Jazz it Out

Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. At what point are you and I going to do a duet? I don't know but we are live.

Oh well if you guys want the duet, let's know. We have recently received a lot of really great emails. Yes I need to wait where's my cellular device? Here it is.

Memo bio. Let's be fine. Memo bio. So Hailey was reading me some of the emails that we had received and they were really touching largely because I made the mistake of reading some of our reviews.

Oh yeah never do that. Yeah people are. People are weird. People are cruel and nasty and nasty and also probably listen to one episode and then decide to be a dr.

I mean I also I love a good like you know self-deprecating joke. Who doesn't? I mean I am actually the worst. Are you?

So I get it. I don't think you're the worst. Thank you. You're welcome.

But also like listen I worked with teenagers. I also worked in the Bronx. I've been called every name under the sun in multiple languages. See so yeah internet people it doesn't really hurt my feelings.

I don't like that it affects our rating. That's what I like because what that does is that tells people who are interested like hey this may not be a good podcast and I don't like that because I mean but we are a good podcast. Usually like the worst the rating for the movie is usually the more I enjoy it. Oh that's true.

That's true. Yeah because it's always like snobby people better critics. So tell us. Okay yes so I want to so we got a really a four words are hard.

Okay so we got an email from Keaton. I won't say your last name because I don't know if you want me to but they've been following our podcast recently and want us to cover a case of Crystal Branham Hall. Crystal Branham Hall from Pikeville Kentucky so that's definitely on my list. Yes.

So I'm going to try to dive more into that. Thank you. Yeah and this person apparently went to school with her kids so really impacted the community so I definitely want to like really get into that some more and then we had another one from Laura who was so sweet and just said we were like a really big part of her like postpartum experience which is really cool. I was like oh my god this one was like oh my god that's so sweet but yeah we're also always here for girl talks so.

I am five years postpartum but here's what I will tell you. It's a hairy ass time. Yeah and I was experiencing it during COVID. Yeah I felt very alone.

Yeah. Very isolated and at one point I told my primary care. I was like I don't know how to stay on my bill this way and she was like well tell me what's going on and I was like well I have a brand new baby and there's COVID and I hate my job and she was like yeah that'll do it. That's it.

Yeah that's probably why you might be feeling bad. It's a hairy time and so like what a compliment that we can be here to help you through it because it sucks. No lie. I can't imagine.

I yeah and they seem a little nervous about that. So just the idea that you are responsible for this human life is kind of overwhelming and then you add into the mix the not sleeping ever because you're a baby and getting up and yeah no things. No but I'm grateful he's good but yeah this is so cool. And then we had one more that I found recently from Maven.

I love that which I think I'm saying that right. They signed the like this email signature was in AE so I think it's May. So they got by which I love but they were letting you know that they were also having joint pain and were slightly worried about the syphilis. So listen to that.

So I could sort of resonate with that last email with the joy in the miracle of life. Yes and the depression that comes with it. And then I got to resonate with folks who might also have a sypholic. Syphilis them.

Yeah syphum. But no May does not believe that they actually have syphilis. I hope they have ristenotitis which is like also not great. I think I'm honestly might prefer the syphilis.

Listen one round of penicillin you've done with syphilis. That's true. Ristenotitis that's with you. That's with you for a while.

I feel like we are going to have a club soon that will be formed. The syph club. The possible syph club man. Those things you guys could taught your aches your pains.

Your aches your pains. I couldn't hold a pencil today. It was all a call to be syphilis. Oh I mean because it could be.

I mean you don't know that it's not. I don't know I'm not a medical professional. I definitely don't. I did get the test and it was negative.

Yeah other diseases were not sure. We're unsure. Maybe. She did foam a little.

Yeah I did get the syph test. It was negative. That's good. Yeah it was important to really just hammer home there.

I'm glad. But if I did have syphilis again round of penicillin. You don't know what. Even if you have the syph I wouldn't treat you differently.

Thanks. You're welcome. That's I mean there's no stigma with the syph. There is.

I mean there is. That's why we're calling it the syph and that's why it's a preposition all of a sudden. Yeah. Like it has a preposition with it.

I mean like I mean that's it. Well what are we learning about today? So today. So a few weeks ago I took a lovely trip to New Orleans Louisiana.

Lucky duck. Which I was working. I loved. I loved the city.

I loved the people. It was incredible. You can drink on the street there. Love that.

Open by containers. It was pretty cool. It was also hot as hell. Absolutely.

Because we went in July. Because that's stupid. And I remember looking at my drinking. Drinking equally.

Yeah but listen I had my water bottle so I would like drink a drink and then I would have my water bottle and then I would get another drink. Literally I would be peeing non-stop. You weren't because you were sweating so bad. No I'd still be peeing like crazy.

So I looked at my weather app one day and it's at 100. It feels like 109. Oh dear lord. And because it was so humid.

So really all you could do is like get up in the morning go eat like a meal. So usually we wouldn't like go. We wouldn't have like a meal until like around lunchtime. So we'd go eat then walk around just a little bit.

Come back to that hotel because you couldn't do anything during the day. But thankfully everything's like open all the time. Yeah. So we'd go out at night.

Nice. And do some like Bourbon Street. Like I said we say in the French Quarter. It was really cool.

Anywho. So that has inspired me. I know. So I'm taking out of Appalachia for my next two stories.

Because I learned about two. I'd heard of them but then like once I was there like I got to learn a little bit more about like the history and the stuff like the actual stories about these two cases I'm talking about. Mountain mystery is tales from New Orleans. From New Orleans.

Hello. I mean it was very it's the south but it's not the south. Right. You know.

Yeah. Can you speak like a Cree well now? I did some French. No.

Did you have any empathy for say? No. No. None.

Nine. So what is this? So this one is we're gonna talk about the Axeman of New Orleans. And I wasn't old.

This is from like the early 1900s like 19. Oh I love it. 17, 18, 19, 20. Like kind of spans some time.

I love this. But I want to read you a letter first. This is how we're going to kick this off. Okay.

It's a letter that the Axeman wrote to the local newspaper and it's published in the local newspaper. So I want to read I'm going to read it to you. So this is from the Axeman. So it's labeled at the top where you know you usually put you know the date and the things like that.

So it says hell comma March 13th, 1919. esteemed mortal. And then we get into the context here. Okay.

Okay. They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me for I am invisible. Even as the ether that surrounds your earth.

I'm not a human being but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I'm what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman. When I see fit I shall come and claim other victims. I alone know whom they shall be.

I shall leave no clue except my bloody axe. This mirrored with blood and brains of he whom I have sent below to keep me company. If you wish you may tell the police to be careful not to rrow me. Of course I'm a reasonable spirit.

I take no offense at the way they have conducted their investigations in the past. In fact they have been so utterly stupid as to not only amuse me but his satanic majesty, Francis, Yosef, etc. But tell them to beware. Let them not try to discover what I am for it were better that they were never born than to incur the wrath of the Axeman.

I don't think there is any need of such a warning for I feel sure the police will always dodge me as they have in the past. They are wise and know how to keep away from all harm. Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as the most horrible murderer which I am but I could be much worse if I wanted to. If I wish I could pay a visit to your city every night, at will I could slay thousands of your best citizens for I am in close relationship with the angel of death.

Now to be exact, at 1215, earthly time, on next Tuesday night I'm going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy I'm going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is. I'm very fond of jazz music and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned.

If everyone has a jazz band going well then so much better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it out on that specific Tuesday night, if there be any, will get the axe. Well, as I am cold and crave the warmth of my native Tartarus, it is about time I leave your earthly home. I will cease my discourse, hoping that thou will publish this, that it may go well with thee.

I have then am and will be the worst spirit that ever existed either in fact or realm or fantasy, the X-man. To me, it just sounds like the X-man is a jazz music producer who wants everybody to go down to the local record shop and purchase a lot of jazz records so he can put money in his pocket or someone who has significant mental health issues. I just love the jazz it out. Jazz it out.

Jazz it out. Listen, when life gives you women, jazz it out. Just jazz it out. When you are constipated.

Just jazz it out. Hey, if you're worried about being murdered by a man in the night with a bloody axe. Jazz it out. Jazz it out.

Exactly. And you'll be fine. You'll be all right. However, if you don't jazz it out, you're gonna get angry at his ass.

Wow. I jazzed. Yeah. He's like real close, apparently with the angel of death, the devil, the satanic majesty.

There's a lot going on there. You know, when you have to throw out a bunch of names like that. Right. You're talking about me.

There's a lot. You're over-compensating is the truth. Yeah. So this was published.

Yeah. And like the local newspapers. So everybody runs out and they jazz out. They get some jazz.

They just wanna jazz it out. He's on a power trip, man. But can you imagine like reading this during that time? In 1919.

And being like heard and seen other people be asked. Yeah. Obviously you're like, holy cow, I'm going to try and save my life. Yeah.

Turn on that music and jazz it out. I mean, it kind of was, you know, what is that story in the Bible where they're like, it's during the plague to put like the blood of something on your door and then the spirit, like it'll pass over your house. Pass over. That's the story of Passover.

Wow. I'm a good Baptist. Somebody needs to read the Bible. You know what?

Haley, Haley, Bible it out. Bible it out. Bible it out. I was like, I was like, you know that story in the Bible.

Like, you know, that one about Passover? That's about literally this story. That's about Passover. Yeah.

That one, it kind of reminded me of Passover a little bit. Jazz it out. But just with jazz music. Oh, yeah.

Those are the same things. Yeah. It's fine. How about a gila?

Yeah. Maybe he just read that section of the Bible before he wrote the letter. I actually don't think he was reading it. You don't think?

No. Probably. Somebody whose friends with Satan probably isn't into biblical references. Just saying.

Probably not. You're probably right. Oh, no. Okay.

Jazz it out. So, um, so this comes, this letter is out and about. So let's back it on up a little bit and talk about kind of what led us up to this point. Okay.

So on May 23rd of 1918, we have Joseph Maguio, who is an Italian grocer and his wife, Catherine, were attacked while they were asleep in their apartment on the corner of Upperline and Magnolia streets, which are in New Orleans. The killer broke into their residence, cut their throats with a straight razor. Catherine's wrote was cut so deeply that she was nearly like decapitated. Yeah, that's pretty hard with the straight razor.

Yeah. The killer then struck both victims with an axe. Joseph actually survived the attack. The initial attack.

But he died like minutes after his brothers, Jake and Andrew found him. The killer wrote a message on the pavement nearby reading, Mrs. Maguio will sit up tonight just like Mrs. Tony.

And that was people thought a reference to another attack that happened to a different Italian grocers back in 1912. So they were like, this is weird. We're like, yeah, going back to 1912 when, you know, it's been six years. All right.

Yeah. So police obviously are called to the scene and they go into the apartment. They're looking around to find bloody clothes of the murderer in the apartment. Oh, so he stripped.

Yeah, he stripped. He'd obviously changed into clean clothes before fleeing a complete search of the premises was not performed, though, after the bodies were removed. However, the blood saying to razor was found on the lawn of a neighboring property. Police did roll out robbery because money and valuables are left in plain sight.

So that obviously wasn't the motive. It was more personal. Yeah. The razor was said to belong to Josephson brother Andrew who owned a barbershop.

His employee Esteban Torres told police that Andrew had removed the razor from his shop two days prior to the murder, explaining that he had wanted to like sharpen it or something like take it home and like get it apparently had like a little nick in it in the blade. So he wanted to let go and fix it somehow. I don't really know how you do that, but apparently Andrew lived in a joining apartment. That's convenient.

And reported that he heard groaning noises through the wall on the night of the murders. Andrew blamed his failure to hear any noises related to the attack itself on him being drunk. Police though were surprised that he failed to hear the intruder enter the home. Do we think that Andrew had anything to do with it?

I mean, yeah, I kind of like, it seems like you might not. He conveniently took it home to sharpen it. He lived next door. He really didn't hear anything because he was drunk, but he found the bodies.

Like, come on. I mean, I don't know. So he did become the prime suspect of these murders. Okay, good.

However, he was released because they were unable to really like, you know, there was no evidence contrary to his fate. No witnesses. Right. And there was also an account that people who like there were witnesses around that said they had seen an unknown man lurking near the apartment before the murders.

So then we have this mystery man. So we don't know. Okay, on June 27th of 1918, Louise Besmer and his mistress, Harriet Lowe, were attacked in private quarters at the back of Bossamer's grocery, which is located on the corner of... History to the corner.

History to the grocery store. Like, I mean, isn't that a little public? Well, no, there's like a residence attached to the back. Like he owns the grocery store.

Oh, a statue, a statue. Okay. So he was entertaining. Yeah, they were jazzing it out.

So they lived in the corner of Dorganol and Laharp Streets. Gotcha, sure. So he was struck with a hatchet above his right temple, which resulted in maybe a skull fracture. Lowe was struck over her left ear, which left one side of her face permanently paralyzed.

They were discovered the next morning alive, but critically endured by the bakery wagon driver, who had come to the grocery to make his routine delivery. So they both survived this? They both survived. The axe had actually belonged to Besmer, just like it was his, and it was found in an adjacent bathroom.

So he stated that he had been sleeping when he was attacked with the hatchet. Almost immediately though, police arrested a man named Louis Obacon, who was 41 years old. He was an African-American man who had been employed in the grocery just a week before the attacks. Take this with a grain of salt because there was no evidence against him, but police still arrested him, stating that he had offered conflicting accounts about where he was at morning.

Well, and largely because he's black and he's also look. Yeah, he was like released as police were unable to gather sufficient evidence to hold him. Lowe recalled her assailant as a maleto man. Molotto?

Molotto? Yep. Which means he was half white and half black. Yeah.

And her statement though was discounted by police, so because she was so disoriented. So they were like, probably not, because I think they really wanted it to be the other guy. So they were like, one. Oh, no, it can't be.

It can't be that. They police were like, oh, it's got to be a robbery. Nothing was stolen. Nothing was stolen.

And there was probably none in the movie. Yeah, there was nothing stolen. Great. So she, Lowe, became kind of the center of a media craze.

She continually made scandalous and false statements relating to both the attacks and the character of Bessemer. After Bessemer fell under suspicion of espionage, following discovery of foreign written letters in his possession, Lowe told police that she thought he was a German spy. Which resulted in his arrest. Nine.

Nine. He was released two days later. August 1918, he was arrested again after she, on her deathbed, named him as the assailant. He was charged with a murder.

But he was also asked. So he was charged, served nine months in prison before being acquitted. Okay. What?

As a lot happening in that way. And also, do keep in mind that this is the period during World War I. So this is why this whole idea of German spy has some kind of clout. The right movement.

Yeah. So, I mean, there was a lot incorrect happening there. Okay. Sounds like she had, you know, like a TBI.

Oh, for sure. And she. And she. And she.

And she. And she. And she. And she.

After that. That's kind of scrambled. Some stuff up there. It has to.

Yeah. Okay. So the next one was Anna Schneider. And she was attacked on August 5th, 1918.

She was 28 years old. She was also eight months pregnant. She woke up to find a dark figure standing over her and then was bashed in the face repeatedly. She had a big cut on her scalp.

She was discovered after midnight by her husband, Ed. As he got back from work. So he worked a late shift and got home. She was alive.

Anna claimed that she remembered nothing of the attack. And then she actually gave birth to a very healthy baby girl. Two days later. Yeah.

Crazy. Women are. I mean, so strong. Yeah.

He wiseled. Yeah. So Ed told police that nothing was taken from the home besides six or seven dollars that had been in his wallet. So I guess he left his wallet home instead of taking work.

I don't know. That's weird. So me. The windows and the doors didn't seem to have been forced to open.

So maybe she knew her attacker. Right. And authorities kind of thought that she had been hit with that lamp that had been on a table. So not an axe.

So just repeatedly just whacked over and over again with the lamp. You think the lamp would break. You would think. So James Gleason, who was an ex-convict, was arrested shortly after Anna was found.

And he was later released due to lack of evidence. Really? What's the point? Yeah.

They were like, um, yeah. So maybe this guy. No, no, this guy. So there are some investigators that are starting to kind of think like, what if this is related to Besmer and Maguio?

Right. Like what if they're related to those cases? Potentially. But a lot of these cases, like there's some different elements.

Right. Like people are being hit with things and that's about it. Right. Versus the first ones were slashed and acts.

The second one we have an axe. This one we've got a lamp. So it's almost like, are you just using what is readily available to you? Potentially.

That's kind of where my thought is. Or, you know, maybe the person recognized you was pregnant. Maybe. So decided not to act.

I don't know. Yeah. So, um. We're going to see like a period of escalation here because this.

So Besmer and Low were on the 18th or 1918. They were on June 27th. Now we've jumped to August 5th. Gotcha.

Now we're going to August 10th. Okay. So just five days later, we have Joseph Romano. So Pauline and Mary Bruno wake up to the sound of this like, commotion happening in the next room where their elderly uncle, Joseph Romano was lit.

So he was like living in the room beside theirs. Upon coming into the room, the sisters found that Romano had been hit in the head. And that resulted in two like big cuts on his head. The assailant was fleeing the scene as they came in.

Yet they were able to determine that he was a dark-skinned, heavy-set man who wore a dark suit and slouched hat. Romano was actually able to walk to the ambulance once it arrived. So he like was able to get there. So they ambulate to the ambulance.

They ambulate to the ambulance. Yes. However, he died two days later. Oh my gosh.

After going through all of that. Dude had trauma. Wow. Now his home had been ransacked, but nothing was stolen.

Which is weird. And authorities found a bloody axe in the backyard and discovered that a panel at the back door had been like kicked out or chiseled out or something. Somehow it broke into the axe. It broke into the axe.

So was this his axe or? I think so, but I don't know what to say. But I feel like in other articles I've read and like things I've seen about this, that they, yes it was his axe. Wow.

I mean this killer is just like where's your axe at? Yes, it's fine. I don't hear no jazz music. Time to get an axe.

Time to get an axe. So this murder started this craze in New Orleans where people were starting to make the connection and like this is when the axe man theory really like took off. Police started getting a salue of reports in which citizens claimed to have seen the killer lurking in their neighborhood. A few men even called to say that they had found axes in their backyards.

John. I mean just random axes. I don't know. Just being out of the ground.

They're just axes. There's axes everywhere. No, no. Not my axes, but my axes.

Yeah. John Dantonial who was. Oh my axes live in Texas. Okay, that's right.

Oh, he was a retired Italian detective, made a public statement where he said that he thought that the man who committed these murders was the same one who had killed several individuals in 1911. Dantonial described the potential killer as an individual of dual personalities who killed without motive. This type of individual he stated could very likely have been a normal law-abiding citizen who was often overcome by an overwhelming desire to kill. He later went on to describe the killer as a real life Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hind. I love his criminal profile. I know.

I would do me in the early 1900s. Yeah. So he's so he's starting to make thinking like, okay, we've had some similar stuff happen like six, seven years ago. That's happening again.

Okay, so then we kind of take a bit of a jump. So we've gone from August 10th of 1918. We're going to jump to March 10th of 1919. Okay.

So we're taking a whole jump here. This individual was incarcerated for this time period. Oh, maybe. So Italian immigrant Charles Courtomiclia and his family, his wife, Rosie, and their infant daughter Mary were attacked in their residence on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Second Street in Gretna, Louisiana, which is a suburb of New Orleans.

So when a local grocer heard the screams, Orlando was the same. He heard the screams. He rushed across the street to investigate. He and he found that the family had been attacked by the Axeman.

Charles and Rosie both suffered skull fractures from the axe, which was found on their back porch. Mary, the baby, was killed. Her mother was holding her. And she was killed from the axe.

She was apparently hit on the back of her neck. Nothing was stolen from the house, but a panel on the back door was broken. And Charles was released two days after the attack from the hospital. His wife remained in pretty critical care.

Once she woke up, she made claims that the grocer who had found them and his 18-year-old son, Frank, were responsible for the attacks. Orlando, who was a 69-year-old male, was in two poor of health they determined to have been able to do this. So he was like a frail old man. Frank, though, who was more than six feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds, would have been too large, though, to fit through that panel.

Wonderful. So there's no way he could have... So it's not the old guy. And it's not the big guy.

It's not the fat guy. It's got to be someone in the middle. It sounds like who's sleeping in my bed. Right.

Charles, you know, was like, definitely this is not what happened. So he was like denying the wife's claims. He's like, this is not them. Women are crazy.

We know that. Right. So the police were the police at this time. Yeah.

So they actually were arrested and charged with the murder. They would be found guilty. Frank was sentenced to hang. Oh my gosh.

And his father was sentenced to life in prison. The old man? Yeah. Charles divorced his wife after this because he's like, you're insane.

And then a year later, Rosie admitted that she had falsely accused them out of jealousy and spite resulting in their release. So thankfully, Frank wasn't hanged. I mean, listen. I'm not always a fan of my ex.

Would I claim that he tried to murder me? Maybe. I had to take a pause there. Uh, no.

I didn't get to think of him. No, no, no. And especially if it's his life on the line. That's crazy.

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

So we've got a few more. And you're also saying that he would murder his own child. Right. Well, I mean, he said that like it was the grocer.

Sure. Yeah. I don't know. Those rosaries, you got to watch out.

Watch out for him. The way they handle those melons. Apparently they'll hurt you. Okay.

So Steve Boca is our next one. Good Lord. He's on August 10th of 1919. Also a grocer.

What is happening with this like fifth and 10th? Like it's almost like, Yeah. I mean, there was that June 27th. Yeah.

But it kind of seems like this killer has like a thing for numbers. Right. Yeah. So on 10th, we have another grocer.

Okay. Steve Boca. He's attacked while he sleeps in his room by an axe wielding intruder. He wakes up during the night to find a dark figure looming over his bed.

Once he regains consciousness, he runs into the street to investigate like what the heck happened. And finds that his head has been split open. The grocer runs into the home of his neighbor, Frank Janusa, where he lost consciousness and collapsed. Nothing had been stolen from the home.

And once again, a panel in the back door had been just a little away. Boca recovered from his injuries, but couldn't remember any details of the attack. And this attack took place after the letter. Okay.

It was written. So what year? Clearly he wasn't jazzed out. Because the letter was written on March 13th.

And this was August 10th. So we had the the family murdered on the 10th. The letter comes out on the 13th and now we're at August 10th. So apparently people were jazzing it and they must have slacked off.

Well, you know, it takes like 23 days to form a habit. So you don't get in the habit of jazzing it out and you miss one night. It's going to be a control bill. Yeah.

Whoops. Yeah. And you either have a period or pregnant. Exactly.

Or in this case, you're either jazzing it out or you're dead. Or you're axed. It also seems two things I'm hearing. One is that it seems like a lot of these individuals who were killed or worked in the grocery profession.

Yeah. We'll talk about that in a minute. And then the second thing is that it seems like a lot of them are from other cultures and backgrounds. Most of them are Italian.

Yeah. So talk about that too. So during this time period, Italians weren't treated very well in the US. Nope.

So throw that out. Yeah. Proceed. OK.

We've got two more victims here. So the first one is Sarah Lomond. And her attack happened on the night of September 3rd, 1919. She was attacked in her apartment.

Neighbors came to check on her. She lived alone. And they broke into her home when she didn't answer. They discovered the 19-year-old lying unconscious on her bed, suffering from a severe head injury and missing several teeth.

The intruder had apparently entered the apartment through an open window and attacked her with a blunt object. A bloody axe was discovered on the front lawn of the building. She recovered from her injuries but couldn't recall any details. Of course not.

Yeah. OK. Last one is Mike Peptone. And his attack happened on the night of October 27, 1919.

So his wife was awakened by a noise and went to the door of her husband's bedroom just as a large axe-wielding man was fleeing the scene. He had been struck in the head and was covered in his own blood. Blood splatter covered the majority of the room, including a painting of the Virgin Mary. She feels a little sacrilegious.

His wife and she was actually the mother of his sick children, which is crazy. She was sick or sick? Sick. OK.

They were sick of them. No, no, they're sick of them. Was unable to describe any characteristics of the guy other than he was large. And he died of his injuries.

And this was the last of the alleged axe-man victims. Interesting. Then everything just stopped after this. He either was arrested or killed.

Yeah, that's my thought too. OK. So we've got a couple of theories. So the first theory is that, you know, like you were saying, the majority of them are Italian immigrants or Italian Americans, which these people believe that the crimes might have been ethnically motivated.

Yes. Many media outlets sensationalized this aspect, even suggested that the mafia was involved, despite no evidence that the mafia was involved. Well, this sounds terrible, but aren't most mafia members Italian? I mean, maybe all these guys had wronged them.

I don't know. Maybe. Maybe who knows. Some crime analysts have suggested that the killings could have potentially been sexually motivated, and that the murder was perhaps the statist, specifically seeking female victims.

But they killed a ton of men. Right. So criminologists Colin and Damon Wilson hypothesized that the axe man killed male victims only when they obstructed his attempts to murder women, which was supported by cases in which the woman of the household was murdered but not the man. Gotcha.

So I mean, whatever. So a less plausible theory, but the one that I'm going with is that the axe man committed the murders in an attempt to promote jazz music. You know what? I'm telling you.

I'm going for it. Jazz it out. Reduce that music and go buy many copies. Yep.

That's smart. So obviously this was based on the letter that we read at the beginning. So that letter on March 13th, 1919, supposedly from the axe man, almost published the newspapers, saying he would kill again at 15 past midnight on the night of March 19th, what would spare the occupants of any place where a jazz band was playing? So that night, the city's dance halls were filled to capacity, and professional and amateur bands played jazz parties at hundreds of houses around town.

And there were no murders that night. Hmm. You know, maybe the moral of this story is that ultimately, this killer wanted everybody to stop working so much in their grocery store, and really just jazz it out. Just have a party.

Have a good time. And if you did, you stayed alive. If you started working with your mistress, gone. Gone.

Yeah. Yeah. Watch out, backdoor. So I'm going without theory.

They just really wanted to promote jazz music. I mean, you know, maybe my heart and the bops album. Could be a jazz album? Well, we're going to call it boxing it out.

Heart, boxing it, heart and a box in it out. We'll work it up. Well, we need to. Yeah.

We'll go back to that one. But just think of the letter that we could send that we get printed and, you know, like, watch out if you don't, you know, heart and the box it out, whenever. You're going to pay. You're going to get.

Good acts. I don't know if we're going to use an axe. That feels a lot. That's a lot of work too, and a lot of blood and a lot of cleanups.

Yeah. Let's just do something a little more cleanly. A little cleaner. I don't know what we'll do.

We'll think about it. Yeah. Again, something else to workshop. But nonetheless, our album sales will be crazy.

I'm here for you're going to be adding another wing onto your house. I'm going to be like, oh, it's time to put in a new bowl. You know, all the things. All the things.

Yeah. Well, that's it. That's my story. That was weird.

Yeah. That's a weird story. Also, um, not an Appalachia. So, you know, but still fun.

Oh, who doesn't love a good accent? Jazz story. Accident up with jazz music. Do you like jazz music?

I do. Yes. I do. Are you a Jazzy?

It's pretty Jazzy. Are you? Yeah. Mm-hmm.