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By Mike Allen
•
31 Oct, 2023
Thirty years ago, two young boys were playing in a sand and gravel pit in the eastern Connecticut town of Griswold. Suddenly, they saw a human skull roll down the side of the pit near them. Then, a second. They ran home to tell their mothers, who didn’t immediately believe them. Upon further inspection, the mothers phoned the police. Police cordoned off the area, thinking it was a crime scene. After all, a serial killer in that area had recently killed four young women from that town and the bodies of several suspected victims had yet to be recovered. Eventually, the State Archeologist’s office was brought in, as evidence indicated they needed to review the scene. Dr. Nick Bellantoni arrived and made an observation that turned the case on its head. What he would uncover is something unique in New England – the only archeological evidence of the past practice of digging up, dismembering, and reinterring suspected vampires. That’s right, actual evidence of the tampering of a grave because of suspicions of vampire activity. It was a common concern until the late 1800s, particularly in rural areas such as Griswold. But, no one had ever found any specific proof of the rumored activity. It’s a frightening story to hear. Who was the man whose remains were found altered in that grave – a man known initially only by his initials “J.B.”? Why were his remains dug up,reconfigured, and then reinterred? What were Dr. Bellantoni and his team able to surmise about the case with modern investigative techniques? Click this link to hear the story on the podcast Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut’s Beaten Path, with your host Mike Allen: https://tinyurl.com/ym8pk6yn
By Mike Allen
•
23 Oct, 2023
It was a mystery to police – but not to her best friends. Helle Crafts had gone missing – completely vanished from the scene, without a trace and – uncharacteristically – without contacting her best friends to say where she was going. The attractive airline flight attendant from Newtown had been in a rocky marriage, and the occasionally bruised face that was visible to her closest acquaintances gave away the nature of the relationship she faced with her husband, an airline pilot with both a bad temper and with an infatuation with guns, of which he had accumulated dozens. Helle even confided in one friend that if anything should happen to her, they should assume it was at the hands of her husband Richard Crafts. And so it was in the fall of 1986 that what police at the time considered a rather routine missing persons case – probably a lover’s spat that had caused her to promptly leave for a short period of time – would turn out to be one of the most heinous crimes in U.S. history. But what had happened to Helle? Had she gone to visit her Mom in Europe, as her husband claimed? Why were sections of the bedroom carpet missing, as the housekeeper noticed? Was it just some long-planned home redecorating, as Richard claimed? The police investigation into her disappearance dragged on, eventually leading to the involvement of the Connecticut State Police, after a local private detective forced the issue. He said he knew who had killed Helle – and, more importantly, why – because she had hired him. And yet, it wasn’t until police learned about something that had been seen by a town employee, driving a snowplow truck for the neighboring town of Southbury, that they got their most important big break. What was it that the truck driver had seen in the early morning hours of a freak November blizzard that gave police their big lead? This was the case that catapulted Connecticut’s top forensic scientist – Dr. Henry Lee – to national prominence. After his work on this case, Dr. Lee would go on to take part in the O.J. Simpson murder case in California, among others. Hear how the investigation unfolded as well as the incredible details that had to be put together by detectives to crack the case and gain a conviction with a jury – when no dead body existed. Click this link to hear the story on the podcast Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut’s Beaten Path, with your host Mike Allen: https://tinyurl.com/yc3vs3ky Listen to Mike Allen's captivating podcast every Thursday morning here !
By Mike Allen
•
31 Oct, 2023
Thirty years ago, two young boys were playing in a sand and gravel pit in the eastern Connecticut town of Griswold. Suddenly, they saw a human skull roll down the side of the pit near them. Then, a second. They ran home to tell their mothers, who didn’t immediately believe them. Upon further inspection, the mothers phoned the police. Police cordoned off the area, thinking it was a crime scene. After all, a serial killer in that area had recently killed four young women from that town and the bodies of several suspected victims had yet to be recovered. Eventually, the State Archeologist’s office was brought in, as evidence indicated they needed to review the scene. Dr. Nick Bellantoni arrived and made an observation that turned the case on its head. What he would uncover is something unique in New England – the only archeological evidence of the past practice of digging up, dismembering, and reinterring suspected vampires. That’s right, actual evidence of the tampering of a grave because of suspicions of vampire activity. It was a common concern until the late 1800s, particularly in rural areas such as Griswold. But, no one had ever found any specific proof of the rumored activity. It’s a frightening story to hear. Who was the man whose remains were found altered in that grave – a man known initially only by his initials “J.B.”? Why were his remains dug up,reconfigured, and then reinterred? What were Dr. Bellantoni and his team able to surmise about the case with modern investigative techniques? Click this link to hear the story on the podcast Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut’s Beaten Path, with your host Mike Allen: https://tinyurl.com/ym8pk6yn
By Mike Allen
•
23 Oct, 2023
It was a mystery to police – but not to her best friends. Helle Crafts had gone missing – completely vanished from the scene, without a trace and – uncharacteristically – without contacting her best friends to say where she was going. The attractive airline flight attendant from Newtown had been in a rocky marriage, and the occasionally bruised face that was visible to her closest acquaintances gave away the nature of the relationship she faced with her husband, an airline pilot with both a bad temper and with an infatuation with guns, of which he had accumulated dozens. Helle even confided in one friend that if anything should happen to her, they should assume it was at the hands of her husband Richard Crafts. And so it was in the fall of 1986 that what police at the time considered a rather routine missing persons case – probably a lover’s spat that had caused her to promptly leave for a short period of time – would turn out to be one of the most heinous crimes in U.S. history. But what had happened to Helle? Had she gone to visit her Mom in Europe, as her husband claimed? Why were sections of the bedroom carpet missing, as the housekeeper noticed? Was it just some long-planned home redecorating, as Richard claimed? The police investigation into her disappearance dragged on, eventually leading to the involvement of the Connecticut State Police, after a local private detective forced the issue. He said he knew who had killed Helle – and, more importantly, why – because she had hired him. And yet, it wasn’t until police learned about something that had been seen by a town employee, driving a snowplow truck for the neighboring town of Southbury, that they got their most important big break. What was it that the truck driver had seen in the early morning hours of a freak November blizzard that gave police their big lead? This was the case that catapulted Connecticut’s top forensic scientist – Dr. Henry Lee – to national prominence. After his work on this case, Dr. Lee would go on to take part in the O.J. Simpson murder case in California, among others. Hear how the investigation unfolded as well as the incredible details that had to be put together by detectives to crack the case and gain a conviction with a jury – when no dead body existed. Click this link to hear the story on the podcast Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut’s Beaten Path, with your host Mike Allen: https://tinyurl.com/yc3vs3ky Listen to Mike Allen's captivating podcast every Thursday morning here !
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