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1:03

This is Strange and Unusual

1:05

Headlines with Alison Horrocks, and

1:08

welcome to this week's headline.

1:11

Kill your daddy, said the Ouija board. So

1:13

I did.

1:48

The San Francisco Examiner,

1:50

March 4th, 1934. Headline

1:56

Kill your daddy, said the Ouija board. So

1:58

I did. Sub-Headline

2:03

With tears in her eyes, 15-year-old

2:05

Maddie Turley obeyed the spirit's

2:08

command and fired both

2:10

barrels of a shotgun into her

2:12

father's back.

2:13

Quote, So dear mother

2:15

could have her freedom. End quote.

2:19

But Mrs. Turley says accident.

2:22

Article The

2:26

Ouija board told me to shoot daddy so that

2:28

mother could have her freedom. It

2:31

was terrible, I shook all over.

2:35

So I shot him.

2:37

This according to police officials was

2:39

the beginning of a confession by

2:41

Maddie Turley, one of the prettiest

2:44

15-year-old girls in the state of Arizona

2:46

and daughter of the once famous beauty,

2:49

Mrs. Dorothea Irene Turley.

2:52

Formerly Irene Kellenac, operatic

2:55

singer and winner against 50,000 competitors

2:58

for the title,

3:00

The American Venus. Stealing

3:04

silently behind her father,

3:06

Maddie brought the shotgun to her shoulder,

3:09

placed a plucked eyebrow at the

3:11

breach to sight carefully and then

3:14

with one of those painted fingernails which

3:16

her father disliked, pulled

3:18

both triggers and let him have it

3:20

right in the back so the police assert,

3:22

she told them.

3:24

The killing

3:24

was almost a perfect crime

3:27

because Mr. E.J. Turley,

3:30

who for some years had been a gunner's

3:32

mate in the US Navy, was a

3:35

long time dying.

3:37

He told Sheriff and Mohaz that

3:40

when he was able to turn his head and

3:42

see who had shot him, there

3:44

was his little daughter getting up

3:46

from her knees and with tears

3:48

in her eyes, she asked if he was hurt.

3:51

She explained that she had stumbled causing

3:54

a gun to go off accidentally. What

3:57

father could possibly have doubted his dear

3:59

young daughter?

3:59

daughter under such circumstances.

4:03

The sheriff had no doubts either until

4:06

the hospital surgeons pointed out the

4:08

course of the 250 shot

4:11

which had torn into his back just below

4:13

the right kidney.

4:15

If the gun had gone off after she fell

4:17

down, according to Maddie's story, these

4:20

pellets should have taken an upward course

4:23

through the man's body. Instead,

4:25

their path had been downward, indicating

4:29

that the gun must have been fired from the height

4:31

of Maddie's shoulder. Had the

4:33

girl been as intelligent as she is

4:35

good looking, she might have thought to

4:38

kneel first and fire from the ground.

4:40

In that case, it seems almost

4:43

certain that no shadow of suspicion

4:45

would ever have fallen on her.

4:51

As it was, Sheriff Haas

4:53

came back and had Maddie tell it over

4:55

again.

4:57

She did so glibly enough and stuck

4:59

to it for a long time.

5:02

But other things were discovered and, confronted

5:05

with these, the

5:06

girl finally made the following statement,

5:08

which she repeated before justice of the peace,

5:11

Frank Whitting.

5:15

Mother asked the Ouija board to decide

5:17

between father and her cowboy friend.

5:20

Maddie is quoted by the police as saying,

5:24

We sat at the board together, the

5:26

lights were dim, and there were

5:29

shadows everywhere. As

5:31

usual, the board moved around at

5:33

first without meanings. Suddenly

5:37

it spelled out that I was to kill father.

5:41

It was terrible. I shook all over.

5:45

Mother asked the Ouija if the shooting would

5:47

be successful and said that it would.

5:50

She asked if he would die outright and

5:53

it said no. She

5:55

asked what should be used in doing the shooting

5:58

and it said with my shotgun. We

6:02

asked if we would have the ranch and

6:04

it said yes. We

6:06

asked about the law and it

6:08

said not to fear the law that everything

6:10

would turn out right.

6:12

We asked about the insurance

6:15

and how much it would be. It said $5,000.

6:19

She asked who would manage the ranch. It

6:22

said Kent. Kent Pierce,

6:25

a cowboy. We

6:27

asked if Mother would marry him and it said

6:29

yes.

6:31

Mother told me that Luigi couldn't be denied.

6:35

She said that I wouldn't even be arrested for

6:37

doing it. I

6:39

tried to kill him the next day but I couldn't.

6:43

I lost my nerve. A

6:46

few days later though I followed Father

6:48

to the corral. It was toward

6:51

evening.

6:53

He had just finished with a milking

6:55

and had a bucket in each hand.

6:59

I raised the gun and took careful aim

7:01

squarely between his shoulders.

7:03

And then I lost my nerve again. But

7:07

I thought of dear Mother and of what all

7:09

this would mean to her. I couldn't

7:12

fail. My

7:14

hand was trembling awfully though.

7:17

I raised the gun and fired.

7:23

That was on November 18, 1933. The

7:28

daughter ran for help and the father

7:31

was taken first to a hospital in a

7:33

lumber camp not far away. Some 250

7:37

shot had entered his right side, below

7:40

his kidney and had ranged downward.

7:42

Although

7:44

he was in extreme pain his physicians

7:47

thought he would recover.

7:50

It was not until December 21 that

7:53

his condition was considered so

7:55

serious that the US Navy

7:57

ordered a hospital plane to move him.

7:59

to the Naval Base Hospital in San

8:02

Diego.

8:04

He died there December 26.

8:16

To people who are not superstitious and

8:18

try to govern their lives by the best

8:20

judgment and information they can

8:23

obtain, it is often hard to

8:25

believe that families can be controlled

8:28

and ruined by fortune tellers, mediums,

8:31

and such childish toys as

8:33

the Ouija board, but

8:34

every policeman knows it.

8:39

Question in the hospital, the dying man

8:41

said, that

8:42

infernal Ouija board has been a

8:44

thorn in my flesh for years. It

8:48

always told them to do whatever they wanted

8:50

to do against my best wishes.

8:52

Nevertheless, the clear-headed

8:55

ex-Navy man had once been influenced

8:58

to its bidding shortly after he

9:00

and his family moved to the Lonely Ranch.

9:02

On

9:04

a rock, they noticed some prehistoric

9:06

writing of symbols left by some

9:08

long-forgotten race and which

9:11

even archaeologists cannot interpret.

9:15

Ouija was asked and promptly replied

9:17

that it meant a treasure was buried under

9:20

the rock.

9:22

For several days, Mr. Turley dug

9:24

and blasted until even Ouija admitted

9:26

that there must be a mistake.

9:30

Behind the tragedy of the killing is

9:32

another. The tragedy

9:34

of a dazzling brunette used to

9:37

the bright lights of the big cities, the

9:39

flattering glow of the footlights, and

9:41

the admiration of thousands.

9:44

Yet, who thought she could give all

9:46

this up just for love and

9:49

be happy? Although

9:51

Mrs. Turley was born in Astoria,

9:54

Long Island, she spent most of her

9:56

childhood in Great Britain and on the

9:58

continent.

9:59

At one time she had high hopes

10:02

of a career in opera, and

10:04

she pursued her musical studies through

10:06

Trinity College at Dublin, the

10:08

German Conservatory of Music at Lipschig,

10:12

the Royal Academy of Music

10:14

in London,

10:15

and the Conservatory of Music in Paris.

10:19

She returned to the United States to begin

10:21

work on the concert stage. The

10:24

deep richness of her voice, her sweet

10:26

face, and her figure, one

10:29

for her renown in the Eastern States.

10:33

She was entered in a beauty contest

10:35

in 1917, conducted by a newspaper

10:38

chain, and was crowned the American

10:40

Venus de Milo.

10:43

Then

10:43

came love. Abandoning her

10:45

career and her public 18 years

10:47

ago, she married the handsome

10:50

navy man, who also deserted

10:52

his career and his love, the

10:55

sea.

11:02

In California, where they moved

11:04

after the birth of Maddie and her brother

11:06

David, now 14, life

11:09

was adorable because she

11:11

enjoyed much social activity,

11:14

and still basked in the admiration of

11:16

large throngs.

11:24

Last July, Mrs. Turley's asthma

11:26

caused the family to take the Crossbar

11:29

Ranch, south of St. John's,

11:31

Arizona. If

11:33

it seemed lonely, it would be but

11:35

natural. Gone were

11:37

all the flattering men in faultless evening

11:40

dress, and the only lights

11:42

were the twinkling stars. Bleak

11:45

mountains frowned down on her from all

11:47

sides. Daytime

11:51

she could bump for miles over rough trails

11:53

without seeing

11:54

anything more friendly than

11:56

scorpions, rattlers, and

11:58

gila monsters.

12:01

At night, the cougar scream was interrupted

12:04

by the snarl of the coyote.

12:08

In all this wilderness, there seems

12:10

to have been just one interesting man,

12:13

Kent Pierce, the

12:16

dashing cowboy with whom Mrs.

12:18

Turley is alleged to have fallen in love.

12:23

He stands six feet in height. His

12:25

legs bow out a little from many days

12:28

spent on horseback.

12:31

He has a smile that begins at the corner

12:33

of his lips and spreads with small

12:35

provocation to his ears.

12:39

Mrs. Turley denies that she was in

12:41

love with Kent so that assertion

12:44

by the authorities is based partly

12:46

on observation of rather distant neighbors

12:49

but mostly on the testimony of her own

12:51

daughter

12:52

who said that she and her mother usually did

12:54

not come home until between midnight

12:57

and 2am. On

12:59

two occasions, she said they had remained

13:01

out all night.

13:04

Mother was in love with Kent, said

13:06

the police alleged Maddie declared.

13:10

She wanted to get rid of Daddy so that she could

13:12

marry him.

13:14

It was because I loved Mother and

13:16

wanted her to have her freedom that

13:18

I shot Daddy. Every

13:22

time she had a chance, she went out with Kent.

13:25

I would go along with another cowboy. We

13:28

drive about the country, that is all.

13:30

One

13:33

night, we didn't get home until very late,

13:35

long past midnight.

13:40

Daddy and David were in bed. Mother

13:43

told Daddy that we had been out at a

13:45

sheep camp and coming back we

13:47

had got stuck in a mud hole and

13:49

had had a hard time getting out. Daddy

13:52

was angry and an argument started about

13:54

us staying out late at night.

14:00

heard how it happened that a young girl

14:02

could possibly kill her own father. But

14:05

the police assert Maddie's confession

14:08

throws considerable light on that too. They

14:12

say that besides protesting

14:14

at the girls staying out so late at night,

14:17

he had vainly objected to such other things

14:19

as rouge, plucking her eyebrows

14:22

and painting her nails. I

14:24

had trouble with daddy over painting my fingers

14:27

and using lipstick, Maddie said. They

14:29

allege. I've

14:31

used lipstick ever since I was nine years

14:34

old.

14:35

Father told me that he didn't want a daughter

14:37

of his to be painted up like that.

14:40

I thought it was alright since all the other

14:42

girls were doing it, and mother approved.

14:46

Of course, it was not wicked for a nine-year-old

14:48

child to start aping a flapper.

14:51

But Mr. Turley thought it might be a good plan

14:53

to get some ideas into the not-very-bright

14:56

mind of his daughter, besides

14:58

makeup.

15:00

Sad things have a way of happening to

15:02

the beautiful but dumb, and

15:04

may be the explanation of the so-called

15:06

fatal curse of beauty.

15:08

The attitude of the mother in always taking

15:11

her daughter's side against the father made him

15:13

seem to Maddie a tyrant, officers

15:16

assert.

15:18

Mrs. Turley declares her husband's

15:20

death was an accident,

15:22

the final result of his skunk having

15:24

chosen to spend the night of November

15:26

17th under the house.

15:30

The next morning, Mrs. Turley says that her

15:32

husband told Maddie to sit on the back

15:34

doorstep with her shotgun and

15:36

wait for the odiferous animal to

15:39

come out.

15:42

Then Mrs. Turley and David

15:45

went shopping to the nearest settlement.

15:49

We left Maddie munching an apple with

15:51

her shotgun across her knee, Mrs.

15:53

Turley told peace officers.

15:57

My husband went about his work as usual. Maddie,

16:01

for some reason, a few hours later, got

16:04

up and started toward her father, who was

16:07

near the corral.

16:09

She stumbled and fell. She

16:12

told all of us at the time,

16:13

and both barrels of the shotgun

16:15

were discharged.

16:19

As he fell, he saw Maddie and her

16:21

hands and knees rising.

16:25

Daddy, are you hurt? He told me

16:27

she asked him. She was crying.

16:31

Her father said, it's all right. It

16:33

wasn't your fault.

16:34

Go get someone to help me. Maddie

16:37

got help from a neighbor, and

16:39

then drove down the highway to meet

16:41

her mother and brother.

16:43

They went to the ranch at once,

16:46

where Mrs. Turley maintains she

16:49

dressed her husband's wounds before a doctor

16:51

arrived.

16:53

Mr. Turley was later taken to

16:55

the nearest town, McNary, which

16:57

lies 42 miles distant over

16:59

the White Mountains, made famous by

17:02

Apache Indian Raiders 50 years

17:04

ago.

17:13

The shooting was accidental, Mrs.

17:15

Turley told County Attorney Gibbons.

17:17

No one even

17:19

hinted at that time that it wasn't. Neither

17:23

Maddie nor Mr. Turley said one

17:25

word about it being intentional. It

17:29

wasn't until people began to gossip

17:31

that this wild tale was pieced together.

17:35

Then, the officers got hold of Maddie.

17:39

For five days, they cross-examined her.

17:43

From one to four men were present all the time.

17:47

They promised her immunity from prosecution

17:49

if she would tell the story they wanted her to relate.

17:54

They threatened her, and finally

17:56

they broke her willpower. The

18:00

widow's claim is that a sheriff,

18:03

a county attorney, and half a dozen

18:05

other men, all of excellent

18:07

reputation, conspired

18:09

to make a 15-year-old daughter falsely

18:12

admit that she had intentionally

18:14

killed her father and

18:16

to implicate her entirely innocent

18:18

mother.

18:21

Before he died, Mr.

18:24

Turley called Maddie an uncontrollable

18:26

girl who deserves a sentence in the reform

18:29

school.

18:30

She should go there, he agreed.

18:34

The time has passed for juvenile crime

18:36

to be countenanced in this country. Young

18:39

people know perfectly well that as soon as

18:41

they get into trouble, their parents

18:44

will come to their rescue, plead

18:46

for them, and get them off.

18:49

What greater incentive to crime could there

18:51

be? If

18:53

my girl did this intentionally, I hope she

18:55

has to suffer. Mrs.

18:59

Turley was ordered held in jail at

19:01

St. John's, Arizona, on a charge

19:04

of intent to murder, the

19:06

same charge that was preferred against her before

19:08

her husband's death.

19:12

She tried to get free on a writ of habeas

19:14

corpus, and the federal courts in

19:16

Arizona denied this, following

19:19

which she appealed to the United States Circuit

19:22

Court of Appeals. Until

19:24

this appeal was decided, it was said,

19:26

the charge against her would not be changed.

19:37

Bishop Gray Academy, the

19:40

most prestigious boarding school in the country,

19:43

and the most cutthroat. Bishop

19:45

Gray is like no other school on the planet.

19:59

I'm not supposed to be. here but I'm here

20:01

now and I'm not gonna settle for mediocrity.

20:03

These secret society people they

20:06

prey on scholarship kids. Eva

20:08

Richards, you are calm. So

20:10

you're the Bishop Grey Illuminati.

20:12

Do what you have to do to survive Eva.

20:15

That's what I would do. You're in the night of the

20:17

war? I want to take the next step. Get

20:20

away from me! You

20:22

have a bright future ahead of you. Don't

20:25

fall in with this crowd.

20:28

Binge all 10 episodes of Academy

20:30

early and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Join

20:33

Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on

20:35

Apple Podcasts.

20:49

It's hard to imagine losing a loved one. A

20:51

wife, a husband, a child. For

20:54

many it's their biggest fear. I'm

20:56

Marisa Jones, host of The Vanished,

20:58

a podcast that tells the stories of often

21:00

overlooked and unsolved missing persons cases.

21:03

Every week I dive into a new case, sharing

21:06

the details of their mysterious disappearance,

21:09

including interviews with family,

21:10

friends, law enforcement and even

21:12

suspects in an effort to reveal the truth.

21:15

And I'm proud to say that this podcast has

21:17

aided in a number of arrests. It's

21:20

important to me to remember the human behind

21:22

the headline and help family members find

21:24

their vanished loved one or at least

21:26

a sense of peace. Follow

21:28

the Vanished wherever you get your podcasts.

21:30

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music

21:33

or the Wondery app.

21:39

Reading this, I was first

21:41

hit with the creepiness of the discussion

21:44

of a 15 year old girl's

21:46

beauty and then

21:49

also of the author's weird insistence

21:51

that beautiful people are stupid.

21:54

But beyond that, we have a sad

21:56

story of a mother manipulating her child

21:58

to kill her own father.

22:04

Born in Liverpool, England

22:07

in 1895, Dorothea

22:09

Irene Kienach immigrated

22:11

to New York with her family as an infant.

22:16

At the age of 21, Dorothea

22:18

entered a competition called Miss

22:21

American Venus. This

22:23

competition had over 50,000 women

22:26

enter, and the winner was the

22:28

woman whose measurements were closest

22:31

to that of the statue of

22:33

Venus de Milo.

22:36

Dorothea happened to have been endowed with

22:38

the closest measurements and was crowned

22:40

the winner.

22:43

Dorothea was showered with attention after her win. She

22:46

received letters from all over

22:48

the world from men, pleading for

22:50

her hand. So what

22:53

went so wrong in Dorothea's life?

23:05

Looking at more articles about this

23:07

murder or accidental killing,

23:10

I found one that was printed

23:12

two months before the first one I

23:14

read.

23:17

Arizona

23:17

Republic, January 16, 1934

23:22

Headline

23:26

Ouija Girl sentence due today Subheadlines

23:33

Maddie Turley, 15, will

23:35

be taken to state home. Slaying

23:39

admitted Charges

23:42

against cowboy dropped Information

23:45

is held Article Maddie

23:50

Turley, beautiful 15-year-old

23:53

shotgun slayer of her father in Apache

23:56

County's strange Ouija board

23:58

case, will be sentenced

23:59

at 9.30 o'clock tomorrow

24:02

morning to the State School for Girls

24:04

at Randolph, Levi S. Udall,

24:07

Superior Judge announced tonight.

24:10

Judge

24:11

Udall said he would impose

24:13

no specific sentence, but

24:15

would order Maddie confined until

24:17

such time as her character

24:20

and conduct warrant her release.

24:24

Sheriff M. O'Haz said he will take

24:26

the girl to Randolph Wednesday morning.

24:30

Cowboy cleared. Thus,

24:33

the second of the leading figures in

24:36

a subconsciously impelled slang

24:38

will pass from the public spotlight

24:41

year, for charges which

24:43

had been pending for a week against

24:45

Kent Pierce were dismissed at

24:48

Eager

24:48

by Samuel J. Lumpkins, Justice

24:51

of the Peace.

24:54

Pierce was identified early in the case

24:56

by declarations of Maddie in court, as

25:00

the handsome cowboy with whom the girl's

25:02

mother, Torthia Irene Turley, former Venus contest winner,

25:04

had fallen in love. Turley,

25:11

too, before his death, said his wife had

25:14

fallen in love with the handsome, dashing cowboy. Maddie said

25:16

her mother wanted to marry.

25:22

Charges dropped.

25:25

Unexpectedly last week, J.

25:27

Smith Gibbons, County Attorney, filed

25:30

statutory charges against Pierce.

25:35

He did not amplify the bare recital

25:37

of allegations in the information,

25:40

and today made the request that the

25:42

charges be dropped.

25:45

He was quoted as having said at

25:47

Eager that new and

25:49

unexpected developments led to

25:51

the request. Sheriff Haus

25:54

tonight said, however, that we

25:56

have been unable to obtain sufficient

25:58

evidence to substantiate the case.

25:59

the charge made against Pierce. Girl

26:03

not needed. Immediately

26:07

following his court appearance, the

26:09

county attorney notified Judge Udall

26:12

that Maddie's presence here as a witness

26:15

will not be required for some time to come.

26:18

The only reason I did not send Maddie to

26:20

Randolph sooner, Judge Udall said,

26:23

was because the county attorney had said

26:25

he would need her in one or more cases

26:27

here. He

26:29

now says it will be some time before

26:31

her appearance here will be

26:33

required. So

26:35

I will carry out my original intention

26:38

and sentence her tomorrow morning. Maddie

26:41

will not appear publicly in court,

26:44

Judge Udall announced.

26:47

Although juvenile court appearances

26:49

are not of necessity secret,

26:52

he said, the procedure which

26:54

will be brief will be conducted

26:57

in chambers. In

26:59

her last appearance before Judge Udall,

27:02

Maddie not only admitted her guilt of

27:04

the charge made against her, but told

27:06

Judge Udall a vivid story of

27:08

the corral shooting at dusk and

27:10

of the esoteric Ouija board seances

27:13

with her mother which led up to it.

27:17

An even greater detail was

27:19

a story he told at the preliminary

27:21

hearing of her mother in Justice Court

27:24

here

27:24

on a charge of being an accessory to the

27:26

shooting. Mrs. Turley

27:29

at that time was held to answer to

27:31

Superior Court, but

27:33

there now is on file in the federal court

27:36

in Phoenix, a petition by her attorneys

27:39

for a writ of habeas corpus to

27:41

obtain her freedom. By

27:45

Wednesday, Mrs. Turley will be the last

27:47

of the quartet involved in the weird

27:49

case which had its inception

27:52

shortly after the three members of

27:55

the Turley family came here in

27:57

July to remain at the scene of

27:59

Apache County.

27:59

county's most spectacular crime.

28:03

Held in Jail

28:05

She is held in the county jail here on

28:08

the original accessory charge and

28:10

on the additional charge of intent to murder

28:13

filed subsequent to Turley's death in

28:15

a San Diego Naval Hospital where

28:18

he was taken by airplane. "'It

28:21

was Mrs. Turley,' Maddie told

28:23

Judge Udall, who suggested the

28:25

Ouija Board consultations to

28:27

determine the fate of the husband and father.

28:33

"'The Board wrote out that I was to kill him,'

28:35

Maddie declared. "'Mother

28:39

told me the Board could not be denied, and

28:42

that I would not even be arrested for

28:44

doing it.'

28:46

Mrs. Turley has steadfastly

28:48

denied Maddie's Ouija Board

28:50

story." Although

28:53

her son, David, 14 years old,

28:56

corroborated his sister's story of

28:58

the frequent delvings into the

29:00

occult and subconscious.

29:05

Blamed Ouija Board

29:08

Turley, likewise, bitterly

29:10

blamed the Ouija Board for all the trouble

29:13

in our home and

29:15

charged that his wife used the instrument

29:18

to obtain subconscious control

29:20

over his daughter.

29:23

Despite Maddie's story, which will

29:25

lead her Wednesday to the doors

29:27

of the state's juvenile institution

29:29

for girls,

29:32

Mrs. Turley has insisted and

29:34

repeated in her habeas corpus petition

29:37

that the shooting was an accident, that

29:40

Maddie fell while walking across

29:42

the yard of the old Coulter Ranch,

29:45

some 35 miles from here.

29:49

She talked about it many times and

29:52

asked the Ouija Board about it many times,

29:55

Maddie told Judge Udall.

29:58

That night I followed Father

29:59

to the corral.

30:01

It was about 5 o'clock. I

30:04

raised the gun and took careful aim,

30:06

squarely between his shoulder blades, and

30:09

lost my nerve. Then

30:12

I thought of Mother and how much it would mean

30:14

to her, and without aiming carefully

30:17

again, I raised the gun

30:19

and fired. Two

30:22

charges from the shotgun tore into

30:24

Turley's hip and back. Six

30:28

weeks later, he died. After

30:37

that, I have so many questions. Like,

30:40

what was that statutory charge dismissed

30:43

against the cowboy Kent Pierce? Was

30:46

he accused of doing something sexual

30:49

with the 15-year-old Maddie even

30:51

though her mother was reportedly in love with

30:53

him? I'm

30:54

not sure what's happening there.

30:57

Also, the charge was dismissed against

30:59

him in Eager, Arizona, which

31:03

is really weird because my

31:05

dad and his dad

31:07

and possibly my

31:09

great grandfather as well were

31:12

all born in this middle of nowhere,

31:15

white mountain Arizona town of

31:17

Eager. I

31:19

never hear of that town reported of

31:21

anywhere, so that surprised me.

31:25

So, wanting to discover how all this

31:27

played out, I found an article

31:30

from three years later. The

31:35

San Bernardino County Sun, November 7, 1937.

31:43

Headline,

31:45

When the Ouija Board Spelled, Daddy

31:47

Must Die.

31:50

Sub headline, With

31:52

the acquittal and release of a beautiful woman

31:55

who once won national fame

31:57

as the American Venus, the

31:59

apple

31:59

The dialogue is written to a sensational

32:02

tragedy of the Arizona Mountains.

32:06

Article Nervously,

32:10

the girl closed her eyes. Her

32:12

shoulders began to sway a little.

32:16

The room was dim, and the two women

32:18

were alone in it. Mother

32:22

and daughter, both strikingly beautiful,

32:24

they faced each other across a small

32:27

table. On

32:29

this lay a Ouija board.

32:33

Arms outstretched, the

32:35

two of them rested their fingers lightly

32:37

upon the little planchette. That

32:40

tiny table, which slides

32:43

on the board's polished surface

32:45

to stop and spell out spirit messages.

32:48

The girl was

32:50

only fifteen, but in her

32:53

smooth oval face, tilted

32:55

upwards, and in the gracious

32:57

mold of her form, a precocious

33:00

maturity was evident.

33:03

Her eyes remained closed, but

33:05

the eyes of her striking mother were open.

33:08

They rested sometimes

33:10

on the board,

33:12

sometimes on the girl, with

33:14

a somber and scritable gaze.

33:18

The little planchette moved, and

33:20

the women's shoulders swayed gently together,

33:23

as if they were dancing to

33:25

slow music. It

33:27

stopped. The girl

33:30

opened her eyes and looked at the board.

33:33

D, she said. Again,

33:35

the child woman's eyes closed,

33:39

and the eerie game went on. And

33:42

as the planchette picked out letter after

33:45

letter, a look of terror

33:47

and misery grew upon her smooth face.

33:51

She must spell

33:53

the letters and then die.

33:58

Oh, the girl gasped. looking

34:00

at her mother. Who?

34:03

Who must kill him, Mommy? Such,

34:10

according to testimony later given in

34:12

an Arizona court, was the somber

34:14

first act in a tragedy which

34:16

shocked the world,

34:19

and which universally came to be known

34:22

as the Ouija Board murder.

34:25

And just the other day, the epilogue

34:27

of that true life drama was written

34:30

when the courts of Arizona freed a woman

34:32

from prison.

34:38

Back in the year 1917, Dorothea

34:41

Irene Kellenac's pretty little head

34:43

contained no thoughts of Ouija

34:46

boards, nor possibly

34:48

of much else. But

34:50

that didn't matter. Where Dorothea

34:53

was just 22, and had just won over 50,000 girls in a nationwide

34:56

contest, the

35:01

title of the American Venus. Her

35:05

figure came closest by actual

35:07

measurements

35:08

to that of the classic

35:10

statue, the Venus de Milo.

35:14

For a little hour, she was in

35:16

the very center of the fierce

35:19

white spotlight of national attention.

35:22

Exploding flashlight powder illuminated

35:24

her path.

35:26

Celebrities who to her had been

35:28

only names beamed upon her.

35:31

Every male avalanche this laughing

35:33

happy girl with proposals of

35:36

marriage, proposals from

35:38

lumberjacks, professional men,

35:41

farmers, actors, and

35:44

even a cracked millionaire or two.

35:48

Men tried to force her way in

35:50

to woo her, rich men and

35:52

poor men.

35:55

Among the men who crave to win this

35:57

perfection of physical womanhood.

36:00

was a Spruce young sailor, Ernest

36:03

J. Turley, who appeared

36:05

in the uniform of the US Navy.

36:07

He

36:09

was a handsome, two-fisted, go-getting

36:11

sort of fellow, and he put up a whirlwind

36:14

wooing that made paunchy millionaires,

36:17

in Dorothea's eyes, seem just

36:19

funny.

36:21

So she gave in. They

36:23

eloped in early 1918 and were married. In

36:28

December of that year, a baby girl

36:30

was born, whom they named Maddie.

36:34

During these months, Dorothea

36:37

and her Ernie were excitedly happy.

36:40

The lovely young woman's public had not

36:42

deserted her, despite her disappearance

36:45

from public life. When

36:47

her baby was born, thousands

36:49

of letters and telegrams of congratulations

36:52

poured in. Who

36:54

could blame the girl for getting the idea that she

36:56

had become a permanent national

36:59

institution? A sort of

37:01

Statue of Liberty in the flesh. And

37:04

then the years began to get in their wearing

37:06

work. People no longer stopped

37:09

to point Dorothea out on the streets

37:11

of Boston, Massachusetts, where

37:13

the Turleys had made their home.

37:16

And who can blame Dorothea now

37:18

if she felt bewildered, hurt, at

37:21

no longer receiving the adulation

37:23

which publicly had taught her to

37:26

regard her as her due?

37:33

But she had her baby girl Maddie, who

37:35

was growing up to adore her mother.

37:38

And soon a son David was born.

37:42

And a little later, Ernie Turley's business,

37:44

he had retired from the Navy, took

37:47

them all the way to Coronado, California.

37:51

But with domestic concerns and a change

37:53

of scene, Dorothea was not too

37:55

unhappy for several years.

38:02

But in time she began to brood.

38:06

She became interested in the occult,

38:09

Bata-weegee board. Since

38:12

life was not fulfilling, the dazzling

38:15

promises it had made to her, Dorothea

38:18

was turning to the dark recesses of

38:20

her own subconscious mind to

38:22

seek consolation.

38:25

Then she became ill, asthma,

38:28

and the doctor advised a change from

38:30

the damp sea air to the

38:32

dry and tangy ozone of

38:35

Arizona.

38:38

Turley, who loved his wife devotedly,

38:40

gladly agreed that they should take a prolonged

38:43

vacation. They

38:46

would go in a car and camp out.

38:49

He immediately went to buy supplies

38:51

for their trip.

38:54

That night he brought home two gleaming

38:56

new shotguns and gave one each

38:58

to Maddie and David. When

39:01

we get to Arizona, you'll be able to

39:03

shoot,

39:04

he said, knowing nothing of the

39:06

ominous nature of his words.

39:10

The family motored the 500 miles

39:12

into the mountains of Arizona in August

39:15

of 1933.

39:19

They drove right into the historic cattle

39:21

land where romantic cowboys

39:24

long have roamed.

39:27

Dorothea Turley thought that cowboys

39:30

were very romantic indeed.

39:33

An especially romantic one, named

39:35

Kent Pierce, made himself very

39:38

obliging when the four Turleys

39:40

finally stopped near the village of St.

39:42

John's.

39:45

He was a rancher, young, athletic,

39:48

and handsome, and he looked upon

39:50

the two Turley women with frank and open

39:52

admiration.

39:55

Maddie the daughter, though

39:57

only 15, was a lovely young girl. creature,

40:01

whose figure already was revealing how

40:03

much she had inherited from

40:05

her mother's beauty.

40:08

As for Dorothea, though now

40:10

about 40, she had retained much

40:13

of her beauty of form and face.

40:14

Ernie

40:17

Turley didn't object to the rancher's

40:20

obvious admiration of his wife. On

40:23

the contrary, it pleased him.

40:27

For a man who marries a woman publicly

40:29

acclaimed for her beauty very quickly

40:31

gets used to the adulation which other

40:34

men's glances offer her. And

40:38

in time comes to look upon it as his wife's

40:40

do.

40:45

And besides,

40:46

Kent Pierce was such an obliging sort

40:49

of fellow. He offered to show the Turleys

40:51

around.

40:53

And he helped them find an inexpensive

40:55

cabin so that they didn't have to live

40:58

in tents.

41:00

I like this place, said Dorothea

41:02

Turley to her husband.

41:04

Very pretty. Let's stay here.

41:07

Of course they stayed. And Dorothea

41:09

proceeded to enjoy the famous mountain

41:11

scenery.

41:14

She enjoyed it so much that she spent

41:16

hours, days even,

41:19

examining it driving the Turley

41:21

car.

41:25

And for a guide, she had

41:27

the handsome and accommodating Pierce

41:29

to keep her company.

41:33

Lovely little Maddie went along and

41:35

to keep her company, Pierce had got a

41:37

young friend of his, a happy-good-lucky

41:40

apprentice cowboy of 16, named

41:43

Pollard Wilbank.

41:46

A couple of times this foursome

41:49

even stayed out overnight, with good

41:51

explanations each time.

41:54

fix

42:00

that. She

42:03

still consulted it faithfully, and it

42:05

told her, she revealed to her husband,

42:08

that certain queer picture writings on

42:10

rocks nearby

42:12

actually showed the location

42:14

of a vast hidden treasure. The

42:18

fact that scientists for decades have been

42:20

striving in vain to decipher

42:22

these strange rock writings meant

42:25

nothing whatever to Dorothea

42:27

Turley.

42:30

Wegee had spoken, Wegee never lied,

42:33

and Wegee must be obeyed.

42:37

With a little punch it had

42:39

commanded, Dorothea said, was

42:41

that Ernie should take a pick and shovel and

42:44

go off into the bush to a certain spot,

42:47

which she would designate in their dig.

42:50

He would surely find a buried

42:51

treasure.

42:55

Nothing could more clearly reveal Ernest

42:57

Turley's profound love for this

43:00

woman and his complete faith

43:02

in her than the fact that he not

43:04

only borrowed a pick and shovel, but

43:07

actually bought several sticks of dynamite.

43:11

Thus equipped, he blasted

43:14

a great hole at the spot Dorothea

43:16

showed to him. Of

43:19

course there was no treasure, and

43:21

for once the doting husband got mad.

43:25

He blew up thoroughly and told

43:27

his astonished wife just what he

43:29

thought of her blankety-blank Wegee board

43:32

and of her too for fooling

43:34

with such an idiotic contraption.

43:38

A day or so later, Turley took

43:40

his two children with their two nice

43:43

new shotguns out to hunt game.

43:47

As they were leaving, Dorothea

43:49

calmly said to her daughter, don't forget

43:51

your promise Maddie.

43:53

Yes, mother, I won't forget, the

43:55

girl replied.

43:57

And that night, when the three of them returned,

44:00

She again spoke, agnadimically

44:02

to her mother. I'm

44:05

sorry, she apologized, that I

44:07

fell down on my promise.

44:11

No matter, her mother said gently, smiling,

44:15

you'll have another chance.

44:22

Young David's birthday came a few days later,

44:24

and Dorthia took her son in the car

44:27

to the village to get supplies for a family

44:29

party.

44:30

Maddie was left with her father.

44:35

Half an hour passed. Suddenly,

44:38

the roar of a shotgun shook the still

44:41

November air.

44:44

And then, screams. Maddie's

44:46

hysterical screams ringing the echoes.

44:49

Oh, I've killed him, my

44:51

father. An accident I tripped.

44:56

Help was brought, and turdly,

44:59

horribly torn with shot, but still

45:01

living, was rushed to a local

45:03

hospital.

45:04

Then, by airplane to the United

45:07

States Naval Hospital at San Diego,

45:09

California.

45:12

There he died. But

45:14

first, he said that he had caught just a

45:16

glimpse of his daughter behind him. Her

45:20

shotgun in her hands. Everyone

45:23

was very tender and sympathetic with little Maddie,

45:26

until an old-time deputy sheriff

45:29

asked her how it was, if she had tripped

45:31

firing into her father's back by

45:33

accident, that the shot had traveled

45:36

downward in the body instead of upward.

45:41

The

45:41

girl then became hysterical. It

45:44

was not an accident, she confessed. I

45:46

did it on purpose. Some mother could marry her

45:48

handsome cowboy.

45:51

I had to do it. Ouija ordered

45:53

me to. And when Ouija commands,

45:56

it must be obeyed.

46:00

with her mother, Maddie revealed, the

46:02

board had spelled out, Daddy must die.

46:04

And when the girl had asked

46:07

who should kill him, the obliging board

46:09

seemed to reply, M.T.

46:11

That

46:13

meant, her mother said, as reported

46:16

now by Maddie, Maddie Turley.

46:20

Maddie was sent to reform school to stay

46:22

there until she turns 21, but Mrs. Turley's

46:24

trial was

46:27

a world sensation.

46:30

Mother and daughter faced each other across

46:32

a crowded courtroom, and Maddie

46:35

stuck to her story.

46:38

Young Pollard Wiltsbank, the

46:40

apprentice cowboy, swore

46:43

that Kent Pierce and Mrs. Turley

46:45

spent most of their time together on outings

46:48

in each other's arms. A

46:52

neighbor woman testified that

46:54

the accused had said she loved Pierce

46:57

and wanted to marry him.

47:01

Pierce,

47:01

on the other hand, denied hopes

47:03

of marriage,

47:06

but

47:06

Mrs. Turley was sent to prison for 20 years.

47:11

That was less than three years ago, but

47:15

just the other day granted a retrial.

47:17

The former

47:20

American Venus almost broke down with

47:22

joy when she was acquitted. Today

47:26

she is a free woman, but

47:29

no mention has been made of freeing her daughter

47:31

from reform school.

47:35

What will Dorothea Turley do

47:37

with this unexpected gift of freedom?

47:42

With this publicity-haunted woman who

47:44

has been posed by the press both as

47:47

heroin and as criminal. At

47:50

last, mind the oblivion of

47:52

obscurity? Or will

47:55

her name again blaze in headlines

47:58

of romance or tragedy?

48:02

Only

48:02

time and perhaps Luigi Board

48:04

will tell.

48:17

And what would Dorothea's Luigi

48:19

Board have told her about what

48:21

became of them?

48:27

Dorothea's son David became

48:29

third mate on the American

48:31

steam passenger ship SS

48:34

Como, a passenger

48:37

ship that had been charted for

48:39

troop transport by the US Army.

48:43

On December 1, 1942, as part of convoy MKF-3 was torpedoed

48:45

by a German submarine as it approached

48:53

the coast of Ireland. David

48:56

was just 22 or 23

48:57

when he died in the event.

49:03

As for Maddie, she was paroled

49:05

on December 1, 1936, by Superior Judge Levi S. Udall.

49:12

The State Board found that it

49:14

was in the best interest of Maddie due

49:17

to her mother's own conviction being

49:19

overturned. I

49:22

was unable to discover what had become

49:24

of Maddie after this.

49:27

After Maddie was freed, Dorothea

49:30

tried to find her location, but

49:32

the information was refused per

49:35

Maddie's request. Dorothea

49:38

filed a $75,000 lawsuit against the

49:40

School for Girls in 1938 for poisoning her daughter's

49:46

mind, but the suit was

49:48

later dropped. And

49:51

as far as we know, Maddie and

49:53

Dorothea never saw or spoke to

49:55

each other again.

50:01

Until next time, you can join

50:03

the Strange and Unusual Podcast

50:06

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50:08

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50:10

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50:14

And remember, as Poe said, there

50:17

is no exquisite beauty without

50:19

some strangeness in the proportion. Every

51:08

cloud must have a silver

51:10

lining,

51:14

So wait until the sun

51:16

shines new. Smile,

51:22

my honey dear,

51:26

while I kiss,

51:28

I'll waste here,

51:33

or else I shall

51:36

be melancholy

51:40

at home.

51:49

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51:51

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52:09

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