My first thought was, "How does someone find the time to post those letters?" And then I realized I watch all of Simon's videos, so I can't judge. 🤷♀️
I feel like a stalker would have got bored of watching me during pandemic... Day 1: "Today he watched UA-cam four several hours, smoked an inhuman amount of weed, took a nap, and ate some food." Day 2: "Same as yesterday." Day 3: "Again, same." Day 4: "I can't kill what is already dead, abandoning target."
Praise be to Jen, most folks drown the speaker out with music and play the same track the whole way through. She does her job very well for keeping it interesting for the listening audience.
@@gomahklawm4446 idk, I pretty much exclusively watch UA-cam at home so I have to disagree with you on that point, plus you also can only turn down the volume to a certain point especially when on mobile. Most of his stuff has fairly accurate subtitles so you can always turn them on lol
This made me laugh so much, the mental image of someone writing a threatening letter that they're particularly proud of and then being devastated by it getting lost in the post.
Actually, if you wanted to seriously threaten anyone who you personally knew, threaten to reveal all of their secrets or even more serious threats, you would have to use the same method today. If you didn't want to get caught, and especially if you blackmailed a detective, who changed his mind about a car accident that was suspicious and then suddenly wasn't, best bet is using the mail.
@@jessicalynn6285 I agree 👍🏾 Using gloves, and some people use the opposite hand to usual, or cut words and letters from magazines etc using glue to stick them to the paper.
@@sherylcascadden4988 its really annoying just getting those gloves on. Trying to not rip them in half because you accidentally glue them to a cut out letter would be near impossible.
Back in the 80's my uncle who had mental issues due to a head injury that he'd suffered from a few years beforehand got a job working for the telephone company. He eavesdropped on everyone in town, and enjoyed spilling the beans about everyone's business all over town. Maybe it was someone who worked for the phone company in this case as well???🤷🏼♀️
That's what I have thought for years. Johnny Carson on his monologues once told how a telephone company in one town was putting people's intimate phone conversations on the loud speaker for entertainment. That would explain how the letter writer knew so much what was happening. No one would probably do it now, but they could look at who was working for the phone company at the time that might pull something like that. I first heard about this case on Unsolved Mysteries. they even admitted on the air that they got threatening letters not to get involved. I still think this case is solvable between DNA on the letters and forensic physiology. They could narrow the suspects by seeing who was working for the phone company, get a psychological profile of someone who would do that then try to get a DNA match. The problem is, by now they may be dead. None the less, DNA could still p[rove who is most likely to be.
Yes, definitely possible. I had some relatives who did telecommunication work in the 90s and 00s and it was still very easy for them to eavesdrop on everyone if they wanted to.
I'd heard of this case, but I really enjoy Simon's cold readings as well his occasionally semi-twisted conspiracy theories. Watching Callum lead Simon is a lot of fun... allegedly.
So the writer was right about the affair, the writer was right about the coroner molesting kids, and while there is no proof he killed her he was right about the DA knocking up a teacher........ maybe the should have investigated the stuff the writer was saying.
Ehhh he wasn't really right about the affair though. But it seems like a lot could be easily addressed by being like "hey do you know any crazy guys?" to the bus drivers at least. Oh and also if anybody involved in Paul's incarceration including Paul used their noggins
@@electvolt67 which likely happened due to the stress and subconcious suggestion from the sheer adamance of the letters themselves. assumign she is being truthful, and I don't see why she'd lie while admittig to an affair.
Yeah. And I'm sure they can dna test the stamps and find dna. That'd solve it nowadays. Back then they didn't know about dna so they wouldn't have had any problem with licking the stamps and envelopes.
The crazy thing about the story is it's way, way more involved than most understand. Last time I heard, 20k+ total letters were sent to people in the county. Many of my friends and family got them. Virtually anyone that had anything to do with the school district got em, even vendors who sold products. With many of the people who have been aleged to be involved having passed away, I'm hoping we get more info about what happened. Oddly enough, I've had dinner with Mrs Gillespie, a uncle dated her for a very short time, my brother and I were absolutely giant unsolved mysteries when we were kids and eating dinner with her bugged me on how I knew the name... Crazy Ness of being in a small Midwest town
@@mediumugly4322 I can guarantee you that I'm not the letter writer but I've personally had dinner with Miss Gillespie that's the centerpiece of this wild story. I'm telling you it's insane when you start meeting people face-to-face that are involved in these stories. I own the newspaper here in town and I kid you not every month and this all originally went down in the late 70s
I actually wasn't even into like crime podcasts before, I found Simon through TIFO and then business blaze and now I'm hooked on like 37 UA-cam channels.
Did anyone else find it slightly strange that Ron left his house to confront the letter writer? If it were me in his shoes, I wouldn't let my daughter, who the writer has already been mentioned by name, out of my sight, especially without someone home to watch
He was drunk even though he wasn't a big drinker... Didn't you listen? Swear to god people watch an episode of this and think they're some super sleuth 😂😂
"So. Those letters, huh?" "Yeah, pretty crazy" "Imagine us having an affair? That'd be crazy.... right?" "Yeah, crazy" "You wouldn't cheat on your husband, right?" "I could never!" "..." "..."
To answer Simon's question about the revolver, when someone says .22 caliber, they are usually referring to .22 long rifle. It is the smallest caliber that is commonly available and is used in both rifles and pistols. It is typically used for target shooting and hunting small game such as rabbits and squirrels. There are air powered bb guns that are about as powerful as a .22 rifle.
Correction, there are air rifles far *more* powerful than .22LR, with up to 1500 FPE in some models intended for larger game hunting, a .22LR rifle is only around 120-130. .22LR as a defensive cartridge isn't worthless either, but yes generally you'd be preferring to use it for dropping vermin than humans because you lose a lot of energy because of the shorter barrel, that said at least one fool has dropped a bear at short range with a .22LR handgun shooting them in the brain via the ear. I don't think there's any argument to be had about the ridiculousness of that, just worth remembering that it's still able to be used to lethal effect.
Of course, its a firearm and should be treated as such. However, I know of no one who would recommend using a .22 for anything other than small game and target practice. If, hypothetically, someone tried to rob me with a .22, it would certainly be a self defense situation. However, I would never trust a .22 for self defense. It can kill someone, but it would take a very lucky shot to stop someone with it immediately. That being said, its better than nothing.
I wonder how the police knew it was fired when there was no bullet, or casing, in the revolver...? Were they doing gunpowder residue back then? Or am I missing something?
@@dannileigh6426 in the case of a revolver, they could be inferring it was fired if there’s a bullet missing from the cylinder, if it was fully loaded in the first place. I have also heard that there’s a different smell to the barrel between recently fired and unfired guns.
I'm CONVINCED Callum is just trying to gently work his way up to making Simon read a full-length novel. these cold reads are getting longer and longer.😂😂😂
No casing could be found anywhere because it’s a revolver. the cases stay inside the cylinder of the gun. There was probably a few spent cases in the cylinder which is why they were speculating that shots were fired, wouldn’t have bullet holes if you fired through the window.
Grew up around Circleville, police just as dysfunctional and corrupt. Schools are horrible and doesn’t surprise me with all the grammar and misspelling.
I remember decades ago I applied for a position with a law enforcement aency and as part of the selection process, I had to take a polygraph. The guy who administered it spent at least 10 minutes explaining how and why it was so accurate and reliable and how much of a professional he was in administering it, I starting thinking: "Yeah, right. Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself."!!!
Jen looks like quite the character. If I were Simon I would do my best to avoid getting on Jen's bad side. You should probably double check that your doors are locked at night, just to be safe.
Maybe it has to do with the vast stretches of country roads in the early morning--Hard to catch any one driver on any one road. Or, conversely, maybe it's how many people DO put signs along rural highways. I always see sign along highways, but I have no memory of seeing them being put up -- even the huge clusters of political signs around elections.
I agree, it might be the type of thing we don't notice until it becomes an important point. Theres also the possibility some people did see but didn't speak up out of fear of being targeted by the letters (if they had their own skeletons in their closet). Or perhaps at some point people lost hope on the police officers and or supported the letter writer more so they had no wish to rat the person out.
I live in Circleville and hadn't heard of this case till CC did an episode on it. It's chilling to know that the person who did it might still be living here.
If y'all haven't heard of it I'm wondering if it really happened or not. Seems like a novel or urban legend written in way to seem real. Because dna testing would easily solve this case. I'm sure the person was licking the stamps and envelopes because it started prior to dna testing. So I'm wondering why they haven't done any dna or got FBI involved. A man died and a woman was nearly killed. So it baffles me why more wasn't done. I mean the victims can send their letters out to get dna tested themselves then have a private investigator do the rest. Or the victims could've reached out to FBI themselves. Something doesn't add up. Has anyone looked up these ppl to see if they exist?
Actually it is an adorable little town with otherwise lovely people. I have literally traveled the world (very blessed to have had the chance) and Ohio suits some of us as a base of operations regardless of how amazing the rest of the world may be. Besides, there are sick, weird, and violent people everywhere and in every socioeconomic strata.
Anyone else just love this so much that even tho he pronounces Mary's last name wrong thru the entire episode, eventually you start to hear it right in your head? He's just so damn good! 😜
Lol I noticed that! He just kept doing it! Gillespie/other spellings isn't a particularly uncommon name either.. maybe he's playing 4D chess on us and doing it on purpose so we comment which pleases the algorithm
" should read it out. Maybe you didn't read the title, which would be weird." Simon, you should know that when we see you casually criming, us casual criminalizers click on the criminally casualties before even checking the title
So was the guy who sold Paul the gun ever looked into? Also the weird thing about this case is that the majority of the "allegations" either had happened partially or would happen in the future. It's almost like the person knew what was really happening in the town but was filtered through whatever neuroses they had. And a final thing is that the way the original batch of letters mentioned "girls" for some reason felt like it was coming from an overly protective woman rather than a delusional man despite the fact that I should know better in light of all the evidence. But it's a feeling I can't shake.
Right?! I have so many questions. Were the envelopes and paper consistent? The writing utensil? Same drop off location in Columbus? What about the Superintendents wife? The wife always knows/suspects an affair first. She would have probably been in a position to know a lot of people in town, including the bit about a pregnant teacher (from her husband). This one is wholly unsatisfying!!!
After a full watch, I gotta say that one should never underestimate the "good ol' boy" system. That handwriting test that speaks volumes to me. Small towns keep secrets and everyone knows everyone.
This is my favorite channel of Simon’s feels more personal since it’s him reading and leaving little side notes instead of a 5-15 minute video on a topic
I generally listen to this in podcast form on Spotify and popped over to give you some merch ideas! Note: with the exception of the last one, all of these are for shirts, mugs etc. 1. ...ALEGEDLY 2. What are you up to? (accompanied by illustrated suspicious Simon face) 3. YOU PSYCHO! 4. An actual how to NOT commit murder book. See what I did there? I bet any legal or insurance representative would approve of it😂 Love the show btw, keep up the good work!
@@ATLmodK Just what I was thinking. The husband sends letters to everyone in the village. He then kills his wife and makes it look like a suicide caused by grief from the letters. The letters were all pretyped on a typewritter which he donates to the Woman's Institute (before it all goes down). Marple suses him out in the end tho.
As a dyslexic, I frequently mix up the upper and lower case letters in my hand writing. Definitely because I'm trying seem dumber than I am....that's the reason
I love that simon doesn't just call it a cold read. It's "a cold read as someone described in the comments." He's said this the last few videos its time for Simon to claim its just a cold read.
Gotta say this is probably my favorite simon Whistler channel. It's got the joking around of business blaze, with the dark subject matter of biographics and xplr.
I actually really like this format in comparison to Biographics. Both are great however. I will say though that while the audio quality is very well done, it is oddly low volume? I often have to crank the volume up very high to hear Simon, only to have an ad blow out my speakers 😅
Dude you and your teams work ethic is inspiring. I remember when today i found out had about a couple hundred thousand subs and now you have several channels over and approaching a million. You're one of my favorite content creators and it's super cool that you have true crime channel like this because i was thinking randomly once "what if he did true crime?" And BOOM i find this a week later 😂 also btw This takes place about an hour from where i live and it terrifies me 😂😂 much love from a huge fan. 🖤
It's one of my favorites because when they wrote into Unsolved Mysteries and the letter was so cringe. But they got Rpbert Stack to say, "You El Sickos will pay"
I doubt it, I heard she's currently in the basement with Sam and Danny. Simon got her when she went to ask Sam to borrow his "ADHD Loading" bar from Business Blaze
I'm 15 minutes in, and I've never heard about this case before, so it's really interesting. What I'm thinking is.... what about the bus driver?! Busses today are more divided, but they weren't in the 70's. I can only imagine all the conversations bus drivers hear all day, and a driver of a school bus must hear even more. So I'm keeping the bus driver as my suspect until something else is proven.
I only "discovered you" little over a month ago, and like many others I got hooked to your way of telling stories, explaining things and being able to gather information on such a wide variety of topics. I LOVE the casual criminalist, and I am sad that I've now listened to all of them, eagerly awaiting the next entries. As such a big fanboy, I'd be amiss to not throw in a couple of suggestions myself: 2 cases from my home country of Austria 🇦🇹, that gained worldwide infamy and are shocking our nation to this day (and no, not including our other infamous "son" Adolf 🤬): - Josef Fritzl & his years incest, imprisonment & murder - The disappearance and surprising re-Appearance of Natascha Kampusch Beyond my own country's borders a couple more I'd love to see your (and Callums :D) take on: - Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo - seriously one of the worst and shocking serial killers worldwide - Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos (aka "The beast"), one of the most disturbing and horrifying people to ever walk the face of the earth - currently holding hands with Chikatilo in hell - Pedro Alonso López the child killer, with a horrific killcount of over 300 - Javed Iqbal Umayr - a Pakistani serial killer, interesing cause his background is way different that our "usual" white male mid 30s with childhood trauma and head injury that lateron goes full-on bananas And one last suggestion, a rather famous case, but that offers so much information and disturbing material to fill at least one very long episode: - Gary Leon Ridgway the Green River Killer. I've seen his case in several documentaries, as I am sure many others have too, but I'd still love an episode about him. On a personal note, Dear Simon, - since you are always struggling with German, I am from Austria and have a lot of free time on my hands, so please, feel free to reach out to me in case you should need any help with translation, gathering information or whatever else. More than happy to contribute if needed. It always feels a bit macabre saying this, but thankfully theres such an immense load of murderers, criminal cases and other crimes, that you'll not be done with this channel ever (thank god). Keep doing what you're doing, and thank you for the countless hours of entertainment with which you enrich my life! PS. Eagerly awaiting Merch (!) & your "Becoming a Criminal for Dummies" book 😄
Or pick someone and do everything they can to prove them guilty instead of trying to figure out if they are actually guilty or not and stop trying to find anyone else that might actually be the guilty party.
Great idea! That would be a "new" story even for the most ardent, long time true crime enthusiasts watching more than one channel dealing with the topic.
@@Kari.F. yeah I have no idea who that is and I love it when that happens. I think I'm actually not going to go find either, in the hopes of brand new unknown-to-me video one day
Holy crap... I saw the title and my eyes bugged out. I'm from Circleville 🤯 3 things we are famous for: The Pumpkin Show, Ted Lewis and those damn letters
I’m from circleville . Born and raised. My father owns a business downtown and has for many years . After Paul was proven innocent and released he was a customer as were/are many locals. I have asked my family about this and most of them have not even heard of the circleville letters.
This is about power over someone. As embarrassing as it may or not may not be, I'd go to the local newspaper and ask them to publish the letters. Let everyone see them. If everyone knows about it, it takes away their power.
If you plan on using that defence, you had better have already reported it stolen. Otherwise, you're just confessing to losing a firearm and not reporting it.
I love the concept of your show, in addition to the content. The fact that you are reading the script for the furst time really brings the audience in, because you are reacting the same way we are at "the same time". Excellent research and analyses. Keep up the good work, gentlemen.
A "fun fact" about smaller caliber guns: Far too many people mistakenly believe that being shot with a small caliber weapon is better than being shot with a large caliber weapon. In actuality, taking a shot (most especially a headshot) from something like a .22 caliber revolver frequently results in the projectile piercing the targeted area, and instead of passing straight through to cleanly exit on the other side, will ricochet on any hard part of the body (such as the skull) it comes into contact with, sometimes bouncing back and forth multiple times, causing massive trauma and internal damage to soft tissues. Sorry for the extremely graphic visuals this information most likely conjured up for any readers. I just think it's important for people to know and understand the differences between ammunition calibers and the effects they can have on the human body.
@@BullScrapPracEff True, it is entirely possible for the projectile to fail at piercing areas of the body with high bone density, but that can also be attributed to the distance between the shooter and the target, the type of shell being used (e.g. Standard round, Hollow point, Cross point, Magnum, Etc.), and just some good old fashioned dumb luck. It should go without saying that of course it's better to use a larger caliber weapon, especially in instances of self-defense. I just wanted to throw that information out there. Unless you're a gun enthusiast, or have a fair amount of first hand knowledge and experience with firearms, you more than likely wouldn't know this particular piece of info.
Should a person be determined to make the terrible decision to try to shoot someone from the window of a moving vehicle, though, which I do NOT recommend, but if they WERE going to try it...they would probably have more success with a larger calibre. A perfect head shot while barrelling down the road just seems like an unlikely scenario.
The more I hear about this case, the more conflicted I feel about the fact the Writer more or less got away with it. On one hand, evading the law in such a way is somewhat impressive and there’s always the chance that their accusations were true. On the other hand. Death threats.
My first thought was, "How does someone find the time to post those letters?" And then I realized I watch all of Simon's videos, so I can't judge. 🤷♀️
Valid... and ditto 😆
I don't watch all of Simon's, but I do watch all of Tim Pool's, so...
Ok! Good, I’m not the only one then…🤣
It all makes sense now. Pre-UA-cam, Simon was writing a dozen letters a day instead of making dozens of videos. Mystery solved.
L)
I feel like a stalker would have got bored of watching me during pandemic...
Day 1: "Today he watched UA-cam four several hours, smoked an inhuman amount of weed, took a nap, and ate some food."
Day 2: "Same as yesterday."
Day 3: "Again, same."
Day 4: "I can't kill what is already dead, abandoning target."
Wow, it's like you've been watching me. Where did you find the time with our busy schedules? 😆
replace the weed with drinking tea and you had me haha
Lmao this is too funny 🤣😂
I feel seen.
I relate to this too much
Praise be to Jen, most folks drown the speaker out with music and play the same track the whole way through. She does her job very well for keeping it interesting for the listening audience.
Yes, hats off to Jen!
Yes - agreed! Well done
The whole crew is on point, but hats off to Jen!
@@gomahklawm4446 idk, I pretty much exclusively watch UA-cam at home so I have to disagree with you on that point, plus you also can only turn down the volume to a certain point especially when on mobile. Most of his stuff has fairly accurate subtitles so you can always turn them on lol
😳 Paul is a quarter wit😯
Geez, imagine having to wait for snail mail to deliver your threats.
This made me laugh so much, the mental image of someone writing a threatening letter that they're particularly proud of and then being devastated by it getting lost in the post.
Actually, if you wanted to seriously threaten anyone who you personally knew, threaten to reveal all of their secrets or even more serious threats, you would have to use the same method today. If you didn't want to get caught, and especially if you blackmailed a detective, who changed his mind about a car accident that was suspicious and then suddenly wasn't, best bet is using the mail.
@@jessicalynn6285 I agree 👍🏾
Using gloves, and some people use the opposite hand to usual, or cut words and letters from magazines etc using glue to stick them to the paper.
@@GypsyGirl317 would be really annoying to cut and glue magazine letters with food handler gloves to eliminate fingerprints.
@@sherylcascadden4988 its really annoying just getting those gloves on. Trying to not rip them in half because you accidentally glue them to a cut out letter would be near impossible.
This episode is an glaring exception to Simon's golden rule, "Don't write down your crimes"
what if your crimes are writing?
I'm disappointed we still need to qualify what the golden rule is
Back in the 80's my uncle who had mental issues due to a head injury that he'd suffered from a few years beforehand got a job working for the telephone company.
He eavesdropped on everyone in town, and enjoyed spilling the beans about everyone's business all over town.
Maybe it was someone who worked for the phone company in this case as well???🤷🏼♀️
Maybe it was your Uncle.
That's what I have thought for years. Johnny Carson on his monologues once told how a telephone company in one town was putting people's intimate phone conversations on the loud speaker for entertainment. That would explain how the letter writer knew so much what was happening. No one would probably do it now, but they could look at who was working for the phone company at the time that might pull something like that. I first heard about this case on Unsolved Mysteries. they even admitted on the air that they got threatening letters not to get involved. I still think this case is solvable between DNA on the letters and forensic physiology. They could narrow the suspects by seeing who was working for the phone company, get a psychological profile of someone who would do that then try to get a DNA match. The problem is, by now they may be dead. None the less, DNA could still p[rove who is most likely to be.
@@blackthorne-rose
My uncle is dead now and has been for quite some time.
That's actually a really interesting idea.
Yes, definitely possible. I had some relatives who did telecommunication work in the 90s and 00s and it was still very easy for them to eavesdrop on everyone if they wanted to.
I'd heard of this case, but I really enjoy Simon's cold readings as well his occasionally semi-twisted conspiracy theories.
Watching Callum lead Simon is a lot of fun... allegedly.
I heard of most of these before. I just like to watch the videos because it gives me a chance to actually see what these people look like.
I always enjoy the writer leading Simon, especially with Danny on Business Blaze.
One of the best to do it 💯
So the writer was right about the affair, the writer was right about the coroner molesting kids, and while there is no proof he killed her he was right about the DA knocking up a teacher........ maybe the should have investigated the stuff the writer was saying.
Right???!!!!??
Ehhh he wasn't really right about the affair though. But it seems like a lot could be easily addressed by being like "hey do you know any crazy guys?" to the bus drivers at least. Oh and also if anybody involved in Paul's incarceration including Paul used their noggins
@@StonedtotheBones13 Mary later admitted to the affair. But oddly she stated that it didn't start until after the letters did.
@@electvolt67 yes. So he was wrong at the time he wrote it ergo he was wrong
@@electvolt67 which likely happened due to the stress and subconcious suggestion from the sheer adamance of the letters themselves. assumign she is being truthful, and I don't see why she'd lie while admittig to an affair.
If someone kept posting signs about you on the same road, seems like a stake-out would be in order.
Yeah. And I'm sure they can dna test the stamps and find dna. That'd solve it nowadays. Back then they didn't know about dna so they wouldn't have had any problem with licking the stamps and envelopes.
The crazy thing about the story is it's way, way more involved than most understand. Last time I heard, 20k+ total letters were sent to people in the county. Many of my friends and family got them. Virtually anyone that had anything to do with the school district got em, even vendors who sold products.
With many of the people who have been aleged to be involved having passed away, I'm hoping we get more info about what happened. Oddly enough, I've had dinner with Mrs Gillespie, a uncle dated her for a very short time, my brother and I were absolutely giant unsolved mysteries when we were kids and eating dinner with her bugged me on how I knew the name... Crazy Ness of being in a small Midwest town
Holy crap, seriously?? That's a LOT of letters to write by hand!!
Heck, that's even a helluva lot of letters to mail if you were using a printer!
You were a giant unsolved mystery? How does that feel?
@@widyasantoso4910 he’s admitting to being the letter writer😂
@@mediumugly4322 I can guarantee you that I'm not the letter writer but I've personally had dinner with Miss Gillespie that's the centerpiece of this wild story. I'm telling you it's insane when you start meeting people face-to-face that are involved in these stories. I own the newspaper here in town and I kid you not every month and this all originally went down in the late 70s
This is definitely the dude who wrote all the letters
The affair started after we received the letters.......allegedly.
Callum, I caught the 'Red Heading' joke even if Simon missed it. Well done, you're one hell of a writer.
This makes the Westfield Watcher look like a guardian angel
I actually wasn't even into like crime podcasts before, I found Simon through TIFO and then business blaze and now I'm hooked on like 37 UA-cam channels.
Welcome to the family.
Welcome aboard, just let the tide carry you away.
@@swiss.2916 that's the plan.
Welcome!
Brain Blaze
This case always upsets me so much. The police/judicial system did Paul Freshour so dirty, absolutely disregarding finding actual justice.
Yeah. Even if he is guilty of writing the earlier letters, the evidence he was convicted with was appallingly shaky.
It's sad I had to scroll this far down to find someone say something about the guy who spent years in jail.
Simon needs to release a video "Weirdest Emails to Arrive in Simon Whistler's many inbox's"
I'd watch that definitely. 👍👍👍
YES!!
I'm subbed to a few creators who occasionally put up vids of just them reading their weirdest fanmail. Love it!
Oooooooooooo! A Perfect short!
Pppllleeeaaassseeee
The only issue with that is when a creator does that tons more people send messages flooding them
Did anyone else find it slightly strange that Ron left his house to confront the letter writer? If it were me in his shoes, I wouldn't let my daughter, who the writer has already been mentioned by name, out of my sight, especially without someone home to watch
Exactly!
He was drunk even though he wasn't a big drinker... Didn't you listen?
Swear to god people watch an episode of this and think they're some super sleuth 😂😂
Simon & Callum, please do the Papin sisters from France. It's disturbing and horrendous. Please.
Ooooo that would be a good one!
Yes, I read about that case years ago. Grisly
First thing I think of is: eyeball.
@@maureenlaneski2802 end the male gaze! 😈
"So. Those letters, huh?"
"Yeah, pretty crazy"
"Imagine us having an affair? That'd be crazy.... right?"
"Yeah, crazy"
"You wouldn't cheat on your husband, right?"
"I could never!"
"..."
"..."
I just saw Simon without a beard. I'll never sleep again.
The Why Files covered this very concisely and directly without a lot of unnecessary chatter.
To answer Simon's question about the revolver, when someone says .22 caliber, they are usually referring to .22 long rifle. It is the smallest caliber that is commonly available and is used in both rifles and pistols. It is typically used for target shooting and hunting small game such as rabbits and squirrels. There are air powered bb guns that are about as powerful as a .22 rifle.
Correction, there are air rifles far *more* powerful than .22LR, with up to 1500 FPE in some models intended for larger game hunting, a .22LR rifle is only around 120-130. .22LR as a defensive cartridge isn't worthless either, but yes generally you'd be preferring to use it for dropping vermin than humans because you lose a lot of energy because of the shorter barrel, that said at least one fool has dropped a bear at short range with a .22LR handgun shooting them in the brain via the ear. I don't think there's any argument to be had about the ridiculousness of that, just worth remembering that it's still able to be used to lethal effect.
Of course, its a firearm and should be treated as such. However, I know of no one who would recommend using a .22 for anything other than small game and target practice. If, hypothetically, someone tried to rob me with a .22, it would certainly be a self defense situation. However, I would never trust a .22 for self defense. It can kill someone, but it would take a very lucky shot to stop someone with it immediately. That being said, its better than nothing.
I wonder how the police knew it was fired when there was no bullet, or casing, in the revolver...? Were they doing gunpowder residue back then? Or am I missing something?
@@dannileigh6426 in the case of a revolver, they could be inferring it was fired if there’s a bullet missing from the cylinder, if it was fully loaded in the first place. I have also heard that there’s a different smell to the barrel between recently fired and unfired guns.
I'm CONVINCED Callum is just trying to gently work his way up to making Simon read a full-length novel. these cold reads are getting longer and longer.😂😂😂
No casing could be found anywhere because it’s a revolver. the cases stay inside the cylinder of the gun. There was probably a few spent cases in the cylinder which is why they were speculating that shots were fired, wouldn’t have bullet holes if you fired through the window.
Grew up around Circleville, police just as dysfunctional and corrupt. Schools are horrible and doesn’t surprise me with all the grammar and misspelling.
Dwight Radcliffe was Pickaway County Sheriff at the time......
I remember decades ago I applied for a position with a law enforcement aency and as part of the selection process, I had to take a polygraph. The guy who administered it spent at least 10 minutes explaining how and why it was so accurate and reliable and how much of a professional he was in administering it, I starting thinking: "Yeah, right. Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself."!!!
Jen looks like quite the character. If I were Simon I would do my best to avoid getting on Jen's bad side. You should probably double check that your doors are locked at night, just to be safe.
You know. Maybe jen has THEM locked in HER basement!
You know that’s not Jen, right? It’s the “crazy girlfriend” meme.
@@caittails yes. I know. *Seems would've been a better word.
Hey, uh, how do that many signs get put up so quickly with no one noticing who's doing it?
Maybe it has to do with the vast stretches of country roads in the early morning--Hard to catch any one driver on any one road. Or, conversely, maybe it's how many people DO put signs along rural highways. I always see sign along highways, but I have no memory of seeing them being put up -- even the huge clusters of political signs around elections.
I agree, it might be the type of thing we don't notice until it becomes an important point. Theres also the possibility some people did see but didn't speak up out of fear of being targeted by the letters (if they had their own skeletons in their closet). Or perhaps at some point people lost hope on the police officers and or supported the letter writer more so they had no wish to rat the person out.
@@mica4977 ah yes, also a very fair point.
One of my favourite Simon quotes “ Gossip girl is about pen pals” 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
I live in Circleville and hadn't heard of this case till CC did an episode on it. It's chilling to know that the person who did it might still be living here.
"Hadn't heard of it." Now you're on the suspect list...lol
I live here too lol. It's weird thinking that this could happen in circleville.
Is it you?
If y'all haven't heard of it I'm wondering if it really happened or not. Seems like a novel or urban legend written in way to seem real. Because dna testing would easily solve this case. I'm sure the person was licking the stamps and envelopes because it started prior to dna testing. So I'm wondering why they haven't done any dna or got FBI involved. A man died and a woman was nearly killed. So it baffles me why more wasn't done. I mean the victims can send their letters out to get dna tested themselves then have a private investigator do the rest. Or the victims could've reached out to FBI themselves. Something doesn't add up. Has anyone looked up these ppl to see if they exist?
Its recent so its highly possible.
I’m just crocheting a cute white purse while listening lol.
Wholesome while listening to some unsolved debauchery, I like your style. Crochet-n-crime 😝 Got an Etsy?
@@titstatsandkittycats Aw thanks ma’am. And nope, though I’ve been told for years that I need to start one.
Oohh I'm crocheting a shawl while binging on CC 😂😂
I wish you could share pictures of what you're making. I also love to crochet while watching videos on youtube.
@@zarasbazaar I'm currently making the Ana Lucia shawl from Wilma Westenberg/Wilmade, and I'm in love with the pattern 😆
Lesson from this episode: Don't live in Circleville, Ohio.
I didn't need the episode to come to that conclusion.
...or Ohio
no its ware a seatbelt
somebody once told me; 'time is a flat circleville... Ohio.'
Actually it is an adorable little town with otherwise lovely people. I have literally traveled the world (very blessed to have had the chance) and Ohio suits some of us as a base of operations regardless of how amazing the rest of the world may be. Besides, there are sick, weird, and violent people everywhere and in every socioeconomic strata.
I think "red heading" was a joke that went right over Simon's hear.😁
Hhahahahah
I noticed that... huh.
Meta.
I wonder if Jen and Calum ever get out Simon's basement for fresh air anymore.
At least Sam has friends?
surely he has a separate basement for The CC team, they don't seem to be sharing ideas with The BB team, comrade!
I'm sure they do. A professional criminal would keep them comfined all day, but Simon is more of a casual criminalist.
Are you asking Simon to write down his crimes?
@@Ahalaya it would be the ultimate irony I suppose
This feels like twilight episode and somehow everyone is guilty at the end of it.
Anyone else just love this so much that even tho he pronounces Mary's last name wrong thru the entire episode, eventually you start to hear it right in your head? He's just so damn good! 😜
Lol I noticed that! He just kept doing it! Gillespie/other spellings isn't a particularly uncommon name either.. maybe he's playing 4D chess on us and doing it on purpose so we comment which pleases the algorithm
I had to go and find it written in other sources.
" should read it out. Maybe you didn't read the title, which would be weird."
Simon, you should know that when we see you casually criming, us casual criminalizers click on the criminally casualties before even checking the title
And click "like" before it even starts playing! Allegedly.
Allegendly.
And others of us do read it, and then immediately forget it, so thanks for the reminder!
Casual clicking on videos without reading the title isn't a crime... Allegedly
So was the guy who sold Paul the gun ever looked into?
Also the weird thing about this case is that the majority of the "allegations" either had happened partially or would happen in the future. It's almost like the person knew what was really happening in the town but was filtered through whatever neuroses they had.
And a final thing is that the way the original batch of letters mentioned "girls" for some reason felt like it was coming from an overly protective woman rather than a delusional man despite the fact that I should know better in light of all the evidence. But it's a feeling I can't shake.
Right?! I have so many questions. Were the envelopes and paper consistent? The writing utensil? Same drop off location in Columbus? What about the Superintendents wife? The wife always knows/suspects an affair first. She would have probably been in a position to know a lot of people in town, including the bit about a pregnant teacher (from her husband). This one is wholly unsatisfying!!!
But after Paul bought the gun he did register it since they knew it was his from the serial number
After a full watch, I gotta say that one should never underestimate the "good ol' boy" system. That handwriting test that speaks volumes to me. Small towns keep secrets and everyone knows everyone.
That's some real quality photoshop on the sheriff there
Could've been anyone. Small town people are in each other's business enough already. Nothing they love more than gossip.
Jen is underrated
She is the glue. But can someone free Danny? Or at least give him more than joints and a guitar?
Jen deserves a promotion from video editor to memeologist.
Agreed
You are underrated.
So am I
This is my favorite channel of Simon’s feels more personal since it’s him reading and leaving little side notes instead of a 5-15 minute video on a topic
I generally listen to this in podcast form on Spotify and popped over to give you some merch ideas! Note: with the exception of the last one, all of these are for shirts, mugs etc.
1. ...ALEGEDLY
2. What are you up to? (accompanied by illustrated suspicious Simon face)
3. YOU PSYCHO!
4. An actual how to NOT commit murder book. See what I did there? I bet any legal or insurance representative would approve of it😂
Love the show btw, keep up the good work!
2:45 - PART 1 - The 70's
3:30 - Chapter 1.1 - Superintendent massie
5:25 - Chapter 1.2 - Schoolboard letters
7:30 - Chapter 1.3 - Driver number 62917
10:05 - Chapter 1.4 - Ron gillispie's letter
12:20 - Chapter 1.5 - Reading between the lines
17:35 - Chapter 1.6 - Pushing back
20:50 - Chapter 1.7 - A dark night in circleville
23:15 - Chapter 1.8 - The conspiracy theory
25:35 - PART 2 - The 80's
27:30 - Chapter 2.1 - An unexpected culprit
29:05 - Chapter 2.2 - The investigation
30:25 - Chapter 2.3 - Trial
31:40 - Chapter 2.4 - Analysis
33:05 - Chapter 2.5 - The letters continues
36:10 - Chapter 2.6 - Dear FBI
38:15- PART 3 - Suspects round up
38:50 - Chapter 3.1 - Paul freshour
41:35 - Chapter 3.2 - David longberry
42:55- Chapter 3.3 - Karen freshour
44:05 - Chapter 3.4 - Martin Yant's master theory
46:50 - PART 4 - Wrap up
47:45 - PART 5 - Dismembered appendices
Simon, Callum and Jen are a perfect trio. Thanks for making these extremely entertaining videos.
Holy crap! Someone actually used begging the question correctly! Awesome!
It's insane that guy got 20 years. People who have actually murdered people have gotten less.
this was such an interesting story, felt like an Agatha christie story
Somebody suggested Moving Finger, have to watch it again here, takes longer to read it.
Very interesting, feel bad for the innocent victims who got caught in the crossfire tho, especially the children.
@@ATLmodK Just what I was thinking. The husband sends letters to everyone in the village. He then kills his wife and makes it look like a suicide caused by grief from the letters. The letters were all pretyped on a typewritter which he donates to the Woman's Institute (before it all goes down). Marple suses him out in the end tho.
I'm really enjoying how you guys do these episodes. The cold reading reaction style is really good.
As a dyslexic, I frequently mix up the upper and lower case letters in my hand writing.
Definitely because I'm trying seem dumber than I am....that's the reason
I love that simon doesn't just call it a cold read. It's "a cold read as someone described in the comments." He's said this the last few videos its time for Simon to claim its just a cold read.
Allegedly
Sounds like this writer guy might be a secret hero going about things the wrong way.
Gotta say this is probably my favorite simon Whistler channel. It's got the joking around of business blaze, with the dark subject matter of biographics and xplr.
SImon saying he won't watch GG and then Jen tuning in Blair Waldorf's "Thank youuu" was so in character that I applaud for such amazing editing!
Why not Triangleville? That is my allotted humor for this crime show.
for some reason, I was reminded of the song Triangle Walks by Fever Ray
Or the song Triangle head by Stan Ridgway
I actually really like this format in comparison to Biographics. Both are great however. I will say though that while the audio quality is very well done, it is oddly low volume? I often have to crank the volume up very high to hear Simon, only to have an ad blow out my speakers 😅
So its not my devices lol
@@savannahsharphead2275 I have no problems hearing it at all. If I have problems hearing anything, I use something called the volume. 😁
I have to max mine out too. Business Blaze does not have the same problem, well Simon just screams.
Same, I thought it was just me
I vote for a Loki variant, causing, well, mischief.
Dude you and your teams work ethic is inspiring. I remember when today i found out had about a couple hundred thousand subs and now you have several channels over and approaching a million. You're one of my favorite content creators and it's super cool that you have true crime channel like this because i was thinking randomly once "what if he did true crime?" And BOOM i find this a week later 😂 also btw This takes place about an hour from where i live and it terrifies me 😂😂 much love from a huge fan. 🖤
Wow, ya, at this point we could probably just guess aliens.
It's one of my favorites because when they wrote into Unsolved Mysteries and the letter was so cringe. But they got Rpbert Stack to say, "You El Sickos will pay"
it's pronounced "Gil-is-pee", Simon!
that said, yet another good video. :)
It was driving me nuts. I have a good friend with that last name. Always a short drive for me, tho.
Looks like Jen isn't too far from being featured in an episode herself in the not-too-distant future.
I doubt it, I heard she's currently in the basement with Sam and Danny. Simon got her when she went to ask Sam to borrow his "ADHD Loading" bar from Business Blaze
@@ewoodley82 allegedly
Hi from Sweden! Love the show
I didn't even look at the title, I simply saw Simon and said I'll watch this.
I live in Columbus and I’ve never heard of this before. Gonna be weird going to that pumpkin festival now.
Now you're on the suspect list with that other listener from C-ville who "never heard of it"...
@@blackthorne-rose add me too that list too 🔍 tho I did learn about this a bit before last year's festival would have taken place
For halloween Simon should put on a suit and coat and do his best Robert Stack.
"Tonight, on the casual criminalist"
Isn't this also an Agatha Christie novel plot?
Moving Finger
...perhaps, or s.th.?
Great vid!!!
Moving Finger - good read 😎
No, but that was a good book.
This was also on the original "Unsolved Mysteries", who also received a letter from the writer, who told them to stay away.
Circleville has an annual "Squash Festival".
This is the kind of information I come to the comments for
This will probably be the sole fact I retain about Circleville.
I'm 15 minutes in, and I've never heard about this case before, so it's really interesting.
What I'm thinking is.... what about the bus driver?!
Busses today are more divided, but they weren't in the 70's. I can only imagine all the conversations bus drivers hear all day, and a driver of a school bus must hear even more.
So I'm keeping the bus driver as my suspect until something else is proven.
Jen rocketing between representing herself in the intro as a crazy woman and then next time a gorgeous supermodel is such a vibe >.
My Simon Whistler addiction is getting out of hand. I'm getting upload notifications in my sleep!
I only "discovered you" little over a month ago, and like many others I got hooked to your way of telling stories, explaining things and being able to gather information on such a wide variety of topics.
I LOVE the casual criminalist, and I am sad that I've now listened to all of them, eagerly awaiting the next entries.
As such a big fanboy, I'd be amiss to not throw in a couple of suggestions myself:
2 cases from my home country of Austria 🇦🇹, that gained worldwide infamy and are shocking our nation to this day (and no, not including our other infamous "son" Adolf 🤬):
- Josef Fritzl & his years incest, imprisonment & murder
- The disappearance and surprising re-Appearance of Natascha Kampusch
Beyond my own country's borders a couple more I'd love to see your (and Callums :D) take on:
- Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo - seriously one of the worst and shocking serial killers worldwide
- Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos (aka "The beast"), one of the most disturbing and horrifying people to ever walk the face of the earth - currently holding hands with Chikatilo in hell
- Pedro Alonso López the child killer, with a horrific killcount of over 300
- Javed Iqbal Umayr - a Pakistani serial killer, interesing cause his background is way different that our "usual" white male mid 30s with childhood trauma and head injury that lateron goes full-on bananas
And one last suggestion, a rather famous case, but that offers so much information and disturbing material to fill at least one very long episode:
- Gary Leon Ridgway the Green River Killer. I've seen his case in several documentaries, as I am sure many others have too, but I'd still love an episode about him.
On a personal note, Dear Simon, - since you are always struggling with German, I am from Austria and have a lot of free time on my hands, so please, feel free to reach out to me in case you should need any help with translation, gathering information or whatever else. More than happy to contribute if needed.
It always feels a bit macabre saying this, but thankfully theres such an immense load of murderers, criminal cases and other crimes, that you'll not be done with this channel ever (thank god).
Keep doing what you're doing, and thank you for the countless hours of entertainment with which you enrich my life!
PS. Eagerly awaiting Merch (!) & your "Becoming a Criminal for Dummies" book 😄
I think it was the mail carrier. Mail carriers see everything. Especially in a small town.
Classic police strategy: don’t have a culprit? Make one up!
Or pick someone and do everything they can to prove them guilty instead of trying to figure out if they are actually guilty or not and stop trying to find anyone else that might actually be the guilty party.
So why wouldn’t the letter writer just be a student who was hiding a tape recorder? Wouldn’t have been hard to hide it.
This is a VERY intriguing case, curious to see what Simon thinks about this one. And Jenn seems..... nice... haha best introduction ever.
Simon how realistic does a CC episode on Bela Kiss seem for us in the future?
Great idea! That would be a "new" story even for the most ardent, long time true crime enthusiasts watching more than one channel dealing with the topic.
@@Kari.F. yeah I have no idea who that is and I love it when that happens. I think I'm actually not going to go find either, in the hopes of brand new unknown-to-me video one day
would love to see that - wonder if he could come up with any info on him I haven't already read.
I really hope they see this. Belas barrels of bodies would make a great episode. Fits right in to this channel.
How many people watched the whole video staring at the scratch on Simon’s head, wondering how he got it?
Its always the wife
Jen with these gifs is the hero I never knew I needed!
Holy crap... I saw the title and my eyes bugged out. I'm from Circleville 🤯 3 things we are famous for: The Pumpkin Show, Ted Lewis and those damn letters
thanks for calling out Ted. I'm a huge fan.
Simon, you're British AND you wear glasses...that automatically makes you a genius.
Sounds like it's the Sheriff tbh. Complete clown.
I’m from circleville . Born and raised. My father owns a business downtown and has for many years . After Paul was proven innocent and released he was a customer as were/are many locals. I have asked my family about this and most of them have not even heard of the circleville letters.
As Mossad has proved countless times. The .22 is an awesome gun to 'confront' people at very close ranges' within urban settings.
Ohio didn't enact seatbelt laws until May 4, 1986, so not in the late 70's. Allegedly.
Once everyone knew about the letters, there were bound to be copycats.
Another great bedtime story, I can sleep peacefully now 😊 I truly do enjoy these educational scripts and how Simon presents them. Cheers!
Oh! Finalmente! I listened to this first on Spotify because I’m impatient. This was a craaaazy story.
This is about power over someone. As embarrassing as it may or not may not be, I'd go to the local newspaper and ask them to publish the letters. Let everyone see them. If everyone knows about it, it takes away their power.
“It’s my gun but it was stolen” likely story.
If you plan on using that defence, you had better have already reported it stolen. Otherwise, you're just confessing to losing a firearm and not reporting it.
Karen all day
@@brianthrom6858 dang, some of my UA-cam comments to tend to have some big Karen energy. I need to try and watch out for that.
Ex wife gave it to Mary.
I love the concept of your show, in addition to the content. The fact that you are reading the script for the furst time really brings the audience in, because you are reacting the same way we are at "the same time". Excellent research and analyses. Keep up the good work, gentlemen.
A "fun fact" about smaller caliber guns: Far too many people mistakenly believe that being shot with a small caliber weapon is better than being shot with a large caliber weapon. In actuality, taking a shot (most especially a headshot) from something like a .22 caliber revolver frequently results in the projectile piercing the targeted area, and instead of passing straight through to cleanly exit on the other side, will ricochet on any hard part of the body (such as the skull) it comes into contact with, sometimes bouncing back and forth multiple times, causing massive trauma and internal damage to soft tissues. Sorry for the extremely graphic visuals this information most likely conjured up for any readers. I just think it's important for people to know and understand the differences between ammunition calibers and the effects they can have on the human body.
Effects like a .22 frequently not having enough umph to penetrate the skull which is why a .25 is the caliber of choice for close quarters wet work. 😉
@@BullScrapPracEff True, it is entirely possible for the projectile to fail at piercing areas of the body with high bone density, but that can also be attributed to the distance between the shooter and the target, the type of shell being used (e.g. Standard round, Hollow point, Cross point, Magnum, Etc.), and just some good old fashioned dumb luck. It should go without saying that of course it's better to use a larger caliber weapon, especially in instances of self-defense. I just wanted to throw that information out there. Unless you're a gun enthusiast, or have a fair amount of first hand knowledge and experience with firearms, you more than likely wouldn't know this particular piece of info.
Should a person be determined to make the terrible decision to try to shoot someone from the window of a moving vehicle, though, which I do NOT recommend, but if they WERE going to try it...they would probably have more success with a larger calibre. A perfect head shot while barrelling down the road just seems like an unlikely scenario.
The more I hear about this case, the more conflicted I feel about the fact the Writer more or less got away with it. On one hand, evading the law in such a way is somewhat impressive and there’s always the chance that their accusations were true.
On the other hand. Death threats.
Well, this is just great, Simon. Now you are going to get a shit-ton of crudely written letters.
Gill IS Pee. Absolutely love your stories. Brilliant. Thanks for hours of quality entertainment.
Out of curiosity,... how does Simon keep track of what shirt to wear on each channel? Good memory? Granimals?
Not the Principal, the Superintendent-the guy who HIRES the Principals!
They may be dyslexic.. Those mistakes will sometimes happen to me.. Including mixed case in a word, even when typing.
Perhaps the first time I've ever heard 'beg the question' used correctly. I'm so proud!