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Your Inner Detective when you

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today on ios as an

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Android. As

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a long time Foreign correspondent, I've

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the scenes in the tumultuous Us

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China relationship find Face Off wherever

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you get your podcasts. Hello!

1:39

All Eric here. So I've been

1:41

feeling a bit nostalgic recently. Maybe

1:44

it's because I'm in my ninth

1:46

year of doing this show. And.

1:49

I have had. The good

1:51

fortune of accomplishing much of what I

1:53

set out to do when I first

1:55

started. Well. Mainly to create

1:57

a format where I could selfish

1:59

these be too Many of my

2:02

favorite historians ask questions directly to

2:04

authors that I deeply admire. I

2:07

have a handful of a white whales out

2:10

there that still elude me. There

2:12

is still time, of course. I'll. Continue

2:14

plugging along with this

2:16

podcast until I hit

2:18

Year Ten at least

2:20

episode four hundred. And.

2:22

Then we'll see what happens after

2:25

that. But. I thought

2:27

it would be fun to go back

2:29

and review some of my favorite interviews

2:31

sporadically over the next few months. This

2:35

interview that your about here. Or.

2:37

Probably here again if if you listened to

2:40

all of the episodes from beginning to end.

2:42

Was. Released way back and twenty sixteen

2:44

when I was just starting and still

2:46

green. or I don't remember getting a

2:48

ton of feedback when it first came

2:51

out, but as and again I didn't

2:53

have a a tunnel listeners at that

2:55

point either. But. It. But I

2:57

love this book so much and I

2:59

love Marty Links work in general. She

3:01

would end up coming on for a

3:03

second time. And twenty nineteen, by the

3:05

way, And she was

3:07

is a wonderful guest. In.

3:10

Her book by the way is

3:12

it or secret? I remember being

3:14

just in thrall by it, so

3:16

much so that a state upon

3:18

my to finish it sucks which

3:21

is not something I normally do

3:23

it so smartly written, some. Really?

3:26

Incredible twists and turns. The

3:29

setting is very dramatic: a

3:31

Catholic church out in an

3:33

isolated rural immigrant community. a

3:36

young non who doesn't fit

3:38

in who's taken advantage of

3:40

by her superior. It meets

3:42

with a terrible, tragic and.

3:46

I enjoyed listening to this again

3:48

for the first time and quite

3:50

a while. Ah, I am definitely

3:52

self critical. Marty. Was absolutely

3:54

great, but I think I was a little

3:56

a little bit stiff enough. so little too.

3:58

Formal. I know I

4:01

was more self-conscious back at the

4:03

beginning than I am now, and I think my

4:06

approach is a little bit more loose. Anyway,

4:08

I'll let you be the judge. Here

4:11

we go again with the wonderful Marty

4:13

Link in the sad,

4:15

sad story of Sister Yanina. Thank

4:30

you. Welcome

5:04

to the Most Notorious Podcast, and I'm

5:06

Eric Bridges. Well, this

5:08

episode that you're about to hear is an awesome one. All

5:11

of the guests that interview are great, of course,

5:13

but this episode that you're about to hear is

5:15

one of my favorites already. My

5:17

guest today is Marty Link,

5:19

bestselling author of many books,

5:21

including When Evil Came

5:24

to Good Heart and Wicked Takes

5:26

the Witness Stand. Her book,

5:28

Isidore's Secret about a Murder

5:31

in Rural 1907 Michigan, is

5:33

the subject of our episode today. Thanks

5:36

so much for joining me to talk about this

5:38

gem of a true crime story. Sure.

5:41

Thank you for having me, Eric. I'd

5:44

like to start by asking you about the title. When

5:47

I first read it, Isidore's Secret,

5:49

I assumed that Isidore was a

5:51

person, but Isidore is not.

5:54

Although as we come to find out in

5:56

the book, it's definitely an important character in

5:58

the story. Can You talk about

6:00

that? Is it or in nineteen of Southern Michigan?

6:03

Sir. Are isn't or is

6:05

a little community outside either Michigan

6:07

and Seater is so small that

6:09

most people wouldn't wouldn't have heard

6:11

of theater. and is it or

6:14

as even smaller. It's essentially a

6:16

four corners so isidore the location,

6:18

but I like that you picked

6:20

out there. It. Seems. Like

6:22

a character to you as well

6:24

because I thought of the place

6:26

that way as I was writing

6:28

and researching and it certainly has

6:30

a personality all of it's own.

6:32

Ah, his remote. There's only a

6:34

few roads that go to is

6:36

the door and essentially what is

6:38

there is a Catholic church and

6:40

a couple of farmhouses. The used

6:42

to be a general store but

6:44

that not there anymore. So

6:47

the Church Really? Found any the

6:49

town and certainly dominated the

6:51

sorry. For. Your

6:53

book begins on a lovely summer day

6:56

in August and an interesting cast of

6:58

characters right from the start. A.

7:00

New on Massacres posts last names so I'll

7:02

refer to them throughout the interview as you

7:04

do your book by their titles and and

7:07

their first names. Kicking. You talk

7:09

about. How that day in

7:11

August of Ninety Seven began and

7:13

how we'd progressed. Sir.

7:16

Well since do you mean I

7:18

and that the J J? but

7:20

it's sister? You mean I was

7:23

one of three Catholic sisters three

7:25

solution then who have been called

7:28

to serve the perished in the

7:30

door. Was that whole

7:32

entire community was Catholic?

7:34

Polish, Catholic and. She's had

7:37

supposedly taken an ass in the

7:39

afternoon because she wasn't feeling well

7:41

and yet when it was time

7:44

to wake up then go back

7:46

to work, she was nowhere to

7:48

be found and it was probably

7:51

a typical summer afternoon on. Father

7:53

Andrew was quite a fisherman and

7:56

so she had taken their and

7:58

they call him it's. tour boy,

8:01

kind of a handyman, although he was only a

8:03

teenager. She had taken their

8:05

tour boy fishing on Lake Leelanau, which was

8:08

nearby, back then it was called

8:10

Lime Lake. And

8:12

so all of the sisters decided that they were going to take

8:14

a nap in the heat of the day. They

8:16

did that. And then Stella, who

8:19

was the housekeeper, was busy in the

8:21

kitchen working. She was preparing

8:23

dinner. She was probably doing some dishes.

8:26

And she had a young daughter who was

8:28

doing some sewing. So

8:30

when the afternoon progressed and

8:32

Sister Yannina was nowhere to

8:34

be found after the nap,

8:36

her two fellow sisters came

8:39

to the housekeeper in

8:42

the rutgery and said, we can't

8:44

find Sister Yannina. We don't

8:46

know where she is. Let's talk

8:48

a little bit about Sister Yannina. What

8:51

was she like? What was her personality like?

8:54

And how did she come to join the church? Well,

8:57

Sister Yannina was really the reason

8:59

she found inspiration for this book.

9:02

You know, there's any number of stories that I could

9:04

have written about. And yet I think

9:06

if there is a theme to my

9:08

work, it's giving voice to the

9:11

voiceless. Certainly in my other

9:13

two books, there's some characters who without having

9:15

their stories told in a book, probably never

9:17

would have heard from them. And

9:19

I think that's true of Sister Yannina. She

9:22

was an orphan. Her mother had

9:24

gone into a mental institution

9:26

and died in a hospital, I believe

9:29

probably of tuberculosis. And her father had

9:31

been killed in a car accident in

9:33

Chicago. And so when the

9:35

offer went out, who is going to raise this

9:37

nine year old girl, the only

9:40

people who stepped forward was the

9:42

Catholic Church in Michigan. And

9:44

so she was raised by nuns. And

9:47

it was just assumed that that was going to

9:49

be her role in life too. That was pretty

9:51

much the only option she had. And

9:54

I think that drew me to her as a

9:56

character. And then when I looked

9:58

into her further, you know, she was... outgoing,

10:00

she was musical, she

10:02

was friendly, she had a lot

10:04

of joy and probably what really

10:07

got me was when I when

10:09

I researched being a nun at that

10:12

time I actually found the names in

10:14

her graduating class and there

10:16

were 22 women who had

10:18

signed up to take a rouse and

10:20

become nuns and she graduated 22nd in

10:22

a class of 22 and

10:26

so I thought here was this woman who you

10:28

know that wasn't her plan for her

10:30

life but but she really had no say

10:33

and so she tried to make the best

10:35

of it and which makes what happened to

10:37

her to me particularly tragic. Sister

10:40

Yannina's personality really doesn't

10:42

fit well with the strict structured quiet

10:45

life of a nun but

10:47

despite this odd couple situation

10:49

she really loved the parish and

10:52

she loved living in a rural community. She

10:55

really enjoyed the countryside, the

10:57

flowers, the sunshine, right? She

11:00

did and you know I can imagine her probably

11:02

enjoying the students as well you know there wasn't

11:04

a lot about that but if

11:06

you were a if you were a student

11:09

going to school back then and being taught

11:11

by a nun I mean you would probably

11:13

probably gravitate to the friendly outgoing one that

11:15

played the piano and had sing-alongs rather

11:17

than the one you know the

11:20

disciplinarians so she was quite popular

11:22

the townspeople liked her her

11:24

fellow nuns liked her everyone liked her.

11:28

So to shift to another important figure

11:30

in your story let's talk about the

11:32

housekeeper Stella and her daughter

11:34

Mary who also plays a role in this.

11:37

How does Stella come to

11:40

be employed by father Andrew?

11:42

Right well Stella Lipinska was also

11:44

a Polish immigrant and she was

11:46

a widow she had one daughter

11:49

Mary who was getting close to

11:51

marriage age she was a teenager

11:54

and when Stella's husband died she

11:56

promised Him

11:58

on his deathbed. In

12:00

Poland that she would devote her

12:02

life to the church, the she

12:04

would never marry again and that

12:06

the rest of her life will

12:09

be devoted to the Catholic Church.

12:11

And so she came to America

12:13

and are to preserve as housekeeper

12:15

ass at his door. Ah and

12:17

Holy Rosary Church and her role

12:19

was to tend the garden and

12:21

by chickens in the keys keep

12:23

everything clean, make all the food,

12:26

help with the laundry. So her

12:28

life became a life of physical.

12:30

Labor and. One

12:32

thing that makes that so daunting,

12:34

I think is her size. She

12:37

was less than five feet tall,

12:39

probably closer to four foot ten

12:41

or four foot eleven. So imagine

12:43

a woman who is a widow

12:45

is also trying to raise her

12:47

teenage daughter and provide. Cook

12:50

clean for. My all

12:52

the food for a full of

12:54

very busy Catholic parish and wasn't

12:57

large but it was busy and

12:59

sell her her life from sunup

13:01

to some sundown was physical labor.

13:05

Sister. You Needed is disliked by

13:07

still love, but she's She's beloved

13:10

by the students. The other nuns

13:12

in bars father Andrew as well.

13:15

She as the two of them did

13:17

not get along at all. They didn't

13:19

care for each other and Salah would

13:21

constantly the grumbling about the sisters and

13:23

how lazy they were and how they

13:25

didn't help her with the worse an

13:27

ear on the other hand she wouldn't

13:30

She would constantly encourage her daughter Mary

13:32

to be from the sensor he was

13:34

ill get married become a nun because

13:36

look so easy to have it. You

13:38

know, look how easy their life is

13:40

So get. There was quite a bit

13:42

of tension between, particularly the Sir Ian.

13:44

Enough. And she was a senior of the

13:47

three sisters. And. Supposed to be

13:49

are providing leadership. As

13:51

Cela, they did not care for each

13:53

other. And. she was

13:55

really the polar opposite of sister

13:58

you need him every single Yes,

14:01

she was and tried to

14:03

picture a girl who

14:05

goes into the nunnery at nine years old.

14:08

She's never had a date. She's

14:10

never had a boyfriend. She's probably never even

14:13

danced with a boy. She knows nothing about

14:15

the facts of life. And

14:17

then she gets posted to this very

14:20

remote rural church where I

14:22

can only imagine that she felt kind

14:24

of lonely, partly because of her outgoing

14:26

personality. And a lot of these farmhouses

14:28

were miles and miles away and she

14:30

didn't see the parishioners except for on

14:32

the day that there was a service.

14:36

And then in strides,

14:38

the six foot four

14:40

muscular, handsome, and very

14:42

authoritative older priest. So

14:46

something was bound to happen. Right.

14:50

So she disappears on that

14:53

August afternoon and immediately, Father

14:55

Andrew is incredibly concerned. What

14:58

does the father do at this point? How

15:01

does he proceed? Yeah,

15:03

he returned from fishing and of course had

15:05

no idea what was happening. So he and the

15:08

tour boy pull up in their carriage

15:10

back to the rectory, back to the

15:13

Ibadore parish. And

15:15

Stella comes running down the hill with the

15:17

other sisters and says, you know,

15:19

sister Yannina is gone. She's disappeared. We

15:21

can't find her. And

15:23

Father Andrew is really worried. He

15:26

he's kind of not very

15:28

popular with the parishioners. They're actually afraid

15:30

of him. The other nuns are

15:32

afraid of him because he just has such

15:34

a powerful, no nonsense

15:36

personality. And yet if

15:39

he does have a soft spot at

15:41

all, it is for sister Yannina. And

15:43

he devotes the rest of

15:45

that day and the entire

15:47

weekend and all the days to come

15:49

in looking for her. He

15:52

looks with a

15:54

tracking dog. He hires a private

15:56

Detective. He calls the sheriff. He gets

15:58

the other sisters. Two different that

16:01

we look for her and as

16:03

a month progress with know he

16:05

knows the city Nina and no

16:08

clue. He even. Spend hours

16:10

all by himself deep in the

16:12

was looking for her. So.

16:15

Father Andrew conducts are really thorough

16:17

search for sister union. And

16:20

almost right away, he enlists his

16:22

congregation to guard the roads at

16:24

night, looking for signs of her

16:27

or someone. Who. Might have

16:29

done something to her. And on

16:31

one of those nights, they all here

16:33

singing. That. Yes,

16:36

And if you know even if you go

16:38

to isn't store today is still quite. Were

16:41

all their places where your cell phone won't

16:43

work doesn't matter which carrier you have, it's

16:45

very remote. Some of those month that they

16:47

left through for her are still they are

16:50

Nobody can you know know was never built

16:52

on Amor Farm down and and so is

16:54

he got there. you can kind of get

16:56

the feeling. The. Same Us has

16:58

had when they were looking for her.

17:01

As I said if a little bit

17:03

of an eerie say you know I

17:05

left it pretty open in the thought

17:07

for people to interpret that as a

17:09

well. Was it really about? was it

17:11

to see any nana crying and asking

17:14

for help? Was it their imagination or

17:16

was it a prank? He could have

17:18

been. He could have any wanted of

17:20

things but a reporter from the local

17:22

newspaper was present when some of that

17:25

happened and there was even a front

17:27

page article. On in the newspaper about

17:29

it. So wasn't just heard by

17:31

one or two people, was hurt by number

17:33

of people and some of these were. Pretty.

17:36

Rough characters, you know they

17:38

were father Andrew even enlisted

17:40

lumberjacks. Who. Were who

17:42

you know who have been in Northern

17:44

Michigan putting down. What used to

17:47

be our old growth forests? and

17:49

even say about. Still when they

17:51

heard that singing. But the true

17:53

you know the true Our voice

17:55

behind it was never really identify.

17:58

Father. And reduced every. possible to

18:00

find her, including, as you've already

18:03

mentioned, hiring a man with a

18:05

bloodhound to try and track her

18:07

scent, even paying for it

18:09

with his own money. Can you

18:11

explain in a little more detail

18:13

how they utilize this dog to

18:15

search for Sister Yanina?

18:18

Yeah, he does. Well, he takes the train. There

18:20

used to be train service to Isadora, and he

18:22

takes the train south to Traverse City,

18:24

and he meets up with a private

18:27

investigator with a bloodhound and then takes

18:29

them back to Isadora to the

18:31

rectory and says, you know, this is

18:34

where Sister Yanina was last seen. And

18:36

so they give the

18:38

dog a pair of shoes to smell, to

18:40

get the scent, and then the dog takes

18:42

off and they think, well, maybe we're gonna

18:45

find her. And only later

18:47

do you learn that it

18:49

was Stella who

18:52

gave the dog the shoes to sniff, and

18:54

she gave the dog not

18:56

a pair of Sister Yanina's shoes, but

18:58

a pair of her own. So there

19:01

was no way that the dog

19:03

even had Sister Yanina's scent, but

19:05

of course no one knew that at the time. Father

19:09

Andrew really seems devastated by

19:11

her disappearance, and

19:14

he has kind of convinced himself

19:16

that she's skipped town, despite

19:18

knowing, I think in his heart,

19:21

that something more sinister happened to

19:23

her. Would you say that's right? I

19:26

think that's, yeah, I think that's exactly right. He

19:28

doesn't want to think that she would have left

19:30

him because they did

19:32

have a relationship, and he doesn't want to

19:34

think that she

19:37

would just leave without giving

19:39

him any kind of indication that that was going

19:41

to happen. And yet at the same time, if

19:44

he lets himself think, well, maybe she did

19:46

leave, maybe she went to Chicago to visit

19:48

her brothers, then he doesn't have to confront

19:50

the idea that maybe she said. He writes

19:54

a series of letters to her brothers

19:56

as well, doesn't he? Yes, And

19:58

isn't it amazing that that. Others

20:00

have available for find. Yeah.

20:03

The really would be no, but about

20:05

this case is so many of the

20:07

document hadn't been preserved. As a writer,

20:09

I was really lucky. Ah, that that

20:11

somebody capital of those things the same

20:13

glasses or time And by poking around

20:16

and poking around I found them. And

20:18

so yeah. He wrote a series of

20:20

letters to her brother's saying that she

20:22

was concerned about her, he didn't know

20:24

where he was, where she was, and

20:27

and christian, when was the last time

20:29

that they had seen her. And

20:32

the brothers are completely. Taken aback

20:34

because they haven't seen there's consistency with a

20:36

little girl. How

20:38

does the Michigan Diocese

20:40

reacts to sister Eunice

20:42

disappearance? Well.

20:45

There. Is a piece of information that

20:47

know the diocese knows that they don't

20:49

want to get out and sell, they

20:51

just sit on it. they just they

20:53

just they say will see That's really

20:56

too bad that he disappeared We don't

20:58

know what to say, we have no

21:00

idea where she could be arm and

21:02

they are is almost as if they're

21:04

trying to. Put. Forth the theory

21:06

that he's just a fly. The woman?

21:08

you know that she's it. didn't take

21:10

your vows seriously and just took off.

21:13

I think they would have preferred

21:15

that people think that's what happens

21:17

then what has really happens. One.

21:20

Of the really fascinating things to me about

21:22

the story is the divide between the Catholics

21:24

in his door and the surrounding protests and

21:26

communities. Businesses. Are already

21:28

suspicious of Catholics to start

21:30

with, and the disappearance of

21:32

a non makes them even

21:34

more suspicious. Ah well,

21:37

They work once kindly and course basket that

21:39

time at the turn of the century. You

21:41

know they already were a little bit of

21:44

outsiders and so they wanted to portray this.

21:46

Kind of this whole com

21:48

family. Ah, vibrant community that

21:51

was adhering to the bible

21:53

and. So anything anything out

21:55

of bounds. Made them look bad

21:57

and bell basically than whites. The

22:00

of that stuff out there and yet

22:02

you can't have a community even that

22:04

remote. It is it or was enough?

22:06

Is. In. Certain ways engage with

22:09

the rest. Of the community nearby

22:11

and sell the summer the south and

22:13

Azores you know they still had pass

22:16

on use a protestant doctor who had

22:18

to come to the rectory and and

22:20

treat their faces and so they didn't

22:22

have any choice. they had to interact

22:25

with the outside world but they really

22:27

try to keep that to a minimum.

22:31

So. The search eventually just

22:33

doesn't sounds And father

22:35

Andrew. Leaves the parish. Can

22:37

you talk about his departure? Yeah.

22:41

Father Andrew grew increasingly difficult for

22:43

parishioners to deal with and I

22:45

think eventually they use the missing

22:47

sister as an excuse to get

22:50

rid of him. They were afraid

22:52

of them are they didn't care

22:54

for how self righteous he was.

22:56

and the rumors started that he

22:59

had had a relationship with the

23:01

sure you Nina and might have

23:03

had something to do with her

23:05

disappearance. and while that was ever

23:08

really stated publicly, they were able

23:10

to. Use sat behind the scenes to say

23:12

tents and go to the diocese and say

23:14

we don't want him any more diverse. Somebody

23:16

else trained for hims it to some other.

23:18

Place he doesn't fit in. Here

23:20

Ah he's not doing any good work here

23:23

and get we want to get rid of

23:25

him. And. Now works at

23:27

work and so he was

23:29

replaced by ah of the

23:31

his polar opposite someone times.

23:33

Ah, kind of passes. As

23:36

a man who was for to come to

23:38

his or he didn't wanna time because he

23:40

knew what he was walking into the arms

23:42

of. Controversy but for a

23:45

short time. He had. There were

23:47

a couple a different priest who came came

23:49

in last and came the left and really

23:51

is the store became sort of like the

23:53

third rail. You know nobody wanted to touch

23:55

it. Nobody wanted said to visa free. There.

23:59

Is my impression. that from reading

24:01

your book that the Catholics in

24:03

Isidore have difficulty embracing almost anyone

24:05

new coming into their

24:07

community, especially a priest, and they're

24:10

really picky, right? They have high

24:13

standards and nobody's gonna

24:15

please them. What

24:17

does happen though is there's a rather young,

24:20

ambitious priest

24:22

in Father Edward who really has

24:24

no clue about what has been

24:27

going on in Isidore. He's not

24:29

part of the Holy Rosary. He

24:32

doesn't have a Holy Rosary background. He's

24:34

from somewhere else. He is Polish, but

24:36

he decides that yes,

24:38

I would love to take the posting

24:40

in Isidore and it's going to be

24:42

my crowning achievement. I am going to

24:45

bring that parish into the 20th century.

24:47

I am going

24:49

to build a new church and

24:52

I'm going to be the talk of the town.

24:54

They're gonna love me there and I'm gonna provide

24:56

terrific leadership that you know be

24:59

famous. He was

25:01

quite ambitious and he thought Isidore

25:03

as his stepping stone.

25:06

He just didn't know what he was walking into. This was

25:09

11 years later? It was

25:12

yeah in 1917. Well I guess it was 10 years later. 1917 to 1919 is when Father

25:20

Edward was at Holy Rosary. So

25:23

the case of the missing sister basically just

25:26

sits dormant for a decade. Father

25:28

Edward arrives bright-eyed and

25:30

with grand ambitions and

25:33

he is immediately told by the

25:36

outgoing father something

25:38

that had to have made

25:40

his jaw just drop.

25:43

Yeah well he goes to a gathering

25:46

of the diocese

25:48

and says oh well and sitting

25:51

you know for having these fireside champs

25:53

with other priests and he's kind of bragging.

25:55

He's saying oh well I'm in this

25:57

little town this little nowhere town

25:59

in The Door. But boy, when I get

26:01

finished with it is Sylvia forced to be reckoned

26:03

with because I'm building. A new church? well

26:06

the other free to are there no.

26:08

One has gone on a know that

26:11

Adnan has gone missing. They have some

26:13

theories about where she is and they

26:15

say to Father edward what are you

26:17

going to do with the nine who

26:19

is a basement and he's of course

26:21

and gas because he doesn't have any

26:24

idea. What they're talking about. Please.

26:26

Just decides to ignore it recently.

26:28

you think fully to sit, can't.

26:31

Possibly be true and I refuse to

26:33

let anything get in the way of

26:35

my ambitions. You don't have the money

26:37

to build a new church. I have

26:39

a plan and I have some of

26:41

the town people to for and and

26:43

that's what I'm gonna do. So.

26:46

By this time Stella his last

26:49

So Father Edward of course needs

26:51

a new housekeeper. He.

26:53

Does. He hires the daughter of

26:55

a local family and her name

26:57

is Mary and she's on. She's

26:59

quite young and he is also

27:01

quite beyond. I do, however, have

27:03

a photograph of him. In

27:05

The Boss And he's he

27:08

now. He's actually quite handsome

27:10

as well. And so he

27:12

and his housekeeper. She's a

27:14

teenager and they a love

27:16

affair. For. Name is

27:18

Martha. Correct. Martha. Yeah, to

27:20

her name is Martha. So he and

27:22

Martha begin a love affair and. She

27:25

tells her she. Said of and

27:27

birdies himself to her about what he

27:30

heard when he spoke with the other.

27:32

Pre. That there is a

27:34

theory within the Catholic Church. That.

27:37

To see Nina was murdered. In

27:40

is a door that he never

27:42

did leave. She never does leave

27:44

her. Her vile behind that

27:46

she was murdered in the Catholic Church

27:48

and as she was even buried in

27:51

the dirt floor of the basement. And

27:53

so he unburdened himself in Martha. And.

27:56

this is the first time that

27:58

someone who is now within the

28:00

Catholic Church either a nun or

28:03

a priest

28:06

has heard the story. Anytime

28:08

before that that story has circulated it's

28:10

been within the Catholic Church. This is

28:12

the first time just a

28:14

regular parishioner hears the story. She immediately

28:17

goes to her father and tells him

28:19

and he tells the law.

28:21

So it's interesting dynamic

28:23

that although this story was known

28:25

for a dozen years it took

28:28

somebody outside the church to break the news

28:30

and make it public. We

28:33

will be right back and

28:37

we have returned. I

28:39

have to back up for just a

28:41

moment here and ask you to talk

28:43

a little bit about the reason for

28:46

the discussion between Father Edward

28:48

and Martha in the first place.

28:50

They happen to be very very close and

28:54

he unburdens himself on Martha

28:56

after he's picked her

28:58

up from a stay at the hospital. He'd

29:01

taken her there earlier to get something

29:03

done and her personality changes

29:05

doesn't it after it's happened?

29:08

Yes it does. Well he and Martha

29:10

have a love affair and she gets

29:12

pregnant and she tells

29:14

him that she's pregnant and of course he's

29:16

horrified which it's always so surprising to me

29:19

you know what I think was going to

29:21

happen but he

29:23

decides that she that Martha's gonna have to

29:25

go away and have the baby and give

29:27

the baby up for adoption. That's the

29:29

only that's the only

29:31

solution and you know Martha, much place

29:33

sister, you need her before her didn't

29:35

have a lot of choices in her

29:38

life. Everybody else made the decisions for

29:40

her, her parents, Father Edward

29:42

although up until this point she had

29:44

she would not name the father. So

29:46

Father Edward was still pretty much free

29:49

and clear even though he counseled her

29:51

family on what to do she never

29:53

revealed to them that it was Father

29:55

Edward who was the father of her

29:57

baby and yet she is sent off.

30:00

She has a baby, it's given

30:03

up her adoption, and she's devastated

30:05

by that. It

30:07

has a hard time getting over it, and that's

30:09

when the story comes out. It's

30:12

just so astounding to me that Father

30:14

Edward is the one who counsels this

30:16

poor family on what to do under

30:19

this guise

30:21

of impartiality when he

30:24

bears half of the responsibility for what

30:26

happened. Well, you know,

30:28

your priest was a natural counselor

30:30

at that time. That was

30:32

who you went to for marriage

30:34

advice, that's who you went to when your

30:36

children were acting up and you needed help,

30:38

that's who you went to when you had

30:40

any kind of relationship problem,

30:42

was your priest. And

30:45

unbeknownst to them, you know,

30:47

Father Edward had been the one who caused the

30:49

problems in the first place. You know,

30:51

wouldn't you have liked to have been in that

30:53

room knowing what we know today and

30:56

heard that conversation? And

30:58

just as far as research goes, I

31:02

did fill out a formal application

31:04

to be allowed into

31:06

the research library at the

31:08

diocese in Gaylord, Michigan, which

31:10

holds, you know, who

31:12

knows what kind of paperwork and research

31:15

files they have. And

31:17

when it said your purpose, I was very honest, and

31:19

I said I'm writing a true crime book

31:22

about the Isadora nun and my

31:24

request was denied. So

31:26

none of the information that I

31:28

was able to dig up in

31:30

many different libraries came from the

31:32

Catholic Church itself. Boy, but I

31:35

sure would have loved to have been let into

31:37

that room to see what they have. And

31:39

that's obviously not a big surprise. I mean,

31:41

you're talking about priests having

31:44

affairs and a murdered

31:46

nun, which is not something that

31:48

the Catholic Church is looking to proclaim

31:50

to the world. Right. Yeah.

31:53

And yet, you know, the story

31:55

has some pretty amazing,

31:58

pretty amazing stories in it that that

32:00

I think show the

32:02

Catholic Church in a good light, especially

32:05

the one about the stained

32:07

glass windows around before

32:09

World War II, all

32:12

of these Polish farmers who had very little

32:14

money pooled what little

32:16

they had and they hired the

32:18

Vatican classmaker to make new windows

32:20

for the new church at Isidore

32:22

once it did get built, and

32:24

it did. And then

32:26

World War II broke out and so

32:29

they had those windows made, they were

32:31

in Europe and they buried them until

32:33

after World War II and then they

32:35

dug them up and sent

32:37

them across the ocean and they made

32:39

their way to Isidore and they're in

32:42

the church today and they're gorgeous. And

32:44

so that kind of sacrifice I think was

32:46

just amazing, that kind of dedication

32:49

of the parishioners was just amazing to me.

32:52

So I don't wanna give your listeners

32:54

the idea that I was out to

32:56

get the Catholic Church. I was just

32:58

out to tell a really interesting story.

33:01

Of course, you're simply presenting the facts

33:03

of the story. Right,

33:06

exactly. So to kind

33:08

of straighten out the timeline on this, there

33:11

are a lot of pivotal events in this story

33:13

happening pretty close together. So

33:15

before Martha's confession to her parents,

33:18

Father Edward again is in

33:20

his final preparations to

33:23

start the process of building the new church and

33:26

he plans on building it right where the

33:28

old church sits. But first

33:30

he knows he finally has

33:32

to deal with the rumors

33:34

of Sister Yannina buried in

33:36

the basement. And he

33:38

decides, well, I can't just ignore

33:41

it forever. I probably should

33:43

find out if the rumor is true. So

33:46

he gets Jacob

33:49

Flees who is his, I

33:52

don't wanna call him a chore boy, but he

33:54

is his handyman. He's a local guy,

33:56

his whole family is members of the church

33:58

and he works as the second. And

34:00

so he gets Jacob's sleeves to

34:03

accompany him at night, late in

34:05

the evening time, down

34:10

into that dirt-flored basement to dig.

34:14

So if there are bones there, if Sister

34:16

Unina is there, let's find her is kind

34:19

of his thinking. So the two

34:21

of them go down there with a lantern

34:23

and even though it's probably seven or eight

34:25

o'clock, it's still so dark that they have

34:27

a hard time seeing and they start digging.

34:30

And actually that's the opening to the

34:32

book. And I got

34:34

claustrophobic just reading about this little trip

34:36

to the basement. It's certainly not a

34:39

pleasant place. The ceiling is low.

34:42

They can barely stand. It's dark. The

34:44

floor is dirt. And

34:46

poor Jacob Flees is handed

34:48

a shovel basically and... Potato

34:51

fork. So it's kind of a

34:54

shorter fatter version of a

34:56

pitchfork. So in one hand he's

34:58

got the potato fork and he's just jabbing it

35:00

into the dirt down there to see if it

35:03

sticks on anything. And then in the other hand

35:05

he's got a shovel and then hanging nearby it's

35:07

a lantern. And yeah, it's only

35:10

four feet tall so they have to stoop over. It

35:13

probably doesn't smell very good. I

35:15

would imagine it's really spooky with

35:17

spiders and snakes and maybe some

35:19

mice down there. And

35:22

so he's digging around and digging around and all

35:24

of a sudden to... I

35:27

probably, Father Edward Schock, the

35:29

potato fork hit something and they start

35:31

to dig. And what

35:34

they find are the bones of Sister

35:36

Yannino and she's been there the whole

35:38

time. And they quickly

35:40

realize that she's been positioned

35:42

in a really uncomfortable way,

35:44

right? Yeah, she's positioned

35:46

as if she's kind of sat or kneeled down

35:49

and then the rest of her body

35:51

slumped forward over her legs. So

35:54

later it was decided that she was probably

35:56

struck on the head from behind, possibly

35:58

with a shovel. And

36:01

the way that they know it's her

36:03

is that Sister Yannina had reddish-brown hair, and

36:06

there is some hair still, and it's reddish-brown. She

36:10

also wore the traditional nun's habit,

36:12

and there's parts of cloth that

36:14

came from someone's nun's habit. But

36:17

the way that they're positive that it's

36:19

her is the ring that she put

36:21

on her finger when she took her

36:23

vows, much like, you

36:25

know, people get married when

36:27

Felicia Nunn's become take

36:30

their vows, they put a ring on their finger

36:32

as if they're being married to God or married

36:34

to the Church. And the

36:36

ring is there, and it has the engraving

36:38

that all the other women who graduated with

36:40

her had. And there had only been one

36:43

ring missing, and it had been hers. And

36:45

the ring is there in the grave. And

36:48

there is some speculation that she might

36:50

have still been alive when put into

36:53

this pit, right? Right.

36:57

So it looked like there had been some

36:59

motion that she had been moving around, and

37:01

there was also, you know, there was evidence

37:04

that there had been blood, and it didn't

37:06

look like it was in one

37:08

great big, you know, that it had gushed

37:10

out in one great big moment

37:12

that perhaps the blood had been trickling for

37:14

quite some time, you know, as long as

37:16

a couple hours. So yeah,

37:19

the idea was that she was probably

37:21

buried alive. Whether she was conscious or

37:23

not, you know, I think it's impossible

37:25

to say. But although

37:27

this is earth-shattering, and certainly

37:30

Father Edward and Jacob, please,

37:32

are devastated by what they

37:34

find, Sister Yannina still has another

37:36

secret, and that really is the secret

37:38

of the trial. And

37:41

that's not determined until a little later

37:43

on when the coroner examines the remains.

37:46

But again, to go back to

37:49

just after the bones are discovered. Father

37:52

Edward notifies a few members of

37:54

the Michigan Diocese eventually, but

37:57

he and Jacob flees almost

37:59

immediately. Conspire to cover

38:01

this up, don't they? They do

38:03

they put her bones in a or he just

38:06

he tells Jacob dig up her bones and put

38:08

them in a box and then Meet me, you

38:10

know at a porch on a porch at I

38:13

think it was the Rizinski's house They're local parishioners

38:15

house meet me put the bones in a box

38:18

Meet me on the porch at

38:20

a local parishioners house and we'll

38:22

decide what to do so there's a gathering

38:24

of a handful of trusted men

38:26

of Isidore and they

38:28

probably all examine the bones in the box

38:30

and that box is

38:32

put on a sled and The

38:35

sled is dragged over somewhat frozen

38:37

ground because it's it's

38:39

October and in October in northern Michigan

38:42

it's entirely possible that there's already been

38:44

a couple of heart freezes and They

38:47

dragged those bones to the cemetery and

38:49

bury her in an unmarked grave Now

38:53

the legend says that a giant

38:55

silver cross is placed where her

38:57

grave is You

38:59

know your guess on that is as good

39:01

as mine because people have that giant silver

39:03

cross is there in the cemetery

39:05

today And people have looked

39:07

underneath it with infrared and there's nothing

39:10

there But the last that

39:12

I knew of sister you need his bones at

39:14

that time they do surface again later They

39:17

were put in a box the boxes put on a

39:19

sled the box didn't even have a cover and

39:22

Dragged to the cemetery in the dark and

39:25

buried and and no one was ever told

39:27

and there was no headstone So

39:30

they've got this cover-up established and again

39:32

had father Edward not spilled the beans

39:34

to Martha They most likely would have

39:36

gotten away with this and

39:38

it would have been all over but Everything

39:41

quickly unravels for father Edward. Yes

39:44

So the police of course are

39:46

notified and start an investigation and

39:49

their number one suspect becomes Stella

39:52

Why do they set their sights on

39:55

father Andrews housekeeper? Well,

39:57

she's the only one with no alibi. You know,

39:59

they talk to people and father, father Andrew

40:01

and the tour boy were in a boat

40:04

in the middle of the lake and there

40:06

were witnesses. So it couldn't

40:09

have been him, you know, although how easy

40:11

to believe the priest, I think whenever anybody

40:13

starts reading this book, they assume that he's

40:15

guilty. And still to this day when I

40:17

talk to people who haven't read the book, they'll come

40:19

up to me and say, oh, the priest did it

40:21

right. Well not in this circumstance.

40:23

He had a great alibi. And even though he

40:25

may have been, had the personality to do something

40:27

like this, he was

40:30

so, so it wasn't him, wasn't the

40:32

tour boy. It wasn't the two sisters,

40:34

her fellow sisters who had been asleep

40:36

and could provide an alibi for each

40:38

other and were so

40:40

afraid of what had happened to

40:42

Sister Yannina that they left, they

40:44

left the church. So, so

40:47

their, you know, their innocence was

40:49

pretty well established. Mary

40:51

the daughter of Stella had been sewing

40:54

and, you know, was young and really

40:56

didn't have a beef with Sister Yannina.

40:58

They actually got along quite well and

41:00

Sister Yannina was her piano teacher. And

41:04

so when they started looking at the

41:06

things that Stella had said about

41:08

Sister Yannina, it provided a

41:10

perfect motive for her. And

41:13

although by now she was in Manistee,

41:15

an hour to the south and working

41:17

at another church, the police

41:19

showed up and, and

41:22

they interviewed her and eventually left with

41:24

her and arrested and put her in

41:26

jail. And the

41:28

motive was jealousy, right? The

41:30

motive was jealousy. I

41:32

also think it was partly, you know,

41:35

you hear about fundamentalist in

41:38

terms of people's religion. Well, they were fundamentalist

41:40

Catholics too. And I think Stella was one

41:42

of those, you know, she was pretty incensed

41:45

that right here, she had devoted her

41:47

whole rest of her life to the

41:49

church. And yet right under her

41:51

nose, a nun and a priest

41:54

were having a love affair. And

41:56

I think part of her was probably in love

41:58

with Father Andrew. And to

42:00

see him kind of solely his name

42:02

this way with a nun, she just

42:04

couldn't take it. So

42:07

the police in the coroner examined Sister

42:09

Iñínina's body and discovered the remains of

42:11

a fetus, don't they? They

42:14

do. They do. And

42:16

interesting for me in researching

42:18

this book, when I interviewed people in Isidore,

42:20

the very few who actually would let me

42:22

interview them, most of them just shut their

42:24

door. A hundred years later and nobody wants

42:27

to talk about this. But I

42:29

did find a few people who grew up

42:31

in Isidore and had moved away. They still

42:33

lived in northern Michigan, but they didn't live

42:35

in that little tiny community. And so they

42:37

were willing to talk to me and even

42:39

go on the record. And

42:42

they said that

42:46

even after all this time, nobody

42:48

wants to talk about it, but the

42:50

rumor is that Sister Iñínina was pregnant.

42:53

So I knew that going into the story,

42:55

but how do you

42:57

substantiate whether or not someone was

42:59

pregnant a century later? I

43:02

just talked that up to an impossibility.

43:05

And yet it was always in the back of my mind when I

43:07

was doing my research. And then

43:09

I ended up in the archive

43:12

at the University of Notre

43:14

Dame in their research library. And

43:17

I came upon this amazing collection about

43:19

the Catholic Church in Michigan. And

43:23

found Father Andrew's, I don't

43:26

really want to call it a diary or a

43:28

journal because it wasn't that, but it was a

43:30

series of sermon coupons that

43:33

the Catholic Church would send to their

43:35

priests to give them ideas on what

43:37

to preach on any particular Sunday. And

43:40

I came upon a stack of these that

43:42

had belonged to Father Andrew and he would

43:44

write notes on them. Sometimes sermon

43:47

notes, sometimes just grocery

43:49

lists. And on

43:51

one of them he wrote, and it's

43:53

in his handwriting, ìFetus

43:56

bones found with none never

43:58

brought out at trial.î My

44:00

goodness. And that was just a

44:02

stunning moment for me as a writer. You certainly

44:04

don't think you're ever gonna be able to find

44:06

the evidence of something

44:08

like that. Absolutely, yeah. That's

44:11

just incredible. So,

44:14

Stella is arrested. She

44:16

gets a couple of pretty competent attorneys,

44:18

wouldn't you say? I

44:20

would, yeah, I would. And they were

44:23

pretty devoted both to her and to

44:25

her cause. They worked

44:27

diligently to free her. I

44:30

think that they probably, if they didn't

44:33

believe in her innocence, they felt like

44:35

A, maybe she was justified, or B,

44:37

maybe we can get her off on

44:39

a psychological issue. So

44:42

I have to ask about this because it's just

44:44

so hard to believe. The

44:46

difficulties that her defense attorneys had

44:49

in representing Stella

44:51

were just astonishing. Well,

44:54

they, initially, they wouldn't even let them

44:56

see her. You know, here's their client.

44:58

She's been arrested for murder. She's about

45:00

ready to go on trial. And

45:03

they can't even get in to see her and talk

45:05

with her. Which

45:07

is just, you know, that alone is

45:09

criminal. My own

45:11

feeling is that, you know, I

45:15

have pretty, I'm

45:17

pretty sure that Stella was guilty, but I'm 100%

45:19

sure that she did not get a fair trial.

45:24

She just, you know, she didn't speak English very

45:26

well. She didn't have any

45:28

of her family members there. These

45:30

attorneys didn't speak Polish. So they

45:33

couldn't communicate well with her. And they weren't even

45:35

allowed to see her. And so they tried to

45:38

speak with her through the window at the jail.

45:40

And that, you know, that I can't, what would

45:42

they have been like to try to interview your

45:44

client through a window in a jail? And

45:47

even then, when they managed to prop

45:50

themselves up on this little window and

45:52

they get a view of her inner

45:54

cell, she's acting stark,

45:56

rating mad, isn't she? Yeah. She's acting

45:58

completely. completely crazy, she's

46:00

not eating. And certainly

46:03

the sheriff and the

46:06

law tries to take advantage of that.

46:08

She hasn't confessed and they want a

46:11

confession because that certainly make their job

46:13

easier at trial. And

46:15

yet she hasn't confessed, so they put a plant

46:17

in her cell and they put another woman that

46:20

they say has been arrested for stealing. And

46:22

they put her in the cell to try

46:24

to get Stella to confess

46:26

to this other, this

46:29

female police officer, who by the way,

46:31

they brought over from Milwaukee. They

46:33

had to go all the way to Wisconsin to

46:35

find a woman who was a police officer back

46:37

then in 1920. But

46:40

they do and they put her in the cell and

46:42

she says that Stella confesses to

46:45

her. But they're not happy with

46:47

that and they decide, well, the way to

46:49

get a confession is to scare the bejesus

46:51

out of her. And

46:53

so they, one night while Stella's

46:55

in jail, they lead her into

46:57

a dark room where

47:00

they have bones laid

47:02

out on a table, rigged up

47:04

to wires with candlelight.

47:07

And they move the wires and

47:09

make it look as if this

47:11

skeleton is speaking to Stella and

47:13

saying, why did you kill me?

47:15

Why did you kill me? But

47:17

can you imagine? That's just

47:19

so, you know, definitely is

47:21

a truth stranger and

47:24

fiction scenario. And they do

47:26

other things as well that we'll let

47:28

listeners just read about, some equally weird

47:30

things with masks and chants. It's

47:32

just bizarre. So it

47:35

seems that things are pretty stacked

47:37

against Stella from the beginning. Let's

47:40

go to the trial for a bit. Can

47:42

you give us an idea about what the tone

47:44

of the trial was like? What

47:46

were some of the more memorable moments?

47:50

Well, I think for me, you know, imagine

47:52

a world where it's no internet, no television,

47:54

not even any movies. A lot of people

47:56

don't even have books to read. And

47:59

so this... to them had to have

48:01

been just like the trial of

48:03

the century. And they think of it as, the

48:05

townspeople think of it as their entertainment. They show

48:08

up, they take the day off of work. They

48:10

load the entire family into the carriage.

48:13

They bring picnics and they picnic out

48:15

on the lawn before the trial. And

48:18

the room where the trial is held

48:20

is packed. And those who can't get

48:22

in sit out on the lawn and

48:25

listen through the window. So, you know,

48:27

it's just this incredible scene.

48:30

And then there's little Stella

48:32

who has gone crazy and

48:35

doesn't speak very good English and doesn't

48:37

have a translator. And

48:39

then in the gallery where they

48:42

allow spectators are a

48:44

dozen of Sister Yannina's

48:46

fellow foolish and nuns. All

48:49

sitting there in their full nun

48:51

habit, their hands in their

48:53

laps and watching the trial unfold.

48:57

A pretty pivotal moment is when the judge in

49:00

the middle of the proceedings grants the nuns

49:03

their request to come down and

49:05

pray over the remains of Sister

49:07

Yannina. Yes, he

49:09

does. And it's right at the moment when

49:11

her bones are slowly brought to the front

49:13

of the trial or front of the courtroom.

49:16

A table is set up and

49:18

then her bones are laid

49:21

out on that table as

49:24

closely as they can to approximate

49:26

a full skeleton. And

49:29

one of the

49:31

foolish and nuns stands up right in

49:33

the middle of the trial and says,

49:35

excuse me, judge, may we have

49:37

a moment with our sister? And

49:39

he says certainly. And stops

49:42

the trial, stops testimony. And these dozen

49:44

nuns walk hand in hand from the

49:46

back of the gallery up to the

49:49

front of the courtroom. They

49:51

stand in a circle around the table and they

49:53

pray. So if

49:55

anybody was questioning A,

49:57

whether or not that was Sister Yannina or B, whether

50:00

or not she was murdered, that

50:02

pretty much is eliminated when you

50:04

have a dozen nuns standing around

50:06

the deceased holding hands and praying. And

50:10

even at this point in the trial, the

50:12

defense has not been allowed to

50:14

examine the remains, have they? No,

50:18

the defense is not allowed to examine the bones

50:20

until they see them at the same time everybody

50:22

else does except for the prosecution.

50:24

And they've asked

50:26

and asked for Stella to have

50:29

an interpreter and that isn't,

50:31

you know, the judge doesn't really give

50:33

that any credence until partway through the

50:35

trial he decides, okay,

50:37

well maybe I should address this. And he points

50:40

to a farmer sitting in the front row of

50:43

the spectators and says, you speak

50:45

Polish? And the guy says yes. And he

50:47

says, okay, then you're the translator. So,

50:51

you know, it's important. She certainly did

50:53

not get a fair trial. I mean,

50:55

she was doomed from

50:57

the first time he hit his gavel.

51:01

So Stella is called to the stand by

51:04

the defense. How does she conduct herself? You

51:07

know, she, considering the

51:09

circumstances, she holds it together

51:11

pretty well. She doesn't cry.

51:16

She doesn't look shaken. She just says that

51:18

she's innocent and that she didn't do it.

51:21

She does admit that she had some

51:24

harsh words for the sister and

51:26

that was very irritating to her that

51:29

when she had to do all this

51:31

work, the sister was kind of gallivanting

51:33

and was lazy, but she

51:36

maintains her innocence. So

51:38

Stella is convicted and sentenced to

51:40

hard labor for the remainder of her life.

51:44

You'd think that Father Andrew at this point

51:46

would have turned his back against the woman

51:48

who killed his lover, but he

51:50

doesn't. No, no, he does

51:53

not. As a matter of fact, he's convinced

51:55

of her innocence. I mean, he has to

51:57

accept now that Sister Yoon-Yoon is dead. and

52:00

somebody killed her, but he refuses

52:02

to, I don't

52:04

know if maybe it's his own sense of

52:06

guilt, because really he's the one that put

52:08

Sister Yannina in harm's way. I mean, he

52:10

didn't strike a blow. I actually think he

52:13

was in love with her, but his

52:15

bad choices and his charm certainly

52:18

put Sister Yannina in harm's way. And maybe it

52:21

was guilt for that. You

52:23

know, either that or he believed that

52:25

Stella was innocent, but he really

52:28

works to free her. I mean, he

52:30

writes letters to attorneys, he writes letters

52:32

to newspapers, he works behind the scenes

52:34

until finally he writes a letter to

52:36

the governor and says, you

52:39

know, she's been wrongly imprisoned and she

52:41

needs to be let out. And

52:43

if there's anything you can do, please,

52:45

you know, please help her. And

52:48

he's in luck because the governor is

52:50

about to leave office and he's not

52:52

gonna run for election again. So

52:55

he doesn't have to worry about what

52:57

his decision, you know, if his decisions

52:59

are not sanctioned by

53:01

the electorate. And so

53:03

he doesn't pardon her,

53:06

but he does parole her and he

53:08

lets her out of prison. So Stella

53:10

walks free when Governor Grossberg leaves office.

53:14

And how does she live the rest of her life? She

53:17

lives the rest of her life by

53:19

being hired by another

53:22

Felician, a mother

53:24

house, this one in Milwaukee and she goes

53:26

across the lake. And for

53:29

the rest of her life, she is their housekeeper. A

53:32

lot of this story revolves around the

53:35

breaking of Catholic vows. Both

53:37

Father Edward and Father Andrew break

53:39

their vows, but the

53:42

sacred secrets of a confessional were broken

53:44

as well. And we

53:46

really haven't talked about that, but

53:48

this is what really points authorities

53:50

to Stella, isn't it? It

53:53

is, it's the only time on record

53:55

that the Catholic confessional has ever been

53:58

broken. You know, it probably has. been

54:00

broken thousands of times, but this one is

54:02

on record. And that's my

54:04

own theory as to why the

54:06

diocese didn't want to let me into

54:09

their research library, because certainly

54:12

that doesn't reflect well on the

54:14

priests of that time. But

54:16

yeah, they, Stella

54:19

had gone to Milwaukee, and by the

54:21

way, there was also a very large

54:24

Polish Catholic community in Milwaukee, which

54:26

is just across the lake from

54:28

Traverse City and Isidore. So

54:31

Stella took a boat, went across the

54:33

lake, and that is where she confessed.

54:35

She confessed to a priest there instead

54:38

of confessing to the priest in Isidore,

54:40

because she was afraid that it

54:42

would get out. She didn't want her own people

54:44

to know what she'd done. But

54:47

at the same time, she couldn't live with herself knowing

54:50

with that on her conscience. So she took

54:53

a boat across Lake Michigan, which today takes

54:55

six hours. So imagine how long it, you

54:57

know, how long it took then. And

55:00

she confesses and then

55:02

returns to northern Michigan, but the

55:04

confessional is broken. And the

55:07

person who she confesses to tells one

55:10

of the women who is

55:12

another Felician nun, and from there, it

55:14

just starts to shred. And

55:17

so that's why when Father Edward

55:20

went to that gathering of priests and was

55:22

bragging about building a new church, that is

55:24

why so many of them were able to

55:26

say to him, but what are you going

55:28

to do about the bones buried in the

55:30

basement of the church? Where

55:33

can people learn more about your books? Oh,

55:35

sure. Yeah, I do have a

55:38

website. It's just my name.com, martylake.com.

55:40

And I have a calendar event on there

55:43

as well. I also have a YouTube

55:45

channel, so you can search for me on YouTube, and

55:47

I'm on Facebook and Twitter. This

55:49

has been great fun. What an incredible

55:51

story you've uncovered, and your book is

55:54

well worth a read. Thank you so

55:56

much for sharing this. Oh,

55:58

thank you. I really appreciate it. And I

56:00

did want to just let

56:02

you know that just as of last week,

56:05

Isidore's Secret is now available on audio. So

56:07

if you don't have time to read, you

56:10

can listen to it on audio and you

56:12

can download it on audible.com or iTunes or

56:14

Amazon. So

56:17

that's it for this week's episode of Most

56:19

Notorious, broadcasting to every dark and cobwebbed corner

56:22

of the world. I'm Eric

56:24

Riveness, and again, if you'd like

56:26

to support this podcast with a small monthly

56:28

donation, go to www.patreon.com/most

56:31

notorious for

56:34

the details.

56:38

That's all for this week, and please

56:40

have a safe tomorrow. Thanks

56:53

for watching.