcher Peggy Aldman in late April 2019 after discovering the box.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Woman Who "Died" in 1983-Her Family Was Lied To

    The Woman Who "Died" in 1983-Her Family Was Lied To
    Oct 8 2026
    The Woman Who "Died" in 1983-Her Family Was Lied To

    A woman who was officially dead appears in a 1983 school photo taken six weeks after her reported drowning - and a single index card postmarked September 1984 bears her handwriting saying only, "I am well. Please don't. - D." Who signed the death certificate, why no relative viewed a body, and what did Diane Mercer mean by "Please don't"?

    In this episode, we follow how a plain envelope and a casual school picture set one woman on a path through death certificates, property records, and family shoeboxes to confront a thirty-six-year-old family story. What Pamela Taylor uncovers about the name on the death certificate, the vanished landlord, and Diane's own notes forces a new question: was Diane really dead?

    Person: Diane Mercer
    Date: February 1983 (reported death)
    Location: Hollow Fork Creek
    Person: Pamela Taylor
    Document: Death certificate (identified by Douglas Hatch)

    - Diane Mercer was reported pulled from Hollow Fork Creek at age 24 in February 1983.
    - The school photograph was mailed in early March 2019 and shows a woman matching Diane in the background.
    - Pamela Taylor was 38 in 2019 and worked as a title examiner in Crestfield, Kentucky.
    - The death certificate lists the manner as undetermined and names Douglas Hatch, described as Diane's landlord, as the identifier.
    - A shoebox held an index card postmarked Harlan, Kentucky, September 1984 with Diane's handwriting: "I am well. Please don't. - D."

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 min
  • She Left a Locket on the Doorstep: The Dorothy Price Secret

    She Left a Locket on the Doorstep: The Dorothy Price Secret
    Oct 7 2026
    She Left a Locket on the Doorstep: The Dorothy Price Secret

    Fear and curiosity collide when a silver locket appears perfectly placed at the base of a mailbox post in Harlow Falls - its chain coiled beneath it, as if set down by careful hands. The photograph inside shows a woman who will link three people who never knew they were family; why would someone leave that single object instead of a letter, and what did it mean to the people who held it?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the discovery of the locket to the revelations it carried across decades, following Dorothy Marsh’s secret, the daughter she surrendered, and the two sons who never knew they shared her. How does one small object reframe a lifetime of silence and choices?

    Person: Dorothy Marsh
    Person: Pauline Henderson
    Person: Donald Fitch
    Location: 44 Ashton Terrace, Harlow Falls, Indiana
    Date: February 8, 2011

    - A sixteen-year-old paper carrier named William Harris found the silver locket in the snow on February 8, 2011.
    - The locket lay at the base of a mailbox post at 44 Ashton Terrace with its chain coiled neatly beneath it.
    - Donald Fitch, who had run Fitch's Pawnshop on Meridian Street for 22 years, paid William Harris eight dollars for the locket.
    - Dorothy Marsh was born around 1926 and gave birth to a daughter, Pauline, in 1952 in Renslow; the baby was surrendered for adoption the same day.
    - Dorothy and Pauline met nine times between 1998 and 2001, and Dorothy gave Pauline the locket in autumn 1999.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • A Frozen Folder Reveals a Family's Hidden Child: The Marcus Bishop Secret

    A Frozen Folder Reveals a Family's Hidden Child: The Marcus Bishop Secret
    Oct 6 2026
    A Frozen Folder Reveals a Family's Hidden Child: The Marcus Bishop Secret

    Cold evidence in a snowdrift exposed a biologically impossible fact: a pediatric form dated from 1993 lists a dead child's blood type as AB while his mother Donna and sister Teresa are both type O. That two-letter entry survived a house fire, three decades of silence, and a grandmother's locked attic-so what did those blue-ink initials really mean for a family that thought it had already survived the worst? Who will they hold accountable for the truth?

    In this episode, we follow how a found medical form set off calls between a county deputy and a clerk, led a 24-year-old daughter to the Varner Street substation, and forced a family to confront whether Marcus Bishop was biologically theirs. What Teresa discovers standing at the counter reshapes everything she believed about her family.

    Date: January 9, 2019
    Location: Kellner Road, Maren County, Indiana
    Person: Marcus Bishop
    Age at death: 7 years old
    Event: Pediatric intake form lists blood type AB

    - The folder containing the pediatric form was found upright in frozen slush by snowplow operator Dale Gardner at 6:40 AM.
    - Marcus Bishop was born June 1993 and died in February 2001 from an accidental electrical fire.
    - The medical form’s blood type field was filled in with the two letters "AB" in blue ballpoint ink.
    - Donna Bishop and her daughter Teresa are both blood type O, which cannot biologically produce an AB child.
    - Frances Kowalski, the grandmother, kept the folder in an unlabeled attic box for 23 years and died in 2016.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min